Requiem of a Nightmare

by Jeremy Spires

  “Alive?” I asked, firing again. That made ten. Man, MacKenzie was going to owe me big time when I saw him again, and so would Ivata. There was a running pool in the human military of who would end up killing more high-ranking officials.

  “Yes.” She replied.

  “Unfortunate, but that will work. Have we heard from our fleet?” Another shot, this time I took a pair of surrendering Gilbaglians, then hesitated. Was killing a surrendering genocidal enemy a war crime? The thought was dispersed as the dead bodies exploded a heartbeat later.

  Scratch that bit of sentimental nonsense, then.

  “Yes, sir.” She said. “They are offering orbital support if we need it to suppress these enemies.”

  I looked up and scanned the battlefield, where my soldiers were dead-checking Gilbaglians, tossing grenades on semi-dead bodies with explosives, and killing the few who attempted to lure them in to surrender. “I think we’d be better suited getting the engineers down here to start repurposing this facility for ship building, don’t you agree?”

  She looked around. “Probably.” Her helmet swung back towards me. “I’m Sergeant Elena Ritnel, Phelb 2nd Infantry, sir.”

  “Hello, Sergeant Ritnel, 2nd infantry.” I swung my rifle up and pointed it at her. “Would you kindly duck for a moment?”

  She dropped flat to her stomach with an expletive I barely heard over the report of my big sniper rifle as it ripped another charging Gilbaglian in half.

  “Holy fuck!” She cried.

  “Sorry.” I replied.

  “You’re not!” She snapped.

  “You’re right. I really don’t care.” I shrugged. “Would you rather be dead? I can let you die next time if you prefer.”

  “Damnit all,” She growled, pushing herself back to her knees. “Sometimes I really fucking hate this shit.”

  “What, war?” I asked, standing and pulling my rifle over my shoulder on its sling. “Because I’m starting to really enjoy this shit.” I smiled, even though my mirrored visor prevented the Sergeant from seeing my face.

  “Yeah, war!” She shouted back at me. Checking her identification on my HUD, I discovered she was a Master Sergeant, assigned to Alpha company by MacKenzie himself. As a senior non-commissioned officer, I would give her some leeway. “This suck!” She sloughed mud off her armor with her gloved hands.

  “Come on Sergeant,” I said with a chuckle. “You mean landing on alien worlds, meeting new people and blowing them up isn’t fun to you?”

  Her visor, Phelb technology, was not mirrored so I saw her eyes grow wide as she looked behind me. “Sir…!” She started to shout. Another mine detonated behind me and I was once more splattered with ichor.

  “Gross.” I said, triggering the control in my helmet that made my visor transparent. “I think that pretty much does it for those birdies.”

  “Colonel, if I ever have the chance to deploy with you again, please remind me not to stand so close to you. You are apparently a magnet for the enemy.” She grimaced, wiping blood off her visor.

  “I like it that way.” I admitted. “More targets for me to shoot.”

  She gave a disgusted sigh. “Anyways, sir, we have reports coming from Lieutenant Antillon regarding the prisoners. Apparently, she told quite the story to one of her junior officers and Antillon was able to capture the entire conversation on video, we have more information regarding the direct history of the Gilbaglians.”

  “Cool.” I said, then activated my comm unit. “Valentine to Solaris.” I said. Silence. I frowned. “Valentine to Severson.”

  “Go ahead, Colonel.” The strangely accented Lieutenant replied smartly.

  “Where is Captain Solaris?”

  “KIA, sir.” Severson said, sadness in his voice. I frowned. Solaris was my executive officer, in MacKenzie’s absence, and he was the only other officer we had available and was in command of the Beta company.

  I turned to Ritnel. “Get on a dropship,” I ordered. “Get to Beta company’s location and take command.”

  Her eyes widened, “Sir?”

  “Now, Master Sergeant.” I said firmly.

  “Yes, sir.” She answered and began to jog back to where our dropships had landed to take on wounded and resupply. I looked around and located a Sergeant from my company.

  “Sergeant Paddron,” I said. He wasn’t just my Sergeant, he was actually my cousin, I’d found out much later than I should have that I have a large number of cousins from my mother’s sister. “We need to organize and ensure that the engineers have good…”

  He’d just turned to me when a Gilbaglian arm reached up and grasped his ankle, and then exploded. Keite turned into so much red mist and a flash of light.

  “Son of a bitch!” I shouted in frustration. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?!”

  I sighed. “Alpha company, find every one of these fuckers and kill every one of them.” I ordered. “Enough of this shit. Do not get close to any bodies.”

  The company responded with another sustained wave of automatic weapons fire, punctuated by a few dozen explosions as Gilbaglian bodies exploded.

  I called up my comm again. “Valentine to Antillon.”

  “Go ahead, sir.” He said, sounding mildly amused.

  “I heard you have some guests?” I asked.

  “Oh, yes sir. Distinguished guests, in fact. They would love to meet you, sir.”

  I nodded. “I’ll be headed your way very soon.”

  Beginning the slog through the muddy ground towards the dropships, I noticed that there were a few Gilbaglians without pressure suits, who had feathers burned away from their scalps, with heavy burning around the bald spots. The atmosphere on this awful planet was toxic to most life, full of ammonia and other disgusting chemicals. We weren’t going to do more than pull raw materials out of the asteroids and build ships, so we didn’t much care.

  I stepped foot on the ramp of the dropship as it began to rise. Gripping a handhold to keep from falling off the ramp, I turned around to survey the handy work of Alpha company. We’d taken on the planet’s garrison, and taken around a thousand casualties, and only fifteen of those were dead.

  Delta company’s landing zone was the administration building, which had breathable atmosphere, and even fresh water on hand. Once we’d ensured that it was safe and not poisoned, we’d all taken a moment to refresh ourselves. I walked down the stairs, helmet clipped to my belt to where Antillon sat in front of two cells with steel bars, each containing a Gilbaglian. I wanted to kill them on sight, but I refrained, my gloved fingertips resting on the frame of my big pistol, which hung silently in its holster on my thigh, ready to deal death to any birdbrain.

  “Hi.” I said brightly. “I’m Colonel Valentine of the Night stalkers.” I smiled.

  “You are an evil enemy!” The whistling language of the birds gave me a headache, but my earpiece translated into my ear.

  “Yeah, sure, of course.” I said, waving my left hand. “Whatever. I mean, you’re already dead. But we do love story time on Vandor, don’t we, Lieutenant?” I asked.

  “Oh, yes sir, very much.” Antillon smiled.

  “You’ve told a wonderful story, my feathery friend, now tell me, why did you destroy our planet?”

  The Gilbaglian blinked rapidly at me, then launched into a long, warbling, whistling speech that made my brain throb in protest. I held up a hand and let my translator catch up, and then pulled it out of my ear because it was just an incoherent string of threats, empty words, and whatever the hell else Gilbaglians wanted or felt they were going to demand from us.

  “Alright, this is pointless.” I said to Antillon. “Kill them, put the bodies with the others.” I turned to go, pulling my helmet off the hook at my belt and heading for the stairs.

  “Wait!” The second alien cried in English, holding out her arm to me through the bars. I turned slowly and glared down at her. “Colonel, don’t kill me yet!”

  “Why should I spare you?” I asked turning around and tucking
my helmet under my arm. “You’re just more genocidal alien scum.”

  “They destroyed your planet because they were ordered to.” She warbled at me. Her words were stilted and accented, lacking a tongue it was a challenge to form human words.

  Antillon looked at me and raised his brow.

  “They?” I asked.

  “The Meyges.” She said softly. “Their doctrine is to destroy any remnant of the Cetoplin.”

  ---

  I stared down at the Gilbaglian, glaring into her yellow-slit eyes. They were not like birds on Earth. They were unnerving and satanic, like a goat.

  “Shut up!” The Captain wailed into my translator. “You can’t tell the humans about the…”

  I pulled my pistol and fired a single shot into the Gilbaglian Captain’s head, barely moving my body. “Shh.” I said, sliding my pistol back into my holster, calmly. “What is your name, prisoner?”

  “My name is Zelxeia.” She replied, staring at the fallen corpse of her commanding officer. “Am I the last one alive?”

  “Probably.” I replied. “We have total control of this planet. Are you going to pretend to be a turncoat?”

  “No.” She replied. “I’m a coward. I don’t want to die. I will tell you everything I know, in the hopes that you will spare my life.”

  “I value honesty,” I said. “Who are the Meyges?”

  “They’re ancient enemies of the Cetoplin.” She replied.

  “I have everything that was told to her here, sir.” Antillon interrupted, pointing to his recorder. “If you need anything from it.”

  I shrugged. “Sounds like we don’t need you.”

  “Wait!” She cried again. “I…I know where the fleet is! I know their plans!”

  That stopped me. I looked up at the roof of the complex and counted to ten to keep from killing her outright. “Get her to a dropship.” I said finally.

  “Sir?” Antillon asked.

  “Keep her in restraints. Strong ones.”

  I exited the complex, shoving my helmet back on and sealing it. I activated my comm and called up to the ship. “Captain Dawes.”

  “Go ahead, Colonel.” The Captain replied.

  “We’re ready for the engineers and we are ready for extraction of Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie companies.” I said, wishing intensely I could have a cigarette. “Any trouble up there?”

  “Other than the battle group on the edge of the system? No, nothing other than that.” She quipped. “We’ll get your teams aboard immediately. Are you returning to Predator, sir?”

  “I guess we are.” I said. “Do you have a smoking area aboard your ship?”

  “Smoking, Colonel?” She asked in confusion.

  “Nevermind.” I said as a dropship settled to the ground in front of me. I stalked up the ramp in frustration and sank into a chair, pulling my helmet off once more as the cabin sealed and the ship lifted off towards orbit. I pulled a cigarette from my pocket and lit it.

  “Sir!” The pilot called back. “There are no combustibles on the…”

  “Fuck you!” I called back, using an accompanying gesture.

  Chapter Eleven

  ---

  “That was not anywhere near crazy enough of a plan for us.” I said, sipping at my coffee while Mallory held her face in her hand on the holographic display.

  “I can’t believe I ever agreed to marry you.” She said.

  “I think it was sort of your idea.” I answered. “I don’t really remember…”

  “Anyways,” Ivata broke in, the third person on the screen. “You found out that these Meyges guys are apparently ordering the Gilbaglians to do things damaging to humans?”

  “Not actively ordering,” I replied, picking up a tablet and scanning the data from the Gilbaglian Ensign’s debrief. “It is a standing order from several thousand years ago. Apparently the Cetoplin fought these Meyges at the corridor where the galactic boundary is, and they sent out a message to the Gilbaglian battle fleet that was approaching the Cetoplin position. They never actually met the Meyges.”

  “They’re as bad as the Phelbs.” Dawes said, rolling her eyes. “They’re obeying an order that was given in ancient times.”

  “Pretty much.” Mallory agreed. “We’ve sent four battle groups out to hold the system…” She looked down at her own tablet. “Winged Freedom?” She threw the tablet down. “That’s a fucking awful name, we need to rename that planet.”

  “How about Barsoon?” Ivata asked.

  Everyone looked at him.

  “I’ve…been reading some old Earth science fiction books…” He said lamely, not looking up at the rest of us.

  “Barsoon it is.” Mallory said. “We’re sending you four battle groups. I’ve assigned dreadnoughts and carriers to each group, along with some Phelb infantry.”

  “Apparently there are like five more of these worlds along this lane.” Dawes said, highlighting a section of star map for all of us to see. “This could make for a good invasion corridor.”

  “Invasion?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “Do we have enough infantry for this? How are we supposed to hold this many worlds, and pretty much all of the Night Stalkers are deployed here.”

  Ivata and Mallory glanced at each other. “We…”

  “Wrathe sent us…all of his infantry.” Ivata said. “Like, everyone. There are almost twenty million. We…don’t know what to do with all of them so we’re sending them to you.”

  “Oh.” I said.

  “Neat.” Dawes said. “Admiral, when are reinforcements expected? There is a massive battle group on the edge of the system, it looks like they’re trying to decide if they want to kill us or not.”

  “I’ll be on station by the end of tomorrow.” Mallory said firmly, glaring at me, daring me to challenge that.

  I did.

  “You should remain at Earth and wait for word from Shockwave.” I said with a little smirk.

  “Please,” Ivata said. “If I have to deal with the Admiral looking in and stressing about the team out there for one more week, I’m going to kill myself.”

  We laughed, and the issue was dropped.

  ---

  The following afternoon, I plucked my duffle off my bunk and headed for the door. As I stepped to the door, it opened and revealed Master Sergeant Ritnel. Now that I could see her face, she was a beautiful image. Her hair was long and straight, smooth skin and a small straight nose. She had electric blue eyes and she was easily as tall as Mallory.

  “Sergeant,” I said. “Excuse me, I need to report to my ship.”

  “Sir,” She said quickly. “How many times are you going to do that?”

  “Do what?” I asked.

  “Kill off your commanding officers.” She snapped, crossing her arms.

  “I beg your pardon.” I said, letting my bag drop to the deck. “Who do you think you are talking to, Master Sergeant?” I snapped.

  To her credit, she didn’t flinch away from me or back down. “I think I’m talking to the leader of the Vandorian forces who spent a lot of lives, Phelb lives, down there.”

  The total casualty report only listed five Phelb soldiers killed in action, and the rest of them were Vandorian. I glared into her eyes. “One day, Master Sergeant, you will endure the burden of command and be forced to spend lives in combat. Should you ever be so lucky, I advise you to never, ever, confront your commander. The deaths of my men, Phelb and Vandorian, weighs heavily on my shoulders.”

  She glared at me. “You sent Solaris to attack a heavily fortified position!”

  “I attacked a heavily fortified position!” I shouted back, unusual anger clouding my vision. “I lost a third of my command in combat. Don’t talk to me about losing a single commander on the battlefield, in a battle.”

  “He was my friend!” She shouted back at me.

  Two guards appeared at my door, summoned by the raised voices. “Sir, is everything okay here?”

  “Escort the Sergeant to her quarters.” I replied, glaring d
aggers into her eyes. “And ensure she stays there for twenty-four hours.” The Sergeant glared at me until she turned away and allowed the guards to march away with her. I sighed and stooped to pick up my duffle bag.

  I’d been getting reports of rough interactions between Phelb and Vandorian soldiers for some time now, and this latest display only proved that it was going to get worse before it got better. I sighed and started off for the hangar deck, pausing when I heard steps beside me.

  I glanced over to see Dawes striding next to me. “It was an honor to have you aboard, Colonel.” She said.

  “The honor is mine,” I replied, reaching out my free hand. We shook and she smirked.

  “Don’t let the Phelbs get to you, Colonel.” She said. “We’re only a year or so into this whole experiment with the joint forces, there is bound to be a lot of animosity and anger.”

  “Yeah, well fuck them.” I replied with heat in my voice. “We won the war, they need to be reminded that I will happily go back to ripping them apart and killing them to the last man.”

  Dawes looked at me and raised her eyebrows.

  “I don’t…have a filter.” I responded lamely. “My wife lectures me at length for my willingness to destroy the entire galaxy, if it suits my needs.”

  “Does she agree with you?”

  “Usually,” I answered. “But of late she’s more interested in setting up a corridor for invasion towards Gilbaglia.”

  “How well do you think that will go?” She asked as we reached the door to the hangar.

  “I think a lot of us are going to die.” I replied. “And I think that is just the way war goes.” I offered my hand and she shook once more. “Be safe out there, Colonel.”

  I offered her a smile. “Death waits in the dark, Captain.” I touched my brow and stepped through the door alone, just as the dropship I would take back to Eternity touched down on the hangar deck. Looking over, I saw Lieutenant Antillon loading my equipment and he nodded at me. I nodded back, then looked at the shuttle. The ramp was lowered, and the pilot was speaking into his headset. He gestured to me excitedly and I hurried aboard, strapped into a seat and donned a headset. “Pilot, what is the issue?”