Times Like These

by Jan Stryvant

  Rowan and Kalif, along with Peg and Roxy, were digging through the records and the databases and studying everything they could find. Primarily they were supposed to be looking for information on how to make the weapons and where the machinery to do so was located, using the data Mahkiyoc had given them.

  But they were also searching through the history of the Inangar, which was the name of Mahkiyoc's people.

  "Your Father wants to know how much longer he has to entertain Mahkiyoc," Keairra asked.

  "Why? Is he going to eat him?" Kalif joked.

  "He might," Keairra said with a hint of a growl.

  "What?" Sean said, feeling surprised. Several of the others seemed to share his surprise.

  "Your father has not been feeling kindly towards any of the Inangar. While they may be the reason we're here, they have been playing games with the universe, games they failed at, and now hundreds, if not thousands of races are paying the price by feeding the demons. They are the ones who let the djevels in. They are the ones who are now letting them run rampant."

  "I don't think killing Mahkiyoc is the answer, Mom," Estrella said.

  "Don't be so sure of that, young lady. Once we stop the gates from forming on our world, what's to stop him from restarting them? Or worse yet, falling prey to a demon who then learns the secret of the machines and uses them?"

  "Sean?" Estrella said, turning to him for a better argument.

  "Do you think Dad would be upset if I let Roxy, Peg, and Cali eat from his body too?" Sean asked with faked sincerity.

  Estrella smacked him with a paw, knocking him over while the others chuckled.

  "Honestly, Stell," Sean said as he sat back up, "I'm not so sure I disagree with Dad on this one. They just went running around willy-nilly with no worries about what they were doing. We've already heard how they experimented on their own people. They just believed they were better than everyone, and no one could stand up to them. So they didn't even think twice before poking around in the negative planes, and now the rest of us are paying the price for it. They didn't even think about locking all the gateways so the monsters they unleashed couldn't hurt anyone else."

  "Damn, now I want to kill him!" Wendy growled.

  Keairra nodded. "We wives are all in agreement that when all is done, if your father doesn't end him, we will."

  "I found out something about the demons today, Mother," Rowan said.

  "Oh? What?"

  "Well, I decided to track down the original project reports. Kalif and I have found that they have records for everything."

  "It's a good thing they don't shit, or we'd have records of every bathroom visit in history!" Kalif joked.

  Rowan nodded. "No lie. Anyway, I found the initial project documentation. Sean's right, there were no real concerns at all about safety, or that what they found might escape. They had a few simple containment protocols they used, and if things got out, well, they really didn't care. Someone else could deal with it. Apparently there used to be a lot of animal life on this planet, some of which were probably sentient, seeing how many things escaped from their tests over the centuries.

  "Well, a very large number of the demons got out. Apparently the containment fields and devices they were using didn't work that well on beings from the negative planes."

  "And that's when the fight started?"

  "Oh, no. You see, the demons were stupid; they had cunning, but they didn't have any real language or knowledge. They were a nuisance, but not much more than that. At first they started killing and eating all the other animals and stuff that had escaped during previous experiments. No one cared, they just saw it as 'pest control'. It wasn't until they started eating people that things changed."

  "What?" several of them gasped.

  "Just as we got sentience and intelligence from eating Mahkiyoc's friend, they got it from every Inangar they ate.

  "And they ate a lot."

  "So suddenly the thousand or so 'dumb' demons that were running around were now intelligent, as well as cunning." Rowan sighed and shrugged. "That's what I've gotten so far."

  "What about the gateway control? Have you found anything on that?" Sean asked

  "A little," Kalif replied. "I think we should just ask Mahkiyoc where it is, so we can go there and see what kind of shape it's in, before we spend too much time trying to figure out how to use it."

  "What do we do if we can't shut it down?" Keairra asked.

  "Well," Sean said with a weak smile, "we can always blow everything up."

  "What? You can do that?"

  "Peg thinks we can. There's a lot of power in the bunker. I think you've all heard me say that it's one gigantic magical battery, right?"

  Everyone nodded.

  "There are ways to make a battery explode, and apparently Peg knows several of them."

  "How big an explosion would that be?"

  "Very big. But the blockhouse is way up in the mountains, so I'm not sure that would have an effect on any of the demons."

  "Wherever this gateway controller is, I hope we don't have to walk there," Wendy complained.

  "I don't know, I suspect we're going to have to go out and feed soon anyway," Kalif said.

  Keairra turned to Sean. "Sean, you ask Mahkiyoc about the gateway controller tomorrow. He seems to like you the most because he finds your magical abilities to be curious. Kalif, listen in and see if you can learn anything to help your searches. Rowan, keep digging into their past. See if it goes back before their coming here."

  "What about the weapons research?"

  "Put Roxy and Peg on that. See if they can't teach some of the others here how to use the systems while doing it. I'd like to have more people up there when you're working. Mahkiyoc doesn't seem to handle distractions well; I guess he's just not used to having other people in his area. So let's keep him distracted from what we're doing."

  "Worried about something?" Estrella asked.

  "I'd just rather be cautious."

  Everyone nodded again at that. There'd already been a few conversations regarding how sane could someone who'd been alone for a couple hundred thousand years be?

  "What have you and your sisters been doing while Dad and the rest of us have been busy?" Sean asked.

  "Exploring."

  "Exploring?"

  "Those stairs lead down into the mountain. We've found a lot of machine rooms, conference rooms, two whole levels of apartments like the ones we're already living in, and what we think is a subway station."

  "Really? A subway station?"

  "Well, you don't think they would have walked everywhere, do you?" Keairra teased.

  "I just figured however they got around was long since destroyed in their war."

  "Oh, I'm sure they had other means of transport, just like we do back on Earth. But this is apparently all that's left, assuming it still works."

  "That's another question to ask, I guess."

  "That's it for now then, back to work everyone!"

  The Second Battle of Reno

  Chad looked out over the battlefield from the tower. Once upon a time, it had been a nice, new neighborhood with an adjoining golf course. But after the last battle, most of the houses had been set on fire or leveled by artillery fire. The golf course had fared slightly better, though there were a lot more 'obstacles' and 'traps' than there had been before.

  Artillery was currently landing on the far side of the hill from where he was looking. Spotters were marching the artillery along the leading edge of the demon army that was approaching. Soon it would top the hill, and once it got within a couple thousand feet, his local units would open up and the main barrage would stop.

  He couldn't afford for anything to accidentally fall short and drop on his defenses.

  It would also give his air support the ability to join the fight. The Air Force had finally coughed up a couple of gunships, and iron ammunition was being turned out by the ton.

  "This is going to be a big one," Maitland said from beside
him.

  "But not the biggest one," Chad said with a sigh. "I just hope Sean and them get back here with something, I don't know, amazing? What are the latest estimates on the enemy army?"

  "Between seven hundred thousand and one million," Maitland said. "They're having trouble adjusting the equipment to deal with the djevels."

  "Damn, well, I think we've got enough to handle that. Honestly, I'm surprised they didn't get more. We know they've got millions back there; I wonder what's holding them up?"

  "They know they've got us, so they don't need to rush. Their people come back, after all."

  "Not if our lions get them, they don't."

  "True, but the best we can hope for is ten percent, and now that they know we have them? I'm not sure we can even hope for that much."

  Chad agreed. "True. I've been thinking about talking to Adam and seeing if he can get them to disperse throughout the regular units. Then they won't know where any lion is until it's killing them."

  Maitland smiled. "The idea has merit. I'm jealous I didn't think of it first. Where is our Adam, anyway?"

  "With Sean gone, he's out there rallying the troops."

  "For someone who was supposed to be a figurehead, I must say I'm impressed by how seriously he takes his position."

  "Based on what Max heard from Roxy, this is the first thing he's ever taken seriously."

  "Really?"

  "Yeah, apparently he's been a complete disappointment to his parents until now." Chad snickered. "They might be gods, but I guess lions have families that are just as dysfunctional as ours."

  "Speak for yourself, mortal," Maitland said with exaggerated swagger to his voice. "Faeries never have dysfunctional families; why my lovely, conniving, and homicidal daughter is the epitome of a normal family!"

  Chad snorted. "You know, if you hadn't used that voice, I just might have believed you."

  Maitland grinned. "The definition of dysfunctional in the dictionary needs to say, 'see Faeries'. Oh! I see our guests have topped the hill."

  "Time to earn our outrageous reputations, I guess," Chad said, giving one last look around.

  "Until next time, right?"

  Smiling, Chad nodded again and climbed down out of the tower. Its primary purpose was to hold cameras to view the battlefield, not to give the enemy a nice, clear shot at the opposing generals. Heading away from the wall, he made his way to his local command post. Nodding to the guards by the door, he went inside, while Maitland got in a Humvee and got a ride to his, which was further to the north. Roloff currently had the post to the south.

  "What's the status on our Air Force gunships?" Chad asked as he moved to the map table while checking the monitors. They had drones circling off in the distance, which would also move closer, once the shelling stopped.

  "They just took up station to the south of us. They'll move in once it's safe," one of his techs said.

  "Great." Chad looked at the monitors showing the hillside again. "Tell the arty guys to cease fire. Once they respond, tell the Marines to start their attack run."

  "Yes, Sir!"

  "Worried?" Max asked, coming over to him.

  "Not really. I was expecting a much larger attacking force. I guess they just got impatient and couldn't wait to get overwhelming numbers."

  "Maybe they don't want us intercepting the groups marching off to the other cities?"

  "That's not my problem, honestly. Also, with all the air strikes they'll be open to along the way, those cities will have a much easier time of it than we are."

  Max nodded in agreement. "I can't believe we have three more years of this. Makes you wonder what'll be left when it's all over, doesn't it?"

  Chad nodded slowly and, leaning over, he gave his wife a hug. "We're seeing the end of the world as we know it. It'll take centuries to come back from this, to get rid of them."

  "Assuming we win."

  "Of course we'll win, woman! I'm in charge! How can you even doubt me?" Chad said, smiling.

  "You're right of course," Max said, back leaning into him.

  "Marines are starting their attack run, Sir! The Air Force gunships are moving into position!"

  "Great. Now let's see how it goes," Chad said and, releasing Max, watched the monitors. The twelve Marine attack jets came through, low and fast, making it hard for anyone on the ground to target them as they released bomb after bomb, in sequence. Each bomb was filled with napalm, sending huge waves of fire through the demons as they exploded.

  All twelve aircraft then banked up, flew around the back of the city, and out of sight, heading back to the airport to be loaded up for a second sortie, while the gunships moved up and poured gunfire down onto the enemy from a much higher altitude. Chad was a lot more worried about the gunships than the attack jets. He'd had magic users casting protection spells on them for the last two days, and there was a mage in each plane working to keep those spells active. The gunships didn't move fast and had to orbit the battlefield to be effective, and that made them targets to the djevels and their magic users on the ground below.

  "Tell the ground units to fire at will," Chad said, and then watched the resulting mayhem. The djevels were all very much afraid of fire and would run from it, and gave the fires, which were mostly made up of dead or dying djevels, a wide birth. But they seemed not to understand gunfire at all, often continuing to run into fire that was cutting them down like a field of wheat with no fear at all.

  So far things were going exactly to plan, which meant he was obviously missing something important. But djevels were dying in the same numbers as last time, which was good.

  "Gunship two is reporting an engine out, Sir. They're asking permission to return to base.

  "Yeah, tell them to get out of there. How is the other one doing?"

  "They're running low on ammunition, Sir. They estimate five more minutes."

  Chad nodded to himself and looked at his watch. The loiter time on the gunships was supposed to be twenty minutes; he was surprised to see almost fifteen had gone by.

  "How much longer until the Marines are loaded for another pass?"

  "They should be off and lining up in four minutes, Sir."

  "Great, the moment they're ready to begin their pass, tell the remaining gunship to cease fire and return to base."

  Chad switched his monitor over to one of the high-altitude drones that was giving him surveillance images. He could see the enemy army was backing up behind the hills, their advance having been slowed by the napalm and the gunships.

  "Order the Marines to take track two!" he called out.

  "Yes, Sir!"

  Chad watched the army's movements, trying to figure out where along his defenses they'd try their luck first. If they were smart, they would just march around the city and take it from behind. The defenses back there were weak by comparison.

  He heard the tech order the gunship off and then pass the order for the Marines to start their run. Track two ran over the back of the hills, so their napalm should light up all those djevel troops hiding back there, all packed together and presenting a nice, tempting target.

  He was watching the planes flying down the small valley in real time, and just as they came around to start their run over the enemy, the first plane disintegrated, looking for all the world as if it had hit a wall as all the fuel and the napalm suddenly went off in a huge explosion that splattered out from what must have been a magical shield. The aircraft immediately behind him jinked hard to the left, trying to miss the expanding fireball, the pilot immediately dumping all his stores as he pointed his jet back towards Reno.

  The explosion of the first jet must have been enough to destroy whatever force wall was there, as all the rest went through and, surprisingly to Chad at least, dropped all their bombs on target, starting a huge fire among the densely packed troops.

  The plane heading back to the city was apparently not going to make it, sinking lower and lower towards the ground as it approached the city wall. Just before it hit the gro
und, the pilot punched out, and his jet plowed into an old brick building and exploded.

  "Tell our snipers to give the pilot whatever covering fire they can!" Chad called out. "And tell the Marines to switch to laser-guided bombs and standoff attacks."

  "Yes, Sir!"

  "Think he'll make it?" Max asked.

  "Not my problem anymore," Chad said. "Now, let's get our people ready to go out there and fight."

  Adam was standing there with his 'team'. All the survivors from the early days of the fight, when he used to fly in by helicopter, were there. He also had about five hundred Marines who looked like they couldn't wait to get out there and kill something, and another five hundred werewolves from Claudia's pack that mostly looked bored.

  Adam honestly wasn't sure which group had seen more combat; there weren't any virgins in this group. But everyone reacted in their own way. He knew the plan—well, the general plan that is. The second pass of the Marines apparently hadn't gone as well as it should because one of the jets came their way and crashed about a quarter mile away. Someone said the pilot got out, but with all the djevels running around out there, that didn't mean much.

  The order to prepare came over the command circuit on his headset. Standing up and stretching, Adam turned to face his troops.

  "Okay, you goons! Do you wanna live forever? Because I gotta tell ya, it's fookin' boring! So get up off your asses and let's go make this a party!" Adam yelled out at the top of his lungs. The wolves started laughing as they got up and readied their gear, while the Marines, who were mostly big cats, looked at him like he was crazy.

  But they still got their gear ready, too.

  Adam checked his armor quickly, then his supply of magazines, charged his M-16—a definite improvement over the AR he'd been using up until now—and walked up to the front of his men as the people manning the gate prepared to open it.

  The signal to attack came, and the gates opened immediately.

  "Attack!" Adam yelled, then keying his radio, he called out, "Attack, attack, attack!" as he charged out through the gates with all his troops hot on his heels. There were only a couple hundred yards separating him from the enemy, so he fired in three round bursts from the hip as he moved forward, making sure to swing his aim from side to side as he did so. This close in, he could hardly miss.