The Crimson Deathbringer

by Sean Robins

  He was right. We didn’t have to die today. I could order the fleet to turn around and go back to Winterfell. Then we could get on the Fireflies and go to Kanoor, joining forces with the Akaki fleet. Live to fight another day.

  As the commander of the fleet, my first responsibility was protecting the people under my command. Would I be a good commander if I ushered them to their demise? And what difference would it make? Our death wouldn’t change anything. Maada would kill us all and then do whatever he damned pleased with our ground forces and the rest of humanity.

  All I needed to do was to leave Kurt and his Commandos in or around SH-1 to die. On top of Liz, the three thousand pilots who died in Maada’s ambush, the seven hundred million humans, and everyone else I’d failed to protect. I had enough guilt for five lifetimes.

  I opened a channel to my people. “Let’s go save the planet. And for my pièce de résistance…”

  I touched a VR screen, and Ride of the Valkyries boomed in all the Vipers’ cockpits. I could imagine Liz rolling her eyes.

  I flew in to meet the enemy fleet, leading the seven thousand man and women under my command to certain death.

  “On the bright side, this probably means you’ll join Liz sooner than later,” said Venom.

  “Yeah. Tonight we will dine in hell,” I said. “I sure hope they don’t let you in though.”

  SH-1 - 21. 25 EST

  Feeling veins pulsing in his neck, Maada was so mad he entertained the idea of removing his flight helmet and chewing on his cockpit equipment.

  Despite all his precautions, and for the second time in just a few months, the enemy had managed to wipe out a big chunk of his fleet on the ground before they even got the chance to fly to battle. The sight of their own laser turrets shooting at the fleet they were supposed to protect was the worst thing he had ever endured in his life.

  From the forty thousand space fighters under his command when they entered the orbit of this fucking planet just a few short months ago, now only fifteen thousand remained. Mushgaana was dead, and even worse, their space communication center, SFD and the Voice of God controls were all gone.

  The Earth invasion had been a complete failure. Without the Voice of God, there was no way one million Xortaags could hold onto Earth against ten billion humans. Hell, the two hundred thousand humans he had tasked with protecting the city were probably enough to wipe out all the Xortaags. And without the space communication and the SFD, they were trapped here and had nowhere to go.

  Everything he had achieved is a lifetime of military campaign was decimated in less than five minutes. History would not remember him as the conqueror of the galaxy but as the fool who lost everything on a stupid backwater planet.

  His hands were shaking so hard it was difficult to control his Deathbringer.

  The humans were done. If the Xortaags could not have Earth, neither could the humans. He would massacre every last human and make their planet uninhabitable. Let it be a lesson for all the other species who might be tempted to make an alliance with the Akakies against his people.

  First things first though. The enemy fleet had been spotted approaching the city. They would be the first ones to taste his wrath. Feeling his blood boiling, he led the remainder of his fleet towards the enemy.

  SH-1 - 21.45 EST

  Breathing laboriously, Kurt stopped running, shot a Xortaag following his team, and started running again.

  It’d begun to rain, which made both running and shooting more difficult.

  He repeated the stop-shoot-run sequence thirty seconds later. His situation was getting increasingly desperate.

  Kurt’s first plan was to make a beeline for the river where the Commandos had hidden their diving suits, but they ran into a Xortaag patrol on their way to the river. Then he decided to push towards the city borders, hoping to unite with human forces battling the Xortaags. The Xortaags had blocked their communications, and without Tarq’s help, avoiding them had become impossible.

  Urban warfare was the Commandos’ specialty. They were much better armed, had armor, and used military rounds that could go through a cement wall and kill the man hiding behind it. Most Xortaags in this part of the city weren’t even real soldiers; they were engineers, electricians, and foremen carrying sidearms. But there were just too fucking many of them, and they outnumbered Kurt’s team a hundred to one.

  With two new Xortaags showing up for each one the Commandoes killed, Kurt thought, it’s beginning to feel like fighting Hydra.

  Sergei, shooting with one hand and helping an injured Commando move with the other, said, “This looks bad.”

  Oksana said, “Dah!” and threw a grenade inside a building where several Xortaags were shooting at them. An explosion made pieces of stone, dust and body parts fly out of the building.

  “Got any bright ideas?” Sergei asked Kurt.

  Wiping beads of sweat on his forehead, Kurt said, “Yeah. Don’t get shot.”

  “I always knew there’s reason everyone thinks you’re a military genius,” said Sergei.

  This must be how Colonel Faulkner felt towards the end, Kurt thought, shooting at a group of Xortaags who had just appeared behind them.

  I was engaged in a dogfight with a Deathbringer when Josef called me. “We found him.”

  There was no need to ask who “him” was.

  I tried a new tactic I had thought up recently: I shot at the enemy ship with my laser cannons, targeting the right side of the space fighter. Trying to avoid the laser bolts, the pilot snapped to the left, straight into the path of one of the two Sparrows I had released five seconds ago.

  I thrust my fists in the air and shouted, “Alpha Mike Foxtrot!”

  How I loved fighter pilot jargons! Only we fighter pilots could pack so much emotion into such a short phrase.

  I firewalled my Viper and made a beeline to the coordinates Josef had just sent me.

  I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.

  Sometimes I just couldn’t help myself.

  I found Maada’s red Deathbringer fighting three Vipers. Several enemy ships were flying or just hovering close by, protecting their commander. I was certain they were doing that on their own initiative. Maada struck me as a man confident enough to tackle a hundred enemy ships on his own without thinking about it twice.

  I thought about joining the fight, and I froze.

  Again!

  I touched my wedding ring around my neck. When the cold metal met my hand, I saw Liz putting it on my finger. I saw her as clearly as on our wedding day, the form-fitting white satin dress setting off her smooth dark skin as she flashed her dazzling smile. She was looking directly at me, her deep brown-drizzled-with-gold eyes full of joy and passion. She was the love of my life, taken from this world in her prime. There were two people on this earth responsible for her death: Maada and me, and by God, one of us would pay today.

  I dived in before I could change my mind. Two Deathbringers moved to intercept me. My cannons roared to life. I fired dead center bursts into the bandits. They both lit up like enormous candles.

  One of the Vipers fighting Maada exploded into flames.

  I heard Josef’s voice. “Good timing, boss. We could sure use your help.”

  I flew in, shooting my remaining two Sparrows and firing the laser cannons at the same time. Maada saw me coming, wildly twisted his ship, steered clear of the missiles, and started shooting back. His laser bolts missed my fighter by a few inches.

  And then, I had an incoming message from the devil himself. Maada said in my earphones, “Colonel Harrison, welcome to my party.”

  “You mean your funeral, General,” I corrected him.

  “Such confidence. Did you not run away in a straight line as fast as you could the last time we met?” he taunted me.

  Jerking the stick hard left to avoid his incoming fire, I felt my face and ears start burning, and the muscles around my mouth became so tense my teeth started to ache. I wanted to shout, “You mother-fucking son
of an alien whore!” but I bit my tongue. That wouldn’t have been very dignified, and I didn’t want him to know he had gotten under my skin. Still, hatred poured through me like white-hot liquid metal. Intense, implacable hatred for the general who had killed Liz, who was responsible for the death of half of our pilots and countless others, who would murder every single human on Earth given the opportunity.

  I pulled up and to the right, and for a glorious second managed to get him dead center in my gunsight. I pulled the trigger. Maada snapped to the left and dodged my laser bolts. I stayed on him like glue, trying to get him back in my gunsight, trying harder not to get killed.

  “So, no comebacks? He walks all over us and gets away with it?” said Venom.

  We couldn’t have that. I hated it when others had the last word. Still following the crimson Deathbringer, I contacted Maada. “General, what we have here is a failure to communicate.”

  “Seriously?” said Venom, filling in for Liz.

  “How so?” he asked.

  I could bring my gunsight right up to his fighter, but I couldn’t get it on the Deathbringer. I kept trying to get a clean shot. My finger poised on the trigger, I said through clenched teeth, “You seem to think you have the upper hand here, sitting in that obsolete piece of junk you’re flying. You’re wrong. We have destroyed your precious city. You’ve got nowhere to go.”

  Maada rolled and put his fighter in a sharp curve. “I still have enough firepower to scorch Earth several times over. I will rain fire on Earth until ninety percent of humanity is slaughtered, then I will land and kill the rest up close and personal.”

  That was it. “You mother-fucking son of an alien whore!” I yelled and pulled the trigger, missing him by a mile.

  Winterfell - 22.05 EST

  Biting his fingers, Tarq thought, we are going to lose.

  The battle on the ground was going as well as could have been expected. The human forces, despite the Xortaags’ numerical advantage, had the upper hand. The Xortaags’ remaining laser turrets had easily shot down their choppers, but they still had armored cars, light artillery, and shoulder-fired missiles, for which the Xortaags had no answer. Not to mention Matias’s tank battalions that were freely moving in the city, massacring the Xortaags by hundreds.

  The more important battle, the one raging in the sky above the city, was a totally different matter.

  The fleet had already lost a couple of thousand space fighters. They had inflicted slightly higher casualties on the Xortaags, but that wasn’t enough. And after this was over, Maada would not leave a blade of grass standing on Earth.

  Tarq could not have another ten billion deaths on his conscience. If we lose this battle, I must kill myself, and since I am too much of a pussy to actually do it, I will have to program MICI to make me commit suicide.

  Tarq asked Barook to open a channel to the enemy fleet. A few moments later said, “My name is Commander Tarq, head of the Akaki Special Operations Force. It gives me extreme pleasure to let you know you have fallen into the trap I had carefully laid for you.”

  He took a breath and continued, “By now, you all know you have lost. We have destroyed your space communication center and your SFD. Your city is surrounded by our forces, and it will fall in the next couple of hours. We have already demolished your fleet base and all your support facilities. More importantly, with your so-called Voice-of-God-My-Ass gone, there are now ten billion humans on Earth screaming for your blood. I am well aware of your fleet’s capabilities, but the fact of the matter is you cannot remain airborne forever. In a few days, your energy reserves will be depleted, and you will have to land. Regardless of what happens to the humans, I promise you this: We Akakies will hunt down every last one of you, and I will personally see to it that your death is spectacularly unpleasant.”

  Tarq waited a second so that the Xortaags could ponder their dilemma. “However, if you surrender now, we will treat you well. We actually do not have a choice since you captured several thousand of my people during our last encounter. We want to arrange for a POW exchange. If you surrender, soon you will be home with your friends and families. The choice is yours. Make a wise one.”

  Barook gave him a thumbs-up. “Well said, Commander.”

  Tarq left the channel open, anxiously waiting for a response that came a few seconds later. “Fuck you!”

  It was unmistakably Maada’s voice.

  “Sorry General, but I’m married,” said Tarq. “Thanks for offering though.”

  Tarq watched in horror as Maada, as if trying to make a point, hit Jim’s Viper with a few laser bolts at that very moment. He gasped and waited for the golden space fighter to explode. A long second later, he heaved a sigh of relief when that didn’t happen.

  “Not a single Xortaag will surrender as long as this guy lives,” said Barook.

  Tarq sighed. “I know. Let’s hope someone kills him, or we are all dead.” He contacted Jim. “Your space fighter is badly damaged. Disengage and return to Winterfell.”

  “Negative. Not as long as this motherfucker is drawing breath,” Jim answered.

  Tarq had a sense of déjà vu. He had had this conversation with someone else recently. When he remembered, both his hearts skipped a beat, and a sudden coldness hit him at his core. “I had a similar conversation with Elizabeth, and you know how that ended. I am giving you a direct order. You cannot possibly overcome Maada in a damaged fighter.”

  With confidence I didn’t feel, I answered, “Watch me.”

  Cordelia yelled, “Listen, you! Get your ass back here. I can’t lose both Liz and you.”

  Touching, but I had to focus on the task at hand. I ignored them both.

  In the last twenty minutes, I had used all my flying skills and mastery of dogfighting tactics trying to shoot the crimson Deathbringer, and yet not even one of my laser bolts or missiles had landed. Josef, who was one of our most experienced fighter pilots, and the third pilot, who happened to be Peter McKinley, were not faring any better. It was like the general’s ship didn’t abide by the laws of physics. He kept making impossible twists and turns at a very high velocity, evading our fire and repeatedly hitting us in the process.

  McKinley’s Viper spiraled out of sight in flames. The poor boy probably hadn’t imagined himself coming up against the galaxy’s deadliest fighter pilot on his maiden mission. I watched his space fighter disappear in thick black clouds over SH-1, rage and guilt competing to see which one could bite off a bigger chunk of my soul.

  One more person I’d failed.

  My fighter was hit a few times. A number of warning systems were flashing furious red lights, and my Viper reacted more slowly to the stick movements. The space fighter’s computer engaged multiple damage control and repair systems. Still, I had to fight my equipment just to stay in the battle. I put both my hands on the stick, trying to steady it and get my space fighter under control.

  I thought I faintly smelled smoke, even though I was wearing my oxygen mask.

  This can’t possibly be good!

  And if Maada were in any real danger, all those Deathbringers around us wouldn’t stay there and watch.

  Josef said, “Boss, I—”

  I never found out what he wanted to say. His Viper exploded with such force that the shockwave shook me inside my cockpit. The silver space fighter was completely obliterated. Maada must have hit her engine.

  Up to this moment, I still had hope, just a tiny snowflake against the warm summer wind. With Josef gone, utter, profound despair washed over me, hurting so badly I felt what was in my veins now wasn’t blood but molten lava.

  Josef had two beautiful little children whose pictures he used to show us any chance he got. But I had more important things to worry about than my old friend and his now-orphaned kids. We were all doomed. It was like our last battle all over again. They had two space fighters for every one of ours, and I had already lost more than a third of the Vipers under my command. Our pilots hadn’t died cheaply. The enemy had lost at least
one space fighter for every one of ours, but when the enemy fleet has twice as many ships as you, inflicting one-on-one casualties doesn’t win the battle.

  Terror came on the heel of hopelessness and made me shudder inside my temperature-controlled flight suit. Terror of failure. Terror of losing the battle. Terror of being singlehandedly responsible for the death of every man, woman, and child on the planet.

  Sweat drenched my skin, and I found it difficult to breathe.

  Our only way out of this was to break the Xortaags’ resistance by killing Maada. Talk about doing the impossible. The guy was invincible. There was a reason he was a living legend in the galaxy. Tarq once had told me parents all across the known universe scared their children by telling them if they didn’t behave Maada would take them. I’d wondered if he was serious but didn’t wonder anymore.

  Here I was again on the verge of certain death, and my brain kept itself busy by pulling up nonsensical memories. It had to be some sort of defense mechanism to distract me from thinking about my impending demise. Anything not to face the truth.

  Venom chose this moment to stick his ugly nose out. “Let me get this straight: As the commander of the fleet, you led your forces to three battles and got everyone killed in two of those. Well done! You make General Custer look good.”

  Bugger off, you useless parasite!

  If I were going down, taking humanity down with me, I’d go down fighting. I raised my chin and kept trying to lock on Maada’s Deathbringer. Grinding my teeth so hard the sour taste of blood filled my mouth, I made my Tango Uniform Viper twist and dodge wildly, barely escaping death every second.

  What do we say to the Lord of Death? Not fucking today!

  “Syrio Forel and his wooden sword would’ve had the same chance of survival against Maada as you do,” said Venom, “especially in a damaged Viper, with no missiles left.”

  I wished Dr. James could’ve seen me right now.