by Alex Guerra
“Sounds like quite the mistake,” I admitted.
“Yes. Once we discovered that other species could be so dangerous, we had to… improvise,” it said, bobbing its "head" in recollection.
“How so?” I asked.
“We started off with non-lethal options such as mild poisons, traps, and other ways to subdue the hostile inhabitants. We would wait until they were calm enough to begin speaking, then we would interrogate.”
“How did they not see this as a conquest?” I asked.
“We thought about this and we made sure to maintain their physical and mental health. We treated them fairly and never with malice or torture. We are a peaceful race, Arthur. We meant them no harm,” said Bob, trying to sway me from any preconceptions I may have been forming.
“How did that turn out?” I asked, half-heartedly.
“They offered us very little information or willingness to cooperate. We proceeded with gestures of good faith, but it did not help our cause. There came a breaking point, and the inhabitants began attacking our expeditionary ships. There were many casualties. We immediately freed those who were in our possession and regrouped with our ships.
“After retreating to one of the nearby planets, we sent word back to our homeworld with the news. We understood that taking life was wrong. Even when restricted to our own planet, when we sought nourishment from the wildlife, something did not feel right about killing a living being. We became herbivores very early on,” said Bob.
I briefly wondered if I could ever give up meat but shivered at the idea. I liked my steak way too much to go full on vegan or vegetarian.
“We understood that we did not know everything about the universe. Because we never faced another species with such hostility before, we needed to take a new approach,” the creature said in an ominous tone. Bob continued to run a tentacle over its head area with a wet and slick sound.
“Why didn’t your people abandon the need to go to that specific world then? Why not go somewhere else?” I asked. “It seemed pretty obvious that they didn’t want anything to do with you.”
“We are not ones to give up easily, but more importantly, we are very curious. We wanted to spread peace, but because it was the first hostile race we encountered, we believed their violence to be a problem we needed to solve. A kind of puzzle, if you will...” it said. “We hoped it would better prepare us for future encounters with similar species, should we stumble across them.”
I leaned against the wall and waited, as Bob recounted the history. I continuously eyed the blaster that hung from a belt that was half sunken into Bob’s body.
“At first, we took our mining lasers and made them portable for those who would encounter the inhabitants next time. These were our first weapons and rather primitive. A few years later, we returned in force with a newly christened regiment of troopers, the first in the history of our people.
“When we went back to the planet, we attempted one last time at a chance for a peaceful resolution, but as you probably already guessed, it did not turn out that way. We used the correct amount of force against their armies. Our troops were all volunteers, those of us with the will and fortitude to carry out such actions. When it was over, the inhabitants agreed to surrender and begin the peace talks. Those who witnessed the carnage were never quite the same. Often feeling shame or suffering mental anguish,” it said as it patted a tentacle against its body.
“We may be from different parts of the galaxy, but you’re right. While killing is not something any of us want to do, it is sometimes the only option we have,” I added. “So, are you telling me you are now willing to use those when the time comes?” I gestured to the weapons.
“I have already, plenty of times. I fight for something that’s much larger than any of us. My people waged wars with species many millennia ago. We have grown accustomed to war. I grieve for those whose lives I’ve ended during my existence, but I cannot stand by and do nothing while there is a higher calling for action. I will confront the Great One for my transgressions the day I expire,” said Bob, reflecting.
“That’s a lot to take in. You seem like a genuinely good person. I hope that when the time comes, you truly find peace. I can only hope that this fighting ends before too long. Either way, I’ll have your back” I offered to the being, but somehow, I knew that this was only the beginning.
“Thank you, and I will assist you to the best of my abilities when the time comes, should we meet on the battlefield” it replied.
All this talk of home kept bringing me back to thoughts of my home. My house out in the Colorado woods, my truck stuck in a ditch, its door still open. I was pretty sure I left my house open as well, come to think of it. The uncertainty kept nagging at me. There was a lot of time to do nothing but think out here. Considering that a spaceship crashed in my front yard, I was positive that the government was most likely swarming all over the property. I may even be a person of interest.
What kind of excuse could I have to integrate back into society? I thought about my friends and family often. How could I even explain what I went through without looking like someone who’s lost their mind? I know I wouldn’t believe me. Would I ever be able to return to any sort of normal life back home? I was grateful that I didn’t have a family of my own or a pet who was waiting around.
I slid down the wall and sank my face into my hands, staying in that quiet position for a while.
“Art,” a voice said nearby.
I looked up from my self-induced stress to find Seya looking down at me slumped against the wall.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, thinking about home is all,” I said.
“Homesick?” she asked.
“Sort of, but I’m alright,” I got up and walked with her. “See ya later,” I waved a hand at Bob the blob and It shook a tentacle back in my direction.
“Making friends?” Seya asked.
“Well, trying to anyway. That would be the first real success I’ve had,” I nodded over my shoulder. “So, do you get homesick, princess?” I asked, unable to stop myself from using the title at least once, just to mess with her.
“No, I don’t. And I’m no princess. Back in the empire, my parents were never around. They were always traveling, while I stayed home. There were only a handful of people who were there to teach or act as regent while my parents were gone. Other than that, the automated servants took care of most of my needs, acting as parental role-models, better than my own parents ever could. I only had my brother, Ibram, and we certainly didn't have a traditional childhood. At least, not compared to anything I've seen since becoming an adult,” she reminisced.
“Robots raised you? No wonder you’re such a rebel,” I jabbed, in an effort to lighten the mood.
She smiled, pushing the notion aside gracefully. “The thing is, I didn’t resent my parents for never being there for me. My parents taught me early on that as reigning monarchs, their duty to the people was more important than their duty to me, and I accepted that. I only began hating them once I became old enough to learn that they continued to sell out countless worlds by remaining subjects to the Vael Empire. It's been hundreds of years now, and while my parents didn't hand over the worlds themselves, they might as well have. After all this time, they’re still standing idly by, watching, when they should be doing something to help their people. Instead of having the courage to stand and fight for our own freedom and others’, they remain complacent and subservient,” she said, beginning to ball her fists.
“I was sixteen when I left my home and renounced my title. My younger brother, Ibram, begged me not to leave, but I couldn’t stay any longer. I wanted nothing more than to take him with me, but at just nine-years-old, he was too young for that kind of a journey. Before I decided to leave, food lost all taste, and music could no longer move me. The pleasantries I was born into, now filled me with disgust. The dynasty has thrived for hundreds of years at the expense of the misery of others,” she said with
a disgusted look on her face.
I could tell she hadn’t brought this up to many people as she was so tense, she was nearly shaking at the thought. “What happened to your brother; did you ever see him again?”
“No, that was the last time I saw him. I am not sure if it was because he saw me as a traitor or because he just couldn’t handle it. I had hoped that he would follow me when he was a bit older, but…” she trailed off.
“Does it bother you that some of the people you fight may be your former compatriots?” I asked.
“The empire only allows its people to pursue personal goals after having spent just over three years in the military. I try not to think about those we fight. How they are young and innocent men and women, and that doesn’t just go for the purebloods. Conscripts of the empire, their only choice being to serve their time and hope to return to some semblance of their normal lives. No one chooses to fight for the Darkkon Empire, Art," she said, stopping to look at me. "But everyone has a choice, even it means breaking tradition or the law. Or in my case, turning your back on an entire empire. Some people aren't strong or foolish enough to go with their heart."
I didn't know what to say to something like that. What do you say? She did something I could never do. Her people were like me, thrown in a situation they couldn't back out of. The only move was forward. Not wanting to seem distracted, I gave her a thoughtful nod.
“I need to relax, care to join me at the range?” she asked, wanting to blow off steam.
“You got it,” I said, following her and starting to feel very sorry for those targets.
EIGHT
The day was here.
The sun receded over the horizon. The sky was set ablaze with red and purple hues. I knew that the city was about to come alive, not with nightlife, but with screams and gunfire. Luckily, most patrons and shops were beginning to close, as Nura said they would, with only a few staying open or preparing for the evening shift. The conglomerate did their best to tell those they could to clear out of the city for the night. It would make little difference now if a few of the imperials found out. They wouldn’t be able to warn everyone in time. Still, we pressed on with a purpose.
Teams were sent out across the huge city of Gwei-yon to target objectives one-by-one, sending discrete signals back to base. Seya and I went out with a team of a dozen strong—all of us well armed and ready for the coming battle. We moved in groups of two through the city streets, scattered enough to not draw attention to the guerilla force, our cloaks hiding the long rifles and munitions we carried. Only a few personnel remained in the hidden base to stay in contact with the reserve fleet with the use of small skip drones. The rest of Tudok’s conglomerate troopers were out in full force within the city.
Commander Nura even led his own team to take an objective as well. I was glad to see he was not someone who felt leading an attack from the rear was an option. There was a delay of about seventeen minutes with the use of skip drones to send and receive communications with the fleet, should things go south. If one of the higher officers sent word back to base requesting help, we would have to hold out for the entirety of those seventeen minutes or more, before receiving any help. Of course, my experience back on Earth taught me that even a few minutes felt like a lifetime when you were in a firefight. I hoped we didn’t have to resort to that option.
We reached our destination just as night fell upon the city. Glancing up at the night sky, it was the first time I realized there were now white and yellow flecks of stars arrayed in foreign patterns upon the black canvas above, replacing the constellations I grew up with. The dim lighting of the city offered us a magnificent view of the spectacle, a clear reminder that I was no longer on Earth, had the city and aliens around me not been enough evidence already.
There was perfect timing with the mission, so we didn’t encounter any patrols as they switched out with the much lighter night guard. Our team’s objective was one of eight weapons depots in the city. We were to secure the weapons within the compound, bolstering our firepower.
The primary mission was to secure the weapons and ammo while trying to capture any vehicles. They would destroy all vehicles they couldn’t claim, so they would be useless to the imperial forces.
One of our team members radioed back to base. “Hey, were you planning on meeting us for a drink? We’re already here,” he turned to us after a moment and then gave a nod.
We set up at an intersection of shops and restaurants. Parked to the sides of the littered street, were strange civilian vehicles. We were doing our best to blend in and not lose the element of surprise. I looked beyond the walls below at our target—a dark gray, windowless building inside a pentagon-shaped compound with five guard towers flanking it and about a dozen soldiers. Several of those soldiers sat outside eating meals, stood around talking, and some were even laughing, from what I could tell through Dotty’s interpretation.
The night vision my helmet provided here was an unparalleled alternative to anything back home. Where night vision goggles showed the world in an emerald hue, my helmet probed the darkness with ease—like seeing everything on an overcast day. Zooming in on the main building, there was one main double-doored entrance and at least one smaller door along the side. My HUD displayed the markers in a faint light to not obstruct my view.
A yellow dot in the corner of my HUD pulsed in slow anticipation. The squad leader—a top-heavy being named Norto—nodded to a lanky squad member, with arms that nearly reached its dog-legged shins. Holding a long slender rifle, it looked towards a tall flimsy building like a Brazilian favela and then took off towards it in a gorilla type gait. Moments later, it scaled the side of the building in effortless silence—one large hand gripping the rifle at its side, the other pulling its entire weight up to the top in a few grabs.
Once the creature was in position, a faint “3” on my HUD popped into existence and signaled it was ready for their next orders.
With the creature providing overwatch, we moved onto the next phase. Another squad member pulled a device the size of a cell phone out of their pack and hobbled over to the wall with its short legs. It placed the device onto the outer wall of the compound, flicking a switch. Multiple wires radiated out from the device with a quick burst. Small audible clicks sounded off, as its prongs latched onto the wall around it, forming a spiderweb of a breach charge. The stout alien gave us a large, razor-sharp grin in approval.
The high wall concealed us, preventing the soldiers from knowing our presence. Their soldiers, unopposed for so long, didn’t seem to fear an attack and were almost complacent. Tonight, the narrative would change.
The squad leader sent a message to command that we were in position and standing by for their word. We would go in, sweep the courtyard of the compound, infiltrate the building and secure the weapons in a flash. The longer we took to make it to the building, the higher the chance the soldiers had to repel the attack. They outnumbered us a few times over, so we needed the element of surprise and speed to win this.
Seya would be next to me the entire time. Despite serving in the war, it was not anytime recently. It was time to put all that extra training to work. I put my trust in the guidance of the squad and Dotty to get me through the next hour few hours.
Formed up on either side of the breach, with weapons drawn, made me feel more anxious with each passing minute. There were still civilians walking around. Anytime one got close enough to see our group, their eyes went wide, as they ran, crawled, scuttled, or flew away. It would only take one of them to give us up to the soldiers or contact the empire. The wait took forever as if we were stuck in limbo. I never wanted to charge through a breach more, than at that moment.
Norto clicked a signal to the trooper marked with the number 3 on overwatch to begin engaging. A click replied, their icon a solid red dot over their number. It picked off targets of opportunity, starting with soldiers in the watchtowers. I couldn’t hear the shots at first, the rifle bucking in its long gangly arms—somet
imes twice in rapid succession. All I managed to pick up was a small hissing sound when downwind. We only had seconds before someone would spot the guards who were sniped, alerting the others. The marksman gave us the go-ahead and we breached the wall.
The device, with its volatile wires, lit up, punching a hole through the thick wall with a satisfying bang. A hole, six feet in diameter supplied us a portal to enter. As we filed through at a brisk pace, dust and debris spread out from the hole and into the courtyard. I slipped through the gap right behind Seya, who was the third one in line.
Inside the compound, fire erupted and the battle came in staccato bursts. The squad dropped most of the guards on the way to the building. Someone from our team cut down the last few remaining soldiers who were looking around in wide-eyed terror. At times, you could hear a hiss if you were to listen close enough between the brief pauses of gunfire, and then, a fist-sized hole opened from a soldier’s body without the slightest inclination as to where it came from—our lanky marksman no doubt.
Two of the squad members ran over to the barracks and shouted inside the entrance. Gunfire responded and hit one in the arm. They unloaded their weapons into the dwelling and finished it off with a grenade, moving with speed onto another part of the compound as the barracks exploded in a muffled blast.
A few of us engaged the few remaining soldiers in the open, using one of their vehicles for cover as they hid behind supply crates.
One soldier was being too predictable and kept sticking its face out from the same spot to engage us again and again. I waited for the next opportunity and placed a round through the enemy’s cheek.
We pressed in and finished off the rest before proceeding.
Sprinting over to the target building, some of the squad members hung back to cover our flanks.
We piled up against the southern wall when I took notice of the entire city erupting with gunfire and explosions. Towers of fire and smoke rose into the sky all around us with the other conglomerate squads assaulting in unison.
