by Marcus Sloss
“I have command. For the community!” Jevon replied sternly. “Secure the docks.”
Since I went overboard on the last mission I let Jevon lead this one from the start. In all likelihood, I would be needed for negotiation or hard decisions that were not battle-related. My ability to be flexible was needed; at least I told myself that. The reality was I wanted to shoot, kill, and destroy because being a commander only had so many thrilling moments.
Willow keyed up a fleet-wide transmission and said, “Operation Dock-Day is a go.”
That was the cue.
There was no turning back now.
I went to the view screen to watch the battle unfold before me. My hands rested on the shelf while I glared down at the might of the Bastion Community going to war.
Converted sleds surged forward ahead of the fleet. AH1 and AH2 were right behind them. AC1 followed having no problem keeping up even with its monstrosity size.
The water transitioned into a rocky shore with the drop back of a massive city that rapidly grew as we neared. Our fleet approached silently without any indication of our intentions. That was about to change.
A glance at the command wall showed targeting systems locking onto indicated warehouses. The long structures were a few blocks east of the dock and we needed them to be reduced to create a landing zone. Blue orbs illuminated the fading sunlight applying brightness to the skyline. The firing was minimal and precise against targets easily destroyed.
The enemy was confused. The Xgate’s portals had gone blank and an incoming armada was charging in aggressively. Their hesitation was only momentary as blue returning fire smashed into a lead AS-69. The damage caused the sled to spin before crashing into a grocery store. A fraction of a second later only a few tanks ejected off the platform before it exploded in a growing mushroom cloud.
AS-69s landed in the place of the old warehouses. Their downward pressure compressed whatever remains that the initial fire did not eliminate. TP-63s sped off their aircraft sleds to secure the docks. The light tanks weaved into buildings for cover while firing effectively into the minotaur infantry.
Octosuits crab-walked off the landing platforms to join our growing army assaulting the city. When the AS-69s picked up off the rubble, AC1 came in. This was the defining moment of the battle. When AC1 shifted to the point its ramps smacked into the streets below, I knew we had won.
TG-99s spewed out of the aircraft carrier by the hundreds. Their landing was unopposed as the enemy was mostly sleeping before a long day of fighting. There was a cheer in the command room as the exterior bloomed with blue fire of our invading army. We had done it, the enemy had been surprised. Now it was time to make them pay.
The barge out in the ocean was stationary in shock. The city's defenders were exposed and vulnerable. A weakness we had planned for and would use ruthlessly to win.
The minotaur housing, the siren hotel with excessive pools, and even Jarod’s headquarters were targeted with focused fire. Echoing sounds of buildings ripping apart forced me to decrease the sound setting on my earplugs.
Mighty orbs slammed into the targets with a dazzling shimmer of our fire power on display. Key structures imploded from the damage sending shock and debris waves.
The tanks never slowed from expanding or from leaving AC1. Our intelligence was too thorough. We knew every holdout, every sniper perch, and every barracks being used. There was no desire for a surrendered foe here. Utter defeat was all we were offering.
My eyes watched Jevon micro managing the battle. The back wall showed our forces spreading in a ring of destruction. The docks were secured already with the loot being chucked off the barges and onto dry land.
Most of the enemy infantry were caught on a break in their barracks. The destructive nitrogen never gave them a chance. The sirens relaxing in their massive hotel were dead when their building collapsed. A few had jumped down from high floors desperate to escape in time. They did not survive the gravity fed fall. The dead littered the streets and the toppled towers spread their rubble over the city.
I let out a long sigh of relief when our forces secured the human compound that was stuffed full with prisoners. They were in squalor conditions but alive, their mind control was minor and we could reintegrate them with time. There was always a chance they were killed in the crossfire, it was predicted as a high probability and I was happy we freed them before any tragedy befell those poor souls.
“I have a call coming in from an Orinia,” Sammie said, distracting me from the fight. My face twisted in confusion. That was not a name I knew. “Ah, I think that is Jane’s true name. Yes, it is Jane.”
There were only a few outposts left and the main threat which was the command group with its aqua suits. Jevon caught my inspection, smiled widely with a flash of bright white teeth, and threw me a proud thumbs up. I returned his smile before arriving at the communications station.
I was on a video call. Jarod was on the ground stirring, the mighty warrior yet again fallen prey to the evil ways of the sirens. The woman we tagged Meredith was dead. Her true name was Balinda of New Zealand. Spouse of Henry Corvil. Her fate was a tragic one by the fact half her face was missing. My frown at Orinia only grew deeper when she started ordering her enhanced troops into the water.
“This is King Eric, it is nice to finally meet you, Jill,” I said and Jarod stirred from the sound of the name.
This immediately threw the siren for a loop. She scanned her surroundings with confusion. Her eyes locked to a drone Peterson was flying. A dozen shots later and the drone still lived.
“I fucking hate these land based weapons!” the siren with many names shouted.
“You wanted to talk?” I asked. “Not sure why.”
“I am not Jill,” the siren Jarod called Jane said in a haughty tone. “Call me Orinia. I was about to…”
I interrupted and said, “Orinia it is, I guess. I do prefer Jill though, Jill and Mary. You see I’m… oh look he is reacting. Almost like he remembers you’re a filthy alien who warped his mind.”
Orinia paused, crashing down onto Jarod who squirmed out of her arms. He plopped into the water and vanished into the depths.
“No!” She screamed in frustration. My video screen was glared at with a face scrunched in hostility. “He will be back, I have trained him too well. You will flee the city or we will destroy you.”
“Um… Does no work? I think no is a great reply here,” I said in smartass tone.
I think she realized I was probably not going to cave to any threats. “You know a lot. A lot more than spying on us in this Bay Area would have revealed.”
“Indeed,” I replied with a scoff. A glance over my shoulder showed massive amounts of loot shifting from the docks and into AC1. “So, you called for what exactly?”
“I underestimated your kind,” Orinia said, kicking the plating deck of the barge. “That idiot was right, we should have marched on Teton Fortress. Instead -”
“What was it you said? These weak and pathetic humans would never expect to be attacked during a golden portal. The irony is you gave your troops a pre-golden break before they were needed to shuffle items to the Xgates and then assault Teton Fortress,” I said and peeled out a long string of laughter. “Jarod even said to ensure you kept the troops ready. But no! You were so set on countermanding every single order he gave that you defeated yourself.”
“What do you want?” Orinia said. “Why have you not come for us or this harlot?”
“Jarod, and I think that is Mallory. Yes, that one was the cruise ship captain. She was a favorite of his,” I said, seeing the woman pouting at the barges edge desperate for Jarod. Her intense sobbing caused me to grow sad because I knew it was fake. “Oh, right. Where were we? What do I want? Nothing.”
“Huh?” She replied rapidly with confusion.
“Nothing. I got what I came for. I freed some human servants. I stole all the loot I collected and our assault resulted in -”
“Seventeen dead,
” Mitchell said from the back wall.
“Ah, see seventeen lost to take all your hard-earned loot. The minds washed will take time to fix. With the virum time is -”
“You’re stalling, find their forces and return Jarod to me. He should already have returned to my side!” Orinia said, looking around in a panic. She hissed at her fellow sirens who dove into the water searching for my hidden trap that didn’t exist. They searched the sky above and the depths below coming up empty over and over again. I shrugged when she returned her focus to our conversation. “Why are you talking with me then?”
“What do I have to lose? You’re stuck out there. I have everything I want. If I assault you on the water, I lose lives for a fraction of the loot you have freely donated. I don’t want Jarod and Mallory is not worth the others. This was never about petty revenge or eliminating a powerful enemy. This was about destroying your army and your ability to wage war on American soil.”
She smirked as if achieving a hidden victory. “You’re too scared to fight us so you let us live for now to fight another -”
An echoing boom from the distance interrupted her speech. A whistle drowned out her stunned reaction as she tried to figure out what was happening.
“About flipping time,” I muttered with a grimace.
A split second later railgun rounds from the USS McCain pounded the personal shields of the aqua suits. Those lasted microseconds as the rounds caused a cascading chain reaction. Orinia exploded into bits of gore from a direct hit. A fitting end to the vile bitch.
The platform twisted in an implosion before the generator safeties failed, blasting their immense power outwards. In less than a breath, the barge converted from a stable platform with heavily armed defenders to a sinking mess dotted by floating debris.
My only regret with this decision was I never saw Jarod die. The sirens, the platform, and my lover’s ex-husband sought sanctuary into the depths below.
“This the USS McCain. Firing over. Sonar reveals six aqua suits fleeing north and one passing us to the west. Our torpedoes and depth charges missed,” the operator aboard the McCain said.
There was no cheering or congratulating each other. This part of our plan was a failure. The projections estimated higher mortality rates. I sighed but knew I needed to let it go. Everything else had gone flawlessly and the point I declared earlier was truth. We forced the enemy to retreat without a haven to build upon. All other options had significantly higher mortality rates.
“Nice shooting McCain. Pull into port. You’re going home,” I said proudly to the crew.
They had been stranded without aid for over a month. Their own story was one I wanted to hear about over drinks. Linda Growlen had mentioned a few of our navy ships were still fighting the good fight on the oceans. The McCain needed a home, we needed some help, and we came to a compromise.
There were some issues, like the fact that we needed more powerful aircraft to purchase so we could fly the McCain into Stronghold Castle. The plan was to stick the mighty battleship in our underground lake. A fitting end to the magnificent vessel, forever locked away from the pillaging aliens of the universe.
“Adjusting course now. As much as we love the sea, we eagerly await a new home. McCain out.”
Now there were cheers. We had done it. Victory was ours. The golden gates fired to life not ten minutes later to new rounds of cheering. I was thrilled to be going to Stronghold Castle for the very first time.
CHAPTER 2
When I transitioned from AC1 to AH1 I did so feeling proud. The brave soldiers of Bastion Community shouldered the brunt of the work and executed our goals flawlessly. I was not a pompous ass hat at heart, my troops respected me because I cherished their fortitude. I stopped a few times to chat on my journey to swap aircraft. Each conversation was personal at a level that only time together in the proverbial trenches could build. The mood from those I spoke with was positive, and when I left I felt we made the right call.
There had been pushback on limiting casualties over letting a foe have a decent escape chance. Every soldier spared was worth that decision. I had to hope Jarod never recovered.
Arriving at AH1 my feet clomped against the hanger bay of the aircraft. The empty space echoed each footstep as I walked the interior ramp for the captain’s room. My Gpad rang and auto answered before I arrived at the second floor door.
“Go ahead Sally,” I said, taking a guess.
“Close, Willis here,” Willis said in a flat tone. The sassy sluggero normally had an attitude of some sort. This tone was almost frightened. “Goldie wants to see you. Said it was urgent. We compiled a file for you to give to Winston.”
“Goldie, as in the triple tailed fish that only I can see?”
There was a huff and Willis said, “No Eric, he, and using the pronoun loosely, he is Goldie to everyone in the universe now. Let that sink in. And he said you’re needed. I didn’t even go in. The first ones throwing zinc in were waved into the portal. This is big.”
“I forgot to ask Perci, can we share storage resources? Like spend zinc input at 232 here in Cali?”
“Yes. How did you not…? That is irrelevant, get into the portal. Willis out.”
I clenched my jaw in a grimace. What the hell was going on? There was little for me to do besides go find out. No way was I using an Xgate we did not have secured. Which meant.
“Five this is six,” I said over the command net.
“Go,” Jevon replied.
I frowned mulling my options. Decisive commanders needed to be prompt and I was certainly one to be able to do so.
“Push Eddy up to Xgate 12331 at the eastern side of the city. Have Mitchell bring a strike squad into AH1. We’re adjusting. Get this loot into that Xgate for now,” I ordered.
My stomping feet let my body trigger the door sensor causing a hiss to spray. I stepped into the AH1 piloting area with a disgruntled sigh. At least it was the post battle plan was going to shit. Almost always it was the combat that threw wrenches in your well laid out plans.
There was a crixxi guard that nodded to me as I entered. My scan of the room showed Perci handling the pilot station while communicating with someone on the radio. Torrez was at the back wall pacing as he studied the battlefield updates. Dorthy was at the radio station feeding data to both of them.
“Get over here,” Torrez said pointing at the map rendering on the digital wall. A few long steps had me staring at the display with him. “We were able to track Jarod to here. Watch him stop. Without that bitch whispering in his ear I think he is lost. A few minutes of debate results in this.”
I watched a lime green icon zoom across the map. “Damn, that suit is awesome.”
“Yup, makes him a superhero in the water. You noticed where he is going?” Torrez asked and I trailed a finger down Jarod’s path. His dot vanished off the map as we lost tracking.
“Australia. Let him deal with the aliens down there. If he ever returns we will be ready for him. I, however, think this is the last we will hear of him,” I said with certainty.
“Why is that?” Torrez asked.
I shrugged and replied, “The madness. His mind was warped to a level the siblings said could not be saved. So he will try to be a king again which has its own issues when you’re a one man kingdom. Even if he succeeds in building up a new force; he does not strategize, he pounds his foes into oblivion with sheer force. He can have Australia.”
“I don't like that he still lives,” Perci said, joining our side.
“We went over this, at a rate I grew sick of it. Killing Jarod meant Jane would hunker down and rouse the troops. Letting them drift out to sea away from their forces was our best option. I have no regrets, yet. We won cleanly and a single man in a water suit fleeing to the other side of the world is a victory.”
Mitchell entered the room in a rush and said, “The securing force is onboard, locked and loaded. Are we ready to go?”
Perci nodded and returned to the controls. A five minute flig
ht later and we were outside a stationary Xgate with golden portals.
“Perci you make a wonderful pilot,” I said, watching her land the aircraft.
She flashed a smile over her shoulder once we touched down. The bright shimmer of the portals illuminated the dark evening. Perci shut AH1 down to join my side and said, “I appreciate the comments. It felt invigorating to be in the battle doing my little part.” She paused to give me a worried look. “I am concerned why this Goldie wants to see you. I desperately wanted to show you our new home.”
“Are you enjoying it? Feeling better since the idea is less of a concept and more of an actual house?” I asked remembering how upset she was when first propositioned to live underground.
“Well my soon to be husband, there are lots of things that thrill me about the idea. Most of my worries were alleviated and today I get to purchase all the interior stuff we need. There is going to be some serious shopping happening,” Perci said and I raised a questioning eyebrow behind my clear face shield of acrium. “No spoilers. You will be wowed by the magnificence when we get home.”
I chuckled and said, “Calling it home already, those siblings are impressive.”
“Undoubtedly, which is why Goldie spooking Willis worries me,” Perci said.
We paused in front of the golden shimmer. Mitchell’s scouts secured our perimeter and he signaled we were good to go. I stepped into the light and crossed into the storage bay a moment later.
Goldie waited for me in an open empty storage room. The fish greeted me with a gaping smile that I shied away from. Fish mouths grossed me out for whatever reason. Even when I fileted fish I would dig a thumb into an eyeball over a mouth. Goldie giggled at my reaction.
“Before I launch into important news I need you to help yourself,” Goldie said and I shifted my head in confusion. “Start loading loot into here. There was a caveat placed in the contract eons ago. Basically this Xgate’s proximity to a different surface type allows double ingestion amounts. So start loading up.”
“We will be, just need to shift some things. I was planning on using an Xgate by our new underground base,” I said with a frown.
