by Marcus Sloss
The disgruntled bickering in the background returned to cheering. Dorson said, “I sure hope all that is true because we’re ready to -”
I sent the welcome orientation package to every device in the area that did not belong to my fighting forces.
“Before you get too excited there are rules. There are always rules, every society has them and we happen to have a lot of them,” I said, making sure they knew what they were signing up for.
“Aw, Cap, this is basic stuff. Some might whine at living with aliens, but the rest of us don’t give a hoot. This has apartments, homes, and showers! And that’s just the opening minute of the video. Count me and my leadership as coming for certain,” Dorson said, wrapping our conversation up.
I relaxed in my chair for only a second longer. After I rocked myself out, I went to the commander’s table. My forces were still landing in the area, the trail of reinforcements finally ending.
A timer in the table showed a nine-minute countdown for the earliest possible blue flare. There was no way we were going to be done here in time. Even with all these soldiers helping load up the survivors.
I nudged Mitchell and said, “Set up a perimeter. The nearest gate is only ten miles away. I don’t want to be caught off guard.”
“Roger boss, will do,” the man replied while typing out orders to those around him.
I tried to let the situation fade on a micro level and looked at the macro aspects. Hmm.
“Hey Elithen how high can these new aircraft go?” I asked.
“They can come close to breaching the atmosphere, with that said, some of these humans have never shifted through a portal. I do not recommend any aircraft going over ten thousand feet,” Elithen replied and I cursed.
“Okay, set a flight path home for the fleet, assume we get blue activation, and things go hot,” I said and he acknowledged with a nod while flying the aircraft.
Our dropship landed with a smooth touchdown. A display showed a video of the landing from an exterior drone. I glanced around and realized there was no drone crew to manage all our eyes in the sky. How had I missed them?
“Who is flying the drones?” I asked.
“Ah, the newest versions are automated. You simply program what you want and they fly with the assault ship. As we go, they provide coverage in a swath of an area I designated,” Mitchell said, giving me an odd look as if I should know this. When I shrugged he carried on. “Here comes Omonair. The troops need longer to load since it's an actual hangar door instead of a huge ramp.”
I saw what he was talking about from the drone footage. The exterior of the combat airship was drastically different. Instead of a boxy design, there were sleek contoured edges to deflect incoming fire. Turrets bristled off every angle to align with any potential foe. Sections were compartmentalized to help the spread of damage. Numerous entry and exit points were carved into the curved hull further illustrating this craft was meant to be a ship of war.
The incoming demonix were rapid in their loading, and before Omonair arrived on the bridge we were in the air again for Fort Carson.
With four minutes left on the timer, I was presented with a brain bug eyeball as a trophy. I accepted the gift and then promptly stuck it in a drawer under the holo table. When it didn’t close right I grunted. My efforts were going to cause the thing to pop if I kept at it.
Nessi groaned at this. She opened the drawer, grabbed the eyeball, and tossed it out the nearest window. She did this without making eye contact with me once. Even wiped her hands on a towel she had beside her station. When Omonair went to complain I held up a hand.
“First, I commend you and my troops for their glorious victory. You have proven your worth and expect to be frontline troops in my armies. Adjust according down the line however you see fit. I want you to extend my praise to those worthy of it. Secondly, you have eight troops alive that are still fighting. Do you want to rescue them?” I asked, noting that four had already perished.
“Yes, but that was not the primary mission,” Omonair said, offended by my question.
I stared at him with a stern look. He stunk, was covered in gore, and still had the sparkle of battle in his eyes. I retorted, “I am offering a new primary mission.”
“I accept and will ready the troops,” Omonair said.
I gestured for the door. After the same gesture akin to a salute was given, he left. We all saw the happy smile across his face that he tried to contain.
“This one I get,” Brillian said, watching the flight path of our airship. “You get to rally his troops, let him know you care, and let them cool the blood rage in the field.”
I shrugged without anything to add. She was correct. Our defense was set, and the first wave of refugees were heading for Bastion along the pre-approved flight path. I received a call from Dorson.
“Go for Six,” I said.
Dorson replied, “We have a few dozen wanting to risk it and go to Aspen. They know and understand the risks. They want to live in the hotels and flee to the mining fortress if there is danger.”
“I can get them inside Teton Fortress, maybe, actually don’t give them that option. Tell them the Aspen mining castle or Mansion mining castle have space for now. When exterior forts are constructed they can move into the hotels. All the infrastructure is in both places still,” I said and I waited for a reply. “This gives them the option while I don’t have to stress about them right away. Outside of that option the can go somewhere else.”
Mclain called before Dorson could reply and said, “We are near the trapped demonix. The problem is we might collapse the cavern they are defending on our way in. They seem to be holding well.”
“We’re on a tight timeline, into the breach,” I ordered and he confirmed. “Cap out.”
When we returned to Fort Carson I turned to Mitchell. “Off you go, take over another command station aboard a different dropship. I am heading home with wave two,” I said as Omonair offloaded his troops.
“I will handle the cleanup, let me know if we're needed,” Mitchell said with a nod before leaving the flight deck.
“Elithen take us home, I need to add more to our flight crew. And Brillian, prepare a company of anfrilia. I want to see their mettle when the blue arrives,” I ordered and returned to the recliner.
The airship lifted off the rubble-strewn surface and joined a flight of refugees for Bastion. I called Willow on my Gpad.
“Yes dear,” Willow said, answering promptly.
“I need more help in the commander’s station. Assign someone else to the vault storage and not Everly,” I ordered and she gave me a stern look.
“Fine but we're both taking synthetics. That is our caveat,” Willow said and I grunted.
“Approved. Be ready. We’re coming in through Base Roost. Or at least landing there,” I said.
Elithen grunted for attention, “This is too big to fly down that entryway. There is a forty-three layered gate directly above Bastion for big airships and trees. That is how the USS McCain went to its final lake home. I can get approval to enter that way but the sluggeros will not like it with the blue possibly coming.”
“Base Roost is fine. They can meet us there,” I said directly to Elithen with Willow overhearing.
“Will meet you there with Everly and our mind orbs,” Willow said. I could sense she wanted to say more but she finished with. “Willow out.”
INTERMISSION 2
PACIFIC OCEAN NEAR HAWAII
When Jarod awoke, his mind was mush. His first thought was that he’d drunk heavily the night before, until he saw the part metal, part crystal armor that encompassed him.
Where am I? The memories that normally flood over a person when they wake failed him. He glanced around, confused. A small yacht. Nothing but ocean. I… I’m lost. He tinkered with his suit until an indicator on his heads-up display informed him Hawaii was not far away, a simple twenty-minute swim in his suit. Okay. But why am I here?
He dove into the HUD to find ans
wers, eventually stumbling upon some recent footage. There we go.
Over the next few hours, he watched the horror show his life had become. The killing, the sex, the slavery, the aliens, the Xgates, and the Jane ordeal. None of it made sense until the end, when he realized the siren had been controlling him. He replayed the scene again. One had blocked out the other to win control of his mind. It had always been a fight to convert him, and they had won.
His internal morality screamed at him. These actions were not him. He felt a gnawing desire to protect himself, to build up a secure place to call home. This time he would rescue people. That was what got him through those awful images. He’d balance his bad deeds with good ones.
He wished he had footage from before the suit. Anything to explain how he ended up adrift on the ocean in a yacht that wasn’t his. The last real memory Jarod could grasp organically was of his first day of college. He wracked his brain trying to recall more, but failed. Whatever had happened to his memory, he had a feeling someone he’d rescued could fix it.
With a solid plan in mind, he plunged over the rail of the powerless boat and into the dark waters for the swim north. His jets fired up and Jarod allowed himself a few minutes of joy relearning the suit’s awesomeness. He splashed, jumped, soared, and dove. Childhood nightmare’s nagged at him, told him to be scared of the depths. But nothing could harm him here.
A long, high jump was followed by a cannonball, the kind any kid would be proud of. Hell, Jarod was proud of it. He paused to catch his breath, basking in the midday sun.
A column of water suddenly erupted around him, lifting him high above the surface. Before he could react, a massive nightmare of teeth and scales launched toward him.
Jarod tried to jet out of the way of the snapping maw, but his controls felt sluggish. The teeth snapped together without even coming close to touching his suit. A moment later, Jarod was riding a torrent of sea water toward the beast’s gut.
“Unbelievable. You’re going to regret this!” Jarod screamed as his world went dark.
His external lights flickered on, and he saw the slick, dark walls of the beast’s gullet contracting as it tried to swallow its snack. He activated his weapons with a rapid HUD interaction.
His arms shot up, unleashing wave after wave of projectile darts that tore through the creature’s innards. Jarod swapped to empowered hydrogen and carved out a spot to sink himself into before he fell into the acidic pit of the creature’s stomach. He widened the slit, intending to turn it into an exit.
The sea monster shrieked, and tried to vomit up its prey. A wave of acidic bile cascaded over Jarod’s armor. His legs were stuck firm in the tear he’d created, which meant he did not join the deluge on its abrupt exit.
A few additional attempts to dislodge himself left more bile washing over his aquatic suit as he sawed through muscles, sinew, and fat on his way out. His work turned into something routine, although his sight had deteriorated. The acid shower had turned his armor into a ruined, splotchy mess. Stained with small pitted holes, but intact. He would get a new one at the grand market easily enough once he got out of this mess.
There was a jarring thud that reverberated through the beast. The animal had stopped thrashing, and Jarod was certain it was dead. An impact meant he was probably at the bottom of the sea.
He tore a hole large enough to escape, grateful his exit was not against the seafloor. He ejected from the carcass with a scoff. Stupid animal deserved to die.
Jarod flicked on his extra lights to get a better look at the monstrosity had mistakenly eaten him. He gasped.
It was huge, the size of an oil tanker. He brightened his lights.
Wow. The creature was narrow, barely fifty feet wide, but hundreds of feet long. An alligator-like head, an eel’s body, with a platypus tail.
Hundreds of holes oozed inky pink blood into the water. Okay, maybe I went a bit overboard on the dart fire. He pieced together he wounded it during his initial unleashing. The beast’s death likely occurred when it stooped trying to eject him. Jarod paused proudly over his kill.
A swoosh of water was the only warning Jarod received. Long, tentacled arms suctioned around his body. Instinctively, he fired his jets, dragging the alien octopus with him.
The initial latch was strong, and he was unable to free himself. Additional tentacles twisted around his suit, squeezing. The grip threatened to pop his casings.
“Ha! You lack the strength to defeat my armor!” Jarod shouted, feeling invulnerable.
He didn’t see the beak until it was too late. It cracked into his neckline.
“No!” Jarod screamed in defiance, but the tentacles prevented any reaction.
He watched the beak fight the crystalline armor.
There was a loud crack.
For a moment, oddly, his field of view spun. His last sight, darkening quickly, was of his headless body, coffined in the crystal suit.
CHAPTER 13
The blue portals didn’t activate on our flight home. We reset the timer as if the golden market lasted its full duration and then added the approximate hour that was needed for the blue transition. A new countdown was set for six hours and twelve minutes giving us an opportunity to come home through the massive opening above Bastion.
We flew into what I liked to call the cake gate. Mainly because it reminded me of my wedding cake, only upside down.
The top layer on the surface was a mirage. A forest of hardwoods with no seem or tell that the entrance was not real. Even when the very top peeled itself open the mirage remained in place. Flying through a tree was a type of alien weird I could handle.
When the top closed. A scan was performed of our dropship and those other aircraft in the flight with us. Our scans came back with a long compiled list of errors. We were violating a ton of access requirements I had to override. We had citizens without translators, immigrants with no Gpad security devices enabled, animals with fleas, and other basic things I would never have thought about.
Every time I manually overrode the lockdown procedure from letting us get further, we went down a level. Five times, five tedious times there was a scan at each juncture. Finally, the rest of the gates opened in what felt like a hundred different choke points. Even if we were allowed in there were additional protections set to keep the bad guys out.
The opening was not a straight drop down, which meant the cake analogy went out the window like a brain bugs eyeball. Our flight of refugees had to navigate twists, turns, and drops with turrets following our movements every step of the way. I knew this entrance was our most vulnerable from above which was probably why it had been so fortified.
I pondered if it would be enough against a diabolical foe as I journeyed to the vault via a personal lift. With the lack of blue portals came the change of plans. Willow wanted to go over a few synthetic bodies they had selected for me. I had a feeling that was code for sex, but I could be wrong.
Everly met me at the vault entrance. “Husband you look dashing, come now, inside we go,” Everly said, waving me forward. Our scans were approved and we bypassed the third floor security points.
Extra guards were here at every juncture and there were even roaming patrols to break the monotony. This was where we kept the leadership of Bastion so I was not overly surprised that this was so secure. We bumped into a small crixxi with a lab coat rapidly tapping away on a datapad.
We bypassed each other without a word, both refusing to apologize for our contact. While I frowned I was not concerned about being touched without groveling. The scientist was clearly busy.
“Where are we going and who was that?” I asked.
Everly launched into a rapid reply as we walked, “That was Willis, now that we’re online and ready to swap into synthetics he ditched the slow sluggero body right away. Plus if he dies he doesn’t die. Careful, Sally chose a naked blue being and she is refusing to wear clothing. Close to what that Winston fellow was in the market. An arimi I think was the species. Anyway, we had
to adjust some rules and we went away with fines for being nude. There are just too many dicks and tits hanging out in this society to start slapping fines. Especially when we thought back to the market and Koor. And by we, I mean Perci has been handling all the issues while you were off in the south. A lot is changing quickly.”
“I guess it is, if kids grow up around nudity they won’t find it odd. Those in the middle will probably have issues but that is something we can deal with, forcing those used to being nude to wear clothes is a whole other can of worms. We can always change it,” I replied, talking my thoughts out loud.
“Oh, and we finally got our synthetic shopping purchases on display. Before you get too excited we already have a side mission,” Everly said in a disappointed tone. “So no synthetic sex toys being used for intended purposes for now.”
“When can we custom order?” I asked. “I was wanting something bigger, the walls allow for twelve feet tall. Those minotaurs were a decent build, not that I want to be an animal hybrid. Just that the bigger a synthetic is, the harder it is to kill. Plus it makes it easier to carry bigger shielding which means more burst to my weapons and so on.”
“Daxstar and the sluggero siblings have other priorities. Like a lot of them. Unfortunately, we did not instantly win any genius beings to add to our stockpile, at least to my knowledge. Those auctions were routinely bid on. We need to go meet Perci after our body swaps to get an overview of our Bastion’s upgrades and expansion plans. One of those plans leads into work, something about Calgary… Oh, we’re here,” Everly said, arriving at a door. “Queen Everly, Alpha Zulu Tango.”
“Huh?” I asked.
“It is random and sent to my Gpad that now populates in a Heads Up Display,” Everly said.
“I know what a HUD is. Why the extra security when my real body didn’t have this?” I asked. “And this is only the storage room.”
