by Marcus Sloss
“Calm yourselves. We have made contact with his eminence Larvou. Larvou is not human, he is a vampire. Yup, no joke. A blood sucking humanoid. Not allergic to much, no he doesn’t sparkle, no sun issues, and well he is a human that sucks blood with fangs. Can’t even become a bat. Prefers the term varmprinian. But no one calls them that,” Nancy paused to show Edmonton.
It was leveled like all the other cities. A desolate wasteland of what humanity once was. What a bummer, I was indeed rooting for it to be thriving too. The image shifted to Jasper National park. There were a few strongholds up dotted in the mountains with minimal defenses. Stragglers hiding from aliens, until some major species gets a random portal near them. There was more of the same with Banff, shanty groups of humans weathering a nice spring in the mountains. Pitiful when compared to Calgary.
“So we are going to visit Larvou. He has a mission for us that puts him in a bind and he needs help with. Then we will be good friends, seeing as how he is a neighbor we recommend helping. Kelowna has an issue. An infection that is easily avoided by the acrium, which the Calgary Council is lacking. That and their infrastructure is behind ours. Mainly because our purchasing power combined with the fairies, sluggeros, and Daxstar have been able to automate so much,” Nancy said pausing to give a scene change.
The image went west into British Columbia. Kelowna was a resort town of sorts. The tallest building overlooking the water in a majestic background. It was a really lovely setting. The city was intact besides some fighting around the edges. There were no soaring walls or bunkers. There was a high density of humans somehow, like really high. The image zoomed in and I saw humans in nitrogen blue shielding. Nice, good to see humans finally geared well. A talking pair of guards rotated to go elsewhere and I heard a shriek. My gaze shifted to a very embarrassed Willow from beside me.
“What! That is disgusting and very unexpected,” Willow hissed at me while I giggled.
There was a six inch spider latched onto the back of the guard’s necks. Spider was wrong, more like a skeleton creature with six legs, no head, and a tail that slid under the skull and up into the brain. Certainly nasty to look at.
“This is the horenix. They have a paralytic agent that applies to their host. One touch of any of the claws from the legs will cause the body to go rigid. This is not a symbiotic relationship. The human minds are trapped inside their bodies. They are very much alive and in torment. It gets worse. If you break that tail they will kill the host. There are very few options on how to deal with this pest. It goes from bad to horrible, they are spreading rapidly. I know someone will ask and I hate having to say how. The female humans are birthing these creatures. Their natural eggs are converted and then the baby horenix slides out hours later. Yup, these little aliens are a menace. They have spread south into Vancouver. We are seeing a stream of humans being flown to their new home. Since the horenix is in control and the body is theirs, as is the mind, they are able to use the grand market.”
Nancy shuddered at the digital rendering of the process. There was a widening fan as if a contagion was spreading. Well gross, and yeah, worthy of helping.
“What is the goal and what is the reward?” I asked.
Jevon stood from an egg seat below and walked up to the stage. “The horenix will kill the host ninety nine percent of the time. Don’t let the few getting free fool you. When we show up they will release a portion to let the assaulting force think they can save their people. So we do that, get a dozen or so and then cleanse the city,” Jevon said and I grunted at the brutality.
“And the spreading little ones?” I asked.
“Will continue searching for a host. This is not a boom, bam, and done. These will be a problem for years to come if we do not protect all the small strongholds in the area. Their biology states they can use a dog to get close to a human settlement and then leave the host for a better version. This will not be a fun war. Luckily, acrium protects us, but we very well may see these arriving on the surface of Bastion. Our sensors and scans will detect them easily enough. It is imperative everyone leaving our homes have acrium,” Jevon said with a pause waiting for more questions. I let him continue. “As for Calgary and this Larvou, well, he wants to trade and help eliminate a spreading threat. They are a neutral party in the god war and are seeking allies on Earth. Basically we play nice and expand Banff and Jasper without contention and even some cooperation.”
I digested this news with a grimace on my face. We had the military and the firepower to deal with the horenix. The Bastion community needed friends and trading partners as much as it needed to remove enemies in the area. I was typing a message to Daxstar when a sexy blue alien walked up to relieve Jevon. Damn, Sally did look better... she was still a giant slug in a hot body to me though.
“Stop typing to Daxstar, King Eric,” Sally said with a disgruntled sigh. “Trust me, there is no saving those poor souls.” I continued to type. “Oh, also no. There is no Mother of All Bombs or nukes to erase the city. Go in, blow big orbs from the sky shredding the city. The dead lose heat, the living generate it. Perform a heat scan, and then continue to kill until the heat is gone. Tedious work. Not to mention if the blue portals flare up you might get a second or third force to deal with.”
I really disliked Sally at times. She was being honest though and even used my proper title.
“I am going to go over food with the food manager in the background. Tina deserves a round of applause,” Sally halted so we could cheer Tina’s efforts. “Food production is handled a floor down. The animals require a lot of care and unfortunately our manufacturing is not producing much yet. There has been some great news. A few farms were found with lots of livestock. We continue to bring in animals, feed, and general food as our expanding net widens. We have food, but could use more until things come online. I… Tina needs a few hundred more workers. We were thinking of offering retiring soldiers the job before backfilling with mounamine or pandarin.”
Sally left the podium and Perci stepped back up. “We have two hours and seventeen minutes until we expect the new portals to appear. Use that time to prepare for a Kelowna offensive. We are allowing folks to start rotating work, even crixxi tired of combat are able to divert. Our fighting force is over staffed at the moment. No need to force retirements since our produce exceeds our payments by a lot, but we will have to if the portals never come online again. Last briefer and then I promise the meeting will conclude.”
Perci stepped off and Mitchell arrived. He brought up a map of every Xgate on the western half of the continent. “With the golden gate gone, it is on us more than ever to raid, trade, and rescue. So… I have assembled a force of demonix scouts who will be tossing orbs into portals that burrow into the ground a few inches and then transmit. They will send a signal out, and report what they find. I have visited our friend in the VirtaBox as have most of the warriors in this room. We have a common enemy, defeating them aids our side. I hope to find some juicy targets besides mind controlled humans. For the community!”
“For the community!” We shouted back.
The crowd filtered out and Willow plopped into my lap.
“You didn’t have anything to say?” she asked.
I shrugged and said, “A king, commander, and leader normally gets briefs, not gives them. This is the way it has been since long before me.”
“So… you want to walk the zoo or lambast some zombies in Kelowna?” Willow said.
I smirked and replied, “Combat, I can walk the zoo when it's finished and we're in another quiet time. You sure you don't want to stay back?”
“Our children are safer here. With my real body which is tucked away in the vault. I like combat, I don’t like risking their lives. If we weren’t in acrium I’d let you pull on these fairy wings,” Willow said teasingly.
“Alright off my lap. If we have time I want to go to Calgary. Visit a vampire shall we!”
“We shall!” Willow said.
Of course, it was never that easy. T
here were a dozen people waiting to talk to me. Three hugs from a very sad Tina, and a Longoria held up by Willis refusing to release a mind orb for her. When it was all settled we finally departed from the main airfield for the Base Roost, and that was a trip in and of itself.
CHAPTER 15
Base Roost was a frigid cutout peak in the mountain. At this elevation, even in the late spring, the area was blanketed in snow. I had to learn that for every thousand feet of elevation the temperature dropped by two. The packed white fluff led me to wanting to know what crazy folks would willingly live up here.
Then I saw who was handling the operations. A herd of shaggy centaur type beast without horns and a wolf’s face were working in the chilly temperatures with frosted breaths. They were far more equipped for the cold than I was in the anfrilia body. My quick study of them seemed to show the sniven enjoying not only the weather, but the work.
I read an overview on the sniven species and it said they loved the cold and being in groups. They were staunch Owlvini Alliance members and we saved a few thousand by bringing them here. Perfect in my books.
The base itself was a supply depot with warehouses, operation towers, and lots of open space for managing unloaded goods. Large open platform sleds dropped off goods and mining materials off to the side. Those were moved over to an underway transport system and into Bastion the goods rapidly went.
There were defenses with turrets on the perimeter, but the guns were fairly sparse and meant to blend in. You would have a hard time seeing this base except from above or if you stumbled onto it. There were a few rapid retreat points and I knew this entrance was secure when we flew up here.
Our dropship had used a well-defended tunnel to reach this point. Base Roost was meant to implode the way down if ever sacked. There was no real point of defending it. Even the outpost the sniven live at was better secured than this place.
One last quick survey and we departed for Calgary. The main force was still assembling into AC66 at Fortress Dome. The mighty airship had left the Cake Gate the same time we had and was now loading up with part of our massive army.
I was struggling to understand how we had so many troops. We literally did not have enough equipment to handle all the new recruits we had. My offer for some people to retire was snatched up. The most surprising was by Mclain. I understood though. He was in love with some fairy babies on the way. I approved all the requests to transfer from active duty to civilian life.
While I sighed over the changes of my nation there was something I desired. I wanted to talk to Larvou. The concept of an alien pacifying a human city under his control impressed and intrigued me. It's not like Calgary was known as sorry Canadians. They were interior people, resilient and tough.
I sat on a comfy long couch with Nancy at my side. Willow was at the commander’s station with Brillian, Rexona, and Omonair. Rexona was the matriarch of the demonix after Gronax died. We needed more diversity in the command station with so many warrior species in our fold now. In due time I had to tell myself.
My eyes shifted to Longoria on the controls flying us north while in her elegant dress. That style made me always want to see her naked. When I glanced over at the two mounamine males working on the radios I felt a pang of sorrow for my little Sammie. I needed to free her from her makeshift prison and nothing would stop me when I had the chance.
The flight of our three drop ships proceeded at speeds I could hardly fathom. Alien technology continued to wow me. I started to research the speed of sound when Nancy put a hand on my lap.
“Yes, dear?” I asked, closing the information display.
“What happens if the portals don’t return?” Nancy asked and I noticed ears perk with side-eyes glancing our direction.
I huffed and left the couch. The front view screen was not real, there was a small actual window while the rest was rendering our environment. We soared rapidly over a forest of trees with the sparse signs of humanity below. I watched the display hesitant to answer her question.
“For us as a family or Bastion as a nation?” I asked.
“Both,” Willow replied, stealing my spot on the couch.
“If the portals do not return. We cleanse the infections of the planet to start. I guess taming the wild is goal number one. Then I would think we move… again unfortunately. It would be for the best. We go to the north or south poles and build mega cities out of the frozen wastelands. I am sure if we can build under the ground to mimic the surface we can do so also on the surface in the snow,” I said, crossing my hands behind my back.
“You would live in the arctic?” Nancy said mulling the concept over. “I get it, fewer Xgates in case they ever do turn back on.”
“That is a general concept and something our technology can manage. At the very least we are nearly immortal on this planet. Not like we will get fat and sit in our mom’s basement. We need to keep working and preparing. Then start expanding again as a… well, not a species but as a group I guess. Assuming we win the battle up there,” I said.
“Yeah, Everly traded me. This mission for the space mission since we only have four mind orbs. And what about our family?” Nancy said with a smack of her lips.
I chuckled at her bouncing eyebrows. “We adapt. We make the most of our lives. I have no idea how I am going to do it, being a dad to so many frightens me. I know you girls think I will be fine, but there are going to be a lot of mini-me’s running around. And if we have no foes keeping us on our back toes those numbers will keep increasing.”
Willow slung an arm around Nancy and said, “I don’t know how many children I want to have. We have opened Pandora’s Box to some extent. I do know with our family we will be just fine.”
There were smiles exchanged and silence settled in the command room. It was not long before I could make out the towering walls of Calgary.
“Calgary City has given us permission to land at a strip they cleared. Larvou is requesting permission to come aboard,” a mounamine said from the communications station.
“Approved,” I said and then turned to my anfrilia general. “Brillian, haul in another couch. I want you and Rexona to sit with us. Omonair, kill our guests if I say to. Or if he is preventing me from giving the order. My guess is he is in a synthetic too.”
“Probably,” Omonair said with a grunt. “He’d be dumb to meet you in a real body.”
Our three drop ships passed through a section of cleared airspace. There were far fewer random species in Calgary than in Bastion. I saw mostly humans and then the odd alien. The bustle was also less chaotic and the platforms were jammed packed with commuters. This told me they had the population but not the infrastructure yet.
That didn’t mean the defenses were lacking. Calgary had military units on full display, manned towers, and even combat aircraft on patrol. How much of it was for show, I’d never know. I did know assaulting Calgary would be painful for our forces.
A second couch was deposited across from the first. I pointed for Brillian and Rexona to sit with Willow and Nancy. I occupied the other couch.
A video on the port side wall showed Larvou coming up with two damsels on his arms. Both exotic vampires with matching black hair and porcelain skin. They wore revealing long dresses that sparkled. They looked so human. It took a moment and eventually only the fangs from happy smiles revealed their true nature. While I preferred Longoria’s regal fashion these ladies were into fancy and it looked great on them. Larvou was in something akin to a tracksuit. He fit the mobster image very well with the matching damsels on his arms. Far more a look of a twenties gangster than an ancient vampire.
The back door swooshed opened and I stood. The ladies left their seats at my action.
“Greetings Emperor Larvou! Welcome aboard my drop ship,” I said with a friendly gesture of open arms. Even if I thought his self-proclaimed title was pompous I saw no harm in using it. His eyes scanned the room and he smiled at what he saw.
“I appreciate the warm welcome. I heard you h
ad spared no expenses on your survival. I sense four synthetics, which this far from your base is worth more than my entire operation. Wow,” Larvou said and his face showed he was actually surprised.
I realized as a bloodsucker he could probably instantly detect whose blood pumped and whose did not. Synthetics had synthetic hearts so maybe it could be termed blood but I got the idea he knew the difference. Ah, he arrived in the flesh, or had a really good synthetic body.
A tension built for a moment that he broke by saying, “Let me introduce my wife and my daughter. This is Yovina my darling wife, and this is Wilma, my daughter.”
“Nice to meet you Yovina, and Wilma. These are my wives, Nancy and Willow. My generals Brillian and Rexona. My commando Omonair. My pilot Longoria. And those are…”
“Dexfer, and Parker,” Nancy said, saving me from not knowing their names. “Come have a seat, you will have to share with his highness, your eminence. Sorry, it is a smaller dropship. Our carrier is being loaded now.”
The vampire sat beside me keeping his ladies on the other side of him.
“So please, let me start by saying we intend to eradicate the scourge that is the horenix. After seeing your army I am confused why you need us though?” I said directly.
“Yes, well. Some of this might be for show,” Yovina replied.
“Mother,” Wilma said with shock.
Larvou waved them down. “Wilma, you have much to learn. Eric here is connected well enough that your mother… we all can take liberties around him we could otherwise not afford. When I told you to expect for him to have unlimited knowledge of us, I meant it.”
I raised a hand and replied, “But I don’t, even though you are correct. I wanted to hear it from you instead of pestering my sources.”
“And what might those -” The father glared at his daughter, halting her talk. “What? Why can’t I ask?”
