by Marcus Sloss
I tapped my chin. “I don’t need to think very hard here Daxstar. Seetheus achieved what he did through guile and ingenuity. He will build forces appropriate to counter what you have. If he controls -” Hmm… “All we can do is clean up our house and prepare.”
“Pretty much we’re stuck in this together and therein lies the bad news. There are going to be some growing pains. And when those growing pains are resolved there will be feuds. It’ll be exceedingly hard to keep violence from occurring if demonix are not given a foe. We’ll need death by combat and arg.” He grunted in frustration. “The sheer fact is we never planned for this. And what I am trying to say is the demonix thirst for war is not the problem. The problem is that the moment the Xgates turn back on, we will be underprepared for whatever new things they throw at us. I know, we can create our own new, but this was all supposed to go differently.”
“Hey Daxstar,” I said trying to get his gloomy rambling to halt. “I get it, and we will make the most of it. I’m sorry you are here alone.”
“Yeah, the rebel divines all are in the VirtaBox, good conversationalists to the last. Speaking of which, I’ve tried to come up with a clever tactic to defeat the horenix but failed. Even the greatest minds in the universe have no good answer for you besides to lay out the facts and hope they release more than four. Not likely but we’re sending a few plans for you to go over. General Brillian is a genius and already has a few solid ideas ready to go. The horenix, unfortunately, would rather go down fighting in bodies than as little insects,” Daxstar said in a somber tone. “As a species there is little we actually know beside reports. They generally flee when cornered and always try to leave to a new Xgate to continue their cycle.”
“Thanks for trying,” I said knowing what had to be done. “The last thing left to do is to talk with them.”
“I think it’ll be a waste of time, but applaud your diligence. I have infinite amounts of work to get done and I just want to take a nap. Actually, I’ll do that and hopefully be less sour when I awake,” Daxstar said and closed the connection.
We sat there in silence. Willow didn’t let his attitude keep her down.
“This is fantastic. We can build a whole new castle out of proper marble, and it will be amazing. We live in one castle while we create a majestic masterpiece for the ages. A new castle so grand it reminds Brillian of her home. There will be so much space. We go back to the normalcy I have dreamed of,” Willow said and Nancy snuggled into her. “You excited?”
Longoria joined us from the pilot’s station and said, “This will have profound results that will be hard to gauge for generations. He did not expect the enemy to reopen the Xgates any time soon. I look forward to rearing many children and have also dreamed of this opportunity.”
“Peace… It is so hard to believe it is happening. I thought there would be some desperate attempt to blow up the planet and we all live after the hero dies. At least that is how it goes in the movies,” Nancy said.
“It is not peace. We have not even reached where your parents were last known to be. There are infestations on this planet. And when the Xgates turn back on there is a foe preparing. We must do the same and we’re saddled with damn humans,” I said venting my frustrations.
“You dislike your species?” Omonair said from the command station with Rexona snuggled into him.
“Yes, they’re idiots if you study them as a whole. Humans kill themselves by smoking cigarettes, they destroy the planet when they cut down forests to earn more coin for growing crops, they repeat tragedies over and over, and we will get a ton of issues living in peace. Throughout our history. war has unified humans into common practices. In five years people will be saying this was not that bad. In twenty, when the new generation grows up, the parents will be dumb idiots and everything they say is propaganda. I am merely venting, I too wish there was a mega battle where we won and could relax. That, however, is likely not going to happen anytime soon. Instead, I’ll have to stress and debate when or what happens next.”
“I think I partially understand. You’re young are troublesome, we too have this problem,” Omonair said and I held my tongue. That was close enough. Sure our young did lack the self-control to inhibit violence but they were a pain in the ass. Generationally speaking. Troublesome meddling youths was a saying for a reason.
“Forgive me, ladies. If you noticed none of that was aimed at your or our peaceful life. Merely at the impending headaches on the horizon. Speaking of which,” I said, ensuring I had Brillian’s attention. “You ready to crush Kelowna?”
“We have their leader on hold if you want to talk to them. Called when you were mentioning how dumb humans were,” Dexfer said with a chuckle from the communications station.
“Go ahead Brillian,” I said, handing off the conversation I did not want to have.
“They requested you specifically,” Dexfer noted.
I stomped over to the communications station and pressed the talk button on the digital display.
“This is King Eric,” I said with a dry bored tone.
“This is Manager Si-nac, I see you have my forces surrounded and with superior technology. We surrender,” Si-nac said and I frowned. “What are your terms?”
“Wait one,” I said. They understood my saying, which angered me. I muted the radio and turned to the others. “I’m going to be honest here. I was just planning on watching Brillian execute her strategy and removing the threat. I’m not prepared to negotiate a surrender nor do I want these creatures in our home.”
“We can contain them, your grace,” Longoria said, stepping up to the map of Kelowna and adding a big wall around it. “Then force them to fight when the time comes.”
I frowned and Brillian answered for me. “They’d betray us the first chance they could, not a good idea. I say trade them animal bodies and give them a range to live on. It is better than death, you get the human bodies, and they get to live.”
Nancy joined the small table and gave her input by saying, “Then they plop out a bunch of babies and reproduce in hiding or amass a mighty invasion and then we’re caught off guard. Humanity has enough to keep the gene pool going to start giving out freedoms to infestations. This horenix invasion is fairly evil by all standards.”
“Have you thought about asking what they are offering?” Willow said pointing to the mute button.
I walked over to the communications table. “Manager Si-nac, we were not expecting a surrender. I was hoping to blast you and Kelowna to bits. I’m in a very foul mood. The Xgates are never coming back online,” I said in a gruff voice. “I hope you rationalize we’re stuck on this planet together forever.”
“We concur, we normally use hosts to reproduce and then move onto the next target. We never settle, it’s bad for our kind as we are always hunted. I’d like to not die forever.” When Si-nac said this I chuckled. Duh, no one likes to die forever. That got me thinking; before I could use the pause to my advantage the voice continued. “We have studied who we are facing. You’re known among your kind as a hero of sorts. False narrative. You’re a monster like us, a survivor. We respect that.”
I wanted to complain at the monster tag, but I did just shoot a little girl from behind. She was dead anyway, but her death was on my hands.
“What’re you proposing for your ideal terms of surrender?” I asked.
“You isolate us and all our females have their eggs removed,” Si-nac said.
“Not even close, try again,” I said without hesitation.
“Fine, but I have a problem,” Si-nac said. When I held my reply back they continued. “I will not be able to control my full settlement. We have some that are very different. They’ll suicide if I force them into sentient bodies over sapient.”
“You would take dogs?” I asked.
“Ideally, we can talk with them still, breed naturally and then breed horenix young to control the puppies after they reach a certain maturity. We get a section of land dedicated to us to use as we see fi
t, and yes, we understand we will not tunnel out,” Si-nac said. “My big issue is the fact that we have a rogue faction. I can only do so much with them.”
“Wait for one minute,” I said muting the radio. “What the fuck?” My muttering was heard by the others.
“How do we handle this?” Willow said, pausing to bite her lip deep in thought. “He is obviously not telling the truth. I know a lie when I hear one. This is either a stall tactic or he is up to something.”
“We have to let these two sides fight it out and jump in on one side,” Nancy said guessing a showdown was coming.
Longoria, Omonair, and Brillian shook their heads no. They hated that idea and I did too. I did enjoy being a surprise force but this was not a fight it out scenario until it was on our terms. We held every advantage.
“We offer surrender or nothing. Let them sort their internal problems. If you go in they can break containment. Watch, they will call for -”
The display map showed blue fire arching between buildings. Orbs streaked across the sky smashing structures and raining debris. Two locations were firing relentlessly at each other. It wasn’t hard to see the damage was superficial. The heat signatures were being washed out.
“King Eric, we’re -” I muted the incoming transmission.
Brillian broadcast to our forces, “I expect that they are trying to rush the lines and escape if we engage. Monitor all avenues diligently. Let nothing get by,” she said and then pointed to two chokepoints on the north and south sides of Okanagan Lake. “The fine mesh netting will catch them. I had enough time to prepare a proper siege. Oh, imagine that. The fighting stopped.”
We watched the internal conflict fizzle into nothing. I unmuted the radio connection to Si-nac. When the fighting dissipated we pinged the area with heat signatures. A hundred dead bodies laid on the docks. The water gave very little details and I suspected these were ejected bodies. Yup, I saw no horenix on the dead. We waited for the eventual call.
“King Eric, did you perish?” Si-nac asked.
“No, we had an attempt to breach the siege, you must’ve had a rebel contingent. We trapped them though,” I said waiting for a reply. “I take it you have the situation under control?”
“We have it under control indeed. We’ll surrender but we want bears instead of dogs,” Si-nac said with a snarky tone.
“Give me a good faith show and release a hundred people. You just had your rebels kill a hundred,” I said with snide reply.
“Do you have a hundred thousand bears for us to occupy?” Si-nac asked with hostility.
“Let me make something very clear. You’ll never, ever be free. You’re either dead or my prisoners. Choose carefully, I want a hundred humans freed and you will take fucking rabbits if I offer them to you!” I said letting my rage slip. This was all a farce. “I’m muting the comms. A hundred freed souls or we level Kelowna. You have five minutes. Actions speak louder than words.”
There was a reply that tried to get through that I cutoff.
“You think they know you won’t give them five minutes?” Willow said with a chuckle.
Omonair grunted and said, “I like your negotiating style.”
I grumbled and kept my retort in check. I needed to just end this and go soak in a hot tub. In my real skin too, stay in there until it gets wrinkly. Something relaxing to the point I could rethink this whole long-term no Xgate problem and come to a clear consensus.
I typed Willis a message.
‘When are we going after the mothership?’ - King Eric
‘If you want to fly home too, 3 days.’ - Willis
‘And a one-way trip?’ - King Eric
‘Now. But chances of failure would be very high.’ - Willis
‘3 days it is,’ - King Eric
“Does this bore you?” Longoria asked from behind me.
“Huh, yes. It does. They won’t send a hundred. It is logical. It makes sense. But they are not a hive mind. They’re a scheming race that literally never surrenders. See,” I said pointing to the video. Four confused people started to walk to the edge of a park heading toward our siege lines.
“They’re testing you. They sent all old men too,” Rexona said.
I unmuted the button, “Goodbye Si-nac. You had your chance. I hope your species truly is eradicated from the universe. Idiot.”
“How rude, we cannot become slaves to drooling animals. I hope you understand,” Si-nac said and blue orbs laced into the four humans trying to leave Kelowna.
I muted the communications and went to my couch. I didn’t need to say anything. Again, there was nothing to say. Life had changed for those people the moment they were infected.
“Commence Operation Cage Rattle,” Brillian said to the army at her call.
I flicked on the side screen to watch events unfold.
The blue fire raced into the city in orbs so large single shots crippled buildings.
Our TG99s with their new power output was almost too much.
In mass, the orbs shot across the distance hungrily aiming for specific targets. The devastation was incredible and yet precise. I did see a few shields holding up for mere moments before flickering in exhaustion.
Suddenly movement caught my eye. Yes! I fist-pumped into the air while making ready for the exit.
The thirty thousand or so horenix fled bodies desperate to make the water. How many had fled I would not know but thousands were dumping into the lake in a scurrying hurry.
“Plan Charlie in effect, I say again, execute Charlie,” General Brillian said over the radio.
This was our least likely scenario for the enemy to take, but all battles were chaos. I had thought they would rush our lines in mass and try to surge past a point. Hell, I had used that tactic myself. Nope, they decided to flee bodies and go deep into Lake Okanagan. Just like that, I knew I was going to get to have some fun.
CHAPTER 18
Across the fleet, dropships surged forward. The fire from our artillery halted as its phase of the operation came to a conclusion. The last blue orbs blasted into building with a savagery.
Operation Cage Rattle was an assault from the land side of Kelowna towards the water. The open salvos were meant to destroy empty buildings and lookouts to flex our might. The goal was simple, get the foe to react in a way that led to an easier victory. That had been an overwhelming success because those little leeches were fleeing without bodies.
The sight was glorious as the majority of the horenix were trying to persevere in the depths of the lake.
Squadrons of FP02s strafed the lake’s shore with torrential amounts of raw energy. The horenix were like lemmings, committed to their course of action. They died in staggering numbers as their bodies were eviscerated into ash. The orbs crashing against the shore never abated and besides the first few waves none were reaching the water.
My smile grew when I saw dropships hovering over the lake. Aqua suited warriors crossed legs as they leaped into the depths with sonar on. There was no safe place for the enemy. Our circle wasn’t closing. Instead, it was being held firm while our warriors raced inside hunting for fleeing horenix. We had a water fighting force now and the enemy were about to learn that the hard way.
I had been sick of being unable to compete in the water. Problem fixed with the last market.
A six inch alien without weapons did not put up a fight. Their ability to paralyze my troops was countered with acrium. I knew why they fled into water. Brillian predicted this from the start even if the likelihood was low. The moment we were not going to hold back they’d retreat into the depths. The problem for them was they underestimated our ability to hunt them there too.
Our dropship crossed the siege line in a hurry. I wasn’t going to let retreating horenix change their minds. I trotted out of the bridge and geared quickly. Omonair, Willow, Rexona, and Nancy followed me.
My ear picked up a transmission, and I opened the channel. “About five thousand,” Longoria said, giving me the good news. “Anot
her five thousand are buying the retreaters time by fighting to the end.”
That meant twenty thousand horenix fled their host killing them. Five thousand of them either had backup plans or kept their host alive out of mercy. We forecasted only a few hundred would try to slip away without killing their hosts. I did gulp at fighting the thousands of armed combatants.
“What are the survivors doing?” I asked, feeling something was off.
“Being guarded, expect a hot drop. Go! Rush for the nearest exit,” Longoria shouted.
And that was combat in a nutshell. Talking to fighting suddenly.
I noticed we all had wings besides Nancy in her pre virum body. I scooped her up while Omonair triggered a side door open. The moment the sun shone inside the aircraft the opening howled with incoming air.
The doorway brought bright sunshine as I flew out into the opening behind the demonix.
Willow screamed from behind me trying to learn how to fly against a rushing wing. I flared my wings to catch, then adjust, to the torrent of wind.
Blue orbs streaked by my body. My wings tucked to dive for a roof top and then snapped open to slow our descent.
Too late I noticed the orbs were not aimed at me and the foe was focus firing on Willow.
A shoulder check revealed her stabilizing her flight only to have her shield pop.
A round shredded her right wing and she spiraled down below us in a hurry.
So… yeah. Fairy insides were green, and now I knew that. She was going to be so pissed when she saw footage of her fairy body splattered against the sidewalk.
Our careful descent let me notice the city below me and the air around us was packed with chaos. Blue orbs raced up into aircraft shielding, ineffective against their vastly superior output. Turrets from aircraft blasted energy below as they eliminated threats. Humans were screaming and running literally every direction. I landed on a roof and deposited Nancy.
