Rumors of Wars: The Askirti Chronicles - Book 2

by Danny A. Brown

  Turning around, he took a blast of plasma directly to the chest, knocking him clear off his feet. At first, he was sure he would not survive that sort of hit until he noticed he was still breathing. He just lay there not believing he was still alive. His HUD had a lot of red lights blinking at him, and he could not move, it was as if the armor was locked up. Thinking about the blast he took, he knew he should not be alive. It was a direct hit to the chest, and certainly long enough to punch through his armor and vaporize his major organs.

  Just as he was about to perform an emergency release, one of the red lights turned yellow, then another. The first one turned green, and more lights turned yellow. A few remained red, but he noticed the armor was no longer locked up. That is when he remembers the nanofibers. They were certainly strong and very smart, just not smart enough for complex repairs but apparently had done enough on their own that the backup systems came online. That is when he looked down at his chest, seeing the nanofibers filling in the region where much of the armor was ablated.

  It was the fact that the armor was reinforced from the nanofibers that allowed him to take a direct hit and live, and now they “flowed” from other regions of his armor to the where they were needed the most. While his armor was no longer as tough as is was before, it hardly mattered to him as it had saved his life.

  “Sylvia!” Rick said, looking to his right as he got back on his feet. His daughter had become separated from her group and was taking fire on several sides while trying to defend from cover. He jumped from where he was towards the nearest enemy, driving a blade through the face plate, ending the man’s life. He then spun, firing his plasma cannon at two more units, blowing them apart.

  Reaching his daughter, he said, “you alright?”

  “Fine, Daddy! Don’t you have something better to do?” she smirked while continuing to fire at the enemy.

  “I got you back in my life, and I’d like to keep it that way!”

  “You and me both!”

  Just at that moment, a second wave of missiles was incoming. While many of them never found their targets, some of them did. But in close quarters combat, the Askirti were not the only ones to take fire.

  “God! It looks like they don’t care if their own troops live or die!” he exclaimed.

  Then a second wave of PAUs came pouring out into the streets, even more than the first time.

  While they were killing the enemy left and right, there were just so many of them, Rick felt they were about to be overrun. “Where’s that close fire support I asked for? We’re getting hammered over here!” he yelled in his comms again.

  “Are we going to make it?” Sylvia asked, sensing his tension and the overall momentum of the battle going against them.

  While the Zikars were losing the war, they had correctly identified the VIP caravan in Cairo and put everything they had into this operation.

  “We are, they are just making sure it’s not a free ride,” he said in a voice that did not spark of confidence. “Our air support is afraid of killing too many friendlies, we have dead and wounded everywhere. Otherwise we could plow these guys into the ground.”

  While the hopes for their ACUs were high, as they compared favorably and in most instances exceeded the elite marines from the ARNS Mars, they just could not compete against heavy armor. It would take two or three of them to take down an enemy PAU. At best, they were sacrificing themselves to slow down the enemy, thereby protecting the marines, thus protecting the queen.

  “Take them down! Take those buildings down!” he yelled into his comms.

  Immediately clusters of missiles fell from the sky, striking the buildings surrounding them, flattening them and eliminating the prospect of more enemies coming out.

  Still, there was a significant number of enemies in and around them and wounded friendlies everywhere. Unsure what to do next, he called out for the one weapon he knew could take care of this, though he hated doing it.

  “Jackie! Jackie! Where are you? We’re about to be overrun!”

  “Ugh, this damn seatbelt is stuck!” she exclaimed over the comm. “I’m cutting thru it, gimme a sec.”

  Suddenly, one of the doors on the overturned transport blew off, revealing a light pouring out of the vehicle. Then an angel of light stepped gingerly out of the vehicle, shining brighter than the noonday sun. She just stood there, no floated there, as more power poured into her from every direction, both the ghostly Sevinc power and lightning coalescing on her from all around. It was an outright terrifying sight, one that caused those involved in the battle on both sides to pause and watch.

  As they were watching, white fire began to swirl around Jackie in a ghostly manner. Then as she extended her arm, the fire suddenly shot out in all directions.

  The fire enveloped enemy after enemy, destroying them utterly. Some of the enemy PAUs had pieces and parts of metal and flesh torn asunder while others had their occupants torched while still inside. It was all over very quickly. Every enemy in the vicinity was dead.

  Afterward, Rick walked over to Jackie, still enveloped in the Sevinc energy, still wrapped in its seductive grip. He did something ill-advised on the field of battle and exited his PAU. The chassis locked up, and with some hissing and whining the front of the heavily damaged unit opened, allowing him to exit.

  Putting on dark goggles he kept with him for just this purpose, he walked over to Jackie, still wrapped in the energy field, still floating.

  “Jackie, it’s time to come back. You did the right thing,” he said gently, “come back to me, you’re not meant to remain like this.”

  At this point, all the PAUs had turned and were watching the drama unfold. They had heard, and most had seen the videos from the Battle of Wellington, but seeing it, seeing her, up close while her power was active was something even the most hard-core soldier found chilling.

  “Jackie, time to let go.”

  Suddenly, much of the power left her, driving straight into the ground, though she still had that “other-worldly” quality.

  Sylvia watched with much trepidation as her father took the hands of this extraordinary woman into his own. He leaned in and whispered something into her ears, at which point her looks returned to normal. Almost normal. It was her eyes, they looked sad, the look on her face was one of sorrow and disappointment.

  That is when Sylvia remembered what her father had said about the seductive power of the Sevinc energy, the lust for power that overtook the person channeling it, and why it was considered a weapon of last resort by the ancient Homems.

  It was found out later that in the fog of war, the commander in charge of the subterranean areas had misidentified the route Jackie was taking. This allowed the enemy to mount an offense, setting a trap to try and bloody the nose of their foe.

  But because of it, a new tactic was devised, one much more destructive. The Bolzen fighter sorties flying high above the city were commanded to flatten every building between the High Queen and the palace. Thankfully, there were no residential buildings, but if anyone thought of sticking around to watch the show, they were dead.

  ##

  “That’s a beautiful place,” Jackie said into her comms, looking at the palace that stood before her. It was very large and looked like it was directly out of a fairy tale, in stark contrast with the bland architecture she had seen in Cairo up till now. Just as in many fairy tales, the castle had a protective wall all around it. Only this wall had railguns, and other deadly implements mounted onto it.

  She was not thrilled about walking the rest of the way to the palace from the ambush site, but she was in good physical shape, plus with her Askirti heritage, she could go faster and further than anyone else she knew. But compared to what her reinforcements could do, she was slow. The heavy units were all faster than she was. While a replacement transport was offered to her, she declined, preferring not to be stuck on one of those again.

  Several of the forward-operating units were already at the palace gates. Nobody had attem
pted to breach the grounds yet though the area around it was secured.

  “Rick?” Jackie said. “Time to start the party? I think we’re expected.”

  With a signal from Colonel Amori, mortars on several nearby rooftops went off. Instead of explosives, each canister was loaded with chaff that would blind the electronic sensors in and around the palace. The mortar positions would ensure it continued raining chaff throughout the operation. Also, they released micro-drones, little distractions that had emissions similar to the mechs and the PAUs. The goal, of course, being to throw off the automated defenses while they overwhelmed them.

  Jackie considered using the Sevinc power here like at the ambush point, but Rick argued against it. He said it was not needed, plus he saw the toll it took on her, potent as any drug. She relented, deciding to heed his advice, and let her people do what they do best. She had the best trained and equipped military force sitting just outside their primary objective. The palace was about to be theirs.

  The north and west gates blew off their hinges and mechs and ACUs started rushing in. The southeast gate blew, and PAUs ran in as fast as they could, all under the cover of chaff. The palace weapons systems tried locking on and scored a few hits, but almost none of them were in prime kill spots.

  The mechs started taking out the largest weapons systems, which included oversized plasma cannons mounted on turrets, along with missile batteries and even railguns. While a few of the three-story tall beasts were damaged, the mechs quickly secured the grounds between the palace and the protective walls surrounding it.

  The PAUs and ACUs rushed the palace entrances as fast as they could. The PAUs first blew the doors apart with their plasma cannons, then both groups rushed the interior.

  The heavily armored forces moved in, cutting through the palace guards like hot knives through butter. The allied forces had orders to kill on sight anyone holding a weapon. As most of the guards were lightly armored and poorly trained, it was a slaughter.

  ##

  Once the palace had been secured, Jackie was escorted into the great hall, where ‘His Holiness’ had been detained.

  There were dead palace guards everywhere. She wondered why they would not surrender, were they that dedicated or that afraid of reprisal? She saw the blood marks where the women on the video earlier had been killed in cold blood by this lunatic.

  “Your Holiness! Imagine meeting like this!” Jackie said gleefully, as he just glared at her.

  To him, this was the ultimate humiliation, thinking women so far below him and here he was face to face with his conqueror, a petite woman, significantly shorter than he was. To make matters worse, though she was in her early forties, she had the appearance of a mere teenager, a child compared to him.

  He sat there pompously on his throne staring silently at her.

  “Your Holiness, or shall I call you ‘Jimmy’? Your nation is guilty of crimes against humanity. The level of atrocities you have committed in the name of religion is beyond grotesque. Your kingdom has now come to an end. The Zikar way of life is about to change forever, and you cannot stop it.”

  Her eyes narrowed, still staring him down, refusing to break eye contact with him. “Take him away.”

  Her guards did so at once, hauling off the ruler of over a hundred worlds.

  Chapter 25

  Canton Prime

  Capital City of Cairo

  Over the days that followed, reports of surrender came in from the other Zikar worlds, all of them wanting both to avoid invasion and seeking protection for their top leaders against reprisals. Once the eleven other core worlds surrendered, all the minor ones did so as well. Overnight it seemed, the Zikar Empire was no more.

  There was a mad scramble to find enough people to send to all the Zikar planets as an occupying force was needed. The Commonwealth took the initiative to send massive amounts of troops to the core worlds, as their resources were the greatest, followed by the Reslorians, what was left of the Westerly Federation, the Kingdom of Mpho, the Lucians, even the Tryphons, among dozens of other smaller nations. Securing one hundred and twenty-five worlds along with many thousands of space stations took tremendous resources.

  Sitting in a virtual conference, Jackie was surrounded by virtual representations of leaders from all the participating nations.

  “How is it they just up and surrendered? Didn’t they see what happened to the officers of the fleet that attacked Lenox-5?” asked the Queen of Mpho.

  “Clemency,” Jackie said, as if spitting nails. “We promised them clemency. Those at the highest levels will not pay for their crimes, not entirely.”

  “So, who will pay?”

  “‘His Holiness’, for one. Also, the entirety of their priesthood, along with a significant number of governing officials and military officers. There are an estimated fifty-five million that face execution across Zikar space.”

  That drew many gasps from all around the conference. While many were shocked, some, such as the Westerly Federation representatives, just sat there with a stoic look as if it was not enough.

  “Keep in mind, most of these either participated directly in or gave consent to skinning women alive in their morbid practice of cleansing. This does not involve the slave trade nor torture, including branding of women and children. We are talking about a severely corrupt system that needs an overhaul for the citizens that currently live in utter fear of their government. Considering there are fifty billion of them, I am surprised the number of executions isn’t far higher.”

  “High Queen, I submit to you the Zikars should be fully demilitarized, these people should not be allowed to have a military of any sort! Not after this!”

  “President Lopez, with all due respect sir, that would be unwise,” Jackie replied.

  Alex Lopez was the interim president of the Westerly Federation. Admiral Josh Waters appointed him as he knew Lopez personally, and wanted to start his nation’s reformation with a civilian leading them.

  “And why is that? Is forty-billion dead not enough! This is outrageous that their casualties are not in the billions as well! We should nuke at least one of their core worlds just as a down payment on restitution!”

  “That is not going to happen. The number of people in the loop who called the shots on what happened to your worlds were fewer than those in this conference! And you want to kill billions just to prove a point? No! And regarding their military, we will restructure their society to something more normal, but they do need to defend themselves as we cannot possibly do it in the long run! And with a nation this large, we definitely want them on our side. This is a historic moment. The Zikars have been so outside of mainstream society for so long and we now have an opportunity to turn an adversary into an ally.”

  “She’s right Alex,” Tom Wallace of the Commonwealth said, speaking up for the first time. “Their people are very much victims here too, living in fear for all their lives against a ruthless dictatorship. We all will control their government for a few years while we rebuild them into something more…normal. These people don’t understand freedom and need our guidance. To not help them now would mean trouble down the line, if not for us then for future generations.”

  Alex Lopez was very red in the face and not very happy with the state of affairs. Nobody blamed him, nobody else suffered the level of atrocity that his nation had, over a third of their population being wiped out.

  “Alex,” Tom continued, “we will help their people to become our people, and will not abandon them to have another lunatic rise to lead them on the path of destruction, whether it is theirs, or ours.”

  “You may have forgotten that I was raised in the Federation too,” Jackie interjected. “Despite how I was treated, it is the nation of my birth, and I share your strong feelings about reprisal. Trust me when I say that over fifty million facing the firing squad will be remembered for generations to come.”

  “You’re right,” he relented. “It’s just, just so heart breaking, the scope of loss we’ve
endured. We know that we are vulnerable right now, and are greatly appreciative of the help we’ve received from some of you. We are trying to make a more just nation in the aftermath, and as much as it pains me to say, I know the Zikar people deserve that as well.” He took a moment to pause, then changed the subject. “What of the piracy, do we know if the Zikars were the responsible parties?”

  “Partially so,” Jackie responded. “We were able to obtain detailed records at the highest levels of all their operations, secretive or not.”

  “You were able to break their encryption so soon?”

  “We have our ways,” she said. It was not common knowledge that she was in possession of a sentient artificial intelligence that was embedded in her head and could crack any computer system, nor of her abilities to use her “gifts” to extract information directly from people’s heads, often at significant cost to that person. “Anyway, they colluded with the pirates and even provided funding. The pirates sold many of their slaves to the markets in Zikar space. We have found slaves from every corner of humanity, most notably among them are millions from Earth, most of these are in labor camps, mining operations and the such. There are also many women in forced marriages or serving as concubines, both of which are now outlawed. We plan on repatriating people to their birth countries, along with any offspring. Some may stay, but I feel like most will want to leave.

  “We were also able to gain additional information on ‘The Chosen’ here in the Zikar Empire. The call to war and even the piracy was heavily influenced by high-level officials that are members of this group.”