United We Stand

by Christian Messe

  United We Stand

  By Christian Messe

  PROLOUGE

  “I have to do this. Don’t I?” Karalus asked. The man’s skin was blue, and he had a humanoid body, with red eyes that glowed in a natural biological way. No pupils, just entirely red. He was wearing a grey and slightly worn war jacket, with a thick and sleek, high tech chest plate underneath. It had the code ‘C-300A’ imprinted on it, on the bottom left, in small white font.

  The man was inside a small room. The walls were metal, and grey like a bunker, and the floor was made of black metal tiles. He was leaning over a circular table, made of metal, which portrayed holograms of objects in 3D detail. Right now, it was showing a map of the entire Milky Way Galaxy, illuminated in red.

  He was staring particularly at a solar system on the edge of the Galaxy, next to a sector outside of the Galaxy’s edge that was merely labeled; Safe Quadrant.

  “If the convoy reaches the sector’s edge, there’s an 86.7% chance the Lore will start interfering with your occupations.” A dark figure responded, with a nearly untranslatable, coarse and scratchy voice. It sounded beyond menacing. The figure was eight feet tall, and its entire body was pitch black, humanoid shaped. It didn’t even have a face, except for the glowing red visor that was where anyone else’s eyes would be.

  The man sighed, “They can’t be interested here, Talon… Talon has kept them busy. At least I hope he has, with his death, they might not stay in Canis as long as I need them to.” He zoomed in on the map of the galaxy with one hand, using his fingers. He squinted at the hologram, which showed a fleet of ‘Lore’ warships headed for the edge of the Galaxy.

  “I’ll take my chances,” Karalus said, “They’ll be too busy fighting the Ghourse to worry about the E6s.” He grimaced, not feeling sure of himself, “When I find them…” he breathed, turning from concerned to angry, “I’m going to make sure they pay, and I won’t let the Lore or any of the remaining rebel insurgents get in my way.” He frowned, and turned around, “I’ll see to it that the republic doesn’t die in vain.”

  There was a set of double doors in front of him. When he walked close to them, they opened automatically. He walked out of the room. When he stepped out, he was instantly hit by a piercing cold. It was snowing, lightly. It covered the floor and the long, flat, metal bridge in front of him. It extended thousands of meters, and was six feet wide, with sleek metal safety railing.

  Underneath that and Karalus, were two large trenches, separated by a thick metal wall. The inner side of the wall, directly underneath the bridge, was sleek and angled and was cut off by the railing. The other side was just a straight, thick metal wall, lined with a series of red laser grids at the top, acting like barbed wire.

  Inside of the vast, and long trenches, were people. They weren’t human, but they closely resembled one. Their skin was pitch black, almost as dark as the figure Karalus had talked to earlier, and they had red tattoos scattered across their entire bodies. They had hair, but it was strictly pitch black, like a demon almost.

  The amount of hair varied, there were elderly people, to a few children in the two trenches. They wore thin, rugged rags, made of leather and scraps. They were slaves, alien slaves, and they were forced to work, not on anything particular, or for any usefulness.

  Karalus didn’t know what to do with them. They were the last of their kind, and the very reason he was the last of his own.

  He didn’t want to kill them, he knew they weren’t personally responsible for what happened to his people, but there was still something inside of him. Something savage. A primitive thirst for revenge. He was changing and questioning the morals he had held onto undyingly, such a short time ago. It had only been four years since everything he ever loved, fell.

  Another dark, visor-wearing figure was walking towards him, from the opposite side of the bridge. Two others were trailing in from behind it, dragging something. The first figure came a few feet in front of him before stopping, “Alpha, we’ve apprehended the Meta-Core engineer.”

  “Let me have a look at him,” Karalus said, solemnly.

  The figure in the front moved out of the way, and the two behind it stepped forward, dragging along one of the alien slaves. This one looked older and was completely bald. Like all the other slaves he was wearing the rags, and a high-tech shock collar, which had a red light that blinked every few seconds.

  The two figures threw the man on the ground, making him fall on his face and stomach. He winced, groaning a little. He was weak, not only from being tortured but also starved.

  Karalus frowned, trying to swallow the little sympathy he had remaining. “The E6s told me you were the one. The creator of Experiment Ten.”

  The man got up slightly, and slowly. He wobbled a little before he was able to get on his knees fully. His face was beaten up, and his lip was bleeding. Karalus hadn’t told the visored figures to hurt the man; they did it on their own. A side effect of the modules inside them, designed to make them act crueler than necessary.

  The man on his knees grimaced, “I did it,” he said, sounding fearful for not himself, but the people in the trenches below him. “I made the E6s do what they have done, no one else.”

  Karalus’s expression hardened, “You’re a monster.”

  The man chuckled sadly, “I know, and I would expect you not to be one, but here we are. I kneel before a man who uses the very machines he sought to destroy.”

  “I’ll destroy them when there aren’t any Kelisians left breathing,” Karalus said, stiffly.

  “Please Minister.” The man said, “I know what the Kelisians did to you, and I know that it seems unthinkable… but you have to let go…”

  “Let go?!” Karalus screamed, sympathy completely gone, “I will not let go until I know, that the great republic my people built over millions of years, has received its justice! My entire planet, is gone. Gone! Empty...” He let out a tear, but wiped it away immediately, “I’m alone.” He said, simply.

  Karalus looked back, turning around slightly. He saw what had used to be his capital city, now, in ruin. The giant skyscrapers that had reached halfway to the clouds were reduced to rubble. Outlines of the ginormous buildings could be seen from miles, even from the frozen sea of ice that the camp he was in was on top of. The ocean had been frozen still for millennia, covered by a two-hundred-foot thick sheet of ice.

  Karalus turned back towards the man, who was still on his knees, both the dark figures pointing laser rifles at him. The guns emitted a faint red glow at the ends of their barrels. Karalus looked away from the man, and instead watched the people in the trenches. The same species as the man kneeling before him. The man who almost made his people extinct.

  “Riois,” Karalus whispered.

  “Yes?” The man asked, hope in his voice.

  “I’m going to set your people… free.”

  The man smiled for half a second, then started to gape, realization flooding inside him. “No, please…”

  “Kill them all,” Karalus whispered. The man began shouting furiously, but he was kicked over by one of the figures behind him. The figure in the front’s visor turned green, and it transmitted orders through a database inside of it. The visors functioned like a small computer.

  Dozens of visored figures received the order, and their visors turned green as well. They walked down a small stairway, for the front of the two trench lines, and started shooting their laser rifles. They shot at every slave inside of the trenches. Screaming and shouting echoed as the visored figures cut down hundreds of people, mercilessly.

  Karalus didn’t wince or flinch. He was calm, and his emotions, his empathy. It was all fading away, quickly. He watched the red streams of light as they left the steaming barrels of the laser
rifles. He watched, and for a second… he smirked.

  CHAPTER 1

  In 2027, Earth was invaded by an extremely hostile and technologically advanced alien force only located by satellites after they passed the planet Jupiter, hence their location, humanity called them, Jupitains. The day of the invasion would forever be called, Arrival Day.

  A month before the invasion, it was thought to be, some kind of ‘solar wave,’ but for other, private astronomy stations, that could actually see the alien craft coming… they were wiped out quietly by the major governments across the globe before they could tell anyone.

  The United States, Russia, China, and England already had programs, and defense capabilities kept secret from the public, that were built just for the kind of situation that was about to come… however, it wasn’t enough, not even close. The invaders sought out easy prey to conquer, for resources. Earth was the perfect place. Jupitain ships reached Earth, and an epic fight for the sake of humanity began, if fight… meant the same as massacre.

  The Jupitain’s technology outgunned Earth’s ‘modern’ weaponry by an uncountable measure. Fighter jets were blown out of the sky and overwhelmed a hundred to one, and Aircraft carriers were blasted in half before they could launch their attacks. Every single satellite was destroyed. Important military bases, including the Pentagon, were destroyed at long ranges, but cities were invaded by the Jupitains personally, to round up the sheep.

  All the World’s armed forces were defeated in less than two days. Cities were targeted. Tokyo, Japan was first, and then New York, then London, Paris, Moscow, and eventually every populated area was either conquered or a crater. World leaders, no matter who were executed, to show that the Jupitains, were dominant. Ordinary people were turned into slaves. The result was the deaths of over three billion people.

  Some managed to escape the grasp of the Jupitains by living in the sewers or abandoned nuclear bunkers, but it didn’t last long. Rebellions were started but were quickly extinguished. Hope seemed lost for three months, until the unthinkable happened.

  A white and green, flying saucer flew out of the clouds and started firing on the Jupitain ships. People below thought that it was a sign of God or just another hostile alien. Instead, the saucer was followed by thousands of others appearing out of the clouds.

  For three days, the sky was lit up in explosions and Jupitain wreckage crashing to the ground. Confusion and fear spread across the planet until finally, the day came when the mysterious aliens stepped out of their ships and extended a hand towards humanity.

  They had humanoid like bodies with light blue skin and dark eyes without pupils. Martian, or at least that’s what they wanted people to think… there were no world leaders who could decide what to do, just confused people without direction, or purpose.

  The Martians helped mankind rebuild, but instead of rebuilding Nations or Countries, humanity formed a new system of government. Every continent except for Antarctica would be ruled by one leader, chosen by the people of that continent, to serve a two-year term. From those six leaders, laws would be made concerning everyone on planet Earth.

  No more racist discrimination or substantial political divisiveness anymore, the invasion had affected the world so intensely, that major human vs. human war turned into a joke and children born in the time period would be in disbelief after learning that humans had ever been at war with each other. Although, petty crime and subtle human vs. human violence would still be a minor problem.

  The Martians shared secrets about their technological advances, and massive fleets of warships in outer space were built to keep the new alliance safe from Jupitains. War began, the Alliance of Humans and Martians fought against the monstrous Jupitains throughout the Solar System. The two races grew to call themselves, The United Worlds. It was beautiful, until alas, everything changed.

  Mission Log, Day 2, Year 2036: My crew has arrived at the asteroid belt, minor difficulties with the main thrusters, but otherwise the trip was without complication, and the ship is running smoothly. We are coming closer and closer to our primary objective as I speak and reducing the ship’s speed, and stabilizing the-

  James stopped typing, realizing his second in command was talking to him.

  James’s second in command, Mark, was white and had messy brown hair. He was wearing a white collared shirt, with a picture of Earth sewed to it, and black khakis, with an ID badge attached to the left leg.

  “Wow James, you really make this job sound so important,” Mark said sarcastically.

  “This job is important,” replied James, never looking away from the ship’s controls, “And it’s captain, remember that.” James himself was black and wore the same uniform Mark had on.

  “Aye Captain,” said Mark, while making a fake salute with two fingers. James waited for Mark to keep talking, and he did. “You know, we are so unimportant to the United Fleet, that we got one of the worst jobs ever, asteroid clearing.”

  James sighed, “Claire, explain to Mark why our job is important.” Claire was white, and had long blonde hair, with the same uniform.

  “Gladly,” replied Claire, who was sitting opposite to them. She turned around. “Mark, guess why we got this job.”

  “Because the Titan warship didn’t want us.” Mark guessed sarcastically.

  “No, because we were more qualified to do this job than billions of other people who can only dream of going into space. So, when you say that this job isn’t important, remember, any job in space is important.”

  “Wait, if we had to be qualified to get this job, then how’d Mark get in?” James joked, awkwardly. Claire smirked a little, and Mark just rolled his eyes.

  “Alright back to business,” James clapped once, then turned around in his chair to face the controls again. “Claire charge the plasma cannon for fire, we need it at maximum power if we want to clear away any of those bigger asteroids, and Mark, get Lewis to repair the main thrusters, again, they’re working but, they keep buzzing on and off sometimes.”

  Mark got up, annoyed, and headed downstairs for the cabin.

  “Ha, take that!” Lewis said to Imp. Lewis had pale white skin, and jet-black hair and the same United Worlds uniform as the rest of the crew.

  “Your move was careless and sloppy,” Imp replied. He moved his checker piece to double jump Lewis’s.

  “Queen me,” Imp said proudly. Lewis looked at the board, frustrated.

  “What? Ugh, you’re way too good for checkers.”

  “We could try a game of chess instead like I offered before we started playing this,” stated Imp.

  “No, no way, you get checkmate by like the fourth move every time,” Lewis said while moving his last piece away from the enemy queen. “It’s too bad they wouldn’t let us put any video games in here. It’ll distract you from your very important mission,” Lewis mimicked.

  “It’s true though. You’d probably be playing 24/7; you need to keep your mind focused,” Imp said.

  Lewis looked at the checkerboard and sighed, “Yeah, cause checkers is the ultimate mind trainer,” he said sarcastically, “My hand-eye coordination was ten out of ten before I got this job.”

  “Whatever, either way, both options are a waste of time,” Imp replied. Even though his nickname was Imp, he was quite tall.

  “You’re still trying to beat a Martian at chess?” Mark asked from the stairway.

  “It’s checkers!” Lewis shouted back.

  “Which makes it even more humiliating, I bet a Martian child could beat you at this game,” said Imp.

  “Yeah, a Martian probably could,” Lewis said defiantly.

  “Well forget your checkers game, the Captain wants you to fix the main thrusters, again,” Mark said.

  “Again? Ugh, at this rate he should just learn to do it himself.” Lewis said, aggravated.

  “Set em’ up again,” Lewis sat up, “We’re not done yet.” He walked over to the engine room’s entrance. He pressed the button to open the door. It didn’t
move. He pushed the button again. Nothing. Lewis wore a confused look on his face. He pressed the button a third time. The door stayed shut. Lewis kicked them, and then afterward let out a few unpleasant words when the door still didn’t open. He punched the button, only to see the door still closed.

  Lewis grabbed the slight space between the cheaply made door and slid it open. Panting, he entered the engine room.

  “Well, now I have another thing to fix,” He mumbled. He walked through the cramped space of the engine room, looking for out of place wires or malfunctioning systems. He triple checked the main thruster’s exhaust to see if it was broken, looked over every control panel, and rebooted the ship’s energy systems. Everything was perfectly normal, nothing broken or out of place, but why didn’t the thrusters work anymore?

  “This can’t be right; something must be off here. How could the entire system be fine?” Lewis said to himself. Before he could come up with an answer to his question, a loud explosion echoed from the outside of the ship.

  James looked out the ship’s window, wide-eyed. Silence filled the bridge until Lewis barged up and shouted, “What the hell was that?!”

  “I don’t know, Mark, check into the Delta-2 Asteroid base and ask them to scan the area,” James said, nervously.

  Mark started looking at his computer monitor. “Um, Captain, that was the Asteroid base.” The comment even made Lewis go quiet.

  “Maybe it was a system failure?” Claire guessed, with shallow hope.

  “System failures don’t blow up entire bases, or do they?” Mark asked.

  “Whatever caused it might still be out there, so we shouldn’t stick around to find out what happened, Lewis, did you fix the main thrusters?” James asked, getting a little panicked.

  Lewis scratched his head, “Well, um that’s the thing cap; the entire engine room is perfectly fine.”

  “What? That can’t be right… the controls still say main thrusters unavailable.”

  Imp walked up the stairs, “What’s going on?”