by Tex Leiko
Brian walked calmly back to the front where the guards were waiting for anyone they deemed a threat to walk through the doors. He calmly, and almost even politely, held his gun to the back of the first one’s head, and without a word, pulled the trigger. He quickly aimed for guard two and laid him to the ground with a single shot as well. Before either of them knew there was even a threat, Brian had dispatched them both.
The building had unbelievably low security. They had never had an attack occur before. There were switches under the desks of every employee’s cubicle to alert authorities of a threat, but Brian was going in at an off hour where there would be few at work. Even more, every command that Crimson had executed into her data-pad told him to be cautious and to move quietly. In no time, he had slaughtered everyone in the office without raising a single red flag.
Now he moved quietly into the women’s bathroom in the hallway leading to the Pilvikone. He stood on the counter with the sink between his feet and opened up a ventilation duct. Inside was a fully automatic gauss projection assault rifle MK-VX2I12. It was military grade and held one-hundred-thirteen rounds. One-hundred-twelve in the drum, one in the chamber.
He moved to the room where the Pilvikone was housed and closed the doors behind them. He chained them shut with a Kelmantrium security wire and placed a powerful short-ranged fragmentation explosive on the door.
If anyone managed to get through, the explosive would go off, killing anyone within a twenty meter radius. Brian was thirty. He sat on top of the Pilvikone with his sights aimed at where anyone might be standing after the blast cleared and they sent a second assault into the room. That was if anyone were to suspect why the weather had suddenly gone haywire.
This was occurring at every facility that housed a Pilvikone simultaneously. Only Brian went by a different name at each place.
Chapter Seventeen
Zarfa’s Conflict—The Sins of The Father
Badger had awakened several hours before the battle was to begin and commanded his swarm of psychic warriors to travel south to the destination. With full Psyker Scream modifications, he could hear the Faraza swarm muddling about in the caverns below their feet. The expanse of caves they dwelled in was vast and stretched for miles under the desert sand.
He could hear the squirming of fresh larvae that had been laid by the queen. He could hear the clattering of chitins rubbing together as they scuttled through the hallways. But most of all, he could hear the high-pitched whirr of their wings as they prepared to take flight.
The Faraza raiders were no doubt mounting their mighty insects and preparing to rain death upon Zarfa and his men. Badger could hear it; they were gathering in large vestibule-type chambers where they could all trickle from exits that would collapse behind them. They were clever with their digging. They only had one true entrance, but thousands of exits.
Badger was about four miles out from the site of the battle when the wind came blowing in furiously as if some greater force had sent it in hot anger. The sand pelted him and hurt his eyes. He quickly put on protection and had the army follow suit so as to not lose their sight.
The wind kept coming with a bite and a sting. It was blowing so hard that the sand was scraping off bits of his skin as it hit him. Blood seeped from his raw skin and soon every bare bit of his body was bloodied and sore.
Suddenly, the wind broke and a loud crash of thunder came. Lightning bounded from cloud to cloud in the sky above him and glistening red drops of rain fell upon him and his soldiers.
It was the eeriest sight he had ever seen. The glowing red tinge in the rain seemed to come up from the ground as a sort of dust and swarm amidst him and his army. A small breath of red haze floated around his face for a few moments and then intruded in through his nostrils.
It looked like a smoke he was inhaling into himself. But he had no idea what it was. His body began to tingle as he marched on. The rain was still pouring torrentially and the lightning and thunder came without letup.
He looked to the sky so as to ask of it an answer to the mystery. None came, only thunder and lightning and more of the crimson rain.
* * * *
Zarfa stood as the first solider on the battlefield. He knew where the entrance was to the Faraza base and he was ready for them to come swarming forth from it. Sarah was to his left and Zajifa loyally to his right. He was nervous, but no one could tell it from the outside.
“Zarfa,” Sarah said, sounding shaken.
“Yes?” he asked as the sun rose behind them and light cast down on the shadows of the battlefield.
“A detail I overlooked the night we discussed this…” She trailed off.
“What?”
“You asked about entrances, you see… This… Well, this is the only entrance. Brother, don’t be mad.”
“About what?” he asked as he felt the sand rumble beneath their feet.
“Well, they can exit from almost anywhere in the desert. They have vestibules that hold roughly sixty wasps and when they emerge, it collapses behind them. I…I really don’t know why I didn’t think of it before now.”
“Conditioning. You can’t tell me you were down there for three years and they weren’t able to imprint something on you, sister,” he said as the tremors in the ground grew stronger.
“I’m sorry, brother!” she exclaimed with tears in her eyes.
“It isn’t like you tricked us on purpose. We just have to adapt. We can overcome anything,” he said, looking her in the eyes with comfort.
He stood as if he were a statue waiting in the barren desert for a hapless traveler to stumble about finding a priceless piece of art. There he was at the front of an army that had grown into the hundreds of thousands. Nobody would have ever thought that Legion Nine would become an army this large.
“Zajifa, Sarah…don’t die,” he said solemnly.
“I will do my best,” she said.
“Not unless you do, boss,” Zajifa said with a grin.
“Me? Die? I’ve got nine lives.”
“And I recall you using at least eight in the time I’ve known you,” stated Zajifa playfully.
“Right,” Zarfa said with a smile that widened out across his whole face, laying bare his teeth.
He readied his rifle as the ground beneath his feet began to shake and tremor more and more. Zajifa and Sarah did the same. Each member of the army had brought their own weapons. Some had none to speak of other than a plasma blade; some had only typical kitchen knives.
It wasn’t the most impressive army in skill, but its numbers were quite large. It showed how many had their lives ruined and maimed by the Faraza, and how many were brave enough to seek comfort in bloodshed. Each one in the crowd felt that this was justice for how they had been victimized, and who was there to argue?
Clouds gathered overhead and the ground shook violently. A strong wind swept once across the battlefield and a strong force of static could be felt. It was causing the hair on everyone to stand on end. The clouds rumbled and lightning jumped above from cloud to cloud.
Right as it seemed the battle would commence, his communicator rang within his ear. “Yes?” he questioned as he answered.
“See the clouds? Call this your salvation. Look to the north of you. What do you see?”
“I see the Psyker army, Crimson. I thought you were taking care of them?”
“I did, notice something funny?”
Zarfa was silent for a moment as he observed their lines marching toward them.
“Yeah, they’re all just…staggering at us.”
“They’re infected by Max’s nanobots. They’ll be dead within ten minutes and by now, their brains are mush. They can’t do anything. They’re simply following their last command to march toward you. That’s all they’ll do… Then finally…poof, they’ll collapse into the dust.”
“You had better be right. Anyhow, I can’t wait to see what else you have planned.”
At that, the communicator went dead. The movement and the noise
below hushed for a moment. It was all dead silent except the rumbling of the clouds as they broke forth into rain.
“I’m sure this is good for morale,” Zajifa said sarcastically.
“This is our salvation!” Zarfa screamed to inspire confidence of those around him.
There was no response as he had hoped.
“All shall know our salvation hinges on this storm! Be sure that all know!” he shouted with a commanding tone.
It took two or three times before anyone understood what he meant. Soon, all of those close to him were shouting it aloud and it spread like a ripple in a lake. His army had hope. They didn’t know exactly in what, but they could look up and see a symbol of it.
The ground burst forth and swarms of wasp raiders took to the sky. Their foreboding visage mixed with the clouds and they seemed to disappear. Zarfa raised his rifle and began to shoot at them.
The ground exploded behind him where a swarm of raiders sprung from the earth. It suddenly collapsed, taking several of his soldiers to their grave. He turned hastily to face the imminent threat and began firing his rounds as fast as he could. He was killing as quickly as he could and had already shot down thirty to forty wasps along with their raiders.
Swarms were bursting out all over and what formation his army seemed to have was diminishing. Some of the less stalwart souls began to flee in horror as if they could be saved by running back to Ilyeion.
The ones trying to flee were picked off easily by the flying raiders. The swarm was buzzing in full force overhead within minutes and raining down bullets upon Zarfa’s army. Blood was staining the sands red, and more of it was Zarfa’s own army than he had imagined.
Zarfa looked to the sky with tears in his eyes and fired his last few rounds, taking down several more wasps. He was out of ammo and so were those around him, including Sarah and Zajifa.
A wasp came in quickly, aiming right at Zajifa, who didn’t see what was coming at him. Without saying a word, Zarfa threw himself between the wasp—which was carrying four riders—and Zajifa. He quickly cut the dive-bombing wasp in half with his plasma sword.
The corpse of the insect split in a cloud of vapors, the two halves narrowly missing Zarfa and Zajifa. Other soldiers were fumbling and tripping out of the way so as not to be struck by the insect’s corpse and the riders tumbling off. Zajifa turned in time to see Zarfa quickly making his way back to the line he had been standing in.
The battle seemed to not be going too well and then, as if sent by some sort of divine favor, lightning began springing from the ground. The bolts seemed to be precise, missing the members of Zarfa’s army.
A bolt would strike a wasp in flight then scatter outward, leaping from wasp to wasp. The lighting that danced from cloud to cloud would strike down and join with other bolts in the sky and continue to bounce.
Soon, the sky was dancing with illuminating electricity. The sun burned behind the clouds. Barely visible but now blinding light filled the sky, charring and burning hundreds of wasps at a time. The falling bodies became the largest threat to Zarfa’s army as they all ran around like ants on the ground trying to avoid furious stomps of an angry child that had been stung.
“HA!” Zarfa shouted.
He saw it with his eyes; he felt it in his heart. This was the victory he had hoped for. It was a miracle. In only minutes, the swarm had been thinned out by the electricity. Now there were only a few lingerers circling in the sky.
He had almost forgotten, but he looked to the north. The army that had been stumbling toward him, threatening to crush them as they were distracted, was now collapsing. They fell face first into the dust as they tried to march toward Zarfa and his army.
“Who would have thought the same thing that gave them their power would be their undoing. Huh, sis?” Zarfa asked Sarah.
“Let’s hope the same isn’t true of us,” she said as lightning bounded above and struck several more wasps.
* * * *
“Mr. Cudrow, my name is Reginald Saunders. I am from Alexarien’s thirty-fifth regiment. None can deny that you have attributed to humanity’s greatness over the years. It is a shame some don’t quite grasp that nor do they appreciate it, your own family included,” Reginald said as he stepped from the shadows to greet Thomas.
“Ah, you’ve prepared quite the speech to take my life,” Thomas said indifferently.
“Take your life? By all accounts, no. No! I am not here to take your life at all,” he said quite dramatically. “There is rioting in the streets; the Crimson Crusade marches toward Polyhelix headquarters where we stand. In fact, some of them are milling about on the lower levels slaughtering employees and wreaking havoc as we speak. But your life to take? No! For that purpose, I did not come.”
“Oh? So for what purpose did you come? To act so dramatically?” Thomas questioned sarcastically.
“Your son, well…he destroyed your army and has a great crowd of followers still indeed. He poses a threat to our government and at this time, our government has several threats to face. My superiors recognize the greatness of a man such as yourself. Right now, actions have been taken to stamp out your son and his futile attempts at destroying you and overthrowing the Alexarien government and eventually Ilyeion’s… A great man much like yourself, yet he got greedy and over stretched his hand. I am sure you can relate.
“Anyhow, I did not come to tell you of your son’s small victory, or to take your life. I came to lay out your options. Option one, I do take your life,” Reginald said with a pause.
“I thought you weren’t here for that,” Thomas stated.
“I most certainly am not, however, if it comes to that…I will. I suppose I could have made that your third option, however, it is too late for me to corral already released words.
“Option two, you come with us and hand over all of your research, even the things you have managed to keep hidden. You continue to work with us for as long as we need you. The higher ups were impressed with some of your super soldier ideas and would like to provide you with the materials to expand upon your research. If you choose this option, you will be an employee of the government and we shall free you of your service when it is no longer needed.
“We know the true purpose of Faraza and that you planned to make an attempt of a coup d’état toward us after Synaptix was out of the way. We also know that when things got desperate, you chose to align with Synaptix to proceed with your plan. However, that too failed.
“A third option is we take you in to custody and make you comply by any means necessary. I mean, you did commit treason. Nobody will question where you went. However, if you put up too much of a fight, I shall resort to option one; my boss would understand. Synaptix, I can safely say, is no longer a threat. All thanks to my people. Your ally is dead. You are here alone in a room with a man more skilled in the art of killing than yourself, and need I add that I have a whole squad outside of your office? I think not. Anyhow, my point is this. We know all of your transgressions and are willing to overlook them if you join our cause. It is a most generous offer and that is what I came to extend. So, what do you say?”
“The way you said options almost led me to believe that I actually had a choice.”
“You jest, Mr. Cudrow, but I assure you this is not the time,” Reginald said, pointing a gun at Thomas’ head.
“Oh, so you did come to kill me,” Thomas said, sitting and pouring two shots of tequila.
“No, I already explained. Now I require a decision of you. Either you stand alone, admitting the defeat by your son. At that point I myself put three bullets in your head then set your corpse ablaze. Or you decide to work with us and all of your trespasses are forgiven and you are given a chance to prove you can at the very least…beat your son. However, Mr. Cudrow, I must inform you that the men that control the strongest nation in the remaining world didn’t get there by chance, and you can never best them.”
“Sit, please,” Thomas said, motioning Reginald to take a seat in front of th
e desk he was sitting behind. “It is a mere request, not a command. I wish to talk. You seem to enjoy it quite a lot yourself so, please, sit. Have a drink with me?”
Reginald sat in the chair in front of Thomas, eyeing him suspiciously with his hand on his gun. Thomas slid one of the previously poured shots over to Reginald as he downed his own and poured another.
“You had been watching us from the beginning it seems, right?” Thomas questioned smugly.
“Very astute, your point?” Reginald asked, eyeing the drink.
“Don’t you find it a bit strange that I would rest all of my dreams of overthrowing the government on my petty guerilla army known as Faraza? An army that I had very little direct supervision over?”
“I see what you’re trying to do. Mr. Cudrow, bluffs will not work at this stage.”
“It isn’t a bluff, only a confession. My goal all along was to grab your attention. Now, where do I sign? With the military’s backing, my research shall bring humanity to a level much higher than ever dreamt. We shall all be gods, well…those of us in power anyhow.”
“We shall see if that is on the boss’ agenda. For now, I take it that you aren’t going to put up a fight and I can holster my weapon?”
“You take the matter correctly. Now, have a drink.”
Reginald downed his shot and slid the glass back over to Thomas. Thomas refilled it as he downed his second and slid the fresh one over to his new ally.
“I’m glad we drank on this like men,” Thomas said. “Now, let’s go meet your boss.”
* * * *
Zarfa had not even realized that he answered his communicator when it rang. He wasn’t even sure if he had heard it ring. The lightning and thunder were dying down but still causing a great deal of noise. Most of the fighting had ceased. There were a few straggling raiders left muddling about dismounted, trying to fight for their lives.
