by Joe Crouch
“Of course,” Michael said through gritted teeth, “I only wanted to confirm the source of the attackers, were they Human in origin?”
“Human in origin, Sir? Of course they were…” the officer trailed off, “But I spoke to the aide in question before he attacked us, I can’t say I noticed anything much unusual, he seemed on edge but I presumed that the Xuron in orbit caused it, as it has done everyone.” General Hagen thought for a moment, an idea sparked in his clouded mind.
“Did you notice any oddities about their appearance?” he questioned, he knew the idea he had was insane, but something unexpected must have happened to the attackers in question.
“I don’t think so, Sir, he was sweating profusely but…” the officer stopped, his eyes widening, “I did ask him about a shaving cut on his neck as I guided him through the facility, but I don’t think It’s very odd.”
“I’ll decide what’s odd and what isn’t Officer,” he barked, letting him know his place in the chain of command, “But yes, that’s all for now, dismissed,” and with a snap of his heels and a salute, the broadcast was shut down. The revelation was hardly the information Michael was hoping for, a sweating Aide who had cut himself shaving, it wasn’t something he could work with, at least not yet.
Michael planted both hands down on an ornate table and looked down at his feet, the casualties, the innocents that had already been lost began to finally strike him, he knew the death toll must be in the six or seven figure range by now, it was unacceptable, and feeling completely powerless he resigned, dropping to his knees in a weeping mess.
* * *
The Arrakis-two glided down towards the under-fire city, plumes of a thick, black smoke swirled towards the darkening sky as fires spread out across the landscape, engulfing anything combustible in its path. The tall buildings were good cover for the crew to duck behind as they attempted to avoid Xuron patrols. Too large to squeeze down in the tight, winding streets, the Arrakis-two was only just small enough to hide her signature behind the skyscrapers.
Sean pushed the ship down from the stable course they were on and corkscrewed down towards the large constructs they took up position above. The translator aboard refused to translate the words that flew out from the Ioution’s mouths as the G-forces tore at everyone who hung on for their lives. “Remind me to disassemble this ship for scrap,” Taris’ strained voice managed to eke out as he laughed uncontrollably as they plummeted towards their doom. With a quick jolt the rear end of the ship pushed down while the nose pulled up into the vacant air causing a shockwave to ripple out from the engines, the damage caused was incredible, windows shattered and littered every inch of ground as roof tiles were ripped from their holdings and strewn across the streets. Oblivious, he slowed the ship to a crawl as they made their way along the rooftops of the brick houses that were arranged in neat rows. They made their way above the suburbs, the once peaceful neighbourhood now rumbled with the ferocious grav-drives that propelled the ship, any object they came near was torn from its restraints and either thrown or gathered in a neat pile below the ship’s hull.
“We need to find somewhere safe to land,” he remarked, watching as civilians below scattered in every direction at the sight of an alien ship crawling across their sky. Taris brought up a display of the surrounding area and scanned for any potential landing spots.
“There,” she pointed out, “A large green area with strange objects arranged around some type of sedimentary materials, is this a ritual site for your species?” she asked.
“That’s a park with swings and slides…” he looked at Taris, disbelief filling his own eyes.
“Well, there’s an opening beside the ritual objects.”
“Now It’s just depressing,” he groaned. Pulling tightly on the flight controls, the ship circled around tearing the branches and foliage from the towering, once-lush trees. Bringing the craft into a slow descent, he approached the muddied ground as the landing struts extended from the ship and with a gentle thud they touched down. They were close the edge of the sprawling metropolis, the land surrounding them was flat, almost featureless, trees littered the landscape as stone paths wound out around the area. Standing, he looked back to see the crew breathing heavily, all looking him in the eyes with an air of glee that they were finally safe. Without warning, two large objects impacted against the hull rocking everyone on the inside like a tin of sardines.
“Weapons fire,” Taris yelled out as he spun to see her leant over a display.
“Where from?” he replied, “Human or Xuron?”
“Human,” she choked, giving him a knowing glance.
“I’ll go out first then, maybe they’ll stop if they see me.
“Sean the clone…” Fez trailed off.
“Well, they don’t know that,” he snapped, the once distant thought now replaying in the back of his mind. Walking to the exit hatch, he placed his weapons down on a vacant seat and keyed in commands for his departure. The wall cracked down the middle and snapped in two as it receded back. Weapons fire continued to slam against the ship’s outer hull but came to a halt once he emerged with his hands held high. The two attackers, civilians dressed in casual gear with nothing more than light energy weapons, stared blankly at him, “I’m Human,” he shouted across the gap, “I’m here to help.”
“He’s a bloody robot, look at him,” one civilian screamed to the other, Sean looked down, remembering the robotic exoskeleton he wore, “Get him, Judy.” The pair rose their weapons towards him, each taking cover behind the thick trunk of a tree. A faint whirring from his left ear caught his attention, but before he could respond the shoulder mounted cannon spooled up and unleashed two bolts of superheated plasma towards the innocents. The cover they stood behind disappeared in a cloud of vapour, nothing more than a charred trunk remained as the tops of the trees toppled down and came crashing to the ground.
“Fucking hell,” he shouted, throwing himself face down on the muddy floor, it was the first thing that came to mind. The screams from the two civilians would haunt him for the rest of his life as the high-pitched shrieks pierced through his body. Two short discharges came from above followed by two heavy thuds into the soft, sticky mud that covered everything.
“You’re alright,” Taris whispered to the distraught Human, “I put them out of their suffering.” Pushing himself over, his eyes welled up at the thought of what he had done, but a certain indignation flowed over him from Taris’ actions, however logical they appeared.
“You did what,” he squeaked out, holding back his emotions, “They were just normal people!” She knelt and placed a comforting hand on his forehead, running her hand through his unkempt hair.
“You know it was the right thing to do, and what happened wasn’t your fault, either,” she turned to give Fez a look of anger, “Feghouli should never have allowed you to control such a weapon yet, I don’t know what went through his tiny mind when he offered you the suit.” Fez stepped forward ready to protest, but a single look at the destroyed, incinerated remains and the look of horror in his friend’s eyes made him think better of it, instead he receded into the Arrakis-two and began to hand out armaments.
Sitting up, he turned to face the damage he had inflicted. The foliage had been decimated and littered the ground in every direction, but the two corpses caught his attention more than anything. They laid there, motionless, smoke still rose from their almost melted skin, the smell of burning flesh filled the once crisp, clean air. The duo’s innards were exposed to the elements as fragments of bone snapped through the weakened flesh and pointed in random directions. The sight made him physically sick, a thick, warm liquid gathered in his body before being thrown out onto the ground as he leant to one side, a pool of vomit formed beside where he sat.
Gathering his strength after a moment to compose himself, he grabbed two first aid blankets and laid them over the largest piece of the remains. “I’m sorry…” he trailed off, kneeling beside the still cooking flesh, “I meant well
, I still do mean well, I promise I will do everything in my power to save people.” Rising, he made his way back to the shuttle and grabbed his weapons, snapping them to his suit holstering them for another time, “Let’s get out of here,” he grunted, “We will make our way into the city and find Hagen to coordinate our defence efforts.”
“We’re with you, Sean,” Taris proclaimed, staring towards Fez, “All of us…”
Chapter 26
The exchange of weapons fire came to an end as the final Xuron dropped to its knees and crashed to the concrete floor, joining its three other comrades that already laid lifeless. Sean stood and nodded towards Taris as she threw an energy cartridge to the floor and snapped another into her weapon. The street they took up position in remained relatively untouched by the Xuron presence, the tall buildings lurched high above them, feeling as if they were closing in and about to fall. On street level, various boutiques occupied almost every front facing window and displayed a wide range of clothing items and footwear. “Your species is so vibrant with their colour schemes,” Taris noted, her face planted up against a dirtied window into an abandoned shop.
“You haven’t seen anything yet, let me tell you,” Sean said, forcing out a chuckle which drew a concerned look from Taris as she pulled herself away from the expensive products. He stood centrally on the deserted road, cars and red buses littered the street, abandoned during the initial invasion they were now little more than cover for them and the enemy. Power had been cut to the city so as day turned to night only the faint moonlight that bathed every surface provided any semblance of natural illumination. The sound of battle came from the distance, only briefly interrupted explosions that rocked them where they stood.
“Ready?” Fez asked, strolling towards Sean as he recharged his weapons.
“Ready,” he replied, trying his hardest to focus on the mission at hand. The squad gathered up and moved down the cramped street, weaving between the vehicles that had been left in the initial panic. The images of the cremated remains continued to flash through his conscious mind, attaching themselves like a joyrider onto every thought he had, he knew he couldn’t forget the incident, but compartmentalising it for the time being would be a good idea.
To him, it was eerie seeing the streets not abuzz with traffic, on a normal day, it would be full of thousands of people rushing about, each person’s day seemingly as important as the others as they hurried from point to point. Turning a corner, the landscape changed drastically. Chunks were torn from the sides of buildings and their remains were scattered across the street, fresh debris fell from the damaged structures, slamming to the ground in a cloud of dust. “Such a shame,” he sighed, “I used to come here all the time when I was younger and just stare at all the magical and beautiful goods on display.” Silence was sporadic as Xuron fighters screamed overhead, their weapons fire crackled as it traversed through the still air. Signs of resistance began to show as Terran interceptors sped across the night sky, their engines let out a faint glow as they increased their speeds. The combatants danced through the darkening sky, their hulls were all but a twinkle that flitted above the backdrop of stars. Faint screams came from the distance, growing in intensity as the group marched on.
“What’s that?” Fez questioned.
“It sounds Human,” Sean replied, stopping to get a better feel of the direction the sound came from, “Definitely Human, it sounds like its coming from that direction,” he pointed to the west, “Let’s go.” The team skulked through the narrow back alleys that connected the main lifelines of the city, the colourful graffiti scrawled across the walls was a constant reminder of the life that once occupied the area. He pressed his back hard against the brick wall and shuffled his way to the alleyways exit, with a brief peek around the corner his head shot back with a disturbed look in his eye.
“What is it?” Taris asked.
“Come see for yourself, but be careful,” he replied, dragging the tall Ioution in front of him and shuffling himself back. Poking her head around the corner, the skittering that greeted her was an unwelcome reminder of who they were here to stop. Xuron latched onto the sides of the tightly packed buildings as they crawled along their faces. A large group of them marched along the cobbled road, encircling an unmistakeable sight, a group of shackled Humans were being herded along the road like animals.
“I see,” Taris gulped, “We’ve got to do something.”
“What do you see?” Fez interjected, curious as to what was going on.
“There’s a large bug squad coming this way, they’ve got a group of Humans in tow, ready for processing and conversion, I imagine,” Taris snarled, her demeanour changing drastically at the sight.
“Alright, I know this area well,” Sean exclaimed, “There’s a massive clothes shop nearby, we could take up position on one of the upper floors and wait in ambush, it’ll provide a great vantage point of the intersection they will have to pass through.” Fez and Taris nodded in agreement, bowing to his superior knowledge of the land. “We should backtrack a bit, there’s an entrance on both sides of the ground floor so we’ll take the one on this side.” Sean took point as they made their way out from the dark alley and onto the dimly lit main road, the moonlight barely reflected off the dirty shop windows. The tension that grew within the team was visible as they responded to every speck of rubble hitting the floor with a jittery riposte. Buzzing from the flittering Xuron wings filtered through the background noise of war, but was interrupted as a Terran fighter screeched overhead, flames spurted out from its rear as the pilot ejected with a series of small explosions, but their life was cut short as a Xuron interceptor screamed across and slammed into the powerless pilot leaving nothing but a cloud of red mist that hung in the air. “Holy fucking shit,” he let out, “Did you see that?” snapping around to see the confused and stunned aliens.
“Why did he jump out from his craft?” Fez asked, breaking the cold silence.
“He ejected,” Sean corrected, “Don’t you have anything similar? The craft is unrecoverable so the pilot saves himself.”
“No, nothing similar,” Fez contemplated, “But I do like the idea.” He continued on shocked, do the Ioutions not value others’ lives the same as we do? he thought, how much do we value others’ lives outside of our own constricted circle of family and friends? he shrugged the subject off, but the sombre mood that already occupied his mind clawed deeper, gaining a far larger foothold than it had before. The team stopped in front of two automatic doors, he raised his hand and halted the progress of the others. Already forced open, the doors were broken off their hinges and strewn to the side. The inside of the shop had obvious signs of looting, clothes were scattered across the floor and racks were toppled over within the chaotic scene.
He took a cautious step into the dimly lit building, the light on his suit flashed into life giving everyone a better understanding of the environment they found themselves in. The large, open area that greeted them was simple enough, albeit virtually unpassable from the mess of clothing and debris that littered every foot of floor space. A set of escalators extruded out from the middle of the shop to the first floor giving them great access to a higher vantage point.
Turning back once he reached the apex of the stairs, he saw the Ioutions behind him holding on for their lives as their large feet didn’t fit on the small steps, each trod as carefully as a child in its first year of life. “Here, take my hand,” he laughed while stretching, trying his best to offer Taris a way out of her misery.
“Your puny Human feet,” Taris bemoaned, “You’re a galactic civilisation now, your stairs must be bigger.”
“Well, I’ll make sure to pass it onto the President,” he laughed, pulling her up until she was stable. The tiring group ascended another set of stairs and found themselves on the second floor, which to his surprise remained untouched from the vicious grip of the looters. Moving the team forwards towards the window, they looked at the huge pane of glass which wrapped around the entire
front of the building. “Fez, pass me that device,” he remarked, pointing towards the small energy cutter affixed to his belt. Kneeling, he began to cut into the thin glass, making as little noise as possible while giving them enough room to take up position, he knew it would be easier just to smash it out, but the noise would be heard.
“Alright everyone,” Taris stood tall, her chest puffed out, “This is where we make our first stand, take up position beside the window and wait for Feghouli’s command.”
* * *
“General Hagen, Sir, where are you going?” the confused Private asked, stopping the general in his tracks, “It’s too dangerous to go out there alone, I cannot let you leave for your own safety.”
“I didn’t get to general by standing around doing nothing, Private,” Michael insisted, “I’ve got armour and a weapon, if I stay low I’ll be fine, I need to go and find someone, they’re bringing help to push back the invasion.” The Private knew he was powerless to stop the general if he insisted on exiting the building, but voicing his concerns was enough to clear his own conscious if something should happen.
With a crack and a hiss, the large back door to the facility opened to reveal the dark underbrush that surrounded the rear of the building. Michael stepped out into the thick, gloopy mud from the concrete he was used to and pushed his way through the thick, overgrown bushes and plants that blocked his way. I’ve got to find Sean and his team he thought, trying to distract himself from the state of his uniform if we can get to the President and protect her we will have done a good job.
The bulky armour clamped to his chest and legs weighed him down significantly as he slogged through the rough conditions, his worn joints screamed in agony as he pressed on with the goal at the forefront of his mind. From here, the battle for the city was a distant event, the loud explosions and weapons fire gave him a general idea of areas to avoid, at least for the time being. “Sean, this is general Hagen, please come in,” he squawked over the short-range radio, “I repeat this is general Hagen, please come in.” No response was forthcoming, he was alone and in a hostile environment, maybe I should have taken the Private up on his protection detail he mused, but he was nearing the edge of the wild forest and the urban sprawl quickly approached.
