Peace Army

by Steven L. Hawk

  The Telgorans started digging their tunnels as soon as shiale was reached. The first mine was completed within hours of starting. The last was finished only hours ago. Its completion was the signal for Flight Alpha to lift off.

  When word reached Titan that the fifth sortie, Flight Echo, was off the ground, he relayed the message to Patahbay. Within seconds, the thin barriers that still separated the five new tunnels from the stairwells were removed.

  When the fighter attacks on the mining bases started, the Telgorans would flood the stairwells and begin their ascent.

  * * *

  Soo stood and stared.

  Something was different.

  The two groups of fighters on the screens had performed the expected deviations to the north or the south, but now they were turning directly toward the bases. This meant something.

  When the ships simultaneously shed altitude and began their final approach, the pieces fell together for the Minith general.

  Five groups of aircraft, five mining bases.

  “It’s an attack,” he snarled.

  * * *

  “Yeah, you asshole, it’s an attack!” Grant shouted back. The Minith commander could not hear him, but it felt good just the same.

  It was too late for the Minith to react to the sudden change in direction. For good or bad, they were stuck with the defenses they had in place.

  Grant had revised his plan to accommodate the Minith’s repositioning of their forces on the west-facing wall. He now had all flight groups approaching from the north- or south-facing walls. Fewer weapons were pointed at his pilots from those directions. It was a small advantage, but Grant would take it.

  Success in battle, as is in other areas of life, is often built upon a foundation of small advantages.

  Chapter 45

  Though Grant had said it was large, the stairwell was barely wide enough for three Telgorans standing side-by-side. That limitation did not deter them from trying to reach the surface as a single unit, though. The surging wave of steely gray flesh lifted Titan in its maw and literally pushed him up the stairs. The wave’s momentum slammed him into and through the door at the top of the two-hundred-foot climb.

  He was briefly thankful that the door was not made of steel as he was catapulted through it. He landed on his back and the brightness of the sun burned into his eyes. He squinted at the skinny gray legs and pounding feet flying past. He was stepped on.

  Again.

  And again.

  The blinding sun piercing his brain was quickly forgotten as he scrambled to regain his feet while avoiding being trampled.

  He had always watched the Telgoran sprint for the mines from a place behind the mob—from the safety of a tunnel entrance. Now he knew what it was like to be a part of the sprint itself.

  He hoped he lived through it to join the fight against the enemy.

  * * *

  Patahbay led the charge up the alien walkway and through the thin partition at the top. He was comforted by the closeness of Family and felt pleasure being sent his way by brothers and sisters as the other attacks were launched. He gave back his own sense of pleasure and felt it join with the collective feeling of the Family.

  In the entirety of their history, the Family had never felt such happiness.

  The feeling of contentment increased as the first of his brothers—in a location on the other side of the planet—struck the first blow against an invader. Other blows quickly followed.

  Without slowing his stride, Patahbay looked around to gain his bearings. He noticed the doorways the general had pointed out as leading to the top of the structure’s walls. He headed for the closest one. Receiving his input, a fourth of the Family followed him while the others split off in equal groups and headed for the other three doorways. To a casual observer, it might seem as if each of the Telgorans knew exactly where they were supposed to be and what they were supposed to do.

  And they would be right.

  * * *

  Titan got his bearings in time to see Patahbay streaking toward the doorway directly ahead. If this base was set up like the one Grant’s army had captured, he knew it would lead to the top of the walls.

  The Violent looked up at the tops of the walls surrounding him and saw no weapons being fired into the center of the base. As Grant had hoped, the Minith fighters were still focused on threats from the outside.

  He saw Patahbay and his group of a hundred-plus Telgorans enter their doorway and knew the Minith were about to get a very big surprise.

  He hurried to catch up.

  * * *

  Patahbay reached the top of the walkway—what the general had called “stairs”—and saw hundreds of the invaders. They were spread to the right and left along the top of the wall.

  He turned left and passed scores of invaders, most who did not even take notice of his passing. He was intent on reaching the end of the wall. He would begin his fight there. Others would take care of those he passed.

  One invader saw him coming and stood to meet his attack. Patahbay calculated the distance, did not slow his pace. Before the enemy could bring up his weapon, Patahbay was past him. He saw in the brother’s mind who followed that the slight strike he had delivered on the way had removed the invader’s head.

  * * *

  Titan reached the top of the stairway in time to see Patahbay take off a Minith soldier’s head with a single swing of his staff.

  “Shit fire,” he muttered. It was his favorite profanity—one he had learned from Grant.

  He paused to take in the situation. The Minith forces had been punished by the fighters that had been sent against them. Large gaps were visible in the wall, evidence that the human bombs had done their work. In other spots, he could see large pools of purple blood where the aliens had died.

  Plenty of the Minith were still fighting. Fortunately, most of them faced outward toward the distant fighters. So did their weapons.

  After decades of trying to breach the walls of the base, the Family had finally succeeded. The opportunity was not wasted. They coordinated their attack with care and precision, spreading rapidly along the length of the wall. Where they were confronted, they easily took out the Minith. Here, in close quarters, their strength and quickness was unmatched.

  Titan realized a mass mind could be a wonderful thing when applied properly.

  * * *

  Of the twenty fighters that lifted off earlier in the day, four had been shot down. Four others had been damaged and had to limp back to base.

  After dropping their loads, the remaining twelve were flying circles around the bases. Although out of weapons range, they were clearly visible to the defenders on the walls. They only drew the occasional, useless blast, but they performed their primary duty well.

  They kept the aliens’ full attention focused outside the bases’ walls.

  * * *

  Soo and the rest of the Minith in the command center of the orbiting mothership stared at the screen in shock.

  The initial bombing runs carried out by the human ships were bad enough. They damaged the walls and killed scores of defenders, but the mobs of Telgorans pouring into the bases from the depths of the agsel mines provided a much more gruesome sight.

  The natives snuck up on the defenders from behind. They struck without warning, killed without pause. Most of the defenders never saw the staff, rock, or fist that killed them.

  And Soo had no way to warn them. All he could do was watch. And seethe.

  Although Telgorans were striking the blows, this was the work of humans.

  He knew with one-hundred-percent certainty that this weak race of pale slaves was responsible for the death of the Minith home world.

  “General Soo,” one of the seated operators called out tentatively. “Shouldn’t we do something, sir?”

  Soo pulled the pulse weapon from his hip and fired a single blast.

  He had no use for ignorance. If they could do something—anything—they would already have done it.


  The purple leakage pooled around the dead soldier’s feet.

  * * *

  Gee had worked out how to steal the feeds from the Minith mothership. He and Grant watched in rapt fascination as the Telgorans entered the bases and stormed the walls from inside.

  Gee could not watch the feed for long. The violence on the screen turned his stomach and caused him to be sick. Despite his presence on a warship, despite his desire to see the Minith defeated, despite the part he had played in destroying an entire planet of living beings, he was, apparently, still a man of Peace.

  * * *

  Grant watched the Telgorans methodically eliminate the defenders on the walls of the agsel bases. He took no solace from the sight. He hated death, even the deaths of his enemies. He was a warrior, but that did not mean he enjoyed killing or took pleasure in the violence that was required to kill.

  But for the Telgorans below, it was necessary. Hundreds of thousands of their brothers and sisters had been killed by the Minith on the walls, and those who came before them. He had known the Telgorans would fight to the death when he presented his plan to the Family—either their deaths or those of their enemies. That had not stopped him from setting them to the task.

  When Bases One through Five were secure and in the hands of the Telgorans, Grant ordered the fighters back to their base.

  The tiredness that had become a part of him, but that had disappeared over the past few months, returned. It settled roughly onto his shoulders; wrapped its wicked tentacles around his mental acuity.

  Grant wanted nothing more than to sleep. For days, he could sleep.

  And yet, he could not.

  The Minith mothership waited just outside the Telgoran atmosphere. Before Grant could rest, he had to know what the mothership would do.

  Chapter 46

  “How are you able to get a message through? Are you still on Waa?”

  “Yes, General Soo, I am on Waa,” Rala confirmed. She forced herself to use his title, despite its bitter taste. “How I am getting through is of no concern. It is the message itself that is important.”

  The truth was that Rala did not understand the technology that allowed her to communicate with the mothership still in orbit around Telgora. Oiloo, her Zrthn contact, was facilitating the communication. It was he who had asked—more like, commanded—that that she pass instructions along to Soo. The fact that the Zrthn knew what transpired on the distant world, and could get a message across light years with no time lag, concerned her. The capabilities of the alien traders were far more advanced than she had imagined.

  “And the message is what, exactly?”

  Rala grimaced and bolted from the seat behind her desk. She allowed her ears to flatten and paced rapidly. It was a relief not to have to mask her true feelings from her mate’s brother. This method of communication allowed her that comfort, at least. She pondered how this male had been elevated to the level of general of the Minith army while her Treel was still a lowly lieutenant.

  Treel was ten times the male Soo could ever be.

  She took a calming breath and repeated her instructions.

  “General Soo,” she said. “You are to proceed to the planet Earth immediately. You—”

  “But what about Telgora?” Soo interrupted. “Isn’t regaining control of the agsel mines more important than taking a side trip to Earth?”

  Rala seethed. Soo thought this was an attempt to look for Treel. Though the idea held great appeal for her, she would never put her own interests above those of her race. Minith history was filled with leaders who did just that—and look where they were as a result. Without a home world and at the mercy of a superior—yes, she actually thought the Zrthns were superior—race.

  “The agsel is important, Soo.” She ignored his title on purpose to remind him that he took orders from her. “And the way to regain it is by going to Earth.”

  “And what is the plan once I reach Earth?”

  The clip of his voice told Rala she had hit the proper nerve.

  “The humans are susceptible to ransom demands. Use that to our advantage,” she said.

  The Zrthn had offered this plan as a way to get the humans on Telgora to release their hold on the mines. It was apparent the traders knew the major weakness of humans.

  Human beings are unwilling to accept short-term discomfort, even when it is required to achieve long-term goals. Human beings seek immediate gratification, even when it increases the potential for future calamity and misfortune.

  Rala did not know how the Zrthns knew humans so well, but she recognized the idea had merit. For more than a dozen years, the human beings of Earth had proven their willingness to become slaves in exchange for not having to fight for their freedom.

  The humans blamed their inability to fight on the concept of Peace. Rala knew that reasoning was flawed—a fallacy based in wishful thinking. Peace is a concept that requires the balancing concept of war. Without war, or at least the threat of war, long-term peace is never possible.

  It appeared that some humans had discovered this fact. They were resourceful enough to capture a mothership and courageous enough to act upon their newfound knowledge.

  Rala wondered if they could ignore their natural instincts. Would they refuse to return the agsel mines when their world hung in the balance?

  She thought not. And apparently neither did the Zrthns.

  “I don’t understand, Rala,” Soo whined. “What would you have me do when I reach Earth?”

  Rala felt like throwing something. Treel was quick to anticipate her thoughts and understand her moods. Soo, on the other hand, needed everything spelled out for him.

  “Grab Earth by the throat, Soo,” she spat. “Grab it by the throat and choke the life from it! The humans will release the mines then.”

  “Ah. Yes,” the general replied. Rala could imagine the look of understanding cross Soo’s face.

  She slapped the communicator closed. Took two fuming breaths. Flipped the heavy desk onto its side.

  * * *

  Gee looked at Grant. He was shocked by the news that the Minith mothership was heading to Earth, and he wondered what the military man would do now.

  “Amazing,” he said. “I guess we’re heading home, then?”

  Grant said nothing. His mind was engaged with the problem at hand. Gee had only known this man for a few months, but he already knew the signs. The ancient warrior was weighing options, calculating risks, assessing rewards. He was designing complex plans and preparing himself to make tough decisions.

  After a few moments, Grant shook his head.

  “No?” Gee asked. That was not the response he expected.

  “Send out a message to all forces. I want everyone loaded and ready to lift off.”

  “Lift off?” Now Gee was really confused. “But you said we were not going back to Earth.”

  “We’re not,” Grant confirmed. “But we’re not staying here.”

  With that proclamation, Grant rose from his chair and left the command center.

  Gee opened communications with the mining base. If they started now, they could be ready to lift off in forty-eight hours.

  * * *

  Shiale would bestow status and approval and loyalty upon the general. He had freed the Family from the Invaders. He had returned their planet and their planet’s resources to the mass mind.

  Patahbay did not know what the Family would do with six mines. The Waa were gone. The comforts the Waa had delivered to the Family were gone.

  Without the comforts, the mines had no worth.

  He wondered if the little green beings would return for the useless ore now that the Invaders were dead. His wondering evolved in to a thought.

  The thought evolved into a sliver of hope.

  The Family detected the sliver, and the hope spread quickly. Within hours, the Family debated, dissected, decided. Regardless of what many outside the Family thought, sometimes shiale was easily achieved.

  Patahba
y accepted his assignment without hesitation. He would speak with Titan, the largest of the humans at once. Together, they would speak to the general on the Family’s behalf.

  Years ago, the general helped his planet defeat the Invaders. Today, he had helped the Family.

  Perhaps the general could do the same for the Waa.

  Epilogue

  “Three weeks?” Mouse asked. It was the same as last time. Three weeks of preparing. Three weeks of waiting.

  “At the current speed, yes,” Tane confirmed.

  Mouse nodded. His fingers went to his pocket and withdrew the list Grant had given him seven months before. He wished it was longer, provided more guidance, or offered more detail. But it did none of those things. It merely stated four items.

  “Lead by example.”

  “Continue training our forces.”

  “Quickly incorporate Tane’s new recruits.”

  “Protect my family.”

  He had done everything possible to accomplish the items on the list. The only one he worried over was the last one. He doubted his ability to protect anyone.

  The leader of the human armed forces on Earth glanced around the table for responses.