by Ballan, Greg
“Yes, I am familiar with them.” Jakor nodded. “Those will be the focus of our initial attack.”
“You have come up with a strategy?”
“Yes, the Seelak are not the only ones who are capable of surprises; I have a few of my own prepared. They were foolish to leave the Worldship with us. There were many things that still have some power, even after these thousands of years. Come, let us go to the Council quickly. We'll have barely enough time to deploy our forces before the Seelak come knocking on our gates.”
Jakor addressed his five sub-commanders and his 750 remaining soldiers, along with the rest of the Esper population. The community had crammed into the central square, waiting for their instructions to defend their community and their lives.
“Our timing is critical,” Jakor emphasized to the large crowd. “These creatures utilize Netherspace, like the other Seelak, and can disappear at any time, and re-appear just as quickly. It is imperative that those of you who will be firing the plasma streams hit as many of them as you can on your first shot. These weapons we've managed to salvage only have enough power for one or maybe two bursts, then its back to more conventional means. There is also no guarantee that all the weapons will function at all. We have repaired them to the best of our capability, but we cannot test them without depleting their small remaining charges. As we all know, our reactor cores were fused when we crashed here, leaving most of our resources destroyed or contaminated. These were taken years ago and hidden in case of conflict with other native species.” He paused, looking down at the sleek weapons. “Never did I dream that we would be fighting the Seelak, again, with them.”
Jakor's plan was brilliant, but risky. He would have twenty of his best soldiers take positions in the hills surrounding a large open field. The presence of his small army would draw the enemy into the field. They would march directly toward the soldiers, anticipating a quick victory. The remaining non-soldier Espers would be hiding in various places along the wooded areas inside their own Netherspace portals, nearby, yet undetectable until needed.
As soon as the enemy soldiers completely entered the field, they would emerge from hiding and quickly take up positions behind the enemy. As soon as the soldiers fired upon the great beasts, they would emerge from the enemy's flank and attack. The Seelak would be trapped, forced to fight a defensive battle. The soldiers would then cut a path through the enemy troops, effectively cutting their forces in half. Then, they would engage in hand-to-hand combat with whatever forces would be remaining on both sides.
This was risky and would ultimately result in a blood bath, since the other Esper forces and Seelak forces that were not Soldiers had very little military training or combat experience. Jakor assumed that the Seelak soldiers would be at the front of the army before they attacked, while the weaker non-military sects would be at the rear. By having the two non-military entities combat each other, he hoped to minimize their slaughter. Everything depended on the success of eliminating the creatures and most of their soldiers before they could jump into Netherspace. If the creatures jumped before the battle, all would be lost and they would be hard-pressed to defend against both Seelaks and their monstrous creations jumping in and out of combat.
The Seelak had seemingly perfected the use of Netherspace, while the Esper people had shied away from the dangerous life-threatening technology. The portals in Netherspace were easily lost from the dark side; if one lost sight of the exit portal, one would be trapped forever on the other side, condemned to eternal darkness.
Every Esper in the colony knew that the fate of Earth's creatures relied upon the successful outcome of their race in this all-encompassing battle. It was worth the risk of hiding in this forbidden space just this one time. Jakor figured as long as his people stayed by the portal and didn't wander the seemingly endless tunnels of that alternate dimension, they would be safe until their call to action came.
“Proceed, Jakor, the Council will be guided by your leadership during this time of great military crisis,” the elder announced, waiting to hear the warrior's plan.
“We must deploy now, our enemy is already moving into position to strike against us. We must set up around the perimeter of these small hills.” He gestured toward a three-dimensional representation of the landscape. “We will draw them into the great opening with our small force. Everyone else must be concealed in the surrounding forest.” He pointed to the surrounding growth. “We will have our armed soldiers at these high points. When the enemy has entered into the field, they will eliminate as many of the creatures as possible. The rest we will deal with. Under no circumstances engage the beasts, let the soldiers do that. Fight the non-soldiers as much as possible, you will live longer,” he remarked forcibly.
“I know many of you are not experienced in combat. I regret that there is no time in which to even give you the most rudimentary instruction,” he added. “Those of you armed with a Sentient Staff, listen carefully: The staff will respond to your mental commands; it will react to what your mind thinks and sees, so keep focused on your combat and the weapon will do most of the fighting for you. Good luck, and may our Gods preserve us. Let us go forth onto victory.”
* * * *
The Seelak army continued to march forward, a great black mass of bodies some ten thousand strong, including the dozen pairs of mutated abhorations they created to do most of their fighting for them. Each seven-foot-plus Seelak mutation rode atop a feline-dragon, gently caressing the great beasts as they plodded along the grassy terrain.
The great beasts sensed the upcoming conflict, as did their riders, though the riders seemed to relish the thought of vanquishing their foe, consuming every enhanced emotion of fear and terror the enemy would emit during battle.
In battle, all sentients had fear; these feline-dragons could feed off that fear and become stronger. It was the intent of the Seelak that their creations rip their enemies apart, piece-by-piece, and feed off the terror of each soldier as they met their horrible death by dismemberment. The fact that there would be weaker, untrained opposition meant that the feed would be that much greater. The fear in an undisciplined mind was far greater than a mind accustomed to combat. The Seelak creations rode on with glee, anticipating a great feed to satisfy their never-ending hunger.
A scout approached the warrior leader and made his report. “They're in the next clearing, waiting for us, but it is only a small force, compromised of only soldiers. The other sects do not come out to engage in battle.”
The Seelak leader paused momentarily, and then began to laugh. “The fools are so honor-bound that they assume only soldiers will be fighting this last battle? This victory will be almost too easy. Let us go meet with these brave soldiers, have our beasts take lead. As soon as they enter the clearing, have them charge and attack. We will follow at a slight distance to clean up the remaining soldiers and then march on to their encampment unhindered,” the leader instructed.
The scout lifted up a small golden horn and pressed it to his lips. He blew one shattering note, and the creatures advanced forward, moving very quickly. The scout waited thirty seconds and blew another note at a slightly different pitch. The Seelak Soldier clan began to advance, all others formed at the rear and began to follow suit.
The creatures entered the clearing and spotted their shiny enemies simply standing at attention, acting as if they had no care in the world. The feline beasts and their riders galloped swiftly across the half-mile that separated them from their prey. The soldiers followed behind their front troops, closing the gap between both forces.
When there were only a hundred yards between the two armies, the lead Esper raised his hand. There was no time to react or wonder what the gesture meant. In less than three seconds, ten of the twelve Seelak warrior pairs of mutants were vaporized, consumed inside bright balls of fiery plasma. The shrieks of pain were beyond anything either side could bear, as, piece-by-piece, the creatures’ bodies were boiled and withered away. The other pairs vanished in a Net
herspace portal and re-emerged behind the Seelak army.
Ten more fiery bursts engulfed several hundred Seelak soldiers, consuming them entirely. The Seelak formed a defensive circle in the middle of the field, waiting for further onslaught. As was planned earlier, the Esper forces emerged from the forests, and hemmed their enemies in preventing any possible escape, save for Netherspace.
“We have been tricked,” a remaining Seelak soldier cursed looking at their leader as they watched the remaining Esper population swarm onto the battlefield.
“Treachery from those honor-bound Espers? I can't believe it!” The Seelak Commander saw his army's easy victory routed into an inevitable bloody conflict in mere seconds. “Our foe learns fast, consenting to use our old weapons to gain an advantage, as we planned to use our creatures. We have only two sets of creatures remaining, and many of our soldiers have been crushed, fried into non-existence,” the commander observed. “Let's close with their forces. They won't fire and risk hitting their own people. Perhaps we can salvage a victory yet.”
* * * *
The battle was savage. The Esper soldiers clashed with the Seelak forces, staffs and blades whirred in streaks. The cries of the dying and wounded soon accompanied various battle shouts.
Jakor spotted a pair of mutant creatures decimating a group of untrained Esper philosophers, literally tearing them apart. He fought his way over to the group and smashed his staff down against the feline creature's hind flank. The beast howled in pain and rage as it quickly spun around. It struck at the Esper warrior with titanic forepaws. Jakor stepped back, allowing the blow to whisk by him. He counter-attacked savagely, his staff a blur of motion. Both creatures were forced to withdraw from his furious assault. Each had suffered dreadful injury from his Sentient Staff.
The large cat leapt again, launching itself like a twenty-foot missile directly at Jakor. Jakor ducked to avoid the beast, but the creature reacted, raking its massive claws along his back as it sailed over the Esper warrior. The blood flowed freely from the deep gashes on his back, but he ignored the burning pain. The enhanced Seelak jumped off the feline's back and produced a black fighting saber from seemingly nowhere.
The cat backed away, sitting on its haunches. The Seelak gestured for Jakor to approach; he raised his staff and willingly obliged. The two combatants circled each other, testing each other's strength and skill with cautious strikes, neither one over-extending themselves.
Jakor swung his staff in a wide semi-circle designed to bring the end of his staff flush against the Seelak's side. The Seelak guessed his maneuver, and adjusted its guard accordingly. Both weapons met with a huge impact, sending showers of sparks over both combatants. Jakor recovered from the jarring impact and drove the butt of his staff into the Seelak's midsection before it could recover its guard. The creature folded over, but came up swinging the mighty sword in dangerous arcs that were designed to slice the Esper in two. Every time the weapons collided, more hot sparks flew from the alien metals.
Jakor changed his strategy and willed his staff into something else. One end of the weapon formed itself into a large hook-billed blade, while the other end increased in thickness and density, providing stability and balance for the new weapon form. He swung the heavier weapon at his foe, the added weight forced the Seelak blade down again and again, doing what the lighter staff could not.
The Seelak tried to adapt to this new form of combat, but was unable to cope with the change. Its saber had small chips and burrs upon its once sharp edge. It still swung the damaged blade, aiming for Jakor's head. It increased the ferocity of its attacks until Jakor was reluctantly forced back, step by step. The enhanced Seelak swung a massive overhead blow at the Esper, fully prepared for the impact of the two weapons. Jakor didn't block this blow, however. He expertly rolled to one side, avoiding the blow altogether. The force and momentum of the Seelak warrior's blow carried it forward, completely off balance. Jakor slammed the edge of his modified Sentient Staff upon the Seelak's armored back. The edged portion of the staff bit through the armored hide with a sickening crunch. The creature staggered, up righting itself. It was bleeding profusely from the gaping wound, spilling blue ichor onto the green grass.
The Seelak charged again, and Jakor easily avoided the attack. The Seelak's intention, however, was not to attack, but to escape. It landed on the back of the large felenoid.
A sudden cloud of inky black surrounded the two creatures; they were preparing to escape into Netherspace. Jakor knew that if they teleported, they would most likely leave the area and be a nuisance throughout their genetically enhanced lives, and would no doubt plague the race of Simians that had evolved on this world.
He reached inside his tunic and produced a stun grenade. He had carried it with him for centuries, never knowing if the weapon still had potency. Jakor flipped the activator, and heard the whining chirp as its energy core built to a critical mass. He threw the grenade into the portal as it closed around the two beasts. He heard the sound of an explosion, and felt a mild concussion. He surmised that most of the force of the detonation was contained in the region of Netherspace. The portal was effectively destroyed, and normal space quickly filled in the void caused by the vanishing blackness. Both creatures lay in a twisted heap on the corpse-littered battlefield. That was the last of his surprise munitions. The rest of the battle was now strictly hand-to-hand combat.
Jakor joined the other soldiers and clansmen, fighting, at times savagely, to defend the planet's new dominant species. After three hours of non-stop combat, the last of the Seelak warriors fell. The remaining Seelak reluctantly surrendered and were herded roughly into a makeshift prison camp. The two creatures that Jakor had incapacitated were locked inside the now abandoned and partially gutted Mothership. Other warriors had brought down the other pair. The metal of that ship's hull could not be penetrated, and Netherspace portals would not function within the confines of the ship's interior.
The final battle for Earth had cost the Espers nearly all of their remaining population. A scant four hundred Espers survived the final conflict, while only slightly over fifty Seelak survived the hostilities. None of the Seelak soldiers survived the conflict. Jakor lost all but twenty of his soldiers. There were sparse few of each remaining Esper clan, and most of those that had survived the battle had suffered some type of injury. Even Jakor, with all his enhanced might, had sustained several deep lacerations that needed treatment.
The Esper warrior looked over at the battlefield and gaped at the endless sea of bodies that had expired in this futile confrontation. “Such a great waste,” he muttered to himself. “If only they had listened. If we had combined our talents, we could have survived, somehow. Why does it always have to end in violence with our two species? We built an entire Worldship together, a marvel of technology to take us hundreds of light years to this new home. Only by working together did we accomplish this, why must it always end in blood?” he shouted into the air angrily.
“Because there was no other way,” a voice from behind answered.
Jakor spun around quickly and stood facing a Seelak captive being escorted by two guards. It was the scientist he had met with prior to the final battle. The elder Seelak had many cracks in its shell, and was oozing blue ichor from several wounds.
“Why is there no other way?”
“Because you wish to preserve the apes, and we wish to exterminate them. If we were to go along with your plan, we would be condemning ourselves to eventual extinction. That is not our way. To die in battle or die for a belief is far better. We believe that we're right and you're wrong. Your way will get everyone killed. That is why we fight,” the Seelak answered bluntly. “It is that simple. No cosmic mystery to unravel, soldier, an answer simple enough for even your limited intellect to comprehend. We fight to survive. But you have prevailed, we are all doomed,” it added bitterly.
“There are always alternatives to bloodshed,” Jakor replied, surprised at the blunt openness of the captive. “We had ac
complished much working together. Together we could have found a way to co-exist on this planet with its native species.”
“No, my warrior friend,” the Seelak said sadly. “Your scientists have confirmed what we knew all along: this world is killing us, both our species, as we are killing the species of this world. There is no answer, only eventual death. We sought to prolong our existence by depopulating this planet. There was a moderate chance of success, but I'll tell you now, between victors and vanquished, I did not think we could succeed. But speaking out against our ruling caste would have caused my instant execution. I am not so foolish as to not value what little time I have left in my life.”
“I'm afraid that this battle has sealed both of our fates,” Jakor remarked, looking over at the field littered with corpses from both sides. “There are too few of us now to accomplish anything. We are all injured to some extent, many of our Scientific and Medical were slaughtered. This pointless battle has condemned both our races.”
“If it means anything, warrior, I am sorry that it came to this end. I did enjoy my time among your people before the war, but one must do as is commanded in our civilization, whether it is deemed right or wrong.”
“I, too, am sorry. I cannot say for certain what will happen to your people now,” he added somberly.
“Our fate is now in your hands, warrior,” the Seelak said. “You will decide if we are to now live or die.”
“No,” Jakor disagreed, “not my fate, the fate of the Council, or what's left of it. I have no authority in those decisions. My function has been served. I have done my duty.”
Jakor motioned the guards to take the prisoner to where the others of its kind were being held. The Council was even now debating the Seelak's fate. He would carry out their orders, and then they would decide how to survive the post battle. Jakor knew, as did the Seelak, that even in the midst of their war, they could have only minor skirmishes, with only the Warrior clans taking part. A full-scale confrontation would depopulate both warring factions due to their small numbers. They had proved that hypothesis today; evidence enough lay on the battlefield. Jakor took one last look at his fallen comrades, and enemies, and turned toward their encampment.
