The Imperialists: The Complete Trilogy

by H. T. Kofruk

  He looked out again, this time determined to observe properly. His dark hair flew wildly in the wind as his head left the confines of the gravity shield. Fires were burning all around the city but especially in the Earthen Square. He could see the bodies of thousands of Imperial Guards littering the ground. He pushed his head out a little more to see if the entrance to the Heavenly Tower had been compromised.

  The view made him immediately pull his head back in and shiver uncontrollably. He managed to get up but his limbs were too weak. His voice paralyzed by fear, he couldn’t even call out for help. He hadn’t counted, but at least a couple hundred Nikruk soldiers were climbing the Heavenly Tower.

  He staggered to the gravity lift as tears flowed from his unfocused eyes. When the doors of the lift finally opened, four Shadows including Colonel Bo stood inside. One of the Shadows was injured and leaned against the inside wall.

  “The ground is compromised, Your Highness. We need to stay here and make a stand until reinforcements arrive” said Bo.

  “What about the Imperial Guard?” mumbled Xiao.

  Colonel Bo shook his head. “They’ve all been killed, Your Highness. I’ve lost twelve of my men as well.”

  Ten thousand elite soldiers, dead?

  “The aliens have turned, Your Highness. Our men were too close and too unprepared for such a betrayal” said Bo on seeing Xiao’s face frozen in shock.

  “They’re climbing up the tower” he managed to whisper.

  The two uninjured junior Shadows moved swiftly to the empty window and looked down. They drew their pulse rifles and started to shoot at the climbing aliens.

  “There are too many, and they move too fast” said one of them.

  Drones continued to attack the climbing aliens who threw rocks and pieces of granite at them. Miraculously, some of them actually hit their targets, sending expensive state-of-the-art technology crashing to the ground. Xiao got the feeling that the entire empire wouldn’t be able to help him, that these aliens would cut through any defences like a knife through tofu. What was I thinking bringing them to Earth? To Huangjing! I invited them into my garden, my house!

  A brown flash and a loud thumping sound brought their attention to one of the aliens who had jumped in through the window and landed on top of one of the Shadows. Xiao watched in horror as it picked up the unconscious bodyguard and threw him casually out the window. The other Shadow started to shoot at it but it disappeared again in a blur of movement. This time the Shadow drew his short sword and disappeared. Xiao couldn’t even make out the fighting, only sudden gusts of wind and an exploding piece of furniture. Colonel Bo rushed to aid his subordinate and the two of them eventually managed to subdue the lone Nikruk who was pushed out the window with a blade stuck in its neck.

  The younger Shadow could only enjoy his victory momentarily since three more Nikruks jumped in and he found his torso pierced by a thick alien arm. The injured Shadow joined the fighting, only to have his throat ripped out within seconds.

  Colonel Bo was heaving from the exertion. He stood motionlessly examining the situation. Two more aliens entered. He looked back at the young emperor who was standing with his back to the wall, his sweaty palms pressed firmly on the marble. The head bodyguard suddenly disappeared in a blur. He was so fast that even the five aliens didn’t react immediately. But rather than engaging the aliens, he instead flung himself out of the window.

  Xiao gasped. When he saw the Shadow’s suit suddenly open up into a small personal glider, his knees gave in. He had just been betrayed by the one man whose sole responsibility was his safety. The five Nikruks must not have regarded him as a threat; they walked towards him almost casually. When they finally encircled him, their yellow eyes cold and unremorseful, he felt so helpless and afraid that he vomited. Still void of emotion, one of them reached down. He cringed from the contact. With a simple twist of the alien’s wrist, Xiao heard his own neck snap.

  Chapter 26: Terra

  ‘Our endeavours in the far reaches of space were initially carried out with the noble goals of exploration and knowledge. Today, we do it out of fear; fear of each other, fear of other races, fear of the results of our greed. As six distinct nations, we have accomplished so much. As one distinct race, we can accomplish much more. In unity, we can dispel fear.’ - Ray Razak, First President of United Terra, Interim Government formation ceremony, year 2913

  Terry smiled as he watched the ceremony. Bongani stood at the position of attention with the captains of the eleven other ships in front of thousands of soldiers, seamen and civilians. Ray Razak, the former Pacific Federation Minister of Defence, now performed his duty as the first interim president of United Terra. He passed in front of each of the captains and pinned on the heart-shaped medals on their various uniform collars. When the ceremony was concluded, a round of applause filled the enormous cargo area of the Afrikan trading vessel, the Cape Hope, which would serve as the house of government for United Terra.

  A modest party was thrown and some naturally grown fruit and vegetables were served alongside synthetic meat. Terry saw Bongani hugging David tightly near the elevated platform. He knew that the intimacy shared by the couple was only achieved after many years being together and it made him feel as if he had wasted his years being alone. The all too familiar pain of losing the person he loved most spread through his gut and made its way to his heart. Not now, not on this day…

  He was grateful when Bongani and David sought him out. They were holding hands, seemingly unaware of the stares they invited. David had a basket of oranges dangling on his arm.

  “What are you going to do with that?” asked Terry.

  David smiled slyly. “What do you think? I’ve run out of the good stuff so I’ll have to make some alcohol to compensate.”

  “So, a hero at last?” said Terry mockingly.

  “Ah, fuck you, Terry” replied Bongani, flashing his white teeth as he smiled.

  “That Chinese prince can’t be seen. I think that fat general stood in for him.”

  “The little piss-pants needs to get over it. He’s more of a liability if he’s gonna sulk in his room after every battle” said Bongani.

  Terry was slightly annoyed at Bongani’s harsh attitude towards the young prince. “He’s just had to kill thousands of men and women who were his loyal subjects a few months ago. Give him a break.”

  “I’ll give him a break when he starts acting like a man.”

  Terry saw David roll his eyes.

  “So that Pacific minister seems alright, right?” said Terry, changing the subject.

  “Well, he did let his whole military get fragmented and obliterated, so we’ll have to see.”

  “I think making Hernandez the new navy chief of staff was smart” said David.

  “That means one less good tactician out in the battlefield” said Bongani.

  Terry now let his irritation show. “Wow, you really manage to see the bad side of everything, don’t you?”

  “That’s what’s kept me alive all this time, taking nothing for granted and accepting every piece of good news with a grain of salt. The truth is, I really don’t know whether what we’re doing is correct. Look at the crowd. You can clearly see the division; the Chinese keep to themselves, the Afrikans are ignored in one corner, the Atlantic people are more interested in the food tables and the Pacific guys look ready to leave. All we need is some sulking Russians and disinterested Arabs to complete the rainbow of mutual ignorance.”

  Terry sighed. “Hey, we’ve just put together a bunch of people who have been artificially separated for centuries and at war against each other for the last year and a half. Don’t expect an orgy quite yet.”

  The Afrikan couple laughed.

  “Maybe this is our future” Bongani said suddenly. “Perhaps we’re meant to live in spaceship colonies like this, with a large vessel acting as the capital city. We’re self-sufficient here; why would we need to colonize planets?”

  “We’re self-sufficient for now
, especially since a lot of the Afrikan trading vessels are also giant flying factories. But even they need raw material every now and again” said Terry.

  “We can get raw material from asteroids, even stars. Do we need real ground under our feet?”

  “I think that despite our adaptability, we all need to walk on soil and grass every now and again. There’s no life form that’s evolved for space travel, only life forms intelligent or stupid enough to travel through space” said David.

  Bongani and Terry were pondering David’s last comment when the Web-Com notified both of them of an emergency meeting. They both looked at David who obviously hadn’t received any such thing. With only a brief explanation, the two men went off to find the president’s meeting room.

  When they arrived, a grim-looking Admiral Hernandez was sitting with General Tuul and President Razak. A few more officers arrived, Prince Han Fann among them.

  “The Chinese emperor has been killed” said Razak flatly.

  Terry saw that some of his colleagues regarded this as good news and exchanged quiet murmurs. The face of Admiral Hernandez suggested otherwise. He looked at Fann and saw his face go white with shock. Could it be that even though the young prince wanted to kill his half-brother, he didn’t want him to die? It was a ludicrous, paradoxical thought but he decided that it probably wasn’t overly inaccurate either.

  “We’ve been able to listen in on Chinese communication thanks to our colleagues here, and the same news has been confirmed by multiple separate sources” said Rick Hernandez.

  “Then isn’t that a good thing for us?” said Bongani, already anticipating an answer in the negative.

  Rick didn’t reply immediately and instead tilted his head implying that the answer wasn’t that simple. “Perhaps. What bothers us is the events that followed. A total of two hundred and thirty-five nuclear missiles were launched from Chinese territory. The vast majority was intercepted, but three of them managed to find their target.”

  This time General Tuul opened his mouth. “One of them destroyed Chinese Sky Command. In fact, a third of the missiles were targeting the Sky Command and only one was necessary to destroy it. Sky Command was never prepared for attacks coming directly from Chinese territory. A second one struck dangerously close to Huangjing, and a third destroyed the Chinese city of Chongqing.”

  “A rebel movement we don’t know about?” said Terry.

  “Doubtful. A rebel movement won’t get much support nuking its own people” said Tuul.

  “Were any of the missiles headed for non-Chinese territory?” asked Terry again.

  “More than half were designated for the major cities of the Atlantic Alliance and the Pacific Federation.”

  “The way they were programmed” answered Fann. Everyone stared at him. It was the first time many of them had heard him speak since the battle in the orbit of Onut.

  “This makes less and less sense” remarked Bongani. “Whoever is doing this is certainly not winning allies.”

  “Ninety per cent of our missiles, both land-based and satellite-based, were pre-programmed to launch towards Pacific or Atlantic territory. Someone took the time to override the program and select targets within the Chinese Empire” said Fann.

  “There is another distinct possibility” said Rick. “One of the intercepted reports suggested that aliens had taken control of the missile silos. It also suggested that the emperor died at the hands of these aliens.”

  “The Nikruk?” said Terry with wide eyes.

  “I was not fully informed of the alien weapons program but I did come to know some of the inside details. I commanded many hundreds of thousands of them” said Fann. “They were connected to some other being that was able to control them. We had to inject them with a certain compound to block this connection.”

  “Yes, they called this being ‘Mother’” added Terry. He glared at Fann with unfriendly eyes, implying how much death he had caused. Fann looked back but held no hostility in his eyes. Terry immediately felt sorry. After all, who was he to accuse someone of killing?

  “My understanding was that these aliens were starting to resist the drug. There were isolated incidences where they disobeyed or even attacked their Renden officers. I insisted that the alien soldiers be quarantined until a better compound was formulated but my father did not allow it. So I kept them as far from Chinese territory as possible.”

  “Do you think they could be behind the attacks? Why would anyone bring such dangerous creatures back home?” enquired Rick.

  “Although I knew they were unstable, they were mostly obedient and efficient. I wasn’t really able to gauge their intelligence. Xiao was the vainest person ever. He would have surely paraded the aliens in front of his people to show how powerful he was.”

  “They’re extremely intelligent” said Terry. “More so than us, probably. And from what I understood, from what I felt, their ‘Mother’ wasn’t an evil or violent being. But that could have changed.”

  Terry didn’t really believe that the Nikruk god was evil. Surely any being that could radiate such love and wisdom couldn’t be evil? In secret, he wished he could bask in the divine pink light and feel euphoric once again.

  “We can’t take anything off the table” said Razak. “I think the most sensible explanation is that these dangerous aliens that should never have been allowed to set foot on Earth have turned against not only the Chinese, but against humanity. How many of them are there and how big a threat are they?”

  “Half a million, at least” said Fann.

  A collective gasp came from everyone in the room.

  “Given how effective they were in conquering the Pacific Federation, I would say that every Renden on Earth is in grave danger. I’m just thankful that they can’t fly spaceships.”

  “I wouldn’t be too sure of that. They were able to override a missile launch program and take out Sky Command” said Terry. “We can never underestimate them. That will be our defeat.”

  Razak nodded. “We have to get more information on this ‘Mother’. If she is indeed controlling them, we have to ask why she wants to start a war with us Rendens.”

  Terry nodded but he knew the answer to the question; she was probably acting on the fact that if she didn’t destroy humanity, humanity would hunt and destroy her and all her offspring. It was a survival reflex, nothing more.

  ***

  She enjoyed her new-found abilities. The one who called himself Bin’ja was her only threat; he just didn’t know it yet. She would have to try and isolate him from the rest lest he contaminate them. The rest of her ‘offspring’ were empty; all she had to do was fill their emptiness with her consciousness and she was able to control them. She had absorbed all their collective knowledge of the Rendens, which admittedly didn’t add up to much. The one called Saj’ra had provided most of the knowledge.

  When they had burned down the last shell of her rival, she obtained uncontested control over all her offspring. The Rendens had stopped using the drug on them and for a few months she had obediently done their bidding. But when they least suspected she pounced on them. They could no longer show her haunting images of her burning or being stamped out. They could no longer threaten her existence. They were an evil scourge that killed and perverted everything pure and good in the universe.

  She felt the infant minds of a hundred of her offspring in a Renden ship staring blindly in front of them. She took control of their bodies and used them to kill every weak Renden. She used the information absorbed from Saj’ra’s mind to control the ship, to attack the giant disc-shaped structure in the sky.

  The roots of the shell she inhabited sucked up the nutrients from hundreds of Renden corpses that had been buried around her by her offspring. Two of them brought an injured third one to her. She made the injured one drink her blood and felt her consciousness flow into his veins, his soul, and his cells. She could make future hatchlings even stronger and faster than her current offspring and she would.

  The Re
ndens were strong and smart. The only way she would be able to kill them all was to be stronger, smarter and more ruthless than they were.

  Book 3: Scattered Tempest

  Prologue

  The explosion had never been properly investigated. The locals didn’t allow Rendens on the premises, something unthinkable just a couple years ago. Thirty Goroths had died in the incident, including more than a dozen children.

  Staff Sergeant Anna Petranovskaya was quite sure that the Goroths were going to execute the three Renden engineers. She looked at Professor Hamid, his small nose peering beneath his antique metal-rimmed glasses. Frustration was oozing out of his hazel eyes.

  “They cannot have a proper trial without forensic evidence!” he cried.

  “The trodden soil is all there” said a standard, North American accented male voice that overlaid the speech of Bitsuman in his native Tsanu language, one of the five thousand regional languages of the planet Thalia. After Renden colonisation more than ten years ago, Goroth tribes and kingdoms that had never met each other were put into contact. Though genetically a single species, their diverse languages and cultures were as alien to each other as that of the invading Rendens. Nothing like a lingua franca had since emerged and Renden language archives had only created a database for eighteen of the most spoken.

  Like most Goroth languages, Tsanu was a language whose words had several meanings depending on the context and more importantly, the gestures of the speaker. A twitch of the eye, a skyward pointing finger, a nod of the head all needed to be taken into account to decipher this complicated tongue. Even more infuriatingly, different dialects of Tsanu used different gestures for the same spoken word with the same meaning!