Rise of Aen

by Damian Shishkin

  That’s when Iana noticed that it wasn’t herself that held Aen’s attention. Following his eyes, she looked across the room to see what had him so distracted. Her heart was relieved when she saw that returning his stare was Council Lyxia. There was an energy linking the two, even though neither were in the room in person. That is what she would use to mend his broken soul—love. Not her own, as was her original intent, but the love of someone who could actually be with him in this new life of his. In her heart, she truly hoped this would make a difference in his future because heaven help them all if he took the wrong path, the Husk would be the much lesser of the possible evils.

  “You have upon you a great evil approaching, Harbinger. Terra Sol is lifetimes away from ever being able to withstand such a force. What will you do? What can we do to help?” the Empress asked, much to the chagrin of the entire Council. Rarely had she offered help like this without agreement from the Council; it was they who truly governed the Empire, and she was there to oversee and rule even though she had the right to overrule any decision they made.

  “It is not your place to offer help to this rim world.” A voice from up front interjected; obviously a senior Council member. “The Council had not ruled on a motion yet and they are not worthy of joining the Empire yet.”

  Iana was about to put the old nag in her place when it was Aen, to her surprise, who answered the snub of the Uwarryn Council elect.

  “And who are you to judge our people’s worthiness?” he shot back. “What right do any of you have to resign our planet to such a fate? Look into yourselves before you make such decisions and be certain it is what you want versus a cowardly choice.”

  His words hit the room like a tidal wave; all in it were shocked that this creature from a primitive world would say such things to such high-standing creatures. This was the upper echelon of the Empire and he was not; Iana was breathtakingly impressed. Very few would have the gumption to appear to an invite only Council meeting never mind hand them their collective asses. She decided to let it go no further and put forth a motion save this argument escalate any further.

  “My dear Council,” she said, as she turned and addressed them all. “Put before you is the motion to divert Fleet ships to the rim world, Terra Sol, in order to save her inhabitants from the horrors of the Husk. The fate of billions of innocents is in our hands, so let it not be with casualness that we decide this. We need a majority decision one way or the other, or resources cannot be allocated accordingly.”

  A long inaudible discussion ensued, words in languages that were gibberish to Aen. His heart felt like it would jump out of his chest, pulsated harder than ever before in anticipation. Like anytime one was in a situation of immediate need, time passed more slowly than usual as Aen fought the urge to speak and keep pushing for a decision that favored the Earth. Responses were spoken to the Empress or transmitted to her central station. Aen saw the look of sadness in her face and began to brace himself for the news. This was obviously a fight the Council saw fit not to join.

  —

  The conversation between the creature and the Empress was riveting, as was this being himself. Lyxia had never seen anything like him, and she found herself quite taken with him for some reason. His eyes burned like the event horizon of a black hole, the edges bright blue as they encircled the bottomless black inside. And unlike the men of Pax, her home planet, who were born soldiers and arrogant to the point of no return, he was emotional and confident in what he was. His power was obviously immense, but was held in check by his humility. This was a truly wondrous creature!

  When it was time to vote on the motion, she found herself unable to say no, unlike the majority of the Council. In fact, she volunteered to take her ship into the fray; they were close to the rim as it was and could be there before all was lost. She watched with sadness as the Empress began to read aloud the verdicts. One no after another; laced with excuses and hesitation on renewing an age old war that had taken a huge toll on the Empire. Then the Empress stopped and turned to look Lyxia straight in the eyes.

  “Is what you have written here true, Council Lyxia?”

  “Yes it is Goddess.”

  “And you would go against the consensus of the Council, knowing that you take your ship to the rim without any others?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  It was the directness of the question that caught Lyxia off guard, not the question itself. Quickly gathering herself, she stood tall and spoke.

  “Because it is the right thing to do.”

  “Explain yourself please.”

  “None of us here have the right to deny his request, none of us have been in his position. I have fought the Husk, I have felt how powerful they are and seen the wreckage they leave behind. Would any of us not do everything to save our people given the chance? Without the Fleet, would any of our worlds stand a chance if it was our turn?”

  Lyxia took a deep breath and noticed how quiet the room was. The Empress beamed a smile of a proud mother back at her and nodded for her to continue. “The Dark Light will be there in six months, Aen of Terra Sol. And if the rest of the Council would get their cowardly heads out of their asses, reinforcements should arrive soon after! In your body flows the blood of my friend, your mother and our kin. That alone should be reason enough to come, but I cannot live with myself if I turn my back and let an entire planet die. So at the least, I will come and fight for Terra Sol!”

  “And so will I,” the Empress called out causing objections from everywhere. She held up her hand to silence them and waited for quiet to continue. “We have invested our best minds in your people, and they thought you were worth saving.” She turned to her giant companion. “Ready the Lyarra’s Fire and two destroyers, we will make haste to the rim and hopefully there will be some trouble for us to get into when we arrive!”

  Bryx nodded and spun around to carry out his orders. Iana looked directly at Lyxia again and smiled brightly. For the first time in her career, she had broken the rules and been rewarded for them. Looking up at the alien across from her she smiled and nodded her head as he clasped his hands in prayer to her and bowed in thanks.

  “The Council will not reverse their decision, despite your wanton involvement in this, Empress.” An older Paxyn declared.

  “And I would not ask you to, as is the way of the Empire. I do not see fit to overrule the Council at this time, but I will not condemn an entire world to death!” She looked over at Aen and the smile faded from her face. “You must hang on until we arrive. Fight hard, but fight smart. Most of all, you and your people must survive, Aen of Terra Sol. Long will be the days until the Dark Light arrives to assist, and in those dark days the human race will redefine their place in the future.”

  Lyarran Vessel Amarra, Southern Pacific Ocean Floor

  The strain from the ship’s energy draw finally took its toll on Aen and he shut down the holo-link system. Falling back into the command chair, he was exhausted and spent; the lights on the ship dimmed slightly from the power decrease. But even through the exhaustion, Aen was happy; help was coming, even if it was just a few ships!

  One by one he removed the smaller power inputs from his chest in an attempt to alleviate some of the discomfort being caused; ignoring the chastising complaints of Caretaker about the minor systems shutting down with the loss of power. Closing his eyes, Aen thought back to the two women he had seen just moments before; the Empress and the Commander with her piercing blue eyes.

  The Empress, he was expecting—her statue had been true to life, her beauty wasn’t exaggerated by the artist who made it. But seeing her in person was different; her presence was both imposing and calming at the same time. She exuded a radiant sexual energy with her demeanour and choice of clothing, yet she obviously held sway with the Council. It was no secret that she was truly in charge of the Empire even though she let the Council think they ran it. In a s
ense, Aen thought she was the perfect leader for such a Galactic community.

  Then there was the other woman, Council Lyxia. It was her eyes—her face—that was permanently etched into his most vivid memories. Not since his wife had a woman had an effect on him such as this! She was strong, confident, and unafraid to buck the system. She was the one coming to save them; it would be her written as the hero of the coming days.

  Slowly opening his eyes, Aen looked around the empty deck. He watched calmly as Caretaker scurried back and forth, accessing system after system in an effort to stabilize the long dormant ship’s computers. The movement was mesmerizing; he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep as the spectre of the coming horrors faded away, replaced with thoughts of the blue haired Council Lyxia haunting his dreams.

  TEN

  Lyarran Vessel Amarra, Southern Pacific Ocean Floor -

  Five Months and Twenty Eight Days until Arrival

  Sorting through the incoming data was tedious, so much so that Aen’s patience was beginning to wear thin. Unlike his AI “friend,” this wasn’t his forte and he longed to be elsewhere. His thoughts kept going back to the day before and his awakening to how big the galactic community truly was. He had tried counting the different species in the chambers, but that idea had come to a complete stop when his eyes found her—Lyxia.

  His sleep had been intermittent afterwards, his body had been taxed far beyond any of his little skirmishes with the mad General Taylor. Rest had come, but his dreams were filled with the blue-eyed creature. For the first time since this whole ordeal started, he felt something other than searing pain in his soul. All it had been between them was a gaze and a smile from her, but it was enough to kick start something inside. For a moment, Aen began to ponder possibilities of a relationship, but was soon brought back to reality by Caretaker’s droning voice.

  “These are the best images I can get for you on the Husk marauder, but they are blurred by their entry to the Oort Cloud.” Caretaker spoke as Aen snapped out of his dreamland.

  Focussing on the image, Aen made out a massive vessel that looked more like a horizontal pine cone, narrow at the bow and wide at the stern, with open segments like the tree seed itself—but very blurry, enough that he could not discern any other details. But the message was clear, they were coming and now Aen had to figure out when.

  “At your best estimates of their speed, what kind of time frame do we have?”

  “Taking into effect the images we have and using the references of the objects in the ice cloud moving past it, as well as taking into consideration the rotation and orbit of the planets, I estimate that the vessel should breach lunar orbit just inside six months from now.” It replied.

  Under six months, not the time frame Aen was hoping for. The incoming Imperial ship would be at or just over six months away, so the gap in timelines was worrisome. The Earth was ill prepared to fight off any type of advanced invaders, but the fear these creatures instilled in the faces of those in the Council made Aen truly wonder what kind of chance humanity had.

  “It’s not enough time. We aren’t ready.” He said quietly.

  “Is anyone truly ready when they face such events? I find that throughout your history, such times produce great heroes that are written about for all eternity. Maybe this is why you were born; maybe it is you that makes the difference.”

  “I am not a soldier.” Aen replied with a look of scorn on his face.

  “No Harbinger, you are something much more.”

  Bristol County, Massachusetts –

  Five Months and Twenty Three Days until Arrival

  It was the worst blizzard in the last three years, and Sara was frozen to the core as she rushed from her car to her house. Snow and ice poured down from the heavens as if to punish the East coast for something unknown. At last measurement, almost a foot of snow had settled on the ground and by the looks of it another foot was well within reason to be expected.

  Sara swore as she reached the back door—a three-foot snow drift awaited her as it climbed up the side of the building and blocked her entry to her warm suite below. She had converted the basement into a full-on suite, making it her home alone while still with and near to her mom. She hoped her mom was okay, as she hadn’t seen her car in the driveway when she came home. According to the news, the storm had stranded many people at work, or worse in their cars on the roads.

  As she was without a shovel, Sara kicked at the snow bank until she had worn down a path through it, to the door. With her frozen fingers she fumbled with her keys and after a few tries, gained entry to the house. Sara slammed the door then rested back on it as the warmth from the house furnace began to thaw her cold form.

  Once she had warmed herself in the entrance, she opened the door to the basement suite and ambled down the stairs as she began to shuck off her winter coat and boots. Focused on getting free of the extra clothing to ready a nice, hot bath, she was not paying attention as she finished her descent and came face to face with the last person Sara ever expected to see here: Aen.

  A shriek of surprise slipped free of her usual calm self as there was no way he could have gotten in the house without a trail of some kind. The snow bank was untouched and the door unopened since Sara left for work. But here he was, his black eyes tearing through her as he waited for her to calm down.

  “How the fuck did you get in here asshole?” her anger was driving her at the moment. “I should call the cops to come and get you. Why the hell would you dare to break in here?”

  “And what would you say to them, dear Sara?” Aen asked, not showing the slightest concern for her threat. “Help, there’s an alien in my house? They would send the ambulance to take you to the nuthouse after the snow had been cleared.”

  Now Sara was furious. This man was right, she was trapped here with him and had no way of getting him to leave, but she needed to know why the intrusion. Usually he had been content to keep his small visits reserved to the graveyard. She calmed herself a bit and hung her coat up and walked over to her coffee maker to brew a cup to help her warm up further; her bath would obviously have to wait.

  “So, why the intrusion then?” she asked after a few silent minutes.

  “I needed to show you something, I needed to keep my

  promise.”

  Something had changed in him. Every time she had seen him over the past few months his face had shown much sorrow, but now his face and eyes were unreadable. Only a perfect poker face revealed nothing to help her discover what he was up to. It was then that she noticed he had been rummaging through her paperwork that had been collected over the years on the case of her dad. Her anger once again rose.

  “They tried to stop you from finding out the truth.” He said, with the formal letter of warning in his hand. “But you would never stop looking, even though you tried to make them think you had. That is why the military made the threats and that is why you have every right to be scared by those threats.”

  “It wasn’t Homeland Security?”

  “No, that was just a front to make it look better. The real reason they wanted you to stop is what brings me here today.”

  “The truth, because I think I am really close to getting to it?” she asked excitedly.

  “No,” Aen said calmly. “I am what they were afraid of. Me and what I was made for; the war yet to come that will change…..everything.”

  “War, what war? What is going on here?” She was becoming aware of the temperature in the room, it was warmer than it should be. Her furnace wasn’t turned up this high, she had left it lower to save on energy while she was at work. Then it hit her—it was him. He was radiating heat like crazy.

  Aen threw a few pictures on the counter beside her. They were high resolution pictures of something out in space, not unlike those she had seen from probes on T.V. Sara leaned in closer to better inspect them, slowly looking at every detail and let
ting her instincts as a reporter to guide her. It was an ice field pictured; large and expansive with something just inside the outer edge of it travelling through.

  “Is this that….that Oort Cloud thingie?”

  Aen nodded his head in agreement.

  “So what the hell is that?” she asked, with her finger touching the greyish object in the pictures.

  “That is the end of everything you know to be true.” Aen replied. “That is hell on Earth.”

  While he was evading the exact question, the message of what it meant was clear. Sara took a deep breath to absorb this and focused her eyes back on the pictures as she scanned them over and over.

  “An asteroid?”

  “If only it was—that could be stopped and this cannot.” Aen said grimly.

  Sara returned to the pictures, her eyes frantic to find what this thing truly was. Then she saw it—the third picture was showing more of the rear of the object and there was a massive engine glowing as it propelled the object! Fear gripped her and she looked up quickly to Aen.

  “Your people I hope?” she said, knowing the look on his face meant it wasn’t.

  “They are called many things throughout the galaxy, but most common is the Husk. From what I have been able to find out, they are as old as time itself and at some point became the pirates of the galactic ocean, finding worlds and enslaving the inhabitants before stripping the planet of its resources and leaving a dead husk.”

  Sara almost fainted and she struggled to find a stool at the kitchen bar to sit down as dizziness overtook her. Her world was just starting to resemble something normal as of late and now it was being knocked down again. Had it been only an asteroid or comet she could have lived with the fact it was all going to end. But this, invasion and slavery, was too hard to comprehend. Aen was right the Earth was facing the end.

  “Can your people help?” she asked in desperation as the fog of shock drifted away.

  “My people? Child, I have no people. The world doesn’t know what to do with just one of me never mind an entire race.”