“What news of the Harbinger?” she asked, trying to hide her desperation to know.
“Aen has been out of contact for almost a day.” Caretaker replied. “He was to check in before going to the front lines, but I fear the Husk have moved up their timeline so he had to change his. I fear that against their shock troopers he…”
“EM spike on Terra Sol,” Kala interrupted. “Energy readings are off the scale; source of readings unknown!”
“Ah! There he is,” cooed the AI.
Lyxia could only stare blankly at the readouts; the waves of plasma energy were on the scale of a jump space reactor and that was technology far beyond the humans! This Harbinger was truly alien, a life form on a level that the universe had never seen before! She truly hoped she would get to meet him before it was too late. Her heart began to beat rampantly in anticipation.
“Break connection with the probe and get us back in jump space,” she said, staring at the massive readouts. “Push the reactor to maximum capacity; we need to get there before we lose everything!”
Seattle, Washington - Twelve Hours since Arrival
Aen’s comm link was flooded with chatter from the soldiers behind him in the bunker. Panic-stricken and on the verge of being overrun, they all called out to him to get back, to get to cover. They didn’t understand what he was doing—he wasn’t being suicidal, he was saving them!
Another jolt of plasma rocked him, this time in his right side. The round was held back by the meager shield of the armor, but just barely. The shot still held enough force to nearly knock him off stride and Aen knew he was taking too much punishment to last much longer!
Inside, the pulsating mass of power which was his heart began to churn out waves of energy. Each second, another massive bolt of energy built up and begged for release. He held on to this build-up with all of his strength; he wasn’t close enough to the “clickers” to let loose yet!
Again, he was struck by another round of enemy fire, this time in the left leg. Aen stumbled and fell face first into the burnt ground. They were playing with him; enjoying the fact that one of these weak creatures was stupid enough to race towards them. But he wasn’t stupid, he was only trying to get within range of them to let loose a booby trap unlike any they could ever have calculated for. Slowly, Aen lifted himself to his feet and raised his plasma rifle to let off a few shots towards the gathering horde. The whole city had emptied out now, and thousands of these walking tanks were lining the outskirts, all eager to take a shot at the minor resistance of the humans.
They were clustered together in a half moon battle formation. Aen was amazed at their efficiency and organization; in fact, it was that efficiency that he would use against them! The charge he held in his body was so massive, it was near unbearable. Every fibre of his being ached to release this massive overload, but he held back longer. The world around him began to phase in and out; he was becoming a walking bomb, and it was only a matter of time before he could no longer hold it in.
Aen began to think about being in the formation; somewhere near the middle where he could catch them by surprise. Instantly, bolts of energy and electricity began to envelope his body. He felt the pull of the impending teleport as he struggled to remain for a second or two more to get a message off in the comm to the soldiers.
“Fire in the hole,” he hollered, as the air about him ignited and he vanished in a flash of light.
Their training kicked in and the remaining men and women hit the deck to take cover, not sure what to expect after witnessing this thing disappear before them. They didn’t have long to wait for what the warning heralded.
Aen appeared right where he wanted to be: in the heart of the Husk formation. He let loose the overloaded energy before they could react to the stranger in their mist. The result was spectacular! For an instant, a star was born on Earth, as the light was so intense it could be seen on the other side of the country. The explosion evaporated the creatures in an instant, as it pushed through the precise formation as it consumed every last one of them! The sound was deafening as the blast wave began to thunder across the landscape before stopping suddenly and redirecting upwards along with the rest of the energy the explosion was expelling. It wasn’t just unleashed upon the unsuspecting Husk, the energy was alive and directed!
Like a beacon in the burning night, the blast shot upwards through the sky and past the atmosphere as it clipped a grouping of smaller drop ships starting their entry. Shields were overcome by a blast that wasn’t calculated in strength, and buckled—one by one, the ships burned away to ash.
Then, as fast as it had started, the blast stopped and left an eerie silence across the war torn suburb. The wind made a whining sound in the emptiness as if the Earth itself was almost crying from being damaged. What was once a housing development was now an alien landscape, completely unrecognizable from its postcard portrait beginnings; a massive crater now dug into the once picturesque landscape, sinking fifty feet or so to its bottom. The mighty Husk were gone; ash and debris fell from the sky like snow. As the Army Rangers began to rise from the remains of their bunker, each was affected differently by what awaited them above. Some celebrated the victory with shouts of jubilance and joy, but the older, more seasoned veterans were reserved. Yes, they had survived, but they had hardly won! Losses in their ranks were alarmingly high; outgunned and overmatched, they only stood there because of the intervention of something else which seemingly sacrificed itself for them.
A few of the Rangers began to push through the falling ash, coughing and spitting it out as it burned their lungs as they climbed the crater’s rim. Weapons drawn and held at ready stance, they approached cautiously, unsure of what might have been awaiting them below. As they reached the top and peered down, the ash cloud was dense and difficult to see through. Donning their night vision goggles in an attempt to better assess any possible threats below, they could make out a lone figure standing at the center of the crater.
“Possible target found,” one said upon the discovery and directed the rest to take aim and position for maximum effectiveness in their shots. Fanning out, they began to surround the target while holding the superior position on the crater rim.
Below, the target stood motionless. It was humanoid in shape, not the shape of the aliens, and was covered in thick ash as if it had been unmoved this whole time. Almost statuesque, it remained still despite the targeting lasers that danced around as the soldiers positioned themselves. It was after a long few minutes of silent inquiry, that the quiet was broken by a crackle on their comm lines. First it was static, before a voice that they had heard only briefly during the firefight spoke—it was him!
“Stand down, it’s me.” Aen spoke in a reserved voice over the radio. He was exhausted and barely able to stand, never mind have any desire to attack them. His body drained, he finally dropped to his knees as the built-up ash fell from him suddenly causing the soldiers to begin a rapid descent down to aid him. One battle had taken his all, and it was only a small battle. The Husk now knew they had a stronger opponent and would adjust accordingly. Next time they would be better prepared for him, a fact that troubled him. From here it would only escalate—now they would hit humanity harder to better crush the emotional lift this victory would create. Aen wondered silently as the footsteps neared if he hadn’t made it worse by interfering; if by stepping in so early may have turned the tide in the wrong sense. Help was coming, but now that he had flexed his muscles in this fight, he truly wondered if they would they be too late by the time they arrived?
SEVENTEEN
Himalayan Mountains, Mount Kailash, Tibet -
Fifteen Hours since Arrival
Like a candle in the night, the entire western world witnessed the true power of the Harbinger as he destroyed an entire battalion of Husk in an instant, others listening to descriptions of the scene on the radio or watched videos off the remnants of the tattered remains of
the internet. From their hide out in the mountains, the entire small colony watched in awe as they monitored the last few news feeds via satellite. Fear and helplessness filled all of them; it was as if they were so far removed from the situation for it to be real. But it was real, and many struggled with various forms of survivor’s guilt as the attack rolled on.
Sara stood quietly as she watched the eerie orange glow fill the Eastern night sky apart from the grouping. She had found a ledge above the camp, and there she could be alone in her sorrow. It was as Aen had told her, the Earth burned and humanity was at a point of no return. Fleeing was not an option—it was fight back or be destroyed!
In the past few days, everything had fallen apart that the world had clung to so dearly. Religions struggled to maintain their grip on the populace; scripture and prayer could not explain the arrival of an extraterrestrial race. The airwaves had been full of panic and fear before being cut off by the EMP. When power had been restored, the assault had begun and the entire world shook in terror. There was no infrastructure to assist in this scenario, no plan on how to help the populace accept or adapt to this. Everything simply collapsed and the world became chaos.
And now the Earth itself had begun to pay the price for humanity’s arrogance as the aliens had destroyed wondrous and breathtaking places that would now only exist in memories. The victory in Seattle was diminished by the devastating defeats in other cities. The world as they had known it was over and now they all had been given a great choice: adapt or die! Sara wasn’t sure if humanity as a whole was ready for this.
“Do you think that was him?” her mother’s voice whispered behind her from where the tree line opened up to the rock face she was perched on. Between the commotion below and the rumbling of the fires in the distance, Sara hadn’t even noticed her mother pushing through the brush to join her.
“My heart tells me it is,” she replied, never taking her eyes off the spot where the light once was.
“Mine too,” Krista said as she settled down beside her daughter. Silently they both suspected Aen’s true identity, but neither were sure if it was simply their hearts trying desperately to make it so.
When she had first lain eyes on Aen, Krista’s heart had jumped. Not in fear from seeing this strange-looking creature, but the fact she could see facial features and body language cues that were reminiscent of the man she loved for all those years and missed so dearly. Time had begun to heal her from his loss, but when this man stood before her it all rushed back and she nearly shut down completely. In her mind she knew it was him or what he had become and she longed to ask him.
Krista had kept this feeling from her daughter, more to protect her than anything else. This Aen was so different than her husband had been, so cold and alien. His eyes were truly frightening as she could feel them trying to pull at her soul as a black hole would pull at the universe itself. It would be so easy to lose oneself in them, but he was not a being that was searching for love. Aen was built for war and she was glad he was there to fight on their side.
Side by side, the two sat and stared out into the night. Each thought different things, but shared them not. Instead, they sat in silence and enjoyed the fact that for now they were safe. The thoughts of what was to come were pushed aside; if the end was truly coming, they were both at peace that they would have this moment together. Together they sat and watched the night burn in silence and held each other close. It didn’t feel like the end, it felt more like a new beginning and that fueled the hope rising in their hearts.
Lyarran Vessel Amarra, Southern Pacific -
Twenty Hours since Arrival
Caretaker ended his communications with the Dark Light when Aen began to build up his energy. Before that, he had become untraceable due to the ongoing plasma discharges from the Husk attackers. In a sense, his usual energy signature had become lost in the noise.
But in an instant, Aen had appeared in the midst of a battle in the southeast and began to quickly build up an immense charge before letting loose an explosion on the scale of a small solar flare. Caretaker quickly began to assess the damages it caused, but the magnetic interference was tremendous. He worried that Ameia had birthed a creature that would destroy the planet she had wanted to save so badly; his power too great for him to control.
His sensors noticed that the vessel that was dropping troops along the Eastern seaboard had now stopped and began to assess the blast itself; the Husk had become aware of a superior force on this planet. In fact, all the ships that had been moving about the planet had stopped. The Amarra’s sensors showed that they all were linking up to the massive ship above, all awaiting new strategy and orders to deal with this new threat.
The data on the blast began to pour in, and Caretaker began to crunch the numbers as he also monitored the enemy and kept the Amarra’s shields oscillating frequencies to keep it hidden from any sensor sweeps. He was in heaven, so to speak. It was the first time in thousands of years he had so much to do and he was quite enjoying it!
As he handled all the other tasks, he also began to search local radio frequencies in the southeast, as he wanted to make contact with Aen who had once again disappeared. The airways were chalk full of distortion due to the blast, but small blurbs of conversations began to come free from the white noise. Then, Aen’s voice appeared and Caretaker rushed to get a fix; he had him! Once he pinpointed his location, the AI established a link and reached out to the barely conscious Harbinger.
Lyarran Vessel Amarra, Southern Pacific -
One Day since Arrival
“If you wanted to make a statement,” Caretaker’s voice rang in Aen’s helmet, “You certainly accomplished that! I believe the Husk are trying to reassess their battle plans to accommodate for your presence.”
Aen grimaced slightly; it was like hearing your mother nagging at you when you were trying to sleep off a hangover. The construct’s voice was the last one he wanted to hear as he was being helped to his feet. He turned off the external helmet speaker to ensure privacy, and answered the nosy AI.
“Any update on the reinforcements?” he grumbled.
“Yes. I had a detailed and in depth conversation with the commander of the lead rescue vessel. A wonderful creature she is, although she did seem a bit preoccupied with my programming…..”
“How long till they get here?” Aen interrupted, unable to take the rambling of this overeager and overly chipper machine.
“Oh, yes. They have experienced a delay, as the extended travel in jump space has overheated their reactors. I took the liberty of assessing their problems and rewrote the engineering software to better accommodate such long travels. Although, I am unsure if the Commander will be grateful, as she seems to have issues with my altered programming…”
“I don’t need a recap of the whole thing, just a timeline. When do they get here?” Aen’s patience was non-existent at this point.
“I am afraid it will be a bit more than four more days. The rest of the battle group will be even longer.”
His heart sank: four days might as well be four months. Yes, they had beaten the horde here in Seattle, but it had come at too high of a cost and the loss of many innocent lives. This battle was just about to escalate and Aen was sure that the human race would be in tough against the Husk to last a few more days. They had to change strategies; they had to adapt the plan as patience was no longer a card they had to play.
“Get me a line to the General,” he said at long last, “we have to move ahead with our plan. Tomorrow we need to go on the offensive and take the fight to them so we can survive to the next day.”
Lyarran Vessel Dark Light, Alpha Centari -
One Day since Arrival
Lyxia studied the data from the event on Terra Sol with eagerness. Never before had such a thing occurred on a planet; she had even cross-referenced the Imperial records to double check. Readouts showed the equivalent of a small solar
flare erupting from the planet’s surface; if she hadn’t witnessed the event caught by the sensor network she would scoff at the mere idea of it.
She was more than impressed by this Harbinger creature than she thought she would be. Since she was a youngling she had heard the prophecies of his coming, and it was even part of the curriculum in the Academy. But for all the times she had heard the tales, she had dismissed it as just that—a children’s story! It was one of the greatest shocks in her life to see him there in the Council chamber staring back at her. In a flash, fiction had become reality!
And now, any doubt she had of him being this mythical creature was dashed away by the overwhelming data of the flare. There, in the very far reaches of the galaxy, was the Harbinger. He had announced his very existence with a bold statement to the entire universe and probably even added doubt to the very confident Husk slavers.
Sitting alone in her quarters, she poured over the data readouts and began to truly be amazed. She forwarded a copy to the Empress and the science wing of the Guild back home. There was no comparison to use to better judge what she would be meeting when she got there; no measuring stick to something like this. All Lyxia could do is adapt on the fly and try and use this creature to help drive away the Husk. She was naturally confident, born and bred for this specific role and had risen through the ranks while catching the eye of the Empress herself. But in this time of urgency, she could pull from that confidence no longer, as a strange fear crept into her soul. A shudder ran up her spine as she silently began to wonder about what the Harbinger really was, and what he truly was the herald for.
Moscow, Russia - One Day, Eight Hours since Arrival
The sun was barely over the horizon of Moscow and the battle was already hours old. Tank cannons barked out in the dawn along with the staccato of high-powered rifles. The air was hot and smelled like ozone as the Husk heavy infantry returned fire with blazing plasma rounds. But this fight was not as lopsided as the one in Seattle hours before; this one was a complete turnaround!
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