Song of Blu

by J A Ebonlight

  “I’m the princess of Black Saints! We’re the strongest gang in this city. Don't you want a night with me, the glory of taking a kingpin’s daughter?”

  Again I said nothing. She swayed side to side, and her eyes struggled to remain open. I was sure she feared closing her eyes, thinking she’ll never open them again.

  “Okay, okay! I’ll give you anything! Just please don’t let me die!” She said. I grinned.

  “Good. Tell me where an underking is?” I asked.

  “Underking?” Justin echoed. Many behind me were equally confused.

  “How do you know them?”

  “I have my sources. I know an operation this big has to have an underking behind it. I want to know where he is in the city. If I can capture an underking, I can prove to my general that we are wasting manpower and resources fighting a collective gang and not the rebels.”

  “If I tell you that, I’ll be―”

  “Killed? I’m going to kill you now if you don't speak up.” I said. She swallowed.

  “I don't know his exact location, but apparently, he’s going to meet my father for some trade-off in two days at a location. That’s all I’m telling you until I get some aid.” She said, laying back on the floor, the color of her face draining. I let my foot off her ankle and glanced to Maria, who rushed to her side. Some of her squad pointed their rifles at the female gangster to keep her safe. I was then cornered by Jen, Alicia, and Justin.

  “What are underkings?” Jen asked. I looked at the three of them, and I could feel it. My secret would soon be revealed. All I could do was ride this lie until the wheels fell off.

  “I read about it in a book,” I said. That was a horrible lie. I glanced at Alicia, and she could tell I was lying but would not betray my secret.

  “A book?” Jen said, crossing her arms and leaning back.

  “Regardless, the underkings are shadow leaders of many gangs. No one knows where their home base is. They just know underkings are powerful. They come to gangs and install their dominance. They settled disputes between gangs and call peace. Think of them as high kings of gangs everywhere. They have more power than the next top ten gangs combined.”

  “Bullshit,” Darryl said, arriving around the corner. “A gang that powerful would be known to most of the public by now. You can’t keep anything secret.”

  “You never have seen them,” I said.

  “Neither have you! You just read it in a book.” Jen said.

  “Unless there something he’s not telling us,” Justin added. After all the battles I fought since leaving the gang, nothing nurtured more fear in me than this moment.

  “I have seen them! Blu’s right.” Jerry said, arriving to the room. I exhaled deeply. “underkings are cyborgs. They move as individuals. They kind of like Metas. They control a horde of cyborgs and come in a powerful ship that can go invisible.”

  “Okay, now you’re just making stuff up,” Darryl said.

  “You’ll see for yourself, damn it. The underkings are the terror in the night. They are the ones who created the framework for how gang functions these days. You just a street punk gang until you’ve been acknowledged by the underkings. Then you go from a gang to an underground-empire. How do you think all these mega gangs move and operate the same no matter what world they are on? underkings are the common thread.” I snapped. Many went silent. I clenched my jaw. “Get ready to move out. That’s an order.” I then stormed off and prepared.

  They had no idea what they were talking about. I’ve seen underkings. I’ve seen their cruelty, their abilities with my eyes. They make a profit off of pain and death, and I couldn’t wait to kill one.

  Entry 10

  Phoenician Date: September 27, 1026AR

  Military Time: 10:10

  Phoenician Classified World: Alexandria Prime

  Our supply drop was later than usual. I’ve learned that our general was a petty man. I am familiar with petty men. They are all the same and are all dangerous when in power. No matter the upbringing, petty men always exist as an eternal barrier to my happiness. At least this time, I have friends. I chuckled.

  I had friends... How rare was that thought, I wondered. For so much of my life, I had to rely on myself. It was a freeing feeling that others could carry the load.

  My company had traveled across the city upon the female gangster direction. We traveled through the long-abandoned buildings and alleys ways, keeping from being seen. It was a tactic used by my gang leaders to hide numbers.

  “Never move in the open as one. If the enemy can gauge our strength, they can prepare for us.”

  Since being educated, I found it uncanny how my gang operated as a military force. Everything about their structure was too organized. That’s when I read about the underkings after being freed from them. Then I remember seeing one after a big battle. He was dressed in the finest robes I’ve ever seen—however, no life existed in his eyes. Every feature on his body looked sculpted and unnatural. It matched the description in the book about the underkings.

  It was the only explanation as to how the gangs function like minor empires. But what was the point of such functions? What were the underkings attempting to accomplish by creating such groups? Is it all for profits? How much money could one possibly make from these under-empires?

  I pondered these questions as I led my company to a motel and set up camp there for the night. Jerry, Alicia, and I shared the room with the prisoner. Leaving her alone was not an option, with Justin lurking around. He’ll probably take out some sick sense of revenge on her.

  “I can’t believe there were girls in the gang,” Alicia said.

  “Yeah, street princesses mostly. If you were a female and related to the upper echelon, you weren’t bred like a rat.” I informed. Alicia cringed and shook her head.

  “I don't even get that. Women can only have one to three babies per birth these days.”

  “Oh no,” Jerry said. “My gang used to pump some kind of drug and treatment that made every birth three-plus babies. The average breeding girl in my gang had three to five babies per birth.”

  “Mines too.”

  “queen’s mercy!” Alicia swore. Then her eyes waiver to me and then off toward the wall. “Did you two breed some women? Like, do you have some kids out there?” She said. My heart stopped, and I was unsure of how to answer.

  “We probably did. Just like women were forced to breed, so were we. We weren’t no better than slaves. Especially if we were strong. If you were strong, they had you breeding every night with a different girl to produced more kids with your genes.”

  “Oh...” Alicia said, her face a bit flushed. She glanced at me a few times, and I knew her thoughts. Of course, I bred my share of women. It wasn’t like I had much choice, and none of the women seem to hate me. In fact, they all begged me to make them my personal breeders. That way, they never have to deal with any other guys who abused them. Stupid young me was more afraid of being made fun of than concerned with their safety.

  Redemption awaits the living. The odd man’s words played back in my head. I couldn’t dwell on my past. I just have to make up for it now. Then we heard a snicker in the background. Our eyes shifted toward the chained up princess.

  “You two were gang bred? That explained the hardened look in that one eye.” The street princess said, glancing to me.

  “No one told you, you could talk,” I said. Her eyes shifted to Jerry.

  “Come on, tough guy, free me, and take me as your queen. We could rule this city together. I seen the way your eyes glued to me. You want some of this punai, don't you? Free me.” She said, her voice almost as seductive as a she-devil.

  She had the serpent’s tongue, all right. Jerry swallowed hard as he considered the offer. I marched toward her, and the fear in her eyes reemerged. She knew she could not sway me, for I was immune to that type of temptation. I grabbed a cloth and wrapped it tightly around her mouth.

  “Let’s go,” I said, turning to Alicia and Jerry.
As soon as we exited the room, Jerry bumped me.

  “Come on, you can’t tell me you ain’t considered her offer,” Jerry asked. Alicia and I gawked at him like he spoke another language.

  “Why would I leave the marines to join some gang?” I told him.

  “Not join a gang, rule a gang. After the marines leave this city, the gang will rebuild, and we could be billionaires living here. You know what they lived like living at the top. They were royalty. Fine dining, fine clothes, finer women, and all the luxuries a person could ask for. Command over armies of warloons and goons. All that power, and you ain’t even think about it?” Jerry said. I grabbed Jerry by the shoulders and stared him straight in the eye.

  “Do you want redemption or power?” I asked him. His brown eyes grew large. I noticed the desire for power fade in his eyes, and then guilt arise. I could not blame him. There were so many days where I wished I was in the upper echelons of gangs. It was the only path to prosperity in our environment. Breeding a street princess was a sure-fire way to that high class of underworld society.

  “You’re right...” Jerry said before departing. I glanced at Alicia, who must have been taken aback by all this information.

  “You could have children you don't know out there,” Alicia said.

  “If I do, I’m as much as a father to them as my father was to me. Plus, most of my world was decimated by the Leones. I know for a fact that my gang used the younglings as bait to lead the Leones away. Their crying and helplessness made them prime targets.”

  “Disgusting,” Alicia said. Although I agreed now, back when those vicious aliens attacked, I didn’t oppose the plan. My mindset was that we could always make new babies, and we needed fighting men to survive. Babies and kids would have just been deadweight.

  I decided to look toward the others, and then I found Justin sitting on top of a car in the parking lot with a few of my marines huddled around. I glanced at Alicia, and her eyes followed mine. We stalked down the steps behind them and stay by the corner of the motel within earshot.

  [“War is just one of the king’s vices. If the king was so mighty, he could easily discover these alien's homeworlds and attack to end their menacing forever. But he doesn't. He doesn’t even allocate funds to finding the alien’s homeworlds. You know why? Because he knows that the fear of being attacked by aliens keeps us in line. He knows he has enough worlds in his grasp to risk losing a few to aliens and rogue AIs. Just food for thought, Freedom Leader out.”]

  Justin turned off his Omniwatch. He was feeding his own rebellious thoughts with these intermissions. How many audios has he listened to? Should I order him to stop, and will it make a difference? I was unsure of what I should do in this situation.

  Darryl was there too, with his arm linked with Jen’s. That meant she’d probably follow him no matter what path he chose. If Darryl sided with Justin, that would mean almost half of my squad would go rogue. I sat on the edge of my seat, waiting for Darryl's response.

  “Interesting,” Darryl said. That made my heart stopped for a quick second. It was the last thing I wanted to hear from the most logical guy in my squad. I learned in gangs that emotions were like a hurricane, it comes hard and strong, but it doesn’t last. However, logic was like a mountain that remained no matter the season.

  “What you mean?” Justin said.

  “I mean, if the king believes the Nemesis is coming one day, he could be training his armies on the aliens.”

  “The Nemesis? That could be a myth!” Justin snapped.

  “I mean, maybe you’re right. But I remember in history when the first incursion of the leones appeared, although we had better weapons than them, we could barely compete.” Darryl said.

  “That’s not all. When the Leones arrived, they had no small arms. They just had their own custom melee weapons and still killed scores of us.” Jen added.

  “That’s how unprepared our military strategy and strength was that we couldn’t outright stomp an alien threat using their homemade weapons,” Darryl said. Alicia and I snorted before taking another peek around the corner to look at Justin. His face was in his hands, and he groaned heavily.

  “So that justifies all the deaths at alien hands?” Justin asked.

  “No. But I don't think everything needs a justification.” Jen said. “What’s the justification for a person getting hit by a car, or babies born with diseases, or a person born talentless? What’s the justification of abusive parents, lack of meaningful jobs, children raised in gangs?”

  “That’s all nice and dandy, but all those examples are things we can’t help. Nature is a cruel mother, after all.”

  “So if Mother Nature cares little for justification, why should we?” Jen challenged.

  “Because that’s the point of civilization!” Justin snapped, standing up. “The entire point of civilization is to combat the cruelty of mother nature. It’s what separates us from animals. It’s easy to look at the king’s policies and nation with a glass half full perspective when you enjoy the benefits of it. But what about those of us who live on cradle worlds who have to suffer the cost?”

  “Damn, you got a good point. I like debating with you; you force me to think.” Darryl said.

  “So, this is just debating practice to you..” Justin mumbled, and at that point, I realized I had nothing to worry about. Darryl simply liked a good debate. He wasn’t going to be sway toward Justin’s poison. In truth, I found much of Justin’s points appealing. However, I was offered a second chance, and for that, I’m eternally grateful. We departed from the scene, realizing the little threat it posed. Alicia glanced at me.

  “I don't think he should stay in the company anymore. His ideals rival zealotry.”

  “I don't know what that means.”

  “I mean, he seems committed to these ideals. What if he’s a mole? Like what if the rebels planted him in the military? How did they send out a recruiting message during the recruitment process? Did they get to him before becoming a marine or after he landed?” Alicia said.

  I watched as Alicia hypothesized many ideas. I found it adorable how she just talked to herself while coming up with a hundred scenarios. I didn’t know the whole deal with Justin, but I had little time for that. I ran up a car and told my company to gather. Once they assembled, I realized it had gotten more comfortable to speak to them as a whole.

  “Listen up, Marines, we have a new objective. Now our foolish general wants to take our division and charge into a hornet nest. We have to convince him this a fool's errand, and I found the perfect chance.” I said. Then I motioned to Alicia, and she read my thoughts. “There are certain people in the underworld of gangdoms called underkings. These underkings are why gangs in the Phoenician kingdom operate more like underground empires instead of street gangs. They are the brains, the puppet masters. Why they empower gangs like this, we may never know. However, if we can capture such a figure and pump him full of truth serum, then we can convince our general not to throw away good marine lives.” Then Alicia arrived with the street princess in tow. “This little bundle of joy is the key to finding the underking. With her help, we’ll hunt him down, capture him and bring him before our general.”

  “Hoorah!” most of my marines cheered.

  Entry 11

  Phoenician Date: September 27, 1026AR

  Military Time: 12:00

  Phoenician Classified World: Alexandria Prime

  We hustled through the ruined metropolis, encountering little resistance. I was both nervous and excited. I was going to take on an underking, but also, I was going to take on an underking. Underkings were mysterious and powerful. If the books were correct, they couldn’t be killed outside their lairs, which made them sound even more monstrous.

  As we moved forward, the street princess vomited out her rations. Then I heard gasped and screeches. My eyes trailed ahead and found the culprit to the sudden reactions. Across the streets were many metal trees with rotting dead bodies hanging on them. This tactic was well k
nown to me. It was a corpse forest. I should have known they’ll construct such a site for the meeting with an underking.

  “What the hell...” Rolland said, next to me. I was about to tell him the purpose of a corpse forest but then remember that it would reveal me. Justin already suspected me. I glanced at Jerry, who sighed deeply.

  “It’s called a corpse forest,” Jerry informed everyone around us. “Gangs use it for various reasons. They use it to mock or scare their enemies or to keep out clueless intruders. The only people who traveled through a corpse forest are either determine people looking for the bounty behind it or those with strange fetishes. Prepared for goons to be here from this point forward.” Jerry explained.

  “I never knew gangs were so diabolic,” Darryl admitted.

  “It’s the underkings,” I said. “They are the brain behind the infrastructure, organization, and tactics across all gangs throughout the Phonieican kingdom.” I suddenly felt self-conscious if they wondered where I learned that from, but everyone remained silent. “Prepare for contact.”

  I primed my gun and became alert. The aroma made the street princess sick, which was not surprising. The smell was another deterrent for unwanted guests. She whined and groaned as the smell toxified her lungs. Many of my marines started to feel empathy for her, but none came from me. I know from experience that those girls were spoiled rotten. I’m sure she performed her own shares of abuse to the underlings in her gang for her amusement.

  We stalked through buildings and alleyways, the city unnaturally quiet. Every block laid more corpses tied to poles impaled in the ground. I followed the rising number of them. The more there were, the closer we were to the meeting place. The Street princess cried out then, vomiting once more.

  “Help!” She screeched. I scrambled to grab her mouth and pinned her to the wall. Then I heard voices.

  “You heard that?” Someone said. I threw the street princess to my marines, and they wrapped her mouth with a rag. I pulled out my cleaver and awaited their approach. A dozen gangsters rushed forward, all without firearms. I whirled out the alleyway, slashing three before they could react. The gangsters scrambled for their weapons. With no hesitation, I rushed forward and carved through them one by one. It wasn’t until half their number laid dead on the ground before they could form a counter-attack. That’s when Jerry sneaked behind them and cut down two. With four left, they attempted to flee. I clicked on my rocket boots and dashed behind them, with Jerry in tow. Within moments they were dead. I took one of their gas masks and gave it to the street princess.