The Pale War

by Max Jager

  Planet Hogarth: Evacuation

  Alerius and Aurela were both quiet as their okren ship entered Hogarth's atmosphere. It was like any other entry. The first few minutes was rough but then it was smooth sailing getting past the worldly space layer. There was some cloud cover and both of them remained silent until they got past the covering.

  What they saw on the ground was truly a sight to behold. It was Ragnak. One of the major cities on the planet. Even calling it a city was insulting. It was a thriving metropolis! What stood out most about the city was the structures and the coloring. Every single structure had a towering presence to it. The color that bombarded them from the huge city was a pearl white with a beautiful blend of gold. The buildings were very advanced. Each one had it own design and not one was an exact copy of the other. Every single building had it own characteristics.

  Alerius and Aurela both looked at it in wonderment. They saw buildings that looked like ancient castle towers with lots of glass. Almost like a medieval skyscraper. Huge, pearl colored domes with swirled markings on top. Shimmering at them with a golden brilliance. Smaller buildings that had a small amount of green mixed into the golden hue. This was a residential area. The only way either of them could tell that was because of the amount of hounds going in and out.

  Alerius looked at them all in wonderment! "God, how could I have forgotten?"

  Aurela looked at him. "You've been here before?"

  Alerius shot her a quick glance hoping against hope that she wouldn't turn this into a 'romantic event'. "Yes, a long time ago. I was just a kid. I wish I had stayed."

  "It must have been hard to leave a place like this." Aurela laid a soothing hand on his. Alerius, just for a moment, about got lost in the moment when he coldly retract his hand away from hers.

  "Yeah, well, I learned that dreams are for children. I could have stayed but the military needed me! That was the only reason I was sent here in the first place. To learn how to interact with hound agents. That's all!"

  Aurela leaned in close to him. "Dreams are for all." Aurela was actually going to go in for a kiss but Alerius quickly retracted away. Aurela shook her head still knowing it was not the right time.

  They were now right over the thriving city when a strange deep noise entered the cockpit. At first, it sound like a monster growling at them but Alerius and Aurela both recognized it as a hound's growl. Alerius slightly smiled at the fact of thinking it was something dangerous.

  "I wish I knew what he was saying! Why does Hound have to be one of the hardest languages to speak in the whole universe?" Alerius complained out loud.

  "He wants us to identify ourselves."

  Alerius slowly turned his head in somewhat amazement. "How do you know that?"

  She flashed him this sly, childish look. "Because I understood him."

  Alerius kind of thought to himself for a minute. 'She is a Leyline after all.' He shrugged his shoulders.

  Another growl exited through the console. Aurela translated. "He can hear us but he has no idea what were saying."

  "Of course not! That would make things easy." Alerius began to wonder how the hound on the other line was hearing them. He remembered back to the almost deadly situation back on planet Whitmore when he was about shot down by the battleships when he first landed. They couldn't hear him inside the cockpit. He figured though that the hound civilization had technology that corresponded with calsins'. He was very thankful for that. Unfortunately, he didn't have a translator to communicate back to them. Or maybe he did.

  Alerius slowly looked over at Aurela as another growl came into the cockpit. Aurela again translated it. "He knows were human. He's trying to get a translator."

  Alerius somewhat smiled at Aurela. "I don't think he has to. If you can understand him can't you talk back?"

  Aurela looked at Alerius with a somewhat confused look. "I can try." She bent close to the console. Alerius then saw her lips move but there was nothing that came out. No sound and her lips made no distinguishable words. Whatever she said it definitely had some bearing. Another growl came through. This one was very passive though. Almost as if it wasn't the same hound. Alerius knew it was but something was different.

  Alerius looked over at Aurela. "Well?"

  Aurela gave him a lovely look, "We're cleared to landed." She shrugged her shoulders and gave a giddy little laugh. Alerius just rolled his eyes and reached for the controls. Only to remember once again that the ship had no manual controls. He only hoped that the ship yet again flew in safely.

  The ship flew right across the skyline of the city and right to the end of the city to the south. There was this huge dome like structure. Very similar to the okren shopping center only this was about a million times bigger! When they got close enough, they saw on the south side of the dome building was this long road paved out of this shinny black substance. Almost looking like volcanic glass. It wasn't though. It was harder and more beautiful then that. Alerius then saw lights and a few hounds running around with small bags of equipment. It suddenly hit him. It was a landing zone. It was a spaceport.

  The ship glided in gently and landed smoothly on the black, shinny runway. It came to a halt about 25 yards away from the end and both Alerius and Aurela were left with a nice view of a forest beyond the city.

  Alerius was the first to get out of the cockpit. Aurela got out too, carrying the shotgun. Alerius watched as he and Aurela walked towards the spaceport, a bunch of hounds came running out to the ship with huge yellow cables and other equipment. It was probably to haul the ship away. Alerius and Aurela both passed them.

  Alerius saw yellow markings on these hounds. Sashes and hung emblems. They wore absolutely no clothes whatsoever except for their identifying garb which wasn't much. It was a well known fact that hounds wore no clothes because unlike humans they were not ashamed of their bodies. Of course, most hounds were in great mental as well as physical condition. It was just the way of their societal order. A well trained people of order and conditioning.

  Soon, Aurela and Alerius were near the entrance of the spaceport. Two great big glass doors lead inside and Alerius could see a lot of armed hounds inside. Most of them were armed with bladed weaponry but a select few had assault rifles. The hounds mostly worked with swords, metal claws, and other assorted close range weapons. From time-to-time though, they would use guns. Mostly when it was something dire important and they felt that guns were necessary. This made Alerius feel that his guns were necessary too.

  These hounds had dark red sashes strung across their chests. Red meant they worked for the military and were trained killers. Each sash carried emblems stitched in gold. This was probably to show their ranking. Alerius knew from his childhood training the higher ranked ones were the ones with the guns.

  He looked over at Aurela who was barely hanging onto the shotgun. Alerius figured that she was more relaxed. He also figured that she wasn't as threatened as much like she had been on other planets. Still, that didn't mean he was going to let his guard down. He motioned to Aurela to hand him the shotgun and she did. He cocked the first plasma shell into place. He still had the two Scorpion SMGs but he wanted all his weapons at the ready.

  He then gently nudged one of the glass doors open with Aurela in hand. The shotgun was in the other and he was ready for anything or so he hoped. The armed hounds inside were in a column formation. Which meant that they formed two living walls on both sides of Alerius and Aurela. As if welcoming them to the spaceport. Still, Alerius did not let his guard down. He had the shotgun firmly in one hand and Aurela in the other.

  He then noticed a flight of stairs leading up to another entrance to the spaceport. He figured that these were for bigger passenger ships. Somewhat like the cargo behemoths he had seen back on Whitmore. He walked in between the two lines of Korzen soldiers and slowed his pace. His weariness became ever more alert.

  He stared at the hounds as they were like statues. The ones with the guns were heavily armored in some kind of metal body ou
tfit. Similar to an ancient human knight. It was sectional and seemed to be a tight fit on the alien wolves' bodies. They seemed to be comfortable in it though. It was very strange to Alerius.

  What was even stranger, was what caught Alerius's eye at the top of the steps of one of the entrances. Two hounds stood tall and proud. They were completely dressed too. The taller one of the two was holding the others hand.

  The one to the right was all white and female. His eyes were instantly drawn to her female features but what really gave her away was her clothing and the way it shaped over her body. Even by human standards she was voluptuous. She was clothed in a gold and red girdle with red stockings. It was weird to see a hound in clothing but it would have probably been even more weird to see her naked.

  The other was a tall black male. Taller then most hounds! He stood close to eight feet tall. Looking similar to Dark except he seemed to be much older. He also was dressed in red and gold attire. Much more then his female counterpart. He had on long, deep red, dress pants with a black and golden belt. His chest was covered with a military vest that sported the same color as the pants with big golden buttons. He also had a crown. It wasn't a traditional, old world, human crown. This was spiked in the front and back like two horns looking like extra pricked ears of his. They were golden and covered in red rubies.

  They both came down the steps in a very human-like traditional manor. Like they were a king and queen. Alerius obviously thought that they were or at least close to it. He knew that the hounds didn't have a monarcy though. However, these two had to be the highest ranking hounds in the city. They both approached Alerius and Aurela. Alerius, not letting his guard down, held onto the shotgun and already his head was full of scenarios and counteractions. Aurela, on the other hand, stood overwhelmed by the presence of the two and felt at ease by the mere sight of them.

  Alerius had been trained to tell many facial characteristics of many peoples. Hounds were one of the peoples he was most trained in. He saw a very delightful and happy look on both of the hounds' faces. That was when his guard final started to deteriorate.

  The two hounds came mere inches from the two of them. Both bowed their heads to Aurela and Alerius. Alerius was a little nervous by this. He had never been treated like this before. He had never been treated like royalty by people who looked like royalty. He just returned the bow but never took his eyes off the two. Aurela sort of followed suite.

  The male hound then kind of grumbled. It was not a growl in any way. It sound more like a joyful, muffled bark actually. Aurela looked over at Alerius and said, "His name is General Rock."

  Another muffled bark from Rock and this time he pointed to the white furred female beside him holding onto his arm.

  "This is his wife, Eva."

  Alerius kind of cocked his eyebrow a bit. "Rock and Eva? Okay."

  A much more louder sound came from Eva then anything Rock had uttered before. It almost sound like a yelp mixed in with a low tone howl. Her vocals were a little more higher pitched and much more softer sounding then Rock's. It was because she was a female.

  Aurela had this huge smile come across her face and a little giggle escaped her. "That's very sweet of you!"

  Alerius took two quick glances at Aurela. He was confused. "What?"

  "She said, 'she is very pleased to have us here and would like to accommodate us anyway possible.' Isn't that sweet?"

  Alerius rolled his eyes. He couldn't help but blurt it out. "Women."

  Rock made a short bark sound and then extended his arm toward the front of the spaceport. Aurela began to interpret what Rock said but there was no need. Alerius already knew what Rock wanted. He started to go in that direction and Aurela followed him. Rock walked close behind Alerius and Eva stayed close to Aurela.

  When the four exited the spaceport, Alerius and Aurela were both greeted by a sight neither of them were expecting. In front of the spaceport was this huge vehicle. It was definitely human made. Alerius knew because hounds did not use vehicles very much and when they did, it was either okren or human patent.

  It was a monstrous hummer of some kind. It was about twelve feet high. It had two hounds with red military sashes in these cage-like compartments up top. Protruding out of the cage meshes were two Gatlin guns. One for each hound to man in each mesh. Alerius saw gears under the two caged compartments. Probably so that the compartments could swivel. These cages were nothing more then barbaric and outdated turrets.

  The vehicle itself was also enclosed by a cage. Underneath, the tires were extremely worn and Alerius didn't wonder for too long why. He saw that they had dirt and grime from very rough terrain. Hounds hardly ever went out of their cities and when they did, it was either to fight or hunt. However, this vehicle had been out of the city and had been engaged in some extensive, all-terrain recon.

  There were six doors on the vehicle. Four of them opened up into the back passenger part of the vehicle. While the other two opened up into the driver and passenger seats. The caged hummer also had two large size wagon doors in the back like a van.

  There were lights all over the hummer probably for night fighting. It also was equipped with these small, metal-claw hangers that were strategically placed for weapon storage. If you were locked in battle with the enemy outside of the vehicle, a weapon would be easy to get to.

  The glass and windows were tinted so Alerius couldn't see inside. The glass was cracked though and caked with dirt. The cage itself was somewhat rusty and the Gatlin guns didn't look like they had been used in well over a year. Alerius knew that hounds traded both with humans and calsins. He felt a little sorry though for them because whoever sold them this hunk of junk ripped them off bad! He wondered if the thing even ran at all, and if it did, it probably wasn't very good.

  (Humans took money though instead of weapons or other technology unlike the calsins who basically hardly even traded. It was not unusual at all for the okren civilization just to give hounds armaments and equipment for nothing in return! This was one of the bigger problems calsins had with humans.)

  Rock came in front of Alerius and opened one of the side doors for him to get in and he did. He waved Aurela in and she got in too. Rock and Eva entered into the vehicle as well. They sat across from Alerius and Aurela. One of the gun armed hounds from inside the spaceport came out and closed the door for them. It then gave a signal to the driver and the hummer started up. The starter kicked twice and then the engine finally revved. The hummer sped down this small road and then made a sharp left out into one of the main roads of the city.

  Inside, Alerius could barely see through the windows. What he did see though was a lot of hounds on foot with their belongings in toe. They were also being escorted by heavily armed hounds. About two for each family group. Alerius was a little confused at the sight. There shouldn't have been soldiers with civilians. Usually when that happen either one of two things was going on. A parade or an evacuation.

  Alerius turned to Aurela. "Something's wrong."

  Now it was Aurela with the confused face. "What?"

  "There should not be this many soldiers in town."

  "They are a military people aren't they?" She asked not being rhetorical in anyway.

  "Yes, but even they don't have soldiers in with the general populace unless it's some special event."

  "Maybe it's a special event." Aurela said smiling.

  Alerius looked at her with this low brow. "I don't think so. Ask Rock what's going on out there."

  She did and when she was done listening to his grunts and growls she turned her head slowly towards Alerius and translated. "It an evacuation!"

  Alerius took a short sigh and began to shake his head knowing that it was. "Ask him why."

  Aurela now with a concerned tone asked General Rock why hounds were evacuating. She listened to a lot of growls, a couple whimpers, and an occasional small howl. After he was done, she again turned her head very somberly and translated.

  "Hogarth is under attack Firius! The
hellion forces are already here! He said they landed about a week ago. Every hound in the city is being evacuated to the neighboring town. He said that the city will soon become a war zone! Almost every hound soldier in the city is escorting the citizenry. The rest are guarding the city's perimeter."

  General Rock leaned in close to Alerius and began to grumble. The hummer had stopped. Alerius had no idea what he said but he knew it wasn't good. He couldn't tell what was wrong but it was bad.

  Aurela gasped after the general was done. Alerius looked over at her for information. "What did he say Aurela?"

  Aurela looked at Alerius and whispered softly to him. "Are you sure you want to know?"

  "For God sakes yes!"

  Aurela looked down at the floor of the hummer.

  A large muscular hound opened the door to the hummer to allow the four to get out. It had a big red sash on its chest and had medals on it. It also had a large gold-stitched emblem on it as well. This was definitely no grunt. Not to mention the very large gun it was carrying.