Genesis

by Kipjo Ewers

  From Lawrence’s perspective, it appeared the females were more forced to adorn the saucy outfits as they wore collars around their necks while their male counterparts held the leash attached to the collar; they were also made to walk subserviently behind their males with their heads down. His eyes caught the scowls and dirty looks from male Volorions that were all aimed at Bastet as she walked around minus a leash and side by side with himself and Anubis. Lawrence also noticed the intentional show of military might as there was a line of light and heavy cybernetic power suits, mechs, battle tanks, and aerial war machines on the streets leading all the way to the main capital building.

  What caught Laurence’s attention was the Volorion war armor which appeared to him to be a cool hi-tech mesh between ancient Roman, English knight, and Samurai armor. From his brief research on Volorion wartech, the armor consisted of the wearer donning a skin-tight grey bodysuit known as the membrane. The membrane had glowing red tubes that looked like veins running throughout the suit. The membrane both housed the power supply of the armor which was rumored to be on a nuclear level while controlling the armor when attached via neural control. The wearer could either switch out inter-changeable pieces either making light or heavy armor, add additional armament or power supply or connect the standard armor to an even larger mechanized suit for more indomitable power.

  Although he found it impressive, it was the second offense the Volorions enacted that the trio noted but pretended to ignore as they continued onto the main capital building.

  As they came upon it, the outside appeared to Lawrence to be a mesh between the Sydney Opera House and the Kremlin in cold gleaming metallic blue.

  The inside was similar to the outside as they were escorted to the throne room of the High Prime, except the hallways were filled with statues and paintings that remembered former rulers and told the history and campaigns of the Volorion Empire. From Lawrence’s observation, they savagely beat out the top five most evil empires in human history.

  As they entered the High Prime’s courtroom, they found him sitting casually on his throne made out of a yellow crystal and gleaming silver metal with Volorion etchings carved into it. He was adorned with a two-tone green and maroon regal robe, and dark maroon skirt pants. Around his neck was the equivalent of a crown in a bright gold chain and triangle pendant with Volorion markings in the metal and a red four-point crystal in the center. He was a middle-aged male for his species with smooth ashy white wrinkled skin and plumage of red feathers on his head.

  Sitting at the foot of his throne on a pillow in a white sheer material dress was his mate and queen a very young and attractive Volorion for her species with pale white smooth skin and bright multi-color feathers from the top of her head down to her back. To the right of his throne was his eldest son, High Prince Volker, dressed in his royal military outfit consisting of a top that had a two-tone color of blue and purple with the military decorations of a Volorion War Chief while his pants were midnight black. He wore a chain around his neck similar to his father’s, except the color of the chain was shiny metallic silver, and the gem in the center was an aqua blue color. His face bore a confrontational demeanor of disdain and disgust as his eyes locked onto each of them but shifted more between Lawrence and Bastet as the proper announcement and greets were concluded, and negotiations began with Anubis speaking on behalf of the Council.

  Anubis began by calmly stating that the Dominion Council could no longer turn a blind eye to the incidents of pirating implemented by the High Prime’s people against merchants’ vessels under the protection of the Council. To which the High Prime flatly said that neither he nor his people recognized the laws under the Dominion Council and for Anubis to provide proof of the alleged acts of piracy.

  A calm and diplomatic Anubis called forth one of his familiars who rose from the resting place on his wrist and projected live holographic images of Volorion ships attacking and boarding merchant vessels. As the familiar zoomed in on the markings identifying the crafts as Volorion, Anubis made sure to also point out the raids were made within the territorial borders under the protection of the Council backed by maps his familiar produced showing the territories and the triangulated attacks.

  The next statement to come out of the High Prime’s mouth was the possibility that the images were probably doctored, to which Anubis’s familiar projected confessions of captured Volorion pirates identifying themselves as citizens of Volori and going into detail about their acts of piracy.

  The High Prime’s response was one of indifference, stating that if the Dominion Council had the perpetrators of the crime in custody, what reason was there to come to him with such a trivial matter. That he would not be bargaining for any of their release, and that the Council could punish the pirates however way they deemed fit.

  Anubis verbally hammered home the Dominion Council’s ultimatum. Either the High Prime took measures to outlaw and deter his subjects from piracy, in which case the Council would then lift twenty percent of their sanctions on his planet, and reopen three of their trade roots. Or the Council would double the sanctions already imposed, and close off one of their major arms trade roots permanently. He then went on to remind the High Prime that his decision to accept or refuse their offer would be final the moment they left the planet as well as the actions taken after that.

  The High Prime leaned back on his throne with a cold smile on his visage slowly pulling back on his Queen’s leash forcing her to adjust her sitting posture.

  The High Prime then asked his son, what he made of the offer. The High Prince advised his father to take the offer under one condition. The condition was a vile and sordid one between himself and the Eye of Osiris.

  Bastet’s response to the High Prince’s condition was anything but diplomatic.

  She started to laugh …really hard.

  Her actions caused Lawrence to roll his eyes and Anubis to drop his head into his chest.

  For it is well known in the universe that it was ill-advised to mock or laugh at a Volorion unless one had the intention of getting into a deadly confrontation with one.

  Bastet’s hysterical outburst not only enraged the High Prince but infuriated his father who arrogantly proposed that maybe he should join his son in defiling the Eye of Osiris.

  This caused Bastet to pause, and then laugh even harder.

  As Anubis and Lawrence watched the High Prime rise to his feet from his throne, it was clear to them that negotiations had failed miserably.

  “So, this is how you come to my home world and make terms Annunaki?” The High Prime snarled. “I kindly allow you to have an audience with me, and you, in turn, allow your sow of a cousin to disrespect my son, and most importantly me in my very own throne room?”

  It was then that Bastet stopped laughing, wondering if the High Prime had lost all senses not realizing who he just called a sow, while Lawrence held up a hand begging her not to retort.

  “In all fairness High Prime Vbzarma,” Anubis calmly sighed. “Your son did disrespect my cousin first.”

  “And you forget the ground you stand upon and the air you breathe whelp!” High Prime Vbzarma roared, “This is Volori, not Anu, which means by Volorion law she should have come stripped of armor and weapons, and with a proper leash around her neck! Maybe even a bridle to hold that wagging tongue of hers!”

  “With all due respect High Prime,” Lawrence stepped in with steel in his tone, “Have a care how you speak of my cousin in front of me.”

  “And now the micro-breed mongrel dares to give warning to me in my own throne room,” the High Prime scoffed.

  “High Prime Vbzarma, let us not debase ourselves with youngling prattle,” Anubis stepped forward in an attempt to calm the inflamed situation. “Let us return to center and respect, so that we may have a more constructive conversation.”

  “Nay son of Set, there shall be no further constructive conversation!” snapped the High Prime. “Your Council’s threat of cutting off the major source of how I
feed my people saw to the destruction of any conversation, never to rise. Instead, I intend to send a message back to your Council.”

  At that moment, the throne room doors opened as additional soldiers came flooding in circling the trio with heavy combat armor and massive energy hand cannons.

  “The message shall be a box sent back to Anu with three items,” the High Prime savagely grinned. “Two of the items shall be the heads of the Eye of Set and the micro-breed Eye of Ra with their members in the mouths, while their bodies are crucified on one of our moons as a warning to those who would dare threaten the Volorion Empire. The third shall be a viewing crystal so that the Council of Elders can watch as the Eye of Osiris is mounted by every male Volorion and beast we can find that can stiffen drill and spill seed, starting with my son who she offended. Do know that the only reason I allowed you to safely come to Volorion is the opportunity to capture, study, and reverse engineer your armor and technology. We have clients throughout the cosmos who would pay heavy coin to get weapons to rival that of an Eye.”

  “So, I take it negotiations are over?” Anubis calmly asked.

  “Yes, Whelp of Set, they are indeed over,” the High Prime coldly answered. “Seize them!”

  On the High Prime’s last two words, the trio’s familiars came to life laying down vicious salvos of energy blasts leveling guards all around them while thinning out the circle as the remainder began to retreat. Although there was a powerful energy barrier shield protecting the area where the High Prime’s throne was, both he and his son dived for cover behind his massive throne abandoning his Queen as she screamed curling up into a ball where she sat.

  “Take care not to harm the royal family, especially the Queen,” Anubis advised while his armor completed its change to Sentinel mode, “We do not need to start a diplomatic incident.”

  “I assumed we were already in one,” Lawrence stated while taking hold of Sol in transformed staff mode.

  “You still have much to learn cousin!” Bastet answered.

  With her transformed familiar in its nine-cat tails whip mode, Bastet also in sentinel mode smacked away energy blasts coming in her direction, before letting her lashes fly slicing through anyone unfortunate enough to be in range. Because her familiar controlled the length its tail extended to, she was able to rack up a massive body count on her side.

  On the other side of the throne room, Lawrence skillfully twirled his staff swatting way return plasma rounds, with a spin he evaded an energy round coming straight for his head, and unleashed a concentrated blast of cosmic Awakening energy that obliterated the soldiers in front of him as well as the wall behind them.

  Anubis not to be outdone smacked away energy cannon blasts with his familiar transformed khopeshes and with a swing sent a slashing wave of primordial Awakening energy laying waste to a horde of Volorion soldiers. With the initial attack party decimated and in disarray, the Eye of Ra and Osiris exited through the massive hole Lawrence created, while Anubis turned to the petrified Volorion Queen shaking where she sat.

  “We are honored by your hospitality” the Eye of Set bowed to her. “Please inform your husband once he comes out of cowering, that we are taking our leave of his planet.”

  She slowly nodded as Anubis turned leaving through the same hole, following the path of destruction his cousins were causing back out to the steps of the capital building. As he stepped out into the light, he saw what they saw.

  Waiting for them was from their count half of the Volorion War Legion with more to come. Leading the assault was the High Prime’s second eldest son, High Prince Nofarrzo, donned in his Volorion war suit on top of a hovering fully armed Bird of Prey.

  To Lawrence, the metallic black one-person fighter was an amalgamation of the speeder bike from the Return of the Jedi and a metallic hunting bird minus the head. The razor-sharp wings and tail feathers were extended as it hovered via the three powerful anti-gravity engines, two which were located in the front main body of the vehicle and the one in the back where the central powerplant was also housed.

  “Surrender Annunaki swine, and be granted a merciful death as we will allow!” The High Prince howled at them. “Resist, and we shall make sure your Council is haunted by the agonizing screams you shall make, which we will send back to them!”

  Once again, the trio of cousins glanced at one another before Anubis answered.

  “Apologies High Prince Nofarrzo, but we chose to resist.”

  On Anubis’s words, all three Eyes unleashed hell on the Volorion War Legion obliterating vast chunks of their line, while causing utter chaos.

  “They’re mad …they’re bloody mad!” High Prince Nofarrzo choked. “Kill them! Kill them all!”

  Watching from a far distance now dawned in his own war suit; the Volorion High Prime accompanied by High Prince Volker in his own war suit began to understand why the Council of Elders confidently sent three Annunaki warriors by themselves with one ship and no backup. Though Volorion weapons technology was far superior to many other worlds in the known universe, it was terrifyingly dwarfed Annunaki tech and combat prowess.

  Anubis took juggernaut steps as he blocked enemy fire with incomprehensible accuracy sending waves upon waves of destructive Awakening energy attacks vaporizing chucks of the Legion’s heavy armored division, which consisted of their Dominator tanks. Red and black gargantuan thirty feet tall crab like vehicles with quadruped legs, and two plasma beam cannons on the side of the main body along with other armaments. The main body rotated and elevated via an arm attached to its underbelly and base legs allowing it to execute three hundred and sixty-degree attacks.

  With one mighty leap, the Son of Set propelled himself at one slicing the arm the lifted the body in half bringing it down on top of its legs causing a massive size explosion. Before he landed he sliced off one of the Domination’s legs from behind causing it to topple for a violent explosive crash.

  “Nyoi-bō mode, Sol,” Lawrence commanded.

  Upon his order, his familiar extended its staff form in his grip several yards until it impaled a combat ground chariot. The ground vehicle which had the characteristics of an Earth tank except that it was more heavily armored, hovered via an anti-gravity propulsion system, and the main gun on its turret was shorter due to it firing armor melting plasma energy rounds. Getting a good grip, Lawrence swung his staff while pulling the chariot mowing down anyone or thing that was unfortunately in his circle of destruction. He finally released the chariot sending it tumbling and crashing causing further carnage.

  “Thirty-Six Chambers mode, Sol.”

  His familiar retracted and transformed itself into a three-section staff as he fluidly transitioned to deflecting return fire from troops still standing and willing to fight. He returned back to being offensive adopting Anubis’s tactic of sending ground splitting waves of Awakening blasts cutting through the Volorion Legion.

  Bastet not to be outdone by her cousins was the only one to use flight and speed darting in and out ripping through vast sections of the Legion while switching her familiar’s whip mode between bolo and cat of night tails at her leisure depending on her prey. As she stood against a Dominator, she used her familiar’s bolo whip mode to grab the giant machine by its arm. With one arm she dug in and used the brute strength of her armor to pull and bring it brutally crashing down on its side causing the main cabin to ignite from the impact blowing up in front of her.

  “So, this is the infamous Volorion War Legion,” Bastet sighed. “I grow bored already cousins when do we depart?”

  “You are the last person to utter the words ‘bored’,” Lawrence sternly answered her.

  “What vexes you this time?” Bastet asked with a snapping tone.

  “What were the two things we were told by the Council of Elders on five separate occasions before we departed on this mission?” He began to lecture her while still fighting. “What were we told one final time before we even left? Number one, do not react to anything that takes place on Volori,
no matter how much it offends you, and number two do not laugh at a Volorion, especially anyone from the royal family!”

  “I did not react,” she defended herself.

  “No, you laughed, twice!”

  “Did you not hear what the little pubescent brat and his father claimed they’d do to me with their thimble-sized tails?” Bastet scoffed. “Be glad composure and not sense of reason was the only thing that escaped me.”

  “Well, then you may have the pleasure of explaining to the Elders why negotiations failed.”

  “Gladly!” she chuckled while turning to dispatch several armored ground soldiers. “Mother, in particular, will split her sides once she hears comedic tale of the Volorion Royal male bloodline’s pathetic advances toward her daughter.”

  “Both of you hold your bloody tongues and bring more carnage to Volorion Legion!” An irritated Anubis howled. “I wish to return to ship and leave this wretched planet! One of you thin out those warships firing down upon us!”

  “They’re mine, cousin,” Bastet called dibs, “Mafdet.”

  Her familiar transformed from its whip configuration turning into an archer’s bow. As she pulled the string back taking aim at a ship, energy began to charge from the mouth of Mafdet’s head which was positioned at the center of the bow. She released the string causing a thin beam of energy to fire from Mafdet’s mouth cutting through the air piercing right through a Volorion warship, which was one size bigger than Anubis’s Star Class Chariot and had the shape of a flat metallic gunmetal grey hammer. It drifted and exploded in mid-air before crashing violently into the ground erupting into a fireball of flames. Bastet plucked her bow sending rapid fire shots into the sky setting it aflame with Birds of Preys and warships that detonated on impact after being hit by her fatal shots.