Invasion

by Jerry Shepard

  The pugs, know by their name the Xen, were a bipedal race of humanoids that resembled humans for much of their anatomy. The biggest difference between the Xen and humans were the facial structure and the fact that the Xen were, on average, taller and more slender than humans. The Xen face lacked what humans would call a nose. There was a small protruding bump with slits for nostrils. Hence the derogatory nickname of "pug". Their eyes, though larger, looked the same as humans'. However, the color in the eyes changed depending upon their emotions.

  And what made the Xen such difficult foes was that they possessed remarkable strength and skill. Some of the Marines who survived the war recounted stories of fighting hand to hand with a Xen and how sometimes if one was particularly skillful, it was like fighting two opponents at once.

  It didn't matter to Noah. He just wished they were on their own planet, away from the rest of humanity. None of them were worth a damn, and to Noah and this one was no different than the rest. So he stopped staring at the pug and went inside.

  Noah moved through the crowded dance floor. The speakers were blaring one of the new Top-40 hits from the Lautenthan system. The bass in the song assaulted his eardrums as he got too close to one of the speakers. Noah looked for his friend as he approached the bar.

  "Pool tables?" Noah asked the bartender who was busy pouring a beer.

  The bartender jerked a thumb behind him indicating that the tables lay on the other side of the bar.

  Noah could see a game ending as he walked up to the tables. The loser slammed his cue down in disgust and walked away.

  "About time you showed up, boyo!" shouted O'Malley. He was standing with a cue in one hand as he collected a small pile of money off the pool table with the other. His most recent victim disappeared into the crowd.

  "Still hustling the locals, huh Kevin?" Noah asked.

  "Well, a man's gotta eat. It's been tough since Roskan destroyed our careers. I'm barely making it on my pension."

  Noah regarded the tall, bearded red headed brute as he sat down at the nearest table. He was over 6 feet tall with blondish-red hair, and a full grown beard. He was athletically built with the beginnings of a beer gut, the result of one too many drinks and not enough exercise lately. But then again, when you've been drummed out of the service you usually don't have much incentive to stay in perfect shape. Still, he thought, there's no one in this galaxy he'd rather go into battle with, than this crazy Irishman.

  "These rubes are making it so I can enjoy retirement in comfort!" O'Malley said as he gestured with a wide sweep of his arm to the crowd that filled the bar. "At least you get to stay in the service and continue your legacy," he said mockingly as he gave a goofy, half-salute.

  "Yeah, some legacy to preserve," mumbled Noah. "I'm teaching advanced tactics and naval strategy to fourth year cadets who only have five months with me before they graduate and the Academy ships them out into the 'verse on their first cruise. It's not exactly what I expected to be doing in my last few years in the service."

  "Oh come on, mate! The Hero of Than! The Destroyer of Fleets! The Xen Reaper! You telling me that you're just gonna waste away in some classroom behind a fucking desk?"

  "Well, I'm not dead yet. I'm gonna take some time off and go fishing. Then, I'm going to try to figure out how to get another ship under me. This teaching detail is killing me." He took another swig of his beer and turned to his friend. "Okay O'Malley, let's play some pool. I'm gonna take your whole life savings from you when I'm done with you!" Noah joked.

  O'Malley laughed. "You're on mate. But when I take your pension, I don't want you crying about it." He pressed a button and the holographic billiard balls appeared on the table already racked.

  For the next three hours the two men drank and played pool, but neither one managed to get the upper hand when it came to winning the other's fortune. The waitress came to remind them that last call would be in an hour. So they racked the balls for a final game.

  As Noah began to take his first shot, he was interrupted with a strong push to his shoulder. The cue tore the felt, and the holographic ball ricocheted up and over the edge of the table, where it winked out of existence. He turned to see who had just messed up his opening shot and was greeted with the familiar face of a Xen.

  ***

  Noah recognized the Xen as the one from outside the club. The Xen was regarding him with narrowed eyes and red irises while clinching and relaxing his six-fingered fists.

  Noah's pulse quickened. He felt the tell-tale sign of his adrenaline pumping. The warmth spread to his head as he itched to move.

  "What do you want, pug? You messed up a perfectly good shot." Noah placed the end of the cue on the floor so that it stood straight up between him and the Xen.

  "I am Som'tuk. Not pug. I heard your friend talking to you. I wanted to see the Destroyer of Fleets myself. You do not look so dangerous to me, now that I am looking down on you."

  "Opinions vary," smiled Noah as he leaned in a bit closer to the Xen. "Your people learned not to underestimate me. I would suggest you do the same."

  The Xen emitted a snort as he moved to his right to circle Noah. "My people did not have me to fight for them at the time. And yet, here I am now. Tell me Jameson, have you ever gazed upon a being's eyes as you ended their life? Or have you only defeated foes from the safety of your ship?"

  Noah monitored the Xen's movements as he circled. His experience working with the Marines came in handy. Like second-nature, he constantly gauged distance to his opponent in case he needed to block an attack or counterstrike. As the Xen completed a full circle, he was again facing his opponent.

  "With you pugs, I've done both. I don't think you want to do this. So walk away," Noah said.

  "The brave hero is a coward after all!" roared the Xen to the crowd that was growing around them. "Here I am, presenting myself for personal combat and he does nothing!"

  Noah smiled but remained unmoved. He calmly addressed his opponent again. "You've still got a chance to walk away, pug. I suggest you take it. I'm not in the habit of repeating myself."

  A second Xen joined the first and stared at Noah as he slowly moved in the opposite direction of his companion. Noah again called upon his skills to mentally keep track of the opponent and listen for any movement that would indicate an attack was imminent.

  "You are no brave hero. You stand here and remain paralyzed by fear! Perhaps the bravery died with your wife?" jeered the new Xen as he snorted and looked at his fellow Xen and the now overflowing crowd that was gathered to watch the confrontation.

  Noah noticed that O'Malley had come to stand in front of the second Xen and, he too, had maintained his grip on his pool cue. The second Xen's attention was now focused on Kevin. Noah turned to his opponent. His heart beat faster and his breathing became more deliberate. He slowed it down and focused his eyes on his opponent.

  "If you value your life, I would run out of here now. My wife is worth your entire fucking species," Noah said, establishing a firmer grip on his cue.

  The Xen looked around and snorted. "Your wife died a useless death. Which is fitting for a..."

  Noah did not wait for him to finish. In a flash, he brought the heel of the cue up to the face of the Xen in front of him, catching his opponent off guard. The cue smashed into the chin of the Xen and he dropped to the ground unconscious. Noah heard a roar and turned to find the second Xen starting to charge at him. O'Malley knocked him cold with a pool cue to the head.

  Noah turned to see the crowd standing around them. He heard bits and pieces of the conversations that he could discern from the din of the masses talking.

  "Unbelievable!"

  "Did you see that?"

  Noah turned from the crowd to see O'Malley picking up the pieces of his cue. Both men went back to finish their beers, but were greeted by their, now visibly shaken, waitress.

  "We don't want any trouble here, mister. I suggest you both get moving."

  "Fine," Noah said. "I apologize for the mes
s."

  O'Malley paid the bill while Noah tipped the waitress. Both men slowly walked out the front doors of the bar and were greeted by a dozen arriving police officers with their guns drawn.

  "Freeze! You're under arrest!"

  As O'Malley raised his hands, he looked at Noah. "I don't know about you, but when I saved the world I thought there'd be more perks than this."

  SECOND CHANCES

  "Officer on deck!" shouted the guard.

  Noah winced as the words drove what felt like a heavy iron spike into his brain. He rolled off the cot and slowly rose to the position of attention. He was dimly aware that another figure was laying on the other cot in the cell. From the red hair and the snoring, he knew it had to be O'Malley.

  The guard approached the cell with another figure, in a dress uniform, in tow.

  "Rise and Shine!"

  O'Malley continued to snore away as Noah turned to face the visitor trailing the guard.

  "Good morning Noah," the man said.

  "It was a good morning, Admiral Roskan," Noah replied. "I was getting some sleep until you showed up." The thought of having to address Roskan as his superior officer made his throat dry. Getting busted down to Captain still rankled him.

  The Admiral chuckled. "Noah, there's tons of other things I'd rather be doing right now than sitting here in the holding cell with you and O'Malley over there." The admiral grabbed a seat and sat down and motioned for Noah to sit down on his cot.

  "You both made a..." started the admiral, but he was interrupted by a loud fart from the sleeping Irishman. Roskan moved his seat further away from him. "Is O'Malley going to wake up or is he going to sleep all day? I have news you both need to hear."

  Noah turned to the near-comatose O'Malley and kicked his feet as hard as he could. This caused the sleeping giant to roll off the cot and issue a string of obscenities as he stood and turned to confront his tormentor with his fists raised.

  "It's just me Kevin. We have company," Noah said, gesturing to their visitor.

  O'Malley rubbed the sleep from his eyes, blinked twice and sat back down on the cot with his head hung low. "Well, if it isn't the admiral, himself? To what do we owe the honor of your presence?" mocked O'Malley without looking up.

  "Well, I think you both know. I have two Xen in the hospital. One with a busted face and the other with a cracked skull," explained Roskan.

  "Oh yeah," smiled O'Malley with pride as he raised his head. "That one with a cracked skull? Yeah, that was me."

  "Oh I know it was. Because everyone saw you do it," Roskan said.

  The mental spike in Noah's head grew larger as both of them got louder. He lowered his voice and addressed the admiral.

  "Excuse me," Noah began, pausing for effect, "but why are you here? Why is the second highest ranking member of the military, sitting in a holding cell, with two guys sleeping off a couple of drinks?"

  "Well, I have good news and bad news for you," Roskan said, looking at Noah."Which do you want first?"

  Noah cocked his head at the mind games and said "Gimme the bad news, first."

  The admiral pulled his chair up close to Noah and addressed him in a low tone. "The Xen ambassador has lodged a formal complaint against you as a result of your altercation last night. Apparently you busted up one of his relatives and he is taking it personally. A formal inquiry has been launched to decide if you are to stand trial at a Courts Martial. If the panel decides to go forward, you will stand trial fourteen days after that."

  "Lovely," groaned Noah. "How was I supposed to tell one pug from another?" Noah got up and paced the cell. "And the ambassador? I should hit him again instead!" He started to curse but the Admiral interrupted him.

  "Yeah, do the same thing that got you busted down from admiral to captain and removed from command? That's smart," Roskan joked. "So, you didn't wait for my good news. The good news is that I can delay the inquiry for as long as thirty days."

  Noah stopped pacing and looked at Roskan. "But that just leaves me back in the same mess in a month. How does that help?"

  "Because I've pulled some strings and gotten you temporarily reassigned. How would you like to be in command again?" Roskan said letting out a slight smile.

  Noah was frozen on the spot. "Command? Of a ship? Hell, yeah!" he shouted.

  "It is good to hear that. I'll let the science team know to expect the captain of their ship to be on board in a few days. You leave for the Ankarii system in five days' time."

  "Ankarii system?!" Noah almost choked the words. "Excuse me, but what the hell is all the way out in such a remote system on the other side of the galaxy?" Noah started to mentally go through all that he knew about the Ankarii system.

  Discovered one hundred years ago by colonists looking for a new habitable world. At the time the worlds were deemed to be too barren to support a colony, so the system was marked as 'Not Suitable For Colonization'.

  "We had a NAV ship that passed through on its mission to extend our jump gate capabilities and map new systems. We have been looking to expand routes to new systems for some time now that the Xen are living amongst us. We have to find some more space to live."

  The admiral got up and faced Noah as he continued. "The ship detected an anomaly on an uninhabited planet. They sent back images of the planet's surface and our top scientists believe it to be of Xen origin. Alliance High Command wants a team to go investigate."

  "So, let someone else deal with it. Why should we go chasing after it?"

  "Because," the Admiral began in a very measured voice, "the Xen ambassador made it known that this is a high priority for the Xen. And given that all of our ships are either being retrofitted, are needed for defense, or are currently in other sectors, I don't have the luxury of too many available ships. Or competent captains. And that's where you come in."

  "Forget it, I'm not going to go dig up some pug artifacts," countered Noah.

  "They are called the Xen. You would do well to remember that, considering that part of your crew will be made of Xen."

  "You gotta be kidding me John! Are you seriously considering sending a mixed crew, that has never worked together, into a remote area of space. That's a recipe for disaster!"

  The admiral placed a hand on Noah's shoulder. He looked him squarely in the eyes. "I have faith in the captain. After all, he's the best fighter pilot and ship's captain I have ever had the pleasure of serving with. Besides, while you are away, I can use the time to diffuse the tensions with the Xen where it concerns you. Who knows? If you do a good job and bring back some holy relic, they might drop their repeated protests and you could remain in command."

  "Fine, but on one condition," Noah replied. He resented Roskan using their past service as a trump card to get him to accept the deal. It was effective, but he still didn't like it one bit.

  "Sure. What is it?"

  "O'Malley gets reinstated," Noah continued. "He gets back pay and comes to serve as my XO. I don't trust anyone else by my side if something bad goes down out there."

  At the mention of his name, O'Malley sat up. "What's this? You going somewhere?"

  Noah smacked his knee. "Nope, we are!"

  "Hold on there," Roskan intervened. "Most of this I can take care of. O'Malley will be reinstated..."

  "Don't want it," muttered O'Malley as he buried his face under his pillow. "Just let me sleep will ya?"

  Roskan continued "...he will get back pay, and be given the rank of lieutenant. But I'm afraid I can't make him your XO. You already have one."

  "Who?" asked Noah.

  "The Xen have picked a representative to go on this cruise so that they will have a member in the command structure. They feel it will make for a less stressful environment for the Xen crew members. Alliance leadership agreed. So your Executive Officer will be a Xen," the admiral added the last part while trying to hide a slight smile.

  "You gotta be fucking kidding me!"

  "Deadly serious Noah. You need to ensure that this cruise is a success
ful one. So you're going to have to learn how to play nice. Because if you screw this up, I'm going to let them tear you to shreds upon your return. You'll be drummed out of the service. Understand?"

  Noah looked down. He sighed. And then looked Roskan in the eye. "Let me think about it. Let me at least take a look at the ship you want me to command before I give you an answer. Can that be done?"

  "Guards!" yelled Roskan as he stood and looked at the door. "Release these men!"

  Two guards rushed in and with a few punches on the datapad, they unlocked the restraints on each of the prisoners' wrists.

  Noah rubbed the red skin on his wrists as the restraints clattered to the floor. He was about to say something when Roskan piped up.

  "The Titan is in the orbiting shipyards undergoing refit. You have one day to make your decision because that ship leaves port in five days. Whether you're on it or not." Roskan stood up and walked toward the door.

  "Wait, the Titan?" asked Noah. "But that's an old Dreadnought class ship. It's gotta be forty years old by now."

  "Fifty!" Roskan yelled back as he left the room.

  THE TITAN

  Year: 2564 (Alliance Year: 7), Location: Earth's Orbital Shipyards

  Noah stepped off the shuttle from Earth and breathed in the unmistakable smell of recirculated air. From experience, he knew that the almost too clean scent of the atmosphere was due to the scrubbers eliminating the carbon dioxide and other gases that were emitted from human activity and converting them to breathable air. He didn't realize how much he had missed that smell for the past ten months until this very moment.

  He watched as the bustle of humans and Xen scurried about the station going about their respective tasks for the day. Noah hadn't yet been to the part of the shipyard where retrofitting was done to old ships. Up until this point in his career, he hadn't needed to. He was used to commanding some of the most technologically advanced and powerful ships in the fleet. Now, he was not looking forward to being the captain of a bucket of rust, as O'Malley kept referring to it. He followed the signs which pointed the way to the shipyard and approached the door to the observation deck. He entered in a few keycodes and the panel scanned his retinas. The light above the door changed to green and the door slid open.