by Devin Cain
Wherever we passed the soldiers or personnel, the men and women saluted and went on with whatever they had been doing. To my satisfaction, I noticed quite a few of the natives eating in the shade or being examined by doctors and nurses. A field shower had been put up, and ten at a time were showering, using solar plating to heat the water up in the extreme heat. My heart skipped a beat at the sight of them. I’d done some bad things, but seeing our people freed and finally taken care off, even though I had no idea who or what they were, made me feel good inside.
"Have a seat, Admiral," a young woman in an officer’s dress said as she pulled a chair out from a table. She proceeded to do so for Gremory as well, and lastly for Levi. We sat down, changed back to our full human form. It sure was easier to bear in this extreme climate. The young woman brought out a tray filled with cold beverages, among which half was very cold beer. I grinned, then winked at Gremory as I snapped two of the cans for myself.
"Oh? Are you paying me back for drinking your beer? How childish," she chuckled snapping the last can. Levi remained silent as he took a cold bottle of water and gulped it halfway down, then poured the rest over her bare cleavage. I pretended not to notice and instead turned to the BC.
"Aiden, what’s the status?"
"Sir! I’ll keep talking until you want me to shut up, so whenever you want me to stop, just say so."
"Sure, hit me," I replied, gulping the first can down.
"Very well, sir. So, we’ve established a perimeter and have people out patrolling. There are twenty drones scanning five miles out, so we’ll have enough time to prepare in case they retaliate. We’ve started preparing all the gun batteries, the missile silo, and other unnecessary installations to ship them up to Devil, as well as taking samples from inside the cavern. We should hit the mother vein at any moment now.
Regarding the natives, those who didn’t want to come out have gotten food and water brought to their—village, along with medical aid, clothing, and other necessities. The rest is outside, enjoying what little we had to offer." He stopped for a moment, gulped water, and proceeded to speak again.
"Take it easy, BC. We’ve got enough time. Take another sip," I said, raising my beer to my mouth.
"Thank you, sir. It’s just that this cursed place is so extremely dry and hot," he cursed. "Anyway, regarding anything of value, we haven’t found much but for a very large stock of ammunition. It’s mostly missiles and slugs for their railguns. But we could use it on our new planet, no?"
"We sure could if we managed to adapt them. Anyway, now it’s my turn," I replied and proceeded to tell him about the Sqvardians. His eyes and mouth opened wide in shock. When I was done speaking, he finally started breathing again.
"That’s quite the feat, sir! Those things should be able to help us immensely! Just imagine their immunity in such a place as this?"
"I sure have imagined it a hundred times since hearing about them. Now, what do you think about visiting the other settlement with Levi as your translator? I’m not interested in going out into the heat any time soon now. Besides, I got some other things to take care off."
"We’ll visit them right away if Levi is alright with it."
"Ugh, not again, Admiral. I haven’t even rested my old bones yet!"
"Old bones? You’re barely an adult!"
"That doesn’t mean my bones can’t be old, no? But whatever. As long as I can get a shower and clean clothes once I’m back, sure."
"There you have it, BC. Now, can you guys leave Gremory and me along for a moment?"
"Sir," he replied nodding and motioned for his aide to leave. Levi got up and stomped out of the room, slamming the door closed behind her.
"Kids," Gremory murmured. "So, what do we need to be alone for?"
"So we can speak with Devil in private. Hey, what’s the situation?"
"What do you mean with the situation?" he asked.
"Do you really need to be told? Give me an update on everything!"
"The procedure is coming along nicely. I’ve also quarantined a part of the mothership, and we’ve begun hauling in ice and soil. It should take twelve hours until the Sqvardians can come up here."
"Good. What else?"
"The Doc is moving along well, and we’ve even had a few succeed in transforming, but what’s three against thirty?"
"Yeah, we need those squids up there. Tell her to stop until they’re up there. They agreed to work with us, so there’s no need to sacrifice more of our people."
"Will do. Regarding the three ships, we’re floating in formation over Beta. All three are finished, but we need tonnage to create the weaponry. More people are coming down to help with mining. We’ve sent some equipment usually used to drill ice, but it will do the trick since it’s energy-based. Given a day, we’ll have enough once operations start for real."
"Great job. But tell me about the engineers. I’ve heard they’re up to good stuff. Is there anyone in command over the group?"
"Yeah, Brown is. He’s a demolition expert but has a degree in engineering as well. He’s heading them."
"Oh? That’s unexpected. Tell him he can keep the post. I need smart people doing good things for us as a whole."
"Already done. He sends his regards. Anything else?"
"Give me the coordinates of the yellow-orange Gebradim.
"They’ve been sent to your tapper. Anything else?"
"Not for now, Devil. Thanks," I replied and put my hand on Gremory’s. "Are you up to go have a chat with our orange allies?"
"You don’t feel like walking, huh?"
I grinned.
"No, I don’t. And the breeze up there is quite nice compared to the extreme heat."
"Is that an order, sir?"
"Sure is."
"Can I have a shower after we’re back?"
"I don’t see why not."
"Then we have a deal, sir," she replied mischievously.
"Hey, something just crossed my mind about my powers. And since we’re already resting, why not use the time to explain some things to me?"
"Depends on what you want to ask," Gremory replied and sat upright. This was a topic we hadn’t breached yet, as it was sort of personal after all."
"When I gained control over Devil, and especially Khepri, these images started showing up. It’s like from video games. On the right, I have skill trees, you know, those things that look like family trees where you can see your great-great-grand whatever?"
"I—yes, I think I know what you’re talking about. But it might be because you’re unique, and you’re housing two Armaments. You see, for me, it’s similar to what you’re seeing, but not quite like it. There’s are all these images in my mind that show me what I can do, what I can create and call upon, what kind of firepower and defenses I have."
"That’s it, I don’t. I have skills on my right, and an image of my current configuration on my left with percentages all over my body, showing me how much damage I can take. It’s weird looking at myself like that."
"I can only imagine, but as I just said, you’re unique."
"No, I’m not. It’s the same with Levi and Samson. I think this way of forcefully merging parasites with hosts through the Fermaline liquid, or whatever it’s called, is one way of creating awakened. The information mustn’t leak, no matter the price. If others found out, a new crusade would start, and countless aliens would die in the search for Awakened."
"Since when do you care about aliens, Cain?"
"I don’t particularly, not yet at least, but can you imagine what it would do to the power balance we’ve created? We need Khavvrin to get his parasite, and once we’re done, we’re good. Whatever else we might find we’ll be using it for the loyal people, but I don’t want to just start hunting others for what they might possess."
"I know," she sighed. "I feel the same way, more or less. But what about those parasites we found in the ship that rammed us? There’s four of them, but we have no idea what they might give us. For all I know, the
y might be useless, or strong as hell."
"From what we’ve seen up until now, I doubt they’re useless. Khepri, Atlas, Nyx, Asclepius, and Hypnos down here on the queen."
"You might be right, but still," she replied. "All of this is becoming stranger by the moment, and to be honest, it all started with you."
"Oh? You want to be rid of me?" I teased, but she didn’t reply immediately.
"I don’t, but we’re in over our head, Cain. All this playing around is nice and all, but once we go back to Earth and have to explain ourselves, well, that’s something else."
"We’ll deal with it, as with everything else and pass the bridge when we come to it. Now, we have another bridge to pass. Come on, I know you don’t want to go outside any time soon, but we need to take care of this."
Twenty minutes in, we found ourselves flying very close to major campsites. Most of them held orange and yellow-colored Gebradim, while there was only a single site with a dark brown and black variant. Having no idea where to land, we kept circling until we got hailed the old-fashioned way. A group of orange’s lit a fire and waved up at us.
"And who came up with the Gebradim being idiots?" I whispered as we landed.
"I think you just did. Anyway, the situation doesn’t really feel good to me. We need to wrap this up quickly and leave."
"I agree," I said as the Gebradim approached us. To my surprise, I recognized the one at their front. The scar on his chest was vaguely familiar, though I hadn’t made anything of it last time I saw him.
"Conqueror! You are early!"
"Don’t mind me. We had a slight change of plans, Orange. Do you mind me calling you orange?"
"I—no. What does that mean?"
"Oh, nothing. I think it suits you quite well," I replied with a half-chuckle.
"Conqueror! I am blessed!" the Gebradim cried out and bowed his head deeply. "But I don’t have good news for you. The queen is stubborn. She calls us weak and useless. She doesn’t have many servants, but still too much for us to kill by ourselves."
"No worries. Tell me, what did she say?"
He let out an audible sigh before continuing.
"She says that there is no one stronger in the universe than her. She can move mountains! She can bring down space ships, and surely, she can kill humans."
"I see. So, what do you propose, Orange?"
"Conqueror, we are gathering all loyal Gebradim overnight," he said and leaned in closer, then looked around as if searching for someone who might be listening in. "We attack tomorrow when the sun is highest in the sky. Can we count on you?"
"Yes, you can," I nodded. "We’ll be there. Try to wait for us, but even if we’re late, I promise to take her out. And by the way, have you buried the Admiral and his—woman down here?"
Orange’s eyes went wide as he started nodding.
"Yes, Conqueror! Thank you for asking!"
"No problem. Now, is there anything you can tell me about tomorrow? What about these other, black Gebradim?"
"They are strong! She can’t make many of them, but they are much stronger! And there is a group of special black Gebradim that go from base to base and instill fear in all. They might be there too, that’s why we need you, Conqueror."
"Right, right. Special Gebradim, huh? Like the Admiral?"
"Yes, they are. But vicious, they don’t think, they just kill."
Now that was something I liked to hear. If there were other Armament users, that meant that there were more parasites to use. I could feel my blood boil for battle.
"Tomorrow, Orange. We will meet you in the tunnels."
"Yes, Conqueror. Where are you now? I can give you instructions," Orange asked.
"We’re here," I said, opening the map on my tapper as Gremory shifted uncomfortably, waiting for us to finish.
"I see. I know that site. We helped dig the tunnel. It leads all the way to here. It is very far, but empty, there are no Gebradim there anymore. The Queen said that the human colony was not dangerous anymore."
The way he talked, it was barely good enough to pass in a conversation, but maybe Khepri was lazy with translation, or she hadn’t caught on all our words and meanings yet.
"Very well. We will meet at the crossroad leading toward the chamber, Orange. And thank you, I’ll make sure you have good, rich land to call your own where you can live and procreate. Until tomorrow."
"Until tomorrow, Conqueror."
"Can we finally go?" Gremory asked, pulling me away from the Gebradim. "There’s a lot of commotion outside, Devil says."
"Alright, take us back to base. We need to prepare and rest before the battle."
Chapter Thirty
"Is the BC still out?" I asked as we landed next to the female officer from earlier. I glanced at her nametag. It read Janet. "Janet?"
"Sir? The BC is still out. I expect him any moment now."
"Good. Have someone prepare a small room for Gremory, Levy and me. We want to eat and drink after we’re done showering. Can you make that happen?"
"Of course, Admiral. Right away."
"I’ll put in a good word for you with the BC," I said, walking past her.
"Thank you, sir."
I flashed her a last smile as Gremory placed her hand on my arm.
"Come on, let’s have a shower. I’m hot, dirty, and tired. This heat is sapping the shit out of me."
"Then lead the way."
She remained quiet as we arrived at the shower stalls, stripped, and walked inside, so I did the same.
"Oh? I thought you’d chicken out, sir," she chuckled as I joined her.
"Then you don’t know me as well, my lady. So, what do you think about Orange and our chances? Ever fought a Queen or something similar?"
"Not really," she replied as the water sprayed our faces. "But I’ve read that only one had ever been destroyed after battalions had been decimated, and awakened badly hurt or killed."
"I—see."
"You see?"
"What else to say. If it’s that difficult, it will only mean more when we win. We’ll be the first to have killed a queen."
"You do know The Host could easily do so as well, no?"
"But they haven’t. God doesn’t let them interfere."
"Not totally," she said. "As long as it doesn’t hurt humanity as a whole, they don’t do any funny things, though destroying a rogue legion isn’t that far out."
I sighed as my arms rubbed down her back and thighs. She turned to me and put her arms around my neck.
"If we live, great, if we don’t at least we’ll go out with no regrets."
"Sir?" Janet said from outside the stall. " I’ve brought you some fresh smart-suits. They’re the new models. I’ll leave them here on a stool."
"Thank you, Janet," I called back, enjoying the cold water on my skin.
Half an hour later, we sat in the room Janet prepared for us, eating and drinking when the BC waltzed in. We were still half-naked, so he stormed out again.
"Come in, BC. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before, no?" Gremory laughed.
"Lady Death, I’m sorry. Anyway, I’ll keep this short. The moment we arrived there, a bomb went off, killing a dozen of our marines and wounding Levy. She shielded me with her body."
"Shit," I cursed. "Where is she?"
"A lander with a full unit is on their way to get her. I—couldn’t carry her any further. My body gave out."
I nodded, not even mad at the man.
"Admiral, they’ve recovered Levi," Janet said from outside the door. "They’ll be here in a couple of minutes."
"Then you were quite close, BC," I noted.
"Yes, sir. I carried her for over two hours."
"Go take a shower, and have the medics check you out, then rest. But first tell me, are there any alien survivors?"
He shook his head slowly.
"The whole site went up in flame, and it was a disaster. I have no idea how, but—the Murckisans were trying to keep us out I think, so we pushed a bit h
arder. I guess they knew there was a bomb underneath the camp."
"You couldn’t have known. Now go. And Janet, tell Levy to have a shower before she rejoins us here."
"Sir? Won’t you check up on her?" Janet asked.
"No need. She’s well enough. Devil just told me."
She sighed audibly and crossed herself before nodding.
"I will, sir. BC, please come with me."
Another hour passed before Levy joined us, looking much better than she had before, minus the scratches and burns.
"You alright?" I asked as she sat next to us on a sofa.
"Yeah, thanks. Thanks for not coming to see how I was doing."
"You’re welcome," I replied.
"You just hurt my feelings, Admiral! It’s like I was a discardable commodity to you!"
"Oh, shut it. Devil told me you were faking the injuries."
"I see. Alright then, no need for the drama," she laughed. Gremory threw an empty plastic cup at her as the two girls burst out in renewed laughter.
"But damn it, we lost good men and women today. The Gebradim are scum. I want them dead," Levy whispered once they calmed down.
"They’ll be done for tomorrow. Orange will be leading his people on an assault from one side, while we’ll be attacking from another."
"Orange? The Gebradim from the ship?" she asked curiously.
"Yeah. I reckon they’ll have a couple of thousand men. But our enemies are another breed, black and brown-skinned ones. He said they were much harder to deal with."
"Doesn’t matter. My rifle can penetrate anything it hits. So, what now?"
"You eat up, drink, and rest. We need a good night’s sleep before we move out to attack. Oh, and we’ll be doing so without the marines. I don’t want to lose too many men and women."
"If you say so," Levy replied, stuffing her face full with food."Anyway, where do I sleep? There’s only one bed here."
"Then you get to decide if you’re sleeping on the floor," I said, "Or with us on the bed."
"W-what? I’m not sleeping with—okay you got me. I’ll sleep on the bed. There’s no way in hell I’m gonna dirty my hair by sleeping down there."
"Just kidding. You got the room next door. Go have a good rest, you’ve earned it."