Genesis

by Tej Pratap Singh

  It was a scene to reckon with as the Garmin’s fleet surrounded the planet with three sub ships already within the planet’s atmosphere. Just behind Garmin’s fleet, unknown to him, was the Armed Military Union’s mighty battle group with their massive gigantic ships literally inches behind the Garmin rebel vessels completely overshadowing them.

  “We have picked up disturbance in the southern hemisphere of the planet Cdr,” reported KC’s pilot officer Aarian. “Garmin’s troops are engaging some ground targets.”

  “These must be the AMU troops which Garmin is attacking,” said KC. “What is the planet’s composition?”

  “30% oxygen, it’s breathable for now! But…not for long though. Should we engage Garmin?” asked Aarian with his finger on the electron phaser, ready to fire on KC’s orders.

  “What about the inhabitants of the planet, Crona?” asked KC.

  “Cdr, this is the first time we have traveled out of the known 14 sectors of the universe. This planet is about 300 million years old. The inhabitants are a very primitive type of life form, still rapidly evolving. The most developed species are bipods, living in small cluster-like social setup. They grow food from the ground and hunt other species for a living. Their most advanced weapon system is a metal spear which they throw with limited accuracy,” replied Crona.

  “Cdr, we have picked up an AMU signature on the planet,” interrupted Aarian. “You were right, our troops are down there. And as I speak Garmin is destroying them,” announced Aarian in a worried tone. “We must counterattack Cdr.”

  “Cdr, this planet is the perfect killing ground for Garmin and his allies,” advised Akil. “We can destroy the rebel’s mother ship and trap his troops on this planet. One electron phaser will take care of the last of his troops and this planet too.”

  “Coordinates?” asked KC.

  “The battle is on at ‘2233e 3943w’,” replied Aarian.

  “Everyone will stand down till further orders,” declared KC. “Crona, lock on to the coordinates…let’s roll,” declared KC as he raised his wall and vanished from everyone’s view.

  “Cdr…Cdr,” called Akil on his comn link… There was no reply!

  “Cdr…” called Rul on the comn link.

  “Ah…! Cdr Akil,” said Aarian in a shaking voice. “Sir, my system is showing that something just left our ship!”

  “What?? Someone fired a weapon?” asked Akil shocked. “It was the Supreme Cdr’s directive not to engage the enemy. Who dared to engage?”

  “No Sir, no one fired!” replied Aarian. But something just left the ship and is heading straight down, towards the planet,” explained Aarian.

  “No... No... No… it can’t be, not again,” said Akil frightened. “Crona, locate the Cdr. Where is Cdr Kenneth?”

  “Cdr KC is not aboard the ship,” replied Crona.

  “What! Where is he?” asked Akil anxiously.

  “The Cdr just jumped towards the planet. I am directing him towards the coordinates that were provided to me by Aarian,” announced Crona.

  “He what!!” yelled Cdr Akil. “Cdr Rul dispatch five fighter escorts to the coordinates. Destroy any resistance in the Cdr’s path…”

  “Cdr Akil, I’ll advise you to stand down,” interrupted Crona. “The Supreme Cdr clearly advised not to engage the enemy. If you send the escort vessels, you will be breaking the AMU’s directives.”

  “But the Cdr is in harm’s way,” insisted Rul. “We can’t just sit here and watch!”

  “May be that’s exactly what the Cdr wants,” replied Crona.

  “How will he manage the jump Crona?” asked Aarian perplexed.

  “The Cdr is using his wall to enter the planet’s atmosphere and to free fall. He is invisible to any rebel detectors till he reaches the surface,” explained Crona.

  “What then?” asked Aarian bluntly. “He would have completely expended his wall to protect himself from the entry into the planet’s atmosphere and the slowdown at the planet’s surface. Let’s say he survives this, which by the way has never been ever tried. I doubt if it’s even possible. What will he do then?”

  “He will have his reserve wall for another 30 minutes,” replied Crona.

  “This is complete madness,” said Akil. “The Cdr is trying to save the lives of the inhabitants of the planet and the rebels in the crossfire. I wonder why he cares.”

  “Because he does,” replied Crona. “Because he believes he can… He believes that taking this risk upon him is worth saving the lives of countless beings from the decimating crossfire which would otherwise ensue. I can read his pulse and his heartbeat. It’s absolutely persistent and stable. I can see his eyes. They are absolutely focused on the ongoing battle down below. Never before have I seen such resolve in any one’s eyes. Gentlemen, the Cdr is leading from the front,” declared Crona.

  Such an action was unexpected. That too from KC. The Supreme Cdr they knew would never risk his life to save others. And what KC just did was completely out of the league. No one could understand or even begin to comprehend the sudden change in the Supreme Commander’s character. Less did they know that this was the way KC was. In his time, he had risked his life countless times in order to save his men, his command. This was the way he was. Fearless and selfless.

  KC was trying his best to maintain his composure and keep his body perfectly vertical in order to provide minimum resistance as he dashed through the planet’s atmosphere at maximum speed.

  “Cdr KC,” said Crona, “you are moving too fast. You will use up too much energy to decelerate yourself at the surface.”

  “Crona…” replied KC, “I can’t slow down now. People are dying down there, and I got to put an end to it. We have lost enough lives for a day. Had our ships entered the atmosphere, the rebels would have panicked and the battle would have raged further. Believe me - this is the only way to influence the battle from the core!”

  “Cdr, our troops at the surface are taking a heavy hammering from Garmin’s troops. I can read no more than 50 AMU signals,” alerted Aarian.

  “Only 50 troops left,” thought KC as he further clenched his arms against his body to reduce drag and increase his speed.

  KC had entered the planet’s dense atmosphere, and the heat around him due to the friction was rising. The only thing saving him from instant burning was his wall. The heat was still rising every second.

  “Crona, how much longer?” asked KC, “I am blinded out here, can’t see a thing.”

  KC was surrounded by a ball of fire moving at a tremendous speed at Mach 60. He was at the brim of its strength. His wall could crack the moment he gave up, and the second he did, KC would vaporize, such was the heat. Only thing stopping that from happening was his daunting will power keeping his wall together.

  On the Class-C battleship, everyone watched KC descending down towards the planet represented by a small red dot. The dot moved visibly from the Class-C battleship towards the planet in a straight line. Everyone watched glued to their walls and to the monitors all over the AMU battle group ships. The dot blinked synced with KC’s heartbeat. Everyone focused on the red dot as it moved showing vital statistics of KC in a small window next to it.

  “Outside temperature of the wall is 867 degree Celsius,” announced Aarian. “At this rate I am afraid the Cdr will not make it,” clarified Aarian in a concerned voice.

  “How much longer?” asked Cdr Akil.

  “It will take the Cdr three minutes to reach above the battle zone at a height of 40 thousand feet. After which, he will have to decelerate, in order to… not hit the ground at a severe speed,” concluded Crona after a brief pause.

  “What else Crona? What are you hiding?” asked Cdr Rul aboard his Class-E super gigantic battle group, command ship,

  “Why that pause?”

  “Cdr… the rebels under Garmin have cornered 50 of our troops…. Correc
tion, I only read 18 live troops now…. in a valley flanked by a high mountain chain on two flanks,” explained Crona. “I am afraid that Cdr Kenneth will not only have to slow himself down but also have to steer himself into the valley. And at the speed he is traveling, he will only have about a second or two to course correct, failing which he will either crash into the chain of mountains or overshoot the valley completely and land across the mountain chain. And as of now, he has no visibility due to the friction and the burning fire ball which has surrounded his wall. Only when he decelerates after another two minutes, I will be able to communicate this situation to him and then he will be able to do the needful.”

  “Even I can’t communicate with him now,” said Aarian who was constantly tracking the Cdr.

  By now KC could be seen from the planet as a burning ball of fire, like a meteor plummeting down. Garmin’s ship and rebel ground troops picked up KC’s movement at 80,000 ft but they ignored the movement as a meteor. KC, in the meantime, was facing the heat… literally! His wall was crushing in on him; he could feel the squeeze getting tighter every second.

  KC realized that he had been falling for over two minutes now and judging by the size of the planet and its atmospheric density he should begin his deceleration now, if he wanted to survive his surface landing. All he wanted to do now was to open his eyes enough to see what lay in front of him and to get an idea of his altitude.

  “Crona… Crona,” yelled KC, “what’s my altitude… my trajectory?”

  There was no response…

  “Crona… trajectory,” KC tried again.

  There was still no response. KC instantly knew what he had to do, or else it could prove fatal. He opened his arms and legs as wide as he could without snapping them off to increase the air resistance to lower his air-speed. With all the energy he had, he focused and pushed his wall down in a short burst of energy, which reduced his speed drastically. He opened his eyes and had a quick look below. To his horror he saw he was over the first mountain range already and about to hit the second.

  “Crona…” shouted KC loudly. “Steer me in… steer me in.”

  “Cdr I read you,” replied Crona as she steered KC onto the battle zone. “Cdr, you got to decelerate now. You are going too fast, you are now at 25,000 ft,” said Crona as KC whistled past the mountains barely missing them and followed a curved path towards the battle zone as Crona continued to steer him. KC began to feel the G-forces on him. He could feel the crush from all directions as blood left his upper body drained towards his feet, his brain barely getting any oxygen. He was slowly losing consciousness.

  “Cdr concentrate,” pleaded Akil as he could finally communicate with KC.

  There was no response from KC. The unforgiving conditions were getting the better of him. Aarian and Rul watched the red blinking dot heading towards the surface at a breathtaking speed as the dot stopped blinking all together. They watched helplessly. Staring at it!

  “20,000 ft Cdr,” said Crona in despair. Something uncharacteristic of Crona, who was just a thing! But now, Crona could feel. She had never experienced something so selfless before.

  “19,000 ft,” alerted Crona again. There was no response.

  “18,000 ft.” said Crona

  “Cdr…”

  “Crona, for the sake of the universe,” cried Rul, “stop him.”

  “I am sorry Cdr Rul,” replied Crona, “I can only steer him, stopping is up to the Cdr. I cannot location jump the Cdr in his current state of a partially depleted wall, it could prove fatal!”

  “16,000 ft,” updated Crona.

  Akil sat on his command chair with his head sinking into his chest.

  “Kenneth…” he said softly but loud enough for only KC to hear, “Don’t do this to us brother, wake up. The Union needs you.”

  “15,000 ft,” said Crona rather unfeelingly this time.

  KC was directly above the battle zone now. Burning in a magnificent ball of fire as he screeched over the area as all the ground troops looked up in admiration and confusion at the same time.

  “12,000 ft,” said Crona.

  “Union Ground Unit for ‘Battle Command’,” cracked a voice on the AMU comn link. “Union Ground Unit for ‘Battle Command’. We are only 12 survivors left. We are surrounded and need immediate evacuation. We have the peace treaty! Is that our ship in the sky, battle group?”

  “Ground unit, this is Cdr Akil. Identify yourselves,” said Akil softly, realizing the futility of the situation. “Hold steady, you represent the Armed Military Union. Hold your ground, we are coming for you.”

  “I am lead officer Jenny from the Raid & Assault Brigade, 8th group. We were ambushed in the 11th sector. We headed outside the 14th sector to protect the peace accord, it was the only way to buy time till the Union found us. Thank the universe you are here,” replied Jenny.

  “8,000 ft,” informed Crona.

  “What’s heading our way so fast?” Is it a missile?” asked Jenny as she and her troops took cover amongst the rocks, completely out of ammunition.

  “Officer Jenny, that’s the Supreme Cdr,” replied Aarian. “Do you have a visual? Is he coming too fast?

  “What is he… traveling in? He is coming down like a rock,” asked Jenny as the rebels now had overrun her position and she had got down to hand to hand combat.

  “He is free-falling from the battleship…I think he is out cold…He did so to avoid collateral damage,” explained Aarian.

  “He what!!” said Jenny zapped as she kicked two rebel soldiers, twisted the arm of the third one as she got shot in the shoulder and in the leg.

  Bravely, she headed for the fourth rebel slowly but surely, and gave him a kick on his jaw knocking him out cold.

  “6,000 ft,” said Crona.

  “Battle group, we are down to eight troops now….!” screamed Jenny as she pressed her hand against her shoulder to stop the profuse bleeding. She fell on the ground, her troops surrounding her hand to hand with the rebels. She squeezed the peace treaty between her arms and took out a knife from her shoe. And then she repeated - what KC had told her two months back!

  “Now I get it… Cdr KC… what you said that day…” said Jenny as she shouted out loud ‘THIS IS NOT THE END… IT IS JUST THE BEGINNING. To Victory and Forever.”

  The Red dot on Aarian’s display blinked. Again… and again.

  “Arm the electron phaser,” ordered Akil, “Extract our troops. Vaporize the Garmanien ships and the planet…”

  “Wait Cdr,” shouted Aarian. “Cdr KC is breathing.”

  “This is not the End, it’s just the Beginning,” whispered KC as his voice cracked across the AMU comn link.

  “3500 ft,” said Crona.

  KC pressed his wall down with every ounce of energy he was left with. “Aaah…” he shouted as he opened his wall, partially exposing him but utilising it to slow himself down.

  The rebel ground units looked up in amazement and the local inhabitants of the planet looked up in disbelief as they witnessed the brilliant colored fireball with a trail of light streaking towards them at an impossible speed.

  “What in the universe’s name is that on my battle space?” yelled Garmin at his General aboard his battleship orbiting the planet.

  “Whatever that is, it is moving very fast but doesn’t quite look like a missile though, because it’s slowing down,” replied Garmin’s General.

  Aarian and the AMU ground unit could barely hold on to their nerves as they watched KC plunging towards them. One thing, however, was achieved; the battle had stopped as everyone’s eyes were pinned up to the sky. The brilliant fireball now cut across the picturesque white clouds and headed straight for them. The rebels and the local inhabitants alike looked – eyes locked at the sky.

  Jenny opened her eyes as one of her troops shook her violently,

  “Officer Jenny, the Cdr is co
ming for us, can you believe it! The Supreme Cdr is himself coming to rescue us, get up!”

  Jenny looked up, catching the reflection of the streak of light in her green eyes. “Kenneth…” she whispered.

  “Jenny,” replied KC as he put in everything he had got and for a final time, pushed his wall down completely draining himself of his energy and his wall.

  “He is still going too fast,” reported Aarian.

  “Cdr, you will crash. You are still descending much too fast.”

  “Crona, my wall is exhausted,” shouted KC as he plunged out of control. “I am raising my reserve wall for the impact! Keep me locked on to my coordinates.”

  “Directive Cdr,” said Crona as KC raised his reserve wall again as he headed for impact.

  “Lord Garmin,” reported Garmin’s General with his hands shaking beyond control. “That is Cdr Kenneth! What do we do now? The Supreme Cdr is here, himself…! And if the Commander is here… the whole AMU Battle Command can’t be far behind!!!”

  “Where?” said Garmin checking his display. “I don’t see anything,

  “No Sir… he is down there on the planet’s surface… That ball of fire…it is the Supreme Commander,” explained the General shaking, barely able to stand now. “We are doomed! Cdr KC will surely destroy the whole planet. We are all but finished!”

  “Nonsense!!” yelled Garmin as he jumped up from his command chair and looked out of his battleship, all around. “No one is here. Look around, we are alone!”

  “Crona, move the battle group out of the stealth mode,” ordered KC seconds before hitting the surface raising a gigantic cloud of dust that drowned the whole battle area cutting out visibility completely. The whole battle group instantly moved out of stealth mode.

  All of a sudden, Garmin’s ships were surrounded by hundreds of super gigantic AMU battleships. The Class E battleship of Cdr Rul came up front, nose to nose with Garmin’s ship. Garmin’s ship looked nothing more than a speck of dirt on the AMU Super Gigantic battleship.

  “By the universe,” mumbled Garmin’s General, “we were surrounded from the beginning. The whole AMU battle group had us surrounded.” Added his general as their ship started to viberate consistently as the massive AMU Battle Ship approched them head on.