The Crimson Deathbringer

by Sean Robins

“You did!” exclaimed Maada. “I am beginning to rub off on you, after all, my old friend.”

  Maada looked at the place called Canada on the map, scratched his beard and thought, I have a good feeling about this.

  Winterfell - September 9, 2048

  Kurt walked into Winterfell’s cemetery. It was quiet and peaceful, covered with grass and trees. There were several rows of brand-new white marble gravestones, with bouquets of fresh flowers in front of most of them. Kurt knew some pilots and Commandos were making unauthorized trips out of Winterfell just to bring in flowers. He didn’t mind.

  How he hated this place.

  Most of the graves there were empty. They belonged to the pilots killed in Maada’s ambush. Allen’s grave wasn’t. The Xortaags had buried him and the other members of his team in a mass grave next to Mushgaana’s previous residence. A few days ago, Kurt and a group of Commandos had exhumed the graves and brought the bodies back home, to be buried properly here. Promises made, promises kept.

  There were a few fresh flowers on Allen’s grave too. Lilly had probably brought them. Or maybe Sergei. Kurt put a couple of Molson Canadian bottles on the grave and said out loud, “It’s good to have you back home, old friend.”

  He stood there, lost in his thoughts.

  A few minutes later, Tarq joined him. “We need to talk, and for what I am about to tell you, this particular place is quite fitting.”

  “What’s going on?” asked Kurt.

  “There is no easy way to put this, so I am just going to go ahead and say it,” Tarq said. “When our people were preparing Allen for burial, they found a USB drive in his rectum.”

  Kurt opened his mouth to ask a question, thought about it for a second, and asked another question instead, “Do I even want to know?”

  Tarq, for once, managed to keep a straight face. “I am positive you do not.”

  “Too late,” said Kurt, tugging his goatee. “That image is now burned in my mind forever.”

  Tarq took his PDD out of his pocket and gave it to Kurt. “This is what we found on the USB drive.”

  Kurt looked at the screen for a couple of minutes. “Is this what I think it is?”

  “It is a holographic map of SH-1,” said Tarq. “We guess Allen had found this in Mushgaana’s mansion and took photos using his PDD. It shows the fleet base, the laser turrets, the barracks, you know, most of the things we already knew based on the information our spy ship had sent to us, but most importantly, it also shows this,” and he zoomed a section of the map.

  “What am I looking at?” Kurt asked.

  “It’s a small, invisible and undetectable force field. Similar to the one we use here, but much, much smaller. It basically protects a single building.”

  Kurt immediately got where he was going with this. “You think MFM’s controls are here?”

  Tarq, with exaggerated patience, like he was talking to an insolent child, said, “No. we think OMC-BOWS’s controls are here, and that is not all. We think the Xortaags’ interplanetary communication center and their SFD are here too. Before the Xortaags found about our bugs, we had noticed people in charge of these three always talking like they all worked in the same place.”

  Kurt considered this information for a minute. “Are you telling me if we destroy whatever’s under this force field, they can’t travel in space, can’t contact their home planet, and MFM will stop working?”

  Tarq replied, “Better. I have come up with a way to hack into OMC-BOWS if its controls are destroyed. I am telling you if we pull this off, we can control it ourselves, and use it to send any messages we like to every single human in the world.”

  This was huge. It took Kurt a couple of minutes to wrap his mind around all the possibilities this piece of information presented. “How certain are you it’s there?”

  “Very,” said Tarq. “Keeping a force field up takes a huge amount of energy, which is why they cannot be used in spaceships. There would be no reason for them to have one in SH-1 other than to protect their most vital instruments.”

  “But so far as I know, there’re no weapons that can penetrate a force field,” Kurt said. “Which is probably why the Xortaags have packed them together to begin with.”

  Tarq gave him a sideways look. “No, there are not. But I think you have forgotten whom you are talking to.”

  Winterfell - September 17, 2048

  His mind focused on the information Tarq had given him a few days ago, Kurt was playing with his food in the mess hall. He didn’t feel hungry. He didn’t notice Keiko approaching him until she sat at his table and said, “If I didn’t know any better, I might think you’re avoiding me.”

  Kurt put his fork down and looked at her. He’d been postponing this conversation. “Keiko, I’m sorry, but we can’t do this,” he said.

  Keiko’s normally stoic face became even more expressionless than usual. She gave Kurt an icy look with her blue and black eyes. “What do you mean by ‘this’?”

  “This. Us. You and me,” said Kurt. “We can’t be involved.”

  Keiko said nothing. She just tilted her head a bit and waited.

  “Everyone I’ve ever loved has died since Zheng’s coup d’état,” continued Kurt, speaking fast. “Everyone whom I get close to dies. I pick up the mantle of defending humanity against the aliens, and seven hundred million people end up dead. With the life we’re living, it could be our turn tomorrow. Look at Jim. Do you really want this to happen to you?”

  Even mentioning Jim’s name was painful.

  “I disagree,” said Keiko, after a short pause.

  Kurt sank back to his seat, trying to find something to say.

  “I used to fly kamikaze escort missions during the war,” said Keiko. “Do you think we’d sit at home like fucking losers and whine we might die the next day? We were determined to enjoy every second of life. The fact that it’s so short just makes it more precious.”

  She stood up and gave Kurt a contemptuous look. “But it’s not like I’m going to beg you to be with me. Enjoy the rest of your lonely, pathetic life.” She walked away.

  Kurt just sat there watching her go, feeling like a coward.

  Winterfell - September 18, 2048

  Tarq, Kurt, Sergei, and Matias approached Jim’s quarters. Kurt checked his through-the-wall device, said, “He’s out,” and used a key card to open the door.

  “I am not so sure gassing your best friend is such a good way to prove your friendship,” said Tarq.

  “Tomorrow would’ve been Jim and Liz’s second anniversary. If we want to do this, it’s now or never,” said Kurt. “Let’s just hope he’ll not kill us when he wakes up.”

  When they entered the room, Tarq looked at the broken man with the long, unkempt hair and matted beard lying half-naked on the floor. “I don’t think he is in good enough shape to take five steps in a straight line, let alone kill someone,” he said, grimacing.

  Matias and Sergei held Jim up and carried him out.

  “Let’s see if we can fix that,” said Kurt.

  I was sitting on the captain’s chair on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.

  Various crew members, wearing the old STO style uniforms, were busy working on computer consoles. On the display screen were three Klingon Birds of Prey and a bluish-green planet behind them. Sulu and Chekov were sitting in front of me at the helm. Scotty, deep in conversation with a redshirt, sat at his station. The familiar red alert siren wailed incessantly.

  This wasn’t a dream. It was way too vivid and real. I could feel the weight of my body on the chair, the air I was breathing and the fine texture of my golden-yellow shirt. And I wasn’t surprised at all. I really did feel I was the captain of the Enterprise.

  From behind my chair, Liz whispered in my ear, “Happy anniversary” with her sexy British accent. I turned my head a little bit, and her warm lips covered mine in a soft kiss. It was a short, delicate kiss, but it made the world fall away. I’d forgotten how good her lips felt pressed against my ow
n.

  I swiveled my seat and stared at her in amazement. She was wearing one of those red mini-skirt uniforms, which with her long legs looked even shorter than normal, and she’d done her hair the same style as Uhura. I didn’t move or say anything for a few seconds; I just sat there and stared at her. Flashing her radiant smile and playing with a curly lock, she was more beautiful than an ocean sunrise, more beautiful than the sky at night, more beautiful than – anything.

  Kurt was standing behind her, looking like Mr. Spock, with a blue shirt, pointy ears, and sharply upturned eyebrows. He waved and repeated, “Happy anniversary.”

  No goatee, thank god. A mirror-universe evil Kurt/Spock would’ve been scary.

  “Eh, what exactly is going on in here?” I said, still feeling no surprise at all. I was on the Enterprise, my wife was alive, and Kurt was Spock. It was just an ordinary day.

  “Do you see that planet on the screen?” replied Liz. “It’s XXM-150, and its population is being ravaged by a deadly plague. In two hours, all the planet’s inhabitants will be dead. We have the cure, but those Klingon ships are hell-bent on stopping us. There’s three of them and only one of us. So here’s what you’re going to do, Captain. You’ll defeat the Klingons, save the planet, and”—she kissed my lips again before finishing her sentence—”you’ll definitely get the girl.”

  “Lieutenant, this is completely inappropriate,” said Kurt, raising an eyebrow. “Fraternization with a superior officer is strictly forbidden.” Then he asked me, “What are your orders, Captain?”

  I swiveled my chair around and looked at the screen, smiling. Liz, Kurt and I fighting the Klingons to save a planet! Sunshine flooded my soul and warmed my heart.

  “Ensign Sulu, Full speed ahead. Ensign Chekov, prepare Phaser arrays and Photon Torpedoes,” I said, feeling a lightness in my chest I hadn’t experienced in a long time. “Lieutenant, you come here and sit on my lap.”

  “Your wish is my command, Captain,” said Liz. She sat on my lap and gave me another kiss.

  “So. Unprofessional,” said Kurt.

  When I opened my eyes, I found myself in my own bed. My room had been cleaned. Someone had taken out all the trash and empty bottles and changed my bed sheet and, eh, my clothes.

  I looked at Liz’s photo on my bed stand and savored the memory of the two of us on the Enterprise’s bridge, beating the Klingons. I’d immensely enjoyed every second of it. The corners of my mouth curled up in an unfamiliar movement, which soon turned into a full-blown smile. My first in several days.

  That memory could’ve been only induced by MICI. I had no idea how it’d happened. I didn’t care. I was grateful I’d seen Liz one more time.

  I stayed in bed and remembered Liz. The first time we met. The swimming competition. The trip to Cancun to celebrate our six-month anniversary, right before she moved in with me. Meeting her father for the first and last time, and how much he hated my guts, a feeling I happily reciprocated. That time she broke up with me because she thought I’d looked at another woman—I hadn’t. My proposal. Our wedding, and the look on Tarq’s face when his prank failed. The long walks on the beach during our honeymoon, hand in hand, only the two of us. Swimming in the ocean, with her on my shoulders like a kid. All the movies we watched together. The silly games we’d play. The hours we lay in bed in each other’s arms, just talking. The scent of her hair after a shower. Flying Vipers together. The million times I got lost in her eyes. The laughs we shared. The life we built together.

  Most of all, I thought about how passionately she’d made saving humanity her mission in life.

  “And all you’ve done since she died is staying in bed and drinking, like the lazy loser that you are,” said Venom.

  Why would I get out of bed? Liz was the center of my universe. With her gone, I had no reason to live.

  “‘I have no reason to live,’” Venom mimicked me. “Mr. Masculinity. You spend your life pretending to be a man, but you turn to jelly the moment you lose the woman who was supporting you. And what about the people under your command? All those people who count on you? Should you leave them all to die, just because you lost your wife?”

  I rubbed my forehead and sighed. He was right. Venom was very wise for a parasite.

  “Parasite? Parasite?” said Venom.

  Liz, who was so full of zeal and life, was gone. But the goal she believed in so much that she gave her life for was still not achieved. Her sisters were at risk. Her orphans were at risk. Would she forgive me for letting them die? Could I forgive myself? Liz might’ve been my favorite person in the universe, but I still had other people to protect. I had the feeling that though this didn’t seem to matter now, one day it would. Or else we’d all be dead, so who cared . . . and what if there was a heaven?

  I chuckled when I remembered she told me I reminded her of Peter Parker when we first met. Great power, great responsibility. Commander of the fleet and one of the best fighter pilots on the planet. Not staying in the fucking bed. It was time to get back to work.

  “Jim, get up. Get up. Make it so,” I murmured.

  “Wrong captain,” said Venom.

  I got up, showered and shaved, tried to make my long, curly hair look more respectable, and put on a uniform. I picked up my wedding ring from where Kurt had left it but hesitated to put it on. Somehow, wearing the ring when Liz wasn’t with me anymore felt wrong. I pulled a necklace chain through the ring and hung it around my neck under my shirt. In a strange way, the touch of the cold metal on my skin near my heart comforted me.

  “Welcome back, Boss,” said Cordelia.

  “No thanks to you,” I said. “You haven’t been much help.”

  “I’m an AI, not a fucking psychologist specializing in treating losers suffering from suicidal depression.”

  “One of these days…” I said.

  Lightning struck the floor five inches from my feet. I did not squeal like a little girl.

  I went to the Command Center.

  Tarq, Kurt and Keiko were there, huddling over a map and discussing something. They looked surprised to see me, but it didn’t escape my attention that Kurt and Tarq exchanged a satisfied look.

  I knew they had something to do with it!

  Keiko stood straight, gave me a salute and said, “It’s good to see you, Colonel.”

  “What have I missed?” I asked, saluting back.

  “Quite a lot, actually,” said Kurt with a twinkle in his eyes.

  My timing was, in a way, perfect. There was an important meeting in the Operation Room that evening. Tarq and Barook were there, plus Keiko, Kurt and Sergei—who was now his second-in-command—and all Commandos and pilots with the rank of lieutenant and above, which included Oksana, Joseph, and Matias.

  Tarq made his grand entrance after everyone was seated, his pipe in his mouth. He wore a hip-length blue-gray military uniform with cuffs coming to the mid-forearm and a five-button front. It was familiar, but I couldn’t remember where I’d seen it before.

  There was an embroidered eagle over the right breast pocket.

  I did a facepalm. It was a Luftwaffe uniform. That idiot! No one else seemed to notice though. I decided to do him a favor and didn’t mention his faux pas.

  Tarq brought up a holographic image of the Xortaag city. “We have prepared this based on the map of the city that Allen provided us, demonstrating unprecedented courage and initiative under fire, I must add,” he said. “We have studied the map carefully, and we believe we have a risky but viable plan.”

  “Allen sent us the map of the city, allowing us to come up with a plan to defeat the bad guys?” I asked Kurt. “How very Star Wars of him! How exactly did he send this information?”

  He looked uncomfortable and hushed me.

  “Most of you have a pretty good idea what we are up against but allow me to reiterate,” said Tarq. “The residential part of SH-1 is still under construction, but the fleet base and their defenses are fully operational, and there are around a million Xortaag living
there. While they are not particularly efficient in land warfare, they are all armed and ready to battle. Moreover, the city is surrounded by two hundred thousand human soldiers under Xortaag command, who are armed to the teeth and are supported by jet fighters, helicopters, and light armored vehicles.”

  “So in order to reach the Xortaags, we have to go through our own people,” I said.

  Tarq continued, “Their fleet, landed in a huge multi-section fleet base inside the city, is very well protected by several dozen laser turrets. After what we pulled the last time, security around the turrets is extremely tight, and there is no way we could destroy them all. Our fleet cannot get anywhere near SH-1 as long as those turrets are active. Moreover, their fleet outnumbers ours three to one, and to make things more complicated, their first wave of colonists, twenty million Xortaags accompanied by ten thousand Deathbringers, is about a month away from Earth. All Mushgaana and Maada need to do is to hold on for a month, and we are done for. To make things worse, The Xortaags have arranged for human search parties who are looking for our location. It is only a matter of time before one of them finds us.”

  “Let’s not forget Mushgaana can kill every human on the planet whenever his nasty little heart desires,” said Kurt.

  “Well, if it was an easy problem, it wouldn’t need heroes like us to fix it, right?” I said.

  That brought a chuckle from the crowd. Tarq glared at me for a second. “In short, we are significantly outgunned and outnumbered. The only advantage we have is the element of surprise. Based on a similar situation in your history, I have decided to call this operation”—he paused for theatrical effect—”Operation Z.”

  I burst into laughter. The look on most of our people’s faces was priceless. Even Keiko didn’t look amused.

  Tarq hurriedly said, “Just kidding! Seriously, I want to call it Operation Barbarossa.”