by Luis Robles
Deimos was a true juggernaut. As he closed the distance between him and the alien structure, only a few seconds remained on the clock.
00:00:00:15
“I can do this! I can do this!” Avenn shouted, when an electromagnetic pulse detonated on his right side, almost knocking him out of balance. The electromagnetic pulse was 20 times larger than any previously detonated on Earth. Avenn felt like an ice-cold bucket of water was poured over him. The screen flashed with a warning.
Electromagnetic Pulse Damage
The Abaddon form began to retract, and the world slowed down once again for Avenn. That was when we he saw them—the explosions of electromagnetic pulses all around. It was like a severe lightning storm, but from the ground up. He tried to slow down, but it was too late; his momentum was too great. He ran into the lightening, then another one after that, and he began to lose control. The giant screen in front of Avenn flared with warnings and signs, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Deimos became limp as Avenn passed out in the Central Control Bay. Deimos’ momentum was so great, he closed the gap between him and the building in seconds, crashing into it with tremendous force.
The path that Deimos took to the alien structure was clearly visible, marked by utter destruction.
Deimos’ armor hissed against the building as he rested on it; his core engines were unwinding, and his power was shutting down. Smoke was all over as debris continued to fall, and the alien building continued to crumble under his weight. The drones fell to the ground one by one as Deimos was shutting down.
15
The Enemy of my Enemy
Panic ran throughout the alien settlement, as this was the first time a threat had knocked on their door. The remaining alien guards were trying to keep most of the settlers calm.
They spoke through voice amplifier devices, “Please, head to the lower levels in a calm and orderly fashion. The threat has been neutralized. I repeat, the threat has been neutralized. Our great leader will address you shortly.”
The alien settlement was a cluster of buildings surrounding their Explorer class ship; the rest of the fleet lay doormat, scattered around the settlements. The alien buildings were purely functional. They were also arranged in such a way that they will easily connect with one another; many bridge-like structures connected the buildings together.
Neveran Dalnec sat in the conqueror’s chair with his head down, looking at the floor angrily, ready to kill anyone that brought him more bad news, like he had done twice already with the soldiers that lay lifeless a few feet away from his chair. The soldiers that had come into the room had failed to explain why they hadn’t detected a War Beast earlier on and not until it was at their doorstep.
Dolam ran into the room; he hesitated to speak as he saw the lifeless body of the Hackaram soldiers.
“Well, don’t just stand there! Tell me what it is. What is happening now?” Neveran said, furious.
“My lord, we’ve taken it down. It leans unmoving in the research building. The Novas were the ones that was able to take them down,” Dolam said nervously.
“What is the end damage? What do we have left?” Neveran asked.
“My lord, we... we don’t have anything left. We threw everything at it as it was getting closer. It... It was unstoppable... We’ve never seen anything like it, not even close. At the end of its approach, we couldn’t even touch it,” Dolam stuttered to explain.
“So, the humans finally did it? They finally got to us. That’s impressive for such a lowly species,” Neveran said, finally looking up and facing Dolam.
“What matters, my lord, is that we were able to take it down at the end,” Dolam said.
“Indeed, it does. I will try to calm the Hackaram,” Neveran said.
“There was an attempt by the previous inhabitants of the planet on our settlement, on this new paradise of ours. But have no fear; I am still with you. I am here, and I will do anything in my power to continue protecting my people. They are not as strong as the Hackaram, and they will never be. So settle down and return to business as usual. That is an order. Swift punishment will be brought to those who are unwilling to settle down,” Neveran said as his voice echoed throughout the settlement.
“Well said, my lord. I can repeat the message if you like,” Dolam said.
“That won’t be necessary. Start punishing those who do not listen to me. Send all the guards out... do what you have to do. But get it under control and get it under control fast,” Neveran ordered.
“Yes, sir, right away. I’ll send a word to all the guards we can spare,” Dolam said as he pulled out a screen from the floor and began typing the message.
“And the beam? Is it operational yet? You do have good news for me, right?” Neveran asked as he stood up and grabbed his spear-shaped weapon.
“Yes, my lord. We have everyone that can work on it... working on it. It should be operational soon... Maybe by the time we get to it,” Dolam said.
“Remember this date, Dolam, mark it in the history of the Hackaram,” Neveran said as he got closer to Dolam.
“Excuse me, sir?” Dolam said, swallowing.
“Did you not hear me? Remember this date, for this date will be a great one that will echo through the ages as our civilization flourishes on Earth, as this is the day that I will single-handedly save our species,” Neveran said, feeling proud.
“Yes, my lord, I will note it,” Dolam said as he hurriedly typed on the screen in front of him.
“Make sure you do a good job, as I will revise it later once it’s all said and done, once we contact our mothership,” Neveran said.
“I will do my best,” Dolam said, already sweating from his forehead.
“I need you to send Shairra to secure both sides of the research building. Don’t let anyone come in or out. Even though the thing is down, I don’t want any curious eyes on it. Then, you will go to the beam and make sure it’s finished; it will be your head if not. This ends today, one way or another,” Neveran said as he stepped out of the room. “Inform the engineers that I will be going up to the beam shortly, and I expect it to be ready and fully functional. We will be calling our mothership.”
Neveran had only one place to visit; he could think of only one being responsible for putting the War Beast at his doorstep. He went down to the container where Rendeleor was being held.
“Outstanding, simply outstanding. I have no idea how you did what you did, but you got us good. Congratulations, you have succeeded. The War Beast you invited into our home is here now,” Neveran said, clapping lazily.
Rendeleor was filled with anger, with pain and anguish for his kin. He just stared at Neveran, waiting for what he would say next.
“But I’ll just have to break it to you. You didn’t succeed that much. We were able to take out that War Beast. It was a tough one, the toughest one we’ve ever faced. Maybe because our technology is getting old, or maybe it was because we weren’t prepared. But such things don’t matter. The point is that your plan stops here. The War Beast wasn’t strong enough to take us down,” Neveran said, glaring at Rendeleor, tightening his grip on his spear.
“You are sick in the head. But I’ll make sure to tell you only at least once,” Rendeleor paused and made sure that Neveran had his absolute attention. “First, let all the Hackaram who wants to leave, leave. Second, destroy the beam and let the engineers go. Third, you and whoever is stupid enough to keep on following you, stand down; let us leave in peace. This is your only chance. Take it, or I will bring you hell. I promise you that you will regret not taking this offer,” Rendeleor said, scowling.
Neveran laughed, at first slowly, and then it was a laugh that he couldn’t contain. “You will what?” he said in between laughs. “Thank you for that. I haven’t had a good laugh for over 100 years,” Neveran said, wiping tears from his eyes.
“Have it your way,” Rendeleor said.
“See… You’re the one that is going to listen to me. I’ll tell you e
xactly what’s going to happen. This doorjamb of yours has already been fixed. The guards are going to come down and open this door and take you to the beam room. Once you’re there, you will be the one to call the very beings you have been running away from—you will call our mothership. Once you make the call, as son of the elder, I will personally take care of you. Your days of plotting against our kind are over,” Neveran said as he began to walk away. “Guards, come and get this piece of trash, and take him to the beam room. Be careful, he might try something funny.”
Six guards came down to the container to get Rendeleor, each of them were sweating and nervous, as they knew that he was not just any Hackaram. They had all heard the rumors of what Rendeleor was able to do, so they proceeded with extreme caution.
Veridiam and Narendeo had their hands full on the other side of the alien settlement, doing the most they could to help Rendeleor and the War Beast. They had a makeshift command center, with over 30 screens opened in front of them, giving them different information from different places of the settlement.
“Have you been able to get in contact with them? What about the doors? Are those locked? Make sure that they are not able to open them from the outside,” Veridiam said.
“I haven’t been able to contact the War Beast; its system appears to be completely off-line. It will take them some time before they can get their system back online. The doors are locked. Those suckers are sealed... they won’t be able to open them from the outside no matter what they try,” Narendeo replied.
“What about the beam? Is there any way we can continue blocking it?” Veridiam asked.
“No. I’m afraid not. They have completely isolated the beam to any network in the settlement. For a second or two, I thought they were on to us, but that does not appear to be the case. They are fooling themselves,” Narendeo said.
“Dammit. I have about thirty soldiers heading that way. The rest are busy with the population growing uneasy, but we need to do more. We need to spread out soldiers more. More importantly, we need to make sure that nothing happens to Rendeleor. We need cameras on him at all times,” Veridiam said hurriedly.
“I have eyes on Rendeleor. They are taking him out from the containers. Six guards are with him. I’ll send out a word to our partners below that we need a distraction,” Narendeo said as he opened a small communication box to one of their own.
“Yes, sir. It’s chaos down here.”
“Najarak, my friend, listen to me. We need a big distraction as furthest away from the research building as possible. It is of utmost importance,” Narendeo said.
“Yes, I think I can help with that. I have just the thing in mind,” Najarak said as he closed the communication box.
Moments later, Najarak went up to an alien guard in the western side of the settlement and punched him square in the face while yelling, “We don’t want war anymore. Give us back our lives!”
Others who were part of Najarak’s team joined the fight, and soon many of the Hackaram settlers joined the ruckus as well, causing an uprising. The settlers needed that; they wanted that, and now was the time to let their centuries-old anger out.
The distraction worked, causing fifteen of the thirty soldiers supposedly heading to the research building to turn back and head the other way.
“Prep the secondary Carrier ship and initiate the flare protocol. The rest is up to Rendeleor,” Veridiam said as she opened yet another screen pane in front of her.
The communication beam was fully operational by the time Neveran entered the room and praised Dolam and the engineers for it. He thought several times about him being the one to call the mothership. But no, it wouldn’t be him; he, above everyone else, wanted to make Rendeleor suffer. He wanted him to suffer as a traitor to his own kin; he wanted to see the face of agony that Rendeleor would have upon calling the mothership. He stayed far away from the beam as he could to reduce temptation.
“Ah, Rendeleor Palac, it’s so nice of you to finally join us. I’m glad that you will fulfill your duties as a Palac and call our beloved mothership. Your communication beam is ready. Tell them that we have a planet ready for them,” Neveran said, grinning as he gripped his spear.
“You know that the elders will have your head for calling them into an inhabited planet, right? My father broke the prime directive and invaded a planet filled with intelligent life. There is no way that they will agree with the genocide you’ve committed alongside my father,” Rendeleor said with spite.
“The elders will not do such thing; instead, they will be at my knees, thanking me for having saved the Hackaram from extinction. Can’t you see? Our kin is dying; we have no place among the stars. This miserable planet is the last thing we have left; it’s our only chance. Plus, I am only following your father’s orders. If anything, the elders will have yours and your families’ head, and then we will finish what we started. They will covet this finding, and we will rise from the threshold of extinction as the great civilization we once were.”
16
For Humanity
As Deimos came to a complete stop, the gel-like substance inside the drone cockpits began to deflate, and the cockpit hatch opened, revealing a dark and quiet room.
“Is everyone all right?” Arnold managed.
A barf was heard from within one of the cockpits. Despite the advance anti g-mechanisms that kept the cockpits in place throughout heavy combat, the forces exerted by Deimos while in Abaddon mode were too much for the human body to handle. Every one of the drone pilots tried to hold their guts in but failed one after another.
“What the hell happened?” Clint asked.
“Last I saw was a warning on my screen. I couldn’t make out what it was... It happened too fast,” Arnold said.
“It said Abaddon mode,” Kenya managed, trying not to throw up once again.
“I think that’s the last of it,” Jordan finally said as he finished barfing out whatever little food he had eaten.
As the crew made their way out of their cockpits, red lights started to flash, and flood lights came on.
“That must be the emergency power,” Jordan said.
“Avenn, can you hear me? Iris, are you there?” Arnold asked aloud.
Nothing happened; no one was on the other side to answer him.
“We have to figure out what’s going on, and we have to figure out a way out of here fast. As far as we all know, we are in deep trouble being in enemy’s territory. Jordan, I want you working on that door. The rest of us will try to turn something on or find something useful. There has to be something...” Arnold said.
Jordan went to work right away at the door, trying to find a way to open it manually. The others looked for anything that they might have missed the first time they came in to the room, anything that might hold supplies, or a way out of the room.
Jordan pressed on a square next to the door that opened and revealed a large crank handle. He tried to rotate the crank handle either way, but it wouldn’t move at all. The shape of the handle also looked incomplete, looked as if something was missing. As he worked with the unfamiliar technology, he hoped that whatever he would do would not cost him his fingers.
On the other side of the room, the other three were scrambling, touching walls and sweeping the floor with their hands, trying to find any compartment. They found several but nothing that could be of use for them. It wasn’t until Clint yelled that their crushing hope began to rise once more.
“I found something! I’m going to need help with it to take it out,” Clint said.
Without skipping a beat, Kenya and Arnold went to help him.
The box was heavy and large, larger than any one of them. But it was exactly what they needed; it was a survival box, filled to the brim with tablets, flashlights, batteries, medication, multipurpose tools, nonperishable food, anti-radiation suits, and much more. They had hit the jackpot.
“What are these things? Someone give me a light,” Arnold asked as he reached for one of the fifteen ta
blets at the center of the survival box.
Arnold tried to press all the buttons on the tablet, but nothing happened; the thing was good as a brick. Out of frustration, he grabbed the tablet and shook it as hard as he could. Then, he felt something inside of it; an object slid back and forth, so he shook it more. Within seconds, the tablet began to light up. A multitude of lines intersecting appeared in the screen, along with an orange dot on the center. Arnold didn’t know what to make of it, so he showed it to the others.
“That’s a map!” Kenya blurted out the moment she saw it.
Arnold handed the tablet out to Kenya. She took it without hesitation and began to navigate through it instinctively; she was within her comfort zone.
“It’s a detailed map of Deimos, and it’s letting us know our exact location,” Kenya said as she continued to examine the tablet.
“Find out what is the fastest way to get to where Avenn is located. That’s where we are going first. After that, try to find any weapon room or anything that could be useful to us. We can’t be empty-handed like this. For all we know, we are already being surrounded at this very minute,” Arnold said, and Kenya nodded.
“Jordan, get over here. Is there anything you see here that can help us with the door?” Arnold said as he grabbed one of the flashlights to light up the survival box.