by Marcus Sloss
“This band of scurvy scum blasted our Gtower tree. We dropped it down and an alien nitrogen weapon melted it. We dropped one further back, and suddenly Fort Carson had contact with the outside world. So, when we called, Lt. Dorson answered,” Mitchell said with a smirking look.
This was a shock. “Dorson, as in our Dorson?”
“That is the one, we were never close personally and he said there could be a million Mitchells. I think he is fucking with me and just wants to talk to you, and well, you’re not you,” Mitchell said with a snicker. “Probably best to start audio only.”
“No shit high-speed. Dammit patch him through,” I ordered.
“Where is Yanger,” Dorson said in a stern tone.
“Can the shit, you wet the bed until you were eight. You played tight end, everyone knows that; but stealing your parent’s car when you were drunk is a secret. Your sister banged your college roommate when she visited and you went out for pizza. You forgot your phone and are still horrified to this day. When you went to the pool party at -”
“Whoa cowboy, okay you win. You’re my old commander. Figures you made it this far,” Dorson said with a scoff. “I was on the way to that spot on the map after the call went out. Got Leona and my parents are with me still too. Anyway we got caught up in some battle for the ages. Aliens and soldiers were smashing it out with the army kicking ass. I gave my credential, was given a company, and kept killing aliens. We never stopped fighting. I have fought insects, flying people, flying animals, there were these hybrid things that will haunt me, and I killed them all. We may have done some early rounds of pirate interrogating to find out about the Xgate. You’re not here to prosecute me. I see your official with government sanctions. Not very for the crew of you.”
“I have ninety-something of the crew left, we have had a wild ride as well that I will catch you up on later. We do a ‘for the community’ thing now. I have a base more powerful than the President and technically rule North America and soon Earth. But that is in the works,” I said with a smart ass tone.
There was an open mic held as if the holding was thinking. Dorson said, “So you’re the cavalry. Great. We have some nasty ass bugs infesting below our base and we had an assault from above we repelled yesterday, or was it the day before. Time has seemed to of blurred. We haven’t slept in weeks.”
“How many left?” I asked.
“Oh, um… I don’t know, we’re spread out and still fighting. Thousands, but I haven’t had a good count in a while. Somehow we keep taking people in even though we got no room. I was -”
The display pinged an alert. Insects were swarming from below for the Gtower we installed. Damn thing must have triggered them. Time to remove them from the equation.
“Break, break, break! All forces insert, kill any insectoid on the surface. Burrow teams prepare to get me down into the nest. Go!” I shouted over the comms.
The hundred and fourteen aircraft in our armada touched down where they could amongst the scattered debris of the base.
Troops filed out in octosuits, new mech suits, tanks, and walkers. Our assortment of aliens had grown along with our new fleet.
We had scarybears in our forces lugging heavy machine guns. They had their own units establishing a perimeter. After all this time seeing the big bears on our side made my heart swell with pride. We had reached a new level in our society with all these additions. Additional troops landed and a dozen four legged tree creatures in heavy armor rushed out of a drop-ship. They were slow, cumbersome, and exactly the kind of backbone troops an army needed.
“I am General Brillian, this is Elite leader Omoniar,” the anfrilia said and pointed to the demonix. She was giving me a very odd look that I ignored.
Mitchell cleared his throat to show me a seismic ping that was returning to the command station. What I saw made me gulp.
Shit. The XLroaches on the other edges were swarming below, eager to reach the surface. While that was happening I saw the main clump of enemy were content and not moving. It was only the outliers hungry for our blood.
Why would it be like this? When I saw a cold mass of something. I realized they were not moving because they were feasting on the dead. I had two options: fight them now or retreat. Our arrival would stir the rest of nest below eventually.
The Carson defenders and Dorson were hunkered down and I was exposed. I knew how to play this game.
“Heavy weapons on these exit points. Chain fire, intermittent volleys as they exit. Hold the surface for now,” I said indicating the tunnels the XLroaches were peeking out of. “Mounamine, get me reinforcements, all of them, actually connect me to whomever is back at the base running operations.”
“Nessi, Sir, and you’re live with Perci,” Nessi said.
“Eric?”
“Yup, I found Dorson, here in Carson, hey that kind of rhymed,” I said over the radio feeling dumb.
“They give you shit yet for going to war in a sex body?” Perci asked and I frown. The Brillian lady blushed a deep crimson on her porcelain face. Oh! “Ha, you’re realizing it now. What do you need?”
“Mining equipment, a few thousand troops, and some evac ships for ten thousand to be cautious. I would rather play it safe,” I said to Perci. My table displays updated and a screen illuminated. A second holograph generated, layering the display. The top layer showed my reinforcements on the way. Ten thousand plus. Nice. “Thanks, Perci.”
“We’re not in a rush, that body is not cheap. Nor is the orb in the recliner. I thought it was a fitting place to store it. Don’t go underground without it,” Perci said and I grunted. “Household Six out.”
I wanted to say something witty but she outed me. Crazy little minx. I turned to Mitchell.
“What the fuck? Why did you put me in a sex toy body?” I asked.
Mitchell laughed with hands up defensively. “They told me to be the General until you awoke in that body Perci had laid over there. Also, you look normal to me. Not sure what the difference is?”
I shrugged and Brillian cleared her throat.
“Your skin is silky smooth, which is the first give away. We have an extra thick outer layer the virum doesn’t repair that leads to rough skin without moisturizing. You’re tan, not ghostly white like the rest of us. And there is an enhanced bulge to your crotch. No one is that out of proportion; it’s a dead giveaway,” she said and I sighed.
“That is what they were giving me a hard time about earlier. Oh well,” I said without giving a shit. Our forces had stalled the enemy and there was a stalemate of a sort. More like the roaches would pop up and then get knocked down. When they retreated we all gave a groan. “That means there is a brain bug down below.”
“Most likely,” Brillian said. “Your strategy is sound, the foe will go deeper into the ground knowing they will be defeated. I recommend reinforcing, dropping some explosions to disorient the foe, and slaughtering those who come up. Then grab the survivors and go home.”
“I am Elite unit leader Omonair,” Omonair said. Brillian gave him a ‘no shit’ look that I agreed with because we had done introductions. “I will charge into the cave and kill the brain bug. It would be a great honor to present Daxstar with.”
“How many in your unit?” I asked.
“Seventy three,” Omonair replied.
“Granted, go forth and secure me a brain bug,” I said.
The trooper executed what I assumed was a respect gesture before fleeing out three security doors to reach the hangar bay. Both Mitchell and Brillian were flabbergasted at my move.
“Elithen, come to the table,” I ordered. The old male fairy arrived at my side. He had always been an astute observer, and fairies were bright… I could test him. “No issue if you can’t answer. Why did I send Omonair to capture a brain bug?”
“Oh, there is a factor at play only Dukes and above are privy to,” Elithen said and I waved him to return to the controls.
“Mitchell, did you visit the VirtaBox yet?” I asked.
He held hands up again as if it wasn’t his fault. “I haven’t even slept in twenty four hours. Your wedding was during my sleep time and Elifer said I couldn’t miss it, then the gates went dead, and now we’re here. I am only a few hours behind, which is nothing, but no, Cap. No virtual simulated world for me yet.”
I pointed to Brillian. “You’re a duke now, or duchess since you have four tits. You can pick which you want more for your title. Basically, I need to take some people on a one-way trip. I don’t need a demonix who managed to luck out and make it elite status. Either he has the skills and brings me a -”
“Brain bug or he dies and you get someone capable of bringing you a brain bug. Well, shit. This mission must be important,” Mitchell said.
“The mission, as in the, the mission?” Brillian asked and I nodded. “Don’t take the demonix. Well, never mind take them. They will ensure everything goes to shit, including the target, the mission, and the planet they are on.”
“They fought well in Utah,” I said with a shrug. I pointed to the screen, the elite demonix were charging head first down a tunnel. “Might as well put on a show.”
I swiped the video feed Omonair was broadcasting to the wall behind my recliner. A quick adjusting of the chair and I was able to watch Omonair in first person. Score. This should be interesting.
CHAPTER 12
Omonair’s video went into a first-person view that enveloped the whole wall. All I was missing was popcorn. I kicked my feet up ready to watch the demonix prove his worth.
At the beginning I was only able to see an extremely dark tunnel. A few tweaks to the camera setting made it so the view was clear, as if the setting was in daylight. Then the noise was ear ringing loud from what sounded like a chainsaw.
When I witnessed a chain sword carving into a pile of roaches eager to kill a demonix I understood why I heard that noise. I simply adjusted the volume to a barely audible level by using my finger in a circle on the screen.
My ass flopped back into the comfy chair. I watched a wave of energy wash over the shoulders of the elite troops. A kneeling demonic had allowed a big gunner to get an elevated shot down into the enemy.
The yellow orb melted everything in its path with a sizzling crackle. With the clog of insects boiled into a melted mess, my forces pushed forward.
There seemed to be a pattern here that Omonair was using.
Jam the enemy up, let the enemy group, and then have a big gun melt the foes. I struggled to understand why he was doing this. The problem was the big boss was allowed to attempt an escape. Which based on the massive heat signature fleeing for a local spillway I had to assume the boss was getting away. The demonix, with Omonair at the front, were actually slowing down, not speeding up.
I huffed at the sight on the wall. The little blue blobs fighting red blobs in an overview let me see more than just tunnel and basement fighting. Damn, Fort Carson had a big array of underground structures. I was also impressed by how quickly the XLroaches had burrowed a secondary base below the fort.
The death of the drones was extensive and I had to give it to the elite fighters. They were doing fantastic work at killing the enemy. The roaches were suiciding into their foe and needed to deal with the bruisers from range, something they didn’t have.
I was about to call the demonix back when they brought down a secondary drilling tool. A new hole was created behind where they held off the mass of insects. I immediately understood what Omonair was wanting to do.
I viewed disks the size of dinner plates being slung down every avenue the enemy charged down. Jarring explosions flickered my camera, when the vision cleared I saw they were collapsing the side tunnels. Additional frisbee bombs went off.
“Damn!” I said as we felt the force on the distant surface. With the main roach army trapped behind rubble the demonix forces were allowed a brief reprieve from the fighting.
Omonair was a blunt instrument, but he was smart enough to have a subspecies following him. When he turned to the ratska for a map update they knew exactly where to go.
I watched them plot out a new route over a hologram map that our seismic readings were keeping updated. Omonair trusted his helper completely. Agreeing with everything the creature said. I assessed from my over the shoulder drone view; the little ratska was correct in his assessments.
They selected a new lower tunnel. A boring machine would allow them to quickly bypass the main enemy forces.
“The enemy will get through their collapsed tunnels,” Mitchell said from my side while indicating side tunnels the drones were creating. “It appears Omonair only knows one way though, forward. I would hate to be a peon of that unit.”
Brillian scoffed, opening a separate side image. The drop down finished and the demonix army shifted down by using their wings to stop their descent. The angel general pointed at a large explosive being set with the drilling machine. “They have no intention of returning the way they came. See what I mean when I say they smash and destroy. There is little chance that the explosion does not eliminate some of their own forces.”
My toothy smile was reflected by the digital wall’s shine. The image of an anfrilia staring back at me with a wicked grin was off putting. I wondered if anyone grew accustomed to living in a synthetic body.
I glanced over my shoulder at the other angel and said, “Think of it this way. They would lose a dozen fighting that clump of roaches. Sure they may lose the entire force with this tactic if a wrong section collapses, but…” I paused to inspect the scene. One soldier was staying behind. “This might have everyone live besides that guy. I get it. Not ideal to take such a big risk, but they need to in order to keep the enemy off their backs. They have a direct path to the foe now and are facing the last challenge with more troops than they should be.”
What I said was spot on with the demonix and his forces in an under tunnel heading directly for the boss. The drones weren’t digging down to head off the advancing forces. They were pushing for where they thought the demonix were. Sure enough, when they broke through the last brave soul clogged the entrance with minor cave-ins.
When the hole widened and a second subterranean throughway opened he abandoned his position before setting off additional small explosion as his second to last resort.
“Damn, that bought them so much -”
“Dear lord,” I exclaimed, finally seeing the boss.
“Huh?” Brillian was perplexed by my stunned reaction. “Did you not know what the brain bug looked like?”
I stared in shock at an image of a thirty foot tall spider-like insect. Pincer arms cracked with lunging attempts to kill the demonix that darted around the cavern battle with their wings jetting them around.
A pincer snatched and then snapped a warrior in two.
The halves smacked into the ground as the battle went into full effect.
I barely noticed as I still studied the foe. There was no egg sack and only three eyes, but the rest held true to a spider, oh and its shell was able to withstand a barrage of yellow fire eager to consume it. The beast was sluggish at first but as the fight progress it grew quicker with desperation.
“In the movies, the brain bug is the most vulnerable creature. This thing is a monster of nightmares!” I said, shuddering at the sight.
The demonix were swarming the beast.
They crashed onto the creature, their chain sword’s teeth ripping into limbs, causing gore to fling wildly.
The fight raged and was clearly one sided. The demonix were dismantling the big alien bit by bit. The drones were trying to help their leader but Omonair kept his troops off the ground.
I watched the scene in fascination as green fluid oozed from the exposed wounds. With the damage mounting the beast collapsed, crunching drones below.
Omonair cleaved an eyeball from the corpse for a trophy to take home.
There was a wailing of disbelief from the remaining XLroaches as they felt the connection to their leader become severed. The main force had r
eached the detonation point and a sole suicidal soldier blew himself up in a torrent of energy.
I only was able to see a fraction of the damage the drones suffered before the video went out.
The heat map showed a consuming wave of energy decimating the insectoid army. Those who survived were carried forward toward the demonix. Omonair was already beyond the brain bug's body and diving into a spillway when the flames from the device’s demise reached his location. I saw a dozen demonix forced to retreat into a side path that collapsed sealing them in.
The majority of the force made it out with sixty-two demonix swimming to a rocky upslope. They ran up the hill eager to return to our forces.
“Damn,” Mitchell said in shock.
“I think you are right General Brillian, bring them, just tell them to go a different direction than the main forces. They’re very efficient and unique in their style. Elithen go pick them up,” I shouted over my shoulder to the fairy pilot.
“Aye, Sir,” he hollered back.
“Dorson,” I said, calling back my friend.
There was grumbling, yelling, and cursing coming from the background when he replied, “Damn Cap. You collapsed a passageway with a big explosion. We’re fine, a few injured. The insects stopped trying to eat us for the moment though. About fucking time.”
“Our sensors are showing there are a dozen of my forces still alive down below. They are making a last stand with no escape route left. Both sides are desperate to be the last to perish it seems,” I muttered to Dorson.
“That’s not like you to leave them behind,” Dorson said.
I already had forces arriving from Bastion. My units were burrowing deep to finish off the mess the demonix elites had created. Mclain had dropped into the tunnels with octosuits.
His infantry machines were decimating the drones in their quest to aid the surviving demonix who thought they were being left behind.
“They are getting rescued, well, we’re trying. My reinforcements are dropping in now. Tell your people to get above ground with everything they have. They are going to a safe and secure home. One with entertainment, luxury, and a return to modern life,” I said proudly.