Verron_Birth of a Nation

by Douglas Varnell

  Chase made a mental note to remember that laser-blasted or burned alive, giant man-eating spiders smell worse than a dead skunk in the middle of the road. He didn’t waste any time getting through the remainder of the narrow ravine, while keeping an eye out for additional spiders. Upon his exit he stood briefly to take in the view of the valley 2000 feet below. It was at least 5 miles across and surrounded by the same kind of mountains he was about to descend. He once again viewed his tracking device to confirm that Tala’s signal was in fact coming from the mountains on the opposite side of the valley, it was no longer moving. He quickly chose what looked like the path of least resistance down the side of the rocky slope. He was so conscientious of each step on the lose rocks that he only noticed, just before one of them fired, at least 30 armed aliens. The first round fired shattered the rock beside him the second hit him harmlessly in the shoulder as he dodged out of the way and dashed behind a much larger boulder. He immediately summoned the ship to cover him. He stepped out from behind the boulder with his hands in the air and attempting to show some sign of coming in peace. Now that he got a good look at these creatures he realized that this is where the surviving Jhxunka had escaped to. Based on the distance from where they found their ship and the speed of any escape vehicles they may have had, they probably arrived long after the last Xhondarian had explored this planet. They were not attractive creatures, especially standing over 7 feet tall and pointing some kind of energy rifle at you. Their hard shells did look like body armor and all those eyes in one head made you wonder just what they were looking at. They made high pitched shrieks at each other and began to maneuver into a position to surround him. It looked like they wanted this creature alive. He really didn’t have time for this and had no intention of playing their game. As they approached he jumped to the other side of them and quickly exploded the large boulders on either side of his path. Blocking the way for those on the other side; or at least that was the theory.

  No sooner had he begun to continue his journey than the giant insectoids scurried over the steep rock face using all six legs. He scolded himself for not realizing these bug like creatures could climb a vertical wall as easily as any roach or ant. Once in position, they began to raise their weapons again. It seemed the desire to capture him alive was only a brief thought. Without warning from the ship above Captain Dumas opened fire along the top of the rocky ridge using the 10mm Gatling Guns normally used for missile defense; in seconds there was nothing left but multiple limbs and miscellaneous body-parts. Chase walked over to take a look at one of the weapons and what remained of the Jhxunka who had used it. The weapon was Klelta sized and very heavy. It also appeared to be very old. It fired a burst of powerful energy and appeared to have a small nuclear reactor built into it to generate the energy blast. He told the Captain to send down the Marines to retrieve the weapons and if they could find one, a complete body. His concern at this point was Tala; he’d worry about the Jhxunka once he took care of finding her. Right now he just wanted to get across the valley as quickly as possible and find his little sister.

  Chase decided to waste no more time and took off at a brisk run across the sand covered valley. At this speed he was almost floating across the loose sand instead of sinking down with each step. He noticed a large sand dune in front of him and rather than run over it, he decided to simply jump over the 20 foot tall obstacle. Just as he began his leap, the entire sand dune moved quickly and he landed directly on top of a slithering 200 foot long snake. Its convulsive actions quickly threw Chase from its back and with unbelievable speed, it was coiled to strike. Chase rolled out of the way of the huge fang-filled mouth and all it tasted was a mouth full of sand. Back on his feet, Chase immediately drew his light Sabre. He had just barely activated the Sabre when the lightning quick snake was striking again. Chase made a quick jump to the left side and slashed across the snake’s monstrously large yellow eye. That did not make for a happy snake. With hisses of pain and anger it once again recoiled and struck directly at Chase, this time getting a large gash just below the right eye. Chase knew at this rate the snake would not slow down, he needed to do something with more damage. He immediately ran to the side of the snake and drove his Sabre in up to the hilt. Holding on tightly he ran towards the rear of the snake, laying open a hole the entire length of its left side. As the snake quickly recoiled to assess the damage, Chase repeated the same thing on the right side. The huge snake was spilling his insides all over the desert floor, but had not yet given up on killing his opponent. The deadly viper had slowed to a sluggish speed. Chase leaped to the top of the mammoth head and drove his Sabre into where he hoped the snake’s brain should be. He had made a lucky guess. The snake sank to the ground motionless. As he viewed the lifeless creature and walked along its length, he for the first time realized just how big this thing was; over 200 feet long and 20 to 25 feet in diameter. The double row of fangs was over six feet long. As he side stepped to avoid the mess that had spilled out onto the sand, he recognized body parts from giant spiders and even a few Jhxunka, there were a few smaller creatures with gray fur he had not seen before. Just as he was about to continue on his way, the ship arrived overhead and he heard a low whistle from the Captain and, “You told us to collect weapons and body parts. You were already through by the time we realized you were in trouble. I hope you don’t want to put this in a body bag and take it home.” Chase laughed, but he was to weary to appreciate the humor. He just wanted to find his sister.

  Tala was enjoying the little show being performed in her honor. The little Molnar people were beating out a rhythm on a hollow bone and dancing in no particular pattern or fashion, just having a good time, enjoying some kind of nasty smelling drink and eating grubs, centipedes and mushrooms. From the far side of the cavern there was a loud shout and someone sounding out an alarm, clanging on a piece of heavy metal. Everyone dropped what they were doing and raced in the direction of the excited men screaming in a frantic manner. The little mole-people scrambled around picking-up knives, spears and those tote bags Tala had seen them use before. Out of one side room rolled several wheeled carts, each being pulled by two of the men. Everyone raced off in the same direction through the largest of the cave openings. Tala carefully removed her crown and red robe and placed them on the chair that was a throne and quickly following the crowd out of the cavern and through the large tunnel. It was less than a mile later that she could see light flowing into the entrance of the cave. She almost cried at the thought of being above ground again. Then she realized that the mole-people had halted at the cave entrance. As she worked her way through the thousands of men, women and children, she knew something was scaring them. When she reached the cave entrance that looked out over the valley below, the first thing she saw was a huge bloody mess spread out across the valley floor. It was obviously a snake much like the one she had killed; this must have been the Momma or Daddy snake. She had never seen a snake so large. Then her heart leaped with joy as she spotted, walking casually up the slope toward the cave entrance, a blood covered Chase, carrying a six foot long white snake fang across his shoulder. She raced down the hill with shouts of Chase, Chase. The little people behind her began to chant, “Chase, Chase, Chase …” He looked at his little sister and asked, “What’s that all about?” Tala looked back at the terrified mole people in the cave entrance and replied, “No big deal, you get used to it after a while.” Chase continued to walk forward and at Tala’s suggestion, laid the giant fang at the Chief’s feet, saying, “I had to kill your snake. Hope you don’t mind.”

  The Chief turned and shouted something to his people and they all raced down the hill and swarmed over the dead behemoth, cutting up the meat and loading bags and carts with the skin, the meat and any bones they could carry. Chase saw them carefully remove the remains of those bodies that looked like them and respectfully burry them over to one side. Before long a few thousand more of the little people came out through the exit and joined their friends. Tala thought to herself
jokingly, “Upstaged by a giant dead snake. Being queen in vastly over rated.” The salvage work went on for hours in the hot sun, but none attempted to leave. There was a conveyor line formed as they transferred the cut up meat and other body-parts into the cave. Hours later when they were finally finished, the Chief was off to one side having a discussion with some of the others in his tribe. He looked disturbed. Soon he approached Chase and Tala and asked, “Tala help?” She wasn’t sure exactly what it was that he wanted help with until she heard shouts of terror from several of the people below who were getting the last of the snake remains. She and Chase looked down and saw the few below racing up the hill toward the cave and pointing across the valley to the mountains on the other side.

  The entire horizon was covered with giant insectoid creatures carrying long awkward looking rifles. They were also carrying huge swords and spears 12 feet long. Chase and Tala couldn’t even begin to attempt counting them; they just knew it was too many. Tala immediately commanded the ship to position itself above the cave entrance and deactivate the invisibility shield. Seeing a Destroyer with its weapons focused on them should give them pause, and hopefully discourage them completely. As they watched, more and more of the creatures began to surround the valley. Chase immediately had Lucy put in a distress call to Verron and told the Captain to send them a visual of the enemy surrounding them. Just before he finished, Tala told him, “Be sure to bring Yadvega with you when you come, and hurry!” The Jhxunka decided to test the strength of their enemy and sent a few thousand heavily armed men forward for a frontal attack. I was an obvious suicide mission to see how their enemy would respond, before they were two hundred yards into the desert the ship opened fired with one well-placed plasma cannon round. When the bright flash cleared, all that remained was a 1000 square yards of glass covering the surface of the desert where the Jhxunka once were.

  It seemed like it took forever, but in just over an hour, there were multiple loud explosions as one by one the ships from Verron burst through gateways directly above the planet. Neither Chase nor Tala had witnessed ships coming from one star system to another entering directly into the planet’s atmosphere. The sonic boom of 500 ships crashing through the sound barrier actually caused several rock slides. When it was finished, the entire valley was surrounded by Verron warships; Class X Fighters, Light Destroyers, Gljarne Class Destroyers, and in the middle the Verron Man of War almost blocking out the sky overhead. The response time and response volume was much better than the Klelta War; hopefully King Paul would be pleased. A small shuttle departed the Man of War and landed in front of the cave entrance. King Verron, Dalhia and Yadvega came down the short stairs with a smile on their face. Paul greeted the two Dragon Guard asking “Wouldn’t it be easier to just run? How did you two manage to get, what looks like several million, of those creatures mad at you?” Chase smiled and told him, “We only killed 20 or so, but they were trying to kill me first.” He then turned to Yadvega saying, “Mam, I believe we found the lost people of Jhxunka.” Yadvega smiled and replied, “It would seem you have.” Looking past Tala and Chase at the shivering mole people, Yadvega spoke in their native tongue, “It seems my friends have caused you some trouble. I am Yadvega and have been here before many years ago. We would like to help.” The Chief and those who had not fled to the confines of the cave began to chant, “Yadvega, Yadvega, Yadvega …” Tala smiled and informed her, “They seem to do that a lot. They made me queen because I looked like a woman named Molna. Then they dumped me for a snake.” Yadvega laughed and replied, “Some things never change. Did you try the centipedes, their quit delicious.” Tala nearly gaged at the thought. Yadvega then had a conversation with the chief and what seemed to be the elders of his tribe.

  After a long discussion, she returned to King Verron and the others, explaining the situation, telling him, “When Molna and I left this planet approximately 12,000 years ago, the Lyncardi were the only intelligent life form. They had no technology and limited ability to use it, so we left them in peace. The Jhxunka, or bug people, as my little friends call them, landed here sometime several thousand years later. Understand, the Lyncardi keep no calendars. The Jhxunka began to dig huge nests under the mountains and destroyed many of the grub nests and centipedes that the Lyncardi used for food. They also would eat any Lyncardi they captured. They have survived by using tunnels too small for the Jhxunka to crawl through and almost never going to the surface of the planet. The giant snake you just killed was considered a horrible monster, since it often ate the Lyncardi, but it was also considered a protector. By living in this valley, it kept the Jhxunka from coming here and entering the large cave opening to their village. Now that the snake is gone, they have come.”

  Paul consulted with Yadvega and Dalhia a few minutes and determined that no one knew a language for the Jhxunka. Chase heard the comment, and told them, “I think they communicate telepathically. When they had me surrounded I heard them making high pitched noises as if sending out commands. They move to well together not to have a way of communicating.” Paul looked to Yadvega and asked, “How many Lyncardi are there?” She turned to the Chief and asked, but he had no concept of numbers, but indicated there were three tribes, all about the same size. Tala told Paul that there seemed to be 80 to 100 thousand in this tribe, from what she could tell, but it was hard to say. Paul began to walk toward the middle of the valley alone. He reached the middle and stood, waiting to see what kind of response he got. In about twenty minutes, two of the Jhxunka walked down from the surrounding hills and stood about 20 feet away from Paul. He had never communicated with anyone but Zeus telepathically, but felt he had to at least give it a try. Soon Paul stepped forward and pointed to the ground in front of the two giant insectoids, on his command Lucy created a holographic image of their abandoned ship. She began to download information from the computer in the original Jhxunka language for them to hear and hopefully understand. When the download finished and the holograph disappeared, the two insectoids turned back to Paul. He attempted to tell them he was King Verron and would like to speak to their queen. He pointed around him at his ships above them and told them he did not want to destroy anyone, but he did need to come to an understanding before he left this planet. Apparently these creatures were much smarter than he was.

  In a few minutes he received a telepathic message from one of them, “I am Xu, commander of the Queens army. I speak for the Queen. She is protected at all times and sees no one. She hears what you say and hears what I say. She communicates with her people from where she is.” Paul thought a moment then asked, “Why do you try to kill these people?” The big bug’s response did not surprise him, when he answered, “Food.” Paul then asked, “Is there any way you can both live here in peace together?” The response from the Queen and her commander was, “We eat all things; all things are food. What you kill we eat, what you don’t kill, we kill and eat; many to feed; everything food.” Paul attempted to try one more approach, “What if we take the little furry people away to another place and let you have the whole planet to yourself?” The big guy was getting on Paul’s last nerve with his one track mind, especially after he answered, “You steel food from Jhxunka you become food for Jhxunka.” The two big guys raised their weapons and pointed them at Paul. Negotiations were over. Paul hurled a plasma ball through both creatures as General Zarman commanded his ships to open fire. Tala and Yadvega quickly rushed the terrified Lyncardi deeper into the cave. It was a wasted effort on the part of the Jhxunka as they fired at the ships above. Millions were disintegrated in moments, as the ships threw round after round of 20mm Gatling rounds, 100mm Plasma Cannon rounds and Photon torpedoes into the mountainside.

  Several to the rear of the millions of soldiers ran to the protection of the Queen. Paul realized they were not very good with their tactics of war. He had 100 Marines follow them and land at the cave entrance that housed the Queen and after fighting their way through several thousand armed and motivated defenders came to the Queens lair,
deep under the mountain. Her first instinct was to eat the strangers in front of her. The old-girl was at least ten times bigger than her soldiers and obviously ate everything they brought before her. Major Riley had his men back away and tossed two plasma bombs into the lair, then ran like he had never run before. He and his Marines were aboard the ship and behind closed doors when the blast disintegrated the entire mountain where the Queen had made her home for thousands of years. Upon her death, the other Jhxunka that remained on the planet died instantly. They lived and died as one unit.