Verron_Birth of a Nation

by Douglas Varnell

  Daniel was the first to arrive inside a hive. He was surprised at first that it was totally dark inside, but quickly realized that like ants on Earth, they feel and smell their way around and light would mean very little to them. He quickly switched to enhanced life-form imaging and headed in the direction of the lightest insectoid traffic. He hadn’t gone far before his scent was detected by those along his path and one by one they began to instinctively try to kill him. While he was slicing through a few dozen blocking his path one clamped on from behind and would have easily snapped him in two if not for the body armor. He removed its head and continued on. It didn’t take long to realize that these things had to be killed. Wounding did little good; they would keep coming even with numerous severed limbs. Evidently a signal was communicated telepathically to others and soon his path to the nuclear reactors was blocked by hundreds of armed, hungry and angry bugs. A plasma ball quickly swept the long hallway clean and even blew a hole in the wall at the end of the corridor. As he raced forward, alarms began to sound. He looked through the hole in the wall and realized he was staring down at the reactor room ten floors high and filled with over a dozen reactors; much more than they had expected. Before he could release the two plasma grenades from his belt he was suddenly under-fire from a few hundred Jhxunka with laser rifles racing down the hall toward him. He threw a thermal blast at them and watched them burn. He quickly tossed both grenades into the room; heaving them as deep into the room as possible. He made his gateway back to the bridge and immediately looked out the large window to see the results of his work. He learned a valuable lesson at that moment; a chain reaction of a few dozen nuclear reactors exploding simultaneously will destroy even a ship 2000 miles wide. The amount of energy released from the center of the ship expanding outward at the speed of light and heat as hot as the surface of the sun quickly reduced the ship to a floating pile of melted rubble. Not a single Jhxunka inside had survived.

  When Katelyn stepped through her gateway she had picked her location well. Standing right in the middle of one of the Queens chambers; she was instantly surrounded by literally thousands of workers and warriors encircling their Queen. She was not a welcome sight; her first response was too simply toss her two grenades and vanish, but there were so many Jhxunka swarming after her that she did not have time to free a hand to grab even one of them. Her light sabre was slashing nonstop at an onslaught of giant creatures. There was no time to let up. She finally got her head together and caused a thermal explosion to radiate out from her body accompanied by a telekinetic surge so powerful it sent burning Jhxunka flying away for a good fifty or sixty feet. Just enough time to grab her grenades, she thought. To her amazement the Queen began to spit acidic balls of what looked almost like molten lava at her. The ones that missed and hit the surrounding workers seared through their bodies like a sharp knife through hot butter. The Queen increased her efforts when she realized they had no impact on the creature in front of her. Katelyn once again had to clear the perimeter around her of charging and shooting protectors of the Queen; she sheathed her sabre and quickly grabbed both her plasma grenades in one clean motion, pressing the ignition button with her thumbs and tossing both directly at the Queen that was so large she filled the entire room with her massive body and birthing sack. She drew her sabre and sliced through two more warriors with laser rifles and disappeared, arriving on the bridge just seconds behind Daniel. The huge explosion of the plasma grenades disintegrated the Queen and her guards and in minutes over 20 million Jhxunka fell over dead. Most were still inside her hive, but close to 10 million of them were in the middle of attacks against the Allied fleet. For the first time, the Jhxunka began to lose momentum and the Allies could see an end in sight.

  Hunter decided to try something different. He had no desire to engage the enemy unless he absolutely had to. He made his gateway directly into the reactor room. It was completely empty; the protectors of the reactors were in the halls leading to it. He quickly set a delay switch for 20 seconds and made another jump to where he hoped the Queen would be. He also landed in the middle of a few thousand Jhxunka surrounding their Queen, but already had his grenade in his hand with his thumb on the detonator switch when he entered the room. He actually handed the plasma grenade to a nearby warrior and made a gateway home. He almost bumped into Katelyn when he leaped through at the same spot she had just been standing. It didn’t take long to see the results of his work; millions more of the attacking enemy dropped dead, many crashing into the sides of the Allied ships as they spun out of control. The cosmos was filled with aimlessly floating Fighters, landers and bodies of the dead; unfortunately not all were Jhxunka. The heaviest toll was among those fighting outside the ship. Verron body armor had transponders built into them; hopefully they would help them recover those drifting away into nothingness. Paul also got lucky. He decided that if he could blow the reactors, the Queen would die anyway. He didn’t even bother looking for the Queen. He made quick work of the thousands of warriors and workers filling the corridors of the ship and wasted no time as he simply unleashed a thermal so hot it incinerated every living thing in his path and even melted the steel walls and floor. He used his sabre to cut a hole in the wall adjacent to the reactor and tossed his two grenades deep into the massive room. He made it back just in time to catch a quick glimpse of his work. His plan obviously worked. As the hive ship was torn to pieces by the nuclear blast, millions more of the attacking enemy began to drop.

  Chase thought he’d be smart and head for the area with the most thermal activity, thinking it would naturally be the location of the Queen. Imagine his shock when he stepped into the staging area for assembling the next wave of attackers. There had to be a few million Jhxunka in the area grabbing their laser rifles and heading for landing sleds. It didn’t take long for them to notice someone half their height and wearing gray body armor. He remembered his encounter with them on Molnar and really had no desire to go head-to-head with them. As one, those around Chase moved toward him. He dropped one plasma grenade right where he stood and made a jump to the reactor room. He didn’t even pause on his way through as he dropped the second one right in the middle of a dozen reactors. He hoped one was going to be enough. As he stepped onto the bridge with the others, he saw them all looking out the window. He had just noticed the floating bodies and ships when the reactors blew on his assigned ship. He now knew that one plasma grenade in the middle of a nuclear reactor room was indeed enough.

  Amber found an empty room where she had decided to exit her gateway. She saw the tail-end of several hundred thousand Jhxunka blasting through a long tunnel leading to the outside of the hive. They were still launching attacks and sending more soldiers into the battle. She only encountered a handful of guards as she headed to the reactor room. The Jhxunka had to know that some of the Queens were now dead and since this ship had no Queen to protect, all their efforts were going into replenishing the battle with more fighters. She actually found the door to the reactor room and it wasn’t even guarded or locked. She opened the door, tossed her two plasma grenades far into the reactor room and without warning a seven foot Jhxunka dropped on top of her from above, knocking her to the ground. Even with her enhanced body and body armor exoskeleton, it wasn’t easy to get out from under a half ton of bug. She didn’t want to fight, she wanted to flee; a nuke was going to go off any second. She made her gateway underneath her, and hoped she made it small enough for just her to fit through. She crashed to the floor of the Command bridge coated in a slimy dissolving acid the Jhxunka used to digest what they intend to eat. She evidently had been on the big insectoids menu. She was disappointed that she had not gotten a Queen as she saw a couple more million soldiers exiting various staging areas to join the fight. The flying debris from the exploding ship killed thousands of those closest to the ship. The rest never even looked back; they just continued to advance on the fleet.

  Camil wished she could use her shape-shifting abilities and just make herself look like one of
the Jhxunka. She knew she could even survive in an atmosphere with no oxygen, but she also knew that with a few billion giant bugs around, good body armor was the only way to go. She had ended up about 100 yards from the heavily protected Queen aboard this ship. She was the least experienced of the Dragon Guard and had only had her enhancements for a fraction of the time the other Dragon Guard had had theirs. She was about to find out if she could remember how to use The Power the way she had been taught by King Verron, Hunter and the others. As the giant-sized ants came charging down the hall, she hurled a burst of kinetic energy so hard that they went not only flying backwards down the hall, they actually were flying apart. Arms and legs were being ripped from their torsos and heads began to explode. She smiled to herself and thought, “Well, that went pretty good.” The path was now clear all the way to the Queens chamber-door. As Camil entered the room, the big girl immediately began to spit lava balls at her. She instinctively hurled a thermal ball directly into the Queens massive head and almost had her ears shattered by the blood curdling shriek of pain. Not being one to be sympathetic, the pulled the grenades from her belt and tossed them to the wailing Queen. She actually said, “See what happens when you mess with the Dragon Guard,” and stepped back to the ship, pleased with what she had done. Even more so as she witnessed several million more attacking warriors fall from the landing sleds or drift off into space from the backs of the Allied ships.

  Tala was getting frustrated. At five feet in height, she had a difficult time making quick kills on a seven foot tall opponent. She had to cut them down piece-by-piece and it took a lot more effort and required a lot more time; time that allowed even more of the creatures to close in on her. She felt like a toddler at a family reunion, all she saw were knees and hips. She knew she was in trouble when she saw so many of the Jhxunka swarming about. They were racing into the Queens chamber and racing out to join the battle or prepare more troops for battle. The Queen of this organization made all the decisions and seemed to also possess all the knowledge. It was obviously her strategy that had them smothered in a steady enclave of attackers. She finally cleared the hall by freezing the motion of 50,000 Jhxunka. It shocked her that it worked. She figured they didn’t have that much brains or ability to resist mind control. She stepped into the chamber and faced a Monstrous Queen; over 30 feet tall and several hundred feet long. There were eggs and small Jhxunka everywhere. The big Queen looked like she had a built-in flamethrower as she spewed blue flames 200 feet across the room at Tala. She immediately responded with a few well-placed fireballs of her own then removed the two grenades from her belt and tossed them forward. She didn’t realize that during her dodging blue flames and slinging her own, the freeze on the Queens protectors behind her had lost its power. Dozens of the huge creatures attacked her from behind. She drew her sabre and chopped up most of them, but two of them latched on and she couldn’t shake them. She made a gateway back to the bridge with two of the big bugs attempting to take a bite out of her legs. Tala entered the Command center screaming, “Get them off! Get them off!” dragging the bugs onto the bridge behind her. Seven light sabre’s instantly worked like a food processor, chopping the two struggling Jhxunka to pieces. It wasn’t really necessary. They would have died anyway as the next explosion killed the last Queen; the Queen Mother. In minutes there was not a single living Jhxunka alive, inside or outside their fragmented hives. The war to save Molnar was over and the Jhxunka hopefully really were extinct this time. General Zarman looked at his watch, proclaiming, “Eight hours and forty-two minutes. My, time flies when you’re having fun.”

  They spent nearly twelve more hours tracking down body armor transponders. They retrieved nearly 30,000 men who were alive and well; all drifting helplessly into the void of space wondering when their oxygen supply would run out. They also retrieved 1750 that were not alive. Most were killed by enemy ships crashing into them at tremendous speed. Altogether the Allied forces had lost three Light Destroyers and one Battle Cruiser; they were the older style and none fully manned. Paul was grieving over the senseless deaths. He knew that if they had been in the newer ships with better Verron Steel hulls and the latest in forcefield protection, they would probably be alive. The 2800 hundred casualties were pretty much spread proportionately among the Allied forces. The leaders of each group gathered in the Command Ship for a short meeting before each departed to accompany their soldiers and their dead back home. Paul made a point of acknowledging General Klrxno and his cyborg army. They had actually turned the tide of the battle that raged on the exterior of the ships. With years of experience operating in a hostile atmosphere they saved a lot of live both inside and outside the ships. Every one of the other leaders agreed, then quickly pointed out that what really changed the momentum of the battle was the Dragon Guard braving the inside of the enemy hives. They knew that those hives would have continued to dispense fresh warriors until the Allied forces ran out of ammunition or people.

  As the Verron Air Force and Marine Corp headed back through their gateway to Verron, others were excited about the victory over such huge odds. All Paul could think about was the 520 of his own men and 2300 Allies who had just lost their lives and what he could do to prevent it from happening again. He knew he had to produce more steel, more ships and develop even more effective weapons and defenses. He couldn’t appreciate the victory; he was so wrapped up in analyzing what he could have done differently and what he will do in the future. Paul squeezed his frustrated head and wiped his tears of grief for the lost men and women and began to walk through the ship telling his men and women how proud he was of them and how much he appreciated the sacrifices they have made. He continued to do the same thing as they landed back on Verron as the Marines and fliers began to drift toward home. He was thankful that they had recovered all the dead; every single man was accounted for. He almost lost it thinking about having to tell the wives and mothers and children. He and General Zarman agreed to postpone the meeting with the leaders from Earth one more day so they could personally notify the widows and orphans. The leaders of Earth would just have to wait.

  For over eight hours, nearly 450 peopled stayed glued to the monitors in the Klelta Palace conference room watching images being broadcast directly from the battle-zone light-years away. They couldn’t comprehend that real-time video was being fed into the room from the Command Ship and numerous drones hovering over the battlefield. Even Steven Spielberg could not have produced eight solid hours of a battle scene like this. Most of the political leaders from Earth were speechless, those from Verron watched anxiously as their friends and families laid their lives on the line; the Queen Mother had to leave, she had two sons, two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren in the battle. Those from Darsai were utterly terrified that anything like this even existed. High Priest Tu couldn’t stop asking questions of Yadvega as she had to explain what was going on. All he could think about was the fact that the only thing that stood between his home and a few billion flesh eating giants was Paul Verron and his Allies. The Xhondarians sat together with Master Mahala and became almost despondent that war was once again a part of their lives after so many years of peace; even more upset to know that there would be more to come. Everyone was tense as they watched billions of Jhxunka swarm all over 19,000 Allied ships. They could see no hope for the vastly outnumbers Allied forces.

  Then things began to change. King Verron had called his Dragon Guard to retreat to the safety of the Command Ship. Soon the word went out all over the communication units that King Verron and seven of the Dragon Guard were going to infiltrate the gigantic hives. One by one they watched as the moon-sized ships exploded and hundreds of millions of Jhxunka floated dead in space. They sat and discussed the war and the outcome for several more hours after it was over and came to one unanimous conclusion; Paul Verron was without a doubt the deadliest man in the Universe and they knew they needed him far more than he needed them. Presidents of the United States and France, Prime Ministers of Great Britain, Aust
ralia and Israel and the Chancellor of Germany met together that evening and discussed what they had just seen and the man who would want them to join his Allied forces. They each agreed that the Armies on Earth combined could have never achieved what King Verron and his Allies had done this day. They agreed that Earth was vastly inadequate to face a future that may include an enemy like they had seen today. Together they concluded that when they met again with Paul Verron that it would be with a different attitude. They no longer viewed him as a little King with big ambitions; they now viewed him as the one hope for Earth’s future.

  The following day was Sabbath Day on Verron; the churches were full, as Memorial Services were held in every church on the planet. Paul didn’t want to be like King David who upset his men after a great victory because he was too busy mourning the death of his son. The pastors of every denomination on Verron gave thanks to God for the great victory and gratitude that there had been a less than 1% casualty rate among the Allied forces. Then a service was held to celebrate the lives of those who were gone. Paul found out from General Zarman that 305 of the 520 men were single, with no families on Verron; over 70% of them had been in the Russian Army and joined the service of Verron after their rejuvenation; the youngest of the group was 52 the oldest 80. The Orthodox Church and their priests were very busy and Vladimir acted as the King’s personal representative at the memorial services and funerals. Paul knew he couldn’t go see all the widows and orphans in a single day; he went on television and made it clear that the families of those lost would never want for anything. He informed them that Prince Michael Verron was going to establish a Widows and Orphans Trust that would be funded well enough to provide for wives and children for as long as they live and that if any were left with heavy debt, it would all be paid. The Veterans among the visitors from Earth were impressed at what he was doing and ashamed that their governments had done so little for their Veterans. Then King Verron made the very public announcement that the same offer is extended to those from Xhondar I, Klelta, Tecalna, and Beriya-Haven who had suffered a loss. President Hensley was in a staff meeting with his people discussing how he intended to react to King Verron’s proposals, when the broadcast was aired live in their meeting room. After the announcement was made, by a very sincere and handsome King Verron himself, Chief of Staff Malone commented, “Sir, be grateful that man is not running against you for President. Hell, I’d even vote for him.” The President smiled and replied, “I probably would myself.” Those at the table chuckled and laughed in agreement, realizing that though they joked about it, deep inside they knew they would vote for a leader like Paul Verron.