by Danny Brown
Still, the dropships landed, the troops poured out into the cities like swarms of hungry locust, eager to consume the flesh of the innocent. Every major city, every large port now faced a flood containing many thousands of blood hungry sociopaths, killers, rapists, and sadists. Today, the heart of the Commonwealth would be sullied. Then it would be cut out and eaten.
##
Back on the Nemesis flag bridge laid the body of Jacqueline Campo, the last of the Askirti. The last in the bloodline of the Homem royalty. As her body lay there, a passenger enacted emergency protocols. Pari, the sentient Homem Guardian class AI implanted inside of the young woman knew the situation was dire.
Immediately, the Nemesis’ emergency power experienced a drain from the flag bridge. Lightning formed, coming from power conduits to the body of Jacqueline Campo. First, there were a few bolts. Then they increased in frequency. Eventually, it became almost a continuous stream of lightning as power built in the body of fallen Askirti woman.
##
Commander Rick Amori was in Marine Country when the second missile hit. As protocol, once Condition One was announces, the marines all put on their in armor, hence were more protected than everyone else on board when the skipjacks hit. The armor not just prepared them for immediate action, but also protected them from severe injury.
“INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!” the alarms began blaring.
It was time for Rick and the two thousand marines on the Nemesis to make the enemy earn their victory. He knew the Nemesis was dead. He was aware that his life was forfeit. He and every other marine. But they would not just lay down and die. It was time to bring the fire!
On his HUD was the location of his marines, designated in green. Nemesis crew that was alive were in blue. The enemy was in red. As part of the emergency power distribution, internal sensors for just this was considered a priority higher than oxygen. The Marine Corp had pushed hard for this in navy ship design and had won. They now knew the location of everyone. They also had a few sets of lifts just for them when dressing out in powered armor. The lifts had their own power source and responded only to Federation marines.
Rick closed his eyes. I must get to Jackie! He opened his eyes, took out his tablet and worked out a battle plan with the other marine leaders.
A sudden explosion came from down the corridor.
“Marines! Move out! If it ain’t us, kill it!” Rick yelled, to a resounding chorus of shouts.
He ran with a group of soldiers, moving towards the lift as he was not on the same level as the flag bridge. There was a group of marines just ahead. They had a set of barriers, and a heavy gun on a tripod and were tearing into the enemy. Just as Rick was approaching them a large explosive went off that killed all the men at the intersection and tore into some of the surrounding structure.
“Sergeant! Rocket launcher!” Rick ordered.
The sergeant obeyed, taking the rocket launcher off his shoulders, and rapidly firing three shots down the corridor at the approaching enemy soldiers. Immediately they were blown apart, pieces of them flying in all directions.
What came behind them was disconcerting. There were more soldiers, much more.
“Sergeant, we need another way out of here.”
One of his men threw a grenade down the corridor, then they doubled back some and went into one of the rooms behind them.
“I need a way thru the other side here,” Rick said as more of an order than a question.
Two of the marines came up and started cutting through the wall. Moving into the adjacent room put them next to a separate corridor, one not blocked, but more important, lead back to the armory.
“Time to power up!” Rick yelled as they entered the section of the armory with the powered armor units. Operating a PAU on a starship was a desperate measure, but from what Rick could tell, these were desperate times. He and the twenty marines with him got into their PAUs, which could accommodate them only after taking off their unpowered armor.
“Time to bring the pain!” Rick yelled as they stormed out of the armory, and back into the thick of things.
They immediately came across a firefight where his men were losing. There were ten marines, with another fifteen dead or incapacitated. They were facing twenty plus pirates. “Were” being the operative word, because as one of the PAUs fired a plasma cannon down the corridor, their enemies were no more.
“Split up” he ordered. “Four squads. Engineering, life support, CIC. Last group, with me. We’re going to the flag bridge.” Then looking at the ten marines whose lives his men just saved, “go to the armor, power-up!”
He decided it was time for a ship-wide announcement.
“This is Commander Amori. General use of PAUs is authorized. I repeat general use of PAUs is authorized.”
The Nemesis might be dead, but her crew was not about to give up.
Chapter 25
Dennaway Star System
In orbit above the planet Wellington
Jackie was floating in the flag bridge, her body in an upright position when her eyes flew open.
“What? How?” she said nearly in a panic.
<
How?
<
Died? Funny, I don’t feel dead.
<>
Effect repairs. I feel dizzy thinking about it. What is the situation with the battle?
<
What?! What can we do? Surely there is something we can do?
<
Jackie closed her eyes and silently sobbed. History was repeating itself, she was at the center of it and unable to do anything. The pirates would destroy this fleet and claim whatever they could for themselves. They would do worse to the Commonwealth than they ever did to Earth. Wellington was a wealthy planet, much more populous than Earth. The spoils here in flesh alone…. made Jackie angry.
Her memories went to Orlando, to the last time she observed Main Street. It and other main roads were lined with crosses, thousands of people crucified and lit on fire. It seemed to be a daily routine to crucify more, the invaders seemed happier with the screams of the dying, with the scent of the dead.
She remembered Celington Field, a place dedicated to the underprivileged turned into a concentration camp. Indiscriminate murder and torture happening continuously.
Then she remembered the death of her children. Their screams as the skin was cut away on their abdomens and peeled back. A ‘penalty’ for Jackie not playing by their rules.
The pain, the suffering was all too much. She was supposed to help stop it! She was supposed to punish those with ill intent.
Deep calls unto deep, she thought, reaching down inside of herself.
<
Deep calls unto deep, I call forth the powers of the deep unto myself!
At that moment, Pari realized what she was doing. Why couldn’t he remember this stuff? So many possibilities, but he could only sit back this time and watch as Jackie used instinct alone to tap into one of the Homem royals most powerful gifts.
Let the depths give up their wealth that I shall deal out my vengeance!
##
On the planet surface, in
the city of Tyre, it was pandemonium. The fleet had been defeated, the people in panic, the rich racing for their bunkers as quickly as they could while wild pirates ran loose and murdered civilians indiscriminately, gunning down men, women, and children. The militia did what it could, but without time to mobilize, most were helpless against the invaders.
Suddenly, in the middle of the city, a great fire erupted from the ground. It was not an orange fire as one would expect, it was pure white, lacking in heat. It leaped up in an almost ghostly fashion, almost as if it was alive, reaching directly into the sky, swirling in an ever-growing column that extended tens of kilometers, then hundreds, then thousands before the bottom of the column finally left the ground, itself moving up into the atmosphere.
From the tallest buildings inside the city of Tyre, one could look in various directions and see similar sites taking place in the distance. Power, previously unknown had been summoned and raced for the heavens in obedience.
##
Charles Eikel sat in his chair on the flag bridge in the pride of his fleet, his dead dreadnought. Yes, it had emergency power, but only enough to torture him. From his chair, he could see how badly they were losing. His marines and his crew were being mowed down by the intruders. His fleet was demolished. The Federation, while they had helped to make it an actual fight, lay in ruins around his broken ships. And the savior, the one who was to deliver them from the coming darkness…. he had a live video feed from the flag bridge of the Nemesis that showed her death, he played it again and again, shaking his head in deep emotional pain. He had watched in horror as she slammed into the ceiling, then the floor, neck obviously broken, eyes dead. His hopes had been so high…a true believer.
How did it come to this? He asked himself as he unlocked the self-destruct. There was no way he would allow the Bojovník to fall to the enemy. No way. The enemy was at the door to the flag bridge, the sensors showed that clearly. They were cutting through. It was a secure blast door, but they had three teams on it…it wouldn’t be long now.
The commodore wished he could see his granddaughter again. He pulled her picture up on his tablet with a sad smile. He was glad for the little smile looking back at him in the picture he held, that gift this tiny child was. Death was all around him, the entire flag bridge was dead, minus him, but that would be rectified soon, and he would join his crewmates. Yes, he was injured, but somehow in the cruelness life offered, left alive to witness the fall of his home planet, or at least of his ship. He was unsure of the status of the main bridge, too many circuits had been broken. He had no feeds to tell him one way or another if his friend, Captain Garcia, was alive or not. He wondered if she suffered when she died. All he had was a picture of his granddaughter in one hand and the self-destruct button laying next to his other.
That’s when he glanced up and saw it. The Nemesis, it was glowing! There was something…otherworldly…happening! There appeared to be a power being drawn up from the planet itself going directly to the ship! Great white flames encircled the ship, almost hugging the contours of the broken vessel. They grew in size and intensity until it encased the entire vessel in this ghostly flame.
A few moments later, he had to turn down the brightness of the wall screen monitoring the Nemesis. It was glowing ever brighter, too brightly to view without a filter. The next thing he saw he had to rub his eyes. Surely this had to be a delusion? The broken pieces of the ship were coming back together!
Impossible! I must be running out of oxygen in here!
He checked the oxygen readings. They appeared to be within normal ranges.
His fingers ran across the touchscreen on the table before him. Another wall screen now showed a video feed from the flag bridge on the Nemesis. And what he saw made his blood run cold.
An apparition, a ghost?! Is it an angel?! No, it can’t be her!
In the middle of the flag bridge floated a figure, glowing brightly like the ship itself, surrounded by this ghostly, swirling fire.
##
On the flag bridge of the Nemesis, Jackie was the only one not unconscious or dead. She hovered in the room, bathed in fire. Her hair floated around her slowly, like it was in water. The exposed areas of skin on her face and hands revealed bright green veins, revealing the power flowing through her at that moment, her eyes were ablaze with that same power!
They came to take, but I will take them to Hell! Jackie said as she released energy into the Nemesis.
Quickly, some of the fire left her, moving at will through walls and bulkheads. She saw it. She saw it all. Her vision changed, she could suddenly multitask like never before. Her mind expanded, her concentration multiplexed as she could split her attention again, and again, and again. She controlled the fire as it chased down corridors and into rooms, hangers, storage facilities. Whenever it would find an intruder, they would receive their due reward.
I sentence you to death!
Each pirate on Nemesis received a violent death. Some burst into flames. Others were pulled apart limb from limb while others picked up their weapons and were helpless to watch as they pointed their guns at each other and pulled the trigger.
It was satisfying to her to see them die. To see the Nemesis cleared of this plague. But it was not enough. The Nemesis was crippled, unable to function, or even support life much longer.
Repair.
The ship pulled itself back together. Pieces came back together. Reactors came back online, computers started back up, debris blown clear of the ship made its way back and reattached.
As she observed the situation outside the ship, she saw how desperate it had become. She reached out to the Bojovník, fire shooting thousands of kilometers towards it.
She saw the mighty warship, broken, infested. She ordered her fire to cleanse the ship of its pests, and it obeyed! Thousands of pirates died gruesome deaths, many right in front of astonished naval personnel and marines. Then she commanded the ship to be fixed as the Nemesis had been. Quickly, the huge holes in the ship closed as the blown-out pieces of armor came back together, the cracks filling in. The ship suddenly switched off emergency power as reactors came back online along with life support, communications, engines, and weapon systems. The ship was not fixed like new, but it was battle worthy.
She reached out to the other ships in the allied fleet, seeking the invaders that resided on many on them and repeating the summoning of the cleansing fire to rid them of their infestations, and healing the ships. Sometimes, there was not enough of a ship left to fix, but within a few minutes, most of the heavy cruisers and light cruisers were operational. Half of the destroyers and corvettes lost were working again, ready for action. Shamefully, some of the fixed ships had no one left to crew them.
##
As Commodore Eikel watched what was happening, he felt something he had never felt before. Deep fear. He was physically shaking at what had been unleashed. He did not understand what was happening. It was beyond the most powerful thing he had ever witnessed or imagined.
He saw the intruders on his ship die, and how they died. He witnessed broken ship after broken ship come back together, come online, and respond on the battle network.
##
Jackie looked out, being satisfied with most of the fleet returning to fighting trim. Then she looked to the enemy, an enemy that had grown still. Then suddenly every one of the pirate ships fired everything they had! Railguns, missiles, lasers, even what few skipjacks remained!
It was all for naught. The weapons hit an impenetrable field where ever they aimed, their munitions bringing no damage. Every weapon proved useless. The pirate ships turned, now trying to flee the fleet that was defeated and was back again.
Time for my own announcement.
An audio-only message went out to the enemy.
“Pirates, you have been judged,” she announced in a harsh, inhuman voice. “You have been found…lacking…in my sight. The penalty for your sins is death. Your sentence is to be carried out immediately.”
A
t that moment, the ghostly fire that swirled about, encompassing the Nemesis, shot out from the ship towards the enemy fleet in its strange manner. It hit the lead dreadnought, peeling the armor off like one would peel the skin from a piece of fruit. Being pirates, many were not in vacuum suits and died within seconds when the ship decompressed. The ones that were wise enough to use suits burst into flames inside their shells as their executioner spared none.
While it felt good to do that, Jackie decided on a much more personal form of death for the rest of the pirates in the formation as her white fire reached out to the other pirate ships.
For some, their heads simply exploded, others burned where they stood. Wall panels came off, flying across a room, decapitating men in an instant. Some of the more unusual deaths were found later…apparently, entire groups of pirates had been stuck to the walls of corridors and rooms with pieces of metal staking them to the walls, their bodies partially burned in what appeared to be a long, drawn-out death. Yet others had sections of their skin peeled off them in what had to be a horrifying death. Among the worst deaths were the pirates found hung by their own intestines which had been ripped out of their guts, tied around their necks and fastened to the ceiling in multiple strands.
I visit on you the same deaths you visited on so many innocents back on Earth. You reap what you sow.
With the pirates on the planet, tens of thousands of them suddenly died as the fire returned down to the planet from which it came, city by city, street by street, building by building. There was no hiding from the angel of death. Some of the enemy burned inside their armor, cooked to death. Others were pulled apart. The ones in powered armor died when the armor crumbled as if it was squeezed tightly by a mighty hand. The beings inside of them greatly suffered as it was not a quick nor an easy death.
As quickly as the enemy descended onto the planet of Wellington, they were silenced in a most fearful and memorable way.
##
Rick finally reached the flag bridge, after going thru corridor after corridor, dead enemies littering the way. At the door to the flag bridge, the blast doors were closed. Outside there was a great company of pirates ripped to pieces, shredded as if by a wild animal. They had cutting tools and explosives he supposed were to be used to break through the doors. He noted their handiwork and how incomplete it was, their demise coming before they could finish the task at hand.