United We Stand

by Christian Messe

  Claire stood up, next to the Queen, her mind linked to hers. She held the Queen’s hand, and her Meta-Core expanded into two rectangular metal beams. They aimed them sideways. They were making a giant Tesla cannon. Support beams smashed into the marble and planted themselves. The weapon started to charge, electricity sparking and whizzing everywhere. They aimed towards the closest Jupitain warship in the sky and fired.

  Zoooouuuum… boooooooom! The energy streaked through the sky, making a quick sonic boom sound at the speed of light before colliding with the nearest Jupitain warship’s bridge. It exploded, and the electricity made a chain, blowing through every ship nearby, until the energy whizzed through the gate, destroying every ship in the entire Jupitain fleet, and some of the Lore’s. The power from the Gold matter and the two Meta-Cores connected to each other made the energy so strong that the electricity blew entirely through the Jupitain’s shields, and destroyed every single warship. Every. Last. One. The entire fleet surrounding the Lore, was gone.

  The mind-link disconnected after the Gold matter ran out. Claire fell over completely, while the Queen bent over, holding her head. Claire’s wounds seemed to of been, sort of sewn by the Gold matter.

  “W-what just happened…” Claire grunted, while trying to get back to her feet, “What happened?” She tried to keep her balance, but she was dazed. She couldn’t comprehend what she had just done. Her ears were ringing.

  There was a stunned pause, and then the entire Lore erupted in cheers. Citizens flooded out of the gate and started to hug and thank the dazed and confused Claire.

  The Queen let out a heavy breath of relief and sat down on the steps, exhausted, and frowning. She looked distressed, while she gazed at the ruins of the outer city. The soldiers and citizens celebrated and hugged each other. Aliens of all kinds celebrated and embraced each other with pure joy.

  The Lore still looked, horrific. Skyscrapers had collapsed. Giant fires were still covering some of the streets and destroyed buildings. Ruins of both side’s ships were scattered across the once beautiful city.

  Claire sat next to the Queen, and after a short pause, looked at her, “H-how did you save me?” She asked.

  “I used the last amount of Gold matter I had left from my inauguration, as ruler of the Lore. I told you it was rare, and powerful,” She replied.

  “Yeah, no kidding…” Claire said while rubbing her head, still stunned, “We did it huh? We really did it.”

  “That wasn’t even the entire fleet,” The Queen sighed, “They’ve ruled over the Galaxy for too long, two-thousand warships aren’t all they had. She looked back at Claire, and stood up, “And sadly, we won’t be able to make another kind of attack like that again… that was the last ounce of pure Gold matter I had left… I don’t know how we’re going to defend against another attack again.”

  Claire stood up, “You won’t have to. We’ll bring the fight to them, there has to be some group out there that can help us.”

  “As far as I know, and as far as the Lore has explored, deep in the universe, no civilization out there has advanced enough technology to fight the Demons… the Ghourse are strong, and plentiful, but not strong enough to defeat them, and their allies aren’t powerful enough either. If we had lost today, they would’ve been overcome in a matter of months…”

  Claire kicked the ground, “There’s no way you’ve been protecting the rest of the universe without some kind of payment back, they owe you,” Claire said, “Look around, your fleet is crippled, probably only have a dozen fighters left, you haven’t been defending nothing, we need to go out there for help!”

  The Queen grabbed Claire’s hand, sternly, “Follow me,” She whispered.

  She led her into the same tent they had been in before the Jupitain’s second attack.

  “The reason some people leave there and come here is because they want a sanctuary from out there as well.”

  “Wait, what? What’s out there then?”

  “Well, not nearly as bad as the Demons, but still uncivil. Pirates, savages, slave traders, abductors… the list goes on. We never truly fought the Jupitains because we were trying to create, a sort of order out there, making colonies if you will. Talon, the successor of King Magriguard, started to conquer planets throughout nearby Galaxies, but he got too greedy, started invading worlds he didn’t need to. The Ghourse and their allies took notice, and led a surprise attack on the Lore’s territories, killing Talon in the process, and giving the Lore a bad reputation. I was sworn in afterward and recalled all of our remaining forces back here, and to this day we remain, protecting the edge of the Galaxy like a wall, the other side of the Galaxy leads to… well, nothing as far as modern scanners can see.”

  “So… the people you're trying to protect, hate you because your former boss tried to imperialize the universe?”

  “That’s-somewhat correct,” The Queen reasoned, “The Nova-Alliance’s dying wish was for us to defend the rest of existence, and not risk anything to help the rest of the Galaxy.”

  “Well that can’t matter now, if the Lore dies, they die, and we have to tell them that! Since this attack failed, who knows what Karalus has planned next? Once he loses power, the Jupitains will start to kill relentlessly again.”

  “I know, I know,” The Queen sighed, “If you weren’t a war hero my commanders would’ve tried to execute you for me revealing all of this to you. I-I know someone, it’s shifty, but… It might work.”

  “What might work? What are you talking about?” Claire asked.

  “There’s a man who can help us get ships, enough to mount a major offensive against Karalus, they’re not strong enough to face his fleet head-on, but, a sneak attack could prove very effective…”

  “Alright, alright, so… how does this guy have so many ships? Armed ships anyway.”

  “He’s a… trader.”

  “What kind of trader?”

  The Queen paused, awkwardly, “He’s… an Intergalactic drug dealer.”

  CHAPTER 15

  “This isn’t what we agreed on,” The technician growled.

  “Oh, I know that,” Karalus sneered, “But it’s the only option I’m giving you, you’re not exactly in the position to make choices here,” Six Jupitains stood by Karalus, along with Imp. They stood there menacingly, in case the dealer didn’t live up to his part of the bargain.

  The technician sighed, “So if I give you this cache, you’ll spare my crew?” He asked, almost begging.

  “You have my word,” Karalus smirked.

  He hesitated, but after a few seconds complied with Karalus’s demands. He typed in a few symbols on a keypad attached to his arm, and a heavily fortified metal vault door slid open, revealing a medium sized crate.

  Karalus gestured for a Jupitain to check it out. It complied and walked towards the vault without hesitation. It flicked both the locks open and opened the crate. Inside, was a small, high tech, complicated looking tube.

  Karalus clapped once, with fake enthusiasm, but his smirk was pure evil. “Dareious, you’ve done it again!” Karalus glanced back at one of the Jupitains, “Let’s give the man what he asked for. Open hallway latch 9B.”

  The Jupitain’s visor turned green, and a few meters away at the Jupitain’s warship docked next to the dealer’s, a compartment door flew open, and two dozen people were sucked into the vacuum of space.

  “Nooo!” The technician lunged at Karalus, but Imp pulled out a laser pistol and shot him between the eyes. He fell to the ground; arm stretched towards Karalus, dead. Imp lowered the gun, the barrel steaming.

  “That went well, we got him to open the door, and it didn’t cost a thing,” Karalus chuckled at his cruel logic, “You two, bring that crate to the main hangar. I want the construction on my reactor finished, pronto!”

  One of the Jupitains walked towards the one that was already there, and they carried it into the dock connecting the dealer, and the Jupitain ships.

  Imp watched them walk by, then looked at Karalus, �
�What is that?” He asked.

  Karalus looked up at him, bored, “That, my Martian mistake, is a Tesla Amplifier, and since I don’t have any Meta-Gene carriers or Photon cannons just lying around, I’m going to copy what the Lore did to my fleet, with the next best thing…” He sighed, thinking for a second, “The Lore wasn’t completely destroyed, and that’s fine, I only needed their fleet eradicated anyway, and now that it is well, I can move on... with Objective Overload,” He shoved past Imp, and walked through the airlock to his ship, without looking back.

  “You were in Vietnam?” Mark asked, astonished.

  Douglas snorted, “Boy, I’m this deep in the Galaxy, and you’re asking me about a war that happened eighty years ago?” How about all of my battles, hopping from one rebel setup to the next, tracked by Demons every time, only to repeat the same process over and over, attack, fail, run, repeat.”

  Mark gulped, “Oh. My bad.”

  Mark, James, and Douglas were walking through the primitive settlement. Houses were built into the tall jungle trees, made of thin vines, and sticks. The inhabitants were going about their everyday activities, cooking wild animals above a fire, crafting together weapons and tools.

  Douglas sighed, changing the subject, “So, you call the Demons Jupitains? Why? Last I checked those bastards didn’t come from anywhere near Jupiter.”

  “That’s just where satellites first scanned the Jupitain fleet coming towards Earth. It made it seem like they came from there,” Mark replied.

  “Welp, they were lying then,” Douglas said simply.

  “Lying, what do you mean by that?” Mark asked.

  “The governments… the Soviets, Chinese… whoever the hell had advanced tech back then, even in my day satellites would’ve spotted a fleet that big before it entered the Solar System,” Douglas grunted, like it was obvious.

  “That doesn’t make any sense, w-what reason would any government have to lie about an alien invasion?” James asked, in disbelief.

  Douglas stopped walking abruptly, making Mark almost bump into him. Douglas turned around, “What are you, stupid or somethin? Them’ higher powers woulda’ had every reason to lie. Imagine the newspaper headline, New York Times, alien ships spotted by the planet Pluto, one week until arrival. It would be anarchy! What? You think people are just gonna calmly sit down together, get in a lil’ circle and start praying? They’d rip each other of everything, all trying to survive for themselves, shootings on the streets, looting, fires everywhere. By the time them’ Demons would arrive half the world would be dead already.”

  “Pluto isn’t a planet,” Mark blurted, sarcastic toned.

  Douglas shot him a menacing look, “Don’t toy with me boy, just remember this lil’ fact, stupid people outnumber pure people ten to one… always, so if you think mankind would’ve toughened up, and took on the impending doom with balls, your dead wrong.”

  “Alright alright, off topic,” Mark said, “You said that you could help us get off this planet, so how?”

  “Why do you think we’re walking boy?” Douglas asked.

  The three of them stopped at the edge of the village and left through the gate. They followed a faded dirt road until they reached a cave entrance.

  “There a ship in there?” James asked sarcastically.

  “Better,” Douglas said.

  The entire cave was outfitted in ruined alien tech. Sleek-crusted black metal walls covered some of the cave’s exterior, while other parts were destroyed and had moss growing out of it. Mark looked up to see an ancient-looking laser cannon perched on the roof of the facility. It was tilted down, broken beyond repair like it was hit by something. The entire weapon was covered in rust and moss.

  “What is this place?” James asked.

  Douglas walked over to a metal security door in the center of the cave entrance, entered some symbols into a nearby keypad, and the door opened. He walked in and gestured for James and Mark to follow.

  “This place,” Douglas started, finally, “Was, a Fallen Empire bunker, stored a lot of weapons and tech for their rampage across the Galaxy. Place was put down by the Lore centuries ago, but, the guns in here still work.”

  “What was the Fallen Empire?” James asked.

  “I dunno, heard stories from a few rebels… back when there were rebels. Said that a Meta-Gene went rogue, decided to use his power for evil, tried to take over the entire Galaxy, but even a Meta-Gene can’t take on the Lore.”

  “That reminds me,” Mark said, “In the note I read, that told me where you were, it was to a guy named Daphor… who’s he?”

  Douglas sighed, “One of my friends during the rebellion, I ditched when I found out the Demons invaded the Nova-Alliance, an incredibly powerful, advanced… honorable race. They used medieval like tactics, but don’t let that fool you, they were one of the most advanced civilizations to ever exist in the Galaxy… They built an empire, dedicated to peace and prosperity. The Demons completely destroyed them, with a fleet of over one-hundred thousand warships. I knew everything was hopeless after that, but he stayed, said we still had a chance. He was a good man, but an idiot… It’s funny though, If the Lore had helped even a little bit, during some of our operations, we might have been able to destroy those monsters, for good.”

  “So, the Lore could’ve helped the Galaxy at any time, but didn’t?” Mark asked loudly, “If they didn’t help you guys with the Jupitains, why’d they help take out this, Fallen Empire?”

  James gulped.

  “Demons are different. They’re not like all of those tyrants, and dictators that have come and gone.”

  Mark looked like he was about to argue more, but James butted in, “So you were talking about weapons… why do we need those exactly?”

  Douglas walked towards the end of the bunker hallway, and opened another security door, leading into a huge, gymnasium-like room, with shelves packed with dozens of crates filled with old alien weaponry.

  “Because I simply don’t have a ship,” Douglas said, “But I know who does.”

  “Who?” Mark asked, interrupting Douglas.

  “The Demons, they have a fueling outpost, about thirty miles out from here. One warship’s docked to the compressors, and half a dozen fighters are stationed by it. Whole thing’s walled off, with a few laser Gatling defense posts.”

  James gaped, “How long have they been there?”

  “A week, three warships have come and gone, I tuned into the communication channel for the visors years ago, always static, or animal-like growling, normal Demon type crap, but now there’s a guy talking, ordering them to go place to place, like they’re getting ready for an attack.”

  “Karalus,” Mark whispered angrily.

  “Whatever they’re planning, it’s gonna be big. I haven’t seen so many Demon warships cooperate in decades.”

  “Wait-did that voice say anything about Jupiter?” James asked, his voice sounding slightly fearful.

  Douglas thought for a moment, “Yeah, yeah, said that was their base of operations for some kid of… I dunno, something, didn’t understand too well, I did hear that there were massive deposits of Dark matter mist in the atmosphere though.”

  Mark looked at James, figuring out what he was talking about, “You mean the mothership that we saw? You don’t think they’re planning on…”

  “They’re rallying they’re forces…” James said, “I think that they’re gonna attack the United Worlds.”

  Douglas smirked a little and then started to burst out laughing uncontrollably.

  “What the hell could be so funny at a time like this?!” Mark yelled, “Earth, your home is probably going to be invaded by the entire Jupitain fleet!”

  “First off, Earth isn’t even the planet I care the most about anymore, I’ve had tons of new homes better than that planet will ever be… and second, there’s no fight to even care about. I tuned into the invasion of the Lore, happened a few hours ago. Two-thousand Demon warships, gone. The leader of em, whoever he is, i
s probably more than pissed. They’re gonna throw everything they’ve got into this, invasion of your ‘United Worlds,’ completely steamroll it. There’s no fight, I’m sorry to break it to you, the Demons will win again, and there won’t be any more enemy organizations. It’ll be back to square one.”

  “Two-thousand, destroyed?! Why don’t we just do whatever they did to the rest of the fleet?” Mark asked.

  “Kid. It’s the frickin’ Lore, who knows how they did that. They have Gold-matter tech, it one-ups Dark matter every time, but they’re still gonna stay in their safe little city, like the pussies they are, and I doubt you have any Gold matter in your pitiful little alliance thing, do you?”

  James and Mark looked down at the floor awkwardly.

  That’s what I thought,” Douglas said, “Which means that you two are getting off this planet guns blazing.”

  “Wait, I thought you were coming with us!” Mark shouted.

  “Why would I risk my life for a cause that I already know is worthless? You don’t know what I’ve been through, what I’ve seen. These things'll rip you apart. Take down one, and ten more take its place. There’s no end. No fight. If only I had realized that sooner.”

  Mark looked anxious, and mad at the same time. James looked at Douglas in the eyes, sternly, “I get it. I do. I know that the horrors I’ve seen probably don’t even come close to what you’ve experienced, but that’s no excuse to give up. Your friends died… so did mine. My dad died too. It’s no excuse. As long as people, like you, just give up, the entire Galaxy, maybe even the universe, will die out, because they’re not gonna stop. They’ll hit the United Worlds, then the Lore again, and then whoever else is out there until there’s nothing left to kill. Karalus won’t be able to keep control over them forever…”

  Douglas looked down for a second, chuckled, then looked back at James, “Kid, that’s not the first time I’ve heard that speech, countless rebels have said the same thing over and over again… don’t quit, have hope, and we can win! Or, as long as we keep tryin.' The list goes on. I’ve been inspired and led to believe in false hope more times than I’ve been shot at, and I’ve been shot at a lotta’ times. I’ll help you get to a ship, but after that, you’re on your own.”