by Maia Starr
“I will come to you for council!” I shouted down to them.
“We are honored!” the one called general Azlo shouted.
I made my way down the stairs of the backside of the gate. I checked that my pistol was tucked into my back. It was fully loaded. I pulled a knife from my boot and then pushed it back in. It was all that I had. Not that it would be any defense against these massive dragon men. I nodded to the guards. They slowly pushed open the massive door of the gate.
“Close the gate behind me,” I said.
“Sergeant, are you sure?”
“Yes, that is an order,” I said.
I walked out of the gate and took a deep breath. Seeing these Dragon men directly in front of me, one hundred yards out, was startling now that I was on even ground with them. They looked bigger than they did from on top of the gate. I was trembling, but I wasn't going to let it stop me. I took slow steps as I looked around. The fleet that hovered in the air behind them was impressive. It was bittersweet to see such a military strength again, as it was not my own. Where had they come from? They had mentioned some place called Tivoso; was that another planet?
I walked closer and closer. Now these dragon men were twenty feet in front of me. That was close enough. I stopped.
“Who are you? Why have you come here?” I asked.
The one that had been talking took one step closer. I could see him, all of him now. He had blue eyes that were so stark blue they reminded me of sapphires. His skin glistened in the sun like a fine powder of glitter, but his chest looked harder, almost like hardened armor or scales. His long silver hair moved across his face with every movement. He was very tall, with a completely toned body; he looked like a statue. I felt my gaze turn from a curious nature to one of arousal as I looked him over. It had been a very long time since I had been with a man. No one interested me. But this Dragon man was somehow making me feel desire and lust at first sight.
He looked at me up and down. I shifted from one leg to another. His long gaze and long pause were making me uncomfortable. Why was he looking at me like that?
“Your name again?” he asked.
“I am Sergeant Sheila Adams,” I said.
“Sergeant. You lead armies?” he asked.
“Yes, now if you'll answer my question, General Bron: who are you and why have you come here?” I said adamantly. I didn't want to talk about leading armies because then he would be asking me questions about whether I was running an army right now in Providence.
“Sergeant, as I said before, we come in peace. We are not of Earth; we come from a planet called Tivoso. We came here several months ago and landed near the human community of Haven Brook. The community of Haven Brook welcomed us. We came to Earth to help the humans defeat the Clenok cyborgs. We helped defeat an invasion of cyborgs at Haven Brook. We still have our army based there. But my king sent myself and a few of my other colleagues to seek out isolated communities. We have found a possible way to defeat the keddle, and we are supposed to spread that knowledge to every human community we come across. That is why we have come to Providence. The humans in Haven Brook showed us where to find Providence, and we are here now,” he said.
It was a lot of information to take in. It sounded like lies to me. But I would have no proof of it anyway. There was no way to know if this thing was telling the truth or not.
“Tivoso? You are not of Earth. You are aliens?” I asked.
“We are aliens to you, just as humans are aliens to us,” he said crossing his arms over his chest. I could tell that he was cocky. He was even being smug with his answer.
“Fair enough, but what are you? I have never seen creatures such as yourself,” I said.
“We are shifters. We shift into weredragon form as you see us now. We are also able to shift out of it and become more like yourself, without the wings and hard scales,” he said.
“Shifter?” I asked confused by what he meant.
“Would you like me to demonstrate?” he asked.
“No, that won't be necessary,” I said not wanting to see what tricks they could do because I did not want the guards on the gate to take it as a sign of hostility and start shooting, no matter how curious I was to see this creature shift.
“Will you grant us entrance to Providence so that we may fight at your side against the cyborgs, and share the information we have from Haven Brook?” he asked.
This was a moment of truth. What could I say?
“How do I know that this is not some sort of trick? I let you in, and you enslave us? Or something else horrible?” I asked.
“Yes, I can see why you would be suspicious of us. We just arrived out of nowhere. You have no cause to trust me. But know this, Sergeant, if you truly are a sergeant: we will share this knowledge from Haven Brook with or without your permission. We will not let the humans behind your gate suffer from an attack of cyborgs simply because of your stubbornness. We have come from Tivoso with a mission to help the humans defeat the Clenok cyborgs, and that is what I am going to do. I am a Veruka of honor. My king gave me a mission, and I will see it through, no matter what you think of it. So you can either let us in, or I shall speak with someone else from Providence,” he said.
I narrowed my eyes at him. How dare he. He meant to undermine my supervision of Providence. I was the one in charge: not him.
“There is no one else to speak to. My people answer to me and obey my orders; they will not listen to an alien that could destroy them in seconds,” I said.
“Oh, I see that you at least have the sense to admit our superiority to your kind,” he raised a brow at me.
“What? That is not what I said. You are putting words into my mouth,” I said.
“Yes, it is exactly what you said. Now you can either stand here arguing all day, or I can take my fleet and enter your community without your permission,” he said.
Dammit. He was right. But I didn't want him to know that. I had no choice but to go along, but it would be on my terms.
“These are my terms: this fleet of yours will set down where they are, or hover if they wish, but they will stay put outside the gates. You and these two beside you may walk through the gate with me into Providence. Then we will see about this information you brought from Haven Brook. Only then will I decide whether or not to let your entire fleet in, if you are truly here to help us battle the cyborgs,” I said.
He said nothing. He took two big strides toward me and covered the distance between us easily. No history would directly in front of me towering over me. I looked up at him, trying not to tremble. He was a fierce presence, very dominating. Then he put his hand out to me.
“I agree to those terms, Sergeant,” he said.
I was hesitant. But I placed my hand in his, and he shook it. My hand felt three times smaller than it ever had in his large hand. He looked down at our hands clasped together and then looked at me. I swear his blue eyes sparkled. I pulled my hand away from him quickly and turned my back to him.
“Follow me,” I said as I began to walk to the gate. I could feel him walking behind me with his two men. I never thought I would see weredragons in my entire life, but then again, I never thought I would live to see the day that machines took over Earth. There were so many surprises. I didn't know what to expect next. In my heart, I truly hoped that they were there to help us fight. We needed their help; we needed it desperately.
Chapter 3
General Azlo Bron
I was immediately blown away by this human female that called herself a sergeant. I had never met a female soldier before. The Veruka did not have female soldiers, and this was new to me. I liked new. I liked surprises. Her red hair was pulled into a high ponytail on top of her head. Her green eyes narrowed at me in hate. She did not trust me. She was suspicious, as any good army leader would be. This made things more difficult, but not as difficult as the desire that was building up inside of me as I looked at her gorgeous body. Her long legs were covered in a black, tight material with high
boots. I could tell that she carried a dagger on the side. Her voluptuous breasts heaved up and down as her anger grew. She didn't like me threatening her to take away her authority; she was obviously used to being in charge. I was not used to speaking to a female in charge. It was impressive. It was sexy.
“Follow me,” she said as she turned and agreed to let me and my two lieutenants inside the gates of the human colony to further discuss our appearance here. I followed her as she walked. I cursed the long jacket that went down to her mid thighs. I could have been watching her jiggle as she walked. Damn jacket.
I could smell her delicious scent on the breeze as she walked in front of me. This human was driving me mad with her so now, her strength, and her fearlessness. She could be my match with her soldier mentality. I wanted her. I wanted her badly.
“Open the gate!” she shouted up to the guards on the gates. The gate slowly opened. She looked at me.
“I don't know you, alien. I don't know what you think of honor and truth. But I think highly of both; do I have your word of honor that when you enter, you will remain peaceful,” she asked.
“You have my word of honor. We will remain peaceful to you and to all humans we encounter,” I said looking at her green eyes. She seemed uncomfortable when I made direct eye contact for whatever reason. She nodded her head acknowledging my statement.
Then she walked inside, and we followed. There wasn't much to see right at the entrance. There were large trees covered in snow, and you could not see the community buildings from this point. But my lieutenants and I looked at the gate and the fence. I noticed that it was not as guarded as the one in Haven Brook. I wondered if the defense of this community was more than what I was seeing.
“Casper, go into the village and call for an assembly. Do nothing to create panic. But we must address the fact that we have visitors, sooner than later,” she said to a man.
"Right away, Sergeant,” he said, and then he jogged down the dirt road straight ahead of us. His boots sloshed in the heavy snow.
“We must give them time to assemble,” she said as she turned to look at me.
“I understand. Tell me more of your snow village,” I said.
“Ask me questions?” she said.
I grinned. She was tough. I liked it. My desire for her was growing stronger by the second.
“How many humans are in this village?” I asked.
“Five hundred humans,” she answered.
“This is much smaller than Haven Brook,” I said.
“Is that disappointing to you?” she asked.
“No, it means my army of two hundred will have an easy time guarding the small number of humans here,” I said.
Her eyes grew wide in amazement. “Two hundred? You have two hundred soldiers with you?” she asked.
“Yes, that is correct. I have two hundred soldiers, and they are now yours. They belong to Providence, sworn to protect against the Clenok cyborgs. It is our mission,” I said.
She cleared her throat, and I could tell that she was trying to restrain the fact that she was impressed. But I didn't know why. Too much pride, perhaps.
“Come, let's continue. The assembly should be gathered in the large field. Just follow me and please do not speak until after I have told them about you. We do not want panic on our hands,” she said.
“I understand,” I said.
We continued walking down the road, and the large trees gave way to a clearing. There was a small village with small buildings made of mostly wood. There were several streets going in different directions. It looked exactly like Haven Brook only much smaller. It was well kept, but it looked more abandoned than what we had seen at Haven Brook. There were more buildings than needed for the small community of five hundred humans.
She continued walking, and we soon found ourselves in a large field. It was a simple gathering. We began to hear sounds of shock and commotion as we came into view. Sergeant Sheila put her hand up to try to silence the crowd.
“People of Providence! As you can see, we have visitors. They come in peace; you have my word. They have come from another planet, yes, it is true. They are called the Veruka. But we are not the first human colony that they have visited. They come to us from a human colony called Haven Brook. They have an army based there and have been helping the humans of Haven Brook fight the cyborgs. They have come to help us do the same. They have a part of their army with them today. They have come to help defend providence against the Clenok!”
Suddenly there was cheering and clapping. I was surprised. These people seemed to be happy that we were there to help them fight the cyborgs. I thought they would be much more closed off to us. It was surprising and refreshing. I looked at Sheila, and she seemed to be put off by the reaction. I think she wanted them to be just as suspicious as she was. But they were showing the opposite. I heard murmurs of, “We need an army,” and, “About time someone has come to help us.”
I scanned the crowd and found that there weren't soldiers like there were in Haven Brook. I got a feeling that this community was on its own and only had the standard human type, not the soldier type. I wondered if all soldier defenses were already on the wall.
“I will be working with their leader. He is called General Azlo Bron,” she said, pointing to me. I nodded my head in a respectful bow to the assembly.
“Thank you, humans of Providence. I give you my word that we are here for your protection. We have helped the humans in Haven Brook, and that is where my king and the rest of our army are stationed. We are the Veruka. We have come to Earth in order to help the humans get Earth back from the machines. We hope that you will open your gates to our army so that we may properly defend your colony,” I said. I felt Sheila turn and look at me. She was not happy with my words. Whatever upset her, it was too late; it was done.
“Let them in!” a man in the crowd shouted.
“Let the Veruka protect us!” a woman shouted.
There was agreement and cheer across the crowd. I looked at Sheila; her green eyes narrowed at me. I don't think she wanted it to go this fast, but time was of the essence, and I needed to get my army inside and set up to guard this colony.
Sheila put her hand in the air to silence the crowd. “We will let the army in. Be warned that the village will be busy, and you will see many of these Veruka walking around. Do not be alarmed. They do not wish to harm us: remember that. It is important to know that these Veruka are weredragons. They call themselves shifters. They have wings, as you can see, and they can use them to fly. We will all be learning more about our new friends together. For now, let's make them at home. I will be giving them the abandoned five-story office building in the west of the colony near the grassy fields. They do have ships; they will be landing in the grassy field and setting up camp. I urge you to stay away until they are safely set up; stay a good distance. Thank you and please continue to go about your routine. This colony needs each of your work in order to continue working on a proper infrastructure. We are all needed,” she said. Then she turned and looked at me.
“It seems to be going well,” I whispered to her.
“Yes, but you gave me no choice in whether to invite your army in just yet. That was a clever trick,” she whispered back.
“Not a trick: progress,” I whispered back as I followed her across the grassy field. My lieutenants followed close behind.
“I will show you to the building. You can scout it and the fields around it to see if it is suitable to your needs,” she said with restrained anger.
“Thank you, Sergeant,” I said.
“This is it,” she said pointing to a towering building at five stories. It would be good as a lookout point, and the grassy fields near it had plenty of room to land our ships and create a large camp.
“This is suitable. Thank you. The first thing we would want to do is send out scouts to scout the area to see if there are Clenok cyborg armies in the area. We can do a good one-hundred-mile radius on all sides.”
> “Yes, that is achievable when you can fly,” she said crossing her arms. She was still putting up that wall, but was it going to take to impress her?
“And I want to get as many of my soldiers on the gates and on the fence. It seems that it is not electrified like the one in Haven Brook; is that correct?”
“It is not electrified,” she said pursing her lips together.
“And how many soldiers do you have under you? I didn't see any in the assembly and I barely saw maybe twenty to thirty on the gates?”
“There are only fifty trained soldiers that came here with me, and we trained twenty more men and women while we have been here,” she said.
“So you defend this human colony with fifty trained and twenty impromptu soldiers without an electrified fence against an army of machines. How have you survived this long?” I asked.