by Benetti, A.
Aggressor Earth
Aaron leaned back in his seat and looked at his control panel, everything looked in order. The old bucket of a ship was humming like new. He loved the feel of the old ship when it ran like this. He knew all about the new ships coming along slowly replacing his old Mark 10 but he could never see himself in one of these. This old ship was his friend, his partner, his home.
At 42 both him and his ship were getting older, he had spent most of his military career at one battle or another fighting the Balyn. Now he was subjected to guard duty of a planet they couldn't even land on. The council had ordered the planet protected and no one without the right clearance could land.
Looking to his left he saw another Mark 10 flying beside him, it was his wing man Jesse. Jesse was a good man the same as him getting older. They were getting to old to be on the front lines anymore so they were placed here to enforce the no landing zone policy.
The planet was beautiful, full of green, as much as Earth looked blue this planet was green. Which is why it was named Viride Latin for green. The Balyn wanted the planet for it resources but Earth had decided to protect it. The Balyn were conquers of worlds until they meet the people of Earth.
When humans had meet the Balyn some hundred years earlier. At first the two races were friendly with each other exchanging ideas and their very different cultures. Then, as Aaron had learned in school and heard a thousand times since, the Balyn attacked Earth. They had wiped out whole colonies and began creating a path of destruction headed for Earth itself.
Humanity had no choice but to fight back. Many professors, writers and political figures talk about why the Balyn had begun this war but to Aaron it made no difference. Whatever their reason, what they started we would finish.
I'm getting a reading, he heard a voice over the communication say. We have five unidentified objects coming our way. Glancing at his screens Aaron said to the ships computer "Mark 10 can we identify the objects."
"They seem to be of Balyn origin but are different from any configuration in my data files."
Strange Aaron thought he had just had a complete upgrade to the ships software.
"Computer can you hypothesis what they might be."
"They show signs of Zeon in their metals which Balyn use in large quantities. They also are blocking many of my scanners which would indicate military."
"Jesse," Aaron said over the communications.
"What do you make of these objects? Some kind of new Balyn ships?"
"Most likely, but more sophisticated than any Balyn ship I have ever seen."
"Strange I guess we have to get a closer look and check them out"
Aaron turned his Mark 10 toward the threat immediately followed by his wing man.
"Jesse," Aaron said looking at his screen "their breaking up." "Two of them are heading toward us and one to the planet."
"I see them."
"We need to get out of the shadow of the planet follow me."
Aaron turned his ship again moving out of the planet Virides shadow and into full view of the its sun. The panels of the Mark 10 began to automatically tint darker and darker as the rays from the sun hit them. Then he turned again with their backs to the sun, he wanted whoever was in those ships to only be able to use their aviations.
He watched as the objects matched their course and were coming straight on.
"Jesse, don't take a chance with these ships lock your weapons to high."
"That will drain our power, if we don't knock them out within ten seconds of use we will be sitting ducks."
"I know but I get a bad feeling about these ships, and I don't want to just stun them. Hit them hard and don't miss."
The ships were now approaching his weapons range. He set the lasers to twenty which was the highest setting he had, and waited for the computer to get a lock. The lock tone came on and he pressed the button for the weapons to fire. The beam from the lasers hit the alien ship and continued to bombard it with a steady beam of its light.
The Mark 10 computer voice came on, "warning power drain in five seconds."
The alien ship was still coming.
"Damn what kind of ships are these?" Aaron thought to himself.
Then he felt a hard hit. He wasn't sure of where it came from or what it was, he couldn't focus. He felt strange when he realized the inertial dampers were offline and he was spinning. The ships voice was talking but he couldn't focus. He looked out to see the large green mass of the planet spinning in and out of view. So this is how it ends he thought and blacked out.
Aaron woke up and he felt pain although his body. He let out a slight moan as he tried to open his eyes and focus. There was a bad smell in the air and he could taste it as he breathed in. He felt something touch him which made him focus quickly and sit up. It was some small creature with a few more standing around him. He looked at them an automatically went into survival mode, reaching to his side he pulled out his gun.
"Who are you?" he said looking at them and trying to focus his eyes.
The one closest to him grunted something. His eyes focusing better he saw they were the Indigenous Viride creatures. He had heard some mention of them before they were ape like creatures with no intelligence and supposedly harmless. He relaxed his guard a bit and the pain in his body all came back. He knew his leg was broken and he couldn't move his left arm.
Using his only good arm he reached into his flight suit for his emergency communicator. Pulling it out it was completely smashed. Damn he whispered, he began to try to pull himself up when the creatures began to grunt and hold him.
"What are you doing?" he yelled at them, then he realized they were not harming him but trying to help him.
Two more of the little creatures came in to view carrying what looked to be a homemade stretcher. He was in no shape to argue and knew he needed help but thought the creatures were unintelligent, let alone able to make a homemade stretcher.
The small creatures laid the crude looking stretcher next him and began grunting to each other. Aaron looked at them and with a lot of pain moved onto it and laid back. He knew he would have to set his leg soon and there was no telling when help would come. But his leg is not what worried him, his chest felt bad. No doubt he had broken more than one rib but he had broken a rib before and this was different. If help didn't come soon he would most likely die here. He thought of Jesse and hoped he had at least made it.
His ship must have entered the atmosphere of the planet breaking up on entry then automatically ejecting him before crashing. With his emergency communications gone he would have to rely on the backup location transmitter for help, but it only sent a signal up to twenty kilometers. He might be here awhile until they located him.
The small creatures all gathered along the stretcher and began to carry him. They were fury little things and green, they only stood four feet tall but were stronger then he would have thought. He didn't know much about Viride other then it had a lot of resources the Balyn wanted. He never knew there was semi intelligent creatures here. He knew that there was Indigenous creatures but not like this. Most planets that supported life usually never had creatures smarter than a cat or a dog. These creatures though had primitive tools and communication skills. He wondered why he had never heard of this before.
Aaron reached into his flight suit for his emergency crash kit and fumbled with a pack of pills. He found a package pain pills and tearing it open with his teeth he took them all. Laying on the stretcher as the little Viride creatures carried him.
"I guess I'm along for the ride" he said to himself feeling the pills come over him he faded into sleep.
He awoke in a small village surrounded by tall trees that dominated the planet. There were Viride walking around going about their b
usiness like this was a every day event for them. Looking to his left there were several of what might be their children starring at him.
"Hello" he said to them. They started grunting to each other and ran off. His chest was killing him. Looking down he saw that someone had wrapped his leg and arm.
One of the Viride came to him with a crude wooden cup full of water. He sipped it slowly as his chest hurt if he drank too quickly.
"Thank you" he said.
The little creature grunted something and walked away. He began to think about how long he would be here before rescue came. The thought of the Balyn ships came to him. What were those ships? Had the Balyn technology advanced so far since his time in the war? And Jesse what happened to Jesse?
Aaron laid there thinking about how things had played out when he heard a commotion come from the Viride. They all began grunting to each other and running toward the edge of their small village. Then he saw her it was a woman a human woman coming into view. The Viride all gathered around her and were grunting their language. They seemed like they knew her and were happy she was there. She came over to him and knelt down by him opened a kit she had with her.
"How do you feel?"
"I've been better" Aaron replied. "Who are you?"
"I am here to help."
She began to scan over his body with a medical device.
"'Your bleeding internally, If it wasn't for the Viride atmosphere you would already be dead."
"What does the Viride atmosphere have to do with anything? Where is the rescue ship?
"There is no rescue ship, but don't worry I am here to help."
"No rescue ship? Where did you come from?"
She smiled at him, "relax I am here to help and you are in worse shape than you think. You are lucky you are on Viride." Getting up and turning to the creatures she began to grunt to them in their language.
The Viride and the women began to talk to each other in the strange dialect. She looked at him, "I'll be back soon" and with that she left.
"Wait," Aaron tried to motion to her, but she was gone.
The Viride started to move around him then picking him up they carried him to the center of the village. They piled wood up in a high stack and lit it on fire. What is going on Aaron was thinking to himself. Where did this women come from? And where did she go?
Sometime later she returned, she had what looked like a small bone in her hand. Taking it she laid it on a flat rock and began smashing it. She kept crushing it until he became a powder then put it in a cup and set it in the fire.
Coming over to him she said "you are about to receive a great gift today."
"And what gift is that?"
"You are about to become an honorary Viride." Going back to the fire she reclaimed the cup and walked toward him.
"If you want to live you will drink this," she said lifting the cup to his lips.
Aaron felt a tingling in his chest and then to his arms and legs. He started to feel a bit buzzed. The Viride began to dance around him and it started to seem humorous to him. He began to laugh and then laugh some more. If they had decided to give him some kind of hallucinogen who was he to complain. Reaching over he took the cup from the women drank the rest and laid back enjoying the feeling that came over him then fell asleep.
He woke up with a hazy memory of the night before. As he sat up he realized he felt no pain. The pain in his chest was gone, his arm and leg also felt good. Getting up he found he could move his broken arm. He felt down to his damaged leg and moved it. Standing up he looked down at his body in amazement. Looking across the room he saw the lady was there and looking at him.
"Feeling better?" she said to him.
"How is this possible?"
"My name is Molly, I am a chemist and a researcher here on Viride. I have been here for five years researching a synthetic enzyme to what occurs naturally here on Viride."
"And what is that? Something to do with these strange healing powers? The drink you healed me with?"
"Yes more or less but it is more than that. How old would you think these Viride are?" she asked looking at Aaron.
"I wouldn't know. Why does that matter?"
"There is evidence that some of these creatures as you call them are hundreds of years old. There is a natural enzyme we have found here that the Viride have within them. The planet itself has natural healing properties about it. You would have been dead if not for this. The Viride because of this, can live for hundreds if not thousands of years. Something happens to them after living for so long in this environment, that they build a enzyme in their blood that caries into their bone mass. The longer they live the more of the enzyme builds up in there bone marrow. When humans or other species take this enzyme it begins to repair damaged DNA. This will not only heal someone but can significantly expand their life.'
"Expand their life? by how much?"
"We don't know but the earliest humans to take the enzyme a hundred years ago have not aged and are in perfect health."
"That is crazy, If this is true then why do we all not have this? We could be using this on the battle field and saving lives right now, or why doesn't every one simply get inoculated with this enzyme?"
"That is a goal we have been trying to do for years but we cannot synthesis the enzyme. We still don't even understand how it works. The only way to produce it is to take the bone marrow of the Viride and create it into a powder form."
Aaron stared at her pondering the implications of a thousand sick or dying humans with this knowledge. He looked out at the Viride walking around and going about their business oblivious to what they were.
"How many of these creatures are there?"
"At one time there were hundreds of thousands spread out over the different continents. Now there are less than five thousand."
Aaron looked back at her. "So the Balyn they know about this?"
"Yes, when both our species meet we found that we both had a lot in common more than has been told. The Balyn actually discovered this planet and its secrets first. They left the Viride alone considering it a great honor if they let one of them drink the bone matter of one of their dead. Once we found out about it the war broke out and has been going on ever since. We struck first killing all the Balyn that were here."
"This enzyme it makes you immortal?"
"No, it repairs DNA that has been damaged or that will become damaged but anyone that takes it can still die."
Aaron sat down trying take it all in. If what she said was true, the war everything he had believed all of it was a lie.
"I need to get out of here and report back to command. Where is your base?"
"The research station is about ten kilometers from here she replied."
"We need to get there my people are looking for me. We will start out in the morning." Not wanting to talk anymore Aaron walked away.
Aaron could not sleep that night. Maybe it was that he had been laid up for the past few days or maybe it was this enzyme that now ran through his veins.
But mostly it was the thought of what the woman had said. She did not look to be lying to him and why would she lie about something like that anyways. If what she said was true then we had killed millions of Balyn, took an entire species to the edge of extinction, and lost millions of humans. All for this enzyme? He could see how so many would find this enzyme an attractive option. Even if they were selfless and didn't use it for themselves, how would they feel if someone they loved became sick or ill.
Walking around the village it was very peaceful. The Viride small fires were burning out slowly leaving glowing embers to be the only light.
"Can't sleep?" he heard Molly say.
"No can't sleep. How do you feel about all of this? Everything going on here?"
"I try not to feel anything. My goal is to replicate what happens here so the Viride can live in peace and the people of Earth can live long healthy lives."
"How did you know I was here?"
"I didn't you
were a surprise to me and when I saw you were injured I knew had to help you. I spend a lot of time with the Viride. When I first came here it was only from a distance but as the years went by I became closer to them. It is not hard as you can see. They have become my family in a way. Whenever I can I slip away from the research station and come out to visit and learn from them. Yesterday when I came to visit I found you here."
"Who is your commander?"
"We do not have a commander. We are not military, we are scientist."
"Then who runs things, I need to borrow a ship?"
"You can tell you are military," she said with a laugh."Scientist are all equal here there is no commander. We have Melvin a administrator if we need something, we tell him what we need and he orders a drop ship in. We have no ships of our own."
"No ships," Aaron thought, "what kind of group is this?"
In the morning they started out to Molly's research station. Two Viride decided to follow them for some reason. The terrain was much more jungle and alive with all kinds of creatures then he had thought.
"Is there anything dangerous out here, he said looking a little wearily at what could be a three eyed frog."
"No, she laughed the animals here are strange looking but friendly. They are all vegetarian here. There is no carnivores, except us."
"I think I would be vegetarian to if I lived on this planet" he said walking around the crazy looking frog.
"You're not used to being on a planet are you?"
"No, I'm not I haven't even been back to Earth in twenty years. My current post is protecting this planet, our command post is on the small moon circling the planet."
"That doesn't sound like a life more like an existence."
"Maybe it is but there is a war and we have to take what we get. Honestly I wouldn't know anything else anymore."
Aaron started struggling up a small hill when his flight suit began to beep.
"What is that Molly asked?"
Aaron quickly reached into his jacket and pulled out his backup emergency transmitter.
"It's a ship he said they found me."
A ship came into view and hovered over the top of them. The Viride scattered into the jungle. A anti gravity lift field surrounded Aaron and Molly and they were raised up to the ship. Inside there were five men looking at control panels. One of them, a gruff looking man with an unshaved beard came up to Aaron. "Aaron," he bellowed grasping his hand in a firm grip. "We all thought we were looking for a body."