Serve and Protect

by Douglas Varnell

  While three men stood guard the other nine circled around something on the ground. Lucy jockeyed the probe directly overhead to reveal a sight that made Chase, Daniel and the two Marine Commanders almost throw-up and definitely made their blood boil. The nine dog-like creatures were enjoying a meal that included two humans ripped to pieces and scattered on the ground before them. One was a male the other a female, evidently the beast didn’t eat the heads. Everything else but the bones was being devoured by the hungry giants. Chase and Daniel hopped they weren’t too late to help whoever was left on the planet.

  The two Dragon Guard members quickly got on the secure com link between ships and along with the two Marine commanders carefully considered their options. Although the ships orbiting Tramlaw were incredibly big, there were only two of them. If the large ships could be dealt with before whatever smaller ships it carried could be deployed, then all they would have to contend with was whatever resources these creatures had on the planet below. Daniel thought a moment and declared, “We have one planet buster on each ship. If we can get into position to make a perfect hit on both ships at the same time then we should cut off the others on the planet from their support. Chase and Daniel turned to Major Dumas and Major Henderson and asked, “Are your Marines ready for some action on the surface if we can take care of these big boys?” Both Majors grinned as Dumas replied, “After I tell my boys what we got down there they’d be ready to jump from here to get to them.” Chase looked at his cousin and as he spoke, they both agreed, “I’ll take my ship and make a gateway to within 10,000 miles of the ship on the other side, firing as soon as I exit my gateway. They should have no time to defend themselves or retaliate. You do the same to the one on this side then we split-up and head for the surface. We’ll deploy the Fighters to deal with anything they have in the air and our Marines to engage their ground forces. If we hit them hard and fast, we should have no problems, but I wouldn’t want to stick around and try to exchange fire with anything like that” he said as he pointed to the ship that looked like a demonic version of the Starship Enterprise. He continued, “We only get one shot at this. If we fail we’ll be forced to hold out until help arrives” Daniel smiled, saying, “With my planet buster, one chance is all we need.”

  The Gljarne Class Destroyers split-up and made the gateways to their targets. Careful not to over-run the Faster-Than-Light Missile they were about to fire, they both held their speed to .75 LS. In what appeared to be one motion, the Verron ships exited their gateway and fired. With only 10,000 miles to travel, there was no delay between launch and impact. The dark side of the planet below became light as day when the gigantic alien ships disappeared in a flash of light and even the sunny side looked like the planets sun had gone super-nova. Neither Chase nor Daniel had any remorse about what they had just done and didn’t want to think about how many had died on the two ships. Both of the Destroyers dove for the planet below and split-up, headed for the densest concentration of enemy ground forces on opposite sides of the planet. As soon as they entered the lower atmosphere twenty-four Fighters blasted out of each ships hanger bays and spread out looking for anything that was in the air and helping to identify potential Marine targets on the surface. The Fighters didn’t have to look very hard. Aware that their only hope of escape had just been eliminated, the cannibalistic creatures quickly launched a well-organized counter attack. Chase and Daniel joined the fight in the Destroyers, setting the automatic target acquisition system for anything that was not from Verron, both in the air and on the ground.

  It didn’t take long to determine that these were very well trained and well equipped soldiers. The Fighters were shocked to realize that although the Class X Fighters were faster and better protected than the enemy ships, the technology of the weapons used by them was capable of penetrating Verron designed force-fields. No one round would penetrate, but if a Fighter took hits from multiple rounds, the shields would eventually fail. If it weren’t for the superior strength of the Verron Steel several would have already been destroyed. The Verron pilots soon were determined to use every skill and technology available to avoid being hit while firing on their aggressive defenders. Chase and Daniel seemed to have stronger shields on the Destroyers but when a 50mm plasma-tipped missile hit Daniel directly in the windshield, passing through the protective shield, the entire Destroyer rocked from the impact. He immediately took out the offending aircraft, but made a mental note to do a systems upgrade on the ship force-fields. Chase was encountering the same problems as his Destroyer took hit after hit from anti-aircraft guns and missiles located on the ground. The shield seemed to get disrupted by the impact of the first couple of rounds and that allowed anything after that to penetrate and hit the metal hull. Lucy had the automatic targeting system operating at its max and missiles were still getting by. Neither Chase nor Daniel had experienced anyone who could launch so many missiles so rapidly.

  The Marines exited the Destroyers under their cloaked mode of operation and managed to hug the ground and move behind the missile and anti-aircraft emplacements. As quickly as those were destroyed the Marines began to leap from the aircraft on the high ground behind the big well-armed aliens. Although there wasn’t a large permanent fortification to contend with, there were over a thousand of the angry wolf-faced beings standing their ground against 200 Verron Marines at both enemy compounds. Every man on the ground was thanking God for their body armor and the fact that these seven foot monsters did not wear any.

  The Marines fired round after round at these beasts and they were hard to kill. They literally had to be blown in half to be stopped and often the upper half would continue to fight until the last drop of orange blood flowed from its body. One of the Marines was surprised from behind by two of the monsters and was amazed to find out that even with his enhanced exoskeleton these things were every bit as strong, he compared them to Klelta strong. Even though the Klelta were bigger, they had nothing on these guys. The big Marine ended up fighting them with his foot long sabre and had severed both arms on one of them, only to be attacked by the claws on its feet and by the large teeth. None of the men had ever been in such a bloody and violent battle. The big weapons used by the ground forces packed such a heavy punch that often a Marine would be knocked off his feet, and if they took a blow from one of the big sword swinging aliens they were knocked through the air, landing several feet away. That never had happened before when shot at or in hand-to-hand training. By the time the ground battle was over the Marines were singing the praises of the shoulder mounted 5mm laser Gatling’s. The little marvels were literally cutting the aggressive warriors in half. Soon the Troop Landers and Fighters joined the ground battle when they had finally eliminated the last of the air resistance. When it was finally over the silence was overwhelming. A couple of the Marines opened their headgear to throw-up. The carnage was unbelievable. No one had ever seen such a fierce group of fighters. They showed absolutely no fear of dying and had more hate in their face than any of the Marines had ever experienced. There were broken weapons and dead wolf-like creatures covering the ground for fifty yards in every direction and their Fighter Ships littered the planet from one end to the other. There were no Verron casualties, but several of the men did have cuts and bruises from the impact of the energy blast from the heavy rifles carried by these things. Several of the Fighters had been barraged with such continuous fire that their shield reactors actually malfunctioned, leaving them vulnerable to every round fired at them; one had even lost control and crashed into the open desert. Pilot and the Fighter survived.

  At opposite sides of the planet both Chase and Daniel landed the Big Destroyers. Neither could believe that moments ago there were two raging battles going on at opposite sides of this alien world. The Fighters and drones continued to scan and search for any remaining Fighters or elusive enemy. Neither of the Dragon Guard could grasp the carnage in front of them and Chase was actually beginning to feel sorry for the beasts that had fought so valiantly. But that soo
n changed when he entered a small mobile communications unit; now abandoned. He looked inside and found butchered human bodies hanging from the ceiling of the building. They had converted the building to a fresh meat storage facility. Chase got sick at the thought of what would have happened to his men if the battle had gone the other way. Major Dumas looked into the room over his shoulder and quickly turned to lose his lunch, and this man had fought in Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq and every battle Verron had been engaged in so far. He and his Marines that consisted of Seals, Spetsnaz, Special Forces and even veterans of Vietnam, were appalled at the sight of human flesh hanging from meat hooks. A moment after leaving the building and shutting the door, Chase got a call from a very upset Daniel who had just experienced the same thing at his location. Chase wondered how many of the residents of Tramlaw had lost their life before they arrived. He prayed they hadn’t been too late.

  As Chase stood staring out over the bloody battlefield and the Marines were getting prepared for a counter attack from any that may still be alive, he began to walk slowly across the killing field and through the enhanced vision of his body armor caught a glimpse of something moving in the rocky foothills a few hundred yards away. He acted like he hadn’t seen it and turned away, slowly walking out of the line of sight of the hill beyond. He then made a jump directly across the sandy terrain to a point just behind and above the place he had spotted movement. He looked down to see a white skinned person wearing very dark sunglasses, covered in a white hooded robe. He was about Chase’s size, maybe a bit shorter, and hiding in the shade of a rock overhang. As he observed, what he assumed was a young man, since it had short white hair and wore pants, he noticed another movement in the shadows behind the youngster. Chase adjusted his vision and saw two more that looked just like him crouched in an opening that looked like it could be totally hidden by the large rock beside it. He didn’t want to scare the people, but he didn’t feel like scurrying through a small opening trying to chase them either. He made a quick jump so he was between the opening and two of the people in the shadows, grabbing each by the arm. As he grabbed the young man, his dark sunglasses fell to the ground; the big pink eyes of the young man looked so panicked that Chase would swear he was going to die of fright. He then realized he must be as scary as the wolf-looking creatures standing there in his dull gray body armor. He commanded the headgear to retract and smiled down at the two young men he had in his grip. He doubted they could understand a word he said, but indicated that the bad guys were dead and it was safe to come out of hiding. He wanted to gain their trust and released his grip and bent to pick-up the frightened youngster’s sunglasses. One of the boys dove through the hole and disappeared, leaving his friend behind. The white skinned, big eyed boy began to jabber in some tongue Chase could not comprehend and point toward the destroyed camp. What he did next took Chase by surprise. He extended his hand and reached for Chase’s in a sign of welcome or thanks, then turned and walked toward the camp filled with wall to wall corpses.

  Chase knew that more had happened here than he was equipped to handle by himself. He had Lucy contact Verron command and relay a message directly to King Verron. He explained the situation and asked Lucy to request a team of interpreters, medical aid workers and re-enforcements of Marines and ships. He added, “Tell them the battle is over, but it looks like the people here will need help and protection, especially if there are more of these things anywhere around.” He contacted Daniel and told him what he had done. There was no disagreement from him. He then asked, “Do you have one of the headset interpreters on your ship. I know 99 flies that ship sometimes and I wondered if there may be one in his locker.” About ten minutes later Daniel called back and told him that a Marine found one in 99s flight locker and that he would make a gateway over to bring it to him. Almost instantly Daniel appeared with the helmet with the built-in translator. At Chase’s encouragement the young man placed the helmet over his head of white hair and bat-like ears. It was a bit snug, but he managed to get it on. Daniel somehow got the young man to speak in long complete sentences and after about five minutes his voice came out in English. As if his eyes weren’t large enough already, they really widened when Chase began to speak to him and he could hear his own tongue. For the first time, he smiled, exposing a row of pointy little teeth, both upper and lower.

  Once Chase and Daniel explained what they had just done with the headset, the young man introduced himself, saying, “My name is Metsis, thank you so much for coming. We sent out a distress signal two years ago and doubted anyone would receive it and if they did, it would be too late by the time they got here. These creatures, we call them Volvs, came here looking for food; we didn’t know that we were to be that food. They have been searching our planet for over two years looking for our major cities and towns. Every time they found a way in we would seal if off by setting off an explosion, killing them in the process, but also cutting off my people from the outside. We live underground here because of the heat, but we grow food in farms above ground. Our people are starving. All those who have dared to harvest any crops were soon captured and eaten by the Volvs.”

  Daniel asked, “Are there many of you left?” Metsis smiled, and answered, “These things do not do well underground, so we have managed to only lose those who have ventured to the surface, and one small town that did not blow-up its tunnels in time. Our other cities are still full. The Volvs are very stubborn. They were determined to harvest a crop of people for their home planet. Evidently going home late with plenty to eat is better than going back empty handed. We kept relocating our entrances and blowing-up the old one. There are still a great many of us left, but if you had not come we would have eventually run out of food.” Chase shook his head, and asked, “You mean to tell me that these people that the Volvs have been eating is not because they ran out of food and decided they had to eat; your saying that humans are a part of their diet and they came here to get fresh meat?” Metsis gave a simple but sincere reply, “Yes, those not like them become their food. I just think that human meat is their favorite. We have seen them eat some of the planet’s surface dwellers as well.”

  Both boys were getting grossed-out. Chase didn’t know if he could ever eat meat again. Major Dumas walked up and stared at Metsis and asked, “Are we too late? Is he all there is?” Finally Metsis comprehended what was being asked. He replied, “We have many great cities and small towns all over Tramlaw.” He looked at the surrounding soldiers and asked, “How many is this?” Daniel replied, “This is 200.” Metsis evidently was good at math and it seemed his people had determined many of the same formulas Earth had discovered. He drew in the sand as he said, “I believe we have almost this many living in Tramlaw” and drew 1005. Chase and Daniel looked at each other and Major Dumas whistled and said, “Ten Billion of you guys. Couldn’t you fight back and run them off?” Metsis stood up and stretched to his full five foot six inches, saying, “I am tall for one of my people. We are very strong, but we have no weapons that could stand against them.” Major Dumas realized that they barely did. He nodded his agreement.

  Chase began to tell Metsis about the call he had made for help and that others should be joining them soon. As he was explaining one of the Marines yelled, “Commander, we got company.” Everyone froze, thinking that more of the Volvs had shown-up. That same Marine laughed as he added, “I think their friendlies.” Chase, Daniel and Metsis rose to see who was coming. From the wall of rocks where Chase had found Metsis, came two dozen of the citizens of Tramlaw. They were being led by a well-dressed man in what appeared to be a silk shirt and trousers in a brilliant royal blue color. They all wore the same kind of white-hooded robe that Metsis wore and those same dark sunglasses to cover their pink eyes. Daniel quickly realized that everyone had on the same style of silk garment, just in a wide variety of colors. Metsis hurried to greet the dignified looking man and returned with him side-by-side and introduced him, saying, “This is my father Nitaleg. He is the ruler of my city and these are t
he members of the Elder council. Those present did a courtesy bow and smiled at those strange looking men in body armor. Metsis reported, “These men killed the Volvs. I watched the battle myself. I was afraid at first that they would lose and leave us hopeless. The great one is with us.” Nitaleg looked at his son in the strange headgear and asked, “How is it you know what they speak.” Metsis reluctantly removed the headgear and placed it on his father’s head. When he heard every word being spoken by the strangers in his own language he smiled in wonder. He quickly removed it and placed it on the head of a woman next to him. Who spoke to the people from Verron, saying, “You have saved our people from certain death, we owe you our lives.” Chase and Daniel answered, “We did what needed to be done; you owe us nothing. But we don’t want to leave you helpless when we leave. If you had the ability to fight these things would you fight them?” The lady in the headgear turned and began to speak to those on the counsel. She turned back and spoke, saying, “They are so big and we are so small. If people like you struggle to fight them, how could we?” Daniel smiled and answered, “We have warriors who are smaller than you who could defeat these creatures. We will teach you how and supply you with the weapons.” When the lady turned and told the others what he said, they shook their heads in agreement.