Serve and Protect

by Douglas Varnell

  Since Daniel and Robert were already in the Light Destroyer, they were the first Verron ship to hit outer-space behind the three Fighters. What they saw was total mayhem. The girls were engaged in a dog-fight with over fifty fighters and dozens more were approaching. Chase then saw the constant stream of fighters still departing the hanger bays and the hundred’s surrounding the 15,000 foot long Scout Mother Ship. He dove for the big ship and focused his fire on the open hanger doors with his 10mm Gatling’s, then made a sweep across the length of the big ship, firing at surrounding fighters and anything that looked like a gun or missile emplacement. He soon realized that other than the open doors, this ship had better shields than Qualoc ships they had previously engaged. Robert was just now getting his bearings, the quick acceleration into orbit had left him a bit confused and he had almost blacked-out from the heavy G’s. When he looked around at his surrounding he only said one word, “Amber.” He could clearly see the very uneven ratio of Qualoc to the three Fighters from Verron. Chase quickly told him, “Don’t worry. She’s handled much worse than that.” Robert couldn’t even imagine worse than 20 to 1 odds. Chase quickly pulled away from the Fighters surrounding the Scout Ship and decided this was a perfect time to test his new weapon. Having to shake-off a half dozen Fighters, he then released a few hundred plasma mines behind him and destroyed a dozen more, he was soon in position to fire his first ever Two Tap. Aiming for the area just in front of where the ships reactors should be located, he said a quick prayer and hit the launch button. The timing between missiles was too close to notice separate impacts. But it was obvious that the disrupter round had done its job and the Gut Bomb had made it through, as the big ship suddenly glowed as red as molten steel from the point of impact then moving rapidly to the other end of the ship. The big ship bulged out slightly and hundreds of bodies and other debris were blown out of exploding portals. Captain Calchas had just hit his transmission button to radio his intentions to conquer a new planet. The message made it out, Captain Calchas did not.

  Robert and Chase looked down at the unbelievable devastation that was caused by the Gut Bomb. Even Chase and Daniel had no idea just how powerful it would be when confined inside an enclosed area. It only took a couple of seconds for the heat to spread the entire 15,000 feet, turning everyone inside the ship to ash. Just as the ship began to cool back down, four thousand Verron ships exploded through the planet’s atmosphere and began to engage the remaining Fighters. The odds were considerably different now and Robert was relieved to see the better than 25 to 1 odds in Verron’s favor. Most of the Qualoc Fighters refused to give-up as they were swarmed by the larger force of defenders from Verron. However, four Scouts popped their canopy and held up their hands in surrender; only able to stay alive because of their survival suits. Marines in body armor quickly pulled the stranded pilots from their Fighters and into Light Destroyers. The orbit of Verron was covered for a thousand miles with destroyed enemy Fighters, scattered debris and floating bodies. Most of those had been blown through the portals of the Mother Ship and had on no survival suits, they died instantly, but at least there was still something to identify, those inside the ship were cremated while still alive. Colonel Amber Verron was the highest ranking Officer in the air and took over the battlefield. She immediately had the R4 and smaller recovery units sent out to clean-up the mess, retrieving any bodies and ships that floated in the Verron orbit. The four Qualoc POWs were humanely treated and escorted quickly away from their dead ship to the surface of Verron.

  Amber congratulated Chase on his and Daniel’s successful designs and asked, “How long before it will be cool enough to board?” He responded, “It should be cool enough to board in body armor, but I’d scan for contamination from their reactors first. The heat may have damaged them.” The Marines released atmosphere sensing probes into the ship to determine any hazards that may exist and got favorable readings. Daniel showed up a moment later disappointed that he had missed the excitement, but had every intention of boarding the ship along with the Marines. He thought, “I didn’t get to see the Gut Bomb explode, but I can at least examine the results.” Daniel was joined in the huge hanger bay by Chase and Colonel Lawson. This was Robert’s first spacewalk and he felt a bit creepy as he exited the Destroyer now sitting on the hanger floor of the Qualoc Scout Ship, staring out at Verron below through the open hanger doors, what he saw when he exited defied belief. It looked like the inside of a gutted aircraft when the fuel tanks explode. Warped Fighters were surrounded by charred metal objects scattered around the stadium sized floor. What was most noticeable was the fact that there were no human remains to be seen. The people in the hanger bay had been in survival suits, but even those had disintegrated in the intense heat. The thick steel floors and walls surrounding them were blackened and warped. Fifty Marines led the way forward, another dozen headed for the rear to secure the ships reactors. When they entered the wide and long hallway that went through the center of the ship, Robert had a feeling of impending doom. The inside looked like a blast furnace and they had to be careful where they stepped since some of the floor panels had been made of high strength plastics and when melted left behind gaping holes in the floor. They came to a stairway and 10 Marines cautiously proceeded below. One room after another, they searched the corridor for any sign of life, but there was none. Some of the exploded portals had bits of charred ripped clothing stuck to the broken frames. They finally reached the front command center. Chase wasn’t sure if there would be any hope of recovering information from their flight systems. He knew that any soft-parts of the system would have been fried, but hopefully there would be something left for them to study. All the previous Qualoc ships they encountered activated a self-destruct when they knew they were defeated, this had happened to fast for the captain to do so.

  There was an urgent communication from the Marine boarding team that had gone down the stairs. Without hesitation, the Marines from all over the ship raced in their direction. Chase, Daniel and Robert followed close behind. The two Dragon Guard members wanted to lead the way, but knew it would be best to let the Marines do what they were trained to do. When they entered a burned-out warehouse area in the lowest forward deck they soon realized what they were seeing. This was the staging area for the ground assault teams. There were thousands of damaged missiles and other weapons stacked along wide aisles. As they cautiously made their way to the rear they soon found what the Marines had radioed about. Two Troop Transports had been damaged by the intense heat and the warping of the Mother Ship had made it impossible to open their exit bay doors. There were several more of the 50 man transports in the room, but they had evidently had their doors opened when the Gut Bomb swept through the area. The 100 soldiers trapped inside the two landers looked terrified as they saw themselves surrounded by the Marines and knew they had no way of escape. Chase and Daniel looked inside and realized that the well-armed soldiers had on body armor, but did not have on environmental suits. Evidently they knew there would be no need for them on the surface of Verron. But, that created another problem. There was no way to let them out without killing them. To everyone’s amazement Chase and Daniel pulled their laser sabre from their side and cut along the edge of the warped staging areas hanger doors. With a hard push, the huge door fell away from the Scout Ship and floated away in space. They radioed for one of the smaller recovery ships to come to their location. The men inside the Transports began to scream when the transports they were in began to move under the pull of the tractor-beam in the direction of the open doors. In about thirty minutes both transports were safely inside the Verron recovery-ship bay.

  As two hundred heavily armed Marines surrounded the transports, Chase and Daniel once again used their sabre to cut man-sized holes in both ships. The men inside did not understand the strange language spoken by the Verron Marines but got the hint quickly enough. One-by-one the Qualoc soldiers filed-out of the transports unarmed with their hands over their head. They were quickly restrained and searched
for hidden weapons. As soon as that was done, they were escorted to the dining hall and given something to eat and drink. Shortly after they began to eat, a young woman entered the room escorted by a dozen Marines. Through some kind of a translator she spoke into, they understood, “My name is Colonel Amber Verron. You are prisoners of war under the control of the Nation of Verron. I assure you, you will be treated well. If any of you have medical problems, please let my Marines know. Welcome to Verron.” With that she turned and left the room. Verron now had 104 Qualoc POWs and no prison. Amber decided she would defer to General Zarman and Vlad about what to do with them. She left the room followed by a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force who had never experienced anything like this in his career. He was more impressed than ever with the woman he was in love with.

  Paul returned the next day after making his visits to allied planets. When he entered his office Inga asked, “General Zarman and Vlad need to know where you want the new prison built.” She loved to do things like this to Paul. It greatly amused her when he had no idea what she was talking about. Paul stood silent a moment and asked, “Prison. What prison?” Inga couldn’t resist and responded, “Well, we have to have some place to put all the POWs.” Once again Paul could see the look in her evil blue eyes and told her, “Well, you have a pretty large basement at your new house. How about you take half of them and General Zarman can take the other half. Now, what the heck are you talking about?” Inga smiled and told him, “Well, we had an enemy invasion while you were gone and after Tala, Katelyn and Amber welcomed them to Verron and Chase destroyed their only way home, we ended up with 104 POWs. General Z is holding them temporarily in the hanger bay of one of the small R4s until we decide what to do with them.” Paul sat down in his Recaro office chair and asked, “Did we suffer any casualties?” Inga shook her head, and answered more seriously, “No Sir, we had none. But according to what we can gather from the POWs there are over 7000 dead Qualoc.” Paul looked up, “The Qualoc. I was wondering how long it would take before they found us. Do you mean to tell me they actually entered Verron airspace?”

  Inga told him, “According to Tala, they dropped out of the sky undetected on our radar or scanners. She knew they were here only when she saw them behind her. She shot down eight out of ten before they headed back to their orbiting ship, which we had no idea was there.” Paul laughed, “Of all the people on Verron to drop in on unexpectedly they had to choose Tala. I love it! However, we need to find out how they got so close without us knowing it. If it had been a true invasion fleet a lot of our people could have died. Where are General Z and Vlad?” Inga smiled and told him, “At Stalag R4 with your first POWs.” Paul vanished immediately. Inga shook her head wondering if she would ever get used to the way he did that.

  When Paul arrived at the Air Force Base everything looked pretty normal, except for the four alien Fighters, the men now referred to as Birds of Prey. All four were in perfect condition and a group of men directed by Daniel were swarming over them to analyze their capabilities. Two other badly warped troop transports were a bit farther down the ramp and were also being checked-out by Verron forces. Paul spotted the smaller R4 parked beside the command center and since it was surrounded with a few dozen Marines, decided that it was the new POW Camp. The Marine guards saluted him as he went past and resumed their lookout. When he entered the open hanger bay door he realized that the Qualoc were being treated better than expected. The medical staff was there making sure no one was needing any medical care, there were cots lined up in orderly rows along the far wall and picnic tables set-up so they had a place to sit and chat or eat a meal. All eyes turned to the man who just entered the big ship and was greeted by salutes and polite greetings by the Marines and handshakes and smiles by the medical staff. One of the Qualoc’s asked the Marine doing security for the medical team who the man was and couldn’t believe his ears when he replied, “That’s King Verron. You’re on his planet, in his ship and eating his food. There’s no other King like him.” The Qualoc prisoner moved swiftly to inform his fellow prisoners who had entered and before long two Qualoc officers asked their guards if they could speak to the King. To their utter amazement, the Marine walked directly over to King Verron, who was speaking with Doctor Joe Verron, and waited politely for them to finish talking. When King Verron turned, he immediately acknowledged the Marine Corporal standing behind him. The two awaiting officers weren’t expecting anything like this. In their world there would have been days to wait and dozens of questions asked before the Emperor might see them; and then only while they were on their knees.

  When Paul crossed the guard line, the two officers prostrated themselves before him. As he stood staring at the two men, Yadvega walked over from the room where she and the Generals had been interviewing the detainees and stood beside Paul. He turned to her and said, “Can you please tell them I prefer to look a man in the eye when I speak to them, not at their backside while they’re lying on the ground.” When Yadvega began to speak their language, the two Qualoc officers slowly looked up to see that she was in fact speaking for the King. They rose to their feet and stood respectfully, yet fearfully before their captor. Flight Commander Ino was the first to speak. He was the highest ranking survivor of the battle. The Invasion Force Commander Alyx was considered the same rank but was junior to the Flight Commander in position aboard the ship. Ino asked, “What do you plan to do with us. Will we be returned to Qualoc?” Paul thought a moment and asked, “How many of your people are here because they want to be and how many are here because they were commanded to be?” Yadvega interpreted his question. Both officers looked confused. Paul then told them, “Those who would like to be free of your Emperor will be welcome to stay here. Those who would rather serve him will one day be returned, but first I plan to have every single one of your people questioned about their loyalties and motivations. Meanwhile, you will all be well taken care of and none of your people will be harmed unless you give us a reason to harm you.” Paul then turned and walked away.

  Soon there were dozens of men encircled around the two officers discussing the brief conversation with the King. Paul entered the room Yadvega had come from, walking beside his favorite translator. General Zarman, General Hall, General Zhdanov and Zimuel were in the room questioning each captive one-by-one under the influence of Kahlan. They were not administering a full dose, only enough to determine who was a threat and who might be a potential resident of Verron. The young woman seated in the chair in front of Zimuel at the moment was one of many who had been forced into active service of the Emperor. If she had not cooperated she would have been put to death and her family would have been evicted from their home. Paul thought, “Well that’s one way to recruit soldiers.” Once enlisted at a young age, the soldiers were placed on ships and transported to an outer planet for training and mental conditioning, just a nice word for brain washing. Most of the officers were volunteers who were driven by their desire for power and their loyalty to the Emperor, but even they were all too aware that their entire family would suffer under the Emperor’s wrath if they should ever make a mistake or displease him in any way.

  After hearing this young lady, Paul made a decision that surprised even his Generals. “Zimuel, I want you to separate the Qualoc like this one and house them in a different location from the others. Let them have complete freedom to move about in a restricted area. Those who we determine to be die-hard constituents of Emperor Lykios will be placed in extra tight restrictive custody under heavy Marine guard. I will eventually return them to Qualoc, at least when I find out where Qualoc is located.” The young Corporal looked confused by the conversation and seemed nervous when she was escorted out a different door and not returned to the rest of her comrades. Vlad gave Paul a questioning look and knew better than to say anything, he had learned that there was a time to question Paul Verron’s decisions and there was a time to keep your mouth shut. This was a time for being quiet. Paul turned to leave and asked, “Jim, aren’t there enough empty
quarters in the underground housing units on the Marine base to handle those who check-out as friendlies?” General Z nodded his yes and simply replied, “Got it.” Turning to the Marine Sergeant escorting the Qualoc girl out, he said, “You heard him. Make her feel at home. There are a dozen more we already questioned in the forward holding area. Take them with you.” The big Marine saluted and smiled, saying “Yes Sir!”

  Paul left the interrogation room and made his way across the aircraft ramp to the NASA Space Shuttle to see Amber and the NASA people. As he approached, Samantha Sullivan greeted him with a smile and, “My friends here are a bit overwhelmed with yesterday’s events. Amber let us fly the Space Shuttle up to see the Qualoc Scout Ship. We thought the Verron Man of War was big, that’s things huge and Chase Verron killed everyone onboard with his new Two Tap Gut Bomb?” Paul smiled at the ridiculous names Chase and Daniel gave their weapons systems. He didn’t mind them naming them, as long as they worked. Paul turned to Amber and complimented her on her command of the entire incident and let her know that General Zarman couldn’t have done any better job if he had been there instead of on Tecalna. Admiral Sullivan intoned, “This girl has General written all over her.” Turning to Amber, she asked, “Sure you don’t want to come back with me and join the Navy, our uniforms look way cooler than those dark gray things you wear?” Amber smiled and replied, “Would I get to fight alien invasions from outer-space and have my own personal Fighter parked in my front yard?” Samantha and her NASA friends laughed at the thought that this 21 year-old girl had a multi-billion dollar Fighter that she used for her daily commute to work. Paul asked, “Where’s Robert. Wasn’t he here yesterday?” Amber pointed up and answered, “Now that the man has made his first space-walk there’s no controlling him. He’s up there with Chase, Tala and Katelyn examining the wrecked Scout Ship. We have to go back to the Academy tomorrow, so he wants to learn everything he can before we go back. No doubt, as soon as the Pentagon finds out about this, he will be called in for a briefing.” Samantha sighed. She just realized that she probably would be called in as well.