“Sir,” the messenger slapped his right hand to his left chest in the Sceriae salute and hurried away.
Making his way to a sharp rise in the ground Acorus stood and gazed at the thick brush ahead of him. The Xenorri would not be here, it was too flat and the bush would have been destroyed as their starship burrowed into the ground. Where the hell could they be?
Calling up his technicians in charge of communications and the detailed holographic map of the area he studied it, thinking hard, trying to get into the Xenorrii leader’s mind. He would have to choose somewhere that he wouldn’t leave a footprint for the Sceriae to find, but where?
Studying the map he saw the mighty Zambezi river, a mile across at the Victoria Falls. The whole of Zambia was home to many copper mines; a lot having gone out of production but left as they were. The Xenorrii liked to live under ground and their technology was centred on sinking their starships into deep soft rock.
They had explored all the mines they had found and discovered no Xenorrii. However the great river would have flowed underground in places and the Xenorrii were experts at utilising old river caves. Land rich in copper and underground caves would keep the Sceriae from finding their starship; all Acorus had to do was second guess another leader.
Issuing orders for his army to close in towards the Zambezi he led his men through the bush.
***
Standing on the south bank at the base of the falls, his ears pounded by the roar of the cascading water, Acorus gazed at the mile wide stretch of mountainous rock that made the waterfall. There must be gigantic caverns and water courses below the level of the banks on either side of the upstream river. All they had to find out was where!
His army surrounded the land at the top of the falls and the banks below. Surveying the land thoughtfully Acorus formed a plan. He would order his army back as if they were leaving the area, then under cover of night they would trickle back. Once away from the area he would send a message to the starship located above them outside Earth’s atmosphere to keep a close watch on these coordinates. If they thought that the Sceriae had left to search elsewhere, the Xenorrii might venture out from their base.
From what he had learned from the people they had come across, the Xenorrii were always searching for more animals, including humans to farm for their blood. Their captives didn’t live long under their care! The number that had been taken showed Acorus that there must be a large force of Xenorrii in Africa. Everywhere else had been searched completely by the Sceriae and this area had to be where a large base was hidden.
Issuing the order to leave he turned away from the river and led his soldiers five miles out into the country surrounding the river. Even at that distance the roar of the falls could still be heard. Once his whole army was that far away they sank down into the bush to wait for nightfall.
The starship above them had every viewing tube manned watching the upper reaches of the river for any sign of life. For many hours all was still, then in the darkest hour of the night a soldier spotted a glint of light below in the darkness. Calling to his captain he logged it’s coordinates before relinquishing his tube to his superior. Once the captain was certain of what he saw he issued orders to relay the position to Acorus. As the message came in Acorus passed it on to all the officers in charge of groups of soldiers, along with the order to move in.
Converging on the river one group on the upper bank of the falls came across a patrol of Xenorrii on foot. and slaughtered them with very little noise. When he received this intel
Acorus wondered why they were on foot as it would be more sensible to travel by fighter ship as there was no game in this area for them to take. Discussing it with the team that had wiped out the enemy patrol, he ordered them to search for the enemy ships. They had to be within easy travelling distance with a small force watching over them.
By this time the army was converging on the coordinates where light had first been spotted.
Pausing he sent a message to scramble his fighter ships to within striking distance, then wait for further orders.
A small plateau rose ahead of them and exactly where the coordinates met they saw metal glinting every time the moon came out from behind a cloud. Orders issued, Acorus watched as the spearhead of his army approached the rock face; then the night was shattered by light and noise as Xenorrii sentries were found and killed. Ordering the rest of his men forward Acorus called in the fighters for backup, then moved forward himself to coordinate the attack. For the first time in years he felt the adrenaline of a good fight and revelled in it. The Sceriae surged through the opening into the mine and down the tunnel that led deep underground. Indolent sentries who had thought themselves safe, after the Sceriae had seemed to leave the area, died before they could raise the alarm.
Once through the mine tunnel they discovered a gigantic cavern, excavated by the Xenorrii to make room for a large settlement. For the first time ever they found female Xenorrii; this must be their main base on Earth and their supreme ruler must be here. Unusually the order was given to kill all, females and young as well as the adult males. No male Xenorri were found with them but further into the complex human females were found, with groups of Xenorrii males, naked bloody and for the most part comatose. The Xenorrii were so sated with sex and blood that they were dead before they woke completely.
Acorus army of humans and Sceriae hacked them to pieces, and passed the women back through the tunnels to be picked up by his fighters and transported to the hospital. The fight surged through the tunnels and caverns that surrounded the first cave, until finally they found the entrance to the hidden Xenorrii starship. They had been falling back to their ship, leaving their females and young behind, intent on escape. The fact that they were so careless with their females led Acorus to believe that many of their race weren’t on Earth but hidden somewhere in another galaxy.
As the Xenorrii fled up the ramp to the safety of their ship, its engines started up and the ramps started to rise. Their leader was perfectly willing to abandon his comrades to save himself. Issuing the order to fall back Acorus led his soldiers back through the tunnels, away from the starship’s flaming engines. Running hard, but making sure that his comrades were with him, Acorus flung himself out into the open and ordered his starship high above them to fire on the Xenorrii ship as soon as it was outside Earth’s atmosphere.
The enemy ship flung itself out of the ground throwing earth and rocks for miles around. As the Sceriae ducked for cover some were hit with the flying rocks and the night was once again rent with screams and curses. Up into the night sky the starship surged throwing out flames and pieces of itself that had been knocked loose in its desperate attempt to escape. As it became a trailing star in Earth’s highest atmosphere Acorus and his men stood up and watched.
It disappeared from their sight; only its vapour trail showing its path, and the Sceriae waited with bated breath. Then high above the atmosphere there was a flash like sheet lightning and Acorus’ communicator surged into life.
“Enemy ship vapourised, Sir. Any more orders?” the captain’s calm voice asked.
“No continue on your patrol. If any of the other enemy ships have learned that their main base is gone, they may try to leave too”. Acorus orders. “Well done”.
Sitting down he took a deep drink from his flask. “Let Allorus know what has happened and warn him to be vigilant against suicide attacks. Tell him to let Lady Joanna know that I am well, we have numerous casualties but very few deaths”.
Later, prowling through his soldiers, praising them and sympathising with injuries or deaths, he came across Josh sitting with a mixed group of men and Sceriae, eating shared rations.
“Acorus, sir, come and sit down, have you eaten yet?”
“Thank you, no I haven’t eaten. I’ll join you if you have enough to share”.
“Of course we have enough, here ha
ve a drink of this, it’ll perk you up”. Josh passed a bottle of whiskey over.
“Scotch whiskey? Where did you find this? Acorus exclaimed taking a good sip.
“We old soldiers have our ways!” Josh tapped the side of his nose. “How long before we can inspect the caverns? Do you think they had their blood bank in there?”
“With the hole the ship left behind the fumes should clear quite quickly. I’ll send my Sceriae in as they have their face masks to protect them. As for the blood bank, I’m afraid it would be close to their ship. I shouldn’t think anything survived”.
Josh frowned “Maybe that’s for the best. We got a lot of women out but saw no children. Do you think they would have been bled?”
“No they usually play with the children as they do with females, and they generally die fairly quickly. Also we found a good number of children by themselves on our way here, so maybe not many children had been taken. Let’s hope not”.
All the soldiers fell quiet with looks of disgust or hatred on their faces. This was one enemy they had no difficulty killing.
Eventually Acorus considered it safe to enter the tunnels. At their insistence the humans went with the Sceriae, wearing gas masks that had been taken with their supplies; the Sceriae closed their face masks completely. It was eerily quiet in the tunnels and they moved along them quickly. Reaching what had been the main cavern, where the Xenorrii had lived, they discovered charcoal bodies, burned to death by their own leader when he ordered the engines started.
Where the starship had been was a gigantic hole in the ground, with rocks and earth still falling. Finding a tunnel that circled the hole they carried on, finally discovering the Xenorrii blood farm. Row upon row of human and animal dead bodies faced them; the Sceriae had seen it before but the humans hadn’t and all hesitated swallowing deeply, to control their gag reflex. Some fled back the way they had come to find a private place to be sick.
Josh stopped next to Acorus and said “There must be thousands here. to keep all these alive as they bled them slowly must have been some feat”.
“Yes, they are experts at keeping their victims alive for weeks. When they die they are processed and fed to the living. You can see the feeding and hydrating tubes going into their body from a central line, and the tubes for taking the blood from their veins in their necks. Horrific is not a strong enough word for what they experienced”.
“They’re not burned, what killed them?”
Acorus looked around “The fumes for certain, it would have been mercifully quick, and of course most would be beyond feeling”.
“We should give them a burial”. Josh gazed round wondering where to begin.
“No, once we are away from this place my starship will vapourise this complex. If you want you may say a few words over them before they are dust”.
Josh frowned then saw that Acorus was right. To bury thousands would take weeks of work.” Yes, we have a padre with us and he does a service to cover all religion. I’ll find him and organise it”.
Acorus shook his head, if there was one God, why were there so many different religions, he’d never understand humans completely.
Issuing orders to make sure that there was nothing alive in the tunnels they headed outside, where Josh left Acorus to search for the padre. Fighters were flying overhead taking the injured to the hospital on the coast and Acorus called one to pick him up. He intended to rejoin the starship and organise the safe removal of his army from the ground.
Once on his ship he set the wheels in motion for the evacuation of thousands of soldiers. Some were taken to the coast to form a strong garrison in Africa and the rest were sent back, in waves of fighters, to their base in North America.
Then he returned to the ground and with Josh and a few remaining men heard the padre say his words for the dead. He spoke very eloquently and even Acorus approved of the simple ceremony.
Returning to the ship Josh stood with Acorus on the flight deck and watched as the Xenorrii base was reduced to dust. The mighty Zambezi quickly filled in any underground tunnels left standing and once the earth settled into place again, continued on its journey over the falls.
“You wouldn’t have known what happened here, a few months and the bush will cover over the debris. Hopefully the wildlife will recover too”. Josh said gazing down a viewing tube.
“Let’s hope with one of their main bases gone the Xenorrii will cut and run. Our starships will wipe out any that try to leave Earth’s atmosphere”. Acorus stated with extreme satisfaction.
Chapter 11
Standing on the flight deck Allorus listened to the communications between Acorus, the fighter ships and the starship stationed over Africa. He’d never doubted the success of Acorus’ foray, but it had succeeded better than anyone had hoped. With any luck it was the beginning of the end in the fight against the Xenorrii on Earth.
Jo sat in her usual chair listening as intently as Allorus; hearing Acorus’ usual calm voice had reassured her that all was well with him. Soon he would be back with her and she couldn‘t wait. As calm settled over the airwaves Allorus turned to her and said “You should rest Lady Joanna. You’ve been here all night and as you can see the danger is over. No more Xenorrii in Africa. Let’s hope any starships in the oceans or hidden elsewhere, panic and try to escape from Earth”.
Jo stood up “Yes I should rest, but so should you. You’ve done a double shift, all day yesterday and all night. Hand over to another officer and we’ll eat together, then you can tell me why you look like the cat that’s got the cream!”
Allorus looked blank then he grinned “Another good saying. I followed your advice and soon Rebecca will be mine”.
“I’m glad but you need to sleep. You never know what the remaining Xenorrii will do and must be rested for any occurrence”.
Doing as she’d told him to Allorus quickly briefed a senior officer; his second in command had been with him all night, so the third in command would be taking over the day shift. Once he was satisfied that his orders would be strictly adhered to he escorted Jo off the flight deck and they walked silently to the canteen. Both were extremely weary and now that the excitement was over desperate for food and rest.
The canteen was empty, apart from the cooks, as it was still two hours to breakfast time in America. However a meal was quickly rustled up for them and Jo led Allorus to a table away from the food bar. Once they were settled and had made inroads into the food on their plates Jo said “Tell me how things are progressing with your girl”.
“She is fabulous, sweet, untouched but loving. I know she loves me as I love her and is willing to mate with me. I did as you advised and moved carefully, but I know now that I can control myself and not hurt her”.
“I’m so pleased for you Allorus. But remember she is human and knows nothing about how Sceriae mate. If you are with her, and she is ovulating, she will get a shock when you can’t move. She must be warned so if she wants to take contraception she can”.
Jo remembered the first time Acorus had impregnated her and how frightening it had been. She didn’t want Rebecca to be in that position without being warned.
Allorus was embarrassed and looked down at his plate, so Jo continued “If you like I’ll speak to her, after all I am your stepmother,” then she laughed. “Although you are nearly as old as me”.
He smiled and managed to look up “I would be grateful if you’d do that, Mum!”
Jo swatted her hand at him “Let me know when you want me to have that talk with her. Now I’m for my bed, and you must go too”.
They walked towards their quarters together and as Jo paused outside her door she said “Rest Allorus, hopefully your father will be back soon and you will have more time to spend with your girl. Goodnight”.
Murmuring goodnight he carried on to his room, where shedding his armour he fell into b
ed and was instantly asleep.
***
He slept through until late afternoon, and when he woke lay there thinking of Rebecca. At the thought of her his body responded and as his hand stroked his stiffening shaft he planned the next stage in her seduction.
This time he meant to have her underneath him, with his rampant cock sheathed within her. Jo’s warning had given him pause but in his mind he thought that if Rebecca was pregnant, his father could not stop him from having her as his mate. Soon Acorus would be king of Scerior, his sister Andea was one of the last Sceriae females left and didn’t have long to live, which meant that Allorus would be heir to the throne. The plan to keep as many Sceriae genes in their race as possible called for males of Allorus’ age to mate with the half breeds that had been born to Jo and girls like her, who had been abducted from Earth for that purpose. The next generation would be three quarter Sceriae and so on, ensuring that human genes would eventually be very diluted. A good plan, but one hatched by a generation who had known nothing about love or even lust.
From his education about sex Allorus knew that a Sceriae male knew when a female was ovulating, so he must take Rebecca completely before that happened. His honour demanded that he gave her the chance to avoid becoming pregnant, despite the fact that it could be used to sway his father into allowing her to become his official mate.
Climbing out of bed he padded naked into the shower room; catching sight of himself in the mirror he paused, considering how big he looked. He must be careful not to frighten Rebecca, and must arouse her until she didn’t know what was happening before he sank into her completely.
Showered and clad in his armour, but carrying his helmet, he strode towards the canteen. He’d eat then go to the flight deck and relieve the officer on duty. The canteen was busy as it was late afternoon and for once he used his rank, going to the head of the queue and ordering his food and pouring himself a drink. With his hands full he looked around for a seat, then saw Mark waving him over to a spare chair at his table. Greeting Mark he smiled round at the others, all were male and were introduced as doctors, some human some Sceriae.
Scerior Part II Page 11