Rise of Aen

by Damian Shishkin

  A hammer! Aen finally got it; he knew what the Empress was hinting at. He was about to refigure some calculations on the console when Caretaker interrupted his line of thought.

  “The Dark Light has arrived and her Council wishes a word with you.”

  “A bit of a bad time for a chat, isn’t it?” Aen snipped at the AI.

  “I am afraid I have been ordered to patch you through, like it or not, Aen. Her rank overrides any and all of my codes of conduct.” Caretaker whined.

  Aen dropped what he was doing and walked to the holo-link set up that he had moved from the Ops Con a few hours ago. He had used it there for something far different than this, but now it would be for last minute consultation. If his plans worked, he would draw this conflict to a close before the day was out and humanity would survive to grow amongst the Empire. The device powered up as he approached and he stepped on the pad.

  “I am glad to see that you are still live.”

  The voice was that of the being who had haunted the recesses of his mind for the last few months. Aen found it hard to believe that he could fall in love with someone he had never met in person, but the way his heart jumped every time he saw her he knew it had to be nothing less than love.

  “I find that I am quite difficult to kill, but I’m sure we will test that further in the next few hours,” he replied.

  Lyxia looked rather annoyed at such a display of bravado, but the passion she held for this man soon overtook any negative feelings. For too long she had struggled with these strange feelings, but now she chose to embrace them as the Empress told her to. Without thinking, she stepped forward and placed her hands on his cheeks and held him so she could gaze upon him.

  “There is no worse time to give in to feelings such as we have for one another,” she began. Aen could actually feel her hands touching him though this was only a holographic display. “But the two of us find ourselves torn emotionally at the cusp of battle. I for one am tired of hiding what I feel for you Aen of Terra Sol, but the words themselves will wait until we stand this way in person. I am so happy you are still with us and the ancestors have let you walk amongst us once again, but I wish that you restrain yourself from such foolish displays of power.”

  Aen sighed as he now knew she felt the same as he did; there was nothing worse than being in love with someone that didn’t feel the same. His heart sang with jubilation, but he wore his mask of indifference well to hide the truth. If she had an inkling of what he needed to do she would rush down to stop him instead of battling on as needed. So as hard as it was to do it, Aen decided to lie to the angel before him.

  “And so I shall, Council—such foolishness in a time of war is unwarranted,” he said, trying not to choke on the lies he spewed forth.

  She smiled nervously; her right hand moved over his brow as she caressed his face lightly. If Aen had tears left, this display of affection would pour them forth in force. It had been so long since he felt loved, so long his broken soul craved it, that in a time such as this he would feel it was tearing him asunder.

  “When this is done, we shall spend a great deal of time together. Your soul can teach me such wonders, and I can help mend yours,” Lyxia said with a tear in her eye. Her hands slowly pulled away and returned back to her side. “But now, we must go over the plan. The Dark Light is mere minutes away from range of firing upon the Harvester and will send Ifierin to clean the Husk filth from the planet. I will need you to use the Amarra to flank the Husk ship and distract it when the time is right.”

  “She is limited, but it is yours to command—my hand is yours, Council.” Aen said with a bow.

  “Excellent. Power the ship up and be at these coordinates when I give the order. Keep the line open to make it easier to communicate.” She said as she signed off by stepping away from the pad.

  The coordinates scrolled on the engineering console behind him, and along with the battle plan he had all he needed to help her win the day—everything that is, but a functional ship. Aen returned to his station and began to set himself up. Slipping his naked feet into the boots welded to the floor, he felt them tense and seal themselves around him and to his armor. With a deep breath, he slipped into the harness and pushed the button on the machine to drive the attachment straight into his heart from behind. Although he was nearly immortal, it didn’t mean that he was numb and felt no pain. It was quite the opposite; Aen felt every cut and wound he received, and as the spike drove into his heart the pain was excruciating! Had he not been supported by the harness and his boots one with the floor below, he would have collapsed in agony.

  As the probe reached his heart, it began to draw from the limitless well of energy that was his heart. The ship became truly alive and lifted herself higher in the air. Lights on every deck lit, processors and computers awoke, weapons systems and engines came back online; the Amarra would fly one last time and would give her all in the battle to save the Earth.

  Lyarran Vessel Dark Light, High Earth Orbit -

  Three days, Four Hours since Arrival

  “Fire PA cannons on target,” hollered Lyxia as they finally reached firing range. Huge plasma charges lit in the heart of the triple-barreled weapon and were flung forward by linear magnetic coils that accelerated the rounds at nearly the speed of light. White-hot balls of liquid gas shot out from the Dark Light and sped towards the enemy, as the entire Lyarran ship shuddered from the recoil. It looked like all stealth was for naught as the Husk ship began to turn slowly towards the new—and quite unexpected—threat, but was not able to gain firing position of its own as the rounds struck the hull one after another with enough force to shatter the moon itself. The first two buckled the Husks vaunted defensive shielding while the third tore into the side catastrophically and with explosive force enough to blow debris out the opposite side of the craft leaving the mother of all exit wounds.

  Lyxia watched the Harvester spin the opposite way than it initially started to, away from them and giving her time to deploy the ground forces. The attack was not meant to end the conflict in one salvo, though in her heart she had hoped it would, but it was meant to buy enough time to ensure some safety to the drop ships full of Ifierin to land.

  “It’s now or never, Axyn; get your asses down there and get some work in for once,” she hollered into the comm line.

  They all felt the thud of depressurizations as the landing crafts burst free from the bays quickly and shot down to the burning planet below. “Ifierin have left the ‘Light, Council!” the Captain’s voice rang through the speakers. “Hurry up with this ugly fucker and join us below while there’s some fun left to have!”

  A small smile crept on her lips; the Captain was one of her closest friends on the ship but recent events had caused her to shy away from him. She desperately hoped that she would see him again so the two could catch up on the whirlwind that had brought them so far. Lyxia knew that there was no way to send a response as the line crackled in static; the ships had made it into the atmosphere. Instead, she turned her attention to the hulk before them that had spun around to engage them. The real fight was just about to begin!

  Groom Lake Military Installation –

  Code Name Area 51, Nevada -

  Three Days, Four Hours since Arrival

  Patterson and his officers watched in awe as three blazing fireballs came from nowhere and struck the nightmarish craft that had tormented them one after another. The Husk obviously had known they were under attack, because shortly before the rounds struck it had begun to turn towards the unknown assailant. It was all for naught as the General keenly observed a bluish shimmering coating around the Harvester spark once then shatter before the third round struck. When it did, it tore into the hull and blew out the other side as bodies and red-hot metal spit out from the ship; it reminded him of someone taking a bullet to the head and the brain splattering out the exit wound.

  Then they watched as the enemy sh
ip used the momentum given to it to spin itself around and once again attempt to engage its attacker, but the Lyarran vessel sped past it and began to circle its prey like a shark in the ocean—it was much faster and agile than its adversary and sought to exploit this as much as possible. It was clear the commander of the Lyarran vessel was well versed in battle strategy—Patterson, for one, was so pleased to see help arrive he nearly fainted.

  But as he sat himself down, he began to see a startling picture begin to unfold on the myriad of other screens he had before him; others with him saw it too. Five smaller Husk attack cruisers began to disengage from their bombardment runs and rise up to assist the stricken mothership—unknowingly the Lyarrans would quickly become outnumbered.

  As the first few broke free of the upper atmosphere, they fired upon the aggressor, which took a few bursts and shrugged them off as it spun around to take another run at the Harvester. It quickly changed course and began to address the new attackers with cannons strewn along the entire length of the ship. Once again, the Husk cruisers fired and the Lyarran ship dodged the shots, but Patterson saw what was happening and once again rose to his feet. The Lyarrans were being herded towards the main cannon of the crippled Husk ship; and worse they had no idea that the weapon was active!

  Lyarran Vessel Amarra, Earth Mesosphere -

  Three Days, Seven Hours since Arrival

  Blue turned to white, then to blackness as the Amarra rose from the warm embrace of the planet which held her close for so long; with Aen at her heart, she slowly lifted through the atmosphere and out into space. Air rushed out of the reactor room as the hull was weakened to the point of depressurization. Oxygen vented out from there and many other places as more than one leak had sprung in the old hulk. She looked more the part of the lumbering zombie than a threat of any kind, but as she inched closer to the rendezvous point she was imminently more dangerous than she let on. Her PA cannon was armed and ready to fire as were three of her defense turrets. The Amarra was ready to fight despite what her appearance may tell otherwise.

  Aen saw the trap unfold before him—the Husk had shepherded the Dark Light into a course which would take it in line with the main plasma cannon, the one which had struck Aen down from the heavens. In his helmet, he thought the commands to open fire on the cruisers with the plasma turrets and began to spend his short supply of ammunition to try and save the Lyarrans before it was too late.

  With a flash, the turrets belched round after round to the enemy craft that were occupied with their plan. As the smaller ships were just being used to herd the enemy, their shields were on a minimal charge and the combined effort of his fire along with that of the Dark Light buckled the meager defenses of two of the ships and tore them apart. Two down, three to go.

  Aen watched as the trifecta of cannons spat another volley at the Husk Harvester, rounds the Husk hive mind used to help their crippled ship get into prime firing position. The nose cannon glowed wildly as the plasma bursts tore into the hull and ripped deck upon deck apart; melting countless Husk into pools of muck along with the metal structures around them. But the momentum from the blasts spun the nose to face the Dark Light and fired.

  Lyarran Vessel Dark Light, High Earth Orbit -

  Three Days, Seven Hours since Arrival

  It all seemed to be going too well; even the unexpected addition of the cruisers was shrugged off as an annoyance rather than a miscalculation. It wasn’t until they had rifled off the second salvo that Lyxia had seen her mistake and truly saw the trap the Husk had lain out.

  “Turn the ship now,” she screamed. “Evasive action—prepare for impact!”

  The ship fire emergency thrusters and turned away from her foe as the plasma struck home once more. Lyxia watched in horror as the Husk used the blast to spin and return fire on the Dark Light. With a brilliant flash, the Harvester spit out a massive burst of plasma that struck the Lyarran vessel on her side square on; while they had managed to turn away from the blast head on, the ship was struck hard on her starboard engine. Shields held briefly, then gave way beneath the heat and impact of the blast causing the engine pod to disintegrate in an enormous burst of energy. Her fusion reactor spilled forth more energy to the explosion as a wave of destructive energy rippled down the hull. In an instant, the predator had become prey, the Dark Light was now motionless and struggling to keep power to life support. She was defenseless and the Husk were moving in for the kill!

  Las Vegas, Nevada -

  Three Days, Seven Hours since Arrival

  Las Vegas was the push-back point of the ground war; the position where the American forces drew the line in the sand to stop the push of human survivors further inland. Although it looked to be the perfect place for a stand—to save Sin City, of all places, was significant—it was more of a strategic plan than any other, considering the world military headquarters lay out North East of the famous city. Groom Lake was being threatened by the alien advance and what was left of the strategic command was only a few miles beneath the sand.

  So the battle raged on and both sides dug in hard as the lay of the land was in the human court. Home field advantage led to street-to-street combat; small skirmishes that were easily won by the Americans. But the Husk began to demolish the city, calling in a cruiser to raze the buildings to the ground and flush out the pesky humans. For every step forward the Earth forces made, the Husk drove them two or three back.

  Ever present was the thunderous rumble of the alien infantry as they marched ever forward; footsteps that shook the very ground for miles around. What was at first a small legion of the greyish cyborgs became an entire battalion that grew further each hour. The enemy had recognized the importance of this battle, and they knew that winning here would certainly break the spirit of the resistance of man. On and on the battle raged, as time passed the Husk began to assert their dominance more and more. Exhausted and overwhelmed, the American front line began to weaken and fracture—it wouldn’t be long until it was over!

  Then the whine of engines behind them drew some attention as landing crafts began to descend from the heavens. What remained of battlefront leadership called in to command in desperation; was it friend or foe? Direct lines to the command bunker only a few miles away were sketchy and the response was more static than words as the fear of being surrounded crept in. But from the swirling desert sand emerged a new force, one clad in deep blood red armour and wielding weapons similar to those the marines had been issued for this fight. The unknown soldiers stood close to seven feet tall, moved in perfect unison, and began to spread out to cover the broken flanks of the front line with not but a respectful nod to the humans manning the barriers. Their armor made them look like walking tanks as the crimson red glowed in the gloom of the smoky haze; in a way, these aliens looked like a legion from hell after a quick glance as they jumped down into the Marine’s bunker. But instead of staying behind cover, they hopped over the barricade and opened fire on the advancing Husk infantry. The newcomers flowed like water in battle; seamless maneuvers and well planned attacks began to halt the enemy push in mere moments. It seemed that the tide had finally begun to turn as the radio cleared and messages poured in.

  “Help has arrived!! Don’t fire on the Lyarran soldiers; they are here to assist us!”

  Assist—the newcomers began to assert themselves in a way none could ever foresee. As soon as they engaged, the Husk began to change strategies; the aggressive and nonchalant disregard of the humans was now replaced with a fearful respect. It was clear the battlefield belonged to the Lyarrans and no other; the Ifierin were here and now it was their time to fight for glory and pride!

  —

  Communication with the front lines was erratic at best, but what was clear was that the Lyarran forces had landed and quickly spread out around the globe to shore up defenses in key battles. There were a ton of calls to make in a short time, but the message was all the same despite the language being transmi
tted; the Lyarrans were friend not foe. Without much adulation, the newcomers engaged the Husk forces and immediately made a difference. Reports from around the globe showed the enemy was confused and alarmed by the inclusion of the new troops. For the first time in days Patterson was able to breathe normally; the tide had begun to turn in their favor on the ground despite the light show above.

  Las Vegas had switched from a no-win scenario to the turning of the tide as the Lyarran troops began to hit the Husk hard and fast. Renewed by seeing the enemy recoil in fear of the Ifierin, the American troops rejoined the fray to help the enemy body count rise. This fight wasn’t the only one that began to turn, skirmishes in Paris, London, Rome, and Beijing also showed promise with the inclusion of the alien reserves. Not for a few thousand years had humans and Lyarrans fought side by side, but not unlike the knights and elves of old the two races meshed well on the battlefield to work together. The Husk showed the first signs of weakness as they were the ones overmatched in the ground war with the Ifierin who were clearly masters of their craft of war.

  But it was hard to keep eyes on the battlefield as the war above the Earth blazed on. Explosions of plasma lit mini-suns that spread their brief but bright light in the warzone below. Along with a few very bright flashes there was one blinding flash that slowed everyone as all eyes pointed upwards; the battle above was coming to a quick but epic close.

  Lyarran Vessel Dark Light, High Earth Orbit -

  Three Days, Seven Hours since Arrival

  Lyxia slowly pulled herself upright again; the entire ship had taken massive damage and every deck was reporting damage. Silently she cursed herself for her mistake and hoped that Aen could buy her some time to get her injured ship back in the fight. She watched as the Harvester began to creep closer; her hull was scorched and tattered as the PA cannons had done their part with devastating results. The enemy ship ran under reserve power and inched towards the crippled Lyarran cruiser as her structure shifted and groaned with every movement. Lyxia only wished that they had gotten to fire another volley before this result came around, but there was no shame in dying in battle, it was the hope of every battle hardened Ifierin and that attitude had more than rubbed off on the rest of the crew.