The Futility Wars

by Magnus Thollander

  "You" she pointed at a man sitting and drinking a cup of coffee in a little en cove, the soldier looked at her "Where is the commander of this operation? Which floor is the command central." Yua spoke, the soldier stared at her and spoke "'Little miss, arrogant as ever, Heh.Yui. No Yua i believe, quite like your aunt. Quite a nice lady, with such a similar name you should employ more grace, like a lady." the soldier laughed.

  Yua frowned and used her psychic abilities to crushed the cup of coffe spilling allover the table, the soldier just laughed "Seems i need to get a new cup of coffee, and you need to get a new pair of shoes." Yua looked down at her shoes, and she felt the soldiers muscle tense before he even moved, she jumped back and a fierce kick were sent out toward her face, she got into her stance and watched the soldier go into a stance as well, he looked her up and down with a look of it being too easy to beat and Yua were at full attention ready to counter-attack his next move now that she was ready.

  The soldier just simply broke the stance and started to lightly laugh "Your father told me you would come here, you think he would not know of you trying to join this little mission? Your little renegade play style won't fly here where it's order and stability, soldiers need to count on each other. We might be a mix of everything from rapists to heroes, but there is one thing we all are. Soldiers in cohesion which you are not, you are not a soldier. You should leave while you can"

  Yua scoffed at the soldier with his arrogance, play by the rules? She made the rules whenever she engaged in combat. She was extremely proficient in all types of tactical data and could lead a battalion if she ever wanted, which she did not. She was a front liner by heart and sure she was never a soldier, but she had fought soldiers, and she always climbed on top no matter what the odds were.

  Yua was about to speak when she felt a powerful psychic tug from the corridor behind her, she focused and could not make out who it was, but he was extremely powerful and even she knew it might be a struggle to win. "I will take it from here Claus." the voice said from behind her and the soldier saluted and walked down the corridor probably to get more coffee.

  Yua turned around and saw the extremely young looking man which were looking extremely refined with a ancient black robe, looking like he was a member of an ancient drama. She looked him over once again, and he smiled and spoke "Juliet told me about you, She told me you would come here and cause a ruckus. Claus is right that you are not a soldier, and i will forbid you from joining this mission same as i am benched for this mission. We are not soldiers no matter how much we pretend to be."

  Yua looked at the man and frowned she was about to speak, but he interrupted her with a psychic message "But we can learn, you can join me in the command central. If the mission is a failure there is a chance that our powers need to be used to board the ship and make it a success the way they cannot. Please. For all of our sake, calm yourself and wait patiently. The war will still be here even if the battle is over." Yua did not like what she heard, she been never someone to sit back and watch the action unfold which were impossible as well considering the jamming capabilities inside the ships which made any camera and radio signal impossible to escape the inside of that ship.

  But she had to agree that going in alone was not an option and if the rest of the soldiers were against it they might risk their lives keeping an eye on her and that was unacceptable, she would stay back for now since his words spoke the truth, the futility were close to endless there would be countless missions going on in the near future, she nodded, and they walked into the transport that was about to undock and begin its short journey into the battle.

  S-4XN-001 Began his assault to separate the ships that were going to boarded, and he did it by simplest way possible, he unleashed the solar awakening devices to it's full capabilities to frag all the tiny futility ships in the system and then started to surround the hive looking ship with massive shield generators locking it in place, the fleet swooped in immediately to protect the area around the ship and snipe any incoming futility fleets, once he cracked the shell he could no longer use the solar awakening device since that would "kill" the interior of the ship, he had to let the soldiers get in and extract or kill any aliens' futility inside, so he could discover any data in those organic databases which he done previously in the Ortha galaxy.

  The battle was usually uneventful when facing the small weaker ships that could no longer threaten him, but he had to keep vigilant of the bigger ones that could "scratch" the paint, if a big enough number arrived even he would feel some pressure, there was a technological advantage, but he could not be everywhere, as long as the futility knew that they could just spread out endlessly to expand and regroup he would lose this fight, which has been the fear since day one. But there is no time for these questions while he could get answers, and those answers he will find in time. They were endless, so he had endless opportunities to find it.

  Kenny and Marcus were walking down the ancient trading station in what were the "dark" parts of the milky way, They were baffled at the outdated technology and how people could even consider living like this, even the most basic alien races he had met either lived on planets or domes which were equal to planets, this was just a steel hull like a battleship you lived in constantly. They felt like they had gone back two thousand years back in time.

  "I can't believe brother cares about this place, i mean look at them. Most of them are on a substance to even handle living here. Why won't they just move to the vanguard territories. A lot more livable." Kenny said while Marcus nodded in agreement, these people were punishing themselves which made no sense, there were constant travel out of this system toward the vanguard territories hitching a ride should be no problem, or simply booking one.

  They walked down the corridor and entered the bar area which they stood out immediately when they walked inside with their highly advanced black-gold coated armor. Usually vanguard colors, but they had no insignia on them so it was fine, they had left their custom sets at "home" considering they did not want to stand out too much. They sat down at the bar while waiting for their brother to show, which they knew he would this was one of his home ports.

  "We don't serve your kind." said the bartender while spitting on the floor next to them, they would have protested if they ever go to lower themselves to drink out of those germs filled mugs, they just ignore him and waved him off. The bartender looked furious but they just simply waited.

  "You heard the old man, get lost Vanguard scum!" a patron yelled and that started a tsunami of protests and jeers against them, they simply looked at each other and continued waiting, "I killed Vanguard pricks before, your armor might be resistant but it's not impenetrable!" finally someone got their attention, and they both stood up and looked at the youngish looking man standing at a table, they looked him over and saw he was armed and wearing what looked like a synthetic leather jacket which were brown.

  Kenny pointed at him "Bring it then! I'm not the one dying today." Marcus spoke "Kenny, Calm down. Don't provoke him, i know you are bored but killing a man is not something Daniel would like especially in what is his backyard, as they call it."

  Kenny laughed and turned his back toward the youth, and he felt something register on the shields, and he turned around, the youth had the plasma gun in his hand as it was still smoking, everyone looked in horror. Kenny whipped around with his plasma gun in hand and took aim at the youth, "Hold it, Kenny!" Kenny ignored Marcus and fired one shot straight toward his chest.

  Everyone felt like the room was in slow-motion, and they were about to scream when the plasma bolt got stuck in middle of air between both of them, Marcus was the first one to act and pull out his plasma pistol and point at the corner of the room, they saw a green robed lady sit in the corner smiling, she had her hand extended, and she clenched, the plasma bolt started to fizzle and slowly shrunk in size, beads of sweat were dropping from her forehead and Marcus assisted her in removing the plasma bolt with a wave of his hand.

  "Thank
you, That kid is too young to die. I promised his mother that i would at least take care of him on this station, Tony. Go back home immediately." The boy woke up from his near-death experience and rushed out of the bar. Kenny holstered his plasma pistol and so did Marcus as well, they sat down next to lady that had obvious psychic abilities.

  "You are from the temple?" Kenny asked, She nodded "Yes. I was a member for many years, but i have still a life-time of things left to learn. This took almost all my energy to simply stop the bolt, i should have reflected it away from him, but i noticed your powerful psychic energy, you must be from the temple as well?" she spoke gently and with grace.

  "No, we are not from the temple. We are-" "Marcus..." Kenny spoke after interjecting him, Marcus nodded and understood "We are looking for someone called Daniel that usually docks here with his crew. Do you know when he will arrive next?" Marcus said with a smile, although it was hidden by his helmet.

  She replied "I know this Daniel you speak off, he will arrive today, he docks in this station once a month like clockwork and with either his crew or without, i know him from his powerful psychic energy and i have spoken with him several times when he docks here, he refuses to take Tony which i really would like him to do, but he can see things i cannot in that boy."

  Kenny and Marcus nodded and said their good byes while walking down to their ship to wait there instead, no point staying in this horrible station which probably at any moment could blow up randomly or have a oxygen pump malfunction. They walked down the corridor when they heard a screech and saw a few burly men surrounding a young woman that looked like a prostitute, they just stopped for a moment before continuing their walk, station security would handle this, they were not playing heroes like their brother.

  They were continuing their walk when they heard a stop, they turned around and saw the burly men freeze for a moment while several young looking do-gooders jumped them and delivered kicks and punches, Marcus spotted a shield-generator on the belt of the youth that attacked the burly men, and they knew Daniel or his crew have docked, they just stood there and watched the show.

  They were fierce but slow in Kenny's eyes, they had the basics down but not mastered. He felt like he could single handily beat all of them in a few seconds flat, they looked at the battle what felt like a few minutes and the burly men were sitting on the floor holding their stomachs or simply unconscious, the woman had run away early in the fight so there were no thanks for them.

  Marcus approached the ragtag team of "heroes" and spoke "I'm looking for Daniel, is he at your ship or is he somewhere nearby? I need to speak to him." That set the youth on edge, and they looked him over and spotted Kenny in the background, they did what anyone would have done in their situation and kept their mouths shut. He stood there for a moment and spoke again "Look, I just need to speak to him face-to-face, he is avoiding any communciations, and we are bit green to the gal- area." Marcus spoke.

  "Let's just take one of them and let them lead us back to him, why are we even talking to them, they won't say anything. Just read the mood of them. If Daniel cares about his people he obviously would find out who took him, and that's the meeting. Easy."

  Kenny spoke loudly from the rear and that's when Marcus felt their muscles tense, and he parried the first kick attempting to trip him, he was in his armor but the woman that kicked him felt no pain. He looked at her legs and saw a shield burst, and he smiled inside his helmet.

  He was going to get some exercise, and he unshackled his body and mind fighting this battle at a half-serious pace, no permanent damage. Everyone was looking not in amazement but in horror when that armored person completely disappeared from view, they were trying to understand what happened when they felt their backs hit the hard metal floor and their shield generator soften the landing.

  Lana tried to roll away when a metallic boot stomped on her stomach hard cracking her shield generator, and a swift stun blast her straight in the gut, and she moaned out in pain, the other crew rushed in and Marcus were having none of it, he was dealing out haymakers and kicks that immediately shattered the shield-generator, and they were being dealt a stun blow each.

  The battle lasted a half-minute before everyone was lying stunned on the ground, Kenny shuffled forward and took Lana by his hands and flipped him over his shoulder "You gonna stay here watch over them while they wake up right? I'll take her back to the ship. Just tell them which one and head back." Kenny said, Marcus nodded he was not so cold to leave them here immobilized, they might get robbed or worse considering the atmosphere of the station, he pulled out his anti-stun serum and after Kenny was well on his way back to the ship, he started to inject each and every one of them.

  Marcus told them where the female captive was, and they simply wanted to speak to Daniel, He left when he saw the first of do-gooders stood up, he left for the ship.

  Lana waked up on a sofa in middle of a ship which were designed like an ark, she guessed it was either Vanguard technology or warrior tech, she was not sure, but she rose from the sofa and saw two young men sitting opposite of her. "Ah, Finally awake, we mean you no harm we just want to speak to Daniel, He's been off the grid as they say, can't reach him."

  Lana did another double take and saw there were plenty of doors to escape from, but she felt it was like a unmovable wall in front of her watching the two youths that had manhandled her in combat without her able to react, "What do you want with Daniel? He has not done anything against the Vanguard, He... He is important to them." she spoke.

  Kenny laughed and Marcus motioned him to be quiet.

  "I do not want to speak too much about why, but we are not after his life. We simply need to speak to him face-to-face." Marcus said, Lana tried to poke him by trying to say anything of value, but they would not speak about why. Lana knew Daniel would board this ship alone and save her, but she could never forgive herself if Daniel walked into a trap and were killed, the consequences for her and everyone in this galaxy would be too much to bear, considering his father.

  "Daniel's father is a powerful warrior called S-4XN-001, so you better let me go or the organization and families behind you will suffer immensely! He's an extremely old and powerful warrior that was once the boss of the Vanguard and the nearby galaxies as a whole!" Lana said with confidence and staring at the two men in front of her.

  Their eyes shook for a moment before returning to normal "Where did you learn this?" Kenny spoke with anger in his voice, Marcus put his hand on his chin and rubbed it for a moment while keeping his eyes closed, Lana kept her mouth closed and Kenny put his hand forward and Lana felt a hot spot on her leg, and she yelped in pain. "Enough! Kenny! We are here to speak to Daniel not torture or kill anyone!" Marcus yelled out, Kenny stopped and left the room. Lana felt the heat immediately vanish, and she was breathing heavily mostly in a sigh of relive, "My brother has issues, like most people in our family does. We have some quirks and flaws and his are very personal towards Daniel as a whole, but i am not your enemy neither Daniels enemy, we just want to speak to him, And i know he would have gotten the message by now, so please stay here and keep quiet." Marcus said before walking down the corridor and the door shut.

  Marcus stared at Kenny then let out a gust of air, they simply stood in the corridor waiting for Daniel to arrive, Marcus was thinking of how explaining this whole ordeal which might break out into a brawl considering Kenny behaviour toward the hostage. They waited until the camera picked up an armed person wearing a vanguard armor, the scans indicated it was Daniel, no matter how good you try to conceal it the master of the technology was still their father, and he would want to keep tabs on everyone near his stations and ships.

  Daniel did not know what was waiting but when he saw that ship it could only indicate Vanguard or someone really important in this galaxy, but they had no reason to beat and kidnap his girlfriend considering anyone that knew of him would not want to become his fathers enemy which usually amounted to getting killed and everything you cared about destroyed
in some fashion.

  The bay doors opened, and he saw two young men standing at the entrance, Daniel would play this slow until he saw Lana, they motioned him closer, so they could speak, and he stepped up "Brother, I am Marcus and this is Kenny, We are sorry for seeing each other in his way but you would not respond the communcations, and we could not gain any help in tracking you down, so we have to do it the old ways, I'm sorry for the problem this has caused." spoke Marcus, Daniel froze for a second and narrowed his eyes to watch those two men, and he saw similarities to himself and his father.

  "If you are who you say you are, which i do not doubt. But i need to get Lana back first, Where is she?" Daniel spoke, Marcus pointed inside and started to lead Daniel down the hallway, Kenny snorted and followed. Kenny felt that Daniel was nothing special in his eyes, and he could not believe father would even pay more than a minute to please his stupid "crusade" in the milky way, he was doing nothing in the big picture and just playing around saving a few humans out of trillions.

  Kenny looked over Daniel and saw too many openings to count in his stance and his psychic energy was at least twenty years behind him, Kenny took some happiness in that realization, but when he thought about how his father always paid attention to Daniel he started to get angry again, he could not help himself he had done everything his father wished of him, and he still could not amount to anything close to Daniel when he was mentioned.

  He would have to chalk it up to being firstborn, but he knew his father did not care about that, since Yua was born before him and were being treated cold and distant, Juliet was probably the one he was most happy with and himself and Marcus were just a name to remember in his data banks as he called it. Marcus opened the door and Lana sat down on the sofa, He did a quick peek and Daniel stepped inside and yelled "Lana!".

  Lana rushed up toward Daniel, but she slowed down when she saw the two young men behind, Daniel grabbed her hand and led her down the corridor under their watchful eyes, Kenny was about to reach forward and stop him when Marcus grabbed his wrist "He's not going to talk to us if we keep her here, He will return, or we simply will track the ship he entered with, no escaping once we tag which one he is in. He should know that." Marcus said.