by Sean Robins
“Assuming it was not a natural disaster,” added Barook.
“I take it you have chosen your team?” Tarq asked Kurt.
“Besides us, only two more Marines. You know them: Juan Martinez and Li Xing. They were with me in Operation Royalty.”
“You should’ve invited them,” I said.
“I did. They both said they’re professionals and they wouldn’t drink the night before a mission.”
I poured myself another drink. “Are you insinuating that I’m not professional?”
Kurt burst into laughter; then he gave me a guilty look and said, “Oh, you were being serious?”
Maada stormed into the Xortaag command center in Kanoor’s presidential palace. Mushgaana was there already. The prince pointed at the main screen. “This is the combined human-Akakie fleet which was on Earth’s orbit. Fourteen thousand ships in total.”
“We knew they would come,” growled the general. “Hence, our contingency plan.”
“And look who is here.” Mushgaana nodded to an officer. The image on the screen, showing the rectangular-shaped enemy ships, was enhanced until Maada could see a golden Viper in front of the enemy fleet.
Maada’s nostrils flared, and he felt his nails biting into his palms. He had never imagined he would meet his own killer, but now that he had, all he could think about was tearing Colonel Jim Harrison apart with his teeth. But first, he would find out how that loser had managed to beat him in the first place.
Mushgaana looked at him closely. “Something tells me you will get the chance, General.”
Get the hell out of my head!
Maada took a deep breath and tried to keep his anger under control. He needed to keep a clear head to deal with the task ahead. Anger would lead to rash decisions, and rash decisions would get his people killed.
Is that how I died? I made a bad decision in a moment of anger and got myself killed? He really needed to know.
“Why are they just standing there though?” asked the prince. “Could it be some sort of a trap?”
“Let us not make them wait,” Maada said through clenched teeth.
Operation Endgame started at 10:00 ship time.
After we made the final jump, I looked at the azure planet seven thousand miles in front of me, with its bright red sun and six moons, and wondered what the hell I was doing here. A couple of years ago, I was an ace fighter. I used to go where the government sent me and shoot down a few planes from time to time. Life was simple, and everything was more or less black or white. Now I was in space, and I was about to lead the fourteen-thousand-strong fleet under my command into battle over the fifth planet occupied by the Xortaags. My actions and decisions would have repercussions for planets or species, or, hell, the whole galaxy. And yes, I was directly responsible for billions of deaths. Angel of Death, that was me, and there was no end in sight. How many more people did I have to kill before this was all over?
And all these were on top of the three battles over Earth, where sixty percent of the pilots under my command had perished. I’d happily give everything I had and half my life to ensure all my people came back from this one alive. But when I saw the Xortaag fleet getting off the planet, eighteen thousand Deathbringers led by Maada, I realized how impossible that was. The OCD-induced worst-case-scenario thoughts circled around in my mind, and I wondered how many of my people I’d get killed this time.
I took a deep breath and opened a channel to the fleet; then I hesitated. I’d prepared a speech that would put Napoleon to shame, like what I’d tried to do before the battles on Earth, but now it somehow sounded wrong. Back then, my priority was victory. That, and shooting down as many enemy ships as I could. I guessed I’d changed.
“Guys, watch each other’s back,” I said solemnly. “If someone has an enemy ship on their six, I want two people to go save them. Everyone comes home, if we have something to say about it.”
Do me a favor and don’t die. I have enough death on my conscious.
“Good luck,” I added.
Maybe one day, I’d be able to bring everyone back alive, but with the Crimson Deathbringer coming towards us, I didn’t think it’d be today.
“And here we are, going into the belly of the beast,” said Kurt as Xornaa drove an Akakie vehicle—a hover car, using some sort of repulsion technology—towards the Kanoor presidential palace. She wore a Xortaag uniform, while the rest of the assault team were under Akakie holograms, with four feet, antennae, those horrifying teeth, and all.
Kanoor’s radiant beauty had astonished Kurt. The sun shone brilliantly, and the air had a permanent rainbow swirl. There was an ocean on their right side, with blue waves crashing along pristine shores. And everything smelled fresh, with no sign of pollution. The Akakies knew how to take care of their planet. Minus the part that they gave it up so easily to the Xortaags.
Maybe I can retire here one day, he thought. And the lower gravity on this planet probably means a longer life expectancy to boot.
Kurt wondered what would happen to this beautiful planet if his team failed today. Probably the same thing that happened to all the other Xortaag-occupied planets: the invaders would kill all the local population and eventually use up the planet’s natural resources. In the long run, Kanoor would turn into another Tangaar—an over-populated, polluted planet. Protecting the environment wasn’t the Xortaags’ forte.
If Operation Endgame failed, he wouldn’t be alive to see that. Neither would Jim, Oksana, Tarq and the rest of his friends. He shuddered and pushed that thought away. Worrying about failing in a mission that was already under way was useless.
“I miss the days I used to fight the bad guys looking like myself,” said Juan, who used to be a police officer before joining the resistance, under his Akakie hologram.
Kurt wondered if by “bad guys” Juan was referring to the criminals he had to face when he was a cop or the SCTU soldiers.
“I had to look like a freaking Xortaag during some of our missions on Earth, and now this.” Juan pointed to his Akakie appearance. His antennae stood straight, which Kurt knew signaled indignation, among other things.
“I’m not complaining,” said Li. “I had to turn into a white dude during those missions. This feels much better.”
Kurt gave him a hard look.
Tarq smiled, which for an Akakie meant showing rows of teeth, and looked at Kurt with his four huge insectoid eyes, moving his antennae in amusement. “You have to admit this is an improvement to your normal looks.”
“I prefer this to those freaking unibrows too,” said Oksana.
“You people’s lack of professionalism is astounding,” said Xornaa, eyes on the road. “I expected this from the Akakies, but I thought you humans were more disciplined.”
“It’s a defense mechanism,” Kurt told her. “We crack jokes to fight off stress.”
“Why are you under stress?” asked Xornaa.
“Who’s cracking wise now?” asked Kurt.
“I’m serious. We’re here to do a mission. It’s dangerous, but being under stress doesn’t help in any way.”
“Well, some of us humans actually have emotions,” Oksana answered smugly.
“You guys are married?” Tarq asked Juan and Li. They both nodded.
“Kids?”
“One,” said Li.
“Five,” said Juan proudly.
“Wow! Five children,” said Tarq. “How do they deal with the fact that their father is off to space for months at a time?”
Juan grinned. “Are you kidding? They love it. I’m their hero. They brag about me to their friends. ‘Our father is a Marine. Our father killed the Xortaags. Our father saved all of us.’ ”
“How about you?” Li asked Tarq. “Any kids?”
Kurt loudly cleared his throat.
“Well, I started it.” Tarq shrugged. “I had a daughter, but Maada killed her.”
Juan put a hand on the insect’s shoulder. “So sorry, man.”
“I have a granddaug
hter. Her name is Varma, and she is super cute.”
Cute! thought Kurt. Yeah, right.
“Enough chit-chat,” said Xornaa. “We’ve arrived. It’s time to get serious.”
The vehicle stopped in front of the palace gate, guarded by several armed Xortaags. An officer approached the driver side.
“Guys, brace yourselves. Full slut mode in three, two, one,” said Xornaa.
Kurt wasn’t even looking at the woman; still, the sudden rush of testosterone was disorienting. He heard Tarq whisper, “Thank God for sexual-urge suppression pills.”
“You have those?” Oksana asked with anger in her voice. “Couldn’t you give a few to the rest of us?”
“And miss the opportunity to see you squirm like this? Prankster here,” said Tarq.
Oksana took out her STG-666 assault rifle from underneath the hologram and showed it to Tarq. “I’ve killed at least a hundred aliens with this. I want you to remember that the next time you think about messing with me.”
Tarq winked at her. “Will do.”
The officer stood by the vehicle, looked inside, and gaped. Xornaa lightly touched his arm. “I have six Akakies here to do a repair job. Can you please let us in? Also, be a sweetheart and forget you saw us.”
The officer stepped away from the vehicle and gestured to the rest of the guards to open the gate. They gave him a surprised look but obeyed without asking questions. Xornaa smiled sweetly at the officer and drove the car through the gate.
Kurt said, “If Jim were here—”
Oksana interrupted him. “He’d make a Star Wars reference. We know.”
“Can you guys please focus on the mission?” said Xornaa.
Kurt scanned the area. He was completely familiar with the palace layout, having spent hours studying its 3D maps. The placed buzzed with activity. He saw hundreds of soldiers, dozens of Akakie slaves, and many ground vehicles. There were also a few Deathbringers, which were landed in an open area. This would make things more complicated.
The palace itself was high upon a hill overlooking the surrounding area. Its architecture wasn’t like anything Kurt had seen before. It looked very exotic, with several gold-domed towers and delicately detailed pillars. Except for the towers, everything was painted dazzling white.
“This talent of yours is both fascinating and terrifying at the same time,” Kurt told Xornaa.
“Turn it off,” growled Oksana, breathing faster than usual.
Xornaa looked over her shoulder. “What’s the magic word?”
The Ukrainian girl pushed the barrel of her assault rifle into the back of the driver seat. “Turn it off, please.”
Kurt heaved a sigh of relief when Xornaa stopped the “full slut mode”.
“While we were waiting for you to gather your forces, I arranged for Xornaa to participate in a beauty pageant on Earth, just for the fun of it,” said Tarq. “I wish you could see the look on the judges’ faces. A few older guys had heart attacks when she showed up in a bikini during the swimsuit competition.”
“I won, obviously,” the alien woman said proudly.
She stopped the car at an intersection, waiting for a few other vehicles to pass. Nobody paid them much attention. Even though Kurt had infiltrated several Xortaag bases on four different planets—including the bugging operations back on Earth—his heart still beat faster every time an enemy soldier took a glimpse at them.
“With the whole galaxy at risk, and while we were getting ready for a battle that would determine the fate of our species, you went dirtside to participate in a beauty pageant?” He gave her a sideways look. “And you call us unprofessional?”
“I go where Tarq says and do what he asks me to do. He asks me to jump, and all I ask is ‘how high’? ” Xornaa looked pointedly at the Akakie through the rearview mirror. “Even now that I know how he really looks.”
Tarq chuckled. “Sorry about the whole monster thing. I just could not resist.”
“You never can, can you?” asked Xornaa, turning the car to the left.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Oksana told Xornaa, “why are you so afraid of Tarq?”
“If you aren’t, you’re more stupid than you look,” said Xornaa.
Oksana was beginning to raise her assault rifle again when Kurt, looking at his PDD, announced, “We’ve arrived.”
“Thank heavens,” said Li, “because I couldn’t tolerate any more of this bickering.”
The hover car stopped. They were getting off when Xornaa suddenly turned to Juan. “Your brainwave emitter has just stopped working.”
Tarq paled. “Are you certain?”
Xornaa gave him an angry look. “Stop asking stupid questions and do something.”
“We can’t do anything about it here in the open. Hurry up.” Kurt walked briskly towards a rectangular metal hatch next to the car, opened it, and went down the ladder that appeared. The rest of the team followed him one by one. He ended up in an underground tunnel lit with fluorescent lights.
Juan was next to last, followed by Tarq, who jumped down the last few rungs and told him, “Give me your headband.”
Juan removed the headband from under his hologram and gave it to Tarq. The Akakie examined it. “It is malfunctioning. It will take me a minute to fix it.”
“Let’s hope Mushgaana doesn’t look our way during that minute,” murmured Kurt.
The seconds dragged slowly, with Kurt half expecting the hatch to open and the enemy soldiers to pour in. He looked at Xornaa when Tarq gave the headband back to Juan.
She shook her head. “We got away with it. Our presence hasn’t been noticed.”
Kurt released the breath he was holding. “OK guys. Hurry up. We have a long walk ahead of us.”
Standing in the command center, Mushgaana stared at the enemy fleet and wondered what the hell was going on. Why would the enemy come all the way just to stay in orbit? This was strange. The only possible reason was to lure the fleet away from the planet, but why?
He asked an officer sitting next to him, “Anything?”
“No, Your Highness,” the officer answered. “We are closely watching the Akakies. Nothing is happening.”
Mushgaana shook his head and looked back at the screen showing the fleet movement. Something was up. He could feel it. But what? He closed his eyes and expanded his senses, seeking something out of the ordinary. Nothing. All the guards were at their posts. The Akakie slaves who were forced to work in the palace showed no signs of planning to fight. Everything was normal.
Although…
There was a small group moving in some sort of a tunnel under the palace. Six Akakies and a Xortaag. Nothing unusual about that. There were Akakie slaves all over the palace. What got his attention was that there was only one Xortaag supervising them. In the absence of Voice of God, security protocol demanded Xortaags work in pairs or groups so that no one was surprised by an attack.
Mushgaana reached for the mind of the Xortaag soldier accompanying the group. It was a woman, thinking about her boring guard duties. He was about to look away when he suddenly realized he knew the woman.
A few weeks after the battle on Alora, Polvaar, who was well aware of Mushgaana’s infatuation with beautiful women, had suggested that he should meet a Xortaag courtesan. There was no love lost between the two brothers, so his suggestion took Mushgaana by surprise, but Polvaar insisted the woman’s skills were legendary. Mushgaana decided to see for himself. His brother was right. He did have a fascinating evening, even though now that he thought about it, his memories of that night were hazy. What was she doing here on Kanoor? He looked inside her mind and saw nothing that suggested she used to be a prostitute, but he was certain it was the same woman.
And then he remembered something else. It was the next day that he changed his plans and decided to attack Earth instead of Kanoor. A decision that ended in disaster and, in retrospect, was clearly a wrong one.
What a coincidence.
Mushgaana turned his attenti
on to the Akakies and found another anomaly. Four of the six had the exact same thought patterns, which was impossible. He focused all his abilities on one of them, pushed and probed, trying to make sense of what he was witnessing.
And he found a human mind under the Akakie brain patterns.
Mushgaana’s eyes bulged, and he barely suppressed a primal scream. There were humans in the palace! This only meant one thing: he’d been right all along. The enemy fleet was a diversion; the real battle was about to happen on the planet.
He thought about asking Maada to bring the fleet back, but what would he tell him? “Come back because I have found four humans here?”
He ran out of the command center, sending mental messages to the soldiers in the palace. The enemy was here, but they would soon find out that leaving would not be so easy.
I heard Maada’s voice in my ears as soon as the Xortaag fleet reached Kanoor’s upper atmosphere. “Colonel Harrison. We meet again, so to speak.”
“We must stop running into each other like this,” I answered. “Third time already. People will gossip.”
“Requesting visual communication.”
I touched a VR screen in front of me and Maada’s face appeared. He looked different from what I remembered from his photos. His beard wasn’t as bushy, his hair was shorter, and there was something about the scars on his face I couldn’t put my finger on. And he looked younger.
“He was born yesterday,” said Venom, “or at least very recently.”
“Unfortunately, I cannot remember our second encounter,” said Maada.
“Yeah, I forgot. You’re a clone now. So how does it work? How much do you remember?”
“Everything until two weeks after our first battle.”
“When you killed my wife, you mean.”
The general looked perturbed for a brief second. “Well, you killed me, so I dare say we are even on that particular score.”
Blood rushed to my brain. I raised my voice, “No, we aren’t, you idiot. You died instantly. I suffered unspeakable agony for weeks after you killed her.”