The Apex Warriors

by Marc Stevens

  ​Time passed quickly and in another thirty minutes, the fragment from the Prule ship was due to reemerge from the gateway. Justice moved the Legacy to a location near the gate so he could snag the capsule with the tow beam. We went to the ready room and geared up. As promised, Justice had our armor repaired and ready to go. We went through our checklists and verified our munitions were at capacity and everything was in the green. We became a tad bit anxious when the ship fragment arrived fourteen seconds beyond its predicted arrival time. Justice did not speculate as to why but did forewarn us it was an approximate transit time. He ran the capsule down and arrested its spin. We stood ready and waiting at the open hangar door. Justice launched the rest of our drones to secure the area and he took the precaution of reversing the gateway to insure nothing else came through.

  We were all wondering what we would find once we entered the capsule. It seemed that every time we came into contact with the Prule, we discovered something new. Unfortunately, experience has taught us that each find was usually more horrific than the previous. It would be hard to top our latest gruesome encounter, but we would not know until we entered the capsule. Justice pulled the ship fragment close to the hangar door just outside of the shield bubble.

  Justice had one final suggestion to make sure we didn’t step into a trap. “Commander, I recommend that the Troop Master make a portal and then wait inside the Legacy until we send a drone into the enclosure. I will instruct it to enter and gather video and other intelligence, then quickly return through the portal before it closes. We can then study the data and determine how best to proceed.”

  I had to agree with Justice. I did not relish the thought of being unceremoniously blown up again. I looked at my strike team to see if they were in agreement. They made me smile when all of them including Sael, gave me a thumbs up.

  “Okay Justice,” I called. “Bring us a drone.”

  The AI must have known what I was going to say, or just knew that I was going to listen to reason for a change. A drone uncloaked next to the capsule.

  I clapped Klutch on the shoulder. “Are you ready to go Troop Master?”

  The Tibor gave me his usual goofy grin and nodded. “I was born ready Commander.”

  “Alright. I want you to activate a portal and then get back on this side of the shield so the drone can maneuver into it.”

  The Tibor’s mouth was a thin flat line. Even though he agreed with the plan, it still sounded like I was telling him to retreat. He stepped off the hangar deck and boosted across to the fragment. He chose a spot on the capsule that did not have remnants of the alien ship clinging to it. Justice opened a hole in the shield and Klutch activated the device. No sooner than he got a good portal, Justice closed the shield. He pushed the fragment away from the Legacy with the tow beam so the drone could make a lengthwise approach and enter the portal. It was a tight fit, but the drone disappeared into the shimmering opening.

  Klutch returned to the hangar deck to await the results with the rest of us. I was holding my breath waiting for the damn thing to explode. To my surprise, the drone exited the enclosure, two minutes and forty-five seconds later.

  “Downloading data Commander,” Justice reported.

  After a brief delay, a view screen appeared on the hull next to the hangar door. We gathered around it and tried to comprehend what we were seeing. The drone had the interior dimensions data displayed to the side of the picture. The inside of the enclosure was about one hundred and twenty feet across and two hundred and fifty tall. With the exterior dimensions being over two hundred and fifty by four hundred, the walls of the capsule were heavily armored. The atmospheric pressure was just above the vacuum threshold and the temperature was two hundred degrees. The enclosure was vacant except for two large cone-shaped pieces of machinery. They were joined by a glowing cylinder in the center that was eighty feet wide and one hundred feet tall. A large globular orb was suspended in an unknown fluid inside of it. There was some distortion to the picture that reminded me of an old worn-out videotape I used to watch repeatedly back on Earth when I was young.

  “Justice, what is causing the distortion to the video?”

  “Commander, the entity suspended in the center of the capsule is emitting invasive signals of impressive magnitude. The signals were intended to override the drone’s protective firewall and corrupt the AI. It was making a brute force attempt to introduce new programming parameters and instructions into the drone. The distortion is a byproduct of the attack.”

  “I hope you are going to tell me its attempts failed?”

  “Commander, if our systems were not designed around Guardian architecture, the entity may well have succeeded.”

  Justice’s comment made me frown. We have encountered a lot of Prule in the past, but none were a significant hazard to our operating systems. The Hiveminds posed the greatest threat. Whatever was suspended in that oversized jar, was small in comparison to the much larger bodies of the Hivemind collectives. It was also just a drop in the bucket if compared to the monstrosity that was inhabiting the supercarrier we destroyed when we first found the gateway hub. This new discovery had me thinking that our mindset may have been wrong. The size of a collective was not a determining factor in the Prule chain of command.

  Klutch was getting impatient. “Justice, will it be safe for us to go into the enclosure and drag that Throgg out of there?”

  “Troop Master, if the signals encountered by the drone are a true measure of the entity’s power, then yes, it will be safe for the strike team to enter the capsule. I caution you that the longer you are exposed to the raw energy of the emissions, the greater the chance for the entity to find a weakness in our defensive firewalls.”

  “Justice, if we separate the entity from the machinery that is projecting the signal, will that stop the attacks or degrade its ability to inflict damage to other systems?” Tria asked.

  “That is an unknown factor at this time Tria. The attacks are generated by the entity and I cannot with absolute certainty determine if the machinery amplifies the emissions.”

  Sael quickly added her thoughts. “The more important question is if we remove it, will we terminate its existence in the process? If that is the outcome, we should think hard before we destroy the wealth of information the entity may possess.”

  Coonts must have been thinking the same thing. He looked around at each of us nodding his head. “I agree with the Operative. We were able to extract information from the entities we captured in the past. Don’t you think it would be prudent to attempt the same with this one?”

  I scratched my head at Coonts’s comments. It was debatable if the information we got from the Hivemind we had captured was usable intel. The piece of scat only gave us information that was meant to end our lives.

  I looked at Klutch to see if he was on board with trying to capture the Prule intact. He just shrugged his big shoulders and pounded his armored fist together. “There are females I still wish to pleasure in this lifetime. Getting older while trying to decide the fate of that Throgg is not helping my ambitions.” He stated in a deadpan voice.

  Tria, Coonts, and Sael all turned to me with raised eyebrows. It was not hard figuring out what was crossing their minds right at the moment. Sarcasm was a distinctly human emotion and the Tibor picked it up with relish.

  I rubbed my forehead and shook my head, then closed up my helmet and pointed out at the capsule. “Troop Master, let’s go on over and see if we can strike up a conversation. If we can get it to communicate, I want to hear what that thing has to say. I will make my decision based on its responses.”

  My strike team closed up their helmets and checked their weapons one last time. We formed up in our combat formation and I rapped Klutch on the shoulder. He boosted off the deck and we rapidly closed with the Legacy’s shield perimeter. Justice pulled the Prule capsule inches away from the shield with the tow beam and opened a hole. Klutch projected a portal and we went through. We checked for threats but there wa
s nothing inside to indicate that it was ever occupied by anything other than the large mass floating around in the tank.

  I ordered my team to spread out and encircle the containment vessel. They took up their positions and pointed their weapons at the entity. That was when I noticed a hiss start over our group comms. My suit AI confirmed what I already suspected, the entity was making an attempt to override our systems. I found the incessant background noise irritating. I pointed my shotgun at the machinery that held the vessel. When that did not stop the background noise, I fire a single round of explosive buckshot. The impact of the round sent sparks flying and only did minor damage. The shrapnel pinged around the inside of the enclosure until it lost enough momentum to float harmlessly around in the once pristine environment. It did however illicit a response from the entity.

  “Stop! You dare attack the Supreme Leader of this galaxy?” The entity blared out in the Prule dialect.

  That was a truly surprising response. Not wanting to show my true reaction or be outdone, I gave the piece of scat a reply it should take the time to consider.

  “You are the leader of nothing! Your continued existence is only because I find you are a curiosity.” I replied.

  “Your insolence will spell doom for all of your species!” The entity ranted back.

  There was a good chance the entity was yanking my chain, but I was not going to take a chance it still had some trump cards hidden away somewhere. I decided it was time to venture from the truth. Back in the day, I was the king of bullshitting. It was time to spread some around, with a little propaganda and uncertainty mixed in.

  “We do not fear death, our homeworlds were destroyed in your first failed attempt to pacify our galaxy. This place is the home to billions of apex warriors just like us, and we have vowed to hunt your kind for eternity. When we have cleansed this galaxy, we will travel to yours and aid the others of our kind who are already there destroying everything you value. You will cease to exist and biologicals will reign supreme in this universe.”

  I could only imagine what was going through my strike team’s minds. I’m sure it rolled some eyes but was glad none of them had anything to say about the biggest bucket of scat I ever served up. My fabrications also had a redeeming factor, it ended the background distortion that was blanketing our comms channels.

  The entity was now processing hard on the garbage I just fed it. It struck a cautionary tone with its reply. “I have collected the knowledge of countless races, and never have they divulged information on predators of your ilk.”

  Sael chose to bale me out while I was taking my time working on my next whopper. “Nor will you ever. Those that have witnessed what we do to your kind, are forever silent, and tell no one of our existence for fear of retribution.”

  Now, it was the Prule entity's turn to process a response. It seemed to be taking its time formulating a proper rebuttal. Coonts decided he needed to throw his thoughts into the ring.

  “Each Hivemind we capture divulges information useful to us. It is how we learned of your existence. You will be no different than any of the others. You will do anything to survive an encounter with us, even betraying your own kind.”

  I had to give the Grawl his due, it was a well-chosen barb that smacked at the truth. I just hoped that Klutch might refrain from letting loose any of the rabid machinations that typically run around in his thick skull. But of course, it was not to be. Since Coonts had something to say, the Tibor would have no choice but to try and one-up him.

  “When we are done with you, we are going to urinate in that fancy containment vessel until you succumb to our waste.” Klutch blurted.

  I wondered why the Tibor couldn’t just remain quiet and listen with patience like Tria. I didn’t know if the Prule entity could see us or not, but I waved at the Tibor and made a cutting motion in front of my helmet. I thought that would end Klutch’s comments, but he took the gesticulation all wrong.

  He looked over at my signal and then set his tongue in motion once again. “But first we are going to cut you up!”

  The fluid holding the entity started churning and roiling. The hiss that was previously a low background noise over our group comms, turned into a loud cycling screech. It was seriously annoying and I shut down my group comms channel. For lack of anything better to do, I spun up my minigun and pointed it at the cone-shaped machinery holding the Prule vessel. What the buckshot lacked in penetration the forty-four caliber Containium tipped explosive slugs more than made up for. I stitched a deep furrow just above the containment vessel.

  Sparks and flames leaped from the breach and the Prule yelled out in rage. “Stop, you mindless animal!”

  Klutch being Klutch, of course, had something to say about that. “Or what? It is far too late to beg for mercy!”

  He cut loose with his minigun and the top of the enclosure severed from the machinery in a flare of sparks and bolts of energy. I could tell Sael was having a hard time keeping her mouth shut. She instead waved at me in hopes we would cease-fire. As much as I hated the Prule for what they were doing to other races, I called a halt to the attack. The squelch that threatened to wash out our comms was no longer present after Klutch blasted one end of the containment vessel from the machinery.

  I thought Klutch might have cut off the Prule’s communications capability but was proven wrong when it chose to speak again.

  “You will never reach Galaxy Prime. We have destroyed the gateway that would have given you access. The time it will take you to make the transition will be beyond your useless biological lifespan. Any technological advantage you may think you have now will be antiquated. The Prule lifespan is eternal. We will rule this universe regardless of your actions.”

  Tria finally decided she had heard enough. Some of the things the Prule entity was spouting didn’t add up, or it was stretching the truth just as much as I did. Just like me, she had no problem going out on a limb to try and coax it into giving up information that it might not otherwise admit.

  “You are a fool if you think that it is just a coincidence that you are no longer able to contact your former strongholds in Galaxy Prime. The Sentinal races of this galaxy have been wreaking havoc on your home galaxy for as long as you have inhabited ours. Our technology is beyond your comprehension and we do not need the gateways to reach your homeworlds. We will not rest until we sanitize the universe of your kind.”

  Tria’s declaration silenced the entity but did get the juice in its jar to churning. She just gave the supposed Supreme Prule leader of our galaxy a good dose of uncertainty. If nothing else, it would now wonder if their existence was just as much in doubt as ours was.

  “Klutch, make a hole, we are done here.”

  Sael started to protest, but I cut her off. “No Sael, we are not going to destroy the entity. I am going to leave it up to Justice to extract it from the capsule and decide how best to contain it for the journey back to Alpha Base.”

  That netted me a rare apology from the Chaalt warrior. “Affirmative Commander understood. I apologize for the interruption.”

  Klutch projected a hole on the capsule wall and we quickly exited. Justice sounded relieved when he reestablished comms with us.

  “Commander, do you require my assistance?”

  I knew he was already in the process of downloading our armor data, but I gave him my input anyway. “Justice, I need you to remove a Prule containment vessel from the capsule in one piece if possible, if not, I won’t hold it against you.”

  The words had barely left my mouth when I felt the tow beam latch onto me. Justice pulled us all into the hangar bay and secured the hatches. He put a view screen up on a bulkhead. We retracted our helmets and gathered around it to see how Justice would proceed. He pushed the capsule away from the Legacy with considerable force. The ship fragment and capsule were growing smaller by the second as the distance increased. When Justice determined it was far enough away he matched speed with the target. It appeared to stop as a tiny dot on the view sc
reen. He magnified it so it leaped back into clear focus. I imagine if the Prule entity could take a crap, it was doing so all over its fancy enclosure. It was probably thinking its time as Supreme Leader of our galaxy was going to come to a sudden permanent end. In a show of Justice’s usual magnificent marksmanship, he hit the edge of the enclosure a glancing shot with the Legacy’s main beam weapon. In a shower of molten sparks, the capsule was sent spinning end over end by the force of the detonation. The Legacy ran the fragment down in the blink of an eye and stabilized it. There was a large hole in the capsule’s hull. The edges were still glowing white-hot as our view shifted to the interior. The Prule’s containment vessel was hanging precariously from its remaining anchor point. Other than sparks and some smoke jetting out into the void from the mangled machinery, the vessel’s clear glass-like enclosure was still intact. Justice used the rail cannon to sever the last of the machinery that once held the containment vessel in place. The shot imparted enough impact momentum to send the vessel bouncing around inside the capsule. I smiled thinking it looked a lot like a pinball. I had a feeling Justice could have been much gentler with the removal operation but disliked the Prule as much as I did. I was good with that because I seriously considered blasting the piece of scat into unusable molecules.

  Justice snagged the vessel with the tow beam and pulled it from the capsule. The absolute negative temperatures of the void were having an interesting effect on the liquid in the Prule’s vessel. It was turning to a thick viscous looking brown. Just like the devils in hell, the Prule liked it hot.

  Sael was slowly shaking her head. “Justice, are we going to freeze the entity to death? If that is the case, it would be pointless to bring it aboard.”