Tonight on stereovision!

 

Violence in the Ka'malma border regions, in my opinion, is caused by the heresy of-

 

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Xanthor City criminals, traitors and enemies of the state, who murdered three of our Tach enforcers in a brutal terrorist attack-

 

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-ing Tel-Nadr, that one of the Taktat Empire's nuclear warheads was shot down by a United Guns anti-aircraft matrix. Many of Terra Proxima's military leaders now consider ICBMs to be obsolete, favouring the slower, but more stealthy, Nighthawk Interceptors and Gunships. With the dev-

 

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-elopment of plasma weapons, some believe chemical-explosive guns are now obsolete. We would like to remind the enterprising warrior that the experimental anti-plasma shielding would be useless against any proj-

 

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-ect Utopia, a solipsist dream-world, has been uncovered. Not much is known about the Kharon except that they are based in the Xoralundra Jungle. The Jungle and the desert meet with a clear cut border that is spooky to behold. Beta "Savant" Salvedo is the only human being known to have left the Kharon for the outside world.

 

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Silph turned off the stereovision and slipped off the goggles. They could upgrade the hardware all they liked, project it into the air, give it depth through stereoscopic vision, but it was always the same. The news stations always locking on to the most violent and shocking stories they could find. And always, always, the mudslinging of the new media. First writing, then books, plays, radio, visual radio, videogames, the Omniweb and finally real life.

 

This is Evil, they said. Studies have show that 90% of criminals do this, they said. Fallacy after fallacy, demagogue after demagogue. Those damned statistics, warped and rewarped…

 

He looked out of the window. A huge starfield surrounded the space station, the deepest black filled with millions of shining points of light. In some sections they seemed to fuse into a cloud - the further stars deep in the Milky Way galaxy. He saw Sol, 10 light years away, and the sun, Kray, throwing a blanket of light over half the blue-green planet below them. The other half of the planet- the night half - was lit up with city lights just as impressive as the starfield.

 

He saw the cable of the space elevator below, stretching from beneath his feet all the way down to the surface of the Xoralundra Plateau, and above them floated the massive Anchor rock that kept the whole assembly in orbit. Because most of the cost involved with space flight is involved with getting off planet, the biggest spaceships were built, flown and scrapped in space, never even going into the atmosphere.

 

It was beautiful sight from the terminus of a ladder to the void. That was what he thought the first time he arrived. Now, though, it was nothing special.

 

Silph looked at his watch. Maintenance shift started in half an hour. He sighed. This was not exactly as exciting as he'd pictured his career with the United Guns. The only mercenary outfit with a code of honour wasn't involved in enough wars to employ everyone in fighting. Many members were now simply technicians or scientists. It was as if the UG was evolving from a fighting force into a nation.

 

He wandered down the hallway. It sloped upward, a result of the space station's construction. It was a doughnut shape, constantly rotating to create artificial gravity pulling outwards.

 

"Hey, want a game of Quil'zak?"

 

Silph turned around to see Lek, a fellow techie. He was carrying a cup of coffee, that centuries old elixir for anyone connected with technology.

 

Silph thought about it. Anything to relieve the boredom.

 

"Sure. I might grab some of that khava on the way.

 

Soon, Silph and Lek were seated at the Quil'zak board. The bet of 10 credits was put down, Hands of cards were dealt out, holographic miniatures placed on the checkered board, filtered glasses were worn and resources were chosen. The players made their first moves.

 

Opening gambits scouted the terrain and would give early warning in case of an attack.

 

After the scouts came fighters, gunships and paratroopers. Occasionally isolated clashes broke out between opposing patrols, building to a crescendo as the best fighters on either side were committed.

 

Soon Silph's new strategy paid off. He had gradually moved his infantry pieces forward in a leapfrog position, covering them with fighter sweeps. Eventually Lek couldn't get his fighters past the anti-air equipment carried by Silph's infantry. Silph was near Lek's base, while Lek would have to cross the whole board to get at Silph.

 

Lek let Silph approach, pounding his pieces from afar. Lek was content to stay in a position of strength and use his advantage. The sheer force converging on his base was frightening. He stayed in his defences like a turtle.

 

Many of Silph's pawns fell in the ensuing ground battle, but then Lek's radar towers were taken out by an artillery piece, meaning his defences against missile attack had been reduced. Silph's fighting troops were now stretched to the breaking point and only formed a tenuous battle line, but Lek was intimidated, playing defensive, and didnt take his chance to break through.

 

With easy recon runs, Silph assessed Lek's base and primed his nuclear arsenal, then stopped in surprise as a squadron of Flanker Gunships rushed his undefended base. Silph quickly sounded the retreat, but his weary pawns ran into a battery of rapidfire plasma cannons in the seemingly safe centre of the battlefield.

 

With his troops pinned down, resources committed and base overrun, Silph fought on, grimly. The reserve fighter squadrons were scrambled and his nuclear arsenal let fly in desperation, upping the stakes.

 

Lek's true air strength was finally revealed as the nuclear missiles were shot down by aircraft.

 

Silph's troops were gone when he finally forfeited and honoured the bet.

 

Quil'zak was a simulation of modern warfare, used by the United Guns to train their soldier's tactical minds even in their leisure. It was also quite fun to play, like chess, there was no single way to win. The Quil'zak grandmaster was the commander of the crack Vanguard division, who's exploits were the stuff of legend.

 

If things got rough, a single member of the Vanguard could board a Mammoth - a flying aircraft carrier and artillery base - and destroy it from the inside. Another squad reportedly scared a Ka'malman rebel army into fleeing the field without a single life being lost.

 

Silph looked at the holographic debris thoughtfully and wondered if the Strategos who commanded the United Guns thought of him and his friends as pawns in such a game.

 

The two players shook hands, first right, then left, in Quil'zak tradition.

 

*

 

"Any news from planetside?"

 

Lek looked up from the frozen stereoglasses. The attached computer's RAM and page files had probably filled, although with 20 petabytes of RAM and an exabyte of page files, he didn't see how.

 

"News You Can Trust says Tel-Nadr is holding out heroically against the inhuman invaders, you know", said Harc, who was kicking a webswitch monotonously.

 

"These are the people who claim the government of Ka'malma are evil traitors and heretics, while the People's Militia is an organisation for people who like to feed starving children?", says Silph, raising his left eyebrow.

 

"Yeez, don't do that, Silph. It creeps me out, you know?"

 

“There was another rally to ban Dihydrogen Monoxide today. Apparently it is present in all people when they die, and Nine out of Ten doctors are supporting the ban.”

 

“Would this be Nine out of Ten doctors Ltd, the advertising company?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“When will people stop trying to ban water?”

 

“It’s a crazy world, alright.”

 

Lek reset the device and checked what the machine was running.

 

Silph waited until Lek had turned away from the machine before speaking. " I know what's happening downin Tel-Nadr."

"Go on, tell me! Has it been overrun?"

"My friend is a correspondent. The UG keeps its battle plans hush-hush, but they let a few reporters in to have a look around. The guys from Tach have been shelling them with old chemical-explosive guns, the skirmishers pulled in and the fighting breached a few defense lines. They're hurling plasma through the streets now."

 

"I don't know if I'd rather be down there, scared or up here, bored" contemplated Lek.

 

"Hey, can one of you have a look at this? I reckon the Radar might be acting up."

 

"Nah, probably just an error. I'm not going to freak out the 502nd time an anomaly pops up on our equipment" replied Silph in a tired voice.

 

* 

Silph lay awake in his bunk, the artificial night of the space station penetrating everything except the hallway light and the mercifully large print directions to the nearest lavatory. He kept his door open because he didn't like to leave himself surrounded by total darkness. After being kidnapped, he wasn't exactly comfortable with dark corners.

 

He remembered his life back on Terra Proxima, in the beautiful coastal regions of Ka'malma. His childhood was shaped by a love of machines and the urge to make the world a happier place, which was the first tenet of the Holy Order. At the age of 15 everything changed. The whole nation changed. Suddenly the Holy Order was more than just to strive for peace and equality. It was malleable. Directable. Violent. And finally became a mockery of itself. Technological advance was halted, even reversed, free thought supressed and fundamentalism universal.

 

He saw his guide to life become a massive hydra, with each head attacking each other and the humans who were caught in between scarred his mind. His faithful parents were assassinated. Disillusionment and a heady dose of cynicism quickly took hold.

 

"Never again, Ka'malma. Never again."

 

He wondered about the Outsiders. The legendary alien society who were nearly destroyed by their robots. Did they too turn to dogma?

 

They'd have probably worshipped Isaac Asimov if they had known him. Imagine, all that carnage averted by three simple coded behaviour protocols. Don't let your robots harm you. Make your robots obey you. Preserve your robots unless it will harm humans or violate orders. Please. Is it that hard to figure out? It's almost unbelievable that such an advanced society would allow their robots to drown them and humanity in a bloodbath...

 

 *

 

Harc was annoyed. The supply of various legal-ish stimulants and sedatives had run out. The omniweb acess here was heavily filtered and he was completely outclassed at Quil'zak. Maybe you had to be in the UG. Harc was here from Tach Scanner Corp as a punishment for giving a colleague "back-talk". Seriously, if people hadn't figured out what a conversation or debate required by this century, they didn't deserve to live. But the dog-eat-dog corporate world he left would probably be the same under the Taktat Empire, if his luck held out as badly as it had before. It could all go suck on the Ploork virus's cell-drilling-thing.

Apart from the people who passed through, Silph, Lek and himself were the only three humans on the station. He longed to do something, anything, more exciting than routine maintenance, watching crappy reruns and gazing at the starfield. He longed for the day his stretch up here was over.

He heard that a bunch of United Guns trainees at Tel-Takir a few weeks ago actually got fighting right from the start. Harc wondered about what Lek had said... Is boredom or fear a better state of mind? Maybe he would have been better off fighting for his life on the planet's surface.

Another alert on the Radar.

 

"Damn! Stupid piece of SHIT! If there was a digital version of the Ploork virus i would personally RAM IT DOWN YOUR SELF-FUCKING-SATISFIED network card!"

 

Lek stumbled into the room, his eyes half closed.

 

"kn-yaaaaawn-knock th-that shit off."

 

Silph followed, eyes set in a roll, where they would remain for a few minutes at least. Harc didnt trust Silph's shifty eyes.

 

Said eyes quickly un-rolled and Silph's face jolted backwards as if hit. Silph was surprised. Now that was a new one.

 

Fully alert now, Silph hurried over to the controls of the station's scanners. He ran diagnostics. No, McAfeoTrend antivirus 2500 wasn't causing it, and neither was Windows TP, which had a new kernel and was supposed to be better.

 

Except for the resource drain. And the errors. Dear humanity, those ploorking system errors... But no... These were legit radar contacts. They appeared like an appirition, well inside the radar's range.

 

Silph's face hardened. "We've got unidentified objects coming in. This is for real."

 

Radar, travelling at the speed of light, was still a very good scanner, just as eyes are very good scanners after hundreds of millions of years. Basic, reliable and fast, yet evolved to incredible capability, the radar arrays on the station could pick up anything within the Kray system, albiet after accounting for the speed of light. The hologram showed a number of small green outlines in a black field, which were redrawn in their scaled down distances each time the radio waves returned. The station was represented by a square in the centre. Blip. After half a minute the shapes jumped. Half a minute... That meant...

 

"Just under nine million kays away , and... yeeeep, heading right for us. Very precise heading."

 

Harc looked agitated. "Silph, you look very calm. They jammed our "upgraded" radar until they got to nine million kays away! They have some hardcore gear and I don't think they're friendly. There's only one thing it could possibly be."

 

Silph gave a rare grin. "Yeah, it'll probably be the Outsiders coming to teach us a lesson about the dangers of using robotics. Excuse me if I don't freak out at the mention of a transparent and… irritating fable."

 

"You mentioned it, you smug spacehole."

 

They heard the sound of clothing being shifted and both turned to see Lek already in his pressure suit.

 

"If you two are going to sit around here for them to turn up, fine. I'm heading for the escape pods."

 

"We dont have any escape pods, man!", said Silph. "Windows has shut us out, and the security tuneller I've got working on it will take a while. We'll have to hold until then.

 

Harc was pissed off. "So we've been stuck up here surrounded by vacuum with no escape if something fucks up?"

 

"Basically, yeah. I mean, you could get in your pressure suit and I don't know, live, but maybe life's overrated to you. It's fine." Lek was already at the communications blister, talking as he contacted the elevator and the ground with powerful directional radio.

 

The station was only equipped with voice and data communications because video took more space and lagged like crazy anyway. "We've got radar-stealth contacts, coming in fast, unknown origin, probably mean business. Please send something before we get spaced and the cable gets cut."

 

Lek's frown grew as he glanced at the radar holo. "They're getting closer. This cluster is much faster than anything we've got. No way they're going to stop in time. I think they're boarding pods. The slower, bigger ones are probably their carriers."

 

Silph's face was set. "Right. All the fast moving objects are aimed at a single room. We just wait for them there."

 

*

 

A quick search of the arms locker had yielded some portable metal plating, which could be assembled into a barricade, Evercharge pistols that held 100 million shots each, a few Mark II TruAim rifles, smoke grenades and some flares. With their pressure suits and helmets on, they walked through the corridors and set up the barricade near the point of impact, with Lek checking the blips' progress on a portable holopad.

 

"Okay, get ready guys. Brace yourselves. They're going to land in that room right in front of us." Lek talked through the radio, his voice muffled by the thick composite helmet.

 

"Can we seal the pressure doors to buy time?", wondered Harc

 

Silph shook his head. "Not until the hull is breached. The system has restrictions to stop us having fun. Just like how the escape pods are locked down until something serious happens. Like when we're dead."

 

Lek tried to lighten the mood. "At least these pressure suits are self contained..."

 

Silph's eyebrow shifted again. Harc ground his teeth. They had locked the door by melting the knob mechanism to the frame, but it wouldn't hold.

 

They braced. And waited. They were breathing heavily. They had never seen combat. They were technicians, dammit! At least Silph and Lek had done basic training with the United Guns, but Harc had nothing.

 

Silph checked his rifle's sights and tweaked the settings for close range. His hands were shaking. These flimsy pressure suits wouldn't stop a pea-shooter. He calmed himself. They just needed to hold them off until the escape pods unlocked. Silph didn't know how to fight, he'd never even seen action. This was hopeless. He was going to die. His fingers gripped the rifle like a lifeline. Maybe fighting skill would come naturally.

 

A thundering crash echoed through the station, followed by the shrieking of tormented metal. The impact jolted Silph off his feet. If they could have seen the inside of the room they were waiting outside, they would have seen a conical pod slide in, ripping the 10-metre thick hull and spraying the torn opening between pod and hull with a liquid that hardened instantly, keeping the air in the station.

 

The lights went off suddenly.

 

"shit, shit, SHIT!", yelled Harc, releasing his stress.

 

The whole station shook ominously. All was in darkness, and they had no night- or heat-vision.

 

Silph tried to reassure the others, but then noticed his glowing holopad saying the escape pods were still locked down and facepalmed instead.

 

Someone lit a flare and threw it out into the floor between the barricade and the room. Amplified, echoing, clattering sounds of metal on metal numbed their brains and engaged their imaginations. But they had to hold.

 

The sounds grew louder. Harc gripped drew two pistols, their grip comforting him.  The door glowed, then a crack filled their ears and the three techies were thrown to the ground. Chunks of twisted, scored and charred steel lay on the floor. As they picked themselves up, the scene gradually took hold of them.

 

They were lined up where the door used to be. Mounted on caterpillar tracks, with legs dangling off the ground. The flare's red light washed over their shiny metal bodies. They were half Silph's size and they were shaped like regular boxes, except for the occasional antenna or bulge-and-tube assembly. They looked pretty stable, wider than they were tall. Slots were opened, pointy devices produced.

 

Silph's simian brain screamed at him and he dropped to the floor as a flight of projectiles flew over his head. His eyes followed them, and he saw several wickedly-jagged shards of metal buried in the wall. He noticed Harc and Lek looking frightened out of their wits, for the first time aware that the human body was a soft bag of fluids, helpless against hard steel.

 

Lek moved first, poking his rifle through a firing slot in the metal barricade, and fired calmly, aiming easily at the stationary metal boxes. A tiny dart flew out in a straight line that defied the fake gravity of the station, and behind it came the tight beam of glowing green plasma. In an instant it crossed the room and skewered a box, melting a hole and blowing whatever circuits lay within. The acrid smell of battery acid filled the air. The other metal creatures gave synthesised bleeps and bloops, then moved ominously forward. More came from within the pod.

 

Silph, gripped by a sudden sense of urgency, drew his pistol and squeezed out shots as fast as the thing could fire. Beams filled the air, and several metal boxes went silent. Then, as the three desperately jammed more plasma cartridges into their rifles, yet another wave climbed over the wreckage, aided by their stubby legs.

They glowed red, and what looked like lightning flew through the air to hit the barricade, ionising the air and crackling as it came. But it couldn't have been lightning, because the whole structure quickly sublimated into a red gas.

 

*

 

Silph lead the way, desperation in his eyes, his heart pounding. They had never seen anything like that before. No one on Earth or Terra Proxima had. As if responding to their fear the seemingly endless swarm sped up. the clanking sound filled their beings. They ducked around a corner as a piece of wall was vapourised just behind them. Mocking, synthesised laughter filled their ears and drove them on.

 

*

 

"The escape pods are hacked open!", yelled Silph over the sounds of clanking and zapping. "Just keep moving and we'll make it!"

Their breathing came heavily, but their fear drove them on. They avoided the long corridors and kept turning corners to avoid the metal creatures' shots.

 

Harc, bringing up the rear, was caught out in the open when the shards flew. He dived for the corner, but his leg became a pincushion leaking blood, and he fell short. Silph and Lek watched in horror as he fell to the floor and was slowly pulled out of view, his frenzied screams chilling their blood.

 

*

 

Whatever they had done to Harc must have taken some time, because Silph and Lek, guided by the holopad, finally reached the escape pods. Not daring to relax until they were out of the nightmare, Lek punched in the launch command with trembling fingers. The two technicians gasped in relief and cheered as the massive flood of adrenaline hit them.

 

"WOOO YEAH! WE LIVE! WE LIIIVE! BWAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!"

 

*

 

"One week has now passed since the capture of the Xoralundra space elevator by this... new enemy. Staging from an unknown point in the stellar system, they were able to absorb our most advanced radar until they were ready to launch their attack. They are up there right now, launching pod after pod of fighting robots onto the planet surface."

 

The speaker cleared his throat and continued. His audience consisted of delegations from all over Terra Proxima. The Taktat Empire, United Guns, The theocracy of Ka'malma and the many factions of Ka'malman insurgents were all there. Even the elusive Kharon sent one of their higher-ups.

 

"From the accounts of the crew of the station, we can tell that the robots' actions were aimed at causing fear. This is what we face; an enemy that can hide in empty space and from whom our soldiers will run at the first shot. We propose that the nations of Terra Proxima set aside their differences and join a grand alliance to secure the future of humanity. Our first step must be to turn back their pod-carriers in orbit."

 

A United Guns Stratego stood. "Speaker, if they are in orbit, why not simply turn our laser batteries on them?"

 

"We have had reports of gun crews trying this, but it has had no impact. They might have better self-repairing armour. No, we will have to get closer and apply more firepower. Our combined space fleets should do the job."

 

The governors of the Free City-States stood. "If we are to join this alliance we must be assured that our former enemies will not simply use our troops for suicide missions."

 

The Taktat Empire's ambassador's face contorted into a snarl. "How dare you challenge our honour! Your puny band of whiners are useless. They would have been crushed long ago if not for your... cowardly fighting by proxy! I wouldn't let them clean out our shithouses. Come out of your precious UG shelter, little rodents!"

 

"ORDER! We shall have order. Calm down please. If you can admit that you have more in common with humans rather than these newcomers, make your mark here. Anyone else can leave and make war elsewhere."

 

Not wanting to be alone facing a grand alliance and the new enemy, all present signed the pact.

 

*

 

In the Urban Jungle, the Rats of old Xanthor, about to detonate a bomb in a municipal building, picked up their radios, listened, and left the explosives.

 

In Tel Ignato, the sounds of looting, pillaging and screaming suddenly stopped, the imperial army of the Taktat Empire simply boarding transports and driving away through the hover-roads of the Free Zone, back to the space centre at Tach.

 

The raiders hiding out in the Ka'malman foothills emerged to greet the Taktat Empire's soldiers, palms open. The two sides met with handshakes.

 

A Kharon lynch mob, about to eviscerate an explorer with a cruel obsidian blade, heard the whispers being passed down the human chain and stayed their hands.

 

Captain Kiddy the lead software pirate had all his hackers stand down. The Omniweb in Tel-Astara suddenly sped up.

 

And in the fortress city of Tel Nadr, the brief peace was cut short, as the burning rubble again became a battlefield when the metallic creatures rained from the sky.

 

*

 

Above the Terra Proximan skies, an armada was slowly forming up in geosynchronous orbit on the opposite side of the planet to the space elevator.

 

30 metres long, sleek corvettes screened the perimeter with their high speed and stealthy profile.

 

Tiny 3-metre-long starfighters zipped around the fleet like mosquitos, on patrol or training runs.

 

100-metre-long Mammoths cleared their decks to hold incoming starfighters. All the magnetic catapults launched test pods.

 

Kilometre-long Cruisers tested their laser batteries, plasma cannons and chaff belchers

 

And the 2-kilometre-long flagship Tycho’s Spear, bristling with weapons of every sort.

 

In space, scale took on a whole new meaning.

 

 

 

 

 

Silph and Lek rejoined the 326th squad in a massive freighter, meeting up after weeks of separation. They would be flying starfighters on torpedo runs with the more experienced 314th squad.

 

"Why can't we just use robots to fight?" asked one of the resident techies.

 

Lek sighed. "Because, if we enable a robot to kill humans, it could go out of control. Have you heard of the Outsiders? They didn't inhibit their robots, now they're extinct."

 

Silph tapped Lek on the shoulder. "Hey. Ka'malmans and Tel Rik guys. Not good."

 

"Why?"

 

"Because Ka'malma has been fought over by about 20 different groups, calling all others 'heretics', for 8 years straight now. Tel Rik is full of exiles from Ka'malma.", replied Silph. "I stayed there a few months myself."

 

"At least Ka'malma's Order doesn't have a god. Then they'd both have finished with plasma and broken out the nukes already."

 

"I'm just glad the guys from Tach aren't on this ship. They've pissed off even more people with their doctrine than the Ka'malmans..."

 

They watched the tight bunches of people move as if controlled by a single mind, towards each other.

 

"Blind sheep!"

 

"Faithless heathens!"

 

 

 

From Lek's perspective it was hard to see, but yells filled the air. Now and then someone with a bloody nose would be thrown out of the melee and slink away to med bay.

 

"This is pretty amusing. Wait here while I go get some food."

 

Lek turned to face Silph. "You're enjoying this? But those are your countrymen there!"

 

"Not anymore, my friend. Not anymore. Besides, I enjoy the delicious irony. Look. They both believe fully in fighting like silly ploorkfaces, for their causes. The fact that they can't resolve anything, or that it won't do anyone good, means nothing to them."

 

Silph's expression turned contemplative and he laughed as shrieks of "Infidel!" and "Idiot!" reached his ears.

 

*

 

That was just the start. All over the fleet, the fights broke out. Belief systems with the slightest differences brawled recklessly, when it became apparent that no-one knew how to disprove faith with logic.

 

The rebels brawled with the government troops. United Gunsmen brawled with Kharon, and the Taktat Empire brawled with everyone, especially "Those whining pussy Freezoner squidfuckers."

 

Eventually, after much betting, the more moderate fighters pulled their friends out of it. To Silph, the immense futility of it all was too much. It had him lying on the floor, helpless as his body convulsing with endless laughter.

 

*

 

“Listen up, people.”

 

The mass of soldiers stopped talking and turned to face the centre of the room.

 

“We’re going to take the fight to those invading bastards. We don’t know who they are, what they look like or if they’re anything like us.”

 

“Some people, here in my place, would tell you that these invaders stand for everything we hate. I’m not here to lie to you. We have a job, and we’re going to do it. We have two squads here, and we’ll be flying Eagle bombers…”

 

Silph’s mind wandered.

 

“Cynic- That’s your callsign, Silph, stop sleeping you ploorkhead - will be on Delta flight as Delta 2, with Trojan as Delta 3.”

 

We’ve got a mix of new and experienced pilots, so look to your wingmates. Now, let’s go. We can’t give the other armies any excuse to sling mud on us.

 

*

 

After docking with a mammoth, the 40 pilots walked over to the fighter catapults. A combat spaceship can’t afford to keep spinning all the time to maintain ‘gravity’, so they pulled on their pilot suits and used the magnetic boots to cling to the floor.

 

The catapult area was a massive indoor space, with ominous hatches in the walls and fighters lined up in front of each one.

 

Silph began to feel nervous as he walked forward. His boots made ominous clanging sounds as they hit metal. He realised that he was about to fly into combat with only a few hours simulator training. He gulped and clenched his fists, trying to control his fear. 

 

As they approached the catapult a female voice rang out. “Heeey there! I’m Dolphin, Delta 4.”

 

“And I’m Swift, Delta Lead.”

 

Lek grinned and waved. Silph sank further into a pit of doubt. How could those three be so cheerful? Did they realise what they were going into?

 

Swift came and looked them over with a critical eye. She stared into Silph’s viewports, which avoided contact.

 

“Look at me.”

 

He forced himself to look her in the face.

 

“You’re nervous. That’s normal. It will go away once you’re out there. Just remember, you’ve got an ejector seat in there and you can call us for help.”

 

She gripped his hand.

 

“We’re going to stick by you.”

 

Lek thumped him on the back.

 

“Come on man. We burned down loads of those bots before, why should now be any different?”

 

But Silph could only think of Harc, his death scream echoing through Silph’s mind. He shuddered, then gulped, straightening up, purging it from his mind and setting his sights on the mission. Cold hatred welled up and suffused his being.

 

A shudder ran through the ship. Everyone on deck grasped for handholds as the ship started accelerating.

 

Everyone watched as the moving starfield out the viewports changed direction.

 

*

 

Aboard the corvette Order Guard the massive array of scanners gave a panorama of the starscape to the last detail, including infrared and ultraviolet. Radar signals showed up on the screen as a neon-green overlay, sporadic blips over the horizon.

 

The fleet lay spread out in perfect order, ion engine grids moving the ships slowly over the rim of the world, the continents of Terra Proxima spread beneath them.

 

* 

 

The call echoed through the catapult deck. “Ground crews, begin launching fighters. All pilots, to your stations.”

 

Swift grinned. “Well, looks like this is it. I’m glad to have you guys flying with us.”

 

A ground crew of five came over on a rolling strip of floor, stepping off with loud clunks. They examined the starfighters, going through the pre-flight tests.

 

The foreman rechecked them himself before giving the thumbs-up.

 

“All good to go, Delta flight. We’ll load you in.”

 

Silph was confused. “What?”

 

“Get into your ship, then we’ll shove you in the cannon and fire you out to play tag with the enemy. Got it?”

 

Nodding, Silph climbed into the waiting fighter, being careful to always hold a handgrip. As he hauled himself into the cockpit his legs trailed out behind him, before he pulled them forcefully back. He strapped himself in and put his helmet on, going over the controls in his head. Stick, Panic button, Sensors, Comms, Targeting, Lasers, Torpedoes. Got it. Silph noticed that all the weapons were recoilless, inertia being what it is.

 

The canopy slid shut over his head. Silph gripped the stick and firing buttons. He could still hear sounds outside, but he couldn’t see anything because his fighter faced away from the catapult.

 

“Release magnetic clamps!”

 

Silph realised that he was drifting upwards.

 

“Load ship!”

 

Silph’s view swung around as the techies underneath manoevered him into position, then gave the ship a push. He drifted gently forward, into the gaping, open maw of the catapult. The hatch behind him shut with a clang. Cold steel walls surrounded him, and a hole at the end opened to revealed the void of space. Then he was pressed back into his seat as the magnetic induction catapult spat him out. He waited a few seconds to drift clear, then switched on the rear view on his sensors. The fleet quickly grew smaller behind him, fading into infinity.

 

“Ready to play, Cynic?”

 

“Yep, just give me co-ordinates.”

 

Silph’s view of the fleet disappeared, to be replaced with a three-dimensional view of the combat zone. He saw a spread-out screen of fighters a few k’s ahead. He hit the thrusters and watched as they grew larger, then took up a position slightly behind and a hundred metres to the left of Swift, cutting his speed down with a burst from his thrusters. He watched as his sensors indicated consistent speed with the rest of Delta flight.

 

He found himself relaxing. He was in control now.

 

Silph blinked as the sun came overhead.

 

“Invert so you’re not blinded, Cynic.”

 

“Ah, right.”

 

Silph rolled his craft. He could see the vapour from the manoevering thrusters as he gave the stick a quick burst to the right. When he was upside-down he gave the stick a burst to the left to stop turning. The thing about flying in space is that there’s no air resistance to slow you down. Once you start moving you have to stop yourself manually.

 

Then, over the horizon…

 

“I think I see something! Do you think it’s them?”

 

“No. Check you’re scopes, we’re too far out to be visible”, replied Swift.

 

“Hang on…” cautioned Lek. “That’s not a ship, it’s moving too fast.”

 

“PLASMA BURST! EVASIVE ACTION!”

 

Silph went into a continuous barrel roll, his straps holding him down as inertia shoved him to the side. A blue line cut across his sensor display, missing the blob representing him by a hair’s breadth. In reality it was probably more like a metre, but the starfield was whirling crazily and he couldn’t see it.

 

Swift’s voice came through his helmet. “Cynic, you’ll be nearly blind if you keep rolling! Stabilise!”

 

“Ayo!” Silph quickly re-oriented himself with Terra Proxima above the canopy.

 

“And don’t worry about being the right way up!”

 

A new voice came through the radio. “Hey, this doesn’t feel right. They should be firing on us with all they’ve got by now.”

 

“Maybe they don’t have that much firepower”, ventured Dolphin.

 

As if in answer, probing blue rays flashed past Silph’s canopy, but thin and far away.

 

A cool, precise voice came through. “We’re going to keep moving in. This is nothing.” Silph immediately knew that this new voice was the Wing Commander.

 

“How can they fire with the planet in between us?”

 

“They can’t. They’re directly ahead.”

 

“I think they’re invisible to our radar”, offered Silph.

 

Silph could almost see the Wing Commander thinking it over.

 

“All wings, fire your lasers at the horizon!”

 

“Ayo!” The pilots replied as one.

 

Silph adjusted his targeting apparatus and aimed his guns on the point where the last plasma burst had come from. He heard the whirr as the guns moved independently of the ship.

 

He focused, checked the aim, and moved his hand into the grip, taking the safety off and holding the firing button with his thumb.

 

Nothing happened. Well, nothing visible. Laser light travels in a straight line, and without anything to bounce off, would never reach his eyes.

 

Then, Silph saw a flash. A beam of plasma flew over his canopy, but he didn’t notice. He targeted the point where the beam had come from, and fired the lasers a second time.

 

Something in the blackness twinkled.

 

“I have a target. Fire on this location.” Silph sent the co-ordinates to the wing.

 

On the horizon, distant, tiny, dimly defined silhouettes were traced out by the wing’s lasers.

 

“We’re not seeing any explosions.”

 

“Well, if the ships are crewed by robots then they won’t contain any air…”

 

“But we’re not seeing any molten metal either!”

 

Swift’s voice came through. “We’re close enough to launch torpedoes. I don’t want to go any closer than I have to. The other flights can have their death or glory run. Once you’ve launched, head for home.”

 

Silph carefully armed his torpedoes and set the targeting protocols, then released them all. Twelve torpedoes were released from clamps on the underside of the Eagle. He saw them fly into the distance, riding cones of brilliant flame.

 

He turned the ship around in a lateral spin. Burst. Wait. Compensate. His view swung around, jolting him.

 

He quickly fired his chemical engines to counter the speed he had got from the catapult. He groaned as the G-forces crushed his chest. “Up” was now towards the Alliance fleet.

 

The Wing Commander’s voice came through. “I see half of you have already fired your torpedoes. The rest of us will close in. No one else will fire until I give the go-ahead. We can’t waste torpedoes or time here.”

 

Feeling somewhat guilty, but also relieved, Silph burned his main engines again to get him out faster and was again crushed against his seat. On his scopes he saw roughly half the wing turning back.

 

He listened to the radio chatter.

 

“More plasma beams. Accelerate to attack speed.”

 

“I’ve been hit, I’ve got to turn back!”

 

“Keep going!”

 

“What the!”

 

“AAAARGH!”

 

“No. Nooooo. NOOOO!”

 

“Lasers! Where did all those lasers come from!”

 

“They were waiting for us! They were waiting….”

 

“..until we were too close to get away!”

 

“They burned right through my LEG!”

 

“Stow it. Fire all torpedoes!”

 

“Ayo!”

 

“Good work, now let’s get out of here.”

 

“I’m in trouble! My thrust-AAARGH!”

 

“Full power! Fire your emergency boosters! Drop your chaff!”

 

“It’s not working! They’re firing plasma now. It’s burning right through the chaff!”

 

“Why, WHYYY! This can’t be happening!”

 

“I- I think they’re stopping now!”

 

“That’s because we’ve got fighters on our backs!”

 

“We have to go back and help them!” Lek’s horrified voice cut through the chatter.

 

“Don’t be a fool! Do you want to end up sucking vacuum!” said Swift harshly. “I don’t like this any more than you do, but we can’t do a thing. They have too many guns. Wait for the interceptor squadrons, they can handle it.”

 

“Ayo.” Lek agreed, depressed.

 

*

 

The Mammoth loomed ahead.

 

“Delta two, slow down to landing speed.”

 

“Ayo.”

 

Silph turned to face away from the fleet, then burned his engines, crushed himself in his seat and watched his sensors. When he was moving at a reasonable speed, he spun around to face the Mammoth.

 

“You are cleared for landing, Delta two.”

 

Silph used his dorsal thrusters to push his Eagle “downwards” (ie, towards the floor) to line up with the open bay, compensated with a burst from the ventral thrusters so he wouldn’t keep moving “downwards” and rolled so he wouldn’t enter the landing bay upside-down.

 

He then relaxed, as the Eagle drifted into the bay. He was pushed forward as a magnetic field caught him like a fly in a web, holding his craft in place.

 

“Power down, Delta two.”

 

“Kay.”

 

Silph turned off all systems and waited. He felt the jolt as a magnetic clamp attached to the ceiling hit the roof of the Eagle. Then he moved, forwards, then down, touching the steel floor. The canopy was pulled open and Silph found himself looking into the visor of a pressure suit.

 

“Looks like you got away clean. You should really get some water, you look like you’ve been wandering through the desert.” The mechanic’s voice came through the radio, and Silph realised that the landing bays must be un-pressurised. He was in a room full of vacuum.

 

Silph noticed for the first time how hot he was. Sweat was pooled up everywhere.

 

“Ah, most first-time pilots are surprised at how hot they get, but space isnt cold – it can’t absorb heat. With the sunlight, the human body and a heavy pressure suit on you’re not going to feel cold for a while.”

 

*

 

“So, Delta flight, you fired your torpedoes early.”

 

Silph stood in the debriefing room with Dolphin, Swift, Lek and the debriefing officer.

 

“Back in Tach, you would have all been shot for that. Those torpedoes cost money and you can’t be sure they even hit at that range. There isn’t enough time for another run, so you have probably wasted our time as well as our money.”

 

Swift grinned. “Our orders were ‘to fire our torpedoes when we got in range’. That leaves a lot of room for interpretation. We were in range, we did get a target lock and the Wing Commander only forbade the action after we had launched.”

 

The debriefing officer leaned forward, staring her down. “You are walking a fine line, pilot. Watch yourself. You’re not on holiday here with your, ah, friends. Dismissed, you pathetic excuses for fakeburger meat.”

 

They turned to walk out. Swift was calm, the rest of them were fuming.

 

Dolphin sighed. “Come on, let’s watch the action. We won’t have to fly again until we’re closer in.”

 

*

 

The ships drifted lazily over the planet, the fact that they were travelling faster than Mach 7 not even registering.

 

In the bridge of the Order Guard, the scanner crew watched the horizon intently.

 

“We’re picking something up!” called one of the crew, from his scanner screens. “Something’s on the horizon!”

 

The Captain walked up, looking over the crewman’s shoulder, his magnetic boots clanging on the steel floor.

 

“It must be them. Communications, alert the fleet. Get into your pressure suits now. I’ll get to the helm.”

 

“Ayo!”

 

*

 

Aboard Tycho’s Spear, the pressure-suited gunners were scrambling for their controls, strapping themselves into their seats and reaching for the-

 

“HOLD YOUR FIRE!” The voice filled the ears and minds of all present, replacing all else. Everyone stopped moving.

 

“We will hold our fire until the enemy is within range of our plasma! We are not, repeat, not, going to paint a bullseye on a ship that cost 10 billion credits to build!”

 

“Ayo!”

 

*

 

Slowly they came, imperceptibly, over the horizon. They were shrouded in mystery, and humans have a primal fear of the unknown. Sometimes primal fears don’t fit the situation.

 

“Fire, Damn you! We can see them, we can shoot them!”

 

The cruiser Renegade Heart fired its laser batteries, then opened up with plasma. A fireworks display appeared on the horizon.

 

“Woohoo! Suck vacuum!”

 

Then, blue lightning came out of the darkness, and the Renegade Heart’s front section simply disappeared.

 

The screaming crew were sucked out with the air and left to float in space while a corvette came in and picked them up.

 

*

 

The captain of Tycho’s Spear was a cautious man, and had not kept his ship alive by charging into danger.

 

“Engines, slow us down! We want plenty of manoeuvring options!”

 

*

 

The two fleets drew closer, now clearly visible.

 

“Why aren’t they firing?” wondered Lek.

 

*

 

The fleet suddenly leaped forward, although ‘leaped’ is misleading. They gradually sped up until they were a mere 25 kilometres apart.

 

The enemy made the first move, beams of blue and red energy lancing out at anything that moved. The human ships in front received the full force, lasers tearing through their mirrored hulls. But even as the ships vented their air and crews their guns fired back, returning salvo after salvo. As they got ever closer, plasma flew, beams of energy doing in an instant what took ten seconds of laser fire. The two groups of ships turned all guns on each other, the human ships nearly blinded by the fireworks outside, with only sensors to rely on.

 

*

 

Tycho’s Spear opened fire at last, having escaped damage by pretending to be weaponless. A hundred apertures in the ship’s bow vented plasma, the brilliant beams converging on a single point. The captain shielded his eyes.

 

“Skip, um, we have an anomaly here with the scanners. Must be a bug in the system. Are we under electronic attack?”

 

“Let me see that!” The captain strode over and stared intently at the indicated display.

 

“That’s the targeting apparatus. And it’s saying that our target is still squeaky clean. Are you certain we had a hit, that it’s not just lagging?”

 

“Well, the optical and infrared is blinded by the radiation, but the enemy's radar absorption doesn’t work at this range. Our radar arrays confirm that their hulls are completely intact. Not a scratch.”

 

*

 

Both sides were firing volleys at each other continuously. The void was filled with bright light and the explosions of venting ships.

 

Silph’s apprehension returned. “Wow. I would hate to fly out in that.” He talked through his radio, having decided to keep his pressure suit on.

 

*

 

A group of cruisers, eager to get close enough to launch boarding pods, sped up and ahead of the fleet. They fired their few pod-catapults sporadically as they moved. Beams of plasma moved out to intercept them. It was a massacre. Pod after pod was found by the point-blank beams. The troops were incinerated in an instant, leaving nothing but vapour.

 

 

The cruisers projected their plasma in a full broadside. On the bridge of the cruiser Skyrider, the gunners quickly became agitated.

 

“We can’t get any hull breaches on them! This is impossible!”

 

“What? Their defenses can’t be that strong! All guns, fire on that ship’s engines!”

 

Seventy red beams thrust out of the cruisers, right at the enemy fleet, but at the last second, they veered away. All the plasma in the world was useless against an enemy they couldn’t hit.

 

Then the blue lightning simply arced over the five-kilometre gap, and the mighty steel ships just boiled away into nothing.

 

*

 

In the war room of the Alliance, things weren’t looking good. Sensor data from every ship was uploaded onto a massive display. All those present watched in shock as point-blank plasma beams were bent around their targets. They winced as they saw the blue lightning pick off their ships with cold precision.

 

“What the hell is that thing?” asked the UG Admiral.

 

The R&D team of the Physics and Energy missile producers had an idea. “The lightning could be producing antimatter when it hits a target, it could be causing intense heat or it could be shearing the bonds between molecules. Either way, we’ve never been able to do it.”

 

“And the bending plasma?”

 

“Probably an electromagnetic field.”

 

“But they’ve stopped all our high-powered lasers as well! And our torpedoes!”

 

“Ah, even we can shoot down torpedoes. The bomber wing didn’t get close enough.”

 

“Tell them to use their lasers! Nothing can stop a laser.”

 

“We can’t keep fighting. Give the order to pull back.”

 

*

 

The captain of Tycho’s Spear’s mind clicked into place.

 

“Plasma guns, cease fire! Laser batteries, give them all you’ve got!”

 

An immense humming sound suddenly permeated the ship, making everyone’s chest vibrate.

 

Points of light appeared on the horizon.

 

“Still no hull breaches, sir!”

 

“Dammit, we aren’t going to win here now. We’re being torn apart. Helm! Turn the ship around! Lasers, turn your guns to face the rear.”

 

*

 

As the remaining ships in the Alliance fleet turned around, they tried using their lasers. That was when they realised that the enemy ships also had mirrored armour.

 

In the war room, the various military leaders were puzzled.

 

“I just don’t get it”, said an armour specialist. “Even mirrors a metre thick shouldn’t be able to stop that much energy. They know something we don’t.”

 

*

 

“Attention all pilots! Scramble! Scramble your fighters now!”

 

“Looks like we’re going to see some action after all,” grinned Swift. “When we take care of their starfighters, we’ll be home free.”

 

*

 

There was no briefing, no agonising wait. Delta flight simply stumbled to the catapults as fast as their magnetic boots could carry them.

 

In his cockpit, Silph eyed his fighter. It was an Interceptor, fast, agile and sleek.

 

The ground crew slid the canopy closed. He was lifted to the level of the catapult, then pushed in gently, drifting into it’s embrace.

 

The airlock behind him closed, the one in front of him opened, and his face felt like putty as the walls of the catapult flew by.

 

He quickly formed up with Delta flight, closing the distance by firing his chemical engines. When he was close, he fired the retro thrusters until his sensors told him he was at a stable distance.

 

“Fighters, you must keep those pint-sized fighters off our backs until we’re out of range. We’re heading offplanet. You're spread thin, so be careful.”

 

Silph checked his sensors and saw that the greatly-reduced fleet was now running for it. A parting shot of blue lightning from the enemy flashed past Silph’s window and turned a cruiser into dust and echoes.

 

“Look sharp, Delta, here they come!” Swift’s voice was calm. “Don’t play chicken. You need to fly underneath them, or over them, dodge their shots and get on their tails.

 

“Ayo!”

 

Silph saw them on his sensors and used his attitude thrusters to tilt the fighter’s nose down. Then he burned his chemical engine.

 

He saw Swift out the window doing the same thing. Then he felt a jolt.

 

“I think I just lost something!”

 

“Keep changing direction or their lasers will tear you apart, mirrored armour or not!”

 

Silph went into a series of lateral slides, keeping his eyes on the target.

 

Swift went into a more fancy corkscrew manoeuvre, flying in an unpredictable spiral.

 

Silph saw the fighters fly over his canopy. They were… boxes, of a similar design to the ones he had encountered on the station. They were bigger and their legs and tracks were replaced with thrusters, but still boxes.

 

Silph pulled back on the stick, spinning so that he was both upside-down and on the box’s tail. 

 

“Cynic! Compensate!”

 

Silph realised that while he was staring down the engines of his foe,  he was drifting away from it, not towards it. He fired his chemical engine and groaned as invisible force worked on his chest.

 

When he was travelling at the same speed as the box he stopped his burn and pulled the plasma grip out from the control board.

 

A beam of intense red connected the two, before the box’s engines just converted to scrap. Silph quickly fired his ventral thrusters as the plasma connected with the box’s fuel tanks, flying over the explosion.

 

“This isn’t so tough!”

 

“They aren’t even trying to stop us.”

 

Lek laughed over the radio “Can you believe it? This one isn’t even shooting at me. Wait, it’s doing something. It’s moving. Oh… guys, I’m moving towards it, I can’t stop. Guys? I’m pretty scared here.”

 

Silph quickly set himself moving towards Lek after a few compensating burns. Lek’s fighter was drifting fast towards another box, much bigger than the one Silph had shot up.

 

“Trojan! Use your engines!”

 

“Engines are dead!”

 

“Eject! Punch out!”

 

“I can’t! The ejector seat isn’t responding!”

 

His fighter struck the box silently and stayed there. The box then turned around and started to head back to the enemy fleet.

 

Silph fired his lasers precisely, but the mirrored armour of the box reflected much of the energy.

 

“I’m going to fire continuously!”

 

Finally, one of the armour plates began to liquify. But the box was speeding up.

 

“Cynic, break off. There are more fighters inbound! Hundreds of them! Do you want to be caught as well? We would only make it worse!”

 

Silph’s mind was made up. “I’m not leaving my friend behind.”

 

Swift’s voice grew urgent. “Don’t be a fool! You’re doomed! Cynic?”

 

Silph did not respond. With his mind now working in heightened precision, he manoeuvred his way on to the tail of the box carrying Lek. When he was in a straight course, just behind, he fired. Then one of his dorsal thrusters flew off and he realised the mirrored armour was deflecting his own lasers on him.

 

Using his attitude thrusters he pointed his nose upward. The reflected energy would now bounce off into space.

 

His lasers traced glowing spots in the armour. Plate after plate liquified and was lost to the void, before he saw the inside. Just chips and wires. A last laser burst drove in, and the box exploded.

 

Silph choked, then breathed again when Lek’s ship drifted free, so heavily damaged a whole side was blown off. Lek pushed off the wreckage and grabbed a protrusion on Silph’s fighter.

 

Silph’s controls went blank and unresponsive. He looked around him for the first time and realised that they were under the guns of a small enemy spaceship. Dolphin and Swift were nowhere to be seen. He had flown back into range of the enemy fleet.

 

His radio hissed and crackled. “blargithigilbeepbeepbeeeeepbeeptuational awarenesss is a vital tool, Delllta two. You will now be aware that you can either come with us, or be bisshted. Sublimated. Vapourised.”

 

“Who… are you?”

 

“You will find out, soon enough… I must say, I have never seen one so willingly fall into a trap before, although your manoeuvres on the torpedo run were well thought out.”

 

“How do you know who I am?”

 

“We know a lot. And your electronic security is primitive at best. Now, you are coming with us. You have much to learn and… so do we. Whablishhhhhht? Beepbeeeeep? Silllph, we are leaving now. What is your decision?”

 

“I’ll come with you.”

 

“Yessss, let’s move.”

 

The box carrying the only two humans for miles around disappeared into the mouth-like landing bay of the enemy ship. Silph thought it looked like a corvette, but realised that whatever these creatures were, they were definitely not human.

 

*

 

On the bridge of the Order Guard, the captain grew restless.

 

“How long will it take for us to pick up the rest of the survivors?”

 

“The retrieval ships are working as hard as they can, but we’re going to have to leave some of them behind.”

 

The captain blinked. “We are leaving no-one behind. We have a third option.”

 

*

 

The Order Guard’s crew fired up the lifepod and sealed the hatch.

 

“This way, we can make them stop and pick up extra survivors as we go” explained the captain.

 

The Order Guard’s autopilot engaged the engines at full power, opening the fuel valves as far as they would go.

 

The former captain stood up and saluted the doomed ship.

 

“Farewell!”

 

The crew cheered the ship on, watching the video feed coming from the Order Guard's bridge.

 

The enemy fleet drew closer and the engines were strained to the breaking point. If it missed, the ship would likely break free of the planet’s gravitational field.

 

*

 

Silph, waiting in the cockpit of his imprisoned ship, noticed something on his scanner.

 

He opened his radio channel. “Lek, have a look at this!”

 

Lek carefully moved his body so he could see into the canopy.

 

“Wow. Just… Wow. That is the biggest scanner bug I’ve seen in my life.”

 

“That’s no bug. Look over there!”

 

"They're flying nova!"

 

The Order Guard was burning fuel at an incredible rate. Without enough armour to protect from micrometeorites, her bow was full of holes, but without any crew aboard, they had no effect.

 

Plasma lanced out and bored a massive hole in the ship, melting computers, screens, chairs, armour. But without any crew aboard, it had no effect except to make the doomed ship even hotter. The autopilot was hit, but the valves were locked open.

 

It flashed past Silph and Lek, moving into the heart of the fleet. Then, something got in the way…

 

Much of the energy contained in the doomed ball of metal was instantly transferred to the unlucky enemy ship. It was torn apart and liquified, but the Order Guard kept ripping through it’s hull, a compacted, molten mass travelling at escape velocity. 

 

Blue lightning flew out, vapourising the ball, but the gas, now superheated, kept moving. 

 

Then it struck another ship, which didn’t yield to the gaseous ball, but fought against it.

 

Silph covered his eyes as a massive nova flare suddenly blossomed out of the darkness of space. The enemy fleet was shielded from view by it's blinding yellow glow.  As his retinas slowly recovered, he could see venting gas and wreckage floating off into space, and his heart leaped when he realised their foes were not invincible... but then he saw the majority of the enemy fleet was still very much intact.

Pods were floating down to the planet's surface. The invasion had begun.

 

*

 

In the war room, the mood was sombre.

 

“So, we lost half of our fleet. Three trillion credits we lost, and we only took down two of theirs. Even that was due to a surprise nova flight. 

 

“We will all have to prepare for their arrival on land. The pods that came down earlier were just a vanguard. When they come in force, we’d better be ready.” 

 

*

 

Silph stared his captor down. He was humanoid, standing on two legs, five fingers on each of his two webbed hands, with blue, shiny skin and a dorsal fin sprouting out of his back. He was wearing a hard shell that covered the front of his torso, and magnetic boots covering what Silph presumed were his feet.

 

“Why do you look so… human?”

 

“Why you look so… Shakhurai?”

 

Something clicked in Silph’s mind.

 

“Oh, you have got to be kidding. You’re the Outsiders?”

 

“Yesss. You know us by that name.”

 

“Why are you here? What do you want with us? Is it the metal? The planet?”

 

“Oh no, my… pink friend. We are here for… how to say? Ah, of course. We are here for our Xan’thor. Our revenge.”

 

*

-WolfReaper (NERV)

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