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Master post 7
Book 1 in entirety.
Parts 1-72
Part 73
Epilogue
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Prologue 2 the electric boogaloo
It’s coming. Don’t know when, don’t know where, but it’s coming.
The monkeys have broken from their cage.
They have found magic. (Seriously we’re doing magic in the next book. Don’t know how yet but we’re doing it!)
And who knows what’s going to happen next.
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Prologue: a new beginning.
Book 1
Imani sat dumbfounded. She forced Caiden to reverse the Abbadon cannon blast that decimated the Luyten system after their first overwhelming victory against those who abducted the people her father was overseeing, and in doing so… she couldn’t explain what exactly happened. Her shapeshifting, for one, now was at will. When once it took injections and a molecular reformation machine, she could simply shift into the form she wished to take.
If that was all, she could’ve handled it… she thought. The history of her people did say they once were able to seamlessly integrate into any population with a similar, if not the same ability, but that was almost three galactic eons ago. The Arist -of course- was born during those days, but never claimed knowledge at what caused their power to cease so easily.
The collected might of mankind stood in ranks upon the plains of Luyten-b. The charred and broken ground kicking up dust clouds as the wind blew through the near four hundred million collected individuals as they stood. Silently. Each member one that had a boon granted with the universal reconstruction that brought back the imposing ship blacking out the sun, the Hellfire.
Imani stood and walked upon a stage to a pedestal, video drones beginning to broadcast across the whole plain, in every tongue, in every language all at once. But regardless of the tongue, all here would innately understand. The first Gift had returned and they simply would understand. The Babel incident from eons and eons ago no longer had effect. She was uncertain what would occur. Uncertain if the masses would have a boon that would unmask her.
“Today… today we accomplished that which had never been. Today, we as humanity brought back our crowning jewel from beyond the void, today… we Triumphed!”
The roar that rippled throughout the crowd was more than just immense. It had a strength not seen in… eons would be the most apt way to put it.
It took almost ten minutes to finally quiet the masses down to a point that Imani could bear to speak again.
“Tomorrow we continue our campaign. Tomorrow we go to destroy the Azkhrani! Tomorrow we find our people!”
If the previous roar had power, this one was even greater.
Imani smiled before stepping off the stage. She still had it. As she stepped into the airlock, alone, she shifted back into her usual form, leaving the face of the missing General Thane for the dark skinned beauty she had occupied for the last 50 years.
As she walked to her quarters on the Torus, she let the fear sink in as the thought of having to explain to the Aristarchi Senate and the Arist what her father had wrought… and how she didn’t plan on stopping them.
#humans are space australians#space orcs#sci fi & fantasy#long reads#artists on tumblr#pottery#in honor of the fallen#988lifeline#az’krah#humans are space orcs
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Pretty sure that wraps up the events of the first book. Hold on, I will have an epilogue.
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Masterpost 6
Prologue thru part 69
Part 70
Part 71
Part 72
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73: beyond the wall
Shii accompanied Sarah to the sealed airlock that separated the ferry from the station.
The spaceport was massive. Glimpses through the window that encompassed hundreds of square feet on the inner side of the station showed what Sarah could only compare to a star. Pulses of light in every color whipped out from the center of the massive ring, each one stopped and absorbed by massive spires that arced around the whole of the structure. Ships of every size and shape darted from spire to spire, some obviously military, others elegant beyond belief. Impressive was only the beginning of what came to her mind.
Her children followed closely, not wanting to be far from their mother in such a strange place, regardless of their own capacity for violence. Sarah glanced back ahead, and Shii stopped and… well they couldn’t smile exactly but their body language conveyed as much.
“There is food advertised for carbon based life this way” Shii said, turning away from the giant window.
Sarah glanced at it for a moment. It was beautiful. Then, she saw something strange begin to encompass the whole background. A giant wall of light rushing towards the station from all directions. She turned and started to dive for her kids but the wall of light hit. And everything ceased for a moment. A long moment.
“Interesting… so it begins.” A voice boomed through the nothingness that was everything. A voice that was everything and nothing.
And as suddenly as she was obliterated, she was remade. She felt every strand of hair, every molecule screaming to be put back together. It was an eternity. It was a moment.
She fell, but caught herself on a chair at the last possible instant. One could think of it as an impossible instant even.
“Mom… what was that? What… begins?”
“Honey I… honestly do not know.”
But she felt different. More at ease. More confident. A sense of self that had not been before. A new view on the world. Everything more detailed. Those with weapons of kinds she recognized and even those that didn’t stood out to her. She felt lighter on her feet.
Sarah stood, looking around the now disarrayed spaceport, the crowd rushing to the safety of their ships or the reinforced bunkers the hotels seemed to advertise.
Wait, how did I know that. The translator only recognized ‘hotel’ before.
An understanding shook her. Whatever that wave of… force was, it changed the very fiber of her being. Possibly the core of every single creature that drew breath.
And the thought thrilled her.
#space orcs#humans are space australians#az’krah#humans are space orcs#sci fi & fantasy#long reads#humans kick ass#humanity is weird#space australia#scifi series
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71. Exposition.
Prequel to this part: part 23 and 41-c. Go find it yourself I’m too tired for hyperlinks rn be happy with the content it’s… content?
The funny thing about religion- the harder you try to destroy it the faster the fire burns.
The same goes with politics. And politics, frankly, is but a means of maintaining the peace and creating order. Some believe that many rules and binding statutes make the best system. ‘Why, if you’re doing nothing wrong, why be afraid of that which provides harmony in your life?’
Then there is the other side. Those that who, at best, got a cold shoulder… or at worst were taken from their homes and forced to hard labor on massive camps where those that weren’t performing- or simply were in the wrong place at the wrong time were killed by those the guards wanted to torture. For some, it was one thing to kill an adult, but they’d swallow the bullet if a small one was placed in front of them. For some.
Then there was Drekka.
Drekka was… different. Unlike the colony prisons where escape was a regular occurrence with little to no prisoner retrieval (not like they’ll survive long on their own anyway), Drekka-1 was a terraformed Mercury-sized rock planet located about as far from its home star as Venus would be from our Sun, with a star of similar size and shape. Unlike mercury, it was… dense. Mostly composed of radioactive material- uranium, plutonium, tritium and the like. And it was here that the Az’Krahni Empire disposed of the escapees who were captured, those that would not fire upon their fellow prisoners when assigned to, those that would not be pushed down… and those that had more… political connections.
People don’t escape Drekka. For starters, all but 500 square miles of the surface is completely undeveloped. No ships come to surface except those that know where it is, which is a closely kept secret by the Az’Khrani imperial command. And those 500 square miles are in 500 different places. And sure, it’s terraformed, but every plant is poisonous to one race or another. A few rare ones to all, but they make the life-giving oxygen needed, so they’re perfect for what the Azkrahni needed it to be.
As a further measure of ensured “cooperation”, the entire “workforce” had a brain scan and was fitted with a control chip. They had to be replaced every few months and were prone to electromagnetic pulses, but part of the programming was a backup chip and a regular replacement, even if the chips seemed fine. They did what the azkrahni wouldn’t even let their own servant or worker classes do- handle radioactive materials.
And that’s exactly what John did every day. Ever since his son died in his arms, ever since in his rage he killed over a dozen trained warriors, ever since he woke up, he had no control. He ate when the chip said eat, worked when the chip said work, slept when the chip said sleep. Over and over mind numbing work. And not a second of it could he scream. He wanted to howl, to simply be able to use his hand by his own means. Without them doing their work on their own. The blood he began coughing up after a couple months told him those hurts weren’t just sores from the constant use. Those sharp points had to be tumors. But still the never ending silence and work persisted.
John watched through his eyes now. They weren’t doing the same tasks today, so at least something was different. The scenery. He still couldn’t speak, couldn’t move his pinky toe if he wanted. But he was moving boxes today, not mining. It was a better day. The particular box he was carrying this day was obviously lead. He could tell by the way it compressed in his fingers when his body lifted it. Something else that’s adding to the cancer that had to riddle his body by now.
To be continued, I’m tired, must slep
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Part 72: Awakening
Caiden looked out upon the blasted lands of Luyten-B that now sat beneath him. A massive chunk was eaten out from it, simply vanished, with now a large coating of magma that had poured out from its mantle the last few days. He looked at the life signs display below. Only a few were left alive on the planet, as the gas emissions from the destruction he caused poisoned everything that had once existed on the surface. And few meant a total of one hundred. On a planet that had reportedly housed cities of the enslaved. A planet he now helped devise a way to save. An experiment that had never been done, for fear of what might result. For fear of the sensitive equipment it would destroy.
Caiden turned away from the carnage in disgust… and triumph. Not a single soul believed him. Only he saw what was coming. There may be millions dead now, but it would have been trillions.
A man entered his glass cell. They stood there, covered in dust, except for the obvious outline of a rebreather.
“You.” The man said, “are who they call Caiden?”
Caiden sat on the lone stool in the room. “What may I assist you with… mister…?”
The dusty man sat, and began stripping rags off his face and neck. As he did so, he spoke.
“You are responsible for the destruction of the planet below, and they make you stare at what they must feel is your greatest failure. And yet, you sit there with triumph in your eyes.”
Caiden slowly gasped as the man revealed his face.
“You must tell me what you saw. And I needed, frankly to thank you… and possibly explain the Great Plan to you.” Sanchez spoke, gazing straight into Caiden’s eyes, with a pair of bright violet eyes with a blue light pulsing behind the iris.
“My friend, what have you become.”
As Caiden spoke, an event that hadn’t taken place before -in any time, in any universe- began. The array of satellites surrounding the planet and its moon began to pulse with a green light. Then, they went dark for but a moment and exploded in a dazzle of light that roared through the Torus and rippled into the universe, a wave of energy and power that bent the fabric of space with it, moving every fiber, every cell, out of place entirely, then slamming back together in the way they were always meant to be.
Every color conceivable, every shade imaginable lit up Sanchez’s face as he began grinning with a smile of now sharp, pointed teeth. But nothing had changed.
“The lesson we will learn today is not what I have become, but rather opening you to that which has always been.”
The dust stirred on the ground, then turned into a spike and struck at Caiden.
*******
The planet shuddered. John still could not control himself, but he stopped in his tracks. Lights began to flicker, and go out. Then, a strange wave of light that seemed to rip him apart and put him back together in a heartbeat shot through his vision.
His fingers released the heavy box, sending the stack clattering to the cement floor. The Az’Khrani guards did not seem to care. This was not what they were used to. This place was supposed to be safe for them.
Suddenly, John felt something. It felt like a… warmth of some kind that seemed like it had been missing for… his whole life he realized. No… far longer. It was reminiscent of an old cave, one where you reached the air pocket through a pool of water miles long, where the air hadn’t moved in millions of years. A feeling of… being that simply hadn’t been there. But always had.
John instinctively flexed, knots loosening slightly as he did so. He froze. It was one thing to drop an item, but this was control. He could move. “May God have mercy on my soul.” He whispered as he turned toward the closest Az’Khrani guard. His anger swelled. A sense of power filled him with the anger. He ran at the creature and smashed a fist through its thorax, blowing its arms off in the same instant.
He pulled back and roared, his anger building into a rage with the power that filled him, that began to buzz through every fiber of his being. Fire began to flicker in the air around him, small jets began shooting from his pores. Then began to crack with small gouts along his fingertips, as if his skin was holding back the sun itself.
“I am awake you insects, and I am going to destroy you!” He bellowed down the valley, and detonated, cracking the planet beneath him for ten miles in every direction, the shock wave flattening everything within fifty.
Within moments, more explosions occurred across Drekka as those who’s very being was torn from them tore back the shreds of what was left of their humanity.
Within the day Drekka was no longer a prison, but a volcanic tomb.
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Part 70: drifting
Sarah sat on the interstellar transport, her kids playing quietly but staying within line of sight of her. They were the only humans on board, but from what the translator she stole from the coalition base on Luyten before taking a few firearms, her three kids, and hopping on the first ferry off that planet, it didn’t matter. Her oldest, Jake, was 16, and slung an assault rifle over his shoulder casually, keeping an eye on his siblings and the hall in equal measure. Her youngest two, Mark and Jess had knives strapped to their ankles as well, just in case.
She sipped the odd drink supplied by the ships automated kitchen. A curiosity, the freighters kitchen- a large machine that scanned the patrons genetic makeup and blood analysis, and dispensed a liquid containing all the items the body currently needed in order to maintain perfect equilibrium. It never tasted well, but it hadn’t poisoned anyone on the ship yet. In fact, her son looked more filled out than before, and her own physique had only improved since.
“-bre Jukka ne da veraæç kłös.” The ship’s speakers crackled.
Sarahs kid’s glanced at her. She was the only one with a universal translator after all.
“Mom, what does kłös mean?” Jess asked innocently.
“It means to attach. We have arrived at the Jukkan Spaceport. Stay close.” Sarah smiled. Her kids wouldn’t need the translator if they kept that up.
She and her small entourage gathered up their belongings. Jake put in some earbuds, the unmistakable sound of Green Day emanating from him as he shouldered his bag.
Sarah reached over and yanked one of the earbuds out, “That’s much too loud. Turn it down.” She let it go and went back to shouldering her own baggage. Jake scowled, but relented.
With a cacophony of whinnies, gasps, and hooves on metal a creature came bounding around the corner.
“SARAH!!!”
Sarah raised an eyebrow as the creature crashed into empty storage bins, sending them scattering along the hallway.
“Yes?” Sarah answered.
“Wanna go to the observatory on base with me!? I’m certain there’s going to be an astronomer that’s dying to meet you!” Shii exclaimed as xe struggled to stand back up.
“A… okay. Sounds like a plan. Now let’s get you back on your feet. You really need to stop running on the ship, and I know it’s been over a decade since you last were off a planet’s surface.”
Sarah gently lifted Shii’s llama-like body off the metal floor as the entire ship shuddered slightly as it docked with the spaceport.
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Part 65: Lore
A figure sat before a fire, made from hundreds of universes born from singularities, their heat and sheer energy actually warming the room it sat in. To it, said violence would be the same as a human sitting before a fire curled in a chair reading a book, but it was far from human.
No, the figure was humanoid at best, an aberration in truth. It would not have a name, but it’s definition was Entropy. It sat gazing upon a data trove, a collection of knowledge and experiments by the Builders- the Creator’s precious chosen creature, destroyed when Entropy bound and locked the god behind the most sure wards ever devised, it’s Builderscast into the uncharted dimensions even the Creator didn’t attempt to harness. The creators bonds nearly as perfect as those that once chained Entropy itself into slavery.
No more. It cast the trove aside. Something stirred in the fields. It’s hidden tripwires notifying it that The Watcher had left it’s post. The Watcher was coming to its doorstep. An interaction that would certainly mean it’s destruction, unless… no.
Entropy rose, sucking in light and winking out the errant stars that wandered too close. It swept to the grand entrance of what was once the Creators palace, made from materials found nowhere else, now corrupted by Entropy’s touch. Before it, kneeling at the bottom of a massive staircase, was the Watcher.
“What brings you away from your post, Watcher?” It boomed.
“Destroyer, I do not know how to inform you of this,” The Watcher spoke softly.
Destroyer. A fitting description.
“Out with it.” Entropy was inevitable, but impatience was not just a human condition.
“It seems… the impossible has happened. Humanity has risen again. And therefo-”
Entropy screeched. Black tendrils coursed through the walls, coursed through the staircase at its feet, and struck into the Watcher. In an instant, the watcher was sucked into the tendrils, into the stone itself. It’s pained face etched forever into the stone, a black and white memorial to a messenger merely carrying out its purpose.
Entropy seethed. Humanity. The precursors to the Builders. Those that were brought from one of the creators precious universes so many eons ago. The Scourge should have silenced them eons ago.
“They will not rise again,” It swore at nothing. It’s screams echoing out the palace, onto empty gardens and pathways, each stone bearing another black and white face, a memorial to something once alive.
“THEY WILL NOT!”
#space orcs#humans are space australians#humans are space orcs#az’krah#sci fi & fantasy#and here… we… go.
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63-b: acquaintances
As the ships landing gear extended and the autopilot took over landing procedures, Smith turned to the ragged bunch.
“Thane and Kea, You’re coming with me. Everyone else, stay in the cabin. And behave. The AI will paralyze anyone it needs to.”
Thane nodded. “Care to explain your acquaintance with a US intelligence officer?”
“No.” Smith simply said in reply.
Kea was already at the door. Anything to get away from Hades.
The trio marched down the gangway on the back of the ship to a small party of five armed and armored individuals, dressed head to toe in black with a small American flag on each of their lapels. One, in the center, had removed his helmet and stared at them.
“Lieutenant?” Smith said as he stopped a few feet in front of them.
“How the fuck are you two alive?” He almost whispered to them.
“Long story. And a confidential one.” Thane responded before Smith could get a word in edgewise.
“Of course, General. But… the Fleet at Lutyen was destroyed. Millions died. You were presumed dead. Sanchez’s body was recovered. And you were replaced.”
“I was WHAT!?” Her scream sent the avians that had just began settling back down after the previous firefight right back into the sky in a cloud of wings, fur, and feathers. Smith and Kea stared quietly. Smith in particular was now clutching his ear.
“The Planetary Council took a vote. It was unanimous on both to replace you and with whom.”
Thane looked down. Rage and confusion and guilt swelled within her. A maelstrom of thoughts and emotions, but one stood out.
“Who?” She said all too calmly.
“Imani. Sanchez’s daughter.”
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Part 69
“If it helps any, each and every missing member from the Luyten Incident is alive. They are also very much so dead.” Caiden began.
He took a sip of water. The entire courtroom sat silently in confusion. Caiden sat silently for a moment, just long enough for the confusion to turn to hope, then anticipation.
“The Abbadon cannon doesn’t necessarily destroy anything,” he continued, “it simply removes that which in its path from the current timeline. Right next to us sits a timeline where everything is the same, but the cannon never fired. We don’t see it, but it can affect our reality from time to time in echoes that follow the gravitational path. We have seen this in tests. While an incoming asteroid would cease to exist, its gravitational energy and signal never ceased, and it affected Pluto’s gravity in accordance. I can show you the place where even though there is stone below your feet you simply float off, because if the impact occurred as it should have, a third of the planet would be dust. It is in the other timeline. I can show you if I must."
He quieted, and began studying the room intently. It was full of his peers from various other projects, political juggernauts, and what seemed to be left of humanity’s leadership. At least, that which wasn’t taken during the Great Abduction. And those that were left… had no heart left for him. He turned to Imani. She glanced at him, almost lovingly.
And something strange she said irked the back of his mind as the courtroom sat in silence. A third party, and uninvolved in today’s matters.Yet today’s matters encompassed every nation, every people, every planet under the banner of Humanity. As she opened her mouth, a stark realization came over him.
“Can you retrieve the USF Hellfire and her crew from beyond the void?” Imani asked quietly, but just loud enough to be heard throughout the hall.
Caiden looked at his feet for a while. Thinking. It could work… if I have a cannon at the site.
“There is one problem,” Caiden began, “The Hellfire would still have to be there.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean if I’m going to bring them back we have to be within a few light-minutes of wherever the ship might be in the other timeline.”
Roars erupted from the crowd. Curses, screams of hope, every passionate emotion expressed fervently in an cacophony of noise.
“SILENCE!” Imani yelled. The room fell silent in moments, but it was still moments too long. She continued, “That is fortunate then. I happen to know their next mission site. I plan to be there and merge the timelines back together to get our navy back.” She smiled indignantly.
Caiden shook his head. “That won’t work. If any debris was left at Luyten, it would create a paradox. There would be two instances of an object in the universe at the same time. If you want your navy whole, we HAVE to merge the timelines with it at least orbiting the right planet!”
“It will be done, Caiden.” Her glare could have melted steel beams. “THIS TRIAL IS OVER PENDING INVESTIGATION. DISMISSED!”
With a clatter of chairs and shoes on stone, and a large bang of the great doors, the assembly departed, leaving only Caiden, Imani, and guards to keep one safe and the other contained.
#az’krah#sci fi & fantasy#space orcs#humans are space australians#humans are space orcs#humans kick ass#humanity is weird
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Part 64: Interuniversal
The Watcher of the Void was not pleased with the news the sentinel announced. Humanity was once a virus that pervaded the Multiverse Garden it took pride in tending. Each of the infinite flowers in every shade, color, and spectrum planted at his command some eons ago. Time wasn’t anything of consequence here above it all. But the sentinel still bowed at its feet beneath its blazing throne, announcing the same news. Somehow, the damn creatures survived the Scourge. Somehow, they created an interdimensional cannon without their precious Magic that once led them to build the very castle the Watcher now resided in. Or rather, perhaps they created a new Force simply to spite the inevitable death of entropy yet again.
“Where?” The Watcher’s voice boomed throughout the massive domed construct.
“We do not know your grace.” The sentinel replied, “We know only of their awakening, not of where, how, or which plane. Simply that there is at least one who could be called a Destroyer once more is released, and by Human hands. One that can spread the ability the Scourge ruined to others if they merely wish it to be so.”
The Watcher stood, its feet pounding on the living carpet beneath his feet, each strand an entire Tree of Life, as large as one of the universes that dotted the garden beyond the walls. Each one bent with its footsteps, and snapped back as if nothing bent them as it moved on.
“I thought the humans killed those abominations off! I THOUGHT THEY COULDNT BE REVIVED!?” The Watcher bellowed, it’s voice shaking the multiverse to its core.
It tore past the sentinel, a construct now dissolving into nothingness, it’s one purpose complete. To warn those that deposed the Creator. To tell them so they may run and hide, or at the very least check the locks on It’s prison.
They would not survive the hour those locks broke free.
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Part 62-b: Out of Depth
Thane walked to Smith’s ship, ducking under the temporary shelter rigged to its aft winglets to find a rather large workspace established beneath. Scattered between the anvils, microsoddering station, forge, and molecular printer assembly were a variety of different modular cyborg attachments. Laying in the corner, on a personalized cushion, sat Wolf.
“Hello Linda.” The robot-wolf-human hybrid spoke in a robotic tone, much like the now long-dead Stephan Hawking.
“Good morning, Wolf. How’s the pack today?”
He closed his eyes for a moment, connecting to the synchronized chips in all of his pack’s brains. “They’re well. 25 is bound to have a litter soon.”
“That’s good. I have a mission for them.”
“What would you ask?”
“There’s a large fire in the distance. Scouting out ahead before we make our way there would be a... benefit.” She smiled curtly.
Wolf closed his eyes again.
“It is done. The pack is away. We should have a holographic feed within the hour.”
Thane thanked the chimera, and set off towards its best friend, the giant cyborg named Smith. Smith overheard the conversation, scowled at her, lit a cigarette, and began unhooking various articles of heavy equipment from the exterior of the ship, preparing the site as if to return, knowing it would be a fools errand at best.
She walked past without a word, a sly smile crossing her face. She always did like being in charge.
———————————
The alien sat, strapped to a metal chair, feet resting in a plate of iced water, the cold prickling deep into its nerves, shooting pain into it’s bluish veins. It jerked every few seconds, but couldn’t bring itself to escape the frozen bath.
A human soldier sat across from the four-armed being, sucking on a cigar slowly. Staring at the creature that would refuse to meet eye contact.
“So. Before I kill you,” the soldier asked, “I have to know. Why?”
The rekkan sat for a moment surprised, then looked up.
“Why…what? And where did you learn this tongue?”
The soldier stood, and began pacing, deciding how to dissect the creature’s mind. How to shoot fear into its heart. How to learn what he wanted.
“I am a member to the United States Space Force Intelligence Division. That name may mean nothing to you, but our job is knowledge. We know more and with that we can… destroy more. And you, my four-armed friend, happen to be in my way.”
“Please… I don’t know what you want. You want humans? They’re in the mines. Take them. Just let me go.” The creature whimpered.
The soldier laughed, then put the cigar out on the Rekkans spine.
“People are... lights. Each one different in shape, color, scope, and intensity. And sometimes, the lights meet and start a fire. A pyrotechnic dazzle glows between them and futures begin. From these meetings more lights are born, made, coalesced into being from the passions between their forefathers.
And then sometimes, lights swallow other lights up, leaving them a shadow of their former selves. That’s the danger behind the meetings- if not fueled, if not tended to and care for, the passions will inevitably die out, as does the display. Certainly, an ember may remain, something that can be poked and prodded back into existence by strenuous effort or sheer universal coincidence, but that is still a rare occurrence. More common is it to try and fail, feigning emotion to keep a semblance of status quo.
So, the question remains: if you know that you’re going to be hit with a gauntlet for life, one where the same avatar of creation that may fuel you instead depletes and decimates, why even try?
When you learn what colors feel like... when you finally find that a person’s smile alone becomes a passion by which to carry on day by day, you will have found your purpose.
So... tell me? You, who kidnapped, tortured, murdered, and experimented on our people, the ones we love and care about, the ones we would set whole cities ablaze simply to watch the flames dance in their eyes- you ask us to spare your life? To spare your dignity? No.
Your gods have forsaken you, for we will make you worship the pain. Pray not to them for salvation, but rather to us to let you die.”
The soldier then walked out of the tent, flipping a switch as he exited. The screams of the Rekkan being electrocuted to death sent a flock of birds shooting into a purple sky.And then in the distance, a wolf howled.
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67: Consequences
Caiden sat in a cell deep in the heart of the Torus. Hands cuffed, he slowly sipped what remained of his single cup of coffee. It had been a month since he used Abbadon to her full potential, diverting something from engulfing the solar system… and destroying the combined fleet at Luyten in the process.
Today’s the day. He thought to himself as he heard a door slide open down the hall. In seconds, the heavy steel cell door containing him slid aside as well, revealing an automated sentry gun trained on him, and a smiling Imani standing before him.
“Good morning. Your trial begins today. You will accompany me down to the Bubble on Venus.” She said with a smile.
Caiden was quiet for a moment. The Bubble, the only structure actually on Venus’ surface, was a massive dome made from a glass alloy. It has only two purposes: experimental research and secret military tribunals… the kind where the guilty party might just be told to go outside and start walking. He had to be careful. “Interesting. Why not on Earth?”
Imani laughed as she beckoned him to comply,“Why, officially you don’t exist. Didn’t you know?”
She turned and began poking at a data pad that appeared from somewhere, and began pacing down the long hallway.
He paled. Then rose and followed her out the cell, leaving the coffee behind him.
It was a long time before either spoke again. They walked through hallways, passed automated checkpoints with no bother- each time they passed a bulkhead a new turret greeted them, always having at least one trained on him. Imani stopped before an elevator labeled “Landing Bay Express”.
They stood for a moment before Caiden finally spoke “So… why are you here? How are you involved with the USF leadership at all?”
“Oh, you haven’t heard I take it. I am presiding over your trial, as a third party and uninvolved with any of the matters at hand today. Furthermore, with those facts taken into consideration, and the most qualified applicant for the position, I’ve been promoted to Acting General of the USF. Until a more suitable replacement is found, or if I prove myself fortunate enough to be worthy of the role, that is.” Imani spoke without taking a single breath, pride shining through her face. Yet she never looked up from her data pad.
Caiden just stared at her. Shock overcame him until the bell tolled signaling the arrival of the elevator. He shook himself, and decided it would be better if he didn’t speak for the rest of the journey. At least, not without being spoken to.
The elevator zipped around the station at blistering paces, moving a full 25 miles around the circumference of the behemoth in only a few short minutes.
The doors slid open again, revealing a vast hangar dotted with racks of small inter atmospheric landers. Each built to withstand journeys around the sun only 10,000km above the surface, equipped with cutting-edge ceramic shielding, and an energy field that can repulse any plasma, rain, dust, or debris smaller than the ship itself. As they entered, as smoothly as the autoturrets replaced themselves, four soldiers took up places behind Caiden. A prisoners guard.
One in particular stood out, a white craft with blue markings and a golden trim- likely made from the very substance itself. Emblazoned on its side was the now ancient crest of the United Nations, alongside the newer Interplanetary Council sigil, a set of rings with dots signifying the planets an a swooping arc behind it all of a bundle of olive leaves.
It’s access ramp sat unmoving, waiting. Activity bustled throughout the hangar, but guards simply waited for the party in front of the ramp. Not garbed in typical soldiers regalia, but clad in much finer white capes that slid along the floor with golden tassels, and shining blue armor with white trim covering the torso and every extremity, with the exception of their heads. They wore no helmet of any kind, but their eyes glowed golden, cybernetically enhanced. The Council Guards carried no firearms, but the spears they carried were no decoration. Caiden shook his head at the thought of what these legendary warriors would do if he even thought of escape.
Without a word, Imani swept into the extravagant craft, and as Caiden followed he gasped again. The interior was even more glamorous than outside, but sat before him, unrestrained was Anne, Xu, and James. The first two winced at seeing him, but James… James sat smiling. Caiden sat and felt the engines start on the craft, a light vibration that permeated the structure.The craft took off, speeding out of the massive hangar towards the orange clouds waiting below.
#az’krah#sci fi & fantasy#space orcs#humans are space australians#humans are space orcs#humans kick ass#humanity is weird#long reads
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Part 63: confrontations
More here: @aliens-and-shiz
The Shadowfall’s atmospheric engines sputtered, then roared to life. The wings extended with electric arcs snapping in the air as the energy shields expanded to match the increased surface area. The engines directed downward, flattening the lilac fields beneath the large vessel as it lifted from the ground. The legs retracted into the behemoth with a flick of a switch, and Smith relaxed into his seat.
With the flick of another, a ripple came over the ship as it’s refraction array engaged, moving the light and majority of the electromagnetic spectrum around the ship. In any kind of detection field, it gave the crosshair the size of a hummingbird. To the naked eye, the ship seemed to disappear, or rather become nothing more than the faintest silhouette of one.
The silhouette glided over the purple forest and into the first plume of smoke. Within, the holographic display scanned through the smoke, mapping the scene below. And it mapped carnage. Buildings torn off their foundations, blown into bits, dead bodies of four-armed creatures littering the ground. Then, they passed through a much thicker plume, and the refraction array and displays flickered.
“Fuck. Someone saw us.” Smith proclaimed.
“Who?” Thane asked.
“Well, it wasn’t alien.”
“Oh.” She paled. Not alien.
Within moments alarms began blaring across the ship.
Warning. Missiles locked on. Defensive protocols engaged.
The Shadowfall pitched sharply up, careening out of the clouds of smoke and dust, a trail of smoke in its wake. And a tail of four missiles, quickly gaining on the craft.
Smith cursed under his breath, engaging his flare system. They shit out like winds unfurling in the sky below them, confusing three of the missiles, engaging their warheads fruitlessly. One still pursued.
In blind hope, Smith turned a dial and threw a lever to his left, engaging the experimental cannons, liquifying the air behind the ship, then quickly detonating it. The ship looked like a dragon, bathing the sky for miles in flame, torching the missile in its wake. He flipped the lever again when a transmission crackled through the ships monitors.
“Come in unidentified craft. Come in. Smith is that you?”
“Who is hailing, and firing upon this vessel?” He barked.
“Lieutenant Maxwell of United States Extraterrestrial Intelligence.”
Smith barked a laugh. Thane shot him a confused look. The ship slowed considerably, and began descending.
“Kevin do I have some shit to tell you. I’m landing.” Smith barked in reply.
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