Alien Manifesto (20 page)

My body’s reaction to that thought jostled the
feline master who was curled up with her head on my chest and she
sprang up ready to fight. “What’s wrong, what did you hear?” she
hissed, the hair standing up along her spine, tail twitching, her
blade appearing in her hand at the ready.

Embarrassed by my reaction to such a now
obvious fact I answered, “Just a bad dream, nothing to worry about,
sorry I startled you.”

Sheathing her blade Tasha the feline said
“Time to get on with our search pattern anyway. Snarth will want an
update on our progress very soon.”

“
I hope we have something to
report,” I said. Silently we packed up our gear, the interlude
slain by the mission.

PART SIX

Is My Army Ready?

“
You summoned me, my Queen?”
said the General of the Ones’ army, his chest armor scraping the
ground so deep was his bow as he waited to be acknowledged.
I shall let him cower a bit longer,
thought the Queen to herself as she preened her antennae,
pausing in her acknowledgment of the General;
He must not forget his place.

“
Yes General, I have some
questions that must be answered so I can determine when the battle
to protect our planet can begin.”

“
You have but to ask, my Queen,
and I shall answer or die trying,” answered the General in a formal
tone.

“
You may yet have that honor,”
responded the Queen coldly, “unless you have the answers I want to
hear.”

The General’s armor scraped
even harder on the audience chamber floor, his fear scents flooding
the space between them.
At last he is in
fear of his life; now I can trust his answers without joining our
minds,
thought the Queen.

“
Tell me General, what is the
status of my army?”

“
My Queen, you have 10,000 ships
and 1,000,000 soldiers who will gladly die in your name,” exclaimed
the General.

“
That is NOT what I asked you
General. I need to know if my army is ready to fight the
unbelievers, not platitudes,” rebuked the Queen in her sharpest
tone.

The General knew she was not far from one of
the violent rages she was so feared for. A fresh cloud of fear
scent filled the Queen’s audience chamber. The General truly feared
for his life, certain that the Queen would dispatch him at any
moment in her anger, imagining the Queen’s descending fangs and
preparing himself for death.

To the General’s surprise
the Queen calmed herself, preening her antennae.
Perhaps I will live to serve my Queen in battle
after all,
thought the General, and his fear scents
dissipated. “Now that I have your attention General, I will ask you
once more. Is my army ready to fight?”

Carefully choosing his words the General
answered: “My Queen, I have drilled your army to perfection. Your
ships are as powerful as they can be with the technology we have.
Nevertheless, we have only ourselves to drill against. One can only
sharpen a blade so much before the edge becomes
useless.”

“
I assume you have a battle plan
ready for me?” asked the Queen.

“
Yes my Queen,” answered the
General, who was now hopeful he would live a little
longer.

“
Well, What is it? Or must I
guess?” snapped the Queen, her anger rising once again.
Males were so incompetent in social
matters,
thought the Queen.

“
My Queen, I have sent you
detailed plans. Did you not get them? SOMEONE will pay for this
with their lives and the lives of their nest mates,” roared the
General.

“
Calm yourself General, they were
given to me but I want to hear them from you, not read them off an
official scroll,” commanded the Queen, bringing the General back
under her control.

“
Of course my Queen, please
forgive my outburst. I am so sure of victory that I forget myself.
Our scouts have located a planet two light units away. This planet
has a large orbiting space dock and repair facility. It is guarded
by only 200 military vessels. Not even combined can they match the
firepower of just one of our battleships. We do not know if it has
any allies or who they might be. The space dock will allow us to
build even more ships and the general staff and I think this will
be an easy first target.”

“
General, need I remind you that
overconfidence is a fool’s errand. My army is untested in battle
and we do not know the full capabilities of those 200 ships,” said
the Queen patiently, rebuking the General for his eagerness. “When
it is time to strike, there must be no doubt of the outcome. Our
very existence depends on both subtlety and stealth.”

“
Of course, my Queen, I apologize
for my seeming lack of caution,” said the General, “but we do know
the capabilities of the ships guarding both the planet and the
space dock. Our scouts observed the craft in question, pursuing and
destroying what must have been an attempted theft of one of their
own ships by parties unknown. I assure you my Queen, their ships’
capabilities are no match for ours,” boasted the
General.

“
Be that as it may, General, how
are the efforts to block communications coming?” asked the
Queen

“
The scientists have solved the
last puzzle and a working prototype is being tested. I should have
the results by sunrise,” answered the General.

“
The season of the Sun begins in
seven sunrises, I will inform the people then that the war is about
to begin when I speak from the temple of the Sun at the zenith of
the First Day ceremony. General, prepare my army for departure once
we have the results from the prototype. But know this: I will hold
you and your nest mates personally responsible for the outcome of
this battle. I will feast on all of you if you fail.

“
Now leave me to my meditations,”
commanded the Queen, dismissing the general.

PART SEVEN

The Search Continues

Rowl and the Irishman’s search had also been
fruitless. As the forbidden planet’s star disappeared for the day,
they made camp in a clump of vegetation that resembled trees next
to a small lake. As Rowl began unpacking the supplies, the Irishman
began to gather wood for a fire.

“
Don’t make that fire too big,”
cautioned Rowl.

“
Relax, will you, there isn’t
anything larger than an insect on this planet,” grumped the
Irishman.

“
That we know of,” growled Rowl,
“So keep the fire small.”

“
You’re acting like a scared
little female,” grumbled the Irishman under his breath.

“
One who can kick your ass any day
of the week.” Rowl growled.

“
Yeah, you and whose army?”
scoffed the Irishman as he threw a twig at the canine
master.

“
Me, myself and I are all the army
I need,” boasted Rowl. “Now shut up and start cooking
dinner.”

“
Who died and left you in charge?”
asked the Irishman as he began unpacking the rations they had
brought for dinner.

“
We can wrestle for it,” suggested
Rowl.

“
Wrestle for what?” asked the
Irishman.

“
The loser cooks and does the
cleanup,” suggested Rowl.

“
Oh no, we are not going to do
that again. Last time you broke my nose, and it will be a while
before we have access to a bacta tank and I have to think of my
stunning good looks.”

“
Good looks my ass, I have seen
better looking rodents,” retorted Rowl.

“
Well what about that pleasure
girl on Alto Prime last year? She thought I was handsome. In fact,
she said ‘noble looking’,” said an indignant Irishman. This comment
started Rowl laughing so hard that tears came to his eyes as he
rolled in the grass.

“
What’s so funny?” demanded the
Irishman. This just made Rowl laugh that much harder, completely
ignoring the look of hurt on his friend’s face.

Finally, after regaining some semblance of
control, Rowl said, “That is what she says to all her customers.”
Then seeing his friend’s unhappy look, Rowl tried to sooth his
friend’s ire. “Here, have some ale; it will take your mind off
her.” Reluctantly the Irishman accepted the offered tankard of
ale.

They sat in silence for quite some time,
sipping their ale and watching the flames flickering in the
campfire.

“
Why did Snarth have to give her
to Tom?” asked the Irishman bitterly.

“
Because I don’t think he expected
you to fall in love with a pleasure bio-mech,” answered Rowl
gently. “If the stealth master’s plan works, Tasha will be free.
Hell, maybe Tom will give her to you. I am sure he doesn’t know you
are in love with her.”

“
I don’t think Tom has any idea
that the stealth master is after him,” said the dejected
Irishman.

“
He will after tonight!” said
Rowl, hoping to cheer up his friend, “Or he is not as smart as I
think he is. Now finish your ale; we have to get an early start in
the morning, unless you really want to tie one on. However I think
riding that bike with a hangover is not a good idea,” growled
Rowl.

“
Neither do I,” added the Irishman
as he downed the last of his tankard and kicked down the
fire.

PART EIGHT

Death to the Unbelievers

On the command ship, the General of the
Queen’s army watched his console intently. When his forces were in
position he activated his holo projector, it was time to ask the
Queen’s permission to attack the unsuspecting planet at the center
of his swarm of ships. There would be complete surprise and no way
for his prey to call for help.

As the hologram figure of the Queen
materialized in front of the General, he bowed, scraping his chest
armor on the deck of the bridge of the command ship.

“
My Queen, the time has come, all
of your forces are in place and all enemy communications have been
nullified by the disruption field. We only await your command to
begin our attack and bring glory to you and the giver of life the
Sun. Death to the enemy!” roared the General.

“
Swarm them, General,” commanded
the Queen. “Capture the leaders then bring them to me, feast on the
rest.”

“
Yes, my Queen, from this day
forth your enemies will flee in terror at the mere mention of your
name,” he proclaimed.

The battle for the planet was nearly over
before it began as the Queen’s fleet swarmed the enemy planet from
every direction, destroying all but a few defensive ships within
seconds, leaving only the capture of the planet’s leaders for the
General to complete his mission and fulfill the Queen’s
orders.

Capturing the leaders did present a problem to
the General. Which unit was to have the honor of combat in the
Queen’s name first, caused quite a disturbance in the ranks. It was
decided that the Queen should bestow that honor and thereby set
precedence for future engagements.

As the General waited for the Queen’s decision
via hologram, his commanders whipped their assault troops into a
vicious frenzy. Battle cries resounded through each of the troop
carriers so loudly that it resulted in confusion as to which unit
the Queen actually selected. Once order had been restored, the
attack on the enemy’s position began with the most senior troops
spearheading the attack, bearing the Queen’s banner.

“
My Queen,” began the General as
the Queen’s image solidified in front of him, “Victory is
yours.”

“
Well done General. Was secrecy
maintained?” questioned the Queen.

“
No transmissions or ships
escaped. We have captured the leaders as you commanded. Your
vanguard is feasting on the rest,” answered the General.

“
Very well, bring the leaders
before me at once. Deploy my fleet to intercept any incoming ships.
Capture, question, acquire any new technology, then refit any ships
attempting to enter my new nest. Have the technicians retrieve all
data on neighboring systems from the computer systems and bring it
to me immediately. You may congratulate your troops on a job well
done,” said the Queen.

Later, on the Ones’ home world, the leader of
the captured repair station stood before the Queen, defiant,
unbeaten. The Queen motioned to one of the guards for him to be
brought closer so she could be heard.

In galactic standard, the Queen said, “I am
the Queen of my people. We have captured your facility as the first
step in bringing the way of the Sun to your people.”

“
Why did you attack us?”’ asked
the still defiant leader.

“
To prevent you from attacking us,
why else?” answered the Queen, puzzled. “Once you come to
understand the way of the Ones you will feel
differently.”

“
My people have a great many
warships, we will never submit. Once they find out about this
attack they will come for vengeance.”

“
And from just where exactly will
they come?” asked the Queen.