Ashes of the Realm: Book 04 - The Return of the Realm (25 page)

Atlas sighed and thought to him, “I’m really not up to arguing with you right now.”

The Alfont stopped and said, “I’m not here to argue. All of us can sense your sorrow over the death of that being. I just wanted to tell you I’m sorry for your loss. I don’t understand how you could have feelings for another species so close to you, but I know your sorrow is real.”

“That being was the one that lead our war with the Red Ships. As a young human he decided to fight to free you from your captivity.”

“Why would he ever do that?”

“Because of his love for me.”

The Alfont hung there and after a long pause said, “Will you tell me how it happened?”

As the two communicated, the other Alfont began moving closer. Atlas said, “I’ll share my thoughts with you.” The millions of silver ships saw a young two legged being dressed in rose and blue getting ready for his coronation. Atlas told them Tommy’s Tale as the First Male and Mother listened in. When he finished, the millions of ships that had drawn close turned and moved away. Atlas watched them go and was glad; now he had time to deal with his grief. His son had died. His grief was over whelming.

J
ingos was sitting with Ron Kune looking over the scouting reports that Timmy had provided. The planet they were going to attempt to liberate had been invaded by a species of carnivores and the population had been rounded up and put into holding camps until the processing ships could arrive. “It appears the ships that will kill and process the planet’s population will be arriving shortly. I wish we had more time to train but if we delay, millions will die.”

Ron shook his head, “How many ships do they have around this planet?”

“It looks like there are more than 10,000 in orbit. I think our fleet can handle their ships, but there is no way we could support your troops on the ground. We considered attempting to teleport the populations to safety but if one of our ships is detected, I believe those creatures will incinerate the holding camps. The best we can do is to send some of our Advanced Marines in and deploy a force field over the camps. They will as a matter of course have to take out all the guards simultaneously with the placement of the force fields.”

“How many guards are at each camp, Sir?”

“Our recordings indicate about two thousand armed and armored troops on the perimeter.”

“Do we know how good their armor is?”

“No, we do not. We’re also not certain about the strength of their ship’s weapons and defenses.”

“Are we going to ask fleet to send us more ships for this operation?”

Jingos took a deep breath and shook his head, “Ron, we are given the first mission to start fighting those that are destroying creation. We will be a standalone unit and will have to depend on our own resources. If the Realm doesn’t survive, we will continue to fight invaders where ever we can. We must know if we are capable of operating that way. There will be no help to save us.”

“So how do you see us doing this?”

The Division will use one Corp on the Northern Hemisphere and the other on the Southern. There are a thousand camps scattered around the planet and we can only use a company per camp. The Enemy has about ten thousand troops located at each of them so the odds are not going to be good.”

“Ten million troops!?!”

“This planet put up quite a struggle against them and more than forty percent of the inhabitants were killed. The good news is that most of the troops are not at the holding pens but at camps two miles away. It appears the leaders don’t want their troops sneaking into the holding camps and having a meal. Those guards are not only there to watch the captives, but to keep their own troops out.”

Ron took a deep breath, “Well, at least we know what we have to do. Will we be able to get our heavy armor in?”

“They will be teleported in after the holding pens have been taken. There’s no way to hide their arrival.” Jingos looked up from the display and said, “It’s not as bad as you think. Our division is as large as six of the old divisions and our armor is linked. Our hundred thousand warriors and their armor will give much more than they get.”

“I wish the heavy armor had the camouflage coating.”

“I know, but it would be burned off as soon as the fighting started. At least the warriors will be next to impossible to see. We’ll find out how good their technology is shortly. I wish we had more time to really scout their capabilities but our ship at their home system says the processing ships are starting to leave orbit. If we’re going to save these people, we have to go in now.”

“Keep their ships off our backs, Sir.”

“We’re going to start with the ones closest to the planet and work our way out. Semper Fi, Ron.”

Ron saluted and said “Semper Fi, Sir.”

• • •

Lt. Colby Chen looked at his platoon getting ready for the drop and could sense their nervousness. They had finished topping off their power reserves that operated their armor’s electronic systems and had checked their links to make sure they were fully operational. Colby looked at Jink Dorg moving around the group making last minute checks and he smiled. The small Cainth female was a remarkable contrast to Geon-lee. The seven foot glod dwarfed her, but Colby knew that Jink with her four arms was more than a match for the huge warrior. He found it remarkable that the vast majority of those that had volunteered for the Marines had been from those species that had been part of the original Stars Realm. Well, it shouldn’t be too surprising; they came from warrior cultures and lived for the joy of combat.

“Two minutes.”

Colby looked at the speaker that had made the announcement. He checked his coordinates and compared it to the rest of his recon-platoon and saw they were set at the proper distance. The holding pen had a ten mile perimeter and each of his troops would have to be responsible for about five hundred yards. Not only would they have to take out the guards, but their weapon platforms as well. He lowered his faceplate and looked at his command system. One minute left. He toggled his com and said, “You know the plan. Don’t waste time getting down and I’ll let you know when all of you have sent me your ready signal. Semper Fi, warriors.”

The hundred armored warriors yelled, “Semper Fi,” and activated their camouflage coating. The warriors disappeared on the landing bay and ten seconds later were teleported to their drop points.

• • •

Danielle was sitting in the Throne Room with hundreds of reporters that had arrived to receive an important announcement. The Realm had been notified that the Queen was going to be delivering a message and most of the Realm was glued to their monitors to see what was happening. Tag held his com to his ear and waited. Finally he heard from Trey, “They’ve been dropped.” He looked up at Danielle who was watching him and nodded. She turned to the Camera’s and smiled.

“Good evening. I’ve delayed this announcement until this special moment. Our White Warriors are dropping in on a planet that has been invaded and held captive by an aggressive race of carnivores. The population of that world has been gathered and placed in holding pens until the processing ships of the invaders arrive to kill them. Our brave warriors are falling through that planet’s atmosphere at this very moment to attempt a rescue of those prisoners.”

Danielle stood and walked in front of the cameras, “The Realm is undergoing a change in its structure and I want all of you to know the reason and how this change affects you. I have, as Queen of the Stars Realm, sworn my loyalty to the Emperor of the Bristone Empire. Emperor Scott and Empress Cassandra Robbins will now have our Realm’s loyalty and support. The original sixty six planets of the Bristone Empire will be Emperor Robbins personal fief and will be under his control. Those planets will be used to build a military force to assist him to go out and fight the aggressive and evil civilizations that are attacking innocent worlds. It is our responsibility to provide him with the tools he’ll need to be successful in that fight.”

“Our warriors have landed on that planet by now and are fighting to save those beings that are slated to be devoured by the invaders. I once said that the quest of a true warrior is to leave the universe a better place than they found it. I intend to do exactly that. We will no longer stand by and enjoy our comfortable lives while trillions of innocent beings are being killed in Creation. I will continue to rule the Realm and see that all of you are protected, but we need to help our Emperor take on this fight. If you desire to accept this quest; send a request to one of the sixty six Bristone Planets and let them know you want to join the Navy and Warriors. You should know that most of those that volunteer will not pass the rigorous training necessary to become a Life Warrior; but for those that do, they will be given dual citizenship in both the Empire and the Realm. Only the citizens on the Bristone Planets may live there along with all the warriors that make the grade. That citizenship will also extend to any new civilization that joins our quest. Warriors that take on this fight will be fighting for life and for peace. Thank you for your attention and I thank you in advance for helping us make this happen. Creation is counting on us to make a difference.”

• • •

Colby’s platoon teleported to thirty five thousand feet above the planet and extended their gliding surfaces. The structures came out of the skin on their armor and began catching the wind. Colby called for the ground view and saw the holding pen off to the north of their current position. He brought the view in closer and saw that the night guards were in place and the weapon platform operators were at their posts. He looked a little closer to the six in his zone and saw that none of the creatures were actually manning the weapon, but were just sitting around talking to each other. The prisoners had learned the hard way that attempted escape meant being eaten alive. Colby got a reading on the troop’s armor and sent the frequency to his falling warriors. They saw the frequency and set their weapons to it. Colby looked at the massive numbers of prisoners and used a filter to find the armor frequency, “Crap, ten of them are in the pen killing prisoners.” He hit his com, “Jink, assign someone to come in with our attack. I want them to scan the pen and assign a wasp to the ten invaders that are in the pen.”

“Aye, aye, Sir. Gabby, go up ten thousand feet and scan the compound for enemy soldiers. Assign a wasp and release them with the attack order. Got it?”

Jink watched as Gabby disappeared. She looked at her scanner and saw the Warrior appear high overhead. “Platoon, move your landing points twenty feet to the left. We’ll need to cover the space vacated by Gabrealla.”

Colby smiled; Jink was really good to have around. He checked his scanner and saw the flashing red light that indicated that his armor had located his landing location. He looked at his general board and saw that the other warriors had also locked in on theirs. “We will be teleporting to the ground in fifty seconds. As soon as you touch ground you will go to Weapon’s live; make it count.” Colby looked at his tactical screen and saw the two warriors dropping with the force field. They would arrive thirty seconds after the Marines landed. Colby looked back at his zone and activated the teleport module. He saw it glow green and he watched the countdown. The hundred White Warriors glided in a formation shaped like the perimeter of the holding pen. The ground was moving up and they were passing through six thousand feet when the chronometer hit zero; he activated the teleport key.

• • •

The Guard Commander listened to the prisoners screaming in the compound. He smiled and enjoyed hearing their fear. He had rewarded ten of his warriors for their outstanding performance in the last group competition. He knew they would make the most of the reward and terrorize many of the prisoners before choosing the one to be consumed. He thought about the processing ships coming and knew that soon he would be back on the troop carrier feeling his hunger. It was good to have this much food available. He decided that he would take one of the prisoners before his duty ended at morning.

He stood and felt a wind blowing lightly over the compound. That was a rare event at this location. He sniffed the air but smelled nothing. He went down to all fours and walked over to check the weapons platform nearest him. He had a multicolored brown hide that looked very much like a snake’s skin. It was dry and had thousands of overlapping scales. His head looked very much like a giant Boston Bull Terrier’s except the wide mouth was full of three inch serrated teeth. The mouth extended out from the black eyes that were set back such that his mouth could be opened at an unbelievably wide angle.

When he walked on all fours, his back was four feet off the ground. The back legs were built such that they swiveled ninety degrees and allowed him to standup easily and walk on two legs if he desired. His species was blazingly fast when they ran on four legs. He looked forward to taking off his armor. He checked his power level and saw that it was down to fifty three percent. He sighed and lowered his head. He hated standing in the long lines to repower his suit. There was no avoiding it now. If it dropped below fifty percent his commander, would be notified and it just wasn’t worth the yelling he would have to endure. He stopped and looked around. A wind blew by and he thought he heard something behind him. That’s when his concern about his power supply became a moot point.

• • •

Colby teleported to his assigned spot and raised his left arm and swept it across the perimeter in front of him. His scanner reported a hundred and fifty armor frequencies and in an instant his software assigned each one of them to a wasp. Colby brought his arm back across the perimeter and the wasps were released. Colby checked his display and saw the ten weapon platforms in his area and released the ten micro-hornets. The entire perimeter went up in flames as the guards were burned into ash. Every weapons platform exploded.

Gabby saw the attack command and released the ten wasps over the compound.

• • •