The Deian War: Conquest (22 page)

   Thanos had actually understood his sister’s strategy the moment Vulpus had, but only now did he
want to comment. “It
could
work” he allowed. When his legionnaires looked at him doubtfully, he explained “The 101st haven’t been seen engaging the enemy yet. If I move up to the wall, they will assume only the 711th remain at the laboratory complex. They will know that we’re aware that they are after something, but it will seem we are entirely ignorant of its significance until we let them find it. Then, when they have it and we can identify what they’ve stolen, we act”.

   “We ambush the ambushers” Vulpus
smirked.

   Nightingale looked at her again, this time with an expression that was slightly more positive and less intrusive than last time.
“Precisely, Commander”
.

***

"WHAT ARE WE going to do?" Hadar asked, looking through the binoculars at the target that sat comfortably a mile away from them.

   Next to him, another Legionnaire of the 711th lay prone, his sights down the scope of his
longrifle. They had withdrawn from the vicinity of the labs at Cerberus’ command and it had allowed the Phantoms access to what they were sent to protect.

Hadar’s
comrade was looking at the same thing he was. "I don't know," he admitted, "those aren't just paradigms; there’s devii chieftains, golems, gore princes...then there's a pair of typhons guarding the device itself". He looked at Hadar, "We'll never take them all down". 

   "Damn Vin, nothing like the optimistic outlook before the charge, eh?" Hadar replied.

   "That was realism, not pessimism.”

   Hadar groaned. “Since when do we just sit by and let the Phantoms do what they want?”

   Vin sighed. In truth, he too was frustrated by what they were forced to do. “We haven’t been ordered to do anything but secure the position and observe the enemy. We're not going to attack, Hadar, accept it already”.

  
"No, you aren't”
a ghostly voice behind them agreed.
“We are though"
.

   Turning around, the Legionnaires found its source. They were almost scared witless as they saw Nightingale, Apostle of the 101st Shadow Legion
, towering over them. The amazing thing was during the campaigns since Pheia, the two of them had seen the 101st in action plenty of times. They had seen the way they moved like whispers of the night. They were stealthy killers without peer. Yet when they saw Nightingale, her form a ghostly image of a beautiful, deadly woman, she gave them an uneasy chill like she was the first spectre they had ever seen.

   "But...how? My
Grace, there are
typhons
in there!" Vin spoke out of concern, but only when he finished did he realise how ridiculous it was to worry about a demi-god dealing with Phantoms, no matter how lethal they were. Hadar gave him a look that said
What the hell are you doing? She’s an Apostle, you fool!

   "There are worse creatures in the Phantom hordes than Molochs,
legionnaire, and I am fiercer than all of them. If you feel the need, remain here. Give us covering fire, if you get the chance to help us".

   With that, she disappeared. A windy black mist was all that she left behind.

   Hadar and Vin looked at each other, mystified.

   "Chamber a round, now!" Hadar stressed.

  Vin had already done that, pulling back on the rifle to load the massive .75 phaser round into his gun. Ammunition of that sort was far more advanced than what their human comrades had. Capable of tearing through almost any material, the round would even fell a golem in one hit, and at least distract a typhon. The problem was actually hitting the slippery bastards.

   Looking down his sights, Vin focused on the building, looking through the massive windows that seemed to be purposefully there just to tempt an attack. He scanned window to window, seeing Paradigms on patrol everywhere. On his second sweep, he had to double-take at least twice. Where before the enemy was visible, and clearly alive, now they were gone.

   He muttered a cuss to himself.

   "What is it? Do you see anything?" Hadar asked.

   Vin was about to reply when they both heard a long, guttural cry. Looking at the plaza in front of the building, a series of defence turrets there able to repel unwanted guests long enough for support to arrive if necessary, they witnessed the art of the Shadow Legion like never before.

   Black smoke appeared as bodily forms everywhere behind the Phantoms. Legionnaires of the 101st sprung into existence as if from nowhere, flashing up behind the enemy to cut them down like child's play. They saw the source of the death scream; a
golem with a holo-sword through its broad chest, piercing both its black lungs. It turned its head to face its assailant, but the Legionnaire withdrew his blade and swung it in an arc. It cleaved through the golem's neck so cleanly that barely any blood was spilled.

   A pair of
devii chieftains rushed the very same Legionnaire. "Kill them!" Hadar cried.

As Vin adjusted his aim and placed his shot, he was too late to help as the
chieftains stood there bemused. The Shadow legionnaire had vanished, like an untouchable shade and as quickly as he disappeared, another two of his legion attacked. They quickly slew the phantoms with ease and likewise blinked out of sight.

  
There were more amazing things to see, but Hadar noticed something in the room where the Phantoms were guarding the coveted equipment. "Look, the device! What is that haze around it? It wasn’t there before…" Hadar asked.

   "Please don’t say we’re about to find out what it does..." Vin replied rhetorically.

   The massive shadow surrounding the object finally manifested itself completely. It resolved into Nightingale, a huge, overarching spectre that rose up over the typhons. The creatures fell to their knees, a primal fear bringing them down to a pathetic, mewling level.

   Neither of the 711th could look as the Apostle tore the creatures
apart. It was like a nightmare the way she screamed like a banshee, her eyes wide with aggression and relish, her jaws further apart than it seemed possible, with row after row of teeth sharper than razor mesh. Soon, maroon blood coated the walls of the room like a scene from a sadistic horror show.

   A few moments later,
after looking away with revulsion, they returned their eyes to the room. There was nothing there now, not even a trace of the phantoms or the gore they briefly saw spread all over the place. The device had gone too.

   Vin and Hadar did not see the 101st like that again for years to come, but they heard of the device and its use in the war. Stories would be told of how the 711th had supported the fearsome Shadow Legion, and how without them, the fight would have been lost. Only the pair of them knew the real truth; the 101st had needed no-one's help
, least of all theirs.

LUPUS WAS BACK on Gothica. He knew, despite the persuasive imagination of his mind, that he was in reality asleep, but he chose to ignore the fact and savoured the illusion. He was in Cygnus City, near the Academy. He couldn’t explain why, but his feet were taking him into a playground where a crowd of children were playing together and running around.

  
It brought a smile to his face to see such innocence. He had almost forgotten what it meant to behold pure happiness, but in this artificial world he was seeing it once more. A young girl, no more than five, caught his attention. Her laughter sounded familiar, her eyes similar to a girl he loved more than anything.

   Then the dream began to
change, adding a new layer to its story. Calla appeared by the child, playing with her and chuckling at their interaction. From this distance, Lupus knew he hadn’t been seen by them yet. He had a wrenching instinct in his heart that, in this version of his mind, the girl with Calla was their daughter, though he remembered in reality they had no such family.

   The thought and feeling of that
fact resounded endlessly until it seemed it wouldn’t go away, but when Calla’s mother appeared on the scene, Lupus was able to push past it and accept the dream’s truth. By chance, Calla looked up from what she was doing and noticed him. She beckoned him over and the girl ran up to him, embracing him cheerfully. Lupus played with her for a while, completely in love with the family he had suddenly found himself having.

   Yet,
there was something dark about the dream, something that was waiting to be fully revealed. Though he knew the girl was his daughter, there was something about her that suggested she didn’t know she was.

After holding her up and swinging her round in his arms, he put her down gently. She went off to play with some of her friends and Lupus was left behind to
witness the look of reservation and uncertainty on Calla’s face. He felt like there was a distance between them now that was yawning open in stark contradiction to the apparent fact that they had a daughter together.

   It was then that he noticed her mother’s expression.
Why are you here?
she seemed to ask. Without explanation, the atmosphere suddenly became hostile and he expected Raina to turn up at any moment and actually shout at him, but she didn’t. Instead, something far, far worse happened.

   The girl that his heart knew to be his daughter bounded up to him. He knelt down so that his eyes were level with hers
because he could barely stand to see the strange misery in her eyes. When she spoke, her sadness transferred to him as she asked “Why can’t you be my daddy?”

A disappointed frown formed on her face and was mirrored by his own.
The meaning of the question exploded in his lungs and caught his breathe. As he looked up at Calla and her mother, understanding dawning on him, he felt like the most fragile and expendable person in the world. He looked back at his daughter, but before he could reply “But I
am
…” the dream woke him up and stole the opportunity from him.

WHEN CALLA WOKE up, Lupus had already left her side. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sat up. She felt warm, despite her only cover being the thin blanket that he had brought to the observation deck. After their communion, they had fallen asleep to the sight of the galaxy of suns. Now, she awoke to find Lupus standing with one hand against the glass wall, the other hanging down at his side as he gazed silently at the miracle outside.
The light from the stars caught his brown hair and it shone, drawing Calla’s attention. The muscles of his human body were strong and well-formed, but he wasn’t as impressive as some of his brothers. Nonetheless, he was handsome and commanded an aura of strength and wisdom.

   Like her, he was naked. In a strange way, it seemed to make him look more vulnerable than she could ever have imagined. For a moment she sat there and observed him, trying to figure out the secrets that she knew he wrapped himself in. Though he had shared so many of them with her, he remained a mystery that she was more than willing to be patient to unravel.

   Eventually she stood up, let the blanket fall off her body and hugged him from behind. He didn’t shiver when she pressed her naked skin up against his, but after last night their intimacy was nothing new. He saw her reflection in the glass and noticed the light have the same effect on her blonde hair. It was thick and flowed over her shoulders like a bright waterfall, curving in waves. She tucked it behind her ears so she would be able to hear him better when he spoke. As always, however, it was her kind eyes that did most of her talking.

“Did you have another nightmare?” she asked softly, aware that he was lost in a world of thought that she was invading just by touching him.

   Lupus used the hand that was hanging by his side to hold hers that rested on his chest. They stayed like that for a few, silent minutes until he answered “No, nothing that bad. I just…”

   When he stopped, Calla kissed the back of his shoulder and told him “It’s okay, you can tell me anything; you know that”.

   Lupus sighed and before she understood the gravity of his mood, she saw in his reflection on the glass that a tear had escaped his eye and was running lazily down his cheek. He tried to sniff it back, but it was too late. He had let her see him cry, even if it wasn’t directly.

   “It was a sweet dream, at first” he began. “But you know how my dreams can be”.
He’d had a lot of nightmares and chaotic dreams in recent months, so there was very little that could surprise or unsettle her about his unconscious mind anymore.

  Calla closed her eyes, sensing that he was about to tell her something that would make her just as sad. “Tell me” she asked.

   “…You and I had a daughter” he said. She saw the curve of his delighted smile in the mirror wall. A second later it was lost as he continued, “But although I knew she was ours, she didn’t know I was her father. You and your mother were there with us. You seemed so far away, as though I really wasn’t the father of our child, or at least I had no right to be and your mother…well, she could have killed me with just her eyes.”

   Calla hugged him tighter to her, feeling the pain in his heart. Whenever Lupus dreamed something this vivid, the emotions he felt during the dream would stay with him even after he awoke. The sadness he felt now was the very same that he was afflicted with when he was asleep.
Even if she wasn’t affected by her own dreams in the same way, she could still empathise with him.