Chapter 4
Operation: Floodgate
Tawny sat in the Irken ship that orbited Earth, looking out her window down at Earth, awaiting the launch time for the next phase of the invasion. No matter how obsessed she was with her mission now, TIR's voice kept echoing in her head.
Why are you doing this? It had struck a nerve. Why was she doing this? Why did she hate the humans? I..I have to hate them! They are my enemies...I MUST conquer them....must kill them.... She always manage to turn her thoughts back to the task at hand, though. The Floodgate Operation would be similar to an Organic Cannon Sweep, with one difference. They wouldn't be using shells, or guns or lasers. They would be using radiation. The idea was to flood the earth with radiation, and kill off the majority of the population. The survivors would hunted down in post-invasion air strikes. Tawny didn't need to leave her room for this mission. It was a simple task of waiting for the detachment of the Armada to arrive. She wished she had talked with Soushu longer, for she received word that he'd disappeared again. It wasn't unlike him to do that, but, right before Tawny's victory? It almost hurt her to know that Soushu wouldn't be around to watch her victory. She turned her head to look out the window again, watching the enormous battleships charging their cannons. Soon it would be all over, and she could head back to Irk to receive her certificate of conquest. She was shaken from her thoughts when another Irken entered her room, dressed in an official uniform.
"Hello, Ms. Tawny."
"Hello, Samishii...." Tawny sighed, looking back to the window.
"Something wrong?" Samishii Ichiin inquired sitting down next to Tawny.
"It's just...it's just that I...I don't..."
"You don't know if what you're doing is right anymore?"
"How'd you know?"
Samishii smiled. "I spoke with TIR. You're lucky to end up with such a caring SIR unit."
"Hardly..."
"What was that?"
"Nothing..nothing..."
"Well, I must be going. It's about time to give the order to fire. Keep well, Tawny." Samishii stood up and left the room, and again Tawny felt utterly alone. She turned her attention back to the window, watching, waiting. She began wringing her hands, impatient. Moments later, the first long beams of radiation shot downward from one of the many warships' cannons. Watching it's enormous beam sweep along the Earth, Tawny began to smile, and then broke into cold laughter that she couldn't stop. Mentally, it slightly frightened her. This wasn't like her. Yet, it felt natural. She continued laughing as the other cannons fired, beginning Operation: Floodgate. Within a matter of minutes it would be over, and she would be declared the Conqueror of Earth. Sweet victory is MINE!