Chapter 30
Tobias
I perched on Hali's right shoulder amist the legions of assembled Taruff kertian. Some grunted in their own language back and forth, but for the most part, everyone stood silent, waiting. Flight after flight after flight of Taruff starfighters had passed overhead, sometimes so thick that they blotted out the sky. It was a dreary morning on the perpetually twilight world of Xylen, and cloud cover blocked most of the space battle from our view. Gaps in the clouds occasionally revealed tiny twinkles of light, signifying an exploding ship. It had begun.
Against the wishes of her father, Hali had taken up the family blade and made her way to the battlefield. She knew I would be facing death along with her people, and I guess she felt responsible for me. Which was pretty ridiculous when you stopped to think about it – I'd be in Mazerroo morph, fairly safe even from the strafing runs I knew were to come. The scene was like a civil war movie that Stephen King had dreamed up – a light, purple mist blew across the rows of warriors. Some figeted nervously with their blades. Others seemed to be in an almost meditative state. But everywhere, as far and the eye could see, were big, armed, blueish humanoids.
The explosions grew brighter, and I knew the Trunsk were fighting their way through the Taruff fighter squadrons to get to the ground and strafe the helpless kertian, trying to kill as many as possible before the dropships arrived, disgorging Trunsk warriors. (It's time,) I said to Hali, who nodded as I fluttered to the ground and began to change.
"Kertain of Xylen!" she bellowed. All within earshot turned to look. "Warrior Tobias is about to use the human weapon of shape-shifting! He has risked his life to acquire a Mazerroo!" She waited for the collective gasps and cheers to die down before she continued. I had already multiplied in size many times over, and some of the warriors were unable to stop themselves from recoiling. "Do not be frightened, for now the beast which we so rightly fear is rising up with us to save our planet!" The roars continued, and I wondered if everyone on Xylen was such a powerful motivational speaker.
By the time the Trunsk fighters arrived, I was fully Mazerroo. The Mazerroo didn't care about war or slaughter unless it was the one having all the fun. I had to forcefully stop myself from grabbing up the nearest Taruffs and slinging them into the midst of the rest, like some sick game of bowling. The strafing runs were not at all accurate, and I guessed they were more to inspire fear and panic than to actually kill the maximum amount of Taruffs. Worthless – the warriors of Xylen did not panic. They were afraid, but they kept their fear under control. Out of the thousands of warriors that I could see, not a single one broke rank as the Trunsk fighters skimmed overhead, their blasts decimating two or three warriors at a time.
A half-squad of them spotted me and began to break off, but then I guessed they thought they were relatively safe in their fighters. They converged on me and stopped blasting Taruffs long enough to concentrate all of their fire into the center of my chest.
I almost laughed. 'Worthless,' I thought as my thick armor absorbed the shots. It burned, but the Mazerroo didn't care about pain. Especially now that the figthers were close to me. 'Playtime,' the warped creature's mind thought, and I encouraged it.
I reached out, deceptively fast, and snatched a stingray fighter out of mid-air. I was like the Karate Kid snatching the fly out of Mr. Miyagi's hand. The Mazerroo wanted me to put the fighter in my mouth and chew on it to see how it would taste, but my human side won out. I wound up and hurled the ruined fighter at a wingpair that was breaking off from the engagement. As the one I'd thrown and the nearest stingray collided, they exploded in a massive fireball that engulfed the second fighter, sending it to a less-spectacular death by collision in the dark Xylen sands. (Steeeee-rike!) I yelled, the human Tobias pleased with the destruction as much as the Mazerroo.
The Taruffs cheered as the stingray fighters all broke off and headed back for space at oddly wide vectors. Several wings of our own atmospheric fighters provided chase, and I guess they thought our fighters had scared them off. I had a flash of insight as to what was coming, and I shivered even inside that fearless Mazerroo body. (Hali, get beneath me,) I said grimly.
Once the skies above us were clear of Trunsk fighters, destruction began to pour down from the heavens. Huge blasts left craters the size of houses in the place of the brave warriors who once stood there. A couple of blasts hit me, but they didn't do any crippling damage. Taruff body parts bounced off of me. The Mazerroo delighted in this new game while my human mind was utterly disgusted. (Come on, Jake…think of something!) I silently urged as the orbital bombardment commensed, slaughtering brave Taruffs by the hundreds.