AC: Another thank you for FollowerOfAnhamirak who gave time to beta-read this chapter.
Chapter 137: Calm Morning
Tom and Sarah woke up as the morning light shone in their jail. The boy noticed the girl leaning against his shoulder.
She sat by his side and grumbled, "W-where are we?" She stopped when she remembered yesterday, "Why can't it be a nightmare?"
"Don't worry. They will come and save us," the boy reassured her.
"I wouldn't think of that if I were you," Milla'iin chuckled as he stood near their jail, "No matter what plan they have, I'll make sure to have the advantage over them."
The teenage girl grunted, "How do you think you can do that?"
The M'arrillian chuckled at the challenge. His tendril passed between the bars and slapped her face. He watched her painfully grunting while the male human checked to see if she was alright. The Chieftain held back in his slap. He wanted to do more, to avenge his soldiers who fell under the humans and those they captured, "I'll tell you. You two. I will keep you close to me. However, I won't control your mind. It would be too merciful for you two. This time, it won't end up like the Messenger's suicide. You are the real humans and you won't have anything to kill yourself. You are our hostages. Your life is in the balance of the creatures now."
"Why keep us close?" Tom asked as he managed to calm down.
The door to their jail opened, "Because the two Overworlders will come for you. Not only that, but I suspect they might steal in the night to save you. How can they do that when I make sure you are under careful watch?" He chuckled, "And see everything you know about Maxxor and Queen Aszil. Maybe I should do this now," he raised his tendrils to their head. He refrained from doing that, "But why do it now? I don't think you know more than us when we fought their tribes."
Tom grasped his courage and asked, "Why are you doing this? Why keep doing what Aa'une wanted to do? You-" he held back the last bit. It might insult the M'arrillian.
Milla'iin frowned as he approached the boy. He made sure to keep the girl in his sight. He used his height to intimidate the boy, "Asking stupid questions?"
"Why?" Tom repeated his question.
"Why?" His tendrils shivered a little. He held back his anger. Anger would cause him to make mistakes. He grunted, "Our great ruler had a great future for our tribe. With everyone under our control, it will be as it should be! Our tribe's destiny is to rule over the other tribes! Then, the 'Messenger of the Cothica' came and caused his first defeat. A human from your world that came to Perim and just destroyed everything! He is still poisoning our tribe! Just by being alive! If we could reach him, I would execute him in front of the traitors!" His large eye was near Maxxor's favorite human
Tom frowned, "Like Aval'par and Phelphor, you just have nothing else. That's why they betrayed you. They found something else than just conquering Perim."
A hole was made in the wall near Tom, "W-a-t-c-h y-o-u-r w-o-r-d-s h-u-m-a-n," he said slowly, watching the boy, "You are a poison to our tribe. Just like the 'Messenger'. You somehow convinced Phelphor to be a traitor. And from what I've checked in your mind while you were sleeping. I see you put your own venom in the mind of Aval'par."
Sarah had enough, "You are the one who got your mind poisoned by Aa'une! You don't know anything else other than this stupid war! You brought M'arrillian children into this war!"
The glare Milla'iin sent shut her up, "Another word from any if you and you will lose a limb. You talk only when I ask you something from now on!" They could hear the cold fury behind his voice.
The two didn't reply.
The Chieftain's glare intensified at the absence of an answer. The worst part was that technically, he didn't order them to say anything, "Understood?"
"Fine."
"Yeah."
Milla'iin grunted quietly at their little defiance. He didn't like the tone of their voices, but couldn't really call them out on this. He turned around, "Come right now."
He flew slowly away as the two humans followed him.
Tom held Sarah's hand and with a small nod, they tried to stay strong. They had a feeling that something big would happen today.
The four rulers of Perim and Gal'drad were in the command center with Tom's father, the general and other important soldiers of Earth.
The creatures made no comment on the strange technology that didn't use any crystal or stuff that existed on Perim. They somehow made it work.
They watched the large screen that showed the map of the city.
The general started, "This is where the M'arrillians are currently located. It's a small city that offered little tactical advantage in case of an invasion."
The creature watched the screen. The city looked really small. Much smaller than what they had on a map, since there was no map of a town in their world.
In Kiru city, if you didn't know where to find anything, you asked the citizens or the guards to guide you around. That was how the creatures and the humans used to find themselves.
Chaor let out a small smirk, "A lot of detail here. What do you know about the city?"
"Except for what we said, not a lot. It's just a small town like many others you can find," the general replied. He observed it, "There is nothing to protect the town from an invasion. It is deep in the middle of the territory. If you are asking about walls, there aren't. We can easily pass over it. Just like many M'arrillians," he concluded, just in case he got more questions.
"Anything they could use to see invisible Mipedians?" Theb-Saar asked.
"No. We have those here, but not in this town. You can find them in bigger cities," George answered. He tapped his lip with his finger, "There are a few ways we can strike efficiently and with less resistance," he turned towards the general and gave him a short nod.
One of the soldiers zoomed in. The north of the city was more detailed now, "The north has less cover if we strike from there. Even so, they could notice our coming from farther away. It is an open field."
"Then it isn't a good idea to attack from the north," the Underworlder concluded.
"Unless we get their attention elsewhere. We can get their attention with a diversion or a distraction."
"Distraction?" The creatures asked.
Maxxor saw a few of the battlegear and had a small idea, "You mean like striking from the air?"
"Yes. Our plan is extremely fast and we can bombard the city. If not, we can get their attention away by showing some of our fastest battlegear," George replied.
"The other military bases will send reinforcement for the mission. It won't just be us. The others are on standby, out of sight and range from the M'arrillians. They can quickly retreat if they go in their direction."
Aszil chuckled, "With how many humans are around, it wouldn't be difficult to imagine you having a whole army of warriors around."
"That is just one army. There are many others in other countries. Anyway, we focus back on the plan," the general pointed out. The image zoomed out and zoomed east, "This location has a better position to get them by surprise. There is a small forest near it and we can hide for a surprise attack. It can be used to distract them and separate their forces while we attack north."
"Why not go south?" Theb-Saar wondered.
There was another zoom out and then zoom in. They saw that it was similar to the north, but the way the small city was made, the houses and other buildings allowed them to defend their position quite easily.
The general watched them. He put his hands together as the screen zoomed to the west, "This will give them an advantage. same with the west. Still, the west gives only a small advantage. With that intel, the basis of the plan is to attack with most of our forces striking east and west. As for the north, we will send less soldiers. A few Mipedians will strike from the south, invisible. They will search, rescue, and evacuate Tom and Sarah as the rest of us will get their attention at first. After those two are out, we will go all-out on them."
George nodded, "Despite that, a plan can easily go south. Which is why we need to be ready to improvise. The most important part of the plan that we can't improvise in however, is evacuating those two hostages. I'm not saying that because my son is here."
Maxxor gazed at the Mipedian king, "Any problem with the plan."
Theb-Saar shook his head, "I have none. The humans know more about their world than us."
Chaor frowned as he watched this. He growled, "You better not consider using me as a diversion. I will be at the front line. When I find Milla'iin, I will kill him," he grunted quietly as he watched the other creatures and humans.
George sighed, "Depends if he surrenders or not. If he doesn't and keeps fighting, we won't have anything to say about it."
The general nodded, "I have no problem for you to take the frontline."
"I will pick the best Mipedians for the infiltration. I'll come to the frontline, to let the M'arrillians know that I am with them. If I turn invisible, it will be to ambush them," the Mipedian king warned them.
"Danians won't let me enter the fight. I will remain here," Aszil told them. She showed a bit that she wanted to be in the frontline, "We will keep Wamma in sight. He might try to get past them on his own."
"Count me in the diversion. If they know I am around, it might get their attention," Maxxor told them, "I will come from the north with soldiers of my tribe and some of your own."
Chaor decided, "I'll take East."
"Then I'll strike from the West," the blue Mipedian concluded.
"That went well," George commented as they pretty much chose their own position.
"We will divide the troops ourselves," Chaor said. He watched the humans, "Anything else to know about?"
"No. We already prepared the means of transportation. We will depart in an hour," Tom's father told them.
"Good," the red Underworlder left.
The other rulers followed him and left the human to finish the preparations. They had the battlegears ready to protect their minds and ready to transport some of them at their rendezvous point.
They watched the helicopters. They learned the names of those vehicles. They weren't as strong as some of the battlegears they had in Perim, but they made much more. Also, the humans weren't as resilient as the creatures. It kinda made sense that the battlegears wouldn't need to be as strong.
The soldiers were already prepared to depart. It was soon time to leave.
The creatures also prepared to follow on the ground with the transport vehicles. The creatures were split between their destinations.
The civilians came to watch them leave. They noticed two M'arrillian they weren't expecting to leave. They saw Aval'par and Bahrakatan. The two climbed on one of the jeeps, under the watchful eyes of the army.
Peyton and Kaz were close to their parents. The orange haired boy told them, "You better beat them quickly!"
Chaor let out a smirk, "Do you know who you are talking too? The plan will slow me down," he climbed on the back of a jeep.
Peyton waved his hand, "Make sure our friends are safe and sound!"
Theb-Saar nodded, "We will," he said before he climbed on.
Maxxor nodded at Tom's mother, "We will not fail. Victory is the only thing we'll get."
The queen watched her soldiers as they climbed into the trucks. She crossed her arms as she noticed that Wamma was fired up.
The big red Danian was ready to crush the M'arrillians until Sarah was safe.
Aszil let out a small smile. If her most lazy soldier was that fired up, then victory was assured.
The army departed.
AC: This is the end of this chapter.
Next: Tension.
The creatures were ready to strike the M'arrillians, while the M'arrillians prepared for the battle they knew was coming.