"Then that is confirmed?" I asked the Ship's Chief of Security.
He responded, "Yes, Your Majesty. We have now confirmation on that. Our Scout Troops were able to destroy five of the sixteen mega-solar panels that the Red Eyes had installed around their main star, Kako Fos."
"Well, that should definitely help making a dent in their energy sources," said Larry.
"And how are we doing on the EMP attacks?" I asked.
"Captain Jehai of the Fleet last said that the first attacks had been a failure since their fleet was destroyed. But we sent more and we have caused planetary blackouts in five main Red Eye planets."
It was true that most first tries on ambitious projects aren't always that successful. Larry did mention that certain aggressive ways of attacking Red Eyes was unorthodox. It was out-of-the-book stuff.
But sometimes you just have to think and act outside the box.
The next week or so, we spent it traveling in the vast firmament of space. I was used to this. I know it sounds unbelievable but I've traveled long distances in space before, mainly in the other dimensions.
Even though it was nothing new, I was always astounded by it. Outer space was so immense…mysterious…captivating…dangerous…seductive…beautiful. It was the fabric of the very infinite and ever-growing space we lived in. It was the real world. It was true.
It was so hard to believe that in this dangerous vast would be so many life forms. The grand majority of them were quite intelligent and advanced but not really that sophisticated. At least not in the way people imagined.
Of course, there had always been troubles.
First there were natural threats.
You probably know this, but outer space isn't exactly the safest place to live. You've got solar wind, geomagnetic storms, supernova, black holes, asteroids, meteorites, rogue planets, and not to mention the drastic temperature differences and radiation.
Of course, having powerful forces like the Red Eyes made it much more dangerous. A lot of people feed on all that danger, you know? You ever meet someone like that? There are plenty of those among us.
Am I saying that I'm scared?
To be frank with you, I think the word "petrified" wouldn't even start to come close to how I was feeling at the moment. This was something no one had ever dared or even dreamed of doing. Let me tell you, going offensively against the Red Eyes was not just like a squad of riot police breaking into a building full of terrorists.
All of its history, the Red Eye Empire has been the one going on the offense.
Actually, the Red Eyes have only fought defensively once. Larry told me this a few days before we reached the main Red Eye planet. I was bored, concerned, tired, worried, and to be frank, I was a mess, mentally speaking.
I tried to make myself think of anything else but the Red Eyes. I even tried to force myself into imagining Kylie teasing me and making fun of Lilia.
Yeah, I know, I know. That's not nice of me and if Lilia found out she'd probably kill me and strangle Kylie. But to be honest, I'd rather much bear with that than to be fighting the Red Eyes.
Anyways, I was asking Larry a little about the earlier Red Eye history, since he knows much more about it than me. "To my knowledge, those bastards have only gone on the defense once since they came into existence. It was when they were just starting. It was in another planet system; on the other side of the galaxy they're in now. At the time, I was battling Rexy's armies and up until that moment, he was the greatest threat in the universe.
"Another planet nearby, called Ketra was oh, I'd say about the size of Mercury. Maybe just a tad bigger. But anyways, their people were the first ones to recognize the potential threat from the Red Eyes. So they decided to put down the threat. They attacked the Red Eyes and were forced into retreat. They did manage to destroy many of their main bases."
"So then they won?" I'd asked.
"Not really. The Red Eyes had already sent in double agents in the planet and set bombs all over the place. Just the touch of a button and…well, you can guess what happened. Within weeks, the entire planet's inhabitants were destroyed."
Now that I remember that, I guess it wasn't such a good idea for me to have inquired about the Red Eyes' history. It wasn't comforting. Like, at all.
It had been something like 68 million years since then. I don't really know much about Red Eye history. If you want to know more, you'll have to consult with Larry about that. If I make it alive out of this one, that is.
Anyways, with those thoughts coming back to my mind, I dressed myself in my armor and loaded my weapons and prepared for the big showdown. In only a few hours we would be entering Red Eye Empire territory.
As we were walking down the hallway to the bridge, I said to Larry, "I sure hope those detection systems have been shut down by the EMP attacks."
"Well, we can't guarantee anything. In these circumstances, certain knowledge is a highly valued privilege. But it can also be a lethal weapon. We have to take all precautions. Just to be on the safe side, I ordered all ships and fighters to be in Level 5 Stealth Mode."
"Think they'll be able to detect us? I mean, in case they still have their detection systems online, will they be able to?"
He shrugged, placing the last piece of armor over his tail. "I don't know. I mean, they can penetrate the strongest force fields. That's why we had to upgrade ours. And we're continue working on that. It may take months or years. Or longer."
We said nothing as we started up the elevator and entered the Command Chamber. Armored and uniformed men were talking on ship-to-ship phones and running all over the places, waving papers and carrying weapons.
This is it. The real thing. Just a matter of minutes now.
Larry and I made a right turn into the South Wing 5 corridor and silently started down with no other sound than our footsteps on the metallic floor. My skin underneath the Iridium-Iron armor quivered and perspired fear, doubt, and determination. And sweat, of course.
Natural thing.
I could feel my heart not only pounding, but it was moving around in my chest! I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and my breathing came in short, quick bursts. As Larry and I assumed our battle positions in our respective Space Fighters, my fingers wavered as they pushed the controls to engage and ready the weapon and shield systems.
"This is Commander Heklo. We are now in Red Eye territory. The main planet is directly ahead of us. All troops are to be in battle positions! Let's all pull through this thing together and see how it goes for us! Let's do this, boys!"
There it was. Right in front of us. Seconds away from the atmosphere.
"Larry?" I asked him over the inter-fighter intercom.
"Yeah, Spiny?" he responded.
"I just want to say that I'm glad that you and I are doing this thing together. We've been best friends in the good and bad times, right?"
"Sure have." I couldn't see him, but I was certain that he was smiling. "And I can say for sure that I've never been prouder than you than at this moment. I'm sure that if your father were here, he'd say the same thing."
The memory of my dad brought tears to my eyes once again. Sure, I thought of him every single day since he'd died, but it was only in more emotional and significant moments like this that his smile returned to me.
My father always believed in me and would always trust me, even at my tender age. I could almost hear his voice say, "Go, my son. I know you will make me proud. I am sure, certain that you will glorify the name of our great people, and our nation."
My eyelids shut tight and I smiled to myself as I felt once again my father's warm embrace and the confidence he brought to me. When I opened my eyes, the dark red surface of the planet was just a few hundred miles away as my now released Space Fighter was now released from the mothership and blazed at fire speed.
Literally, because all the fighters were on fire as we penetrated the hydrogen-rich atmosphere and the scent burned my nostrils. The vision of fire-orange changed to dark red as we quickly approached the surface.
"Okay, guys! This is it!" I said to the entire army of five billion. Five billion. I'm in charge of five billion. Okay, Spiny. You know for a fact that there will be great losses, including close friends and acquaintances. And there will be nothing you can do to stop it. It's going to happen, period. Just do your best to kick those Red Eye heads.
We all pulled up a few hundred feet above the surface as we raced towards our main targets: the main Red Eye military station and the Capitol City.
Almost immediately hundreds of small specks popped out of nowhere and raced to meet us. Simultaneously, both sides started firing their blaster-like energy shots at each other.
Yeah, you can't avoid other deaths.
But you can avoid yours.
Or can you?