CHAPTER X: INVASION

I can still remember the excitement of that moment. We were about to invade one of the most special worlds we had ever encountered. Hmm, you do not seem that enthusiastic about it, do you? It was you who had to take care... The preparations were going perfectly – we had prepared an army of our finest demons that were to assault the bases at Phobos and Deimos. A perfect plan and... What is it again? Why there were fewer types of demons in the initial invasion? We decided to send a narrower selection of demonic species – the others were preparing for the greater attack upon Earth that was to follow that initial minor invasion.

The invasion plan was not simple at all – it all had to begin a few weeks before the actual breach. That was another special assignment for me. At first, Baphomet would not tell me what the purpose of my task was. But I soon realized it all too clearly. Baphomet called upon me and gave me orders of a mission that back then seemed as a digression that could not be understood.

There are many ancient buildings in Hell that we call "ethereal". They are as real as the rest, but they have the ability to become invisible, almost insubstantial, and an experienced Gatekeeper could easily teleport such buildings all over Hell... or to other worlds, as a mere exertion of willpower. You have seen one such ethereal place – the Fortress of Mystery. And it was my mission to secretly transport the Fortress to the moon of Deimos. Something that no Gatekeeper had done before. But I did. And no one in the Deimos base noticed anything. Not that there was anything to notice – just some momentary flashes of light and a tall tower that appeared for a second before becoming completely invisible again.

I was there – in the Fortress's command chamber and I watched. All my minions had been ordered to be perfectly quiet. No noises, no movement – we couldn't risk disturbing the invisibility. I was once again in your Universe, though not on Earth, but on Deimos. A complete demonic fortress stood near the base and none of the humans even suspected about it. You were on Mars at that time – not realizing that I was so close – just some... (I don't know how many) miles above your head. And I spent a week there, slowly preparing for my special task. And it was indeed important.

Baphomet needed a piece of your own Universe within Hell so that his plans of opening numerous giant Gates on Earth could be fulfilled. Deimos was chosen to be that piece – for its older UAC base offered a lesser challenge to our hordes. The Fortress of Mystery, Hell's most powerful ethereal edifice was to be the anchor point of the greatest teleportation spell ever attempted in Hell. The spell was to be cast by two demons. One was Baphomet himself. The other was me. And my ritual circle was already prepared, as was Baphomet's – on a special platform in front of him. Ironic... you used that same rising platform to slay him.

The time came.

I felt that the humans were about to open a gate for their experiments and the other twelve Gatekeepers were ready to take control over it. My personal escort of Barons of Hell and Cacodemons was to attack the buildings close to the Fortress and then return to its dungeons to await further orders. I was ready to cast the spell.

The minutes passed slowly. My great patience was heavily tested in these moments... And then I felt that a gate was opened – the humans had just sealed their doom. Another feeling came shortly after that – the Gate was now under Hell's control and the humans' computer systems had gone berserk. I could feel the humans' initial panic. Then came the demonic hordes...

Barons of Hell, Demons, Cacodemons and Imps poured out of the gates and slaughtered the shocked scientists and marines in a matter of seconds. They spread out of the Anomaly that was already overrun, and attacked the other buildings. A few scattered shots indicated the marines' pathetic efforts to defend themselves, but soon they were all dead – torn into pieces by Hell's ravenous minions. The others, still crying with terror and praying for mercy, were condemned to undeath.

In less than five minutes, the whole compound was nearly overrun. It was at that moment that I felt Baphomet's call and I turned my attention towards the highly volatile spell. Flashes of lightning and primal energy covered Deimos's sky as a powerful sphere of energy was about to enclose it. A loud scream–like noise and powerful hissing filled the air and drowned out all other sounds. A powerful tremor shook the ground... and seconds after that I felt that I was in Hell once again. Deimos was hovering above Inferno. Armies of Lost Souls immediately descended upon it and extinguished all opposition that was still trying to resist the onslaught. Deimos was under our control.

I went out of the Fortress of Mystery and was surprised to meet the Cyberdemons' Overlord. He told me what Baphomet's orders were – the Master of the Spider Masterminds was put in command of the Mars invasion since Baphomet was busy preparing for the assault on Earth. In his fortress of Dis, the great Spider was about to command the assault on Phobos and keep watch over Deimos. And he also had to plan an attack on Mars itself. Yes, we were planning to wipe out the colony on Mars as well but the death of the Spider sealed the failure of that plan. The Mastermind was also given full power over Inferno and all incursions outside the Earth – he claimed that he might also consider an attack on your Moon colonies as well.

The Cyberdemon Overlord told me about his mission – he was to oversee the construction of a demonic temple such as Hell had never seen. That temple was to be named the Tower of Babel and it was to be the focus of the powerful ritual that would open the way to Earth. I agreed that the plan was, indeed, perfect, and I went to Dis to help the Spider direct the war efforts. He accepted me in his sanctum and I (as if I knew what was going to happen) told him to increase the guard within his citadel as two Cacodemons and a Baron of Hell were not sufficient sentries. But he would not listen – he had sent all troops either to Deimos or to the main strike force that would soon march upon Earth. Inferno was left with fewer defenders than ever and that bothered me greatly.

I decided that my assigned troops could remain in the Fortress of Mystery, to be used when called upon, and went to the Monster Condo. I was, for unknown reasons, nervous and I wanted to spend some time among the dark tomes so that I could compose myself. I had bad expectations even though the invasion went exactly as my Master and I wanted it to proceed. It was the importance of the undertaking that made me feel uneasy – just like in ages past when I was tutored by Baphomet Himself.

During that time, the Spider used some of his arcane powers and took control over the humans' computers on Phobos. A gate was opened and a strike force, consisting only of imps and demons, invaded Phobos, led by two Barons of Hell, who were to rule over the overrun base. Resistance was quickly crushed and a fair amount of survivors were zombified. Now we had Deimos in Hell and an outpost in your Universe – Phobos. But an outpost should not be as poorly defended as Phobos was.

To our regret, before we could teleport Deimos, someone, somehow had managed to send a distress call to Mars. And they knew that we had invaded. When your commanders lost contact with Phobos too, they decided that some action had to be taken. The UAC administration on Earth was alerted – their response was quick – immediate retaliation was demanded. A small shuttle was launched towards Phobos. The shuttle carried a detachment of Space Marines. One of those marines was YOU...