Welcome back to another chapter of The Will of Revenge! Last time we've seen each other, our heroes were sent on a mission meant to scout the route for the rest of the fleet, as well as to find anything that could help them. On that mission, they ran into a planet that seems to be at war with a race of feline-like creatures. As a result, a mission was approved to get onto the surface and see what's going on.
So with that out of the way, let us begin.
Chapter 7
February 3, 2169
12:23
UNSA San Antonio, drop pod section
After a day of preparation, Ester gathered a team for the planned mission to the planet's surface. It was decided to use the drop pods for the planefall, since these were harder to detect while on the way to the surface. They still didn't know what exactly were the enemy capabilities when it came to surface-to-orbit weaponry, so they didn't want to risk it. Following the day long planning session during which Ester, Dora and Delilah discussed the details of the mission plan, they decided that the whole scout mission would be performed by a small team of six people.
Said team would consist of Ester herself, Annabelle, Henriette, Ves, Heley and former Son named Sarekh. She chose them because of Belle and Henri's experience from Vega's Outrider Corp, while Ves was chosen due to her hacking skills, Heley due to her marksman skills and Sarekh due to his high level of understanding of Erecan language. As of now, the whole team was making last preparations in the drop pod section of the ship, preparing their gear and checking if their weapons were in good condition.
"So, how do you guys feel?"Belle asked."Being the first to land on a new, unknown planet in the unknown galaxy?"
"I should be asking you."Ester replied."That's nothing new to me."
"And to us."Heley said."We were the first to scout planets before colonization."
"And I was among Zorzal's troops when we left for Erecan space."Sarekh said.
Everyone looked at him. Taking the hint, he stopped talking.
"Right."Henri said."Then I guess we're not unique here."
"Nope."Ester said, smirking.
"Aww, shame. We wanted to boast about it."Belle said, pouting.
Everyone snickered.
They continued to work in silence for several minutes, until Ester nodded.
"Alright, is everything ready?"
"Yes, ma'am."the others replied.
Ester nodded and stood in front of them.
"If that's the case, let's get over this one more time."she said."We're going to go to the surface of the planet to scout around and see what's going on there. Our initial intel suggests some kind of crisis, but to get more information, we need to see it for ourselves. If possible, we also have to make contact with the locals and gather information from them."
"If they don't shoot us first, that is."Belle said.
Ester nodded.
"There is a risk of that."she admitted."This is why we need to approach everything carefully. Especially considering the opponent the locals are facing. That being a race of clearly feline creatures we know nothing about."
"Well, not like it's new in our current situation."Henri pointed out."
"True."colonel agreed."But this is important. I we get on the locals' good sides, we will be able to, possibly, receive information about our enemy as a whole. And this will give us a large advantage, especially if our enemy assumes we still have no knowledge about their structure or territorial layout."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Alright then, with that said and done, let's get into the pods and let's begin."Ester ordered.
"Yes, ma'am!"they replied.
Ester then looked at the drop pod launch operator, who nodded and pressed a button, opening the pods. Everyone moved to enter the pods. Each pod carried three people, so they would be split into two groups of three. They entered, strapped in and waited for the launch, as the pod started to settle into launch position. They confirmed the harness integrity and once they were done, everyone pressed a button next to the harness, confirming they're readiness to drop. Upon seeing two green lights light up, signaling that both pods were ready, the operator went to work, preparing the launch sequence. He set the launch timer to a minute. Once the timer reached zero, the two pods were launched towards the surface.
February 3
Several minutes later
After a few minutes of flying, the pods crossed the atmosphere and after cooling down from it, they hit the ground. The hatches opened and both teams quickly came out of them, securing the perimeter around them.
"Clear!"Ester exclaimed.
"Clear!"Belle exclaimed.
The two teams approached each other. As they looked around, they spotted that they're in some sort of a forest with white trees that had red leaves.
"Damn, isn't that a bit foreboding?'Henri asked.
"Tell me about it."Belle said.
"We're gonna worry about the ecology of the planet later."Ester said."For now, let's focus on finding anyone willing to talk to us. And let's hope we won't run into any of the things they're fighting."
"Yes, ma'am."they all replied.
"Alright. Let's go."colonel ordered."Single column, march."
Following the order, everyone formed a single column and they started their trek through the forest. They scanned the area round them, trying to spot any form of danger that could jump at them from the foliage. Every rustle made them quickly turn in that direction, only to find some local wildlife, not deadly (as far as they knew) skittering about and far away from them. After confirming that there was no danger to them, they simply continued on they journey.
"Whoever designed this, they had an awful environmental design talent."Henriette said.
"You know something about environmental design then?"Heley asked.
"Hey, a girl needs a backup plan for life, right?"Henri shrugged."In case military wouldn't work, I would've went into environmental design, working on paradise worlds."
"Ambitious."Heley admitted.
"What about you Heley?"Annabelle asked.
"Hm?"
"Had any ideas for a backup career plan?"
Heley thought about it for a moment.
"A writer."she finally replied.
"Huh?"surprised Ves asked.
"Yeah. Back in the day, I was an assistant of a known chronicler, before the Empire invaded our territories. I always liked to read a lot because of that. And after the Gate appeared and new books from Milky Way started flooding in, I saw how much creative freedom one can have with writing in this new era. I can't really count how many books did I read since then, but they all had my head swirling with ideas. Just didn't get a lot of time to write it, due to our duties. But I think I might go full time on that when Uncharted Shores is over."
"You never told us anything about that."Ves noticed.
Heley shrugged.
"It never came up."
"If you say so."the Warrior Bunny hacker stated, shrugging.
"And you Ves?"Henri asked.
Ves shrugged again.
"I don't know…"she admitted."Maybe video game design? I play a lot of those, so…"
"Hey, that's basically like Yuko."Ester noticed.
"Yeah, I guess great minds think alike."Ves snickered.
Heley scoffed.
"Great minds."she said.
"Hey!"Ves exclaimed."Who gives you right to make fun of me?"
"I do."the sniper replied, shrugging.
Ves just rolled her eyes.
"Whatever you say."she stated.
"You know Ves? That gives me an idea."Ester stated."Maybe you could ask Yuko if you could work together on a game one day?"
Ves thought about it for a second.
"Yeah. I'd like that."Warrior Bunny nodded her head.
"I'm sure Yuko would be down for that."Belle said."Knowing her."
Everyone nodded.
"And you Belle?"Ves asked."Any backup career plans?"
"Beats me."She shrugged."I'd probably go where Henri goes. We're like that dynamic duo that cannot be separated."She winked.
"I can confirm. The troubles they caused back on Titan…"Ester looked up towards the sky.
"What trouble?"Ves asked.
Ester thought for a moment.
"Oh, you know…Blowing up an entire hangar full of training spacecraft?"
Silence fell in the air around them. Everyone craned their necks to look back at the two Outriders. They just shrugged.
"Look, firing fireworks in the hangar seemed like a good idea at the time."Henri said.
"How could we know they will end up hitting a fuel tank that was leaking?"Belle added.
"How were you not expelled from there?"Heley added.
"The academy deemed it all an accident. No one was hurt and we showed our sincere regret of what we did."
"And then they made us help clearing the damage."
"A fair punishment."Ester stated.
"Definitely."Ves admitted, nodding.
Belle looked back at the former Son to see if he was still following, due to how silent he was. Fortunately, he still walked behind them. Maybe it was a bad idea to put him in the back, but he couldn't do much but run anyway. He didn't have a weapon. Or rather, he had a weapon, but he didn't have the ammo for it.
"And you Es?"Ves asked.
"Me?"
"Any backup career plans?"
Ester seriously thought about it. Truth be told, she never thought about it. She always had one career path for herself, that being the military service. If that failed, she would probably end up as unemployed for who knows how long.
"I don't know, really…"she finally said."Honestly, I never thought about it. But if I had to, I would most likely just go and help my dad in his workshop. Then I would probably take it over from him and keep it going for years to come."
"Valid."Ves stated.
"Shhh."Heley suddenly said.
Everyone stopped and quickly fell on one knee.
"What is it?"Ester asked.
"I can hear something, in front of us."Heley replied.
"Yeah, me too."Ves said.
"Thank God you have those rabbit ears."Belle said.
"Yeah."Henri agreed.
They all waited in silence, until the sound heard by the Warrior Bunnies became more and more audible.
"Engines."Ester said.
Ves and Heley nodded.
"Quite a few of them as well."the sniper said.
"What do we do, Es?"the hacker asked.
"Simple. Let's go and see what we're dealing with."Ester replied.
"Yes, ma'am."everyone replied.
They slowly proceeded to move towards the source of the sound. As they did, the trees started to thin out, until finally, the group reached the very edge of the forest. They still decided to hide behind the trees at the edge of the forest, looking down at the area in front of it.
Turned out, the edge of the forest was at the edge of a hilltop. From the top of the hill, they could see a large open area in front of them, with a road going through the middle of it, relatively close to the bottom of the hill. The open area was full of smaller and bigger rock formations that dotted the area.
On the road, meanwhile, they could see a convoy of six vehicles. Only two of them seemed to be military and looked like some kind of armored cars. Remaining vehicles were clearly civilian and were driving in the middle, protected by the two other vehicles. Also, as the team noticed, none of the vehicles had any form of wheels, instead floating just above the ground, utilizing some type of anti-grav technology.
"What do you make of this, Heley?"Ester asked.
Warrior Bunny sniper looked through the scope of her riffle, observing the small convoy as it passed through the open area.
"I can see six men, three per armored vehicle. The others, the ones in the middle, look more like civilians."she replied.
"So that checks out."Belle stated.
"Clearly."Ves said.
They all looked at Ester.
"What do we do?"Henri asked.
"We let them pass."Ester said."We will follow this road and maybe, hopefully, we'll manage to find some settlements along the way. We just have to be careful, there can be patrols going around and it may end badly for us."
"True."Heley agreed.
Right as she said that, they all heard a faint roar coming from the distance. They immediately looked forward, towards the rock formations. Suddenly, a herd of feline-like creatures came out from behind one of them. It numbered around 20 individuals. They were big, the size of a grown-up Human if they stood on their hind legs. They all roared again and started running towards the six vehicles.
Vehicles immediately stopped and the soldiers in the front and back one came out, quickly pointing their weapons towards the creatures and opening fire. The team observed as the fight took place, the Erecans firing at the creatures that seemed to be extremely resilient to damage, as they took numerous shots before going down. Just by looking at the whole situation unfold, the team was certain that the creatures will reach the small convoy before all of them are killed.
"They won't make it."Heley stated.
"Definitely."Ves agreed.
"We gotta do something."Belle said.
Everyone looked at her.
"What?"she asked."They have civilians there. We can't let these things to simply slaughter them, right?"
"True."Ester said.
"So, what do we do?"Henri asked.
Colonel saw everyone looking at her and gears in her mind quickly started shifting and moving. Looking at the speed at which the alien creatures were moving towards the convoy, it didn't take her long to decide.
"We're helping them."she said."Heley, you stay here and pick them off from distance. Rest of you, come with me."
With that, she quickly stood up and proceeded to start sliding down the steep slope of the hill. Others looked at each other and nodded. Heley stayed in position on top of the hill, while others followed Ester. They slid down to the bottom of the slope, while the Warrior Bunny sniper looked through the scope of her riffle. She quickly caught one of the creatures in her crosshairs and examined it's feline-like face. She didn't linger on it long though. She pulled back the bolt of her riffle, took a deep breath, spoke a short prayer in her head and pulled the trigger.
Bullet left the chamber and made the distance within a second, skewering the creature right between the eyes, making it fall and as it did, it made two more creature trip on it, making them fall over.
As it happened, one of the Erecan soldiers from the convoy looked back and saw five figures running at them. However, before they could do anything, the five unknown figures reached them and took cover behind the vehicles, aiming their weapons towards the approaching creatures. They started firing at them.
With the corner of her eye, Ester noticed a soldier that clearly seemed to be the commander. He just looked at her and shook his head. Clearly, he was willing to use anyone's help, even if he didn't know who came to his aid.
Heley continued to pick off the creatures one by one, while the fire from the convoy also slowly thinned out their numbers. In the end, only two creatures reached the convoy. One, however, was quickly put down before it could cause any damage. The other one, in the meantime, jumped over one of the car, with scared civilians still inside, landing on top of Erecan soldier, who started screaming. His screams were short, though, as the creature quickly tore his head off with it's powerful jaws.
All fire immediately turned towards it, turning it into a Swiss cheese.
When the last creature died, the whole area fell eerily silent. Ester let out a short sigh of relief.
"Okay."she said."I think now we…"
All Erecan barrels immediately turned towards her and the others.
"…can talk this out."she finished."I thought it will come to this."
She looked at the commander again. He spoke in Erecan language.
"Sarekh."Ester turned to the former Son.
"He asks who were are, why are we here and is ordering us to drop our weapons."Sarekh immediately translated.
Colonel nodded.
"Tell him this. We're members of the Special Operations Force, sent here to investigate the situation on the planet and to make contact with the locals."she said.
Former Son quickly translated. Commander replied.
"He asks who Special Operations Force is loyal to."
Ester looked at the commander.
"We're part of the United Nations Space Alliance."she replied bluntly.
She watched the commander's face as Sarekh translated. Commander visibly tensed and spoke slowly.
"He wants to know, why shouldn't they just execute us at spot for being affiliated with the enemy."
Ester looked at the commander. Then her eyes moved towards the civilians cowering inside their vehicles. Then, she looked at the dead creatures and remembered the photos she saw back on the ship.
"We can help you."she said.
Commander was genuinely surprised as he slightly lowered his weapon.
"What?"commander asked through Sarekh's translation.
"It's clear that whatever's happening here, you're in a tough spot. The very fact you have to escort civilians under threat of situations like the one just now shows it. We can support you with weapons and manpower needed, as well as needed supplies."Ester explained.
Erecan commander did the same as she did, looking at her, then at the civilians and the dead creatures. He asked something.
"What do you want in exchange?"
"We want information."
"What kind?"
"Any you can give."
Erecan glared at her for a few seconds before saying something. His soldiers lowered their weapons. Ester sighed.
"Come with us to Praetor City, our colonial capital, then."Sarekh translated."I can't promise our leaders will want to talk with you, though."
"We can try, right?"
He nodded. Next, he told them to get into their vehicles, but before the squad did that, they quickly signaled Heley to come join them. As she approached, commander sent Ester a look but didn't say anything. Next, they waited a few minutes before Erecan soldiers gather the equipment of their fallen comrade. If they had to do this, that meant the situation must've been really dire.
Then they got into the vehicles. Half of the team got into one and the second half into the other. Fortunately, they were actually bigger than initially thought and everyone found place for them to sit.
"Well played, Ester."Belle said, sitting with Ester and Sarekh in the same vehicle as the commander."Didn't know you had such diplomatic skills."
"You learn a thing or two while out in the field."Ester replied proudly.
"Clearly. So, what's the plan after we get to that Praetor City?"
"Simple. We hope to get a meeting with their leaders."
"And if we don't?"Sarekh asked.
Ester shrugged.
"Then I guess we have to start the fireworks."she stated simply as the vehicles started moving."Surely we could break out. I mean, how big a colonial capital in a place like this could be?"
February 3
17:58
Praetor City, Militia Operations HQ
As it turned out after nearly four hours of drive, very big.
Praetor City was placed in an enormous valley or crater, to which led a swirly road going down the slope. But even before they started driving down this road, they could see the tip of an enormous tower that stood in it's center. And when the full city came into view, SOF members all gasped simultaneously.
The city was twice, or maybe thrice the size of entirety of New York City. At least that was Ester's estimate. It covered nearly an entirety of the bottom of the valley and it was surrounded by a wall, which gave it a perfectly round shape. Looking at the, Ester immediately thought of the population. There must've been billions of people living in it.
"How big is this city?"she asked on the way.
"Currently, there are nearly three billion people living in it."Erecan commander, who they now knew was named Rahj, replied."Nearly a third of the planet's population. It used to be just one billion, but since all this begun…"
He went silent. At least he gave her the information she needed. But still, she was astonished by the numbers. Even on Earth, no city reached one billion inhabitants yet. And the fact that a colonial city of Erecans was that big? She could only imagine how populous their core worlds must be.
As the small convoy was driving down the road, they finally came to stop in front of the gate leading into the city. Upon seeing the SOF operatives, guards almost went into panic and started shooting, but Rahj managed to convince them not to perform an execution. Much to Ester's relief, even if she didn't show it.
The gates were opened and the convoy got inside. Immediately, Ester saw numerous makeshift tents and huts hugging the inside of the walls. She saw numerous people walking about between them. Even from afar, she could recognize resignation and complete lack of faith on their reptilian faces. And as the vehicles continued moving, Ester saw more worrying things.
Groups of homeless sleeping on the streets.
People gathering around fires in trashcans.
Children without parents wandering about. All thin and with hungry eyes.
Even several bodybags just flat out laid across the street and people walking around them, as if that was normal.
She lacked the sufficient context for most of these situations, but it was clear as day: these people were at their breaking point. In a city like this, with billions of people in it, food and water shortages were meant to happen. Not to mention other essentials.
The civilians vehicles left them at some point. Ester asked Rahj, but he told her that these people had their families here in the city, so there was no problem with that. Or at least he hoped. Meanwhile, two armored vehicles made their way towards an impressive building made of white stone, which was surprising considering other buildings they passed were made of metal and glass. Rahj told them it was the Militia Operations HQ, the decision center of Colonial Militia.
It had two flags, most likely of Erecan Dominion, hanging on it's front. The flags were bands of fabric in two shades of purple, divided horizontally, with light purple at the top and dark at the bottom. In the middle, there was an even darker, but also purple, sun with it's two middle arms extending to the edges of the flag.
There were also numerous reinforced machine gun nests in front of the entrance, along with numerous guards. Snipers on the roof also didn't escape Ester's attention.
As they exited the vehicles, situation from the gate repeated itself, but again, Rahj calmed everything down. They slung their weapons over their arms to appear non-threatening, but as they walked into the building following the Erecan commander, they could see untrustful and out-right antagonistic looks. Probably only the presence of Rahj and his subordinates was the only thing that stopped all the military personnel to executing them there and then.
Finally, they reached a corridor where Rahj stopped and looked at them. Behind him, everyone could see reinforced door, with a sign in Erecan.
"It says 'Command Room'."Sarekh translated and then focused on what Rahj was saying."Commander Rahj is going to now present the situation to his commander, colonel Azash Perija."
"Hopefully he won't immediately order to arrest us."Henri said.
"Amen to that."Belle said.
"He tells us to wait here."Sarekh continued."His men will care for our safety."
"Tell him we say thank you."Ester ordered.
Sarekh translated. Rahj just nodded, turned and walked into the room. Through the open door, Ester managed to glimpse the inside of said Command Room. She spotted several people, most likely lower ranking officers, walking around, while in the middle, some definitely higher ranked people stood around a holo-table. The door closed a few seconds later.
As it did, tension immediately filled the corridor as SOF operatives and Rahj's men stared at each other. Both sides seemed as if they were expecting something from the other. Ester knew Rahj said he left his men to keep the operatives safe, but she expected that they would also be keeping an eye on them and would stop them if they acted unlike the Erecans wanted.
Which, again, was something she wasn't surprised by.
"These guys don't look that tough."Belle finally said.
"Maybe let's not antagonize them, Belle."Henri said.
"They don't know what we're saying anyway."
"True."Ester agreed."But the tone? I'm pretty sure they can interpret that one."
"Yeah, we can."one of Erecans said, shockingly, in English.
All eyes widened as they looked at the man.
"What the…?!"shocked Belle asked."Huh?!"
"Surprised I speak your language?"Erecan asked.
They nodded.
"It's because I have a miniature quantum computer in my brain."he explained."It can do many things. Like, for example, translating languages, even unknown, in real time."
"That's kinda overpowered."Heley said, raising an eyebrow.
"And awesome too!"Ves added.
Erecan smirked.
"Glad you think so."
"So what now?"Belle said after calming down.
"Nothing. We just wait for commander Rahj and words from the colonel. And before you ask, no. We're not gonna do anything, if that's your concern."
"Would be nice."Ester stated."I know we're enemies and all, but we really want to help."
"I believe you."Erecan replied."Don't know about the others…"
He glanced at some base personnel walking by.
"So…what's your name?"Ves asked."And where did that quantum computer even come from?"
"Corporal Hejet. And as for the computer…My parents wanted me to learn fast. They had the money, so they bought it. One of the few things they did that I'm grateful for."He went silent.
With him, the whole corridor fell silent. Nobody wanted to inquire further.
The last few minutes before Rahj's return went by in silence. After that, the door opened and commander stepped out again. He looked at Ester and said something in Erecan. Before Sarekh said anything, Hejet spoke:
"He wants you to follow him. And only you, but you can take the translator. Colonel agreed for the meeting."
Rahj looked at his subordinate, but didn't say anything to that. He just looked back at Ester. Colonel nodded and started towards him.
"And without weapons."Hejet added.
"Got it."Ester replied.
She gave her assault riffle to Belle, followed by her handgun. Sarekh did the same. After that, they entered the Command Room, led by Rahj.
Once inside, Ester could get a better look at the Command Room. It was a big, round room with numerous screens hanging from the walls, with the biggest and central one on the wall opposite to the entrance. Numerous analysts sat before said screens, looking at data and most likely receiving reports from allied units. But what really mattered to Ester right now, was the colonel that she was told about.
Said colonel was standing in the middle of the room, leaning over the holo-table. Ester didn't know who was it until Rahj pointed at a clearly aged Erecan, talking to another Erecan wearing what looked like more formal form of robes worn by people she's seen while on the way here. Colonel was wearing a uniform that was clearly military, on the other hand.
"Colonel Azash Perija."Rahj said, pointing at the man.
"And who's the other one?"Ester asked.
"Governor Lazar vi-Arat of House vi-Arat."Rahj said, with less enthusiasm."I don't really like him…which is a sentiment many people here share…"
Ester was actually surprised he admitted it so openly. But for now, she decided to focus on the meeting.
As they approached, colonel Perija looked in their direction, same as the governor. And where Perija had a relatively neutral expression on his lizard-like face, governor clearly showed his disgust by their presence. Ester ignored him for now.
"Translate all you can."Ester told Sarekh.
"That's my job."Sarekh replied.
The three stopped by the table. Rahj saluted. Ester and Sarekh decided to do the same.
"Sir."Sarekh translated Rahj's words."I present to you colonel Ester Barkhorn and her translator, as requested."
"Thank you, commander Rahj."Perija said.
"Why did you even let this vermin in here?"governor vi-Arat asked.
"Governor, they offered us help in our matter."Perija replied."We have to at least listen to what they can offer."
"But don't you see?! They're wearing the same uniforms as our enemy!"governor argued."Sons of Sadera reported, that we should beware people wearing these uniforms!"
"Governor, I share your concerns, but at our current position, we should be happy that ANYONE even offered us any kind of support."
"We've already sent help requests to Ereca. We…"
"Help requests that have clearly fallen on deaf ears."Colonel tried to stay calm, but it was clear he was near exploding."Governor, I respect the Emperor and our leadership, but we can't wait. We need any help we can get."Perija glanced at Ester."Even if it's from someone supposed to be our enemy."
Governor Lazar clenched his jaw and shot a glance towards Ester. Next, not saying anything, he moved towards the exit, pushing past Ester and Sarekh. Colonel Barkhorn watched him leave and humphed.
"What a nice guy."she said.
"Colonel."Perija turned to her.
Ester turned her attention to him again.
"Colonel."Ester replied.
"I would lie if I said your proposal of help was…surprising, to say the least. Looking back at all that our media and Sons of Sadera tell about you, the 'Otherworlders'."
"Oh really? And what do they say?"
"That you are a bunch of barbaric invaders interested only in war, murder and plunder, that came to enslave our people to use us as slave labor for whatever you're doing."
"I'm not even surprised."
Perija nodded.
"I never really believed in these statements, considering how far you've come. If you were barbarians, how would you come so far in your civilization's development?"
"You'd be surprised, sir. There are several races in our home galaxy that are equally as advanced as yours or mine and yet everyone still considers them barbarians."
"I believe. Also, no need to call me sir, with you being the same rank as me, miss Barkhorn."He straightened himself."Alright, enough of these pleasantries. You said you are going to help us in our struggle."
"Indeed."Ester nodded.
"I must inquire. Why?"
Ester went silent for a few seconds, before going with the simplest answer. After all, simple options sometimes worked better than something more intricate.
"Because it's the right thing to do."she finally said, remembering how years ago, she spoke similar words under different circumstances.
"Explain."Perija asked.
"I know that because of politics and events that transpired several years ago, we are considered enemies. I know that much. However, on our way here, we saw something that's more important than help."
She made a pause for effect.
"What?"Rahj asked, breaking the effect.
"We saw people in need of help under dire circumstances."Ester replied."And someone's willingness to help cannot be hindered or decided by political situation."
Perija and Rahj looked at each other.
"You speak smart words, miss Barkhorn."Perija stated."Politics are one thing. Helping others is something completely different."
"I'm glad we agree on that, mister Perija."Ester replied, satisfied that it was all going somewhere.
"Indeed we do."colonel Perija agreed."Now. Time for some concretes. You offer us help. What kind of help exactly?"
"Weapons, manpower, supplies and any other form of support you may require in your predicament."Ester immediately replied.
"But can you allow yourselves for something like that?"Rahj inquired.
"We can. If needed, we might even stay here until the whole situation gets resolved completely."
"That's…some commitment."Perija admitted.
Ester just nodded.
"And what do you want in return, though?"Erecan colonel asked.
Again, Ester didn't hesitate.
"As I've already told commander Rahj, we need information. Of all kinds. From maps of the star lanes and connections to general, publicly available data. It's the first time in years anyone aligned with us entered area of this galaxy that wasn't at least partially surveyed by us."
"You know that by asking this, you basically require us to commit a high-level treason of the state, right?"Rahj asked.
Ester blinked. She didn't think about that before.
"Of course, we do not require you to give us access to these information. We can work without them as well."she stated.
She looked at Perija, waiting for colonel's decision. Rahj did it as well, a worry clear on his face.
Finally, Perija spoke.
"We agree. You will get the information."
Ester was actually surprised. Honestly, she expected him to not agree on that.
"However, before that, there might be some problems with how stubborn and uncooperative the governor is."colonel pointed out to her."I agreed to these terms, but him? He will oppose them openly and fully."
"So, what does that mean exactly?"
"Your forces have my permission to come to the planet and support us. I give it as the official commander of all military operations on this globe. In this case, the governor has nothing to say."
"I understand."
Perija nodded.
"Now."Ester said."As we reached a form of consensus about this whole situation, I need one more thing."
"What is it?"Erecan asked.
"I need to present them a complete situationional report regarding the current situation on the planet. We need a clear picture of what's happening to decide what to do."she explained to him, crossing her arms.
"I understand. Allow me to present it to you then."
Colonel Perija turned to the holo-table and pressed several buttons. Soon, a hologram presenting the map of the planet appeared above the table, with numerous red circles, some overlapping each other, present on it. There was also a big green dot on the central continent, with numerous smaller ones spread across the surface of the globe. Some green dots were additionally marked with a triangular, red symbol.
As Ester looked at it, she slowly started realizing, that the situation was even more dire than she thought. Around half the planet was covered with red circles and green dots marked with red triangles.
"I will start with how it all begun."Perija started."Around a month ago, a colony ship brought a new wave of colonists to the planet. However, due to some unknown reasons, probably a navigational mistake, the shuttles ended up dropping nearly 50,000 people exactly on top of an underground hive full of these things."
Ester made a face as if she heard Nashini president shits sideways.
"How, I ask. HOW do you ACCIDENTALLY drop 50,000 people on top of an alien hive?"she asked, probably too emotionally, as Rahj sent her a weird look.
"That's something we will probably never learn."colonel stated, looking grim."Immediately after the unloading ended, a whole army of the creatures erupted from underground and slaughtered them all."
Ester winced.
"Appropriate reaction."Rahj stated.
"Following this event, the creatures…"Perija wanted to continue, but Ester raised a hand.
"How do you even call them?"she asked.
"We call them Jia'akai, which means 'beasts of slaughter'."colonel replied.
Ester nodded, signaling that he can continue.
"Following this event, Jia'akai across the entire planet went into a frenzy."Perija continued."They started erupting from their underground hives and went on a killing spree. Within just a month, they pushed us out of remaining continents of the planet. Praetor City is the last big city we still control. Others are just villages, towns or outposts set up to strengthen the frontier of territories under our control, but we're slowly losing ground each day. We already lost half of this continent. We sent messages demanding help, but so far, we received no response."
He looked into Ester's eyes and now, she could clearly see tiredness in his reptilian eyes.
"I won't lie here."he said firmly."We're at our breaking point. As you probably know, there is currently three billion people living in it. A city designed for just one billion. Food storages are running dry and our food production can't keep up with the demand. We've already experienced numerous riots because of that. Same goes for ammunition and equipment, where we had to improvise on numerous occasions. Our current analysis predict, that within the next month or two, we will have nothing to shoot with. And these are positive predictions. By now, our losses reach 100,000 dead and 250,000 wounded soldiers and twice as many civilians. Morale is at a total low. If we won't get any form of support, Jia'akai will just overrun us."
By the end of his monologue, colonel was almost pleading. Ester could completely understand that.
"Do you think you can help us with a situation like this?"Perija asked.
"Of course we can."Ester replied, not thinking long."As I said, we can give you as much as you need. We can spare some equipment, ammo and personnel."
Smile appeared on old colonel's face. A smile that didn't look as scary or disgusting as Ester expected on a reptilian face.
"Your help will certainly be remembered, colonel."he said."You have no idea how much it means to us."
He extended his hand. Ester took and shook it.
"You're welcome, sir. I promise, that we will do our best to help you."Ester replied."Because it's the right thing to do."
XXX
And this is the end for now! As always, feel free to leave a review, follow and favorite. It will be highly appreciated!
Cya!