Alien Manifesto (38 page)

~

With a howl of rage Kareen landed on
the warrior’s back, her twin swords held high over her head. With
her right sword Kareen severed the warrior’s feeding appendage. The
left she plunged in between the warrior’s exoskeleton joint, into
its soft inner body.

As she kicked the dead warrior’s body
off the pinned Snarth, she gave him a hand up. “Blasters are
useless,” Kareen growled. “We will have to do it the old fashioned
way,” she howled as she launched herself at another One warrior,
intercepting its makeshift weapon intended for Snarth. With a
graceful backspin and a precisely aimed thrust she dispatched the
warrior with an elegant yet deadly grace.

“
ROWL” Kareen howled again,
desperately trying to locate her mate.

“
KAREEN,” Rowl howled in
answer. They began to fight their way toward each other,
dispatching at least a dozen One warriors before meeting in the
middle, where they stood back to back, slashing, paring and
killing.

My mate and I were
shadowing the feline king when the energy blast hit. I wasn’t going
to let any assassin near the feline King. Only this King could
grant me that which I wanted the most, the safety and acceptance of
my new family.
Well, safe from the King
anyway
, I thought.
It would seem that our chosen career was inherently very
dangerous.

~

As I came to, I saw a decloaked feline
standing over the fallen king: it was Tasha’s uncle. I gathered my
strength, struggling to stand, my legs weak, my breath still short
from the blast. I instinctively planned my attack on the feline
assassin master. Somehow, I knew that he was not going to help the
king; he was here to kill him.

I started my attack by
jumping the last fifteen feet, drawing my feline blade midair. My
kick to the feline’s head went wide as he evaded and cloaked, my
feline blade only slicing empty air. I did a double forward flip to
put some distance between us. Then I became the stone, slowing my
breathing and heart rate. I stretched out with all of my
senses.
Yes,
I
could sense the king’s assassin, see him in my mind’s eye,
he could not hide his anger. He was coming this
way
.

I set the point of my
attack about fifteen feet to my left. The feline hadn’t seen me
jump.
He will underestimate my range if he
has me zeroed in
. Just before the rogue
feline reached my jump point, he must have remembered the king,
veering toward him, hoping to finish the job.

That was his mistake. He
didn’t evade my flying front kick this time. He never saw it
coming. I felt the satisfying crunch of bone as my foot connected
with the feline’s lower jaw. He was out for sure, possibly for
good. Felines have terribly fragile bone structure, especially the
neck and jaw. I finished the job by decapitating the feline before
his body fell to the ground, with a spinning backward blade slash,
just for style.
I say if you are going to
save a King’s life, do it with your best moves.

It was only then that I noticed the
battle raging around me. Rowl and Kareen were cutting through
whatever these things were like a pair of two bladed scythes. The
Irishman and Snarth were trying to hold the exit. The King had
recovered and he and his security detail were holding their own.
All of the other guests were dead, killed in the energy blast, or
by stray blaster fire, their blood making the floor slick and
treacherous.

As I looked for my mate, she decloaked
next to me. “My love, we really do have to work on that front kick
of yours. We should help Snarth and the Irishman, they seem to be
getting the brunt of it,” she yowled, her tail twitching rapidly.
“Slash them between the armored skin,” she yowled as she slid
sideways to avoid being clubbed by one of the warriors, dropping
him with just the thrust she wanted me to use.

With our addition to the battle around
Snarth, and the only exit, the tide quickly turned into a slaughter
to the last one. Who, despite the death of all of his comrades,
attacked Rowl without fear of dying and with an undiminished
ferocity.

After it was over the team paused a
minute to catch their breath and figure out what was going on.
“What the hell were those things?” I asked Snarth.

He seemed to not hear me as he was
furiously tapping commands into his wrist communicator. Finally
pausing he hissed angrily into the com link, “ssSSlice, get me
Howler’sss ssship, use the emergency channel. I only hope we are
not too late.”

“
SNARTH,” I yelled: “What
were those things? Talk to me.”

“
There isss no way I could
have known,” he hissed aloud, still not answering me, covering his
eyes with his hands. “There isss no way I could have known” he
hissed again swaying, nearly collapsing, seemingly grief
stricken.

“
Could not have known
what?” I demanded.

“
That the banking jewels we
brought back are actually One warrior eggs,” whispered SSlice who
had just arrived. “If all of them are not crystals but eggs….,”
SSlice spluttered, becoming severely agitated. “There are millions
of them scattered in every major city on every civilized planet in
the galaxy.”
That means there must be a
new Queen. She planned this. How many others did she leave
scattered across the galaxy? HOME!
SSlice
almost fainted.

PART FORTY

A Destiny Decided

It was after the successful awakening
before the young Queen became aware of her individual self again.
Gathering her strength, she pushed against the great weight of the
Old Ones. To her surprise, she nearly broke through, almost
regaining control of her body. They must be weak from their
effort.

Emboldened by her near success the
young Queen pushed harder, breaking through just a little farther.
Far enough to see that her army was not doing as well as the
overconfident Old Ones’ leader had expected.

Sisters,
she formally thought to the Council.
We must act now or all is lost for our children
and for us.

Silence,
screamed the Leader.
I
will hear no more about running and hiding. My warriors have nearly
defeated the entire galactic fleet without any weapons of their
own,
she gloated.

A great victory to be sure,
but for how long Sisters?
thought the
young Queen.
We have only dealt the enemy
a crippling blow, not a fatal one. We will have to build our fleet
from what we can salvage from our enemies until we build ships of
our own. While our enemies also rebuild in the shipyards they
already have. We have none,
she finished
bluntly.

Silence!
screamed the Leader.

Let her speak,
boomed into the Leader’s and the young Queen’s
minds, causing both to recoil unconsciously from the power of that
command. It was the Oldest One, she who was only called upon in the
most serious matters of the Council.
Speak
your mind, young one
, commanded the Oldest
One.

The Leader’s plan before
hibernation was flawed from the beginning,
forcefully thought the young Queen.
She failed to anticipate the technological advances the enemy
would make. It provided neither adequate supplies nor weapons for
our far-flung children.

Tell me your plan, young
one,
command-thought the Oldest
One.

Just after the aliens
killed the Leader’s body, I sent scout ships to find a suitable
life planet far from this space. A life planet, one as yet unknown
to the galactic council,
answered the
young queen formally
. A life planet with
an abundant water source has been found, one hundred thousand light
units from here. It is as yet unclaimed by any other Empire. It has
a population of indigenous life forms. Enough to sustain our people
for generations, once proper taming and herding techniques are
implemented. Most importantly of all it has a star to match our
beloved Sun.

It sounds perfect,
thought the oldest One.
Now what haven’t you told me?
she
demanded of the young Queen.

This planet is populated by
an emerging technology race of bi-pedal mammals,
she thought back.
They
have weapons that could render the planet unsuitable for us if they
were used. They are so wild as to not survive captivity without
proper conditioning. Their military power is crudely effective but
only in their own atmosphere. It is no match for current Galactic
technology.
They are pre-emergent so they
have no space defenses,
she
answered.
Surprise will be complete and
they have no one to call for help
, she
thought, formally finishing her report.

How sure are you that these
mammals can be tamed? How sure are you about their technology,
Sister?
thought the Leader of the Council
angrily.

SILENCE,
screamed the Oldest one.
Your time as leader of the Council has passed. I will deal
with you later,
she warned the Leader,
causing her to cower.

Bring my children home.
Have them bring all the ships and technology they can scavenge with
them. Then we will move the nest
,
commanded the oldest One.

“
Begin the preparations for
dismantling the energy amplifier as soon as enough of my children
have returned. Bring the planet power plant out of hibernation and
prepare planetary defenses. Then ready the ships in storage for
combat
,”
she
commanded the scribes.

“
We hear and obey,”
echoed though the Queen’s chamber as the scribes
furiously scraped their chest plates on the ground in submission to
the oldest One, including the young Queen.

PART FORTY-ONE

Revenge is a Dish Best
Served Cold

“
How sssure are you that
there isss another Queen, ssSSlice?” hissed Snarth, as angry as I
had ever seen him.

“
Who else could transform
those jewels to fully grown One warriors?” whispered SSlice “We are
just lucky they had no weapons,” he croaked in a ragged
whisper.

The feline King and the few survivors
of his security detail interrupted us. “Human Tom,” he yowled,
causing me instinctively to drop into my fighting stance. My mate
jumped between us, trying to prevent the coming fight.

“
YES your highness, I am
over here. What do you want?” I hissed angrily through clamped
teeth.
I had saved his life and NOW he
wants to fight,
I thought.
Come get some then!!

“
Sister, this is none of
your affair,” yowled her brother. “As your king and clan leader, I
order you to step aside. This is a matter of honor between the King
and Human Tom.” My mate growled a warning and crouched, preparing
to fight. “I mean him no harm. I owe him my life and I wanted to
thank him,” yowled the feline King. “Now step aside
Sister.”

“
Yes, my lord,” she mewed
with head bowed, quickly moving from between the King and
me.

“
Human Tom, you saved my
life from the master of the assassins. For that I owe you a life
debt. Kneel please.” As I knelt in front of the King, he drew his
feline blade, causing my mate to hiss a warning as she reached for
her feline blade.

“
I give you this blade. It
belonged to my father’s, father’s father, all kings as well,” mewed
the feline King, holding it out hilt first to me. “May it protect
you as well as it has my family.”

“
My lord,” I said my head
bowed, “I cannot accept such a gift,” stunning everyone, especially
my mate.

“
If you will not take my
blade, then what do you demand of my honor?” hissed the King, his
tail twitching furiously.

“
Only the right to earn my
family’s honor. I ask you on your honor for a fair trial of
attainment,” I said.

“
You just killed the most
skilled assassin on my planet. There is no need for a trial of
attainment for you, Human Tom. You have nothing left to prove,”
hissed the King angrily.

“
For my children’s honor I
must EARN the marks of attainment,” I growled through clenched
teeth, my head no longer bowed,
he was
really starting to piss me off
.

“
As you wish, Human Tom.
Know this, no quarter will be given,” the king hissed
frostily.

“
None will be taken,” I
growled back.

“
Very well, Ja ha Don,”
sneered the King, angry for the public snubbing I had just given
him, forcing him to accept me as his sister’s mate.

“
Appear before me in the
traditional one hundred light cycles of my planet. You will have
your fair trial, on my honor,” growled the King. With a swirl of
his singed cape, and in a royal huff, the King headed for his ship,
his honor guard scrambling to get out in front.