Dark Universe & Forbidden Love (19 page)

General Klaycon waited four
days, but there was not even a spacecraft getting near to the perimeter. There
was nothing leaving the planet either. Finally he decided to send drones. Right
now 50 drones were heading to the planet.

Klizan,
Ceithu and other officers in the bridge were watching the live feeds from the
drones. The planet’s white color was actually from sulfur. The black straps
were steep-sided canyons thousands of meters deep. One drone’s live feed caught
Klizan’s attention. It was now in a canyon and flying above a gigantic saucer-shaped
object the size of two football fields.

“What is
that thing?” Ciethu asked.

“It is a
bomb.” Klizan said calmly.

“Like
the one destroyed Rettiu?” General Fieope asked curiously.

Ciethu
frowned and nudged Fieope. He knew Klizan hated hearing the word Rettiu. It was
the name of a planet that used to be Glycan’s industrial center.

“Yea,
just like the one destroyed Rettiu. Unfortunately, we found it out too late at
that time.” Klizan sighed. Hylocan seized Rettiu at the beginning of UWII. In
the middle stage of the war, five Glycan fleets managed to penetrate Hylocan’s
defense layer near the planet and forced Hylocan to retreat. But as the five
Glycan fleets got close to the atmosphere of Rettiu, a bomb destroyed Rettiu
and all the five fleets. Klizan’s father, the then field marshal, was killed.
After losing its elite fleets, Glycan had to stall the offensive and the war
waged another decade.

“There
are something here.” Fieope said, pointing at a screen. It was a field of
wreckages and small craters.

“Doesn’t
look like a landing crash.” Fieope murmured.

“General
Klizan, what do you think?” Ciethu asked.

“They
fired at their own base.” Klizan said confidently.

“I guess
after they lost the contact with the vessel we captured. They decided to
disappear.” Ciethu said.

Klizan
and others in the room fell into silence.

Later,
Klizan had some wreckages taken from the site for further analysis. Then he
ordered fleets to return to Sylareon.

When Klizan
went back to his office in the selection committee build, he was surprised to
see Iteiten, the prime minister of Estian, was waiting for him. They
acknowledged each other and sat across a table in Klizan’s office.

“What
brings you here?” Klizan asked directly. Personally, he thought Estian was the ugliest
species in the universe. Their prolate spheroid head was coupled with round
eyes, tiny nose and a huge wide mouth. As for Iteiten, he looked even worse,
because he had so many moles on his face.

“Well,
your leader Liutein invited me.” Iteiten said easily.

Klizan
smiled politely at Iteiten and said, “I see. But why you want to see me?”

“Well,
you remember Cruiser General Klizan? You must remember. It was named after your
name after all.”

“What
about it?”

“It
seemed that even if the cruiser was decommissioned, someone is still using it.”
Iteiten said.

“I don’t
care this kind of thing.” Klizan said impatiently.

“I
understand. But are you interested in the remote planet that it travels to?”
Iteiten said as he took out a button like object. He pressed the button and it
showed the hologram of planet Agirue.

Klizan
looked calm as usual, but he was shocked that Estian found out this particular
planet.

“We
understand that this planet is not on your book. Actually it’s not on anyone’s
book.” Iteiten said with a mysterious smile.

“Good
news for you.”

“That is
why we will send a fleet there, if you don’t mind. Or maybe I can talk to your
leader Liutein about this matter. He might be more interested in it.” Iteiten
smiled evilly.

Klizan
paused for a second and asked, “What do you want?”

“That’s
more like it. As you know, Estian and Uainanese are locked in a disputed planet
named Yetin. We understand Glycan doesn’t take any position in this matter. However,
it seems that you have several combat vessels parking in the area claimed by
Uainanese. Apparently, it could be a problem if we take any further action in
this matter.”

As a
rising power, Estian was expanding its territory and becoming more assertive on
the long disputed planets. Estian’s growing armed force and its capabilities of
projecting its force to more remote locations had worried Glycan and Uainanese
and Glycan had been working on constraining Estian.

“I hope
that is all you need.” Klizan said with a fake smile.

“Right
now, yes. But who knows? We may come up something else from time to time. As
long as we work together, I don’t really care what you are doing on that
planet.” Iteiten said happily.

“Thank
you. Anything else?” Klizan said hastily. He couldn’t wait to send him away.

“No. I
will keep in touch.” Iteiten said. He stood up and headed out.

Jason and his teammates were
checking their heavy armor suits and rifles for the second round of the game.
They didn’t talk much. The recent death of two trainees really got on their
nerves.

The red
light was flashing. It was the time. Jason looked round at his teammates and
said, “Be careful! I don’t want any of one get hurt.”

They
entered the game field and headed to the center platform. While shooting at the
robots, Jason noticed they were slowly turning to his team.

“Watch
both flanks. They are coming.” Jason said calmly.

“If they
all attack us, there is no way we can hold it.” Sayilin said.

Right at
this moment, two teams sandwiched Jason’s team. Jason rolled into a trench and
his teammates took cover behind barricades. The two teams quickly boxed Jason’s
team. They shot Erikon, Idi and Orizy on the helmets. As a result, their armor
suits were shut down and medic drones flew in and lifted them out of the game
field. Now the two teams focused most of their fire power on Jason. He couldn’t
even return fire. His chest and arms were shot.

“Jason,
they really like you.” Lucis shouted as he ran to Jason.

“Take
cover!” Jason shouted.

Lucis
rolled undered a barricade.

Titainein
and Sayilin were hiding in another trench.

Jason
crawled to the end of the trench and rolled into another one. The two teams
were closing to Jason, as they fought back Jason’s teammates.

“Jason,
hang on!” Sayilin shouted.

Jason
peeked over the trench. Suddenly, he felt a knock on his helmet. Then his armor
suit lost power and he couldn’t move a step. But the two teams continued
shooting at him. Bullets and lasers were pouring at Jason. He could hear his
helmet cracking.

“Where
is the medic drone?” Lucis yelled.

“Cover
Jason!” Titainein shouted.

“Shoot
the center light ball. Now!” Jason shouted.

All his
teammates fired at the light ball above the center platform.

“Boom!”
The light ball exploded and it was pitch black.

Jason
hit the emergency button. The back of his armor suit opened and he climbed out
quietly. He hid behind a barricade and said, “Sayilin, get the ball.” He was so
happy that both opponent teams didn’t have a Jynese. Everyone was blind except
Sayilin.

Sayilin
got onto the center platform and got the ball. He gave it to Titainein and then
started to take down opponent players. Even though the light emitting from his
rifle barrel exposed him for less than a second, nobody was able to shoot him in
that short time. After about five minutes, Sayilin gunned down every opponent
players.

Later
Jason and his teammates went back to the changing room and cheered around
Sayilin.

Sayilin
gave Jason a huge hug and said, “Man, that was brilliant!”

“You are
the man, not me.” Jason said happily and punched Sayilin on the chest.

“Of
course, I am the man!” Sayilin said proudly.

They all
laughed happily.

Several
minutes later, they calmed down and realised the oddness in the game.

“Why
they all attacked Jason? And the medic drone didn’t pick up Jason.” Titainein
said in a worried voice.

“You
think it had something to do with Etitaeg?” Lucis asked.

“Could
be.” Sayilin said.

“Oh, I
thought that was over.” Idi said sadly.

“I
thought that was over, too.” Orizy said disappointedly.

“Well,
let me worry about that.” Jason said calmly.

“Jason,
you know, they are trying to kill you.” Titainein said seriously.

“I know.
Apparently they need to try harder.” Jason said happily.

“Unbelievable.”
Lucis said as he shook his head.

“Man, I
like you attitude. I don’t know whether it is right or not.” Sayilin said.

“Come
on! Let’s feel sad for me when I am dead. Now who wants to eat?” Jason said in
a cheerful voice.

“Me, me,
me, me, me!” Erikon said as he shook his belly.

“How
come I am not surprised?”

Everyone
laughed and headed out to the dining hall.

Mark got in touch with the
contact provided by Aron and he was surprised to found out how little assassins
and mercenaries made these days. Also it was quite common for them to wait
three or four months for the next job. Mark didn’t have that much time. He
contacted one of his buddies, Pennington, who retired from the special force
and now worked as a gunman for a drug dealer. They decided to meet and talked about
the job opportunity. Now Mark was on the way to the earth.

The
Earth, the then blue planet, was no longer suitable for living. It now looked
brown, because trashes, pollutants and wreckages were floating on three fourth
of its oceans and the left one fourth was yellowish or reddish depending on the
day. Rich people fled from Earth and lived on Human colony on planet M74985.
Now there was only one government for all Humans. Nationalities only mattered
when a nation could serve its people and stand by its people. As for the only
government, its functions mainly focused on containing the poor on Earth, dead
or alive.

Mark
stepped out of the spacecraft and walked onto the empty dusty platform. Not
many people travelled to Earth these days. Under the gloomy sky, brisk wind was
accompanied by rotten smell and trashes. Mark rushed into the station and
removed the mark covering his nose. The place was pretty much empty.

Mark
waited in the station for about seven hours and finally got in the bus he was
waiting for. It was a large hover, its engine sounding like an old man coughing
his lung out. After sitting on a moldy chair for 14 hours, Mark arrived at the
destination. It was said this place used to be part of North America, somewhere
near Rocky Mountains. It didn’t really matter, because everywhere on the earth
looked pretty much the same. They all had miles of slum houses, mountains of
trashes, heavily-dented roads and noisy neighbors. Mark was familiar with all
these things, because he was born in a slum.

Two
hours later, he arrived at a big gate guarded by several kids. If they didn’t
hold rifles or pistols in their hands, they looked just like other kids, 10 to
12 years old.

“Hey,
what do you think you are doing?” A short kid shouted at Mark.

“I am
looking for someone.” Mark said easily.

“You are
a customer?” Another kid asked.

“No.”

“Who are
you looking for?” The short kid asked.

“Are you
in charge?” Mark said impatiently.

“If you
don’t have a gun, I am in charge.” The short kid said as he flashed his rifle.

“Pennington
is expecting me.”

“And you
are?’

“Tell
him. His old buddy from special force 23rd division.” Mark said coldly.

“Hold
on.” The short kid said and then ran inside.

After
about 10 minutes, a small door near the big gate opened and Pennington crippled
out of the door. He looked around 50 and had a large build, a bald head and a
square face with thin eyes and thick lips. Mark and Pennington hugged each
other.

“It’s
been a while, my man.” Pennington said happily as he patted Mark’s shoulder.

“About
five years.”

“How are
you doing?”

“As you
can see, I am here.” Mark smiled.

“Good
man. Good.” Pennington said emotionally.

“What
happened to your leg?”

“I will
tell you later. Now it is the time for a drink.” Pennington said happily. They
walked through the door, got on a convertible jeep and drove further into the
slum. After passing through several big gates, they stopped at a battered
three-floor building.

“Come
on. I want you to meet someone.” Pennington said.

“Sounds
like someone I knew.”

“Oh, yea!”

They got
off the jeep, walked into the building and went directly to the basement. It
looked like any other basements. But after they walked through a hidden door,
they entered the underground tunnels. There were molds and rust everywhere.
Some of the steels were hanging down as if they would fall at any time. They
walked about five minutes and arrived at a small bunker.

“Look,
who is here?” Pennington shouted as he stepped into the bunker, followed by
Mark.

“Oh,
Mark, this is a surprise.” A middle aged man said as he stood up from a wooden
chair.

“Colonel!”
Mark said in surprise. The man standing in front of him used to be his
commander. His name was Salmon. He had a large and overweight body, a round
face with dark green eyes and a goatee.

“Man, I
am not gonna lie. You look like shit.” Salmon said directly.

Mark
nodded reluctantly.

“Take a
seat. Sit down.” Salmon said as he pointed at a chair next to him.

Mark sat
next to Salmon.

“So,
Pennington told me that you were looking for a job. Yes?”

“Yea.”

“What
happened to the mine job? You work there for like two or three years
something?.”

“About
three years. I was laid off. You know the economy was bad these days.” Mark
said in embarrassment.

“Tell me
about it. Even this business is getting rough.” Salmon sighed.

“What
about yourself? I thought you got an office job in the government. That is
everyone’s dream.”

“Well,
you know me. Say whatever I want. It got me into a fight with some guy whose
father was a big name. I was lucky, at least I didn’t go to jail.” Salmon said
easily.

“Was it
a good fight?” Mark chuckled.

“Oh,
yea, I beat the piss out of him.”

They all
laughed loudly.

Salmon
then talked about the daily life of a gunman, including patrolling the
territory, guarding the drug factory, protecting important people and killing
opponents from time to time.

Mark
also learned something about the drug business. When Salmon said the business
was getting rough, he wasn’t joking. More and more locals were getting into
this business and as the margin became smaller, eliminating competitors became
one important means to stay in the market. There were also other threats. These
days they sold half of drugs to other species including both first and second
class species. Since drug dealers didn’t have spacecraft, other species came to
Earth to do business and half of the deals went wrong. Some species just didn’t
want to pay. The Human government was also a problem. The government wanted to
make money from drugs as well, needless to say the big pharmaceutical companies
who backed up the government for clearing the illegal drug manufacture. As a
result, the government took the drug problem more seriously than before. In
their eyes, the drug dealers were leeches sucking money out of their pockets.

Later
Mark left Salmon and went to the bedroom. It was a smelly and dim basement
cramped with some 20 beds. Other gunmen looked at him coldly and didn’t even
bother to say hello. Mark put his only bag on the thin mattress dotted with
blood spots. He felt it would be his bed for the rest of his life.