Back to BeforePart 3
by MAC
Back to Before
Part 3
by MAC
Rev.0.7
Lillith of Velor,
Copyright, 1997, 1998, Infinity Bridge. All rights reserved.
The
planet Tetra
The seas of Tetra rolled under the passing breezes. Their white
capped waves moved endlessly to a landless horizon. The dusts
of the great desert swirled and coiled into dancing devils amid
fields of weathered rocks. The surf flowed quickly up onto the
white sand beaches, allowing the sand to melt into itself as each
wave retreated back into the sea. Through the Latitudes, as the
air boiled in the humidity, hungry Kilil watched and waited, as
they have always watched and waited, for a passing meal. Today
was a day as similar to yesterday as tomorrow will be to today.
Or so it was meant to be.
In the heart of the central desert, a young mother Tetrite tended
to herself as she preened her fur back into place. She had just
finished the morning feeding of her insistent infants and was
enjoying a few quiet moments to herself. The children tumbled,
laughed, and played down inside the nest, their bellies full.
Suddenly, the mother noticed a very subtle, low-frequency rumble
lightly shake the land under her feet. She stopped her preening
to look down at the ground curiously. The tiny dust particles
pranced and danced along the ground all around her. The rumble
grew louder as the ground shook harder. The vibrations rattled
the nest as the children squealed with fright at this unusual
feeling beneath them. The mother shushed them, urging them to
stay silent as she continued to be mesmerized by the flurry of
dust around her. The overcast sky offered no help to solve the
mystery as the worried mother looked around frantically for an
answer, a reason for the quaking. The solid gray cloudcover seemed
to boil and turn as if it was all affected by the rumbling as
well. The sound came from everywhere as it grew so loud that it
became deafening. The ground shook so hard that it became difficult
to stand.
Over the horizon, red flashes appeared without warning to capture
her attention. Slowly at first, then rapidly as they increased
in intensity. Within moments, sounds like thunderclaps reached
her ears - the delayed related sound from the flashes. What
strange storm makes such lightning, she thought. Very curious!
As if in answer to her thought, an immense, black, Arion warship
broke through the overcast as it settled out of a slow turn! All
around it followed hundreds of other ships in escort! Smaller
light-attack craft shrieked from behind the large, ominous ships.
They sheered around in an arc that took them into the vanguard
of this huge fleet. The mother was stunned at the massive size
and the sheer number of ships that seemed to be descending on
top of them! They were appearing everywhere! Her frightened children
gathered around her for comfort and she pulled them close. She
could feel each one quiver with fear from the sights and sounds
around them. Fear that flowed through her as well. All of their
faces, all of their eyes were turned upward. Eyes that saw the
space-worn hulls of massive warships pass eerily overhead. Eyes
that saw mechanisms swing rapidly, the whine of servos stopping
abruptly when the mechanisms locked in place, pointing down at
the surface of the planet. Eyes that were immediately blinded
by the muzzle flashes of thousands of guns as the fleet opened
fire!
For the mother and her children, the universe ended in a millisecond
of explosions, fire, terror, pain, and finally silence. Their
screams ended as soon as they had begun. The only sign that they
had ever existed was a smoldering bit of leg from the mother laying
a few feet from a deep crater.
The strange storm had come - a storm of war.
Clusters of warships began to maneuver in preplanned attack protocols.
Their shields were up fully with primary weapons charged and standing
by. Their secondary weapons fired continuously with an intensity
not seen in many campaigns. Targets were selected quickly - anything
that even looked as if it might be a structure. With a furious
intensity, the entire fleet was decimating the surface of Tetra.
The impact of the energy pulses from the Arion weapons was explosive.
Huge columns of the planet plumed into the air. The surface impacts
cratered the normally smooth desert landscape in a preprogrammed
saturation pattern. Inch by inch, with a combination of methodical
precision and frenzied blood-lust, the Arions tore away at Tetra.
Nothing more than a meter tall escaped their destructive attention.
The remains of the habitat, the hangar with its aircraft, all
the newer outbuildings that William had labored over for so many
years, were torn to pieces and reduced to fragments. Clusters
of Tetrite communities with clear evidence of nests were obliterated
in a storm of energy weapon discharges. The largest community
was targeted with the primary weapon cluster of the huge battlecruiser,
Fantag. In this first and only momentary discharge of this
gigantic weapon on the planet, six and one-half miles of territory
was obliterated in a blue flash! The sandy surface of the impact
area was converted to black glass in the time it took to give
the order to fire. Whatever and whoever was alive in that area
at one time, were now only atoms carried on the wind.
The smaller attack vessels moved rapidly among the larger capital
ships. They mission was to take on targets of opportunity. There
were surprisingly few. Most of their attention was focused on
simply avoiding collisions and friendly-fire hits.
Every Arion watched nervously. Some watched panels that would
indicate specific energy signatures. Others watched the horizon
and above the ships. Still others scanned the surface for any
unusual movement. They knew there was a Velorian out there somewhere.
A powerful Protector about whom they had been briefed. There was
a rumor that she had destroyed a smaller task force years ago,
but no official word confirmed nor denied that rumor. They all
knew what it would mean if one of those damn Protectors showed
up right now. A glorious battle and a glorious death!
The Fleet Commander paced the bridge of the Fantag intensely
as orders cracked loudly from his lips.
"E.S.?"
"Nothing, sir. No signatures."
His tone became menacing as he murmured to himself. "Come
on, you blonde bitch. Show yourself." The whole situation
pissed him off. No word from the special ops team that was supposed
to deal with the Protector problem, so they had to assume that
they were unsuccessful. Yet there was no sign of a Protector!
Did they eliminate her while getting themselves killed as well?
He could not assume that. No one could. There was something very
wrong about this place. That feeling gnawed at him. An Arion ship
within the atmosphere of one of the protected planets drew a Velorian
to it like a Philine bug to honey. Now the largest task force
in Arion history was blowing this planet surface to hell and no
sign of any Velorian at all! It was not normal; it was not correct;
it worried the Fleet Commander like hell!
"E.S."
The Fleet Commander spun to face the Energy Signature Officer.
Yes! Finally!
"What is it!"
The ES Officer was almost apologetic. "Sir? Could you ask
some of the other ships to mask their fire? The amount of discharges
out there is overloading my collectors."
The volume of fire that blanketed the entire continent was so
high that the smaller fast-attack vessels had withdrawn to above
the main fleet. Without specific targets presenting themselves,
everything on the surface became a target for no other reason
than it existed. Large clouds of tan dust filled the air, making
visual confirmation of passive targets impossible. Everything
killable on the surface of the planet was, evidently, already
killed.
The General of the troops stood solidly on the bridge of the Fantag.
He knew the barrage was running out of steam. It wasn't needed
and as soon as these Fleet sonsavelorians figured that out, he
would be able to get on with his work. To help persuade them,
he cleared his throat loudly. The Fleet Commander turned to face
the General and smiled.
"Eager as a recruit, I see. Are you bored, General?"
The gravelly voice of the Arion Prime General filled the bridge
of the flag ship. "With all due respect, sir, you people
fucking bore the shit outta me with your `stand back and blast'
shit. If you don't mind, sir, I'd like to take my people down
there and kick some ass! ....... Sir."
The heated glare of the Fleet Commander suddenly melted into a
wry smile.
"Get your fucking ass off my ship, General. And take that
troop shit with you."
The General smiled and saluted. "Thank you, sir." He
turned to go when the Fleet Commander stopped him.
"General!"
"Sir?"
"My son was here before." The General was struck by
those words. He too had heard the rumors, but no one had ever
talked of it. He knew the Fleet Commander's son was dead, but
how he died was classified. He wasn't sure what he was hearing.
"Sir?"
The Fleet Commander's face hardened as his eyes narrowed to cold
slits. His voice took on a hard edge of hatred.
"Kill `em all."
The General's smile returned as he now understood.
"That's what I do best, sir."
The General turned smartly to leave the bridge. Just as he did,
he barked orders to the young Prime standing at attention nearby
without even looking at him. The General's commands were always
crisp. The response had better be just as crisp.
"Karnant!"
"SIR!"
"We go."
"SIR!"
The young Prime spoke into a communication device clipped to his
uniform, spun about, and followed the General down the corridor,
matching his rapid pace.
With no sign of opposition, the fleet finally held fire and swept
to the flanks as huge troop ships hove down toward the surface
through the center. Thousands of shuttles seemed to fall like
snow onto the cratered surface as the troops disembarked rapidly
to spread out from the landing zones. This scene was happening
simultaneously all around the planet. As more troops arrived,
the sound of random Arion Taifun rifle discharges could be heard.
In any military operation, the first moments are confusing. In
an operation as large as this one, the first moments were frenzied!
Rifles were fired when motion was perceived -whether anything
moved or not. One shot triggered hundreds as nervous Betas shot
first without questions. If a Tetrite was the target, the volume
of fire would disintegrate the small creature. There were no wounded
Tetrites that day, only dead and missing.
As the thousands of Arions troops occupied the planet, the swirling
dust around the remnants of the habitat area slowly receded. As
if appearing out of the mists, the stone fountain still stood.
Scorched by the sweeping Arion firestorm, yet still defiantly
whole.
The occupation was remarkably efficient. The Arion troops moved
out in sections to take control of every inch of the desert territory.
Holding pens of barbed wire were set up to hold any captured Tetrites
that they did not simply shoot outright. The pens filled quickly.
At first, the Tetrites were forced through gates into the holding
area, but after a while, the creatures were merely flung over
the wire walls by their legs. Thousands of Tetrites suffered dislocated
legs and worse from this treatment.
Worse was yet to come.
The
Latitudes
The landings in the desert went quickly, but the landings in the
Latitudes were a complete disaster. The Arions did not have a
clue about the landscape. Thousands of troops were lost as the
shuttles attempted to land on the spongy surface, only to quickly
sink. Those troops that did get out of the shuttles were just
as quickly lost on their own as each step took them lower into
the sandy mass. The Kilil ate hungrily in a frenzy of attacks
as trapped Betas were suddenly devoured by the huge creatures.
The few Primes among the troops were also attacked. Most of the
Primes tore the Kilil apart to free themselves from being ingested
so quickly, but even they were soon drawn down into the soft ground
to be buried alive. It took quite a while before the local commanders
made adjustments, but the troop landings were finally diverted
to the central continent.
The Kilil and the mud saved the Latitudes from occupation.
The
high Faldref Mountains
"Shit! Those assholes are really doing a number down there.
What the hell are they shooting at? Nobody has weapons! It's an
open planet!" William was becoming agitated as he watched
the Arion invasion. The sight of the incredible barrage had left
him somewhat awed at the amazing power of the Arions. Yet it was
the sounds of random rifle discharges that angered him now. Why
did they continue to kill when no one fought back?
William, Phil, and over a thousand refugees watched the landings
from the relative safety of a small cave high in the mountains.
Their unobstructed view was panoramic, but it was also very dangerous
to prying eyes from below. They stayed back away from the entrance.
The Faldref Mountains contained a great deal of lead ore, which
prevented the Arion Primes from seeing through the walls of the
caves. This also rendered their usual scanning devices onboard
their ships just as useless. It was interesting to William that
the Arions seemed to stay away from the mountains for that reason.
They did not seem to be comfortable with not knowing what they
were getting into.
"It would appear that those creatures will remain in the
desert, sir. Your retreat to the mountains was quite a valid strategy."
Phil was very impressed.
"Not a retreat, Phil, a `strategic withdrawal'."
Phil tapped his foot in thought.
"That suggests a broader strategy with possible offensive
operations included within it." Phil looked back behind him
at all of his fellow Tetrites huddled in the darkness of the cave.
Most were exhausted from the long climb. Many of those shook from
the cold dampness of the cave. None had weapons and all looked
afraid of what might come next. He turned back to William.
"Perhaps today would not be a good day for a counterattack,
sir."
William and Phil ducked reflexively when a low-passing Arion warship
rumbled by quickly overhead.
"No, Phil. We had nothing scheduled for today." William's
smile made Phil turn his fuzzy head slightly out of curiosity.
"That is a good thing, sir?"
"A VERY good thing, Phil."
The two continued to watch for a few more hours as Arion operations
dragged on in the desert valley below. Finally William moved away
from the opening and motioned Phil to join him.
"Look, Phil. There are pockets of Tetrites all along this
range right now. We have to contact them and let them know we're
here. I'm going to move down the Faldref and let the others know
what's up. We have to keep in touch with them. Alright?"
"Much too dangerous, sir. You should wait for nightfall before
moving."
"Shit, Phil. They can see just as well at night as they can
in the daylight. At least in sunshine I can see them too."
"Valid observation, sir. Still, You are much too large to
effectively remain covert."
William shrugged. "I've got a few tricks left. Besides, I
want our folks to see me, Phil. They have to know we're still
here."
"Point taken, sir. Perhaps with the Mistress gone we should....."
"Forget Lillith for now, Phil. We're on our own. Got it?"
William sounded rather stern.
"Yes, sir. Still, she...."
"Later, Phil. Who's with you here?"
A large number of the biggest Tetrites gathered behind Phil. "We
are all here, sir."
As William looked slowly around at the Tetrites, his eyes met
fixed, unwavering stares in return. These creatures were the finest
beings that he had ever known. A deep rush of pride filled him
as a subtle smile and a nod acknowledged their presence. If only
he could have gotten more of them out of the desert before the
invasion. Many would not leave their homes. Some did not understand
what was coming. If only he could have gotten more out. If only.....
"Tetrites. Your planet has been overrun by your enemy. I
am not Tetritian, but I will fight to free it!" He paused.
"Will you?" A mumbling discussion finally developed
into nods of agreement. They were willing! A young Tetrite stepped
forward. He was very nervous speaking like this, but he needed
to say something to William.
"Sir? You have lived with us. You may die with us. You are
Tetrite as well, sir. You are one of us!" The nods and a
words of agreement from the others made William try to clear a
lump that had suddenly appeared in his throat. He placed his hand
gently on the young Tetrite.
"You are right. I am Tetrite. My soul is Tetrite and I am
with you always. Do you wish to know of the Protector?"
The Tetrites shook their heads. Again the young one spoke.
"We do not question the Protector, sir. Our faith in her
is absolute!" Everyone again voiced their agreement. William
looked around him, looking deep into the faces that stared unwaveringly
back into his. Faces that he may not see again.
"Then we shall fight them. We shall fight them until the
last of them has been cast off our beloved planet! WE SHALL FIGHT
THEM IN THE NAME OF TETRA AND FREEDOM!"
"And in the name of our Protector, LILLITH!" shouted
someone from the back.
The cavern erupted in cheering Tetrites! It was settled, the resistance
was formed.
William turned once more to Phil.
"Phil, I need you here. Alright? Keep them together?"
"Yes, sir. I will see to them." William nodded his understanding
and moved toward the cavern entrance.
"Sir?"
William turned slightly toward Phil to hear. His eyes did not
turn up to look back at the Tetrite until Phil hesitated to speak.
When William met the eyes of his friend, Phil spoke in a hushed
voice.
"Do not leave us too soon, sir. I would find that personally
upsetting." William smiled warmly.
"I'd miss you too, Phil. See you in a few days."
He paused to let a passing light cruiser leave unseen overhead
and he was gone.
William passed safely down the ridgeline. His great speed worked
to his advantage. When the Arions thought they saw something,
he was gone. To the naked eye, he was just a blur. The electronics
continually misdiagnosed his sensor return as an anomaly. Usually,
his entire sensor return was filtered away by the electronics
as noise. He covered 1500 miles in 3 days.
In each place where Tetrites huddled together in the cavernous
Faldref, he spoke to them, heard their support, and told them
that they would get word soon. Pass the word, he would
say. Pass the word that you are not alone. His visit comforted
and reassured them at a time when they needed it most.
Some groups were huge - over 4000 Tetrites gathered in one cave
on the backslope of the high Faldref! And more were moving up
the Faldref from the desert valley every day. Tired, hungry, dirty
- they struggled up the mountain trails in blinding rains and
winds. Not everyone completed the journey, yet none stopped trying.
The
high Faldref, day five of the invasion
William was moving rapidly back to the original cave that he had
left just a few short days ago. When he got back, he, Phil, and
the others would plan out how they would keep these fugitive Tetrites
up here alive. Maybe even form a resistance movement! Well, maybe.
The main thing was to keep them alive. As many as possible. It
had become all too clear that the objective of the Arions was
to kill as many as possible. That had to be stopped!
With blinding speed, William moved silently along the ridgeline.
Just as he turned the corner of a blind rock wall, he nearly ran
right into the hull of an extremely low-flying light-attack vessel.
For a split-second, William hesitated. That split-second was all
it took.
Every Arion vessel in the area sensed his presence as their displays
updated rapidly. The automatic targeting systems on board these
ships locked onto him with calculated range and angle data. There
was no information in the computers about friendly forces in the
area, so the weapons were free to kill anything they locked onto.
From all directions, weapons fired.
William was rocked violently around the mountain ridge as the
ships blasted him mercilessly. Again and again, direct hits flung
him in one direction, then another. The hits weakened him gradually
until he collapsed onto the ground. Laying face down with the
grass and bushes afire around him, he fought to remain conscious.
With the last of his strength, he struggled to raise his head,
only to look into the eyes of a Tetrite peering out of a crevice
in the rocks. The Tetrite moved toward the entrance of his hideout
as if he was determined to rush out to help William! As the Tetrite
was about to step out, William threw his hand out to warn him
away. The Tetrite immediately stopped and lowered himself back
out of sight. Agitated that he could not help William, the Tetrite
constantly peered out of his hideout as he scuttled back and forth
in nervous frustration.
Struggling to be heard above the roar of an Arion ship descending
so low overhead, William finally just mouthed the words "Tell
Phil" just before a blast from that ship enveloped him again.
William's head dropped to the ground with a loud thud.
The Arion ship was a small cruiser commanded by a very capable
and opportunistic female Prime. As it descended and held position
above the unconscious William, a single Arion Prime female jumped
to the surface next to him. Reaching down, she pulled his head
up by the hair to see what they had captured.
"My, you're a different one, aren't you."
She waved to the ship and a hatch opened on the underside. Picking
William up without any effort at all, she flung him up into the
hatch to waiting hands. Using her powerful legs, she then jumped
up into the same hatch. It immediately closed with a loud metallic
bang. The roar of the engines grew louder just before the cruiser
turned and accelerated away toward the desert floor.
Unseen by the Arions, the little Tetrite carefully came out of
hiding to watch the departing ships. He waited only for a moment
before he abruptly turned to run toward where he knew Phil must
be. His voice betrayed his worry.
"The William! They have the William!"
Back
to Before continues.......
