Hello everyone, this is the first three chapters of the book i have been writing for probably about ten of so years. This is the project told from the aliens point of view and i have been working on and hoping to get officially published one day. the first book is done and i hope to turn it into a 4 book series. I have poured my heart and soul into this work, its my baby. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as i enjoed writing it. It still follows the whole Humans are space orks theme lol. I hope you all enjoy.

1

“Apex predators cannot accept the existance of another, they will fight until one or both are extinct”

### Message status-Immediate###

###Planetary invasion underway###

### Enemy forces attacking planet on mass, imediate mobolization of all Kell assets orderd###

###Nature of the enemy...Alien###

* * *

Some weeks earlier.

The sun dawned over the horizon of Unite the largest city on the planet, it was the size of a small continent and there were few cities that rvialled her sheer size and power. This was the powerhouse of the High caste, here they let their will be known. Before the “unification” Unite had been but one of the major powers on Aroura, but now it was the power on Aroura. The heads of all the High caste families lived here and many High Blurn in the central sectors.

Even though it was early morning there was already a buzz of activity with people going about their buisness morning routines. Blurn workshifts ending and begining in a perfect syncronisation of logistics. As a Blurn himself Kenson could appreciate such mathmatics specially since he worked with numbers everyday. The monotrain came to his stop and he quickly departed, he was already going to be late for his shift but he didnt care and the Kell caste could moan all they wished about his lack of punctuality but he had better things to do. His destination was not a long walk from the train stop but with the sheer amount of people on the streets meant it took much longer than he would have liked. The Sanitas house was the largest building for miles and the foyer alone took up enough space that it was larger than most low Blurn's housing complexes. He was carrying fresh flowers which got him a few curious looks, flowers were rare in the cities. Something about the soil made it almost impossible to grow wherever the Learian built their cities and towns. Kenson had to import the flowers specially. The Healers saw him approach but he was a frequent visitor so he was let inside without question. Without thinking and in a state of autopilot he made his way to the room that he wished he had more time to visit, room three hundred and nintey four.

It was quiet, only the sounds of the machines that kept the body alive was the source of any noise that ever came from this room. “Hello father” he greeted as he replaced the whithered flowers in the window with the new ones.

His farther was in a coma, beaten to near death by a drunken Kell warrior for simply being in arms reach.

“I brought you a new book, its called 'Begger, Warrior, Ruler' It about a warlord that lived over a millenia ago, I've read a bit and its quite good” he paused as if waiting for a reply but none came. “Dalsa and Celra have announced their engagment, they are hoping to be wed next spring. I really should bring them to visit sometime or you know you could go see them that would be better” Kenson laughed nerviously, again he waited for a reply and once again he got none. “Farther, please say something” he held his fathers hand and shook it with some vain hope of rousing him. Wiping away tears, he opened the book and began reading to him.

The High Tower or Castle as it was sometimes called was the seat of of the High caste power, here the heads of all the High caste families lived, dined and plotted. One such party was underway along with high ranking members of the Kell and some rich Blurn who like their Kell counterparts were drawn to such events as a month to a flame, anything to try and increase their own standing or power. The High Lord himself sat in a simple throne where he could see the entire hall, the various colours of robes signilling which house each member belonged to. The glances from one group to another as they plotted and made side deals trying undercut their competators and the young males and females looking for any marriage partner that would bring the most merits. It was all very dull Garza thought. His eyes though did find Supreme Commander Garsun, the first to ever hold that title. A young man compared to the High Lord but one seasoned by his share of battles and wars. Some sixty years ago he had led an uprising and the High caste had been forced to bestow him the title of Gar. Fitting he thought that is name was Sun so that his name now reflected his title of Lord of all Kell under the sun.

He was currently being chatted up by some High caste females of which he was doing his best to be cordial. Garsun's eyes met his and he excused himself to join the High Lord.

“My Lord Garza” he bowed low in greeting.

“Garsun my boy, how are you enjoying the party?” Garza smiled walmly.

“I am having a good time, my Lord”

“You're a terrible liar, you know that?”

“Why you insist on making me attend these things I will never know” Garsun's tone suddenly becoming more relaxed now he knew that he could not be heared.

“Politics, such things as this are needed to allow our rule to function, it is a way to gage the strength of your enemies and strengthen ties with your friends”

“I prefer the politics of the battlefield, it's simplier”

“I guess that comes from your breeding, speakig of, those lovly females have had their eyes all over you since you first arrived”

“You'll forgive me for wishing to partake” Garsun said taking a swig of his glass.

“You heartbreaker” Garza laughed.

He looked out over the crowed and hoped these peacful days could last forver.

The droning of Koma's alarm was never a good noise to wake up to, it didn't wake him up nicley it always shook him from sleep like the feeling of suddenly falling. He swung his arm over and hit the off button ontop of it and rolled back over and got comfortable but not three seconds later his wife pushed him out of the bed.

“Its time to get up” his wife Farla was already up and dressed and was grinning from ear to ear as she abruptly denided her husband from going back to sleep.

“No, it can't be I just went to sleep” Koma mumbled rubbing his face, he was still laying on the floor with the sheet ontop of him. Throwing his boots ontop of him and make him cry out in pain she left to wake their young, they had to share a room which the older sister hated but they couldn't afford larger living quarters.

“Frenta, Kren lets not have a repeat yesterday shall we?” she asked banging on the door and stepping him. Kren the younger one was already up, he was in the middle of atempting to put on his shoes and failing. Frenta mumbled her anoyance at being awoken.

“I don't feel well” Frenta moaned.

“You said that yesterday” she said grabbing the blanket and pulling it away.

“No! I am not going to school!” she cried almost on the verge of shouting.

“Yes you are, you say this every morning, ever since you birthing classes started” Farla retorted.

“Of course, why does it matter to me how to raise a child? I hate kids and will never have one” Frenta said sitting on the bed.

“Frenta, it is youre duty as a Blurn female to bare children as much as it is your brother's duty to work for and provide for his furture wife and for our people” her mother said.

“Stop preaching! I know all the crap about the triad of the castes”

“Then you know that one weak link will break the chain”

The two glared at each other.

“Is that why you had me? Out of a sense of duty?” Frenta asked.

That question made Farla frown.

“No” she said softly “I have always wished for children, it is a deep part of every Blurn female to desire children. I love you and want what is best for you”

“But what if I don't want children? What if i want, somthing else?” Frenta asked.

Farla looked at her daughter a bit dissapointed, this was not how she had imagined her to be when she hatched from her egg. She imagined her being much like herself and would find a nice lad to marry and start a large family. It's not unheared of for Blurn females to work but it is seen as they have to choose between work or family and its expected that they will have a family rather than work. Of course the reality is different, many lower class Blurn females have jobs when their children are at school. It's seen as a sign of status for a female not to have to work.

“If you truly wish that, and are willing to sacrifice having a family for it, for that is what it will cost. Then you tred that road well and to it's fullest”

The two stared at one another.

“Plus even Kren learns such skills” Farla pointed out.

“No he doesn't, they teach him all the interesting things like how a car runs and how to build”

Kren had already run out the room after hugging his mum, he was still at the age where he barley left her side and never ran out of energy. “Well if you asked your father im sure he will take you to his workplace someday and teach you about it”

“Yeah right” Frenta said hugging her legs, her mother sat beside her

“Frenta, your father works hard so he can support us, even I work long hours at the store”

“But at least you are willing to actually spend time with us, we have even come with you to the shop, why can't dad work there”

“It doesnt make enough and he has skills that the Kell caste need and they pay well” She kissed her forehead “Now come on you dont want to be late”

Farla was tall for a female Blurn and among her kind considered a beauty, she had been blessed with a number of attributes that were desireable among her sex. A small and flat like head plate, slender arms and fingers and her tail dragged for several feet behind her. Among females the longer the tail the more desirable they were considered. Growing up some of her friends had spent massive amount of money devices that would lengthen the their tails. It was as horrible as the name suggested. Her husband by comparison was a unassuming man, not overly attractive but not plain either. Many would refer to him as simply an average Blurn male which left many scratching their heads to how he landed such a beauty of a wife.

Farla found Kren already raiding the cooler looking for somthing to eat, she had to forcably pick him up and sit him down before she could prepare his days lunch and breakfast. Koma joined them shortly after.

“Daddy” Kren said opening his arms to be picked up but Koma just patted him on the head “Sorry little one no time I've got to get going” Koma stopped in his tracks when he saw Farla staring at him, the kind of stare that lets him know he's in trouble. Walking back he picked up Kren and hugged him.

“Its doesnt matter if you're a little late” Farla said in a tone of mockery as Frenta came in, she eyed her farther, she didn't like seeing him.

“Frenta, my beatiful salamander” he went to hug her but she took a step back, he faultered unsure of what to do so he smiled at her instead.

“Off to work again?” she asked sarcastically.

“Of course” he replied.

“How long before i see you again? A week? A month?”

“Frenta!” her mother protested “Your father works hard to provide for us, so show him some respect”

“Yes...provide” she said looking at the small portion of food before her and at the cheap and half broken utilaties around her.

“The work I do is important-” Koma said.

“Safe the speech mother already gave it to me” she said eating.

Frenta shrugged, Koma hoped this was her being a difficult teen, she was appraoching that age that females went through where they become almost Kell like. He was like it himself once and put his own parents through hell, now he knew how they felt.

“Here drink some tea” Farla said trying to ease then tension, she placed the bowl of soup for Kren on the table, Krens elder teeth hadnt come through yet so his meat had to be mashed, it smelt unappealing but Kren quickly devoured it. Being a carnivorous reptilian species their diet was almost entierly meat, there was a species they manly used called humes that they bred for that exact purpose. They were not only used for food but also as a workforce, they did the more unappealing and dangerous jobs, the humes only had a limited capability for understanding but they understood that if they did what they were told they would live. Not well, but live none the less.

“Huh interesting” Koma said aloud reading the newspaper “It says here the number of wild humes sighted in the northern territories has decreased and that a number of their known villages have been found abandoned”

“I heared, I spoke to your cousin a week ago and she said that they are unusually quiet up there, they are not making their usual incursions south like they usually do this time of year” Farla said.

“Maybe theyre all dying out, how anything can live up there with all that snow and ice is beyond me” Frenta grunted in usual pesimistic tone.

“Say what you want about the humes, they are unaturally resilient when it comes to suriving harsh enviroments. So that being said, i wonder where they all went?” Koma mused for a few moments before flipping the pages to more local news “Oh another mine closing, but a two for one coupon on tator chips” he tore out the coupon and handed it to Farla.

Finishing off his breakfast Koma kissed his wife “Take care everyone, I'll be back as soon as i can” he said ignoring the scoff from Frenta.

It took Koma almost half an hour just to get out of his Block, he lived in one of the higher levels of a relatively small one as some were so large that they held their own schools, shops and hospitals. It was possible to live in the largest Blocks your entire life and never have to leave. In fact some do, the largest Blocks have serious gang problems due to the low employment and low living standards. Koma and his family though lived in a rather small one, it still had close to 30 levels and most of the lifts didnt work but it was comfortable enough. Unlike the Kell caste which all lived in the same standards respectable of rank the Blurn lived very different lives. Their caste was the most versatile. The living standards from one Blurn could be complelty alien to another and those often calling themselves the High Blurn, were the rich ones who owned land and companies that provided for the Kell and High castes and enjoyed privleges because of it. So in a sense the Blurn caste was split in two.

Of course Koma was of the Low Blurn, he worked for his betters and he worked hard for what little he was given. He was a Logistics worker but he often called himself a glorified file checker as all he did was pass along orders and send infomation to where it needed to go and stop unauthorized access to certain files.

Koma hated the jounrney to work, he had to take the monotrain, it was a train that tavelled above the walkways and was always crowded and they were packed in like hume cattle. At this moment he was currently making friends with this great big labourer for the space docks that ships crates into the space for the fleet. Of course he had to make friends since he was basically standing on his toes and his face was burried in his chest. Blurn caste members tended to get along better than those of Kell caste, the Kell caste were continuously competing to test their strength against another from different sqauds or clans and would often bully the Blurn. In fact small wars between commanders were not as rare as the High caste would let them believe. Blurn had a kind of unspoken rule to not fight eachother, mainly because they get enough grief from the Kell caste always pushing them around and making life a little bit more difficult. The train came to a halt and a number of people got off including the one that Koma was pushed up against, it was then that he saw a friendly face. Helba, one of his work friends, they both saw eachother and made their way through the carriage to greet one another. "Well this is typical" Helba said first

"Indeed, I might actually try and invest in my own car someday" Koma then thought for a second "I thought you were off today?" Helba scoffed and grinned "I was, until that arse decided he needed an extra pair of claws today and cancelled my leave" This was typical of him thought Koma, it was rather rare for a Blurn so have any leave at all, there was always some reason that the leave would be cancelled or cut short. Usually just for the sake of it most thought. They both got off at the last stop and headed for the logistic centre where all infomation was stored and relayed. The city was a buzz of noise and movment this time in the morning with cars fighting for space on the roads, the trains running along the tracks over their heads and the huge number of Learian going about their buisness. Shops were opening and their keepers shouting out to get customers attention and groups of Kell warriors were shoving people out their way as they made their way to wherever is was they were going. There were five major continent sized cities on Aoura named after the territory they reigned over. They all had towers several kilometers high, each city was designed to be self sustaining with its own power, water and food supplies. Koma looked at the sky as a number of shuttles were docking on landing pads thousands of meters up near the centre of the city, they were transporting people and goods into space or bringing such down from the ships. The Aoura system was very much colonised, many space stations, shipyards, colonise on the various moons and worlds. It was from far outside their system that the new species came from. The Hume, Koma took an instant dislike to them, not so much as to hate them but he felt uneasy around them. Their language was gaubled nonsense, their skin weird and slimey and two different humes could have different coloured eyes or even skin color and from what he heared they had no concept of castes. They were so utterly alien to them that it was no wonder that they were enslaved when they were discovered.

Putting such thoughts aside he made his way through the central part of the city, Koma always took time to admire the buildings he passed and noticed a huge difference in design. The buildings on the other part of the city were more rough design with jagged edges and basically they all looked alike. But the central part was rather different as though the builders had a sudden change of heart in the design of the buildings. Here they were of a large variety of shapes. Some were block shape others were smooth made from steel. One was clearly made from stone. Being part of the Blurn caste meant that knowledge on buildings came naturally to him but he could'nt remember a single time when they used these type of designs or building materials, at least not in the last couple of centuries. It was as though the builders were experimenting. His train of thought was interupted by the screams of hume children being forced into a truck, he wasnt good at judging the aliens ages but the guessed that they were still a long way from adulthood.

“Beware! Dangerous animals!” called a handler as a line of hume cattle.

Calling after them were females shouting from barred windows a couple of floors up. This wasnt uncommon, once a hume was five or so years old they were taken from their mothers and shipped off to camps to be field workers, some were trained to be house slaves for the more social elite or those who could afford them. Females of good stock were bred with decent males, others that were less lucky or chosen for their fat were sent to slaughter farms for food.

He had read somewhere of how they forcefed some hume so they were so obese they couldn't move before being sent for slaughter and food.

The reason they could feed the hume and not the normal cattle that existed on Aoura before was because after the Ruination, one of the only things that seemed to grow on Aoura was a odd fungus like plant. The other sources of cattle could not eat it but the hume could. So they were ideal.

But they were a weak species and had tendancy to live short lives and die from very simple means. But luckily they bred very quickly. Koma felt a sting of sympathy, he knew it happend but didn't like to see it, it was one of those things he preferd not to be exposed to since his job had nothing to do with them.

Koma sat at his station and entered his passcode, he was one of hundreds of logistic workers in the building arranged almost like an ampitheatre. Next to him was Helba and like him was wearing a headset to listen incoming com calls and updates. He scrolled through the usual infomation, most of his logistic work was the monitoring of the satellites 2000 through to number 3000. It may sound like a lot but really but nothing that interesting was ever spotted, the odd rough planet passing by the system, a meteor here that will collide with a planet in the system or simply pass through. Sometimes a comet would appear which was nice to watch. Most of his time he was scanning ships passing through his monitored sectors and cross checking their clearance codes to make sure they were authorised to pass. These could be anything from Blurn ships to Kell warships, but every one of them was listed and scanned. If any were not registered they were hunted down and more than what was reported were fired upon. They could be smugglers or pirates which was likely or Goddess forbid an alien race. Since the discovery of the alien race , the hume they had wondered about other races that may be on par with their technology. That was why the system had a net of satellites to try and spot anything entering or leaving the system.

But he suddenly began getting worrying signals and reports, a class S sized comet had been spotted by one of the furthest satelites and was it was on a collision course with Aoura. Koma, looked at it with mild interest, yes this was so large that could throw the planet into a ice age but it was not the first one he had seen. Granted that was many years ago but still like then, this one will be dissposed of. He downloaded the data to a pad and handed it to his supervisor who would in-turn give it to his, who was a Kell who would alert the proper people for the job. Most likely the Admiral of the fleet that was stationed in orbit.

He switch off the alert and put it under “pending” meaning the problem would soon be dealt with.

Looking at the picture of his family taken many years ago at a picnic he smiled, how happy they all seemed then. How hard things seem now.

The lights illumited as the preset time was reached and a harsh noise sounded to awaken him.

“Ah” he groaned as he reached over and turned it off.

“I'm the Admiral of the entire fleet why do I have to get up so early?” he asked himself for the millionth time as he threw the blanket off him. The female laying besides him groaned and pulled the blanket over herself more having been awoken by the disdurbance.

“Make sure you are gone before I get out” he told her before going into his washroom and splashing water over his face to wake him up.

He listened for the door, of course she wouldn't use the main door as that would be too obvious, such trysts are not too uncommon really but to have them in the open was taboo. For the Kell to enter into such relations was not allowed by decree of the High caste, but it was tolerated as long as it was kept quiet.

Even though he was an Admiral he had not fathered any children, he had simply claimed such actions were a distraction and he had no time to visit the breeding centers of the Kell mothers.

The reality was very different.

“Good morning Admiral” Karat greeted him.

“Morning” he replied groggily and sat in the chair that his second in command Karat had surrendered to him.

The bridge of the Vendetta was large, it being the flagship of the Learian fleet it was only fitting that it be so. Draka sat in the a chair that overlooked all of his subordinates, this was symbolic as it meant that they had to look up at him as he was of a higher station. In the same way that a High Caste member will never sit on a chair that is lower than any other caste.

“Good morning Admiral” said a soft feminine voice, one that he knew well.

“Serila” he grunted holding out his hand for his morning cup of tea that he insisted on her bringing even though she was his chief engineer.

Instead she handed him a datapad.

“What's this?” he asked.

“It is the report of a few maintenance issues we are having and that you have yet to assign any of the fleet resources to fix” she said annoyed.

He hated this about her, her tone was unbecoming of a Blurn female.

“This is Karat's job, so why are you giving it to me?”

“Because he refuses to acknowledge there is a problem and says we can make do. Well we have been making do and there are only so many times we can use sealing tape to seal leaking plasma cannons” she was nearly shouting at him and the bridge crew were all listening while holding their breathe.

“Then hand it to the requisiton officer” Draka shot at her.

“He only issues with crewmans gear, not ship maintinance, do you want your ship to fall apart? I swear if it wasnt for the Blurn caste you Kell wouldn't even be able to dress yoruselves”

Draka's claws curled into fists and he stood up, she had crossed the line, she had insulted a member of the Kell caste and for a Blurn that was punishable by death should the Kell demand it.

Serila did take a step back and for a moment she was frightened and her prey instincts came through. But then regained her confidence and stared right into Draka's eyes.

This stand off went on for what seemed like an eternity before finally, Draka spoke.

“I will make sure, you are resupplied with enough materials to repair the vital systems” he said, his voice was level and calm but no one missed the anger.

“Thank you” Serila said and was about to turn away but Draka grabbed her arm and looked deeply into her eyes.

“Never speak to me in such a manner again”

He had spoken softly but it carried and everyone on the bridge heared him.

She looked away and nodded “Forgive me, Admiral” she whispered before he released her and she left.

“Insolent Blurn, she should have had her toungue cut out for that” Karat said standing besides Draka as he retook his seat.

“Indeed, but she is the best engineer in the fleet so it would been a waste, but I think a few lashes would not go amiss” Draka said looking away as if he could see her through the hull of the ship.

“Sir, we are reciving a communication from Aroura, high priority” called a deckhand.

“Put it through to my personal monitor”

A small robotic arm with a screen emerged from the side of the chair and placed itself infront of Draka and came to life to show the face of Garmeyr.

“Lord Garmeyr!” Draka said shocked and instantly went down on one knee.

Garmeyr was one of the high caste and a powerful member, arguably the only one more powerful was the High Lord himself.

“Admiral Draka” Garmeyr addressed.

“Yes, my lord?”

“I bring news of a threat to our world, a world ending comet has been detected entering the system and is heading towards Aoura. The High caste task you with it's destruction”

“Of course my Lord, it shall be done”

“I do not need to tell you how ominous the timing of this meteor is, it falls right at the start of the month of life, the great mating is upon us and the universe threatens to end us. Show how Learians are the master race of this universe and destory this lump of rock. I trust being a Kell you are quite adept at hitting rocks”

“It will be done, my Lord”

“Of course it will because I have...the High caste have commanded it, now go”

It made sense that Garmeyr's fleet would be given this mission as his fleet that Draka had control over was the largest in the Learian navy after the civil war that broke out some decades ago. Through either politcal manouvering or more neferious means Garmeyr's fleet was the only offical fleet. Other High caste houses had their own lesser fleets and ships but none as large or powerful as Greymers and that meant he seemed to believe that the void was his plaything.

The screen cut out and the screen returned to its place within the chair.

“I hate him” Draka said under his breathe.

Just as it was taboo and borderline heresy for a Blurn to insult a Kell it was just as severe for a Kell to insult a High so there was no way he was going to say that out loud.

Draka got to his feet and addressed the bridge.

“Assemble the fleet, recall all members currently on leave or rest and order them to report for duty. Prepare the fighters and gunnery decks for combat, just because our enemy is a lump of rock does not mean I want everyone to be lax in their duties ” he commanded.

“Yes sir!” replied the deckhands and went about carrying out his orders.

Draka sat down and rubbed his head, Garmeyr was often the one who would contact him to issue commands, mainly because the two of them had a bit of a history. Much like how Kell are selected for command and trained form young ages, High Caste members will show their families around their subjects and subject them to creul treatment. Garmeyr had taken issue with Draka when they first met, all because the High caste females seemed to find him desireable.

Kell males had often found themselves the attentions of High caste females and it was not totally unknown for those males to go missing for a time or even indefinetly. It was obvious where they went but it was never spoken about that a High caste female had offered her sacred body to a mere Kell.

A number of females that Garmeyr liked, one even being his arranged bride had apparently liked the look of Draka and jelously took over him. It was never proven, but Garmeyr set his guards to assualt him and is why he had lost two fingers on his left hand where they had been torn off. Draka was proud that he was able to kill one of his attackers and of course he knew who it was that had ordered his assault but he was forbidden to react, a single word from Garmeyr and he could have him killed but since Draka was in the command program it made it difficult for him to be disposed of. Thus Garmeyr simply made his life hell whenever he could, Draka wasn't even sure if Garmeyr remembered the original reason by this point.

Draka just hoped there was nothing special about this asteroid, Garmeyr had often set him up with the intention for him to fail but he had so far avoided every trap. The only reason he was alive at all was because he was lauded by the High Lord himself for services and thus Garmeyr could not get rid of him through normal means.

The smell of tea and the tapping of a mug on his chair brought back his thoughts.

Serila had returned and had placed his cup of tea beside him, she smiled her beautiful smile at him before she left.

Was this her apologising for before? Or was she trying to offer some comfort for having to deal with Garmeyr again? Draka didn't care, he drank the tea and felt calmer for it.

“Looks like it's going to be a long day”

He looked down at the main monitor that showed the planet they currently orbited, Aoura. Even from space it was easy to see the captial city of Unite since it was so large.

Fram, a simple line warrior was enjoying one of the few times he would ever get to sleep in when his friend Waln came running into his quarters with his usual grace of falling over his own feet.

“Fram! Look what I found!” he said holding up a bottle “12th century ale”

It was currently the year 3259 of the Learian calender.

“Where on Aoura did you get that?” he asked getting to his feet.

“Remmber the Blurn co conspiritor of the Warlord Sarkara?” he asked referrring to the war they had with another clan some time ago.

Kell rebellions were actually quite common, it was more of fighitng between Kell commanders who commanded clans but every so often one was a Kell commander who wished to carve out some territory of his own.

“That fat thing that drooled?” Fram asked.

“Yeah, this was part of his stash and I was able to get my hands on this as part of the spoils” Waln gloated.

Fram was annoyed, he had been part of putting down that rebellion and all he was able to get his hands on in the looting were a couple shiny baubles.

“Well what are you waiting for? Open it!” Fram said advancing on him

“Tsk tsk Fram, what do you say?” Waln asked grinning.

“I hate you?”

“Nooooo, the other thing”

“You're a sneaky bastard AND I hate you?”

“You're dam right” Waln laughed and opened the bottle and another warrior got some mugs.

Waln was a bit odd, but mainly because his name was a feminine one, in the Learian language the word for female was La or eL depending on the accent. Because of that females were the ones who had “L” in their names or La at the end. The fact that Waln had the feminine character in his name was because it was given to him as a child. During training he had cried because he couldnt keep up with the young males during a run around the city and could only run with the females. So to shame him they changed his name to a feminine sounding one. Of course as he grew up he was able to best most of the males, close quarter combat was his favourite physical acitivity and Fram thought it was so because he was still trying to overcompensate. Still though, now an adult he could change his name but he kept it, stating he had come to like it.

Fram looked over at an empty bunk in their sleeping area, although its occuupant hadn't been therer for some tim hee still looked over expecting to see her.

“You still miss her?” one of their bunkmates said.

“Narla was one of the best marksmen in the Kell caste” he replied.

“And a beauty” Waln said enjoying his ale.

“No wonder she was taken to the breeding center, with her skills and looks she is will mother a whole generation of beautiful killers” one laughed.

Fram and Narla had been hatch mates, they were hatched from the same group of eggs and grew up and trained together. They were never romantically involed as they came to see each other as siblings but he would never deny he loved her. He had a scar above his left eye from coming to her aid one of their first battles and she often traced it as a way of show her gratitude to him.

Every few years those from the breeding centers conduct physicals of the females in the caste to see which will create the best children. These physicians would conduct extensive tests and often invasive but to be chosen was nothing short of the utmost honour. They were hailed as the mothers of the Kell and were treated almost like High caste family leaders. Fram was happy for her, its just a shame he would never get to see her again.

“Im a little pissed they didn't pick me” mopped Lamela

She was quite a large female and had gone through the same inspection as Narla but had been found wanting, she was told that her body was not suited to go through the multiple births that a Kell mother would have to endure.

“Don't feel too bad” Fram said “you're more male than most of us” he laughed.

“Hey!” she said hitting him.

“Oh how unfemale like” he pouted mocking her.

“What do you think I am? Some pansy Blurn girl? Come on!” she said getting into combat stance, her body low and claws ready.

The moment Fram got up she lunged at him and in a few moves had her on her stomach and his knee diggin into her back.

“Ow ow ow, I give, I give!” she said her voice straining.

“You give? So by conquest rights I now have rights to you” Fram grinned.

“Don't you even think about it!” she screamed “I'll bite it off if you try”

“That would be a very small snack im afraid” Waln laughed “Also the High caste and Kell commanders frown upon such unregulated sexual conduct among the Kell warriors” Waln said dealing some cards, he seemed a quite drunk already.

Laughing Fram he let her up and they enjoyed the spoils of their recent war.

2

Kren sat at his desk drawing with the other youngsters, their teacher hadnt arrived yet but one of her assistants had and she had given them paper and coloured charcol to keep them quiet and amused. All of them were younger then ten winters and the class was nearly forty strong, bursting through the door their teacher finaly arrived. Zesha was an elderly Learian and her age was getting the better of her as she found it harder and harder to move with haste.

“Morning everyone” he greeted them and they greeted her in unison almost like a choir.

“I have a interesting lesson for you all today, we are going to learn about the Goddess and mother of all Learians”

The youngsters all looked confused, they had mothers so the idea of someone else being their mum must have seemed odd, it was Kren who voiced his thoughts first. “But I have a mum”

Zesha chuckled “No I mean mother to us all, she was the first Learian to ever live. Birthed by the universe itself she was divinly beautiful and had knowldge of all things living. But she was also lonley” Zesha sat down as her knees started to ache and the youngsters started to get interested and were shuffling to sit on the floor near her.

“So the universe birthed another Learian, a god and he was big and powerful and strong. They fell in love and mated to birth the next generation, our ancenstors. Together they had twelve children and the goddess was happy, she spent all her time playing with them and teaching them language, literiture and love for one another. But the god was jelous, too many times she had refused his advances and join him in his bedchamber and this made him wrathful. He killed all of their children right infront of her and so devistated was she by what he had done she fell into a frenzy. The two fought a ferious battle and the goddess slew the god and devoured his genitals, using the power she absorbed from him she birthed more children to love. For centuries she lived among them and cared and protected them. But as time goes on all children grow up and no longer need their mothers so one morning her children rose from their slumber to find she had gone. But she still looks over us and she still guides us, not always in ways we see and often we wont even notice she is there but she still has a mothers love for us. And when we pass from this life into the next we go into her embrace and live with her as did her first children”

The youngsters sat there listening intently, althugh they didn't quite understand it all, the High caste had demanded that Learian of all castes are taught about the Goddess from an early age.

It took close to sixteen hours for the number of ships needed to gather, with so many ships collisions were the main worry for the captains so they kept a safe distance from eachother. Draka looked at the 3D holographic display on his screen showing the movments of the fleet in real time. "Its been a long time since I've seen this many ships in one area" he said to himself.

Many decades ago he had defeated a larger enemy fleet of a rival High caste lord.

"Sir all ships report ready" said his com officer

"Very well lay in the course for the co-oridinates and give the order for all ships to engage engines and stay in formation" In the soundless void the ships moved like a fish in the ocean, slowly at first setting off towards their destination. The media centre was already running the story telling the population of the meteor, naturally the leaders used this opertunity for propaganda and used it to play of that they are blasting a piece of the universe out of the sky and ensure the rightful rule of the space.

Eventually the fleet went out of range and in the dark spot where signals could not reach. This was the predetermined place they would intercept the comet and where its debris would be pulled into the planet and land far away from Aoura.

Helba was the first to spot it, the report came accross his screen, a number of satellites had gone offline and he had lost contact with the ships in the area. That alone was worrying as ships have their own contact arrays and thus are not reliant on satellites to relay their communications. Soon others were getting the same reports, satellites going dark and ships no longer responding to coms.

“What is going on?” called their supervisor.

“We're loosing contact with our satellites!”

“The outer shipyard stations are also not responding!”

“Fringe system ships are no longer responding to coms”

“I need answers not problems!” the supervisor cried “What is going on?”

“Working on it sir!”

“Can we contact Admiral Draka?” he asked Koma.

Koma turned to look at him, Draka's fleet was going into a dark zone behind the system's gas giant, there were few satellites there and is was expected he would be out of contact during his mission to destroy the asteroid. Their only hope was that they could contact them before they had gone out of com range.

“No sir, I can't” Koma said somberly.

Everyone seemed to hold their breathe at that point, with their eyes and ears in space going dark and the fleet away and unable to be conntacted. They felt very exposed.

“Stay calm people” the supervisor said sensing everyone's thoughts “This is most likely just a system malfunction, stay at your stations and get to work to figure out what this is”

Seeing their superior keep his cool they took heart and turned back to their work, many thinking or hoping that he was right.

“Sir, the comet!” one worker called.

“What?”

A live image of the comet appeared on the main screen so that everyone could see, but still it did not seem real. The comet was the size of a continent, a single large solid mass covered in ice and mist sheilding its body, it was beautiful really. But then, it changed.

It split in two, peices had been falling from it's tail almost continously which was not uncommon really but now a large chunk of it had split from the main part and was now heading in a completly different direction.

“What?” was all their supervisor was able to ask.

No one was able to answer him.

They started to panic and send out scout ships to find out what was going on, with Drakas fleet so far away and out of com range they had to rely on whatever ships the defence force had on hand to counter this. But still more and more outposts, ships, and satelites fell silent, none had even sent a distress call. They had simply...stopped.

This went for days and life on the Aoura's surface went on although many were concerned as those who had loved ones who worked in the central sectors had not seen them for some time.

Serila alone had tried to contact Koma multiple times but would be told that he is busy, until she finally got call from him.

“Farla?”

“Koma! Where are you? Are you okay?” she asked from the family com at her home, Frenta and Kren were watching tv.

“I am fine but things at work are busy, i am allowed to quickly call you to let you know I am well” Koma's voice betrayed that was not entirly the case.

“What is going on? I know something is not right” she said.

“I can't tell you, you know that”

Of course their conversations would be monitored, privacy was something those of low society classes did not have the privilege of.

She heared the faint sound of another talking to Koma on the other end.

“I have to go, give my love to the kids”

“I will, I love you”

The call was disconnected a second after he finished his sentence so he did'nt get to hear her reply.

Farla held the com to her chest, praying to the Goddess that he was alright, something wasn't right, she could feel it, like storm clouds gathering overhead.

One week after the satellites and ships in the system went dark things were only getting worse. Some ships having lost their coms had simply steered towards the planet fearing being out of contact. The comet fragment that had split had diserpated in many smaller fragments and any ship that was near would go silent. Short range coms were still operational but anything beyond the general orbit of Auora was not possible yet. So a game of pass the message was being implimented to keep contact with the outlining stations. But life went on on the planet, Koma still had not gone home and neither had any of his co workers even after staying at work for a few days trying to deal with the influx of work. Fram continued with his life as a Kell warrior, occasionally patrolling the captial or training with his friend Waln and keeping order.

The Blurn worked, the Kell trained and the High caste...well, they were panicking.

The High caste, five hundred families of the five hundred clans and at their head was the High Lord Garza.

Garza had been ruling the High caste for what seemed like generations, High caste members did tend to live longer than the other castes but even by their standards Garza was old.

He sat in his personal chambers reading a book, his room was rather simpy decorated compared to his fellow caste members. Furniture seemed handmade, the heating came from a simple fireplace and the walls were lined with bookcases as well as odd sculptures that did not follow any known Learian culture. It felt more like a cabin deep in the forest than a domicile in the Highest ppart of the High Caste Castle.There was one thing that truly stuck out in the room though. A board game with thirty two peices, with sixteen each side facing each other, one a black colour and the other white. At first glance it looked like a popular rgame called Regicide but the peices were all wrong. Garza had recieved this as a gift a long time ago when he was still young. The pieces had never moved for there was no one on the planet who knew how to play it other than himself. But, right now a pawn had moved forwards.

“High Lord please take this more seriously” begged Garmeyr although his tone made him sound more angry and desperate.

Garmeyr was flanked by two lesser High caste members, his vassals that stck by him in hopes they could increase their own influence by being close to their better.

“Oh I am very much aware of the situation” Garza replied calmly.

“I do not think so, you have done nothing but simply say we can only wait and you refuse to put the Kell on high alert” it was Benan one of Garmyrs vassals that spoke, probably feeling emboldened by Garmyrs outburst.

“The Kell are always on high alert, the reason they were born was to be ready for war”

“So you agree that we are under attack?” Garmeyr asked.

“Oh my dear boy” Garza said, this of course annoyed Garmeyr as he was by no means a child.

“Garsun” Garza called softly.

“Yes my Lord?” Garsun said approaching form the corner of the room and knelt before his master.

“You know what may be happening”

Of course Garsun knew of their races secrets so this wasn't a question.

“I do my Lord, but I doubt it is who we believe it to be”

“But they were animals, it's impossible for them to advance in such a small amount of time” Garmeyr stated “How long ago was it anyway?”

“Eighty years ago” Garsun replied somewhat somberly, it was his uprising that meant that the raids had stopped.

“That is a long time” Garsun observed.

“Impossible, it took us centuries to advance our technology to our current state, there is no way they could have caught up so quickly. Anyway it is not likely that it is them anyway, they had no idea where our homeworld is” Garmeyr said trying toconvince himself “It is most likely others”

“Does that bring you comfort?” Garza asked.

“It matters not whether or not it is, our communications are limited and that is one of the first steps on an invasion” Garsun said getting to his feet.

Their conversation was interrupted by the sounds of thunder that seemed to come from everywhere above them. Even though it was a clear day with so few clouds.

“And here is the next step” Garsun said as he saw on the horizon, streaks of fire falling to earth in huge numbers.

Garsun's ear com exploded with summons to the command centre, it seemed whoever these invaders were they had hit hard as there had been no warning from the ships and stations in orbit around the planet.

“If you will excuse me my Lords” Garsun bowed and hastily left the chambers heading straight for the command centre.

“The war enters it's final act” High Lord Garza said to himself.

The world was thrown into chaos, fire raining, communications gone and rumours of strange invaders, in only a few hours the aliens had attacked so quickly and suddenly that the ships in space that were left behind as some sort of defence force were completely overwhelmed. The civillian ships were destroyed before they could even send out any distress signal or give any signal of warning. Many of the defence satellites mysteriously shut down as the aliens entered range of their weapons and the crews could do nothing as the invaders set up their blockade of the planet unopposed.

Draka's fleet was still away dealing with the asteroid and every ship that had been sent to get updates on them had not returned.

“Commander Garsun” his staff greeted him as he entered the command centre.

“Report!” he barked.

“We are loosing contact with positions all over planet, reports of a strange enemies attacking are flooding in and alien fighter craft in the skies”

“They first hit the Novian islands!”

“The southern hemisphere seems to be where most of their forces are concentrated”

“The continent of Frontire is reporting a mass of enemy forces approaching the central city, their defenses are being overwhelmed.”

“The enemy has been engaged at the Delleesa depression, large numbers of armoured units confirmed”

“Vertica is under seige!”

Garsun slammed his fist on his armchair to get their attention.

“Order all Kell forces to mobolise and to fall back from the enemy, those are already engaged or are within sight of the enemy are to hold their ground to buy us time. Get all our fighters in their air, we must not loose air supeiority”

He let out a stream of orders to get people active in repelling the invaders, in times of panic people look to their superiors for guidence and haert. He would not let them down but even he was shocked by what was happening. Their world was being invading by alien being? This kind of thing happens only in stories and although they had known for some time that they were not alone in the universe they never expected it to become a reality.

Maek was a seasoned fighter pilot with many wars under his belt, he knew his cratf better than the Blurn who built it and whenever he sat in the cockpit he felt like returning to a part of himself. “An alien enemy huh?” he grinned to himself “Finally a true war” he gunned the engines as soon as he got the green light from a Blurn craft director and he knew his wing had gunned their right behind him. He had to gasp at the sight infront of him, the sky was alight with flame engulfed landing pods and the wings of enemy aircraft already running bombing runs.

“Form up, attack!” he barley gave the order before he was struck by an enemy missile. The Learian craft were not armed with such weapons, they simply had powerful pulse cannons to gun down line of sight enemies.

So many Learian craft were shot down and so few were able to shake off the missiles fired at them. But the Learian had one advantage, ground based anti air guns and sheer numbers. They had to hope it was enough.

In the captial city of Unite the cities sirens sounded signalling an emergency and imminent attack.

It had been so long since they had been used that the PA system had to play an audio of it in some parts of the city as the original system no longer functioned. Many thought it was a drill or simply ignored it continuing on with their lives. That was until the bombs began to fall.

Farla was manning the stall that sold trinkets in the market square when the siren sounded, to her it was just noise and an annoyance like it was to everyone else. Like them she went on as if nothing was happening and her two children Kren and Frenta were with her also helping out with the store.

Explosions down the road drew everyones attention and then to the sky as strange shaped aircraft were flying overhead.

The Kell airforce quickly moved to intercept and dogfights started over the city along with flak artilery firing at the invaders.

Farla picked up Kren and grabbed Frenta's hand before running, she headed towards one of the Blocks as with it's large thick walls it was naturally the safest place. Fire raged behind them as the bombs incerinerated everything they came into contact with. Combined with the screams of people dying and panicking it was chaos. Children were seperated from their parents and stood confused and crying.

Men shouted and cussed in anger and fear at what was happening and mothers desperatly tried to keep their loved ones in sight and screamed when struck aside.

An alien bomber made a run along a street and egulfed the hundreds of people in fire, whatever the aliens were using it was unatural, it melted the scales and flesh off their bones leaving black skeleton remains.

The social order that they lived by was ripped apart in only a few moments, these moments of fear and confusion they reverted to their basic insitincts of survival.

Farla made it to the Block entrance which was packed with hysterical people already fleeing the bombs.

“Close the door!” shouted someone on the higher levels.

“There is still room inside for more!”

“Screw that, they'll kill us all! Close it!”

“Close it!” .

Soon the call to close the door was being echoed by everyone, there were still people in the threshold passing into the building, the bombs hot on their heels.

Farla had moved up the stairs to the next level, pushed along by the crowed, Frenta cried out as Falra's claws digged into her arm. She didn't care, she was not about to risk being seperated from her children.

She could see outside through the doorway, so many people were still outside, so many could still be saved.

Then she saw them.

Walking through the flames, a being made of metal standing more than twice the size of a Learian male with a single glowing red eye. On their arms were odd looking weapons, she knew they were weapons for what else could they be? It roared, how it roared or screamed was beyond her but it was such an alien sound that she felt nothing but fear at this monster.

They raised their arms and fired into the crowed.

These were Blurn, unarmed and simply civilians of this world they had no military training nor were they a threat. But it mattered not to these aliens, they would still be slaughtered. Emotionless the machines continued to gun down everyone they saw, man, woman, child, with cold and emotionless precision they were slaughtered.

The large door began to close, the crowed screamed and those that saw they would be on the outside rushed forward with greater fear and vigour to be inside with some slither of hope for safety. Many were trampled to death, in the end maybe only a few manged to save their lives with such desperation.

The door slammed shut and crushed several to death under it's immense weight. The door was designed to withstand forced entry such as explosive devices.

But that was against Learian weaponry, how would it face against alien technology?

Bang, bang, bang.

Something was striking the other side, the aliens were trying to get in!

“They're breaking in!” a woman cried.

“Where are the Kell?!” a man cried.

“Here is one!”

“Why are you here? Get out and fight!”

“You're supposed to protect us!”

“I'm unarmed!” he cried.

“Useless, coward!”

Suddenly they realised the door was no longer being banged on, whatever was happening outside, it had taken the aliens attention.

Fram ran, the call to arms had come in and with the bombs falling on the capital city meant the report of an alien attack was now very real. Harker, their commander and head of their clan had been skeptical about the standby order that had been issued. Their clan had been on the opposing side during Garsun's uprising or ascension depending on who you asked so Harker took every order from Garsun with suspcion.

Many Kell commanders had simply ignored the call to arms, they had gone on standby but when the call to arm themselves for an invasion they didn't believe it and thought it was a drill of sorts.

The alien vessels and soldiers proved them wrong. It was why the aliens were able to gain so much ground and taken the Kell so much by surprise. The capital city was a city the size of a small continent but the alien craft were able to travel over half way before they were intercepted. Thus was the level of their laxity.

But now, they were alert and the aliens would be met in battle.

Fram took his rifle from the distributer and Waln was right behind him, the standard issue pulse rifle of the Learian race was simple in its design and managment. Using oxygen as the basis for it's power source it fired a highly heated energy burst at it's target. It meant it lost power the further away the target was. The design had not changed much in centuries, it was a tried and tested model.

Grabbing extra amo packs he checked his rifle, readied his combat shield and blade and lined up alongside his fellow caste members of his clan.

“No time for speeches, the enemy has dropped a number of troops in the city we are going to hunt and kill them!” Harker said, he too was armed and armoured like them.

“Aii!” the warriors cried and as they had done in a million and one training simulations, they in perfect time with each other boarded the transport.

The tranpsort was a four engined troops transport that carried Kell warriors to their drop off point. Heavily armoued but with little in the way of offensive capabilities it relied heavily on air cover. Which right now was been heavily tested by the alien craft.

The craft shook as the engines came to life and in it's own personal fight with gravity it triumphed and ascended. Fram sat opposite Waln who looked at him apprehensivly but the young one next to him Parn looked terrified.

“Take heart young one” Fram said to him, he looked up at him and tried to smile.

“What do you think these aliens look like?” Waln asked everyone.

“Purple with two heads!” called one.

“Nah, bet they have tentacles!” joked another.

“So, slimy?”

“What if they are giant bugs?”

“Eww”

The tension lifted a little but it was quickly broken when a transport that was flying in formation beside them exploded. Its frame work, almost like it's skeleton carried by the momentum stayed with them for a mere second before falling. They had come under fire.

“Hold on!” called the pilot.

The feel of the wings shifting positon shot through them all as the transport took evasive action to avoid the enemy fire. Their gunner opened the side door and fired the mounted rapid pulse cannon at unseen enemies to try and give the transports some cover.

Another transport was hit and Fram saw one of the enemy fighters that had hit it pass them.

It was a strange design, smooth and bright it was able to change direction and postion with such speed and agility that there was no way a Learian was piloting it.

Their escort fighters quickly broke from the formation and chased after it, firing their pulse cannons, the four wings of the Viper fighter craft that looked more like manacles of a beetle would move and adjust as it flew. It was a fast and manourvourable craft but it was lightly armoured and thus it came down the skill of the pilot when two of these met in the sky. But now so many factors were at play here, how skilled were the alien invaders? Would their techonolgy give them an edge or are they at a disadvantage?

There were not a great number of alien craft attacking them, but with all the movements Fram had no way of telling who was winning. The green flashes of the pulse cannons mixed with brass colour of the enemies were all mixed together. Although he did spot one thing, a long cylinder shaped object being propelled like a fighter.

“Odd looking craft” Fram thought to himself.

But it wasn't a fighter craft, it flew into a tranport ship and exploded taking all the warriors on board with it.

“A suicide fighter?” Fram mused.

Or maybe somthing unmanned?

They are using heretic technology?!

A machine that did not need to manned? Such a thing was unthinkable to the Kell for they lived for war, if a device did not need to be directed then there would eventually be no more need for warriors.

“Get ready!” Harker shouted.

They readied their rifles and prepared to release their belts holding them in place. More explosions from destoryed aircraft were happening all around them and Fram saw out the window Kell warriors firing at an unseen target.

“Go!” Harker shouted.

The transport had not fully touched the ground so they jumped out the back entrance where they had entered, straight into enemy fire.

When fired their pulse rifles would make a high pitched streech but the enemy made a loud thudding noise like the beating of a drum that could be felt as much as heared.

Fram exited and the warrior in front of him was hit and killed instantly, blindly he fired in front of him where the enemy fire had come from.

They raised their sheilds and charged, the sheild had a small curved point where they could point their rilfes through as they moved, this gave them a level of protection while being able to fire at the enemy.

In battles with other clans, close quarters combat was part and parcel of their war docorine.

The warrior next to Fram was hit, the aliens munitions had torn right through the sheild and killed him, their sheilds were usless.

They had landed in the outer sectors of the captial city and it was crawling with the enemy which he could now get a good look at.

Archs, huge metal machines heavily armoured and armed with huge and strange looking weapons. They had been trying to get into a Block but their arrival had stopped them gaining entrance.

“Fram!” Waln shouted joining in and firing a few shots at the metalic giants which simply flared and did no damage.

“What the hell are these things?” he asked.

“How am I supposed to know?” Fram replied and threw a spike grenade which struck one of the giants, it staggered and it's left arm was now damaged beyond use.

His position came under fire from above, on some of the smaller buildings there was the enemy infantry. Armoured with close fitting armour and helmets that covered their entire face and head that didn't reflect any light at all. In fact it seemed to consume light rather than just not reflect it and it was discerning to look at. They were Learian in shape slthough they seemed to have longer limbs and no tails. That was all he could tell of the differences as who knows what they looked like under those helmets.

“Cover fire!” Harker ordered and those behind Fram who had gotten off behind them in the transport or were covering their rear fired upon the aliens on the roofs.

A Learian fighter craft was shot down and crashed not far from them spinning as a disc thrown across water and an alien fighter flew over their heads being chased by another Learian fighter.

From a quick take of the situation Fram could tell they had more numbers so fire surperiority should be on their side but the aliens were holding their own well.

Maybe it was because of the shock of these being aliens or maybe they had a technology advantage but whatever it was the enemy were not being overwhelmed.

In usual Learian on Learian battles the side with more numbers would usually overwhelm the side with lesser numbers and win the battle /war.

Fram fired a few more shots before ducking behind cover again, he knew for sure he hit one in the head but it did not stay down, it rolled backwards and dived for cover. Their armour must be tough to be able to withstand a headshot at this range. The two sides continued to fight in an almost continous exchange of firepower, all the while the air power of both sides danced their own deuls above their heads.

“Medic!” he heared called behind him and saw warriors both veterened and freshly bred being dragged away having been hit. So many were killed after being hit a single time, Fram didn't know what type of weapon the aliens were using but it was deadly.

Movement caught Fram's vision, a group of aliens were moving to flank them. Moving on instinct he ran and he could sense Waln and few others followed him as they charged the enemy flanking force. He charged and tackled an alien throwing him into the front of a small shop breaking the glass but he himself was struck by an alien. The blow felt like it broke his jaw but luckily it was a glancing one as he was still wearing his helmet and it offered some form of protection. Close quarter fighting broke out and now Fram got a close look at the aliens armour.

They were completly coffered from head to toe, he guessed it was tight fitting but it was clearly made of metal and would make mechanical noises when they moved. Through numbers they were able to the push the enemy back and the battle lines formed once again.

A roaring thunder above them sounded as one of the alien craft came into view and hovered close to the ground. It was twin engined and laid down covering fire for their ground troops.

“Gunship!”

“Call in our own air force!”

“Where are the medics?”

“Keep firing!”

Harkers command to keep firing was the one Fram listened to, he was what was called a Warrior of the Line, a frontline soldier that faced the enemy head-on.

Every member of the Kell caste knew their role and which orders were meant for them, be it Line Warrior, Medic, Support or even the pilots above them.

The Supports were youngsters like Parn still in their training, they stayed back from the imediate frontline to lay down covering for those in front like Fram and Waln.

“They are trying to retreat!” Harker shouted “Concentrate fire!”

Just as he said that another gunship appeared and made a pass at their positions making them duck for cover. The gunships seem to double as transports as the aliens were seen loading their own wounded and dead onto them before it took off. Their huge mechanical giants too would hug their legs and a claw would grab them and soon the whole alien force had retreated.

It was only now he saw how few of them there actually was. There could not have been more than maybe a few dozen of them but they were surrounded by well over a hundred Warriors. These aliens had maybe suffered a few fatalities and some wounded whereas the Learians had nearly a third of them dead and others out of action till they were treated and even then the strange weapons the aliens used could mean they may die anyway.

“What the hell are those things?” Fram asked thinking out-loud.

“Fucking monsters” Waln spat, his usual carefree nature seemingly gone “I shot one three times in the chest and it didn't die”

“I shot one in the head from a hundred yards” Fram replied “It got back up”

“They just don't die” said a youngster in shock holding his rifle looking at it as if it was nothing more than a toy.

Fram looked down at him with disgust, weakness, his mind had cracked after a single battle. Such weakness had no place in their caste.

Blurn started to come out of the surrounding buildings now that the threat was seemingly gone, fear was pasted over all their faces as was expected of the Blurn.

“Fear not! The invaders have been driven off!” Harker called to them “Soon they will pushed off our world so do not worry, trust in the Kell for we are the shield of the Blurn!”

They seemed to look happier hearing his words, but Fram was troubled, technically the Kell were the sheilds of the High caste, not the Blurn. That was the saying anyway as it was believed that the Blurn served the High caste and the Kell protected them.

Saying the Kell were the sheild of the Blurn was something close to heresy.

“Sir?” Fram asked.

“Calming the Blurn is part of the job, this is not a normal enemy” Harker said quickly as if he could read his mind.

One thought after the fighting stopped was to check the bodies of the enemy, but there was none to be found, any of their wounded or killed had been taken with them. Fram didn't know if it was either out of comradship or because they didn't want their secrets being leaked to the enemy. Kell had a rather practical view of death, it was expected in the kind of lives they lead and thus when one died they simply disposed of the body any way they could. The soul had left to body, all that was left was Learian shaped meat.

“Well that made the whole alien invasion a reality” Waln said kicking over a stone, his rifle resting on his shoulder.

“It...still doesn't feel real” Fram said looking about at the destruction caused.

It felt like only a few minutes had passed since this skirmish began but his time keeper told him it had actually been several hours. How many other places had the invaders landed?

“I wish we were able to get one, I want to see what they look like” Waln said.

“I'm still banking on them having purple skin” Fram laughed trying to lighten the mood.

“Attention!” Harker called and they jumped at the sound of his voice “We have new deploy orders and we are moving out now!”

The engines of the transports were already firing up and the warriors of the Kell caste boarded, there were more battles to be fought and a war to be won.

They were marching through a small town that fell under the influence of the capital, it wasn't a major city as it only had a population of a couple hundred all were supposidly members of the High caste or high ranking Kell as well as Blurn to work for them.

But now it was empty except for the bodies of the dead, of all walks of life, none were spared. It was the body of a small child, barley seen its first winter holding onto a toy that struck Fram the most.

No mercy shown and no hesitation.

If it wasn't clear before it was now.

These aliens had come not to conquer, but to exterminate.

"Check to see if any are alive" Harker orderd, Kell commanders didn't usually concern themselves with Blurn dead but this was an unusual situation. Fram and the others started checking the bodies, the medic Geram, was inspecting the wounds that killed them.

“What do you make of it?” Waln asked him.

“Its not like anything ive ever seen, this wound wasnt caused by a heat based weapon and the projectile looks like it detonated inside the body”

“Well that sounds horrible”

“Get a move on, we can't linger here” Harker orderd.

Their mission was of a more sensitive nature, their clan leader Yalner of the High caste had ordered them to retrieve her husband and daughter from her estate in this town.

Leader was probably not the right word as technically Harker was their leader, he was the one who led them into battle and commanded their respect. But Yalner was their clan Lord as all Kell clans answer to one High caste family or another. These Lords can change hands as much as any comodity, eitherr by force or traded for something.

“The estate is just up ahead, eyes peeled” said Harker over the com.

They spread out to cover more ground and to make sure there were no suprises.

They moved on, it had been nearly an hour since they first set off towards their objective and still no sign of the enemy, Fram personally hated this part, the suspense. He didnt feel fear, it was more aprehension and nervousness at fighting an unkown enemy. Their previous engangment had been so quick to start and just as quick to end, but now they slowly marched towards them. More Learian aircraft were seen in the distance deuling with the enemy fighters, the thunder of artillery fire could still be heard even at this distance. They started to think they would never encounter the enemy. "Get down" shouted Harker, everyone took up firing postions taking cover behind veichles or just laying low on the ground, Harker stared ahead so intently you would think he could see through the walls if he stared any harder "Asma, Donre go ahead and scout that area I think I saw somthing" Both of them moved slowly and silently out from cover stopping ever few steps to get a look at the surroundings, they made it twenty paces before all hell broke loose.

Asma and Donre were the first hit and went down instantly killed, Harker's squad let loose a volly of fire at where they saw the enemy shots come from. They could only make rough shapes in all the flashes of weapons fire so they were'nt able to make out any features but it didn't matter they knew the enemy was there. Fram was able to hit a number as they moved from cover, he couldn't tell if he'd killed them as they were pulled away after they were hit by their comrades.

“To the left on the roofs!”

Fram couldn't tell who shouted but it mattered little, he swung his rifle round and gunned down an invader on the roof just as it was taking aim at him. “That was close” he thought out loud, more were appearing on the roofs and the invaders further down the street were advancing. Harker grabbed his com and screamed for his Second who he had been sent to guard their flanks.

“Carpen! We're under fire, move your unit to our position to flank the enemy”

“Im sorry sir but we're under attack ourselves taking heavy fire he have to pull back”

Cursing Harker screamed as he poured his anger at the aliens.

“Fall back!”

They retreated into a small house, the first went right through to the back to secure their rear, Fram was one of the last in he took up firing postion next to Waln and Harker all the while the aliens and Learians were exchanging fire. He could hear gunfire behind him and thought the invaders must be trying to flank them.

“Fall back and follow me!” Harker orderd everyone, they had taken heavy losses and there were probably only about just over half of them left and no idea how many casualties they had inflicted. Harker led them down an alley that lead to an open field but about half way down the alley Harker order a number of to hide. They didn't need to be told what they plan was, it was a favourite of the Learian commanders. They would stay in hiding until the enemy either passed or came in close then they would emerge and engage in close quarters, surpise was the main weapon, it was an effective srategy and had proved its worth in the past. Fram had hidden in a large waste bin along with 3 others one of them being Waln and the younger one Parn, the rest of the clan retreated further down the alley drawing the enemy in. Fram listened carefully, there was a few moments of silence before the invaders caught up with them and as the sound of gunfire got louder and louder until it was clear they were right next to him. A quick nod from Waln, Fram held his breathe and let out a battle cry as they all jumped out and attacked. Time seemed to slow down suddenly and Fram first noticed the sun then as his eyes adjusted he saw what he was about to engage. He did not have time to take in all the little deatils as one was turning to face him. Fram jumped down using gravity he smashed his fist into the enemies face but it quickly recovered, the force of the blow hit him to the ground but he rolled and got back up pulling a combat knife, Fram had his bayonet attached and attacked. Fram lunged at the invader who parryed each blow, Fram had the range advantage and was intent on using it but his opponant was keeping pace with his attack. Intent on finishing this quickly he dropped his rifle, the invaders attention was diverted from him for an instant and that all he needed, pulling his own blade he went for his throat. But his opponant grabbed his arm and tried to counter but Fram used his free hand to grab hold of the knife, the two were locked together in a struggle of strength. 'They're strong' Fram thought to himself. Looking back into the face of his opponant but he saw no reflection in the visor, headbutting him the invader staggered back a step, Fram was able to pull his blade arm free and bury it in his neck.

Suddenly there was a huge eruption of dust and the ground shook violently, somthing had jumped down from the rooftops and landed amongst them but was hidden by the dust. He turned and saw it just as it was rising to full height. It was a Arch and now he was up close he could see all the terrifying details of the abomination before him. The body was curved to deflect incoming fire and its head house a sphere that had a single eye lense that shone a bright red. It also had arms with huge hands that could hold a Learians head easily, attached to one of these arms was two multi barrelled gattling guns and on the back was a variety of missiles or cannons. Although it was clearly mechanical, it moved with a very organic feel to it and Fram was shocked for what seemed like minutes as the Arch turned to look at him and in the reflection of its eye he saw his own shocked expression. Suddenly he was struck with a strike to his head. He rolled on the ground to try and recover but only just and he had put himself off balance an opening the invader quickly exploited that bringing is knee up it connected with Fram's ribs winding him. The invader was struck from behind by a Learian weapon, it was Waln who rushed over and helped Fram to his feet but they had to quickly duck again as a Learian body came flying at them. Fram saw what threw it or more correctly who. It was one of the aliens that had three mechanical tails that moved more like tenticles jabbing and slicing Kell warriors around it. Learians also had tails but were more akin to counter weights. It was clear this was some sort of leader as he directed the others with clicking noises and hand gestures. Harker and the others further down the alley were advancing pouring their fire at the mechanical Arch. But the Arch either didn't notice or care about the amount of fire being directed at it and continued killing every Learian within arms reach, once it had torn the head of the last Learian it could get its hands on it turned to face Harker and his squad. One of the missiles on its back began to move and take position on its shoulder, a second later it was flying towards them engulfing them in fire. Waln pulled a spike grenade from his belt, arming it for instant detonation he threw it at the Arch hitting it in its right side, the explosion made the Arch stagger and destroyed it's right arm from the elbow down. The Arch staggered and held onto a wall to stop itself from toppling over, once it regained it's footing it swiftly turned and came at Waln who did little more than run for his life towards his fellow warriors who were deuling with the rest of the alien infantry. Fram had taken cover and took a moment to observe the battle, from the count of the bodies the invaders numbered less that half the Learian but had killed more than their fair share. The other warriors were now directing their attention to the Arch trying to overwhelm it with numbers, but the only thing they had that could harm it was grenades but the Arch was in and amongst them. Then a bright flash of white and blue erupted at the Arch, the explosion shot all the Learian around him onto their backs, even Fram who was further away was dazed. Shaking off the dizzyness he looked up and saw the whole top half of the Arch had gone and was relived to find the source of its killer not far from where he last saw Harker. A Learian Wasp tank, held aloft by 4 anti gravity pads that house a long and highly concentrated pulse cannon turret. The tank commander was looking out of the top of then tank beconing them over. "Come on" Fram shouted to the others, it didn't take long for them to pick themselves up and run after him "Check for survivors, find the commander"

"We havnt got time" shouted the tank commander.

"Make time!!" Waln shouted at him who was now at Frams side. A couple of the others survived the missle strike but so far Harker couldn't be found, he was saddened to see their healer among the dead. Fram suddenly heard a slight weezing of breathe from under another body. He threw the body aside to find Harkers broken but not dead body. "He. Put himself. In. The way." he was heavily wounded but Fram grabbed him

"Ive got him!" Putting him over his shoulders he ran towards the tank with what remained of the clan. The tank comander pointed behind his tank to where an armoured transport with its hatches open was waiting for them, without breaking a stride Fram ran inside and layed Harker on the floor he looked behind him “Where's Waln?”

“Right here” he appeard with a body over his shoulders. “What's that?” asked Fram when he realised it was the body of one of the aliens.

“A souvenier” Waln replied casually climbing in the transport. Suddenly the Tank infront was struck and erupted in flames and debre and more of the Archs had appeared along with more enemy infantry, some of the Archs had large almost artillary guns mounted on their shoulders. Even their infanrty were jumping from rooftop to rooftop with anoying ease as if they could run on all fours. The driver didn't wait for anymore to get on board and quickly sped away, not a moment after they had started moving that an enemy shell landed where they were. Fram tried to keep Harker still through the bumpy ride while others were firing their rifles from open slits in the side of the transport. "Harker stay awake" Fram slapped him to keep from falling asleep and Harker's eyes shot open at the sudden attack.

“Whats giong on?!”

“We're getting out of here, you've been hit so you need to stay awake”

An explosion rocked their transport even more as the aliens were intent on not letting them get away.

“Enemy gunships”

The aliens small gunships hovered from two huge engines and a massives payload of anti infantry weapons but the Goddess was looking over them and it was destroyed by Learian fighters who were caught in their own battles in the skies. It was nearly an hour later that the transport started to slow down, the others with him had stopped firing a while ago so Fram could safely assume they were out of imediate danger. Fram was glad Waln was with him and hadn't been left behind "I spoke to the driver, we're heading into the Sharp Spike mountains, we're meeting a number of others there that are caught behind enemy lines" Waln said looking down at Harker, Fram pointed over at the body Waln brought aboard. “Why did you bring that?”

“Well, we dont know who the enemy is and I for one am curious as to what they look like, of course we'll have to cut it out of its armour first” Waln said grinning.

3

They travelled for nearly an hour before they arrived at the Sharp Spike mountains, it wouldnt have taken so long except they had to keep stopping to find cover to avoid enemy airstrikes and patrols.

The hatch opened and a number of medics were waiting for them, Fram and Waln carried Harker between them and a medic quickly took a look at him.

“Bring him inside, those two can wait” he shouted to is comrades, they handed Harker over inside one of the buildings that had been converted into a medical centre. Fram had a quick glance at his surroundings, it was a small town maybe only a couple of dozen buildings and a lot of tents had been pitched by the warriors. Fram saw insignia from dozens of different clans. “This conflict is barley a day old and look what has happend” Waln said with sorrow in his voice. Their own clan were finding places to rest close by so Fram and Waln went over to join them.

“How is he?” asked Parn

“All we can do is wait” Fram replied, Waln wonderd off back to the transport that brought them here and Fram suddenly rememberd the body that they brought with them. Waln pulled it out of the transport by its leg and dragged it along the ground to where Fram and the others were. This caught the attention of everyone else and a crowd started to gather. Some pointing their weapons and others kicking it.

“Well shall we have a look at the face of our enemy?” said Waln trying to pull its helmet off but was having difficulty “Whats wrong?” asked Parn

“I dont know, I dont think the helmet comes off, it seems built into the body armour”

“Does anyone have any cutting tools?” Parn asked and got only blank looks as a response. The body then moved. Everyone shot back and some even raised their weapons at it as it groand in pain, it looked like it was trying to get up. Parn went to shoot it but Fram stopped him. “Wait!”

“Why?”

“If its alive we may be able to learn more about them, take it somewhere out the way and tie it up” Waln and another Learian grabbed the invader by its arms and dragged it away just as Geram approached. “Fram?”

“How is he?”

“Doing rather well, he suffered burns to the side of his face and some broken ribs but he is going to be fine, not many people can take a direct hit like that. He is also asking for you” Fram was surprised by that, he had only had limited contact with Harker, they had talked on a number of occasions no more than any other memeber of 102nd so nothing that he thought would single him out. When he entered the ward Harker was sitting on his bed putting his boots back on.

“Harker you should be resting” said Geram

“Nonsense you've stitched me up and sorted me out and I hear we have a prisoner and I dont see any other Learian here of command rank so it is my duty to interrogate it” Geram held Harkers gaze for a while before relenting “Fine, but I go with you just in case”

“That might be a good idea, the invader is wounded and we can't remove its helmet so bring any tools you believe that might help” Fram suggested

Geram nodded and grabbed his medic case, Fram helped Harker to his feet but he insisted on walking on his own. Parn appeared just as they left the ward “Take me to the prisoner” Harker orderd, Parn just nodded and lead the way. They had taken the prisoner to a wooden shack away from the other buildings, it wasnt being used for anything so Waln thought it would be ideal. There was a group outside the shack voiceing some concerns. “We should kill it! It's kind have killed thousands of us maybe more, they wouldnt take us prisoner” shouted one at the front and his group voice their support. “That may be, but questioning it may give us more understanding of them” Waln argued

“I only need to understand how to kill it, and how do you expect to talk to it. It probably doesnt even have a mouth or speak our language, we should cut it apart and se what its insides look like!”

“SILENCE!” Hakers voice broke through the shouting of the others who istantly fell silent. “I am clan commander Harker and acting field commander here and I decide we question the prisoner” Harker drew his blade he named Harbourer. “Any warrior who challenges my orders or authority has the right to challenge me for command. Does anyone wish to?”

Silence was the only response he got.

“Good now Fram, Waln and Geram would you be so kind as to join me in this interrogation” Harker didn't wait for them and walked straight in.

The invader was chained to some steel pipework with is arms spread apart and his legs chained together, it raised its head slightly as Harker and the others entered to room.

“Geram find a way to take off its helmet, cut it off if you have to” Geram walked forward but first he inspected a wound in its side. “Its bleeding quite heavily, ill give it something to help it clot so it doesnt die before we get our answers” Harker knodded for Geram to proceed.

Fram and Waln stood behind Harker observing, the invader simply looked at Geram like a child might look at some new object it just found. They guessed that this was the first time the invader had come so close to a Learian. Geram then grabbed a circlier saw and postioned it to cut through the helmet, just as it started rotating the invader started shaking its head and flapping its right hand. “Hang on!” Fram shouted

“What do you think you're doing Fram?” Harker's voice was lined with rage. “Let me try something sir, before we resort to cutting into it” Harker eyed Fram for a while before giving a slight nod for him to proceed. Fram approached the invader and Geram backed off as he knelt infront of him, placing his hand either side of his own head Fram removed his own helmet, it only sat on his head so he had to enphisise what he wanted. The invader looked blankly at him through his own helmet that coverd everything of its own face, until it gave a nod that it understood. “Waln just incase, can you arm your rifle”

“Already have”

Fram slowly unchained the alien's arms, at first it just sat there as if deciding on what to do. Then gradually it raised its hands to its head, but it didn't twist or remove the helmet, it let out a hiss of atmosphere from its pressurised suit, then the helmet came apart and slide into the breastplate. For the first time since the invasion they laid eyes on the face of their enemy.

Draka sat on his chair bored as the asteroid that had been heading towards Aoura was being blown apart by the fleet. As beautiful as the sight was it got dull after several hours of constant fire and broadsides from the numours ships. Checking the ships clock he saw that they had been out of contact with Aoura for about ten days. To be expected really as they were in one of the blindspots of the system and last he heared the planet was having some trouble with it's com satelites. Probably another system malufunction, they were not that uncommon although this one was quite extensive. Yawning he got to his feet and stretched.

“I am going to get some rest, call me once the asteroid is destroyed or there is an issue” he commanded.

“Yes sir” said Karat, his second in command.

“Rest well sir” said a com operator as he past him and Draka smiled and exited the bridge via a side door. His quarters were close to the bridge which made sense as this was his ship, the Vendetta was the largest and most advanced ship ever built. One he had designed which was odd for a Kell as it was usually the Blurn who design and build things and often to Kell specifications. Kell would tell the Blurn what features they wanted their equipment to have and it was up to the Blurn to make it a reality. But he found the construction of ships fancinating and beautiful thus could not help but be a part of the designing stage.

He sniffed the air and smelt the familiar scent of cooked meat coming from his room, she must be in there.

He opened the door and sure enough there she was cooking in his kitchen.

“What are you doing here?” he asked Serila like he didn't already know.

“I thought you would be hungry” she replied.

He wouldn't admit he was and had been hoping for another one of her meals, he often found her in his quarters when he had not called for her to spend the night with him. Breeding outside ones caste was heresy but Kell did often keep Blurn females as pleasure vassals. Of course to make sure no abomination was sired and the female was sterilized before hand.

It was usually low rank Kell that took such Blurn as the higher ranking Kell had access to the breeding farms. Draka though had never visited such a farm and had taken Serila the moment he saw her knowing she was all he needed to satisfy his urges.

She placed his food infront of him, it was well cooked hume meat coppled together with a sauce and herbs for flavour, as she would say it was a recipe her mother had taught her.

In silence he ate and she joined him having served herself, he often spotted her watching him.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing” she smiled.

Something was off with her though, she was being too nice and even more attentive than usual.

“Are you angry I had you flogged on the gunnery deck?” he asked.

“A little, but it was expected as I spoke disprespectivly to you on the bridge of your own ship” she said lightly taking another mouthful.

If she wasn't angry about that then what was she angry about? Something was bugging her, he could tell in all the little ways he had come to know her. The way she breathed, held her utensils or even her eyes would reveal what she was thinking and feeling. He would often toy with her in this way by pretending to be dense to elicit a reaction from her or to tease her. But something was off about her today and it was annoying him.

He didn't even finish his food before she saw the look in his eyes, knowing what he wanted she smiled and stood up and walked round the table to him.

With a motion of his head she undid her belt and pulled off her tunic to stand naked before him, she smiled at him seeing the reaction her body had on him.

He quickly picked her up and took her to bed in the next room.

It was over an hour later that Draka was laying on his back with Serila resting her head on his chest listening to his heartbeat.

He held her close as her warmth was a comforting one, often he found himself unable to sleep unless he had her in his bed. Many times he had called for her in the middle of the night just for her to sleep next to him with his arm around her or their tails intertwined. Any kind of contact to remind himself that she was there. Once he had awoken to find her gone and in almost a rage he ran to search for her only to find she was in the bathroom, not ten feet away from him.

He felt strange not having her with him at night.

“Draka?” she asked softly.

“Yes?”

“Do you feel anything for me?”

Her question was odd.

“Desire, lust and the need to exert my urges, why do you ask?” he asked her annoyed.

“Do you love me?”

“I am Kell, we do not feel love, that is for your sort the Blurn so no I do not love you” he spoke coldly.

“If that is true, then why are you holding me so tightly?” her voice broke slightly.

He had not noticed he was but he wouldn't deny that he liked holding her and keeping her close but that was surley because of his bodily desires.

“It means nothing” he dismissed.

She looked up at him her chin resting on his chest looking into his eyes, he looked down at her for a few moments before she kissed him.

“I love you, Draka”

He did not respond and rested his head back to look at the ceiling of his quarters. This female, this Blurn had confessed her love for him...how should he respond? He is Kell, he cannot love her, the High caste have forbidden such feelings and for them to even be sharing a bed is a questionable act.

He was about to chastise her but pushed the thought aside and closed his eyes and slept.

The chime of the com awakened him.

“Draka here” he answered.

“Sir, the asteroid is nearly completly destroyed, we are mopping up the remaining larger chunks”

“Understood, I'm on my way”

He got up and began to dress himself, Serila was still in his bed and was awake, he could always tell when she was pretending to be asleep. He had been a bit confused by her earlier, she had cried and held onto him tightly as he had her. Something was wrong with her.

He opened his mouth to ask her once more if she was alright but scoffed and turned away and finished dressing himself.

“You should get back to your station soon” he orderd.

She stiffened “I will” was all she said.

He was just about to leave when suddenly she shot up.

“Draka!” she called.

“Yes?” he said still in the threshold.

“Um...nothing, it's nothing, take care”

“Hm” he grunted affimitly

And he left, confused, she seemed unusually needy and emotional today.

“Well she is a Blurn female so that is to be expected but this level is unusal even for her” he thought aloud

He put her form his mind, now was not the time for such pillow thoughts, with the asteroid destroyed he could now have the fleet return to their usual duties. Perhaps the order to raid the cattle world will come again, last he heared the hume were not reproducing at a fast enough rate to replace the ones being slaughtered for food or simply dying due to other reasons.

There were hume on his ship too, one was cleaning a rail as he made his way to the bridge. The hume were not too intelligent but can be trained like any animal so it was only fitting that they serve their betters.

“Admiral” Karat greeted and relinquished the chair as he entered.

“Has communications with Aoura be re'established?” he asked.

“Unfortunatly not sir, we are having trouble making contact so we have sent the Faraway to act as a go between to try and get a message through”

The Faraway was a scout ship, it was originally built as a destroyer class ship and was fitted with the first zero drive ever built. It was the first ship in the history of the Learians to travel faster than light. Of course as time went on it fell out of it's own weight class and was kept as part of the ship mainly out of nostaliga. Draka was fond of the ship, it was beautiful even if he didn't get to see it often with his own eyes as the ships were usually hundreds or thousands of miles apart. The captain too loved the ship and prided himself on having the fastest ship in the fleet.

“Good work everyone” Draka said reading a datapad filled with reports since he left the bridge, he did this mainly to look busy and kill time. There were luls in his duties, often he felt more like an administrator than an actual admiral. Yes he had fought his share of ship battles, as much as fights between clan commanders on the surface were common so too were they known in space. Usually between wing commanders of fighter craft but occasionally actual warships will open fire on each other. Usually over some insult given or to climb the ranks. It was during Garsun's uprising that Draka made name for himself, he was already admiral by this point but when most of this fleet turned against him under his then second in command he was serverly outnumbered. But he simply outsmarted them, pulling the ships into killzones and out manourvering his enemy. Soon enough ships were switching sides and he personally killed the enemy Admiral.

The familiar beeping of his com officers console sounded and he waited to hear his report while pretending to scroll through the datapad.

“Say again?” the officer asked over his com “Can you confirm, are you serious?”

“What's going on?” Draka asked.

The officer did not reply straight away and slowly turned to look at him.

“Auora is under attack from an unknown alien force”

The room fell silent, even for a moment the usual sounds of the computers and power that flowed through the ship seemed to fall silent.

This couldn't be real, no way.

“Confirm what you have just said” Karat said.

“Aoura is under attack from an alien force, the planet is surrounded by ships of unknown design and they have already landed troops. The invasion is already several days old”

Draka lept to his feet.

“Put me through to the entire fleet!” he commanded and straightened his uniform, a few moments later his image was being beamed throught the entire fleet on every bridge and every deck so that no one would not see him.

“Comrades, we have just recieved word that Aoura, our home is under attack by an unknown alien enemy” he said bluntly “I know this sounds ludicrous and in the relm of fantasy but it is a reality and the report has been confirmed. We are under attack” He paused again to let the news sink in and give everyone a chance to process what they had just heared.

“We are making all haste back to Aoura to engage the enemy, everyone to your posts, prepare the fleet for war, everyone is to do their duty in the face of the enemy. Let us show these alien bastards what the Learian fleet is made of!”

He heared a cheer from those on his own ship at his war cry and he hoped those on the other ships were taking heart too. This is the best he could do right now, tell his people what has happaned and raise their moral. He seemed confident then they would take that confidence and turn it into their own courage.

He sat back down in his chair and began to recieve reports of the status of his ships, they were not in perfect condition but then again nothing ever was perfect. But the ships were durable and tough and he set about turning the fleet towards home at all haste. There were no stations between them and the planet that could hold their ships and ressuply them unless he stripped them for everything. But doing that meant he had nowhere to retreat to.

Wait? Retreat? How dare he even think that, they were besieging his world and home and he was considering retreating from this battle.

Focusing his mind on the coming fight, he really wished he had some tea to calm his nerves.

“Serila always makes good tea”

Fram shot back to his feet and the sight of what he was seeing, even Harker was shocked and Waln nearly dropped his rifle while Geram gawped at the what was infront of them.

“A Hume!?” Fram shouted “The invaders are Hume's?”

“Thats not possible the Hume are animals” Waln said in disbelive.

“Everyone outside now and you say nothing of this to anyone” Harker orderd

“But sir-” Fram started

“GET OUT!”

No one questioned him further and they quickly left Harker alone with the Hume, a crowed was waiting for them outside.

“So? What do they look like?” asked one of them, Waln and Fram looked at one another not sure what to say till Geram responded.

“We were unable to remove its helmet, but it seems to be able to speak Learian, the comander is interrogating it now” Geram didn't stick around and walked through them to avoid anymore questions and was followed by Fram and Waln.

“This doesn't make any sense, the Hume are animals and they have not long discovered fire!” Waln said pacing the tent “Could they have had alien help?”

“Is it possible its not a Hume at all but an alien that looks like one?” suggested Fram

“It was a Hume” Geram said bluntly.

“This is raising more questions than answers” Waln said getting annoyed

Hours past before Harker finally emerged, it was dark so no one saw him leave except for the Learian gaurding the prisoner. He wasnt surpised to see Fram and the others still awake and wating for him.

“Commander I-” Fran started but Harker held up his hand to stop him.

“I believe you are owed an explanation” Harker took a seat and Waln handed him a mug of tea.

“It was a Hume, or really they are called Hume-man, or Human” he said taking a swig of some ale they had found “There is a bit of a story going that the Hume are just animals with little sentient intelligance, well that is a lie and I know because i was part of the force that was sent to raid their world” Harker told them.

Harker sat in front of a fire with his men closely sitting by watching him and waiting. He casually threw another log on the fire and got comfortable before one of the younger warriors spoke.

“So what is it about this enemy that you want us to know?”

Harker looked at his warriors, males and females he had led in to battle before but none of them old enough to remember the first time they fought this war against the alien invaders.

“We have actually fought them before, a long time ago when I was not long out of my initiation. I was young and brash and often very stupid”

“So not a lot has changed then?” laughed Waln which got him a few chuckles.

Harker smiled “It must have been nearly over a hundred years ago when we first fought these aliens”

Many were surprised to hear that Harker was even that old, they knew he was older than he looked but this was a shock. A lot of front line Kell do not live to see even half that.

“A new world was discovered by a High Caste Lord, his name was Gar'mako of house Polenio. A house that has long since fallen and was my master when it was still about. They were known for having a great fleet that were consistently exploring and looking for new worlds and it was through one such adventure that the aliens homeworld was found. From what I heard at the time it was not suitable for colonising, something about the overall climate and it being too cold” Harker stopped to take a sip of his tea.

“But there were humans and an awful lot of them, stupid, barbaric and primitive humans and Gar'mako would not pass up a lucrative opportunity to expand his own coffers. I was one of the first Kell to set foot on that world when the call to invasion came, I remember charging out of the landing craft with our jets flying overhead. It wasn't a war, it was sport, their weapons could not pierce our armour, their aircraft used a propeller to imitate flight. They were glorified gliders if you ask me, they had tanks though if you could call them that, even small arms fire could take them out. After a few short days, we had essentially conquered the planet. But we rounded up the humans we could take with us and took them back here for slave labour”

“Why didn't you stay?” someone asked.

“Like I said, the climate wasn't good for us, we lost warriors in the fighting of course even against a vastly inferior enemy but we lost more to the environment. We could not comfortably go far from the equator without heated armour so staying there would take considerable resources. At least that what I thought, I dont know what the High caste was thinking. All we were told was the cripple their military and take as many as we could carry back to the ships”

“Then what happed” Fram asked.

“We left” he said matter of factly “We simply came home and the Humans we brought with us were put to work or used as food and life went on. It was years later that we got the call to return and capture more and plunder resources. But this time was different”

He paused as the memory came to him.

“Their technology was different, not that much different really but it was stronger. Their rifles and cannons did more damage and their way of fighting was more...precise. Rather than the usual way of throwing their warriors or soldiers as they called themselvesat us, they seemed to harass us rather than meet us in open battle. In the end though the outcome wasn't any different than the first time, we defeated them although it did take longer and more effort. They were still inferior to us, they feared us, ran from us and hid from us. But it meant little as we stripped them of their population and any resources we could get our hands on. We laughed, we had fun, yes we lost friends in this little war but that happens. It was good practice to initiate our younglings into a life of war. Their trial by fire and then we went home and back to our lives here on Auoura. That was until we were once again called to invade their world a third time but this time, was very, very different”

Haker let that hang in the air for a time before continuing.

“They had once again changed, advanced, their world was ready for us, satellites armed with weapons harassed us as we entered orbit. Usually we would get into orbit and launch the landing craft. But they saw us coming this time and thus we waited, I waited in the landing craft for three days before we could launch safely. But the element of surprise had long since been lost, we had come back too many times and any advantage we had or that our commanders believed we had had now disappeared. The humans, no longer feared us, it used to be a game to us, we hunted them down like the cawoles of the southern plains hunted the elkan. But now, they hunted us as much as we hunted them, they did not fear us, they did not hide or run from us. They fought us and were intent on making us pay for every mile of their world. We no longer cheered and made bets on how many we could hunt. We became quiet, that was one of the things I truly remember of my time there, how quiet we were. Like the slightest noise would summon one of their sharp shooters or some creature that lurked in the dark on their world. I was in one of their deserts around the equator on a scouting mission once, me and a small squad of ten. Night fell and we set up for the night not daring to set a fire we huddled around a heat emitter”

Harker took another swig of his drink, the silence of everyone listening was deafening.

“Then they came, not the Humans no, something else. We heard them, the laughing and whooping as they circled us. The eyes that caught the moonlight and vanished before you could raise your rifle. Those we called Laughters, but there were others things too, if the humans were the hunters of the day, there were far more things that hunted us in the dark. Huge catlike animals, with teeth larger than than any I had ever seen, three of us were taken by them in the night. Their world was no longer some training world for us to pit our warriors against an inferior enemy. It was a death world, the dominant Humans and the very planet itself seemed insulted by our presence. That was the last time we brought back anything from that world”

“Sir” spoke up a young warrior “Why didn't the full force of the Kell get brought down upon them”

“Politics” spat Harker “If Lord Gar'mako had petitioned the other Lords of the High caste for aid he would have seemed weak and his position would be in jeopardy. But he did not sit idle though, for we were only about a third of the force he could bring to bear and the next and last time we went back to that cursed world he brought everything he could spare. Even his own flagship with himself personally overseeing the invasion. But, we had made a terrible mistake, we had waited too long. I was a commander at this point and was present at the strategy meetings and I was not alone in voicing my concern for this invasion. Yes we had more ships and more warriors this time but the element of surprise was non existent and the enemy was not only aware of our timeline of our return but seemed more and more prepared and advanced every time. Gar'mako would hear none of it, the Humans would be either eradicated or enslaved and their world would be burned.

It went downhill the moment we arrived in the solar system, our ships were hit by space mines before we even reached their fourth planet, they were almost impossible to detect only coming online and flying straight into us when it detected us. Many ships were destroyed or damaged but we pressed on and it only got worse. Their entire planet was surrounded by defence satellites that opened fire, again more ships damaged and some even destroyed. Then bombardment came from the surface, huge cannons the size of towers erupted death. It was probably a week before we could even hope to land our warriors. Our fighters could no longer give us full cover, they were stretched thin in dogfights and many landings had to take place under enemy fire. My landing craft was shot down, me and only four others out of fifty survived the crash. It was a disaster, every engagement was nothing short of chaotic slaughter, we were pinned down in fire fights that lasted for days. When the ammunition ran out we fought in close quarters. I think that was the first time I had seen one of their warriors up close like that and I will tell you I had never seen a creature so full both hair and hatred than that before”

That last raid was sixty years ago.

“Wait! You're overa hundred years old?” Waln shouted

“Really Waln!? That's what you find shocking?” Fram said slapping him on the back.

“I'm just saying i think he looks good for someone so close to the grave”

“But why have they siddenly attacked us?” Geram asked trying to get them back on topic.

“The Human called it 'Liberation' or something, they have come to rescue the Humans here on Aoura and basically remove us as a future threat”

“A future threat?” Waln asked.

“It means they intend to wipe us out and make us extinct” Fram said.

“So what do we do with the Human now?” asked Geram

“Nothing, I killed him once I was done asking him questions, which he simply refused to answer most other than why they were here. But it matters not they are the enemy and we will do what Kell are born to do. Kill”

Kenson observed the Kell headquarters workings with much interest, when it became apparent that the invaders were Hume or Human, word quickly spread like these things generally do. The past could be changed and even forgotton, but the present was a different story, Kenson had known of the Humans from Earth for some time. He had learned about it in its entirety once he moved up the ranks in the Advancement Wing.

The only Humans who would know of their otherworldly kin coming to their aid would the “Wild human or Freen as they call themselves” that live in the freezing northern mountains but they kill every Learian they find and have been known to launch raids slaughtering whole towns and sacking their contents. They were made up of Hume that had escaped captivity and thus made their lives in the place where the Learians could not go.

Learians being reptiles were cold blooded and thus the cold was a death sentence for them. Even if they did wear heated clothing it was difficult to move in it and thus they loose their advantage.

There were reports that the Freen were helping the invading Humans.

With the discovery of the invaders identity many Learian had taken it upon themselves to slaughter much of the Human workforce. Garsun had to convince the High caste that without the Humans as raw material for the economy the workforce would suffer horrendous shortages. Besides there was no indication that the Human slaves were even aware that their kin had arrived.

Weeks had past since the invasion begun, the invaders were jamming transmissions to try and contact Draka and the fleet but there were windows where the jamming was not as effective so limited contact could be established. The fleet had yet to engage the Human blockade and Draka had been drawing all surviving Learian vessels to join him in his attack to clear the space above Aoura but in the void things were never done quickly. The war on the ground was much more explosive and fast paced, the invaders were attacking and moving swftly. Launching raids on vulnerble parts of the batteline then retreating before a proper counter attack could be launched. Sometimes they would fight to capture vital area's, destroy them and then fall back, they were always on the move luring the Kell into traps and launching concentrated breakthroughs. The Learian did not fight their wars this way, they were trained for mass clashes between armies, not fighting shadows.

Garsun had deduced that the reason the invading Humans were resorting to this tactic was becasue they did not have a numerical advantage nor the means to face the Learians in such a way.

Some field commanders though were trying to fight them at their own game, Kenson had heard the name Harker be mentioned a few times, apparently this clan commander has been cut off behind enemy lines and has banded together the survivors from other clans into a fighting force and was causing havoc on the Humans. Kenson was amused that at least one commander other than Garsun seemed capable of abstract thinking.

“Kenson!”

That snapped him out of his train of thought “Yes?” he answered not sure where the voice that called him came from.

“Behind you”

Kenson swung round to see the devil whos name he spoke.

“Supreme Commander Garsun” he said with a bow.

Garsun was much taller than most Kell but Kenson was tall even for a Blurn so he didn't have look up much.

“Such formality Kenson, it isnt needed but is there a reason why you are here?”

“I had an hour reprieve and I wanted to see how the war was progressing”

“Did the High caste send you to spy on me?” Garsun said raising his brow

“No of course not”

Garsun leaned down so that he was eye level with Kenson's and stared into his eyes. Kenson felt that he would faint there and then, Garsun could have him executed just for being in the Kell headqarters, it was within Kenson's privliages to be there but he did still wonder.

Garsun smiled and laughed “Had you going didn't I?” he jested patting him in the shoulder.

“You'll be the death of me one of these days” Kenson said rubbing the shoulder Garsun hit. Most of their conversations went like this, sometimes Garsun was serious other times he jested and the anoying thing was Kenson could never tell when he was which.

“But where I really need you is in your lab in the Advancment Wing, we just got more enemy tech for you to play with so go take it apart”

Greetings all.

With my Newcomers book now available and published it has given me the drive to sort out my main work.

Its going to be called the Eternity series, 4 books telling a story about an alien race and their war with Humanity. It is told purely from the aliens point of view and Humanity have little to no dialogue. Specially in the first book as a human will only speak a single line.

This is my main work and one i have working on for many years with the idea of the film Independence day but with the roles reversed. 

The first two books are done but they need to be ironed out and some plot points put in, some stuff taken out and hints to future events in future books made more obvious.  

Keep an eye on this space as updates will come and I’ll get round to posting a sneak peek at the first book here sometime soon.

I love you all and appreciate your support be it a message, buying my Newcomers novel or sharing news about my work. And kudos for doing all three hehe.

Chat to you all soon

Much of the city's inhabitants on the eastern side had been moved to the western side when the enemy first arrived. Thousands of Benemar families were now held up in temporary housing close to the eastern wall. When the first klaxon sounded many of them thought it was reinforcements come relive the city and drive back the invaders. But then the wall had erupted inwards as something powerful had fired upon it at close range.

Silence, the strange kind that comes when such a colossal sound has rung through everyone's ears, then the thunder or at least what many thought was thunder. Dust was kicked up high into the air masking everything around the breach. But something was moving within it, a shape and it was big. It emerged out of the dust and stood in the street looking down at the the city's inhabitants with it's square shaped head standing some hundreds or so feet above the ground. Nothing, no one spoke or screamed or moved.

On it's arms though something was moving, a hatch by the looks of it from the ground and from it extended dozens of rotary guns. And they unleashed their fire power upon the crowed.

Hundreds were killed in seconds and a second Bastion followed the first through the breach and added it's own to the fray as infantry ran through it's legs to secure the city.

The first began moving, it's steps crushing vehicles and anything else unlucky enough to be in it's way, it was moving towards the centre of the city and the second turned south.

On the eastern wall the three Bastions were now advancing at full speed, still slow by some standards but their strides were long, the city's artillery opened up to bar them entry to the city but they were set upon by Human bombers. The anti air fire they enjoyed was now suddenly silent as most of the guns were destroyed by the rebels. Then the Benemar's worst fear came, the eastern gate opened, Camo troops had struck soon after the first klaxon and secured the gate before any warning could be sounded so the Benemar believed it was still under their control. The gate itself was huge and in fact a section of the wall that could recede into the main part. But it was too narrow for the Bastions to pass through so they made their own entrance. And like virus infecting a healthy body the army spread and killed everyone they found.

Geedol had tried to organise a defence but saw all his carefully laid plans fall apart in his hands. He ordered units to move and engage only to hear they were under attack or destroyed, marked fall back positions only for rebels to appear there or Camo troops cutting them off. He put the com on loudspeaker so he could more easily follow the battle but it was carnage, the enemy had struck everywhere at once. With the enemy in front, amongst and behind them and after only two hours he turned to his second in command Setom and said two words.

“We've lost”

Jenkins ran firing his rifle with incredible accuracy, he was fast, faster than before and he did not know why. He saw everything so much more clearly now, he had been hit a few times but felt no pain only a mild discomfort at the shot. Then he remembered, the Gal symbiont was still attached to him, was this the reason why? It was smaller now having consumed most of his waste cells and healed his wounds and even moved to his back at the nape of the neck. This was the most comfortable place for them and it did not get in the host's way as well, almost all the Humans now had these symbiont Gal on them. The normal Gal were still fighting alongside them but something was different about them too, the Humans and Gal were separate species yet sine the symbiont Jenkins could almost...feel their intent and movements and the Gal reacted to this as well. More than once he turned to fire at a Benemar that he could have no idea was there but had been spotted by a Gal. He did not have time to think on these things, the Benemar were fighting to almost suicidal lengths to try and push them back or hold their postions. Cathy ran past him leaping from a boulder and grabbing onto the side of a building that was made of pure steel so how she did it was beyond him. She pointed her rifle with one arm and gunned down a number of defenders who were hiding behind cover and causing a nuisance. She leapt down and smiled at Jenkins before moving on. She too was feeling the difference but unlike him was enjoying it.

There was no real resistance, the eastern garrison where the majority of the Benemar warriors were was overrun when the Bastions came through the walls and what little defence could be mustered on the western side was simple walked over. All the other gates were either sealed or under Human control, there would be no escape for the inhabitants of Geeda, arguably the greatest defensive city on the planet...fell in 3 hours.

After the battle the Humans began to feel uneasy, they had agreed to the symbiont as they had saved their lives from fatal or near fatal wounds but now something was very very much amiss. Jenkins wanted answers.

He found the Conduit, a large Gal that acted as the voice of the Nerve and all Gal on the planet, it alone was capable of speech having learned and evolved from contact with the Humans.

Jenkins walked up to it being flanked by Cho, Cathy and Karen, the Conduit turned to regard him, he could feel his intent.

Jenkins grabbed it and pulled it off it's feet and pinned it to the ground with his knee on it to stop it flaying around.

“You have got explaining to do!” he screamed at it.

“Commander take it easy!” Cho shouted grabbing his arm but did not try to pull him off.

“The Gal are supposed to be non compatible with other races, your genome is too alien and deadly to others, by your own admission you say you are genetically created. So why are you now suddenly able to bond with us?” Jenkins face was inches from the Conduits who looked up silent but terrified.

“Commander we are allies and this is not going to help us” Karen said quietly, she was just as desperate for answers, they all were. A large crowed of Humans had gathered and were eyeing the Gal with a degree of hostility. The alliance hung in the balance.

All the Humans had felt it, the strength, the speed the connection to not only the Gal but one another.

“Not, created, modified” the Conduit said.

“What?” Jenkins demanded.

“Gal genetic material is only 5% artificial, the rest is compatible with Humanity”

“Why?”

“I can explain that” said someone who they did not recognise.

“Who are you?” Cho asked.

“I am Dr Cassion”

“...the researcher from the lower decks?” Cathy said “I thought you never left the ship”

“Yeah well the plot demanded I be here” he said walking over to Jenkins “I can explain everything”

Jenkins let the Conduit go and it got to it's feet slowly.

“Well, start talking”

Dr Cassion straightened himself and stood on a small platform so he could just about be seen by all who had gathered.

“What I am about to say will be hard to accept but it is true, me and the Gal have confirmed it”

“Confirmed what? Get to the point” Cathy shouted.

“Humans and Gal are the same species”

No one spoke, the faces of the Humans showed they clearly did not believe him.

“With respect doctor you are going to have to do a bit better than that” Cho said.

“Well it is rather...extensive but the main point is our genetic code's are almost identical, almost not completely. You all know the story of when Terra was first forming many billions of years ago and how it was struck by countless asteroids and comets and it is theorized that they held the building blocks that made life possible on Terra”

“We learned that in school what's your point” shouted a Human from the crowed.

“Our genetic material was taken from a comet that crashed into an Alliance planet some centuries ago” the Conduit said “The genetic material found was unlike any the Alliance had found before and they harnessed it into us, the Gal”

“So what you're saying is they are Human?” said Cathy pointing at a Gal next to her.

“No” replied Doctor Cassion “More like genetic cousins like the great apes are to Humanity but the Gal's naturally mutates when they come into contact with us and this makes them compatible. In a sense they are reacting to the more natural form of their genetic code”

Everyone stood in silence, some looked at the Gal who would turn to regard them in turn for, the Gal already knew as they do not have any sense of individuality and are all connected but they were worried how the Humans would react.

Because as the Gal evolved in reaction to when in contact with the Humans so too were the Humans reacting to them. Becoming stronger and faster and in a sense were already considered apex predators but were now becoming the apex of the apex predators.  

“YEAH!!!” Cathy shouted and picked up the nearest Gal “New additions to the Terran family!”

Drums, flutes, horns, dancers, actors and all manner of instruments and those who used them were part of the parade and they like their city celebrated. Many had been waiting in the streets for hours even before dawn just to see a glimpse of their new Chieftain. Flags and banners were waved from windows of the buildings that lined the route and people fought for room to see and even fights would break out but were quickly broken up by the guards that lined the streets. Leading the parade was a Bastion, it held it's weapons high and it's klaxon roared over the cheers of the crowed. Many who had been in the city when it had fallen to the Humans looked up at these things with fear as the memories of that day came back. But to those who were seeing it for the first time it was a wonder of technology. The cheers and shouts that greeted the passing dancers, soldiers, warriors and musicians were nothing compared to when Ceran and Taleena came into view. Many thought they would go deaf as their Chieftain and his wife to be passed them standing together holding each others hands high and expanding their winged capes. The crowed was even honoured to see the two kiss which brought more cheers.

All the while the transport carried them, Ceran would find time to look at Taleena and the two would often be seen just looking into each others eyes. Some said this was to please the crowed, others who were sceptical of the whole thing dismissed it. But there were those who knew that look, these two were truly falling in love with each other if they had not already. One of the more humorous surprises was when Hesky and Cathy sang, sometimes alone sometimes as a duet. It seemed they had gone to great lengths to prepare the right songs to keep the spirit of the parade going.

The Benemar warriors marched with pride for they were the first of Geeda that would be there to protect their new Chieftain, many were warriors who had fought against the Humans when the city had fallen. But as their oath says they protect the Chieftain of Geeda and that was now Ceran. They were not armed in the traditional Benemar manner of oversized cumbersome but powerful rifles but instead wielded modified Human rifles made for their size. Human rifles were less powerful but far more accurate. Marching alongside them were the Human soldiers clad in their new battle armour. As their bodies had changed so to had their equipment, the new armour encased their entire body in pitch black light absorbing armour, The most obvious difference was their helmets which now had a face mask which hid the features of every soldier. To an enemy army they would be fighting an army of clones. It was fashioned to pay homage to the Gal who had since dwindled in number and now only a few of their ships remained. Two green triangle shaped eyes with two pincers engraved slightly risen from the mask gave the impression of a more Human like Gal as both races of Human and Gal were coming to an end.

The parade was fast approaching the Chieftain's tower and the two of them who had now become accustom to waving to the crowed and extending their winged capes for their amusement were feeling nervous again. It would be here they would be married. They took each other by the hand once more and drew strength from one another. Taleena smiled at Ceran and kissed him one last time before they had to disembark from the transport. Almost as though she feared she would not get another chance.

They were helped down from the transport and surrounded by guards both Human and Benemar, they ascended the steps of the Chieftain's tower. Waiting for them at the top were their parents, Taleena's as well and her brother Jakop who could barley contain his excitement even if he did glare at Ceran bit.

Jenkins was also present along with the elders and Ceran's new court which he will use and trust to help him govern the city. The crowed cheers slowly died down as their image was now streamed all over the city and even beyond.

They stopped before Jenkins who along with Sharn next to him held a small crown of golden leaves. They knelt before them, Ceran on one knee and Taleena on two as the tradition went.

The silence was now total as everyone watched and waited for what came next.

“Humanity came to this world expecting to find only enemies, but instead we found friends. This young man, who has with only words conquered what others could only do with blades now stands ready to lead the Benemar of Geeda as Chief” the crowed cheered once more and they had to wait for it to die down before Jenkins could continue.

“Ceran, do you swear to rule justly and honourably?”

“I swear”

“Do you swear, to be the first into battle and the last in retreat in defence of this city?”

“I swear”

“Do you swear, to love and honour your chosen mate, to stand with her in all things?”

“I swear”

Ceran swore the last part to Taleena as much as to Jenkins and the people and she smiled, since they knelt they had not looked away from each other.

Sharn then spoke to Taleena.

“Taleena, do you swear to rule with honour and grace?”

“I swear”

“Do you swear to be the voice of the people less he forget his duties?”

“I swear”

“Do you swear, to love and support him and stand with him in all things?”

“I swear”

“Then by the power we took by the blade, I now pass to you” Jenkins and Sharn placed the crowns on their heads but the crowed did not cheer yet.

“Now rise, Chieftain Ceran and Taleena of Geeda!”

The roar of the city could be heard for miles around the city as they as one voiced their joy for the crowning of their new Chieftain.

The two stood for a time waving to the crowed now fully crowned and adorned for their new roles in the days to come. Then the more private celebration was about to begin and Ceran and Taleena's families came forward to congratulate them.

“My baby sister” Jakop said hugging her “Look at you” he was smiling from ear to ear as he did so and behind him slowly came her parents.

“Taleena” her mother smiled and her father looked down at her smiling.

She smiled at them both and hugged them both tightly and for a time considered a bit too long. She pulled away her eyes were filling with tears but she was smiling.

“I don't want to see either of you again” she said simply and left.

They went to go after her but a pair of Benemar guards barred their path and their shouts to her fell on deaf ears. Jakop though understood why she said what she did as would anyone if they knew her story. He although still had affection for his parents like any child would was rather pleased to see this sense of justice or karma as the Human put it fall upon them. He unlike them was allowed access to the Chieftain's tower and the celebratory dinner that was to follow.

“Are you sure you want that?” Ceran asked her.

“Yes” she said taking his hand.

Suddenly Ceran's arm was seized by Jakop “Listen here you little shit, you ever make my sister cry and I'll tear off your arm and beat you to death with it”

He paused and suddenly noticed he was surrounded by Ceran's Benemar guards and the guests had all frozen in shock.

“Um...you do know that grabbing me, your Chieftain like that and threatening me is punishable by impalement”

Jakop's eyes widened in fear, he looked to his sister who said nothing and only looked at him and nodded that her husband was right.

“Um....huh?” Jakop said still holding Ceran's arm.

Then Ceran burst into laughter and the atmosphere suddenly lifted “Oh I am going to have so much fun doing this, it's fine Jakop” he said slapping his now brother in laws arm. “Have no fear, I intend to make your sister the happiest girl on Bento, but if I ever do fail in that you may indeed try to kill me, if you can make it past my guards” Ceran laughed and Jakop gave a nervous laughter in return.

“Is he serious?” he asked Taleena.

“Who can tell?” she replied going to Ceran's side and linking her arm with his.

Jakop watched them go and the Benemar guard followed, he smiled as he saw his sister give her husband another kiss. He liked this new Chieftain for he had never seen his sister more happy.

The dinning area was large and had an open space in the centre where dancers performed for the guests, both Human and Benemar dancers had been invited as the guests consisted on both races. Ceran and Taleena sat at the head table where guests would come and offer their more personal congratulations and offer gifts.

“Greetings young Chieftain, it is an honour to finally meet you”

“Greetings Admiral” Ceran replied noticing the uniform.

“My apologise for not being at your Crowning as sadly the war in space delayed me”

“It is sometimes hard to remember a war is happening at all” Taleena said.

“You my dear I hope never has to see the like of this one again” Winston said kissing her hand in the Human way. “Unfortunately I do not have any gifts either for you except may be some advice my father gave me. Always keep your weapon in your left hand”

“What does that mean?”

“I didn't know then and I'm not sure I know now” Winston said looking puzzled.

“Well I thank you for it nonetheless”

The evening went on and the music slowly change tempo to a more slow rhythm, then to the shock of many Ceran got to his feet and offered his hand to Taleena.

“Would do dance with me, my lady” he asked.

She took his hand and got to her feet and the dance floor emptied for themselves to dance alone on. Ceran nodded to Sharn and she signalled the musicians to switch to a certain melody. It was Taleena's favourite and Ceran had asked her brother what songs she liked so as to have this moment with her.

He held her by the waist and her hand and the two danced, his eyes never straying form hers. Their dance was not eccentric nor elaborate and nor did it need to be, Ceran and Taleena danced for each other and not to be a spectacle for their guests.

“I love you” he whispered.

She looked at him shocked, he had never said it before now and she could not help but have her eyes fill with tears.

“And I love you”

The two kissed as the music ended and the room erupted in applause, even the guests had felt their hearts warm and had held their own partners closer while they danced.

Ceran's father and mother then approached embracing them both and welcoming Taleena to the family of which Ceran was now technically the head of.

Malthos though held up his hands and called for everyone's attention, Oolana could guess what was about to happen next and laughed.

“Friends and honoured guests” he said “This entire day has been a great celebration and even outside I still hear the drums of the people celebrating the night away. Let us hope they do not all get too drunk”

Laughter followed his small joke.

“And now, as many of you now know it is time for the bedding”

Ceran and Taleena shot looks at him.

“So, ladies if you would take my son's wife to the bedchamber we shall follow with the Chieftain shortly”

“Um...father?” Ceran was able to say before he was pulled away and the woman in the room all crowed round Taleena who looked rather frightened as to what was going on. This part of the wedding is not told to young Benemar and they will only learned of it on their own wedding day when it happens. It was why all the unwed Benemar had been ushered from the room before it took place.

In accordance with the tradition Taleena's wrists were bound with silk and she was lead away while Ceran looked on.

“Now son you will drink your last glass before you go and join her” his father lead him back to the head table and he was poured another glass but this one was not ale or any kind of alcohol but a soft wine that was meant to clear the head and prepare the man for the night to come. Now the room was filled only with men and it almost reminded Ceran of his bachelor party and he noted how men tended to act when there were no woman around. Especially the Humans who became more loud and boisterous and more physical with one another by getting into friendly fights. He slowly drank his wine and spoke with his father and his now brother in law who had asked why he had had to leave and where his sister was. Ceran in accordance with the tradition did not answer the first but simply said Taleena had retired for the night.

“Wait if she has retired, you are going to as well soon?” he asked.

“Yes, once I have finished my drink”

Jakop stood there his eyes looking but not seeing, his sibling instincts screamed at him to hit Ceran but his mind told he shouldn't “I don't know what to do now”

“You could get me another drink”

“NOPE” Malthos said taking the glass away “You have made that one last too long it's time for you to get going”  

He pulled his son to his feet and everyone saw and knew where he was going and shouted their approval and cheered.

But his father took him to one of the rest rooms where a number of servant girls were waiting to clean all the make up off his face and dress him in a night tunic. He tried to protest but his father pushed him inside and held it shut until he was finished.

Now washed and dressed more suited for the night he walked with his father to the highest room in the tower.

“So father”

“Yes?”

“Any last minute advice for me?”

“Well how the plumbing works is-”

“I know all that!” Ceran shouted.

“Then the rest will come to you, just take it slow” Malthos said smiling. Finally they arrived at the two doors that lead into Ceran's new chambers, inside was his wife waiting for him.

“Here” his father handed him a knife.

“What's this for?” Ceran asked almost horrified and confused.

“To cut the silk, it used to be chains and locks and the father would hand over a key but now it's silk and a knife” Malthos patted his son on the shoulder and left leaving Ceran alone.

He was suddenly nervous, he had never been with a woman before and his hand shook as he tried to take the door handle to enter but like an invisible barrier he could not approach it.

“Ah” he grunted to himself and paced in front of the door.

“CERAN GET IN THERE!!!!” his father voice sounded from down the hall and he leapt grabbing the door handle and running inside.

The chamber was dark except for the light of the moons coming through a pair of glass doors to his right that were stationed next to the bed. On the bed sitting down was a figure that he could clearly see was Taleena, like him she had had her make up removed and was dressed for the night. Swallowing he walked towards her and finally could see her face, she was smiling at him, her wrists still bound by the silk and she slowly offered them to him. Remembering he had the knife he cut her free and put the silk and knife aside on the table.

They sat there with neither of them speaking for a few moments and started laughing both of them feeling shy and embarrassed.

“Have you ever done this before?” she asked her voice low.

“I err...no” he replied sheepishly “Have you?”

She smiled but said nothing and pulled him towards her kissing him, they laid down together and shared the night in one another's embrace.

The next morning Ceran was awoken by the sun shining through his glass doors and he grunted as he strained to open his eyes and shield them with his hand. Looking down he saw Taleena had slept resting her head on his chest and him embracing her in the way he remembered before he fell asleep. His mind went to last night and he smiled, it would be a night he would cherish in his memory forever.

Gently slipping out of Taleena's embrace and not waking her, he got up and went to the glass doors and opened them feeling the cool breeze wash over his body and the warm sun strike his skin. He walked to the edge of the balcony and looked down and saw thousands of people looking up and cheered when he came into view...naked. He shouted and jumped onto the floor towards the room and crawled back inside waking Taleena who shot up and looked around confused.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“There are thousands of people down there looking up here” he said still laying on the floor.

“Oh they are waiting for the red sheet” she said yawning and rubbing her eyes.

“The what?”

“It another tradition the woman told me about when a Chieftain takes a wife, after their first night together the sheet they slept on that has the blood of her on is thrown from the balcony”

“But...you're not a virgin, you didn't bleed” he said getting to his feet.

“Yes that is why the woman gave me this” she showed him a small vile of red liquid which he assumed was blood. “Being a virgin is not necessary any more but people like the spectacle” she threw back the covers and spilt the blood over the sheet and used a sponge to dry it.

“Get dressed in something they will expect you to throw this from the balcony”

He quickly threw a tunic over his head and Taleena gave him the sheet rolled up, he took it and the whole thing seemed a bit out of date to him but it seemed to bring some joy to the people so he went with it. Opening the doors again he walked to the balcony and threw the sheet over the edge and the crowed erupted in cheers that dwarfed those of when he first came out.

Now came the days that they had to begin ruling the city and they took to it with a vigour that only Benemar of their age could. Taleena made sure the food distribution centres stayed open for any who could not afford a meal for that day, it meant that taxes went up a bit but she convinced the people by asking what if they could not eat one day?

Ceran went about securing the military power, he made sure his Benemar warriors were well armed and well trained and asked the cities scientists to try and find a way for them to build their own rifles and not rely solely on the Humans. The two of them also went about travelling the city looking over outdated and old buildings many of which had burned during the bombing and went about modernizing the infrastructure. They also began construction on public service buildings such as education centres for those wishing to learn skills even into their adulthood. This was a revolutionary idea as in Benemar culture skills were passed from parent to child and not widely shared. Except for the young schooling they would get in basic matters.

The Humans did their best to help Ceran and Taleena but they were slowly pulling away from them, they knew what was about to happen, Williams forces had arrived and the time to march on Potellan had come. But just as Jenkins was to give the news to Ceran, the new Chieftain pledged one quarter of his warriors to march on the city with him saying.

“This is no longer a war between Humanity and Benemar, this is a war for us to throw off the yoke of the High Chieftains tyranny bring Bento into the light of a new era”

The Humans could not very well refuse such an offer and Ceran would not even hear of Jenkins answer, the Human were as they were in Geeda, subject to his rule after all.

The Humans formed in the streets of Geeda fully armed and armoured, their faceplate emotionless and stern for the battle to come, the people of Geeda had come to bid them farewell and good luck. Even those who had been in the city when the Humans attacked it now seemed sad to see those they had once called enemies but now called friends leave for battle.

Ceran and Taleena stood outside the Chieftain's tower where Jenkins and his officers were gathered, in a final farewell.

“Humans, when I first saw your kind I was struck with fear and hatred. But now I look upon you with admiration and fondness” he began and Taleena took over.

“You may have come to this world as conquerors, but you will leave as liberators fighting an enemy we could not rise against on our own”

“To this cause we pledge our own warriors to you, those who have even met you in the field of battle will now fight alongside you as brothers in arms”

They held each other hand and spoke together.

“Go, with the fate of all Benemar in your hands and love with in our hearts we bid you farewell and pray for your safe return and news of your victory”

Jenkins bowed and turned to his soldiers and in the language of his land back on Terra he shouted the words to attention and to begin their march.

As a single organism they moved, through the link they had surrendered their own moments. They unsheathed their blades and held them skyward in salute to the Chieftain of Geeda then across their hearts in salute to his wife. Their combat shields on their left arm was held tight and they turned and marched out of the city like the ancient armies of Terra. The skies above were filled with fighters, bombers and transports and the Bastions sounded their klaxon as they began their march. With them were thousands of Benemar warriors who would march with them and fight with them against the High Chieftains. So they marched, towards Potellen, the city that had stood for millennia as the capital of Bento Prime, the city that has never fallen, the city who's walls stood taller and stronger than any other. To those walls that had never been breached they marched and the final decisive battle of this war.

(AUTHORS NOTE)

Everyone it has been a brilliant journey and you have all helped me more than I can ever put into words but sadly it is time to say goodbye to Newcomers. For now at least. As of now there will be no more updates posted to tumblr or any other site. The reason for this is because I wish to complete this story and get it published. I hope to get it finished before this year is out and I will try to get it published as an Enovel rather than paperback (it's easier). I will also add a few more side parts with Karen and Hesky and Cathy to give their characters a bit more depth. Working on this has helped me put my thoughts in order on my main project which is in fact a 3 book series about a war between Humanity and an alien race. I will post updates on these projects should they get to be published and about Newcomers which I will work to get finished first.

My love goes out to everyone who sent me kind words of their love for this story and I look forward to finishing it.

Love to you all.

Amollion

It was dark, all fires and lights had been forbidden after the fall of Geeda and an evacuation order had gone out but the enemy had been spotted not five miles from their town. A small group of militia volunteers had agreed to stand and fight to defend their homes and at least slow the enemy down. But there had been no sign of them since that message had come, no thunder that was said to precede their arrival brought on by their tower sized machines. No sounds of their tracked vehicles that fired shells that shred their war trucks apart.

Ceten had agreed to volunteer because his father had pushed him into it calling him a coward because he wanted to go with his mother. By Human standards he was only 14 maybe 15 years old but to the Benemar was well past childhood. He had never liked fighting, being the runt of the littler meant he was the smallest and all his brothers and his two sisters had done their father proud and joined the warrior caste. He wanted to be a farmer, to see fields of purple once more flow to the horizon like it said in his books. Those he had had to beg or steal as his father often said reading was for breeders not warriors and had beaten him several times when he found him with a book under his bed. Right now, his father was beside him holding a rifle perched on some hastily constructed barricades made out of cars and furniture. All his siblings were dead, they fell in Geeda and he saw how his father had looked at their portraits and beamed with pride saying they had died honourably and brought great glory even in death. He had then promptly struck Ceten, calling him a failure before retiring for the night. Now his only living child stood shoulder to shoulder with him to avenge their fallen and kill as many of these Humans and Gal as possible. Many stories had reached them long before the fall of Geeda, tales of how the Humans shape shifted and could punch threw iron walls as easily as one may tear through paper.

Small lights shun behind them so that those who's jobs it was the reload rifles and fire home made mortars could see what they were doing but it was only just enough to see. Beyond the barricade Ceten could barley see his hand in front of his face, he looked up wishing things were like they were in his books. Clear skies that shun with the light of the moon at night and burned with the heat of the sun, and stars, oh how he wanted to see stars. To find the constellations old Benemar used to sail the oceans and navigate at night before the compass.

Whispers were the only audible noise that he heard other than the breathing of his father and beating of his own heart. His father then turned to him and glared at him.

“Be ready son, a flare is about to go up”

“Yes father” he whispered before passing the message to the warrior to his right. Besides everything he was happy, his father had called him son, he had not done that for a very long time. He steadied his rifle and knew that the Humans must be out there, the flare went up and indeed, they were.

Ceten's eyes widened and his mouth dropped, the Humans were standing only five feet from the barricade in complete silence. It was not just a few either, they stood shoulder to shoulder glaring at him and there must have been thousands of them. How long had they been there? Why had they waited for the flare? Such thoughts left him as the Human in front of him grabbed his rifle with a speed he could not follow struck him. The last he remembered were the shouts and cries of his townsmen as the Humans leaped over the barricade and began their work. Then everything went black.

He awoke some hours later, he knew because it was day and from the height of the sun it was coming to near midday. He had fallen under the barricade and lost conciseness from hitting his head. Grunting as he rose he put his hand to the back of his head and felt for a wound, there was none and he was thankful. Movement above him made him freeze, a Gal was walking along the barricade and moving some things. Looking around he saw the remains of his town, much of the buildings had been burned caught up in the fighting and most likely any Benemar they found were slaughtered. The Humans and their Gal allies had made themselves at home, they moved and looked just as terrifying as the books said. He knew all about the last war and the last time the Humans came to Bento Prime. How they devoured their dead and cooked their still living prisoners alive. He had no wish to die that way, he had no wish to die at all but it seemed that that decision may not be his. He would have to stay exactly where he was until the Humans moved on, most likely after they had devoured everything they could and their hunger spurred them on again looking for new hunting grounds. Luckily some debris from the barricade had fallen on him making a kind of cave that he could stay under and if he was careful watch what was happening outside. But for all his fear he was still curious and wanted to learn about these creatures.

For the most part the Humans did not seem to act too different than his own people, they stood around and spoke to each other and their Gal friends. They drank and ate and were generally just going about their business. But he never saw any of their weapons, not a single one was carrying a rifle, he shifted to look out another part of the wrecked barricade hoping to see this towering machines that walked but it was nowhere in sight.

He scoffed to himself disappointed he would not get to see one, his friends would have been so jealous to hear he saw a walking tower machine. Then the thought occurred, what friends? He had only a few and they were all most likely dead now as they were manning the barricade with him.

And his father? His father had been there and called him his son. Tears came and he struggled and fought the urge to cry. “Only breeders cry” he repeated his fathers words. But he couldn’t help it, he loved his father for all his faults.  

“I found a survivor!” sounded a Human above him looking down through the wooden planks and was beginning to shift them. Panic gripped him like a vine and he thrashed and screamed at them to get away and leave him alone, only then did he notice his leg was caught.

“His leg is pinned under the wreckage” the Human called jumping down and other Humans came to help. The barricade that he had fought on was shifted with surprising ease and a Gal tentacle reached in and pulled him free. He screamed as the Humans gathered around him, they were going to tear him apart and eat him he knew it. He cried and thrashed waiting for the moment he felt their teeth on his skin. But it never came, he stopped shouting and slowly calmed down his eyes low and slowly looked at the one Human holding onto his arm, smiling at him.

It was a warm smile meant to comfort him and she showed no sign of aggression, she was not even armoured or armed. He looked around and the other Humans were also smiling at him and the Gal hung back behind them.

“Have you calmed down now?” said the female human who had hold of his arm.

“Um...yes” he said meekly.

Her smiled widened and a small chair was placed behind him and she placed him on it while another Human inspected his injured leg.

“A small cut, nothing broken, you're a tough one” he said and reached into his bag “This will stop it getting infected” the Human said and sprayed something on his leg that stung a little and was bandaged. Then the Human got up and handed him a small white stick with a ball on the tip that was orange in colour, patted him on the head and left.

He looked at the strange thing the Human had gave him and looked at the others who giggled, the female who sat beside him took it and took off the small wrapping and put the lolly in his mouth. His mouth exploded with the sweet taste and his smile brought one to hers.

“My name is Karen, what's yours?”

“C-c-...Creten” he whispered the lolly still in his mouth.

“Nice to meet you Creten, are you hungry?”

He nodded and she took his hand and lead him through the Human camp.

He looked around as he was lead past countless Humans who all smiled at him or greeted him warmly, he began to wonder if these were Humans at all, they were nothing like they were supposed to be in his books. The Gal even watched him but showed more a curious interest than an intent to kill.

Then they reached a place where there were more Benemar.

“Farther!” Creten screamed and ran into his fathers embrace, he was horrified to see his father had lost his right arm but he was hugged all the tighter with his left.

“My son” he said as Creten buried his head in his fathers chest tears once more flowing freely.

“Ah perfect timing” Karen said as one of the cooks came pushing a trolley.

“We know you are purely carnivores but we did not want to give you just plain chicken so we made you all chicken soup” he called to the Benemar who all regarded him with a mixture of hatred and suspicion.

Creten moved and went to him and was handed a bowl and poured some and handed a spoon, he turned and ran back to his father and gave it to him. His father looked at it and at his son who had gone back for his own.

The Human/Gal forces landed in an opening where there was little Benemar to resist them so they would have a chance to consolidate and organise their forces, the Benemar are often called the masters of defence but not even they can defend the whole planet at once. Still their landings were not uncontested, small mobile Benemar forces harassed them and killed many as they were just hitting the ground. But once the Humans and Gal got moving they were quickly overwhelmed. This they expected as those small forces were only to make sure the enemy didn't land unopposed. Cathy finished off a Benemar that refused to die after being shot by three of them so she simply went up to it and tore his head off.

“This much more fun than shooting them” she said.

“You fight well Human Cathy” a Gal signed to her.

“Thanks, I'm sorry I shot one of you earlier”

“It is understandable”

Cathy smiled, despite reservations from the front line soldiers fighting alongside the Gal they had quickly earned each others respect.  

“Sightings put a large force of Benemar ahead of us” the Gal signed.

“Indeed, we are outnumbered” Captain clerk said appearing next to Cathy.

“Just means we have more targets” Cathy said smiling.

She cast her mind back to the ship, Hesky was there taking care of their baby and even though they were in the safest place she still worried about Depit. Both of them had wanted to go and take part in the invasion but Clerk had ordered that one stay behind should something happen to the other. They had played rock, paper, scissors to decide and Cathy had won, Clerk gave them an hour to say goodbye which they spent the only way they could, rampant sex.

The invasion consisted of over 18 million Humans along with war machines and nearly twice as many Gal which together they launched a three pronged attack.

Clerk's force would land and head west while Williams would secure their flanks while Kiev went east. If all went according to plan Clerk and Kiev would meet on the other side of the planet. But Humans knew that in war things seldom go according to plan, at least never perfectly.

“Our scouts tell us the enemy heavily out guns us and are advancing” Jenkins said holding his ear listening to the scouts reports and speaking them to Clerk.

“We have not yet unloaded our tanks and other such vehicles” Cathy said looking over and the landing craft still descending with the equipment. Their pods were designed for quick deployment to secure the landing area so that they can bring down the heavier weapons. This needed time and Benemar were already advancing to meet them.

“We attack” Clerk said walking back “Gal, bring up your own forces and prepare to move out”

“Yes captain” he signed and moved off and as a swarm the others moved with him.

The Gal had agreed to the Humans command structure and would follow the Human officers, all Gal were recognised as the rank of private, the common foot soldier. Since the Gal had so sense of an officer they just agreed in the spirit of co operation.    

Although not as co-ordinated the Humans moved once they had the orders to do so, what podsuits that came down with them that were still running and the few tanks they had were also brought forth.

“Right listen up everyone” Clerk started “The Benemar outnumber us by a hell of a lot, like really a fucking hell of a lot and have a lot more heavy guns than we do...a lot more. So this is our plan, get in close combat where their heavy guns will be useless and we have the advantage. Simple and easy but make no mistakes, this is not going to be one sided, we cannot retreat from this” Clerk looked at the soldiers looking to him all of them heard him over the com but still looked in his direction. “Well what are you waiting for? Lets go kill them”

They cheered so loud that even the Benemar who were miles away thought they heard them, even the Gal sounded their screeching call to add to the noise. The first main assault was under way.

The Gal were fast, very fast with their many tentacles which pulled them along the ground at incredible speeds, they had no bone structure at least not in the true sense but just a mass collection of dense muscles that were almost as hard. At all times when they ran half of their tentacles were on the ground and it made it look like they were almost spinning. They were always considered the fastest in open terrain by the Alliance, so one could imagine the Benemar's amazement when they saw the Gal charging towards them, and the Humans were keeping pace.

Even the Gal were surprised, they had never seen a Human run before as Humans had always fought them by landing their pods right on top of them. But in open ground the Humans on only two legs kept up with the Gal and did not seem to tire in the slightest.

The formation was mixed, the two armies had merged together so that in every point the Humans could give the Gal some small arms cover fire.

Behind them the artillery Gal were being carried by the podsuits as they were slow to relocate and would place them in a better position and stay to protect them.

Cathy ran alongside a guard Gal but just behind it's shield, it was huge the size of an elephant and it thundered the ground as it's six legs ran. She felt a lot safer running with this thing next to her.

Then the Benemar were in sight and they opened up with a devastating volley, the Guard Gal may have been present but with so many Benemar firing they were bound to find holes in the armour and many Gal and Human were hit. Luckily the Human's armour saved them from anything fatal and many would get back up and continue charging.

Then the heavy bombardment came, the guard Gal next to Cathy was hit and killed, it's head hit the ground and it's back end flipped over it. She managed to jump aside and over a small ditch as more shells landed around her. From behind the Humans responded with their own tanks and artillery Gal and a number of guided missiles. Above her the air was being contested, Human fighters fought with Benemar craft for control of the air switching position of hunter and prey in mere moments.

All Humans were equipped with not only a rifle with a bayonet and a pistol but a blade on their backs, it was only a few feet long and was mainly used with fighting the Gal in mind. But it would work just as well against the Benemar. This was the main weapon they were going to use in this battle, many Humans discarded their rifle as they neared the Benemar lines. They were not going to need them.

The Benemar fired at will now, desperate to halt the charge, some Gal had morphed into a form that resembled a horse as the request of a number of Humans and were letting them ride them like cavalry. Clerk was at the front, he hated leading from the rear and he was going to make sure he was the first to the Benemar line.

But he was hit and went down a few hundred feet away.

The Human/Gal force smashed into the Benemar army that had drawn their own primitive looking blades, they were too large really but it was there way that bigger is better.

Cathy jumped past one decapitation it's head as she did and drive her blade into the chest of another. They never stopped for if she did she would have been trampled to death by her allies behind her so she ran past and in and out of the Benemar bodies till she had to turn and fight. The two armies had merged and nothing short of slaughter took place. The Benemar had to rely on their numbers as the Humans were stronger and the Gal were faster, and the Benemar had more than enough numbers and it was thought the Benemar had more than a quarter of a million warriors than the Human/Gal army. Even so at first there was no clear winner. There was no formation as the fighting came down to millions of single duels with each individual fighting for their lives. Guard Gal ran rampant through the Benemar still their legs were out from under them, Human's found themselves tackled from behind to loose their footing and would be set upon by several of the enemy. The Benemar grew frustrated that the Humans could lift them up and throw them with seemingly little difficulty. Even if they caught one from behind to shoot them in the back a Gal would often leap to the Humans defence and vis versa. The Humans and Gal worked together well.

The Benemar drove their wartrucks which were massive armoured vehicles into the fray running down troops of both sides and firing their rapid fire guns at everything that did not have a snout.

The noise, it was more than white noise as if one listened carefully they could hear the grunts the shouts and the screams of the dyeing, the clash of metal and cracking of gunfire. It would enough to make anyone go mad if they were not to busy fighting for their lives. Above them the fightercraft were fighting almost as intensely but it was almost pointless. Neither side could look down and distinguish friend from foe and thus could not help. The two sides had merged and only one side was going to walk away with any kind of force left. If they were going to walk away at all.

Cathy fought alongside a Gal she had saved after a Benemar got hold of one of it's tentacles, wherever she went it followed keeping an eye on her back so that she could not be taken unawares. This became the common theme, the Gal would attach themselves to a Human soldier and work with them, they may not be able to read each others minds but they still had their instincts that guided them.

She had lost track of how many Benemar she had killed but then again she wasn't really keeping track, she had found Karen in all this mess and exchanged a few looks to see if the other was wounded before being set upon by a gang of Benemar. She lost track of her after that. She could only hope she was okay.

Silence. The battle had ended some hours ago after raging for entire night each side flooding their forces into this battle not willing to surrender the field. If the Humans and Gal fell back their landing area would be under threat, if the Benemar had to fall back the landing area would not be immediately assailable and the Humans and Gal could push on.

The ground was covered like a carpet made of bodies from both sides, the soil usually a black colour was now red, the only thing all these aliens had in common was the colour of their blood.

For hours the battle for Geeda's airspace raged, the anti air fire was immense and filled the sky with thousands of shells often fired blindly in the hopes they would hit a Human craft. They often did but the Human bombers refused to let loose their own payload blind for fear they would hit their own troops within the city and their new allies the freed slaves or rebels as they were coming to be known. Unfortunately they did not hit many of their targets, the city's anti air fire was just to intense to risk.

Then the Human/Gal forces marched on the city with three of their Bastions leading the way who towered over the infantry and tanks like giants. The hundreds of thousands of Humans and Gal with their vehicles and the Bastions moved across the planet like a black tide. And sat, just outside the range of the city's guns. The city fired their artillery mounted on the walls but as expected they fell short and the Humans refused to advance any further. But they did respond. Three bastions took a number of steps forward, it brought them into range of the Benemar guns but it meant they could fire theirs. Their two cannons on their backs were the only ones that could reach the city, it being some miles away they arched their guns. And fired.

The blast was like thunder that shook the bones, many Humans and Gal were knocked from their feet from the shockwave of the cannon's discharge. Then a few seconds later, it's second cannon fired. It took nearly 30 seconds for the first shells fired to reach the city and when it struck, the Benemar felt like their war god itself had struck their walls. Despite the range the Humans were very accurate and many artillery placements erupted in flames or were incinerated but sometimes a shell would be too high and hit the town collapsing buildings or would be too low and hit the wall causing immense damage but did not bring it down.

Chief Geedol had been the garrison commander for nearly all his adult life, in fact his family name comes from this very city and they had guarded it for countless generations. In fact it was his ancestor that had beaten back the Humans the first time they were here and this city had been the only one not to fall during that invasion. Now he watched from his control tower at their second attempt to take his city, he smiled to himself. The air raids had been inefficient as he had seen that the city's anti air defences had been lacking some years ago and reinforced them. The holographic map of the city and it's surroundings was placed in the middle of his commanding room. The enemy had not advanced and still relied on these Bastions to siege the city.

“What are they planning?” he said to himself.

“Do they really intend to take down the walls with only those things?” asked one of his staff.

“No, they do not seem to be targeting the wall” Geedol said “More they seem to be aiming for the guns even if they have only knocked out a few”

“We have begun moving guns from the northern and western walls as the enemy cannot approach from those sides due to the river. They will add to our arsenal as replace any losses we have sustained”

Chief Geedol watched the holographic display, it also tracked shell projections and where his units were. From this room he could command the entire battle without looking out the window.

“What damage have we done to their Bastions?” he asked.

“Minimal, they are at the very edge of the range of our guns and any hit we do manage to score is mainly due to luck”

“What is the size of the enemy army” asked Setom who was Geedol's second in command.

“Hard to say, but we estimate that it must be close to 2 million enemy warriors both Human and Gal”

“Just fighting one of these foe's is hard enough but for them to work together is troublesome” Geedol said “But what are they waiting for?”

“Chief?” Setom asked.

“They could have attacked days ago but still they sit there and continue to exchange shells with us, the wall is not coming down and we are replacing the guns they destroy so what are they doing?”

“Could this have something to do with the slave breakout the other day?” Setom asked.

“What did you say?”

“The slave breakout, a large number of slaves got out of the pens and freed the others, we have yet to locate them”

“Why was I not told of this!?” Geedol said advancing on Setom.

“We did not think it worth your attention, we already have teams searching for them”

Geedol's eyes bulged and he spat on the ground “They're here, they're already in the city” he said his voice barley a whisper.

“Chief?”

“Send every available warrior to hunt them down I want them found”

“But chief I-”

“NOW!”

Oma hid his cell of rebel fighters from view near one of the gates to the city as suddenly a huge number of Benemar warriors came into view, some jumped off their transports to reinforce the gate and other sped away.

“Well this complicates things” he said to himself.

“What do we do now?” asked a rebel.

“You stay quiet and hidden, I am going to take a look around”

Oma activated his camo armour and slid away, what he was really doing was getting to higher ground as the buildings inhibited his com's ability to transmit.

“Sergeant Faye this is Corporal Oma, do you read me?”

“I do Oma” her voice came through as calm and collected as ever.

“I'm guessing you have noticed the Benemar's increased actions”

“We have, other cells are reporting the same thing”  

“Do you think they are onto us?” he asked.

“It is possible and likely, our actions could not remain hidden for long”

“What do we do? Move up our schedule or stay on it?”

“My orders were to delay, but as a great general said, it is a bad plan one that cannot be changed, so we are changing it. Begin sabotage operations to their garrisons and storage facilities”

“Yes ma'am”

The city of Geeda erupted in multiple small fires almost simultaneously, these attacks were not effective in damaging the city or it's infrastructure but it did sow the seeds of fear in the population. They had been told the enemy was miles away only to find them in their streets even if they were only rebels but they were wielding Human weapons. This confirmed Chief Geedol's suspicions that they were already within the city walls and were up to something but something else gnawed at him. These attacks did nothing to harm the defence and no actual Humans had been seen with them. Where were they, where were they hiding and what were they planning?

For hours he stared at the holographic map before deactivating it and rolling out a paper one that had not been used in many years hoping another perspective would give him some insight. He looked at the outlay of the city, turning the map to look at it from another angle and thinking himself as the attacker. How would he assault the city, what would he do? Then he saw it, his jaw dropped and he looked out of the tower towards the east where the enemy was arrayed to attack the city in plain view. Plain view, they were not even trying to hide, in fact they were making every attempt to make themselves seen. He turned to the one direction they were not watching, the western side of the city, all the guns from there had been moved and it had little to no garrison and most of the civilian population was evacuated there. But the river? It was basically a small ocean in it's own right and there was nothing coming across it, even still the current of it was strong, very strong so much that their ancestors called it the river of blood. What could....another thought came.

The reports had told of ten Bastions being deployed to the planet, five marched east and five marched west towards him. But why were only three firing on the city? “Where are the other two?”

A klaxon sounded, not any Benemar klaxon this was unmistakably an alien one and it shook buildings and shattered windows. He turned his head to the west knowing what it was before he saw them, the two remaining Bastions rising out of the river. As if this was the signal all the gates save for the eastern gates erupted in flames and were buried sealing them shut. Behind the two Bastions came more Human constructs and infantry. To the east the main army that had been waiting for so long was finally advancing and the sky became black with the shadows of thousands of enemy fighter craft.