‘He was poisoned, sir.’
‘Poisoned?’ said Esaul as he stared out through the viewing portal.
‘Yes, sir,‘ replied the MO, Anta. ‘We’ve analyzed the substance and found it contains an extremely potent neurotoxin which prevents the spontaneous release of acetylcholine from motor nerve terminals, and therefore causes asphyxia.’
‘Samtsi, for Doja’s sake. Speak Samtsi. I’m neither a doctor nor a scientist.’
Non-plussed by his captain’s obvious frustration, Anta simply said, ‘Tacla’s respiratory system was paralyzed by the toxin, and he died of suffocation.’
Esaul dismissed the MO without looking at him. Neurotoxins were primitive weapons which, once identified, posed no threat to Samtsi troops. An anti-venom would be produced by the MO and his team which would offer them protection while on the surface of RS One. One potential hazard nullified but what about the others? The guns used by the long legged, and brightly colored bipeds were dangerous but again, with careful planning and judicious action they could be overcome. Of concern was what, if any other weapons they possessed, and their numbers. What other potentially dangerous creatures roamed that leafy planet? More intelligence was required. Ideally, at least one or two reconnoiters would be needed to accurately ascertain what the Samtsi were up against on RS One.
‘Excuse me sir.’
Interrupting his thoughts was his first officer, Escap. He had been on board the Lyclakson monitoring the movements and communication of the landing party during the initial encounter with the hostile inhabitants of RS One.
‘You have a communiqué from Admiral Tarfa. He wants to know our E.T.A at RS One.’
‘Why are you asking me, dammit?
Esaul turned to face Escap and fixed him with a burning stare which he hoped conveyed everything on his mind. The latter scratched his side then lifted his paw to salute before leaving.
Tarfa was a warmonger and unfortunately he was not alone. High command had decided on aggressive forays into outer space, and although misaligned with the expectations of the Samtsi populace, they were hell bent on conquest. Justified by imagined threats from other species who, in their view, would destroy them if they didn’t strike first. Gasinor had been recently invaded and occupied resulting in tens of thousands of needless deaths. The bloodthirsty admiral had ordered the crushing of Gasinor, and the harvest of its precious agriculture resources including Armanyl which was used for medicinal purposes. Although many argued for partnership with the Gasinor government, Tarfa and his bloodthirsty cronies insisted on subservience. Their credo was ‘none shall be our masters’.
Esaul felt his blood boiling. As a captain of the Samtsi fleet, he was proud to serve his race, and Doja-his name is mighty, but being ordered back to RS One for the purpose of eliminating the native inhabitants tormented his soul. How could Doja approve of such evil? Such violence. And for what? It reeked of revenge, the acrid stench of bitterness. The late Captain Tacla was an heroic figure, a popular Samtsi warrior, and the nephew of Admiral Tarfa. Never had Esaul felt so conflicted. So torn between duty and conscience. He sighed heavily and continued to stare out into the illusory emptiness of the Mitaga Galaxy.
***
‘Sir, we are receiving a transmission from the planet. Unfortunately, it is fading in and out. Ionespheric interference I suspect.’
Esaul looked at the screen and remembered. He had stood beside Tacla when they had first received this signal from the then unknown planet. Having seen the bipedal inhabitants in the flesh, he now recognized their round faces. Indistinct from one another, they were nonetheless distinctive in themselves, he supposed. Through the scratchy lines, he could see five of them. Hair of different colours of different lengths covered, and in some cases, falling from the tops of their heads. Two of them had a different kind of hair on the faces but only around the chin and in the space between their pointed noses, and wide mouths. This hair looked much like Samstsi fur, certainly more than the hair on top of their heads. The aliens were bent in half with their long legs, which were also bent at various angles, protruding. Equally spindly were their arms which ended in five slender claws. Some of the claws were adorned with shiny metal and sparkling stones. Esaul noticed that the two aliens with longer hair than the others, also had bumps on their chests and were dressed more lavishly. Clearly females of the species.
‘What are they sir?’
The question from a curious junior officer was not unexpected but Esaul did not know how to answer him. What should they be called? Bipeds? Aliens? Beasts?
‘They are our enemies,’ he said finally, but without conviction.
Watching them, he noticed how they spoke in turn, and sometimes all at once. How they reddened in the face after making strange sounds which did not seem to represent language, and then shuffled around on the things they were sitting on, adjusting their positions. They seemed innocuous without their guns.
‘They appear to be unarmed, sir,’ said the junior.
‘They are not warriors then,’ added another officer. ‘Warriors are always armed.’
‘They look weak and cumbersome.’
‘Gangly and awkward. No match for us.’
Esaul continued watching the aliens, deliberately ignoring the speculative banter of his crew as he contemplated their appearance and movement. He noted there was no sign of the smaller furry creatures that he had encountered on his previous visit. He wondered about the relationship between the two, and then his thoughts connected to the unknown assassin of Captain Tacla: the poison carriers. Was there symbiosis between these creatures he had seen? Were there others in the matrix of existence of RS One? So many questions.
Deciding to assert some authority, Esaul ordered silence. ‘Enough of this gossip. Let’s talk about what we know. RS One presents us with many serious challenges. Some we already know about and others await us, lurking in the unknown. Forewarned is forearmed. There will be no complacency among us. We will prepare properly and execute our orders professionally for the glory of Doja. Is that understood?’
A chorus of affirmative response followed, and Esaul continued. ‘Anta. Tell us about the conditions on RS One.’
‘The current surface temperature is nineteen degrees centigrade. The temperature during the previous visit by the Lyclakson was thirty five degrees. We can assume that unlike Samtsi, RS One is subjected to significant variations in temperature. Our suits will protect us from these low temperatures and have been tested at single figure temperatures. Relative humidity is sixty percent. This planet has only one sun but at this stage we know nothing of its movements, nor its relationship to the variable temperatures. We don’t know if RS One experiences night. The atmosphere contains seventy eight percent nitrogen, twenty one percent oxygen, some carbon dioxide and other unspecified gases. Again, our suits will enable us to breathe comfortably.’
‘How will our movement be affected?’
‘The air is denser, so theoretically movement could be issue but this should be offset by our suits. RS One is moderately mountainous but the peaks of the major ranges are small compared to ours. The highest peak we have detected is an estimated three thousand siltar. A mere hill compared to Shikamath.’
Esaul continued on from Anta’s introductory comments, ‘The ground we landed on last time was flat and covered in grass. Beyond the grass plain were areas of much thicker and taller vegetation. It was from there that our attackers emerged. We don’t believe they were lying in wait for us though, as initially they did not seem to notice us. We have no reason to suspect that they even knew of our arrival on their planet, and, as we did not leave any evidence of ourselves, nor do I believe they will expect our return.’
‘Sitting squamshas,’ gushed the gung-ho junior.
‘The alien guns make a very loud noise. Deafening in fact when we first heard it. They propel small hard objects at impressive velocity.’
‘Approximately, one thousand siltar per harc,‘ added the science officer.
Esaul silenced a collective gasp by raising his paw. ‘We have added strength to the exterior of our suits which we believe will be able to deflect or at least partially absorb the impact of the objects when fired from a distance of one hundred siltar or further. The extra strength will also prevent puncture by the teeth of the rope like creature which bit and subsequently injected venom into Captain Tacla. Despite the obvious threat posed by the aliens, our weapons are infinitely superior, and we are authorized to use lethal force.’
‘And,’ added Anta, ‘as already mentioned they will not be anticipating our arrival.’
A murmur of bloodthirsty approval rumbled around the bridge. Esaul’s stomach turned. Maybe he had been a warrior for too long and the endless march from one bloody battle to another, from one frying pan of suspense and peril into another fire of more deadly predicaments, had drained him. Exsanguinated his lifeforce. He felt weak and ready to walk away from a long and proud career, and yet…there was duty. Always duty. He knew he would never dishonor himself or blaspheme his God with dereliction or disobedience.
Esaul signaled the communications officer to open a broadcast channel. The officer complied immediately, then Esual spoke. ‘There will be a weapons and tactical briefing in two hours in twenty-three.’ He hoped that his moment had not been more than that, or even noticed to his crew. ‘Check to see if your name is on the landing party list and report for duty. That is all.’
***
‘Sir, we have entered RS One’s orbit. The landing party is ready and awaiting your command.’
‘Very good,‘ said Esaul. The moment had arrived. ‘Take us down.’
The Lyclakson touched the ground on the same patch of grass that she had on the previous visit. The landing was smooth and the following dispatch of the warriors onto the planet’s surface was rapid and precise. Esaul watched the monitor with his heart in his mouth. He could feel the tension squeezing and pinching his nerves, dehydrating him. His troops moved with the poise and purpose expected of the highly trained soldiers that they were. He did not doubt them. He feared the unknown. Irrational as it was, knowing all he did, and with the meticulous planning leaving no stone unturned, he should have rested in that, should have felt secure and he yet he was afraid.
The grassy plain was seemingly devoid of life but the biometers that each warrior was wearing sent messages back to the Lyclakson, continually informing the crew and Esaul of all there was to be known. Within the recesses of the long green blades, creatures roamed, unseen. The ship’s computer identified the rope-like creature responsible for the death of Tacla, and very recently nicknamed Rapar by the science officer. The rabbit creature which some mischievous souls aboard the Lyckalson had suggested bore a disturbing resemblance to Samtsi themselves, was also present in the grass. No sign yet of the bipeds who were soon to be the victims of Samtsi rage.
Esaul stiffened. A long-range view revealed a mass of bipeds stretched along a ridge. ‘How many are there,’ he snapped. The answer from who he had asked the question was too slow. ‘How many dammit?’
‘Ten thousand sir.’
Esaul tried to conceal the sudden nausea he felt. ‘Do the troops know? Have they seen them?’
‘Sir?’
‘Dammit man. Put me through to Efarg, get me a direct line to Efarg now.’
‘Yes, captain. We see them,‘ said Efarg before Esaul could even pose the question. ‘Any change in orders, sir?’
Esaul was astounded by the apparent calm of his troop commander. The Samtsi numbered two hundred warriors in four troops each led by one of his best and most experienced fighters. A fifty to one disadvantage in numbers was enough to make even the noblest, bravest warrior take a breath and contemplate the possibility of death. Possibility? Likelihood of death. Even allowing for the superior weaponry, fifty to one. Could they kill with the required alacrity? Efrag interrupted him again with impressive insight.
‘We will slay them with previously unseen speed and ferocity, sir. Efarg out.’
The biped army was on the move, a massive brightly coloured wave rolling down from the ridge onto the plan. Esaul was struck by its beauty, so unlike the awkward jerkiness he had seen earlier on the screen as they approached. The Samstsi crept forward with their weapons raised. The distance between the two was one thousand five hundred siltar. The warriors of RS One were sprinting to penetrate the exclusionary zone and enter the firing zone. Efarg and the other troop commanders knew the bipeds could not fire on them yet, so they confidently allowed them to run. They were, Esaul knew, running into their deaths.
As the gap between the two mismatched armies closed to one thousand eleven hundred siltar, the Samtsi ceased their advance and, frozen in time, waited for their enemies. Silently counting down in their heads as they hung on every breath through the inter comms. Esaul wanted to turn away, but he couldn’t. Morbid fascination, detached interest. Whatever it was, he was a mortified, paralyzed observer.
The order was given, just as the bipeds were raising their weapons to take aim and fire upon the alien invaders. The command to fire unleashed carnage on a previously unseen scale. The bipeds dropped to the ground, staggering, and cartwheeling over the bodies of their fallen comrades. Barely a shot was released from their weapons which fell uselessly by their sides as the life was wrenched from their gangly bodies. It was over in ten minutes as the wide band lasers scorched through the flesh of the helpless bipeds and left bloody piles of lacerated, mutilated flesh.
Esaul continued his dispassionate observation of the proceedings through he struggled to contain a feeling which he could only describe as grief. The Samtsi troop commanders sent their MOs into the devastation and the readings from their biometers instantly fed back to the Lyclakson. Zero signs of life except for the rabbits and rapars.
‘Efarg to Captain Esaul.’
‘Report.’
‘Mission accomplished sir. Awaiting further instructions.’
Esaul paused, took a weary breath, and said ‘Return to the ship immediately.’ And then as an afterthought, he added, ‘Capture a few of those rabbits and bring them with you.’
Previously appeared in Schlock! and I Used to Be an Animal Lover
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