IRD 12

“So, what happened up there exactly?”


Orion and Mark were talking within one of the recreational rooms, secluded from the others, Mark with his helmet off, Orion sitting cross legged on a red couch.


“What part would you like to know Orion: the launch, or the recon?”
“Sure, go and use my given name why don’t you? I don’t need to know anything beyond the amount of guns they had”
“Looked like rail guns, or some other type of magnetically accelerated cannons. In addition, they had some curious looking hatches… let me bring it up”


The TV in front of Orion sprung to life, and was displaying a section of Mark’s footage… including the approach to the largest of the ships in the fleet, dwarfing all others. It included a diagnostic of his ship; in comparison to theirs… his ship he had flown was maybe 20 metres long. The largest Hive ship was over 100 times that. It looked somewhat like a dolphin, if the tail had been replaced with a bank of rocket motors spewing green flame. It had a large protrusion coming from the front, which was smoothly blended into the main body of the Hive ship… bristling with weapon mounts, in addition to the curious metal hatches embedded in the side, above short, stubby wings that would not hold its weight in atmosphere, at an angle roughly thirty degrees below the ship.


“From the size of them, they could be one of two things… Escape pods is one possibility”
“Don’t tell me…”
“Launch tubes, boarding craft… orbital drop pods… all of the bad things”
“Well, that wasn’t two things. Could be all of the above as well”
“In any case, it’s probably bad news for us.  Did you spot any opening that we could land inside of?”
“Keep watching for a moment”


As Orion watched, a large opening appeared in the top and bottom of the large space dolphin… thing, just in front of what would be the dorsal fin, which he assumed was for a very different purpose now. From them, a squadron of sleek, fleshy fighters emerged, and charged towards the position Mark cut the recording there, stating that is when he had to bug out... the camera caught some rounds flying past the ship, and the sound of a confirmed missile lock, before Mark could shut it down. Orion looked worried, having seen for himself the extent of the Hive fleet. Mark retrieved his storage device from the computer, and placed it back into his armour.


“Damn, looked like some sort of space superiority fighter. Well-armed, at least as well as the battle-axes I have fought before”
“Kind of reminds me of a teardrop, actually… if you took away the gun turrets on the top and bottom, the missiles… and the massive rocket engine sticking out the back”
“Very angry water droplets then… what does that make the carrier they were launched from?”
“Hmm, the shape is similar to a bottlenose dolphin…”
“But with the fighter’s shaped how they are, I think I have to go with the Nimbus. Rainclouds”
“I saw two smaller ships, similar in shape, which launched more of the teardrop fighters after me”
“The Cumulus, and the Cirrus then… if all of them were different sizes, the Cirrus is the smallest one”
“Yes, there were three different sizes for the carriers”
“Doesn’t matter, I think the Nimbus is the ship we are going to hit, if the coalition government has anything to say about it”


As he said that, Orion looked around, seemingly confused. He then looked at a particular empty space, as a red lizard with blue jeans and a black T-shirt appeared in front of him. Mark turned, and saw as well as Ghost materialised in front of them.


“It’s been two years since you last showed your face… why?”
“It’s also been 2 years since you were human”
“You think I am not reminded of that every day?”
“Orion… Who, or what, is that?”
“My name is Ghost, as far as I am aware…”
“Where the hell have you been all this time?”
“Watching you, unable to help you… the psionic dampening field prevented me from contacting you… and the Hive, when they were nearby, were able to block communications”
“Wait, what?”
“Well… I am not a ghost. I am transmitting a signal to you. The Hive was not responsible for either of your transformations. Nor was it responsible for assisting your cousin in his hour of need. I was”
“…”
“How the hell does that even work?”
“I could explain it, but it would take too long. Suffice to say, it has to do with my direct intervention in your transformations”
“Guess that explains why I am not Blood Weaver… the snout some sort of sick joke?”
“You could say that”
“So, if you are an alien species, what do you want from us?”
“Get James in here, and I will tell you”


James, surprisingly, was waiting outside, and entered into the recreation room, locking the door behind him. He had taken his brown robes off, and was wearing a Khaki pair of pants, and leather jacket, with blue collared cotton shirt underneath.


“What do you want with the three of us?”
“We share a common threat… the Hive. They seek to enslave all life. The Kharans, surprisingly, already existed. You wrote about them…”
“And forgot about them”
“It was echoes, of their past, that you wrote. Not an original story”
“Whatever the case, what is with the gigantic fleet? I saw them myself; most of the ships were over 1km long”
“You should know, your thoughts helped to influence their ship designs and function”
“… HOW”
“The same way I am communicating with you right now”


James looked over to his cousin, and saw cyan light spilling through the gaps…with Mark holding his blade’s hilt. Unconsciously, he too was holding his Light sabre’s hilt, which Ghost picked up on.


“I am trying to offer assistance here. I have a fleet, albeit a small one, under my command. We can distract the smaller escorts while you board the super carrier… You called it The Nimbus?”
“A type of cloud, one of the largest of the types within Earth’s atmosphere”
“Ah”
“What do you want in return for our assistance in this assault, which you seemed to have organised?”
“That’s a good point, even with the threat of invasion, not all countries would want to join the coalition”
“I said before, this is mutually beneficial. My kind are not strong enough, or advanced enough, to combat the Hive by ourselves… some of our number are aboard the Nimbus, waiting to be… consumed”
“As in, the eating, or the turning allies into the enemy consuming?”
“Both, depends on the mood of the Hive mind situated within”
“You want us to extract them”
“No, just get them to the escape pods… the Nimbus, as you call it, was once the pride of the Varian home fleet, a symbol of hope… we have it’s designer with us. I can give you access to the plans, the layout, and any weaknesses of various ships they have subverted to their cause”
“Wait, hold up. You have achieved more advanced space flight than humanity, and want us to help you?”
“Look, if I had any other options, I would take them. But everyone, and I mean, everyone, who has come into contact with the Hive has lost… most to the Vanguard. Humanity has a fighting chance on Earth, provided the fleet is weakened. That is all we can hope for right now”
“Tell you what. Anyone who has lost their planets to the Hive… can live on Earth, if they can survive the atmosphere”
“That’s generous”
“Mate, I maintain a strict policy of I don’t care what you do, provided you do it in your own home… you don’t have one anymore, I take it?”
“The last transmission I got from home was… 2 cycles ago”
“Through the 4 seasons or summer, autumn, winter and spring?”
“5, not 4 seasons, on my ship’s planet of origin… similar to yours, but the extra one fits between spring and summer. We call it the Tula, our mating season, lining up with the best time of year for our eggs to hatch in early Susa, summer”
“Damn…”
“Sorry I brought it up”
“It is better to remember, and honour the dead, than to forget them. That is our way”
“… Lest we forget”


Orion seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, looking out the window at the clear sky. Mark and James continued talking with Ghost… the light spilling from Orion’s jaws dissipating as they did so.


“We need your numbers, to know how effective your support will be. We swear, we will get your people out”
“Agreed, you may be Xeno’s, but the people to extract are civilians none the less”
“Well, we have 3 Nears, 5 soups, 10 mosques, and 50 or so strike craft… from various species”
“What?”
*Sigh* “In your tongue: 3 heavy cruisers from the Boron, 5 light cruisers from the Carrack, 10 destroyers from the Invar, and 50 assorted fighter-bombers”
“Thank you, although I already knew about the strike craft… the soups?”
“Have a limited hangar space, each carry 10 of the strike craft”
“Very good”
“Can they match the water droplets, the Hive fighters? Let alone the rest of the fleet”
“We can try… but it hasn’t ended well thus far. Then again, we are more diverse, with such a variety of ships and species commanding them… they won’t be expecting multiple different tactics we have come up with, making use of the advantages of the various ship design choices”
“What ship are you on?”
“The Harmony, the largest ship in the fleet… the only Draconian ship I know still sails through the abyss”
“Umm”
“In our tongue, a Kull… but in yours, a battleship”
“Heavy armour, slightly slower, but well-armed… what’s your weapon’s range?”
“Our secondary firepower, Hun class guns, is what you would call plasma weaponry. Our main armament, however, is 12 gorge class quad turrets, which have the longest range of all weapons within this fleet, we could probably hit the Hive fleet from our current position… weapons with that sort of range was our specie’s specialty”
“And it still is”
“Orion… you ok?”
“He is… oh. Don’t bother him right now”
“Why? Is something amiss?”
“He is… preoccupied”
“Quit stalling, and tell us what is wrong?”
“I would call it a mental discrepancy, something not supposed to be there. You would call it an issue. This specific one, however, I have not seen before”
“In which case, if he is seeing something we cannot, then it may be worth leaving him alone for the time being”
“Agreed… the human council might not like having to deal with other aliens such as you. The Hive kind of put everyone on edge”


Orion remained staring out into the open, away from the trio. They moved away, Ghost’s projection following them through the wall, leaving him in isolation. Not that they saw it, but tears were welling in his eyes… the moment the door was shut, he collapsed to his knees, and began crying, uncontrollably. His tears, surprisingly enough, looked like normal human tears, their streaks lining his face and snout. James might have known why, if he wasn’t talking to the Draconian.


“So… what is your real name?”
“Name”
“James. That is a name. Harbinger, is more of a title”
“True. The name’s Mark, if you were wondering”
“Well… given the context, you are using the word name, mine is more of a title, really”
“Well?”
“I am… a thrum, or overall commander of this vessel. But you can call me… Fry - end?”
“Do you mean friend”
“That’s the one”
“That’s a terrible name. Surely you can think of something better”
“We could just keep calling him ghost”
“No. I have my name”
“Which is?”
“Luc”
“Luck… that’s something we are all going to need a lot of in the near future if we want to make it through this”
“No, it’s Luc”
“The way you are saying it makes it sound like Luck… and to be honest, your fleet is lucky to still be alive”
“True that”
“I wished to be called Luc, is that too much to ask?”
“No”




However, Orion was seeing something very different. The landscape around him was burnt and charred, trees and houses little more than embers and rubble. And there, in front of him, was his father, who lay bleeding on the ground from a head wound. He rushed up to him, but was pushed backwards by a lance of dark energy… standing over him was the dark shadow that had featured within his nightmares so many times. Instead of attacking, however, he talked.


“What are you trying to prove, by protecting a dying man?”


The shadow responded, their voice seemingly coming from all around Orion, as the terrain around him began to be covered in a thick, black fog.


“You already know, or at least you should. This man is far from pure, and neither are you”
“No shit he is not pure. He searched for another woman after divorcing his wife. He had a burning rage that no-one, expect maybe the most evil of men, could match, but why the religious reference? I might as well be a heretic to all of them”
“Because you dare to question your place within this world… you know more than you should, and are powerful enough to act upon it. This is a warning”
“A warning… HAH. Force me to cease being who I am? You might as well tell me to stop breathing, I will question everything and anything, and not you or the Hive will be able to stop that”
“No. This warning is far more specific. You will let the Hive take Earth… or I will do to you what I did to your father or anyone else who can ruin this perfection”
“Oh, so you just want to stop me searching for the truth, rather than my knowledge of it. Oh, that is so much better. We already know how this nightmare is going to end”


With that, the shadowy demon lanced out with one of their bloody tendrils, and ran Orion straight through his leg with it, pinning it in place. Kneeling, Orion looked up as the shadowy figure walked towards him, 3 more tendrils poised to strike him should he move. He smiled, and began laughing.


“… What is so funny to you?”
“Do tell, dear spirit, where we are right now?”
“A realm where I reign supreme”
“No. You chose to attack me on my own ground”


Orion, and the shadow, watched as a bright light surged through the ashen sky, blinding the shadow. Orion continued smiling, as he stood up, and pulled the tendril from his leg.


“This shall not be a fight that you will win easily, my friend”
“I… am not… your friend”
“Your right, you aren’t. If you were, I might spare you”


With that, the ashen sky was blown away by cyclone like winds, revealing a massive airship, made from brass, aluminium, and steel, with its 8 searchlights illuminating the charred ground, with an equal number of 10 inch guns turrets standing by. Without hesitation, the Shadow disappeared, and Orion could only watch as fire and smoke began billowing out from the front of the airship. Within it, the Shadow was tearing the crew to shreds, destroying the controls. From below, the airship began to tilt forwards, and gained speed while losing height; until it slammed into the ground roughly 500 metres from the open area, into a dense, if somewhat burned forest of trees. Most of them splintered, too weak from fire to do much, but there was enough ,that the airship was pierced, and exploded in a fireball intense enough that Orion had to look away for a moment… he saw the shadows around him begin to return, and from the wreckage of the airship, came the monster.


“As I said… this is not your domain”


Orion, however, had moved to protect his father, seeing the rise and fall of his chest. Sure, he was an asshole, but he was not the type to abandon his friends, let alone his family. He stood between him and the monster, blocking their path.


“If you want the cripple alive, then so be it”


A tendril lashed out, which Orion was able to avoid… but it slammed into his father, and impaled his heart. The steady rise and fall of his chest stopped… and yet, he got up, and punched Orion in the face.


“You are not my son”


Orion’s eyes burned, illuminating the face of his father as he began to decay in front of him… His tail lashed out, wrapping around his throat.


“Go ahead. Kill me. End my life, like you did with your sickness”
“NO”


Orion released his father, who hit him again, sending Orion reeling backwards. He glanced over to the shadowy creature, watching the spectacle, and hissed, baring his teeth.


“You may have been an asshole in life, but you are still my father. I cannot kill you”


His opponent began laughing… looking down upon his son, kneeling in the blackened dirt.

“I already told you, you are not my son. He is dead… killed by you”
“Then what do you make of this?”


The landscape around them changed, morphing from a charred battleground into a small bedroom, with Orion sitting on his bed, his human body his once more, sitting next to his father. He was holding an Xbox 360 controller… with a game running in the background on a relatively small television, a musky smell permeating the air from a teenage boy who never opened the window to let in fresh air. The shadowy figure was nowhere to be seen, yet the hole in his father’s chest remained. He looked down, seeing the hole, and looked back to his son, who was very much human, a far cry from what he had become.


“Orion… it can’t be”
“Yes, it can”


Despite the game, Orion dropped the controller, and hugged his father… who returned the sentiment.


“So… am I dead?”
“Very dead”
“Is this the afterlife?”
“No, you were already in it. I just… pulled you out temporarily”
“I… have been watching you, I think. Despite everything, I am proud of you. Despite what you have become, you remain the same, unchanging”
“Well, I wouldn’t say that. Parts of how I act have”
“But even before all of the current madness, I am proud of what you were doing. Not what I had thought. Then again, no one expected you to fly an aircraft on your own”
“Roxie did”
“… I should ask… why do I have a hole in my chest, and my head feel like it’s cracked open?”
“I think the latter is because of how you died. Brain haemorrhage… I visited you in hospital, along with the rest of our family, though I am not sure if you were aware of our presence. The hole in your chest, has to do with a personal demon”
“Ok…”
“It was nice talking with you again”


Orion released the hug, with blue fire in his eyes.


“But I have got issues to deal with. I meant what I said though. I cannot kill you… did you mean what I said?”
“I have seen what you have become, a winged black creature. I don’t approve of it, to say the least”
“Then you know I have been contacted by an alien race, which is responsible for my rapid change”
“No… I was not”


The landscape began flickering, and Orion’s father began looking around, worried, seeing the burning wreckage of the airship behind where the screen should be… and still in front of it, the shadowy creature, with a bloody tendril impaled through a still beating heart. He knew it was his.


“I am sorry… but you cannot save me”
“I know”
“Then you know what you must do”
“Defeat my own demons, then the Hive… make sure my fate, and the fate of many others, is prevented from affecting others”
“But you know what you need to do. Do it. Heh, I never took you for a generous sort.”
“I never had anything to give… up until now”


The illusion finally faded, and Orion was again standing, facing his father, with his inner demon personified next to them, their now pulsating tendril still connected to his father’s heart. His father lashed out again, but Orion dodged it this time, sidestepped, and sliced through the tendril, which began spraying blood everywhere. His father, however, keeled over and collapsed, as Orion crushed the stopped heart… which exploded underneath his foot. The shadows around the figure began moving more erratically, having seemingly enraged the shadow for killing it’s puppet. Orion, seeing this, had enough of the charade, and began summoning another creation. A bloody tendril lashed out at him, knocking him to the ground, disrupting his summon temporarily. He remained on the ground, and continued his work, as the shadow slowly stalked towards him, two tendrils wrapping around Orion’s body, pinning him in place. It was unaware of the fire in the sky above it, but Orion looked up, and saw it… and began laughing.


“You are defeated… yet you laugh. Why?”
“I told you earlier, this is not your domain”


As he said that, the heat intensified, as the burning object from the sky got closer to the ground. The Airship before, was not entirely Orion’s doing. This spiteful demon had only picked a place where they had the most control, a forgotten steam punk story. Orion looked away, as the shell impacted the ground 100 metres from their position, the dirt glazing slightly around the crater. He felt the tendrils pull on him, and then release, as the demon was blown away from the force of the impact. Orion, already on the ground, was able to remain in place, and stand up to watch his opponent slam into the ground 50 metres away from the crater, and any trees within a 200 metre radius of the crater were obliterated from the shockwave and rolling fire.


“It’s mine”


Orion did not need to turn around, fully aware of what had been dropped into the crater. Orion’s opponent, the messenger, picked them up from the ground upon hearing Orion’s comment, and looked back towards the crater. He watched as a machine of immense proportions trundled out over the mound of dirt, with what looked similar to 21st century naval gun mounted on the top… and let out a gasp as the turret turned to aim at them.


“Concede”
“… I shall never surrender to the likes of you, mutant freak”


Orion had his hand raised, clenching his hand into a fist, holding the tank’s fire… but he dropped it, and it fired 3 separate high explosive shells towards the shadow. It just… disappeared, and reappeared next to Orion. He wasted no time in engaging the shadow, as some troops began piling out of the armoured vehicle, advanced weapons and armour on show. They remained near the tank, but the 6 or so who had gotten out were aiming at the shadow, waiting for Orion to get clear.


“You think a few soldiers can stop me now?”
“Alone, no… I am still here and still breathing”


Orion caught the Shadow off guard by running towards him, and tackling him to the ground, bringing the blade of his tail to the creature’s neck. He was blasted back by air, and the shadow stood up… but Orion, now in the air, ascended, then dive bombed the shadow. While he was on approach, the squad opened fire, riddling the shadow with bullet holes. They saw Orion’s approach, and ceased fire, while Orion watched the bullet holes inside the shadow close over. However, he heard the shadow’s laboured breathing… their shots had hurt them.


“Concede”
“… NEVER”


A bloody tendril lashed out, spearing Orion in the chest, and coming out the other side. Blue luminescent blood began spilling out of the hole, albeit extremely slowly. The shadow went to pull his tendril out of Orion’s chest, but he held on, and instead, the shadow pulled Orion towards him, as he summoned his blade in his right, while holding the tendril in his chest with a death grip.


“This is where you die”
“… No”


Orion raised his blade, as a second tendril lanced towards it to block the blow, his tail whipped around, and cut through the tendril embedded in his chest, disconnecting it from the shadow. He grimaced as he moved out of the way of a third tendril, with a razor sharp edge, coming from the side. He was able to jump over it, but the hole in his leg, although smaller, was still hurt, and he grunted in pain when he landed. The shadow began chuckling in a low pitch, getting louder as Orion staggered as he landed, ending up on one knee again.


“Now, will you accept your fate, and just die?”
“… Not gonna happen”


Orion fell flat, falling to his right, giving the squad, and the tank, a clear shot. All 6 soldiers and the mounted MG on the tank fired in full automatic… the automatic rifles and machine guns ripping into the shadow. The rounds exposed the Shadow’s pulsating core, where the tendrils originated from, and only then did the tank’s main gun fire again, ripping apart the shadow for good, and sending Orion flying towards them from the force of the explosion. He was too badly injured now to control his flight, and slammed into the tank, knocking him unconscious.




“Is he OK?”
“How the hell did he injure his leg and chest like that?”
“Couldn’t have done it with anything in here… nor do I take him for the type of person who would self-harm”
“So what do we do with him?”
“Stop him… oh. Right”


From Rachael’s perspective, she could see no way that Orion would have caused such harm to himself. With her was Julian, who was supposed to be getting the newest arrivals as ready as possible for the launch, first starting with equipment. Orion’s blood had pooled, and soaked somewhat into the soft grey carpet. Julian seemed concerned, if only because Orion was a major asset to their cause, and was needed for the assault to work as they had planned. The sun was setting, orange light streaming through the open blinds.


However, he saw an odd shape in the distance, as he was looking out over NASA’s facilities… it was in the air. It didn’t look like a normal aircraft, not one of human origin… but nor did it look like something of Hive origin. If anything, it looked like it had some sort of… scale-like plating, long black horn looking protrusions, and fire spewing from multiple places. Not green, blue, or purple… just plain old fire, seemingly holding the craft aloft. As he watched, the craft got closer, and lower to the ocean, flying low enough that water was spraying up around the craft, in a sort of vortex around the entire craft. Inside, however, were two draconians from the Harmony. He got Rachael’s attention and the rest of those awake at the same time.


“What the hell is that?”
“It isn’t the Hive, different armour. Looks like it’s a dark red/marron colour”
“Some sort of living reptilian transport ship… thing?”
“Dragon, maybe”


Mark walked into the room, took one look at the craft, and recognised the design.


“No, it’s Draconian. I saw their fleet, motley as it is, and hidden from the Hive within Jupiter. That is from the Harmony, the Draconian flagship of the fleet”
“Wait; is there more than just draconians up there?”
“I have spoken too much as it is”
“Do you think they are coming for all of us?”
“No, just three… their pet project”
“Hold on a minute Harbinger. The Draconians, a second alien race, is hiding within Jupiter, and has sent an envoy down?”


James seemed to focus for a moment, searching the skies, and finding the life forms of three non-human creatures… that did not match any local life he knew of… all of which were clustered together, and approaching at high speed.


“3, not just the one… and they are coming right for us, at high speed”
“The latter we already knew”
“Shari, by what I can see, it will get here in less than a minute… and it is over 50 kilometres away”
“Use imperial, damn it”
*Sigh* “roughly 30 nautical miles”
“Oh… that fast”


As Mark said that, the craft disappeared from the visible spectrum. Rachael and Julian both got immediate responses from a nearby radar station… they too had lost any indication of the fast moving transport. At the same time, Orion, James, and Mark began to dematerialise, just as the unknown transport had. The others could only watch on as the three most powerful changelings had been taken to god knows where.


Or, in this case, Mark and James, as they reappeared inside the cargo hold of the transport… it was bigger than Mark had estimated with his sensors, intended for use in space at long range. And standing in front of them was Ghost, finally in the flesh, who was kneeling down next to Orion’s body. He looked up, staring through Mark’s visor.


“What caused this?”
“I have no idea. It might have been caused by some weird as dream or something. Although how it affected him here is a different matter, one that you might know, Ghost”
“Oh, right. Echo, surprisingly, is the most advanced out of you two… taking the most amount of time to develop your unusual, yet shared abilities. Just think of what he could be capable of”
“You seem to have forgotten the fact that my friend is dying”
“That is where you are incorrect, young one”
“I am just as old as Orion; in fact, I am one year older… technically”
“But are you any wiser? He has seen things even I cannot begin to comprehend… his dreams and nightmares show him more than any organic, let alone machine, can see”


James pushed the draconian out of the way, and they made no move to return to their position. James checked Orion’s pulse, and then his breathing… both was normal. And the holes in his chest and thigh, had both healed, no longer oozing blood like they were before. He stood, and turned to Mark, a person he thought was an intergalactic alien, with a seemingly odd attraction to his cousin, with the amount of times they had crossed paths.


“Well, Orion’s alive”
“And you know that how?”
“I was born into a household with a doctor and a nurse for parents. It would be difficult for me not to pick up on some basic medical skills with them, had they not gotten me to take a first aid course”


Mark removed his helmet, twisting it to the side and pulling it up, revealing his dark brown hair, and unnaturally pale skin from being underneath that armour for so long. James didn’t quite realise that all three of them had once been normal, but Mark removing his helmet dispelled his doubt.


“Huh, so you were not always an alien warrior”


Mark ignored James’s comment, and turned to the Draconian, with a face full of curiosity at what these Draconians were truly capable of.


“I take it you are the one responsible for our strange difference from the ones affected by the Hive”
“We… induced your change. You two let it happen quickly. Orion did not”
“I have one more question for you”
“Go ahead, Mark. Make my day”
“Are we more powerful than our creators?”
“Jul… I mean yes”


As he answered that, the smell of fire and smoke wafting through the cabin awoke Orion. He looked down, seeing himself unharmed, but felt the wounds he had taken within his nightmare. He looked towards his friends, and then towards the one he knew as Ghost.


“I take it we’re inside a transport or something… but why take us now? And what is your name?”
“Ghost”
“That is not your name. That is the name you took because I thought you were something I created”
*Sigh* “You are right, but I swear we had a similar conversation like this before”
“Yeah, well I don’t care. If we did, you didn’t give me any indication of your true name”
“To answer your first question, this is an Orbital shuttle craft from the Harmony, if you remember me talking about that. We lost contact with you, when you went into your dream state… when you fell asleep, after crying, kneeling on the floor”
“You thought I needed help… you underestimate me”
“In a sense, you did need help. Something is wrong inside of your mind, when compared to others of your species”
“My current one or the one I was born as?”
“Your thought pattern, the way you think, has not changed due to our influence”


James butted in, before Orion could respond.


“Explain his bloodlust towards his captors”
“He was trapped for two years, tested, questioned, tortured, and almost killed on numerous occasions. You think that wouldn’t affect him? Humans have broken with less effort from their captors”
“And Orion hasn’t”
“He has, but… differently”
“I’m sitting right here, you know”
“Sorry”
“You think I got PTSD or something?”
“PTSD, wait… oh crap”


James began running through his head the symptoms of PTSD, thinking about the various forms it could manifest itself… and nightmares was one of them. He was interrupted by Ghost, who was confused.


“PTSD is an acronym, but for what?”
“Post-traumatic stress disorder… soldiers can get it from combat, among other notable causes. I didn’t know the extent of their abuse of my cousin… torture alone would cause it”
“But here is where the problem begins. It doesn’t revolve around his captors. It revolves around his father, deceased”
“Oh… right. I already knew about that. Why the hell didn’t I think about that?”
“Your dad is dead?”
“Mark, he has been like that for roughly 4 years now”
“Never mind that; Orion, when did the nightmares start?”
“3 years ago, roughly when I was finishing grade 12”
“PTSD can have an immediate effect, or kick in later… well crap. And you never told anyone?”
“I passed it off as bad nightmares, sudden episodes of reliving the past, and affecting my thoughts, did not occur. Until now”
“It seems to be triggered by stimuli…”
“Actually, now that I think about it… whenever I hear songs from my childhood, or just things that remind me of a time when he was still alive, my thoughts go to him”


Orion trailed off, and began looking out the window again, lost in thought. James turned him back around, and watched as Orion’s eyes refocused on his cousin.


“Ok, that’s a good sign”
“I was thinking about him”
“Do you miss him?”
“Of course, he may have abused me in my younger years, but he was still my father”
“Still is”
“You forget the fact that he is 100% dead. I went to his funeral, and saw the coffin, with the body inside, waiting to be cremated. I watched him die in hospital, slowly, as his higher level thoughts just slowly failed, sapped away by the clot in his brain”
“Sorry, just a translation error, my condolences to your deceased father”
“I am over it; he wasn’t the first to die in my family”
“And yet, you said your nightmares have revolved around this shadowy messenger, with your father trapped inside of the swirling blackness. Nothing about your grandparents”
“The ones alive are on my father’s side of the family”
“It’s uncommon for them to live longer than their children, unless it is during wartime. And even then”
“So… back to the matter at hand… who are you, Ghost?”
*Sigh* “I had hoped you would stop asking”
“Well?”
“Now I am curious about you… damn it Orion”
“Well, it’s the first alien I have seen, apart from the vanguard with their troop deployments. First one willing to talk, at the very least”
“Did you forget? My name is Luc”
“Sorry, I was having a bit of an episode when you said that… I think”
“Overall commander of the alien coalition fleet, stationed within Jupiter’s gas cloud. The Harmony, a battleship in your tongue, is mine to command”


Orion stopped looking outside suddenly, and whipped back around, facing Luc.


“What is the messenger? Who are they brining a message from?”
“Only you know the answer to the questions you ask”
“You know more than you let on Luc, you always have”
“Doesn’t mean you are worth telling, or that I know the information. The latter is the case, so don’t bother continuing”
“There is a little thing humans call lying, deception, ruses”


Mark stopped looking at James, and turned to Luc, his eyes staring directly into theirs.


“Many of our military tactics have revolved around spreading misinformation, among other things”


James was last to comment, realising what the other two were doing. He too, turned to Luc, and spoke up about the withheld information.


“And sometimes, humans lie so often that they can make money out of it”
“Do you understand what we are implying?”
“All I am doing is withholding information from you, for your own good”
“We”
“Don’t”
“Care”
“Fine, you want to know what I was keeping from you. The fact that there is an advanced group for the main fleet”
“Wasn’t that the vanguard?”
“If so, we already dealt with it”
“No… what you call the vanguard was one, in comparison to the fleet they brought against Drack, my home world, and capital of the Draconian empire. But it is not “the” Vanguard of the combined Hive fleet. Hundreds, if not thousands of civilisations have been… integrated, into their horde. Those that did not, or could not… their planets burned”
“Oh”
“… I’m sorry”
“Now you see why I withheld it? Earth faces the same fate as Drack… fire and death raining from the sky. The Varian, the Boron, the Carrack, and the Invar… are just some of the survivors of the Hive onslaught. There were more, at one point”
“We are not facing an equal, which much was clear from the start”
“But how can we fight a foe… that outnumbers us 100 to one, with ships to our population?”
“…This is not a war. This is not survival… this is an mass murder, extinction, genocide”
“Well put. If we cannot hold the Hive in orbit, as far away as possible from earth, your planet, and everyone on it, is doomed”


As if he was remembering something important, Orion stopped for a moment, and looked away for a second, then back at Luc.


“You were lying to me. Who, or what, is the messenger?”
“I had hoped you would have forgotten about that…”
“Tell me. I need to know the creature that haunts my nightmares”


Orion… blinked forwards, like before, and wrapped his tail around Luc, pinning his arms in place, as he lifted him up, away from the floor.


“Tell. Me”
“Orion, please… we need him alive”


Orion began growling, softly, and only Luc could hear it, because he was so close. It was low, and menacing, and if he could have, Luc would have put as much distance between himself and this creature as possible. But, as quickly as it started, it stopped, and the fire in Orion’s eyes dimmed, if only a little.


“You will tell me what I need to know, before I release you. Who is the messenger?”
“All I know, and even that is conjecture, unproven… is that the messenger is one of our gods. That or they are a mythological being, beyond our understanding. I was planning on taking you three to the harmony, where all of Draconian knowledge and culture, or what’s left of it, is stored”


Orion released Luc, who landed on their feet, and looked over each of their species creations.


“If it means anything to you, I am sorry for what the Draconians had to do to you… I was a part of the decision to select three of you, and I made sure you were all connected, either by family or otherwise”
“That changes nothing. I am still a freak. But… that does not mean I am without mercy”
*Sigh* “I could think of worse things to do to a person. Human history has many torture and execution methods”
“Mark, Orion meant that this is one of the worst fates a human being can have, cursed to live in another body”
“Speak for yourself, I like this form”


Orion looked over to Mark, staring into his eyes.


“Tell me that you would want your mother to be affected by this, and turned into a hideous monster, bloated, festering, and clearly in pain”
“… No, I would not. But nor are you, or anyone else you know, like what you just described”
“Perhaps not… but the Hive would be more than willing. That is the only reason I spare you, Draconian. The lesser of two evils”
“If you are finished… we will be breaching the earth’s upper aether limit soon. Once we are clear, you can send a message back to cape Kennedy and to NASA, by extension”
“So that’s what it’s called…”


Orion moved back to a window, and Luc headed back up to the bridge of the small transport.  James moved to follow him, while Mark headed to the opposite side…


“SPACE”
“Damn it Mark”
“IM IN SPACE”
“Weren’t you in space earlier, doing recon?”
“SPACE”
“Orion, I don’t think he cares…”
“MOON”
“… SPACE”
“Why are you getting involved in this?”


James looked over to Orion, and saw him smiling, as he looked out of the clear window, towards Earth.


“Have you ever realised how small we are? Spending our entire lives on that blue rock down there? There are millions, perhaps billions more planets out there… and consider again, the scale of us. To the universe, we are but ants, tiny and insignificant”


As he said that, he made a sweeping gesture to point at all the stars, thousands of light-years away, which he was referring to. James followed his arm, following what Orion was saying, but not quite comprehending what he meant. He remained silent, looking out into the stars through the fading blue of the atmosphere, and looked back to Orion, who was waiting for him to do so.


“And almost every star you see is all in our galaxy, each with its own set of planets, asteroids, and moons. Imagine what lies beyond?”
“More stars”
“More, of everything, not just stars. If the Draconians, Invar, Boron, Carrack, and Varian thrive in our galaxy, what else lies beyond our reach?”
“SUN”
“Mark, the sun is over… here. Shit”


As Orion said that, a flaming ball of rock and gas slammed into the side of the transport, knocking it sideways… and yet the hull was undamaged. After about 10 seconds, a voice, Luc, came through the intercom.


“Passengers, there is nothing to worry about, just a stray comet running into our shields. They are still up. Even if it did get through, our armour would have warded it off easily”


It clicked off again, leaving the three Draconian experiments wary of everything.


“Well, I did say there was more everything up here”
“And that included comets?”
“Space is not without its dangers; The Hive is one such danger”
“And regardless of anything… oh”


On the left side of the transport, where James and Orion were looking out, they passed by the ISS. If James looked hard enough, he could make out people staring back at the alien spacecraft. Looking back at Orion, he saw him in a slight trance, his thoughts elsewhere. In the bridge, the three Draconians, the two pilots and Luc, were busy contacting the ISS, and broadcasting a message to the entire crew, compromised of varied nationalities from Earth.


“Do not be alarmed. We are leaving the gravity well of this planet, and do not have any hostile intent for the human race… you’ve got enough problems as it is”
“Unidentified spacecraft, this is the International Space Station. State your intentions, or be destroyed”
*Click*
“Rather violent, the human race... I am detecting various weapons mounted onto the station, with combustion based engines to compensate for the recoil that would otherwise deorbit the station. Their weapons are tracking us”
“Damn”
*Click”
“ISS, this is a Transport of the Harmony, the Butane, and our intentions are to leave Earth. We came, and observed. That is all”
“Butane, the Harmony… you’re a Draconian ship. You were here for a reason”
“To assess the defences of earth and their capability to protect against orbital shock troops, and bombardment”
“… and?”
“For the former, you have the population, and the weapons, to do it. For the latter… are you the only defensive platform in geosynchronous orbit?”
“No, there are three others, all placed with angles to cover each other in case of one falling. We can defend with two, if it comes to it. Not to mention, purpose modified nuclear missiles, to engage and destroy any craft that get through… roughly 6000 of those, all across the globe”
“Better than some other planets I have assessed. But it will not be enough. The Harmony has orders to eliminate as many of the Hive as possible, before they get in range of Earth. If all goes to plan, you will never need to fire a shot”
“And if it doesn’t?”
“Then pray to whatever god or deity you worship, because if we cannot slow the hive, they will conquer Earth”
*Click*


Orion regained his focus on his surroundings, and detailed Luc’s conversation to James and Mark. Their mouths dropped when they heard of the councils plans.


“Being defensive will not stop the hive, it will barely slow them down”
“I faced them, remember? I know our odds”
“What about ground forces?”
“If I was an interstellar empire, why would I worry about ground forces? In modern combat, to secure the skies is to secure much needed support. Space is the same, only it has the same importance as Naval dominance once did… big damn guns on target”
“Crap”
“Damn right”
*Click*
“Attention passengers, please return to your seats, and buckle up. We are beginning our charge sequence for a localised wormhole projector”
*Click*
“These aliens are more advanced than I thought”


Orion sat down, the seats almost designed for him. James found the seats too large for a human, while Mark, in his armour, simply held onto something solid, a part of the frame of the Butane.


“You too Mark, I would rather not have to deal with half a tonne of metal flying into the side of the ship”
“Alright then”


He let go of the frame, and sat down on his side, fitting his helmet onto his armour once more. Orion, seeing this, summoned James’s Spartan armour once more, and got a small facemask for himself.


“How the hell does that work, when there is no air to breathe?”
“Do not question how it works, just know that it does.  This turns carbon dioxide into fresh air, albeit somewhat stale.


Orion’s voice was somewhat muffled by the black facemask, but it then created a see through helmet, providing a large amount of vision, but preventing his echolocation from working properly. James sighed, and went back to looking out the window, and the ISS. Now that he knew, he could see the weapons mounted onto rather new additions, which were only now turning away from their transport. As he watched, he saw the edges of a rip in space, appear in front of the craft. He was unable to speak as incredible amounts of acceleration pulled them in, and then there was nothing. No sound… no light… not even space dust outside the craft.
“So this is the warp… darker than I expected”


Mark replied to Orion, having created his own ships and FTL travel methods for his personal fighter craft.


“This warp is based off of wormholes… mine is based off of black holes, if you remember Orion”
“I do, vaguely. I thought it was a weapon?”
“I never ended up giving you a copy of the full story of Harbinger then”
*Click*
“ETA to the Harmony… 30 seconds”
*Click*
“Damn, that is fast”
“My question is… how are they going to slow down? The way I thought how FTL would work is that you have to slow down somehow, with retro firing rockets, or turning the ship around in transit”
“This tech we do not understand, we may not have any velocity when we emerge, or we may have the same amount prior to entering the wormhole”
“Either way”


With a sudden jolt, the Butane began decelerating, flinging all of those within the cargo bay towards the front of the bay. Had Mark not buckled up prior to entering the wormhole, he would have been flung through the ship’s hull, and out into space, venting the rest of the cargo bay along with him. Everyone, including the Draconians, could feel the massive deceleration from the warp, and the Draconians silently thanked the god of flight, Scrim, for their safe passage through the warp. In front of them, was a small portion of the Combined Alien fleet, currently a hive of activity with the return of the Butane, and their cargo? They were barely 30 kilometres away, yet the gasses of Jupiter greatly obscured their vision. In the cargo hold, Orion was looking out into the swirling mess of gas, and realised where they were.


“You mentioned spotting the combined fleet. Mark?”
“Yes… why?”
“How the hell did you spot them through this thick gas?”
“How are we not paste right now as well… Jupiter’s gravity may be less than the sun, but we should be getting pulled in right now”
“I can answer both simply: ALIENS. They were not within the cloud when I found them, and their advanced tech allows them to mitigate the worst of the gravity pull… at least on their smaller capital ships, and fighters”
“I see only small silhouettes in the distance… the destroyers and light cruisers?”
“The heavier ships are probably beyond Jupiter, in orbit around Saturn or some other planet. Well within range, however, to jump in on the trap the CAF has set here”
*Click*
“Huh, the Harmony is not here…”
*Click*


And as they had on Earth, all on board the Butane felt the pull of the engines, as they went to full power to escape from within Jupiter. The engines kicked to life, and the Draconian pilots began their controlled ascent towards their updated meeting point. Partially due to the mass of the planet they were inside and also because their wormhole projector required recharging, it would take longer than they had originally anticipated. Through the gas cloud, 2 Varian fighters emerged; they looked an awful lot like deep sea squids, with 8 tendrils tightly pulled around, and shrouding the engine exhaust, to escort the Butane to the Harmony. It was clear they were armed as well, as 8 glowing power lines, coming from the engine, extended from the tips of the tentacles, to converge at a point at the front of the craft, where a curious dish was mounted on a gimbal, not accounting for any additional weaponry stored within the craft.


From within the Cargo bay, all those inside could barely see the light through the thick gas. From the bridge, the pilots and Luc could see the craft only by localised radar, not usually intended for use within such a soup of gasses, making the image somewhat distorted. The hail they received from the flight leader, however, was they were there only to provide an escort to the rest of the fleet. The pilots, still somewhat wary of their temporary allies, could not do much to prevent their escort, so accepted it. And they too began their burn to escape from within Jupiter. The pilots watched, as slowly but surely, the three craft began to pull away from the mass of Jupiter, and pushed towards the exterior of Jupiter, pushing gases unknown to them out of the way.


“So, what do we do now?”
“What can we do, James? We were kidnapped by aliens, and are millions of kilometres from earth, perhaps more”
“We could try to do a hostile takeover of this vessel, and return to earth”
“I know you’re the Harbinger, and his armour was designed to take on fleets… but you never specified how big. And no matter what else, there is a limit to how much firepower you can pack onto a large human sized armoured suit”
“That may be so, but you know what you are capable of. You could easily summon a small fighter, as could I”
“Between the three of us, we might be able to take out one destroyer… and then what?”
“We… die”
“We continue fighting”
“Whatever the case, we have a long trip ahead of us. The hive is a threat to our families, and everything we know and love”
“South Korea”
“Lego”
“The outdoors… there is something for all of us to live for. And I know what we all just said was not everything”
“… Family”
“I share that sentiment”
“Exactly… we are here to defend Earth, not because we were asked to, but because we care, and we can take on the Hive. We have all done it before, and come out on top”
“Maybe, but not here… not in space”
“Speak for yourself, James. I can. Orion can”
“And did you not hear before? Humans are more resourceful than they let on. We have had two years of planning to prepare for the invasion. 2 years to develop weapons and armour to block their weaponry, and to advance our own. If I had to take a guess, the ISS had rail guns and EMP missiles ready to fire at us”
“And 2 years to probe you and the rest of those affected by the Hive for information, and how to reproduce the effects”
“Who knows, maybe they have invested into genetic engineering?”
“You should, Mark. You don’t operate under normal rules and regulations”
“Believe me, the truth should not be known by anyone. You are right; I know more than I am willing to tell you”
“I don’t know about you James…”
“But the three of us are not just anyone. Not anymore”
*Sigh* “If you really wish to know… there are a few corporations, some with military contracts, or promises of one, who have used the remnants of the Rivet, the carrier that we destroyed, and their notes on modifying the human race”
“Ok… how does this affect us?”
“Some of them, such as a new start-up company called General Medical, were more successful than others. In the case of GM, they have developed, and released to the general public, a series of vaccines to various, previously incurable diseases, and issues”
“Let me continue this one Mark. Clean water, food, and sanitation for those living in third world countries… all thanks to GM”
“Before you continue, tell me this. General Medical, who are they? Where did they start?”
“Exactly as the name sounds, General Medical researches, develops, and distributes medical aid, for a price. And believe it or not, it started up in Australia, taking researchers who had worked on various projects, all experts in their fields”
“Damn. How do you know they are working with genetics?”
“Genetics is but one of their projects that I have come across. The way they intended to use it, is to create some sort of micro-organisms. But… they also took a military contract”
“That’s common knowledge, although it is not known what for”
“Not to me. Lived under a rock for the last two years, remember?”
“Moving on… their contract was to perform tests on humans with a modified version of their micro-organisms… where they create a symbiotic relationship with their host”
“This can’t end well”
“It doesn’t. I will not say how”
“Aw, come on Mark, I want to know”
“James… I don’t think it’s worth it. I can guess as to how it ends, given how it has been kept so secret”
“But”
“To be honest, it’s better that you don’t know… instead of biology, most military’s have developed their own armoured EXO-suits, along with rail guns, all based on Hive weapons… and improved on their designs. Despite the Hive studying us for years, they have nothing, no information on us that we know of”
“Well, that is something”
“We should get some rest; it is going to be a long trip to the meeting point”
“Agreed”


The rest of the flight was uneventful, once the barrier of gas was broken. The Butane had to limit its thrust from atmospheric launch to impulse, making their use of nuclear fuel more efficient… but the more conventional fuel they used to break through the gas was almost spent, they had not intended to go so long without refuel. And meanwhile, in the now dimly lit cargo bay, three humans, forever affected by the Draconian experiments, awaited an unknown fate aboard the Harmony. However, it was not so peaceful around Earth.



“Attention unidentified vessel, you are infringing upon human controlled space. Burn retro, and return from where you came from, or you will be fired upon”


The Earth Defence grid, the 4 armed stations protecting earth, saw the incoming ships on their screens. They knew about the Hive fleet, but were not aware of the Vanguard. A Vanguard of transport ships, bound for earth. And among the tip of the spear, were three of the Hive’s original ships, the type they made from their own flesh and blood. Completely organic, save for their weapons, these ships showed cosmetic damage from numerous battles, charred flesh and scorched armour, with bullet, laser, and explosions marking most of the ship’s hulls… these ships were legendary amongst the rest of the Hive fleet, and should be more than enough to crush the stations in orbit around Earth… should. The commander of the Vanguard, an officer like the captain on board the Rivet carrier, spoke to his second in command.


“Pitiful humans… they are not worthy of a reply”
“We attack them when they are not expecting it. They know not of the Vanguard fleet”
“Good… very good… we attack. Prepare the troops for planet fall; tell them to go through any openings we make”


Meanwhile, at Cape Kennedy, senior members of NASA mission control were being grilled by the council of nations, who were questioning why the Vanguard was not responded to earlier. They replied plainly, stating a lack of support from the council to perform a pre-emptive strike on the vanguard, despite clear evidence one did exist, and was a light-year ahead of the main task force.


“What shall you do, Houston?”
“The only thing we can do. Prepare to launch, and eliminate them. What are you going to do?”