Chapter 34

"All the war propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting."

~ George Orwell

“Traitor!!” Queen Lithanul shouted as her skin turned a bright red, spitting on the floor in front of the bloodied Sumerian. “Youuuu… laugh in your ancestors’ faces by talking with these……things!!!”

“No, my Queen.” Enki wiped the blue blood from his lips as he attempted to stand once again. “It is you who have betrayed the people of the galaxy! You will finally, after all these years, get justice!!”

“Who? Meeee???” her skin turned different shades of green as she began to laugh hysterically. “AAHHH HAHA HA HA AHHA HAHA.” Her laughing continued to grow louder and more intense as Enki stood to his feet and faced her, unphased by her insane laughing. “Me?? HA HAA AHH HAHAHA.” Her skin went from a bright green to a dark crimson as she quickly took her blade and shoved it in Enki’s chest before he could process her insanely quick emotion change. “This. Is justice, you elongated pig!!” she twisted the blade as she lifted him up off the ground, the weight of the Sumerian resting solely on the blade, ripping his insides like a shredder. “This is justice!! For my brothers and sisters on Almora. How dare you talk about justice!!”

She threw the nearly dead admiral to the ground and jumped on top of him, straddling his groin with hers, blade in hand, performing sexual acts as she bends down and licks his wounds while her skin rotates an orange, red, green color. “Mmmmmm, I’ve always enjoyed Sumerian blood. I call it, blue delight!” She momentarily stopped her pelvic grinding while looking right in his eyes, smiling so largely then just as quickly, her eyes turned to fire. Her skin turned a bright crimson, she gripped the blade with both hands and began to stab the defenseless admiral over and over violently.

“This!” Stab.

“Is!” Stab.

“For!” Stab.

“Al-!“Stab.

“Mor-!“Stab.

“Ahhhhhh!” She shoved the final blade in between his eyes, twisting the blade left and right, ripping all life from the brown-skinned alien known as Admiral Enki of the Sumerian Imperial Navy.

“Disgusting!” Her skin turned back to its natural shade of blue as she stood up from the mangled corpse. “Dinner is served.” She threw the blade towards one of the Mordechai guards, who did not hesitate. He quickly ran to the Sumerian corpse and devoured it within minutes.

“Ha! Look at them, clueless!” the Queen exclaimed loudly to whoever would hear her, watching the screen in front of her of a group of humans, plotting against her majesty’s wishes. She had an undisrupted view of the entire cell block, every prisoner, every movement.

“You were right, my Queen,” a male Almorian stated, emotionless, while watching the feed with the Queen. In the Almoran culture, the females are the most dominant of the two sexes, especially since biological reproduction was no longer possible. Almorians tampered with the genetic code to make themselves immortal, but as an unintended side effect, they all became sterile, unable to reproduce in any possible way. The women of the elite saw the male survivors as tools, built to suit their needs. Males were hunted and eradicated after the sterilization, but the select few who survived were picked by the elite women who used them for cleaning, maintenance, and sexual pleasures. Several hundred thousand years ago, males were often thought of as scum slaves, now they are golden treasures for the select few who seek them out.

Male Almorian skin does not change color with emotion, one of the main features that made them so repulsive. Male Almorian skin is always a shade of blue. This could be, it is speculated, because males do not have any emotions to show. Genetically, Almorian males have been reported to be the most logical and emotionless species in the galaxy. Women of the culture hated that they could not easily read the thoughts of the males so, desperate, they started a genocidal rampage roughly four millennia ago. Almorian women may not be as tough as a Minmoran, but their minds make them a dangerous adversary.

“Just as predictable as ever!” the Queen glowed bright blue.

“What’s the plan?” her slave asked, curious.

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“Look! It started already.” She pointed to the screen as the Mordechai guards start to fight, while one of them murders the other.

“That…. was not expected,” the Queen chuckled, not caring at all of the fate of the lizards. “Next, they break out of their prisons, rather easily!” Her smile grew wider as the events played out right in front of her eyes. Bouncing up and down her, skin became a vibrant light mix of purple and red.

“Then they head to their ship, which so conveniently happens to be here!” The Queen nearly giggled with joy while clapping her hands in excitement.

“Curious,” the male said. “How did they procure weapons?”

“What!!!” she turned white, a mix of emotions running through her as she saw clothes, armor, and weapons materialize from nothing. “That Sumerian pig must have helped them. Just as well, further hastens the plan.”

“Breach!! Breach!! Breach!!!” Major Thomson shouted out as his team flawlessly executed a tactic to bust through the final door of their journey. It didn’t take the elite special forces team long to move from the prison cells to where the WarpStar was apparently located. The major and the captain both thought it was way too coincidental, a thought that needed to be examined at a later time. Recapturing the WarpStar was a top priority.

The ship was guarded only by three beasts and two lizards, which were easy pickings for the elite members of the Federation’s 31st Division. Clearing the room, John stared at the marvel of the small ship just sitting there, daring the group to claim their prize. The WarpStar was rarely seen from the outside, and in such close proximity, they could touch her. Everyone was stunned, in awe of the mighty Destroyer.

The damage was apparent from first glance. Engine number two was falling apart in pieces, a few sections of the hull were missing from plasma impacts. As John got to the outside access hatch, he held his hand on the outside of the hull, taking in the textile feel of his creation from the outside for the first time.

“Sir!” the major shouted, trying to grab the attention of the WarpStar’s commanding officer.

“Oh, yes,” John snapped back to reality, found the control panel, and inputted his command codes, which instantly unlocked the hatch and allowed a ramp to fold down granting access to the Destroyer.

“Perhaps we made this too easy, my Queen,” the male commented as he watched intently on the screen as the humans recaptured the ship.

“Perhaps. But no matter, they took the bait. It’s time, prep the ship,” she ordered to no one, yet Mel’Nar and her slave both marched out of the observation room.

The trip through the ship to the Bridge was uneventful, easy. As they passed through each section of the destroyer, the lights came on from the motion detection systems. Emergency and auxiliary power was being routed to the consoles, subsystems, life support, and other critical systems, as the ship had detected human life entering it again.

“This was too easy,” John said to no one in particular as he entered the bridge.

“I agree, sir, I do not like it,” Major Thomson replied as his task was completed successfully.

“Major, take your team and sweep the ship. Every corner, every nook, every crack. Make sure we don’t have any ‘friends’ or surprises.”

“Aye, sir.” The Major may have been in a different branch of the military, and he had final command authority when it came to ground and tactical units, however, John was still his commanding officer on board the ship. Chain of command dictates he follows the naval officer's orders.

“Alright, we ready to do this?” John looked at Donovan, who was finalizing routing power to the subsystems, bringing the sleeping beauty back to life.

“Finalizing checks now, sir,” he said.

“All crew in place, all departments checked in,” Jackson reported, some of the best news John could have heard. John looked over to the Executive Officers chair, where Charles would typically sit. For the first time, he missed the old man.

“Helm,” John caught himself. Usually, Lieutenant Carr would be in this position. Releasing a sigh he remembered his close friend had been lost. Now a junior officer occupied the seat, shaking, attempting to hide his fear. John placed a hand on the young man’s shoulder, calming him as best he could. “It’s ok, son; I got this watch.”

“Aye, sir,” the officer said as he gladly stood up and left the bridge, not looking back even for a millisecond.

“Sir, I don’t recommend...”

John interrupted his security and tactical officer as she protested him taking a position on the manual helm. “Stow it, L.T. Just shoot what needs to be shot and leave the flying to me.”

“How in the living hell,” John said under his breath as he examined the controls in the manual helm section, not remembering designing such a complex system and trying to figure out how Charlene worked the controls like it was a part of her. Brushing everything aside, he activated the HUD and disabled the yoke locks. He had full control over the ship.

Putting on the headset, which allowed him easy access to the comm systems, he flipped the unit to the 1MC. “Attention, all hands. We are about to enter a warzone.” The entire bridge crew looked at themselves, unsure of where John had acquired this knowledge, or the abilities to get to the WarpStar herself.

“No time to explain how I know, all I can tell you is the fleet is here, at Wolf 359. It looks like they are in full force. We are still badly damaged and can only offer so much. Our objective is to get to the planet’s surface; there is a way to stop them.”

Silence, for almost a minute. The only audible noise on the Bridge was the fans cooling the room and equipment. John had closed his eyes, about to apologize for one more time for getting his crew into this mess when he heard a loud “Ohrah!” from a Marine standing at the hatch, and then in unison, the bridge crew responded, “Ohrah!!!!” John smiled; his crew was with him one hundred percent. He had never been more proud of a crew at that moment.

“Donovan, give me full power to the engines and make sure our shields are ready to polarize.”

“Already ahead of ya, sir.”

“That’s why I hired you.”

Donovan smirked at John’s compliment.

“Weps, give me two plasma blasts straight ahead on my mark.”

“Aye, sir.” Watney replied.

“Alright, let’s see what this girl can do.” John flipped a few switches, sending power to the repulsers, lifting the ship a few inches above the deck, just barely clearing the ceiling of the enormous hangar.

Taking a deep breath, John closed his eyes momentarily, thinking of the last kiss. ‘This is for you, Char!’

“Fire,” he ordered as he opened his eyes. Two purple bolts of super-heated plasma shot out from the front of the ship, melting the door just ahead, forcing the artificial atmosphere out of the compartment and taking the WarpStar with it. As the Destroyer exited the ship, she deployed a nuclear bomb behind her, detonating just as she exited, destroying the colossal command carrier in a single effort.