Invasion Preparation

It took less than an hour for almost all of the preparations to be completed. With the drills the guild had run, everyone knew their jobs and completed them without a single complaint. The final steps to complete were the installation of the Deshieldinator on the walls, which was currently being finished, and the handing out of the aptly named "Power Bars" from the kitchen staff. Volunteers from the noncombatants walked through the courtyard with baskets of the snacks, handing them out to everyone as they sat, stood, or kneeled in their places, preparing for what was to come.

All eyes were on the sky, searching for any signs of the ships that would soon be in sight. Dread, anxiety, hope, excitement, and anticipation gripped each person as they continued to wait for the inevitable. It was eerily quiet as the normal hustle and bustle of the guild had come to a near-complete stop.

The silence made what came next feel like the whole world had been shaken like a magic eightball. The pulse from the mana-powered engine was set off from near the top of the building. The wave that passed through the air shook Tom's insides and made him feel a little queasy. Small rocks on the ground hopped slightly from the vibrations that it gave off as though a tiny earthquake had ripped through the area and continued to pass throughout the area like a ripple in a pond.

Tom watched as it rapidly sped away from the guild building and moved outward. The wave was almost physical in the way even the air and light seemed to bend around its location, causing a mirage-like effect to expand outward in a dome shape. When it reached the clouds in the sky, they roiled like turbulent water for a moment, swirling in circles around the wave before continuing their normal path.

"That should definitely get their attention," Tom said, rubbing at his chest from the residual feelings the wave had left.

"Hopefully. Our plans won't be as effective if we have to travel to find them," Derek replied.

"That, and if you remember how others had been set up when we went to the Grand Canyon, I wouldn't want them going there instead and annihilating some poor, unprepared group of people. If we can bring them here first, we stand the best chance of losing the least amount of people," Tom said.

"Do you think this will actually work?" Derek asked.

"What the fuck is this? The Derek Calloway having doubts? That's supposed to be my job," Tom chuckled as he stared at his friend in mock surprise.

"You're right. You go ahead and doubt us while I make you feel better," Derek smiled and shook his head at Tom's antics.

"Look, we've done literally everything we could with the time we had. We even found a few things I didn't think we could pull off to give us every possible edge in the fight. We can do this. We're much stronger now, and we have some dirty tricks up our sleeves," Tom said. "Don't go doubting us now."

"It's not that I doubt us; it's more that I worry that we can't be prepared enough. I did this when I was deployed, too. You never know what surprises await you when you encounter the enemy. No plan ever holds up to the initial combat," Derek admitted.

"I think that is valid. We just never know what we are going to encounter here, either. Thinking that way is what makes us prepared. If you go in overconfident, then you are setting yourself up for failure. We have looked at this for months trying to be ready. We just have to make sure we watch for when to deploy which tactic," Tom tried to assure Derek.

If he was being honest, he was also assuring himself. He had been having the same thoughts for weeks now. Some nights he would lie awake in bed, wondering what he might have missed in the preparations and plans. They had so many minds on it that they continued to come up with new possible solutions. Only so many could be used, but they made the most of the resources they had. It had to be enough.

"I'm glad to see you finally have that leader's confidence that we've been telling you to have. You've come so far since we started this," Derek said.

"To be honest, I feel the same as you. I just have to make sure we exude that confidence so the others can feel it as well. Whatever happens will happen. If it's the end, then so be it. But we will go down fighting for what we built here. And it’s truly been an honor to do it with you by my side," Tom said, smiling at Derek.

Tom extended his hand, and Derek shook it. Then he surprised Tom by pulling him into an embrace.

"Hey, why wasn't I invited to the hug party?" James said, rushing in and hugging them both. "This is nice."

"Because we knew you would make it awkward," Derek said, though he didn't fight him off.

"Where's everyone else?" Tom asked.

"Probably getting into position. We don't get to have the team together for this fight, as much as I would like that," Derek replied. "Everyone has a role to play."

"You mean we're stuck with dickshot here by ourselves?" Tom asked.

"Not completely," Michael said as he strode over, followed by Frank, Lacey, Mark, and Susie.

"Michael, good to see you. I see you brought back up," Tom said.

"I did. We thought you could use someone to watch your back. In case you do something stupid again," Michael said, smiling at him.

"You mean when he does something stupid," Derek laughed.

"Am I really that predictable?" Tom joked.

"Oh, yeah. As sure as James is likely to blow someone's knob off," Derek replied.

"Guy! I just thought of something horrible!" James suddenly cried.

"What? What is it?" Tom asked, panic rising in his chest.

What had they forgotten? Was it a strategy? A person? A weapon? They had been so careful to think of as many outcomes as possible.

"What if the alien pirates don't have dicks?" James asked.

Everyone stared flatly at James and turned to walk away.

"Guys? What? Was it something I said?" James asked.

Michael flipped James the bird over his shoulder, "Fuck you, buddy."

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"Wait! I'm coming too!" James called out as he rushed to catch up.

They walked over to the battlements, where a team was working on raising the energy cannon onto the wall to mount it.

"What's that?" Michael asked.

"It's our ticket through their ship's shields—if they have any, that is. But we have to assume they do," Tom explained. "It fires a condensed beam of energy to overload the shield generators. Then, we should be able to hit the ships directly."

"I need them to come to the ground. Not sure how much good I'll be until then," Michael commented.

"Yeah, so do a lot of others. But we have to get them down somehow. We have a few plans to get people up close and personal, but it can't be everyone," Tom said.

"Oh? How's that?" Michael asked.

"Bohdan and the mages can create floating disks that people can stand on and operate to fly. Only so many can be made, but it should give us more aerial combat options," Tom replied.

"I want one," Frank said, looking excited at the prospect of flying.

"We'll see. Shouldn't be hard to get you on one, but then you'd be away from me," Tom said, chuckling at Frank's enthusiasm.

"Oh, yeah. Gotta stay with you," Frank said, his hopes dashed slightly before he seemed to think of something. "If you get one, too, then we can stay together!"

"Ha! Alright, Frank. If I get one and you get one, then we can go together," Tom said.

Frank did a fist pump in his excitement.

"That's all well and good, but you plan to, what, board the ships and just take on everyone up there? With what you admit is already a limited number of people?" Susie asked.

"Good question. And not necessarily. If we can get on board and disable some of the ships, we can bring them down for more to board. Just need to survive long enough to disable them," Tom replied.

"We don't even know how many are on a ship. It could be fifty, or it could be a thousand," Susie crossed her arms as she spoke, clearly not enthused by the plan.

"True. And if you have a better idea, I'm all ears," Tom said.

She stared at him for a moment as she wracked her brain for a better plan, "If I think of something, I'll let you know."

"Perfect. There are no bad ideas," Tom said. Then he looked at James and thought better of what he'd said, replying, "Well, maybe some bad ideas."

Once the energy cannon was set on the wall, several of the workers began drilling holes through the base to install bolts almost as large as Tom's forearm to hold it in place. When they had finished, Herbert walked over to Tom.

"Hey, Herbert. Looks like the cannon is almost ready."

"The Deshieldinator. And yes, I'm quite happy with how it came together. It could be used at close range if they rush us as well, though I must warn you, it would probably be a horrible way to die. That much energy would just cause your body to explode."

"Yeesh, that does sound horrible. But I'm not above using it on someone trying to kill us and take our resources."

"Good. Because if you were, I was going to say you can't use it," Herbert chuckled at his own joke. "Look, I've got one more thing for you. It's still a prototype, but I wanted you to be the first one to try it out."

A small metallic rod appeared in his hand from his inventory. It was silver for the most part but had black inlaid designs with a single button on one side of the rod. At the top, it flared out to a flat point that appeared to be to keep your hand from sliding upward. Tom's eyes went wide when he realized what it was.

"Is that...what I think it is?" He asked in a hushed, almost reverent tone.

"Yes...My Sliceinator!" He declared, holding the object up in the air.

Tom looked at him with a confused look at this declaration.

"I'm just kidding; it's a lightsaber," Herbert said, holding the item out for Tom to take.

Tom reached out with both hands, carefully taking the object from Herbert. He stared at it, transfixed. Running a hand over the details and then holding it in one hand, he took a step back and looked at Herbert, who nodded for him to continue.

Pressing the button, the famous sound emitted from the rod as a green beam of light extended from the weapon, the sound of sizzling and whirring coming from the beam as it reached a length of about four feet.

"Oh...my....gawd!" Tom said in a perfect Janice from Friends impression.

Waving the weapon around and testing out the weight in his hands, he looked around him before settling on a crate nearby and slicing at it. The blade hissed as it cut through the box like hot butter, leaving a red-hot glow on the ends where it had cut.

The box suddenly caught fire and began to burn, the people standing nearby rearing back for fear of getting too close.

"Oh, oh crap, oh no, oh god!" Tom said, holding the lightsaber straight up awkwardly as he looked around, trying to figure out what to do.

Herbert walked over calmly, produced a bucket of water from his inventory, and tossed the water onto the fire, putting it out.

"You always carry a bucket of water in your inventory?" Tom asked, still not wanting to get too close to the crate.

"Yes. I work in the engineering test lab. Things catch fire all the time," Herbert replied with a smile. "It comes in handy a lot."

Tom looked at Herbert with a new sense of concern for what went on in the basement when he wasn't there. Herbert just continued to smile at him. He decided to let it go. Without Herbert, they would be nowhere near as prepared as they were currently. Pressing the button to deactivate the weapon, Tom put it in his inventory for use later.

"Thank you, Herbert. I am truly honored you thought to give it to me."

"Don't worry about it. After all you've done for us, it's the least I could do. But don't go expecting more of those. They take a very special kind of crystal to make the beam work right. When we tried the wrong one, it usually exploded. We only had one of those. from the scrappers so far. Hopefully, we will find more, but until we do, that's it."

"Usually?" Tom asked.

"Well, sometimes it would just melt the device; once, it was just a pretty flashlight," Herbert replied. The point is, that's the only one."

"I'll take special care of it, I promise."

"I know you will. Now, let's go see how everything else is progressing."