Oliver was briefly overwhelmed by a mix of emotions. Anger and rage over the Koman having committed genocide against the Liman, a race of people that they deemed 'lesser'. A touch of disbelief that the Koman, despite having planes, were a primarily subterranean people...

Frustration at himself for losing control so easily...

The barest glimmer of satisfaction, hidden deep inside, at what he had just done... Tempered partially by the disgust he felt with himself for doing it...

And a bit unnerved, as Lita had oozed out from his hazard suit in an effort to absorb as much of the Koman's blood as possible... He wasn't quite sure what to make of that development.

But mostly... He felt ashamed. He could imagine how disappointed and hurt Polina would be at him effectively torturing a person...

Oliver struggled against his feelings for a moment before locking them away. Shoving them deep down in his soul, he slammed the cage closed... Locking those feelings away until he was ready to process them.

And, preferably, when he wasn't deep in enemy territory and alone.

“At least I got the layout and approximate numbers from Ignacio before... well, before.” Oliver muttered to himself. “Now I just need to round out my plan. Now how...”

He trailed off slowly as his eyes swept across the tools and parts neatly arranged around the room, an idea forming in his mind. After a moment to consider, he began to gather the items he needed- especially tools. While the Koman's tools were similar to Earth's, the measurements used were off just enough that his own tool kits would be ineffective.

“Maybe I should hold on to these, just in case... But that would clutter up my warehouse even more...”

Shaking off the idle thought, he switched off the light in the storage room before ghosting out.

Making his way to the end of the row of planes closest to the cave mouth, Oliver silently dropped underneath the plane. Pulling out the Koman equivalent of a wrench, he loosened a handful of bolts before removing the panel that hid his objective: the fuel tank. Ignacio had gone into detail about their internal combustion engines, and the fuel they used. It wasn't gasoline, but something similar- at least, that was what Oliver got from the explanation.

Well, one of the fuel tanks. But, specifically, the drain plug on the bottom.

A little more work with the wrench, and a couple dozen gallons of fuel began to pour out.

Rolling out from under the plane before the fuel could splash onto him, Oliver headed to the next plane to repeat the process. And then the next, going all the way to the end.

With each plane, his efforts became smoother and more practiced. By the time he was on the tenth one, he had managed to streamline the process to under two minutes. Opening all the tanks may have taken him two hours, but the effect would be well worth it.

Of course, he wasn't done yet.

Between the row of planes and the back wall were a pair of massive tanks that held their reserve fuel. Roughly ten thousand gallons. Each.

Thanks to his... questioning... of Ignacio, Oliver had enough information to be able to easily switch on the pump... and leave the the nozzle laying on the ground, pumping out gallon after gallon of fuel- though not before filling up a handful of gas cans he had found.

He was curious to see that the fuel flowed towards the cave mouth. Apparently, there was a slight incline to the massive cavern. That was a welcome benefit though, as it meant more fuel would be pooled around the planes before he finally kicked things off.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

His next stops were the four barracks spread throughout the 'residential' area of the base.

Moving carefully across the runway, then weaving among buildings, Oliver went out of his way to avoid the occasional patrol- all while he considered how best to handle the barracks. Each was a multi-story building that held hundreds of Koman soldiers... Except for the barracks that held the pilots and their support staff, which held the fifty- now forty-eight- pilots and roughly fifty support personnel. Mainly mechanics.

Spread around some fuel and start a fire? The buildings were primarily made of stone, so it wasn't like he could just burn them down. And, considering his tumultuous emotions, he wasn't sure he could actually burn all of them alive... That, and considering the multiple floors in each building, it was unlikely he would actually get many of them. Maybe some injuries and a few fatalities, but not all of them by any means.

And, with how spread out the barracks were, it would be hard to hit all of them fast enough for that anyway.

So Oliver settled on a simple, but still risky, plan.

Approaching the first barracks, he took his time to circle the building to be sure the information he had gotten was still accurate. Seeing the exits on the front and back, just as described, he started with the back exit.

Pulling a large metal panel from the warehouse- a replacement for the planes that he had nabbed from the storage room, he propped it up against the door frame. Seeing that it covered most of the doorway, he grabbed the small hand drill from his tool kit in the system warehouse... and simply screwed the metal panel in place over the door.

The hole process was simple, though slower than he would have liked. And louder.

Nervously glancing around as he worked, Oliver expected to be interrupted at any moment... and nothing happened. Screw after screw went in, and no one showed up to stop him.

Repeating the work on the front door to the barracks, Oliver was even more careful as he had no idea when one of the few patrols would wander by the area... But still, things went surprisingly smooth.

After dodging another patrol on his way to the second barracks, he quickly ran through the whole thing again. The tension rose in his shoulders with every second, as still nothing went wrong. He knew, sooner or later, that things would go sideways. It was like a law of the Universe or something...

Of course, when things went wrong... He was still surprised.

Staring down the length of his Psi Blade, which was pierced clean through a Koman, it took him a moment to understand what had happened.

As he was moving towards the third barracks, passing though a small alley behind a random building he couldn't remember the purpose of, the Koman had come into view around the corner of the building. His back to Oliver, the man never even saw the blade that claimed his life...

And neither had the other Koman, slightly smaller than the first and with bright red frills on top their head... that was being held by the first in what looked like an intimate embrace...

As the duo slumped to the ground, the larger of the two clearly dead... the other one made soft, whimpering noises as it struggled beneath the bulk of their companion.

“Oh, fuck... You're one of their women?” Oliver whispered in disbelief.

Eyes wide at the alien speaking to her, the Koman could only nod once. Blood bubbling from her mouth, Oliver watched wide eyed as the light slowly left her eyes.

“Snuck off to make out... And got murdered for it...”

Oliver was torn. On one hand, the Koman had attacked him and started the fight... But, on the other, this woman wasn't even wearing the same uniform. At best guess, she was a cook or something- though he couldn't really be sure...

Killing their soldiers and pilots didn't even really register to him. They were the enemy. They attacked him. Without even trying to talk first...

But... this woman wasn't a soldier... And, with how he had already been struggling with thoughts of Polina and how she would react to his actions...

“Since when do I care? Why... why does this bother me so much?”

Slumping to the ground beside the two fresh corpses, Oliver stared without seeing as he whispered to himself... And a single tear slipped down his cheek without him noticing.

“What have you done to me, Poli? Making me... hate... what I am...”

“I want to be better... for you...” Oliver whispered sadly as he climbed to his feet again.

“But... Maybe I already ruined everything...”

“And maybe... Monsters don't deserve love...”