Aldura was in her cabin resting onboard The Silent Star when an alarm started going off.
She sprinted towards the helm and arrived at the same time as the Thrawnite Lieutenant Kang. Their ships captain, the heralded Commander Forg turned calmly to greet them. There was a white stick poking out of his mouth but he addressed them with formality.
"Lieutenants The Silent Star has multiple incoming Pohmie bogeys, I want both of you here on the bridge with me to advise on which musicians will be effective in this developing situation." he ordered.
"Yes sir!" the two answered in unison. The Lieutenants had successfully cleared multiple worlds now with their chosen musicians and one of the more unbelievable parts of utilizing the wizards was that their fatality rate had dropped from 36% to 2%.
This was something different however, so far their wizards had been used against Mircunds or other lower class species. The incoming fleet was clearly a Pohmie battalion, they were a small but intelligent race with highly advanced technology. Their ships matched the Thrawnites in space combat but The Silent Star itself was a cruiser, while it housed many dropships and warships it couldn't help to defend itself, it was simply too large for defensive maneuvers.
"Who did you have in mind?" Forg asked them.
Aldura and Kang shared a glance and nodded.
"It's time to use a group sir, they call them 'bands'." Kang said.
"Indeed, what does this warband call themselves?" Forg asked.
"Linkin Park sir... It's just they've replaced their singer." Aldura said with hesitancy.
"and is this new singer subpar?" Forg said.
"No sir, just different. For starters its a woman when the band was previously fronted by a man." Kang answered.
Forg nodded his head slowly, sucking on whatever was on the end of the white stick.
"I see no reason why this should diminish the bands effect. Please proceed." Forg said.
The two Lieutenants sprang into action, activating Holoscreens and delivering messages at a rapid pace as they simultaneously briefed their warships and the band.
Aldura was glad Kang had backed her suggestion of Linkin Park as she believed them to be one of the most powerful bands. As an added bonus she found one of the members.... endearing. In fact Mike was one of the only humans she enjoyed spending time with. He was a talented rapper like Marshall, but had a genuine respect for all species and genders which she liked. His presence was calming.
Minutes later the warships created a blockade in front of The Silent Star. On the top of the huge cruiser a platform raised up through the roof elevating 6 humans armed with instruments.
She patched through to Mike.
"Hey Mike, you guys ready to go?" she asked.
"Born ready. Lets do it." Came the enthusiastic response.
Seconds later the guitar, synth, drums and bass were making an incredible noise which reverberated through space and was amplified into each of the warships.
Before Mike could even start rapping a red glow formed around the Silent Star and soon wrapped the warships in the blockade.
"Forward scouts engage." Kang ordered from beside her.
A line of ships separated from the blockade and flew in formation into black space, soon coming into range of the Pohmie fleet which started blasting at them.
Kang ordered them to maintain position and not initiate defensive maneuvers yet, they needed to test the buff.
A blast caught one of the lead ships dead on and seemed to disappear harmlessly into the red shield. Aldura heard Mike begin.
It's pourin' in, you're laid on the floor again
One knock at the door and then
We both know how the story ends
You can't win if your white flag's out when the war begins
"Fire back and initiate defensive maneuvers! Let's not test the limits of these shields." Kang ordered the warships.
Their ships started to press the large battalion with blaster fire of their own and soon they had the entire Pohmie fleet scattering as they not only blasted them out of the sky but used their own ships as battering rams, coming away from the collisions unscathed thanks to the bands protective buff.
Aldura looked towards Kang and said "At the chorus engage with the rest of the fleet." she said and he nodded his agreement.
The shift in music came and Kang gave the order.
"All warships, engage! Fire now." he barked.
The female singer started, and Aldura felt the power washing out from her in waves.
This is what you asked for, heavy is the crown
Fire in the sunrise, ashes rainin' down
Try to hold it in, but it keeps bleedin' out
This is what you asked for, heavy is the -
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Heavy is the crown
The warships, started to blur and Aldura's eyes widened in surprise as the buff not only gave them the protective layer but also started to speed up their ships.
They ran rings around the enemy Pohmie fleet until desperate under the circumstances one of their cruisers broke through the blockade and sped straight towards the band on the roof of The Silent Star. It looked like they were going to ram them.
Aldura's heartrate skyrocketed as she heard the band shift down in gears.
Today's gonna be the day you notice
'Cause I'm tired of explainin' what the joke is
No, no, no. Aldura thought to herself. This was wrong, they needed to go up tempo! Now!
Emily, the new singer stepped forward as the rest of the band shied back from the comet sized ship hurtling towards them in a kamikaze beeline.
She looked up at the Alien ship with anger in her eyes, and brought the mic to her mouth and screamed.
THIS IS WHAT YOU ASKED FORRRRRRRRRRRR
Emily's scream rang out through space and incredibly the momentum of the ship slowed down at the peak of her scream. She held the note and a bright orange glow began at the tip of the enemy vessel, it looked as if it was entering an atmosphere and burning up. Instead it slowed down to a complete stop, hovering in space above the screaming woman. Her voice started to push the ship away and as she trailed off the end of her scream it was flung back into space, hurtling in to another of its own ships and exploding with a beautiful arc of light like a sunrise.
The guitar strummed simply as Emily brought in another chorus.
This is what you asked for, heavy is the crown
The rest of the band joined her and it was clear that this was for show, the battle was won.
Fire in the sunrise, ashes rainin' down
Try to hold it in, but it keeps bleedin' out
This is what you asked for, heavy is the -
Heavy is the crown
The band trailed off and the red glow disappeared from view. Debris floated all around them in space and Forg turned to the two commanders from his chair.
He pulled the white stick from his mouth to reveal a pink slimy ball.
"Well done you two! Fantastic selection and quite the demonstration of the potential of these bands. I'm particularly interested in how the banshee managed to fling that ship backwards. We need to do more investigation!" he said.
"Do you know any good metal bands?" Kang asked Aldura and she shook her head.
"I know which human to ask though. I'll meet you back here with a hitlist." she answered.
Forg dismissed them from the bridge with a salute of his chintacles and Aldura headed for the docking bay where she knew the platform that raised Linkin Park would lower to.
She waited patiently as several Thrawnites whooped and hollered around the band, offering them high fives. The gesture had really caught on with the aliens onboard The Silent Star as they embraced their new Earth colonists.
She still preferred the hand gesture that she'd given Marshall last week, a solitary middle finger raised with the palm pointed towards oneself and the outside of the finger to be aimed at the desired target.
A musician named Alicia Moore, another of the humans she liked had taught it to her.
Mike noticed her and jogged over offering her an enthusiastic high five which she returned.
"How was that?" She asked him with a smile.
"Aldura that was insane. Did you see what Emily did to that ship that tried to ram us?" Mike said.
Aldura nodded. "That's what I'm here to talk with you about actually. Forg was really impressed by the scream, we want to run some experiments with heavy metal bands have you got any suggestions?" she said.
Mike pondered this for a moment and Aldura let him think. This was one of the things she liked about Mike he actually put effort into his thoughts.
"Well if we're keeping in the theme of powerful vocalists with a big impact. I'm going to point you in the direction of two bands and you can choose whichever you like." he said.
"The first is called Bring Me The Horizon, and their singer Oli is one of the greats truly. You couldn't go wrong with those guys but if you want a true wildcard... Speak to a guy named Winston McCall from a band named Parkway Drive. He might be the best metal front man ever." Mike answered.
Aldura nodded and typed the names of the bands and singers on her holopad.
She wasn't sure how to say goodbye to the human so she awkwardly offered him another high five before walking away.
"See you later Aldura!" Mike called after her.
"Bye Mike." she said softly.
She took an elevator to the floor housing most of the human population and quickly looked up the residences of the two bands while she listened to their music.
She liked Parkway Drive, they had a lot of energy and the music had her in a mood for combat.
She wasn't so sure about the other band Bring Me The Horizon who seemed to be more eclectic in their musical dynamics.
She sent orders for the bands to be brought to her and soon Oli from Bring Me The Horizon arrived, he was taller than her and covered in tattoos. Aldura admitted to herself that he was conventionally attractive for a human. The height probably had something to do with it, she thought to herself.
After a few minutes of talking Aldura was certain he was not the right fit for the mission that she had in mind. Oli was great... he was just soft. She needed a human that wouldn't shy away from danger where she wanted to go to test the screams.
She thanked him for his time and dismissed him, not being able to help but stare at him as he retreated. Definitely conventionally attractive.
Soon she grew tired of waiting for the Parkway Drive singer and she sought him out herself.
He was asleep, peacefully lying in his bunk and snoring when Aldura prodded him with her paw.
"Winston" she said.
He stopped snoring, but did not open his eyes.
"Winston." she said again, prodding him with her paw.
"Mmmm sup" Winston mumbled without opening his eyes.
"Winston it's Lieutenant Aldura, I'm summoning you for a mission. A planetary mission." she said.
"Is there beach?" Winston asked.
"Pardon me?" Aldura said.
"A beach, with waves and stuff. I need to surf. My soul requires it." he said, still refusing to open his eyes.
Aldura frowned but then a bright spark came to her mind.
"Well it wasn't what I originally had planned but I did hear about some pirate activity on Horducia. It's a tropical planetary paradise and I usually vacation there. We could redirect the mission there if a certain screamer would be willing to test his vocal talents for us?" she said.
Winston opened a single eye.
"Can you please also get me a boogie board?" he asked.
"I thought you said you were a surfer?" Aldura said.
"I prefer to boogie." Winston answered with so much seriousness that Aldura had to stifle a laugh.
"There's sharks." she warned.
"There's always sharks." Winston responded.
"Ok, sure." she said with a shrug.
Winston sat up and stretched, smelling his armpits.
"When do we leave, do I have time for a shower?" he asked.
"Tomorrow, get some rest, it's going to be a big day." she said and left the human to it.
Winston seemed the type she needed, there was something about his presence that she found... wholesome? She struggled to find the right word.
He seemed trustworthy.
She reported back to the bridge and informed Forg and Kang of her new mission.
Forg sat back in his chair, he was chewing but didn't seem to have any food in his mouth when he opened it to speak, confusing Aldura and Kang.
"How convenient that you should find a mission suitable on Horducia." he said with a knowing smile.
"Sometimes life works out." Aldura responded cheekily.
"Don't let the human get eaten. Other than that, go nuts. I really hate pirates..." Forg said with a grumble.