Aldura stalked grumpily down a corridor on The Silent Star as she retreated to her room after a disastrous meeting with her superior officer. As a first lieutenant she had specialized in leading troops through urban warzones. Her mission success rate was 100% so she had felt that she had some sway and power - the top brass usually folded if she applied pressure.
Time off to sunbathe on the Horducian coast? Sure no problem.
Having a few of her friends assigned to her personal command. No sweat.
Apparently refusing to babysit a human wizard during an infantry assault was worth her job.
“Lieutenant let me be clear, you have as much say in this mission as a Band-Aid on a grenade. Get out of my office and get your head in the game!” her C.O had roared at her.
His purple chintacles had quivered with anger and she hadn’t been able to help it as her hackles rose, causing him to turn a shade of brown that indicated she should leave the room if she wished to continue breathing.
It was the first time she’d been chewed out so hard in her entire military career and it bothered her. She was not used to misjudging her influence.
Aldura sat at her desk inside of her spacious apartment and took a deep settling breath as she prepared for the call.
She was a Lomac, a beautiful feline species that closely resembled Earth's cats - except for being 6 foot tall and walking around on two legs (most of the time).
Her fur was short and soft, a reddish brown with darker blotches throughout.
Her body was lithe, athletic and graceful. Carrying her with a levity of foot that other species found unnerving.
A lot of the humans she had interacted with prior to this earthling had tried hitting on her, apparently humans could be attracted to cats. She hoped it would not interfere with this mission. In fact it was one of the reasons why she had attempted refusal.
She sighed and sent out the call, a few moments later a middle aged earthling male appeared on her holovision.
She found his lack of hair repulsive.
He was balding and attempted to hide it by wearing a hat, he had spectacles on that gave him the impression of being an academic but his syntax confirmed her suspicions that he was probably uneducated.
“Yo wassup cat lady.” he said.
“Hello Mr Mathers I’m Lieutenant Aldura and I’ll be your commanding officer and personal escort for the ground assault.” she answered politely.
“Tight. What’s your favourite weapon?” he asked.
She blinked twice in surprise.
“My… favourite weapon?” She repeated, confused.
“Yeah, like how you gettin rid of fools on the battlefield yo.” he said and leaned forward, his eyes opening wide which she was sure meant to convey interest but only piqued her feelings of disgust.
“I use a blaster pistol for medium range but I prefer close combat where I can use this.” she said and held up what appeared to be a baton.
“Wait, you got all this technology and you’re hitting fools with a stick?” he asked, cocking his head sideways.
“Not quite.” Aldura answered and with a flick of a switch she activated her laser mace.
A glowing blue sphere appeared at the top of the stick and there was a faint hum. She couldn’t help but be satisfied with the humans reaction.
“Goddam! Is that a laser mace? That’s some tight shit right there hunny!” he said, leaning forward and squinting his eyes for a better look.
“What does your music do?” she asked him.
He settled back in his chair and smiled.
“Baby my music is going to make you want to take over the world.” he answered.
“Marshall, we’re literally leading a ground assault to recapture a world.” she said.
“Yeah that’s what I said.” he said.
There was an awkward silence as she struggled to respond but ultimately decided that the introductions would suffice for now.
“Excellent. I’ll see you on the battlefield Marshall.” she said and ended the transmission before he had a chance to respond.
This better work. She thought to herself.
***
Less than 24 hours later Aldura was briefing her team on the ground assault, the Mircunds had captured a port city that was a key strategic point for control of trade routes over the continent.
The planet had apparently been used for testing the offensive capabilities of the human magic already and Aldura explained that they would be the first live action subjects to experiment with receiving the human magic to augment their battlefield capabilities.
“We’ve used our dropships to scan the area and the Mircunds are using this building as a central base. The plan is simple: we rush the base killing everything we see and when we get there we disable their portable radio transmitter, killing their detonators. Then the reinforcements come in to finish the job. Clear?” She asked her squad.
Each member looked back at her with varying levels of skepticism, this was a suicide mission.
“Clear.” came the voice of her second in command Leia, another Lomac.
The rest of the room grumbled their acknowledgements and Marshall stepped forward.
“Yo so what’s the plan for me dog.” he asked.
The two Lomac just stared at the human.
His eyebrows rose in surprise.
“Sorry, cats. Got it.” he said.
“Mr Mathers we simply require you to keep us buffed for the duration of the battle and of course we need you to be in close proximity so that the physical effect of your performance can maximise the effect of the spell.” Leia answered.
“Ok stay tight. Keep the tunes going. How long is my set?” he asked.
The two Lomac shared a side glance.
“We can’t say. It could be around 10 minutes?” Aldura answered.
“Aight well just have a ton of my songs ready over the speakers yo. I’ll know what’s appropriate in the moment.” he said.
The squad loaded onto their dropship and left The Silent Star, heading for the planet's surface. Aldura had a sinking feeling in her stomach as she watched the human make strange noises and attempt to sing through scales poorly. This did not sound like a man with a magical voice.
Minutes later they landed, and Aldura put her fears and concerns to the side. Her squad needed a leader, and couldn’t see doubts and insecurities at this time.
“TO ME.” She bellowed into the cabin unnecessarily loud.
The ship's doors opened and she could see her squad at the ready behind her, eager for the action to begin. Marshall had agreed to some light armour but wanted to be mobile for the mission. The rest of the squad were in full heavy battle gear capable of withstanding small arms fire.
They rocketed out of the ship as explosions sounded nearby and blaster fire streamed towards their direction from nearby buildings. Marshall kept his cool and maintained pace with the squad as they sprinted through heavy fire towards the nearest building to try and establish cover. Everyone made it to the side of the building safely and Leia gave the squad the signal, tapping her ears.
They activated their ear molds, cancelling out a lot of the sound of the battle around them. It was disorientating for the crew, as blaster fire and explosions rocked the building they took cover behind. A slow melodic piano melody began playing and Aldura was instantly disappointed in Marshall's song choice.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
This was supposed to buff her team for a suicide rush, what the hell was he thinking?
But Marshall stood with his eyes closed, mic in hand, swaying gently in time with the piano.
Her team looked in confusion at Aldura but she ignored them and just focused on the human. Surely the brilliant strategist Commander Forg would not make such a tactical error as to send a dud wizard.
She could not let them see her show any signs of fear or weakness.
Suddenly a guitar started playing and she felt it immediately, her heart beat had changed so that it was syncing with the steady strum of the guitar.
She could feel her blood pressure rising, she felt… stronger? Amped up.
Then Marshall looked her and the rest of the squad in the eyes as he spoke.
Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment
Would you capture it, or just let it slip? Yo
Aldura had flashbacks of being at the academy, sparring with soldiers twice her size. She had used her speed and intelligence to take every opportunity in her life. Always.
His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
There's vomit on his sweater already: Mom's spaghetti
He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready
To drop bombs,
Aldura looked around at the squad as Marshall started to increase the intensity of his speech, rhyming in time with the music.
A golden aura was starting to show around her soldiers and she looked down at her own hand to see that it was also shining with a strange yellow luminescence.
but he keeps on forgetting
What he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud
He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out
He's choking, how? Everybody's joking now
The clock's run out, time's up, over? blaow!
There was a golden shockwave and the aura around her soldiers exploded, she gave the signal to advance and when they responded the squad burst from cover running easily twice the speed they’d travelled minutes earlier.
She noticed her squad taking long shots at snipers in the windows of the buildings. They looked like headshots every time and they were taken while her people were at full sprint. This was one hell of a buff.
Marshall kept building until he reached the chorus of the song.
You better lose yourself in the music
The moment, you own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo
Her squad quickly surrounded the Mircund base and immediately stormed the building, blasting through the Mircunds and without hesitation engaging them in close quarters.
Using her blaster, Aldura followed Leia through the building - annihilating enemies with an accuracy that she could never dream of having usually.
All the while Marshall was like a lunatic, performing to her squad with absolute disregard for his own personal safety. He didn’t leave their sides and never missed a beat even as enemy fire seemed to miss him by millimeters.
They arrived at the control center and prepared to storm the room - Marshall felt the intensity of the moment perfectly and his next verse suited well.
No more games, I'ma change what you call rage
Tear this motherf**k*** roof off like two dogs caged
I was playin' in the beginning, the mood all changed
I've been chewed up and spit out and booed off stage
Aldura and Leia were side by side as they entered the room first, blasting the Mircunds inside fearlessly.
Two Mircunds hopped towards her from behind the door where they’d been hiding, she drew and activated her mace in a single smooth motion, whipping the baton up and over her head and then crashing down on the skull of the first Mircund with vicious impact. It wasn't a beheading but Aldura noted that there was no head left to speak of.
She quickly whipped her mace to the right and this time, yep that was a beheading Aldura thought to herself as the two bodies slumped to the floor.
The music ended and the glowing aura and infinite energy boost left the squad, leaving many hunched over gasping for air on their haunches.
A few seconds later the squad was laughing and cheering, it had been a fine song and an incredible buff.
Marshall was bowing, lapping up the attention.
Aldura fought a smile. It was hard to admit to the crass man but she was not so petty that she could not give warranted praise.
“Marshall, you did well. I am pleased.” she said.
He smiled broadly “I ROCKED did you see me? I was glowing and shit that was insane homey, give me 5.”
He held up his hand palm out, offering her what she had been told was a human sign of respect. .
She slowly and begrudgingly raised her paw and lightly tapped his raised hand.
Leia tapped her on the shoulder. “Lieutenant, what's that?” she asked Aldura with panic in her eyes.
Aldura took a look at the screen and then instantly blasted it before anyone else in the squad saw.
They looked at her strangely but she turned her back to them and blocked their view of Leia, whose face was absolutely mortified.
“No no no no don’t, shhh.” Aldura said, stroking her close friend on the arm.
“It’s an egg Aldie, a fucking egg. Those psychos. It’ll destroy the planet.” Leia whispered in a panicked voice.
“I know, I know. We just use Marshall to get back to the dropship ok? We’re going to get out of this.” she told Leia, who steeled her expression at her bosses words.
“Now go and tell the squad… gently. Then let them know I’m going to prep Marshall for our run, we leave in 60 seconds. GO.” she barked at her second officer with far more certainty than she felt.
The squad watched the interaction keenly as did Marshall, who strode over to Aldura.
She fought to keep the panic off her face as she tried to find a frame of reference for the human to explain the situation.
“Yo. That was too easy wasn’t it.” he simply said.
Aldura’s eyes flickered to her squad and they began to brim with tears as she saw their reaction to the news. Several of them started stripping off their heavy armor, to be lighter for the run.
She looked back at Marshall and nodded somberly.
“We’ve gotta run. We need to be fast, please.” she begged him.
“I’ve got the perfect song, I can feel it. But can you tell me what we’re running from?” he asked calmly, way more calmly than Aldura felt.
She swallowed before answering.
“It’s… essentially a Kaiju egg, about to hatch. The Mircunds use them as biological weapons when they feel that they’re losing a war on a planetary scale. We should have detected it but now it’s too late.. We need to get off the planet, NOW.” she said.
Marshall flicked on his mic and spoke into it.
“Yo, play Toy Soldiers.” he said.
Immediately her and the squad were assaulted by an angelic choir of children's voices singing.
Step by step, heart to heart, left right left.
We all fall down, like toy soldiers.
Bit by bit, torn apart, we never win.
But the battle rages on for toy soldiers.
The glow returned to the squad as they looked each other in the eye, emotionally responding to the music and deeply feeling for each of their comrades. They felt like a family.
Marshall stepped right into Aldura’s personal space and looked her dead in the eye as he raised the mic to his mouth.
I’m supposed to be the soldier who never blows his composure.
Even though I hold the weight of the whole world on my shoulders.
I ain’t ever supposed to show it, my crew ain’t supposed to know it.
She gasped in shock, it was like this song was written for her. In this moment these were exactly the words she needed to hear.
She snapped to action and called her squad into a loose V formation.
“See you back at the dropship!” she roared over the music and they sprinted from the building.
Despite the incoming Armageddon there were still plenty of Mircunds left on the street and blaster fire ripped into the group immediately.
Marshall somehow stayed close to them and kept performing, his lyrics filling the squad with hope and determination. This spell was completely different to the first but he was right, it was perfect.
The chorus of children's voices sang out again as they started the final sprint towards the dropship.
Step by step, heart to heart, left right left.
We all fall down, like toy soldiers.
Bit by bit, torn apart, we never win.
But the battle rages on -
The sound of the music was cut off by the screech of the kaiju as it burst from its egg, toppling a building as it stood for the first time.
It was a titanic insect, its four limbs had spear-like ends the size of their dropship and its body was simply a ball from which a disgusting jaw protruded.
It stumbled around for a few moments causing small earthquakes and taking the team off their feet as it stumbled into buildings and shook its jaw back and forth trying to gain a sense of itself.
When it finally settled on its four legs it screamed into the air in triumph and began smashing everything in sight, prioritizing biological lifeforms.
Unfortunately for the squad this soon put them at the top of the smash list.
Aldura picked the human up off the ground who seemed to have injured his leg in the mini quakes.
She placed one of his arms around her shoulders and bore his weight on the bad side as she urged her team to run.
They listened, and soon she and the human were the last ones scrambling towards the dropship which was fully ready to leave them should the Kaiju get much closer.
“You know for a cat you’re kind of sexy.” Marshall whispered into her ear.
She nearly dropped him. Nearly.
Reluctantly she hauled the human aboard the dropship as it burst off the ground and rather than fly straight up, rose a few hundred feet and put some distance between them and the giant bug looking to smash things. Smart pilot, she thought to herself.
A call came through the holoscreen at the front of the cabin and Leia answered it to show Commander Forg.
He was eating small white puffs from a rectangular box as he addressed them.
“Before you ask, this is called popcorn. Yes you should try it. Now I understand you suffered zero casualties? How do I understand this? Well because I was watching. That should have been obvious.” Forg said.
“Yo Forg what's up my man!” Marshall called out.
“Em. Great work today. Killed it my man! God I only watched through the holo and I signed up for like four gym classes this week.” Forg said giving Marshall a human hand gesture he’d learned.
“It was my pleasure, you know I love to play with the kitties.” Marshall returned with a wink at Aldura.
She rolled her eyes and showed Marshall that she wasn’t the only one who had learned some human hand gestures.