Far away into deep space, galaxies away … large flashes of lights lighten up the lifeless void. A large fleet of spaceships are seen whizzing around a dark black planet… beams of lights crisscrossing each other. It looks like a laser show against the pitch-black space. The planet looks inhabitable. But who are we to judge? The spaceships seem to defending a large ship in the midst of all this chaos. “Mothership” clearly boasts of its Prescence. On the bridge, a young zoorvartxian captain looks over the railing of his command deck. Slowly, turning the hologram of the planet with a smooth motion of his fingers. He asks without moving his gaze, “how is our defense going “.

“No problems at all sir, so far we have no damages” replies the officer from the lower deck with swift response.

“That is to be expected.” The young captain smirks …… And ground assault?”.

“The first and 5th battalions have already landed and taken position...as per your orders. Are standing ground and will attack only when attacked”.

“This is critical, not a single un provoked action. Make sure the commanding officers have this clear”

The officer quickly nods and turns around starting talking back into the earpiece conveying the orders from the captain.

“Prince Jorun, our forces are outnumbered 10 to 1, if the enemy attacks or if we plan to attack, we will lose our complete ground force” … an elderly crew member standing beside the young captain whispers in a very soft but rigid tone.

“Lets just say , there will be no reason for that to happen,Gradiv”. The captain replies with a glance.

“Sir, we have located our target ..Plereus”…

About time, …Gradiv, send a team of elites with me. we will leaving be immediately. Get the port ready

But, sir………………..it’s not wise to leave the command ship at this time……where are you going… A worried Gradiv replies back in a stutter.

I am going with the ground forces to get Plereus… that is the objective of this whole operation.

Officer……, show me where you have located Plereus,………………..…..hmmm..then…Revlo drop us right there.

The young prince points at a small cliff that he can see in his hologram.

The portal chief quickly replies back, “Roger that sir, Portal will be ready in 2 minutes”.

The Prince turns around quickly at Gradiv, you will be In-charge of the ship till I return, just focus on the air defenses and let me worry about the ground attack and Gradiv responds with a worried “ Yes …….,My Prince”

Revlo…..we will be having a guest with us when we return….. prepare the portal for that on my mark…..and someone please notify the housing staff to keep one of the cells ready for our guest and make sure that the cell is completely secure.

Right then, all set………….lets go…

A group of four zoorvartxian appear on the small ledge, over seeing a fortress like structure carved into a massive icy black stoned mountain. “ Quarter chief to Revlo, Zero is ground solid” . An elite soldier wearing a shadowy armor with faintly flowing emblem , passes the message to the mothership. Revlo, replies with quick affirmative

The cold breeze and the icy conditions on the surface of this planet can kill a being if not accustomed to. The prince clasps his hand tight and five of them start to glow for a brief second and then, again goes back to normal.

Looking at the quarter chief he whispers , “ Tell the 1st and the 5th to march forward…defensive only. Only return fire”.

The Quarter master quickly looks at the palms and starts poking at the hologram screen . “ It’s done , My prince”.

“ Now that they are advancing, the enemy will try to draw them in near to the fortress, we can only expect them to unleash a major attack then. They will try to flank them from sides, using the hills for advantage”.

“We have to get Plereus , before our forces reach this area,”…… “Carnage…otherwise” grunts the elite with a nod.

Nidvia and Tdoro, he looks at the other two soldiers , “ Sneak and find our target, …....Deploy Slav when you find him”,. The soldiers immediately salute their commander and jump down from the cliff, landing on their feet quickly dissolve into the shadows of the hills around them.

“Chief , you will be with me and we are going to position ourselves as close as possible”.

The quarter chief replies with a nod and directs the way to the prince.

Both Nidvia and Tdoro are expert scouts and have been awarded elite status after their many previous missions.

Quickly moving around in the shadows of the dark walls of the fortress, the mission was easy .To locate the Barbarian leader of the planet , who has been the reason for mass genocide of a complete race of Docimilie (The Distant dry planet at the very edge of their galaxy) , neither of the young or old were spared by Plereus. This was going to be the best chance to get this galactic criminal. For eons, the Galaxial alliance has been trying to get him. But, this time he bit more than he chew, by attacking the zoorvartxian settlement in Warespro (Another planet in a distant three planet solar system at the edge of the galaxy) .

The Zoorva government, an actual superpower and a major member of the alliance is usually diplomatic and discreet in their stance. But under repeated pressure from the alliance and the recent developments, had to go in with military might. And this time, with the prince. This villain will finally be nabbed for good.

A quick glance into one of the halls and they followed one of the generals walking in to the corridor and waiting for a big door to open for him to go inside. They could spot the brigand inside surrounded by his bodyguards and his generals as the door opened. This was a problem. Trying to break the thick door would alert everybody. They can still hear Plearus loudly boasting about the war proceedings so far.

Nidvia, quickly passes the message to chief, and hides herself giving signals to Tdoro, who seems to be ready for some action.

“ My prince, the scouts have found the target , but he is heavily guarded. They have to intercept to Deploy Slav”. The chief whispers.

“there is no time, the ground forces will reach here any time now, …tell Nidvia to deploy the Slav as close as possible and I will be there . Chief, you will be here and if I you don’t see me with him on their outside by the time our forces reach. You may do what you do best”.

The chief, the Quarter chief of Zoorvartxian elite forces. The feared, powerful legend, who has been famous for his various exploits in the many Zoorva government missions and now the faithful aide of the prince, gives a faint smile while passing the message to Nidvia.

Back inside the fortress, Nidvia skips the Slav right in front of the door, but hidden in the shadow of the door frame. One of the guards looks to have heard the noise of the Slav slipping on the floor. But Pleurus is too loud for anybody to focus on anything.

A green ping on the chief’s arm marks the beginning of the whole operation. The prince lifts his arm and points his two fingers upwards. With his forehead glowing the prince fades aggressively through the chilly air with a cloud of dust left at where he was standing.

In the grand hall of his enormous but well-hidden Fortress, Pleurus was ecstatic with the proceedings so far. The Zoorva army was just marching in like mere protestors and as per him was scared to attack as they were outnumbered. If things keep at it, they will reach the valley where the main force were waiting to them from the top of the hill sides. Then, he could concentrate on the air fight. The canons from the fortress would destroy the mothership and that would be it.

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Even the Mighty Zoorva was no match for him.

He gets up to look at the projection of the battlefield. “Just a little more, let them come in a little more closer…” just as he is about to finish, the large boom at the door of the grand hall and the massive doors come hurtling into the hall. The body guards quickly surround Plereus, but they unable to see what has happened. Some quick footsteps and a sequel from his behind him, and makes Plereus turn around dazed to see two of the bodyguards holding their throat’s just slump down. The Prince is standing behind them with his arm up as though he is choking them.

The generals, who get their wits back try to draw their guns out ,only for their hands to be cut off, Nidvia and Tdor come out from the shadows. With their hands glowing bright blue.. making a swaying action with her finger, Nidvia shouts “ head.... next…..put down your weapons and move away”. The generals do not move and for some time seem not to be intimidated by them. But then, they see Jorun standing behind their leader and quickly bow their heads down.

How dare you …. You cowards…. Shouts Pleurus,

Turning back to Jorun,” You think this kid can defeat me in a battle.”

Jorun quickly interrupts Plereus and gestures with his hand. Pleurus hand and feet gets tightly bound as he stands stiff in front of Jorun. Slowly, floating in air, he looks down at the young price who has a smirk on his face. “I would have loved to chat with you, but there is no time”. The young lad answers. “anybody else, wants to join with your leader here”. The generals immediately bow down and throw their weapons.

Nidvia, quickly nods at Tdor, who starts arresting the generals and the bodyguards. “The generals will be with us.”.

Jorun, walks out into an opening, which serves like a lip in the mountain fascia with Plereus floating above him. Out in the open, the Plereus is made to float high so that everybody can see. Nidvia and Tdor follow Jorun with the bound-up Generals.

‘

Jorun Points to his neck and then turn his hand palm around as though he wishes his voice would fly away and then speaks sternly “STOP”. Jorun’s loud voice echoes throughout the valley and into the battlefield. Everyone stops and looks at the source of the voice . The Sight of Pleurus dangling in the air , unable to move. Behind him, his generals bound and bleeding looking defeated , shepherd by Nidvia and Tdoro , the prince in the front was a jaw dropping sight for the enemy. The Enemy morale had just hit a rock bottom.

“The battle is over”.

A Sudden silence in the battlefield, answers Jorun’s holler. Now that Jorun has every one’s attention, he continues.

“Beings of Smarak, this war is over. Your leader, the notorious Mass murderer Pleurus has been arrested and so are his generals who aided him in his horrendous acts upon galaxies.

You all know me or have at least heard of me. And, you must know that it does not take even the half of my forces down here to eradicate and cleanse this planet, if need be. The fact that the Galaxial alliance has sent me here, is evidence in itself that nobody want’s your race to exist anymore. Especially after Docimilie and Warespro.

Jorun takes a brief second to look around at the mass of Smarakris in the valley below.

I stand here and look at you men, women and children holding weapons with an intend to harm my Soldiers, following this person.

“But…I sense fear. Towards me …. towards my forces……but a deeper and greater fear to this Murderer. And I now understand that you have been forced to follow him as a leader. That you too …. have been tormented by this criminal.

So, I have two options for you all here. One, Surrender to us. We will not take any prisoners other than who we have already arrested. We will let you be. You can select a new leader among your selves and mend your ways. In future, if you prove your ways. We might setup an Outpost at your planet to trade in the future. We will set up a Security post to monitor you for sometime in the time being. OR,

Two………. continue with this battle and we mill make sure to fulfil our obligations with the alliance.

If you believe that this criminal is more dangerous than me, just look at him dangling in air. He will be tried and am sure will be beheaded for his crimes and his generals will be imprisoned for life ….at least…..if the alliance is merciful."

Jorun stops his speech ,looking around for an answer. The resounding silences defeats the purpose of his efforts. He looks around up at Pleurus who is glaring at the crowd and gestures with his hand .

It takes a second for Pleurus to notice that he can speak and when he does, he lets out a shout. “You gutless bastard's, you stand there, when you could have easily killed him in the open.

You... you stand there watching him talk and watch your leader being humiliated....I will have you all beheaded men, women children all alike. I will skin you all alive... and hang your skin for other's to see...I will destroy you all. I will make sure that…” he is cut short by Jorun again and release a load muffled shout in despair as he is bound again.

Jorun turns and looks around. Plereus’s rampage had an effect on his audience. He sensed that the general sense of feeling towards Pleurus had changed.

“This is who you are fearful of.…. He is completely in my control and cannot move a muscle. He can’t even speak without me letting him and it will be so till he is served his death penalty.

I, Jorun The Price of Zoorvartxian planet system has given you a chance to amend your ways, To live and prosper and live a normal life of an inhabitant of a planet, Normal …..just like the rest of us are and in return I ask you to lower your weapons and amend your ways. Because, if not…… there will not be a tomorrow for you or your next generations.” A brief pause...

"Still no response.......Truth be told, I feel I could just leave this criminal loose among you all so that he can do as he wishes and then arrest him again….It will serve better for everybody. Do you want it this way?????”. Retorts Jorun very loudly

Sometimes, a simple sentence holds more value than the whole conversation and it seemed to be so in this case. The last statement really hit the nail on its head and he could feel the fear just engulf the crowd infront of him. The crowd just started dropping their weapons and bow down in front of the prince and his forces. A young Soldier comes forward and lifts up his arms as a sign of surrender. The Pleurus was becoming restless in his bound state. He was letting out his muffled shouts with his eyes almost bulging out in anger.

Looking at the Quarter chief, Jorun Gestures.

“Quarter chief to Revlo, zero is ready to arrive with guests.”

Meanwhile, Nidvia, Tdoro push the generals into huddle up and Jorun brings Pleurus down from his floating display and keeps him floating just above ground in front of him in fetal position.

The Group of Zoorvartxian disappear with their guests into thin air just like they had landed on the cliff and arrive at the mother ship. The guards awaiting the arrival quickly collect the generals and Pleurus and take them to their respective holding cells.

“Gradiv, tell the Commanding officers for the first and the Fifth to hold ground and to take charge of destroying all the arms and ammunitions and weaponry. They will be so, till an official leader is selected among them and an official documented agreement with the Smarkarians is achieved. You can chart out the terms of this agreement once we reach home. We will be heading to Zoorvart to deposit our notorious cargo.” the prince immediately coveys his order to Gradiv

“Yes, my prince, it’s best that the mother ship with its fleet may head to home as soon as possible. The rest forces will wind up here as per your orders. Quarter chief, Nidvia and Tdor can stay back and handle this very easily.” Replies Gradiv as softly as possible.

The three elite, immediately raise a salute to their prince and teleport back to the planet leaving Jorun and Gradiv staring at the port.

“My Prince” says Gradiv in a most admiringly way, “Nice touch of persuasion at the end there. A job well done, worthy of your legacy”.

The prince for the first-time lefts of a smile and puts his hand on Gradiv shoulder, “They needed a nudge, Gradiv. I learnt from the best, isn’t it. Besides, I wouldn’t have my forces outnumbered till I am very sure of victory”.

Turning around, he looks at his navigational officer, “Officer, its time to go home, take us home” ….

The officer quickly starts working on the workstation and gives a thumbs up to Revlo. Who looking very relaxed and contended mutter’s “Here we go!! Home, sweet Home”.