02-03-2011, 10:50 PM
The black feathers of the wide-winged crow ruffled as it flew high over the tormented landscape. The sounds of weapons, simple and complex, holy and damned, called out into the sky. The beast’s keen eyes spotted every detail, picked up the shape and nature of every combatant. Green flags flew over homes of politicians and Mayors. The crackle of explosions erupting in some places where walls had been too thick. The sound of screams where defenders had not given in to the teeming masses.
All in all though, things were quiet. People chanted and murmurs were uttered from the byways. Green spread over the skyline like a winding vine, growing up as effortlessly as a blooming plant crawls towards the Sun.
When Sigfried had opened the floodgates, unlatched the stalls of the weapons and given one final rousing speech, he had already known the outcome of the battle. The influence of the ECM spread like fingers pressed into a bucket of sand, deep and unseen. He had wrapped his fingers around the throats of his enemies; all he had to do was squeeze. The life had already been bled out of tyranny.
The Mafia in East City, the control over Central City’s Army, Capsule Corporation, the Sentinels and almost every banking group to the south. He wasn’t in the business of fighting a war with armies and guns. He was in the practice of opening people’s eyes. He was in the action of not having to fight a war.
He remembered the wise words of a man he once read from, “The victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, while those destined for failure seek battle and then victory.” He took the territories out from under their owners without them hardly noticing.
A thousand times had Earth suffered a violent revolution. A million times they had suffered from a violent takeover. The changelings of the great and terrible Takeover. Sayain violence in Central City. The War of Central and South. The Construct. Antioch. Bellavista. Demons and cyborgs and hellions of all types had raided, looted, plundered, violated Earth. Not this time. No, this time the people of Earth collected together, stared to the stars, and then to those in charge of keeping them safe from them. They had found the system wanting.
A government cannot kill its own people without killing itself. The people cannot kill their government without being thrown into chaos, but chaos is what they needed. No more heroes in armor or massive explosions or masters of ki, just the people and their hands. Their rage.
It had been a quiet Revolution, really. A peaceful one. Who knows how long peace will hold? If peace does hold, how long will the new order? It couldn’t be known. But, as far as Sigfried was concerned, it was a victory. A victory in the name of mankind. A victory in the name of progress. A victory in the name of sanity.
The crow flapped quickly as it fell from the sky towards the red speck atop the roof. Its claws sank down on the boy’s shoulder at the exact time as his brother landed across from him. Perched on each shoulder, the young man turned and looked down the hundreds of stories to the ambiguous mass of heads below him. The wind kicked hard and pushed the hood from his head, mussing Victoria’s battle-worn hair. Jarka stood silently beside her. Skoll and Hati sat to the right and left of Sigfried with their heels kicking the precarious ledge. His lips parted, his throat rumbling like the thunder sent down from Heaven.
“We are no longer citizen’s of Central City!” his voice boomed supernaturally and his breath reached out over the entire city. “We are no longer Easterners or Southerners, Westerners or hail from the North! We are Earthlings! We are HUMANITY!” The crows on each shoulder cawed noisily as the people below boomed.
Each of the three had shown their gifts in the short battle that had occurred. Each of them were warriors stained in the blood of their foe, but the where and how seemed so irrelevant now. Even the final words to his final call to victory escaped his mind. The trumpet to charge was never so nearly important as the drum to rally.
“Look at your hands.” He held them out over the ledge; hundreds of feet below him and those who were suppose to see the grit on them. “Do you see the stains?!” He screamed this, almost maniacally. “Those stains will never go away! They have burnt you! They have carved themselves into the person you are and the person you will be. It will never wash away!”
Silence whistled through the air, words taken away by the air blasting by. He could feel them below, the throngs of people. He could hear the whispers that floated through the breeze, floated through their minds and hearts. It was a cacophony of thoughts, burgeoning around him like a busy corner of a street. They caught him up, lifted his body from the floor of the roof and into the halls of greatness.
“We are the children of Kai! We may not be his chosen, but we will become the ones he chooses over all else!” The howls and caterwauls mingled between his ears and his mind, his body becoming one with the crowd and the world itself. For a moment, he could have sworn he had no form, no form but the shimmer strands between moments.
He felt a soft tug on his sleeve. “Sig.” He blinked and glanced around, seeing Hati and Skoll both looking up to him. “I think it’s time we go down and start to get things in order.” The red clothed boy simply nodded and turned to his companions. The inexperienced Jarka, the killer who’s heart had softened, Victoria. Two versions of himself who had become so much more. They were his family. The only family he could remember.
“Today is the start of tomorrow.”
“Roland, I will leave things in your hands while I am gone.” Sigfried allowed the set of ivory dice to tumble about between his fingers aimlessly. His feet clopped about loudly on the smooth concrete floor of the hangar. “I know it’s not quite in your job description. Listen- No, no I understand that. That’s the way it’s meant to be.” He closed the phone and shoved it back into his pocket.
The world needed a bit of anarchy right now. He didn’t mind leaving it in Roland’s capable hands while he was away. He knew that the man was incapable of leading the people, and that wasn’t his intention. All the man needed to do was handle logistics and management of the small crew he had hired in the heart of the City. Basically their only job was to point them in the direction of new heads of state to kill and where the newest weapon cache was. His life wasn’t hard in the grand scheme of things.
Sigfried turned and gazed into the massive bay. It seemed to span on forever, the roof hardly visible from the ground. The sleek space-age metals spanned on through almost the entirety of the area, several crews putting the finishing touches on the outer shell of the machine. Yet, even so far as the bay spanned, this was merely a single piece of the ship.
The technicians aligned the massive power conduit as the floor was quickly fled. With a spark of power and a great and terrible whir, fiery orange light glowed from the sides of the craft. Trackers beeped a number of sensor arrays told the tale of the propulsor’s output.
Sigfried strolled from the head of the beast, watching the men work. He had requested to be there for the testing of the engine, though he would never be sure what any of it meant. He just wanted to be a part of it. A part of the craft’s construction. It had been in his mind the entire time, this ship. It danced in his dreams and haunted his vision. What shape would it take? How many men could it hold, what kind of weapons would be upon her hull? He still wasn’t sure beyond the computer simulations he had seen of what it might be like.
He wouldn’t ever see it inside an atmosphere like Earth’s. The craft was too large to be built upon a planet and wasn’t fitted for flying inside the harsh conditions of a true sky like Namek’s. She would be born, live, and die in space.
There wouldn’t be much time to create the personal fliers that were meant to go along inside the ship. He had already sort of stolen a ship that Capsule Corp was working on for a military project. He figured they wouldn’t mind.
In any case, they had only been allowed time for a few fighters and a couple of troop transports. He knew that they would only have enough time to drop one set before the Invaders would get a good lock on them, so he would only be able to bring about a thousand men with him. That’s all he wanted anyways. It was more important that the people of Earth stay planet side and take control. Not to mention it would be good to have a force already dug in if the Invaders did decide to turn their eyes towards his home planet.
He grinned and shook his head at the thought of his little team of soldiers saving a planet. What foolishness. Mercy could take care of itself, he knew that. It was home to the most terrible, most wonderful fighters in the universe. They didn’t need his help. Namek, though, was an important planet for Earth. Not only that, but its people were, simply put, a bunch of farming monks. They had to rely on the help of others in order to survive. Not only that, but the majority of Earth’s warriors had made their way to that planet, assuring not only the greatest chance of success but also that he would be helping the largest number of people.
If they had time, they would go to Mercy and bail out as many people as they could. If they had time and survived, that is.
He turned and began to flee the place where his ship was being molded into perfection piece by peice. Hati and Skoll had several appointments for him to keep. He would need to stop by Roland’s offices and finalize his word on what was to happen while he was away. He had to reassure the several entities he had made pacts with that he was holding up his end of the bargain, despite his sudden departure. He had to address the people, let them know why he and their battle borne champion Victoria were leaving. It wouldn’t be an easy day for him at all.
“One thing, Sig.” Skoll leaned back and handed off a thick wad of folders. “These are the veteran members of the ECM you were asking for. Almost all of them were engaged in the Takeover of the frostlings, several had a hand in the Central and South City war. I think a few of them have even survived the Saiyan attacks on Central a few years ago… or was it months?” He shrugged and faced front once again.
Sigfried began to page through the men and women who had volunteered for the job. The majority of them were already serving in a military force, but joined the ECM once Roy had gotten the ball rolling. He wondered how Roland had ever gotten the word out to all these people so quickly. “Seven hundred and eighty three, huh?” He nodded and closed the pages. “I like those numbers.”
Hati grinned and turned around for a glance before returning his attentions to the road. “Yeah, and we even have a few Naval officers in there. You know… the kind that can man carriers.”
“Where?” Sigfried’s attention perked. He didn’t want to take a full staffing from the Capsule Corp if he didn’t have to. He sure as Hell wasn’t going to snatch men up out of the standard Central armies. In either of those scenarios revolts was too much a possibility. He leafed through the papers in a scuffle.
“One Alexander Standford? Steamfurt? Sief-something. I dunno, something like that.” Hati waved his hand around dismissively.
There he was. Sigfried pulled the paper up to his face and read the man as best he could. “He’s young.”
“Yeah, not much older than we are.” Skoll seemed skeptical, but he knew better than to throw away the opportunity. “His credentials speak for themselves, however.”
Sigfried’s brow crinkled up as he flipped through the man’s resume. “What the fuck is this? A history degree?” he shook his head slowly. “What good is that gonna do us in space?”
Hati shrugged. “Might know a few tricks our ancestors pulled.”
Sigfried shrugged and closed the thick tablet of paper. “I suppose we’ll find out.”
“I know Vic. I’m sorry.” He smiled weakly and pat the girl on the shoulder gently. “But if we can finish this one last thing, you’ll be off the hook ok? You’ll never have to see my stupid face again.”
The pink haired warrior didn’t seem particularly reassured by this for some reason. “I’m not trying to make your life hard or make your job any more complicated. It’s just that I think if we can head these bastards off at Namek they won’t be able to push a full invasion force this way.” He paused shortly as he observed the girl. “Is that ok with you?”
He knew she couldn’t really say no, but he still wanted to make sure things were alright for her. She wasn’t just a tool to be used, she was a person. Sometimes he thought she needed to be reminded of that.
“Wherever you need me to go, I’ll go there.” She nodded submissively. It was strange to see the brutal slayer of men so downtrodden. So soft.
He smiled and bobbed his head. “Alright, I knew you’d go, I just wanted to make sure that you were alright with going off world.” He grinned pleasantly and offered a few fake boxing punches to her shoulder. “Dunno if you’re allowed after dark and all!” The woman smiled faintly and turned away.
“Yeah. I guess I’ll go get ready.”
For the life of him Sigfried couldn’t understand why she was so saddened by the mission to Namek. Perhaps it put a sense of finality to it all. He had tried to reach out to the young woman recently, but he couldn’t be sure if his intentions were sticking. He really did want her to feel wanted in his little clique. Maybe some time in space to think would do her good.
He paused and reached a hand out to her. “Vic!” She stopped suddenly and turned her attentive eyes towards him.
“Yes?” She asked it like she was the assistant she had pretended to be over the past few days. Weak, subservient.
Sigfried walked up to her and slipped his hand onto her shoulder. “I’m… I’m sorry Victoria.”
A puzzled expression crossed her face and she narrowed her eyes in cold, killer suspicion. “For what?”
He leaned in suddenly, taking her off guard. He folded himself around her in a tight embrace, his head pressing into her shoulder. “I’m so, so sorry.” He squeezed harshly and nuzzled his head against her. “He wasn’t supposed to die, Vic. He wasn’t, I swear. I never wanted this for you.”
She caught her breath quickly and she struggled for words. She began to speak, but the warm, wet sensation of his flushed skin smearing tears onto her arm interrupted her. Her arms eventually landed upon his back and she put her chin on the top of his head.
“He misses you, Vic. I know he does.”
The young man quickly released himself from her and turned away, sniffling and wiping his face of the evidence. When he turned back around, his eyes were still red. “Ah, I didn’t mean to get like that on ya.” He smirked and nodded to her room. “Go on and do whatever. I’ll see you in a bit.”
The bittersweet smile she offered revealed more than any words ever could. As she closed the door behind her he spun and gazed out over the residential flat.
The apartment seemed empty now for some reason. The other tenants were so quiet and withdrawn. Hati and Skoll knew the immensity of the project and kept quiet when they weren’t working on some project. Jarka was silent much of the time, when not sequestered in her room. It was a complex situation.
In any case, this place had passed its welcome on. It was sick of them and their dramas. It was time to pick of the pieces and leave. Leave it for somewhere better and new. A place that did not reek of death and lies. Every day they remained there they remembered the tragedies that had occurred during their stay there. He brushed his fingers over the thin scar on his chest and took a deep breath.
Yes, this place had burnt out every bit of hospitality it had in it.
The bags were packed, ready in the transport. There wasn’t really that much anybody had to bring with them. No, their tiny speckling of personal belongings were dwarfed by the crates upon crates of high tech weapons (of which were still not enough for their rag-tag strike force), munitions, food, water, and a number of other tools for battle and survival in space. The soldiers themselves had brought a multitude of personal items along with them, things they could not leave behind for one reason or another.
Sigfried stood on a platform in front of the forest green flag, the Crow now seeming triumphant over the snake in the depiction despite the pattern never having changed. There was no sign of the docking ship behind him other than the few sounds of tussling equipment, hidden by his insignia.
“We have recently received word that the attacks made on Earth were not part of any main force, which should be evident by now. A small band of Earth warriors including myself plan on intercepting their main forces before they can get to Earth, perhaps allowing Earth forces to withdraw from Namek and the surrounding territories. Any prevention of loss of life that we can afford, we will pursue.”
He allowed the feed to drag on a moment. He knew that the people wouldn’t be particularly thrilled with the sudden departure from the new dominion, but he hoped that he could soften the blow a bit with a decent explanation.
“We still have a battle to fight on Earth. There are still those who would rather feed us to the wolves to keep their place in power. We will return shortly. Keep heart, people of Earth. We will prosper through determination.”
He turned from the camera for a moment before returning. He sadly wasn’t as eloquent or well timed as his predecessor. “This isn’t over yet.” His eyes burned balefully as he glared into the lens. “I know you are listening out there, and trust me when I say this is only the beginning.”
The line cut short and he let out the breath that had been beating in his lungs for escape ever since he had taken it. It was becoming ever more bitter in his mouth to spout the quasi-lies his position forced him to. He was ready for the war to be over so he could focus on the standards of truth and transparency that he hoped to found the nation upon. To put the misdirection behind him. The people didn’t need that crap anymore.
He shook his head and tried to clear the fog of thoughts from his mind. Now was the time to leave. It was the time to strike out against the real invaders he had demonized so much. Perhaps they weren’t as awful as they seemed. He really had only what information he had leeched from the long term reports would allow him. It wasn’t much.
There was a recent loss of contact, which either meant the planet had blown up or there was something blocking the signal. He wasn’t entirely sure what that meant on a cosmic scale. Maybe a sun was in the way. How did Q-wave comms work anyways? He could have sworn he knew that. Ah well.
He took down the flag and gently folded it up, tucking it into his last handbag that lay beside him. Plucking the bag up in his hand he began to make his way towards the small transport ship. Without looking back he waltzed up the massive loading door and secured his baggage. He sat between the brothers, across from their two good friends and the attendant for the ride.
“Are you ready?” He asked. It was a rhetorical question. Jarka gave a faint smile as did Victoria. He returned the sentiment and nodded. “Of course you are.”
A chorus of warnings and advisories filled the air, the videos and voices identifying the numerous safety features of the small craft. The shuttle jolted as the upward thrusters roared, sending them soaring upwards. Sigfried casually looked to the floor as they ascended, not seeming much to notice that he and his compatriots were leaving the planet for the first time in most of their lives. His thumbs rode the straps of his harness as they flew in silence, but for the rattling and noise of the ship.
The jolting suddenly became much more violent, turbulence trying to spike them from their seats. The cabin was filled with a bright red glow as it began to separate from the atmosphere and into the eternal blackness.
Finally the boy looked up and stared out the window. He couldn’t help but take a gasp at the beauty of Earth. The blue crashing oceans, the spanning green and brown of the very ground he had lived upon. The air he had breathed swirled around in white blobs, seeming so close we almost reached out to grasp at them. He felt like he could see every person the specks of land, the grey cities and the spanning wilderness between them. Jets and cars and hover vehicles. Such a complex, diverse, wild little world. None of it seemed to make much sense. What was common in one place was alien in another. Differences so vast and wild in areas within the same City.
What would happen if the world was larger? What if it wasn’t all governed in City States? His mind wandered to a massive Earth with hundreds of countries and nationalities. How much harder would it be to unite them? Would revolution even be possible there? He couldn’t know. He doubted it.
He smiled as he saw his two friends gazing out the window as well. They were a part of him, what were they thinking? What collection of garbled misdirections and insanities did their minds compose from the beautiful sight? Things probably more sane than he had to offer. What about Jarka? He couldn’t help but study her for a moment, perplexing over what wild ideologies were floating in her mind. Maybe something looked like an omelet to her. Victoria had probably been off world before. Do you forget the majesty of the planet when you’ve seen it a thousand times before? He didn’t even know if she marveled at it the first time she saw it. What a life she must lead. Was it right for him to want to take her from it? Would he be really saving her at all?
“We’re approaching the Carrier, sir.” Sigfried had hardly noticed the flight attendant. She was short, cute some might say. He didn’t take much catalogue of her other than to nod and acknowledge her statement.
He turned his head as he felt the space ship’s thrusters jet, twisting it in the frictionless environment. When he saw the target of the craft’s trajectory, he was almost more taken aback than he was when he had seen the Earth. “Holy fuck…” He pressed his hands against the glass as the absolutely massive craft came into sight.
It was the single largest thing he had ever seen in his life. It was the size of a skyscraper tossed on its side and lashed to another. The orange engines glowed ominously at the rear of the craft where a speckling of light blue slits rose the side in short stacks, signifying where the crew had taken post. A number of glowing red sensor arrays projected from the sides and cracks like cactus spines. It was shaped roughly like a flattened football with a bulging underbelly. Three circular pods arose from each side and the top, just as he had seen in the simulations. No simulation could ever prepare him to see the ship, though.
“Wow.” Victoria’s voice was a mix of blasé and actually being impressed. He, like always, wasn’t sure what to make of it. He wished that Roy was louder in his mind sometimes. “What is it called?” Those blue eyes gazed into him expectantly. Wanting something fitting for their voyage.
Sigfried smiled and looked back to the group as though he was about to reveal a great secret. “The Utterance of Kai.”
All in all though, things were quiet. People chanted and murmurs were uttered from the byways. Green spread over the skyline like a winding vine, growing up as effortlessly as a blooming plant crawls towards the Sun.
When Sigfried had opened the floodgates, unlatched the stalls of the weapons and given one final rousing speech, he had already known the outcome of the battle. The influence of the ECM spread like fingers pressed into a bucket of sand, deep and unseen. He had wrapped his fingers around the throats of his enemies; all he had to do was squeeze. The life had already been bled out of tyranny.
The Mafia in East City, the control over Central City’s Army, Capsule Corporation, the Sentinels and almost every banking group to the south. He wasn’t in the business of fighting a war with armies and guns. He was in the practice of opening people’s eyes. He was in the action of not having to fight a war.
He remembered the wise words of a man he once read from, “The victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, while those destined for failure seek battle and then victory.” He took the territories out from under their owners without them hardly noticing.
A thousand times had Earth suffered a violent revolution. A million times they had suffered from a violent takeover. The changelings of the great and terrible Takeover. Sayain violence in Central City. The War of Central and South. The Construct. Antioch. Bellavista. Demons and cyborgs and hellions of all types had raided, looted, plundered, violated Earth. Not this time. No, this time the people of Earth collected together, stared to the stars, and then to those in charge of keeping them safe from them. They had found the system wanting.
A government cannot kill its own people without killing itself. The people cannot kill their government without being thrown into chaos, but chaos is what they needed. No more heroes in armor or massive explosions or masters of ki, just the people and their hands. Their rage.
It had been a quiet Revolution, really. A peaceful one. Who knows how long peace will hold? If peace does hold, how long will the new order? It couldn’t be known. But, as far as Sigfried was concerned, it was a victory. A victory in the name of mankind. A victory in the name of progress. A victory in the name of sanity.
The crow flapped quickly as it fell from the sky towards the red speck atop the roof. Its claws sank down on the boy’s shoulder at the exact time as his brother landed across from him. Perched on each shoulder, the young man turned and looked down the hundreds of stories to the ambiguous mass of heads below him. The wind kicked hard and pushed the hood from his head, mussing Victoria’s battle-worn hair. Jarka stood silently beside her. Skoll and Hati sat to the right and left of Sigfried with their heels kicking the precarious ledge. His lips parted, his throat rumbling like the thunder sent down from Heaven.
“We are no longer citizen’s of Central City!” his voice boomed supernaturally and his breath reached out over the entire city. “We are no longer Easterners or Southerners, Westerners or hail from the North! We are Earthlings! We are HUMANITY!” The crows on each shoulder cawed noisily as the people below boomed.
Each of the three had shown their gifts in the short battle that had occurred. Each of them were warriors stained in the blood of their foe, but the where and how seemed so irrelevant now. Even the final words to his final call to victory escaped his mind. The trumpet to charge was never so nearly important as the drum to rally.
“Look at your hands.” He held them out over the ledge; hundreds of feet below him and those who were suppose to see the grit on them. “Do you see the stains?!” He screamed this, almost maniacally. “Those stains will never go away! They have burnt you! They have carved themselves into the person you are and the person you will be. It will never wash away!”
Silence whistled through the air, words taken away by the air blasting by. He could feel them below, the throngs of people. He could hear the whispers that floated through the breeze, floated through their minds and hearts. It was a cacophony of thoughts, burgeoning around him like a busy corner of a street. They caught him up, lifted his body from the floor of the roof and into the halls of greatness.
“We are the children of Kai! We may not be his chosen, but we will become the ones he chooses over all else!” The howls and caterwauls mingled between his ears and his mind, his body becoming one with the crowd and the world itself. For a moment, he could have sworn he had no form, no form but the shimmer strands between moments.
He felt a soft tug on his sleeve. “Sig.” He blinked and glanced around, seeing Hati and Skoll both looking up to him. “I think it’s time we go down and start to get things in order.” The red clothed boy simply nodded and turned to his companions. The inexperienced Jarka, the killer who’s heart had softened, Victoria. Two versions of himself who had become so much more. They were his family. The only family he could remember.
“Today is the start of tomorrow.”
--=~*/| o |\*~=--
“Roland, I will leave things in your hands while I am gone.” Sigfried allowed the set of ivory dice to tumble about between his fingers aimlessly. His feet clopped about loudly on the smooth concrete floor of the hangar. “I know it’s not quite in your job description. Listen- No, no I understand that. That’s the way it’s meant to be.” He closed the phone and shoved it back into his pocket.
The world needed a bit of anarchy right now. He didn’t mind leaving it in Roland’s capable hands while he was away. He knew that the man was incapable of leading the people, and that wasn’t his intention. All the man needed to do was handle logistics and management of the small crew he had hired in the heart of the City. Basically their only job was to point them in the direction of new heads of state to kill and where the newest weapon cache was. His life wasn’t hard in the grand scheme of things.
Sigfried turned and gazed into the massive bay. It seemed to span on forever, the roof hardly visible from the ground. The sleek space-age metals spanned on through almost the entirety of the area, several crews putting the finishing touches on the outer shell of the machine. Yet, even so far as the bay spanned, this was merely a single piece of the ship.
The technicians aligned the massive power conduit as the floor was quickly fled. With a spark of power and a great and terrible whir, fiery orange light glowed from the sides of the craft. Trackers beeped a number of sensor arrays told the tale of the propulsor’s output.
Sigfried strolled from the head of the beast, watching the men work. He had requested to be there for the testing of the engine, though he would never be sure what any of it meant. He just wanted to be a part of it. A part of the craft’s construction. It had been in his mind the entire time, this ship. It danced in his dreams and haunted his vision. What shape would it take? How many men could it hold, what kind of weapons would be upon her hull? He still wasn’t sure beyond the computer simulations he had seen of what it might be like.
He wouldn’t ever see it inside an atmosphere like Earth’s. The craft was too large to be built upon a planet and wasn’t fitted for flying inside the harsh conditions of a true sky like Namek’s. She would be born, live, and die in space.
There wouldn’t be much time to create the personal fliers that were meant to go along inside the ship. He had already sort of stolen a ship that Capsule Corp was working on for a military project. He figured they wouldn’t mind.
In any case, they had only been allowed time for a few fighters and a couple of troop transports. He knew that they would only have enough time to drop one set before the Invaders would get a good lock on them, so he would only be able to bring about a thousand men with him. That’s all he wanted anyways. It was more important that the people of Earth stay planet side and take control. Not to mention it would be good to have a force already dug in if the Invaders did decide to turn their eyes towards his home planet.
He grinned and shook his head at the thought of his little team of soldiers saving a planet. What foolishness. Mercy could take care of itself, he knew that. It was home to the most terrible, most wonderful fighters in the universe. They didn’t need his help. Namek, though, was an important planet for Earth. Not only that, but its people were, simply put, a bunch of farming monks. They had to rely on the help of others in order to survive. Not only that, but the majority of Earth’s warriors had made their way to that planet, assuring not only the greatest chance of success but also that he would be helping the largest number of people.
If they had time, they would go to Mercy and bail out as many people as they could. If they had time and survived, that is.
He turned and began to flee the place where his ship was being molded into perfection piece by peice. Hati and Skoll had several appointments for him to keep. He would need to stop by Roland’s offices and finalize his word on what was to happen while he was away. He had to reassure the several entities he had made pacts with that he was holding up his end of the bargain, despite his sudden departure. He had to address the people, let them know why he and their battle borne champion Victoria were leaving. It wouldn’t be an easy day for him at all.
“One thing, Sig.” Skoll leaned back and handed off a thick wad of folders. “These are the veteran members of the ECM you were asking for. Almost all of them were engaged in the Takeover of the frostlings, several had a hand in the Central and South City war. I think a few of them have even survived the Saiyan attacks on Central a few years ago… or was it months?” He shrugged and faced front once again.
Sigfried began to page through the men and women who had volunteered for the job. The majority of them were already serving in a military force, but joined the ECM once Roy had gotten the ball rolling. He wondered how Roland had ever gotten the word out to all these people so quickly. “Seven hundred and eighty three, huh?” He nodded and closed the pages. “I like those numbers.”
Hati grinned and turned around for a glance before returning his attentions to the road. “Yeah, and we even have a few Naval officers in there. You know… the kind that can man carriers.”
“Where?” Sigfried’s attention perked. He didn’t want to take a full staffing from the Capsule Corp if he didn’t have to. He sure as Hell wasn’t going to snatch men up out of the standard Central armies. In either of those scenarios revolts was too much a possibility. He leafed through the papers in a scuffle.
“One Alexander Standford? Steamfurt? Sief-something. I dunno, something like that.” Hati waved his hand around dismissively.
There he was. Sigfried pulled the paper up to his face and read the man as best he could. “He’s young.”
“Yeah, not much older than we are.” Skoll seemed skeptical, but he knew better than to throw away the opportunity. “His credentials speak for themselves, however.”
Sigfried’s brow crinkled up as he flipped through the man’s resume. “What the fuck is this? A history degree?” he shook his head slowly. “What good is that gonna do us in space?”
Hati shrugged. “Might know a few tricks our ancestors pulled.”
Sigfried shrugged and closed the thick tablet of paper. “I suppose we’ll find out.”
--=~*/| o |\*~=--
“I know Vic. I’m sorry.” He smiled weakly and pat the girl on the shoulder gently. “But if we can finish this one last thing, you’ll be off the hook ok? You’ll never have to see my stupid face again.”
The pink haired warrior didn’t seem particularly reassured by this for some reason. “I’m not trying to make your life hard or make your job any more complicated. It’s just that I think if we can head these bastards off at Namek they won’t be able to push a full invasion force this way.” He paused shortly as he observed the girl. “Is that ok with you?”
He knew she couldn’t really say no, but he still wanted to make sure things were alright for her. She wasn’t just a tool to be used, she was a person. Sometimes he thought she needed to be reminded of that.
“Wherever you need me to go, I’ll go there.” She nodded submissively. It was strange to see the brutal slayer of men so downtrodden. So soft.
He smiled and bobbed his head. “Alright, I knew you’d go, I just wanted to make sure that you were alright with going off world.” He grinned pleasantly and offered a few fake boxing punches to her shoulder. “Dunno if you’re allowed after dark and all!” The woman smiled faintly and turned away.
“Yeah. I guess I’ll go get ready.”
For the life of him Sigfried couldn’t understand why she was so saddened by the mission to Namek. Perhaps it put a sense of finality to it all. He had tried to reach out to the young woman recently, but he couldn’t be sure if his intentions were sticking. He really did want her to feel wanted in his little clique. Maybe some time in space to think would do her good.
He paused and reached a hand out to her. “Vic!” She stopped suddenly and turned her attentive eyes towards him.
“Yes?” She asked it like she was the assistant she had pretended to be over the past few days. Weak, subservient.
Sigfried walked up to her and slipped his hand onto her shoulder. “I’m… I’m sorry Victoria.”
A puzzled expression crossed her face and she narrowed her eyes in cold, killer suspicion. “For what?”
He leaned in suddenly, taking her off guard. He folded himself around her in a tight embrace, his head pressing into her shoulder. “I’m so, so sorry.” He squeezed harshly and nuzzled his head against her. “He wasn’t supposed to die, Vic. He wasn’t, I swear. I never wanted this for you.”
She caught her breath quickly and she struggled for words. She began to speak, but the warm, wet sensation of his flushed skin smearing tears onto her arm interrupted her. Her arms eventually landed upon his back and she put her chin on the top of his head.
“He misses you, Vic. I know he does.”
The young man quickly released himself from her and turned away, sniffling and wiping his face of the evidence. When he turned back around, his eyes were still red. “Ah, I didn’t mean to get like that on ya.” He smirked and nodded to her room. “Go on and do whatever. I’ll see you in a bit.”
The bittersweet smile she offered revealed more than any words ever could. As she closed the door behind her he spun and gazed out over the residential flat.
The apartment seemed empty now for some reason. The other tenants were so quiet and withdrawn. Hati and Skoll knew the immensity of the project and kept quiet when they weren’t working on some project. Jarka was silent much of the time, when not sequestered in her room. It was a complex situation.
In any case, this place had passed its welcome on. It was sick of them and their dramas. It was time to pick of the pieces and leave. Leave it for somewhere better and new. A place that did not reek of death and lies. Every day they remained there they remembered the tragedies that had occurred during their stay there. He brushed his fingers over the thin scar on his chest and took a deep breath.
Yes, this place had burnt out every bit of hospitality it had in it.
--=~*/| o |\*~=--
The bags were packed, ready in the transport. There wasn’t really that much anybody had to bring with them. No, their tiny speckling of personal belongings were dwarfed by the crates upon crates of high tech weapons (of which were still not enough for their rag-tag strike force), munitions, food, water, and a number of other tools for battle and survival in space. The soldiers themselves had brought a multitude of personal items along with them, things they could not leave behind for one reason or another.
Sigfried stood on a platform in front of the forest green flag, the Crow now seeming triumphant over the snake in the depiction despite the pattern never having changed. There was no sign of the docking ship behind him other than the few sounds of tussling equipment, hidden by his insignia.
“We have recently received word that the attacks made on Earth were not part of any main force, which should be evident by now. A small band of Earth warriors including myself plan on intercepting their main forces before they can get to Earth, perhaps allowing Earth forces to withdraw from Namek and the surrounding territories. Any prevention of loss of life that we can afford, we will pursue.”
He allowed the feed to drag on a moment. He knew that the people wouldn’t be particularly thrilled with the sudden departure from the new dominion, but he hoped that he could soften the blow a bit with a decent explanation.
“We still have a battle to fight on Earth. There are still those who would rather feed us to the wolves to keep their place in power. We will return shortly. Keep heart, people of Earth. We will prosper through determination.”
He turned from the camera for a moment before returning. He sadly wasn’t as eloquent or well timed as his predecessor. “This isn’t over yet.” His eyes burned balefully as he glared into the lens. “I know you are listening out there, and trust me when I say this is only the beginning.”
The line cut short and he let out the breath that had been beating in his lungs for escape ever since he had taken it. It was becoming ever more bitter in his mouth to spout the quasi-lies his position forced him to. He was ready for the war to be over so he could focus on the standards of truth and transparency that he hoped to found the nation upon. To put the misdirection behind him. The people didn’t need that crap anymore.
He shook his head and tried to clear the fog of thoughts from his mind. Now was the time to leave. It was the time to strike out against the real invaders he had demonized so much. Perhaps they weren’t as awful as they seemed. He really had only what information he had leeched from the long term reports would allow him. It wasn’t much.
There was a recent loss of contact, which either meant the planet had blown up or there was something blocking the signal. He wasn’t entirely sure what that meant on a cosmic scale. Maybe a sun was in the way. How did Q-wave comms work anyways? He could have sworn he knew that. Ah well.
He took down the flag and gently folded it up, tucking it into his last handbag that lay beside him. Plucking the bag up in his hand he began to make his way towards the small transport ship. Without looking back he waltzed up the massive loading door and secured his baggage. He sat between the brothers, across from their two good friends and the attendant for the ride.
“Are you ready?” He asked. It was a rhetorical question. Jarka gave a faint smile as did Victoria. He returned the sentiment and nodded. “Of course you are.”
A chorus of warnings and advisories filled the air, the videos and voices identifying the numerous safety features of the small craft. The shuttle jolted as the upward thrusters roared, sending them soaring upwards. Sigfried casually looked to the floor as they ascended, not seeming much to notice that he and his compatriots were leaving the planet for the first time in most of their lives. His thumbs rode the straps of his harness as they flew in silence, but for the rattling and noise of the ship.
The jolting suddenly became much more violent, turbulence trying to spike them from their seats. The cabin was filled with a bright red glow as it began to separate from the atmosphere and into the eternal blackness.
Finally the boy looked up and stared out the window. He couldn’t help but take a gasp at the beauty of Earth. The blue crashing oceans, the spanning green and brown of the very ground he had lived upon. The air he had breathed swirled around in white blobs, seeming so close we almost reached out to grasp at them. He felt like he could see every person the specks of land, the grey cities and the spanning wilderness between them. Jets and cars and hover vehicles. Such a complex, diverse, wild little world. None of it seemed to make much sense. What was common in one place was alien in another. Differences so vast and wild in areas within the same City.
What would happen if the world was larger? What if it wasn’t all governed in City States? His mind wandered to a massive Earth with hundreds of countries and nationalities. How much harder would it be to unite them? Would revolution even be possible there? He couldn’t know. He doubted it.
He smiled as he saw his two friends gazing out the window as well. They were a part of him, what were they thinking? What collection of garbled misdirections and insanities did their minds compose from the beautiful sight? Things probably more sane than he had to offer. What about Jarka? He couldn’t help but study her for a moment, perplexing over what wild ideologies were floating in her mind. Maybe something looked like an omelet to her. Victoria had probably been off world before. Do you forget the majesty of the planet when you’ve seen it a thousand times before? He didn’t even know if she marveled at it the first time she saw it. What a life she must lead. Was it right for him to want to take her from it? Would he be really saving her at all?
“We’re approaching the Carrier, sir.” Sigfried had hardly noticed the flight attendant. She was short, cute some might say. He didn’t take much catalogue of her other than to nod and acknowledge her statement.
He turned his head as he felt the space ship’s thrusters jet, twisting it in the frictionless environment. When he saw the target of the craft’s trajectory, he was almost more taken aback than he was when he had seen the Earth. “Holy fuck…” He pressed his hands against the glass as the absolutely massive craft came into sight.
It was the single largest thing he had ever seen in his life. It was the size of a skyscraper tossed on its side and lashed to another. The orange engines glowed ominously at the rear of the craft where a speckling of light blue slits rose the side in short stacks, signifying where the crew had taken post. A number of glowing red sensor arrays projected from the sides and cracks like cactus spines. It was shaped roughly like a flattened football with a bulging underbelly. Three circular pods arose from each side and the top, just as he had seen in the simulations. No simulation could ever prepare him to see the ship, though.
“Wow.” Victoria’s voice was a mix of blasé and actually being impressed. He, like always, wasn’t sure what to make of it. He wished that Roy was louder in his mind sometimes. “What is it called?” Those blue eyes gazed into him expectantly. Wanting something fitting for their voyage.
Sigfried smiled and looked back to the group as though he was about to reveal a great secret. “The Utterance of Kai.”
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]