* * *
It wasn’t until they had made their way to the Gaius system that Aeria shook Deimos awake. “We’re here,” she announced as he wiped the sleep from his eyes.
After a moment he asked, “So what’s the plan, sis? I vote we just kick the door down and show them who’s boss!”
Aeria smiled but shook her head. “No, we need to be a little more subtle than that. Father wants this to be a clean operation, so try to keep the bloodlust in check, okay?” She gave him a stern look.
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be real nice. That’s why you brought me right?” he mocked, but she didn’t play along.
Working at the console in front of her, Aeria pulled up a holoprojection of the supply depot. “According to the latest intelligence report, the militants are holed up in this building, with the leaders here,” she pointed at the command center buried deep in the complex.
“Yep, that’s where I would be if I were running the show. Only one way in; easy to bottleneck any attackers,” he nodded appreciatively, as if it were a game.
Aeria grinned wickedly and said, “And that’s why you’d be in as much trouble as they are. Sure there is only one way in, but there is also no escape. So long as we can outlast their bottleneck, they have nowhere to run.”
Deimos frowned. “I guess I hadn’t thought about escape, but then again I don’t normally have to run away. Would rather stand and fight,” he finished gruffly.
“Now, we have the element of surprise,” Aeria continued despite the doubtful look on Deimos’s face. “They are anticipating a full-on military invasion. The poor fools never considered that we might come in person to deal with them, so we can use that to our advantage.”
“How so?”
“If we come in from the west, we should be able to land without anyone noticing. From there we can make our way quietly through the hills here…”-she pointed at an area of the map outside the complex-“We’ll be able to take out any guards they have on the walls pretty quietly, and can make our way inside the complex here…” she pointed to an entrance on the second level. “We will have to fight our way down, but I don’t think that should be a problem. From our reports the militants aren’t well armed and have minimal training, so it should be a breeze.”
Deimos frowned, “I guess we could do it that way, although I still like the idea of the full on attack. You sure you’re not down for some shock and awe?” he asked like an excited kid. To his disappointment, Aeria shook her head.
“No, but maybe if things get too boring, I’ll let you have some fun,” she grinned mischievously.
“Deal!” Deimos replied excitedly.
Shutting down the holoprojection, Aeria started working at the controls of the ship again, plotting their course towards Gaius 5. Although the ship had built in radar deflection making it almost invisible to planetary sensors, she was grateful the supply depot was on the dark side of the planet. The night sky would make their descent less noticeable, and if she could manage to keep the ship low to the ground, they would never see them coming.
She knew Deimos was never much for sneak attacks, but it was honestly the best approach to minimize any damage to the supply depot. Even though Velion scolded her about the way she treated the lesser ones, she still had a hard time worrying about wellbeing of the militants. If they had the nerve to rebel, then they deserved to be crushed and humiliated, and this plan would accomplish both.
As the ship made its way through the thin atmosphere of Gaius 5, Aeria started to feel something… unfamiliar. She wasn’t sure, but something felt off about all of it, like she was missing something. She pulled up the holoprojection again to double check the plan but couldn’t see any error in it.
Deimos seemed to notice her anxiety as he asked, “Is there something wrong?”
Aeria shook her head, “No, it’s nothing. Just wanted to make sure I had the layout of the compound memorized,” she lied. She tried to suppress the feeling but it wouldn’t go away. Deciding to ignore it, she increased the speed of the ship, wishing to get the mission over with as quickly as possible.
It wasn’t long before the ship made its way to the chosen landing spot, and although she knew it would be unattended, she breathed a sigh of relief when the scanners indicated they were alone. Landing the ship was a bit tricky as there wasn’t much room to maneuver, but Aeria was able to set the ship down in such a way that it was almost completely invisible from a distance.
Stepping out into the warm and muggy air of the mining planet, Aeria surveyed their surroundings. The supply depot was on the outskirts of the mining town and most of the area around it was undeveloped forest. As she expected there was a pathway into the woods that surrounded the depot. She would bet anything it led directly to the compound.
“This way.” Aeria pointed towards the pathway. Still feeling apprehensive, she looked around and noticed that Deimos was still only wearing half of his armor. He loved to show off his body for the women, so he rarely wore the top half of his armor. Frowning, Aeria whispered, “There aren’t any pretty girls around to impress, so put on all of your armor.”
Deimos grinned and replied, “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were worried about me.”
“Well I wouldn’t want you getting a scar would I? I’d never hear the end of it,” she jeered.
Deimos laughed quietly and said, “Fine, I’ll put the rest on, but I’m telling everyone how worried you were about me!” Aeria made a show of rolling her eyes, but secretly she was relieved. As they walked, the armor on Deimos’s legs started to shift and move, until the metal expanded and grew up and over his shoulders, molding perfectly to his upper body in a matter of seconds.
As they moved quietly through the woods towards the supply depot the feeling of worry seemed to grow in intensity. Aeria tried to shake the feeling but it wouldn’t abate. Why do I feel like this? There is nothing to worry about; they are just lesser ones! she tried to remind herself, but it didn’t help. In fact, as they moved closer to the supply depot, she started to get the feeling that they were walking into a trap.
After a few minutes, they reached the edge of the woods and could see the supply depot. It was a solid and rectangular complex, built like a military compound with high walls surrounding an interior courtyard. The majority of the complex was underground in order to protect the inhabitants from aerial bombardment. There was only one entrance on the ground level; a large, reinforced gate that would normally be guarded all day and all night, although such work ethic couldn’t be relied on this far away from the central systems. Not when most of the exterior systems were run by corrupt governors that liked to cut spending in order to line their own pockets with royal credits.
Lack of security was undoubtedly the reason such a formidable complex was so easily overrun, but the militant miners didn’t seem to be following suit. From where they were crouching, Aeria and Deimos could make out no fewer than eight guards on the exterior wall, and they could only see half of the building. There was no telling how many there were around the whole complex, but apparently their entrance wouldn’t be as easy as previously thought. It’s no matter, Aeria assured herself. These lesser ones will make for child’s play.
Looking to Deimos, Aeria nodded that she was ready. He nodded back and with a grin he leapt high into the air, Aeria following after him. Together, with blinding speed and strength, they dispatched the first two guards, one at a time; Deimos hitting them high and Aeria sweeping them low. Both fell off the high wall and hit the courtyard ground with a thud. The other guards, hearing the scuffle, started to panic, and called for backup. The next two guards went down almost as easily as the first two, still not having time to react to the lightning fast speed of their attackers. Aeria elbowed her second guard off the wall with great satisfaction and sized up the third.
This time she pulled out her twin blades and leapt towards the third guard, driving the swords through his armor and into chest. As he choked in pain, she put her foot on
his torso and shoved him off the blades, sending him into the courtyard with the others. By this time the remaining guards around the four walls were aware of what was happening, and, to Aeria’s surprise, had readied weapons. From all across the courtyard a flurry of chaotic plasma blasts went flying in all directions. One narrowly missed Aeria while another hit the wall next to her, causing an explosion and sending debris flying into the woods.
Aeria realized there was no time to hesitate, as she hadn’t expected them to be armed with such sophisticated weapons. With as much speed as she could muster, she dashed from one guard to the next, driving her blades through their pale blue skin. Out of nowhere a plasma ball hit the wall in front of her and knocked her back, sending her flying several feet through the air. Landing hard against the wall’s walkway, she felt rage surge through her veins. How dare they! I’ll kill them all!
Fuming, she climbed to her feet, and decided the fun and games were over. Up to now she was just toying with them, taking them on one at a time, but obviously that wasn’t going to work anymore. Surveying the walls she counted five guards. Putting both of her blades together, she started to gather energy, causing the blades to glow. Once enough had been gathered she shot the energy in waves towards the remaining guards. None of them expected this and in a matter of moments all five had either been blown off of the wall or were unconscious.
Slightly out of breath, Aeria looked around again, making sure that none of them had been missed. Deimos leapt from where he was over to his sister. “What’s the deal? I thought you said they wouldn’t be armed?” he demanded, also winded.
Aeria shook her head, “I don’t know. The intelligence report said that they weren’t armed. There was nothing about plasma weapons!”
“Do you think we’ve been set up?” he wondered.
“Maybe, but by whom? It’s no matter, we’ll just have to be a bit more careful. I don’t want to have to send you home in your life pod,” Aeria jeered.
“Me? More likely to be you, but I agree. We should be more cautious.”
The two of them made their way towards the entrance on their right. Now that the circumstances had changed, Aeria suspected that taking the shorter route might actually be what the militants would expect. Was this why she’d felt so uneasy? Had she somehow know that things would go this way? She shook the thought off, deciding that there was no time to figure it out. They needed to focus on accomplishing the mission, especially if it was going to be this difficult.
When they reached the door, both of them hesitated. Silently counting to three, Aeria ripped the door off the hinges and Deimos dashed in. There was no one waiting for them. Breathing a sigh of relief, Aeria indicated the direction they needed to go. There was a service stairwell a few yards away that would take them to the lower levels.
Cautiously they made their way down the stairs, but no one was in sight. Coming to the first floor landing, Aeria held up her hand to indicate that they should stop. Pulling out her holodisk she held it up to a glowing panel next to the landing. She pressed one of the buttons and a map of the compound burst forth. Pressing and holding a secondary button, the map flickered while it synced with the building’s network. A moment later three red dots appeared on the map. They were moving, and all three were heading directly for Aeria and Deimos. The two of them grinned and waited; crouched and ready to attack once the landing door opened. Moments later all three of the lesser ones poured into the stairwell and the two deities dispatched them with ease; the hammer of Deimos knocking one out and the blades of Aeria dismembering the other two.
This is too easy, Aeria thought darkly, pulling out the holodisk again. Scanning again revealed that there were no more life forms in the building, except for three more red dots huddled in the command room. Deimos frowned and said, “That’s it? This won’t even be fun!”
Aeria didn’t like it. Something wasn’t making sense. The Intel reports indicated that dozens of militants were holed up in the compound, why were there only fourteen now? “Something’s not right Deimos. There should be way more militants than this,” she warned.
“Do you think it’s a trap?” Deimos asked, looking unsure.
“It’s hard to say, but we should be cautious. Let’s go. Just keep an eye out for anything strange.”
“Right.” Deimos agreed, following after his sister. They made their way across the first level towards a secondary stairwell that led to the lower levels. They moved quickly, keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary, but nothing was amiss; if anything, the supplies of the depot were too organized. As they passed by dozens of pallets loaded with neatly stacked and labeled supplies Aeria decided to stop and look around.
“Is it just me, or is everything too neat?” she asked, examining the supply stores.
“Huh?” Deimos was at a loss.
“Think about it, if there had been a rebellion and the supply depot was ransacked, wouldn’t all of this stuff be in a giant mess? I’ve never known a riot to leave things in an organized and clean fashion before, have you?” she finished, gesturing at the room.
Deimos looked around puzzled. “You’re right, but what does it mean?”
Aeria frowned in irritation. “It means we’ve been set up. There’s been no rebellion here, but I’d bet all my credits that the three in the command bunker know what’s going on. This time let’s just disarm them. We need answers.” Deimos nodded in agreement.
The two made their way down another set of stairs that ended in a long narrow corridor. This was the chokepoint they’d seen on the map, so both of them moved slowly and quietly down the hallway. At the end was a reinforced door that led to the command bunker; it was closed and most likely sealed shut. For anyone else it would be an almost impenetrable barrier, but for the two of them it would make for short work.
As they approached the door, both were on their toes, waiting for something unexpected to happen, but nothing did. Counting silently to three again, Deimos kicked the door with all of his strength, bending the metal and sending it flying into the command room. Dashing in, Aeria quickly disarmed and knocked down the three lesser ones inside, but they were not alone.
Looking around the large room she was stunned to find large piles of lifeless bodies. There had to be thirty or forty of them in total, and the stench was something awful. Clearly whoever was planning this intended for it to look like Aeria and Deimos had killed all the militants.
Anger surged through Aeria’s veins once more as she tried to comprehend what was happening. Reaching down to one of the stunned lesser ones, she yanked him to his feet and shook him. “I want answers! NOW!” she roared.
The pale blue-skinned lesser one started to laugh. “You walked… right into it, just like he said you would,” he sneered at Aeria.
Fury burned through her mind as she demanded, “Who? Who set this up?! Tell me now!” but he just shook his head in refusal. Fuming, Aeria looked around at the other two lesser ones who were being held against the ground by Deimos. “Fine! You won’t talk, then maybe they will. You two! If you value your friend’s life, then I suggest you start talking!” She held her blade to the lesser one’s throat in a threatening manner, but the threat didn’t work.
The one she was holding spoke up again, “It’s too late. We’ve already set the building to blow. You walked right into the trap, just like he said you would.”
Aeria looked around in alarm and noticed that one of the consoles was displaying a timer and the numbers were counting down. Three minutes and twenty-five seconds still remaining. Plenty of time to get some answers, she thought furiously. Driving her blade into the lesser one’s leg she screamed, “Who?! Who said we’d walk right in?!”
The lesser one cried out in anguish as she twisted the blade. Coughing in pain he said, “Can’t tell you… didn’t see his face. But he had… a message for you…” Aeria’s eyes widened in surprise. A message?
Pulling the blade out of his leg she held it to his throat again. “What mes
sage?”
The lesser one sneered again and said, “He said to tell you: beware the human girls, they aren’t who you think they are.” He finished with another sneer. Aeria wanted to press him for more information but before she could he bit down hard on something in his mouth, and before she could do anything he was dead.
Deimos looked at him in alarm and quickly tried to open the mouths of the other two he was holding, but it was too late. Both had already bitten into their poisoned capsules and were dead. Aeria’s heart sank. Now they would never get the answers.
“Damnit!!” she shouted. “What did that even mean? The humans can’t be trusted?”
“There is no time! We need to go before this places blows!” Deimos shouted, pulling her by the hand as he dashed out of the command room. Aeria looked back at the timer, two minutes flat. Barely enough time to get out of the complex.
Together they ran as quickly as they could, dashing down the hall and up the stairs, running past the depot’s supplies and then out into the courtyard. Leaping high into the air they jumped to the walkway on the wall, but as they did so Aeria noticed something.
“Look!” she shouted, stopping and pulling hard on Deimos’s hand. He turned, bewildered and frantic. The two of them looked out across the mining settlement and were shocked to see that it was completely destroyed. Large pillars of smoke billowed up from crumbled and burning buildings, and lifeless bodies were strewn through the streets. “This was more than just a setup, this was a massacre.”
“We need to go, quickly!” Deimos pulled on her hand again, and Aeria felt her body start to run without her telling it to. She was stunned, not knowing what to think. Who had done this? Even she didn’t hate the lesser ones enough to massacre a whole settlement!
They ran, dashing through the trees, trying to get as far away as they could. Just as they made their way out of the trees and could see the ship, an enormous explosion shook the ground, knocking both of them down. Turning over, Aeria looked back to see a massive fireball rising up into the air over the spot where the compound had been.
“Quick!” Deimos yelled, trying to get up and run towards the ship, but it was no use. Before they could get to their feet, both of them watched in horror as Aeria’s ship exploded, sending pieces of it flying in all directions.
CHAPTER 11