Chapter 44: Chapter 43 – First Contact (2)

“What is the situation up there?” Marin asked, and her transmission was laced with the background noise of the suit’s plasma rifles firing in a constant crescendo.

As soon as Alpha warned her, the cocoons on the planet’s surface broke apart, releasing different kinds of bug-like creatures. They ranged from the size of a human to that of a truck. Their buzzing wings made them capable of flying, and now they were trying to swarm the suits and bring them down. Marin reacted first, activating the energy shield in her left arm while flicking the vibroblade out on her right. The slimy, brown creature with its four arms and salivating mouth was ready to tear into its prey’s flesh. For its misfortune, what it landed on was a blue energy shield, sending shocks through its body. Before it could scream, opening its mandible wide up, a vibrating blade slashed it into two the next moment. By then, the rest of her squad had already formed a circle, and they were firing their weapons, aiming at the horde of bugs appearing from the falling-apart cocoons.

“Not good,” Alpha answered. “We have an alien fleet incoming, and they are already firing upon the Charon. Two ships broke off and headed toward the second group, and two came toward us.”

“Can you deal with the two?” She asked, her voice calm and confident while switching to her plasma rifle, letting out a short burst, melting away a car-sized, six-legged alien crawling towards them. 

“Sure.” Alpha nodded, looking down at the planet for a moment only. “Do you need help?”

“No,” Marin replied with a small smile. “3rd and 4th are already descending. We will take care of these abominations and rendezvous with you up there!” 

“Mhm. Give us 10 minutes.” Alpha said as he flew forward, and his team followed suit. “You guys take on the second ship. Leave the first one to me!”

“Captain,” A laughing, young male voice answered, “Aren’t you a bit greedy?”

“I know this machine better than you guys.” Alpha smiled, hearing him. “Keep yourself safe! Don’t forget; you are faster than any fighter-class ship! Use it to your advantage and hit its weak points!”

“We don’t even know where those are!” A female voice laughed, answering her squad leader. 

“You have eyes, no? Use them!” Alpha laughed as his suit accelerated beyond what any others could match. 

Getting closer to the alien spaceship, he couldn’t help but shudder a little, especially seeing it taking shape. Since melding with it, when focusing on the strings, he could step onto them even when suited up. He didn’t want to look too out of place, and as if he was teleporting, Alpha restricted his speed to a still, believable degree. Even then, he reached the first ship of the bugs way before anyone else.

“They look like turds in space.” He murmured as his suit; Heracles agreed with him.

“I already identified where their bridge is located.” He said, highlighting different parts of the enemy ship for his pilot. “Their weapons seem to be also using biomatter to cause damage.” Heracles continued, raising one of his black arms, summoning a tower-shield-sized energy wall, blocking the incoming projectiles that smashed at it like bugs on a windshield. 

“Nasty.” Alpha said, clicking his tongue. “I locked onto the bridge.” 

“I’m sealing up myself.” His suit answered.

From the outside, the black armor on Alpha’s suit started to shift, extend, and cover all of his joints, reinforcing itself and turning itself into a speeding meteor. The rest of his team had already broken off, knowing full well what would happen next, and they were aiming towards the remaining ship, further back. Those who didn’t raise their shields simply evaded the bugs’ projectile. They were fast, but the Suits of Areses were faster. Their enhanced reflexes and response time were above anything that the other species could match. 

“Brace for impact,” Hercules said as the suit itself rammed into the brownish ship like a torpedo. It blasted vast chunks of its hull everywhere, and the 200 meters long ship shook, starting to tilt upwards, almost doing a complete flip. From the impact itself and the sudden direction change, it almost broke into two, and if not for Hercules’s precise control, the suit would have passed through it thoroughly. Instead, he stopped when he was in the deepest part of the ship, realigning its platings and forming two vibroswords on its hands. 

“We are going for the bridge. Eliminate their controls and capture the ship for further inspection.” Alpha said on an open channel.

“Roger.” Came his soldier’s answer. “We are also engaged in the enemy. Their targeting is not used to our speeds, captain! Should we also capture their ship?”

“Mhm.” Alpha nodded as he walked inside the abnormal vessel, tearing its biomass apart and making way for himself. “Disable their drives and their weapon systems. What about the other half of us?”

“They already destroyed a ship,” Hercules said, having an open connection with the other suits.

“Casualties?”

“Six. None lethal.” Hercules added after a brief pause. “They are being retrieved by the others right now.”

“Well, as long as the head unit is intact, it can be refitted onto another body.” Alpha murmured but still, he was a bit unhappy that they had already lost six suits… it seemed like only his and Marin’s squad, made up of the top pilots, could bring out the maximum of the new weapons.

As he walked through the alien ship, literally, the onboard, bug-like, and horseshoe-headed creatures had no chance against his suit. Arriving at the bridge, seeing the creatures fused with their ship and controls, he furrowed his brows.

“The squad already disabled the other ship’s bridge,” Hercules said, knowing his thoughts. Alpha nodded, sending an electric shock from his suit, knocking out every bug on the ship’s bridge. “I am notifying the Charon that we have captured two alien vessels. We are going to tow them back to Hegemony territory.”

“Send a message to Liz.” Alpha added, “She should also study them. We have to know what we are up against. These things are not friendly creatures….”

When the Charon received his report, they no longer focused on keeping their shield up but went on the counterattack. The Charon’s blue beam weapons quickly decimated the biggest ships they had, cutting through their biomass with ease, resulting in a spectacular explosion. The suits stationed at the remaining Astropath also joined in, flying through the enemy fleet, dodging their weapons, and crippling their identified key structural weak points. 

“Hah…” The captain of the battleship chuckled. “Their ships are pretty flammable!” 

“They are.” Ursha nodded with a smile, watching as a second barrage decimated another three ships. “Sir, we have the reports. No deaths, only injuries among the fighters. We are also receiving reports from the planet’s surface. They are torching the colony.”

“Hm?” Daokus raised an eyebrow. “Is the situation unsalvageable?” 

“Going by the Commander’s words, ‘This place is disgusting.’ She says it is overrun by some kind of bioweapons.”

“Mhm. Noted. Save all of the suits’ battle reports and analytics! The team back home is going to have a field day analyzing them! Let them finish off the stragglers! Take a course to the two captured ships, and lets tow them home! We just gained a new enemy….”

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In Hegemony space, Alpha was standing next to Marin, watching the captured alien vessel cut apart as dozens of Suits of Areses were floating around it in space. The two were on a secret military base, orbiting a ringed gas giant in a system where nothing else was of significant interest besides it and its yellow star. The military was capturing the bug-like creatures alive, shipping them off in containers, ready to dissect and experiment on them to learn about this new species that decided to obliterate one of their colonies. Not to mention the other dozens of warships standing ready for action. 

“Brrr…” Marin shuddered, leaning against his shoulder. “They are nasty! Like… space-locusts!” 

“I feel you.” Alpha nodded. “I don’t even want to know what happened with the poor colonists.”

“You don’t know?” She asked.

“I didn’t read into it. I don’t want to. I have a gut feeling, and it is not nice. I don’t want to see that.” He shook his head.

“Mhm… I totally agree!” She sighed, tiptoeing and kissing him. “We have to come up with something! Officials and ambassadors are visiting the nearby systems to study the locals’ history and legends. There have to be clues. I think the military leaders are already thinking about tracing them back to their home planet and torching it to the ground.”

“We will see. I-” He said, but then the two were interrupted by Alpha’s communicator beeping on his wrist. 

“What is it?” She asked, seeing his frown.

“It says… ‘Grandpa’ is calling.”

“Huh?” Marin blinked her eyes with surprise. “What grandp- oooooh! He?”

“I can’t think of anybody else!” He sighed, and they hurried back to their cabin.

After Alpha opened up the channel, they heard the room’s door click, closing, sealing them off from the outside world. There was no image or projection, only the old voice of Ezekiel. 

“Long time no see.” He said.

“I still can’t see you.” Alpha smiled in response.

“I see your personality has grown through the years.” He continued, unperturbed by his little joke. “But it is time you stop playing.”

“Excuse me?” Alpha asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“I let you develop your toy. Let your child-like fantasy play out to help you mature a little. I even let your girlfriend play along with you.”

“Hey…” Marin protested as she earned her place, which was correct. She did have an outstanding talent, piloting a Suit of Ares, and nobody would deny that.

“Do you think that you would get to where you are now without any military background? Not just pilot one of the most expensive weapons we have but also command others? I was letting you two indulge in your young, adventurous side. I know how it feels to be full of energy and want to experience the wonders of the frontier world. Now that you did, it is time to refocus you, Alpha.” He said with an even, calm voice as if stating simple facts.

“You mean to say that I was just playing around?” He asked back, clearly not happy to hear his words.

“I do not mean to say it. I am saying it.” Ezekiel’s voice repeated his statement. “You were not brought to this world to be a soldier. A weapon. You became too focused on one thing!”

“...” Alpha remained silent at that moment, listening to him, trying to see his point. His silence alone made Marin also hold back her honest thoughts. It was her first time finally hearing the mysterious elder’s voice, and he was not happy about it. Not a bit.

“The military. It is the force of the Hegemony, but it is not THE Hegemony. Our empire spans hundreds upon hundreds of systems, expanding a little every day. We have younger, less advanced civilizations joining it almost every decade. Those who lived here before our arrival were prey to the bugs you just encountered.”

“You knew about them?” Marin asked suddenly.

“I knew about the locals’ legends when they joined the Hegemony. I already calculated the ‘monsters’  probability of existence from those ancient texts of theirs. That is why I let you dabble in military ideas first. It was a good experience for you, but now you have to come back and focus on your real purpose.”

“That is?” Alpha asked.

“Leading Humanity.” Ezekiel said seriously. “Leading THE Hegemony. Your talent and ideas are wasted if you just focus on one thing; Developing weapons. You need to develop US. Not just the human species but everybody who is on our side. Do you know how many mixed species are there today?” 

“No,” Alpha said, shaking his head.

“Exactly. Too many to count! They all need our protection. They are new to the Galaxy, and it is a dangerous place. There ought to be many things the same as these… bugs. We have the technology. We have the power. We have the responsibility to guard them. If the Hegemony fails, it will leave behind nothing but a burning Galaxy, consumed by war for scraps.” 

“I don’t think I follow you….” Alpha said, a bit confused.

“You do,” Ezekiel said, with a bit of a tired voice. “You have a gift that nobody else has. Even if you don’t want to, you are still burdened by the responsibility. The responsibility for humanity and its descendants.”

“You want him to lead the whole Hegemony?” Marin asked, surprised but… also feeling excited by the idea. Alfy, being the leader of all of humanity? How exciting that would be!

“The whole Galaxy.” Ezekiel replied. “Only when the Galaxy is united can we start looking for the answer.”

“To what question?” Alpha asked, and after Ezekiel answered, the connection was terminated.

“Why are we here?”

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