Master of Violence
by AJ Marks
Part 15
Angie made her way along with Jack though the very dark streets. There was little light, but up ahead there appeared to be some activity going on by the light in the sky. It did make her cautious about going too far and close but Jack seemed to want to get closer.
Moving along in silence they continued as the lights grew brighter as they approached the construction going on. Finally they moved closer and were able to see what was going on from their vantage point. It appeared there were groups cleaning up the debris, and not everyone was human. She could see several aliens of different types moving along around working.
The groups were picking up and removing debris all by their hands, no machinery at all causing Angie to frown at the labor intensive work when there were better ways.
She spotted a couple of guards walking around. They stopped and shouted a few things at one of the workers who appeared to back up almost fearful of what was going on. Before Angie could even prepare for it the guard shot the worker. She placed her hand over her mouth to prevent anything from coming out.
Looking around at the others she noticed a distinct difference between humans and other aliens. The other aliens all shank back in fear, but the human reaction was very mixed. A few cowered, several others appeared to tense, and Angie noticed a few fists before they continued to work.
“If only there was a way to speak with one of them,” Jack said quietly. Angie wasn’t sure she wanted to speak with any of them even as Jack continued to look around. “Stay here.”
She wasn’t sure what was going on but watched as he vanished. She huddled down keeping an eye out for the guards but they seemed to be having fun yelling at the workers, many of whom shrank away at being called out. Even as she watched one human seemed to freeze slightly. She watched as he looked around before moving to a spot and appeared to work, but even from here she noticed he was talking. After a few seconds he moved away taking some debris with him and clearing it.
Angie continued to watch before realizing he was familiar, and was one of Jack’s friends. He survived somehow and Jack probably knew it. She scanned the group looking for anyone she might know, but saw no one. A second later jack reappeared.
“Come on,” he said to her.
Angie was glad to move away from the depressing scene.
“That was interesting,” Jack whispered once they were far enough away.
“What?”
“He didn’t know what they were making, only being forced, they are slaves at best. Right now they are forced to clean up the rubble, but without any equipment. They moved so slow they brought in other races to speed things up. They wear collars to prevent them from escaping,” Jack said. “Also found out one more thing, they are called O’krads.”
“Anything else,” she said.
“Nope, only that there are more still alive, the work goes on twenty-four seven. He works this shift, but there are others working during the day,” he said to her.
Stopping at the destroyed mall Jack looked around before using his shirt to hide the light of the phone and typed out a message and sent it off.
“Wish I had been able to get some pictures,” Jack said.
Angie understood why, the light of the phone might have given away their position, something they didn’t want to have happen. Things appeared to be getting more and more complex to her.
“Going to come back tomorrow night, he said he’s going to try to gain some information for us,” Jack said to her.
“All right,” she said as they moved on back into the forest and headed back to their hiding spot. The only thing she really felt glad about was the fact the patrols in the forest had quieted down a lot in the past day or two.
*****
Mark looked at his phone again, seeing another message from Angie, this time it gave a bit more information. Looking on he noticed a new name, the O’krads. This was the name of the mysterious Dark Race.
They had a name upon which to call the enemy. Now all they needed was when they might attack, if at all. That bit of information he doubted would come. But he hoped to gain some more information about who they were and what they might want, if anything at all.
He took that bit of information and sent it down to the intel knowing they would like that, and it would be used on all the major news stations and blogs across the internet.
Going over the reports he noticed that Hans had given him a choice for a new XO of the Enterprise. The guy was actually from another ship but had worked with Hans before. They would have a good relationship already and he approved the transfer. A knock on the door caused him to look up to see Victoria standing there.
“Come in,” Mark said. “Is there something wrong?”
“No, been looking all of the new intelligence,” she replied.
“Find something?”
“No, but there is a mention from both groups of a resistance against this Dark Race,” she replied back to him.
“The O’krad,” Mark said.
“Pardon?”
“O’krad, it’s what they are called, just found out myself,” Mark stated watched as she frowned at that.
“How did you find out before me, isn’t that part of my job, to inform you of such developments?” she asked sounding a bit miffed at being left out of the loop.
“The source of information from Sierra is my niece, she texts me which is automatically also sent to intel for evaluation,” Mark said watching as she digested that bit of news.
“So I’ll be second to know most times,” she asked.
“Well, anything which comes from intel I might not know, they could have discovered something from what I sent down. I don’t analyze it.”
“I see,” she said.
“What about this resistance group?” Mark asked, putting the conversation back on track.
“Yes, both the Simians and Volors mention such a group but we have yet to actually have any contact with them, nor do they know anything about them,” Victoria said.
“You think this group could help us out?” Mark asked wondering about the possibility.
“Yes, from what we’ve heard they are organized somewhat, and are fighting the Dark Race, I mean O’krad” she said to him. “They might have technology we might be able to use in our fight against them.”
“Or additional ships, or provide us with better intel about them,” Mark said wondering about this group. He had heard about them through some briefings but nothing solid about them. The Simians had been unable to give any real information about them. They had shown up before their planet had been attacked and warned them of the impeding attack and promised to help slow the O’krads down, which they did. However, they were unable to stop the O’krads from attacking and taking over the world.
“Considering we don’t know much about them at all,” Victoria replied.
“Did they find anything about that weapon?” Mark asked.
“Only that it appears to work on the same principle as our guns, a projectile but the power source is unknown. Using only pictures it’s a bit harder to determine the actual process. However, they don’t think the gun itself is more powerful than what we have,” she replied back to him.
“That might help us, doesn’t tell us anything about their ship’s weapons.”
“You really think they’ll attack Earth?” she asked him.
“Yes, its not if, but when,” Mark said.
“Sounds like a natural disaster, not if, but when,” she said back to him.
“Need to prepare, the more we’re ready the better off we’ll be,” Mark said looking at his desk.
“More reports,” she said. “How are you adjusting to being admiral?”
“Was pretty much doing this, now I have the rank to go with it,” Mark replied. He had been doing the job being the captain of the Enterprise usually mean he was in charge of any fleet he was a part of unless Admiral Jorkenstein was with them. The fleet now had two admirals and appeared to be expanding. He wondered where this might be going next.
“The first of the Fletcher class destroyers are being laid down,” she said to him.
“Finally gave them a name,” he said recalling that Fletcher was also the name of a class of US destroyers back in World War 2.
“Yeah, went with some history,” she said to him.
“Well, hopefully they live up to their name,” he replied. They had a lot of work to do and he wasn’t sure they had much time to do it in.
*****
Joe relaxed in the rec room. They had been on and off alerts lately and the mood among the pilots was actually good considering everything. He considered everything which happened in the past few weeks. He never imagined that when he went for the patrol after the test jump what might happen next.
Of course he understood that the attack on Sierra probably would have happened regardless of what happened with the aliens. He also understood that his name would be associated with the aliens having been the one who discovered the ship.
“So, what’s going on?” Carl said sitting down next to him.
“Relaxing a bit, been busy lately,” Joe replied.
“That’s true, and after everything I’ll take something relaxing,” Carl replied. “You hear the latest?”
“What’s that?”
“Heard a report that we know the name of these aliens now,” Carl said. “O’krad.”
“O’krad, what type of name is that,” Joe asked. “Expected something more threatening sounding. Dark Race sounded better.”
“Yeah, I’ll agree,” Carl stated. “So, hear anything else?”
“No you?”
“Nah, only that the skipper will probably call a few more alerts in the coming weeks,” Carl replied.
“Anything about when they might attack?” Joe asked.
“Nope, but as long as they give us time, we can get more stations back online. Heard that the Gamma station is almost online now, just needs to undergo testing to make sure it all works,” Carl said back to him.
“Haven’t heard that,” Joe replied wondering where he got all of his information.
“The other stations still have some work to do,” Carl said, as another couple of pilots joined them.
“What’s new?” Nick asked sitting down with them.
“Just going over the latest rumors,” Joe replied.
“Yeah, what news is that?” Percy asked.
“Only their name, the O’krads,” Carl said to them.
Joe watched as both Percy and Nick seemed to frown at the name.
“That’s it?
“Yep.”
“Seems a bit of a let down,” Nick said.
“That’s what I said,” Joe stated recalling what he said only a few moments before they walked in.
“Wonder what else might happen,” Nick said. “Any idea how strong they are?”
“Nope, that worries a lot of people as well,” Carl said. “Seems the captain is concerned as well.”
“You mean admiral now,” Joe said recalling the fact the captain had been promoted recently.
“Right,” Carl said.
“So when do you two go on patrol?” Nick asked.
“We’re off for a while, why?” Carl replied.
“Oh, seems like things always happen when you’re on patrol, just trying to figure out when they might come,” Nick said.
“Thanks,” Joe said unsure if he should feel insulted or not. But they had a lot to do still and he hoped they would not come any time soon.
End part 15