{"id":2437,"date":"2018-05-05T09:36:23","date_gmt":"2018-05-05T14:36:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ajscifistories.com\/?p=2437"},"modified":"2018-05-12T11:27:59","modified_gmt":"2018-05-12T16:27:59","slug":"master-of-violence-part-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ajscifistories.com\/?p=2437","title":{"rendered":"Master of Violence – Part 14"},"content":{"rendered":"

Master of Violence<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

by AJ Marks<\/span><\/p>\n

Part 14<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Angie made her way along with Jack back to the town.\u00a0 They had spent some time looking around at nearby areas, and avoiding a couple of patrols of the invaders.\u00a0 They seemed to be wary of Earth creatures, shooting at just about everything including squirrels.\u00a0 While it was a bit amusing for Angie, she quickly recognized the danger despite the fact they had one of their weapons.<\/p>\n

Jack had been able to figure out how it worked, and stated it was a similar principle as a gun, shooting some sort of bullet in a magazine.\u00a0 She wasn\u2019t sure about it all, but it seemed to give him something to do, and she found it was amusing to watch as he tried to figure it out.<\/p>\n

Now they were scouting out the town for something.\u00a0 Jack seemed to have some sort of plan and it required her phone.\u00a0 He took a few pictures which Angie considered unimportant, including some pictures of the aliens who were patrolling the forest.<\/p>\n

They were back during the day and the smell was starting to grow each time they came into the town.\u00a0 She remained quiet but resorted to breathing though her nose as they looked around.\u00a0 He took a few more pictures before they returned to the ruined mall.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, what are we doing?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cSending your uncle some pictures of what is going on here,\u201d Jack said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think they don\u2019t know?\u201d Angie asked, wondering how that could happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, have you seen a human since all this happened?\u201d Jack asked her.<\/p>\n

Angie paused, opening and closing her mouth a few times.\u00a0 They both knew the answer to that, they had not seen anyone at all since it all happened.\u00a0 It was a question she avoided as it brought up what happened to her parents.\u00a0 Were they safe?<\/p>\n

Instead of replying she looked down at her phone, the first time she had been back here since she realized her pho9ne buzzed indicating it had a message.\u00a0 Quickly turning it on she spotted her uncle\u2019s texts and quickly read them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s the situation?\u201d Jack asked after a few seconds of silence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey sent a ship to try and talk to the aliens,\u201d Angie said.\u00a0 \u201cIt was destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking up at Jack\u2019s silence she waited a second.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd they are at war with the aliens,\u201d Angie said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo surprise there,\u201d Jack said.\u00a0 \u201cIt makes what we\u2019re doing all the more important.\u201d<\/p>\n

He quickly took her phone and quickly sent off another text.\u00a0 She watched unsure what he was doing, or which pictures he sent.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome on,\u201d he said after a few seconds handing her back the phone.\u00a0 She looked at it seeing that he sent a few pictures of the destruction on the planet, and a couple more of the aliens and of the weapon they used.<\/p>\n

They moved on away from the destruction and in a new direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere are we going now?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWant to check a new place out,\u201d he replied back to her.<\/p>\n

She wasn\u2019t sure what he meant but as they moved on trying to stay hidden he stopped, as did Angie.\u00a0 In the middle of town, rising up was a new building, one she never had seen before.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t know,\u201d he answered.<\/p>\n

It looked like a purple and black needle rising up and towering over everything else.\u00a0 Even from this distance she noticed what appeared to be people working on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me see your phone again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Angie handed it over watching as he used the camera and zoomed in on the structure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, there are humans there, so some survived,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are they building that?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t know, and a few of the other people look odd, like they are not human,\u201d Jack said.\u00a0 \u201cI think we found what we need to do next, see if we can get closer, probably at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Angie wasn\u2019t so sure but remained quiet and wondered what might happen next.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Mark went over the situation and reports before looking over at Victoria.\u00a0 She was efficient in her job, though she might be a bit young for the position.\u00a0 Still Richard recommended her and she was doing a great job.\u00a0 Currently they were going over how quickly the fleet had responded to the threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to improve response times,\u201d she said to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey did pretty well, not sure how much faster they could respond aside from having people actually sitting at the stations twenty-four seven,\u201d he replied to her.<\/p>\n

He watched as she began her counter argument that they might not have much time if the enemy really attacked them.\u00a0 Mark prepared his own response when his phone went off.\u00a0 Frowning he pulled it out and looked at it and froze.<\/p>\n

Opening the texts he scrolled though the pictures before activating the communications.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoaquin here,\u201d the reply came.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet me HQ, now,\u201d Mark ordered not looking away from the pictures.\u00a0 He noticed the destruction and stopped when he saw one of three humanoid figures with what looked like mohawks made of bone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is it?\u201d Victoria asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a face for our enemy,\u201d he said turning the picture to her watching as she went silent.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you know that\u2019s them?\u201d she asked confused.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause, this is from my niece on Sierra,\u201d Mark answered as the screen came to life.<\/p>\n

\u201cLieutenant Abrau here,\u201d a man said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be sending down some pictures for intelligence to look over,\u201d Mark said to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey come from Sierra, including a picture of what these aliens look like and,\u201d Mark paused a moment seeing a strange looking weapon.\u00a0 \u201cAnd some technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSome what?\u201d the lieutenant asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooks like a weapon, a rifle of some sort, might give us a clue to their technology,\u201d Mark replied back to him as he worked to save the pictures so he could send them down as part of a file to intelligence.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery well, I\u2019ll let them know to expect the pictures,\u201d the reply came back.<\/p>\n

The communications ended as Mark turned back to Victoria who was looking at him strangely.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think you can trust this information?\u201d she asked him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our best lead so far, and it shows what is going on there right now,\u201d he said, showing her a picture of some ruins.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou realize by the end of the day those pictures will be everywhere,\u201d Victoria said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, probably,\u201d Mark answered wondering if they would release any of the pictures.\u00a0 The texts going with it were a bit curt, and not quite like his niece, including more information about the weapon than she would ever know.\u00a0 Was she alone or was someone else with her?<\/p>\n

Finishing up his message he sent the file off hoping they might be able to actually figure something out along with any information from the texts which might be important.<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

Jeff made his way to the meeting room having been summoned in the middle of dinner.\u00a0 Seeing the urgency of the message he could not ignore it and said goodbye to his wife and headed back to the capital.<\/p>\n

The message said nothing other than it was the highest level meeting.\u00a0 It meant something had happened but what?\u00a0 His mind raced with possibilities of what occurred but nothing logical came to his mind.<\/p>\n

Entering the room he noticed he was actually a bit early and only the admiral was there at the moment as they greeted each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s this over?\u201d Jeff asked hoping to gain some insight of what happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cGained some new intelligence on our enemy,\u201d Richard said to him.<\/p>\n

This perked him up a bit and he wondered if Yissffer said something which indicated the call for such a meeting.\u00a0 Before the admiral could continue Greg walked into the room, along with Toncor and Yissffer.<\/p>\n

Two more senators walked in before the President entered and motioned for the admiral to proceed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThirty minutes ago we received these pictures,\u201d Richard said as the screen behind him activated and a picture of a destroyed building came up.\u00a0 \u201cThis is of a building on Sierra.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow did you get that?\u201d Greg asked sounding a bit skeptical of the picture.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdmiral Mark has a niece who is still on Sierra and is able to somehow text us,\u201d Richard said.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve scoured the communications network and discovered that there are still a few functioning towers, but we were unable to connect to any devise on the surface, except for hers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSounds a bit convenient to me,\u201d Greg said.\u00a0 \u201cBut what did these pictures show?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAside from the devastation on the surface, these pictures of what was labeled the aliens.\u201d<\/p>\n

The picture turned to three aliens, wearing light blue colors and green skin but what was the most notable feature was the bony protrusion which looked like a Mohawk.\u00a0 It gave the aliens a punk rock look to them in a strange, weird way.\u00a0 Was this the alien race?<\/p>\n

He looked over to see Toncor looking on but it was Yissffer who seemed to react the most to the picture, he stood very still and stiff.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have seen them before?\u201d Richard asked which Yissffer said something in his native tongue making Jeff wish he has his translator.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe says that is the Dark Race,\u201d the aide said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we have a face for the enemy now,\u201d Jeff said speaking up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t all which came, but some information about a weapon they have,\u201d Richard said as another picture of a blue looking weapon appeared on the screen.\u00a0 It looked a bit like a futuristic rifle.\u00a0 \u201cIndications are it uses a type of bullet, has a magazine and is probably similar to our own weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen we can fight them,\u201d Greg said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn land, it appears so,\u201d Richard said.\u00a0 \u201cHowever, their camouflage is very different than ours, as you see it\u2019s a shade of blues, not colors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey could be color blind?\u201d Jeff suggested.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a possibility, and one we are taking into account, or the uniforms could be a symbol of rank,\u201d Richard replied back to him<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything else we could determine from the pictures?\u201d Jeff asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly that they have destroyed much of the city that was on Sierra,\u201d Richard said.\u00a0 \u201cIts still too limited but we\u2019re unsure of what all happened as intel is still hard to come by.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat about releasing this information?\u201d Jeff asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some concerns about such leaks, it might endanger our source of information there,\u201d Richard said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow?\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure this Dark Race is even here among us,\u201d Jeff replied watching as the admiral thought about it for several seconds.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be discussed later on,\u201d Richard said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs there anything else you can tell us about this?\u201d the President asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cActually, it shows that the buildings were destroyed by orbital bombardment,\u201d Richard said.\u00a0 \u201cOur scientists think they can determine how much destructive force the enemy had when attacking.\u00a0 They might already know what our capabilities are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do you say that?\u201d Jeff asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they search the information they gained on Sierra, they will discover our military forces and what technology we have,\u201d Richard said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen we\u2019re fighting at a disadvantage already,\u201d Jeff replied unsure he like that bit of information.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy fight?\u201d Yissffer\u2019s translator asked.<\/p>\n

Everyone turned to the alien.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t give up our home without a fight,\u201d the President replied.\u00a0 \u201cRunning would be considered by many as a coward\u2019s way out.\u00a0 And if we don\u2019t stand up who will?\u00a0 You?\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement seemed to take Yissffer by surprise as he didn\u2019t reply for several seconds before saying something to the translator who seemed to hesitate for a second.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou run for freedom to stay alive, we can help you there,\u201d he said before Toncor and his translator spoke up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI fear some things are lost in translation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff then watched as Yissffer and Toncor spoke rapidly before anyone spoke up again.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of your words wasn\u2019t translated as Volorians appear to not have an equivalent word,\u201d Toncor said.<\/p>\n

It left Jeff wondering what the word was that wasn\u2019t translated.\u00a0 He hoped to find out.<\/p>\n

End part 14<\/p>\n

Continued in part 15<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Master of Violence by AJ Marks Part 14 Angie made her way along with Jack back to the town.\u00a0 They had spent some time looking around at nearby areas, and avoiding a couple of patrols of the invaders.\u00a0 They seemed to be wary of Earth creatures, shooting at just about everything including squirrels.\u00a0 While it […]
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