{"id":2509,"date":"2018-08-25T07:16:02","date_gmt":"2018-08-25T12:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ajscifistories.com\/?p=2509"},"modified":"2018-09-01T07:17:08","modified_gmt":"2018-09-01T12:17:08","slug":"master-of-violence-part-28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ajscifistories.com\/?p=2509","title":{"rendered":"Master of Violence – Part 28"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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

Part 28<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Toncor made his way to the bridge having been summoned by the admiral, Mark Pappas.\u00a0 He heard the battle in space had ended which was good news to him.\u00a0 He had been worried about dying in space on board the ship, but aside from a few bumps nothing major.\u00a0 And there seemed to be no panic among any of the crewmembers.<\/p>\n

He actually used the time to go over the progress reports from his people.\u00a0 They had arrived at the planet Mars, and were helping to terraform it even more.\u00a0 Settlements were quickly established.\u00a0 Things were progressing rather quickly and Iccol had stated they might be able to plant a harvest by the end of the month.\u00a0 Even the other transport, the Hotlife was beginning to send people down to help as well.\u00a0 It was becoming a good mix of civilizations.<\/p>\n

The bridge was full of people going about their duties, a few stopped and looked at him.\u00a0 It was something had had gotten used to.\u00a0 Not every human was used to having an alien around them.\u00a0 He looked up as Mark made his way over to where he stood.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh, good,\u201d Mark said.\u00a0 \u201cWe have ground troops headed to the surface right now.\u00a0 They should be there in a bit, but how much do you know of the other races?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m afraid the majority of races we met were in transport ships fleeing the O\u2019krad.\u00a0 But I will do my best,\u201d Toncor said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, we haven\u2019t met many races either, at least not until recently,\u201d Mark replied.\u00a0 \u201cA lot happened in a short amount of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toncor nodded in understanding.\u00a0 \u201cIf we hadn\u2019t had engine trouble we would not have met you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd not been given your warning either,\u201d Mark said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI somehow think you would still be in this spot even without us,\u201d Toncor said.\u00a0 \u201cFrom what I\u2019ve studied of your race, every reaction you gave is consistent with your history.\u00a0 Humanity would have fought back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I\u2019d like to think so,\u201d Mark said.\u00a0 \u201cThough we wouldn\u2019t have been on alert as much, or have so much information so quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith or without our warning, Earth would not have been an easy fight for them,\u201d Toncor stated but a new report interrupted any further conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cGround troops have landed,\u201d Joaquin stated.\u00a0 \u201cColonel Sventila on the line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toncor watched as Mark went over and answered.\u00a0 \u201cThis is Admiral Pappas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAdmiral, wanted to let you know we have landed safely, there appears to be no surface defenses from what we could tell on the way down,\u201d the colonel stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood, and the situation on the surface?\u201d Mark asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll ships have landed safely,\u201d he replied.\u00a0 \u201cWe are currently working to meet up with the others and prepare out attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll send a few fighters overhead to scout the areas,\u201d Mark said.\u00a0 \u201cAny luck with uniting with the resistance group on the surface?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot yet sir,\u201d the colonel stated.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll let you know the moment we hear anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you,\u201d Mark said, as the communications ended.<\/p>\n

Toncor looked on watching and waiting.\u00a0 He wouldn\u2019t be needed until they actually met some aliens on the planet.\u00a0 Though several of the soldiers had communicators with them for such a situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny idea when you\u2019ll want me to go down?\u201d Toncor asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot sure yet, I want to make sure things are secure on the surface first,\u201d Mark replied back to him.\u00a0 \u201cLast thing I want is for you to be shot because we weren\u2019t careful with security.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you admiral,\u201d Toncor said, feeling a bit better about it all.<\/p>\n

Though, he couldn\u2019t help but wonder what happened to his own homeworld.\u00a0 Were there still some of his race who were struggling to survive?\u00a0 And if so, what could they do about it to free them as well?\u00a0 He had so many questions and not a lot of answers at the moment.\u00a0 The humans would say this is only the beginning of a lot of things, and perhaps the freeing of many other planets.<\/p>\n

For now he waited while listening to the reports coming in from the surface.<\/p>\n

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

Angie looked on from her spot, they had seen several shuttle type craft flying overhead not long ago.\u00a0 Jack had mentioned some name, explaining that was the name of the type of shuttle and obviously they knew what it meant.\u00a0 To her it wasn\u2019t much of anything except good news.<\/p>\n

They remained hidden a bit before turning to see several men walking towards them along with Sven.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, look who I found,\u201d he said to them.<\/p>\n

Angie felt relief at seeing another human, and one not from Sierra, but Earth.\u00a0 What she so hoped for was actually happening.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeard there was a planet here in need of liberation,\u201d the soldier said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, you could say that,\u201d Jack said to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are the resistance group?\u201d the soldier asked looking around, \u201cwhere are the others?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still have two others checking out the perimeter,\u201d Jack stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll right,\u201d he said, lifting his radio.\u00a0 \u201cFound the group, sector six, we\u2019ll use this point as HQ, all forces converge here.\u201d<\/p>\n

They were interrupted by the sounds of running, as Aku and Crystal came into the area only to stop short.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh, we\u2019re friendly,\u201d Aku said raising his hands.<\/p>\n

The soldiers lowered their weapons as the leader seemed to move forward.\u00a0 \u201cThe last two?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to get out of here, or get ready,\u201d Crystal said.\u00a0 \u201cThey\u2019ve organized some soldiers and are headed this way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cExpected,\u201d the soldier said looking at the others.\u00a0 \u201cSpread out, defend this area, night vision on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Angie watched as they pulled down some goggle looking things over their eyes and started moving off position as the leader stayed with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll squads, hostiles have entered the forest, be careful, all resistance personal are with us,\u201d the man said.<\/p>\n

Angie moved a bit to hide a bit better as she and Heather tried to stay out of the way of the activity.\u00a0 She was ready for her part in all of this to be over.<\/p>\n

Gunfire caused her to jump as now she could see the flashes of weapon fire in the distance.\u00a0 It seemed odd to see the flash but not hear anything for a second or two.\u00a0 It looked nothing like she had seen in the movies and honestly wanted to not see any more of it.<\/p>\n

She watched as Jack spoke with the man who appeared in charge of everything even as a few more men approached.<\/p>\n

\u201cThird squad reporting sir,\u201d one soldier said loud enough for Angie to hear.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood, follow Jack here, scout around and see about freeing any of the slaves there,\u201d the commander said.<\/p>\n

The group moved off along with Jack leaving them to listen to the gunfire as reports trickled in over the communications.\u00a0 From what she could make out they appeared to be winning the battle.\u00a0 In a way it didn\u2019t surprise her at all, considering the way the O\u2019krad had acted while out in the forest.\u00a0 It was like they didn\u2019t like being out here and they were almost always thinking about something else when walking along.\u00a0 They had passed close by a few times while they were hiding.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst squad has beaten back the attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood,\u201d the commander said, motioning for another man to come forward, he had a phone.\u00a0 \u201cThis is Colonel Victor to Enterprise.\u201d<\/p>\n

That caught Angie\u2019s attention because the Enterprise was her uncle\u2019s command, or had been last she had heard.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes sir, we\u2019re in the process of securing a landing area for the rest of the troops,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cBut the second division can be sent down at any time, we\u2019ll send out safe zones to land which are secure.\u00a0 Yes sir.\u201d<\/p>\n

He hung up the phone and looked over at another man.<\/p>\n

\u201cTell the fourth squad to be ready for additional troops, the second division is headed down,\u201d Victor said.\u00a0 The man didn\u2019t bother replying but took off with the report.<\/p>\n

Even as they waited more gunfire erupted, this time in the direction which Jack and the squad had disappeared to.<\/p>\n

Looking up into the sky she noticed that the night sky was beginning to lighten indicating morning was coming.<\/p>\n

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

Mark sat in the command room listening to the reports coming in.\u00a0 The fleet had set up a defensive position around the planet waiting for a counter attack which they all fully expected.\u00a0 In the room with him was Victoria, a few others monitoring the activity of the fleet and ground troops along with Toncor.<\/p>\n

\u201cSir, incoming communications from HQ,\u201d Joaquin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPut it though,\u201d he said, expecting to see Richard, instead he saw Senator Jeff.\u00a0 \u201cAh, senator, what can I do for you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hearing good things about the invasion,\u201d Jeff said to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far things appear to be going our way,\u201d Mark said, not wanting to jinx anything.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood, we had a report from Belru of the Rebellion,\u201d Jeff said and Mark had to recall the alien realizing he was one who kept up with all of the intelligence of the O\u2019krad for the resistance.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cYes, seems like about the time we attack there was a tremendous spike of communications.\u00a0 They are working on translating it, but they appear to be in chaos,\u201d Jeff said to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat won\u2019t last long,\u201d Mark said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, but it\u2019s the first time they\u2019ve ever seen anything like this.\u00a0 They don\u2019t seem too organized which should work in our advantage,\u201d Jeff told him.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid he give any idea as to when we could expect a counter attack?\u201d Mark asked.\u00a0 It was his main concern right now, how long it might take them to organize some sort of counter attack to their attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t know, only that he\u2019s never seen them so disorganized before,\u201d Jeff said.\u00a0 \u201cHow are things going on the planet?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have footholds on the planet, areas to land troops, and such, we are only now beginning to advance on the city, cautiously though as we don\u2019t know exactly what type of defenses to expect, or how many troops they have stationed on the surface,\u201d Mark stated.\u00a0 \u201cThey only had two smaller defense ships which we had not encountered yet before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAn unknown, wonder how many such ships they have,\u201d Jeff said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is reasonable to assume they have many,\u201d Toncor said speaking up from his position having been listening.<\/p>\n

\u201cAh, Toncor, how are things?\u201d Jeff asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoing very well senator,\u201d Toncor replied back.\u00a0 \u201cI am waiting for my skills to be an asset so far, but I understand the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve really learned a lot,\u201d Jeff said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re species is fascinating,\u201d Toncor said not what Mark expected to hear.\u00a0 He fully expected Toncor to think of humanity as some sort of violent race.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve found more contradictions in your history and planet than any other species I\u2019ve run across so far.\u00a0 You have this innate desire to protect those weaker than you, yet you also have a history of taking over the weak.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark wanted to listen in but another report from the surface came up.\u00a0 They were beginning to move into the city, meeting some resistance.\u00a0 He quickly looked at the map which indicated safe locations on the planet, there were two locations at the moment, both near the main city on the planet.<\/p>\n

Sierra had only been recently colonized with a few smaller cities and one large city.\u00a0 It was the main city for transporting the raw materials mined on the planet.<\/p>\n

Taking another look at the scanners he noticed nothing else had arrived after his force, and no O\u2019krad ship had escaped which he knew about.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt appears things are still moving as planned, which worries me,\u201d Mark finally said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d Toncor said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlans almost never survive the first engagement,\u201d Mark said.\u00a0 \u201cI just hope we didn\u2019t overlook anything when planning this raid.\u201d<\/p>\n

End part 28<\/p>\n

Continued in part 29<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Master of Violence by AJ Marks Part 28 Toncor made his way to the bridge having been summoned by the admiral, Mark Pappas.\u00a0 He heard the battle in space had ended which was good news to him.\u00a0 He had been worried about dying in space on board the ship, but aside from a few bumps […]
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