Monsters Win Wars: A Novella (6 page)

Through gasps, he looked at Rand and asked,
“What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“I’m efficient.” Rand said. “We needed the
information, and I got it.”

“We’re freedom fighters,” Henry said. “We’re
trying to stop the violence, not perpetuate it. We were supposed to
be the better men. We aren’t monsters!”

“But I am.” Rand said. “I’m a monster. This
is war, and monsters win wars.”

“I’m not waging that kind of war.”

“Then what kind of war were you expecting?”
Rand said.

“I expected to be civilized.” Henry said. “I
expected to not act like animals.”

“Civilized?” Rand asked. “Where was this on
the day I saved you in that villa?” Henry was silent. “When I
sliced open their guts, and their lives flashed before their eyes,
was that civilized?

“Last week, my men and I sabotaged a fleet of
dreadnoughts. We destroyed their life support systems, cutting them
off from their oxygen supply. You helped to plan that mission.
Where was this compassion when those men spent their last moments
gasping for air, millions of miles from home?”

“That was different.” Henry said. “They were
soldiers; they knew the risks.”

“And being the head-of-state for a
totalitarian regime isn’t a risky position?”

“What you did was pure evil.”

“That’s his problem; not mine, not
yours.”

“It is my problem.”

“I guess it is.” Rand said. “You humans are
weak that way.”

Henry didn’t know what to say. They stared at
each other across the training ground. Contempt built up in both of
them, and they shared an intense desire to destroy each. But
neither could fulfill this desire; Henry knew Rand was too powerful
for him, and Rand knew he couldn’t touch Henry without receiving
the wrath of Aric. It was a stalemate.

The cold silence was broken by an alarm that
echoed through the ship. They heard hurried footsteps, and looked
up to see a young saurian solider appear on the balcony above.

“Sallis has escaped.” The young solider
said.

“Are you sure?” Rand asked.

“Yes, we checked his cell and the infirmary.
He’s nowhere to be found.”

“You left him alone?!” Rand barked at Henry.
The rebel leader didn’t say anything. He turned back to the young
soldier. “Seal off all the exits. Handout portable radios to all
personal, and put them into search parties. I want him found and
captured within twenty-minutes.”

“Yes sir.” The young solider said, and all
three of them left the room.

Henry was searching the cafeteria with Rand
and two commandoes, when they got a call on the radio that Sallis
had been spotted heading toward the communications room.

“Where is he right now?” Rand asked into his
radio.

“He was seen passing the engine room on the
security cameras.” said the voice on the radio.

“Send as many people as possible down there
right now!”

“Yes sir.”

Rand clipped the radio to his belt. Him,
Henry and the others began to sprint toward the communications
room.

“If he gets there before us, he’ll be able to
call for help.” Rand scowled, before shooting a dirty look at
Henry. “This is your fault. You allowed your feelings to get in the
way, and did something stupid. You humans cling to your emotions
like children.”

Henry didn’t say anything, and instead kept
going down the hallway. It was another minute before they reached
the door to the communications room. It was open, and there were no
other saurian troops anywhere. They entered, and sitting at the
control console was President Sallis.

“Sallis?” Henry said, running up to him.
Sallis didn’t say anything; he just looked blankly at Henry, before
turning to Rand and the others who stood in the doorway.

“What did you do?” Rand asked. The
president’s body remained rigid.

“Sallis,” Henry said. The president turned to
him. “Mr. President, I am so sorry.”

“Who did you call?” Rand asked. Sallis still
did not acknowledge anything that anyone said. He just kept
staring, with those wide, damaged eyes.

“Mr. President, are you still there?” Asked a
voice that came through the speakers mounted on the console. Rand
cursed in his lizard tongue, as he and one of the commandoes walked
over to the console. “Mr. President, we have received your
coordinates and are sending help now. Do you copy?”

“I swear if I’d known, I wouldn’t have let
him do this to you.” Henry said to the president, a cold churning
feeling spreading through his chest and stomach.

“Mr. President, are you alright?” the voice
on the radio kept talking. Rand turned it off, and looked over at
the chair Sallis sat in.

“You little worm.” Rand said.

“I hope they skin you alive.” Sallis
said.

“That doesn’t sound like a bad idea.” Rand
began to walk toward Sallis, and Henry stood up right in front of
Sallis.

“Get out of the way!” Rand barked.

“You want him; you have to get through me!”
Henry said.

“Fine.” Rand swept Henry’s legs, and the
rebel leader fell to the ground. With his lizard claws, Rand picked
him up, and tossed him to the other side of the room. He took one
look at him to make sure he hadn’t broken any bones, before moving
back to the president. He leaned down until his scaly face was mere
inches in front of Sallis’ face.

“You know what?” Rand asked. He playfully
dragged the claw of his middle finger across the president’s
neck.

“Rand stop!” Henry shouted. The other
commandoes were already on top of him. They held him back as he
tried to run toward Rand.

“I think skinning you wouldn’t be a bad
idea.” Rand said. The president didn’t respond.

“Rand stop this now!” Henry pleaded, as the
other commandoes held him back.

“But sadly, we really don’t have time for
that.” Rand shook his head as he spoke. “So, we’ll have to do
something a little less elaborate.” The claw that sat on the
president’s neck moved like a flash of lighting in a storm. A red,
wet gash appeared there, and Henry watched the small river of blood
that flowed down the president’s shirt. He sputtered a few wet
breaths, before falling out of the chair, and hitting the
ground.

“No.” Henry said under his breath. The other
commandoes let go of him, and he could again move freely. He stared
down at the body on the ground, watched as its blood formed a
puddle at Rand’s feet.

In the background, he could vaguely make out
Rand telling the other soldiers to prepare for battle. But all his
attention was on the pair of dead eyes that stared up at him. His
guilt-ridden mind was hypnotized by those eyes. He could only
imagine the pain and misery those eyes had witnessed.

“Hey!” said a gruff voice. Henry looked up to
see Rand’s yellow eyes staring at him. He looked around. All the
other soldiers were gone. “Were you listening? We’re going to have
enemy troops on our doorstep any second. You need to get to your
quarters.” Rand’s tone sounded calm, but a little annoyed. It was
as if he hadn’t just killed an unarmed man.

“You son of a bitch.” Henry spat.

“Oh please.” Rand said. “You humans are the
most pathetic warriors I have ever seen. So easily do you allow
petty details, and romantic fantasies of nobility get in the way of
doing what needs to be done.”

“You won’t get away with this.” Henry said.
“When I tell Aric-”

“He already knew!” Rand said. Henry was
silent. “Aric has been my superior for over twenty-years,
forty-years by Earth time! You think he doesn’t know my methods?”
Henry was again silent. “I still don’t know how he can stomach your
human nonsense! And I’ll never know what possessed him to join your
pretentious revolution.”

“He wanted to do what was right!” Henry
shouted. “He wanted to protect his world, your world!”

“And you really believed him?” Rand asked.
“If we’d really thought you stupid apes were a threat to us, we’d
have shown up with a fleet of our best war ships, and blasted you
until you were nothing but dust floating in space!”

“What are you saying?”

“We are not your allies, comrades,
brothers-in-arms, or any other pretentious labels your mammal brain
can conjure up.” Rand was pointing an angry clawed finger at Henry.
“We’re your puppet masters.”

Just then a voice came over the ship
intercom. It said, “Attention! Attention! Enemy dreadnought
inbound! Estimated time of arrival: twenty minutes! Everyone to
battle positions!”

“We’ll discuss this later.” Rand said. “Go to
your quarters. Wait until we give the all clear.” Henry didn’t want
to leave. He wanted Rand to tell him what he meant by “puppet
masters,” wanted ask so many more questions. But the voice on the
intercom was very clear.

Henry silently nodded, and went off to his
quarters.

Henry sat on his bed, looking at the small
security monitor on his nightstand. He flicked through the
different camera feeds, watching as saurian troops took position at
various points around the ship. They didn’t have enough time to
take off, so they had to just wait for the other ship to touch
down. The good news was that the military still thought the
president was alive, and weren’t going to conduct an aerial
bombardment. They were however going to try and breach the
ship.

The plasma pistol in his hand was fully
loaded. It wouldn’t do much if the saurians were unable to hold
them off, but it made him feel safer all the same. Aric came by a
few minutes earlier to check on him. He left him a radio, so he
could listen in on what was going on. Henry wanted to ask him about
what Rand had said, but Aric needed to leave.

He thought about Emily. He knew she was in
her quarters near the infirmary. He would’ve preferred if they
could’ve stayed in the same place, but they didn’t have time for
that. Instead, he just stayed where he was, and hoped everything
would be okay.

The first wave came about five minutes after
Aric left. They burst in through the cargo bay. The image on
Henry’s screen was obscured by plasma fire, and the blurring motion
of skinny black bodies. By the time the first wave had been
dispatched, only two of the sixty Saurian troops in the bay had
died. On the second wave, six died. On the third, ten. On the
fourth, twelve.

Through the radio, reports came of more drop
ships landing around the Saurian vessel, and of more soldiers
pouring out onto the red Martian soil. The feed from the cameras
mounted on the ship exterior showed a swarm of black suited human
commandoes rushing the ship, running to every conceivable
opening.

This was how the government thought they
could defeat us, thought Henry. Over the last few months, every
attempt to engage the saurians in traditional combat had failed
miserably. This was their new strategy; overwhelm the saurians.
Throw as many troops at them as possible in one go, and hope it
worked. It was an act of blatant desperation, but it appeared to be
working.

All but the most skilled saurians in the
cargo bay had been killed. Those that remained retreated. On
another screen, Henry saw a few squads break in through a window on
the port side. Most of them were killed, but there were enough left
over to still cause problems. Henry tightened his grip on the gun
in his hand, and kept his eyes on the door.

An explosion shook his quarters, and Henry
got a call on his radio.

“Aric to Henry! Aric to Henry!” Aric’s voice
sounded tiny on the radio.

“I’m here!” Henry said.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah. What was that?”

“Grenade. I didn’t think any of the soldiers
would be able to get this deep into the ship.”

“How many more are there?”

“A lot. But there aren’t any more drop ships
coming in. We’ve lost the back cargo bay, and a few other areas,
but we’ve been able to keep most of them from getting onboard. We
currently have a few squads doing a sweep of the ones who got
in.”

“Where are they on the ship?”

“We’re not sure about that. We know they’re a
few near the infirmary.”

“How many?” Henry’s voice sounded shaken.

“About three or four. They’re a few more by
the engine room. We’re prioritizing that at the moment.”

“But what about Emily! We can’t just leave
her!”

“Henry, we have to think of the safety of the
ship!”

Henry didn’t say anything. He looked down at
the gun in his hand. It’d been a couple months since he’d been in
combat.

“Henry? Are you there?” Aric asked. The rebel
leader didn’t answer. He figured he’d spent enough time hiding
behind these commandoes.

“Henry what are you-” Henry turned off the
radio, and made for the door.

The hallway outside was clear, save for the
smoke that spilled down the left side. He made his way down the
right side. All around him he could hear gunshots and screams
muffled behind the metal walls.

He’d traveled for about two minutes before
he’d come across the first dead body; a Spec Ops commando, with a
vertical gash that ran from his neck to his crotch. His rifle,
loaded with a half-full plasma clip, lay on top of his spilled
intestines. Henry ignored the smell and the blood, and picked it up
before continuing toward the infirmary.

The path ahead was littered with corpses.
Most were humans, but there were a few saurians, their stringy
plasma covered bodies bleeding out onto the floor. Henry had never
seen more than one or two dead saurians, but in this one stretch of
ship, he’d counted no less than seventeen. His grip on the rifle
tightened, as he pressed on.

He eventually came to a corridor that exited
into a narrow hallway. The infirmary lay about five feet to his
left, while the door to Emily’s quarters was directly in front of
him. The door had been opened a crack, and Henry could see puddles
of blood on the floor.