THE VROL TRILOGY (160 page)

"
That
… was my father, Ensign. Get to your
station. We're going to Vera."

###

"Vrol are victorious. Now Vrol feed. We
hunger."

"Sharga, what happened? I don't
understand?"

"We transported our fleet to the system of
the man. Now we feed."

"But… how? How did you do it?"

"We are Vrol. The craft that you provided
was integrated into our collective."

"Oh my god. My little ship brought the
entire Vrol fleet to Azul?"

"Not all. We maintain 33% of our numbers.
The remaining Vrol shed off on entering the void and are lost to
us. This matters not. We now feed."

What have I done?

###

"Captain, we will be in striking reach of
Vera within six hours," said Lt. Hofferson, the Reagan's pilot.

"Very well. I want all Draeders fueled and
ready to depart once we are within 300,000 kilometers. Do your
calculations.

"Admiral, we have you on
our scanner. We're an hour behind. What are your orders?"
said Max over the comm.

"Bring the Reagan around Vera's dark side.
That is if you aren't attacked upon arrival. I'm sending out
Draeders and some heavy-weapon attack craft as escorts as soon as
we arrive. God, I hope we're not outclassed. We're certain to be
outnumbered."

"Unless the Vrol improved their firepower, I
think we'll be okay in space. Remember, we exhaustively studied
vids of their invasion of Earth, and the Earthers fought them off
pretty well, even with their primitive tech."

"No worries there. The Revolution has some
new deep scanning equipment, and I have a map I want you to see. We
can go over it on the comm if you like. I'll send it to your
personal console."

"Where are you?"

"In my quarters,
why?
Oh… hello."

Max had easily slipped to Bagatelle's
quarters, without bothering to ask if his brother-in-law was
decent.

"Oh crap, sorry, G," he laughed, looking away
from his naked commanding officer.

"You could have asked if I was dressed, you
know," Bagatelle mused, not really being bothered in the least. He
quickly put on his undergarments and touched a panel of lit icons
on his desk, causing a glowing map to appear, while buttoning up
his uniform of the day.

"This is our deep space scan as of 23 minutes
ago. All of these red dots represent an alien craft. Vera aerial
forces are already combatting the Vrol, and I am pleased to say
they aren't as hard to destroy as we had feared."

"So, no antimatter missiles yet?"

"Oh no, just ordinary ordinance. In fact,
their craft are rather brittle."

"But there are thousands of them," said
Max.

"Yes. 23,000, in fact. Well, 22,735 as of
now."

"Those are paltry numbers. We need bigger
gains G, and quickly. Wait - look at that grouping. The dots are
disappearing quickly. I wonder what's happening."

Max and Bagatelle watched in amazement as
large clusters of red dots were blinking off. The odd thing was
that there were no green dots, representing Draeders, in the
vicinity.

###

The two most powerful archangels in the
Universe streaked through space, wings extended and being used to
more effectively tear up Vrol techno-organic matter as they plowed
through individual ships. They were decimating aliens on a rate ten
times faster than the Azulian Draeders.

"Gabriel, I wish Max were here with us. He
would so enjoy this. In fact, I do not believe I ever taught him we
could do this."

"Did you not take him into space? I thought
you would have at least showed him this base skill."

"I had planned on doing so, but the arrival
of the insects was unseen by any of us. Look - a larger craft. Let
us attack it together. Alone, one of us would only make a
significant hole in its hull."

Gabriel nodded and followed his older
brother, reveling in their wanton destruction of the parasitic
species.

The two rammed into the side of the craft,
roughly the size of a football stadium, each peeling off from the
other as they shredded Vrol tech into microscopic detritus. Exiting
opposite sides of the craft, they split it into two, and turned
back, they went through it yet again, this time leaving a massive
explosion in their wake. Targeting another group of craft that were
nearing Vera's atmosphere, they were both pleasantly surprised to
see their father whiz past them, taking out multiple ships with a
combination of brute force and thermonuclear cantuses.

"Father is such a show-off, but what he does
is logical. We need to clean this up and save as many human lives
as possible," said Gabriel.

"Agreed. No Vrol touch down. He who destroys
the least buys the drinks."

Mija-El, the Taxiarch, slipped over to a
large cluster of Vrol craft and situated himself in its center.
Determining his position would inflict maximum damage, he enveloped
himself within his folded wings as a form of protection.

It looked like an antimatter bomb had gone
off, and 5,000 alien craft were obliterated in a microsecond.

The reckless archangel floated in space, near
unconsciousness. Gabriel was quickly at his side, touching his
brother and causing healing particles to flow through the Primulus'
body and reviving him.

"Brother, what you did was
risky. Are you that much of a cheapskate? I shall buy drinks
tonight. Worry not,"
said Gabriel as he pulled Michael
to another grouping of alien ships.

"Gabriel, we don’t pay for drinks… dork,"
laughed Michael, "but thank you. I believe I did overextend
myself."

"Let us allow Father to concoct such wanton
destruction. I was rather enjoying attacking the larger craft with
you. Are you now well?"

"Yes. However, it appears some bugs have
made it to the moon's surface. We shall need a new bet."

The brothers slammed onto the firm ground,
shaking the soil with the intensity of a magnitude 7.0 earthquake,
and nearly knocking nearby Vera troops off their feet. Gabriel drew
his dual swords, which resembled scimitars, and started to hack and
slash his way through the attacking horde. Michael, on the other
hand, drew two khukuri knives (which were made for close-quarters
combat), and consistently charged bugs, flipping over them and
piercing their upper spinal columns before his feet touched the
ground. It was like watching an Olympic gymnast perform endless
front flips while leaving trails of green ochre in his wake. Bugs
dropped to the ground where they stood, permanently disconnected
from the hive mind, and quickly dying in the process.

Hearing a commotion, Gabriel turned around
and saw King Krynos running through a mob of bugs, knocking them
over like bowling pins, his katana flailing around and decapitating
anything that got close. He bellowed out in joy, reveling in the
wanton bloodshed. It was what he lived for - to do battle with
worthy foes, and he found these strange insects to be worthy of his
wrath. His leathers were starting to shred from alien blades and
weapons fire, but nothing stopped him.

"Father, it appears Krynos
is having a lovely time. Did you bring him?"
asked
Gabriel.

"No, my boy. He came through his office
portal to the underground base and emerged like a cyclone. Is he
not enjoying himself? Once we have dispatched these vile creatures
I am certain he shall throw quite the party back home."

"Have at ye, O denizens of Hölle! Feel the
sweet caress of my tasty blade and know the nothingness of eternal
death!" yelled Krynos, as he carved a slaughterous path in his
wake, disconnected alien skulls flying through the air as he did
so. Only one with strength such as Krynos' would be able to
effectively decapitate the alien invaders so easily. And even
though Michael and Gabriel possessed such power, they chose to use
more eloquent methods of killing their foes. Still, the brothers
momentarily stopped and watched the lycan king, amused with his
battle skills.

"Wow. Remind me to buy him a beer," Michael
laughed out loud.

"Not if I buy it first," mused his brother.
"Tell me, I have not seen those knives in many years. Are they
truly that effective?"

Michael twirled his kukhuris around, one per
hand. They were weapons capable of dealing a massive amount of
damage in close-quarters combat, each weighing nearly a kilogram.
They were, for lack of a better description, short chopping swords,
and Michael provided a quick demonstration of their effectiveness.
Turning, he slipped ten meters over to a centipede and bifurcated
it along its length, splitting it into two parts, which perversely
flopped on the ground, spewing green ochre over anything
nearby.

Krynos grabbed two bugs and slammed their
skulls together; overriding any shielded protection they had from
the Brood Carrier, and pulled the bodies apart, with the smashed
skulls sticking together slightly.

"Now that's gross," laughed Michael, as he
went back to his routine of jump-flipping and disconnecting spinal
columns from brains.

Within two hours the brothers, along with
their Azulian allies, had virtually eliminated the Vrol ground
troops, just in time for the Revolution and the Reagan to arrive
and address the Vrol spacecraft in orbit around the moon. Dozens
upon dozens of Draeders had already left the docking bays of their
respective battle cruisers and were directly engaging with the Vrol
craft, which turned out to be frail in comparison. Human technology
had advanced significantly since the days of the Exodus, and the
Draeder pilots had little difficulty eliminating their foes.

"
Admiral, it
appears the Vrol craft aren't protected by the same shields that
the ground troops enjoy
," Max said over the
comm.

"
Perhaps it is
because that infernal Brood Carrier is no longer in the
area,
" responded Bagatelle.

"
Gentlemen,
once the Brood Carrier departed the shields were no longer
available to the ground troops. There must be a distance limitation
to its effectiveness
," informed Gabriel.
"
We suddenly found it quite easy to
dispatch the vile creatures. Our work is done here. I would like to
board the Revolution, with Michael, assisting Max on his
ship
."

"
Come on over,
Gabe
," said Bagatelle. "
Always nice to have a god of the universe on the
bridge
."

"
We are not
gods, G, you know that
," added Michael.

"
Close
enough
."

"
Close only
counts in horseshoes and hand grenades
," joked
Max.

"
And
antimatter bombs
," said Bagatelle.

"
Which we
can't use while there are any friendly forces nearby. My dad just
showed up, and we're going around the far side to perform clean up.
Then I assume we're going Brood hunting
?"

"
Correct, Max.
Where is Draagh
?" asked Bagatelle.

"
I am near the
base, my sons. A couple of these so-called centipedes managed to
find the entrance to the underground base, and I was able to
eliminate them before they could do any harm. I am off to search
for their main craft yet again"

"Commander, please take us to the far side of
Vera, full ion-fusion drive," Max directed his lovely wife, who had
taken over pilot duties of the massive craft. Jennie was an
experienced pilot, but the Reagan practically flew itself, so her
task was effortless. In a matter of minutes, the Reagan was
cruising in orbit over the arid moon, scanning for signs of enemy
craft. Finding none, they moved out of orbit and headed straight
back for Azul, which had just started to experience the second part
of the Vrol invasion.

"
It appears
our foes are engaging in a game of hide and seek. They are popping
in and out of side space, and dropping off masses of space vessels,
which are then getting into atmosphere and releasing their flying
caste,"
said Draagh.

"Oh crap, we won't be there for hours. We
have three of battle cruisers in orbit, but they'll need our help.
I swear, when I get my hands on Johnson, if he's even still alive,
I'm gonna wring his neck," said Max

Michael looked at his son with a mild grin,
saying, "Max, while you may not avail yourselves of your invention,
I believe that Gabriel, Father and I might be able to hasten your
arrival at your planet."

"How's that, Dad?"

"
Gabriel,
Father, please join me on the bridge of the Max's ship. What I plan
shall require our combined might."

"Oh crap, what are you gonna do?"

The Reagan was on full red alert, sirens
blaring, as all Draeders were docking, except for a contingency of
two dozen, which were to remain in orbit and fight off any errant
Vrol ships. No one on the massive battle cruiser knew what was
going to happen, aside from Max and Jennie, and even they had no
idea how it would happen.

Outside the hull and on the top of the ship
stood Draagh, Michael and Gabriel, holding together the vessels
that contained their ghanlos. They had never before attempted what
they were about to do, but knew it was possible. Still, they would
be severely taxed after transporting an entire battle cruiser
through space.