Alien Alliance (52 page)

Moving through City 72, Minka had realised
that for all the Intel they had, they did not know what form of
communication the Relogs had. They hadn’t thought to ask the Cats
to find out. She also looked up worried. There were 18 to 20 story
buildings on either side of them. If the Relogs got up above them,
they would be sitting ducks. With climate control, there were no
verandas because there was no rain. But that meant very little
cover, little in the way of shelter. They had to move fast and keep
the Relogs on the defensive so they would have no time to plan and
organise. The Cats had said there were varying numbers of People in
these cities but in excess of 200. How many were fit to fight? How
many were armed? At least there were no helicopters. But were there
Police cars?

Minka saw some Relogs coming at a run along
the road towards the headquarters building. She fired, hitting one
but it saw her and fired back as it died. Hit in the head, Minka
continued to try to fire but her vision started to fade. She
blacked out. Simone screamed as she saw Minka collapse and leapt
out firing. She distracted them as Anne also fired and the Cats
entered the fray also. But there were 12 well armed Relogs. A
vicious fight erupted as Julia fired at more Relogs coming but
Simone couldn’t fire as the Cats were in the way. Simone hit the
ground as something hit her leg and she fired from the ground. It
was a better angle. She looked around and saw her leg was gone,
blown off and lying a few feet away. Furious, she turned back
firing, determined to make them pay. As she did so, she saw three
of the Cats on the ground with massive wounds but several Relogs
were down too. And then she saw that Anne was lying in a bloody
heap. Only Julia and some Cats seemed OK but there were still three
Relogs. Julia ducked down and scrambled behind some vehicles then
fired, moving rapidly away. A burst of fire erupted aimed at where
she had been and she fired again, struggling to aim the unfamiliar
weapon.

Some Cats were dealing with one Relog while
another had headed for Simone. It shot her and she screamed.
Enraged, Julia dropped her empty gun, grabbed her knife, sprinted
and leapt on the Relog’s back, cutting what passed for its throat.
It staggered and bled profusely as she furiously plunged her knife
into its back and neck, again and again. She slid off, covered in
blood and looked at Simone. Simone was a mess. She looked around
belatedly remembering that last Relog. All the Relogs were dead or
dying. One Cat was on its feet, the other six, no, seven dead or
injured. Stunned, Julia didn’t know what to do first. Or at all.
The injuries were horrific. She recognised the weapons as blasters.
She went to Simone and forced her shocked brain to work. One arm
and one leg were gone, blown off. But she was breathing. There was
little bleeding. The amputations seemed to be cauterised somehow as
with great heat. She remembered Kaz saying Relogs often used this
weapon when they wanted to incapacitate and interrogate. It wasn’t
necessarily used to kill. Julia again forced her shocked brain to
work. Simone seemed stable, she was breathing and there was little
bleeding.

She went to Minka. Minka was dead. She had
been hit in the head and neck. She went to Anne. Again, the wounds
had stopped bleeding but Anne had taken a shot in the side of her
chest and a lot of her chest was gone. This did not look
survivable. She was unconscious. Julia couldn’t think what to do.
Her mind was reeling in shock. The Cats were also dead or looked to
be dying. She knew a little first aid but this was beyond her. She
started to cry then got up, grabbed a blaster and headed to find
the others. At least she knew how to shoot. There was nothing she
could do here.

Each team had hit their first targeted
areas, the armouries, and headed for the next. But the Aliens
everywhere were indicating surrender.

*

In City 43 were Con, Bert, Dan, Nial, Steve
and Karl with Ilse and little Ali. With them were nearly 20 Cats.
On the way here, Con had discussed tactics with the two leaders of
the Cats using Ilse as the translator. The fight began with the
children going in first and some of the adults being in range and
unseen thanks to their camouflage suits. Con was amused to see that
the Cats got bored and restless where their name sakes would have
used the time to nap. He watched, fascinated, as they set up
ambushes. Many of the Aliens, after sunrise, were wandering around
and some came out past the barriers. Con wondered if they had
something like a swipe card as the alarms didn’t sound. Helpfully,
they didn’t notice all the extra bushes. They didn’t notice the
Cats either. To his relief, the Cats were proficient at silent
killing. Con had no way to know that this city had been so
devastated by the diseases that it had virtually been abandoned and
the inhabitants knew it. Few had any fight left in them. They were
now quarantined. There would be no relief till the diseases ran
their course.

As the attack began, Con, Dan, Nial and
Steve ran for the armoury with most of the Cats while Bert and Karl
watched for Relogs accompanied by some Cats in hiding. The rest of
the Cats were creating a diversion and thoroughly enjoying
themselves. They were making a Hell of a noise. They were also
further reducing the Alien population in their usual messy and
spectacular fashion.

As Con reached the armoury, with the others
covering, something was thrown out the door and there was a massive
explosion. Con and Nial went down, badly injured but Dan was
sheltered as he was behind Con and Steve was around the corner
watching the rear. Dan was disorientated and deafened swaying on
his feet. Seeing this, Steve burst in with several Cats who
promptly dispatched the Relogs. Steve loaded up Dan with as many
weapons as he could carry which left Steve free to fire. Since the
Cats had hands, he got them to help and headed back to the others.
He forgot to guard the armoury.

He sent Bert back to care for Con and Nial
and headed for the headquarters with Dan, Karl and by now most of
the Cats. He met no opposition and all promptly surrendered. But
they now had a problem. Con and Nial were their pilots. They had no
communication except by person. No way to get Con and Nial to the
Healing Machines. Now what could they do? How could they get help?
How were so few of them going to guard all these prisoners?

*

In City 49 were Akira, Miyuki, Sally,
Jolene, Mayling, Nanelle, Pieter, Rani, Bella and Alia. As the cry
to attack rang out and the adults leapt up, Bella and Alia
obediently dropped their weapons as Mathew had told them to and
scrunched up their eyes tightly closed. Neither wanted to see what
was going to happen now.

Akira took the lead and headed for the
armoury. With him were Miyuki immediately behind him followed by
Rani and Jolene on the left with Mayling behind her. Behind them
were several Cats. Sally, Pieter and Nanelle were hiding and
positioned between them and the Relog’s quarters.

Akira reached the armoury and broke in with
Miyuki and Jolene covering him. The two Relogs got hit by pellets
and had their weapons taken off them before they realised what was
happening. Both had been very sick. Akira finished both of them off
with their own weapons. They all picked up field standard weapons
and ran out leaving Rani to explain to the Cats to set guards here
and jam the door. Then she followed Akira. They all ran back and
equipped Sally, Pieter and Nanelle.

“Everyone to headquarters,” said Akira as he
ran on. Sally, Pieter and Nanelle did their best but the others
soon left them behind. Akira ran into the headquarters building and
demanded all surrender. A number of miserable looking People
promptly surrendered. Everyone here was dealing with the sick and
most were sick themselves. None were armed. There was no fight in
them anyway. But then behind him, coming from the bathroom was a
Relog; one of the two still well. It hadn’t heard the surrender and
saw Akira armed. It shot him and then was shot from behind by
Nanelle who had finally caught up and was coming through the door.
Akira was the only casualty. None of the Cats were hurt but they
inflicted a lot of death sentences before Rani finally persuaded
them to stop and explained what surrender was. A new concept for
them and one that had not been offered to them as they angrily
informed Rani!

Within all the cities, the result was the
same. Most of the opposition was minimal. Most were promptly
surrendering. Controlling all the armouries helped (even though
Steve had forgotten to guard his).

*

The attack was reported seconds after it
began. “Who is it?” asked Lijfomid, but no one knew. One officer
suggested they fire on all the cities but Lijfomid squashed that
idea. It would not be wise. They would have trouble recruiting for
future missions if it was known that they fired on their own. And
he wanted the cure. Isjidakawi had given him 25mls of plasma, but
Lijfomid didn’t trust him. It could have been water. He was feeling
sicker despite the so called anti-bodies. He was in charge and he
wanted to survive.

A message from one of the cities said they
were all surrendering and the leader of the attackers was waiting
to accept the Commander’s surrender. The city commander said the
attackers said they had the cures to the diseases.

Quickly, the communicator was switched on
and Lijfomid looked at the scene. Aliens he couldn’t identify, but
thought he had seen before, had all his city officers at gun point.
At least he thought they were guns. Some looked like pipes.

“Who is the Leader?”

“I am,” replied Mathew. “Am I speaking to
the Commander Lijfomid?”

“Yes. What are your terms?”

“Unconditional surrender. No anti-virals
until all the ships have landed. You’d better hurry. Some of you
will be running out of time.”

He’d got that right, Lijfomid thought
wearily, “Accepted.”

Mathew cut the link. He turned to Az. “Is
that all there is to it?” Az had coached him as to what to say.

Az thought carefully. “Lijfomid didn’t try
to bargain. He didn’t even ask what you were. Either they are going
to fire on the cities or they are going to surrender. I’d guess
they’ll land. Especially if they want to live. We’ll soon find
out.”

Az’s voice was going through the Translator.
Seeing the Niseyen, one of the officers, Lidisihad, had added the
Niseyen language to the current menu of his Translator and turned
the volume to “Private.” Now he would hear it through his ear
piece. Lidisihad had been through a full Machine treatment which no
one knew about. He was not expecting to die. He had mild symptoms
only so far and he had had the plasma. He had told no one about his
Treatment. He had no intention of donating or selling his
anti-bodies either. He was not going to be weakened by blood loss
when suffering a haemorrhagic illness. He wasn’t stupid. He needed
all his blood and anti-bodies for himself. Not worried about
contagion therefore, he had stayed inside this morning. He was very
angry. He was also very observant. He had had many Niseyen in his
command. Although small, they were good mercenaries. But this
Niseyen was acting as though he was in a leadership or advisory
role. Interesting.

The others, including the leader Mathew,
looked like jare Niseyen but were not speaking Universal. There
were other subtle differences; sparse clothing, facial hair, a
variety of colourings he had never seen before in Niseyen, and then
Li walked in with a load of guns. She handed them around, keeping
one for herself! Lidisihad stared at her. A female and a child at
that! In a combat zone! Wearing very little clothing with her arms
and legs bare! And injured. She had a lot of blood on her side, was
moving as though in pain and had a bandage on her arm. No one was
reacting to her injuries! No Niseyen he knew acted like that. And
her hair, so long. As she turned towards him, he saw her eyes.
Before he thought, he blurted out, “What are you? You’re not
Niseyen.”

She looked at Mathew who nodded. “Terran,”
she answered.

No better off, Lidisihad continued to
puzzle.

“Why did you attack us?”

She glared at him, “You killed my parents.
Half of us died on the first day of your attack.”

He stopped himself from asking why not the
other half. It might not be wise. He continued to fume, observe and
puzzle. Who were these People? How long had they been plotting to
kill the Keulfyd and why? Lidisihad had a very good memory. He had
never seen these People before.

Az was sent off, Li in tow, by Mathew, to
check for safety issues, casualties, and send a message to the
Aliens that were in hiding or not yet captured.

Az did this first. He found the Main Public
Communicator, next to the Headquarters room. He was going to enjoy
this. He switched it on to Main and spoke, “This is a message for
all those in hiding. Your leaders have surrendered. Report to the
Mess Hall. As soon as the ships land, we will start moving you to
another place. Once there, you will be given the various cures. I
suggest you hurry. Some of you will have very little time left.
Soon, a whole lot more of you are going to be very sick.”

That last bit was a bluff suggested by
Helkmid. But their confidence was probably already shaken by all
the deaths this morning. According to that lot in Headquarters,
they knew it was a neurotoxin but didn’t know the delivery system.
If he told them it was children with drain rods, they wouldn’t
believe him.

As he walked towards the Mess Hall, he heard
something. As he got closer, he felt all his hair start to rise.
Someone was sobbing. The type of sobbing that tore your heart. He
saw a crowd and ran, followed by Li. Helene was on the ground
holding Tasha. The little girl was dead. But how? Az had been a
mercenary. He automatically looked for the cause. Her gloves were
off. Her hands were bare. Had she continued firing? She knew not
to. Why had she done this?