Conquest ~ Indian Hill 3 ~ A Michael Talbot Adventure (46 page)

My
face fell when
I
realized how transparent
my
thoughts were.

“Relax
,
pal
,” Paul said
. “I see the necessity for what you are saying, it’s the implementation that is going to be tough.”

“Wait
,
Paul
,” I said
holding up my hand. A new plan was almost smacking me upside the head. “I thought of another way.

“
D
on’t let me stop you
,”
Paul interjected after a pregnant pause.

“Assassination
,”
I blurted out.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Dennis asked.

“I’m saying we send in a small raiding party and take Spindler out.”

“You’re talking about murdering another human being
,” Paul said
shaking his head slowly from side to side.

“It’s him or us
,
Paul
.
I’m not seeing the dilemma
,” I said
heatedly.

“You wouldn’t
,
would you?”
h
e shot back, maybe a little too quickly.

“What the fuck are
you implying
,
Paul? I did what I had to to survive and don’t go giving me that
holier
than thou shit. I
know
what you told
Sergeant
Bolito’s squad to do!”

Paul stood up quickly, his chair toppled behind him. I could see the question of ‘How do you know?’ forming on his lips.

“Men talk
,
Paul
.
Y
ou did the exact same thing to preserve the secrecy of this base
.
T
hat’s all I’m saying we need to do now
,” I said
bringing some of the fire out of my words.

“When does it stop Mike
?
H
ow many people do we need to
kill?
Those people haunt my dreams.”

“The burden of leadership
,” I told
him. “The only one beating you up over your decision is yourself. Spindler needs to die, if he tells them about the silo
,
they’ll figure it out. They might be ugly
,
but they aren’t stupid.”

Paul stooped over to right his chair
.
I
t seemed gravity itself was weighing him down. He sat before he spoke. “What’s your plan?”

“Mike has a plan? This ough
t
ta be rich
,” Dennis said
smiling.

So I spent the next ten to
fifteen minutes laying it all out there in its naked glory. It did not look nearly as good in the open.

“You sure
,
Mike?” Paul asked
,
looking into my eyes for any sort of deception.

“Fuck
,
no
,” I told
him honestly, but it gives us a chance.

“They’re
not gonna screw with you anymore if they catch you
,
Mike
,” Dennis said
. “They’re just gonna fry you with that blue shit.”

“It’s the blue shit or two women here. I’ll take my chances out there
,” I told
them, stupid male bravado making me do things that were detrimental to my health. As
a
male
of the species I had already attracted female counterparts with my actions
;
what did I need to prove now?

I
was relieved as
I
left Paul’s office.
I
was most assuredly heading to
my
death and
my
thoughts couldn’t have been any lighter. The two women
I
loved would be safe, for how long
I
didn’t know, but they would be safer for longer than
me
and that somehow gave
me
an inner peace
I
hadn’t had
in
long, long while.

***

Eastern Seaboard Occupation

“
Devastator
Commander Turval, what do you want me to do with the hu
-
man?” Sub-commander Hendalan asked.

“
Kill him
,”
c
ame the terse reply.

“
Sir,
what if the information he gave isn’t valid?” The sub-commander asked.

“If it’s valid we kill what’s left of these hu-mans
’
resistance. If it
i
s not
…
” He seemed to ponder.
“Well,
if it
i
s not, then the disgusting little pink thing in there
had nothing to barter his life for anyway
.”

“As you wish, Commander
,”
The sub-commander said
and gave a
small bow.

***

“General Gin
son
!” t
he private screamed as he ran down the hall at full
tilt.

Paul stopped mid-stride, he had been heading down the hallway to get some much needed coffee.

“Sir!” The private nearly came to a screeching
halt.
Paul nearly laughed.

“Take a breath private—
what’s going on?”

“
Sir,
O
utpost
O
ne has relayed that Principal A has
possibly
been retired. I don’t know what that means but they made sure that I repeated it word for word. Is that serious?
S
ir,
are you okay?”

Paul’s innards had nearly evacuated themselves, either Spindler was the biggest hero Earth might ever know and
withheld
informa
tion that cost him his life or…
“
Tell Major Wagner that
the plan we talked about
is in full effect.”

“Sir? What
—
”
t
he private
began to ask.

“Private!” Paul shouted.
T
he young man ceased talking and asking questions. “Do it
.
D
o it now
,” Paul said
with as much determination as he could without yelling.

The
private
knew something huge was going on but
,
he could not grasp the meaning
.
A
ll he knew was that if Major Wagner didn’t have this message in the next five minutes
,
he most likely would be facing a firing squad, he was halfway down the corridor before he realized he had
forgotten
to acknowledge the general. “Sir
!” he screamed
, to
no
avail
,
the General
had left the hallway almost as quickly as he had.

***

Ground Headquarters Eastern Region

“
Devastator
Commander Turval.” Troop Leader Urlack
stood in the doorway
,
his hulking mass nearly taking up the entire doorframe. The commander could not stand the abomination that stood before him, half
Genogerian
half
P
roge
ria
n,
it was a wonder he had
been let into the officer ranks.
I
f
Urlack
's
father had not been a high cabinet member it
would’ve
never happened
.
H
e would have died long ago in the games to one of his bigger cousins on the geno side.

“What do you want
,
Urlack?” The lack of proper rank identification a definite
insult.

A small snarl spread over Urlack’s snout
.
I
t was something he had been working on for years, to not show the insults got under his hide
. In the early days
,
he had attacked his then commanding officer nearly ripping his arm off before being subdued. That stint had cost him nearly a
partring
(a Progerian year)
in jail e
ven with his father’s influence.
A
ny lesser
Geno
he knew would have been unceremo
niously shot in the head. Th
e
c
ommander who had gotten nearly
nine hundred
brave soldiers killed was not worthy of
his
title and if they were not in the midst of a war he would openly challenge the useless
svark
to a duel
.
N
ot a ceremonious one
;
no
,
it
would be the kill or be killed variety.

“Commander
,
” Urlack snarled
,
“
do you want me to call in an air strike on the location that the hu-man circled on the map?”

Devastator
Commander Turval almost paled
his huge maw opened in a show of aggression. Urlack did not submit
,
which
further
infuriated his commander. “You will do no such thing
,
underling!!” Turval spat. “I will not let those air dogs claim victory when I am so near to eradicating this troublesome species!”
Urlack knew his boundaries
.
H
e also knew when he stepped over them. “
Eight
hundred
and ninety-
two dead and another hundred and twenty on an emergency ship does not sound like a near victory.”

Turval stood, rage emanating from features. “Abomination! I will not have you speak to me like that!”
h
e spat. “Your mother I can understand for w
anting to procreate
above her station
.
Your father
,
however
,
should have drowned you as a whelp!”

Urlack launched himself in the air before the mood dampener
s he had set in his mind all tho
se years could even begin to take effect. Turval was a huge
Progerian by any standard
and had been in the military almost his entire adult life but he quickly found himself on the losing side against an opponent nearly half again his size with an unchecked rage. Urlack paused as the first of the stun rays impacted his body
.
I
t took eight more before he finally collapsed in a heap. Turval’s bodyguards stood in amazement, the most any geno had
ever
taken was
four
stuns and that had nearly killed him. A human couldn’t take even one full charge without most of his major muscle groups shredding apart from the shock. But
there
was Urlack on the ground looking at them all with a ferocity that still burned in his eyes. Turval pulled himself off
the desk he had been slammed upon and walked over to Urlack. “You know
,
I was going to have a couple of
gunships
hang back and use them if the hu-mans proved to be more resilient than I think they are. But instead, just for you
,”
h
e emphasized. “I am going to amass the largest geno army yet on this pl
anet and march them straight in
to the teeth of whatever defense these hairless apes have left
and you will lead them
. I will win, but it will be a costly battle with thousands upon thousands of brave
G
enos
dy
ing
. I will be considered a legend by the time this is over. Thousands of your half brothers will die because of your stup
idity and I will be doing every
one a favor
;
ridding the earth of the lice that now inhabit it and reducing the numbers of our lesser cousins. That we share even some of the same genome disgusts me. When my people had the opportunity
,
those
partrons
ago they should have taken a lesson from the hu-mans and just eradicated
your kind.
”