Planet Genocide I (Galaxies Collide Book 3)

By Andrew McGregor

The blizzard swept across the damaged transport craft, wind circling and tearing at the snow bound terrain as loose flakes and ice billowed around the angled structure, the vessel now half covered in a drifting frozen shroud.

Inside the darkened hull, the wind whistled through overhead racks and abandoned equipment, snowflakes sweeping through the warped and damaged side door, the obstruction hanging from its upper hinges and the craft creaking under the intense pressure from ferocious elements.

Overhead straps swung in the freezing breeze, frost and ice hanging from the racks, resin buckles, equipment clips and ammunition containers. The darkened cockpit seats dusted in snow, the controls sat turned to the side, the pilot’s tensed grip against the forced landing twisting the landing gear to prevent the craft hitting the rocks ahead. The scorched blast screens were still deployed, the thick transparent resin windows covered with metal alloy as protection against entry into the planet’s atmosphere. Above the protective shields lay a thick covering of iced snow, the temperature now below minus twenty-five degrees Celsius.

The control screens lay silent, the black consoles smeared in dust and scattered snow. In the corner, just above the screens, a red light began to flash silently, the whirring and buzzing of electronics beginning to fill the darkened expanse as the console screens activated, diagonal and angular symbols scrolling down the screens as the message was received.  The message continued to move up the screen, a cursor finally beginning to flash at the foot of the black display as the computers awaited a response to the transmission.

A timer began to click down, the computers still awaiting a reply to the activation code as the strange symbols approached zero. Then the cursor disappeared, the message transmitted further across the ice to a remote console, the darkened carrying figure dropping to its knees to read the incoming transmission.

Slowly the armoured head read the message, re-reading it to ensure it was fully understood. Then the helmet rose, the resin black armour braced against the howling freezing wind of Antarctica as the eyes inside the armour glowed red, the clicking of a voice communicating with the commander stood before him.

The group slowly turned, heading across the snow…in the distance, the weather and scientific research station lights glinted across the white expanse, the blizzard closing in as nearly twenty black armoured figures stepped forward, their alloy boots crunching against the thick ice beneath.

Deep beneath the devastated Chernobyl, a figure rose from the metal alloy seat, the lights flashing before the black armour. Turning abruptly, the seven-foot frame strode boldly forward, thick scaled muscles tensing beneath the shining reinforced battle steel, the armoured mesh flexing as the figure’s chest expanded with pride as the soldier approached his commander, slamming both heavy clad fists to his chest as the silhouette in front turned in anticipation.

The black armoured soldier dropped to one knee, a helmet bowed as the silver and gold clad commander looked down on him. The soldier slowly rose, pointing to the screens behind as lights flickered across the darkened command centre walls, lights beginning to stir and flash on screens around the walls as the information was transmitted across the cavern.

The intelligence soldier’s voice clicked and tutted, the commander’s eyes glowing red as a forked tongue ran across scaled lips in rising excitement, the figure stepping forward to glance at the screen, urgently indicating for the soldier to respond positively.

The silver and gold clad armoured exoskeleton armoured body spun round, a strange raised and contorted voice raised excitedly at the unit commanders stood in line behind, ‘Carde Dam Von Banhae!’ The arm of the figure rose abruptly, the armoured gloves pointing upwards as the crash of metal fists against chest plates resounded around the enclosed space.

The thick resin shoulder armour rubbed against frozen and smoothed earth in the narrow underground tunnels, dirt and debris falling and crushed under alloy boots as hundreds of soldiers ran in unison towards the few selected surface openings. Heavy guns and equipment were dragged behind, the weaponry readied again and again over time for the call to arms…a call that had now come.

At one of the tunnel openings, black armoured figures strode out into the grey cold light, no longer hiding…no longer concealing their movements. The initial shock troops lined up in the darkness, the glow of red eyes beginning to fill the derelict graveyard as a unit commander strode up and down the line impatiently, the animal skin around his black armoured back from another planet, the thick matted hide sparkling with early morning dew as the temperature rose slowly, almost seeming surreally cautious.

Deep in the darkest chasm beneath the Pacific Ocean, lights flickered and began to glow across a massive thick alloy structure. Far below the depths a human exploratory craft could venture, the ship that had lain in wait for years was now awakening…now it was time. Slowly, the sand that had sat undisturbed for years began to shake, the sparse strange and bizarre deep sea life startled and swimming away rapidly as the hum and vibration of motors and electronic engines began to whir into life.

The deep sea sand rose and billowed, thousands of years’ worth of fossilised bone fragments and stone particles stirred and swarmed around the craft as it drifted slowly upwards from the pressurised bed than had held it for several years, the overlaying dust and debris drifting from the dense hull in a billowing mass and drifting gradually, almost painfully downwards through the dense oxygen starved black water.

Intense lights glowed throughout the darkness, the vast ship windows glowing as crew members glanced out into the strange unknown water world, inspecting the deep sea life and staring onwards into the darkness with piercing red eyes. The craft rose slowly through the depths, dust drifting and falling from extremities as the deep currents buffeted against the thick alloy hull.

As the upper sections emerged from the deep trench, a deep rumble from within the ship seemed to screech through the dense water as the sides of the glistening hull stretched outwards. The shattering of many clamps and seals breaking through the deep water as tiny bubbles swept upwards, the trapped air dancing on the current as the stale and fetid air from another galaxy rose towards the surface, several fathoms above.

The gigantic ship split in two, the structures turning gradually within the water as sea life sped away in fright. The two long hull sections drifted apart, then moved slowly forward as the pulse engines glowed, the deep water sizzling and boiling around their wake as the two new ships surged forward, their hulls expanding as compartments extended, duplicating the previous singular structure. Two further ships rose from the dark chasm, the lights glowing inside their hulls as bodies awakened, the enormous thickly armoured structures duplicating the actions and modifications of the first.

Inside the thick alloy shells, the numerous heavily compacted compartments moved apart, lights flickering inside the hulls as figures stirred, the bodies stretching and moving muscles as their deep sleeps were ended. The top hatches of personal and group bedding areas whirred into life, extending upwards as the bodies rose, dark exoskeleton armour glistening in the overhead green lights as the muscular frames stepped from hibernation. Scaled skin stretching as heavy muscles flexed and tensed, the soldiers moving in lines along their decks towards areas of sustenance and then the armoury, the upgrades and advancement of weapons carefully prepared to precision by the ships computers and artificial intelligence from regular updates sent through the galaxies.

The ships began to accelerate through the deep water, four heading east and the remaining two towards the west, the water bubbling and surging behind as startled deep sea mammals and fish darted for shelter within the dark rocks. The large ships gradually began to rise in the dense water, remaining at the greatest depths, but clearing rock formations and the vast cliffs on the ocean bed to enable speed to be increased…the commanders each watching a simultaneous timer in their individual command decks, predetermined coordinates programmed into each ship’s navigation.

Behind them, eighteen smaller ships rose from the deep chasm, their structures sleeker than the first three, now six vessels. The engines whirred as the craft sped off in different directions, their individual captains staring through frontal viewing windows as the radar and sonar screens before them flickered into life, the flashing lights indicating human vessels across the massive ocean. Red helmet eyes glowed in satisfied anticipation…soon there would be ample food for all.

The situation was repeated in the Indian Ocean, vessels slipping northwards into the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, other glowing ships rising from the sea bed in the North and South Atlantic Oceans and the Baltic Sea. The synchronised timers ticked down slowly, the contorted and disfigured numerals indicating there were only six human hours remaining on each counter.

After the Trevakian Empire’s final realisation that the war with the Morgons was deteriorating rapidly and their position weakening, the decision was reluctantly made to make contact with earth. Admiral Karladen, a decorated commander, was selected and despatched for this task in the only vessel available that could be spared from the fighting, his grim mission to not only reveal there was life in the galaxies beyond earth’s, but to invite and involve the human race into a battle for survival.

Unfortunately, the Trevakian Battle Cruiser was followed through space, the pursuing Morgon enemy arriving shortly afterwards and commencing their attack, hell-bent on ensuring the destruction of the diplomatic mission. Admiral Karladen was horrified to realise that earth’s forces were simply no match for the Morgon weaponry, with pilots from numerous countries simply shot from the skies as they attempted to engage a new vicious enemy.

On Zaxon B, far across the next galaxy, the vicious ground fighting intensifies, the isolated Trevakians not only outnumbered, but struggling with radio and communication jamming and a seeming endless stream of armoured Morgon reinforcements. With the arrival of two enemy warships, the battle shifts further into the Morgon’s favour.

To the west of the capital, Morasat, the Trevakian marines and their human allies have been pushed back from one of the main villages, Contax Base with the Morgons in pursuit, the front line only destabilised with the arrival of The Red Leopards, a highly trained and specialist fighting unit. Behind the front lines, the surviving Trevakians and their allies are posted to Rangara Outpost, discovering to their horror that the enemy allies seem to be gathering strength in the area, behind the lines.

To the east of the capital, a rash gamble to drive the Morgons back has failed, the Blue Leopards virtually wiped from the Trevakian order of battle, the few survivors and their human allies encircled and isolated in a small grouping of villages. Leaving a large gap in the Trevakian front line that threatens Morasat, units are rushed from all across the defensive areas to hold the strengthening Morgons as a battle of annihilation is slowly drawing to conclusion in the dark space above the planet.

David Bland, a Duty Manager on the morning of first contact attempted a desperate effort to locate and retrieve his lost and isolated staff once he discovered to his horror they were on a distant planet’s surface. Assisted by a marine uniform initially provided innocently for familiarisation, he commandeered a Trevakian transport craft, unwittingly able to provide valuable ground support to allow his fleeing staff to escape Morgon clutches and sure death. Chased by enemy fighters, the small craft was crippled deliberately and is flying virtually out of control through the borders and into the next galaxy, the Pastarian System.

The orbiting protective space station, Alexion One, is under direct attack, enemy boarding parties now controlling several upper decks as the personnel fight for survival and valuable time. Surprised by the sudden departure of the large Morgon warships, it soon becomes apparent that enemy activation codes are being transmitted across the galaxies, the space station personnel eventually discovering the target…

The arrival of a small number of Trevakian ships in orbit around earth signalled a change in fortunes for human forces, the new fighter presence attacking and proving superior to the Morgon air attack. Upon final destruction of the main Morgon vessel, earth’s peace is restored…for the time being at least…