Chapter 140: Final Hour
In his office, President Geoff was sitting on his guest chair nervously. Either side of him were two aliens in full atmospheric suits. They were not doing anything, nor had he done anything, but there presence made him nervous by default. At the edge of the room stood a man with a reptilian head who flashed his sharp teeth every time he would look over.
None of them made him more nervous than the woman sitting in his chair. He had read about her from the information the Coalition gave him about their way of life. The woman was older than most structures that exist on his glorious Alexander and was powerful enough to kill him with a mere thought.
The woman in question was currently infusing a special tea that had taken over an hour of uncomfortable silence already. Just as he was about to speak up, an enchanting voice was heard instead.
"You are practically shaking Geoff, you have no reason to be nervous, so why are you?" Aeletha asked the unhealthy lifeform in front of her. "I, ah, um." Geoff stammered. "I am worried for my planets people your grace, Spartari are not known to show mercy to anyone they consider an enemy, and for them to come here now. They must know we have joined your side."
Aeletha smiled as she finished stirring the tea before her. "I am not royalty Geoff, 'Your grace' is not needed. I am beyond such needs for power affirmation. Just 'My Seer' will suffice, the rest of the Coalition calls me as such."
Geoff just simply nodded his head towards Aeletha who clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes at another man who nodded in affirmation to a blind woman. "Regarding Spartari, they definitely know you broke the neutrality clause. What I am still curios about is why they needed to send mercenaries forward first?
I think considering they were conducting a 'geological survey' they may have been looking for something first and did not want the Coalition to defend the planet while they were searching. Tell me Geoff, is there anything of significance in any of the places they searched."
Aeletha flicked her finger at one of the Qen who proceeded to show pictures and information of the locations from a distance. Geoff picked up the information and scoured over them carefully. He grew panicked when he could not see anything out of the ordinary. "I am sorry my Seer, but other then the one they are at now, they are all in the middle of our nature reserves."
Aeletha expected as such, she both enjoyed and hated not knowing what is to come and being left in the literal dark. "Rekosh, ETA on the spartari force?" "They should be here within the hour my Seer." "And the planetary defence?" "Most of the planet has mobilised its defences. Orbital cannons and anti air are stationed everywhere.
The only place that has not undergone mustering is the small city by the mercenaries as instructed, The civilians have been undergoing relocation however, and the military will swarm the city once they play their hand."
"Good, remember Rekosh this battle to come will be difficult, this planet does not have the Coalitions standard planetary defences and the Spartari barbarians are most defiantly going to be enraged when they see the Thurx show up." "Don't worry my Seer, I will personally assure your safety amongst the carnage of the glorious battle to come." Rekosh said as he bowed.
The Starforged male was beyond excited to engage in combat once more. He hoped if he took enough Spartari heads and presented them to Aeletha, she may accept his courting advances and allow him to pass on his lineage.
Since it would take 40 minutes for the special tea to kick in, Aeletha ignored the twinkle in her slaves eye and begin to sip on her tea. 'Lets hope this will guide me to my powers as soon as possible.'
…
Some time later, Kathrine was placing on her armour. "Apollo honey, can you help me with this strap?" She said as she was struggling. "Sure no problem, I like your armour by the way, It looks like your nieces, only less ceremonial." As I began to tighten her straps she commented.
"Well duh, I am about to be entering a warzone, I need the best armour available to me, I would confiscate yours, but I can't use it without you after all."
Kathrine's armour was sleek with a red and gold colour pallet and a black skinsuit underneath. The armour was cutting edge by Spartari standards with advanced features like sensors and a holographic display in the helmet that was still on the table. The armour appeared to be custom fit, as Kathrine's curves were still visible, though not nearly as much.
"Horny boy, I know we did not go on as long as you would have liked, but focus up. Pass me my helmet, I may as well get used to wearing it before the fight." Kathrine said as she was putting her hair into a neat and tight bun.
As I picked up her helmet, a person I did not recognise entered the tent. "Lady Kathrine." The man shouted to announce himself as he placed his hands on his knees to catch his breath. "Spencer? What is it?" "Bad news my lady, Our mole in the presidents entourage just informed us that Aliens have been spotted with the president." Kathrine furrowed her brows.
"Did he identify what they were?" "Yes my lady, well sort of. He said he saw a small battalion of reptile men and next to them were short humanoids with atmospheric pressurised suits. He also said a woman with horns and another one of those reptiles were with the president right now."
Kathrine thought a moment. "Reptiles... Biped?" "I believe so. "Shit... Starforged. Lets hope they are just here randomly for a meeting with their new puppet and don't know about the invasion.
The fact they are here though means that they do and things may have just gotten more complicated. And as for the humanoids among them... Could be Altax. Spencer did you get a height description." "Yes my lady, around 5ft2 to 5ft6. "Ah Qen then. Could be problematic.
Ok Spencer take your leave, I will have to call the king and inform him."
"One last thing my lady." "Yes Spencer" Kathrine asked. "My scouts in the city have reported the civilians have been silently evacuating and military are on the horizon. Only about 20% have evacuated, but it is a clear sign they know something is wrong." Spencer said, causing Kathrine to curse under her breath. "Thank you Spencer, you may go."
Kathrine sat there a moment, her hands joined together, before she turned to me. "Apollo, you need to leave the tent a moment. I trust you to remain in the room, but the king would not as the line I am going to use is encrypted." I shrugged my shoulders before passing her helmet over. I then leaned down and kissed her temple.
"No problem, I should go top replace my minigun's plasma to hydrogen anyway, I won't have enough Xenon left for a war."
Kathrine waited a moment after I left before she took out her communicator. After typing in a hodgepodge of letters and numbers, she was able to open up the line with her king. A moment later a gruff voice was heard. "Speak."
"12.45.76.89 Code breaker, Venom, horn, wheat." Kathrine spoke. "Ah good Lady Hyllus, tell me what do you wish to report." "Ground zero hostile. 2 compromises." "I see... Do you know which two and if there are more?" "Arrogant and unseen My lord, no data on more." Kathrine continued in code.
On the other end, King Sigismund scratched his beard in contemplation. The key for his many successes over the years was to always overestimate your enemies. If the Starforged were here, there was a chance their Thurx puppets were in the wings simply waiting, or were on there way like he was.
"Affirmative Lady Hyllus, we will enter and attack anything we see above sky, You focus on your primary objective, while ensuring the artifact remains safe. Once my forces are boots on the ground, you and your companies will have heavy escorts out of the sector."
"Of course your majesty." Kathrine said and Sigismund ended the call. He then proceeded to rub his forehead while his eyes glowed black. "Fucking Aliens!" He spat in disgust. "Commander!" "Yes your grace?" "Have all ships ready for naval battle when we arrive. Lets reignite our war with strength. "Tech!
Lets get my war gear equipped, I for one cannot wait to slay the universes mistakes myself."
As Sigismund was trailed out of the command room by a handful of Techno mechanics, he decided to think of baser thoughts to suppress his rage. 'Its rare for such a competent noble like Hyllus. A shame I could not take her as my wife. That fat fuck has wasted such a perfect specimen. Truly, it is a shame I must remain celibate as my oath decrees.'