Page 26 of Doom

“If we can’t get a proper sample out of what we’ve gathered so far, it’s not a bunch of tiny bones from his fingers and toes that are going to make a difference,” he retorted.

“They’re called phalanges,” I corrected in a grumbling voice, begrudgingly giving in.

“Smart ass,” Fury mumbled, deliberately bumping into me on his way back to the ship.

I smiled and followed in his wake, my hand tightening around the handle of the sample bag containing my precious cargo.

* * *

Chaos, Wrath, Rage, and I entered the conference hall of the Kalberos—the Intergalactic Coalition’s Central Command mothership. All the military leaders of the allied planets coordinated their troops from here. It was the best defended ship of the armada. And right now, they had just forced me to cut my beyond overdue sleep time from five hours to three and a half so that I could come listen to whatever concerns had them squirming in their seats.

My first sleep in four days and those fools had to mess with it…

Judging by the nervous expressions of the Halunian and Lenusian ambassadors sitting at the long conference table, we wouldn’t enjoy what they had to say, which only further annoyed me. Normally, Doom would have attended this meeting with us. Where Chaos was the OCD, nitpicker that made sure nothing slipped through the cracks, Doom was the no-nonsense, no-bullshit, don’t-waste-my-time-with-this-crap go-getter that got things done, and I was the diplomat and the voice of reason. Rage and Wrath were our eyes, our ears, our hands, our voices, and the rocks that kept us steady.

We took a seat across from the ambassadors, Chaos and I in the middle, Rage and Wrath flanking us. The ambassadors of the other five main species of the Coalition also sat across from us. A bit more than half of the military leaders of the twenty-three nations that had joined us in the Battle for Earth occupied the seats at both ends of the table, with a few more sitting in the chairs lining the walls of the elevated dais surrounding the oval room. The remaining military leaders and ambassadors from Coalition had joined the discussion via videoconference.

“Warriors, thank you for joining us on such short notice despite the terrible battles ongoing below,” said the Hulanian Ambassador Brejor. “We wouldn’t call you away from your duties if this hadn’t been of the utmost importance.”

“Here comes the bullshit,”Rage said in the telepathic group we had established to confer privately during this meeting.

I suppressed a smirk, waiting to hear what would follow.

“Yesterday, General Khutu dealt the Coalition, and especially the Vanguard, a blow of unprecedented magnitude,” Brejor continued in a solemn tone. “And for this, we apologize to you and your brothers for your tremendous losses—that are also our own. The Coalition’s military leaders recognize that their failures allowed this tragedy. Khepri should have been better defended. The cloaking signature of our support vessels and motherships shouldn’t all have been using the same encryption algorithm. And, we should have set up better defenses for our supply line and non-combatants.”

“What is done is done,” I said, starting to lose patience with this unending preamble. “What I want to know is our current status, the extent of the damages, what’s being done to mitigate the impact of our tragic losses, and what we are doing to prevent this from happening again.”

The ambassadors exchanged uneasy glances before returning their gazes towards us. The Tegorian Ambassador Ludcek shifted in his chair before claiming the right to speak.

“We have lost four motherships, a dozen frigates and three battleships worldwide,” said Ambassador Ludcek. “Far more would have been lost if not for your EMP tactics. The main issue is that the ships destroyed contained most of our incubators and Shells.”

“Most?” Chaos challenged.

The Tegorian Ambassador’s ears fluttered, and he nervously rubbed a dark patch of fur sprinkled with gray alongside his jaw. His reddish-orange eyes flicked towards Brejor who nodded for him to proceed. I braced, knowing I would hate what followed.

“We have lost more than a third of all the Shells we brought,” Ludcek said. “Most of the Warriors here in the North-American continent either have no Shells left or only a couple that were already on chasers or shuttles as they fought in remote areas. The four of you sitting before us only have one spare each, except for Wrath who has three. It takes at least a month to grow a new one in an incubator. The problem is that we only have four incubators left here on Earth.”

“Build more,” I said matter-of-factly, hating the suspicion that was starting to take root at the back of my head.

“We are,” said Brejor in a conceding tone. “However, these things take time. And after they are built, it will take even more time to create enough Shells to make sure we do not permanently lose you and your brothers.”

“It is all the more alarming that we also have a Soulcatcher situation,” added Ambassador Ludcek.

“Soulcatcher situation?” I repeated, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

“Most of them are either holding a Warrior without a free Shell or are burned out,” explained the Lenusian Ambassador Sommek. “If any one of you dies, there will be no one to catch you. Until we have sufficient incubators up and running again and at least a pair of new Shells on standby for you, we need to revisit our current involvement in this war.”

“Tell me he didn’t just imply what I think he did,”Rage said.

“He most certainly did,”said Chaos in a voice seething with the same anger burning inside of me.

“Revisit our current involvement?” I repeated again, this time in a dangerously calm voice.

The tension within the room rose up a notch as many among the generals and the ambassadors began exchanging uneasy looks and fidgeting nervously.

“We are losing this war, Legion,” said Ambassador Brejor in a pleading tone. “Khutu’s armies are infinite and replenished in a heartbeat. Our ranks are being depleted at terrifying speed. The humans are too weak, their technology far too primitive, and their numbers much too high for us to protect them all. We’re not just about to lose this planet, we’re about to lose our entire contingent of troops and even the Vanguard. Khepri is a shadow of itself. We have received confirmation that all the embryos have been destroyed. You and your brothers here on Earth are all that remains of Dr. Xi’s legacy. We have to cut our losses before there’s nothing left, or the Kryptidswillconquer the civilized universe.”

“So, you suggest that we just abandon them?” I asked in an icy cold voice.

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