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Chapter Three - To Kill A Zealot

Private Victor Blackburn. 16 January 2782. 1728 Hours. Firebase Charlie. Freedom Federation.

"So we gotta get to the control room where Admiral Smith is waiting for us. Shit, this is gonna be about Sarge." Blackburn told Stevens. "Vic, we're gonna get him back. We didn't find a body, So Maybe the UDF have found him and we Can still get him back from them." Stevens still had a spark of hope. "Are you kidding? The UDF are fuckin' barbaric. If they found him, He's fucked." Blackburn got up and So did Stevens. "All I'm saying is there is a chance that we Can get there before they Kill him. Hey, don't give me that look. I'm sure He's fine." Stevens assured him. "Yeah, probably." Blackburn and Stevens got to the control room and were shocked at the sight before them. A creature just like the one from earlier was handcuffed to a table and was struggling as Admiral Smith and Alpha watched over it.

"Greetings, soldiers. I have managed to secure one of the creatures you encountered. Alpha has programmed a copy of himself into it's armour to try and allow it to translate it's own language to English. So far it's only speaking in it's own damn language..." Smith told the two. "It seems incredibly stressed, Admiral." Alpha said. "What are you doing here? Why are you in our planet?" Smith asked it. "Khra threh tien joor nahtefs keh Kahtensieh! Shikne Dhier..." It seemed incredibly angered. "Alpha, Can you translate this creature for me from now on?" Smith asked. "Yes, Admiral." He replied. "Khre shikne Dhiere ghurne sotmahe tienne harne gah seh dishne!" It said. "It said 'You filthy humans have Desecrated this sacred relic for too long.' I wonder What it means." Alpha translated. "Khra threh tien nahtefs keh Kahtensieh. Khre shne Kahtensieh sut hei! Khre shne disneh ahrk fei khra ghurne zethro!" It's cloaking started to flicker on and off. "It said 'We are the natives of Earth. You took Earth from us. You took over and now we have Nothing.' Admiral, What does it mean?" Alpha asked. "It's talking bullshit." Smith accused.

"This shit's So fuckin' weird... The Fuck is this thing anyway?" Stevens asked. "Bo'ok te priene keh tien Sahetne. Yuik destehkra ghurn difhek Kahtensieh sut hei ahrk fei khra suthak durneka!" It roared and struggled in an attempt to be free. It's cloaking flickered for a moment. "It seems incredibly stressed, Admiral. I advise you to not keep it like this for much longer." Alpha advised with caution. "Tell me What it said, Alpha." Smith commanded. "It said 'I am a Zealot of the Sahetne. Your kind has stolen Earth from us and now we shall rise.' It appears that their army is called the Sahetne and Zealot is one of their ranks. I am noticing a pattern here. It keeps saying that we have stolen Earth from it's kind, but that doesn't make any sense. How could we have taken Earth from it's kind?" Alpha questioned this logic.

The creature screamed loudly and broke free. It got up quickly and threw the table at Blackburn. He fell to the floor concussed and looked up slowly to see the creature vanish. His vision was blurred and he saw it reappear behind a soldier. It pulled out a small metal rod and picked up the soldier by the back of the neck. A White hot blade appeared from the rod. Obviously the creature had been experimenting with hardened plasma weapons. Blackburn understood that part, but How was it possible to make a weapon out of it?

The creature impaled the soldier through his back and out of his stomach, burning through skin, flesh and bone. The soldier screamed for a second, but his screams were cut short. The creature tossed his now lifeless body directly in front of Blackburn, blood oozing from the large wound. "Oh my God! Kill it!" Stevens shouted as he started firing at it. It vanished into thin air again. Blackburn saw the creature appear in front of him and the blade appeared again. The creature swung the blade, aiming for Blackburn's head and he got out of the way just in time. The blade hit the wall behind him and appeared to be stuck. Blackburn knew that he had only a few seconds to end this fight, So he pulled out his knife and got behind the creature hoping to stab it in the neck. Too late.

The creature vanished again. And Blackburn felt a painful hit to his spine and he fell to the floor in pain. It's cloaking flickered off and malfunctioned. "Fucking shoot it!" Stevens shouted, shooting it with his sidearm. Blackburn charged at the creature, knocking it over and pinning it down. "Black! Kill it! Fuckin' Kill it, Vic!" One of the soldiers cheered. Blackburn stabbed the creature in the throat, slicing across it's neck and spurting purple blood everywhere. For a moment, all that was heard was a loud screech and then Nothing. Blackburn tossed the now limp body to the side and started to wipe the blood off his blade. "Everyone alright?" Stevens asked. "Shit... I think we're fine..." Blackburn got up slowly.

"What did it mean by 'and now we shall rise'? What is it planning?" Alpha questioned. "Whatever the Sahetne are planning, we need to stop them. We are going to stop them." Smith said. "Sir, we can hardly even fight one. They're not just going to send in lone troops. They seem far too determined. I think they're planning to send fleets of thousands." Blackburn said. "We will fight them, Private Blackburn, is that understood? We simply cannot just stand by and watch as they take our planet and Kill Every single man, woman and child! We Can do this, Blackburn." Smith assured him. "We Can do this, Vic. We know that they don't have armour on their neck, So we Can use that against the Sahetne." Stevens suggested. "You think that we Can go to war with them? We're already fighting against the UDF and now you want to go to war with a species we know Nothing about? How do you think we're gonna Kill them anyway?" Blackburn asked. "We still have the prototype." Smith told him. "The prototype? It's not even finished yet! We don't even know if it's ready for combat! Besides, who will-" Blackburn realized What they wanted him to do. "Oh No... Nope!" He refused. "There is No one else here with vehicle skills like yours, Blackburn. I have No doubt that you will have No problem killing them with the prototype." Smith said. Blackburn sighed. "Fine, but someone's cleaning it and it ain't gonna be me. Seriously, the thing still smells like death." Blackburn complained.