Mana Pool Snippets - The Days After

Three

Jaruka spotted the terran couple and the agents pushing through the crowd and stopped a foot from the shield.

"I knew it. This is a public spectacle. Secretary of Defense will be furious over this," Mathews said with scorn in his eyes.

"Impressive, huh? Nova uses this tech every time on missions. Just for assurance, this croger is tough as diamond shields."

"But how are you in there and not everybody else?"

"It's a selective force field," Jaruka explained. "My DNA and alien tech is catalogued in the terminal, and allowed. You on the other hand aren't because, well, you're an ass."

Mathews cursed and walked off to settle the crowd with Captain Britt.

"What about us? We're your friends," Scott said. "Let us in."

Other people asked as well, including one religious nut palming a blade.

"Alright, alright!" Jaruka yelled and the crowd settled. "Give me a sec." The crowd began to complain as he walked back to the dropship.

So much for being alone for a while, he thought.

He came back with a handheld device from the terminal, as big as a credit card machine. He watched the device carefully as Scott and Katie added their blood samples, making sure that no one else got their DNA into the device. Deryl was added after Scott's fervent reasoning. Mathews wanted inside as well, but Jaruka let him sit anxiously as he pretended to think about it, long enough to irritate the agent before accepting Mathews' blood sample.

"Walk on through," Jaruka said.

At first the humans and terrans hesitated, and then simply slipped through as the shield shimmered. One homeless woman grabbed Katie's arm, she had a Celtic glowing tattoo on the back of her left hand. Scott removed the woman's hand and pulled Katie inside before she tried again.

"Please," she said with tears down her cheeks. "I need answers. Tell me. Does it hurt? Do you lose yourself to the pain? I need to know!"

Scott and Katie did not answer even though they were simple questions, Jaruka wondered about their silence briefly. Arana flew through the shield and other terran's totems tried but were kicked back, Jaruka surmised that it was because the totems shared their host's blood, but it was something that he would have to look into further.

Mathews and Deryl looked over the ship. "Impressive," Deryl said. "Never believed I'd be standing in front of one in my lifetime."

Mathews did not relish the sight. He went to the open hatch and peered inside. "And I thought aliens were extremely disgusting," he said. "This is a petree dish of potential viral pandemics."

"Look up immunity nanites," Jaruka said. "You got your look. You see how I can protect myself. What more do you want?"

"What about them digging under the shield?" Mathews asked.

"This penetrates through solid mass. Don't ask for any technical stuff, I'm not the inventor."

The couple joined in and Scott said, "Jaruka, now's the time to talk about the spires. Deryl explained it to us."

"Yeah, what's really going on?" Katie asked.

Before Jaruka could answer, an alarm went off in the dropship. "Of all the distractions!" He yelled. The particular alarm caught his attention,  it was a quick on-off alarm, an incoming attack. "Hold that thought," he said.

He walked into the ship as Mathews failed to order him to stop. In the bridge, red lights flashed on the terminal. The radar on the center console showed multiple targets coming from the south.

Jaruka squinted at the twelve target's descriptions, than dropped the DNA device. Scott and Katie joined him in the bridge. "If there is a reason for not telling us, forget it," Scott said. "So stop acting so closed off and tell us."

"Crog," Jaruka cursed.

"Now the defensive act?"

"No, not that," Jaruka said and pointed at the screen. "That."

There was no Halcunac to English translation. "I don't get it," Katie said.

"Does a Mogaran mudpig shit gold bricks?" Jaruka asked.

Scott blinked. "Mudpig?"

"Gold bricks?" Katie asked.

"Stay inside." Jaruka pushed past the couple. "I have a bone to rip out."

"Hey, watch it!" Katie yelled.

"Computer, activate secondary shield, three hundred feet, biological entities and technology allowed."

"Acknowledged," the computer said.

Jaruka left the ship as the second shield appeared, larger than the first and covering most of the crowd. He pushed Deryl aside and grabbed Mathews by the jacket, lifting him up eye level. "Hey, what the hell! Put me do—"

"Listen here, you sniveling bug," Jaruka said, "there are a dozen missiles heading our way and if you had anything to do with this, consider yourself the croging traitor of the year!"

He threw Mathews to the ground and ran toward the crowd. Some were leaving the shield out of fear. "Stay in the shield! Look up! Get inside! Say under the shield!"

Soon the missiles passed over the Palomar Mountain range. The crowd got the message and ran under the shield.

The military far from the shield became frantic, dropped their tasks, and sprinted for the shield. A few brave souls sought shelter in the vehicles but were dragged out by others.

Jaruka—still mad that he had no chance to tell the couple about the spires—hated interruptions. "Cover your ears," he yelled. He dropped to the ground and plugged his earholes.

The first two missiles hit. The first blasted half of the temporary military camp to scrap and fire. The second hit the shield directly. None of the heat or force penetrated the shield and the dome merely shimmered, but the ground-shaking sonic boom filled the air.

Mathews ran inside the ship for cover as Scott and Katie came out with fingers in their elf ears, but the next three missiles made them run back inside. Deryl found shelter under the ship's port-side thruster.

Trucks and cars were destroyed and propelled into the air and plant life was obliterated. The communication trailer opened up like a flower of twisted metal, spitting fire and sparks from its center. Three more missiles slammed into the shield and Jaruka saw it flex a bit from the force.

Strong and reliable Vyroken tech.

It was a good thing he had kept the lifesaving technology before befriending the senior engineer, or else he would not have been standing on Terra Firma without his eardrums blowing out.

The last four missiles came late, laying waste to the unprotected ground.

Jaruka opened his eyes and stood, pulling his fingers out of his ears. Inside the shield, frightened and stunned humans stood in safety, looking grateful.

Outside the shield, the land was a war zone. Jaruka swore that he could see several charred bodies in the rubble. The citizens must have had little sense of what real explosions did, the shock on their faces would last for a good long while, followed by smiles for being alive. Soldiers sounded off their status and all of them were alright save for some ringing ear drums.

Jaruka turned back toward the dropship.

Deryl came from under the ship. "Tha-Those were ballistic missiles," he said. "Short range. Jesus."

"They came south. What's in the south?" Jaruka asked.

Deryl blinked. "Pendleton. San Diego. Army and navy bases. Who the hell did this?"

Jaruka looked back at the dropship and spotted Mathews in the port-side window. "I have a hunch."