Komar’s POV
I let the mosquito soar through the air, making near impossible twists and turns. Oh it had been a long time since I felt this good.
The movements took my mind of my worries for a while.
I circled the space station in high speed, frightening the vamps that stood behind the window of the main bay.
I sighed. Enough fun. Back to reality.
I flew into the hangar, turned into an empty space and softly landed the craft.
Gerald came running and patiently waited until the liquid had drained away and the dome opened. He bowed and waited until I jumped out.
He was silent for a few seconds and I looked around.
“This looks nice.”
The walls were copper coloured with various consoles at the end of each parking space. The concrete floor was painted a warm burgundy red, with yellow lighting indicating the spaces for the mosquitoes.
“I am glad it pleases you, Your Majesty.”
I looked at the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling 4 meters above the ground.
“Pretty.”
He guided to me through the station, showing me various shops, bars, the food quarters where the humans were housed, the medical bay that regularly checked that our prime blood supply was in top condition and the quarters of the vampires that were stationed here.
All were meticulously decorated with the same steam punk style that had become popular among our kind in the past three years. We vampires were very fashion orientated.
We halted in front of the huge windows of the main bay that gave an incredible view of Earth and the Moon.
The insignia that Gerald was wearing beeped and excused him self to check out what was wrong.
I studied the location of the portal on Earth, but as expected it was hidden.
All demonic races feel its presence but nothing, absolutely nothing, gave it away. It was just a ripple in the fabric of reality.
Thinking about what happened at Roke that might be for the better. Let’s just hope that whatever destroyed my fleet is not Earth Demonic.
“Your Majesty, we picked up something on the long range sensors. You’d better come and look at it. The general is waiting for you in the war room.”
“We have a war room?” I grinned.
“Yes, Zed thought it would be a good idea.”
“It is an awesome idea.” I responded enthusiastically.
“Do we have a map?”
“A map?” he asked flabbergasted.
“You need a map in a war room.”
“No, we don’t have a map.”
“Get a map. On a huge round table with little LED lights indicating the different positions of interest.” I ordered him.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
He guided me to the war room, which at the moment was a sorry sight.
It could also have been a dinning room. Big, airy, well lighted. A rectangular table stood in its centre, surrounded by chairs. All art deco.
A huge portrait of me hung on the left wall. My left eye was bigger than my right eye. I frowned. I can’t remember that I have that. I’d better look up its painter.
Zed stood behind the table in military stance; his arms behind his back.
I grinned and walked towards him.
Three weeks. He was in the military three weeks and already acquired the dumb cocky attitude.
“Welcome my Queen.” He went down on one knee and bowed his head deep. I gave him my hand and he pressed a kiss on it.
And a quick lick.Ha, the horny Zed was still in there.
“As always, you look spectacular. “ He commented on my outfit.
I was wearing the skin tight bodysuit for flying the mosquito and felt the need to cover up to protect my flesh for the filthy looks Zed was giving it.
“So, there was something on long range sensors?”
He nodded and pushed on the table. A touch screen console appeared and he quickly typed in something and clicked a link.
My portrait shifted aside, showing a large flat screen that showed a radar-like image of what I supposed they picked up on sensors.
About fifty vessels in a hexagonal pattern were travelling at high speed towards us.
"We picked them up about three hours ago. If you extrapolate their route they cross Roke territory." Zed informed me.
"Any video yet?"
"No, but we should get the first images within the hour."
Fifty vessels. And they didn't appear that big.
Zed's direct subordinates came in and we sat down. We discussed battle plans, deciding that the station and the portal were first priority. The castle could be rebuild within just a few months; we simply didn't have enough manpower to defend that as well.
I rubbed my brown, trying to think this over.
"They are only fifty ships, this worries me. They completely obliterated my fleet of thousands of hives. How can they do that with only fifty ships? It suggests that they are far more technologically advanced than us." I said to them.
Lira, one of Zed’s admirals, nodded. "I was thinking about that as well. We have not even 10% of the force as the fleet did. If the 50 destroyed the fleet, we will be completely wiped out.”
I turned to her. “No need to despair yet. I will fight this to the bitter end. We will not go down easy.”
Zed looked worried at my statement. “My Queen, our numbers have dwindled too much already to stay dominant in the Vampiric Dimension for long. Shouldn’t we retreat and try save as many of us as possible?”
I looked down at the table. Maybe he was right. But we are vampires. We do not flee for a stronger aggressor. Instead, we bite and hold on until he gives up.
Zed continued “Furthermore, I think it was a mistake of bringing you here out in the open. It makes you too much of an easy target. And we can’t protect you sufficiently."
I nodded. “I will leave as soon as this meeting is over. How much time do you reckon before the enemy fleet reaches Earth?”
“With the speed that they are moving now…” Zed looked at Vern, one of the vampires at the table.
“They should be here in 3 hours.” Vern answered him.
“We should have a visual of them in 20 minutes.”
That reminded me. “Did the scouts come up with new information?”
Zed nodded and touched the console.
“It is not pretty.” He warned, before he showed the camera footage on the big screen.
The video showed debris scattered in orbit above a blue Planet. Bits and pieces of hives and mosquitoes were everywhere.
A leg hit the camera. The camera turned and showed horribly wounded vamps drifting miserably in space, not being able to heal themselves because they couldn’t feed.
I closed my eyes. This was worse than I expected. It seems that they destroyed the entire fleet.
I studied the images for signs of Zea’s hive. At the end of the video, a part of its name drifted by.
No.
I put my head in my hands.
“She might have escaped in a mosquito.” Gerald added.
“Look at the images, I see mosquito parts everywhere.”
One of the cameras caught part of a white cubical shape, after which the video images stopped abruptly.
“Our scouts didn’t return. We received these images over long-range communication and then our link broke completely. I am afraid that they were destroyed.”
We went over some details in the footage and studied the part of the alien ship that was on it just before the camera’s went blank.
They completely obliterated the fleet in what must have been just a few minutes.
I wondered how the f*ck I was going to get us out of this mess.
Normally I would say excessive violence but that was clearly not going to work this time. We were outnumbered and outgunned.
I rubbed my face. There was only one tactic left. Guerrilla.
“Okay. Zed, please create a strike unit of our strongest soldiers and scatter them across the planet. Instruct them to sit this one out. We meet each other exactly one month after the enemy has taken over control of the planet. We’ll meet at my old place.”
Zed looks at Gerald who mouthed The Witches House.
We hear a ping and the screen switches to a different camera.
It shows a fleet of shiny white cubes against a star-striped background flying towards us. No windows, no doors, no seams. Only shiny white polished surface.
They look terrifying.
“How much time do we have?”
“Two hours and 40 minutes.”
“We will make a defence plan while Gerald contacts the members of the strike squad and informs them of their mission. In two hours we will all leave in mosquitoes, hide among humans on Earth, as far from each other as possible and wait for the enemy to relax. We will meet at my house and plan a kill for whomever of whatever is leading this invasion. We will show them our fangs.”
The vamps nod enthusiastically. Zed gives Gerald a list of names and he leaves to contact them.
“Okay, two and a half hours left. Gentlemen and gentlewomen, let’s give them a something on which they break their teeth.”
---***---
We are softly floating in space and waiting,
They should be here anytime.
“My queen, is it wise to stay put? Shouldn’t we be hiding like the others?” Gerald asked worriedly.
“I want to see them with my own eyes.”
“But what if they see us?”
“We’ll run like hell. We are just within reach for the sensors, so we’ll have a head start.”
“I don’t like it. We are taking too much of a chance.” He whines.
I turned and caught him by the throat.
“Are you questioning me, Gerald?” I asked quietly,
Fear passed his eyes. “No my Queen. Forgive me.”
I released him and turned back to the screens.
Something popped up and I switched to the camera footage supplied by the station.
Well hello shiny white cube.
The other 49 dropped out of hyperspace.
They surrounded the station, but staying in the same formation. When they were in position they created some sort of iridescent hexagonal net and released it.
It shrunk and its lines cut through the station.
It fell apart in hundreds of evenly spaced chunks. Vamps were floating out screaming.
The cubes fired on everything that moved.
I closed my eyes; the whole thing lasted for only a few seconds.
I turned the mosquito and we fled towards Earth.
When we entered the atmosphere we received a transmission.
A massive smurf appeared and grinned like a madman, showing a set of huge metal fangs that reflected the artificial lamplight.
Holy sh*t. That smurf was creepy.
“Beings of Earth. I am Ryklys, king of Roke Territories. I am of the Plesruny, the ruling race of Roke You have provoked us by attacking our home planet. In retaliation we will invade you and make you one of our colonies. We will give you 24 hours to surrender. If not we will do exactly the same to your planet as we did to your miserable little space station. Let this be a warning.”
The camera switched to a video of the destruction and ended with a radio frequency on which they had to broadcast their response.
After a few minutes it switched to a countdown clock.
I landed the mosquito in a remote area in France and we managed to find a hotel in a small village with sufficient inhabitants for a month. The accommodation was not as luxurious as I got used to during the past decades, but beggars can’t be choosers. And the food was delicious.
As expected, every Earth race surrendered within the 24 hours that he had given them. Even the demons in the formerly called Vampire Dimension pledge their alliance to him. Disloyal little b*stards.
Only the vampires did not respond, probably because most of us were wiped out.
This displeased him, but the other races were able to convince him that what remained of us was not strong enough to cause trouble.
They were right. We weren’t. But they assumed that I had been on the station. They did not know that the strongest of all was still alive and determined to kill the blue bastard.
We laid low for a month, following the news and browsing the Internet obsessively, trying to pinpoint the location of this so-called king.
Nobody can defend himself against one madwoman that is determined to kill you.
I would strike him down when he was least expecting it.
I had nothing left to lose. Most of us were gone. Zea was gone.
It would not restore our power or save our race, but God, it would be satisfying to rip out his arrogant little throat.