Nova Wars

"Fuck this, I'm movin' to Sparta," Unknown, Age of Myth & Legend, TerraSol

The parking lot was full of burning cars as lightning raked the tarmac and the vehicles, hurled down from low black clouds. The world was nothing but exploding cars, the shattering of thunder, and the screams of tourists who had been caught out in the open when the clouds had opened up to deliver fury upon the earth. Teenage Telkan ran for cover, dove to the ground, or crouched down holding tight to one another. Some screaming, some crying, some silent -unable to even scream as their brains overloaded-. The few adults tried to interpose their bodies between the sky and the children.

From inside the Cathedral came explosions, grinding roars of masonry collapsing, as lightning struck the tops of the towers and wreathed them in electric fury.

Two Telkani, Telkan males, who had come to take pictures of them groping the statues of female saints, were in the entry vestibule, one huddled down with his arms over his head.

The back wall exploded inward and massive war machines pushed through the rubble that had been lavish and opulent decoration seconds before. They stood on tree-trunk legs, clawed feet digging deep into the tile and ceramacrete floor. Their arms were thick, heavily armored, one a dual barrel autocannon, the other with a powerful claw of sharp fingers designed to rip and tear apart anything it grasped. Its head was almost an afterthought, a mere auxiliary sensor pod. The huge, blocky body was engraved with runes whose meanings were forgotten to time, ancient prayer strips, so old that many had degraded to hanging threads, devoid even of the inks placed by the faithful, fluttered as the two dozen massive machines moved through the church.

One Telkani stood, staring at the massive war machines. His face was awed, tears streamed down from his eyes. He had dropped the stolen datapad he had planned on recording video of him groping Saint Brenny the Dutiful as the war machines marched through the pews, sending splinters and fragments of wood showering across the room.

None of it touched those praying, who were now looking at the sky as they prayed.

The one covering his head lunged up, grabbed the one staring, and pulled him down behind a marble column.

"Watch it, idiot," he snapped.

The huge war machines started walking past, the ground shaking.

The staring one didn't even notice that one stepped on his stolen datapad, crushing it into the ceramacrete flooring.

One by one they all went by, arranging themselves in the parking lot even as thunder roared and lightning hammered down, striking the ancient Warbound without any ill effect.

When the Warbound raised their arms to the sky and roared in one voice, the crier was dragged away by the other.

-----

"The planned renovations of the Telkan Memorial Cathedral were scheduled months in advance," the stuffed suit was saying, leaning forward slightly to speak into the battery of microphones at the front of the podium. "Of course, those ancient war machines had to be moved into the parking lot during the renovations to their storage areas. Planetary weather control had not anticipated the ground charge differential caused by those war machines being active. There was nothing at all supernatural about the event at all."

The Tri-Vee winked off, the remote thrown against a patched and battered couch with a snarl by a Telkani with white rings around his eyes.

"Easy to say when you weren't there," he snapped. He looked at the other Telkani sitting in the couch, then at the gathered group of eight around the dingy, cluttered, and dimly lit room. "That weren't no renovation. The lightning started before them things came running out to dance around in it."

"So, what, they're covering it up?" one of the Telkani leaning against the cluttered counter asked. "Why? Who cares what some dusty old religion nobody even follows has happen?"

"It's all your fault, Naxen," the one that had thrown the remote said, pointing at the Telkani slumped in an overstuffed recliner that had several holes that the stuffing was protruding from. "You wanted to go see the stupid statues, viddy us groping them saints, now look what happened."

Naxen shrugged. "What do you want me to say about it, Wrixet?"

"Look at my damn face," Wrixet snapped, pointing at the rings around his eyes. "Every lawsec for a hundred miles will be able to ID me now, whether I'm running a jammer or not."

"What do you want, an apology? Fine, I'm sorry," Naxen said.

One of the ones leaning on the counter giggled and Wriket snarled at him before looking back at Naxen. "No, you aren't. You got to see those stupid Warbound you're always going on about. You'd pry my eyes out with a spoon to see them again."

"I'd pry your eyes out with a spoon for fifty credits a pop," one of the ones at the counter snickered.

"Screw you," Wrixet grabbed his jacket off the table, spilling mostly-empty narcobrew bottles and sending empty hotshot cones flying.

"Aw, come on, Wrixet, don't be mad," Naxen said, jumping up. He followed the other Telkani out the door, grabbing the back of his jacket. "We got to see those things wake up."

"Big deal," Wrixet said, walking past the elevator. It didn't work anyway. "My moms is already up my ass because I didn't come home with any juice."

"We had to dodge lawsec the whole way, didncha tell her that?"

"I did, she didn't care. What about your pops?" Wrixet paused for a second, looking out the door at the night to make sure there wasn't anyone from a rival gang lurking.

"Eh, you know him. He just smacked me, called me a weakling and a fool, then went and got drunk down at Samshi's Bar," Naxen said. He followed Wrixet out the door, hustling across the courtyard. On one of the lawns a smashed drone buzzed and sparked, but neither Telkan paid any attention to it as they walked out to the street.

"Seen the news trying to claim we all didn't hear that roar?" Naxen asked.

"How do they think they're going to convince everyone we didn't hear that?" Wrixet asked.

Naxen shrugged, popping up his collar to protect the back of his neck at the same time as Wrixet. "I don't know. Keep telling everyone it didn't happen till people forget?"

They were silent walking to the bus stop, hands in their pockets. Naxen's fingers were around the hilt of a vibro gravity knife, Wrixet's were wrapped around a set of kinetic amplified brass knuckles.

The bus was covered in graffiti, was battered and worn, and one of the hoverpads was snarling due to wear and tear. The duo got on, moved to the back next to the door, and sat down.

"You think it's true?" Naxen asked after a few blocks.

"What?" Wrixet looked up from where he'd almost nodded off.

"What the street preachers have been saying. About the War Father and the Prime Matron? About the Terrans? All of it?" Naxen asked.

Wrixet shook his head. "Naw. A janitor becoming a legend? A house keeper becoming planetary director?" he waved his hands at the dark streets. "Look around you. This is reality. All of that is just stories they tell kids. Besides, it was like fifty thousand years ago, not even Lankys care about something that long ago."

"I don't know," Naxen said after a couple of blocks. "We always thought the Warbound were bullshit too, but you saw them."

"Telk, I don't know what I saw. Just big machines with guns and shit stomping out of the back of that old church. They could have been old ass construction bots for all we know, Telk," Wrixet said. He gave a bitter laugh. "Look, Telk, we grind to make it to the next score. That's all it is," he looked out the window at the dark streets. "That's all any of it is."

The bus kept moving, both Telkan tensing during a ten block stretch and visibly relaxing when the graffiti no longer had a pair of crossed swords on the walls.

The bus stopped and both gave a slight groan as three lawsec climbed on. They were all wearing heavy armor, their faces invisible behind the tinted visors, pistols and batons on their hips.

"Donations for the Elderly Lawsec Beings Fund," the lead one said. He held out a datapad to the driver. The driver sighed and tapped it, tapping the 10 credit button. The lawsec looked at it, then looked at the driver. "Huh, might not be able to patrol your route, gentlebeing."

The driver sighed again and added 10 credits on top of it.

"Excellent," the lawsec said. He moved down the bus, holding out the datapad. Everyone tapped five or ten.

The trio reached the two Telkan, who were trying to look asleep. The one with the datapad kicked their feet.

"Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey," he said. He thrust out the datapad. "Donate to the I Want to Keep My Teeth Fund, boys."

Both looked up, slowly pulling their hands from their pockets.

All three lawsec jerked slightly.

"Well well well, looks like it's our lucky day, boys!" the lead one said, pulling his pistol as he spoke. "Get up, both of you."

"What, we didn't do nothing," Naxen said.

Wrixet just stood up, turning around.

"Got warrants on both you. Vandalism, destruction of public property, destruction of private property," the one with the datapad said as the other two cuffed Wrixet and Naxen. "Big enough warrant there's a bounty out on you two."

Both Telkan kept their mouths shut as they were dragged away.

-----

Wrixet looked up as the door to his solitary cell buzzed. There were four lawsec outside. Two with shields, one on either side of the door, banging on the shields with their batons. One stayed back, another came in.

Wrixet followed the commands. Hands out. Stand up. Turn around. Left hand behind his back. Right hand behind his back. They cuffed him and pulled him out of the cell. Down the hallway five doors and the whole thing was repeated as Naxen was dragged out of his cell.

They'd both been in the juv-cubes enough times to know to keep their mouths shut as they were guided through the hallways of solitary confinement and beyond.

Finally, they were led to a conference room where they were seated, then their cuffs attached to the table.

All but two of the lawsec left, one standing behind each of them.

After a bit a Telkana came in, her fur brushed and shining, dust on her ears to make the edges glimmer and shine. She sat down and set two honest to Warfather paper file folders down on the table. She opened them, showing the top sheet was a single piece of smartpaper. The rest was all regular paper, even with the 2.5D holograms showing the pair at the Cathedral.

"Morning, boys," she said, smiling. "As you know, with the Mar-gite invasion, the Confederacy is at war."

Both just stared.

"The Telkan people admire and appreciate your willingness to volunteer during these troubled times. Why, we're so impressed, we even ensured your criminal records are clean so you don't even need waivers to join," she smiled.

Naxen looked up. "Wait a minute, I want a law..."

The lawsec behind him slapped him across the back of the head hard enough his chest hit the table.

"And I'm sure you're happy to know that you've been accepted into the Telkan Marine Corps!" she said, her voice chipper. "Just put your palm here," she slid the smart papers in front of each of them.

The lawsec grabbed their arms with one hand and their shoulders with the other, squeezing the nerves in the shoulder and painfully moving their arms till the lawsec could slap the duo's palm pads onto the paper.

"Oh, and before you think about just failing out or runniing?" the female said as the uniformed Telkans yanked them toward the door. She paused for a second then drew a pistol out from a concealed holster in her armpit. "I will personally shoot you, your parents, and any siblings you have."

Neither said anything.

They knew better. They knew a screw job when they saw it.

"Excellent," she said. She stood up as the door behind her opened.

"And congratulations on passing basic training and basic infantry school," she said. She tapped the smart paper and images appeared of the two Telkan in uniforms standing in front of the Telkan Star Nation's flag. Words scrolled down. "Imagine, you two have the singular honor of going to serve on the Mar-gite Front within the next two months."

Two big Telkan came in, both wearing uniforms. They moved around and grabbed the back of the duo's necks while the lawsec unlocked the cuffs.

"You should have known going AWOL wouldn't work, boys," the woman said. She smiled, showing too many sharp teeth. "The Corps will find you."

The two uniformed Telkan, with MP armbands, yanked both up from the chairs.

Naxen and Wrixet both knew when to keep their mouths shut as they were dragged away.

"Make us proud, boys," the woman laughed.

-----

"Psst," Naxen hissed.

"What?" Wrixet asked, looking up from where he was cuffed next to the cryotube.

"Why do you think they're doing this to us, Telk?" Naxen asked.

Wrixet let his head hang down. "Because we were stupid enough to be present when the Warbound woke up, Telk" he tilted his head toward the other silent Telkan, most of them with the odd slump of the heavily drugged. "Take a good look. That Telkana with the big tits is at the end of the row. They rounded us all up, Telk."

"We're going to die, you know that, right, Telk? They're sending us out there, with no training, so we'll get killed," Naxen said. "They're sending us out to die so they don't have to admit what happened. We're going to die."

Wrixet looked up, staring at his life long friend.

"No. We're not."