Chapter 022: Na’h-Athin
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Abrams already assumed the Alkarin wouldn’t give up without a fight, but she was under direct orders from the Queen to attempt it. So, with no word from the Alkarins two hours after the deadline, she orders their military bases on the planet destroyed. She waits a further two hours hoping the Alkarin will get the message and surrender. Then, she orders the invasion to begin.

An hour later, ten million armored troops land twenty kilometers outside of what is thought to be their capital city, as another thirty million land outside of other cities, towns, and villages across the settled continent. By using overwhelming forces, she’s trying to push the fact home that they’ll be utterly destroyed if they don’t surrender.

Standing outside one such city of approximately 160,000, General Puller orders several dropships to fly over the city announcing, ‘Anyone that wishes to surrender may do so without worry of being harmed.’

Several hours later, gates open in the surrounding wall, and hundreds begin to walk out of the city toward the Commonwealth troops. When they reach mid-way, the Alkarin warriors open up with automatic weapons, mowing down the civilians. The Commonwealth troops return fire, attempting to give the civilians some cover so that they might have a chance to reach them. Many of his troops curse and scream over the link at the brutality of the Alkarins.

Many more of his troops race forward in an attempt to rescue the wounded Alkarin as fire sparks off of their shields and armor. Picking up the much larger humanoids as if it were nothing, they race back to their lines with the wounded and turn them over to the medics.

After seeing them slaughter many of their own people, Puller of the Second Armored Infantry Corps opens the link to his CO, General Richards. Once he answers, he says, “Sir, they’re killing their own people when they attempt to surrender to us.”

“Their warriors, or?”

“They look to be civilians, Sir. I wouldn’t bother to call you if they were killing their warriors since it would mean less for us to engage.”

He could almost hear the mental sigh of his CO as he says, “I’ll pass the word about what happened. Protect them as best you can, but don’t put yourselves at risk, understood?”

“Yes, Sir.” He closes the command channel and reopens the corps link.

Sitting on his heels surrounded by his command staff, Puller quickly draws up a plan of attack.

“Gentlemen, we’ll be entering the city as soon as the wall is down. Take it slow, no less than 3-man teams going from building to building to clear them. Folks, we’re doing this just like we trained. Make sure everyone keeps in contact. If they’re armed, kill it; if not, and they don’t attack you, they’re to be directed behind the lines and out of the battle zone. MP’s will be taking custody of them from there. Links are to broadcast IFFs at all times. Suit computers are to be set to interrupt fire if no weapons are detected, is that clear?” The men around him nod. “Excellent.” He glances at the clock on his suit display. “We’ll begin the attack at 0830. Bring down the wall with rockets, and then we advance. The 2bs and Warlocks are available for fire support if needed. God’s speed, and good hunting.”

As 0830 rolls around, he announces, “Alright people, take down the wall.”

Several hundred 75-millimeter rockets from AAS-2b Thresher Heavy assault suits fire at the wall, bringing down large sections of it as the Warlocks open up with their own heavy weapons, reducing even more of it to rubble and dust.

Thousands of his troops rush the city as fire from what’s left of the wall engages them. Only the much heavier weapons from the Alkarins do any damage to the armored troopers and Puller thinks thankfully, ‘Thank God that there aren’t many of the heavy rifles amongst the Alkarin troops.’

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Staff Sergeant Hans Fischer is what everyone calls a lifer. He originally joined the Bundeswehr after he graduated high school. He came to find that he loved the military life, and for the last 22 years, he’s been in the military. He transferred to the Commonwealth Army immediately after Germany joined the Commonwealth.

No sooner does he and the two members of his team enter the city than they come under heavy fire from the nearest building. The rounds create sparks as they are deflected by the shields. The fire doesn’t cause any real damage, but each round does reduce his shields by a tiny fraction of a percent. The computer highlights where the fire originates from, so he raises his right arm and opens up with a 3-second burst from his M-92, throwing several hundred rounds at the target, which literally shreds the facade of the building and anyone who is behind it.

The fire from the building stops after his burst, and his team enters the building, taking it room by room, floor by floor, as they clear the building. When they encounter the Alkarin warriors, it’s short, sharp, and deadly for the Alkarin. More than a few times, the encounters are settled with the Alkarin’s own sword being stuck through them when the rooms are too tight to quickly bring weapons to bear. Once they’ve cleared the building, he has the computer mark the building as clear, and they move on to the next.

Many times, they find civilians hunkering down. Using the suit computers to translate into the Alkarin language, the troopers tell them, “Don’t be afraid, you’re safe. We will not harm you if you don’t resist or try to attack us. Follow the people at the entrance, and you’ll be fed and cared for.”

During one of the breaks, Sgt. Fischer is approached by who on earth would be considered a young teenage girl, who begins talking to him. He has to hold up his finger to stop her from talking until he can insert his earplug and ask the computer to translate.

Once he has, he says, “How can I help you?”

“My name is Na’h-Athin and I’ve been looking for you because I wanted to thank you,” she replies in Alkarin. “I remember your markings,” she says pointing to his name on the front of his armor, “so I asked other warriors where I could find you. You and two others were the ones who saved me and my mother.”

He smiles at her and rubs her hair gently. “You’re welcome, but I wouldn’t call what we did saving you.”

“I would,” she states adamantly. “The warriors would have killed us in the end if you hadn’t killed them first.”

He looks shocked for a second, and then asks, “Why would they kill you and your mother?”

“As far as the warrior caste is concerned, the worker castes are expendable. The warriors would have killed us to conserve resources so that they could fight you longer.”

He stares at her for a moment, then looks away as an adult Alkarin quickly approaches and takes the girl by the hand. Bowing low, she says, “Please, forgive my child. She means no harm, she’s young and doesn’t know better than to bother a warrior.”

He waves off her apology. “She’s fine, and she isn’t bothering me… There’s no need for you to worry. We aren’t like your warrior caste. We don’t kill unnecessarily. In fact, we had orders to help you, if we could.”

She tilts her head and asks, “Why?”

He shrugs. “I suppose our Queen doesn’t want to wipe out your species if she doesn’t have to. I’m sure you saw the fliers, or at least, heard of what they said. Queen Sora would much rather have peaceful relations with the Alkarin people.”

She lets out a series of guttural grunts, which he has come to learn is their version of laughing. “The Empress and warriors will never allow that to happen.”

He shrugs again. “Then, I’d say that all we need to do is remove her and her warriors.”

“That might be easier said than done. Don’t you wonder why you’ve never seen any male Akarins?”

“I have to admit, I am curious.”

“There was an uprising against the Empress about fifty years ago. She had all males killed because of it, regardless of what caste they belonged to. All to make sure that her rule isn’t challenged again.”

“That’s insane!” They both take a step back due to his vehemence. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you. It’s just unthinkable to wipeout an entire gender for what some of them did.”

The mother asks, “What is wipeout?”

“Wipeout means to kill, erase, or destroy.”

“Ah. You see, our people don’t take betrayal lightly. Especially the Empress.”

He nods. “I can understand that. Still, to kill an entire gender…” He shakes his head. “I just can’t wrap my head around that.”

The mother peers at him for a moment. “You ‘Humans’ are very strange creatures.

“You save us while at the same time fighting us. To us, that makes no sense. If our positions were reversed, our warriors would kill every last one of you, regardless of caste or age.”

“Then, it’s a good thing we aren’t like your warriors.”
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The fight for the city lasts for almost a week, but finally, at 1833 on the evening of the 6th day, the final building is cleared of the Alkarin warriors. The MPs and medics have their hands full with several tens of thousands of civilians to take care of.

Thankfully, the instant food packs they brought are compatible with Alkarin biology, so feeding them hasn’t been an issue. Caring for the wounded is another matter since nothing was known about their physiology. The only saving grace is that there are many physicians amongst them that have been helping to care for them while they teach the human medics and doctors.

The human medics and doctors were initially reticent to use the emergency medical nanites to treat them since they’re unsure about how the nanites would react to the unfamiliar Alkarin biology. One of the doctors, who was about to lose a patient, finally gave in and used them. His thinking was that without them, she was going to die, so he might as well give it a shot. To his relief, the nanites performed admirably well on the Alkarin, and her condition began to noticeably improve in a short amount of time. A few hours later, she was in the mess hall wolfing down food as if she hadn’t eaten in a month.

Military Intelligence has gained a huge amount of information about the Alkarins after innumerable interviews with the civilians.

Their society runs on a caste system, much like the medieval era of Earth. At the top is the Empress, next is her priestesses, the warriors, and finally, the uncountable variations of the worker castes, who actually make everything that keeps their society working.

 ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

After the last Alakrin warrior had fallen, they allowed the Alkarins to move back into their homes and begin the work of cleaning up the debris and rebuilding the city with the help of the Commonwealth construction corps.

Since their warriors also acted as a police force, the MPs have now taken over that responsibility.

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