Frozen Soul: A Sci-fi Supervillain Story
Author: Stuart Grosse
Date: 2017-04-14 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Science Fiction
Description: In 2016, Earth was invaded by the Rithenal Empire, a multispecies empire encompassing over a dozen star systems. Because of Sol System being at a strategic juncture of warp gates, if one could conquer the system, they would gain a great advantage over the other powers in this arm of the galaxy. Unfortunately for the Rithenalese, humankind was not so powerless as one might expect. Previous invasions had left their mark, even if the general public didn't know about them. The explosion of a Krax Imperial warship over Siberia in 1908 gave humankind mutant abilities, while the capture of a Ross'Ell
Publisher: Independently published

Foreward

As I write this, it is a little over a year since I first sat at my computer, and decided to write a story. Like many rookie authors, I decided to take characters I knew, and spin them my way.

This story was originally released on the Royal Road Legends site, as a web novel, over the course of several months. But the story, especially Iceblade’s backstory, have been kicking around in my head for quite some time.

My introduction to the world of tabletop roleplaying games actually came online. I discovered the world of MUSHes, MUXes, and other MU*s, all over raw telnet, and then later a client designed for playing such games. I discovered worlds where I could be my own mutant from the X-men, or a wizard, or a pokemon master, or anything else I desired. And it was on one such site that Mirikon Mollen was born.

Being young (I was still in high school at the time), I foolishly made the character as a blatant bit of self-insertion, a ‘what if I had superpowers’ thing. But sometimes characters take on a life of their own, and evolve in ways you would not expect. Back then, he had the incredibly cheesy name of ‘The Chiller’, and was something of an emo teenager. Slowly, over the course of several campaigns, on several sites, he changed into something completely different from what I imagined when I first wrote him, to the point where I wasn’t sure where the story would end up by the time I got to the conclusion.

I hope you all enjoy the story.

Book I – Prelude to War

Prologue – The One Known as Mistwalker

November 21, 2018 – Rithenal Outpost, 20 miles outside Wichita, Kansas

Standing at the top of the observation tower at this outpost in what the locals called ‘Kansas’, Sub-Leader Krex decided that he truly hated Earth. He was a Silexian warrior, from the desert planet of Silex 4. This pitiful planet of mostly water was far too moist and cold for his liking. The locals were soft, mammalian types. None of them had the lovely scales of the females back home. And this backwater world had never even heard of most of the common forms of entertainment in the galaxy! The system wasn’t the source of any rare minerals either.

Of course, he knew why Earth was so important to the Rithenal Empire. This system (called Sol by the locals) was a strategic nexus of warp nodes, located in a critical space between the Rithenal Empire and the Kuprulu Alliance. It was also, due to a quirk of interstellar mechanics, the single jump point connecting to several resource-rich worlds that were either uninhabited, or at least unaffiliated with any of the major galactic powers. Whoever could take and hold Sol would have a strategic advantage over the entire arm of the galaxy.

Of course, this wasn’t the first time someone had tried to take the Sol system. But prior attempts to take the system had always failed, primarily because the Asguard always took such an interest in the species covering Earth. Supposedly they were some long lost branch of the Asguard race, or something like that, and they listed the system as a Protectorate. Because of them, all prior attempts to take the system had failed. That didn’t stop others from trying, though.

A little over a hundred cycles ago, the Krax Imperium had brought a fleet of their warships to the system, in an attempt to annex it, and the Asguard responded in force. The battle was a massacre, with the Krax fleet being utterly wiped out, while the Asguard lost only one of their four ships. The Krax flagship had tried to crash-land on the planet, but was destroyed in the atmosphere over a place the humans called Tunguska.

And only forty cycles later, the damned Ross’ell decided to try and set up a research station on the planet. Fortunately, the Asguard came and wiped the disgusting grey aliens out before they could set up one of their damned gravity weapons on the planet. Krex had no love for the Asguard, but he didn’t want to be within ten light-cycles of anyone crazy enough to use point singularity weapons!

Of course, the Asguard were busy with other problems right now. Krex didn’t understand all of it, but it seemed they were fighting a machine empire in another arm of the galaxy. Whatever the case, this meant the Rithenal Empire had a chance to take and hold the system, and use it to dominate their neighbors.

The invasion had been swift and brutal. Their ships took out military and government installations around the world, allowing them to take over in the chaos. But within a tenth of a cycle, the local populace had already begun fighting back. Unknown to any, save perhaps the Asguard, the explosion of the Krax warship had unleashed unstable particles in the atmosphere of Earth, sparking mutations that gave people powerful abilities, not unlike the Krax warriors themselves had. But while the rigid Krax breeding programs kept their powers stable and predictable, the humans were chaos personified, with no two being quite the same.

With their superior abilities and weapons, the Empire’s forces had managed to maintain control, for the most part, but the death toll was staggering. The people of Earth used what prisoners called ‘guerilla tactics’. Instead of facing the Empire’s legions in honorable combat, they ambushed patrols, poisoned food supplies, and did everything possible to make life unbearable for the soldiers posted to this void-spawned rock.

But recently, things had gone from bad to worse. It had started with isolated patrols, complaining of an unnatural mist rising up around them, before all contact was lost. When the search teams went to look for them, all they found were the bodies, brutally maimed, with looks of terror on the soldiers’ faces. That was four tenths of a cycle ago. The attacks had continued since then, with an entire outpost falling just a tenday ago to this enemy the troops began calling ‘Mistwalker’. The bodies had actually been mutilated after death, the heads of the fallen piled in a disgusting cairn with a single message, written in Rithenal Standard: “All will die.”

A yell from the soldier next to him brought him out of his reverie. An icy mist had begun to form outside the outpost, and was rapidly moving their way. Sub-Leader Krex drew a deep breath, and said, “Sound the alarm. And pass the word that I’ll pay fifty credits to whoever brings me the head of this Mistwalker.” As the sirens went off, the Sub-Leader turned, and went to his quarters to gather his best weapons. Time to show this mammal that the soldiers of Silex weren’t like those pathetic Kratuans or Brakthels that had fallen to the Mistwalker before.

Chapter 1 – Emergence

December 24, 1998 – Atlanta, Georgia

(MC Point of View)

[--marking the 90th anniversary of ‘Emergence Day’ today. On Christmas Eve, 1908, loyalists to the old Ottoman regime attempted to storm the capital by force. However, the loyalists were defeated by Karanlık, the first recorded Mutant in history. Karanlik, named after the Turkish word for ‘Darkness’, used his shadow powers to halt the loyalists in their path, allowing security forces to take them into custody. Afterwards--]

I tuned out the history lesson as I continued walking down the sidewalk. Who wanted to hear about the damn freaks, anyways? It wasn’t natural, being able to read men’s minds or walk through walls or any of the crap those mutants were able to do. It wasn’t RIGHT! Used to be, there were only a few of them, but the freaks breed, and they’d been slowly increasing in population, to the point where they now counted almost 20% of the population in ‘civilized’ areas.

These days, you couldn’t go a day without seeing something about the latest super-battle. My classmate Carl got caught up in the fighting between Mister Devious and Lady Justice. Got a face full of plasma when that ‘heroine’ bitch was trying to fry Devious, and he dodged. He escaped, my buddy got a nice crispy hole in what used to be his head, and all his parents got was a fucking ‘I’m so sorry,’ card. That’s what they don’t want you to think about when they talk about supers, though. All those missed shots go somewhere, just like when cops start shooting. But cops at least can get hauled in front of the courts if they shoot a kid in the face accidentally. Supers? Hah! Name three superheroes who have ‘come out’ with their true identity while they were still ‘active’. That’s right, you can’t, because the only two who tried got slapped with lawsuits and criminal charges for reckless endangerment.

So, yeah, I might have ‘issues’ with the so-called supers. Damn freaks. Only good thing about school is I don’t have to put up with that crap there. Yeah, school, mister voice-in-my-head-narrator. I’m fifteen, and in the eighth grade. But since I’m doing this, I might as well go all the way, right? Name’s Mirikon. Mirikon Mollen. Yeah, stupid name, but that’s what happens when your parents decide to name you after their D&D characters. Just lucky I was a guy. My mom’s character was named Shallinareth.

As for why I’m walking in the rain on Christmas Eve (no, I will NOT call it Emergence Day!)? Shopping. Last minute gift shopping for the family. Well, stocking stuffers, really. As if the Freak Patrol wasn’t enough, dealing with holiday crowds was enough to get on anyone’s nerves. We lived out in DeKalb, over in the Decatur neighborhood. Pretty area, but not much in the way of gift shopping, really. But MARTA is your friend, especially if your main means of transportation is your own two feet. Riding the train into town to get to the Lenox Square Mall was simple enough.

I’m no weight lifter, but I’ve always been built like a defensive lineman, which is where I play come football season. That, combined with the fact that I don’t go out of my way to start shit, means my parents are fine with me riding the train, at least during the day, and in the ‘nicer’ parts of town. The Freak Patrol (ok, that’s not the local super-team’s name, but see if I care) being based Downtown not far from Five Points doesn’t hurt, either, at least in their opinion. Anyways, that means I’m doing my little holiday jaunt on my own. Which is better, really, since going in groups through this madhouse is fucking crazy.

Where was I? Oh yeah, shopping. Like the fucking Battle of Helms Deep in the mall, and I’m pretty sure I leveled up a couple times with the body count. No, not really. What do you think this is, some fanfic where game windows pop up in front of you all the time?

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Well, kindof, yeah.

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SHUT UP IMAGINARY GAME WINDOW! Ok, so I’m not really crazy, but I like games and stories, and I come by my geek cred honestly (yes, a jock and a geek). So I sometimes ramble in my internal monologue. Keeps life a bit more interesting. When people aren’t trying to make my life miserable, at least.

“GODDAMNIT! LOOK WHERE THE FUCK YOU’RE GOING, ASSHOLE!”

Sorry, bastard knocked me into a fragging gutter full of nasty ass water. Didn’t look all that big, but felt like it. Probably one of those freaks with really dense bones, or something. I mutter a few more choice curses (including some in Wonderlandian) as I push off the ice and get back to my feet.

Wait, ice? How the hell that get there?

Chapter 2 – Breaking Down

February 2, 1999

Emergence. That’s what the world called it when a mutant’s powers first activated. 95% of mutants Emerged during puberty, or around ages 10-17. The remaining 5% are called latent mutants. Though they possess the genes for mutant powers, they do not typically express themselves. However, there are verified records of latent mutants gaining powers in response to extreme stimuli, like significant physical or emotional trauma. The Chernobyl Man, a 35-year-old worker who was trapped in the reactor room during the famous meltdown, and gained the ability to create an energy shield that blocked radiation as a result is perhaps the most famous example of this phenomenon.

In those who Emerge during puberty, in addition to whatever powers the person may gain, their bodies tend to become ‘optimized’, genetically speaking. Speed, strength, senses, and so on are all increased to the high end of what a normal human could experience. Likewise, they produce more of certain chemicals than a normal human does, such as adrenaline. This process also tends to make the mutants more photogenic, though there are exceptions. However, the process also creates intense hormonal shifts, in addition to what normally occurs during puberty.

This leads to the primary issues when dealing with the newly Emerged. Most new mutants have little control over their powers when they first activate. They tend to respond to emotional triggers until the Emerged learns to control their power. Given that teenagers are emotional wrecks to begin with, even before the additional hormonal changes that come with Emergence, this means that, for at least the first year, a mutant’s powers may activate sporadically, or without their consent.

Emerged powers typically fall into one of four categories. While some may possess traits of multiple categories, these powers tend to fall into the same theme (an energy controller using that energy to make their body fly, for instance). The categories are:

Body Manipulation: This includes most changes to the mutant’s body. Superhuman strength, metal skin, shapeshifting, being able to secrete poisons, and so on are typical of powers in this group. These powers tend to be simple in scope, but can be incredibly powerful. Also included are powers that cause direct changes in other people’s bodies, such as the rare Healing power. Most of those unfortunate mutants who possess altered physical features (like a beak, or excess layers of fat, or slimy skin) have them as a result of body manipulation powers. Body Manipulation powers are by far the most common, at 52% of the mutant population.

Mental Manipulation: This includes such things as telepathy, mind control, precognition, and other powers that are primarily mental in nature. These powers tended to be rather insidious in nature, a fact that was balanced out by the fact that most of their users tended to use actions or other things as a mnemonic to focus their abilities. This category would be the one that is most feared (or at least mistrusted) of the four. Approximately 15% of the mutant population has Mental Manipulation powers.

Technological: This includes things like technopaths, super-science, and other such abilities. It also is the one branch of powers that has been found to be able to grant ‘normals’ the ability to use powers. While some super-science creations can only safely be used by their creators, many can be used by others, and some can be mass produced. The rarest of the four, only 5% of mutants have Technological powers.

Environmental Manipulation: This includes control of the four elements, as well as most ‘creation’ type powers, and even spatial manipulation abilities like teleportation. Other than Body Manipulation powers, these are the most common, with 27% of the mutant population.

The remaining 1% are known as ‘Wildcards’. These powers are inherently unpredictable. One of the best known Wildcards is Nemesis, whose signature ability allowed him to instantly counter any power used in his vicinity.

This is all important because, as a teenager who had been brought up to distrust and fear mutants, and indeed verged on racist prejudice against them, young Mirikon Mollen was going through an incredibly difficult time right now. The incident on Christmas Eve was easy enough to ignore. But the events that followed could not simply be put aside.

It started the day after Christmas, when his uncle had gotten a little too much egg nog in his system. As he had been through three failed marriages, and was working on his fourth, his uncle believed himself to be the perfect fount of relationship advice for the young man who had been single all his fifteen years of life. So what if that ‘advice’ came in the way of teasing jokes and questions about his masculinity or sexual orientation?

He’d held it together during the family gathering, but later, when he was in the bath, Mirikon fumed. And as he let his thoughts run wild with pictures of getting revenge (some poetic, some simply violent) upon his uncle, time passed by, until he realized that he’d been in the bath for an hour. As he tried to get out of the bath, he realized something else: he was currently stuck in an ice cube filling the entire bathtub.

Getting out of that situation without being discovered had been… problematic, to say the least. But it had also shattered any chance of his denying what had happened to him. To say he had trouble coming to terms with this new reality would be understating the situation quite a lot.

After the initial shock passed, he barreled full on into anger and self-loathing. The emotions would key his uncontrolled powers, sometimes freezing objects he was touching, and sometimes just causing a cloud of icy mist to follow him. And these outbreaks caused him to panic, which did absolutely nothing to get them to die down. One lasted for a solid hour before he was too drained to worry (and thus relaxing enough for the outbreak to stop).

The next few weeks were predictable enough. As his mental state deteriorated, he became withdrawn and isolated. People started asking if he had started doing drugs, or if there was something wrong at home. Of course he couldn’t tell them the truth, that would mean accepting what he was becoming! No, he drew in on himself, his self-loathing feeding on itself in a vicious cycle.

Finally, it came down to one night, early in February. His parents had taken his little sister out to a movie to celebrate her birthday. He was invited, of course, but he couldn’t, wouldn’t go with them. The disappointed look on his sister’s face as they left was what finally broke his trance. As his parents drove off, Mirikon went to his dad’s study, and pulled out the gun that his father kept there. It was a revolver, a .357 Magnum like in that old cop movie. That would do the job, right?

Mechanically, he wrote out a suicide note. Even in his own head, he knew it sounded trite and cliché, full of how he couldn’t accept what he was, and how he hated himself for being like this. In a daze, he placed a single bullet in the cylinder, and spun it. It took him another half hour to work up the nerve to place the gun under his chin. He took a breath, held it, and then slowly pulled the trigger.

Click.

Mirikon sat there, stunned for a moment, before letting the breath he held go. He’d only loaded one bullet. He’d only needed one, after all. But he hadn’t considered that spinning the cylinder might line an empty chamber up with the barrel. Now he had time to think, and he began having second thoughts. And third. And fourth. But he didn’t put the gun down, or move from the chair. Eventually, he pulled the trigger again.

Click.

Another empty. Now he was really getting desperate. He just wanted everything to be over. The fear, the guilt, the depression. Would the next pull give him release?

Click.

His hands barely able to hold the gun from trembling, Mirikon was about to just move the cylinder straight to the bullet, when he saw headlights in the window. Looking up at the clock, he realized it had been almost four hours since his family left for the theater, and now they were back!

Dropping the gun in a panic, mist swirled about him as the young man ran from his father’s study, and up to his room. He didn’t stop to think, just grabbed his leather jacket, a harmonica, and a beat up old leather hat, and ducked out his bedroom window, just like all those nights he’d snuck out of the house before. Only this time, he wasn’t trying to avoid curfew, but himself.

He ran. He didn’t know where he was going or how he would get there. He just ran, and the mist shrouded him as he went, hiding him from view. He just kept running, until finally, he found himself at the rail yard, staring at the freight trains being loaded, even this late at night.

Now that the panic had started to run its course, it shifted straight back into anger. Anger at himself for being what he was. Anger for not being able to do the deed. Anger for trying. Anger for running. Without thinking, he threw his fist through a plate glass window, and was rewarded with pain, as glass shards cut a long slash on his hand.

Pain! Pain cut through everything he was feeling and thinking, distracting him from his self-destructive feedback loop. And that allowed him to calm down, which stopped the mist surrounding him.

Pain? Pain could do this? That simple revelation brought a smile to the young man’s face. Pain would be his key. That would help keep him from losing control. Pain would make him stronger. Pain would make him safe.

And looking up at the moon that was just starting to wane from full, he laughed.

Chapter 3 – Riding the Rails

February 10, 1999

(Mirikon’s POV)

As much as I would have loved to wallow in self-pity and generally beating myself up for being an idiot, that lizard part of my brain that is all about ‘not dying’ decided that I needed to actually do some stuff. A bullet to the brain is quick. Starvation isn’t, and really, I’m not a fan.

That night at the rail yard, I slipped onto a refrigerated freight car. Figured that if I lost control, no one would notice there. They also wouldn’t notice the results of my ‘practice’, or so I hoped. Yeah, practice. Ship’s already sailed on me being a freak, so I’ve gotta get a handle on this, at least enough to keep it under control.

See, I’ve already figured that the main focus of my powers is an environmental type, mainly what the egg heads call ‘cryokinesis’. The rest of us call it Cold Control. In other words, I can freeze shit, and do some other things. Leastways, I will be when I get a handle on it. And I need to get a handle on it, because uncontrolled environmental type powers can be bad. As in ‘force of nature’ bad. A thirteen-year-old girl in Italy with geokinetic powers accidentally set off Mt. Vesuvius when her powers went berserk last year, burying Pompeii in lava. Again. A crazy plant-controller down in South America turned a section of the Amazon rain forest into a jungle of death, the trees killing anyone who came close. He’s still out there, because no one can figure out how to get rid of him without burning the jungle down. And the list goes on. So yeah, I need to learn control.

So far, I’ve discovered that in addition to the normal ‘boosts’ we freaks get (stronger, faster, and so on), I’ve got a few extra enhancements. As in, I’m sitting in a freezer right now in just a pair of underwear, and I’m not even chilly. So I’m probably immune to the cold. Of course, ‘immune to cold’ doesn’t mean ‘immune to cold things that hurt you’. I could probably shrug off a beam of pure cold energy as if it were nothing, but stabbing me with an icicle will do just as much damage as it would to anyone else. I know that because I accidentally tried it when I slipped on the ice. And that’s when I learned I could use ice to stop bleeding, sealing wounds. Of course, in anyone else, that would be… bad, since they’d probably go into hypothermia before the wound healed. But as emergency first aid, it could be useful.

Right now, I’ve basically got an idea about my powers. The two main things I’ve found is the ability to freeze the air into an icy mist, which is useful for sneaking around, or throwing off some security guard who doesn’t want me by the trains, and the ability to create ice, even make shapes out of it. I don’t know the limits of this, but I think I could do some really cool stuff, eventually.

Now, I’ve stayed with the trains for the last few days, switching out as need be, to keep on the move. I think I’m somewhere in Iowa now. So far, I’ve done OK as far as food and water goes. Well, not really. I’ve been scavenging from vending machines when the train stops, and then getting on a new train to head elsewhere. Also why I have no clue where I am right now. But I’m in the mood for something a bit more filling than Cheetos and Coke, so I guess we’re going to start that whole ‘life of crime’ thing. See kids, ain’t it glamorous?

Getting off a moving train is dangerous. Anyone who tells you differently is lying. But then, crossing the street can be dangerous, so there’s really no point in worrying about it so long as you know what you’re doing. First thing to do is find a good spot to jump. Ideally, you’re looking for places that won’t impale you or crush you on impact, because that’s bad. So jumping directly into a tree line or rocky areas isn’t a good idea. Fortunately, this is Iowa (I think), and you can’t get much more boring than this, except for Utah. So finding a good spot is easy.

Now, when you land, you might think you’re going to do like you see people do in the Olympics, and stick the landing, or something like that. And you’d be a moron. You’ll break your legs like that. Crumple like a sack of bricks, and roll the shoulder. This’ll help reduce the shock, and spread any impact around. Also makes you less likely to break important bones.

Looking down at my clothes, I realize that I could really do with a change of clothes. And a bath. But we’ll have to wait on that. Slipping off to the side of the railroad, I begin trekking towards town. Off to one side, I see what looks like ponds set up for irrigation. Not being picky, I take the time to wash my face and hair, before using a neat trick I picked up, freezing the water on my skin and hair, and then shaking it off. Instantly dry. Feels good to be at least somewhat clean again.

By the time I get into town, it is already late at night. Thankfully, this is a sleepy little suburban community. I think I saw the name Ottumwa as I was coming in. Anyways, this isn’t the big city, and we’re honestly miles from anywhere important. Which is good, because that means there’s only going to be local cops to deal with as I do what I’ve gotta do, not supers. I think Iowa has a super team, but they’re off in the capital, so I don’t have to worry about them unless I get the idiotic idea to stick around for a few days. Which I won’t.

First thing is to get some supplies. Now, some people would start by knocking over a convenience store. That’s stupid, because that’s where all the desperate idiots go. It is also the reason why most of those desperate idiots get caught. I need supplies, not the cash from the drawer and a carton of Newports. So we’re going to go to the mall. The mall’s already closed, but that’s not an issue for me. We’re not going to be using the doors, after all.

First things first, I hit up the Goodwill. In the back, at the loading dock, I use mist to hide my features as I get to the door. I’m no master thief, so this is going to be getting in, finding the things I need, and getting out again without making too much noise. Getting in isn’t hard. I simply froze the lock off. OK, so that was more difficult than I thought it was going to be, but it worked, and that’s what counts.

Opening the door, I know I’ve already set off the alarm, so time to get to work. A big garbage bag from the supply closet, and then I go to the ‘mens’ section. I’m not picky. I get t-shirts and jeans in my size, a few pairs each, and some other essentials. I even find a couple pairs of sneakers in my size.

Its been ten minutes, and I can hear a mall cop opening the grate leading to the rest of the ‘mall’. Well, of course you’re not going to send SWAT out for an alarm at a local mini-mall. After all, it is probably just some punk kids getting into trouble, right? I’m not looking for trouble, so I slip out the way I came, and find a dark corner to change into my new clothes. Nothing fancy, but I feel better.

Now, time to get more actual supplies. Which is why I find a sporting goods store a little way away. This time, I want to have a bit more time before the cops come, since I’m not too far from my last crime. This time, I go in from the roof. No really, the vents in the roof for these big sporting goods stores are perfect for what I’m going to do. Yeah, I know, you’ve seen Die Hard, so you know it isn’t exactly comfy in the air vents, but I make do.

Fortunately, there’s a vent that comes out only a few feet above some shelves. Somehow, I manage to get down without breaking my neck. I’ve got some basic clothes, so now I’m doing shopping for gear. A hiking backpack, a travel cooking kit, matches, flint & steel, rope, a couple carabiners, hiking boots, and a second knife are the main things I take. Well, I also grab a metal baseball bat, because bats have better reach than knives. In the manager’s office, I freeze the door to the safe, allowing me access. There’s almost a grand in the safe, so I steal it, too. That’ll take me a long way, once I get out of this town.

Last thing before I go, I take the tapes for the security system. This place still used VHS tapes, so that makes everything easy. Making sure I got my kit together, I head out the back door, tripping the alarm, and begin moving down back roads until I get to the railroad. Getting on a moving train is tough, but not as much as you might think. Trains slow down a lot in residential areas, so getting on isn’t too much trouble. The tapes from the security system I toss under the wheels of the train before getting on.

Climbing up on top of the freight car I’m on, I smile, and decide to take a nap until morning. I’m looking forward to actually being able to buy breakfast for a change.

Chapter 4 – Fortunetelling

June 12, 2001

Two years had gone by.

Two years on the run, never staying anyplace for very long. Two years of stealing what he needed. Two years moving from town to town riding on freight trains.

It wasn’t an easy life, to be sure. For the first couple months, he’d managed to avoid hurting anyone. Then he got cocky, and a mall cop spotted him while he was looting a department store for supplies. The guard shot at him, and Mirikon killed him with a spear of ice. Since then, he’d run into a couple local supers once or twice. That was one of the reasons he never stayed put for long.

A month ago, he’d fought and killed a local super ‘hero’ named Bytegeist. That bastard thought fame, money, and threats of what his digital powers would do to their reputation could cover up the fact that he raped several girls. And it did, for a while. Then he had the misfortune to engage in his ‘games’ while Mirikon was around.

Mirikon didn’t have a ‘suit’, just a black ski mask. He interrupted Bytegeist’s play with a flying knee to the face. Most of the bastard’s powers were only good online, so when fighting face to face, he was just a normal freak. Mirikon, on the other hand, had learned to live on his own, sometimes camping in the woods between towns. He had his two knives to Bytegeist’s fists, and he knew how to use them. Oh, and he cheated. Ever since that first time he almost got killed trying to play ‘fair’ with a mall cop, he cheated. Fair fights are for people like Indomitable, who were literally bulletproof. He’d cheat as much and as often as it took for him to be the one standing at the end.

Not that it needed much cheating to beat Bytegeist. A column of ice rising between the man’s legs to strike him with enough force to lift him four feet off the ground did a nice job of keeping him from doing anything. Before he could recover, Mirikon was behind him, pulling his head up and exposing his throat. A slash of his knife later, and a rapist got his just desserts. And that’s when the shocked girl finally was able to speak.

“Wh-who are you?”

Mirikon looked over to her, and flipped a mock salute with one of his knives, saying, “Just your friendly neighborhood villain. Now, you be a good girl and call the cops and let them know Jackass here is dead. You can tell them what you like about what happened. Make something up if you like.”

“But that’s Bytegeist! He uploads everything he sees to his private computers!”

“Not my problem. Y’know, mask and everything. Most they’ll get is my lovely accent, and no one to compare it to. Like I said, be a good girl, and call the cops. I’ll be gone before they get here.” Once he slipped his knives back into the sheathes on his belt, he smiled under his mask, and made a hand sign like he was some kind of anime ninja, before mist exploded around him, covering his escape. Like he said, he was long gone before the cops (and the rest of Bytegeist’s team) showed up. But the rapist’s habit of saving everything meant that his team, the Milwaukee Sentinels, had enough info on him to connect the dots between his recent thefts. They started searching for him along the rail lines, but Mirikon had already left the state by then.

The news then went national, and Mirikon decided it was time to cool things off for a while. Getting off the train somewhere in Montana, he walked off into the forests near Tepee Mountain. He thought to lose himself for a while in the woods, but what he found was surprising.

He found a small village, isolated on the mountainside, without power or running water. The people who lived there were gypsies, the Romany, who had lived in Germany before the Nazis rose to power. They were lucky enough to get out, and managed to get to America. And then they decided to live in Montana, where they could keep away from the world at large, and keep their traditions alive.

Despite everything, Mirikon knew how to be respectful of people. Well, at least until they deserved otherwise. He was honest with the Elder of the clan, and after hearing why he was on his own, and why he now needed to hide out, she agreed to allow him to stay, provided he contributed to the village.

September 31, 2002

Down by the stream, a figure moved, cautiously. The big grizzly bear was hunting, looking for fish in the stream, or anything else it could get. There was not much time before it went to its den to hibernate for the winter, after all. If it noticed the hunter stalking it from the trees, it didn’t give any notice. But then, the hunter had trained well this last year. Stealth and stalking were important parts of being a hunter… or a thief.

As for why he was hunting this bear, the answer could be seen when a bolt of lightning leaped from the grizzly’s mouth to the river, stunning the fish. Humans hadn’t been the only ones to develop mutant powers, after all. And this bear was close enough to the village that it would be dangerous to leave it be.

The bear reached down to scoop out a stunned fish, only to be surprised when a fist-like column of ice launched from the river to strike solidly between the creature’s eyes. At the same time, the hunter launched himself from the tree line, his blades in hand. With a leap, he made it to the bear’s back, and planted both knives at the base of the bear’s skull.

Roaring in pain, the bear tried to remove the hunter, but the hunter did not relent, using the blade in his right hand as an anchor, while he repeatedly stabbed the bear in the throat with his dominant hand. Before long, it was over.

Mirikon took a moment to clean himself (and his blades) in the river, and grabbed a couple of the stunned fish, as well, before turning to look at the bear. Ice formed under the bear’s corpse, which allowed Mirikon to tie a rope to the bear, and drag it along the path of ice that opened in his wake. It was tough work, but he had been training a lot this last year.

When he got back to the village, he left the bear and fish at the butcher’s house, while he went to speak to the elder. This year of fighting and training in the wilderness had been good for him, the best therapy he could ask for, in fact. He’d improved his abilities, not only with his weapons, but also his powers. More importantly, he’d come to terms with himself, under the elder’s guidance.

He’d never been particularly religious before, especially not after he found out about his powers, but he’d picked up some of the Romany beliefs, such as their practice of mysticism and the tarot. Sitting respectfully across from her at the table where she did her readings, he wasn’t surprised to see the cards already prepared, and two glasses of the mead that Stefan made with the honey from the bees he kept near his house.

“You’ve changed this last year, young one. When you came to us, you were like a wounded wolf, snapping at everything that came near. Now, you have the air of a man about you.”

“The time with the People has been good for me. But now I should consider my path for the future.”

“And you wished to know what the cards hold in store for you, hmm?”

“Yes, Elder. Whether good or ill, knowing the path is the first step to walking it.”

“Ha! You’ve learned well, boy. Very well, let us see what the cards say, hmm?” She took a breath, and then slowly dealt out the top three cards in a simple spread, side by side.

“The Ace of Swords resides in the Past. When faced with the need to take action, you rose to the occasion. You dared rock the boat and take things into your own hands.”

“Judgement dwells in the Present. You are called to a new life, a rebirth like the phoenix. Take courage, and change what needs to be changed in order to succeed and thrive.”

“The Five of Cups is reversed in the Future. There will be bitter trials ahead. Sad news and regrets will come your way, as well as a possible inheritance.”

Mirikon sighed as the Elder finished the reading. “I never expected my path to be an easy one. Still, I feel better about my decision now. It is time for me to leave the village. I do not know if I’ll return, but it will not be soon, I think.”

“Yes, child. But when you go, I wish you to take this with you, and remember us well.” With that, the elder handed him a second deck of tarot cards, for his own. “Let the cards guide you when you are in doubt.”

“I will.”

Chapter 5 – From Russia with Blood

January 5, 2004 – Murmansk, Russian Federation

In the last year, Mirikon had been quite busy, establishing himself as a thief under the name Iceblade. He began to get a reputation, such as things went, for being professional (not like the kids who were always too full of themselves to show respect), and for getting the job done. He’d also quickly established that crossing him was a horrible idea. The last time someone tried to stiff him on his pay, he destroyed that gang, killing the bosses, and calling the police to come sort through their files after he’d emptied their bank accounts.

Along the way, he’d managed to improve his gear. Oh, his powers were still coming along, but there were people who could negate mutant powers, either through their own powers, or with technology. Iceblade was a survivor, so he used weapons and armor to improve his abilities, and cover for his weaknesses. Sure, this meant that he would never be as powerful as some of the supers out there, but he didn’t have as many glaring weaknesses as they did. Since he didn’t have a team backing him up, weaknesses meant death.

Now he was in Russia, in the city of Murmansk. There were research labs here. Once upon a time, they had belonged to the Red Navy, designing nuclear missile submarines. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the labs had changed hands several times, until now they were in the hands of one of the factions of the Vory v Zakone. Why was he here in Russia, messing with the Russian Mafia? Well… seems that another faction of the Vory wanted the tech they were messing with here (some kind of biotech), so he was being paid to go in and steal the info.

(Iceblade’s POV)

Soviet-era research labs are such a pain to sneak into. The damn things are all basically bunkers, regardless of what they look like. And this one has plenty of guards. Oh, not soldiers, but thugs with submachine guns. Still plenty dangerous, though. If I hadn’t invested in that Kevlar vest to go under my costume, this could’ve gone sideways, real fast. If that Vory boss Krilenkov wasn’t paying me a cool million, US, for getting the research data out of this lab, I’d probably give it a pass.

But I found my way in, thanks to ‘encouraging’ a guard to leave the alarm on the roof access disarmed tonight. And the compromising photos will be released to him after I return and disable the ‘dead man’s switch’. Oh, the look on his face when he realized betraying me meant the pictures of him with his boss’s daughter would get put on the internet was priceless.

Breaking the lock was easy. Froze it, kicked it, and I’m in. Sneaking through the halls makes this slow going, but I take my time, and do the job right. No sense rushing things and getting myself caught. I know the lab I’m looking for is in the basement, but while I’m here, I take a peek in the other labs. What I find is… unsettling.

Whoever this ‘Maximof’ guy that’s running this place is, he’s got himself a couple bona fide mad scientists under his control. It looks like I’ve stumbled onto a weapons lab. From overhearing conversations, it seems research is separated by floor. Fourth floor that I already passed was just offices for bigwigs. Third floor is for ‘magic’. Ever since people started getting mutant powers, some guys have been saying magic was real. Never seen it, and even the ‘magic’ types who showed up in super battles could have their powers explained as normal mutant abilities, though more diverse. This Maximof must think there’s something to it after all. Second floor is for mad science gizmos, focusing on body enhancement. First floor is some shooting ranges, and super-weapons lab. All interesting, but I continue on to the basement.

The basement is devoted to mutant power research of some kind. I’m no expert, but when I see pictures of a double helix and ATCG or AUCG pairs, I can figure out that we’re dealing with genetics labs. Everyone got a crash course on genetics and retroviruses after the Zookeeper unleashed that ‘Animal Bomb’ in Panama City, turning everyone into human-animal hybrids. Well, the lucky ones got to be catgirls or dogboys for the rest of their lives. The unlucky ones (about 50%) got horrible reactions and died in ways I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.

I go slow now, careful to keep out of sight of the security cameras as I make my way to the lab where the research is being compiled. Security is tight, so I doubt I’ll be able to hack this with my meager skills. I could force a researcher to do it, but too many ways that can go wrong. So my plan is to take the server blades with me. Slipping into the server room, I make my way towards the server rack, and then…

CLANG!

Shit! The fucking door just slammed shut, with some kind of blast door covering it! Quickly, I look for a way out, but I’m not seeing anything. And then a monitor flares to life in front of me, showing a man that looks like he’s out of some Cold War propaganda film. Seriously, he is the picture perfect evil scientist, with his hook nose and round glasses. Even has a bald head and white lab coat!

“Ah, excellent. I see Krilenkov has provided a superior test subject this time. You are the first to get so far. Unfortunately for you, the server room is pressure sensitive, so your entry set off a silent alarm. Now, you will notice that your head should be getting heavy. Do not worry, that is just sleeping gas. We can’t go harming precious test subjects before testing, after all.”

As the gas began to get to me, all I could think of was, “Well, shit.”

February 23, 2006 – Vory Lab, Murmansk, Russian Federation

(Iceblade’s POV)

Heh. Some master thief I am. Two years stuck in this hole, as these bastards try and take my DNA and graft powers onto their Shestyorkas and Boyeviks, to give them an edge when taking on the Mafia and Triads. But the joke is on them! They’ve gained jack, except some dead or disfigured men. Me? I’ve had my powers expanded, though they don’t know it, yet. I was hitting a wall before, because I didn’t understand. Now I know the truth, and the truth, they say, will set you free.

The negator they had on me after I woke up works by sending an electrical charge through the collar whenever someone wearing it tries to use their powers. Not fatal, but enough to disrupt their concentration. Well, pain and I are old friends. Of course, even if I can ignore the pain for a bit, I can’t get the collar off without a key. THAT sets off the big charge that fries the subject, to keep them from doing what I’m planning on.

But I haven’t just been sitting here, these last two years. Slowly, I breathe in. And then out. I am not just able to create ice. I am able to do anything I wish with the ice and cold, so long as I can envision the process. And the process I’ve got in mind for this is simple. Another breath in, and I receive a shock, but I grit my teeth long enough to activate my power. And then I’m a cloud of icy mist, and the collar falls to the floor, letting out sparks like mad.

A few feet away, I become solid again at the door to my room, and ice forms in my hand, taking the shape of a sword. A stab of the blade through the lock, and I’m free.

(Maximof’s POV)

“Damn it! What’s going on?”

He had been in the middle of a great party for the men working at the lab, in honor of Men’s Day, and had been enjoying the attentions of the local whores they’d brought in for the occasion. Then the alarms started going off down in the basement. He tried to get through to someone, but none of the lab techs or security people on that level were responding. Even the cameras had been destroyed!

At first, he thought there had been an explosion. A genetics lab might not be the same as a chemistry lab, but when you added powers into the mix, anything could happen. That’s why they had kept the lab in the armored bunker of the basement, after all. But then the screams from the first floor had started, talking about a Ljod Bes, or Ice Devil. And the he saw it, one of the cameras caught sight of the devil before being destroyed. It was the test subject, Iceblade. He was free!

Cursing, Maximof directed all security personel to intercept Iceblade. It was just one man, armed with a sword made of ice, and ice armor. What could he do against men with guns?

He was stunned as he saw the thief slaughter his men like cattle, the blades carving flesh as he… skated? Was he skating through the halls? No, there was ice forming by his feet, and the guards were distracted by trying to remain upright, while the one who made the ice glided across it like an Olympian. And then the camera got caught by a shard of ice thrown by the demon.

There was no time to watch further. He had to get out of here! He would have to write this lab off as a loss. He would be a laughingstock in front of the rest of the Vory, but he would be alive, and he could rebuild, in time. This was a setback, nothing more. And that’s when he felt the icy chill coming through the vents. Frost covered the windows and snow began falling on the ice-covered floors. There was nothing in the records of this! How could Iceblade create a blizzard inside?

Shivering, he tried to get to the roof, where his helicopter was waiting. If he could beat the mutant there, he would be home free!

A sudden pain struck him on his ankles, and he felt himself falling uncontrollably to the floor. Looking back, he noted with shock that his Achilles tendons had been cut! Standing over him was Iceblade, twin ice swords in hand. “So good of you to stick around, Doctor Maximof. You and I are going to have QUITE a discussion, but I can’t have you running off now. I still haven’t finished killing everyone in this facility! So you just chill, and I’ll be with you shortly.” The demon laughed as darkness claimed him.

March 3, 2006 – Krilenkov Estate, outside Moscow, Russian Federation

Ivan Krilenkov scowled at the computer screen in front of him, with the detailed reports coming in from Murmansk. Maximof’s operations in the area had been hit hard all of a sudden, and the man hadn’t shown up. No, he was probably dead already. Moreover, all the accounts he had access to had been drained. Over a billion US dollars, gone, and his group was down to only a handful of men, while the research lab had been gutted completely! The losses were enough to destabilize activities over the whole area. And that was before the bodies began piling up.

A sudden noise from behind him broke his concentration. As he turned to look, something struck him, and everything turned black.

(Later)

“Ugh.”

Ivan heard screams and moans in the background. Slowly, he shook his head, and tried to stand, only to found himself bound in place, forced to kneel like some servant. The scene before him was horrible, even by the standards of a hardened criminal like him. He was in the big ballroom at his estate. Well, technically it belonged to one of his pet politicians, but everyone knew it was his. His men, the politician, and even all the male staff were lined up against the wall. All of them had been stripped naked, and then impaled with what looked like bloody shards of ice, the ice going all the way through them to emerge through their open mouths. On each of their chests was carved the word ‘Traitor’ in both Cyrillic and English.

The women were arrayed before them, also naked. The few female fighters he had were there, forced onto their knees with their face on the ground and their hips in the air, held there by bonds of ice. In the middle of the room, he saw his wife and daughter, as well as the man who had done all this. The bastard was raping his wife while his daughter looked on, screaming for him to stop. And he was looking straight at Ivan.

He spoke in Russian, though with an American accent, “Good, you’re awake. I was hoping you’d come to in time to watch me take your daughter.”

“Bastard! I will kill you for this!”

“Haha! No, Ivan Krilenkov, you will die here. Your wife and daughter will get to spend the rest of their lives as ‘guests’ of the Shigenda Gumi. Your friend Maximof made quite a bit of money selling slaves to those Yakuza for their brothels. I’m sure you’ll be happy to know your female employees will be in good hands. I’m just – ugh – quality testing them right now. I’m almost through with your wife, and then I’ll let you watch me with your daughter before I begin killing you.”

The bastard was mocking him, even as he continued raping his wife! “Maximof is dead! Did you do it?”

The bastard yelled in release as his wife wailed, coming inside her. As he pulled out, he smiled. “Oh no. You did it. All of this was inevitable once you betrayed me. Didn’t anyone tell you what happened to the last idiots who betrayed Iceblade? Apparently I wasn’t clear enough, so I’m going to go over the top with this one.” As he spoke, he moved around behind his eighteen-years-old daughter’s trembling form. She cried out, begging for help from her father and mother.

“Wait! Do what you want, but leave my wife and daughter out of it! They had nothing to do with this!”

“Oh, no, that won’t do at all. I must make it clear that anyone who crosses me will receive payment tenfold, and that not one of their loved ones shall be exempt. You see, if you become a demon, then you don’t have to deal with petty betrayals. So consider yourself and your family sacrifices, a few deaths and broken lives in order to ensure that others do not make the same mistakes.”

And then his daughter screamed as he began on her, and all Ivan could do was watch.

March 4, 2006 – Moscow, Russian Federation

That morning, the militsya (Russian police forces) were shocked when they were called out to the estate of Timur Bogrov, a local politician. At the estate, they found the bodies of twenty-four men, all of whom appeared to have been impaled (though the object was no longer there), the head of Ivan Krilenko, a major Vory boss, was found on a platter in the dining room, the rest of his body cut up and thrown into the kennel where Ivan kept his wolves. There was no trace of any of the women who lived or worked at the estate.

Further investigation revealed that all the financial accounts of Krilenko, Bogrov, and all his men (including government accounts Bogrov had access to), had been completely drained, leading to an anonymous account in Switzerland. Financial analysts concluded that over two hundred billion in US dollars was missing from the accounts.

And the only clue the police had to go on was a message, written in blood on the walls of the room where the bodies were found:

Traitors. Debt paid in full. –Iceblade

Chapter 6 – Death in the Family

May 4, 2009 – Atlanta, Georgia

It was time to send a message to the imperialists. To the nonbelievers. To those who denied the Word.

As the city went about its day, five men made deliveries to five different buildings. A mutant with telepathic abilities caught on to what one of the five had planned, and immediately called security. Four of the packages were found, and destroyed. The fifth was located just as someone completed a phone call.

And then everything went to hell.

May 5, 2009 – Atlanta, Georgia

(Crystal’s POV)

[…casualties from yesterday’s terrorist bombing at the Suntrust building in downtown Atlanta continue to rise. Estimates now include over one hundred dead, and as many as five hundred critically wounded by the massive explosion that went off at 2 PM, local time. Authorities--]

Crystal Mollen turned off the television. She didn’t need to hear any more. The bastards behind the attack had already told the internet what their target was, a multinational corporation that had offices on the 45th floor. That didn’t matter to her. Her father worked on the 44th floor, and her mother had gone in to visit him for a nooner that they thought she didn’t know they took every Monday. They were both dead. She was all alone now.

Oh sure, she had a brother, but no one had heard of him for ten years now. When they got home from the movie, and saw the gun and note in the study, and her brother gone, everything fell into place. Her brother’s depression made sense, in retrospect. The family was forced to reexamine their beliefs. Over the years, they’d tried to change. But her brother had never come home, and there had never been anyone with his description showing up in the morgue. She hoped he was alive.

But for now, she was alone. And she had to plan a funeral for her parents.

May 12, 2009 – Atlanta, Georgia

Crystal sighed, looking out on the grassy field of Westview Cemetery. She was alone again. Her friends went home. Her parents’ coworkers had been caught in the blast as well. Their non-work friends had left already, too.

The only consolation she had was that, apparently, the terrorists pissed off some supervillain with the bombing, because inside a week the cell responsible for the attack the entire cell was dead. Not just the members, but the people who gave them money, their supporters, and their families. They’d all been killed in ways that would make even the most jaded observer lose their lunch. The number of dead in this killing spree was easily double or triple that of the bombing itself, maybe more. Crystal couldn’t bring herself to care.

She was coming back from seeing off the priest, when she noticed someone standing by her parents’ graves. His back was to her, but she could see he was wearing a long black coat, a black fedora, black pants, and his hair, despite being pulled back into a ponytail, reached almost to his waist. As she approached, the man turned, pulling off a pair of sunglasses as he did so.

“Y-you!”

“Hello, sister.”

(Iceblade’s POV)

“Hello, sister.” Okay, not my best line, but then, this was really awkward. I mean, I hadn’t seen her in over a decade, though I had kept tabs on the family. There really wasn’t any good reason for it, I know. But running off like that, I kept making excuses to avoid eating crow. So yeah, I—

WHAM!

My inner monologue appears to have been disrupted by my sister’s fist to my face. That’s a black eye, for certain. Sighing as I picked myself up off the ground, I dusted my hat off, and put it back on. As I did so, I had ice form on my face, to keep the swelling from getting bad.

“All right, I deserved that. Now, are you going to keep hitting me, or can we talk like two siblings who haven’t seen eachother in far too long because one of them is an idiot?”

“You bastard! You run off, we don’t hear from you for TEN YEARS, and that’s what you have to say to me?”

“No, but what I have to say isn’t something to do in public. So, would you like to go to your place or mine?”

“Grrr. Fine, let me see your place. That way, when I beat your ass, there won’t be blood on my carpets.”

I smiled. She always was cute when she was pissed. But she might actually try and follow through with the beating if I got too glib. Stepping forward, I put one hand around her shoulder, and pulled out my cell phone. Before she could say anything, I autodialed a number to the lair, and we disappeared in a flash of light.

Chapter 7 – Surprise!

May 12, 2009 – Iceblade’s Lair, New York City, New York

(Iceblade’s POV)

“Bwa? What? WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO?”

Crystal did not seem to be taking the whole ‘teleporting across the country’ thing too well. I guess I should have warned her? But the look on her face is just priceless! But I’d better say something before she starts hitting me again. Being smug never wins points, and I knew I was still deep in the red.

“Welcome, Crystal, to my lair. As for what I did, I just used a remote control to teleport us here. We’re currently underneath Manhattan. No, I didn’t suddenly become a genius and invent a teleporter. I properly stole it from Doctor Awesome. Seriously, the guy was a complete tool. He had a gun he called an ‘Awesome Ray’. Except it had less effect than a Magikarp’s Splash attack. I think it was his first invention, back when he was a kid. His later stuff was much more profitable.”

“Wait, lair? Teleported? You stole a teleporter from a superhero? What in the hell have you been doing all this time?”

Yes! It seems that my cunning (and spur of the moment) plan to distract her with information overload is working! And everything I’ve said is true, so far, which will definitely throw her for a loop. Maybe if I keep her off balance, she’ll forget how mad she is at me.

“Oh, yeah, see, after I got my powers, I went a bit crazy. Becoming what I hated, serious emo trip there. Couldn’t take it any more, and chickened out of eating a bullet, and the next thing I knew, I was at the rail yard, hiding on a freight train.”

“Did the hobo thing for a while, learning to control my ‘curse’, or whatever you wanna call it. Did fine for a while, until I came across a two-bit ‘hero’ type deciding to force himself on a girl. We fought, he caught a bad case of dead, so I scrammed. I was already off the grid, so I went further off. Spent some time in Montana, getting my head straight.”

“Now, eventually I came out of the woods, and started this whole thief for hire thing. Needed to do something to survive, and I didn’t really have other skills, and I was more than a little embarrassed at the idea of going back and owning up to all my mistakes in front of you and our parents. Had to do some nasty things, as well, to keep people from thinking they could just waltz over and take what was mine. Earned enough respect to start taking bigger jobs.”

“And I’m not going to tell you all about what I’ve done since then, but you can look up some of it, anyways. Just Google the name ‘Iceblade’.”

I’d said it as an offhand comment, but the moment I did, I saw my sister’s eyes begin to glow? No, I could pick out symbols… a Heads Up Display? What the…

(Crystal’s POV)

Just as I agreed to go to my brother’s place so I could properly kick his ass for being such a jerk, there was a white light, and suddenly all my connections got reset!

“Bwa? What? WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO?”

Yes, I was upset. I knew brother had ice powers. He’d said it in his last letter before running off, the one he meant us to find with his body. And I’d seen him using them after I punched him that first time. But this wasn’t ice. This took us way the hell out of range of the networks I was connected to, disorientating me.

“Welcome, Crystal, to my lair. As for what I did, I just used a remote control to teleport us here. We’re currently underneath Manhattan. No, I didn’t suddenly become a genius and invent a teleporter. I properly stole it from Doctor Awesome. Seriously, the guy was a complete tool. He had a gun he called an ‘Awesome Ray’. Except it had less effect than a Magikarp’s Splash attack. I think it was his first invention, back when he was a kid. His later stuff was much more profitable.”

“Wait, lair? Teleported? You stole a teleporter from a superhero? What in the hell have you been doing all this time?” Doctor Awesome? Wait, I’d heard of that guy. He got blasted back in 2007 after he tried to run for Governor of Texas. Seems someone broke into his headquarters and ‘liberated’ a lot of data, including more than a couple sex tapes the ‘Doctor’ had made with young men. That had killed his campaign in a hurry.

“Oh, yeah, see, after I got my powers, I went a bit crazy. Becoming what I hated, serious emo trip there. Couldn’t take it any more, and chickened out of eating a bullet, and the next thing I knew, I was at the rail yard, hiding on a freight train.”

“Did the hobo thing for a while, learning to control my ‘curse’, or whatever you wanna call it. Did fine for a while, until I came across a two-bit ‘hero’ type deciding to force himself on a girl. We fought, he caught a bad case of dead, so I scrammed. I was already off the grid, so I went further off. Spent some time in Montana, getting my head straight.”

I’d already figured this much out, years ago. When we found that Miri was missing, we put out a missing person’s report. They’d found his blood down by the rail yard, and then there were sightings of a guy matching his description moving around the country along the rails. And they all stopped when a video surfaced of a guy in a black ski mask killing a hero named Bytegeist that liked to upload POV videos of his ‘special times’ with less than willing girls to use as leverage. The killing had been brutal, without any hesitation. And that was years ago. What had my brother been up to since then?

“Now, eventually I came out of the woods, and started this whole thief for hire thing. Needed to do something to survive, and I didn’t really have other skills, and I was more than a little embarrassed at the idea of going back and owning up to all my mistakes in front of you and our parents. Had to do some nasty things, as well, to keep people from thinking they could just waltz over and take what was mine. Earned enough respect to start taking bigger jobs.”

“And I’m not going to tell you all about what I’ve done since then, but you can look up some of it, anyways. Just Google the name ‘Iceblade’.”

And then something clicked. I didn’t bother asking, but went straight through my phone’s internet connection (the thing had found a cell repeater somewhere in this lair to bounce a signal off of) and began reading everything the public had on Iceblade. It wasn’t much, but it was enough.

Name:

Unknown

Alias:

Iceblade

Race:

White?

Mutant:

Yes

Age:

Unknown

Relatives:

Unknown

Known Powers:

Ice-based abilities to some degree. Known to use multiple weapon types. Known to use captured or stolen weaponry. Full extent of abilities unknown. Few eyewitnesses to give statement of the full extent of his powers, video evidence inconclusive. Appears to possess devices of different power types, possibly to counter nullification abilities like ZeroOut's power.

Note: It is not believed that Iceblade is powerful enough to face individuals like Indomitable head on, as his tactics seem to indicate a preference for trickery and cunning rather than head on confrontation. However, forcing him into a head on fight where he might be killed or captured has proven to be exceedingly difficult.

Activities to Date

2002

First mentions of 'Iceblade'. Mostly working as a thief-for-hire. Several break-ins and robberies attributed to Iceblade starting in this period, focusing on cities and towns along rail lines. Individual cases had no connection to local villains, so no connection made at the time.

2004-2006

After brief set of jobs in Europe, no word of Iceblade for over two years.

February – March 2006

While the reasons remain unclear, Iceblade returns with a vengenace in Russia, taking on a Vory v Zakone syndicate, and systematically wiping out their operations in the  Murmansk region. Death toll from this one-man war remains unclear. Motivation for the attacks appears to be some form of revenge for a 'betrayal'. See attached file (Krilenkov Murder).

May 2006

Credited with the theft of Doctor Awesome's teleporter, as well as several weapons later distributed to black markets in North America. Also credited with ending DA's campaign for Governor of Texas by distributing sex tapes of DA and young boys on the internet.

October 2006

Stole several artifacts from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. None have been recovered so far.

February 2007

Culmination of a series of attacks against Doctor Ubuntu, a supervillain who lived in Zaire. Exact reasons for the feud are unclear, but Iceblade appears to have killed the Doctor. The doctor's research is missing, his labs gutted, and his financial accounts wiped out.

June 2007

Iceblade 'attacks' a research station in Antarctica, officially. Unofficial reports claim he saved the lives of the researchers after something went wrong when an archaelogical site was disturbed. The artifacts were later reported missing, and are presumed to be in Iceblade's possession.

December 2007

Reportedly used unknown means to brainwash Lady Victory into performing several crimes, culminating in the murder of Damian Crang, CEO of Artemis Industries. Sources say that it was a paid hit, rather than a personal attack.

January 2008

Trying to get revenge for Lady Victory, Indomitable and the rest of the Squadron Supreme attempt to hunt down Iceblade. Several members of the Squadron were rushed to medical centers after the brutal battle in which Iceblade used hit and run tactics over half of Chicago to take on the Squadron. Pyra, sister of Indomitable and a fire-wielding heroine, was reported missing during the action.

Update, June 2008: Pyra found in Detroit, no comment on where she had been. However, it is believed that she and Iceblade were actually having an affair at this time, due to messages sent to her brother.

July 2008

Killed superhero Dark Knight during confrontation in Seattle following several thefts

November 2008

Credited with the theft of several artifacts and paintings from the Luvre in Paris. Most recovered through secondary markets, however, two Rembrandts, a Monet, and the Mona Lisa are still missing.

December 2008

Ultrahuman, CEO of Axis Industries, found dead in his penthouse, with a letter from Iceblade claiming credit for the kill. Ultrahuman's financials show that his accounts have been drained.

May 2009

Following a terrorist attack in Atlanta, members of the Holy Order, a radical Christian terrorist group, have been systematically hunted down and murdered, in a method typically used by Iceblade for his revenge killings.

Note: Analysts believe there is a chance that Iceblade has some connection to one of the dead or wounded involved in the incident.

When I looked up from the information I’d managed to get, I saw my brother looking at me as though I’d grown another head. I was puzzled for a moment, but then realized what he saw. “That’s what you get for not calling for ten damn years. You’re not the only ‘freak’ in the family any more. Seems I’m something of a technopath. And you’ve been a very bad boy these last few years.”

Chapter 8 – Running the Shadows

August 23, 2012 – Seattle, Washington

Apex Industries was little known to the general public. Those who worked in government circles, however, knew that Apex was the cream of the crop when it came to anti-mutant weapons research. Sure, you ask the general public, and they’ll say that Artemis is the one that comes out with the best weapons, but those are stable, production-level weapons. Oh, Artemis does R&D as well, but they really can’t hold a candle to Apex when it comes to bleeding edge research. One couldn’t let little things like ‘ethics’ get in the way of research and still hope to be on top, after all. That’s why Apex would always be number one.

Which, of course, explains why someone is breaking into Apex’s primary research laboratory building right now. Okay, ‘breaking in’ is a bit polite. ‘Assaulting’ would be closer. ‘Slaughter’ would also be high on the list, except for one detail.

The guards were in a panic. Barely twenty minutes had passed since the first assault happened, blowing away the guards there. Response teams had tried to intercept the lone intruder, but what were unpowered guards (albeit, ones using advanced weapons) going to do against someone who clouded the area with mist too thick for them to see? Sure, they had grenades, but by the time they knew where to throw, the attacker was already among them. And then the screaming started. People scream a lot when they suddenly find they have missing limbs.

<Brother, do you really have to go out of your way to leave that many alive? It would be more merciful to kill them.>

<We’re being paid to assault the labs, cause as much destruction as possible, steal any research data we can, and publicize unethical research methods. I don’t kill those who can’t fight back, unless I’m being paid to, or they’ve given me cause to.>

<And the screaming causes panic in the others.>

<That too.>

<*Sigh* Still as brutal as ever, hmm? I’m still blocking communications from the compound, but I believe they are getting more frantic. We may see someone doing something stupid in order to summon superheroes, even with the criminal charges people here would be facing.>

<Well, we’ll deal with that when we get to it. A super-battle would increase damages, after all.>

The man in blue didn’t stop the massacre of the guards while he chatted over his commlink with his sister, who was running overwatch on the operation. Three years after they’d been reunited, Iceblade and his sister, now going by Web Mistress, had become one of the leading supervillain duos in the US. Unlike others on the ‘Most Wanted’ lists, they didn’t pick targets based on ideology (usually), but weren’t strictly mercenary, either. They even had a website, where people could request their services (Crystal amused herself by routing the website through various government and corporate websites on a random basis). As far as people knew, they picked jobs they found either profitable, challenging, or for worthwhile causes.

Going back to the reason for their current job, a couple months ago, Apex Industries ‘acquired’ several mutants for live fire ‘testing’ of their most recent weapons system, a lovely biological agent that caused mutants to literally burn out under their own power as their genes went haywire. The sick bastards called it the Birthright Virus. But they’d also been savvy enough to pay off the right people to make sure hero types looked the other way (or someone waved a shiny set of keys in front of them to distract them). Iceblade and Web Mistress, however, had taken the job for $500 each and whatever they could steal after hearing the pleas of the mother of one of the young men who’d been ‘tested’. That was also why Iceblade was wearing a small video camera, which would record evidence of the lab before he blew it to hell.

Finally, he reached the front doors, and cut them open with a slash of his magical weapon, Frozen Wind. He’d been surprised to find that stuff like Magic was real, but the magic types were better at staying hidden than mutants. And anything they did could be explained away by being mutant powers, if one didn’t know better. He’d been ignorant of it, too, but finding a sword in the Antarctic that contained the spirit of a yukionna, a yokai out of Japanese myth, was enough for him. He’d found other such items in the years since. Some he kept, some he used himself, and some he sold or gave away. Two rings, which he found in the catacombs of a cathedral in Spain, contained a demon and an angel inside them. The demon ring he kept to use himself, while Web Mistress held the angel ring. Fitting, since she voted herself as his conscience when they decided to join forces.

As he stepped through the doors, he heard a telltale whine, and immediately dove forward, trying to get small as a minigun ripped the air to shreds where he had just been. Rolling into a combat crouch, Iceblade groaned as he saw a guard in power armor. Oh sure, it wasn’t anything like Man-o-War’s armor, but it definitely was enough to give most supers trouble, if they weren’t bulletproof. Iceblade wasn’t. Something that was made abundantly clear to him as he caught a round with his shoulder, causing him to grit his teeth in pain. The costume did as it was supposed to, though. The bullet couldn’t penetrate, so instead of a hole (and maybe a missing arm), he had broken collarbone, dislocated shoulder, and his right arm was useless.

Then again, he didn’t need to be bulletproof, and he was left-handed. Ice formed in front of him, creating a wall to block bullets momentarily, but, more importantly, blocking the armor’s view of him. Man turned to mist, and flowed about the floor, rising up behind the man. Mist turned to flesh once again, and the blade, which seemed to be made of blue ice, flashed with a pale blue light, extending to three times its normal length. The phantom blade did not make a scratch upon the man’s armor, or on the flesh inside, but the guard began screaming in pain as the blade assaulted his mind! Dazed, the guard turned to look at the bastard who hit him, and noticed on his HUD that his suit sensors claimed the man was healing rapidly! With two more slashes of the blade, the guard fell to the ground, dead. And Iceblade? Once badly wounded, he was now uninjured, thanks to the first of Frozen Wind’s special attacks.

“Whoever said cheaters never prosper was an idiot.” Turning his back on the dead guard, Iceblade continued on into the laboratory, documenting everything. Normally, there’d be more people here, but it was after midnight, so he didn’t have to worry about such things. In the first lab, he plugged a small transmitter into a computer, and before long, Web Mistress told him that she now had access to the entire building’s network, and was transferring all the files.

Iceblade left her to it, though he reminded her to watch for any response teams. He continued documenting the labs, until he found one marked ‘Disease Research’, sealed using HAZMAT protocols. Iceblade looked up at a camera in the hallway, and smiled under his mask as the door unlocked to let him into the airlock. Without hesitating, he pulled on the hazmat suit. The bomb would be placed here, ensuring the temperature would be hot enough to destroy all the virus samples.

<Get a move on, Brother. I’ve just got a signal. The men from the Emerald City Knights are on their way.>

<Oh, so they finally learned to stop sending the ladies after me?>

<Well, I’m fairly certain that the video of you turning the Denver Furies into a giggling harem of bimbos probably had something to do with it. Alecto still can’t decide whether she wants to kill you or sleep with you. Again.>

<*sigh* Knowing her, she’ll probably try to do both at once. And then her sisters will get in on the act. Anyways, let’s go visit them when we’re done here.>

<*hmph* Men!>

<Oh? But weren’t you getting along quite well with that guy you met in Calgary? What was his name again?>

<…Matrix Mike.>

<That’s right! The guy who does the virtual strip show. Don’t think I didn’t find out about what you two did in his ‘private server’.>

<Wha- HE TOLD YOU??>

<Nope, but you just did!>

<YOU COCKY BASTARD! I’M GOING TO PUNCH YOU SO HARD WHEN YOU GET HOME!!>

Iceblade laughed as he ran to the fourth floor of the building, where the offices were. According to the map that had appeared in his HUD (even while arguing, WM did her job properly), Iceblade figured he had about ten to fifteen minutes before the Knights got here, unless Action Dan decided to speed ahead of the others. But they were staying together. Well, the Knights were known as one of the premier teams for a reason. They knew their limits. It was one of the things he respected about them, and why ne never caused (too much) trouble in their jurisdiction.

In the Director’s office, he found a safe! Metal safe doors are little use against him, except as an annoyance, however. Liquid nitrogen is one of the ways legit safecrackers break into vaults, after all. Freezing the safe door so that it would shatter was child’s play. He was a little insulted, actually, that there wasn’t some kind of boobytrap on the door, but mutant haters, regardless of their intelligence, can be horribly blind to reality at times. He knew that much from personal experience. Shaking his head in disgust, Iceblade scooped the entire contents of the safe into an extradimensional pocket in his sword. If anything could convince one of the existence of magic, being able to fit a truck inside a sword would do it.

His business here done, Iceblade went to the rooftop to wait for the heroes. He still had a couple minutes, so he decided to call a number his sister had found for him a while back. The phone in his hand was a cheap prepaid thing, a perfect throwaway.

“Who is this?” The woman on the other end was grumpy, probably because she was being forced to sit this fight out, though it might be because it was after midnight, and she had to be up because of the crisis. “How’d you get this number?”

“Jesse, babe, is that any way to greet an old flame? I was so disappointed to see that it was only Action Dan, Blackjack, and Gigantos coming for me. I’d so hoped to see the lovely Green Knight herself. Were you, Incantrix, and Snowflake, sorry, Yukihime wanting me to come pick you up for a date instead?”

“YOU! HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET THIS NUMBER?” There were muffled sounds in the background, and he could hear Jesse Taylor, AKA the Green Knight explaining something to the other members of her team.

“For the leader to sit back and let the minions do all the work, that’s not very Knight-like of you, Jesse. Are you going to change your name to the Green Politician?”

“Goddamnit! I’m going to kill you!”

“Sorry, love, but I’ll check in on you soon. Your minions are almost here, and I have to prepare a welcome reception for them.” With that, Iceblade ignored her protests, and tossed the cell phone aside, but didn’t hang up the call. He took a deep breath, and then brought his hands together forming a set of hand signs as he thought about what he needed to do, working out the processes. Perhaps someday he wouldn’t need that crutch, but for now it served him well.

And then he was ready. Centered on him, an area of intense low pressure formed, the air becoming icy cold in an instant. Water in the air began to freeze, creating sleet, ice, and snow. The rapid change in temperatures caused clouds to form and the winds to rise, and soon there was a blizzard swirling around Iceblade’s location on the rooftop, a blizzard that he alone was unaffected by. A blizzard that stretched out to cover a circle almost ten miles in diameter. Yelling to be heard over the sudden din, he called out to the phone nearby, “SORRY FOR THE WEATHER, GIRLS, BUT IF YOU WERE HERE, I WOULDN’T NEED TO DO THIS!” And then with a laugh, he stepped on the phone, cutting off the call.

Looking down, he could see the three heroes approaching him, or trying to, anyways. Blackjack was shivering in the extreme cold already. His costume was, shall we say, designed for other things than warmth. In other words, he was a playboy, who had his costume tailored to show off his body. Gigantos, as well, was having little better luck. Having shifted into his giant form to try and make headway, he found that being larger just meant more wind hit him, and he was only able to push forward slowly.

Action Dan, on the other hand, was in a pitiful state. As a speedster, he relied on constantly moving for his defense, but Iceblade’s blizzard had robbed him of his mobility. Even if he could still move somewhat, with the wind and poor visibility, it would be suicide to go running around blindly. Super-speed didn’t mean you were immune to the effects of slipping on a patch of ice and hitting the wall.

Once Dan made it into the compound, he began to get assaulted by blasts of numbing cold from the rooftop. The bastard was using infantry tactics on them! Even with the conditions hampering his top speed, he could run through this area at a ‘mere’ 100 MPH, but he didn’t dare do so for fear of what other traps Iceblade had set up. The bastard was notorious for using a hero’s own powers to cause their defeat, and had made a special study of mocking speedsters. Being able to control the terrain made him a speedster’s natural foe.

The first blast hit him, and he cursed, but kept pressing forward. It wasn’t until the third blast hit that Dan realized what was happening. Iceblade was deliberately using nonlethal attacks. He intended to disable the three of them. But why? And then his commlink came to life.

<Dan! Where are you? What’s the situation?>

<Jesse, this bastard’s got a blizzard going, and the ground’s freezing up even as I move. I won’t be able to run in this mess without breaking my neck. And he’s taking potshots at me, but isn’t trying to kill me.>

<It can’t be mercy. What is he up to?>

<We aren’t being paid to kill your team, Green Knight, so he has no reason to kill them unless they force the issue. Also, he’d like witnesses for when the bomb blows up the weapons lab, so people can direct the quarantine crews, just in case.>

At the new voice that cut into the line, Green Knight began cursing over the commlink, before Blackjack spoke up. <A-and who might you be, then? The elusive Web Mistress?>

<That’s right! And no, I won’t go out with you. You’re not nearly as interesting as Matrix Mike. Or as good looking. Anyways, Green Knight-sama, Iceblade wants to let you know that he’s still willing to swing by your headquarters to pick you, Incantrix, and Yukihime for some Netflix and chill. Or would you rather meet him at one of your homes?>

<All three of us? Again?> That would be Incantrix’s surprised voice.

<Oh god, the last time I couldn’t walk straight for days!> Yukihime complained, though there was a wistful tone in her voice.

Green Knight groaned as Gigantos laughed over the line, and said, <These two have style, that’s for sure. But what makes you think the three guys here will let Iceblade show up to that meeting?>

<Oh, that’s simple. You’re all going to be unconscious. In fact, judging by the biomonitors in your costumes, Action Dan should be dropping out of this conversation right about… now.> And, sure enough, Action Dan got blasted by one hit too many, and fell face first into a pile of icy slush.

Before the others could get over the timing (or the fact that Iceblade’s comrade could hack their systems so completely), blasts began falling upon Gigantos, who was now the closest to the building. Growling in frustration, Gigantos picked up a piece of the shattered gatehouse, and threw it with uncanny accuracy at Iceblade. The man didn’t even try to dodge, but simply held his sword in both hands, and slashed at the piece of rubble like something out of an anime. What shocked Gigantos, though, was that a piece of rubble weighing five hundred pounds disappeared in an instant, before, with another wave of his sword, Iceblade made the rubble appear again in the same spot, but this time devoid of any forward motion, causing it to fall to the ground below.

<Jess, it looks like we’re not going to be able to stop him this time.>

<Don’t worry, if Green Knight-sama, Incantrix-chan, and Yukihime-chan all agree to show up at Yukihime’s home in Puyallup in one hour for ‘friendly conversation’, then Iceblade will stop the blizzard, and allow everyone to clean things up once the bomb destroys the virus.>

<Wait, virus?>

<Oh, didn’t I mention it? We were hired to blow up this weapons research lab because they’ve been making biological weapons to target mutants. They call their latest ‘hit’ the Birthright Virus. You’ll find a copy of the files on your mainframe. I’ve also taken the liberty to forward the most damning evidence, including the videos of the human testing, to several news sources. And as of… now, I am happy to say that Apex Industries is officially $26.25 billion poorer, as their Research and Development budget for North America has been diverted to twenty-six well deserving charities, each getting a billion dollars. Very charitable of them, don’t you think?>

<And the extra quarter billion?>

<Finance charges. We only accepted $500 each from our client, you know, and bombs designed to reduce concrete to glass are surprisingly expensive. Don’t worry, we didn’t use a nuke. Just neo-thermite. The blast should be contained to the building, especially since it was placed inside the infectious disease vault.>

<Why haven’t we heard of any of this?>

<Because people with an interest in having a counter to mutants that doesn’t rely on other mutants paid a good deal of money to hide it from your attention. They think it is only a matter of time before humans and mutants go to war, like the US and USSR back in the Cold War. Except, from their point of view, humans don’t have a viable weapon to back up the ‘mutual’ part of Mutual Assured Destruction. Hence, weapons programs.>

<…Gigantos, Blackjack, stand down. I’m looking over the files that Web Mistress gave us, and this is worth looking at in depth.>

<*tch* Fine.> <Understood.>

<Very well, I’ll be signing out of your computers now. Oh, and Iceblade says to tell Green Knight-sama, “So nice to be working with heroes who know the difference between ‘right’ and ‘righteous. I’ll see you soon, ladies.”>

And then, as suddenly as it began, the blizzard stopped, and Iceblade was gone. Then the ground shook from the plasma bomb used to incinerate half the building, with secondary explosions serving to bring the rest of it down.

Shaking his head, Blackjack said, <Remind me never to piss that guy off.>

Chapter 9 – Dorei Kishi

August 23, 2012 – Seattle, Washington

(Green Knight POV)

It was already 6 AM by the time we managed to get the Apex compound locked down and secure. Hazmat teams were going over the area, but it seemed like that bastard was good as his word, and blew any trace of the virus away. But then, a neo-thermite plasma bomb that size would have probably erased all trace of pretty much anything. Still, they had the evidence, and the cops were making the first arrests of Apex employees now. Since we’d been working all night, we decided to crash for a while.

But now it was two in the afternoon. And I was on my way to Yukihime’s house, along with her and Incantrix. Why? Why was I going along with this? Oh god, we’re pulling into the driveway now. Maybe I can go and return to base? He’s probably not even there, anyways.

ARGH! Why did I get like this when I thought about him? It wasn’t like I enjoyed the way he played with me, with my team. I was strong, fearless, the Green Knight! And yet he always made me dance to his tune. I looked at Mary (Incantrix) and Hitomi (Yukihime) and sighed. My teammates, too, were putty in his hands. He merely suggested we meet him for a threesome, and we all jumped. Why? And why can’t I stop thinking about it?

Now we’re at the door. We go in, huddled together like damn frightened schoolgirls! We should surprise him, and arrest him! But then I feel a presence behind me, and his hands embracing me from behind. Before I can move to resist, he kisses me on my neck, and I’m lost.

(Incantrix POV)

For half a second, I thought we were in the clear. That there wasn’t anyone here. That the monster who took my first time would have left before we came. Damnit, I’m not even into guys, so why can’t I think straight around him?

Walking over to the dining room, though, I know we’re not that lucky. A pair of candles have been lit, just recently, by the looks of it, and there’s a bottle of wine and four glasses sitting on the table! And the wine is perfectly chilled, of course. That shouldn’t surprise me, since the bastard is a cold-controller like Hitomi. Well, not like Hitomi. From what I’ve seen, they may be on the same level as far as raw power goes, but he has her beat in control and versatility.

Then I hear a gasp and a moan from the entrance. Oh god, he’s already behind Jess, and has her in his arms! Ugh. I’m jealous. But of which one? Or both? Oh wow, Jess looks like she’s in love, and all he’s done is feel her up a bit. Does he have magic hands or something?

Oh no, he’s coming towards me now! Why am I short of breath? Why am I remembering what happened last time? Oh god, he’s going to kiss me! Oh. Oh my!

(Yukihime POV)

What would okaa-sama think of me? She was so happy that I went to America to attend college, and that I joined one of the hero teams here. After all, I’m just a twenty-year-old girl from a small village in Japan! And this man is corrupting me again!

I stood by and watched as he caused my teammates to become lovestruck bimbos. I can’t resist him. Somehow, whenever I see him, I get all flustered. Now, he’s turning to me.

His hand reaches out, and gently lifts my head. When did I start looking shyly at the floor? He forces me to make eye contact with him, and whispers, “Good girl. You know what is going to happen now, right?”

“Y-you are going to make love to us?”

“No, pet. I’m going to ravish you. All three of you.” And then he leaned forward to kiss me upon the lips. Okaa-sama, your daughter is going to be ravished again, and it sounds good!

(Iceblade POV)

This was the, what, fourth or fifth time I’d used the powers of my ring on these ladies. They were something of a pleasurable experiment I was doing. While I could make any woman putty in my hands with the Incubus Ring, the effects were generally short-lived. However, I could tell that there was something to be said for repeat exposure. Perhaps it was like psychological conditioning?

The bottle of wine is empty now. Well, with four of us, that meant we each had a glass (though Jess had two, to calm herself). I’m sitting on Hitomi’s couch, looking at the three ladies with a smile on my face. Each are naked, wearing only leather collars and cuffs around their wrists and ankles. Oh, they’re the high end stuff, to keep from hurting their skin too much, but seeing them like that is certainly a thrill.

Jess is on my left, moaning as I kiss her while one hand gropes her bountiful breast. She has beautiful red hair that goes midway down her back, and lovely curves to go with that 36D-26-36 figure. She’s got muscles, but not in an obscene way like body builders do. Very much looking like a warrior goddess from ancient myths. She still blushes furiously when we do this, and I’m enjoying slowly pushing her into new things. She was a total prude when we met, and still hasn’t come to terms with what I’m unlocking in her. “M-master, please!”

That is part of the conditioning. I’m not getting girlfriends. But collecting a set of submissive slaves with super powers is intriguing, to say the least. Well, it started with me suggesting it as a game, to keep them from questioning or resisting the ring’s spell too much. Suddenly making me into their boyfriend, lover, or fiancé would cause too much dissonance in their minds. So I went the path of someone who is showing them what they really needed, a release from the pressures of always being strong, always being in control, always having to make their own decisions with all the consequences being on them. I can’t take credit for having an original approach, as it is a fairly common theme in many stories or movies (not all of them porn!). A big lie may be disbelieved. A little lie may cause doubt, and doubts can lead to more little lies being accepted, until you have framed the entire subject in a way you desire.

Mary is on my right, squirming against the fingers currently digging into her rear. She was inexperienced when I met her, but I quickly realized that it was lack of opportunity or a suitable ‘partner’ than unwillingness or moral reluctance. The raven-haired beauty is more slender than Jess is, toned but not muscular, with a 32C-26-38 figure. It turns out that one of her ‘switches’ is anal play, and I’m more than happy to indulge her in this. “Oh, Master, please don’t stop!”

Hitomi is on her knees in front of me, lovingly worshipping my cock. Of all of them, Hitomi was the easiest to mold, being something of a natural submissive who only needed a proper push to make it come to the surface. Her 32B-28-32 figure was the slimmest of the three, but she had that exotic flair to her that made her look absolutely stunning. As she bobbed back and forth on my cock, her slender waist moved up and down on the rod of ice I made under her, slipping in and out of her pussy. She didn’t speak, but looked up at me pleadingly.

“Good girl, Hitomi. Now, I am going to cum in your mouth. You must hold it all. If you can take it all without spilling or swallowing, you will get a reward.” Oh, she looks happy to hear that! Working her head at a feverish pace, she manages to take my cock into her throat, before pulling back to worship the head like it was an idol. Of course, seeing such a sight makes it impossible for me to hold out much longer, and soon I am cumming in the girl’s mouth.

“Open.” She opens her mouth to show that she hasn’t swallowed or spilled a drop. “Good slave. Now, bounce up and down on that ice dildo until you cum. When you cum, you may swallow, but not before.”

Turning away from Hitomi as she eagerly sets about her task, I pinch Jess on the nipple, and say, “Get me ready, slave. You’re first.” I smiled as she leaned over to lick and stroke me back to full mast, all the while I played with her nipples. Looking over to Mary, I said, “You may touch yourself while you watch Jess, but you aren’t allowed to cum unless I say so.” I smiled as the girl whimpered at that thought.

Once I had recovered (not terribly long when I was presented with such a setting) I slapped Jess on her butt, and said, “Get on top and put it in yourself.”

“T-thank you master.” She may have said the words, but I was enjoying watching Jess’s face try to match the color of her hair from the embarrassment she felt having her two teammates watch her impale herself on a man’s cock. She moaned slightly as she sank all the way down.

And then things really got started.

(Later)

I’d like to say I was a sex god, or had stamina that would make porn actors envious, but that’s a lie. In that regard, I’m no more superhuman than any other man who has sex often. Not like that Italian villain Imperator Impregnator. He LITERALLY has a power that makes him always ready and able. On its own, that would make him simply a hedonist. The fact that he has mind control powers that make women around him his love slaves and uses them shamelessly (we all read about what he did on a ‘field trip’ to the Vatican) is what makes him a villain. That, and the fact that he has, at last count, fathered over four hundred children with various unfortunate women. Last I heard, he was imprisoned in a medical lab, where researchers were using his DNA to try and create new drugs to enhance libido in men and women, as well as fertility drugs.

No, I’m just a normal (if well practiced) guy. The secret is in controlling the pace, and letting the women do their share of the work, especially when you’re acting as a dom. For long, drawn out sessions, pacing is key. But when you want quick, passionate fucks, the go all out from the beginning. Mixing things up keeps spice in the relationship.

Anyways, looking at the clock next to Hitomi’s bed, I can see that it is already seven, and there are three very satisfied women lying next to me. Well, except Mary, she’s still on top where she collapsed with me still inside after her turn. And I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a very satisfied grin on my face, as well.

I think it is time to see if I can take this experiment to the next level. “Now, girls, I’m going to give you three a chance to make a very important decision. You’ve been good pets so far, but I’m going to let you be my first slaves, if you pledge yourselves to me.”

“I will still let you live your lives, for the most part, and if you want to continue on as heroes, I have no objection. But I will own you. All your possessions will be mine. You will be mine. I will care for you as any master should, and make sure you live comfortably. And I will use you often, whenever I’m in town.”

“Of course, you can refuse. If you do so, I won’t touch you again, and you’ll have to listen to the ones who do accept tell you about the things I do to them. And while they won’t have to worry about anything except being a heroine and any classes they may be taking, you will still have all your old worries, all your old pressures, all your old stresses, without anything to relieve them.”

“So you can choose. Be happy and well fucked, and submit to me. Or refuse, and suffer the stress and worries of a ‘normal’ life.” Of course, as I gave this speech, I was stimulating each of the three girls in turn, to keep them horny even as they were under the effects of the ring.

As I thought, Hitomi was the first to speak up, shyly, “Ah! Master, this slave pledges to serve you. Everything this slave has is yours. Please use me as you wish!”

Mary and Jess had conflicted looks on their faces, which grew worse as I smiled at Hitomi, and shifted out from under Mary, setting her next to Jess as I got off the bed, and looked at my new slave. “Good slave. I accept. Now, show your friends what they’re missing. Get on your hands and knees, facing them.” As she complied, I looked directly at the other two. “Now, I’m going to fuck you, and you are going to describe, in detail, everything I’m doing to you and everything you feel. And you’re going to look at your friends while you do it. Understood?”

“Yes master!” Standing behind her, I put my hands on her tiny waist, and lined up. “Master has his hands on my waist, and is getting ready to shove his cock inside my wet pussy. Now he’s moving up and down, teasing me-EE! Oh, he’s thrusting hard into me!”

(Narrator POV)

Over the next few days, the Seattle gossip columns were abuzz about the ladies of the Emerald City Knights sporting matching leather chokers, while in costume and out. They were rarely seen without them.

Chapter 10 – Everyday Life of Supervillains

December 5, 2016 – Sol System, 48 AU from the system Primary

It began with a burst of tachyon particles. Any half-way educated member of the wider galactic community could tell that it was a ship exiting a warp conduit, located at the outer edge of the system. But most scientists on the third planet from the primary did not even know of a way to detect tachyons, much less know what this pattern meant. Shortly afterwards, many more bursts happened, in the same area of space.

December 7, 2016 – New York City, New York

(Iceblade POV)

Most people wonder what it is like to be a supervillain. Sure, you have your plots and heists that you see on the news, but that isn’t everything. Even when you count in the time you spend planning and doing proper legwork to identify targets, you still end up with a lot of free time on your hands. Now, some of the more… fanatical villains would spend that time doing nothing but training, while the more hedonistic ones would spend it with their harem. I’ll admit that I spend more time training and with my harem than most, but I like to keep a balance, and I did promise the girls that they could keep doing their hero thing, so I can’t play with them all the time.

No, it is a Wednesday night, and I see no reason to spend it working. Which is why I’m currently enjoying myself at one of New York’s finest night clubs, in my ‘civilian’ guise. I don’t wear a mask just for the coolness factor, after all. When I want to relax, I can just take off the costume, and I’m free to mingle as I wish. I even have a few fake IDs, so I can pretend to be a legit person and everything.

Where’s the family? Well, the pets are off in Seattle, on patrol. People get scared if they don’t show up now and then, so I let them do their thing, for the most part. They’ve got remotes for the teleporter, so they can come back to the lair when they aren’t needed in Seattle. And Crystal is off in Chicago, meeting Matrix Mike in person for the first time, even though they’ve been dating online for years. (Though that takes on a whole new meaning when you’re dealing with two technomancers.) So I’m on my own tonight.

So I dressed to impress, and headed topside through the airlock entrance into Hell’s Kitchen. Really, the location I’m in is just great. Since my lair was built into an old subway station that was blocked off when they redid the lines, I’m only a block and a half from the new station on 50th Street. Now, some people would take a cab, but those people would be idiots. If you’re not pressed for time, don’t be trying to drive through Manhattan if you have any other options. I mean, I got plenty of options, but with wanting to be ‘normal’ for a night, I’m taking the E train down to the 23rd Street station in Chelsea.

A quick walk of three short and two long blocks, and I’m at Marquee. I’d heard good things about it, but I don’t go out and party too much in New York any more. Most of the time if I’m heading out for a night out of costume, I go someplace far from home, just in case of emergencies. If I’m forced to use my powers out of costume, best anyone who makes the connection decide I live in, say, Los Angeles instead of New York. Basically, it is the old gag from one of those superhero comics that came out during World War II, about how this guy and his superhero persona were never seen in the same place, but no one put it together that they were the same person. Though I have the benefit of not needing to work for a living.

Anyways, Marquee was hopping, but I’d called a promoter and promised him my buddies Franklin and Grant would keep him company if he got me in, so in I got. To quote an old movie that guys on the prowl know and love, “This is what I call a target-rich environment.” I didn’t have a Goose to be my wing, but I’d make do.

Looking around, I spotted my first target of the night, a scorching hot blonde with legs for days and a butt to die for. Oh, and that skin tight little black dress was doing wonders for her, let me tell you! I sipped my drink for a moment while I watched, checking to see if she was with someone. I’m a supervillain who uses magic artifacts to seduce any woman I please, but I draw the line at stealing another guy’s girl in front of him, unless it is part of a job, or he’s being a dick. Blondie was alone, so I went over to make my play.

I pause at her table, and motion to one of the empty chairs. “Mind if I have a seat?”

She studies me for a moment, like she’s unsure of what she’s seeing, before saying, “Well, is that it? Not going to use some cheesy line?”

“Heh. Cheesy lines are great for roleplaying when you’re with someone for a while, or flirting with someone you’re having fun with, but aren’t looking to do more than have a quickie in the back room with. And I don’t know you, and you don’t look like the ‘meet me in the bathroom stall’ kind of gal, so I figured you might appreciate some actual conversation. And if I’m here, the eight other sharks circling you will back off, at least until you decide you’re tired of my company.”

At that, she chuckled. “All right, have a seat, and try not to bore me.”

Taking a seat, I grinned, and said, “Name’s Jack, by the way. Jack O’Neill.” That’s one of my aliases for when I’m trying to be a ‘civilian’. “And who might you be?”

Ooh, a raised eyebrow at the name. Did she suspect a fake? “You can call me Helen. Helen Magnus.” Yeah, she suspected a fake name, and gave one in turn. Though she’s smiling, so I think we’re going to play the spy vs. spy game, and see who comes out on top. “So, what do you do for a living, Jack?”

“Oh, I’m what you could call a freelance consultant. I’m a troubled asset redistribution coordinator, as well as a troubleshooter. Basically, I go in to places where there are improperly secured assets, or problems causing trouble for the client, and sort things out.”

“Sounds like a lot of work.”

“Oh, it is, but I love the challenge. Always something new out there, even when you think it is the same old thing. Though I’ve had a few people try to rip my head off after a particularly nasty job. Bunch of people were unhappy with the re-org that came down after I finished work. What about you? What do you do for a living, Helen?”

“Ah. Well, I work as a consultant, too. Mainly with the city and state, on a contract basis. Boring stuff, really, most of the time it is basically advertising, but there’s times when it gets exciting. And I’ve got a weekly column in the Post on Tuesdays. Little gossip and advice piece where people write in, and I answer questions.”

“Ah, what section are you in?”

“They usually have me in Living.”

“Cool. What’s the Q&A about?”

“Ah, well, it is basically all about supers. You know, living with powers, and all that. It is aimed mainly at teenagers, since that’s when most people start getting their powers. As if teens don’t have enough to deal with, just with all the changes normal people go through.”

Mirikon gave a wry smile, and said, “Ah, so this is the face behind the ‘Dear Super Sue’ column! Well, I’ll have you know that I do read your column, online, at least. You give good advice to the kids. Too bad you’re so young. Could have used someone like you when I was growing up.”

“Oh, and are you such the old man now? I’m not that young. I’m 28, you know!”

“Heh. But I’m 34. So I’ve still got a few years on you. But at least you have the good fortune to be a child of the 80s, like me, even if you didn’t grow up then.”

“Ooh, cocky aren’t you? So, what does your ancient wisdom say you should do now?”

“It says I should offer the lady a drink, if she promises not to throw it in my face.”

“Hmm. Well, it would be a waste of a perfectly good martini…”

(Later)

The evening had progressed quite well, as we transitioned from Marquee to the rooftop lounge at Cambria (I’d also taken the liberty of securing a room for the night, just in case). We were still on a first name (in alias) basis, and having fun as two people who did not so normal things, both pretending to be normal for an evening. As we talked more, I started to get the feeling I recognized ‘Helen’ from somewhere other than a faceless advice column.

But that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked.

Ok, so maybe not. But being on the rooftop, we did get a nice view of the first energy weapons raining down on Earth. Energy weapons from space? Were we actually getting invaded by fragging aliens during the middle of my night out?

Both me and ‘Helen’ looked at eachother when our cell phones went off at the same moment. If either of us had doubts about the other one being ‘in the business’, they were shattered at that moment. She picked up first. “This is Electra. What the hell is going on?”

Electra? That was one of the Titans, the local hero team. So the ‘contract work’ she talked about was being one of the local superheroines? Awesome. Still, my phone wasn’t going to answer itself, and if I ignored her, Crystal would come through the phone just to chew me out in person.

“I’m here. What’s the situation?” Electra seemed mildly put out that I didn’t divulge any secrets, but I merely winked at her as we listened to our conversations telling us about the same thing. Aliens had shown up out of nowhere, probably dropping some kind of cloaking device, and had blasted all the space stations to dust in moments, and were now working on blasting what looked like government centers and military bases all over the world. There were twenty ships, but from orbit even one ship could cover a LOT of territory when you were using energy weapons.

“Right. Tell the girls they have my blessing to do what they have to on their end. If things get too hot, they’re to go to ground. They have my permission to bring team members to the lair to use the Valkyrie Module if one of them is hurt too bad for local medical to save. But remind them of the cooldown. You and Mike do what you can in Chicago, but stay out of the line of fire. You know neither of you are front-liners.”

“All right. I’ve got to get back, and get in costume. I was having a great time until the end of the world. Yes, he’s an interesting guy. I’ll tell you about him if we live through this. Rally at Headquarters? Be there in full kit in twenty.”

“Stay safe.” “See you soon.”

As we hung up, I turned to look at her, and said, “Well, Electra, seems like the situation has changed. Whatever is happening is bigger than normal ‘business’, so if you would be so kind as to tell your team not to try and shoot when the horrible villain Iceblade shows up to help, I’d be much obliged.” I had to choke down a laugh as I saw her face go from shock (at the name) to dread (at my reputation) to unease (at my intentions). “No, I’m not going to cause trouble. And I’m not going to use my nefarious charms on you, not until all this is over, at least. Now, go to your team, and I’ll meet you at your headquarters in thirty minutes, unless they start landing troops before then. If they do, you’ll find me wherever the fighting is thickest.” And with that, I hit the autodial on my phone, and teleported to the lair.

(Electra POV)

So I FINALLY get a night off, and manage to hit it off with someone who seems like a genuinely nice guy. Well, at the very least he was playing it cool and not trying to just get in my pants like most of the creeps who come on to me at the clubs. I’d guessed he was more one of the ‘thrill of the hunt’ types. I had paid attention when he got a room at the hotel before we went up to the lounge. But he didn’t say anything about it, so that counted in his favor. I like it when a guy can think ahead, but doesn’t want to pressure me. The guys who do try to pressure me tend to dislike what happens, as well.

And he was a geek, too! I could tell that just by the fake name he used, and his reaction to my fake. He knew the characters, and their relationship to eachother, which automatically put him in the running. Even better, as we talked, it became clear that he was a cape. Maybe not one of the more well-known heroes, but a cape nonetheless. It was the little things, the jokes you only really got if you were a cape, or a cape’s family. And with him reading my column, I’d lay money on him being a cape. Probably one of those black ops guys. Maybe a spy!

Either way, I was pretty sure I’d be visiting his hotel room later.

But that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked.

Seriously, I’m about to break a six month dry spell, and aliens choose NOW to invade? But that’s not the worst of it! After the both of us getting calls from our teams, I was about to give him the ‘wish I could stay, but I gotta fly’ spiel, when he started first.

Wait. Did he just say ‘Iceblade’? Didn’t that mean I’d been spending the evening with one of the most notorious supervillains in the world? And I was about to go to bed with him? Had he already done his… whatever he did on me? No, I could think clearly, not like the reports we got of whatever he did to Lady Victory.

Wait, is the bastard trying not to laugh at me? And he’s saying he’s going to be joining us in fighting off the aliens? And did he just TELEPORT? He’s supposed to be an ice-type. How many more tricks does this guy have?

“Oh, FUCK me!”

Epilogue – World at War

And so it was, that at the beginning of the twenty-first century, as the people of Earth called it, the Earth came under attack from creatures who came from beyond the stars, aliens who asked no quarter, gave no mercy. Within twenty-four hours, every major government in the world was in shambles, their leaders reduced to those who had managed to reach shelters, or were away from their capitols at the time. Militaries around the world were broken, as bases were bombarded from orbit, with no chance for retaliation.

Twenty-four hours after the first attacks, the invaders made their first appearance, landing one of their ships in the middle of the Amazon rain forest. It was a squat, round craft, and out of it emerged insectoid creatures that looked like man-sized praying mantises. They cleared an area around their landing site, and began building what looked to be a nest of some sort.

Of course, humanity did not simply sit back and let this happen. What military strength remained in the world attempted to launch missiles at the ship, but their energy shields held out, and the retaliation from orbit was swift and merciless. Few would risk the remaining soldiers on a direct strike.

Then, the Squadron Supreme, seven of the most powerful supers in the world, descended upon the ship and the hive-like building the aliens were constructing. Led by Indomitable, they attacked like the wrath of an angry god, slaughtering the aliens and destroying the hive while capturing their ship. Though Alchemy fell during the assault, losing one man to kill several a hundred of the aliens, despite their overwhelming technology, was the sort of thing that would have boosted morale, and helped humanity join forces and fight back.

Foxtrot, Titan, and Lucky Star died when the aliens concentrated fire on the site from orbit, laying waste to the entire area. Only Lady Victory and Pyra, who were inside the ship trying to discover its secrets, and Indomitable survived. Even space-based energy weapons could not overcome his invulnerability to damage.

Half an hour later, the ship orbiting over Washington, DC exploded in nuclear fire, without warning. Over the next day, seven more ships exploded, leaving a force little more than half their original strength as the ships pulled back into orbit around the moon. The EMPs from the eight blasts knocked out much of the electronics in the world, and with the governments all but useless, it was a long time before recovery got underway. But even then, word of mouth spread that a new team was coming together, to fight the aliens. It was called Vendetta.

Book II – The Invasion

Prologue – Kratuan Invasion

We are not Heroes. Heroes fight the good fight, for truth, justice, and all that shit. There will be no justice for us, and our only truth is written in blood. We are not Heroes. We are Warriors. We are Killers. We will kill, and keep killing, until those who have struck against us regret the day they ever thought of coming to our star system. We shall go on until the end. We shall kill on the Earth, we shall kill on the seas and oceans, we shall kill with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our planet, whatever the cost may be. We shall kill on the beaches, we shall kill on the landing grounds, we shall kill in the fields and in the streets, we shall kill in the hills; we shall never surrender.

We are the Vendetta. Let the aliens pray to whatever god they follow for mercy, for we will show them none.

--Excerpt from an online manifesto posted shortly after the invasion

December 9, 2016 – Low Earth Orbit over Washington, DC

The first wave of the assault had been a brilliant success. Colonymaster T’skracx was quite pleased at the results. Sure, some military and government forces on the planet below had survived the surprise attack, but their ability to strike at ships in orbit, or to make concerted attacks was annihilated. They had no ground-based weapons that could reach them. Their planes were too slow and unshielded to be a threat. Their crude missile systems could be intercepted before detonation.

Naturally, he had expected no problems when the first of the big ships went to make landfall, and set up a primary hive cluster for the planet. However, battle doctrine was quite specific that the Colonymaster in charge of the invasion fleet did not go first into the unknown. Adherence to doctrine saved T’skracx’s life that day, as he watched Hivemaster Brenthi’s forces get destroyed by a handful of humans! And some of those humans had even survived the bombardment that followed!

This left the Colonymaster with a serious problem. His orders were to set up a hive cluster and claim this world for the Kratuan Swarm… and the Rithenal Empire, of which the Kratuans were a part. With the Asguard distracted, this was the perfect chance for the invasion to begin. But if these humans had warriors capable of such deeds, he might need more than just the forces that the Swarm had granted him in order to achieve victory. The thought of asking the rest of the Empire for aid was… unpleasant, at best.

Alarms started blaring, causing T’skracx to look up from his command plot. That was… the intruder alert? How had intruders boarded his flagship? He started to call to the command center for an update, when he suddenly realized that he couldn’t move. Chittering in frustration, he clacked his mandibles as he saw ice surrounding his body, trapping him! Had the intruders already made it to his tactical lair?

From behind, a voice came. It was speaking in Kratuan, but it was clear that there was a voder being used. Translation devices were common in the Empire, but to think someone on this backwater world would have one? And that it would already have Kratuan loaded? There was something very, very wrong here.

“Welcome to Earth. You’ll be happy to know that your masters will not be able to punish you for your many failures this day.” As the man spoke, he moved around in front of T’skracx, and idly waved a hand at the door, sealing it with a massive slab of ice. “Now, allow me to tell you what is going to happen. I am not going to kill you. Oh yes, you’re going to die, but not at my hand. I will, however, be cutting off all your limbs and leaving you helpless here. And, while I go down to your shuttlebay and take a ship for myself, you are going to get to watch as a bomb counts down.”

Curse this human to the infinite abyss! He was mocking him! Him! A Colonymaster of the Kratuan Swarm! This could not be allowed to stand! Filled with rage, the Colonymaster tried to break free of his bonds, only to feel them shatter before he could begin. A young warrior might think that the bonds were just that weak, but T’skracx wasn’t that stupid. It was so the arrogant human could more easily carry out his threat.

The fight was quick, brutal, and merciless. And T’skracx lost, overwhelmingly. To begin with, the Kratuans were a race that had a caste system. Commanders were bred for intelligence, not the ability to fight in a melee. Before long, the Colonymaster’s limbless torso was set propped against the wall, as the man waved his sword, and caused a device to appear in the middle of the tactical lair.

“Your ships have impressive shields and thick hulls, but tell me, do you make sure the insides of your ships are as heavily armored? You probably don’t know what this is just from looking, so I’ll tell you. This is a weapon that uses nuclear fission to create a massive explosion. It can easily take out a city. Or a space ship. And you get a front row seat!”

Then the man turned into mist, and disappeared through the ventilation system. And all T’skracx could do was scream. After a few minutes, the guards managed to break through the ice. T’skracx was about to order them to let the engineers in, when everything disappeared in a bright light.

Outrunning the nuclear shockwave, Iceblade laughed as he sat at the controls of the alien craft. His skills were… amateur, to say the least, but with Web Mistress’s help, he had the controls set out on his HUD, so he knew what to press when in order to get the ship to go where he needed it to, and turn on the cloaking device. This made him officially the first human to steal an alien ship in orbit! He was a space pirate now!

“YO HO! HAHAHAHAHA!”

Chapter 1 – Battleground USA

“It was not well to drive men into final corners; at those moments they could all develop teeth and claws.”
― Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage

January 15, 2017 – Topeka, Kansas

It was not yet dawn when the first ships came tearing through the sky. They didn’t bring the big ships this time, not after seeing what the organization known as Vendetta did to them. Stealing nuclear warheads from sites across the United States, and somehow managing to detonate them inside the enemy ships was no mean feat. But the Swarm did not retreat just because someone hit them back.

Now, the shuttles landed by the dozens, deploying insectoid troops in the fields near Topeka. Alien fighter craft swarmed the skies. While it was said that roughly 20% of the population had some form of mutant ability, when you looked at those who had abilities that were actually useful in a fight, that number dropped to maybe 1%, a little more if you include those who have strategic powers, like wide-area mental communication, or the ability to see distant places. But if there was one thing that had always been true about America, it was that there were plenty of guns, and people who knew how to use them.

The aliens marched on the city, intent on taking it to use as their base, and the population as their shields. But this left them open to the attacks of those people who would rather fight and die than be conquered. Almost immediately, resistance formed. It started with police units firing from behind their cruisers. Then there were snipers firing from windows, Molotov cocktails thrown from alleyways, and more. And the Kratuans responded in kind, turning Topeka into a war zone, the likes of which had not been seen on American soil before.

Topeka’s native super team, the Guardians, held the line at the State House, buying time for the defenders to scatter. They held out in a pitched battle for five hours, before the last one fell. For the first time, the world got to see what the Kratuans did with those who fell before them, as they savagely ate the Guardians. But this sacrifice allowed the defenders of Topeka to melt into the city and begin a resistance, while the remains of the US military made their way to the city.

Enemy fighters clashed with F-22s, and once again Earth’s technology was found wanting compared to that of the aliens. The situation would have been hopeless if not for the Vendetta.

(Web Mistress POV)

As I danced through the enemy networks, I couldn’t help but sigh in disgust at what I saw. Having the gall to attack Earth was one thing. But there was no excuse for not having proper computer security! “Idiots! You’d think that any race capable of travelling the stars would know to have better security on their systems.”

My brother’s laughter came over our comm lines. “Well, if you actually had to use the alien software to manipulate their systems, I suspect you’d have more trouble.”

“Maybe, but their firewalls are all based on code responses in their language. Once you crack the code, you don’t even have to worry about them checking for malware!”

“Don’t worry, sister. I’m sure they’ll learn in time. Just take the easy pickings while you can.”

“Fine, fine. And now their IFF signals have been reversed. They’re reading friendlies as hostile, and hostiles as friendly. And their weapons have been locked into IFF recognition mode, so they can’t shoot anyone but recognized hostiles.”

“Good work. That largely makes the enemy fighters unable to do anything except ramming attacks. Now, see if you can—“ He cut off as an explosion happened near his location. I sighed again. He and his pets were going to get to go crazy, and I was stuck without a worthy opponent!

(Iceblade POV)

I ducked reflexively as the explosion happened overhead. Where was I? The middle of Topeka, of course. When the aliens decided to take the city, I wasn’t just going to let it slide. But I’m not a hero. I’d prefer to be alive after everything settles down, which is why my pets and I didn’t join the Guardians in making a doomed last stand. No, we were using hit and run tactics, dropping down on isolated patrols and butchering them. The enemy was pulling back into the city center. Looked like they decided to make Topeka a command center? Whatever the case, they committed a lot of troops and equipment, enough to make sure that a group of heroes couldn’t just storm in and slaughter them all, not without razing the city around them.

As for what blew up? Looking over my head, I saw a parachute. Damn, one of the fighter jocks got hit with an enemy ship. The enemy fighter looked to be disabled, and it was crashed in the side of a nearby building, while the pilot of the F-22 managed to eject in time. Only problem, that chute was heading to a concentration of bugs.

My pets looked at me, clearly wanting to do something. While they were powerful, we would eventually get ground down taking on an army in a straight fight, so I held them back. Now, however, I simply nodded, and together we charged, descending upon the bugs like a thunderbolt. We just had to last until the pilot touched down, and then we could retreat.

(Green Knight POV)

“YAAAAAAA!”

It is almost cliché, but I yelled out a battle cry as I charged the bug-like aliens. After the initial chaos cleaning up after the blasts that hit Seattle, we had to watch as Master stole nuclear warheads from the government and then blow up half the alien fleet! Sure, I knew that this kind of thing was more up his alley than mine. He was a natural at getting into places he wasn’t supposed to be and wreaking havoc. And I was happy that he’d decided to stand with the heroes and defend the planet. He wasn’t the only villain to do so, either! Even the supervillains that didn’t pitch in to help released statements saying that they would be ‘reducing’ their activities during the invasion.

From what Master says, most of the ‘working’ villains aren’t in the ‘business’ for the sake of being villains. They have a lot of motivations, but they tend to fall into the groups of businessmen, adventurers, and politicos. There are the crazies, as well, the serial rapists and murderers, the mad scientists, and the ones with delusions of world conquest, but most tend to be in one of the three ‘reasonable’ groups. Master says he’d fall in the adventurer group, as he doesn’t have an ideology and it is more about the challenge than the money for him. And what could be more challenging than fighting off an alien invasion?

So yes, I am glad Master decided to help, for whatever reason, but it has been almost painful not being allowed to fight alongside him! Stealth actions like he’s been taking are fine, but most of Vendetta (that’s the name he chose for our group, at least until the invasion is over) aren’t stealth types. But now we’ve got open battle! Now, wearing my jade-colored armor and with my sword and shield in hand, I can do something to help out!

Crashing into the group of bugs, I laugh as Master, Yukihime, and I are fighting side by side. Yukihime is wearing her oyoroi-styled ice armor, wielding her katana made of ice. Master is sporting his own katana, but while Yukihime’s is made with her powers, Master’s blade is an actual artifact! The blade looks like it is made from ice, but is harder than my adamantine blade. Together, we begin carving our way through a group of what looks like at least fifty bugs, armed with their scythe-like claws. All the while Incantrix is blasting the group as a rearguard with her magic.

These ugly creatures are tough! They don’t go down easily, even if we get through their thick hide. It seems these are the ‘warrior’ types, and there aren’t any ‘leader’ types here on the ground. Probably scared after what Master did to them! But we’re in real trouble, now. We’ve gotten to the middle of the group, and the pilot’s ejection seat is almost down near us. Master and I switch to the defensive, holding off the bastards while Yukihime and Incantrix use their area attacks to batter them back. We’ve all been injured to some extent. Four against fifty is insane odds, no matter how you slice it. As the ejection seat lands, I can see the pilot slumped forward, a shard of metal sticking out of their gut. They must have been hit by shrapnel when their plane blew. Suddenly, I’m very glad we risked death to get here. The pilot wouldn’t have stood a chance in the middle of these insects.

“NOW!” Master yells, and we all rush to circle the pilot, while Master throws up an ice wall. It won’t hold the swarm back for long, but it doesn’t need to. As soon as we’re in position, I see the transport rings come down from our stealthed ship, and we’re gone!

Chapter 2 – Plots and Pilots

“They’ve got us surrounded – the poor bastards.”

--Unnamed medic, Battle of Bastogne (December 1944)

January 15, 2017 – Skies over Topeka, Kansas

(Pilot POV)

Captain Jessica “Cardsharp” Andrews, US Air Force, took a deep breath as they approached the engagement zone. This was the first chance any military forces on Earth had an actual shot to hammer the aliens. Their motherships were all back around the moon, since someone decided to nuke half of them. She owed whoever that was a beer, because now her squadron was able to get in the fight, instead of hunkering down in concealed hangars, waiting.

As the squadron streaked in towards Topeka, Cardsharp looked at her HUD, and cursed under her breath. Thirty planes against a hundred fighters? And those transport craft, as well, were probably armed. Still, she was the squadron leader, so she needed to say something to her team, the Gold Daggers. “Dagger group, this is Dagger One. You all know the score. Plenty of targets to go around, so don’t waste ammo doubling up. But I don’t want anyone coming back to the hangar with full racks, hear me? Anyone that doesn’t have any ETs on his plane by the end of the day buys drinks for the whole squadron.”

Dagger Two chimed in, “Any word on how capable these bogeys are?” Maxwell was strictly business, as always. Solid as a rock when it came to a furball, but about as motivational as the phone book, which was why he didn’t have his own command yet.

“None. Don’t get cocky. Assume they can go faster, turn harder, and shoot farther. And then kick their teeth in when we show them that all that tech doesn’t compare to a Dagger’s skills!”

(Later)

“Tighten up, Four!”

“I can’t shake him! I can’t shake him!”

“I got you, Six. Break left on three. One. Two. Three. BREAK!” Dagger Six broke left, dodging energy blasts from the fighter on his six, and clearing the path for Cardsharp’s missile to take the damn fighter out. “Splash five!”

She was an ace now, but she didn’t have time to even boast on the fact, even thirty minutes into the fierce fight. Thirty minutes, but it felt like hours. And her squadron had been brutalized, losing ten planes, and only managing to take down twice that number. To be fair, it wasn’t the fault of her pilots. Her men were as skilled as the aliens, perhaps more so. But the aliens had shields, and better weapons, which made them hard to kill.

And then the enemy fighters suddenly stopped being able to fire at them. First Lieutenant Kurt “Snake Eyes” Maxwell, in Dagger Two, said, “Boss, what’s going on?”

“No clue, Dagger Two. Just shoot them until you run out of ammo or they surrender. I don’t care which.”

Dagger Twelve suddenly cursed on the line. “Look out, they’re going kamikaze since they don’t have weaps any more!”

“All crews, go evasive! Take shots where you can, and watch your backs out there. I don’t want anyone going—“

“Lead, bandit on your six, break now!” Ohshitohshitohshit! One of the enemy fighters was going full speed at her! She tried breaking right, but the fighter ripped through her plane like a hot knife through butter, only just missing the cockpit.

“I’m hit! Ejecting!” She pulled the eject handle, hoping like hell the thing actually worked with all the damage, and sighing as she saw the cockpit glass blow off, and felt the rockets throw her free of the plane shortly before it became a fireball. As he chute deployed, she looked down, and saw that her flight suit was stained. Did she piss herself ejecting? Oh, she would never live this down! Wait, red? Blood? Oh, that metal sticking out of her stomach shouldn’t be there, right?

As she began to lose consciousness, she saw that she was headed for a concentration of enemy ground troops. Even though she knew her squadron couldn’t hear her with the radio inconveniently destroyed with her jet, she said, “Sorry boys, looks like I won’t be joining you this time…” And then things went black.

January 15 2017 – Iceblade’s Lair, New York City, New York

The next thing I knew, there was a pleasing blue light. Wait, wasn’t I supposed to be dead? Where were the clouds and pearly gates? Or whatever. There was supposed to be more than just blue, right? Right? And why did it look like I was trapped in some kind of cocoon? Oh god, were they going to use me as some kind of breeding machine, like in those Alien movies?

OK, so maybe I was panicking. Just a bit. Try waking up from certain death to find yourself in a weird pod, and see if you don’t. I dare you. I breathed a little easier when the cocoon opened, revealing a ceiling made of brick, like an old building. I don’t know why, but it felt like I was underground. Maybe the arch of the ceiling? It was like one of those old subway stations, right?

Swinging into a sitting position, I suddenly realized that there wasn’t any pain. Looking down, I saw that I was still in my flight suit, and it was quite bloody from where I’d been hit, but I was unharmed. How?

“You were dead for almost an hour, Captain.”

“Meep!” Oh god, did I just say that out loud? Turning to look at where the voice was coming from, I saw a man in blue, with a hood and mask. Oh. Oh no. I know this man! He’s on the news every now and then! He’s a supervillain, Iceknife, Frostblade, or something like that! Did that mean I was in a supervillain’s lair?

The costumed man laughed. “I see from your ‘deer in the headlights’ look, you evidently have heard enough of my reputation to recognize me, but let me introduce myself anyway. I am Iceblade, and you are currently in my lair. My team and I were able to get to your body before the Kratuans were able to begin snacking on you. Congratulations on six confirmed kills, by the way. The last fighter that hit you went down shortly after. I’ve already had one of my associates let what remains of your squadron know that you’re alive, and in my keeping for the moment. They were quite rude at that point, until I mentioned that you would currently be bug shit if it wasn’t for me, and I promised to let you choose whether to leave or not, once I’d spoken with you.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “And you’re not going to do that thing that lets you mindfuck women?”

“Ah, no. I do that for problem cases, or just when I’m having fun. For serious discussions, I find it counterproductive to make people fall madly in love with me, or otherwise actively mess with their minds. So, for now, I won’t be making you my love slave, or anything like that. My harem would be very upset if I picked up a new addition every time I had a whim to, after all.”

What? HAREM? “You’re really a pervert like they say, huh?”

“I prefer ‘honest’, myself. I deny nothing about my nature to myself, for good or ill. When you honestly embrace all that you wish to do, and are able to ignore little things like laws or society’s values, you’re able to do so much more with your life.”

Yeah, gonna change the subject. Don’t want to know what this guy’s kinks are. “Fine, and why am I here? You wanted to talk to me about something?”

“Yes, I did. You and your team did quite well against the enemy, despite your vast technological and numerical inferiority. Before my team hacked their network and reversed what passes for their IFF signals, you had managed higher kills by skill alone. Incidentally, your plane was the last one to go down from your squadron, though a couple only barely made it back to your base.”

Jessica let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. At least the rest of her men were all right. She’d worried when he said he’d talked to what ‘remained’ of her squadron. “So, what, you’re going to give us a medal?”

“No, my dear, I’m going to try and recruit you into my own private air force. Just one thing, we’re going to have to steal some fighters for you, and anyone you may want to bring with you.”

“Why would you want to steal fighters? They’re not much good against the aliens, as you saw. And why would I want to fly for a supervillain?”

“Ah, I didn’t say I’d be stealing Raptors, you know? In fact, I plan to go to a carrier, and steal as many fighters as I can, and destroy everything else. Why would you want to join me in this? Because the carrier I’m going to be raiding is currently in lunar orbit.”

Lunar orbit? He couldn’t be… NO ONE was that stupid, or crazy, right? “The alien fleet?”

“Got it in one. The plan is to sneak on board with a bunch of pilots, steal a bunch of planes, and blow up the carrier on the way out. And once I have a fighter force, then I’ll be able to start raiding them in space.”

That was insane! No one could get to the moon without being seen!

“Oh ye of little faith. Who do you think blew up all those motherships at the start of the war?”

Oh god. “That was YOU? How? Where’d you get the nukes?”

“How is need to know, and you don’t, until you’ve decided to join up. As for the nukes, you’ll find that a stockpile out in North Dakota is missing several warheads.”

So, crazy and resourceful, and able to do things that would make the special forces cream themselves in envy. “Why do you need me?”

“I am many things, Captain, but a fighter pilot I’m not. I am good enough to pilot the shuttle I stole on ‘Bomb Day’, but a fighter would be wasted on me. So, would you like to go and kick the aliens square in the balls?”

Without realizing it, a grin broke over her face. “Damn straight. Still owe them for scratching the paint on my Raptor.”

“Would you be willing to talk to your crews? A squadron like yours, with enemy fighters… I’ll even sweeten the deal and promise to bring a pair back just for the government to start testing. Though I will want them to share with the rest of the surviving governments.”

“I can’t see anyone in the Air Force turning down something like that.”

“So you’re in?”

“I’m in.”

“Welcome to the Vendetta, Cardsharp.”

Chapter 3 – Interstellar Warfare 101

“Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everyone you meet.”

--Major General James Mattis, USMC

January 16, 2017 – Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico

The attitude on the base was tense. They’d won the fight over Topeka, but the ground forces were still locked in combat in the city, and it didn’t look like they’d be done any time soon. Out of thirty planes, they’d lost eleven, and six pilots. For that, they’d managed to take down thirty planes, and four of the transports. If one looked at just the numbers, then you could say it was a successful battle. Unfortunately, the reality wasn’t so rosy. The aliens had crippled the governments of Earth, which had caused chaos all over the world. If it wasn’t for some crazy genius blowing up half the fleet, the war would have already been over. They simply couldn’t afford to lose planes, as there would be no replacements for the foreseeable future.

Two hours after she was shot down, and presumed lost, they’d received word from a supervillain, of all things, telling them that he’d recovered Captain Andrews. Then, a few hours later, they received a transmission from the Captain herself, saying she was fine, and that the villain holding her had a ‘proposition’ for the air force. Normally, this wouldn’t get anything other than a squad of superheroes coming to the base to capture the villain, but when she mentioned the ‘sweetener’, the General in charge of the base decided to allow the villain to make his case.

Which is why the brass and pilots on base were gathered in one of the hangars. There was even a couple people from the CIA and other intel weenies. About five minutes before the ‘meeting’ was supposed to start, there was the sound of… one of the alien transports? Why was an alien transport landing at the base? Stepping out of the craft were six people. One was easily recognized as the Captain. The other five were clearly supers. What surprised the crowd, though, especially the intel crowd, was that while one was a publicly known supervillain, Iceblade, three of the others were members of the Emerald City Knights!

Walking up to the podium provided, Iceblade looked out over the crowd, and said, “Thank you all for coming. I’m not going to speak in intel gibberish or doubletalk, so if that hurts anyone’s feelings, I don’t care. What I am here for is simple. I am Iceblade, and the leader of Vendetta. I want you to provide me with pilots willing to fight and kill the alien bastards. You’ll put them on detached duty, so they still keep their pay and seniority and all that crap, but they’ll answer to me, until they die or the war’s over.”

“Now, you might be wondering what you get out of this? Well, I’m going to be stealing a shit ton of military hardware from the aliens, and then using it to blow the everloving hell out of them. The pilots who join my air force will get to be a part of that. Those of you on the ground are going to have presents, too. I’ll drop off samples of the weapons and fighters we steal, so that the remaining governments here on Earth can start to reverse engineer this shit. And yeah, I said governments. This’ll be shared with the world, because we don’t have time for a US versus China pissing match right now.”

“Why are you going to agree to this? Simple. Because as you might have noticed, the Vendetta has already captured some alien tech, and we’ve gotten hold of some of their databases. The bugs? They’re called the Kratuans, and they’re part of a big multi-species empire. That’s why their fighters and shuttles are different, and not all bug-like, like their ships. What you’ve been dealing with is basically the Joint Strike Fighter of an alien empire, with an industrial base of over fifty worlds. The Kratuans are number six in this empire, but they breed like, well, cockroaches.”

“Any questions?”

“Why are you in charge? Why not one of those heroes behind you?”

“Several reasons, but the only one you need to know is that I have killed more of these aliens than everyone else in the room combined. I am, after all, the reason that fleet is orbiting the moon instead of in low Earth Orbit. Before this war started, I was a thief and a killer, and I can honestly say that I am probably the most ruthless person in this room. So when I say this is a Vendetta, I mean that we will not stop until they go crawling back home with tales of terror to frighten their children for generations, warning them never to come near Earth.”

“Where would we be based out of?”

“That depends on the number of pilots I get. If it is too many, I’ll use this base as my fighter base, or we’ll capture and clean out an enemy ship to use as a carrier. Probably going to end up doing that anyways, because that gives us more options for raiding in enemy space.”

“Raiding? You mean targeting enemy shipping?”

“Shipping, industry, and any other targets of opportunity. They’re a big bear, and they just hit the hive looking for honey. I aim to show them why they should never poke the hornets’ nest. And to answer your next question, yes, we will be targeting civilians as well as military. You think those things in Topeka have been ignoring civilians?” He paused, and no one interrupted. They’d all seen the footage of the horrors in Topeka by now. “Anyone who wants to join up, read up on guerilla warfare. Read up on the Viet Cong, the U-boats of World War II, and all those other groups who lived to make life hell for their enemies. If we play this ‘fair’, we will lose. The other guy is bigger, stronger, and has deeper pockets than we do. So we are going to cheat. We will cheat early, and as often as possible.”

“Fair fights are for when you’re sparring on the mat. This is the interstellar equivalent of a street brawl. Fair is going to get you killed. Cheat, and you got a chance to live, or at least take the other guy out with you. After all, how many more times do you think we’ll be able to have one of my team just hack into their networks and screw with their weapons? And you can be sure they’re already working on a way to beat what I did to take down their fleet. That means we’re going to have to be clever, always coming up with new cheats, and new tactics.”

“So here’s the deal. Fly for me, and you will get to be the knife at the throat of our enemies. There will be collateral damage, I promise you. I don’t want bleeding hearts behind the stick, but I don’t want psychos, either. I’m not the Air Force. You start having troubles, you tell me, and I’ll make sure you get what help you need. But I know a thing or two about letting things build up to the point where you break down. And I won’t let you endanger my teams or our mission. Understood?”

January 18, 2017 – Lunar Orbit

In the end, they’d gotten nineteen pilots, plus Cardsharp. Attempts to teleport on board one of the alien ships with the teleporter in his base were blocked, even though he had consciously not tried to use the teleporter at this range before. As he thought, the aliens weren’t stupid, and were working to block some of the weaknesses he had exploited. That left a full scale infiltration mission. Which meant coming up with a plan.

Now here they were, twenty-five people packed into the cargo shuttle he’d stolen. Looking at the others, Iceblade said, “All right, we’re almost in position now, so here’s the plan, one more time. Cardsharp will fly the shuttle while we’re gone. Snake Eyes, you’re on weapons. The rest of you, check your gear, and get ready, but stay loose, like you were waiting on a scramble order.”

“My team will infiltrate the ship using their own teleporter tech. That should allow us to get inside their shields. We’re cloaked, but using the transporter will probably light you up momentarily, so watch for that. Once we’re inside, we’re going to try and make our way to the launch bays, and open the doors for you. Then we steal as many fighters as we can, and maybe a shuttle or two. Questions?” No one responded. Iceblade nodded to his team, and the five of them arranged themselves on the transport pad, weapons at the ready. “We’ll send word when it is safe to approach. Hit it!” And the transport rings rose up around them, before light flashed and they disappeared.

Chapter 4 – Run up the Black Flag

“Fifteen men on the Dead Man's Chest Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! Drink and the devil had done for the rest Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!”

--Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

January 18, 2017 – Kratuan ship V’trixxan, Lunar orbit

Hivemaster K’scracx was not pleased. This was supposed to be a simple invasion, with the Asguard safely out of the picture. But it had been little more than a tenth of a cycle, and they had already lost most of their forces. The fleet was in disarray, with the Colonymaster falling in the first days as the humans began fighting back, annihilated in nuclear fire. When these mammals had learned to split the atom was beyond K’scracx, and he didn’t care, anyways.

Now, they had to use shuttles to land their troops, a little at a time, instead of landing the hiveships directly. But the shuttles and fighters were built to Imperial standards. Few of the Swarm could pilot the craft, as their bodies were ill suited to such things. And the shuttles could only carry a few of the swarm at a time. It was making the invasion slow, even if they discounted the risks to the ships from enemy fighters or those infuriating powered individuals. During the battle in one of the cities below, the enemy had even found a way to disable their fighters’ weapons, forcing the Hivemaster to recall all ships until they’d found a way to counter the threat.

Still, slow was not the same as lost. The nascent hive in the city had already started spawning the first batches of Swarmlings, the basic warriors of the Swarm. Soon, they would have Koralisks and the flying Boralisks as well, and would be able to start pushing the enemy back. They just needed time for the Swarm to breed.

Alarms went off in the command cluster. Looking over to his SubHivemaster, he said, “What is going on?”

“Unauthorized use of the transport rings, Hivemaster. Swarmlings are on the way to investigate.”

“Assume that we’re under attack. All stations to full alert.” Damn those Imperial laws forcing us to have non-Swarm technology. The battle would be over if we didn’t have to rely on these ‘computers’.

(Elsewhere)

This was the first time that all five of them had fought together on the battlefield. Ice, magic, and weapons fire clashed with the inhuman screams of the Swarmlings as the disgusting, Great Dane-sized bugs began launching themselves at the team in swarms.

They moved in a simple formation. Iceblade scouted ahead, Green Knight was the vanguard, Yukihime was the rearguard, and Incantrix and Web Mistress were in the middle supporting to the front and rear as needed. They were currently using the schematics Web Mistress had gotten from the databanks of the shuttle they’d captured, which gave a rough outline of this type of ship. Of course, they weren’t headed straight for the launch bays. They had other plans, first.

After fighting across two decks, the rest of the team took a breather as they opened a hatch, and found what had to be the enemy’s primary foodstuffs. Well, it was actually the feedstock for the force-growth tanks that grew foodstuffs for the bugs. Iceblade used the extradimensional space within his sword, and took out several incendiary devices. Plasma was a nasty, nasty substance. Oh sure, there was the ‘cold’ plasma used in welding and other stuff, but these devices used the ‘hot’ stuff, the kind of thing you usually needed nuclear reactors or the like to get. Web Mistress had cooked up these beauties as an experiment, and now they were getting to test out her new plasma grenades on a target that no one minded if they blew up.

“The grenades are set for remote activation, and I got them placed.”

“I have a good signal. We can light them off when you’re ready.”

“Good, we’ll give them something to worry about other than us as we get out of here. Have you put that virus in their system yet?”

Web Mistress shook her head. “I don’t think that’s going to be possible. These ships are organic. My powers can’t do organics. Best I can do is lock down the craft we’re not taking with us.”

“Damn. That makes things more difficult. Oh well, let’s get going to the armory. Maybe we can find something there that’ll make this better.”

January 18, 2017 – Outskirts of Topeka, Kansas

Three women sat side by side on top of a pile of rubble. The fighting had reached a lull, but they knew that was only so the enemy could build their forces for a new wave of attacks. These ‘Swarmlings’, as they were being called, were vicious little creatures that bred like roaches and had the temperament of pissed off wasps. They were dangerous, but individually they weren’t too much for even normal soldiers with guns to handle. The problem was that they came in swarms.

With the lull, the battle lines pushed forward slightly, as troops tried to gain ground while preparing for the renewed offensive. In the last attack, they’d seen the return of those ‘Kuralisk’ things that hadn’t been seen since the first day of the attack. Those were much more dangerous, being twice as tall as a man, and having huge, scythelike blades for arms. They were also able to shoot spines with uncanny accuracy, and could take more punishment than the Swarmlings. They couldn’t let the enemy get too many of those things. So the battle lines pushed forward, while the three heroines rested. Their strength would be needed later, when the fighting began again.

“It is like something out of a freaking video game. Where’s Raynor when you need him?” The one to speak was a member of New York’s resident super team, on loan to the area. Many teams from around the country had sent members to Topeka to help, sending those they could spare without weakening the defenses elsewhere. Electra (also known as Lilith Reynolds) sighed. “I am surprised that HE isn’t here. This is the kind of fight I thought he’d love.”

The three women knew who Electra was talking about. They’d had plenty of time to get to know eachother over the last couple days as they fought against the alien Swarm. Pyra (real name: Jennifer Carter) shook her head. “I know. I doubt he’s ever found a fight that he didn’t think he could win. Back after, well…” she broke off, looking at the third member of their trio, Lady Victory, before continuing, “he took us all on, the whole Squadron Supreme. And he kicked our asses.”

Lady Victory (AKA Melissa Redfield) shook her head. She hadn’t been a part of that fight, for the simple reason that she’d only just been released from the bastard’s mind control. She wasn’t sure how he did it, but he’d played her like a puppetmaster the whole time, making her kill, and she couldn’t even fight against him. “If he isn’t here, there’s something more ‘interesting’ that has his attention. From what I’ve seen, he’s an adventurer type of villain.”

“Yeah.” “True.”

They lapsed into quiet thought, as they heard footsteps behind them. It was Indomitable and Deadeye, another hero from New York who had the power of incredible accuracy with guns of any sort. Deadeye waved to the ladies, and said, “Well, we managed to find out what your boyfriend Iceblade’s been up to.”

“””HE’S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!””” Three voices shouted out in panicked harmony, followed by three heroines looking embarrassed at eachother, while Indomitable scowled, mostly at his sister, Pyra, and Deadeye laughed.

Electra broke the weird atmosphere that followed, and said, “So, what is that guy up to?”

“Well, he was here on the first day of the fighting. Him and three ladies from the Emerald City Knights were acting like some kind of D&D party, slaughtering monsters left and right. Another of his team is apparently the reason we don’t have to worry about alien fighters or reinforcements from those ships.”

“Anyways, two days ago he showed up at an Air Force base in New Mexico. Himself, the ladies from the Knights, and another woman we’ve identified as his partner, Web Mistress, walked in, with an air force captain they rescued from being eaten by the bugs, and he went and claimed to be the leader of that ‘Vendetta’ group. Not only that, but he’s apparently the one who blew up all those alien ships, and made them stay out in lunar orbit.”

Pyra shook her head. “That sounds like him.”

Lady Victory groaned. “As if he wasn’t completely insufferable before. I hate to think what he’ll be like when this war is over.”

“So, what is he up to now?”

“Seems your boyfr—“ Deadeye cut off as he got three glares from the women again, and continued, smiling. “Ahem. Seems like Iceblade went in and cut a deal with the Air Force General in charge of the base. He took twenty pilots, including the one he rescued, and got the General to put them on detached duty, answering only to Iceblade, and they’re gonna go steal some alien fighters. Seems Iceblade picked himself up an alien shuttle while he was blowing up spaceships.”

Indomitable (otherwise known as Michael Carter) had heard enough. He’d hated that bastard since he’d toyed with Lady Victory, and then sent him pictures of the things he did with his baby sister. The fact that the two women acted flustered whenever the man’s name was mentioned, even after everything that had happened, only infuriated him more. What was worse, he’d never been able to get his hands on Iceblade for a straight fight. The one time they got close, after Lady Victory’s ‘episode’, he’d used some weird power on his sword that made it attack his mind, instead of his body. He only knew this much because Iceblade had purposely left him alive, if only barely so. It was humiliating, to say the least.

“Who cares what the bastard is up to? We’ve got a war to fight here, and he’s not going to be any use playing games in space.”

“That attitude is why he’s beaten us more than once, Mike.” Lady Victory sighed. “Don’t underestimate people just because they’re less powerful than you.”

“Actually, Iceblade’s probably got the right idea. We met in New York the day the war started. Didn’t know it was him until things started exploding, and he didn’t recognize me out of costume, so we talked, like normal people. He’s a geek and a gamer, which means he’s read enough sci-fi to have an idea of what to do in this kind of situation. That’s why he forced the ships back. Fighting on the ground is useless in the face of orbital bombardment. Next he disabled their fighters, and made them pull back air cover. Between military force and supers, we can probably clear this city, or at least evacuate all the civilians and then nuke it. So he’s going to hurt them in space. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s ‘borrowed’ a couple books on U-boat tactics from World War II, as well.”

The rest of them looked at Electra in shock for a moment, before Deadeye shrugged. “Yeah, from what he told the Air Force brass, he planned on leading raids behind enemy lines.” There was something in the tone of his voice that made Electra squint at him.

“He’s not limiting targets to shipping and military targets, is he?”

Deadeye shook his head. “No, he plans to go after everyone. Military, shipping, industry, civilians, anything he can hit. He told the pilots to read up on the Viet Cong and U-boat tactics. Oh, and pretty much all the intel we have on these bastards, even down to the names of the different types of Kratuans we’ve seen so far, has been given to us by Iceblade. He got it from the alien ship he captured. Way he spoke to the Air Force, he’s comparing this to Vietnam, and we’re the North Vietnamese.”

“It sucks, but we’re going to need him, and his Vendetta, to do what they can. These bugs grow fast. If we hadn’t stopped that one ship from setting up base in South America, or he hadn’t driven the others off from orbit, we’d probably be overrun before long. Look how quick they’re breeding here without any support infrastructure.”

“Grr. So we have to rely on terrorism and murder now?”

“So long as the enemy remains by the moon, we have a chance. From what we know, we’re facing one species out of a multispecies empire. What happens when the rest of that empire decides to get involved?”

“DAMNIT!”

January 18, 2017 – Kratuan ship V’trixxan, Lunar Orbit

The fun thing about armories, is that they keep all the best toys in the same spot. For the members of Vendetta, this meant that, once they broke into the armory, they were confronted with all sorts of weapons, armors, and bombs. As part of a multispecies empire, there needed to be supplies on board for multiple races, for joint defense, or if a team needed to be inserted someplace on another race’s ship, or whatever. Point being, Iceblade found plenty of gear for his new force, and he scooped all of it up and stored it within the holding space in his sword. For the first time, he actually filled the fifty-ton space.

Well, he didn’t take everything. It would be rude to leave without saying ‘goodbye’ to the hosts, after all.

Now the team was cutting their way to the launch bays. Swarmlings and Koralisks made up the majority of their attackers. Once, the aliens had tried to ambush them with a group of Hatelings, modified Swarmlings that exploded, sending acid everywhere when they were killed, or reached their targets. That was how they found out that the alien ship was very acid resistant. Also, that many spears of ice shooting up from the deck were very effective against Hateling swarms and their almost nonexistent armor. A chain explosion followed, but the acid failed to eat through one of Yukihime’s ice walls.

Iceblade had made a point of cutting through as many blast doors as possible with his sword. Partly so that the enemy couldn’t trap them anywhere, but also to set up the last part of his plan, such as it was. Cutting through the final door, they found themselves looking at the launch bay, and over a hundred of the Newt types, the vaguely humanoid bugs that made up the Kratuan’s pilot and engineering castes. Thankfully, their armor was weak as hell, and they relied on actual weapons to fight. Of course, they hadn’t expected to be fighting on ship, so they only had personal defense weapons like knives or a couple pistols to defend themselves.

Needless to say, the slaughter was total. As the last Newt fell, Web Mistress opened the launch doors, ‘accidentally’ forgetting to set up the energy screen first. Bodies of the dead Kratuans began flying into space. The Kratuans who had been pursuing them halted, and started running back to try to find an area of the ship that retained atmosphere. Most did not make it.

Only after the last explosive decompressions finished, and the energy shield re-established, did Iceblade signal the shuttle to come on board. As he waited, he turned around, looking at the launch bay. There were more shuttles here, and at least a hundred fighters. But the gem of the lot was what appeared to be a starship in its own right, larger than the shuttles. He hadn’t expected this! Docked in the launch bay was an honest to god corvette-class starship!

Looking over at their leader with bemused expressions, it was finally Web Mistress that spoke up. “Brother, what are you thinking?”

Broken out of his trance, Iceblade laughed, “Run up the black flag, ladies! We’re taking it all! Ladies, pick a shuttle, and prep it for flight. Crystal, see if you can’t slave the rest of the ships together once our pilots pick their fighters. This corvette is going to be our flagship, at least until we can steal better! The Vendetta is going to the stars, and the Rithenal Empire is going to learn to fear when the Vengeance enters their space!”

Green Knight couldn’t help but sigh, and shake her head at this. “You are such a geek, master.”

Just then, the shuttle landed, and Iceblade ran up to them. “All right, boys and girls, we’re fast outstaying our welcome here. Pick your fighters, and get ready. The controls should have been sent to the HUD glasses Web Mistress provided you all. I know I said we’re only stealing fighters, but damn if I’m not a greedy bastard, so we’re going to try and take everything else, too, and just run them on remote until we get someplace safe. So I’m going to need you to keep my sky clear.”

One of the pilots laughed. “Yo-ho!”

Iceblade simply nodded. “Aye lads! It’s the pirate’s life for me, make no mistake! Now hop to, and we’ll show these bastards why they picked the wrong damn planet to mess with!”

With a cheer, the pilots got to work, picking the twenty fighters closest to the energy field. By the time they were hooked in, and had run their preflight checks, Web Mistress was walking up to Iceblade. “All right. Looks like we have a total of six shuttles, including ours, and eighty fighters to slave to the Vengeance. I can do it, but don’t expect combat maneuvers. I can get them all launched and to the ground, but that’s it.”

“That’s enough. Trust in our pilots and our going-away present. We’ll get through this fine.” With that, the five core members of Vendetta loaded up on the newly-renamed Vengeance, and got ready to launch.

“Everyone reports ready. All hatches sealed.”

“The Swarmlings are coming back. They’ll be in the bay in thirty seconds.”

“Disable the shield again. All craft launch. Set the timer on our present for thirty seconds after we clear the bay. And send a distress call to the fleet, saying that the ship has been critically damaged, and we’re abandoning ship. That ought to buy us a few more seconds.”

The next few minutes were the stuff movies were made of. A hundred fighters, six shuttles, and a corvette launching from a carrier measuring over a mile in diameter, just before explosions rocked the ship, first in the food production areas, and then in the armory. The food supplies for the ship were destroyed in an instant, while the explosions in the armory were actually several nuclear-powered ‘mining’ lasers going off, cutting massive holes in the already ventilated ship, and damaging the nearest ships as well. In all the chaos, it took a several minutes to figure out what happened, and by that time, Cardsharps’ pilots had already destroyed the enemy fighter patrol, and the entire group had made a micro-jump to light-speed, traversing the distance between earth and the moon in under a second, before disappearing in the atmosphere.

Chapter 5 – Behind the Lines

“Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory.”

--General George S. Patton, Jr., US Army

March 1, 2017 – Talona Station, Argetha IV

It had been a normal day. Talona Station was the main shipping hub in the system, a clearing house not only serving Argetha IV below, but the other three populated planets and various other stations in this system. Shipments from across the Empire came through the station, and then were redirected to the rest of the system. Shipments from across the system came through here on their way out to the Empire. There was always a constant flow of traffic.

Talis Grendit shook her head. The last real excitement, as far as ship traffic went, was the Kratuan fleet that passed through on its way to… she really didn’t know. The jump point they used was listed as ‘forbidden’ in the charts, with a note of an Asguard protectorate being in the system. And NO ONE messed with the Asguard. The gossip mill had been in overdrive for at least a tenday after that.

The Brakthel female sighed. If only something interesting would happen.

And then the first ships began exploding.

March 1, 2017 – VS Vengeance, Argetha IV

Standing on the bridge of his flagship (ok, so his only actual ship, but still), Iceblade smiled beneath his mask. The Vendetta Ship Vengenace had led the way through the warp point with its escort of five shuttles and forty fighters. He’d left one of his shuttles back on earth, with ten of his fighters, to keep harassing the Kratuans on the ground and in space. Over the last couple months, his crews had become quite good at hit and run tactics. The ship he’d kindly ventilated with mining lasers had eventually broken up, but the others were still there, though their fighter and shuttle complements were drastically reduced.

After the battle, Iceblade had gifted fifteen fighters each to the United States, Great Britain, Russia, China, and Japan, leaving twenty-five for his own squadron. On this mission, he had ‘asked’ the various governments to lend him three of their fighters, with pilots, to act as escorts for the shuttles, to be filled with Marines (or the equivalent) for a raiding mission behind enemy lines. The Vengeance had a multinational crew as well, mostly from the US and Japan.

Following the same ideology as with his fighter squadron, Iceblade didn’t attempt to make himself captain of the ship. For one thing, that would effectively restrict him from leading ‘away missions’, since he couldn’t respond to an emergency if the ship was in trouble. So he got Captain Greg Hauser, a submarine skipper from the British Royal Navy, to lead his ship into battle. After discussing things with the captain, they agreed that the situation would work best if they treated it like a flag officer was aboard ship. The Vengeance was Hauser’s, and he had tactical control of her, but Iceblade had strategic command while aboard.

He was wearing his full costume for the first time in days. It wasn’t necessary when aboard ship, or just with members of the Vendetta, but they were going into battle, and Iceblade intended to board one of the alien space stations. They’d come out of the warpgate and immediately engaged stealth systems, spending two days mapping out the system. Now, they knew the traffic patterns. Each shuttle would target a different station and conduct a boarding action, stealing any war material they could find, but most importantly getting any intel they could from station computers. Capturing prisoners was to the discretion of the commanders of each shuttle. Three fighters escorted each shuttle, and they would destroy the nearby merchant shipping, as well as clearing any weapons or fighters before the shuttles landed.

This Talona Station appeared to be the logistics hub of the entire system, which meant this was Vengeance’s target. Surrounded by ten fighters led by Cardsharp, they would go for shock and awe, striking from stealth for maximum impact. Looking over to Captain Hauser, Iceblade nodded. “You may begin the assault as soon as the ships are in position, Captain. Kindly make sure that the bastards never forget Vengeance. I’ll go see to my team.”

The Captain nodded to Iceblade, “With pleasure, sir.” Greg Hauser smiled. The submarine forces had been largely untouched during the war, but without navies to fight, there was little for them to do. The aliens had fired on Parliament and Buckingham Palace, and it was only through extreme good fortune that the Prime Minister and the royal family survived. Many others did not, however. It was time to teach these aliens the price of surprise attacks, one Empire to another.

Having to work for a supervillain in order to accomplish that task seemed a small price to pay. Hauser looked at Iceblade’s back as he walked off the bridge. The man was already something of a legend, even though he had only acted in the UK a couple times. But there was a certain romantic air about the man, like the swashbuckling stories of old. An unrepentant villain who took what he wanted, but didn’t cause wanton death and destruction. A man who was a notorious womanizer and flirt, and yet the women never seemed to mind. A demon who repaid betrayals with blood. And yet, having met and worked with the man, it seemed that most of the time he was something of a geek. He’d even admitted to having attended a major Doctor Who convention in London before the war. It was a strange contradiction.

Down in the cargo bay (which also served as the main exit hatch, when docked at a station), Iceblade met the other members of his strike force. His team was there, naturally, though Web Mistress would be staying aboard the Vengeance as overwatch. But he wasn’t going to be short-handed. With him were a squad of seven Marines, and two supers.

Betty “The Kid” Cassidy was the descendant of the famous Butch Cassidy, and had a unique power. She could create old-fashioned firearms that fired energy bullets and never ran out of ammo. Iceblade wasn’t sure how it worked exactly, but the minx was a crack shot, and a definite asset to the Bay City Brawlers, who protected San Francisco. The blonde-haired super had been relegated to ‘sidekick’ status for a long time due to the… antiquated attitudes of some of her colleagues, but had shown up the rest of her team when they fought Plasmid, being the only one who could hurt the villain in his plasma form.

Shinokage was a modern day ninja. Possessing shadow-based powers, the thief-assassin was one of the few people Iceblade considered to be his equal when it came to stealthy robberies and assassinations. The Japanese woman was armed with shuriken and her katana, but Iceblade didn’t doubt she had tricks up her sleeve for armored foes.

Nodding to the twelve people looking back at him, he said, “All right. For some of you, this is your first raid behind enemy lines. For others, this is old hat, except for the exotic people and places. Now, from the information we’ve gotten from enemy computers, this world is primarily Brakthel, but don’t be surprised if there are other aliens as well. For those of you who didn’t read their intel packets, the Brakthel are a race of feline humanoids. Yes, for those of you who are into that kind of thing, that means there are catgirls and boys down on that station and the planet below. But get this straight, we’re not here for a pleasure cruise, and they sure aren’t going to be welcoming us with open arms. So you shoot first, ask questions later.”

“Some of us are cold-blooded killers. Some of us are villains. But we are not barbarians. If they offer surrender, take them and keep them under control. Our primary goals are war materiel, disrupting the local economy, and intelligence gathering. If possible, capture high value targets like administrators or imperial representatives. There’s only so much intel we can get from computers, and none of it includes the ways to really hurt our enemies so that they’ll give up and go back home. For that, you need the human touch.”

He paused as the telltale sounds of energy weapons sounded through the hull. “The assault has begun. Get ready, because as soon as we dock, we unleash hell.”

<Talis POV>

I shuddered as I looked at the viewscreens. All over the system, ships were being attacked. In-system freighters only had shields and armor enough to ward off microasteroid strikes and similar hazards. The interstellar freighters were a bit hardier, but they were still no match for top of the line imperial fighters. The toll in both lives and damages from this attack was going to be horrible. And it wasn’t just freighters being targeted. There were ships docking with the transshipping facilities in orbit of Argetha I, II, and VII, the fuel processing plant orbiting the big gas giant of Argetha V, and the shipyards on the other side of Argetha IV. Oh, yes, and that corvette that was about to dock at Talona Station.

Who was attacking us, and why?

A hand touched my shoulder. Looking back, I saw the station administrator. “Princess, shouldn’t you get to one of the escape pods?” I sighed. I had been trying to avoid that title while I was on vacation, but with the emergency going on, it seemed like I had no choice.

“And what makes you believe that these attackers will allow us to launch escape pods? Have they issued any demands? Any calls for surrender? I am sorry, Administrator Tarun, but we both know I’m no safer there than here in the operations center.”

The man slumped, and said, “I don’t understand what they want. They can’t be Imperials, we’ve done nothing to warrant such an attack. But they’re definitely using Imperial weapons.”

“But not Imperial tactics. No, I fear it is most likely that this represents someone else, who happened to get access to Imperial technology. Can we figure out where they came from?”

The Administrator shook his head. “I’ve had the computers running the numbers since the attack began. They approached under stealth, so that makes exact determination impossible. However, two days ago, there was a series of tachyon pulses near an unused warpgate, but no ships came through on our sensors.”

“Unused warpgate? Was it, by any chance, the warpgate the Kratuan fleet passed through a couple cycles back?” The administrator’s nod was all the answer she needed. I sighed. “Trust bugs to stir up a nest of rockbiters. Administrator, do we still have access to the communications system?”

“Yes, Princess.”

“Then connect me to the courier drone at the Corun warpgate. I must send a message to my Father, and to the Imperial Senate.”

Chapter 6 – Seeds of Terror

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

--Revelation 6:8, King James Bible

March 1, 2017 – Talos Station, Argetha IV

<Talis POV>

I looked into the camera, so I could record what very well may be my last message to my family. There was a lot I wished to say, but I’m a Princess of Braktha, and I would not shame my family with useless pleading.

“These are some of the images we’ve recorded. As you can see, there’s been no communications, no calls for surrender. It has been ten minutes since the first shots were fired, and already we have lost contact with sixty-five ships in system. All the transshipping stations, the cloudscoop, and the shipyard are under attack. Only the corvette has broadcast an IFF code on our frequencies, claiming to be the VS Vengeance. No known ship by that name. We assume that this Vengeance and the other craft have been taken by whatever species lives on the other side of the warpgate the Kratuans passed through.”

I took a breath, and was about to continue my warning, when suddenly static broke across the screen, and my image was replaced with that of a man in a blue hood and mask. “I believe that would be my cue. Sorry for cutting into your conversation, Princess. Wait, actually I’m not. This is a message from the Vendetta to the Rithenal Empire. You thought that the Asguard being distracted would leave our world vulnerable. You thought that twenty Kratuan ships would be enough to conquer us. You thought you could bombard our cities from orbit, without warning. You thought wrong. Now, the Vendetta will come for you, and will continue coming until the Rithenal Empire’s aggression is halted and reparations are made, or until your worlds are barren husks, your peoples enslaved or slaughtered.”

Who was this man? How did he break into this conversation? I was using Imperial diplomatic codes! There shouldn’t be anyone outside of Imperial Intelligence that could break a diplomatic transmission while it was being recorded! If anything, that capability was more chilling than the threats he made. A corvette, a few shuttles, and fighter escorts might be enough to cripple the economy of the Argetha system, but it wouldn’t be enough to conquer the Empire. But if this is the result of only a couple tenths of a cycle after the Kratuans left, what would happen when this man’s planet got truly geared up for war?

“Twenty Kratuan ships invaded our system. Nine now remain, their fighters and shuttles all but gone, huddling like frightened sheep around our moon, their food stocks poisoned, their own weapons turning against them. They will all die, as slowly and painfully as we can manage. But that doomed fleet is not why we are here. Argetha will become an example to others of what will happen when you play with fire.”

“By my count, there are twenty-four installations in orbit around the four inhabited planets in this system. By the time any of you can respond to this message, you will find their remains on the planets below. As we speak a virus is being uploaded into the computers of all twenty-four installations. Launching of escape pods or shuttles has been disabled. Emergency and Evacuation warnings have been disabled. Upon my command, the installations will begin to re-enter the atmosphere, with all power, including life support, directed to shields and hull integrity.”

Oh, Great Maker! Not only would that kill everyone on the stations, but the effects on the planet below would be catastrophic! The deaths from the shockwaves alone would be too high to calculate. And the impact on the environment…

What in the name of the Holy Triad had the damn Kratuans gotten them into?

“But we are not without mercy. Installations that surrender will be allowed to evacuate. Those who resist Vendetta forces shall be broken, and forced to watch what happens to their families and friends. Those in command of the installations and representatives of the Empire may rest comfortably knowing that they shall remain in our care, permanently. In fact, the Princess shall be enjoying my company very soon.”

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a date with a Princess. Would hate to be late.”

And with that, the image cut off, replaced with the ‘Message Sent’ notification. He’d even hijacked the send message function? And what’s more, I could see that it had been broadcast to every station commander and planetary governor in the system. A moment later, I saw the tachyon pulse that meant the message drone had left the system.

“Administrator Tarun?”

“Yes, Princess?”

“Please signal the Vengeance. Tell her that we surrender.”

“But your Highness! I can’t allow you to fall into that monster’s hands!”

“If we don’t, all the people on this station will die. Or do you think that man was bluffing about sending all the stations to the surface?”

“Even then! With what would happen to the surface after an attack like that, many will die before they can be rescued!”

“But some will live.” I sighed. “This is the best we can do for them. Signal the surrender, and tell your men not to resist. Their families will need them in the days to come.”

“And what of you, Princess?”

“It seems that my vacation from my Father’s court is going to become rather extended.”

(Iceblade POV)

I looked over to see The Kid frowning at me as I finished sending my message to the various people in charge. I did lie, slightly, in that message. It wasn’t a virus, but my sister infiltrating their command systems so they would do exactly what I wanted them to do. But still, I’d been mostly honest. “What is it?”

“You’re going to let all those people on the stations die if they don’t surrender?”

“Murum aries attigit. In English, it means ‘The Ram has touched the Wall.’ It comes from the writings of Julius Caesar. In ancient Rome, a general could give any terms he liked to a city for their surrender. Sometimes, these terms were quite lenient, even beneficial. But once the assault began, the ram had touched the wall, and there was nothing left for the people but total destruction. In this way, Caesar ensured that anyone who was not absolutely certain that they could withstand an assault had great incentive to surrender, and thus, his legions did not need to besiege as many cities.”

“It still sounds unnecessarily brutal.”

“I’m sure you’ve read my file before you agreed to come on this venture. What does it say about me in there, and what I do to those who betray me?”

I smiled as I saw her gulp, once, and said, “That you killed the people involved, including their families, in horrible ways.”

I nodded. “And I’ve only had to repeat that lesson a few times throughout my career. Brutality has its place. When used right, brutality saves lives. To go back to Caesar, how many people lived, on both sides, because a city was so scared of the fury of Rome that they dared not resist? Many people have died already today. More will die before the day is done, and in the days and weeks to come. I intend to leave this system crippled, not only so that this Rithenal Empire has to devote resources to rebuilding, but also so any forces they might send against Earth when they realize we are kicking the Kratuans in the balls are reduced by the need to guard all their systems against me. And every time I strike, I will let people know that it is the Empire’s fault, the Kratuan’s fault.”

Shinokage spoke up then. “You intend to spread propaganda amongst their people, and stir up divisions between them?”

“Divide and conquer. We cannot fight against the entire Empire united, so we’ll make them focus on issues at home, and start looking over their shoulders at their supposed ‘allies’.”

One of the Marines grunted in approval. “Solid. So, what’s the plan?”

Before I could answer, the Captain’s voice came over the comms. “The station has signaled their surrender, and is standing down weapons and shields.”

“Bring us into dock, Captain. Keep weapons and shields hot, however. I do not want them to get any stupid ideas.” Turning back to the Marine, I said, “Well, that simplifies things. We go in, find anyone important, ‘invite’ them back to Earth for questioning, steal any war material and intel we can get, and then allow people to get into the escape pods.”

“And if they resist?”

“Murum aries attigit. We offered them a way to get out of this with their lives. If they refuse us, then that means they do not want their lives. Either way, I want the high value targets alive.”

“Understood.” To his credit, the Marine, a Lance Corporal, now that I bothered to look, seemed to understand the necessity of the orders. But then, Marines were rarely called in to be ‘nice’ to people.

The Kid still looked upset. I offered one final history lesson as we docked. “Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Miss Cassidy. Two cities wiped from the Earth in an instant so that the US wouldn’t have to engage in an invasion of Japan that would have made D-Day look like a walk in the park.”

And then we were docked, and the doors opened. It seemed that the Station Administrator, Princess, and several people dressed in body armor and carrying weapons were waiting for us. Security guards? Probably.

When one seeks to be a demon, one cannot show fear. Walking forward in front of my team, with my sword drawn, I said, “Throw down your weapons, and you may live. Resist, and your limbless stumps will get to watch what happens next, knowing that everything will have been your fault.” My suit translated it into Brekthal, of course, which no doubt surprised a couple people. I could see the Princess’s eyes widen, before she muttered something to the guards. Reluctantly, they set their weapons down, and stepped back from them.

We had won.

(Talis POV)

I’m not ready for this. Oh Maker, what is going to happen to me? To my people? But I can’t panic. I can’t show weakness. Not now. I must be an example for the people, just as Father always taught us. But I’m the fourth Princess! I was never supposed to be involved in things like this! What am I supposed to do now? What else could I have done?

I held my breath as the docking bay connected to the Vengeance and the doors opened. Standing in front of me was that man, and a collection of others, all of them armed, and several looking to have some strange abilities, like that woman wearing armor made of ice. Did they have powers, like the Kraxians?

The man stepped out in front of his people. Oh my, he was taller than a Brakthel, and clearly muscled. But he walked with a grace that chilled my spine. That was the gait of a hunter, one well used to stalking and killing his prey. And he was looking at me.

“Throw down your weapons, and you may live. Resist, and your limbless stumps will get to watch what happens next, knowing that everything will have been your fault.”

The guards looked upset at that, but I cut them off quickly, muttering into the commlink. “Fools! Put the weapons down. What good are you dead, except an excuse for this monster to kill everyone on board?” They didn’t like it, but slowly, they set their weapons down.

Looking back to the man, I saw him advancing upon me once again. Out of nowhere, it seemed, he pulled a… collar? With the click of a lock, the collar was fastened around my neck, a chain leading from it.

“You are now mine. If you are a good girl, you may even see your family again, some day. But until then, I own you, slave.”

Oh, Great Maker, what will become of me?

Chapter 7 – Promises of Things to Come

Mongol General: What is best in life?

Conan: To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.

--Conan the Barbarian (1982)

March 1, 2017 – VS Vengeance, Argetha System

The battle, if one could call it that, was over. The final tally was a resounding success. Not a single ship lost, and only one man injured, after a child tried to bite him. They had even captured a half dozen freighters that were lucky enough not to be the initial targets of the fighters, and hurriedly surrendered once the situation became plain to see.

The cloudscoop and fuel processing center near the gas giant had required a hostile boarding party to take, the Japanese troops in charge of that action doing their job well. Both craft and facility were summarily destroyed once any intel could be gathered. There were no survivors.

One of the largest hauls of intel was at the shipyards. Designs and specifications for over thirty classes of ships and facilities were found in the databanks. The shipyard crews were both Brekthal and Grishnak (an amphibious race) in origin, and did not resist the Royal Marines when they took the station.

All told, they came away from the system with enough R&D work to advance technology on Earth at least a century over the next decade. Moreover, they were able to get a large store of personal and civilian data on the Empire, as well as over a hundred prisoners of note, most of whom were kept on the captured freighters. All except Princess Talis.

The Princess was forced to stand at Iceblade’s side as they watched a viewscreen, seeing flames light the sky of Argetha IV as the six stations orbiting the planet began their terminal descent. Two were visible from their orbit as they crashed, one into the ocean, and the other landing outside the planetary capitol. The explosions were quite colorful.

March 2, 2017 – Brekthal Flagship Coriander, Argetha System

King Grall Grendit paced back and forth through the observation deck of the royal flagship as they passed through the Warpgate. As soon as he received that disturbing message from his youngest daughter, he had ordered the fleet to mobilize. The warships would be the first to arrive, but relief ships were already gathering supplies when they had left Brektha.

“Damn them! The Kratuans said that it would be a simple annexation without the damn Asguard there to lord things over the rest of us. But no, the damn bugs have to go and make enemies of the locals.”

Prince Trant shook his head. They’d been over this several times in the last day. “And since when did the Kratuan Swarm ‘annex’ anything? What we should be more worried about is that these locals are capable of incredible things, and are apparently ruthless to an extreme. The first probes are coming back, and it seems that all twenty-four orbital stations around the populated planets have indeed made landfall. The shipyards and fuel processor have been destroyed. A few of the outlying stations have been spared, it seems, though the enemy may have simply not wished to linger long enough to finish them.”

Crown Princess Venta shook her head. “They wanted to leave witnesses. And every living creature in this system will be a drain on our resources and a hit to our morale, as they tell the story of what happened here. The enemy is ruthless, but smart. We’re dealing with a warrior race.”

“They have no honor!”

“I said they were warriors, not knights. They are fighting to win. That much is clear. It is the same when you hunt a wild tragor, you must make quick attacks and then back away, bleeding it until it is too weak to resist, before ending its suffering.”

“And what would you suggest we do, Daughter? Should we just abandon our people below, or your sister?”

Venta shook her head, sighing. “Of course not. We cannot ignore the people, or we would have a revolt on our hands. And the enemy knows it. If we cannot crush this enemy in a swift blow, we must devote a good portion of the fleet to defense of the home systems, and resist their attempts to grind us down.”

King Grall nodded. “And the fact that they have apparently been able to best the Kratuans on more than one occasion, even stealing an abyss-damned corvette from them, means that wiping them out in a single blow may prove impossible.”

Trant growled. “And just how did they manage THAT? They would have had to actually get on the Kratuan Hiveships to steal a corvette. They only haul the things around because the Empire requires it in case of diplomatic missions or the like. And they have shuttles and fighters, too. Just what have the Kratuans been doing?”

The Prince’s agitation was well-founded, the King thought. It was common knowledge that the Swarm could not be stopped once they landed on a world, and an enemy venturing into one of their hiveships was basically committing suicide. Honestly, the Empire kept them around because it was safer to be their allies than their enemies, and they wanted to keep the bugs on a short leash. That… had never worked as well as they hoped, and it was showing now.

At that moment, a lieutenant stepped in, and bowed to the king. “Your pardon, Majesty, but there was a message beacon left at the site of Talona Station. The message is addressed to you, and bears the royal family’s encryption codes.” He offered a viewing tablet to the king, and hastily left when dismissed.

For a moment, the king looked down at the viewer, not turning it on yet. “So, my daughter lives?”

Venta stood next to her father, and rested a hand upon his shoulder. “Play it, father. She is alive, and that is more than we hoped for.” With a held breath, the king activated the viewer as his two oldest children gathered around, and entered his decryption key.

Princess Talis’s figure appeared on the screen, but she was naked, on all fours, and collared like some kind of animal. Next to her, holding a chain attached to her collar like a leash, was the masked man they had seen cutting into the encrypted transmission yesterday. He looked down at Talis, and said, simply, “Speak.”

Talis shuddered at the command, but said, “This slave is the one formerly known as Princess Talis Grendit of Braktha. This one’s name is now Sexkitten. This Sexkitten gave up her freedom to ensure the lives of the people of Talona station, and the prisoners taken by the Vendetta. This slave is not permitted to speak except as a cat unless Master wishes it.”

“That’s enough, Sexkitten.” Talis hesitated, and then meowed, still looking at the camera. The man rewarded her by scratching her behind the ears, and the horrified king could see his daughter’s tail twitching in pleasure, even as she tried to maintain her composure. “I am Iceblade, leader of the Vendetta. Your daughter is in my keeping, and will remain so until the Rithenal Empire retreats from Sol system, and pays reparations for the damages caused by your cowardly surprise attack against my planet. If you have complaints, address them to the Kratuans. This is, after all, completely their fault.”

“As you will see, the stations surrounding the four inhabited planets of this system have crashed. You’ll be happy to know that there were no direct hits on cities, but I’m afraid you’ll be spending a great deal of time and money on this system. And this is just the beginning. Within the next tenth of a cycle, as you would say, the Vendetta will strike again. No, I won’t tell you where we’ll hit. That would take away all the surprise!”

“But because your daughter has been so… diligent in her new duties, I’ll give you the chance to spare Braktha from my next attack. By this time, if you check your personal storage, you will find a list of materiel, a set of coordinates, and a date and time, in Rithenal Standard Measure. Send a freighter to that location at that time, with the requested items, and Braktha will not be targeted in the next attack. Because I am a civilized man, I will allow one shuttle to accompany the freighter. Upon this shuttle, you may have a pilot, two guards, and an ambassador to begin diplomatic discussions with the Vendetta. I believe your second daughter, Triel, just got her certification as an Imperial diplomat, yes? She will do nicely.”

“If the freighter fails to show, then I am afraid things will go quite badly for your people when I next attack. Whether the shuttle shows with Ambassador Triel or not is up to you. I will not punish you if you refuse to send another daughter to me, but that will make further… arrangements much more expensive in the future. Should you attempt an ambush, things not only will go badly for your people in the next attack, but every viewer in the Rithenal Empire will get to see your daughter as I play with her, and she begs for more.”

The king bared his teeth as he snarled at the man’s image. The bastard! But what happened next made his blood run cold. The vidscreen on the wall activated on its own, and showed the same image as on the viewer!

“Oh, don’t make that face at me, Grall. Yes, I can see you. And your children the Crown Princess and First Prince. Yes, I’ve been here, the whole time.” His eyes snapped to Prince Trant, who was covering his mouth to speak into a commlink, “Oh don’t bother, Trant. Your commlinks were disabled moments after I began speaking. You’ll also find that the doors to this chamber are locked. But thank you, for volunteering to go on a field trip. My sister has been quite upset that I got a new pet, and she didn’t. So, unless you wish for me to show you how I destroyed ten Kratuan hiveships on my own, I suggest you do what she says.”

“What? Why you—!“ He was cut off by a piercing wail the likes of which he’d never heard coming out of his sister’s commlink, and by the time the three royals turned to look, a woman was standing there, dressed in black masked, with a web-like cape hanging from her back. In her hand was what appeared to be some kind of gun.

“I am Web Mistress. And you, Prince Trant, are going to be my new housepet. Now strip, or your father will find out just what my Betty here is capable of. Come on, boy, give your sisters a show.” The masked woman taunted the royals, while holding them at gunpoint.

Prince Trant seethed with anger. The nerve of these common barbarians! They didn’t show proper respect to royalty, and even went so far as to humiliate him in front of his family? Still, he could not let her kill his father, not like this. With reluctance, he slowly began to strip, showing off his lean, muscled physique. He tried not to make eye contact with either of his sisters or his father while he did so. He jumped slightly as the woman slapped his rear, hard enough to sting.

“Mmm. Not bad. Not as good as Mike, but not bad. You’ll be a good toy. If you’re really nice, I might share you with my brother’s girlfriends. It’ll be a nice treat for them. Now, say goodbye to your family. You won’t be seeing them face to face for quite some time.”

“Wait! Please, I apologize! Don’t take me!”

“Hmm. What do you think, sister?”

“Well, a whiney slave is no good. But if he does something for me, then I guess I can let him go.”

“What is it? I’ll do anything!”

“The Crown Princess looks lonely over there. Fuck her, hard, and be sure to come inside her. Do that, and I’ll leave without you.”

“WHAT?” “WHAT?”

“Please, don’t make me do this! She’s my sister!”

“A-and I’m in heat.” The Crown Princess blushed as she made that admission.

“Impregnate your sister, or become my sex toy. The choice is yours.” There was a touch of sadistic glee in the woman’s voice, even though her face was hidden by the mask.

“And you say I’m the twisted one, Sister.”

“Hush brother, or your pet won’t get to watch this example of sibling love.”

“Sorry, Venta.” Venta’s eyes went wide as Trant said that, moving behind her to grip her by the waist.

“Wait, Trant, no!” That was all she managed to get out, before her little brother pulled up her dress, and shoved himself inside her. Then it was just screams, and then moans.

<Later>

After everything was done, Web Mistress smiled behind her mask at the two exhausted royal brats (one of whom was crying to herself) and their father. “Well, that was very good, Trant. So you won’t be coming with me. However, in exchange, if your father fails to provide us with both the Freighter and the Ambassador, the video I just took of you two will play on every screen in the Imperial capitol. Goodbye for now!” And then there was that piercing wail, and this time, the three saw that she appeared to flicker, before… flowing into the king’s commlink. Moments later, she appeared on the screen next to Iceblade and Talis. “And with that, this transmission ends.” The screen cut off. Moments later, a tachyon surge was detected from the warpgate leading into what the king now designated as Vendetta space.

Chapter 8 – Imperial Senate

“Those wars are unjust which are undertaken without provocation. For only a war waged for revenge or defense can be just.”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero

April 30, 2017 – Imperial Senate Chambers, Rithena City, Rithena Prime

“ORDER! This meeting of the Imperial Senate is now called to order, High Chancellor Boronir presiding!”

As the chamber was called to order, Chancellor Boronir, one of the elected representatives of Rithena, cursed the fates that had drawn them to this place. Was it really less than a cycle since they’d first heard of the Asguard being distracted by their war with the machines? And they’d been fooled into thinking that the protectorate under their care would be easy pickings, especially with the Swarm leading the assault. Few planets had withstood the Swarm, once they’d landed, and none of those had been inhabitable for years after. And yet this planet had done so, and even struck back against the Empire!

This simply could not be allowed to stand. If unaffiliated rabble were able to do this and left unpunished, then the Empire’s neighbors would see weakness, and attempt to invade. A border squabble with an unaffiliated world was one thing. A fight between stellar empires was quite another, and should be avoided unless one had prepared for it.

Standing at the podium, in front of the senators of the Empire, Boronir took a deep breath, and then said, “My friends, by now you have all heard of the atrocities perpetuated against the peaceful residents of the Argetha system. Stations destroyed, freighter crews slaughtered, prisoners taken as slaves! Economic damages in the trillions of credits, just over the next quarter alone! The cleanup of the environment on the affected planets will take tens of cycles, at least! Argetha IV, once a temperate world, has been plunged into a new ice age!”

“And who is it that did this? Terrorists! Barbarians! They stole ships from a peaceful Kratuan diplomatic mission, and then turned those ships against us! This cannot stand! We must make example of this primitive border world, and show that the Rithenal Empire does not bow to the will of terrorists!”

The senators cheered. This was going well. Soon he would have them begging him to declare open war upon the primitive barbarians. Just a little more and—

BOOM!

Explosives went off in several parts of the chamber! People screamed in terror, or in pain. Looking around in shock, Chancellor Boronir saw that the Kratuan delegation in particular had been wiped out! And it looked like all entrances and exits to the chamber had been choked with rubble! By the Maker! No one had ever dared to commit such an act before! He was about to call for the guards, when suddenly he was grabbed from behind, his neck forcefully bent backward. The last thing he felt was a blade cutting through his throat, and then nothing.

There, in the heart of the Empire, in front of cameras that were broadcasting his actions to every viewer across Rithena Prime, overriding all commands to halt the transmission or change channels, the devices ignoring people trying to shut them off, Iceblade coldly and calmly murdered the entire Imperial Senate. One man, with a blade, killing over five hundred senators and their bodyguards! The only survivors were the Brekthal delegation, which had been delayed due to an ‘accident’ at the starport that delayed their transport. His bloody deed done, Iceblade moved to the podium, kicking aside the Chancellor’s headless body.

“People of the Rithenal Empire, you have been lied to! Your leaders thought that a world under the protection of the Asguard would be easy prey now that the Asguard are busy with other things. They sent an invasion fleet, attacking cities from orbit, murdering thousands. They sent their warriors into cities, killing militia and civilians alike. They did not expect that we would fight back.”

“All you see before you are the results of your leaders’ reckless actions. The devastation of the Argetha system, as well, is the result of your leaders thinking that they could take what is not theirs. Those leaders have now paid for their foolishness with their lives.”

“To the new leaders of the Rithenal Empire, I give you this warning. Be careful of your choices. Continue this war at your peril. Think upon what you have witnessed. If one man can penetrate into the heart of your empire and slaughter your senate, what hope have you of hiding from death? Those who choose to continue this war shall watch their families die, their wives and daughters violated, and with every attack, the message will spread that this is ALL YOUR FAULT. The Kratuan fleet that invaded my world has been wiped out. Only a single ship out of twenty remains, and it lies, disabled, far from any warp gate, their foodstocks poisoned, their weapons offline, the inhabitants left to starve, or to feed on their dead and dying, impotent and helpless, sent upon a ballistic trajectory that will allow them to reach Rithenal space sometime in the next few million years.”

“The Brekthal, who allowed these vermin to pass through their space in order to reach the warpgate leading to my world, have also been punished. The Argetha system lies in ruins. The Fourth Princess is in my keeping. And punishments have been laid at the royal family, personally, so that they remember the price of looking the other way when people take what they want, regardless of who the rightful owner is.”

“And finally, I give you this promise. If this war continues, your worlds will burn. We are the Vendetta. We answer the blood of one with the blood of a thousand, so that those who seek to wrong us know that their families will pay the price for their misdeeds.”

And then, an icy mist rose around him, and when it cleared, he was gone. Shortly thereafter, on the rooftop of the Senate building, a set of transfer rings picked him up, teleporting him to a cloaked shuttle that quickly made its way back into space.

April 30, 2017 -- Brekthal Flagship Coriander, Orbiting Rithena Prime

King Grall Grendit sat, stunned, looking at the viewer. Around him were his entire family, his Queen, Mehra, and his children, Crown Princess Venta, Prince Cor, Prince Bortha, and Princess Kia. All that were missing was Fourth Princess Talis and Second Princess Triel, who were somewhere in that madman’s keeping. Prince Tran had suffered an ‘accident’ shortly after the attack on the Argetha system, falling upon a dagger several times in his sleep. Unfortunately, he did not survive.

Grall still shuddered to think on what that damned woman made him watch, at gunpoint. Forcing brother to rape his sister while she was in heat, knowing that a litter would be produced by it. Already the changes were becoming visible in Venta’s body. Soon, there would be no hiding it. They would have to damage her reputation a little, saying she’d met some random male while aboard ship or out of the palace. That was embarrassing, but far from abnormal with Brekthal females in heat. They couldn’t know that it was her (now deceased) brother who had raped her.

Grall had no illusions as to who had forced that transmission from the Senate chamber to reach everyone on the planet below. This ‘Web Mistress’ had some kind of power over technology, that much was clear to him, while her Brother, it seemed, used ice, or cold, as a weapon. He had not been idle since the attack on Argetha. Using the information provided to him by Triel, he had pieced together a disturbing picture of the race the Empire had crossed swords with.

They had, somehow, gained abilities like the Krax. But they lacked the rigid breeding programs of the Krax, leading to a wide array of abilities, almost impossible to predict. They also were a species that rose to the top on their world not through overwhelming strength, but through cunning and adaptability. Indeed, they were ill suited to live in many parts of their own world, and yet they adapted easily, taming the wilderness. And if that wasn’t bad enough, they also showed the ability to not only capture and use alien technology, but Triel warned him that they were improving on it as well, doing things with Imperial tech he had never thought possible. It was, after all, supposed to be impossible to cloak anything larger than a shuttle, but they’d managed to cloak their corvette, after only a little time. The possibilities of what one could do with a cloaked battleship like the Coriander scared him more than he cared to admit.

Looking at his family, he said, “Send word to the fleet. Until further notice, no non-Brekthal fleets are allowed to pass through our systems.”

“That won’t solve anything, Father. They’ll either force their way through, sparking a civil war, or they’ll take the long route.” Venta’s words were true. The warpgate from Argetha was the direct line, but if one wished to spend three-tenths of a cycle in travel, one could work around that gate. That was how it was in most of the galaxy, except for odd choke points, like this Sol System, that blocked the way to areas past it.

“Yes, but we must look to our own people’s needs first. We will stay neutral in the battles to come. We will not allow warships to pass through our systems, from either side. This may cause us problems in the Empire, but it is not the Empire I’m worried about.”

The Queen spoke, sadly, “Yes, it is the madman who would gladly burn worlds to ash in order to protect his home. Even if he did not have our daughters, it would be madness to anger him.”

“You sound as though you respect him, my dear.”

The Queen shrugged. “He sees only his goal, and ways to reach it. Everyone and everything that hinders him is cut down and brushed aside. It is like the legends of Brek, the ancient hero. Or villain, depending on your views. And he is clearly powerful. If a strong bloodline like that were added to the royal line…” Venta shuddered, clutching her belly. “Oh, I’m sorry, dear. I shouldn’t have said that.”

The King sighed. “No, if not for what those mad siblings made Trant do, this discussion would be going along those lines, I don’t doubt. But be careful what you wish for, Mehra. That madman still has two of our daughters, and he has, at least, turned one of them into his toy already.”

Prince Cor spoke up, “And what of the other prisoners? What is happening to them?”

“Triel is not entirely certain, but it appears that they were handed over to various governments on that world, and have been questioned repeatedly. She’s seen most of them, and they appear to be in decent health, considering the alternatives.”

“Then we must hope for a quick end to the war, so we can bring them home.”

Chapter 9 – Interlude from the Home Front

“Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason for that: and yet, to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together now-a-days; the more the pity that some honest neighbours will not make them friends.”
― William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

June 20, 2017 – Iceblade’s Lair, New York City, New York

<Sexkitten POV>

M-my name is Talis Grendit, fourth Princess of Grektha. I’m not a slave. I’m not Sexkitten. I am a princess!

I can’t remember the last time I wore anything but this collar around my neck. When was the last time I stood on my feet, instead of crawling on all fours like an animal? When was the last time someone used my name, instead of that horrible name my ‘Master’ decided to call me? Ever since he kissed me, my body has refused to do what I wished it to, obeying only his commands. If he wants me to say something, I will say it, in my own voice, no matter my thoughts. I am a prisoner in my own body.

I’m chained to Master’s bed. Oh Maker, did I really just think of him as my Master? I shudder, and realize that it isn’t just out of revulsion, but also anticipation. Master has shown me so many things I had not known before I became a slave. Pain, and pleasure. It is strange, not having to do any of the things I always did as a princess. No schedules, no needing to smile for the people. Just prowling around this base on all fours, getting assaulted by pain or pleasure in turn by my Master and his other slaves. It is getting hard to remember life when I wasn’t a mewling kitten, wagging my rear at him so he can mount me.

He won’t let me speak, so I can’t tell him why he shouldn’t use me today. It is time for my heat. I don’t know if our two species can make children, but it isn’t something I want to risk. But I can’t even beg for that. All I can hope is that it will only be his other slaves that use me today, or that he is content with my mouth, or my bottom.

I find myself panting. Oh no, the thought of him or his women taking me is making me excited! It has been happening so often, my body acts on its own now. But I’m not allowed to touch myself, which is making things difficult. As I lay, curled up on my pillow at the foot of Master’s bed, I hear the sound of the door opening, and look up. It is Master’s scent! And… another, but not his pets or his sister. This is a Brekthal! Somewhere in the back of my head, the scent is familiar, but it has been so long since I smelled a Brekthal, I cannot be sure.

Then Master enters, and my eyes grow wide. It is my sister, Triel! And she’s wearing the formal robes of a Brekthal Ambassador! Am I finally going to be free? No, that look in her eyes! She’s been seduced by Master, and… yes, she’s in heat, too! Is Master going to take her in front of me?

“Nyan?” I meow. It is all I can do because of his commands, even as I get to my hands and knees, looking at the pair.

Master looks down at me with a smile, and said, “Ah, Sexkitten. Your sister has been telling me some fascinating things about your race.” Oh. Oh no. She could have told him about our heats, could she?

“Nya?”

“Yes, she told me how once every three years Brekthal females go into heat, and are able to have children. She also told me how such a low fertility rate has shaped your culture.”

Oh no. No. Nonononononononono!

“And, yes, she did tell me that you are both in heat. Apparently, she could smell it when she first stepped inside the base.”

“NYA!!” I looked accusingly at my traitor sister. Even if she had been seduced, telling a man like this something like that was just asking for trouble!

“So, since the rest of the girls are out helping clean up the last of the Kratuan bugs in Topeka, I thought it would be great to have some fun, with just the three of us. And because I’m a nice guy, I’m going to let my kitten pretend to be a person for a while.”

I could feel the mental pressure keeping me on my hands and knees and restricting my speech lift. I knew that I wasn’t free, since Master had played similar games before, to show me how I was always under his control. Slowly, I rose to my feet, and turned to Triel. “Sister! How could you tell him those things? Don’t you know what’s going to happen to us now?”

My sister was normally somewhat reserved when it came to men. But now she just smiled, and said, “Oh yes, Iceblade here is going to have sex with us and see if we can’t have kids. It will be a great start to building a bridge between our peoples, right?” Of course, my sister was also a bit of a ditz at times, and it seems that Master’s charm made such a simple reason enough for the ‘Ambassador’ to lose sight of things. Damn him!

“Yes, I’m not just about slaughtering my enemies. I also like to think of the future. Because I’m such a great guy, and all.” Master laughed. “Now, Sexkitten, why don’t you help Triel out of her clothes?” Even when he’s about to violate me and my sister, I don’t get my real name?

I could cry, but all that comes out is a smile, and me saying, “Yes, Master,” before I start to strip my sister of her clothes. I’m very aware that I am presenting myself to Master as I do so. I don’t know where my will ends and his control begins any more.

Oh, Mother, I’m losing myself!

(Later)

“Aah!” I can’t help but moaning as Triel writhes on top of me, her furry backside grinding against my face, forcing my tongue into her sex. I’d never kissed a woman before I met Master. Not more than a peck on the cheek to Mother, anyway. Now I’ve shown my sister everything my tongue can do. I can still taste Master within her. I hated the taste at first, but I think I’m addicted now.

“Mmmm!” I moan again as Master thrusts into me. I can feel his strong hands on my hips, holding me, claiming me. Oh Maker, I may really be falling for this man! “Oomph!” Or at least his cock! Did I just say that? He’s been corrupting me more and more as these weeks have gone by. I don’t think I’ll ever be the same.

(Later)

It has been hours, and Master has allowed me to go to the kitchen and get drinks for the three of us. But I must keep these toys inside me the whole time, or I’ll be punished. These toys, helping keep the man’s seed in both my sex and my rear. My sister is also ‘plugged’, but she’s currently on her knees, worshipping Master’s cock.

I walk past the door where Master’s sister sleeps, when she is home, and smell the smell of a Brekthal male getting aroused. It robs me of my strength, as it does to all Brekthal females when they are in heat. After the hours of intense lovemaking, I can barely control myself enough to keep going to the kitchen. I hear a crack of a whip from the sister’s room. She enjoys being what the human communication network calls a ‘dominatrix’. I pity the poor male, probably an aide of Triel’s.

I barely make it back to the room with the three beers I was allowed to get. I don’t like this ‘beer’. It tastes funny, and it messes with my head. A single ‘beer’ is enough to seriously impair my thinking. This ‘alcohol’ that is in it seems to affect Brekthals much more than humans, as Master and the other slaves can drink more than I can. But that isn’t why I’m having trouble walking. My wetness, combined with Master’s seed and the ‘stimulation’ from the sister’s room, make it so I have to clench, with my legs pressed tight together, to keep the toy inside me. But I make it! As I enter, I’m in time to see Triel swallowing Master’s seed.

(Later)

Master has finally left us alone for a bit to, as he said, ‘take care of business’. Which means he’s in the bathroom. I’m just glad that Master isn’t into some of the things he’s made me watch or read on the human communication network. He isn’t a fan of forcing a slave to drink his urine or swallow his excrement, so I don’t have to worry about being turned into a toilet. I just hope he never gets interested in this ‘Dolcett’ thing more than just looking at pictures.

Shaking aside idle thoughts, I look to Triel, who is sprawled in bed beside me, her hands running across my fur. “Triel, what is happening? I’ve only heard a little of the war, mostly what has happened here.”

Dazedly, Triel looks up from my breasts, and sighs. “Honestly? People are scared. You know what your ‘Master’ did in the Argetha system, yes? That was, apparently, a ‘warning shot’ to the Empire. And I’ve confirmed that he is responsible, directly or indirectly, through his organization, for the destruction of eighteen Kratuan warships, including two of their city-sized hiveships. He’s personally responsible for the destruction of ten of those.”

“A tenth of a cycle ago or so, he intruded on a meeting of the Imperial Senate on Rithena Prime. Explosives ripped apart the Kratuan delegation and sealed the exits, and then he slaughtered the entire Senate, and their bodyguards, single-handedly. All the while, this was broadcast to every screen and viewer on the planet, with people unable to change channel or turn devices off. People are terrified of him for his ability to slaughter the Senate. The governments, however, are more terrified of how he controlled all those machines simultaneously.”

“That would be the sister. And that wasn’t the extent of her ability, either. In Argetha, she manipulated all the stations simultaneously in the SYSTEM, reinforcing shields and structural integrity before beginning a de-orbit burn. It wasn’t a virus that did that, it was just her, in real time.”

Triel’s eyes went wide at that thought. “Then isn’t she the more powerful of the two? Why does she let your Master lead?”

“Partly because she isn’t interested in the ‘fieldwork’. It seems that, before the war, they acted as thieves and assassins, with the sister staying here at the lair using cameras and satellites to help Master by telling him where enemies are coming from, and things like that. She also helps limit his vengeful side, somewhat. Master said that she is the one who said they should offer the choice of surrender instead of slaughtering the crews of the stations.”

“Really?”

“Yes. When Master feels someone has betrayed or wronged him, he likes to make his point as brutally as possible. This way, he says, fewer people wish to try their luck.”

“Now, you’ve been getting pretty chatty, Sexkitten. I think it is time for you to go back to being a cat.”

Oh no, I hadn’t heard him come in! I can’t even beg for mercy, as the pressure clamps back down on my mind. “Nyaaaah!” I couldn’t help but wail as I found myself restricted once again.

“So, what else is happening in the Empire, Triel?”

Sister gulped, and said, “Well, Father has barred warships from other governments from passing through Brekthal space, technically in both ways. Between your display at the Imperial capital and what you did to the Argetha system, few blame him for trying to limit casualties to his people.”

She sighed. “As for the rest, the Kratuans are under pressure to keep put, since they started the whole mess, and they have agreed, in part because the cost of the war is far greater than the benefits are supposed to be. But there are other races that are more warlike, and see Humans as an upstart challenger.”

“HISSS!” Oh no. She can only be talking about one race. The last time they thought a ‘challenger’ had appeared, it had led to twenty years of war against the Kratuans, a war that eventually brought the Kratuans into the Empire, but devastated many planets and even whole systems.

“Yes, sister. The Silaxians are moving. Father wouldn’t let them through Brekthal space, but they will certainly take the ‘long’ way round. You should expect them in the next few months.”

Chapter 10 – Against the Rising Tide

“From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.”

--William Shakespeare, Henry V

January 23, 2018 – VS Vengeance, Br’kant System (Twelve Jumps from Earth)

<Iceblade POV>

Advance warning of an enemy attack is a beautiful thing. It allows one to prepare the field, and arrange ambushes for the attackers. We had not been idle since the victory in the Argetha system. Even with my venture to Rithena Prime to butcher the Senate, the Vendetta had been working hard to make sure that Earth was ready for the next attack, whenever it came. Though I admit my work in Argetha and at Rithena Prime had helped push back the attack months, as the Silexians attempted to force a resolution for war, but were eventually forced to settle for sending a subjugation force. The subjugation force then tried to go through Brekthal space, and was rebuffed, because no one wanted to piss me off except some battle maniac lizards. So they had to go the long way round.

The Vendetta, too, had expanded in preparation for the next attack. But we wouldn’t be sitting back waiting for the enemy to come to them. One of the freighters captured at Argetha was rechristened the Fool’s Gambit, and converted into an escort carrier, capable of holding all twenty of our fighters, as well as four shuttles. The Freighter’s shields were reworked and strengthened, copying the corvette’s design, and allowing it to cloak.

A second freighter had been converted into an assault frigate. The newly named Dragonflame had received the same shield modifications as the first freighter, but had dramatically improved armor, and particle weapons on four turrets, with rail gun turrets for point defense. But the true power of the Dragonflame was in the experimental weapon system hooked up to the Tokomak reactor: the pulse torpedo.

A pulse torpedo is nothing more or less than a couple dozen molecules of anti-hydrogen compressed in a magnetic bottle that is then fired from the torpedo tubes. When the magnetic bottle loses energy (or hits a target), the anti-hydrogen is released, and the ensuing annihilation reaction is quite predictable, and extremely unfortunate for anyone who happens to be in the blast radius. The Dragonflame, as a result of its formerly civilian nature, was forced to fit the torpedo launchers into what used to be the cargo hold, firing broadside. However, she was able to fire a full spread of ten torpedoes to one side, or a spread of five simultaneously on both sides of the ship, thanks to the innovative tube design with the ‘bottles’ being prepared down the centerline of the ship in ten stations, and then opening either the port or starboard tube to fire.

The pulse torpedoes and their launchers were not anything the Empire had considered before. In fact, most species capable of generating antimatter were far too sensible to do anything so undeniably insane as to try and weaponize it. No, they were the products of human super-science, a collaboration between supervillain Doctor Destruction and hero Professor Proton. The two had been rivals or archenemies for over a decade, but set aside their differences at the start of the war to start designing weapons systems. Oh sure, they nearly killed eachother six times while working (purely out of habit), but they got results.

Now, on the bridge of the Vengeance, I watched the scanners impatiently. If the enemy couldn’t get through Brekthal space without starting a civil war, then this was the quickest route to Sol System. Oh, I didn’t really believe that my little strike force could actually stop the fleet here. Honestly, there was almost no chance of that, even with the liberal amount of cheating I was about to do. However, I fully intended to bleed them, and make them take their time. Every day they delayed the enemy was another day that Earth had to prepare. Every ship crippled or destroyed was another ship taken from the invasion.

The tachyon surge announced the fleet’s arrival. Unlike the Kratuan fleet which were basically armed carriers for their ground forces, this was a proper fleet of warships. I looked at the sensor tallies, and noted that there were over a hundred ships, ranging from corvettes like the Vengeance to a set of six super-dreadnaughts. This would be quite the fight. Looking to the captain, I said, “Mines.”

A moment later, nuclear fire erupted into endless black, as thirty nuclear warheads went off in the middle of the Silexian formation. “All ships, fire at will. Maintain stealth tactics. Random course variations in all three dimensions. Let’s not make things easy on the bastards, yeah?” Of course, our sensors were still coming back online from the firestorm, but we were expecting it, and had targets premarked. The Silexians had just jumped in, and were rewarded with a shitstorm of energy.

Fire rained down on the enemy ships. We were targeting the weaker ships, the corvettes and frigates first. Their shields would have been the most strained by the mines, their armor thinner, and easier to penetrate. Of course, I wasn’t going to let them off with just savaging their escorts. Why would I let such a perfect opportunity for mayhem pass me by?

Turning, I looked to Web Mistress, and said, “Let me know when you crack their comms. I want to know which ship has their commander.” This, of course, was the other reason I used the nukes. Doesn’t matter what kind of comms you use, that much radiation in a concentrated area is going to disrupt your network. Which means you’re going to need to rebuild it. If you can catch the comm traffic, you can tell which ships are in command, because that’s where all the reports are going. Forcing them to rebuild their tactical network was going to give me their complete force structure. And then I’d get to dust off my skills as an assassin, and begin having fun.

As she worked, the tactical picture became clearer. Of the forty corvette-class craft and thirty frigates, ten had been destroyed outright, between our mines and the weapons fire. Another seven were disabled, and likely would have to be scrapped. Fourteen were damaged, but repairable. What interested me, though, were six that hadn’t been overly damaged, but were adrift. Computers said that they had likely had their shields stripped by the shockwave, and then the crew fried by radiation, but they hadn’t been hit by our follow-up attacks. The six frigates were older models, primarily used for fleet support, carrying extra spare parts and the like. HAH! We killed their IT guys! Take THAT Geek Squad!

“I’m in. We have their command ship. It is the superdreadnaught in the center.”

“All right. Are we in position?”

“We’ll be ready for ring transport by the time you get to the chamber.”

“All right. I’m on my way. Web Mistress, see if you can’t disable their lightspeed drives. Leave the warp drives, but I want them moving across systems at sublight. Captain, once I’m away, have all ships fall back, and remain cloaked. Harass the bastards as you see fit. Once they’re slowed to sublight, they’ll put out a fighter screen. You know what to do with fighter screens.”

“Aye aye, sir!” There was a twinkle in his eye that promised he was going to enjoy the next few hours of cat and mouse. Those games were always so much more fun when you were the cat. With a nod, I turned, and left the bridge.

January 23, 2018 – SNS Thaurank, Br’kant System

Travel by rings is always a bit disorienting, but I was used to it by now. Fortunately, ring travel also usually caught whoever was nearby by surprise as well, as I was staring at four Silexian soldiers. Unlike the Kratuans, the Silexians were actually smart enough to post guards at obvious ways onto their command ships. These guys were going to be much more of a challenge, it seemed.

For those who’ve never seen a Silexian warrior, picture a lizardman from those old roleplaying games. Then make them about eight feet tall, with sharp claws and teeth, and intelligence at least average to that of humans. They’re big, strong, and tough. Oh, and they just LOVE fights.

So, when this human not even six feet tall darts in, uses one Silexian as a springboard, before cutting off the guy’s head and then spinning to bury a shard of ice in a second’s brain, you could say it was on. Number three managed to get his stance, and swung at me with what looked to be the bastard child of a sword and an axe. His skills were actually not that bad, but against someone who focuses on agility and speed, that kind of thing isn’t going to work, unless he can force me to play his game. Me, I cheat. Big, strong guys tend to put up less resistance when they’re missing a leg, which number three found out shortly as I ducked a blow from the axesword (that’s what I’m calling it, to hell with whatever the alien name for it is), and cut off his right leg above the knee.

By this point, number four had raised the alarm. That actually meant things were going to plan. I needed to create chaos if I was going to find the bigwig, and put him down. Oh, and killing a few officers along the way sounded like fun, too. Still, it meant I couldn’t play around anymore. Also, this guy was smart enough to try and stay away and shoot me with his rifle. Would have worked if I hadn’t turned to mist, and let the slugs pass through me. Out of respect, I made his death memorable. Silexian scales, flesh, and bone are tough, and make it difficult to cut them without one of those big axeswords or energy blades. Frozen Wind, however, was a special blade, and I unleashed one of my nastiest moves on this warrior.

To the uneducated, it would look like a phantom slash, since the blade didn’t draw blood, or even seem to impact upon the warrior’s scales. But then the warrior’s body turned to ice, ice dressed in the uniform of a warrior and carrying weapons in its frozen hands. I didn’t use this ability often, as magic ice sculptures that refuse to melt regardless of the temperature tend to cause a scene. Also, I don’t know the magic to reverse the transformation, and never bothered to find out. No clue whether the guy is still conscious or not in there. No one who I’ve transformed has ever made it back to tell me. Of course, that might be because I dumped them in a cave near the top of Mt. Everest. Even if they were returned to normal, waking up naked and alone in a cave above 20,000 feet is going to make one’s life expectancy a matter of hours, at best.

Anyways, I looked down at number three, snarling at me from the floor, and said, “And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” OK, remix of Revelation, but it sounds so much cooler when you’re standing over a defeated enemy with bloody sword in hand. The aliens won’t know the source anyways, so it is all good.

Turning from the Silexian, I faded into mist, and began to search the ship. I had a rough idea of where the bridge was but exploring was fun. Plus, the more intel I got about their security procedures, the easier future raids would be. Oh yes, there would be future raids.

Every so often, I would pop back into solid form behind groups of one or two, and quickly kill them before turning to mist again. All the while, working my way to the flag deck. If I could make noise in this form, I’d probably be humming a tune.

(Later)

<Narrator POV>

Master of Fleets Tokomel G’Than was standing in the Information Nexus, reviewing the records of the previous battle. He’d heard the intruder alerts, but didn’t bother with them. Ship’s Master Caig was in charge of on ship security, and was good at his job, which was why he had been promoted to serve on the flagship of the Second Silexian Battle Fleet. No, G’Than’s concern was the battle at the warpgate earlier.

The enemy clearly knew they were coming. That was the only way they could have set a watch so far out from the target system. This meant that they had spies within the Empire. Probably placed with those Brekthal weaklings. The damages to the Argetha system had been severe, and G’Than had to admit that they would have been far worse if the enemy hadn’t advertised their intentions, allowing relief ships to be dispatched quickly. In G’Than’s view, the Brekthal were weaklings, but not cowards. It was natural for the weaker creature to fear a predator.

No, what angered him were the rest of the races in the Empire. First the Kratuans underestimate the forces needed to strike a killing blow, and then allow a race that had barely gotten off the surface of their own planet before destroy their fleet and steal imperial weapons, which were then used to assault the Empire. And then the rest of the Empire, unable to come to a consensus on what had to be done, after the blow dealt to them by the death of the Senate. They were cowards of the worst sort.

From his command chair, G’Than issued commands throughout the fleet to maintain close formation, and use active scanners. The enemy already knew they were there, but active scans were the only hope of detecting stealthed ships. Especially since it seemed that the humans had not only converted a couple freighters into warships, but even gave them, and a corvette, the ability to cloak, and remain cloaked while firing. Sure, the weapons gave away their position, but by the time the sensors caught on to the weapons, backtracked their origin, and weapons were fired in return, the enemy was long gone, moving in three dimensions. These humans were no strangers to war, and they learned far too quickly.

The new orders would ensure that the fleet maintained a defensive posture, with overlapping sensor fields to keep the enemy from getting too close. But that wasn’t what worried him. He could only hope that they had a limited number of those nuclear mines they had used to block the warpgate. While the battleships and cruisers were able to pass through with no difficulty, the little corvettes and frigates, which were best suited to hunting down enemy stealth ships, had been savaged. Twenty-three ships were gone, and another fourteen damaged to the point that they would be days, if not weeks, before they could properly rejoin the battle line. But he couldn’t leave them alone, or they would undoubtedly be destroyed.

The six Nordyth-class frigates that held the majority of their support staff and spare parts had to be taken under tow. Their crews had been killed by radiation from the bombs when the shields failed, and the interior surfaces of the ship had been irradiated to the point that it would be at least a tenth of a cycle before anyone could go on board, even in suits. That the ships survived at all is a testament to their builders, but they had been built during the last generation of stealth technology, as a trial to see if they could use stealth on ships larger than shuttles. Without the shields, their hull design, which used absorptive materials to reduce their sensor threshold, actually helped draw in the radiation, cooking the crews alive. It was a flaw in the technology that led to the end of the EM Absorption line of stealth technology. And that flaw cost the fleet their best support staff, just as lightspeed drives were melting down across the fleet.

Even worse, there were signs that the humans were experimenting with new weapons, unlike anything the Empire had used. That meant that not only were these mammals able to steal and modify Imperial technology, but they could make new technology as well. But what in the infinite singular abyss could possess a species to try and make a weapon out of antimatter? And to put that weapon on a converted freighter, no less! G’Than couldn’t deny the effectiveness of the weapon, half the destroyed and disabled ships, minus the six support frigates, could be credited to that freighter’s new weapon.

That was what was driving G’Than to distraction, trying to come up with countermeasures to the single most deadly substance in the known universe. The Silexian beam weapons were useless against a target like that. Energy did nothing to antimatter. And the things flew at speeds that could be measured in significant fractions of the speed of light, meaning that, even if he was ruthless enough, he could not order fighters to maneuver into sacrificial positions. The only saving grace seemed to be that shields could mitigate the damage somewhat. But if shields were down, or weakened, then a hit would destroy one of the small craft. He shuddered to think what multiple hits even on one of the larger ships would do.

Wait, that wasn’t just a shudder, but a shiver. Had someone turned down the temperature on the deck? G’Than opened his mouth to say something, only to find that he was falling onto the table. And then he looked, and saw his body still in the chair, and the butcher of the senate standing behind him, looking out over where his head used to rest on those shoulders. And then he saw no more.

Epilogue – Waves Upon the Rocks

Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight. If they will face death, there is nothing they may not achieve. Officers and men alike will put forth their uttermost strength.

--Sun Tzu, The Art of War

July 4, 2018 – Sol System

The Tachyon flash once again told of the arrival of an alien fleet. This time, however, Earth knew what to look for. This time, they were ready. Twenty torpedo boats, small ships barely large enough for their crew of five along with the Tokomak reactor and a pair of pulse torpedo launchers, launched their weapons at the incoming fleet, before engaging cloaks and scattering. The little ships had incredible power, but the small reactors could only generate enough antimatter for two shots every half hour. But for hit and run tactics, the Breaker-class torpedo boats were just what Earth needed.

From the fires emerged the Silexian fleet. Six superdreadnaughts, twelve destroyers, twelve cruisers, fifteen frigates, and five lucky corvettes. Fifty ships out of a hundred and ten. The Vendetta had lived up to its name, having returned to Sol system just the day before to report on their success. Out of the three ships, six shuttles, and twenty fighters that left, ten fighters were lost, and the Dragonflame had taken heavy damage shielding the lightly armored Fool’s Gambit. But the losses they had inflicted on the enemy were enough to launch their names into legend.

The Silexian command structure was shattered. The highest ranking naval officer in the fleet was a Ship’s Master who had been commanding one of the corvettes when they started this journey. Assassins and ship losses had taken all the more senior Ship’s Masters, as well as all the Masters of Ships and the Master of Fleets. The officers that remained had been through a trial by fire, but they were young, inexperienced, and afraid. The Butcher of Rithena had openly taunted the fleet throughout the voyage, ever since that first devastating attack. In the last few attacks, he had not even bothered killing anyone other than his target, as though the rest of the Silexians were beneath his notice.

Silexian warriors did not like this feeling of fear. Driven mad by rage, they plunged down into the gravity well of the system that had started all this killing. They must bring this world to its knees, or else all would be lost. But when they attempted the standard orbital bombardment, they found that dome shields covered the cities, using the energy of the incoming weapons to fuel the shields. The Silexians could fire until their ships were cold, dead hulks in space, and the shields would hold.

So, on the Fourth of July, Silexian troops began landing in locations on all six inhabited continents, meaning to take this world by force, whatever the cost.

It would not be long before they wished fervently to be back on their ships. The militaries of Earth had not been idle. And superheroes and villains all across the world answered the call to battle. For the first time in history, mankind fought as one, under a single banner, the United Solari government.

Only one group stood apart, but none faulted them for it. Everyone knew by now that the Vendetta wouldn’t run away. They had exhausted themselves buying humanity the time it needed to defend their home. The Solari military would gladly hold the line so they could lick their wounds and recover. Everyone had a grudge against the invaders. Everyone wanted to get their licks in while they could. It was only a matter of time before the Vendetta returned to the fray.

And when they did, everyone knew that these aliens would learn the true meaning of Hell.

Book III – The Price of Peace

Prologue – Never Start a Land War in Asia

“Who am I? I am a man of many names. Some call me a Villain. Some ‘that sadistic bastard’. Some call me Master. I am a killer, a murderer. I have slaughtered more intelligent beings than Hitler, Stalin, and Mao put together. Some know me as the Butcher of Rithena. Others name me the Demon of Argetha.

You can call me Death.”

--Iceblade addressing the Emperor of the Rithenal Empire

August 24, 2018 – Chengdu, Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China

“The Invaders think they can come and take your homes! Your lives! Your children! Show them spirit of the people! FIGHT!”

The crowd cheered as the militia commander rallied them. They weren’t Army, but they had trained for this, ever since news of the invasion was brought to the world by the American villain, Iceblade. Because of the Vendetta, they’d had time to prepare. The Silexians had encamped outside the city, and were making it their own. This could not be allowed.

Heroes and villains from across Asia stood side by side with the common man, with the militaries of Asia at their back. It was here that the first landings had been made, and they were not going to allow this to succeed.

For over a month, they had fought. Some battles won, others lost. They had managed to keep the lizards out of the cities, away from the shields that protected their families, their children, from the ships in orbit. Again today, they fought. They would go on fighting, until these aliens learned their lesson and left, or until the last one lay dead. Most didn’t care which, at this point.

The attack came, charging at the barricades. Super powers, magic, and science combined with the will of normal humans, blasting the enemy, keeping them from overwhelming the barricades. The fighting was tough, but Silexians were no match for humans when it came to not knowing when to quit.

Slowly but surely, the Silexians advanced, until it got to knife range. The dead and dying were numerous on both sides, but still they fought on, like savages. Even if overwhelmed by enemy firepower, they would continue the fight. Even if their weapons couldn’t penetrate enemy armor, they would aim for the joints, or the eyes. Even if they were brought into melee, they would fight with a knife. Even if the knife shattered, they would fight with their teeth. No one quit. No one ran. Chinese, Koreans, Russians, Japanese, all of Asia was here, fighting the invaders.

In the middle of it all, Ibuki, the nine-tailed fox spirit of Kyoto fought side by side with Attila, a warlord who wished to see the Mongol Empire of old reformed, with himself at the head. Mortal enemies before, now they trusted eachother with their backs, neither one wanting anyone else to take the glory of finishing their rival. And still, they were being pushed back.

And then, in the middle of the fighting alien ranks, a beam of light descended, followed by transfer rings. When the light cleared, several people were standing there, weapons at the ready. And the one dressed in blue lifted his katana as they charged into the fray.

Across the battlefield, the cry went up. “The Vendetta has come!” Men fought harder against the aliens, eager to share the field with those who had fought against the aliens from the beginning. They began to push the boundaries back, retaking the barricades.

This renewed vigor did not spread to the aliens. The Silexians knew only fear. The image of the man in blue had been shown across the Empire. All had seen as he slaughtered the Senate on Rithena. But each one of them knew the terror of that man firsthand, having seen so many of their comrades die because of him. A wail rose up amongst the ranks. “The Butcher has come!” The lines faltered, and then broke with the sudden assault, as the Vendetta began cutting their way towards the barricade.

In the enemy command center, a commander looked at the screen in horror. Unbidden, the words came to his lips, “For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” They hadn’t known what the words meant when the Butcher first said them aboard the Thaurank, but he had done his research since entering the system. It was from a holy book for one of this world’s religions, talking about the end of the world.

Croaking a command, he said, “Pull the warriors back. All artillery, prepare to fire on the Butcher’s position.” No one dared disagree. The terror of this man had been ingrained so deeply into them.

Upon the field, the enemy troops broke and ran, but the commanders knew better than to allow the militia to give chase. The artillery barrage that broke over the battlefield lasted for a good ten minutes, but the militia commander simply smiled, since the Vendetta had chosen that moment to appear in the center of the lines behind the barricades, to a heroes’ welcome. The former policeman had to laugh. Even before the war, their leader, Iceblade, had been known as a sly fox, always escaping the traps set for him. A blunt and straightforward attack like that was doomed to fail.

Turning to his communications officer, he said, “Spread the word, Wu. To all commands, all governments. Tell them that the Vendetta has returned to the fight.”

Looking back at his monitor, the commander smiled, even as he planned his next moves. “And let their ancestors show them mercy, for we most certainly will not.”

Chapter 1 – Alone in the Mist

“There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.”

– Ernest Hemmingway

October 2, 2018 – Near Bastogne, Belgium

The natives called this area ‘France’. Or was that another area? Warrior First Rank C’than Gron didn’t think it meant anything in particular. It didn’t matter anyways. They were here to subjugate the population that had launched attacks on the Empire. He didn’t care about the rest, so long as it meant he got to fight an honorable battle.

Without realizing it, Gron and his patrol of five had wandered into a patch of mist. The cool air bothered him, but not enough to call a halt to the patrol. The mist did nothing to impede their navigation aids. All of a sudden, there was a noise to his side, and one of his warriors dropped from the tactical network. Gron turned to look, but could only see three shapes in the mist where there had been four before. As the four warriors gathered where the fifth used to be, they saw their comrade, dead, his head lying next to his body.

Another sound startled them before they could panic or even react to the body. Gron looked over, and saw the second of his warriors fall to the ground, a hole in his chest where a blade had run through it.

Another sound. Another body fell. And then another sound, and he was alone.

And then a shape formed in the mist, just before a blade drove through his heart. As he fell, Gron saw the mist disappear, and with it, the shape. And then everything turned black.

From the first sound to the last, the ‘battle’ lasted less than a minute.

November 11, 2018 – Rithenal Outpost, near Murzuk, Libya

Night in the desert was cold. Like all Silexians, Leader Kor Thudra was cold-blooded. If not for the regulating properties of their suits, the cold would make them weak. But the Silexians were a desert people. They knew how to live in the desert, and to overcome its dangers. Even those in a desert of a foreign world.

The humans did not like the desert, however. They were weak, and could not stand the heat. That was why this outpost had been made one of the main spots for the crews of the ships above to rotate down for shore leave, or for units from other outposts to rotate in after heavy battle. Currently, Thudra had over two hundred warriors here under his command. But there had been more and more need for outposts like his, as units all over the world had been getting ambushed and killed. The only clue they had was that a mist was reported in the area before each patrol fell silent.

After the horrors of the trip over, when the Butcher of Rithena killed at will across the fleet, they now faced this new threat. Dealing with the human armies, even these powered individuals, was nothing the Silexians could not handle. But this new figure preying on them, which the troops had started calling the Mistwalker, had been picking them off little by little, a death by a thousand cuts. It was to the point that there were at least two attacks every night, somewhere in the world. That was why Thudra had called the patrols back before nightfall. There was no use giving the Mistwalker easy prey, after all.

A cry came from the lookouts, and Thudra turned, and sighed. An icy mist had risen in the desert, and was closing in on the outpost, fast. “PREPARE FOR BATTLE!”

Come the dawn, there was nothing left but the ruins of the outpost, littered with the bodies of dead warriors. At the center of the camp, Kor Thudra was displayed, impaled upon his own warspear, with a warning carved in his chest in Rithenal Standard. It read, All will die.

November 21, 2018 – Rithenal Outpost, 20 miles outside Wichita, Kansas

Sub-Leader Krex gripped the hilt of his trok-tar, the traditional blade of a Silexian warrior, what the locals had started calling an ‘axesword’. A disrespectful name for a weapon of honor. One more reason to rid the universe of these mammals.

As the mist began settling across the outpost, he saw the men getting into defensive formations. They already knew that walls and barricades had no meaning against the Mistwalker. So the troops stood in simple rings, groups of five with their backs to one another, facing outwards. This, it was thought, would be the best defense against the unseen foe. A few brave (or foolish) souls, like Krex himself, walked through the camp alone, daring the Mistwalker to come out and face them in honorable combat.

Ten minutes after the mist was first sighted, the screaming began. Running to the site of the screams, Krex cursed as he saw what was before him. One warrior out of a ring of five had been struck down, his legs cut off at the knees. But the Mistwalker left him alive, at least for now. And he could tell that, unlike with the other attacks, they still had communications. The Mistwalker wanted them to suffer, and wanted the entire force to know they were suffering before they died.

As screams of pain and fear began to spread throughout the camp, Krex began to get a sinking feeling. This kind of terror, could the Mistwalker be the Butcher that hunted them across the stars? What was it the humans called him, Iceblade? He had always thought that the name had to do with the terrible weapon the man wielded, as well as ice powers he showed. Oh maker. Ice powers. Icy mist. A terror striking in the night. Could it really be that simple?

There was no use in hiding, or in running, chasing the sounds of the screams. By the time he reached the screams, the Mistwalker would have already moved on to other prey. No, if he was going to survive this night, he would have to find a position to defend himself. With few options, he placed his back against the wall of the mess hall, and waited.

Was it hours he waited, or merely minutes? He couldn’t tell any more. Time had no meaning in the mist, where the only reference point was the directions of the screams. There were five hundred warriors here. Normally, Krex would not even conceive of anyone being able to defeat them, certainly not single-handedly. But if this was the Butcher’s doing, if the Butcher and the Mistwalker were in fact the same… The very idea made Krex feel something he had never felt before, fear. Not the fear one faces in battle, or the fear one feels when confronting a potential mate’s family for the first time, but the primal fear, that of a prey animal being stalked by a hunter.

Slowly, the screams of pain began to stop. Sometimes they changed, just before the end, to pleas for mercy, or screams of terror. But always, they were cut off, and fell silent. “So the bastard is ending it now, hmm?” Was it courage, or just the wish to spit in the face of death before it claimed him, Krex couldn’t say, but he gathered his breath, and shouted, “COWARD! LEAVE THE WOUNDED AND FACE ME IN COMBAT!”

And then the mist slowly began to disappear. Krex looked at his network, and saw that, out of over five hundred warriors, he was one of only twenty who remained alive. And by the status from the biomonitors in their suits, the other nineteen were all gravely wounded. Even if they could get a shuttle to take them to one of the ships in orbit, some would not survive. Even those who might live would need medical care in the Empire, where they could get cybernetic limbs fitted for them, before they could ever rejoin the ranks of warriors.

Krex looked at the man before him, and his blood went cold. He knew that masked figure. He was right, after all. Still, he had called the challenge, now he must see the battle through. All that was left for him was to die with honor. “BUTCHER OF RITHENA! I AM HATTA KREX, SUB-LEADER OF THE ARMY OF SILEX! KNOW ME! KNOW YOUR DOOM! FOR HONOR AND GLORY!” And, yelling, Krex charged, his trok-tar held high.

The Butcher did not appear to be impressed by the Silexian’s attitude, for the only sound he made was a simple, “Hoh.”

<Iceblade POV>

Usually, when I pull this kind of trick, people go and piss themselves, or do something stupid, like try to run away. Oh, they also make with the begging for their miserable lives, like most of these bastards did once I showed myself to them. But this guy was different.

I’d left him alone, since he seemed to be an officer, and actually had a good head on his shoulders throughout the ordeal. Deliberately leaving behind a witness would only serve to make my legend grow amongst the Silexians. When they learned that I was hunting them here on the ground, the fear would take them anytime so much as a bit of steam rose off a lake in the morning.

Now, for a ‘normal’ person, one man taking on five hundred would be straight suicide. And, really, if I fought fair, even I wouldn’t be able to take those numbers. But, as I always tell people, I cheat. I mean, I could do some kind of area attack and freeze them all at once, but I want to save that kind of thing for when it will really count. No, instead of one fight against five hundred, I’ve done a few hundred fights against one or two at a time. Much easier.

How am I doing such an overpowered thing, like the main character out of some light novel or anime? Glad you asked, voices in my head! Simple, really. First, you spread out an icy mist over the whole camp, and make it so the enemy has visibility measured in feet. This helps isolate groups, making for easy pulls. Then, you go and turn yourself into mist, and pop back into being solid long enough to strike, before becoming mist again. Rinse and repeat. Kinda tiring, after a couple hours’ work, but effective as all hell.

Now, though, the last Silexian still in possession of all his limbs has decided to call me out for slaughtering the wounded. I could ignore him. Really, I ought to ignore him. But I’m here to spread my legend, and dodging accusations of cowardice is NOT what I want to do. I am a thief and an assassin, but I am also, to some degree, a swordsman, and a martial artist. When one trains in martial arts, certain behaviors are drilled into you. One of those behaviors is the art of dueling.

A duel between swordsmen isn’t a ‘fair fight’, of course, and it isn’t an exhibition match or spar between comrades. It is a fight to the death, or until one side yields. One need not fight as the enemy fights, trying to match their strength or speed. You fight a single foe, who knows you are coming and is coming for you in turn, and attempt to end their life. I rarely fight duels, partly because I am an assassin, but mostly because there are few I consider worthy of a duel that I truly wish to kill. There are plenty of sword-wielding heroes and villains out there, and while I spar or play with them from time to time, I never fight a serious duel with them.

I let the mist fade away, and stand about twenty paces from the warrior, my blade in hand. The guy has one of those axeswords (I hear the Silexians HATE that name for the weapon, so I use it as often as possible) and has the look of a man who is going to charge headlong into death.

“BUTCHER OF RITHENA! I AM HATTA KREX, SUB-LEADER OF THE ARMY OF SILEX! KNOW ME! KNOW YOUR DOOM! FOR HONOR AND GLORY!”

“Hoh.” I’m a little impressed, actually. The man knows he is going to die, but rather than cower like a child, he’s decided to go out fighting, on his terms. And what did he call me, Butcher of Rithena? Must be from my playtime at the Senate. Guess I’ve gotten myself a reputation.

Oh, yeah, the guy is charging at me, looking like he wants to split me in two. Probably ought to do something about that. I step to the side, allowing the downward strike to pass through where I formerly was.

I can’t play the game of blocking (or even parrying!) that huge weapon with my katana. Frozen Wind is awesome, but the size and weight of the two weapons (and their wielders) is too different. I’d be lucky just to get broken arms. And I could just mist form, and then cut him down from behind, and I probably still will if things get too hairy, but this warrior came at me with the resolution to die, and that’s worthy of respect, at least.

Ducking under a sideways blow, I come up, inside the lizard’s guard, and slash with my blade, before darting back out of range again. Fresh blood flows from the warrior’s gut, as he has to take one hand to hold his intestines in. Just because I honor the man’s determination doesn’t mean I’m going to play nice, or fair. Another swing, clumsier this time because the enemy is only using one arm, and I’m inside the guard again, slicing the back of the lizard’s leg. His stance crumbles as the leg gives out on him, tendons slit by the blade.

Again the attack and counter. Again, and again. The Silexian is down on his knee now, and only by using his axesword as a cane is he able to keep from falling. I move in for the killing blow, and…

“GAH!”

Pain! I turn, and see one of the wounded warriors pointing his hand-blaster at me. The bastard shot me in the back! Well, that’s what I get for losing sight of the big picture. Fortunately, I’m a big believer in armor. What would be a fatal wound if I was out of costume is merely something I’d need surgery for now (if I didn’t have access to healing back at the lair). Before this Sub-Leader Krex can take advantage, I spin and kick his blade, causing him to sprawl on the ground, while I dodge another shot from the wounded man. Damn, that hurts! With a flick of my wrist, a spear of ice impales the shooter, lifting him up into the air.

Breathing deeply, I turn back to Krex, who is on his knees now, still trying to rise. Walking over to him, I say, “You and your men were doomed to die the moment you set out to attack this world. Your men were weak, and gave in to fear, but you did not. For that, I will honor your sacrifice, and ease your passing. You may have a moment to prepare yourself.”

The warrior looks up at me like I’m some kind of death god, and says, slowly, “Are you going to do to my world what you did at Argetha?”

I shake my head at the question. “No, I will do far worse.”

“Then, my family. They live on Silex 4, on Korgn Plateau.”

I nod, knowing what he wants, without him saying it. “Surviving to bear witness to what I will do may not be the most merciful fate for them, you know.”

“But my children will live.”

“I understand. If it is within my power, I will see that your children survive. In what manner, I cannot yet say, but I will let the line of Krex bear witness to my wrath upon the Silexians to the rest of the Empire.”

The warrior nodded, and with great effort, raised himself up as much as he could, his guts falling through his fingers with the effort. “I am ready.”

My blade sings in the air as I remove a warrior’s head from his shoulders. “An honorable death.” Then I turn to the wounded Silexians, and say, “The rest of you, however…” I trail off in a laugh that even to my ears sounds evil, as I make sure that there are no survivors.

Chapter 2 – Attrition in the Skies

"Although extraordinary valor was displayed by the entire corps of Spartans and Thespians, yet bravest of all was declared the Spartan Dienekes. It is said that on the eve of battle, he was told by a native of Trachis that the Persian archers were so numerous that, when they fired their volleys, the mass of arrows blocked out the sun. Dienekes, however, quite undaunted by this prospect, remarked with a laugh, 'Good. Then we'll have our battle in the shade.' "

—Herodotus, The Histories

November 25, 2018 – USS Breaker, Low Earth Orbit

Lieutenant Liu Hai was proud of what humans had accomplished in the two short years since the aliens first showed up. Before, they were a multitude of different peoples, the UN a joke at the best of times. Now, they had joined together, as the United Solari Federation, a world government in the true sense. Oh, there were still disagreements, but this was a great step forward, one that would lead humanity to the stars.

And she was the captain of the first Solari warship. So what if it was only a torpedo boat with a crew of five, including herself? These were the first space-based warships designed and built wholly by humans. And they had spent the last few months proving themselves, again and again. The Vendetta had bought them time to prepare, and so twenty of the small, cloak-capable craft were built and ready to fight when the enemy showed up.

The little ships were barely the size of the shuttles the Vendetta had stolen, but with the new weapons, they were literally the most dangerous things humans had built since the atomic bomb. There was the tiny cockpit, with room enough for just her and her co-pilot, who also doubled as her torpedo man, a top-mounted turret hosting a pair of plasma cannons, good only for point defense against fighters (and for keeping her gunner occupied), a comms station (where her radio man/navigator resided), and a crawl space in the engine room, where her engineer kept this baby together. Oh, and there was a small mess area/bunk room, where they could sleep, eat, and maybe catch a shower. The close quarters pretty much shut down any body modesty people had. You either showered, or you stank, and stinking in an enclosed place like the boat wasn’t an option.

There had been twenty of the little boats at the start of the second invasion. Now they were down to eight, mostly due to enemy fighters that got lucky and were cloaked near a boat when they dropped their cloak to fire the torpedoes. But they had accomplished the impossible, sinking ship after ship in hit and run, wolf-pack attacks. Though they were united now, Humans were a warlike race, and the era of submarine warfare, especially, was rich fodder for the tactics of naval combat in space.

Especially the waiting. These ships were faster than anything that had ever flown on Earth, and their weapons were the stuff of nightmares, but that didn’t change the fact that ship to ship engagements could happen at distances that make Shanghai and Berlin look like next-door neighbors. The torpedoes alone had a maximum range measured in light-minutes, after all. And if one wished to use ballistic weaponry, then you could literally, with the right math and an unmoving target, attack someone from as far away as your sensors could lock on to them.

But Liu was used to waiting. She served on one of China’s attack submarines, before the Solari government was organized. It was strange, though, having to speak in English for the benefit of her crew. Her second, Hanz Kruger, was German. Her gunner Amy Grant, was American. Carlos Hidalgo was one of the best navigators the Spanish had. And Shiba Miyu, her engineer, was Japanese. They represented some of the best from their respective countries.

Now, they hung in space, waiting for the call that the rest of the flotilla was in position. The aliens had lost all their small craft, as they were picked off in ones and twos by the little ships. Now, the invasion force consisted of a mere twenty craft, five cruisers, nine destroyers, and those six superdreadnaughts. They still hadn’t been able to get enough weapons on target to destroy the big superdreadnaughts, but they had been rattled plenty, and none of the other ships were unscathed. Today, though, they heard that the Vendetta was going to be joining in their attack, and that their leader, Iceblade, would be commanding from the Dragonflame. Well, it was the ship with the heaviest armor and weapons they had, for the moment.

The plan, such as it was, could be called nothing short of insanity, but insane tactics seemed to be working for the Vendetta so far, so Liu was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Only a supervillain would think that making a lightspeed jump into the middle of an enemy formation, unleashing a full broadside at the enemy, and then jumping out again before they could react was a practical plan. The idea of timing it to a time on target attack from the flank so that everything exploded at the same time was madness itself. But if it worked…

Shaking her head, Liu checked her target coordinates again, passing them to Kruger in the second seat. “Has the computer made the calculations?”

“Yes, though all the data is a light-minute old. A lot can happen in a minute.”

A communication came from the Dragonflame. “We stick to the plan. Breaker and Swallow, on Cruiser 1. Petra and Tanto will target Cruiser 2. Moxie, Cheshire, Foxfire, and Blarney Stone will target Destroyer 1. Thirty seconds after the first salvo, we fire on secondary targets, recloak, and move while the Tokomaks recharge. Then we let the Dragonflame call the play.”

“Firing program put in, and ready to execute.”

“Execute.” When the time came, sixteen pulse torpedoes launched from eight ships, heading to their destination. Thirty seconds later, the second wave was launched. The enemy wouldn’t even know they were under attack for another thirty seconds, but the ships moved, anyway. The first torpedoes would reach the enemy a mere ten seconds after their light did. There would be no chance to evade.

November 25, 2018 – VS Dragonflame, Near Earth Orbit

“Emerging from Lightspeed in three, two, one, NOW!”
Captain Jane Trussell’s voice was tense. But then, they were engaging in maneuvers that would, literally, be suicide under normal circumstances. The only reason she didn’t question orders was because of the man standing behind her, the one who had brought the Vendetta together. She had personally witnessed him dive into the fire, and come out unsinged on the other side. If he said it was possible, then her ship and her crew would do their damndest to make it so.

They dropped out of lightspeed exactly where they expected to be. A ‘mere’ thousand meters from the flagship of the Silexian fleet. “FIRE!” A full broadside of ten pulse torpedoes launched, and she called out, “JUMP!”

Two light-minutes from where they had been, Trussell checked the monitors with Iceblade, waiting for the light to catch up to them. Her breath caught when she felt his hand rest on her shoulder, and he whispered in her ear, “Relax, Captain. As long as the captain looks at ease, the crew will be, too. Too tense, and the spring will break.” She nodded, but ‘relaxing’ wasn’t on her mind as she squirmed, not until his hand left her, and he returned his attention to the monitor.

Light exploded on the screen, carrying on for a good minute and a half, as the torpedo boats’ first salvo tore into their targets, wiping two cruisers and a destroyer from the sky. Just as the light began to fade, a second set of lights tore through the Thaurank, reducing the massive ship to its component atoms. And then the second salvo from the flotilla struck, sending two more cruisers and a destroyer to the abyss.

Iceblade nodded. “All ships maintain stealth and evasive maneuvering until they are two light minutes from the fleet. We will give them an hour to settle into a new pattern, and begin setting up the next attack run. Pass the word to all ships, tell them well done.”

November 25, 2018 – Rithenal High Command, Las Vegas, Nevada

“WHAT?” War Leader Coth Tukkar could not believe what he was hearing.

“It has been verified, War Leader. The humans have destroyed the Thaurank, along with the destroyers Kochike, and Wynteng, and the cruisers Callay, Mnetta, Dosix, and F’than. With the loss of the Thaurank, there are no Ship’s Masters left in the fleet. The interim commanders wish for you to assume overall command of naval and ground forces.”

“Damn these humans to the infinite abyss! We’re only lucky that they aren’t insane enough to try and fight with such weapons in an atmosphere.” Even so, the ground fighting was proving tougher than they had hoped. It seemed it was not for nothing that these humans had managed to halt, and even eradicate, a Kratuan infestation on the ground without making the area completely uninhabitable. And with this ‘Mistwalker’ business, morale was falling faster than a tydrofant driven off a cliff.

“Sir! We’re receiving a transmission, it is being forced to all comms, all forces, both on the ground and in space.”

A comm screen activated of its own accord. “To the Silexian forces left alive, this is Iceblade, leader of the Vendetta. You may also know me as the Demon of Argetha, the Butcher of Rithena, or the Mistwalker.” Tukkar tried, and was barely able to keep control of his bodily functions. Not everyone in the command center was as disciplined. He couldn’t find it in himself to blame them. The terror that had stalked them for the better part of a cycle was proving, once again, that he could get to them, wherever they were.

“Your commanders will have noticed that the fleet you came on is now short four cruisers, two destroyers, and the Thaurank. They have been destroyed, and the rest of your fleet will follow. When the skies have been cleansed of your filth, the infestation on the ground will prove little trouble to exterminate.”

“Now, I would gladly slaughter you all, but the Solari government would like me to ask for your surrender. So these are the terms. You will surrender unconditionally, turning over all weapons, armor, and equipment to the United Solari Federation and the Vendetta. There will be no negotiation, no concessions. You have until I am finished toying with your fleet to decide.”

There was a pause, and then, “Oh, and for the record, I don’t care if it is War Leader Tukkar that gives the surrender, or whoever replaces him if he decides to be a fool. So, to all those junior officers out there, if your commanders look like they’re going to refuse the surrender, feel free to kill them, and put someone with sense in the position.”

And then the screen cut off, leaving War Leader Tukkar looking nervously at the suddenly pointed gazes of his subordinates.

Chapter 3 – Appomattox

“She told herself that she was happy to meet her executioner.”
―Sarah MacLean, No Good Duke Goes Unpunished

November 26, 2018 – Rithenal High Command, Las Vegas, Nevada

<Iceblade POV>

The fear in the air was palpable as we got off the shuttles. Perhaps I had done my work too well with these lizards. Well, they HAD offered their unconditional surrender just an hour after my message. Perhaps it was the sight of another superdreadnaught and a few other ships getting wiped out in an instant? The second attack run probably wouldn’t have been as successful if they had any competent commanders on the ships, but I had made a point of killing off anyone who was experienced.

As for why I was bothering with Vegas and the damn heat during the daytime? Well, we needed to formally accept the Silexian forces’ surrender, not just to the Vendetta, but to the United Solari Federation. We made three main groups as we headed for the compound. I was leading the Vendetta’s group, naturally, with my pets, my sister, and Ambassador Triel. I even let Sexkitten walk on two legs and wear some clothes and leather armor. She looked hot in it, which made me consider making it a regular thing for when we went out in public.

The second group is made of heroes and villains from around the world. Lots of familiar faces, here. Some I’ve fought against personally, some I’ve just seen their work, or stolen things from them when they weren’t home. I do notice a certain trio standing next to a very upset-looking Indomitable. With a smile, I blow a kiss to Electra, Pyra, and Lady Victory, causing cute blushes from the ladies, more scowling from Indomitable, and Incantrix saying, “Master, maybe wait until after business is done?” Fine, fine. Delayed gratification it is.

The third group is made up of a bunch of suits from the new Solari government. I never really paid THAT much attention to governments before, since politics wasn’t my thing, but I recognized a couple of them from things before the war. Crystal displayed names and such on my HUD, along with a (brief) download on the Solari government.

Seems they decided to base the government in Geneva, as that was one of the few major cities that hadn’t been blasted too much during the initial invasion. Plus, it already had a few world unity type achievements under its belt, and it wasn’t in the US, Russia, China, or one of those other countries that would make everyone say they were being taken over by a superpower. The Federation was a parliamentary-style government, with a Prime Minister and everything. I won’t go into the specifics, because I find myself hard pressed to care about such things, but it seemed to be working all right. The guy in charge of the third group was actually Prime Minister Timothy Black, from Ireland.

At the entrance to the compound, we are briefly halted as the guards rush to open the gates and let us in. It actually takes them twice as long as it should, because the fools are tripping over themselves trying not to look in my direction, like simply seeing my costume is enough to cause death. I’m pretty sure that every one of these lizards are going to have to get some serious therapy when this war is finally over, or they’ll be jumping at shadows the rest of their lives. Well, it isn’t my problem. The quickest way to end a war is to be the most ruthless bastard you can possibly be, to make sure that people understand the true horror of fighting against you. Ask anyone in Georgia about Sherman and his March to the Sea. Civil War ended just a year after that.

As I walk through the compound towards the command center, I can almost feel the aura of dread. For half a moment I wonder if I accidentally turned on the subsonics in my suit, the ones that trigger the fight or flight response in people, but no, it is just me. I’m just a demon come down to earth to render judgement upon them all.

I kindof like the feeling.

<Electra POV>

Why am I acting like some girl from a shoujo manga? You’d think that I’d be over the ‘Senpai noticed me!’ thing by now. But no, that damn Iceblade just blows a kiss to not just me, but also Pyra and Lady Victory, while leading his harem of beauties. Ok, so one of them is his sister, but the others? FIVE girls, and two of them freaking catgirls? And does that one have a collar? Where the hell did he get those two?

OK, OK. Not the time for this. Keep eyes front, not looking at that back. Or at the girls. Or at… damnit! I’m going to need a long shower after this is over. Looking over to Pyra, who’s standing next to me, I whisper, “So… do you think he, y’know, with all of them? At once?”

Pyra blushed again, and nodded, saying, “Wouldn’t surprise me. The guy gets creative when he is in the mood. It is the same as when he’s fighting. He isn’t the biggest, the strongest, or the guy who can fight from dusk to dawn without ever getting tired. But he knows tricks, and uses them mercilessly. Technique and trickery to combat numbers.”

Indomitable scowled, as he said, “If you two are finished praising villains, remember we’ve got a job to do.”

I chuckle. “Don’t worry, Indomitable. You can be serious for the lot of us. Anyways, it isn’t like we have a whole lot to do today, you know? Just look around. Iceblade’s got them terrified, and all he’s doing is standing there. We’re just here to look pretty for the news.”

Indomitable continued scowling. The guy really has a chip on his shoulder about Iceblade, it seems. Probably because he’s got a crush on Lady Victory, and Iceblade apparently did both her and his sister, while making a fool out of him. That’s gotta hurt the ol’ male ego, but you’d think he would have gotten over it sometime in the last few years. Just hope he doesn’t do anything stupid to halt the surrender.

I keep my eyes open as we walk into the command center. Iceblade’s walking like he owns the place, and these lizardmen are backing away from him like he’s the devil incarnate. I’d heard some of what he’d done to these guys, but isn’t this a little too much? I start as one idiot loses it, and tries to leap at Iceblade. Push a beast into a corner, and they may lash out unexpectedly. That has to be it.

Anyone else would have been dead, or at least had a fight on his hands. Iceblade… just slashed with his blade, and the Silexian warrior turned to solid ice! I didn’t know he could do that! Holy crap! And apparently, I’m not the only one who is surprised. Indomitable looks a bit pale. Probably wondering if that attack would do anything against his invulnerability, or if he has any defense against it. Once more, I come to the understanding that so many of the heroes and villains around the world are still alive simply because Iceblade didn’t want us dead. God, it is terrifying to think about.

<Kurok POV>

As the senior officer remaining after the ‘untimely illness’ of War Leader Tukkar, as Deputy War Leader, I was chosen to give the surrender. The bastards just didn’t want to be the one to face this Iceblade one on one. Not only am I, Deputy War Leader Than Kurok, going to have to face the demon, but I’m the one who will go down as the first Silexian commander to surrender an entire fleet and ground force to an enemy. Never before has something like this happened. This isn’t how I wanted to make my way into the histories.

There’s sounds of a brief scuffle outside. I hope that no one did anything foolish, but it appears my hopes are all in vain, as I see the Butcher of Rithena walk into the command center, his sword in his hand. Past him, I see what looks like a statue of ice, but is wearing the uniform of one of the guards. Did he just…?

No. No time to think. Just do what you have to do, so you can get away from the monster. Bringing myself up straight, I offer my trok-tar to this demon, signaling the surrender of all Silexian forces in the system. It is an act that means I’ll be lucky to see command of a penal colony, or even a squadron, again. My career is ruined, but I’m alive. That means something, right? Right?

(Later)

<Iceblade POV>

Now, with the ceremonies over, the business of the surrender can be left to the officials and those that will be remaining behind. I take over an unused conference room, and hold my next strategy session. Well, I already have the basic strategy, but it would be good to let everyone else have a say, too. If only so they can’t claim that they had no idea what I am about to do when talk about ‘war crimes’ comes up later.

Facing me are members of the Vendetta, Squadron Supreme, and several other hero groups. Once everyone is seated, I begin. “Thanks to the efforts of everyone, the immediate threat here on Earth has been dealt with. Now, the Vendetta will be entering the phase where we teach the Empire that it never, ever wants to be anything other than a friend to Earth. We actually began this phase in Argetha and Rithena, but not all of the races in the Empire have taken it to heart. So we will serve notice upon them, by punishing the Silexians and Kratuans for daring to come here.”

Indomitable interrupted, as I thought he would, “And how are you going to do that? More genocide?”

I smile behind my mask. “Well, I was thinking about something a little more advanced than what we accomplished in Argetha. Thanks to the continuing efforts of Doctor Destruction and Professor Proton, we now have weapons that make the pulse torpedoes look like toys. One type of weapon will be deployed on the Silexian homeworld of Silex 4. The others will be used in systems controlled by the Kratuans. When I’m done, it will be a thousand years before the Empire dreams of attacking Earth again.”

Indomitable fumed. It was like watching a bible thumper cut off in their ‘you’re so sinful’ speech by getting invited to an orgy. “Why are we just letting this villain do what he pleases? Haven’t we had enough killing?”

I hold up my hand, to stop the outbursts from the room. I turn to one of the heroes from Japan, Susanoo. Like the god he was named after, he was a swordsman and controlled lightning and storms. “Susanoo, you have family that live in Nagasaki, yes? Can you educate Indomitable here on the end of World War II?”

Susanoo paled at the mention. It was mean of me, but it would have more impact coming from his mouth than mine. “Japan was gearing up to resist an invasion to the last man, and then the Americans dropped their bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Two cities destroyed in a flash, and over two hundred thousand people dead.”

“And what was the projected death toll if the US had invaded the Japanese Home Islands?”

“Millions.”

I nodded. “As many as four million US soldiers, and ten million Japanese, if I recall correctly. And those are just estimates. We all know what superpowers can do to estimates like that.” Turning back to Indomitable, I said, “And that is only a recent example of what one must do in war if one wishes to have a lasting peace. You must break the enemy, or kill them outright. If you leave them only lightly wounded, then you will have an ongoing series of wars. Anyone who looks at European History can tell you that.”

“The only way to prevent future wars is to make the price of war so terrible that peace, even a negotiated peace, is preferable to war. And that is what I aim to do.”

Chapter 4 – Total War

“You might as well appeal against the thunder-storm as against these terrible hardships of war. They are inevitable, and the only way the people of Atlanta can hope once more to live in peace and quiet at home, is to stop the war, which can only be done by admitting that it began in error and is perpetuated in pride.”

—General William Tecumseh Sherman, in a letter to the City of Atlanta, September 1864

December 7, 2018 – Krex Family Compound, Korgn Plateu, Silex 4

Toma Krex sighed as she sat at the table, going over the accounts. Things were still all right, but they had gotten worse. The new taxes to help support the rebuilding of the Argetha system were cutting into the money they normally put aside every month for savings. And now with Hatta off fighting these ‘humans’ that the Kratuans had angered, she was left to take care of the family herself. Well, at least her brother and Hatta’s family were here as well, and could help out. But dealing with three young Silexians is trying, no matter what.

Suddenly, the tone sounded from the door. Someone calling, at this time? It was just shy of midnight! Grumbling, Toma went to the door, and pressed her finger to the messager. “Yes?”

“Is this the home of Hatta Krex?”

Something about the voice gave Toma chills. It wasn’t natural. Oh, it spoke Silexian well enough, but there was something artificial about it, suggesting the use of a voder. And why would he be mentioning Hatta?

“Yes, but Hatta is not here right now. May I have your name and I’ll give him a message when he gets back?”

“Hatta Krex has died in battle. He fought with honor, and so I am fulfilling his final request at this time. May I come in?”

Hatta, dead? But they’d had no word from the ships sent to the front since they had passed out of Imperial space after getting turned away by the Brekthal! No! She must be strong, for the children. Her voice catching in her throat, Toma said, “Just a moment. Let me get the door.”

(Iceblade POV)

This was actually going better than expected. Thanks to Crystal, I knew which house to come to, so asking was a formality. But I was coming to extract this family, not kill everyone, so a bit of formality wouldn’t hurt.

When the warrior’s wife saw me at her door, she screamed, and then promptly fainted. So I entered the house, shut the door, and set her on what looked like a long sofa in what must be a family room. Of course, the noise woke the house, and I was soon presented with about twenty Silexians, ranging in age from three to sixty cycles. Thankfully, the older ones were able to calm the adults and kids, so I didn’t have to restrain anyone. I simply told them that explanations would wait until the wife (her name was Toma, right?) woke up.

She appeared groggy, but woke up fast when she saw me standing in the corner. The elders calmed her down, and then everyone turned to me. Honestly, the reaction was a lot better than I was expecting, but then I remembered that these Silexians hadn’t heard of any of my exploits since Rithena.

“Now, from your reactions, you all know me. That will save time. I am Iceblade, and Sub-Leader Hatta Krex, of the Silexian Army, was sent, along with many other warriors, to invade my world, after we had just finished kicking the Kratuans off our planet. That invasion has ended in failure. Out of a hundred ships, less than twenty remain. The forces on the ground have been savaged by the people of my planet, and me personally. That fleet and army, what remains of them, have surrendered to my people, unconditionally.”

The wife shuddered. “You said Hatta was dead.”

“Yes, Hatta Krex did not give in to fear as others of his command did. He mastered himself, and even called me out for single combat. He fought well, and for his bravery, I consented to save his family.”

“Save us? From what?” That was one of the others, maybe Krex’s brother?

“You are aware of what I did in Argetha?” They nod, suddenly apprehensive. “Something worse will happen here. If you wish to live, for your children to live, you will come with me, and bear witness to the fate of Silex 4, to spread to the rest of your people. Do this, and not only will your family live, but the destruction will be limited to Silex 4 alone. Refuse, and I’ll end up doing to this system what I plan to do to the Kratuans.”

“Why? Why do this? You already won, didn’t you?” One of the children spoke.

“Yes, the battle in my system has been won. But the war is not yet over. I intend for the Rithenal Empire to sue for peace. And the Kratuans have not been punished nearly enough for my liking.” I paused, and then looked to the elders, “I will end this war in such a way that it will be a thousand cycles before the Empire considers attacking again.”

Slowly, they all agreed to come with me.

December 7, 2018 – VS Vengeance, Silex 4 Orbit

Walking onto the bridge of the Vengeance, I looked over to Captain Hauser, and said, “Is everything ready, Captain?”

“Web Mistress reported in five minutes before you arrived on ship. We are ready to go on your orders, sir. Stealth is holding, and none of the enemy ships have noticed the preparations yet. They won’t be able to interfere before it is too late.”

“And our guests?”

“They’re in the hold, with the viewers set up. Your ladies are with them.”

“Good. Tell my sister we can begin.”

OK, so maybe I had lied when I told the assembled supers that all the new weapons came from the dastardly duo of mad scientists. This one was actually one of Crystal’s ideas. The actual theory wasn’t that hard, but the mechanics, power requirements, and the fact that it would be extremely unpleasant to be on the planet targeted by this weapon meant that it had never been used before. Even conquerors want to have something left over when they’ve conquered their enemy. Which is why I’m not a conqueror.

On each of Silex 4’s two moons, a device roughly the size of a small car activated. There’s a lot of math involved, but suffice to say, when you set a device on a moon powerful enough to move that moon off course, and then set off another one on a second moon, with the two moons set to crash into the planet they orbit at the same time, anyone on the planet will have a very bad day.

If ships had been sent to investigate the devices before they were activated, this could have been avoided. Of course, we didn’t do anything to call attention to ourselves, even choosing isolated areas of the moons, so they wouldn’t attract notice. Now that they were active, there wasn’t anything that could be done. Even after the devices cut off in 3… 2… 1… now, the moons would be going at a significant velocity, which would only get faster as they approached the planet.

Crystal’s voice came over the comms, “Final speed, eighty thousand miles per hour. Impact in just under three hours. Comm chatter just got frantic. They know what’s coming, and there’s nothing they can do about it.”

“Very well. Use the comm relays they keep at the jump gate, and send the message. Keep us at a safe distance and in stealth until impact, and then take us out to Kratuan space.”

December 8, 2018 – Imperial Palace, Rithena Prime

Emperor Dak Borgun IV of the Rithenal Imperial line was having a lovely dream, before he was rudely woken by his trembling chambermaid. There was something important, apparently, and the new High Chancellor just HAD to see him immediately.

Dressing himself, the Emperor walked into his study, and looked at the cowardly man that had replaced his puppet Chancellor. The whole Senate was more cowardly, now. Having their predecessors murdered like they were seemed to have that effect. Borgun thought it was a good lesson to take note of in the future, but for now, it was another problem he had to deal with.

“What is it, Chancellor Gran? I hope for your sake that you have a good reason for interrupting my sleep.”

“Apologies, your majesty, but this couldn’t wait. There is news on the war against this Sol system. I am afraid it is most dire.”

“Well, what is it? Have the Asguard returned and gotten upset that we kicked their pets around?”

“No, sire, there is still no sign of the Asguard. We assume that they remain preoccupied with the war against the machines. Unconfirmed reports say that the Silexian fleet has… surrendered.”

“Nonsense! Silexians don’t surrender an entire fleet. A ship or two, maybe, but not a fleet.”

“The reports say that they have lost almost four-fifths of their fleet, and much of their ground forces, before they were finally convinced to surrender.”

“WHAT!? Which commander dared do such a thing? I’ll have them commanding a garbage scow!”

“It seems that a Deputy War Leader was the senior officer in system. The Master of Fleets, all Masters of Ships, and all Ship’s Masters were killed by the Butcher of Rithena. Many of the ground forces were slaughtered as well. They even lost two superdreadnaughts.”

Emperor Borgun was stunned. Nobody did that to a Silexian fleet. Nobody! Not even the Kratuans could do something like that! Just who the hell was this Butcher of Rithena? The Emperor looked up as the Chamberlain cleared his throat.

“We also have word from the Silexian system. Silex 4 has been destroyed.”

“Destroyed? How did a fleet get close enough to bombard Silex 4 without being spotted?”

“It wasn’t a fleet, sire. It was the Butcher, in the corvette he calls Vengeance. He apparently has a weapon that allowed him to alter the course of Rithena’s moons, forcing them to collide with the planet, simultaneously. Rescue efforts are under way, but of the eight billion Silexians living on Silex 4, less than a thousand escaped.”

The Chancellor paused, and then said, “He sent a message, claiming responsibility for the attack, as well as a message for you, Sire.”

“Let me hear it.” The madman had destroyed an entire PLANET??? Blowing up ships, killing troops, that was one thing, but how the hell do you fight someone willing to blow up an entire planet and capable of doing that with a single ship? He took a deep breath, and then turned to look at the viewer.

“A great warrior king of my planet was once disrespected by a city-state in the path of his armies. When he arrived at their gates, and they pleaded for mercy, he told them, ‘I am the Flail of God. If you had not committed great sins, He would not have inflicted me upon you.’ Your empire has twice sent fleets to my home, thinking that you could simply take what did not belong to you. By the time you get this message, Silex 4 will be gone, and I will move on to punishing the Kratuans.”

“If, by the time I am finished with the Kratuans, you have not sued for peace, and agreed to reparations for the damages caused by your aggression, I will come to Rithena, and punish you, personally.”

The NERVE of this man! He was the Emperor! No one spoke to him like that! Who did this Iceblade think he was?

“Of course, by now you’re asking yourself, ‘Who does this guy think he is?’ Who am I? I am a man of many names. Some call me a Villain. Some ‘that sadistic bastard’. Some call me Master. I am a killer, a murderer. I have slaughtered more intelligent beings than Hitler, Stalin, and Mao put together. Some know me as the Butcher of Rithena. Others name me the Demon of Argetha.

You can call me Death.”

And with that, the video ended.

Chapter 5 – Ambushed

They weren’t in a room, as he had supposed. They were in a corridor. The forbidden corridor on the third floor. And now they knew why it was forbidden.

They were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that filled the whole space between ceiling and floor. It had three heads. Three pairs of rolling, mad eyes; three noses, twitching and quivering in their direction; three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs.

–Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

December 12, 2018 – VS Vengeance, K’thag System, one jump from Kratuan space

<Iceblade POV>

There are times in everyone’s life where you realize that, despite whatever intentions you may have had, you’ve done fucked up.

For me, one of those times was coming out of a warpgate into a system with a fleet of a hundred enemy ships and only having my one Corvette, with all the ships blasting active sensors as they huddled near the warp gate towards Kratuan space. At this point, I considered that it was probably a bad idea to tell the guy in charge of an empire where I was going to be hitting next. Worse, I could tell that these weren’t Kratuan ships, or Silexian ships. They were Rithenalese ships, and that meant their main military. Our chances of getting through the warp gate undetected? Near zero.

Make that less than zero, since someone apparently got the idea to mine a jump point, and we got tagged. Not enough to disable us, but lightspeed was down for a while, meaning we would have to crawl through the system, or sit here and make repairs. Our only hope for running that blockade was to do a lightspeed jump directly to the warpgate, and then transition before they could fire. Assuming there weren’t mines or other unpleasantness waiting to kill us there.

We needed a diversion. Something to screw with them and keep their minds off the Vengeance, or it would be so much floating debris in space. In a small conference room, Web Mistress and the Captain were already going over charts, trying to find an alternate path that would be less likely to get blockaded. The diversion was going to be my job. And I had an idea, but no one was going to like it. Hell, I didn’t think much of it, myself. But it gave us the best odds for completing the mission.

“So, I’m going to go over to one of their ships.”

Web Mistress stared daggers at me. “And do WHAT, exactly?”

“Cause enough trouble that they’ll be more worried about catching me than getting the Vengeance? Meanwhile, you guys continue on mission, and deploy the devices the Insane Scientist Posse developed.”

The Captain made a manful effort to keep from laughing at that. “Is that what we’re calling Doctor Destruction and Professor Proton now?”

“Forget that! Why are you going over there? You know how dangerous that is!”

“Because it is what they would least expect! And because we all know I’m the one they’re after. So rig me up a one-way teleport device or something, and I’ll keep them busy while you guys go and use the long way to get into Kratuan space. By now, they’ve already sent word that we’re here, and that we’ve been hurt. Those fighter patrols have been getting closer all the time, too.”

“We would have to be too close to teleport you with anything I can cook up with what we have here.”

“So we have to wait for the lightspeed engines to be repaired? That’s the only way we can get close enough to do anything without getting plastered.”

“Well, if you’re already risking your neck, I got a couple ideas.”

“Such as?”

“Your costume lets you live in space, right?”

“Yeah, but I have limited mobility since I can’t fly, and rocket packs tend to draw fire, and then explode.” Seriously, while I could do certain things by turning into mist or creating ice slides, I was never one to go and grab jet packs, flying carpets, or any of that other stuff. That just made you into one big target, usually. Flying up above the crowd just meant that no one had to worry about hitting their buddy (or civilians) if they shot at you.

Space was different, though. Mobility was life, and in space, you needed to be able to fly, and fly fast, because space is huge. Which is why I didn’t do much in space itself. Even during this war, I was mostly just sitting on the damn ship until it came time to do something reckless.

“Yeah, no jet packs, they’ll get spotted too easily.”

“So what do you have in mind?”

“Well, I can rig a harness with a low-level grav drive. No stealth, but you’ll be at least as nimble as their fighters, so you should have some chance of getting into range for a teleport. Their sensors aren’t spherical, but more disc-like. Even close to the ships, their range doesn’t extend that far above the elliptical unless someone actively aims them in a direction. Come down on them from above, and you’ll probably be able to teleport down before they get a weapons lock on you.”

“I’m hearing a lot of uncertainty there, sister.”

“How many times have we practiced anything like this?”

“None.”

“Well then. You got a better plan?”

“Nope. Let’s do it!”

“Good, I’ll pack some gear for when you land, and program a route for you. You’ll be in the black for about twenty hours.”

That… was a long wait. “Any way to speed that up?”

“No. That’ll be pushing the acceleration of the drive to the limits of what the human body can withstand, anyways. You’ll be pulling between five and ten Gs to start with, and then again when you slow to flip down, and a third time when you make your attack run. The drive could get up to a few hundred Gs, but you’d be very dead.”

“Fine. Load some games and music in my HUD?”

“Already done.”

(Later)

Maybe I didn’t think this plan through so well. I mean, sure, it sounds simple to go rocketing off on a semi-ballistic course through space to ambush an entire alien battle fleet with just my own body, but after three hours of empty nothingness, it gets BORING!

God, I wish I had a capsule or something so I could get some snacks. There’s supplies in my pack, but opening my mask to eat would be bad. I’m a fan of not suffocating in deep space.

(Still Later)

“…Eighty-four Bottles of Beer on the wall! Eighty-four bottles of beer! Take one down, pass it around, eighty-three bottles of beer on the wall!”

(Also Later)

“GODDAMN YOU! FUCKING ELITE FOUR BASTARD WITH YOUR FUCKING HYPER POTIONS! EAT THUNDERBOLT!”

(Yes, it is later)

“…Twenty-three bottles of beer!”

(Much Later)

“Nooo! You sunk my battleship!”

I was distracted from my game by a notice popping up in my AR. I was at the turn point! OK, adjusting trajectory… on target. And ZOOM!

(Just a little later)

Right, so getting closer to the alien death fleet. So many choices. Let’s go for one of the big ships. That’ll have the most important people and stuff, right? Almost in range of the teleporter. I would prefer to do this up close, but I really don’t want to try tanking a capital ship’s beam weapons. I have a feeling that it would be less than survivable. So extreme range it is.

Fortunately, from what I’ve discovered most species think in the same general terms when it comes to space travel, and thus, space warfare. Shortest line between two points is always a straight line. Almost everything worth talking about in a solar system tends to be on the elliptical, due to gravity and different forces in motion. Take a ball on a string and swing it fast. Note that it goes out as far as it can, rather than going in crazy angles. Well, planets and the like are the same as balls on a string around a sun. Which means most all the mass in a solar system is going to be on the ecliptic. That means ships almost always stay in a band a certain distance above or below the ecliptic, because there’s no reason to hover 200,000 miles straight up from a planet.

What does this mean for me? Well it means that most races focus their sensors towards the ecliptic, creating a disk-shaped sensor envelope rather than a spherical one. You get much more bang for your buck that way. Oh, it isn’t like they neglect the Z dimension, but just that their active sensors are focused out instead of up. And that means that, unless I do something to draw attention to myself, like using comms or shooting off sparks or anything stupid like that, I’ll be inside my teleport range about five seconds before I get into their sensor range, which is about fifteen seconds before they could focus weapons on me and blow me away.

And that range is in 3… 2… 1… NOW!

December 13, 2018 – Rithenalese Battleship Y’gthar, K’thag System

Captain Kitha Mathara shook her head as she watched the monitors. They had been in this system for a day, and had barely been able to prepare the ambush, before they detected the tachyon surge coming from the gate they were supposed to guard, and sensors caught a mine detonation. They were able to see that the ship was not destroyed, however, before it regained stealth. Since there were no other tachyon events, they had to still be in the system. Which meant they were making repairs, and looking for a way past the fleet.

This ‘Iceblade’ and his Vendetta were either brilliant ship-handlers, or completely insane. Probably both. Any sane commander, upon seeing a fleet like this one, and given nothing but a single corvette to fight them with, would immediately either retreat or surrender. That this man didn’t made Kitha’s blood run cold. But then again, a sane species wouldn’t be able to throw the Kratuans off a world they had landed on, not without making the world unlivable. And this Iceblade was supposedly responsible for the destruction of two entire fleets of ships, one of them Silexian! And he had even dared to send a challenge to the Emperor himself!

She was interrupted in her musings by an alarm. Looking over to the science station, she said, “Report!”

“Sensors detected an energy surge directly above us, at the edge of our sensor envelope. Analyzing. It appears to be a teleporter of some kind.”

“Captain! Sensors report an identical energy surge on deck twelve!”

“Send security teams to deck twelve! I want the entire deck searched!”

Suddenly, a comm signal came through. “Hello, members of the Rithenalese fleet! This is Iceblade, calling from aboard one of your very own ships! You sent out such a welcome party that I just had to come say hello! Don’t worry, I know you’re all dying to see me, but I’ll get to each of you in turn!” The comm signal cut off.

“Traced the transmission to a panel on deck twelve. It was sent shipwide.”

“Inform the Admiral on H’svarish that the target has penetrated our vessel. All security teams to deck twelve. All crew members are to be armed. Signal battle stations, and repel boarders.” Captain Mathara shook her head. Teleporting alone into the middle of an enemy fleet? Madness! But madness seemed to be working for this human, for now.

Chapter 6 – Hunted Hunter Hunting Hunters

I am John Wayne in True Grit. I am Charles Bronson in Death Wish. I am Clint Eastwood in all five Dirty Harry flicks and all the best spaghetti westerns. I am Jean-Claude Van Damme. I am Sly Stalone. I am Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon and Chuck Norris in Way of the Dragon. I am Lee Marvin. I am Sean Connery. I am Arnold Goddamn Schwarzenegger…

…and you, my friend, are FUCKED.

–Wanted

December 13, 2018 – Rithenalese Battleship Y’gthar, K’thag System
<Iceblade POV>
“Wha-aaagh!”

Ah, the lovely sound of people who suddenly find a six-foot shard of ice impaling them through the gut. It has been, what, an hour now? Two? Anyways, the security teams were a pain to deal with. They were real pros, and had trained in counter-boarding operations. Meaning they were properly trained in using ambushes and choke points to stop a superiorly armed foe. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do them much good.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, they would be able to take on a full regiment of Marines loaded down with all their toys, and make a good stand of it. These security teams are well-trained and competent. They just aren’t trained to deal with guys that have powers. When you can turn to mist and solidify in the middle of their formation, cut a few down, go back to mist, wash, rinse, repeat, conventional tactics aren’t worth much. These are Roman Legionnaires, and I am fucking Spartacus.

Hopefully I’ll have a better end, but that’s for later.

Anyways, the first hour involved me slaughtering the security teams on Deck 12. After that, things slowed down some, as I began hunting. Their… marines, or whatever they’re called, were wearing armor. The rest of the crew, however, is not. That meant nice fleshy bodies just ripe for impaling. I don’t even need to use my sword. That they take a while to die, and are often left wailing into the comms is just bonus points.

As I listen in on the comm chatter thanks to the communicator I stole from one of the marines, I considered what to do to that stupid, stupid Emperor. I still had some hope that, by the time the Vengeance was finished with her mission, the Emperor would be in a much more talkative mood. I’d been pretty genocidal recently, in an effort to cut this war off at the knees. I had a feeling that the people calling the shots hadn’t ever felt the true horrors of war. I’d like to think I was changing that. The Silexians and the Brekthal I didn’t expect any more trouble from. The Kratuans were going to be an ugly mess on the sole of my boot when I was done with them. But what to do with the Emperor?

<Kitha POV>
“I want all critical areas of the ship sealed NOW! Vacuum protocols! Assume a hull breach on decks ten through thirteen! Isolate the bastard!”

“Captain! We’ve got visual on deck fourteen, Main Engineering! He just cut a hole in the deck plating!”

“On viewer!” As the viewer lit up to show the security camera views from main engineering, I immediately wished I hadn’t looked. Ice blossomed everywhere, spearing the engineers, while carefully avoiding the equipment. The bastard has the control to kill with the effect of grenades, but the control of a marksman!

And then it got worse. Kitha realized, to her horror, that only the male crew members were being killed. The females were knocked unconscious, stripped, and restrained in ice, like some kind of grotesque display. She watched as Iceblade went to a console that hadn’t been locked due to the sudden attack, and keyed in a few commands. He stopped, and looked into the camera, which suddenly focused in on his masked face, so that it filled the screen. “For the bridge crew that are watching, you’ll be happy to know that the ladies who survive to the end of my little rampage will be my guests on a lovely tour of Ikthal 7.”

Ikthal 7. The most notorious slave market in the Empire. How had a barbarian from outside learned about that? Foolish question. He had captured people and material at Argetha and before, so he had to have some information about the Empire. But how could he hope to get this ship to the Ikthal system with the rest of the fleet standing by?

She checked her screens. The rest of the fleet was holding position, surrounding her ship, weapons locked on, and fighters out, screening their ships. They expected Iceblade to try and steal a ship in the chaos. They’d been distracted by the battle (and the sudden active targeting that the Y’gthar had done without her captain’s permission) when the Vengeance had dropped out of lightspeed right in the warpgate, and transitioned before weapons could be brought to bear. A squadron of frigates and corvettes left after the Vengeance. The rest remained, because the primary target, Iceblade remained on her ship!

She’d used her command codes to take weapons and engines offline, so that Iceblade couldn’t use Y’gthar to damage the fleet. It wasn’t until she heard alarms from the engineering station that she realized how else Iceblade could damage the fleet. He had set the abyss-bound reactor to overload! She tried to key in overrides, but they had been physically disabled at the source! Damn it! No. Have to be calm. If you’re calm, the crew doesn’t panic. And they can’t panic. Not now.

“Lieutenant, signal the H’svarish that we are suffering an irreparable reactor overload, and all failsafes have been disabled. Sound abandon ship.”

And then the lights went out.

(Later)
“Ugh. Where--?” Kitha looked around, her head spinning as she tried to get her bearings. A few things soon became clear to her. First, she was in an escape pod. Second, she woke up in time to see the Y’gthar become a cloud of expanding gasses in space. Third, she was on the floor. She tried to get up, and numbers four and five came right on the heels of eachother. She was pinned to the floor with ice, her tail sticking in the air, and she was naked.

“Ah, Captain. So good of you to join us.”

Oh yes. She wasn’t alone. Point six. Turning her head to the side, she found herself looking up at the man who caused so much trouble on her ship. He was sitting in one of the escape pod’s seats, with his pants down, and a nude Rithenalese female between his legs, her head bobbing up and down. Oh. Oh no.

“W-what do you want?”

<Iceblade POV>
If I had to describe the Rithenalese, then I’d have to call them werewolves. Oh, they didn’t shift forms, but they were lupine humanoids, with definite canine features such as the shape of their face and more. Not as hairy as werewolves, though.

As I looked at the Captain of the ship I had just evacuated, I smiled behind my mask. I had some time yet before the rescue ships got to us. Tapping the head of the girl worshipping my cock, I motioned her to stop. The fearful creature did so, just before I touched my sword to her shoulder, sending her into the timeless dimensional pocket inside. The better looking females I’d run across I was keeping there. I hadn’t been lying about Ikthal 7. That was the rendezvous with the Vengeance, after all.

Moving around behind the captain, I said, “I want to have some fun before I start killing across your fleet again. And since you’re already like a bitch with your ass in the air, presenting yourself, I may as well take advantage, no?”

December 13, 2018 – Rithenalese Battleship H’svarish, K’thag System
The sounds of battle could be heard aboard the fleet flagship. Admiral Drax Koernix shook his head in wonder as he stood with his security detail. How do you fight a man who seems to kill with impunity, and moves through the air like a mist? His men were some of the best in the fleet, but they were being systematically torn apart by the madman who had challenged an Empire.

“All teams are to converge on Main Engineering, the Bridge, and the secondary command center. We cannot allow him to gain control of the critical systems. Signal the rest of the fleet, have them send over their marines. Overwhelm him and wear him down! This man has killed billions of Imperial citizens! He must face justice for his crimes.”

“Maybe I will. But not today.” Admiral Koernix turned to look at a figure suddenly standing behind him, and then yelped as he felt a biting pain in his chest. Looking down, stunned, he saw a sword there. And then the sounds of battle began again.

December 14, 2018 – Rithenalese Battleship Yavenna, K’thag System
“Keep the shields up!” Once they realized that the target, Iceblade had somehow snuck aboard their ship with the shuttle bringing what was left of their marines back from the dying H’svarish, the rest of the fleet had started opening fire on Yavenna. They’d already had to destroy several of the small ships, and were currently using a cruiser as a shield between them and the Dagonna.

“Mutinous bastards! What has gotten into their heads?”

“Probably thinking that they can stop me if they blow up the ship I’m on.”

“Wha-aaagh!” Screams erupted on the bridge of the Yavenna, as ice blossomed, impaling the bridge crew all at once. They were all dead, their wounds would see to that, but some still labored for breath, to continue the tortured screaming.

Meanwhile Iceblade simply went to the captain’s command console, and pulled a device from one of the pouches on his belt. The tech of it was beyond him, because it was one of his sister’s inventions. He rarely used it, since she was always within range when they were on Earth, but he always kept it with him, because he knew the value of a backup plan. That was one of the keys to his success. He always had something up his sleeve that he could use to turn a situation to his favor. Preparation made cheating easier. Cheating made winning easier.

The device’s workings and software were beyond him, but the way it worked was simple. It was an autohacker. It didn’t have the artistry of his sister’s work, but it did give a boost to his own meager skills. It was enough, however, to send the virus his sister coded into the Rithenalese fleet’s computers. The weapons stopped firing, engines cut out, and shields went offline. Slaughtering the crews would take time, but at least he didn’t have to worry about getting vaporized.

Chapter 7 – Demonstration of Resolve

"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

–The Bhagavad Gita

December 14, 2018 – VS Vengeance, Hskth System

<Web Mistress POV>

Getting through the warp gate into Kratuan space was easy, once we had Brother causing a distraction in the enemy fleet. Of course, ‘easy’ didn’t mean ‘simple’. Lining up a lightspeed jump and timing it so that you came out right in the jump point, and then transitioning in the shortest time frame possible, that was no mean feat. In fact, we only pulled it off because I’d been working with the computer to clean up the programming, and make it ‘smarter’. Not true AI smart, but definitely a cut above what you normally see for ships this size.

Also, Captain Hauser had trained his crew well, so they knew every inch of the ship, and kept her ready to fight. They were certainly the best spaceship crew from Earth. I’d even put them up having a good chance against most in the Empire, too.

Of course, getting through the gate had dangers, what with a whole fleet sitting there, waiting for us. But that’s where Brother and his distractions came in. He’d gotten the whole fleet focused on a single ship (one that wasn’t ours), and then got me to set off their active targeting, locking on the nearest ships. This caused a panic, naturally, and by the time anyone figured out what was going on, we were through.

A lot of people don’t realize just how much Brother holds back when he’s fighting people on Earth. Really, it is the same as when two countries are fighting wars these days. You don’t go with your full might, because turning the war zone into a radioactive wasteland doesn’t help anyone, and is usually a waste of money and resources. So you go with the minimum to get the job done.

And then there’s the fact that Brother needs a challenge to keep interested in things. Killing a building full of guards is child’s play when you have his abilities. Adding supers to the mix raises the difficulty only a little. So he handicaps himself, making sure to leave them alive, and only killing the people he sets out to kill. That raises the difficulty severely, which makes it ‘interesting’.

This war, however, has changed that. There’s no need to keep the kid gloves on when dealing with alien invaders. This isn’t the ‘limited war’ that countries have been doing recently, but ‘total war’, like in the days of World War II. Except now we have supervillain and superhero mad scientists working together to create weapons, with absolutely no rules about how far is ‘too far’.

The Moonthrowers we used on Silex 4 was my baby. Simple concept, really. Just take a telekinetic force capable of moving a moon, set a direction, and let it rip. Really, no one had done it before was because it required a good amount of power to pull off. Oh, and because most people don’t want to smash the planet they’re currently living on into rubble. That’s like burning your house down, while you’re still inside. The ones who are capable of it are either smart enough to not do it, or crazy enough that they can’t keep their mouths shut, and so they get taken down before they can do any damage.

What we’re using in this system, however, is an entirely different kind of beast. We don’t have the numbers or firepower to wipe the system clean by conventional means. That just ain’t happening. So we needed an alternative way to take out five systems worth of Kratuans. And the team of Doctor Destruction and Professor Proton came through for us.

That being said, we still gotta play it cool. We’re full stealth right now, gaining momentum so we can be out of the danger zone as quick as possible. Which is why I’m here, in front of the Captain’s cabin. A few hours before we need to be on the bridge is plenty of time.

I knock on the door. A girl’s gotta let off some steam now and then, right?

(Later)

“Hull temperature rising.”

“Cut stealth, bring shields to full. Ready the weapon.”

Standing on the bridge behind the Captain, I feel much better having… relaxed, and showered after. The weapon, with the humble-sounding name of ‘Snuffer’, is a product of two of the greatest mad scientists of Earth working together. Incidentally, that name was the only one they could agree on. There was a document attached with 453 other proposed names that were rejected for various reasons.

Now, we’re approaching the corona of the system primary. Getting this close, we need the extra protection of the shields, and so have to drop out of stealth. Of course, this makes it so any ships in the system can catch us, but that’s why we’re moving at full speed. High speed pass, and then running again.

“Within range.”

“Launch the weapon.”

“Weapon away.” I see on the monitors the icon of the shielded missile as it flies into the heart of the star. Checking the readouts, everything seems to be normal. “Looks good. We have a successful launch. Let’s not be here when it goes off.”

“Captain! Two incoming ships!”

“Lightspeed. Quick jump, one light minute. Then reorient and jump us to the next gate.”

“Aye captain!”

Rapid lightspeed jumps are useful, but most people don’t use them that often, because they put a lot of wear on the engines, meaning you have to repair them a lot. To use layman terms, if you rapidly heat and cool metal, then it becomes easy to break. Same basic idea. Of course, part of the problem is a bit of inefficient coding, since the software is ‘one size fits all’. I tailored the software individually to each of the Vendetta’s warships and the shuttles we captured. Took a lot of work on the Vengeance, but once you knew what to look for, tailoring didn’t take that much time. Well, not for me. Someone programming in the ‘normal’ way would still have a lot of trouble.

“Captain, we’re at the gate. Sensors are detecting a massive tachyon surge from the system primary.”

“Confirm successful detonation of the weapon. We want to be gone before it catches up to us.”

“All right, take us to the next target.”

December 15, 2018 – VS Vengeance, Thorak System

“Scanners show ships gathering around the system primary. I count forty Kratuan hiveships.”

“What is the maximum range of the weapon?”

“If we launch on a ballistic track, we can get it out to half an AU. But the chance of them intercepting the weapon goes up the longer they have to track it.”

“Captain, recommend that we come in above the ecliptic, and launch at the magnetic pole. The radiation will interfere with fighter targeting scanners, and none of the ships will be able to intercept in time. Launch from a quarter AU out, and we won’t need to disengage stealth.”

“Make it happen.”

December 16, 2018 – VS Vengeance, Morganna System

“These damn bugs learn quick; I’ll give them that.”

I nod. “Yes, a little too quickly for my liking. But we’ve guessed that they have something like a hive mind, which connects all of the Kratuans within range to a what you might call a ‘central database’. Not exactly like remote control drones, but more like an organic tactical network. One of the reasons that the Kratuans are limited to these five systems may be because of the limited range of that network. Once they go past that range, they have to use couriers, same as everyone else.”

“Nasty. So they’re learning from our tricks as we pull them.”

“Oh, most certainly. It won’t help them, though. I’ve got enough tricks for twice as many strikes, if we need them.”

“Like coming in from below the ecliptic this time?”

“Yep. We’ll have to get creative for the fourth strike. I’ve already got an idea on that one.”

“At target coordinates.”

“Fire.”

December 17, 2018 – VS Vengeance, Rdanth System

“Ooh, this time we have… forty ships, in an englobement formation, active scanners hot. Looks like we’ll have to use the plan after all.”

“Well, even with forty ships, surrounding a star is going to leave gaps, especially since they look to be a safe distance from the star.”

“Calculations for lightspeed jumps laid in. We’ve spotted a gap in their defense that gives us a straight-line vector we can use to escape the globe before they can target us.”

“Excellent. When we come out on the far side, get us to the next gate.”

“Jumping. Sublight! Weapon away! Jumping! Back to sublight. We are one light-minute from the globe. Their active scanners have us, though.”

“Doesn’t matter. Get us to the gate.”

“Jumping to lightspeed.”

December 18, 2018 – VS Vengeance, Kratua System

“You know, I think we’ve pissed them off.”

“What, you mean having about a thousand ships around that star trying to detect and kill us?”

“Yeah, that. So, what is the plan for nailing these bastards to the wall?”

“I’ve been working on a variation of the stealth systems. Instead of making us invisible, it will push us slightly out of phase with the rest of the universe. We will be able to ghost straight through the enemy ships, even straight through weapons fire! There’s probably some weapons that will be able to hit us in that state, but between the phase cloak and lightspeed jumps, I give us an 85% chance of successfully deploying the weapon and getting out alive. Just deploying the weapon I give us a 98% chance.”

“What’s the catch?”

“We’ll have to go solid before we can launch the weapon. It won’t detonate properly if it is phased. I’m running the calculations now. I should be able to lower the window of vulnerability to ten seconds.”

“But Murphy still gets a vote.”

“Yeah.”

“Either way, we still get the weapon off successfully, right?”

“The probability approaches 1.”

“Works for me. Let me know when you’re ready.”

December 20, 2018 – Imperial Palace, Rithena Prime

The whole damn Empire was in a panic. A supernova happening in Known Space was a rare event. A supernova happening in an inhabited system almost unheard of. A supernova happening in a star that was stable and showed no signs of trouble until immediately before it went nova was borderline impossible.

That it happened to five stars in five days, all five belonging to the Kratuans, made the likelihood of this being a ‘natural occurrence’ pretty much zero, and even the most skeptical person knew it. And, given what had happened at Silex 4 and Argetha, everyone in the Empire knew who was responsible.

Thus, the Emperor was very put out, to say it mildly.

“What the hell is Koernix playing at? I thought he had that damn bastard stopped up in the K’thag system?”

“Reports are unclear, sire, but it appears that this Iceblade somehow infiltrated the fleet, and began killing people and using the fleet’s own targeting scanners to cause a distraction for the Vengeance to slip through into Kratuan space.”

“And the ship, did the Kratuans manage to destroy it?”

“Unclear at this time, Sire. The few Kratuan survivors are disorganized after the destruction of their Overmind.”

“Damn it all. Well, at least we have the bastard captured now, right?”

The Chamberlain looked uncomfortable at the question. “Admiral Koernix’s fleet has not been in contact with us for some time.”

“WHAT?!?”

Chapter 8 – The Grapes of Wrath

“All right. They’re on our left, they’re on our right, they’re in front of us, they’re behind us… they can’t get away this time!”

–Lt. Gen. Lewis “Chesty” Puller

December 24, 2018 – Rithenalese Battleship Yavenna, Ikthal System

Captain Kitha Mathara was having a really bad day? Week? Month? She didn’t know any more. She didn’t know when the last time she had worn clothes was, or how long had passed since her capture. She had come to the decision that this Iceblade’s sword was able to connect to a timeless pocket dimension somehow, so she was only brought out when he wanted to rape her.

Like now, for instance. And not content with just violating her, he also had Captain Elaris of the Yavenna here, in what looked like the captain’s quarters. They were chained together by the collars around their necks, like animals. And he had them rolling around like bitches in heat. And not even with a male, but with eachother! They hadn’t seen a male Rithenalese since they were captured. She feared the male crew were all dead.

Thwack!

Kitha winced as the man’s hand slapped her backside. She stopped her inner monologue, and returned to kissing her fellow captain’s body, working her way down until she was between Elaris’s thighs, licking the moistness there. She could taste the horrible man’s seed within the other captive’s vagina. He had raped her, as well! Was there no end to this man’s depravity?

And then she realized she had been guided into a kneeling position again, her tail up in the air. Oh no, not again! She moaned, despite herself, as the man entered her. She had been used more in the last… however long it had been than she had been in the last several years of her career. She idly wondered if her mate would forgive her for becoming this man’s bitch.

As she felt him beginning to thrust in and out of her, one hand grabbing her by the tail, the other reaching down to tweak her nipples, she hoped that her mate would think her dead, with all the others.

December 25, 2018 – VS Vengeance, Ikthal System

Battered, shaken, and torn up, but still not broken, the Vengeance managed to make it through the warp gate. Systems were barely holding together, what with the damage they’d taken on their suicidal attack run through the Kratua system. And just as they got in, they got several alarms going off.

“Rithenalese fleet off to Starboard! Looks to be the same one we left back in K’thag!”

“Incoming message from the fleet!”

“On screen.”

Iceblade’s image appeared on the screen, and it was clear he was sitting on the bridge of one of the Rithenalese starships. “Captain, good to see you and the Vengeance in one piece, or most of one, at any rate. Let your crew know that I’ve been monitoring the enemy communications, and all devices were successful. Every Kratuan star system in the Empire has been annihilated.”

“Since Vengeance looks like it could use some yard time, why don’t you dock with the Yavenna, and we’ll see about getting the crew some liberty. I don’t want them wandering off on Ikthal 7, however, since a planet of slavers would find our crew nice exotic specimens, and I’d hate to go slaughtering in order to get them back. Instead, I have several ‘volunteers’ willing to comfort the men. The women too, if they’re into that. And there’s a wide array of entertainment venues here.”

Web Mistress chuckled, and said, “So, you actually did find time to take captives, then? Any interesting ones?”

“A few. And you and the other ladies will be happy to know that I did collect a few males as captives, if you want your pick. Any Rithenalese the crew don’t wish to take home with them will be deposited on the planet below. Consider it my Christmas gift to the Vendetta.”

Captain Hauser nodded. The whole taking slaves thing would be repulsive, if they were human, and even now, it didn’t quite sit right with him, but he knew when he signed on with a supervillain that they were going to be doing some morally questionable things in the name of saving their home. So far, the Vendetta had been a terrorist’s playbook taken to extremes none would even dream of using on Earth. Taking slaves and selling them was something out of an older time, but the tactics were still dreadfully effective.

And he had to admit, after seeing Iceblade with his harem, including the two Brekthal he added recently, that he was tempted.

December 26, 2018 – Grektha’s Slave Emporium, Ikthal 7

Kitha Mathara held her breath anxiously as she looked around one of the largest slave trading houses on Ikthal. Grektha’s was legendary, even in her conservative upbringing. For one thousand cycles, it had been the premier slave market in known space. And now she was here, naked, collared, and wondering whether she would be sold.

She had found that a handful of men had survived Iceblade’s killing spree. Of course, she found that by watching the man’s sister rape the man, while her captor took her, yet again, this time breaking in her previously unused rear (though it still felt like he simply broke it). All told, she found that, of the eighty thousand souls in the fleet, only approximately two thousand were captured, and only fifty of those were men. And Iceblade had brought all of them out, now, to showcase them for sale at Grektha’s.

She and a naked male (formerly a tactical officer on the Detharya) were kept back by the fiend’s sister, her hand holding their leashes. Apparently, the male would belong to the sister, while she would be the fiend’s newest pet. She’d been informed, in horrific detail, how he had turned two members of the Brekthal royal family into his playthings, in addition to three women of his own species.

The haggling went on for a good hour, until finally the man and the slave trader shook on an agreement. The sum boggled her mind. Two hundred and twenty-three million Imperial credits! You could buy your own frigate for that much! And still, she wished she had been in that group, instead of being carted off with the Butcher as a prize.

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like they were done on Ikthal. Those ‘lucky’ enough not to be sold were taken to another store where they were fitted with special slave collars. While before it was only fear of the Butcher that kept them in line, now the new slaves would not be able to resist their masters at all.

But when they went into one of the more unpleasant ‘supply’ stores, Kitha’s blood ran cold. It didn’t matter that what her new Master bought wasn’t going to be used on her. The very idea of someone buying and using such devices was horrifying to her. She only hoped that he wouldn’t make her watch.

December 31, 2018 – Mariott Marquis hotel, Atlanta, Georgia

They were in a small conference room off the Atrium level of the Mariott in downtown Atlanta. Iceblade smiled behind his mask as he remembered attending a Doctor Who panel in this room back before the war, during DragonCon, an annual convention of people one could collectively call ‘geeks’. He’d gone cosplaying as Indomitable, for kicks.

He, his sister, and a few senior types were gathered at the table on a small stage, facing what looked like a legion of politicians, military types, and reporters. The crowd was ‘only’ a couple hundred, but still, it was not what he was used to. Being ‘nice’ in front of crowds was not his MO, after all.

As the meeting was called to order, one of the members of the new World Parliament, the senior representative from the United States, introduced me. I stood, and took the podium. “Ladies and Gentlemen, this meeting has been called to inform you of new developments in the war against the Rithenal Empire that has twice invaded our territory. I am pleased to say that we have had significant forward progress.”

“Silex 4, homeworld of the Silexians that most recently invaded Earth, has been destroyed, the majority of its inhabitants killed. Between that and the recent destruction and surrender of one of their fleets, it is believed that they are effectively out of the war. Along with the Brekthal, and the races already convinced that fighting us is far too costly, we are well on the way to securing peace with the Empire.”

“The Kratuans who initially invaded Earth, and caused so much death with their cowardly surprise attacks, have been wiped out. They controlled five systems in the Empire, and, using the weapons designed and built by humans for this war, we have caused the sun in each of those five systems to go supernova. While there may be some Kratuans who survived in the galaxy, the species is, for all intents and purposes, all but extinct.”

“In the process of fighting these punitive battles, the Vengeance was severely damaged, but in addition to the Kratuan forces killed, we also captured several ships from a Rithenalese fleet, which we have donated to the Solari government. Along with the Silexian ships captured previously, Earth now has a fleet capable of defending itself from the Empire, or any similar foe.”

“But constant war is not our goal. Therefore, in the New Year, I intend to lead another mission into Imperial space, with the goal of forcing a final peace between the Rithenal Empire and Earth, a peace that respects our sovereignty and ensures that our suffering does not go uncompensated.”

I answered a few questions, mostly either ones I wouldn’t answer (since they were personal, or about tactics), but a few were on point, and I gave good sound bites to the reporters. When I was done, Minister of War Henry Adams (from the US), rose, and took the podium.

“With the Vengeance in critical shape following their heroic actions behind enemy lines, and in recognition of the gifts given us in the form of a fleet of ships, the Solari government wishes to bestow rewards upon Iceblade and the Vendetta. First, for any member of the Vendetta, and Iceblade in particular, the governments of the Solari Federation offer a full and complete pardon for any crimes that may have been committed in their jurisdictions prior to this date.”

“Second, we wish to bestow upon Iceblade the Corsair, the first human-built capital ship designed for space combat. The Corsair is a frigate-class vessel, and is armed with both the beam weapons favored by our enemies, and the pulse torpedoes human scientists have developed, as well as other systems. These ships will form the backbone of the fleet Iceblade has provided us, an improvement upon alien technology with human ingenuity.”

“Third, we will repair the Vengeance and refit her, so that she can use the new pulse torpedo technology.”

Iceblade bowed his head to the Minister, although this was nothing new to him, since they’d talked about such things beforehand.

Looking to the others, Iceblade said, “The last thing that needs to be said is this. On this mission, I wish to have not only the diplomats of the Solari Federation with me, to negotiate on Earth’s behalf, but also some of Earth’s superpowered individuals, so that the Empire can clearly see that I am not unique amongst humans. So that they may see that, even if they should stop me, that there are others willing to rise up behind me to defend this world.”

Cheers broke out throughout the room.

Chapter 9 – Ultimate Confrontation

But Gandalf lifted up his arms and called once more in a clear voice:

‘Stand, Men of the West! Stand and wait! This is the hour of doom.’

And even as he spoke the earth rocked beneath their feet. Then rising swiftly up, far above the Towers of the Black Gate, high above the mountains, a vast soaring darkness sprang into the sky, flickering with fire. The earth groaned and quaked. The Towers of the Teeth swayed, tottered, and fell down; the mighty rampart crumbled; the Black gate was hurled in ruin; and from far away, now dim, now growing, now mounting to the clouds, there came a drumming rumble, a roar, a long echoing roll of ruinous noise.

‘The realm of Sauron is ended!’ said Gandalf.

–J.R.R. Tolkein, The Return of the King

April 10, 2019 – VS Corsair, Rithena Prime orbit, Rithenal System

<Iceblade POV>

It took a few months to get crews trained and the Vengeance out of the yard, but the entire Vendetta fleet is now here. Wow. I have my own fleet! Well, only four ships, along with twenty fighters and several shuttles. But between the Dragonflame, Vengeance, and the new Corsair, I was pretty sure we could take on a fleet many times our size. We didn’t bother with stealth on this trip, partly because we had a few extra guests to the party. Former Silexian and Rithenalese ships filled out the rest of the twenty-five ship fleet centered around the superdreadnaught Courageous. It used to be the Yavenna.

This was our chance to show the Empire that Earth was not theirs for the taking. Because we didn’t want to cause problems, we took the long way round, backtracking the Silexian fleet’s movements, and showing the flag, as it were, to the inhabited systems we passed. Most people got the message, and decided they weren’t going to screw with us. One strange machine-ship decided to try its luck, though, and found out that antimatter explosions do a number on pretty much everything, no matter what kind of replication abilities they have.

When we crossed into Imperial space, we were challenged a couple times, but the moment I appeared on the screen, demanding they step down, people were all too happy to oblige me. Apparently, killing stars and planets because their people pissed me off tends to leave an impression. It is just like I keep telling people, if you kill enough people brutally enough, the sane ones learn not to try anything. The insane ones you were going to have to kill anyway, eventually, so no loss there.

Now we were in orbit around Rithena Prime. The main ‘negotiators’ were here, on the Corsair, since it was my new flagship. That team consisted of me and my harem, Web Mistress, four heroes (Pyra, Lady Victory, Electra, and Susanoo), four villains (Doctor Destruction, Jersey Devil, Akatsuki, and General Pain), and several diplomats from the USF (led by Prime Minister Black). Oh, and Ambassador Triel. Indomitable was on another ship. Each of the ships in the fleet had at least a couple heroes and villains on it.

Of course, we weren’t invited to peace talks yet. Oh, the planet below knew we were there, but it seems that the Emperor was sweating bad, hoping his fleets could get here before I did anything… well, like me.

With that in mind, I selected my party for an ‘away mission’. Sexkitten and Triel would stay aboard, and look after the kittens. They’d each given birth to litters of four, which was a surprise to me, but apparently was quite normal for Brekthal females. Web Mistress would be on overwatch from the ship, as well. And since I was planning things that were going to be very messy, the diplomats would stay until it was time for them to attend.

April 11, 2019 – Imperial Palace, Rithena Prime

As dawn broke, the people of Rithena Prime were horrified to find a massive dome of ice covering the Imperial Palace. There was no contact from the Emperor, or anyone inside the dome. Attempts to get inside by force failed. Tunneling under the dome worked, but those who succeeded were quickly killed, and the tunnels sealed. No one knew what was happening inside, but everyone knew who was responsible. After all, the ships in orbit weren’t hiding in the slightest.

Of course, there were people still alive within the palace. In the room where he held state dinners, the Emperor sat, along with his son and two daughters, clearly wanting to be anywhere but where he was. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen, as the villain Iceblade sat between the two daughters, openly groping their bodies. Worse, they didn’t even try to resist, but rather leaned into his hands, panting softly.

“So, I told you in my last message that I was going to be punishing you if you did not surrender. You didn’t listen. You even tried to send a fleet to stop my work with the Kratuans. You’ll be happy to know that those people aren’t all dead, by the way. They’re simply slaves like Captain Fuckpuppy here.” He waved a hand at the nude Rithenalese female standing behind the table, an Ikthal slave collar around her neck. It was, after all, Captain Kitha Mathara, formerly the captain of the Y’gthar, and now Iceblade’s slave. She, at least, had the decency to be properly ashamed of what was going on.

“Now, you’ll have noticed that your Empress isn’t here with us. Killing everyone in the palace is a lot of work, and so I figured a nice breakfast feast would be in order. So I made a deal with the kitchen staff. They get to live if they cooked a special dish for us.” The door opened, and the head chef came in, looking as though he had aged a hundred years in the last few hours. He was wheeling a cart, one of the ones used to move food from the kitchens to the table. On a platter surrounded by greens and vegetables was Empress Kata, bound, her fur shaved, and posed like a prize roast. Which was appropriate, since she had been roasted alive in the ovens.

Iceblade stood, and took a carving knife. “Now, Emperor, why don’t we start breakfast. Your Empress made sure that this is a meal that you will remember the rest of your life.”

(Later)

They were in the dungeon of the palace. This was the one where the Emperor liked to ‘play’ when someone had greatly displeased him, or when he was in a certain mood. Now, he was naked, tied to a chair, forced to watch as his daughters tied his son, his heir, down to one of the racks. Forced to watch as they danced to this madman’s tune. The vile ‘breakfast’ they had been forced to eat had snapped them out of their lust, it seemed, but now they were broken. They’d probably do anything the monster asked them to, without question.

He had to watch, and listen, as his son died over the course of an hour’s torture. All the while he had the former Captain kneeling beside him, his member in her hand as she worked him up and down, but never allowing him release. With horror, it was when his son finally died, choking on his own blood, that the woman finally let him come.

Iceblade walked over to the Emperor, and placed a bloody hand on the man’s chest. “I told you I would punish you. I warned you. I gave you every chance to do what you had to do. But you refused me. You rejected my mercy. Know well that this is all your fault. If you had not refused me, none of this would have happened. If your greed had not overpowered your reason, you would have never brought this calamity upon your empire. Did you think that the Asguard were there to protect my world from the rest of the galaxy? Or did you never even consider that they were there to protect the rest of the galaxy from us?”

(Later)

Tied to another chair, this time in his own chambers, the Emperor wept openly at the sight in front of him. His eldest daughter moaning in pleasure as she was mounted from behind by the monster who had destroyed his family. His youngest daughter straddling his lap, forcefully raping herself upon his manhood. Would the violations never end? Would the horror stop?

The Emperor hung his head in shame as he could no longer hold back, his body betraying him as he began to release himself inside his own daughter. Worse, he heard first one then the other of his daughters’ moans turn to screams of pleasure as they achieved climax as well. Even if they survived this, how could he look at his daughters the same again?

(Later)

How many times had the villain violated his daughters, or forced them to violate him in turn? He couldn’t keep track any more. But now they were somewhere else. It was a ballroom in the palace, and he and his daughters were still naked, not having even been allowed to clean themselves up after their long exertions.

Standing in the middle of the room, Iceblade stood in the middle of three human women. They were Green Knight, Incantrix, and Yukihime, his core cadre. Kneeling behind them was Captain Mathara. Now, they stood behind Iceblade, as he allowed the Emperor to be unbound for the first time since the nighttime assault that had captured the Palace. “This Emperor has brought a calamity to his people. Slay him, and one of you will be Empress. As Empress, you will be able to sue for peace with my world. You will be able to spare your people from what happened at Argetha, at Silex, at Kratua. Slay him, with your own hands and teeth, and taste his blood.”

The Emperor looked afraid, and said to his daughters, “Vira, Entara! Don’t listen to him! We can still find a way out of this!”

His pleas fell on deaf ears, however, as the two females looked at eachother, and then turned to their father. There was no emotion in their eyes. No tears of regret. Just cornered animals doing what they had to do in order to survive. Together, they leapt at their father, tackling him to the ground. The man who led an empire screamed as sharp teeth tore into his flesh, as fingernails like claws scratched his hide. Desperately, he tried to fend off his daughters, but they were younger, stronger, and no longer had the wits left to be afraid of anything or anyone but Iceblade.

(Later)

When the last screams faded, Iceblade slowly clapped in appreciation at the brutality of the scene. “Well done. Know, then, that this is the true price of ruling an empire. If you invite disaster as your father did, then there is no other outcome than death.” He paused, and then looked to Vira, the eldest, and said, “You are the eldest of the Imperial line, are you not?”

“Yes. That- that makes me Empress now, doesn’t it?”

“Indeed it does. Now, I will return to my ship, while you take the reins of power. In two days, you will invite a delegation down for formal peace talks. The fleet your father was hoping would come to save him will be called off. Any questions?”

“Will you really let us live?”

Iceblade chuckled. “If you take the Senate in hand, and get an official peace treaty, with reparations for the trouble you’ve caused my world, then I have no reason to kill you. Your father was very stubborn. Several times I sent messages that this could have been avoided if he would come to terms, but he refused to listen.”

He reached out and held the new Empress’s chin in his hand. “But you’ll be a good girl and listen to me, right? Because if you don’t, who knows what will happen?”

“Y-yes! I’ll do what you want! Whatever you want!”

“Good girl. You two have fun now. Remember, you’re the Empress now.”

And with that, his group turned and left. As the dome of ice cracked and then fell to the ground, their shuttle, which had remained cloaked, lifted off, and returned to space.

Chapter 10 – Peace at Last

Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: They take you down, I don't expect to grieve overmuch. Like to kill you myself, I see you again.

The Operative: You won't...

[small, grim smile]

The Operative: There is nothing left to see.

–Serenity (2005)

April 13, 2019 – Imperial Senate, Rithena Prime

In the courtyard outside the Imperial Senate, members of what passed for the press corps in the Empire gathered, waiting for the arrival of the humans on this tragic, but hopeful, day. The Emperor was dead, but the new Empress had spent the last two days gathering support for peace with the barbarians that had ravaged the Empire the last few cycles with a viciousness none had seen since the Kratuan War. For the first time ever, the Empire was being forced to sue for peace. But when the enemy was not only capable but willing to kill entire star systems to make his point, what could they do against that?

A shuttle appeared, with two fighters flanking it in a tight formation. But what caused the reporters to stop and stare in mixed horror and fascination was the fact that there were several humans in the air alongside the shuttle! And then the shuttle landed, the door opening. The Butcher of Rithena stepped out, flanked by Yukihime, Incantrix, and Web Mistress. Pyra, Electra, Lady Victory, and Green Knight landed next to them, and then more humans began emerging from the shuttle, some visibly showing off powers or other abilities.

It was theater, of course, but everything was going according to Iceblade’s script. A blatant show that he was not alone amongst his people, should anyone in the Empire get the idea that casually taking him out would solve their problems. Well, taking him out would be hard enough in its own right, and certainly no casual affair, but having a planet with more powered individuals to deal with afterwards…

Striding into the Senate chambers at the head of the Earth delegation, Iceblade simply nodded to the new Empress, who was standing at the podium. It brought a low chuckle to his lips when he saw her shudder at his attention.

From behind, Electra whispered to him, “And just how did you arrange all this?”

Iceblade smiled beneath his mask. “Oh, simple, really. I knew her father wasn’t going to deal, too much pride. So I removed him, his wife, and the crown prince from the equation. And I also gave the new Empress and her younger sister a great deal of advice.”

Electra snorted. “Sure, that’s all you gave them.”

“Don’t be jealous. I’ll give you some when this ceremony is over.” I chuckled as Electra tried to contain her sputtering indignation, and returned my attention to the ceremony.

(Later)

<Iceblade POV>

After the opening ceremony of the talks, I found myself in an interesting situation. The rest of the crew were spread out around the hall, gathering information, or just enjoying the party. However, Sexkitten and Fuckpuppy were by my side, both wearing clothes for a change, since we were at a state function and all. We were just having a bit of a chat (Sexkitten really liked being able to talk, and both enjoyed hearing their own names again) when I saw Triel coming our way, with the rest of her family.

“Heads up, Talis. Your family is coming to see you again.” Iceblade chuckled as he heard her gulp.

Looking to the king as he approached, and bowed my head respectfully, though not the full bow and other crap people normally do for royalty. But the king had made the best of a bad situation, instead of letting emotions rule him. Between that, and the fact that he kept up his end of our ‘bargain’, I was inclined to respect the man.

“Ah, your majesty! So good to see you in person. I’ve heard about your work cleaning up the unfortunate mess in the Argetha system. If only the Empire had more leaders like you, then maybe first contact between our peoples would have been less… hostile.”

The king’s face twitched slightly at the mention of Argetha, but he held his composure, earning another nod from Iceblade. “I wish our first meeting was far less hostile, as well. I’ve heard the reports of your exploits, as well, though I must admit some of them seem to be greatly exaggerated.”

“Oh, I promise you, if anything, the reports Ambassador Triel has sent you are somewhat understated. But I’m not surprised you have trouble believing it. From what Triel and Talis have told me, the Empire’s wars tend to be conquest, or at least occupation oriented. It takes a great deal more strength to hold a system than it does to destroy one. In a fair fight, I have no doubt that things may have been far worse. I avoid fair fights, as a rule.”

“Yes, I can see that. And I hear that my daughters have both had litters?”

“Indeed. Very healthy kittens, three girls and five boys. If you like, I will take you on a tour of my new flagship, the Corsair, and give you and your family a chance to meet the young ones.”

“I look forward to it. I’m sure more than one of my captains would be eager to hear about these new weapons your ships have, as well.”

“Ah, the weapons are fairly simple, actually. You just have to be willing to harness antimatter and throw it at your enemy. Your ships use mostly imperial beam-type weapons, yes? While those can be incredibly powerful, there are weaknesses to the technology, especially when it comes to range. Simply put, your ships are all up close brawlers. That’s what they’re designed to do, and what they’re designed to defend against.”

The King laughed. “Are you sure you should be telling me all this?”

“Oh, it is nothing that your military analysts won’t have noticed already. And I very much hope that the outcome of today’s talks is a lasting peace.”

“As do I. The Brekthal, at least, have no desire to go to war with your people ever again.”

“And now you know why I became a demon.”

While we were talking, Talis and Triel were talking to their family, but I saw Crown Princess Venta glaring at my sister across the room. No doubt, the only thing keeping it from coming to blows was her training as a potential ruler of her people. Catching the woman’s eye, I said, “When we go on that tour, there is a training facility there, that you can use, if you want to have a ‘friendly match’ with my sister. But I’ll just warn you that, while she isn’t on my level, I have been training my sister in hand to hand combat. I’ve done the same training with Talis, when I wasn’t teaching her other things.”

I paused, and then leaned in to whisper, “But if you would rather have the support of someone who has been forced into a similar situation, you might go speak with the new Empress and her sister sometime. I expect that they, too, would like to have someone it was safe to confide in.” I watched as Venta’s face twisted in anger for a second, before she took a breath to calm herself, and nodded to me, and to her father, before making her way over to where the Empress’s sister was talking.

“You are a very clever man, Iceblade. I cannot tell if you did that to twist the knife in my daughter or the Empress.”

“Neither. Merely taking steps to keep potential problems from festering. Your daughter is smart. She knows that nothing she can do can change the past, and the consequences of hasty action could be dire. That is an unhealthy combination, considering she is rightly angry with what happened. The Imperial family is also dealing with things, some of which are far worse than what your family had to deal with. I am ruthless, when I need to be, but I am not entirely heartless.”

“So, with the war over, what becomes of my daughters now? And my grandchildren?”

“First, the children will go with their mothers, wherever that may be. I would not separate them like that. Ambassador Triel is welcome to go where she will. I believe she’s made quite an impression in the time she’s been on Earth, so you might suggest that she be made the Empire’s official ambassador, now that the war is settling down. As for Talis, well, I’ll leave the decision up to her. I’ve enjoyed her company, and would not mind keeping her around.”

A mental command brought Talis over to my side, looking between me and her father. “Talis, you’ve done well. As you remember, I promised to keep you until peace returned, and we have peace now. So, answer truthfully, what do you want to do from here on?”

<Talis POV>

This day has been so strange! I’m not used to wearing clothes this long any more. I’m talking as a person, and Master is even using my name! My actual name, not Sexkitten! But I’m embarrassed to be talking with my parents, while feeling my holes full of Master’s seed, kept in place only by the plugs in the garments he allowed me to wear.

Somehow, it just seems wrong. I’ve been naked and on all fours for so long, anything else just seems unnatural. How messed up has Master made me? Ugh! I feel master’s call in my head, and excuse myself from the conversation my siblings were having, talking about Earth.

Master has been talking with my father for a while now. Is it about me? Oh no, what is he saying about me?

“Talis, you’ve done well. As you remember, I promised to keep you until peace returned, and we have peace now. So, answer truthfully, what do you want to do from here on?”

What do I want? And I can answer honestly? Of course I want my freedom! Right? But if I go back, what would I do? I’m still the Fourth Princess. I’m not trained in politics or military affairs like my siblings. What is there for me if I go back, except getting married off eventually as some sort of political maneuver? Master may be cruel at times, but he’s always taken care of me, and made me feel safe, even when he’s hurting me. And would I ever find a Brekthal who can do to me what he can?

“I… I don’t know, Master. If I go back, I will simply be married off to a good match, since I don’t have the skills my sisters and brothers do. And I like the way your cock makes me feel.” I blush fiercely as the words are ripped from my mouth. He told me to be honest, so the curse, or whatever it is, won’t allow me to hold back.

Master laughed, though whether it was at my face, or my family’s reactions, I don’t know. “Well, if that’s the case, then you may stay with me.” And then he leaned forward and kissed me! Master kissed me! Ooooh!

May 1, 2019 – VS Corsair, Earth Orbit

After two years of war, there was finally peace. On the command deck of the Corsair, I nodded to those manning the consoles, and opened a channel to my captains.

“My friends, we’ve come a long way in a short time. When we started this, it was one little ship, a few stolen fighters, and a couple shuttles. Hardly a force that could shake an empire, right? But together, we fought, and we bled, and we won. The Vendetta has achieved everything I set out for it when I began.”

“The question, then, is what will we do now? When peace has come, there is no need for warriors, especially not irregulars like we are, not when the USF now has a navy of its own. You’ve all served well and faithfully, and those of you who wish it may go back to the lives you had before. If you stay, I can’t promise the best pay, safety, or even frequent visits home. I can promise you that there will be adventure, whatever we do.”

A lieutenant called out from the sensor station. “Sir! Tachyon event! Not coming from the Argetha warp gate.”

Turning to look at him, I said, “Do we have identification?”

“Single ship. We’re picking up long range communications, however. They claim to be the Asguard.”

“I was wondering when they’d show up.” Looking back to the screen, I said, “It seems the Asguard have returned. Let’s see what they want, shall we?”

Epilogue – Many Partings

PUCK

If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend:
if you pardon, we will mend:
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call;
So, good night unto you all.
Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

--William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Thus Earth’s first interstellar war ended, with the Vendetta as the tip of the spear.

The two years of war had changed the Earth. Heroes and Villains had transcended their normal roles. All the nations, all the peoples of the Earth joined hands, and fought together as one. Friends and enemies alike found common cause, and turned their attentions outward instead of to eachother. What they wrought would shake the heavens.

The Asguard, long time protectors of the Human race, and others like them, returned as soon as they could when they heard that Earth had been invaded, expecting to find an enemy force that they would have to punish. They found Earth free, united, and standing triumphant. No longer a child race in need of protection, they had earned the right to stand amongst the stars as equals.

Now, as equals amongst the races that traveled the stars, the Asguard asked for the Earth’s help in defeating the machine menace that had drawn them away from their post as guardians. Though their technology and numbers were inferior to the Asguard, the records of their war against the Rithenal Empire had shown a knack for unconventional tactics, and weaponry that there were few defenses against. Indeed, they had even killed one of the machine ships on their way to the peace talks.

Weary of war, Earth did not commit all their ships to the effort, but they did not forsake their newfound friends. A fleet of ten ships left with the Asguard, not as combatants, but as trainers and specialists. Earth would help give the Asguard the tools and tactics needed to defeat the machines, and in return, the knowledge they gained advanced their technology many times over.

But what of the people?

Most of the heroes and villains fell back into old routines once the crisis was over, though some took advantage of new opportunities, and left their old lives behind in order to start fresh.

The Vendetta, that had sparked the flame and kept humanity’s hope alive during the darkest moments of the war, formally disbanded, as there was no longer need of their forces in peacetime. Some went back to their old lives in the various militaries of the world, and some joined the new USF armed forces, where their experience in space combat stood them in good stead. More than a few, however, chose to remain with the group, now named the Venatori, as they sought new adventures.

Electra, Pyra, and Lady Victory all quit their positions, and joined the Venatori. Though their teams were sad to see them go, there were more heroes, and even some former villains, who were looking to fill the void.

Indomitable, last remaining member of the Squadron Supreme, formally disbanded the group, and became a solo hero. He bears a deep grudge against Iceblade to this day.

Triel Grendit was officially declared Ambassador to Earth for the Rithenal Empire. On Iceblade’s suggestion, she located her embassy in Tokyo, where she, and her kittens, were very popular. This helped ease the tensions of the brutal war.

Venta Grendit became a close confidant of the new Empress, having shared a taste of the suffering her family had. When new elections came, she became the first member of the Brekthal royal family to be named a Senator of the Empire, and was confirmed as the new High Chancellor.

Empress Vira Borgun was the first woman to ever hold the title. Together with her sister, Entara, she worked to overcome the tragedies that had befallen the Empire during the war. As a result, while military spending fell to its lowest point in a hundred cycles, new social programs and outreach raised the standard of living of many. In coming years, Empress Vira’s reign would be talked about as the start of a Golden Age of the Empire.

The members of Iceblade’s ‘family’, his sister and his harem, remained with him after the war, retiring from the lives they had led before to follow him on his new venture.

And what of Iceblade? What of the man that brought an empire to its knees?

Taking the ships he had stolen or been given, and those who still wished to follow him, he reformed the Vendetta into the Venatori, the Hunters. They did not join the war against the machines, but instead gathered their resources, and set off through a warpgate into unsettled space, intending to make a life for themselves.

But that is another tale.

FIN.

Side Stories

The Incubus Ring

“So avoid using the word ‘very’ because it’s lazy. A man is not very tired, he is exhausted. Don’t use very sad, use morose. Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women - and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do. It also won’t do in your essays.”
― N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

October 31, 2006 – Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C.

It was Halloween. Sure, the kids hadn’t gone trick-or-treating yet, and the parties hadn’t started. It was, after all, just a couple minutes past midnight, and had just stopped being October 30th. And here I was, alone, standing on the top of a light pole watching a building that had long ago been sealed off for the night.

Such was the glamorous life of a master thief and assassin.

I wasn’t standing outside the Smithsonian on a whim, of course. There was a job, naturally. A client wanted a certain artifact removed from the museum, without anyone knowing it was gone. He wanted it badly enough that he was willing to pay handsomely for my services. Ever since that ‘incident’ in Russia, I’d been working on my rep as a thief, and I had to admit I was doing well for myself. I could command a substantial fee, for my services, and I had enough money at the moment to buy a small island and live there in comfort the rest of my life. I wouldn’t do that, of course. Retirement is boring. All the movies say so, and Hollywood never lies, right?

Ahem.

Anyways, I needed to get into one of the most famous museums in the world, grab the piece the collector wanted, and get out. I’d already scoped the latest updates to their security over the last couple days. I’d managed to get in and out without raising suspicion, but that was recon, without touching anything. This was the real deal.

Running over the plan in my mind, I decided that getting in and out undetected, especially with the piece, would be near impossible to do. I had a plan to neutralize any response to alarms, and keep the cameras off me, but the security was too tight to not trip something, and my taking the cameras down would be immediately obvious. If nothing seemed missing, they would do a detailed inventory, starting with the high value pieces. The copy I intended to switch in would be discovered, so that couldn’t happen.

The solution, then? Give the cops something else to focus their attention on. I’d purchased a simple virus, and managed to upload it into the network yesterday. When I sent the code, every alarm in the building would go off simultaneously. The only clue as to what I took would be the missing objects, which wouldn’t include the piece the client wanted. I rated the plan a solid 7 out of 10.

Slipping into the mist form I typically used for infiltrations, I was easily able to get past the alarms on the doors and windows. I’d be the first to tell you that I wasn’t an expert on all the different types of security there was available, especially when super-science was involved, but my mist form was basically a cheat code. As far as I was aware, while in this form, I was basically indistinguishable from the water vapor in the air naturally. Even infrared would only show me as a slightly colder space of air, depending on how far I spread myself out. The Smithsonian was many things, but it wasn’t airtight. Once I was into the vents, I had the run of the building, at least until I became physical again.

I didn’t linger by the big T-Rex skeleton, like I had on the previous nights when I was testing whether the security could detect my mist form, but passed through the ventilation to the security office. One guard on duty, excellent. Silent as death, I reformed myself behind the guard, and slapped a patch on the back of his neck. It contained a fast-acting tranquilizer along with some DMSO to make it absorb through the skin. I could have killed him, but it was a point of pride to me to not kill mooks who weren’t trying to kill me when I was stealing.

Oh, it wasn’t an ethical thing, but more practical. Needless death makes all the wrong kind of headlines. You prove you are fully capable of unleashing death and destruction, and choose not to? That keeps you from becoming the top of some super-group’s ‘to do’ list. Less hassle, and you tend to get more jobs that require a certain level of discretion that way. Those jobs always paid more than the ‘kill them all and let God sort it out’ ones.

The guard would be out for about an hour. I had to move. Reaching over to the still unlocked monitor, I typed in the command to activate the virus I’d implanted, starting the timer. Ten minutes until all hell broke loose. Before leaving the security room, I removed the hard drives recording the cameras, and froze them, before shattering them with my heel. Then I was mist once more.

I was in place by my main target thirty seconds before the alarms were supposed to go off. The plan was simple. Use the chaos of the alarms going off to open the case, switch the piece with the replica, and close it, before going to my secondary objectives. Part one worked like a charm. Alarms rang out, security doors dropped down, there was shouting on the comms, and I made the switch and turned to mist again before anyone came to check this room.

Moving through the vents again, I bypassed the guards and security doors between me and my secondary targets. It was in the Egyptian wing of the museum, a display of some ancient jewelry. A little birdie told me that one of the magic types had taken a peek, and said that some of the pieces were enchanted. Old magic was always a big seller. It was also powerful, and a useful tool to have at your side, if you didn’t mind that sometimes it was cursed.

Needing to make this look good for anyone who examined the scene, I froze the glass covering the display, and shattered it. Several rings, a pair of bracers, and a golden ankh were all looking up at me, and they all went into my bag, just as I heard footsteps and shouting guards, coming to check this room.

I pulled a smoke pellet from my belt. It wasn’t anything special, just a mundane special effects tool that had been in use for centuries, in one form or another. But the flash and smoke it would release would be enough to cover my turning to mist. Very, very few people knew that secret. And other than one person, they were all dead. I shattered the pellet at my feet, just as the guards managed to get a good look at me, and was gone.

November 1, 2006 – Battery Park, New York City, New York

Once again, I was alone, at night, in costume, waiting. Well, this time I was waiting on my contact with the client so I could get paid. Honestly, I wasn’t feeling this whole ‘meeting alone in a public place’ thing. It read like a trap. It had been a couple years since I’d had to make an example of someone, and so far Dr. Ubuntu hadn’t looked like he was going to be stupid enough to double-cross me. But you never know.

At 1:00 AM exactly, my contact stepped into a circle of light under one of the few (working) streetlights. It was Tigress, Dr. Ubuntu’s sidekick, or lackey, or sexpet, or whatever their relationship was. As I looked at her, one of the rings I’d picked up at the Smithsonian began warm up. It wasn’t painful, or even unpleasant, but a subtle twinge.

Magic items are unpredictable. Some have easily identifiable traits. Some are practically eager to show you what they can do. Some hide their function until the time is right, and not even their creators know everything they’re capable of. This ring was one of those. I’d touched it accidentally in my lair, once I’d changed out of my costume, and I could feel its energy. It seemed like it tested me, and found me acceptable. At the time, I didn’t know what it did, but had the feeling that it wouldn’t harm me, at least not intentionally. Old magic sometimes has its own ideas about what is harmful or helpful to the person it is attached to.

Now I knew. Whoever enchanted this ring stripped the power of an incubus and stored it within the ring. With it on my hand, and a woman nearby, I learned the truth about the ring. The first part was a glamour that would increase my natural charisma, making me more desirable, or more intimidating, if I chose. The second part was more insidious. With a kiss upon a woman’s skin, I could enthrall them for a time. If I kissed them on the lips, with the intent to do so, I could make them my slave until I set them free.

I put the thought out of my head as I approached Tigress. She was from South Africa, I knew, and had rich chocolate skin, and the kind of perfect figure that most supers seemed to share. I would enjoy getting my hands on that lovely butt of hers, for instance. But this was a business meeting. Not pleasure. Especially since she didn’t seem to have anything except her weapons, and certainly no briefcase full of money, as she should.

Tigress nodded to me, and said, “You have it, then?”

I nodded in return. “I’m noting a distinct lack of the money the Doctor owes me.”

The woman laughed, and said, “Why pay for it when he can just have me take it from you?” And with that, she attacked.

Tigress was a ‘feral’ type super, not sure what kind, meaning she had animalistic powers. This included increased speed, strength, stamina, senses, the whole package. In a fair fight, I’d be in trouble. But I try to avoid fair fights. A wall of ice sprang up, just in time to intercept her initial strike. The wall was only an inch thick, and I could already see the spiderweb cracks on it from the impact. Without a second thought, I spread a mist to negate her vision, and let my mist form join it, before she could slip around the ice wall to attack.

“What? Where did you go? You cowardly rat! Come on out and fight!” Feral types didn’t like it when you played mind games with them. Oh, the cat-types might enjoy inflicting such games on people, since they had a stalking mindset, but they really didn’t appreciate being turned into prey.

Now, what to do with this Tigress? I would have to act quickly, before someone noticed the fight and decided to call in the local hero types. That would be… inconvenient for my revenge on Dr. Ubuntu for this treachery. I could just kill her, but then how would I know whether it was just her, or if this was on the Doctor’s orders?

The thought of the ring came to me again. Well, well. It looks like someone just volunteered to be the first test subject. I slid back into solid form behind her, and grabbed Tigress by the throat, icy claws digging into the soft flesh of her neck. Maybe she could regenerate from having her throat torn out. Maybe she couldn’t. I bet she didn’t wish to try either way, as she stiffened. She was surprised, but looking for an opening to counter.

With one hand, I pulled down my mask, and whispered into her ear. “Oh Tigress, I’m going to enjoy breaking every one of your holes before I kill you.” And then I kissed her shoulder, testing the information of the ring.

Instantly, the woman shuddered, like she was incredibly turned on, and said, in that sultry voice women use when they need it, bad, “You don’t have to kill me, do you? After all, I was only doing what Master told me to!”

I moved my other hand now, icy claws forming on it as I shredded the skimpy excuse for a costume she wore. It was little better than a bikini at the best of times, and now it was completely useless. “Oh, I’m afraid I do. But for now, I need to enjoy that porn star body of yours. Try not to scream too much, yes?” And with that, we became mist, and I looked for a quiet rooftop where I could enjoy my conquest before finishing her.

All the while, the ring gave me a feeling as though it was most pleased with my actions.

An Ambassador’s Job

“All diplomacy is a continuation of war by other means.”

--Zhou Enlai

March 15, 2017 – Brekthal Shuttle Hathara, Argetha Jump Point, Sol System

The shuttle was cramped, and not ideal for spending days at a time in, even if it WAS a VIP shuttle designed for ambassadors or others of rank. Usually an Ambassador would have a larger ship that transported them to the appropriate system, and then would take the shuttle down. But this was not the usual situation.

My throat tightened as the shuttle and the freighter we were escorting passed through the warp gate into the space controlled by what the media was already calling the Demon of Argetha. This Iceblade and his Vendetta had crippled the Argetha system for decades, if not more. Some said that the system might never recover.

After the attack, the monster taunted my father, the King, with his claim of responsibility, and showing off little Talis stripped naked and on all fours like some kind of animal. What his sister forced Trant to do to Venta simply doesn’t bear repeating. I don’t think any of us were surprised when Trant was found to have ‘accidentally’ stabbed himself with a knife several times in his sleep the next day. The spineless man should never have done that to Venta, just to save his own hide.

No, I can’t go into negotiations like this. I can’t let my judgement get clouded before I even set foot on the other species’ planet. I am Triel Grendit, Second Daughter of King Grall Grendit of Brektha, and Ambassador of Braktha and the Rithenalese Empire. I may be going into the demon’s lair, but I will not shame my parents or my people by doing less than my best job to protect Brektha from this man’s attacks.

I just happened to be looking at the viewscreens, which is the only reason I saw it. A shimmer of light, and then an Imperial corvette appeared out of nowhere. It was supposed to be impossible to cloak anything larger than a shuttle, and these ‘humans’ had already managed such a thing? I was so shocked by this revelation that I almost didn’t notice the uncloaked fighters circling the shuttle and freighter.

My throat tightened as the pilot called back to me, “Ambassador, we have an incoming transmission from the corvette. It is calling itself the VS Vengeance. I’m not aware of any ship by that name.”

I sighed, and said, “That is because the Demon of Argetha apparently took this corvette from the Kratuans, and renamed it to suit his purpose. At any rate, route the transmission to my screen. We must make a good impression, if we’re to keep Brektha out of this mess.” As I spoke, I checked to make sure that my outfit was presentable, and straightened to my full height. It was time.

The screen lit up with a human, dressed in what looked like a military uniform, but this wasn’t the Demon. Still, when he spoke, he was firm, and authoritative, clearly used to being in command. “Brekthal Shuttle, you have entered restricted space. State your identification and reason for travel.”

I took a breath, and then said, “I am Ambassador Triel Grendit of Brektha, and this shuttle is accompanying a freighter with ‘gifts’ to the one known as Iceblade, of the organization known as the Vendetta.” Was there some confusion in the translation, and we missed the date? Or were these humans simply paranoid, and challenging any ship that came through the gate to head off another attack?

The officer’s posture relaxed as I transmitted my identification codes. “You have been expected, Ambassador Grendit. I am Captain Hauser of Her Majesty’s Royal Navy, currently detached to command the Vengeance for the Vendetta. I am transmitting coordinates to the freighter where they can unload their cargo before they return to Brekthal space, and three of the fighters will escort them there and to the gate again. Please make sure the freighter captain knows that ‘exploring’ would not be in his best interest.”

“I have transmitted landing protocols to your ship, so you may dock with the Vengeance.”

I nodded. “Understood. When would Iceblade wish to speak with me?”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a while for that, ma’am. Iceblade is currently on mission behind enemy lines. There is a meeting of the Imperial Senate scheduled in a couple weeks that he is eager to attend, I believe.”

Oh, that couldn’t be good. If he was going to storm a meeting of the Imperial Senate, then there was no chance of things getting resolved quietly. Hopefully this would, at least, make people pause before sending fleets. Which probably was the man’s intention. Still, I had my own job to do. “I see. And what is on the agenda until then?”

“I have orders to escort you to Earth, and to introduce you to members of the Vendetta and the various world leaders. For security reasons, the prisoners of war we extracted from the Argetha system have been split up in various locations, but there are plans for you to begin seeing them, to ensure that the prisoners are not being mistreated.”

“Excellent. Will Princess Talis be among them?”

The captain’s face became a mask. That was a bad sign. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but Iceblade is keeping your sister with him at the moment. His core group all went with him to deliver his message, and since no one else knows the location of his base, it would have been cruel to leave her there without food or water until he returned.”

Damn. Still, I couldn’t let my disappointment show on my face. At least the monster was interested in keeping her in good health. That was encouraging. I was distracted by the pilot’s voice, informing me that we were docking now. Looking back at the captain’s image, I nodded. “Very well, Captain. I am informed that we’re docking with your ship now. Please take me to see my people.”

(Later)

The situation was even more complicated than I had imagined. There had been hints, of course. The Captain of the Vengeance said that he was part of a navy, but others on the ship said they were part of different navies, or different services. When I asked the captain about it, it became clear that this ‘Vendetta’ wasn’t a planetary government, but one man and those following him, for the sole purpose of attacking the Empire. This ‘Earth’ didn’t even HAVE a planetary government! They were still in the nation-state stage!

If this was simply a coalition of different nations, then the whole situation would be easier to manage. With a coalition, there is always compromise, since coalitions have to balance their individual desires and how far they are willing to go in pursuit of a common goal. But this Vendetta wasn’t a coalition. It was a cult of personality, following someone who clearly had no qualms about committing atrocities to answer for the invasion of his home, and was able to convince people to go along with it! There was no limiting factor on Iceblade, save for the number of ships he commanded.

If that wasn’t bad enough, apparently this Iceblade had made his reputation as both a thief and assassin by going to outrageous extremes against those who betrayed him or took something from him. The only bright side to this whole thing is that he appeared to be the kind of man who valued contracts, and would abide by them, at least until someone betrayed him. Then all bets were off. That was important. If his attacks could be diverted to just the Kratuans, then he might be willing to accept a peace settlement, and abide by it.

May 6, 2017 – Brekthal Embassy, Tokyo, Japan

Under the advice of Captain Hauser, the Embassy had been established in the country these humans called Japan, instead of his own country of ‘United Kingdom’ or the ‘America’ that Iceblade is supposed to come from. When I asked why, he simply said that there were ‘cultural issues’ that may make the Japanese more hospitable to my presence than other countries.

Certainly, from my reading and interactions, I found that there was a culture of hospitality and respect in this country, which was gratifying to see, but nothing to indicate what the Captain was talking about. Until I started doing research on the culture of Japan. References to fox-spirits and other creatures abounded, and their ‘manga’ and ‘anime’ had a lot of what they called nekomimi, and looked disturbingly like a Brekthal with more human features. It was unsettling to think that I was a walking fetish to some people, but I had to thank Hauser. He hadn’t lied when he said that this land would be most willing to accept my presence. I wasn’t even in America that much, and there were riots in this ‘Washington, D.C.’ against my presence.

As I was considering the news, Thathi, my aide, appeared by my side. “Your Highness, there is a communique from home, bearing news from the Imperial Senate.”

I perked up, and looked at the slender female. “Yes? What is it?”

Thathi gulped, and said, “Iceblade attacked the Senate itself on Rithena Prime. All the senators are dead, save our own delegation, as your Father was arriving in orbit when the attack happened. He had planned to address the Senate about the continuing state of affairs in Argetha.”

That was his stated purpose, no doubt. But I had warned him that Iceblade would be appearing at the Senate, and it seemed he’d heeded my advice and given our senators a way to miss the attack without seeming like they had foreknowledge. Still, the brazen nature of an assault upon the capital of the Empire! “How many were involved in the attack? Were there any survivors? And did Iceblade lose anyone?” Please say he didn’t lose anyone. I had a feeling worlds would burn if that happened.

“Iceblade broadcast the Senate proceedings to the entire planet. He attacked alone, using explosives to isolate the Senate chamber, and then using a sword to kill the entire senate, including the security forces. There were no survivors, and Iceblade escaped after issuing his threats.”

I groaned as I hid my head in my hands. One man did all that? And threats? What did he do now? “What did he do?”

“He said that, if this war continued, ‘your worlds will burn’. And he claimed ‘We are the Vendetta. We answer the blood of one with the blood of a thousand.’”

“Send word to my Father. Tell him that under no circumstances should he underestimate Iceblade. He will not hesitate to do as he says, if it is at all within his abilities. And I don’t think we’ve seen the full extents he is willing to go to in order to end this conflict on his terms.”

“Understood.”

I sighed as Thathi turned and left the room. These humans had a saying, “May you live in interesting times.” It was intended as both blessing and curse. I could understand that now, since these times were far too interesting for my tastes.

June 20, 2017 – Brekthal Embassy, Tokyo, Japan

Being an Ambassador, especially in a situation like the one I was in now, meant that you got to read a lot of reports that would be restricted, even from the eyes of a Princess. Right now, I was reading reports from Brekthal agents across the Empire, regarding the fallout from the Senate attack. That was a task made no easier thanks to the fact that my heat had started the day before.

The brazen nature of the attack, and its brutal effectiveness had shattered any kind of unified punitive response to the Argetha attacks that might have been forthcoming. There were power squabbles in most of the polities, as the suddenly vacant roles of Senators needed filling, and that distracted from the war.

Just as Iceblade intended, no doubt.

But the information wasn’t all good. It seemed that the Silexians had decided to act unilaterally, while the rest of the Empire was in chaos. They were a warrior race, battle maniacs to the last. They saw Iceblade’s attack as a challenge, and they only knew one way to respond to such a challenge. The King had turned their fleet back at the borders, but that would only delay the assault a little while.

Suddenly, the air grew cold. I looked up, and saw the monster, Iceblade, standing there, in his costume. I gulped, but didn’t bother shouting the questions he no doubt expected to hear. My research had already shown that there were few places on this planet he couldn’t get to, if he had a mind to. If he intended to harm me, I’d be dead already. I did notice that his hood and mask were pulled away, revealing his face.

I took a breath, and then smiled, offering my hand to him, as humans liked to do. “I am Ambassador Triel Grendit, as you no doubt are aware. And you are the infamous Iceblade?”

A glimmer in his eye, and the smirking grin on his face gave me pause, but he took my hand, and kissed it, like how a gentleman on this world might do. I noticed a strange ring on his hand that looked out of place, but the moment he kissed my hand, a wave of lust washed over me. I barely even heard him when he asked if I wished to see my sister, and simply nodded. I’d never wanted a man so badly as I did this monster, this demon. And I couldn’t even bring myself to question why I suddenly wanted him so much. All I knew was that I needed him.

Table of Contents

Foreward

Book I – Prelude to War

Prologue – The One Known as Mistwalker

Chapter 1 – Emergence

Chapter 2 – Breaking Down

Chapter 3 – Riding the Rails

Chapter 4 – Fortunetelling

Chapter 5 – From Russia with Blood

Chapter 6 – Death in the Family

Chapter 7 – Surprise!

2002

2004-2006

Chapter 8 – Running the Shadows

Chapter 9 – Dorei Kishi

Chapter 10 – Everyday Life of Supervillains

Epilogue – World at War

Book II – The Invasion

Prologue – Kratuan Invasion

Chapter 1 – Battleground USA

Chapter 2 – Plots and Pilots

Chapter 3 – Interstellar Warfare 101

Chapter 4 – Run up the Black Flag

Chapter 5 – Behind the Lines

Chapter 6 – Seeds of Terror

Chapter 7 – Promises of Things to Come

Chapter 8 – Imperial Senate

Chapter 9 – Interlude from the Home Front

Chapter 10 – Against the Rising Tide

Epilogue – Waves Upon the Rocks

Book III – The Price of Peace

Prologue – Never Start a Land War in Asia

Chapter 1 – Alone in the Mist

Chapter 2 – Attrition in the Skies

Chapter 3 – Appomattox

Chapter 4 – Total War

Chapter 5 – Ambushed

Chapter 6 – Hunted Hunter Hunting Hunters

Chapter 7 – Demonstration of Resolve

Chapter 8 – The Grapes of Wrath

Chapter 9 – Ultimate Confrontation

Chapter 10 – Peace at Last

Epilogue – Many Partings

Side Stories

The Incubus Ring

An Ambassador’s Job