“The enemy is coming up the stairs, sir,” a Shock Troop soldier reported. “And it looks like the humans the general recruited have turned on us.”
“Not surprising,” Pelros replied. “I don’t think it will matter. We have the high ground, and we still have all the loyal humans waiting on the upper levels of the ship.”
Pelros looked down at the army of humans that was a third of the way up the side of the Pegasus. The green wall of fire had closed in around them, seeming to corral them up the steps.
“They’ll be too weak to fight by the time they make it up here,” the soldier observed.
“Do not underestimate them,” Pelros scolded. “They are led by the humans who destroyed the other recruit ships. Roll the steps.”
“Yes, sir,” the soldier replied, sounding more concerned. He started to pump the handle that would cause the steps to roll flat and form a slick ramp that would send the humans back to the bottom of the ship.
“It’s not working, sir,” the soldier said after several attempts.
“No surprise,” Pelros replied. “I wouldn’t expect our glowing green enemy would allow us to fend off the humans so easily.”
“General Talus,” Pelros called.
The elder officer, second in command of the soldiers after his uncle, sat on one of the benches off to the side of the top of the steps.
“You have the field, Commander,” Talus calmly replied.
“Yes, sir,” Pelros saluted him.
“You know this enemy better than any officer aboard the Pegasus,” General Talus said, glancing at the other officers as if to reassure them that following Pelros was his order. He returned his gaze to the commander. “Unless you are uncomfortable with the responsibility?”
“No, sir,” Pelros replied. He knew this was his uncle’s doing, but hadn’t been sure the other senior officers would go along with it.
Athos had been grooming him for leadership since he adopted him. The mission to earth may have been a disaster for this fleet, but it accelerated his career more than all the campaigns he’d been on before combined. It seemed only yesterday he was admitted to the Shock Troops and promoted to commander. Now he was to oversee defending the ship. The situation required a serious demeanor, and it took effort not to smile at his good fortune.
“Order the loyal humans to attack,” Pelros said, remaining calm and sounding confident as he’d been taught.
The soldier lifted a torch and swung it back and forth. Seeing the signal, the humans who were hiding in the apartments two thirds of the way up the ship spilled out onto the stairs. He could hear their shouting, and then a barrage of small explosions as the primitive weapons fired small, metal projectiles down upon the enemy.
He strained his eyes against the darkness, trying to spot Jones and his illegal clones among the humans climbing the stairs. Although he knew it was best if the enemy was subdued before they made it up to the Pegasus’ city, he hoped his good fortune would continue and he could be the one to kill the rebel traitor.
“They’re still advancing, sir,” the soldier next to him reported.
With Shamus and his followers behind them, the attackers outnumbered the loyal humans ten to one, and not that many of them could get on the steps or take a position where they could shoot down. The enemy kept low as they climbed, and fired their weapons up at the slaves who jumped into their path.
“It doesn’t appear that the loyal humans will be able to stop them,” Pelros said. “Clear the loyal ones, and turn the mirrors on the enemy.”
He’d been told the engineers had figured out how to weaponize the perpetual light that fell upon the ship’s city, but he hadn’t seen it in action.
The soldier signaled and the loyal humans began spilling off the steps, back onto the courtyards of the apartments. Then the green wall of flames growing up either side of the stairs advanced with the speed of a plasma bolt, rushing up the sides and blocking most of the loyal humans’ exit from the mirrors’ line of fire. The humans in the path of the advancing green walls were turned to ash as it passed through them.
“We don’t have a clean shot,” the engineer operating the closest mirror said.
Pelros could see the small army of humans, led by those rebel-trained teams who’d destroyed the other recruit ships, pushing up the steps. The loyal humans appeared disorganized and frightened from seeing their comrades burned by the green wall. The enemy slaughtered the undisciplined loyal humans and drew closer to the city.
“Use the mirrors on them now,” he ordered, glancing over at General Talus.
The general nodded his approval.
“But, sir, we’ll kill all the slaves,” the engineer said. “We’ll have to burn through them to hit the enemy.”
“We must stop their advance,” Pelros replied, casting a warning glance at the engineer. “Do it now.”
“Aye, sir,” the engineer answered, sounding nervous. Though he was a sailor and not accustomed to this sort of combat, every person in the Anunnaki military knew disobeying a superior officer’s orders during battle was punishable by death.
The mirrors captured light from the entire perimeter of the Pegasus’ city, directing it around so it met at one mirror that was above Pelros and centered on the steps. It released the concentrated energy in a thick beam that shot out away from the ship. The engineers turned the mirror slowly, adjusting the aim so the beam went down the steps. Heat radiated from the beam, forcing Pelros and the others standing at the top of the steps to squat down.
Shielding his face and eyes, Pelros moved left, finding a better position to assess the weapon’s effect. It hit the loyal humans trapped on the steps, lighting them on fire and sending them tumbling down in an avalanche of molten flesh. The engineers fine-tuned the beam, making it more intense. Row by row, it burned through all the humans on the steps, killing the loyal ones and then hitting the ones who had held him captive.
He knew Jones had to be near the front of the humans who’d led the charge up the steps. A soldier handed Pelros some protective glasses. He slid them on and watched the enemy dance in flames before dropping dead, wondering which one was the rebel who spawned him. Pelros waited to see if he’d feel any remorse over watching his father die, if their genetic connection would cause him to feel sad over the loss. A grin rose on his face instead. He’d killed the rebel who’d cast a shadow over him all his life. Pelros was finally free.
The blazing light passed through the humans and into the green wall. It impacted the tarmac, blasting a hole and sending concrete and molten asphalt showering across what had been the camp for the loyal humans around the base of the ship. The light cast by the beam allowed him to see the ruin left by the green wall when it passed through the camp. It had burned everything to small piles of ashes for as far as he could see.
This glowing green enemy might have done the same to the entire planet. He felt a chill despite the blistering heat coming from the beam of light, wondering about his home planet of Anu.
“That’s enough,” he shouted to the engineer.
The mirrors rotated out of sequence, and the beam of light vanished. Pelros blinked at the darkness below him, trying to force them to adjust so he could see if they had eliminated the threat. The walls of green fire still blocked off the lower part of the steps and prevented any access to and from the steps and the apartments on either side. He could see a few of the humans on the steps moving, dying from their burns. Not even one of them still stood.
“It appears we are victorious, sir,” the soldier holding the signal torch said.
“I’d expect more bodies down on the lower parts of the steps, where they were standing,” Pelros replied, squinting his eyes for a better view.
“Probably vaporized them,” the soldier said.
“Let’s hope,” Pelros replied. “Keep a sharp watch just the same.
“What will this green alien try to do now?” General Talus said, approaching Pelros. His face was red from the light beam’s heat.
“The green walls that were pushing those humans up the steps have stopped moving,” Pelros observed.
“Maybe we’ve stumped it,” the general replied. “Although I’m guessing not for long.”