The Killing Games
Zerot/Gemini 7 - 1992
The Cast
Lord High Elder Cajjaabb of Cammaggama Dynasty
Lord High Elder Sammanna of the Rebutti Dynasty
Lord High Elder Robbijj of Accett Dynasty
The oppressive heat in the underground cavern would be intolerable for most species, but after nearly ten thousand years of enforced subterranean life, the Zerot had long ago adapted to it. The Gathering Hall was gloomy, the effect of the constant heat haze, but closer inspection revealed an assortment of art treasures stolen from many of the worlds they had conquered. The room was buzzing with discussions and arguments going on simultaneously around three huge circular tables set in a perfect triangle. In the centre, a giant holographic world rotated slowly. The Zerot were about to embark on a planetary violation expedition, and the final details of the Cadre’s performance were being measured and evaluated—the Killing Games were in full flow.
Around the tables were three grandstands, each housing one of the Great Dynasties, their leaders, entourages and favoured sponsors. The wagering on the game by the dynasties was for the glory of winning and being adjudged superior over the other two. It was their sponsors that would be wagering the serious currency, with some staking their whole worth on the outcome of the Game.
One pair of eyes watched from afar, her interest entirely different from those in the hall.
The first table was probably the most orderly of the three, with twenty clerics analysing the performance of Cadre 176’s twenty years on Gemini 7, in the Pulcherrim system.
They had one hour to complete this task, with the chief cleric coordinating the previously unseen data and the remaining scholars analysing against the pre-set rules of the game. The results when calculated displayed around the holograph, for the other players in the Game to absorb and digest. The Zerot at the other two tables were getting animated as more and more information appeared.
During their twenty years, Cadre 176—led by the infamous Hammaraffi—had infiltrated the dominant society and had increased the size of its army, tenfold. They declared war on all of its immediate neighbours. Hammaraffi’s tried and trusted mixture of subjugation, genocide and ruthless hit squads had sent evil tentacles squirming around Gemini 7, destabilising the whole of the world’s society. He needed a strong performance here. A particularly tenacious species had foiled his last attempt at a planetary violation sixty years earlier, and he and his team had made a rather hurried departure from the planet. The Zerot elders would not tolerate a second failure.
The total population of the planet appeared—2.2 billion. A roar from the second table, representing the Cammaggama Dynasty—sponsors of Hammaraffi—accompanied the announcement of 34 million dead to date. Well above the required minimum. The planet lit up, landmasses now coloured red, shades of pink, or white. Red indicated countries under the direct control of the Cadre, pink partially subjugated—the shade showing the degree of occupation—and white represented unconquered counties. The ferocity and tenacity rating of the inhabitants of the planet were announced next as below average, bringing mocking jeers from the other two dynasties, undermining the “dead so far” figure. Scuffles between dynasty military personnel broke out at the second table, but were quickly subdued by their superiors who wanted to plan attack strategies on the different parts of the planet. The more daring and demanding the approach, the higher the tariff would be when the betting commenced.
In total, the equation revealed the percentage of the world under occupation, its technology level, the standard of technology assistance permitted to the Zerot attack forces and finally, the big one, the Brukkah weighing.
The three dynasty invasion forces would be made up of male and female Zerot soldiers in their prime. The higher the Brukkah weighing, the greater the killing frenzy would be. The better the frenzy, the greater the chances of arousal and mating. The more mating, the better the chances of offspring to keep the Zerot numbers from dwindling further. And this, the ancient race needed badly. Poor breeding had already led to an underclass of Zerot, known as the Grunz, who were now only capable of carrying out the menial duties—only just up from slave caste.
The Brukkah weighing finally appeared and was at best disappointing.
Table two was the focal point of the second hour of the Killing Games.
The three dynasty military leaders each chose the points of the planet where their planetary violation forces would land and commence execution. They would have eight weeks to gouge a trail of death across the globe to the spot where Cadre 176 was based. In the case of Gemini 7, that was Bortherville in the country of Germaint. The dynasty military clerics at table two were now busy plotting and analysing the difficulty of the route—measured through colour density—and predicting how many millions of the population would be killed. Each of these would be crucial elements later in the game.
The details of the military strategies became apparent by the end of the second hour, with full plans and predictions displayed on the panels. At the third table, the dynasty leaders had come down from their ivory towers and taken charge. The betting would commence.
Lord High Elder Cajjaabb of Cammaggama Dynasty—who had replaced the ailing Carrakk sixty years ago, following the failed planetary violation—had the opening gambit.
‘An excellent twenty years of preparation on Gemini 7 by my Cadre, I’m sure you will all agree. I will open with a three hundred Token bet on the Cammaggama military fully achieving their target at odds two to one.’
Lord High Elder Sammanna of the Rebutti Dynasty jumped straight in.
‘Hammaraffi and his Cadre have lost the plot! A planet of Somarian seals would have offered more resistance than this planet.’ She paused as more data was given to her by her team, via secure telepathic communication. ‘Four hundred Tokens on my force to complete its target at the far more credible odds of four to one.’ Her laugh was loud as she banged her delicate hands on the table, only just managing to hide the pain of her overly exuberant demonstration.
Cajjaabb responded in a vicious tone, ‘You may be riding high, Sammanna, on the wave of your precious Birjjikk, but that won’t last forever. And when it does end, I’ll be there standing over you and laughing the loudest.’
Sammanna was quick to react to Cajjaabb, but Lord High Elder Robbijj was faster still, cutting her off before she could snarl back at her adversary. Robbijj was the oldest of the elders at eight hundred and fifty odd years.
‘Children. Let us at least get a few bets on the table before the bickering starts.’ His short brown teeth were fully drawn as he smiled at the other two. ‘You don’t complete over two hundred planetary violations without having the occasional dud. And this is a dud. Cajjaabb. The numbers up there,’ he pointed to the revolving world, ‘prove that. But the game is the game, and the skill of the winner will be a testament to that, as it would with any other game. My team has three to one odds, which I find very challenging, but the Accett Dynasty will still open with a bid of three hundred Tokens.’
Next, each dynasty bid on the success or otherwise of the others in their quests, using up the remainder of the one thousand Tokens allotted to each of them. Here, the rhetoric would get nasty, but it was also where the overall game would be won or lost. Confidence, or lack of, in your opponents, was vital, and your own military’s poor performance might not stop you winning the game.
Sammanna’s disdain for her rivals, especially Cajjaabb, was apparent, but all of the advice flowing to her from her analysis team suggested a large wager on the Cammaggama Dynasty’s military was the key to winning.
‘One hundred Tokens on Accett to finish their task and a desperate five hundred on Cammaggama, in the hope that Hammaraffi’s recently failed tactics bear some fruit this time.’
For the sponsors and the general Zerot populous, it was the final death toll that attracted the most substantial wagers. They knew the number of dead already, but must await full details of each of the dynasties’ invasion forces: the number of troops and the reputation of the military leaders. All the information needed to assess an outcome before the despatch of the violation forces.
The final act of this killing cycle would be the genocide of the remaining population. A planet-wide radiation burst or a devastating pandemic were but two options they had in their armoury. Best not to leave remnants of a race that might a thousand years later seek retribution.
Week four of eight on Gemini 7 and the Rebutti Dynasty, led by General Installitti, stopped and looked back at the trail of death she and her troops had left in their wake that morning while heading north towards Germaint.
Two hundred of them were advancing in a line, slaughtering all of the Geminians in front of them. For miles to either side of them, Grunz were flushing out the population of this land and using blanket teleportation to send them to a half mile wide corral fenced with force fields. The two hundred troops spread across the length of the corral, killing everything in their path.
But it had been two weeks since any of them had experienced the Brukkah. She had yet to get anywhere close. The evening camps were desperate, and no one was copulating.
She looked at the Geminians in front of her. Male, female and their offspring, looking doleful, no aggression, no anger. They accepted their fate. This passive behaviour was no good for the Zerot. They needed to face a pugnacious foe, see the fire and hate in their eyes, and take their lives as they resisted with their last breaths.
Nothing here would ever raise them to Brukkah. The Accett Dynasty military had already left. Time for them to go as well. She gave the order, and the slaughter ceased.
The remaining two dynasties left without even bothering to initiate the planned planet-wide pandemic.
The population of Gemini 7 had saved themselves and their planet. A very rare occurrence when visited by a Zerot planetary violation squad. They were a lucky species. Or, perhaps, an ingenious and an incredibly brave one. Either way, Cadre 176’s days were over, and the Zerot had suffered two major setbacks in quick succession.