The Advisor

2001 short story by Jonathan Hicks

Thirty-six years after Episode IV – A New Hope

   “Commander! Spotters report three Vodon class warships touching down at reference three by seven, one kilometre out.” There was a pause as the man listened to his headphones intently. “They’re unloading Striker repulsortanks,” he added.

Maanu Ejjapi looked down at his second officer and nodded. “Understood. Tell the group to stand by.”

As the eight repulsortanks under Maanu’s command and the large number of soldiers behind them crested the hill they saw the warships taking to the air again – leaving nine squat Striker repulsortanks waiting for them. Behind the enemy tanks was a legion of soldiers, also.

Maanu swallowed hard. The sides were almost evenly matched – the battle for this sector of the planet was going to be fierce.

   “Lock on,” he instructed. “Let’s go!”

The tanks wobbled violently as they increased speed, the turrets swinging left and right as if searching for something. Slowly they settled and the huge, long-barrelled proton launchers became still.

Maanu saw the Strikers turning quickly, their own turrets spinning slowly to meet the charging Setnin Defence Force army. As the lead Striker lowered it’s own concussion launcher Maanu’s SDF tank opened fire, the yellow proton charge arcing over the bush-covered land between the opposing forces. It slammed into the ground next to the Striker and churned up dirt. The Striker wobbled fiercely but appeared undamaged.

   “Re-load!” Maanu cried to his gunner. Then he grabbed his comlink that curled from his headset and held it tight to his lips, addressing the rest of the repulsortank group. “The rest of you, hold course and speed and fire at will!”

With that order the other seven SDF tanks in Maanu’s group let off a volley of proton charges. The air was charged with arcing power and yellow light as the shots slammed into both the ground about the Striker tanks and into the vehicles themselves. One of the tanks at the rear of the enemy group exploded violently and flung debris over its comrades.

   That makes us even, Maanu thought grimly as the eight Striker tanks that were left turned to face his own eight tanks.

   “Commander Dagger,” said an aide to the left of the towering lizard. “Fourth landing party has touched down but is encountering heavy resistance”.

Dagger nodded without a word and looked down on the planet. Nogard shone brightly below him, the green and brown smears over the limited landmass was a stark contrast to the glittering blue of the vast oceans. The existence of continents seemed to smudge the planet’s beauty.

Fedarn’s Shining Beauty, the flagship of the Prime Lord’s First Squadron of the Ki-Ki Sector, sat in orbit of the Setnin world and did not move. Gunboats, fighters and warships descended to and ascended from the planet’s surface, the odd flash of orbital defence cannons lighting up the thin wisps of cloud. The wreck of three warships, all vessels of the Setnin Defence Fleet, drifted lifelessly behind the invading ships. They had stood valiantly against the Ki-Ki onslaught. They had died in less than an hour.

Now the Squadron was taking yet another world from the Setnin Sector. Dagger had become concerned about his men aboard the vessels under his command and, after many long discussions with his counterpart Commander Brotus, had decided to invade Nogard. The planet, whilst not an importantly strategic world, was rich with resource and easy to strike at. It had also given his men a purpose, given them something to do. War was hard, he knew that, but boredom was harder.

   “Zone six secured, zone seven meeting resistance but the general thinks there will be no problem.”

   “Thinks?” Dagger rumbled. The aide looked up.

   “That is what the report says, Commander.”

   “Tell him to report when he knows,” Dagger said in a low, threatening voice.

Dagger had left Commander Brotus back at the Leogard staging planet and he was, he had to admit, glad of that. The human Commander’s constant impatience and bickering was starting to grate even his iron nerves and he was glad of the respite. If Brotus had been given complete command of the First Squadron then the invasion would have pushed on a lot faster – sacrificing men and equipment and leaving the Ki-Ki forces vulnerable to retaliation.

He was more concerned about men than he was equipment, for he had a limited number of the former and an apparently unlimited supply of the latter. Dagger had been trained in the use of vibro-sword and plasma weapon, which were considered archaic in these modern times – in the last three years the Ki-Ki Sector had suddenly acquired blaster weaponry, proton launchers, upgraded war vessels and other, more modern ordnance.

And now, they had holonet generators. Since the Order of Minds had been purged, the beings that controlled all of the Ki-Ki Sector’s communications traffic with their strange, mind-amplifying machines, the Ki-Ki forces had been without proper communication. Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, they had secured three generators, one for Fedarn’s Shining Beauty, one for the staging planet of Leogard and one for Fedarn, the capital of the invading sector. Now orders could be issued in moments – there was no need for courier ships and tight-beam transmissions.

The invasion was costing his beloved sector millions upon millions of credits in logistics alone. How could the Prime Lord possibly afford these new weapons and equipment?

Dagger looked at the readouts and watched as zone seven transmitted their secure code. He nodded as the repulsortank brigade commander signalled his victory.

   “Signal all vessels to stand down bombardment and take up blockade duties,” he instructed the aide. “Code a message for Prime Lord Atheus. We have taken Nogard.”

   “…and all zones are secured. We are blockading the planet now and establishing garrisons in the capital cities. We should be able to lock down Nogard and move on to the next target within nine standard days.”

Prime Lord Atheus smiled at the shimmering holographic form of Commander Dagger in front of him. “Before the Setnin Defence Fleet has time to recover.”

   “Exactly, my Lord. Their defence is thin in this area of the Setnin Sector. They should not prove to be too much trouble.”

   “Losses?”

   “Three warships, eight gunboats and nearly a whole wing of fighters. The Setnin Defence fights hard but is soon overwhelmed. I am taking a tally of prisoners as we speak.”

The Prime Lord was about to congratulate his Commander when he heard a soft hiss next to him. He glanced over, to see the huge form of his new advisor hovering on the edge of the darkness that covered half his audience chamber. There was a click and a whirr from the figure and a faint mist ejected from it, covering the torso.

Longbody looked upon the Prime Lord with unreadable eyes. His huge figure was long and snake-like, mottled skin blemished by spots that congregated at the joints, his neck sinewy and thick. A huge repulsorlift ‘droid covered his torso like a short-sleeved top, bulky and aged, with small holes that ejected moisture and kept his body moist. His fingers were interlocked and it appeared that the repulsorlift ‘droid kept his upper torso erect, otherwise he would have to support himself on his long arms.

Atheus watched as Longbody’s mouth twitched and quivered, the sounds emanating were soft clicks and whistles that were barely audible.

The ‘droid wrapped about his body translated the speech, it’s aged speaker crackling as it did so.

   “No prisoners,” came the unemotional voice.

   “No?” Atheus was surprised but did not appear shocked. “I thought we were going to simply invade and move on.”

   “Prisoners mean more resources to keep them under guard,” Longbody said, the odd mixture of his mouth moving out of sync with the voice making Atheus wonder what part of the creature he should look at. He nodded affirmation.

   “Execute the prisoners,” he said to Dagger curtly and then moved to disconnect the transmission.

   “My Lord?”

Atheus’ hand hovered over the termination stud. “Execute the prisoners, Commander. We have not the resources or the manpower to guard an army.”

   “My Lord, may I remind you of the Articles of War regarding prisoners and fair treatment? Most of them surrendered willingly.”

   “Execute them, Commander Dagger, or I shall instruct Commander Brotus to do so. I know he would be more than happy to carry out my order.”

There was a long pause as Dagger regarded the Prime Lord steadily. Atheus shifted uncomfortably in his seat as the holographic scrutiny began to worry him.

   “As you command, my Lord,” Dagger bowed at the waist and then immediately cut the connection.

   “He is becoming disobedient,” Longbody said after a long pause.

   “He has been trained as a Prime Warrior,” Atheus said after a long sigh. “He has sworn himself to my service.”

   “And to the Articles of War,” Longbody added, slowly sliding up next to the Prime Lord now that he was no longer in danger of being detected by the holonet pickup.

   “Don’t worry about it,” Atheus waved a dismissive hand and stood from his high, heavily cushioned throne. “Just worry about securing another holonet generator.”

   “It is already on its way from the Shattered Zone, with another consignment of weaponry and replacement equipment.”

Atheus smiled but the upturned mouth had no mirth behind it. “I wonder why I never thought of such a being as you before, Longbody, why I didn’t think to modernise the Ki-Ki Sector a long time ago.”

   “You fight a war of justice, Prime Lord. I am pleased to serve you.”

   “Indeed,” Atheus replied. Longbody could see a hint of untrustworthiness within his eyes but chose to ignore it for now.

The Prime Lord walked away and to his private chambers.

Maanu Ejjapi looked over the bodies of his men. Cut down where they stood, shot whilst laying down their arms, blasted whilst their hands were in the air.

He looked over them and wept loudly. The two Ki-Ki officers held him back from running out to his dead compatriots. The ground was covered with impact marks and craters, burning bodies and wrecked repulsortanks.

   “We’d surrendered!” he wailed. “We frecking surrendered!”

   “Go back to your leaders,” said a Ki-Ki officer, pushing Maanu towards a captured Setnin fighter. “Tell them what happens when the people of the Setnin Sector resist our righteous crusade.”

With streaming eyes that left clean white lines down his dirty face, Maanu staggered towards the fighter.

He stopped and looked back over at the two officers.

   “We’ll be having this conversation again,” he growled.

   “I hope so,” one of the officers said with a downcast face. “Perhaps I may have the chance to say I’m sorry.”

Maanu stared at him, shocked, and then turned back to the fighter.

The Advisor

2001 short story by Jonathan Hicks

Thirty-six years after Episode IV – A New Hope

Histories – More tales from the Ki-Ki Invasion as the knife turns and the invaders begin to squabble amongst themselves.  This Jonathan Hicks tale layers even more depth to the invasion and sets the continuing seeds for further plot twists.

Cast of Characters

Maanu Ejjapi

Commander Dagger

Prime Lord Atheus

Longbody