Sword of the Gods II: Prince of Tyre

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

September 3,390 BC

Earth: Sata'an Base

Sata'an Lieutenant Kasib

KASIB

Sata'an Royal Navy Lieutenant Kasib tasted the air with his long, forked tongue before knocking on General Hudhafah's door. He was an average lizard, perhaps more slender than the average male, with hard green scales that became spotted when he molted. Like all Sata'anic lizards he'd been born with sharp fangs, claws, and a dorsal ridge that gave him an edge when fighting primitives.

"Enter!"

Kasib tucked his tail along the right side of his body, too tight if anybody looked closely, before turning the latch. “Sir,” he said with a formal salute, “our Amorite intermediaries claim they know the location of the Angelic, Sir.”

“Where?” General Hudhafah peered over the stack of reports he was processing about troop movements on the planet. Behind him hung an image of an enormous red dragon wearing an ornate, bejeweled robe.

“He and his rebels killed 53 mercenaries," Kasib said. "The Amorites said if you want them to eliminate him for you, you’re going to have to pay them a lot more than gold.”

The general's dorsal crest raised in irritation. Kasib waited as his commanding officer drummed his claws upon his desk.

"We could always torture the location out of them?" Kasib suggested. Normally the mild-mannered logistics officer would not suggest such barbarism, but the Amorites had earned his ire. He pointed to an enormous satellite image with a huge red circle drawn around the general area where they suspected the rogue signal had originated from. They'd only been able to narrow it down within a few thousand square miles.

"We don't have enough boots on the ground to deal with an Angelic," Hudhafah said. "Have there been any more databursts from the planet?"

"No, Sir," Kasib said. "And no answering hail from the Alliance, either. The signal was very weak."

"Where's the nearest known Alliance ship?" Hudhafah scratched the jowls all Sata'anic males developed when they reached a certain age, his deep red dewlap demarcating him as a high-ranking male.

"Between Tango and Zulu sector, Sir," Kasib said. "The 'Light Emerging' and three Alliance destroyers. It has not changed position since he sent the hail."

"Isn't that the same ship that's been making supply runs into this sector impossible?"

"Yes, Sir." Kasib remained silent while the general brooded. "They've been monitoring all shipping activity in and out of this sector, but we're pretty sure they have no idea what we're up to."

"Shay'tan be praised!" Hudhafah tasted the air, more out of reflex than any suspicion on his part, and paused mid-taste. He tasted the air again, his gold-green eyes narrowing into vertical slits as he gave Kasib a sniff.

Kasib tucked his tail even tighter against his side, his heart racing as he prayed the general would not sniff out the evidence which must have been leaking from his every pore.

"When will the Armada arrive, Sir?" Kasib asked, hoping to distract him.

"Shay'tan's foot!" Hudhafah cursed. "The armada has to go outside the Perseus spiral arm to get to us without alerting them to our position. It's going to take months."

Kasib breathed a sigh of relief.

"The Angelic's message obviously failed." Sharp fangs protruded as Hudhafah gave him a toothy smirk.

"We suspect he did not have the resources to make a second attempt, Sir," Kasib said.

He didn't add that this same lack of resources made unrolling Sata'anic rule a long, miserable slog. Shay’tan had ordered this planet be annexed, but until the armada arrived, they had no resources to do it. The old dragon's well-known cheap streak when it came to exploratory missions always made Hudhafah grouchy.

"We could always go kill the Angelic ourselves?" Kasib suggested. Hudhafah was a measured man, but he liked nothing better than to rout out troublemakers, occasionally going sword-to-sword against a particularly worthy opponent.

"Until that armada arrives," Hudhafah sighed, "our troops are spread too thin. I would rather hire primitives to expend their lives against Alliance firepower instead of loyal Sata'anic soldiers. Did the mercenaries say what would motivate them to bring me his head?”

“The Angelic has a sword,” Kasib said. “This planet's technology is so primitive they have not yet learned to smelt metals from the soil. They want bag of sparkles for each man who goes after the winged demon, and they want one of these swords for every man who joins them.”

“A sword, hey?" Hudhafah's claws absent-mindedly caressed the sword which always sat within arm's reach of any good Sata'anic soldier. "That’s primitive technology compared to a pulse rifle, but in the right hands, arming these idiots with swords could prove to be less than wise."

"Sir?" Kasib scratched the scales behind his ear-hole.

"There’s a reason Shay’tan gives every Sata’an soldier a sword," Hudhafah said thoughtfully. "The Eternal Emperor’s Cherubim High Guard are armed with swords, as well. If the primitives learn to use them, it could cause us problems down the line. What do these Amorite mercenaries use right now?”

“They had spears,” Kasib said. "We showed them how to use bows and arrows.”

“Why didn’t that settle it?”

“The Angelic showed the insurgents how to make their own bows and arrows. The Amorites said…" He hesitated to say this next bit of intelligence lest the general laugh at him.

"What?"

"They said the winged demon has been training females to act as archers, Sir!”

“Females?” Hudhafah burst out laughing. "What do their husbands think of such lunacy?"

Sata'an females were tender creatures, meant to be sheltered in harems overseen by a powerful husband. If Shay'tan found you worthy enough to reproduce, you were gifted a wife … or three. If not … you got sent to backwater planets such as this to get chewed up and spit out at the wrong end of an Alliance pulse rifle. Hudhafah grew thoughtful and silent.

“Hybrid females fight every bit as hard as the males do." Hudhafah leaned back in his chair and pinched his jaw between his thumb and forefinger. "It should not surprise us that the root stock Hashem used to splice together their DNA might also produce females capable of becoming warriors.”

“So what should we give the Amorites to kill this Angelic?”

“Until reinforcements arrive," Hudhafah said, "all human males are potential threats to our mission. The more this Angelic kills, the more females we wiil have to reward those who are loyal to the Empire once the armada arrives."

Loyal human males? Or any male at all? Kasib's tail stiffened from the effort of keeping his emotions in check until it developed a spasm, shouting his guilt!

"You wish to authorize a bag of gold apiece, Sir?" Kasib directed the conversation into a less treasonous topic. "The services the Amorites have provided so far have been sub-standard."

"Gold is cheap." Hudhafah waved his hand at a shelf full of medals for valor and trophies for competitions in combat, all made of solid gold. "Tell them swords are rare and impossible to come by, but each one will be given three bags of gold coins … one now … two more when they bring me this Angelic troublemaker dead or alive."

Hudhafah reached into the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out an old steel knife he always kept there in case of mutiny. It was a simple, utilitarian blade with a bit of rust near the butt end where Hudhafah hadn't bothere buffing it out, but to someone from a stone-age culture, its cutting properties would appear magical.

"And give this to their leader as a token of good faith,” Hudhafah said. "Tell him it contains powerful sorcery to help the wielder kill the Angelic."

Kasib bowed, awed by his commanding officer's brilliance. One knife in inexperienced hands would cause few problems.

“Yes, Sir,” Kasib saluted. “I'll get on it right away.”