The Music Be The Food flash fiction event continues with round three. This time, the song is one of my all-time favorites, from prog metal master, Devin Townsend, called Kingdom. Give a listen to the tune and then read the first flash fiction piece, by the glorious Jaime Johnesee.
An Act of Aggression
Please forgive me for the lives I take today.
A hunk of charred spacepod bounced off my hull and I braced for the warning sound of the breach alarm. I sighed in relief when none came and continued my pursuit of the Cognarian fighter.
They’d entered Earth airspace as the sun crested the sky. An entire squadron, breaking the Tractile-Smythe Act of 2238, swept in and fired on civilian buildings. An act of aggression that could not go unanswered.
The one I was tailing now had shot up a mall parking lot before I got to him. I chased him up into the upper atmosphere and broke through the Zone attempting to end him. The target lock alarm sounded and I reflexively pulled the trigger, ending my chase for the moment.
Out of the corner of my right eye I caught sight of another Cognar sighting an ally. I put him in my crosshairs and took the bastard down in three shots. The Martian thanked me over the radio and we both jumped back into the fight.
I maneuvered past the old Space Station and came around to attack a Warrior class transport ship. No way would I let them land. Not after what they’d done to Rylon-6. I fired a barrage of missiles and my heart delighted and broke at the ruination of so many. It was nice destroying my enemies but I try not to revel in death.
I employed evasive maneuvers as a rocketeer came around and at me, full bore. They fired antimatter cannons and I did my best to avoid the blast whilst trying to return fire.
My aft guns jammed, leaving me vulnerable, and I awaited my destruction as I deployed nanobots to fix them. A Cognar fighter turned its guns on me and I swept left, right, and smack bang in front of a Cognarian warship.
If the fighter wanted to hit me he’d also hit the warship. It was a horrible plan, the problem being I had a fucking warship staring at me.
I threw caution to the wind and fired upon the fighter, amazed when it actually fired back. I dropped thrusters and my ship fell into Earth’s gravity as the lasers from the fighter hit their own warship. The explosion brought a smile to my face.
I went on and took down another warship, two more fighters, and a substation before I returned to base to refuel.
The base was in ruins but a skel crew was still running fuel and coms. I asked the guy running coms what the battlefield looked like.
“Just three more warships, a handful of fighters, and two transports left.” Coms guy had a quiet confidence that buoyed my own.
A whoop went around the yard as the mothership’s explosion colored the sky green. It was almost over.
“You’re good to go. The bots unjammed your aft guns.” The woman refueling my fighter nodded as she gave me the go ahead.
I entered back into the fight but, there wasn’t much left for me to do. A couple of Cognarian soldiers had stolen pods and tried to flee. They were swiftly caught up in Alliance tractor beams and dealt with.
One of the remaining transports surrendered and all troops were taken into custody; the other turned to fire on us. A rocket from one of our warships flew past me and into the transport that attempted to attack. It disintegrated and the call came over the radio that all targets were either down or in custody.
I did a once over, checking for bombs or anything else they may have deployed. As I flew above Detroit, my heart broke at the charred ruins of the library and the utter ruination of the Fist of Joe Louis. It broke more as I heard reports come in about the destruction in cities worldwide.
I landed on the strip and pulled into mechanic’s alley for a once over. The Cognarians wouldn’t take this defeat lying down. No doubt their warships would be coming en masse. We’d be ready to fight them. The Alliance will always fight bullies and thieves.
Fight and win.
As I looked around at the devastation around me I was grateful to the Milky Way Treaty and all the souls who fight against tyranny and evil. Enacted by the Martians, the Milky Way Treaty was what began the Alliance and let the universe know that we would stand together. The ones who signed it were true heroes.
It was for them I knew we would win this war.
*A special thank you to those who have served (and are serving) in our Armed Forces.*
Read more from Jaime at jaimejohnesee.com.
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