In the end, we will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
Thompson waited for the ship to release him, his weight shifting from one set of feet to the other, plasma rifle secured on his back, tail flicking back and forth behind him, forked tongue smelling the excitement in the air as his new three new brother in arms waited too. The hangar bay was painted black, simple red lights illuminating the area as they waited for it to turn green in acknowledgment of a new mission for the King. Four Hovercycles waited just a few meters away, ready to take off at a moments notice, big wheel like Void-Emitters at either end of the Cycle to give them one of the fastest open canopy vehicles made. Traveling at over 1,000 kilometers an hour with just enough window to keep the wind out of their faces, they were practically unnoticeable by anything other than radar.
Adorned with mortar-rivaling firepower on the underbelly they could handle an entire company with a dozen well-trained pilots. To finish it all, behind the window was the small control panel that would enable them to make the engines turn in on themselves and perform a kamikaze if they wanted to. Since he first caught sight of one at the final battle for his home planet he’d always wanted to ride on one.
But that didn’t compare to those he was working alongside today. The group of Xalamanders that infiltrated the most secure prison ever made and they simply snuck in and blew up half of it before anyone knew a prison break was happening, sacrificing only fifteen to save a few hundred. They only selected the best and the brightest to work with them, only Xalamanders being eligible for recruitment made it even harder. When he asked to work with them though he met all their criteria and was accepted in, albeit part of the reason was because of heavy losses but he still managed to get into the most infamous stealth group in history simply called Angels. This would be his first official stealth mission with them, all of his best missions being to assassinate commandos in the middle of a battlefield.
Renowned for natural stealth, ability to walk against gravity on most planets and their fast movement, accompanied by their reptilian body they had been handpicked by the King himself to investigate the planet the alien had come from and pick it out as a hostile place to simply avoid or one where they could finish a war once and for all. His tongue flicked out again, savoring the smell of excitement in the air. An end to the war forever with them as the permanent victors, promised by the man who had yet to fail a promise he had made. So long as they finished their mission then it’d be it, nothing more.
Smiling to himself he looked at them. The King had once compared them to Salamanders from his home, but something much more vicious. That sent chills down his spine, the King calling them vicious when his literal title was Demon King. The light turned green to tell them to run into their Hovercycles. The four of them rushed to their respective vehicles and jumped in, the engines already running and waiting.
His claws curled around the throttle, his head pressed against the small pane of glass in front of him, twitching in anticipation. His twitching only grew as the hangar doors started to open, the roaring of the thin air making itself heard and angry. One of them shot out the moment the hangar doors were wide enough and then they started shutting again, to allow them to move. When the Angels had accepted they took their best stealth ship, not one known for carrying to many lifeforms on board and had less than the amount they’d want for a reconnaissance mission of the size they had. An entire planet swarming with Void energy, higher than anything ever recorded, even the moon itself had Void energy.
At least a dozen civilizations on the planet and maybe one on the moon, with weird rodent like things, each civilization hosting a different species. So to complete their mission they would send one person to the highest Void-levels on the planet and some to the moon, to decide if they were a danger or not. The hangar turned green again, followed shortly by the doors opening and another brother in arms shooting out the hangar.
He’d been assigned three hot-spots, a forest, village, and a city perched on the side of a mountain. The only reason he had three locations to scout by himself was that they weren’t even five minutes apart for him. Another brother shot out of the hangar. He was amazed though, he’d yet to see a primitive civilization build a city on the side of a mountain, unless it was one of those planets that forced them to with geography.
He couldn’t wait to see it for himself, just a few more minutes in reality but it felt like hours. Each second the war was going on, each second was a second he could be using to finish his mission, each second a wasted one just waiting. New sights, new sounds, new species, new enemies and all to top it off, his tongue flicking at the air again, new smells.
The storm of thoughts and things to come stopped in his mind as the bay doors opened for him, the green light beckoning him on towards his mission. Gunning the engine he shot out, air threatening to rip him out of his seat and throw him down onto the planet far below, but he held on and steered his cycle down, giving him his first real view of the targets.
To the right lay the castle and city on the side of the mountain, the sun glaring off the precious metals included in the city’s construction, spirals of the castle adding even more wonder by reflecting more sunlight down to the city below. Under him lay the tiny village barely more than dots marking the cottages they lived in. To the left lay a massive forest, the highest Void signature out of all three, but yet almost no signs of civilization.
Feeling that out of the three the forest itself was more important he pointed his cycle towards it and flew forward, the ship that had just deposited him having already left the moment he cleared the bay. The air resumed it’s roaring protest as he closed in on the forest as if it was trying to dissuade him from going closer to the forest.
He ignored the feeling and flew down to just above the treetops, skirting them as he looked around for a place to pilot his cycle into the canopy without leaving too much of a trace. He eventually noticed what looked like a building poking out of the cover of trees and moved towards it, smirking as he saw the chasm around it easily allowing him to go beneath the tree’s barrier. He paused at the remains of a wooden bridge to pull a device off his back and affixing it to the side of his head, strap wrapping around his head easily. He pressed the button to turn on the recording device to help with his report on what he found.
Turning back to the castle he coasted on his cycle towards it, easily fitting through the entrance. “Thompson, first report. Location forest, south of the mountain castle. Area inside an old ruined castle.” He paused so he could get a look around and get recorder to view more of his surroundings.
“Seems to be the remains of yet another civilization, lost to time. Parts of the roof are caved in but judging by the remaining parts of other pieces of the castle it didn’t occur because of age. Plants and remains of other organics are noticeably absent, which suggests that somebody knows of this location.” Coasting on through what looked like the entrance he poked his head through various rooms and made off comments but kept going. His tongue flicked at the air a few times and he made an observation, “This place seems to have no smell, not dead, not alive. Just absent. Should ask the King later if that means much about the Void.”
After passing by dozens of rooms he eventually came upon what could only be the throne room, two impressive chairs perched on top of two sets of stair, tapestries hanging behind them. The ground was littered with craters and debris, parts of the ceiling completely missing and an ominous feeling even he could feel. “I’m getting the creeping feeling that I’m not supposed to be here, along with how this room is more disfigured than the whole rest of the castle seems to suggest some sort of battle occurred here. There is no other area in my vicinity that I can safely get to so I am ending my report on the forest.”
He reached up and turned off the recorder and piloted his cycle through one of the holes in the ceiling and left the castle behind him in short time, nearing the edge of the forest. Pulling back on the throttle he hovered at the edge, eyes wandering around to find a secure yet easy spot to hide his cycle from the local populace. While looking he noticed a small cottage, along with a shed. He could easily use that as a landmark. Flying back a few dozen yards he settled the Cycle down and shut off the engine.
Smelling the air with another flick of his tongue he could tell that he wasn’t welcome by the animals in the forest and he chuckled as he was hopping off his cycle. He wouldn’t be here for long if he could help it he thought to himself, his clawed feet touching on the moist forest floor and his head looking back to the town.
Reaching back for his rifle he grabbed it and checked the sides of it, the long cylinder-like gun with Tesla-coils at the front and a magazine to fit into the shoulder stock it was far from the best gun. But that was the point, don’t be seen and take care of your problems while hidden in the shadows. Nevertheless he primed the switch so it would be ready if he needed it to be and threw it back into its stock on his back. Scurrying across the ground he felt himself blend in with the green forest, head laid low against the ground so as to conceal his profile.
He stopped at the edge of the forest though and merely poked his head out through a bush, tongue flicking. Not for smelling the air this time though, out of excitement. New species, new experiences, new targets, new screams and new blood. It’d be oh so fun and glorious in the name of the King. With that in mind he launched himself out of the bush and towards the village that lay ahead.