In the Name of Earth

Chapter 13: Leaving Ground

“I’m looking for Marvin Grant!” the woman in the silver armor said, standing over the smoking corpses of the Causer invaders by the dusty road leading out of the burning colony.

“I’m Marvin Grant…” Marvin risked, “… Junior.”

The woman’s meaty red lips retracted to a thin line and her green gaze hardened.

“s**t!” still holding her weapons, she turned to the ruined city and grabbed the back of her armored head. “s**t, s**t, s**t! Double s**t!”

“What’s going? Why do you need my father?”

Marvin’s questions would never be answered as the stranger’s silver faceplate clicked close again and she spoke on a wrist communicator. “Reel, I need extraction at my coordinates. Now! I’ve been tracking the wrong Marvin Grant!”

“On my way!” a thin voice replied from the woman’s wrist.

Marvin was ready to press on with questions, but the mysterious warrior had her own interrogation to run. Reopening the faceplates, the woman returned to Marvin and pulled him to his feet.

“Are you a diplomat?”

“Y-yes. In training, actually.”

“Where the hell is your father?”

Biting his lips, Marvin turned his gaze to the colony in time to see an entire section of the Colony Administration Building collapse. “Last time I saw him he was headed for Colonial Administration.”

Another avalanche of swear words erupted from the armored woman, stopping only when the shadow of another ship loomed overhead. Marvin shielded his face from the intense winds caused by the ship’s descent, partially expecting to be crushed by the hull.

“Move inside,” the woman ordered. “I’ll get your friend!”

“I can manage…” Lud started pushing himself up, but dropped back to the dirt when a laser sizzled inches from his forehead, announcing the arrival of another hostile horde from beyond the wrecked truck. “I can’t manage! I can’t manage!”

Sealing her face again, the woman opened fire on the approaching enemies, using only one pistol now so her other arm could yank Ludwig from the ground.

“Gentle! Gentle!”

Consistently killing armed aliens and shielding the helpless bastard from incoming fire, the woman had no time to be gentle. More Causers were piling up, the laser barrages becoming more intense, until the newly arrived ship fired two massive rounds at the toppled cargo vehicle, evaporating it, the grounded enemy fighter and all the raiders around it.

The woman took the opportunity to drag Ludwig into the airlock. As soon as she stepped inside, the red arrowhead-shaped starship left the ground, flying away from the agricultural colony.

Marvin was still wrapping his head around what he mother would have to say about his most recent decision. “Never get into a stranger’s van” was probably not far away from “never get into a stranger’s spaceship”, but he had never asked if an exception should be made in the event of an alien invasion.

“Who are you? What’s going on?” Marvin asked the woman who carelessly dropped Ludwig on the ground.

Ignoring the engineer’s pained grunts, the armored lady pushed further into the ship’s dark corridors, and Marvin followed. Adrenaline was wearing off and he started feeling all the pain from the crash he had experienced, but he still needed answers.

Going through a cozy mess hall, the woman led the way straight to a crammed cockpit where a small orange alien with two huge black eyes nimbly controlled the vessel’s flight on a tall chair. Struggling against the controls, the pilot’s three head fins flapped madly over his scaly head with every shake and rumble of the aircraft.

“See we picked two strays,” the small alien said, nimbly evading a pair of enemy fighters.

“We need to go to Colonial Administration,” the armored woman leaned over the pilot’s seat and pointed the ruined building through the windshield. “There!”

“No way, human. That’s suicide, even for you!”

“Marvin Grant’s there!” the woman insisted.

“Then he is dead!” the pilot barked and steered away from the battlefield, headed for orbit. “That’s the place the damned pirates hit the hardest! Best we can do now is wait for things to cool down and hope your friend found a good hiding spot. Like it or not, we’re leaving ground!”

“Screw you, Reel!” the woman kicked the pilot’s chair and stormed out past Marvin.

The young man, bracing on the doorframe, watched in silence as the ship angled away from Deven. Progressively the planet’s red atmosphere faded to the sprinkled darkness of space, leaving behind all the danger of battle.

But also leaving behind hundreds of helpless colonists. As well as Marvin’s friends.

And Alexa.

And his father.

On the viewport, Marvin met the orange pilot’s huge circular eyes.

“What you looking at, human?”

“We left my father behind.”

“Get used to it,” the pilot hissed, steering the ship further into the void. “That’s how the galaxy works.”

***

Magnor Rastall was leading a game of laser-squash for 3 points against one of Globian Industries main investors when his vital monitoring smartwatch beeped with a news alert.

“Mind if I take it?” the CEO asked his sports companion, who just waved it off and continued playing solo.

It was a beautiful sunny day, the red local star revitalizing the glow in the Globian’s eyes and reinforcing the vitamin generation to strengthen his spiraling horns. The perfect day for outdoor sports on the roof of Globian Industries Tower and an even better day to receive good news.

Projecting the galactic news in a hologram spawned from projectors on the palm of his black glove, Rastall’s four eyes scanned the headlines.

[Breaking News: Pirate raid on Deven leaves hundreds dead, thousands missing. Severe damage to colonial infrastructure threatens continuity of operations.]

Rastall grinned, yellow fangs glimmering under the sun, then called his secretary, who appeared as a small hologram on his palm.

“Profit, Mr. Rastall. Have you been informed on the advancement of our freelance assets?”

“Profit, Girry. That’s why I’m calling. Any news on the human Chief-Ambassador?”

“Not yet, sir. The Causers haven’t yet made contact, and no word on his status on official channels,” the secretary said while checking a list of reports on the Deven attack. “Should I withhold payment until we have confirmation?”

“Yes, and make sure to wire it so it can’t be traced to us,” Rastall felt that went without saying, but safety was always a good policy. “Any word on Gaia Station?”

“Not yet, sir. I’ll let you know as soon as we hear back from them.”

“And the slave uprising on Trovlen?”

“We’re almost done evacuating our personnel. All have signed NDAs.”

“Good. Have you had lunch yet, Girry?”

“Not yet, sir.”

“Then treat yourself to something fancy. On me!”

“Thank you, sir!” the Globian secretary bowed in respect. “Anything else?”

“Not for now. Profit, Girry.”

“Profit, sir!” the secretary bowed again and ended the call.

Removing the glove communicator, Rastall cracked his fingers and stepped back on the court. He had a laser-squash game to win!

***

Marvin and Ludwig were sitting on floating stretchers in the medical bay of the strange ship they had just ventured into. Whether that had been a mistake was still to be determined, but if nothing else they were receiving the medical treatment they needed from a friendly little medical robot who communicated only through beeps and bops.

The mechanical doctor had just finished wrapping a bandage around Lud’s head and now proceeded to disinfect the grazes on Marvin’s skin. Lud was being oddly silent, probably because he was still in shock, and Marvin appreciated the chance to ruminate over his own thought uninterrupted.

“Hey!” the woman from earlier leaned against the med-bay door, no longer in armor. Now she wore a tight green tank top and a pair of loose camouflaged mini shorts, showing toned arms and legs that could probably overpower either of the men. The complete removal of her helmet also revealed a cascade of fiery curls that very properly matched her freckles. “Sorry for how we met. You guys must’ve been scared shitless. Anyway, welcome to the Exile. The name’s Jade.”

“That’s Ludwig, or Lud for short,” Marvin introduced his friend. “And I’m Marvin, but you already know that. You know my father?”

“Of course I do. Though he probably doesn’t know me.”

“Why were you looking for him?”

Jade bit her lips, green eyes studying Marvin, then his silent Germanic friend.

“You said you were a diplomat in training? What about him?”

“Engineer,” Lud babbled.

“In training, too,” Marvin completed.

Jade cursed under her breath. “I’m not sure either of you’re supposed to know any of this, but if I can’t get to the Chief-Ambassador it’s better that someone knew.

“Earth’s in danger. And it’s serious. Very serious.”

“Earth?” Lud asked, his blue eyes wide. “You mean all of Earth? The planet Earth? The whole Earth? With Germany and everything?”

“Yes, last I checked Germany was part of Earth,” Jade said.

“We appreciate the intel, Jade, but I’m sure my father’s well aware of the threat,” Marvin said as the robot doctor patched a scratch on his side. “By the way, who even are you?”

“Captain Jade Scott, EDS military detachment. Been on a special training assignment in Alpha Centauri for the past three years. Happened to stumble on some intel that might be important now.”

“Yeah, I think I remember her,” a still oozy Lud squinted at the redhead. “Might’ve seen her around on my first years on the Station.”

“So, what can you tell us?” Marvin asked, seeing the opportunity to finally learn more on whatever had his father and all other ambassadors so riled up.

“You’ll think I’m crazy, but the apocalypse will be a luxury resort. These assholes Globians want to turn our planet into an alien vacation paradise, and for that they need us out of the way.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Lud shook his head. “First I almost die over a burrito, then we travel several lightyears for corn and now the world is ending in a five-star space hotel? How is a guy supposed to take this galaxy seriously?”

“It’s not about corn or a hotel,” Marvin muttered. “It’s all about the one universal truth: money. We’re not being exterminated because of a whim or for the expansion of a holly empire. Humanity will be sold out. A source of revenue. A line in an intergalactic income statement. f*****g unbelievable. So, they’re the ones petitioning we be demoted in Sentience?”

“Yup,” Jade entered the room and sat reversely on an iron chair. “If they get it their way, we’ll be judged uncapable of caring for Earth and they’ll take it over as a galactic treasure.”

“While making trillions out of it, of course,” Marvin added.

“That’s why I need to find your father. Globians are ruthless when it comes to profit. They’ll bribe, cheat, even kill if they have to. They must already have the Court on their pockets or enough favors to ensure that. Your old man’s the only one who can save our planet.”

“Hold on,” Marvin pushed the medical robot away and stood up, still somewhat lightheaded. “You said they’ll kill if they have to. Do you think the attack on Deven might’ve been them trying to get us out of the way?”

Before Jade could respond, Reel, the short orange fishy pilot, poked his head into the med-bay. “Humans, the Causers have retreated from Deven. It should be safe to land. Should I bring us in?”

“Do it,” Jade ordered, and the pilot scurried away. She then turned to Marvin, a concerned look on her face. “Guess we’ll soon find the answer to your question. I just hope you’re ready for whatever it is.”