Tzoya and Sneed
Beams of energy cut through space, destroying the many satellites orbiting Sneed with relative ease. The Geskani Combined Fleet was taking little damage from the enemy barrage, which was weakening quickly as each defensive satellite was destroyed in the space-borne blitz. The entire planet soon found itself enveloped by the warships that had suddenly appeared, without any warning, and as the remaining defensive satellites were located and destroyed, the army was readied.
Tzoya looked out the viewport of his drop-pod. As an assault section, the role of Xenobane was to lead the attack hard and fast, by being literally launched into the middle of hostile territory with the purpose of destroying all resistance there. The merciless destruction around him had begun to slow down, when the entire interior of the pod turned red, the alarm light having being activated. Tzoya braced himself, checked his firearm one last time, and recalled the Chant of the Great Jungle that his chieftain had taught him back when he was a tribal warrior, not a soldier of Ges.
In the trees of Gesku I hunt for lifeblood, the lifeblood of another. I am not noticed. I am as the skyhunters, silent, attacking without warning.
The pod was fired from the warship, along with hundreds of others. Tzoya watched as the pod raced towards Sneed. He had trained for battle for his entire life, for war for nearly as long. He did not know what he was about to face. The thought merely excited him. He was going to prove himself on the field of battle to test an untested enemy. If they were worthy of respect, then he would have fought a worthy opponent, and his honour would be satisfied.
I am faster than my prey, the great beasts of the jungle. I leap through the trees. I follow their path of destruction. I strike. The beast cannot stop me. I pierce its armoured back and drain its lifeblood. I leave the corpse for the jungle creatures. They eat it and grow so that I may hunt them when they mature.
The pod shook as it breached Sneed’s atmosphere. The viewport was covered in fire, but the pod stayed strong and entered the skies of the alien planet unharmed. As the flames subsided, Tzoya could see the surface of Sneed clearly. It was definitely an alien planet. His fast, predatory mind surveyed the surface for any advantageous areas that could become vital to his mission or his survival later on.
I kill not for pleasure. I kill for life. Life and death guide me equally. I fear neither and respect both. I am a warrior. I am a hunter. I am a master of the jungle.
The ground of the planet sped towards him. Tzoya braced himself further seconds before the pod crashed into the ground, making a large crater (as was intended, in order to provide a defensive position to the troops emerging from the pod). The pod opened, and the Kuzo of Xenobane sped out of the hold to combat the enemy. Tzoya switched off his weapons safety and leapt out to the side of the crater to inspect his surroundings. He was in the middle of a large city, full of alien architecture. The sight was incredible. What was more incredible, however, were the group of strange looking aliens that ran out and stood at the corner of a building, seemingly filming Xenobane with some sort of camera. “F***ing aliens” Tzoya said to his section, and he loosed a few bolts at them, killing the camera operator, destroying the corner of the building and sending the rest of them running.
I am strong, fast and cunning. I do what is needed, what is required. I do not hate my adversary, be they beast or being, I respect them. I do not hate, I do not anger, I do not fear. I am Fallen. I am a Geskani.
The Xenobane leapt out of their crater and sped through the streets of the city, leaping over strange vehicles. After a few seconds the enemy fired upon them. Aliens were firing at them from their buildings, using weapons that obviously were not made for war, their fire rate being too slow, but were still capable of killing. Tzoya and the Xenobane fired their explosive bolts at the enemy, damaging the buildings and killing those firing upon them.
*****
“Move! We’re f***ed unless we can get within their defences!” yelled Tzoya to his squad. They had been on Sneed three days now, and though the landings had been relatively easy, the Snud had become more resistant, and the real conflict had begun. Xenobane had been tasked to take out an enemy fortress, one apparently left over from an old war. Though its defences were not made to stand up to the Geskani assault, the defenders were tenacious. Tzoya and his Xenobane sped towards the fortress as fast as they could move, covering the crater-marked ground with relative ease. Projectiles sped past them as they moved. Yuga, one of the members of Xenobane, was cut down by a well aimed shot by a Snuddian defender, his lifeblood spraying out onto Tzoya as he raced past. A Geskani gunship roared overhead, stopping above the fortress and raining down a terrible hail of weapons fire almost destroying the fortress completely, before being shot down by a missile taking out one of its engines. It crashed into the ground near the fortress as fire spewed out from the gaping hole left by the missiles explosion.
Tzoya directed his section to use the downed gunship as cover while they approached the fortress. Vaulting over it, they jumped into a hole in the defences made by the gunships barrage. Quickly dispatching the surprised Snud within, they moved out to secure the rest of the structure. Tzoya himself raced through the corridors, cutting down every Snud he ran into with a bolt from his firearm, leaving a gaping impact hole in each alien. Within minutes, the fortress had been secured and the Snud that had been surrendered had been rounded up and taken away in transport craft. His task over, Tzoya found a small, unwatched corner of the fortress and curled up, shaking.
*****
Tzoya dreamed. He was a young child, back in the trees of his birthplace. Around him were the tree-huts of his village. He remembered which Families lived in the larger huts, and which Geskani lived in the smaller huts on the fringes. The dream was as clear as the water raining down from the dark clouds high up, and his memory of his home did not falter once. He was flanked by two large Geskani, painted in the ceremonial red zig-zag stripes of his village.
He proceeded towards a great podium, on which the chieftain of his village stood. The Fallen of the village stood on his left, and the Families on his right. All eyes were watching him. In the crowd to his left, he noticed a young female eyeing him with curiosity. His antennae raised high in a subconscious attempt to impress her. The ceremony, his coming of age ceremony, the most important event of his life, and he was focusing on a female.
*****
Months into the occupation and the situation was bad. The Sneedkani, as they were now known, were not great warriors, no, nor were they cunning, but there were many of them, billions upon billions. There was another problem too. None of the Geskani understood them. Any form of understanding was immediately rebuked by the leaders of the Singularity. The Army, weakened as it was, was growing unruly. There was talk that the Singularity not being the great uniting force it portrayed itself as. None of the soldiers knew it, but the drugs put into the blood they drank that usually enforced subservience and loyalty into the subjects of the Singularity were being broken up by a remarkable type of bacteria found on the surface of Sneed. The Kuzo were beginning to become free for the first time in their life, free from the bonds that the Singularity had placed on them.
Tzoya found himself involved with a group of more active dissidents, some of them with high positions in the army. Their plan was to take over the army on Sneed, utilise the Sneedkani populace (with whom they were beginning to sympathise with) to commandeer the fleets in orbit, and force the Singularity to give up its corrupt leadership of their race. They met regularly, with members all over Sneed.
*****
Tzoya, along with thousands of Geskani, found themselves in the hands of the Sneedkani they had been occupying for their entire active career in the army. The fleets had been destroyed in orbit by the Satellians, who had provided assistance for the Sneedkani resistance, who reclaimed their planet. Tzoya understood. Many Geskani surrendered, choosing to allow the Sneedkani to take back their world rather than use their skills as soldiers to inflict more pointless death. This was not the army of one cycle ago. It was demoralized, weakened, and of a completely different mindset. Little did this army know that this mindset was making its way back to Ges, and would lead to the greatest revolution the Geskani people had ever seen.
