Wolves
Descent

Traw blinked himself awake. It was not yet morning. Louise wasasleep beside him, facing away and wrapped up in a scratchy blanket.Knowing he had a long day of work ahead of him, Traw slumped himselfout of bed, his feet thumping against the hardwood floor. Hescratched his hair with short, stubby fingernails and walked over tohis closet in the dark. After dressing himself in the same outfit healways wore, as he had not much of an option, he walked to thedoorway of his daughter's room, just across the hallway.

There lay Luella, safer than any gold stash or security code. Shewas fairer than the greatest display of thriving wilderness or anymajestic goddess. She was more serene than the furthest void oflifeless space or the deepest trench of an ocean. As it was in theeyes of her father. He gazed at her as any father would, his bootshardy and his rifle loaded. “Ain't nobody gonna hurt you, darlin',”Sebastian whispered before descending the stairs.

He rode his speeder along the twelve-mile stretch of the perimeter,making sure his fences were still intact. As he rode, a displayflashed on the digital interior of his mask. A chirping noise rang inhis earpiece. “Answer,” he commanded through the veil of hismask.

“Hey, Sebastian,” a raspy voice greeted.

“Hey, Carl,” Sebastian answered, his tone sore. “What are youcallin' for? It ain't even six yet.”

“Well, you know that invasion thing everyone's been talkingabout?”

“Yeah, that paranoid fiasco. What of it?

“I'm in the city right now, and they've cut the supply cost inhalf. The GAM is practically giving this stuff away. You'd bettercome down this way soon, or they're gonna run out!”

“Carl, I ain't buyin' into that BS. They're just tryin' to scamy'all. Wait and see. In a few days, y'all are gonna be comin' outtayour bunkers like idiots, wondering where all this invasion's goin'on.”

“Sebastian, I'm tryin' to help you out! You don't want to becaught off guard when the Nektro come, trust me. Some of thesedowntown officials are saying that they could be here by tonight.Isn't that a scary thought?”

Sebastian rarely heard Carl that stressed: he was generally alaid-back man. Determined in his position, he replied, “You know Icouldn't care less what happens to the city. They're a bunch ofprissed-up fools. Besides, what Nektro platoon's gonna come all theway out to my homestead? I'm just gonna wait it out here, if thiswhole thing even goes down.”

“Your loss, man. I'll try to come and get you some food andmedicine, maybe some ammo...but no guarantees. But hey, there's agood part to all this: we don't have so many of those pirate bastardsattacking us anymore. I was talking to a mountain ranger and he saidthose reptiles all scurried north toward the mountains until thiswhole invasion riff-raff blows over. Apparently a bunch in thisregion got blown to hell yesterday, too.”

“That was me.”

“What?”

“I killed 'em all. Used one of them drone things you gave me. Itstuck to the hull of one of their ships and blew 'em all to hell.”

“Why'd you do that? They weren't near your house, and I know, yourfamily got attacked a little while ago, but still, that doesn't meanyou should go after them and...and...kill them all like that!”

“I had to, Carl. You don't understand. 'Cause I killed a bunch ofhis men that one time, their leader threatened to kill me, take mycattle, rape my family, and...you know I couldn't let that happen.Given the choice between stepping aside and tearing apart every oneof them, I'd choose the latter. And I say any man who doesn't shouldbe branded a coward.”

“I still don't like the whole thing. The Sebastian Traw I onceknew would at least hesitate before killing a man, let alone twodozen of them.”

“The Sebastian Traw you used to know didn't have a farm and familyto defend.”

“Or he just had more of a heart inside that ribcage.”

Before Sebastian could retort, Carl severed the transmission.

After making his rounds on the land, Traw stepped through the backdoor to the homestead, welcomed by his daughter's cry of excitement,nearly spilling her glass of milk. “There's my prized piggy,” heexclaimed, crouching so he was level with his daughter as sheembraced him. “How'd you sleep?”

“Fine, pa.”

“That's good to hear. You ready for a big day at school?”

“Yup. Mrs. Corgiton is bringing in a turtle today for science.”

“Wow. You ain't seen a turtle before, have you?”

“Nope. I heard they have wings.”

“Well that would be interesting, I suppose.”

Sebastian walked into the kitchen, where Louise was washing thedishes from breakfast. “Hey, hon,” he greeted, kissing her on thecheek. She made no reply.

“Somethin' wrong?” he asked, leaning against the oppositecounter.

She paused, collecting her thoughts. “Sebastian...I don't thinkLuella should go to school today. I've been hearin' all that ruckusabout the invasion. I wouldn't want to be separated from her if itdoes happen.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes, rubbing his hand along his brow. “She'llbe fine, Louise,” he assured. “It seems everyone's so hyped upabout the whole thing. I think it's a bunch of--”

Louise snapped her finger and pointed to Luella, cutting him off.“Sorry,” he murmured in apology. “I'll take Luella there in afew minutes, once I get somethin' in my stomach.”

“No use,” Louise corrected. They both heard the low rumbling ofthe school's transport vehicle, followed by an abrupt honk.

“Bye!” Luella shouted, running out the front door with her bagstrapped to her back. The door slammed shut behind her, nearlyrattling the whole house.

“Gotta fix up this place one of these days,” he grumbled,grabbing the leftover eggs and milk.

A hearty breakfast in his stomach, Sebastian set out to accomplishhis daily tasks on the Traw estate: property he inherited at the ageof seventeen and had been keeping up for the past fourteen years,twelve of which he spent with his wife helping him.

The orange sun burning dusk's light with every passing second, Trawmade his final rounds at the perimeter, to ensure that his fenceswere secure. If the fences broke down, there was no telling whatcould enter his property.

A distinct tone rang in his earpiece. It was the homestead's phone.“Yeah, Louise?” he asked, answering the call.

“Get Luella,” she replied, somewhat out of breath.

“Somethin' wrong?”

“Just go get her from school as fast as you can. Can't explain.”

Without hesitation, Sebastian ended the call, turned his speederaround and punched the engines into full throttle. On the long roadto the city, he had only one thing on his mind: getting Luella.

As he approached the city, the road became more and more blocked upwith various freighters and cars, a few of which were running off theroad and into the dirt. “What in the name of my great granddad?”Traw exclaimed. He parked his speeder in an open alley, not botheringto lock the ignition switch. He took off his mask and took a steponto the bustling sidewalk, entering the shadows of the skyscraperslooming overhead. All about him, townsfolk rushed about, most of themcarrying bags of food or supply crates, all with the Galactic ArmoredMarines insignia branded into the cloth or metal.

Traw stood in the same spot a moment, looking about in confusion.Rarely did he enter the city, and the chaos certainly impeded hissense of direction. He stopped a man brusquely with the palm of hishand. “What's goin' on here?” he asked the man, over the generalclamor and honking of car horns in the street.

“The Nektro, that's what's going on,” the man answered urgently,glancing to the sky. “They're supposed to be here in the next fewhours, if not sooner.”

“Didn't the news say they wouldn't be here for at least anotherday?”

“Population control, I bet. They want us off guard so they don'thave to keep shellin' out supplies and rations to all of us.Twenty-four million Sinoan citizens has to be a pain to take care of.I gotta get going.”

“Bullcrap,” Sebastian muttered. Budging impolitely through thepanicking crowd, he made his way into the ground level lobby of oneof the city's tallest skyscrapers, the butt of his rifle nudgingagainst the turnstile door. He looked around, noting crimson carpetand brass luggage carts. It appeared to be a hotel. The lights weredimmed, a few of them flickering. The city received powertransmissions from generators thirty miles in the vast desert beyond,making them easy targets. He suspected the city would soon losepower.

He shuffled up twenty-eight flights of stairs to the roof. He burstout the small door, exhausted, and the distant wind blowing againsthis face. He glanced about him and saw a gravel-covered rooftop withvarious communications poles and electrical boxes, each of them witha host of wires spreading out from their bases. He reluctantly took amoment to catch his breath.

Still panting a bit, he rushed to the ledge of the hotel roof,gazing out across the city. The schools were all packed into onedivision of the city, just as the legal buildings, hospitals andbusinesses were separated with their own. “Where are you, darlin'?”he asked out loud, anxiously scanning the cityscape for the schooldivision. Suddenly he spied it, about two miles east of the hotel.“I'm comin'.”

Just as he was about to leave, something irked him: something hecould not ignore for anything else in the world. Then, like the windbefore a storm, Traw heard a great, low sound come from overhead. Itwas slow, like the muscles of some massive beast. Though under itthere was the distinct sound of heavy engines rumbling.

Traw dared to look up. There, emerging through the clouds, was animmense Nektro warship, with four carriers accompanying it. The shipswere sleek, with a greenish purple hue similar to that of a beetle'schitinous shell. Though Traw couldn't see it from his distance, oneach side of the warship there were over two hundred turrets, each ofthem capable of turning a tank into flaming wreckage from twokilometers away. Twelve gargantuan engines roared as they blastedblue flame shortly in their wake. The carriers were smaller andsmoother, with hatches running along the belly of the hull. Theystuck alongside the warship not to protect it, but to be protected.

Once through the cloudline, the vessels halted. They hovered in theair ominously for what seemed like hours to Traw, as he watchedanxiously. Never before had he seen ships of such magnitude. All toolate, sirens blared from the emergency station halfway across thecity, beneath which hundreds of citizens were gathered.

One of the carriers broke off from the group and slowly advancedtoward the emergency station, its task plain as day to anyoneobserving. The other three began to break off from the group,spreading in different directions across the city. “Good god,”Traw exclaimed as he backed against the doorway. A shudder ran downhis spine as the warship cast a deathly shadow over the city. Heheard the clamor of moving vehicles sharply increase in volume andintensity upon the arrival of the Nektro.

The warship's position never changed. With the sounds of well-oiledmechanics, a long hatch opened along the hull of the warship,releasing scores of small, squat ships; or at least they looked smallin comparison to their mothership. They dispersed into the city likean organized swarm, like an endless stream from the belly of thewarship.

Realizingthe smaller ships were landing in the streets, Traw hurried back downthe stairs to take a position. There were still civilians in thecity. Granted, he did not care for the city folk, but they were folknonetheless. Overhearing Nektro cannon fire, he hustled down thestairs flight after flight, until finally he arrived at the 22ndfloor, a place at which he was sure to be secure. Sebastian kickedopen the door to the hallway, his rifle at the ready. There wasn't asoul in sight.

Picking a random suite, he kicked in the door to one of the roomsthat faced the street. It was desolate, and the previous guests hadevidently left in a rush. Traw unstrapped the rifle from across hisback and cracked the window open. Nestling himself into the emptysuite, he took aim toward the main street, where the dropships landedbarely a minute before. Out of their back hatches poured Nektrosoldiers, whose appearance was, for lack of a better term, alien.

They were roughly six feet tall, but they crouched shrewdly,lessening their height. Similar to the hulls of their ships, theirarmor was the strange hue of a beetle's shell, and it glinted in thesunlight. Their skin was oily and dark, from what Traw could see, andtheir guns were slim, copper rifles with a single, thin blue rodrunning down the middle. Their commanders stood erect, which madethem easy to distinguish, and their helmets were ornate with toughhorns. They bore in each hand a pistol, improving their combatability and again distinguishing them from their lesser warriors.

“Come on, suckers,” Traw muttered, setting his sights on one ofthe three on-site commanders. With a pull of the trigger, he sent alethal bolt of visibly green energy into the first commander's head.He slumped dead onto the pavement, confusing a number of thefootsoldiers, who momentarily refrained from attacking civilians. Itgave many of them enough time to flee. Not a fleck of remorse insidehim, Traw aimed at the next commander, then the last, both of themfalling dead, oblivious to their killer. He squinted as he set hissights on one of the footsoldiers spreading out across the street.Though the footsoldiers were armed and the civilians were not, it wassoon apparent to Traw that the commanders were crucial to Nektrocombat, and without them the ground offense would be crippled.

One by one he silently slew the footsoldiers, until at last theywere all pillaging inside the buildings and out of his scope. Hewithdrew his rifle and, slinging it over his shoulder, rushed to thedoor. But something stopped him: a bang, then a thud, followed by afew Nektro squawks coming from the hallway. “Dammit,” hemuttered, taking cover behind the bed. He could hear the Nektrosearching throughout the hallway, banging door after door andsearching every room for the sniper they knew had slain theircommanders.

Traw held his rifle at the ready. He had no idea what weapons theycarried, or more importantly, what they would do upon replaceing him.Then one of the soldiers burst into his room, aiming its slim copperrifle forward as it glanced around. After a brief, rushed scan, itturned round and began to exit. Traw silently rushed up from behindand snapped its neck. He covered its mouth to prevent it from cryingout.

Lying the corpse onto the ground, he took its rifle and a strangerectangular device he figured to be a grenade. Traw ducked his headout of the doorway to scan the area. All the other Nektro on thatfloor were searching the individual suites. Traw sneaked out of hisroom and to the stairwell, where the door had been blasted open,hence the earlier explosive noise.

Whileshuffling down the stairs, he had nothing on his mind but Luella. Heknew where to go, it was just getting there that would be achallenge. He gunned down two Nektro soldiers in the lobby, notbothering to scavenge their corpses. As he approached the front door,he stopped. God only knows how many of them are still outthere, he thought, turningaround for the back exit.

With a fired pulse of his rifle, the back door's lock shattered, andhe shoved the steel door open. Thirty meters away he saw his speeder,sitting next to a pair of squalid garbage cans. Rifle strapped acrosshis back, he ran over to his speeder and with a blast of blue engineflame, bolted off across the edge of the city.