An Untitled Novel

Basil stepped into the pressurized room; waiting for it to equalize to the jet’s pressure before finally stepping back into Domum. The seemingly endless boxes of food and medical supplies were already almost gone. Endless to him, perhaps, but nothing to an army – even a significantly thinned-out one. At least, if nothing else, they would have some energy for tonight. Basil stepped out of the plane, passing Grey going up the steps in the opposite direction, and seeing Spiro at the bottom of the plane waiting for him. “Holy shit, Basil, ACE told me what happened.” Basil nodded, finally reaching the bottom of the steps and clicking on a flashlight, internally noting that Spiro’s demeanor had seemed to change. “Nothing’s broken at least, and now that I’m stitched up and numbed up the walk down the steps was a lot less painful.”

As they spoke Spiro led Basil towards the makeshift command center in the field of tents that once held guests of the peace festival. “I got to get me one of those” Spiro said, eyeing up the little flashlight that lit up the entire camp otherwise only lit by a campfire. “When this is all over I’ll get you one” Basil said, sitting near General Edwards, before adding “If we live long enough.” Edwards seemed to be finishing a cup of instant noodles, and as he finished chewing Basil asked him a question. “Where’s Cicero and Casio?”

“Still handing out food” one of the soldiers said before Edwards could swallow. “Tell him he’s needed here” Edwards said, giving an order to the soldier. However, as the soldier turned to walk away Edwards added “And make sure to tell him I was the one who requested it, and that it’s important.” As the soldier left Edwards spoke more quietly to Basil and Spiro. “That man tends to a dozen men when he should be tending to decisions that will affect thousands.” Cicero arrived shortly and joined Edwards, Basil, and Spiro around the fire, leading Edwards to fill in the group on the nation’s state.

The various counties and their soldiers had not been arriving as they were ordered to, seeming to abandon their capitol now that their king had been taken. Some Redcap Capitol soldiers and police had deserted, many had died, and the rest remained scattered throughout the city. Many would likely regroup once they heard that a rag-tag group of soldiers, an Amigoso official, Basil, and an Elthrice took back the city; however, it would likely not be enough to mount a proper defense. Even as they tried to arm civilians with the weapons recovered from both sides’ fallen, the Lizard King’s now vastly larger army was marching through various counties towards the capitol; facing minimal resistance.

The state of their supplies was just as poor. Even after, in Edward’s words, “Reclaiming” food from the city and accepting Basil’s food supplies, they would be out of food before the Lizard king’s men reached the city in a little over four days. They had almost no ammunition, and the only water safe to drink was water the maintenance drones kept bringing in from the facility on the other side of the wormhole. At this rate they would die of thirst eventually, even if ACE continued to move the water at the same speed he was moving it now. As soon as Edwards had finished speaking Basil commented “But you’ve still got the upper hand.” Edwards scowled at Basil, seemingly thinking he was mocking him.

“The Lizard King thinks he’s untouchable on the Elthrice planet, but could only have moved about six dozen soldiers up there in this time. We now have a ship and, more importantly, wormholes – which he does not. I already killed four dozen soldiers when they attacked us in the tank.” Edwards looked like he was about to fall out of his seat when Basil mentioned he had killed four dozen soldiers. Basil just laughed. “Yeah, don’t fuck with a tank” before he continued to speak. “Well, before I got blown up during my little adventure, I managed to seize control of the Wizard’s ship that he arrived in. I lost connection to it as it left the atmosphere, but I know where it was going, so now we know where to hit him and have the capacity to hit him hard.”

“So what are you proposing?” Cicero asked once Basil finished speaking. “I don’t have enough weapons to fend off an army, but they’ll cut through a couple dozen men no problem. I’ll give some guns and ammo to your best men and rig up some explosive drones. We take the ship up there and then send your entire army to confront him and his dozen or so guards, forcing him to surrender. Force him to surrender, he calls off his marching army, and I get to find out how the fuck some guy in a leather dress fought off the Elthrice.” Cicero shook his head. “I know what you will propose when we capture him, and no, he dies for his crimes.”

Even with the numbing effects of the painkillers and his mental state being in constant fight or flight, Basil felt dread wash over him. He had killed people, several with his own hands and many more after arming others. He had also just determined who would win a war in which he should have no part. All the while, there were other Elthrice there, more powerful than space pirates who could relish an opportunity to attack a weakened civilization if they had malicious intentions.

Basil realized everyone at the campfire was staring at him as he remained in thought for longer than he perceived. It was too late to back down now. Doing nothing was a choice in itself, and that would ensure those who tried to kill him would win. However, his help would have to come with conditions, so he put his foot down.

“If you want my help here you must accept my conditions. The only way I’m going to help you end this war is if you guarantee that if he surrenders you’ll bring him and everybody else alive back here to assess the situation. Nobody else dies for his decisions, but what happens to him after we get information from him and his army addressed is not my decision to make.”

Edwards nodded gleefully, though while Cicero nodded moments later, he seemed more hesitant. Being two highest ranking government officials still living and within the city, the decision had been officiated to move along with Basil’s plan. “How soon can we begin?” Edwards asked. “I need to sleep and get my wounds addressed as well as they can be. I’ll drop of the weapons I can spare before I leave, and then I can head out tomorrow morning. The trip will feel instant for me, but it will be almost 48 hours before I open the wormhole and you begin the invasion, so it should give you time for your men to heal up and train with the new weapons.”