A Covian Invasion

With the help of VIS I was learning how to use the Matrix and adapting to the amount of benefits it granted me.

But there wasn’t time for more of that. Blin soon departed, leaving me in the Administration, where I was taken to a special command room where several Varganna military officers sat, watching on holographic displays as the Ultimate and Apocalypse began the attack on the invaders.

“VIS,” I called, silently in my mind. “Why aren't the military defending their own people?”

“Vargannas are very advanced, but the Covians are light years more advanced than us. It is why the Prime Administration accepted the help of the Bastions in the first place, especially as one of those Bastions, the one called Apocalypse, is a Covian.”

“Covians are the invaders, I take it?”

“Indeed, Premier.”

“Why do you keep calling me that?”

“Forgive me for failing to explain. On your world, there are formal honorifics like sir, mister, master and many more-”

“How do you know that?” I was shocked, how could this masculine voice in my head know all that about Earth.

“Decoding your neural patterns doesn't only give me access to your thoughts, Premier, but also your memories.”

I sighed in exasperation but relaxed. I didn’t like it having access to my thoughts and memories, but as a pragmatic ex special force soldier, I knew the advantages far outweighed the discomforts.

“Keep anything you find in my noggin between us, alright.”

“You have nothing to be concerned about. I can't share anything about you without authorization. It is the same with all Vargannas.”

Ah, yes, I’d almost forgotten that he wasn’t only in my head but also those of billions of aliens.

I don’t know if that made it worse or better. Regardless, it would be best for me to get used to having VIS with me. That is, if he wouldn’t be taken once the invasion was over.

“I won't be repossessed after the invasion, Premier. Think of the access you have been given to the Matrix as a gift given in advance as appreciation for helping us with the imminent Invasion.”

“Alright, then. Back to our earlier topic, so Premier is just an honorific?”

“Indeed.”

That was good. For a moment I thought he’d given me a Bastion Title.

“Tell me about these Covians,” I asked. It wouldn’t do to be uninformed about the foes I was soon going to be facing.

But as VIS began to speak, apprehension seized me. I realized that it was not going to be easy at all, facing beings who were walking, breathing lasers.

***

I sat with the military officers, frozen, my eyes fixed on the hologram displaying the horrors unfolding above.

Hundreds of Covian ships, their sleek, silver hulls glinting in the faint light of the Vargannas' twin suns, gathered in orbit like vultures sensing carrion.

The air was heavy with anticipation, the very fabric of Varganna seeming to vibrate with the weight of impending doom.

The first blast struck without warning, a blinding flash of light that seared my retina as the hologram adjusted to dim the display. I raised a hand, shielding my eyes as the shockwave rippled through the atmosphere.

The Vargannas were not affected though.

The sound was deafening – a cacophony of crackling energy, shrieking metal, and the low, ominous rumble of the planet itself protesting the assault.

More ordnance rained down, precision-guided missiles slicing through the atmosphere with deadly accuracy.

They targeted the planet's most vulnerable points: fault lines, volcanic calderas, polar ice caps, and the fragile ecosystems that clung to life in the fragile balance of the planet.

To the north, the towering mountain ranges shuddered as a barrage of missiles struck its ancient, weathered peaks. Avalanches tumbled down slopes, sending boulders crashing into valleys below. The once-pristine glaciers now ruptured, unleashing torrents of icy water that would soon inundate the coastal cities.

In the east, the fiery maw of a long-dormant volcano, erupted anew. Lava flows, like molten tendrils, crept down its flanks, consuming everything in their path. Pyroclastic flows, incandescent and deadly, raced across the landscape, scorching the earth and reducing forests to ash.

VIS informed me that he’d activated Vargannas’ planetary shields but they were only serving as a means to reduce the destructiveness of the Covian weapons by thirty four percent.

Varganna technology was primitive compared to that of the Covians.

The planet's poles, once stable and frozen, now wobbled as the alien ships targeted the icy caps. Glaciers shattered, calving into the oceans with deafening reports. Sea levels began their inexorable rise, threatening coastal metropolises and low-lying lands.

As I watched, transfixed in horror, the world around me began to unravel. The skies filled with ash, smoke, and the acrid tang of ozone. Lightning flashed, casting eerie silhouettes on the darkening landscape. The very ground beneath my feet trembled, as if the planet itself was shuddering in agony.

Where are the Bastions of Finire? I thought. Why are they allowing such destruction?

A nearby strike shook the earth, sending me jerking on my seat as the administration building vibrated. I regained my balance, eyes streaming from the smoke and dust displayed on the holograms. The alien ships continued their relentless barrage, each impact a fresh wound in the planet's fragile skin.

The first salvo finished their work and as the second was launched, relief finally came as the Bastions acted.

Ultimate and Apocalypse came up on the view of the holographic display.

A gesture from them had the missiles blowing up immediately they were being launched, destroying all the Covian star ships in their splash zones.

That provoked the Covians to take action, they started deploying their forces from space.

Covians, radiating so much energy like fireflies, began to drop down from the underbelly of their ships to undertake HALO jumps without any parachute or alien equivalent.

They were dropping down from space, flying with the raw energy that wrapped around them like a winter cloak.

The duo Bastions in space weren’t so willing to give them a free pass through. But they were only two warriors, regardless of their powers. They destroyed dozens with every strike of their Aeon’s powers, but there were thousands of Covians descending upon Varganna.

Hundred managed to slip through the first layer of defense, only to arrive upon the second.

Levitating in the troposphere was Blin, waiting for them as the second layer of Varganna’s defense.

Blin, in a display I haven’t seen since the paradoxical event of my training program, unleashed a terminating blast wave of energy that atomized everything surrounding him for miles killing hundreds of Covians.

He killed so many, yet more kept coming, slipping through the moments he gathered momentum to begin another attack.

Through gaps provided by such moments, they continued their HALO jumps down to the surface, heading for several mega metropolitan areas.

It was my turn now, with the help of VIS I was to determine where my help would be most needed.

All around me the military officers began disappearing to coordinate with their forces already on site in defense of their cities.

I stood up too, and readied myself. I had to do this else cities would burn, their skyscrapers reduced to smoldering rubble. The once-blue skies would turn a sickly shade of yellow, as if infected by the poison spewing from the ravaged earth. The sounds of screams, wails, and despairing cries would rise from the devastated landscape, a heartbreaking chorus that echoed through my mind.

What was that?

The instinct I received from my connection to the Aeon Genesis informed me that it was a vision of what could happen if I don’t move.

I focused on that grim vision.

A bombardment raged on, I felt the weight of the world's mortality. This was not merely an attack – it was an extinction event. The aliens sought not conquest, but annihilation. Our civilization, forged over millennia, would soon be reduced to ashes and memory.

And still, the ships came, their ordnance slicing through the atmosphere with merciless precision. I could only watch, helpless, as the world succumbed to the void.

But amidst the flashes and glimpses of what could be, I saw how to make the most of my eight percent.