Mercy

"The city is under attack!" shouted a soldier as multitudes of people gasped and started to run for their homes. It was the Losi...formidable and ruthless. They had been reaking havoc on the outer rims of the Stara galaxy for over a decade, and now had finally broken through to the core planets--the planet of Gem in particular. The planet was indeed like unto its name, a gem. Its surface was warm and temperate with mainly forests and small patches of ocean. Cities were situated in strategic locations on the main land masses, but small farms and towns were more numerous dotting the coastlines.



It was this planet that was in the direct line of site of the starship Merciless. Behind its large transparent window stood a young man of tall stature and unusually gray hair. His green eyes scanned the surface of the planet searching for the next best strike. This man's name was Koth, and he had the gift of complex strategy only found in one individual every one hundred years. Since he was only six years of age, Koth was trained by the Losi to use his unique mind to conquer and subjugate the weak. Losi himself, Koth bore the ritual tattoo of a teethed bird on the side of his face common to most male Losi, and only given to those of high status. Koth smiled somewhat at the thought of him being the youngest Losi to ever gain so much prestige in such a short amount of time. Indeed, he knew he had the greatest mind in the galaxy, and only he could bring the Bareme to their knees.



The Bareme, of course, were exactly the people he was about to destroy. The Losi would never ben satiated until the Bareme were finally all annhialated, down to every last piece of rubble ever constructed by their hands. Koth's hatred for the Bareme ran personal and deep. They deserved to be destroyed, and this was the only chance the Losi had for a long time.



The dark space around the shimmering planet ignited with laser fire. Losi attack vessels were charging the planet's surface. Not without protection, the Bareme used what defenses they had, and quite a few of the Losi ships were being picked off. But numbers had the upside in this battle, and Koth knew it. He smiled. Sitting in his command chair located in the central command room, Koth brought up his strategy console and turned it on. Immediately blue and green light spread in a circular pattern around him displaying all the Losi ships, and the Bareme defenses, as well as Gem's surface. He merely touched the virtual ships in order to drag and move them to his desired location. His hands sped around in rotating and linear movements positioning each squadran. The coordinates from the command board would then be sent to the pilots, and once they had moved according to plan, the map would show their new locations, and their movements.



Koth finally had the planet Gem in the palm of his hand. Power never felt so sweet.

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Gem's defenses were weakened, and most of the cities had been leveled. Survivors were not tolerated, and anyone found alive would be killed. A few thousand Bareme had fled the planet in escape vessels, and most of them had gone to lightspeed before being preyed upon. But a few thousand out of millions was a terrible loss. Koth wasn't at all happy with losing the survivors, but of course he would start finishing the job by landing on the planet and picking off the ones who managed to stay alive during the onslought of fire that had been going on for several days.



As he exited his ship and stepped onto the rubble of destroyed skyscrapers, he motioned for his foot soldiers to pair off in different directions to search for valuables and survivors. "Find any remotely useful things left behind, and kill all survivors," he said without pausing.



Moving on with his band of armored Losi warriors, he rounded a demolished building corner. There were consumable goods, and he ordered his men to begin collecting them. Bodies were strewn about the littered streets. No survivors. But then Koth suddenly sensed something. If there were no survivors, why did he sense life? He equiped his scanner goggles and turned them to their highest setting. The goggles could search over a 50 mile radius, and all the soldiers had a pair. Nothing was immediately apparent on his screen. Only death and destruction. He raised his comlink to his mouth, "All squadrans, is there any sign of life on your scanners?" There were only negative returns. The entire planet was being searched and would be searched for weeks, but Koth felt a presence very near. Something wasn't right. He went off alone into the heart of the city where the worst of the destruction was. The presence got "louder".



He turned into what used to be an apartment and entered. What used to be a home for maybe a family was barely recognizable. He turned abruptly when he saw movement under some debris. He readied his weapon. He moved some of the debris and discovered a small red head. It was a little girl. She was barely breathing and looked close to dying. Koth could feel her life draining slowly but surely. Apparently she had been under the debris for some time. His laser point was aimed at the small target. All he had to do was shoot. But why couldn't he? He had killed millions from the sky, and thousands more Bareme on other planets. A flash of memories displayed themselves behind his eyes. These memories usually propelled his desire to get vengeance and destroy, but in only this case, for the first time possibly in his entire life, he felt pity. He lowered his weapon as his men entered his location. The warriors took aim at the child. "No," Koth said lifting his free hand. The men incrementally lowered their weapons in confusion. Koth turned to the broken doorway. "Let her pass on her own." With that him and his men left the girl to die.



***********************************

10 years later:



Sandstorms roared on for hours without end on the planet Bemil. Underneath the sands lived the leftover Bareme who had fled their planet a decade ago. Large tunnels had been dug into the gritty depths. These tunnels lead to a network of dwellings all adjecent to one another. In one of these larger rooms stood a group of gathered people mostly elders of the small Bareme community. The elders encircled a circular computer board flashing with small lights and silent. One of the elders, a man with white hair and a long white beard pointed to a location on the map. "We have gained higher ground on Elsa, but it will only be a matter of time until more Losi troops penetrate our base defenses. We may be high, but the Losi have numbers, and a few hundred deceased for them is only a small dent in their galactic force."



"So what do you presume we do?" asked a female elder in concern. Her voice was rough and haggard. "We've only secured a fraction of the swamp planet. The Losi can take it back swiftly if they so desire because they have the firepower! I don't see why we are even wasting our time there."



The lead elder, Rian Sheen said, "The Losi have gotten lazy. They believe as well as we all do that there is little hope for the Bareme securing any amount of the sector, however, what small hope is left can be lifted by the Losi's lazy arrogance." Rian moved to another portion of the round map and eyed a small battle taking place on Elsa. "The fact that we have even taken some ground shows a weakness, and that is exactly what I have stated. The Losi don't consider us a threat anymore. As long as our numbers are low, they will feel just as satisfied picking us off one by one no matter how long it takes. We are weak, true, but we do have a solid hope on our side."



"And what is that?" asked a balding elder. "I agree that we have achieved something however small it may be, but what is this thing you have so much confidence in Prime Elder?"



Rian looked up and smiled. "Only an ancient blessing."

************************************



Tein Gin gulped loudly as he ascended the upper levels of the large battle starship "Merciless" on the elevation pad. He was to meet the Supreme One for the first time. A man of small stature and rather large eyes, Tein wasn't one for speeches, but his abilities in stealth and undercover work must have impressed someone up high. He wasn't looking forward to meeting the Supremem One....the stories of his pitiless killings and angry rampages over the expanses of the galaxy were Losi children bedtime stories.



He stepped off of the elevation pad and quickly moved down the long dark hall that preceded the Supreme One's domain. He had barely gotten to the door and it opened. Tein entered the large room. He immediately found himself engulfed with stars and planets. The entire room was filled with floating images of stellar objects.



"Tein Gin," called a soft voice from behind a floating chair. "I'm glad you have arrived on time. How unusual."



Tein eyed the back of the chair and stuttered, "S-s-supreme One...I, uh, ho-ow did you..."



The chair turned revealing sharp green eyes and a teethed bird. "I just know," he said standing to his full height. "Shall we get down to business?"



Tein nodded somewhat confused.



"Take a seat Mr. Gin," said the Supreme One almost politely. Tein slowly sat down in one of the nearby floating chairs and kept staring at the slow moving planets.



"I have seen your record Mr. Gin. Very impressive, but have you ever been on a mission to the outer planets?" asked the Supreme One tapping a small datapad with his fingers.



"Well, uh...no, Supreme One," said Tein trying not to look directly into the sharp green eyes. "Though I have in the past penetrated Bareme intelligence networks and succeeded in..."



"Exactly," interjected the Supremem One. "That is why you are the man for this job. To make it short, I require your services to do just that--penetrate Bareme intelligence networks."



"But the Bareme are almost extinct. Their numbers are only a few thousand on the outer rim. I hear we will finish them off in the next..."



"Five years or so," completed the Supremem One. "Yes, that is what all my generals and captains claimed eight years ago, but unfortunately the amount of Bareme being destroyed has peaked, and won't increase or decrease. And pathetically enough their space trash has managed to secure the northern continent of the swamp planet Elsa. Over the past decade the amount of Losi troops I've sent has slowly declined, but only because the amount of Bareme left alive had been decreasing, and I've seen no reason...up until now to increase troops, and that," said the Supreme One with a dark grin, "cannot be tolerated. So I increased troops, but that didn't seem to make much difference because of a peculiar incident."



Tein shifted in his chair nervously. "I, uh, believe I can help Supreme..."



"Good," said the Supreme One smiling with a devious smile.