Invasion: Part 3

“Guys,” said Throng. Neither Brian nor Rick responded, as they continued to bicker back and forth. “Guys!” he finally yelled.

Both men ceased and turned towards him.

“You want to wrap this up? Fuel isn’t cheap.”

Rick looked at Brian, who shrugged. “Rock, paper, scissors?”

“Why not?”

“One,” counted Rick. “Two, three!”

Both men chose rock.

“Again,” said Rick. “One, two, three!”

This time, Rick went for scissors, which defeated Brian’s paper.

“Hah!” Rick shouted. “We get to attack first!”

“Fine,” said Brian. “Guess I got winner.” His yellow tinged fleet withdrew, just out of range of weapons fire.

The Star Admiral threw back his cloak. “All hands to battle stations!” he commanded. “Prepare to fire the Obliteratrix!”

On the screen before him, he could see the Imperial fleet spreading out and a wave of fighters approaching rapidly.

“Launch fighters!” he ordered.

“Sir?” one of the lieutenants suddenly said.

“What?”

“Who’re the purple guys?”

The Star Admiral glanced up at the monitor. A new fleet had arrived, in numbers greater than all three of the present fleets combined. They literally filled the left hand side of the screen.

The view-screen flickered and a strange, insect-like head appeared. “PREPARE TO BE CONSUMED, MAMMALS.”

Throng appeared beside the insect on the view-screen, to be quickly joined by Brian. “Uhh, who’re you?” Throng asked.

“WE ARE THE HIVE. WE WILL EXPAND.”

“Do we know you?” Brian asked.

This gave the insect-alien pause. “I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE QUESTION.”

“Did we go to high school with you or are you related to the Imperial family in some way?” asked Rick, the Star Admiral.

“NEGATIVE. WE ARE THE HIVE. WE WILL-“

“Expand,” finished Brian. “Yeah, we got it.”

The all looked at each other.

“Y’know,” began Throng. “Is it me or are there just too many invasions going on?”

“Yeah,” agreed Rick. “I thought I was the only one looking to overthrow the Empire.”

Brian snorted and raised his right hand. “Guilty.”

“WE ARE-“

“We heard you! Jeez,” interrupted Throng. “Since we don’t know these guys, wanna rat-pack him and figure things out later?”

“Why the hell not,” said Brian. “It’ll be like high school.”

“Order the fleet to target the purple guys,” the Star Admiral ordered. “And fire the Obliteratrix already. I didn’t enslave 40 worlds to not use the damn thing!”

Cheers,
-Jason