24. The Rings of Earth

 

Faavel would had given up masturbating for a whole decade just to see the view I’m looking at right now. Though I guess I’ll just have to bury him with a picture of this victory instead. We currently have enough ships to surround half of Earth, and a quarter of the ships are dragging the Larferna Tree. We were preparing what Octlyn likes to call an ambush, and the tree serves as the bait, a very expensive bait I might add. Even the rich Ceoda Moore wouldn’t be able to afford to buy back the Larferna Tree. Though, I wonder if she’ll still want to buy it if I offered to sell it for only 99% of her net worth? Not that I will, or could. I can’t believe am thinking of her while what I wanted for so long is in view of my eyes. I’m starting to see why Faavel would obsess over her, and now my brothers dead. Allowing I to freely pursue her without the disdain Faav would’ve given me if he were still alive. I don’t want to sound antisocial by saying this, but I have better conversations with myself than with other people… Except Ceoda. I don’t even care that she killed my brother, so long as she doesn’t do it to me. Although, if she’s into that sort of thing, sexually speaking, and is willing to give me an Exporta after murdering me. Then I could maybe get into that, but only for her. This is the first time I’ve thought about any women in a sexual manner, since my son died. I guess this is because I have a part of the Larferna Tree now, which helps secure my future heirs a possible chance of surviving the Reduntian air. I guess being gay was just a temporally substitute after all. I reached out to my side table and picked up a potato skin, which was finely crisped by my stolen solar gun. 

“The crunch you get is like nothing else I’ve had, Notsh, make sure to do it like this from now on,” I complimented. 

“Finely observed, Ser,” it was his idea for crisping the potato skins with my solar gun, and Notsh looked very prideful about it. 

“Have you ever seen a space battle before,” I asked.

“No Ser, I haven’t.”

“Neither have I, you excited?”

“Very much, Ser,” he grinned. “And it seems like the Earthborn’s have gathered their fleets for battle.” He nodded towards Earth, where about as many ships matched ours, maybe even more actually.

“When my men demolish the Earthling fleets, I’ll have their ships and bodies form a ring around Earth, just like the rings of Jupiter.”

“That’s very artistic, Ser,” he smiled. I should note that Notsh is an artist himself, and his favourite source of paint is human blood, after animals of course.

“Maybe you could paint me a picture of my finished product ay?”

“Absolutely Ser,” he bowed. 

“Have you tried these potato skins yet?” 

“No Ser.”

“Come stand closer to watch the fight with me, and help yourself to a decent sized portion,” I offered. 

“My gratitudes, Ser,” Notsh pulled out a silk handkerchief and gently spooned out a handful of potato skins to place on it. Then we both watched the battle in frightening awe. 

The battle started as soon the Earthling fleet flew out from the clouds that shielded Earth. There was no pre-battle meeting between my commanders and theirs, the war started the moment we took the Larferna Tree. Their ships clashed into mines, though the ships they crashed into were auto driven, so that none of my men would die without a kill to their name. And soon the black emptiness we call space has now temporally turned into a red mist of floating blood. There was nothing strategic about this battle, it’s mainly whoever has the bigger army wins. But fighting Reduntians are a lot more different from fighting their own kind. You could tell how they’re finally realising that, as some of the Earthling ships are abandoning the battlefield. Before the battle has even begun, I had some space rocks stationed as a barrier between my army and theirs. With hidden bombs planted within them. That took out most of the Earthborn’s infantry. Some of them tried going under the rocks, and over. But I predicted this, so I ordered some men to shoot out whomever’s trying to avoid the  floating rock barriers. Once everyone was too distracted with the fighting, I called up one of my sub commanders.  

“Ser?” he spoke. 

“Send in the E-ships,” I ordered.

“I’ll do it now, Ser,” and he hung up to do his duties. I managed to gather a total of fifteen ships from the Earthlings, they were the ones that Remi sent to retrieve Octlyn. And now I’m using it to blend into their army. It wasn’t filled with my men, so it was auto driven of course, and the free space within the ships was replaced with enough bombs to take out at least 20% of the Earthling fleet. 

“Ser?” 

“What is it, Notsh?”

“I just got a text from General Hudier’s Secretary, he says to meet him on his ship, now.”

“F**k sakes, the f*****g timing on him. Notsh, stay here and make sure you record the full battle.” I can’t believe Hudier’s making me miss the E-ships plan. I was anticipating it all afternoon. 

“I will, Ser, and I’ve already programmed the coordinates of the General’s whereabout onto one of the escape pods.”

“Good, I’ll see you in a bit, Notsh.” I took his handkerchief of potato skins from him. “I’m taking this with me, but you can finish the rest in the bowl.” 

“Thank you, Ser,” he leaped to the door and opened it before I could, and I nodded him goodbye. The pod I’m in predicts that it will take three minutes to get to General Hudier’s ship. I had Ceoda’s music player hacked so I was listening to one of the songs on her playlist. It made the battle seem cinematic, as I was still in view with the fighting. When my pod connected with the General’s ship, I was escorted by his men to see him. The meeting room they sent me to had a similar set up as mines. They had a big window, so that we could watch the battle during whatever the f**k we’re discussing. But the room only had two seats, which both are occupied. 

“Gusto boy, come stand beside us while we chat,” spoke up Hudier’s Secretary, Mactomi.

“You called me out of my ship just so I can watch the fight with you?” 

“We just saw more than a dozen of their own ships crash into their own fleets, the explosion was immense,” laughed out the General.

“That’s what I wanted everyone to think,” I answered.

“You planned that,” asked Mactomi. 

“Of course Mac’ky boy,” I taunted. A serving wench came into the room and walked up to me, “Would you like a drink, Sir?”

“It’s Ser, and get me some warm green tea, and if you don’t have that, then get me a bottle of lemon jelly instead. And if you don’t have that too, then get me some filtered water companied with cherry flavoured ice. But if you lack any of the drinks I’ve just asked for, then I guess I’ll just have to tip you without a reason,” I lied.

“I’ll go complete your orders now, Ser.”

“I thought you were gay,” asked Hudier. 

“I am.” 

“Then why’d you flirt with my serving girl?”

“That was considered flirting? I thought that was just a basic way of giving any servant a hard time.”

“Gentlemen, I think Ceoda Moore just sent in her own private army to join the Earthling fleets,” speculated Mactomi. 

“Unsurprising,” mumbled the General. I walked closer to the window, and saw how my men instantly blew up her mini army. Though when the ships blew up, Ceoda’s soldiers started ejecting themselves before it happened, and they were throwing these weird bomb things. Allowing her men to breath within the radius of the reaction that the bomb produced. 

“They’re using Air bombs,” informed the secretary. 

“The Reduntian seems confused,” the General speculated. “Explain it to him, Mac.”

“Throw the bomb and you can breath within the size of the explosion, as you can see for yourself.” Ceoda’s men were constantly throwing it near my ships, to quickly plant some sort of bomb that I know isn’t air bombs. 

“The bubble of air lasts for a minute, hence why Ceoda has some catapults firing over hundreds of thousands at once.”

“Why not have them wear space masks,” I asked, confused.

“Less mobility to move. Ceoda’s men wouldn’t be able to jump from ship to ship planting those f*****g bombs while wearing a heavy duty space suit.”

“Type of air you think they’re using,” I asked.

“Well, they’re Earthborn's, so I would imagine their using Earth’s air to fill up those bombs.”

“But it’s Ceoda’s technology.”

“And she’s working with the Earthlings.” I nodded in approval and called up another one of my sub commanders, “Ser?” he answered. 

“Have our most flexible men get out their ships and fight the fuckers that are throwing them air bombs, but make sure they stay within the explosions blast radius, unless they don’t want to breath,” I ordered.  

“Certainly, Ser,” the sub commander confirmed, then I hung up. 

“That was a good command Gusto, your men should benefit more with those air bombs than the Earthlings, considering how the Reduntians have stronger lungs and all.” The General was right, once my men jumped out their ships to meet Ceoda’s men, the fight instantly changed for them. Since Ceoda had her catapults fire enough air bombs to make nearly the whole battlefield on space breathable. It opened up the fight even more, as being on a ship isn’t just the only way of fighting anymore. It was the first hand on hand battle anyone’s ever witnessed on space. 

“Looks like the Royal fleet is finally joining the battle, time to send in our fleets then.”

“Am on it General,” confirmed his secretary. I pulled out Notsh’s handkerchief, and started munching on my potato skins. 

“Want some? My manservant cooked it with my solar gun, the crispness is utterly impressive.” 

“Have you killed anyone with this yet,” asked General Hudier, pointing at the solar gun that is attached to my waist belt. 

“Only my accountants assistant,” I replied with a smile.

“What a complete disrespect for a weapon as great as that, this gun needn’t any bullets, only a charge in the sunlight and it’s a full blown gun.” The General snatched the weapon from my waist belt. “And it’s mines now, no doubt I’ll be shooting people whom are far more worthier than an accountants assistant.” I was about to lose my temper when something happened on the battlefield, Remi’s own Royal fleet started to lay waste onto the army that General Hudier’s just sent.

“I never thought the Tree Boy would attack us so boldly, without even asking why we’re here.” Hudier chuckled to himself. “Instead of the slow snakey way of gaining his Kingdoms trust, we can now use this to attack them, and with the public support too, it is self defence after all.” 

“I thought the boy was shy, I thought all Larferna Kings before him were known to be shy? They were raised so to make them hesitate as a habit, weren’t they?” noted Secretary Mactomi.

“So hesitation goes hand in hand with shyness? your point? ” I said. 

“If the Tree Lord was shy, then he would have hesitated in giving the quick command to attack us. And his hesitation would’ve given us time to prove that we were just there to fight off the Reduntians. But now the Tree lovers attacked us first, giving us the excuse to finally invade. I always thought helping them would put us one step closer to ruling Earth, though now the Tree Lord has given us the ultimate excuse to invade them literally.” 

“I guess my men won’t have to lose to you on purpose anymore then,” I asked.

“It seems so,” the General touched his lip and sat to think for a while. “Sergusto, if you command your men to team up with us on this battle, then I’ll throw in another chest full of Larfern, deal?”

“Okay, but you’ll have to throw in something else too.”

“What?”

“I want those weapons you gave me.”

“I gave you a lot of weapons, be specific, Gusto.”

“The ones we used on the Larferna Tree.”

“Ah, the nuke missiles… Fine, have them.” 

“I also want my solar gun back too.” Hudier hesitated for a while, then he offered his spit covered hand to me, and I shook it to confirm the deal. 

“Your five chests of Larfern is already sent to your ship,” informed Mactomi.

“I’ll be going back to my ship then, good luck with invading Earth, General. I’m sure you’ll successfully pocket another Planet for the Galactic Government.”

“And good luck with the botany research,” he mocked. When the serving girl came back with none of the drinks I asked for. I pulled out my solar gun and shot her in the stomach before I walked out. “I hope that serving wench wasn’t a genius, or else I’ll feel obliged to end myself for robbing the Galaxy of a possible Ceoda Moore.”