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The Culling "This is Spica to Sol! We are under attack by a unknown hostile force... There are so many--" "This is Polaris to Sol! Were under--" "This is Hikeeba to Sol! There are to many of them--" "This is Palshife to Sol! They're to powerful there are so many of them--" "This is sauron--" "Our defense fleet is gone--" "This is Deneb III! Were being overwhelmed by--" "This is Kathoon to Sol! we're being slaughtered!--" "Sir? We just.... We just lost all of the outer rim worlds to the aliens." "You just told me that we were under attack a few hours ago... Are the defense fleets asleep?" the officer spoke in a dry, flat tone. "The casualties... are up in the hundreds of thousands, sir... There are so many of them, and the warships are so powerful...one spread their torpedoes finishes off a destroyer... Were done for, sir." "Get the president on the comm, we need to tell him." "Yes admiral." "This is Xez'Koan prime to Wejx'Izex attack wing. Progress?" "We have suffered no casualties, and we have just taken the last rim world. Tell the colonizers they are go” Colonel K'rach'chec out." "This is Xez'Koan prime to bulk freighters, accompany the colonizers, and instruct the colonists to load as much as they can onto the ships, and return to Xez'Koan prime. Resource raid is now declared a success." "Mr. President, this is the one alien fighter we brought down... when we disabled it, the aliens inside jettisoned themselves into space rather than be captured; we have yet to find their corpses." The scientist accompanying the Admiral then spoke. "Their construction methods are far more advanced than ours, and I'm sorry to say that they are so advanced we can barely make heads or tails of it. However, the one most simplistic components have given us an idea for a new line of warships." The admiral then spoke: "Sir; imagine a cruiser twice as powerful as one of our clunky carriers... a fighter almost as fast, but twice as armed as a Manta... cannons that make the laser cannons we have now look like BB guns... the alien construction techniques will allow us to do just that! do we have your approval?" The president contemplated for a moment, then spoke "Of course. Begin construction immediately." Chapter 2.5 "Jesus, you're going to kill it!" "No, not one toxic agent we have exposed it to has killed it" "Goddamnit! I don't care if its a fucking alien, the press will flay us alive if they find we did these experiments!" "Flayed Alive? Wow, you just said what the next experiment involved." "No, no! you cant treat a living thing like this!" "They destroy entire colonies! Men, women, children and all! This is a soldier! He knew the risks!" The alien continued to writhe and scream as the Confederate scientist then pumped another 10 mL of VX mk. 23 into the quarantine cell. "Incredible! a single teaspoon of this stuff is lethal to one hundred men, but over a liter of it hasn't killed the alien!" The scientist then marked his observations onto his palm-top computer, then went back to his genetics lab and began splice the molecules of a few more lethal plagues, this time he'd try cholera and sigma-anthrax. "Do you think this'll do the trick?" asked the scientist to the MP observer. The Observer turned away in disgust, and went outside. The tan sky of Landfall filled his eyes; he saw another wave of the new gunboats and frigates engage the alien fleet. It was like fireworks; the seeker drones, the rockets, the beams, the cannons... He flinched as the alien screamed again inside. He crossed himself, and lit a cigarette. Another, strangled scream emanated from inside, then abruptly stopped; walked back in. The scientist was ecstatic about something. "The strain of Ofca-Sigma killed it! Hee hee" "How... long did it take?" "Just about 5 minutes! And, put that damn cigarette out! I cant stand smoke" "Just shut up okay? I'll alert Sol as to your... progress" the Observer turned his face to the ground and went to the comm station....and so the tide began to turn....
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