Keep Firing
Alien king POV
I stood on the bridge of the Annihilator, my hands gripping the edge of the control metal so hard it began to bend. My breathing was heavy and loud. I could feel the heat of my own blood rushing through my veins. Every time I looked out the massive front window, all I saw was that disgusting gold light.
"Report!" I roared. The sound of my voice made the bridge crew jump. Some of them didn't even dare to look up from their screens.
"My King," one of the officers said, his voice trembling like a leaf in a storm. "We have fired the thermal shells. We have sent the dark-matter bombs. We even tried the drill-missiles. Nothing is getting through."
I watched as another round of my missiles hit the tenth layer of the Crab King’s shield. The explosion was huge, a beautiful cloud of fire and destruction. But when the smoke cleared, the gold shield was still there. It didn't have a single scratch. It didn't even flicker.
"He has ten layers, Sire," the officer whispered. "It’s a perfect defensive stack. Our weapons are bouncing off like pebbles hitting a mountain."
I turned slowly. My eyes were glowing with a dark, red fire. I walked over to the officer. He was a tall man, but he seemed to shrink as I got closer.
"Pebbles?" I asked, my voice dangerously quiet. "You are telling me that the greatest fleet in the sector is throwing pebbles?"
"No, Sire! I meant"
I didn't let him finish. I backhanded him across the face. The force of the blow sent him flying across the bridge, crashing into a row of computers. The other men froze. They didn't move. They didn't breathe.
"I did not come here to listen to excuses!" I screamed. I kicked a heavy metal chair, sending it spinning into the wall. "I came for Aurora! That little crab thinks he can hide behind a wall of light and steal what belongs to me? He thinks he can put a crown on her head?"
The thought of Kraye touching her, looking at her, or calling her "Queen" made my skin crawl. It felt like a thousand needles were stabbing my heart. Aurora was mine. She was my treasure. I was the one who found her. I was the one who kept her.
I looked back at the planet. It looked so peaceful inside that golden bubble. It made me want to rip the universe apart.
"Kraye has called for war," I said, my voice cold now. "He wants to play games with shields? Fine. I will show him what happens when the game ends."
I raised my left arm and tapped the digital watch on my wrist. It was a special device, a high-tech communicator that only touched the highest levels of my empire. A series of blue screens popped up in the air around me.
"Summon the Chiefs," I commanded. "All of them. Now."
One by one, the faces of my top generals and tribal leaders appeared on the screens. They were thousands of lightyears away, but they could see the rage on my face. They knew this wasn't a normal meeting.
"My King," the first Chief said, bowing his head. "What is your command?"
"Planet 444 is no longer a trade partner," I told them. My voice echoed through the ship. "The Crab King has committed the ultimate sin. He has stolen my property. He has challenged my name. I am declaring a Total War. I want every ship, every soldier, and every weapon moved to this sector."
The Chiefs looked shocked. "But Sire," one of them said, "a Total War over a single planet? The cost would be—"
"I do not care about the cost!" I slammed my fist onto the command table, shattering the glass top. "I want that planet turned into a graveyard! I want the air to stay hot for a hundred years! If I cannot have Aurora back in my palace, then no one will have a world to live on!"
I looked at the timer on my screen. My missiles had been firing for hours, and the shield strength hadn't even dropped by one percent. My anger was boiling over. I needed to hurt something.
I turned back to my bridge crew. They were trying to look busy, but I could smell their fear.
"You!" I pointed at a navigator. "Why aren't we closer?"
"The gravity wells, Sire! The sixth and seventh layers are pulling at our engines. If we get any closer, the ship will be ripped apart by the pressure."
I walked over to him and grabbed the back of his neck. I squeezed until he gasped for air. "Then let it rip! Push the engines to the red line! If this ship breaks, we will use the pieces as bullets! Do you understand me?"
"Yes... my King..." he choked out.
I let him go and watched him scramble to follow my orders. I felt a small bit of satisfaction seeing him suffer, but it wasn't enough. It wouldn't be enough until I had Kraye’s head in my hands and Aurora back at my side.
I looked at the communicator again. The Chiefs were waiting.
"Listen to me," I said to the screens. "Kraye thinks he is safe because he has ten layers of iron. He thinks I will get tired and go home. He is wrong. I will wait. I will fire until the stars go out. I will call every favor, every debt, and every army I own. I am going to build a ring of fire around his world that he can never escape."
I paused, staring at the golden planet.
"Alert the neighboring systems," I continued. "Tell them if they help the Crab King, they will be next. Tell them the Alien King is no longer asking. I am talking. And when I finally break that tenth layer, and I will break it, I want there to be nothing left but dust and her."
I ended the call. The screens vanished.
The bridge was silent again, except for the sound of the engines screaming as they fought the gravity of the planet. I stood there, watching the red lasers from my ships hit the gold shield over and over. Each flash of light was a reminder of my failure. Each explosion was a taunt from Kraye.
"You think you won, little crab," I whispered. I reached out and touched the window, my finger right over where the palace would be. "But you only made me hungrier. And when I get inside, I’m going to make you watch while I take back everything you tried to steal."
I turned to my first officer. He was shaking so hard his teeth were chattering.
"Keep firing," I ordered. "Don't stop. Not for a second. I want the sound of my anger to be the only thing they hear in their dreams."
I walked off the bridge, heading toward my private rooms. I needed to be alone before I killed every man on this ship. The war had started, and I wouldn't stop until the uni
verse knew that what belongs to the Alien King stays with the Alien King.