Thanks for all the comments. This was a cruel and violent story but I had a lot of fun with it. And who knows, it may have been just an innocent nosebleed there at the end ... yeah, whatever.
Check out this special sneak peek at my next project. Happy Holidays:
Delta Quadrant, 2264
“We are the Borg. Your species has been targeted for assimilation. Your technological and biological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Any negotiation is irrelevant. Resistance is futile.”
Up until recently the Xenarth had seen themselves as the most technological advanced, industrious and culturally sophisticated race in the known galaxy. Their scientific excellence unquestionable, their mighty warriors without equal, the efficiency of their immense workforce unparalleled while their artisan’s imagination was as boundless as their clerics’ dedication to the All-Mother’s will was illimitable.
In short, nothing and no one could ever threaten the Xenarth’s god given cultural superiority.
Until the day they met the Borg.
Within a week, their once seemingly immeasurable fleet of swarm ships had been reduced to a mere hundreds of vessels, desperate to protect their last remaining world, home of the Colony, Xenarth Prime.
The Borg invasion of their territory had been swift and merciless. And contrary to the cyborg’s ubiquitous battle cry, they had never bothered to assimilate the Xenarth, apparently not even deeming the insectoids to be a worthwhile addition to their collective.
Instead the Borg were after something much more valuable to them.
* * *
Queen Quelphi looked upon the sky high monstrosity in front of her with unmasked disgust, evidence by her extended mandibles and crooked antenna. Like all members of the Xenarth Colony, Quelphi had evolved from the lowly insect life on her planet over millennia. She now stood nearly two meters tall, on long slender legs and a trim torso. To a foreign anthropologist, Quelphi would have been a prime example of a perfect symbiosis of a humanoid and insectoid. While she walked erect and two legs, her insect heritage was all too obvious, thanks to her set of lower arms right underneath her longer upper arms which brought her total number of extremities to six. Her skull was oblong in shape with two jutting compound eyes which gave her a nearly three-hundred-sixty degree viewing angle. She relied on set of v-shaped antennae on her head for olfactory information and two mandibles protruding close to her mouth were sharp enough to be used as weapons.
As the reigning Warrior Queen of the Aggregate, the ruling council of the Xenarth, she despised the towering display of technological arrogance in front of her with a passion. The device stood nearly a hundred floors high, reaching far into the Xenarth Prime darkened sky and measured dozens of paces in diameter. At the very top it bulged outwards, like a blooming flower or a mushroom with sharp curves which the scholars and clerics found pleasing.
Quelphi found nothing pleasing about the Heavens Portal. In fact she was convinced that all their bad fortune of late could be placed solely at the feet of this infernal device and the power source which fed its incalculable appetite.
And now it was supposed to be their salvation.
“Another eighty swarm ships have been destroyed. At this rate, we expect that their main force will land on Xenarth before dawn.”
Quelphi was barley listening to Queen Arga’s report of their impending doom as she was too busy wordlessly cursing what she saw as the bringer of their undoing.
“By all accounts we have lost some sixty million colonists within the last three days. Supreme Semunstra is confident however that with the help of the Portal, we will be able to save ten to twenty million of what remains of the Colony,” continued the Worker Queen. “Ergia is convinced that it is more than enough colonists to rebuild once we arrive. She says that the God-Queen will provide whatever we require in Xendaru.”
The Warrior Queen uttered a sharp whistling sound, a sarcastic laugh. “The God-Queen will provide. How about the millions we have lost already? Will the All-Mother provide for them as well?”
“The expired will be as reborn in Xendaru,” said Arga.
Quelphi whipped around to face the Worker Queen for the first time. “Well quoted. But do you believe it, Arga? I mean, truly believe like the clerics and their Queen? Are you as convinced that our fallen sisters and brothers will be waiting to greet us once we step through this Portal?”
The Worker Queen hesitated for a moment, her feelers twitched slightly, giving away her insecurity. “To say otherwise … to believe otherwise, it would be heresy.”
Quelphi uttered a subdued whistle and then stepped closer to her fellow Queen. She placed her upper arms on her shoulder. “It’s just you and me now, Arga. The Cleric Queen is nowhere near, and neither are her one-minded disciples. You may speak your mind freely, my friend. Do you truly believe Xendaru awaits beyond the Portal?”
“I have seen the power of the Xendaru particle up close. My workers have built the Portal for nearly a decade and we have suffered and sacrificed thousands in this pursuit.”
The Warrior Queen pushed her away harshly with an angry whistle. “You have sacrificed thousands? The invaders have killed millions of my warriors.”
The Worker Queen immediately lowered her head and her antennae along with them in a deferential gesture. They may have been equals in the Aggregate chambers, but angering the Warrior Queen was not a healthy proposition. “Apologies, I meant no insult. I appreciate that there is no comparison to the sacrifice of your soldiers. I merely meant to say that the Xendaru particle’s power nearly destroyed us all on many an occasion. Something so powerful, it has to have the ability to create miracles.”
“If this is true, then why could we not have used it to fight these invaders? Why has the Supreme decreed that its use be limited to the Heavens Portal and to chase a fantastic dream of reaching a mystic realm no one has ever laid eyes upon?”
“If the stories are true,” said Argia carefully. “We shall be at everlasting peace with the All-Mother and escape this plane for good as well as the invaders. Is this not something to aspire for?”
“Children and fools aspire,” the Warrior Queen shot back harshly. “Deeds are what matter. We should focus our energies on fighting our enemies, not run away like scared beasts.”
“Nothing has stopped them.”
“Yes,” she said and looked upon the massive Portal again. “And I think I know why. They know about the power of this so-called Xendaru particle as well. What Semunstra has foolishly pursued for decades as the savior of the Colony is leading to our doom.” She turned to the Worker Queen once more. “Listen to me well. Nothing good has ever come out of the leadership of a Scholar Queen. The Supreme is singlehandedly overseeing the downfall of our people.”
“The Colony loves her. They believe in her.”
“They believe the lies they have been fed by Semunstra and the Cleric Queen. No, to save the colony, new leadership is required.”
At that Argia gasped. “Are you suggesting to … remove Semunstra?”
Quelphi’s antennae quivered slightly. “If Semunstra is gone, Ergia the Cleric Queen would be next in line to become Supreme. She’d be even worse than a Scholar Queen. The Aggregate requires firmer leadership. Somebody who can restore the Colony to greatness and defend us against all meddlesome and foreign invaders. Somebody who doesn’t put all her trust into cursed technology and flawed science.”
“Like a Warrior Queen?”
“Why not? Let me ask you this. Would I have your support?”
The Worker Queen hesitated once more. “A change in leadership now would be foolish. The hour of the Heavens Portal is nearly upon us.”
Quelphi nodded, acceding that point. Even if there was a manner in which to rid the Colony of both the Supreme Scholar Queen and her heir apparent, the Cleric Queen, the Colony would never accept a new Supreme who’d abandon the popular Heaven’s Portal within hours of its first activation.
“Then after.”
“If the Portal is successful in trans-phasing the Colony to Xendaru –“
The Warrior Queen interrupted her. “If it is not.”
“Then the Supreme would have failed the Colony and new leadership may be called for.”
Quelphi’s mandibles curved into something resembling a smile. A change of leadership before the ruling Supreme had passed was unheard of in the Colony ever since the beginning of the Aggregate hundreds of years ago. But then again the Colony had never been faced with extinction before.
* * *
The Borg had decimated the remaining swarm ships protecting Xenarth Prime and the massive cubes now surrounded the planet in order to prepare for the final strike against its people. But the few million Xenarth who remained on the surface were no longer afraid of impending death. Instead they huddled together on every corner of the globe, preparing themselves for their final journey towards ultimate salvation. Most were convinced that just in a matter of minutes, each and everyone of them would come face-to-face with their god.
Teetering at the cusp of total annihilation, Xenarth Prime had been gripped by blissful euphoria.
At the base of the Heaven’s Portal only the five members of the Aggregate remained, while the workers and scholars responsible for initiating its awesome power were watching from a control room afar.
Semunstra, the Scholar Queen and current Supreme, and the person most responsible for pushing the Colony towards the research of the Xendaru Particle which in turn had made the Heavens Portal possible, turned to her fellow Queens. “The moment is upon us,” she said reverently. “Shortly we will be leaving this plane behind and step into the future of our Colony.”
Quelphi was anything but reverent. “I will say it one more time. This is a waste of our time and resources. We should unleash the power of the Xendaru Particle against the invaders who as we speak are preparing to lay waste to all we have sweat and died for to build.”
“Your objections have become repetitive and tiresome,” said Queen Eriga sharply. “You would do well to remember the Supremes’ decree and behave accordingly.”
“And what if I don’t,” she challenged.
The Cleric Queen’s mandibles twitched angrily. She knew that there was little she could do about Quelphi’s defiance. Members of the Aggregate were above reproach in most cases and even the Supreme could not relieve a fellow Queen of her title unless in extenuating circumstances. Those were the ways of the Aggregate and had been for thousands of years.
“The hour for talk and deliberation has passed. We must now embrace the will of the All-Mother.”
“Fine,” said the Warrior Queen with dramatic flair. “I want my opposition to this noted. Once again.”
“And once again, it has been noted,” said Selphi, the Artisan Queen, who had always taken great care to try and reconcile the differences between the Warrior Queen and the Cleric and Scholar Queens. Mostly in vain. “Right or wrong, we must all agree that it is no longer feasible to explore any alternative to attempt to save the Colony.”
“Oh my dear, Selphi, you have such a gift for understating the obvious, it borders on cowardice. And you leave out how you and all of us had many such opportunities but we chose instead to ignore them and put our faith into a power we barely even understand. Mark my words, all of you, this will not lead us to salvation and when the inevitable comes to pass, I hope you will recall my warnings.”
“You have spoken your peace, Warrior Queen. Now temper yourself so that we may commence the ceremony,” said the Supreme and promptly deferred to the Cleric Queen. “Ergia, it has been your tireless effort that has brought us to this moment of reunification with the God-Queen. Will you not do us the honor of taking the first step?”
Ergia nodded eagerly. “It would be my pleasure,” she said and then stepped closer to the towering Heaven’s Portal. She turned to look at the rest of the Aggregate and then rose all four of her arms high into the air, the signal to begin.
The Portal behind her rumbled as it began to power up, collecting energy directly from the subterranean generators which had been designed to stabilize and harvest the tremendous power of the Xendaru particle.
The Portal erupted with light, turning night into day and blinding everyone within a thousand miles. Moments later the amassed energy exploded outwards from the top of the Portal to create an energy field that within minute enveloped the entire surface of Xenarth Prime.
The Cleric Queen could feel her entire body vibrate as the field washed over her and she cried out in blissful joy:
“The All-Mother awaits.”
