Winter and Explosions

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## Plot

The Tauri-class battleship emerged from hyperspace and inserted into the orbit of Chithotis 4Y. Like it’s predecessors, the Taur-class battleship was a model used exclusively by the Plumbers. At eleven hundred meters in length, it was filled to the brim with Galvan weaponry that made it one of the deadliest battleship allowed under the new version of the Galactic Code of Conduct by the Intergalactic Court of Coda Coda.

The launching bays on the side of the battleship slide open, with energy shields keeping everyone inside the hangars from getting blown into the cold vacuum of space. Plumber V-Starships flew out and toward the planet surface. The governor and planetary security had already been warned in advance of the Plumbers’ arrival.

Aboard the battleship, Degrax was observing the planet below from the bridge, his gloved right hand clamped on the Plumber Badge on his belt. Although not being much of a tactician himself, Degrax recognized that the situation they were thrown into required a stable command structure more than simple firepower, which was why he had chosen to stay on the ship and observe, while his Lieutenant commanded the ground forces directly.

They would have to wait for the storm to pass in order to do an orbital scan and although Degrax was aware of the risks he was taking by of letting those damned cultists walk the surface of the planet, he wasn’t insane enough to send his forces on a suicide mission against an enemy they knew next to nothing about. Even if the rest of his men felt confident in their abilities, having destroyed two of these cults in the last year, they failed to recognize that the only reason those missions were so easy was that both the Eternals and Nosyerg’s Followers were peaceful colonies. They were made out of farmers, scientists, doctors, not soldiers and officers.

Many hundreds of years had already passed since Xin’s betrayal, but the memories of those dark times still haunted the species that suffered from the war. Even if Degtrax wasn’t born back then, he felt that it was his duty to ensure that another Xin would never emerge. That was why he had to destroy any human colony that would be a danger. It wasn’t a personal vengeance or abuse of power; simple his duty as a Plumber - to maintain the peace in the galaxy.

Even if he had to kill every human in that goddamn galaxy.

“So, let me get this straight. While I and Roxy were in another reality, two wizards appeared out of thin air and asked you to go to the Realm of Magic and fight some witch. You destroy a superweapon, got the Dungeons and Dragons band to ally with us and all of that in just under an hour?”

“Pretty much yes. I have always been the faster one of us, so why are you surprised?”

Evan glared at his sister, who was sitting comfortably across from him, a smug face plastered on as she had her hands placed behind her head and her legs crossed one over the other on top of the table.

Roxy and Archer were sitting between the two Young Ones, looking left and right as the two god-like beings stared at each other. If the two of them wanted, they could destroy the entire planet by just clenching their fists - something they didn’t have a good reason to do yet and luckily for most sentient life that they have come across, they rarely did anything important without a serious reason. Then again, for over ninety-five percent of the divine beings that oversaw this multiverse the life in its entirety didn’t classify as important.

“You didn’t really get angry at her for calling you slow, did you?” Roxy raised an eyebrow.

No response came. In fact, Evan didn’t even react to look at her, nor did Avice. The two siblings just stood there like a bunch of Celesapiens unable to decide if they should retcon the Atrocians or the Ickthyperambuloids from existence first. There were no anomalies because Roxy’s new ‘Pendulum of Reality’ should have reacted if there was one and she knew from that incident on Tei’ Nrocho that they Greysons’ avatars were immune to most time-based attacks. She didn’t have the senses of a Young One, so she couldn’t tell what caused them to freeze and Archer’s lack of understanding of complex affairs was hindering the soldier’s ability to fully comprehend the situation.

The siblings just weren’t there, at least not spiritually. These bodies they were wearing, they were just suits meant to hold their consciousness into a physical entity capable of interacting with the rest of the low-born universe. A countless number of these avatars existed throughout the infinite amount of timelines and the reach of their minds went far beyond these bodies of flesh that they had to wear. In order to be capable of overseeing all timelines in existence, one had to be able to see past what was in front of their eyes. They had to sense anything that was around them, including the small fleet of Plumber ships that were currently reaching for the planet’s surface.

There was public unrest, the citizens of Chithotis 4Y weren’t happy that the Plumbers were now occupying their planet - not that there ever was a planet whose citizens were happy to have a garrison watching their every move. But since the Plumbers weren’t military officers, despite their organization being the Milky Ways’ standing army since the sixth revision of the Intergalactic Charter, they couldn’t know how to handle these feelings of mistrust.

“Heeeeeeeyyyyyyoooooooooo!” Roxy waved her hands in front of Evan.

Evan’s senses began to slowly return, as his consciousness took control over his human body once more. He stumbled forward a bit from being trapped inside his physical body once more. He looked at his boots and raised his left leg before placing it back on the ground and repeating the movement with the right leg.

“Lord Nosyerg?” Archer muttered.

“My convenient God powers have activated themselves, Sergeant,” Evan stated. “Plumber ships are ready above the planet.”

Archer’s eyes widened. He knew that they would be there soon, but most of the trenches that Evan had ordered them to dig weren’t done yet because of the bad weather. Most of their equipment, like turrets, were also kept in storage inside the cave-system because setting them up in the blizzard would cause the equipment to freeze. Now they were unarmed and the enemy was right at their doorstep!

“You turned pale, is everything ok?” Avice asked.

“Y-yes, yes it is!” Archer nodded. “I just,”

“Forgot to set up the defenses before the Plumbers arrive?” Avice asked further.

Archer looked at the ground and nodded. He thought that keeping all of the guards and equipment in the storm outside was an insane idea, which was why he ordered everything to be returned back into the caves until the weather calmed down enough.

“It’s not a problem,” Avice waved it off. “I allowed the others to follow your orders, so I would share the blame. But the Plumbers won’t attack us while there’s still a storm outside, so we do have time to prepare ourselves properly.”

“If the storm has ended two hours ago, you would be telling that to my corpse.” Evan shook his head in disappointment. “Archer, get your men ready. I watch the defenses back up as soon as the storm starts to slow down.”

“Everyone will be ready and waiting to follow you in battle, Lord Nosyerg.” Archer bowed.

The human soldier then turned on his heel and ran out of the room to tell his men. Finally, with no outsiders to interrupt them, the three Greysons could begin discussing the important issues that lied ahead of them.

“The construction of the Shrine is behind schedule,” Roxy stated.

“Eh, just put more slaves to work on it.” Evan shrugged.

“We… don’t have slaves.” Avice pointed out.

“Then get me some!” Evan threw his hands up. “I hate the part where we have to justify our war goals. I got to sit around and thing, and that’s so booooooooring.”

“Wait, what do you mean justifying war goals?” Roxy asked. “We have never done that before an invasion. Have we?”

“We don’t do it when we’re invading a star system or anything around that size,” Avice explained. “When we attack something like a galaxy or an entire universe, it’s best to have a way to justify your actions. That makes it easy to negotiate with factions that we aren’t in conflict and keep them off our backs until we’re ready to attack them.”

“That’s why the Plumbers’ attack is so important,” Evan said half-heartedly before yawning. “Since they are the aggressors, and not us, the people of this planet will be more willing to help us than let their homes and jobs be destroyed by the Plumbers. If we secure the loyalty of the people on this planet, we won’t have to worry about hiding anymore, and once a link to the Warp Universe is opened and we start expanding, we will be able to defend our actions as a counterattack against our enemies.”

“But how are we going to do that if the Plumbers don’t directly control any planets?” Roxy asked, bringing up the elephant in the room.

If the Plumbers didn’t control any planets, then any invasion would be seen as an act of aggression from the Greysons’ side. And though most warlords over the centuries didn’t have a problem doing planetary invasions with no explanation whatsoever, as Avice pointed out, that would look bad politically.

“We will stage up something, duh.” Evan snorted. “Your neighborhood is Khoros and all you have to do in order to get the Tetramands to start, or in this case enter, a war, is point them at something and tell them: ‘Hey look! That thing breaths.’”

“It’s not THAT easy, but basically, that’s the plan if this colony survives long enough,” Avice said.

“That’s a big if,” Roxy stated, nervously.

“We already got it covered.” Evan gave a thumb up.

“At any rate,” Avice turned to her brother. “I better stay here and oversee the village while you lead the forces.”

“If we can call them that.” Evan scowled. “Roxy, you’re with me again.”

“Oh joy!” Roxy rolled her eyes.

A white shuttle with a large green intergalactic peace symbol drawn on its wings landed in Bay 042. A humanoid opossum accompanied by four officers wearing blue body armor made his way toward the shuttle.

The law enforcers on Chithotis 4Y had learned from the Plumber incident a few days ago. Since then, security around the docks has been doubled and the more ‘unsafe’ docks have been put out of commission until the engineering team updates them with new security protocols.

The opossum fixed his tie and waited for the doors of the shuttle to open while awkwardly mimicking a smile. He was feeling complex feelings about the Plumbers’ arrival on the planet. On the one hand, he was the one who called them for help, they were still officers. It was different from calling a group of mercenaries; more dangerous for his ‘private’ businesses.

The door of the shuttle slid open and a group of Plumbers from various sizes and species walked out of the ship. The opossum couldn’t tell what their species were though since all of them wore standard Plumber helmets and their humanoid shapes didn’t give away a lot of hints. They stepped to the sides, holding their guns high as a tall humanoid in red armor stepped out of the shuttle.

“Governor Marsu I presume.” the red-armored Plumber said, bowing slightly.

“Y-yes, it’s a pleasure.” the opossum nodded. “W-welcome to our little planet, sir-”

“Lieutenant Yerei.” The Plumber introduced himself. “I was put in charge of our operations on Chithotis. I hope that you and the Security Officers of this planet will be able to help us out.”

“We’re definitely going to do what we can, officer.” Governor Marsu laughed awkwardly. “We have repurposed an old military base just outside the city for your use.”

“A command center would be good.” Yerei nodded. “It will work for troop deployment too, right?”

“Y-yes, we patched up the system, it should work on one hundred percent.” Governor Marsu nodded.

“We should move there right now then,” Yerei stated, then turned toward the Plumber on his left. “Sergeant, tell the fourth platoon to take positions in the city.”

“Yes, sir!”

“B-but why the city?” cold sweat began to run down Governor Marsu’s chin.

“Standard procedure,” Yerei stated. “This is not an army, it’s a group of terrorists. We shouldn’t underestimate them.”

“I get that, but-”

“What?”

“The citizens won’t be very happy to have officers in tanks driving through their neighborhoods.”

“There’s no reason they should worry. Tell them that we’re here only temporally to secure their safety.”

Governor Marsu gulped. That wasn’t going to satisfy the public, they all already know why the Plumbers were there, and they weren’t liking it. This entire situation was getting out of proportion and it would be his ratings that would drop because of it.

Back at the underground village, Archer had gathered the older and more experienced guards of the village together in a small hut. The small group, along with Evan and Roxy was standing around a table with a hand-drawn map on top of it.

“I’ll make this brief.” Evan began. “The Plumbers, as we have expected, didn’t give up after their first act of aggression. This time, they have collected a small army to try and silence our voices! They want to destroy the glorious gifts that I graced you with, and bury the enlightenment that I gave to you!”

The soldiers looked on with determination burning in their eyes as they listened to Evan’s speech. Five generations have grown in that village, this was the place of their birth, the place they grew, the place where their children were growing. But above all, this was the place that their lord has given to them!

‘Man, these speeches always sound so cringy.’ Evan thought to himself.

“Today will be your chance to prove yourselves!” Evan continued. “Today, we will shatter the chains of oppression! Today will be a day that your descendants will remember as humanity’s most glorious day! Today Chithotis Four will take the first step to become the Harbinger of the Warp!”

The small crowd burst into cheers and loud battle chants. Humans, they were so easy to control. They were, since their first walking hour, a species of two-legged sheep waiting for someone strong to lead them, to suppress their selfish and greedy nature and turn them into something more. And Evan knew, he had always known. He had seen it in the world he was born into, in the worlds that he visited, all across time and space; the freedom of choice, the idea of the weak having a voice had always bread disaster.

All humans needed, was a charismatic leader who would tell them exactly what they want to hear. A being dressed in divinity and unlimited power that the weak can gather around. They needed someone both strong enough to force his will upon then, and cunning enough to make them believe that this was their own will.

“Here is our plan, gentlemen.” Evan pointed at a red cross on the map. “The total number of our forces is a hundred and two soldiers. They will be divided into three platoons, with the first platoon composed of forty-eight soldiers, while platoons two and three will each be twenty-seven. When we go outside, the second platoon will take positions in the trenches that they have dug right outside the caves while first and third will move forward to point be!”

Evan traced his finger from the red cross to a blue line a few centimeters in front of it. “Once there, you will send two groups of two scouts to scout the area, while the rest of your men dig a second line of trenches. Once reconnaissance returns, and if there is no Plumber activity in the area yet, the first platoon will move forward to point C. There, you will send another two scout groups ahead, while the rest dig new trenches.”

“Along with your standard equipment, each of you will be armed with a custom made explosive,” Roxy added. “These explosives are NOT to be used directly against the enemy. Instead, you will bury them in the trenches.”

“The purpose of this is to deliver some extra damage to the Plumbers once you are pushed back,” Evan added.

The elders’ eyes widened slightly at those words. He was basically telling them that he wasn’t expecting them to hold the line against the Plumbers!

“But sir, is that really a wise idea?” one of the men spoke up.

“You want us to run away?!” another one added.

“And you dare to speak out of line!?” Evan shouted, slamming his fist against the table. “Don’t get delusional thinking that the subpar equipment we currently have at our disposal will be enough to fight against the Plumbers! The only chance you have at defeating them is by outsmarting them!”

“The idea of placing the other platoons on different trench lines was so they could give you cover fire as you retreat to the trench line behind you,” Roxy explained.

“Once the first trench line is overrun, you will use the explosives to blow up the Plumber forces that have already occupied it,” Evan stated. “The chaos caused by the exposition should give first and third platoon a chance to drop the Plumbers’ numbers some more. However, if things go out of control, you all have to retreat to our last trench line while the second platoon lies cover fire.”

“This will be our last line of defense.” Archer frowned. “That’s a brilliant strategy, my lord!”

Evan paid no attention to Archer’s flattery. Unlike the men in this room, he recognized the weak points of the plan that he created himself. If they fought a standard army, they would just use their vehicles to encircle the platoons and take them out one at a time. The only type of enemy that would fall for such a strategy was an enemy without any sense of military tactics - like a police force, forced to act as the army.

“What of the ships?” a man asked. “How are we going to defend against them?”

“The Plumber Ships are going to be my objective.” Roxy pointed at herself.

“As for the ships in orbit, Avice will use her powers to protect us from potential orbital bombardment,” Evan added. “Any other questions?”

The men looked at one another, shrugging. They were all simple guards and most of them haven’t participated in much combat throughout their lives.

“Then, we should move to the command structure. First Platoon will be under the command of Archer with Roxy acting as second-in-command.”

Archer’s eyes widened. “But sir, my experience is nowhere near that of a Young One! It’s blasphemy to put me above a Young One!”

“Your opinion was ignored.” Evan huffed. “There isn’t a detail that I haven’t taken into account when making this decision and for you to argue otherwise is the bigger blasphemy.”

“I-I’m terribly sorry for this offense, my lord!” Archer bowed.

“You’re fortunate that I don’t have time dealing with you,” Evan growled, then turned to the other men in the room. “As for platoon two and three, I have called you here because you’re the most experienced of the soldiers here, so I trust you to create an efficient command structure.”

The men bowed silently and Evan walked out of the hut. Roxy and Archer followed shortly after him.

Lieutenant Yerei stepped in the center of the command room. The place was full of computer screens and consoles, and albeit the tech used being outdated, everything was working properly. There were already operatives on the consoles and the planetary officers were helping with what they can, including patrolling around the base, while the Governor went to try and calm down the citizens.

Most of the Plumbers were already in the barracks, waiting for the storm to end. All of the vehicles and they had brought with themselves, including both tanks and assault ships were placed inside large garages of the base; safe from the unforgiving elements raging outside.

Military bases such as this one were a normal thing for planets to have before the reformation of the Galactic Code of Conduct, which prohibited most species from having their own military, causing many such bases to become abandoned across the entire galaxy. Of course, not every species followed said reforms, some such as the Tetramands and the Incurseans retained their militaries at the expense of signing the non-aggression treaty of Keplorr with the Plumbers and each other.

A Plumber walked over to Yerei.

“The storm is passing.” the Plumber said.

“And just in time as well.” Yerei sighed. “Have our squads searched through the city?”

“There are some early reports.” the Plumber noted. “No humans were found in the city as of yet.”

Yerei tsked. “Tell everyone in the base to be ready to move out in an hour. If humans were able to enter the city before, they might already know about our arrival. We shouldn’t give them time to prepare any defenses.”

“Do we even know where the humans are?” the Plumber crossed his arms.

“Not exactly, no.” Yerei shook his head. “But the Governor has pinpointed the location their tracers last send a signal from. That should be a start, right?”

“We won’t know until we go there, I guess.” The Plumber answered. “I’ll tell everyone to prepare for departure.”

“It’s really cold outside,” Roxy whispered, rubbing her hands together.

“That’s how it usually is during the entire orbital period of the planet really,” Archer said.

“That’s very encouraging.” Roxy snorted.

First Platoon was already digging the third trench-line. There were no sights of the Plumbers as of yet and Archer had picked the best scouts he could for the job, so they should get a warning if enemy forces were approaching. There were already parts of the trench-line that were deep enough for a person to go into full cover by kneeling, which was the ideal size, since they were would need a way to easily retreat from the front lines. Unfortunately, they didn’t have enough time to also dig tunnels that connect to the second trench-line; if they did, they wouldn’t have to run wide open for the second defensive position.

“So, how do you like your position as a platoon leader, or whatever the rank is?” Roxy asked with a smirk.

“It’s deeply sorry for taking your position, sir.” Archer apologized.

“Don’t be. Truth is, I’ve never been leading any troops before.” Roxy admitted. “I’ve got no experience in war, aside from how to survive it.”

“I see.” Archer nodded.

“I’ve still be taught a few things about strategy and leadership, so I’m not all that green,” Roxy added. “I’ve studied from both Evan himself and Captain Leon.”

“Captain Leon?” Archer tilted his head to the side.

Roxy looked at the older male and chuckled. “If you survive long enough, you might get to know him. He’s a captain in the twenty-fifth legion.”

“Is that a… good legion?”

“The best. For thousands of years since its founding, the twenty-fifth doesn’t have a single defeat on its record. Within the realm of the Warp, they are known as the Red Legion - The Dark God’s chosen.”

“Sounds like a place I would fit right into, sir.” Though it wasn’t visible because of his mask, Archer was smirking underneath.

Roxy chuckled at his optimism. “Only if you survive the recruitment. Being part of the Red Legion isn’t for everyone.”

One of the soldiers pulled out binoculars from his cloak and looked at the field. As usual, everything was covered in snow.

Suddenly a group of humanoid figures appeared in the distance, their colorful uniforms contrasting with the snow-white field they were walking through. The soldier zoomed in to get a better look at the group.

“Is there a problem?” Archer asked.

“The scouts are coming back, sir.” the soldier replied. “They seem to be in a hurry.”

Archer raised an eyebrow. He turned to Roxy, who nodded back. There was only one thing that the scouts could be running from.

“Weapon checks!” Archer ordered.

As the sound of weapons activating filled the air Roxy brought her hands close to her chest and closed her eyes. Sensing the Warp Energy that was running through her veins was easy, controlling it not so much. She was still having better activation timing than when she started to first learn about Warp Energy, but even after eight thousand years, the particles that made this strange energy were unknown to her, and if she didn’t know what she was trying to control, bending it to her will was putting a strain on her mind.

Four blue tentacles jutted out of Roxy’s back and wrapped around her limbs, turning into blue skin. Afterward, large dark blue scales began to grow out of the blue skin, taking the shape of armor that covered her body, a pair of golden blades tearing through the blue skin on her left wrist as metal wings began to grow out of her back.

The entire transformation took about half a minute, but finally, Eternal Sentry was standing next to the other soldiers. The true question was how long would it stay there. Roxy had a small reserve of Warp Energy and every transformation was training a lot of energy. In addition, maintaining this form was staining if the form wasn’t a real transformation, but a secondary skin.

The four scouts that Archer sent forward hastened through the snowy field, taking comically large steps every time to avoid getting dragged back by the snow that at some places could reach an adult human’s chest.

The scouts jumped into the trenches and three of them immediately turned around, aiming their weapons toward the empty field while the fourth hurried toward Archer and Eternal Sentry.

“Did you discover them?” Archer asked.

“Nine standard Plumber Tanks.” the scout nodded.

“No air support?”

“They could be keeping them in reserve.” the scout shrugged. “I don’t think they would have a problem deploying them with how clear the sky is.”

“We don’t have anti-vehicle weapons.” one of the soldiers pointed out. “What are we supposed to do?”

“I’ll worry about that,” Archer stated.

Suddenly, a large green and blue explosion in the sky just above the trenches shocked everyone. The soldiers looked at the sky with a panicked expression before Archer noticed something. Eternal Sentry had taken a stance to fire her bow right where the explosion had occurred, but she wasn’t pulling the blue energy string that connected the two ends of her bow.

“Was that an artillery bolt?” Archer asked.

“...” Eternal Sentry nodded.

“Would you explain, sir?” one of the soldiers asked.

“She hit an artillery bolt mid-air,” Archer stated. “They are firing at us from distance!”

Eternal Sentry narrowed her eyes. Her sharp senses catching something in the distance. After a few moments, Eternal Sentry realized what it was and turned to Archer, waving her hands downward.

“Everyone hit the dirt!” Archer yelled.

Large high-speed bolts of green energy descended from the sky, crashing into the ground and bursting into large explosions of heated plasma. All of the soldiers in the trenches lied with their eyes closed, some keeping their hands over their ears, others have brought them together, praying to whatever divine power was out there. Snow and rock flew around as the green bolts continued to rain from the skies; some getting blown-up mid-air by one of Eternal Sentry’s arrows.

Several explosions rocked the trenches as well, sending body parts and occasional humans flying in different directions. It seemed that the Plumbers weren’t planning to fight head-on either; they were going to try and destroy them from distance!

Noticing the damage caused into the trenches, Eternal Sentry lowered her arm, aiming her bow forward instead of at the sky where the fire was coming from. She pulled the string of her bow once more, an arrow of swirling blue energy forming inside and then let go of the string. The arrow flew off as a bullet, disappearing from view.

A moment later, a small explosion was seen in the distance, followed by a cloud of smoke starting to rise into the sky.

“What happened?” Lieutenant Yerei yelled from inside one of the tanks.

“We lost Firestorm Five!” a Plumber shouted back.

“How did they get their arms on an anti-vehicle weapon that can go through Level Seven Galvan Force Field!?” Yerei shouted.

“I don’t think it was a-” the Plumber was interrupted by another explosion that caused the tank they were into to shock.

“Firestorm Three is down!” the driver yelled.

“Damn it!” Yerei brought up his communicator. “Firestorm One, Phoenix to all units! Break formation! I repeat! Break formation!”

“They aren’t firing anymore.” one of the soldiers noted.

Archer nodded and slowly raised up. A soldier threw him a pair of binoculars and he looked at the field once more. This time he could see large black tanks on four heels with the intergalactic peace symbol driving toward them.

“Everyone, retreat to Silver Line!” Archer ordered his troops.

The surviving men looked at their officer and gulped. Standing back onto their trembling legs, they all began to empty the small trench line that they had just constructed. Their weapons would be ineffective against the tanks and even though Eternal Sentry’s arrows could destroy them, she had a hard time aiming while the tanks were moving around.

The Warp Champion jumped back and simply joined the rest in their retreat.

Back at the Plumber’s side, Yerei and the tank crew were observing the humans’ retreat. They were confused about why the humans were retreating after destroying two of the nine tanks they had. Could they be trying to lead the tanks into an ambush?

“What should we do, sir?” one of the Plumbers turned toward the Lieutenant.

“Our medium-range turrets would be out of range, right?” Yerei asked.

“Only the artillery can reach them from this distance.” the gunner stated.

“We are detecting another group of life forms about three hundred meters from the first one.” the driver added.

“It’s an ambush,” Yerei confirmed. “Firestorm One, Phoenix to all units! Dispatch your Plumbers!”

“What are we doing, sir?” a Plumber asked.

“We will attack them with everything we got,” Yerei muttered. “Send a message to our air-wing that we require their support. Also, establish a communication channel with the Magister!”

In his ship, Degrax was observing the cold white planet with an unreadable expression on his face. Scans showed that the storm in the area of the city had passed, so it must mean that his Lieutenant has gone after the cultists already.

“Sir, we’re receiving a call from our ground forces.” an operative stated.

“Put them through.” Degrax.

The operator nodded and returned to his station. After a few moments, the floor in front of Degrax split open and a large green cube raised from the ground. Ripples began to cover the cube’s surface as a red figure began to appear inside of it. A few seconds later, its surface stabilized and the red figure turned to be Yerei wearing his red armor.

“Lieutenant,” Degrax muttered. “How is cleansing processing?”

“Not good, sir!” Yerei said in a distressed tone. “They have anti-vehicle weapons! I order to dispatch the foot-soldiers, should I order them to attack?”

“Use the ships to attack them from above,” Degrax ordered. “Then push forward.”

“Orders were already sent to our air unit,” Yerei noted.

“Go on then, Lieutenant,” Degrax told him. “Our ship is currently moving into position for orbital bombardment.”

“I don’t think that it will be necessary, sir,” Yerei said. “But I’ll keep in mind that this option is available.”

Back in the trenches, the remaining soldiers were trying to recover from the surprise attack. Nine of Archer’s men died from artillery fire in the first trench line; nine friends that they had all trained and hunted together with were no longer among the platoon.

Eternal Sentry stood up in front of the trenches, watching the Plumbers. They have moved out of the tanks and were taking cover behind personal forcefield bubbles.

Personal forcefields were a thing that Eternal Sentry was familiar with from the Red Legion’s missions that she participated in. They were large enough to protect an entire squad, but burned through their batteries very fast, which was why legionaries used them only in dire situations.

If the Plumbers’ version had the same short battery problem, then they had to have a good reason to waste their supplies like this. Maybe they were waiting for something?

Eternal Sentry aimed her bow to the sky. Now she knew what the Plumbers were waiting for!

“You retreated from Bronze Line too early!”

Eternal Sentry glanced from the corner of her eyes to Archer, who was standing next to a man in his late forties. She couldn’t see most of his face since he was hiding it behind a mask, but she could see his blue eyes and bits of his brown hair sticking out of his hood.

“We didn’t have anything to their artillery fire with!” Archer argued.

“What about the Young One?”

Eternal Sentry looked back and shook her head. She was using her Warp Energy to create the arrows, so she had a limited amount of shots left.

“Maybe we should retreat to Gold Line then.” the man suggested.

“Not yet.” Archer shook his head. “We will keep this line. When the time to retreat comes, I’ll tell you.”

Eternal Sentry waved her arms, catching the men’s attention. She pointed at the sky, more precisely, to a small squadron of white and black ships that fell from the scudding clouds toward their positions.

Archer nodded. “You can go.”

The blue Warp Champion spread out her metallic wings and took off into the air, straight toward the incoming squadron. In response, the ships opened up, filling the air with green energy bolts, each powerful enough to vaporize a building. The enemy fire flashed dangerously close to Eternal Sentry. Although her current body was far more durable that her human form, it wasn’t strong enough to withstand the laser fire of a Plumber Ship.

Her ears were ringing from the beams flashing past her small figure, which the Plumber Ships’ targeting systems had a hard time. But they didn’t hit her. Moving like a whirlwind, Eternal Sentry spun around the upcoming fire and past the squadron. Once behind them, she turned around and aimed her bow. A whirling arrow of blue energy appeared in her hands and she fired it straight through the last ship’s engines, which burst into uncontrollable flames, causing the ship to spun out of control.

The rest of the squadron quickly tried to react by turning around, but before they could, two more arrows hit their targets. The cockpit of the first exploded, while the second lost a wing and began to spin as it quickly lost altitude and slammed into the ground.

The Plumber’s V-Starship was their primary ship for over a thousand years one, despite how low its technological level was. It was too slow for a starship of its size and had weak shields, as well as engines. Its best use was as a transport or a scout ship, but in a full-on battle, it was like flying inside a coffin, waiting to get blown out of the skies.

On the ground below, Archer and his men watched in awe at the spectacle in front of their eyes. To them, the sky was an infinite lattice of shining hairlines that tracked erratic spirals of glowing gnats. Even if the gnats were drive-glows of space ships, and the shining hairlines were light-scatter from laser bolts.

On the other side of the battlefield, it was different. The Plumber communication line was being filled by screams, frantic voices calling out “mayday, mayday, mayday” before they lost contact and a ship can be seen slamming into the ground in the distance. The squadron wasn’t doing much better than the ground force’s first attack. No, scrap that, they were doing much worse! Because they couldn’t just jump out of their vehicles and start to run. Because, if the destruction of their ship didn’t kill them, the planet’s gravity would do it for them.

Yerei has lost this battle. He thought that it would be just another unorganized human rebellion to crush, and maybe it was just that, but this one figure in the skies, that blue dot that was flying around the ships, dancing as it fired its projectiles into the ships’ weak points, taking them down one at a time. It was something different. Something not completely human.

But despite all of that, he couldn’t just retreat! If he would lose, then he would make the humans’ victory a painful one.

“All forces, advance!” Yerei shouted.

The Plumbers under his command looked at the Lieutenant frightened. That wasn’t an order to attack, it was an order to march into their graves!

“I said advance!” He yelled again.

And this time, they obeyed. His remaining forces turned around and charged toward the trenches in front of them.

“They are coming.” one of Archer’s men warned.

“Open fire!” Archer ordered.

The soldiers on the defending side didn’t need to have their orders repeated. Without a thought or remorse, they all began to fire at the incoming Plumbers. Energy bolts of various colors flew across the field as both sides opened fire on each other. Alien bodies began to litter the snowy white field, while human corpses fell limb into the small trenches.

With projectiles and blaster bolts whizzing past their heads, the Plumbers advanced forward, hunkering into the trenches of Bronze Line while the remaining tanks moved around them, providing cover for the force to reorganize itself and prepare to continue their push forward. Little did any of them know, as soon as they jumped into the trenches Archer remotely activated the explosives his men were ordered to bury into the trenches.

Several explosions rocked the Plumbers’ lines, sending the remains of long-serving veterans and new recruits flying into different directions.

Chaos ensued among the remaining Plumber forces and inside Yerei’s tank. The remaining Plumber vehicles kept firing at the humans, but without any infantry to support them, they were just targets waiting for Eternal Sentry to turn around and destroy them!

“What’s going on Yerei?”

The Lieutenant winched at the sound of the familiar voice. He turned back, coming eye to eye with the holographic form of Magister Degrax.

“Our forces are being cut down, sir!” Yerei shouted. “We need support!”

“Order your men to retreat.”

“But sir-”

“That’s an order Lieutenant.” Degrax crossed his arms. “Our ship has aimed its cannons at their positions. I won’t risk getting any of our men caught in the fire.”

“I… I understand sir.” Yerei lowered his head.

Degrax’s hologram nodded and the communication line died down. The light cast by the hologram disappeared, casting dark shadows over Yerei’s figure.

“Sir?” The communications specialist spoke.

“Give everyone the order to retreat immediately,” Yerei growled.

“Yes, sir!”

“They are pulling back!” A random voice yelled over the sound of blaster fire.

Archer raised his hand, giving his men the sign to ceasefire. A small smile was plastered under Archer’s mask. They did it! Following Evan’s plan, they pushed the enemy back without even having to retreat behind Gold Line.

Down from the skies descended Eternal Sentry, landing in the small trench, starling a few soldiers that jumped back at the sudden appearance of the alien-like creature. The retreat command had reached the squadron, or at least what was left of them and the Warp Champion decided to not go after them. Her reserves of Warp Energy were low as they were, a prolonged chase would cause her to detransform prematurely.

“We did it, sir!” Archer walked over to Eternal Sentry, pushing his fist against her shoulder. “We won!”

Eternal Sentry looked down at the man silently. After a few moments, her own height began to decrease and her blue skin was pulled to the back of her body before disappearing. Roxy landed on her own feet, stumbling back a bit before regaining her balance. She looked at Archer again, this time looking up with a smile on her face as well.

“What? You doubted us for a second?”

“I wouldn’t dare to, sir!” Archer shook his head.

“Good. But there’s still one more thing left.”

“Huh?”

Roxy pointed at the sky, where several spheres of green energy could be seen, getting bigger and bigger with each passing moment. Archer’s eyes widened as the realization of what those spheres actually were. Each of these spheres was a laser bolt powerful enough to vaporize a small town.

Even if they all broke into hysterical running, they still wouldn’t be able to get out of the radius!

And luckily, they didn’t need to.

Large dimensional gates appeared in the space between the green laser bolts and their targets, then multiple beams of white energy shot through the gates, colliding with the incoming fire. But instead of exploding or bursting upon collision, as was expected, the green beams suddenly got canceled out and disappeared completely.

After a moment of confusion, there were gasps of relief. There are hugs and even some quiet cheers among Archer’s men as the Plumber forces retreated back. They did it! They won the battle! The first time in nearly seven hundred years'; the humans won a conflict!

Aboard the Tauri-class battleship, Degrax was watching at the planet below in disbelief. He had the gut feeling that something wasn’t right about this place, but this?

Dimensional gates?

There was something or someone on the surface of that planet that was able to bend reality itself, and with this trick they pulled, they showed their allegiance to the humans. Worst yet, they were probably the one leading these cultists in the first place. Why else would they ally themselves with humans?

“Someone tell Yerei to regroup.” Degrax turned to his men. “And send all of our remaining reserves to him.”

“But sir!” a Plumber stood up. “We should call Plumbers from other sectors for back-up! If we send everyone, then who’s going to patrol the rest of this sector?”

“Hmm, then call them.” Degrax turned to face the Plumber, his yellow eye staring at the Plumber’s black visor. “Warn them about what we discovered here today.”

“And also,” Degrax continued. “Bring me everything you can discover about Nosyerg.”

After spending their entire day outside in the bitter cold, Archer’s men could finally relax! Music rang across the village as the survivors of the conflict celebrated their victory with alcohol and dancing. The families of those who didn’t make it back grieved silently as they sent the remains of their brothers, fathers, husbands, to be burned in the lava.

For the first time in a long while the prison cells that the villagers build for aliens that came across their secret were being used to keep the surviving Plumbers as prisoners. Those that survived the crash of their ships and whose injuries weren’t too severe were taken into custody and taken care of, while those beyond saving were executed on the spot in a way that made it look like they died during the battle.

Evan’s goal was by showing mercy to the survivors to win the hearts of the minds and hearts of the public. A ruler that despite the blatant aggression of the Plumbers against his people was merciful enough to save and take care of his enemies’ troops upon surrender would be liked. The Plumbers won’t have an easy time painting him in a bad light and the fact that they have gone on a genocidal rampage against the humans on the planet would buy Evan further support by the surrounding planets.

At the same time, he also ensured that the Plumbers wouldn’t start to execute his supporters if they catch them because doing so would further ruin the Plumbers’ reputation.

But more importantly, these prisoners were going to be his way inside the city. Defeating them on the battlefield could do only so much. If he wanted to crush the Plumbers, he would have to hit them where it hurts; attack them from inside.

“It all worked out as you’ve foreseen, my lord!” Archer exclaimed with a large grin and a half-full beer mug in one hand.

“I hope that this showed you why you shouldn’t doubt me,” Evan replied with a little smirk on his own.

“He sure did.” Roxy suddenly showed up, walking past Archer. “What’s our next move going to be?”

“I think it’s time we see how they fight on their own ground,” Evan answered.

“Should I start preparing anything, my lord?” Archer asked.

“No, you did enough already.” Evan shook his head. “Just watch the village while I’m away, ok?”

“I can do that, my lord!” Archer nodded.

The soldier raised his hand, trying to replicate a salute, but going only halfway through with it before yawning and turning away. He walked away, leaving the father and daughter to talk in private.

“I’m very proud of how you handled yourself out there.” commented.

“Please, compared to what you’ve put me through, this was nothing.” Roxy tsked. “Also, more careful with that tone. You almost sound like you care.”

Evan chuckled. He grabbed Roxy by the shoulder and pulled her closer, then pressed his fist against the top of her head and began to rub it, messing up her hair.

“H-hey! S-stop!” Roxy protested.

“Don’t be rude to your father, young lady.” Evan laughed before letting her go.

“Jeez, I can’t say a thing to you.” Roxy puffed her cheeks. “Where’s Avice anyways? I haven’t had the chance to thank her for stopping the orbital bombardment.”

“She’s currently fixing the damage in the fabric of space that she caused with that trick.” Evan shrugged. “I’ll tell her when I see her again.”

“Yeah do so.”

The two of them kept looking at each other with no one saying anything. The silence quickly began to become pretty awkward as they stood there, wondering what they should say next. Eventually, Roxy was the first to speak.

“You know, for fifteen thousand years, this feels like such a unique moment. I mean, you and I don’t talk all that often, even less so in private. I don’t remember when we last had a moment like this. Maybe it was back when my body matched my actual years, hmm?”

“That’s the curse of immortality for you.” Evan chuckled. “If you have all the time to do something, you aren’t in a hurry to do it, are you?”

“Who knows, maybe we’re just that lazy.” Roxy smiled. “Mortals are always in a hurry to do as much as they can before their death catches up to them, which is why they manage to build so much and reach so far. But their lives are spent fearing death.”

Evan nodded then looked up at the rocky ceiling above him. He remembered that naive sixteen years old boy that put his original world into complete chaos. A simple human, no super powers, no riches, with only the clothes on his back and a deck of cards in his pocket. Yet he made the entire world burn! Loved by everyone; yet alone because he killed everyone close to him. He got to the top because he feared death. Because he feared being forgotten, he wanted to leave something behind and caused atrocities that wouldn’t be forgotten after a thousand years.

“That’s a good fear.”

“That’s bad, that’s so bad!”

Inside the storage room of the Plumber base on Chithotis 4Y, a humanoid opossum was pacing quickly, as if searching for something.

“If these cultists attack the city in retribution, I’ll be guilty because I called the Plumbers in the first place!”

He stopped in front of a large box and read its description. No, it wasn’t what he was looking for.

“I wasn’t hoping that I wouldn’t have to use this, but I’m running out of options.”

He stopped, looking over several large boxes that he had ordered to be delivered to him, just in case things went out of control. He knew that owning these things was illegal and he could get a life sentence for this, but there wouldn’t be a problem if there were no witnesses.

“No, I should wait a bit longer. Maybe everything will sort itself out.”

And with that said, the opossum turned around and began to walk away from the large boxes. What was inside of them you ask? Well, the only hint to that was the small alien text written on one of them that translated to “Bionom”.

## Characters

### Warp Universe

* Evan Greyson
* Avice Greyson
* Roxy Greyson

### Plumbers

* Degrax
* Yerei (first appearance)

## Author Note

So, this isn't usually a section that you see very often on a wiki (if our aim is to just write stories then we could as well just go to any other site and do it there, right?). I just want to say in this... This chapter was the hardest thing to write, what the fuck?! I really want to write large drawn-out battles between armies, but also make it a bit realistic, such as having commanders actually thinking of plans and scouts... well, scouting.

That really ain't easy to shove in a single chapter, and it's my fault for doing filler for the last two chapters. But it was also a very important learning exercise about writing war, which is exactly what Duplex Tribulatio is based around. The war between the Warp Universe and Earth-210's Dimension 10!

Because of this, big conflicts are from now on going to be around 2-3 at the very least, so I could write the preparations for the conflict and the conflict separately, without having to cut corners to make it around 20 pages long.

I don't know why I even write this since no one probably will reach this far, but did it feel like the sides were responding too quickly to changes? Since this is based in the universe of Ben 10, and also 1000 years in the future, their military should be able to respond faster, but I don't know.