Superhero Story

Jarrod stepped into the bar, accompanied by two bodyguards, and I stood to greet him. It had been over twenty years since we could last speak. He was too busy with the fame and the politics, he hasn’t had a moment to catch up with his old friends. Jarrod gestured to the bodyguards and they stepped backwards. He greeted me, “Sister!”, he said as he opened his arms for a hug, “How long has it been?”

“Too long, brother”, I said as I reciprocated his hug, and we sat down. “Although, I gather this isn’t just a personal visit.”

“Of course,” he hung his head dejectedly, “But I want to catch up with you first! I’ve got a half hour before I fly off to Geneva, so… how’ve you been?”

It’s a weird feeling when you meet someone you haven’t spoken to in a long time. You feel like you know them, like when you were in school when they called the teacher “mum”, and when they mixed up a hyperlight engine with a hardlight engine and they had to fix the hole in the school roof. You can relate on that level, but then there’s huge gaps too. Jarrod didn’t know about my family, and even though Adam and I have been together for years, Jarrod’s got no clue. I kept talking, and time kept slipping away, and Jarrod decided Geneva didn’t need him just yet, so he stayed for a little longer. It was fascinating hearing his story too. Mega fame, as it turns out, is a really horrible life. He’s been backstabbed, and betrayed countless times by so many people. It felt like because we knew each other before the fame that he could trust me, and I was glad to be his shoulder to cry on.

Eventually he got to his point. The fame had become political, with many calling on Jarrod to get into politics to sort out the planet’s pollution issues, like he’d been preaching through his celebrity work. Eventually he got into office and sorted the problems he had been elected to fix, but he kept going, moving fast and breaking things. That attitude doesn’t work when it comes to diplomacy, a species won’t accept “my bad” as a response to genocide. So there was a war on its way, and Jarrod had to get in front of it. He’d told very few people about it so far, and he said he wanted me to fight alongside him, saving me from the worldwide draft that’s implemented when interplanetary war is declared. He told me my family were safe from the draft too, being left behind with a small group dedicated to maintenance of the planet while the species is away.

When I got home that night, and I watched Jarrod give his speech in Geneva, I told my family about the coming conflict, and how, to protect them, I had to go to war. Of course none of them wanted me to go. Adam wanted to take my place, but Jarrod had been specific that it was to be me, which broke Adam’s heart. I’m sorry, Adam. The kids didn’t understand as well as Adam, but they didn’t want me to go, and they started crying, and then I started crying, and I had to promise them everything would be fine. I keep replaying the last moment I had with them in my mind. A cold winter’s day, a fine layer of snow coating the ground, and they were wrapped up in several layers of jumpers, with beanie hats with those little bobbers on top. And I kissed them both on the forehead, and I told them to have a good day at school. Then they turned around, and walked down the driveway to the car, with their little feet making small footprints on the ground as they walked. I love them so much. And they’re the reason I’m writing this now.

We parked our warship in the enemy’s upper atmosphere, a show of dominance, and a last ditch attempt to get them to stand down. Several projectiles were fired through our ship from the planet below, ripping holes in the architecture. The oxygen membranes held, but we were vulnerable. The technology they possess is far beyond anything we’ve made on Earth, it was a massacre. They were bulletproof, and Geneva has a strict rule against WMDs in the early stages of interplanetary war, so we were powerless to stop them. They infiltrated the entire ship, slicing open the necks of everyone on board. The floor is covered in a layer of blood, and the stench of death is heavy in the air. The computer says there are a few people still alive, cowering in lesser-used parts of the ship, hiding, but—

Extract from “Battle, Designed” (22604)

Alpha Stratagem is the brainchild of Professor Alpha, and was first executed by General Mellohi in the Defence of the Hearth (21050). The Battle Scribe on duty with the General recorded the battle:

“The forced entry went as intended, our forces boarded and swiftly dealt with the liveliest of the natives. Our military had invaded the aircraft like a virus, overwhelming their barebones resistance. The soldiers took pleasure in their deaths. Many of them had lost family at the hands of the barbarian Jarrod. Most of their army died like the cattle they introduced themselves to be. In his victory, the general acquired one cowering barbarian by the midsection, and raised them up high.

“Today is a good day,” he said, “not just for me, but for every single one of us. A terrible slight has been perpetrated on our people, and after so much hard work from each of you here, we have achieved vengeance!”

The General sliced the cowering barbarian’s neck, their blood draining onto the floor. As the General moved to exit, his feet stuck to the clotted blood, but this simply enunciated his path of glory. Engineers moved to disable the ship’s engines, to leave it a trophy in the sky, and a warning to future invaders.”