The first thing that Timothy notices is the soft texture of sheets. Then he drifts off again. The next time he tries to open his eyes but he fails. His conscience understands that somehow, inexplicable he is still alive. But how?

After another span of time, he suddenly bursts back wake. It takes a few seconds for his eyes to focus. He is in what appears to be a very small metallic bedroom. Instinctively, he know that it’s one of the Emperors ships.

“Anybody there?”

“Anybody there, I said.”

The door burst open and what he recognizes from their uniforms as two of his troops enter.

“You okay, commander?” they said in nervous unison.

“By the will of the Emperor I am not. What happened in the battle?”

They both looked solemn now and one spoke up.

“The battle was lost. We are the only survivors.”

A great rage built up inside him and then he roared. He can feel his heart beating faster. All those lives lost. They had placed their trust in him.

“Why was I not allowed to die with my men? I have disgraced the Emperor and will die a coward!”

“Edit 451 Commander”.

Edict 451 was a command from the Emperor. A commander who has shown bravery must not simply be allowed to perish if he becomes incapacitated.

Timothy grew tired now and found himself sleeping once more.

A few minutes later and they are inside the city. Now it was a dangerous game of not going too fast to attract attention but fast enough to be close to Roisin Dearg when daylight was switched on. There were no police as such in Gaillimh rather a voluntary, mostly unarmed force. Serious crime was more or less unthinkable. You would simple be exiled to Earth. Many considered it a fate worse than death.

The real fear was the National Force. They are more akin to a paramilitary force and heavily armed.

“Why are you acting so nervous? You can’t seem to stay still?”

“It’s nearly daylight. We need to be closer.”

She nodded in solemn agreement.

I look anxiously in rear mirror. There is flyer following close behind. I can’t help but pray to whatever God I had ever heard of .

We turn left down a side street. Phew! It didn’t follow.

We are close now. Just as our flyer touches the ground, daylight switches on.

He crouches down immediately and pulls Tabitha with him.

“We need to cover our faces till we’re inside. I’ve heard rumors that the cameras can recognize your face.”

He is able to pull up his jumper to cover his and she uses her scarf to cover hers.

A pungent rotten smell went up Timothy’s nose. It was almost overbearing. Some of his soldiers turned their guns on themselves rather than breathe it in.

The arachnid monsters were gradually making their way up to the steep cliff face. The intense battery fire could not cut them down fast enough.

Then he noticed some of his troops looking in the opposite direction. Just standing there as if frozen in time. The monsters had scaled the other side of the mountain. A second later they were leaping down onto his troops. Their incisors made short work of cutting through the flesh of his screaming soldiers.

“Fall back,” Timothy roared, “fall back all units.” Their ships were inside the tunnels of the mountains. He could plot an escape. But flight would not be countenanced. The Emperor’s will was there was to be no step backwards. But the tunnels would stops his troops being outflanked. That way, they could take more of the enemy down.

Just as he reached the tunnel, he felt a large explosion tearing through his armor and propelling him through the air. Then there was a thud as he hanged his head on the ground. And then nothing.

Twenty minutes later and the city of Gaillimh is coming into view. You could just about make out the lights from some of its most iconic skyscrapers in the distance. It is a compact and dense city; the economic powerhouse of the habitat containing its sole spaceport and hence controls inter-colony trade. Still, it relies heavily on tourism from its vast agrarian hinterlands to survive.

Almost certainly that is why it is one of the very few places where alcohol and ladies of the night can be purchased. Not legally of course, a blind eye is turned.

Tabitha shuffles in her seat.

“So where exactly are we going?” Tabitha asked.

“We are going to a tavern called Roisin Dearg. In English I’d guess that would be Red Roisin. Not that you’ll hear any English there. It the best place to go if you need something underhand. One of the people who regularly frequents works in the space port and I’m hoping he can help you.”

“And how do you know this?”

“Probably best not to say.”

Fuck, that was close. I’d really rather not tell her that’s where I go for some female companionship.

The outskirts of the city is drawing nearer now. Huts and farmsteads are giving way to mansions with large estates. He hasn’t mentioned it to Tabitha, but it would be wise to reach the inner core of the city before the habitat system changes to daylight. And that was happening shortly. So many more to monitor their movements then.

He roared for the binoculars to be held up for him once again.

The large indigenous creatures were proving no match for the invader. He did see one carnivore put up a good fight but it too was quickly killed in the end by the sheer weight of numbers against it.

After it fell it was quickly consumed and its mass transformed into more of the enemy.

The arachnid type monsters were mostly twice the height of a man in the main though some were far larger. They foamed some sort of acid from their mouth. Their behavior appeared coordinated, even intelligent.

Timothy gasped as he realized a wave of the critters were heading straight to the fortification under the tree canopy.

“Prepare to fire. They will attempt to climb the walls!”

It seemed absurd, they were so far removed from the surface and yet he knew that was what they were about to attempt.

He ordered for his laser canons to point downwards. The terrified soldiers quickly obeyed knowing there was little time to spare.

And then they appeared. The vertical climb only made them slightly slow.

“Fire, everything we have. Do not stop!”

The laser batteries and small arms fire were cutting through them but there was always more coming.

I move my hand to turn on the flyer’s lights but Tabitha blocks it. She has a frown on her face and I know it’s a no-no.

It makes it a weird flight. I can’t see anything except the occasional light and have to rely on the coordinates array so as not to crash.

“Are we nearly there?” Tabitha asked.

“Well, in about an hour the city will be above us but it will take another seven hours to go up and around to it.”

Even, in the darkness I could see that she was not impressed.

“We’re in a flyer, are we not. Fly up to other side. We don’t have time.”

Damn, it was theoretically possible but so risky. He didn’t want his new friend to think him a coward.

“Are you sure, that would be very dangerous.”

“Yes, do it.”

God-dam-it.

I speed up the flyer to maximum. I could feel my heart pumping.

Then I lift the control wheel so that the flyer starts to rise. A loud shrill siren goes off. I can see we’re at the tipping point. Just a few more seconds.

For a few moments, we are weightless. Then we are falling.

I change the direction of the thruster and the flyer flips.

Feeling nauseous, I regain control of the flyer.

“Well done. Ciaran”

For the next few minutes everybody was still. Just waiting and wondering what was to happen next. All except Timothy, who was driving up and down the battlement. The bombardment had been impressive but he had expected much more.

Then screams of terror started coming over the communication devices. There were reports of ghouls and strange arachnid type creatures tearing people to shreds. Timothy stopped his wheelchair. Everything now made sense. It was not a bombardment but a landing.

He immediately roared out –

“Laser canons, fire on the locations where the fireballs hit the surface.”

The large cannons fired setting large amounts of the jungle ablaze.

“Stop firing.”

A few moments later, a disgusting rabid smell hit them. It was worse than the decay of bodies.

He looked through binoculars that a soldier held up for him.

In the distance, trees were being felled or rather consumed and turned into an alien horde.

“Fire, and do not stop.”

But the cannons were having little effect. The alien swarms grew larger and larger and then began to merge.

Then the reports of mass casualties and cities being lost came and for the first time Timothy contemplated failing to repel the invasion.

Sweat started to trickle down my brow. Fuck, how did I manage to get myself involved in this? Maybe, I should never have gone to that crash site.

Tabitha is following close behind me as we traverse a field filled with eye height grain. It is tough and punishing just to push through it. Aengus’ family planted this field three months ago. They had always been nice to him and even cared for him when he was sick.

But he didn’t want to ask if they could take the flyer. It would be surely be recorded by one of the countless cameras on the habitat, implicating them in whatever trouble he got himself involved in.

Finally, they reach a clearing and the thatched hut is in front of them. There are no alarms or anything of that nature. Normally, there is no risk of anything being stolen.

They go silently to the rear of the hut where the flyer is docked. The doors are already opened. It is far more spacious than the taxi and Tabitha takes the seat next to them. It is fitted out in leather and there is even entertainment screens in the rear. I quickly find the keys and put put it in the ignition.

Then as I look up I see one of the boys standing next to the rear door of the hut. It is the oldest, a boy of fourteen years. He is looking at me aghast unsure how to react.

With that, the flyer takes off.

There were multiple suicide bomb attacks in the main cities. Key military installations had been targeted along with places where there had been large congregations of people . Timothy approved of the tactics. It’s what he would have done, a mixture of weakening and terrorizing your opponent.

For hours he waited on the defensive fortification in a heavy downpour and looked out at the lush horizon below. But the assault didn’t come despite the reports that the alien ship had been spotted in orbit. He retreated to his quarters inside the mountain and rested, languishing wistfully about what was to come There would be much death. He rose a few hours later, once more rejuvenated.

He went back on the rampart and waited. Minutes, then hours passed. His soldiers were fidgeting and making small talk. Then there was the sound of an explosion.

“Over there!” came the roar of a soldier pointing to a a point of light in the distance.

Then there were multiple explosions. Timothy looked up at a sky that was filled with fireballs hurtling towards the surface. Reports were coming into his communications array that the same was happening all over the planet.

Then the shower of fireball came to an abrupt halt. It made no sense to Timothy and for the first time that day, he felt fear.

“I think I know how to get you off the habitat, though it won’t be easy.”

The woman was sitting back now and no longer holding the blade in an aggressive fashion.

“Okay, tell me what you are thinking,” she asked.

“The city of Gaillimh is the main port city of the habitat. It trades across the Empire. I have a friend there who could put you on a ship to a more friendly location. What do you think?”

“Sounds good. But how do we get there? Is it far”

It was as far as could be in the habitat and the robo-taxi had returned to base to charge, But his neighbor Aengus had recently purchased a vehicle.

“Come, follow me.”

As they left his hut, he asked, “What’s your name by the way?”

“Tabitha, what is yours?”

“Ciaran, pity we didn’t meet under better circumstances.”

Aengus’ farmstead lay adjacent to Ciaran’s small landholding. He and his wife had a large family, eight children in all, four boys and four children. Like the rest of the population in the area, they were very religious and deeply committed to their humble lifestyle.