Kingdoms End

Planet: Voon

Person(s): Captain Viva Neggin

Viva and Liann were on the top deck of a flying vessel as it tore through the night, one of the twelve that made up an assault team transport convoy. The hour was 22:48. The stars and moon shone overhead and the man below was so far down that it could not be clearly seen from ul here. Both Viva and Liann had on a knee-length fur coats, for the night was a cold one. The two friends looked forward to the next day with such hope and anxiety.

“Tomorrow, we take back our country,” Liann spoke. The two were next to each other, leaning against the rails. “All I can think about is my mother, Liann,” Viva stayed without looking at her friend. “Please, be a little happy, Viva,” Liann said, turning to her friend. “You are Captain of the rebellion and ce tomorrow, you will be leading your troops to take the capital, there should be some joy in that.” “There is very little to be happy about, my friend,” Viva said, smiling now. “My mother and father are dead and they will never get to see Fakumar fall, that is if at all we defeat him tomorrow.” “This is what both your parents died for, Viva,” Liann reminded her. “They would be very proud of you now. Their little girl, leading the rebellion in its final battle for freedom.” Viva laughed a little now. “That’s what I want to see,” Liann said, her smile broadening.

“So, this plan of broadcasting our reason for coming to the capital tomorrow,” Liann said. “Are you sure it’s going to work? It’s going to turn the people against Fakumar?” “It’s bound to,” came a female voice from the door which led below decks. The two girlfriends turned and saw General Nazra Maines, second-in-command to Viva in the rebel army and former fiancee of the late Prince Merkas Milik. She was twenty-four, so young, yet so full of passion. She was currently covered in a cloak of fur, but her beautiful white face exposed and the cold made her cheeks go red. She was a pretty little thing, just 5ft 6inches, but very agile in combat. Her black hair flowed down her back and her eyes were naturally slightly swollen around the lower sides, making those beautiful eyes shut a little at the bottom. She had earned her rank halfway, being engaged to the previous leader had done the rest. “Pardon my intrusion, but I wished to come out her and watch the stars, only to find you two here and I was going to leave quietly, but then I heard your question, Commander Liann and I just had to reassure you,” Nazra stated. “I meant no harm and shall leave now.”

Commander Nazra turned to leave, but Viva stopped her. “Wait, Nazra,” the captain spoke. Nazra spun around and saluted her captain. “It has only been two months since I took command of the rebellion and we are already moving to assault the capital. I never got to know any of my new troops,” Viva stated. “The foreign powers knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Nazra replied. “The great Captain Viva Neggin heading the the rebellion army. The foreign nations believe in you and so does the all rebels.” “She meant knowing you on a personal level, Nazra,” Liann explained. “Oh!” Nazra exclaimed, understanding the situation now.

Nazra eased up now. “And what would my Captain and her friend like to know off me?” she asked. “Just call me Viva,” Viva told the commander. “And call me Liann,” Liann added. “Very well,” Nazra agreed with a nod of her head. “Come and lean on the rail with us, Nazra,” Viva told her. “Our battle is tomorrow. Tonight, we are free ladies. Nazra smiled. “Thank you, Viva,” she said. “So, you were engaged to Prince Merkas before his death,” Viva spoke next. “I only ever knew him as a gentle pawn in his father’s hands, never as the rebel he truly was. I would so love to hear about this rebel side of our late prince, if it will not task you too much to tell.” “Prince Merkas was a great man and his story is the same,” Nazra stated. “We have all night,” Liann stated, a bottle of wine appearing in her left hand and three champagne flutes in the between her right fingers.

Twelve large air vessels were currently approaching the city of Anabai, capital city of the kingdom, Hargh. The tyrannous king, Fakumar Milik, knew of these oncoming vessels and had prepared fir them. The time was 09:18, a little late in the morning, but it was never too late for Captain Viva Neggin, Captain of the rebellion to avenge her mother and all those Fakumar’s cruelty had killed.

The largest two of the twelve advancing vessels were not new to Hargh’s armed forces, they were Megarud military-type air carriers, the same ones in which Viva had borne A.R.U. soldiers two months ago to reclaim the twin cities from the rebels of the tyrant king’s orders. The vessels’ names were Teran I and Teran II and Viva was flying them now toward the capital, alongside ten other vessels which were about half the size of the main two. Several external nations had funded this assault thus, the speedy attempt to take back Hargh and bring down the tyrant who currently sat upon her throne. Viva was currently inside the control room of Teran I, the same room inside she’d given orders for her commanders under the ARU to assault the twin cities. She stood with her best friends and secretary, the elf lady, Commander Liann Zari on her left and the second-in-command, General Nazra Maines, on her right. The rebellion commanders were on the higher levels of the room, looking down upon their Captain as she gave orders and through the blast proof windows of the control room, all could see the walls of Anabai.

“Now, listen up,” Viva began. “External nations have taken a risk by openly providing us with weapons, money and soldiers, thus our ability to make this assault only two months after the true one’s death. These external nations believe that with me at the helm, this assault will be successful and I plan to prove them right. If we loose this battle today, then Fakumar will take his troops and begin an imperial campaign against these nations who have granted us aid. We cannot fail today and we need to kill one person alone to make sure that doesn’t happen. Fakumar Milik, so-called ling of Hargh. The plot is simple. My team I shall make for the Satinah palace and the tyrant king, the rest of you take your teams and keep the enemy soldiers busy until I have Fakumar’s head on a plate, understood?!” “As my captain wishes!” the rebels replied in unison. “We have people watching the palace through hidden cameras. They will tell me if Fakumar tries to escape and I shall have a team intercept him then if necessary,” she added .

“Leave now and ready your teams to drop,” the captain ordered. “As my captain wishes,” the commanders responded in unison once more, then began exiting the control room. Viva turned to one of the engineers on the lower level with her. “Prep a fifty person carrier for detachment,” she ordered. “As my captain wishes,” the engineer said with a salute, then exit the room.

“Captain, we have three destroyer vessels rising to fight us,” the navigator stated. “Turn on the speakers,” Viva ordered, moving toward one of the control panels. She got to the panel, pressed down a button and spoke. “This is Captain Viva Neggin, formerly of the A.R.U, but currently on the true side for justice. I am the one who brings these vessels into our capital. I seek none other than the tyrant who has enslaved us all.” Her speech was being broadcast by hundreds of speakers on the outsides of all twelve vessels she was leading into the capital. “We all want Fakumar dead and I am here to see to it. I plead with you all to not hinder our advance, but aid us should the need arise. We can end this all today, or continue in slavery forever. There is no king without the people.” She ended her speech here and the vessels began repeating them over and over.

While her speech was being repeated, Viva turned to the navigator. “What are the destroyer vessels doing now?” she asked him. “They have stopped their ascents and seem to be unstable,” the navigator replied. “They must be fighting amongst themselves,” Nazra stated. “Your speech is winning us even more supporters, Viva,” Liann added. “Take us straight into the city,” Viva ordered. “But they could fire on us,” Nazra complained. “They won’t,” Viva reassured her troops. “Move into the city and have all assault groups drop with vehicles,” Viva repeated. “As my captain wishes,” the five pilots replied.

“We will suit up and get to the carrier now,” Viva told Liann, then turned to Nazra. “Gather a team of forty and meet us at hangar four,” she told the general. “As my captain orders,” Nazra said, then walked away. “C’mon, Liann. We should get suited up,” Viva said to her best friend, then moved towards one exit.

The vessels had safely entered the airspace over the city and there were civilians in the streets, cheering the rebels on. There were also rebel troops inside the city and most of the king’s soldiers were surrendering without any fight, only few still fought for the tyrant.

Viva, Liann and Nazra were now in a fifty person carrier. The carrier had just passed over the front wall of the compound, the guards on the wall stood still and did not attack. The side doors of the carrier was open and rebel soldiers had guns aimed at the guards. Viva, Nazra and Liann wee among those by the open doors. They had chords around their waists which were attached to the ceiling of the little vessel. The vessel was moving toward the front steps of the Satinah palace, as the Hargh royal building was called.

“Drop now,” Viva ordered and the vessel began descending. Once the vessel was on the ground, at the base of the palace’s front steps, Viva and her team alighted. “Move up,” Viva ordered and the team advanced up the stairs. The guards at the front door threw down their guns and surrendered to the rebels. “I am glad to finally see Fakumar come to his end, Captain Neggin,” one of the guards stated. “We appreciate your patriotism, soldier,” Viva replied the man. Just then, the doors swung open and king Fakumar himself burst out of the palace. He took three steps forward and a large blade burst out of his stomach. The blade was gently pulled out and the king fell dead, revealing a tall man of about 8ft, covered in tough, black armoured skin and with two long, jointed things sticking out of his back and coming forward over his head, blades fixed to the end of each. It was a man of the Mater race, or the mantis men as the inhabitants of Manroh called them and as he stepped out unto the front landing at the top of the stairs, all backed away from him.

“What is that?” Viva asked. Liann was going to answer, but another mantis man fell from the sky, landed right before the elf and ran his sword of transparent light through her. Liann choked on her word and her eyes bulged. The blade had gone straight through the elf’s metarubber suit like it was not even present, but that was the last thing on Viva Neggin’s mind. “Liann!!!” Viva screamed, offloading shots into the mantis man and very surprised when it had no effect. The mantis man pulled his sword out if Liann and let her fall to the ground, then he turned set his sight Viva. More mantis men fell from above and looking up, Viva saw a glossy black vessel from which they were dropping. Her whole team was being slaughtered and her best friend lay dying. She drew her sword and reached for her box of cards which was strapped to the front of her right thigh.

Viva drew the first card that her fingers caught and without even looking at it, threw it at the approaching mantis man. “Yaniz,” she chanted and the card grew into a ball of fire which just slammed into the mantis man and just blotted out. “What the!” Viva exclaimed. “You might be immune to my cards, but you’ll never best me with a sword,” she said, charging the enemy. As she came at him, he was still. She got up close to him and thrust her sword up at his stomach, but it did not go through. Her eyes opened in surprise and widened further as a result of the pain when a blade was driven through her back and burst out her front.

Another mantis man had run his mantis-blade through Viva when she had her back turned to him. The man lifted her off her feet with his blade which had impaled her. Her grip loosened and her sword fell from her hand. As the blade lifted her up, it scratched against the front of the mantis man she’d tried running her sword through; the blade did not penetrate his armour much less his skin. From about seven up, Viva was able to see that all members of her team were dead, Nazra Maines included. She could also hear the screams of people in the city outside the palace walls and she saw the guards on the wall fighting off these strange, giant men. Her eyes blinked once, very slowly, tears roles down her cheeks. Her eyes shut once more and opened again, then her body went limp, she was dead. Her pack of magic cards was still fastened to the front of her right thigh, never to be used again.

The city of Anabai was captured that day, but not by the rebellion as many had hoped. There were new masters of Hargh and they were taking all nations on Voon simultaneously also. All those who had supported and financed Viva’s assault on her kingdom’s capital city were being massacred, or running fir their lives. It was a far day for the planet. Captain Viva Neggin’s body was drooped from the mantis man’s mantis-blade and fell right next to the corpse of her late elven best friend, Liann Zari. Both ladies stared into each other’s eyes through eyes that would forever see no more.