The Recruit

By Shashaank.C.S

The story begins at a hospital room where newborns are kept, the focus is then moved towards one of the infants. Suddenly the power goes out, as the hospital panics a flash of green light is seen shining in the face of the infant. A few minutes later the power returns, the nurse rushes inside the room after hearing the infant cry, the green light is gone by then and it's dark. The story then shifts to 20 years into the future. Dan, a 20-year old university student, seems to have been extraordinarily gifted, standing out in physical, mental and intellectual aspects. He excelled in studies, sports and all possible extracurriculars. He left his peers so far behind in everything. It was a mystery how he became what he is, but that’s what he was like since high school. He was the captain of the swimming, football, debate and quiz teams of his school as well as university. His intelligence helped him build a lot of fancy gadgets which he would take to college and show his classmates. He earned a lot of friends and became popular. As time passed he realized there was an abnormality in him. He thought to himself “There is something special about me that I got these gifts”. But these gifts also increased his ego. He developed a superiority complex and became extremely arrogant and showed off a lot. He belittled others and their achievements a lot and never missed an opportunity to insult them and assert his dominance. His parents tried their best to change him but in vain. This caused a lot of people to secretly dislike him. He still had lots of friends due to his charismatic character despite his arrogance.

One day Dan was returning home from university, testing his newly built audio-visual watch. As he was walking he suddenly spotted something approaching him from a distance. As he took a deep look, the object then turns to be a big spaceship. As Dan and the people around him looked in surprise, the spaceship lands before Dan. Within moments hundreds of aliens, armed with guns and explosives, stand before him. Before Dan could realise what just happened he was attacked by the aliens. Dan bravely fought back the aliens, whose weapons seem to have minimal effect on him, he killed scores of them as more reinforcements arrived. The fight caused massive amounts of destruction in and around the area. As the fight progressed Dan was slowly getting overwhelmed by the aliens due to their sheer numbers. But he still kept fighting and killing them relentlessly. Their combined assault then sent him reeling to the ground, struggling to get up. As the aliens were about to capture Dan, they were attacked by a group of masked men, who arrived on a spaceship. The masked men then help Dan to his feet. Dan, along with the masked men then manages to repel the alien group as they are forced to flee. Dan then collapses on his knee, he had been badly battered and was bleeding severely. The fight affects his spirit a lot.

The masked men take him to their hideout underground, which was just a few miles from his home. There Dan takes a look around and is awestruck. He sees various alien species interacting with each other. Dan is then greeted by an alien woman who says “Good to meet you Dan, I’m Hadra of Rodana”. Dan is surprised, before he could reply Hadra orders the masked men “ Take him to the organic chamber” and the tells Dan “ Your wounds will be attended to there”.

Dan is taken to the chamber and then healed and is given a room to rest. Throughout the evening Dan spends his time thinking about what he just witnessed. His entire life felt like it had become upside down. That night Hadra visits Dan, Dan asks “What is happening here? What is this place? Who are you people? Who are they? I am unable to comprehend what is happening here”.

Hadra replies “ Calm down Dan, I’m here to just tell you that” and then she sits beside him and tells “ The story you should know began 250 years ago, you’ll soon know the truth about yourself and everything that happened”.

So saying, Hadra narrates the past :

Rodana is the home of the Epikar civilization. A planet of unsurpassed splendour and grandeur. It was one of the most powerful members in the galactic council. However as time passed Rodana found itself ruled by corrupted minds who only cared about gaining power and getting the better of opposition parties to win in elections. This causes Rodana’s reputation to decline rapidly, with only the goodwill earned by the founding fathers of the civilization keeping Rodana afloat. Their corruption caused deaths of the parents of a young man named Zharlan. Zharlan tried in vain to get justice for his parents. The politicians were too powerful to be legally touched and no one came to his help. The population was just as corrupted. The politicians also garnered votes exploiting the corrupted population. Zharlan slowly began to think that the Epikars don’t deserve democracy. He embarked on a quest to topple the government and establish a dictatorship. His quest made him several allies, including Hadra and Evilax, an aspiring scientist, who also had grown tired of the corruption and wanted to bring a revolution.

They slowly but steadily start weakening the government, dismantling it piece by piece, orchestrating political assasinations and unrest in various parts, this was followed by a civil war causing the government to fully lose control over everything, eventually they staged a coup in the capital and killing everyone in the ruling party. Zharlan then bombed the roundtable, marking the end of democracy and crowns himself as the ruler of Rodana. This however causes Rodana being ousted from the council and sanctions were imposed on them, undeterred Zharlan still works hard to bring his planet to its former glory. He faces various obstacles and successfully overcame them. What was thought to be impossible was happening. Rodana was regaining its respect due to Zharlan. Though hated by several epikars for deposing democracy, he inspired people of other planets to fight corruption in his way, but they were unsuccessful or were replaced quickly and the corruption and suffering of the people continued. Zharlan tried his best to help them but wasn’t able to succeed, his inability to help combined with negligence by galactic council and his own childhood experiences and realising that he too can possibly suffer a similar fate in the future made him descend into madness. He lost the very meaning of life, became a nihilist, he thought life was only about suffering and bears no meaning as his efforts would be of no significant bearing one day due to the ever-changing time.

This led to him starting to have strained relationships with some of his generals. Hadra noticed the gradual change that overcame Zharlan. His violent tendencies grew. He and Hadra started disagreeing on a few things. Though it didn't affect his respect towards her nor her loyalty towards him. However he arrived upon a solution to his problem. He decided to kill all sentinent life in the universe to relieve them of suffering, this was not agreed by everyone even in Zharlan’s own cabinet, Hadra included. They considered it too extreme and immoral. Those that disagreed were strongly condemned by those who agreed, which resulted in an argument that escalated to the point where the supporters asked the opposers to leave. Hadra and those that disagreed with Zharlan were expelled and exiled. Zharlan was now free to carry out his plan but it had one major obstacle : The army of the galactic council, which was the peacekeeping force in the universe, combined armies of some of the most advanced civilizations in the universe. It would prove to be too much for Rodana. So Zharlan hatched a plot with Evilax. Evilax developed a serum. Zharlan then sent his scouts equipped with the serum across the universe. The scouts were tasked to secretly experiment on the infants of various planets across the universe using the serum. The scouts went about their task.

The experiment however was not without side effects, especially during the developing stages. It didn’t have the desired effect at first. Once it was improved to its full capabilities it proved to be extremely potent. Its initial effects caused the deaths of trillions of children across the universe either during infancy or during toddler stages. Only the strongest children made it past the toddler stages and survived it. Those that survived the initial effects were allowed to thrive in their home environment and developed the highest evolutionary traits of epikars and their own species and carried a hybrid DNA. They excelled in everything compared to other members of their species. These individuals were called “Recruits”, genetically engineered beings. The recruits left everyone else far behind in all qualities. Though at the beginning they look and act no different from others, depending on the DNA of the species, their abilities began to develop at a certain age as the full effect of the experiment began to be felt. The recruits grew extremely tall and muscular and possessed super strength, speed, durability, fighting skills and intelligence. They were capable of reacting at the level of nanoseconds and learn and understand new things extremely fast. The recruits were then captured by the scouts and then tortured, brainwashed and forcibly attached a neuro-controller to control them. Based on the observations on their neural network, they were either deployed as soldiers or scientists.

Hadra said “ One such warrior recruit, Dan, is you. You were attacked by Zharlan’s scouts using a rare and scarce technology developed by Evilax to capture the recruits ,those masked warriors are the rebels, under my leadership”.

Dan, shocked at this revealation, took a while to compose himself. “Why doesn’t he recruit his own people?” Dan asked.

Hadra replied” The experiment works best when the product DNA is a hybrid one, giving the recruit not just enhanced abilities but also unique abilities that would be invaluable in a battle, experimenting on his own people would merely enhance their performance. This experiment is also dangerous as I said earlier. Besides he would never dream of hurting his people, even if he’s hated, even though he wants to kill all, including them, but according to him all the deaths would be painless”.

“ Earth is now on high alert after the attack you but against Rodana’s forces Earth is hopelessly out matched. Rodana is powerful enough to wipe out all life on earth in a matter of few hours, not even microbial life would survive the attack. Zharlan is close to capturing all of the remaining recruits who haven’t been captured by him or saved by us, further captures would mean Rodana is too powerful even for the galactic army, we need to rescue them before he can capture them, it is possible only with the help of the galactic army, but we lack enough evidence of Zharlan’s intentions, we need a bit more evidence to convince the galactic council , only then do we even stand a chance of stopping him, he may launch his invasion any day from now, we have little time” Hadra says.

Hadra then takes leave of Dan.

Dan sat for a few moments, struggling to come in terms with the truth about him. Everything that happened so far in his life flashed in front of his eyes. Suddenly what he thought were gifts bestowed upon him seemed like a terrible curse. As if the universe has showed him where he belonged. At the moment everything in his life seemed like a terrible lie. He was after all just a tiny speck in this incomprehensibly enormous cosmos no matter what he thought of himself. The hideout which seemed like a refuge suddenly seemed like a god forsaken place in his mind. He wanted to go back to the comforts of his home as quickly as possible and lock himself in his room, never to come out.

Slowly he starts accepting the situation and calms down. He slowly exits the room, thinking of ways to get out of the place.

As he wanders around trying to find a way to escape, he meets another alien.

The alien notices Dan's tensed behaviour and calls out "Hey, easy there buddy, you might wanna calm down a bit don't ya?".

The alien then introduces himself “ I’m Carassan of Drader-429, good to meet you”. Your good name,my friend?. Carassan asks as he extends his hand to Dan.

Dan awkwardly replies “I’m Dan of earth”. The two shake hands. Carassan says “Oh that’s great, so you are from somewhere around here right? So what type of recruit are you? warrior or scientific?”.

Dan replies “ Warrior recruit, atleast that’s what I was told”.

“Oh great, I belong to the science side” Carassan replies. “ By the way how you got here? You knew about yourself?” Carassan asks Dan.

Dan replies “ I…..er I did know that only now, I was attacked by the epikars and then was rescued, then I was told about the past, made me go blank for a moment and well what else can I say, though it explains why I never lost in anything after I hit teens nor have I got sick since then(chuckles)”.

Dan then asks “How about you?”.

Carassan replies “ I was born in Drader-429 around 25 years ago to a not very well off family, I was nerdy and only wanted to make my parents proud of me, I was surrounded by books, especially science books, almost all the time. I was bullied a lot when I was young, all of this suddenly changed when I started approaching 18, suddenly I could feel my physical strength, speed and intellect increase tenfold almost everyday, I mastered entire books in a matter of hours, I suddenly started socialising casually, I even laid plans of making my own spaceship until last year I was brought here, it was only here where I got answers for my sudden change”.

Dan replies “I’m sure within those years there was atleast once when your parents felt proud of you, well I myself am just a part of a middle class family, needed something extraordinary up my sleeve to become the centre of attention, as for the bullied part, oh man I have got some news for you”.

Carassan says “You too were bullied?”.

Dan replies “No, I am a bully, everyone share a love-hate relationship with me be it school or university”.

Carassan says “What?”.

Dan replies “That’s right, all these changes felt like gifts. Filled to the brim with ego and arrogance, worst traits anyone can have, but now it does not feel like a gift at all, this place feels very strange and I’m already longing to go home”.

Carassan replies “I see”.

Dan asks “You said you were being here for an year, so what were you doing here all this time?”.

Carassan replies “We were trained on our abilities and taught others abilities as well, I can fight really well but certainly not as good as a warrior recruit like yourself, similarly you are great at science but a scientific recruit surpasses you in that aspect by quite a margin, so we train each other in the abilities we specialize at, I have trained and have been trained by warrior recruits”.

Before Dan could reply Carassan exclaimed “ Oh I’m really sorry for keeping you standing here, come let me introduce you to our friends”.

Carassan takes Dan to the main hall. It was a big hall where the recruits visited after the entire day’s training and interacted with each other. Carassan introduces Dan to the recruits. The recruits welcome Dan and ask him to take a seat and talk about himself. After Dan finishes talking, some of the recruits talk about their own past and how long they have been in the hideout

One of the recruits says “ The man over there ,Kaz, has been here for 10 years, I myself have been here for so long that earth must have completed atleast 30 orbits around its star”.

Another recruit says “ I and my twin sister have been here for 8 years, damn we miss home so much, but we know this is the safest place for us. We couldn't even see our loved ones for one last time before leaving for here, we are eager to meet them again. But I don't know whether we'll see them again ever”.

Kaz says “Wherever I am, my heart will always be with everyone at home, but it is best I be here for the time being for their own safety”.

Kaz continues “All of us here certainly want to go home, but we have a purpose : To stop Zharlan no matter what, it is our duty, we can never live peacefully at home knowing that countless lives are threatened and we can do something about it, Hadra taught us that, we are here to fulfil a higher purpose, we will go beyond our limits to fulfil it”.

Carassan then tells to Dan “An intergalactic war with Rodana is impending, we and the galactic army are all between him and total annihilation of the universe, this is what we have been training for”.

Dan having listened to the other recruits, started feeling guilty for trying to escape, A million thoughts race through his mind.

"All these people show so much character and resolve and here I am trying to run away at the slightest sign of trouble" He thought.

One of the recruits then said “Dan!!!We could use your help as well. This battle requires each and every helping hand available for us if we are to prevail”.

Dan was then shocked “My help!!!! But how can I possibly help you? I just got here and I don’t have any training and I’m injured”.

Kaz replies “ You are a warrior recruit Dan, you are capable of much more than you think you are”.

Dan still wasn’t convinced.

“I know you all have been here for years and deeply believe in the cause, but how can you expect someone like me who just got here to readily agree to your proposal? We have different experiences in our lives, I am only 20 years old and I have a full life ahead of me, there are a lot of stuff I wish to do and you are asking me to fight a war?” replied Dan.

One of the recruits said “What you are asking now is what we have all asked when we first arrived here, don’t worry you will receive adequate training to face all possible challenges you might encounter in a battlefield”.

“Hadra said to me that Zharlan is close to capturing the remaining recruits and will launch his army any day, so how much training can I possibly receive given how little time is left?” Dan questioned.

Kaz replied “You will be trained in the essential aspects of warfare, even though you may not be trained fully that knowledge can lend you a helping hand in crucial moments”.

Dan again questioned “Given the strength of our enemy, how big of a help are they going to be?”

Kaz then replied “We recruits do not fight a war by blindly following our training instructions alone, those instructions may be helpful but they are only a small part, the rest is dependent on our instincts, wit, strategy and cunningness, for a warrior recruit such as yourself experienced or not, there is no dearth of anything I mentioned, infact you possess those qualities more than us due to the purpose you were created for”.

For once in his life Dan had no answer.

Then Carassan stepped in.

Carassan tells “You are afraid of losing your life, unfortunately we are in a position where we need the help of everyone we could find, as you said the enemy we are facing is capable of bringing destruction unlike any other. But this is your fight as much as this is ours. To a warrior like you I can tell only one thing : Trust your instincts at all times in the battle”.

Kaz then tells “You know what is at stake, for a warrior recruit such as yourself this is a challenge you cannot back run away from, this is your opportunity to become a part of something greater than yourself, you know the consequences if Zharlan succeeds, think about it!!!”.

Dan was in deep thought. He was reluctant to agree and was thinking of all possible excuses to refuse but he couldn’t bring himself to outright say it. He also knew it would not be proper for him to back out when he is capable of helping but dying in a war was something he never imagined his fate would be and did not want to relent to their pleads . However, he also did not want to hurt his own ego by backing down from a challenge. Then he remembered what the recruits told him about themselves and their lives. He felt ashamed of backing out when others were willing to lay down their lives.

After a long conflict within him he said to himself “My help to them shall be a certainity in whatever way possible”.

Dan then agrees to help them.

After an hour of conversation and dinner they all leave the hall to their respective rooms.

Carassan asks Dan “Hey Dan!!! You wanna come to my room? We can talk for some more time there.”

Dan replies “Ummm…..yeah fine I will come to your room, but before that I think I got to meet someone here, after that I’ll come”.

Carassan tells “Oh sure go ahead, here is my room card, my room number is on the top, will be waiting for you” and leaves.

Dan goes to meet Hadra.

Hadra was talking to her son, Benzo. She sees Dan approaching her and instructs Benzo to leave.

Dan says “I met others in the hall, I am filled with awe at their dedication towards the goal everyone is working for. They were talking about the impending battle against Zharlan. Having heard their will to keep fighting, I couldn’t help but announce you my intention to join you in this fight”.

While she is happy to hear this she was still concerned about the well being of the newcomer and wanted to test his resolve.

Hadra says “Dan!!! Are you certain about your decision? You know what this is about and you know the dangers, you also know what you are capable of, think again about what you said”.

Dan replies "I come to you only after deeply pondering about my decision, only after considering all stakes and factors in this conflict did I arrive at my decision”.

Dan continues “If this is their problem, the problem is mine as well and I got every right to help you, please allow me to join you, I will do whatever I can to help you".

Hadra then replies “So this is your final decision?”

Dan replies in a firm voice “Yes, no second thoughts!!!”.

Hadra is pleased to hear this and accepts his offer to help.

She then says “Once we collect strong evidence against Rodana and convince the council, action will be taken against Rodana by any means necessary, even war, be prepared for that, now you may leave”.

Hadra then says as he was about to leave “And trust your instincts, warrior!!!”.

Dan obliges and takes leave of her and then goes to Carassan's room.

Meanwhile in Rodana, Zharlan and Evilax are supervising the recruits being brainwashed when Zharlan was informed about the failed capture of Dan.

Zharlan says “ Resistance was foreseen but we have captured a large number of recruits, they would prove to be invaluable in the battles that will follow, it is time to put the next part of our plan to action, we shall capture the remaining recruits as we proceed further, soon our goal shall be fulfilled”.

Evilax replies “ Your Highness, we are towards the end of our lives, our days of hardship are finally bearing the fruits……..you have been an inspiration for all of us throughout our lives, from saving Rodana to this, a part of the reason of what I am today, I owe it to you”.

Zharlan in a serious tone says “I anticipate the rebels and the remaining recruits to ally with the galactic army to stop us, so we have to make the first move and catch them off guard, I order to launch our troops before they are prepared !!!!!QUICK assemble the troops”.

Around the same time on Earth, Dan and Carassan are talking in Carassan’s room.

Dan asks “Why did the council simply choose to ignore whatever was happening in Rodana? It was among their most powerful members and literally had a change of government.

Carassan replies “Whatever Zharlan did was under topmost secrecy, even we did not discover what he was up to until later when he was capturing the recruits, besides it’s not like the council is made up of exactly benevolent members, all the higher ups there are corrupt and power hungry in their own way, they simply won’t care as long as they get what they want, Rodana was ousted only after extreme pressure they faced at the hands of other members, they were probably plotting to exploit Rodana through Zharlan before being pressured to oust them”.

Dan then asks “How do you manage to stay safe in this hideout, away from Zharlan’s eyes?”

Carassan replies “The hideouts are established in strategic and secret places, and yes several attempts were made to find out about the location of all of the hideouts in the universe, several people died from our side trying to protect the secrecy of the hideouts, we also managed to kill whoever tried to find us, our technology is advanced enough to make finding us extremely difficult, despite Zharlan’s technological superiority. The recruits here worked hard to create various defensive mechanisms to keep Zharlan at bay.”

Carassan then heaved a sigh and said “But the growth of their technological prowess and stealth is indeed alarming, the fact that they managed to turn you into a recruit right under our very noses is not a good sign at all. I believe this incident is not isolated either. I pretty much believe it happened in several other planets where we established our hideouts. We are being pushed to a very desperate situation with seemingly no way out.”

Carassan continues “Anyway let’s not keep talking about that, by the way your gadgets are quite good, perhaps if given time we can improvise them together”.

Dan agrees and looks at Carassan.

Carassan tells “Why you looking at me like that?”

Dan shakes his head and says “ You know when I got here this evening, the entire place felt so alien and distressing, but now after chatting with you it seems I’ve now got a new friend”.

Carassan replies “Happy that you are slowly getting comfortable around here, reason why I invited you to my room was to ease your tension, glad that it worked out”.

Dan replies “Thank You, thanks a lot”.

Carassan then says “We should always be good friends, together we can create wonders”.

Dan agrees, suddenly Carassan notices something glowing in Dan’s hand, it was the audio-visual watch which was running out of battery. Dan charges his watch, however something else had caught Carassan’s eye, he switched on the watch’s memory. The watch worn by Dan had survived and recorded the audio-visuals of Dan’s attack unbeknownst to Dan, Carassan smiles in relief as they now finally have another piece of evidence of Zharlan’s intentions. He takes out the fully charged watch and along with Dan go and show it to Hadra while Dan waited outside. Hadra, after watching it combines it with other evidences and submits it to the galactic council.

An hour later the council contacted Hadra “We have gone through the evidences and after a thorough investigation, we indeed have confirmed them”.

Immediately the Galactic council with the evidence hold a conference with Zharlan. The council orders Zharlan to surrender or face the consequences, Zharlan tells it is too late to surrender and war is the only option left, a war is declared on Rodana by the council. The rebels and several other members of the council are asked to join the galactic army.

Hadra notifies the rebels in other planets about the war. She orders the recruits to assemble. After they assemble she tells “The day you have all been training for has arrived, soon we’ll be meeting Rodana in battle, tomorrow we all go to the headquarters of the galactic army”.

After everyone had dispersed Hadra and Benzo notice Dan, who was standing even after everyone had left. Hadra then goes to Dan.

She tells him “While going through the evidence, Carassan told me about you longing for home, while I am happy that you are willing to stay here and help, I am also considering to send you to your home for tonight. You may join us tomorrow at sunrise. I think it is important for you to spend time with your family for they could be your final moments with them”.

Dan, hanging his head in sadness, replies “ You’re right, it makes sense for me to have one last moment with my loved ones. After all I arrived here just today and am immediately asked to fight a war. But I’m also afraid that if I go back home, I may not be able to bring myself to help you in the battle, I will stay here with you, many of them here haven’t seen their families for years, I’ve made up my mind that I will go back home only after the battle is over, either victorious or as a spirit of a hero who gave his life to save the universe.”

Dan then retires to his room for the night.

The next morning the rebels and the recruits go to the headquarters of the Galactic army. The recruits in hideouts in other planets arrive soon. With the help of the galactic army the remaining recruits are located and brought within a few hours. The preparations for the battle begin.

Dan is given training along with other recruits in weapons and driving the space vehicles throughout the morning and afternoon. Benzo, Carassan and Kaz also help him in training.

During lunch Kaz and Carassan are called away to the lab, Dan is then joined by Benzo. They have a chat.

Dan : Benzo, you are lucky to have someone like Hadra as your mother, for the little time I knew her she seems to be a charismatic and an inspiring leader and has command over a set of extremely loyal followers, yesterday when I was in the hall talking with other recruits, almost everyone I talked with held her in a high regard and had a deep respect for her. Indeed she’s a strong person who believes in doing the right thing even if it means going against the man she was fanatically loyal to.

Benzo : Thank You Dan, and yes many people have indeed told me that, though sometimes I do get anxious that I may not be able to live up to her legacy, I have been trained by her from an young age to lead the rebels after her, she taught me everything she knew, she was strict yet a caring person, just like everyone I too look up to her and hope to make her proud of me.

Dan : Oh I’m sure she is, anyway I don’t see your father around here, I wish to meet him as well, can I meet him?.

Benzo : Well you can’t, unfortunately he is dead.

Dan : Oh!!! I’m sorry, my friend, how did that happen?

Benzo : My father met my mother when they joined Zharlan’s ranks. He died in the military coup where Zharlan overthrew the government. I was extremely young when that happened.

Dan : Both your parents are indeed courageus. So you knew Zharlan as well.

Benzo : Yes I have interacted with Zharlan too, my initial training was under his regime, one could learn a lot of things from him, he was a great man. It is an absolute tragedy that this is the very man we are going to have to fight now. There was a time when my mother and everyone else would follow him without question sadly that is a bygone era.

Just then everyone were ordered to assemble as the strategy would be discussed.

As the strategy was being discussed the Commander of the galactic army points out :

“Based on the reports we are outnumbered, once the Epikars leave Rodana, they will place their troops in all the strategic locations and launch their invasion, their army would be too widespread to contain, and the amount of destruction will be too much. So once the epikars leave Rodana’s sector of influence the universe is doomed, we need to keep them grounded in Rodana, we need to take the fight to them, I know it’s ridiculous, facing a lion in its den, but no other viable option exists, this is the best way to have minimum bloodshed, we’re out of time, we cannot risk a full fledged space battle. To counter that in the most effective way possible all warrior recruits will have to fight tomorrow, they will be aided by the front lines of the army and some of the scientific recruits, the remaining scientific recruits and the army will stay behind and will be on reserve lines, they will be deployed when necessary, till then the scientific recruits remaining behind will work on the weapons and the technology. However a battle this big in Rodana could cause the extinction of the epikar race, we need to devise a strategy to rescue them as well, So this is what we are going to do tomorrow….”.

The plan was finally set up, it was to create a breach on the front while simultaneously rescuing the epikar people and luring the majority of Rodana’s army to the side of the rescuers letting down the guard of the fronts, once breached the created opening would allow Dan’s team to attack Zharlan’s headquarters and capture him, With Zharlan captured the army can be forced to surrender.

The Commander ends by saying “This without a doubt is going to be the biggest war in the history of the universe, countless lives at stake……We are fighting for everything we stood for all these years….fear not because we are on the side of righteousness, peace and freedom. Tomorrow tyranny will meet its demise”.

This is accompanied by a loud cheer. The gathering is then dismissed to complete the remaining preparations. As the troops are being prepared Carassan finds sitting Dan alone and upset and enquires him.

Dan says “ I was too proud and arrogant about the “gifts” I was given, I thought I was special among my people, only to find out that I’m a mere pawn, the reality check sent me reeling, I’m getting reminded constantly of the attitude I showed in the past, I just want a chance to apologise, I’m longing to go home, I was actually finding a way to escape just before I met you but after hearing about the stories of the other recruits, I couldn’t bring myself to run away, as a warrior recruit it didn’t feel right to run away while my fellow recruits are willing to risk their lives to save countless. The astronomically low odds of surviving the tomorrow’s battle has left me overwhelmed, I nearly got captured if not for the rebels, now I’m doubting myself on what would I be able to do tomorrow”.

Hadra overhearing the conversation took Dan aside and said “I understand what you are going through, this situation is not new to me either, the night before we toppled the government we were informed about the enemy’s strength, it was nothing like we have fought before, many of us began to lose heart, we were shaken on how overwhelming the odds against us were, it was Zharlan who then stepped in and gave us a speech worth remembering for the rest of our lives. These were his words:

The enemy outnumber us 5 to 1, certainly some odds, we are doing this for a good cause, we can and will face any amount of odds thrown at us, even if the whole universe is against us we shall not stop, every single one of you is a warrior, we derive our strength from each other, every single one of us have complete faith in what we are doing, with that we can face and overcome anything. A warrior inspires people to face overwhelming and insurmountable odds and overcome it. We are doing this for our planet and its lost legacy, tomorrow our names will be immortal, carved in the history of this great world.

That day my loyalty and respect to Zharlan deepened, the next day he was leading us from the front and then you know what happened, on that day I chose to follow Zharlan because that was the right thing to do, today I’m willing to go against him for the same reason, we all are going to fight him for the same reason ”.

Hadra then says “If you survive the war you go home, if not you die at the place where your destiny began, a place worthy to be called ‘home’, all lives sacrificed tomorrow will be remembered forever for their contribution in saving the universe “.

Hadra continues “As a warrior recruit you are one of the most powerful beings in the universe. Trust your warrior instincts. You managed to fight off hundreds of epikars by yourself, tomorrow there will be a thousand warriors to stand with you and you will be among the thousand warriors to stand beside every other warrior in the army”.

The advice clears Dan’s self-doubt, he then calls Carassan and says” I need your help for something, come aside” . They discuss something and leave to their respective rooms. Dan goes to his room and prepares a chemical potion and drinks it, hoping to enhance his performance in the battle. He then again goes back to Carassan's room where they are seen supervising something, this goes on for a few hours after which they both train a bit on fighting. In the midst of the training Hadra virtually calls them informing that Dan will be deployed in the main infantry while Carassan will be deployed in the left rear wing and the armours and weapons will be soon sent to their rooms. After that they call Kaz who reveals that he has been assigned to fight among the reserves.

After the training was over they took whatever materials they were working with to the armoury where they were ordered to be kept on the reserves.

As they came out of the armoury Dan is seen telling a secret word to Carassan. After which they take leave of each other.

Dan goes back to his room for the night. In his room Dan just falls on his bed trying to sleep. He has a hard time sleeping as the thoughts of the impending battle torment his mind. For all he knew this could very well be the last night of his life. He takes a look at the armour and the weapons allotted to him and eventually calms himself down and falls asleep.

Meanwhile Hadra and Benzo are talking.

Hadra says “You have been ordered to lead the second fraction of the reserves, do your duty diligently, save as much as people as you can and keep our enemies at check, this is an enormous responsibility, don’t ever let fear overcome you”.

Benzo replies “ Mother!!! This is what you have been training me for all these years, I couldn’t be happier for I got the opportunity to repay the debt I owe you. I won’t let you down”.

Hadra places her hands on his cheeks and sheds a tear while saying “ I know….my boy has never failed me, he is capable of facing anything bravely without backing out, if only your father were here…I miss him a lot”. So saying she kissed him on the forehead and blessed him.

Hadra then wipes her tears and says “Now go to your room and rest, tomorrow we have a big battle coming, you should sleep well. Good night”.

The next day the Galactic army and their allies take off to Rodana. Hadra was among the front lines. troops were also ready to be deployed. Zharlan was giving them their final orders and a speech to magnify their focus. Rodana’s troops took off, 8 of Zharlan’s generals led the army while Zharlan, Evilax and the remaining generals stayed in the headquarters to monitor the progress. They met the galactic army near Rodana’s moon. As the two armies faced each other Dan felt a light shiver up his spine on seeing what he's up against. To calm himself he ingests an entire bottle of the chemical potion he made the previous day.

Carassan asked him "Dan, you fine? Hope the numbers haven't put you in flight mode".

Dan laughs and sarcastically replies "Nah, but would love to activate the flight mode" .

Then he silently said to himself "Ok too late to turn back now, do whatever it takes to ensure victory, kill or be killed. Fate of everything you know and love is in your hands".

The commander of the galactic army ordered his troops to charge and a huge battle followed. Due to the overwhelming numbers the galactic army was initially pushed back, but then they lured the epikar troops to the rough terrains of Rodana’s moon and attacked them behind covers, the plan succeeded and the galactic army pushed back the epikars to Rodana’s skies. Meanwhile Dan was fighting the epikars along with Carassan in space, together they managed to destroy thousands of epikar ships and made their way to the planet’s atmosphere where Hadra was fighting. Dan was overwhelmed in the battle and his ship was destroyed, he was rescued once again by Hadra. Hadra provided Dan with a spaceblazer. Due to the spaceblazer’s quick movement Dan was able to aid in further pushing the epikars back.

As they reached the planet’s surface, the main part of the epikar army stationed there began preparing to attack. This caused them all to split up. Carassan took on the Epikars from the south pole of the planet, Hadra and Dan fought together a few hundred miles from the south pole and neared Carassan. As the fight raged on the galactic army started implementing the plan of rescuing the epikar people and arming them, drawing the epikar army away from the wing. Zharlan however had anticipated this and countered it with droneships, which caused considerable trouble.

As they were dealing with the drones Dan called Carassan :

“Now is the right time to give the signal”.

And Dan said the secret word to Carassan.

Carassan immediately responded by sending a signal to the commander explaining the situation. The commander got the cue and sent forth the army of robots, which Carassan and Dan were working on the previous night, to the battle. The robot army’s deployment had the desired effect. On one hand they took the epikars by surprise and on the other hand they easily managed to destroy the drones, clearing the path of the galactic soldiers rescuing the civilians.

Carassan remarked “ It was indeed a genius stroke to come up with the robots, Dan!!! How did you predict the drones?”

Dan replies “ I saw it coming from afar, if Zharlan was anything like I had heard of then he would have known about our plan to save epikars and sent the drones as a response, so I asked you to make robots which can catch them by surprise, I held back the robots only because Zharlan might send the drones as a response to the robots and catch us off guard, I waited until Zharlan deployed something like the drones to hit back, look at how the epikars are running helter-skelter when the robots attack the drones”.

However soon the epikars devised a response and the robots were brutually dealt with, the largest part of the epikar army started attacking with full force, swiftly overwhelming the galactic army.

As the battle raged on the Epikar people were killed in billions due to the crossfire despite the best efforts of the galactic army to rescue them, and soon only Epikars left were Zharlan, Evilax, their generals, the soldiers and Hadra and her Epikar rebels, the destructive weapons used in the battle reduced Rodana from a nigh-utopian world to a desolate wasteland, devoid of any life. The Epikar army continued its brutal attack, the galactic army started losing, soldiers were dying everywhere in massive numbers, trillions of casualities occurred on both sides, Dan’s spaceblazer was destroyed and he hit the ground where he went on a rampage killing enemy soldiers and recruits before he was surrounded by ships on all sides.

The ships began firing at him and the blasts injured him significantly, slowly destroying his armour. He was saved by Carassan in time. He was then given a new spaceblazer. He joined Hadra and continued to fight. The epikars were gaining the stronger position. The additional troops of the galactic army were called one by one. Benzo and Kaz entered the battle soon. Kaz and the faction he was in immediately proceeded to the north pole of the planet as instructed and began attacking the northern wing and tried to force their way. The defenses of the wing held up amazingly and the attackers had to come upon a new plan to get through them. Benzo’s faction found itself in the thick of the battle. Benzo himself killed thousands of soldiers and several recruits in a show of skill, strength and tactics. He was fighting like a wounded beast and seemed like he was on a mission to win the war single-handedly.

The epikars however were unfazed and the equally determined to push out the army and the battle was going for a stalemate. The last of the reserves of the galactic army were called upon to fight, hoping to change the tide. As the battle went on the commander of the galactic army killed one of the generals. This boosted the morale of the galactic army and they fought with greater ferocity. The epikars then changed stategy on Zharlan’s orders, they went on the defensive, planning to draw the major factions to attack and use their superior defenses to exhaust their resources. The plan was successful as several wings of the galactic army were lured to attack unsuccessfully, weakening themselves in the process. Now the epikars launched an all out attack which overwhelmed the galactic army steadily, the soldiers and the recruits of the epikar army fought with new found resolve and were more than determined to defeat the enemies.

The galactic army began losing on all fronts steadily. Benzo, who was wrecking havoc near the equator, was killed in the battle. Dan and Hadra rushed to the spot after learning about it. Hadra held Benzo in her arms as she mourned while Dan shielded her from the attacks.

Hadra tearfully says “Rest my son, you died a hero’s death, your mother will not let your sacrifice go in vain”.

So saying, Hadra fought with a new resolve as Dan, moved by what happened, ably assisted her.

As the battle kept swaying sides, eventually the greater number of recruits and the tactics of Zharlan’s 7 generals made the epikars nearly impossible to be stopped. Dan was temporarily taken out and once again had to be saved by Carassan while Hadra managed to penetrate deep into the enemy lines alone.

Noticing the destruction of her forces all around, Hadra kept wondering what to do, when she noticed the main epikar ship, out of desperation she calls out Carassan, She says :

“We are losing, every moment the universal annihilation draws closer, we have to destroy the epikars here and now, I have found a way but it can work only if the epikar army and we are at the right place at the right time, inform all our men to lure the epikar army within a 1000 mile radius of the main epikar ship, then as I make my way to the ship shoot my ship at the right spot during the right moment, as I collide with the main ship, which will cause a chain reaction and an explosion of high intensity, destroying the enemy ships, don’t let them leave that radius as the intensity quickly subsides beyond that”.

Carassan replies “But that would require a large part of our army as well to be there to prevent any escapes, they also would be destroyed”.

To this Kaz replied “She is right Carassan, there is no other way, we have to remain there to prevent any escapes, this is our last chance, if we miss this then everything is lost, yes we will also be destroyed but if our deaths are the only way to victory then so be it”.

One of the soldiers of the galactic army says to his colleague :

“All these years we were in the service of a corrupt council, now this is our time to sacrifice ourselves for a noble cause”. The partner agreed as they started to lure the epikar army towards the ship.

As the recruits and the galactic army started luring the epikars Dan watched in disbelief on how many recruits were willing to die in order to destroy the enemy.

The Recruits from the galactic army from various ends of the planet lured the Epikar army to the trap and kept them engaged.

Kaz said to Carassan “As we shoot Hadra’s ship you and your team quickly make your way out of here and continue towards the headquarters, don’t delay”.

Carassan tearfully shoots Hadra’s ship along with the other soldiers, and quickly escape. The ship is shot at the right moment, as Hadra’s ship collide with the main epikar ship a chain reaction is caused causing a massive explosion of extreme intensity destroying majority of the epikar army and the galactic army.

Dan looks at a tearful Carassan , Carassan said “We may have followed the galactic army today, but she was always our leader, she was the one who saved us all from capture, she was the only one capable of saving the universe, not afraid to go against Zharlan, the very man who made her who she was, because she believed it was right”. Carassan continues in a fearful tone “Her sacrifice, their sacrifice shall not go in vain”.

The remaining epikar army faced against the commander of the galactic army, his team and Carassan’s team. The fight resulted in the soldiers of the galactic army and the epikar army dying, the only survivors of the battle were the commander of the galactic army and Carassan’s team, who made their way to Zharlan’s mansion headquarters. The shield surrounding the headquarters, which was severely weakened by the explosion of the main ship, was destroyed by the impacting ships while everyone jumped to safety.

As they made their way in, an armour-clad Evilax and other generals were taking leave of Zharlan in his throne room. As Zharlan was arming himself, Evilax said :

“Sire, you have led us all these years, whenever a problem arose for us, you were the first one to face it, shielding us from the brunt of the attack you took, today you sit back and watch us vanquish our enemies and finally achieve what we toiled for years”.

So saying they leave the throne room.

Zharlan however was sure that a battle awaits him with the recruits and there is no running from that. But he backed himself to put down anyone that challenged him. He wears the armour and equips himself with various weapons, injects himself with steroids and makes his way to the throne, looking forward to the fight.

As Evilax and the other generals made their way outside the mansion, they were faced by the commander and Carassan’s team at halfway point, they fight each other with men from both sides dying, as Dan kills his opponent, the commander shouts “DAN GO TO CAPTURE ZHARLAN, WE WILL HOLD THEM ALL BACK”.

Dan hesitates to leave them behind, the commander yells “DAN GO,PLEASE GO”.

Dan grabs his opponent’s electric sword and goes in search of Zharlan. Meanwhile Evilax kills the commander while other generals and Carassan’s team kill one another. With Kaz’s death at the hands of Evilax only Carassan is left behind. Carassan and Evilax exchange blows.

Evilax throws the neuro-controller on Carassan who manages to move aside in the nick of time. The struggle rages on and after a brief fight Evilax pins Carassan against the wall, but Carassan manages to free himself and grabs a sword and charges towards Evilax who dodges it, he then manages to break the sword, they both struggle with each other until they are exhausted, Carassan, pushed to the extreme brink of desperation dodges Evilax’s attacks from his blaster and grabs the neuro-controller lying on the ground and tries to plant them on Evilax’s neck. Evilax throws Carassan towards the wall, Carassan however managed to grab the activator just as he was about to be thrown. As Carassan falls down, Evilax wastes no time and fatally shoots Carassan. A dying Carassan presses the activator, causing the neuro-controller to severe the connections in Evilax’s neural network, instantly killing him.

Dan in the meanwhile had made it to the throne room and stood at the entrance facing Zharlan, who was seated on his throne wearing a special armour, with an electric sword by his side.

As Dan enters the room, Zharlan exclaims “So Hadra is dead, a really great loss, she was a good friend, but in a quest like this it is not uncommon”.

Dan replies “This war was avoidable, so many unnecessary deaths, if only you weren’t so obsessed with control, you wouldn’t have seen this day, here you are, a man with no company, last being of an extinct race, standing face to face with me, a being of your own creation”.

Zharlan gets up from his throne and descends down the stairs and comes face to face with Dan, as they circle each other Zharlan replies :

“You making this far is certainly a victory for our science”.

Dan responds “Any other day I would have idolised you, a revolutionary leader who wasn’t afraid to do the best for your planet, a person whose autograph I would be dying to get, but today unfortunately a day to save the universe from a psychopath”.

“Psychopath? relieving others from suffering is psychotic?” Zharlan shot back.

Dan argues “By killing them? A man of your capability is capable of doing so much good to people”

Zharlan responds ”Is there a bigger reliever of suffering than death? What more good can one do beyond that? Life is meaningless and all about suffering, yet insignificant in the grand scheme. You see good destroying evil and suffering is merely a myth, it is never permanent, evil evolves into something more complex and abstract requiring a stronger force of good to keep it in limits, only way to destroy evil is by destroying everything”.

Dan then says “ Your atrocities today have made you a monster beyond redemption, no matter your justification for your actions. You have left me without a choice, but to destroy you" .

Zharlan calmly responds “ I’m willing to die a monster, not afraid to get my hands dirty in order to keep others clean”.

Dan questions “So what after killing everything?”.

Zharlan smiles “The recruits were programmed to die once they complete their mission, after all life in the universe is killed, me and my generals would kill ourselves”.

Then he thundered “ AND I SHALL ACHIEVE MY GOAL NO MATTER!!!!!!!! I WILL DO IT ALL BY MYSELF IF I HAVE TO EVEN IF IT TAKES ME A THOUSAND YEARS”.

So saying Zharlan charged at Dan and the swords clashed. They have a long fight punching, kicking, slashing, grappling, strangling, dodging, blocking each other effectively. Due to his enhanced armour Zharlan was getting the better of a visibly tired and injured Dan. He breaks Dan’s sword and Dan responds by breaking Zharlan’s. Dan attacks Zharlan but his armour proves to be hard to get through, his strength was slowly ebbing away. The chemical potion Dan ingested was losing its effect. Zharlan then holds Dan under his grip, with his strength useless, Dan had to use his skill to get out of the grip. Realising that the armour had to be destroyed, he focused all his strength on damaging the armour covering Zharlan’s arms, it proved to be challenging due to Zharlan’s strength and skill. Dan eventually managed to destroy the armour covering his arms and overpowered him and kept pummeling him, damaging his armour further. The fight rages on and frustration and rage from both of them kept increasing exponentially. They started to savagely throw hands while also skilfully countering the attacks.

Dan corners Zharlan and attempts to punch him in the head, Zharlan dodges the strike and grab Dan and throws him across the room, Dan recovers quickly and still relentlessly attacks Zharlan and he responds with punches of his own and then kicks back Dan towards the throne. As Zharlan rushes towards Dan and attempted to punch him, Dan ducks in time and punches him in the abdomen and the kicks him in the same spot which sends Zharlan several yards flying. Dan at the heat of the fight uproots the throne and leaps high in the air and brings it down on Zharlan’s head.

Zharlan blocks the throne with his hands, the impact however shatters the throne to pieces. As the fight raged on Zharlan was slowly getting overwhelmed, in an act of desperation Zharlan stabs Dan with his poisoned dagger, with great strength Dan pulls off Zharlan’s arm from him, deflects the dagger away and the fight continues, Zharlan executes a combo of strikes which send Dan reeling to the ground, just as Zharlan tries to crush his head under his feet, Dan rolls out of the way and kicks him away and Zharlan falls right next to his dagger, Zharlan grabs the dagger and tries to stab Dan who dodges it and tries to stab Zharlan with his own dagger, Zharlan blocks the attack, which causes the dagger to break, causing Zharlan to send a flurry of kicks, punches and a headbutt towards Dan, pushing him back and Zharlan punches him viciously, eventually Dan blocks his punch and hits him back repeatedly, forcing him down to his knees, eventually causing Zharlan to fall on his back with a kick to his face, Dan gets on top of him and brutually punches him in the face, Zharlan tries his best to resist but is quickly overpowered by an enraged Dan, blinded by rage Dan eventually punches Zharlan to death.

As a badly battered Dan struggles to get up, vomiting blood, he takes a look at Zharlan’s blood covered corpse, he remembers Hadra’s words to him to clear his self doubt. As Dan walks out of the mansion he comes across the corpses of Carassan and his team. He kneels in honour of their sacrifice. He comes out of the mansion just as the sun rises in a now desolate Rodana. Taking a spaceship there, Dan flies across the war zone, witnessing all the destruction that had occurred, he treats his wounds with the first-aid kit in the ship, as he makes his way out of Rodana to Earth, Dan thinks to himself :

“Probably the most eventful and life-changing weekend ever, getting kidnapped on a friday, making alien friends, only for them all to die before my eyes, discussing war strategy on saturday, fighting the biggest war the universe has ever seen on a Sunday, killing the most dangerous man in the universe, and now finally returning home on a monday”.

On Earth Dan’s parents and the police search for him everywhere, the alien attack on Dan had been globally covered by various news channels.

“He has been missing for two days, what could have happened to him? How is he doing?” Dan’s mother was wailing to his father in their home.

She closed her eyes trying to calm herself down and quietly said “Oh Dan wherever you are please come back to me. Please”.

Just then there was a knock in the door. Dan’s mother was in too much grief to go and open the door, so his father went to open the door while his mother slowly followed her husband.

As they opened the door there stood a battered and a humbled Dan, smiling in relief.

Meanwhile in the Galactic council the secretary states “Zharlan has won, our negligence on these planets have led us to this state, the galactic army dead, the council in ruins, the universe in chaos, this could lead to a universal war and end in total destruction, which would eventually lead to the death of all life in the universe, it will end the way Zharlan exactly wanted, we have to act fast, even if there is a needle tip chance of preventing the war, we have to somehow make that happen”.

THE END

By Shashaank.C.S