The World's Easiest Job

By Redsnapper39

Part 1


Sarsa looked at the canyon below her. She was staring down into Valles Marines. “I have to…” she whispered to herself. She nimbly slid down the canyon like she had done many times before, except this time was for a different purpose. Slowly but hurriedly, she entered the cave she visited several times. Laying all around her were all sorts of objects. Some were native to the chamber, but others she had left behind on previous visits. There were laserstaffs with no charge left, empty pizza boxes, ancient martian hieroglyphs, miniature statues of random creatures nobody recognized, a cheap computer, a sleeping capsule, and an assortment of crystals. Sarsa was looking for one thing in particular though.
It wasn’t hard to find: a tablet of shining metal that had some ancient story of good and evil and technomancy inscribed on it. She lifted it up, with some difficulty at first, and carried it out as quickly as she could. The sound of a jet engine could be heard, and there was a silhouette of a ship above. Surprised even though she knew this would happen, Sarsa made a run into the shadows, as far away as possible.

8 months later…

I sat at my desk on just another day in the hive. While I loved the high pay, I disliked how boring my job was, even though it was very important. Text pops up on my screen: “MESSAGE FROM GENERAL USAQE”. With hesitation, since it was probably another report on how many turrets were working, I selected the message. The Video Communication Interface opened up and I found myself face to face with one of our head generals, which are second to the King. Usaqe spoke. “Secretary of Defense Cheesearmyca?” “Yes?” “I’m here to report to you something urgent. The—re” The connection was breaking up. “Oh. The—se da— uplinks. We ne– repla-ce them. Just come h– in person. This — gon– be t———-e—diou-s.” Usaqe disconnected. I knew where his office was, so I skipped out of my room, almost forgetting to lock the door. I rode a monorail to the other side of the hive until I reached Usaqe’s office. The doors opened on their own and I stepped inside. One of the attendants locked the door behind me.
The first thing I noticed was that not only was the general standing in front of me, but the King himself was right behind him.
“You summoned me, general?”
“Yes, I did. An unidentified craft landed somewhere near Quadrant IV a few hours ago. They’re exhausting one of our crystal reserves.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“You’re the secretary of defense. What do you normally do?”
“… Put stamps on papers that say everything is running smoothly.”
“Well now we want you to launch patrols. Train more guards. Send in the Mothership if we have to.”
“Who are these people anyway?”
The King, who had been standing silently until now, spoke. “Earth… That spacecraft was launched from Earth.”
“The Planet Earth?”
“No the grocery store Earth. OF COURSE IT’S PLANET EARTH!”
“Oh”
I began returning to my office. Even though action was going to happen, I was sure it’d just feel like one of those cheap strategy games I once played, just like all the other times there was action. Nonetheless, something was different. These were creatures from another planet. They’re called humans or something if I could remember correctly from my astrophysics class. Other times there was action, it was just a rebellion from some mafia of aliens just like us.
I am Cheesearmyca. Even though I’m Mars’s Secretary of Defense, I am just an average alien.

Part 2


Drax shouted and shot one of his own men in rage. He couldn’t believe anyone could outsmart his crew, it finally occurred to him that someone has been outsmarting him for months. He was the leader of a crew of alien contraband smugglers that would stop at nothing to bathe in credits.
His crew began to fly their air skiff, which they built themselves from pawned and stolen parts. In the distance they could see a small Astro outpost. The Astros were the least of Drax’s concern, but he decided to see if he could loot anything from them. As he found out, most of the Astros living in the outpost were disloyal to the mission, and even offered to join Drax’s crew. Drax accepted and 14 Astros joined, the rest were murdered.
“Hell, this day is getting better already.” Drax said to himself as he loaded in the last of the outpost’s valuables, almost completely forgetting about his other issue…

Meanwhile…

It has been a while. My job hasn’t become any less boring. It’s intense maybe, but still boring. One afternoon, I decided to see what the battlefield was like. So I took a “vacation” to the outskirts of Marsbar City. There I entered the grounds of an alien camp that was building up for an attack against the astros. After getting security clearance, the breeding pit looked interesting. I climbed down into it and was greeted by the clerk
“Hello, state your name, rank, and what type of training you would like”
“I’m the Secretary of Defense, I’m here to visit, not train” I replied with a slightly annoyed expression.
“Oh, sorry Mr Cheesearmyca, Ididn'trecognize you. Heh heh.”
All around me, besides the clerk, were capsules containing baby aliens, models of weapons, some medical kits, and doors to different training rooms. I looked around at the doors to decide which was the most interesting. I chose the Specops room. A few rough looking aliens gave me a glare. They were waiting in lines for something. A hatch at the start of one of the lines opened as a familiar-looking soldier stepped out, almost losing balance as he did so. He seemed to be close to the same age as me. A computer voice came on the speakers, “PURSUIT FIGHTER SIMULATOR #4 OPEN”. At the sound of this, the next soldier in line entered and closed the hatch. The familiar alien noticed me and walked up to me.
“Cheese? Old friend?”
I stared back blankly, not sure what to say.
“Don’t you remember me? We were childhood friends. We used to soak up solar radiation together”
“I remember you, but I can’t seem to remember your name.”
“Why, my name is Seeker. Did you know that I’m top of my class in Specops training here?! Technically my training finished two weeks ago, I’m just spending some extra time in the simulators for practice.”
“Well that’s cool. Cooler than my job anyway.”
“What is your job?”
“I’m the SoD.”
He gave me a shocked look. “You outrank me by a lot, how can my job be better?”
“It’s just boring, that’s all.”
An alarm sounded. “Oh, our assault is about to begin. I better report for duty. Bye!”
After the alarm shut off, I climbed back out of the breeding pit. There were far less people at the camp now; only a small amount stayed behind to guard the camp. I went into the command center next. The Commander of the camp sat at a chair looking at her screen. I stared at the display. She showed no reaction to my presence, obviously concentrating. There I could see a wing of pursuit fighters shooting down astro fighters. Suddenly one of the pursuit fighters crashed and burned.
Before I could say anything, someone came on the radio reporting some status, and the Commander shouted some commands at him. Then she scrolled the screen to some speeders being shot at by an astro turret. For the next five minutes, I stood there wishing she would look back to the pursuit fighters. Finally another voice came on the radio “Commander, all our pursuit fighters have been shot down.”. The screen displayed what I wanted it to show again. Twelve aliens emerged from the destroyed fighters. I could tell one of them was Seeker. The commander shouted again “Hello? Any pursuit wing survivors, can you hear me?” Seeker’s voice appeared next “Yes Commander, there are 12 of us.”
“Start walking to the Astro compound and sabotage anything you can. Their tech center, their generators, anything!”

Part 3


The Commander kept viewing and communicating with other troops in the skirmish. But I wasn’t interested enough to pay attention to anything going on. I gave up and turned to leave the room. The Commander still hadn’t acknowledged me. Just as I was halfway out the door, a Sergeant’s voice came on the system. “The fight is over. We have Alien Victory!”. The Commander spoke back, no longer shouting. “Good work men, once the flag is planted everyone head back to camp.” 10 minutes later, all the victorious aliens returned to camp. A Hyper Carrier brought in the corpses of all the KIA aliens. I stepped inside, hoping Seeker wasn’t one of them. I hadn’t seen him among the returning troops.
I saw corpses in Specops armor. I walked by them one by one. I counted 17. There were 18 in the pursuit fighter wing. I bolted back outside of the ship and saw that everyone’s weapons were aimed in one direction. I looked to see what the commotion was about. In the distance an Astro Crystal Reaper was rolling in. As it got closer, the defenses realized that it was being driven by an Alien. “Holy Marsbars! It’s Seeker!”
In the end, Seeker was the only surviving member in the pursuit fighter wing. How all of the fighters were downed is a mystery. The ones that survived their crash maneuvered to the Astro base from the side, and after a long infiltration, all of them but Seeker were killed. He managed to get all of the technology they stole into a Crystal Reaper he hijacked. Needless to say, he was rewarded.

2 Days later…

I was back in my SoD office. The Commodores under me talked with me a lot more than usual. The war was getting more violent. My screen pinged. It was a message. For once it wasn’t from the military or the hive network. It was from the public network (some aliens have coined a slang term for the public network called “Internet”). The message was from Ferani, my lover back at home. “Cheese. I haven’t seen you in a while. When are you going to come back?”. I sent my reply. “As soon as I can, promise.” Then, I remembered my home.
I haven’t been home since before the war started. I’ve visited the town I lived in a few times, but it’s been a couple of weeks since. My home was right on the border of Quadrant I, the Valles Marineris Canyon. It was a small but rapidly growing town. When I was born, it was just a rural settlement. Every time I visited, it seemed to grow larger.

…

Qu’ponse put his left leg forward, placing it down on the iron oxide dust of Mars. He moved his other leg and passed through the dimensional door completely. He sighed in pleasure as the door de-powered behind him after one step sent him thousands of light years.
His species had the Aliens of Mars under its wing for millions of years. When they sensed that they may become too powerful, it was time to act. Now, Qu’ponse was the first Visser to step onto Mars. Only a few more would follow him for the next five years…

Part 4


16 years ago...

I ran out of my class ahead of everyone else, eager to go outside. The other martian children walked out of the school in an orderly fashion, as if I wasn't running ahead of them. We were all hungry, and a solar flare was due in a few minutes. We played random childish games outside for a while, then the flare finally came. There was no visible difference, but I could feel my body refresh as the radiation nourished me. Suddenly playing by myself grew boring. I didn't really have many friends. I figured I'd go make one for a change. Before I was done deciding who to walk up to, another alien kid tapped my shoulder. "Hi! What's your name?"
"I'm Cheesearmyca."
"Oh. I'm called Seeker."
I didn't know what was supposed to happen next. Well, we received each other's names, I guess the next part of the conversation was to gather more intel.
I came up with a cheap question.
"What do you like?"
"Uhh... I guess I like the army."
"Why?"
"It's amazing. All the weapons fascinate me! Did you know that they're letting me go to training?"
I asked to see this army stuff, so he took me to the local breeding pit when school ended. The same one we were both born and raised in. It was a civilian-owned pit, so there was no training site in it, but there were recruitment posters on the wall, displaying images of ETX speeders and StrikeCraft and whatnot. From then on we became friends. He took me to his house and showed me all these model vehicles he built out of connected plastic bricks. He also showed me the computer he had. We took turns playing a combat simulating game which was apparently once used to train commanding officers.
With all this, I couldn't help but be intrigued by the military as well as him. We continued to be friends for years until we joined the military. Our skills were different, so we ended up with different assignments; a general confronted me to tell me there was a need for a new Captain and they could use my strategic defensive skill. I began forgetting about Seeker after a while.

7 years ago...
"Cheese, your presence in the hive is no longer needed for now. You can live in your hometown, but you are due back here in a year." I nodded solemnly at General Usaqe's words. Before I had completely turned around to pack up my belongings, The General quickly interjected "WAIT! I forgot to tell you. There's gonna be a surprise for you when you get back in a year..." So back I went. Home...
I tried to avoid thinking about what the "surprise" was while waiting for that next year in my hometown. I decided to enjoy myself and eat some pizza at the nearby restaurant. (even though food is unnecessary for our survival when on a planet without a magnetic field, aliens still eat it for recreation, especially pizza.). That restaurant ended up being where I encountered Ferani. She took my mind off of military problems for the rest of that year. When the time came for me to return to the hive, she said she'd wait for me.
After I had finished moving into the hive, I was called to the King's quarters. He spoke in the most professional tone I'd ever heard "Cheesearmyca, Commodore of platoon VII, your defensive strategic skill is very noteworthy. So as King I hereby promote you to Secretary of Defense." I stood there speechless. I didn't know what to think. I would later though. Soon I found out that the higher title came with higher boredom.

Part 5


Sarsa went for another walk. After being on the run and sleeping under rocks, she had finally made it far beyond the reach of her pursuers. For the past couple of months she lived with a rather old alien with some obscure family ties. He lived only a few miles from the northern ice caps. There were two other homes nearby, one of which had 4 DRKOS living in it. The other was a really small family of aliens that she didn't know that well. Actually, she wasn't very attached to anyone that lived with or near her. But all that mattered was that she was safe.
She continued walking while thinking about her past traumatizing experiences. She could've stayed living a simple life in her old town. But she knew she had to protect that tablet from falling into the wrong hands. It was far too valuable. Her pace became slower as she stepped onto the frozen carbon dioxide of the ice caps. The cold was slightly painful, but she ignored it. About 20 feet forward, she lifted a slab of ice that few would've noticed. Beneath it was the tablet she risked her life to keep safe, slightly covered in frost. "Good... It's still there." She carefully put the slab back where it was and began to travel back.
Minutes after her return, she was surprised to see an Astro aircraft closing in on the 3-home village. She sprinted inside frantically and called her relative to tell him about the ship. He didn't seem surprised at all. He just said "I'm sorry, Sarsa." with a very slight grin. She didn't know what to think. BOOM! The sound of an explosion echoed. Out the window she could see that one of the houses was incinerated. She felt a sudden anger and punched the old alien in the face before running away as fast as she could. A laser barely missed her. She could hear the sound of more ships. She glanced for just a second to see a few astro and alien ships, including the one she had been on the run from. "No... It can't be. They found me? I bet that old **** helped them."
...

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE IT IS?!?"
"Well, she brought it here, but I rarely saw it."
"CAN YOU AT LEAST TELL ME WHERE THE GIRL IS?"
"She gave me this knot on my face then ran off."
"CAN'T YOU BE USEFUL AT ALL?"
Drax aimed his pistol at the old alien's throat. Frantically, he talked again.
"W-wait! Don't kill me. I can help you find her AND that trinket. I'll have her killed for you. Please"
Drax replied in a less violent and a more sarcastic voice, although he wasn't being sarcastic at all.
"I was going to kill you even if you didn't fail me. You didn't actually think we would pay you everything we bribed you with did you?"
The alien dropped to his knees. So he was tricked into telling Drax where Sarsa was. He betrayed her for money he wasn't even going to have. Defeated by guilt, he shut his eyes and welcomed the photon shots that silenced him. An Astro from Drax's crew notified him that they had killed every resident. The last DRKOS they killed claimed to see the girl run north.
...
Qu'ponse crawled into the mine, completely undetected. He sneaked through the tunnels, avoiding attention from any of the martian scum in there. He would quickly subdue the few that did notice him. He decided to leave a Bluecrystal on the ground, just to scare and confuse the miners and guards. Finally crawled through a tunnel that widened into a massive space. The Alien Hive. Now how could he wreak havoc here? He had to do something subtle. Assassinating the king was out of the question. He got a brilliant idea. Find a control room and shut down a few random systems. That would keep the aliens scrambling until the Visser invasion was ready. He continued his sneaking about in search of a control room. Instead he found himself looking into some leader's office through a ventilation duct in the ceiling. He was speaking to a computer projection of another alien. Qu'ponse wasn't that fluent in the Alien language and couldn't tell what they were talking about, then he made out a few words. He assumed "Cheesearmyca" was one of their names. He concluded that the Aliens were at a war. With another planet?! He couldn't help but smile. He couldn't wait to tell his leader how much more fun this was about to get.....

Part 6

The Astros haven't done anything drastic in a few days, so it was only a matter of time before they did. I stayed relaxed though, playing some tower defense games I had downloaded. General Usaqe had a short conversation with me regarding recent Astro info a few minutes ago. Strange, I had the feeling someone was listening to us. My gameplay was interrupted by a transmission from another one of the Generals, but they disconnected only a second after I answered it.

Next I heard some rumbling outside my office, followed by some faint shouts and explosions. My curiosity led me out the door, and I saw the most formidable Astro weapon: The Hypersonic Ops Flagship. It had landed inside the hive and launched a massive invasion of Astros within. Knowing there was a laserstaff back in my room, I bolted in to retrieve it and returned to help fight. One by one, the interior defense turrets exploded. Now the Flagship was firing at the Hive ceiling, I watched in awe and fear as chunks of it caved in and crushed anything below. Usaqe, backing away from some of the destruction, came near me and shouted "SoD Cheese! Don't try to fight anymore. Our defenses have failed. Just run!" He nudged me backwards a bit and I took the cue to turn around and run. It wasn't long before Usaqe lost his stamina from running, we both stopped to catch our breaths, and ahead approached 5 Astros. We tried to fight, but Usaqe was gunned down, and I escaped, killing 3 Astros. I found a segment of the Hive monorail that was still intact and rode it away from the remaining astros that ran after me.
Through a narrow tunnel I escaped the hive. The Mothership sat alone outside. The few survivors took refuge inside, and it took off after I entered. I looked out the back window. Over the horizon I could see the Astro ship ascending out of the hive's ruins.
...
Shockwaves made the tunnels tremble. Just as Qu'ponse was about to mess around with the control room. He glared at one security camera that displayed the hive being annihilated by what looked like the race from earth that he had heard about before. So he didn't have to do anything, the hive was already being destroyed. The lights and screens shut out, leaving him in pitch blackness. No matter, he simply created his own light with his powers. After a few hours of standing around, the tremors and explosion sounds ceased. Guess the siege ended. Why not go out and take a look?
Qu'ponse gazed at the humans that were searching the wreckage for survivors. Moving with stealth once again, he stowed away in their largest ship just before it began to vacate the hive. Now it was time to learn about these humans without them knowing he'd been there. Ok, he would leave a few hints, like a dead Astro or two. Maybe these guys would be enslaved right along with the Aliens when it was time for the Vissers to storm Mars.
...
Sarsa tucked the tablet under her seat, staring out at the martian landscape again. She had managed to hitchhike to a group of aliens driving an unarmed speeder. Now it was clear she wasn't safe anywhere. Especially back at home, where she was going. But there was one person there she could trust...

Part 7

Sergeant Matthews continued to investigate the wreckage of the hive. Was what they did possibly wrong? Maybe. But they were running out of options. The Astros were close to defeat. Without this invasion, the mission would've been lucky to get to Earth alive. The war was over, they could continue their mission peacefully now. But what if their actions had just caused an amazing race to go extinct? His thoughts lingered as he searched the rubble for salvage, then he heard the voice of the Mission Commander on the HOA's loudspeaker. "We are about to depart. All troops prepare for liftoff". Matthews lost his train of thought after that and boarded the HOA as it took off for the skies. Strange... He sensed the presence of something inhuman aboard the ship.
...
I sat in the back of the ship. Shell-shocked at the prime obstruction that I just witnessed. I should've been dead. Everyone I worked with was gone. The king. The generals. I didn't even know any of these other survivors. I couldn't believe this. Was that invasion possibly our Ragnarok? That's probably what many Aliens asked millions of years before I was born, when the lightning gods... Vissers... tore through us ruthlessly.
I asked the Aliens in control of the Mothership if we could stop at my hometown. They nodded and set course. The Mothership landed on the familiar grounds and I walked out. The sense of comfort and familiarity probably would've been stronger if the citizens weren't lamenting the destruction. Obviously the news had already spread that the hive was destroyed. I trudged the streets until I saw my home, but there was a sheriff standing in front of it. I asked what he was doing there. "What's going on? Where's Ferani?"
"Oh. it's you Cheese... Well... We don't know. She just disappeared, not that long after news of the hive attack arrived."
What the sheriff told me didn't seem true. He started to walk away. I nearly blacked out. Afterwards I noticed someone else standing alone. Someone I knew thanks to Ferani. "Sarsa?"
She didn't hear me.
"Hey! Over here! Sarsa?"
Finally she noticed.
"Who are you? Did you know Ferani..?"
"Yes. I'm Cheesearmyca."
"Oh! She's told me about you. She was the last person I could turn to. Unless you don't like being bribed by illegal smugglers."
"Pfft. Smugglers? I used to be paid to kill scum like them. Paid a lot more then their stupid bribes. Now what do they want with you."
"As a child I always liked to hide in this cave I found in the canyon. The Tablet of Ouswreln was in there."
"The T- Tablet of... You found that? Do you know what that thing is?"
"I may have given up school, but I listened while I was there. Of course, that's the tablet that according to legend, was brought with us when we came to Mars. It was a piece that broke off of a Visser ship during the invasion of the World of Light. Then the ancient Aliens inscribed an old story on it, one that involved Technomancy. But these smugglers led by some creep named Drax... They wanted it and threatened me to give it to them. I knew I had to keep it out of hands like theirs, so I ran far away with it. But I learned there's few people I can trust. They hand me over to Drax and I have to run again."
"With this tablet we could find out the way back to the Phobon, and we could learn where the Vissers come from. This thing doesn't deserve to be blackmarketed. I'm going to help you protect it, Sarsa. We've both lost Ferani, now we need to join forces."
I couldn't not help her. It was pretty obvious she hadn't slept well in months. But where would we go now?

Part 8

It had been a few weeks with no sign of Drax or any Astros for miles, Sarsa screamed at the sight of an aircraft slowly approaching the town, but I could tell it was just the Mothership and there was nothing to worry about. It landed outside the town and and an adviser came out of it and found me. "Cheese! Cheese! You're the king now!"
"Wait... What?!"
"No really. You're the highest authority that isn't dead. You're the only one that can take the throne. Everyone that you were under died in the hive."
"..."
He told me to come back to the hive, which the Aliens had already started to rebuild.
Meanwhile...
Drax came back to the town, again. His target had just left a few minutes ago, unbeknownst to him. He was growing extremely annoyed, and tired of coming back to this town. He wanted to take out his anger by demolishing the whole city, but he knew that a force would fight back in minutes if he tried that. Nobody had ever heard of the one he was hunting for, so now he had no lead. But he wouldn't give up yet...
...
"POSSIBLE INTRUSION SUSPECTED! ALL GUARDS LOOK OUT FOR ANYTHING SUSPICIOUS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!" The loudspeakers echoed through the Astro MCB. Matthews felt a chill down his spine when he heard that. He made a very quick trip to the base's armory and grabbed the first weapons he saw. No other information about the suspected infiltration was reported. Not much happened within the base besides alert Astros moving around the base. Matthews went outside to one of the base's factories where claw-tanks were being built. When he stepped inside, the lights were off and nobody was supervising the production. "Hmm... Nobody's even in here." He felt fear but he diminished it. "If I can capture this intruder, maybe the Commander will promote me!" With this newfound confidence, he explored the factory with a flashlight. He thought he heard something move under one of the finished claw-tanks.
Suddenly a blue figure with wings charged out from under the tank and started glowing. Matthews panicked and fired at it with an automatic laser rifle. Then an electric jolt shocked him and sent him to the floor.
Whatever it was was injured too. It limped closer to him and just stared at him as he laid on the floor. "Who are you? What are you?" he said with panic in his voice. "Aienoa aoegjn maoano ong;eao. WOoe oaneo ewqo Qu'ponse!" was its only response. He reached for his transmitter and called for backup into the factory. He then blacked out...

Part 9

"What exactly are my new responsibilities?" I asked one of the advisers.
"You'll be doing a lot of the same functions, except with more macro, and our cities will be just as important to you as our bases are."
"What about batttles? Isn't the king supposed to take part in combat?"
"Oh, it's not required. You can lead from behind the terminal if you want, but the public will trust you more if you're a hero of war. It's more of an honor thing, and a tradition that most of the other Kings of Mars did. Also... Remember that just because you can dictate this entire planet doesn't mean you can be malevolent without your power being revoked."
"Well then... I'll remember not to do malevolent... things? And fight Astros..."
"We're not sure if that'll be necessary. You see, intelligence reports that the Astros believe we've been wiped out. The war is over... For now..."
I thanked the adviser for helping me, then I went back to check on Sarsa. They gave her the room that used to be my office, since I wouldn't need it anymore. A guard was at her door, which probably wasn't necessary because there was little chance of Drax getting into the hive at all. It wasn't fully rebuilt but it sure was reinforced.
Sarsa was messing with the terminal in her room. When she saw me, she put the screen in sleep mode and turned to me like I had a task or news to give her. "Oh, I didn't come here for anything important, just seeing how you were getting along so far." I confirmed.
"I'm fine here, thanks... I have a question: where exactly is the tablet now?"
"It's locked in a high security area, safe from even the most crafty spies. I'm afraid I can't tell you exactly where"
"Tell me anyway!"
"That's not the way you talk to someone who can imprison you, or worse, make you clean up Labyrinth Beast manure!"
It took her a few seconds to sense my sarcasm, then we both started laughing. Afterwards I assured her I'd show her later. About 3 hours later, I gave her security clearance and we took an elevator that went to a sector deep underground. A group of renowned ETX scientists were investigating the Tablet. I asked them if they had found out anything. They answered that there's evidence that it's supposed to be taken someplace, but nobody has any idea where. They also found out that the tablet itself is made of an alloy of a few different metals including some pressurized steel, an almost diamond-hard crystalline substance, and a type of metal they've never seen anything like before. The alloy was nicknamed Vissarium. Little else was known about this odd tablet.
...
Qu'ponse was wandering the Martian landscape alone again. He was surprised that he was almost caught. What was that? Don't be as careless next time. Species as puny as them shouldn't catch you that easily. He thought to himself. Even though it didn't matter, those Astros were gonna be shocked for weeks after that stunt. He managed to sabotage their entire factory. He grew bored, so he decided to take a monolith back to his homeworld. But when he got to the nearest monolith, he couldn't use it. It was solid as stone. "Well crap..."

Part 10

"I'm afraid we just can't do it, boss. The hive is almost entirely restored to the way it was before the Astros attacked it except this time the guards are more prepared, and quite patriotic. We simply don't have the sheer force needed to break in, and we can't figure out how to pull off a stealthy approach yet either. We could always recruit some more, but we can only advertise so much before the authorities get pointed right to us." Drax didn't react much to the report, since he already feared this would be so. Another crewman promptly burst into the room to give a sudden announcement to Drax "Boss, looks like some people have been holding back info from us. After some, uh, persuasion, I picked off some info from someone I know. I don't know how, but he had a shot of the tablet all along." then he rushed over to the terminal in the middle of the room, logged himself in, and opened a picture that projected itself in the air above everyone there. It was a close-up shot of the tablet and some of the markings on it. One of the former Astros gasped "Holy Shade!" (the former Astros picked up on Alien terms) "...This makes sense... It's the same- I- I know what we need to do!"
...