Oppression from the Oppressed: Chapter 3 – Day of Due Vengeance

Chapter 3 – Day of Due Vengeance

The ships of Aushalten slow down out of warp speed, stopping outside of a shielded Earth where its space military is waiting for us. I was chosen again by our leadership to rally the troops, talk down the people of Earth, and scare our foes, and not wanting to let them down, I accept, as always. Looking at Adalwolf, he nods at me like the supportive brother he is, who will always have my back, no matter what. I breathe in and out, and begin my speech.

“What a glorious day it is, men of Earth and Aushalten! Today, both peoples meet the truest versions of each other on this day of battle, when the masters of both worlds will be decided. It didn’t have to be like this. Honestly, we wanted to help you against foreign invaders. Still, after you took advantage of us in ways that we are all too familiar with and would not let us work in due harmony, you gave us no choice but to fight against you, so we could have our proper freedoms and prevent the worst of you from sinning against yourselves. Today is a day of justice, salvation for the innocent, glory for the martyrs, and the slaughter of the guilty.

Just as before, if you wish to be spared, lay down your arms and do not resist us. You will be an honored friend if you turn against those who have turned against us, such as the Dominion, who promised us brotherhood and fair treatment. The Castigators, who once punished corrupt leadership and acted outside the law when it no longer served God, will be put to the sword. The Compassionate, who once did everything to help the poor and oppressed, will be gunned down with the money and weapons they obtained off the backs of the people they were meant to protect. The Council of Punishment, who lost the grace of God and their guardian angels, will be burned in the fires of our wrath.”

Our defense breaker ships come in through warp speed, immediately ramming the ship at the front of the defense line and pushing their way through Earth’s meager space ships with our own backing them up. Our ships, who got here sooner than us, uncloak themselves, fly out of the oceans, and destroy the space stations that shield Earth. More ships of Aushalten arrive at Earth and descend at full speed toward Earth’s surface with us.

Continuing, I say, “Forward, men and friends of Aushalten! Bared your teeth, raise your weapons, and show our enemies our unrelenting strength! Show them the terrifying justice of the God they have forsaken! Kill all who stand in our way! Give nothing but justice and death to the scum that oppresses you; this is your mother’s prayer! This is the honorable task your father has given you! Do not waver! Do not retreat! Do not lose hope! Kill and be killed, and give all honor and glory to God!”

Our invasion ships are met with enemy fire from the Earth’s surface as they quickly mobilize more ships to meet us in the air and use their air defenses, which we gave them, to shoot our ships out of the sky. We do not break from formation even as we sustain heavy fire, and instead, sing and pray as we continue our descent. Leading the men in song, we sing a common patriotic song of Aushalten.

“God bless the hands that bleed, the man that dies for his family, the woman who suffers for her children, the servile child! For the way of love is suffering and death, and I will die that death today! Pray for me, mother. Help me, father. Stand by me, neighbor. Lift me higher, my angel. Look upon me, heavenly mother. Give me strength, foster father. All for God and Aushalten, I live and breathe, and all for everyone, I will suffer and bleed joyously!”

As our invasion ships crash into the ground, they split apart skyscrapers and flatten targeted buildings underneath them, all the while being unharmed and still functional enough to go back into space and to Aushalten. From here, we get on our infantry ships and deploy our mechanized armor upon the Earth. With Adalwolf and various soldiers on a ship with me, our ship flies out from the invasion ship and into the war-torn city.

“I’ve never breathed air in a place that didn’t require exertion from me before. Earth is truly a soft planet to live on,” Adalwolf notices as we fly through the city.

“It truly is humanity’s homeworld, and a place that can soften a man. It’s no wonder many of our own fell to its comforts when they were invited here, but don’t get too relaxed, brother. We have heads of armies to execute,” I say.

Our target is the leader of the Castigators, a member of the once-honored family of Mundr. The skies are choked with our ships ramming into their enemies and blowing them out of the sky, while the armed and armored forces relentlessly charge at and shoot all who get in their way, with little care for their own safety. The war that was Aushalten has been brought to Earth, and now, the men and women who took advantage of us are facing our wrath firsthand. Earth will never be the same again.

“Shaeffer,” Adalwolf says, “there it is, the white, red, and crimson house of Mundr. They have heavy air defense and superhuman and so-called hero guards around them.”

“How disgraceful. This is the most heavily defended area on Earth. Their heaviest defenses should first be around the civilians and families rather than their leaders. Nevertheless, it should soon fall,” I say as our ship lands a ways away from the Mundr house.

Adalwolf, our accompanying soldiers, and I follow a charge of armor and soldiers who have the same target as us. The armored soldiers have mechs made in the image of Aushalten knights with gas mask-styled faces, tanks, and spider mechs that were once used to mine on steep mountains and deep caverns, but are now used to scale buildings to give heavy sniper support. The soldiers with us are a mix of specialized soldiers such as heavies and snipers, normal soldiers who are dressed in armor like my brother’s, and civilians who volunteered, wear spare or handmade armor, and wield spare guns. Given the nature of Aushalten, its people know how to wield and make weapons and armor of war and give their lives for the sake of others. Our ships from above knock out ships from the sky and intentionally ram those ships toward our target, getting rid of some of the threats in our way before bombarding the house of Mundr’s air defenses.

Despite the crashing ships and falling buildings around us, we fight on, even going through the crashed enemy ships, executing survivors, and using the explosive weaponry that we gave them for our purposes. To our surprise, the enemy starts retreating back to the house of Mundr, rather than holding their ground. There are even some who run in the opposite direction of the house.

“It figures that the defenders of Earth were soft. Even their elite troops are retreating,” Adalwolf says.

“Yes, but be careful that this isn’t a trap of any kind. They may not be tough, but they could be crafty,” I say.

Our forces are now on the grounds of our target, with it in sight and a wreck of what it once was. The statues of its honored saints are shattered, like its defenders, and its automatic defenses and robotic servant soldiers are failing. Our armor support focuses on securing the area, and ships move onto our targets, while the infantry heads into the large house to face and execute the enemies within. Given the assault from outside that defaced the house with gunfire and explosives, the house’s defenders are further within, hiding behind makeshift cover like tables, chairs, bookshelves, and statues. They disgracefully hide behind statues of saints, our God, His Mother, and other blessed figures, but that doesn’t stop us from shooting them. Instead, we have to be more accurate so as not to incur sin upon our souls.

Through our zeal and love of God and those blessed by God, we become deadlier and more accurate with our attacks. Some with us even run at the enemy with steel swords, once used for cutting rock, so they don’t have to worry about shooting and hitting the blessed statues. With that disgusting obstacle out of the way, we head into the inner sanctum of the house, as our forces continue to cover every inch.

“I heard this place used to be a mall, some kind of Earth marketplace with an expansive number of shops,” Adalwolf says.

“I can see it, but the only thing sold here are the spoils of crime and the souls of men for sin,” I say.

“Nothing here sold was cheap or did not result in some good,” a woman’s voice says.

Appearing before us from the darkness are three boys and three girls, all of whom are descendants of Mundr, dressed in expensive suits and dresses, and wielding black pistols.

“The so-called good results are good results only for you,” I say.

“The people of Earth needed the weapons and resources of Aushalten to protect itself from threats from space. It was almost wiped out two times in a row. Something like that can not happen again,” the daughter of Mundr says.

“And yet, no real threats to you have appeared since our ancestors allied themselves with you.”

“That is until now.”

“This is due justice for the ill treatment of our people.”

“That’s not how we see it. Do you know what these are?”

The sons and daughters of Mundr hold up their black pistols.

“I know of your ancestor’s legendary power. St. Kane Mundr could read souls and see if God fated them to die or be spared. His ebony pistols would kill anything they shot, no matter how powerful they were, and his white revolvers rendered men unconscious.”

“We were blessed with similar powers to him, and we see you are deserving of death.”

“Given your history, I doubt your vision is clear.”

“If that’s so, then you’ll survive being shot by us. If you do, then we’ll willingly surrender, and tell our allies to as well. Isn’t that a good deal?”

The sons and daughters of Mundr start streaming what is happening through a floating news robot and let the public know what is happening.

Leaning over and whispering to me, Adalwolf says, “Do these people think we’re stupid? They just want to shoot us with our weapons down.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me if they do, but I see a great opportunity here,” I say. Turning back to the Mundr family, I say, “I will endure your bullets myself for all to see. If I die, I die, but if I don’t, you have to hold up to your end of the bargain.”

“Deal,” the daughter of Mundr says.

“But also, if you each continue to shoot me more than once, then I must be allowed to defend myself.”

“Sure. You people from Aushalten may be durable, but you won’t survive a single shot from us.”

“I will endure your assaults as well. I am his brother and am charged by God to suffer with him,” Adalwolf says.

“Okay. You people really are masochists for pain.”

Looking over to Adalwolf, I want to say something, but knowing that he won’t back down, I hold myself back. I see the ghost of our mother over him. She never hesitated to throw herself over people to cover them from being hurt, and he carries on her legacy, something I cannot deny him. Our people behind us back off, while Adalwolf and I hold out our arms like how our Lord was crucified, and prepare to endure pain as He did. The sons and daughters of Mundr aim their pistols at us, first starting to shoot us with a dishonest shot to the head, then hitting us in the body. I count a shot from each of them, and seeing that they’re shooting us more than once, instantly bring up my pistol and start shooting them back, along with Adalwolf, who does the same with me in unison, killing all of the Mundr siblings.

My brother and I check to see if we’re both okay or in need of medical attention, and are thankful to see that neither of us is. We embrace one another as our people cheer.

I go up to the robot that’s still streaming and say, “See, men and women of Earth and Aushalten? The leaders of Earth are dishonest, weak, and pitiful, whereas the men of Aushalten like my brother and I are self-sacrificing and can endure anything thrown at us. We are blessed by God, while our enemies are abandoned. To those who still fight us, you have only one course of action to save yourselves: beg for mercy from Him! Lay down your arms or face imminent annihilation and damnation!”

I then shoot the robot, ending the stream. My people continue to cheer before heading out to see if there are any more roaches to expunge from this overly large house, only to find soldiers and politicians who surrender. This was a great start to our invasion of Earth, but it’s not the end. The other territories of the Castigators must be conquered, and then we’ll move on to finish our war by punishing the so-called Compassionate, thereby satiating divine justice and securing peace for both the people of Earth and Aushalten.