Intersexed Ch. 03: Part 3.

Intersexed Ch. 03: The War on Terror. Part 3.

From Part 2.

Tank grinned at him. "To rewrite our battle plan for the slaver encampment. We'll only need around a thousand troops, I'd guess. We'll take two to be sure." He grinned laconically. "Or, given it's Ireland, maybe that should be three, argh, to be sure, to be sure!"

Continued...

"What?" Major Tenerife asked Tank's departing back, totally mystified. He stood to follow him.

Ten minutes later, Genet, Angelina, Bennett, Alban, Roque, and Envet poured over Tank's new plan. Pointing at the enormous tower and the shielded bunker at its feet, Genet stated, "The key is to destroy the communications array first. Taking that out strands them on Earth and gives us plenty of time to take them out."

"Unless their cloaking systems are better than you're aware, and they already have ships orbiting the Earth, too," Julie pointed out. "Historically, the Aridians collected their slaves every two to two hundred and fifty years, right? But now, they take smaller numbers more often, which means they either have an interstellar capable ship stored on their base or one circling above. Also, according to the reports, they're due on Earth about now."

"Ain't you just full of happy news," Brian grumbled. "Always seeing the bright side of things." He considered before adding, "With the improvements we've made in worldwide communications, the slavers can't get away with ransacking and killing entire villages anymore. Nor can they leave behind a few dozen murdered people they didn't want. Instead, they randomly grab two or three people from many places worldwide. That means there has to be a holding cell somewhere on their base."

Roque added, "For sure, if our attack breaks them open, they'll fall back to the cells and use the prisoners as hostages."

"You're right," Tank admitted. "We need Tenerife's techs to scan the planetary system to ensure we're the only ones out here, then pray the Aridian's cloaking systems haven't outfoxed our scanners. I'd risk an active scan rather than doing it passively because that ensures we find everything. But given we're in no position to pursue them if they flee, we cannot afford to warn the Aridians we're here. His techs also need to find where the Aridians are holding the people they've taken."

He looked around, "We agree this is workable, then? Better than trying to sneak ten thousand warriors onto the ground and launching a full-scale attack?"

"I'll get the techs started immediately," Major Tenerife stated when everyone nodded.

"We need to get representatives from Britain, Ireland, Russia, China, and America on board the ship so we can start revealing what the world's facing," Tank pointed out to Tenerife.

"Why only those five?" the major queried. "Won't we need to inform every leader from all countries?"

"Britain and Ireland because the raid is in Ireland and close to Great Britain, and we don't want them to interfere. The other three are the superpowers. If they're on board, they'll bring most of the rest of the world with them. When we've dealt with the Aridians on Earth, we'll bypass the Islamic leaders and get the Grand Mufti's onside. They'll bring their governments into line with them."

"Putin and Xi Jinping are already aware we're here, and we've dealt with them both. America is their 'lame duck President' stage. Do we get Biden, Harris, Trump, or all three? President Trump knows we're here because we spoke during his first term. We avoided the other two because they seemed incompetent, and we didn't trust them to keep our presence hidden. We dealt with President Trump because we saw him as a loose cannon, and we couldn't predict how he'd react if he discovered aliens orbiting his planet. We decided his knowing was better than him finding out himself."

"President Senility Biden, Vice President Hillary-Light Harris, or President-Elect Pussy Grabber Trump, what a grand choice!" Tank muttered before glaring at Lieutenant Bennett. "How the fuck, with 335 million people to choose from, do your people end up with these three running your country?"

"Beats me, too," Brian shrugged, "But it's not like the ones before were that much better!"

"Who is the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff?" Tank asked.

"General Charles Q. Brown Jr., USAF," Major Tenerife answered.

"I've heard of him," Brian stated. "He's good. Level-headed, intelligent, and unafraid to recommend force if he thinks it's required."

"Bring him, then," Tank said emphatically. "Don't worry about the other three. Better bring the top military leaders of the other countries, too."

"Putin and Xi are effectively their respective country's military leaders, too," Tenerife pointed out. "But we can fetch the UK's and Ireland's Chiefs of Defence, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin and Lieutenant General Seán Clancy, easily enough."

"How do you typically meet with these people?" Julie asked.

"We make an appointment, of course," Tenerife smiled. "We have exclusive encrypted phones that allow us to contact them directly. Then, we use specific code phrases so they know when we want to see them, and then we use the teleporter to place us where the Presidents tell us to. It's to a place that has no cameras and is clear of security, of course." Tenerife thought momentarily before adding, "I assume you want to come with us this time?"

"Nope," Tank grinned. "Major, can you get General Zaha to meet us here?"

"Sure," Tenerife replied. "He'll want to know why."

"Tell him we're about to kick over an ants' nest, and he'll want to know why."

Tenerife flicked open a communicator and woke General Zaha up. After a shouted exchange from Zaha's end, Tenerife closed the communicator and said Zaha was on the way.

A few moments later, General Zaha stormed into the cafeteria. "This had better be good!" He snarled.

"I think Julie and I will visit four presidents, one prime minister, and three heads of military and ask them if they'd like to visit space with us," Tank said calmly as if announcing what he wanted for breakfast. "Of course, whether they say yes or no, they'll visit space anyway," he smilingly added.

"You cannot abduct five heads of state and their top military leaders without the world exploding!" Zaha thundered.

"I can and will," Tank stated. "We've been pussy-footing about, trying to stay unknown. But with what's coming, we need to announce our presence loudly and immediately. I say we do it now with overwhelming evidence of our ability to take over the entire world, which we won't do because there's an alien invasion coming, and they need our help. Simultaneously, we'll get you to broadcast to the world again, telling everyone what's happening and what to expect. Before that broadcast and as soon as we inform the presidents and prime minister of what we're about to do, we hit that Aridian base."

"The Aridians will demand help from their Armada as soon as I announce we're here," General Zaha pointed out.

"I'm guessing they would have already informed Aridia of a possible Providian presence on Earth when you made the first broadcast," Tank explained. "But we can cause confusion for long enough by having you announce that the abductions and attacks on the Irish base are the work of WOLF. Then, by the time they realise we're Providian, we'll hopefully have destroyed their ability to communicate with their home planet."

"There's a lot of 'ifs' and 'buts' and 'wishes' in there, Tank," Brian growled, "and shit in one hand while you wish in the other. See which one fills up first. What if there's an Aridian ship already circling close enough to see and hear what we're doing, and it hightails it back to Aridia or warns them?"

Tank shrugged before saying, "I guess we'll find out if forty-thousand Providian regular troops, twenty-thousand enhanced Providian soldiers, thirty superhuman ones, plus whatever Earth's divided militaries will send, is enough to defeat eight million Aridian slavers, won't we?"

"We're fucked, in other words," Genet said cheerfully.

Everyone laughed despite the tension built up in the cafeteria.

"Why can't you do it surreptitiously as we have in the past?" General Zaha asked.

"There's too much time difference between Moscow, London, Beijing, and Washington," Tank explained. "Beijing is thirteen hours ahead while Moscow and London are eight." Tank thought through his plan and spotted a potentially disastrous mistake. "Shit!" He exclaimed. "If we take the other leaders but not America's, everyone will assume it's an American-led coup to topple the world, and they'll all attack the US!"

Julie chuckled, "This whole 'taking over the world thing' is much more difficult than you'd think, huh?"

"We need time to arm and train Earth's fighters, and we must give Major Tenerife and his people time to enhance more of our soldiers and the human volunteers." Tank considered his plan. "Yeah, we have to grab Biden, Harris, and Trump, too. Then we'll make the leaders contact who they must to prevent the world from exploding into World War Three as we bring them up-to-date with what Earth is facing."

"Can't you just clone the enhanced soldiers you already have?" Brian queried, asking the obvious question.

"No," Tenerife explained. "I've tried and created nothing but mutated monsters every time. An enhanced warrior's genes hyper-react to the cloning process and mutate uncontrollably."

"Which brings me to another point. Perhaps a final one for you," Tank stated menacingly. "Do you have anything to do with keeping the monsters your mutagens occasionally create imprisoned on level three instead of having them killed as we agreed?"

Major Tenerife's face turned white as his eyes exploded wide. "There's what?" He bellowed. "I turn them over to Colonel Tangran as per doctrine. He was to kill them, burn their carcasses to ash, and sterilise everything. You're saying they're all still alive?"

"They were until a couple of hours ago," General Zaha growled. "However, miraculously, they all seemed to fall out of an open airlock shortly after Captain Zaffra confirmed they existed. By the number of prison cells, I'd guess there were close to two hundred of them."

"That's the number I had restrained and sent to Tangran," Tenerife stated.

'He's either the best poker player I've ever seen or heard of,' Tank thought. 'Or he's telling the truth.'

"Where's Colonel Tangran now?" Tenerife snarled. "I'll shoot him my fucking self!"

"Taken care of," General Zaha stated. "I had him arrested as soon as I confirmed there were mutated monsters kept on that level. The tribunal will find him guilty and execute him before day's end."

"He's got many supporters amongst Providian senior staff," Tank pointed out. "You don't think they'll sweep this under the carpet?"

General Zaha struggled with most of Tank's idioms but understood this one. He grinned, "Not this time. I loaded the deck with generals loyal to me."

"Couldn't happen to a nicer cunt," Brian growled, having fallen afoul of Colonel Tangran's wrath after most of the raids he'd led.

General Zaha, a man of action and few words, which was why he was so loved by his troops, growled, "So, we have a plan. Inform the leaders of the countries most important to successfully destroying the Aridian encampment what we're doing, destroy the camp, and announce we're responsible." The others nodded. "Then, I'm going back to bed. I have a pretty little thing waiting there who loves older men, and they don't come much older than me!"

"Humour, General?" Genet teased. "Will wonders never cease?"

Zaha left without replying, and the group split up, heading to their respective rooms. As lieutenants and above, they all got a separate bedroom. The rooms were sparse but functional, with minimal furnishings. Soiled clothes went into a chute, which returned them cleaned, dried, and pressed. Food was available twenty-four hours a day from any of the canteens or cafeterias, so the rooms were basically a bedroom with an attached bathroom.

Although food was readily available in canteens or cafeterias close to most rooms, Tank and his crew tended to gather at the nearest cafeteria to his room despite the Providians in his squad having to travel quite some distance to get there.

Tank stepped into his room to find it in disarray. He rubbed his eyes disbelievingly until he heard Tina giggle, "About time you got here!" He looked toward the sound and saw the girls had dragged their mattresses into his room and had bound them together.

"Yeah," the twins added. Although Demi and Adelle had mostly stopped conversing in alternate words or unison, they still would if they wanted to tease.

"To what do I owe this rather dubious pleasure?" Tank jibed.

"We_told_you_you_were_our_favourite_masturbation_fantasy, _Tank_Zaffra," The twins said alternately. Then, together, they added, "We've come to collect on our fantasy."

"Me?" Tina kidded. "I'm just here for some twin action."

"Don't I get a say in this?" Tank pretended to grumble.

"No!" The three younger girls stated firmly before they leapt on him and wrestled him to the ground.

Tank's clothes joined the girls', carelessly tossed aside.

"You started without me," Tank mock protested as Tina's ragingly hot pussy descended onto his mouth. Her balls blocked his nose momentarily until Tina shifted lower and cupped them out of the way.

"Of course," Adelle snorted as she lowered her mouth to engulf Tank's swiftly swelling cock. "We're horny."

"We're all horny all the time," Tank said into Tina's cunt before she rammed her pussy against his mouth and clamped her muscular thighs around his ears and prevented him from talking or hearing.

"Shut up and lick," Tina panted as Tank's gifted tongue probed along her drenched and parted labia and found her button.

"Gawd, Sis," Demi moaned as she lifted and spread Tank's knees and cupped his tennis ball-sized testes out of the way so she could tongue his cunt and suck his clitoris. "How many years have we fantasised about doing this?"

"I'm not sure you ever imagined licking Tank's cunt," Adelle laughed, momentarily letting Tank's stupendous cock out of her mouth.

"Do you think he'd let me fuck him?" Demi asked.

"I'm betting yes," Tina said as she rode Tank's face and jacked her 10-inch cock.

Demi moved to her knees and pushed Tank's knees further back, lifting his pussy higher until it lined up with her throbbing cock. Then, she pushed her hips forward and slid it into Tank's dripping cunt. Tank moaned gutturally into Tina's pussy and increased his licks and stabs into her.

Tank's skilful ministrations to Tina's vulva and clit soon had her rocketing into a powerful orgasm. Simultaneously with her pussy fluttering open and her ass clenching, Tina's throbbing cock twitched, and she spat thick ropes of cum onto Tank's stomach and Adelle's face.

"More!" Tina demanded as she shuddered and ground herself against Tank's chin, lips, and nose. Tina's arousal was already climbing to her climactic peak again.

Unconcerned with Tina's gooey spend over her face, Adelle let Tank's enormous cock out of her mouth and straddled him. She reached behind her and wrapped her hands around Tank's thick shaft. She moaned as she sank slowly onto it. Tank moaned deep in his chest as his glans hit Adelle's cervix before it opened, and he slid into her cervical canal. Tank's cock's eye briefly peered into Tina's womb when her tight ass hit his rock-hard abdomen.

Meanwhile...

"Harder!" Julie demanded. Her shoulders were firmly pushed into her bed, with her delicious D-cup breasts flattened beneath her. Julie's muscular, heart-shaped ass was held in Brian's powerful hands as he ripped her back onto his giant cock. "I said harder, Gawddammit!"

Brian chuckled and shifted so that he squatted on Julie's bed. Then, using his powerful lower back, glutes, and upper thighs, Brian rammed his 11-inch cock into Julie's clasping pussy. Brian's pelvis banged against Ms Angelina's taut ass with a solid, meaty thump. He smacked her ass, pulled back, and rammed in again.

"Yes!" Julie crowed. "Plough my white pussy, you big, beautiful man. Drive this slut's uterus out her throat!"

Brian was more than happy to oblige, and despite his burning thighs, he increased the speed and force of his thrusts into the gorgeous actress' soaking cunt.

"Almost!" Julie panted. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! That's it!" She growled low and loudly, "That's it, I'm cuuuuuuuummmmmmmmiiiiiiiinnnnnngggggggggg!" Juices gushed from her pussy as her female ejaculate flooded Brian's cock and drenched his enormous balls.

Brian locked into place, his cock's head buried entirely inside Angelina's womb. "Fffffffaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrkkkkkkkkkkk!" He growled as his balls clamped against his shaft, and his prostate cramped. Cum burst from his cock's eye and showered Julie's insides like a geyser showered its surroundings. "Fffffffaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrkkkkkkkkkkk!" Brian growled again as his cock erupted repeatedly, filling Julie's uterus and flowing back out to drip from his twitching balls.

Panting, they collapsed onto the bed until Brian's slowly wilting cock plopped from Julie's extremely tight cunt. A small river of cum and lady juice flowed after it.

Wriggling her divine bottom, Angela encouraged Brian off her and onto his back. She moved between his legs and pushed his knees back and apart. Lining her 12-inch cock with his pussy, Julie rammed it home. "My turn," she giggled as she forced her cock through Brian's cervical canal and into his womb. "I'm going to breed you, big boy," Julie teased as she ground her pubis against Brian's clit, her glans rocking back and forth as if examining Brian's uterus' insides."

"Jaysus!" Brian gasped as he felt his pussy being opened by what felt like a log. He'd experimented with his fingers, but they paled in comparison to Julie's enormous cock. Brian muttered, "Oh, fuck! That's intense before playfully joking, "I guess I'm not a virgin anymore."

Shocked, Julie asked, "I'm the first one who has been inside you? Anan typically rewards herself by taking the enhanced human's virginities."

"She says I'm too masculine to interest her," Brian explained. "She suggested that I slept imagining myself to be as feminine as possible. Then, if that works, she'll fuck me. But, fuck that, right?"

"Well, this girl is pleased you're not feminine-looking," Julie grinned. "Even if she is using her 12-inch cock to fuck you. Oh, and Brian?" He nodded. "You're going to love this!" She pulled all but the tip of her gigantic cock out of his pussy and viciously rammed it back in.

"You're right!" Brian gasped as his orgasm almost instantly crashed over him, and his nut juice spat onto his chest.

In Tank's room...

The twins had lain down with their firm buns pressed against each other. Adele's left thigh was over Demi's right, and her right thigh was under Demi's left. They craned their heads to watch as they held their cocks upright, and Tank knelt and lowered himself onto the girls' penises. He grunted as Demi's cock's bulging head entered his slippery cunt, and then groaned protestingly as Adele's slid into his ass and parted his knot.

Following the girls' instructions, Tank fell back onto his hands. Next, he shook his head disbelievingly as Tina straddled the three of them and sank onto his throbbing, almost 11-inch cock.

"Now, this is a version of a three-holed slut I've never seen before," Tank tried to joke as sensations never felt before in such concentrated amounts raced through him. He felt excruciatingly gorgeously full, and yet his cock was wholly enveloped by an extremely tight, wet, and hot cunt.

Tina drove the sex train they were on because she was the only one who had free movement. She lifted herself until only the tip of Tank's gigantic member remained inside her. Then, Tina let herself fall, moaning as Tank's dick roared up her slick channel, pared her cervical canal open and raced up it to peer into her womb.

Her ass hitting Tank's pelvis drove the cocks inside him to their maximum depth, and although the twins' cocks were closer to ten inches than eleven, they both filled Tank deliciously. Tina lifted and dropped again, delighting in feeling her cunt and cervical channel filled to their maximum. Then, as the moans beneath her raised in loudness and frequency, she began riding Tank for all she was worth.

"Too much!" Tank grunted as he unloaded into Tina's ragingly hot cunt.

Feeling Tank's cum boiling into her uterus, Tina imagined he was breeding a child into her, and she screamed as her orgasm ratcheted through her body.

The twins had been biting their bottom lips and holding their climaxes at bay from the moment Tina had dropped onto Tank's pelvis and driven their cocks into his holes. Tank's tightly clenching cunt and ass undid their resistance, and their cocks erupted, spewing their cum into the muscular actor. Tank grunted again and orgasmed as he felt the young women cumming inside him. His enormous cock spewed more baby-making juice into Tina's womb.

A week later.

President Xi opened his eyes slowly. Over the last almost sixty years since Mao Zedong's revolution succeeded, presidential assassinations in China have become rare indeed. However, there was always a chance it would occur. Xi was confident his guards were loyal to him. However, as Indira Gandhi discovered, that was not always the case. There were people in his room who were not members of his staff. That, President Xi knew. If they weren't his staff, they were likely to be assassins. To his credit, his only regret was that he would never hold his wife or daughter again.

"Sorry to barge in on you like this, President Xi," A smooth, amused voice stated. "But we need to make you aware of a matter of grave importance not only to China but to the entire world."

"Such as?" Xi asked, proud of how calm he sounded.

"We'll tell you, along with the other leaders, we're kidnapping tonight," the voice informed him.

Light enveloped President Xi, and he collapsed into unconsciousness as his stomach rebelled and he wondered if he'd throw up.

President Putin stretched after getting out of his bed. He smiled happily at his sleeping wife. Times were tough for all Russians, and Putin was no exception. He often worked through the night, shoring up support from his few allies and chivvying wavering party members to continue supporting the war.

Although the invasion of Ukraine proceeded as his advisors predicted, the vehement opposition of the Ukrainian people and the willing support offered them by almost all of the rest of the world had surprised him. The rare times he got to sleep an entire night with his beloved were treasures to be enjoyed. Their marriage had celebrated forty-one years recently, and Vladimir could not imagine life without her.

He strode naked to his kitchen, proud of his muscular physique, his weight unchanged from his days as a young KGB agent. The door closed behind him as he walked from his hallway into the kitchen, and the lights came on. Putin blinked in the sudden light, instinctively reaching for the pistol typically attached to his right hip. Realising it wasn't there, Putin spun to his left and dropped, minimising his profile to the assassin he thought was in his house.

A delightfully feminine chuckle tickled his ears. "Impressive," the woman teasingly said, "President Putin, we are not here to kill you, even though the Ukrainian people might wish we were. We need you to accompany us to a clandestine meeting of the World Superpower leaders. It's time to put an end to the ridiculous divisions on Earth because there is a far worse terror approaching from outer space."

"You are?" President Putin asked calmly, proud he'd remained stoic despite thinking his life was forfeit.

"WOLF," the woman replied, stepping from outside into the light.

Stunned, Vladimir stumbled, "Julie Angelina! What's the meaning of this? Why are you in my home?"

"Your eyesight and mental acuity remain undulled by time, President Putin," Julie teased. "It is good to see you again, Volodya," she said, taking his hands and kissing both his cheeks in the Russian way. "Please, we will return you unharmed. Accompany me?"

President Putin nodded, and an insistent light engulfed him. 'Fuck!' He thought as his stomach heaved and he passed out.

Ex-President/President-Elect Trump poured another glass and offered it to the hulking presence in his home office. He tipped his scotch glass to Tank. "I figured an assassin would attempt to murder me before I could take office," Donald said in his typical inimitable fashion. "But I would never have believed the killer would be an Australian actor."

Tank accepted the glass and chuckled along with President Trump. Tank had regularly accepted Donald's invitations to Mar-a-Lago. He was an avid, if not quite hopeless, golfer. "Mister President," Tank said respectfully. "I am not here to kill you. Instead, I'm asking you to attend an impromptu meeting between the world's superpowers."

Taking a hefty swallow, Donald asked, "And if I refuse?"

Tank matched Trump's swallow and smiled. "I couched it as a request, but..." Light surrounded the pair, and The Donald joined the others on the cloaked re-entry vehicle.

Vice-President Kamala Harris gasped as her eyes closed. Her hands pressed against her husband's broad chest as she rode him hard, arcing toward her third orgasm that night. 'How had things gone so wrong?' She briefly wondered as her husband ejaculated inside her, and she came. 'How could I have lost to the pussy grabber?'

Kamala eased off her husband and stumbled into her en suite. She knew Douglas would probably already be asleep, but she hated leaking his fluids all night, so she wanted to shower. Exiting the shower, she dried off and put on a nightie. Ready to sleep, Vice-President Harris opened the door and stepped into her bedroom.

"Sorry to bother you, Mrs Vice-President," a cultured feminine voice soothed. "But your presence is required."

"Where?" Kamala fearfully asked, aware that many of the Clinton's enemies had mysteriously disappeared. She was an ally, but still.

"At a meeting with the world's leaders," the voice told her as an enveloping light surrounded her. Vice-President Harris vomited before passing out.

President Joe Biden hated mornings most of all. He was at his most aware first thing in the morning and could tell his mind was... well, it had slipped, he admitted to himself. 'It was never supposed to be like this,' he thought as he swallowed the chemical regimen he was on to hold the creeping dementia at bay.

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. had coveted the presidency since first entering the Senate in 1973 but thought that ambition had been lost. However, when someone of Barack Obama's calibre asks you to serve, you do not hesitate. Joe thought his political career had ended with President Obama's second term, but when his party asked for his help to oust the 'pussy grabber', the old political warrior saddled up one more time. He won, admittedly controversially, but President Biden still turned his waning faculties to running his country to the best of his abilities. Now, in only a few short weeks, he'd ride off into the sunset, satisfied with what he'd achieved.

"Sorry to bother you, Mister President," a voice addressed him from behind.

'From behind,' Joe thought. 'There are only the bedrooms behind me. No one should be there.' Joe turned slowly, wondering why someone would assassinate him at this late stage of his presidency. "You're Tank Zaffra," The President gasped. "Why would a Hollywood actor want to kill me?"

"I don't," Tank smiled. "But I do need you to accompany me to a clandestine meeting with the other Superpower leaders."

White light blinded President Biden, and his stomach rebelled.

Sir Keir Rodney Starmer, Prime Minister of Great Britain and the United Kingdom, had ducked into his personal bathroom. He needed to be in the chamber shortly because Parliament was in session, and Question Time awaited. Keir sighed and relaxed. In here was one of the few places he was free of his protection detail, and Keir embraced the chance to be alone. He washed his face at the sink, dried it and his hands and froze, sensing someone was in the room.

"Good morning, Mr Prime Minister," A sexy, sensual voice said smokily.

Keir turned, "You're Julie Angelina," he stated, disbelieving anyone was in his private bathroom, let alone an A-list Hollywood actor.

"Yes, I am," Julie smiled.

"How did you get in here?" Sir Starmer asked.

"Like this," Julie grinned. Sir Starmer's world turned bright white. And he collapsed to his knees before falling over unconscious.

Looking at the unconscious world leaders, who had been helped into military-style jumpsuits and then webbing seats and secured in, Tank and Julie chuckled before Tank turned to face her. "Want to grab the Irish President and Prime Minister together?" Further research revealed that both men needed to approve any military action in Ireland.

"Sure," Julie agreed. "The others have shit seeing just one of us. Imagine what the last two will do when we both appear."

According to Tenerife's latest reconnaissance report, they were sequestered together, discussing the Aridian base of all things. It seemed one of the latest kidnapping victims was the daughter of one of the Garda Counter-Terrorism International senior operatives. They'd traced her to the camp.

"That's convenient," Tank mused. "Let's grab the operative, too. He'll definitely want in on attacking the base."

Time was running short, and everyone involved knew they'd been lucky so far. None of the leaders they had abducted had been reported missing yet, but Sir Keir's security was already antsy about how long the Prime Minister had been in the bathroom. Imminently, one would risk Keir's wrath and check on him. Then, the game would be up and running.

Tank and Genet decided the time for niceties was up, and the re-entry craft cruised past Parliament House in Dublin and transported President Michael D. Higgins and Prime Minister Simon Harris aboard. They snatched Darragh O'Brien, a senior operative for Garda Counter-Terrorism International and father to a kidnap victim held in the slaver camp, last.

President Xi, being the first taken, was the first to recover his wits. His eyes opened, and he examined his surroundings.

"Greetings, President Xi," Tank smilingly said. "Sorry to snatch you like that. I'm sure your poor wife must be terrified, but you'll have to be patient for a while longer before we can allow you to reassure her and tell your military to stand down."

"Your Chinese is exemplary, Mister Tank Zaffra," President Xi said evenly, trying to act nonchalantly when he realised Presidents Biden and Trump and Vice-President Harris were sitting unconscious opposite him. "I was unaware you'd learned Chinese for one of your movies."

"So was I," Tank grinned. "In fact, I was unaware we were using your native language."

"To what do I owe this honour?" Xi asked, switching to English.

"There is an alien invasion coming," Tank said grimly. "You must use your influence to help the other world leaders unite this world before the aliens arrive. The amount of time for the Earth to prepare may be very short indeed."

"I see," President Xi said. He was too polite to announce his disbelief.

Tank chuckled. "Yeah. I wouldn't believe me either. But hold that thought until the others have recovered, and I'll show you we're serious." Tank smiled at him and added. "Would telling you Julie and I led the attacks on the various terrorist groups around the world, including two near your border with Myanmar?"

"Julie?" Xi queried.

"Me," Julie said, stepping into view.

President Xi grinned and said, "Bu (No)."

"Thought not," Tank chuckled.

Similar conversations were had as the other world leaders awakened. Once they were all awake, Tank called, "Panton! Take us home." He turned to the various leaders. "If you promise not to do anything stupid--you especially, martial artist President Putin--I will take you to the ship's nose, and you can see us leaving Earth's atmosphere and travelling into space."

"The plane's not moving," President Trump pointed out. He believed some unknown terrorist group was using the two Hollywood actors as their mouthpieces. They had abducted the other leaders and him and were trying to take over the world. He did not believe they were in the air, let alone heading for outer space.

"The inertia dampeners certainly make it appear so," Tank agreed. "But come, let's walk to the nose, and you can see for yourself."

"If we are flying in Earth's atmosphere, how is it that we haven't been spotted by her satellites and/or radars?" Vladimir asked.

"How did we get in and out of those terrorist camps without once being spotted on radar or satellite?" Julie asked cryptically. No one answered, so she added, "You did see this craft momentarily about a week ago. Your surveillance satellites and radars reported an unidentified aircraft of unknown origin moving at an estimated 17,500 kilometres per hour, heading for the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. It disappeared before you could track and identify it."

The leaders nodded, remembering the briefings they'd received. The current theory was that it was wreckage from a satellite that had burnt up before hitting the ground. But almost nobody who had witnessed it believed that theory.

"The following day, the Islamic world crowed about destroying WOLF? You remember?" The leaders nodded again. "That was Panton, our pilot, racing to haul Tank's and my asses out of the fire. We lost five irreplaceable super warriors that day."

"Dare I ask what a super warrior is?" Darragh O'Brien asked.

"You may dare," Julie grinned. "But I may choose not to answer."

They reached the ship's nose in time for the view before them to turn from light to dark blue and then black. Stars shone in the black sky.

"Impressive visual effects," President Trump sniffed. "I've seen better on sets at Industrial Light & Magic, though.

"Panton, is it possible to turn down the artificial gravity and turn off the inertia dampeners?" Tank asked.

"Yes," Panton replied. "But we'll show up on the satellites and radars."

"The gigs up shortly anyway," Tank stated. "Either these guys agree to unite the world and help us, or we'll have to appeal to the general populace to do it for them."

Panton opened his computer panel and adjusted some settings, and suddenly, everyone except him floated off the deck, and a spacecraft's typical sounds and vibrations reverberated through the ship. Then, as Panton adjusted course, the leaders saw the moon racing towards them. The Providian star warship happened to be between Earth and the moon that night.

"I'm convinced," Prime Minister Keir said drily.

"I'm not," President Trump growled. "If we're close to the moon already, then where's planet Earth?"

"Panton, will you please make a loop and head back towards Earth?" Tank instructed. The Donald was afraid, Tank realised. He was hiding it manfully, but the braggadocio was to hide his fear, not because he didn't believe.

The eight leaders were momentarily pushed back onto the re-entry craft's floor as Panton looped the loop and faced back towards the Earth. The incredible speed at which the ship was moving quickly became apparent as Earth grew before them.

"Turn the gravity and dampeners back on, please," Tank politely requested. "Let's not freak Earth's watchers and their military out too much." It was already too late, Tank realised. The sudden appearance of an object moving at nearly 10,000 kph toward Earth would have set alarms blaring all over the planet. Advisors would already be collating what they knew and preparing reports. Hands would hover close to telephones to send those ready to evacuate their leaders as soon as the sightings were confirmed.

Tank was correct. NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA)'s monitors detected what they thought was an NEO (Near-Earth Object) and sounded claxons throughout the various monitoring stations. The claxons warbled, chirped, and fell silent when the object disappeared from their electronic view. All over the world, technicians scrambled, trying to confirm or dismiss the warnings. They were as confused as their electronics seemed to be.

However, despite the confusion reigning in all the official space monitoring agencies worldwide, a young aboriginal boy from Cape York in Australia was about to become a worldwide phenomenon. Djalu (Dale) Lightning was an A-grade student and avid stargazer. His 'Aunty', the senator Jacinta Nakajima Price, had gifted the young man a recording telescope and a laptop to store the images for his seventeenth birthday. Dale's telescope happened to be aimed at the moon when Panton's craft miraculously appeared. Dale was trying to discover evidence of the moon landings so he could tell his 'lations' (relations) at school they were idiots--of course, man had gone to the moon.

Dale examined the footage many times before he believed what his telescope had captured. With shaking hands, he attached a copyright tag and a date and time stamp, then emailed the footage to the ABC regional office in Cairns.

The newsroom in the ABC Cairns office was already in a flurry of activity caused by the sudden announcement of a NEO on an imminent collision course with Earth and its sudden denouncement and correction. Reporters scrambled to find sources from NASA or ASA (Australian Space Agency) to clarify what had happened. Was it a technical malfunction, as the correction stated, or was there something more?

A bored intern, who had been shuffled to a corner desk and told to stay out of the way while the 'grownups' worked, was idly scrolling through the many emails the ABC had received, asking questions about the appearing/disappearing meteor. "Hey, guys," she said, watching the unbelievable footage from Djalu's telescope. "I think you'd better have a look at this."

They ignored her, of course. But Jenny Amarossi knew a world-changing, exclusive news story when one landed in her lap. She smacked the desktop and shouted. "Guys! You'd better shut the fuck up and have a look at this!" She routed her computer to the overhead projector and played Dale's recording.

The vision jumped and faded in and out of focus for a few seconds while the telescope adjusted from peering at the moon to following the spacecraft. But when it settled into clarity, a long, sleek spaceship appeared in the screen's centre, heading towards the moon. Then, miraculously, the ship looped over backward, righted itself and blazed back towards Earth. It grew significantly larger on the screen before it vanished.

"What happened?" One of the reporters shouted. "Did he lose it?"

"According to the email, the ship disappeared as miraculously as it appeared," Jenny explained. She put the email on the large screen so the room could read it.

"Jennifer, Pat (her cameraman), you're with me," Kathy Job, the senior reporter growled. "Jennifer, get me the address. Mike (the ABC Cairns' director), tell Freddy to fire the chopper up," she added when she saw the sender's address. "We're off to Cape York."

The eight world leaders remained silent for the rest of the journey. They all knew each other, although the two Irish leaders had only a passing acquaintance with the Superpower leaders. No one except the two Irish leaders knew who Darragh was. Those three wondered why they were included. Surely, the leaders of India, Germany, and France should have been here instead of them.

The next blaze of excitement was when their spacecraft blasted inside a much more enormous one--spaceships of many sizes appeared, some bigger than and others smaller than theirs.

"We're not in Kansas anymore," Vise-President Harris muttered as she stared out the spaceship's narrow windows disbelievingly.

"No, you're not," Tank grinned as he opened the spaceship's airlock and walked into the decontamination passageway.

"Who wants to visit some aliens on an interstellar warship?" Julie kidded. "No one. Er, unfortunately, that's not an option. This way, please." She guided the nervous politicians into the passageway where Tank waited for them.

Tank and Julie tried to converse with the various leaders as they guided them through the curved hallways towards the conference room they'd prepared to receive them. But the politicians were coming to realise they, indeed, were not in Kansas. Presidents Xi, Putin, and Trump knew of the Providian presence on Earth but still struggled to believe they were in an orbiting spaceship of Providian origin.

The others thought they'd probably been kidnapped by members of The Free World's Only Liberation Force (WOLF). However, the technology used to bring them to this ship and the ship itself was beyond the world's capabilities, so they wondered.

Tank stopped before a door and touched his palm to a panel beside it. The door slid open, and he ushered the leaders in. Three men sat sternly around the table, hiding their nervousness as best they could. General Charles Q. Brown Jr., USAF, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sat with the UK's and Ireland's Chiefs of Defence, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin and Lieutenant General Seán Clancy. The men swiftly stood to attention and saluted their leaders.

General Brown snarled, "If you've harmed..."

"You'll do exactly squat, General Charles Q. Brown Jnr," Tank growled. "Sit down! We're not here for a pissing contest." He turned to Presidents Xi and Putin. "Because you effectively lead your militaries, gentlemen, we felt no need to include your senior officers in this meeting."

"As do I," President Trump said truculently.

"Technically true," Tank admitted. "But your country is in a 'lame duck President' stage. And the Providian leadership considered you two incompetent to make the decisions required to ensure Earth's future," Tank gestured towards Harris and Biden as they bristled. "And you, respectfully, Sir," Tank added. "Are a hothead. I thought it better to bring one calm head to the meeting."

Tank turned to address Xi and Putin again. "I can send a ship to pick up your militaries' leaders if you prefer. But that will take another two hours. Hours we don't have if we want to prevent World War Three from exploding."

Presidents Putin and Xi exchanged glances before Putin sat at the table's head. An action clearly designed to challenge and aggravate Tank and the other leaders.

Tank grinned and asked, "President Vladimir Putin, do we really need to compare dicks? You, Sir, are a skilled martial arts exponent. You have watched me move. Do you want to fight me?"

President Putin bowed his head slightly and shifted to the seat on the right, next to the table's head. Trump pushed past the others and sat opposite Putin. President Xi watched the two Presidents amusedly before sitting towards the table's end. The other leaders sat. Biden and Harris sat beside The Donald unwillingly. Irish President Michael D. Higgins and Prime Minister Simon Harris sat beside President Putin, and Darragh joined the other three military men."

Tank sat at the Table's head with Julie. He opened the table's panel and pressed some buttons. The wall opposite him flickered and came alive. The footage was an aerial view of the Aridian encampment not far from Limerick, Ireland.

Darragh surged to his feet and shouted, "That's where they're holding my daughter, Maeve. I wanted to launch a rescue but was forbidden!" He turned angry eyes onto Lieutenant General Seán Clancy. "That's a terrorist camp that a blind eye has been turned to for at least sixty years."

"More like ten thousand," Tank said drily. "When Ireland's people formed their first glimmerings of a government, representatives from that camp insisted on an agreement from them that has remained in place ever since. In essence, that agreement states that the Irish government, military, and people will pretend that their camp doesn't exist. In return, the slavers will not take their slaves from anywhere on Irish soil."

"Why would our government make that deal?" Darragh snarled at his Prime Minister.

"I know of no such deal," President Michael D. Higgins denied as Prime Minister Simon Harris agreed.

Lieutenant General Seán Clancy sighed. "Need to know, Sirs," he admitted. "The slavers would take entire villages, often more than five a year. They, even more than the potato famine, are responsible for more Irish deaths than anything else."

"So, you passed your problems to everyone else and ducked them yourself?" Vice-President Harris snarled. "You cannot and do not negotiate with terrorists!"

"Yet America deals with terrorist countries every day," Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer drawled. "America is in no place to judge the actions of others. He turned to Tank. We, too, know of this deal. It was one of the reasons we tried to bring and keep Ireland under our control. However, we quickly realised we could not stand against the Gaelic slavers. No matter how many we killed, more would return the following day to attack us. In the end, we let the camp and the agreement stand."

"It's because you can't permanently kill them," Tank explained. "If you kill them, they regenerate overnight and generate a clone simultaneously. You fight twice the number the next day."

"Humans don't regenerate," Putin growled. "Let alone create a clone when they do."

Tank hit some buttons, and the image zoomed in on a slaver patrolling the encampment. The 'man' looked brutal, ogre-ish, as if an unskilled modeller had tried to create a human from clay. "Does that look like a human to you, Mr President?" Tank asked. "What you're looking at is an Aridian slaver--a race of humanoid creatures from the planet Aridia. They've been taking slaves from Earth for more than ten thousand years, but they only established a permanent camp about four thousand years ago."

"Then, the question becomes, how do you know this?" President Xi asked. Agitation boiled below the surface, but he had better control of himself than most of the others. He didn't know how much time had passed since his abduction but knew his absence would have been noticed by now. He was starting to see that there was a major catastrophe looming, and he didn't want his country to launch retaliatory strikes against other countries because they thought that country had abducted him.

"The Providian emissaries your predecessors and you have been negotiating with since the 1980s aren't emissaries. They're members of the Providian army, most of whom, some 900,000 people, are on this ship. All are capable of fighting, but only sixty thousand are full-time soldiers. The Providian people have been at war with the Aridians for over sixty-thousand years and have fled from them for almost as long."

"Why don't they continue to flee?" Vice-President Harris queried. "Why are they involving Earth in their war?"

"Two reasons," Tank explained. "The most important is that this ship, despite its futuristic appearance, is about to come apart at the seams. The second is that the Providians astro maps end at the edge of the Milky Way. Beyond that, they're flying blind. Perhaps that direction is away from the Aridians. Maybe it's toward them. They don't know."

"Why here?" Harris asked again.

Julie leant in to speak. "Because a precursor ship to this crashed into what we call The Cradle of Life, Mesopotamia, about sixty thousand years ago. Only ten thousand Providians survived. They destroyed everything left of their spaceship and spread out across the globe, trying to hide their presence on Earth from the Aridians."

"You're saying humans are descended from these Providians?" Sir Keir asked disbelievingly.

"In part, yes," Julie confirmed. "Somewhat less than ten per cent of human DNA contains Providian genes. You can bring geneticists on board to prove this if you choose to at least start negotiations to allow the Providian people to settle on Earth."

"And if we don't?" President-elect Trump blustered.

"We cannot fight the Aridians in space," Tank explained coldly. "Therefore, we will land our troops somewhere on Earth and prepare to battle them. Then, we Providians will then pray to the Gods beyond the rift that forty-thousand regular Providian soldiers, twenty-thousand enhanced ones and thirty enhanced human ones are enough to defeat what is expected to be eight million Aridian Slavers. We will also pray that Earth's military decide to send troops to help us."

"Eight million slavers?" President Xi gasped. "You're expecting eight million aliens to descend on Earth?"

"In the first wave, yes," Julie fiercely stated.

"The first wave?" President Putin asked.

"The Aridians have spread across the universe, enslaving all before them. Their Armada numbers in the thousands of ships, each carrying up to a million slavers. If we defeat the first fleet they send, they will inevitably send more. Initially, they will rely on the regenerated warriors and their clones to complete their invasion. But when that doesn't work, they'll send more ships and soldiers," Julie replied. "In biblical terms, this is the final battle. The ultimate fight between good and evil. If we lose here, the Aridians will enslave the entire universe, and darkness will descend on all."

"It is too much to take in," President Xi stated. "We are but eight men and women. Who are we to decide all of humankind's fate?"

"The invasion is coming whether Earth is ready or not," Tank said resignedly. "We only get to decide if we face it head-on or stick our heads up our asses and hope it passes by. Either you ally with the Providians and allow them to retool your factories and start producing weapons capable of killing the Aridians, or you try to fight the slavers with inferior strength and technology."

Tank looked around the room before saying, "Major Tenerife informs me that your protection crew has discovered you're missing, Sir Keir. They're keeping it quiet at the moment, but your military is already moving to high alert. President Xi, Biden, and Putin, your wives have raised the alarm. So has your husband, Mrs Vice-President. President Trump, your Secret Service agents are searching your home to confirm you're missing as we speak."

He turned to the two Irish leaders and the three military heads. "Strangely, your absences haven't been noted yet."

President Xi looked around the room before saying, "I, for one, do not want to be the cause of World War Three. Mister Tank Zaffra, I assume you have a way to address my people in China from here?"

"Mister President," Tank grinned. "I can have Major Tenerife hack into every communications network and device in the world, just like we did when General Zaha addressed the world earlier this year.

"Then, please do so," President Xi asked. "But also allow me to address my staff and my military leaders first."

"Done," Tank said as a monitor rose from the table before President Xi.

The screen flickered before showing many agitated military men scrambling around a war room, screaming at each other in Chinese. They quietened when their monitors flickered on, and their president's face filled the screens. The war room had an enormous wall screen that showed what their monitors did.

"Sorry to concern everyone," Xi said calmly. He turned to Tank and asked, "Can you show the entire room?"

The Chinese war room screens changed to show everyone sitting at the table with President Xi. The one in the conference room did the same.

"As you can see, friends and countrymen, I am attending an emergency meeting with the other leaders of the world's Superpowers. It is related to that strange ship that quickly appeared and disappeared on our satellite surveillance earlier and appeared briefly a week ago. But that is all I can say at this time."

"President Xi, Sir," an officer said respectfully. "May we have today's colours and codes, please?"

"Yes," President Xi answered. "The colours are aquamarine and purple. The code is 'naked men should not ride horses bareback'."

The room visibly relaxed as the officers straightened and saluted. "Your orders, President Xi?" The man asked.

"Bring the forces to ready alert. Cancel all leave and have the men report for duty immediately. Recall our ships and ensure we are as ready as we can be for a possible alien invasion."

"An alien invasion, Sir?" The officer hesitantly queried.

"The ship, General," President Xi said quietly.

The general saluted, and the monitor went dead.

"What happens next," President Xi enquired.

"We hit that Aridian encampment and destroy their ability to warn their home planet that we Providians are on Earth. Hopefully, that buys us enough time to retool Earth's factories, and produce the weaponry we need to fight the slavers. Simultaneously, we'll increase recruitment into the world's armed forces and train them to fight the Aridians."

Tank spoke to the other leaders. "Double-tap the table before you. A screen will rise from it. Tell the screen who to contact, and it will bypass any security system you have to contact that person or people. Let them know you're safe and to stand the military down, or whatever you want, really. Now, it's too late, and what will happen will happen, regardless of you."

Tank glared at the recalcitrant American leaders before standing and removing his jumpsuit, revealing his army uniform.

"Captain Zaffra?" President Putin said questioningly as he examined Tank's insignia. "You're leaving us here with Julie?"

"No," Tank denied. "General Zaha and Major Tenerife will be here shortly to sit with you and answer your questions. "Lieutenant Angelina and I are leading the attack against the Aridian base. You can watch it on the screen."

"May I come with you?" Putin enquired. "I'd like to see you and your team in action."

"You want to see if your Spetsnaz forces are any chance against us," Tank growled. "They're not. Contact who you need to contact to ensure your country quietens down. You're not joining my troops. As good as you are, Mister President, you cannot go toe-to-toe with an Aridian slaver. We're not even sure our troops can." He waited for President Putin to acknowledge before he turned to the Garda Counter-Terrorism operative and added, "Darragh, you're with us. Let's go get your daughter."

Tank exited the conference room and marched towards his warriors, who were waiting in the parade ground's auditorium for their final briefing before the battle.

"You need Day and me," Morning said as she and her mother fell into step with Tank.

Tank examined the glowing, ebony-black warrior women. "You're looking remarkably well for people who have undertaken several days of mutagenic gas enhancements," he stated.

"As Researcher Anan said," Morning giggled. "Don't fight the changes and get plenty of sex afterwards." She laughed. "And Researcher Anan was certainly prepared to offer lots of sex afterwards!"

"What does it feel like to have an enormous cock and huge balls to go with your pussy and clitoris?" Tank queried.

"No different to how yours feels, I'd imagine," Morning stated, recognising Tank's crudity as pre-battle nerves. "Besides, I've lived for centuries as a man before so, same, same, really."

"What?" Tank exclaimed.

"Survive this battle, and I promise to show you," Morning chuckled.

"Deal," Tank grinned. "Now, why do I need you and your mother?" He asked.

"Because we know how to ensure the slavers remain dead," Day explained. "And they cannot generate a clone either."

"Yeah. That sounds important," Tank grinned. He opened the doors to the parade ground's auditorium. "Care to tell our soldiers?"

Morning confidently stepped up to the podium and tapped it twice to ensure it was on and settle the three thousand soldiers down. "I am Morning Star," she said. "Daughter of the Providian Lanner and the human warrior woman Day Dawning. Currently, my mother and I are three and a half thousand years old. Young compared to most of you, but ancient in human terms."

Morning waited for the laughter to die. She, without shame or pride, knew she was stunningly beautiful and did not look more than twenty years old. Nor did her mother. Despite what she'd told Tank, Morning didn't have an enormous cock hidden in her army trousers. Nor did her mother. They'd awakened, sporting them. But Morning had 'changed' them to fully male and then changed them back to entirely female. Their cocks disappeared when they switched back.

"In about an hour," Morning stated. "We launch our attack against the Aridian slaver base. Some of us will not survive that fight. However, I know that does not deter any of you. Nor does it deter me or your other leaders. Most of you, if not all, have not fought slavers before. I have. They are difficult to bring down and even harder to kill. But there is a secret unknown to you pure Providians. You cannot kill an Aridian slaver permanently without removing the crystal-like gem they have in their foreheads first."

Morning indicated the spot between the eyes where the gem resided. "If they die before that gem is removed and destroyed, they will regenerate overnight and generate a clone with them. Then, you will fight two the following day for every one that you kill."

The gathered soldiers groaned, but they recognised what Morning told them was true. It explained why they'd never been able to defeat the Aridian armada. They killed their enemy only to have twice as many fight them the following day. Fight barely a day later, well before the Providian army had recovered from the previous fight. Invariably, the Providians had had to flee for fear of being wiped out.

"What do we do instead?" One of the fighters asked.

"Disable them for long enough that we can destroy the crystals in their heads," Morning explained. "Taking their legs off works the best because it prevents them from crawling away and hiding until they regenerate their missing pieces. But gut shots work, too."

"What happens when we only wound them and they escape?" One of the soldiers asked.

"If they're not dead, they regenerate and/or repair any wound they have. I recommend removing limbs because they take up to three months to regenerate. That gives us time to hunt them down."

"Would shooting them in the head where the crystal is work?" Julie asked.

"I do not know, but I suspect not," Morning admitted. "We tried removing the slavers' heads. That didn't work. We burnt their bodies to ashes, but that didn't work either. The only thing I know that works is to use a knife to dig the crystal out and then crush it. Typically, when I've done that, the slaver's body turned to dust, and they blew away."

"We won't have time to do that," Tank protested.

"Hence the need to disable them until we do have time," Morning explained. She addressed the troops, "Soldiers, if the choice is between killing or being killed. Then, kill every time. If we can permanently eliminate more than half of them today, we face less than three thousand tomorrow. If we kill more slavers than we lose to them, we're up and will win, even if it takes a few days. Although the slavers will regenerate, their equipment cannot. So, if we destroy their communications array, we strand them on Earth and have time to eliminate them all."

"You have your orders, men," Tank growled. "Pick up your gear and go to your designated ship. Remember, leave the slavers too wounded to fight, but do not kill them unless you must to survive."

The warriors stood, saluted, and left to get their gear and assemble in their designated re-entry craft.

"How many survive?" Tank wondered resignedly as he returned his troops' salute.

"The slavers are fat, happy, unaware, and overconfident," Morning stated confidently. "I predict we lose no more than five or six super warriors and no enhanced humans. The slavers are huge and immensely powerful, but their reactions are slow compared to normal humans, and they will not survive our enhanced warriors. We will need to return for several days until we've mopped up those we killed before removing and destroying their gems (crystals). But our victory against these slavers is sure.

"The test is: Can we destroy their communications array before they send for help? All is good if we can. But if we can't, our victory will be very short-lived because the Aridian Armada will descend on us."

Back in the conference room, the various leaders had managed to settle their militaries down enough that none of them were about to attack any of the others, but that did not mean their military leaders were inactive. Behind the scenes in all countries, people planned how to rescue their leaders. In signs of what would come, officers from the British, American, Russian, and Chinese military and analysts were teleconferencing, discussing how to track where their abducted leaders were and how to extricate them.

Succession plans were activated, and new leaders were temporarily installed so the countries were free to react and respond to any attack. Amid this flurry of activity, Five Star General Tibolt, General Zaha, and Major Tenerife entered the conference room. The display on the wall split to show the stunned onlookers in the four war rooms of the major players. The two Generals stood at the table's head with Major Tenerife slightly behind General Tibolt. Tenerife held a tablet that controlled the communication array.

"Good morning, Presidents Biden, Trump, Putin, Xi, and Higgins. Prime Ministers Starmer and Harris and Vice-President Harris," Zaha said commandingly. "I am General Zaha of the Providian Military and the overall leader of Providia's military activities on Earth.

"Beside me is Five Star General Tibolt, Commander of Providia's military. Our equivalent of America's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, if you will. Major Tenerife is head of our Medical and Research Division as well as our Information and Technology Department. It's his techs that have bypassed your security protocols and hacked into your communications systems. There is not a computer connected to the internet anywhere on Earth that we cannot control."

General Zaha waited until the leaders had assimilated that information and its implications. The military men recognised that danger immediately.

General Brown gulped before saying, "You have the nuclear launch codes?"

"For every nuclear weapon in the world, yes. Including the ones in North Korea and Iran that you're unaware of," General Zaha admitted.

Phones were picked up in every war room as the staff raced to confirm Zaha's assertion. Those were dropped when the officers realised they were dead, and cell phones were dragged out. They didn't work either.

"My apologies, people," Zaha deprecatingly smiled. "But we've instigated a worldwide communications blackout so word doesn't make it to the Aridians before we're ready. Ours still work, of course."

"So, everything Captain Zaffra said was a lie?" President Xi asked calmly. "You're taking over the world and not asking for our help. I assume we're to be executed?"

"If you will not help us voluntarily, then you leave us no choice but to remove your governments and replace them with our own," General Tibolt growled, taking a seat. "Tell me, Mister Presidents and Prime Ministers, Mrs Vice-President. If your country was about to suffer a major catastrophe, perhaps a super-volcano is about to explode, and not one country would allow your citizens to move there to escape the conflagration, would you allow your people to perish?"

"No country on Earth would stand idly by and let a whole nation perish," President Putin objected. "Russia would even willingly accept Ukraine's people into her if it was about to happen to them."

Tibolt smiled and said, "Then, I hope you will extend the same courtesy to us because we have nowhere else to go. Have no doubt, gentlemen and lady, if the Aridian Armada arrives and you're not prepared, your planet will fall. There is a great chance we will fall anyway, even if we are prepared. I will not stand idly by and allow my people to perish.

"We ask for your help, Sirs and Madam. We beg for it. There are 1.25 billion people on Earth capable of vigorously defending her. Another billion are able to help in some way. With the motivation you can provide, we can arm and train these volunteers, and with our help, Earth can repel the Aridian invaders. Then we can prepare to invade Aridia, free our people, and eliminate the slaver scourge forever."

"What, other than the death of many of her citizens, does Earth gain for joining your war and fighting these so-called Aridian slavers?" Prime Minister Sir Keir asked.

"A united Earth is not reward enough?" General Tibolt asked drily. "The end to all wars? Providians have never fought a war against ourselves in our history, unlike Earth."

"No, it's not 'reward enough'," Sir Keir denied. "Not when we're exchanging a war against each other for a global war against an enemy of superior strength, technology, and weaponry."

"Then, perhaps you will accept eliminating your reliance on fossil fuels and unreliable renewable energy like wind and solar."

"How will you do that?" President Xi asked eagerly. The others were equally interested.

General Zaha chuckled, "Do you think we stopped to refuel every few thousand light-years?" He sobered when his grin wasn't returned. "We will equip Earth with and train her workers to make small quantum matter generators that will almost costlessly provide Earth's electricity needs.

"Her transport vehicles can be powered by cold-fusion electric motors, and her passenger cars by engines that crack seawater into hydrogen and oxygen molecules, burn the hydrogen, and emit nothing but pure water. We can teach you to build replicators that take energy from the surrounding atoms and produce any food item you desire. That food is indistinguishable from the plants or animals it was replicated from.

"Our researchers, scientists, and doctors have long since eradicated scourges like cancer, dementia, and muscular dystrophy. We can train Earth's scientists to do the same."

Tibolt stared at President Biden intently. "To show our willingness to help Earth, we can eliminate the dementia currently affecting you, Sir. Your disease is still in its infancy and has only minimally affected your abilities. But we can return you to full health. And before you ask. Yes, we will share our regeneration chamber technology with you. We offer the same help to each of you."

The general turned to President Higgins, "Your scan showed heart and lung damage. We offer to cure that, too."

"Scan?" President Trump asked suspiciously. "I gave no such permission!"

"The low, narrow passageway you passed through to reach the corridor that took you here?" Major Tenerife asked. "It serves several purposes. First, it scans the people in it to ensure they're allowed on the ship. Then, it scans for any hazardous or contagious material that may have accompanied you into the passageway. Finally, it scans your body for any illnesses or abnormalities. Simultaneously, it records and analyses your DNA."

"What would have happened to us if the scanner decided we weren't allowed to be here?" Trump growled.

"We wouldn't be having this conversation," General Tibolt stated coldly. The general turned to address the other leaders and the assembled military on the monitor. "I'm sure your biggest concern is the safe return of your leaders. That, I guarantee you. I will ask them to appeal to all people to accept mine among them and ask them to join us and fight the Aridian invasion coming.

"In about an hour, your military channels will receive live footage from an attack against a slaver organisation. At that time, I will inform you who those people are and why we're attacking them. I will say, however, that some of your citizens are held in that camp.

"Once that battle starts, I will turn off my ship's cloaking systems, and we will become visible to your satellites and telescopes. If you aim your systems at the Lunar Highlands, our warship will be between you and that part of the moon. Please feel free to try to discover us immediately. You will not succeed."

General Tibolt considered what else he needed to say. "Another concern will be if we have brainwashed or cloned your leaders or somehow put a replicant in their place. Assuring you that we have not is, of course, redundant because you must assume we have. However, I'm sure you've already put your succession plans in place and will leave them activated until you're sure your leaders are unharmed. Examine your people in any way you wish; you will find they are unchanged and unharmed. We will arrange their return if they want to return to take advantage of our healing capacities.

"What about the world's sick and dying?" Vice-President Harris asked. "Can anything be done now to help them?"

"Humans will always die," General Zaha said gruffly but not unkindly. "Every living species must eventually return to the rift and the light. Providians live lives measured in millennia, but we, too, must return the light. We are but one ship, and our chambers will be needed to save our warriors." He held his hand up to still Kamala's protest. "However," he added. "If Earth agrees to accept my people, the healing chamber technology can be amongst the first shared. When the slavers' Armada arrives, you will have a great need for them."

General Tibolt stepped in, "Details can be negotiated between our representatives," he stated. "The attack on the Aridian base is about to begin. Shall we watch and then talk again after it's over?"

Over Ireland.

Thirty-four stealthed re-entry craft slid unobtrusively into Earth's atmosphere. Their many entries were spread over the entire globe, so the inevitable heat generated by a ship travelling at 10,000 kph into an atmosphere was distributed evenly and caused no temperature spikes to warn the watchers. The craft eased through the air until they were at their optimal height for stealth and speed, turned and blazed toward the Aridian camp west of Limerick, Ireland.

Around a thousand kilometres from their destination, four attack hover ships slid from their bays in the four extra re-entry craft and chased the thirty other craft towards Limerick. One of those four extra re-entry vehicles held Genet and her computer techs in her typical overwatch position. Darragh was with them. The other three were jammed full of as many warriors as could fit around the hovers as possible. These soldiers were her reserves in case things went pear-shaped. Major Genet hoped they wouldn't be needed.

"Here we go," Tank muttered as the camp hove into view.

The thirty entry/re-entry crafts carrying troops would make slow, hopefully invisible, circles about a thousand metres above the base's perimeter, waiting to disgorge its deadly cargo of warriors until the attack hovers destroyed the Aridian's communication tower. When the tower fell, the first three hundred and sixty fighters, twelve each from the ships' teleporters, would charge the encampment's western fence, blowing holes in it large enough for the subsequent three hundred and sixty to race through unimpeded.

To confuse the slavers, the first three hundred and sixty would be teleported back onto the craft, and three hundred and sixty more would repeat the attack on the northern fence. They'd disappear as quickly as the first lot did.

Tank would hold his men back for close to five minutes to sow as much confusion as possible. Then, the hovers would escape the area so a USAF F-15E Strike Eagle could swoop over and drop a "Quicksink" Bomb onto the bunker. Another US fighter would circle five kilometres away in case a second bomb was needed. It wouldn't be.

The first stage of the battle began.

"What the fuck is that?" A slaver screamed as four sleek hover fighters appeared around the communications tower. He screamed into his communicator for help as he turned his heavy machine gun toward the fighters. He was too late.

The fighters were barely above his watchtower with their noses pointed up at the array on the tower's top. Their kinetic canons fired, and the tower's top exploded before toppling onto the slaver who was screaming into his communicator. The collapsing communications array brought down the watchtower, crushing it and the four slavers inside.

The Providian attack hovers accelerated upward before disappearing behind their cloaks. Next, a US fighter/bomber roared over the compound and dropped its deadly load. The bomb hit the middle of the bunker's domed roof and crashed through unimpeded.

Once the US jet had cleared the area, the Providian attack hovers reappeared. Twenty watchtowers and the men in them were obliterated seconds later. The men in those towers would regenerate and create a clone overnight, but that couldn't be helped. They were out of the battle for now.

"Send the first wave," Major Genet ordered. The smoke and falling debris had cleared enough for her to see the bunker was open to the sky. Nothing remained inside it other than some shattered computer banks. Any bodies in there had been obliterated.

Tank, Julie, Morning, Day, Tina, Demi, and Adelle would teleport in with this wave. But they'd land on the roof of the building Major Tenerife had identified as holding the kidnapped prisoners instead of outside the perimeter.

The second wave would take down the Northern fence and disappear as the others had.

Lieutenant Brian Bennett would lead the third wave, which would bring down the eastern fence. Brian and his fighters would teleport out and immediately teleport back in to join Morning and Day, who would lead the attack on the slavers' headquarters.

Before the attack.

"Not good," Tank had muttered earlier when he, Genet, and Julie examined the barracks' schematics. The cells were underground, with the slavers living in barracks above.

Darragh was with Tank when Major Tenerife delivered the information. "Why 'not good'?" Darragh questioned, although he dreaded the answer.

Genet answered when Tank wouldn't. "The reason you put your soldiers' barracks over the cells is to use the prisoners as hostages. If your enemy is honourable, it prevents them from dropping bombs onto the barracks for fear of killing the prisoners." Genet began to explain the other reason, but Tank nudged her, and she stopped.

"There's a second reason, isn't there?" Darragh fearfully asked as worry for his daughter threatened to choke him.

Tank growled, "There's no easy way to say this. The Aridians use human women in their breeding pits on Aridia. All women of breeding age are taken, regardless of age, appearance, or attractiveness. Then, they're forcibly inseminated and made to bear the slavers' children until they die or become barren. They're killed when they become barren."

"Forcibly inseminated. Raped?" Darragh gasped as he turned green and swayed.

"You must understand that none of us here know that for sure. But it is what is written in the archives and reports of slaver activity," Julie gently explained as she held the operative's arm and offered him a rubbish bin.

"Why don't you 'know for sure'?" Darragh asked after taking the tissues offered and wiping his mouth.

"None of us have fought a slaver before today. Neither have we seen a slaver camp other than from aerial reconnaissance.

"We have," Morning and Day said. "The slavers keep boys to use, too. Anyone who survives their teen years joins the work gangs. Few do."

"To use, too," Darragh asked, fearing the answer.

"Yes," Day replied, confirming Darragh's fears. "Like they use the women. The young women fare better, usually," she added. "The slavers typically wait until they've had their first menses before they rape them. Otherwise, the girls will die before the slavers can breed them. How old is your daughter?"

"Twelve," Darragh replied. "I don't know if Maeve's had her first period yet. I'd think not because I'm sure her mother would have told me."

"Pray for the best. Prepare for the worst," Tank growled. "Either way, Operative O'Brien. Maeve returns to the ship with us. I give you my word."

The battle continues.

Tank's enhanced human soldiers stepped into the teleporter. An eyeblink later, they were on the roof of the barracks. They squeezed together to stay hidden from the slavers in the compound. There was no need to.

The Aridian slavers were thoroughly confused. Their camp had been attacked many times in its four-thousand-year existence, but never before by gunships that appeared from nowhere, blasted their communications tower to smithereens and promptly disappeared.

They poured from the Barracks armed and ready to show whoever these upstarts that attacking a slaver base was a wholly bad idea. There was no one to fight. The slavers milled around as their leaders tried to establish what, other than the obvious, had happened.

Explosions on their western defensive wall sent them running in that direction, only to find fifty of their comrades wounded and out of the fight. Miraculously, they were all alive. Men ran for stretchers. But before they reached the med bays, the northern perimeter was racked by explosives.

The day commander sent men to discover what had happened. He dispatched his men, then screamed into his communicator, asking their control centre what the fuck was going on. All he received back was static. Taking out the bunker and its tower had also brought down the Aridians' short-range communicators.

'Bonus,' Genet grinned when she realised the Aridians were flying blind. "Send waves three and four," she ordered.

When the communications tower fell, and all communication ceased, the base commander marched to his headquarters' roof to take charge. Unable to use his communicator, he used his hailer to send fifty men each to the downed defensive communications and watch tower to look for survivors.

Explosions from the western perimeter turned his attention that way. He stared disbelievingly as the soldiers who had blown up the wall disappeared. Regrouping, he sent another one hundred and fifty slavers to look for survivors and guard that fence.

No sooner had the commander sent men that way than the rest of his watchtowers exploded. Hover gunships appeared long enough to blast the towers apart with their kinetic canons before disappearing again. Not one tower got off even a shot before they were all destroyed.

The destruction of the encampment's defensive towers was swiftly followed by the northern fence exploding. The explosions turned the slaver leader's head that way, and he gaped, wondering what had done the damage. The explosions' sounds differed from the kinetic cannons, but he couldn't determine how the destruction was done. Not knowing what else to do, the commander sent more men to guard that fence.

His southern perimeter was destroyed next. The camp's leader had gotten binoculars so he could search for whoever or whatever was attacking his base. By now, he had a terrible feeling that although his warriors would be returned double the following day, they'd have no camp to return to. He sent men to guard that area, too.

The commander urgently sent slavers to defend the last perimeter fence. His enemies would box his men if that fence fell, and their deaths were inevitable. Being attacked from three sides was possible to survive as long as your rear was adequately protected. If the eastern defensive wall fell, they were cooked.

The slaver leader trained his binoculars on the wall and willed his men to reach it first. They did not. The wall exploded as he watched disbelievingly, revealing... "Providians!" He swore. "There's fucking Providians attacking my fucking base. Where the fuck did they come from?" He blinked, took his binoculars away, rubbed his eyes, and looked again. The attackers were gone. 'WTF?' He thought.

Wordless screams came from the remains of his western wall. Knowing it was an attack, he screamed for his reserves to defend the gap. The leader swung his binoculars and saw approximately four hundred Providian soldiers running at his slavers. Dismissing the seeming extreme speed the Providians were moving at as an illusion created by the binoculars, he watched as his men prepared to fight. 'Tight formation,' he thought proudly. 'Spread two deep across the breach. Nice. Battle armour resisting the bullets. Yup. The Providians are fucked.' They disappeared.

The base's commander watched amazedly as his fighters broke ranks and looked around uncertainly. 'WTF?' He thought again. The Providians reappeared behind his troops. The camp's leader's mouth fell open as they poured into his men's rear. Strangely, the invaders weren't trying for kill shots. Instead, bullets destroyed knees, groins, legs, and feet. Lower back and gut shots abounded. The Providians gathered the slaver's weapons and seemingly evaporated into thin air before the slaver reserves reached them.

The commander sent the men to guard the other downed walls and to drag the wounded to safety.

On the barracks' roof.

Tank's enhanced crew reached the roof's inspection hatch unnoticed. The hatch was locked, bolted, and reinforced with steel. It was also no match for the Hollywood actor's strength. Tank ripped the hatch from its hinges and flung it across the parade ground. It landed over two hundred metres away and confused the hell out of the slavers guarding the eastern defensive wall.

Tank entered first, with his team ducking randomly left and right, high and low, as they boiled through the door. It was a well-executed drill but wasteful because the entire top level of the Barracks was empty. They moved stealthily down through the levels, placing explosives as they went but not encountering a single slaver until they reached the ground floor.

As Tank had feared, the prison cells' guards had beds in the room guarding the cells' entryway. Seven beds, in fact. Each bed held a naked slaver raping a female victim. Tank was glad none of the rape victims were children, but his gorge still threatened to choke him.

Using their enhanced strength and speed, Tank's crew blazed through the room, stabbing the slavers and flinging them off the women. Seven slavers lay crumpled with severed legs or feet, kidneys stabbed, or lower spines severed.

Corporal Tina Tanzer was a rape victim herself. She picked a slaver up by his thick throat effortlessly. Balancing him against the wall, she grabbed his surprisingly tiny cock and balls and cut them off before shoving them in his mouth and holding his mouth and nose closed until he had to swallow.

Morning caught the collapsing slaver when Tina dropped him, grabbed the next one and repeated her actions. "Stop cutting off dicks for a second, honey," she joked as she took out a paring knife and held the neutered slaver's jaw. "The slavers have a glass-like crystal between their eyebrows and about an inch above." She forced the knife into the slaver's forehead and levered the item she described out. "If you destroy the crystal, they die."

Morning hit the glass-looking gem with her knife's butt, shattering it. The slaver in her grip exploded into a dust cloud that dissipated swiftly. "They don't regenerate from that," she chuckled.

Tina was neutering her fourth slaver. The remaining three were trying to drag themselves away.

"Hmm," Tank said thoughtfully. "I wonder if," he reached out his right hand and willed the crystals to come to him. The glass-like gems burst from the remaining slavers' foreheads and smacked into his palm. Then, as they watched him, terrified, Tank squeezed his fist closed and crushed all six gems. All six disappeared in a cloud of dust.

"You just didn't!" Tina exclaimed, glaring at her commanding officer, disappointed she couldn't knacker the rest. It was the least they deserved, she thought.

"Down!" Tank bellowed.

Tina reacted with speed beyond a normal human. Tank had barely pronounced 'D' before she dropped and spun away. The slaver's rifle ripped from his grasp as his feet left the ground. The gun shattered against the wall beside Tank, but the slaver's body tore in two.

Morning had seen and reached for him simultaneously with Tank. Their twin actions pulled the slaver in different directions, and even his thick, muscular body couldn't take the strain. Morning copied Tank's actions and used her mind to summon the slaver's crystal from his forehead. She crushed it before the slaver died, and he, too, became dust.

"Where the fuck did he come from?" Tank growled.

Looking perplexed, Julie walked to the wall beside where the slaver had appeared. "Here," she said wonderingly. "There's a hidden door," she felt along the wall, "here." Julie indicated a spot. "There's five more, no, six more slavers hidden in a surveillance room behind this wall."

Morning and Tank decided questions could wait. But while Morning concentrated on ripping the door from its securing, Tank willed the slavers to come to him. As the hidden door blew open, six Aridian slavers exploded through the concrete block wall into the room. Morning recovered and ripped the glass-like crystals from the slavers' heads and crushed them. Four turned to dust, but two remained.

"What?" Adelle gasped. "I thought you said they turned to dust? What the fuck are these things?"

Tank wanted to know, too. Morning and Day and Day seemed as confused as Adelle, so Tank tapped his jaw to activate his implanted communicator. "Major Genet," he said.

"Reading," Genet replied.

"How goes the battle?"

Genet chuckled evilly, "We've got them so bamboozled they're about to shoot each other. Yup, good chance they will because they're that confused."

"You have a read on our location?"

"Lower floor of the barracks. Seven enhanced human soldiers..." she hesitated. "Two unidentified dead bodies."

"Slavers who didn't explode into dust when we destroyed their crystals. Can you teleport them on board so we can examine them later?"

There was a momentary pause. "Negative. It's the same as our people. The teleporter cannot lock onto dead animate objects. Inanimate items teleport without issue. Live animate things also teleport. Dead things that were once living organisms fool the teleporter, and it cannot move them."

"Send a hover to my location," Tank requested. "Something is happening here that we need to know."

"They're going to bitch," Genet laughed. "They're having way too much fun appearing long enough to shoot a heap of Aridians in the nuts and then disappearing again."

"As long as they're leaving them alive," Tank growled. "I don't want to have to face twice as many tomorrow. Especially given that they retain their memories and know our tactics."

"There's been a few mistakes," Genet admitted. "But the pilots have become very adept at shooting the slavers off at the knees. I saw how you summoned the crystals from the slavers' foreheads. Pull the ones out of every disabled Aridian you see." There was a momentary silence before she said, "Landen is four seconds out. Meet him outside."

Tank lifted the slavers with his mind and took them outside. Morning and Day followed him. They were going to attack the commander's headquarters. Brian and his division would teleport in to help them.

Landen waited just long enough to accept his cargo before blasting off to rejoin the fight.

Tank returned inside, and they searched for the cell's entry point.

Julie touched a wall, still quite wondrous of her newly discovered ability. "Three slavers behind here."

Tank repeated what he did with the Aridians in the surveillance room. Three more slavers turned to dust.

They continued forward. "Got it," Julie grinned. "The main door to the cells is hidden behind this wall. If you touch the right places," she reached and touched two identical leaves imprinted on the wall. "The wall slides aside, and the door appears."

As if her words commanded it, the apparently solid wall moved forward and slid to the right, revealing a locked steel door.

"Let me," Demi giggled, grabbing the door's handle. She wrenched backward, but the door's strength was beyond her. "No, umm. Let you!"

Tank considered momentarily. Pulling things toward him worked. Could he send things away? Tank placed his hand against the door and willed. A four-inch-thick steel, carbon rod-reinforced door exploded from its surroundings and rocketed down the hallway beyond it. It struck and killed the last two guards.

Tank and his team marched down the aisle between the cells. Every cell held at least four kidnap victims. They were almost exclusively female, with only a few boys and younger males amongst them. Although the younger males would join the work gangs, most of the boy children were destined to join the brothels. Tank's heart broke when he saw that many of the victims had been repeatedly raped.

"My name is Tank Zaffra," he announced loudly. "Yes, that Tank Zaffra. And, yes, I have Julie Angelina with me. Julie, my team and I have invaded this camp to free you. A bright white light will surround you shortly, and you will be free. Ms Angelina and I will see you sometime later."

Tank waited for a reaction before asking, " Is someone named Maeve O'Brien here?"

"I'm Maeve O'Brien," a mousy blonde stated, moving out from behind the women who, despite their injuries, had hidden her."

"Maeve, I know how frightened you must be. But will you please trust me and step to my side? Your father is on my ship above, and I promised him I would return you to him."

Maeve bravely moved to stand beside the actor. Tank tapped his implant and said, "Major Genet. You have me?"

"Affirmative, Captain," Genet replied.

"Teleport Maeve to her father first, please." The young woman was bathed in bright light briefly before disappearing. The other kidnap victims gasped. Tank continued, "Have you got an accurate count?"

"Two hundred and forty-nine," Genet stated.

"Twenty-one teleports required," Tank stated. "I want most ships available because if there's a hidden Aridian Armada out there, we might need to skedaddle swiftly before they land and overwhelm us with numbers. Pick three ships and begin teleporting the women and young men aboard. Once they're full, send them to the starship. Those we've rescued will need the regen chambers to recover from their assaults."

Tank addressed the gathered kidnap victims. "We need three ships to take you to safety. It will take time to teleport you onto those ships. You, or someone close to where you're standing, will be enveloped in a bright white light. The light is the beginning of being teleported and nothing to be concerned about."

Tank pulled the twins beside him. "These two are Adelle and Demi, corporals in WOLF. They will stay with you until everyone has been teleported to safety. Do not bother asking questions because I do not have time to answer."

Tank spun on his heel and strode away. His team's first task was completed, but now he needed to end this cesspit disguised as an Aridian slaver base.

Earlier.

Morning and her mother strode confidently towards the slaver camp's headquarters. Major Genet had told them the camp's commander was on top of the building. Lieutenant Bennett and his three hundred and forty-nine soldiers teleported in behind her. They walked toward the building.

"Rionnag na maidne agus breacadh an lae. A bheil thu nad whores deiseil mu dheireadh airson impidh air coileach Aridian? (Morning Star and Day Dawning. Are you whores finally ready to beg for some Aridian cock?)" The base's leader taunted.

"Chan eil! Tha mi air tighinn a thoirt ort impidh a dhèanamh air mo shùgh! (No! I've come to make you suck mine!)."

"Your medicine man screamed like a pig at the slaughter when I gutted him," The Aridian commander boasted.

"He died silently, cocksucker," Morning vehemently denied. "You forget that I was there."

"You will squeal louder than him as you beg for death,"

"I killed you once already," Morning growled. "Let me enjoy doing it again."

As Tank had shown her, Morning reached her right hand out and willed the camp's leader's crystal to travel to her hand. It exploded from the commander's forehead and smacked into Morning's hand.

"No!" The Aridian camp leader pleaded. "Destroying my life-giving crystal condemns me to the darkness."

"Where you belong," Morning dismissively replied. She showed the commander his gem and then crushed it. There was a puff of dust, and the Aridian leader disappeared.

Mopping this chapter up.

With the encampment's leader killed so casually by the attackers, the remaining Aridian slavers capitulated quickly. It took Lieutenant Bennet and his enhanced crew less than five minutes to burn through the Aridian headquarters and disable every slaver in there. Morning and Tank moved through the base, summoning the glass-like crystals from the slaver's foreheads and destroying them. It required only one more day to eliminate the regenerated Aridians and their clones.

Many of the world's leaders accepted General Tibolt's invitation to visit the Providian star warship. They took their military advisors and leaders with them.

Earth united for the first time in its history, and the three superpowers found they had more in common than in disagreement. Presidents Trump, Putin, and Xi led the world toward a united future.

Australia invited the Providians to populate its centre, and they accepted gratefully. To Australia's government's surprise, three more starships appeared in the skies above it and disgorged nearly two million more Providians.

Nearly two billion of the world's populace volunteered to join the fight against the pending Aridian invasion. Most willingly endured the tests to see if they could join the 'super' program. Five hundred thousand succeeded. Inexplicably, every mutagen gas-treated human became a 'super'. Despite one per cent of the Providians that were treated with the mutagens turning into mutagenic monsters, no human did. Tenerife's researchers scrambled to discover why. They haven't yet.

Epilogue.

Major Tank Zaffra, recently promoted due to his success in planning and executing the attack on the Aridian slaver base on Earth, examined Anan's report on her examination of the slavers whose bodies had remained despite their crystals being removed and destroyed. "Motherfucker!" He swore when he realised the implications of Anan's findings.

Tank grabbed the file and stormed to General Tibolt's office. Extending his palm, Tank 'commanded' the door to implode. It did, narrowly missing Major Tenerife, who, along with General Zaha, attended Five-star General Tibolt.

Slamming Anan's report in Tibolt's desk, Tank snarled, "When, exactly, did you plan to tell Earth and me that you and the Aridians are the same fucking species?"

The End.