Voynich Shift - Season One (COMPLETED)

Leonis, 1:1, 2:8 - Re-Invasion - Part One Minute

One Minute Ago

Parker woke bruised and bleeding with his wrists in shackles. He hung his head in defeat as he stood on the bridge of the warship M.V.G. (Mars Vessel, Galleon-class) Freya. On a massive screen that stretched above the busy command center below him, the young man observed several other spacecraft in the re-invasion fleet from Mars gliding effortlessly over Classic Washington, D.C. without resistance. Parker knew it was going to be all up to those on the ground to stop this attack now after he pathetically failed to stop it. Without him, there was no one left to keep this genocide from occurring and if those on Earth could not or would not do it themselves, then they all would perish.

The shadowy outline of a mechanical man clanked across the platform where he and Parker stood overlooking the bridge.

"All ships, fire!"

In sequence, beams of energy exploded downward from the bellies of the saucer-shaped war ships, eviscerating entire neighborhoods of innocent Convenusians. Parker closed his eyes forcing the tears formed in them to escape and run down his cheeks.

A graying officer in a rust-red mechanized uniform turned toward Parker with a smile spread over his face. The man's skin bore an orange hue. He was also much taller and thinner than Parker; the by-product of his upbringing in the lighter gravity and atmosphere of Mars. As the aging officer's dark eyes made contact with Parker's, the smile morphed into a snarl. "Mr. Raymond, I still do not understand why you insist on choosing those Con's over your own kind. What sort of brain-washing did they do to you? Was it that woman down there?"

Parker winced, closed his eyes for a moment, and then opened them to glare at the admiral angrily. "My own kind?  Now, that's a joke, right? Are you referring to our similarities in appearance, Admiral? Because that is where any likenesses between us end...you and your people lost any claim to the word, 'humanity' the second you began slaughtering innocent Convenusians!"

"Innocent!?!! Ha!" Admiral Dartus Riddel exclaimed. "Are you insane? Those aliens invaded Earth and ran us to the stars!"

"I cannot believe you are repeating that revisionist bullshit to me of all people, Admiral. You know very well that I know what happened! Then again, I suppose I should have expected nothing less than that coming from a xenophobe such as yourself! Why don't you ignorant bastards just own what you did?" Parker cocked his jaw and looked away from the officer to scan over the M.V.G. Freya's bridge below, one filled with frail, hydraulic-assisted humans busily going about their assigned, deadly tasks. Many in the crew were fitted with masks, possibly to aid them with breathing here in the dense Earth atmosphere. Parker shook his head and yelled over their heads, "You are just a whisper of real humanity! Cowards!"

The gears and hoses in Admiral Riddel's suit hissed, whined, and clicked in coordination as he approached Parker and stood before him holding a grenade in his left hand. He reached up and grabbed Parker by the face with the other. The material of the glove made a stretching noise as the fingers squeezed. "And I suppose because you are some sort of 'classic' human that gives you this authority to judge us?  Or better yet, sentence some of us to death with a weapon built by the ancestors we honor here today?" The admiral lifted the egg-shaped explosive device in front of Parker's face and laughed. "May I remind you that your version of humanity was fully capable of producing its own share of atrocities against each other with objects far more primitive."

Parker grimaced from the pain wracking his body. "I am completely aware of that, Admiral, and I have no illusions to the contrary. However, that was the past and humanity, for the most part, chose a different path, didn't it? One that left you and your people behind."

The admiral released Parker and turned, sweeping his hand over the bridge. "Behind? Ha! Look around you, behold what we have accomplished using the same technology that conquered our ancestors!"

Parker shook his head. "This is not progress..."

"You are correct, this is evolution."

"Evolution? Listen admiral, everything that has happened, that was then, and this is right now. It's not too late to write a new page in history...the Convenusians, they'll listen. I promise! Look, I never wanted to hurt anyone. In fact, that grenade is only a prop taken from a museum. I just wanted to get close to you to convince you to stop this invasion force from stepping over the line into genocide. I needed you and the others with you to listen to me...please, just talk with the people down there. They are no match for your firepower and you know it! They have never wanted anything but peace. That's why they reached out to you in the first place."

"People...ha! Peace? Hardly." The Admiral waved a hand in front of Parker's face dismissing his comments. "Let's be honest..."

"That's what I have been all along..."

Dartus narrowed his eyes at Parker and pointed a gloved finger toward the front of the ship. "See the destruction playing out on the screens?  Out there, that is what is happening. That is real, but by Phobos, Parker, you aren't. In fact, you shouldn't even exist. To me, that means your opinions should not either...your time is long past, 'classic human'. Your version of humanity had their chance and when it came they decided to..."

From nowhere, an explosion rocked the warship, sending Parker and the chains of his shackles clanking to the riveted metal floor. He lifted his head to witness streaks of smoke and fire streaming up from the Earth's surface on the bridge monitors. It seemed Denver convinced the rest of the Convenusian's to defend themselves.

"Evasive maneuvers!" barked the Admiral, clinging to the navigator's chair to stay upright as the ship lurched to the left. "Where did they get those weapons?"

Parker began laughing as he sat up. "Those are Tomahawk missiles, admiral, and my people buried them underground with the rest of their weapons long ago when they gave up on war. Apparently, those missiles are like a can of Spam. They keep pretty well for a long time if sealed properly."

"So, it was you that did this?" Admiral Riddel growled.

"No, it was them. They just listened to me. I tried to make this diplomatic...but then you cowards started killing...thinking the Convenusians would just roll over and die."

The admiral slowly removed an antique, chromed Colt .45 pistol from a nearby terminal. "Well, it's time for your meddling to cease, then, human called Parker Raymond...and it will be with your own weapon."