Five time cycles later and Timothy was judged well enough to be interviewed by the Emperor’s Representative on the Nero.

His battle chair in ruins, he had to be pushed in to the room in an old, decrepit manual chair. It was demeaning but it was all he had for now.

Timothy could smell the Representative before he seen him. It was a smell of rot and decay. He had sunken eyes, pale skin and skeletal appearance.

In a deep, hissing voice the Representative began to speak in the small, dimly lit room.

“Why are you not dead with your battalion? Did you disgrace your emperor? Have you no honor”

“No, never. I was knocked unconscious and saved against my will. I would not allow myself be disgraced.”

“Yes, yes. Maybe. Tell me about the invasion. Why was it not repelled. I had thought there were enough armies on the planet for the size of the attacking fleet.”

“There were too many of them. We were overran.”

“But how commander? And it was over so quickly. An orc armada of that size couldn’t have done it.”

“You don’t understand do you. They convert living matter to their kind. Every tree, every animal is consumed and manufactured into a Tyranid soldier. It’s like an infection that rapidly spreads over a huge area.”

“And you have seen this with your own eyes.”

“Yes, I have.”

The Representative’s eyes suddenly opened widely.

“What do you mean?” Tabitha whispered in reply.

“I’ve just seen pictures of us on the news. They are warning that we are dangerous and any sightings should be reported immediately.”

Damn, she has beautiful eyes. Like dark chocolate brown. Try to cheer her up, no point in demoralizing her.

“So tell me about where you are from?”

Tabitha sipped at her pint and replied.

“Well, it was a habitat, just like this. But that’s where the similarity ends. It is almost all city, with just one relatively small park. It is owned by the Ahern Corporation. Every citizen, if you could them that is to maximize profit. Little more than slaves. The air is poisonous at times and many die before reaching adulthood.

I was fleeing the Corporation’s fighters when I crashed. I am a freedom fighter. This tyranny must be destroyed and that’s why you must help me get off this world. The Corporation owns here too but you are being treated differently.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you off this habitat.”

“Have you got anyone back home like a husband or that?”

“No. Why are you asking me this?”

“Just making conversation, I guess. You are pretty”

“Men, the same everywhere.”

They darted out of the flyer and after a quick left and right turn, they were inside the Roisin Dearg and hit by a cacophony of sounds. This was a dingy twenty four hour establishment and it mattered little that daytime had officially returned. The pub was packed with people, mostly men and women in their thirties and up all actively involved in conversation or with their arms thrown around one another.

He reached for Tabitha’s hand and led her to a little enclave around the side where they would be less noticeable.

“Right, what do you want to drink Tabitha?”

“Are you serious?”

“Very much so, we’ll stick out otherwise. You have two options – Guinness or Guinness. Leave the scarf on by the way. Almost everyone here is pale skinned. My friend would usually only arrive about an hour from now.”

“Guess I’ll have a Guinness so.”

Ciaran went to the front bar.

“Ba mhaith liom dhá Guinness, le do thoil,” he said to the balding middle aged barman.

Then he shuddered. There both of them were on the screen just behind the barman with a warning in Irish that they were “thar a bheith contúirteach” (extremely dangerous).

He took the two pints and shuttled back to Tabitha.

“It’s a bad as you feared,” he whispered to her.

The first thing that Timothy notices is the soft texture of sheets. Then he drifts off again. The next time he tries to open his eyes but he fails. His conscience understands that somehow, inexplicable he is still alive. But how?

After another span of time, he suddenly bursts back wake. It takes a few seconds for his eyes to focus. He is in what appears to be a very small metallic bedroom. Instinctively, he know that it’s one of the Emperors ships.

“Anybody there?”

“Anybody there, I said.”

The door burst open and what he recognizes from their uniforms as two of his troops enter.

“You okay, commander?” they said in nervous unison.

“By the will of the Emperor I am not. What happened in the battle?”

They both looked solemn now and one spoke up.

“The battle was lost. We are the only survivors.”

A great rage built up inside him and then he roared. He can feel his heart beating faster. All those lives lost. They had placed their trust in him.

“Why was I not allowed to die with my men? I have disgraced the Emperor and will die a coward!”

“Edit 451 Commander”.

Edict 451 was a command from the Emperor. A commander who has shown bravery must not simply be allowed to perish if he becomes incapacitated.

Timothy grew tired now and found himself sleeping once more.

A few minutes later and they are inside the city. Now it was a dangerous game of not going too fast to attract attention but fast enough to be close to Roisin Dearg when daylight was switched on. There were no police as such in Gaillimh rather a voluntary, mostly unarmed force. Serious crime was more or less unthinkable. You would simple be exiled to Earth. Many considered it a fate worse than death.

The real fear was the National Force. They are more akin to a paramilitary force and heavily armed.

“Why are you acting so nervous? You can’t seem to stay still?”

“It’s nearly daylight. We need to be closer.”

She nodded in solemn agreement.

I look anxiously in rear mirror. There is flyer following close behind. I can’t help but pray to whatever God I had ever heard of .

We turn left down a side street. Phew! It didn’t follow.

We are close now. Just as our flyer touches the ground, daylight switches on.

He crouches down immediately and pulls Tabitha with him.

“We need to cover our faces till we’re inside. I’ve heard rumors that the cameras can recognize your face.”

He is able to pull up his jumper to cover his and she uses her scarf to cover hers.

A pungent rotten smell went up Timothy’s nose. It was almost overbearing. Some of his soldiers turned their guns on themselves rather than breathe it in.

The arachnid monsters were gradually making their way up to the steep cliff face. The intense battery fire could not cut them down fast enough.

Then he noticed some of his troops looking in the opposite direction. Just standing there as if frozen in time. The monsters had scaled the other side of the mountain. A second later they were leaping down onto his troops. Their incisors made short work of cutting through the flesh of his screaming soldiers.

“Fall back,” Timothy roared, “fall back all units.” Their ships were inside the tunnels of the mountains. He could plot an escape. But flight would not be countenanced. The Emperor’s will was there was to be no step backwards. But the tunnels would stops his troops being outflanked. That way, they could take more of the enemy down.

Just as he reached the tunnel, he felt a large explosion tearing through his armor and propelling him through the air. Then there was a thud as he hanged his head on the ground. And then nothing.

Twenty minutes later and the city of Gaillimh is coming into view. You could just about make out the lights from some of its most iconic skyscrapers in the distance. It is a compact and dense city; the economic powerhouse of the habitat containing its sole spaceport and hence controls inter-colony trade. Still, it relies heavily on tourism from its vast agrarian hinterlands to survive.

Almost certainly that is why it is one of the very few places where alcohol and ladies of the night can be purchased. Not legally of course, a blind eye is turned.

Tabitha shuffles in her seat.

“So where exactly are we going?” Tabitha asked.

“We are going to a tavern called Roisin Dearg. In English I’d guess that would be Red Roisin. Not that you’ll hear any English there. It the best place to go if you need something underhand. One of the people who regularly frequents works in the space port and I’m hoping he can help you.”

“And how do you know this?”

“Probably best not to say.”

Fuck, that was close. I’d really rather not tell her that’s where I go for some female companionship.

The outskirts of the city is drawing nearer now. Huts and farmsteads are giving way to mansions with large estates. He hasn’t mentioned it to Tabitha, but it would be wise to reach the inner core of the city before the habitat system changes to daylight. And that was happening shortly. So many more to monitor their movements then.

He roared for the binoculars to be held up for him once again.

The large indigenous creatures were proving no match for the invader. He did see one carnivore put up a good fight but it too was quickly killed in the end by the sheer weight of numbers against it.

After it fell it was quickly consumed and its mass transformed into more of the enemy.

The arachnid type monsters were mostly twice the height of a man in the main though some were far larger. They foamed some sort of acid from their mouth. Their behavior appeared coordinated, even intelligent.

Timothy gasped as he realized a wave of the critters were heading straight to the fortification under the tree canopy.

“Prepare to fire. They will attempt to climb the walls!”

It seemed absurd, they were so far removed from the surface and yet he knew that was what they were about to attempt.

He ordered for his laser canons to point downwards. The terrified soldiers quickly obeyed knowing there was little time to spare.

And then they appeared. The vertical climb only made them slightly slow.

“Fire, everything we have. Do not stop!”

The laser batteries and small arms fire were cutting through them but there was always more coming.

I move my hand to turn on the flyer’s lights but Tabitha blocks it. She has a frown on her face and I know it’s a no-no.

It makes it a weird flight. I can’t see anything except the occasional light and have to rely on the coordinates array so as not to crash.

“Are we nearly there?” Tabitha asked.

“Well, in about an hour the city will be above us but it will take another seven hours to go up and around to it.”

Even, in the darkness I could see that she was not impressed.

“We’re in a flyer, are we not. Fly up to other side. We don’t have time.”

Damn, it was theoretically possible but so risky. He didn’t want his new friend to think him a coward.

“Are you sure, that would be very dangerous.”

“Yes, do it.”

God-dam-it.

I speed up the flyer to maximum. I could feel my heart pumping.

Then I lift the control wheel so that the flyer starts to rise. A loud shrill siren goes off. I can see we’re at the tipping point. Just a few more seconds.

For a few moments, we are weightless. Then we are falling.

I change the direction of the thruster and the flyer flips.

Feeling nauseous, I regain control of the flyer.

“Well done. Ciaran”