The Enemy of an Enemy

Prologue

I had to make it back to the ship before theyreturned. Most of my men were already dead. Those still alive weredoing all they could to hold off the aliens who were defeating us,giving me time to get a message out.

When we first arrived, we were sure thiswould be a boring mission. This expectation was shattered almostimmediately after we landed and began to deploy. Aliens poured outof the colony, waving swords and carrying shields. I do not knowwhat those shields were made of but our blasters could notpenetrate them. As they rushed our position we were forced intohand-to-hand combat with them. They proved to be clumsy and we wereable to hold our own for a short while.

Behind the initial rush of sword-wieldingaliens came others. These wielded thin energy weapons which theyfired with deadly accuracy and power. The addition of thesereinforcements was just too much for our squad. We were completelyoutnumbered and outgunned.

I slammed aside the airlock door as I rushedto the communication officer’s station. I really needed his skilland speed on this equipment now, but he was ripped to pieces beforemy eyes by one of the aliens who somehow did it without evertouching him. I had to banish that thought and get a message outbefore others fell victim to this trap.

“Greetings,” came a voice from the darkness.“I am glad you survived. We need you to do something for us.”

I tried hard to ignore the chills runningdown my back from that voice. “Never!” I called as I spun andopened fire with my blasters. Then he walked out of the darkness.He appeared to be an old man, impossibly old, yet somehow stillstrong and vibrant. He stood before me without a spacesuit, eventhough the gaping holes in our spaceship had vented the entireatmosphere leaving us essentially in a hard vacuum.

I must have fired a dozen times from each ofmy hand blasters, at nearly point-blank range. I could not possiblyhave missed, yet somehow he was able to ignore my shots. It was asif he was immune to them.

“No. You will now comply,” he said.

I felt my will slipping from my control; Itried hard to stop as I saw myself dropping my guns and reachingfor the communications controls. I listened in horror as I sent amessage, one obviously intended to lay a trap. I fought with all Icould to break free of whatever was controlling my body, but I wasutterly powerless.

“Thank you for your help; the trap isbaited,” he said as I felt my life slip away from me.