1 Chapter:1 Execution and Salvation
In a dimly lit room, Ava Shepard sat on her knees, her eye fixed on the cold steel barrels of rifles pointed at her face. The air was thick with tension, her face scrunched up from the bitter taste of betrayal that lingered in her mouth.
Her breath was ragged and hoarse, painfully loud in the silent room. Half of her face was covered in sterile gauze, she knew for a fact that the skin from the left half of her face had melted off, and so had her left eye.
She shivered, not from anger or fright, but from a severe lack of blood. Her right hand was cuffed to her leg, another reason why she was kneeling, and in place of her left arm was a stump hastily cauterized to prevent death from blood loss.
Not that she would get to live much longer, just long enough for the 'Judge' to read her sentence and the firing squad to put a bullet through her head. The room seemed to close in on her as she awaited the inevitable, each passing moment bringing her closer to the cold embrace of fate.
Ava's thoughts raced... scratch that, the fever from the missing limb was enough to muddle the thoughts of the severely weakened woman. Yet, she tried her hardest to remember what had led to her current situation.
'What was it again?'
'Ah~ right, the Town Master.'
That fat pig!
That scum of a human!
*Sigh*
'Look who's saying those words.'
She chuckled, the sounds came muffled and hoarse, she hadn't had a single drop of water in the past two days. Not to mention the blood trickling out of her cauterized hand had been a nuisance to try and sleep with. Spots danced before her eyes as exhaustion threatened to overtake her, yet, she held on, reminding herself of the comrades who couldn't walk out of the battlefield.
Ava's mind struggled to grasp onto the fragments of the past few weeks, the memory seeped through the fog of pain and exhaustion.
'Right, I-NE-0019'
Sector-I, North-East, 0019th town—an obscure outpost in the remote corner of the North East district. Secluded, barren, and devoid of strategic importance or scientific value, it held an unexpected significance—the illegitimate son of one of Sector 1's most influential figures served as its town master. "Droplet," the mercenary group to which Ava belonged, had been hired to protect the town from perceived 'bandit' threats.
'Yeah right, Bandits with a dozen plasma-powered exoskeletal suits.'
Ava remembered the first time she set foot in this godforsaken place, it looked like a junkyard. The town was half-deserted, the buildings were worn and weathered, and the only ones who lived here were those who had nowhere else to go.
As part of the Droplet's contract, Ava and her comrades were tasked with protecting this place against any potential threats. That's when the Town Master had come begging them, asking them to take care of some sort of 'Bandit' camp that looted and pillaged merchant convoys.
The so-called 'Bandit Threat' turned out to be the treasury department's 'Special Service Unit' which was returning to the 'Sector Capital' with currency embers.
That day had unfolded like some sort of tragic stage play, perfectly planned down to the letter. Droplet, her mercenary group, had stormed the so-called bandit camp in the middle of the night, only to find themselves facing highly trained soldiers armed to the teeth with stuff they didn't know shit about.
The conflict was bloody and brutal, in fact, it would be better to call it a massacre. Ava could still recall the chaos, the sounds of gunfire, the acrid smell of burning metal, and the screams of her friends as they fell one after the other. From the nearly fifty members they had when they first landed in the city, to a mere half a dozen.
Ava twitched as she recalled the feeling of hot plasma against her face, melting the skin right off of her body.
And that town master, that spineless puppet of his father's, had accused them of banditry and treason.
She tried to recall the moment the survivors had approached the town master regarding payment for the mission. Instead, the fat pig pointed his fingers at them, proclaiming them murderers and traitors,
"We hired you to protect us, not to bring death upon us!"
He had bellowed, conveniently ignoring the fact that he was the one who asked them to take care of the said 'bandits.'
Her attempt to reason with the pig had been met with the blunt force of a rifle's butt against her skull. Darkness claimed her briefly, and when she woke up, it was in the confines of this dimly lit room, stripped of her weapons and armor.
'And here I am, waiting for the final act.'
In her battered state, Ava chuckled mirthlessly, the absurdity of the situation closed in on her mind.
As the door creaked open, Ava's gaze shifted toward the entrance, a figure emerged, cloaked in a formal Military Judge's uniform. An oppressive silence hung in the air, broken only by the echoes of the Judge's heel stopping on the tiles floor as he approached.
The Judge's face was obscured by the shadow of the room, but his authoritative presence was undeniable. Some steps behind him followed the unmistakable bloated form of the town master.
As they reached her, the duo stopped, allowing a moment of silence for Ava to predict the outcome. The moment passed before the Judge began to speak again,
"Ava Shepard,"
His voice was deep and resonating,
"You stand accused of treason against the Sector government, of massacring innocent civilians, of assaulting legal armed forces of the Sector, and of colluding with enemies of the Sector. How do you plead?"
Ava lifted her bruised and bloodied face, her remaining eye meeting the shadowed gaze of the Military Judge. There was a bitter taste of irony on her parched tongue as she considered the charges laid against her. In that dimly lit room, surrounded by the cold steel barrels of rifles, she mustered the strength to respond, her voice a raspy whisper.
"Treason, massacring innocent civilians, assaulting armed forces, and colluding with enemies, huh?"
She spat a small amount of blood to the side before continuing,
"Not guilty on all counts. I was following orders, protecting the town as contracted. The real criminals are the ones who set us up."
The Judge remained stoic, his features still shrouded in darkness. The bloated town master, however, snorted with disdain.
"Save your lies for the afterlife, mercenary scum. The evidence is clear, and the judgment is final."
Ava chuckled weakly before her remaining eye widened in rage,
"Evidence? Do you mean the lies you fed to the Judge here?"
She lunged forward only to stumble and crash against the wide frame of one of the soldiers standing guard. The guard looked down at her in disgust, slamming his fist down on her face.
The blow sent Ava sprawling to the cold floor, blood mixing with the stains already there. She groaned in pain but her limbs had lost their remaining strength and she couldn't lift even a finger anymore.
The Judge raised a hand, signaling the guards to step back. He then spoke again, his voice cutting through the heavy air like a blade.
"Your claims will be investigated. But for now, the accusations against you are grave, and the penalty has already been decided."
The fat Town Master chuckled as the Judge declared her sentence,
"The Sector does not tolerate betrayal and the penalty for your treason is death."
The Judge raised his hand once more, signaling the guards to proceed. The soldiers, their faces hidden behind cold, emotionless masks, moved forward with precision, their rifles aimed at Ava.
*PING*
*Cough*
"Haha... *Wheeze* haha..."
The room fell into silence, the echo of the metallic ping still resounding in the ears of all present. The soldiers, who had sported a stoic, emotionless look, now shifted nervously as they checked and re-checked their grenades. In an instant, their stoic demeanors changed to one of anxiety as they checked and double-checked the grenades strapped to their body armor.
Ava shifted her gaze toward the Judge, the bandage on her face had been ripped off due to the blow. Her grin twisted her expression into a demonic sight. She had a grenade pinned stuck in her mouth, its metal digging into the skin and flesh of her jaw,
"Guess I won't be making it to the firing squad after all,"
She rasped, her voice dripping with irony.
The Judge's eyes widened as the realization hit him. The town master's face turned pale, beads of sweat forming on his forehead,
"You bitch! Shoot her! Shoot her, I tell you!"
So bellowed the round man.
"Too late,"
Ava smirked, blood trickling down her chin.
***Boom!***
In the moments of chaos that followed after the explosion, Ava was enveloped by a strange sense of weightlessness as the force of the blast propelled her frail body against the wall. She felt a mix of pain and satisfaction as her consciousness slipped into utter darkness.
The acrid scent of burnt flesh and the metallic tang of blood lingered in the air, the room was in shambles, with debris scattered across the floor. The remaining guards, caught off guard by the unexpected explosion, struggled to regain control of the situation.
Suddenly, a loud gong resounded through the heads of every human being on the planet.
[CONGRATULATIONS HUMANS!]
[YOUR PITIFUL RACE HAS BEEN CHOSEN AS THE VANGUARD FOR THE NEXT PIONEER LORD INVASION!]
[EACH LORD WILL BE PROVIDED WITH INDIVIDUAL TERRITORY, UNIQUE TROOPS, ONE UNIQUE TALENT, AND ONE UNIQUE SKILL!]
[UTILIZE YOUR RESOURCEFULNESS TO DEVELOP YOUR TERRITORY!]
[AND NO! YOU DON'T GET A SAY IN IT!]
{TOTAL POPULATION: 25 BILLION HUMANS}
[YOU ANTS SURE REPRODUCE A LOT!]
{POPULATION STATISTICS:
{UNDERAGED/TOO YOUNG(0-14): 2.7 BILLION}
{TEENAGERS/YOUNG ADULTS/ADULTS(15-60): 19.2 BILLION}
{TOO OLD(60-100): 3.2 BILLION}
[OPTIMIZING POPULATION TO 20 BILLION!]
[REVIVING 0.8 BILLION HUMANS]
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[PROCESS COMPLETE! TOTAL POPULATION: 20 BILLION]
[INITIATING TRANSMIGRATION PROCESS IN: 5...
4...
3...
2...
1...
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[CALCULATING ESTIMATED CASUALTIES: 99.999%]
[IMPLEMENTING REINFORCEMENT PLANS]
[SEARCHING FOR A NEW SPECIES]
[SEARCH COMPLETE!]
[PREPARE FOR NEXT WAVE]
