The First Battle of a New Age – Part 2

"Don't die!" Kate screamed out in the heat of battle.

The words fell out of her mouth and away on the impatient afternoon breeze. She retained hold of Phoebe and Juno and ushered them into relative safety, which was a space where they were wedged between two small boulders on the edge of the hill. It wasn't perfect, but at least they could hide and prepare themselves for the time being.

"Will you please let go of me!" Phoebe stammered as she reached for Kate's hand on her shirt.

"Shh! Be quiet!" Kate snapped, lifting her left hand from Juno's shirt, but leaving her right firmly clutching the fabric of Phoebe's NYSA shirt, her eyes like daggers gazing through Phoebe's, as if Kate could read her mind and her inner, secretive thoughts.

Phoebe opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead, she readied her energy gun and eyed the openings on either side of their hollow. Energy rays were flung past, as were magical bullets that were being naturally summoned by an artificial enemy.

"We need to help the others!" Phoebe finally spluttered, "it's not fair for us to be hiding while everyone else is risking their lives!"

"But we're the least qualified unit! We are almost a liability to the rest of the Science Protection Units," Juno whispered frantically.

"So? We're probably just as good as them in combat, we should help them since we have the opportunity to," Phoebe fought back.

"The supercomputer was the judge and overseer of who is accepted into the SP units. It would have certainly taken military prowess into the equation!" Juno assured her.

"How could it have known we would be in a military operation on the first day?! How could it have known we would ever be in a military situation? We live in a utopia, remember!"

Juno paused, checking the energy level on his blaster, and adjusting his protective armour, before finally looking back up at Phoebe, with a stern look in his eyes.

"The supercomputer knows everything," Juno boldly stated.

A brief silence took place before Kate interjected,

"Juno may be right about the supercomputer. He has worked with it this last year intensively. However, I do agree with Phoebe. We can't just sit around and wait while they're all in danger.

Let's go!" Kate moved with her gun fully out, about to exit their hiding place, when suddenly, an alien leapt down beside them, and summoned a magical energy sword, glowing with pristine silver light, they attempted a sweep at Kate, who was closest to this blade of energy.

The sword swooped fast, only just reaching her cheek, claiming the tiniest bit of blood but leaving Kate unharmed.

'I've never been on the receiving end of a sword belonging to a real enemy,' Kate considered, jumping back out of danger. Juno and Phoebe were hiding around the corner, and they were temporarily safe, but this alien had locked onto its target, and Kate was in almost complete peril without her sword to defend herself with.

The alien launched themselves several into the air with some propelling properties of their magic and started coming crashing down, onto Kate, with the sword held above their head confidently.

Kate had no time to react, no time to move or dodge, or even lay a pathetic counterattack with her bare hands and legs—her energy blaster had fallen out of her hand in the chaos of the previous moments.

The sword was coming closer and closer still.

A gust of air gathered around Kate as the alien was falling to kill her. The air became heavy, condensing into blue particles which further condensed into a transparent barrier, which not only blocked the attack but also boosted the alien into the rock, rendering them unconscious and leaving him lying against the weathered rock.

She had just summoned a defensive barrier—Kate had magical abilities!

Juno and Phoebe looked at Kate in awe, starstruck by her supernatural abilities. Kate hid a grin as she shook her head promptly at their childish amazement,

"If Leonel and I are now in possession of alien magic, then you two and Purity must have access to it as well."

"We don't have any reason to doubt that," Juno analysed, "I suppose everyone here will also have control over magic."

"I'm not sure if control is the right word," Kate laughed softly, "I didn't know what I just did, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to replicate my little blue magic shield when the opportunity arises again."

"Maybe the explosion of that floating orb we found in the ship has something to do with all this. Perhaps everyone in the explosion radius is now some magical being," Purity proposed.

Footsteps could be heard coming around the right side of the boulder. They readied themselves for another confrontation, however, to their relief, it was Leonel and Purity.

"Thank goodness you're still okay!" Purity acknowledged, rushing forward to hug Kate, as Leonel turned over to look at the alien lying on the ground.

Their combat suit looked very high technology, and very protective—which only raises the question—how powerful was Kate's attack on them?

They all circled the unconscious alien, and upon closer inspection, they saw writing on the chest section, in bold yellow letters: FIFTH GEN. XENAK MILITARY.

So, they did have a name—Xenaks. These aliens were called Xenaks.