Leader of the Resistance (part 5)
a novella by Frank Pipp & Bruce H. Markuson, illustrations by Michelle Markuson
Previously on Leader of the Resistance…
In part 1 of “Leader of the Resistance,” Hope locks herself in a bunker while a virus rages in the outer world. She watches as people drop like flies, first from the virus, then from the vaccine supposedly sent to counter the virus. She realizes, at the end, that a new alien species has taken over.
In part 2 of "Leader of the Resistance," beings inhabit our heroine’s home. She overhears them discussing the plague and vaccine. She discovers they engineered the vaccine to eliminate the rest of the humans, but they are also subservient to a greater species. Over intercom from her bunker, she contacts them, and sows the seeds for a resistance movement.
In part 3 of “Leader of the Resistance,” Hope and the Ceboideans ramp up the clandestine assault on the Vespula, making it appear as if humans are wreaking havoc so that the Vespula do not suspect their underlings. But when actual humans show up, they do not listen to Hope, and get themselves killed. Now the Ceboideans look to Hope all the more as they develop the next plans for sabotage—attacking their fleet itself from the inside.
In part 4 of “Leader of the Resistance,” Hope is mortified to find out that, though the sabotage of the fleet was successful, it was a suicide mission. They hatch a plan to take out the queen, and to do so, make an alliance with the enemy of the Vespula, the Varanus. They lure the Vespula into a valley, then flood it with destruction of a damaged dam. But alas, the queen escapes!
The conclusion of “Leader of the Resistance” is after the jump!
Chapter Twelve
What the Vespula Wanted
Day 140 10:00 AM
“Good morning, Young One. I have good news. The hive has been sabotaged. No future Queens will be hatched in their chambers. They will all be ordinary workers and the Vespula will not suspect until the time of hatching.”
“Yet still the existing Queen is out hiding somewhere.” I said.
“You are correct, Young One. She can simply lay more eggs and produce more future Queens.”
Then a buzzing noise, like a bug in my ear, came from outside of the house.
“Speak of the Devil,” Peter said
The door to the house opened. A large human-sized insect with four arms, two legs, and bee wings walked into the house.
The Vespula, I thought.
Its movements were erratic. It could not walk properly, or even stand still. It appears that the insecticide is having an adverse effect on them. It carried a large golden spear with a crooked half-leaf spearhead. It wore some sort of jeweled amulet hanging around its neck by a small chain. It stepped to the side of the door then another insect, in the same state as the first, stood at the other side of the door.
A third insect entered, also in an erratic state. This one was eight feet tall carrying a larger spear in one of her shaking claws and wore a larger jeweled amulet hanging around her neck by a small chain. In its other claw, I recognized some sort of Air Force technical manual. It knocked its head on the top of the door and scraped paint off the ceiling as it walked into the room.
A mechanical voice emanated from its amulet. “I want to hear your English. Do you have command of the language?” The voice was a little jumbled, another effect of the insecticide.
“Yes, my Queen. You honor me with your presence.” Peter said with a little tremble in his voice.
“Our situation has changed. The Varanus have stolen the Second Fleet. This is intolerable. INTOLERABLE!” the mechanical voice screamed out.
“They are treacherous scum, my Queen. But I'm confident my Queen will have her victory for the glory of the Vespula Empire.”
“We no longer have a safe haven on this wretched planet. The war is turned against us. I want the humans’ technology. You will deliver it.”
She threw the Air Force manual at Peter. He fell back from the weight but quickly stood up again. “This will be your top priority.”
“Yes, my Queen.”
“It is located at the human’s Airbase.”
“Yes, my Queen.”
“No other duty will be required of you. Only the human technology.”
“Yes, my Queen.”
Suddenly Lily walked into the room and gasped at the sight of the Queen.
The mechanical voice shouted. “The female is expecting!”
“Yes, my Queen. Our offspring will be another subject in service to the glory of the empire,” Peter told her.
“You can not be distracted.” The Queen shouted.
The Queen lifted Lily by the scruff of the neck and, with shaky claws, pointed her spear at her. “I will terminate this female and assign you a new one when you have delivered the human technology.”
“No, my Queen.”
“WHAT DID YOU SAY!” The Queen stopped in her tracks.
Boom, Boom, Boom,
Then I saw it in Peter’s hand. He had fired my Dad’s 357-magnum revolver pointed at the Queen and the two guards. The two guards fell. One of the Queen’s right arms was blown off and her spear emitted some sort of plasma bolt lightning as it fell to the floor, blasting a small hole through the house. Bits of her wing were shattered against the wall. The amulet dangled by one chain on her left shoulder. Frantically she hit a stud on her amulet. A force field enveloped her.
Boom, boom, boom,
The next three shots hit the force field. The bullets fell harmlessly. Finally, the dangling amulet fell off and the force field dissipated. The Queen grabbed the stump of her arm and barged out the front door staggering into the woods.
“What have I done? What have I done?” Peter yelled frantically.
I had to calm him down. “Peter, you fought for your family. This is what this war is all about. We know now that the Queen feels vulnerable. She will be uncoordinated and set on vengeance.”
“Vengeance?” Peter asked in confusion.
“Yes, specifically against you. Once she gets back to the others of the Vespula they will go on a genocidal rampage and kill every Ceboidean and human they can find. You and your family will be the primary target.”
Upon hearing my words, Peter dropped my dad’s revolver. “You humans are too familiar with war. So what do I do? What do I?”
Lily grabbed Peter's arm and called out, “Peter.”
I was thinking, these are docile little creatures. They do what they’re told. But now Peter has become a soldier. Willing to fight, yet still they need to be told what to do. And he is following my lead. So I had to tell him directly. I had to lay it out for him.
“Peter, the final battle has just begun. And you just started it.”
He stood there with a look of fear across his face.
I told him, “Listen carefully. I need you to kick the hornet's nest.”
“Kick the hornet's nest?” he asked me in confusion.
“I need to draw their forces away from the hive.”
Peter reached over for the amulet on the floor. “That’s simple enough. I have the Queen’s amulet. If I break this center jewel,he Vespula will come to their aid.”
I had to ask. “How many will come to her aid? Can we draw enough of their forces away from the hive?”
“Young One, you don’t understand. All Vespula from all sectors of space will come to her aid and protect their Queen.”
“Got it. They are a hive mind. If the Queen’s in danger, the rest will be like a swarm of hornets in a suicidal rampage to protect her.”
Peter asked me, “Did you learn that in military history?”
“No, I learned that in school studying bees and wasp.”
“And then,?” Peter asked, following my lead.
“And then, I need you to contact the Varanus. Tell them the situation with the Queen. And tell them I want them to attack the hive. NOW!”
“Of course, Young One, But not yet.” Peter grabbed the air force technical manual. Then he went to the closet, pulled out my old butterfly and rainbow backpack from grade school, and put it on Lily. He must have loaded it with supplies. “Go, my love.”
“Ger”
“Yeurp”
“Ak Ak”
“No, my love, speak English. This is our permanent home now.” They embraced, then she left the house.
Peter looked directly at the security camera. “I've arranged for her to have a safe place to deliver the child.”
He picked up the Queen’s amulet, then took the security camera off the wall. I saw his eye looking into the lens.
I asked him, “What do you mean 'not yet'? What do you plan on doing?”
“As ordered, Young One, I'm going to kick the hornet's nest.” The camera shut off.
An hour later Peter re-set up the security camera. But he wasn’t in the dining room. It was a new place. He had the technical manual open on the floor. The amulet was next to him, and he opened the access panel on some sort of a steel cylindrical object.
“Peter, where are you?”
“I’m at the Airbase in the bunker five stories below ground, and I have collapsed the elevator shaft. If they want to get me, they will have to dig. I have also arranged for all the Ceboidians to evacuate the town in the valley below.
“I reconfigured your security camera to view from here. There was a scrambler on its signal. That’s why I could never find you.”
“What’s going on?”
“If the Vespula wants the human technology, I’ll give it to them. I’m kicking the hornet’s nest just as you have ordered. You once told me that you have a view of the Airbase.”
“I do.”
“I have the Queen’s amulet. Once I break the center jewel, all Vespula soldiers everywhere will come to her aid. I estimate that only five percent of the Vespula soldiers would not be able to come here.”
“And the hive?” I asked.
“As you have requested, I have made arrangements with the Varanus. As soon as I give them the signal, they will launch their attack on the hive with the fleet of ships that you gave them. Just as you have ordered.”
He took a hammer and broke the center jewel. A loud insect-clicking noise emanated from it.
“Young One, please watch the airbase. Tell me when a red interstellar ship with a yellow stripe across the back lands.”
“Why is that?”
“That is the royal guard of the hive. That will be their last reserves. Once they are gone, the hive will be left relatively unprotected. Any Vespula soldier alive after that, you humans will have to fight on your own.”
“What do you mean alive after that?”
“Young One, watch the base.”
I looked through the tank scope as Peter asked. There were literally thousands upon thousands of ships landing at the airbase. Large, armored-plated starships with some sort of plasma guns projecting out the sides. Swarms of Vespula soldiers marched out and started digging to get to their precious Queen. No weapons, no heavy equipment were used. It appeared they didn’t want to take any chances and harm the Queen. Then, I saw it. Among the mass gathering of thousands of ships, a single, massive-sized, red interstellar craft with a yellow stripe across the back. It took up the full length of one of the runways at the airbase.
I went back to the security monitor. “Peter, the ship you spoke of is there.”
Peter held up two wires one in each hand. “You have taught me what bravery is. Something I never knew before. When I was young, my mother fought off two Vespula soldiers as they took me away. She was killed for that. I always thought that was a foolish and futile attempt on her part. Now that I am going to be a parent myself, I finally understand why she fought for me. And, Young One, I must confess—” Peter said with a look of guilt across his face. “The plague that infested your planet….”
“Yes,” I said slowly.
He continued, “I was the one who released it. I am the reason most of your race has perished. I wish I had been braver and defied the Vespula earlier. Perhaps I could have saved your people.”
How do I respond to that? “Peter, I myself hid away while the rest of my people were dying. Besides, if it wasn’t you, it would have just been someone else.”
Then he responded, “Young One, I must tell you. If you did not lead this resistance—”
He paused and caught his breath for a second and repeated. “If you had not lead this resistance, there would have been no one else. And there is no one else. You must carry on.”
Then, he continued, “It’s been an honor to serve under you. I hope my female offspring….” He paused. “I hope my daughter grows up to be like you.”
He connected the two wires he held in each hand. The security monitor went blank. The bunker illuminated with an extremely bright light, which strangely came from the small viewer of the tank scope.
“BOOM.” I clearly heard it. It was so loud it hurt my ears even inside the bunker.
The light from the tank scope was brief, then dissipated. Then the entire bunker shook from an earthquake. Small boulders fell from the ceiling. Cracks formed in the concrete and granite rock on the ceiling and floor. Then the entire bunker shifted half a foot.
The entire mountainside cracked. I screamed out, “What the hell is happening?”
I ran to the tank scope. I did not see what happened, but I did see the aftermath.
Chapter Thirteen
Dark Again
As I looked through the tank scope, I saw the nuclear mushroom cloud rising over the Airbase, destroying all the Vespula forces that were there. That was why they came to Earth. That was the human-technology they wanted, nuclear weapons. And I’m assuming that is the signal to the Varanus to begin the attack on the hive.
Day 150
It’s dark again. The house backup generator has run out of fuel. I may be safe in here, but no one knows where I am. And no one knows I’m stuck. Perhaps I should have made some arrangement to get out. I should have told Peter where I was. But as Peter had said, if he couldn’t find me, the Vespula couldn’t find me. Well, the Vespula never found me, I suppose I should be grateful for that. It's an easier way to die than in a Vespula torture chamber.
“This is my fate.” Or so I thought.
I heard a thunk.
Thunk, thunk, thunk. The wheel on the bank vault door was slowly, slowly turning. Someone was pounding on the vault door wheel to make their way in. Vespula soldiers are tall scrawny insects and still affected by the insecticide. There is only room for one to be standing behind the door.
I went to the crowbar that was still braced against the door. And, in desperation, I stomped on it, hoping beyond hope, trying to keep them from getting in. “But no, I am braver now. My name is Fallon. I must not forget. It means leader. I have witnessed the harvest of the Earth but the war goes on. And I am the leader.”
Taking away the crowbar and tossing it aside, I went to the far end of the bunker and crouched down. I decided that once they enter, I would run and leap at them, hopefully knocking them over, and make a run for it.
Thunk, thunk, thunk. The wheel was still turning and turning and turning.
If you find this journal, this is my final entry.
* * *
Footnote: Through some twist of fate, I am still here. And so, I add this to the record. I did leap at the being behind the door as he entered. I held his head tightly and kissed my rescuer harder than ever.
"Kyle!” I screamed out. “You’re alive! You’re alive!” I said as I kissed him over and over again.
He had to hold my head a second just so he could speak. “Hope, what the hell went on, the plague, the insect invasion?”
“How’d you find me?”
“Some cigar-smoking lizard guy said he saw a picture of you and me. Look, the insects are looking for you. We need to go into hiding.”
“Where’s Dad?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know where he is.”
We stepped out of the hole in the ground. Kyle had moved the three foot wide potted tree hiding the entrance to the bunker. There were a few armored military vehicles. Men in uniform were standing around with assault rifles. They were Army, Marines, and National Guard from several States. It seems that they gathered as many soldiers as they could from whomever survived.
I heard someone call out, “Sir, the kid’s not lying, she's here.”
An Army colonel walked up to me. “Are you Ms. Fallon?”
I answered, “Yes, I am Hope Fallon. How may I help you?”
“My name is Colonel Craig Wilson. I am acting NATO supreme commander. I’ve been in contact with a species called the Varanus.”
“You know of the Varanus?” I asked.
“Yes, I have gotten in a few skirmishes with them myself. They said they would only speak with you. Now, as I understand it, somehow you have managed to establish diplomatic relations with this species. How is that possible?”
“I reached out to them and offered the hand of friendship in their fight against the Vespula.”
“And they accepted?”
“I saved their world and gave them a fleet of warships. We do have a common enemy.”
“I need you to request they come to Earth and help us fight the Vespula soldiers. They have knowledge and technology that can penetrate their shields.”
“Colonel, I arranged for them to attack the hive. It will be a whole generation of Vespula that we will not have to fight. We’ll just have to bear the brunt of fighting until they get back. The Queen is wounded and on the run. We have to hunt her down.”
“Ms. Fallon, please, let's not play soldier right now. I see you have some influence with them, and I want you to call them back.”
“I can’t do that, Colonel.”
“Ms. Fallon, this is not for you to decide. As I also understand, it may have been your little band of rebels who initiated the nuclear blast.”
“Yes, that’s correct,” I said. It appears they did not know who initiated the blast. A hush of silence came across the faces of the soldiers. They all just stared at me.
“Ms. Fallon, just who do you think you are?”
“I’m leader of the resistance.”
Thank you for hanging with us for this exciting invasion story! What did you like about it? Why are you still reading, 5 parts in? Let us know in the comments!
Meet the authors and illustrator:
Bruce Markuson lives with his wife and two children in Milwaukee WI. He has a published novel as well as over a hundred and fifty other publications. Bruce is also working on a number of series. He enjoys writing and often finds himself with writer’s obsession. He says the best way to write is to have an ending then write to that ending.
Frank Pipp is a retired early elementary school teacher living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Go Packers!) Prior to teaching, he was a vice president in cash management for a regional bank. He has two adult children and a rescue border collie. He is active in mitochondrial disease fundraising, enjoys long dog walks and writing. In 2019 he had a poem about a summer day as a ten-year-old, a science fantasy story, and a science fiction short story published. During these times of Covid-19 shelter in place, he is learning to knit and made a pair of Dr. Who mittens.
Michelle Markuson did the illustrations. She is a Graphic Design student at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. It captures a very feminine expression of the doom, horror and hopelessness that words can’t always express.