Translation from the pen of the Alojan historian Halcorn:     

"And Lady Sara told Bren of Ar about events long ago and places far away. Bren listened to her tale, and soon became hypnotized by her words, for she made her tale come alive, so he could understand..."

Chapter 10

The Raid

The nine W-1 class vehicles fired their reverse thrusters in unison sixty-two miles above the eastern edge of the desert. As their orbit decayed, they adjusted their trajectory for entry into the thin Alojan atmosphere. Friction turned the crafts outer hulls cherry red; but the crews, protected by heat shields and air conditioning remained safe and comfortable inside.

Through view ports they watched the changing alien terrain. The gray sand of the desert gave way to the grass of the plains. The light reflecting off their home planet made the red-gold Alojan grassland appear umber.

They hurtled over a river; the Alojans called the mighty Nod. To the aliens entering Aloja’s atmosphere the river had no name. To them it looked like a carelessly placed ribbon strewn across the plain. To starboard they could see the lights of a nameless city briefly, as they sped on over the surface. The plain between the Nod, Mi, and Kenda rivers was crossed in a matter of moments. The rivers between them were swallowed up by the night. The lights of another city came into view to port, and as quickly disappeared.

Below, on the grain filled plains of Wa, peasants woke to a strange sound. They rolled over uneasily in their furs wondering what had disturbed their sleep, for as quickly as it came the sound vanished.

The invaders fired their rockets again to adjust their ships for final descent. Below was their destination, the rock-strewn sands of the Western Desert. Hatches opened on the bottom sides of the vehicles. Landing struts were lowered from the sides of the nine W-1 Vehicles as they righted themselves for landing. Braking chutes made of black synthetic material, deployed from the nose cone of each craft slowing them further. Their rockets fired once more, and one by one they settled lightly on the Alojan surface.

Moments after landing hatches open on the sides of each vessel with a hydraulic hiss. Ladders were lowered to the ground and the first of the invaders set foot on Aloja.

The nine craft landed in a star shaped pattern. Five ships surrounded four. The outer ships had full fifteen man crews. The inner ships had three man crews, for their interiors had been stripped to carry cargo.

Two men from each crew remained in the outer ships to man defense systems. The rest converged on the inner ships and began unloading their cargo.

By the time the sun rose and spread heat over the surface the aliens, who called themselves Zoglites, had begun to assemble four sixteen-man ground-carriers, and one two-man scout craft. As the sun reached its zenith, nearly silent electric engines propelled these vehicles across the desert toward their objective.

Ector was typical of most Alojan farming communities on the plains of Wa. Its hard packed clay streets radiated from the Goada, a main meetinghouse, which served a dual purpose as community center and place of worship. The inhabitants’ homes surround the Goada. They were made of stone, with thatched huk grass roofs.

The villagers themselves were hard working stoic individuals. Both sexes worked the fields from sunrise to sunset dressed only in loin clothes. Even the young did not escape the backbreaking labor. The survival and welfare of the village depended on what it could grow and sell at market.

Ector was lucky in one aspect. It was situated on the banks of the Huk River and had a dependable water supply. This precious element was not as easy to obtain in other villages to the north and west, where wells or long undependable irrigation canals brought water to the fields. Ector’s location made it prosperous, until the night the Zoglites came.

Forty-six Zoglites participated in the attack. They were outnumbered nearly six to one, but they had superior weaponry and surprise on their side. The Zoglites were warlike creatures, while the people of Ector were peaceful farmers, who had not known war for generations. Besides, over half Ector’s population was made up of women, children, and the old.

The Zoglite’s commander, Deval Ider, gave orders for his ground-carriers to enter the village from the four points of the compass simultaneously. Flame-projectors, mounted in the turrets on the rear of each ground-carrier, ignited the thatched roofs of the Alojan’s homes with liquid fire. The night was suddenly alive with a blaze of orange that shimmered against the stone buildings, and gave the landscape an eerie glow.

The Alojans stumbled from their burning homes into the streets, where a merciless enemy awaited them. The young and the old were cut down out of hand. They were shot by dynam-carbines and hand blasters, or hacked to death by double-edged swords. The rest were herded toward the meetinghouse. Here Deval Ider waited to examine them. Eight males and eight females were selected for transport back to Zogl.

Those who were not chosen were hacked to death. Their bodies were left in a bloody heap behind the Goada. There would be no witnesses to warn the Alojans of the Zoglite threat. There would be only the dead.

One Zoglite was wounded in the attack when a young Alojan had attacked him with a pitchfork. The Alojan managed to ram the crude weapon into the pit of the Zoglite’s stomach before he was killed. The Zoglites were appalled that one of their own kind should suffer at the hands of an inferior being.

To make sure the events of the night were preserved for future generations a Zoglite photographer made a careful record of the massacre. He also filmed other interesting features of Alojan life. He found the Alojan’s domesticated animals particularly interesting. He also took pictures of their homes, and the interior of the Goada.

When their grizzly nights work was complete, the Zoglites herded their sixteen captives on board their ground-carriers. They left the smoking ruins of Ector behind and started back to their landing site.

The raid had been a complete success. The only sour note was the death of the Zoglite shock trooper wounded by the pitchfork. He bled to death before Ider’s convoy could return to the W-1 Vehicles and proper medical attention.

(Deval Ider recommended this fallen warrior, the first to die in a military action against the moon people, posthumously for the Bararvarish Star...the Empire’s highest military honor. A hero in death, his name soon graced many Bararvarish public buildings.)

Next Chapter: Chapter 11