How It Was and is to be

"Bein' immortal we'll skip fifty years of drinkin' and cryin' and just get to what you'll find when you staggers out of the gutter." Future Spike was sat up in full story teller mode. "First off you'll notice the only reason you have a dry gutter is the Hudson River flood barrier runnin' from Rockaway point New York to Sandy Hook New Jersey. It's the only thing thats going to stop the two cities having to change their names too New Venice one and two."

"Stumble into a book store and glance at an up to date atlas and what do you find, a whole lot less green and alot more blue. An area the size of the USA has gone under the raising waters. Millions of people have been driven from their homes, most where still movin'."

"Second thing you'll notice is the smell, there isn't much. Everyone drivers a water powered car, all electric power is generated by natural gas, wind, water or very carefully controlled nuclear fission. Burn rubbish and your lookin' at a ten thousand dollar fine or six months inside. Start a forest fire for a prank and they'll give you ten to life."

"Everythin' gets recycled, nothin' gets wasted, metal goes round and round time and again melted and smelted. Papers grey cause what little that's still used has recycled repeatedly. All waste food and garden refuse goes to make mulch for the cryogenic centres out in the Mid-West."

"There are siloes there, vast thousand acre concrete buildings in which thirty or forty crop floors are piled one on top of another. That's the grain belt these days, short steamed wheat grown under artifical light in soil made from the cities rubbish. To understand why you just 'ave to step outside."

"No crops can be grown in the great US grain belt anymore cause no rain falls between mid spring and late fall. The warming of the atmosphere has caused another problem too. Weather formations move faster and the accompanying sand storms are atrocious, and the tornadoes are bigger and closer together than they've ever been. So the poor sods who draw that duty stay underground tendin' the crops and livin' online. People only come out there in the cool and wet of winter to wander round the ghost towns and whats left of the woods, mostly cactus forest out there now though."

"Course America and the Western developed nations have alot less problems than some. The World Trade Organisation saw to that, helped them get together to find ways to keep their people fed and housed, made them share technologies to ensure that comfortable life went on. But the loss of lands still meant changes and the surpluses vanished. Even rich countries had to ration some foods and the amount they had to share got alot less."

"And in Africa, most of Asia and South America they didn't have the money so conditions were overwhelmingly worse, valuable land under water, the Sahara pushin' out and out, millions forced from their homes by floods, desert or war.And all the time they looked on at developed nations that had left them to stew on a few tonnes of jealously doled out rice. Was it any wonder that they set off to join us?"

"First time it 'appened was in Seventy-seven, a hundred and fifty thousand people crammed themselves into anything that would float on the Morrocan coast and set off for Spain and the European Union. The Unions Army was on the beaches waiting for them, unmanned control by wire battletanks lined up ready with entrenched infantry. fleets of attack helicopters in the air. Five times in a dozen languages they was told to go back. When they was fifty meters off shore and still coming the General commanding gritted his teeth and told 'is men to let 'em have it. A quarter of the refugees was in the water dead or swimming before the rest got the message and headed back. European naval units hauled the living out and shipped 'em back over the water. Infantrymen gunned down any that swam to the European shore."

"The sea was stained red."

"Public outcry there was, but the government noted that it was from a minority, that the majority kept quiet and went on as normal. The Union made the most of the fact to pass emergency measures to ensure future border security would be as tight as possible to 'Safeguard it's peoples living space.'"

"The second big attempt to get what the rich had was in Seventy-nine. Ninety thousand struggled north from the flood and drought torn deforested wasteland of Central America across Mexico's deserts to the Rio Grande. There they faced a nightmare, a three mile deep minefield interpersed with computerized quard towers equipped with mini guns and every heat seeking device available."

"The message given was loud and clear, 'Go back, go on and you die.' Thousands tried to go on, not one got across."

"Time moves on another thirty years. A new century see's the WTO persuade all it's members to impose Martial Law, the climate is improving slightly, all necessary measures must be taken to ensure that it stays that way. Carbon dioxide emissions must be at the minimum available for progress, people must be more strictly controlled so that the population stays at a manageable level. All efforts must be made to secure mankind’s progress."

"Mankind’s progress is taking shape around the moon. Humans have been living there for nearly ten years, constructing a huge shipyard to build powerful starships outside of the earths main gravity. Now a means is developed to artificially generate water. The decision is made to put fifty thousand people onto the moon's surface to maximise starship production. And to move to Mars."

"They also put every scientist they can spare onto working on new engines that will permit man to go to the more distant stars."
"Vampires an' demons are keeping a low profile during all this, police states arn't so much fun as democracies. They tend to keep a closer eye on things and be more apt to notice people turning up dead. And then there was the fact that we was 'earin' rumours that behind the scenes they was messin' with the Initiative's research again, but this time with the Council's full help. They weren't doin' the crazy stuff Walsh tried but working on ways of turnin' Demons and Vampires into their servants. Lookin' for way's of making 'em into soldiers."

"Speakin' for myself let me say those storys gave me the absolute willies. I was the only vampire to have been chipped and survive to tell of it. I was in no hurry to repeat the experience, I made sure my profile was very very low let me tell you."

"By 2200 the polar icecaps are starting to expand again, the sea recedes a little. Food production in the WTO' Zone is getting back up to modern pre dust bowl standards. The third world starts getting food aid to assist its surviving populace, and so long as it's governments obey orders things start getting back on track. The Lunar base is in full production. Mars is supporting ten thousand brave souls who are stripping in of it's mineral wealth to be shipped back to the home world on huge great freighters. And off the surface of the moon the first four Galactic Explorer vessels are being produced, starships that will use the newly developed stellar drives to take handpicked crews off to nearby star systems to look for habitable planets."

"The Initiative research stories continued but there was no unexplained disappearances, no demons or vampires in uniform so everyone except me stopped worryin'. In fact some demons started looking for the Judge again, figurin' that as the humans weren't going to destroy the world maybe we should try our luck once more. Some others started working for the humans anyway, dictatorships looked to be there to stay and they've never had any objection yet to employing scary lookin' horned blokes to work in the torture chamber."

"Ten years later the missions have gone and come back, I won't bore you with a long list of system or planet names, let me just tell you what they found. Two explored solar systems that had nothing that could support human life. The third found a desert planet like Mars that was just borderline, that was marked out for later mining. The last found a world ninety five percent compatible, and which had no true 'Intelligent life'. The shipyards went into overdrive, freighters and liners being built round the clock with the new engines, built to carry goods supplies and people to the new world. It was like the Oregon trail and the Californian goldrush all at once. Hundreds of thousands put there names down to be off to this new frontier."

"And in a quiet little shipyard built just above the earths surface the WTO put it's first Stellar warships into production. This New World might be a great thing but the people there had to be kept under control. There would be garrisons on the surface and ships off planet making sure dissidents didn't seize this great new prize."

"The first convoy left in 2218, within a year they'd made landfall on the planet Terra2. By 2280 there are ninety million people on the new world, it has it's first cities and it's first off planet shipyards, the native species are domesticated or consigned to huge 'native life parks'. The planet also has it's first demons and vampires as a few hardy types are clever enough or stupid enough to risk the trip and survive. I 'ad more bleedin' sense, I stayed put at 'ome."

"It all looks hunky dory but secretly it isn't."

"No intelligent life, no actual presence true but more detailed exploration turned up disturbing stuff. Traces of none human excavations, a crashed starship that's not ours. A derelict satellite in orbit. Somebody else 'as been checkin' the gaffe over, we are not alone, work on weapons systems and ship armour goes into overdrive. What we have we hold an' no bloody Alien is goin' to take it from us."

"The Citizenship law comes into force around this time. Up till now all people had had the vote in the pathetically low number of elections permitted, now that changes. Only those who have done military or police service will have full citizenship, they will have first choice with regards to houseing, a higher child birth quota when they marry, and a better chance of being allowed to settle on the paradise that is provin' to be Terra2 on retirement. Thus did mankind begin to prepare for a war that it didn't even know it would have to fight."

"With a second home planet established man set off into the wide open again. This time though the explorers went in flotillas of four, and they were warships not scientific vessels."

"Ten flotillas of four went out, thirty nine ships came back seven years later. One was lost with all hands in as asteroid collision. The crews of the rest all had tales to tell."

"Six planets at varying degrees of inhabitability had been found that reached around the fifty percent area. One planet was found that had an atmosphere as good as Earths. Unfortunately it also carried intelligent life, large amounts of it. The Sethonians, a people moving into the late Iron Age without the barest idea of what had just watched them from above. Almost exactly like humans too, enough to start some people talking about what aliens might have been up to here in the millennia before, not that any link was ever proved. "

"Discussion was long and hard in the World Government offices, some said yeah and some said nay. But in 2260 or so a fleet was despatched none the less. Six battlecruisers, twelve heavy cruisers and a hundred auxiliaries carryin' marines and stores and surface combat vehicles. The invasion was opposed but to quote from the bible. 'The Assyrians were as a wolf in the fold.' Organised resistance was crushed within six weeks guerrilla war was over within two years. The Sethonians had died by the hundreds of thousand, and now their culture and populace was dismantled."

"No actual genocide occured you understand. But the dispersal might have well ave been called that. Millions were shipped to the newly found planets deemed too poor for mankind. There they lived in primitive conditions working in mines that stripped those planets of their assets for the new Empire. Millions more were sent back to Earth of Terra2 to be 'Re-educated' in civilised surroundings. Used as domestic and factory labour in other words, doing jobs to menial even for robots. And as both the young male's and female's are handsome and athletic types they came in useful for alot of other things too."

"I had my first taste of a Sethonian in the fall of 2264. She was a runaway from some strip club or other who was hiding from the law in the sewers, 'er name was Valandra. She was so pretty and her blood tasted better than any human I'd ever killed, god she screamed when she saw me, I was a bat faced monster by then heading towards lookin' like the Master, but held her to my will, half drained her, shagged 'er, drained her some more and made Earths first Sethonian vampire. She's a blond haired beauty and strong. We've had some fun times let me tell you, cause of course she didn't raise an eyebrow over 'ow bad 'er Sire looked back then. Valandra is 'er name, she told me she was some kind of princess, not that I believed 'er then."

"By 2270 the conquered planet was deemed to be fit for 'uman habitation. The Sethonian's was down to managable numbers and knew their place. They'd spent five years throwing up dwellings for their 'Guests' now they were trusted enough to be given uniforms and weapons, they became our allies, but on the basis of knowin' who was boss."

"Skip forward along way to 2500. I'm now Master of my own order in a whole new city, Valandra's lust for me and for 'uman blood 'ad reawakened the old Spike, though I still carried a computer disc full of images of the Slayer. I was nearly seven hundred and not much could look me in the eye and not blink. Valandra was a power 'erself draggin me in victim after victim cause I couldn't 'unt my own grub no more as I looked so bad. We felt like we was in 'eaven though a lot of miles away somethin' was about to 'appen that would change our unlives forever and break up our 'appy 'ome."

"Apart from a few floating bits of Space junk on Terra2 mankind still hadn't found it's Galactic neighbours and had maybe given up looking. Still building up the war machine to fight them though. They still only had the three inhabited worlds plus a dozen that they were stripping of all mineral wealth. Most manufacturing went on off planet, by now they were building bloody huge warships and looking back in martime history they found a name for them. Dreadnoughts."

"On it's maiden voyage the Imperial Star Ship Warspite, the fourth in the Imperitor class of Dreadnought was crusin' a solar system or so out from Sethonia when it came upon a strange vessel. At first they thought it was a smuggler and closed rapidly till they had the bugger in sight. And then they saw that it was an Alien!"

"Well they hailed it, and they fired warning shots in front of it but it didn't stop. So they deployed their shiny new tractor beam on it. The alien fired on them, it's weapon barely scraped the paint, they deployed an attack drone rather than use their main weapons. It targeted the ships engines with it's laser weapons hoping to cripple the alien and make it surrender. But unfortunately it cut the main fuel lines, that sent plasma all over hot engine manifolds and blew the whole stern off. The crew ejected and were picked up, the wreckage was scanned, it was a mass of refined metal ores. The crew of the Warspite realized they'd just killed themselves a harmless merchantman."

"The aliens were reptiles, very tall civilised reptiles in clothes not your crocodiles, they looked pissed and weren't saying much. The humans and the Sethonian auxiliaries on the ship couldn't understand what they did say. So the captives got shoved in the brig and the vessel turned and shifted it back to base."

"There was consternation in the Earth's capital New York when the news reached it. An intelligent Alien life form encountered and we already have an act of war. A human vessel fired on without provocation, and now 'ere we was with prisoners. The dreadnought ISS Nimitz and four battle cruisers were despatched to the sector where the alien craft had been encountered with orders to search and destroy."

"At the same time the Strelza, that’s the lizard men, despatched two warships to try to find their freighter. But what they actually found was the human squadron. Shot's blazed back and to but the Strelza saw the odds against them and did a runner. And here's were combat experience sorted the men from the lizards. The humans got out flown and the lizard ships got away."

"Meanwhile back on a prison ship orbiting the desert wastes of Terra1 where the lizards were being studied, in a chatting to them way not in a cutting open way, progress was being made, language difficulties being overcome. And the information they were gathering was leading to very big exclamations of 'Oh.'"

"And so it was that when six Strelzan warships arrived at Deneb, the solar system where the fight had occurred, they met a fleet of warships but also one vessel beamin’ out a message in Strelzan of peace and brotherhood."

"You see the Strelzan were the leaders of a confederation of five intelligent races. For centuries they'd ruled the roost in a wide sector of the galaxy. But for the past hundred years they'd steadily been losing a war with an aggressive insect race known simply as the Hive. These insects send out swarms of ships each year and despite Strelzan technical superiority were gradually overwhelming them in battle after battle."

"And the Hive were moving towards the human's home worlds, if the Strelzan Confederation fell then they'd be next. And the Hive couldn't be negotiated with, and couldn't be turned back by any means other than destruction. Their beliefs was simple that only those of the Hive deserve life and their code was conquer or die. Never mind if the Strelzan were lizards suddenly it was two legged oxygen breathers together. Hence the hand of friendship."

"It was grasped by the scaled clawed hand of the lizard. With it's military based society and command economy humanity had built in the dreadnought the most powerful vessel in the known galaxy, the lizards looked out at these vast titans of deep space and decided we was goin' to be friends. Strelzan scientists helped to install some new weapons and produced copies of some earth ones for their own ships. They also provided us with the medical kit that accounts for the cosmetically surgeoned splendour that’s my boat."

"The Hive had just taken the Solar System we called Casterlerna from the Confederation. They were settling themselves in on the ground, constructing huge cities made of wax and dirt and moving their queens into the center of them. Then it was going to be mass breeding of workers and warriors ahoy. And off the planets surface they were breedin’ new ships for their next invasion."

"Breedin’ ships?" Present Spike broke the brooding silence he'd maintained through the lecture.

"The Hive ships are essentially alive, they breed these great big bugs then they fit the shells with engines and power them with what the big besties crap out. They also stick weapon packs on their shells up around their heads. Not powerful weapons but they can churn those things out by the thousand so that doesn't matter, they win when they win by weight of numbers."

"For the humans this was it, this was the moment of glory for which they had, 'Hardened the race'. This was the excuse for the citizenship law, for the military society that had been built and for the huge investment in the Starfleet. Nine dreadnoughts, fifty battlecruisers and a host of smaller cruisers, destroyers and frigates went to join the Strelzan force off their home world. Then the great armada set off for Casterlerna."

"They tore through that Solar System like nothing the Hive had ever met before. Usually the Strelzan were to badly shot up to counter attack after losing a planet yet here they were in full force, and with new allies."

"The Dreadnoughts were almost unstoppable. The Hive managed to cripple one and inflict damage to some others but they were slaughtered doing it. Laser drones chopped their ships up into small peices. Electro- magnetic railguns mounted in the dreadnought hulls sent out streams of simple metal projectiles at almost light speed, slammin' into them and tearin' them apart. Sonic shells ruptured their hulls, tractor beams tore off engines, neutron bomb tipped torpedoes fried crews inside the carapaces. The Hive fleet was destroyed within three days and the ship breeding pods burned to ashes. Then they started on the planets."

"The Hive can adapt to live on alot of planets we couldn't survive on for a second. They'd colonised three in the Casterlerna system. Two were useless to both the Empire and the Confederation they were hit first. Humans nuked the blazes out of their cities then the Strezlan bombarded them with insectocides they'd developed but never gotten close enough to breeding colonies to use."

"The third planet was a different matter, it produced minerals essential to the Strezlan economy and 'ad to be retaken. They hit the cities with low yield neutron bombs but after that they had to go in and do the business on the ground in the old fashioned way. It was there that the Imperial Marine Corp discovered that Hive warriors stood fifteen feet tall and could run at thirty miles an hour on their eight legs, that they had long razer sharp forelimbs that could cut a man in half and mandibles that could rip your head clean off. Nobody had much fun down there."

"Within two months though they had the planets surface one hundred percent cleansed. Over three million insects had been swotted, humans had lost a hundred thousand soldiers plus fifty thousand Sethonian auxiliaries with many more wounded. The Confederation had lost eighty thousand, after what they'd suffered the hailed the victory as cheap. The humans thought otherwise."

"You see the establishment of the world government had led to the establishment of that old chestnut world peace. Other than an odd civil disturbance and a terrorist or two mankind hadn't known a war since it's virtually walkover invasion of Sethonia. The lists of the dead were read with horror, and the knowledge that up to fifty more productive planets would have to be taken in the same way led to that unheard thing in the past century actual public outcry."
"And that's where we came in."

"All those rumours about the Initiative research being dug back up again where true you see. They just hadn't needed to use us up till then. Demons and vampires was left to be as a means of population control, occasional purges kept out numbers manageable but essentially we was left to get on with it."

"But we was watched, they reckon there was barely one nest in ten that wasn't known so when the moved they knew where to go."

"It was midday when they hit my gaffe, we was in a dry sewer under New Santa Fe at the time. The climate had improved enough for the major cities of the Mid West to be reoccupied a century before but New Santa Fe was still in re development, so lots of people new to town lots of potential prey. We was kippin' after hearty meals when they stormed in, stun grenades and thunder-flashes got us on our feet and tazer blasts put us of them again. Even me and my bird didn't stand a chance. I memerized four of them but a fifth got me in the back. Then they jumped up and down on my head till the lights went out."

"Woke up in a bloody cell in a bloody uniform of course. Field grey overalls and combat boots, lapels of the overall bore a natty little silver deaths head on a black rectangle. I didn't need to feel the back of me bonce to know I'd got a recently healed scar there where they'd inserted a new chip. I'd been Initiatived along with thousands of others."

"Good news however was that lying around the floor were my Childe an' minions. They'd kept family groups together you see to encourage, 'Comradeship and social harmony.' And though my new getup looked deeply offensive and not Spike Valandra looked really pretty in her uniform."

"Anyway I woke 'er up an told 'er, then I made 'er take it off and shagged 'er up against the bulkhead, we could see the camera but neither me or my naughty little Sethonian princess gave a fuck about that. They we sat down among our awakening kin and waited for something to 'appen."

"About and 'our later the humans came knocking. Six of em with tazer rifles, which by the way is alot more souped up than what your used too. One of my more idiot Childe tries to bite one of them of course but they just grinned and watch whilst 'e clutches 'is 'ead and screams at the pain. That lesson learned we let 'em chivvy us out of there and into a corridor packed full of other vampires. We're then marched in groups down to a bloody big underground parade ground where I finds myself and mine forming the front rank of a block of 150 vampires in front of a sign on the ground. Reading what it says doesn't fill me with a deep seated sense of joy."

"'E Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Regiment of the Nostferatu Division of the Space Marine Corp.' I was most very definatly in extremely deep shit."

"Some bloke in a black uniform with lots of silver lacing on the lapels and epaulets gets up on a podium in the middle and gives the assembled fifteen companies of our Regiment a speech. I can't remember the whole thing but it was basically, 'You've been parasites on the body of humanity for thousands of years, profiting by our pain and death. Well now the time has come to pay the debt you owe humanity. You will engage the enemies of the worlds you populate in battle. Those of you who perform your duties loyally and survive will upon our victory be found a world in which you can live freely without danger to humanity. Those of you who die will die with the knowledge that you have fully repaid your debt.' And other complete bollocks in a similar vein. I personally believed that he meant it, after the victory they'd seek out some distant planet with a cave dwellin' populace and dump us on them. Absolute bleedin nightmare prospect that was, sittin' waitin' around for two thousand years till they invented telly."

"But the fact was I was tagged and locked up on an apparently solid fortress and completely screwed. So I told the kids to toe the line and follow orders, we'd get our chance to leg it later out in the field."

"After the speech they fed us cause we were starvin 'ungry. Medical science 'ad come on leaps and bounds and they could manufacture pure blood of whatever kind they wanted from simple ingredients. Nothing new to me I'd knocked off a small machine from a hospital years before for daytime snacks, saved on 'avin' stinkin prisoners smellin' up the gaffe. But they had around a hundred big machines churnin' away there producing packet after packet. We got four each and then the same for seconds. We was bloated with the stuff."

"Life's not to bad a very tiny disloyal section of my brain announced. But I knew that you don't fatten up the calfs less your readyin' them for slaughter. Lookin' around I could see that there was a lot of scrawny looking vampires who hadn't been doing as well as me in the great outdoors. Vampires who were going to have to be strengthened if they were going to be any use as soldiers."

"Sirens wailed and humans came in and shouted at us, we were 'earded through another door into another huge open concrete surrounded space, this one contained about ten individual assault courses and a large firing range. Next to the door was a large pile of packs, filled as it turned out with bricks."

"Of course we was given one each and ordered to start running."

"Here 'owever was when the first big discipline problem broke out. I mean most groups had 'ad at least one demonstration of what 'appened when you attacked a 'uman so there was no mutiny but there was a refusal to play silly beggers. We was 'avin' none of it so they made their first examples. Two vampires from Alpha Company, the first unit up was staked then and there. 'Run or die', was the message."

"So we ran, 'elped that I gave the 'undred and fifty vampires with me the look, the look that says do it or you get a claw in the eye, amazin 'ow well that works when your my age. I lead 'em past the others and off on the first course."

"There was water jumps and wire to crawl under and rope swings and walls to climb, all that old fashioned stuff that never goes out of style with the army. We did the whole eight hundred meters quick as you like with me an' Val chiviyin the buggers along sharpish."

"And the well armed bunch of sadistic bastards at the end says. 'Well done now run the next one.' We weren't best pleased."

"Shagged out but still in a cohesive group at the end we ran all ten in succession, I felt like me lungs was going to come heavin' up out through me gob by the time I was finished but willpower 'ad seen me through. That and the fact that Valandra was running along right behind me an' I couldn’t be seen to let 'er down."

"Five minutes rest and it was onto the firing range. Guns weren't real to our great disappointment, range was a computer operated simulation though the guns were made to kick just like the real thing. It was 'ere were we first faced the hive soldier insects, they didn't look so tough, they charge you and you shoot and they drop. Easy job, we'll be free and stuck on some rock in a far distant corner of the galaxy in no time."

"But I knew it was going to be alot 'arder than that."

"Off we was marched again once everyone in the company 'ad 'ad a go. This time we was put into a smaller room full of beds. Doubles not bunk, they knew what they'd captured. This was to be our company quarters, an’ me and my family, five males an' eight females, all minions except my special girl, established ourselves in the corner furthest from the door and nearest the blood dispenser. There we lounged untroubled whilst the rest of the mob scrambled for precedence beneath me. I complimented Valandra on 'ow beautiful she looked in 'er nice new uniform, she called me a git cause she knew I was takin' the piss. Then she took it off an' I shagged 'er."

"Three quarters of an hour or so later, when we was finished, we got to explorin' the other leisure facilities available. I found that they'd got tellys fitted behind panels in the wall's and had the complete old telly programme channels from the Nostalgia network, so I ordered up a few favourite Passion's episodes. Val found they 'ad a few old laptops lying around to play games on, 'ad to stiff arm a couple of vamps to get one but then went straight to work on tryin' to figure our 'ow the chips might work. I gotta say for a girl who grew up on a planet were the blokes still wore long beards and chainmail and used to thump one another with axes, she's a bleedin' wiz at computers. She typed away like crazy with one hand whilst petting one of 'er favourites who had 'er 'ead between Val's leg's with the other."

"An intrestin' sight but not more intrestin' than 'Passions'."

Future Spike smiled off his present self's raised eyebrows. "Being a really old vampire can make you lose a little bit of the intrest you might 'ave been able to show in the ladies once demon or not. Three or four times a day was my limit.....then."

"Quite an idyllic family moment that then as we all sat round ignoring the growling, fightin' shaggin, and screamin' coming from the rest of the company. Nobody killed anyone but there was a very black and blue unit of vampires by the end of the hour. I'd just lined up a chance to re-watch the ep where Timmy get's trapped down the well when the humans barged back into our lives."

'"Officer on Deck,'" Some 'uman pillock shouts to general lack of springin' to attention, there's an NCO type by the door and a git with silver on 'i's shoulder straps standin' there lookin' down 'is nose at us. I doesn't pay 'im no never mind though. What concerns me is that 'e's got that yellow bellied Texan git Lyle Gorch in tow. A Bloke who I never 'ave been able to stomach."

"You mean 'e lived that long?" A disgruntled present Spike interrupted to enquire. "There really ain't no justice."

"It's the fact 'e never used to 'ang around a fight long enough to get killed. ''E who fights and runs ect ect.' Anyway the Texan git acts all pally as usual. 'Howdie Spike how are you,' an as usual eye's me bird up somethin' shockin. 'Well hullo sweetness ain't you lookin' good today.' Val gave 'im the finger as usual and carried on with what she was doing."

"I says. 'Lyle I though I told you the last time that if you darken my door again I'll kill you. What are you doing here.' Lyle just smirks cause the human officer answers for him. 'It's been decided that junior officer ranks in the Demonic Corp will be held by trusted demons, from your performance on the assault courses today and your seniority among your kind we would not hesitate to offer you a Captaincy, however Captain Gorch here advises me that he thinks you would refuse, and that perhaps he should have command of this unit himself?'"

"Captain already I thought, what's going on 'ere. Wasn't until later that I found out Lyle had been captured by the Watchers Council months before and had been experimented on whilst they confirmed that the chips worked. Miserable little bugger had turned collaborator of course to save 'is own miserable neck an' was in on the ground floor before we even got nabbed. Anyway despite my desire to tell em' were they could shove their offer I 'ad no choice but to agree rather than 'ave Gorch tryin' to think up ways of offin' me so 'e could get Val in 'is power. 'Alright then, but I appoint's me own First Lieutenant, Val you just got promoted.'"

"'Val?' He looked around to see who I could mean to be met by a cheeky wink from the girl with the blonde hair with green highlights and the tatt's, the one currently gettin' pleasured by another vampress on the bed behind me. 'That's me gorgeous.' She says in that unfortunate New York/Cockney accent she picked up livin' with me for way to many years. 'The one with the best lookin' tit's in the company.'"

"He had a good look then skiddadled, Lyle tried to 'ang tough but I give 'im the look and he shot out after 'is mate. 'Does that mean we get that silver crap on our uniforms?' Val asked me like how she was going to accessorise was going to be a problem. 'Cause if we do I'll need a big silver necklace or somethin similar.' 'Fine luv,' I replies. 'I'll nip down the shops soonest, but now would you mind lettin' me watch me telly?'"

"And that's all we 'ad to say about it. Valandre backs my play, if she thinks I've made a complete balls of things she'll tell me but most of the time she does all she can to make sure things work out for me. That's what I love about 'er."

"But after that things got movin' and it all blurred in. Bleedin' 'uge dollops of exercise, weapons training, more video work an' then real bullets. Wargames in big tunnel complexes they'd built and subliminal learnin' of officerin' for we chosen few whilst we slept."

"Then after what seemed like six months but was only two we was marched by companies to damn big lifts with out chattles tied about us. Up on the surface we was loaded aboard buses, same kind of thing as we got now but bigger an' runnin on alcohol or water. When we was outside I could see even in the dark of night that what I'd thought was a secret base on some distant planet was actually one of the abandoned silos where, like I told you, they used to grow crops. Rusted up old signs for towns on route to Tulsa told me I was still in the good old USA. "

"That wasn't goin' to last though. Next stop was Cape Canaveral as was, now it's called Cape Progress. Blast off went as planned and we docked with a space barracks in orbit above the moon. From there we could see the first Super-Dreadnought the ISS Victory two thirds completed with the first parts of ISS Constitution bein' assembled beyond it. Through the windows on the otherside, (Ultra violet proof naturally) you could see the orbiting shipyards for the Richelieau, Bolivar, Yamamoto and for the last of the class so far unnamed but eventually called Nosterfatu after golly old us."

"We was there for two days, acclimatizing to artificial gravity, and then it was back on the shuttles and off to the landing ship ISS Putin which was to be the 3rd's home when not gettin' butchered. There was two thousand, two hundred and fifty vampires aboard plus in a firmly seperate area the thousand or so mortals who crewed our heavy weapons and support armour. Then there was a crew of two 'undred besides. Add the capacity of the fifteen ships in the convoy together and you can see they'd been busy. Of course three of the Divisions was warrior demons, which was any demon who could carry a weapon as time went on, but two was vampire divisions ours an' the, yes you guessed it, Dracula."

"Dracula!" Present Spike shouted then clutched his head before going on lower. "That poncy sod got a Division named after 'im. Ain't that just bleedin' typical. An' I bet they never caught 'im with all that flashy gypsy shit 'e can do."

"Well it's difficult to tazer a bloke what can turn 'isself into a fog bank. He's still wanderin' round Earth I guess with that same superior smirk on 'is mug the flash git."

"But anyway we was bound for the front and a planet called Wolf 5. Since the invasion of Casterlerna the Alliance had contented themselves with big raids, sending their fleets into Hive systems to blow the crap out of anything that moved, but now they was going after a planet again with us as the spearpoint."

"Wolf 5 was about 30% of Earth's origional inhabitability, but it did contain huge deposits of Mithril, a really 'ard metal that the Strezlan used to face their ship armour with till they lost the mines. That’s why they wanted in back and why humanity was so pleased to 'elp em, they planned on retrofitting all their ships with extra wafer thin plates of this stuff."

"The fact they they didn't 'ave command of space out 'ere near the edge of their Empire mean't that the Hive 'ad changed tactics. They used their millions of worker insects to advantage and started to dig in, buryin their nest and their factories deep below the ground. And that was where we was goin' to have to go to get them out of there."

"Day before landin' we were all issued with a full body black combat suit and a helmet with UV proof visor, too protect us from the sun. An M-28 assault rifle with 1200 3mm rounds and 50 grenades for the under barrel launcher, and six phosphorous grenades to burn out hive entrances. If the bullets down sound much bear in mind they contain's a millogramme of explosive and could blow a blokes arm off."

"Then we was briefed as a battalion in front of a computer generated hologram of our objective known as 'The Termite Hill.' Which is literally what it was, the Hive 'ad raised it over the entrance to their main city. The crest was packed with lasers makin' it a bugger to attack from the air, and the base was a warren of entry ports all sealed with waxed membranes to keep insecticide’s out. We was to land away from it an' advance with armoured support, when we had closed in we'd attack and blast open one of the entry points. Then we send in a remote controlled vehicle full of good old fashioned napalm and plastic explosive and the lasers would be 'istory."

"What the insects would be doing while that was 'appening wasn't discussed but the thought of makin' a head on attack on their main base didn't fill me with gladness. We was due a pastin' that much I felt sure of."

"They say don't 'ave sex before a fight but I only thought about one thing that night, Valandre and 'ow much I loved 'er. I mean I knew she wouldn't 'ave been with an ugly git like I'd become unless I was 'er Sire, that it was 'er demon that blinded 'er to my looks, but for all that I was just as much in love with 'er as she 'ad to me with me and the night passed quickly in her arms as we made love for what might be the last time."

"Before dawn on the planet we marched down to the landing craft. Forty of em hung beneath the vessel, enough to land the whole regiment in one run with ten spare for emergencies. My whole company fitted inside one with room for a tank as well."

"We fastened ourselves into safety harnesses along the walls whilst the crew of the vehicle, nervous lookin' 'umans, made bloody sure their tank was secured to the deck. If it came loose and moved about we'd all be dead for sure. Then we stood there and waited for the release. None of us ad experienced it before you see, we was all assault landin green."

"Then suddenly our stomach's seemed to be in our throats as we dropped like a stone for two seconds, then there was the most almighty roar as the engines kicked in and we was pressed back in our seats as the ship started movin' forward. To say that the ride was bumpy would be an understatement you gets shook back and too like nobody’s business but the engines worked and we was on our way."

"The landin' wasn't too bad cause the ship 'ad retro thrusters that set us down with only the slightest bump. I 'ad me harness of in seconds and shouted. 'Okay people lock and load.' I Jammed a fifty round clip in and armin' the safety before I pulled back the bolt to chamber the first round. Then I moved too the ramp with Val beside me and pressed the button that opens the rear doors."

"Planets that are only just fit for 'umans are a bugger, their either too far from the sun or too close, this one was a too close. Dawn 'ad just broken on the desert that the surface totally consisted of but the 'eat still 'it us like a wave. Scared shitless of the sun summed up my attitude as to running out into it but the bleedin’ tank started moving behind me so what else could I do but pump my arm in the air and shout. 'Lets go!'"

"We legged it down the ramp and spread out in squads around the landing ship while the tank manoeuvred itself clear. Then there was a big roar as the vessel rose up on it's arse using side rockets and took off again in a cloud of dust. Then I moved me troops in behind the tank and we set off for the rendezvous 'alf a mile away. I could see over units all around me doing the same thing so I felt confident that it was so far so good."

"The tanks are big buggers with thick plastic and Kevlar armour, but the composite armour makes 'em quite light for their engine size allowin' 'em to carry a very big wallop. Side of the hull's are fitted with a mini gun that can fire through 180 degrees. The turret as a railgun firing 50mm shells by opposin' magnets and electric current in the middle, alonside it is a laser for armour and an automatic 100 mm mortar for hittin' stuff in depressions is up on the roof. They were there to give us the fire support needed to break up warrior insects do or die charges. We'd face a lot of those before the day was out."

"The first came on us as we were drawing near to the gatherin' regiment. Thirty warriors suddenly boiled up out of a concealed bunker were they'd been lyin' in wait. The mini gun roarin' into action on the left side of the tank was the first indication we 'ad of the attack but then we turned and watched in horror as these huge great insects charged straight at us with their bladed forelegs poised to rip us apart."

"The mini gun tore down twenty and two disappeared in clouds of green goo as shells from the rail gun 'it home, but the rest just kept coming. 'Let em 'ave it.' I screamed and we all let rip."
"Explodin' bullets was all very well but 'ead on your facin' all the warriors armour and the slugs barely penetrated at first. The low aimed bursts of four though started 'ittin' legs and their 'ead armour cracked at closer range and they started to drop. Still the last one was just twenty yards out when I remembered me grenade launcher and put a bomb into 'is head that blew it clean off. I can tell you that gave me the willies, if thirty could take that much flak what 'appened when a thousand came at us."

"The regiment assembled quickly enough and we got movin. We marched as battalions with the armour coverin' our front, flanks and rear. We was in a big square like back in Napoleon's times. The bugs didn't have artillery as such so we were alright to move en masse in a shoulder to shoulder way. Bringing up the rear was the artillery, tanks fitted with outsized turrets mounting 6 155mm railguns with a combined rate of fire of sixty rounds a minute. They was our fire support."

"Three miles out the regiment split, third battalion going on alone we was to deploy the bomb you see. The others hunkered down around the artillery waitin' to see how we got on."

"About twelve times on our route to the mound we got attacked by small groups of warriors. Each time the armour blew them apart before they could close. We started to get a bit surer that this would work even a little cocky. But then just as the peak of the insect mound came into sight we got another close up view of what we faced. A group of insects 'ad laid doggo while the front rank of armour passed over them and now dug there way out of the ground between D and E companies and came straight at us."

"First off four of my vamps went down 'it by bullets from D company but that didn't matter as more bullets was 'itting the insects than us. We fired like mad things ourselves but still one warrior got in amongst my twelth squad and the dust flew as 'e killed three of em before we cut 'im down. D Company wasn't as well led, they lost twenty vampires too just three insects cause half the company panicked and tried to run when the bugs got in amongst them."

"We gathered up weapons and ammo from the fallen and moved on rather greener than before. Insect blood 'ad splashed all over us and we didn't 'alf stink from it. It clung to the fabric of the black suits somethin' awful and it smeared over our visors if we tried to wipe it off. We was a very unhappy bunch of vampires as we lay down within sight of the mound."

"It was big an ugly and went about a mile up. A bleedin great column of sand an’ rock 'eld together with insect shit I think. The turrets at the top fortunately was only devised for air defence and the silly sods 'ad fitted none that could depress down to 'it us. So we just lay their waitin' whilst our six four self propelled guns laid down a ten minute barrage. Three thousand six hundred rounds later we got up and started walking. Tanks just in front of us firing their mortars whilst we kept our eyes peeled."

"Then when we was three quarters of a mile out all 'ell broke loose. The wax seals on the 'oles at the bottom of the mound burst outwards and a thousand warriors shot out of them fast as they could run."

"Blow open one of the entry points the idiots 'ad said. What the fuck did they think they was there for, they was sally points. Put there so that if some silly bugger came wandering up towards the gaffe the locals could come out and be as revoltin' as they liked."

"They was through the beaten zone of the mortars in under ten seconds but that still crushed two hundred. The rail guns on the tanks started the woshing sounds their electromagnetic fields made as they spewed out shells. I changed to a full mag and shouted to the lads and lasse's. 'Fire low at the legs till they close then use your grenade launchers.' We stood in line shoulder to shoulder like we ought to 'ave been wearin' grey or blue and waited for the range to close."

"Though their armour was cracked by splinters, though splattered with their mates blood they didn't stop. Then the whole regiments weapons roared into life at once sending most of em crashing to the ground. But not all."

"Two came to within fifteen yards at my company before we blew them apart but Able and those idiots in Delta both got warriors in their midst through just usein' their shooters. Able lost fifty percent of it's troops before they gunned the buggers down. Delta virtually ceased to exist, ninety vamps cut down and the rest just legged it not knowin' that their tank 'ad killed the warriors they thought was chasin' them."

"Unfortunatly Delta 'ad our 'uman artillery observer along. And I saw 'im an' ‘is radio operator cut down with the rest of 'em. An' at that moment the next wave of warriors started pouring out of the mound and there was tens of thousands of 'em. I knew that if somebody didn't do somethin' we were all screwed."

"'First squad with me,' I yelled and set off at a fast sprint Valandra beside me and the rest of my family behind her. I reached the torso 'alf of the radio operator first and grabbed the radio off 'is back hitting location transmit as I did so. Grabbin' the handmike I screamed into it. 'Fire mission, fire mission. Put everything you've got down 250 meters in front of my position.' Val 'eld a blood spattered clip board up in front of me so I added. 'Delta one, delta one full automatic fire all weapons on target 250 meters in front of my position Kilo Xray Delta over!"

"A sea of warriors was thundering towards us now not even dodging the mortar blasts that went off in their midst, not even slowing, though you could see heads an legs and torso's blasted into the air. But then the whosh of fast moving shells filled the sky and the landscape in front of us exploded as a hail of death came in."

"'Good work lads.' I said. 'Now walk it forward in ten meter jumps, over.' I couldn't see the enemy for the dust raised by the explosions but I knew they was coming straight for me and I knew they were going to 'ave to run through what I'd just laid down. Sure enough by the time the barrage 'ad made ten leaps away from us the ground was littered with the shattered remains of thousands of Hive soldiers. An' I still wasn't finished. 'Fire mission, fire mission, lay a box barrage around the base of the mound, over.' That was to 'old the beggars in you see."

"'Magnificent work Delta one.' A voice answered me. 'There'll be a medal in this for you Lieutenant Beaulieu, you can count on it, over.'"

"'Sorry sir but Beaulieu is dead.' I replied casual like. 'This is Captain Spike of Easy company acting as Delta one over.'"

"There was a deafening silence in reply to that so I shrugged and though no more about it. We took the radio with us and sprinted back to my cheerin' company, cheers that the rest of the battalion took up whilst I waved and grinned like a loonie behind me visor. We started forward again even as the bomb tank started to pull out ahead of us 'eading for the tunnels that the Hive warriors 'ad conveniently opened up. Half a mile out we stopped and lay down again watching the bomb roll inexorably forward. I stopped the barrage when it was two hundred meters out and crunchin' through a carpet of insect fragments. The operator put the dial to full speed and straight up and into a tunnel it went. Twenty seconds passed and then the earth shook."

"Jets of burning napalm spewed out of all the open tunnels and all the still intact seals burst at once. A landslide 'appened on the right side of the mound as the crest and it's turrets got shook loose and dropped revealing the galleries inside. We cheered some more and then looking behind us 'eard the rumble of tracks as first and second battalion came up to begin phase two. Cause you see them unlucky sod's 'ad drawn the job of going in underground after the queen and the egg chambers. The insectocides they 'ad available were so strong they was toxic to both 'uman and lizard so infantry action was the only way to complete the job. We policed up the remain's of our 'uman casualties and the discarded weapons and moved back to a nearby LZ. Our part in that battle was over."

"We was such a bunch of lucky bastards in 'ow it worked out, okay the battalion lost nearly 300 vamps and thats like 40% casualties, though in exchange they reckon we took down twenty thousand warriors with our artillery. But the Division lost 59% of it's personnel down there. Between the whole of the Corp Wolf 5 cost 7000 vampires, 3000 from Nosferatu and 4000 from Dracula, 9500 warrior demons and ten thousand humans and Sethonian's plus a lot of lizards. And that was just an outpost, we weren't impressed let me tell you and the rumblings back 'ome got worse. We were supposed to 'ave taken the 'eat of casualties but 'ere things was gettin' worse."

"I didn't give a toss though, I was still unlivin' and so was my bird and my family. The company was linin' up to shake my 'and or kiss my arse over getting 'em through that mostly in one piece. Even more suprisin' was that me an' Val both got medals, they pinned a Distinguished Service Medal on me an' a Citizens Gallantry award second class on Valandra. We took in line with all our fanged and 'orned bretheren whilst some general tried to look like 'e cared as 'e passed out the pretty bits of ribbon with the discs on. Bloody good job I didn't get the Iron cross if you thinks about it."

"Well that was 2505 done, and thats essentially 'ow the next sixty was to pass, bleedin scary battles with shaggin in between them. Some things 'appened though that was intrestin. Allow me to 'ighlight 'em for you."

"First off we got better weapons. They 'ad been working on new guns since the Hive 'ad first come to their attention. Now they dished out a 10-millimetre assault weapon to everyone. You could carry a lot less ammo but it packed real wallop, you could down a warrior at a hundred meters with one shot no problem."

"Secondly there was our recruitment situation, even though the Watchers Council via medical progress normally 'ad six Slayers on the go at once. They flatlined and revived the Chosen one as soon as she was picked and so on till they 'ad a group. We only got 800 new vamps for the whole division. This led to us findin' somethin' very intrestin' out."

"Criminals whatever their crimes got sent to the mining worlds. There they'd labour till they died of exhaustion or they completed their sentences and got shipped of to rehabilitation courses. Well now machinery began to arrive on the mining worlds just as the Empire announced it was reintroducing the death penalty for twenty offences, rape, murder, drugs dealing, sedition an' so on. Next thing you know we're rendezvousing with a transport full of dirty dust stained 'umanity, the dictators at the World Council 'ad been judge an' jury and we was to be the executioners."

"But you was chipped?" Future Spike asked himself the question present Spike was about to put. "We was, but what we found out that day was 'ow they worked. You see so was every 'uman in the military. Our chips sent out a signal and so did their's, it was only if we showed aggression to a person wearin' one that we'd get a brain full of sparks. They'd realized what an instrument of terror we could be in the event of a rebellion on any of the current or future colonies. we was their ace in the hole."

"So a thousand of these poor buggers got herded aboard our ship. Grotty looking blighter's with calloused 'ands and open sores, we was not impressed at all let me tell you an' there wasn't that much enthusiasm amongst us for the work. But we was famished for real blood and so we set too. By the time we'd finished there was bodies all over the deck and we were all in need of plasters for out cut 'ands. Few hours later, after the human scientists 'ad done their taggin', we 'ad a thousand new recruits to put through basic trainin' an' it was basic let me tell you. Those lads became our talon fodder, pure an' simple."

"Valandra got real intrested in 'er computers after that, she realized that if she could find a way to block the signal the 'umans chips sent out then we was 'ome clear. We could take the ship and bugger off."

"In 2509 the ISS Nosferatu joined us, she was to be the flag of our battle group and our 'eavy support in assaults and boy 'ad they built 'er to last."

"In 2520 whilst we was up to our arses in Hive warriors round Ishgander a rebellion broke out on Sethonia led by Auxiliary veterans. Unfortunately for them the 'umans 'ad a large garrison on the planet and a Marine division within easy striking distance. They was bloodily defeated despite slaughtering large numbers of colonists in the early days of their risein'. The end result 'owever was obvious, tens of thousands of Sethonians dead and tens of thousands more exiled to distant barely survivable worlds from which they would slowly be sent on as replacements became needed by the vampiric divisions of the Demon Corp."

"When Valandra 'eard about all this she took on a very funny mood, mopeing rather and sometimes snappin' at me in Sethonian if I complained. But when she 'eard that we was due to rendevous with a transport full of Sethonian prisoners the next day she begged me to do 'er a really big favour. She begged me to let 'er feed off me so she could make 'erself some really powerful Childer."

"Now Val was over two 'undred and quite capable of the job on 'er own for just one. But she wanted more than that, she wanted to make me a bodyguard of 'er own kind. An if I mixed my blood with 'er's then 'er Childe would be big and strong vamps who could 'ave kicked arse for blighty. I hesitated but since 'er way of beggin' involved being nude on 'er knee's in front of me with my cock down 'er throat it didn't take 'er long to convince me."

"Now I was still only a captain but the rest of the battalion 'ad come to realize that I was the man. So when I told 'em, 'Val gets 'er pick of this bunch,' no one argued. Couple of hours before the transport docked I downed about ten bags of synthetic blood making myself feel ill I drank so much. With an hour to go I turned to Valandra and said to 'er. 'Okay baby do your worse.'"

"I hadn't been fed on by another vampire in centuries, being out of control of the situation like that 'ad never been a turn on. But this was what my girl wanted and I'd suddenly realized just how much I wanted to please 'er. I knew she was a smart one who had some kind of plan to get even with humanity. I mean there she'd been kidnapped from 'er people, sold almost literally to some piece of low life scum at barely fifteen and then spent two years gettin' 'er will absolutely broken before reaching the legal age were 'e could shove her up on stage to dance naked for drunken mob after drunken mob. Then when she escaped who should grab 'er but little old me and that was that for 'er mortality."

"Course she wanted revenge on them."

"She fed slow, 'alf draining me. I topped myself up with more synthetic blood and then she took a couple more pints. By the time she'd finished I felt decidedly light 'eaded but turned on as 'ell. We went at it then and there against the synth machine, which caused quite a stir in the dinner queue let me tell you."

"Minions as you know is easy, drain till the heart almost stops and then whack in some blood of yer own an' up he she rises. Childe takes longer, you 'alf drain em' and make em drink, then you drain a little more and make 'em drink again. What that does is let the blood mix in, increasing the amount of demon that goes into them making sure their stronger when they rise."

"Val picked out ten of the Sethonian's when they arrived, six boys and four girls. They'd learned from earlier and was only sending us the younger prettier ones now and makin' sure they was in good condition, clean and well fed. Before she got to work Valandra spoke to them in their own language, explainin' that she was a King's daughter and what she 'ad to do was what 'ad to be done an' they'd be the better for it."

"Then she started, gettin' 'em to undress and then oh so slowly an lovinly turnin' 'em to the night. She stroked and caressed and kissed 'em between bites, takin' 'em to the edge of darkness a little at a time. Most died in orgasm she was that good."

"By the time she was finished Val was barely able to stand poor luv. But I was standing by with enough synthetic blood to get 'er functioning again. Then I swept 'er up in my arms and took 'er off to the showers to 'elp 'er scrub off the dried blood and the cum that was splashed all over bod. We needed to freshen up cause we 'ad a whole lot more to do yet."

"You've turned 'em so now when they raise you 'ave to bond 'em to you. Feed 'em an' fuck 'em is the best way, synthetic blood covered the first but the second was a bit more of a job. She was their Sire, I was there grandsire, so we both 'ad to do the business with all ten of 'em. I tell you I was bloody glad four of them was girls or I'd 'ave been rubbed raw. But we managed to get finished by what we was assuming was daylight and Val and I collapsed into a deep sleep on our bed, 'er new Childer lying at their Sire's feet."

"Next day we was up early. Gettin' the newbies kitted out. By now it was accepted that new minions was just given basic training and used to blunt the warriors attacks, only if you survived your first operation did you get more than basic trainin' given to you. Me and Val though had our new Childer out on the assault course all mornin' and spent the afternoon teaching them to fire the new M-34. We did that every day for a month as we drew near to our next target Orial Major's third planet Orial 3."