Vengeance of Ares (Deity Force 1)

Vengeance of Ares (Deity Force 1)

By Lillianna Rushing

Copyright 2019 Lillianna Rushing

Distributed by Smashwords

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Epilogue

Note from Lillianna

Connect with me

Members of the Deity Force

Definition of Lex Talionis

Prologue

Military Compatibility Test: Essay Section

Angel Sweet, Age 14, August 3, 3602

Space Station Brighton, Orphanage 78

Pick any period in history and explain the growth of humanity during that period. Your chosen time period: The exodus of Old Earth until present.

The caretakers said that we have to answer these questions with just the facts as we know them. No opinions. But loophole, they did say the facts as I know them, not just the facts that the government wants us to believe. To the government official reading this, trying to decide if I should be recruited for the military, shame on you.

Humanity left Earth over a thousand years ago, after exploring we settled in a little corner of the galaxy known as the Zed Sector. We can terraform planets and moons easily to be nearly identical to Ancient Earth. We are controlled by the completely selfish, short sighted, power hungry governing body, the Zed Sector Interplanetary Government, known as Z-SIG, based on the central planet of the sector, Natalis.

We’ve met many different races of aliens. But for some reason, they all hate us. Maybe because, on average, humans are greedy assholes. But who knows? As long as we leave the other races alone, they pretty much ignore us.

Up until the Shwa noticed that we taste delicious. The Shwa are green, eight foot tall, armor-plated aliens that look like a bear and a snake had a baby, including giant fangs and claws. They started by just sending hunting parties to our less populated planets. But after twenty years of sneaking around and eating humans, they were addicted. Apparently, our raging terror hormones give them quite the buzz. Sick mofos.

So, the Shwa decided to just start hunting and eating us whenever they feel like it. No sneaking necessary. Humanity didn’t like that sort of thing, so we asked the nicer aliens for help. Only a few races even bothered to send replies. And all but two of those races basically said, Hey, if the Shwa are eating you, then they aren’t eating us. Sorry about your luck. Maybe don’t taste so good next time. The two races that did actually try to help us, the Trannach and the Kopulieren, gave up after a few years because our Z-SIG thought it would be a good idea to just sit back and watch these other aliens fight for us. This was completely unexpected, because the first race has no emotions, so they shouldn’t have given a crap one way or another, and the second race thinks fighting and war are the most fun ever. The Trannach and Kopulieren eventually realized that we humans, as a race, suck. So, they left.

Finally, the Z-SIG took off their asshat and tried to do the right thing. But they went about it in true taint-berry style. Instead of getting volunteers and letting people who know what they are doing defend us, they force every planet, moon and space station to hold a draft to supply soldiers. Doesn’t matter if you are an eighteen-year-old student or a seventy-year-old farmer, if you are called, you have to go. If you try to hide, the government takes your whole family instead. That was fifty years ago. For fifty years, our government has basically been throwing our soldiers at the Shwa like an all you can eat buffet. Seems like they would be full by now. But hey, why give up free food right? And just for fun, the Shwa still hunt us. I guess terrified families taste better than scared soldiers. Shwa are dicks.

Now that all of these soldiers and families are dying, there are thousands of orphans. What has the government done with these poor helpless children? Has it found them loving homes or safe places to live? Oh hell no. All us orphans get thrown into government run orphanages. There we are held until we reach an age where we can be forced to work in the weapons factories or the mines, or any other shit job that no one else wants. Until we pay back the debt of living in said orphanage. Sounds a lot like slavery, right? Even worse, orphans can be drafted at sixteen instead of eighteen if the government likes the answers on these tests. Why? Because nobody cares.

*******

Cafeteria of Orphanage 78, Space Station Brighton, May, 3605

Angel Sweet is trying hard to escape notice as usual, keeping her head down, quietly eating the watered-down soup that passes for lunch. She got lucky today and found what she really hopes was a piece of meat in her bowl. Almost fifty kids are crammed into the tiny cafeteria. At least the caretakers have the decency to separate the younger ones from the older, otherwise they would starve to death when the bigger kids stole their food. With any luck, no one will remember that today is her birthday. The big seventeen. One more year until she can leave this awful place and be free. Or be slave labor in a mine. She has no idea which is worse, here or the mines. At least she will only have to be in the mines for a couple of years, and that’s only if she can’t pay off her orphanage fee. She wonders if the people slaving away in the mines have any more freedom than she does.

Most of the orphans are decent, but the sink or swim rules that are fostered here don’t encourage trust or friendship. Between the other kids taunting you and stealing your things and the supposed caretakers’ complete lack of care, the orphanages of war-torn Zed Sector are more like hell than home. Not that she knows what a home is like. She’s literally been in this orphanage since the day she was born. Her family had brought her in still covered in birth goo and handed her over without a second thought. She has been dreaming of what she hopes fresh air smells like for her entire life.

The intake clerk that named her was one of the only two people that has ever cared about her. She’d taken one look at her big blue eyes and wispy blonde hair and said, Oh, what a sweet little angel. And so, she became Angel Sweet. Just because Betty, the clerk, had been kind, didn’t mean she was original. She was always kind to her, the few times she was able to see her. And even though it was against the rules, she’d given Angel a small treat on her birthday every year.

She’d never had the heart to tell her that the extra attention only caused her to be bullied and resented even worse. The other girls already hated her because they thought she used her looks to get advantages. What advantages? She honestly might think about it if there were any advantages to be had here. Worried about what the other girls might do out of spite, she started wearing her long blonde hair in a tight bun while generally trying to be invisible. Attention to her looks is the last thing she wants. Beauty is more of a curse than a blessing when you are forced into this corrupt government system. She prays everyday not to catch the eye of some old perv.

Betty was the only kindness in her life. Until she got caught giving Angel the treat on her tenth birthday. Poor Betty was forced to transfer jobs all because of a cupcake. A single cupcake. And a couple of years later, when she was robbed and murdered in the crime riddled neighborhood they sent her to, the caretakers were sure to let her know that they blamed Angel for it.

Not long after that, she met the only other person that has ever cared about her.

Jason.

Her Jason.

They met when he was sent here after his family was attacked by the Shwa. He was a scrawny fourteen-year-old, in shock and scared of his own shadow. Thrust into the orphanage without a clue and with no defenses for the cruelty that was coming, his kindness could have been his undoing. He couldn’t even talk after the injuries he’d gotten from the Shwa. She’d helped him out, and from then on, they had been inseparable.

Just the two of them against the world.

Well, against the other orphans anyway.

He is the only family she’s ever had.

It doesn’t hurt that he is the most handsome guy she’s ever seen. With golden brown hair that always manages to fall across his forehead and into his eyes, those dreamy chocolate brown eyes, and full lips always ready with that special smile just for her, he is beautiful. That’s just a bonus, though. He is also the sweetest person she has ever met. He is so close to being perfect, it’s amazing. He is her heart. She never thought that she would get the chance to love someone as much as she loves him. Because of him, even living in this hell hole of an orphanage, she feels like the luckiest person in the world.

Unluckily, the freakin military drafted him two years ago, when he was only seventeen. There’s only one more year before he gets out. He promised he would come back for her. Then they will be together again. Jason always keeps his word, and if he says nothing will keep him from coming back to her, she knows he will be back. He loves her just as much as she loves him.

Angel thought the heartbreak would kill her, she’s been counting down the days until he will be back. His weekly letters make the separation bearable. Not that she can write him back, but he knows how much she misses him and loves him. In his last letter, he seemed so excited, he said they were talking to him about some kind of promotion. He can’t really tell her about what he’s doing or even where he is. Getting that letter every week, no matter how short, to let her know he’s safe; that means everything.

And a letter is due today! She should be getting it soon. She’s the only orphan that ever gets mail, so of course the cruel caretakers make sure to deliver it at lunch to foster as much conflict and resentment as possible. They even make sure the meanest, most hateful and petty girl in the whole place is the one to hand it off. Some might even say Jennifer is pure evil. Everyone lives in terror of her, and the cruel things she says. She never lets an opportunity pass to humiliate and hurt those around her. Luckily, she has to limit her torture to verbal abuse.

That is just about the only rule enforced at the orphanages. No physical harm. The damage might be seen by outsiders, then there would need to be explanations and investigations. Breaking that rule has the worst consequence imaginable. Immediate expulsion from the orphanage and transfer to the Ward.

If the orphanage is hell, then the Ward must be hell’s festering asshole. Unspeakable things happen in the Ward. It is supposed to be a mental facility to help troubled orphans reintegrate themselves into society. In reality, it is a horror house that follows no rules. Experimentation, torture, even harvesting organs for the rich, none of these atrocities are unheard of.

Angel looks up from her soup to see Jennifer coming her way, looking especially smug. She’s holding a large red envelope instead of the plain envelope Jason usually sends her.

Looks like you’ve got an extra-special birthday letter, Demon! Jennifer stops across the table to make a big deal to be sure she has everyone’s attention. After two years of letters coming in you would think this would get boring, but honestly, with nothing else ever happening here, everyone looks forward to the showdowns every week. She can live with it if a letter from Jason is her reward.

We all want to know how your weirdo boyfriend is doing, right? So, I’m just going to go ahead and read this out loud, because, I know what these pretty red envelopes mean, but let’s make sure everyone else does too. She is wearing the most cruel smile that Angel has ever seen on another human.

Before Angel can reach across the table to grab it, Jennifer has pulled out the letter and starts reading in a voice loud enough for everyone in the cafeteria to hear.

Dear Angel Sweet -wait I think that is supposed to say-Dear Demon, you are listed as the next of kin for Jason Anderson. We regret to inform you that he has been killed in the line of duty defending this great sector from the Shwa menace. Due to the fact that you are a minor, all funds and properties of J. Anderson will revert to the government. Enjoy the rest of your day. General Hector Rhodes.

You liar! Give me that! Angel feels her heart stutter in terror as she tries to grab the letter again.

Jennifer crumples the letter into a ball and throws it at her, joy radiating from her usually sneering face.

Straightening it out as gently as possible with her shaking hands, she reads the awful letter through three times before she believes what she is seeing. Angel realizes she has tears pouring down her face and she’s chanting, Nonononono.

Through the strange buzzing in her ears she hears Jennifer’s taunting voice. Yes, so sad! Your weirdo boyfriend is dead. Boohoo. At least now he won’t have to look at your stupid demon face for the rest of his life. Jennifer and some other cruel people start laughing. Not everyone, but too many. What is wrong with them?

Are you enjoying the rest of your day?

That is the last thing Angel hears as she watches Jennifer holding her sides because she’s laughing so hard. Someone else’s pain is making the evil bitch happier than Angel has ever seen her.

Now, all she can hear is static and fuzz and the terrible thunder of her heartbeat.

She can feel her mind breaking right along with her heart.

Hearing a loud snap, she has to wonder if that was her heart or mind cracking. Who knew you can actually hear that shit?

All her hopes and dreams, lost. How can there be a world with no Jason in it?

She doesn’t even feel human anymore.

Her mind isn’t able to keep up with what her body is doing, and she doesn’t care enough to try to fix it. She watches as her hands launch her bowl of soup right into the laughing face of the bitch across the table.

Somehow, she has leapt over the table and is kicking and punching anybody she can reach.

They are all laughing.

Laughing as the world ends.

She has to make them stop laughing.

Someone is still laughing.

Oh wait. It’s her. Why is she laughing?

Jennifer is trying to crawl away and