??? – "Are you Kies Kortograa? I heard you rescued 3 people from captivation!"
Kies – "How do you know my name?"
??? – "Your Olbus receiver. You dropped it in the floor, and I picked it up afterwards."
His Olbus receiver had Kies’s name registered in it. It’s still intact from the drop, seeing as Kraw technological devices are very resistant. He looked at the 8 people in front of him. One of them looked familiar, but Kies couldn’t care enhough to see who it was. All he wanted was to go home.
Kies – "Allright, so yes, I’m Kies, and I saved those people, why?"
??? – "I’m Kareoza, leader of the Byarg freedom project."
Kies – *Giggles* "Project?"
Kareoza – "Yes, our group is not officially registered in the Kraw Government, so we call ourselves a project so we don’t have to. We come for you, Kies."
Kies – "Why?"
Kareoza – "You must be really good to have saved those people."
Kies – "I’m just a teenager. The crooks were just stupid. When you have 3 untied people and some Peko cans, “miracles” can happen."
Kareoza – "Well, can you come with us?"
At this moment, in a stroke of coincidence, the B17 Bus appeared.
Kies – "I need to go home."
Kareoza – "Kies, that group is highly suspicious, and we don’t have people as brave as you. If you choose to take part in our investigation… uhh… we’ll give you anything you can imagine."
Kies – "My mom will yell at me. I’m not supposed to be out at night. And what about my group?"
At this moment, a familiar face appeared. It was Heoroe, his usual bully. Kies was shocked to see his large toothed black eyed bully in front of him.
Heoroe – "Look, the only reason I bully you is because you were a wimp and an easy target so I could get to my desserts more easily. You were really brave saving those people. If you come with us, I will have no reason to bully you any further."
Kies had a tough decision, but his decision was made easier when the bus departed behind his back. Kies decided to go with them.
Kies – "My ride’s gone. I’ll go."
Heoroe – "Good. Come with us."
Kies then followed the Byarg Freedom Project group. They passed some some stores, some low class streets and even caravans, but they went to a warehouse. The warehouse was rectangular, and in a street corner. The beach could be seen from the distance, and also the Kodanarga Mall in the opposite direction.
The Warehouse’s door was 3 meters long and 5 meters wide, and this is where all the Project’s nembers entered. The warehouse had an holographic display device, lots of freedom posters and anti-racism fliers. It had also a kitchen, and other hi-tech items expected from a space age empire.
Kies was amazed at the sight. He just became part of a freedom force. They were investigating the group who kidnapped Kies earlier. They showed a holographic image of the shack where the group was located, with some trackers monitoring the group’s activity.
The shack itself was wooden and small, about half the size of the warehouse of the Byarg Freedom Project. Kies had only one thing to ask:
Kies – "Why is that group suspicious?"
Kareoza – "Ok, Reoma will explain."
Reoma had hair as well, like Kies, only hers was longer. Kies got interested in her, even though she tried to shake the thoughts away, seeing as he thinks she might turn into a nuisance if he pacts her.
Reoma – "Well, 1 year ago, while I was on the beach, I saw them unloading a strange box onto the shack. The box was glowing, almost like if it had some kind of dangerous material. The Watchers went to check the shack out, but the box they were looking for was empty somehow, but I don’t believe that was the box with the glowing material. Dwagarg will continue."
Dwagarg was more of a geek, having studied elecronics for 3 years. He had a light shirt on, typical of Kraw geeks.
Dwagarg – "As I analyzed the whole thing further, the box could not have been the same, for the box said “Up side” instead of “Fragile”. *Shows a picture of both boxes* You see? They’re lying."
Kies – "How do you get this stuff?"
Zizlium – "I get them. I was the watcher who investigated this event. I am Zizilum. I am 36 years old and the reason why the Kraw government allows us to exist. The project, that is."
Zizlium was wearing a Kraw Watchers outfit, the watchers being the Kraw equivalent of a lesser FBI. He is highly respected in his job, and was one of the founders of this project.
Kies – "Heh. You’re old."
Zizlium – "I was once like you when I was young. Brave, though with many youth business. I have taken the liberty of calling your parents about this. They wish you good luck on this mission."
Kies – "Thank you…"
Zizlium – "Votos was the one who inspired me, he is the apex of Kraw excellence, Second only to Kimera…"
Everyone besides Kies – "All hail Votos!"
Kies – "So Commander Votos inspired this project, right?"
Zizlium – "Yes. Now, today the enemy group captured 4 civilians, including you. One thing I noticed in the leader of this organization in the past and the reason why you escaped so easily is because the enemy group’s leader has a very low intelligence score. You were lucky."
Kies – "Wow."
Zizlium – "Now, Kies, you will join us in trying to pick up the real box. The glowing one. Only then we can find out what it contains for sure."
Kies – "I will be happy to. All hail…"
Everyone - "Votos!!!"
The group left the BFP warehouse, crossed the streets, passed by the tiny trees and into the big beach, where the shack was. Immediately Kies noticed someone was looking at them from inside the shack. He proceeded to warn his group, who in response, charged towards the door and kicked it down. The leader was not there, but 11 guards were present.
Zizlium – "You are all under arrest for kidnapping. Surrender and no harm will be brought upon you."
Guard Koneik – "The plan must go on!"
Dwagarg – "Plan?"
Immediately the guards began drawing knifes. They were serious about defending the box. Both groups waged war on each other. While the enemy group was throwing and swiping knifes at the BFP, they responded by pure physical damage, kicking and punching. Rineo then decided to go outside. Kies wondered where he had gone. Rineo was only 12 years old, but had an Intelligence score similar to “dumb Tahar Intelligence”, which meant he was in the 180-200 IQ range. He is in this group officially, but still has school as a higher priority. He only enters the group for investigation.
Kies used his Ketarg he bought in the pawn shop to fight the guards. He was careful not to murder anyone, just cutting big wounds into their flesh. However, the guards started drawing guns. The whole action sequence froze. What was once a mess of punching, kicking and slashing became utter silence.
Guard Koneik – "Now, what I want you to do, is to quit this attack, philphy Byargans. Byarg deserves no respect…"
While Koneik was talking, Kies decided to sneak out to see what Rineo was doing. He jumped through a window that led to the dormitory room, and saw Rineo staring at the contents of the box. Aside the box, was a sleeping 12th guard.
Kies noticed it was pure uranium. Attached to the box were plans. Kies wanted to read them, but both had to leave when Rineo noticed the 12th guard was about to wake up. They fled past the same window they entered through. Kies and Rineo signaled the rest of the BFP to retreat, while showing the plan paper.
Koneik – "Byarg is a disease that’s spreading over Horehronie… Byarg has no life! It needs to perish!"
Kareoza – "We’re leaving. Be sure though, you won’t be safe next time."
Zizlium – "Yeah. You’re wanted by the Byargan police now!"
The Byarg Freedom Project left the scene of the battle, before it got too dangerous. They immediately returned back to the BFP warehouse, where the enemy plans were being discussed.
Kies – "I’ve been reading this, and it’s very shocking! And the body paintings, they’re Krieskan flags!"
Dwagarg – "I’ll tell you what’s shocking, they’re a Krieskan anti-Byargan group."
Kies – "A what?"
Hemiuu – "Let me explain, I’m a good historian. When Horehronie united years before the formation of the Kraw spacefaring empire, Krieskans and Byargans were still very hostile to each other, each demanding more respect than the other. They’re rival cities. Now, almost 4 centuries later, these 2 cities have almost lived in peace, but there are extremists willing to even destroy the enemy city for glory. Such as, the Krieskan Supremacy Union."
Ase – "Dear Votos!"
Ase was a Krieskan who was part of the KSU, but was fired for being “too nice to others”. He since then was allowed into the BFP. He has some part of his bodypainting which has not peeled off yet, indicating that he was fired recently.
Ase – "I was wrong to go in that group, I thought it was a social program, but they really hated Byarg… They had a long term plan to destroy it!"
Kies – "Yes, the uranium in the box was to power a large nuclear bomb that was to destroy this whole city! We can’t let that happen!"
Ase - *Crying* "How do we stop them?! They’re too cruel, and are in large numbers!"
Heoroe – "We are. In Horeika, a sattelite picture service online, I saw a small nuclear silo being built on a remote island from Byarg. It has been abandoned, but it’s their main headquarters. The shack’s just a hideout to spy on the city."
Zizlium – "How’d they get Uranium is beyond me."
Ase – "They forced us to mine it in southern Kriesk in the army mines at night!"
Zizlium – "That clears one mystery. Ase, don’t worry, you re-paid your debt to society by joining this group. No need to be ashamed or scared. We are a nice race. We just aren’t nice to those who want to kill Billions of people…"
Kies – "Exactly! Let’s go kick extremist tail!"
They cheered, and they hopped on a nearby small submarine near the beach. It was 15m long and 10m wide, and shaped like a spaceship with two wings. It was useful for a group like the Byarg Freedom Project. They scanned the island to find a safe way into it. The island was 2km long and 5 km wide, there is a small spot where the BFP can’t be caught, because it was more remote than any other place on the island, however, the KSU had sonars, so they had to jam the Submarine so that it can’t be detected by sonars. And thus they rode on, though the seas of Byarg…
Barius – *Near where the submarine took off* "Kies? Was that him?"
Kies was nervous, he didn’t want to die, but he wanted to be a hero, like Votos. On the submarine, he finds a Kraw Military recruitment flyer, and decided to read it to pass the time. Kies thought the Military would make him a better hero, but he was unsure, like this journey was unpredictable.
2 hours passed, and the crew made it safely to Akrata Island, one of the most remote places in Horehronie, but still Byargan territory. They went behind a bush, where the silo and over 20 guards could be seen.
Zizlium – "Everyone, you have your stun guns?"
Almost everyone – "Yes sir!"
Kies – "No…"
Rineo – "No."
Zizlium – "Rineo, you go back to the submarine, you’re too young. Kies, here."
Kies was given a stun gun. It fires special bullets that make people faint upon being shot. It’s one of the last bullet guns still used in the Kraw Military, though this group wasn’t in any military at all, just in some sort of police force. Rineo went back into the submarine and watched the event unfold.
Zizlium – "Ok…"
He waited for the guards to be in a good position to be shot immediately, he waited, until 4 guards talked about how Byarg is “immoral and stupid”. Then the moment came, Zizlium ordered to fire.
Zizlium – "FIREEEEEEEE!!!"
The group shot all 4 guards successfully, but an alarm was activated, and the guards had guns. The group drew their plasma shielding, but Kies didn’t know how to do it.
Kies – "How do I shield???"
Reoma – "Alpha-red button!"
Alpha-red was a color only known to Kraw that lied in our human infra-red region. It’s called Alpha-red because of this. Kies activated his shielding and saw the enemy guards coming straight for him and his partners. Kies was shot, but safe, he had been shielded. Thus he and his partners kept firing their stun guns, stunning more guards. Kies decided to explore around on his own while shooting his stun gun. After 15 minutes of exploration, he found the underground tunnel to the firing room. And he saw the silo was moving!
The silo doors opened, 2 parts of the door opening in a circular door, but the missile was only to come in 10 minutes, so Kies had only that much to save the city. He entered the underground section of the island, alone. His partners were still stunning guards, and Rineo was watching through his partners’s body cameras, which allows him to see the action from his partners’s cameras in their chests.
His hands were shaking, his shield reacting to that in a funny matter. He walked towards a dark flat sand downslope with some blue lights. He went down and down and down, up to 300m deep. And he found a door, and peeked into the door lock, which was circle shaped.
KSU Leader – "The Byargan Tyranny Bastards are attacking us… They stunned 90% of our guards! But one of our guards shot through one of their shields and killed him… Hahaha!!!"
Kies - <<No!!!>>
KSU Leader – "Apprentice, we will wake up in a new, glorious day with no Byarg in sight! And with only 8 minutes to spare, we won’t have much to wait…"
Kies tried to stun the leader in sight, and fired through the door lock, but his bullet accidentally hit the abort button. The missile retreated, the silo doors were closing, it would take another hour to prepare the missile again. The KSU Leader walked towards the door. Kies tried to flee, but was grabbed by another guard who entered the basement by his arms. He was stripped of his shielding and his stun gun, and was carried to the KSU Leader.
Kies – "Let go!"
KSU Leader – "Hello, Byargan Philph. You should know not to mess with adult stuff."
Kies – "Your plan will kill Millions!"
KSU Leader – "Yes, Millions and Millions of people who don’t deserve to live!"
Kies – "You are disgusting."
KSU Leader - *Draws a gun and points it to his head* "So I am? Well, those are your last words."
The Leader held his gun over Kies’s head. He was about to shoot, slightly pressing the shooting button. Kies thought it was the end, and wished he never got lost in the beach. Then, all of a sudden, the KSU Leader looked at the door, and seconds later, he got hit in the head by a Kraw Wrench flying into his head. The guard Holding Kies got hit as well by another wrench. Then the person kept hitting them over and over until they were dead. Kies saw who it was.
Kies – "Jaizraava?"
Jaizraava – "Yeah."
Kies – "How did you find me? Where are your friends? The BFP? How did you get here?"
Jaizraava – "Well, first I asked an Olbus store to trace your receiver, then I asked my dad to borrow his boat. I got the boat then I got into the island where you were, and saw some people getting captured and tied up by odd Krieskan people. I hit them in the head with my wrench and they told me to help you while they were busy untying themselves. I saw you, getting almost shot, and I hit him in the head with big accuracy! Unbelievably, I did it twice!"
Kies – "Thanks for saving my life."
Just then, the Byarg Freedom Project arrived.
Ase – "Wow, Kies, you saved Byarg! And girl, you saved our hero!"
Jaizraava – "All credit goes to him, he had his olbus receiver. Without it he’d be dead."
Kareoza – "Bad news… Zizlium is dead…"
Kies – "I heard it from this now dead bastard… Wait, she killed him, isn't she going to jail?"
Reoma – "No worries, they have a justification for being dead. Kies, let’s get you home, hero."
Dwagarg – "Yes, let’s do it!"
Jaizraava – "Shall we pact now?"
Kies – "I’ll think about it."
The Kraw Military arrived and arrested every nember of the Kriesk Supremacy Union, leaving nobody standing on the island. The KSU nembers in the shack and in Kriesk were also arrested. They would get 20 years in prison, the highest possible in the Kraw Empire. The silo in the island was also destroyed, leaving no trace of it. The Nuclear bomb was taken to Stonket, Horehronie’s moon.
Kies returned home, being greeted by his mother and congratulated for his heroic deeds. His Father was not in his house then, having gone shopping. Kies was holding the Military flyer on his hand, hinting he may join the Military someday.
The next day, Kies appeared on the news in most Kraw news channels in visual devices and Olbus receivers, and also in newspapers and tabets. Jaizraava decided to throw a party in the science center of Byarg, a rectangular center with a huge telescope in it.
Kies and his parents went there by AI vehicle, only for Kies to be greeted by Jaizraava, his friends, the Byarg Freedom Project, and fans of him in a huge party. Also, Kies saw 1Million Kron in front of him, all his as a reward for saving the city of Kriesk. Kies tried to credit Jaizraava for saving him, but she said if it wasn’t for Kies’s fandom of the show “Ikmo Mechas”, she couldn’t have saved him.
The party went on, drinks, flashing lights and techno-like music filled the air of this hypered party. Some even dared to look at the telescope in the facility.
Jaizraava – "Look Kies! It’s Veikak Galaxy! The red Galaxy, look!"
Kies – "Pretty funny one. I see another in the distance, many, even, Pakzu, Zielk, Hanezan and its many sattelites…"
Kies got a glimpse of the Universe. He saw the neighbouring Tuuros Galaxy, called Veikak Galaxy in KUL, and the distant Pakzu (Milky Way), Zielk (Tigris), Hanezan (Cyrannus) and the sattelite quadrants. They even gazed at Kae Galaxy, known as Andromeda in english, very distant from them.
Kies then thought about the future, about exploring the Universe, he wanted to be the first, he then uttered the famous words:
Kies – "I want to join the military to explore all these galaxies! I want to be just like Votos!"
Jaizraava – "Uh, ok. Be careful though."
Kies’s mother Askara Kortograa – "Yes, it’s a tough job."
Kies – "Thanks."
After that party, it was back to education for Kies. He was more respected than before, Heoroe didn’t bully him anymore, but another bully punched him because he was jealous. That bully was arrested, seeing as severe bullying is a crime. In 14/04/375 KRE, he joined the Military, and 24 years later, he became the hero of the Tahar and Kraw Empires.
Currently in 404 KRE, the Galaxy may have been moved to the orbit of Andromeda for unknown reasons, but Kies still stands strong, even though he’s almost middle-aged.
The Byarg Freedom Project is now the Byargan Watcher Organization, Barius has returned to the Tahar Empire in 390 KRE because he got ill when a tsunami hit Byarg, Jaizraava got an “even more perfect Kraw” in 376 KRE, Kalkaruk and Reo became working partners in Alkorda Inc. , Zizlium was buried in a special spot in Byarg, Reoma retired from the BWO and is currently working in the Kraw Military, and the remaining nembers of the former BFP are now veterans of the BWO.
When the KSU nembers were released in 395 KRE, they moved to the Iteok Khereg because it was “more their style”. Most were killed within the 2 next years.
The shack where the KSU refuged in Byarg is now the Kies bar, the 3 people Kies rescued in the KSU shack are now his most hardcore fans, and Commander Votos, now 77 years old, is now retired and living in luxury, much like Kies.
This ends a tale that will be forever marked in the Kraw Empire’s history.
THE END
