“By the way, I’m Eric Ross, Corporal of the United Military.” The survivor asked, leading the group through the pile of rubble and towards a short passageway that led to a thick metal door. “So let me get this straight, you’re mercenaries from another planet, yet you look just like us?”

He reached into a thin pouch on his light grey camouflage clothing and withdrew a packet of cigarettes. Maybe now I’ll have a chance to use these, he thought to himself, rubbing his stubbled chin.

“That’s very much who we are.” Rosalina replied “Mrs. Kalanin is probably fuming about how many humanoids she finds on other planets.”

“You barely see any alien aliens these days” Rhiza grumbled.

Eric nodded to himself and lit the cigarette. “The Divine Goddess Cult left this place a week ago and I have been too afraid to come out from the bunker since then... let alone having a light”

“Divine Goddess? Did they run out of names or something?” The Captain commented.

“Honey, you forget you’re using a translator” Rhiza reminded him. “That’s also why his military came up as United Military and not some country name”

“Oh right... but how do they pick up alien languages so quickly?” The Captain asked.

“I don’t know... you’re the one who built them.”

 “It isn’t a coincidence we happen to speak the same language.” Rosalina explained to Eric. “Are there any more survivors here?”

Eric nodded his head and carefully opened the door into the bunker. He then called to the occupants “We have reinforcements!”

The bunker was spartan in appearance, with a concrete interior. Several passages led off to other areas of the bunker, unlit. “To conserve the generator’s fuel...” Eric explained “Of course, most of our electronics are offline already”

Four people were sitting on a worn-out sofa in the main chamber, either drinking from chipped cups or looking at the ground. The first two were scientists, wearing torn white labcoats.

The others were in simple jumpsuits that Rosalina guessed to be maintenance workers. Reminds me of the old days where I couldn’t wear a dress in a workshop...

A long-barrelled sniper rifle was lying disassembled on a workbench nearby, as well as a few tools and pieces of metal.

“I’m guessing you’re the only military person here?” Rosalina asked, taking a glance at the Captain. The man was looking at the other rooms from where he was standing, as if expecting an ambush.

Eric sighed. “Yes... not even the Lieutenant made it...”

He puffed on his cigarette and blew out a cloud of smoke, making sure not to blow it into anyone’s faces. “You’d think the commanding officer would be the first one to get below... but he isn’t”

 One of the scientists decided to speak up “Why are you telling them this? How do we know they’re not cultist infiltrators sent to kill us in our sleep?”

“Shut up Vidic” the other scientist replied. “You’re too paranoid... remember how you thought owls were reading your mind”

“I was certain that last one was!” Vidic growled.

“Besides, they’re pretty damned rag-tag looking to be cultists.” A worker chimed in. “Seriously, that chick in the green is in a dress for crying out loud!”

“We’ll have time to introduce the fine people I’ve been bunkered down with later... I’m sure you’re wondering why we’re in such a bad way” Eric explained Rosalina.

She  nodded and said “If it’s too distressing, you don’t have to tell us. We’re good at figuring things out”

Eric shook his head “It’s not too distressing. I’ve seen plenty of my friends and leaders die over the past few years... I’m used to it now.”

He explained what happened. “This base had been lying untouched for years when The Goddess arrived”

“We don’t know how, but we were desperate... and we knew that maybe if we could get the transmitters working, just maybe we could call for help... if there was an alien race that would take pity on our world”

“We were very few in number, maybe a whole platoon, commanded by Lieutenant Banks...”

He looked to the other survivors in the bunker. “And now we’re all that’s left. The Cultists wasted no time with conversions and executions...”

He took a deep breath and continued. “I was positioned as a sniper on the roof of this very building.”

“As soon as we transmitted, the Cultists mobilised against us. It was two days later when they sent a jeep to force us to surrender... they had a man with a megaphone and loudspeakers broadcast their demands.”

“What were their demands?” Rosalina asked. The Captain and Rhiza were still arguing, their conversation having nothing to do with what was happening right now.

“The standard bullshit. To lay down our weapons and embrace worshipping the Goddess...” Eric replied with a slight chuckle. “No one bought it of course.”

He looked to the rifle on the workbench. “I popped him right in the head. Simmons finished the jeep off with a rocket.”

“Of course, as soon as that happened, that’s when the attack started...”

He thought back to that moment. All he could see through his scope were waves of men and women, all unarmoured and armed with medieval weapons. It was like they were being sent through a meat grinder.

 “Shortly after the initial wave, the Goddess came! The cultists were only there to waste our ammunition!”

“Cannon fodder” the woman said disgustedly.

“She towered above us all, barely clearing the treeline. I myself had never seen the Goddess before in the living flesh, only posters, statues and effigies...”

Marth Shepard commented “Let me guess, she was the most beautiful sight to behold... naked, blonde and with really large...”

Martha nudged him on the arm hard. “Eyes!” Marth quickly added. “Really big, beautiful eyes that can stare deep into your soul and cause terror within...”

Eric looked at the couple confusedly.

“They’re married.” Rosalina quickly explained, waving as if to rebuke their presence. “Did your weapons have any effect when the Goddess approached?”

“Hell if I know... if my rounds had an effect, she certainly wasn’t feeling it as she casually strolled up to the perimeter.” Eric replied. “To be honest, seeing the Goddess herself made us less willing to fight. We thought were doomed”

The Captain hefted his rocket launcher. “Didn’t you say there were rockets?” he asked, no longer arguing with Rhiza now.

“Only one left after the first wave... and it missed” Eric replied sadly. “It was heard all over the radios...”

“That’s when you fled to this bunker?” Rosalina asked.

“Yes. I grabbed my rifle and ducked down the stairs. Just in time too... a massive foot had went through the building, crushing half of it. I thought I heard a grunt of pain as if she had stepped on something sharp”

“That would explain the spike outside and the blood” Rhiza commented.

“I didn’t see anyone else run for the bunker, so I sealed the door behind me while the screams sounded above.” Eric concluded “And we’ve been hiding in here ever since they died down.”

 “They were here for two days, and then as soon as they arrived they had left, leaving us to our fate and in fear...”

“I’ve been keeping watch ever since. Just in case they have scouts...”

He glanced around the bunker for a bit. “You didn’t find any on the way in here did you?”

Rhiza immediately looked down at her computer screen. “I’ll run a Doppler now...” she explained, tapping several buttons and initiating the program.

“What’s a Doppler?” Eric asked.

“It’s some kind of detection device that can pick up movement. I have no idea how it does that” The Captain explained. “I didn’t build it either”

Rhiza shook her head. “Half the crap he builds he doesn’t understand.” she explained, and then looked down at the screen as it started flashing a bit more rapidly.

“Uh-oh... We’ve got company” she said.

Vidic took a pistol from his labcoat. “You fool! You’ve led them right here!” he yelled, waving it front of Eric. Almost immediately did Rhiza and Rosalina whip out their own weapons and point them at Vidic.

The others in the room dived for cover, trying not to get involved in any crossfire.

“Calm down Vidic, let’s not jump to conclusions” Eric replied, unfazed by having a loaded weapon being waved at him.

“Calm down!? You brought these spies in here and doomed us all!” Vidic kept yelling.

 “I can pull this trigger faster than you can” Rosalina calmly said “Put the gun down and it’ll save you a lot of hassles”

Rhiza glanced at her screen display and then pulled the trigger of her own gun first. Vidic didn’t have time to react. A beam of coherent light fired from the round end of the gun and instantly impacted with the scientist’s chest, causing him to collapse almost instantly.

“Peacebringer Stun Laser” Rhiza explained, lowering her weapon. “He’ll be fine in a few hours”

Eric looked down at the unconscious body of Vidic and frowned. “Do you know how dangerous that was?”

“The man with the gun was distracted and not looking at my trigger finger” Rhiza replied smugly. “Now that’s out of way, let’s deal with the threat at hand shall we?”

She looked at her scanner display again. “We’ve got ten unknowns heading our way...”

Two yellow dots were displayed moving towards a series of white dots in a large group.

“And it seems we’ve got the Shepards already moving out to deal with them”

“Cultist strike team.” Eric commented. “So they did have scouts”

“There’s only ten contacts?” The Captain asked. “I’m sure Martha alone can handle them easily. Having Marth there would just be overkill...”

He glanced at his rocket launcher and muttered “A few more are saved for when we confront this ‘Goddess’ figure”

-----

“So what’s the plan here?” Marth asked his wife as they ducked behind a concrete support pillar. They were on what was left of the second floor of the ruined building.

“Nothing too special. I drop in from above and carve our way through the enemy” Martha replied, peeking to the side.

There was a large formation of about ten people, all dressed in dark orange jumpsuits and armed with big swords. The few women who were part of the formation had their heads shaved and carried knives.

“Looks to be a fair fight... can’t stand the use of guns.” Martha commented to her husband.

“I’ll try and cook something up as well... you can’t have all the fun now” he suggested. Martha moved towards another pillar. Her plate armour made loud clanking noises as she moved.

All of the Cultists looked up and went for their swords. As expected, she thought to herself, holding her sword downwards and shield up before taking a leap off the edge of the structure and in the middle of their formation, making sure that the sword was stuck well into the ground.

They all closed around the woman, cutting off any escape. One of them stepped forward and barked “Surrender now or face the consequences”. Must be their squad leader

“What makes you think you can do that?” Martha asked with a smile. A symbol in the shape of a set of balancing scales appeared in the middle of her shield.

The leader growled “You dare reject the Goddess? You think your false gods will protect you?”

Martha frowned. “I wouldn’t say he’s false if I were you... he may not view me in the light I should be viewed, but he is always protecting those who believe... especially his most loyal servants”

“Enough of this blasphemer! Slay her in the name of the Goddess!” the leader ordered.

The cultists began to charge when a wall of purple fire suddenly formed in front of them.

“What sorcery is this?” the leader demanded before seeing there was a man at the same building the woman dropped from.

His eyes were glowing red as if on fire. “Sorcery is exactly right. Who needs weapons when you have magical powers?”

The leader looked back at the woman with the sword. The wall of fire made his men hesitant to cross. “Now your men are probably thinking that my god is not as false as you would think he is” Martha calmly stated, taking her sword out of the ground easily.

“Now we’ll see whose deity protects who” she then added, moving forward quickly.

The leader went to parry the woman’s strike while dodging out of the way. Martha quickly turned and placed her shield in the path as her opponent went to strike after parrying.

When the leader parried though, his steel blade broke in half on impact with Martha’s sword. He went to grab another sword when Martha used her shield to push her opponent back towards the wall of fire. “I’ve had years of experience with my equipment.” She explained to the squad leader who was trying his best not to be moved backwards. It was too close to be using swords, making the battle now a struggle to out-push the other

“You on the other hand were probably given a sword and a few pointers and told to slay in the name of your false god...”

“Do not mock the Goddess as such!” the leader instinctively responded.

“I can see how you’re the leader of this sorry squad...” Martha commented, knowing she was out of force to press upon the taller and stronger man. But has he realised it yet?

The leader pushed back and Martha let him for a few steps. “Screw you!” he yelled, taking the bait as Martha wanted him to.

Just then the woman planted her feet down hard and bent her legs to prevent further movement. Her heavy armour and equipment helped keep her in place.

“By the way, I haven’t shown you yet how my God protects me more than yours” she added, moving back quickly and then swinging the side of her shield into her opponent who was trying to regain balance.

The leader groaned and attempted to stand only to have an armoured boot land on his arm, crushing his bones slowly. “Who... are... you?” he groaned painfully.

“Martha Shepard. Doomguide of the God of the Dead, Kelemvor.” Martha stated.

She thrust downwards with her sword into the man’s chest, ending the life of the squad leader. “You will be judged according to your deeds.”

The wall of fire was released and the remaining cultists stood there cowering in fear now that their leader was dead. “Does anyone else have an appointment with the Wall?” Marth yelled from his vantage point above. “Surrender now or else you will have one!”

The response from the cultists was unanimous. They got on their knees and renounced their religion on the spot.

There were the sounds of a few people applauding the couple. The Captain and Eric stepped towards them. “That was a very good show... I especially enjoyed the way you instilled disbelief amongst them” the Captain commented with a smile.

“It is their choice to follow a false god. It is another to try and convert me to it.” Martha replied, closing the eyes of the dead leader. “Nothing more...”

-----

“Unbelievable” Watchman One said, viewing the whole battle. Within a few minutes, two people had converted a strike team from their deity using only swords and fire.

“This is Watchman One. We’ve lost the strike team. Over” he said over his radio.

“Say again? How could have that happened?” came the reply.

“They’ve brought in outside help... I don’t think they’re from around here. Over”

“We’ll inform the Goddess on how to deal with this. For now, remain in position and keep us updated on their progress... For the Goddess! Over.”

“For the Goddess” Watchman One signed off.