Rebellion of the Nephilim

He was sitting on a small rocky ledge, ankle high. In one hand his old helmet, in the other a small rectangular object about the size of his palm. His gaze fluttered across the valley stretching below. Rocks of various shapes and sizes were scattered here and there between fields of grass. The land here was neither lush, nor dry, a yellowish green. Still, he knew that they were surrounded by desert lands, far to the south and east of here. In fact, this somewhat greener strip of land curved between the deserts surrounding it, stretching for thousands of miles, forming what would have been seen from high above as having the shape of a fertile crescent across the otherwise arid land in this part of the planet. He also knew that this place stood at the junction of three of the main continents of this planet, and that there was another continent of similar size, thousands of miles from here. Two great oceans separated the three continents here from the one over there, one almost twice the size of the other.

He knew all of these things as they were part of the information that they were able to salvage from the ship’s computer after the crash.

Down in the valley below, some shepherds were grazing their flocks. They knew nothing of these things and would not have been able to understand them had he tried to explain it to them. They were plainly dressed, clothes made of a coarse cloth, simple ropes used as belts around their waists. Most were holding a wooden staff of sorts, walking about peacefully in the valley below with their herds from here to there and back.

He averted his eyes and looked up to the sky. Beautiful clear blue of midday. It was not possible to see the stars while the sun was shining over this side of the planet on which he was sitting. But he needn’t see the stars to remember where his home once was. He knew the star maps well, and the ship’s computer had managed to calculate the position of this desolate solar system in relation to the key stars of the galaxy before the crash. His gaze scanned the blue sky. From the seventh brightest star in the night’s sky in this part of the galaxy, in a straight line, there was another yellow sun, only somewhat bigger than the one in this solar system. It would take the light that emanated from it on the day his daughter was born over three thousand years to reach this planet that he currently on.

But the only light in his life had died out on the day she was murdered, with her mother, when the Republic’s ships bombarded their home planet with sickening ruthlessness.

He was far away from there, with his legion, on the front lines of the rebellion.

The elite legion he was a member of fought for the Republic for over twenty years – yet, she betrayed them. Luring them with promises of the freedoms they would have when all the wars had ended. She promised that they would go back to their home planets, to their loved ones. She promised them lands and resources to build their homes, their future – if only they would fight for her. But not just fight for her – she changed them. Altering their genetic code, enhancing their bodies with cybernetic implants. They were fast, strong, accurate – deadly. They were unstoppable.

But she had no intention of ever letting them go.

Over and over again she sent them to the front lines to die. Dwindling them so she would not have to uphold her promises to them. She wanted to use them to the end, until there was nothing left. Eventually, they caught on to her deceit. They refused. They demanded what was promised. They longed for the wars to end.

So she branded them traitors.

And rebel against her they did! Having no other choice now... by the lies and deceits that she weaved, she turned them into the rebels she claimed them to be.

A rebellion by the elite legions that she herself created was an existential threat to the Republic. They greatly outmatched the regular legions, crushing them mercilessly one by one. The Republic’s forces were driven back, she lost many ships. They pressed on, from one star system to the next – towards the capitol planet. Spirits were high, hope was in the air. They would force her to yield, claim what was promised to them. They would be able to dictate the terms of their peace. It would be their last war, and they would finally be able to go home. To return to their loved ones.

But the Republic was ancient. Cunning, experienced, and heartless. Empires do not last this long by fighting their enemies with decency. Invisible stealth ships were sent, slipping through the rebels’ lines. Pushing on in their cruel and deadly trajectory to their home planets.

When the word spread through the rebel forces, the result was absolute madness. Many took their own lives. Others simply lost interest in living at all, let alone in having anything to do with their revolt. Some lost their minds altogether, attacking their brothers-in-arms or sabotaging the very ships that were carrying them. He remembered the sight of one of his soldiers weeping in a pool of his own blood, trying to cut the cybernetic implants out of his body. Sobbing, crying out that he would not die with “her filth” inside him…

But the elite legions were strong. Battle hardened and war learned. Those who survived the initial shock soon regrouped and prepared for revenge. Now the purpose of the rebellion had changed profoundly – they would destroy her completely! They would not leave a single stone standing.

He still remembered that moment clearly. The moment when there was nothing left of the light that once was in his world. Nothing left of his wife and his daughter, of their home planet. No, in their stead, there was now nothing but cold darkness. A hatred that burned like a scorching sun. A lust for blood-soaked vengeance waiting to be unleashed, to destroy. To kill.

They soon found out, however, that they would have no time to reflect on their grief. They realized that the brutal blow the Republic had dealt them was worse than they initially knew. Not only had she murdered and destroyed anything that was ever dear to them, she also destroyed their rear bases, collapsed their supply lines. Their command-and-control centers, communication hubs – all gone. The rebel forces were beginning to scatter and disintegrate. In the confusion, trying to defend different systems simultaneously, the Republic’s forces picked them off one by one. Over and over again they would be caught by surprise, facing forces that while still did not match them in prowess, vastly outnumbered them. And descend upon them she did, again and again. A hard, heartless hammer of cold steel striking mercilessly and without warning.

No hope remained, their cause was lost. They knew that well. But what else could they do? They had nothing left. They had nowhere to go, nowhere to run. There was no point in surrendering, as the Republic would never show them mercy. She would parade them in chains through the streets of the capitol planet, humiliated. Hang their mutilated bodies high for all to see.

All they could hope for now was to try to survive for as long as they could. Destroy as many of the Republic’s forces as they could. Draw as much blood as possible with their dying breaths. An empty and meaningless vengeance – all they had left to live for now.

His own legion was caught in a red and cold solar system. The Republic’s forces took them by surprise again. Surrounded, unable to retreat, they stubbornly fought a futile fight. By the end, there were only a handful of ships that somehow managed to slip through in the heat of battle.

They executed several emergency jumps. Vast distances of open space without proper calculations in this uncharted region of the galaxy. They had no choice. Anything less, and the Republic’s ships would be on top of them immediately. It was the only thing they could do to stop her from finding them. It was also what destroyed their last ships one by one. An unexpected asteroid here, too much gamma radiation there, until it was only his company’s ship left. Seventy-three of them – bruised, bloodied, battered – in a ship that was only barely still functioning…

All the ship’s sensors could show was a yellow sun, slightly smaller than the one to which they were born and under whose light they had grown up. Herding eight planets, the third of which was blue, water rich with an adequate atmosphere. In their desperation, they aimed the ship at it, which violently crashed them to the surface with its dying breath.

Fifteen years had passed since that day.

In the beginning they held onto the false hope that they would somehow go back and rejoin their brothers-in-arms. They would send out a signal or find some way of getting off this planet. Perhaps they’d find something on the surface that they could use… Maybe they weren’t the first of their kind to land on this desolate rock? The Republic, after all, had so many dark secrets in its past. But those were perverted notions. They salvaged what they could from the wreckage. The weapons they always carried, their powered armor battle exo-suits, which they wore and which had saved them from the crash. Food and medical supplies, communication devices, work tools, computers. There was no time to waste, they got to work immediately.

It was then that they realized that they were not alone… This planet had intelligent beings on it!

The creatures must have seen the spaceship’s crash – a clear trail of fire, smoke, and spaceship debris falling from the sky to the surface of their planet. More than a hundred of them soon arrived. Strangely, the creatures resembled them. Primitive looking. Smaller than the legionaries, seeming far weaker. No arms to be seen, possessing no technology that could be called such. What tools they did carry were made of clay, wood, and stone. They appeared to be nothing more than simple agrarians.

Clearly the legionaries could have exterminated a few hundred of them in an instant if they so wished. But as they seemed to pose no threat, the legionaries ignored them and went on with their work. The natives, for their part, simply stared at them in astonishment. It appeared as though their world had been turned upside down from one moment to the next. After a while, a few of them did try to approach the legionaries. A couple of plasma shots to the ground near their feet ensured they wouldn’t think of it again.

Days went by. With the natives’ curiosity growing, several hundred of them now circled the legionaries. Keeping their distance. Scattered around the area in a wide circle, groups small and large. Watching from afar, conversing among themselves. Campfires were lit, tents went up.

Once, as he was scanning the crowd of natives around them, something caught his eye. Among the congregating natives, he saw a little girl, one hand hugging a small doll tightly to her chest, the other clutching her father’s leg. Her eyes fixed on them, almost motionless. Pausing whatever he was doing at that moment, he gazed back at the little girl and her father. Was this how his little girl looked in her final moments? Did she too cling to her mother’s hip? Did she feel pain? Was she scared? Did she wonder why her father wasn’t there next to her to protect her? The thoughts were too painful to bear, and he looked away from the little girl, returning to his work. But the image of his daughter's face, far away from where he was, would not leave his mind’s eye.

They tended to their wounded and sent drones to scan as much of the surface of the planet around them as they could with the meager equipment that they had left. A team was sent to install a relay point at the top of the highest mountain in their immediate vicinity. A wave of cries of wonder and fright rose up from the natives around them at the sight of the team lifting up into the air with their battle armor. For a moment, the crowd scattered in fear. Their powered battle suits, however, did not actually allow them true flight, not in the gravity and atmospheric conditions of this planet anyway. Instead, they would leap a hundred feet upward, and perhaps trice that distance forward, landing on their feet and jumping again.

Years later, he would learn that in the eyes of the natives, they seemed as injured birds, creatures of flight that lost their ability to fly.

The team reached the mountaintop some hours later and reported back their success. It was utterly pointless, of course. No equipment they had could send a signal outside this solar system they now found themselves in. Only if a ship entered the system would they be able to notice and communicate with it. But there were thousands of solar systems around them, and no reason to believe that the rebel forces would come searching for them. No reason to believe that there was anything left of the rebellion at all.

In fact, there was no reason to believe that anyone knew that they even existed.

More days went by, and this realization was starting to sink in. They would never leave the surface of this planet. As this thought was becoming clearer in their minds, the legionaries looked again at the crowd of natives around them, but this time in a different light.

Grabbing one of the computers at their disposal, they reprogrammed it for a different purpose, closing about half the distance between themselves and the crowd of natives around them. The natives in turn immediately began to disperse in fear, putting back their distance from the approaching legionaries. But he signaled to them with his hand, and it appeared to calm them down somewhat. One of the natives, a larger middle-aged male, emerged from the crowd and approached them cautiously. When he reached a distance of only a few steps from them, he dropped to his knees, and bowed his head. Crying out, shouting in his mumbled language. A wave of similar loud mumbles rose up from the crowd all around them, many of whom also dropped to their knees, bowed their heads, and chanted their odd mutterings.

They switched the computer on and started to converse with the native. Of course, it was no real conversation. They pointed to a tree, and said "tree" in their own language. "Sky". "Ground". The native mumbled something back in response. The computer absorbed the data and ran its calculations. This went on for some hours, each speaking in their own tongue, unintelligible to the other, while the computer listened to both parties processing quietly to itself.

Several days later, they were able to make simple conversation, albeit an awkward one. The computer translated most of the local language. For the legionaries, however, learning what the computer had learned in a few days was a different matter. They were no scientists or researchers – they were soldiers. Still, it was enough to profoundly change the picture around them.

They learned that the natives thought them to be gods.

They tried to explain that they were no gods, but soldiers. Rebels. That they were running away.

The natives’ reaction to this claim caught them completely by surprise. It appeared that the natives interpreted the notion quite differently from anything the legionaries had anticipated. The idea struck great fear in them. Frightful murmurs went through the crowd. Some looked up at the sky, raising their hands and again calling out unintelligible things in their odd tongue. The legionaries soon learned that they were calling out to their gods. It became clear that the thought of the Nephilim rebelling against the gods – their name for the legionaries that fell from the sky – had struck absolute terror in them.

All attempts by the legionaries to explain, to teach the true nature of things to the natives – the true nature of the legionaries themselves, their equipment, their spaceship, the stars and planets, the Republic – all those attempts completely failed. The simple minds of the natives were just not up to the task of grasping what the legionaries were trying to explain. And those few among them that did seem to possess some intelligence higher than that of their brethren – even they could not understand much. Eventually, the legionaries gave up. The natives viewed them as gods, and this was not about to change. Most of the natives were curious and excited. Some were fearful. But all treated the legionaries with reverence.

Many brought them gifts and other offerings, food or small tokens and trinkets. Other times, they begged them for help – a sickly girl here, a wounded man there. A boy went missing. Some dispute or accident. A predatory animal. In most cases, it was indeed within the power of the legionaries to help. A drone was sent to find the lost boy. Their medical equipment cured the little girl with ease. The augmented strength of the legionaries’ bodies, enhanced further by their powered battle armor, allowed them to lift tremendous weight. Predatory animals were no match for their plasma rifles. Even their smaller sidearms would suffice. Even that was not necessary, however, as the legionaries were able to take on most predatory animals on this planet with their bare hands. The sight of one of his soldiers wearing nothing but a loincloth, easily wrestling with one of these animals – a large animal with a thick mane of hair around its neck – tearing the poor animal’s jaws, raised thrills of astonishment across the natives. The story quickly traveled by word of mouth, like wildfire.

And many days went by.

With the realization that they were destined to spend the rest of their lives on this planet, the legionaries finally asked themselves the inevitable question – what now? They were soldiers, and the only thing on their minds until that moment had been their bloody and desperate war against the Republic. A war that was now over for them, whether they wanted it to be or not. Their home was destroyed, their loved ones murdered. They were light years away from anything they had ever known. Abandoned, forgotten – yet still among the living.

What does a soldier whose war has ended, his loved ones gone, and his home perished do on a new and unknown planet?

The company’s men began to scatter. Three wanted to journey southward, where a large flat continent was. Others headed eastbound or north. West of them was the sea, so some desired to build a boat and sail across it.

One of them took off his armor completely, laid down his weapons, wore the natives’ clothes, and set his aim far to the east. There was the highest mountain that this planet had to offer. A spiritual journey, as he put it – this way he might get as close as he could to his dead family and their distant home. Maybe it would be his last journey. Or perhaps not. But there was peace about him, and his former brothers-in-arms bid him farewell and looked on as he disappeared in the distance.

Many more farewells followed. The remaining seventy-three legionaries that rebelled against the Republic had finally ceased being a single military unit, wandering in all directions, scattering all over this new planet. Some took equipment and supplies with them. Some left everything behind and fully assimilated among the natives of the planet. None of the commanders, including himself, tried to stop any of it. What would have been the point? For soldiers whose war had ended, there was no reason to remain a single unit.

As most of the teams or individuals that now roamed around the planet had one or more communication devices with them, the legionaries became a small community spread over a large and ever-growing area on the surface of the planet. Communication grew less frequent over time, but never stopped completely. They exchanged news and information about the discoveries made by the wandering groups in various parts of their new world. Dense forests covered much of the landmass to the north. Desert lands, grassy lands, icy tundra. Native settlements of all shapes and sizes. Different tongues and cultures. Some only observed the natives from the sidelines, not looking to get involved in their doings. Others created communities of sorts, taking advantage of their enhanced abilities to lead and organize the natives of the planet around them.

And that’s when it started happening.

Most of the legionaries were younger men who had no wives or children when their home planet was destroyed. For him, the thought of another mate… he could not even bring the thought to his mind. At night, when he lay down his head and closed his eyes, he would see her again, the mother of his child. Lying next to him in their bed, far away from here. Her hand caressing, tracing lines across his skin. But for most of his young former soldiers, this was not the case. And thus, the stories and pictures started spreading in their little planet-spanning communications network. Evidently, the native women of this planet found the legionaries very attractive. Some continued on their endless and aimless path, mating with many different native women along their way. Others settled down at one point or another. Sometimes they stopped in some corner of the planet that appealed to them and found a mate for themselves among the native women. Or perhaps more than one. In other cases, it was the other way around – a young former legionary found himself deeply in love with a native woman and decided to stay with her where she was.

They were scattered all over the planet, thousands of miles apart. The natives’ customs differed from one spot to the next. Sometimes, they lived on the edges of the native societies, isolated with their new wives. Other times, they settled in the midst of a native community, fully absorbing the local customs and traditions.

One way or the other, it seemed that many of the younger legionaries found a place for themselves on this new planet. Finding peace here, far away from anything that they had ever known. He found some solace in this thought. Even if he could not consider it for himself, at least his men could find a new and peaceful life in this unknown corner of the galaxy in which they found themselves. And why wouldn’t they? Their home planet destroyed, no one knew of their existence. Even if they had wanted to and would be able somehow to risk sneaking into one of the remote colonies on the edges of the Republic with the faint hope that their presence would go unnoticed – there was no way for them to go back. There was nothing waiting for them anywhere. Why then, shouldn’t they find peace here – where they were?

That was when the children started being born.

Since they were soldiers and not scientists, they did not fully grasp how unlikely this was. But it did surprise them. They had already gotten used to the odd resemblance between themselves and the natives, even if they indeed surpassed them in every possible aspect. But even for non-scientists, as they were, the fact that they could breed with the local population of this planet was not obvious at all.

And their newborn children were clearly different from those of the natives.

Like themselves, their children too resembled the locals. But they were far more like their legionary fathers than the natives in their physical and mental abilities – greatly surpassing those of their peers. Developing quicker, the children were stronger, sturdier, faster. Their intellect enhanced, quicker of thought. Able to grasp what most of the native children around them were not able to. The legionaries’ daughters could easily wrestle even the strongest of the male offspring of the planet’s natives.

The children inherited from their legionary fathers the enhanced genetics bestowed upon them by the Republic.

And the years went by.

Their planet-wide communication had dwindled even further. Most of their equipment ceased to function. Some of their devices were built to recharge by solar energy, but most required replacement energy sources or other spare parts that were nowhere to be found. The plasma ammo had run out. Their powered armor suits were now nothing more than statues, relics reminiscent of an ancient and distant past. But none of these things held any significance to them anymore. They had no need for them now. They were fully assimilated among the population of this planet. Settled. Fathers to sons and daughters.

And peace, eventually, got its hold on him as well.

Time has its way of turning pain into something else. The wound left where, once, long ago, his wife and daughter had been – would never fully heal. But it was also no longer an open wound, bleeding and painful. A scar, a dull pain deep in his soul. Happy memories, that once pained him so that he had to immediately cast them away, he could now hold in his conscious mind. Reflecting on them with a bitter, yet loving smile.

And with his pain slowly dulling away, with some peace of mind finally ensnaring him, so could one of the native women of this planet.

She was different from his wife, of course. Black hair, bright blue eyes. Darker skin and full lips. Somewhat taller and stronger for a native. She did not understand anything about where he came from. She knew nothing of distant stars or ships of space. She knew nothing about the heartless cruelty of the Republic. But she did not need to. She could see his pain. This, she knew. That she understood. For her, he was simply the man from the heavens, a son of the gods. She loved him with all her heart and pulled him closer to her. He built a home for them on the outskirts of the village and loved her back. His nights were no longer cold and lonely, and a glint of happiness sneaked back into his soul.

When her belly began to swell, he carved a small wooden animal that was common on his home planet. An animal that his late daughter was fond of. And when his son was born, it was his gift to him. The toddler gripped the carved animal tightly in his sturdy little hand. The animal that was favored by his dead sister from another planet. His sister, that the light that once emanated from her had only started its three thousand years journey through the void on its way here, while her little brother was growing bigger and stronger.

As his mind returned to the present, his eyes wandered again to the shepherds in the valley below. One of them, on whom his gaze now fixated, was a child about ten years of age. Already at this young age, his presence was apparent. The sturdy boy easily held a staff in his hand that was longer and thicker than any of those of the other men. While still shorter than the adults around him, he was a head taller than any boy his age. Already possessing considerable strength. Stronger than even the largest of the adult men. All of them except his father of course, who was watching him now from where he sat atop the hill.

What would he teach his son? He constantly asked himself that question. Would he try to teach his son about spaceships and distant stars? Would he tell him about the Republic? Would he try to teach him about mechanics and electronics? Plasma and electricity and machines more advanced than anything that existed here on the surface of this planet, their home?

Would he teach his son to fight? Turn him into a warrior and a soldier like himself? Would he teach the child to kill? To take a life, as he had done so many times in his own time? His strong son would become an elite soldier if he were to follow in his father’s footsteps. But what cause could there be for his son to fight for?

Perhaps he should just let the child remain a simple shepherd, living his life in peace? Knowing nothing of science or advanced technologies. Knowing nothing of the world that his father came from, the world in which his sister was murdered. The child would grow into a man, meet a woman, and fall in love. Build a house for her where they would raise their own children happily and peacefully. Why should things be any different?

What reason was there for his old world – his old war – not to die out here with him, between green meadows and under a clear blue sky?

A small beeping sound cut his train of thought, immediately pulling his mind back to the present moment.

The object in his palm signaled something on the small screen. He glanced at it quickly, reading the message – terror immediately gripped him!

It could not be! He read it again, but there was no doubt… Jumping to his feet, he jolted to a frenzy running down the hill.

How did they find them? Why? After all these years!

The relay point that they installed atop the mountain so long ago had sprung back to life due to a signal it suddenly received. A spaceship just exited an FTL jump into this solar system, but the signal it sent was not that of any rebel legion!

It was the Republic. She had found them.

And the Republic knew no mercy. The Republic knew no forgiveness.

In his crazed gallop, he closed the distance down to the valley below in mere seconds. The boy immediately turned to his father, sensing something wrong. Kneeling, he put his hands on his son’s shoulders, tears forming in his eyes. Then he held his son tightly. He wanted to cry, the lump in his throat threatened to burst out. But he forced control of himself. No. He had to be strong now. Strong for his son. He knew what was coming, they had very little time. He swung the boy onto his back, the child clutching his father, and they dashed across the grassy land toward their home.

He knew the Republic’s fighting tactics well, as he had used them himself many times. The approaching ship’s sensors would immediately detect the wreckage of the old ship. They would know that this was the planet, that these were the remnants of the rebels.

On a planet rich in water, the standard attack tactic was to drop a fusion bomb at a carefully calculated point in a large ocean.

The immense tidal wave raised by such an explosion will encircle the entire planet. Storms and heavy rains would announce the monstrous wave that would follow. Water height will reach hundreds of feet, perhaps even a couple of miles. The waters would attack forward far into the land, leaving nothing but sheer destruction in their wake.

But this time it would be different. This time, he would die with them. Holding his family tight. There was nothing else on his mind other than making sure that indeed, this was what their last moments would look like. The Republic wouldn’t win this time!

When they arrived at the house, the storm was well underway. The frightened woman ran to them. They held each other. The carved wooden animal sat atop the table. Kneeling, he held them both close to him. Head to head, he wrapped his arms around his wife and his son.

Among the infinite maddened thoughts rushing through his crazed mind too quickly to grasp, there was one quick reflection. An odd notion, that for that tiny fraction of a moment consoled him… she would not succeed this time either! She could not erase them. It was too late for her. They had spread their seed across this entire planet. Anywhere the rebelling legionaries had reached, their children would now be. And there was no way for her to ever know that…

Outside, the enormous watery monster towered high above the small house of wood and stone, high up into the sky.

And then crushed it to a thousand tiny pieces.

Fifteen hundred years later, his daughter’s light and his son’s light would meet in the middle of their journeys between the two suns.