The second tank held the top half of a decaying torso; a full rib cage with an intact skull set in a permanent facial expression of terror. The torn flesh on the ribs drifted gently in the liquid and revealed bite marks. Cable protruded from the chest and ran through the skull then into the top of the tank.
The last tank contained a third corpse, half a rib cage attached to a short section of spine and a flesh torn face. It too connected to the monstrosity that was the machine.
'What,' started Draethus, 'what are you, human?'
The first tank lit up as it spoke, 'Once we were human but that was long ago.'
Raeson's eyes widened as he realised what was going on, 'Draethus, look closer at the second tank.'
As Draethus did, the ex-Soldier of the Void's world changed forever, for around the neck of the corpse, in the second enclosure, hung a golden amulet embossed with a dragon.
'No, it can't be!' Draethus screamed. 'That thing, that abomination cannot be me!'
Although the corpse lay still, the second tank flashed to life as a light surrounded the enclosure. 'You see proud warriors, you all join us in your future, and it is inevitable.'
'That amulet is not the one I wear now, monster,' Draethus replied.
'It matters not,' the second tank replied, 'we are the same entity, you and I.'
Spect, who had been quietly trying to keep the attention off himself, asked curiously, 'If you are in fact our Commander then why have us killed? Why send Servatus on our trail, wouldn't that mean you would cease to exist had Draethus died?'
The third tank laughed, 'Heridia and everything that exists beyond the link, in this area of space, exists apart from time.'
'What does that mean exactly?' Draethus asked.
'It means,' continued the Lord, 'what happens in the space-time outside of this realm does not interfere with what's inside. We could kill you now and as we are apart from time, there would be no consequence for us, we would still exist.'
'Meaning if you had access to time shifting you could bring an unlimited amount of your fleets to protect this world and not have the timeline outside changed?' asked Tremon.
'Correct, we would have an infinite amount of forces including biological specimens to increase the competency of our armies.'
Draethus went quiet as he soaked up the information; the pieces in his mind came together into a completed puzzle. 'You targeted Johan to lure me here with the ship, that's why he gave me the co-ordinates because you wanted us to find Heridia.'
The third tank illuminated further, 'Yes, Servatus was the best candidate to complete the task. I also wanted a reminder of the insect I once was, the brooding pathetic pirate Commander. Tell me Xain Raeson, how does it feel to look into the face of what you become, the hatred you have been fighting for so long?'
Raeson stared into the corpse's dead eyes and knew it to be true. The flesh attached to the face floated in the tank.
'I felt the familiarity when I saw you,' Raeson said darkly. 'If my life ending does not destroy your existence, then I will make sure I erase you completely.'
The third corpse, the Fifth Lord of Heridia, laughed at the thought of an insect trying to kill a god.
'You do not see the intention behind revealing who we are. All of you could escape and never become the god-like beings you now see before you, but it matters not,' the first tank, the Third Lord of Heridia said.
'In some timeline, at some instance, the three of us joined the Heridian race, to become the three lords. We exist apart from time and we shall always exist despite your actions,' said the Fourth Lord of Heridia from the liquid encased in the second tank.
'What about your assassins?' Raeson asked, 'where did you recruit them from?'
'Assassins?' the Fifth Lord said in a questioning tone. 'What assassins?'
Raeson didn't answer and was still unsure who ordered the attempts on his life, apart from the contracts paid for by the families of his enemies.
Tremon spoke up, still in shock with the knowledge of the Heridian leader's identity, 'So who are you?' he asked the entity in the first tank, the Third Lord.
'I am more than any of you,' was its only reply.
*
Rel stood against the transparent plating of the lead bombard vessel and peered down to the dark crimson planet below. The shelling of the world's surface had been going smoothly, explosions lit up the area leaving devastation and craters in their wake. She stared into the distance at the giant spike that pierced the skies and wondered what had become of her lover, Draethus. She knew they had captured his vessel, saw the creature ship swallow them and fly down to the surface.
The fleet agreed to still bombard the planet, including the area around where the enemy vessel landed as even a hero was expendable during war. Pain filled her heart as she imagined never seeing Draethus again, to never hold him, to never stare into his eyes once more. Tears welled up as she imagined what he was going through, if he was even alive to begin with. As she turned to walk back to her post, a bright white light blinded her from the side and the red-haired girl felt no more.
CHAPTER 23.
Shrouded Intentions.
The ground shook as the shelling of the surface sent vibrations through the massive spire reaching deep into the world's core. Fire rained from the skies as the unopposed pirate fleet in orbit carried out their orders despite the capture of the four bipeds. All the captives knew their lives were expendable, that no one person was so important that a siege would halt because of them.
'You feel that, filth?' Draethus said, directed towards the three corpses in their liquid chambers. 'Soon your world will die and with it any hope you have of getting free.'
The Heridian Lords laughed, disturbing considering the corpses never moved and only communicated through the external speakers imbedded in their cylindrical chambers.
'Do you think we would leave a world such as ours defended by only a handful of capital cruisers with fighter escorts? We may have multiple fleets roaming outside of the link obeying our commands but we are far from defenceless,' the Fifth Lord laughed. 'Behold.'
The filaments around their feet pulled the four men towards the ceiling to give them an unobstructed view of the holographic display that now activated above them. They could see the curvature of the planet, the dark clouds twisting and the pirate orbital bombardment ships flying above. Fire erupted from the enormous cannons under the vessels and streaked down to the surface finishing in a colossal explosion, kicking up dirt and forming vast craters.
'What you are seeing here is in actual time, puny ships unleashing your so-called destruction on our world,' the Third Lord laughed.
Without warning, massive streaks of projectile fire launched up from the planet's surface as Heridian space artillery began firing on the fleet from hidden positions under the ocean. The armor encased around the bombard ships fractured, burned and then melted. Once slow-moving behemoths of destruction became fireballs falling from the upper atmosphere.
Draethus watched as the lead bombard received a hit directly through the habitable section and exploded. He knew Rel served aboard. Metal and reinforced glass shattered outward as a huge chunk of the ship broke away, separating from the main body ending in several large pieces descending to the planet.
'Rel!' Draethus yelled. 'You bastards, I'm going to kill all of you!'
The man roared in fury, screaming at the menace uncontrollably as the filament binds tightened and almost cut off his circulation. As his oxygen ran out from the metal around his neck, the Lords loosened the restraint as they still needed the man alive.
Raeson stared in horror as he knew his childhood friend was dead, the one genuine person in his life that actually cared for him. It was almost hard to fathom what was happening as the rest of the bombard ships fell from orbit in a blaze of death.
The hologram display changed to show the pirate escort cruisers that had set up position at a higher distance above, fighting for their lives against a Heridian
capital fleet. Enemy destroyers pounded the armor of the vessels in a display of sheer firepower. Fighters buzzed each other in a mess of swarming trails, pinpoints of explosions marked the end of a craft as both sides took loses.
'You had a hidden fleet,' Raeson said defeated. 'You waited for us to begin our attack and then hit it from both sides.'
The Fourth Lord answered the pirate Commander's question in a tone of smugness, 'Did you think we would just let you attack our world with no consequence?'
'We have been building this fleet for many years, if that term even exists in this pocket of space,' said the Fifth Lord. 'After we finish your fleet and gain control of the link, we will continue our rampage against your forces waiting on the other side.'
'You cannot open the link without my help,' Draethus said, out of breath. 'There is no chance for that to happen.'
'Even if we somehow lost control of the time ship,' stated the Fourth Lord, 'the link would open naturally eventually and our forces will continue to spread throughout the galaxy. We are unaging and eternally patient.'
'Now tell us, scientist, how did you build the time device?' demanded the Third Lord.
Fire reflected from Spect's glasses as the visual of a pirate cruiser exploded taking with it a pirate corvette that was in proximity.
'I scanned the ship and found enough designs to construct a crude version of a time shifting schematic,' Spect answered.
'Say nothing!' Tremon said in anger.
'We've lost Tremon, and besides nothing I tell them will be any use because I cannot scan the ship again without my specific equipment. Nor can I construct a displacement device from memory, let alone even imagine creating our own Tether Source.'
'What did you say?' the Third Lord yelled. 'You brought with you a Tether Source?'
'Why yes, it is what powers the Dawn Eclipse and gives it the ability to time shift,' Spect replied.
The tank enclosing the Third Lord went dark as the sound of gears and pistons activated causing the cylindrical pod to disappear back the way it came, up and into the ceiling in what seemed to be a rush of panic.
'Why have you abandoned this conversation?' the Fifth Lord questioned, knowing the Third Lord could hear.
Before there was a reply, the lights within the room flickered hysterically. The space around the captives howled in whispers, dark ghosts swirled and attacked the remaining two containment cylinders. Glass and liquid exploded in a mixture of noise and pain. The Heridian Lords, both fourth and fifth, fell to the floor as their cables were severed. The entities of shadow quickly crushed the skulls of the corpses, revealing a mixture of brain matter, blood and cybernetic implants once imbedded within. Without these devices and the hard wiring securing the remains to the spire, the two Lords perished. As the two gods fell silent, the enclosures sparked out and darkened, void of life.
'Whatever you are, set us free!' Tremon yelled.
The thin metal filaments slowly unravelled and lowered the men to the wet floor. They each stood covered in the unknown fluid that had exploded from the tanks and looked around the room in astonishment.
Seven entities, which they now recognised as the Specters, floated in front of the men in their ethereal state. Each wore a white mask with various symbols that hid their faces, worn and void of any eyes or mouth. The ragged black robes swayed in an invisible breeze, torn and tattered. The claws that had killed the two Lords dripped with fluid, the enemy's blood.
'We need to leave now,' they whispered. 'The Third Lord has escaped and will send soldiers to intercept us.'
'How can we escape a place this massive, surely there will be hundreds of Rids between us and a ship?' Raeson asked.
'Once we reach an area with a line of sight to our destination, we shall be able to traverse the distance and take you there.'
A slight variation of the voice continued, 'three rooms from here are items taken from you. We go there first then onto the main elevator to the surface.'
'If the Third Lord still has control won't they be able to lock us out?' Spect asked.
The Specters ignored his question.
'Time is up, we move now,' one ghost whispered.
The door to the room burst forward as the Specters telekinetically forced it open and released the men from their prison. The entities glided ahead of the exhausted pirates who hadn't slept in days and headed toward the men's equipment.
*
Tremon's large rifle fired again down the long walkway and tore away another Heridian soldier's body, severing it clean. The Paladin could feel the steam emanating off the cooling module that kept the gun at temperature as he reloaded. 'We are going to need to storm this walkway soon,' he said to the rest of the team who were busy firing their own weapons from positions of cover nearby at the approaching enemy.
The Specters were busy in close quarter combat with some larger Heridian drone soldiers further down and created an obstruction for the pirates shooting.
'Move up,' Draethus ordered, 'let the Specters do their work; we need to get to that elevator now.'
The former SOV warrior sprang up from his position and charged forward hoping his armor could deflect the laser fire that was soon to start. Tremon shouldered his oversized rifle and followed with Raeson at his side and Spect towards the rear. Pistols weren't much good at the range such as this, so the scientist had kept himself hidden for most of the engagement.
'It's times like this I really miss my lab back on Echelon,' Spect said. He reached his hand under his dark gray lab coat and made sure his pistol was still secure in its holster.
Three of the Specters dispatched their Heridian opponents with a flurry of slashes and strikes from their long claws and hastily joined the team.
A circle of darkness appeared around the men, a feeling of vertigo followed by unsteady feet as the entities enveloped the group in the Tether's energy. By the time the pirates realised what had happened, they were at the base of the massive elevator, transported in an unworldly manner.
'Where there is a line of sight we can take you,' one Specter whispered, 'once at the top call in your ship to pass.'
'So you can get us on board with a low level fly over just by seeing it?' Raeson asked.
'Correct. There is still the matter of the time ship, we must rescue or dealt with it,' replied the ghost.
'If you can call in a fly-by, I'll make for the Eclipse and try to get it out,' Draethus said.
Tremon wasn't so keen on the idea and said, 'By yourself? I think not, I'm coming with you.'
'The important thing is to get us out of here. One man can go unnoticed, but that chance lowers the bigger the group. I want you to look after Spect, the Heridians can't have him,' Draethus ordered.
Tremon looked as if he was going to argue then thought against it. Orders are orders.
They entered the elevator as large heavy doors slid open revealing a grated floor that was large enough to fit a vehicle. The doors closed behind, leaving them in the dark, low lit room. Without warning or preparation, the Specters transported the men again using a small clear window in the elevator ceiling. They found themselves at ground level in a large open loading area covered in dead Heridian soldiers from the Specters' earlier entry. Replenishment forces of Heridians walked amongst their fallen.
Raeson looked up through the clear domed ceiling then touched the coms in his ear, 'Slin, do you copy?'
Nothing but static replied.
Lights from the explosions in orbit reached his eyes as white contrails from falling debris created streaks across the already blazing sky. More Heridian troops entered the area from the front as the docking gates opened, soldiers followed by the walking armored vehicles.
'Get to cover!' Draethus ordered. 'Those walkers will shred anything that moves.'
Again Raeson tried his coms as he hid behind a large cargo crate, but received no connection. 'Where are you Slin?'
*
The pirate corvette, the Arvernus, rolled to avoid an incoming torpedo
launched from one of the Heridian cruisers and only barely evaded. Had the incoming fire comprised lock on missiles they wouldn't have been so lucky.
'Hard to starboard, thirty degrees, now!' Slin yelled from his chair on the command deck.
The vessel cut half of its rear engines and increased the remaining, causing the ship to bank to starboard sharply before spearing away from the enemy cruiser. More torpedos sped towards the pirates, but good piloting took the Arvernus off the line of trajectory.
'Get us amongst the wreckage of that cruiser ahead, maybe we can throw them off and give the other cruisers time to escape,' ordered its acting Commander.
'Slin,' Nash yelled out, 'I mean Commander, I'm picking up a voice in the static on the coms.'
'There is a battle going on Nash, I'm sure there is a lot of chatter between the ships.'
'This is on our personal line, the one reserved for the internal crew only.'
'Link me into it Nash,' Slin asked, 'see if you can clean it up a little.'
Slin concentrated on the voice in the static and instantly realised who it was, more from reprimands of an angry Commander than anything else.
Slin stood from his chair and rushed up to the women, who later he will have to apologise to for being so abrupt. 'That's Raeson. Can you target the source and create a connection?'
'Raeson, you think he's alive?' she asked. 'I can try, we would defiantly have more power behind the signal from our end so it might work.'
Nash did as instructed and filtered out the interference from the planet's magnetic field and the surrounding battle.
'This is the Arvernus, Raeson can you hear me?' Slin said into his coms.
'Slin? Damn it's good to hear your voice,' Raeson replied. 'Listen, I need you to perform a low level fly over of the domed facility at the base of the spire, can you do that?'
'A fly over, you need a distraction?' Slin answered.
A Dark Oceans Descent: (Heridian Saga, Book 1) Page 30