Nemesis

by Christian Kallias

  Chris tried to count the seconds in his mind, but he had already lost the ability to keep up with the passing of time. His oxygen ran out, and having to spend a lot of energy and focus on dodging the creature, Chris felt his lungs burning. He used his self-healing power to alleviate the symptoms to some extent, but there was simply too much to do to focus appropriately.

  Then suddenly, everything went dark.

  Eventually, Talon returned to the bridge and was surprised to see Tar’Lock was the only one there.

  “Where’s the rest of the crew?”

  “I sent them to their quarters to get some rest. They’ve been informed we may ask them to come back at a moment’s notice. They were on edge, and I thought if they can grab some sleep, even an hour’s worth, it might be better for both their spirits and reflexes.”

  Talon stayed silent as he reflected on Tar’Lock’s words.

  “Good thinking. It’s not like there’s much they can do right now. Though we may want to call them when you send out your probe.”

  “Probe is already on its way.”

  “Isn’t that reckless? What if the enemy pinpoints our position from the probe’s exit vector?”

  “I’ve made sure it took a non-linear trajectory to make its exit. It’s also using one percent of its engines, moving at minimum speeds.”

  “Which means it will take hours to get free of the cluster.”

  “It also lowers the chances of being detected, especially within the cluster.”

  “As much as I hate to admit it…well done, Tar’Lock.”

  “Thanks, Captain.”

  “Any luck locating the Spectre ship?”

  Tar’Lock released a series of semi-muffled clicks. “No, but I dare not push our sensors to full power, we could reveal our position just like we did the first time we detected the ship.”

  “If only I had not insisted on scanning the area, we’d be on our way to resupply and on our way back to the jump gate.”

  “Don’t do this to yourself, Captain. It’s not your fault. You saw something out of the ordinary and wanted to make sure it didn’t pose any threat to your ship and crew.”

  “That’s irony for you. My overzealousness actually put us in way more danger than if I had left it alone.”

  “If there’s one thing I learned these past few years, is that nothing good comes from second-guessing our past actions. What’s done is done, what’s the point in lingering in what could have been?”

  “Well, my Gorgar friend, you have an advantage in that matter, you have a small amount of memory and the ability to erase parts of it at will. In fact, for you, it’s not so much an ability as a way of living. You must erase memories to form new ones. The human condition, well…let’s just say we can’t forget the things we’d love to more than anything.”

  “Oh, I’ve been around enough humans and humanoids in general to have a good understanding of how you torture yourselves this way.”

  Talon smiled.

  “In humanity’s defense,” Talon said, “we don’t do it on purpose, well, at least, I don’t think so.”

  “I know, and while I would give a great deal to have even a tenth of your capacity for storing memories, sometimes I think it may be better to just hold onto a select few.”

  “Trust me, in some cases it is. I don’t know what’s worse, Tar’Lock, not knowing whether we’ll survive this or the waiting. Perhaps we should choose a heading at random and just make a run for it.”

  “Well, you’re the Captain, so that particular decision is yours, but if you want my advice, I say as long as the status quo doesn’t change, it can’t hurt to wait.”

  An intense light filled the bridge, and then the ship rocked. The lights turned red, and sparks flew from a terminal near Tar’Lock.

  “On the other hand,” said the insectoid with a series of panicked bleeps.

  “All crew to the bridge on the double,” said Talon over the comms before turning to Tar’Lock. “Looks like the status quo has just been broken.”

  14

  The royal guards left the throne room a moment before Loki beamed in. The next shift would be on duty in about ten minutes, though they sometimes arrived tardy since people were seldom present at this late hour. He sat, looking around the room, and imagined what it would be like to be the King of Asgard.

  Deep down he knew that Thor would probably be chosen to replace Odin one day. Loki had always been ambitious, but he loved his family too much to ever think of attempting a coup. If he ever got to rule Asgard, it would be because he was chosen to do so.

  In the meantime, he would do whatever was necessary to protect his world and his people. Right now that was the focus of his secret dealings with the Spectres. He had debated whether or not to tell Thor and his father, but he knew very well how they’d react. Loki was the only one in the Alliance that had detected the presence of the Spectres in their dimension. This gave him a window of opportunity to secure a deal with the race that has the potential to wipe out all life in the universe.

  Loki wasn’t stupid to think this deal would last forever, and, actually, he wasn’t interested in forever, what mattered to him was buying his race some time to prepare. If war were coming to this dimension, they would need time to build up their defenses.

  The Fury War had left Asgard vulnerable. More so than it had been in the last ten thousand years. A few years, or even a few months respite, could be the difference between the fall of Asgard or its ultimate victory. Loki didn’t intend to lose.

  After all, the deal he was about to strike with the Spectres didn’t cost Asgard much. A small quantity of pentalium, which they could spare, and some intel the Spectres had requested him to gather on their behalf. In exchange, they would leave Asgard alone.

  Pentalium was a rare element native to Asgard and not found anywhere else in the universe. It was the critical element derived from a crystal that powered Asgardian hyperspace engines. Thanks to pentalium-powered ships, Asgard had the fastest hyperdrive engines in the Alliance.

  The Earth Alliance requested access to the material, which Odin denied. Even though the King of Asgard was thankful for the Alliance’s help during Arakan’s attack on Asgard, he posited there wouldn’t be enough pentalium to go around for the entire Alliance. Right now, the stockpile was quite low because Asgard was focused on rebuilding their fleets. As a result, it took more effort and resources to dig deeper into the planet’s crust to retrieve new deposits with enough purity to fuel hyperspace engines.

  Loki wondered what the Spectres wanted with the rare crystal. He had no doubt they had something nefarious in mind. But because they had requested such a small quantity of it, Loki was inclined to think it couldn’t be too much of a threat. The Asgardian’s train of thought got interrupted when his wrist comm vibrated.

  It was time.

  Loki interacted with the throne’s holo-controls, and a figure beamed into the center of the room. Loki rose from his father’s chair with the intent to greet his guest.

  The Spectre appeared massive, taller than even his brother, Thor, and his skin was as dark as a moonless night. A single emotion overtook Loki’s heart: Fear.

  “Right on time,” said the Asgardian, presenting his hand in friendship.

  Asrak’Vor looked at the hand for a second and returned his deep gaze to Loki.

  “We…do not shake hands,” said the Spectre coldly.

  “I see. Well, in any case, welcome to Asgard.”

  “I also don’t have time for useless pleasantries.”

  “To business, then?”

  “As you say. Do you have what I requested?”

  Loki tapped his wrist holo-device, and a small crate beamed to the side of the Spectre.

  “The amount of pentalium discussed. I’ve even rounded it up a bit.”

  “Good. What about the coordinates of the Olympian ship and requested DNA sample?”

  Loki reached inside his vest and took out a small data crystal that he handed to Asrak�
�Vor. “Everything you’ve asked for is stored on that.”

  Asrak’Vor grabbed the data crystal from Loki’s hand, making sure he did so without touching his skin.

  “Are you guys germophobes or something?”

  Asrak’Vor growled.

  “Never mind,” added Loki.

  “You can go now,” said Asrak’Vor.

  “Huh…this is my place.”

  “Go! Now.”

  “I see. Well, I would say it’s been a pleasure doing business with you, but. . .Well, anyway, I want to make sure you’ll keep your promise and leave Asgard alone from whatever plans you have. I wouldn’t stay up here too long, the next shift of palace guards is scheduled to arrive any minute now.”

  Asrak’Vor’s eyes flashed briefly, and that was all it took to make Loki’s blood freeze. Asrak’Vor’s facial tattoos dimmed to nothingness. Loki decided not to push the issue and entered a command on his wrist device and beamed out of the throne room.

  A plasma bolt grazed the ship, lighting the small bridge of the Bellerophon.

  “That was too close for comfort,” said Tar’Lock.

  “Where the hell is the crew?” barked Talon.

  A series of rapid clicks escaped Tar’Lock. “I don’t know, Captain. They should have reached the bridge already. We need to get out of here though. The enemy fire, while pretty random, could still blow up the ship, especially with our engines powered down to their minimum. I fear the current shield levels would do nothing if we catch one of these plasma bolts full fro—oh, crap.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “I think I know where the crew is.”

  “Where?”

  Tar’Lock pointed at the viewport.

  Talon got up from his captain’s chair. “Is that what I think it is?”

  “I’m afraid so. There goes our short-range cargo shuttle, which means that we don’t have a way to get off the ship, should we need to, as the Bellerophon’s only escape pod is currently inoperative.”

  Talon’s face went from worried to red-hot mad.

  “Hail them, now!”

  “No response, Captain.”

  Talon shook his head. “Abandoning ship at the first sign of trouble, quite the faithful crew I assembled.”

  “Look on the bright side, Cap, I’m still here.”

  Talon gave Tar’Lock a dubious look before allowing a chuckle to escape.

  When plasma fire grazed the ship once more, Talon regained his composure.

  “Alright, let’s use this to our advantage. The plasma fire is focusing more around this area, and I think we now know why. They must have detected the shuttle’s engine as it left the ship.”

  “What do you have in mind?”

  Talon sat back down. “Let’s plot an exit course that is diametrically opposed to the shuttle.”

  “If they detected the shuttle’s engine, won’t they detect ours if we push them?”

  “We’ll operate at thirty percent. Unlike the shuttle, we have stealth tech installed. I think we’ll minimize chances of detection that way. Hopefully.”

  “You think?” snapped Tar’Lock, doubled with a series of anxious clicking sounds.

  “Unless you have a better idea?”

  “Never mind. Plotting course now.”

  Chase could sense Chris was in trouble, even though he had told Chase he could manage to hold the creature off. He silently swore, regretting trusting Chris’ words at face value.

  Chris? Are you hurt? Son? Please respond, thought Chase. Chris!

  “Something’s wrong with my son; I’m turning the ship around.”

  The Iron Fire veered, and Chase redistributed power to the sub-light engines, siphoning energy from virtually every other system on the ship.

  “Beam him back,” said Argos.

  Chase queried the Iron Fire’s main computer with his mind, trying to beam Chris back onboard. The computer couldn’t get a lock on Chris’ biosignature because of interference. Chase then remotely launched three pilotless StarFuries.

  “Computer’s not letting me! Dammit. Launching fighters remotely,” Chase said.

  “Chase, fighters won’t make a dent, beam me out instead. I’ll go help Chris.”

  “Hurry up, Argos. I don’t think he has any oxygen left. He’s gonna pass out any moment.”

  Chase diverted some of his focus getting the fighters out to lock on his brother and beamed him out in space. Argos rematerialized outside the Iron Fire and darted forward like a shooting star.

  Chase feared that even at full Fury flight speeds, Argos would be too late, but he nodded in agreement and beamed him into space with a single thought command from the central computer. Whatever interference was preventing transporters from locking onto Chris’s signature must have been generated by the hydra and only affect the area surrounding the creature.

  Chase unleashed torpedoes from every launch tube from the ship, bypassing the computer’s warning they were too far away to lock onto the target. Instead, he manually aimed toward the creature.

  There was a risk he might hit Chris in the process, but feeling his son’s consciousness wither away, Chase felt he needed to provide him with cover, and hopefully distract the beast, even for just a moment until Argos reached him.

  Chase felt Chris had lost consciousness and feared the worse. The torpedoes approached their target with Argos right behind them.

  Keep an eye on the torpedoes. If one looks like it’s going to hit Chris, take it out before it does, Chase said to Argos telepathically.

  Understood; might blow up a few just to get the beast’s attention, anyway.

  Good thinking.

  Chase felt his son’s body temperature was getting dangerously cold, the force field around him was failing, and he would soon be exposed to the deadly frost of space.

  The hydra shot a plasma bolt at Chris, and it took whatever shield was left around him. The impact sent Chris spinning wildly.

  “Chris!” shouted Chase.

  The hydra followed Chris when multiple of its heads roared as they saw the incoming torpedoes. One of the heads was still deadlocked on Chris, and it opened its mouth to eat its prize.

  Argos shot three fireballs, two of them detonated torpedoes next to Chris, the resulting explosions pushing Chris away from the monster’s teeth as they bit on nothing but space void.

  Shit! That was close, swore Chase.

  You’re welcome.

  Argos swooped to try and grab Chris, but the hydra opened fire from multiple heads, forcing him to slalom in between the plasma projectiles. Many of them impacted with the torpedoes, illuminating space with one explosion after another.

  Argos was only meters away from Chris when a hydra head violently knocked him off course. The Fury recovered and deflected two plasma projectiles targeting him.

  The Iron Fire was still far away from the battle. Which brought Chase’s anxiety levels to their paroxysm.

  Argos’ aura grew exponentially, and his right fist was engulfed in an expanding fireball. He then darted toward the nearest head and smashed it in full force.

  The creature screamed, and before Argos had ended his power punch motion, the tail of the creature hit him with full force, and Argos illuminated blue for a second and was catapulted away so fast he entered hyperspace.

  “Argos!” shouted Chase.

  Brother? Are you alright? Argos? Come in!

  I—I don’t understand what happened, Chase, somehow I got thrown into hyperspace. I’m coming back, but I have no idea how far I’ve been thrown away.

  Things were looking bleak, and the Iron Fire was still too far to help cover Chris. With Argos out of the fight, he was now an easy prey.

  Chase extended his mind to find his son’s life sign and realized that Chris was mere seconds away from death. His body temperature had dramatically dropped, and his heart would stop beating any moment now.

  It felt like time stopped inside Chase’s mind. What happened next made no sense, but somehow he found
himself in space next to his son. A force field englobed them, and Chase started warming and healing his son.

  Unfortunately, he wasn’t paying attention to anything else around him except bringing Chris back from the dead, and when he saw a massive mouth approaching their position, there wasn’t much he could do.

  Just before teeth impacted with Chase’s force field, the creature’s head was smashed away by an incoming Argos. Chase’s brother hit the beast with both his fists at full speed, sending it hurtling kilometers away into space.

  All safety measures in using their Fury powers in space had just been overridden. Survival was now their prime directive, even if they destroyed this part of the universe’s fabric.

  Chase could feel his son’s heartbeat increase slowly and steadily, and he continued to send Chris as much healing energy as needed.

  Hang on, Son. I’ve got you.

  A fleeting thought came into Chase’s mind. It was exactly for this reason that he hadn’t wanted anyone to accompany him on this mission, but now was not the time to obsess about it. Chase needed to learn to accept the consequences of his decision and act accordingly.

  Thanks for the save, brother.

  Sound didn’t travel in space, so they used telepathy to communicate.

  Argos flew next to them. You’re welcome. I’m just glad the creature didn’t send me farther away than this. How come you’re in space? Did you also beam here?

  I wish I could tell you for sure; the only explanation that makes sense is that I can still teleport under certain conditions. At the very least, for shorter distances.

  Well, that’s a start and good news if you ask me. We’ll have plenty of time to find out later though; let’s incinerate this beast first.

  Agreed. Chris is still in critical condition; do you think you can take care of the hydra on your own?

  Argos looked straight into his brother’s eyes and then smirked. I thought you’d never ask.

  Argos unleashed five crimson-colored and powerful fireballs at the hydra that was already speeding back toward them. The fireballs did not have the anticipated result, and the hydra used five of its heads to swallow them.