by A A Warren
Sartarus glanced at Ecotyl. “Commander, leave us. Deploy our pylons, and alert General Kyr and myself when they are in position.”
The commander bowed. “Yes, Lord Sartarus.” As he led the guards out of the chamber, Salena grabbed Satarus’ shoulder with her cuffed hands. “Lyko please, I beg of you. Don’t do this!”
He spun around and grabbed her chin, jerking her face up to look at him. “Enough! Enough whining and begging, you selfish bitch!” She gasped as his manic stare bore into her glowing eyes. “Don’t you understand?” he snarled. “It’s not just me, not just us. The entire galaxy has suffered one bloody war after another. Billions of lives snuffed out, billions of loved ones lost. Humans, aliens, it doesn’t matter. In the end, the only destiny of life… is to kill. But it doesn’t have to be that way.”
The hum grew louder. The rings glowed brighter.
“Lyko, please—”
He dropped her chin and gazed at the pool of water. It too had begun to glow and churn. “In Daizon, there is peace. Everyone is welcome. Everyone can have whatever they desire. There is nothing to fight over. No wars, no one has to die. In Daizon, we are all eternal!”
“That’s because it’s not real, Lyko. It’s all a lie. It’s nothing but a dream!”
He glared at her. His mask shifted slightly, and the corners of his eyes wrinkled. She realized he was smiling beneath the gleaming golden shell.
“Perhaps you’re right,” he said. “Perhaps it is a dream. But I have lived a long time now, my darling. I have seen so much death, so much horror.” He held out his hands, gesturing towards the blazing explosions and the distant stars above them. “But this so-called reality is a dream as well. A nightmare we can never wake from. I prefer my dream. And so will you.”
He waved his hands over the glowing controls. The hum grew louder, and the glow from the rings filled the room with a blinding crimson light. With a deafening wail, a massive column of energy burst from the rings, and struck the surface of the water. It seemed to disappear into the depths of the dark pool, and the water sizzled and bubbled at its touch.
Salena gasped. She took a step closer to the pool. Her eyes glowed brighter than ever before. A muscle in her face twitched, as the she sensed the presence of dark energy. A massive amount of it, so close, and yet just out of reach.
A harsh, rasping laugh echoed over the wail of the energy beam.
Sartarus was laughing at her.
“It must be frustrating for you, my dear. So much dark energy, and yet you cannot channel even a drop of it.”
“How?” she whispered. “How did you create this?”
He gestured to the pool. “Daizon guided me. This is his power, made manifest.”
A voice crackled over the room's speakers. “Lord Sartarus… the pylons are in place. Both ours and General Kyr’s.”
“Excellent, Commander,” Sartarus replied. “Tell Kyr the weapon will fire momentarily.”
He shook his head as he shut down the comm channel. “Kyr,” he hissed. “He funded my research, helped me locate the missing pylons and artifacts I required to open the prison. He thinks he can control me, and use the power at my fingertips for his own desires.”
He looked back at Salena. “Tonight, he will learn. He controls nothing. There’s only one thing I need. The missing tablets, the lost symbols. They are critical to sustaining the ritual. And you will give them to me, my dear.”
“What makes you think a human like you could even survive such power,” she snapped, a note of defiance rising in her voice.
Sartarus unfastened the clasp of his robes. He tore the garment open, and Salena gasped at the sight of his body. The charred, mangled flesh… pale, shriveled skin, specked with gaping sores…
Set in his chest, just to the right of his heart, a violet crystal protruded from his skin. It pulsed with a strange, unearthly light. The flesh surrounding the foreign object was puckered and ridged with scars. Tiny lumps shifted and crawled beneath the skin… flesh-weavers, clusters of nanobots fighting against the decay that consumed his body.
“R’kur was not the only one that left behind a shard of its essence,” he said. “You rejected Daizon’s glory, my dear. But I took the great one into my flesh, made it a part of me. And it has guided me ever since. Guided me to this, my final salvation.”
“Father…”
The voice was a distorted whisper, echoing within the column of energy. Salena’s eyes grew wide as she saw movement over the withered man's shoulder. Tiny figures darted within the crimson beam.
“Come to us father… We miss you.”
She could see their tiny faces, pressed up against the glowing barrier of energy.
Her children.
She shook her head, cleared her thoughts. “Lyko, please. It’s using you, it’s just showing you what it knows you want. It’s not real.”
Sartarus stepped towards the pool. “It’s real enough, Salena. Real enough to end my pain.”
He stepped into the pool… His steps splashed across the surface, even though she could tell the water beneath him was deep. He paused at the edge of the energy barrier, and took a deep breath. He looked back at her. “I’m sorry, my wife. Sorry for the way things ended between us. Sorry you chose to live in pain, rather than paradise. But I have to go. They’re waiting for me, in there. In Daizon.”
He pushed forward into the glowing crimson beam. His body shot ramrod straight, and his muscles spasmed, as bolts of energy traced across his body. His gnarly fingers dug into the flesh of his palms, and he cried out in pain. But still he pressed forward, until he stood in the center of the beam. He held out his hands and threw his head back as the energy coursed through him.
His body levitated in the beam. Soon, he hovered near the top of the domed chamber. When he gazed down at Salena, his eyes glowed with crimson fury.
“You will delay me no longer,” his voice boomed. “Give me what I seek. And then… I shall allow you to die.”
He thrust an arm forward, and crimson lightning leapt out from within the beam. Salena’s head snapped back as the powerful energy struck her, crackling across her skin. It penetrated her pores and eyes, and filled her mouth with an unholy glow.
She screamed, as the arcing bolts of energy lifted her up, and suspended her body up in the air.
“You cannot hide from me,” Sartarus hissed. “I see it in your mind. The tablets Aroyas stole, the missing symbols. Now the ritual will be complete. This time, Daizon will not stop with a planet… the great one shall devour all, as is his right. He shall reshape this flawed creation into a new paradise.”
Sartarus smiled beneath his mask. “This time, nothing will stop us. Nothing will stop… Daizon!”
Chapter Thirty
Talon clenched his jaw as the Star Claw dropped out of portal space. The ship streaked towards a lone planet, a tiny, glowing green dot in the black depths of space.
Avra glanced at her display. Their course heading blinked on her holo screen, confirming their destination. “I don’t know how you did it, but the jump was successful. We made it back, that’s Vendaru up ahead.”
He grunted as he slid his arms out of the control docks. “Now I know why Salena needed so much rest after opening a star-path. I’m exhausted, and starving as well… I could eat a zebrak whole.”
A nervous laugh escaped Avra’s lips. “Sorry, no zebraks onboard. Just protein paste and vita-fluid.”
An alarm wailed through the bridge. “Now what?” he growled.
As they rushed closer to Vendaru, tiny pinpoints of light flared in the darkness.
Avra squinted at the readings on her screen. “Looks like a battle. Dominion forces are in low orbit over the planet. Hang on, there’s an incoming transmission from the surface.”
She tapped her controls, and a hologram flickered to life in the center her console. The glowing image showed Prince Lucian, standing next to his advisor, Captain Javis.
“Coalition Command, we read you,” Avra said. T
he comm unit transmitted her words to the planet’s surface. “This is HMS Star Claw, inbound to Vendaru.
The prince gave them a nod and a grim smile. “Captain Zobo, thank the gods. I hope you bring good news.”
Avra bit her lip for a moment, and did not reply.
“Star Claw, do you read us?”
“Yes, we read you. Zobo didn’t make it. This is Avra and Talon.”
“I see… and Salena?”
“We… we don’t know. Sartarus has her. What’s your situation down there?”
“We’ve been suffering under a sustained attack. The Coalition fleet has managed to hold back the Dominion ships, but our shields have taken a beating from Kyr’s bombing runs. There’s no way we’ll survive the gravimetric distortion of—”
A burst of static interrupted the transmission. The image of the prince flickered and dimmed in the air.
Avra boosted power to the signal. “Your Highness, we’re losing you. What distortion, what are you—”
The hologram glowed brighter again. “Sartarus and Kyr have deployed their weapon. According to our sensors, the gravitational waves it's emitting are identical to the readings from Hadros. But this time it’s stronger, by several orders of magnitude. If you can’t stop—”
Another burst of static flooded the speakers. The image wavered, then blinked out and disappeared.
Talon pointed out the window. “Avra, look…”
As they circled around the green planet, a swirling red cloud came into view. The vortex pierced a hole in the darkness of space. Bolts of energy crackled with the spinning void.
Avra gasped. “By the gods!” She glanced at her display, and her fingers danced across the sensor controls. “Talon, look at the edges of that… thing!”
The sensors magnified a tiny spec from the image. A tall, metal pylon shimmered in space, floating on a gigantic lifter disk. Three more identical pylons drifted in the black void. The four towering monoliths formed a cross, thousands of kilometers along each axis. A circle of rippling energy flowed between them, forming a boundary for the swirling red void.
“It’s the pylons, from Salena’s report.”
“The Crimson Maw,” Talon said, his voice a low whisper.
Avra glanced at the display. The ring of energy grew wider as each pylon floated away from the others. “Whatever it is, it’s growing larger. Each pylon is moving through space at an equal velocity. As they drift apart, the diameter increases. I’m reading an energy surge coming from the cloud. It’s… it’s massive. I’ve never seen anything like it. It—”
Her words caught in her throat. As the Star Claw zoomed closer, they could see something emerge from the cloud.
Tentacles.
Huge tendrils of lumpy pink flesh reached out through the void of space, flailing towards the planet before them. As they loomed over the glowing green sphere, the planet’s swirling atmosphere broke up and vented into space.
Talon squinted… he saw tiny red ships come into view, nestled within the writhing mass of planet-sized limbs.
“The Dominion fleet is caught in that thing’s grip as well. Salena is in there! Which ship belongs to Sartarus? We have to—”
No!
He winced in pain as the voice echoed through his head. Closing his eyes, he pressed his fingers to his temples. The single word was like a red-hot knife, twisting into his brain.
Avra glanced up at him, as the ship continued racing towards the glowing cloud of devastation ahead.
“What is it? Are you alright?”
“Salena,” he grunted. “I can hear her. The bond between us isn’t broken. But she’s in pain!” A strangled grunt of pain escaped his lips, as he gripped his head tighter. “Arrrgghhh!”
Talon, listen... You must do as Ikari said. The Crimson Maw is the prison of Daizon. You must bring the shard there.
“Talon, what the hell is going on?”
He shook his head, but he could not answer.
There isn’t much time. Please Talon, do as I ask. Do not fear for me, my warrior. You will see me again.
He collapsed in the chair.
“She’s gone,” he said. He wiped his hand across his eyes, clearing the sweat and haze from his vision.
“Is she alright?”
“I don’t know. She was in pain, I could feel it. But she said she would see me again.”
“So what do we do?”
He stared out he window at the swirling cloud. The massive tentacles crept toward the planet. The relentless tug of their gravitational pull sent plumes of the surface gas venting into space.
“She said to listen to the guardian, Ikari. To bring the shard into the crimson maw.”
Avra clutched the controls tighter. The ship rattled as it drew closer to the spinning cloud. Outside, the explosions of the space battle grew larger. A burst of light flooded the windows as a frigate on their port side exploded into glowing cinders.
“Let me get this straight… you’re telling me you want to fly into that thing?” Avra snapped.
He looked over at her. “I know it sounds crazy.”
She shrugged. “Yeah. Yeah it does. But then again, giant space tentacles eating a planet for lunch sounds pretty crazy too.”
The ship’s proximity alarms wailed. A pair of blood hawk fighters swooped into position behind the Star Claw.
“Dominion fighters,” Talon shouted. “They’re locking on!”
Avra darted the ship left and right as she increased thruster power. The ship leapt forward, dodging debris and other ships on the battlefield.
She gripped the controls tighter, as the massive tentacles grew larger in the front window. Two of the gigantic fleshy limbs were drifting together, crossing over each other. Due to their colossal size, they seemed to move in slow motion, but the sensors showed that they were passing through hundred of kilometers in mere seconds.
Pushing forward on the controls, Avra dove the ship through a narrow space between two of the colossal tentacles as they lumbered through space. The gap closed behind her. The two fighters struggled to pull up, but the wall of flesh was too huge, and they were going too fast. Twin explosions burst through the narrow crack behind them. The enemy contacts blinked off on the holo display.
Up ahead, a group of Dominion battleships and Coalition cruisers drifted in space. They were trapped, caught in the event horizon of the swirling crimson vortex. No canon-fire flew between them, making the blackness surrounding them seem even darker.
The Star Claw’s hull groaned and rattled as they sped towards the floating hulks.
“Those ships…” Talon peered out the cockpit window. “Why aren’t they attacking each other?”
“They can’t,” Avra shouted back. “They’re using all their power to keep from getting sucked into that thing. Which is exactly what will happen to us if we get any closer. You sure you want to do this?”
He glanced over at her. “I have to. And I can’t do it without you.”
Avra bit her lip for a moment, then sighed. “If we do this, there’s a price, gladiator.”
“Name it.”
She flashed him a smile. “When this is over, you tell me your real name… the one you told the guardian, in the temple.”
He grinned back. “Agreed.”
Avra grit her teeth, and focused her emerald stare out the forward windows. Twisting the controls, she threw the ship into a tight spiral, narrowly missing a damaged cruiser that spun across their flight path.
The swirling crimson vortex filled their vision. The scale of the thing was immense. Its eerie blood-red glow blotted out all other light.
A narrow, wavy line blinked on her display. She adjusted the ship’s heading, following the erratic, serpentine course. “There’s only one path that will take us through the gravitational distortion intact,” she shouted, struggling to be heard over the roar of the ship, and the thunder of its engines. “If I divert too far off this line, the forces inside will tear us apart.”
“Victory, or death,” Talon muttered.
“Took the words right out of my mouth,” she replied.
The ship lurched violently to the right. Avra’s head snapped back, as an ominous series of creaks echoed through the hull.
“Were we hit?” Talon shouted.
She shook her head. “No. We’re crossing the event horizon. The gravity of this thing is leaching off our speed, slowing us down. If we lose any more velocity, it will pull us off our flight path.”
“Stay on course!” Talon shouted as he leapt out of his seat. He took a few steps towards Zobo’s command chair, swaying and stumbling across the deck as another shockwave rattled the hull.
The ship listed to the right. He fell to the floor with a thud, and slid backward a few inches.
“Talon,” Avra called back to him. “I need more power or we’re not going to make it!”
Crawling forward across the deck, he pulled himself inch by inch to the command chair. Grabbing the arm of the chair, he lifted himself off the floor. His fingers darted across the controls. “Diverting power to the main engines. Everything but the shields and life-support.”
Avra glanced at a small meter that flashed on her display. It showed the engines power supply hitting maximum levels.
“Alright, here we go… find something to grab, and hold on tight!”
Talon threw himself into the command chair, and pulled the harness down over his shoulders.
The roar of the engines grew louder, escalating to a high-pitched wail. The other ships outside the windows were reduced to bright blurs of light, as the Star Claw hit its maximum sub-light speed.
Streaking through the raging battle, the Star Claw dove into the abyss of the crimson maw.
The view outside the windows of the Vanquisher yawned at a sickening angle, as the ship tilted through space. Alarm klaxons blared, and orange emergency lights lit the bridge with a strobing glow. The gigantic tentacles drifted around the listing ship, blotting out the light from the stars as they devoured the planet below.
In the distance, another battleship, the DNS Bastion, buckled. The terrifying gravitational forces of the vortex spun it like a child’s toy, snapping it in two. A shockwave of energy exploded from the crippled ship, as its fusions reactors went critical.