by James Somers
his body, but it had been buffered by a significant mound of dirt carried in the impact. Orin felt the weight, but no pain.
He moved the large piece of metal with his mind. Then he mentally pushed the heavy dirt away and inspected himself for signs of injury. Other than a possible concussion, he appeared to be fine. Orin stood and scanned the valley floor. He found the wreckage of the Saberhawk and ran toward it.
The valley was littered with debris from crushed drones and aerial fighters. The remains of clone soldiers also covered the landscape. Wild animals growled at Orin as he passed through the area—they guarded a smorgasbord. The sky was filled with birds. They swooped down into the valley, collecting their portion then flew away again.
The birds scattered as Orin ran toward the wreckage. He heard screams coming from different places where the wounded clones were attacked by ravenous beasts. How fitting for the destroyers of my people.
When he reached the remains of the Saberhawk, it was still smoldering. Orin found Dorian’s body, but there was no sign of Tiet. Something must have happened. He would not have left her body exposed to the elements and the wild animals.
A closer look at the area revealed another surprise. Two more androids lay among the wreckage, apparently destroyed by Tiet. He walked over to one lying on the ground with Tiet’s blade still imbedded in its skull. He withdrew the sword and placed it into the sheath next to his own sword. Looking back to the ground around Dorian’s body, Orin saw what appeared to be several sets of boot prints. There were no dead clones in the vicinity.
Tiet would not have been consciously engaged by these brutes without having killed at least a few, he thought. He must have been unconscious. Orin spotted Millo several yards away among the cockpit wreckage. They had taken Tiet for a reason, but why would they want him alive?
First things first. Orin buried Dorian and Millo in a clear area among the wreckage of the Saberhawk. Then he mentally pushed a large piece of fuselage over their graves to protect the site from predators. Orin followed the tracks left by the Horva army’s departure. He didn’t know where they were headed, but he would die before he gave up on the son of his old friend. Tiet had become like his own child after all these years. Nothing would stop him from either retrieving the boy alive, or avenging his death.
☼
When Tiet regained consciousness, he was suspended inside a semicircular mechanism with a form-fitting black suit covering all but his head, hands and feet. What appeared to be metallic buttons covered the surface of the garment. The room was dark except for a light focused on him and the soft glow of machines beyond. He saw vague movement in the dark but not much.
Tiet tried to exert his mind upon the mechanism that held him suspended in an energy field. He heard an alarm sound. A shock emanated from the suspension mechanism nearly driving him to unconsciousness again. My brainwaves are being monitored.
Tiet thought he might try again and began searching for people in the room. The monitor alarmed again and the field shocked him once more. Pain. Tiet tried to contain the urge to cry out in pain. He was already exhausted from the punishing energy. He knew another attempt would knock him out and he at least wanted to be conscious. Had the Horva captured him? He wasn’t sure. He could only remember Dorian taking her last breath then pain and nothingness.
It wasn’t like the clones to have such technology and what had happened to Orin? Tiet hadn’t seen him since before the Saberhawk crashed into the valley floor. “Who are you?” he shouted.
There was no reply from the darkness. “Where am I? Come out and face me, you cowards!”
☼
Behind a Plexiglas barrier a scientist tapped his communicator panel. “General? He’s awake.”
“Are you ready to collect your data?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Excellent. Move him to the dome.”
☼
There had not been much to salvage from the wreckage of the Saberhawk. Orin had been able to obtain one blaster pistol, two working kemsticks and an extra scabbard for Tiet’s sword. He also found a locker containing several Barudii cloaks and some food packets.
The cloaks were made of a synthetic material capable of scrambling electronic signals coming into contact with it. This had the effect of rendering the wearer invisible to most scanners and sensor devices. It was a valuable asset when stealth was necessary.
Orin wore one cloak and carried another for Tiet stuffed inside his belt. If he was still alive then they would need it to escape from the clones with as little fight as possible. These intelligent Horva were much more skilled fighters than the brutish sort back home. He and Tiet would be greatly outnumbered even with their mental powers. A subtle approach would be necessary for this rescue if Orin was to successfully retrieve his protégé and get him home.
The trail of the Horva army led Orin many miles to the north. It was now dark, and he saw lights in the distance. The tracks of the Horva army led to a heavily fortified compound in the distance. The facility was a massive rectangular building towering one hundred feet above the ground.
As Orin drew nearer, he saw a forcefield barrier surrounding the compound approximately three hundred feet outside the main building’s perimeter. Intermediate, one-hundred-foot-high pylons, placed every three hundred feet in the field, acted as connecting points. The shield looked tough.
Fortunately, he had no intention of carrying out a full-on assault. He would be like a virus—a silent but deadly invader no one ever sees coming. Orin approached the barrier with caution. The darkness shielded him from natural eyes while the Barudii cloak kept him invisible to their technology.
Atop each pylon was a guard station with a single soldier manning it. Orin felt for the guard with his mind. He sensed the man’s body up in the tower, as though his eyes were fixed upon him, as though his hands touched the flesh. Orin increased mental pressure upon the vessels leading to the man’s brain, slowly and steadily, until the guard collapsed unconscious. Then Orin catapulted his own body over the height of the pylon and soft landed on the other side.
Orin ran across the span of the courtyard toward an area of the structure which lay in shadow. Searchlights moved across different areas and he was careful not to be caught in them, or to allow his shadow to be cast by any ambient lighting. He reached a wall and noticed it was made of a synthetic stone material—completely smooth and difficult to climb.
Orin sought out guards on the roof with his mind. Finding none, he leaped up and came to perch on the edge of the roof. The roof of the complex was a maze of ventilation system outlets as well as large computer-controlled laser turrets. He began to walk across the roof cautiously. The cloak seemed to shield him. None of the computer-controlled guns turned to fire on him.
The ventilation system was the easiest way for him to gain access to most points in the building without coming into direct contact with the enemy. As Orin approached one of the large vent housings, he heard the deep roar of the system working to supply fresh air to those within. He pulled out a spicor disc to get through the heavy gauge wire covering the vent, and then decided against igniting an energy weapon in the presence of the sensor-controlled guns.
Instead, Orin carved a hole with his blade then crawled inside. Once inside, he began a controlled descent until coming to a horizontal tunnel. Orin entered it and slid along as quietly as possible, knowing any noise he made would be amplified by the tunnel. In turn, he also heard many voices filtering through the system as it collected the activities of the complex and amplified them all. Orin knew he had a long meticulous search ahead of him. He only hoped he might be able to sense Tiet if he got close enough.
☼
General Grod passed through the automatic doorway and into the control chamber. Inside, various computer terminals monitored the happenings in the chamber below them. On the far side of the room was a large row of viewing windows looking into the huge dome. Grod sat in his command chair and waited.
“General, we have
him in position.”
“Is he awake yet?”
“The suspension field is active. Subject is conscious. Our warriors are in place. Battle droids are in place and activated. The teragore is in place in the outer dome. All successive inner domes are secured,” reported the technician.
Grod held a great interest in what was about to happen. He wanted to know the abilities as well as limitations of this Barudii warrior. The Barudii mental power had once been an integral part of his plan for conquest of the Vorn race and this planet. Another opportunity to utilize that power had been lost. But now he had a second chance and he wanted to see what his prize could do.
“Release the Barudii.”
SPORT
Tiet had not realized he was unconscious until he awoke. His environment was different now. No longer did he see a laboratory setting as before. He and the mechanism which held him suspended inside its energy field were now centered within a large dome. The walls were mirrored like two-way glass. Someone was obviously watching him. Near the walls Horva clones stood ready for battle
The suspension field disappeared, dropping Tiet three feet to the ground. He was free, but unarmed. As soon as the field released him, the soldiers attacked. As soon as Tiet’s feet touched the ground, he rebounded