by Lee Watts
Almost simultaneously, the missiles hit their unprepared targets, and the Hateeg fighters exploded in blinding flashes. The cruiser, not set for a quick turn, flew straight through the wreckage, inflicting only minor damage. Dakota and Ian cheered at the results, but their jubilations quickly changed when the four trailing Hateeg starfighters came into view, heading straight for them.
***
Exiting the slide-like tunnel, Alexander thumped hard onto the floor of the darkened chamber. Landing prone, his lower left rib cracked as it slammed against a head-sized rock. Rolling onto his back, he placed a hand over the rib to apply pressure but quickly withdrew it as the touch was too painful. Remembering how the creatures had followed him down the first tunnel, he listened for indications of continued pursuit, but there were none.
"What am I doing here?" Alexander derided himself. He didn't have a good answer. While he had a reason, it felt more like an excuse. He didn't know what it was, but something didn't feel right. It wasn't the danger; he'd faced life and death struggles many times. He couldn't figure it out, but things just didn't feel the way they should. Shaking off the doubt, he moaned as he got to his feet to resume his search for the immortal with the last key.
***
(1,000 years ago)
Lumbering around the wide, wooden walkway encircling the upper level of the temple, a bulky Rhia stalked the weaponless Elderites. Immediately, the group began running toward the opposite direction on the circle, slowing when they had to make their way around one of the heavy stone statues on the walkway. At the end of the group, Pipaluk screamed in terror as the starving beast raced nearer. Leaping with talons outstretched to pierce its prey, the reptile jumped at her. Frozen with fear, Pipaluk seemed to watch in slow motion as the animal descended toward her. Snapping her back to real-time, Rew's hand gripped the girl's forearm and pulled her to momentary safety on the far side of the stone statue. The lizard slammed heavy on the walkway. The weight and force of the beast shattered the boards where it landed, which sent the animal tumbling to the ground. Pipaluk looked to the lower level as planks rained down on the creature. Angered, the predator glared up at her and prepared to jump back up and rip the defenseless girl to shreds.
CHAPTER 47
"If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me…"
– Psalm 139:9-10
"Is this safe?" Jaiden asked as he climbed into the torpedo launch tube.
"No," dryly answered the pirate Giovanni as he fastened on the helmet of his environmental suit. Without offering a glimmer of positive thought, Giovanni went back to work, picking up the sealed battery pack they would use to power the door mechanism. Joining Jaiden in the tube, he said, "The suit will protect you from the pressure and give you air, but chances are we'll meet some other horrid fate."
"What kind of thing is that to say?" Jaiden grumbled in exasperation.
"Just tell'n it like it is kid," Giovanni said in his normal defeatist tone.
As the loading end of the hatch sealed closed, the two swimmers switched on their suits' lights. Barely cracking the exterior hatch allowed the water to seep, slowly filling the chamber instead of slamming them instantly with the great pressure of the depth. With the pressure equalized, they fully opened the outer hatch and eased out into the ocean. Though midday, only the slightest light penetrated that far down, leaving their suits' lights to guide the way.
"Come on," Giovanni indicated, pulling himself along the exterior of the ship. Jaiden followed the man who had the battery pack but had the unnerving feeling they were being watched. From deep within the darkened waters, hungry eyes followed the movements of the two, slow-moving creatures. With a subtle swish of its powerful tail, the lurking predator silently eased closer.
***
Deep under thick layers of yellow murkiness, the Indomitable was surrounded and steadily sinking. A dozen eyeless, whale-shaped creatures pressed near the slowly dropping craft. With external pressure increasing and power levels declining to dangerously low levels, Balin knew if he couldn't find a way out of this mess in the next few minutes, the ship would be destroyed. Trouble was, every time he dumped power to the engines, the creatures gobbled it up, which made the Indomitable sink lower and faster.
Hitting a switch on the command platform's waist-high holographic projection table, Commodore Upton activated the speakers to listen to the whale song from the creatures.
Admiral Balin was confused.
"Tom, what are you hoping to learn? There's no way you can understand it."
"No, it's not that. I'm trying to find a connection, a pattern. Obviously, it's these things draining our power, but what keeps drawing them to us?"
"It's got to be the whale song," the white-haired man answered. "It's a signal. They've found a food source, so they're calling the others to it."
"Maybe now, but how did that first one find us? We weren't sending out any kind of a signal."
"Maybe we were."
Upton didn't understand.
"Were what?"
"We're sending out a signal," Balin hypothesized. "In space, there's no sound, so in effect, the ship is noiseless. But once we entered the atmosphere, we began blasting noise."
Punching in commands to the HPT panel, he isolated the songs of the outside creatures and displayed their frequencies on one of the table's screens. Next, he accessed the data on the wavelengths created by the ship's equipment and engines. Overlaying the two readouts, he found the connection he sought.
"We called them," Upton noted, observing the comparison. "All the upper wavelengths are an exact match."
"Exactly," Balin gleamed, "and if we called them to us, maybe we can tell them to leave too."
Going to the railing of the command platform overlooking the bridge, Balin called out instructions.
"Comm, I want you to start emanating a short range, wide beam transmission. Just send static, but I want you to blare it on all the lower wavelengths, all frequencies. Make it as grating as you possibly can."
Confused, the woman simply nodded and set to the task.
"Transmitting now."
Almost immediately, the surrounding creatures began screeching. The power drain increased and all but the emergency lights extinguished.
"I don't think they like it," Upton shouted over the horrible sounds.
"Sir," yelled an officer, "Power level to critical! Altitude dropping rapidly. Estimate two minutes till crush depth!"
"Maintain transmission," Balin shouted.
Outside, the whale-like creatures made piercing cries then one by one began distancing themselves from the ship.
"It's working," Upton said.
Within another half a minute the last of the animals left the ship, and power levels began climbing. Shutting off the offensive sound, Balin ordered the vessel to return to the upper atmosphere of the gas giant.
"How do we know if it's clear to leave the atmosphere?" the navigator asked.
Commodore Upton turned to the ship's commander and echoed the officer's concern.
"He raises a good point, Admiral. If those Entauri ships or Hateeg see us, then all this hiding was for nothing."
"Can we get a signal to our two starfighter recons?" Balin asked.
"Negative, Sir," answered the woman at the communications station. "There's too much interference."
"Blast," Balin grumbled. "We need a way to look around up there. I can't believe with all this technology we've forgotten install the most basic thing."
"What's that?" Upton asked.
"A periscope."
***
"Uh oh, company," Dakota warned while hiding in one of the moon's caverns.
"I see them," Ian replied as four of the jade-colored Hateeg starfighters diverted from their pursuit of the Entauri transports to investigate the source of the missiles that just hit their comrades.
"We can't let them find us," Dakota reminded. "If they do then the Hat
eeg will have an excuse to declare war on the Realm."
"You think I don't know that?" Ian fussed. "I knew that was a bad idea."
"No, it wasn't, Ironman; it was the right thing to do, and you know it. The right thing to do is make ourselves scarce. Come on, my sensors show these mining tunnels are like a maze and go on forever. We'll disappear in here."
"You see what else the sensors say?"
"What? I'm getting distorted readings."
"Of course, you are. There's a high concentration of tizanite in these rocks. That's why the Entaurans mine it. It messes with sensors, and I'd be really cautious of using your weapons in the tunnels. A blast in the wrong place might blow up the whole moon."
"Roger that," Dakota called back. "Now come on. We'll split up; it'll make us harder to find."
Using minimal power, the two Realm pilots slunk deep into the labyrinth of passages of the heavily mined moon. Within a minute the Hateeg ships arrived and tracked power emission particles to two cavern openings. Splitting into two pairs, the Hateeg ships began hunting the sources of the emissions.
***
On the surface of Entauri Major, Colonel Ortiz and his troops walked with hands over their heads. Noticing the captured group approaching the shuttle landing pad, the on-site Hateeg commander saw the prisoners being led his way by a pair of Hateeg soldiers.
"And what do we have here?" mocked the shaved-head commander in the common galactic language. "Well, well, Realm soldiers. I hope you realize what this means."
"Oh, I do," Ortiz replied confidently. The answer and attitude took the star worshiper by surprise. As did the sniper shot between his eyes.
"MOVE," Ortiz shouted. Remaining in the cover of the nearby building, the Realm sniper sprayed cover fire as the colonel's group retrieved their concealed weapons and ran inside the nearest shuttle, commandeering it.
Having secured a craft, Ortiz had only one problem remaining: he had no idea how to fly it.
Waiting on the rooftop, Aulani looked out the window but didn't know what to make of what she saw.
"Uh… I think they're coming," she said.
"Think?" Cheyenne asked.
"I don't know if it's them or not," Aulani announced as she pointed to the wobbling craft approaching them.
Noticing the shuttle, seemingly piloted by a dizzy toddler, Sergeant Sanders laughed.
"Oh, that's them alright. The Colonel's the only person I know who flies like that. Come on!"
The shuttle slammed onto the roof, more out of poor flying than an intentional quick landing. While Yilib and the Councilors rushed to the ship, Aulani and the soldiers made sure Cheyenne got aboard safely.
"That's everybody," Sergeant Sanders said.
"Alright, hold on," Ortiz called out and hit the switch to close the hatch. Teetering, the craft lifted from the roof and began to move forward. Turning away from the battle over the heart of the city, Ortiz angled the shuttle upward.
"WE'VE GOT COMPANY," Aulani shouted upon noticing a fighter on their tail.
Two shots whizzed past the shuttle, barely missing.
"BLASTED HATEEG," grumbled Ortiz.
"It's not Hateeg," said Aulani. "It's an Entauri fighter."
"Of course," Ortiz realized as he figured out what was happening. "He thinks we are Hateeg." Another quick burst of shots lashed out toward the weaponless shuttle.
"Great," Ortiz smirked sarcastically as he tried to put the ship on an erratic flight path to avoid the fire. "We're gonna get shot down by the good guys."
CHAPTER 48
"For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that," – James 4:15
"HE'S STILL ON OUR TAIL," Aulani shouted as the Entauri fighter kept pace with each zigzag of the group's ‘borrowed' Hateeg shuttle.
Deadly flashes of light zoomed on either side of the shuttle as the Entauri ship tried to down the supposed enemy craft.
A triple beep sounded, warning of a weapon's lock.
"COLONEL," called out the Marine in the copilot's seat.
"I SEE IT," Ortiz shouted slamming the controls forward and putting the ship into a hard dive.
To everyone's relief, the indicator showed the maneuver broke the missile's lock.
"Good move, Sir," Sergeant Sanders said.
"Yea," Ortiz shrugged. "Wish that was what I meant to do. If we live through this, I'm never getting in a shuttle again."
"Here he comes," Aulani alerted as the Entauri fighter lined up for another shot.
Squeezing the trigger, the Entauran pilot sent a stream of energy blasts at the dogging shuttle. WHAM! Everyone pitched forward as the ship took a direct hit. Ortiz struggled to regain control of the tumbling craft. The single impact rocked them for a moment but didn't knock out the controls. Again, the weapon's lock indicator sounded. Engines straining, the small ship had nothing left with which to avoid the deadly missile.
"LOOK OUT," Sanders shouted as a Hateeg starfighter zoomed into view in front of them. With no time to react, the Hateeg ship loosed two missiles straight at them. Heart's stopped as the projectiles sprinted nearer then diverted around the ship, destroying the pursuing Entauran fighter.
"What in the worlds?" Sanders puzzled.
"He's providing us cover," Ortiz explained. "Remember, he thinks we're Hateeg."
Leaving the atmosphere, Ortiz angled the shuttle toward the blockading group of Hateeg capital class ships surrounding the planet.
"Colonel," Cheyenne asked while trying not to be pushy. "What happens when we don't dock on one of those Hateeg ships?"
"Either they'll hail us, or send somebody to investigate, or…"
"Or what?"
"Or they'll simply blast us right away."
"Oh," Cheyenne said more than a little concerned. "Uh… Colonel, what is your plan?"
He turned from the front view to look at the queen mother and smiled unconvincingly.
"I'm uh…. still working on that, Majesty."
Just then Sergeant Sanders reported they were being hailed by the lead Hateeg ship.
"I can try and talk to them if you want," Aulani offered.
Ortiz considered it a moment then shook his head.
"No need," he decided. "There's nothing we could say to explain why we’re not docking. No, any minute they'll figure out we're not who we're supposed to be. Then…"
Cheyenne completed the sentence.
"Then they either chase us or blast us."
No one replied, but all knew she was correct.
"SIR," Sergeant Sanders called out in alarm. "Detecting a spike in their weapons charge."
***
Maneuvering his ship deeper into the natural caverns and mining shafts of the lifeless moon, Ian was, for the first time, grateful to pilot the smallest class of starfighter in the Realm fleet. Relatively flat, except for the bubble canopy, his Arrowhead class ship squeezed through areas that neither the boxy Hateeg fighters nor Dakota's bulkier, Dagger class ship, could fit. Dakota was having a harder time avoiding the searchers. In addition to his ship's size limiting where he could hide, the power output kept giving away his position and leaving a trail easy to follow. Though the tizanite in the rocks disrupted his sensors, he could get flashes of readings. Each time the screen blinked a clear reading, it showed two Hateeg fighters closer than last time. He knew that within a few minutes they would find him.
Alright, think boy, Dakota told himself. You can't shoot 'em because it'll blow all the tanzanite in the moon. You can't head to open space because they'll see you. If only I could distract them so I could head back to the surface. Suddenly a thought occurred to him. Of course, distract them. It's the pea and the cups. With only minutes before the Hateeg closed in on him, he rushed to set up his distraction.
Though similarly disrupted by the tanzanite, the Hateeg's sensor readings grew clearer as they drew closer to the power source they were tracking. Coordinating their advance, three Hateeg starfighters entered an expansive chamber from three dif
ferent sides, completely surrounding their quarry.
***
"It could work," Commodore Upton supposed with an evident lack of confidence in the engineer's plan.
Balin considered his first officer's well-founded doubts then looked back to his chief engineer and paused as he considered the decision.
"Do it," he decided at last.
"Right away, Sir," the engineer acknowledged with a smile and rushed off the command platform to cannibalize the ship for the parts he needed to make his idea a reality.
"I don't know about this," Commodore Upton said.
"I know it's… unconventional, but we've got to look around up there before we come out of the clouds of this world. You know as well as I do the cost if we're detected."
"If it doesn't work, then how about launching a fighter recon?" Upton suggested.
"Sounds good," Balin agreed, "but if the fighter is detected, it'll be just as bad as if we were the one spotted. Plus, with such strong interference in this atmosphere, the pilot would have to re-dock to let us know what they saw."
Upton nodded, fully knowing the admiral was right.
Before the engineer even returned to his section, he radioed that every person in his unit begin ripping out every piece of fiber-optic cable in the ship that they could find. In short order, they connected the many strands, encased it in some tubing and attached that to a class two probe.
"Admiral, engineering reports they are ready to launch."
"Launch," Balin replied, and immediately the officer hit the control propelling the tiny drone into the thick atmosphere of the gas giant world. Turning to face the holographic projection table, Admiral Balin watched the display as Commodore Upton activated the drone's camera. Appearing over the table were images from the probe's camera feed via the attached fiber-optic cable.