Trial by Ordeal

by Philip R Benge

  ***********

  Ares Fortuna was lucky in that he had a spy aboard the Swiftsure, one who had informed him that a message had been sent to Aswan Trajan. Trajan had learnt of the position of another portal into the dark domain, and that this portal was buried under a ton of rock inside a crater that was on the moon Galafrey, buried after the starship Dagger had fired its Phaser weapon at the rim of the crater. Fortuna couldn`t decide whether to despatch the Dagger back to Galafrey to attack the operations, or to wait until it all blew up in his face. That he waited too long to come to a decision was obvious, but it was not until he had fully thought over all of the factors involved in the decision process that he finally felt that he had come to the correct decision, and he then acted accordingly. The deciding factor was the Orion starship, the Orion Defender, Ares Fortuna concluded that the crew of the Orionist ship must have seen the Dagger create the landslide, and they guessed the reason behind the strange event. Fortuna knew that the Orionist murderer, Tyler Burrows, had succeeded in reaching the portal along with Marot Pallas and his wife. He must have been able to make contact with the Orionist starship captain, who in turn had managed to contact Trajan and enlist his help to free those trapped within the dark domain. Another thought then entered Ares Fortuna`s mind, could this also mean that Marot Pallas and Tyler Burrows were now in league to plot his defeat, it seemed only too probable to the general that this was so. As to what had happened to cause the death of his own men god only knew, and possibly the people waiting to be freed from within the dark domain.

  “Well Magi it appears that so far the mass murderer Tyler Burrows has failed to live up to your prophecy.” Fortuna said turning his mounting anger on her.

  “No man living should have been able to stop himself from killing either of the Pallas`s, Patina should have died the moment after Tyler Burrows went through the portal, as for Marot, he should either be still languishing within his cell or lying dead upon its floor. As Tyler Burrows hasn`t killed even Patina then he must very weak, that or he truly is the chosen one of the gods.” She said.

  “But isn`t that exactly what he is supposed to be Magi, the chosen one sent to destroy the Heliot fleet, and then all the others that went up against Orion and its neighbours.” Fortuna screamed at the old crone. Magi looked disdainfully upon her son; did she have to think of everything?

  “Then you must board the Dagger yourself Ares, and attack the Swiftsure and the freighter. Destroy them all as soon as you see that the Orionists and Marot Pallas are all safely aboard their starships. Wipe them out once and for all, so that they are never able to get in our way again.”

  “And be haunted for the rest of my life by the spirits of the dead Helionians aboard the Swiftsure, are you mad?” Fortuna demanded to know.

  “I told you before Ares, I have studied the spirit world, and I can insure your safety if you will allow me to. I have been readying my psyche just in case our plans fell apart; I am already prepared for the ceremony that will protect all aboard the Dagger from the retribution of any deaths that may occur.” The old crone said.

  “If you can be certain of our protection from the wrath of the spirits, then yes Magi, it might work. We would only have to set up some sort of interference between the moon Galafrey and Helionia, to stop any transmissions getting through and alerting the authorities as to what was happening on the moon, and we can do that on board the starship Dagger. We can then blame it all on the Orionist starship, wherever it is, and if it should appear on the scene and try to stop us, then we can also blast it into a million pieces. We would then be revenged upon Tyler Burrows, and his most trusted friends, for their crimes against the Heliot Empire.”