Into the Fire Part I_Requiem of Souls

by Christian Kallias

  Ryonna tried to move despite the pain but fell to her knees, the pain radiating over the rest of her body. While she wouldn’t give Argos the satisfaction of yelping from her agony, she couldn’t control her facial muscles from becoming distorted.

  Argos started walking toward her, releasing a mad laugh that echoed around them.

  “I’m curious, what was your plan to get me? I mean, let’s face it, you never stood a chance against me; so why even bother?”

  “Your overconfidence in yourself will be your downfall,” said Ryonna, between clenched teeth.

  “And your delusion will be yours. In fact, it already is. I’m sure you can feel it.”

  Ryonna felt her heart beat strongly in her chest. Even though this was a simulation, and the real Argos was probably even way more powerful than the holographically projected one she had asked the computer to create based on all the data the ship had of him, he was stronger and crueler than she expected him to be. Perhaps because even if she still hated his guts, she didn’t think of him as a bigger threat now that he was fighting on their side than when they were deadly enemies. Still, simulation or not, since she had disabled the safety features of the holo-room she could get killed by it. Though, she wouldn’t let the simulacrum of her nemesis get the best of her.

  She fought through the pain to get back on her feet. It took a long time and her knees buckled along the way. While getting up, she forced her light blade under her wrist armor.

  “Look at you,” chastised Argos. “You can’t even stay on your own two legs. You’re already dead, yet you try and keep defying me. Is this really honor? Or simple desperation?”

  “Come closer, and I’ll show you which it is.”

  Argos aimed his index finger at the center of her head.

  “And what if I don’t want to come closer, and I just put you out of your misery now; what then?”

  “You’d just prove not only to yourself but the rest of the universe what a coward you are.”

  Argos clenched his teeth as his eyes flashed stronger than ever before. And for a moment, Ryonna thought that perhaps she had miscalculated her last taunt and that it could cost her her life. But Argos lowered his finger.

  “Decided to fight me like a real man? Or you need your attire of special powers to beat a woman Droxian warrior?”

  “In some cultures, like that pathetic planet Earth you and my brother love so much, hitting a woman is frowned upon.”

  Argos cracked his knuckles. “I, however, do not have any such problem.”

  Ryonna spat blood on the ground and smiled. “Prove it.”

  Argos launched forward and smashed a powerful jab on Ryonna’s cheek, breaking her cheekbone and almost dislodging her jaw with the one blow. Ryonna had the hardest time staying up, but she managed, barely.

  She spat a larger quantity of blood onto the ground.

  “Has anyone told you that you hit like a paralytic Ferogot?”

  That enraged Argos and the moment he moved forward to go for another hit, three laser blasts impacted on his face. Smoke rose from the impacts, but he did not seem to be wounded nor his skin burned.

  He looked toward the direction of the shots. “Friends of yours?”

  Ryonna turned her head and saw Keera with her blaster drawn and a nervous Tar’Lock by her side.

  Dammit, what are they doing here?

  “Stay out of this, you two; Argos is mine! Don’t make me repeat myself either. I’ll kill the both of you if you intervene,” screamed Ryonna.

  “Excuse them,” she continued as she turned her attention back toward Argos. “They think I need their assistance to kick your ass.”

  “I could kill you with a single thought, and yet you keep taunting me. Let me ask you this: do you have a death wish, Ryonna?”

  The thought had not crossed her mind, but hearing Argos say the words made her think. Did she have a death wish? After all, she was in a very precarious situation at the moment, made only worse now that her friends were here and that Argos could unleash his wrath onto them on top of her. She could turn off the simulation, but her warrior’s pride wouldn’t let her do that. She had not anticipated that particular turn of events when she had disabled the safety protocols.

  “Perhaps I should kill them first, then finish you off; teach you a lesson that you so obviously need.”

  No, no, nooo.

  “You are a coward, but I didn’t think that you were a pussy and a wimp too.”

  Argos screamed his frustration at Ryonna’s words, and hurled himself at her, unleashing one blow after another. Soon, Ryonna couldn’t remain upright, and she fell back onto her knees. That didn’t stop Argos who kept brutally punching and kicking her. With each new blow, more blood flew in the air, and soon the rising pain just plateaued to where Ryonna couldn’t feel much of anything anymore.

  Tar’Lock made his move, and Argos sent him flying hundreds of yards away with a single thought.

  “Listen to your friend,” spat Argos. “Be patient. I’ll take care of your frail insectoid ass in just a moment.”

  “Keera!” exclaimed Ryonna. “For the love of gods, stand fast!”

  Argos smiled.

  “She’s a good little dog now, is she? I promise to make her suffer long and hard before I rip her life away, but since I feel magnanimous today, I will honor your request and finish you first. So at least you won’t have to see it.”

  “Thank you, asshole. When you’re done boring me to tears with your baby monologue, maybe you could get things moving over here?”

  “You sure do wish to die today, and guess what? I’m happy to oblige.”

  Argos’ knee connected with Ryonna’s chin and sent her flying high in the sky. The force of gravity drew her back down while an invisible power grabbed her and kept her hovering a few inches over the ground. Large quantities of blood flowed from her wounds, and she had a hard time keeping her eyes open.

  Perhaps I did bite off more than I could chew today.

  Argos took a couple of steps to place himself in front of her levitating body. She was exhausted; ready to give up, when she thought of her son, Ronan. That sent a jolt of adrenaline throughout her body and gave her a second wind, one she made sure not to show.

  Argos aimed an open palm to her face, and red lightning crackled between his fingers.

  “Any last words?”

  Ryonna mumbled something but blood cascaded down her mouth instead of words.

  “I didn’t hear what you said, I’m afraid,” smirked Argos.

  Ryonna opened her mouth once more and more blood spat out. She gestured a timid finger at Argos, inviting him to come closer.

  “Not that I’m that interested in your last words but oka—”

  Argos never finished his sentence. Ryonna had flexed all the muscles in her forearm, effectively activating the light blade under her wrist armor just before swiftly uppercutting Argos under the chin. The invisible force holding her in the air died off, and she landed on her feet with Argos still impaled from behind the chin to the top of his head where the emerged light blade still radiated. The look of utter shock and surprise in his eyes was priceless even if it was short-lived. Soon his lifeless eyes boiled.

  Ryonna spat a large quantity of blood at what was left of Argos’ face as it liquefied.

  “I—I just wanted to say this: die, motherfucker!”

  Ryonna turned the light blade off and let herself fall on her back with a loud thud.

  “Computer, simulation off.”

  The room they were in felt as if it melted out of reality and was soon replaced by cold grey walls filled with holo-transmitters around them.

  Ryonna heard echoed and muffled words in the distance; it sounded like Keera. Soon after, her mind succumbed to utter darkness.

  12

  When Spiros opened his eyes, he felt groggy and disoriented, his vision blurry, and he couldn’t hear anything around him. Not even the slight hum of the cloning pod that had kept him company while he worke
d on fixing Gaia’s code.

  Well, at least I’m still alive.

  Soon, something beeped inside his mind and a holographic interface appeared in front of his eyes. Even though he still couldn’t distinguish what he was seeing, he knew it was the ceiling of Argos’ secret cloning facility, which meant the chip had been successfully installed.

  He lost no time bringing most of its functions online, and within moments he was interfacing with the facility’s computer. Shortly, he had linked to every single system and was able to affect change and remote control the entire place with his mind.

  I have missed this feeling.

  Spiros stayed on his back waiting for his sight, hearing and feeling in his muscles to return to full capacity. He didn’t need to be standing anymore now that he had access to every system with the push of a thought. And perhaps that would also keep his clone body from deteriorating faster. Something he hadn’t even thought about earlier.

  He brought up a star map of the system and activated short- to medium-range sensors to scan for biomaterials he could use for his clone. While the station’s computer looked for suitable worlds, Spiros calculated the amount of time he had to find the material and successfully grow a new clone for himself, even if that one would again be a temporary body. Though once Gaia was back to being operational inside her own clone body, he did not doubt that together they could work on a faster way to get his final body ready.

  A visual alert inside Spiros’ brand new neuronal holo-interface informed him that the scan had resulted in a single match for the biomaterial. At FTL speeds, it was still a few hours of travel away from their present location.

  Good, finally some good new—

  But Spiros interrupted his thought when he brought up details of the world he had to travel to. The computer reported a highly dangerous world; constantly under the threat of pirate attacks, terrorists, and to make things worse, the station’s sensors detected a Fury destroyer in the same system. It was currently engaged with local forces in one of the other planetary systems, one rich in precious materials.

  This is not good!

  Spiros didn’t lack courage when his life depended on it. However, he was just an engineer, not a warrior. Going there by himself didn’t seem like a viable option. His objective was survival, not suicide, and attempting to infiltrate such a cutthroat world while in the middle of a potential Fury invasion was simply not something he thought he could do.

  Should he just fix Gaia and say goodbye? He could try traveling back to Alpha Prime or a closer Obsidian Empire world, but there was no guarantee that he would find the material or that he would have time to grow a new clone in time. There was always the possibility of trying to get to a world where he could send a subspace signal out, but that still didn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t encounter an obstacle along the way.

  Spiros noticed his eyesight had returned to normal and he could now hear all the sounds in the room crystal clear. He got off the medi-station bed, and upon getting to his feet a sudden burst of anger took hold of him, and he punched some instruments on a nearby tray, making a ruckus.

  Then he heard a dropping sound before realizing he had cut himself with a sharp tool.

  “Perfect!” he said out loud. “More time lost to patch myself up now. Good going, Spiros, very mature.”

  The entire away team stood in cargo bay three waiting for the Victory to jump out of the Asgardian super-fast hyperspace corridor. In just minutes, they’d arrive near Erevos. To avoid having to deal with planetary defense systems, Chase had requested to be dropped off far from the planet, near a cluster of nebulae that should provide them with some sensor cover. They would then make a micro-jump with a FTL-capable shuttle, cloak it and hopefully go the rest of the way undetected. That was the plan anyway.

  Chase had little doubt that the enemy might have detected their approach already; the Asgardian hyperspace tech for all its wonders was anything but stealthy. According to Yanis, it emitted a power signature strong enough to be picked up by a toy scanner two galaxies away. Chase still hoped the cluster of nebulae would make it harder to locate them. Hopefully, they could still try and elude any enemy forces by staying mobile inside the cluster.

  But, if worse came to worse, or if the incoming party wasn’t a full fleet, then he did not doubt that Sarah, Athena, and the other escort ships could deal with the threat. What Chase was more concerned about was Arakan and his potential presence on Erevos. That would make this mission so much more difficult.

  Part of him regretted not taking action earlier, but there was little sense in beating himself up now; they were almost there, and they had a mission to accomplish. Chase became self-conscious that everyone was looking at him, awaiting orders or perhaps just a few words from their leader.

  “Listen everyone; soon we’ll arrive at Erevos. You’ve all been briefed to what your objectives are, groups have been formed, and I’m counting on you to not deviate from the plan. If something goes wrong, then we’ll readjust—”

  But Chase didn’t finish his speech, and the entire ship rocked. The Victory was under attack.

  Dammit! So much for timing and things going wrong.

  “Chase,” Sarah’s voice resonated over the cargo bay’s speaker. “Get your ass to the bridge, on the double.”

  Chase twitched frustratingly.

  “I’ll be right back everyone; stay sharp and be ready to go the moment I get back.”

  Chase didn’t wait for anyone to answer. He saw worry in the eyes of both Argos and his son just a millisecond before he teleported to the bridge.

  When Chase arrived on the bridge, he saw a similar worry in Sarah’s eyes.

  “What’s going on? Did we miss our jump exit?”

  “I’m afraid not; we’ve been kicked out of ultra hyperspace early.”

  The ship rocked once more, and Chase could tell the ship was definitely under attack.

  “What the hell is going on? Who’s firing on us?”

  “I wish I knew; whatever is firing on us isn’t showing on any of our scans. But from the amount of damage it’s doing on our shields, this has to be either one or multiple destroyers.”

  What is this?

  “I thought no races possessed the ability to shield a destroyer ship, in fact, I’m fairly certain we know of no race capable of doing this.”

  Another salvo rocked the Victory.

  “We do now,” said Sarah dryly. “And unless we find a way to target them, we’re in some serious trouble here.”

  Chase expressed his frustration through a small guttural grunt.

  “Get Yanis on the line.”

  “I’ve already talked with him. He’s as lost as we are and said he would get back to me soon. He requested to have Kvasir join him.”

  “Kvasir is part of the away team; he’s crucial to the success of the mission.”

  “I told him that. But he seemed pretty adamant that he might not find a solution to our current predicament unless he gets some help.”

  Chase hated this; the last thing they needed was a surprise attack by a foe they knew nothing about. Though the timing of this attack was too suspicious to be coincidental. The fact that no Fury ships were anywhere to be seen, unless they were the ones currently shooting at them but cloaked, meant that either Arakan had found some new tech to tip the balance, or he made an alliance with some new race.

  “Kvasir is coming with us, but Yanis can request the help of the chief engineer onboard the Asgardian destroyer that brought us here. I’m sure Thor will agree that his men and Yanis work in concert to find a solution.”

  “I’ll let him know. Let’s hope they can find a way for us to at least identify and detect what’s attacking us and how to defend ourselves.”

  “If not, we may need to consider retreating…” Chase let the words hang for a second. “Can we jump out of here?”

  “Where to?”

  “Right now, anywhere; just try and get us out of here.”

  “But the mis
sion?”

  Chase was all too aware that they couldn’t abandon their mission, and he didn’t need anyone to remind him, especially the woman he loved beyond anything in the universe.

  “Just try and jump us out of here; we’ll double back one way or another. Try a short jump, a few seconds, one minute tops.”

  Keera was standing by Tar’Lock’s bed when he regained consciousness.

  “What happened?” he said, his voice still weak.

  “You got your ass kicked by, well Argos, I guess.”

  Tar’Lock clicked nervously. Just like his voice, his clicks seemed to lack their usual intensity.

  “What else is new,” he said, attempting to smile.

  Keera smiled back.

  “Well, technically, it’s Argos’ holographic simulation that kicked your butt.”

  Tar’Lock grimaced.

  “Ohhh…That makes it so much better, thank you,” he said sarcastically. “How’s Ryonna doing?”

  Keera’s face grew somber.

  “Please tell me he didn’t kill her?” inquired Tar’Lock, unable to hide worry from his vocal inflections.

  “No, no, I’m sorry if I worried you. She is recuperating over there,” said Keera pointing toward a regen tank.

  Tar’Lock jumped from the bed to his feet in a split second.

  “Ouch,” he complained.

  “Hey! You got hurt pretty badly too; you should rest.”

  Tar’Lock discarded Keera’s advice and gently pushed her out of the way. “I’ll rest when I’m dead.”

  “Charming.”

  Tar’Lock was in front of Ryonna’s tank way before Keera could add anything. He put his insectoid hand on the glass of the regen tank where a highly battle-damaged Ryonna floated in green liquid.

  A tear ran down Tar’Lock’s face.

  Why did you do this to yourself? Why can’t you let go of all that anger?