Into the Fire Part I_Requiem of Souls

by Christian Kallias

  “Oh there will be time for that later; that is, if any of you survive the next few minutes, which I wouldn’t count on. But before you do anything stupid, let me tell you what you’ve triggered by destroying the emitters in this room. You now have less than five minutes to either reach your father or find Argos and Oryn, which I made sure were beamed to a shielded room, one that will make it difficult for you to locate.”

  On the other side of the room, a third holo-screen came to life. It displayed an unconscious man on the floor of a cell, no doubt Chase’s father, Menelas.

  Identical timers counting down from five minutes appeared on both holo-screens. On one, Chase could see both Oryn and Argos screaming in pain, and on the other, his father collapsed on the ground.

  “So who is it going to be? Will you save your father, or will you save your brother and that traitor daughter of mine?”

  “She’s not your daughter! She never was.”

  “How dare you?” growled Arakan. “She might not be my blood, but I raised that child as my own until you poisoned her mind. I even gave her preferential treatment over my biological child. A child you took away from me. Today, I will also take your family away from you! But fear not, Chase, if you do somehow survive what’s coming next, I’ll soon be there and kill you myself. I’m afraid I must take my leave now. I’ll let you have a few seconds with your loved ones before you make your decision on who you are going to save. I’ve also taken the liberty to prepare some gifts for your enjoyment; courtesy of my adoptive daughter’s mad experiments. I hope you’ll enjoy them.”

  Before Chase could argue, the holo-screen with Arakan vanished as the last of his laughter resonated in the room.

  A trio of trapdoors on each side of the corridor slid up at the same time, revealing a total of six menacing-looking Fury warriors.

  In the throne room on Erevos, small dark-purple lightning bolts sizzled around the shadow. Little by little, the cloak around him faded and he materialized as a flesh and blood being. He sat on Arakan’s throne, crossing his legs and holding his chin. His thin almond-shaped eyes no longer shone as they did when in cloaked form, but were now reflective and had a slightly damp dark crimson shade devoid of any pupils or irises.

  The shadow’s body was a lean and muscled humanoid shape. His face lacked a nose. Instead, he had two rows of thin and angled gill-looking gaps that opened and closed in succession as he breathed. Dozens of fleshy and moist tentacles sat on top of his head in the guise of hair; it seemed he had control over each of them independently.

  That damn Arakan. He’s proved to be more difficult to influence than we first thought.

  Especially since the supreme commander had stopped taking his mind-numbing, spirit-taming substance his adoptive daughter was at one time forcing on him. It had the unfortunate side effect of preventing the shadow from communicating in cloaked form.

  But Arakan had been more docile and receptive to him in those short pockets of time between his doses. The shadow now regretted convincing the supreme commander to stop the medication.

  The shadow punched a few commands on Arakan’s throne chair. A holographic display projected the position of Erevos. After hitting another command, the picture zoomed out and displayed a pair of nearby systems, with Erevos in the center. He adjusted the angle of view to see through all three systems, each of the stars were now aligned. A timer, overlaid next to the holographic star map, counted down from two minutes and thirty-seven seconds.

  What am I gonna tell them?

  Things weren’t going as planned; both with subduing Arakan as well as the opposition in this dimension. The Earth Alliance proved to be more problematic than the Furies themselves and could very well be way more difficult to cleanse.

  The shadow felt something he hadn’t in a very long time. Fear. Fear of the consequences that could be bestowed upon him and his family should the Spectre Prime be dissatisfied with his upcoming status report. Parts of him hoped he would get one of the other eleven council elders besides Prime.

  The shadow had managed to send his superiors inter-dimensional subspace reports. However, the space-time tear that had allowed the shadow to enter this realm when Erevos had been phased back had started closing with each passing day. Micro fissures were still usable at certain times under certain solar activity conditions, but live reporting inter-dimensional communication was trickier and needed special and specific astral conditions. Like the one that was happening now, with all three suns within a short distance needing to be aligned, forming subspace amplified solar flares. This allowed the inter-dimensional signal to burst through what little fissures were left around Erevos.

  When the holo-timer blinked zero, it changed color from yellow to green. The shadow swallowed hard before establishing the inter-dimensional link required for live holo-communication. Signal strength was a surprising ninety-two percent, way over the quality the shadow would have expected. He rose from Arakan’s chair and walked a few paces to the center of the throne platform before pressing the blinking holo-control that projected from his wrist, even though there was no apparent tech attached to his black-as-night skin.

  The entire Spectre Council chambers materialized holographically around him in an orange tone. All twelve elders were present, along with Prime of Cancer, the current Spectre Prime ruling their race for the next thousand years.

  The Spectre Prime was amongst the tallest of his race. Slightly more than nine feet ten inches, his black skin looked as tough as leather; a result of thousands of years on the battlefield, the only way to ascend to elder status on Penumbra.

  The shadow knelt to the floor and lowered his head as a gesture of obedience and submission.

  “Rise, Tanak’Vor,” said the Spectre Prime, his deep voice carrying well over the holo-transmission and making Erevos’ throne room tremble from the deep bass in his vocal intonations.

  Tanak’Vor rose and bowed to Spectre Prime.

  “Master Prime, it’s an honor to address the entire council today,” he said as he looked around, acknowledging all twelve elders.

  “The inter-dimensional window is short today, so let’s skip the usual pleasantries and instead hear your status report regarding the invasion.”

  Tanak’Vor thought of his sons and wife back on Penumbra. They could pay the price for anything the Spectre Prime considered a failure. Deep within the shadow knew that things hadn’t gone according to plan, and so he prayed to the twelve Gods of Chaos for leniency on his family, if not for himself.

  “Very well, Master Prime.”

  Spiros crashed and tumbled to the floor, hitting his head on the cockpit’s metallic wall.

  “Status report!” he yelled while holding his throbbing head. “What was that?”

  “The second we emerged from hyperspace, we were hit by what appears to be pirate ships. It’s like they knew we were coming,” said Gaia. “A more likely explanation is we’ve exited hyperspace in the middle of a space battle near our destination planet.”

  “Shields and cloak up! What’s our status?”

  “Cloak is damaged, but I had already raised shields the moment we were hit. Unfortunately, they were down when we exited hyperspace. We’ve lost twenty percent power on thrusters, which will affect sub-light speed and maneuverability, and, I’m afraid to report, the jump engines are damaged beyond the nanites electro-circuitry self-repair capabilities. We’re not jumping out of here until we repair them.”

  “I’m starting to think this was a bad idea on my part to come here.”

  “Is there a question in there for me?” inquired Gaia. “Or are you being rhetorical?”

  “Never mind that; are the pirates still targeting us?”

  “No, they are busy exchanging fire with other vessels at the moment. Which seems to confirm my second hypothesis.”

  Yeah, just our luck to get hit the moment we jump out of hyperspace.

  Spiros swore in his head while he picked himself off the floor and returned to the pilot’s seat.
He knew there was a risk coming here, but so far luck was not on their side since beginning this mission.

  “May I suggest buckling up?” proposed Gaia.

  With every passing second, Spiros missed the love of his life, and the blank Gaia clone had the worst bedside manner. But the hope of being able to bring her back to her old self motivated Spiros to carry on. He’d always detested action and thrills, even during his time alone on Damocles-3; he would always try and avoid conflict or not take any unnecessary risks. But now was not the time to be his usual cowardly self; he needed to rise to the occasion, for her.

  He activated the magnetic seatbelt buckle, which sprang to life atop his shoulders, rolled down, and magnetically locked him in place.

  “Have you tried sending the transmission we recorded earlier?” he asked.

  “Tried and failed, I’m afraid.”

  Dammit!

  “Upload the transmission to escape pod number two, and send it toward vector three by seven by nine.”

  “What if we require the escape pods later?”

  Let’s just hope we don’t.

  “We’ll have to make do with just the one, should it come to that.”

  “Very well, firing escape pod two now.”

  Spiros was studying a planet holo-scan for the best approach to the system when the ship rocked due to a nearby explosion.

  “The pirates have started targeting us,” stated Gaia.

  “Take evasive action!”

  The ship went into a double-barrel spin, and Spiros could tell that their inertial dampeners weren’t working at capacity as he felt his stomach turn and had to focus hard on not refunding his previous meal.

  Gaia’s flying skills were quite impressive, managing to stave off incoming fire from no less than five bogies targeting them. Something Spiros knew he would not have been able to accomplish. In fact, if he had gone on this mission alone, he’d already be space dust.

  Fire from the planet’s surface directly hit them, and every cockpit instrument blinked. Multiple alarms resonated around them as flames created by entering the atmosphere of the planet covered their windshield.

  “I’ve lost most of the engines,” said Gaia in a tone way too calm for Spiros’ comfort. “Brace for impact.”

  “And how exactly do you suppose we achieve that?” asked Yanis.

  “We emit a frequency pulse that should reveal any impact with the spider ship, like a sonar,” said Cedric.

  “That’s quite low-tech, but it could work.”

  Three more hits rocked the ship harder than before.

  “Unless you have a better idea?”

  “No, not at the moment, but we still need a way to get through their shields.”

  “Perhaps a full charged super shot from the Heracles cannons would get us through.”

  “If a StarFury detonating its quadrinium chambers barely affected their shields, I doubt a full shot gets us through.”

  “Look Yanis; we gotta try something. What about randomly modulating the frequency of the pulse; perhaps we would get lucky and find a modulation that penetrates their shield.”

  Yanis let out a long breath of frustration.

  “You’re right; we might as well try; it wouldn’t hurt getting lucky.”

  “Hey, luck is my middle name.”

  “I thought it was pretty boy.”

  “That too,” answered Cedric with a smirk.

  Yanis smiled broadly. He was happy to have his friend back. Now that the doctors had removed Cedric’s implants with Chase’s help, he looked like his old self again.

  Yanis opened up a holo-channel to the bridge. Sarah’s face filled the holo-screen.

  “Please tell me you’ve got a solution to offer,” implored a worried Sarah. “I can’t leave Daniel and our other pilots out there like sitting ducks. We’ve already lost a third of our squadron, even though I’m surprised the enemy isn’t more aggressive.”

  “We’ve got a way to detect the ship; we think.”

  “You think?”

  “Cedric’s idea has merit, Captain; I’m sure it will work. However, I think the cloak is taking most of their power, which could explain their perceived lack of aggression. We also think they might be biding time for Arakan’s return.”

  Yanis twitched.

  “I’ve figured as much, Yanis. But I can tell there’s something else on your mind. What is it?”

  “Well, if we succeed in finding and targeting the spider ship, it may decide to stop cloaking altogether, and I really don’t like their power readings, Sarah.”

  “You’re afraid that if it diverts all its power to their weapons, it may become deadlier than it is now.”

  Yanis nodded.

  “Well, if it comes to that, we’ll have a good old fight on our hands. I’m done playing cat and mouse with them anyway; we need to get moving so we can provide support to Chase’s team.”

  “Understood. We’ll fire the first detection pulse in the next two minutes. I’m recalibrating the weapons system to automatically fire a full blast from the main weapon. Hopefully, a few hits on the spider ship will allow us to gather enough sensor data to find a better way to get through their shields.

  “Good job, the both of you; we’ll be standing by. I’ll ask Athena to slave her targeting system to ours.”

  “Yeah, that’s a good idea; we probably could use the extra firepower.”

  “Oh, and Yanis, when you have a moment, check the corridors outside of engineering, we’ve been getting some strange energy reading alerts from the main computer.”

  “Very well, Cap, Yanis out.”

  Sarah’s face disappeared as the holo-screen turned off.

  A crewman screamed just outside of engineering, followed by a series of eerie metallic noises.

  “What’s going on out there?” inquired Cedric.

  Yanis felt a pit develop in his stomach.

  Please don’t let it be spi—

  But before he could finish his thought, the doors split open, revealing a massive mechanical spider.

  18

  Chris dispatched the last Zargon as Poseidon, using his Trident, finished off the last Fury guard. They stood in front of a big metallic door where Ares had guided them.

  “Now what? Is Aphroditis behind this door?” inquired Thor.

  Ares, still in his Aphroditis-cloned body, stepped in and placed a hand on the door; he closed his eyes for a moment.

  “My sister is behind there. I can feel her energy levels, though they are very weak.”

  “How do we get through?” asked Poseidon. “There are no controls on the door.”

  “There wouldn’t be,” said Ares. “I arrived here because I can travel through walls in my energy form.”

  “Something you cannot do while possessing a flesh and blood body,” commented Chris. “Wish Dad was here. He would teleport us through.”

  “I believe your father has enough to deal with; we’d better find a way to open this on our own,” added Thor.

  Thor assumed a throwing stance, his hammer’s lights igniting and humming to life.

  “I can try to have Mjölnir blast through; move aside everyone.”

  “No, wait,” said Kvasir.

  “We need to get moving, we’ve been here too long,” protested Thor.

  “I agree, but we don’t want to damage the machine or risk hurting Aphroditis if we blow up the door.”

  “Kvasir is right,” said Ares. “We can’t control the blowback if we burst through; the machine is too close for us to just blast away the doors, it’s too risky.”

  “Very well,” conceded Thor. “What do you propose, then?”

  “Let me try to hack my way in, instead.”

  “Alright, you have a couple of minutes; then we blast through. We can’t continue to stay on Erevos and not expect to encounter Arakan. He’s on his way back here and, unlike Oryn, I for one don’t think we should try to engage him, at least not until we’ve accomplished what we’ve come here to do.”


  Poseidon released a low growl that clearly stated his disagreement with Thor’s last statement.

  Chris could feel the anger and thirst for revenge inside Poseidon’s heart and soul. He wanted nothing more than to rip Arakan to pieces. Chris also longed for justice, but he knew that his father would do the right thing and would lead them to the right course of action. He would do what needed to be done to defeat all Furies and take Arakan down when the time was right.

  But it seemed Poseidon wasn’t willing to accept Chase’s plan. Chase had warned Chris to keep an eye on him to ensure he didn’t go on his own revenge quest, and if that were to happen, Chris had been instructed to do what he could to prevent Poseidon from going rogue.

  Kvasir was working on his wrist holo-interface, trying to find a wireless signal to hack into, allowing the doors to open. His allotted time was almost up when Chris felt that he might have found what he was looking for.

  “I think I got it,” said Kvasir.

  He punched a couple more commands on his holo-screen, and they all heard a mechanical sound.

  Thor smiled. “Good job, Kvas-”

  Before he could finish his sentence, a lightning bolt of electricity shot from atop the door and hit Thor directly in the torso, sending him tumbling and crashing into a distant wall. He collapsed on the ground; smoke rising from his scorched armor plate.

  “Thor!” shouted Chris, running toward the downed Asgardian.

  “Oh dear, I’m a dead man when he wakes up,” said Kvasir.

  Ryonna’s away team arrived on the surface of the Gorgar planet. Only to be greeted by armed Gorgar guards, which was a change of pace from their last visit only a few days back.

  “State your intentions?” said the Gorgar guard cocking his rifle.

  Tar’Lock took a few steps forward and passed in front of both Ryonna and Keera.

  “We’re here to discuss trade exchange with my people,” said Tar’Lock.

  “We have suspended trade with external worlds following the events that enslaved our people.”