“I see.”
“Lake, you really don’t believe this tumincrap are you?” Nadal-Ti asked, turning to him.
“Given no other options, I would do the same for my crew, Ti,” Lake said in a low voice.
Lake’s words stunned Nadal-Ti, her eyes widening as if the sudden realization of Lake’s words hit her like a tidal wave. He was Captain and leader of his crew, but he was also responsible for the very people he led and the people that followed him. Even though he was still young, he knew a captain should be willing to give their own life if that meant saving the life of his crew.
“Your crew wasn’t the first. We encountered another group several weeks prior. After I submitted to Blackvoid’s will he had me join him on these missions and I was to become the storyteller. I If I failed, another one of my crew was floated,” Taran said with regret in his voice and tears falling down his cheeks. “The same scenario happened, we were picked up, took over their ship, boarded them and they fell to Blackvoid’s will. They joined, or they died. Then, we found you.”
“So, why now? What changed from the time you found us to now?”
“You, Lake,” said Taran. “You are what filled my heart with so much turmoil—you and your crew. Of all the people I’ve come across while under Blackvoid’s thumb, you are the only group of people that weren’t bandits or cold-blooded murderers. We couldn’t just take over your ship because you immediately locked us away and kept us cuffed and ahead of you at all times. Blackvoid was growing impatient and when he you went into the cave, we used that opportunity to distract Nadal-Ti and get her blasters from her and that’s how we ended up here now.”
Taran wiped the tears from his eyes, stood up straight and held his head high.
“I’m ashamed of what I’ve become, but I did what I did for my crew. I regret that it had to be you and your crew Lake. You’re different from the rest. You were willing to do anything to protect your crew and even the lives of innocent creatures and reminded me of the man I once was: a man of honor and dignity, doing for others before myself. That is why I regret what I’ve done and for what pain I have caused you, for that I am truly sorry.”
“What will you do now, Taran?” Lake asked with sympathy in his tone.
“There’s nothing left for me, Lake. My crew is dead. My dignity ripped away and my honor destroyed.”
“That’s why you didn’t resist Nadal-Ti’s attack, you want to die,” Lake said, moving his should while trying not to wince. He stood up straight. “But all is not lost, Taran Lo.”
Delta walked from the cave to where Lake stood. “The abuchillas are all inside, Lake.”
“Good job, Delta. Please, take Blurb inside as well, we’ll be there shortly. Ti, please join her to make sure the abuchillas are a safe distance away from the entrance of the cave.”
Delta nodded before going to the motionless parci, picking him up and throwing him over her shoulder with ease and headed back toward the cave as Nadal-Ti, without speaking a word, joined her.
Lake walked to one of their parked hoverspeeders. He opened one of the cases inside and retrieved Blurb’s blaster rifle before walking back to Taran. He stood before the man, who sat on his knees with his head down. Lake held the blaster rifle in front of Taran and waited for the man to lift his head up.
“I wouldn’t normally do this, but given the situation I really don’t have a choice. We have an army marching toward us and we could use every able body to help us in this fight. There are no words to describe the choices you made, but I understand why you did it and as I said before, given no option at all, I would have done the same,” said Lake. “You made a choice then and I’m asking you to make one now. You can sit out here, wait for them to come back and kill you while you die for nothing. Or you can join us in this fight and redeem yourself, for your crew and die for something. The choice is yours.”
Chapter Seven
Battle on Abuula
The thunderous sounds of footsteps and shouting from the marching pirate army echoed off of the cave walls as Lake, Nadal-Ti, Delta, and Taran held positions hidden behind large rocks, preparing for the attack.
Most of the abuchillas were housed inside the old imperial military outpost, safely away from the battle. The guards stayed behind to help fight the pirates. Lake and the others knew they were outnumbered, so they devised a defensive plan of attack inside the cave. Using their hoverspeeders, they moved large boulders in front of the cave entrance, creating a narrow pathway for the pirates to funnel inside, giving them a better chance of concentrating their attack.
Taking stock of what equipment they carried with them, they only had Nadal-Ti's twin blaster pistols, Blurb's blaster rifle, and Lake's Ripper. Delta carried a pair of pulse grenades, only to immobilize the hovertanks when they entered. They hoped to use them on the first tank that entered first, further narrowing the pirates' entry point.
Lake removed his Ripper from the holster, engaging the firing charges that extended from the sides of its muzzle. “Okay, here’s the plan,” he said before turning to the group. “Instead of firing at them together, we’ll take turns,” he turned to his right where Delta and Nadal-Ti stood, behind the cover of a large boulder that hid the pathway to the imperial medical facility. She retrieved her duel blasters from her holsters. “Ti, you’ll be the first to fire—light them up as they enter the cave. Once you engage your cooling cores, Taran, you’re up,” he turned to Taran who stood to his left behind a rock formation extending from the wall. “Take down as many as you can, that rifle, packs a punch, but you’ll have fewer shots before the cooling core engages.” Lake turned back to Nadal-Ti and Delta. “Then, I’ll mop up the rest with my Ripper—thanks to Delta, the abuchillas guards will be stationed behind us, throwing spears to take out any pirate that tries to flank us.”
“You really thought this through, Lake,” said Taran.
“It’s the best plan considering our current situation,” Nadal-Ti said.
"Remember the plan, everyone, and don't let up!" Lake said. "All our lives depend on it."
Delta nodded, but Nadal-Ti stayed silent as her eyes stayed fixated on the cave's entrance. Lake turned to Taran Lo to his right, kneeling low behind a rock formation off the wall of the cave. The man nodded, signaling he heard the order before Lake turned to the cave entrance. The sound of marching footsteps and gliding hovertanks came to a sudden stop. It was the calm before the storm.
A familiar and sinister deep voice came echoing inside the cave from the outside. “Now, I know you're all in there, holed up and ready to fight me ‘til you die, but I will give you a choice like I always do because that's just the kind of man I am. You hear me, Lake?!”
Lake bit his lip, clenching the handle of his Ripper and didn't utter a word.
“Don't be foolish, you’re just a kid. There are over three-hundred of us and what, only four of you? I only say four because I didn't see Taran's dead carcass out here so I figured he's still alive in there. As he's too much of a coward to run away,” Blackvoid said with confidence. “Don't let Lake get you all killed. Make no mistake, I'm coming in that cave and I will take the android and the suit. So, you have two choices here: join or die.”
Silence fell inside and outside of the cave. Lake turned to his crew once more and nodded a final signal to prepare for the attack. Blackvoid would kill them all anyway, so giving up was not an option even if he was going to let them live. There was only one option if it came to it and Lake was willing to go with that option to protect his crew and the abuchillas.
“Who am I kiddin’? You aren’t leaving this hellish rock alive and when I’m done, we’ll celebrate with an abuchilla feast! Bring me their heads boys!”
The battle cry of pirates echoed off the walls as they stormed the cave through the narrow opening, four men at a time.
Nadal-Ti struck them down with volleys of plasma bolts from her twin blaster pistols, their bodies falling to the ground just as quickly as they
entered. She activated the cooling cores of her blasters. Ducking, she retreated behind the cover of the large boulder her and Delta used for cover.
Taran stepped out and fired the blaster rifle. It packed a far bigger punch, but he could only fire it so many times before retreating behind the rock formation, avoiding the returning blaster fire of the pirates, who aimed their blasters at him looking for a kill shit. Half a dozen grouped up and walk toward Taran’s position, while firing their weapons. Their attack was cut short when Lake revealed himself from cover and fired his Ripper. Having a wider blast radius, the Ripper cut through the group of pirates that formed as another entered reigning blaster bolts toward Lake, until he retreated behind the boulder again, allowing the abuchillas to take them out with spears to the abdomen and a few to their faces, cause them to cry out in pain, leaving none standing. Over a dozen lay dead on the cave floor by the time the group reset and Nadal-Ti readied herself for another go-around.
Their plan of attack was effective as they’d decimated the first wave of pirates. When the second wave entered, it was much of the same, Nadal-Ti ripped through them with ease, with Taran following up and Lake finishing them off. For a moment, Lake believed they could win this fight, but he soon realized the enemy was more cunning than he expected. As Blackvoid’s men entered, he fired several rounds from his cannons toward the cave entrance, cutting down not only his own men but parts of the cave's entrance, widening the mouth of the cave.
A shot from the cannon obliterated the back wall behind Lake, causing him and the abuchillas to duck on the ground for cover from the falling debris. In the chaos, many of the pirates poured into the cave in large numbers, and Nadal-Ti's blaster fire was reaching its limits before she needed to activate their cooling cores once more.
Taran Lo, seeing Lake on the ground, stood and joined Nadal-Ti in firing at the pirates when they flooded the cave. One of the hovertanks followed behind them and without warning, Delta rolled from cover and launched a pulse grenade at it. It tumbled down the sleek metal hull of the hovertank before settling on top of its exit hatch. Seconds later, it exploded in electricity around the hovertank, seizing its functions and collapsing onto the ground causing the flurry of pirates to move around it.
Once Lake could pick himself up, he saw several pirates about to attack Delta with swords and lifted his Ripper to stop them, only for a spear to come flying past his line of sight into a pirate that was about to attack him. He turned to see the abuchillas had recovered and was now back to throwing their spears at any enemy they could.
Meanwhile, Delta gracefully dodged an oncoming attack from one of the men, spun on her heel, picked up a fallen pirate’s sword and cut three men down with ease and deadly precision before they could bring their weapons to bear.
“Since when were you a pilot and a swordsman, Delta?” Lake asked.
“It's part of my combat programming, Captain.”
“Why are you just now telling me this?”
“You never asked!”
“There he is—get that key!” shouted a man as he lunged toward Lake, only for Nadal-Ti to strike him with one of her blasters.
“Enough chatting! We have to stay focused or we'll be overwhelmed!”
Lake nodded and went back to back with Delta. He fired on incoming pirates, focusing his attacks on those entering the cave. The abuchillas and Taran provided cover fire for their close combat attacks.
Lake then noticed Delta was no longer fighting. Instead, her head was down, one of her thumbs on her chin.
“Delta, what's wrong?” Lake asked. “Why have you stopped?” He turned to fire his Ripper once more, taking out a small group of enemies entering the cave, and then turned back to Delta.
“Key,” Delta whispered.
“What?”
“Key—you need a key to pilot the suit!”
“I think we're a bit busy—” Lake fired his weapon once more, saving Taran from being flanked. “—to go look for keys, Delta!”
“You don't have to,” she said with hope in her eyes. She turned toward Lake, lifted the sleeve of his jacket and pointed at the bracelet around his gauntlex. “You've had it this entire time. It just dawned on me. Chinsapa said that—”
Delta tossed her sword into the abdomen of an attacking pirate before rolling on the ground and grabbing another sword from the dead hand of a defeated foe and turning back to Lake. “He said your bracelet was the same one that Saviar was wearing. Blackvoid’s men said you had a key. Then when we were in the suit, I saw the same symbol on the pilot's terminal before we left—the outline of a shield and swords. You have the key, Lake.”
“Tank!” Nadal-Ti shouted before ducking for cover.
Another hovertank passed the threshold of the cave entrance and opened fire. Lake grabbed Delta and pulled her low to avoid the attack as Taran and the abuchillas followed. Debris fell from the cave’s ceiling during the hovertanks’ assault. Chunks of rock kicked up dust as its attack relented. The sound of more pirates entering echoed in the cave as Nadal-Ti and Taran both rose and fired their weapons once more. Delta and Nadal-Ti knelt behind a large boulder, picking themselves up from the attack.
“Are you hurt, captain?”
“I'm fine, Delta—we don't stand a chance if we don't take out those tanks.”
“We do have a chance, Lake,” Delta said. “We have the Iron Knight suit.”
“That's a long shot—”
“It's the only way we can survive this,” Delta said urgently. “We'll hold them off for as long as we can, but you need to get to that suit now, captain!”
Delta rose from cover and charged into the center of the cave where dozens of pirates came charging toward them. Nadal-Ti, Taran, and the abuchillas focused their attack around Delta, helping her pick off the pirates the android couldn’t cut down with the sword. Lake cursed as he watched. He didn't want to leave his crew behind on a fool's errand, but Delta couldn't hold up for long. She put so much trust in him and has been by his side since he was a boy. Now it was time for him to put his faith in her.
Lake bolted behind Nadal-Ti's cover and entered the narrow pathway that led to the medical facility where most of the abuchillas awaited the result of battle. The abuchillas made way for Lake to pass as the sounds of the ensuing battle echoed behind him. Running as fast as he could, Lake entered the hangar bay of the facility and without hesitation ascended the ladder that led to the rear and front cockpits of the Iron Knight suit. He closed the rear cockpit as he ascended, stepping onto the catwalk then around to the front cockpit and entered it.
Lake buckled himself into the seat and searched the terminal for a key port that matched the shield and sword charm of his bracelet until he saw it. It was in the center and easily overlooked as it looked just as Delta described. It outlined of his shield and sword charm, looking more like an engraved logo than an actual key port. He hurriedly removed the charm and sat it on the key switch. In that moment, all the lights inside the suit's terminal illuminated with lights igniting switches and buttons as the system booted up. The clear navigation screen flashed strings of code as the cockpit doors closed.
“Who are you?” said an unfamiliar female voice over the headset on the control panel.
Lake placed the headset on while still trying to figure out the controls of the suit.
“You aren't Saviar, where is he?” the female voice asked calmly.
“My name is Lake Strider, who are you?”
“I'm Beta, a Pilot-class M-11 android,” she responded. “I'm trying to access my body, but I'm unable to do so.”
“Your body was damaged beyond repair due to your last fight,” Lake said. “Because you were connected to the suit at the time, it seems your operating system is permanently fused with the suit.”
“You still haven't answered my question. Where is Saviar?”
“Saviar… didn't make it—look I would love to tell you everything you want to know, but my friends are in a
fight for their lives right now and I need to help them. Can you still pilot this thing or not?”
“Of course I can—running a diagnostic check—”
“We don't have time for that right now! We need to get to them!”
There was an eerie silence before Beta spoke once again. “Disengaging locking mechanism clamps now… opening hangar doors.”
“Thank you, Beta!” Lake said, elated. “Now, how do I fly this thing?”
“You don't. That's my job, Lake Strider. Your job is to control the weapons system and body of the suit itself.”
“Okay, so how do I do that?
“Place your hands in the gloves and grab a hold of the control sticks. Those will control the hands and the fingers of the suit respectfully. The chair has sensory nodes attached to it that connect to the system mainframe, meaning whatever movement you make, I will instantaneously follow, controlling the pressure and propulsions systems of the suit.”
Lake did as she instructed and placed his hands into the gloves, grabbing the control sticks on his left and right side. Another system screen turned on, allowing him a 360 degree view of his surroundings. The bottom half of the cockpit chair dropped, suspending Lake from the seat, but his feet were attached to pedals on what was now the floor of the cockpit. By the time the system was fully engaged, the overhead hangar doors were open, cascading the light from Abuula's three moons inside the hangar.
“We are now ready, Lake Strider.”
“See if you can locate a large group of men surrounded by tanks in the area entering a cave nearby.”
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