by Devon Loos
“Still, I am more than determined-”
“You are not strong enough, nor will you ever be strong enough!” He shouted this, and I felt my voice struck down by his own. He continued, undeterred.
“She will be put into the hands of several powerful High Kings until her purpose can be discerned. Not some hopelessly love stuck soldier who thinks he can take on the world!”
As the King’s words resonated in my head, I collapsed to the ground. I couldn’t look anyone in the face anymore. I was filled with defeat and suddenly became disconnected from my surroundings. We had only just escaped and Sapphire was already being taken away from me. To worsen the blow, I was entirely powerless to stop it. There was nothing I could do. I began to panic. Plead with myself in my mind. “Perhaps if we ran to a lifeboat we could return to the planet and… no, they would find us. Eventually, they would find us and drag us back.” Thoughts like this ran circles in my mind. Someone was holding me. Sapphire I think. She was crying. I think I began to hold her too. This was probably my last chance to do so. Someone else was shouting something. A single word came from a voice I didn’t recognize.
“Captain!”
The room went black. Did I pass out? No, the room was dark. The connection had been cut. I returned from my void of thought.
“What happened to the connection?” Captain Mar barked.
“Jammers! There’s a whole fleet jumping in and they’re giving off Clawtrodon signatures!” Both the captain and the engineer immediately left the room. I looked at Sapphire who returned it, tears still hanging on the lids of her eyes. I kissed her forehead and rose up. I told her I loved her and she nodded, then she grabbed onto my hand and we followed the captain.
The bridge wasn’t far from the comm room but the captain was already shouting orders to the crew.
“How many ships, Garvey?”
“Not sure captain! We can’t get a good reading of their numbers! One of them is big though!”
“I want everyone on tier two alert and jump coordinates punched in now!” A tier two alert meant that the crew should expect anything from an incoming attack to a very dangerous maneuver called a blind jump. Tier three would mean an active battle, and tier four meant that the battle was lost and we were to abandon the ship.
“Sir? A blind jump or a standard one?”
“Garvey! How far out are they?”
“I’d say a minute sir! They’re coming in rather fast!”
“Then aim us towards a void of stars and send us into a blind jump!” A blind jump was a nickname for a jump that didn’t have the void opened prior to the launch. A tenth of these ended in instant obliteration. The jumps were unpredictable and would often lead a ship directly into the path of a planet, star, or other space debris. It was like deliberately trying to fly a small plane through a hurricane. They were only attempted as a last resort.
“How did they find us?”
“Sir! The emergency transmitter! It wasn’t deactivated until all ground parties had returned to the drop ship. They must have tracked it, same as us!”
The captain swore. “Is that jump ready?!”
“Almost sir! Jumping in five! Four! Thr-” Several Clawtrodon heavy frigates jumped in, followed by what looked like the largest supercarrier I had ever seen. The frigates were similar in design to Rovanekren ones, with the exception of the secondary engines, the two hull attachments, and the smaller dorsal fin. The secondary engines were located higher on a Clawtrodon ship, and they also had a larger bow, due to two extensions on the sides. Carriers Looked like large cargo ships from Earth with long wings protruding off the sides of the stern. The top was completely flat, which for an allowed an upper hangar unique to the carrier class.
“Captain! It’s the Undying!” The engineer must have been referring to the supercarrier.
The captain swore again. “Jump now!”
Something hit us. The entire ship shook, knocking everyone off balance. The lights flickered for a few seconds.
“Damage report!”
“Shields are gone in the aft part of the ship! Our Jump systems are gone! Forward shields are at 52 percent!”
“Evasive maneuvers! Garvey! Send out a high speed distress beacon at my command! I want all weapons online! We’re at tier three, people.” The ship was hit twice more, this time the ship dove forward violently, then backwards.
“Both the engine and the main gun are gone!”
“Get people to the escape pods! We’re more likely to survive on the ground than here!” Another hit, but less forceful.
“The Undying’s latched on sir! Starboard wing to bow!”
“How many pods have launched?”
“Already 75 percent of the crew is away, sir!”
“Alright. Everyone! Meet up with squad C and jump ship! Garvey! Transfer control of your terminal to mine!” He turned to me and tossed me a pistol.
“Keep her safe! They’re here for her. I’m going to make sure the Rovanekren fleet knows about this.” Immediately everyone began to exit to the left of us. I grabbed Sapphire’s hand and moved towards the stairs to follow. As we reached the bottom, the pressure wave from an explosion ripped through the stairwell. They had just blown through the outer door. I heard someone shout “Freeze!” in a twisted form of Rovanekren. We started to run to the door. About eight feet away several shots hit the door. I looked up to find two of the Clawtrodons aiming towards us. Three more were aiming at the captain.
One of the soldiers shouted. “You three! You come with us!” I carefully nudged Sapphire behind my back, then quickly raised the pistol. A shot rang off and the pistol fell from my hand. My upper arm felt as if it had been slammed in a door and I quickly took hold of it with my other hand. The round had planted itself firmly in the mesh of the armor. I carefully picked it out and looked up.
“Up. Here. Now!”
I looked over at the captain, who smiled at us, and gave a nod. He slowly turned to the terminal and began typing.
“Stop!” One of the soldiers shouted, and he raised his rifle. The captain ignored him and continued. Three shots rang out followed by a noise of shock by Sapphire. Captain Mar froze in pain, and by a desperate act of will, hit one final button. Another shot was fired, and the captain fell over.
Sapphire began to scream and curse at them. As I gently pushed her up the stairs I desperately hoped she wouldn’t push them over their edge, but every word she called them seemed to be working directly against that hope. By the time we had joined a few other captives at their boarding point, the soldiers were restraining themselves only by the invisible leash known as orders from superiors. Finally she exhausted her anger and she forced herself into my arms and began to sob. That must have been the first murder she had ever witnessed. I wondered for a moment what Mar had sacrificed himself for before remembering.
“Garvey! Send out a high speed distress beacon at my command!”
“Transfer control of your terminal to mine!”
He sent a distress beacon. He waited until the last moment because he knew that they couldn’t jam our communications without jamming their own. That meant he gave us a chance for survival. If I could escape with Sapphire long enough, the fleet could arrive and drive the Clawtrodons off. It was a small chance, but it was one I could hold onto. I started to plan an escape. It couldn’t be done in a hallway as they would simply gun us down when we ran. I needed a turn or an intersection of some sort. Suddenly we were driven to the floor by our captors before being placed in some sort of metal restraint that attached itself to our arms. I couldn’t even twitch a finger. I checked if had lost or damaged any teeth from the fall then looked up. “Why now?” I thought in frustration of the major complication to my incomplete plan. We were in a large hallway, filled with escape pods, however it was obvious that the Clawtrodons had made sure to sabotage every one of them in this part of the ship. Then I noticed it. At the end of the hallway was a large hole in the ceiling which led to the Undying. That was where we board
ed. The Shadow was smaller than I anticipated. I tried to formulate a new plan, but we were already moving again. It was clear that if we boarded that ship we were never coming back. I made an attempt to break free from their grasp but one of the soldiers fired their pistol into my foot. I still had my armor on so it did not go through, but it still had the force of a sledgehammer being dropped on my foot. Involuntarily I shouted and stopped struggling.
While we were dragged into the foreign beast of a ship I made eye contact with Sapphire. We both shared the same look of terror on our faces and neither of us dared to look away. It was as if we thought the other would disappear if we looked away. Despite this, I noticed that the ship had strikingly similar qualities to a Rovanekren ship. Same glossy white hallway, same random panels or sets of pipes, same labyrinth of hallways and turns. After passing through a hangar bay big enough to fit a Rovanekren freighter, we found ourselves on a rapid transit system to the bow of the ship. While on the train I noticed the soldiers had relaxed from their earlier aggressive posture. I realized why long before I even considered an attack. We were in the heart of the ship. Escape was impossible now. My heart sank. Once again I found myself powerless to protect Sapphire. We were both at their mercy. We stopped shortly after and entered a large room. This room was different from most of the others since it was large, spacious, and completely dark. The soldiers once again kicked us to the floor, then one shouted
“Survivors sir! We think one of them is what you are looking for!” in a twisted form of Rovanekren. Immediately after they all left on the train and the door closed behind us. It was pitch black, yet I could clearly see the other captives. The very air was tainted with an odor of death. Something was wrong with this room. “We should not be here.” That phrase repeated itself in my mind. We should not be here. A large figure on the other side of the room shifted and began walking towards us. I only thought of protecting Sapphire, but as the figure got closer I realized he was Rovanekren.
“Arivictus!” One of the captives shouted, scrambling towards the door. In a panic, he started slamming his body against the door in a desperate attempt to force it open. Arivictus laughed in a dry, cracked voice, then focused his attention on me.
“Human!” He hissed, “How often does a mouse know it is being hunted by a snake?” He spoke perfect Rovanekren. He walked over to the panicking captive, grabbed him by the top of his head, and broke his neck with the twist of a single hand. His lifeless body flopped to the floor with a sickening thud.
“Now ladies and gentlemen if a snake can smell fear, as humans claim, why not just remain calm? That way you won’t die as quickly!” He laughed in his scratchy voice and stood in front of us. Arivictus stood clearly half a meter above the average Rovanekren. He had the standard unkempt, slick black hair of a Rovanekren, yet his eyes were much darker than normal. He had darkened patches under his eyes as well. The fifth horn jutting from his head told me that he was likely a king. He wore steel black armor with large shoulder guards that extended his already broad shoulders and no significant leg protection. The left shoulder guard of his armor had a single curved spike attached, which slightly glowed with a black aura. Under the armor, he wore a puffy grey shirt and similar pants, neither of which seemed suitable as protective armor. In his hand he carried a large, two headed, black axe with what looked like blades of scythes hollowed out of the axe blades..
“Now, I know that you know about the crash that took place a year ago. Nasty business that was. I had to execute the commander of that little expedition since he did not bring me any survivors. How lucky it is for me though, that some of you did survive the crash!” He pointed to Sapphire. “I know you were one of them, so who here can tell me which one of our guests is from the crash?” One of the other captives pointed to me. He was the soldier I had disarmed on the planet earlier in the day.
“Ah! The human! I should’ve guessed. Your kind loves getting into trouble.” He paused for a moment then turned towards the soldier. “But… it is not polite to sell out your friends for your own gain.” And with a single motion, he buried the entire blade into soldier’s left side. There was a crunch of bone and metal armor, and blood began to spill profusely onto the floor. Arivictus put his boot on the soldier’s other shoulder and ripped the bloodied axe free.
“That’s two down!” He roared. He started to laugh, but suddenly grew silent. There was a pause before he raised his axe again and threw it at the upper part of the wall to our right. It tumbled through the air before finding it’s mark, striking something that immediately began to glow as it fell to the ground.
“I wondered when I’d find one!” He walked over to the object and grabbed it. The object turned out to be a person, from whom came a brilliant white glow.
“I think that’s an angel!” Someone whispered. Arivictus held his axe by the top of the handle and in a single motion, cut off what looked like a pair of small wings attached to the creature’s back. The wings disintegrated as they fell away and the angel turned dull grey from head to toe. Arivictus dragged his helpless victim in front of us, took the time to look each one of us in the eye, and severed the angel’s head with his axe. One of the captives shrieked. Some sort of terrible cry roared out, and the entire ship seemed to shake. An ice cold shiver went down my spine, and instantly I felt sick to my stomach.
“Now then, where were we? Oh yeah!” In one swift motion, he seized me by my throat and threw me against the floor. I felt his foot steadily begin to apply pressure to my ribcage. In a loud SNAP, my cuirass cracked, and his full weight was on my ribs. I cried out in pain.
“Tell me son, what is so special about this little beast here? Why did your council send a military frigate to find her? Why does she have the symbol of life tattooed across her sickening Anth face?” Rage filled me as he spoke and I began to struggle against the restraints. I could feel the heat of the energy now engulfing my arms. I swore at him, making him frown. He rose his foot to bring it down on my ribcage, but just as he did I tore my arms free of the restraints and caught his foot mid-air.
He quickly pulled his foot away and instead brought his axe to bear, aiming it at me. “Ooh! A human king! What a rare catch! Well I’ve always wanted to kill one of you!”
“Stop!” We both looked at at Sapphire throwing herself between us. As I rose to my feet Arivictus grabbed Sapphire’s hair and held her up a meter above the ground. He kicked me back down in an effortless gesture then examined Sapphire for a moment. She was desperately trying to support herself by holding onto her own hair. I was frozen in horror. I couldn’t bring myself to rise. After a moment he used his free hand to tear at her shirt. It opened just enough to reveal the heart-like symbol just below her collarbone. He sat for another moment.
“A life gem?!” He roared. He looked towards me. “Well, we can’t have that now can we?” My heart stopped. Everything became silent. Arivictus dropped Sapphire onto her feet, allowing her just enough time to recover and look up before swinging his axe downward.
“No!” I wasn’t sure if it was a thought or a shout but it made no difference. The axe slashed diagonally across her body where the gem was situated. Something was propelled through the air towards me. Sapphire’s upper body, as if in slow motion, descended for what seemed like minutes until it reached the floor. There was no blood. Instead, her body collapsed like a sand sculpture struck down by a wave of the sea. There were only ashes left swirling around the floor at our feet. Arivictus turned away, confused by his own actions, as if looking to an unseen figure for guidance, then turned to me. I slowly regained control over myself and looked at the object. It was a gem, a little smaller than my palm, with eight sides. The gleaming gemstone was covered in a thin layer of red ash, and there was a large crack across one side of it. I turned my head to look at the dust pile and vomited to the side. Arivictus came over to me but before anything else could be said or done, the ship shook violently. It had taken a direct hit from something. Two soldiers entered the room, bringing with
them a tidal wave of light. An odd shadow in the back shifted slightly.
“Sir! The entire Rovanekren Armada is here!”
“What?!” He roared and raised his axe overhead in preparation to deliver my death blow. I clenched my fist around the gem, then rolled away from the strike. Without taking time to aim, I fired a blast of energy toward the two soldiers. The blast struck one and the near miss knocked the other to the ground. Everyone ran for the train. Two of us made it but the remaining two were pulled back in by Arivictus. The train moved towards the hangar for a few minutes and then stopped. Doors opened on both sides and several shots rang out. The captive to my right took a direct hit to the face and fell over dead. We moved out the left door and began to run. My thoughts began to fall over themselves. No. No. No. The word repeated itself over, and over again. The image was burned into my mind, as if it was still in front of me. We continued to run as explosions went off all around us. An explosion found it’s mark and we were taken off our feet. I felt weightlessness just before crashing into a wall, then, gravity returning, the floor. The other captive was dead. I pulled off my right shin guard and shoe, which had been charred in the blast, and kept limping onward. I needed to make it. I didn’t know where I was going but I was determined to get there. My vision blurred from tears. The image would not leave. Why couldn’t I get rid of that image? Four soldiers stood in front of me and I charged them. One caught me and held on. It was not forceful, but it was strong. I struggled to free myself and when I raised my arm to strike the soldier, I realized he was a Rovanekren.
“Sir! Calm down! You are safe. We are the advance boarding party.” He spoke partially in Rovanekren and Gaia. “Are there any other survivors?”
I paused to find my voice then spoke. “There are some escape pods on the planet, but I’m the only survivor left on the ship. They … They killed all the others…” Sapphire’s image found its way into my mind again and I struggled desperately to keep composure.
“I am sorry, sir. We arrived as soon as we found your distress beacon.” He paused for a moment. “Sir, if you do not mind me asking, where is the high value target we needed to rescue? Are you it or…?”