The broadcast ended. "Destroy it?" Jonas said. "Father, Willow is on that ship!"
"And your brother," said the king, knowing what sacrifices had to be made in order to win this war.
"What about protecting the innocent minds of the dydrid?" Jonas said, appealing to his father's kinder nature.
Uly stood firm. "We have passed that point."
"Father, please!?"
"I am sorry, son," Uly said, shaking his head at his boy. Jonas had a look of defiance in his eye. He walked backwards, away from his father. He turned and left the command deck.
Alarms rang out across the Tylis. Airqian pilots and Cytherean Guard pushed past each other in the corridors, rushing for their allocated stations. The size of the ship and the sheer number of fighters parked in the hull meant that every pilot had their own fighter-deck number to get to, and under the kings orders to attack no one wanted to be the last to man their ship.
The protectors were amongst the first to arrive on fighter-deck fifty-nine. A wall of helmets made up one entire side of the deck. Spectrum, Menace and Goldheart grabbed their battlesigned helmets from the wall. The protectors were just about to jump onto the ship-transporter lift when Jonas ran onto the deck, wearing the green flight suit of the airq. They stood and smiled as Jonas grabbed his helmet and slid it on running across to join them.
A voice called out to him from behind, "Jonas!" It was his father's voice.
"Father!" he said, spinning around to see him standing on deck.
The king walked closer. "Your friends will be fine without you."
Jonas took off his helmet. "Father, I have to fight," Jonas begged, the thought of not doing so crushed his soul.
"No, son, you have to live," Uly said, placing an arm on his shoulder. "Say goodbye to your protectors."
Jonas was silent, dismayed that his father did not want him to fight. Annoyed that he thought so little of his flying ability that he assumed he would be killed for certain.
The king nodded towards the protectors, "Good luck everyone," he said, as he turned and walked back across the flight deck and out through the sliding doors.
Jonas placed his helmet back on the wall, stroking his fingers down its white shell, hoping that his father would return and say it was okay to join his friends in battle. After all that he had been through, now, when the battle was here to be won, his father stopped him from being a part of it. Jonas didn't understand.
Spectrum walked up behind Jonas. "The king is right," he said.
Menace moved forward, "It would be over if we lost you, Spider," she said.
All four protectors stood to attention and presented Jonas with a salute. He raised a stiff right arm and gripped his left hand around his energy-star, returning the salute. The protectors ran into the glass lift and slid away to their fighters, replaced by an empty glass lift, leaving Jonas alone on the flight deck.
*
King Uly stood back beside Qotu. The airq had always been excellent traders with the cythereans; they were their biggest consumers of compressed nitrogen and oxygen gases, constantly needed to assist in replenishing the dying quantities on their home planet of Atar. Qotu knew too well that if the Zohr took full control of the trade moons then their planet would more than likely not be able to sustain life for more than another 200 years. And the struggles that would develop in food provisions and natural life would no doubt lead to civil unrest and the destruction of their civilization much quicker than that. It meant everything to the leader of the airq that they should win this battle. The promise of owning the seven trade moons meant an eternal lifeline for their planet and a richer life than they already had.
The only problem with the airq was their tendency for greed; they only ever thought of themselves or of their riches. Even agreeing to become a secret hideaway for the king had cost the cythereans one free shipment of gas. King Uly would have been much closer to the race if their greed had not been so great. But since Uly was now forever in their debt and Qotu knew the powers of which the cythereans were capable, the alliance was now firmly agreeable to both of them.
An airqian officer with Khit stitched into his name badge approached Qotu and the king. He stood to attention in front of them. "Almost in range of the Nangus commander, we will reach them before they enter Aquilla," he reported.
"Good, make final preparations for the fighter assault," Qotu said, nodding in recognition. Officer Khit stood down and hurried back to resume his patrol behind his team of data analysts.
Jonas walked onto the command deck, holding back his disappointment, "Qotu, can the Tylis get a fighter reading of the Nangus?" he said.
"Don’t worry Jonas, we outnumber them ten to one, they don’t stand a chance!" said Qotu, brimming with confidence. Jonas wasn't sure how he felt about that.
*
The Zohr watched the silver-eared head of one of his crewmen walking around the lower deck side and up the steps towards the front of his throne. "They are gaining quickly, my Zohr. It’s an airqian koble ship, 100,000 fighters," the crewman said, bowing down but not daring to make eye contact. The image of the Tylis reappeared from the holopad with a mid-air animation of the fighters breaking free from the hull.
"Where is Mercron?" the Zohr said, with a hint of irritation.
"We are entering the Valo System now. The city is moments away," the crewman advised.
The Zohr waved the crewman away. "Then I am not concerned with this," he said, sneering at the Tylis in front of him. "The fire-power of Mercron alone will destroy them."
*
The claws of Mercron burned red through the inner atmosphere of Aquilla, heading towards its master. Mercron's towers had been the tallest ever built on planet Aquilla and yet the space city had grown three fold out of the dark pit in which its secret was hidden. The size of the flying city was lost in the vastness of space, it was certain though; there was no other machine as intimidating anywhere in the universe.
*
Uly, Jonas and Qotu stood in silence, awaiting final confirmation of the attack. Officer Khit called out to them. "We are within range," he said, turning away from a data-screen and back again to observe the readings of the Nangus in relation to their positioning.
"Launch fighters," Qotu said, somehow managing not to let the words stick in his worried throat.
"Launching fighters in three… two… one…" said officer Khit, feeding into the final command, "fighters away!"
A hissing sound of released steam and ghostly echoes of sealing vacuums moved through the ship. And outside in dark space as if by some gravity-defying, invisible force, the Tylis shattered in slow motion into thousands of pieces in a mass exodus of fighters. Blue boosters lit up as the fighters arranged themselves into one exquisite squadron, flying wing to wing and belly to hatch. The jagged body of the Nangus was in every one of their sights.
Spectrum tapped away at buttons on his dash, configuring the koble's communications systems, setting one button for the protectors and another to speak with all fighters. The pressure of leading every fighter out there would have made most men sweat themselves into dehydration. Not one sign of perspiration made its way out of the pores of Spectrum's forehead. He pressed the button for the protectors. "No heroics out here, Lucas. Keep your guns on the engines."
Menace's voice came through. "When did he ever do what he was told?" she said, not even knowing why Spectrum was trying to get Cortex to do something sensible.
Cortex activated his communications in response. "If I have to take out a few hundred dydrips at the same time as saving the world, so be it!" he said, full of his usual zest.
Cortex's mouth always amused Goldheart, the humour of the lad and his gungho approach to even something as serious as this never failed to draw a smile. With the view in front however, Goldheart wasn't smiling, he was too overwhelmed. "I don’t care what you do!" he said, filling his eyes with the sight of the surrounding allied fighters approaching an enemy he had wanted to crush ever since he could
crawl. "This is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen!"
Spectrum pressed the communications-to-all button. "Ready to engage, enemy fighters approaching," he commanded.
Every man answered in an instant. "Ready to engage," returned one unified voice.
The king, Jonas and Qotu held an uneasy stare watching the floating voxels of the holographic radar, as rows of uniformed blue dots edged further away from the sphere of the Tylis, drawing closer to the sparse covering of the red-dotted shadow-walkers who guarded the rear of the Nangus.
Officer Khit called out, "Combat commencing any second!"
Everyone's eyes were fixed to the radar, as blue and red inched closer together. The edge of Valo materialised, dwarfing the Nangus as it edged close to the side of the star.
Spectrum's eyes focused with honor through the visor of his helmet. The speeding wall of enemy fighters coming for him made him think how proud his parents would be to see him leading such a magnificent charge. He pressed his communications button, placed his hand back on his flight stick and said the word. "Engage!"
The darkness was gifted light as one towering unit of koble fighters unleashed their laser cannons followed by a shower of shadow-seeker missiles to finish off the dydrid fighters only partially wounded by the bolts of fire. Qotu had been right in what he'd told Jonas; the dydrid didn't stand a chance. The first attack destroyed every enemy fighter out there. Once the flashes of light had cleared there wasn't a single red voxel left on the radar. The armada of koble fighters rumbled through the turbulence of metal debris left floating by the doomed walkers and the pathway to the Nangus was clear. The ship ran through space like a gutless coward, thrusting towards the closest trade moon. The koble fighters turned up their energides, speeding up to hunt down the Zohr.
In the centre of the armada's front line and flying ahead of the charge, Cortex pressed his comms button. "If I could see the look on his face now," he said, relishing the chase.
"Let's finish this!" said Spectrum, his mind full with the thoughts of every cytherean death at the hands of the Zohr and the years of dedication leading up to this one moment—the moment that told him war would soon be at an end.
"Wait!" said Cortex with a whispered damper. "Someone please tell me that my eyes are not seeing that!?" His hidden eyes filled with as much fright as the time the flames of the explosion that blinded him had burnt away his face. From behind the closest trade moon, which the Nangus was heading straight towards came a sight that no one could have thought.
"It looks like… Mercron," Menace said.
"It is Mercron!" said Spectrum, cutting to the reality.
"This fight just got interesting," Goldheart added.
A concerned voice travelled across the airwaves. "Sir, we’ll be turned into space junk if we take that thing on," said one of the Guard into Spectrum's ear.
"Slow your course men, awaiting orders," said Spectrum to all, as he listened for a transmission from Uly.
*
Seeing the red outline of the Nangus being pursued by the kobles made Jonas nervously pull at his hair knowing that the images in front of him were so much more than lights and beeps—they were lives and friends. He could soon be losing someone he had hoped he would know for a much longer time, someone he had hoped would live through all of this. The consideration of saying goodbye to Willow rushed through his mind and then quickly went again with the sorrow a goodbye would bring. Perhaps he should speak with Calyx, at least try and ask him to make the Zohr surrender. Surely Oreaus could see it was over. Aquilla was now a part of the radar's storyboard as an aqua-coloured sphere and seven surrounding moons of browns, reds and white appeared. Officer Khit's straight-set face tilted in wonder at the radar. Uly, Qotu and Jonas saw it too. A red object bleeped onto the holograph from the underside of a moon.
"Large craft approaching commander," Khit called out to the command deck.
Qotu looked in closer at the strange shape that protruded from the moon. "What is it?"
"We don't know sir," Khit replied.
Uly stood still, analysing the slow movement of the apparition which measured half the length of a moon. "It isn’t possible, it’s too big!" he dismissed.
"It's Mercron!" Jonas said with a quiet, sticky voice.
Qotu turned to Jonas and Uly. "Abort the attack!" he shouted.
"It is too late for that," said Uly, his guts sinking with the thought of giving up as long as they still had a chance to end a thousand years of misery.
"Everyone will be killed," the leader of the airq quivered.
"Now is not the time for cowardice!" the king slammed back at Qotu.
"Nor for madness," said Qotu, "I’m pulling out my fighters!"
"Qotu, you agreed to this," Uly said, not giving up so easily.
Qotu walked closer to Uly. "I agreed to a war we could win, not to killing hundreds of thousands of my men for nothing."
The truth of the matter had been overlooked by Qotu, his short-sightedness underwhelmed Uly. "An infinite number more will die if you run," said Uly, with the seriousness of his eyes spelling out the danger to Qotu.
The airqian man stood in despair, he knew it was so, it was why he was here helping the king. He had known that bitter death would come in order to breed a better life—that was the very purpose of war.
Officer Khit called out to the two men facing up to each other. "Spectrum needs orders, sir."
Qotu closed his eyes and nodded in the darkness towards Uly.
"Put me on screen," said Uly.
A petty officer set up the broadcast with a swipe and a flick of a couple of floating buttons and nodded to Khit.
"Ready, sir," Khit confirmed to Uly.
On the inside of Spectrum's windshield and every other windshield of the kobles' armada, King Uly's face appeared.
"Your orders are to take down the Nangus before it reaches Mercron, attack in staggered ranks, ten fighters high, a hundred across, concentrate your fire on the boosters. It’s our only chance."
Qotu stepped into the visual transmission. Uly moved aside. The kings words hit true with Qotu and he wished to pass the inspiration on to every man and woman who risked their life out there in those fighters. He spoke to the two hundred thousand waiting ears. "Today we change history… and tomorrow you will live on as heroes, either in flesh or in memory… you will never be forgotten." His face fizzled from the screens and the men's hearts were filled with fight. Their burners spat blue hot plasma from their boosters as they raced on towards the Nangus.
"You heard the man," Spectrum said into his radio as he and the protectors formed the start of the front row with the closest of the kobles joining up next to them and nine deep below them. The others fell in behind, row after row, forming a solid mass as they swarmed in formation. The Nangus slowed to prepare for landing inside an open bay on the approaching Mercron. The deceleration brought the koble fighters in fast on the unprotected ship.
Cortex charged ahead at the front. "I'm changing history right now!" he grinned.
"Guns away!" said Spectrum.
A wall of lasers ripped through the dark hull of the Nangus. Antiaircraft guns on the surface returned fire, sending a few unfortunate souls to a spacey grave. The enemy's guns didn't last past the next wave of blue-tinged laser fire. The rear of the Nangus burned and the boosters failed as wave after wave of plasma bolts were buried into the back of the ship, eating away with explosions flaring up across the structures metal shell.
The Zohr's wisdom played into his hands, safe in the knowledge that the destruction of the rear carriage had no impact on him reaching Mercron, he could lose several back end sections before the ship was brought to its knees. The koble pilots' hearts dropped a beat as the burning rear-end of the Nangus detached itself from the front sections and fresh boosters underneath powered up to drive them towards their city.
"They’re going to make it!" said Goldheart.
The rotational attack pattern of the allied fighters came back
around to the protectors at the front row and the open landing bay on Mercron swallowed its defiant leader as the landing bay doors began to close behind the Nangus.
"Everyone slow back," Spectrum ordered, not liking the look of the gun stations all over the city.
"I’m going in!" Cortex called out, as he flew straight for the closing door.
Mercron's power exploded, and silver-white lasers pounded down Cortex's charge. His fighter melted into flame and his fight was at an end.
"Lucas!?" Menace screamed. "Spec, do something!"
Menace knew that in the event of a death of a close friend during battle, all soldiers are taught to push their feelings aside. It could mean the difference between them living or dying, and even the difference between winning and losing the battle. If you mourned there and then for every person that died in war, there would be more tears than bullets and that would only mean that the mourners would inevitably become the mourned and the weak would all die. Menace couldn't control her emotions, and she thrust forward in revenge. Spectrum and Goldheart held back while some of the other pilots flew in beside her. Mercron's gun stations swivelled and aimed, pouring out their silver-white rage into the advancing fighters. Shadow-walkers streamed out from the mothership, filling space with more darkness and energy than every life-sucking blackhole amassed into one. Spectrum banked away from Mercron. Menace kept her eyes on the approaching enemy fighters.
"He’s gone, Menace—get out of there!" Spectrum shouted through the radio.
A fast-moving torrent of shadow-walkers had Menace weaving and blasting at the engines of every red-symboled wing she had in her sights. The bravado of the fighters who followed her into the fray was as short-lived as Cortex's attempt, and soon it was her versus the entire fleet. She peeled up and out of the battle. High above the giant ship, she watched the total devastation with which Mercron hunted down and massacred the retreating koble fighters, as if pulling them back in with some overwhelming gravitational force. Space was on fire as oxygen was freed and burned away with the death of every pilot. Although she knew it existed, Menace had never seen such evil playing out its role until she'd seen the barbaric ease with which the dydrid killed these men.
Elementis 1: The Heir to the Stone Page 23