by James Somers
"Well, we had better hurry, this thing sounds like its going to fly apart any time," said Emil as he turned away from the side window.
He came back up to the cockpit with Kale. The ship began to pass through light cloud cover around the mountains. "Too bad we don't have really heavy clouds," said Emil. "Maybe we could lose them."
"I don't know if that would work or not, but like you said, this ship doesn't have what it takes to keep ahead of them. According to the map we're coming out of the mountains and into the plains now."
The white vapor obscuring all foresight began to part before them as the ship cleared the last peak. "Oh boy, this is not good," said Emil as they finally got a view of the plains of Jezerit.
A massive troop deployment was in progress in the distance and large Vorn warships were the most distinct objects-several of them were hovering directly in their flight path toward the city.
"Those are our ships!" said Kale.
"And our people-what do we do?"
Kale searched the control panel and said, "I don't think this ship has any decent scanning devices on board. When those cruisers lock on target we won't even know it."
"Since they're symbyte controlled, you know they'll shoot at us."
"Absolutely, but maybe we can make it a little more difficult for them to act on the urge," said Kale.
As they approached the army assembling on the ground, Kale broke his flight path and dove straight at the masses of ground troops.
"What kind of plan is this?!" shouted Emil as he struggled to fasten his flight harness.
"I figure if they want to take potshots at us, then they can take the risk of shooting their own people."
The transport groaned as the gravitational forces played against the hull. They fell to an altitude of thirty feet as Kale leveled out the ship, swooping over the heads of the symbyte controlled soldiers below.
Streams of automatic pulse fire poured upward from the soldiers as they tried to take down the aggressive ship. Many soldiers ducked for cover as the transport steadily descended upon them. The hull was taking a pounding even without fire from the big ships.
"Lower the landing skids," said Kale.
Emil smiled back at his friend. "Now, that's what I'm talking about!"
He pressed the panel button and the control motors could be heard lowering the skids. Almost instantly the ship began to quiver and shake as the extended skids pounded mercilessly through the ground troops that weren't thoughtful enough to throw themselves to the ground.
By the time they had flown three quarters of the way through the soldiers, almost all of the remaining troops ahead had flattened themselves across the ground to avoid being hit. Kale and Emil's ship left a bloody trail in its wake and the landing gear became torn and twisted from multiple impacts.
"I think we're going to make it!" said Kale as they shot away from the ground deployment and headed into the outskirts of Sector city.
Huge pulse laser blasts began to race past them, smashing into the surrounding buildings and shattering them like glass.
"The big cruisers are firing on us!" shouted Emil over the explosions.
Kale was flying erratically and fast as he fought to make their ship a wild target.
"If we can just get further into the city-" he said.
But it wouldn't happen. A blast from the big guns on the Vorn ships incinerated the corner of a nearby building as Kale managed to get the ship around it. The residual energy and debris smashed into the tail end of the transport. They were going down fast.
"Hold on, we're gonna hit hard!"
0
LUCIN waded through a trail of crimson with a pair of binocs against his eyes as the cannons, from his battle cruisers overhead, pummeled the outlying buildings of Sector City. They were tracking the rogue transport that had appeared out of nowhere and cut a swathe of destruction through his troop deployment. One of the last blasts connected and the ship plummeted fast, trailing its shattered aft section and a plume of flame and smoke. It fell out of view, but the impact could be heard several seconds later.
"I want them!" he shouted.
Around him were the writhing bodies of many of his symbyte controlled soldiers-mortally wounded and gasping their last, completely unable to obey the dominant voice crying out inside their minds.
"Commander!" shouted Lucin into his headset.
"Yes, sir?"
"I want a team of pods sent to investigate the wreckage immediately. I want prisoners or bodies-understood?"
"Absolutely, sir."
A shadow began to cross the plains, veiling the Lucin in its darkness. Lucin looked up at it and a villainous smile crossed his face as he recognized its true nature. Walking back through his troops, in the direction of the cloud, Lucin used his mental dominance to command the humans out of his way.
They parted before him leaving a large area around their Mithrial leader. Then he called out mentally to the boiling mass of spirits hovering overhead. Come to me my brothers. The response was almost instantaneous.
The cloud began to dissipate rapidly as spires shot down to the ground around Lucin, forming powerful Agonotti warriors ready for battle. "How dare you to address us as brothers, human?"
Lucin stared confidently at the one speaking to him as nearly fifty of the warriors encircled him. He had mentally instructed his own human soldiers to make no aggressive moves against them. Power emanated from Lucin's being as he felt his own spiritual power accentuated by the presence of his Mithrial brethren. Then the Agonotti warrior shifted from a commanding stance to one of apprehension.
"Who are you?!" the warrior asked.
"I am Lucin, my brothers."
"Lucin? That isn't possible."
"Are you sure of that?"
Lucin sent out his thoughts to his thousands of soldiers on the ground, while allowing the Agonotti to perceive the mental commands. Hundreds of pulse rifle gun bolts quickly locked into firing position in a consecutive wave around them. A group of pods headed away from a fighter bay on one of the large battle cruisers hovering overhead.
The Agonotti warriors turned to find seemingly every gun possible aimed right at them-thousands of humans moved by this man's will alone. "Can it be true? How can you be our former master?" asked another of the Agonotti.
"There is much to discuss my brothers, but surely this is not all of you. Bring the others to me at this place and we will discuss our mutual rise to power."
"But you don't-"
Lucin cut them off as he turned and walked away, leaving them puzzled and unsure of their next action.
"Bring the others to me!" he shouted back as he proceeded through the ranks of his soldiers.
The guns were still trained on them. It was an unexpected turn of events for the Agonotti scout team, but Vock would know what to do. One by one they dematerialized, reforming the mist they traveled in, and began to move away-back toward the place where their leader was waiting to hear news of the transport chase.
0
KALE awoke upside down, still strapped into his flight chair. He looked over to find Emil stirring to consciousness also.
"Do we have to end up like this every time I visit this city with you?" asked Emil sarcastically as he unbuckled his harness and rolled out to a standing position.
"I'll let you drive next time."
Kale got out of his harness and climbed through the smashed windshield opening, stepping into the street beyond. Emil was close behind him, wiping glass and debris off of his clothes.
A low hum could be heard rising in intensity as its source approached. They recognized it immediately.
"Pods!"
Just as they began to run away from the transport wreckage, the pods appeared from multiple directions; thirty in all. "They've spotted us!" shouted Emil.
"Keep moving to cover!"
The young men moved through the wreckage strewn through the streets like water, fluid and quick, navigating around every obstacle without delay. Th
e pods began to lay down heavy gunfire, but it wasn't very accurate. The pod guns could only fire in the direction of its flight path, and the boys were moving erratically on purpose.
"Head for cover!" shouted Emil as he outpaced his friend toward a nearby shell of a building.
Kale followed him inside ducking and weaving around debris that hung from the ceiling and that which was piled high on the floor. They regrouped while the pods remained outside. Gunfire erupted through the dusty, burnt walls they had just found a way through. The boys hit the floor together as the pulse laser fire scattered all through the room they were in, sending more debris showering down upon them.
After a moment, the gunfire stopped. They could hear the pods powering down their engines outside.
"They're coming in," said Kale as he shook off the dust in his hair.
They looked around. There wasn't much in the way of cover. Then they spotted a staircase behind them-it was completely dark beyond.
"A basement?" asked Emil.
"I don't know, but it's got to be better than here."
Kale and Emil got to their feet and quickly ran toward the stairs. Outside, they could hear footsteps; no doubt the symbyte soldiers from back on Castai as they shuffled through the debris looking for a safe way to go in after the two youths. Kale wondered for a moment if he might know any of them. It was so horrible-all of their friends and associates taken over by the vilest enemy he could imagine.
The boys stopped at the head of the stairs when the odor hit their nostrils.
"What is that?" whispered Kale with a sour look on his face.
"I'm not sure. Maybe people died down there."
"That's not it," said Kale, "The city reeks of death. I can handle that, but this is-"
"Do you want to stay up here or what? Breathe through your mouth like me."
Emil led the way down with his extinguished blade in hand-just in case. Kale followed reluctantly, trying out his friend's advice on breathing. He could see the lights mounted on the soldier's rifles sweeping into the room as they began to cautiously come inside.
Kale and Emil descended completely into the darkness. They could here the creaking of the floor above them as the soldiers proceeded into the large room upstairs looking for them. The boys moved cautiously in the pitch black all around them. The foul funk was worse down where they were and it was surprisingly warmer. Kale could feel sweat beginning to roll down his face due to the humidity.
The boys were doing their best to sense all around themselves; mentally maneuvering through the darkness. Something wasn't right in the vast room around them. Kale could sense life all around, but it was so indistinct. He couldn't locate any one being. It was like the whole room was alive around them.
The stomping sounds were growing in intensity as more and more of the pod soldiers moved around above them. They would be coming after them down the stairs any moment. There appeared to be no exit and no way to find something to hide behind.
"Looks like we're going to have to fight them," whispered Emil from somewhere in the darkness, beside Kale.
"At least we've got better odds down here. We can sense them, but they'll have a hard time seeing us. Just don't ignite your blade."
"Something's not right down here," said Emil.
"I feel it too. But I can't figure it out. It's like the whole area is alive or something."
The soldiers were coming down the stairs behind them about a hundred feet away. Their lights were sweeping across the steps as they descended.
Suddenly a hand clutched onto Kale's arm-it was Emil.
"Kale," he whispered almost in a panic.
"I know-they're coming."
"No. I just remembered where I've smelt this odor before."
"What?"
Their pursuers were headed right for them now. The sweeping lights began to fill the room and as those lights played across the ceiling above them, Kale and Emil could finally see what their senses had been telling them all along.
"Aerogores!!" shouted Emil.
Mass hissing erupted all over the room as the great lizards sprang to life at the intrusion of the soldier's lights. Guns began to spit fire all around the room as the pod pilots panicked at the sight of the aerogores, cast as horrible apparitions in the chaotic movement of their rifle lights.
Kale ignited his blade as the whole room came alive with the beasts. The indeterminate life they were sensing before was now leaping at them from every aspect of the room. Emil's blade flashed as he seared reptilian flesh, striking down one of the beasts. Kale sliced quickly as he sensed a predator lunging for him from the dark. He divided one of its arms in a quick duck and roll maneuver as the lizard swept by.
"Don't hit the jaw area!" shouted Emil from nearby. "The glands contain an acid; part of the ignition fluid they spray!"
Good advice. Kale certainly didn't want to get hit with stuff like that. Then it occurred to him-what Emil had just told him. "They spray fire too?!"
"Didn't I mention that?!"
Emil took down another one with lightning speed. Everything was happening so fast-an eruption of pure chaos. The soldiers were spraying everything in the room with gunfire. Many were screaming as aerogores took them down; tearing their victim's limb from limb in seconds.
Another one flew at Kale from behind. He reached out and half caught it in a mental grip, using its momentum to hurl the creature over his body as he rolled away and back to his feet. The soldiers beyond got a nasty present instead as the aerogore landed among them and caught the first it could get a hold of in deadly, vice like jaws.
"We've got to get out of here!" shouted Kale as he realized the stairs were now blocked by more of the reptilian creatures.
Emil drew a couple of spicors off of his vestment and flung them into the ceiling. They struck the same spot consecutively, vaporizing the matter between them and the next room above. The hole was just big enough. Emil wasted no time and rolled into the spire of light piercing the darkness. He immediately sprang upward through the hole. Kale took the hint and followed, clearing the frenzy just before one of the winged predators could seize his legs.
No sooner had Kale's feet touched the floor above on the other side, before it buckled upward, sending the young men backward in a heap. Successive blows to the floor followed very quickly, and a hideous triangular head peered through the widening hole and fell back again.
"Let's go!"
They both turned and with their combined mental force, they burst the wall outward into the debris strewn streets beyond and ran with every ounce of speed they could muster. Behind them, the last of the soldier's cries faded into oblivion and the horrible screams of aerogores on the rage grew in intensity. The flooring gave way and the creatures shot upward through it and the stairway opening nearby.
The aerogores flooded out into the street in a rage of bloodlust, screeching to one another as they sought their prey.
Kale and Emil ran into another nearby hollow of a building as the aerogores flew after them. Surprisingly, the glass entryway was still intact-no way in but to go through it. A thought was all that was sent to smash through one of the large panes ahead of them, allowing the boys to proceed inside unhindered. A staircase led upward from the left. They took it-leaping over whole flights at a time, trying to put as much distance as possible between predator and prey.
The brownish scaled aerogores smashed through the entire entryway to the building in mass numbers, each several times the size of a man and winged at mid-body, sending glass and metal framing in every direction inside the building's huge lobby. Those leading the reptilian pack quickly spotted the boys and hurled streams of flame upward at them. They were just beyond range of the searing chemical spray that mixed and ignited in mid-air just beyond the aerogore's faces.
0
TIET watched the display nervously as the technician adjusted the settings on the orbital satellite. Their group had successfully made it to the Sector City base and had found it to be enormous
in comparison with what they had already seen under the rebel's control. Tiet had not been able to reach his son or Emil through their collar pins and he was terribly worried.
"I think I've patched into the Maxus uplink," said a rebel technician. "I should be able to get a live feed of the city now."
Seismic disruptions had been picked up from the sensors throughout the city and were all available through their base computer systems.
"There!" said Alec as the image zeroed in on a commotion in the city.
Relief and panic hit Tiet all at the same time as he saw two young men in Castillian uniforms leaping from rooftop to rooftop, but they had heavy pursuit.
"What are those things?!" said Tiet.
"Aerogores," said Alec. "They're very deadly flying versions of the larger teragores."
"We've got to get the boys out of there fast."
"What about a transgate portal?" asked Wynn.
"I've got something better," said Alec. "You could use one of our recall transmitters-you can teleport in utilizing a localized gate and then once you've got a hold of them, hit the recall and it will bring you directly back here."
"I'll go," said Wynn quickly.
"No offense, but you'll never catch the boys on foot, Wynn," said Tiet.
"Well, you're still suffering from your injuries," he countered.
"To get them back, I'll weather a little discomfort."
"I'm in too," said Grod, walking into the room.
They smiled; glad to see their old friend had arrived safely at the base.
"Then let's go."
0
STREAMS of flame poured out of the sky at the boys as they leapt to another rooftop. Their only shelter was the various chimney stacks that jutted up out of the buildings. Kale and Emil ducked and weaved through them as they fled from the vicious airborne raptors dogging their steps.
A flash of light caught Emil's eye to their right. Two men were emerging out of thin air onto the rooftop of one of the buildings nearby-one light skinned and one dark.