The Riddle of the Gods

by Lyra Shanti

  Baran was not actually on Deius, but Reese was, and so was Sterek, who had played the message on the open channel with vengeful glee. Reese had ordered him to do so and was acting captain of the ship Baran was communicating through.

  Everything had been carefully planned and plotted. Soon, they would dismantle all Tah ships with a hacked code, created by Sterek, which would cause their Ohrian made sensors to falter and spin. Then, they would hit The Tah’s engines in critical spots, forcing their ships to make crash landings. The Tah would attempt fighting on the ground, but Hynfir and Pei would be ready with Lirhan at their command. If all went according to plan, Baran and Reese hoped that Yol would be taken into custody by sunset with minimal loss of life.

  Unfortunately, Sterek’s code didn’t seem to work, setting their plans back a little. Sterek was shocked. “Why the hell isn’t this working?!” he snapped into his ship’s private channel. “Kren?! Are you near the engine room?”

  “Yes, I am,” replied Kren. “The Lirhan soldiers and I are ready to meet generals Pei and Hynfir for ground battle, Sir.”

  “Good, I want you to check the sound device there. It should be the red box on the wall. Can you see it?”

  “Yeah…” said Kren, confused. “And what do you want me to do with it?”

  “I want you to open it and make sure the data transfer port is blinking! If it isn’t, reset the system by pressing the button on the side. Do you understand?”

  “Um… yes, Sir, I’ll find it. Hold on!”

  “Is there a problem, Sterek?” asked Reese, noticing The Tah ships had not wavered or even moved.

  “No… well, yes, but it’ll be fine.”

  Reese raised her eyebrow. Baran was now ordering her to repeat his message, but she was hesitant. What are you doing, Notama? she thought to herself.

  Yol’s ship did not move, nor did his fleet. Reese knew there had to be a reason, but what?

  Suddenly, Yol flew his ship straight up, then plummeted, along with all The Tah's fighter ships, aimed straight for her Krian battleship with all their force. Plasma hits came from left and right, and Sterek fought to keep control of their shielding.

  “Damn it!” she yelled, “Baran, they’ve figured out which ship your message is coming from. And I don’t think Notama took your warning very seriously!”

  “Well, fire at him!” ordered Baran. “Fire at all of them!”

  “You heard your General!” yelled Reese. “Fire at will!”

  Sterek began firing, as did Jin, who was his second navigator and shooter. Jin had wanted to be a Lirhan ground warrior, but realized he was much better at shooting targets from a ship. In fact, he was so good during his testing that Reese wanted him for her own first shooter.

  With vengeance in his trigger finger, Jin shot down dozens of Tah ships, one after the other. Sterek was half-amazed and half-horrified.

  “Alright, that’s enough, pilot!” Sterek shouted as he put his left hand on Jin’s shooting hand. “We’re trying to make them land so we can arrest them. We don’t want a blood bath!”

  Jin nodded, a little out of breath. “Sorry…”

  “Lieutenant Sterek is right, Jin,” said Reese. “It’s important you understand the difference between war and revenge.”

  Jin didn’t understand whatsoever, but it didn’t matter. His shots hit The Tah hard, and many of their ships crash-landed near the mountains. The others pulled back, rethinking their positions.

  “They’re retreating!” Jin exclaimed.

  “Not so fast,” said Reese. “These guys have Ohrian X-class fighter ships. They have gadgets we don’t. As soon as they re-group and their plasma-pumps regenerate, they’ll return with even more power. They will last longer than our engines, which is why we need to get that code sent at them! What is going on with that, Sterek?!”

  “I don’t know,” replied Sterek. “Kren?! Have you found the button?!”

  “I um… I’m really not good at tech stuff, Lieutenant. Sorry! I’m afraid I’ll press the wrong thing!”

  “Damn it,” Sterek griped.

  “Just go down there and help him!” Reese commanded.

  Sterek nodded, then flew out of his chair, heading to the engine room.

  Jin looked at Reese and nervously smiled.

  “What are you looking at, kid?!” she jabbed. “Pump up those force-fields, and get ready to take a second beating of plasma!”

  As Jin powered up their shields, Reese ordered the Krian fleet to do the same.

  On the ground, Hynfir and Pei had teamed up with Wen and the rest of his anti-Tah friends. Once they realized what Hynfir and Pei were doing, they were more than ready to follow them into battle.

  Hynfir’s orders from Baran came that morning telling them to reach just outside of the palace. Once The Tah ships fell, they were to show no mercy. Only one man was wanted alive, and that was Notama. Baran was specific about wanting the Fah to stand trial for his crimes, and Hynfir was secretly glad to hear it. As much as Hynfir regretted helping Yol turn into the madman he now was, he had no urge to see him dead. Hynfir still had love for the good, idealistic man Yol had been once, and he had hope there was still a chance for Yol to change, even if it was within prison walls.

  “Let’s wait here,” said Hynfir as he looked through his digi-specs. They both stood at the edge of the palace wall where the gates forbade humble visitors.

  “Let me see,” said Pei as he held his hand out for the specs. “My gods!” Pei exclaimed. “Baran brought out the big guns! Those are some of the best ships in the Lirhan fleet!”

  “Yes,” Hynfir replied, coolly, “he knows how important reclaiming Deius is, politically speaking. Without Deius as an ally, Kri has no trading partner, especially when it comes to plasma.”

  “You don’t think he cares about our planet’s well being, or about Ayn?” asked Pei.

  “I do not know Baran well,” replied Hynfir, “but he is a politician. All politicians have more than one motive in their pocket.”

  Pei nodded. He was going to ask about his father’s relationship with Meddhi when they saw an unexpected sight coming from the city’s outer road. It was a group of Sirini fighters, and Hynfir recognized their leader right away. Swaggering in the Deiusian sun, Fola’s black tail swung back and forth with pride.

  “Is that…?” said Pei.

  “It most definitely is,” replied Hynfir with a wide grin.

  Fola swiftly walked to Hynfir with her curved Hunian style sword in her hand, and said, “I really should hate you for abandoning us… but you know what I realized? You didn’t abandon me. You woke me up. I was in a deep, dark nightmare, hypnotized by a man who never loved me. I thank you for waking me, my teacher, my guardian… my true father.”

  She then kissed Hynfir on both sides of his cheek. “Can you forgive your rebellious, blind daughter?” she added with forming tears in her eyes.

  “Of course I can,” said Hynfir, holding back his own tears.

  They hugged as she promised to fight by his side and to never dishonor him again.

  Wen sneered and said to Pei, “Who is this woman? Who are these Tah with her?”

  Hearing him, Fola said, “I don’t know what being Tah means anymore, so I’m not with them anymore. None of my soldiers claim to be that either. We are simply freedom fighters… and we fight to end slavery and sickness. That is all.”

  “Can we trust them?” Wen asked Hynfir.

  “Yes,” Hynfir replied, “I raised this woman and trained most of the men and women here with her. I trust them all with my life.”

  Wen nodded, accepting Hynfir’s words. “Alright, good. We can definitely use more skilled fighters on our side. However, how long must we wait here?!” he asked, itching for the chance to fight his enemy.

  “We wait until General Reese gives her signal,” said Hynfir, “and when The Lirhan have descended to the ground.”

  His answer didn’t seem to appease Wen and the other Deiusian fishermen and hunters, but neither Hy
nfir nor Pei cared about pleasing them. They were far more concerned about what was happening in the sky.

  They could see The Tah taking an attack formation, and hoped Reese’s ship came equipped with extra strong protection fields.

  Looking to his right, toward the temple, Pei thought he spotted Ayn and Meddhi. Focusing the specs to zoom as close as they could, Pei realized that they were standing to the side of the temple, looking as if they were searching for the secret passageway to the tombs.

  “I see Ayn!” Pei announced.

  “Really?” asked Hynfir. “They haven’t made it inside the temple yet?”

  “I think they’re having trouble for some reason.”

  “Hmm…” said Hynfir, “Yol may have taken precautions to keep out intruders.”

  “You mean, like a security lock?”

  “A lock, yes… or two or three. Yol is possibly insane, Pei, but he is no fool. He knows about those secret passages. He was raised at the temple, remember.”

  “Then why does he avoid them? He never goes inside the temple.”

  “He has bad memories there…”

  Pei shrugged and said, “Well, I’m sure Meddhi will find a way inside. He knows the temple, and its secrets, better than anyone.”

  Hynfir nodded, but had no time to respond; he was completely distracted by the lights and sounds of the plasma strikes in the sky.

  In a matter of seconds, huge pieces of shrapnel from mostly Krian ships came plummeting down to the ground, not too far from where they stood.

  “Take cover!” yelled Hynfir as he quickly led the others closer to the palace wall.

  The shrapnel exploded into the Deiusian atmosphere, then crashed onto the ground, just barely missing them.

  “Hynfir?!” came Reese’s voice. “Brother? Are you there?!”

  Hynfir recovered from the blast, a little out of breath, then spoke into his collar communicator, “Yes, I’m here, Reese.”

  “Are you hurt?” she asked, clearly shaken.

  “No, I’m fine. We’re fine, though we were almost hit by falling debris.”

  “Yeah, that was a piece of my ship, unfortunately.”

  “What?!”

  “Look, Hynfir... Sterek’s plan failed for some reason. It seems like someone tampered with the sound data. I don’t know who, but… ah! Sorry, we’re trying not to crash. Anyway, point is, I’ve ordered the Lirhan ground troops to meet you at the palace gate. I want you to lead this battle immediately. Don’t wait for me to get there. Is that understood?”

  “Yes, I won’t let you down.”

  “I know you won’t. You never have. Good luck, Brother!”

  “Good luck, Sister!”

  Hynfir then turned to his fellow soldiers and said, “Alright, stand back, everyone.” Unsheathing his Viha, he closed his eyes to meditate.

  Pei marveled as he saw Hynfir's Viha glow, even in the sunlight.

  Hynfir opened his eyes, then swung his sword in the air, directly at the palace gate. Landing perfectly in the center of the over-sized, golden gate doors, the plasma-enriched sword pulsated until there came a deafening crackling sound. The sword had created a giant crack in the front gate.

  “Now,” Hynfir said with a grin, “let’s break down that damned gate and show them the might of a free people!”

  Fola roared and followed Hynfir while the others shouted with pride and followed behind.

  Pei smiled while readying his own Viha, protecting them from the rear. Pei wasn’t ready to die, but he was proud to fight alongside a man like Hynfir.

  Reese would have liked to be down on the ground, fighting by Hynfir's side as well, but instead, she was stuck on her enormously grand, yet terribly damaged ship. Yol and his private fleet had been firing almost exclusively on her ship alone, and her shields couldn’t hold any longer.

  “That’s it, Sterek,” she said into the communicator, “just forget the stupid code already and help Jin land the damn ship!”

  “No, I almost have it!” shouted Sterek.

  “The ship’s gonna’ make a crash landing, Lieutenant! Get back here, and take your seat!”

  Unyieldingly stubborn, Sterek ignored her orders and continued to reconnect wires, even as the ship flew down at maximum speed.

  “I’ve got it!” he yelled as the ship crashed.

  Suddenly, the entirety of The Tah in the air went silent. No flying. No shooting. Nothing.

  “What the hell?!” Yol shouted as he heard his plasma engine shutting down. Alone on his ship, except for the fish-looking auto pilot robot, he knew he had to brace himself for a crash landing. Looking through his cockpit window, he saw his entire fleet doing the same - falling to the ground at unnatural speeds.

  Closing his eyes, he sat tightly in his pilot’s chair and gave full command of the landing to the auto-pilot robot.

  A few moments later, he was still alive, though his left arm ached from the tightness of the seat’s safety bar. Gasping, Yol immediately got out of his chair and searched his ship for a loaded plasma-gun.

  Reese, having done much the same, was well-armed with her Viha. When the two vessels had crashed, they fell almost directly side by side. As Reese walked out of her ship, she found herself right across from Yol with only a small distance between them.

  As the other ships had crashed nearby, Tah soldiers came to aid Yol.

  However, in a matter of seconds, Kren, and the other Lirhan soldiers came to Reese’s side as well.

  It was a stand off.

  Sterek had been badly injured, so he wasn’t able to fight the way he hoped, but he was able to watch it all through Reese’s collar-communicator.

  “Give ‘em hell, General,” he whispered.

  She turned to her brethren and fiercely yelled, “For the Lion of Kri!”

  It was a battle cry The Lirhan understood all too well. Their lion had fallen, and it was the fault of the man standing in front of them. Her words penetrated their hearts as they ran forward, Viha ready, like wildcats on the hunt.

  The sight of the graceful, yet ferocious Lirhan coming at them made The Tah freeze for a moment. Yol looked at his soldiers and yelled, “We will defeat these power hungry Lirhan! For freedom!” He ran forward to face The Lirhan, which made the other Tah soldiers follow behind.

  With Ohrian plasma-guns in their hands, The Tah’s firing was precise and deadly. Yet, only a few shots managed to get past The Lirhan’s adept Viha skills. Blocking the plasma blasts with their powerful, magnetic swords, The Lirhan met The Tah face to face.

  Reese had gone after Yol in particular. She wanted his blood on her blade. She struck at him with all her might, but he blocked with an auto-shield from his gun. Nevertheless, she continued to strike, over and over again until Yol ran low on shielding power, causing his shield to flicker in and out. Reese laughed, then wickedly smiled. He grinned back in return, though she didn’t know why.

  “Do you want to die, Notama?!” she shouted at him.

  He didn’t reply, but cocked his head to the side and smirked.

  Reese didn’t care what his reasons were for his actions. She only knew she wanted him dead. About to strike him down with a killing blow, she leaped into the air and twirled with her sword, leaning into the kill.

  Yol closed his eyes and used his remaining shielding power to invert the beam. He knew if he could lure her into a close range shot, their fight would be over.

  “NO!” came Hynfir’s voice as he swiftly ran across the clearing. Pushing his sister out of the way at the last second, he took the brunt of the blast and flew backward, hard against the ground.

  Reese didn’t know what happened. She wiped her dirt-stained mouth, then looked around. She saw Hynfir lying in a pool of his own blood. Then, she looked up and saw Yol standing still with his gun cocked forward and a frozen expression on his face.

  “You son of a demon!” she yelled at Yol as she tried her best to get to her feet. Unfortunately, she had been hit by some of the plasma, and her legs refused to sta
nd.

  Yol walked slowly toward Hynfir. He then bent over his once great friend and whispered something into his ear.

  Reese couldn’t stand it. “Get away from him!” she yelled as she cried, paralyzed.

  Whatever Yol whispered, it made Hynfir nod and cry. Yol then slowly got to his feet and hung his head low for a few moments. When he looked up, he saw Fola staring at him from across the field. She looked enraged with her sword in one hand and plasma gun in the other. He couldn’t look at her for the guilt of what he had done was overpowering.

  Backing away, Yol could see the hatred in Fola’s eyes, which made his heart ache. However, the fighting surrounded him, and with his own gun depleted of plasma, Yol had no choice but to take a fallen Tah soldier’s gun as protection.

  “I’m so sorry,” he said to Hynfir as he backed away.

  Hynfir could not speak. All his energy was being drained from the giant plasma wound in his stomach.

  Running through the crowd, Yol used his new gun’s shielding to reflect the nearby plasma blasts.

  Fola was torn. Part of her wanted to run after Yol, but the other part of her knew she needed to get Hynfir and Reese to safety. Using all her strength, she carefully picked up Hynfir. She then used his communicator to say, “Pei! Do you hear me? Hynfir is down, and so is his sister. I need your help!”

  Pei was busy fighting against a rather large, muscular Tah soldier. He had managed to knock out his gun, but the ridiculously big man wouldn’t fall. The last thing Pei wanted was to actually kill someone, so he tried his best to merely slice through the man’s armor in effort to take down his legs.

  However, hearing that Reese was wounded, he knew he had to end the fight, and soon. Using a trick Baran taught him, Pei head-butted the man, then used the back end of his Viha to thrust into his enemy's throat. Almost instantly, the giant fell to the ground.

  “I’m coming!” shouted Pei.

  As Fola carried Hynfir to Reese’s crashed ship, Jin came out and yelled, “Hurry! Bring him here! I can bandage him up until we get to the healers!”