The Drellic Saga: Books One, Two and Three

by Mike Marlinski

Chapter Thirteen

  Daelon awoke on the bridge of the cargo ship, barely able to turn his head, to find the source of an irritating ringing sound, coming from the ship’s control consoles. Before attempting to stagger to his feet, he dealt with the unpleasant task of forcing his head to turn in the opposite direction, allowing him to scan the area for Core. Once he was satisfied that Core was not in the immediate vicinity, he got a hold of the captain’s chair, smearing it with the blood he had previously spread from his face to his hands. He then pushed himself up and onto the chair.

  The ringing sound was coming from a series of multi colored push buttons on the ship’s center control panels that were flashing in what appeared to be a non-sensible sequence. Daelon aggressively punched at random buttons, as the loud ringing was beginning to make his head throb with pain. Finally, he hit enough of the correct buttons in unison, to silence the alarm. A navigational chart then appeared on the touch screen to his right. He squinted at the screen through his puffy bruised cheeks, to see a white circular outline against a black background, that was labeled, “Tyrran”.

  He then noticed a flashing green speck in the upper right hand corner of the screen, which he tapped with his bloody finger, magnifying the image. The green speck then became a large green square, that when enlarged, took up the majority of the screen, shrinking the image of Tyrran. Inside the square, was yet another spaceship that looked strange and unfamiliar to Daelon.

  The outer hull was the color of rusting nuts and bolts. Its long and flat rectangular shape, was merely a platform for the three large domes that made up the entire topside of the ship. There was no visible propulsion system or engine exhaust trail anywhere around its edges. Yet it was traveling at an alarming speed. The fluctuating numbers in the lower left hand corner of the touch screen, showed it traveling at 10,000 kilometers per second. Its velocity was slowing and it was currently 100,000,000 kilometers from Tyrran. Its entire structure was the size of all of Faul City. This made it roughly 17 miles long, and nearly 10 miles wide.

  What intrigued Daelon most about the inbound craft, was its design. The technology was extremely alien to him; even more so, than his cargo ship. It appeared to be neither Architect nor Human in origin. This made it impossible to predict the intentions of its occupants.

  Daelon knew he had precious little time to uncover the truth of Drellic’s secret plan. He gazed out the window, and instantly recognized the rock forged archway ahead, marking the entrance to The Depths. He quickly searched the ship’s inventory for pressure suits and learned their location. He had also noticed that an airlock cycle had already been initiated, indicating that Core was no longer on board.

  By the time Daelon made it to the utility closet outside the airlock, he could feel a violent tremor shaking the ground on which Faul City once stood. He knew the alien ship had arrived in orbit around Tyrran and must’ve been near their location. At that moment, he had to make a decision of whether or not to attempt fleeing the scene in the cargo ship, or carrying on with his mission to investigate The Depths, as Drellic had asked.

  He had also pondered attempting to contact the alien ship, but fearing that it was a hostile vessel somehow connected to the Architects, decided to not do anything that would further give away his location.

  Finally, Daelon felt that he had wasted far too much time analyzing the situation, and needed to at least attempt moving forward with Drellic’s plan, if the human race had any chance for survival. He quickly secured himself inside a suit and helmet, identical to the set up that Core had stolen for himself. He then noticed that the ship had automatically closed the ship’s outer door behind Core, and re-pressurized the airlock. The ongoing tremor was getting stronger, vibrating the walls around Daelon. He knew the alien ship was getting closer and that its purpose would soon be revealed.

  Daelon then entered the airlock, depressurized it and opened the outer door. He could see the partially raised metal door in the rock wall ahead, as he made contact with the ground. As he attempted to run towards the spotlight trails from Core’s helmet, he found that the gravitational force of the planet had been weakened by the Architect attack. Feeling as though he had lost half of his body weight, he found himself gliding across the surface, as he safely passed beneath the metal door.

  Once inside, he found Core standing motionless, beside the row of life pods he had discovered earlier. Core noticed Daelon’s arrival, but didn’t appear to be effected by it. He just stared at Daelon with lifeless eyes. They had also both realized that they could hear each other breathing, and that the suits were automatically radio-linked.

  “There are 36 people down here,” Core told Daelon, in a complacent tone, as he pointed to the row of pods. “There’s a projector at the end of the row,” he added, as he pointed down passed the last pod. “It’s carrying a message for you. I tried to hear it for myself. But it will only work for you. Drellic made sure of that.”

  Daelon cautiously approached Core, as the violent tremors were getting stronger and stronger, shaking the crumbling rock walls around them.

  Core seemed as though he had no fight left in him. He just stared up at the crumbling ceiling and asked, “Have the Architects returned?”

  “I don’t know,” Daelon replied. “I’ve never seen a ship like that one before.”

  Daelon was then about to walk down towards the projector Core had pointed out, but paused at the thought of the one question he needed to have answered, first. He slowly turned his gaze back to Core’s eyes and asked, “Did you kill my brother?”

  Core closed his eyes for a moment, opened them to look Daelon in the eye and replied, “Yes. Yes, I did.”

  Daelon wasn’t at all surprised by Core’s answer. He was deeply saddened by learning the truth, and wanted more than anything to kill Core for all that he had done. But something inside him was still trying to convince him that every last remaining human life was precious and could not be squandered.

  “Why did you do it?” Daelon asked.

  “Well, it’s simple really. I knew he wasn’t being honest with me. I had dedicated my entire adult life to being his errand boy. I never once questioned his authority or motives. All I ever wanted in return was the same respect that I had always shown him. But when I last saw him, he was hiding in the back of my ship, hoping the enemy wouldn’t detect him. He told me that the war was over. He said that all was lost and that he needed to find you. He was giving up in order to find you and to protect whatever secrets he was guarding here. And now I finally know the truth. He was so convinced that our race was doomed, that he constructed a fleet of cargo ships and had these people frozen down here, to be transported to a safe haven, that only he was allowed to know the location of.”

  “What is so wrong with that?” Daelon asked, as the tension in the room began to rise. “He was only trying to do the intelligent thing. He had a back-up plan to ensure that our species could go on, in case we failed. What’s wrong with that?”

  “They’ll just find us again and kill us off! He was only delaying the inevitable!” Core screamed. “We had a chance to destroy the enemy, and he wouldn’t take it! Instead, he just let them leave, unharmed! Before we were born, when this war first started, he was the first of us to ingest the Starblood, and he single-handedly destroyed the largest of their ships from the inside. In the decades that followed, we had an army of millions with that same power, but we still let them eradicate us, because of his failure to do what was necessary!”

  Daelon became numb, because of his hatred for Core’s ignorance. Despite Core’s physical advantages, Daelon ignored Core’s towering stance and screamed, “He did what he did, because he was right! This war was unwinnable from the beginning! It may have taken a hundred years, but he finally learned that! Why can’t you? This is our only chance!”

  Before Core had a chance to respond, the strongest of the tremors thus far, shook the ground beneath them, causing it to crack. The force from the engines of the alien ship out
side, sent both Daelon and Core falling onto their backs. Daelon then quickly got up and realized he needed to take in Drellic’s final message before it was too late. He ignored Core, who was still on the ground, and made it to the projector.

  The projector was a simple, small black box, embedded in the ground at Daelon’s feet. It scanned his retinas with a thin, blue laser light, as soon as he stepped in front of it. The device recognized Daelon and an image of Drellic in his traditional, all black public servant’s uniform appeared before him.

  Drellic’s hologram had a look of desperation and sadness. Without any delay, Drellic softly said, “Brother, I regret knowing that if you are receiving this message, I am now long dead. However, I am pleased knowing that you have made it to this point, and I know I can count on you to complete this mission. By now, you must have the cargo ship with you and have discovered its intended purpose. Upon activation of this message, the life pods to your right will automatically guide themselves into the storage bay on the ship, and the coordinates of your destination will be uploaded into your navigation system.”

  Daelon and Core both looked on, as the 36 life pods were now levitating and had begun their slow path towards the cargo ship, in single file. “The people in those pods are some of the most brilliant scientific and political minds of the most recent generation of man,” Drellic continued. “You will need them to successfully establish a prosperous human colony. I know that you will see this through. And I want you to know that despite our differences when you were younger, I have always been very proud to call you my brother.”

  Core was standing at Daelon’s side, listening to Drellic’s final words to his brother. As they looked on, they noticed bright flashes of light over Drellic’s shoulders, interfering with the transmission. Drellic appeared startled and said, “I must go now. The enemy is upon us and I’m out of time. I’m now leaving in the hopes of finding you. But obviously the activation of this recording, means that I’ve failed. Before I leave, I want you to know something else. I want you to know how truly sorry I am, for what I have done to our people. Do not remember me as a delusional, absent minded dictator. I am not oblivious to the fact that this is my fault. I wish things could’ve been different. I honestly do. But this is the way things are, Daelon. Now it’s time for you to do what must be done to save our race. This is your destiny, brother. Fulfill it and take all our hopes and dreams with you into the stars.”

  The bright flashes of light began to engulf the transmission field. Drellic was violently pushed forward. The holographic projection of his head, then nearly made contact with Core. Daelon quickly moved out of the way and caught one final glimpse of Drellic’s teary eyes, before the transmission faded away.

  Drellic’s final words were, “I love you brother. Best of luck. Once again, I’m so sorry.” With that, the transmission ended and the stream of light was sucked back into the small black box, at Daelon’s feet.

  He then turned to Core, once the last of the life pods had turned the corner of the entrance and was out of sight and said, “Let’s go.”

  “No,” Core said. “I think I should stay here.” Daelon paused for a moment, and despite his desire to see Core suffer, asked, “Why?”

  “I trapped your brother in an airlock and forced him out into space. Call it a warrior’s instinct. But I know you’ll always want to kill me for that. Drellic was right. It’s your destiny to lead these people to their new home. And it’s a home I have no place in.”

  Daelon, given his better nature asked, “Are you sure?” Core simply nodded and watched Daelon look upon him with a cold unforgiving gaze, before following behind the row of pods and disappearing beyond the metal door. Core then sat against the rock wall of the chamber, and felt the vibrations of the cargo ship’s engines propelling it out of The Depths and away from Tyrran. The integrity of the structures around him continued to weaken. A new series of strong tremors, then surged throughout the room, causing huge chunks of rock to fall from the ceiling, all around Core.

  Core knew he would soon be dead, either from lack of oxygen, debris or hostile encounter with the new arrivals, but he felt compelled to at least get a glimpse of the unknown ship, before meeting his demise. He staggered out of the chamber, walked several paces beyond the crumbling archway and looked up through the giant hole over his head, which used to be a sturdy foundation for downtown Faul City. Through the hole, he could see an ominous shadow being cast all around him, until the rust colored metal hull of the alien ship, eclipsed his view of the stars.

  He wondered if Daelon had successfully escaped with his 36 passengers, before a blinding green light from the alien ship’s underbelly, was burned into his eyes. He screamed in horror, as intense heat radiated around him. Core eventually passed out from the pain.

  He awoke several hours later, and was strapped to a hot metal table, beneath a transparent dome. The dome appeared to be made of liquid; a material very similar to the outer hull of Daelon’s cargo ship. As he gazed up at the stars overhead, he could see tiny ripples passing back and forth before his eyes, upon the transparent material that was protecting him from the vacuum of space.

  The room was very dark, aside from tiny blue lights that glowed all around him in no particular pattern. As he continued to stare intently at the watery ripples that flowed beneath the field of stars above, he could hear the soft ringing of what sounded like bells, echoing in the distance, each time two or more of the ripples came into contact with one another. Although he was both confused and scared, it was a remarkably tranquil setting.

  After a few minutes had passed, Core’s peaceful surroundings were tainted by a piercing white light, originating from a sliding metal door, which was slowly opening to his right. Once the door had completely opened and the bright light had filled the room, Core’s attention was drawn to the sound of approaching footsteps from just outside the opening. A moment later, a creature Core had never seen the likes of before, was standing over him.

  Part Two: Of Vengeance