Chapter Fifteen
Shortly after leaving Core behind on the surface of Tyrran, Daelon had found himself in a shooting war with the mysterious alien ship. He noted that the ship had hovered over The Depths for a moment after his departure, and had fired a blast of bright green energy into the caverns below. Upon witnessing that event, he assumed that Core had been killed. There was a time when Daelon thought that overseeing Core’s demise, would be a moment of triumph for him. But when the time finally arrived, he found that his better nature was still close to his heart, and that he took no pleasure in watching his life-long acquaintance die.
It wasn’t long after the aliens’ assault on the caverns that Daelon realized they were setting their sights onto him and his precious cargo. Now with the 36 sole survivors of humanity in tow, aside from himself, and the Talin, nestled safely in a nook beneath his control panels, Daelon had quickly mastered the ship’s weapon systems. He found that the piping hot streams of bright green energy, being shot like spears, into his decaying energy shields, were great motivators in his learning process.
Daelon’s cargo ship had been retrofitted with two turrets. There was one turret positioned above the bow and one above the stern. Each turret could fire a spread of multiple blue energy blasts that fanned out, in the shape of a boomerang, and could remain lethally charged for thousands of miles, before dissipating. However, each round fired, drained a considerable amount of power, and Daelon was forced to reroute power from his shields to compensate.
Since the alien ship’s energy weapons were much more powerful than his, taking more power from the shields wasn’t an option. Daelon had launched one final spread from his front turret, in order to block an energy spike from the unknown ship. Afterwards, he had no choice but to run. He was outgunned and quickly losing weapon power. With the alien ship standing between his cargo and Tyrran, Daelon quickly made a 180 degree turn and made a dash for Siren.
Daelon was headed for the one place with debris large enough to conceal his ship. He quickly passed over the ruins of Siren City, banking left and right through the demolished skyscrapers, forcing the larger, more awkwardly shaped alien ship to fly overhead. Daelon then strategically used the cover of the fallen city to his advantage, then made another long engine burn, propelling him faster, towards his true destination.
During the most violent earthquake in Siren’s history, a rocky region of the planet called, “Halathos”, meaning, “Wrath of Nature”, was formed, in what was once a one thousand mile long plain of granite. The land crushing tremors caused large chunks of granite to stand upright and rest against each other, forming a seemingly endless row of X shaped structures, over the continent. Since Siren had essentially become a giant asteroid, and the Halathos Region was at that moment on the night side of the planet, it was a perfect place for cover.
The alien ship had been slowed by Daelon’s skillful piloting through Siren City, and Daelon used his lead on his attackers to his advantage. He found a nice quiet spot beneath the largest of the deformed rock masses and terminated all of his electronics, aside from his artificial gravity, reserve lighting and life support. He then sat patiently in the captain’s chair for several seconds, until he finally heard the rumbling of the enemy ship. He looked up through his canopy and passed the giant boulder overhead, to see the ship pass by, while shining bright green, laser guided searchlights on the surrounding terrain. Once the ship had overshot Daelon by several miles, and didn’t appear to be turning around, Daelon grabbed the Talin from its nook and walked to the back of the ship.
He was still wearing his pressure suit from his last encounter with Core, as he proceeded into the airlock, sealed and de-pressurized it. As the outer door opened, and he hopped down to the surface, Daelon felt a surge of pride and accomplishment course through him.
Just before The Architects destroyed his planet, he had only one goal in mind, when he left the Hall of Records for the last time. That goal was to secure his life’s work. As the High Archivist of Tyrran, he was charged with the task of consolidating every available video and audio recording in human history, onto a single hard drive, and to leave it in a place where mankind could one day be rediscovered.
At that moment, he was being hunted by unknown forces of incredible power. He had no idea if he would ever make it to the world, Drellic had ordered him to travel to. He only knew that at that moment, he had found temporary peace.
Daelon gazed up at the heavens and wondered about the fate the universe had in store for his sacred Talin. Then without another wasted moment, he placed the the Talin on the ground and pressed four of the word characters atop the device, in a particular sequence. Seconds later, the outer casing of the device, glowed yellow and seemed to melt through the ground, as if it were turning the solid rock beneath it into quicksand.
Daelon became teary eyed, as he watched his creation sink further down into Siren’s surface. Once it was out of sight, he kicked whatever dirt he could find lying around, into the hole the Talin left behind, and smoothed it over the top with his foot, once it was full. He then took one final look at the stars, before disappearing back inside the cargo ship.
Upon returning to the bridge and resuming the captain’s post, Daelon discovered a series of warning lights flickering on his radar screen, indicating that the alien ship was coming back for another sweep of the area. He remained calm and kept all of his unnecessary systems turned off, while waiting to be revisited by the hostile creatures.
The Talin had been buried one hundred yards beneath Daelon’s feet. It wasn’t discovered until roughly 15 billion years later, when Halathos had been reformed into a continent of ice that the modern humans of Earth, referred to as Antarctica.
Seconds later, the rumbling of the alien ship had returned. Daelon’s heart rate elevated, as he was then alerted to a second and even more concerning issue. The ship’s emergency alert system was telling Daelon that movement had been detected in the storage room on the lower deck, where the 36 life pods were being stored. Daelon quickly removed his cumbersome helmet and suit, allowing him to run at full speed to the lower deck.
Upon reaching the bottom of the staircase, leading to the life pod compartment, he found a creature he had never seen the likes of before, attempting to remove one of the pods from its locked position, against the wall of the chamber. Upon making eye contact with the creature, the room was instantly flooded with a bright green light that Daelon was becoming far too familiar with. The light blinded him, caused him to lose his balance and then knocked him unconscious.
He awoke hours later, on the floor of the storage compartment, with a throbbing headache. Upon getting to his feet, he made a ghastly discovery. The 36 life pods, surrounding him in the chamber, were all empty.
The Drellic Saga: Books One, Two and Three Page 38