The Great Talisman (Intersect Book 2)

by M C I Hinchliffe

  John wanted to turn his head to cease the view of horror, but fear and shock had his eyes fixed. Over and over again soldiers were being slaughtered in the same gruesome form of execution, but some were less fortunate as only half of their bodies were blow away to leave a suffering bloody mess that died in a slow, terrible agony. Despite the massacre, the auto battlements could not hit the targets once they were on the roof, as its dome shape prevented a direct line of sight. As they swarmed onto the Tick Station, John realised that only a few hundred had fallen to the deadly fire of the auto battlements.

  Although the main defences of the Tick Station had been thwarted, Sarah knew the worst was yet to come. From numerous small hatches over the Station surface, emerged the Warrians. Despite the brightness of the sun’s rays, their black armour still defied the light, and made them appear like black featureless phantoms emerging from the depths of hell.

  **********

  Their passage to where Doctor Chen was last located was unchallenged. The diversion above had worked better than expected. Ryan and Adam reached the door to the room where they hoped to find him, but to their amazement the door was missing. From what Ryan could determine, the door had been bashed in. They took their usual positions outside the doorway and prepared to enter. With a nod from Ryan the two charged into the room with their guns poised for action. Inside, the room was empty!

  They quickly searched the room, but only tables and test equipment were to be found. Adam looked at Ryan in dismay as Ryan swept his gun across the table sending equipment flying across the room, “Shit!”

  “Could there be another room like this one?” Adam said as he tried to think of an explanation.

  Ryan put his hands on the table and bowed his head. “No, this is the room.”

  He paused for a moment as he tried to sort through the muddle of thoughts that flew around in his head. “Just give me a moment, I’ll think of something.”

  Adam asked. “So this Doctor Chen, would he be an old short Chinese guy with grey goofy looking hair?”

  “I’ve already told what he looked......” Ryan quickly looked up at Adam to see what he was on about and noticed he was looking out of the single window in the room.

  Adam continued, “Because there is a guy that fits that description down there.”

  Ryan charged over to the window and looked out. The view from the window was of a vast room filled with Warrian Warbirds. Surrounding the hanger was a raised walkway, and on the walkway just below them was the man they were searching for. Doctor Chen stood over a large control panel that overlooked the hanger, and from what Ryan could see, he was unguarded.

  “How are we going to get down there?” Adam asked.

  Ryan stood back from the window and pointed his gun at the centre of the glass and replied, “Just follow me.” Adam stood back as Ryan blasted the window into a million pieces. The two leapt out of the window and into the hanger below. When they landed on the walkway, they found Doctor Chen cowering behind the control panel. Adam covered them as Ryan approached the Doctor.

  Doctor Chen looked up at him and said in a confused tone, “I do as you say, I’ve been good. Why do you taunt me?”

  Ryan assisted Doctor Chen to his feet and noticed he was looking straight at him, but he did not recognise Ryan. “Uncle James, it’s me.”

  James squinted as tried to focus on the overbearing figure. “Ryan! Is that you?! They took away my vision implants so I can only focus on things a few inches away.” He reached out and began to feel Ryan’s A.A.E.E.V. suit. “To my old eyes you looked like Warrians. How did you get in here, there are guards everywhere?”

  “Uncle James, there are bruises on you face, are you all right?” Ryan said with concern.

  Something seemed to snap in his brain as if seeing Ryan was the last straw. James’s short bowed legs gave way as he fell to his knees. He bowed his head and began to sob. “Please forgive me, I did not know what else to do. Every day I tried to find the strength to sacrifice her for the greater good but I could not.” He shamefully covered his face as the tears poured out. “I hoped and prayed that someone would deliver me from this nightmare.”

  “Sacrifice who? What are you talking about?” Questioned Ryan.

  James uncovered his tear washed face and looked up at Ryan. “They have Kim Lee.”

  Ryan pull him to his feet again and brought his face close to James’s, “She’s alive!?” James nodded in reply. “Where?”

  “At the far side of the Station in a detention centre.”

  Adam wanted to know what all the fuss was about. “Who is Kim Lee?”

  “She is his daughter.” Ryan answered.

  “That explains why...” Adam started before Ryan cut him off.

  “Do you think you can show us where she is?”

  “My eyes maybe poor but my sense of direction is still sharp. Yes I believe so.”

  “Then let’s go.” Ryan turned to head off to the nearest exit when James stopped him.

  “Wait. It will do you know good, the Emperor will know if we try to free her. He has some kind of power that allows him to inflict his will over great distances. Even if we were able to release her the Emperor would kill her.” His shoulders dropped as he bowed his head.

  Ryan went back to him, “James look at me.” He looked up to see an expression that displayed the conviction of the mind within. “The Emperor will no longer harm your daughter.”

  James did not understand the reasoning behind Ryan’s covenant but he trusted him, and Ryan was his only hope to end the nightmare.

  Ryan pulled on his arm, “Come on, let’s get your daughter.” With renewed determination, James led them to where Kim Lee was held.

  **********

  The Artillery gun thundered again behind John making him flinch once more. He glanced up at Sarah to see her still standing in defiance of the lethal beams of energy that darted passed only centimetres away. Sarah continued to send orders over the comlink but it made no difference; the Warrians were beating back the Intersect Strike Force.

  The Warrians displayed the mastery of battle they were renowned for in the most extreme way. From the time they spewed out upon the roof of the Tick Station, John saw very few Warrians fall to gun fire, but saw countless Intersect Soldiers have arms, legs and heads shot away. When the swarm of forces flowed into each other, the Warrians holstered their guns and drew energy swords to deflect the gun fire. When in close proximity of a strike trooper, the keen blade would flash and a human head would fly from its shoulders.

  Watching the Warrians fight appeared to John more like a perfectly choreographed dance routine; their motion was smooth and perfectly executed. Not only was each of the Warrian’s movements a stunning display, but the synchronisation of the entire force was also a perfectly executed motion. The Warrians were not a number of battling individuals, but a single killing entity. For this, the Strike force had no antidote, and the Warrians swept over them like a river of lava destroying everything in their path.

  As well trained as the strike force was, many attempted to match the Warrians with their own energy swords, but to no avail. With the skill developed in a millennium of battle and each a lifetime spent honing its skill, the Warrians were unstoppable. The only point of resistance to the black swam came from the western assault team not far from where John and Sarah were stationed. The resistance appeared like a knife cutting into the Warrian forces with a distinct figure at the point. His golden skin reflected the morning sunshine resembling a beacon of hope. Sarah too watched the point of resistance with intense interest, and as she suspected, Little John’s’ Horns were not just decoration. Beams of lethal energy discharged from the ends of the flexible horns and cut into the Warrian forces about him.

  Despite his defiant stance against the Warrians, the comrades about Little John were falling like wheat under the blade of a scythe. Soon he became an island within a sea of black death.

  John thought the support fire from the CATs and the mobile
artillery would put a dent in the Warrian forces. Instead they would dive and roll away from the threatening blast and only a few were vaporised. Then he heard it, the word he never thought Sarah would ever utter, “Retreat!”

  The speed of the Warrians doubled as the Intersect Strike Force pulled back. When John felt that the slaughter could get no worse, the battle that took place at the edge of the Tick Station sent chills down John’s spine. Hundreds were being killed every second in a blood bath that surpassed anything that he could have imagined in his worst nightmares. Little John attempted to fight his way back to the retreating force. However, the mass of Warrian soldiers was too deep and he was well and truly boxed in. In desperation, he liberated two energy swords from the fallen about him and momentarily held off the immaculate force. Finally, under a wall of Warrian troops, Little John fell, and so did the hope that he represented.

  John fired at random at the black beasts that assailed his comrades in hope to make this horror stop. His aim was artificially assisted by the smart weapon that he held in his hand. Whatever his eye concentrated on, his helmet would register and transmit the data to the gun in his hand. At the range of eleven hundred meters, few humans could hit a target, but with a smart weapon a target was well within range. Despite the assistance of the weapon, John was still surprised when he felled one of the savage creatures. A millisecond after pulling the trigger, a Warrian was instantly without a chest cavity. Amazingly, it still had the strength to slash of a troopers arm before collapsing.

  Now that the Warrians had the Strike Force on the run, many of them leapt up and over the retreating forces traversing hundreds of metres of the battleground, then landed ready to meet them head on. Their tactic caught the troopers by surprise as they ran straight into the Warrian blades. The Strike Force was surrounded now with the Warrian vice closing from both sides. Sarah thought, ‘Now is the moment to play her trump card.’ Over the comlink Sarah’s voice came through loud and clear. “Now!” All of the Strike Force activated their jet packs and launched into the air as a number of small projectiles were ejected from the CATs into the battlefield. A moment later, the battlefield burst into a sea of fire.

  John buried his face into the ground as shock waves and a wall of intense heat rushed over him. The ground beneath John shuddered from the devastation nearby as if an earthquake were inflicting the planet. The comlink within his helmet could only emit a buzz as its perceivable level was breached by the boom that ruptured the surrounding air. Moments passed before the blast settled down to a number of localised fires. It was then that John raised his head from the dust to view the aftermath. The sloping plan that fell away towards the Tick Station was scorched black, and the incinerated ground was littered with thousands of small piles that still smouldered. He turned his head to see what became of Sarah and found her still standing there, only her face wore a sinister grin. John turned back to the battlefield to see if any of the Warrians survived, and all he could see were chard remains.

  From the sky, the remaining troopers returned to ground just outside the blackened ring that surrounded the Tick Station. John saw that less than half the strike force remained. The Warrians had in a matter of minutes significantly diminished the Strike force, but Sarah’s tactic had totally wiped out the Warrians. A moment too soon and the mortar fire would have had taken too long to reach its target giving the Warrians enough warning to escape. A moment too late and the Strike Force would have been completely destroyed. Sarah’s timing was perfect.

  Out of the slight breeze came a haunting chant. “Zard un tor, zarn un tok. zard un tor, zarn un tok, wan wan zarn un tok......” The song came from the black before them. Finally he could perceive the source - thousands of black shapes moving out from the edge of the blast area. It was the Warrian victory war cry that John could hear as the Warrians advanced to finish off the Strike Force. Half of the Warrian army had been destroyed by the mortar fire but it was not enough, they still outnumbered the Strike Force.

  Sarah sent the encoded message to Ryan to let him know that time has run out. She took a few paces down towards the battle then removed her helmet allowing her shoulder length blonde hair to escape. She turned back to John and the gunnery team and said, “Today would be a good day to die, don’t you think?” Not waiting for a reply, Sarah drew her energy sword and charged down the hill. John laid there stunned and confused as the gunnery team left their post to follow their commanding officer into battle.

  **********

  Their passage to where Kim Lee was held was interrupted a number of times as that area of the Station was more active. Fortunately they were able to avoid being discovered and soon came to the corridor that led to Kim Lee’s cell. The three pressed themselves against the wall at the entrance to the corridor as Adam quickly glanced around the corner. He immediately pulled back and whispered in the comlink in his helmet. “Four, two guarding the door and two coming this way.”

  Ryan turned to James and said, “Stay close to me.” James nodded in reply.

  They moved back from the corridor T intersection as Adam readied himself to fire. A moment later Adam stood only a few metres away from two massive armour clad Warrians. This was the closest he had even been to a Warrian and he was surprised by how massive they were. A millisecond later, Adam shot a lethal beam of energy that severed the Warrians in two. Ryan quickly positioned himself to just shy of the corridor intersection and fired a beam at an obtuse angle at the opposite wall in the joining corridor. The beam deflected of the wall and down the corridor and would continue deflecting off the walls until it hit something.

  Adam paused a moment then charged down the corridor, gun blazing. He took only a few steps before stopping as the occupants of the corridor laid in a bloody mess on the floor. Ryan quickly followed him with James in tow. James noticed that he had stepped in the dark ichor that flowed out from the Warrian bodies. He paused for a moment to give the nearest Warrian carcass a swift kick then spat on it, “We come in peace, NOT!”, and proceeded to follow Ryan down the corridor.

  Adam positioned himself opposite the cell door and began to cut the door away while Ryan positioned himself as before beside the door. When Adam finished the cut Ryan booted the severed door in and stepped aside as Adam stormed in the cell. With his gun trained Adam scanned the cell for hostiles and found only one occupant. She huddled in the corner of the small bare room with her arms wrapped around her knees. Her long flowing black hair blended with the black body suit that she wore as her face remained hidden behind her arms and knees. A stern female voice distorted by fear came from the cowering figure, “If you are going to kill me, then make it quick.”

  Adam lowered his weapon and stepped up to her. He reached out his hand and said. “The only thing that I promise to do quickly is help you escape.”

  Kim Lee raised her head slowly in confusion to see the figure that stood over her. Behind the visor Kim Lee could see a human face. Instantly, revelation filled her tortured heart and she leapt to her feet and hugged the stranger. “Whoever you are, thank you!” Tears poured from her eyes as deep sobbing struck her.

  Adam pulled Kim Lee away from his shoulder and brushed away her long silky hair to see her face. Before his eyes was the vision of an eastern goddess. Her skin was like alabaster that formed the foundation of the angel like features that adorned her. Two deep brown eyes as clear as a new born baby’s stared back at him and underneath was a small Asian shaped nose and lush ruby red full lips. Her lithe twenty five year old body and pert chest left a lasting image in Adam’s mind. He paused for a moment as her beauty disjointed his train of thought. “Don’t thank me just yet, we still have to get out of here.”

  The sound of a familiar voice drew Kim Lee’s attention to the two behind her deliverer. “Kim Lee, Kim Lee...” She broke from Adam to run to her father’s outstretched arms. Their embrace was as intense as two people could physically bestow as tears flowed and sobs poured out like a dam that’s burst. “I never thought that I would see you
again.”

  “Me too.”

  “I’m sorry to spoil the reunion, but we have a date with a ship that is about to sail.” Ryan stated.

  Kim Lee found the voice vaguely familiar looked up to see the man standing beside her. She examined the face behind the visor and said. “Uncle Ryan, is that you?”

  Ryan smiled, “It’s been a while.” She reach out an arm and pulled him in on the embrace. He relinquished momentarily then pulled away.

  James pulled away from his daughter and wiped away her tears. “Come now, we must be strong. We still have to get out of here.”

  Kim Lee nodded in reply.

  Adam approached the doorway and quickly poked his head around the corner, then retracted it. At the same time, several energy blasts struck the wall beside him.

  Ryan was quick to ask, “How many?”

  “Enough for a large scaly convention.” Adam replied as he returned fire down the corridor to the right.

  Ryan joined him at the doorway and covered corridor to the left. He moved his head as close to the doorway as he dared to see if both exits were blocked. Two blasts struck near his head to answer his inquiry. “Looks like we’re are boxed in.” He said as he returned fire.

  “Any ideas on how we get out of this?” Adam asked as he ducked a blast that was a little too close.

  “Nothing is coming to mind.” A bleep sounded within Ryan’s helmet. “Shit!”

  “What now?” Adam asked.

  “It’s Sarah’s signal. We have to get out of here now!” Ryan exclaimed.

  “What do you think is beyond that wall?” Adam pointed at the corridor wall opposite the doorway.

  Ryan replied. “Whatever it is, it has to be better than here.”

  Adam stood back from the door and increased the power level of his gun to maximum, then aimed at the far wall. Ryan stood aside as Adam braced himself against the recoil. A thick pulse of energy darted across the corridor and ruptured the wall on the far side. A hole one and a half meters in diameter was punched through the wall as chunks of debris flew in all directions.