“Ray, we just can’t. We don’t have the power.”
“A line has to be drawn, Sarah. We can’t sit this one out. I can’t.”
“They’ll kill all of us, Ray.”
“Then we’ll die trying! For Brother Cavil, for Reverend Marcus, for my daughter and all those people who died because of this!” Ray punched a nearby terminal, smashing the front panel. His eyes were literally flaring.
Sarah smiled weakly and nodded. “Then we’ll die trying, Skipper.”
“Now, do you remember anything about the Cavils’ notes?”
Sarah narrowed her eyes. “I bet I can remember the order of the stones Reverend Marcus talked about when he was working on Serhmana.”
“Good, do your best,” Ray touched Sarah’s face gently. “It’ll be all right.”
Sarah nodded and pulled the stones out of her backpack. She opened the data pad she’d taken from the meeting room to Reverend Marcus’s notes focusing on the Arinar.
“Captain Samir,” Ray turned to the seasoned soldier who had watched the entire exchange in silence.
“Yes, Ray?”
“I want you to coordinate the bridge. Restore whatever systems you can with anyone you can muster.”
Captain Samir raised his brow. “You have something in mind?”
“Yes, but first, we need this ship to move fast, before that bald freak show fries us.”
Captain Samir nodded and issued orders. Within a few minutes, the surviving, disarrayed bridge personnel were back at their stations, trying to get the ship in shape to move.
“Lieutenant Jong!” Ray barked and the one-eyed man saluted. “I want you to divert all the power to the engines.”
“All, sir? We don’t even have lights.”
“I know—” Ray stopped when the lights on the bridge came back online. “See, the Light has heard you.” Ray wondered if Brother Cavil would like the sarcasm. “We are back on track. I want everything diverted, even the life support. We have one shot at this.”
Lieutenant Jong looked surprised. “A shot at what, sir?”
“It’s better if you don’t know yet,” Ray winked, sending the man to his station. “Good work with the power,” Ray said as Captain Samir came back near him.
“Compliments of the engineering team. We won’t have weapons or shields but we’ll have the main thrusters in a minute or so. They make these beasts durable, you know.”
“Good to know.”
“Now, what’s in your mind?”
“That moron gave me an idea while he was patronizing.”
“Yeah?”
Ray patted on Samir’s shoulder with a smile. “We’ll blow the gate.”
“And how do you plan on doing that with one super-dreadnought without weapons?”
Ray’s smile broadened. “You won’t like it.”
“Oh, Lord…” Captain Samir’s jaw dropped. “You’ll blow the ship.”
“Well, if you’re gonna die…”
“Then die with your boots on.” Captain Samir laughed. “This has turned out to be an interesting day.”
“Captain!” Lieutenant Jong called from his station.
“Yes?” Captain Samir turned to face him but Lieutenant Jong meant Ray.
Ray shrugged at Samir and earned a smirk. “What’s it, Lieutenant?”
The one-eyed lieutenant’s face was stern. “The radar and the main display are back online, Sir.”
“Good. What does it show?”
“The Worm’s turning around, Sir. It’s coming for the kill.”
***
“Push it, Jong!” Ray barked, his eyes fixed on the radar. The big triangle, representing the Worm was turning slowly and Ray knew if they stood before it when it completed the maneuver, they would be toast.
“Sir, the main thruster’s still offline, we’re moving with the maneuvering thrusters.”
“Then maneuver faster, Jong!”
Deviator was the faster of the two ships, being smaller. Much smaller, Ray thought. But with the damage the super-dreadnought sustained, they were like a few men rowing a warship in an ocean.
“We’re too slow,” Captain Samir said with a wary voice.
“I know! Jong!”
“The main thruster’s back online!” Lieutenant Jong said with joy.
“Great, now move us out of the way, Jong. I don’t want to end up as fried chicken!”
The battle worn super-dreadnought moved with pace, thanks to its main thruster coming back online and not a moment too soon. A few seconds later, a mechanical sound, as if the computers were screaming, echoed in the bridge and a huge beam of light brightened the breached points in the hull, passing right by the ship.
“How much power does that thing have!” Captain Samir had his hands pressed on his eyes.
“Much!” Ray said. “At least it missed!” He looked back at Jong again. “Lieutenant, push it! Toward that Saturn gate. Everything to the engines!”
They were gaining distance and the Worm was almost out of firing range now. It took several minutes before the behemoth fired its main gun and it gave Ray the time to execute his plan. Soon, they were out of the battle zone and on their way to the ringed planet. Through the hull breach he could still see the Worm in the distance like a tiny dot, but the battle over Earth was now farther than the eye could see.
“It looks peaceful from here, doesn’t it?” Sarah said, coming near Ray.
“It does.”
“I’m done with the stones, Ray. I can’t even begin to scratch the surface of Reverend Marcus’ knowledge, but I tried my best.”
Ray nodded, “That’s more than enough.”
“He took some notes.” Sarah scrolled through text on the data pad she held. “Without all the stones active, the link will be weak, but it’ll still carry the force of the other Arinar. The Lohil’s like an unlimited power source for the stones. He amplifies their individual abilities to the point of a massive outburst,” she quoted.
“So, they’ll work.”
“Seems that way. Mara’tthane was the lock stone. Perhaps it means we can’t bar them away for good. But they still should work as a weapon.”
“Thanks, Sarah,” Ray said.
Sarah leaned her head, narrowing her eyes. “You won’t use the stones,” she said.
“No. Not unless I have to.”
“You’re letting that Baeal get into your head.”
Ray turned from the gap and leveled with Sarah. “You saw what the Ijjok had shown. What if it’s true? What if I call that…whatever that was to this plane? We can’t even fight Baeal and they, in all their might, were looking for a hole to hide from that thing.”
Sarah didn’t say anything, returning to the Arinar sitting near the tactical map.
“Sir!” Lieutenant Jong yelled over his station. “We’re near the gate.”
“Good. Now I want you to—”
“Incoming!”
“What?” Ray turned to see who was shouting but he saw what he was shouting about first. A new red dot had appeared on the map, right in front of them, coming out of the gate. He rushed to the console to look closer at the signature, then turned back to the main screen to see the actual thing.
Another planet-killer was coming out of the gate, its huge legs appearing from inside the swirling pool of darkness.
“We can’t best it, Ray. It would be a damn ugly battle even if we were in top shape.”
Ray hadn’t realized Captain Samir stood beside him.
“Lieutenant Jong,” Ray turned to the one-eyed man. “Activate self-destruct.”
“S-Sir?”
“You heard me, do it.”
“I can’t, Sir.”
“Lieutenant?” Ray raised his voice. “Now’s not the time.”
“Sir, I can’t because I need Admiral Conway’s authorization codes.”
Ray felt the blood rushing at his cheeks. Fool, playing it doesn’t make you the real captain. He scratched his face. “All right, can you overload t
he engine core?”
“We can try.”
“Do it.”
Ray hoped the engines would overload before the enemy ship was out of the gate in full. If they realized they were facing the Deviator, they could easily fire a salvo to finish the job.
“Sir, the reactor will overload in two—”
A mechanical noise as if the ship itself was howling echoed through the bridge and Ray was blinded. No matter how he tried to block the light, he couldn’t. The light penetrated through his hands and his eyelids. It hurt. Gods knew, it hurt a lot. Ray heard screams. Was it his own voice or someone else’s? Sarah was calling for him but her voice was distant. Was she crying?
Ray risked opening his eyes. To his surprise, it was almost pitch dark. Everyone was afloat, dead or alive, around the bridge. He watched Captain Samir’s body fly toward one of the bigger breaches near the far end wall. To his luck, the separately powered force field was still active, not letting him fly away into the deep cold of space. Still, it was a hard hit. The man looked unconscious, or worse, dead.
Ray looked around in fear, realizing Sarah was nowhere in sight. He tried to turn around frantically but he couldn’t. He felt a sharp pain, the shock running through his right leg. His leg was stuck—he’d punctured a hole in one of the floor panels. It had kept him from flying away, but he was sure his ankle was broken.
Then he saw Sarah. Her eyes were closed and her face bloody. Her body was afloat, arms open. She looked as if she was underwater, slowly drifting away.
“Sarah!” Ray yelled. Yelling hurt, but he didn’t care. “Can you hear me? Sarah!”
She didn’t respond. Ray felt his tears and looked around helplessly, trying to find a way to free himself, then watched Sarah drift away into a dark corner of the bridge and disappear. “Sarah!” he cried out.
Ray raised his head to look through the newly formed gap above the bridge. The Worm wriggled, coming toward them. It was much closer than he last remembered. He turned his head, ignoring the pain, and looked out through the smaller gap on the other side of the bridge. The second planet-killer was out of the gate and hovering over the Deviator.
Then he saw them. The four Arinar. They were sitting on the half-torn tactical table. Unscratched, undisturbed. They weren’t afloat. It looked as if the stones were glued to the table’s surface. He felt them calling his name. They were longing for his touch.
He looked down at his ankle again and his jaw tightened. Ray pulled his leg with all the strength he could muster. He pulled and he screamed. Oh Light, he screamed! More than a scream, it was wailing, but he managed to free himself and pulled himself toward the stones, holding on to anything fixed to the ground he could find.
He came near the stones but hesitated. Sim’Ra’s words about Her echoed in his thoughts. His warnings. He turned back to check with Lieutenant Jong, see if there still was a chance to overload the engines. Lieutenant Jong was nowhere to be seen. His station was under a collapsed beam, occasional metal computer components flying around lazily. Ray saw Darty, the cat, pushing itself clumsily toward where Sarah flew.
Then he saw the beam of the monster Worm brightening in the distance.
“Let this end!” Ray reached and touched Yrrha.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
THE POWER OF THY SWORD
First, a sense of calm, safety, when he touched Yrrha, as if the Arinar was trying to soothe him. It said, “It will be all right.” Then it was Ijjok’s turn. Ray felt as if he was seeing everything that had ever happened and would ever be. He could see, even hear the ongoing battle over Earth, transports leaving the planet for safety, children crying as their mothers held them in fear.
When it was K’ta’s turn, he felt the touch of a thousand universes, overwhelming his mind with their presence. Suddenly, he was aware of life around him in a way he’d never known existed. He saw worlds of beauty, worlds of despair and worlds that died eons ago, all screaming his name in glory, billions of souls cheering the name of Lohil. He sensed another pair of eyes, a thousand eyes, turning towards him but ignored the feeling.
And finally, he touched Serhmana. Now, he saw those worlds bowing before him. The universes bent before his will. He saw planets reshape, stars re-align in his name. Serhmana was searching, using Ijjok to locate its target and carry the will of Lohil. Ray felt Serhmana asking him what to do.
And Ray whispered, “Baeal.”
Beams of light erupted from his eyes and mouth, washing him in bright red. It covered the bridge first, passing over everyone and everything it touched. Serhmana was hunting.
The cleansing light of Serhmana covered the dying husk of Deviator and then jumped on to the planet-killer, hovering above the super-dreadnought. Ray felt the Baeal screaming in pain and protest inside the ship. The enemy ship fired but the beam was blocked by Yrrha’s shield, just as it had stopped the devastating fire from the Worm, dissolving harmlessly.
The red light was now a cocoon, wrapped around the planet-killer. It squeezed the ship, tearing it apart piece by piece. Ray watched the ship turn into scraps in mere seconds. Serhmana’s light didn’t let a single piece escape its grasp. When it was done with the planet-killer, there was nothing left.
Ray saw the Worm in the distance turning away from the super-dreadnought, but he knew it was in vain. Serhmana’s light reached the enemy mother ship in a flash and washed it with its devastating power. The screaming inside Ray’s head was an orchestra, playing their masterpiece in crescendo. Ray knew he was destroying a race but he didn’t care. He hadn’t started this war with Baeal, they had. And now, they were paying the price.
It took about a minute for Serhmana to destroy the Worm in full. It didn’t look so intimidating now, being eaten by a divine power he summoned, no matter how much it tried to hide behind its black smoke. Ray felt the stones’ joy through the bond, but he also felt longing. They were searching for their brother, Mara’tthane.
Ray tried to say he was sorry but the stones understood and comforted him. Serhmana promised it would cleanse all the galaxy of Baeal’s taint. If Mara’tthane was around, it could have barred anything from bleeding into his realm forever. But K’ta assured him the Baeal were a dying race and Ray was ensuring their eradication.
About a minute later, Ray felt Serhmana talking to him, “It is over, brother. Now, we have to rest.”
“You can talk,” Ray said.
“No, you can hear.”
“But the gate’s still here.”
“You asked us to remove Baeal and we did. You have to destroy the gate. Without our brother Mara’tthane, we cannot cut the connection.”
“Thank you.”
Ray gently pulled his touch from the Arinar. He looked around the bridge, trying to figure out what to do. Everything was dead except the force fields. No way could he overload the engines or arm weapons without the controls being active, no matter how much energy the ship had. Ray put his hand back on Serhmana.
“Brother?”
“I know you’re tired, but I need one more thing. I apologize.”
“You are family. No need to apologize.”
“I want you to overload the ship’s core.”
“I cannot protect you from the power of Arinar,” Yrrha joined the conversation. “You will die.”
“It’’ll happen soon anyway, no life support, no oxygen. Maybe that’s for the best. No Lohil, no danger from Her,” Ray said.
“She will come, brother. She heard your voice.”
“The thousand eyes...”
“Yes.”
“Just do it.”
Serhmana sent an assuring feeling over the voice and Ray felt the power building up inside the stone. A second later, the red beam flushed over his body and covered the super-dreadnought one more time.
“It is done,” Serhmana said. “It will be over soon. We will miss you, brother. Until fate reunites us, farewell.”
“Thank you.” Ray pulled his hand off and pushed himself toward where he last saw Sarah
.
“Meow!”
“There you are.” He found the cat, still trying to swim toward Sarah. He caught Darty with his right arm and helped the poor cat move. Sarah was a few meters ahead, floating. Ray tried to slow himself by grabbing a console with his free hand and came near Sarah, managing to stop without hitting her. He checked her pulse but couldn’t hear anything.
Darty put a paw on Sarah’s cheek and looked questioningly at Ray.
Ray kissed the cat’s forehead gently. He heard a growling from the below decks, feeling the ship tremble. Ray gripped Darty firmly. “It’ll be over soon, Darty. It was one hell of a ride.”
Then he heard the noise of a powerful explosion from somewhere deep inside the Deviator. It felt like an earthquake. Ray closed his eyes, smiling. Then his eyes blinded by a brilliant, white light and his ears rang, deafening him.
***
“Meow!”
Ray opened an eye, “What!”
“Meow!”
“What the…” He was on the floor, Darty sitting on his chest. He turned his head around to see where he was. It was the bridge of Deviator all right, still looking awfully smashed. “If this is the afterlife, they sure don’t know how to market it. Ouch!” He felt the pain in his ankle. “Horrible, conditions…”
“I feel like a thunderbolt struck me in the a—”
“Sarah!” Ray turned to his right, ignoring the pain, and the protesting cat.
“Skipper.” Sarah opened her eyes and stared at the torn-apart ceiling.
“Sarah!” Ray gave a heavy sigh of relief. “I thought you were dead.”
“Maybe we are.” She raised her hand slowly, pointing at the ceiling.
“What?” Ray looked. There were birds flying. “Is that…sky?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“And those are trees. You can also see a mountain and a waterfall, and if you look through the other gap, it opens up to a nice lake.” Captain Samir walked near them, limping. “Rise up and shine.” He lent a hand for Ray and Sarah to stand up.
“Where are we?” Ray asked, looking around. “I’m guessing we didn’t die.”
“Uh oh,” Sarah murmured.
“What?”
“Did you blow up the gate?”
Shadows Bear No Names (The Blackened Prophecy Book 1) Page 37