by Saxon Andrew
• • •
Eve and her personal force of 100 bodyguards moved in on the most heavily defended target on the planet. There were another four thousand Assault Warriors with her as they fought their way toward the giant spaceport. The spaceport had thirty ground disruptors inside its perimeter and these disruptors could fire at targets on the ground. Her armor’s computer was programmed to track those thirty huge weapons and alert her forces if any of them were swiveled to fire on them. Eve’s bodyguards were the best Assault Warriors in the fleet. They were the ones that rushed out and opened lanes into the huge facility. The city around the spaceport was on fire from the blasts of the massive disruptors.
The Assault Pods could do little to take them out. Each disruptor’s force field was powered by a massive array of huge nuclear reactors and they extended to within six feet of the ground around them. Getting close to them was fraught with danger. The only thing that made it even possible to try was the huge barrels of the disruptors could not be swiveled quickly. Eve’s armor was different from the other warrior’s armor. She had the incredibly fast speed of her father and she was strong enough to carry a heavier load of weapons.
Eve was crouching behind a blown out armored cannon and her bodyguards were scattered around her moving when necessary to avoid the disruptor beams. Eve said, “Seven,” and her communicator connected her to a Battalion Commander of Assault Warriors located directly across the sprawling spaceport. “Colonel Russell, open fire in ten seconds and then get your warriors out of there.”
“Yes Sir.”
Eve counted it down mentally and saw the Dark Energy beams erupt on the other side of the spaceport. The six huge disruptors a half a mile in front of her started swiveling their giant barrels toward the attack and Eve left the cover she was hiding behind. Her bodyguard used their tactical guidance programs and fired on anything that moved in front of them. Their scanners tracked the other giant disruptors and they prepared to move quickly to evade any that moved toward them. The line of ground bunkers in front of them began exploding as Eve crossed the open field at a blinding speed.
Eve focused on her tactical and used her armor’s scanner to determine what path she was going to take to the disruptors. Six rounds being fired from the left and five heavy blasters from just to the right of center. She swerved right and the explosive rounds hit behind her.
Three of the heavy blaster beams hit but her force field shrugged them off. She swerved back to the left as the enemy reloaded to fire again and then she dropped to the ground as a wave of beams and high explosive round flew over her. She was up in an instant and firing her DE Heavy Blaster directly in front of her. The six bunkers went up in massive explosions blinding the enemy trying to get a shot at her and, in an instant, she was under the first giant disruptor. She raised her right arm and squeezed her fist.
A magnetic bomb shot off her back and stuck to the wall of the disruptor as she ran out from under its force field and under the force field of another disruptor. The enemy warriors couldn’t fire on her without hitting the huge disruptors and they didn’t dare risk causing one of them to explode. There was a quarter of mile between each of the six giant buildings that housed the massive weapon and Eve crossed the distance between them in less than five seconds. She literally jumped between the last two as every enemy warrior and weapon fired at the ground they knew she was going to cross. She landed under the last disruptor and released another magnetic bomb. She jumped above the ground and gripped the wall of the giant disruptor as hundreds of enemy warriors ran toward her.
The mental timer she had running in her head reached zero and she smiled. The first disruptor tower exploded with a massive explosion and the concussion knocked all the enemy warriors off their feet. The last disruptor’s force field protected her from the blast and she dropped off the wall and ran out from under the force field. She ignited her boot thrusters as the shockwave rolled in behind her and she flew out barely ahead of it. The shockwave from the destruction blew through the bases of the other disruptor towers and blew them away. They all started leaning and then they went up like a huge string of firecrackers in giant explosions. The six shockwaves built on each other and rolled across the giant spaceport blasting all the armored bunkers out of the ground and sent them rolling in the supersonic winds that rushed into the bases of fifteen more disruptor towers. Eve flew ahead of the massive shockwave and landed six miles away. Every assault warrior gathered around the spaceport had hit their boot thrusters with the first huge explosion and they landed in the ruins of the burning city surrounding the spaceport.
The Assault Warriors’ force fields protected them from the heat of the burning city and the debris blowing out from the spaceport. Every building still standing within four miles of the city was knocked flat. The Warriors fell to the ground as the first shockwave blew over them and remained there until the even larger shockwave from the destruction of the fifteen disruptors rolled out. It passed over them and in an instant the Assault Warriors hit their boot thrusters and flew to the edge of the spaceport, flying over the carnage being caused by the shockwave that passed below them. They set up opposite the opening where the six disruptors once stood and opened fire on any surviving enemy forces.
It was poor planning on the part of the enemy’s leaders by not having the entire disruptor covered by a force field. When the twenty-one disruptors went up, the shockwaves knocked out the bases of the remaining nine. They fell and exploded. The final disruptors were located at the far side of the spaceport eight miles away and the third shockwave didn’t have the force of the first two. Eve crouched outside the remains of the armored wall and saw five huge battleships move down from orbit and drop their transports. Now that the disruptors had been removed The Heavy Assault Warriors could make their presence felt. The Heavies dropped in and the end was anticlimactic. The surviving enemy forces had nothing remaining in their arsenal that would stop the Heavy Warriors and in less than three hours of fighting, the spaceport was taken.
Eve stood up once the heavies were down and punched her communicator, “Alright, move out. There are a hundred more disruptors in the major city forty miles away. They’re not as dense as what we faced here so they should be easy work.” The four thousand Assault Warriors called in their pods and blasted over the horizon. Eve was in a state of ecstasy. This is what she was born to do and she loved every minute of it. She wondered how Chris was doing for a moment and then focused on her tactical screen.
• • •
Once all the disruptors were destroyed in and around the giant capital city, the Heavy Warriors dropped in and the Assault Pods moved to replace the battleships around the three Senior Commanders in orbit above the city. The destruction that was taking place in the city was clearly visible from orbit and Chris felt joy at the carnage that was taking place. The Warriors were given direct orders to stay away from the Central Government Building located in the center of the metropolis. That building would be taken last. The confirmations of the third target’s destruction had rolled in an hour earlier and Chris’s smile grew with each passing moment. He began to grow impatient to take the Government Center. He tried to distract himself by watching the massive explosions of disruptor towers across the northern hemisphere and he knew Eve was having the time of her young life. He hoped she wouldn’t take any foolish risks and he was shocked later when he learned about her attacking six-disruptor towers single handedly. But for the moment, he felt huge satisfaction at what his forces were doing to the planet. They deserved every bit of it. After what seemed like years, he received the message he had been waiting on.
“We’ve taken the Government Center and have the Leaders captured. It is safe enough for you to come here.”
Chris smiled, “Barbie, take us down.” He looked and saw Jinks and Allison’s pods were dropping into the atmosphere with him, “I think I can handle it from here.”
Jinks said, “I wouldn’t miss this, Sir.”
“Suit yourself, A
dmiral.” Barbie spiraled down and landed just outside the giant building in the center of the destroyed city. Chris jumped out of his cockpit and started walking quickly toward the blown out entrance. His four young bodyguards walked with him and kept their eyes on the rubble surrounding the building. One of them blasted a sniper with his heavy blaster but Chris ignored what was going on around him and only had eyes for getting into the building. Allison and Jinks followed him and saw an expression on his face they didn’t recognize.
• • •
Chris walked through the blown out opening all the way to the inner chamber. As he entered the room, he saw twenty bronze colored beings standing at the front of the room. Ten Heavy Warriors had them covered with their hand blasters and it was obvious that they were frightened. Chris walked up in front of them and removed his helmet. He thought, “Which one of you sent the ship to attack my planet?”
He listened to the thoughts of the twenty beings and heard, “We begged him not to do it. We told him he was being foolish but his arrogance was more than we could overcome.”
Chris’s head jerked toward a tall being in the back row of leaders that was looking at Chris with absolute fear on his face. Chris walked through the group of Leaders pushing those in his path to the floor and he grabbed the tall Leader by the throat. The others fell to the floor and prostrated themselves begging him for mercy. Chris lifted the Leader off the floor and everyone in the room heard his thoughts, “I was stupid! Kill me but please don’t kill my people!” Chris tightened his grip on the tall Leader’s neck and his expression was almost rapturous. The Leader’s pleas for mercy quickly stopped as Chris tightened his grip. Chris gave a squeeze and the entire room heard a pop as the Leader’s body fell away from his head.
Chris held the head for a moment and stared into the dead eyes before he swung his arm around and threw the head at the armored wall to the right. The head hit the wall in an instant and spattered. Chris pulled his hand blaster and said over his shoulder, “Order our warriors to kill every living being on this planet.”
He aimed his blaster at the other leaders and heard Allison say over his shoulder, “I have a much better idea.”
Chris turned around and saw she had taken off her helmet. He said in a raspy sneer, “What is that!?”
Allison looked at him and said, “Collect about a million of them and use the battleships to transport them to a holding pen on Earth. That way you could go out each day and squeeze the heads off ten or twenty of them to teach your son what kind of man he should grow up to be!”
Chris was on her in an instant and had his hand on her throat. She looked him in the eyes without fear and waited. Chris’s rage was overwhelming and he felt his hand tighten. She still showed no fear and after a moment he pushed her away into Jinks’ arms and screamed. Allison caught her balance and straightened up as she continued to stare at him. He pulled his hand blaster and pointed it at the leaders lying on the ground still pleading for mercy. He looked to the right where one of them was silent and he saw it was a female that was trying to hide a young child under her robe. She saw him look at her and her panic and fear took her as she curled around her child and closed her eyes.
Chris lowered his blaster and then lowered his head. He remembered Audrey sitting beside him weeping for the Fellowship crews that died when they attacked. He started slowly shaking his head and then lifted his arm. “All ships will stand down and reform with their fleets at the coordinates they skipped in from.”
Everyone heard a voice say, “Sir, we’ve not completed the destruction of our current target!”
Chris took a deep breath and said, “I am not accustomed to repeating my orders!” The Leaders on the floor grew silent. Chris took another deep breath, raised his head, and looked at Allison, “These are your children now. Teach them how to behave.” Chris turned and started walking out of the building.
Jinks shouted, “Chris, where are you going!?” Chris was silent and continued walking through the blown out opening. “Chris…!” Chris walked out of the building in silence.
Allison felt her eyes moisten and she turned to the Leaders still lying on the floor. She took a long breath and said out loud, “You can hear my thoughts?”
The Leader closest to her thought where everyone could hear, “We can.”
Allison said, “Two things; first, you will not build another warship. Second, you will never leave this galaxy. Do you understand!?”
“We do.”
“Don’t be confused by what just happened. I didn’t do this for you, I did it for him. I am sending probes out to keep watch over you. If you violate either of these sanctions,” She nodded toward the opening, “He will come back and finish what he started today.” The Leader’s glanced toward the opening and the Leader thought, “We will do as you order. However, how will we defend ourselves against an invader?”
Allison lowered her eyes, “You won’t. That’s part of the price of your stupidity.” Allison pushed a button on her arm and said, “All ground forces will stand down, board your transports, and report back in formation at the coordinates where we launched our attacks.”
A moment later, Eve appeared on her unit, “Where is First Commander Stone? I’m unable to reach him.”
“He is unavailable and has left me in command.”
“You can’t be serious about stopping the attacks!”
Allison’s face turned hard and she said, “Admiral Axel, you will follow your orders immediately or I will have you arrested!”
Eve’s face turned ugly and she forced herself to say, “Yes Sir.”
Allison looked at the Leaders and then turned and walked out of the room. Jinks and the Heavy Warriors followed her. They arrived outside the building and they saw Chris’s bodyguards standing in a group. Lt. Bigler looked at Jinks and said, “He ordered us to stay here.” Jinks and Allison climbed into their Pods and lifted off the planet. They arrive at the recall coordinates and found the fleets already in formation waiting for their arrival. Allison thanked the crews and warriors for their bravery and issued orders on where each fleet would go to rearm. It took three hours to finish the assignments and then Allison pressed her communicator and saw Jinks appear, “Admiral Jekins. Would you take over and get the fleets back.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to find Chris.”
Jinks nodded and said, “Admiral, what you did in there today was either the bravest or the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen. Which one was it?”
Allison sighed and shook her head, “It was a little bit of both, Sir.” Allison grabbed the flight controls and her pod went to maximum speed. Jinks watched her go and contacted Lukas.
• • •
Alley said, “Where did he go?” Allison felt her tears start and she put her head into her hands. “What’s wrong, Allison?”
“I stopped the only man I truly respect from getting closure today. I possibly harmed him more than he can bear and it’s all my fault.”
“Do you know where he is?”
“The only place he could go.” Allison switched all four reactors to power the thrusters and hoped she wasn’t too late.
Chapter Eight
Allison screamed through the void and entered normal space just outside the gravity limit. She slowed and entered Earth’s atmosphere and began the spiral down to the surface. Her display illuminated and Lukas appeared, “I’ve just spoken to Jinks and he told me what happened. I’ve been attempting to contact Chris since the call but he’s not responding.”
“Lukas, please wait and give him some room. You’ll only push him over the edge if you try to reach him now!”
Lukas stared at Allison and after a moment he said, “I need to talk to you as well, Admiral.”
“And I’ll meet with you later.”
Lukas stared at her and then the display went dark. Allison sighed and knew she would lose her stars over this but she didn’t care. She continued her flight to the surface and went to her
quarters. She changed out of her sweaty uniform and hastily walked out the front door. She walked past the dune and down to the sand and saw the beach recliners ahead of her. She didn’t see anyone on them and she stopped and shook her head. She was wrong. She sighed and started to turn around and then she saw an arm reach over and take a glass off the sand. She blew out a breath, composed herself and went over to another recliner. She grabbed the end of it and dragged it over beside the other recliner and sat down on it. She didn’t look at him. She simply stared out at the ocean.
He didn’t look at her. He stared at the ocean in silence. They stayed that way for several hours. Finally, she heard Chris say, “Thank you.” She still didn’t look at him but she nodded. He remained silent for another hour and she said, “Have you gone to see Michael?”
“No, not yet.” She looked back out at the ocean and soon the sun was just a sliver above the horizon. “I would have killed them all.” Allison nodded again. He looked at her with those intense blue eyes and said, “If I had done that, I would have lost my soul.”
“I know.”
“That’s why you said what you did.”
“It is. I couldn’t let you do that to yourself,” she paused and finished, “or to Audrey’s memory.”
“I came close to killing you.”
“It was a risk I had to take.”
Chris nodded and looked back out at the ocean. They sat there in silence through the night until the first rays of the sun broke the horizon. Chris sighed and stood up. He looked at Allison and glanced back out at the sea, “I’ve asked her to forgive me.”
“She already has, Chris.”
Chris lowered his head and nodded. He turned and said, “I need to go and see Michael. Thank you Allison.” He walked up the beach, crested the dune and disappeared. She felt her tears start in earnest and she wept for what he had endured. She remained on the beach until noon and then went to her quarters and fell on the bed. It just wasn’t fair. She cried until her fatigue took her.