Universe in Flames 3: Destination Oblivion

by Christian Kallias

“That’s really heavy. I still don’t understand how you were put into this position, though. Not sure I could have taken that shot.”

  That was something Chase really didn’t want to hear from anyone, but he couldn’t blame Keera for saying it. Why had he fired? Why didn’t he kill Argos when he had the chance?

  “I . . . I was faced with an impossible choice, and . . . she asked me to.”

  Keera swallowed and stayed silent.

  “I wish I would stop having this nightmare though. I . . . I don’t understand why I get it every night.”

  “And you never had it before?”

  “No. What’s weird is that Sarah had that same nightmare. She described it to me.”

  “Perhaps that’s why you’re having it. It’s part of who she was, and your brain is clinging to her via that memory. I’m no shrink but I think it’s normal to cling to memories of the people we care for and have lost.”

  Chase reflected on Keera’s words. It did make some sense, but then why that one? Why not a real memory, one that belonged to him? Why would he dream her nightmare day after day? He wished it would stop.

  “How long was I out and how close are we to the Megara system?”

  “About six hours, and we’re still thirty minutes short of arrival.”

  “I wish we could get there faster. Argos will probably be gone by then!”

  “How do you know he’s there?”

  Chase still didn’t really trust Keera and was not in the mood to talk about his relationship with the Olympians.

  “Alright, then,” she said, sensing he wasn’t about to discuss the subject. “Want something to eat?”

  “That would be nice, yeah. Thanks.”

  She exited the cockpit. “Sure thing. I’ll get some rations and bring them back in a jiffy.”

  “Thanks, Keera,” said Chase, after sliding the cockpit door closed.

  * * *

  Ares ran halfway along the corridor and stopped suddenly. He turned around and watched Argos running towards him at lightning speed. He stopped in front of him and grabbed Ares by the throat. Ares tried to speak but Argos’ grip was too strong.

  “Have something to say before you die?”

  Ares looked at him defiantly.

  “Alright, then,” he said, as he loosened his grip ever so slightly.

  “Lockdown,” said Ares.

  A force field appeared and sectioned Argos’ left hand on the spot. He shouted in pain as blood spewed from his arm with every beat of his heart.

  Ares smiled but lost no time. He went to a nearby wall, tore off a panel and yanked two strong, metallic cables from it. The force field went down and so did most of the light in the corridor. He held both cables at Argos’ temples while he was distracted by his cut limb. An intense electrical current passed through his body and he shrieked loudly as more and more juice traveled within his cranium.

  Slowly and painfully, with jerky motion, he grabbed Ares’ left hand, diverting only a little of the juice through him as he did so. Argos had trouble calling upon enough strength to yank Ares’ hand away. The pain was excruciating and he clenched his teeth tightly, electrical sparks and lightning running over his dentition and between his eyes. Finally he mustered the necessary strength, yanked one of the cables off and thrust it in Ares’ abdomen, who received the deadly electrical current and dropped the other cable to the ground.

  Ares managed to swipe away the cable currently juicing him with a swift motion of his hand and took a few steps back.

  Argos’ rage amplified tenfold. The entire base shook in response. Sparks flew off many electrical components; paneling bent everywhere around them.

  Argos created a fireball in his good hand and used it to cauterize his wound. While doing so he felt something hit his face with little force.

  “Dropped something?” said Ares, who had just thrown Argos’ severed hand at his face.

  Argos’ red eyes shone so brightly that the light almost blinded Ares, who put his forearm in front of his eyes to protect his sight.

  Meanwhile, Argos slashed his good hand in the air vertically and Ares felt intense pain. He looked for his left arm but it wasn’t there anymore. He saw it impact with the ground.

  “Not so fun, is it?” said Argos, with pure hate in his glowing eyes.

  Blood gushed from Ares’ left shoulder. He put his other hand on the wound in an attempt to prevent the blood loss.

  “I don’t care. That’s one hand you won’t be using against Chase when he comes to take vengeance for Sarah’s death!”

  “Sorry to disappoint, Ares,” said Argos with a smile. He picked up his hand and put it back on his severed limb. An intense red glow formed between the hand and the forearm, and soon it was reattached. Argos moved his fingers.

  “I should have cut off your head!” said Ares, with blood now flowing profusely from his mouth.

  “Yes, you should have. Unfortunately, as much fun and surprisingly challenging as this distraction of a fight has been, your time is up.”

  Ares looked straight into Argos’ eyes and ran towards him.

  Argos smiled, prepared a fireball and threw it at Ares. Using every bit of remaining energy, Ares deflected the attack, slid to the floor between Argos’ legs and rolled back up to his feet. He resumed running back towards the communications room. He shot one fireball at the ceiling, collapsing some of it in his wake. In the room he went for a control panel in one corner and lifted a glass flap to reveal a large, red button, just as he heard Argos explode the rubble out of his way to come running in pursuit.

  When their eyes locked, Ares spoke. “Goodbye, asshole!” Argos understood Ares was about to hit some sort of self-destruct and shot a fireball at the controls. But Ares’ fist was faster and it struck the button full force before the fireball hit his hand and exploded it clean off, sending sparks and blood all around the panel.

  “Self-destruct damaged,” said a female voice through hidden speakers.

  “You’ve got to be—” But Ares never finished his sentence.

  When he looked down at his chest, he saw Argos’ arm impaling it, exploding his heart on its way through. Everything turned black. Death was upon him now. After millenias of living, with many good and bad choices, his last breath had finally been drawn.

  “Goodbye, Chase,” he said, before Argos removed his arm from his chest in a swift motion.

  Ares’ body fell to the ground.

  Argos snorted and smiled. He healed his wounds and walked back towards his ship.

  * * *

  Chase was eating the flash-unfrozen sandwich that Keera had brought him. It tasted quite bland but Chase was famished, surely a side effect of the powerful drug he had taken the night before.

  “How’s the food?” inquired Keera.

  “Do you want the polite answer or the truth?”

  “He he, I see. Sorry I didn’t have time to resupply with better stuff, as I was supposed to yesterday . . .” She paused briefly. “Can’t believe that piece of shit tried to . . .” She left the words hanging.

  “I’m really sorry you had to endure this on my account.”

  “It shouldn’t have happened. Tron’Tak was never friendly, but I never imagined this.”

  “I should have taken my ship back by force. It wouldn’t have been difficult.”

  “Why didn’t you?”

  “I dunno. I don’t like using my powers since . . .”

  “I understand.”

  “Still, let it be a lesson. I . . . I also was under the influence when I was supposed to meet you.”

  “From the drinks we had the night before?”

  “No, something called synthetized Kyrian snake venom.”

  “Wooooa! This is like the most addictive and dangerous drug in the universe. You should not touch this stuff.”

  “I’ve been warned but it . . . it felt good.”

  “Yeah, that’s the point of drugs.”

  “Right. I had such a nice dream when I was under. Sarah was
still alive, our son Chris was with us . . . It was just . . . perfect.”

  “Chris, huh?”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s how we would have named him if we had a boy.”

  Tears started flowing.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “So am I.”

  Keera didn’t know what else to say so she diverted her attention back towards her own sandwich and took a bite.

  Chase heard a voice in his head. It sounded like Ares. The voice said, Goodbye Chase. Chase knew exactly what that meant.

  His blood boiled.

  C H A P T E R

  IV

  Daniel entered the room and sat in front of Commodore Saroudis, already sitting at his desk.

  “How did your mission go, Commander?”

  “Nothing we couldn’t handle. A little resistance, but the F-147s have proven far superior to the Zarlacks in a dogfight.”

  “At least we can take a small comfort in knowing we have superior technology now, even though we’re probably still outnumbered for the time being.”

  “How are the shipyards doing?”

  “They’re churning out new Prometheus-class ships every week. I’ve also asked for upgrades to be made to the Destiny. It has stronger shields and firepower. It’s not as strong as the new ships but it should perform better now.”

  “Good. Any news from Chase?”

  “I’m afraid not.”

  “Look, Commodore, I’d like to ask permission for something.”

  “What is it?”

  “I’d like to ask Ryonna and Tar’Lock to try to locate Chase.”

  “I miss him too . . .” he paused. “But I don’t think he wants to be found.”

  “Still, he may need our help.”

  “I doubt that. And as much as it pains me to admit it, so far we don’t seem to be needing his. There’s no incentive to start looking for him at the moment. If he wants to come back, his commission is still open, indefinitely. I haven’t forgotten that the only reason we’re all alive, and perhaps even looking like we could be winning this war, is all thanks to him.”

  “Do you really think we’re winning?”

  “We sure don’t seem to be losing that many encounters lately.”

  “Perhaps the enemy is regrouping. It’s been three months. It’s entirely possible they have created new shipyards and are rebuilding an even stronger armada.”

  “I would be surprised if they weren’t. But in the meantime we’re building one of our own, with far superior firepower, mind you.”

  “Right.”

  “Look, we’ve even entered into negotiations with the Obsidian. They will most likely join the Alliance. That alone may push the other neutral powers to take sides as well, and soon the Zarlack will only have enemies. I don’t want to shout victory just yet, but if you compare our situation with how it was a few months back, I think it’s one hell of an improvement. In fact, I never thought we’d be where we are today. Not in such a short time.”

  “That has me worried also. It seems too simple and way too fast. Nonetheless, I can’t help thinking we could have ended this war if I hadn’t convinced Chase not to cut off the head of the snake.” Daniel looked down, a pit opening up in his stomach.

  “You did what you thought was right.”

  “What good did that do? It alienated my best friend, and now he’s gone and I don’t even know if he’s okay.”

  “Look at it this from this perspective: if he hadn’t destroyed Sarah’s ship, Argos would have gotten his hands on the technological edge we now have.”

  “How’s Spiros’ work going?”

  “Well, he stopped complaining about us blowing up his research, but since he’s the one who made all these advances, he went back to work and recreated the data. He had a good chunk of it also stored in his mind implant. He’s still struggling with some of his older work, but in some cases he’s even enhanced his original ideas. It’s all going well, really. The new ships being constructed now already contain the new multi-phasic shields and stronger plasma guns.”

  “There’s that at least. I still think I should have let Chase kill his brother.”

  The commodore stayed silent for a moment. “Perhaps. We will get him, though.”

  “Somehow I doubt anyone but Chase can deal with him.”

  “Argos is only one man.”

  “One Fury, a fact we should not take lightly.”

  “I’m not taking it lightly, believe me. But right now things are going well, so I’m not gonna worry about one man; especially since we haven’t seen any actions on his part that would even be considered dangerous.”

  “He has to have something up his sleeve. I don’t see him letting us retake the universe while he watches. Something is wrong here. We’re missing the big picture.”

  “Commander, you’re starting to sound like Chase.”

  “Perhaps. Still, can I please task Ryonna and Tar’Lock to search for him?”

  “You have his insistence as well, I see. Look, while I don’t think it’s a good idea, if it helps you feel better, then sure; but may I suggest you go along with them?”

  “I . . . I thought you’d need me here.”

  “I see how this is affecting you. Your wingman told me how reckless your flying seems to have gotten since Chase left us. I think it would do you good to be part of this. Settle your mind, blow some steam. I can spare you at the moment. If that changes, I’ll recall you.”

  “Thanks, Commodore, I’ll be going shortly.”

  Saroudis nodded.

  “No unnecessary risks, though?”

  Daniel flashed the commodore a thumbs up.

  * * *

  Ryonna opened the door at the signal. It was Daniel.

  “Hey, long time no see. Is everything alright?”

  “Yeah, mind if I come in for a minute?”

  “Sure, sorry, where are my manners? Please come in.”

  Daniel stepped into the flat and went into the living room. Tar’Lock was on the sofa watching some TV. He took his feet from the table when Daniel entered the room.

  “Hello, Daniel.”

  “Hi, Tar’Lock.”

  “We’re watching baseball.”

  Daniel smiled. These two had become quite the pair over the last few months. In fact, Daniel couldn’t remember seeing them apart. With Ronan training to become an officer in the Droxian army, she was probably glad to have a friend to spend time with. Ever since they had helped diffuse the near nuclear meltdown a few months back their help had not been required much. That was about to change, however.

  Ryonna followed behind Daniel. “Can I offer you something to eat or drink?”

  “I’m fine, thanks.”

  “Not that I’m not happy to see you, but what brings you here?”

  “I’d like to ask you two for some help.”

  “Finally, something to do,” said Tar’Lock, straightening up. “Don’t get me wrong. It’s okay spending time in front of the TV, but I get the feeling my brain is going to sleep after a while, like I’m getting dumber or something.”

  Daniel smiled.

  “What’s the mission?” asked Ryonna, clearly interested.

  “I’d like us to try to locate Chase.”

  “Do you think he wants to be found?”

  “I don’t know, but at this point I don’t really care. I miss him. I . . . I really don’t like not knowing how he is.”

  “I understand. Any idea where to start looking, though? The universe is a big place.”

  “Not a clue. I was hoping you might have some connections so we wouldn’t just wander aimlessly.”

  “I’ll make a few calls. Do we know where he went in the first place?”

  “I asked Yanis to track his F-147. Last his transmitter worked he was somewhere deep within Obsidian territory. But one day it just stopped transmitting. Here is his last set of coordinates.” He handed her a thin glass tablet.

  She studied it. “He probably disabled it, then.”

>   “Yeah, that’s what I think as well. Unless it was damaged.”

  “Can’t blame him. I mean, that’s just horrible, what he had to do. I’m not sure I could have taken that shot myself.”

  Daniel swallowed hard.

  “Yeah, I . . .”

  “Sorry, Daniel, I know it’s not something you would like to hear.”

  “That’s alright. What’s done is done. No sense worrying about things we can’t change.”

  Ryonna nodded and put a hand on his arm.

  “When are we leaving?” asked Tar’Lock, enthused at the prospect of doing something productive.

  “You tell me.”

  “As soon as I’ve made a few calls. But from the location on that star map,” she said, gesturing at the tablet, “I imagine he might have gone to one of the Ponos stations.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  “Last I saw Chase he was reckless, on edge, wanting to find a way to dim the emotional pain.”

  “I don’t think there’s a way to dim that kind of pain.”

  “I beg to differ. When my husband died . . .” She paused. “I wanted to cover the emotional pain by replacing it with physical pain. I started fighting for pleasure, just so that I could think of something else.”

  “Chase fighting strangers? Not really in his character.”

  “Believe me, you reach a point when you actually would do anything to forget or distract yourself from the pit inside your soul, eating at you day after day.”

  “If that’s the case, he might leave a trail of bodies behind him. I mean, who could take on Chase?”

  “Probably. Look, he’s hurting, and like you I want to help him, so I’ll call my contacts on one of the stations, see if he can dig something up. Give me an hour or two and then we should get going.”

  “Thanks, Ryonna. Both of you, actually.”

  “He’s our friend too. We wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for him. We’re glad to help. And, like Tar’Lock said, we’re getting a little tired of TV programming on this planet.”

  Daniel attempted to smile, but he was too worried to make it convincing.

  “Alright then. I’ll pass by later and pick you up with a shuttle. Commodore Saroudis allowed me to take the Iron Fire. It’s been retrofitted with better shields and weapons, and a few StarFuries as well.