“I’m returning to the Abyssal Explorer. I have something important to deal with,” she explained.
Gab Delinei a psionic from the Abyssal Explorer emerged from a flash of blue light. Xyniea stepped over to the psionic as Gengei stood to confront her. “We still have a mission to finish!” he said.
“We’re not doing anything right now.” She nodded to the Vorcambreum psionic, and he channeled energy from his implants to teleport up. “Don’t worry, sir. I will be back. Call me if you need anything.”
The two vanished, leaving behind blue light. Gengei returned to his seat, still frustrated. Odelea’s slender hand gently patted him on the shoulder.
“We’ll get through this, Commander,” she said.
………
There was an awkward silence between Jazz and Onatiasha for the rest of the day. Neither spoke much, and both avoided being in the same room together. As the day turned to evening, the situation slowly changed. Onatiasha’s orange eyes now and then fixed on Jazz’s arms when she walked past him, and Jazz’s eyes spent more time than normal on her chest.
Zhinbryo, Onatiasha, and Kroshka spent much of each evening getting used to human entertainment, especially movies on Blu-ray disks. Star Wars was their favorite. Zhinbryo wasn’t interested at first, but as time went on, he couldn’t help watching the saga unfold despite not understanding English. Onatiasha and Kroshka periodically provided him quick translations.
Chidorli sat, her legs folded, in an upper bedroom. Her hands lay gently on her lap as she closed her eyes. Meditation, Jazz figured as he walked past her doorway. A coffee mug was firmly held in his hand, filled to the brim with a steaming hot caffeine drink. Booze wasn’t an option tonight. Besides, his body felt cold from the excessively powered AC unit. He stood and curiously watched her for a few seconds before noting a lightning flash from the window. A storm must be coming.
Chidorli’s eyes suddenly shot wide open. Her breathing became heavy as she shouted, “Nakakidosya Radiance prilomo!”
Jazz shouted down the staircase, “Hey, guys, what does ‘Nakakidosya Radiance prilomo’ mean?” To his surprise, he pronounced it exactly as she did. The caffeine must be working.
“It means, ‘Radiance is coming,’” Kroshka replied from below.
“Why do you ask?” Onatiasha shouted back, concern in her voice.
Chidorli exited the room, panicked, and ran past him and down the staircase.
“Well, Chidorli yelled it and then started to trip out.” He took a sip of his coffee, trying his best to stay calm. “Please tell me we’re not about to get fucked or something.”
Jazz heard Chidorli’s voice from the living room below talking to the three in a frantic state. He looked down the staircase to see what was going on. All four were gathered together as Chidorli pointed toward the outside.
“Are we good?” Jazz asked.
Suddenly, a barrage of bullets entered the cottage, shattering the windows and riddling the walls and furniture with smoking-hot holes. Jazz, without hesitation, dropped to the floor, his hands covering the back of his head to protect himself from falling debris and glass. His chest burned from the coffee that splashed all over him.
More shots were fired, this time at the lower level of the cottage. This was good for Jazz but bad for the Hashmedai downstairs. Jazz stood up and made a quick dash to a locked cabinet in front of him. He produced the keychain for the cottage, utilizing the second key to unlock the cabinet and reveal a hidden gun locker. His weapon stash from his vigilante days was still there waiting for him—AR-15 rifle, twelve-gauge shotgun, and a HeP30 pistol. Lock and load.
He returned to his original spot near the staircase, staying low. The shotgun was strapped to his back, the pistol stowed away in his back pocket. The rifle lay in his hands as he looked below. His Hashmedai friends stood at the far end of the kitchen, Onatiasha and Zhinbryo in the process of suiting up in their battle gear. Kroshka took cover behind Chidorli, who created a force field around them. The barrage of weapons’ fire continued, bouncing off Chidorli’s force field and doing no damage. However, with each passing second of the force field taking hits, Chidorli became more and more stressed. Deflecting each shot put a heavy energetic burden on her.
Onatiasha and Zhinbryo finished gearing up, as indicated by the sound of their armor and plasma swords powering on. Onatiasha stepped forward, muttering something to Chidorli while raising her left arm. In an instant another energy shield formed directly in front of them as Chidorli ended her force field. This time Onatiasha was protecting the group. The device on her arm extended a large shield in front of her, blocking all bullets as everyone positioned themselves behind her.
Onatiasha noticed Jazz at the top of the staircase and shouted, “Jazz, Chidorli will bring Kroshka to you. Protect her with your life!”
He replied, “Other than a coffee burn, I’m fine. Thanks for asking!”
Blue light enveloped Chidorli and Kroshka, and they vanished only to rematerialize behind Jazz. He fell backward, not realizing what was going to happen. Chidorli smiled and winked at Jazz before teleporting back behind Onatiasha.
Keeping her arm forward, Onatiasha slowly stepped toward the balcony entrance while her right hand held her charged plasma sword. Chidorli hovered both hands just above a blue and green glowing square on the lower back of Onatiasha’s combat armor. Blue energy exited Chidorli’s cybernetic augmented hands and entered the contraption—her battery pack perhaps? The bullet fire came to a stop. The attackers must have known it was pointless to waste ammo at this point.
Jazz and Kroshka moved to the bedroom by crawling on the ground. Jazz positioned himself just underneath a window, signaling with his hands to Kroshka to stay low. More weapons’ fire was heard, but it was time to peek out and see what’s going on. Jazz peered through the bottom section of the shattered window to scan the battlefield. Four individuals took cover behind trees in the nearby forest, wearing black combat armor. They were firing the same kind of rifles the Radiance, as shown in all the news broadcasts, had been using.
Jazz was about to take aim when he noticed more weapons’ fire that didn’t’ come from the four. From the left, four more targets came out of hiding behind trees. One attacker, a human-looking person with scales on the back of his neck, exposed himself too much while trying to take shots at Onatiasha’s shield. Jazz placed the target’s head directly in the middle of the crosshairs of his scope. He fired off three rounds, and three rounds bounced off the target and created ripples of blue light.
“Fuck off!” he exclaimed, ducking out of view.
“What is it?” Kroshka asked.
“They got some kind of damn shield.”
She crawled over to him, despite him repeatedly telling her to stay put. She reached out to make contact with the magazine of his rifle while the other hand grasped her pendant. Closing her eyes, she focused, and the magazine glowed blue as the sphere within her pendant emitted bright light.
“Try again,” she said, smiling.
Jazz raised the rifle’s magazine to his face to closer examine it. The blue glow was slowly dissipating. Whatever she did, there’s probably a time limit. He didn’t have time to ask her. He once again peered through the window via his scope, and the target from earlier plus three others looked directly at the bedroom window. They know we’re in here.
Now or never, he thought and pulled the trigger. A hail of psionically enhanced bullets exited his rifle, shredding the Aryile target’s chest apart and painting the green grass below him dark red.
The adversaries returned fire, shooting in Jazz’s general direction. He took to the ground to avoid getting hit, but no bullets came at him. He looked at Kroshka, whose eyes were closed and hands extended forward. Her pendant was still radiating light. She placed a force field around the entire wall of the bedroom. He stood up to examine her handiwork—bullets impacted on the barrier. One of the attackers pointed at him from down below, while calling to his comrades for assistance. He
pointed right back at them…with his middle finger.
Onatiasha let out a smile as she saw an Aryile ranger fall over dead at the hands of Jazz. “Zhinbryo, Jazz got one of them before us,” she shouted.
“So this is a competition?” Zhinbryo raised his two-handed plasma sword and checked the battery status of his suit. “I will show that human how a real warrior does combat.”
Like with the Radiance Union, Hashmedaian combat armor heavily relied on its battery packs to operate. The batteries for Radiance Combat armor, however, served one major purpose—defense via a personal shield to protect the wearer. Hashmedai, in contrast, relied on plasma weaponry to do combat, as such a large portion of their batteries transferred wireless energy into their offensive capabilities. Personal shields were just not an option among Hashmedai forces, with the exception of guardian arm-mounted shields. Even then, those shields covered only a limited area directly in front the user.
Onatiasha’s battle-ready mind zeroed in on the two Linl, one Javnis, and an Aryile who ran toward the side entrance of the cottage. She turned to Chidorli and ordered, “Watch our backs. We have hostiles entering the building.”
“Understood,” Chidorli said, turning to place a small energy wall behind them while canceling the energy transfer to Onatiasha’s battery. Doing so was probably too much energy drain for her mind.
Onatiasha’s focus was now squarely aimed at the three remaining adversaries who remained outside the cottage—two Linl and a Rabuabin. “Chi, Zhin…standard attack pattern. We’re taking these three out.” Onatiasha ran toward the edge of the balcony, her left arm still raised to maintain the wide energy shield in front of her. Her glowing orange eyes saw how far down the ground was from the balcony.
“Chi, if you don’t mind please,” Onatiasha urged.
“Right away, Commander.” Chidorli shut her eyes to focus on the next task at hand—jump-porting the three down below. The three walked away from the flash of blue light and toward the sworn enemies ahead. Onatiasha’s body charged forward at them, while repeated weapons’ fire repelled off her extended shield. Zhinbryo followed behind, using Onatiasha as cover. Chidorli’s body rose to the sky via her telekinetic skills to gain a better vantage point while conjuring a protective barrier around her.
The corner of Onatiasha’s eyes caught a glimpse of Chidorli’s cybernetic implants glowing blue and radiating with power as her arms lifted high in the air. The air directly above their targets began to snap freeze, giant razor-sharp icicles appearing above. With the aid of her telekinetic powers, she forced thousands of icicles to rain down upon them at the speed of bullets, impacting on their shields. Their shields couldn’t take much more of the pounding and shorted out.
Perfect timing, Onatiasha thought as she closed in on one of the Linl. Zhinbryo leaped into the air, aided by the jump jets mounted to his exosuit. A quick burst of blue rocket fire propelled him forward and twenty feet in the air. The Linl on the far right was directly beneath him as gravity took hold him. His demise was quick, as Zhinbryo slammed his sword into the ground as he landed. The Linl ranger’s body was split in half from the top down. One half fell to the right with bloody and burned internal organs exposed while the other side went left, leaving a pool of blood in the middle.
The remaining Rabuabin and Linl quickly focused their attention on Zhinbryo. He was exposed with no protection. Onatiasha reacted by shifting her left arm away and pointing her sword directly at the Linl she was charging toward. The sword’s short-range tractor beam was activated. A blue beam of light reached out to the Linl, pulling him against his will to Onatiasha toward the edge of her blade. Blood violently squirted out the exit wound on his back as the tractor beam dragged his chest into the sword.
One target remained, turning tail and running. No matter, that could be dealt with later. The remaining four after Jazz and Kroshka were now top priority.
A loud thud was heard from down below. Someone had kicked in the door, and it sure as hell wasn’t girls selling Girl Guide cookies. Jazz ran to the edge of the bedroom entrance, where he could partially see down the staircase from an angle. Radiance soldiers were pissed off that he had put down of their own. One took point and walked up the stairs—he had large head with four eyes and a lizard-like appearance. Jazz quickly examined his magazine to see if it had anymore of the good stuff Kroshka had put in it. It did.
Jazz sprayed the area toward the staircase with the charged bullets. The four-eyed lizard man fell backward, one bullet having severed his hand. The remaining three returned fire, but like before, all shots hit a barrier cast by Kroshka, who was definitely efficient in her talents. The weapons’ fire came to a stop, and the sound of movement followed. They must be regrouping. Jazz turned his head and nodded to Kroshka. The barrier vanished, allowing him to quickly move toward the top of the staircase.
He took a quick peek to see what had become of his newfound enemy targets. The lizard man was on the ground, still alive but in a world of pain and bleeding out. The rest were nowhere to be seen.
A barrage of white fireballs entered the kitchen from the balcony, and screams of terror were heard, followed by a small explosion and the sound of fire crackling…and spreading. Chidorli floated inside, as nobody was shooting at that point.
Jazz and Kroshka made their way down the staircase, making their way past the wounded lizard still at the bottom. Jazz’s hand whipped behind to grip the pistol in his back pocket. He stepped past and put three bullets into the back of the lizard man’s head and then moved toward Chidorli as if nothing had happened.
Kroshka and Chidorli spoke in their language as Jazz observed the damage to the cottage, most notably the massive inferno now consuming the whole kitchen. Alisha’s going to be pissed. On the floor were the remains of three heavily charred bodies—the remaining intruders. Nice work, Chidorli.
One rifle belonging to the attackers was on the ground next to Jazz. Might come in handy, Jazz thought as he acquired it. Onatiasha and Zhinbryo entered from the balcony entrance, both dripping in enemy blood.
“We need to go,” Onatiasha said.
The smoke detector emitted a screeching beep. The fire was spreading fast, and the safe house was officially no longer a safe place to be.
“I hope y’all didn’t trash the van,” Jazz said.
Xyniea stared at the burning human structure for several minutes after coming out of hiding. Fury was in her eyes. Her fist clenched hard, turning red. This made it twice Kroshka had evaded an ambush led by her, and this time, seven Celestial Order members lost their lives.
A blue bolt of light appeared behind her—the backup she requested. Too bad the battle is over. She turned to see a few of her partners in crime, Za Colei, and Ary Aexei and the psionic Gab Delinei.
“You are late,” she said to them. She turned her head to the left and spoke in the Hashmedai language, “You are late as well.”
Nodevar’s appearance materialized from thin air to her left, and her late back up quickly drew their rifles, aiming it directly at his head. Xyniea held her hand up toward them, signaling them to stand down.
“Looks like I missed the fun,” Nodevar said, gazing at the burning building.
“Where is Lettielia?” Xyniea asked.
He turned to her. “Laughing somewhere like a lunatic—she finds it amusing you had two chances and failed to kill them.”
“How many attempts have you made to terminate Kroshka?” Xyniea asked. Nodevar simply grinned. “When you finally manage to track her down for the first time, let me know.”
“How’s your beloved general?” he asked.
“In cryo,” she replied. “The medical staff is not confident they can save him.”
“Cryo stasis until you can transfer him to a world with better medical staff? That’s cheating.” Laughter erupted before he continued. “Well, nothing personal about that attack—it was just business.”
“I couldn’t care less if he lives or dies. He is no ally to the Order. But next
time you pull something like that, have the decency to tell me beforehand.” Her body leaned closer to him. “I don’t like surprises.”
“On that note, the command ship is en route to this world,” Nodevar said. “I suggest your associates take cover to the designated cities if you plan on staying down here.”
“I know. The Abyssal Explorer has been tracking it.” She stepped toward the psionic, facing Nodevar once more she added. “Just make sure you and Lettielia are ready when the time comes.”
Chapter 14
The fleet docked within the Hashmedai command ship was lit up and active. Blue light from the tractor beams no longer held anything in place, so all ships were free to move out once the order was given. Twenty destroyers, fifteen frigates, twenty corvettes, ten carriers, ten scout ships, and fifteen stratosphere frigates floated in formation before the bay doors of the main hangar.
Hashmedai destroyers were the heavy hitters of this navy, often used to take down Radiance Union capital ships or glass planets from orbit with the aid of their massive forward plasma cannons. Due to the size and power required of the plasma cannons, the ships were capable of attacking only targets directly before them.
During large-scale battles, frigates took up formation beside destroyers, which provided support. The plasma turrets that surrounded all sections of a frigate were nowhere near as powerful as the destroyers’ main cannons. However, when multiple frigates combined their firepower together on one target, even commanders of the strongest Radiance Cruisers had to re-think their actions. The turrets were able to quickly acquire a target with pinpoint accuracy. Even plasma missiles fired from Radiance ships could be targeted and shot down, and then the ship re-targeted and fired on within seconds.
Corvettes were much smaller compared to the other capital ships, often operated by a crew in a small cockpit, as opposed to a bridge bustling with officers taking on various command duties. These ships were used to transfer supplies and personnel between ships, or to deploy or extract ground forces from planets below. Small plasma guns were mounted on the two sides of the ships to take down enemy infantry or harass smaller, lightly defended ships. Of course these weren’t the only ships able to transport ground forces.
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