The people on the surface below watched in horror. The river of ammunition being fired from every Remoran warship, and cruiser, had finally run dry, and the relentless beam of the gravity weapon pushed on. The bright white light began to cut through the fleet, and it was so swift, and sudden, the beam only had been active for half a minute, before its beam touched every remaining Remoran ship. Then, as soon as the beam ceased, what remained of the ships began to fall to the earth on Rayden, just as Minerva did. But this time, the skies would not be filled with dust or molten rock. All that would fall to the rolling hills, and the tide pools, would be millions of Remoran soldiers, and a major portion of the most technologically superior fleet mankind had ever seen.
We began to slide down the hangar bay floor as the hull split in half. The zero gravity did not last long when the hull began to fall through Rayden's atmosphere. At the end of the massive bay we could see the clouds that were stained the color of fire, by the suns setting over the bleeding horizon.
We fell down through the catwalk as the ship slowly began to dip to a vertical angle. With the Alexandria's engines no longer intact, we would eventually fall to the sandy beach, and the pillars of the desert below us. I managed to grab a hold of the gunship, and Virgil. We held on for dear life, as the Alexandria began to pierce the atmosphere of Rayden. A very large reserve tank fell out of its holding, and grazed our heads, which caused Virgil to lose his grip.
I was barely able to grab him again after the reserve tank collided with a warship. The warship was forced out of its restraints, and it began to fall through the bay, destroying everything in its path. I then activated the transmitter in my re-breather and shouted, "VIRGIL!"
"HANG ON, KID! I'M GONNA CLIMB UP! DON'T LET GO!"
His voice was the only thing I could hear, until we began to descend further through the atmosphere and closer to the planet's surface. An incredible force of wind began drifting through the open bay, and I looked down, as Virgil proceeded to climb up to me and into his ship. Debris was flying through the hangar, which was now falling at a vertical angle. We had breached the outer layer of clouds, and I could nearly see the surface below. Remoran cruisers were bursting, when they crashed into the beach, and the desert that surrounded it. Virgil stretched his hand out to me, as I slowly began to look back up. It was so hard to even tilt my head, because the force of the wind was so strong.
"TAKE MY HAND, COLLIN!" I took my free arm under intense pressure from the draft and slowly extended it. Even using all of my physical strength, I could not do it. I didn't even come close to reaching him.
"I CAN'T! THE WIND!"
"I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT! BELIEVE, KID!" I closed my eyes and focused. My arm began to glow brightly, I quickly snapped my arm up to him, and he pulled me into the ship. I remembered that I was so much more than just a normal man. The force the wind created made it easy. I just manipulated it, and I quickly began to climb back into the ship.
Within the cabin of the ship the deafening sound of the draft finally ceased, somewhat. I then slid to the middle of the cockpit, where Victoria sat in the passenger seat. Virgil climbed over the controls and began flipping the switches.
"Shut that damn door, kid!" I stood up and reached for the door button, but I fell back onto the windshield when debris from the breaking hull took off the door. I coughed up blood onto the windshield, and I stared down, vertically, as the surface was getting closer by the second.
"Why aren't we moving!" I shouted.
"Kid, clear a path! I don't have time to disengage the lock!" I turned over, pressed my hand against the glass, and blasted away the restraints that held the ship in place. The ship began to fall through the bay, but it wasn't quick enough, Virgil was desperately trying to jumpstart the engine.
"Come on, baby! I need you now more than ever! Come on!" The thrusters kicked in just as the falling hull had breached the last layer of clouds, and the surface was clearly visible. The Alexandria was falling towards a massive red clay pillar that stood a thousand feet tall at the edge of the beach wall. Virgil pushed the accelerator all the way forward, and he quickly navigated through the many obstacles of the crowded bay. "PUSH IT! PUSH IT!"
Victoria and I grasped onto whatever we could hold, as we shot out of the bay. Virgil pulled up on the throttle, and I was thrown from the windshield, to the back of the airship. We barely scrapped the edge of the giant clay pillar, as half of the Alexandria collided against it. Virgil turned the ship around, and we finally saw the tragedy from a different perspective.
Half of the Alexandria crashed into the giant clay pillar, and completely shattered the natural monument. A landslide of red rock tumbled to the surface, as uncountable amounts of shards of debris fell from the sky in the background. I looked on as the golden sunset reflected in my empty eyes, and I watched as my world was once again ripped to pieces right before my eyes. A world I had worked so hard to maintain, a life I could be proud of, was yet again torn away from me by Arcoh and his Crusade. The sky had not fallen that day; it had been completely shattered by Arcoh, by our own weapon. He now had Mark, and my love to use against Eden. He did it, he outsmarted us. I wanted so much to reset the clocks and dismiss all that had happened.
Just then, when all seemed lost, a glimmer of hope arose somewhere in the shattered remains of my heart. A divine presence called out to me and I felt a warmth. It was the same warmth I felt inside of the Realm. While the others stared off into the distance, I stared at myself, and smiled, for destiny had finally presented itself, and I would be a fool not to embrace it. I would lead the Remorans and the Raydenites from the ashes, the very same I was born of.
This was not just for revenge; this was divine justice. For me, my destiny awaited, but my biggest battle would not be against the Kingdom or the fight to rescue Helena and Mark. I had to try as hard as I could not to be swallowed by the flames of hatred that Arcoh had sparked deep within my heart.
CHAPTER 17 - FALLOUT
A howling wind swept through those empty rolling hills, once filled by abundant activity, and harmony belonging to a race of mankind that had already been brought to its knees. A storm had been looming over the horizon. A soft rain began falling upon the plain, and then came the roaring of thunder. It echoed throughout the cratered, and scorched earth, of that once beautiful countryside.
Mountains had been crumbled; grass had been reduced to ash; and the soft, fertile dirt was now fragile rock. The Crusaders had made their light jump to the GDR core worlds, where Arcoh would prepare to unveil his final resolution. I stood outside on the balcony of the new Raydenite capital hall, burrowed deep into the mountain.
I stared out at the grey landscape that masked the bright summer night; even the planetary nebula had been blocked out by the calm storm clouds. My face, and my sight, were finally being cleansed by the soft, misty rain that began to inch its way over the mountain range.
I needed time away from that room, where the surviving Remoran soldiers and the Outlander military leaders debated on what their next move would be. Just then, I heard the stone door swing open behind me; it was Virgil. I found it amusing that he continued to wear the same ratty garments, from when we narrowly escaped the Alexandria: those green combat pants, and the tattered black shirt. I remember watching the remains of the Alexandria. The misty rain was dousing the fires that would have eventually turned the massive flagship into a pile of ash. Still, I found the smoke from all of the destroyed warships astonishing. It was a sight to behold.
Virgil found me, and was escorting me to a meeting between our people's new leaders. It was fleet admiral Victoria versus President Wright. I could hear Victoria's relentless banter echo throughout the tall granite hallways of the capital room. We followed the ever-burning green torches that were lit along the hallways.
"How can you sit idly by, while the man, and his army, who committed GENOCIDE against your race pushes on to destroy another!"
"We have to think about the good of our people, Admiral. If you,
and your soldiers, want to pursue the most powerful army in Eden, then be my guest. I do not want to see a single Outlander citizen in this hopeless fight against Arcoh's legions!"
"Well, you are going to, Mr. Wright," I said as Virgil and I walked into the consulate, where Victoria was pleading her case to President Wright. He looked across the sandstone table, and was shocked to see me. I think he was a little disturbed that I decided to enter the room so rudely.
"Collin? Surely you cannot be serious."
Victoria continued her pleading. "President Wright? We cannot win this war without the support of your people. Don't you want retribution for what they have done to your race! A man obliterates your home world, and you just sit there with your thumb up your—"
One of Zachary's generals slammed his fists down on the hard stone table and quickly stood up. His face was now bathed in the green-and-red light from the ever-burning torches around the circular room, which overlooked the destroyed plains, and had windows that were carved out of the stone from the mountain.
"That is enough, Victoria! No more blood will be shed in the name of the Raydenites!"
I stepped forward beside Victoria, who wiped the sweat away from her forehead. With the storm outside seeping through the stone windows at the far end of the room, it felt almost like a sauna in there.
"Then I will fight for them. Alongside the Remorans."
"Collin?"
"This is foolish, boy. You have no weapons, a crippled fleet, and no way of even getting off this planet."
"Who is this 'General Asshole' of yours, Wright? This is not your decision to make, cupcake! Nor is it yours, President Wright! I know for a fact that if we asked our Outlander brothers, and sisters, they would gladly die for a chance at their retribution towards these bastards. Mr. Wright, they have taken everything away from us."
"Like I said, you stupid kid, we have no way off this planet! Unless you want to scrape the remains of your flagship off the plains over there, and try and jump-start the engine." Victoria jumped out of her seat and punched the general in the face, sending him tumbling over the back of his heavy stone chair.
"Ever lost in a fight against a woman?" she asked him.
"No."
"Well, I am about to wipe the floor with you, after that smartass comment you just made about MY DAMNED SHIP!"
I held Victoria back as she lunged towards the general. Wright then spoke, and he slowly got up from his chair, and with this he caught our attention.
"Actually, Victoria, Collin, Virgil. General Casey?"
"Ha! 'Casey.' You have a girl's name." I laughed as I pointed to the general.
"Shut up."
"You shut up," I said back to him.
"Both of you shut the hell up; damn kids have no respect for authority. Let the president speak," Virgil said, and we all stared at President Wright, as a ray of the nebula's light began to shine through the parting of the storm clouds on the horizon.
"Collin, if there was a chance we could get off this planet, I might consider it. I know I cannot stop you from gathering volunteers. So maybe you are right, Victoria."
"I can get us off this planet."
"What can you do, Collin?"
"Once the weather clears, I will contact Father Cyrus."
"What can he do?" Victoria asked.
"He can give us a door. We just have to decide where we want it to open."
"I don't understand."
"A warp gate, Wright. Teleportation."
"Impossible."
"No, hardly. You must trust me on this, if you have ever trusted me before in your life. I know what I am doing. Now all you have to do is believe."
Zach and the others looked at me in that moment. It was significant. I never truly thought others could believe in me outside of the PGL; I have never been so wrong in my whole life.
"I'm with you, you dumb son of a bitch," Victoria said as she nodded to Wright, who smiled, and made his way over towards me.
"So here comes your moment, Collin. I'll tell you what. I want to see what we can do. You are right. I can't let it slide by anymore. We can't let it slide."
"No, we cannot."
***
[-
-The Hammer, En Route to GDR Space-
Beaten to a pulp, his uniform ripped, and his dignity destroyed, Mark was being dragged back to his cell, aboard a confined space in the Hammer. The Crusader guard opened the cell door and the two other soldiers tossed him in, on the cold, hard, floor, back into the cell he shared with Helena, who rushed over to him and held his head up to cease the blood that was pouring out of his broken nose.
"Any progress?" the cell guard asked.
"That one won't talk no matter what we threaten him with. He's one tough son of a bitch."
"Arcoh always gets what he wants; he wants those two to be left alone." The guards began to walk away continuing their banter. Helena tore a piece of her filthy shirt, and wiped the blood away from Mark's bruised face.
"You need to hold your head up," she said to Mark when she attempted to lift his arm up, but when she did, he screamed out in agony.
"Here, bite down on this cloth. Your shoulder is dislocated." He bit down on the cloth she wiped away his blood with. Helena then took Mark's arm, and popped his shoulder back into its socket. Mark began to sweat profusely, and once some of his pain had finally resided, he let out a sigh.
"My god. What were they doing to you?" Helena asked as she wiped away the sweat and blood from his forehead.
"I don't know how much longer I can last in this place, Helena. He is going to kill us both when his will is done anyway."
"We can never lose hope, Mr. Wyman. Collin and the others will come for us." Mark let out a slight laugh as he backed up against the wall of their cell, and clutched his arm.
"You are always so optimistic, Helena, even in the darkest of times."
"We have to be, Mark. Hope has always guided me. And for the record I would rather die with hope, then drown in misery."
"A nice sentiment." A door swung open in the dense hallway, and they heard a metallic clanging echoing through the hallway. Helena covered the injured Mark out of protection as she knew something bad was heading their way.
"What is that?" Helena asked with fear in her voice. The metallic clanging became louder, and louder, until a figure stood tall at the edge of their barred cell.
"Well, well. Long time no see," Silas said with an evil smile on his face.
"You stay away from us, you bastard!"
"What happened to you, Silas?" Mark asked.
"Ah, you mean my new body?" Silas looked down at himself. A metallic exoskeleton covered his entire body, like reinforcing the frame of a ship with metal. Because of the miracle of the Alpha Genome, normally exoskeletons were only used for those who had lost limbs, spacecraft engineers, and for super soldiers—like the GDR's Arcadian knights.
He could have just gotten a new spine, but instead, he decided that he wanted a superior mechanical body. The exoskeleton lined his legs, and raised his overall height by almost a meter. It extended through his spinal cord, across the main nerves in his body. His robot legs were complimented by a few main metal nerves that could be seen surging purple liquid through his skin.
"Thanks to that prick Jonathan, I almost died. The genome treatments would have taken months to repair my bones, and the sufficient nerve damage I suffered. That special gun he had, an armor-piercing pistol, I should have expected something like that from Virgil. So I decided I couldn't wait, and in a few hours my new metal exoskeleton—my brand new body—was constructed. I have never felt more superior in my entire life."
"It's a shame you didn't fall on our way to the Hammer," Helena said as she held Mark close to her chest.
"Well, Helena, I am quite the ambitious sort." Silas opened the door to the cell and promptly closed it behind him.
"What do you want, Silas?"
"Remember when we were on Arcadia, and Preside
nt Harris gave you those codes so we could exit Gannon's atmosphere safely with the Alexandria? You have the codes for the GDR defense network, and we need them to move forward with the next stage of our plan. Arcoh sent me to make sure that you talk."
Silas grabbed Mark by the shoulder and dragged him to the center of the room. Helena tried to hold onto Mark, but Silas was far too strong, especially with his new body. She lost her grip and clawed at Mark, fearing for his safety.
"No, what are you doing!"
"Relax, Ms. Roland. Stay back, or I will knock you unconscious again. Do you see this, Commander?" He pulled out a vile that contained a black liquid. The contents of which moved around, almost like tiny organisms were in it.
"Medicinal technology is quite something today, isn't it? Humans can live for as long as they choose to, and a man on the brink of death can be brought back to life with a simple injection if administered quickly."
He opened the vile and forcibly opened Mark's eyelid, as he dripped the black liquid into his cornea. Mark began to struggle, clawing in agony. The tiny nanomites crawled around his cheek, and they traversed the skin layer, by clawing underneath his eyeball.
"Don't struggle, old friend. You don't want the nanomites to travel to places that they are not designated. They are going to latch onto your brainstem, and you are going to tell me everything I want to know. Whether you like it or not. It is a far more effective form of extracting information than torture. Wouldn't you agree, Helena?"
***
[->President David Alexander Harris<-]
A New Divide (Science Fiction) Page 23