‘We will be leaving the soldiers on the ground with no air cover?’ said Admiral Koshkov.
‘Once we are in orbit I will send Cobras to support them, Admiral,’ replied General Corder. His Russian counterpart, inclined his head to acknowledge the promise and order. Without further hesitation he and Colonel Jeffries, wheeled the Manhattan and Brooklyn around and being more agile than the Elanda and already in flight, they shot off to meet the incoming surprise attack.
On the ground the slaughter continued.
Chapter 28: Prisoners
Morrison and his men glided down to land on the top of the impressive Oneerion Royal Palace. The sun was just beginning to sweep across the plain and as Morrison skilfully manoeuvred his sky diving parachute, he scanned the targeted building.
The Oneerion Royal Palace was one of the tallest, most striking buildings you could ever see with its gold leaf finish catching the early morning light easily, almost caressing it in the wind. The team landed and efficiently detached themselves from the state of the art parachutes, moving swiftly to the access door and silently making their way down to the communication room. There was one guard on the door and he was quickly dealt with and when they burst into the room the enemy soldiers stood little chance. They placed charges all around the key terminals as outlined by Tian, setting the timers to go off to synchronise with the attack. A pleased Morrison then took his team down to the floor where the prisoners should be and waited. It was now just a matter of patience.
Leila woke up to find that Zylar was already awake and up, in fact she had noticed that the amount of time he slept was becoming shorter and shorter, it was as if he no longer needed the rest that sleep brought to function. She slipped on a dressing robe and walked into the main lounge, where she was surprised to see two Ilsid by the door.
‘Good morning, my dear.’ Zylar’s voice still made her shudder. Flat. Emotionless. Haunting. Leila knew that she needed to keep him on her side and went to him, slipping an arm through his arm as he gazed out of the window at the dazzling sun rise.
Then she saw it. A ship, a monstrous ship with two smaller ships hovering over it, like over-worried parents witnessing their child taking its first steps. She sneaked a quick glance at Zylar’s face as a thrill spread through her body. They had received the message!
‘Looks like your friends have arrived and…,’ he sniffed the air as if he smelt an exotic perfume, ‘…and I feel the presence of strong magics.’ Again her heart gave a leap.
Tyson…Tyson is here.
Hi, Mum. Leila nearly stopped breathing; quickly glancing up at the impassive Zylar who showed no indication he heard her son’s words. She was assailed with multiple feelings. Fear and hope all in one thought, Zylar must not know he is here.
In the Oneerion Royal Palace basement Tyson had sent out tendrils of his magic searching for his mother. The strength of feeling surging through Leila when she saw the ships had made the connection easier, although he would have found her soon anyway.
Son, it is so nice to hear your voice. Leila tried to keep it together but was struggling.
Are you okay? Are you injured?
I am fine, don’t worry, I am with Zylar on the eighteenth floor.
I am coming to get you.
Leila struggled with her emotions and then in front of the gates on the Skegus Plain she saw the ground collapse beneath the soldiers and tanks and then the explosions rip apart another column. She gasped in shock and raised her hand to her mouth. Her eyes watched the large ship as it began to lift off and in the distance specks of other ships could be seen.
‘Thank you for inviting the Blackstones into my trap,’ said Zylar coldly.
‘W-w-what?’ said Leila.
‘You don’t think I fell for that seduction game, do you?’ said a sneering Zylar. Leila’s heart dropped. She had been led into setting a trap that her rescuers had conveniently triggered.
‘The Skegus Plan is mined and booby-trapped and soon the Xonian armada will be destroying the once mighty Elanda, all because you thought you could play me.’ The sneer had gone, replaced by the cold heartlessness that she was used to.
‘By the way, if you are hoping that lumbering ox of a Malacca man is going to help you, think again. I had him served up at the Xonian’s dinner table last night,’ said Zylar, with some misplaced amusement. ‘They found him more than enough to satisfy their appetite.’
Leila wrenched her arm from his grip and gulped strongly to keep down the vomit that she felt rising through her stomach and up into her throat.
‘If you think you are going to be rescued, don’t bank on it.’ I have eighty thousand Ilsid warriors from all the races and the Xonians have also provided me ten of their destroyers to travel to Earth and lay the groundwork for the invasion.’
Leila was numb with shock.
‘Yes, my dear, thanks for warming my bed but you have just signed the death warrant of over six billion people. I couldn’t have asked for more.’
That was enough, Leila ran through the bedroom and into the bathroom to retch into the toilet.
What had she done?
Tyson in the basement monitored the horror of what was happening from others’ thoughts and the blue force-field sprang into life, the rage rising in his body, his face a cold mask but hiding every unpleasant emotion he could suppress. Amelia immediately saw the change, as did Bailey.
‘What has happened Tyson?’
‘Enough waiting, we are going, the attack was a trap and our forces are being killed for fun.’ There was increased determination on the seasoned soldiers’ faces; they had many friends in the ranks of the attacking forces.
‘What do we do?’ It was Bronstorm, his face white from the picture that Tyson had painted, shaking him. Tyson knew that meant nothing, Bronstorm would not hold back.
‘We follow our plan and rescue the human prisoners,’ said Tyson. There were no dissenters, with Zebulon rising from where he had rested, along with his personal guard.
Tyson led the team from the basement, and onto the ground floor. There were not many guards, with the majority on the front battlements. The few which were on guard, Tyson killed with precision.
‘Take us to the prisoners, Tian,’ he asked. Tian pointed to a door off the main impressive hallway, which was studded with some of the rarest jewels in the Universe and had the most exquisite floor and ceiling structure.
They headed for the door to the passage when a patrol of Xonian warriors halted their progress.
‘We will handle them, Tyson, just go,’ said Hechkle, gruffly. Bronstorm moved to the warrior’s side and a number of the other soldiers peeled off to support. Tyson acknowledged the gesture and the rest of the group continued on their way.
The patrol swelled as other Xonian soldiers seemed to materialise from the other rooms. Hechkle and Bronstorm did what their training taught them, they charged, taking the Xonians by surprise. Soon, with the small number of US Marines, they were deep in a struggle for survival.
The rest of the group made their way to a lift via a discreet doorway, though it didn’t look like a lift, simply a platform that was on the outside of the building, covered by a glass front. Tyson thought the lift would send them hurtling up but nothing like that happened. Tian entered some numbers and the usual teleporting pull experience engulfed them. Before they knew it they were on the eighteenth floor.
Tyson launched himself out of the lift, straight into four Xonians. Before any could react, two were dead, then the other two were taken out by Bailey and Amelia.
There she was!
Leila, now dressed, was under the escort of two Ilsid soldiers. Zylar was in front of her when Tyson came hurtling around the corner.
‘You,’ Zylar snarled.
Tyson didn’t reply, sending his razor-sharp seckle directly at Zylar’s head. He easily ducked and fired a number of shots, two which caught the soldiers flanking Tyson. Both fell to the floor dead.
Bailey let go two shots, which the
two Ilsid fended off. Zylar ordered them forward and he grabbed Leila’s wrist and dragged her to one of the lifts – similar to the one they had travelled up in.
Zylar pulled her onto the platform, leaving the two Ilsid to defend, closed the door and set the co-ordinates to match with the floor where you could access the Transportation building.
Tyson ran forward, raising his right hand seckle to block an attack by one of his adversaries and then plunged his second seckle into the Ilsid’s side, killing him. No sooner had he completed this move, his right seckle had cut the throat of the second Ilsid.
The rage was bubbling within him and he let out a great roar when, having flung the lift door open, he found his mother and Zylar gone.
He turned to Tian. ‘Do you know the coordinates to where they have just gone?’
‘They can only go to the floors programmed in the lift. You can track the last floor where the teleport occurred.’ The Oneerion didn’t wait for the order; he knew it would come and looked at the readings, ‘Its level two, which takes you onto the connecting corridor to the Transportation building.’
‘Right, we need to go after them,’ said an increasingly angry Tyson.
‘Tyson, what about the prisoners and the Oneerion royal family? We have to rescue them?’ said Amelia, holding Tyson back. His mind was not on the other prisoners or royal family.
‘Tyson, you promised Kabel…Delilah?’ was Amelia’s questioning approach. The soft play of her words breached the fog of anger and he remembered back to his promise to Kabel. He made a split second decision.
‘Okay. Bailey and Amelia you go with the rest of the troops and free the prisoners and take them to the level two floor. Zebulon, you and your guard come with me. Tian, can you key in the coordinates to the floor attached to the Transportation building?’
‘Yes, I can also collect and take King Yi and his family to a safe haven, once I send the prisoners down to the level two floor,’ said Tian. ‘He is unlikely to be guarded but I may need a weapon,’ he asked. One of the soldiers passed him a spare gun.
‘We shouldn’t split, Tyson,’ Amelia pleaded.
‘I am going with you, mate,’ said Bailey.
Tyson shook his head as he climbed into the lift with the Changelings. ‘Look after my girl, Bailey,’ said Tyson, firmly and Bailey relented, remembering his vow to his friend. Within seconds Tyson had teleported to the coordinates Tian had programmed. The rest of the group, led by Bailey, made their way to the floor above.
Bailey climbed up the stairs with two of the remaining soldiers beside him, and as they turned the second corner they came face to face with a gun. The shock was only fleeting as the resolute features of Lieutenant Morrison were behind the gun, which dropped to his side once he saw who it was. His eyes scanned the group.
‘Where is Tyson?’ Bailey brought him up-to-date with what was happening with the attack. Morrison shook his head at the news, and then quickly made up his own mind.
‘We continue as planned. There are only two men guarding the human prisoners, with another six soldiers down the hall in the guardroom.’ He split the team up, with Bailey and Amelia attacking the two men guarding the prisoner quarters and Morrison leading the attack on the guardroom.
‘Go,’ he directed. They went round the last corner at a run. Bailey took aim and took one of the guards out immediately, the other managed to return fire, before one of the SEALs caught him with a fatal shot. Morrison went pelting past the door and crashed into the guards piling out of the room at the end of the corridor. He took two men down and then the rest of soldiers were on top of him and he reverted to his knife, which he used to good effect.
Bailey blasted the prison door open and raced in, only to be met with a wall of screams that stopped him in his tracks. There were many women in the room and he noticed children. Children? What?
‘Delilah, is Delilah here?’ said Amelia, who stepped from behind Bailey into the room and dropped her weapon to her side, Bailey did the same.
‘Bailey, Amelia, is that you,’ said Delilah. Both Bailey and Amelia were dumbstruck. They had not seen Delilah since the battle at the Southern Palace but the change in just under a year was amazing. They faced a beautiful young woman, her face framed in silky black hair, a face so open, vulnerable and pure that Amelia was initially stunned. She heard Bailey suck in his breath; it seemed it just wasn’t her who was struck by the change in Delilah who ran to her and gave her a big hug. Amelia returned the hug and then gently pushed her away.
‘Hi, Delilah, we are here to take you to Kabel.’ The young woman’s face lit up at Kabel’s name and Bailey found a little jealously creep into him, until he realised it was more a sisterly fondness that he saw.
‘Kabel? Where is he? Is he alright?’ said Delilah.
‘Yes, looking forward to seeing you again. Now can you all pack up, we need to get out of here as soon as possible.’
The prisoners didn’t need to be asked twice. There was a mad scramble as they packed a few clothes and items. Amelia noticed the three young toddlers and like Bailey was surprised. Delilah saw the look and shook her head, making Amelia hold asking the questions she wanted and not make any comments. There would be a time to catch up later.
‘I’ll take that,’ said Bailey, removing the bag from Delilah’s hand. Delilah gave him a winning shy smile and Amelia, watching the exchange, missed nothing.
They all exited the room. Morrison and the other soldiers joined them after overpowering all the other guards and Tian took the group to the nearest lift to teleport them down in two groups. Tian waited until all had teleported safely before pulling out the unfamiliar gun from his waistband and travelling down to where his King and family were locked away.
Chapter 29: Mass Destruction
The photon missiles crashed into the Manhattan sending Admiral Koshkov crashing into one of the consoles. The battleship, like the Brooklyn, was buffeted by the intense firepower of the new ships, still some distance away and still issuing lethal payloads.
Trap. How could they be so gullible?
‘Return fire,’ he ordered.
‘Sir, we will weaken the force-field, not sure the ship can take the hits,’ said the soldier manning the controls in front of him. Admiral Koshkov steadied his body that swayed with the multiple hits, he knew it was the strong zinithium barrier that had saved them.
‘Soldier, if we don’t attack at some point, the force-field will fail. We attack.’ The soldier saluted and returned to his controls just as another two missiles slammed into the ship.
‘Patch me into the Brooklyn and Elanda.’ He was joined by Colonel Jeffries and General Corder, their faces on the split screen.
‘We need to attack or they will pummel us to death,’ said Admiral Koshkov.
‘I have a plan,’ said General Corder and then hesitated knowing what the reaction would be to his crew on the deck before continuing, ‘We need to use the atomics.’
The cautious Admiral Koshkov sucked in his checks and the usual unflappable Jefferies paled, although they were expecting the order. The crew on the three Command and Control decks held their breath.
‘We have not tested since injecting the zinithium to the bombs,’ said Admiral Koshkov. Those near General Corder carried on their tasks to take the Elanda into orbit to face the incoming threat, with one ear on the conversation. General Corder knew this and he also knew his office meant that he had to make the hard calls.
‘We have no choice. When those ships close in on our position they will have the strategic advantage.’
Admiral Koshkov, even after their recent disagreements, couldn’t help but admire the American and helped him make a swift decision.
‘We will make you some time.’ The conversation was at an end and the two officers signed off, gave the necessary orders and the Manhattan and Brooklyn closed in on a headlong collision with the enemy attack. General Corder ordered ten of the Cobras to launch to protect the troops left behind.
On the g
round, Kabel had made contact with Tate in the column behind them. Out of the twenty five levitation tanks, only twelve remained, with the Venings sent from the Xonian star cruiser, strafing the troops and tanks creating a field of death.
Kabel calculated that before the trap had been sprung they were in range of the heavily damaged city wall which meant that with a concerted push they could threaten the city and nullify the Venings’ attack. They would not fire into their own troops surely?
‘Kabel, the gates!’ It was Tate over the communication link. Kabel twisted his head to look out of the tank vision field and saw streaming out of the gates, around twenty thousand Xonians, with the objective to crush the remnants of the force sent to defeat them.
‘Tate, pull together the troops, we need to head on a direct collision.’
‘That’s suicide, we can’t fight off the Venings and defeat this army,’ said a disbelieving Tate. Beside him Belina was shaking her head also in disbelief. Kabel hurriedly explained his idea and Tate reluctantly saw the logic. They fed the commands through the remaining officers of the depleted troops and soon the twelve remaining tanks and the soldiers raced towards the advancing Xonians, skirting the hell holes that had consumed their fellow soldiers.
The Venings continued their attacks and the Expeditionary Force fought back. They had lost nearly three full columns but these were all battle hardened veterans and they pressed on with grim determination as the high velocity bullets from the Venings tore into them.
Kabel’s tank took a massive hit and slewed to one side, crashing into the ground. Kabel and Gemma were thrown against their cockpit strappings. The driver in front of them smashed his face against the console, stunning him instantly. The soldier behind them, loading the gun, had his neck broken when his body was flung to one side.
Zein: The Homecoming Page 28