by Stone,Kord
Eneria didn’t look happy with the plan but agreed and transported him to the surface. A few seconds later Jerren saw his brothers appear, and he was glad to see that they too had transported fully cloaked. Jerren chuckled and led the way all the while explaining what had happened.
Just before entering the temple Jerren asked, have either of you actually fired this weapon yet?”
Both Jason and Justin said no at the same time, and then Justin said, “My best guess would be that we control it with our minds. At least I hope it does because I’ve yet to find any controls or any triggering mechanism whatsoever. Without knowing how the weapons work for sure, I’d like to try the diplomatic method in bringing Osiris and Isis in.”
Jerren sighed, he wasn’t sure diplomacy was the way to go with this family but said, “Okay, we can try it your way, but keep your eyes open. Jason and I will cover you, if we have to use the weapons try to think stun first, and steadily progress if we have to. I’m on point. Jason, cover our rear and Justin keep your eyes open, let’s begin the sweep.”
*****
It only took ten minutes to locate their targets, they had to walk around people who were loitering about and once they made it to the chamber Osiris and Isis were in, Jerren and Jason fanned out taking in their defenses, and Jason said, “They appear to only have energy based weapons. When Justin appears, keep an eye on the guards, if any of them make a move, drop them.”
Jerren nodded and they each positioned themselves behind their targets so they would have a clear view of the guards in the room as well. Once in place, Jerren signaled they were ready and Justin holstered his weapon and appeared before Osiris and Isis.
Upon Justin’s appearance the room began buzzing with interest. One of the manacled slaves approached and whispered into Osiris’s ear. Without even gazing upon Justin, Osiris shouted, “Who gave you permission to address this court?”
Justin stood there a moment then said in a commanding voice, “Atum-Gebb and Atem-Tefnuit you’re to accompany me to answer for your crimes.”
Both Osiris and Isis laughed out loud then Osiris spoke again, “Who are you to command anything of a God?”
Jerren was getting nervous, and watched as Justin shook his head and coldly stated, “You are not a god. Nor are any of your kin. My authority is granted by the Imortum.”
This statement drew both Osiris and Isis’s full attention, and they both stood and stared in apparent stunned disbelief a moment before Osiris shouted, “Kill him!”
Jerren had been watching for any aggressive movements from the guards, but one of the guards must have been hidden and had their weapon trained on Justin, because a second later Jerren saw an energy discharge hit Justin in the back from a balcony. Noticeably irritated Justin shouted, “Surrender and accompany me now or I will be forced to take action!”
Justin had his hand on his weapon and when Osiris stood and commanded his guards to kill him again. Justin drew his weapon and vanished.
Jerren’s heart was thrashing, he had positioned himself to knock Osiris out if his weapon didn’t work and said, “Well you tried it your way, now we will do it the easy way,” Jerren took aim at Osiris and thought stun, and a moment later Osiris crumpled to the floor unconscious, “alright we were correct, think stun.”
A second later Isis drew a sinister looking dagger and pulled one of her slaves to her as a human shield while swiping the blade in all directions, and then Isis placed the dagger firmly against the girl’s neck. Blood was seeping from where the edge of the blade had sunk in to the girls neck and Isis said, “Leave here now, or I will kill her.”
Jason took aim and said, “Jerren get ready to heal the girl,” and within a second both Isis and the slave lay unresponsive on the floor.
Jerren knelt down holstering his weapon, the girl’s neck had been cut pretty deep, but it didn’t hit any major vessels. He placed his hands on the girl and remembering what Justin said about healing mortals, he focused on making the injury resonate until the wound at her neck was healed.
A few minutes later Jerren looked back and saw that a few of the guards were strewn out on the floor. Apparently while he was distracted, the other guards in the room had attempted to rush him, but Jason and Justin had incapacitated them.
Jerren called out, “Jason, I’ll get Osiris, and you can get Isis. Justin, remain cloaked and provide cover for our extraction.”
A new group of guards responding to the ruckus entered the room and began firing their weapons. Jerren approached and picked up Osiris, and then Jason holstered his weapon and scooped up Isis. The remaining guards not wishing to hit their ‘Gods’, ceased firing their weapons and apparently decided on the hand to hand approach for freeing Isis and Osiris.
Jerren and Jason headed for the exit and every few feet a new challenger would drop to the ground as Justin stunned them.
Jerren had to step over a few guards and both he and Jason had to physically move some of the fallen to allow for their extraction.
It took another fifteen minutes to reach the surface, and just before exiting, they were rushed by six guards. Justin dropped five of them, but the sixth made it to Jerren, the guard was attempting to grab Osiris, and Jerren hauled off and kicked him as hard as he could in the abdomen.
The man went flying and collided with the far wall then fell unconscious, then Jason, Justin, and Jerren no sooner popped their heads out of the temple with their prisoners when they were transported directly to their respective ships.
Jerren opened communications with his brother, “Jason, will you bring Isis over here? We can interrogate them on my ship this time.” The decontamination sweep had finished, and a moment later Osiris was transferred to the medical unit and placed into stasis, and Jerren headed for the control room.
Jason had informed them they would be over in a moment and Jerren turned to Eneria. “Now that we have them, we can start healing the people they injured.”
Eneria shook her head, “They are gone. Our probe was getting the detailed scans of their injuries, but when the girl vanished from here, all of the other victims vanished from the planet as well.”
Jerren nodded in understanding, “Okay.” He said figuring Inola saw to them as well.
A few seconds later Jason appeared with Isis draped over his shoulder and Jerren said, “medical is ready for her,” Jason carried her down the corridor and placed her on the bed and Jerren activated the stasis field.
“I want us all to be present for the interrogation,” Jason stated.
“Agreed, how long until Alise will be here?” Jerren asked.
“A few more minutes, she’s repositioning our ship and will be right over.”
Jerren nodded and was about to call over to Justin when he heard him down the corridor.
Alise arrived a few minutes later and they all stood surrounding Osiris’s bed.
Jerren looked around, “We,” he gestured between Jason and himself, “will do the same as before. The rest of you sift through their thoughts and try to locate Anubisis or see if they know of any weakness with the other ship. Everyone nodded in agreement and Jerren brought Osiris out of stasis first.
The moment Osiris’s eyes opened Jerren began the interrogation, “Atum-Gebb, what happened to the Lantin people?”
Osiris’s eyes snapped to him and Jason barked out, “Answer his question!”
Osiris’s head turned to Jason then back to Jerren. “I had nothing to do with that!”
“You assisted your family in usurping our ship TDS 5, what right did you have?!” Jason snapped.
Osiris’s head turned toward Jason and Jerren barked out, “Where is the rest of your Ennead?”
Osiris’s head began to snap back to Jerren when Jason shouted, “Answer his question!” Jason seemingly gave Gebb just enough time to turn to Jerren and continued, “Where is Anubisis! Why did your son defile our ship TDS 2?” Jason snapped.
“Where is Anubisis!?” Jerren shouted.
“Where is Sethis!?
” Jason shouted back.
“Answer his question!” Jerren shouted.
“Why were you acting like gods, you know it is forbidden!” Jason barked out.
Osiris then shouted, “Stop! You have no right to harass me or my family. You left the ships in our charge, and we did what we needed to with them. I won’t answer any of your questions. I will never tell you where my sons are, and you have no authority over my actions.”
Jerren was about to snap back at Osiris when Eneria said, “We can end this now. Osiris-Atum-Gebb does not know anything technical about the defiled TDS 2. I have his family’s locations however. Sethis and his sister wife are on Abnearu as we suspected. Horuisis is more than likely on his way or already in orbit there. And Anubisis is back on Earth.”
Eneria was looking at Osiris in apparent disgust and contempt as she continued her recitation, “Osiris-Atum-Gebb does not know that for their crimes his sister Enyali-Atem-Tefnuit, Father Gebb-Atum-Shu and mother Tefnuit-Atem-Nuit have all been found guilty and sentenced to death and executed in the method set forth by the Lantin people.”
Osiris looked livid and about to start yelling, so Jerren placed his hand on Osiris’s head forcing him to remain silent while he recited his crimes and handed down the sentencing, “Osiris-Atum-Gebb you and your family have been found guilty of the following offenses:
“Attempting to gain weapons of galactic destruction to ensure the subjugation of less advanced species.
“The deification of selves and other family members to rule supreme as deities over less advanced species.
“The willful and malicious torture and killing of an honorable and faithful steward of Imortum Time Dilation Ship 5 to gain supremacy.
“The sedition resulting in the genocide of the Lantin people.
“The torture and mutilation of innocents and less advanced species to force the servitude of less advanced species.
Jerren remembered Inola’s sentencing and repeated them exactly. “These crimes being so heinous in nature, only one punishment shall be rendered upon you, your wife and your progeny. The sentence is to be death, carried out in the humane technique set forth by the people you once counted as brethren. Do you have any final words before your sentence is carried out?”
“You have no right to judge us!” Osiris yelled out.
Jerren looked down at Osiris with contempt and said, “You’re wrong. We have the right and are charged with carrying out these sentences,” Jerren closed his eyes and put Osiris back into stasis.
Turning to Isis, Jerren waited for the others to surround her and brought her out of her induced slumber. They went through the interrogation of Isis and didn’t find anything else of use. Isis began to rant about the injustices she was enduring, so Jerren silenced her as he proceeded to recite her crimes and the punishment. Then he allowed her to speak.
With an almost animalistic growl Isis stated, “You self-righteous piece of dung, who do you think you are. When my sister finds out what you have done she will save us and kill all of you.”
Jerren forced Isis back into silence saying, “If that thought makes your passing easier, then believe what you will,” and a moment later Isis was back in stasis as well.
Positioning himself between the two medical tables, Jerren closed his eyes, placed a hand over each of their bodies and with a flash Osiris and Isis were gone.
Jerren turned and spoke to the group, “I saw firsthand what they’re capable of, and I just wish it was all over with…”
Justin nodded then he got everyone’s attention, “I think we need to head to Earth next.”
Jerren considered Justin a moment, and then asked, “Why Earth?”
“I was sifting through Osiris’s head during all of the questioning, and while Eneria is correct that Osiris didn’t know about the ship, he knew Anubisis helped Horuisis personally to build it. If that ship has vulnerabilities, Anubisis may know about them.”
Justin seemed to be troubled by something and he said, “I know we were planning on returning our family to Earth, but I would feel better if we dealt with Anubisis first, and there are no more of those dark matter bombs floating around, especially there, not to mention we need to make sure the consortium isn’t a threat to Earth.”
Alise sighed and a moment later she said, “We still cannot send a probe down to Area 51, what would you suggest we do?”
Jerren said, “We did pretty well on the surface in our new suits. I suggest we do manual recon first, and then devise a plan once we have the Intel we need. I agree with Justin it will be best to wait until the dark matter bomb is off of Earth before returning the family there, and I really would like to get them out of stasis before too long.” The mission they were just on was successful, but Jerren didn’t like the unknown variables with the weapons and armor. He felt his face turn stony and he said, “Get your ships in motion and return to this ship, the second level ASAP.”
Jerren looked between his brothers who nodded briskly back. Justin looked relieved and replied, “You’re right, the same location… it’s too large to search each other out from our own.”
Jerren nodded and Jason and Justin said they would be right back.
Chapter Sixteen
Eneria, Alise and Calia looked at Jerren in apparent confusion, “You’ll understand in a moment,” Jerren turned, he knew Eneria was avoiding contact with him, but took her into his arms regardless, “Those people are beyond evil,” He looked down into her eyes, “Jason and Justin will catch up,” Eneria nodded and a moment later Jerren had transported all four of them to the second level where he had the archway to the void storage up already.
Alise and Calia let out sounds of understanding, and Jerren led Eneria through with a shimmer of time displacement.
*****
Jerren and Eneria were in the Void storage a minute moving items around before Alise and Calia joined them. Jerren continued clearing the area to make room for an unobstructed firing range, while Eneria openly marveled at the immensity of the void storage.
Once Jason and Justin appeared Jerren explained why he brought them there, “We need to test these suits and weapons to know what we can do with them. When we were on Abydos, we were winging it, and I feel we got lucky.”
Jerren turned to Justin and said. “When that guard shot you from the balcony, your hood was still down, and if it had been a projectile weapon instead of an energy weapon, this all may have ended much differently.” Justin nodded at him, so Jerren continued, “When it comes to dealing with that family, I think diplomacy needs to be taken off of the table, at least for the time being, and constant vigilance will be mandatory,” Jason and Justin nodded in agreement.
Jerren looked between Eneria, Alise and Calia as he explained how they activated the stun on the sidearm, he had set up a few items to use as targets and motioned for them to stand behind him. Once everyone was clear Jerren drew his weapon and vanished. His heads up display was instantly active and thinking to begin the test, he took aim and thought Stun. The energy wave hit his target but did nothing to change its position.
Jerren thought about it a second and figured the stun setting must only work on neural pathways. And he passed his thoughts on to the others.
Jerren figured a concussion blast would be the likely progression. He took aim again and thought Concuss, this time the shot effected the target. Upon firing, his target was knocked deep into the void storage, “that was Concuss,” he stated.
Jerren wondered if it could affect a wide range and took aim thinking, Concussion wave. The area he was aiming at almost looked as if a massive invisible broom had swept the area clean, flinging the remnants off into the distance, “That was a Concussion wave,” Jerren stated.
Jerren had made it through progressively deadlier versions of weapons fire when he finally took aim and thought Vaporize. A White hot beam emitted from his weapon and a second later he stood in stunned silence. Jerren had expected the beam to hit the target making it vanish. What he didn’t e
xpect was to see a three foot round molten hole had appeared where his beam had hit, that extended a good thousand feet across through the rubble.
“Crap, what the hell was that setting?” Jason asked.
“That was vaporize,” Jerren muttered.
Peering into the hole, Jason said, “that’s enough with the weapons testing. Don’t forget there are two really nasty dark matter bombs in here.”
Nodding in full agreement Jerren recommended moving on to the armor, he tried repeatedly without success to activate the armor without drawing his weapon, “it must only work by drawing the weapon,” Jerren stated.
Jason shook his head and said, “In Andel’s memory, Inola armored herself. She didn’t disappear and did not draw a weapon, and remember when we were younger, we only ever saw her fully armored as well, and I don’t recall her holding a weapon.”
Eneria turned toward Jason and asked, “What exactly was Inola doing in Andel’s memory when she armored herself?”
Jason appeared to be thinking her question over then he replied, “She kind of thrust her arms out from her sides and after a flash she was covered head to foot.”
Eneria seemed to think about it a moment then did as he described. She had thrust her arms out a few times as Jason described but nothing happened. Eneria looked disappointed a moment then thinking of the similarities in the language for the other commands, a smile crossed her face and she did it again, and this time it had worked. She was fully covered, but not invisible.
“What did you do?” Jerren asked excitedly.
“I did exactly what Jason described, only this time I thought Oma, that is armor, in the Imortum language as I did it.”
Jerren shook his head and chuckled as he said, “Of course it would be in the Imortum language. But why would the other commands have worked?”
Eneria smiled and said, “Stuna, Cuncso, Vapris.”
Jerren understood now, “the pronunciation of the commands was similar and that must’ve been why those worked. Armor and Oma were too far apart in pronunciation to activate the armor.