Frontline

by Z H Brown

“Now!” shouted Ansaria. Tread took aim and fired his ion canon at the mechanical captain. The shot struck Lumis clean in the face, temporarily powering him down. As soon as Tread had fired, Ansaria lashed out with her mind. The guards accompanying them were pushed back and pinned to the wall, all of them struggling to get free or bring their weapons to bear.

  Ansaria kept them pinned as she led Alvara, Tread and Critter to the lifts. As their transport arrived and she stepped into it, she said quietly:

  “We’ll be back, Slog.”

  Commander Alked got a ping on his TIG. He looked down, expecting a status report from Lumis, only to see the message was from Sergeant Nestus, who had accompanied him with the new arrivals.

  “This is the commander, go ahead, sergeant.”

  “Commander, those troops we took to the medical wing turned on us, sir! They hit the captain with an ion blast and he hasn’t come back on-line yet. The Xenlongian used her TK on us, pinned us to the wall while she and the rest of her squad escaped into a lift! What do we do, sir!?”

  The commander appraised the situation. He knew that if these guests turned out to be terrorists or criminals or enemy combatants, he could be facing court-martial, if not execution for gross incompetence. He had to do whatever he could to mitigate this.

  “You and your troops are to hold your position, sergeant. I’ll contact the Administrator and have him put the whole vessel on lockdown!”

  A few moments later, Administrator Delta, who was inspecting a delivery schedule report, was contacted once again by Commander Alked.

  “Yes, commander, what is it this time?”

  “Sir, the individuals you allowed on the ship have escaped the medical wing. They incapacitated the guards I sent with them, and have entered the lifts. They said they had something important to deliver to the Emperor. I recommend we put the vessel on lockdown until they are caught.”

  Delta allowed a few seconds to pass before replying, even though he already knew what he was going to say.

  “Thank you for alerting me, commander. I shall take it from here. Administrator Delta ou--”

  “Sir, what about the Emperor? Should he be evacuated from the ship?”

  “I shall handle the Emperor, commander, and the intruders as well. Administrator Delta out.”

  Ansaria nearly lost her balance as the lift they were in came to a sudden stop. “What happened?” asked Ansaria.

  Tread used his TIG to query the lift’s orders. “They’ve ordered a lockdown of the lifts,” he said. “Most likely, their next step will be redirecting our lift to another floor for arrest.”

  Ansaria was not going to let a stopped elevator keep her from her goal. “How far are we from the bridge?”

  Tread perused the ship’s layout. “A little over halfway.”

  “Any lifts ahead of us on the same line?”

  Tread gave her a questioning look. “Unknown. Why?”

  “Because, I’m going to get us there myself,” said Ansaria, as she began gathering her strength. “When I tell you, fire your ion cannon into the lift controls.”

  Tread and Alvara exchanged looks. “Sergeant, what are you planning?”

  “We’ve made it this far, Tread - just trust me.”

  Tread stared at Ansaria for a moment before putting as much space as he could between himself and his target. He took careful aim at the controls, and then nodded at Ansaria.

  Ansaria took a deep breath. She was reasonably sure she could do what she was planning; it was just all the stuff that could go wrong that was filling her with dread and doubt. She took another steadying breath, gathered all her focus, and then said:

  “Do it.”

  Tread fired his ion cannon at the controls. The bright flash of light momentarily blinded everyone, while the smell of ozone filled the confined space. The interior went dark, and the sound of the magnetic breaks unlocking drew everyone’s attention.

  For a split second, there was an indescribable feeling of falling; everyone who had a stomach felt like theirs suddenly leapt into their throats. Rather than continuing, the drop ended suddenly, jostling everyone in the lift, but leaving them intact. Alvara and Tread looked around in confusion. It was only when they saw the look on Ansaria’s face that they realized that she was supporting them all with her telekinesis.

  “Next stop,” said Ansaria, her voice slightly strained and her eyes tightly closed. “Emperor Xandarius.”

  With that, the lift began to rise once again, moving at a swift pace, though not as fast as the lift usually traveled.

  “I’m going to need one of you to guide me,” said Ansaria. “I’d hate to ram us into a wall or a bend.”

  Tread pulled up the lift layout once again and began reading out the route to Ansaria.

  “We’re gonna need eyes topside, to make sure we don’t smack into anyone else,” said Alvara. “Critter, feel like playing look out?”

  The diminutive teammate saluted, before Alvara extended herself to the top of the lift. There was an emergency escape hatch on the top that had unlocked when Tread had fried the controls. Alvara opened the hatch and gently set Critter outside before lowering herself.

  “How’s the view, Critter?” she asked through her comm.

  Critter replied, a little drowned out by the rushing air of the speeding lift. “He says he can see fine, and we’re clear on our track for now.”

  Ansaria nodded, her eyes still tightly shut, her face beginning to perspire. She was acutely aware of the pain in her shoulder and the headache was starting to get, but still she pressed on.

  Just a little further, just a little further.

  They had made it three-quarters of the way when Critter announced a lift heading their way. Ansaria slowed their lift to a stop so Tread could find a way around.

  “We need to descend three floors, and then take the port access way to another lift line.”

  Ansaria began lowering the lift down to their new route.

  “Critter says that lift is coming awfully fast,” said Alvara.

  Ansaria could only grunt in reply. They reached the floor, and Ansaria began shifting to the new line, but her first attempt caused the bottom of their lift to catch, tipping everyone over and knocking them against the wall.

  Critter was now vocalizing his extreme worry. The lift was speeding toward them, and Ansaria was struggling to get them up and running again.

  “Sarge!” said Alvara, panic in her voice.

  Ansaria used all her might to get the lift back up and into the access way. Just as they entered it, they could all hear the whoosh of air as the other lift sped by, none of the occupants aware of how close they’d come to hitting another occupied car.

  Now that they were out of the way, Ansaria took a moment to compose herself before switching the lift to the next track. When they’d finally reached it, she took off vertically, moving them slower than she had been before.

  “Almost there, Sarge,” said Tread, looking back and forth between the readout and his CO.

  A few moments later, Critter announced that he could see the end of the line. Alvara reached up to bring him back inside while Ansaria eased them into their destination. Before them, the only thing separating them from their goal was double set of closed doors. Tread and Alvara pried the doors in the lift apart easily enough, but for the next ones, Tread was going to need to hit them with another ion blast.

  “As soon as we’re in, keep your hands where they can see them,” said Ansaria. “Nobody’s getting shot now.”

  Her squad nodded. Tread took aim and fired at the doors, short-circuiting them and once more filling the car with the smell of ozone. Tread and Alvara pried the doors apart, then slowly stepped onto the bridge, their hands raised. Ansaria opened her eyes and wearily raised her own hands before stepping off the lift.

  The image before her was almost exactly like what she had seen of the bridge before. The Emperor had released announcements in person from the bridge of the Throneship, so its layout and look was
known to those in the Empire who were fascinated by such things, but to actually be standing there was something else entirely. The only thing that dwarfed its surrealism was the sight of the Emperor staring directly at her.

  His huge, metallic-plated body gleamed in the strong light of the bridge. His violet eyes bored into hers, filled with the strength and power of one who looked upon distant stars as vassals to conquer and command; he regarded her with a calmness of someone who had faced death time and time again, and who had beaten it at every turn.

  For a moment that seemed to stretch on forever, Ansaria was unable to look away from those intense indigo eyes. It was only when a twinge of pain from her wound reminded her of the reality of the situation that she was able to break the spell and finally approach the Emperor.

  Ansaria slowly began walking toward the throne where her leader sat. All around her, every other body was frozen. Their unexpected appearance seemed to have caught the bridge crew off-guard, while Ansaria’s troops seemed to know that this was something she had to do herself. When she was what she felt was a reasonable distance from the throne, she bent to one knee.

  She tried to speak, but found her mouth and throat dry; whether it was from her nerves or the exertion she had just been through, she couldn’t say, but she swallowed and tried again.

  “Your Majesty,” she began. “My name is Sergeant Ansaria Dormus. My squad and I have traveled across the Empire on the behalf of Imperial Security Agent Jandor Rall. We have brought you information relating to the safety and security of the Empire and your personal being.”

  Xandarius regarded her with his intense eyes before speaking. His deep voice, familiar to all Xenlongians, was twice as mighty in person. “And why did not Agent Rall bring this information to me himself?”

  Ansaria swallowed again before answering. “He tried to, sire, but he was attacked and killed by an android, dispatched by the very conspirators attempting to bring down the Empire.”

  “You have the information with you?” asked the Emperor.

  Ansaria nodded, and slowly reached for the data drive on her belt. She took it out then held it up on the flat of her hand.

  A floating bot that Ansaria had not noticed before suddenly appeared next to the Emperor. She recognized it as Xandarius’ majordomo and ever-present assistant, Delta.

  “Sire, permit me to take and analyze the infor--” he began, before Xandarius held up a hand to silence him. The data drive suddenly lifted out of Ansaria’s hand and floated into Xandarius’ who examined the small drive.

  “I shall look into this personally. In the meantime, sergeant, you and your squad shall--”

  At that moment, several things happened.

  A green Prizmid that Ansaria had also failed to notice began screaming and spasming, at least as much as it was possible for a floating solid shape to spasm. His telepathic speech filled the minds of everyone on the bridge with the screech of insane shrieking.

  ~PRESERVE THE SILENCE! ENSURE THE ARRIVAL! ELIMINATE THE TARGET!

  PRESERVE THE SILENCE! ENSURE THE ARRIVAL! ELIMINATE THE TARGET! PRESERVE…~

  The next thing to happen was an alert from the console. A large, reddish-brown insect, clutching his head with his sharp, pointy pincers, noticed the alert.

  “Ssssire!” he rasped. “The Z-engine hassss been activated!”

  His announcement was followed by incoming inquiries from engineering, asking for confirmation of the order to jump. Similar questions began pouring in from the patrol fleet and Epsilon Command.

  An instant later, the ship suddenly lurched forward, as the diamond-speckled expanse of real space was replaced by the purplish-black void of Zero Space.

  “Officer Diamond,” said Xandarius, his brow furrowed in anger at this sudden treachery. “I order you to stand down and return us to Epsilon, this instant!”

  “Oh, I’m afraid you won’t be able to get through to him,” said Delta, who was ignoring everything going on around him and staring out into Z-Space. “The digital infection has taken hold, albeit less successfully than usual.”

  ~ELIMINATE THE SILENCE! PRESERVE THE ARRIVAL! ENSURE THE TARGET!~ babbled Diamond, now spinning and colliding into things at random around the bridge.

  “Explain yourself, Delta,” demanded the Emperor, his voice taking on a dangerous growl as he stared at his Administrator.

  “It will all be over soon, sire,” he said, his voice never wavering from its calm tone. “Admittedly, it’s happening sooner than expected, but contingencies were in place for events such as this.” He turned from the window towards Ansaria. “You should be proud, sergeant. You managed to thwart a power greater than you could possibly imagine, but in the end, your efforts were all for naught.” He turned back to the window. “The arrival must be assured.”

  Xandarius stood up from his throne. He raised one hand towards the bot, which began to glow with energy. “Delta, you will tell me what you are doing, or I will deactivate you and pull the information from your databanks myself.”

  “No need, sire,” he said. “We have arrived.” As he spoke, the ship suddenly returned to real space. They hung in interstellar space, not a star, planet, or even rock in sight. Delta turned towards Xandarius and slowly began to float towards him.

  “The silence must be preserved,” he recited, all emotion leaving his artificial voice. “The arrival must be ensured. The targets will be eliminated-”

  As he spoke the last word, a bolt of energy suddenly struck the machine. Its lights and sensors suddenly shut down and it dropped to the deck like a rock, landing with a loud clatter. A similar bolt of energy lanced out and struck Diamond, who toppled over and became still, his telepathic shouting finally ending.

  While at first everyone thought Xandarius had fired upon his compromised troops, the Emperor was instead looking at Tread. The android still had his ion cannon leveled at Diamond, a determined look on his face.

  “You have my thanks, soldier,” he said, lowering his hand, the glow vanishing. “But I was prepared to handle it.”

  “Forgive my impetuousness, sire,” said Tread, bowing toward the Emperor. “But I believed my ion blast would disable the targets while allowing them to be examined later without permanently injuring them.”

  “Indeed,” was all the Emperor said. “Now then, Ranyor, status report.”

  A large, four-armed reptile, who until now had been staring at the stunned Prizmid on the floor, snapped to attention and turned to the controls. He tapped at the console, first normally, than more forcefully. He snarled and turned back to his emperor.

  “Sire, the controls have been locked. Until we get them unlocked, we have no way of knowing where we are or of getting back.”

  “I want everyone working to get the ship back to Epsilon,” said Xandarius, sitting down on his throne once more. “In the meantime, have someone collect Diamond and…the former Administrator so we can get to the bottom of this. Sergeant, you and your men shall come with me. I want to know everything you--”

  Xandarius was interrupted by an alarm. A Mandorian with a heavy amount of cybernetics examined his console.

  “Sire!” he said. “Enemy contact detected, dead ahead!”

  Outside, in the black of space, a burst of golden light filled the viewscreen. As it faded, a ship began slowly advancing on the stranded Imperial vessel.

  “The Imperium,” said Xandarius in a quiet voice, his eyes wide and locked on a distant but rapidly approaching ship. As it got closer, Ansaria could see that it was roughly pill shaped, with two cones on the top and bottom, leaving the middle exposed. The cones were ribbed, with holes showing through to the craft beneath. As it approached, it began to turn so it was lying horizontally from their viewpoint.

  Another beeping noise sounded on the bridge, coming from Diamond’s station. Tread went over to see what it was.

  “Incoming transmission, sire,” he said. “It appears we can receive messages, but not send them at the moment.”

  An instant after
he spoke, a voice filled the bridge. To Ansaria, it sounded like she had always imagined a demon to sound: loud, deranged, and with a slight echo that seemed to her like a crowd of people where repeating everything the voice said.

  “At long last,” it hissed. “The time has come for me to incinerate the pretender wyrm. It’s a shame you didn’t bring more of your slaves to witness your ultimate destruction!”

  The communication ended and another alarm began sounding. At the same time, everyone could see the tip of the cone facing them beginning to glow with golden energy.

  “Sire!” called the Mandorian, panic in his voice, “they’re preparing to fire!”

  Book II

  Frontline

  Nova

  Chapter XVIII

  Easy Target

  Put out a priority message to both Shield and Sword fleets: Emperor Xandarius and his entire flagship have made an unscheduled jump to an unknown location. All Imperial ships are advised to be on high alert and report any sightings or information directly Xenlongian High Command.

  -- Emergency message released from IMC Epsilon following Xandarius’ disappearance.

  As the Golden Imperium’s flagship charged their weapon to fire, Tread sprang into action, racing towards the helmsman’s station. Ranyor just barely managed to step aside and avoid being bowled over by the android. Tread activated his TIG, his one ordinary hand a blur of motion as he frantically worked on his wrist unit. After a few seconds, he began typing away at the ship’s console.

  “Enemy weapon ninety-five percent charged!” Tantius informed.

  The glow that had previously been confined to the tip of the Imperium’s ship had blossomed into a large sphere of energy. Like a small sun, it gave off a magnificent, golden light. Before anyone could say anything, the ship completed its charging. The sphere was momentarily flattened before it disappeared, replaced by a blindingly bright beam of light.

  Ansaria braced herself for the weapon’s impact. She expected to hear the bridge’s view screens shatter and vanish, before being overwhelmed by a star-like heat. The last thing she expected to feel was herself being thrown to the left.