Frontline

by Z H Brown

  Slog, like Ansaria, was exhibiting his tension by constantly tugging at the neck of his armor. When he wasn’t doing that, he was clenching his robotic hand and moving the artificial limb around as though he had just gotten it and was still getting used to its range of motion. He was constantly glancing from Ansaria, to Xandarius and back again.

  Tread and Critter, one an android and the other in a mechanical suit, were the picture of calm, their worries imperceptible. Tread’s gaze was fixed ahead, waiting with all the patience of a machine. Critter, inside his suit, drummed his fingers on the controls in nervousness and impatience.

  Standing next to his lord and master, Colonel Fornost was noticeably sullen even in his gleaming armor. Though his helmet was on, the loyal officer was noticeably looking in the direction away from his Emperor, as though he was trying to avoid looking at even the glow he emitted.

  Xandarius himself gave no sign how he expected the next few minutes to play out.

  Ansaria couldn’t even fathom if he was planning a victory speech, a battle plan, a clever trap, all of them at once, or something that only his experience and power gave an insight into. He stood waiting patiently for the meeting to start, his aura flickering calmly and casting the room in a peaceful, golden glow that was completely at odds with the tension that permeated the assembly.

  At last, a Salfar appeared to admit them, and even their host looked as though he was preparing for a funeral. Undoubtedly, word of Xandarius’ action had reached them, and the prospect of their ship being in the middle of a three-way battle was not an appealing one. Ansaria was a little surprised that they had deigned to remain and continue hosting the event…unless their continued presence was the result of strong-arming on Xandarius’ part.

  As they were announced and allowed entrance, Xandarius strode inside and took his seat, his fingers steepled before him as he awaited his answer. As Ansaria and the others took their places, a new wave of worry, nauseating uncertainty and fresh adrenaline filled her. Her eyes darted from one closed door, to another, to her Emperor and then began all over again.

  Prince Gamesh-Gil was the next to arrive, the young ruler entering ahead of his guards this time, a look of such determination on his face that Ansaria could see exactly what his answer would be. Somehow, seeing the certainty and lack of fear in the Tamian prince brought some peace to Ansaria; her heartbeat slowed some, and she was able to banish some of her panic. She gripped her sword tightly as she awaited the last attendee.

  Eberius’ guards marched into the room, taking up positions close to the table on either side of the seat meant for their leader. The prince himself came marching in at a brisk pace, sweeping his cape back with flourish before sitting, but not settling in.

  Xandarius was the first to speak. “Thank you, Prince Gamesh-Gil and Prince Eberius for remaining to see this matter through. Now that you have had some time to come to terms with what the new future will be, I await your answers.”

  To Ansaria, it seemed like no one present even dared to breath. She looked across the hidden faces of the bodyguards and those of the young rulers they protected. Gamesh and Eberius looked at one another for several moments before they both stood up.

  “Emperor Xandarius,” said Eberius. “You invited us here under the pretense of coming together in mutual defense and friendship. Had you stuck to your original intent, then I would have fought for your dream with my every breath upon my return home. Instead, you have allowed your pride to blind you to the contributions of others. If you still demand fealty from the Ebon Empire, then my answer is no.”

  Xandarius took this answer silently; he looked at the prince of the Imperium. “What Prince Eberius says is true: your original goal was a noble one, and I would have given everything, even my own life, to ensure that renewed war did not break out between our people. But we can never accept being forced to submit to a pretender with a pilfered power that he doesn’t truly understand. The Golden Imperium of Infinite Starlite will never yield to threats.”

  This response was too much for Xandarius. The prince’s answer shattered whatever calm the emperor had had before. His Flame roared to life, leaping up to nearly twice the height of the towering Xenlongian, and buffeting the ceiling overhead. His eyes blazed with power, the streams of energy now transformed into boiling fireballs. His face was twisted in snarling rage at the defiance of the two youths.

  “Petulant children!” he thundered. “I have slain champions, monsters and entire armies! I have held back the might of an empire ten times the size of mine, and I have taken even the sacred Flame of the Imperium as my own! I will not allow everything I have built to be put in jeopardy by two children that cannot see the big picture!”

  He wheeled on Ansaria. “Captain Dormus! Prove your loyalty to your Emperor and your Empire! Take the Ebon Prince into custody!” he gestured with a sweep of his hand to the Ebon party. “The rest of you, relieve his guards of their weapons!”

  Eberius’ soldiers had their blocky rifles out and had formed a tight knot around the prince the instant Xandarius had spoken. The Golden protectors had done the same, crowding around Gamesh-Gil while leveling their spears at the Xenlongians.

  Ansaria’s head swam, and her vision flickered. Her heart felt like it was trying to pump an entire lifetime’s supply of blood in the span of a few seconds. She swallowed hard, her mouth and throat completely parched, and took a few tottering steps toward Eberius. She took a few more steps, her hand clenched so tightly on the hilt of her sword that she thought it would surely snap.

  Just as she began to draw the blade, something brushed against her leg: Eberius token. Her vision stabilized enough that she was able to meet the prince’s gaze, her bare, indigo eyes boring into his covered, azure eyes. Sudden clarity filled her mind, and the tumultuous storm that had raged within her for the last two days died as she turned on the spot and drew her blade on her Emperor.

  The white plasma of Ansaria’s sword seemed like a paltry candle before the rising sun that was the rage and indignation of Xandarius; yet even though it seemed so small in comparison, the energy-sheathed blade stood out as clear and sharp as if it was made of pure diamond. Ansaria drew strength from the steady glow of the blade, until she felt she could once again look upon the burning countenance of her deluded liege.

  From the look on his face, Ansaria expected Xandarius to vaporize her then and there. Instead, he turned to the captain of his guard.

  “I see now how deeply your loyalty to the Empire truly goes. Colonel Fornost, place the former captain under arrest for treason and insubordination, then contact the Throneship and have them send more troops to collect the rest!”

  Arnor Fornost stood motionless, his helmeted head hiding his face, and preventing Ansaria from seeing any hint of what the Captain of the Guard intended to do. His grip twisted on his lance while his shoulders slumped under the weight of the decision before him. At last, he acted.

  Taking a few steps back, he leveled his weapon at his long-time friend and ruler. “I’m sorry, My Lord, but for the good of Xenlong and its people, I must ask you to stand down immediately, and return with me to the Throneship until you have regained your proper senses.”

  A look of pure, murderous rage overcame Xandarius. His aura flared even more brilliantly, so much so that everyone around him was forced to step back to avoid the flames.

  “TRAITORS!” he shouted, before unleashing a wall of golden fire.

  Ansaria reacted on instinct. Sheathing her sword in the blink of an eye, she summoned as much telekinetic energy as she could muster to contain the firestorm. At first, the effort nearly overwhelmed her; it felt like she was holding back a tidal wave with her bare hands; her head felt like it was being split open with a hatchet, her muscles shook like she’d been fighting non-stop for a week, and her vision was nothing but a blur of golden flame. Just as she felt like she was about to succumb to the sheer power, her burden suddenly eased. The effort to contain the Flame was still greater than any she ha
d encountered before, but it was now merely extremely difficult, rather than life-threatening.

  She looked around and found her ally. Arnor was standing in a similar pose as Ansaria, his hands held up as he telekinetically held back the fire unleashed by their sovereign. He noticed her looking at him, and he tore off his helmet.

  “Ansaria! Get everyone out of here, NOW!”

  With a strangled cry of effort, the old soldier suddenly heaved back the wall of flame back at Xandarius. With the danger passed for the moment, she ignored her exhaustion and yelled loud enough to be heard over the furious flames.

  “Everyone, into the waiting chamber! Move, move, move!”

  Ansaria pushed Slog, who was nearest to her, toward the large doors. The sound of heavy, running boots could barely be heard over Xandarius’ Flame, but the Emperor was too distracted by the betrayal of one of his most loyal to notice the princes escape. Ansaria was the last one inside, and as the doors closed agonizingly slowly, the last thing she saw was Arnor holding back another onslaught from Xandarius, who was pouring intense flames upon his former friend. Once they were ‘safe’, Ansaria contacted the Throneship.

  “Come in Throneship, I need an emergency teleport for nineteen from my location, immediately!”

  “Captain Dormus!? What’s going on over there? We’re getting energy readings off the charts!”

  “Just do it!”

  The last thing she saw before the familiar white light and high-pitched noise overwhelmed her senses was the doors beginning to buckle, golden fire creeping through the small slit.

  The next thing she knew, she was back in the relative calm of the teleportation chamber; ‘relative’ because more than a dozen technicians and officers were running about the room, asking each other the same questions and getting no answers. Before she had even fully recovered from her rapid escape and arrival, she was accosted by a towering Xenlongian general, one she had seen aboard, but never spoken to.

  “Captain Dormus, I demand an immediate explanation! Where is the Emperor, and why have you brought armed enemy combatants and xenos aboard!?”

  Ansaria was too freighted and exhausted to follow protocol or give a proper report. She pushed the general aside to give herself some space and, ignoring the look of complete incredulousness on his face, started taking stock.

  “Xandarius has lost his mind and all but declared war on the Golden Imperium and the Ebon Empire,” she moved closer to the teleporter controller in order to make sure she could be heard over the confusion. “Get those two groups to their respective ships on the double!”

  “I’ll make sure they get home safe,” said Alvara, who slithered rapidly over to help coordinate.

  “As soon as you’re done, let me know,” she looked at Eberius as she started backing towards the exit. “Whatever happens next, I guess we found out where I stood after all.”

  Eberius, who had been regaining his composure following his first teleportation, suddenly marched quickly off the platform, ripping off his helmet as he went. Ansaria was too taken aback to do anything, and the next moment the two were locked in a tight embrace.

  Eberius was the first to break the kiss, pulling away and completely indifferent to whatever the group around them was thinking.

  “Whatever happens next, I intend to see it through with you,” said Eberius, returning his helmet and walking back to the platform, somewhat reluctantly.

  Ansaria took a few more seconds to remember that she was in the middle of a crisis, but as she continued toward the exit, and despite all of the insanity and likely bloodshed that was still to come, at that moment her face beamed with a beautiful smile.

  Her improved mood did not last long, unfortunately; as she arrived on the bridge, she found it in the same state of panic as the one she had just left.

  Every member of the bridge crew was communicating with someone over the comms., and most of them were carrying on conversations to those around them or across the command deck; Ansaria decided she needed to get their attention.

  Drawing her Star Saber in a single flourish, she activated the blade and swiped it across the deck in one fluid motion. The plasma-edged blade left a burning furrow in the deck and kicked up sparks, instantly silencing the room.

  “Ansaria!” It was the helmsman, Ranyor. “What is going on!? We’ve lost contact with the Salfar ship, and we’re getting reports of attack by Golden forces!”

  Ansaria shook her head in frustration.

  “The only Goldie attacking us is Xandarius.”

  This comment was met by looks of utter bafflement.

  “You wanna run that by us again?” asked the cyborg Tantius.

  “Xandarius has made a bid for total power, and demanded that both the Imperium and Eberius’ people surrender to the Empire. Both leaders refused, and when Fornost and I both tried to get the Emperor to stand down, he attacked us.”

  “Where is Colonel Fornost?” asked Dr. Redavere.

  Ansaria glanced at the dome above that showed both the planet they orbited, as well as the Salfar ship. She pointed.

  “There.”

  As soon as she did, the entire ship suddenly erupted into a blinding ball of white and gold. Ansaria and the others were forced to shield their eyes for fear of being blinded by the intensity of the blast. A few seconds later, the shockwave struck the ship rattling the mighty vessel, but leaving it unharmed.

  As they lowered their hands, the only thing left of the neutral ship was a cloud of micro-debris, orbiting a flickering, golden flame.

  “By the mercy of the Stormfather,” said Heronatus, one hand covering his mouth. Before anyone else could say anything, a message blared across the entire Imperial comm. network.

  “ATTENTION, ALL LOYAL XENLOGIAN FORCES! THERE HAS BEEN AN ATTEMPTED REBELLION: TROOPS LOYAL TO ANSARIA DORMUS HAVE COLUDED WITH THE IMPERIUM AND EBON PRINCE IN AN ATTEMPT TO ASSAINATE ME! I CALL UPON ALL LOYAL IMPERIAL FORCES TO JOIN ME IN BURNING OUR ENEMIES FROM THE FACE OF THE GALAXY! FOR VICTORY! FOR XENLONG! FOR THE EMPIRE!!!”

  Every eye and sensor on the bridge turned toward Ansaria. The full weight of what Xandarius just said hit her, and she tightened her grip on her blade.

  Ranyor took a step toward her, followed by Tantius and the navigator Xior. However, rather than all rushing her in order to disarm and capture the young woman, Ranyor instead leaned closer to peer at her face.

  “Xandarius turned on both you and Arnor?” he asked.

  Without blinking or breaking eye contact in anyway, Ansaria nodded.

  Ranyor turned from her to look at his comrades. Whatever silent censuses they were making, it was happening quickly. Finally, they all looked at the captain, and took a step back. Ansaria breathed a sigh of relief while Ranyor hurried over to a console in order to broadcast a priority message.

  “Attention all soldiers of the Xenlongian Imperial Military: this is Commander Ranyor, Helm Officer of the Throneship. It is my sad duty to inform you that our great leader, Xandarius, has…temporarily become unfit for command or rule. Therefore, I am ordering all Imperial forces to disregard orders from His Majesty until such time as he has regained control of his faculties. We must proceed carefully, but, if we work together we can--”

  “The traitors have seized control of the Throneship! All forces loyal to Xandarius the Golden, rally to the Golden Dawn!” the message came from one of the ships accompanying them, and without any other warning, a volley of energy blasts exploded against the flagship’s shields.

  “I don’t care who’s lost their bolts: no Imperial shoots at my ship!” roared Tantius, and he hurled himself at his station.

  “Reign it in, lieutenant!” snapped Ranyor. “I am not letting today turn into the beginning of a Xenlongian civil war!”

  Ansaria’s comm. beeped and she fumbled to answer it.

  “Could really use some good news right now, M,” she said, looking out the dome as the handful of ships around her began to break up into opposing factions, some ships starting to take p
otshots at one another.

  “Xandarius’ surprise message made an already tense situation worse, but me, Tread and the others managed to ‘convince’ them to safely send both parties home.”

  Ansaria breathed another sigh of relief, but it was fleeting as the next barrage rocked the ship.

  “Excellent work, sergeant. If we make it out of this, I’m putting you up for another promotion.”

  “I think at this point we’ll be lucky to get a blindfold with our firing squad, Sari.”

  “Good point, now get up here; I need you on the Lancer.”

  Ansaria heard a dejected moan from the weapons officer.

  “Yes ma’am; what about the others?”

  “Critter has his suit on board, and Tread has what’s left of his drones: get both of them out in the vacuum as soon as possible. As for Slog, he’s good with ship weapons: have him take control of a turret.”

  “I’m on it captain; Sergeant Alvara, out.”

  Immediately, she asked Diamond to patch her in to an outside ship.

  “Ansaria! Are you all right!? We heard that madman’s message and I’ve been told that your own ships are firing on you!?”

  “So far I’m fine, Eberius. I just wanted to make sure that you got back safe.”

  “As you said, I’m safe so far; do you have a plan?”

  “Not really…right now we’re trying to…subdue…Xandarius until we can get him to snap out of this delusion. As for you, get your ships out of here; you can leave before the Emperor’s forces can coordinate enough to attack you.”

  “I’m not going anywhere, Ansaria. I will not leave you here to either be executed as a traitor or imprisoned for insubordination. Whatever happens here, I will see it through with you to the end.”

  Eberius’ words filled Ansaria with a burning strength that she imagined must be what Xandarius felt like all of the time.

  Before she could reply, she was interrupted by Diamond.

  ~Ranyor, I’m getting reports of fights breaking out all through the ship, as well as weapon discharges and attempted sabotage, though so far no major systems have been affected.~