by James Somers
"We have to go now and take the ship into the rift!" shouted Orin. "The Vorn obviously know we're here. There's no telling how many other androids have been sent to stop us."
"My people will take the transports we have and engage the main complex as you suggested," shouted Estall over the background noise.
Some of the Aolene had pursued the android but no word had come back yet concerning his whereabouts. Estall gathered with his key warriors and noticed that Dorian was not among them. He turned to see her at Tiet's side helping support the young man as the trio headed down the passage leading to the hangar. He started to call out to her, and then thought better of it. He knew what few did about his younger sibling; she had long been infatuated with the young prince on the archive video files. "Farewell, Sister," he whispered as she and the Barudii disappeared down the corridor.
Vale watched from a hidden position as his primary target disappeared down a passageway. He squeezed his hand until bone cracked beneath his fingers. This human had been foolish to follow him into the corridors when he retreated. Vale released the Aolene warrior's neck from his grip, letting the lifeless body crumple to the ground.
His auditory sensors had picked up on their destination and their plan to leave in a ship from the hangar bay. It was imperative that he acquire his target before it escaped. The direct way would only draw more resistance from all of the Aolene preparing for battle below. His database lacked schematics of the city's interior, but data on the mountain of Vaseer was available. There was only one place to launch a ship from the mountain and Vale calculated that he wasn't far from it. He hurriedly retraced his path out of the mountain and headed across the slope toward the lower western face. The terrain didn't slow him at all. He just had to cover the half mile distance in time to intercept the Barudii warrior before he escaped.
THERE was a warm breeze funneling through the passageway as Orin, Tiet and Dorian approached the hangar bay. They could hear the low hum of large engines, apparently in a warm-up cycle. Tiet was walking on his own now.
As the trio came through the entrance to the hangar, Tiet got his first look at a Barudii space vessel. The ship was very large and filled a huge space in the hangar bay. There was nobody visible in the area outside and the gateway was lowered to the ground under it. The trio hurriedly made their way up the platform into the belly of the ship. Once inside, the ship had several levels accessible by various sets of stairs. Dorian and Tiet followed Orin up to the bridge level where Ranul and the Aolene warrior Millo were busy at various control panels prepping the ship for lift off.
"What happened up there?" asked Ranul. "We heard gunfire."
"Apparently the Vorn have built an android that somehow looks like me. It appeared in the public area and I think it was trying to kill Tiet specifically."
"So that's what they wanted with it," said Ranul to himself.
"What do you mean? Did you know about this thing?" asked Tiet.
"Yes, yes. I built it."
"What?!"
"I thought I could mass produce an android army to combat the Vorn. The Barudii were all presumed dead and our people were slaves to the Vorn. We needed a way to fight back, but the Vorn seized the plans. They took my wife Ellai and my daughter Mirah and imprisoned them. I had to build it or risk their lives. Orin said you found Mirah imprisoned with some younger children and released her; and for that I thank you young man. It was completed just days ago and the Governor had it sent out to the cloning facility just before you arrived at my compartment. They must have sent it out to track you down after you killed those Vorn in the cloning complex. I didn't think you would be facing off against it, or even that you were still alive."
"Well, it's flattering-I suppose," said Orin. "Now tell us how to stop it."
"The best thing would be for me to try and stop it," said Ranul. "It might not harm me. This thing was built to last. However the main control system is in the head and duplicated in the chest. If you can get a direct strike at those two points with an ignited blade you'll bring it down for sure.
"It's extremely tough and strong, but it can't fly and the weapons are external to the unit; meaning it uses weapons just like a Barudii would. I had many data files concerning the warrior art to program with, but you still possess a key advantage in your kinetic abilities."
"The Aolene put so much fire on it that it retreated into the passages somewhere."
"It may have retreated, but its programming will require it to acquire its target. It will have to try again. We need to get you into space; then it won't have a target to chase."
"How soon can we lift off?" asked Dorian.
Tiet raised an eyebrow at her question. Was she now coming along? Secretly, he hoped that she would.
"The ship is ready and Millo has volunteered to help you pilot the vessel through the rift."
"Aren't you coming, Ranul?" asked Tiet.
"No Tiet, I'm not. My daughter needs me. I'm going to go with Estall and the Aolene to attack the remaining Vorn forces in the Capital. Perhaps when they're defeated, I will be able to get information on my wife's whereabouts."
"We're ready to go," said Millo looking up from his flight console.
"Tiet. Dorian. You two strap in over there for lift off," Orin said pointing to a small group of chairs with flight harnesses. Orin walked Ranul down to the lowered ramp as he disembarked from the ship to join Estall and the Aolene warriors.
"Goodbye, old friend," said Orin.
"Goodbye. I hope you make it back safely. Remember what we talked about. If you can't stop the Vorn fleet, the only other way to prevent them crossing will be to disrupt the rift. The engine destruct sequence has already been keyed into the ship."
"I remember the final command code you gave me."
"Don't forget that you have only five minutes to separate the bridge section from the rest of the ship before detonation."
"I won't forget, Ranul."
Ranul exited the ship and Orin pressed the panel switch to raise the platform. As he came back to the bridge section he strapped in for the journey at one of the helm control panels next to Millo. "Let's go."
The engines of the Barudii vessel powered up to begin raising the ship off of the landing platform. Orin keyed in commands to signal the mountain side hangar bay doors to retract and allow the vessel to exit. The large doors awoke as the command was relayed to the city's technological control systems. Each side was beginning to retract back into the rocky side walls of the hangar area as the old warship hovered above the ground in preparation to exit the mountain city.
RANUL could hear the rising pitch of the old Saberhawk class vessel as he quickly made his way through the corridors back to where Estall and his warriors were preparing to launch the attack against the Vorn. From a satchel, he retrieved his tracking device which read the wavelength signature of the android's operating system. If Vale was within one hundred yards, Ranul could track him. The device remained silent. The thought that Vale was not nearby was comforting; but what had happened to the robot after it retreated from the Aolene warriors?
He continued his ascent until he found Estall in the public area with hundreds of Aolene warriors prepped for war. They all wore the same black garment of the Barudii, and every person was loaded up with weapons for the battle. Estall looked puzzled to see Ranul as he made his way to him in the crowd.
"Has something happened, Dr. K'ore? I thought, surely your group had departed for the rift by now."
"The others have, but I want to go with you and your warriors to engage the Vorn at the Capital. My daughter is there."
"I see. Well, of course you're welcome to join us, and any information you have about their strengths or weaknesses would be appreciated."
"Actually, the Vorn have several ships and multiple long and short range weapons at their disposal, but they don't realize you're coming. It would be best to spread out your troops as we come in to firing range, about five to seven miles from the city, so they won't have
any large targets to fire upon," said Ranul.
"Well, it may be good for us to encircle the city and come from all angles to converge on their cloning facility."
"You should also know that the Vorn have a large number of sentinel robots at their command-probably in the thousands. By spreading your forces and coming from all directions they'll be forced to spread their own ground forces to protect the city. It's likely that many gaps in that defense will present themselves."
"Then let's go. We'll be able to approach the city near dusk and gain that advantage as well."
They gathered up nearby weapons and headed for ground level where the transports were being loaded and prepped for the attack.
IT took a few moments to fully retract the mountain side hangar bay doors. Now the ship would clear. Millo adjusted the landing thruster controls and the ship began to move forward through the opening in the mountain. Orin adjusted controls at his station; setting the weapons systems at the ready and making sure that all automated systems were operating within normal parameters.
The Saberhawks normally operated with a crew of twenty persons, but most of the systems could be run by automation if necessary. The larger bulk of the ship held primary engine systems for long range missions and extra crew quarters with food and water storage, while the remaining quarter of the ship made up the bridge section, sublight engine components and all primary controls for the entire vessel. They made last minute adjustments and prepared for the launch through Castai's turbulent atmosphere.
THE distance Vale had calculated for his trek around the mountainside toward the hangar quickly diminished in his processor as he approached the area on his internal map that should have housed the hangar section of the city. Up ahead, a fair distance away, he could see the nose of a large ship emerging form the mountain. He instantly began internal calculations for his own foot speed compared with the distance yet to cover, terrain and the rate at which the ship was emerging from the hangar port.
He realized he would not reach the vessel in time. Their velocity would increase dramatically once the ship completely cleared the mountain. As he ran toward the vessel he withdrew a hyper-magnetic grapple from one of the clips on his belt.
The last part of the Saberhawk cleared the opening in the mountain and Millo increased power to thrusters steadily to move the ship away from Vaseer. Vale aimed and fired his grapple just ahead of the ship's nose. The wire line, with its heavy cylindrical head, arced out away from the mountainside about fifty yards and caught the lower hind end of the Saberhawk.
He made a strong jump into the air as he felt the slack line become taut and pull him away from the ground. He depressed the winch key on the grapple and held on tight as the mechanism drew him closer to the ship.
Millo fired main thrusters and sent the ship upwards toward the outer atmosphere. Orin was monitoring it on the digital display for wind speed and direction as well as pressure changes that could make the ascent a bumpy ride.
Vale was now within twenty yards of the ship's hull as they began to move through one of the weather systems that usually became violent on Castai's surface. The changes in the planet's weather were somehow directly linked to the Transdimensional Rift.
The turbulence and high wind began to pummel the ship in its climb. Inside the Saberhawk, automatic stabilizers worked to keep up with all the jarring forces playing against the body of the ship. Orin monitored hull integrity and other factors while Millo calmly urged the ship skyward. In a few moments the Saberhawk cleared the weather and the ride smoothed out considerably.
Vale approached the hull and tried to find a place to anchor himself. He noticed how near he was to one of the landing skid alcoves. He clamored for the hull wall, activating the hyper-magnetic discs located in the palms of his cybernetic hands. Hand over hand, he approached the alcove and climbed inside with the retracted landing skid and wedged himself in with his powerful arms and legs.
THE Saberhawk rumbled again as it broke free of Castai's atmosphere into open space. Gravity controls quickly adjusted the internal environment for the crew. Tiet had never been in space before, and he wondered at the vastness of it. There were seemingly billions of stars now visible in the distance. A gaseous formation could be seen ahead. Orin brought up the tactical displays that identified the phenomena as the Transdimensional Rift with energy readings that went off the scale.
Only Orin could remember it, having seen it during a space battle with the Vorn that had left the Castillians without a space fleet. From that time on the Barudii had only battled the invaders on Castillian soil.
"Readings show the rift to be fully open and safe for passage."
Millo nodded and adjusted his flight path to carry them through the ominous black void near the center of the multicolored gaseous cloud that surrounded the rift.
Dorian wondered if she would ever see her brother or her people again. And would Estall be able to defeat the remaining Vorn on the planet? She had confidence that he would-more confidence than she had in their own ability to successfully defeat the Vorn fleet waiting on the other side of the rift. Suddenly she longed for Castillian soil under her feet again.
She looked at Tiet in the chair next to her. He was looking at the rift and the data on the viewer. He was handsome and brave and powerful, and yet behind his eyes she could see a child who had lost everything dear to him, but could still smile and have hope in the future. Was it gullibility or just innocence, and did it really matter?
As a child she had wondered about the little boy in the archive photos; the son of the king to that once great people. He was so happy in the images she had seen in her studies and she had often thought that were he still alive, they would have been the same age and could have played games together.
In her adolescence the small boy in the images had become the young man who defeated the Vorn enemies in her dreams and swept her away from the harsh reality of her life. And now, here he was; very much alive and only inches from her.
It did not matter if they returned now. She knew that here beside him was the only place she really wanted to be. She wiped an escaping tear as Tiet looked at her with the same childlike smile. She returned it and they looked back toward the approaching blackness of the rift.
DARKNESS was beginning to fall as Estall's formation of transports swept across the wasteland toward the capital city. Approaching from the east was a violent-looking weather system that they hoped would not intercept them before they could reach the city.
He had sent nearly half of the forces ahead at full speed while his group continued on at half that pace. If the other group of transports could swing wide of the city and get around undetected then they might just be able to encircle it during their final approach. Ranul was hunkered down in the open cockpit of Estall's transport as the wind whipped at them from different directions caused by the approaching storm.
He had seen many violent fluctuations in Castai's weather and had studied many files from the past events. He understood all too well the reason for Castillians building the majority of their cities underground in the centuries following the appearance of the rift.
He knew that once Estall's forces came within ten miles of the Vorn facility, even these small craft would be detected by their defense systems. The Vorn long-range phase cannons could be employed at up to seven miles, but if the transports remained scattered enough perhaps the Vorn would have difficulty hitting them.
The Aolene were a brave people. They had faced the adversity of Vorn attacks on their cities and survived to become an even stronger people through the study of the Barudii fighting arts. Though they lacked the kinetic abilities of the Barudii, the Aolene certainly reminded him of those long dead warriors in spirit. As they steadily approached the Capital, he hoped he would not witness the loss of another brave people today.
IV
GOVERNOR Kisch k'ta looked very worried now. This was exactly the kind of situation he had been hoping to avoid by sending out the andro
id assassin. His confidence in its ability may have been premature.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes Governor. The city's perimeter defense systems just picked up these forces ten minutes ago. They appear to have originated from one of the old Barudii cities. They'll be within nine miles by now."
"Activate the defensive batteries at once. Destroy them all," demanded Kisch k'ta.
Setaru' lek pressed the intercom button on the Governor's desk and patched into the city's defensive control room.
"Vescotta, lock on approaching targets and fire at will."
"Yes, Sir."
Defensive laser cannons on the west side of the city came alive as the gunners worked to lock on the approaching vehicles. They were still out of visual range to the naked eye, but were quite visible to the Vorn scanners.
"Sir, the vehicles are widely dispersed and too small to get a positive lock while they are moving at this speed."
"Tell the turrets to strafe across their flight path. That should take out some of them," said Vescotta.
The large laser cannons expelled their massive firepower with great moans of energy buildup and release. The beams trailed away from the city and into the twilight, toward their distant targets.
RANUL caught what he thought was heat lightening in his peripheral vision just as a massive beam of energy lit up the terrain ahead of their transport group. The beam rapidly cut a horizontal track across their path, catching two transports along the way. They burst into fiery fragments as inertia carried them onward, distributing the burning wreckage along their previous flight paths.
The transport group scattered even further apart as more laser fire blasted at them from the city in the distance. The pilots began making very erratic maneuvers to try and evade the assault. Estall grabbed the communication hand set and yelled into the mike. "Increase speed to full throttle! Evasive maneuvers!"
The entire transport group geared up to full throttle, making them even harder to hit. They were still three miles outside of the Capital, and closing fast.