by Saxon Andrew
Jon waited for the new Megat Warriors to draw even with their heavy armor and activated his com and said, “All Life Warriors will move four steps back on my mark.”
Captain Debat said, “What are you doing? We can’t give up ground, we’ll be overrun.”
“Captain, please do as I’ve asked. Ready, Mark.”
Captain Debat and the other Life Warriors took four steps back and they saw Jon turn and face the on rushing mass of Megat Warriors. The brilliance of something leaving their lines caused their helmets to darken to block the light. The following explosions shook the ground like a 9.9 earthquake.
Jon ejected a mini-penetrator and aimed it at a Heavy Tank rolling toward their lines. It was in the back ranks of the charging Megat and just in front of the twenty thousand Megat warriors rushing in to overrun the defenses of the city. Another mini-penetrator ejected from his chest, extended its hundred foot wide force field, and moved away faster than the Life Warriors could see. It broke the sound barrier eight feet from his chest and the sonic blast roared into the oncoming ranks. The force field of the penetrator vaporized every Megat Warrior it touched instantly as it tracked in on another giant armored vehicle and blew it into an explosion that produced a shock wave that blew out into the ranks of the Megat. Two other heavy tanks were hit at the same moment and as the shock waves combined and spread out Jon yelled, “Hit the dirt now!”
The shock wave passed over the Life Warrior Company and hit the outer buildings of the city and blew in the walls. Captain Debat saw the explosions and said, “What the…” just before he hit the ground. He looked at his wide view panel and saw that most of the Megat were dead. The few that were able to stand up were disoriented and he ordered, “Move out. Push them back.”
The two hundred warriors stood and moved forward killing anything that moved. Twenty Megat Heavy Attack Craft came roaring in and were blown into dust by the Hornets Jon launched. The company arrived at the destroyed Heavy Armor and saw the Megat Survivors fleeting toward their landing craft.
Suddenly, Jon heard, “Help us. Someone please help us!” He closed his eyes and saw hundreds of Megat attacking a huge structure in the center of the city. He showed Dern and Teg the view and teleported away.
Jon arrived just behind a Megat Company as they blasted a door in the armored wall and began entering the building. He didn’t even think. His heavy laser and Hand Projectile Gun appeared and he killed every Megat still outside the building. He ran and jumped into the doorway and saw the first group of Megat that had entered the door firing at a group of eight unarmored warriors at the front of the room, who were using a stone wall as cover. He moved forward and his auto-loaded hand projector emerged and he moved it across the ranks of the Megat, charging toward the front of the room. He killed them all in less than two seconds. Not one of his projectiles missed its target. His scanner warned him of more Megat moving toward the building and he rushed forward and said, “Get out of here, move to another room.”
The commander of the Warriors looked at him and yelled, “The other rooms have been breached. This is the only room left in the castle without the enemy in it.” Jon looked over at four people huddled behind the warriors and the captain said, “They’re trying to capture members of the Royal Family.”
Jon said, “Get behind the wall and stay there.”
Jon moved out into the center of the room where his scanners could see both entrances into the room and raised his arms. He knew there was no way a mini-penetrator could be used in close quarters without killing everyone in the room. He closed his eyes and waited.
The Commander of the eight defenders was a former Life Warrior and he knew that one Warrior could not hold off the charging Megat. Twenty minutes later he still didn’t believe what he witnessed.
• • •
The Megat that charged the castle that day moved into a storm that had no equal. The Megat that had breached the castle’s security all ran toward the room where the Royals were pinned down. Six companies of their Warriors rushed toward the opening in the outer wall and charged inside. They entered a wall of death.
The Commander saw the Life Warrior’s weapons appearing and disappearing at a rate that was unbelievable. The Warrior looked like he was on fire and the Megat were being killed faster than they could advance. Then two more Life Warriors appeared and the rate of destruction went beyond belief. They cleared the room and then one of them moved through the opening in the wall to the outside and held off the charging Megat. The other went into the interior of the castle and the explosions and firing moved rapidly away from the room. The original Life Warrior stood there with his arms raised making sure the Royals were safe. After twenty minutes a company of White Warriors teleported in and charged into the chamber finding the lone Warrior standing there.
Cassandra knew she was going to die and Juliette with her. When the door was blown in and the aliens charged she tried to cover Juliette but Juliette pushed her way and watched the approaching death. Cassandra watched the Life Warrior rush behind the charging Megat and she just didn’t believe what she saw. She knew the capabilities of the Warrior’s armor and what he did was impossible. Juliette stayed against the wall and watched the warrior fight for them. She couldn’t take her eyes off the single Warrior and his refusal to leave them.
• • •
Lt. Col. Dugt walked in with the first company of White Warriors to arrive and took in the room with the hundreds of dead Megat. He glanced at their heavy weapons and saw most of them had been unable to fire them before they were killed. He saw the Life Warrior in the center of the room and said to his warriors, “Fan out and clear the Castle.” The company teleported out into the castle as the next two companies followed them in. Dugt looked at the Life Warrior and said, “Report.”
“Private Jon Gee, Sir.”
“Where is your unit?”
“They are at the space port, Sir.”
“You were with the single company that landed?”
“Yes Sir, I was.”
“Why are you here?”
“I heard someone pleading for someone to please help them and I came here to do it.”
Col. Dugt looked at the Commander and said, “Did you call for help?”
“No, I didn’t have time to do that and save the Royal Family.”
Dugt looked at Jon and then Juliette said, “I called for help.”
The commander looked at her and said, “But you only yelled it. You didn’t have a unit to call.”
Dugt looked at Jon and he said, “I heard someone call for help, Sir.”
Dugt looked at Jon and said, “Deactivate your armor, Private.”
Jon deactivated his armor and Juliette gasped. Dugt jerked his head around and looked at her and said, “What?”
Juliette said, “He’s Duke Robbins’ son.”
Cassandra jerked her head around and saw Jon.
Jon turned and saw Juliette. He smiled and then turned back to the Colonel. Dugt knew this was above his rank to handle. He said, “Captain Glen, take the private to the Admiral.” He looked at Jon and said, “Reactivate your armor.”
“Sir, I’ll report to the Admiral, but I request that I be allowed to join my company until this action is completed. They’re fighting alone.”
Dugt stared at Jon and said, “Permission granted.” Jon teleported out.
Juliette watched him disappear and knew that he had heard her thoughts. He wasn’t psychic, but he heard her thoughts.
Cassandra stared at Juliette and then looked at the Colonel. “Colonel, could one Life Warrior kill this many Megat alone?”
The Colonel looked at her and said, “You should all be dead.” He turned and followed his Warriors into the castle. A platoon of White Warriors took the Royal Family to the Fleet’s Flag Ship in orbit above the planet.
• • •
Jon appeared at the space port and Captain Debat said, “Where did you go?”
“The Megat were attacking the castle and
I went to help defend the Royal Family.”
“How did you know that?”
“I heard the call for help and assumed that all of us were requested to go.”
The members of C Company listened to the exchange and knew one thing. If the Warrior that saved their lives were in trouble they were going to join them. One warrior said, “I heard it, Captain.” “So did I.” “I did as well.”
Debat shook his head, “Trying to protect him is wasted effort. Your communications can be checked so shut up. I know what we owe him.” Debat looked at Jon and said, “Report to your squad and let’s move out. We have a space port to defend.”
The Company teleported to the huge facility and began hitting landing craft that were fleeing the planet. Debat saw that if Jon fired a weapon, something was hit. He didn’t miss targets. He heard a click and saw that his recording of his company’s fight had been copied to Fleet. He hoped he didn’t lose this magnificent warrior.
• • •
Admiral Mandel looked at his display and said, “I found your penetrators.”
“Really! Where are they?”
“Three Life Warriors loaded them up in their armor.”
Steve stared at the Admiral and said, “How is that possible?”
“I’m going to find out, but that’s where they went.” Mandel ended the call and looked at the report from Fleet Control. D Company had been teleported in alone to fight a regiment of Megat that were reinforced by Heavy Armor. All attempts to teleport reinforcements to their location had been blocked by the assignment computer. Even individual warriors were blocked from teleporting in to assist them. That company had been sent there to die. Mandel sent the information to the Cats and Zord.
• • •
Captain Debat looked at the three brothers standing at attention if front of him and said, “Turn over your wrist units.”
The three looked at each other and then removed their wrist controllers. The Captain looked at them and handed them a new unit. “This unit has one location programmed into it. You will activate your units at exactly thirteen hundred hours. You got that?”
“Sir, Yes Sir.”
Debat looked at them and said, “I don’t know what this is all about but I want to say thank you.”
Jon looked at his two brothers on each side of him and said, “We did what had to be done, Sir.”
Debat slowly nodded and said, “And you did it better than anyone else could have done. Dismissed.”
• • •
They sat in Jon’s quarters wondering what was going on. Dern was sitting on the bed swinging his short legs back and forth, “Well, you have to admit that was the most fun we’ve ever had. My unit kicked their butts.”
Jon grimaced, “Speak for yourself; that was harrowing. None of the other companies came in with us.”
Teg chuckled, “I was in your mind, Jon. You had a blast.”
“I had about a thousand of them.” Jon paused and then smiled and gave Dern a light punch on the arm, “It was fun, wasn’t it?”
Teg sat on the floor and said, “Why was your company the only one teleported in?”
Dern said, “That’s easy.” The other two looked at him and he said, “Someone wanted to get Jon bumped off.”
Jon turned his head to the right and said, “I think they wanted to get all of us.”
Dern continued to swing his legs and said, “Nope. If we had been there, it would have still happened. They wanted you out of the picture. If they were after us, our units would have also arrived alone.”
“I need to be assigned to a regiment away from you two. I don’t want you to be in danger because of me.”
Teg said, “We’re not going to do it. We could at least be there to come to your aid. Would you leave us if our roles were reversed? Remember, we can see your thoughts.”
Jon sighed heavily.
“Well, three minutes until we hear our destiny. Where do you think we’re going?”
Dern laughed, “A maximum security prison.”
Teg punched him on the arm again and said, “Get real.”
Dern rubbed his arm and said, “Hey, not so hard.”
Jon said, “Well, whatever happens; I’m glad you’re with me.” The three put out their hands out between them and grasped each other’s wrists.
• • •
Cassandra was terrified. She was requested to be present at a meeting and as she looked at the attendee’s, she saw that a Zord and a Cat were going to be present. They would see her mind and she knew an execution awaited her. She panicked and then gathered her wits. She thought about it and then called for a doctor. The Doctor arrived with Juliette rushing in right behind him. She fluttered her eyes and said, “I’m panicked by what happened. I can’t force myself to leave this room.” She turned her head toward Juliette and said, “You will have to take my place in a meeting.” She rolled her head toward her desk and muttered, “There are the details. You were present when everything happened. You can represent me.” Then Cassandra closed her eyes and the doctor pushed Juliette aside.
Juliette walked over to the desk and picked up the summons and read it. She looked at the attendees and smiled.
Chapter Seven
The three brothers pressed their wrist units and appeared in a huge room in front of two large thrones. They were stunned and all three immediately went to one knee and lowered their heads.
Victoria looked at the three brothers that were so different, but also so much alike. She could tell they loved each other. It was clear in how they moved closer together when they saw where they were. She glanced at Grainger and saw he was also impressed. “Please rise.”
The three stood up and remained at attention. Grainger said, “Relax.”
The three remained at attention and Victoria smiled, “Is this what you call relaxing?”
Jon looked at the beautiful Queen and said, “I would, but my muscles aren’t listening to my mind.”
Victoria laughed and Jon thought her voice was musical. Suddenly, another person appeared and Jon saw it was Juliette. Victoria looked at her with a raised eyebrow and said, “I requested your mother’s presence, Lady Juliette.”
Juliette bowed and said, “She is not well, Your Majesty. She requested that I take her place.”
Victoria looked at Grainger and he knew that their plan to take a look at Cassandra’s thoughts had been blocked. Victoria slowly shook her head and said, “She went through a lot. We pray for a fast recovery.”
The Zord looked at the Cat in the back of the room and then they moved forward. As they arrived at the front of the room with the others, Admiral Mandel appeared. Victoria looked around and said, “Welcome. I’ve asked you here because of some,” she paused, “discoveries that have been brought to our attention. I’m hoping that you will be able to clarify some of the events.” She turned to Vremel and said, “If you will lead this meeting.”
Vremel was on all fours instead of standing at his full twenty five foot height on his back legs. He looked at the Cat and it shrugged. Jon was absolutely astounded that a Cat could actually do a shrug and communicate the exact thing a human did.
Vremel looked at the three brothers and said, “You have not been honest with us.”
Jon said, “There is the truth and the whole truth. We’ve not told you the whole truth.”
Juliette sat down in a chair in front of the Royal Couple and stared intently at Jon.
“Please clarify what you mean.”
“Everything we told you was true. We left out something that we really didn’t understand.”
Vremel stared at them and said, “Please continue.”
Jon looked at Dern and Teg and then said, “What if we told you something that was not believable? What would you have done with us?’
“That depends on what it was.”
Jon shrugged and he noticed the Cat smile, “Yeah, I guess there is that.”
Vremel said, “What is it that you say is unbelievable?”
“We possess a talent at bringing a kind of life to weapons.”
Silence slammed down on the room. Vremel just stared at the three.
The Cat stood and moved forward, “What do you mean by life?”
Jon shook his head, “I wish I could describe it but I just don’t know how.”
Juliette said, “Was it like the day you found the cutlass?”
Everyone looked at her and Jon said, “Exactly like that.”
The Cat looked at Juliette and said, “What do you mean finding the cutlass?”
Victoria said, “Hold on just a moment.” She spoke into her communication panel and Jon’s parents entered the room from the door at the far end of the room. Victoria looked at them and said, “You will only answer questions you are asked. Do you understand?”
They nodded and Jon could see the worry on their faces as they took the smaller chairs next to the Queen. Victoria looked at Juliette and said, “You may continue.”
Juliette told them what she witnessed. Victoria looked at the Cat and Zord and they were just as confused as she was. Sarah said, “I have a recording of what happened.”
Victoria jerked her head around and Sarah said, “I’m here to help you defend the Realm, Victoria; not defend my son.”
Victoria looked at her and said, “I apologize for my behavior, cousin. Please play the recording.”
Sarah put the disc into the arm of her chair and everyone turned to the main display to the left of the meeting. Everyone watched what happened and at the end they all turned to Jon. Vremel said, “That was your first lesson?”
Jon nodded, “It was.”
Admiral Mandel said, “I also have a recording to share with you.”
Grainger said, “What does it entail?”
“The actions of these three in their first drop.”
Grainger looked at Victoria and she nodded. Mandel put the disc into Sarah’s chair and the recording started. The three brothers watched the recording and were just as stunned as everyone else in the room. Teg looked at Jon and said under his breath, “Did we do that?”