Secret of the Crystal - Omnibus Edition Books 1-3 (Time Travel Adventure)

by Larson, Brian K.

  “Whooo Hoooo!” Phash exclaimed as he continued down the long winding slalom. “That was a great plan captain. Keep firing, make them draw back some. There is another fork approaching. Most seasoned pilots will bank right. I’m going left.”

  “Any particular reason for going left?” Dammoru again shouted as he opened fire one more time on the cavern ceiling.

  “Yes!” Phash exclaimed. “No one has ever made it going left. That is our best offence at this point. Otherwise, we will exit the cavern too soon and the other fighter we lost will join his comrade again.”

  “My orders to you, sir…” Dammoru said, “… is to be the first to make it through.”

  “Aye captain… that I will, sir.”

  The two fighters dodged most of the falling debris from the shots fired by Dammoru.

  Phash closed in on the last fork in the training run. He slid the ship as far left as he could to give the others the idea he was going right. The two fighters closed in as Dammoru eased off on the falling debris; he thought the closer they were at the turn, the best possibility for them not detecting Plash’s unorthodox maneuver. It was going to be a very tight turn being so close to the left wall.

  If they were not going to make it, it would be now.

  Phash slammed on the left booster pushing the transport just enough around to make the turn. Once again he almost lost control as he banged and skid around the corner. Fortunately the ship’s shields were still intact up to this point, but after these last blows, the transport’s shields were knocked down to twenty percent.

  The lead fighter banked right and followed the route to the quick exit while the second fighter followed the transport left. He was forced to fall back to avoid some of the debris that was knocked lose by the transport’s turn.

  Phash focused on the many twists and turns as he dodged the suspended stalactites and stalagmites protruding from the floor and walls. Dammoru aimed his blaster at those appendages of the cavern causing enough debris to fall, finally taking out their pursuer.

  The fighter did all he could in dodging the falling stalactites until he spun out of control and bounced hard off of the left side wall and then again over to the right which made the ship explode littering its shrapnel on the floor of the cave.

  Phash gave a slight sign of relief, but then quickly refocused on the hardest part; the exit. Dammoru would have to blast their way through the closing tunnel in order for them to punch through the all too narrow exit.

  He swung the blaster around and locked on the quickly approaching exit and fired. He shot down the tunnel to break as many obstacles before they could connect with the ship. Several of the appendages of the cave crumbled at the weapons blast but there were still a significant number of them.

  He fired again, making even more of them collapse, but there were still many in the way. Phash would have to take them out with the shuttles shields and hope for the best.

  “Do you think you can extend your power crystal enough to encompass the transport?!” Phash yelled.

  “… or perhaps just around the front,” Dammoru said as he changed his focus on the crystal shielding.

  The shield that had encompassed Jhovahkan was now being focused on the transport’s front in hopes to protect them enough to punch through the exit.

  The transport raced down toward the exit as they watched their path narrow to the point that they could no longer prevent hitting. Dammoru fired more blasts as he yelled out in anxiety.

  The transport connected with the remaining columns slamming hard one after the next. The crew was tossed forward by the jolt like a head on collision. Dammoru’s shield held for the most part as they punched through the final obstacles exiting the course.

  Phash quickly resumed control of the ship and stabilized as he scanned the landscape. Dammoru moved the shield back to surround his prisoner as Jhovahkan fought against his restraints.

  The two looked up in front of them as they approached the Ziton Base.

  “We have more trouble, sir,” Phash stated.

  “Yes, we do,” Dammoru answered.

  The two looked at five destroyers positioned just above the Base. They had closed down their outer doors and fired up the base shields. Its defensive turrets had been activated as they shot out from the perimeter of the base and had been returning fire from the ships of death above that had begun pounding the station with full weapons fire.

  “Well that explains why they did not answer our distress call,” Dammoru explained, “they were in distress themselves.”

  “The bad news is…” Phash started, “the northern clan knows where our base is.”

  They were focused on the destroyers out in front over the base when they were hit by the rouge fighter that fell behind their flight path. They fully remembered the last fighter when it struck them hard with its weapons.

  “Shields have collapsed!” Phash said in a panic.

  Not having enough time to react, the fighter hit them again taking out their main engines.

  “We are going down!” Phash yelled as he pulled the controls back in hopes to keep the nose of the transport from digging in and flipping them on the surface.

  Dammoru fired one last volley at the fighter with a direct hit. The fighter was no longer a threat as it disintegrated and showered the surface with its debris.

  The transport hit the surface and bounced as Phash tried to compensate for the jolt. They hit again and he tried to keep the hull on the smooth surface. They skidded making a large groove in the thick dust. They hit a bolder causing the shuttle to kick up and twist slightly sideways before it landed on the ground again. They began to slide sideways and uncontrollably rocked back and forth. Dammoru hit his head on the side of the cockpit making him fall unconscious. His power crystal dimmed and the force field around Jhovahkan disappeared.

  Jhovahkan continued to pull and jerk at his restraints as the transport came to a rest. The inside of the transport began to fill with smoke from burning electronics from the crash.

  “We’re venting atmosphere…!” Phash exclaimed, “Everyone into your life suits.”

  The crew all complied and quickly made ready while Jhovahkan shouted in panic to release his restraints.

  “Negative,” the Sergeant said, “you are not going anywhere. Phash knows what to do in this situation. The air generators are still functioning.”

  “That is right,” Phash interjected, “we will use less of the cabin air and keep the scrubbers from overworking by using the life suits. We have about six hours until our batteries are exhausted… you will get a life suite when the time comes.”

  “You do realize they will send an extraction ship for him,” the sergeant said looking at their prisoner.

  “Yep,” Phash answered. “That is why we need to get those engines repaired and get us back in the air.”

  “I have completed my damage assessment,” the sergeant began, “we have sustained significant hull damage with two very large hull breaches below… the shields are down and the generators are damaged… I do not think we are going anywhere soon.”

  Dammoru finally came too. He held his head to stop the bleeding, as he sustained a deep gash from the crash.

  “That is a pretty nasty cut sir,” Phash said, examining his captain.

  “I will be fine,” he said, shaking his head to get a clear thought.

  Jhovahkan noticed before the sergeant did that his waste controller had also been knocked and had turned his restraints off. He waited for just the right moment as he pretended to pull and fight the restraints. The sergeant got up and stepped passed him to approach the front cockpit. He reached out and knocked him to the ground hitting him square on the back. Phash and Dammoru looked back in amazement at their new situation. Jhovahkan now holding a weapon ordered them to fetch him a life suite. He intended on blowing the hatch and making his way to the extraction ship once it arrived.

  They slowly reached in the bin for the last of the suites and as they started handing
it over to him, a vortex opened in front of Jhovahkan, sucking him up into it and then closing as soon as he passed through.

  The two officers looked dumbfounded as each other as they knew they had failed in their mission. Now they had to survive this crash and had decided to make it on foot away from the crash site. There was an emergency entrance to the base only two clicks from them. If they moved out now, they could make it in just three hours on foot well before their air supply would diminish. With their pass codes, they could activate the hidden door and enter into the safety of the Ziton base.

  With no communications, they had no idea what the situation was inside the base. They needed to get in and help anyway they could to defend the base from its imminent destruction.

  Dammoru dispensed their weapons cache to each soldier and gathered all the supplies they could carry which included two additional air tanks for emergencies.

  Phash blew the rear hatch and the team quickly left the crashed transport and headed to the foot hills which would lead them to the one of the emergency entrances.

  “Where do you think Jhovahkan was taken?” Phash asked.

  “That is hard to say… I did not think that any of the captains that were given a power crystal were able to produce a vortex… I know I was not able to do that… I never received any training… most everyone was provided the crystal in order to communicate with Jhovahkan when he was the council leader and to build the crystal net.”

  “That would also explain why we did not detect the Northern attack fleet. They must have been watching us all along,” Phash said.

  “At any rate,” Dammoru continued, “he is in the hands of our enemy now… we have failed our mission and given them the upper hand. I can guarantee that they will be sending the extraction team if they did not pull him out.”

  Within minutes an extraction vessel flew over and set down just feet away from the crash site. The men hid behind some rocks as they watched four soldiers exit their ship to inspect the crash. They entered the blown hatch and they only took a moment to discover their intended target was missing. They came storming out and raced back inside their ship where they took off

  “We will have to be very careful… they will be looking for us.” Dammoru said. He motioned for the team to continue moving. They were still better than two hours until they would reach the hatch. Now they had to be concerned that there was an active search and there were only three paths they could have taken from the crash site.

  “They have taken the opposite route, we need to make more time,” Dammoru said with urgency, “we need to keep moving… no more breaks until we reach the hatch.”

  “Everyone keep a sharp eye out for any additional reconnaissance,” the first sergeant said.

  The team traversed the Ziton moon with some difficulty. Even though the surface looked smooth when flying over, in actuality, there were many dips and bumps with rocks scattered about. Each step had to be taken carefully as there were many underground caverns similar to the one they had just flown though. With the weapons fire and the shaking that had caused some of the more unstable tunnels, any one of the caverns could collapse from under them at any time.

  Off in the distance, one of the soldiers spotted a second shuttle accompanied by two more fighters on approach to their current location.

  The team quickly headed up closer to the side of the crevasse that they had been traversing. They ducked behind some boulders and watched as the scouts above them flew overhead in slow flight hoping to find the missing men.

  “Look for the markings on the bottom of the ships. Remember a dot at the top insignia is of the North.” Dammoru said.

  The ships turned and headed back to make another pass over this terrain. The team hid once more as they waited for the confirmation markings to tell them what side these ships were on.

  * * *

  The Rune

  Year: 2983

  Tamika was sitting in the crystal cavern with her master crystal suspended out before her. It had the familiar glow of a yellow-reddish color as it shimmered. She was just a few feet from the Zelinite Rune. Her eyes were full yellow and red at the same time. Her skin was ashen grey and her once yellow colored golden blond hair had now turned silver white. Her eyes were withdrawn and sunken inside her eye sockets.

  As she concentrated on the yellow glowing crystal and the Rune, she had an uncontrollable whimsical laugh. The crystal pulsated in syncopation to the Rune as if they were communing.

  Her eyes widened and then she squinted and continued to laugh as if she was drunk.

  She slowly looked over across where she was sitting where she laid her eyes on her brother Jhovahkan.

  “Well… well… well…” she began, “my dear brother Jhovahkan… how are you doing my dear, dear, brother?”

  “Tamika!” Jhovahkan exclaimed. “You have come to rescue me! Get these things off of me.”

  “My brother,” she said while holding back her laughter the best she could, “I think not.”

  “What are you talking about? Tell me you took me out of there to set me free… and how are you holding me here? I know these restraints were disabled.”

  “I am holding you here by my will through the Crystal and the wonderful power of the Rune, my brother,” she said with a laugh.

  “As your older brother, I demand you set me free now!” he shouted trying to make his point.

  “I do not think so…” she replied, “we still have a score to settle.”

  “If you set me free, you can be my second in command…” Jhovahkan said, almost begging. “Join with me and together we can win this civil war… then we can get on to bigger and better things… like our real enemy the Zelinite.”

  “You see, my brother… from my perspective, you murdered our father… I will never forgive you of that…”

  “That never happened!” Jhovahkan shouted. “That was another time… another place… Jhahnahkan said so… you have to believe me… our father is alive…”

  “I saw him die… whether it was you or your mother Ghaia; you still had your hands in it.”

  “What are you going to do to me?” he said in defeat.

  “You will see…” she laughed. “You will see…”

  * * *

  Chapter 5

  Civil War

  Ziton Moon Base

  Year: 2983

  Acoth stood at this control console frantically pressing buttons and giving command as the Northern Clan’s attack fleet pounded the once hidden Ziton Base.

  “Transfer all available power to those shields…”Acoth barked, “Keep firing those defensive turrets… Maintain full shield strength… … we must keep them in tact at all cost!”

  The five battle destroyers maintained their position directly above the base. They knew they needed to continue the barrage of weapons fire or they might be able to launch any support ships below. The mountains surrounding the base quaked with every blast, which created shock waves that shook the entire base complex.

  “Sir, we have three destroyers in bound. ETA is seven minutes,” one of the tactical officers said.

  “Those must be The Allegiance, The Griffin, and The Liberator,” Acoth said.

  “Confirmed!” his tactical officer answered. “The Southern fleet is coming in from the east side. They should be in firing range in two minutes.”

  “We just need them to move away just enough to launch the Leif and the frigate, The Eastern… then we will be more even and can save this base.”

  “Sir, the Captain of the Leif is not on board.”

  “That is why I will assume command of the Leif,” Acoth said, turning to his officer. “We need her up there… I do not think Jhahnahkan will mind me taking her out for a test drive…” he said stroking his chin, “Besides, she is very powerful… we need to use whatever resource we have to stave off this attack.”

  “Yes, sir!” his first officer Poratar exclaimed with glee, “I will prepare her for launch.”

  “I want ev
ery available man on those turrets… Computer, transfer command codes to the Leif Erikson,” Acoth said. He set his controls to be set to automate the base operations while he made his way to the Leif Erikson.

  Acoth’s crew made their way to the landing bay where the Leif had been docked. The gun turrets continued to hammer the Northern fleet only bringing their shields down slightly. The fleet hit the base hard with everything they had. The crew’s feet shook and vibrated with each step they took. They braced themselves with the handrails as the larger blasts rocked the base.

  They boarded the Leif and closed the lower gangway, sealed the airlock and its engines began to charge as the reactor came to life.

  The barrage slowed as three of the orbiting ships switched their firing at the inbound support fleet.

  Acoth took full advantage and gave the command to roll the large base doors open exposing the two settled ships waiting at bay to join in the battle.

  Even before the doors completely opened, Acoth gave the Leif’s computer the orders to lift off and begin targeting the enemy ships.

  The computer obliged the orders and focused its weapons fire on the lead ship and then switched, rotating blasts among the entire attacking fleet.

  The Northern ships began to move off slightly trying to reposition themselves to better thwart off the incoming southern fleet ships.

  “Get word out to all southern clan ships to rendezvous at the Ziton Base. We must protect this base,” Acoth ordered. “Send word to the high council that the north has violated their agreement in the cease fire… we need to blockade the planet to prevent the rest of the north from arriving. We control the platforms since Jhahnahkan took over the council… let us see how far the north gets when the tables are turned,” he said with a slight laugh.

  * * *

  Ackturrian Palace

  Year: 2983

  Jhahnahkan’s advisor approached Qiaoshan in his Palace chambers as they were preparing for Katie’s wedding.