by Andrew Mack
Back at the Temple, the line began to diminish. The Head Quillisar looked over to the other Quillisar, gesturing for a break. Remembering, the Head Quillisar grabbed the red box the Quillisar Priest had left. He walked off towards the back of the Temple as the other Quillisar immediately replaced him on the altar. He turned a corner and made his way to a private room. There, he took off his glorious red priest cloak and picked up the red box to inspect. He tried to remove the top, but it was somehow taped. He opened a drawer from the table next to him. He scurried through various candles, matches, pens, and other objects until he found the small letter knife. He took it out and began cutting the tape on the box.
Out near the altar, off to the side, a father and son lined up to another Quillisar. The Quillisar asked the son when he approached, “The sun is where my child?”
The son answered, “In the Quill my Quillisar.”
The Quillisar grabbed the blue box left behind by the Quillisar Priest and gave it to the child for correctly answering. The father and his son walked away, carrying the blue box the Quillisar Priest had left. They made their way to the back pews, where they entered to continue praying. The son, ever so impatient, opened the blue box and discovered a toy silver AuFa battle cruiser, with immense detail. It had a small button on the back. But when the boy pushed it, nothing happened. The father, now noticing what the boy had done, told him, “No, Samuel. The toy is for after. You must pray to the Quill first.”
The boy, still annoyed that the toy is clearly supposed to light up but doesn’t, kept pushing the button, waiting for something to happen.
The Quillisar Priest began walking away faster from the man and his daughter. He turned down another street and continued until he arrived at the steps of the Terminal Building. Navigating through the crowd, with the hood of his cloak still shielding his head, he moved his way to the front of security as most people let him pass by. When he got to the guard, he displayed his ID bracelet for the guard to scan. The guard signaled him through, and as he did, he reached into his bright red cloak pocket and took out a small box with a button.
The little girl and her father, still bewildered by the Quillisar’s behavior on the street, entered the Temple. Holding hands with her father as they entered, she glanced off to the side. Turning toward her father, she asked, “A prayer for mother first?”
The father nodded, and the two walked over to the table with the hundred burning candles. They both kneeled in front of it. Grabbing a long match together, they lit a candle. The girl saw a bag underneath the table. Picking it up, she asked her father, “What is this?”
In the private back room behind the altar, the Head Quillisar was still trying to cut through the tape on the offering box left by the Quillisar Priest. Little by little, he eventually cut through it. The Head Quillisar put the knife down and slowly opened the box. His eyes got big as he inspected the contents. A rectangular wrapping with a couple of small wires plugged into it.
After the Quillisar Priest made it safely through security, he held the small box in his hand. He pushed the button on it.
Back at the Temple, in the back pews, the boy holding the toy Battle Cruiser immediately got excited when he saw it light up. It made a funny noise, almost as if the toy ship engaged itself somehow. The father saw the toy and suddenly got very confused. The boy began waving the toy Cruiser back and forth. He finally pushed the small button on the back of it.
The Head Quillisar was holding the box when the bomb exploded. It disintegrated him immediately. The bombs underneath the candle tables went next. A wall of fire consumed the father and the little girl, who was still holding up the empty sack. People just outside were thrown back thirty meters as the Temple exploded in front of them. In a matter of seconds, the Temple was obliterated with an explosion that went a hundred meters high and a wall of fire that spread out for blocks. The surrounding buildings all had damage, with windows blown out and heavy debris from the church flying everywhere. People on the street were even knocked back from the blast. Smoke, fire, and chaos were everywhere.
A BRG officer, knocked over from the blast, got up, and saw two bodies, fifteen meters in front of him. The heat was immense, but he ran up to the still flaming bodies. He grabbed the child’s arm to pull him away, but only managed to pull burning skin instead. He squinted his eyes to look and saw there was no hope for them. After debating for a few seconds, he started walking back the other way to help others, realizing no one inside had survived.
The Quillisar Priest kept walking through the Terminal Building despite everyone clearly hearing the explosion. In the chaos, a BRG security team began running towards the front of the security station. The Quillisar Priest just kept walking in the other direction, along with hundreds of other people, now terrified. One BRG Officer, Lieutenant Storm, sprinted through the crowd toward the Temple, shouting, “Out of the way, let me through.”
The Quillisar Priest kept navigating the crowd. Lieutenant Storm ran right into the Quillisar Priest, knocking him down. The small box popped out of his hand and onto the ground a few feet away. Storm landed awkwardly on his feet with the assistance of one hand. Realizing he had just run over a Quillisar, he stopped to help him back up. But first, he saw the box and grabbed it. He held it out to offer it back and said, “My apologies Quillisar…..”
As the Quillisar Priest made it to his feet, Lieutenant Storm took another look at the box, noticing its button. The Quillisar Priest tried to walk off, ignoring what just happened. But Storm immediately grabbed his arm, to not let him get away. As he turned him around, Storm took his other hand and removed the red hood from the Quillisat Priest to reveal the blood-red mask of Taz. In a very swift move, Taz grabbed the silvery ring hanging around his neck underneath his cloak. He broke it from its chain and turned it into a saber, immediately slicing the hand Storm was using to hold him. In a reverse move the other way, Taz jabbed the red saber into Storm’s shoulder. It was a glancing blow, enough to knock him backward off his feet.
People immediately started screaming. Two more guards who were ahead of the pack immediately turned around and saw the struggle. Taz began sprinting towards the Walkway Tunnel Bridge, which led to the Towers. One of the guards, struggling to see what was going on, yelled, “Everybody down!!!!!”
A few people began falling on the floor, but most people were still trying to scurry away. After a few seconds, one of the guards got impatient. He pointed his rifle towards the ceiling and fired three shots. That got everyone’s attention. Almost everyone in the room was now screaming and got down on the floor. The other BRG officer saw Taz running towards the Walkway Tunnel Bridge, jumping over people in the process. Aiming his rifle at Taz from forty meters away, he thought about taking a shot. But Taz reached onto his hip and dropped a smoke grenade, leaving a colossal cloud all around him. Unable to see Taz, the two BRG officers began running toward the smoke cloud.
Taz turned down a large corridor and then turned back the other way to the Walkway Tunnel Bridge entrance. The Bridge was enclosed in glass, allowing its pedestrians a full view of the Port. As Taz was running across the Bridge, the crowds were dispersing, trying to get out of his way. Taz had made it two thirds across when he noticed four BRG officers on the other side. Their rifles loaded and pointed, one of them yelled, “Everyone down!!”
As the four walked briskly toward Taz, he immediately turned around and sprinted back the way he came. As he made it to the halfway point across the bridge, he could see the other two BRG officers had made it through the smoke and were now joined by two more BRG officers coming from that side. These four also had rifles loaded and pointed at Taz. One of them shouted, “Everybody drop down on the floor!!!!!”
Taz did not move, he was stuck in the middle. Both sides had four BRG officers, rifles ready to shoot. Every time they passed a civilian lying down, they got up and ran the other way. Slowly, they made it to the center of the bridge, each team of
four BRG officers ten meters away. One yelled directly at Taz. “Drop your weapon!! Get down on your knees now!!!”
BRG Lieutenant Storm finally got to his feet and began running toward the Walkway Tunnel Bridge.
Back at the tunnel, Taz was motionless as the teams were inching closer. Taz dropped down to his knees and sat on his locked ankles behind him. The BRG officers inched closer, now six meters away. Taz held out his red, hollow, diamond-shaped saber. The saber got bigger as Taz held it first, a hundred eighty degrees away from him, then as the hole in the saber got bigger, another ninety degrees upwards towards his body. He moved the diamond-shaped saber over his head. The BRG officers had stopped moving, now a mere five meters away. One finally yelled, “Drop your fucking weapon, NOW!!!!”
The saber then expanded and turned to flames. The entire saber shot a burst of fire from each side of the diamond shape. The wall of fire continued towards the BRG officers, who had stayed, and were now burning. It kept extending out down the Bridge, burning everyone in sight. The fire continued for ten seconds before it finally stopped. The eight BRG officers were charred beyond recognition. A few people further away, were not burned quite as bad, but nevertheless were rolling on the floor in agony.
Lieutenant Storm had just made it to the Walkway Tunnel Bridge when the wall of fire came down. He immediately turned to the side just outside the tunnel and felt the flames pass him into the large Terminal room. Once the flames subsided, He continued into the very charred Tunnel Bridge.
Taz got up from his squat position and punched the glass window next to him with the back of his saber. The glass broke quickly, charred by the fire, and losing its integrity. A rush of cool air from outside came through. Taz waited a few seconds. Lieutenant Storm, gun drawn, was running down the tunnel. Taz, using the red Quillisar cape as a glider/parachute, jumped from the window. He landed, some ten meters below, on top of a transport shuttle rolling underneath.
Taz looked up, noticing no security had followed him. BRG Lieutenant Storm ran past the window and saw Taz riding away below. He immediately began running down the other side of the Tunnel Bridge. Taz glanced up at the overhead train and saw a team of BRG officers heading towards the next stop that was ahead of him. Three were looking right at him, while a fourth was on his wrist radio. The transport shuttle Taz was riding came to a stop in front of a parked transport ship. Civilians began getting out of the shuttle to board the ship.
The BRG officers ran out of the train when it stopped and down the numerous stairs, before taking the extended walkway that went out to the ship. One stopped on the outdoor stairwell, and pointed his rifle towards Taz. He shot three times. Taz ducked after the first shot missed him badly. He then rolled off the transport shuttle to the ground, and back underneath the shuttle. The first BRG officer stopped in front of the transport ship, waving his hands at the pilot to turn off the engines. As civilians exited the shuttle to board the ship, the other two BRG officers were yelling, “Everyone alright? Get down!”
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Storm came down to the surface. He got in a transport car and immediately darted toward where Taz was with the civilian transport ship.
Taz, still underneath the shuttle, noticed an emergency door. He took his diamond-shaped saber, and pierced it through the door. It narrowly missed a civilian. A woman shocked to see the blade protrude from the floor. Taz twisted his blade before forcing the door open. He tossed a smoke grenade inside, which immediately filled the entire cabin of the transport shuttle. A BRG officer was at the other door. As he assisted the next civilian forced to get off, the blade of Taz’s diamond-shaped saber came out from underneath the civilian’s arm. Taz stabbed the BRG officer on his side, between his ribs where his protection shell did not cover. Taz then kicked the civilian down the steps from behind. The BRG officer tried to get a round off with his pistol, but Taz twisted his saber blade further into the ribs. The BRG officer keeled over as Taz removed his blade.
One of the other BRG officers, a mere five meters away, slowly turned around to see what was going on. Taz began running towards him, flipping into the air and somersaulting behind him before knowing what happened. He got off one shot before Taz sliced his head off.
The other BRG officer was on the other side of the Transport shuttle, still looking for Taz. He heard what was going on and ran around to the other side of the transport, rifle drawn. As he turned the corner, Taz was kneeling, waiting for him. He swiped his saber blade into the BRG officers’ knees, immediately taking him out. Face first, laying down, Taz took his saber and pierced the BRG officer behind the neck.
Taz ran to the entrance of the Transport ship. The BRG officer from the stairwell got off another shot that glanced off Taz’s shoulder, spinning him 180 degrees back towards the ground. He quickly got up and sprinted up the entrance. Taz, now bleeding from his shoulder, began running up towards the cockpit. He passed one of the flight officers, who asked, “Hey, what’s going on out there?”
Taz immediately stabbed him in the stomach and kicked him off his blade. He then passed two flight crew members without any resistance. They two immediately ran out the door and off the ship. When Taz finally got to the cockpit, he saw the pilot look back, but it was too late. Taz slit his throat with his saber, then yanked the pilot out of his seat. Jumping into the pilot’s chair, he immediately turned the engines back on. Within a few seconds, engines roaring, Taz got the transport ship off the ground.
Lieutenant Storm had pulled up, just as Taz was taking off. Glancing to the side, he noticed the dead BRG bodies on the ground. He drove the transport car to another side of the base.
Taz slowly turned out of the Port, twice almost hitting other ships landing on other pads. He heard over his radio, “Transport 3719, you do not have clearance for takeoff. All ships are now to be grounded, by order of the BRG and AuFa, do you copy?”
Taz hit a couple of buttons, and the voice was muted. Taz continued out of the city, accelerating but not rising in altitude. He flew a few more minutes before getting to the outskirts of the city.
Lieutenant Storm ran out of the transport car before it even came to a complete stop. He got out near two parked F-81 Sirator Fighters. He sprinted towards one, climbing up the ladder and jumping into the cockpit. Storm fired up the engines as another pilot raced to the other F-81 Fighter and climbed up the ladder. Storm got his fighter off the ground and quickly flew it in the direction of where Taz went.
As Taz cleared the city, he got to the mountains. About a minute later, he found a desolate area where his transport ship was parked. He eventually slowed down, preparing to land his craft near the transport. As Taz was about three meters off the ground, closing in on his landing, a shot came across his bow. Taz never saw the F-81 Sirator being flown by Lieutenant Storm. The second shot hit Taz’s transport ship directly in the left engine. The engine exploded, spinning the transport out of control until it thudded to the ground in a cloud of smoke.
Lieutenant Storm circled around in the F-81 after noticing the crash landing of Taz’s transport. The second F-81 slowed down behind him, now hovering directly over the crash site.
Taz stumbled out of the crash site and onto the landing surface. Still, with his mask on, he looked up at the F-81 that was hovering above, while the second F-81 flown by Storm had now circled back. Taz put his hands on top of his head. Storm wanted to shoot, but he needed more answers. He said on the com radio, “Do not shoot him, we need him alive.“
As the words came out of his mouth, two black fighters flew upon the sands behind the F-81’s and fired multiple rounds. One of the F-81’s took a direct hit, spinning a hundred yards away before exploding on impact. The F-81 that Storm was piloting got hit in the engine and spun to the ground in a similar fashion to Taz’s craft. It crash-landed twenty meters away from Taz.
The two black fighters circled back around, now hovering over the multiple crash site. Taz walked briskly over to the F-8
1 Lieutenant Storm had crashed. Storm, trying to get his bearings, began looking for his weapon. Taz walked more briskly towards Storm, now drawing his saber. Storm was bleeding from his head as Taz got to the craft. Taz jumped three meters into the air, landing on to the top cockpit frame. Storm found a button and locked the cockpit window frame from opening. Taz first tried to penetrate the window with his blade but to no avail. After staring at Storm for a few seconds, Taz reached into his red cloak and pulled out a small grenade. He ripped a tag off it and stuck it to the cockpit window. Taz quickly jumped off and jogged away from the downed F-81.
Lieutenant Storm was puzzled. The two black fighters were now hovering next to him, guns pointed right at him. The grenade was clearly on a timer, and he kept staring at it. Taz, meanwhile, walked over to his big transport that was waiting for him. Just as he took his first step walking up the ramp from the back, the grenade went off, instantly killing Evans and putting a large hole full of black smoke in the cockpit window of the downed F-81.
Taz entered the Transport ship, and within a few seconds, fired up its engines, and very slowly took off. Within a minute, the transport ship was flying away, the two all-black fighters flanking each side as they headed off to space.
Belinea - Episode 3
Braccus
Belinea 3.1
2137 - Serpia (Twenty years prior.)
Space Battle Station Two
The speaker was loud and clear. “Station evacuation in twenty minutes. Repeat. Station Evacuation in twenty minutes. All personnel must transfer to outbound ships to Belinea. Repeat, all personnel must transfer to outbound ships to Belinea.”