Rise of the Ultra Fury (Universe in Flames Book 5)

by Christian Kallias

  Chase was amazed how slow these attacks seemed to him now. He could have run three laps around Arkoolis and still have time to come back to block them. He simply teleported away with little effort, which only infuriated the general even more.

  Arkoolis unleashed a second series of fireballs, bigger and faster, towards Chase.

  Was I as stupid as he is now when I fought Miseo? Wasting so much energy for nothing. What a shame.

  This time Chase sent the fireballs back to their source, deflecting them back towards Arkoolis. The general raised a protective shield but it only held for a short time. Soon it was breached and he was hit by four of his own attacks. A giant explosion illuminated the land for miles. When the dust and smoke settled, it revealed the general with a knee on the ground and bleeding from multiple wounds on his face, arms and neck.

  Chase hadn’t used much energy yet, but Arkoolis had depleted more than a third of his own reserves. This fight would be over much faster than their previous one.

  “Is that all you’ve got, General?”

  The red lines in Arkoolis’ blood shot eyes made him look like a mad man. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself and then attacked Chase with his bare hands. It didn’t go any better for him. Chase was able to avoid each of his opponent’s blows with ease, which infuriated Arkoolis even more.

  Eventually Chase grew bored and kicked the general with a swift and precise roundhouse kick to the torso. It broke through the general’s armor like porcelain and sent him flying backwards for hundreds of yards before he crashed to the hard, stony onyx ground.

  Arkoolis recovered quickly and was already flying towards Chase as fast as he could. Fueled with rage, he seemed determined to kill Chase or die trying.

  Chase had no doubt about which of these would happen. He didn’t wait for the general to arrive but teleported under Arkoolis and kneed him in the jaw, sending him flying upwards into the dark, starless sky. Chase then teleported above him and sent him flying horizontally with a powerful strike of the elbow. But it didn’t stop there. Chase used Arkoolis like a pinball. Before he could understand what was happening to him, he was hit and sent all over the place, never allowed to recover or fall back to the ground. The impact from Chase’s blows created small shockwaves in the sky.

  Eventually Chase punched Arkoolis back to the ground and landed beside the large crater the impact had made. Then Chase realized Arkoolis wasn’t breathing anymore. Going by the damage he had inflicted, he must have defeated the general long before his last aerial combo was over.

  Hades came next to Chase and put a hand on his shoulder.

  “You didn’t even have to transform into fury mode to defeat him. Did you notice that?”

  Chase hadn’t. Indeed, he had acted instinctively, never feeling the need to push himself harder to win the fight.

  “I can’t believe how easy it was this time. Was the general weaker?”

  “No, he had the same level of power as the last time you faced him.”

  “Uh . . . Can I ask you something?”

  “Anything.”

  “How long have I been here? It feels like it’s been a very long time.”

  “You’ve been here the time you needed to get a good grasp on your powers. Time here means nothing.”

  “That explains it. Now about that last challenge?”

  “Right. Remember everything you’ve learned up until now, and that includes things beyond just your own powers.”

  “I’m not sure I understand.”

  “You will. I can only cast this ancient spell once, so here goes.” Hades waved his hand in front of him and a dark shadow appeared.

  It looked like Chase, but he was all dark, with red, glowing eyes.

  “The time has now come to defeat your strongest opponent . . . yourself.”

  * * *

  Cedric had been working at his home office since Spiros was busy with Gaia. He had been feeling a little left out since Gaia had decided to help them. Spiros tasked him with finding a way to wipe her in case of an emergency, which was easier said than done.

  Cedric wrote a self-replicating, highly aggressive worm virus that should be able to wipe Gaia in case of an emergency. What he hadn’t managed to do yet was to find a way to stop his own creation once it had accomplished its initial goal. In his sandboxed environments, the virus always got the upper hand no matter how many levels of firewalls and intrusion detection systems he put around the rest of the virtual infrastructure he was using for testing. If he unleashed this virus on Earth, every piece of tech would bite the dust at the same time as Gaia or shortly after. Recovering from this assault would put the planet at great risk for weeks if not months, disturbing normal operations of all the utilities such as water, electricity, gas and pretty much everything else.

  Lately he had hit a wall, so he was working on a side project.

  They could now safely beam devices on board ships when their shields were down. But in order to use the planet’s large stockpile of nukes to destroy the next fleet of ships he needed to find a way to either beam them when shields were still up, or find an ingenious way to bring them down. That was what he was working on. The logs he had from the battles against Zarlack ships, which now included the Droxian logs they had graciously provided, allowed him to try to find the technological edge to achieve just that.

  Still, he hadn’t had much success so far. His recent breakup hadn’t helped either. He missed Johanna. Truth be told, he also missed working with Yanis. He had wanted to pay his respects following the loss of his sister, but Cedric dreaded those types of situations. He thought it would be best to let some time pass, though he doubted it would make things easier.

  Why do I do that?

  Cedric could use Yanis’ help on his research. He doubted he could develop an effective weapon without his help and his much better grasp of Alliance technology. He rolled one for courage, but that always had the opposite effect. Once he was high, he didn’t want to move anymore.

  So another few hours passed. When he was again sobered up and had run yet another utterly unsuccessful simulation, he resigned himself to go see Yanis.

  He took a transport and, less than half an hour later, was on board the Hope. He had tried Yanis’ quarters but wasn’t surprised that nobody answered in the middle of the day. So he headed towards engineering. He found Yanis at his usual console.

  “Hey, man,” said Cedric, not really sure what else to say.

  “Hey, Cedric, long time no see. How are you doing?”

  “I . . . I’m . . . Look, I’m really sorry to hear what happened to your sister.”

  Yanis embraced Cedric warmly.

  “Thanks, man.”

  The last thing Cedric had expected was a hug, but his uneasiness faded away at once. He returned the hug and patted Yanis’ back.

  “What can I do for you, my friend?”

  “I’ve been working on something lately.”

  “Oh yeah. How’s the virus progressing?”

  “Not well, so I started working on something else.”

  “I’m surprised Spiros let you focus on anything else.”

  “Yeah, well, ever since he started working closely with Gaia, he lost his focus on the virus, which bodes well for me because I’ve just about had it with that assignment. So I tried working on a way to penetrate the Zarlack shields.”

  “I see. You know, I’ve thought about it too in the past, but their adaptive technology is simply too complex. Without the root encryption key from their own computer, I don’t think we can bypass their shields. We use a similar technology and they haven’t been able to get inside ours either. It could be doable with an away team cracking the code from within the ship, but to get the away team inside the ship you need to lower the shields first, so it’s kind of the chicken and the egg thing, you know?”

  “Tell me about it. I hit a similar wall and my simulations never went anywhere. But what if we could send, say, a Fury who is able to pass through their shields?
Then we could infect them from the inside. Perhaps we could analyze Chase’s abilities to pierce holes in their shields and try to replicate it with technology?”

  “That’s actually not half bad as ideas goes. But Chase is in no position to make a demonstration at the moment, I’m afraid.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “Plus, in the midst of fleet battles, he usually has other things to do than go on away missions. Anyway, now our weaponry is stronger than that of the Zarlacks. So while I understand your approach, I’m sorry to say that I don’t think it has a practical use.”

  “Right now we have the technological advantage, but that won’t always be the case.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, we haven’t seen any Fury ships yet, but it’s only a matter of time. Do we know how powerful these are?”

  “We don’t have any workable data from the last war. It’s simply too far in the past. So it’s anyone’s guess. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re more advanced. After all, it took a large combined fleet of hundreds of races, led by the Olympians, to bring them to their knees. But what does that have to do with your current unsanctioned project?”

  “Unsanctioned?”

  “I’m sorry, I actually don’t care what you work on. Please continue.”

  “Right. Okay, so let’s say the Fury ships are even more powerful. Having Zarlack ships we could sacrifice in the midst of battle to damage Fury ships could have some value. Don’t you think?”

  Yanis thought it over.

  “You may have a point. Show me what you’ve got.”

  * * *

  Argos growled. “If you two made me fight Menoitios for nothing, there will be hell to pay!”

  “Let’s cool our heads,” proposed Ares. “Asclepios, what ingredients do you require for your elixir?”

  “I can easily find most of them, but the elixir will only work with Kyrian snake venom.”

  “Then we don’t have a problem,” said Argos.

  All three Olympians looked at him.

  “I’m not talking about the cheap, synthesized drug. That won’t work,” said Asclepios.

  “I have a snake. It’s getting old, but I keep using it to make clones. In my experience, their venom is just as potent.”

  “Why would you need Kyrian snake venom? That stuff is deadly!”

  “Not to a Fury. Its venom is relaxing to me.”

  “If that’s true there’s no way of knowing if the elixir would work on your brother.”

  “Let’s not jump to rash conclusions,” said Ares.

  Argos was becoming annoyed. “And we’re back to kicking all your asses for making me waste my time. I’ll just go to Chase myself and heal him on my own. I’ve revived dead people before, including his precious Sarah and her unborn child. I don’t see why he should be any different.”

  “They weren’t dead for long when you did though?” asked Asclepios.

  “Why does that matter?” inquired Apollo.

  “Shush!” said Asclepios

  Apollo turned to Ares. “Did he just shush me?”

  Ares briefly smiled. “Guys, what’s going on? What are you talking about?”

  “Well, there’s a difference between healing someone and bringing them back from the dead. Shortly after they die they are sent to Hades, and he doesn’t let them out of his grasp easily. Sometimes, when the urge for survival in the subject is very strong, they can find a way to escape the underworld. That’s what the venom is for. When ingested by or injected into the patient that needs reviving, it masks his presence in the underworld. Then he can be brought back.”

  Argos lashed out, losing patience. “Enough with all the theoretical bullshit! Do you need the damn venom or not? Yes or no?”

  “Yes,” said Asclepios.

  “Then let’s go. I left my cloned snake back at my base of operation. We need to get it now.”

  Ares took Argos’ hand.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  “Shut up, Argos. We don’t have time to lose. I’ll teleport us there.”

  “What about us?” inquired Apollo.

  “You two board the ship and make your way towards Earth space. We’ll meet with you shortly.”

  “I’m not traveling alone with Apollo!” objected Asclepios.

  Argos lost it. He extended both hands towards Asclepius and Apollo, creating a fireball in each of them.

  “Argos!” yelled Ares.

  “You two are going to listen to me very carefully now. I have no problem wiping you both from existence, so you’ll do what we tell you. Is that clear?”

  Apollo wanted to object to Argos’ threat but Ares shook his head. He got the message. “Very well.”

  Asclepios took a little longer to comply but finally agreed. “Sure, but once you have your elixir, you have to promise to release me.”

  “Now we’re talking,” said Argos as he canceled both fireballs. “Ares, whenever you feel like it?”

  Ares touched Argos’ hand and they were teleported away from the planet.

  C H A P T E R

  XIV

  Ryonna had to crawl to get to the levitating Droxian. Her heart ached when she saw that it was indeed Jonas. He looked in really bad shape. She mustered all her strength to rise to her feet next to the console on Jonas’ right. She inputted a few commands to the holo-interface and the devices holding Jonas released his limbs. He fell forward and it took all that was left of Ryonna’s strength to catch him before he crashed onto the floor. She searched for his pulse. It was weak and erratic.

  “Keera!” shouted Ryonna.

  She was in no shape to carry Jonas back to the medical bay on her ship. She also feared he might not last that long.

  “Keera! Please wake up,” insisted Ryonna.

  She gently laid Jonas on the floor next to Keera. By then Keera had opened her eyes.

  “What happened? Is the Brin gone?” asked Keera, holding her head with both hands.

  “Yes, thanks to you. But Jonas is in bad shape. We need to give him medical attention immediately or he will succumb to his wounds.”

  Keera got back on her feet and walked towards the console, fiddling with the controls.

  “What are you doing? We don’t have time. Help me walk Jonas back to the ship.”

  “The ship is too far, Ryonna, and neither of us is in good enough shape to actually carry him there fast enough.”

  “So what do you propose?”

  “I’ve located this facility’s medbay. It’s closer. Let’s go.”

  Keera kneeled and helped Ryonna to lift Jonas. The difference in size between Keera and the Droxian made it difficult, but she was a trooper and, after a rocky start when they almost fell to the ground a few times, they got the hang of it.

  In five minutes they reached the medical facility. As soon as Jonas was placed in a regen tank, Ryonna fell to the ground and lost consciousness.

  * * *

  Daniel had been looking at his empty glass for quite a long time now, so he called the barman droid and asked for a refill.

  “Sir, I believe you have had enough for now.”

  “Just pour me a drink, you piece of junk.”

  “Losing your temper is yet another sign that you should not drink anymore. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to decline.”

  Daniel sighed deeply. The bars on Earth were no fun since the bots had taken over most of the jobs once considered menial. Now everyone was doing what their heart called them to do and few of the repetitive and boring jobs were done by human personnel. Bots of all shapes and sizes had taken their places. While it was the same back on his home planet, he didn’t like the changes he saw happening on Earth. Not all of them anyway. Especially when a tin can refused to serve him alcohol so he could drown his sorrows.

  “I’ve saved this planet more times than you’ll ever know. I want a drink for my troubles!”

  But the droid had moved on to other customers and didn’t respond. The
ir AI chips weren’t really that advanced, so he was out of luck trying to get another drink in this establishment. But then he felt a hand on his shoulder.

  When he turned to see who had touched him, he was surprised to see a well-dressed and groomed female of Asian descent. She looked no older than thirty.

  “Is it true you have saved this world many times?”

  “Yeah, well . . . you know . . . it was a team effort but yeah, I’ve put my life on the line more times than I care to count.”

  “That’s very brave of you. Do you mind if I ask why you’re here in the middle of the afternoon getting plastered? Shouldn’t you be out there, patrolling in orbit?”

  “I’m on leave. Though I’m not sure I ever want to go back to active duty. What is it to you, anyway?” His breath stank of bourbon.

  “I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m just curious.”

  Daniel’s gaze met with the drink she held in her hand. Her glass was full.

  “Will you finish that?”

  She smiled. “I’ll gladly give you my drink if you’ll tell me what’s bothering you.”

  “It’ll take more than a single drink for that. It’s a long story.”

  “I have time, and I can keep them coming.”

  “Okay . . .”

  She put her drink down and slid it towards him.

  Daniel didn’t hesitate and downed the drink. Vodka from the taste of it. Bottoms up.

  “Aaah,” said Daniel. “Can I have another?”

  “First let’s discuss why you’re in such a state, and then I’ll consider it.”

  Daniel made a face but proceeded to tell his life story over the next few drinks. They talked for hours.

  “I’m so sorry to hear about your girlfriend and what happened to your friend Chase. But do you think they’d be happy to know you’re spending your days drinking your sorrow away?”

  It had been a good two hours since he last had a drink and he was slowly sobering up. That question hit him like a punch in the guts.