by J R Dahl
“I can see that the evil is growing. It is time to redeem creation, and I will send the Messiah soon to begin the process. In the meantime you must remain faithful to me and rely on my strength. The power of the enemy will not overcome you.”
In that moment Cloin was filled with great peace. All sadness and fear dissipated in the radiance and power of God.
“What must I do next Lord?” Cloin asked as she bowed her head again.
“Go in my strength. Be a source of light and hope to all those around you. Show the people of Helion the power that you receive from me. I have found their concern and compassion for the weak to be noble. I want them to come to me and become soldiers of hope.
“The evil of this world is growing, and nowhere more quickly than in the hearts of men. I will not be patient with this evil forever. I will send the rest of the army of angels to put a final end to all evil, but first I will send the Messiah to redeem those who would follow and destroy the work of the enemy.”
“Yes, Lord,” said Cloin as a tear of joy rolled down her cheek.
“Now go, my child. Go and show them our ways and the power that comes from following me.”
Cloin slowly raised her head to see that the clearing had returned to normal. The wind was blowing and the birds flew through the air. She knelt there on the forest floor for several minutes as she enjoyed the peace that washed over her. Her strength was renewed, and she felt as though she could defeat the entire Nemaron army alone.
She got off her knees and walked back to the edge of the clearing and sat down on a fallen tree. She didn’t want to leave the peace of this place. Moments later a deer and its fawn slowly walked across the clearing and paid no attention to Cloin. The beauty of the scene made it much harder to leave, but she knew it was time to hike back down to the Helion base. Cloin took a deep breath of clear mountain air, picked up her pack, and started back down the mountain.
Chapter 3
Back in the Helion base, Armon and Kilgron stood in the main council chamber. This was a large, dome-shaped room with a round table in the center and walls that were lined with tiered seating. Averine, Lonan, Sevran and Telgrin all sat around the table, as did the nine Seberian soldiers. Armon and Kilgron stood near the podium, which was positioned near the northern wall.
Armon clicked some keys on a console near him, and a holographic image appeared above the table. It was a globe that represented the Helion planet. As the 3-D image rotated and the computer outlined key geographic elements, Armon began to speak. “We have sensors throughout galaxy 55x9 as well as neighboring galaxies, and we are receiving data that indicates an increased number of Nemaron carrier ships heading in our direction.” He clicked another button, and the hologram zoomed out to show all of their galaxy. “They appear to be converging on this location.”
A highlighted area appeared a short distance away from Helion and its binary star system. “Here you see the Ruen system. It has just one primary star and only four planets, none of which are inhabitable. The surfaces of all the planets are very volatile with extreme temperature variations. The entire system has a tremendous amount of meteor movement, which causes great difficulty in receiving signals from our sensors. However, all of the data projects the Nemaron carriers to be converging somewhere in that system.”
“They are hiding out under the cover of the meteors and gathering forces,” said Lonan.
“Yes,” answered Armon. “That’s what appears to be happening. We can’t get accurate readings on the size of the force due to poor signal, but it appears to be a large portion of the Nemaron fleet.”
Sevran added, “Each of those carriers normally have hundreds of fighters and troop transports.”
“So Nemaron is gathering a large army in the Ruen system,” said Averine. “That doesn’t look good.”
“No. It doesn’t,” answered Kilgron. “Due to the fact that we just had an attack from what appeared to be a small scouting party, we should assume that we’re Nemaron’s next target.” He clicked some keys on the console, which caused the computer to zoom the hologram back into the Helion planet. It then displayed what looked like tree roots or veins that spread out all though out the upper crust of the planet. They were highlighted in numerous different colors and some stretched very near to the planet’s core.
“It’s just as the Seberians had warned us,” said Kilgron. “They’re after our resources. Our planet is rich in many of the elements and minerals that Nemaron has been harvesting and selling. I think that their scouting party was collecting readings on these resources and that it’s safe to assume that we are next on the list of planets to be taken captive.”
“So our plan is still to free the slaves, right?” asked Lonan.
“Yes,” answered Armon. “We must free the slaves in order to remove the Leviathan army power. Then we’ll have a far better chance of stopping their forces. I’ll send my Seberian soldiers with your teams to fight alongside you. There could be some demons at the camps, and you’ll need our supernatural power to defend against them.”
Kilgron and the others nodded in agreement.
“I’m concerned about the size of this army that appears to be on its way to your planet. I’ve decided to travel to galaxy 55x8 to gather reinforcements. We have small armies of Seberians spread throughout numerous galaxies. I’ll go and gather as many as I can and then return to defend this place. Meanwhile, the rest of you must free the slaves.
“All of you need to beware of Devakin. He is ruthless, his lust for blood is without end, and he will never stop. He rose up the ranks of the Leviathan very quickly and left trail of dead bodies in his wake.”
All the Seberian soldiers seated there at the round table nodded their heads in agreement.
“So the time has come to execute our plans,” Kilgron interjected. “Shut down the slave compounds, save the captives, and remove the enemy’s power source. I have a quick meeting with the Helion general council, then I’ll meet all of you in the main hangar.”
After he said this they all stood and walked toward the door. As they did, council members started to enter the room for Kilgron’s meeting.
Later, in the main hangar, Armon and the Seberian soldiers were unloading weapons and equipment from their shuttle when Cloin walked through the main hangar door and toward the Seberian shuttle. Without even seeing her Armon could sense that she was coming. As he continued to unload gear from their shuttle he said, “How was your time in the mountains?”
She walked to her father, who then stopped what he was doing and turned to her with a smile. She hugged him. “It was good and very much needed.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” Armon answered with a smile. “I want you to stay here and help defend their base. I’m going to find as many of our fellow Seberians to come and help. The Nemaron army that’s gathering appears to be very large. We need more help.”
“Yes, Father,” Cloin said. She picked up the last pack full of equipment from the shuttle.
Armon hugged her and then stepped up the loading ramp into the Seberian shuttle. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he said as he closed the ramp and walked to the cockpit.
The rest of the Seberian soldiers stood beside Cloin as Armon fired up the engines and lifted the shuttle up off the landing platform. He waved to her through the cockpit window and then just seconds later was high above the mountain base and passing through the planet Helion’s outer atmosphere.
Shortly after Armon left a woman’s voice came across the loud speaker. “All personnel report to the main hangar. All personnel report to the main hangar.”
Along the innermost wall of the hangar ran a high balcony. Kilgron stepped out onto this balcony as the soldiers all gathered down below. Lonan, Sevran, and Telgrin stood together in the middle of hundreds of soldiers as Averine joined them. Cloin and the rest of the Seberians gathered together behind them. They were completely ready for battle dressed in their lightweight, black armor.
As the soldiers s
ettled in, Kilgron began to speak. “All of you have your orders, and you know what’s at stake. If you do not accomplish your missions, a powerful army will attack our planet with such force that we will not be able to repel them. Many years ago we came to this place and made our home after this army ravaged our home planets. It seems that we can run but not hide forever from this Leviathan army. We must turn and fight in order to defend our new home.
“Our new allies, the Seberians, have informed us of where this army is receiving its supernatural power. They’re feeding on the fear, misery, death, and destruction of those they hold captive. We believe that they will begin executions very soon.”
Kilgron raised his voice and slammed his fist down on the podium. “We must save the slaves in order to save our planet! We will not run from this army again.”
He paused for a moment and scanned the crowd. He was relieved to see confidence and boldness in the eyes of the Helienders. “Now go, and God be with you.”
Once he finished, the assembly of soldiers dispersed and ran to their shuttles.
Lonan and Averine walked to his waiting spacecraft. Lonan carried a box of ammunition as Averine delivered one last bag of medical supplies to Lonan’s shuttle.
“You are staying here this time, right?” asked Lonan.
“Yes! I promise. My father has assigned me here to help protect the base and tend to our wounded,” Averine answered.
“Ok. Stay here!”
“I will!” insisted Averine with a grin.
Lonan stepped down off the ramp and reached down to kiss his wife. Averine smiled. “Be careful, and Godspeed.”
“Yeah,” answered Lonan as he turned back up the ramp of the shuttle.
Telgrin watched his friends say their goodbyes. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw her. It was Sarah, the young medic that he could never seem to stop thinking about. She was an attractive woman in her late twenties. Her long, brown hair was always held up in a neat ponytail. Most days she wore her thin-rimmed glasses that Telgrin thought made her look not only extremely intelligent but also a hundred times more beautiful. At different times she was assigned to work with Averine in the med ward. On those days Telgrin always came up with some reason that he had to leave the shop or lab and take a message to Averine. The problem was that ninety-eight percent of the time he chickened out at the last second and ended up sheepishly dragging himself back to the shop only to be greeted by Lonan’s annoying grin. Telgrin hated when he did that.
Sarah was walking across the hangar carrying medical supplies and heading for Sevran’s shuttle. She must have somehow sensed that he was watching her, because she turned and looked back at him.
Telgrin quickly looked away and tried to appear to be doing something important and then ducked into the shuttle. Moments later the ramp pulled back into the hull of the ship and the door slowly closed and sealed.
Averine had slowly backed away from the shuttle and was standing in one of the doorways that led out of the hangar and back into the base. She stood and lovingly waved to Lonan as his head appeared in the cockpit window. He faked a smile and waved back as he thought of all that could happen here if he and the other teams failed in their rescue missions.
Telgrin sneaked a peek through one of the cockpit windows and watched Sarah as she walked back toward the outer edge of the hangar away from the engines and back to safety as they began to fire their warmup sequences.
He whispered to himself, “You could have a least waved.”
“What was that?” asked Lonan.
“Nothing,” shot back Telgrin, busying himself with work at his computer station behind the main pilot chairs.
Lonan smiled and shook his head a little as he saw Sarah walking though the hangar. “One of these days you’re going to have to actually speak to her.”
“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” answered Telgrin without looking up from his computer terminals.
“We’ll have to take care of that when we get back. For now, let’s go save some slaves,” said Lonan.
“Sounds good,” answered Telgrin. He paused for a second and then quietly added, “I still don’t know who you’re talking about.”
Lonan smiled and shook his head.
From high above on the balcony Kilgron looked down over the hangar and watched as hundreds of Helienders loaded into shuttles. He shifted painfully on his artificial leg as he watched his daughter saying goodbye to her husband. As a lifetime warrior it pained him to stay behind and to send his son-in-law into harm’s way. He knew that his daughter, whom he loved more than life, would be devastated if anything were to happen to him.
All the shuttles had finished loading supplies and personnel. Most had already started their secondary engines and where nearly ready for takeoff. Sevran had just jumped into the co-pilot’s chair and pulled on his helmet as his pilot fired up their warmup sequence.
Back in the valley that lay in front of the great gate, thousands of angels had gathered and still more continued to fly in. Some of them landed on cliffs on the side of the mountain up above the door. There they unpacked weapons from the side packs of their horses. As they assembled these it was clear that they were small catapults. Still more angels filled the valley below as Tekel, Balim, and Genon arrived on their horses.
They stood on a small ridge that ran out from the side of the mountain into the flat valley. From here they were elevated and could see the entire battlefield. They could also very plainly see the black storm clouds as they rolled across the valley. With their angelic eyes they could gaze far across the sky to see that in front of the clouds was a swarm of demons in flight. They were still many kilometers away but were moving very quickly. As they flew they seemed to pull the black clouds with them, their bodies erupting with lighting and thunder.
Tekel called his two generals to his side. “The humans will be leaving soon. I need you to take one warrior for each of their units and go to them now.”
“Yes, sir,” answered Balim and Genon. They rode down into the formations of the other angels to collect re-enforcements. As they did Tekel gazed off into the distance and watched the enemy draw near.
Meanwhile the Nemaron command ship hovered in the outer atmosphere of the largest planet in the Ruen star system. Ten other Nemaron carriers hovered in a defensive perimeter around the command ship. Ten fighters that had been patrolling flew in nearer to their carriers and landed in the hangars located on the sides of the enormous space craft.
On the command ship Maginon entered the main deck as a crew of thirty soldiers piloted the ship.
“Sir, all carriers have reported in and are ready to depart,” the flight commander reported.
“Good. Get us clear of the meteor field and into formation,” ordered Maginon. “I want all our forces to come out of light speed at the same time and in proper attack formation.”
“Yes, sir.”
All the Nemaron carriers flew through a dense pack of meteors that where stuck in orbit around the Ruen planet and out into a clearing in space at the outer ridge of the star system. Once the ten carriers had positioned themselves around the command ship, they held their positions and waited for orders from Maginon.
“All ships are in position, sir. We’re ready to launch into lightspeed, waiting for your command,” reported the flight commander.
Maginon could barely hear him as everything around him seemed to drift away. He closed his eyes and painfully slipped into a vision. He could hear a slight whisper that slowly grew in intensity. When he opened his eyes, he found himself standing in a strange, dark place. Wind circled him with enormous force, and he couldn’t see where he was through a blurry mist. He could barely make out the sight of demons matching in the background as Satan stepped through the wind and into sight. In the background he could hear thunder and see lightning.
Then Satan spoke.
“I’ve given you a great many resources. Now you had better use them wisely.”
“Yes, my lor
d,” said Maginon as he bowed his head in fear as he tried to stand up against the winds.
“Begin the executions on time and stay on schedule. Do not fail me,” said Satan as he stepped toward Maginon. The winds intensified, and Satan’s voice rang in his ears until all was silent.
Maginon opened his eyes and found himself back on the command deck. He gasped for air as if waking from a nightmare.
“Sir, are you ok?” asked the flight commander.
“I’m fine. Have all slave camps report in.”
As he said this a small amount of blood ran down from the corner of his eyes. He was visibly in pain as he sat down near the center of the command deck. He wiped his eyes, looked down at his hand, and found it covered in blood. He jumped back slightly and then looked around to see if anyone had seen him bleeding. He quickly wiped away all the blood and then sat back in the command chair.
Meanwhile, deep inside the mountain of the Helion base, Kilgron and many soldiers prepared for the Nemaron attack in the command center. One of the soldiers picked up a signal from his computer and reported to Kilgron. “Sir, the Nemaron ships have moved out of their cover and appear to be preparing to jump to light speed.”
“How many?”
“We’re getting a reading on eleven carriers in total, sir.”
Kilgron turned to a nearby com link and called to the shuttles. From within the cock-pit of his ship Lonan heard him send the following message. “Launch all rescue shuttles now. Nemaron is on their way. All rescue shuttles launch immediately.”
The three Seberian soldiers strapped into their seats. Lonan turned and asked, “Are you guys ready for this?”
“Are you?” answered one of the Seberians as Lonan peered out the cockpit window at his wife, who was still watching from the edge of the hangar.
“Yeah, let’s go. We’ve got a job to do,” answered Lonan. He gently eased up the engines, which lifted them a meter off the hangar floor and slowly hovered toward the door.