Return of the Guardian King

by John E Bujanowski Jr

  “No, wait, I need to know these things. I know how to survive and fight and live! So, you’re leading us to some ships?”

  “Yes. An egress bay on top of the ship. OK? We’ll have to climb a ladder, probably a hundred decks. Are you up for it?”

  Jona put his hand on his gut and assessed his injuries. He nodded. Then he added, “Uh, wait. Wasn’t that bay destroyed?”

  “Yes! But, it still has some ships in it and it’s not being worked on right now. All the repairs are focused on the laser turrets, the COM in the Star Lab, the elevators, an engine. We’re wasting time! And besides, uh, wait for just a second! You said ‘destroyed!’ How did you know that? How do you know the egress bay was destroyed?”

  Jona just stared at him. “Uh, oh, I blew it. Well,” he muttered. “We didn’t use it when I first landed. I saw it?”

  Aderian folded his arms across his chest and doubted. “Can we go, now?”

  Jona followed Aderian down a long empty corridor to the back of the ship. Luckily, no one saw them. Jona knew the egress bay was in the very middle of the ship but assumed the ladder they were going to use to climb the hundred decks was at the back of the ship. Jona assumed that particular ladder was less traveled and seldom used. They reached the end of the corridor and turned down a narrower hallway. The hallway was nearly a hundred yards long.

  “This ship is huge,” he muttered.

  “I know. It’s a shame this space is wasted. It’s useless, now. She’ll build more, though. Just like it.”

  “Because?” Jona asked as he followed Aderian up the first rungs of the ladder.

  “Because the larger the size, the harder to bring down in space.”

  “Huh! Not like what the Night Star did to you! But, I’m smart. I know what to ask. Who attacked you? What damage did they do?”

  Aderian stopped to take a breath. He looked down at Jona. “I’m beginning to think you already know.”

  They climbed for several minutes, focusing all their attention and strength on getting up the ladder unnoticed. Jona had to stop and rest. His wound started to bleed again. He winced in pain.

  “Gonna make it?”

  Jona sneered at him and grunted. “Yeah! I’m fine!”

  “So, we get a ship?”

  “Two ships,” Jona said. “You won’t want to follow me. But, if you do, your life will change. Drastically!”

  “Huh? Why do you say that? Where are you going?”

  Jona looked up, catching his breath and glad for the breather. “Well, where will you go? Won’t she hunt you? Isn’t your life, uh, kinda over?”

  Aderian bowed his head and thought. “You know, I loved her. I really did but now, all I can see in her is hatred. There’s no reason to stay here in this madness.” He sighed and wiped his face. A possible tear. “I don’t know who she is right now and I wonder if I ever did know her. Anyway, I have nowhere to go. I’ll have to hide on some far-off obscure planet, grow my own crops, and fade away. If I’m lucky. Where are you going?”

  “Break time is over, I’ll tell you once we get off this ship.”

  They pushed hard and made it to the top. They walked a hundred yards down the wide corridor and the egress bay finally came into sight. Then a burst of phaser fire blasted a panel next to them. They took cover.

  “Great!” Aderian moaned. “Someone anticipated we would use this exit. She must know.”

  “Let me have your gun,” Jona ordered.

  Aderian tossed it to him and Jona caught it and immediately ran toward the man, dodging, bending low, and weaving from side to side. They both fired upon each other as Aderian watched from a distance. He was amazed by Jona’s boldness. Jona seemed to anticipate and dodge every fiery blast. Jona hit the man and he fell. He stood over him and picked up his gun. Aderian caught up to him.

  Jona asked, “Why is he alone? Don’t make sense. I’m suspicious.”

  Aderian grabbed the extra gun. “We are very short of workers right now.”

  Aderian led him into the egress bay. Parts of the bay were destroyed along with a handful of ships clamped to the decking of the egress bay. One section, containing some ships, was not accessible due to the damage to the static barriers which protected them from the vacuum of space.

  “Uh!” Jona moaned as he stopped short of the static field. “We can’t get to them! What now?”

  “We suit up,” Aderian answered. He looked at Jona and added, “Hope we got your size.” They both chuckled.

  Aderian opened a small access panel and handed him a box. “Four days.” Jona nodded and realized the box had four days rations in it. Aderian then pulled two spacesuits from a locker. They suited up, turned on their space helmet COM’s, and headed toward the egress bay. On route to the damaged section of the egress bay, they were fired upon again. They both had to take cover behind a small fuselage portion of a destroyed ship that lay on the deck. They dove, ducked behind it, and fired back.

  Jona blared, “There’s seven of them! Thought they were all working?”

  Aderian fired at the small group. They started taking cover. He answered, “I think,” he ducked phaser fire and peeked, “when they destroyed that panel in the corridor,” he panted. They ducked another series of phaser blasts and fired back. “Must have alerted the bridge crew!”

  “Maybe they fixed that elevator!” Jona laughed.

  “I can’t believe you're laughing! At a time like this!”

  “I have an idea,” Jona chuckled.

  Aderian asked, “We push through the static barriers and float to the ships? It’s just a dozen yards away. Maybe.”

  “Nope,” Jona answered. “We do this!”

  Jona laid down on the deck and peeked out from the end of the fuselage taking fire. He aimed at a control panel – the panel that controlled the static barrier for the section of egress bay they were in. Jona spied a recessed tie down ring on the decking used for cabling aircraft.

  Jona exclaimed, “Grab hold of that tie down ring!”

  Aderian looked at it and replied, “What? Why?”

  Jona fired off a shot. It missed. Aderian waved his arms in the air and got the attention of his former shipmates. They ceased fire and wondered what he was saying. Aderian pointed to the panel Jona was firing upon. They immediately surmised what was happening and ran from the egress bay. Jona finally hit the panel and the static barrier to their section of egress bay was destroyed. Ship parts, tools, and many other items were sucked into space. The queen’s men exited just before the entire bay lost its oxygen and gravity.

  Jona and Aderian stood, magnetized their boots, holstered their guns, and walked toward two large ships. They were star runners – twice the size of space gunners and faster. They removed the cables that held them in place and prepared to climb into them.

  Aderian looked at Jona and said, “Did you intentionally not hit that panel so they could get out?”

  Jona answered, “Did you intentionally tell them to get out before I hit that panel?” They looked at each other and laughed. Jona added, “Look, where I come from, if you save a man’s life you’re indebted to him for life. Now, I’m already indebted to someone. He saved my life a long time ago, across the constellation. But, I’ll tell you this, you come second. OK?” They smiled at each other and chuckled again. “Now, you’re welcome to come with me. I owe you that! And if you think you can’t live without me,” Jona spread his arms out wide as a symbol of trust and acceptance. “You can come with me. But, no guarantees.”

  “I don’t know where you’re going and I don’t have anywhere to go. Let’s just get away from her. She might still kill us.”

  They climbed into their ships and fired up their engines. Jona replied, “No, she will definitely kill me. You, she probably wants to capture you and do stuff to you.”

  “Stuff?” Aderian said as he looked to his right and saw Jona sitting in the cockpit. Jona waved for him to follow his lead.

  “Yeah,” Jona answered. “Bad stuff. Like the old man in t
he brig with those evil tools.”

  “Oh, that kind of stuff. Yes. She’ll do that to me. I will follow you, for now. OK?”

  “OK! Let’s go! If you can keep up!”

  Jona edged the star runner forward. He suspected some space gunners waiting outside. He scanned and didn’t detect anything but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. He already had a plan. He noticed a small placard just above the control yoke. The name of the ship. It read, Firestorm. He laughed.

  “Lord! This must be an answer to my prayer! Wait? Did I pray? When? Ha! Firestorm! I love it!”

  “This is Firestorm, copy Aderian?

  “I copy. This is, uh, let me see, uh, hmm, Falling Thunder. I like it.”

  “Launch on my command,” Jona said. “Now.”

  The Firestorm bolted from the egress bay without incident. The Falling Thunder was lagging behind. Jona immediately anticipated a laser attack. He decided to weave back and forth as he sought out several targets. His eyes adjusted in time to get a visual on several shadow panels which he destroyed in a matter of a few seconds. He saw another set of shadow panels just a few seconds ahead so he weaved up and down, anticipating a laser strike. It didn’t come. Jona destroyed the final set of shadow panels that sat atop the Ambulas. He then flew out perpendicular to the engines and made one long powerful strafing run toward the top set of engines, three in all. He sent a heavy barrage of phaser fire, not upon the engines themselves, as he thought that would be futile, so he strafed the ship’s aft top decking where the engines were housed. The large after explosion told him he hit some vital systems. His lack of understanding and his bold attack nearly killed him as the Firestorm flew through a quick massive ball of fire and exploding debris which peppered his ship. Once he was away, he began weaving, expecting laser fire which began immediately. He watched his monitor and noticed many near misses. He breathed a sigh of relief.

  While studying the display, he ascertained the Falling Thunder had successfully strafed several of the aft laser turrets. The after explosions were very brief but Jona noticed. Jona headed for Efferium with Aderian closing in on his starboard side.

  Next, they immediately took off their helmets. Jona touched the blood-soaked portion of his headband and bandaged waist. He wanted to see if he was still bleeding. He cringed as he recalled the old man yanking his chrome tool out.

  “Thanks for what you’re doing, Aderian. I really want to thank you for saving me. I hope I can save you someday.”

  “Well, I don’t know where we’re headed but I know the Gale is on Efferium. I don’t think I should go there.”

  “Well, we’ll see. OK?”

  Chapter 16

  From within the boarding station of the docking bay, they carefully studied the monitors. The transport ship slowly docked with the massive Exoteric. Investigator Lincoln and Captain Dillard watched the maneuver as they anticipated fifty-seven workers arrive and fifty-seven workers depart.

  Lincoln had researched and vetted all but three. He thought his job would be easy. He would shadow each of the three workers, interact with them, give them simple questions, and see which one would lie to him. He was looking for a lie.

  The hatched opened, the large group of men entered the Exoteric and Lincoln observed. Sable blended in well and prevented eye contact with the greeting party. He immediately noticed the High Guard investigator.

  …

  Aboard the Night Star, Lorin and Terra insisted they make a nice hot meal for everyone. The gesture was mostly for Boone as they wanted a distraction from their very stressful last few days aboard the Night Star. Everyone was enjoying the food and camaraderie. There were laughs and joking and the time they spent together was a much-needed break from it all, then it was all interrupted.

  An urgent communiqué signaled everyone’s attention. Boone scurried from the galley as everyone followed close behind. Communiqués were very stressful for them as the Night Star edged closer to the Kovan star system. Boone reached the cockpit with everyone one step behind him.

  “Lila,” he ordered. “Open COM.”

  The COM opened and a hologram appeared. A man said, “We want this message sent to every High Guard member and prime.” The man laughed. Then the silent video was played.

  Boone yelled, “NO! NO!” He gasped and cried. The others glared as shock and fear overcame them.

  Mace cried, “Jona!”

  Jona was strapped to a metal wall, his arms spread wide, his head in a brace, his body bruised, and his side bleeding. An old man removes the head brace. He picks up a pair of pliers and laughs at the camera. He pulls Jona’s ear. There was no sound from the video, only the gasping and moaning from Boone and his friends. Not able to see the laser, visually, they saw a spot on the center of Jona’s ear glow bright red then a small burn turned into a larger burn then a hole appeared. The hole in his ear grew larger and larger as Jona’s mouth was opened wide, his eyes tearing, and his visage appeared as though he was determined to endure the terror. Blood trickled down his neck as he relaxed. The moment was over and Boone and the others waited for what they expected to be his death. They were glad to see the session end but wondered what was next.

  A message was displayed within the hologram. It read, ‘Primes, this man, if he is important to you, can be traded for Jurias Kwelling. You must respond immediately.’

  Boone slipped into his cockpit seat and studied the hologram. He saw the time stamp glowing at the bottom of the display.

  “This was just a half-hour ago,” he said as he wiped several tears. Lorin quickly took a seat next to him. The others strolled forward, still in shock. He sniffled and said, “He’s alive. Still. Right?” he asked as he glanced behind him.

  Terra answered, “Yes! They made him a bargaining chip. Boone, we can’t help him from here. OK? All we can do is, uh.”

  “I know,” he replied. “Pray.”

  Boone quickly stood up. Mace, Pryce, and Terra moved aside to let him pass as he exited the cockpit. Everyone followed him to the bunk room behind the cockpit. He entered and quickly sat down on the bed. The others piled into the room.

  With tear-filled eyes and said, “What are you doing?”

  Lorin sat beside him and answered, “We’re praying with you.”

  “Uh, no. I can’t do that,” he said as he cried, unashamedly. Tears streamed down his face. Everyone was crying for fear of what Jona was going through. “I don’t know how. The last time I did this was on Kova with my mom. I don’t even remember it.”

  Lorin said, “It’s OK. I’ll start. OK?”

  Boone nodded then everyone bowed. Lorin said, “Father of the Heavens, we know we have all failed You at times and relied on our own strength and our own solutions but we can’t fight this battle. We ask that You fight it for us and we will do our part and we ask that you will help Jona.” Lorin cried as she prayed. The others were also wiping tears for their friend. “Give him strength and wisdom and Father, give him comfort from his pain. Please? We ask You to intervene and save him. Please?”

  Lorin ended her prayer and looked up. Everyone was moved by her prayer and gazed at her. They were very thankful.

  “Lorin? Do you think you can write that down so I can say it, later?”

  “Yes,” she answered. She put her arm around him and added, “But, Boone, you don’t need it. Just say it in your own words. OK?”

  He nodded as did everyone. “OK. I will, later.”

  Then there was another interruption. A chime started to sound and repeat itself. Another call was coming in and the continuous chime indicated someone was on the other end. They all panicked as they thought the worse – it was bad news about Jona. They all scurried back into the cockpit.

  Pryce led the way and said, “Lila, open COM!”

  A short young man with short black hair shaped into a dozen little spikes appeared. A human-like robot hovered next to him. It was still colored purple.

  “My Boone! You cutie!” Idal answered as she would usually indicate
Boone belonged to her.

  “Idal! Not now!” Jeody blasted. “You stupid, uh! Boone, I’ve been tracking you.”

  “Jeody!” Boone interrupted. “Did you see what happened to Jona?”

  Mace blared, “Did you see the video?”

  “Yes,” he softly answered. “And Boone, more is happening! I saw the hand that held the device burning his ear. It’s a woman’s hand. Idal zoomed in and tried to read her fingerprints. She’s running a partial index fingertip now.”

  “Really?” Boone asked. “I want to know who she is! And I want you to let Prime Ta'mian know.”

  “OK, and Boone, that device is the first of its kind! I believe it is a hand-held laser saber. You know? Like a sword but instead of a blade, it’s a laser beam. The way she holds it, the way it bore that hole, it suggests that! Jona, he looks OK. He also had a hole in his side, probably from some torture tool that.”

  “What!” Phia gasped and cried. “What torture are they doing? Do you know if they are searching his signal? Did they trace it? Did you see any other torture tools?”

  “Phia,” Terra muttered.

  Jeody continued, “The wound was on his lower left abdomen. No vital organs, Boone. OK? Those people know how to stab and burn and keep people alive. Boone! I’ve got other stuff to tell you! I left the royal city and headed straight to my lab. I tracked you. At first, I didn’t think anything about this but a ship has a trajectory course plotted toward you. It originated from the outer edge of the Xeraxes system. I’m telling you, no ship travels from Xeraxes to Kova when Abdom Center is on the way.”

  Pryce answered, “Right! Jeody, you’re sure it’s bypassing the station?”

  “There’s no doubt.”

  “What’s the ship?”

  “It’s a Stellar Class II transport shuttle and there’s more. A small group of High Guard ships just left Obipherion and they’re on an intercept course for that shuttle. Boone, I thought you should know what’s going on.”