“Anything else to report?”
“Our long-range sensors have detected four small ships approaching our position, probably more people desperate to try and protect their world. We’ll deal with them like we’re dealing with the others. I should have control of Thanos Five within the hour.”
“Very well, Fleet Commander. Keep me posted.”
Gar’hek saluted, and the holo-communication turned off.
Damn; they came in faster than I had hoped, thought Spiros.
“Perhaps if we stay quiet,” whispered Spiros, covering his mouth with a cupped hand to direct the faint sound of his voice to the side, but Gaia was already in the wind.
He sighed. I hate when she does that.
When Spiros timidly tilted his head from cover, Gaia was making her move. In a fluid motion, she knocked the lights out on one of the guards by violently smashing her elbow into the man’s face just before throwing the spinning metal pipe at the second guard as he turned around. It struck the man’s head with a sickening crunch as the pipe splintered his skull like a porcelain vase. He fell to the floor like a log.
When the third guard was about to shoot Gaia, Spiros screamed.
“Watch out!”
That distracted the guard, and he readjusted his aim and fired dangerously close to Spiros’ head, which was sticking out from cover. The metal finish of the crate near his face turned orange-red.
This gave Gaia enough time to disarm the man with a circling kick and prevent him from firing another shot. He went for a knife and madly slashed it at Gaia. But she easily dodged the man’s attack and grabbed his hand. Before he could react, she swiftly twisted and broke his arm, acquiring her foe’s weapon as he screamed from the pain.
What followed didn’t help Spiros’ already queasy stomach. Gaia thrust the man’s knife under his chin and sent it through his head, smacking his mouth shut and stopping him from screaming. She broke his neck for good measure, and the guard was dead before his body collapsed on the cold, hard floor.
She pulled the knife out as the guard fell, and before Spiros could tell her to stop, she sent the blade flying down into the first, unconscious guard’s heart. Spiros watched in horror as the body jerked and the man stopped breathing shortly after that.
Spiros inched his way out of cover from behind the crates.
“Was that absolut—” Spiros started complaining.
He stopped when she shushed him, a finger pressed against her lips.
“Was that necessary?” he whispered. “Are there more of them?”
Gaia turned her head, and Spiros could tell she was listening for more footsteps. After a couple of seconds, she answered him.
“I think we’re clear for the moment. These people have no scruples and will kill us without hesitation if given a chance. I know you’d like me to kill as little as possible, but I think given the new parameters of my mission, I should be more lethal from now on, that is, if we want to raise the odds of us getting out of here alive.”
As much as Spiros wanted to argue, he knew in his heart that Gaia was right.
“Fine, fair enough. Should we hide the bodies? Need a hand?”
“Sure,” said Gaia.
She grabbed two of them and dragged their bodies to the crates where Spiros had been hiding earlier, leaving a trail of blood behind.
When Spiros bent to grab the last guard, he felt an intense pain travel through his entire body and fell to the floor next to the guard.
Gaia ran to his side.
“What’s wrong? Are you injured?”
“You could say that,” said Spiros painfully through gritted teeth, “it’s just my cloned body failing me. We don’t have much time until it craps out on me and…”
Spiros couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence. Pretty soon this body would die, and he would die with it. They needed to get the biomaterials back and be on their way, ASAP. He had died once already and wasn’t keen on repeating the experience.
“What can I do to help?” inquired Gaia with more worry than she ought to.
There was something odd about how she seemed to be experiencing more feelings now than when he originally activated her basic AI functions for this mission. Spiros had seen the worry in her eyes and felt it in her voice when she ran to his side.
“Just help me finish our mission, and let’s get the hell out of here and back to our lab, or better yet, let’s go back to the fleet if we can.”
Spiros now regretted leaving the Hope. He thought that going away and isolating himself with Gaia would help him get things done faster, but looking back at the unfortunate events that had happened since, perhaps the universe was trying to tell him that he needed his friends.
Tar’Lock clicked furiously from the copilot chair aboard Keera’s ship.
“I don’t like this! Why are we splitting up?” he shouted.
“Because Ryonna asked that we trust her and do what she asked of us without second-guessing or asking unnecessary questions, which you seem intent on doing, nonetheless.”
“I don’t like this!”
“You’ve said that already.”
Tar’Lock clicked some more. “Well, that’s how much it bothers me.”
And I’m starting to understand a little better why Ryonna punched your lights out so many times in the past.
“Look, we have a mission, and we have to check on Spiros.”
“He’s a big boy; who says he needs our help?”
Keera made a tight fist and shot daggers at her insectoid friend. He looked down and saw her tensed hand.
His eyes grew wide. “You wouldn’t dare?”
“Why don’t you go back to the sleeping quarters and try to get some rest, so we don’t have to find out.”
“Some friend you are,” said Tar’Lock as he was leaving the cockpit.
Keera felt a little sorry for the guy, knowing he was just very worried about Ryonna, as was she, since her Droxian friend let her in on the details of her new mission. Not to mention she had insisted on Tar’Lock being kept out of the loop. She could sense he suspected that one of the reasons they had split into two teams was so that Ryonna could go into danger without having to look over her shoulder and protect him. Then again, he had saved her life on their last mission.
Ryonna’s assignment required stealth and a willingness to infiltrate enemy territory with as much lethal force as required. Something Tar’Lock would have undoubtedly been against.
Keera’s fleeting thoughts were called back to the here and now when her console bleeped multiple times to indicate that her long-range sensors detected an Earth Alliance probe transmitting a distress call.
The holo-message was from Spiros. He explained his precarious situation in detail, and the urgency in his voice didn’t bode well at all.
They were not currently headed toward the origin of the message, so Keera dropped out of hyperspace, entered the new vector, then re-entered hyperspace. The new coordinates would shave off a few hours of travel.
Keera hoped she could get to them in good time. Those two had been through a lot lately, and the last thing they needed was to get themselves into more trouble than they already were.
Ryonna hid behind a building when a couple of Gorgar guards passed nearby. The closer she got to her target, the more activity and sentries she encountered.
She was only a few minutes away from her destination, though. Thanks to one of Altair’s engineer hacking Gorgar satellites, she was getting real-time intel. It showed that the area was teeming with Gorgar and was the perfect spot to deploy the mental command. She grabbed the device and attached it to her right temple.
The command to order the Gorgar to help the Earth Alliance had been pre-programmed before she left for her mission. While they could have just found a less populated area to spread the command and let it act like a computer virus, it may not spread fast enough.
Ryonna knew full well that if the Furies returned and managed to undo the programming, it wou
ld result in catastrophic consequences. She activated her tactical holo-glasses and confirmed her destination. She plotted a course inside the building to encounter as little resistance as possible.
Ryonna worried that she was taking too much time to get to her target. She was already running an hour behind because she had taken a stealthy approach, as instructed by the Emperor. She found that stealth infiltration tested her patience as she was used to brute-force rather than finesse, and part of her just wanted to sprint toward the destination and get rid of anyone in her way.
But the Emperor had put his faith in her and, after all he had done to prove himself to her, she felt she owed him that much. She shook her head when she thought she felt a warm sensation in her heart while thinking of Altair.
What the hell? That can’t be.
She pushed her thoughts to the side and entered the building, moving forward but always trying to stay in the shadows. It wasn’t simple for someone of Ryonna’s stature to not make noise when she needed to react fast and rush to cover.
Even though she tried pushing them away, her previous thoughts and feelings lingered, eroding her focus and suddenly she came face to face with a Gorgar female.
The insectoid’s eyes grew wide, and Ryonna grabbed her head and snapped her neck before she could scream.
“Sorry, little one,” she whispered as she hid the body under a stairwell.
Ryonna slapped herself.
Focus!
Ryonna was used to taking lives, but she didn’t like killing noncombatants. She had no idea if the dispatched Gorgar was military or just an innocent bystander. Ryonna’s instinct screamed for her to take action. Although the insectoid might not have raised an alarm, that was not guaranteed. She could not afford the time to tie up or otherwise incapacitate every Gorgar she encountered; any delay could jeopardize the entire mission.
That was the problem with war. It required its foot soldiers to make tough calls, and possibly take the lives of innocents in the process. There was simply no margin for error in these missions. That didn’t mean it was easy, no matter how many people Ryonna had killed, even before meeting Chase.
She was no longer a fugitive from the Obsidian Empire, nor did the empire view her or the rest of the Droxians as an enemy. Ryonna’s heart ached thinking of her home world. Both Fury attacks had been devastating, and even though the Earth Alliance had been providing manpower and resources so her people could rebuild their ravaged world, the planet was still in chaos.
In her last communication with Ronan, he said that the inhabitants were still in shock from both attacks. Part of her wanted to go home, to be with her son and help her people rebuild. But she owed Chase her life many times over, and she would help him in his quest to cleanse the Fury plague from the universe.
Soon enough, Ryonna arrived at her destination. Behind the last door was the large auditorium room that she had been sent to. A scan from her holo-glasses revealed no less than ten thousand Gorgars to be inside.
Entering was too risky so, instead, she brought up the holo-interface from the mental control device and prepared to activate the command when the door in front of her started moving.
She gracefully hid behind it as a Gorgar male exited. She brought her silenced blaster to bear and pointed toward the Gorgar’s head.
Just keep going; don’t turn back.
The Gorgar stopped after a few paces, and Ryonna held her breath. When he turned around, she didn’t hesitate and burned a hole between his eyes.
Dammit!
Carrying her second victim, she had to trace back her steps and find a way to hide the body. She tried activating the command as she was disposing of him but received an error message on her mental HUD.
Interference from strong electromagnetic shielding. Cannot send command.
She had not expected this turn of events, especially after so many hours of tiresome stealthy approach. She checked her holo-wrist device and ran another scan to try and pinpoint the location of the interference.
It came from a room located under the main podium; one she could, according to her map, access without entering the large auditorium. This played well in her favor; a large Droxian inside a super-suit trying to merge into a Gorgar crowd was not going to happen, no matter how poor the lighting conditions were.
Noticing that no other life-signs appeared to be on the underground level where she needed to go, she activated the super-speed function of her suit and ran almost as fast as Tar’Lock could.
6
When the soul ships exited hyperspace, the Fury super-destroyers were engaged with a multitude of smaller ships, which didn’t stand a chance of defending themselves nor did it look like they could do any damage.
While the Earth Alliance had been catching up regarding firepower, Fury technology was very advanced and only a few races in the universe could take on their massive, powerful ships.
A single Fury destroyer detached from formation and vectored toward the soul ships. The destroyer launched a multitude of starfighters making it appear like a swarm of locusts.
“Alright,” said Chase to everyone. “Let’s see what our new ships can do; I propose we deal with the starfighters first, see how they fare in dogfights, and see how strong their shields are.”
“We’d better stay out of firing range from their carrier,” added Sarah.
“For the time being,” added Argos.
“Agree with Uncle,” said Chris. “I have a feeling the ships can take it.”
“Well,” said Chase. “Let’s find out, shall we?”
It didn’t take long for the darkness of space to fill with red laser fire.
Chase barely had to think about what to do, the ship just knew. It was beyond just a mental link; it was a perfect symbiosis. Chase dodged almost every incoming laser fire with ease, and the few that managed to hit his shields didn’t drain them in the slightest.
Multiple enemy craft entered firing range and just by looking at them through his viewport Drakos was able to lock onto them and fire instantly. A single purple laser hit causing the enemy’s shields to drop as the next one blew it out of the sky. Before Chase could cheer, he saw a second explosion and noticed two more of the ships he was going to engage disappear.
“This is unbelievable!” he celebrated.
“These ships are something else,” said Sarah. “I don’t ever want to get back into a StarFury.”
Argos communicated telepathically with Chase.
If you had had these ships when I first came to Earth, our first engagement would have ended right there, and this war would never have happened.
You can’t think like that, Argos. It’s because of the war that we found these ships, and our parents, in fact. And even though a little over a year ago all I wanted was to see you dead, now I couldn’t imagine a world without my brother in it.
Chase felt an intense burst of emotions from Argos, as he dodged three incoming missiles and peered toward five more starfighters, envisioning them destroyed; after that Drakos took over and sent the ships straight to hell.
And let’s not forget, Brother, added Chase, that the soul ship chose you, which to me proves that what happened, happened for a reason; it was meant to be. I hate the idea of preordained events and the whole concept of destiny. I don’t like the idea of not being in control of my own life, but I’m forced to admit, with everything that has occurred, that sometimes things happen for a reason. So, you should release that burden you’re carrying around with you. You’re one of us now, and I trust you with my life.
Chase could feel that Argos had trouble answering.
You…You have no idea what this means to me; thanks, Brother.
Chase remembered in the past telling Argos never to call him that, but now he was glad he did.
Chris’ ship passed in front of Chase’s and destroyed an entire squadron of Fury starfighters in the blink of an eye.
“That’s it, then, we’re winning this war easily now,” cheered Chris.
Argos dispatched a squadron of his own.
“Let’s not celebrate just yet,” he said. “Check your pool of energy, Chris. Yes, the ships are amazing, but they do use a lot of our power, and while I doubt we’ll have trouble taking care of this fleet, it might be different with a larger one.”
Chase checked his pool of energy and felt he had lost a good ten percent. He had been so enthralled by what the ship could do that he hadn’t felt his energy being siphoned away.
“Argos is right,” he conceded. “But that only confirms that we need to train in that time-diluted room Yanis and company are working on; if we manage to train for years while only a few days pass outside of the room, we may increase our pools of energy enough that we could take on any sized fleet.”
“May I point out that while you near, pure-born Furies seem to be having a blast, I have lost more than half of my energy, and I feel quite tired already,” added Sarah.
“Then perhaps you should let us deal with the rest of the ships,” proposed Chase.
“I’ll be fine, but I might take it a little easy and just cover you guys.”
“Yeah, that sounds like a wise thing to do.”
Chase could tell Chris was worried. Not long after, he voiced his concerns directly into Chase’s mind.
That’s not good; perhaps we shouldn’t let mom fly one of the ships. I don’t want her to get hurt.
Neither do I, Son. But your mom is not made of glass, she won’t accept stepping down, and even if we wanted her to step down, we can’t afford that. All four ships are needed to take down Erevos, and your mom saw herself in that future vision, so we know she will be there piloting her ship.
What about training?
What about it?
While we don’t know how slow I may be aging now, I still have a quarter of Olympian blood in me. Does that make me immortal like you and Uncle? I have no idea, but I would bet it may help slow down my aging. Mom, however…
The words hit Chase fully, and his heart sank. If they were to train for years, those would be years of Sarah’s life that she would lose, forever. He hadn’t thought of that.
Into the Fire Part II: To End All Wars (Universe in Flames Book 10) Page 7