The two goddesses slowly sidestepped around Hannah, their divine eyes never looked away from her as Hannah continued to look at the disk that held two out of three of the gems needed to complete one of her final tasks.
“The interference,” Nivrui said to Aviuheart. “Our brothers?”
“No, someone else. One who was once corporeal.”
“They must be stopped. The Hannah must see and choose the correct outcome.”
“Speak to those on the Pelican!” Hannah yelled to the two. “Make them think their gods have a special request of them!”
Abyssal Pelican, Oyuri Orbit, Barnard’s Star System
Jainuzei was ecstatic when the transport he had left Rasi on finally arrived and docked within the Abyssal Pelican after an hour-long journey. Every Celestial Order member that was present on Rasi and Oyuri was evacuated to the Pelican, including Alisha by Jainuzei’s direct request. The news updates he received on his way back were, troubling. The wraith began to infect the populations on both worlds and those that fell became wraith themselves and helped further spread the outbreak. Oyuri’s outbreak was limited to the eternal eclipse region, the wraith there choose to hurdle around the Lyonria ruins and the settlements next to it.
It was never his intention for things to escalate the way they had. Had Odelea worked faster she might have neutralized the virus the wraith all had or modified it to only infect humans, it caused the mutations in the first place. Innocent bystanders on both worlds wouldn’t have to suffer the way they were now and the problem could have been contained with ease. This was all Jazz’s fault. That human and his interference caused this. He was a man of great evil as far as Jainuzei was concerned, and got what he deserved when he pushed him off that cliff.
Jainuzei entered the bridge of the Pelican. Too many problems were popping up, the wraith outbreak, and the celestial ascension plans being accelerated. Jainuzei needed answers. He needed direction as to what he must do next, answers he hoped to find from the bridge crew. What he saw as he stepped out of the elevator was Torval, the Hashmedai Assassins’ Guild master trembling and panicking.
“Torval, what is going on? Where is the Patriarch Dalhakei?” Jainuzei asked as he approached him.
The captain of the Pelican, Peluei, said to Jainuzei. “Weapons Master—”
“Not now, I must hear what Torval has to say,” Jainuzei said.
“Well.” Torval’s yellow eyes shifted back and forth as sweat dripped off his Hashmedai face. He’d have to be assigned quarters with chilly air soon. The humid air was slowly killing him. “Dalhakei is dead.”
“What?”
“There was an accident, he hit his head hard.”
“My gods . . .” Jainuzei said, brushing his large hand through his brown hair. “His body must be found at once for a proper memorial.”
“One thing at time,” Torval said. “He had one final, uh, request along with Hannah. We must travel to Earth. More humans are needed since we don’t have enough human wraiths.”
“This will defeat the whole purpose of our Hashmedai brothers and sisters currently there. And will take us twelve years to get there.”
Torval’s mouth twisted. “The wormhole?”
“None of us can generate one. In any case it is not my place to make these choices,” Jainuzei said. “Captain, what is your command?”
“For you to take command of this operation,” Peluei said.
Jainuzei couldn’t believe what he heard and at one point refused to believe it. He stepped away from Torval and approached the captain, “Me?” he asked to confirm.
“Were you not the Patriarch’s guard?”
“I was one of many.”
“Who are dead,” Peluei said. “Protocol states if the Patriarch goes missing his lead protector takes command of his vessel.”
“Dalhakei isn’t missing, he’s dead.”
“We don’t have a body to confirm it, until then he is officially missing not dead.” Peluei pointed toward his captain’s chair located in the central section of the bridge. It was placed on a raised plank like platform that was perched high above a pit like section of the bridge where dozens of psionics and operations crewmembers worked and maintained the ship’s extremely complex systems. “You’re the captain now until we get confirmation.”
Jainuzei stepped over to the chair slowly, he was still in shock at the new turn of events. Captain of the Abyssal Pelican, he thought as he looked down at the crew below him as they awaited his command, then behind as the rest of the crew gave him their full attention.
“So then . . . with that said,” Peluei said. “What is your command?”
“What’s the status of the survivors of the Explorer?” Jainuzei asked as he took a seat on his new throne.
“Our forces have a lead on their escape pods,” Peluei said. “They shall be dealt within the hour.”
“And the outbreak on Rasi and Oyuri?”
“The union is placing Rasi under quarantine; Oyuri is expected to follow but only the eternal eclipse region.”
“We’ll need access to both worlds if the situation calls for it,” Jainuzei said. “Inform all Radiance forces that, Patriarch Dalhakei is missing and I’m in command.”
It was a somewhat dishonorable act, but necessary. The gods would be displeased with him should he fail to make the ascension happen. The last thing he wanted was to close off all possible options that he might need to take advantage of in the future.
“Understood,” Peluei said, then began to direct the communication team to carry out Jainuzei’s request.
“I want only the Pelican and our forces aboard it to freely enter and exit all worlds in this system until further notice,” Jainuzei said as he fingered the small computer terminal on his chair. A holographic projection appeared displaying to him shipwide readiness and the location of all Radiance ships in the system.
And more importantly?
The last known location of the Silver Raven, another problem that needed to be dealt with as quickly as possible.
Desert, Oyuri, Barnard’s Star System
Chloe sat in the co-pilot seat of their newly captured transport. A computer terminal in front of her unveiled that the transport was equipped with a small set of plasma missiles. She grinned then shut down the display to face the rest of her little band of survivors in the rear cabin. They all nodded to her that they were ready, including Karklosea with what little energy she had. Chloe then gave the thumbs up to the pilot to take off and follow the footprints of Wyuei and his companion.
The Celestial Order was convinced they had control of this particular transport, and therefore wouldn’t suspect much if it took off and traveled toward two of their members, or elsewhere on the planet. At least that’s what the game plan was but as the last few hours had proven to Chloe what you plan and what ended up happening were two very different things.
It didn’t take long for their transport to catch up with the two order members. They were prone and taking aim at the survivors on the ground with their rifles. Survivors that were clustered around their landed escape pods, sorting out supplies and doing what they could for the wounded, oblivious to the two snipers ready to end their lives. Those same snipers were oblivious to the transport which had just gained a weapon lock on their position. Chloe wished she could see the looks on Wyuei and his partner’s face as two plasma missiles shot out from the transport and exploded right on top of them. The prevailing explosions pulsed outward, sand, rocks and chunks of glass created by the intense heat generated. There wasn’t much of a body left of either of them, just a small crater of glass in the sands and partially vaporized body parts.
After the kill was confirmed, the transport landed next to the escape pods and the shaken group of survivors with many questions about what just happened. And what would they do next.
“Major,” Karklosea said to Chloe as the transport’s doors lifted open.
“Don’t call me that,” Chloe said. She then looked outside
at the small gathering of Radiance races in their environment suits, the final survivors of the Abyssal Explorer. There were two Vorcambreum among the group, one was female, the other was a young male, in other words, the captain wasn’t among the survivors. “Guess this is it huh? All that’s left of the crew.”
“We’ll need to seek shelter if the order is still hunting us,” Karklosea said, then addressed everyone outside. “Who’s in command here?”
“I don’t see the captain,” a crewmember said.
“A lot of the bridge officers were killed before things went bad,” Chloe said.
Karklosea grimaced and took a long pause. “It’s me then. I’m the lead bridge psionic.”
“And therefore the last surviving high-ranking bridge officer,” Chloe said.
Chloe felt a small amount of guilt for how she had acted, for she basically upstaged Karklosea who should have been calling the shots. Yes, she did pass out at one point, but nevertheless, everything that had happened since the destruction of the Explorer had been Chloe’s call, and everyone went with it. They were starting to look at her as their true leader, and not Karklosea, the one who should be leading them.
And it needed to end now.
Chloe wasn’t their leader, hell she wasn’t even Chloe, she was Vaish with Chloe’s memories in the driver’s seat. She needed to get off this planet, return to Rasi, and seek out the Whisper. She couldn’t take these people along with her. What she had to do wasn’t their fight and was risky as hell. They needed to survive out here until Radiance came to help them, and they needed a leader that was going to stay with them till the end. Karklosea was that leader, Chloe was not.
Wasting no more time, Chloe ran toward the supply crates inside the transport, and began dumping each and every one outside. Weapons, equipment, medical tools and kits, repair kits, almost everything.
“What are you doing?” Karklosea asked her.
“You guys are going to need it more than me,” Chloe said as she tossed out the last med kit. “I’m going to borrow this transport. The order probably still thinks they own it.”
“Then why are you taking it?”
“I need to get to Rasi,” she said, gazing at the cockpit’s flight controls, “and this looks like the only ride there that won’t get shot down. You all should move out on foot to the nearest settlement.”
“Sorry I thought I was in command now?” Karklosea said, following her into the cockpit.
“You are, and they’re going to need you to guide them there while staying under the radar.”
“Why is it so important you get to Rasi?”
“Because it’s what Stolanei would have wanted.” Chloe sat in the chair, suppressing the uneasy body language that was hidden by her environment suit. She wasn’t a pilot, she’d never flown a transport. “Now get going, stick to the low ground, according to this map you guys should get there within an hour.”
Karklosea said nothing more, she just gazed at her for several seconds before taking her leave off the transport. Chloe shut the doors, and briefly debated what would have happened if she at the very least gave them a lift to the settlement an hour away. The scenario that played out in her head was a grim one, in which the order would have tracked them to that location to find out why their transport went there unannounced. Stolanei was dead because she did what she thought was the right thing. And giving them a lift was definitely the right thing to do in this situation.
Chloe extended her fingers out toward the transport’s controls. Shut her eyes and began to think and recall if the fragments of Vaish’s memories had any kind of flight training whatsoever. Getting the transport off the ground was one thing. Breaking orbit, entering sub light, and landing on Rasi was another.
Chapter Three
ESV Winston Churchill, Titan orbit, Sol System
Captain Martin Xavier held on tight to the computer console that generated the central hologram aboard the bridge. Another impact against what little shields they had was imminent as the two steadfast Hashmedai destroyers continued to show them little mercy. The plasma hit them, it ignited more fires and sent crew members that weren’t strapped into their chairs spinning in zero-g. Xavier reoriented his body, then tilted his head back up to the hologram which now randomly flicked on and off, with newly updated tactical information.
“Shields down!” Benson yelled from his terminal.
Despite their dire situation, nobody panicked. Those that were misplaced from the last hit moved back to their posts as their magnetic boots clung to the floor. Injured personnel were secured and dragged out to the infirmary. Fire extinguishers sprayed their mist outward minutes later, putting an end to the red glowing light source behind him.
A closer inspection of the flickering hologram showed that the Hashmedai destroyer Night Hunter shields were critically low. Xavier took one last glance at the bridge crew, and his sinking ship. If this was the way it was going to end, one of the Hashmedai ships was coming down with them.
“Mr. Matsushita, ready nuclear warheads,” Xavier said, facing his tactical officer. “If we’re goin’ down let’s send ‘em parting gift!”
Everyone paused upon hearing Xavier’s words, their eyes all shifted away from their screens and projections toward their captain. Nobody objected, not even Benally, in fact she grinned after the hologram loaded an image of the estimated blast radius of the nuclear blast. A giant sphere of death would place the Winston Churchill and the Night Hunter and Scathing Hand at ground zero. Both the Winston Churchill and the Night Hunter would be destroyed, while the Scathing Hand would lose its shields and suffer minor damage.
“Aye, sir,” Matsushita said finally and spun round in his chair to key in the new orders.
EVE announced via the ships intercom system that a nuclear launch was authorized and imminent, it confirmed to the bridge crew that Xavier’s order was legit, and their end was near. Several people said a quick prayer, others paused to take a few deep breaths before they returned to their duties.
“It’s been an honor sir,” Chavez said.
“Acquiring target,” Matsushita said.
“Aye,” Xavier said, while gazing out through the forward window, taking in one last look at Titan and Saturn, before it was blocked out by the circling Night Hunter. “Standby to launch in three, two—”
“Captain!” Yates yelled cutting off his countdown, though it was unnecessary.
The newly updated hologram changed the tide of battle. The two Hashmedai destroyers broke off their spinning attacks against the Winston Churchill. They acquired a new target, one that wasn’t there seconds earlier. The Wilfrid Laurier had appeared and it wasted no time opening its weapon ports and allowed scores of plasma missiles to dart outward to the Hashmedai ships.
“They’re about five minutes early . . .” Benally said eying the hologram.
“Fine by me,” Xavier said. “Helm back us off.”
“Yes sir!” Chavez said with glee.
Death would have to wait for another time to claim the crew; the battle became an even two on two fight. “Keep those nukes hot, if we get a clear shot let’s take it!” Xavier said.
ESV Wilfrid Laurier, Titan orbit, Sol System
Captain Agatha Chevallier’s magnetic boots kept her body still as she looked intently at the central hologram. Her black and grey hair was tied into a bun which waved from side to side as she kept her hands behind her back, while the flag of France was proudly stitched to the back of her uniform.
She saw the two Hashmedai destroyers break off from the assault on the Winston Churchill, and aim their deadly plasma cannons at the Wilfrid Laurier instead. The very same kind of cannons that were used to kill billions of human lives twenty-two years ago. She felt no fear that she was once again looking at them. Things were different now. She wasn’t a young lieutenant aboard a French aircraft carrier. She was now a captain of a UNE battleship, a ship that wasn’t going to be ripped into pieces after one direct shot.
“Ma’am,
the Winston Churchill has nukes primed,” Lieutenant Vick reported. “And one of the Hashmedai ships is breaking away from us.”
Vick was indeed correct, the central hologram showed that one of the Hashmedai destroyers, made a sudden and probably last-minute turn away from the Wilfrid Laurier and back toward the Winston Churchill.
“Probably going to finish what they started,” Chevallier said in her French accent. “Monsieur Holms, bring our nukes online.”
Scathing Hand, Titan Orbit, Sol System
A stressed out hiss left T’esih’s mouth. She didn’t like making last minute changes to her battle strategies, she knew it annoyed people under her command, especially when you second-guess yourself and issue new orders that request the crew to do the opposite of what she had just ordered. In this case the Night Hunter. She ordered it and the Scathing Hand to break from the Winston Churchill and face the Wilfrid Laurier head on. Then changed her mind and ordered it back to finish off the Winston Churchill.
The gap that they created in response to the Wilfrid Laurier would have given the Winston Churchill plenty of time to fire their nukes. That couldn’t happen. And Martop couldn’t allow an enemy ship to slip in without his psionic ESP sensing it again. She’d have to discipline him later. Failure would not be tolerated. This was supposed to be her time to prove she was best suited for the rank of admiral.
Delin’s head shifted toward T’esih. “The other human ship is arming atomic weapons!”
“Make us face it,” T’esih said and folded her weightless hands together. “Ensure the Night Hunter stays on target, do not let that human ship escape or launch atomic weapons, we are so close!”
The Scathing Hand moved to place itself directly in front of the Wilfrid Laurier, while the Night Hunter returned to its previous target the Winston Churchill, which was moving away from the conflict as fires started to burn through small sections of it.
Equilibrium of Terror: Part 2 Page 4