Equilibrium of Terror: Part 2

by Eddie R. Hicks

  Abyssal Pelican, near Oyuri, Barnard’s Star system

  Jainuzei’s smirk never vanished in the aftermath of watching the human and imperial fleets enter the system. He grew tired of waiting, tired of searching for the humans that escaped the research complex on Rasi. He wanted a battle, one that would force enemies of the Celestial Order to yield and discontinue their actions against them for all eternity.

  And what better way to do that than to have both the human fleet and the demonic imperial fleet fight at the same time? Both forces would be slain, both forces would tell the stories that the gods supported the Celestial Order and not their wicked ways. If they want to be saved, they had to follow the one true path.

  “Contact the rest of the Radiance fleet,” Jainuzei said. “I am sure they will see this as an imperial invasion force.”

  “They’re not responding.”

  Jainuzei faced the communication psionic with his hands behind his back and a stern look on his face. “What do you mean not responding?”

  “I can’t get a response from any of their psionics, they are blocking me.”

  “I can’t sense Dargonea’s mind at all,” another psionic said.

  “Where are they right now?” Jainuzei asked.

  “On the move from what I can detect. I sense . . . I sense the fleet is coming here.”

  “The gods will provide,” Jainuzei said as he returned to his command chair. “In the meantime take us to our new target. Let us show them what the combined power of the Leviathan and Pelican can do.”

  Shields rose, plasma weapons charged, fighters and interceptors were launched. Plasma missiles and rail guns screamed their battle chants while nuclear missiles prepped and waited for a clear shot. The battle commenced with the most unlikely set of alliances as the dim light from the red dwarf reflected off the hulls of all ships involved.

  Courelia city Lower levels, Rasi, Barnard’s Star

  “Right side!”

  Jacob led the marines into vicious urban combat throughout Courelia as they battled angry Celestial Order psionics in the skies and self-resurrecting wraith in the streets. The slums district was located under the upper level of Courelia, the marines pushed through the lower levels meaning it would be located in a blocked off section deeper into the city. It was after all nothing more than undeveloped area that was to be connected to the lower levels.

  Bang, bang, bang, their rifles put down another hoard of angry wraith that was getting in the way to their destination. Boom, a miniature plasma missile launched from Jacob’s arm mounted launcher and shattered the shields of a psionic while Petropoulos finished him off with three bullets through its chest.

  Jacob checked the vitals of all the marines via his holo visor as he arrived at a large wall blocking the slums off from the rest of the developed lower levels. They were all in the green, it was time for phase two. He called for a demo team to move forward and lay waste to the wall with plasma explosives while he and everyone else took cover and shot anything that didn’t look friendly.

  The explosive detonated with loud thunderous blast and created a massive hole, the edges of the hole were glowing red from the intense heat from the plasma blast. Jacob signaled for the marines to storm in and enter the slums while he and Petropoulos covered their push inside.

  “Check your fire, there are noncombatants in this section!”

  Leviathan, near Oyuri, Barnard’s Star system

  “Are you ready?” EVE asked.

  Chris was good to go, Sarah nodded in response afterward as did Hijinks, Onatiasha and Zhinbryo had been ready the moment they entered Noylarlie’s quarters.

  “Some psionics are starting to revive, according to Noylarlie,” EVE said.

  “We got the backup we need, let’s take this bad boy out of play,” Chris said as he gestured toward Di’aria and Noylarlie. “Lead the way ladies.”

  Chris, Sarah, Hijinks, EVE, Onatiasha, and Zhinbryo – They all stood together and waited for Di’aria and Noylarlie to perform their psionic teleportation which resulted in them appearing inside the medical ward of the ship. There were several psionics resting and recovering from the mental strain of the Leviathan’s recent jump into the system. Many of them were startled by the unexpected visit, which turned into a deadly ambush as EVE used her brainjack probes to control the minds of ten psionics, the max she could control at once. Those not brainjacked were shot and or slashed to death by the human and Hashmedai invasion party.

  “Glad you’re on our side,” Hijinks said looking at EVE and her newly acquired psionic minions.

  EVE pointed to them. “They however are not glad to be on our side.” Dead silence filled the room in response to EVE’s comment. “That was a joke.”

  “Do you have access to all their powers?” Hijinks asked EVE.

  “For the ones that have recovered yes, those that are still exhausted I only have partial control.”

  Chris and Sarah performed a quick patrol of the area, they were in the clear. “Next stop, the bridge,” Sarah said.

  Their teleport onto the bridge played out decisively as the three humans gunned down every crew member. Those that hid in cover got yanked out by Onatiasha’s tractor beam and were promptly killed by her blade or Zhinbryo’s two-handed weapon. Di’aria and Noylarlie dealt with the remaining psionics with their powers, by burning into ash them with white fireballs. EVE didn’t need to use her rifle, she just controlled the ten psionics she had brainjacked and forced them to lay waste to those that tried to flee.

  One group however did manage to escape during the chaos. Chris recognized them as Gayir and Yominv from the intel reports. Figures the two highest ranking people slip away, he thought as they performed a quick perimeter check of the bridge. No survivors.

  “It would appear we have successfully captured the bridge,” EVE said. “I will inform the Winston Churchill of our progress.”

  Chris wasn’t convinced as he looked out of the forward windshield of the Leviathan. The battle was still raging on, and the Leviathan was still shooting its main plasma cannons toward UNE and Imperial loyal ships.

  Onatiasha checked several computer consoles and confirmed what Chris feared. “No we didn’t,” Onatiasha said. “Everything is locked out.”

  EVE moved toward the helm and began to check the display on its screen. Her psionic minions hovered in the air above her. “A psionic still has control of main ship controls.”

  “Must be that asshole that slipped away,” Sarah said.

  “Looks like he still has control of the weapons too,” Chris said. “Onatiasha are there any other psionics we should know of?”

  Onatiasha spoke to Noylarlie and Di’aria then translated what they said. “They both claim that all psionics aboard are dead with the exception of the one that escaped, Archmage Gayir.”

  Then we still have the rest of the non-psionic crew to fight, Chris thought. “EVE stay here with your new friends, the instant we regain control of the ship use them to control it.”

  “As you wish, Staff Sergeant.”

  Chris directed his attention to the rest of his allies. “Everyone else with me, let’s find these fools and deal with the rest of the ship’s crew.”

  “If I may Staff Sergeant,” EVE said. “May I have Noylarlie stay with me. We may be able to periodically redirect the Leviathan’s main weapons away from the fleet.”

  “Very well, alright guys let’s form up!”

  Di’aria began to focus and used her gifts to whisk her along with Chris, Sarah, Hijinks, Onatiasha, and Zhinbryo away from the bridge and onto the lower decks of the Leviathan. A systematic deck by deck search and destroy sweep began, one that left no survivors amongst the ship’s crew and ground assault teams.

  Scathing Hand, near Oyuri, Barnard’s Star system

  Six Radiance cruisers led by the Abyssal Liberator decelerated from sub light speeds to join the fight and began to rain plasma down upon the flickering overshields of the Pelican. The final players in the battle
arrived and were promptly informed not to attack the Leviathan until EDF finished their task or was confirmed killed in combat.

  It didn’t take the Pelican long to realize Radiance no longer supported them so they shifted their offensive rotation to target Radiance cruisers as order loyal Hashmedai ships broke off and began to attack the Radiance newcomers.

  T’esih watched the whole change of events unfold. She clenched her fists knowing that the next order that was about to come out of her mouth was one she had to force herself to say. “Have Destroyer wings eight through seventeen cover the Radiance fleet.”

  She spent her whole life growing up hating all members of Radiance, and spent her military career fighting and killing as many as she could on the frontlines. Now she was ordering ships to protect them.

  ESV Sun Tzu, near Oyuri, Barnard’s Star system

  Admiral Stone took notice of the turn of events as the Pelican began to fire less on the UNE ships and more toward the Imperial destroyers rushing to the aid of Radiance. Hashmedai overall had the weakest shields and therefore were at a greater risk of being destroyed. The Imperial fleet already lost six ships since the battle began, they were also the heavy hitters when not factoring in the nuclear strikes from the UNE ships.

  The fleet needed those destroyers in one piece.

  “Have the JFK, Winston Churchill, Barack Obama and Shaka Zulu slow down those Hashmedai order loyal ships,” Stone said.

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Instruct the rest of the fleet focus fire on the Pelican and remind them they have other ships they could target.”

  Leviathan, near Oyuri, Barnard’s Star system

  “Clear!”

  Yominv and Gayir were still at large as Chris, Sarah, and Hijinks dispatched what was believed to be the last of the Hashmedai aboard the ship. Keyword, believed.

  They were proven wrong seconds later as a psionic teleported in with a detachment of guardians and warriors. One guardian raised his sword and used its tractor beam to pull Hijinks toward him. He was quick to raise his blade and bring it down toward the woman. And there was nothing Chris or Sarah could do. They were further up in the hallways when it happened.

  Di’aria’s quick reflexes caused her body to transform into blue light, slip behind the guardian, and release a shockwave that tossed all the enemy forces backward. Hijinks was free, but not for long, the enemy Hashmedai forces were climbing back. Then there was the psionic that brought them in, they were preparing to unleash a wide white fireball. Di’aria ran toward Hijinks held onto her then jump ported the two of them away to a deck below them.

  They were safe for now, wherever they went to. The real question that was on Chris’ mind as he, Sarah Onatiasha and Zhinbryo took cover, was where the hell did the other psionic come from?

  “Staff Sergeant it would appear we have a problem,” EVE transmitted to his comm link.

  Chris ducked as a fireball shot past him, “You don’t say EVE?”

  “The Leviathan is being boarded by the order loyal Hashmedai forces,” EVE said.

  “Shouldn’t the mind shield—”

  Chris stopped himself midspeech as he and Sarah began to fire their rifles toward their new targets. The Leviathan was a Hashmedai ship, there was no reason it would allow its mind shields to block out teleportation from ships it deemed friendly such as those from the order. The Celestial Order Hashmedai were trying to retake the ship, or evacuate to it. According to the comm chatter the fleet was slowly picking off some of the order loyal Hashmedai ships.

  “It would be wise for you to return to the bridge right away as this is the safest place on the ship right now,” EVE said.

  “Yeah, we’ll get right on that,” Sarah said.

  “I detect sarcasm in your tone of voice, are you unable to return to the bridge in ample time?”

  “We lost contact with Di’aria, so yeah.”

  “Very well, I will request that Noylarlie bring you back up.”

  “We must flee, Admiral,” Gayir said as he and Yominv walked toward the entrance to the Leviathan’s interceptor docking bay.

  “We have ships coming to aid us.”

  “We can’t be certain they will succeed.”

  “I can’t allow this ship to fall into their hands if we leave,” Yominv said. “Reach out to Neviana’s mind, tell her I have a task for her.”

  He opened the door that led into the interceptor bay. It was a massive area with a huge drop door on the floor that led out to space for interceptors to depart or board the Leviathan. If a ship were to slip inside and fire it’s weapons, it could do major internal damage to the Leviathan, and potentially destroy if the damage were to hit the reactors. Should the team boarding the Leviathan fail, it would be Neviana’s duty to ensure nobody would have access to the Leviathan.

  “There should be a transport at the far end,” Gayir said. “Let’s get aboard and get you to safety.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Leviathan, near Oyuri, Barnard’s Star system

  Two unwanted psionics were vaporized instantly as EVE’s ten brainjacked psionics combined with Noylarlie’s psionic fire rained white fireballs onto them. Chris and Sarah remained hidden behind computer stations and periodically fired rounds at Hashmedai that didn’t get instantly killed by EVE and Noylarlie. Onatiasha and Zhinbryo remained on the opposite end of the bridge and prepared themselves as the teleportation rate increased.

  After ten minutes an overwhelming force of Hashmedai psionics and warriors loyal to the Celestial Order continued to appear from multiple flashes of light on the bridge. Chris began to wonder how long they could hold out as they still had no access to the ship’s systems. Hijinks, Di’aria now would be a good time to lend a hand.

  “Holy shit!” was all Hijinks had to say about the sheer size of the Leviathan’s interceptor bay.

  One could fit a whole football stadium inside it and still have a bit of wiggle room. The floor opened up to space while a force field kept the vacuum outside as well as unwanted guests. There were several long catwalks that stretched across the bay. Each one had connected to various platforms that were designed to hold in place interceptors and the far end of the bay, transports.

  She saw down below at one of the lower catwalks, Gayir and Yominv walk toward a platform with various transports on it. Hijinks looked behind at Di’aria, she too saw the advantage they had, too bad there was a language barrier. Hand gestures, finger pointing and nods, and grunts, universal language at its finest.

  Hijinks and Di’aria tip toed across the catwalk and hoped to get close enough to do something . . . she didn’t exactly figure that part of the plan out. Hijinks was a pilot, and while she knew how to use a gun, trick attacks were not her specialty, never mind the fact that the bay was huge, it was going to take them minutes just to get near the two, who by then could have boarded the transport and fled.

  She stopped in front of an interceptor and looked at it as an idea came to her. The interceptor next to her was an older model, the psionic interceptor that was seen during the original Hashmedai invasion of Earth. Some of the interceptors were designed so that a psionic co-pilot sat in the back and provided support for the pilot and remotely controlled three drones with their mind. Recent intel stated that psionic interceptors like that were being phased out as there weren’t enough psionics in the imperial forces to become co-pilots for them. It would make sense that a ship like the Leviathan would have these. It’s supposed to be a psionic dreadnought able to carry and launch more fighters than normal carriers.

  She called out to Di’aria as she climbed inside one of them. The controls were alien to her as well as the language displayed on the holoscreens. It didn’t take long for Hijinks’ pilot thinking to take charge and figure out the basic operation of the craft, not to mention Solaris fighters were based off the designs of interceptors. After fiddling with the controls, she had access to the interceptor and performed a few test moves. It moved forward when she wanted it, backward when she d
emanded. Good enough, she thought as Di’aria clued in and entered the psionic co-pilot seat.

  The interceptor broke free from its platform and Hijinks flew it toward Gayir and Yominv seconds before they were about to slip into their transport. She sent them a hello message via a rapid discharge of hot plasma. Her assault shot toward them and hit the transport they had eyes on. It exploded instantly, too bad Gayir jumped out away with Yominv.

  Di’aria used her powers and activated the long dormant drones inside the interceptor as Hijinks flew their captured craft closer to the two and fired relentlessly. Gayir placed a protective psionic barrier around himself and Yominv and it deflected the incoming attacks. She kept firing and hoped that between her assault and the drones that fired plasma thanks to the aid of Di’aria that his barrier would fail and his psionic mind become weaken.

  An interceptor from space entered their skirmish via the lower entrance on the floor of the hanger bay. It was covered in red stripes. Hijinks remembered it very well, the interceptor that killed Hammer. She pulled her attacks away from Gayir and began to take evasive turns all while carefully avoiding hitting the walls, ceiling, and catwalks within the bay. It might have been large but it wasn’t the opened vastness of space she was used to flying in. An indoor dogfight, now I’ve seen it all, she thought as the two interceptors shot plasma back and forth at each other.

  Di’aria began screaming words at Hijinks that she didn’t understand, she might as well have been speaking Russian, she certainly had the accent for it. Hijinks thought it was because she had smashed their interceptor into the walls and ceilings four times as she tried to avoid getting shot. She found out why Di’aria was frantically yelling a moment later as she lost control of their craft. It was as if the interceptor had a mind of its own. Right, mind shields. The interceptor they hijacked was set by default to allow any Hashmedai psionic to take control of it. Gayir, a psionic was behind them, while the ace pilot in front was also a psionic, one of the two had merged their minds with their controls, or perhaps it was both?