He checked for Chris’ pulse, and when he found a strong one he looked at Sarah and smiled.
“Give me a sec. I’ll be right back.”
When Chase rose he saw the bodies in the room, the blood, the destruction, and could only imagine the terrible battle that had been fought here in order to bring him back to the land of the living.
Ares came next to him. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you’re alright. Are you able to fight? This Fury is crazy powerful. You must hurry, though, a Fury super destroyer is almost at our doorstep.”
Chase looked at his old friend and mentor and smiled. “I’ve got this.”
Chase re-entered fury mode and teleported in front of Timoros, who was just getting back to his feet.
“I’m gonna enjoy kill—” the Shadow Hunter tried to say, before a thousand punches hit him from every direction at speeds impossible for his fading mind to fathom. When Chase had finished his attack, delayed impacts appeared all over the Fury’s body. His armor cracked and bent as if an invisible force was still hitting him. The Shadow Hunter felt his bones crushed inside his body and turn to nothing more than dust. His organs exploded and, by the time a full second had passed, he had received too many deadly blows to count.
He was almost dead and he knew it. “You’re . . . him. It can’t be. You’re . . . the legendary one.”
Chase’s look was icy cold.
“You’ve hurt my friends, my family. I wish I could have taken my sweet time to make you pay for what you’ve done here today, but this will have to do.” Chase put his palm on the Shadow Hunter’s chest and fired an unnecessary yet satisfying fireball that instantly burned a hole through the Fury’s armor and flesh.
Chase turned his back on the Fury and walked back towards his friends and family as Timoros fell to his knees, his dead eyes locked wide open, a large bleeding hole in his chest. Then he collapsed with a dull thud to the floor.
Chase healed his friends one by one. He started with Daniel and Saroudis.
Daniel took Chase in his arms. “I’m so glad you’re back, bro!”
“I’m glad to see you too. Thank you for risking your life to save me and my family. Both of you,” said Chase as he looked towards Saroudis.
“You would have done the same for us. In fact, we’ve lost count of how many times you’ve saved our asses, right, Commander?”
“Right,” said Daniel.
Chase saw someone he didn’t know holding his own crushed hand. He seemed to be in a lot of pain. Chase took his arm and healed his hand.
“Thank you,” said the Olympian.
“And you are?”
“Apollo, Ares’ brother.”
“Nice to meet you. Thank you for the help.”
Apollo nodded.
“Chase?” asked Sarah, her voice pleading. “Would you mind?”
Chase knelt next to their young boy and healed him next. Sarah told him how bravely he had fought to keep the Shadow Hunter at bay.
When Chris opened his eyes, Chase smiled.
“Hey, you.”
“Dad!” Chris grabbed Chase by the neck and embraced him.
“Mom told me how brave you’ve been. I’m so proud of you. Thank you so much, son.”
Then everyone heard heavy, metallic steps running towards them.
“Now what?” asked Sarah.
Gaia’s droid stormed into the med-bay but stopped when she saw Chase and everyone getting back to their feet.
“Looks like I’m late to this party.”
“That’s alright. We’re fine,” said Chase.
He rose and vigorously rubbed his hand in his son’s hair. “Thanks in part to this one.”
Sarah took Chase’s hand. “Haven’t you forgotten someone?”
Chase looked in her eyes and then turned towards Argos, who was unconscious and still bleeding with his back against the wall. “What? Him? Are we seriously entertaining the thought of healing him?”
Ares took a step forward. “If it wasn’t for him we would never have procured the elixir to bring you back. As much as it pains me to say this, I think we owe him that much.”
“And he saved my life too, Chase. Twice,” added Sarah.
“Very well. Let’s hope we’re not gonna regret this one day.”
Chase shot a white spherical energy blast at his brother Argos. Upon impact the energy diffused all over Argos’s body and his wounds healed in a matter of seconds.
Argos opened his eyes and saw everyone’s attention directed at him.
“Where’s the Shadow Hunter?”
“He’s been taken care of,” said Chase coldly.
“Good. Why is everyone looking at me?”
“No reason,” said Chase. “Congratulations. You’ve managed to help us defeat your former friends and, in doing so, made yourself their enemy as well. I can’t imagine what must be going through your mind this instant, but thank you.”
Argos didn’t answer. He rose and dusted himself off before crossing his arms against his chest. “What now?”
“Now,” said Ares, “I wish I could tell you we could all go and rest, but there is an armada of Zarlack ships coming to Earth as we speak, accompanied by a fully functional Fury super destroyer.”
“Business as usual then,” said Chase with a smile.
“Chase. This won’t be an easy battle,” retorted Ares.
“They never are. But together I know we can prevail,” answered Chase with more calm than he ever thought possible.
Chase and Saroudis went over the commodore’s battle plan aboard the Hope, in the captain’s ready room with Cedric and Yanis. They presented their new tech, which they thought could be useful if they managed to find a way to get them on board multiple Zarlack ships.
They discussed their strategy and went over all the data they had received from their long-range probes.
“The Fury shields will be our biggest issue, as well as their firepower.”
Chase went to the viewport and looked at the magnificent view of Earth and the distant stars all around it.
It had been so long since he saw the stars. It felt good to be home.
“When will they arrive?” Chase inquired.
“Long-range sensors have detected their approach. They’ll be here in less than an hour,” said Saroudis.
“Then we’d better prepare.”
The communication officer entered. “We have an incoming transmission from an unidentified ship requesting to talk with either Lieutenant Athanatos or Commodore Saroudis.”
The call was transferred to the ready room’s main holo-projector. It was Keera and Ryonna.
“It’s really good to see you up and about, Chase. We’re bringing in a piece of ancient tech that could be very helpful in developing new, powerful weapons. If we can reverse engineer it, that is.”
Yanis stepped in. “I think she means me. I mean us,” Yanis corrected himself when Cedric looked at him.
Ryonna then proceeded to detail what types of weapons had already been made using this tech, including the armor they still wore. That gave Chase an idea about how to put them to good use in what was to come next.
“Good job to the both of you. You’re authorized to land aboard the Hope. We might need your help in what’s to come,” said Chase.
When both Ryonna and Keera joined them, they continued their briefing and Chase exposed his plan on how to repel the incoming attack. It was a gamble, but the crew had learned to trust his ideas, no matter how farfetched they sounded.
“Everyone clear on what they need to do?”
All of Chase’s friends responded positively.
“Then let’s protect our home. Earth has been our last sanctuary this past year, a beacon of hope in this galaxy, and there’s no way we’re going to let it fall today.”
Chase went to see Argos in the mess hall. The place was empty except for his brother. Chase could understand why other members of his crew would not want to be anywhere near Argos. He had been respon
sible for so much death, and Chase could feel the tension on board with Argos permitted to roam free.
He had issued a security bulletin to inform the members of the Earth Alliance about Argos’ new status as an ally, at least temporarily. But he could feel the disdain, fear and sometimes hatred that others felt.
Chase’s senses seemed so much more attuned than they ever were before. He could perceive so many things now that he had to make a conscious effort to tune most of it out so he could hear his own thoughts. It took some getting used to.
“We need to talk,” said Chase, sitting in front of Argos.
“What about? I wasn’t invited to your briefing. So I take it you don’t trust me.” Argos took a large chunk from a yellow-red apple.
“Can you blame us? Everything that is happening right now is because of you. And while you’ve done a lot to redeem yourself today, you know very well that you can’t erase the past. Billions have died. You nearly exterminated an entire world. Droxia is a mere shadow of itself.”
“I don’t need a lecture. What do you want me to do?”
“Right now I don’t really know. We have more urgent matters than discussing your fate. I can’t guarantee that the Earth Alliance won’t eventually demand your execution. But if you have anything to contribute, any information that could help us, then maybe it could help your case.”
“You know I could just get away during the battle.”
“I know. But where would you go? You’re all alone now. You don’t have any forces left. It’s time to ask yourself what you really want.”
Chase got up from his chair.
“Why are you telling me all this?”
“Honestly? I don’t know. But I’m grateful for your help these past few days. I never expected you to do this.”
“Since we’re being honest with each other, I never expected it either. Right now you have a battle to fight, and I’m willing to pledge my allegiance to you one more time. If only to wipe Miseo’s smug smile off his face. So if you need me, I’ll fight for you.”
Chase could use his help. Part of him still didn’t trust Argos, but he had to admit that he could be of strategic value in his plan to repel the enemy.
“And after this battle . . .” said Argos.
“What?”
“Well, if you want your memory back, it can be arranged.”
“I’ll have to think about that. I like who I am. I’m not sure I want to know who I was before all this started. I am, however, more interested in knowing if you can help my son regarding his accelerated growth. He wants to reach the age of seventeen before allowing us to try to stop his growth. But at the rate he’s growing, this is just a matter of days. Is there anything you can do for him?”
“I’ll need to take a closer look at him. While I can’t promise anything, I’m willing to give it a try.”
“That’s good enough for me. Thanks. Now suit up. You’ll be needed soon.”
21
Miseo was before the bridge’s large viewport when the Crimson Shadow exited hyperspace near Pluto. He had arrived a little earlier than the Zarlack fleet, thanks to his ship’s more advanced hyperspace engines.
“Your orders, Master?” Inquired a crew member.
Miseo didn’t care to know the names of his underlings. They just needed to obey his every order.
“Wait for the Zarlack fleet to arrive and then set a course for Earth at maximum sub-light speed.”
“There’s an incoming transmission from Supreme Commander Arakan.”
“I’ll take it in my ready room.”
When Miseo sat comfortably in his command chair, in his spacious and luxuriously furnished ready room, he took his father’s call.
“How dare you make me wait so long before answering my call?”
“I didn’t want to talk in front of the crew. What can I do for you, Father?”
“I’ve just been informed that the Olympian was never transferred back to the surface as I had ordered. Is she still on board your ship?”
“I’ve been busy preparing the plan of attack, so I’ll take your word for it. Why is it a problem anyway?”
“We have no way of knowing what will happen if the device is either destroyed or stolen! It was reckless of you to take it with you. Perhaps you should delay your attack on Earth and bring her back here. Or at least have her transferred to one of the Zarlack ships and sent back home.”
“Too risky. The Earth Alliance could easily destroy that ship. It’s unfortunate that she’s still on board, but it can be used to my advantage, should the unlikely scenario of losing this battle ever arise.”
Arakan’s eyes grew smaller.
“You’ve done it on purpose? As insurance? What if the Crimson Shadow is destroyed? This could send us back to the dimensional prison!”
“Or it wouldn’t and you would be forever safe from it.”
“That was not your gamble to make! There will be repercussions for this.”
Arakan cut off the communication.
I have no doubt. Except that when I’m done dealing with the pathetic Earthlings, I’m coming for you next.
A bright flash coming from the viewport caught Miseo’s attention and for a second he thought the rest of the Zarlack fleet had arrived. He rose from his chair and walked to the viewport to take a closer look.
Chase stood there, less than two hundred yards outside the ship, protected by a light-blue force field.
So Argos managed to save Chase’s life. I should never have trusted that snake.
A body hung from one of Chase’s hands. He threw it towards Miseo’s viewport. There was no mistaking it, no matter how wounded he was and without his armor. Timoros was free flying towards Miseo. As he exited Chase’s force field, the cold of space flash-froze whatever was left of the Shadow Hunter, and his body broke into a thousand frozen pieces when it impacted with the reinforced glass of the Crimson Shadow’s viewport.
You’re next, heard Miseo in his mind before Chase disappeared.
“We’ll just see about that,” answered Miseo out loud.
The Zarlack fleet jumped out of hyperspace and, as ordered, the entire fleet accelerated to maximum sub-light speed on their way towards Earth.
When Chase returned to the Hope, he paid a visit to Yanis and Cedric, who were both hard at work analyzing whatever they could from the piece of technology Ryonna and Keera had brought back with them, as well as whatever was left of the Shadow Hunter’s armor.
“Anything to report?” asked Chase.
“You do realize it’s barely been an hour, right?” answered Yanis.
“So nothing?”
“I wouldn’t say that. While it will take a significant time to determine all that this technology has to offer, we did find, accidentally, what we think its origins might be.”
“Pray tell?”
“It’s Fury tech. It’s very old, but we knew that already. But when we started scanning the thing I noticed something familiar about its frequency, something I had seen not too long ago. And guess what, my eidetic memory paid off. This thing emits the same frequency as the shields on board the smaller Fury craft, their starfighters.”
“Please tell me it means what I think it means?”
“Yes, we can adapt our weapons to be able to penetrate Fury shields. At least the starfighter ones.”
“What about the destroyer?”
“Not a chance. It’s a completely different frequency. I don’t think the smaller ships and their destroyers share a similar design, for what reason I don’t know.”
“Does that mean we can destroy their starfighters easily?”
“I wouldn’t go that far. Cedric is working on the random rotation algorithm used to cycle their shields. Like most advanced starfighters, ours included, the shields are in a constant frequency cycle so that the enemy can never just scan the current frequency and adapt their weapons to match it. Having the source frequency makes the job easier, but it will take days if not weeks to find the e
xact rotation cycle, to be a one hundred percent match to their shields. However, we should have an approximated mathematical formula that should allow us to be much more efficient against them. That means our StarFuries will more often than not deliver effective hits on their shields, sometimes even blast through them.”
“That’s the kind of news I was hoping for.”
“And yet that’s not the best news.”
“Oh?” Chase was genuinely surprised. “What’s the best news then?”
“We’ve analyzed their secondary firing mode, and it seems to be linked to the ship’s shields. It’s definitely part of the same system. As I’m sure the commodore told you, their ability to disable other starfighters in close proximity makes them way more dangerous than any other starfighter-class ships we have encountered until now. With that ability alone they could wipe out our StarFuries. Since it’s based on their shield frequency, we think, in fact, that it’s an extended pulse emanating from their shields as they fire that weapon. We can program our StarFuries’ shields with that algorithm so the pulse won’t pass through and disable our fighters, which would be bad.”
“Very bad indeed.”
“But then again, since we will use the same approximated algorithm, it means our StarFuries will still get hit every time they fire that particular weapon, which we hope won’t be too often once they realize it has little to no effect.”
“How much of a drain will it take?”
“Depending on distance, anywhere between fifteen and forty-five percent. So it’s still not something we want them to use on us too much, but I doubt they can fire it that often.”
“What makes you think that?”
“The sensor logs showed a very big drop in power when the starfighters used that tactic against the Brin squadrons. While they’re probably not a one-off type of weapon, such a power drain indicates it requires a long charging time.”
Universe in Flames – Ultimate 10 Book Box Set: An Epic Space Opera Adventure Page 164