Enemy Myself
Page 9
Caleb stands before the holoimage and says, “Michael it’s good to see you again.”
Rooke smiles, releasing a huge breath of relief, stating, “Caleb it’s unbelievable that you showed up when you did. Those pirates were just about to break through our last defenses.”
Paladin interrupts, stating, “The marauders are well within our weapons range Cale however we will be in theirs in just a few minutes.”
Caleb grumbles as he looks over at the approaching ships. He studies them for a moment and quickly orders, “Pal target the largest ship and cripple it only.”
Paladin locks weapons on the largest ship firing a restrained volley which easily sheers through the vessels feeble defenses and leaves it dead in space. The remaining marauder ship’s all stop.
Paladin reports, “The marauders seem to be assessing the situation.”
Rooke states, “Well they are pretty relentless. So far, they have been able to board us a few dozen times, stealing as much of our remaining weapons as they could. Hell Caleb, if you didn’t show up when you did we would have been done for.”
Caleb looks towards the holo image of Rooke and asks, “Michael where is the Demon Queen and Noskcaj?”
Rooke responds, “I really don’t know everything Caleb I was kinda out of it till a few months ago. Anyhow, from what I was told is that six months ago the Queen took over what was left of Noskcaj and made it rebuild her carrier, making it far larger and way more powerful than it was before and with the Demon Queen having complete control of Noskcaj it made it strip this Skull station of virtually every part of itself to make another seven ships of equal size. Once they were built they took everyone on Skull except for the few of us here and left.”
Caleb takes in the information as he considers what may have happened, finally he asks, “Why did she leave you and rest behind?”
Rooke looks around at the others around him and says, “Caleb I know this is going to sound crazy but the only thing that all of us have in common is that we didn’t have those psionic scramblers on that Noskcaj uses to keep everyone under his control.”
Caleb suspicious states, “Your right Michael that doesn’t make any sense, the Demon Queen could just simply use her psionic power.”
Rooke shrugs his shoulders and says, “Like I said it sounds crazy but that’s the only thing the rest of us had in common.”
Paladin telepathically speaks to Caleb, “Cale it is possible that the piece of the symbiot with in the Demon Queen may still be separated from the Meli and is keeping her from using her power.”
Caleb responds in kind, stating, “Pal that makes absolutely no sense at all. The Meli would have access to all the X’ena energy on Skull and that little piece of Ronin would never be able to hold its own against that kind of power
Paladin replies, “Actually Cale that little piece of the original symbiot would have equal access to that same power. It would and could prevent the Meli from being able to gain full control of that power. Regrettably though this symbiot shard cannot remain separated from the Demon Queen for long now that the Meli is aware of its existence. Eventually, the Demon Queen will be able to force it to rejoin with it and when that happens it will have full control of its power.”
Caleb sits down in his command chair as he ponders just what is going on. Rooke however is more alarmed, announcing, “Caleb if you wouldn’t mind refocusing your thoughts on these pirates, I really doubt they are going to just sit and wait on you. They are a persistent lot of vile filth.”
Caleb looks up at the holoscreen as he asks Paladin aloud, “Pal what is the status of these scavengers?”
Paladin reports, “They appear to be cautiously exploring our patience with them. So far, I’ve detected several smaller ships preparing for an organized approach on our position from several sides. Nevertheless, I have made multiple attempts to contact them on every frequency I possess without success.”
Rooke adds, “Cale these pirates are just that. They have killed several of us without mercy.”
Caleb stands up as he looks out at the C.i.C interactive holoscreen, uttering aloud, “Pal as you have already stated these Marauders are well within our effective firing range, why don’t we show them our lack of patience.”
Paladin quickly targets as many ships as it can and fires low yield plasma charges from all its weapons, disabling virtually every ship in a single volley.
Paladin reports, “All Marauders have been incapacitated or are fleeing the sector.”
Caleb turns his direction back to Rooke, saying, “Michael we’ll be boarding you in a few minutes, prepare everyone to evacuate as soon as we arrive.”
Paladin states, “It would appear that much of what we hoped for is no longer possible.”
Caleb walks back to his seat, stating, “The best laid plans Of Mice and Men.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
PUSH
Back on Avalon, chaos erupts as the psionic super bombs prevents all psychics from the use of their power within the entire sector. This is especially alarming as the Dorsa primarily depend on psychic communication.
Eldridge races into the chamber that Carla and Abe are in, announcing, “The Dorsa are mobilizing their ships for an offensive. The detonation of the psionic super bombs has caused them to act irrationally. They believe we detonated them to prevent you from attacking us. Lord Oz was already at their embassy negotiating a new trade deal but since the psionic bombs went off and we cannot reach him. It is possible that he may be being held against his will.”
Abe and Carla look to each other and immediately realize the danger. Abe says, “Go now, I’ll get the kids and have Ismail meet us back there.”
Eldridge confused asks, “What are you doing?”
Abe races to Zeta Seven, yelling, “Combat armor mode!”
Carla looks to Eldridge saying as she prepares to shift, “The Uri ship Vengeance is still in orbit and the Dorsa have hundreds of ships up there.”
Eldridge alarmed states, “Please Mistress Carla if you release Ronin again you will only escalate things further. Oz is a formidable diplomat, even if he is being held against his will.”
Carla shifts away as Abe jumps into Zeta Seven as the drone surrounds him in an armored battle suit. Abe looks to Eldridge, saying, “If we don’t prepare for the possibility of a Dorsa assault then we’re at their mercy and I can’t allow my family to be in jeopardy again, so unless Oz can convince them that we are not a threat we are going to prepare to defend ourselves. And Eldridge, I’ve already met with the Dorsa, I know that they don’t trust all too easy.”
Abe shifts to his children who are with Ulysses, playing within the compound outside their house.
Ulysses is instantly alarmed at seeing Abe back in his armored battle suit asks, “Abe what’s going on?”
Abe quickly envelopes the three of them in a force field and opens the front of the battle suit, exposing himself to Ulysses and his children. He says, “Caleb just detonated hundreds of psionic super bombs that he had hidden around every one of his colonies, including the Earth, so as per usual with people acting before thinking our Dorsa friends believe Carla is getting ready to attack.”
Ulysses tries to enter the psychic plane but is immediately repelled. He looks up at Abe, saying, “The entire psychic plane is unusable. The Dorsa will be in a panic.”
Zeta Seven reports, “Master Abraham, Ismail is approaching from the house.”
Abe turns towards him as Ismail approaches the edge of the force field and asks, “Abe what the hell is going on?”
Abe responds, “Ismail shift back to the Vengeance now. I’ll explain everything there.”
Ulysses grabs up Jesse and Marianne and brings them to Abe, saying, “I’ll get back to my ship and see what I can do.”
Abe grabs both his children, placing them on his lap as he seals Zeta Seven and knells the giant battle armor into a more pliable position, shifting directly back onto the Vengeance bridge. Zeta Seven now hunched over still stands
almost fifteen feet tall as it fills the Bridge almost touching the ceiling of the Bridge.
Frazier is beyond words as this massive machine shifts directly in front of him. Abe however quickly opens the front of the battle suit once more and jumps out with his children in his arms, announcing, “Zeta Seven defense mode.” The massive armored behemoth quickly folds back down into a simple maintenance drone.
Kalen cautiously approaches Abe, asking, “What is going on?”
Abe looks around, noticing that Carla is nowhere to be seen, he asks, “Where’s my wife?”
Ismail immediately shift onto the Bridge as Frazier realizes that something serious is about to happen and yells, “All crew general quarters!”
Abe turns to Frazier, stating, “Don’t raise our shields till Carla shows up.”
Just then a voice booms from above them as Carla hovers from the Captains quarters, saying, “I’m already here Abe. I was just trying to pierce through all this psychic static to contact the Dorsa before merging with the ship. I was hoping to calm things down first but these psionic super bombs are a lot more powerful than the one you built before.”
Abe lets out a huge breath of relief as he looks to Frazier and states, “Caleb contacted us as he was just about to attack the Demon Queen but before we could warn him about what we learned he detonated hundreds of psionic super bombs across every human colony. Now the Dorsa think that it was done because Carla is becoming the Demon Queen and they could be preparing to attack the Vengeance.”
Frazier looks to Carla and says, “Well I think it might be a good time to let Ronin out of his bottle.”
Carla lands on the deck and says, “I can release Ronin if I have too but I think its best we try and de-escalate things first, not escalate them.”
Ismail speaks up, asking, “Can we open a channel to the Dorsa fleet?”
Frazier shakes his head in agreement as he turns towards the communication officer, signaling the command.
After a few moments pass a Dorsa appears on the holoscreen where it can clearly see Carla standing right in the forefront of the men with her children right beside her. Frazier tries to speak but Carla raises her hand to silence him, allowing the Dorsa to see everyone. After almost a minute the Dorsa speaks, “You are the daughter of Caleb Ocoda. The One that is known as the Demon Queen.”
Carla takes in a deep breath as she softly grunts in annoyance, responding, “The Demon Queen was the combination of my power and the dimensional being known as the Meli. I am my own person and not a slave to this being. The psionic super bombs were detonated by my Father who is more than a billion light years away as he prepares to do battle with this Demon Queen from the alternate time line.”
The Dorsa obviously appears frustrated as it speaks, “We Dorsa cannot speak as one as we are accustomed to. Nonetheless, we were foretold of this day by your Father some five hundred years ago. Regardless, we find the circumstances to be questionable and demand that you surrender yourself to us until we can be assured that you are not the Demon Queen.”
Abe steps forward and states, “That won’t be happening. If Carla was the Demon Queen, there would be no conversation and you would all be dead.”
Carla stops Abe and says, “I can allow you and all the Dorsa to communicate for a few minutes but I must do so by releasing Ronin. If you will allow me to do this perhaps I can show you that I am not your enemy.”
The Dorsa pauses as it tries to decide what to do. Without its psychic ability, the Dorsa easily becomes frustrated, asking, “How do we know this isn’t a trick?”
Carla speaks ever so softly and answers, “You don’t and you really don’t have any other choice.”
Abe looks to Carla in deep concern and asks, “Carla do you really think you can do this?”
Carla smiles as she bends down and kisses Jesse and Marianne on their foreheads, stating, “I think I can push away the psionic static around the planet for a few minutes but only if I access Ronin’s power but I might blow a few conduits.”
Abe groans heavily as he looks to Ismail, asking, “Ismail would you mind watching the kids while I go down to engineering.”
Ismail replies, “Hurry my brother our Little Flower is not well known for her patience.”
Carla frowns at Ismail, stating, “I’m standing right here you know.” With that Carla touches deck with her hand and releases Ronin. She correspondingly enters her full connection with Ronin as her physical body becomes one with the ship.
The Vengeance is immediately immersed in a huge field of energy as it instantly transforms into the massive Ronin. Abe shifts directly to the engine room as he kicks on every secondary and bypass conduit in preparation for Carla’s energy bursts.
Carla enters the psychic plane which is filled with rippling energy fields, making the plane completely useless. While in her pure psychic form Carla can access the full extent of her power as her personal psychic shield protects her from the energy. Carla bends downs as she makes physical contact with the plane and begins to expand her shield.
Ronin telepathically speaks to her, “Mistress this is a very dangerous maneuver, if you are successful in pushing back the distortion you will leave yourself completely vulnerable to an attack by the Dorsa.”
Carla continues to expand her shield as she replies, “I know Ronnie but if I don’t try something than someone could get hurt.”
Ronin states, “Mistress your emotional after just seeing your father Caleb and you are pushing yourself unnecessarily. You should wait and allow Oz to do what Caleb entrusted him to do.”
Carla ignores Ronin as she expands her shield out in a massive wave encircling the planet and the surrounding ships as the distortion fields pound against her psychic shields.
Ronin speaks to her as she strains to maintain the field, stating, “Mistress you have pushed the ship to its limit already and will not be able to maintain this for very long. Currently I’m detecting hundreds of Dorsa minds converging on us and you are completely defenseless.”
Within a moment almost a thousand Dorsa appear all around Carla as she is completely helpless as all her efforts are poised on maintaining the field. One of the Dorsa pushes forward as he creates a psychic blade and prepares to attack Carla. Another Dorsa tries to hold him back but the rogue Dorsa pushes forward. Carla remains still as she has to maintain her complete concentration on maintaining the field. The rogue Dorsa prepares to strike Carla but is surprised as Ulysses and over a hundred Candorians appear all around Carla with their own shields protecting her.
Ulysses looks over at Carla and sees the strain she is under and then turns to the Dorsa and says, “She is doing everything she can to help your people just as her Father did over a thousand years ago when he risked his life to save your forefathers and yet here you stand with weapons drawn ready to strike her down as she lay defenseless before you. Where is the vaunted honor of the Dorsa?”
The other Dorsa finally corral the rogue warrior as the Dorsa commander who was speaking to Carla on the holocom earlier steps forward and says, “Commander Ulysses, you are well known to us as it was your direct descendant who was one of those that risked her life to save my forefather. This warrior acted in fear and will be dealt with by us. We have re-established all contact with our people and we will stand down and release Oz.”
Carla begins to shake and bends over in pain as the field begins to shrink quickly.
Ulysses noticing yells, “Ok everyone, get out of here before this all comes screaming back down on us.”
Over a thousand minds flee as Carla is overwhelmed and succumbs to the stress and pulls in the shield, returning to Ronin. She is barely conscious as the ship suffers from overloaded conduits all over the ship.
Ismail is standing beside her astral projection and says, “You blew a lot of power conduits and the ship will need some heavy repairs. I hope it was worth it.”
Carla exhales slowly as she feels the pain of the ship. She clutches her side saying, “Hopefully.”
Carla responds, “And if I just do nothing and pray for my Father to fix everything than I wouldn’t be me.”
Kalen steps forward and says, “Well I hope it was worth it, this ship is sorry shape.”
Frazier stops as he looks over the damage report. He slowly turns towards Carla and asks, “Carla just what did you do that caused you to use so much power?”
Ronin intercedes, stating, “Caleb modified the psionic super bombs making them far more powerful and Carla had to use every bit of her power to push back the distortion these psionic super bombs create. The initial blast forced every psionic creature out of the psychic plane for several sectors in every direction. The Dorsa are very reliant on psionic communication and they were lost and afraid so Carla had to show that we were not a threat by allowing them a few moments to communicate. Hopefully our intent was understood.”
Abe appears on the holoscreen and reports, “Well I’ll have most ships systems back up within the hour. Currently we still have shields and weapons functioning. That’s just in case we need them. Unfortunately, the hyperdrive is a mess and will take me a few days to fix. Surprisingly enough, had we been moving at the time I doubt we would have had suffered as much damage, which is a good sign that Carla’s powers are finally coming into line with the ships ability to manage them.”
Carla huffs as she looks at her children. She grabs her side which is racked in pain, turning to Abe she asks, “Abe do you think I can separate from Ronin?”
Abe bites his bottom lip, answering, “Give me an hour Carla. The damage is substantial and I’m sure you’re feeling it now. One-hour Carla, please.”
Carla sighs as she looks to Ismail, frowning,
CHAPTER NINE
GODS AND MEN
Over a billion of light years away Paladin enters the remains of the super space station Skull as Rooke opens the docking bay outer doors. The interior is easily seen as a mostly empty husk as the station remnants look like a construction site with many areas open and exposed to deep space.