The Gravity Warriors of Venus: Book Two of The Kelvin Voyages

by Kyle Larson

  Juda had seen first hand how cruel the old man could be. Her job performance was done as much out of self-preservation as it was to protect her family from him. Like Aren, she knew the Wanderers and their cause was greater than one person, and the Colonel’s time would come. Juda would be ready to rise above him but until then, the best she could do was learn from him. One day she would find her people again and they would make a home on any planet they wished — that was her cause.

  The major walked around the perimeter of the room, examining the ornamental paintings and pictures of the Sellwood ancestors. They were equally ridiculous to her as the luxurious sign, but there was something touching about the families these paintings celebrated. There were ancient ships from the terrible wars, some of the vessels named after the Sellwood family. Juda’s family didn’t have a lot in common with them.

  Her ancestors had walked away from humanity after the terrible wars. Rison was a name known throughout the solar system in those days. Thanks to a couple of daredevil pilots, Malia and Hamas Rison, who fought off the Jovian Fleet and the Saturn Conquerors. They were legends and Juda thought it was criminal her family name wasn’t celebrated. The ships under the command of Malia and Hamas, who were married, saved millions of lives. There was a statue on Earth of them, but the living Rison family couldn’t settle their people anywhere in the Nine Kingdoms because Raven was not allowed. Juda hated the Nine Kingdoms because of that unfairness when by all rights her family should have the throne of Earth.

  Juda Rison was only fifteen years old, but she’d seen a lifetime’s worth of space and battles. The Colonel not only taught her mental tactics, but he also honed her fighting and sharpshooting skills. Juda not only functioned as his first officer, but she was also his bodyguard. Juda looked forward to whenever Aren made her move against the Colonel, just because it would finally giver her a chance to take down Aren.

  Major Rison despised Aren for many reasons. The privilege Aren took for granted and seemed to rub in everyone’s face. She liked to pretend she’d worked as hard as everyone else to get to where she was in the Wanderers. That was a joke to Juda and many others, as much as it was insulting. Aren also seemed very unstable to Juda, so she couldn’t trust her. The often unnecessary abuse she heard took place aboard the Empress disturbed her. Aren was someone she intended to get rid of, by any means necessary.

  Juda could handle Riz, and all she had to do was wait for the Colonel to die. She knew how bad his health was. Every day his body deteriorated at a rapid pace. There wasn’t much time left for the old man and some days Juda considered killing him to put him out of his misery. She saw him doubled over, coughing violently behind closed doors. The Colonel was dying a slow death and doing it on his own terms, so Juda just stayed out of his way and tolerated him as much as she needed to.

  Suddenly, a panel near her lit up and a chime came in. It was a projection transmission. Juda thought it must have been from Earth because the holo-projector started to come to life. Juda dashed into a corner so the transmitter wouldn’t pick her up. The person on the other end wouldn’t be able to see her unless she was directly in the line of the projection.

  Queen Eleyn appeared in a hazy form in the center of the observatory. She looked around, almost frantic, trying to see if there was anyone listening.

  “They told me you might not be able to respond and I don’t even know if you can hear me. The Wanderers are distorting all our transmissions and scans. We need you to slow your speed and start a course toward our navy. We’ve transmitted their flight plan. They’ll be able to handle these ships. Currently, you’re headed to Venus and we won’t be able to catch up with you. We cannot count on the Venusians to help you. Please reverse your course.”

  The queen looked distraught to Juda, but it was hard to tell because the transmission was so fuzzy. She almost felt bad for the queen.

  “Listen, if you’ve received this transmission, fire three electro blasts from your rear cannon. It’s our way of knowing you’re okay and no one else has been harmed,” Queen Eleyn said. “All our thoughts are with you and you’re all heroes. Just get back safe to us. The Wanderers are going to pay for what they’ve done today.”

  The transmission fizzled away. Juda found herself staring at the empty space where Eleyn’s figure had been. The conviction in Eleyn’s voice excited Juda. Juda was ready for a fight, and she was glad Earth was too. The last years of her life, the time away from her family…all of it had been for this.

  “So how long were you going to wait before you bothered to tell me the great Queen Eleyn Sellwood made contact with us and she’s transmitted the exact position of Earth Navy to this ship,” the Colonel’s voice said, crackling the speaker of her mobile to life.

  “It’s only been a couple of seconds, sir,” Juda said. She wasn’t afraid to talk back to the Colonel. It was one of the reasons he respected her. The Colonel thought everyone should question everything.

  “Have your squads seal off the engineering sections and anything the crew could sabotage. I just want them standing guard. The crew either got off the ship or have a hiding place we’re not gonna find for weeks. They’ll keep themselves contained if they’re still on this ship.”

  Juda was stunned at how calm the Colonel sounded. This failure to find the crew would normally infuriate him.

  “Get back to the bridge. We need to start preparing for the very real possibility that when the Monarch gets to Venus, they’re going to know we’re on board. I’m gonna need solutions. Time for you to use your head instead of your electro-pistol.”

  The transmission ended.

  There was no sense in delaying, so Juda passed on his orders and made her way back to the bridge. She already knew it would be her that would get them out of a messy situation they’d not planned for. Juda already started to formulate a plan, but she’d need an ally.

  Those were hard to come by in the Nine Kingdoms.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  AREN MADE HER way to the super-cannon in the hangar. The super-cannon was now so large it required a second hangar from a second ship. The weapon itself was suspended between the two ships –– a crude tool for a precise task. The Empress was docked with the Wasp, as Corporal Woad put the finishing touches on the weapon. He and his team stood at attention as Aren walked toward them.

  The weapon was a cylindrical cannon that was suspended in space on a superstructure of power lines and steel support beams. It almost looked like a giant monster with one eye. The cannon glowed a deep red in the center. Corporal Woad didn’t intend for it to look as sinister as it did, but he figured there was no getting around that type of appearance. All he was worried about was what it could do. He knew the person who walked toward him felt the same way.

  “Corporal Woad, I’m hoping you have some good news for me,” Aren said. Her look was flat and mean, not giving Woad the slightest hint of comfort. She was someone very unimpressed and ready to pounce all over her subordinates if they gave her a reason to.

  “Yes, ma’am. We’re ready to power up the weapon. It will take us diverting almost all power from both the Empress and Wasp, save life support. The weapon can only fire in forty-second bursts, then it has to recharge or it will overheat,” Woad said.

  “Do we even need forty seconds?” Aren said sarcastically. “You told me one shot would bring down their shield. You telling me we need more?”

  Woad became nervous as the volume of Aren’s voice elevated.

  “No, ma’am, one shot will take down the shield. I wasn’t sure how many targets you’d have on the surface. The super-cannon won’t take long to recharge, but we just won’t be able to sustain a burst for longer than forty-seconds, that’s all.”

  Aren thought of the horrible power she had just been given. In an instant, many lives could be taken, or planets altered forever.

  “It uses anti-gravity from the electro blast reaction. Since Venus has such extreme gravity, it’s like detonating a bomb. That shield will be useless after o
ne shot. It will take them hours to get it back online, maybe even days. I can guarantee that” Woad said.

  “Very good, corporal. How long will it take to power up the weapon?”

  “A couple of hours. I’ll keep the communications systems online as long as I can, but plan on being back here in five hours if you want to witness the demonstration first hand,” Woad said. He imagined her commander would accept the invitation but regretted that she’d extended it.

  “No thanks, corporal,” Aren said, in a snide tone. “I’ll watch it from the bridge. I’ll be honest I’m a little annoyed you called me all the way down here just for this. All you have to do next time is ping my mobile and say you’re ready. Did you expect me to come down here with a case of champagne and a bouquet of flowers congratulating you for doing your job?”

  Aren turned and walked out of the hangar.

  “We have our orders!” Woad shouted at his team. Any abuse suffered by Aren often trickled down to Woad’s team. The technicians scattered to their stations. They were confident in the work they’d done, and Woad knew they were capable.

  Woad walked over to his workstation and took a seat. His terminal was one of the few aboard the Empress that could receive and transmit signals. He decided to bring the Tube online and watch what the Nine Kingdoms were saying about the Wanderers.

  Woad expected lies to be told about them, so he was surprised at hearing people rejecting the idea of war. The channel he found was from Mars, and one of the government officials said they hoped Mars and the rest of the Nine Kingdoms could make peace with the Wanderers. The Martian person actually said they couldn’t condone Earth Navy sending all of their ships to Venus, and that the Uranian Corsairs would likely escalate the situation.

  Woad had forgotten that Uranus and Earth were never known to have been close allies. They’d fought together just before the formation of the Nine Kingdoms, but they’d never maintained diplomatic relations. He realized just how volatile the situation was becoming. In a matter of days, the Empress could be bringing down two navies and a corrupt queen. Things were moving fast and the Nine Kingdoms would be a very different place in five hours.

  Kelvin ducked as Teve’s staff passed over his head. In turn, Kelvin flew up into the air, which allowed Amelia to move in as Teve was distracted by Kelvin’s flight and land a blow. Teve was knocked to the ground. Both Amelia and Kelvin wore the armor Queen Tendai sent back for them.

  “I still can’t believe my mom gave you that armor,” Teve said, as he shook off the impact. “There’s Gravity Warriors that don’t get to wear that for the first hundred years.”

  “Good thing we’re not Gravity Warriors,” Amelia said, offering her teacher a smirk.

  The armor actually helped them move faster. It wasn’t restrictive at all. When they first put it on, the armor seemed to form to their bodies and after a few minutes, they barely noticed it was there. Teve explained that it was filled with microscopic grains of stone from the deepest part of Venus. Because the gravity was so strong, it enhanced their speed and agility. Now, they were finally starting to catch up with Teve, and he couldn’t believe how much of a difference the armor for them.

  “That was a good warm-up, and now the two of you are ready for your final lesson,” Teve said. “Come.”

  Teve lifted off the ground and slowly floated toward the balcony, leading Kelvin and Amelia to the very ledge. Instead of landing, he just hovered, so Kelvin and Amelia did too. It was still early morning, so the shadows were heavy in the canyon. The sky wasn’t completely light yet.

  “When they come, they’ll come with ships. We’ll fight their ships, too, with what I’ve been teaching you. The two of you can fly faster and better than any ship in the Nine Kingdoms. Once we put a helmet on you, you’ll be able to do it in space, too,” Teve said.

  “In space? There’s no gravity in the vacuum,” Amelia said.

  “There are ways around that if you stay close enough to the gravity well. First, let’s start the lesson before we break through the atmosphere.”

  A buzzing sound in the distance started to echo off the canyon walls. Amelia and Kelvin looked down the massive gap between the walls, which seemed to go on in every direction forever. They could see a ship headed toward them, far in the distance. It glowed a brilliant red and was shaped like a diamond. As it got closer, they could tell it was more of a large drone, designed to mimic an actual ship. It was about the same size as their shuttle, parked at the other end of the balcony.

  Kelvin and Amelia both reflected how boring and ordinary flying in a craft would be after their experiences on Venus.

  The ship came to a stop when it reached the balcony and hovered off the edge.

  “This drone is going to go after you. I’ll give you both a head start, but you’re going to need to take it out. You both have your staffs and that’s all you should need. It fires something similar to electro blasts, but not as potent. They’ll only stun you for a few seconds. Start with this one, and then there’s more,” Teve instructed.

  “More? How many more?” Amelia said.

  Teve ignored the question. “I said you have a head start and that’s all the two of you should be concerned with now. These drones are fast and they won’t stop until they catch you. I’d get going if I were you.”

  “Come on, Millie,” Kelvin said, as he leaped into the air and took off. Amelia followed and quickly passed him.

  It was the first time either of them had flown with the armor and they could already tell they were faster. Kelvin caught up with Amelia and thought they should come up with a plan.

  “I got this figured out, Kelvin. One of us can get behind it while the other one draws its fire. While I’m dodging the electro blasts, you can take it out with your staff. Go for the exhaust valves and try to crush them. If it can’t vent from the engine, then it will overheat and crash.”

  “Sounds good. Maybe we should get it out of the canyon, that way we have more room to maneuver. We don’t know how far this thing goes.”

  Amelia took Kelvin’s advice and launched straight up, with her friend behind her. Teve appeared alongside them. It never ceased to amaze them how effortless he looked in everything they had to train so hard at. This was the fastest Amelia and Kelvin had ever flown, and Teve looked as if he were on a calm, afternoon stroll.

  “Just wanted to let you both know your head start is over. Good luck.”

  Teve broke off from them and dove downward. As soon as they lost sight of him, two electro blasts hit Kelvin, causing his body to go limp and fall through the air. The grip on his staff loosened and it went tumbling into the canyon. Kelvin didn’t lose consciousness and he wasn’t in pain, but his whole body went numb. He could feel that he’d lost all control of the gravity and now it pulled him down toward the planet. Kelvin was in free fall.

  Amelia was about to dive after Kelvin when she caught sight of two electro blasts headed for her. She just managed to dodge them but saw a full spread of many more blasts headed for them.

  After a few hundred feet of falling, Kelvin could feel his senses return. Without thinking, Kelvin dove down, back into the canyon to go after his staff. That was the only defense he would have and hoped he could catch back up to the drone and Amelia. Kelvin didn’t doubt that Amelia could handle herself, so he went after his staff.

  Dodging the electro blasts wasn’t as easy as Teve made it sound. Amelia had that thought many times as the drone pursued her. The drone was as fast as Teve promised but she didn’t have a problem keeping a little lead on it. It was the barrage of electro-blasts that came at her every second. They were as relentless as Teve’s attacks during her first training with a staff. Amelia was grateful for how unforgiving the sessions with Teve were because she needed that experience to keep from getting blasted like Kelvin.

  Like Teve’s attacks on her, there was a rhythm to how the drone launched it’s electro-blasts. Amelia counted them in her head and the seconds between them. The electro-cannons had to re
cycle their power every twenty-seconds. It was a mechanical aspect that Amelia knew from her studies of interplanetary ship design. Electro-blasts were literally taken from the propulsion power of a ship, so if they didn’t stop to recycle their power, the power would overheat the cannons and destroy the ship. The recycling took less than a second, but that was all Amelia would need.

  Amelia didn’t bother looking for Kelvin. She’d seen him dive into the canyon and assumed he had a good reason for doing so. Even if she wanted to go look for him, it would have only distracted her from the drone’s pursuit. If he could get back to her, then they’d go through with their original plan. Amelia just assumed she was on her own for the time being.

  The drone didn’t have a problem with maneuverability. Amelia and the craft both cleared the canyon, climbing into the sky of Venus. There were many clusters of gray clouds above them and it looked like it could rain at any moment. Once they were out of the canyon, Amelia slowed her speed and tried to close the gap between her and the drone. This made it more difficult to evaluate the pattern of electro-blasts, but Amelia managed to evade them still. She imagined if she got hit it would be very difficult to recover.

  In her head, she counted, and after a few dozen more shots, she was pretty sure she knew when the cannon had to recycle. Every thirteenth, the fourteenth took just a little longer than all the others to fire. Amelia let the cycle happen one more time, just to make sure. As soon as the thirteenth shot came, Amelia came to a complete stop for just one second and then dove under the drone, smashing her staff into its hull.

  The staff broke through the steel hull, but got stuck and Amelia couldn’t get it loose. She held on to it, as the drone started to go crazy and spun. The frantic movements of the drone made the world around her go blurry as she held on to her staff. Amelia could barely tell if the drone was still climbing in altitude or diving back towards the canyon. None of the electro-cannons could get to her, which drove the programming of the drone crazy.