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

by Kyle Larson

  The air seemed to go out of the room as Kelvin’s cutting words stopped. Aren felt a tear in her eye, but her soul burned inside of her. The words Kelvin smashed on her psyche stung. Every awful thing she’d done came back to her. Aren had accepted she was a villain, but it had never been more apparent to her what a monster she’d become. A planet would be forever scarred because she’d been tricked into building an evil man’s weapon for him. Aren lost, but the Colonel had won. It was bigger than that –– now Aren truly felt lost. She was dead to her family and she was dead to the Wanderers.

  Now her brother cast her aside. Aren knew that she could never be a Sellwood again. The distance had grown between them, and Kelvin was the sole heir to that line. If the Nine Kingdoms prevailed, he would never forgive her for her crimes. She didn’t doubt that he’d let her live, but she’d live in a prison for the rest of her life. Aren wished she could tell him that’s not what she’d do to him, even knowing that’s her singular fate in his potential victory.

  “Take your friend and get off this ship. You can think whatever you want about me, Kelvin. In time, you’ll learn I’m right, and when you come around I won’t punish you for turning your back on me now. I have great plans for you when the Wanderers win. So I’m going to stay out of your way and you better stay out of mine,” Aren said.

  Kelvin started to laugh and withdrew his staff. “Have you seen your ship, Aren? You’ve lost. The Uranian Corsairs and Earth Navy are going to be here any minute. The Monarch just showed up before I boarded. You’re finished. Captain Ali probably has a security team on the way up now. There are no Wanderer ships anywhere in the vicinity. You’re finished, Aren. You better hope mom and dad can get you in a decent detention center. You’re going back to Earth.”

  He lifted Teve over his shoulder, trying to be as gentle as he could. Teve grunted a little but went unconscious again. Kelvin had to find a star diver, but at least he knew Teve was safe. Once he got Teve back to the Gravity Warriors, Kelvin intended to come back up with the Monarch to comb the wreckage to look for other Gravity Warriors. Once Earth Navy and the Uranian Corsairs showed up, they’d finish the job.

  Kelvin walked out of the office and didn’t bother to turn around. As soon as he was clear of the door, another one slammed shut behind him and the rumbling of thrusters vibrated violently through the floor. The door had a small porthole, so everyone on the bridge watched Aren’s office convert into a shuttle and separate from the ship. Kelvin turned to catch one last glimpse of his badly damaged sister, covered in blood like something out of a nightmare. He knew if he could see his own reflection he was just as badly damaged. The words he said to her might as well have been lashings with his staff. He saw in her eyes how he’d hurt her.

  As Kelvin loaded Teve into a star diver he found in the nearest hangar, he couldn’t shake the echo of his own verbal assault. It felt awful to know that may be the last time he sees his sister. Earth Navy might catch her, but if she can detect them she could still avoid both fleets. There was a high likelihood that Aren would be getting away. Kelvin fired up the star diver and blasted his way through the hangar door. He headed back to where the Gravity Warriors were positioned.

  Aren plotted her course, but not back to the Antioch Belt. Aren was done working with men like the Colonel and Riz. She would start over. She knew where there were pockets of Wanderer's sympathizers throughout the Nine Kingdoms. Aren would go to them and give them someone who could lead. There was a great possibility, but for now, Aren was beaten. It was complete defeat and she said goodbye to her destroyed ship and her destroyed fleet.

  The Colonel would pay for what he did to her. Nothing had changed. Aren smiled as her shuttle vanished in the darkness between stars.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  THE COLONEL AND his soldiers landed on the largest balcony of the Royal Palace. Juda was just behind the Colonel. As soon as their feet touched the ground, the Colonel removed his helmet as a dozen Gravity Warriors walked out to meet them. Their staffs were already drawn and they walked slowly towards the crowd of Wanderers, unintimidated they were outnumbered ten times over. If it had only been one Gravity Warrior against the Wanderers, the Wanderers still wouldn’t stand a chance.

  The Colonel’s appearance was dramatically different once his helmet came off. He looked like a young man, though his hair was still white from age. The wrinkles were gone, his eyes were a brilliant blue, with dark eyebrows that suggested he once had brown hair. He turned to face all of his followers and motioned them to be still. Juda locked eyes with him and he just smiled slyly and turned to walk toward the Gravity Warriors that approached. This was going to be a demonstration, Juda was sure. The Colonel felt like his bond to Venusian gravity had never been stronger.

  The Colonel couldn’t wait to fly again. First, he would deal with the guards.

  All of the Gravity Warriors gasped as soon as they could see the Colonel’s face. The man in front of them was not the Colonel, he was Justeph Leray, one of the most terrible criminals in Venusian history. They’d all fought him or knew others who’d been killed in the uprising he helped lead. Violence was his specialty and they knew how lethal his skills as a master could be. He was the only one other than Karna and Queen Tendai to best Teve in a staff contest. The Gravity Warriors knew they were in trouble as Justeph Leray approached them.

  The Gravity Warriors stopped their move forward and from the center, a single warrior stepped forward to meet the Colonel. He recognized her immediately –– it was a former student, one who’d betrayed him in not joining he and Karna’s rebellion.

  “Hello, Eryel. My, you’ve come far. Guarding the Royal Palace and the gateway to the Sanctuary Spring. I always knew you were destined for the very highest in the Gravity Warriors. It’s a shame you’re nothing more than a glorified servant to a tired family whose rule has come to an end,” the Colonel said. “Why aren’t there more of you? You people do realize you’re under attack? I expected at least fifty.”

  The Colonel unsheathed his staff, which had veins of obsidian running through it that glimmered in the morning sun. Eryel and the other warriors unsheathed their staffs in sync. His former student was unaffected by his jest, knowing full well what he had done and what he was about to do. In fact, Eryel and the others quickly vanquished their fears as soon as the Colonel spoke. They were reminded how much of a bully Justeph Leray had been and this was a chance to make him pay for the cruelty he’d once delivered on their people.

  “I’ve been waiting for this day since you crawled away like a coward, traitor,” Eryel said. “This time you are either going to die in a prison cell or by my staff. Your words are tired, old man. Your words are sad.”

  Eryel didn’t wait any longer, she struck at him. The Colonel was nearly hit, but at just the last minute he raised his staff. The fight had begun and he took flight. Eryel and the others went after him, leaving the hundreds of Wanderers behind. The Colonel flew to the other side of the palace, to keep the fight there and also hide what his students were about to do. With his youth and strength returned, the Colonel was ready to use the skills he’d been robbed of since he left Venus. Every movement came back to him as if he hadn’t even been gone a day.

  Juda and all the Wanderers watched the fight continue high into the sky, amazed at what they were seeing. They’d heard about it in all of their training, but they still couldn’t believe humans could fly on Venus. The Colonel, who they’d always known as a broken old man, moved like a hawk as he swooped through the air and fought off a dozen opponents with what looked like very little effort.

  Eryel and her guards were overwhelmed with a fighter as skilled as Justeph as they had been hundreds of years ago when he was at the peak of his abilities. If any of his skills had diminished, Eryel couldn’t tell, and she was one of the highest ranked Gravity Warriors. The Colonel would be able to keep them occupied and that’s all he needed to do so that his Wanderers could find their own strength.

  On the balcony, Juda pulled
out her mobile and brought a map up. The Sanctuary Spring was pinned on the topographical representation and it showed how deep in the canyon it was. Juda put her helmet back on, as the other Wanderers did and turned on her communications system.

  “Follow me,” Juda said. She activated her thruster suit and took off from the balcony. All the others followed and they headed straight into the canyon.

  Juda knew what to look for, the map was just to help speed things along. Every Wanderer needed to get into the Sanctuary Spring before the other Gravity Warriors figured out what was happening. As they planned this, the Colonel assured her he’d be able to either take out the Gravity Warriors or at least keep them occupied. All they had to do was worry about getting into the Sanctuary Spring. Since there were so many of them it would take time.

  As they got deeper into the canyon, Juda and the Wanderers could feel the intense gravity on their bones. The Colonel had warned them of that and once they could feel it they’d only have minutes before every bone in their body would shatter like glass. It also meant they were very close. Juda and the others dove fast, the spotlights on their helmet lit up the canyon in sections, as the fragile morning light had yet to trickle into the canyon. The Wanderers flew mostly in the dark as they made their way toward the Archive. The pain got more intense for them, but they reached the Archive and flew through the entryway to the Sanctuary Spring.

  Not wasting any time, they all ripped off their helmets and tossed them aside. The Sanctuary Spring was dimly lit but they could hear the trickling water. The Wanderers flew right up to the surface of the spring and touched down in the cool waters. Relief came within seconds and they all submerged themselves. Juda had been told it was only seconds needed, just to get the minerals in your skin, but she stayed soaking for a few minutes. All of them did. This was a transformation and they intended to enjoy it.

  For a few minutes, they forgot about the ships on their way from Earth and Uranus that they’d be asked to destroy. The war they’d started today seemed like a memory as they enjoyed the cool waters of the Sanctuary Spring. Juda was the first one to step out. Just as she’d been taught, she took a small jump and was thrown into the air. All the other Wanderers stopped to watch. Juda had practiced flying for years in a thruster suit that mimicked what the Gravity Warriors could do.

  This was better.

  Juda grasped the sensation and ability right away and flew circles around the room. Within seconds, others joined her and laughed at their new gift of flight. They stripped away their thruster suits and wore only the clothes that had been on their backs. Since they’d trained with such bulk, they were actually much faster and much more skilled than other Gravity Warriors who started out.

  The genius of the Colonel’s plan was that the training made his students work harder than any other Gravity Warriors. They’d learned all the same skills, but without the help of the gravity. That made them capable of fighting a Gravity Warrior as soon as the Sanctuary Spring soaked in.

  Juda flew to another part of the Archive the Colonel told her about and found the stone staffs. The ones they had trained with before were not stone. Juda tried to pick the stone staffs up and felt their weight, but remembered what the Colonel told her. She took off in flight and then dove down, letting her body absorb the intense gravity and get used to the stone staff. She flew back and motioned the others to follow. In very little time, the Wanderers were now armed with their own stone staffs, capable of doing all the Thalosi moves they’d been trained to do.

  She didn’t intend to stick around the Archive and go through everything. There would be time to do that later, but Juda intended to return to the Archive someday. She took being a Gravity Warrior very serious, which made her nervous of the new powers she’d just helped some of the Colonel’s younger, less intelligent students get. Too many of them were only interested in being able to punch through a wall. Juda was not interested in the violence of it all, she wanted to learn more about the history and try to maintain the Gravity Warriors. The Colonel taught her a lot, but Juda wanted to learn more. She hoped that whatever Gravity Warriors survived the day could teach her, but the way they’d looked at the Colonel told her it would be a long time before that trust could be built.

  As soon as the Wanderers seemed comfortable with their staffs, Juda leads them back out into the canyon and they took flight. The birth of hundreds of Gravity Warriors, the first ones to ever turn against Venus. This would be the greatest threat Venus had faced since the Saturn Conquerors, and almost no one who would fight for the planet had any idea what was happening.

  The Gravity Warriors surrounded Kelvin’s star diver, with an unconscious Teve in the seat next to him. Kelvin put the helmet of his thruster suit on and opened the hatch. Teve’s helmet still kept him safe, so two Gravity Warriors lifted him out of his seat and quickly headed back towards Venus. Amelia pushed her way through the Gravity Warriors that remained crowded around Kelvin. They all asked after their friends and family members.

  Kelvin’s helmet sounded like an echo chamber of hundreds of voices frantically inquiring about who and what he saw on the Empress.

  “Okay, one at a time,” Kelvin said. “To all of you, just let me speak!”

  The voices stopped and Kelvin could tell from the eager looks they waited.

  “I’m going back to look for others. What’s left of the bridge crew has been subdued. I’ll keep bringing Gravity Warriors back until the Corsairs and Earth Navy get here, then they can launch a proper rescue operation. I’ll need people to stay up here and take the wounded back to Venus for treatment. I take it most of you don’t know how to fly a star diver.”

  Everyone shook their head.

  “That’s fine. It’s a mess over there, so I’ll do my best,” Kelvin said.

  “Thank you, Lord Sellwood,” a voice said.

  “Yes, thank you,” another echoed.

  Then a chorus of ‘thank you’ came over his helmet. Kelvin politely waved. As soon as that stopped, Amelia pulled herself into the seat beside him.

  “I can fly a star diver, Lord Sellwood,” she said, joking at the title he hadn’t been called in a long time.

  Kelvin rolled his eyes and closed the hatch. The star diver turned away from the Gravity Warriors and headed back to the Empress.

  “Well, I’d say that’s one of the most heroic and stupidest things I’ve ever seen you do,” Amelia said.

  “Let’s just leave it at stupidest,” Mara said.

  “She’s right, Millie. That was dumb. I got lucky,” Kelvin said.

  “Aren?”

  “She’s gone,” Kelvin said.

  “Oh no, Kelvin, I’m so sorry.”

  “No, not dead, she had a shuttle that she got away in. Probably headed back to the Antioch Belt. Trying to live to fight another day.”

  Amelia didn’t say anything. In a way, she’d hoped Aren was dead. It would have been painful for Kelvin, but eventually, it would’ve made his life easier. It would’ve made life easier for a lot of people. Amelia was beyond mortified at the lengths Aren had gone to hurt Venus, as well as kill twenty-seven of her own people. Death didn’t seem like an unfitting punishment to Amelia, especially if Aren had been killed by her own weapon. Amelia pushed those dark thoughts from her mind and focused on trying to spot Gravity Warriors that may have been alive and unconscious from the blast of the super-cannon.

  Amelia reminded herself never to wish death on anyone. Not even the worst of humanity.

  “Where’s the Monarch?” Kelvin said.

  “I don’t know, something’s up with it. It started to descend toward Venus and then completely lost power. Last we heard it made an emergency landing near the Royal Palace. One of the Gravity Warriors there said the guards there would make sure the crew was okay.”

  “Lost power? They must’ve taken some serious hits from the Colonel. How’d it get here so fast?”

  “No one knows. Lots of weird stuff, but I’m guessing they’re all fine. We’ll have to wai
t to hear Holloway’s stories,” Amelia said.

  A proximity alert sounded. Amelia accessed the sensor station and it was the Uranian Corsairs, a fleet of fifteen ships. The ships were much more angular than Earth Navy or the cobbled together, rust-buckets that the Wanderers flew in. Their ships looked more organic, almost like the branch of a thorn bush. Jagged structures stuck out from the narrow hulls, each one housed electro-cannons or crew quarters. The ships were a dark slate, nearly black, and their portholes were a reddish-orange color, which glowed like a lantern. Amelia was fascinated by how different they looked.

  The Corsairs spread out and surrounded the wreckage, creating a perimeter in case anyone else aside from Aren had escape plans. There wasn’t any likelihood of that happening, so Amelia decided she’d try to contact one of the ships.

  “Mara, do you know which ship has the lead commander?” Amelia asked as she queued up the communications channels.

  “Well, Millie, I thought someone like you would know that the Uranian Corsairs don’t have commanders. They just have generals.”

  “Thank you, Mara,” Kelvin snapped. “That’s super helpful. There might be Gravity Warriors out there dying and you want to give Millie a lesson on the Uranian Corsairs chain-of-command. Come on, Mara. We don’t have a lot of time.”

  “Brigadiers, yeah, I know, Mara.”

  “Jeez, sorry. Grand Brigadier Anton Kaur commands the Ranger. I’ll patch the star diver through using Kelvin’s royal encryption. That way he’ll know we aren’t Wanderers,” Mara said.

  After a few moments, they could hear the comm speakers click and a deep voice came over them.

  “Lord Sellwood, I am Brigadier Kaur of the Uranian Corsairs. We are unable to make contact with Queen Tendai or King Etho on the surface. Something is disrupting our scans and transmissions. Did the Gravity Warriors do this to the Wanderers ships?”