Sarah needed to ensure the car was not in their line of sight. He felt the need to remind her of that. She had shields after all. He didn’t.
She felt the need to tell him something else.
“Drive!” Sarah went to open her door, while the vehicle was still in motion. “I can’t shake them, and it’s pissing me the fuck off!”
She was outside, hanging onto the car from its driver’s side door, now wide open. The rippling noises of the winds passing by was deafening, the shower of rainwater spilling inside didn’t help. Peiun climbed into the driver’s seat and took the wheel. A car ahead of them came to a sudden stop. They were seconds away from a head-on collision with it. He made a sharp and wide turn, narrowly avoiding it.
Sarah yelped, nearly losing her grip, and getting tossed out into the abyss below. “Fuck’s sakes, keep it still!”
“I am unfamiliar with the operation of this vehicle!”
“Don’t you guys have cars in the Empire?”
“We do not; we rely on trains and personal psionic teleporters as a means of transportation—”
“Amazing, but that doesn’t help me right now!”
The pistol Sarah brandished exploded, firing its ultra-high-velocity projectiles at the two cars. The EISS agents inside the two cars, returned fire, making her shields flash and flicker while the downpour of water drenched the area. A train tube neared, the back of Sarah’s head was set to hit it.
He lowered the car, passing safely below the raised train tube. Sarah’s rampant cursing that came afterward, suggested the move threw her aim away from what could have been a kill shot. “Perhaps it would be better if we switched places?” he asked her.
They leveled off and veered around a bus. Its passengers all looked to the windows at the two-on-one car chase.
“I have a gun,” Sarah said. “What do you have?!”
“My sword!”
“Yeah . . .” Sarah’s pistol blazed with rapid shots. The two cars remained on course. “That’s what I thought.”
A critical system within the car was hit from the most recent weapons fire. Peiun could feel it as the speed of the vehicle decreased, as did its ability to remain in the air. Five back-to-back tink sounds from behind made the car shake and ignite fires from its back engines. The EISS agents were trying a new strategy, damage the car to make it crash.
Sarah maintained her dramatic stance of defiance, holding onto the car from the outside, and firing shots with every opportunity. The two chasing cars flew close to theirs; one on both ends. The agents within had a clear shot at Peiun’s head. He needed to not be in the car any longer.
There was no time to explain to Sarah his plan. When he lowered himself to grab his sword, a barrage of projectiles sprayed into the car from the left and right. The projectiles hit Sarah’s shields, others shattered the windows or filled the doors of the car with holes, letting rainwater pour in.
Peiun made his way back to the passenger-side door, keeping his head low, and thankful none of the random projectiles hit him. He pushed the door open, performing what humans would call, a leap of faith, jumping away from the now doomed and burning car, grabbing on to the side of a car operated by the EISS operatives on the right.
They tried to shake him off, rocking the car about while the projectiles that were released with the intent of ending his life missed. He lowered himself, grabbing hold of the cables and mechanical joints that existed on the underside of the car. To fire at him now, meant shooting through the floor, and damaging their car. And for the second car? They were too focused on Sarah, something Peiun should have been.
The car Peiun and Sarah rode in on, plunged after a small blast rendered its engines useless. It took Sarah down with it in a deadly fall. The activation of her suit’s MRF saw her plunge slowly, while the car continued to fall and eventually crash. Sarah was safe for the time being, falling slowly like a piece of paper in the air. For how long, only she knew, and the amount of power left in her suit’s batteries. He had a feeling that number was small, given the projectiles she was hit with, and continued to hit her, splashing across her fading blue barrier.
The scene made him hiss. The anger in his hands made his blade power on and swing up, cutting at the wires and various contraptions underneath the car he held on to. Sooner or later he’d slice something important. Flames erupted, and sparks flared before his face, forcing him to look away from the light that made his eyes hurt. He sliced something important.
The car began to sink, but not before he pulled himself up on top of its roof. One of the agents of the newly doomed car attempted to crawl up top and join him. Peiun’s plasma sword sent his head tumbling down to the streets below, forcing his body to slump over and join it. The blood that splattered across the car’s roof was quickly washed away by the rains and winds around them. Projectile blasts shot up through the rooftop, leaving behind tiny holes in their wake near his feet. The second agent in the falling car was still alive.
Peiun made his second leap of faith, landing on the trailer of a truck three stories below. The impact of the fall threw him down to his face. Sarah was still falling in slow motion thanks to her altered mass, and the occupants of the remaining car continued to focus on her. Her shields couldn’t take much more.
He had one loose end to tie up before he assisted her.
The remaining agent in the car he disabled joined him on top of the trailer of the truck. The man stood aiming his pistol at Peiun, his black suit and tie rippled in the winds and rains that poured down. His shades were concealing the fear Peiun suspected was growing in his eyes, as he faced him with his plasma sword burning.
Peiun stood tall sizing his adversary up, paying no mind to the torrential downpour that soaked his white hair, and made the fabric of his uniform cling to this skin. The winds created by their speed pressed against his back, rippling his soaked attire, and flicking his hair. He held his blade up, and its green glowing plasma energy released steady plumes of vapor into the air when the rain water came in contact with it. Taking on an aggressive sword stance, he made himself ready to make a strike at the agent when time came.
He saw the pistol aim at his head and ducked preemptively, evading the red lines that came at him. The pistol later aimed at his lower body, a double backflip over those red lines carried him to safety, and then his Hashmedai quick footwork closed the small gap between the two. An upward swing of his sword took the agent’s arm off, and the gun it held with it. A geyser of red drenched his face as Peiun went to make a spinning slash that cut a swath across the agent’s chest. His rib cage and pulsing organs were made visible, and the white dress shirt he wore under his black suit, was stained red where it wasn’t cut.
Rapidly fired shots echoed behind him. He twisted to see what became of Sarah and her situation. The last car commanded by EISS agents, began to sink. The driver of the vehicle’s face rested on the wheel, droplets of red poured away from the holes through his head. Sarah’s aim was impressive, despite being at a lower elevation than the car and continuing to fall.
The remaining agent panicked and attempted to retake control of the wheel from his fallen partner. Peiun stood and waited for the car to lower to him and the truck he stood on. It did, and he leaped for a third time and ensured his sword was pointed out. The last agent didn’t see the weapon that impaled his throat, or the plasma that burned the flesh, blood, and bones around it.
Operating a car with two dead bodies inside turned out to be much more of a challenge than he thought. He struggled to take the wheel and see through the dripping red and projectile ridden windshield. Recovering Sarah was all that mattered, everything else would have to wait. She climbed aboard after he lowered the car enough for her to do so. She took the time to aggressively curse and bring up the fact that they were losing altitude quickly and that he needed to pull up. He went to do so, approximately five seconds before they crashed onto a building with a rooftop patio.
The sudden impact of crash caused him to black out.
29 Foster
XSV Johannes Kepler docked in UNE hangar
Amicitia Station 14, Arietis system
October 15, 2118, 14:25 SST (Sol Standard Time)
“Captain, incoming transmission.”
Rebecca Foster was just shy of the exit to the bridge, when EVE had notified her. The last few days saw her get very little bed rest. Her eyelids getting heavier was proof of that. Signing off early for the day and napping was going to have to wait.
“Put it through,” she reluctantly said then yawned.
EVE blinked twice, as her processors went to work. “It’s an encrypted message. The sender is requesting to speak with you in private.”
I’ll take it in my quarters, is what she wanted to say. “Well then, I’ll take it in my office.”
She knew damn well the moment she arrived in her quarters, her head was hitting the pillow, incoming message be damned!
Foster sat at her desk in her office, a deck below the bridge. She yawned, taking her time to pull up the holo screen that floated above the desk, showing the IESA and XSV Johannes Kepler logo as its screensaver. She went to pick up the encrypted message sent via QEC, now transferred to her computer. Upon accessing it, the flag of Hashmedai Empire appeared. It sent unpleasant shivers down her spine, shivers that made her eyelids lighter.
The flag morphed into a projection of Empress Kroshka, standing next her throne, unitizing the one QEC relay node UNE provided the Empire as with Radiance.
“Greetings from the Empire, Captain Foster.”
Foster’s hands folded together. “Empress Kroshka, this is unexpected.”
“You are alone I presume?”
“Yep, ain’t nobody else listening in.”
“Excellent,” the seductive empress said, adjusting her posture. “I understand you were successful recently in entering the maelstrom?”
“Yes, but the device we had to use burned out on us, and we’s ain’t got any means on fixing it.”
Then it hit Foster. She knew exactly where this was going. Just hours earlier, she asked Blackmar to put in a request to his contact within the Empire to lend them another vortex key, if they even had one. Kroshka reaching out to her carried some hopeful news.
“Was hoping . . . your people could lend us a hand,” Foster continued, and resisted the urge to cringe since she was asking Kroshka, the daughter of a woman that ordered the death of two billion humans including Foster’s father, for help.
“I have been made aware of your request,” Kroshka said. “While I have not decided if I should grant you access to the device or not. I would like to know, what do you intend to do with it?”
“Uh, enter the maelstrom again?” Was it not obvious?
Kroshka moved closer to the screen, and sternly asked. “For what purpose? Did you not report there was a fleet too large for you to defeat?”
“We, may have located where the Draconians are coming from,” she replied. “I’m looking to keep as many options open as possible in regard to getting there and bringing an end to this conflict.”
“I see . . .” The Hashmedai empress placed her hands ahead of her gleaming posh gown. “Have your people managed to find a way to reapply the protective substance onto your ship?”
“Nope, we ain’t gotten that far.”
“Then how do you indeed to travel through the maelstrom?”
“We’s still workin’ on that part, and to my understanding, y’all are much further along in understanding that goo than us.”
There was a long pause before Kroshka continued to speak, her lips twisted slightly. “Join me for dinner, Captain.”
“Uh . . . sure?”
“I invite you to dine with myself and my mate at the Imperial Palace,” Kroshka said. “We can further discuss this matter then.”
The holo screen returned to Foster’s desktop. She felt a nest of butterflies ready to take flight in her belly.
“EVE, contact all crew not aboard,” Foster said hitting the intercom. “Tell ‘em to get their buns back on ASAP.”
“Understood, Captain.”
“Request clearance to depart once everyone’s aboard.”
“Where are we heading, Captain?”
“The capital of the Empire,” Foster said. “Let’s hope our Radiance crew members won’t take offence.”
XSV Johannes Kepler
Paryo orbit, Uemaesce system
October 15, 2118, 17:42 SST (Sol Standard Time)
The trip to the Uemaesce system, the location of Paryo and the homeworld of the Hashmedai race, took a little under three hours. Thirty minutes to get clearance to depart, another thirty-five before the Imperial warships guarding the Uemaesce wormhole gate would move aside and allow the Kepler to enter. And then another hour of traversing across the system, toward the snow globe of a planet with a red dwarf star in the backdrop, shining its crimson light.
As strange as it was, the system was in the middle of Radiance controlled space. On a clear night with a telescope, you could see the Luminous system, the location of Aervounis and the Radiance Union capital. Once upon a time the surrounding systems close to Uemaesce were part of the Empire’s domain until a Radiance blitzkrieg assault turned all the colonies there into glass.
There was still a ring of wreckage and torn apart ships hanging in orbit around Paryo serving as grim reminder of what the Draconians were able to do to Imperial ships. Smaller vessels worked day and night to clean it up and recover what parts were still usable in their campaign to build new ships. Earth and Aervounis were undergoing a similar process in the wake of the dragon attacks.
Once clear of the debris field, the infamous space traffic jam was encountered. Transports ferried crew to and from Imperial warships, other smaller ships traveled to colonized planets or space stations within the system. The space bridges hanging above the north pole of the planet saw a lineup of ships waiting for clearance to use it and teleport to another Imperial controlled system elsewhere in the galaxy.
Like Earth, cities under cover of nighttime skies, appeared as a web of yellow and white lights on the surface, assuming the many blizzards that battered the planet weren’t covering them. Larger cities, such as the Imperial Capital, had buildings tall enough to reach the exosphere of the planet. They looked like tiny pins poking up from the clouds, especially the Imperial Palace, the tallest structure on the planet. Chang placed the Johannes Kepler in a geosynchronous orbit above it, anyone looking out from the central spire of the Imperial Palace, on its top floor might be able to catch a glimpse of the human and Radiance operated vessel in the skies.
“Gods forgive us.”
This reminded Foster of her next concern. She brought a ship carrying Radiance personnel to the capital of the Empire. Odelea, Saressea, and Tolukei all stood staring at Paryo as it became the dominant object on the view screen. None of the three seemed pleased to see it.
“We won’t be here long,” Foster said.
“For centuries, our people have fought for the chance to venture this far into this system,” Odelea said. “Thousands of ships, thousands more lives burned by Imperial plasma weapons, and not one of them made it this far.”
“Until today,” Tolukei said. “We are the first people from Radiance to penetrate this deep into the system since the war without end begun.”
“Radiance Celestial Order members did operate in this system,” Odelea said.
“Fine,” Saressea interjected. “We’re the first Radiance people that were never indoctrinated by the order to make it this far.”
Odelea’s computer at her communication station beeped. “The Hashmedai have cleared us to land in one of the docking ports in their palace.”
Foster nodded. “Take us down, Chang.”
Chang made a face as he read the data that outputted to his holo screen. “Uh, about that, Captain.”
“What’s wrong?”
“The ship is too massive to fit inside the docking bay of the palace,” Chang said. “A transpo
rt would work better, or perhaps a teleportation.”
She considered asking Tolukei to do the honors of teleporting her to the surface, and then envisioned hordes of Hashmedai warriors freaking out and attacking because he’s a Javnis psionic. Nereid hadn’t mastered teleportation, so scratch that, leaving LeBoeuf. Foster’s pride deterred her from asking for help from her or any other EDF member. Besides, the mind shield wasn’t configured to allow LeBoeuf or Maxwell to use their powers.
“Transport it is,” Foster said, and made her way to the exit.
Williams followed her. “I’ll go with you, Becca.”
“I’ll handle it, Dom.”
“That transport is going to sit idle alone with Hashmedai free to do whatever they want with it while you wine and dine.”
She froze having realized the issues that could arise. “Fair point.”
“Besides, what if you have too much to drink?” he said. “I’ll be your designated pilot.”
“Whatever,” she said and returned to make her exit with Williams at her side. “Saressea … you have the bridge.”
Chang spun in his chair and looked back at the Rabuabin woman giving him a snarky smile when she went for the captain’s chair. “Wait, Saressea?”
“She’s holds the rank of captain in the Radiance navy,” Foster said. “This is a joint venture between the UNE and them. If Dom and I ain’t here, then she’s in charge.”
Saressea sat down on Foster’s chair at the edge of the seat, giving her long tail space to stretch out then fold over the top of the left arm of the chair. Her snarky grin continued.
“With that said . . .” Foster said to Saressea. “This gonna be a ship in orbit of the Empire’s capital, under command of someone from Radiance . . . don’t try to avenge your ancestors or somethin’”
Saressea’s ears sagged. “Captain, I’m insulted!”
“Just tryin’ to keep the peace is all.”
“If this turns out to be a trap, don’t come crying to me for help,” Saressea said.
Foster shrugged. “Earth, Hashmedai, Radiance . . . we’s all in this together, why would we turn against each other now and fight?”
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