Starblazer- Through the Black Gate

by Reiter

  Were it not for the reason why they were leaving her estate, Aleesha Wohler might have laughed at the irony of the exchange. For so long it had been the blonde Chevalierra who had been all too eager to make her mark. But her encounter with Freund and her even more mysterious return from his castle had changed the young woman. When she took back to her studies, even Shuronne had remarked how drastically Shanvah had changed – and all for the better! “High strung asshole is going to choke on that posturing,” she said softly before she closed her eyes. Extending her senses, Shanvah quickly opened them. “Provided he gets the chance – we’ve got incoming!” Shanvah reached to her sides and drew both her gun and her sword pommel. She turned to speak to the pilot.

  “Enough of this easy acceleration shit! Floor it, Felix!”

  “Milady Chevalierra,” Edwarn started. “I am pretty sure his name isn’t–”

  “You finish that sentence, Eddie, and I’ll be doing all the fighting by my damn self!” Shanvah warned. “To make it simple for your lower-hanging and therefore only thinking head, hell’s coming to cash us out and this is a ticket none of our wallets can afford! Now shut up, and get ready to earn your knighthood!”

  “I don’t see anything, Shanvah,” Aleesha remarked.

  “No offense, Madame Wohler, but you’re an administrator,” Shanvah said as she slowly closed her eyes again only this time her focus went inward and she centered herself. “A damn fine one, I might add, and one I’d like to keep on the payroll if you know what I mean.

  “Kindly take note of how many times I tell you how to do your job,” she remarked as her eyes opened. “Hard right, now!” The air-car banked hard to the right, as the driver did not want any of the Chevalierra’s abundant anger directed any more at him. Everyone leaned to the left as the turn was made. Everyone leaned save Shanvah who did not budge, her body remaining perfectly perpendicular to the floor. The fast-dropping air-car just missed Aleesha’s conveyance and Shanvah’s eyes locked into sharp focus as she took in the sight of all six heavily armed passengers.

  “Heads down!” Shanvah shouted as she powered her En-Blade. Just as Aleesha reached the floor of the air-car, she heard weapons fire. Most of it passed over her air-car, but two rounds struck the chassis. The remaining shots she heard being deflected off the Chevalierra’s energy sword – the last of which was followed by a scream – and she then heard the other air-car veering away. “That’s gonna leave a mark,” Shanvah said softly as she turned to look at the driver. “We’re too damn high. My blind cousin could squeeze off a few at us flying around like this. Get to street level.”

  “But that will mean it will take longer to get to the spaceport,” the driver contested.

  “If the Lady Shanvah has to repeat herself once more,” Edwarn snapped, “I will punctuate her statement with my fist!” The driver said nothing. He took the air-car into a steep dive.

  “Nice back-up, Eddie,” Shanvah said softly. “But take it easy. You are here to be taught, to allow my light guide your light. You are not meant to be my shadow. Ask yourself what you feel at this moment, and then try to figure out why. And that stuff about not feeling any fear–”

  “That was typical man stuff that I need not bother remembering,” Edwarn finished as he reached to his side.

  “Oh, so you were listening,” Shanvah smiled. “Good!”

  Edwarn took what appeared to be a small metal plate off his right leg. A soft beep sounded from Edwarn’s gauntlet and the section of metal expanded into a helm. He swept back his long brown hair with one hand while donning the helmet with the other. Shanvah kept her smile until she looked back at the veering air-car that had regained control. The light coming from its thrust ports increased and she could tell it was flying even faster.

  “These boys came prepared,” she announced. “They’re on their way back.”

  “Should we climb now?” Aleesha asked.

  “It would only make for a harder crash,” Shanvah replied, deactivating her En-Blade and lifting her gun. “And you’re doing it again!” Aleesha mumbled an apology as Shanvah could see two small points of light leaving from the chasing vehicle: flight packs!

  “These boys are serious!” Shanvah thought, carefully aiming her pistol. “It’s times like these I’m glad Shuronne didn’t let me pawn this thing.” A thin beam of light cut across the sky and struck the starboard stabilizer of the chasing vehicle. Thick, black smoke started coming from that side of the air-car and it slowed down as the driver struggled to maintain control. “Not what I was aiming at, but it’ll do.

  “Now you can climb,” Shanvah commanded, holstering her weapon. “… but keep us just over the rooftops!”

  “You got it,” the driver yelled as he took the air-car into a banking turn.

  “How does she do that?!” Edwarn thought as he gazed upon Shanvah who did not move the entire trip to the spaceport unless she had wanted to. Oddly enough, when the elongated air-car started to slow, she jumped out, flipped twice and landed solidly on the platform. She held up her hand, preventing anyone from leaving the vehicle as she looked around. Edwarn made sure that no one took it upon themselves to move about inside the air-car. The driver needed to remain at the controls in case there was need to make a quick exit. He then made contact with the transport that was supposed to be their means off planet.

  “Wonderful!” Shanvah whispered as she completed her inspection of the surrounding area. “Absolutely nothing! Not a single person within my range. They knew we were coming here. This is not good, but what other choice do we have? There’s got to be more numbers coming to back up that desperation attack back there.”

  “That’s quite a discussion you’ve got going on over there, Second,” Gregoran said as he walked from the main building of the spaceport. He was followed by two rather sizeable men and one slender woman wearing priest robes. “You seem troubled!”

  Shanvah snorted a laugh before she started walking toward the High Priest of Xaythra. “You mistake the countenance of concern for the face of regret I wear, knowing that I’m about to cut you wide open, Priest.

  “Eddie, keep the rear guard,” Shanvah ordered as her eyes squinted. She drew powered up her En-Blade once more and started twirling the weapon.

  “I see,” Gregoran replied, waving the two men forward. “Gentlemen.” As the two columns of muscle and flesh walked around Gregoran, Shanvah placed their gait and swagger.

  “Gladiators!” she thought, shaking her head. “Gentlemen, my ass!” The one to her left drew two short swords while his partner flexed his hands as his gauntlets crackled with electricity. Shanvah stopped twirling her sword and secured her grip, making sure her thumb had access to the emission control switch.

  The man with the blades moved first, but Shanvah had seen him take too strong a measure of his partner’s placement. At best, he was only going to draw Shanvah’s attention, so she gave him her eyes. She could hear the other grunt as he lunged forward, grabbing for anything he could.

  “That’s one,” she said softly as she spun to her right, avoiding the grasp. As she stopped spinning, she swung down with her blade, depressing the emission control. The blade flared white as it removed both the gladiator’s hands at the forearm. The man screamed, watching his hands fall to the ground. Looking at the bladed man, Shanvah blindly swung and put a quick end to the screaming.

  Seeing an opening, the second gladiator rushed in, thrusting with both weapons. He could not hear Gregoran’s disagreement, nor could he see the look of disgust on the High Priest’s face when both of his short swords were deflected up as Shanvah side-stepped his lunging attack. The Chevalierra spun a second time and the tip of her blade cut into the lower back of her opponent. She was turning to face Gregoran when the gladiator dropped to his knees.

  “Well then,” the High Priest remarked, watching his last man fall forward onto his chest. “… I think that about addresses improvements on your side of things. Would you care to sample my advancements?”

  “
I’d rather not,” Shanvah said as she charged the High Priest.

  “But I insist, Chevalierra!” Gregoran stepped forward and reached up to catch Shanvah’s descending blade. “I think we have both come a long way, don’t you?”

  “Too much gloating, Priest,” Shanvah shouted, releasing her sword and connecting with a spin kick. Gregoran fell to the ground after he released the weapon. Shanvah came to a stop on one foot and one knee, catching the pommel.

  “Away with you!” the young priestess shouted, thrusting her hands forward. An invisible force took hold of Shanvah’s body and threw it back toward the parked air-car. Back-flipping as she drew her pistol, Shanvah fired three times before descending to the ground. The first shot scored the right hand of the priestess and she screamed. The second missed under her extended arm and the last struck center mass. The woman gasped as she felt her life slip from her. She staggered back in shock and a wasted effort to retain her life.

  “You first,” Shanvah whispered after she landed. She fired a fourth time, scoring the woman’s head. The young priestess fell dead. Another shot was fired from her weapon, but it stopped shy of Gregoran’s head. He was stunned but he was far from vulnerable.

  “Plan B, Eddie,” Shanvah shouted, returning to the air car. “And send to Shuronne: Baron Zoll is back!” The eyes of the Chevalierra and Aleesha met as the air-car took once more into the sky, and the older woman made no attempt to hide her fear.

  “You’re going to tell me that Shuronne anticipated this would happen?”

  “Wouldn’t think of sending you on that chase,” Shanvah replied, checking her gun for its reserves. “Survaysi anticipated it. Shuronne’s the one who made a counterplan. Given how she likes to do things, this should be fun!”

  The greatest education in the world is watching the masters at work.

  Michael Jackson

  (Rims Time: XII-4112.18)

  “When are they going to get it right?” Nulaki whispered as he scaled the wall just after three guards ran by the nook where he was hiding. “All of the annoying lights and sounds should be on when there’s nothing wrong. As soon as there is an alarm, mum’s the word! I can just about a get a twenty-man drum and bugle corps through here right now.” The pipe was about half the width of his foot, but it was sturdy enough to maintain his weight. He walked the pipe over the head of four guards who called themselves being very thorough. The only trouble with that perspective being accurate was that they did not take turns looking into the blind spots of the others. There was no harmony to their search and scan; simple prey for Nulaki to exploit.

  “It’s been hours people,” Fidriss screamed over the intercom. “Ten thousand credits to the man who brings him to me, dead or alive!” Nulaki chuckled as another voice spoke softly behind Fidriss, wherever he may have been aboard the ship. “No wait, make it fifteen thousand and I want him alive. He has to be alive!”

  “Ol’ Fid must have been reminded of certain pieces of his ‘untouchable’ property that that are still missing.” Nulaki would have preferred to laugh, but the energy blade literally came out of nowhere. He jumped from the rafter as sparks exploded from the contact point of blade and support beam. He could hear a man growl at the aggravation of the sparks as Nulaki let his body drop twenty meters before he kicked out with his foot and stamped the wall rather loudly. The woman with the flight pack just missed her flying tackle and then she had other concerns as panic-fire streamed in on her general location from nearly every direction. Nulaki thought he heard at least a good score of laser bolts before the firing began to lessen. He heard the woman swear at the men who had scored hits on her armour and flight pack. Nulaki had already caught another support beam and slid down it to the wall where he found a perfect perch in the middle of a small area of shadow.

  “You still there, Tehdi,” Nulaki asked softly into his comm link.

  “Oh I’m still here, you lunatic!”

  “What are you talking about?” Nulaki said as he started looking around. He could see several easy exits, but the fact that they were easy and unattended made them feel more like poorly set traps than avenues of escape. “There’s at least another three-four hours of sunlight around here.”

  “Why are you going after Mathari?!” Tehdi screamed softly.

  “Oh, c’mon, T!” Nulaki chuckled. “… you know you never really get over your first!” Nulaki put his back against the wall, reached to his belt to prepare a number of tricks, and closed his eyes. His thoughts were focused inward as he located his center and the powered stored there.

  “Sensei always used to say, ‘if you have to be a bug, be a fly. Long falls never kill it and what a comfort it must be to have so many eyes!’ Of course, he never took me beyond the one inner eye, but the guy was kinda old and awfully grumpy!

  “Bingo!” he whispered, springing from the perch. He dove with such power and speed that he surprised the man who was appearing, even though he had been sent to surprise Nulaki. The Fazbred tucked his head down, passed under the arm of the appearing man, and rolled directly into the portal that had brought his unexpected visitor.

  “Surprise!” Nulaki said as he landed on the floor of a sizeable circular room. Three small explosions of black smoke popped on three different sides of Nulaki as he put his eyes on the one he felt had been responsible for the teleports. “Oh, Momma! A fat, juicy Caster!”

  “Protect me!” the InvokeR cried.

  “Showtime!” Nulaki hissed before he growled and jumped at his prey. The elderly man screamed for his life as one of his Edgers jumped and tackled what turned out to be a holographic projection. The Edger only managed to grab hold of a very small projector that had been rigged to be another black smoke bomb.

  Nulaki had never landed… at least, not on the floor. When he came past the man trying to attack him, he had been given the opportunity to jump off the man’s back. He was still ascending when he came through the portal, going invisible as the holographic image arched toward the ground. Nulaki engaged his Shikari and used that power to alter, for an instant, his center of gravity. He swung his body around it, and extended his leap to the wall where he clung. His father had been a full-blooded Fazerian; a walking, talking, flying ant! Nulaki had not gotten his father’s natural body armour or his wings. But he had received an augmentation of strength, and he used it to make himself fast and very hard to see. Were he to engage in combat, his blows would have been telling ones, but Nulaki did so despise the thought of getting muck and blood all over himself and his clothes. It was bad enough he had had to remove and tuck his boots into the back of his belt. They had been purchased for style only. They were not quiet, and he certainly could not extend his barbs through the balls of his feet and his toes with them on. The center of the floor was almost fully covered with the thick black smoke and Nulaki glared at a newly revealed opportunity.

  “Activate the fans!” one of the Edgers commanded and large turbofans turned on as the floor tiles shifted to let the air blow through. The double doors slid open and more armed men came into the room. Fortunately for everyone involved who was on the Mathari payroll, no one engaged in panic-fire. The same number of people saw Nulaki walk right out of the room as the men rushed inside. He walked down the corridor, flinging a black shuriken with a gold-lined scarab on both sides. The door controls sparked, receiving the throwing star, as the doors closed and locked.

  “Activate the fans!” Nulaki mocked the thug. “And he makes it sound like he just figured out how to fold space. That’s what gets me!”

  “What gets you is a laser bolt upside the head!” Tehdi snapped. “Now I’m sending you the layout for the Minor Three and then I’m out of this!”

  “Until tomorrow,” Nulaki said calmly.

  “Until tomorrow,” Tehdi matched his best operative’s demeanor. “Call me at mid-day, local time.”

  “Will do. Scarab out!” His forearm gently shook from the half-second vibration coming from his wrist-com. Nulaki smiled as he reached for a box on the s
ide of his waist. He took it out of its pocket and turned it on. Instantly he had the schematics of the Mathari Minor Three. “You just gotta love that Tehdi!” Without looking, Nulaki grabbed another signature shuriken and threw it behind his left shoulder. A teleportation portal formed and his shuriken went into it. Nulaki heard a gasp as cutting metal met with soft, pudgy flesh.

  “Master!” one young male voice cried as the portal cracked and closed.

  “Whoof! Dealing with a shuriken in the chest and backlash! His day’s been a real–” Nulaki heard an explosion coming from the circular room. “Ewww! Okay, I can’t even finish that one.” Nulaki took the crawlspace that led to the airshaft that would take him to one of the secondary hangars.

  ** b *** t *** o *** r **

  “I love what you did with the alarms!” Jocasta yelled as she continued to guide the lander-shuttle toward the hovering frigate. Her craft was still on fire, or at least their shields were, but Jocasta was not distracted in the least. “Stupid ear-pains never did any good anyway.”

  “Thirty-two seconds out,” Dungias reported. “Might I suggest slowing down?”

  “You can suggest all you want,” Jocasta said, putting her hand to the throttle to make sure it was all the way forward. “Right now, Z, I gotta feelin’! I feel the need!”

  “The broadcast was terminated at the source,” Satithe reported. “By my calculations, the Captain may be on to something. I am detecting a small explosion aboard the Minor Three followed by the launch of a small two-man aircraft. I am also receiving distress calls coming from the Minor Three.

  “Put us on the channel, Z,” Jocasta commanded as the fires lessened but the turbulence remained. Dungias did not know why she wanted to talk to a gangster, but he opened a channel.

  “We are connected, Captain.”

  “Nice day for a swim, isn’t it boys?” she asked.

  “Approaching shuttle, identify yourself!”