Freeforce: The Gryphon Saga

by L. E. Horn

  The little Darkon squeaked and darted higher, but it didn’t leave. Instead, Michael sensed it sending out waves of alarm. Within moments, more Darkon hovered with it.

  Michael kept projecting the image of Lianndra working together with the little creatures. He stifled the panic within him as he did so—he didn’t want to frighten the creatures away. Instead, he pictured them landing on his arms, melding his mind with theirs.

  Lianndra had told him about the Darkon’s intelligence, and now he prayed for their understanding. He added images of the fighters attacking the mountains. The Darkon squeaked again, flapping their wings. Then one darted down and landed on his shoulder. It sat with its wings aloft, ready to spring away, so Michael relaxed. Within seconds, several others followed suit, with more landing on the Healers’ shoulders and linked arms.

  Now what? Amplified by the Darkon’s power, Hannah’s mind-voice came through loud and clear. Michael’s astonishment led to a leap of intuition. Instead of answering, he closed both eyes once more and gathered all the power, sending out a plea to the mountains. He sensed it float light as vapor, over the miles, searching the mountain passes for the one who completed his heart and soul.

  Lianndra.

  LIANNDRA HUNG ON TO THE perches for dear life as Berr sent the ship on a wild spiral to avoid the fighter’s lasers. Without a clear visual, she couldn’t focus the beam, and the fighter remained too close to risk turning the ship around.

  The Darkon trilled and Lianndra opened her mind. A familiar voice sent a rush of warmth through her.

  Lianndra.

  Michael! How? Lianndra’s heart raced as she clung through another wild spin.

  No time. His energy pulsed with protective angst on the heels of overwhelming relief and images of Darkon filled her brain. It took a moment to realize that they were not her Darkon, but others.

  The ship dove, leaving her stomach somewhere near her throat. Wild Darkon! He’s in touch with wild Darkon! She opened her mind to Michael and received an insane rush of power from the other creatures. That—and something else. The wild ones linked to others, on and on in an endless chain. She saw the world not through just fifteen sets of eyes but through tens, hundreds, thousands of them. And she recognized a familiarity in their touch. This is what I could sense before! The wild Darkon, hovering at the edges.

  For a second, she almost lost herself, drowning in a tide of thoughts and senses. Then she felt a surge from Michael—and others with him.

  Go get ’em, girl. Stilted but still recognizable.

  Andrea! The ship veered and shuddered as a beam ricocheted off a sleek wing. Feeling the support of Michael and the Healers, Lianndra sought for and grabbed images from the Darkon in the surrounding cliffs.

  Suddenly, she had eyes everywhere, and she no longer needed Berr to give her a view of the target. Even as the trailing Fang fighter lined them up in his sights, his ship ripped apart around him.

  Lianndra mentally reached for Olive and Tara who hid within the mountains aboard their own ships. She found the two Healers, her thoughts telepathically carried on the wings of wild Darkon. They linked as if they’d been doing this all their lives.

  Lianndra gritted her teeth and opened her mind to the raw, untamed power. Come and get us, if you can.

  MICHAEL WATCHED AS THREE GRYPHON ships rose from their hiding places to meet the Fang ships assigned to collect the Darkon. Appearing and disappearing, the Gryphon craft soared through the cliffs and clouds, removing the Fang threat within the mountains one ship at a time.

  They decimated the Fang fighters and carriers within moments. With the mountains safe, Michael and the others saw the three craft carrying the Healers rise above the peaks and head off at top speed toward the closest valleys. The two Gryphon ships left behind hovered, before heading toward their little valley.

  Stay safe. Lianndra’s mind-voice faded as her craft carried her away.

  Michael reached out and held the contact for a fleeting moment, a moment of support, empowerment, and passion, before she moved beyond their reach.

  Still linked, Michael and the Healers in the mountain valley saw the wild Darkon rise in a dark wave from the surrounding cliffs and follow the Healers’ ships. Karn and the other Gryphon stared in awe, spikes erect, as the surrounding air hummed with enough aroused energy to make every hair stand on end.

  “Ahoy!” Karn said as he viewed the spectacle with wide eyes.

  Engrossed in the link, Michael registered the remark but didn’t have anything left with which to correct his friend. If we make it through this, I will tell him what Ahoy actually means.

  A sound overhead distracted him and he lost the link with the Healers. Releasing their arms, he looked up to see two sleek Gryphon craft floating toward them.

  THE BATTLE CRUISER THRUMMED WITH power, but the sound did nothing to reassure Tark’tosk. Something odd was going on, and she sensed the first stirrings of an emotion foreign to her: panic.

  Her battle cruiser’s crew prepared for an assault on the main Gryphon valley, but her mind deviated from the impending fight.

  Why have we lost touch with the fleet sent to collect the Darkon?

  Repeated attempts to contact the mountain fleet failed. The ships also no longer showed up on the surveillance data. They seem to have vanished.

  It is incomprehensible.

  There, the mountains contained no battlements, nothing other than a few laser cannon emplacements. Nothing should have given their forces the slightest bit of trouble.

  Her monitor revealed a small Gryphon ship on a vector to intercept her cruiser as it approached the Gryphon valley. Another two blips headed toward the other battle cruisers that targeted other valleys. Staring at the console in disbelief, she identified the blips as the same ships spotted near the plasma cannon right after its destruction.

  How did they survive? Tark’tosk lacked the time to explore the mystery. She shuddered. Tlok’mk were not prone to superstitious meanderings, but for the first time, Tark’tosk experienced true doubt. She sensed the interfering hand of something intangible, something that prevented the Tlok’mk from winning this war.

  For every step I have taken forward, there has been something to push me back.

  She fought for composure and snarled a series of orders relayed to the fighter crews. The gap between the battle cruiser and the fighters widened as they sped ahead to intercept the tiny blip on the screen.

  Tark’tosk’s eyes narrowed, and her lips peeled back. She called on the bloodlust for which her species proved infamous, bolstering her anger and erasing her doubts.

  They will die, she thought. They will all die. First will be the Gryphon and their human friends. Next, I will personally track down the saboteurs within our people—and make them scream.

  THE FIGHTERS DID NOT MAKE IT to the Gryphon valleys. Arranged in phalanxes, they provided perfect targets for the Darkon.

  Lianndra collected power from the giant flock and fed it to the other Healers. The three Gryphon ships split up to protect the closest valleys from the looming battleships and their fighter escorts. Linked telepathically, the Healers combined the tame Darkon power with that of the wild ones, pointed their mental fingers and unleashed destruction on the fighters streaking toward them. Lianndra, Tara, and Olive kept the channel open in their minds, obliterating row after row of the small enemy ships, tearing them apart molecule by molecule until nothing remained but dust. The last few dipped and swerved, but their fate proved the same as their comrades. As long as the Healers or the Darkon could see the Fang fighters, the enemy died.

  As she destroyed the last ship, a stabbing pain pierced Lianndra’s right temple. Her hands shook as they held on to the Darkon perches. Within her mind, she sensed Olive and Tara feeling the strain and knew they tired as well.

  The two remaining Gryphon ships gathered the humans and Gryphon from the mountain valley, along with a bevy of nervous wild Darkon, before following their comrades. Lianndra felt the telepathic support of
Michael and the other Healers as their ships came closer, but she also sensed something wrong with Michael despite his efforts to hide it from her. His strength faded in and out, as though in rhythm with the beating of his heart.

  Another stabbing pain distracted her from Michael. Her head ached, and it now hurt to open her eyes. The pain in her temple spread, and she didn’t have time to heal herself. She did her best to ignore it as Berr brought the ship around for another pass at the valley. Below them, all seemed deserted. Most Gryphon had either gone to ground or fled into the network of caves.

  Someone fired the laser cannons, and continuous laser blasts came from high on the wall. Those cannons focused on the dark behemoth appearing over the valley. The huge battle cruiser moved with slow deliberation. It bristled with armament, and when the laser beams bounced off its sides, they left the massive vessel unharmed. Lianndra realized it must have its own shields.

  This one, she thought, may not go down so easily.

  WITHIN ALL FIVE MOTHERSHIPS, AGITATED Fara swamped the corridors outside their assembly rooms for the Chamber of Elders. On Ewtk’fisk’s ship, so many gathered that even the Bernaf blocking the hall would not have held them back. Whether due to the rebels’ efforts, or to those in which wisdom finally prevailed, the controllers ordered them to stand aside.

  From their seats, the elders regarded the sudden influx of agitated Fara. Tlok’mk poured into the room until they stood shoulder to shoulder. More arrived by the moment until not just the room but the receiving area and the corridors beyond formed a solid living wall. Although the invaders did not shout, they emitted a continuous low murmur of anger. Ewtk’fisk found herself pushed close to the tiered platform on which the elders sat. She looked around for Xoek’sank. Her friend had been beside her in the corridor but they became separated by the push to enter the hall. She couldn’t find her in the press of bodies.

  The voices cut off as an elder stood, her age showing in the yellowing skin that sagged on her tall frame. “We have just received news confirming the Gryphon are employing a secret weapon against which our ships cannot stand. I am proposing we withdraw our fleet from the planet’s surface and call an end to this war.”

  A weapon? What kind of weapon would they have that could destroy ships? Unless . . . Ewtk’fisk’s twin hearts pounded. Had the Gryphon found a way to use the very creature that caused this war? Surely, the elders will now see the wisdom in ending this for good.

  Several elders muttered outrage at being asked to deal with this issue in front of a crowd so opposed to the war. Two more senior elders stood to show their support of the proposal. The watching Tlok’mk fell silent, but tension charged the air as they stared with unblinking eyes. In response to the wishes of those present, more elders stood. Ewtk’fisk experienced the first true stirrings of hope.

  “Wait!” An elder thumped her clawed hand on the table before her. “No elder should ever yield to a show of force.” She bared her teeth, her eyes flashing red. “What of the rest of our population? What do they wish?”

  One standing elder waved to the console before her. “We are not relinquishing our authority. We are abiding by our rules. The rebellion has saved us the time by putting it to a vote. The results are before you if you would care to look.”

  “You trust the work of a group of traitors?” the angry elder exclaimed. “I declare the outcome unofficial, and therefore, flawed.”

  Ewtk’fisk’s anger grew from a small spark to a flame, and she knew her eyes would swirl red with rage. Traitors? If it were not for us, you would not have a ship left to live in! You and your cohorts have brought us to the brink of ruin.

  Another elder stood and spoke. “We can put it to an official vote at another time.” She showed the crowd standing before them. “The presence of these Fara is official enough to have the recent decisions made by this Chamber declared void. As for the war, it is over. We cannot prevail against this Gryphon weapon.”

  The elder that criticized glowered and gnashed her teeth in frustration, but Ewtk’fisk knew the rules were clear about Chamber authority. If some accused the elders of not representing their interests, the Chamber would be declared void until the appointment of a new group. It did not matter that the rule had lain dormant for many generations. Judging from what she saw on her console and standing before her, enough Fara had appeared to invoke the Breach of Common Interest law.

  No one else seemed to dare voice any opposition. The tide of opinion turned against the few remaining seated, and the decision carried.

  From her vantage point, Ewtk’fisk felt no triumph, only anger. She glared at the few elders still opposed to ending the war. Elders! They are barely past middle age. How did we allow this to happen? We blame them, yet we created them. Casting blame will not stop it from happening again. We need to look deep within us, find the cause and eliminate it, once and for all.

  TARK’TOSK’S BREATH CAME IN RASPING gasps. Too noisy. She should suppress and control it to inspire her crew, but such mastery proved beyond her.

  The enemy destroyed her fighter escort, right down to the last Farr. It happened so fast the fighters barely unleashed any firepower at their command. Frantic voices around her confirmed that the ships dispatched to the closest valleys suffered similar fates.

  To make matters worse, at least two battle cruisers had gone into retreat without consulting her. Reports circulated of something strange occurring aboard the Motherships, amid rumors of abdication.

  Tark’tosk couldn’t make sense of her jumble of thoughts. My fighters are determined and bold, but how can we battle against something we cannot even see?

  As war coordinator, she knew something the others did not: she knew what had killed their fighters. Only one possibility existed, one thing that could have brought her war machine to the brink of failure. Somehow, the Gryphon have tapped into the power of the very creature this entire war has been about! All her best intel stated the creatures existed in an undeveloped state and therefore were harmless. Something has changed.

  She snarled, clenching her hands until they bled from her own claws. Then let us test their control over the power. Try taking on my battle cruiser. I will never flee from a bunch of slaves and their scruffy six-legged friends.

  “Shields to full strength,” she said. “Prepare plasma missiles. Fire on my count.”

  Behind her, an urgent voice clamored for attention. A young Farr yelled for her to stop. “The Chamber of Elders is ordering a complete evacuation of our personnel. We are to salvage what we can and retreat!”

  Tark’tosk snarled and struck out with a clawed hand, ripping apart his throat. As he fell with a gurgle to the floor, she whipped around and shrieked, “Retreat? I will not retreat! I am not cowering before slaves! Fire missiles one through six!”

  When Tark’tosk glared his way, the Farr weapons officer punched the buttons.

  The huge ship shook as the missiles fired.

  THE MASSIVE BATTLE CRUISER CAST the entire valley in shadow.

  Lianndra swallowed as she viewed the behemoth from many sets of eyes. It looks lethal from every angle. Just as the thought flashed through her mind, small explosions of light spewed forth from the battle cruiser’s bow.

  Berr said something in Gryphonese that sounded harsh and rude. Then she switched to English, “Incoming missiles!”

  Lianndra saw the contrails of six projectiles bearing down on the Gryphon ship, but it didn’t shake her concentration. These missiles required more precise targeting than what they’d destroyed to date. The spread and speed made it harder to get a visual fix. Pain stabbed through her brain. Focus! She let the power rip through her, atomizing two missiles with the first burst and three more with the second.

  The last missile rapidly gained on them. By the time Lianndra disintegrated it, the shock wave flipped the scout ship end over end.

  Berr fought to stabilize them. Lianndra panicked for a moment as she lost sight of the battle cruiser. She closed her aching eyes and picked
up a visual link from the wild Darkon flock, the first of which were just entering the valley. As the ship responded to Berr’s control, Lianndra had already sent a blast of power to deal with another four missiles.

  And another five. And another seven.

  The sheer number of tiny, deadly bombs overwhelmed her. Spray after spray, all coming at them too fast. Berr wildly reversed the ship, trying to buy Lianndra more time.

  With each near miss, the abyss of impending doom cracked open a little further. The Darkon trilled in a high pitch, wings and spikes extended. Lianndra managed—just barely—to destroy volley after volley of the deadly missiles.

  They’re getting too close! she thought.

  Lianndra’s inner focus blurred with exhaustion. She shuddered at the prospect of losing control, overwhelmed by the difficulty of handling so much raw power and focusing it into a precise weapon. Pieces of the valley disintegrated as she lost focus and the beam fragmented. The Darkon’s trilling grew increasingly frantic.

  If they panic, they could destroy everything in their path. The upside is if I lose control, I’ll take the cruiser with me.

  That eventuality loomed. All she would have to do is let go, to let the power make its own fate.

  “Lianndra! Five more!” Berr sounded close to losing it.

  I’ve never heard fear in Berr’s voice, Lianndra thought, fighting the pounding pain in her head. I don’t think I can stop them this time, I’ve got nothing left. She drifted into darkness, but something wouldn’t let her go. A presence. One as familiar to her as her own body. Michael.

  Emotions flowed from him like water caught in the tide. She sensed fear, desperation, and a ferocious need to protect her, followed by a powerful wave of warmth and support that boosted her failing energy.

  You can do this. His voice rang clear in her mind. More importantly, in her heart. It was as if he had his strong arms around her, his warm breath on her neck. He helped her reach far beyond herself. Together, they contacted each individual in the huge Darkon flock, and connected through the wild ones to those still within the mountains.