The Chronicles of Soone - Warrior Rising Read online

entrance of the hollowed out chamber.

  ☼

  Tiet spotted the tall Vorn man first as he appeared in the entrance to the chamber where Wynn had served them their meal. Tiet instinctively launched out of his seat with his blade in his hand.

  Daooth deftly dodged the first strike and parried with a strong fist blow to Tiet’s side. Tiet recovered quickly, ready to deal a death blow to the man. Suddenly, Wynn was next to him, disarming him with ease. Tiet was astonished and angry. Had he and Orin been led into a trap by a traitor?

  “Stop it!” Wynn demanded. “Daooth is a friend. He is a civilian I have known for many years. He saved my life shortly after I came to the planet, when I was captured by Grod and his Horva.”

  Tiet and Orin stood down and listened to what Wynn had to say.

  “Forgive my startling of you,” Daooth said in a broken Castillian dialect.

  “I told you things are not what they appear here,” Wynn said. “There are those among the Vorn who would gladly live at peace with us, but the military has control over them—just as they do on our home world. Daooth is one of many who want that control to end. General Grod is the leader of the Horva armies you saw at Vaseer and at their main compound at Nagon-toth. Grod and his clones are of a breed which was discontinued due to the threat they began to pose to Vorn control.

  “They were engineered to be stronger, but it became obvious to the military—as well as to Grod—that these Horva were capable of rising up against their Vorn masters. Grod quickly took the opportunity to lead them in revolt and that rebellion has been building in strength steadily since before I arrived on the planet.

  “Grod had been capturing important cloning scientists from the Vorn cities while on raids. He began to conquer entire cities as his power increased. Not long after I arrived, I was captured by the General. He took samplings of my DNA to use in a new experimental process by which he could regenerate his clone body and splice my Barudii DNA with his own in the hopes of gaining our kinetic abilities.

  “Daooth helped me to escape and caused an accident which destroyed the genetic material Grod was going to use. He has hidden me here all these years since. It is my hope to somehow free his people from the control of the military and Grod.”

  “Why haven’t the civilians risen up for their freedom against the Vorn,” Orin asked?

  “My people have not fighting skill to face these armies, and they are not the only threat,” Daooth said. “Baruk clan is also our enemy and are more fierce than Vorn military or Grod. Now they control Vorn military from distance. Vorn do what they want, further Baruk interests, they leave them alone. But now Vorn nearing defeat by Grod’s forces and Baruk are sure to come.”

  “Yes, and Grod knows that as well,” Wynn said. “That’s why he’s so desperate to complete his DNA experiment so he can power up his clones with the Way.”

  “But you said that Daooth destroyed the sample of your DNA that Grod needed to do the experiment,” Tiet said.

  “Yes, but now he has yours,” Daooth replied.

  Tiet was taken aback. He had no idea what had occurred before he awoke within the confinement field inside Grod’s compound.

  “Then we have to infiltrate Grod’s compound and destroy the samples,” Orin said.

  “It not so simple anymore,” said Daooth. “Grod already moved out with scientist for project and samples. He going to Baeth Periege.”

  “Baeth Periege is the main city used by the Vorn military and it houses their most advanced cloning facility,” Wynn said. “Grod needs to have control of this facility in order to perform the regeneration of his army. He will have to defeat the Vorn there. And if he does, he will have taken away the main power base and last refuge of the Vorn military.”

  “What can we do?” Tiet asked. “If he takes that city and the cloning facility, how can we hope to stop him and a whole army of clones with our power?”

  “There’s the problem, my friends,” Wynn said stroking his beard. “We are up against formidable odds, two armies and time itself. If we fail to stop Grod, which must be our first concern, then I fear only the Baruk themselves will be able to stop him.”

  “If only our clans could have made peace,” Daooth said. “Men should act as brothers—not this killing of other races. Skin color is only difference between you and me.” Daooth pointed at Tiet. “My blood is red like yours, my heart beats same as yours. Even Grod, a clone of my dark-skinned people—fierce, strong, but he wants freedom just like us.”

  “My friends, I realize that I have involved you in a seemingly suicidal goal,” Wynn said. “It may seem overwhelming, and I cannot ask you to endanger yourselves for this cause.”

  “We’re already involved,” Tiet said. “That’s my DNA he’s using.” Tiet looked at Daooth. “I guess, I never though about your clan’s side of things. You’re right, Daooth, we need peace between the clans, but how?”

  Orin nodded his agreement. “It’s easier said than done. This war has been raging back and forth for decades. We had better stay focused on what we can handle now.”

  “We have a transport and some explosive charges that we could use to destroy the equipment Grod needs to conduct the regeneration,” Wynn said. “It’s just about the only way we can prevent Grod from coming into power.”

  “I’ve been thinking things out, Wynn,” said Daooth, “I think I have way to destroy facility. We try to infiltrate city in transport then we having to fight our way through Grod’s army and Vorn military guarding city. In these caverns is link to old magnetic rail system. System used to connect Baeth Periege with military compound at Nagon-toth, before Grod captured it.

  “Vorn military have detonated charges to bring tunnel roof down and cut off route into city. System still has power, but Grod not want to take time to clear all debris. It remain unused. System runs right into cloning facility. It used to send troops from main cloning facility to compound.”

  “How fast is the rail system?” Wynn asked. “Baeth Periege is nearly one thousand miles away.”

  “Be a frictionless magnetically suspended rail car system. It will travel approximately six hundred miles per hour,” said Daooth.

  “That’s pretty fast. It wouldn’t take us long to get there at all,” said Tiet.

  “Yes, but Grod already has the jump on us,” Orin said. “And where is the break in the system?”

  “Break occurs approximately one hundred and fifty miles from city perimeter,” said Daooth. “Only problem, how to clear debris and pass through in time to stop Grod. Defenses of Baeth Periege will not hold him long. He has massive clone army, and Vorn military already very weak.”

  “I think, with the Way, we might be able to clear the debris, but we will need time to work,” Wynn said.

  “My people long for freedom,” Daooth said.

  All of the men shared the sentiment. They gathered the explosive charges necessary and followed Daooth through the various side passages in order to access the magnetic rail system.

 

 

  BAETH PERIEGE

  It did not occur with the fanfare Ranul had expected, but the fleet had successfully passed through the transdimensional rift. The passage was surprisingly quick and uneventful. Estall’s cruiser, the Esyia, took lead of their small armada. Ranul scanned the area for other ships, but found none. They had no contact with the Saberhawk, which he had always guessed would be the case. However, there were no ships within scanning range at all, not even in orbit of the planet.

  Kish K’ta had boasted of a space fleet on their way to wipe out the remaining people on Castai, but there was no evidence of it at all. Even from the Vorn computer records, Ranul had expected to possibly find a battle between the Barudii Sphere and the Vorn, but there was nothing.

  “There isn’t much to see out here, is there?” Estall said.

  “I know. That’s what bothers me. I suppose we had better set course for the planet and see if that’s where the action is. If Orin and Tiet are
still alive, there will be something going on.”

  Estall to the helmsman, “Let’s proceed to the planet.”

  The ships glided forward toward the strangely familiar planet—Castai’s twin.

  “Shields up,” Estall commanded. “If that Barudii Sphere weapon is out there somewhere, it mistake these Vorn ships for targets.”

  “I agree. If the Sphere is in the vicinity, it could be cloaked from our sensors. That thing could very well have already destroyed the Vorn fleet Kish K’ta spoke of. I don’t know if it would have attacked the Saberhawk or not. It’s a computer, so I would expect it to destroy intended targets only, but who knows.”

  “If the Saberhawk didn’t face anything out here, I bet they would have gone straight for the planet,” Estall said. “I don’t know any warrior who wouldn’t rather face a fight on the ground, rather than be cooped up inside a space ship.”

  “According to these records, the planet is now inhabited completely by the Vorn. They have colonized it, since wiping out all of the other Castillian clans there. It’s sad that such genocide could occur,” said Ranul.

  Estall sighed heavily. “That’s the awful face of war, my friend.”

  ☼

  Pulse fire blazed across the sky toward the perimeter defense shield surrounding the Vorn city of Baeth Periege. General Grod watched with great satisfaction as his forces mounted the assault upon the city. “How long will it hold?” Grod asked.

  “Probably