The Chronicles of Soone - Rise of Lucin Page 19

  “Mine is; I’m in,” said Grod quickly, a lust for revenge in his voice.

  “Wynn?”

  He hesitated. “How do I always get outvoted?”

  “Just your luck old friend,” said Tiet as he brought his aerial fighter on a course for the Vorn cruiser.

  The others fell in line at his wings and armed their weapons.

  “If they don’t know we’re here then they probably don’t have their shields up.”

  “We’ll have to hit them with everything at once before they have an opportunity to put them up,” said Grod.

  The fighters were closing in on the target fast at subsonic speed. They looked like insects swarming a large animal, but their sting would be nastier.

  “Let her have it!” shouted Tiet as he triggered every weapon to fire on the hulking cruiser ahead.

  The triple volley was heaved away from the fighter group almost simultaneously. The ships shuddered heavily as all weapons released their payload at once. The rockets sailed ahead of them at a slightly faster speed, like a prey outrunning its predator. The group pulled up just in time to clear the hull.

  Multiple impacts of the smaller missiles swept across the hull like a swiftly moving rain. The three smart bombs sailed elegantly after, crashing heavily against the armor of the hull. Each one erupted in a devastating display of fire and shrapnel, breeching the ship’s exterior hull. The strafed side of the great vessel was a huge patch of fire burning on the hull surface with more damage throughout the lower layers.

  Tiet whooped aloud at the impacts, but it was a very small victory. The Vorn cruisers could take much more before being crippled, but at least they had struck back. The trio brought their fighters back around; it was time to head for the rendezvous. From the belly of the vessel, smaller ships were birthed into the air and they quickly set their collective sights upon Tiet and his group.

  “Here they come,” said Wynn.

  “Split up!” shouted Tiet.

  The trio rolled away from one another as a group of pods shot through their formation with all guns blazing. The enemy divided up at a three to one ratio.

  “We’re a little outnumbered,” said Wynn as he took evasive maneuvers.

  “And your point?” asked Tiet.

  “We’ve got to get to the rendezvous, for one.”

  “These pods are a bit more maneuverable than our fighters,” said Grod as he barely evaded incoming pulse bursts.

  “Head away from one another,” commanded Wynn.

  “Why?”

  “An old war maneuver from before you were born,” said Wynn.

  The trio each put their aerial fighters on a flight path away from the other two and pushed the ships into full throttle. The pods were more maneuverable, but not quite as fast. Each of the old Barudii aerial fighters was trailing three enemy pod fighters as they continued on track away from the area around the Vorn cruiser.

  “Now, what?” asked Tiet.

  “When we reach a fifty-mile distance from each other, we’ll turn back from our course and head for an intersect point.”

  Grod laughed into his headset. “I think I’ve heard this in one of your old war stories, Wynn. I never get tired of hearing them.”

  “And he never gets tired of telling them,” added Tiet sarcastically.

  “Alright men, on my mark. Three, two, one, and come back on a heading of .0729,” commanded Wynn.

  The old aerial fighters each pulled a hard turn and came back on their pursuers who had been lagging only slightly. The pod trios split away into their own hard turn maneuvers and came right back into formation as they pursued the Barudii fighters.

  “We’re coming in fast,” said Tiet.

  “Use the rockets you have left and lock onto each others pursuing pods,” said Wynn. “As we close the distance, everyone turn down and right 30˚ after we fire rockets at the locked targets. They’ll be so preoccupied trying to catch each of us—“

  “—that they won’t realize they’re heading into rockets fired from a different fighter than the one they are pursuing,” Tiet finished.

  “Exactly.”

  “Remind me to pay closer attention to his stories, Grod.”

  The Barudii fighters were closing the distance fast at supersonic speeds, each with a trio of pursuing pods in tow.

  “Here we go,” warned Grod as he kept an eye on his comrades approaching on his scanner.

  “Lock targets and fire on my mark,” instructed Wynn.

  “I’ve got mine,” said Tiet.

  “Me too.”

  “And three, two, one, fire and turn!” shouted Wynn as he fired his own rockets.

  Each fighter loosed its rockets and ducked away according to Wynn’s instructions. They crossed the point they would have intersected with the pods in tow, not realizing that they had been locked in as targets of fighters other than the one each pod trio had been following. The rockets plowed head on with each of their intended targets as the Tiet, Wynn and Grod reformed their group.

  “Now, let’s get out of here and meet the others before we have any more company,” said Wynn.

  “It’s odd that the cruiser is alone out here,” said Grod.

  “And that they only sent nine pods after us,” Tiet added.

  “I wonder what has become of the other ships that were said to have been with this one,” said Grod.

  “I’m sure we’ll find out sooner than we want to,” said Wynn. “Let’s get moving while we can.”

  The aerial fighter trio adjusted their course and speed and headed away toward the Valley of Sayir.

  ☼

  JUST above a remote portion of the Valley of Sayir that began to slope upward toward the mountain bearing the same name, the Equinox burst into reality with a snap of white light. The ship was right side up according to Emil’s lightning quick jump calculations, but it was still plummeting toward the ground in a crippled condition.

  “Hey, we’re not upside down!” shouted Kale.

  “See what happens when I take the wheel?” replied Emil confidently.

  The controls jerked hard in Kale’s hands. “We’re still falling!”

  “Problem!” Emil focused on his instrument panels. “100ft...60ft…30ft.”

  Kale slapped the docking thruster’s control. The ship lurched, struggling against gravity with all the resistance it had left—it wasn’t enough. The Equinox slammed into the valley floor with a massive Boom!

  The shields collapsed, sending random blades of energy ripping into the ground away from the impact. When the cloud of dust began to settle again, the ship was intact but was unlikely to ever get airborne again.

  “Is everyone okay?” Kale asked.

  “Present,” said Emil.

  “We’re alright,” said Merab and Jael.

  Kale tapped the intercom, perhaps the only thing still functioning on the ship. “Mother, how are you, back there?”

  It took a moment, but they replied. “I think we’re all in one piece,” said Mirah, “I take it, we crashed?”

  “Yes, but we made it to the rendezvous point,” joked Emil from the background.

  Kale shot him a weary look. “We’re down in the Valley of Sayir, Mother. It’s probably a good idea if we abandon the ship, just in case we were to have an explosion.”

  “We can’t move Ramah right now,” said Mirah, “I need to monitor her for a while, especially after that crash.”

  Kale wasn’t going to argue a losing battle. “We’ll inspect the ship and try to make sure we’re not in any danger by staying on board.”

  The intercom switched off on Mirah’s end. She was adamantly against endangering a patient.

  “I’m glad Ramah is doing fine, but explosions don’t do much for one’s health.”

  Kale moved from his flight chair and retrieved a tool kit. He tossed it at Emil. “We’d better get to inspecting this heap then.”

  It took an hour and a half to get main power restored and they found nothing endangering thei
r stay inside the ship while they waited for the rebel forces to catch up to them. The engine’s hyper-coil was supplying ample power, enough to even use the internal transgate if necessary. The group scavenged for food in the galley, and took turns sitting with Ramah in the Infirmary.

  Juli and Kale were trying to get the scanners operational on the bridge so they might get a fix on the rebel army and find out how long it would be until their arrival, but no luck yet.

  Merab, Jael and Mirah were in the galley finishing their meals, while Emil relieved the doctor and sat with Ramah. They were enjoying a very nice conversation and perhaps even a bit of flirting. All the crew had to do was to wait for the others and then decide on their next course of action.

  TWENTY

  LUCIN was standing on the bridge of one of his personal transports watching the main display. Information was continually updating and icons were shifting on the screen as the rebel forces converged on the Valley of Sayir. His Vorn battle cruisers were feeding his transport group the information from orbit—they were much too big and clumsy to be a part of the ground battle he planned to wage at Sayir. Lucin noticed that several groups of ships were coming from various directions—evidently they had a number of bases to operate from. His group of ships was flying a parallel course to that of the rebels fleeing from Sector City’s underground base.

  Lucin’s armada of troop carriers was maintaining a distance just far enough to keep them out of sensor range, while his orbiting cruisers allowed him to keep an eye on his prey. He had the element of surprise on his side. His plan was simple, wait for all of the rebels to converge on the valley, and then bring his transports toward Sayir from the plateau to the north. They would approach at minimal speed and altitude and then swarm into the valley, making troop drops close to the enemy.

  Lucin was counting on a minimal response to his human forces as they deployed for the ground battle. The rebels would be too preoccupied with the surprise he already had waiting for them at Sayir. By the time his human combatants joined the fray, the battle would be all but lost for the rebels and the Barudii helping them. Lucin would counter prophecy and reign supreme among humanity.

  ☼

  AFTER several hours of waiting inside the Equinox, Mirah heard a beeping alarm on the scanner. She was sitting alone on the bridge while the others gathered supplies to move to another ship when the rebel groups arrived in the valley. Mirah needed rest. She had not gotten any good sleep since before they had fled Kosiva and the exhaustion was catching up with her. Ramah was stable and doing fine, in fact, when Mirah had returned from her dinner to relieve Emil in the Infirmary, she had found the two young people so engrossed in one another’s company that she had decided to just leave them alone. Someone had to remain on the bridge monitoring the scanner for activity, so with pillow in hand she had taken a post in one of the bridge flight chairs listening for any new developments.

  Mirah tapped the intercom. “Kale, the scanner is picking up what looks like a group of ships heading toward the valley.”

  “I’m on my way,” he replied.

  Within moments, Kale and Juli appeared on the bridge. He surveyed the panel and confirmed Mirah’s report. “It looks like four or five different groups. Ours is coming from Sector City to the east and the others are approaching from the south and west. Hopefully we’ll have a good number of soldiers once all of the groups get together.”

  “From what you’ve been telling me,” said Mirah, “it still might not be enough.”

  “This battle won’t be won by numbers anyway,” said Kale. “Either Elithias will give us the victory or we won’t have it at all. I’ve been studying some of the scrolls that Aija left on board and information back at the base library. This valley is mentioned in one of the prophecies.”

  “What does it say?” asked Mirah.

  “It said a son of man will be an instrument of The Eternal One in that day when the Mithrial sons shall gather to oppose him in the Valley of Sayir…and he shall bring the judgment of Elithias upon them with no weapon in his hand.”

  “What does it mean?” asked Juli.

  “I can only assume it is referring to Father.”

  “How do you know?” asked Mirah.

  “Aija did tell Father that he’s supposed to lead these rebels as an army against Lucin and his forces and here we are gathering at Sayir just like the prophecy says. This has to be where and when the battle is going to take place,” explained Kale.

  “But our people are the only ones out here,” said Juli optimistically.

  “I’m just going by what the prophecy states will happen—maybe Lucin arrives later.”

  “How long until your father and the others arrive?” asked Mirah.

  “According to the sensors, the different groups will be coming into the valley in about fifteen minutes. We transmitted the coordinates to Father and he said he would be heading this way with Grod and Wynn.”

  “I hope he will arrive with the others,” said Mirah. “I miss him already.”

  ☼

  ON the northern plateau above the Valley of Sayir, an army gathered, an army of dark mind and dark purpose. The human soldiers poured from their transport vehicles. Hundreds of the ships scattered across the land like a swarm of insects, unloading their young from their bellies. They moved as one, for one mind controlled them all.

  Lucin stood out in the open air. The sun shone upon him, but it did not bring light into his darkness. He held a thin pad in his hand. On its flat display, Lucin watched the live feed coming from his orbiting battle cruisers. Their eyes brought him the location of all of the rebel transport groups as they made their way to the Valley of Sayir, according to the prophecy of the empty hand.

  The ancient prophecy might have caused Lucin to fear, but he had abandoned the fear of Elithias long ago, before men walked the paradise of the old world. Now, his power from old was returning, even his fellow Mithri could feel it. The Agonotti were united with him again; his Mithrial brethren. His mind and power were well beyond the Barudii he had tried to capture. Lucin had supposed there was a necessity in having one of them so that he would have the mental stamina to control the great assimilated host he had secured on Castai-Rex. There was simply no need for it now. He was well able to control them all now.

  Lucin looked away from his data pad toward the masses assembling behind him. He was mesmerized by the number of them, all at his beckoning—they would willingly die for him. How poetic, he thought, these beings created in His image, serving me; dying for me. This is justice of the grandest sort of irony. His eye turned to Mithrium. You should have allowed me my glory, when it would have cost you much less. Now, they will pay for what was rightfully mine.

  A familiar wind crossed the area, bringing a dust that was living and yet, not. From the air, a being formed and began to walk toward Lucin. Vock gave a slight bow, conveying his allegiance and respect as he approached, his garments blowing in the breeze behind him.

  “We are ready, my lord,” said Vock.

  Lucin beamed through the human eyes of his host body. “How many, Vock?”

  “All of them, my lord.”

  A smile parted the human lips Lucin spoke through, revealing the teeth, like a predator that is ready to seize the prey for rending.

  “How can He stop us now, my brother?” asked Lucin

  “But…what of the prophecy?” asked Vock with a measure of concern in his tone.

  Lucin dismissed his words saying, “What of it?” He turned to gaze upon his accomplishment; the army of humans that were readying themselves for conquest, his conquest. “Look, Vock. Look at what I have already been able to do, and where is He? He has not come to stop me—has not forbidden me my due from on high. Perhaps we have been fools all along, tricked into believing we were powerless against Him.”

  Does he really believe what he is saying? Vock felt more apprehension creeping into his thoughts.

  “Do you intend to turn from following me now, Vock?” Lucin asked
the question with his back still toward his Mithrial brother.

  Vock was surprised by the question; it shocked him back to the now. “Of course not, my lord. I have always been loyal to you and will continue to be. I was merely—“

  Lucin cut him off, saying, “Good, then go back to our brothers in the valley. When the transports are all on the ground, attack and spare no one.”

  Vock acknowledged the command with a nod of submission. He could not dismiss the prophecies with so much ease. In all of his time walking among men in his cursed form as an Agonotti, he had never seen a prophecy fail. Fighting his reservations, he did according to Lucin’s will and proceeded back toward the valley where the Agonotti waited to strike. The wind took his form again, leaving Lucin standing on the plateau, still poring over his data sheet.

  ☼

  TIET was enjoying a little quiet time as he, Wynn and Grod made the flight to the Valley of Sayir. The old Barudii fighters were cruising steady and smooth at three times the speed of sound. Tiet thought for sure these old birds could press on even faster if need be. They were well built. The deep hum of the engines was almost soothing after all of the action he had seen in recent days. He might have relaxed enough for a little sleep, but they would soon arrive at Sayir.

  The trio of fighters was flying on a heading slightly north of the valley. They would have to come through a stretch of mountains along the way and then across a plateau before coming down into the valley.

  Grod’s voice broke the silence, coming through the cockpit intercom saying, “Wynn, Tiet, I’ve been scanning ahead on our flight path and I’m picking up something unusual.”

  It was certainly like Grod to be working on something while the others were resting.

  Tiet shook himself out of his sleepiness. “What is it?”

  “I’m transferring the scan coordinates.”