The Plasma Master

by Brian Rushton

  Chapter 31

  X stared at the viewscreen in dismay. The last of his escort had been destroyed, and Black Fang was now completely defenseless against the Anacronian forces. Jenara Trennon was not often wrong, and now more than ever before or ever again X wished he had taken her advice.

  Only fifteen pilots left! Ambelshack Devorion thought in dismay. The most elite group of starfighter pilots was being destroyed one by one. The worst part about it was the knowledge that, since he was by far the greatest pilot of them all, Ambelshack would survive to see each of them fall.

  “Sir! Freedom has just lost main thrusters! Our shields are down to fourteen percent, and we’re completely out of missiles!”

  “Curse this,” Marvis Harvey muttered. “It’s over. Kelar and that boy Simmons have failed.”

  Gerran Marnax was not even listening. He was looking off into the distance, on the other side of Venom’s star. At least they’re safe, he thought. I love you, Rinel.

  Green Scorpion was so damaged it had been left for dead in the middle of space. Not even the thrusters were working. Sitting in his command chair, Smardwurst Varlon closed his eyes. Nedward. Help us. Please. We need you.

  All of a sudden the Plasma Matrix was gone, and Ned sucked in as much Plasma as his body could handle. He shuddered as the power flowed into him, and all he could think was I’m alive. But for how long, he wondered. Slowly, he raised his head and looked around. He was still on top of the pyramid, sprawled at the top of the staircase. Dark Viper was standing at the other edge of the pyramid’s top, but he wasn’t looking at Ned. He was looking off to Ned’s left. At the Shadow Master.

  Dark Viper acted first. He fired a Plasma bolt into the pyramid floor, and a slab of it curled upward, reaching to envelop the black figure. The Shadow Master sliced apart Viper’s beam with a surge of black energy, and an instant later Ned burned the rising slab of metal to dust with a blast of his own. Then Viper fired again, tearing up the floor in several places, launching shards of metal at the Shadow Master. Ned did not understand all of what was happening, but it was clear that for the moment the Shadow Master was on his side. Realizing that his helmet was still off, Ned reengaged it. The metal appearing from nowhere suggested a new strategy, and he smiled grimly.

  Viper briefly stopped his attack on the Shadow Master when something else caught his eye. Ned Simmons had disappeared in a flash of blue light. Then something struck him across the back of the head, knocking him to the ground. Not disappeared, Viper realized. Teleported! He fired at Ned, trying to drive him away, but as he did so a beam of black fire burned into his face. He tore up a piece of ground to block the rest of the Shadow blast and repaired the damage it had done, but in the same instant a blue lance of energy burned up from the ground and into his legs, stealing away his balance. He fell to the ground just as Ned reappeared in a different location, firing again. Viper could not get a lock on Ned’s position, so there was no way to crush out his power.

  And then the chance was gone forever. The Shadow Master was invisible again, so Dark Viper had no chance of hitting it with anything, but all of a sudden he was once again surrounded by black fire. For an instant he thought he was going to be burned alive, but nothing happened; the fire did not burn this time. It only held him captive.

  Ned reappeared several yards away from the black ball of energy that held Dark Viper prisoner, wondering what to do now. It would do no good to fire into the Shadow Plasma, since his own power would be nullified before it struck its target. Besides, now that he was not under immediate attack, he had to wonder what purpose the Shadow Master could have in rescuing him now, after having tried to kill him just minutes earlier.

  “Ned,” the Shadow Master’s rough voice shouted at him. “Take the Crystal!”

  Ned looked at the dark figure, then back to the sprawling form of Dark Viper, then back again. His heart was pounding, and he was having trouble sorting out what was happening.

  “Ned, take it! Now!”

  “What are you talking about?” Ned demanded. “What’s going on?”

  “Ned,” the voice rasped back. “The Matrix Crystal is inside him! Look, I’ve opened a path to it! Teleport it away, quickly!”

  Ned looked down at Dark Viper again. The black fire had parted around the Emperor’s chest, and Ned could feel tremendous power emanating from that part of his body. He reached out with his own Plasma to probe what he was feeling, and then he realized what the Shadow Master was saying. Dark Viper had implanted the Matrix Crystal inside himself, right next to his heart. That way, since his body had the power to heal its own wounds instantly, no one would ever be able to take the Crystal from him. Unless that person had Shadow Plasma to pierce Viper’s power, or Vortex Plasma to steal it away.

  Of course, there was another option. He could simply kill Dark Viper right away. But why hadn’t the Shadow Master done that? And again, why was it helping him?

  The dark figure seemed to sense his hesitation. “Ned! Do it! Save the Crystal!”

  Save it? Was that what this was about? Was the Shadow Master afraid that attacking Viper would destroy the Matrix Crystal and prevent it from using it? A warning pricked Ned in the back of his mind. What did the Shadow Master plan to do when Ned took the Crystal from Dark Viper? Steal it from him? Surely Ned would not be able to use it, now that he was already linked to a Plasma Crystal. Maybe the Shadow Master planned to take it, to somehow use it against him. After all, the Shadow Master still must still be weak from its recent battle with Ned…

  “How do I know you won’t attack me the instant I do?”

  “You have to trust me!”

  Surely, that had been a joke. Ned looked into the thin red visor, wishing he could at least guess at a motive. “No.”

  “Ned, please.” And then the Shadow Master disengaged its helmet, or at least made it invisible.

  Ned stared in absolute shock.

  It was Mirana Kelar.

  “Mirana?”

  “Ned, take the Crystal. Do it now.”

  Ned just shook his head, aghast at what this meant. “You! You were the traitor!” It took a moment for the implications to sink in. “You helped Viper destroy Ergana Prime! You left me to the robots and then tried to kill me when they failed. Koral…”

  Mirana cut him off. “You can indict me later! You have to take the Crystal!” Her face showed sincere urgency, but Ned’s indignation eclipsed the desire to understand its source.”

  “The Crystal,” Ned repeated, still trying to puzzle together Mirana’s involvement in all of this. “You brought me here for this,” he said, almost to himself. “Somehow you knew I could teleport. Or something. You want Viper’s power for yourself.”

  Mirana shook her head, gritting her teeth in frustration. She made a motion as if to step forward, but holding Viper bound was obviously requiring a lot of concentration.

  Ned brought up a glowing fist in warning. And in that instant, a plan formed in his mind. It was not one he would have sought for, but it seemed so reasonable now. He had noticed that Mirana’s voice was no longer distorted. Which meant her helmet really was off.

  He could attack Mirana instead.

  It would make perfect sense. Both of his enemies were weak now. He could fire two shots at once – one at Dark Viper, and the other at the already-weakened Shadow Master. With Viper’s hold on the Plasma gone and the Shadow Master’s guard down, surely Ned would have the advantage in that battle. In all probability it would be over in seconds. He didn’t want to harm Mirana, but under the circumstances, did he really have a choice?

  Mirana could not have seen the look on Ned’s face, but she must have sensed what he was thinking. “Yes,” she said softly, “you could kill me now. I don’t deny that I would deserve it. But you’ll have to take the Crystal first, or Viper will finish you off.”

  Ned scowled. Mirana’s apparent concern for his life only added to his sense of betrayal. He had spent so much time with her over the past few days, relishing the no
tion that someone in the galaxy could understand him. He had put so much effort into developing a friendship with her, letting himself believe that she had opened up to him – even just that little bit – because she had trusted him. But now it was clear that it had all been a manipulation. She really was just the mercenary she had claimed to be, after all.

  “Remember what I told you about power, Ned. Wielding too much on your own can corrupt you. I wasn’t really talking about you. I was talking about myself. You can’t just pass judgment and wage war because you have the power to get away with it. You’ll end up… regretting it. Now trust me for just one moment. You came here to defeat Dark Viper. Take his Crystal and be done with it!”

  Ned knew he could not just stand there forever. For whatever reason, Mirana was unable or unwilling to finish Viper off. He was going to have to either do it himself or walk away, and he knew he could not walk away. He extended a Plasma field into Dark Viper’s chest and opened a vortex. An instant later the Matrix Crystal was resting in Ned’s hand.

  Mirana let the Shadow Plasma around Dark Viper die, and her helmet appeared again. “It’s over,” she said.

  The distorted sound of the Shadow Master’s voice brought Ned’s attention back to the threat of battle. Dark Viper lay on the ground, breathing heavily, wincing as if in pain. Mirana had not moved, but for all Ned knew she was merely charging power for a strike against Ned. Still unsure of whether to attack or run – even more unsure of where he would go if Mirana took Nemesis – Ned looked down at the Matrix Crystal. It quietly pulsed with its greenish glow, but Viper had been right about a person only being able to control one Crystal at a time; the Shield Crystal prevented Ned from accessing the Matrix Crystal’s power.

  That moment of hesitation and contemplation gave Dark Viper the opening he needed. Drawing a blaster from the holster at his hip, Viper aimed at the Crystal and fired.

  The laser bolt struck the Matrix Crystal and ripped it apart. Green light exploded into the room, buried itself in the walls, and everywhere the metal shined green. It lasted for just an instant, and then the metal began to come apart. The ceiling dripped molten metal trailing green sparks, and the walls sagged downward. Dark Viper disappeared into a door hidden in the side of the pyramid and was forgotten.

  Mirana stepped close to Ned. “Can you teleport us to the surface?”

  “I’ll try,” Ned said. Mirana had not attacked him, so it made sense to work together to at least escape the collapsing fortress.

  With the Crystal had died Dark Viper’s hold over the Plasma, so Ned was able to gather it around himself. When he had charged himself sufficiently, he clenched his fist and thrust it toward the ceiling. A twisting bolt of blue Plasma shot upward, burning toward Venom’s surface. For an instant Ned stood there, looking upward, blue light flaring all about him as he channeled his power into the energy beam. Then he felt it break free of the ground. Expanding the light outward to encompass Mirana as well, Ned opened a vortex and teleported them both away.

  The starship Galactron was all but gone. Its weapon systems were almost completely discharged, its shields had practically vanished, and every ship in its escort was in at least as bad a situation. An attack force of fifteen Anacronian ships was less than a minute from weapons range. Gerran Marnax and his crew prepared for their final moments.

  What happened next was simply impossible, as far as anyone could tell. A beam of sizzling green light flew out of nowhere and ripped through the shields of the first Anacronian ship in line, destroying it completely. The green energy beam continued straight through the wreckage, striking the next ship in line and obliterating it as well. Five ships were destroyed by that single burst of energy, and in the next instant a second blast of green light ripped apart another four. Then lasers and missiles fired from nowhere, tearing into the remaining ships. Those that were not destroyed scattered instantly, anxious to avoid the fate of their companions.

  Marnax could not believe what he was seeing. “It’s Nemesis. Mirana made it out.” He tried to open a channel, but there was no response. There were no more attacks from the invisible warship, either. Apparently Nemesis was gone.

  “General, you should see this.”

  Marnax looked at the viewscreen and stared in increasing disbelief. Dark Viper’s fortress was glowing green, and it was melting.

  “What is that?” he asked.

  “I don’t know, sir.”

  Then an explosion of green light blasted apart what was left of the fortress, spraying its remains into space. Gerran laughed in spite of himself. “It’s gone! Marvis! Ned and Mirana did it!”

  “Um, sir …”

  The viewscreen image zoomed out, and Marnax saw what Harvey was talking about. The explosion had not stopped. It was spreading outward, tearing up Venom’s shell as it went.

  “Sir, it looks like the entire structure is coming apart!”

  “Sir! Incoming message from the Anacronian General!”

  General Slardin appeared on the secondary viewscreen. “Gerran! What have you done!”

  Marnax glared angrily at the screen. I believe my forces have just destroyed your fortress. And your Emperor. Fortunately for you I am willing to accept surrender.”

  “Doom on you, Marnax! The City will be destroyed! Don’t you care about the people?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Anacron City? If that explosion continues, it will crush the entire city!”

  Rinel! “All right, General. I’ll help you evacuate the city if you’ll surrender your army to me unconditionally. Power down all weapons on all ships. Get started, and I’ll help you out as soon as my family is safely on board.”

  “What?”

  “Marnax out.”

  It was fortunate that Dark Viper chose to build his fortress on the opposite side of Venom from Anacron City; by the time the last of the civilians were evacuated, the explosion of green light was less than a planet’s diameter away. The static warp field had long since disappeared, though, and the ships had no trouble jumping to warp speed.

  Green Scorpion was tractored away by a StarBlazer warship, but Smardwurst convinced the ship’s captain to stop a safe distance away from Venom to watch its final moments. Smardwurst knew that Ned would enjoy watching the recording and seeing the green, boiling remains of the cause of so much anguish throughout the known galaxy shudder pitifully and then explode outward in a double spherical blast, complete with an expanding circular shock wave twice the height of any gas giant planet.