As if the statement was a signal, a faint popping sound followed by a flash of blue laser struck Senator Krico in the upper back. He fell lifelessly forward across a small desk and slid to the floor. The chamber was quiet enough that the dull thump of his body landing on the floor could be heard by the remaining members.
The Jamhuri Federation members panicked, and chaos ensued. Blue lasers began to rain down on the members of the Jamhuri Federation as they fought each other to get to the three double doors and exit the chamber. The shooter seemed to focus on the door openings intending to block them with bodies. Einar ran into the now empty Huru seating area determined to arrest Ningal. He followed the shots and located the room where the sniper was firing and considered his options. Either he could arrest her and let the slaughter of innocent beings continue or confront the shooter. The members of the Jamhuri were being slaughtered effortlessly as they desperately tried to exit. The armed guards were not able to fight the outflowing traffic and dead bodies to get in position to face the gunman.
Ningal turned and faced Einar. She gave him a look and the expression seemed to dare him to take action. As far as he was concerned the Tisht had just assassinated a number of sitting senators, they were dying by her command. He decided that he didn’t care about the potential consequences and would get on with her sentencing. Perhaps the sniper would stop if she were dead. Einar wasn’t going to give himself a second chance to think about it and create an opportunity to change his mind. He raised the sidearm toward her. The look on Ningal’s face morphed into one of both concern and disbelief. Einar intended to deliver a lethal blow. There should be no opportunity for this merciless killer to survive. He passed on the abdomen and chest area opting for a head shot as he raised the pistol. He began to apply pressure to the trigger when a blue laser zipped by his head. The sniper had turned its attention on him. Einar dropped and rolled behind a chair and blindly fired back into the general direction. Two more shots burned through the chair and missed his head. He rolled to his right and from a kneeling position took a shot at the invisible assailant. Ningal quickly walked out of the chamber deciding against giving Einar a second chance. He took a third shot and was rewarded with exploding stone that seemed to disrupt the killings as the shower of lasers stopped. But the victory was short lived and blue rounds began to rain down on what was left of the Jamhuri once again.
With few options and no time to search his way through several levels looking for the killers, Einar locked on the barrel extension and increased the charge. He would be able to fire more accurately at a longer distance but would get fifty rounds instead of a hundred as the cartridge would lose its charge quicker. With no direct view of the shooter or his weapon, he hoped to at least disrupt the carnage a second time in order to give the remaining few a chance to escape. Einar pointed the weapon in the location of his prior shot. The larger round proved affective when a ten-foot section on the far side of the stone opening in front of the shooter exploded. Einar fired off two more shots above and to the right of the shooter with similar results. The deaths of those remaining seemed to be averted.
Out of the opening, a small black object appeared in the air and was followed by a second and a third. The black dots came to life, hovered for a second, then turned toward Einar focusing on him. In unity, the small drone darted into his direction flying in a pattern that would make getting off an accurate shot to stop them very difficult considering the speed of their approach. He knew their purpose. Each assassin drone was loaded with one-quarter of an ounce of a highly volatile explosive simply referred to as Apex. Being within ten feet of the detonation would all but guarantee the death of the target. Once they were locked on him, the only means of escape was by detonation. They were moving quickly and had enough separation that getting all three with one shot, even if flying in a straight line, was not going to happen before they reached his location. With nothing to lose, Einar fruitlessly fired off several rounds as he turned to find refuge.
To his right was a door that he assumed led to a bathroom for one of the member nations of the Huru Federation. He lunged at it, jerked it open and leaped in just as the first drone was about to strike him. The drone exploded as it slammed into the thick ironwood doorway sending wood fragments flying about. Einar stood to the right of the door opening against the wall hoping that the forward momentum of the drone would carry it into the room where he could get a shot off as it searched for him. Einar was relieved when he noticed the opening that resulted from the initial explosion was not large enough for the second drone to pass. This left only one to pose a serious threat. A second explosion splintered the wood and sent more debris flying into the bathroom doubling the size of the impact area creating an access for the third drone. Einar had the pistol ready when the third drone flew through the hole, only the first shot missed and alerted the drone to his location, which was in the last stall thirty feet away from the door. As it spun to target him, Einar fired a second shot that set off the charge. The mirror behind it shattered as shrapnel from the explosive impacted the walls outside the stall. Apart from ringing ears from the detonations, Einar was uninjured.
He ran out of the bathroom and looked back to the arena entry. He noticed that the members of the Kuna Federation had filed out in a more orderly manner as they were not being fired upon. The killer seemed to single out the Jamhuri. The whole meeting was called for this…to set up the assassination. It was all a mirage. Einar could hear a loud disturbance in the hallway leading to the Huru offices and parking area. He realized the transports that arrived for the meeting were not carrying members of the Federation and their staff but were used to stealthily transport military forces to the arena. They had intended to kill all the members of the Jamhuri Federation. This wasn’t meant to be a retaliation or even an assassination, but a declaration of war, he thought.
Einar crossed back over to the shop and could hear the popping of laser rounds being fired and screams behind him. By the time he made it back to Eerika, she had heard the screams and commotion and was hiding in the far back corner of the shop. He grabbed her hand and pulled her up, his weapon was drawn and remained pointed toward the threat in the common area. The shop owner raised his hand and stopped them as they walked by the counter. He pressed a button and a tinted glass panel on the counter opened. He removed two fully loaded military-grade automatic PX589’s with grenade launch and infrared scope and offered it to Einar and Eerika.
“The PX is not one that I have trained with,” she replied.
Einar quickly removed the barrel extension from his pistol and holstered it, “There’s not really much to know.” He pulled the rifle up and rolled it onto its side, “This is the safety, which is the on and off switch. Red means you are live. The size charge you use will determine the life of your pack. Plasma?” The shopkeeper gave a nod affirming that it did. He rolled the gun over to the right side and pointed, “This pack has plasma charges. These will provide the most effective rounds. Use these first, then go to the backup charges, which will only kill at close range, but will do more to provide cover while you escape.”
The shop owner reached back into the compartment and pulled out a sonic grenade and tossed it to Einar, who took it reluctantly, “Do you realize how much damage this can do? I could cave this entire wing in with one.”
The Coopian nodded in agreement, “None of us will ever be in this place again…it doesn’t matter,” he said while retrieving a third weapon and arming it for himself.
“Thanks, if we make it out of this, we will try to find you again and return your weapons,” Eerika said.
Einar fired a few shots at the oncoming troops providing cover as they exited the shop and attempted to make their way back to the hallway and the hanger. He hoped to find a large segment of the representatives from the member nations still alive and getting on the transports when they returned. But he recalled seeing the pile of bodies in the chamber and knew that wasn’t going to be the case. They ran down the wall towa
rd the hallway and offices. Lasers were cutting down beings who had unfortunately selected the wrong day for a visit to the Council building. In the common area, chaos prevailed as the innocent desperately ran in all directions attempting to flee. Several shots struck a marble column to their right as they ran past it. Einar let go of Eerika’s hand and spun around to face the Tisht that were firing upon them. Due to his momentum, he slid across the marble floor backward and began to return fire. Two of the Tish soldiers fell immediately drawing the attention of other Tish soldiers in the area who began to concentrate their gunfire in Einar’s direction.
Over the gunfire, Einar realized that the Tisht were chanting in unison, “The dead will be more numerous than the living,” in their native tongue as they mercilessly cut living beings down without prejudice. The death squad shot down everything in their path. When Einar turned back around, he noticed that Eerika had rounded the corner and he assumed she was either near or had entered the seven-hundred-foot hallway that led to the hanger. While decreasing his target area, he ran to catch up and fired blindly on the murderous Tisht soldiers. His legs were beginning to ache as two weeks of being cooped up on a transport had done little to advance his stamina. The decreased level of oxygen in the atmosphere starved his body of the proper level needed to optimize his body’s functionality.
As he rounded the corner, Eerika was in the entry leaning out and returning fire while waiting for him. Only, she wasn’t shooting into his direction but to the corridor opposite their position. The Tisht had split up into two groups and rounded the arena from opposing directions. He panned the area looking for any survivors from the Jamhuri Federation, but there was no visible evidence that any had survived. No one appeared to have made it back to the corridor. His heart sank into his stomach. Einar flagged her to go as he slid into the hallway and pushed his legs to move faster. He could hear the stomping of the soldier’s boots on the marble tile as they were closing in.
Einar realized that they were about to be overrun. He placed a hand on the sonic grenade and began to retrieve it. He realized that using it would mean that he would be ensuring the death of anyone left alive who had not made it back to the hallway as it would be impassable. There was only a second to contemplate their situation, but they too would be captured or executed if he allowed them passage. They were a hundred feet in when Einar stopped, turned, and rolled the sonic grenade toward the opening. He grabbed Eerika and pushed through a door and into a small office. The soldiers had made the turn and were crossing into the entry when the grenade went off.
The structural columns disintegrated, and the arched stone ceiling caved in on top of the Tisht soldiers. The debris crushed dozens while making the hallway inaccessible from the common area. It would take hours for the Tisht to clear the opening. The only way to enter would be to return to the other side of the council building and use their transports to fly over to the landing area servicing the Jamhuri wing.
Einar exited the office and looked back at the ten-foot-high pile of debris. He hoped that he had made the right decision, although he would never truly know. Eerika moved quickly and grabbed his hand pulling him toward the landing area. He could hear the Tisht shooting at the debris trying to break it up into smaller more manageable pieces. A laser passed by their heads and struck the wall to their left. He turned and saw a small opening that appeared to be just large enough for the barrel of a gun. A determined gunman was shooting blind hoping to get off a lucky shot, which was almost successful. They moved to the right side of the hallway and out of the shooter’s target area.
Both looked up when they realized that one of the transports in the hanger had fired up its engines, “Sounds like someone made it,” Einar noted. They pushed through the final opening and noticed the Viennin transport had locked down and was prepared to take off. Eerika tapped Einar on the arm and pointed to their port. A Tish Schwan Fighter was approaching.
Einar panned the loading area in front of them and noticed five of the Viennin military’s Imil Fugal Fighters lined up on the outer perimeter of the round parking area. He ran to the closest one and slapped the sensor opening the hatch door. He leapt on to the ladder and into the pilot seat and attempted to put on a helmet while keeping an eye on the approaching Tisht fighter. Eerika quickly followed and took the seat behind him. The transport lifted off and banked starboard attempting to increase the distance between them and the approaching fighter.
“The helmet is too small. I can’t get it on my head!” Einar yelled in frustration as he knew time was limited. Without the pilot’s helmet, Einar would have to fly the Imil Fugal manually and would not have access to most of the fighter’s advanced features.
Without saying a word, Eerika passed her helmet to Einar and took the pilot helmet. She put it on and powered up the Imil. The Tish fighter was locked on the transport and fired a few shots that missed their mark. By the time Einar was putting the helmet on his head the fighter lunged into the air and quickly ascended at ninety-degrees. Realizing that Eerika was controlling the Imil, he quickly gathered his thoughts and realized that they had the element of surprise on their side as they were under the belly of the Schwan fighter. Einar fired off two shots that struck the underside of the fighter and it exploded. Eerika jerked the control to the port side in order to dodge the falling debris.
“I didn’t realize you could fly. Nice!” he said excitedly.
“We just met a few hours ago. Maybe you should have asked me.”
“Hey, look over at the third story of the building. Is that a small craft hovering by the archway? I wonder if that is how the shooter got up there?” Einar said.
“Shooter? What are you talking about? I thought the Tisht soldiers were the ones shooting in the common area,” Eerika said oblivious to the assassination in the arena.
Einar unexpectedly found himself in a difficult situation. She had no idea about what had happened in the arena or Senator Krico’s assassination. Certainly, Eerika held out hope or assumed that he had made it safely back to the transport. If he told her the truth, how would she handle it? If he withheld information, how would she take it when she eventually found out the truth? He had to decide quickly.
“There is a sniper on the third floor. The first shot struck Senator Krico. I’m sorry, but I believe that he is dead.”
The Imil banked and pointed directly for the transport on the building. As they approached a cloaked man was running toward the hovering craft. “Asger Ulven?” Einar said. The cloaked man began to raise his weapon and Einar fired off several shots. The first struck the transport, then the second struck Asger. The splatter confirmed the death as the archway fell in around him.
Chapter 10
Logan forced his eyelids apart. Burning from direct exposure to saltwater made it difficult to open as the natural tendency was to keep them closed. Everything was blurry, but he was no longer sucking up saltwater when he tried to take a breath. The log, somehow, he had managed to crawl back on top of it despite having no memory of doing so. The left side of his face rested on the cold buoyant wood. It seemed as if every inch of his body ached. As he rested on his stomach, pain pulsed through the scratches on his chest and abdomen from the incident on the beach earlier in the day. Despite the discomfort, Logan was too exhausted to sit up or move.
He remembered the light from under the water. In his mind the image looked eerily similar to Sonia, only, she seemed to be an adult. Was it her spirit? Was it simply a hallucination? Was she somehow the reason he was back on the log? His mind drifted back to his last memories of her the night when she disappeared. The helpless emotions of not being able to find her or help bring her home swept over him. He subconsciously applied that emotion to his current situation. For the first time in his life, he truly felt helpless. He was tired, sore, and had no idea how to get back to land.
The sound of the water caused Logan to raise his head. His eyes were getting more acclimated. As the irritation subsided his vision improved. The log was moving
at an unusual pace and he was unsure why. He listened for a motor, wondering if someone had tied a rope to the log and was pulling him in. The sound of water being displaced by the log as it cut its way through was the only thing that could be heard. Logan desperately hoped that he was going inland and not further out to sea, but the darkness cloaked his surroundings and he could see very little. With the loss of electricity, the shore was eerily absent of light.
After a few seconds, he could no longer hold up his head and set it back on the cold log. Ayla, I wonder what happened to her? Did she make it? He felt sleep conquering his conscious body. It was getting too difficult to fend off. Falling asleep could result in sliding back off the log. It would certainly mean his death and it had to be fought with every vestige of his strength that remained. The forward momentum abruptly stopped as the log struck something causing his stiffening, bruised body to slide forward and roll off into the water.
To look at the sea, one would assume that nothing of great consequence had occurred. Like a murderer taking the life of an innocent person, calmly walking away from the scene, and blending into society without any suspicion as his actions went unrecognized, the waters were calm and subtly caressing the beach. It had become both a graveyard and debris field. To unwittingly look upon the sea in the covering of night, it appeared innocent and harmless. The sea was temporarily content and satisfied.
Universal Code Page 18
