Worlds Without End: The Mission (Book 1)

by Shaun Messick

  Jake was within firing range on the middle Gnol when his alarm went off within his fighter. Jake looked at his rear monitor, saw that another Gnol was behind him, and he had just fired a missile.

  Jake grabbed his flight stick with both hands and banked left. He held the stick and rolled the fighter three hundred sixty degrees with the missile just missing the underside of his Wildcat. He saw the missile clip the tail of the Gnol fighter on which he was about to fire. There was a bright explosion as the middle fighter ahead of Jake careened out of control into the fighter on its right. Both ships fell to the ground in bright red fireballs.

  “I’m hit!”

  Jake looked ahead and saw that the one remaining Gnol fighter trailing the shuttle had landed a shot on the left wing. “Is it bad?” he asked the shuttle pilot.

  “Negative … I still have control.”

  Then Jake saw brilliant, red flashes buzz by on each side of his canopy. The Gnol trailing him was still on his tail. Jake maneuvered his Wildcat back and forth while trying to get a missile lock on the Gnol ahead of him.

  Suddenly, he heard a loud explosion. He glanced at his monitor and saw that the Gnol chasing him had burst into flames. “What the—”

  “You’re good to go, General.”

  Jake continued to look and saw one silver Wildcat fly through the flames.

  “Wildcat 7, is that you?” he asked.

  “Negative, sir, this is Captain Mechlis, Wildcat 10. You’ll never guess what happened?”

  Jake, who was still trying to get a lock on the Gnol ahead of him, felt annoyed. Why was this captain trying to play guessing games at a time like this? “Just tell me, Captain!” he ordered.

  “General Hauler from Base 2 just arrived with an entire squadron of assault vehicles and hover tanks. They’re taking out everything.”

  Jake was stunned. “What? … Where did they get hover tanks?”

  “I don’t know, but he has them.”

  A smile grew on Jake’s face.

  Jake then noticed that the Gnol ahead of him was beginning to get in line for another shot. Jake tightened his grip on his stick and banked right to follow the Gnol fighter. Then, he heard the tone he was waiting for – missile lock. He squeezed the trigger, and a missile fired out from under his left wing.

  The Gnol must have heard his missile warning. He tried to bank left and then right, but the missile kept him in its sight. The missile hit the Gnol fighter directly in the tail engine, causing it to explode into a bright red and orange fireball. Jake and Captain Mechlis both banked left to avoid the flying shrapnel.

  “Shuttle 1 … this is General Palmer.”

  “General.”

  “You’re free. Captain Mechlis and I will escort you to the second base. E.T.A., twenty minutes. Your orders are to unload all civilians, and we will escort you back to Base 1. We need another shuttle for the civilians that were on Shuttle 3.”

  “Roger that.”

  **********

  Adrian and Sean continued to lie on the metal floor of the hangar. Adrian heard explosions and screams of agony everywhere. He knew that his entire force was being depleted one by one. “Kylee,” he said. “Come in, Captain Palmer.”

  Adrian heard the static in his earpiece and the slurred speech of his daughter. “Da … Dad … I’ve been … I’m hurt.”

  Adrian’s first instinct was to jump to his feet and find his daughter, but Sean grabbed him to keep him safe from the plasma fire. “Kylee, where are you?” he asked.

  “I …” She coughed, “ … I’m not … not far from you.”

  “Where!” demanded Adrian.

  “Dad, it hurts.”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m … I’m about fifty feet from your position …” Kylee coughed again, “… I’m behind the two burning assault vehicles.”

  Adrian slowly raised his head above the computer terminals and looked to his right. There they were, the two burning vehicles in the corner of the hangar. He looked at Sean. “I’m going after her. Order the retreat for all remaining soldiers to exit the base at the primary entrance.”

  Sean grabbed Adrian’s left arm before he could leave. “You’ll get yourself killed!”

  Adrian jerked his arm away and pointed to Kylee’s position. “That’s my daughter over there! Do as you’re ordered, General!”

  Adrian jumped over Celeste’s unconscious body and sprinted toward Kylee. A plasma blast hit the floor just in front of him. The impact threw Adrian to his right, slamming him into the wall. He jumped to his feet again, determined to make it to his daughter.

  When he made it to the burning heap of metal, he saw a boot sticking out from behind the mangled mess. He ran around the two burning vehicles and slid to a stop on his knees right next to Kylee. His daughter’s body was shaking.

  Kylee opened her eyes and looked into her father’s eyes. “Da … Dad, it hurts so bad.”

  Adrian, holding back the tears, examined her. The left side of her body had been burned. Her left arm and hand were black as charcoal, and the left side of her face was red and blistered. He continued to scan her body for any more injuries.

  In his earpiece, he heard Sean issue the retreat.

  He gently turned Kylee and found a piece of hot shrapnel from the damaged vehicles lodged about two inches into her lower back. “Shh … it’s going to be okay,” he said.

  He grabbed the shrapnel but quickly pulled his hand back because of the heat. Grabbing his left breast pocket on his shirt, he ripped the cloth off and wrapped it around his hand. He grabbed the shrapnel and quickly pulled it out. Kylee screamed in pain.

  Adrian jumped to his feet in a squatting position and, ignoring the pain in his left shoulder, he took his sling off and threw it to the side. “Okay … I’m going to lift you.”

  Kylee nodded her response.

  Adrian gently placed his arms under Kylee’s right side, so as to avoid her wounds, and lifted his daughter into his chest. Kylee cried in pain.

  Once Kylee was secure in his arms, he darted off back toward Sean and Celeste’s position behind the computer terminals. When he arrived, he gently placed Kylee next to Celeste and looked at Sean. “Report.”

  Sean looked up at Adrian. “Captain Listin has your wife, Lexis, Doc, and all of the civilians crammed in the medical wing. But …”

  “But what, Sean?”

  “But we have lost an estimated eight hundred troops.”

  Adrian dropped his body down next to Sean and placed his face into his hands. He was beginning to feel the fatigue in his sixty-year-old body. Holding back the tears, he looked at Sean. “Are the remaining troops retreating through the primary entrance?”

  “Yes. And, we—”

  Both men looked up and saw the roaring engines of two black assault vehicles descending to the hangar floor. Adrian looked at Sean. “I think it’s time we left.” He pointed at Celeste. “You carry Celeste, and I’ll carry Kylee.”

  Sean and Adrian gently lifted the two women. They made their way to the spacious hallway that led past the medical wing and to the primary exit of the base. But, as soon as they entered the hallway, Captain Listin met them. “Captain, why aren’t you with the civilians in the medical wing?” Adrian asked.

  Captain Listin didn’t respond and turned his head toward the medical wing. Out of the wing, came Anyta, Lexis, Doc, and all two hundred plus civilians. They were followed by several Gnol troops with weapons raised. Behind them, came the remaining retreating troops with arms raised to their head. They were also followed by several Gnol troops.

  Captain Listin turned his head back to Adrian and shook his head. “They penetrated the primary entrance just as we were about to exit.”

  CHAPTER 12: ANCIENT SCRIPTURE

  Adrian lay Kylee down gently on the floor of the hangar. The Gnols gathered them all to the center of the hangar. Celeste and Kylee were left near the computer terminals. All around, there were burning ships, as well as dead and wounded soldiers.

>   The two black assault vehicles had finished their descent and landed next to the mass of prisoners. About fifty Gnol troops emerged from each vehicle. The last soldier off the second hovercraft seemed to Adrian to be the leader. He was dressed in all black fatigues with large gold stars on each arm. His eyes were hidden because of the black helmet and visor on his head. He had a long black braid of hair extending out from the back of his battle helmet and a thick black goatee. He briskly walked toward Adrian and stopped within a foot of Adrian’s face.

  “General Palmer, I presume.”

  Adrian didn’t respond. He just nodded.

  “No response, very well. … I’ll do the talking. General Palmer, do you know who I am?”

  Adrian shrugged his shoulders and looked at his wife, who was crying, but trying to hold back the tears. He then turned his attention back to the Gnol leader. “I presume you are Dorange Gar, Koroan Chast’s right hand man.”

  Dorange threw his head back as he laughed. “That is a good guess. But, do you know who I really am?”

  Adrian gave Dorange a puzzled look. What kind of game is this Gnol trying to play? he thought. “How would I know who you really are?”

  Dorange laughed again. He then stepped closer to Adrian, reached up, and grabbed the bottom of the visor on his helmet. He was just about to take off the helmet when the communicator on his belt chirped. He stopped and grabbed the communicator. “This had better be important, Colonel.”

  “It is, sir,” the colonel replied. “We have a problem up here.”

  “What is it?”

  “Another squadron of rebels has just arrived.”

  Dorange seemed annoyed. “Well then, Colonel, you know what to do! Take care of it!”

  “That will be a problem, sir.”

  “How so?” Dorange questioned.

  “The squadron contains approximately thirty assault vehicles—”

  “So! We can take those out!”

  “… and fifty hover tanks!”

  Adrian quickly looked at Sean and Doc. Both men returned his look with the same astonishment and shrugged. He wondered where Scott and Petey had gotten the tanks.

  “What?” Dorange bellowed as he snapped his finger and motioned for one of his officers to stand next to him.

  The colonel at the other end of the communicator continued. “The tanks have taken out almost all of our fighters and Chaties!”

  Dorange cursed, slammed his communicator shut, and looked at the officer who was now standing next to him. “Major … take fifty troops and return to the surface for support.”

  “Yes, sir,” the major said as he whirled around and motioned for troops to follow him to the first assault vehicle.

  Dorange then turned his attention to another nearby officer. “Captain.”

  “Yes, General.”

  “I will accompany General Palmer back to the palace,” Dorange said as he turned his attention back to Adrian and smiled. “Our lord, Koroan Chast, will take care of him personally.”

  “And what about the rest of the prisoners, sir?” the captain questioned.

  Dorange paused for a moment and looked around the hangar at the two hundred plus prisoners. “We don’t have time to bring the prisoner shuttle down … so … kill them all!”

  **********

  Temple ruins outside of Talead …

  Skip, Ariauna, and Jaskead had already deciphered nearly all of the writings on the bottom floor of the pyramid. The three were now at the top of the narrow staircase that split right of the narrow hallway on the first floor. Jaskead was writing with an ancient feather pen on parchment, he preferred this to one of the laptops Sean had offered to give him. Ariauna was cleaning the right wall, so they could get better readings of the writings. Skip, with Jake’s scriptures beside him, was going back through the deciphering he had written on his laptop.

  He scrolled down and found what he was looking for. “Look at this,” he said.

  Ariauna and Jaskead stopped what they were doing and moved to each side of Skip to get a better view of the screen.

  “What is it?” Jaskead asked.

  Skip smiled and looked at the old man. “There isn’t a doubt in my mind that the same God the Tilicah tribe worshiped is the same God that my religion worships back on Earth.”

  “You mean … this Jesus Christ you speak of?” Jaskead said.

  “The One and the Same.”

  Ariauna interjected before her father could continue. “But we haven’t found his name mentioned in any of the writings … you know, the name … What was the name he used in your Old Testament?”

  “Jehovah.”

  “Yes, Jehovah. That name hasn’t been mentioned either.”

  “I know, but remember all of your religions on this planet have the same creation story. You know, a supreme being created a man and a woman. The man and woman partake of a forbidden fruit and are cast out of paradise.”

  “Yes, that is true,” Jaskead said. “But I do not understand how that proves this Jesus is the same God you and the Tilicah worship.”

  “No,” said Skip as he turned his attention to Jaskead. “It doesn’t. But, remember, every religion on this planet puts its creation story about six thousand years ago. That coincides with the creation story of my religion.”

  “So, what you’re saying,” Ariauna said. “… is that both Terrest and Earth were created about the same time.”

  “Yes,” Skip said. “And according to the scripture I found on the wall earlier … Well, here I’ll just read it to you:

  ‘Verily, Verily I say unto you. The Son of Man shall be born of the Holy Spirit to a Virgin. He shall come at the end of the four thousandth year from the fall of man. But behold, the Son of Man will not be born upon this body, but upon another.

  ‘Verily, Verily I say unto you. The Son of Man will be a sacrifice to wash away the sins of man and return him to the spiritual glory the Father has bestowed upon him. Yea, the Son of Man’s sacrifice will not only be for those upon his body, but for man on all Celestial bodies, Amen.’”

  When Skip finished reading the scripture, he looked at Ariauna, who looked just as confused as her father. He set his laptop down and stood up. “Here, let me explain,” he said with excitement in his voice. “Jesus’ name is mentioned here. An—”

  Ariauna interrupted and pointed at the monitor. “No, it isn’t. I don’t see the name of ‘Jesus’ anywhere.”

  “No, it’s not mentioned literally. But in the scriptures of my religion, the ‘Son of Man’ is another name for ‘Jesus’ or ‘Jehovah.’ And remember the story I told you about Jesus?”

  Jaskead’s eyes began to beam as he began to understand what Skip was saying. “Yes, yes … you said that Jesus was born to a virgin, suffered in a garden, and was crucified to save men from their sins.”

  “Yes, Jaskead,” Skip said, becoming more excited. “But according to this scripture that we deciphered, Jesus not only died for the sins of men on Earth, but for the sins of men on all worlds.”

  Ariauna continued to look at Skip with bewilderment. “I don’t understand,” she said. “This scripture doesn’t mention the word ‘worlds’ at all. It only mentions ‘body’ and ‘bodies’.”

  “My point exactly,” Skip said as Ariauna shook her head. “You see … Well, what’s another word for ‘world’?”

  Ariauna shook her head again. “I don’t know. Um … globe, orb … I don’t know.”

  “Body … body is another word for ‘world,’” Skip said as he knelt down and pointed at the computer screen. “Here, ‘body’ is used as a reference to ‘world’ or ‘worlds.’ In other words, God not only created Earth, he created other worlds and populated them with human beings. And Jesus, his Son, was the sacrifice that will enable all of us to return to our Father in Heaven. He saved all of us from physical death, and if we accept him as our savior and follow his commandments, he will save us spiritually, and we will return to live with him again.”

  Jaskead stood next to
Skip and put his arm around him. “Yes, now I see, Skip. This Jesus you speak of is the God of both of our worlds. That would make you my brother.”

  Skip looked at Jaskead and smiled. “Yes, brother,” he said as he put his hand on Jaskead’s. Skip then paused and looked down at his computer monitor in thought.

  “What is it?” Jaskead asked.

  Skip looked back at the professor. “Jaskead, approximately how long ago did you say that the God of the Tilicah tribe visited them?”

  Jaskead pulled his arm back from Skip and stroked his beard as he thought. “That would be about two thousand years ago. Why?”

  Skip’s eyes sparkled. “Listen, my world’s calendar follows the Gregorian Calendar. Earth’s yearly dates go from the time of Jesus’ birth, which begins around 1 A.D. The date on Earth, as of today, is April 8, 2042. Two thousand forty-two years from the birth of Christ, give or take a few years.”

  Ariauna stood and looked even more confused. “I don’t understand,” she said.

  Skip had to concentrate to slow down his speech. He was so excited about the discoveries in the temple. “Your father said that the God of the Tilicah tribe visited them about two thousand years ago. That would put Earth time at 35 A.D. It is estimated that Christ was crucified around 32 A.D.” Skip stopped and looked at Jaskead. “And what did I tell you happened to Jesus three days after he died?”

  Jaskead’s smile grew bigger. “He was raised from the dead. What did you call it? Uh … resurrected.”

  Ariauna raised her hands before Skip could speak. “Okay, hold on. What you’re saying is that this Jesus visited the ancient Tilicah tribe after he was resurrected.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

  Ariauna shook her head in disbelief. “I don’t believe it. Why would a God visit a world he wasn’t even a part of?”

  Skip gave Ariauna a frustrated look. In the short time he had gotten to know her, he had grown fond of her intuitiveness and beauty, but she was often skeptical about every theory Skip and her father suggested. It was, at these times, that she seemed also angry and aloof toward Skip.