by Randal Sloan
What kind of weapon is that? he wondered, even as he once more launched an attack on their position, all to no avail. They had some kind of shield of their own. Finally, in desperation he called his Master using his mental abilities.
“Master,” he said, “we need your help! The Galactics are much more difficult than we anticipated. We are unable to overcome them, it appears.”
“It’s as I expected,” the Master replied, using his mental ability to read the situation from his primary student. He immediately understood the problem they were facing.
“I’ll be there shortly and I’ll handle it. Keep the Galactics pinned down where they are until I get there.”
“I will do as you say, Master. We certainly underestimated the strength of these Galactics, although I believe we face an elite group. Nothing in our intelligence indicated they should have the weapons we’ve faced. I fear if we must attempt an all-out assault, the losses will be high.”
“It will be well, my son. I’ll be there soon and I’ll be able to silence that most terrible weapon. We must succeed; we can’t allow these Galactics to remain, no matter the cost.”
Even as he sent that, Master Gauqur wondered if it was worth the cost or even if this was the right thing to do. It had all seemed so simple when he planned their attack against the Imperials. It was as if Fate herself was fighting against him.
That worried him even more.
Jason had taken over the bridge and with Kaeden acting as pilot, Jarra was able to make her way down to the shuttle bay. She knew the ship was in safe hands so she wasn’t worried. On a least time approach, Katarina quickly dropped through the atmosphere, her shields easily shrugging off the heating effect of the atmospheric drag. It grew rather warm in the shuttle bay, but Jarra’s armor could handle that and a lot more.
As they neared the planet’s surface, Jarra opened the shuttle bay doors and lowered the landing ramp. The air flowing past was tremendous, so she remained inside for the moment. She wasn’t worried about what was awaiting her — no, all that mattered was whether or not she made it in time. So very much depended on it.
Although, she had to admit to herself she was still a little nervous about what she’d studied on Master Barsyan’s orders. Not that it would be dangerous for her, but that it wouldn’t be enough to do what she needed to do. Still, his faith in her ability to learn her assignments had flowed through their connection, and she’d used that to keep her going.
In that hour she’d spent in meditation, she’d followed his instructions to practice the craft she must use, and she felt she was as prepared as she could be. The sparring with Jason and Kaeden had gone well. That part she believed was going to be easy. But she’d never done anything even remotely like the second task Master Barsyan had given her and so she had no experience to compare it to. So maybe she was a little worried, after all.
“Thirty seconds out,” Jason told her through her implants. “I know I don’t have to tell you to be careful so I won’t. But you must come back to me!”
“It’s okay, love,” she replied even as she stepped through the shuttle bay’s atmospheric barrier, taking position on the drop pad. “I’ve done this hundreds of times. Nothing to it.”
Jason knew that wasn’t exactly true. She may have made many drops, but nothing like what she faced below had awaited her before. But he kept silent. He also had faith in her.
“Coming up on your drop point in five,” he told her.
Those five seconds went much too fast for him, but to Jarra they crawled by. Katarina reached the predetermined coordinates and she jumped.
The gears in her head stopped spinning.
Master Gauqur worried that he had let his hatred of the Imperials lead him down the wrong path. The arrival of the Galactics was one of the triggers for the Prophecies he’d studied his entire life, but he was still missing something. Something about the Golden One. He’d never figured out what that meant. But he had been so desperate to overthrow the Imperials he tried to bend the Prophecies to his own purposes.
Now he worried he might well be paying the price for his arrogance. One did not bend prophecy — usually it bent the one attempting to do so. Still hoping to salvage his plan, he hurried to the aid of his young student. He knew young Rae wasn’t entirely ready, but he chose to send him forth nevertheless. He wasn’t even surprised by this development — after all, the Prophecies foretold his involvement was required. As one who studied prophecy knew, sometimes one had to leave it all to faith. Perhaps they could yet prevail.
As he drew near to where Rae and his team battled, he quietly sent mental orders for them to prepare for a renewal of the assault. Then he gathered himself mentally. He would have to use his mental abilities to attempt to break the stalemate. Even with all their technologies, the Galactics would find they had no defense against his mental attack.
That meant he was not really concentrating on the world around him even as he began to take control of the two Galactics on the horrible guns, taking away their ability to breathe. The attack on the two humans required his absolute concentration, and so he was entirely caught by surprise by what happened next.
Chapter 14
Not All Solutions Require An Iron Fist
Master Gauqur concentrated on the two Galactics manning the terrible weapons that were keeping his team at bay. He was surprised that Young Master Rae had even been able to shield against that. But the solution was simple. If he could render the two manning the weapons unconscious, his team would be able to move forward to the point they could get past whatever technology the Galactics were using to block their attacks.
It wasn’t as easy as it had been with the Council member earlier. These humans weren’t as susceptible to mental attacks as his fellow Oidhche, but during the battle with the Imperials ages past the Masters of the Order had learned how to do it. Unfortunately, that knowledge had come too late to save his people from having to retreat to their underground lair in order to survive.
If he had more time, he would have taught the technique to his young assistant. That and if he had the energy. He knew he wasn’t a youngster himself anymore and he often had to exhaust himself to teach them what he could. If only some of the others in his Order had survived the Great Purge, as his people called the prior war they had lost to the Imperials!
No, his Order had sacrificed themselves to allow the people to escape, leaving only the young Gauqur to lead them to safety. Gauqur had done his duty, but it had left him bitter at the loss, which was one of the reasons he hated the Imperials so much.
Of course, truth be known, even before then the Order had not been anywhere near the force they had been before they were forced to flee the Oidhche home arm of the galaxy. The Dark Ones who had risen to power in the Order and had managed to create the Sentinels and their evil were to blame for it all. Those they couldn’t convert, they killed, and only a tiny handful of his people had escaped.
Gauqur had been only a youngster when those tragic events had taken place. Now he was an old man, barely hanging onto the dream of somehow saving his people.
These Galactics were another thing entirely. He’d assumed they would be weak and easy to overcome like the Imperials, and he just wanted them gone. They certainly were not such an easy target. Perhaps he’d transferred his hatred of the Imperials to them and he should have left them alone.
He concentrated on the two Galactics manning those terrible weapons and smiled as they both began to gasp for breath. It would only be a few more moments and they would be done here. His trainees would be able to quickly remove the remaining Galactics and this battle would be over. He looked forward to taking his place beside the Council that would form their new government, a Council he would select for their ability to re-create their world.
Sensing the break in the fire from the Marines, Rae and the horde of attackers prepared to rush forward, ready to renew their attack. As usual, some of them rushed ahead of the warrior team. His people were just so und
isciplined. They needed to learn to wait for orders. Still they would be able to use their numbers and Rae’s shields to break through the defenses and then it would be done.
Just another second would do it…
Jarra had prepared herself mentally for what she knew was to come. So much depended on the next few moments. As Katarina drew near to the coordinates the Master Sergeant had sent them, she could see that a battle was already underway. It looked like it had reached a stalemate. That was actually good, she knew, because it would make her part easier.
It was time to change everything. She was determined to rewrite the script for what was taking place.
Jarra activated her personal shield, something she hadn’t done in a long time. It protected her from the air flow around her due to the flight of the ship through the air. It also left her feeling completely safe, despite what she was about to do. They reached the target coordinates and she dropped from her position on the ramp.
As she fell through the air, already she had begun to slow time, allowing her to get a clear picture of where everyone was positioned. She understood instantly the Master Sergeant’s plan and it had been working, but something had happened to the two manning the plasma cannons. They were completely out of position and something was wrong with them. They better not have hurt my Marines, quickly went through her head, but even as she thought that she realized they seemed to be recovering.
The aliens were concentrated at one end, but a number of them were pouring through the gap left in their defenses. It appeared they were in the process of rushing the main Marine defensive position and there were just so many of them, even the Imperial Marines wouldn’t be able to stop them all. Others remained gathered behind them and yet they were preparing to rush forward too.
Even as she neared the ground, she was able to recognize the differences in the aliens to the other Aerstone they’d seen. It was obvious that they did have a biological body, just one that was rather enhanced with tech. She spotted a group of them that appeared different, wearing some kind of robe. That had to be the Oidhche psychic team she’d been warned about. Master Barsyan had only been able to tell her the leader of their Order was named Master Gauqur and that he was old in years even for an Oidhche. The one standing in the rear of the group had to be him.
Then she reached the ground. Landing in the middle of that battle, Jarra had no choice but to clear her path, firing her laser rifle with extreme prejudice. She had to stop the advance of that group. As much as possible she aimed to incapacitate rather than kill, for she only needed the room to safely make her demands. She intended to impose her will, no matter the opposition.
The last of the attackers fell and she clipped her laser rifle to her armor.
“STOP!” she shouted, thrusting her arms out in front of her and projecting the sound through the speakers in her armor. She said the word in both Galactic Standard and in the Oidhche dialect. She also shouted it mentally, using the skill she’d been practicing at the bequest of Master Barsyan, a task she’d taken to heart especially after receiving Adriel’s message. She put all her being into the command. To the psychic vision, her shout was so loud it was felt across the galaxy by Master Barsyan, who grimaced at the intensity. That grimace quickly turned to a smile at his new pupil’s ability.
Her mental command projected itself in front of her in waves of power, forcing the remaining combatants to fall back. Although her Marines had been expecting her order, they were momentarily affected by the intensity of it. The Oidhche psychic team was staggered by the mental command, losing their mental focus and unable to continue their attack. Their master was the most affected of them all.
Most importantly it worked, because everyone stopped fighting.
Everything changed in a single instant, causing Master Gauqur to lose his concentration on the two Galactics, allowing them to slip away from his control and gasp for a life-saving breath. With a huge sonic boom, an alien spacecraft exploded across the skyline, yet amazingly came to a near stop almost directly in front of him. Then something fell from that spaceship to land in the very middle of the battleground. For a moment, Gauqur struggled to comprehend it all, for that something looked very much like one of the demons from the past of his people.
His head said the creature had to be one of the Galactics wearing some kind of advanced armor. But that armor glowed with the brilliance of a personal shield more powerful than he would have believed possible even for the Galactics, and yet at times it made the creature almost invisible as it moved. It was more than he could comprehend.
It also moved faster than he would have thought possible. Within seconds the creature had cleared its landing zone of all Oidhche attackers, firing some kind of weapon with unbelievable accuracy. Every shot took out one of his people, but yet none appeared to be fatal. That had to be intentional, for the creature never missed.
In what seemed barely an instant of time it was over. Amazingly, none were left standing other than Rae and his few warriors, the Master, and those gathered behind them. He wondered if they were next.
Then the creature did something that caught him entirely by surprise.
“STOP!” she yelled, for it was very definitely the voice of a female. Amplified by something, it was so loud it echoed across the block. But it wasn’t the sound that got his attention or even its effect on his people. No, that message was projected by the strongest mental command he’d ever felt and he found himself falling to his mid-leg joints.
Demon or angel, he no longer knew for sure, but he knew he would do whatever she demanded. He had no choice. Her command demanded obedience.
Apparently, everyone else felt the same, for the battle came to an instant halt.
Jarra was completely caught by surprise at the response, but she didn’t wait for something to change. After all, her entire being had been aimed at stopping the battle before anyone else was injured, especially her Marines and the ones under their protection. Despite that, she knew her second charge was to save as many of the Oidhche as possible, now that she knew what she knew about them.
“I am Crown Princess Jarrosa Christinee Von Hassan, and as the highest representative of the Galactic Empire on this world, I demand your service.”
Immediately the Imperial Marines laid their weapons down, dropping to a knee and placing their hands over their hearts. Slowly the remaining defenders did so too, including the Protectors and the two girls leading them who came out from their defensive positions at the entrance to the underground network. Amazingly, neither girl appeared to be injured, although many in their group of Protectors appeared to not have been so lucky.
Master Gauqur and his team of disciples were the last to do as ordered. He and his team had been almost in shock, but instinctively they responded to her demand, falling to the Oidhche equivalent of a knee and placing their hands over the spot where their central circulatory organ was located.
Now the Master understood what he had missed in his studies of the Prophecies. The mental command the Princess had given them was the strongest he had ever felt, and he didn’t miss the anger and yet compassion in that command.
“Thank you for your service. You may rise and join me.”
Everyone did so, coming forward to gather in front of her. By this time the Master Sergeant and his small team in the control center had rushed out to join the others. Krissy went to stand with her two friends, while Jenn came trembling to stand in front of her Princess. Her position as temporary governor suddenly became very real.
“This battle is ill-advised,” Jarra told the gathering crowd, her voice rough with her anger. “You should all be working together for the betterment of New Earth.”
“If you had just been patient,” she went on, “I would have taken care of the Imperials and their harsh rule. Instead, we have all this bloodshed, and what has it gained you?”
No one dared offer up an answer, so she just shook her head. Her voice changed to a more compassionate tone and she took her he
lmet off so they could see her face. Her golden hair shone as she shook her head to clear her face, causing Master Gauqur to catch his breath. The Golden One!
“Master Sergeant, if you will, see to your injured and to those of the Protectors. Master Gauqur, if you will, call for your equivalent of a medic to see to your injured.”
Master Gauqur for a moment could only stare. How did she know his name? More importantly, now that he knew this was the Golden One from his Prophecies, his shock had grown even more intense. He felt deep remorse for his actions, trying to force the Prophecies. He knew that many of his warrior’s injuries were severe and some of those would be dead or would die before he could get them help. If he had only been more patient!
Mentally, he sent the command to his people. “Throw down your arms and assist the injured. Organize teams and transport the worst of the injured to the healers.”
No one argued, instantly responding to the Master. Even Rae and his team went to help and the Master prepared himself to face his due punishment. He expected it to be severe. All of this was my fault, he realized.
As everyone watched, the Katarina came in gently for a landing in the middle of the street. Smiling, Jarra indicated her ship.
“I will speak to each of your leaders in turn,” Jarra told them. Those she intended instantly knew she was addressing them, from the young Jenn, to the surprised three Protectors, and finally the Oidhche Master.
No one argued with her. Neither did anyone volunteer to be first.
Chapter 15
A New World Order
“We’ll start with you, Madam Governor,” Jarra sent by implant. She led the way to her ship, indicating that Jenn was to precede her.
