Quantum Trigger

by Trevor Scott

  Nix hovered over the control panel, shoulders hunched, staring off into the sandy abyss ahead. When his temper flared, he could be as frightening as Xara, something Liam was surprised to see out of the normally collected Dinari. He turned his back to the cockpit’s window and faced the crew.

  “I wouldn’t ask this if there were any other choice. There might have been a way to get past the Kurazon and get Zega out of the spire’s energy field, but it wouldn’t have mattered. Where would we go? Where would you go now for that matter? There are escape pods if you wish to try your luck out there.”

  Ju-Long stood up, spreading his hands wide as he spoke. “Regardless of where we go, it’s Ragnar and the Kurazon who hold the answers to getting us home.”

  “But even if we were capable, we can’t go home yet,” Liam reasoned. “The Kurazon could simply follow us. Earth’s weapons would be no match.”

  Saturn unstrapped her harness and stood tall, balling her fists and cracking her knuckles, “Then we fight. The Kurazon have to be stopped.”

  Liam nodded solemnly and stood up from the pilot’s chair. He eyed each of the crew in turn, stopping on Nix. “If you’re asking for our help, you have it.”

  Nix’s cool manner shifted and he bore a devious grin, as though he’d been waiting for this opportunity all his life. His gaze turned upward to the maze of pulsing purple lines Liam hadn’t given much notice before, glowing intensely like the strange energy from the spires. Liam could see the hint of tears well up in Nix’s eyes.

  Nix gazed up at the pulsing streams.

  “How about it? Do you have it in you to go one more round?”

  29

  Over Surya’s horizon Liam could see the Kurazon ships descending on the colony. The violet energy field acted as a dome over the many sectors, linking together into an enormous web which shined brightly even from beyond the outer atmosphere. The Kurazon vessels had begun their approach. An orange glow from the burning metal lit the underbellies of the ships, fourteen in all. Liam recognized the flagship as the ship that attacked the asteroid mine. Its mammoth frame dwarfed the thirteen ships at its side, each of the others colossal on their own.

  The Dinari ship was far tinier than the smallest Kurazon vessel, but what it lacked in size it made up for with speed. Nix gripped the control handle tight and said, “Brace yourselves. I’m taking us in.”

  The ship jolted, forcing Liam to hold onto his console for balance. He felt the controls vibrate up his arms to his jaw, which chattered together beyond his control. Nix was taking a much steeper angle of approach than Liam’s first encounter with Surya’s atmosphere, making the vibrations come and go quickly as they breached the upper layers of the atmosphere. Nix yelled to Saturn over the din. “Get on the main gun and hold for my mark.”

  A warning indicator flashed crimson overhead. Liam could hear Ju-Long cursing at his console. “Starboard engine’s fried,” he said. “Nix, you’re pushing her too hard.”

  Nix calmly patted the dash with his free hand as though soothing the ship. Instead of easing off the accelerator, Nix forced the throttle to full, pushing their angle of descent to an even further extreme. More warning lights flashed. Liam could hear Nix laughing over the sound, a crazed look coming over him. He yelled, “She can take it. This is what she was made for.”

  It didn’t take long for the ship to pierce through to the lower layers of the atmosphere. The air resistance slowed them down but the Kurazon fleet was growing closer and closer. The orange glow around the cockpit turned to rushing air guiding itself along the curves of the spacecraft.

  “Are you crazy?” Liam shouted.

  “We’re avoiding their sensors. This way we’ll have the element of surprise.”

  Nix had a point, but Liam knew the surprise would be short-lived. They were about to find themselves in the middle of a fleet of enemy ships and he didn’t even know what kind of firepower they all had on board. Liam wasn’t the type of person to go into a fight without knowing he could win. Still, he felt a feeling deep inside which drove him onward, like he was pursuing some noble, albeit futile, cause. Still, this fight could mean more than any other mission he’d undertaken.

  They were almost on top of the Kurazon fleet now. Green lasers lit up the air below them as the Kurazon attempted to breach Akaru Colony’s energy shield below. Their attacks were absorbed into the purple field, rippling out to the farthest reaches and spreading the energy over its surface area. Nix flipped a hard switch and their ship’s wings spread wide. Liam thought they must have looked like one of the carved figures at the temple’s courtyard.

  He could just see the wingtips out the side of the cockpit’s window and they were truly a sight to see. Despite the metal framework the wings appeared almost organic, colored with greens and purples not visible when the wings were retracted. Liam had never seen anything that was at the same time so beautiful and so strange.

  An updraft caught the ship, providing lift and maneuverability where the Kurazon ships had little. Nix pointed to a spot just in front of the engines on one of the smaller Kurazon vessels. “There, fire!”

  Saturn rolled her fingertips over the rounded surface of her targeting computer, fumbling as she locked on. Her instincts kicked in as her right hand bore down on the trigger, an oddly-shaped lever that she pulled toward her to fire. Thousands of blue pellets of light rained down on the Kurazon vessel. The energy blasts found their way between the thick hull panels, lighting the ship from within until the engines overloaded. One of its engines threw out a mass of sparks and the turbine blew, exploding bits of the ship into the adjacent vessel and throwing both ships off course.

  The Kurazon fleet was on to their presence now, firing volley after volley of lasers but unable to find their mark. Their ship was too fast. Still, Liam knew even the slightest misstep could spell their doom. There were far too many enemy ships firing at them and one of them was bound to get lucky sooner rather than later.

  Nix pulled up and spun the craft around a nearby ship, drawing the fire of yet another and making the Kurazon fleet fire on their own ships. The Kurazon ships moved with confusion, trying to maneuver their slow vessels away from one another. Nix pointed out another ship and Saturn fired as they flew along its underside, gutting it like a fish.

  The largest ship ignored Liam’s vessel, entirely focused on the colony’s energy shield. The Kurazon ship lit up in a brilliant shade of green, light pouring out from beneath the heavy plates of its shielding. At its nose, it collected a large amount of energy, balling it up at the tip like the energy weapon hanging on Liam’s hip. When it had reached a large enough size, the Kurazon released it toward the nearest spire, the tip of which was barely visible and poking out of the shield.

  The green blast struck true and rippled down several hundred stories of metal, splintering it until it finally gave way and exploded outward in all directions. The energy shield over that sector of the city failed, flickering out until the surface was visible beneath. One of the smaller Kurazon vessels broke off, firing all eight of its rear engines and increasing its speed formidably.

  “After it!” Liam yelled.

  “We’ll be exposed,” Nix replied, performing a tricky maneuver that looped them around the largest ship. “We need to take out the leader. Fire along those weapon ports.”

  Nix pointed to a series of metal obelisks which jutted out from the sides of the ship. They seemed to be harnessing energy, perhaps from the sky itself, and funneling it toward the front of the ship. Saturn took aim and fired along the starboard ports. Three of the structures broke off as they passed, falling to the surface below. The main structure of the ship appeared unharmed.

  The smaller ship that broke off from the fleet was nearing the opening of the energy shield. From the surface, Liam saw a series of blue flashes rise from the colony and strike the Kurazon ship. The energy pulsed around the outside of the ship but didn’t pierce the hull. The Kurazon vessel fired several shots through the opening to one of the other
spires below. With their combined power, the spire was severed near its highest point. The purple shield was disrupted, the effect rippling between the sectors and causing blackouts all over the colony. Soon, every shield was down and the colony was left utterly vulnerable.

  “We’re out of time,” Nix declared.

  The lead Kurazon ship prepared its large blast once more, collecting energy toward the front of the ship, only marginally disrupted by Saturn’s attack. Liam held his breath. If that blast struck the surface there was no telling what kind of damage it would do. Out of the corner of his eye he saw flashes of movement.

  Dozens of Ansaran vessels were approaching from the surface, small but furiously fast. They opened fire on the Kurazon fleet, a hundred blue lasers coloring the sky. The Ansaran weapons weren’t nearly as effective as their own, but working together several Ansaran ships were able to take down one of the Kurazon vessels.

  The Kurazon flagship fired. As the massive blast hurtled toward the surface, Liam could hear Nix scream out. Before it could strike its target an Ansaran ship got in the way. The flash enveloped the craft, taking the brunt of its power. A fraction of the laser managed to hit the ground and caused a massive explosion on the surface which swelled for blocks around, seemingly erupting from the surface like an earthquake marked with fireflies in the cracks that it created. Liam watched in horror, wondering what the full blast could have done to the colony.

  An indicator flashed overhead in the ship’s cockpit. They had an incoming message. Out the starboard window Liam could see an Ansaran vessel matching their maneuvers through the Kurazon ships. Saturn continued to take shots at any Kurazon vessel that came under her scope, bearing down on the trigger with all her might.

  “Open a channel,” Nix said.

  Liam flipped a switch and a voice-only feed came through.

  “This is Toras of House Zumora, Caretaker of Akaru Colony. Help us rout these Kurazon scum and earn your place among us.”

  “Caretaker?” Liam asked. “So, Ragnar did defect.”

  “Speak not of that heretic. His betrayal will spell his death. Now, fight on, or stay out of our way.”

  Toras severed the audio link.

  “Well that was rude,” Ju-Long remarked. “He could have at least thanked us.”

  Nix called over his shoulder, “Never mind him. Focus on the leader. How’s your aim Ju-Long?”

  Ju-Long let a smile creep up his lip. He turned in his chair and fiddled with the controls. A curved holographic image appeared over his console. It was an exact representation of the area outside the ship along with a target overlaid on top of it. A slim metal joystick that curved ergonomically where a clawed hand should rest rose out of the console in front of the image. Liam had only seen the one gun on the outside of the ship, so he didn’t know what Nix expected him to fire. Ju-Long took a second to get locked on to the lead ship and then pulled the trigger on the joystick.

  A terrible rumble coursed through the ship. After a second of hesitation, the ship spewed blue light from somewhere underneath the cockpit. It was not a laser, nor was it fire, but it contained elements of both. Liam imagined they must look like a dragon up there in the perpetually yellowed sky. The blast struck the Kurazon ship and reflected off its surface. It was only as Nix moved the ship away that Liam saw the true damage of their attack.

  The hull of the Kurazon vessel was covered with electric blue fluid, pulsing along the metal struts and disintegrating the metal as it spread. Bits and pieces of the ship began to fall from the sky. One large piece crashed into an Ansaran vessel, destroying it on impact.

  “What the hell was that?” Liam asked.

  Nix’s eyes never left the battlefield. After a moment’s hesitation, he nodded to himself and declared, “The very reason this ship is one of the feared. One hundred Corsair-Class ships, harnessing the beasts of legend. This is the king of all creatures. The Garuda.”

  30

  Liam regarded Nix incredulously. “You mean this ship is modeled after the carvings at the temple, the creature of myth?”

  “No. I mean she is the creature of myth. Every myth has an origin story.”

  Once Liam came to understand, the ship seemed to gurgle from within, perhaps the sound of building up more of the napalm-like mixture. In between the metal panels overhead Liam saw the purple light flowing along the seams. The more he looked at it, the more it looked like blood coursing through the conduits of the ship. His heart began to race. All at once he felt a sense of claustrophobia as he came to the realization that he may be inside some manner of creature.

  “Pay attention,” Nix shouted, jarring Liam from his thoughts.

  Liam focused out the window at the Kurazon flagship. Nix spun The Garuda around over the top of it, yelling at Saturn and Ju-Long to continue their fire. His eyes snapped back to the console in front of him and he examined the readouts. The engines, which were nearly fried on their descent, were now running at optimal efficiency. The ship seemed to grow faster and stronger the harder they flew. A warning light shined down from up above his console.

  “What is it?” Nix asked, focusing on avoiding Kurazon laser blasts.

  “Several Kurazon vessels are moving to defend the leader,” Liam said.

  “Tell those Ansaran ships to distract them!”

  Liam opened a channel and ordered the closest group of Ansaran fighters to get between the leader and the approaching Kurazon vessels. A grouping of five Ansaran ships swung around to help. Laser bursts tinted the sky as hundreds of shots clashed. The Ansaran vessels focused their beams on a single Kurazon ship, slicing it clean down the center with a chorus of explosions erupting out from the long gash. The five Ansaran fighters passed by the broken ship and were quickly cut down by the crossfire.

  Nix used this time to approach the leader from underneath. The flagship could easily have fit five of the other Kurazon ships inside of it. Its massive hull was held aloft by countless thrusters, burning blue even under the burnt yellow sky. When they were right beneath the ship, Nix pushed his control handle forward putting The Garuda into a dive. Liam braced himself against his console, cursing after the sudden maneuver.

  “Ju-Long, power up your weapon and standby to fire,” Nix instructed.

  Ju-Long toggled his controls and said, “Ready.”

  Nix slowly leveled off the ship and then began a rapid ascent. This time, the whole of the Kurazon flagship’s underbelly was in their sights. Green flashes of light rained down on them from the enemy vessel from dozens of small guns mounted beneath the warship. Nix spun The Garuda around, taking several of the hits in the wings but seemingly coming out all right. Nix called over his shoulder, “Target the thrusters toward the front of the ship. Fire!”

  Ju-Long held down on the trigger. The next few seconds passed far too slowly for Liam. As the ship built up its power, the bulkheads seemed to creak, in danger of buckling. Nix started to straighten out The Garuda and the blast was released. The electric fire was freed with such force that the stream was far thinner than the previous one, but when it hit the Kurazon ship it spattered over a dozen thrusters. The mixture corroded the jets until the turbines broke off from the ship, igniting the fuel in a chain reaction of explosions.

  A whole deck of the ship was left bare underneath. Small figures fell out of the sky, too small in the distance for Liam to clearly see. Nix turned the ship to avoid the backsplash of their blast. The Kurazon ship tilted downward as the rear thrusters continued to fire despite the loss of the ones up front. The Kurazon flagship hurtled through the sky, falling quickly toward the sandy surface below.

  Nix spun The Garuda around and accelerated toward the remaining Kurazon ships. To Liam’s surprise, the other vessels had begun to ascend back into the outer atmosphere toward open space. The Ansaran fighters broke off their attack and formed up in groups circling over the colony at ten thousand meters. Liam peered out the window and saw several smoke trails coming out of the ground where the Kurazon ships had crashed alon
g with the flagship, still falling, the rest of its engines beginning to falter.

  “It appears the Kurazon lose their spine without their leader,” Nix observed.

  Liam pointed toward the crashing ship, “The flagship is the one that came through the wormhole. We need to board it and find that device.”

  Nix hesitated, mouth ajar. It was as though the thought of boarding a Kurazon vessel both intrigued him and scared the hell out of him. Finally, he nodded and said, “Alright, I’m taking us in.”

  He pointed the ship downward, The Garuda’s wings creating an updraft which let them glide toward the Kurazon leader. The lead ship skidded across the sand toward the rocky projection just outside of Akaru Colony. Sand wafted up hundreds of meters when the Kurazon ship hit the surface, clouding Liam’s vision of the crash site. Through the dust, he could see parts of the broken ship fly past them, eventually tumbling through the sand to their inevitable final resting place.

  The Kurazon vessel hit the rocky outcropping at low speed, creating a boom that echoed all around them. Nix moved The Garuda toward the surface and prepared to set down fifty meters away. Liam toggled a switch and released their landing gear. A few moments later they were on the ground, their landing struts sinking into the loose sand. Most of the ship’s systems shut down automatically, though Saturn kept her finger on the trigger of her gun, light still shining through her console.

  “Saturn, it’s fine,” Liam assured her. “There’s no way anyone survived that.”

  “You sure about that?” she replied.

  Nix unstrapped himself from his chair and stood up, steeling himself for what lay ahead. His hesitation appeared to be gone for the moment, as confidence once again filled his broad chest. He reached for the gun on his hip and pulled it from its holster. “There’s only one way to be sure.”