Gavin turned his craft around the hulk of space rock witnessing the Crimson Arrow soar away while Hammer’s fighter spiraled out of control and was burning. “Eject, eject, eject!” Gavin pleaded, and then the fighter was no more, crashing into a nearby asteroid, giving it a new crater. “Oh, fucking hell.”
“I’m good!” Hammer’s voice echoed across the radio.
A quick scan transmitted data to Gavin’s holo HUD, one escape pod with positive vital signs. Thank the lord, he thought and adjusted course to track the Crimson Arrow, it was making an escape toward Jupiter. Gavin primed his engines to chase once again. That was until Aura radioed to everyone, “Stand down. We can’t finish this.”
“What?” Gavin said.
“We’re down one fighter and another with no shields and heavy damage. We struggled to do this with five. I don’t wanna know what will happen with three,” Aura said.
“Copy that,” Gavin reluctantly said. “Hijinks, you able to make it back?”
“System is shot to hell,” Hijinks said. “No way will I make it without a tow.”
Gavin moaned heavily within his helmet and said. “Then there’s Hammer in his pod.”
“The John F. Kennedy is close by,” Orbital transmitted over the radio. “I’ll transmit our location for a rescue. Y’all can return to the Winston Churchill, I’ll watch over ‘em.”
“Why you?” Gavin asked.
“Because I have more missiles ready than the rest of you, not to mention full shields,” Orbital said. “Besides, look at the location of the Crimson Arrow, I doubt it’s going to return anyway; ain’t no point in having the whole gang sit here.”
“Very well, then, keep them safe,” Aura said as her craft turned around. “Returning to Winston Churchill.”
“Solid copy lead, I’ll sing some good ol’ country music songs to keep ‘em calm,” Orbital said.
There was some laugher over the radio, then Hijinks’s voice said. “I’ll pay you a lot of credits if you don’t.”
… … …
►► Crimson Arrow, Jupiter Orbit
► Sol System
The Crimson Arrow began its flyby of Jupiter after its defiant escape from its human pursuers. One of many hurdles Noylarlie would have to deal with as two human battleships emerged the horizon of the gas giant, on a direct course toward the Crimson Arrow. Her psionic mind in conjunction with the ships computers detected swarms of fighters from both ships launching toward the Crimson Arrow.
Danyal had remained silent for most of the trip until, holding on to his wounds and constantly speaking in the human language, something Noylarlie never got around to learning, and neither did Parcisei. There was a level of…aggression in Danyal’s tone, and it wasn’t helping with the new challenge she was now faced with.
“Find a way to tell him to shut up, or I will cut off his tongue, with my mind,” Noylarlie said to Parcisei.
“If we don’t escape from these human ships, his rambling will be the least of our concerns!”
The human ships got closer; Noylarlie detected the presence of another larger human battleship changing its course farther out in the system. And two Radiance cruisers in orbit around Earth powering their engines, most likely to join the party around Jupiter. She glanced out of the windshield, and debated about her next action. The Crimson Arrow wasn’t powerful enough to fight a group this large or fast enough to outpace them in a run back toward the nearest space bridge, ten light-years away. The gigantic ball of gas clouds below her…it was the only option that repeatedly popped into her thoughts—fly into the atmosphere of Jupiter.
She wasn’t fully aware of what human ships were capable of, but judging by their size and design, they were probably not meant for atmosphere flight, let alone atmospheric flight through a gas giant. Even Radiance ships didn’t fare well in conditions like that unless they had a powerful psionic team aboard. The destination was chosen, and the nose of the Crimson Arrow was deliberately inclined toward the swirling lines of clouds of Jupiter.
As the world got closer through the windshield, Noylarlie’s mind started a systemwide shutdown of noncritical systems throughout the ship. The shields were going to need every last bit of power for protection from the intense winds and pressure. Gravity would be an issue as well, even in the upper atmosphere. Parcisei and Danyal would have to enter cryostasis, while Noylarlie would have to use her psionics to prevent her body from being crushed under its newfound weight.
Minutes passed and the Crimson Arrow began to slow sink into the sea of dark clouds below while nothing but silence was heard throughout the interior of the Crimson Arrow. Both Parcisei and Danyal had entered cryo as she requested not long ago. The human attack fleet above them, held their spot above Jupiter where the Crimson Arrow entered, tracking her movement and waiting for her to make her escape again. This brought up the next hurdle, escape. Noylarlie couldn’t stay here; flying though Jupiter’s skies forever, she’d need a way out, and soon, ideally one that didn’t involve surrendering to the humans.
Her back inclined backward in her chair, while she used her psionic mind to counter the crushing gravitational pull being done to her body. There was nothing but crimson skies directly outside the windshield, and the consistent blue and purple flickering of the ship’s shields as brutal winds struck against it. It was a calming experience surprisingly, knowing that a vast void of gasses, storms, and thunder strikes existed below with no end in sight.
And her mother’s voice calling her name.
… … …
►► Northern Canada
► Sol System
Whigli stood perched on a snow-covered mountain peak overlooking the location of the HLF base—rather, what was left of it. UNE fighters swarmed in circles around it after an hour-long bombardment of the region with their plasma missiles. He teleported here with the last bit of psionic strength he had left after Noylarlie put him down into the excruciating hot sands out in Iran.
He had to come back here, not just because his body could cool off and his mind could rest, but also because he couldn’t bear to look at or talk with the others. Leaping away to defend them blindly, he discovered that the person attacking was Noylarlie, a woman he owed a lot to, now more than ever. Noylarlie opened his eyes once again; the truth was clear. Hannah lied, Jazz lied, and humans lied. Everyone around him was deceptive and couldn’t be trusted, as they all had their own plans. Plans that required him to be used.
Hannah and Destiny only wanted him around because of his psionic gifts and his ability to recruit other Hashmedai into the HLF during its early days. He had a use, and they exploited it, just like how the Hashmedai Empire treated its psionics. Force them to train, undergo augmentation, and then ship them out to wherever the empire demanded. Parents protecting their children from suffering such a fate were executed just like his father. And said children were taken away anyway, only to die on some faraway world…like Chidorli.
Jerut, the Celestial Order, the empire, Radiance and humans—if none of them existed, if none of them did the things they did, Chidorli would still be alive. Radiance made the brainjack device, a Radiance officer fired it into Chidorli, pressured by humans to save their pathetic world from a pointless invasion from the empire, and an invasion engineered by the Celestial Order.
And what came out of it? A new adversary, the UNE, one that could create imbalance throughout the galaxy if left alone or merge with the Radiance Union, making them stronger. No, he thought. This needs to stop now. The order, empire, union, and UNE all must be punished. They all must be reduced to ashes. They all must suffer the wrath of Whigli’s growing hatred for galactic nations trying to impose their idea of order on everyone.
He began to conjure a list of names, targets within his head. A hit list. Gengei the Radiance commander, who wielded and fired the brainjack device into Chidorli’s head, and thus brought about her eventual death. He left Earth to head toward Lejorania Sanctum along with Chloe, her friends, and cowardly human refugees
. On that note of Chloe, she was there when Chidorli got brainjacked; she, her sister, and Gavin were all there supporting the operation. In fact, Gavin’s actions resulted in Chidorli being targeted over Whigli. His hit list grew.
Then there is Paryo, the empress and her daughter. They attacked Earth. Yes, the Celestial Order manipulated the attack in the first place; nevertheless, they played right into it without thinking things over. The imperial family got to decide who lived and died within and outside the empire while living a comfortable lifestyle. Those with psionics living within the imperial family don’t even have to attend psionic training or go to war. How lucky for them.
In the distance, he saw several UNE transport ships descend from the clouds, landing next to the now exposed entry point to the HLF base. He couldn’t help but laugh. Not long ago, he would have rushed in to help them fight. Now he watched and hoped that they all died. He hoped that the fight would result in massive deaths on both sides. The first part of his plans for vengeance was already moving forward, and he didn’t have to do anything except watch and refuse to help the people who used him for victory.
The crunching sound of a set of footsteps crushing snow and ice between each step crept up behind Whigli. Someone was coming. Whoever it was, this was going to be an interesting battle should they be here for a fight; his psionic mind hadn’t fully recovered. He spun around and saw a woman, a human woman, approaching from behind. She was armed, but kept her weapon holstered and had a smug grin on her face.
After several seconds of eye contact, the woman asked, “So why don’t you support your friends down below?”
“Friends?” Whigli said, staring back at the battle below. “I have no friends. The last person important to me died twenty-two years ago.”
“And you’ve been stuck here on this rock ever since, abandoned by your country.” There was no sound coming out of his lips. The only sounds were explosions and gunfire, echoing from below. “Look, I’m here to talk.”
“I figured so, but I’m not interested in your kind anymore.”
“I want to offer you something,” she said. “A way out. A way off this planet.”
He chuckled. After all, he just went through in his head, yet another person, a human, wants to use him for something, “Why would you do that?”
“I know all about you…Whigli,” she said, standing next to him, watching the battle unfold. “I know that you were sent here by the Celestial Order, yet you weren’t fully onboard with their plans. More like a gun for hire rather than a fully dedicated member. Now you’re stuck here, like the other Hashmedai. But you’re not like them. You weren’t supposed to be here; you were never in the military or recruited to be a shipboard psionic.”
“How do you know this?” he asked, facing her.
“The Whisper and EISS share information now and then,” she replied. “The name’s Hawke, Kasidey Hawke.”
EISS, I should have known, he thought and said nothing more to her.
“Yeah, I get it, you don’t trust me, I don’t blame you, and I’d have my doubts if I were in your shoes,” Kasidey said. “But think of it this way. I took a big risk coming here to speak to you. You could kill me right now with your psionic might if you wanted to; all I got is a damn pistol. If I wanted you dead, I would have called in for an airstrike up here, but I didn’t.”
“What do you want from me?”
“Two things—meet a friend of mine, and keep that anger, hate, and remorse you have building up inside of you flowing.”
There was no doubt in his mind she was planning to use him, and so he agreed to her terms. For he had come up with a plan of his own, one that would make him do exactly what everyone around him had been doing to him for years—using people to get what he wanted. Kasidey Hawke and the EISS would be first victims if things went right.
… … …
►► HLF Headquarters, Northern Canada
► Sol System
Chloe’s rifle finished discharging, putting down the last HLF fighter within the dark corridors, corridors full of blood and body parts from human and Hashmedai followers. She along with Sarah and Chris took point in the door-to-door search-and-destroy mission, one that was a long time coming. Hannah was down here, somewhere in one of these rooms, according to Sarah’s and Chris’s memories.
Chloe had hoped to encounter that bitch who put a bullet in her and in Ella’s head. Destiny. It was bad enough she escaped from the fiasco in Vancouver. But nobody gets what they want in life, Destiny was nowhere to be found. Perhaps Jacob’s team in the other sections got her. Or maybe she was killed in the opening bombards. Who knows. Then there was Jazz, once again allying himself with the wrong side. Part of her hoped that he lived, so that he could learn his lesson by sitting in a prison cell for supporting the Hashmedai during the invasion, and then coming back to support the HLF.
But who was she kidding? The voices, that vision. Jazz was linked to it somehow. Her only chance at finding answers was going to revolve around him being alive.
“Here!” Sarah shouted while pointing to a door they were quickly approaching. “This is her room.”
Chloe instructed her two teammates to stand on either side of the door; a breach was in the making. Chris placed a square-shaped device that stuck directly into the middle of the door. It was a plasma explosive, or P-4, as EDF members commonly called it. Chloe stood facing the door, held her rifle forward, and waited for the device to explode with its superheated force. And it did just that; it reduced the metallic sliding door to burning and melted scraps of metal. The explosion caused their shields to flicker briefly. Chloe quickly checked the status of her and her team’s shield strength via her helmet’s HUD: 79 percent, good enough.
The three swarmed into the bedroom. This was indeed Hannah’s room. The dark gothic look was exactly how it was described to Chloe. As expected, four armed HLF guards were inside. They stood up after the blast knocked them down only to be greeted by the breaching EDF team. They instantly sat back down on the floor in a bloody rage as Chloe’s, Sarah’s, and Chris’s rifles terminated them without bias. There was just one target remaining, and she lay on her bed, seemingly oblivious to what had just happened.
Chloe could tell that Sarah wanted to shoot, but she knew she wouldn’t. Gunning down an unarmed enemy wasn’t her thing, or anyone else’s. Chloe walked toward the bed, her sights aiming through the holographic targeting scanner of her weapon. Hannah’s body rose up from her bed when Chloe got close enough, like a zombie coming back from the dead.
“It’s over, Hannah,” Chloe said. “Give up now.”
Ignoring her words, Hannah allowed her feet to hit the cold metallic floor, and she walked toward the three. She was wearing a black velvet bustier dress. Brave, Chloe thought as she and the rest of her team kept their rifles pointed toward Hannah, their fingers placed just before the trigger, waiting a for something unexpected.
Hannah began to speak. “They watched her with their weapons pointed, listening to her words. Chris wondered if she was insane. Perhaps he’d just pull the trigger and end her suffering. But no, he wouldn’t; he was a soldier, one who followed orders.”
Who the hell is she talking to?
“They all are, they won’t shoot her, but yet they wonder. Why? Why is she talking like this? Why isn’t she afraid? Why did she allow such a group like the HLF to exist? What does she say? It was necessary?” Hannah’s slender fingers stroked the barrel of Chloe’s rifle, and then she smiled warmly at her. “Because it was critical that the events that unfolded over the last few years will help define humanity? Help independent thought to exist long after the cavernous jaws of the Radiance Union swallow it whole? Help set off events that will allow Hannah to leave this world?”
A spine-chilling gaze from Hannah’s eyes pierced through into Chloe’s mind as Hannah continued to speak. “Ah, Chloe, she knows what’s really going on now, or rather she will soon—very, very soon! Fiesei, in some strange way, was right. Chaos creates id
eas, ideas live forever, and the idea of humanity holding on to its freedoms even after assimilation will live on forever. One day, someone will rise up; pass on those ideas to not just humans of the future, but those souls within Radiance. Rise up; create the union the galaxy needs. Maybe that’s enough for now. These soldiers want to do their job and leave.”
Hannah’s arms rose up in a please-handcuff-me manner toward Chloe, and she spoke again. “Reluctantly, she offers herself to her captors. Not because it’s the only choice, but because it is the choice that led her down the path. Toward the locked gates, for she, Hannah Grey, daughter of Alisha Levesque, is the key. Oh, Mommy, you’re going to be so proud!” Hannah’s face tilted toward the ceiling, officially ending her long and maniacal soliloquy.
Chloe was glad none of them shot her. Hannah was crazy and quite possibly couldn’t be held accountable for the things she had done. But at the same time, Chloe had a bad feeling as she placed the woman in custody; an uneasy feeling that she was doing something wrong.
The three began to walk out, dragging Hannah away in handcuffs. Chloe was seconds away from reporting with the rest of the UNE team of their success when a voice spoke. “Remember this day well. It is the start of the celestial ascension.” She didn’t recognize the voice, though it sounded like a woman. And it sure as hell wasn’t Sarah or Hannah. If Chloe didn’t know any better, the voice came from her head…oh god, not again.
What the fuck? Chloe’s thoughts echoed after hearing the voice.
“The celestial ascension, Chloe!” Hannah interrupted during her escort out. “You, Jazz, and Noylarlie are finishing the tasks you started years ago.”
… … …
►► Earth Cube, Geneva, Earth
► Sol System
“Excellent,” Crimei said as he, Mariana, and Fiesei watched the news pour in regarding the HLF’s demise on a holographic TV screen.
Uprising of the Exiled (Splintered Galaxy Book 2) Page 34
