She squealed and launched herself into my arms. Then we both blushed at her public display of affection and she quickly pulled back and placed the back of her hand on my cheek. “Thank you so muck Kara. This is too wonderful for words.”
I smiled back. “Just be sure to get her flying again. A friend of mine with that much valor deserves to be in the sky.”
Arina was nodding cutely and Inatra was smiling and hissing lovingly. I could feel the waves of joy hitting me from the girls and the love of my life. Kat grabbed my hand and wouldn't let go. I resigned myself to the happy fact that I didn't want her to.
As we flew, I looked out the window at the sky. Kat's voice was in my head, “What is it Kara.”
I responded over our link, “There are nine more ships just like that out there, somewhere.”
She kissed me on the lips then, responded out loud, mimicking my voice well, “I know. Let them come, we will be here waiting... we are Valkyrie!” And the cabin erupted into the battle cries of the women of Odin's family.
Epilogue
I watched the impossible from my perch in the mountains. When my scanners picked up the Jotunn energy beam striking the planet, I was worried. My jump-pack wouldn't have the power to space fold for at least another week. I thought for sure I would meet my end with the other races on this planet. That this would be the final resting place of Artemis of Olympus.
But these people were somehow able to not just stop the attack, but to actually bring down a Frost Giant vessel. Never in recorded time has that occurred. We thought them all barbarians. Like the ones from that blue planet... Earth? That we had visited thousands of turnings ago, in search of what they deemed the Asgard, a race of gods. On our short time on that planet, we found no proof of their existence.
When we detected a Frost Giant Star Killer on a course that would intersect this planet, I was sent here from Olympus to witness the culling of this world. To chronicle it so that these people would not be forgotten. I was shocked to see so many races, including some of those humans from Earth. Had they evolved so much as to have interstellar transport now?
There seemed to be an unstable peace between the domed cities and that large warlike race when I arrived. We have seen their kind before. They arrived at Olympus in star-ships and attacked without warning. Their technology was far inferior to ours and we laid waste to their fleet. The data we could extract from the wreckage of their fleet showed they were Ragnarok and their propose in life was to bring down an apparent race called Valkyrie. This tied the Ragnarok to Earth in our minds as Valkyrie was a term used on Earth.
I found myself wondering if the architects of these domed cities were the fabled gods of Asgard. The presence of humans did point to that conclusion.
I found myself confused, they seemed to be a docile race, yet they lived in peace with the Ragnarok. There was another race that dwelled mostly in the smaller domed city to the north. They were weaker than the other races, but had the fire of the humans of Earth instead of the docile nature of the race I will call Asgard.
Well, docile that is until I witnessed yet another impossibility. In all our eons of hiding and fighting the Frost Giants, we have only been able to wound them once or twice. Their technology and their strength were far superior to ours. We had to develop special weapons like my arrows to even scratch their armor.
Yet, a tiny Asgard met Ymir on the battlefield and matched his fury and actually stopped one of his blows. That Asgard seemed to have no fear, her courage was beyond measure as she chased him off-planet.
Then I watched as all the races assembled together to face the entire regiment of ten Frost Giants and they actually vanquished them! Only once before... long before the Olympians were created, had a Jotunn been killed. That was what brought about our existence. That tiny Asgard returned and finished off Ymir himself in spectacular fashion.
Then these women of the domed city converged and destroyed the Star Killer as it hurled toward their city. This told me these were indeed the gods of Asgard. My sensors can make no sense of their energy readings and the interference from this odd metal lacing these mountains hasn't made it any easier.
Now weeks after the battle, the Ragnarok seem to be leaving the domed cities to the abandoned villages. But it seems all races are free to come and go to the domes.
I made a decision and started making my way down the mountain. I know we are always to stay hidden so the Frost Giants do not find our kind again. But I believe it is time. Time to come out of the shadows. Time that we don't cower in fear and embrace our place among the races spreading through the stars.
I lowered the hood on my cloak and deactivated the camouflage circuit as I stepped out onto the repaired roadway to the gates of the magnificent city. I slid my bow into its sheath on my back and stood in front of the shield there. I looked over to see a Ragnarok just walk through it. I put a hand forward and it passed through the barrier. Was it some sort of an intelligent shield? I approached a line of imposing men in armor at the second shield. Without even looking at me they made a hole for me and I cautiously stepped through the second barrier and into the city.
Nobody tried to stop me, the men just stepped back into place. I turned and looked up to the soaring white spires. It was an awe inspiring sight! I took no more than three steps when a tiny girl came running my way, holding something up to me.
She spoke to me, and I tilted my head at the odd language. She spoke again and my communication circuit translated about half the words. “Use nskwhr claim your jswjhr whenever you kshwr the citadel, pretty lady.”
I squatted in front of her and motioned for her to say it again. “Use this to claim your weapons whenever you exit the citadel, pretty lady.”
I looked at her hand and then took the chip. I looked around, nobody had weapons. I understood, and for the first time since I could hold it, I surrendered my bow and quiver of arrows, to this overly cute girl. I was worried at first, the quiver would weigh more than her but she lifted it easily. Hmm... heavy worlders?
I asked... it sounded odd as my com circuit intercepted my speech and translated. “Thank you. What is your name small one?”
She smiled and stood as tall as she could with a look of pride on her face, “I'm Kate... Ummm... Kitty, the Efficient, second to Pegasus of the Sky!”
I grinned at her. She was beyond adorable. I pocketed the electronic claim ticket in my cloak pocket and took three more steps as I looked back at her placing my weapons in a rack, and ran directly into someone.
I stepped back saying, “I'm terribly sorry.” Then stopped dead. In spectacular shining blue and blackish red armor with a black, flowing cape, was possibly the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on. It was the woman who had struck down Ymir! Her eyes looked slightly milky and sightless as she smiled broadly at me. She was flanked by four other women in similar brilliant armor and two huge men, one in green armor and one in flowing robes.
The woman was suddenly grasping my forearm and chuckling with humor, most likely because of my shock. Her sweet voice said, “Well met. I am Kara, the Wild One. First Valkyrie of Valhalla. On behalf of all Asgard, we welcome you. Artemis I presume? We have been watching you watch us. I am happy you decided to come meet us. I believe this belongs to you.”
She was holding out one of my arrows in her other hand. I nodded once with a smile on my face. It was true! I, Artemis of Olympus, had found the gods of Asgard we have sought out for so long!
The End
The Valkyrie Chronicles: Titans
By Erik Schubach
Copyright © 2014 by Erik Schubach
Self publishing
P.O. Box 523
Nine Mile Falls, WA 99026
Cover Photo © 2014 Zharate / ShutterStock.com license
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, blog, or broadcast.
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Manufactured in the United States of America
FIRST EDITION
ISBN 978-0-9909806-1-2
Prologue
We scouted the ancient ruins of the old Ragnarok capital city of New Ishatak for more of the hybrid sentinels. The Frost Giants of Jotunheim left them behind to prevent recolonization of the Ragnarok homeworld. I still couldn't fathom that the Jotunn had wiped out every single living Ragnarok and animal on the planet with their culling devices so very long ago.
It was almost surreal, the jungles had overtaken the cities over the eons since the planet was taken. The half crumbled plasticrete towers that jutted up toward the sky reminded me of the bones of some immense, long dead dinosaur from a bygone era, thrusting up through the jungle.
I shook my head at this. The second most technologically advanced civilization in the galaxy and our once sworn enemies had thrived here only to be annihilated by a single Jotunn vessel with ten men aboard. Well, third most advanced now that our new allies, the Olympians, had come to stand by us after eons of hiding.
I still marveled at what the people of Olympus had accomplished. Their tech, though inferior in many ways, almost matched Asgard technology, and in some areas eclipsed our own in its brute force implementation. I could understand brute force, that is the one thing that I, Kara the Wild One, First Valkyrie of Asgard excel in. Artemis has become a steadfast friend to us in the eons since revealing herself to us.
I stopped as a chill went down my spine and my nanites, my Verr, snapped up various overlays in my eyes. Thermal scans and motion and vector tracking all confirmed what the shiver had indicated. There were four hybrids charging through the ruins toward our location. No, make that six, two more were converging from another grid. Anticipating my order, the Verr set our scout team's coms to voice activated.
I turned to my small scout team. My mate, Kate the Raging Storm, First Valkyrie of Earth. My sister in law, Inatra the Singing Rain, First Valkyrie of Ragnarok. Artemis from Olympus. And finally Intark. I suppressed a grin as I looked at the rugged, middle-aged Ragnarok commander who helped me bring down the Jotunn Star Killer vessel that was threatening to destroy the planet Folkvangr all those centuries ago. My daughter Essa wound up laying claim to him and he reciprocated, so it is with great humor that I sometimes call the man who looks twice my age, my son.
I scanned the skies, somewhere up there is the fifth of my team. You never know with her.
I told everyone, “Heads up. Four hybrids coming in at our ten o'clock, two at our three.” They all nodded and the vegetation around us took on a bluish glow as all of us Valkyrie activated our nano-lattice. The blue net pattern of compressed magnetic force covered our bodies and hardened us against damage. Intark just smiled a predatory smile and took the huge chain gun off his back as easily as if it were a toy. The seven foot tall Ragnarok warrior felt at home on the high gravity planet of his ancestors. I shook my head at the man. He had no nano-lattice like us women of Valhalla and it is impossible to make the man stay behind while we secure his homeworld. That chain gun he had named Buttercup was his favorite toy, he says it is the one thing the humans of Earth did right.
I know it has been eons, but I still couldn't get used to him with two eyes, since he wore an eye-patch the first time we met. But after he and other Ragnarok, were injected with Asgard nanites, his missing eye had regenerated.
Kate caught my attention and smiled, she always knew what I was thinking, apparently my emotions are too strong and bleed over the nanite link that us daughters of Odin and our children share.
Artemis grunted, I glanced over and she looked nervous. Hiding was the best defense the people of Olympus had perfected over the countless eons, so this operation didn't sit well with her. I could understand, it was instinct for her to fade away. I would never call that woman a coward though. If pushed, she is one of the most deadly long range fighters I have ever known.
That bow of hers is an amazing piece of technology, that is a great equalizer. Its arrows can actually damage and even penetrate that unholy Jotunn armor. I watched her cloak shimmer to life and grinned, the protection their reactionary cloth gave them was nothing to sneeze at either. It afforded her as much protection, if not more, than our regenerative Valkyrie armor.
She looked at me nervously. “There are six this time. They are learning. We should call for backup.”
I understood the apprehension. These sentinel hybrid creatures were virtually mindless bio-mechanical creatures run by combat computers. They looked like the old three horned dinosaurs of Earth that I had seen once as a child. What were they called? Triceratops? But their bodies were augmented with mechanical implants, weapons systems, and their immense bony foreskull was covered in that infernal Jotunn armor that only my power of Thor or Odin's Spear could damage. Or of course Artemis' arrows.
They always faced their enemies, to keep that tough armor between us and them. The energy weapons they used at long range while ineffective against us Valkyrie, who could absorb the blasts with our nano-lattice, were an extreme danger to Intark and Artemis.
If we could flank them and get around to their sides where they are more vulnerable, then a couple of us can do enough damage to take them down. The battle computers on board allowed the lumbering beasts to counter our movements efficiently if they worked in concert with each other. So our general tactic so far has been to isolate them one at a time to take them down. We have taken hundreds down across the planet like that, but they are learning, like a hive-mind and are anticipating our patrols like this and coordinating attacks.
Before I could respond to Artemis, an elated cry was heard over our coms. “Yeeeeeetahhh! We don't need backup, I am your backup!”
My eyes snapped to the sky to see three familiar incoming cylindrical wind riders, marked in the colors of the Sky. They numbered six now, a race of sentient ships of the Asgard. There was a woman in her familiar three-point stance, standing on the roof of the lead vehicle, Pegasus, as the other ships, Looper and Swooper started barrel-roll peel-offs. They dipped below the lead vessel just as the woman leapt off the roof of Pegasus as she veered off.
The figure fell hundreds of feet just to lithely land on the roof of Swooper, and somersault off of the ship like it were a springboard. The hybrids that had just arrived in the clearing in front of us opened fire at the last incoming vessel that just absorbed the blasts with its own nano-lattice. Others opened fire on us.
I stepped in front of Intark and Kate stepped in front of Artemis and we absorbed the blasts and waited for the beasts to get closer to engage. Inatra hissed out a challenge like a Terran cat and Intark just stood patiently like a hunter, ready to fire a steady stream of thermite rounds into any target the creatures presented him.
The woman in the sky had just rebounded off of Looper's roof and the wind rider veered off when she spread her arms and photonic webbing appeared between her arms and legs. The coherent light sails making her look like a flying squirrel from Earth as she soared the last couple hundred yards to the jungle canopy. There she switched off her glide suit and snagged a tree branch and swung around it bleeding off half of her speed. She whipped up in a graceful arc and took a magnetic lance spear from her back as she took constant fire from the hybrids. She landed in a three-point stance on the rearmost hybrid, sinking the lance into its skull behind the immense bone and armor shield.
The beast roared in protest and swerved. Then it veered back erratically and ran full speed into the nearest hybrid, great horns impaling it. I snorted in surprise, she was using the lance to guide the animal, like a
horse. Another Hybrid turned from us to contend with the woman and her rouge hybrid.
She dove off just as they collided, taking each other down in a horrific sound of bone and armor cracking. She landed lightly on the ground in a roll but just kept rolling under a fourth. Bringing her spear to bear as she passed quickly under it, disemboweling it as she passed.
Kate and I concentrated on another with our power of Thor. The lightning of pure compressed magnetic energy leaped from our hands, mine hitting the ground and blowing a crater in front of the animal, causing it to trip before it could react. Kate's striking its eyes and destroying them and cracking the armor around its eye sockets. Before we could blink, the deafening roar of a chain gun sounded out and Intark was hitting the eye sockets of the beast and the cracks in the armor with a steady wall of thermite tipped bullets. His battle cry sounding out. The projectiles chewed through the creature and Intark must have emptied a couple hundred rounds into the hybrid's skull before it dropped.
Then we all turned to the final hybrid. It was almost upon us. I grinned in anticipation and as one, Kate and I broke from the group and ran at an oblique angle away from the others. We fired lightning at the beast, it had learned from what it just saw and compensated. I chuckled at the stupid beast, we were just the bait.
I could feel it in the air before I saw it. The compressed gravity of an infinitesimally small point singularity as Artemis pulled back on her bow and let loose an arrow at hypersonic velocities. It went in one side of the hybrid's unprotected hind-skull and out the other side like a hot knife through butter. It embedded almost a foot deep in the plasti-crete wall behind the beast.
It stood there motionless for three long seconds then simply just crumpled to the ground. Inatra was in motion, dispatching the wounded hybrids with her lattice claws. Then everything was silent. We all looked at each other and grinned then let fly our battle cries in celebration.
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