by James Somers
Vock turned to his warriors and said, "I have chosen you three for this because you are quick and brutal; proven warriors. I want you to remember our former glory and reach within yourselves for the power that is growing inside us again. Use it well and spare no one. At least one of you must find us a way in. I want access to these rebels. They must be crushed once and for all."
"But how do we-"
"They're hold up inside of a mountain. They still need fresh air to breath and that comes in somewhere, and so can we."
"Yes, sir," they said in unison.
"Go in with that ship covertly and find the rest of us a way."
The Agonotti warriors dissipated before him and their mist like forms whirled away together toward the place where the human ship appeared to be headed for on the mountain's face.
Vock and the others would wait and let them do their work. Then when an entrance was revealed, he would move in and gain access to the rebel's network and destroy them utterly.
0
AS the transport approached the face of the mountain, the Agonotti intercepted the ship as a mist and clung to its surface. The rocky cliffs came up to meet the transport fast and then with a flash of light they were entering a large underground cavern.
It was lit across the ceiling with the landing pads marked out across the smooth concrete floor. Other ships were already docked inside with quite a few people congregated near the ships sitting nearest to the entryway.
The three Agonotti warriors took form fast, leaping away from the surface of the transport ship. They each landed on the hangar floor ready for battle. Armor plating and weaponry materialized from their molecules as they tore into the people before them with all of the fury they could muster.
0
TIET hesitated only a moment; a sort of shock to his mental faculties as pure power flashed into being inside the cavern in the forms of the Agonotti. The Draconin rebels were unaffected by it. Their pulse weapons blazed to action against the Agonotti assuming form before them.
The flashing muzzles painted stop motion shadow portraits across the walls as the three warriors became a blur of motion. One of them was right on top of Tiet before he could react. One of the rebels was still firing his rifle as the Agonotti cut him down with a pair of massive tri-bladed claws morphed from his molecular structure. Tiet pulled his blade, but he was back handed before he could activate it.
He fell to the ground as more rebels engaged the Agonotti nightmares. Tiet could sense the others of his party-his son, Wynn and the others all moving in various places within the massive hangar as they fought with the Agonotti warriors.
Was this his fate, he wondered? To lie by the way as others fought the battles in his stead-a half crippled king without a kingdom? No! He fought the pain of his injuries and used his kinesis to get back in the fight.
People were screaming everywhere. Tiet spotted Alec moving some of the rescued women toward a portal at the other end of the hangar. It was a transgate arch embedded in the rock wall. Alec activated the gate as the battle raged and began to move the women through quickly.
The Agonotti were so fast he could hardly keep his eyes planted on them as they shredded through the rebels that were laying down a steady stream of laser fire against them. Kale was trying to fight against one with dual kemsticks whirling in a continuous onslaught of strikes, but he couldn't manage to land anything solid. The amazing thing was that the dispersion field was only doing minimal damage against the Agonotti armor. They were now completely different in their fighting style and ability as compared to the previous encounters a few months before. These fallen Mithri exuded the power implied by what they were.
Wynn and Emil were engaged with another of the three Agonotti warriors in a different area of the chamber as the rate of gunfire became slower and more exact-it just wasn't penetrating their armor.
Tiet launched out against the remaining warrior, almost catching him off guard as he slaughtered more of the gun toting rebels. Tiet struck at the creature, but was blocked by the horrible mutated claws covering each fist. As Tiet fought the creature, he roamed across its form with his mind, trying to discover any weaknesses. There, in the joints between the armor plates.
The warrior forced Tiet back and moved toward the return air vent in the wall behind him. Tiet moved in and struck at him again, but the creature wasn't interested in a fight anymore. He forced Tiet back again and jumped to the vent. His form began to shift again. Tiet hurled his Barudii blade at the target but it sank blade first into the wall behind as the Agonotti became a mist that blew right into the return vent.
Tiet recovered his blade from the wall and looked for the others. Then it occurred to him that the warrior had not been running from him. If he followed the vent out then the other Agonotti, still waiting on the outside of the mountain, could follow it back in. It's a diversion!
"Hurry!" he cried out to Alec, who was still moving escapees through the portal. "They've found a way to get in! The others will be here soon!"
Alec nodded as he urged the women on through at a faster rate. "Everyone evacuate!"
Then, Kale got through with a strike to the armor joint of the Agonotti he was fighting against. The Agonotti warrior howled in agony. Kale followed with a quick set of strikes to other weak spots that were now accessible.
"Father, help the others get through the gate," instructed Kale as he joined Emil fighting the last Agonotti. Wynn joined Tiet as they helped some of the pregnant women through. As the two warriors followed the women through the portal, another underground base was suddenly the setting. Mirah had already come through the gate and she was looking to one woman that had apparently gone into labor during the attack.
"Are you alright?!" Tiet shouted to his wife from across the room.
"Fine. Get the boys through safe!" Mirah said as she continued with the birthing.
Alec came through as Tiet returned to the portal. "That's all of the civilians. Your young men and a few of my men are still fighting the last of them," said Alec.
Tiet ran to the portal and started through. As he appeared on the other side, a huge spiked mace on a serpentine cord swung across his path crashing into the gate control board and one side of the transgate arches. Tiet jumped back reflexively as the weapon nearly tore through his upper torso.
The portal of light blinked once and was gone with Kale and Emil still on the other side with the Agonotti. He screamed to them, but they could not hear.
FOURTEEN
THE ground vibrated with the low hum of the Vorn attack cruisers hanging in the sky overhead. Lucin watched as hundreds of transport pods landed in the valley around him. They carried his precious army of symbyte infected hosts-humans with just enough of him implanted around their brain and spinal cord structures to bend them to his will. Tendrils coursed throughout their bodies and some were specialized; able to emerge through the skin and infect other hosts.
Thousands of humans from the Vorn and Castillian clans back on Castai had been transported with him to Draconis-nearly the entire population of the twelve cities once ruled by Tiet Soone. But that kingdom was over. As soon as Lucin could bring his fallen Mithrial brothers back under his leadership, he would be as Elithias-ruling both a host of Mithri and humans. With his great army he could then move on to conquest of the remaining humans clans on their respective worlds.
Zurig's body had changed somewhat in appearance with his increase in power. It was stronger, faster and Lucin was beginning to see mental powers emerging. In fact his former Mithrial powers were merging with his host and almost nothing seemed to be left of Zurig at all-this was Lucien's body now.
His army was assembling before him; thousands of them, all willing to die for him. Confidence swelled up within Lucin and that sin of sins, responsible for his fall, pride. His power was growing from within and without and all in spite of the will of The Eternal One.
Lucin turned on the hill he stood upon to look to the city in view several miles away. F
rom orbital scans, it was probably the largest out of a few real cities on the continent. The remaining population clusters consisted of small towns and villages.
Lucin knew very little about this planet, apart from its time of creation. It had been sparsely populated, but had been rumored, during the war, to have received a great many refugees seeking an escape from the conflict. Evidently the rumors were true.
But something had happened. The city smelled of destruction, death and decay. The planets largest city was a dead zone. It had to be the handiwork of his Mithrial brethren, the Agonotti, and if so, then they appeared to be gaining power as well.
A fog of ash and pestilence hung over the skyline. He breathed it all in. How wonderful it is. Lucin laughed within himself. He could sense the presence of his fallen ones, somewhere. With the landing of this great army and his warships hovering overhead, surely his Mithrial brethren would have to investigate. Now, all he had to do was to wait for them to make an appearance.
0
KALE flipped backward over the Agonotti warrior as he struck at him. Emil hurled a handful of spicors at the creature, landing a couple of hits that did damage. Kale was quick with a blade from behind, ramming it through a joint in the warrior's armor plating. The Mithrial being fell over and began to dissipate after a moment.
Both boys surveyed the damage. The hangar was a disaster area, and most of the ships were too damaged to be safe for flying. The two rebels that had stayed on this side of the transgate portal were dead.
"That portal is totally ruined," said Emil.
"Yeah, I don't think we could fix that mess, even if we knew how."
"Did you notice that one of those things shot up that ventilation shaft?"
"He'll probably lead others back in here like my father was warning. Got any suggestions?" asked Kale.
"That smaller transport over there; it looks to be in good shape. Maybe we can use its computer to activate the gate they came in by."
"It's worth a shot," said Kale.
They ran across the deck and slid the side door open on the troop compartment of the ship. Making their way into the cockpit, Emil went to work searching the database for a gate command function. Kale was performing systems checks on the engine and bringing the turbines online.
"I've got the command sequence for the gate-I'm activating it," said Emil.
"Great, now if I can-"
Emil looked over at his friend. Kale was staring out of the cockpit window toward the far end of the hangar. Emil followed his friend's gaze to where he could see humanoids materializing from a dark fog growing in size in the far end of the huge chamber.
"Any weapons systems on board?" whispered Kale without taking his eyes from the window.
"Yes, pulse lasers and rockets."
"Unload the rockets on them when I hit the thrusters," instructed Kale.
Emil nodded and gently slid into his flight chair's harness. The panel indicated that turbines were operating at ninety six percent efficiency.
"Time to go," whispered Kale as he grabbed the flight controls.
"Rockets are locked and the gate is active."
He tensed his grip on the controls and activated the thrusters, just as Emil sent the deadly ordinance hurtling down the chamber toward the Agonotti. The ship reared up into the air, barely clearing the pavement before Kale pulled it into a one hundred and eighty degree turn heading for the portal. A huge flash of light erupted behind them as the rockets hit home. The rock wall came at them fast as Kale sought their escape through the active transgate portal.
"I hope that bought us some time. Open the gate!" shouted Kale.
"Got it!"
The portal flashed into being just before the nose of the ship would have smashed into the rock. They were suddenly emerging into open air outside the mountain; rising off of its face. Gravity fought to pull them back as the thrusters pushed hard away from the ground-the boys were locked into their flight chairs barely able to move. The panel readout was registering thruster power at maximum and a warning light was flashing to inform the pilot of potential turbine failure if speed was not reduced quickly.
Kale complied with the computer and eased off of the throttle as he pulled the ship around and leveled out their flight path.
"Do you see anything?!" shouted Kale over the roaring engine.
Emil looked out of the side window from the cockpit as the ship came around.
"We've got company!" said Emil. "Agonotti cloud, rising off of the mountain and headed our way."
"Is there anything near our position where we could hide or anything?"
Emil tapped into the ships database again. He pulled up maps and triangulated their position. "It says the closest civilization is Sector City-one hundred miles. Probably take about ten minutes at this speed."
"Are they gaining on us?" asked Kale.
Emil looked back at the cloud spiraling up and after them. "Hard to tell-they don't even show up on these scanners at all. What do we do when we reach the city?"
Kale looked at his friend with a shrug and said, "At this point, I haven't got a clue. I'm just hoping something will present itself."
0
TIET watched the display from behind Alec. The rebels still managed to have access to quite a bit of technology, even with the Agonotti dominating the population.
"It's confirmed, Tiet. Someone has escaped the mountain with one of our ships. The satellite is tracking them on a course heading toward Sector City."
Tiet breathed a sigh of relief as he glanced back at his wife, who was still assisting one of the young mothers that had just given birth.
"Are they being followed?" asked Wynn.
"It's difficult to tell. One of the advantages the Agonotti have is our inability to detect them as they travel in molecular cloud form."
"My guess would be that they are," said Tiet as he stared at the tracking information. "Look at the speed they're traveling. That's probably close to the max for a troop transport of that type, without blowing the turbines."
"Perhaps they hope to lose the Agonotti somehow inside the city," said Wynn.
"We have a large base under the city with some of our best people there," said Alec. "We can call for them to open up a gate here at the holding station and you can try to intercept them inside the city."
A warning alarm sounded at the computer station. "Sir, we've picked up something you had better see," said one of the data techs.
"What is it?" asked Alec.
"It's an army, sir."
"What? Who are they?"
Tiet and Wynn were at his side pouring over the incoming data. They looked at one another with dread as they realized the nature of the warships and the mass of soldiers assembling in the plains outside of Sector City.
"Those are our warships," said Wynn hesitantly.
"You've brought an army with you?"
"Not exactly," said Tiet. "They're all under the control of Lucin. He managed to assimilate the population on Castai through parasitic invasion."
"You mean we have to fight this invasion army and the Agonotti?"
Neither Wynn nor Tiet wanted to answer the question, but it was still obvious to everyone. Tiet stepped to him.
"None of us has any choice," said Tiet. "We either face them with everything we've got now, or we wait to be hunted down one group at a time. We have to trust Elithias, Alec. He has a plan even if we don't understand it yet."
Tiet stared right into Alec's eyes trying to reassure him. It felt good to walk by the pajet. He didn't have any idea how they could hope to fight against the Agonotti and the symbyte controlled army that was awaiting them, but Tiet was determined he was going to obey Elithias' command from Aija the prophet, no matter what.
"Can you assemble your people at the Sector City base, Alec? Will you fight with us?" asked Tiet.
Alec hesitated a moment, examining the faces of his people in the chamber. "Tranner."
"Yes, sir?"
"Ask Sector co
mmand to open a gate here, and send out to all commands to assemble our forces at Sector City."
"Yes, sir."
Alec turned back to Tiet and said, "We'll give you everything we've got, Tiet."
"My friend, no one can ask more than that," said Tiet. "Wynn, I think it's time to contact Grod and have him rendezvous with us in the city. Mirah-"
"I've got to bring one of the young women with us," said Mirah.
"What? But we're going to war."
"Ramah needs immediate care in our ship's med-lab," said Mirah, "This place is just not equipped for an emergency."
"What's wrong with her?" asked Tiet.
"She's hemorrhaging," she said. "If I don't get it under control quickly, she will bleed to death."
"Alright, get her ready to move."
Mirah smiled and kissed Tiet before heading back to her young patient. Now, all they needed, thought Tiet, was enough rebels to face off against thousands and thousands of their former assimilated comrades and thousands more wraith-like, fallen Mithri. He would have been in despair already, if not for the words of the prophet Aija assuring him of Elithias' plan and the inevitable defeat of his enemies.
"You don't look so good," said Wynn. "Are you alright?"
"I guess that's the thing about walking by faith," replied Tiet. "It's never easy."
FIFTEEN
THE ship was shaking pretty badly by now. The turbines were screaming for mercy as the engine core temperature began to overcome the cooling system and climb into the high range.
"I think they're gaining on us," said Emil, from back in the troop compartment.
"I wonder how many there are?"
"I can't be sure, but the cloud doesn't look nearly as big as the time we were here before. How far are we from the city?"
"According to the satellite feed, after these mountains, we'll be crossing through the plains of Jezerit and then we'll hit the city perimeter," said Kale.
