Star Guild: Episodes 1 - 3 (Star Guild Saga)

by Brandon Ellis

pyramids. Although they were far away, they still had managed to cover a lot of space in a short period of time. Several small blips on her screen told her that more enemy craft had launched and coming her way, most likely to intercept Brigantia's sudden offensive play.

  Where's Taranis? A bright, white light abruptly flashed between her and the pyramids, and then a large object appeared. Eden froze, letting go of the control stick, taking a hold of it a second later. “Oh, no!”

  Starbase Matrona, which she thought was gone and dead, had jumped into enemy space with several enemy craft already heading in its direction. If Eden could have created the worst possible scenario, this would be it.

  A loud beeping sound came from her HDC. Glancing at it, she did her best to control herself. Two photon torpedoes had launched from the pyramids and were heading directly for Matrona. The starbase had no defenses, no countermeasures.

  ∞

  Through the hologram, Crystal viewed a broad shouldered humanoid, thick and much taller than any human she'd ever seen. It was outside banging a strange metallic device against the Mech Bay door. A giant? It can't be. Those are only in children's stories.

  The humanoid wore a gray and green space suit. It had dorsal fin-looking spines coming off its gray helmet and down the suit's spine. The helmet also covered the entirety of the head and face, masking any facial features. A triangular craft was parked not far away, and probably the same one that had taken Hendricks' life, and then tried to take hers.

  Crystal ran over to Daf and slid both of her hands under her armpits. A blast sounded, giving Crystal a start and making her drop Daf back onto the floor. Crystal crouched and peeked over a desk and held her breath. Oh, no! No, no, no! The inevitable had occurred. The bay door was gone, blown off of its hinge and she had to move, had to do something, anything, and fast.

  Then she remembered that the door she had opened to get into the office was unlocked! She quickly crawled over to it, reached up her hand to a panel in the wall and pressed a few buttons, locking the door.

  Another bang sounded from Mech Bay. She dropped to the floor on her stomach and started pulling herself back toward Daf by using only her arms, as if her legs were inoperative.

  What am I doing? Go, go, go! She moved her legs, pressing her knees into the floor. Reaching Daf, she pulled her behind a desk and slapped her. “Daf, wake up. Daf!” Daf remained unconscious. Crystal shook her head. Dammit!

  She peeked around the corner of the desk to look out the office window. She saw the humanoid crouching next to her downed Mech, inspecting it, easily seeing that the Mech's hatch had been opened, and knowing that someone had escaped.

  The humanoid turned its head and looked through the window, and even though Crystal couldn't see its eyes through its mask, she knew it was staring directly at her. Then it stood to its full height. The enormity of the individual was terrifying and almost surreal. It was as tall as one of the twelve foot Mechs, and almost as wide. Crystal ducked back behind the desk and slapped Daf a couple of more times. “All you did was pass out. Why are you still unconscious? Wake up or I'm leaving you here!”

  Daf didn't move. Was she even alive? Crystal pressed on Daf's neck, checking for a pulse. She was very much alive. “Get up, you piece of ebb!”

  Nothing.

  Crystal rolled her eyes and quickly pulled Daf across the floor, down an aisle of desks where she picked one and hid them both behind it. The light coming through the windows changed. This was good, thought Crystal. She'd be more hidden as darkness settled over Lumus… but the sun never dipped entirely below the horizon this time of year.

  A blast occurred near the office door, throwing paper and splintered wood into the air. Why didn't they construct the inside of the office with ebb? She glanced up, seeing that the door and a large portion of the wall were missing.

  Crystal covered Daf with her body. A loud footstep came into the office, making Crystal suddenly realize something. Gravity! With the Mech Bay door open, blown from its hinges, and now the office door and a large portion of the wall destroyed, the artificial gravity would have been sucked outside, leaving them to the mercy of Lumus' dense gravity.

  Within minutes, her body would die, either from heart or lung issues, or maybe even brain dysfunction, none of which she cared to choose or try out. She had two minutes, at the most, to get inside of a Mech where pressure would equalize the heavy gravity, making it sustainable for both she and Daf.

  Another step sounded in the office and Crystal peeked over the desk, seeing the very large humanoid hunched forward, doing it's best not to hit its head on the ceiling. It was clearly searching for her, snooping under desks, pushing them out of the way and toppling them over in the process.

  Crystal also saw that it carried a spear-like weapon in its hand and the tip of it glowed an orange-red color. Crystal wondered if it had the ability to shoot. If it did, she and Daf were goners.

  No more thinking, she had to go. She had one attempt and one attempt only. The humanoid moved another step forward, pushing aside the desk she had been hiding behind only a minute ago.

  Taking several more steps forward, the humanoid peered into another room, crouching to move through the doorway, until he disappeared inside of the room.

  This was it. She had to move.

  Crystal grabbed Daf by the wrists and dragged her through the disarrayed desks, through the blasted hole in the office wall, and into the Mech Bay.

  Crystal looked over her shoulder, peering at the standing Mechs lining the warehouse wall. There were about twenty or so Mechs, although only one with the hatch already open, plus it already had a portable staircase pressed against the cockpit.

  With ten more yards to reach the Mech, she turned her head back around, eying the office and gasped. There it was, the humanoid, running toward her, taking long, athletic strides.

  Adrenaline pumping and biceps burning, Crystal made it to the Mech and started to pull Daf up the staircase, straining and squinting, her eyes in pain, and feeling her muscles weaken under the pressure. A sharp beam of orange-reddish light zipped past her head and hit the Mech. A singe of heat smelled from behind her. Looking back, she saw smoke rise from a small indentation in the Mech’s ebb armor. Gazing ahead, her eyes narrowed, determined all the more as adrenaline surged through her body. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that the humanoid was much closer now, holding the spear outward as it ran, pointing it directly at her.

  As fast as she could, she moved up the ladder step by step, surprised at her sudden strength and speed. At the top step, she shoved Daf up and over the hatch, hearing Daf’s body thud against the bottom of the standing cockpit. She jumped up and over and the opening, seeing another flash of orange-reddish light scream past the open hatch, barely missing her. Landing on the floor, she grabbed the handle of the hatch and pulled it shut, pressing the lock button. She scrambled into the straps that belted her body into the standing cockpit, slipping them snugly around her, clicking the belt tightly. “Oh my Guild, oh my Guild, oh my Guild!” Shaking her head and breathlessly, she stood on the foot pads that instantly calibrated her body type to fit the Mech's operational output, then stared at the HDC in front of her.

  “On!” she yelled.

  The Mech came to life, lights flashing, steam rising and creating gravity at normal levels. Immediately, her heart slowed down and she stabilized. She made it.

  Then a pound slammed against the Mech, jolting it. Crystal looked down at Daf sprawled on the floor next to her foot pads. Blood was dripping from her mouth and the side of her head and Crystal wondered if Daf was even alive.

  She better not be dead!

  Another pound and a jolt shuddered through her Mech. “You shit! You wanna fight?!” She turned her torso and swung her arms around, the Mech mimicking her movement, hitting the humanoid hard on its chest. It fell backwards, flinging its arms about wildly as it hit the ground hard, its spear twirling across the floor.

  Crystal walked forward an
d stepped the Mech's foot down on the humanoid's chest. The humanoid grabbed the foot, wrapping its enormous hands around the sides of it, doing its best to get it off its chest. When it was unable to move the Mech even an inch, it finally let go and dropped its arms out wide, like a bird spreading its wings on the ground. Crystal used the two ton Mech foot to crush the humanoid, hopefully ending its life.

  Then, bounding forward and moving as quickly as the Mech was able, Crystal headed for the blown out Mech Bay door. Dim light poured through it and she dared not look behind her, just in case...

  “What's...happening?” Still lying on the floor of the cockpit, Daf had suddenly spoken. She rubbed her temple and winced. Then she looked at her fingers that had gotten wet with blood by touching her temple. “Why...” she coughed, “am I bleeding?”

  Crystal looked at her HDC. “Can't talk right now—we've got unidentified craft heading our way.”

  “Huh?” Daf tried to stand, but fell back down when Crystal leaped her Mech out of the warehouse and slid down a small embankment, landing skillfully in stride. Crystal then turned her Mech and raced toward a large mountain in the distance, checking the heat gauge as she ran, making sure that her Mech wouldn’t overheat.

  “Stay down, Daf, and hold onto something!”

  Daf pressed the ridge of her nose. “I think it's