by James Somers
“But you didn’t have to come here. You realize that you are facing a death sentence by coming here. I just want to know why,” said Wynn.
Kale’s guard seemed to soften at that point. “I’m guilty of killing my own family Mr. Gareth. I betrayed them to the Vorn. My brother is the only one of them who escaped. If he wants to kill me then I’m sure I deserve it.”
Wynn could see the emotion in Kale’s eyes as he spoke. He meant what he was saying. “Perhaps if you told Tiet then he might…”
“He’ll never forgive me. And I really don’t blame him. Whatever I receive for my crimes against my people will never be enough,” said Kale.
Wynn wasn’t sure what to say. He could sense truth in the man and genuine remorse for his past crimes. He stood there still, watching the son of his former king, and he felt sorry for the man. Not because he might die as a traitor, but because he was genuinely repentant and had no way to repair the damage he had done.
Suddenly the door to the room was opening and in walked Tiet.
“So it’s true!!” he shouted.
He pulled his blade from his scabbard as he crossed the small room toward the cell. This was exactly what Wynn was hoping would not happen. He noticed Tiet’s arm still tucked to his side. He hadn’t made it to get the repair yet. Tiet was already bringing his broken arm up painfully to place his hand on the DNA scanner.
It was a moment frozen in time. The energy field went down to the cell as Tiet raised his blade to strike his brother. Wynn knew it now; he was really going to kill him. He looked at Kale. He was just standing there with his eyes closed like it was going to be a relief to his own inner pain.
Tiet thrust his father’s blade toward Kale, and then it was landing on the ground beside him. “What are you doing?!” shouted Tiet.
Wynn had caught his arm in mid-flight and disarmed him. It was a split second decision to save Kale’s life; to save Tiet from the regret and torture of having killed his own brother. “Tiet, if you kill him you’ll never forgive yourself,” said Wynn as they struggled.
“He killed my father, my mother and Orin; our people were slaughtered because of him!” shouted Tiet.
“It’s alright, Wynn,” said Kale, “I deserve this, let him go.”
“You shut your mouth, traitor!!” shouted Tiet as he attacked Kale with his mind.
Kale was pushed backward into the wall. He slumped to the floor in pain under the kinetic attack; he wasn’t trying to shield himself at all from his younger brother’s righteous fury.
“Tiet, he is still your brother, all that you have left of your family!” shouted Wynn.
Tiet shook free of Wynn’s loosening grip on his arm. “Stay out of it, Wynn.”
He looked back to Kale still groaning on the ground trying to breathe. Something snapped in his expression as he looked at his brother bent to his will on the ground in pain. He released him from the attack and backed away with a bewildered look on his face.
He turned away to walk out, looking very disturbed. Tiet extended his good hand behind him and caught his blade as it leapt from the ground, flying across the room after him. The door closed behind him.
Kale began to recover himself. Wynn did not help him up. Instead he stepped back outside the cell and scanned the lock to reactivate the cell’s energy field.
“Watch him,” he said to the guards, who were stunned by the event.
He looked back at the cell to see Kale climbing back to the small bed against the cell wall. There wasn’t time to worry about the pain either of the brothers might feel; the Baruk were still on their way.
XII
RANUL rushed into the power lift heading for the bridge of the Vorn cruiser Esyia. The Baruk were headed into the sector where they were patrolling. The probes along the way were being destroyed systematically as they journeyed toward Castai-Rex. With at least fifty large warships, they were flaunting their power and moving quickly.
The level indicator clicked away as the lift carried him toward the bridge where he could analyze the latest data. There were only two Vorn battle cruisers assigned to each sector from among the twenty-three that had been confiscated on Castai-Ori and left on Rex after the departure of the remaining Vorn military during the battle of Baeth Periege. The Onicule was traveling with them nearby.
All the Vorn battle cruisers were heavily armed and highly maneuverable, but with the greater number of Baruk vessels approaching, many serving aboard the cruisers were expecting to fight a losing battle. Still, morale among the crews remained strong. If they were going to lose, then they would take as many of the Baruk with them as possible.
Suddenly the whole ship reeled. Ranul was tossed into the ceiling of the lift then down to the floor hard. The lights flickered then faded as low intensity emergency lighting came on. It felt like an impact to the ship’s hull, but he couldn’t tell. The lift continued its climb, soon arriving at the bridge.
When the doors opened up, he could see the bridge crew locked into their chairs prepared for battle. On the display they were tracking several objects heading in their direction. Estall was barking out orders to the crew from the command chair.
“Estall, what’s happening?!”
“The Baruk have launched some sort of projectiles from outside the sector; the shields are having difficulty with them. They’re not strong enough to repel these things—they’re some sort of grossly dense alloy.”
“The shields would have to deconstruct and disperse the matter; very difficult with objects of the density you’re talking about.” Ranul jumped to a science station and began to look over the data. An alarm sounded on the bridge.
“Incoming!”
“It’s another one of those projectiles,” said Estall. “Ranul, what do you have!?”
“It’s some kind of Tritarium variant, super density. Its normal molecular arrangement would put it at one thousand times the current size.”
“Evasive!!” shouted Estall to the helmsman.
“It’s tracking with us!” said one of the science officers.
“I’m having trouble with the helm, sir. It’s like we’re being pulled into it.”
“It’s exerting a localized gravitational pull on the ship; gets stronger as it approaches!” shouted Ranul from his station. “Wait, wait! It’s tracking on the Onicule now!”
“She’s going to take a hit!”
The projectile shifted the flight path of the Onicule as it approached, pulling the Vorn cruiser into its path at the last moment. The shields on the ship activated as the object passed into field; trying to vaporize it. It seemed to sheer off half of its mass in vaporized layers but the remainder passed through the shield and crashed into the hull of the Onicule near the rear of the ship.
“She’s hit!!” shouted Estall.
“Analyzing,” said one of the science officers. “The Onicule took a hit just behind mid-ship; several decks destroyed; they’re sealing them off. It’s not a fatal blow.”
Ranul continued to monitor the ship. “Wait! Something is happening! That thing is like a gravity bomb,” he mumbled as he turned to Estall.
On the main view screen the Onicule was beginning to crumble inward, imploding upon itself.
“Ranul, what’s happening to them?” he asked as he watched.
“The localized gravitational field around the object is pulling the ship’s structure inward upon it.”
They all watched helplessly as the Onicule caved in upon itself. Gases escaped in flame as the superstructure crumpled around the gravity projectile within.
“Sir, we are being hailed by the other fleet ships,” said the communications officer. “They’re all on a rendezvous course to this sector.”
“Estall, the Baruk formation of ships is entering the sector now,” said Ranul “They’re splitting up; spreading out against us. Another gravity bomb is approaching our position!”
“Evasive maneuvers!” shouted Estall.
“I’m trying to recalibrate the ship’s s
hields to repel the object rather than vaporize it.”
“Twenty seconds to impact!” shouted another science officer.
“Hurry, Ranul,” gritted Estall as he watched the incoming object on the view screen.
“I think I’ve got it.”
The gravity bomb slammed into the shields of the Esyia and sent the ship reeling off of its flight path. The bridge crew would have been tossed about the chamber had they not been strapped into their flight chairs.
“How bad are we?” asked Estall over the groaning of the engines.
“The object did not penetrate!” shouted Ranul. “It was deflected away. But the impact still damaged our hull by causing a reverberation in the shield.”
“How bad are we?” asked Estall.
“The hull is intact.”
“Are the Baruk within range yet?”
“Just now,” said the weapons officer.
“Lock and fire the dispersion cannon on the nearest ship.”
The large weapon swiveled upon its mount located on the topside of the Esyia, aiming off into the black of space toward the Baruk, still out of visual range. The weapons officer locked on target to the nearest Baruk warship and fired. The beam from the Castillian and Vorn engineered weapon flashed out into the darkness.
The Baruk warship Kosinok veered away from the formation of cruisers toward its designated heading. A beam flashed from ahead of its course and hit the ship, strafing across the surface. It vaporized everything it touched across the surface of the massive hull.
“Direct hit!” shouted the weapons officer.
“They’re raising their shields!” said Ranul from his station.
“Fire again,” said Estall.
Once again the weapon adjusted slightly to reacquire the same target on its trajectory. Once locked, it fired again into the blackness of space. The beam hit the Kosinok square on, but its shields responded in kind.
“Their shields are drained significantly but it didn’t go through,” said Ranul.
“The rest of the fleet is heading for the Baruk formation,” said the other science officer.
“Take us in with them, shields at full power, all weapons systems at the ready. Garret, fire all weapons systems at will as we come into range,” ordered Estall.
TIET sat uneasy on the exam table. His arm was throbbing terribly now, but his conscience was hurting him more. He had wanted so badly to drive the blade through Kale and avenge his family; his people, but it wasn’t what he had expected. Seeing his brother standing there in the cell just waiting to receive his fury was very unsettling.
Tiet had expected a fight; he had wanted a fight. After attacking him mentally and seeing him writhing in pain from the kinetic grasp, Tiet had, for an instant, felt pity for him.
Wynn had stopped him from killing his own brother. At the time he would have struck his mentor for interfering, had he been able, but now he knew he would have regretted that as well. Wynn was no fool and he had no reason to protect Kale. There had to be a good reason for him to step in between them, and save his life.
The med-lab door opened, allowing Mirah K’ore to enter. “So…the king has returned.”
“Hello, Mirah.”
“That’s Dr. K’ore to you. Father said you were going to accept the Council’s nomination to the throne…I haven’t seen you lately.”
“I’m sorry. I’ve had a lot on my mind.”
“I understand. But don’t think that gives you an excuse in the future. Now let’s see that arm.”
Tiet raised the arm for her inspection. The sleeve was already cut away up to his shoulder. The med tech had managed to get that far before the message had come through to Tiet’s com-link that Kale was a prisoner. His arm was severely bruised and swollen but there was no bone penetration.
Mirah picked up a hand held scanner and passed it over his arm. “Well it looks like a clean break, ulna and radius. I won’t ask you just how you managed this.”
“How long to put me back in action, Doc?”
“About two hours of osteoblast therapy and another half hour to bring down the edema.”
“Let’s do it then.”
“OUR ships are really taking a pounding up there, Commander,” said Lieutenant Davers. “They’re outnumbered two to one. They’ve been using the new dispersion cannons, but the Baruk shields are too strong.”
“What’s the current shield status for our ships?” asked Wynn.
“Ten ships below 70 percent shield power, eight below 50 percent power and two are under 20 percent power and three have already been destroyed.”
“What about the Esyia?”
“She’s approaching 30 percent power and still taking a pounding sir.”
Wynn continued to sort through the incoming images on the war room displays. The armada was really getting beaten to death up there. They were tough ships, but the odds were against them. If they failed to stop the Baruk in space then the fight would hit the ground.
“Sir, another of our ships has been destroyed, the Kyrysk,” said Davers.
The other four soldiers manning the war room control systems paused briefly to look up at Wynn then continued with their work.
“What about the Baruk fleet?” asked Wynn, “what kind of damage are they taking?”
“They’re going blow for blow, but our ships are grossly outnumbered,” said Davers.
“By the time they do any significant damage, their shields will be down and it will be over very quickly. Have we notified Tiet yet?”
“He’s in the med lab; the alarms don’t sound in there.”
“Put me through.”
“Online, Sir.”
“Dr. K’ore, may I help you?”
“Mirah. Wynn Gareth here. I need to speak with Tiet immediately.”
“My patient is still undergoing treatment under sedation,” said Mirah.
“I need you to wake him up. We’ve got a situation; he’s needed.”
“What he needs is to get this treatment completed without duress, Commander.”
“Doctor, our fleet is getting burned out of the sky. The Baruk will begin a ground assault as soon as they get the chance. Please, we need him on his feet now.”
“I’ll do the best I can, Mirah out.”
The communication link was terminated at that point. “I’d better make sure of it,” said Wynn. “Davers, what’s the status of our troops?”
“All division commanders report ready and awaiting deployment instructions.”
“Tell them to hold positions and the king will instruct them personally,” said Wynn as he headed out the door.
MIRAH returned to the control panel monitoring Tiet’s treatment. He was coming out of his sedation as the procedure finished up. Everything was precisely computer controlled. She walked into the treatment room as he began to come around.
“How are you feeling?”
“A little groggy, but I feel alright. My arm feels a lot better; just a little sore now.”
“Well, that will pass soon enough. You’ve got plenty of pain meds on board.”
“I appreciate the fix up Doc.”
“You don’t have to be so formal.”
“I know. There’s just been so much happening recently Mirah.”
“Well the arm looks fine,” she evaded.
“Thank you Mirah,” he said, not pursuing. Tiet flexed the arm, trying out the repair. “You do wonderful work.”
“Tiet I uh….” She started to speak as the door to the med lab, opened to let Wynn inside.
“Well I see you’re on your feet again,” he said quickly.
The two dropped their gazes to the ground and then to Wynn and he suddenly realized he might have interrupted something. The thought might have delighted him more had it not been for the present danger; deadly business was at hand.
“Tiet, we’ve got to get you to the main deployment area. The Baruk are hammering our ships and it looks like we’ll be looking at a ground assault somewhere
very soon.”
“I’m ready, let’s go,” he said as he gathered the upper body portion of his uniform from the counter nearby. They both headed out the main door as he called behind to Mirah.
“Thanks again Mirah, we’ll talk soon,” he said as the door closed behind them.
“I hope so,” she whispered to the empty exam room.
They walked quickly together to the nearest lift. “Tiet, I want to apologize for the situation with Kale.”
“Wynn, don’t worry about it. You did what was right. It’s just that…he betrayed everything we knew, and yet he’s my brother.”
“I know.”
The lift opened allowing them in. “Main deployment area,” said Wynn.
The computer complied with the settings and away went the lift through the city.
“You could have killed him and he wouldn’t have made any effort to stop you. I think he even longed for you to do it, to end his pain and guilt.”
“Why should I care about his pain? He betrayed us—all of us. Including you, Wynn.”
“That’s right. And I am still asking you to consider the situation with your brother despite that fact.”
Tiet looked at him sternly then looked back at the city without saying anything.
“I don’t mean this in any insulting way, but Kale did not need my help to save himself from your sword.”
“Do you think he’s that powerful?” asked Tiet more thoughtfully.
“Well, he did defeat Orin and if I have any sensibility about these things I believe he is very powerful.”
“I don’t want to hate him Wynn, I just don’t know how to handle this right now…”
The lift slowed as they entered the deployment area and its control tower.
“…but we have a war to deal with; everything else will have to wait.”
AS Wynn and Tiet entered the control center of the city’s main deployment area, the data techs were busy monitoring the current situation with the fleet as well as troop status and the readiness of the twelve cities and their defense systems.
