“But even non-Fury were present at our wedding; how do you explain that?”
“Well, first of all, it was just for a few hours, and we had reduced the time dilation to a much lower level during their presence. Only when the two of us remained, did I boost it back to a factor of three hundred and fifty. Perhaps that’s what we could try, a lower setting for you?”
“No, Chase. Don’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because the last thing I want is to be responsible for you and Chris not being able to train more just so that I can train with you. I would never forgive myself if that were the reason why we…”
But Sarah let the words hang.
“We won’t fail, Sarah. We can’t fail.”
“I know, and victory might be contingent upon you training until the last possible second. As such, you should not adjust the time chamber for me. In fact, you should check with Kvasir if you could boost it to a higher dilation factor now that I won’t be using it anymore.”
Chase hadn’t thought of that, even though the Asgardian had told him that he had set a level he felt comfortable with for all of them. Perhaps he could boost that factor when Chase trained with Argos and Chris.
“That’s a good idea, thank you. I’m just sorry you can’t train with us anymore. We sure are gonna miss you. Would you like me to walk you to our quarters?”
Sarah shook her head. “There’s no need, I feel perfectly fine now that I’ve decided not to return to the chamber anymore. I’ll just go and check on the status of the Fury attacks. I know there’s been more movement on that front lately.”
“If you need me, you know where to find me.”
She took Chase’s face in her hands and kissed him gently.
“Yes, love.”
Ryonna dreaded answering the door that morning. She knew who was coming to visit, and she simply didn’t know how to tell Tar’Lock that his sister was dead. She didn’t regret it, even though she hadn’t pulled the trigger, she most likely would have given the chance. And therein lies the dilemma, should she let Tar’Lock know?
Her quarter’s door split open, and Tar’Lock jumped into her arms. He was so frail and small compared to the Droxian.
Ryonna gently broke the hug, and Tar’Lock clicked in a sad rhythm.
“Sorry,” he said. “I just missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too, but— we need to talk. Take a seat, Tar’Lock.”
He looked into her eyes for what seemed like the longest of times before going to sit on a synthetic leather chair.
“What’s going on?”
Ryonna sat opposite her insectoid friend and rested her chin on her cradled hands.
“I don’t know how to tell you this.”
“Tell me what?”
Ryonna bit her lip, which elicited more clicks from the Gorgar.
“Beating around the bush isn’t your style. Maybe you should just tell me what’s on your mind?”
“I’m afraid I have some bad news.”
“You’re back alive, and from what I’ve heard, you barely made it, so whatever the news, it can’t be that bad.”
Ryonna hated this. While she couldn’t reciprocate the romantic feelings she knew Tar’Lock harbored for her, he was still her friend. She hadn’t forgotten his help in locating Ronan in Hellstar Prison or all the times he risked his life to save hers. But there was no way she would hide the truth from him. Her deep-rooted sense of honor prevented it.
“I’m afraid Tar’Sian is dead.”
Tar’Lock’s eyes widened and then closed more than usual as confusion could be read on his pale-brownish skin. A low throaty noise, different than his usual chirpy clicking, hummed for a few seconds.
“What? How?”
“The how doesn’t matter. I think.”
Tar’Lock jumped out of the chair.
“How can it not matter?”
Ryonna swallowed hard. Her friend was right; she was not one to beat around the bush. Hopefully, he would understand, but even if he didn’t, Ryonna would not sugarcoat it.
“She tried to kill me.”
Tar’Lock’s eyes registered shock at the realization.
“Did…did you?”
“No, I didn’t kill her myself.”
“Then why do you look so guilty?” Tar’Lock blurted, his tone sharper than she had ever heard from him.
“Because given a chance, I think I would have.”
Tar’Lock spat between clenched teeth. “You think?”
“Let me rephrase that. I owe you that much. I would have, yes.”
Tar’Lock fell on his knees and tears flowed from his big, black, round eyes.
“Why? What would possess you to do this?”
“You remember the queen we learned about the last time we were on Gorgar?”
“Yes, what does it have to do with my sister Tar’Sian?”
“Tar’Lock, she was the queen! I hoped I would be able to accomplish my mission peacefully, but she captured and tortured me. I literally came within an inch of my life before I was rescued, and your sister was killed in the process. I— I’m sorry.”
Tar’Lock rose and wiped his burning tears.
“You’re sorry?”
“I am. There was no other cho—”
“Shut up!” he interrupted, pointing an accusing finger at her. “Not another word.”
She nodded, but she could tell anger had already filled his mind and soul. He stormed out, and she knew better than try to do anything about it.
Forgive me.
19
Ten days later, Chase, Argos, and Chris emerged from the time chamber with a look of determination etched on their faces. The trio had stayed the longest in the room, a total of ten years, but only a couple of weeks had passed for everyone else on the ship. Argos and Chase hadn’t aged a single day. Chris, while not looking that much older, seemed more mature and had grown in both height and size. He was muscular and now looked a lot more like his father and uncle.
Daniel and Sarah were waiting for them beyond the airlock.
Sarah ran and took Chris in her arms. Chris looked uncomfortable for a moment.
“Mom, cut it out. I’m not a kid anymore.”
“That he’s not,” said Argos with a smile, conveying deep pride for his nephew.
“So? How do you feel?” asked Daniel.
“Ready to end this war,” answered Chase.
“Let’s finish this,” added Argos coldly. “It’s time to send that Spectre back to the hellhole he came from.”
Sarah let go of Chris and kissed Chase. “Miss me?”
Chase smiled. “You have no idea.”
They had spent several days constantly training, not leaving for their usual rotation. Even after Menelas, Athena, Thor, and the others felt they had reached the limit of their powers after a couple of years of training, the Ultra Furies had remained until they felt their powers had grown exponentially.
Chase was confident that the team, as a whole, would be able to defeat the Spectre with their enhanced abilities. He didn’t think that any one of them on their own could take on the monster though, even though he desired to try.
“What’s the news? Have the Furies continued to attack smaller worlds?”
“They did for a while,” said Sarah. “But in the last couple of days, they’ve started attacking the jump gate network, which has been advancing at an accelerated pace thanks to the Gorgars.”
“Any idea why?” asked Chase.
“No, not yet. There doesn’t seem to be a pattern to their attacks. We’ve tried triangulating where they would hit next and sent a few ships ahead to intercept them, but they almost always attack a completely different target, often located too far away from any of our ships. We’ve already lost ten jump gates. The last three attacks have me worried though…”
“Why?”
“Well, I think it’s too early to say with certitude, but their loss would slow us down if we had to jump from Erev
os to Earth without Asgardian help.”
“Perhaps he wants to have just enough of a warning when the time comes to go to Erevos, which we shouldn’t delay.”
“It’s possible.”
“We can debrief later,” proposed Daniel. “Tell us more about your training? How much more powerful do you feel?”
Chase answered with a broad smile.
“That much, huh?”
Argos took a few steps forward, opening and closing his hands.
Daniel pointed a thumb at him. “What’s with him?”
“We’re not used to the ship’s gravity anymore,” answered Chris. “It feels like we’re floating.”
“How far did you push the gravity engines?”
“To their maximum setting of two thousand Gs, and that was three years ago, so it became our default setting the entire time.”
“Really?” asked Sarah. “How— how does it feel for you now, besides floating?”
Argos started moving around and slashing the air with punches and kicks, and in less than a second he turned into a tornado and whirled around his friends multiple times. Everyone’s hair was tossed about from the current he generated, and Daniel had to grab Chris’ arm to keep his balance. Eventually, Argos stopped, and the whirlwind around him dissipated. He cracked his neck on each side multiple times.
“Holy crap,” said Daniel.
“The fun part is that he’s not even deploying a fraction of his powers at the moment,” said Chris.
Daniel’s eye popped wider.
“I can’t even begin to tell you how much stronger we are,” added Chase. “But, it seems we’ve reached the limit of what the time chamber has to offer regarding power and energy progression. So, it’s time to go to Erevos and end this, the Furies, Spectre Arakan, all of it.”
“Should we shut that thing off, then?” asked Sarah. “I’m not sure how safe it would be to go into battle with something that could blow us up at any given moment if we lose power to the containment field.”
Chase reflected on her comments for a moment.
“Not just yet. I have a feeling we might still need it.”
Even if for just one more time.
“You seem different somehow,” said Daniel.
“I guess I feel different; it’s strange seeing other faces besides Argos and Chris,” admitted Chase. “We’ve trained so long and hard, part of me feels like I’ve forgotten about anything happening outside the chamber.”
“Yeah, I bet that would feel strange, and it’s strange for me, too. From my perspective, you’ve only been away for a few days, and yet, when I look at you, it feels longer. I wish I had powers too so that I could have trained with you guys.”
Chase smiled.
“Believe me, you don’t. The amount of responsibility that comes with them is something I wouldn’t wish on anyone, let alone my best friend. Understand one thing, Dan, when you have these powers, and even with the best of intentions, you can’t help but lose people that matter to you— it’s a hard pill to swallow. Sometimes these powers feel more like a curse than a blessing.”
“I guess I never looked at it that way.”
Part of Chase wished he had never learned of his Fury origins and that the Star Alliance still existed. Ignorance can be bliss, and his life was so much simpler before Aphroditis contacted him and threw his entire existence into utter chaos.
Then again, he loved being able to do all the things he was capable of doing. The insane level of power running through his veins empowered him, and even though he hadn’t managed to save some of his friends with his new abilities, right now he wouldn’t trade them for anything.
“What’s next?” asked Daniel, seeing that Chase was lost in his thoughts.
“The last battle, hopefully.”
“Are you confident?”
Chase felt more powerful than ever before; still, he wasn’t disillusioned about the gargantuan task ahead of them. It was a do-or-die situation, and one way or another it would soon end. He would do everything he could to make sure that the Earth Alliance was victorious, but he knew better than to think that hope and determination alone would lead to the right outcome.
“It’s hard to say. I’m confident that we’ve progressed to where we need to be if there is a confrontation with Spectre Arakan. We’ve trained so long for it, and we feel ready. But gods know if we truly are.”
“What do you mean if there is a confrontation?”
“While nothing would give me more pleasure than to kill that monster with my bare hands, if we can deal with him using the soul ships at the same time as we deal with Erevos, I wouldn’t mind.”
“You have changed, even though I know you’re weary of all the fighting, you’ve never been one to shy away from a challenge. In fact, you were always the better pilot because of it, you always wanted to be better than the rest of us. Myself included.”
The mention of a time before the Fury War brought nostalgia to the forefront of Chase’s thoughts and he felt conflicted. Was Daniel right? Had he always tried to be better than his colleagues?
If that had been the case, it wasn’t a conscious choice on his part, just an instinctual drive to always try and better himself. He was always taking risks others were reluctant to do. But, looking back at it now, there was little doubt in his mind that his latent Fury genes had given him a sharper fighting instinct. Even behind the controls of a starfighter.
“Don’t get me wrong Daniel, part of me is thrilled about the idea of using my new powers, but if we can send Spectre Arakan back to the hole from which he crawled without putting my family and friends’ lives in danger in the process, I’ll take it.”
“I can understand that.”
“As for you not having powers, who knows, maybe humans can also tap into their energy reserves, maybe it’s the next evolution of Earth. After all, there have been beings with extra abilities in your world before. At least your history books seem to say some humans have telepathic abilities, and some could use telekinesis. Since our DNA is so close, I wouldn’t count it out.”
“That would be something. I don’t know about people having all sorts of powers on Earth; maybe they were just myths or magic tricks.”
“Maybe they were, maybe they weren’t, but let’s not dwell on it right now. Instead, what about getting ourselves a drink.”
Daniel smiled and gestured to the right.
“I’d love that. After you, boss.”
“Best-case scenario,” said Chase to everyone at the table, “is we get in, use the soul ships to blow up the planet, and then go home.”
“What’s the worst-case scenario?” asked Thor.
“Things don’t go as planned. Which they tend not to.”
“I second that,” said Altair. “We have no idea what the bulk of their forces are or what surprises may await us on Erevos. We know for a fact that the Furies still have more ships than we initially thought, probably due to that Spectre working behind Arakan’s back for gods knows how long. For all we know, they could have a bigger fleet than ours.”
“Speaking of fleets…” said Chase. “How many ships do we have?”
“The last of the Olympian destroyers have all been recalled,” said Athena. “That should bring us to an armada of over a hundred ships if we decide to go all-in. The question is, can we afford to? After what happened to my world and my people, can we take the chance of leaving allied worlds unprotected during the final assault?”
“I don’t think we have a choice here,” said Argos, who had remained silent during the exchange. “We can’t afford being outgunned or outnumbered because we played it safe. While we have the soul ships on our side and using them can make a dent in the Fury defenses, doing so will drain us quickly. We need to keep our energy in reserve in case of a direct conflict with Spectre Arakan. If it does come to a direct confrontation, that’s the one battle we can’t approach half-assed.”
“If he’s on the planet when we blow up Erevos,” said Menelas,
“then that fight could be avoided altogether.”
“Yes,” confirmed Chase, “but there’s no way to know where he will be. Unlike other enemies, like the Furies themselves, I can’t sense his presence. Most likely we’ll only get one shot at this. So, I agree with Argos, as much as I hate leaving us open to a surprise counterattack, we can’t go to Erevos with anything but the entire bulk of our forces. There’s just too much at stake, and we have to stack the odds in our favor.”
“That’s a very dangerous gamble to make,” said Poseidon.
Chase agreed, and even though his nature was to try and protect as many people as he could, he had had ten years to think about it. He had learned that his hesitancy in going all-in on many occasions had cost the lives of the people he loved. Too many innocents had paid a steep price because he second-guessed himself.
While he didn’t want to lose anyone else, he knew that was just a pipe dream. There was no way in hell the last push of this war could be won without losses. He hoped none of his family would pay the price for what was to come, but he knew that this was a risk they were willing to take, and he had to accept that. He owed them that much for always being there for him when he needed them the most.
“I’m fully aware of that. But we can’t hesitate anymore.”
“Do you have a plan of attack?” asked Sarah.
Chase shook his head.
“No plan. There are simply too many variables, too much we don’t know besides the fact that this conflict must end, one way or another. We go in full force with two main objectives, destroy Erevos, and kill Spectre Arakan by any means necessary.”
Chase could sense everyone’s surprise. He used to be more careful in how he approached such situations in the past, but ten years is a very long time to think about a single goal. It can drive a man crazy. And while time passed faster than he thought it would, thanks to the challenges of intense training with his brother and son, ending this war had remained the primary focus the whole time.
The room stayed silent for quite some time.
“I second that,” said Argos to break the ice. “Not that anybody asked or even cares.”
To End All Wars_Universe in Flames Book 10 Page 19
