by J. P. Yager
Nathan turned to Kaida. "There's a way through to the docking bay below ground. Follow Boost until you come up on the ship. Boost knows enough to pilot it around to here. We'll keep them distracted until then." He pointed to oxygen suits near them. "When we see you, we're going to blow this wall and jump to the ship. Boost knows how to catch us. If you have to leave without us though…do it. It will fall to you to figure out how to use the star."
"I'm not leaving without you," Kaida pleaded.
Nathan pushed her back. "You have to, in case we don't make it. We can't let them get their hands on any more weapons, especially this one."
Tears fell down Kaida's face. She hugged him and kissed his forehead. "I love you."
"It'll be all right," he said and kissed her. "If I die, I'll find you in the afterlife."
After wiping her face clean, Kaida turned and left with Boost, who was carrying the unconscious Raxus. She gave him one more wordless look, steeled herself, and then disappeared below deck.
Nathan had been tempted to see what was in the little man's pack—he wanted to know what all this fuss was about—but thought better of it. They didn't have time for that. Now they just had to get it away from them.
The Void Star, on the other hand, was reaching out for the one it had chosen. It was within arm's reach, calling to be removed and used. It had very little energy left to do what needed to be done. And then the chance was gone.
"This plan doesn't seem like it will work," Trevor said. He was wavering, but his chance for revenge was keeping him motivated to fight despite being ill.
"Your opinion is noted. Glad you're back with us." Nathan sized him up. While Trevor had been under, he had discussed the parasites progress with the medics. The parasite was making its way to the brain stem; he would have a couple hours of consciousness before he relapsed and died shortly thereafter. He had just enough time to have his long-sought fight with Render. He patted his nephew's shoulder. "Ready for the final push?"
Trevor nodded weakly. "I just need to make one shot count."
Glade opened his weapons cases. Trevor picked up the precision laser sniper rifle. Nathan took out the assault blaster.
Nathan looked to Glade. "We need to hold them off for twenty minutes."
Trevor ran up to the third floor. He knocked over a wooden cabinet and propped the sniper rifle on it. Nathan found a good point on the second floor between two already broken windows. Downstairs, Glade placed down mines and trip wires. He grabbed his weapon of choice from his home world—a gigantic bow with explosive-tipped arrows. All three waited.
Ruveran soldiers appeared on the other end of the divide. Small groups of two went to investigate the life signals they'd been tracking through the junk barge. They found good defensive postures and cover. A scout went ahead of the others to map out the terrain.
Glade hit the scout's shoulder. He was blown backward. This forced the forward armies to hold back and stay in their defensive positions to await orders.
Nathan saw a lucky snipe hit far into their ranks. The soldier was spun around and landed backward; he was dragged off and replaced in moments. These soldiers acted like a well-oiled machine.
One of the Ruveran soldiers gave a signal, and they all opened fire on the building.
Nathan crouched down. The window shattered at his back and rained down slivers of glass. The wall and ceiling opposite was racked with holes, and chunks of debris jumped from newly formed tears.
When he heard a lull, he spun around and took a mess of shots. His assault rifle roared angrily in his hands. Two more of them went down. Unfortunately, there were hundreds out there, replacing the fallen and sneaking ever closer. He rolled to another window and opened up more blaster rounds.
Another explosive arrow hit a group and detonated. They were thrown every which way and quickly swapped out.
Nathan stayed low and found his way to the third floor. He heard a concussion grenade erupt below where he’d just been and counted his lucky stars. It would have killed him. He glanced at his watch. They needed to give them at least five more minutes.
Trevor was still in bad shape, but he was returning fire. The old captain felt bad his nephew was in a firefight in his last moments. But something about it felt right. Who wants to die old and gray in bed? Better to go out like a warrior.
"C'mon. Boost will take her around in a few minutes. Are you going to make it?"
The Ruverans were shredding the building. The wall was coming apart in large pieces even though it was made of thick metal.
"I'll be all right," Trevor answered. He looked up to his uncle. "I think I'm losing my vision."
Nathan checked his nephew's eyes and saw they had lost most of their color. They were currently an oddly bright green.
Then he suddenly realized the firing had ceased. Nathan crawled up and looked through the window. He saw a dark-armored figure holding Kaida and Raxus. Glade saw it too, and his bow fidgeted in his hands. Their plan had failed.
"Render," Trevor said quietly to himself. Staring through his scope, he saw the figure like it had appeared in his dream. All other hallucinations had ceased in that moment. In fact, everything looked clear. He felt the trigger going back. The sights were dead on for the kill.
"No. He'll kill Kaida," Nathan whispered. Seeing her in peril overran any decision that could come up. He had to protect her even if it meant taking away Trev's payback.
Trevor continued to inch back on the trigger.
On the other end, Kaida tried to wriggle out of her bindings. She couldn't believe they had been waiting for them. It was like their adversary had known what they would try to do. They hadn't picked up on Boost though. She looked at the Eckelion and saw he was still out cold from the shock he’d sustained earlier
Then, she watched the dark-armored leader search the little alien's bag. The figure removed a ball of cloth and unwrapped it. An odd little orb fell out. She had no doubt to what it was. The Void Star glittered dully in the figure's hands.
One of the soldiers came up. "We have it, Render. Shall I inform Master Velkas?"
The dark figure nodded. Then it turned its head and rasped at Kaida. "This is the second time I've had to retrieve this."
Kaida didn't know what to say to him.
Then the dark figure looked out toward the shelled-out factory building. "Trevor Andrews, Nathan Sutherland, and that other thing in there, come out unarmed or we will kill all of you. We already have the star. You've lost this fight."
Trevor waited for the shot to fire off. Just as it clicked, Nathan's arm hit it up, and it misfired. As he tried to line up another shot, Nathan pulled the gun from his hands.
Trev turned his near-white eyes on Nathan. "Give it back. This may be my last chance to avenge my father."
"Know when to fight another day." Nathan tossed the gun away and began walking down. "Don't let your revenge be at the cost of others."
Trev hesitated for a long minute. He heard the vague sound of his uncle going down the stairs. "Stop. I'm having trouble seeing."
Nathan turned and saw Trevor's eyes had completely lost their green color. They were both almost white. He closed the gap between them and helped him to his feet.
"I'm sorry," Nathan told him. What else could he say? He had ruined it for him. But things weren’t over yet.
Trevor was feverish; he had lost his vision and his chance to avenge his father. He was so defeated he didn't even have the strength to acknowledge it. He just held onto his uncle's arm and tried to walk straight.
Together, they went back down to the first floor. The two of them met with Glade at the bottom. Glade disarmed the door.
"We gave it our best," Nathan told Glade who nodded knowingly.
They were just about to go through the door and surrender when the Wrath appeared behind them. They hadn't gotten Boost after all. The ship sat idly waiting, Boost in the pilot's seat.
Three hundred yards away, Kaida saw the dark figure call an order into its helme
t.
Nathan wanted to scream out and warn his robot companion when he saw his beloved ship explode. It ripped into a hundred pieces in moments. The last thing he'd had from Earth shattered into scrap.
And Boost was…gone.
The shock of losing both his ship and his loyal robotic companion with his girl held at gunpoint defeated something in the old space captain. It was like watching Earth burst apart again. He couldn’t handle any more loss.
He led the way out of the building with his hands up. Glade helped Trevor follow suit. The three of them walked through the expanse with all guns raised at them. Eventually, they were surrounded. Ruveran soldiers jumped in and wrestled them to the ground. They were struck with weapons and bound in moments.
"That little stunt is going to cost you." Render laughed coarsely. "Time to die, Elysian."
Nathan watched in slow motion as the figure drew his weapon on Kaida. She never had a moment to react when the gun went hot. Kaida eyes went blank as soon as the trigger was pulled. The force of the blast ripped right through her, and her head flew back.
"No!" Nathan struggled against the soldiers, who used the butts of their guns to drop him.
"Tsk. Tsk. Have you gone soft, Nate? Never thought I'd see the day Captain Sutherland cheated on his dead wife."
Nathan felt his breath stop as the hair on his neck stood up. Only one person ever called him that. His rage turned to the dark figure.
Trevor's heart dropped. It couldn't be. All the little clues had been there. His body went slack from both the sickness and the revelation. His father had tried to tell him with his last words: "She is…Ruveran."
"It's been a while," Render told them as they neared, all attention on Trevor. Trev couldn't muster a word. He dared not. "How have you been, lover?"
Render removed the helmet and a splash of black hair erupted out, hugging her shoulders. Eyes as orange as any Ruveran's glistened at him.
"Nya." Trevor's eyes took it in just as his vision went completely white. For some crazy reason, he welcomed the blindness. Either her disfigured face or his loss of faith in the universe left him with nothing to see.
Nathan, on the other hand, saw a mangled scar running down her throat. The assassin Trevor had fired on. The blast had also taken apart some of the right side of her face, and it hadn't healed well.
"Indeed. You'll probably piece it together later. It doesn't matter to me." Her voice without the robotic amplifier was a rough, choking sound. She noticed the red marks running along Trev's own neck and his unseeing eyes. "You don't look so good yourself." She put her helmet back on, and the robotic voice returned. "Well, my master says to bring you alive, which I don't understand myself, but I guess I'll oblige. Let's go."
The group was briskly brought forward from their standoff point. Nathan looked back a few times to see if Kaida would get back up, but he knew she was dead. There would be no last second rescue for them.
"I'll take that back." Render removed the diamond sword from Trevor's belt. Trev didn't have anything to say.
Nathan saw the transport they were being led into. He saw the star go into one of Render's bags, and then it truly felt like he had lost. His ship was gone. Kaida was dead. Boost was gone. Maybe the universe deserved what was coming.
They were led through the station and finally tossed aboard the Ruveran ship. The doors closed, and all hope went with them.
Chapter 22
The cells aboard the small Ruveran attack ship were standard—cramped and dirty. The crew was separated as a means of control. Nathan could see Trevor across from him and Raxus to his side, both out for the count. He guessed that he was sharing a wall with Glade.
Unable to communicate through the thick force field, Nathan sat and waited. This craft could easily make it to Razerus XIII in a matter of minutes. The sudden jolt indicated they were flying at light speed already.
He sat for a moment and pondered what his options were. There was little chance of escape from the cell. His opportunity would have to come when they were being moved. He had to get a message to Glade somehow. He kept trying to focus his attention away from seeing Kaida's death over and over. She was dead. Gone. He was alone once more. It threatened to pull him into a catatonic state he couldn’t return from. He had to get his straight. He had to do it to get out of this. Then there was the other thing.
Nya was Render.
The thought stuck in his mouth like ground pepper. He remembered the young woman well. Carrie, his sister, had introduced him to her when Trevor had brought her home from college.
She had been a beautiful young woman—vibrant, sharp-tongued, and challenging for young Trevor.
Maura would have them over when they visited. They fought a lot, but so did most couples. Then she had gotten a job working for Scott on the energy project, probably at Trevor's request. She had manipulated her way into his life. What else?
If she was one who had killed Scott, that meant she was one who hand-delivered the plans to Velkas. She was the reason Earth had been destroyed. She was the spy.
He pounded against his cell wall in frustration.
Nathan was glad Trevor had gotten such a good shot on her. Though half her face was still gorgeous, the rest was a mess. It left little to the imagination of who she really was inside.
But why did she have to kill Kaida? For being an Elysian? Poor Kaida. His heart ached, and grief threatened to overwhelm him once more. He couldn't think of her—not until this was finished. That also brought up the thought that the Elysian signal screamer that had been on board his ship was floating into the great abyss of space. And Boost…poor stupid Boost.
As he thought of this, he noticed Trevor coughing into his hands. He was lying down trying to get up. The green bile was streaming down his chin. Then he collapsed again. He wasn't moving anymore.
Nathan rushed to the edge of his cell and banged on the glass. "Someone, come help!"
Of course no one came.
When Nathan looked closely, he saw bright blue mixed in the green bile. He turned away when he knew what that meant. The parasite excreted this in the final stage. Within an hour, Trevor would be dead.
Nathan felt the giant ship leave hyperspace with another jolt. It didn't take long for the guards to return, led by their leader.
"Let's go," Render said, in her robotic tone. "Time to see your old friend."
-o-
Trevor kept going in and out of consciousness. Luckily, through the fever, he wasn't aware of how much pain he was in. One minute, he was with his mom running through a green field by their house on Earth; the next, he heard the sounds of a massive space city, and then he was fishing with his dad. When he was self-aware between visions, he knew he was dying. The parasite had latched onto his brain stem and was poisoning his mind. Thank goodness he was euphoric.
“Trevor. You will be alright sweetheart.” His mother said knowingly.
The two of them were at the glen where Trevor had come in contact with the host parasite.
“What do you mean Mom?”
“Everything happens for a reason.” She motioned out toward the water’s edge and saw the parasite waiting for him.
“I don’t understand.”
“You will.”
"Don't do anything foolish," Nathan whispered behind him.
Trev wondered what he was talking about. Was this reality? And was he talking to him or Glade?
They were led through the massive space station. It was readily apparent this was the jewel of Ruveran progress, the Razerus XIII. Sky trams tore across their rails. Moving walkways pushed and pulled crowds to and fro. Elevators shot up through their guided lift ways. Breaker-class battleships docked into it, which was insane, seeing as they were the size of planets themselves. Everything was in blinding fast motion here. It put the Elysians' Helcarion to shame.
After leaving the shipyard, they had been loaded into a small vehicle transport. It shot through a fake forest, several cities by rail, underground shock
rails where you could see a beautiful view of the galaxy below, and then up to what could only be the central command structure. Towering over the city were three identical spires that met in the middle. At the spot where they all touched sat a black metallic disc. In the opening, beneath it stood a mass of people watching them. Some pointed and made their snide remarks; others just snubbed their noses at them. Most waited to see where they were being brought or who they were.
The transporter they were in transformed into flight mode and took off. They were flown up to the central structure, which opened as they came in.
The circular construct was big enough to land a medium-class cruiser in. The vehicle made a sharp landing, and then they were removed and manhandled down a long hallway.
"They aren't going to imprison us?" Trevor asked weakly and then added, "No, Dad, those cigarettes aren't mine." Then he laughed. "What? How bad is your English, Nya? Just because there is no she-render doesn't mean girls don't submit. Fine, we'll compromise; we'll take the 'sir' out of surrender. Well, it still sounds ridiculous."
Nathan was worried. Trevor would probably die before they even reached wherever they were being brought to. And he had taken away Trev's one chance to even the score with Render. Just another regret to add to the list. When was the darkness going to get to this side of the universe and end this torture?
Trevor went quiet, breathing deeply.
When the hallway finally ended, a large set of double doors opened. The room beyond was filled with monitors, soldiers, and computers buzzing away. In the middle was a pale-skinned, luminescent-red-and black-robed man. His white hair was matted down slickly. When his mouth opened, Nathan saw his teeth were almost like fangs.
Nathan recognized his old nemesis, the man who had engineered the ruination of his life, killed his family, and destroyed Earth.
The girl Nya, Render, whatever she chose to be called, walked back around with the Eckelion's pack. She pulled an orb out and knelt before him. "I have the Void Star, Father."
Chapter 23
