Tork reached out and grabbed the grenade with his large gloved hand then began to pull. What if removing it from the wall would cause it to detonate? He stopped and considered the situation. If he left it there and waited for a munitions specialist then it could be too late. The timer would be set for only a few minutes until the humans had time to evacuate the Tick station, and it was probably seconds from detonation! On the other hand if he removed it and it detonated? What transpired after would no longer be of any concern to him, as he would be dead. Also if he were to foil the sabotage of the station, then that to would be glory to his family name.
With a growl, he pulled the grenade from the wall and braced himself for a dismembering explosion. A few moments passed and he was still in one piece. Tork took the grenade from the room and back out into the walkway, then approached his Captain. “Sir! The humans planted this grenade in the generator room, but I cannot read the numbers? Can you?”
“Show me”, replied the Captain who had studied the writing of the humans. On the screen he saw the number three change to two, then to one. The Captain only had time to say two words, “Oh shit!” The explosion tore apart the armour they wore and shattered the life forms within as well as the surrounding structure. The blast however did not have the intensity to reach the nearby generator room. Tork had saved the Tick station from destruction.
**********
The Strike Force rocketed from the surface of the Alpha 3 leaving thousands of their fallen comrades behind. Most of the CATs left with an empty hold, and five never left at all. The Warrians were able to storm the hold while the troopers were still boarding. The CAT’s sensors were yet to detect the arrival of the Valiant, but one ship did dominate the readouts on the CAT’s bridge - the Manta. Ryan gave the order to remote detonate the CATs that were captured. On the rear tracking monitor, they could see the five small bursts of light as the CATs ignited.
A great thud boomed through the CAT breaking Adam and Ryan from viewing the monitor. “Gun fire from the Manta.” stated Adam. “The Valiant better hurry, or we will be blasted into space dust!”
“That’s not all, Uncle James was right. They found the grenade. It looks like he will have another chance for retribution.”
The View from the CAT’s bridge of the Manta was suddenly disrupted by a brilliant light. A moment later, the scene from the bridge was a close up view of the Valiant’s hull.
The pilots of the CATs wasted no time in docking with the Valiant. As soon as they were within the safety of the Valiant’s hull, the Valiant disappeared into nothing as quickly as it had materialised.
**********
Yara entered cautiously into the private quarters of the Emperor. Her red eyes scanned the gloomy room for the Emperor and found no sign of him. The large room was sparsely furnished with a ceiling that was too high for the low lights to illuminate. She thought it was strange that the Emperor was not present as he was expecting her. Yara moved halfway across the room when she suddenly stopped in her tracks. The barbs on the back of her neck prickled as she sensed someone was watching her. In the blink of an eye her keen energy blade flashed from its scabbard as she spun to meet the intruder.
A Warrian garbed only in a loin cloth landed on the floor. Yara watched as two great scaly wings retracted behind the massive muscular frame that towered over her. The Emperor must have been lurking in the darkness that loomed above. His great strength and agility was the envy of every Warrian male, and the lure of such dominance was the lust of every female. Yara felt his physical attraction drawing her to him, but her solid will suppressed the primitive emotion.
Yara returned her sword to its scabbard and bowed. “Forgive me my Lord, you took me by surprise.”
“Your report Warlord.” Zardon ordered as he walked over to the sleeping rail. He performed a backward flip and griped the five metre high rail with his clawed feet. Hanging upside down like a bat, he listened to Yara’s briefing.
“The human’s futile attempt to breach the Tick Station failed. Our honourable army cut them down like feeble Bankas and sent them running. However, a number of the assault ships managed to escape, and small force infiltrated the Station and liberated the two human captives.” Yara waited for the Emperor to explode in a fit rage after hearing her less than perfect report, but it was met with silence.
Then he spoke. “Two Intersect pilots.”
“Pardon my Lord?”
“The small force that infiltrated the Station consisted of just two Intersect pilots.”
“Forgive me my Lord, your sources appear to be more accurate than mine.”
“The siege upon the Tick Station was nothing more than diversion while the true mission was to liberate the human captives.” He paused as he stretched his arms and wings. “One of the Intersect pilots was Williams himself.”
Yara was taken back by his insight. “My Lord, it would appear that my briefing is unnecessary.”
“Nothing is beyond my sight Warlord. Your reports are only a means to test the resourcefulness of you and your subordinates. Your Army’s performance was far from honourable, your predecessors would let no assault ship escape. And as to that small force, only the escape of Williams would have been acceptable.”
“I failed you my Lord, my life is yours to do with as you wish.” Yara knew that failure is punishable by torture and death. This she was prepared for.
“Your failure was expected, and so was the liberation of the humans. It has no effect on my battle plans. The humans have served their purpose in giving me a worthy space force.” His eyes closed as he said, “Now leave me.”
“Yes my lord.” Yara bowed, then spun on her heals and promptly left with her life intact.
PRELUDE TO CONFLICT
Ryan led James, Kim Lee and Adam through the medical centre aboard the Endeavour. Ryan tried to persuade James not join him but he was determined to be there as he consoled the wounded. Row after row of beds they passed with occupants displaying every kind of physical injury possible. The next section they entered was the molecular reconstruction centre. This was where missing limbs were re-grown on the stumps that one was severed from. Bodies hovered in horizontal glass tanks as mechanical microbes rebuilt the dismemberment. Ryan stopped at one tank where a young woman was being rebuilt. Her right arm and leg were missing, plus half her jaw and a large section of her abdomen. Ryan reached out his hand and touched the glass as he longed to be able to speak to her. To tell her how proud he was of her and how sorry to have put her through such a horrific experience.
James stood alongside Ryan as they watched her eyes open. Her expression gave an inkling of the tortured soul within. James said quietly, “God forgive me.”
“It’s not your fault James, all of this is my doing, and mine alone.” Ryan stated.
“What do you mean?” James asked.
“If I had never came to Earth, she would not have gone through this.”
“How were you to know that this was going to happen?” James replied.
From behind, they heard Adam’s voice. “Her name is Mary Baudoux. We were in combat training together. Before joining Intersect she was a lawyer with a serious cocaine addiction. She told me that being a part of Intersect was the only decent thing she had ever done in her life.”
“Please tell me that you can save her, I owe her my life?” Said a voice from nearby.
Ryan approached the source of the voice and found a young soldier covered in gore leaning over a woman who was sedated. Opposite them was a medical officer examining her wounds, “She has lost a lot of blood, multiple contusions and her spine is broken in two places.” As Ryan approached, the medical officer stood erect and soluted. “Admiral Williams, are you injured as well?” He asked.
Ryan did not answer but moved to see the woman’s face and immediately recognised her, “Sarah!” He spoke to the medical officer. “What is the prognosis?”
“She will need a complete blood transfusion, molecular reconstruction of the spinal cord.
I’m amazed that she is still alive.”
“Sarah is one tough cookie.” Ryan replied.
“Sir, may I speak sir.” Said the young soldier.
“What’s your name soldier?” Ryan asked.
“Private John Cerrico sir. Sir, I know that Sarah is not well liked but she means a lot to me. She saved my life. They won’t let me stay with her.”
“John, Sarah means a lot to me as well. She has given us hope, and I could never repay her for that.”
Ryan said to the medical officer. “General Everley is to have the very best of care, and think it would be best that a familiar face were present when she came too don’t you think?”
“Yes sir.” Replied the medical officer as John’s expression became less forlorn.
Ryan sensed the others coming up behind him. “James,” Ryan asked. “Please tell me you can stop the Computer Pilot System?”
“My best chance was when I was uploading the program back in Tick Station. Now, I don’t know.”
The muffled voice of John came from behind. “Use a virus.”
Ryan turned around to see John with his head bowed, still holding Sarah’s hand. “What do you mean by a virus?”
John lifted his head to stare at Sarah’s face. “A computer virus.”
“What is a computer virus?” James asked.
John was puzzled by James’s response being someone from the thirty first century, but he continued. “It’s a small program that is very destructive to application programs.”
Ryan added. “They were eradicated during the twenty-first century when it became apparent that they could kill people by effecting medical equipment.”
“Do you know how to make one?” Questioned James.
The conversation finally managed to drag John’s attention away from Sarah’s unconscious body. “Sure.”
“Tell me more about these virus’s.”
Ryan asked the medical officer, “How long before she wakes up?”
“We are going to keep her sedated during the molecular reconstruction, so it will be at least a few hours.”
Ryan said to John, “It is imperative that we stop those ships. Do you think you can spend some time with James and see if you both can come up with solution?”
John looked at Sarah for a moment then said, “For a little while.”
“Okay, we will leave you both to it.”
Kim Lee spoke up, “I may be able to help. I do have some knowledge in the field.”
“Ryan,” said Adam. “I think I will stick around as well and put my two bob’s worth in.”
“Okay then.” Ryan left them behind as he continued his rounds.
**********
Bane led Katie down the long dark corridor of the Manta with two armed Warrian guards in tow. Katie wore no form of shackles as the two Warrians behind her were more than enough to keep her captive. “I never thought you would betray your own race, despite how loopy you are.”
“If it means sparing Earth, then so be it.” Bane replied.
Katie continued, “What makes you think he will keep his word?”
“Because he is not after Earth, he wants Williams and that is what I am going to give him.”
“Bane, if you do give him Ryan he won’t just stop at that or with the Earth. He wants everything, and I mean everything. Besides, Ryan won’t come for me, not when there is so much at stake.”
“Oh, he will come, I know him to well.” They turned a corner and came to two tall doors. Katie looked up to see the top but they disappeared into the darkness above. The great doors slowly opened inwards releasing a chilling wind from the chamber within. A shiver travelled down Katie’s spine. She wrapped her arms around herself in a futile effort to calm her nerves as Bane led them into the lair of absolute evil.
They entered a circular chamber that was as gloomy and cold as the rest of the ship, with a shadowed lofting ceiling that rivalled the height of a cathedral. In the centre of the room was a dais where a single figure was seated, and as they approached the sound of their footsteps was all that was to be heard. A single down light poorly lit the figure making it difficult to see it clearly. Katie thought back to when she entered the room that Ryan retreated to, and found a disturbing similarity. They stopped several metres away as Bane broke the cold silence. “Williams’s concubine, as promised.”
Katie felt the two sinister red eyes bar down upon her as the figure stood from the dais. It stepped down and approached Katie stopping only a few metres away. Katie looked up at the Emperor of the Warrians, and the wielder of the Rings of Venal. He was a giant! Zardon was twice Katie’s height and under the long black cloak was a muscular frame that Katie could only describe as titanic. To Katie’s surprise, he even dwarfed the great creatures that escorted her. The immensity of his physical presence and the knowledge of the tectonic power at his disposal robbed Katie of her sense of balance, and she toppled backwards to the floor. Staring up in horror, she wondered how Ryan could ever hope to conquer it.
“But itz zo pathetic? what he zeez in it confoundz me.” Zardon remarked.
“To a human, she is considered desirable.” Bane replied.
“To a Warrian it would make poor zport and a poor meal.” He bent down and picked Katie up by the throat, then brought her too his huge face. Katie’s feet dangled high above the floor as his firm grip strangled her. She could feel that he was using only a fraction of his strength so as not to crush the life out of her. The vulgarity of his breath and the proximity of such a terrible monster, made her turner head away in a futile attempt to soften the encounter of close contact. “Williamz will now have the chance to experience zome of the pain that I have.” Zardon dropped Katie like a discarded toy and she fell to the floor. The impact left her gasping for air as it had knocked the wind out of her.
“I’ve have kept my part of the bargain, now it is your turn.” Bane announced.
Zardon turned to Bane. “Az pathetic az it iz, thiz creature haz more of my rezpect than you do. Itz inzight iz accurate and you should have liztened. You zee, to a Warrian, the act of betrayal iz the mozt dezpicable of all crimez and iz punishable by death.” With a flash, Zardon’s blade flashed from under his cloak and at Bane’s metallic neck.
Bane’s anticipation of Zardon’s betrayal saved his head from being removed from his shoulders. Before Zardon drew his blade, Bane had activated the transporter link to his ship that remained cloaked neared the Manta. As the blade of the energy sword passed through his neck, the molecular deconstruction has already commenced and it passed through harmlessly. “And you are as predictable as she is pathetic.” Bane’s mad laughter mocked the Emperor as he disappeared in a flash of light.
His disrespect pushed Zardon over the edge and the boiling anger within activated the Rings of Venal. For the first time Katie saw the bracelets on his thick forearms as they shone like the centre of the Sun. As the light dimmed, Katie could see they were nothing like the bracelets that Ryan commanded. The gold had become dull and tarnished and the gaudy gems that adorned them were just as colourless.
Zardon reached out his right hand where Bane had been and grabbed at the air. Light pulsed from Zardon’s arm and through the wall of the chamber. Katie could not believe her eyes as she watched the partly dematerialised body of Bane be sucked back through the wall. The screams from Bane’s agony made Zardon laugh as the transportation of his body ceased leaving a molecular mess in Zardon’s hand. He let go to watch the molten disarray fall into a puddle on the ground and slowly disintegrate.
The Emperor returned to the dais and pressed a button on the communications panel. A life size hologram of Yara appeared before him. “Your report Warlord?”
“The evacuation of the Tick Station is complete and the Warbirds are ready.”
“There is a cloaked vessel off the port bow – destroy it then prepare to brake orbit.”
Yara bowed as she wondered what mysterious power he possessed that abed him to detect a cloaked ship? “Yes my lor
d.”
Zardon’s red eyes narrowed as he announced, “Soon the human race will be all but a memory.”
**********
Ryan entered his private quarters and found Charlie waiting for him. “What’s the emergency Charlie?”
“You better sit down.” Charlie replied quietly.
Ryan did as he asked and sat on the lounge opposite Charlie. Charlie sat down on the coffee table opposite him as he delivered the news. “Bane has got Katie.”
“What?!” Ryan shouted.
“He transported onto the bridge and took her before we could react. We tried to scan for his ship but found nothing.” Charlie tried to get eye contact with Ryan but he just stared into nothing. “I’m sorry.”
Ryan stood and continued his blank stare. Charlie jumped as the Rings of Karn lit up and he moved away from Ryan not knowing what to expect.
**********
Katie watched as Zardon barked his orders to various subordinates as they appeared one after another like apparitions. A familiar voice in her head startled her. “Katie! Katie! Are you all right?”
She looked around at first in confusion, when she realised who it was. “Ryan?”
“Where is Bane?”
Katie closed her eyes to help her concentrate. “He’s dead. The nut case stupidly made an alliance with the Emperor. The Emperor promised Bane that he would spare Earth in exchange for me, but he paid the price for trusting a Warrian.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m in a room with the Emperor, and they are making their way to Earth!”
“Katie, I’m coming to get you.”
“No, It’s a trap. It’s just what the Emperor wants.”
The Great Talisman (Intersect Book 2) Page 14
