United We Stand

by Christian Messe

  The worm put its head up and looked back at him, roaring like it was frustrated. Then, when the giant beast was only a few feet away from crushing Mark, a bright surge of red energy slammed into the worm’s mouth with a booom! A cloud of dust blocked Mark from being able to see where the shot came from, but when it cleared, he saw Heavy holding a laser launcher on his shoulder. Then the launcher started to shift, and the Metal pieces formed in thin air, in perfect sink. The Meta pieces were put into place, and Trixie fell to the ground.

  “It can do that?” Mark asked, panting.

  “She, can do that,” Heavy replied.

  “Right…”

  “Where’s Telli?” Heavy asked. Mark looked down. Heavy grunted and kicked a piece of the ship’s debris.

  “We’ll dwell on that later, right now we need to find a way off this planet before Karalus finds us.” Mark nodded and walked with Heavy to the wreckage of their ship. Red had laid James and Lewis under an angled piece of their ship’s ruined hull.

  James was awake but was holding his head, which was bleeding. Lewis was still unconscious. Red slapped him, then grunted when he didn’t wake up. She turned to Heavy, “Any ideas on how to get off this rock?”

  Heavy sighed, “Well, we’re not getting a new ship anytime soon, and I doubt anyone’s gonna give us a lift so, we’re out of options.”

  “No, we’re not,” Mark said suddenly.

  “How’s that?” Red asked.

  “Jupitains control this planet, so wouldn’t there be like, a landing zone or something?”

  “A landing dock.” Heavy finished.

  “Exactly, and where there’s that, there’s ships.”

  “Yeah, no shit, we didn’t say that because a place like that would be swarming with E6s.” Red crossed her arms.

  “Well, what other choice do we have?” Mark asked.

  Heavy thought about it for a moment, until saying, “He’s right; we either find out where that port is or wait here for another Meta-Core to finish us off.”

  Red sighed, “What about those two?” She looked over at James and Lewis.

  “Stay here and watch them, me and Mark will find the port and come back; we’re gonna need all the support we have,” Heavy said, “Mark, you still got that rifle?”

  He picked it up off the ground and nodded.

  “Good. Let’s go.”

  Red watched Heavy and Mark walk into the town. Now that he wasn’t running for his life, Mark started to take notice of his surroundings. There were tents everywhere, with old ruins of buildings that seemed to have been blown off their supports. Wreckage was scattered across the area; there was even a huge crash-landed Frigate, the size of New York in the distance. It looked centuries old. Everything was rusted, worn down, or blown up in a long-ago battle.

  “What do you think happened here?” Mark asked.

  Heavy chuckled, “Same as all the rest of the worlds out here, taken over by force. Planets like this were mostly independent. Then when Cyrus’s ‘project’ got out of control, it took over.”

  “Why did it take the Jupitains so long to find my Solar System?”

  Heavy looked straight ahead, “It takes time to conquer an entire Galaxy, hence an armed one, almost every planet was equipped with some form of military or defense, rumors of Cyrus’s power spreading everywhere, people had no choice but to get prepared, but no matter how hard we tried, Cyrus won anyway, with the cost of their entire civilization. The Kelisians didn’t do much help either.”

  “What do you mean?” Mark asked.

  Heavy looked at him, “Entire systems put down their defenses because the Kelisians said they could defend them from Cyrus, they had a fleet of ten Gigantum class motherships, each the size of half a regular planet. Now, last time I saw them, there were only four.”

  Mark looked down. “Only one now, they’re still repairing the second.”

  Heavy gave a sad laugh. “Typical.”

  “I don’t get it though, if the Martians… or Kelisians I guess, couldn’t take down the Jupitains then, why can they now?”

  “Neptune’s my guess, kept themselves off the grid, survived everything until the Jupitains. They must have had something to do with the Kelisian’s advanced tech.”

  Mark crossed his arms, “Uliski told me that Neptune could sustain life, but I thought it was just a ball of gas.”

  “You can’t tell what something’s like just by looking at it, which is probably why no one in this part of the Galaxy has ever heard of a telescope.”

  “How did you hear of it then?” Mark asked.

  “Red, she told me everything she knew about Earth, now well, she just doesn’t seem to remember anymore.”

  Before Mark could ask another question, he spotted a Jupitain.

  “Heavy, where’s Trixie?”

  “I left her with Red; why?”

  Mark pointed. It was just one patrol, checking to see if the Meta-Core had finished the job. It was holding a laser rifle and shoving past civilians.

  “Split up,” Heavy said. The two of them walked in separate directions. The Jupitain looked in the spot they had just been in but didn’t see anything. It walked past them. Mark was hiding behind one of the tent shops, while Heavy was blending in with the marketplace. The Jupitain’s visor turned blue, as if alerting it of something. The Jupitain turned around and started to walk where Mark was hiding.

  Heavy looked back and threw a rock behind the Jupitain. It turned around, and Mark sneaked over to a rusted metal barrier. The Jupitain held up his rifle in a combat position and started to search the area. It got closer and closer to Mark. The visor could see through walls. Mark was sweating, getting ready to flee at any moment. Heavy ran through the crowd, and charged the Jupitain, tackling it to the ground.

  Heavy threw two punches, but the Jupitain caught the third one. It threw Heavy into one of the tents, smashing it. Mark moved from the barrier and aimed his rifle at the Jupitain. It looked at him and reached for its rifle. James fired, aiming for the Jupitain’s visor, but instead hit the ground. The Jupitain roared and fired two shots. Both missed because Mark ran behind one of the tents. The Jupitain fired through the canopy, killing an alien who was standing right next to Mark.

  Mark almost fell from trying to dodge the Jupitain’s fire. Heavy got up from the tent and sprinted into the Jupitain, forcing it down with his shoulder. It fell to the ground, dropping its rifle. Heavy tried to grab it, but the Jupitain kicked him back. Mark came running over, firing repeated shots at the Jupitain’s visor, until finally hitting it. The visor went offline, turning dimly grey, and the Jupitain dissipated into a puddle of Dark matter.

  Heavy got up and snatched the rifle off the ground.

  Mark had his hands on his knees, panting, “That was nothing like the hangar.”

  “I had a gun in the hangar,” Heavy replied.

  Then the two of them heard the infamous roar of a Jupitain fighter’s engine. Two fighters were taking off from a landing pad nearby.

  “That’s not a landing port,” Mark said.

  “It’s the next best thing,” Heavy said, “Let’s go tell Red we found our way out of here.” Mark watched as the two Jupitain fighters flew into the planet’s atmosphere.

  “So, you’re telling me, that you two spent an hour out there, just to end up finding a landing pad? All that’ll be there will be fighters.” Red said, frustrated.

  “It’s our only choice; we’re only armed with two rifles,” Heavy said.

  “What about Trixie?” Mark asked.

  “She only knows how to form into a laser launcher or a rifle.”

  “What about a speeder or something?” James asked, better now, “We have to get past those Jupitains fast, we’re not gonna do much good with what we’ve got.”

  “You could steal one,” Heavy suggested.

  James looked over at the tents. “I don’t think they’re going to have anything valuable.”

  “Not them, the E6s.” Heavy pointed at a patrol in
the distance. It was one Jupitain, but it was riding on some sort of hover speeder. Two handles for controls, and the body made of refreshed metal that shined in the sunlight. The speeder had three engines, one on the left and one on the right for turning, then a larger one in the back for thrust.

  “Let’s go get it,” Mark said.

  Heavy, Trixie, and Mark left, leaving Red, Lewis, and James to come up with a plan to use what they had. Heavy picked up Trixi, and she turned into a laser rifle, the sound of the transformation clicking was quiet. Heavy was hiding behind a shop, and Mark was on the other side of the patrol, hiding behind a piece of wreckage. The Jupitain’s visor turned blue, and it growled. Before it could get off the speeder, Heavy opened fire. The crowd started yelling and running in different directions.

  The fourth shot hit the Jupitain in the visor; the rest had just gone through its Dark matter skin. The matter from the Jupitain spilled all over the speeder.

  “That’s disgusting,” Mark said.

  “Let’s get back to the others; we’re getting off this planet.” Heavy took the controls, while Mark sat behind him, holding Trixie. They sped off to the wreckage of their ship, red energy erupting from the speeder’s engines.

  When they arrived, James was already armed.

  “I’m driving it,” Red said, “I’m gonna need to get to the fighter first to shoot down the other ships.” She turned to Lewis, “Make sure I don’t get shot, will you?”

  He nodded, still a little dazed.

  Heavy got off, and Trixie transformed into her spherical self.

  “Me, Mark and James are gonna provide cover for you when you’re inside.” Heavy said, “Is everyone ready?”

  “Let’s do this,” James said, although he didn’t sound too sure in himself.

  Red and Lewis got onto the speeder, and sped off, while Heavy, James, Mark, and Trixie took the rear. When Red and Lewis reached the landing pad, there was more defense then they had expected. A clean metal wall surrounded the pad, making it stand out from the rest of the area. Two Jupitains guarded the front gate, which was wide open. Red moved in slowly until one of the Jupitains spotted her and roared. Lewis fired, missing its visor completely.

  The Jupitain sprinted towards them, and jumped into the air. Red ducked, but the Jupitain tackled Lewis, throwing him onto the ground. It roared in his face, the sound ear piercing. Lewis reached for his rifle, but it was too far away. Then, Red slammed into the Jupitain with the speeder, throwing it into a nearby barrier.

  Lewis crawled over to his rifle, aimed it carefully, and hit the Jupitain in the visor with one shot. It dissipated into Dark matter. The other Jupitain opened fire on Lewis, forcing him to scatter to a barrier. Red rammed the Jupitain into the wall with the speeder, making its visor crack. Lewis ran over to the speeder and got on. They sped through the door, trailing red energy. There were at least twelve ships, each of them lying on their engines like arches. One of the fighters was about to take off but was shot halfway by a bright streak of red light. It exploded, throwing fiery debris everywhere.

  Lewis looked back. Heavy was standing a few yards behind them, with smoke trailing from the laser launcher’s barrel. Mark ran through the open gate.

  “Well, pick one already!” He shouted.

  Red and Lewis jumped off the speeder and ran to one of the nearby fighters. They were a few feet away, until it exploded, pieces of the ship being blown everywhere.

  “Heavy!” Red yelled, trying to get up from the force of the explosion.

  “That wasn’t me!” He replied.

  Then they heard it. The loud roar of hover engines burning the ground. A massive Jupitain tank was slowly hovering through the smoke; its large barrel pointed at Red and Lewis. Heavy fired the laser launcher again, and an explosion blinded everyone from being able to see if the tank was destroyed. Another loud blast confirmed that it wasn’t. The laser misfired, hitting the wall, and blowing a ginormous hole into it.

  “Get into a ship now! We’ll distract it!” Heavy yelled. The tank blared the Jupitain horn of death and moved slowly towards Red and Lewis. Heavy sprinted towards the tank and climbed up onto the turret’s opening hatch. He tried to open it, but it was locked from the inside. He punched it, frustrated. Red and Lewis ran to the next fighter, which was filled with three Jupitains when they opened the door. One got up, and Red slammed the door.

  “Oh boy…” Lewis mumbled, panicked, while shooting the locking mechanism to trap the Jupitains.

  The tank fired again, hitting dangerously close to Lewis, blowing him back. Red kept running. She spotted a Jupitain transport ship, roughly the size of three Jupitain fighters combined. She opened it and looked around, panting. She spotted the controls and sat down, activating the control pad. She put both hands on it, and the ship’s engines roared, erupting red energy onto the pad, burning it. Heavy looked up at the transport and jumped off of the tank. The turret aimed itself at Red, but she was faster. She unleashed a rain of red lasers onto the turret, blowing it up before it could fire. The tank exploded in a hurl of red light, then was engulfed in flame.

  Another Jupitain fighter fired up, and hovered over the pad, firing rays of red lasers at Red’s ship. She turned it around, the shields blocking the Jupitain’s fire from doing any real damage. Red opened fire, streaks of red energy colliding with the Jupitain fighter. The side of the fighter exploded, damaging the engine, and it crashed into the marketplace, destroying a line of tents.

  Red landed the ship, and waited for everyone to get on board. When everyone was in, James slammed the door behind everyone, and Red took off into the atmosphere. There were two rows of metal benches, with bars to hold onto instead of seatbelts. The ship started to burn in the atmosphere, emitting smoke.

  “Everyone hold on tight!” Red shouted. James gripped the bars tighter. The ship went faster and faster, until it escaped the planet, and made it to the empty abyss of space. The roar of the engine fainted to a low hum.

  “W-we did it; we’re alive!” James yelled, overjoyed.

  “Where to now?” Heavy asked. He was the leader, and even he didn’t know what to do next.

  Lewis’s grin disappeared. It was apparent that they would probably never find the Lore, let alone survive whatever the Jupitains were planning to do.

  “Heavy’s right, where are we going now?” James asked.

  The control panel started to flash red. “Um, guys, something’s coming in fast, and it’s huge,” Red said.

  “What is it?” Mark asked.

  To answer his question, a Jupitain warship suddenly sped out of I-Hypotonic warp and was almost three miles away from the transport ship. Karalus had figured out that they were still alive.

  “How’d they find us?” James asked.

  Red cursed, “The E6s on the ground must’ve reported us when we stole the ship.”

  The warship blared the Jupitain horn of death, and a medium-sized laser cannon perched on top of the warship’s hull started to charge an electric burst in its barrel.

  “What’s it doing?” James asked. He had left his seat to look out the cockpit window.

  “I have no idea, but it can’t be good, Red get us out of here,” Heavy said, “Now!”

  Red slammed the control pad with her hand, and the engine roared. The ship started to fly away from the warship. The warship’s cannon fired, and a ball of blue energy whizzed towards the transport ship, at the speed of light. The blast hit the ship in the back, dead on. It was an EMP. The sudden pulse of energy pushed the ship off course. Then, every feature that needed power went offline, the engines turned off, and the control pad went dark. Even the overhead lights faded. The only light visible was the orange star in the distance and the Jupitain warship.

  “What the hell happened?!” Lewis asked.

  “I don’t know; everything just shut off completely,” Red said, “I can’t get anything to work!”

  The Jupitain warship then started to charge its Tempest cannon, which was positioned slightly
behind the laser cannon that had shot the EMP, but was ten times bigger. Red energy spun rapidly from its barrel, sending sparks into space in every direction.

  “Get to the escape pods, get to the pods now!” Heavy yelled.

  “Does this ship even have escape pods?” Mark asked, “And how would they even work, we don’t have power!”

  “There,” Heavy pointed at two separate hatches, leading to the escape pods. “Alright everyone get in, if they don’t work, we’re dead.”

  Lewis tried the door. It wouldn’t budge, “It’s locked!”

  “Move.” Heavy pushed Lewis out of the way and grabbed the edge of the door with both hands. He pulled it open halfway. Heavy looked through the opening. “That thing’s only gonna be able to hold two people.”

  “What does that mean?” Lewis asked, although he already knew the answer.

  “If I go in, then it wouldn’t be able to hold anyone else.” Heavy pulled open the door to the second pod.

  “Go!” He yelled.

  “No no no, you can fit; you-you can try!” Red screamed.

  Heavy grimaced, “Get out of here. Now.”

  Red hugged him tightly, teary-eyed, then ran into the pod, looking back the whole time. Lewis went into it too. Mark took the second one.

  “You’re an honorable man, Heavy,” James said, sincerely.

  “It’s Seraus, and I already know that… now get out of here before it’s too late.”

  James went into the pod, and Mark followed behind him. Seraus closed the doors behind them. They clicked, sealing in the oxygen. Lewis found the control panel and crossed his fingers. He pressed it, and the pod detached from the ship. The detaching mechanism didn’t require power; it was just a simple release function. James did the same thing, and both pods were floating aimlessly in space.

  The Jupitain warship fired, and a ray of extremely high powered red energy slammed into the transport ship. It exploded, sending debris everywhere. The force of the explosion launched the two pods into separate directions.

  “Noo!!” Red cried, whimpering.

  Her and Lewis’s pod was floating towards the Jupitain warship, while James and Mark’s was drifting into the unknown.