Guardians (Æthyrium Rising - Guardians Book 1)

by Zachariah Dracoulis

  A chuckle escaped me before I could stop it, but I quickly straightened up and went for a simple smile, “I’m sure they won’t be a problem. Besides, might be a good time to show off.”

  He didn’t wholly agree, I could see it in his eyes, but he knew that what I was saying wasn’t just a suggestion, it was a disguised order. After a weak smile he nodded and walked off with Mouse in close tow, leaving me to wait until they were out of sight before making a move for the nearest elevator.

  I was pumped to say the least, I’d finally been given the go ahead to snoop around the stuff that had been arriving in pieces over the past few days, maybe longer, and to me that meant I had some kind of respect from Vyard.

  As the doors opened to the loading bay and I made my way to the big curtain that had been set up the day before I noticed the guards standing at the opening tense up right up until I was within a few feet of them and quietly said “Lilac.” to which they immediately relaxed and let me through.

  I sometimes forgot just how many of the people on the ship were waiting for me or my siblings to snap and just go on a rampage. Sometimes it felt kinda crappy, but times like that it felt good.

  From the moment I stepped through the curtain and saw the three engineers who’d been cleared to work on the project, I started to get an idea of what I was looking at. They were like bus-sized revolver cylinders, each one of the four having six of what was clearly labelled lead crates beside them.

  “Hey!” one of the engineers called from the scissor lift he was on as I drew close to one of the crates, “Hey, you shouldn’t be in here!”

  “I’ve got clearance. What is all this?”

  The engineer, who was clearly no older than twenty and more than a little cute, started his rapid descent and, after a quick look over to the opening to make sure the guards were still conscious, approached me, “Kinetic bombardment. Gonna fit these four at the base of the ship when we’re in position.”

  “In position?” I asked, turning my full attention to him as I tried to remember the details of exactly what a kinetic bombardment was, “In position where?”

  The engineer gave me an unsure look and adjusted his baggy jeans, “No offense, but I don’t think I should be telling you that. Not sure of your clearance leve-”

  “They haven’t told you either.”

  “No, not a word.” he said before giving me a smile, “Griff,” he announced, putting out his hand, “but everyone calls me Bot.”

  “Freyja,” I said as I took his hand, “Bot? That’s a weird one.”

  “Is a bit, it’s what people started callin’ me when they found out I was an Andy.”

  “Andy?”

  “Tech-speak for Android.”

  I tilted my head in surprise, “Android? Really? I’d never have guessed.”

  “Yeah, aha, not like the rest of Federation Andys we’ve got sitting on this ship, benefits of being XEC property I suppose, but I’m sure you’d know a lot about that.” he laughed with a wink.

  Being told I was property didn’t exactly do much for my self-esteem, but at the same time I got that Griff was just trying to relate to me. “So what’s kinetic bombardment do?”

  “Oh it’s really cool,” he said excitedly, “see, what we do is load up a few of those bad boys, depleted uranium rods. Now, again, I’m not sure where we’re headin’, but I’m assuming somewhere with fuel reserves or something.”

  “How come?”

  “Well, there’s no real point in using them if we’re not tryin’ to make something go boom. It ignites and has a habit of just goin’ and goin’.”

  I smiled at the thought of the sheer destructive power, “Well, I should probably get ready then.”

  Griff smiled, “What? More ready than that?” he asked, gesturing to my armour.

  “Heh, yeah. ‘Fraid the person in the suit still has to get ready. See you around Griff.”

  “See you around.”

  I walked out of the curtain feeling even more confident than I had when I’d walked in, I was in the loop, not as to where we were going, but I knew what we were doing.

  Still though, nothing could’ve prepared me for what we did, let alone what I’d have to do.

  Preparations

  The next few days went by in a bit of a blur, and it took all of my strength not to tell Mouse and Tyr what I knew, the fear of being deemed untrustworthy with sensitive information bearing down on me. However I was lucky in that keeping my mouth shut wasn’t much of a problem as we spent most of our time refining our weapon’s skills and getting introduced to Beta.

  Beta was the squad we’d been assigned, a good twenty soldiers who all turned out to be completely forgettable, nice enough guys though.

  The thing that had me really interested was the Androids, and not just because I was getting to know Griff pretty well, but because there were an arse-ton of them. Seriously, for some reason we’d been given forty of the things to use as we saw fit.

  That’s what our roles turned out to be, Generals. The type that were hard-core, expensive, and more than happy to get their hands dirty, but Generals nonetheless.

  Though that was never officially given to us as a title, no, instead we were brought to every one of Vyard’s speeches to stand by his side, we were the ones that others were taught to respect and listen to, and we were the ones that had all of the responsibility on our shoulders.

  “Mouse, I think it’d be best if you went down with a recon team.” I said as we stood over the digital table that Vyard had said we could use.

  “Aw, but I wanna go down with you and Tyr.”

  “I know, but we need someone on the ground before we roll in with the cavalry. It’s gonna be complete chaos down there and I need you to be the one that makes sure we know what we’re doing.”

  Mouse gave a disappointed sigh and a nod, “Alright, I suppose I can find you a safe place to land.”

  I smiled and gave a thankful nod, “Tyr, we’re gonna be going in with Beta, the Androids will be the first on the ground and once we’re there I want you to take half of them and Beta with you.”

  Tyr didn’t need any further convincing, clearly the talk that he’d had with Vyard the previous day had made him a bit more solid on the fact that I was the leader.

  “Alright, let’s get this show on the road. Who else wants to go watch the fireworks?”

  That got me a good show of smiles and an eagerness from everyone to get out the door.

  “Where are we going to watch it from?” Mouse asked giddily.

  “The bridge, Commodore’s gonna have it on screen. You excited?”

  “Are you serious? After what happened on Urbetes? You bet I’m excited.”

  Tyr mimicked her enthusiasm, “Yeah, it’ll be good to get some revenge on those pricks.”

  I was glad to have them on board with everything was going on, especially with how shrouded in secrecy it had all been up until that morning.

  We were in high orbit over a floating city called Ruishinda on Nasanwahti, a Commonwealth-friendly world that sat in one of the richer parts of the Commonwealth’s territory. Apparently, there were a few high-ranking officials on the ground and the guy who ran the city had basically given us the go ahead to smash the place into the dirt for a chance at joining the Federation.

  Wasn’t the first time a deal like that had been made, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last, but it was definitely the first time a place with such a high standing in the Commonwealth had made the decision to cut and run. Normally it was tiny settlements in the caves of Who-Gives-A-Shit at the arse-end of a solar system looking to stem the poverty that plagued their lands.

  This guy seemed to want to keep the hive and jump in the water to see what would happen.

  We reached the bridge fully armoured to the surprise of all the staff on duty, “Good to see you’ve finally arrived,” the Commodore said as he walked up from behind us, “I was starting to worry that I’d have to start without you.”

  “Not
a chance we’d miss it sir.” Tyr said with a smile.

  “Glad to hear it, now follow me.” Vyard said as he walked to the front of the bridge.

  I looked around confusedly once we’d reached him and it became clear that something was missing, “Where’re the screens sir?”

  Vyard gave me a cheeky smile then looked down revealing that the floor opened up to a vertigo inducing view of the city below, the only reason I didn’t fall over right then and there being that I’d gotten used to heights.

  “I thought we were meant to be in high-orbit?” Mouse asked remarkably calmly.

  “We are, what you’re looking at is a gift from the XEC, digital hard-glass. Looks like we could reach out and touch it, doesn’t it?”

  I’d never seen him so happy, and the feeling was contagious, “Are we ready to fire?”

  Vyard nodded, “Engineer Griff,” he said to the air, “you may fire when ready.”

  “Aye, aye, Capt- Commodore. Five seconds and you’ll be lookin’ at rubble.”

  I turned my attention to the ground below me and watched on in silence as Griff counted down. That second between two and one was the longest I’d ever experienced up until that point.

  And then it started.

  It was absolutely amazing, and as the first four touched down in the city, sending rubble and fire everywhere, everyone aboard the ship went off. Everyone started screaming and whooping as the system worked exactly as it was supposed to and completely changed the war.

  Everyone except me.

  I was trapped in my own head too much to celebrate the deaths of thousands, even if they were Commonwealth scum. At first I thought I was lucky in that no one saw my lack of enthusiasm, but then I looked up and saw Vyard looking at me with stern understanding, following it up with a small smile that I reflected.

  “If you wouldn’t mind sir, I’d like to take Omega and get ready for the mission.”

  Vyard nodded, “Your team is yours to do with as you please, dismissed.”

  I gave him a salute, “Thank you sir, Omega, fall in.”

  Tyr went to argue, then stopped and started tailing me as I made my way back through the bridge, the sounds of another bombardment vibrating throughout the ship.

  “Mouse, go get a rifle from the armoury, I have a feeling you’re gonna need it, then take your Androids and take off after the fourth barrage.”

  Mouse didn’t say anything, instead activating her helmet and running past Tyr and I while we maintained our steady pace, “Where are we goin’ Frey?”

  “Rooms, I want us to have those T-Packs when we land on the ground. Just as a precaution.”

  Again, Tyr went to speak and stopped.

  “Speak your mind Tyr,” I said as we entered the elevator, “don’t leave anything unsaid today.”

  Tyr gave a sigh and activated his own helmet as I did mine, “Are you okay Frey? Normally you’d give anything to see what’s going on out there.”

  “I’m fine, I just want to get the mission over and done with.”

  And that was the last thing we said to each throughout the entire process of linking our T-Packs to our suits, and right up until we were on the transport ship bound for Ruishinda, and even then we just said enough to make sure the troops around us were comfortable.

  There wasn’t any bad blood on my side, and I was sure there was none on his, but I think we both agreed that talking about my guilt and sympathy for the city we were attacking would only make things worse.

  Gods know what I’d have done if I knew then what I know now.

  Touch Down

  I flexed, the rubbery inner part of my suit expanding and shrinking to compensate. The mission was going to suck and I knew it. At least on Urbetes everything got buried by the forest, but where I was heading? There was going to be blood, bodies, and unending screams.

  I didn’t know if I was prepared to see the hundreds of troops that we’d sent down right before us, and I definitely wasn’t sure if I was ready to start executing Commonwealth soldiers who had the bad luck of getting trapped by debris.

  “You ready for this?” Tyr asked from across the shuttle as if he could see my internal struggle.

  I nodded and gave him a reassuring smile “Beta One! On your feet!”

  Without a second of delay my side of the shuttle shot up, all ten of the fatigue wearing troopers standing firmly at attention despite the rocky descent.

  “Beasts!” Tyr barked at what was meant to be called Beta Two, “Up!”

  It took a moment, but his side eventually got to their feet after a particularly violent jerk from what I guessed was the pilot’s attempt to dodge the anti-air.

  “Really?” I asked condescendingly, “Beasts? That’s what you’re going with?”

  Tyr smirked, “Course, I got myself a vicious little group here. Isn’t that right Beasts!?”

  They all barked and howled in response while the rest of us laughed in approval, “Right then, everybody grab on!” I shouted.

  Not a single person had to be told twice, some of them even pre-empted the order and grabbed the chains above each of their heads before I could finish.

  “We’re landing on a Commonwealth friendly world. That means that anything not in blue is fair game.”

  “Or red and black!” Tyr blurted out laughingly, pointing at his and my suit.

  We got a few smiles from around the shuttle, “Good call! That’s right, try not to shoot your C.O., tempting as it is.”

  “Nah, they love us. Isn’t that righ-!”

  An explosion that ripped through the shuttle interrupted him, one of the rear door’s corners having been replaced with a giant hole.

  “Masks on!” I bellowed to the panicked and nearly suffocating soldiers before hitting the helmet button on my chest.

  The sense of urgency and near-death doing nothing to ease the discomfort I had with the thing wrapping around my face the way it did.

  The soldiers all fell back into their chairs as the shuttle spun faster and faster, trying as hard as they could to strap themselves in while pulling on the oxygen masks from behind them.

  “Commie with a Lance Rifle!” the pilot shouted through my comms before I could ask.

  “Can you set her down?” Tyr asked without the slightest amount of fear in his voice.

  “Negative! We’re lookin’ at a bailout! I suggest you two use those packs of yours and bug the fuck out!”

  Tyr looked at me and I shook my head, “Get the hinges!”

  He immediately understood what I meant, and we both started monkey-barring along the chains toward the door.

  I was the first to reach our goal, but Tyr was soon there with me, pulling out his pistol and firing on the hinges and locks that used to be what kept us alive.

  The clip’s cell quickly ran dry though, and I didn’t feel confident enough to let go of the chain and reload, but it had already done most of the work.

  I used all of my strength and started stomping the Hell out of the hinge, which quickly gave way. I began swinging on the chain, slamming into the door with as much of my weight as I could.

  Then the worst thing that could have possibly happened happened, I succeeded. For a terrifying second I was no longer attached to the shuttle, the door having flown off in some direction or another as I was pulled out into the air at the same time.

  My life started flashing before my eyes, but then Tyr stopped it by grabbing my forearm just in time while his powerful cyber-hand bent and warped the chain that he was holding on to for life as he too dangled outside of the ship that was slowly evening out.

  “Pull me in!” he ordered his Beasts, who grabbed at him in any way they could and started pulling us into the shuttle.

  I rolled on my back and took a few shaky breaths before accepting that I was alive, “We alright?” I asked without getting up.

  “It’s still gonna be rough, but I’ll be able to get us down! Thanks for the assist!”

  My breathing relaxed and my heart stopped try
ing to escape through my chest. I got up to my feet, helping up Tyr in the process, and grabbed the practically destroyed chain that he’d been holding. The city below us was absolutely shattered, barely anything was left standing, and there was nothing blocking our flight path at a mere fifty metres up.

  I sighed in relief too soon.

  I saw it for a second, I’m sure of that, but my hyperactive adrenal gland was completely useless against it, it being the yellow beam that cracked through the sky toward our left wing.

  Tyr tackled me to the ground, keeping both of us locked to the steel as explosions and smoke filled the shuttle, but that didn’t stop me from hitting my head a good fifteen times.

  Then we touched down and that was it.

  Darkness.

  Stockholm Syndrome

  I woke up woozily and discovered I was being dragged by my wrists through what appeared to be sticks, though once I’d blinked a few times I could see that they were reeds and I was being floated along a pond, with my helmet disengaged.

  “Wha-”

  “Ah, you’re awake,” a mildly familiar voice said, “good, I was tired of dragging you.”

  “Where am I?” I asked as I tried to look around without getting water in my ears.

  “Nasanwahti, your ship crashed about half an hour ago. Your suit’s busted by the way.”

  “What!?” I shouted as I scrambled into an upright position only to discover my hands had been bound by chains.

  “Yeah, your helmet opened up and it said something about going into sleep mode. Keep up.” she said, tugging her end of the chain from where she was on dry land next to me as we finally reached a place where I could get out of the water.

  I slogged my way onto dry land and immediately took in every detail about the girl I was with. She was wearing a black tank-top and the pants of a Commonwealth officer, but the way she carried herself indicated that she was definitely not the rank that was on her beret.

  I’d definitely seen her before, but before I could put my finger on where I knew her from I noticed the heavy blaster pistol holstered on her right thigh, “Well, that’s a big’un.” I joked.