by S M Briscoe
The Rai Chi’s quickness and skill had taken Jarred by surprise, but even now, as he fell into full attack mode, unleashing a frenzied barrage of strikes and blows on his target, none of them hitting their mark, it was obvious that this warrior’s expertise were far beyond what he had expected, possibly even rivaling his own training.
That thought sent a shiver up his spine as a thousand memories of painful lessons learned came flooding up into his consciousness. His attack faltered for an instant with his lack of focus and he quickly shunted the distraction aside, forcing himself to concentrate on his foe, but not quickly enough.
Taking advantage of the split second lapse, the warrior reversed the attack once again and Jarred found himself suddenly falling back, barely picking off the whirlwind of strikes that were suddenly raining down upon him. He silently cursed himself as he fought to stay ahead of the assault, hearing the words of his old mentor scorning him for being so sloppy, words that had usually followed the sharp sting of a wooden stick on the back of his head. Though often a bit painful, the memories weren’t bad ones, and he resisted the urge to ignore the feelings that came with them this time, instead using them for the strength that they inspired.
Focusing his thoughts, Jarred regained control of his defenses, relaxing his form and flowing with the Rai Chi’s assault instead of fighting against it. He parried one slash after another from the serrated spearheads of the warrior’s staff, spinning himself around with each one as he continued back stepping. On the third parry, he reversed his momentum suddenly and lunged forward, stabbing his sword outwards for the warrior’s stomach, or at least for where it should have been.
Apparently anticipating the move, the warrior had pivoted away to one side, leaving Jarred’s back open and exposed for a killing strike. Where normally he might have jerked away to avoid the inevitable blow, Jarred was now in tune with the warrior’s movements and, instead, let his sword naturally glide around into a guard position behind his back, crouching in a low stance to catch the powerful strike. Quickly guiding the staff around in front of him with his blade, he threw his shoulder up into the Rai Chi’s chest, knocking him back a few steps.
Not wasting a moment, Jarred launched himself into the attack, unleashing a flurry of strikes and slashes so fast and powerful, the warrior actually appeared stunned, struggling to keep his footing as he retreated back against the barrage. Jarred’s blade danced from side to side, almost of its own accord, as he gave himself over to his instincts, removing all conscious thought from his actions, as he had been taught to do, becoming one with his weapon.
The warrior ducked under a strike meant for his head and came up behind Jarred, who easily pivoted and circled his sword around his head to bat away his opponent’s spear, immediately unleashing another flurry of lightning quick strikes, giving the warrior no opportunity to open his own attack. He slashed left then right at the Rai Chi’s shoulders, raising his sword up high to deliver a heavy blow to the top of the warrior’s head, who raised his spear to block as he stumbled back. Jarred let the strike fall short and instead, thrust kicked the warrior in the stomach, sending him back another couple of steps. Seeing his opportunity to strike, Jarred lunged forward, and swinging his blade upward one handed, knocked the warrior’s spear high over his head, spinning away to slice horizontally across his chest.
Facing away from the warrior, Jarred was surprised to not have heard the expected cry of agony, or anything even resembling discomfort, nor the sound of a body crumbling to the ground. Glancing over his shoulder, he stared in disbelief as the warrior still stood before him, his torso fully intact, with only the faintest of scars upon his black chest plate to prove to Jarred that he had made any contact at all.
Obviously, the Rai Chi leader was wearing a considerably higher grade of armor than his subordinates, which was going to make things a bit more difficult. The warrior was staring down at his chest as well, seeming more surprised by the fact that Jarred had scored the hit in the first place. He looked back up at Jarred and nodded in respect, regarding him thoughtfully for a long moment before readying his weapon again.
Before Jarred could do the same, a burst of cannon fire exploded into the tram car just inches away from him, launching both himself and the warrior away in opposite directions. Jarred slid across the roof of the tram, barely stopping himself before falling over its edge, but having to drop his sword to do so. He watched it fade into the distance like a small sliver of light, quickly pulling himself away as more cannon fire peppered the area around him, rocking the tram again. He glanced up to see the troop carrier hovering over the tram, a gunner manning a plasma cannon mounted in the open side hatch. Apparently, they had grown tired of watching.
Looking across the car, Jarred spotted Elora and Ethan clinging to the roof of the tram, but the scarred warrior was nowhere to be seen. He almost felt relieved that the impatient gunner had finished the duel for him, except that now he was facing a hail storm of deadly cannon fire instead. He threw himself across the roof of the tram, sliding away from another cannon salvo, and ejecting his dual disruptors, opened fire on the cannon mount’s operator. None of his shots found their mark, but they at least halted the gunner’s assault.
Having bought himself a few seconds, Jarred pulled the last grenade from his belt, and thumbing its timer, threw it up into the open side hatch of the carrier. He glimpsed the look of alarm on the gunner’s face before the grenade detonated, engulfing him and half the carrier in flames.
Jarred quickly began to have doubts about his poorly thought out plan, as the burning carrier started to slowly fall towards him. He backed himself away, for all the good it would do and was actually relieved as another explosion inside the carrier blew what was left of it to pieces, causing the majority of the wreckage to fall away from the tram, pelting it with smaller chunks of burning debris as it did. The tram rocked violently from the turbulence and Jarred looked ahead to where Elora and Ethan were still lying, apparently unharmed. Scrambling on his hands and knees, he came up next to them.
“Are you two all right?” he asked, checking them both over.
Elora didn’t say anything, looking a bit overwhelmed by the whole ordeal, but nodded.
That was good enough. Jarred helped them both up and led the way to the end of the car. “We need to get to the engine car,” he began, stepping across the gap to the next car. He reached out for Elora to help her across. “Maybe I can cut into the tram’s autopilot. Take it over, or at least slow it down until I can come up with something else.”
Jarred turned back to Ethan and held out his hand to him. “Come on, Ethan.”
As Ethan took a step, the tram rocked violently again and he lost his footing, stumbling forward. Jarred reached out to grasp the boy’s hand, but only grazed his fingers as he fell into the gap between the cars. He heard Elora’s startled scream in his ear as he dropped to the deck, nearly falling into the gap himself.
Jarred allowed himself to breath again as he saw Ethan below him, clinging to the step ladder that ran up the opposite car. Though still out of reach, he was quite secure where he was and in no immediate danger of falling.
“Ethan!” he shouted over the wind. “You alright, kid?”
“Yeah,” Ethan answered back, cautiously, as he regarded his position. “I think so.”
“Alright, just stay where you are. I’ll come over to help you up.” Jarred stood up and made to jump back over the gap in the cars, but stopped as the tram began to shake again. Taking a moment to regain his footing, and reaching back to help Elora do the same, he glanced down between the cars and caught sight of cause of their turbulence, cursing to himself as he did.
“What’s wrong?” Elora asked, expectantly from over his shoulder.
“The car’s coupling is fragged,” Jarred called back to her. It must have been damaged when the carrier had exploded, and from the looks of it, wasn’t going to hold much longer. “If it gives, the car’s will . . .”
The tram was
rocked again, even more violently, cutting Jarred’s sentence short, and he had to grab hold of Elora to keep her from doubling over. He immediately turned his attention to Ethan to find him still holding onto the opposite car’s ladder. Unfortunately, below the boy, the tram coupling was rattling to pieces, ready to give way at any moment. When it did, the other two cars would be left behind, along with Ethan.
Jarred dropped to the deck and leaned out over the gap between the tram cars. “Ethan!” he shouted over the wind, stretching out his free hand to the boy. “Reach for my hand, Ethan!”
Ethan looked over his shoulder enough to see Jarred and let go of the ladder with one hand, reaching out to take hold of Jarred’s. Stretching out completely, there was still a two foot gap between them.
“I can’t reach!” Ethan cried, hopelessly.
Jarred cursed to himself, silently, having already reached the same conclusion. “You have to jump, kid!”
Ethan’s shock was obvious. “Are you crazy?” he asked, incredulously. “I can’t jump!”
“Yes you can,” Jarred assured him. “You have to. I promise I will catch you, but you have to jump, now!” The coupling was going. They were out of time.
“Come on, Ethan!” Elora called out from behind Jarred. “Jump!”
Ethan shook his head in something like disbelief, but eased himself forward away from the ladder, keeping a firm grip on it, and readied himself to jump.
Jarred clenched his jaw as he saw the plasma stream flickering from under the coupling, the casing too damaged to contain the binding energy that kept the cars together. He leaned out as far as he could, stretching his arm towards Ethan, ready to snag him out of the air when he jumped. Come on, kid. Jump.
As Ethan released his grip from the ladder to jump, Jarred felt the tram jerk viciously beneath him, the coupling’s power supply overloading in a small explosion. He could only watch in horror as Ethan slipped from the ladder, nearly falling into the growing gap between the cars. He hung there a moment, dangling oddly in mid air, looking up into the face of his rescuer.
Jarred’s gaze rose to meet that of the very much still living warrior leader, who was staring back at him, perched atop the opposite car with a firm grip on the neck of Ethan’s tunic. The warrior hauled Ethan up onto the deck of the car and returned his attention to Jarred, giving him a nearly imperceptible nod as the two cars grew farther and farther apart. Without the engine car pulling them, the other cars were losing their momentum quickly.
Jarred felt Elora’s hand grip his arm as she came up next to him, calling out desperately for her brother. As he watched the other cars fall away, he couldn’t help but feel the same desperation, staring into the eyes of the boy and those of the warrior that towered over him, until they both disappeared into the distance.
He could feel Elora trembling beside him, but could not bring himself to look at her, nor think of any words of comfort to speak. He had set out to help them and ultimately had failed to do so. Ethan had slipped through his fingers and now they were sailing forward to their own inevitable capture. Somehow, it seemed no consolation that the two would soon probably be reunited again, only to end up right back where he had left them, so he thought better than to say so. She would probably come to the same conclusion herself soon enough. So they both continued to sit there in silence, waiting and staring aimlessly into the distance.
Lost in his own thoughts, it actually took Jarred a moment to register the sound of ion engines approaching and he finally turned to see a new troop carrier hovering up into a position next to them, a familiar face staring back at him through the open side hatch.
“Do you two need a lift somewhere?” Sierra Lore called out from the door of the carrier, her lips curled up in a smug grin.
Elora turned to look at the carrier herself and seemed as stunned as Jarred was to see the woman, as they trading bewildered looks.
“Well, are you coming or not?” Sierra asked impatiently. “We don’t have all day.”
Jarred got to his feet with Elora and moved across the deck to the carrier, Sierra giving them both a hand inside. Once in, he immediately found himself the subject of a pair of dark, unreadable and all too familiar eyes, but under the circumstances, he couldn’t say that he was totally unhappy to be in Orna’s presence again.
“Why did you come back?” Jarred asked, turning back to face Sierra.
“Don’t get it into your head that I had a change of heart or anything,” Sierra began, shaking her head. “But, after you left I realized we were still out a ship, and I do remember you saying something about having one docked nearby.”
“That’s good enough for me,” Jarred answered her.
“I hate to interrupt this happy reunion,” Kern called back from the flight deck, “but, there’s a lot of Sect and police chatter coming over the airwaves. We’re going to have some company real soon.”
“We should ditch this carrier,” Jarred suggested. “They’ll be tracking it.”
“No, I tossed the transponder,” Kern called back. “We should be fine for a while.”
“Until they spot us,” Sierra added. “We need to go, now.”
“Wait!” Elora called out, receiving everyone’s attention. “What about Ethan? We need to go back for him.”
Jarred’s gaze drifted from Elora to Sierra and he knew the answer before the other woman spoke.
“I’m sorry,” Sierra began, as she turned for the flight deck. “There isn’t time. The Sect are on their way. If we don’t leave now we won’t be leaving at all.”
“There isn’t time?” Elora repeated, the hope that had obviously been growing inside her vanishing from her face. “Jarred?” she asked, looking towards him desperately. “We’re going back for him, aren’t we?”
Jarred knew Sierra and Kern were right. If more Sect ships were on their way, there wouldn’t be time to go back for Ethan, especially considering he would still have the Rai Chi warrior leader to deal with first. Leaving was the only real choice they had, but knowing that didn’t dull the sting he felt as Elora finally realized that he wasn’t going to side with her.
“You want to leave him, too,” she said, almost accusingly, the hurt plain in her eyes.
Jarred felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. He didn’t want to leave the boy behind, but they were out of options. The guilt rising up inside him was almost overwhelming and it took everything he had to not turn away from her.
“We’re not leaving him,” he began, putting as much reassurance into his words as he could, trying to convince himself as much as he was Elora. “We’ll come back. We’ll find him. I promise.”
Tears began to well up in Elora’s eyes and she turned away, looking defeated.
Jarred turned back to Sierra, who was still waiting by the open flight deck hatch. “We’re docked at port two-one-seven.”
Sierra nodded simply and stepped through the flight deck hatch.
Jarred waited a moment before turning around to face Elora again, as she stood staring out the open side hatch of the carrier, her face filled with anguish and loss.
“He’s my brother,” she began after a long moment, continuing to gaze out the hatch. “He’s my responsibility . . . and I’m leaving him.”
Jarred tried to think of something to say to console her, to reassure her that Ethan would be alright, but no words came and he could only continue to stand next to her in silence. There were no words that would ease the pain, or numb her feelings of guilt. He wished there was something he could say, if even to only ease the knot that was twisting in his own stomach. He didn’t like the feeling and, for a moment, thought to burry it as he would have normally, but resisted the urge, instead choosing to face it. He needed to feel this. He needed to remember what this was costing them, and as he opened himself to the guilt that was swelling up inside, his anger began to grow with it.
Letting out a breath, Jarred released the boiling fury that was near to consuming him. Feeding off of that emotion and
flying into a rage wouldn’t help Ethan or Elora. There would be another time to act. He promised himself that much. Instead, he followed Elora’s gaze out of the carrier to the passing lines of traffic, Trycon’s cityscape glowing crimson as the sun began to sink below its many skyscrapers.
Night was falling over the great city and Jarred couldn’t help but feel that something much darker was falling with it. A cold chill ran up his spine as the fading light gave way to shadow, and as he watched it spread over the cityscape like an ominous cloak, he found himself wondering how long it might be before Trycon saw light again.
Chapter 15
Walking onto the deck of docking port two-one-seven, Jarred found the Fancy Girl sitting safely in its berth where he had left it only a few short hours earlier, allowing himself his first relieved breath in as much time. The trip back to the dock had gone smoothly, but there was no telling when more Sect troops might suddenly storm in and start shooting things up again.
Though there didn’t seem to be any immediate signs of trouble in the bay, he couldn’t help but feel that something was out of place. The dock was a hive of activity, with pilots busy tending to their vessels, aided by the bay’s numerous mechanical hands, civilians casually coming and going. Everything seemed normal enough, but the feeling persisted. Something was . . . missing.
Jarred felt someone step up next to him and glanced over at Elora. She was staring ahead at the very thing he was, her expression unreadable, though he didn’t have to try hard to imagine what was going through her mind. Boarding the ship would feel like turning her back on her brother and truly leaving him behind. He wanted to convince her that wasn’t what she was doing, that they weren’t leaving Ethan, but this wasn’t the time. He had a plan to help the boy, but he couldn’t accomplish it here or now. No, his instincts told him that they had to leave . . . before the option was no longer open to them.
