Worlds Without End: The Prophecy (Book 3)

by Shaun Messick

  “My Lord?”

  Dorange, startled out of his thoughts, turned to his second in command.

  Major Washantu pointed toward the holographic table. “Our queen mother hails you,” the major said.

  Dorange turned his gaze back to the table. He hadn’t noticed it before, but there on the holographic table was the holographic image of Macaria. She stood about three feet in height above the table.

  “My Queen,” Dorange said, bowing before the new goddess of the Gnol Empire. Major Washantu followed suit.

  Macaria proceeded to speak, relaying everything that had occurred recently onboard the Raqel II. She also told him that Jake, Celeste, and Nichelle were now prisoners. She then explained how Koroan and Calum disappeared and were now alive within the Great Pyramid in Egypt.

  “The Great Pyramid?” Dorange questioned. “What does that mean?”

  “I am leaving for Egypt as soon as this transmission ends,” Macaria added, her sharp tongue infused within each word she spoke. “Is Adrian Palmer still alive?” she questioned, changing the subject abruptly.

  “Yes, my Queen,” Dorange replied, stepping aside so that Macaria could see Adrian.

  Adrian, with piqued attention most likely from the mention of his son and grandson, stared intently at Macaria’s image.

  Macaria scowled at him and then looked back at Dorange. “Once we are done here, kill him,” she seethed.

  “Yes, my Queen,” Dorange responded with a smile curving along his lips. Oh, he would kill Adrian Palmer, but he wanted to wait until he held Earth’s gold plate in his hands.

  Macaria continued, “Do not insert the Gnolom plate into that slot until I give you the order.”

  Dorange’s expression changed from pure exuberance to dismay. “I don’t understand why do we have to wait to insert the pl—”

  “You do not need to understand! Just do as you are told, you insignificant troll!” Macaria barked.

  The disappointment Dorange felt flashed immediately into rage, but he held his composure. “Understood, my Queen.”

  Without another word, the transmission ended. Still staring at the holographic table with anger pulsating through him, Dorange reached his hand out toward Major Washantu. “Give me the plate.”

  “But, General . . . the queen—”

  “Do not lecture me, Major!” Dorange barked back.

  Major Washantu handed him the plate. Once in his possession, he walked to the back of the silver obelisk and climbed up to the top. He traced his fingers along the slot. Ancient writings lined the slot as well as inside of it. He then examined the plate. It was a perfect fit, just like the impression on the door. Looking back down at the slot, he held the plate over it about a foot in the air. The plate glowed once again. The hieroglyphs glowed as well. Suddenly, bright white beams of light shot out from the hieroglyphs within the slot, locking on to the symbols on the plate.

  He stared in amazement as he let go of the plate. It hovered in the air for a few seconds above the slot, when a plasma blast echoed throughout the underground pyramid. Dorange jerked his head up and pulled the plate from the magnetic pull of the lights. Across the room and standing in the entryway were Kevin Palmer, Skip, Bantyr, Christopher Peterson, and another man. Three of them had plasma rifles pointed directly at him, while Kevin Palmer stood with the smoking gun that had just shot Major Washantu in the back of the head.

  *****

  Onboard the Raqel II . . .

  Jake watched as the image of Dorange disappeared. His heart sank within his chest. Looking at Nichelle and Celeste, he could tell that they felt the same way. There was nothing they could do. His father was alone on Earth inside an ancient underground pyramid, which was about to become his eternal resting place. In addition to the direct order from Macaria to kill his father, he also worried for his infant son, who had apparently disappeared after the power surge and was now inside another pyramid halfway around the world.

  He looked at Celeste as a tear rolled down her cheek. He could tell from her countenance that she wanted to crash through the vent and rip Macaria’s throat out, but she knew better. She turned her vengeful gaze from Macaria to her husband. What do we do? she thought.

  We need to get to the hangar bay, back to our ship, Jake replied with his own thought.

  Celeste nodded and turned herself around as quietly as she could so her boots wouldn’t clank against the metal surface of the ventilation shaft. After the artificial gravity came back online, all three of them dropped to the floor of the shaft. They feared that their landings were loud enough for the Gnols working on the bridge to hear, but there was enough commotion that no one heard them.

  Nichelle turned and began to follow Celeste back down the shaft, and Jake was about to as well, when he heard one of the Gnols on the bridge. Just before he stepped over the shaft, he sent an urgent thought to Celeste. Wait! Celeste!

  Celeste stopped and turned around as quietly as she could, as did Nichelle. Jake pointed back down through the vent and signaled for them to listen.

  “My Queen,” the officer said.

  “What is it?” Macaria snapped back impatiently.

  “I have tried to contact Lieutenant Laefwair in the brig. He is not responding.”

  “Send a team down there now!” Macaria ordered. She then looked at another young officer. “Prepare my shuttle. I am leaving for Egypt.”

  “Yes, my Queen,” the young officer said, nodding.

  Macaria then turned her attention to Commander Soren. “Once I leave, lock the ship down. If they have escaped, they most likely will try to get to the hangar bay for their ship. It’s their only true escape.”

  “Yes, my Queen,” Commander Soren responded.

  Macaria then moved her gaze upward toward the ventilation shaft Jake was peering down through. He quickly backed his head into the shadows. She stared at the vent for a few seconds before storming off toward the elevator. She stepped inside and, before the door closed said, “Commander, you have the ship. Keep me posted.”

  Commander Soren nodded just as the elevator door closed.

  Jake looked at his wife and thought, We need to get to the hangar bay now.

  *****

  The journey through the maze of shafts within the Raqel II was difficult, especially through several of the vertical shafts. In those, Jake had to go first, followed by Celeste and Nichelle. In their weakened states, Celeste and Nichelle did their best to climb down and up through them with their arms and legs. When their strength failed, Jake assisted them with his telekinetic abilities, which were becoming stronger the longer he went without an injection. As they traversed, they heard the commotion of several security teams searching for them on each deck. The Gnols knew that they were hiding in the ventilation shafts, but each time a soldier would enter the shaft to look, they were already in another section.

  Once they finally made it through one of the shafts ventilating the hangar, they found out it was on complete lockdown with troops scattered throughout. They watched as Macaria piloted her own shuttle out of a permeable plasma shield protecting the hangar from the vacuum of space. Once she cleared the shield, they lowered the blast shield, a gigantic metal blast door. To Jake’s disappointment, he wasn’t even confident they could blast their way through it.

  As Jake stared down through one of the many ventilation shafts that provided the hangar with oxygen, he assessed the situation. From his estimation, there were roughly over one hundred guards in the hangar, amidst the hundreds of space fighters and shuttles throughout. Celeste and Nichelle were behind him about another twenty-five feet.

  Sighing his frustration, he moved back with them and whispered, “There’s too many of them.”

  “The trap is set and they’re waiting for their prey,” Nichelle added.

  Celeste nodded. The frustration of not being able to save her son was setting in. “We need to do something, Jake. We can’t just sit here in these shafts.”

  Jake nodded his agreement as he thou
ght for a moment. After a few seconds, he looked up with a glint of hope in his eyes. “You two know about these mother ships. Where’s the weapons locker?”

  “The weapons depot is typically next to the hangar, but it is always heavily guarded, especially in a situation like this,” Celeste said.

  “Guarded from the outside, though, right?” Jake asked.

  “Yes,” Nichelle interjected, “but the moment you break through the vent to the depot, the alarm will sound.”

  Jake gave Nichelle a knowing smile. “Oh, I know.”

  He then moved past his wife and Nichelle through the narrow shaft. They followed closely. They passed by several vents, looking through each one in their search for the weapons cache. Finally, Jake stopped. “Here it is,” he said, looking down through the vent.

  Celeste and Nichelle made their way next to him and looked down as well. The cache was a large room, dimly lit with emergency lights, an indication that no one was present at the time. Shelves lined the room, each one stacked with weapons of all sorts: plasma rifles, pistols, knives, daggers, swords, and explosives.

  Jake did his best to search through the darkness in addition to the limited view through the vent. He searched for a long minute when he finally said, “That’s what I need!”

  “What?” Celeste asked.

  “We need those,” Jake said, reaching his hand out toward the vent. Soon, a small black circular device began to float toward him. He levitated it through the air, making sure to avoid the security lasers zigzagging across the room. It passed through the vent and into his hand. He held it up for Nichelle and Celeste to examine.

  “What are we going to do with explosives?” Nichelle asked. “Blow ourselves out of the ship?”

  “No, we need a distraction,” he said, shaking his head and examining the device. It was about the size of an old silver dollar, but, having used them before, he knew the explosive punch they contained. Twelve LED lights surrounded the perimeter of the device. When active, the lights turned green and then red with each light flashing off for twelve seconds before detonating. With a remote, one could activate several devices at once, creating a simultaneous explosion or one right after another. Jake had experience with such devices during his time on Terrest.

  He levitated nine more detonators and gathered them into his pants pockets. He then levitated a remote to himself. Once in his hand, he programmed the remote so that once he detonated one explosive, another would follow suit within one second of the previous one.

  “What kind of distraction do you have in mind?” Celeste asked.

  Jake smiled confidently. “We blend in.” He then levitated a roll of duct tape to himself, stuffed it into another pocket, turned around, and said, “Follow me.”

  He led them down the shaft, listening intently for guards passing by underneath them. He turned left down another shaft and stopped at a vent that supplied air to a long corridor. Nichelle and Celeste stopped and looked down as well. There were several voices approaching. Jake tilted his head down so that he could get a better look.

  What are you planning? Celeste thought toward him.

  Jake held his finger up, signaling her to wait, without looking at her. Down the corridor walked three male soldiers with one female, each one armed with a plasma rifle, pistol, and dagger. Battle helmets covered their heads. They were likely headed to the hangar as reinforcements.

  Just before they walked directly underneath them, Jake looked at Nichelle and Celeste. “Stay here,” he said as he kicked the vent from its bolts.

  The vent crashed to the floor, and Jake dropped down right in front of the five stunned soldiers. Before they had time to respond, he sent two of the males flying into the wall to his right, knocking one out and stunning the other. The one male left raised his rifle at him. Reaching out, he grabbed the rifle with both hands and flung it upwards with his returning super-human strength. The Gnol on the other end of the rifle held on with his own strength, which caused his head to crash into the ceiling with a force that no normal human would have been able to withstand. He was out cold as his body slammed back down onto the floor.

  The lone female managed to get her rifle raised and fired off a shot. Jake dropped and rolled to his right. The bolt hit the elevator at the end of the corridor, exploding off the door. Jake just hoped that no one heard the blast. Before the female had time to counter, he flung both of his arms forward. The invisible force hit the woman in the chest with such force that it knocked the wind out of her. She flew back into the opposite wall, denting it, and then slid to the floor, still conscious but dazed.

  The befuddled male Gnol whom Jake had thrown into the wall before lay on his back a few feet away from him. As he tried to stagger to his feet, Jake backhanded him without even looking at him, knocking him out cold. Jake then rushed toward the woman guard. Before she even had time to realize what had happened, he grabbed her in a chokehold and held on tight until she passed out.

  Dropping to the woman to the floor, he looked up at the hole in the roof where the vent was.

  “Nice job,” Celeste said, smiling at him.

  “Yes, nice job indeed,” Nichelle added.

  “C’mon,” Jake said, moving under the vent to help his wife down, followed by Nichelle. “Change into their uniforms.”

  Once they were dressed, Jake duct-taped the unconscious troops together, making sure he secured their mouths as well, and then levitated them into the shaft. The duct-tape was designed so that a typical Gnol couldn’t tear through it. After doing his best to re-secure the vent to the shaft, they made their way to the hangar.

  “So what do we do once we are in the hangar?” Nichelle asked.

  “You and Celeste get to the Nighthawk. Celeste knows the code to unlock the cargo hold. Wait for my signal to unlock it,” Jake replied.

  “What about the blast door? The Nighthawk doesn’t have enough fire power to blast through it.”

  “No. I’ll have to get to the control station that looks over the hangar.”

  “How?” Nichelle asked.

  “Leave that to me. My full strength is coming back,” Jake said. He then tapped the pocket on his pants in which he placed the explosives. “You’ll know what the signal is. Just get to the Nighthawk without being recognized.”

  Celeste and Nichelle tucked their dark hair deeper into their battle helmets and pulled down the fronts a little further down, closer to their eyes. They continued to walk through other corridors as they approached the hangar. The closer they got to the hangar, the more crowded the corridors became. Guards walked back and forth, shining the lights of their plasma rifles into vents of the ventilator shafts, hoping to find the stowaways. In all the commotion, they never looked closely at them.

  Finally, they reached the hangar bay. There were no doors leading in or out of the bay. It simply led to a maze of corridors throughout the ship. The place was buzzing with guards. Jake nodded toward Celeste and Nichelle. They broke away from him, heading for their ship. He watched as they walked away, observing guards nearby. No one even seemed to bat an eye that these three individuals were the ones they were looking for.

  The Nighthawk that Jake and Celeste arrived in was still parked near the middle of the hangar. It was surrounded by hundreds of Gnol fighters and shuttles. It wasn’t heavily guarded either. Troops were more concerned about the prisoners in the ventilator shafts and walked past it, confident that if the stowaways did get to the ship, they wouldn’t be able to escape the hangar bay with blast door closed.

  Jake examined his surroundings as he stepped into the massive bay. Turning around, he looked up. Overlooking the hangar was the control station, which was sectioned off by a gigantic panel of glass. Several Gnols worked at their stations beyond the glass. He then turned and followed a group of soldiers walking the perimeter of the bay. They walked with the rifles raised and lights on, pointed at the air vents just in case the escaped prisoners attacked.

  Jake stayed far enough behind so that he didn�
�t attract their attention. He glanced behind him. Every once in a while, a soldier would be walking behind him but then change his route. When Jake was confident no one was looking, he ducked in between the rows of fighters. He pulled out an explosive and activated it with his thumb along the LED light, which radiated a green light, indicating that the device was active. Once all twelve small lights were lit up, he placed the device under the wing of one of the fighters, the strong magnetic pull holding it in place. He continued to attach the remaining nine explosives in the same way for every two or three fighters. Once he was done, he made his way toward the Nighthawk. Nichelle and Celeste stood next to it.

  He made eye contact with Celeste and thought as he walked by her without a word, Unlock the cargo hold once the fireworks start.

  She nodded without sending a thought his way, indicating she understood.

  He then walked out of the hangar to a small elevator that led up to the control station. Looking around, he made sure no one noticed him as he pushed the button to open the elevator doors. The doors opened. Once inside, he pushed the lone button on the control board. The elevator zipped upward and stopped abruptly. He readied himself as the doors opened.

  The control station was full of computer stations with a Gnol working at each one. Assessing the situation, he counted ten Gnols in all working at individual stations. There was one Gnol standing behind them, looking through the glass over the hangar.

  Jake stood there for a few seconds, not sure of what to do next when the officer turned around. “Why are you not down in the hangar searching for the prisoners?” the officer asked.

  Jake kept his head down so that the officer wouldn’t recognize him. He was sure they all knew what he looked like.

  The officer stepped closer to him. “Answer me and look me in the eye when I’m talking to you!” the officer demanded.

  Feeling stronger and without a response, Jake tilted his head up.

  “It’s him!” the officer shouted, recognizing him immediately as he frantically tried to pull out his sidearm. “Alert the br—”

  Before the soldier could pull his gun out of its holster and finish his sentence, Jake sent a bone-crushing right hook into the Gnol’s face. The force knocked the officer out immediately, causing the other ten Gnols in the room to spring to action. Leaping from their computer stations, each one of them tried to pull his gun from its holster as well. With cat-like reflexes, Jake raised the plasma rifle and fired, killing eight of the soldiers.