“This is unfair!”
“Life is not always fair, Chase. And no matter how powerful you have become, there will be things even you can’t prevent. If it makes you feel any better, if it was Saroudis talking to you now, what do you think he would tell you to do?”
Chase felt an intense wave of sadness. He already knew what was going to happen.
“He’d tell me to look at the big picture,” said Chase. Tears burned the corners of his eyes.
Time resumed, and Chase pushed Oryn behind him. His sadness turned to absolute hatred in a microsecond, the same time it took him to turn into an Ultra Fury again.
Chase sent a telepathic message to Saroudis.
Goodbye, my friend. Thank you for saving us all today. I’ll take care of Alexandra and Sendra for you. I promise.
While sending his message, Chase unleashed a thousand fireballs at near-light speed towards Miseo, who was only a few yards away.
Chase felt the Destiny explode and the life of his friend and commanding officer was extinguished in the coldness of space.
The Destiny jumped into the center of the weapon’s beam and was instantly vaporized. The resulting shockwave provoked a multitude of explosions on the surface of the titanic Gaian ship. The beam of energy that was pounding Earth’s failing planetary shield blinked for a couple of seconds and dissipated into nothingness.
Chase’s flurry of fireballs impacted with full force on Miseo’s torso and catapulted him back into the bulkhead again. The fireballs in his hands vanished, and he raised both hands in front of him, deflecting Chase’s attacks.
“No, seriously! What the fuck did you do to your brother that he became this monstrous thing?”
Oryn emerged from behind Chase’s back. “I never thought anything like this would happen. Let’s focus on finishing this before the ship blows up.”
Oryn expanded her icy-blue aura to its paroxysm and unleashed the most powerful cold wave of energy she had ever created.
Miseo used his left hand to block Oryn’s incoming attack, while still deflecting Chase’s fireballs with his right hand. Miseo unleashed another roar of frustration.
The hole the death of Saroudis had carved inside Chase’s heart filled with rage and hatred.
Chase stopped sending a multitude of smaller attacks and switched to a powerful column of sun-colored energy. He poured all his hatred into it and let his inner fury unleash the most powerful attack he could muster.
Miseo answered in kind and created an impressive wave of energy of his own to counter both Chase’s and Oryn’s attacks. Miseo quickly repelled their attacks by pushing back, adding ever more energy to his own wave.
Chase and Oryn gave everything they could, pushing even harder.
Miseo vocalized his frustration with a mad scream as the blue and orange beams got closer to him. There was so much pressure inside his body that his eyeballs exploded. But, instead of that slowing him down, his muscle mass doubled and he pushed back once more.
“We’re not going to make it,” said Oryn.
“Don’t you dare give up on me now!” screamed Chase.
“The ship will self-destruct in less than twenty seconds, and I didn’t have time to set the jump coordinates before Miseo jumped us.”
Chase diverted a tiny portion of his focus to access the super-destroyer’s computer with his mind. He located the hyperspace controls and set the coordinates to match the center of Gaia 2’s titanic monstrosity. Eighteen seconds left.
“I . . . I can’t sustain it much longer,” said Oryn through gritted teeth.
“Keep pushing, and remember what you still need to do back on Erevos.”
That last comment got her attention, and Chase felt Oryn’s soul fill with the blackness of hatred and a thirst for revenge. It infused her body with renewed determination and she pushed harder still.
“Good,” said Chase, “use that rage.”
“Not that it matters. In fifteen seconds this ship will blow.”
Chase felt three familiar life forces materialize behind them as a bright golden light illuminated the Eternal Wrath’s bridge.
“We’re going to make it,” said Chase with a smile.
“Somebody order backup?” said Argos cheerfully, stepping to Chase’s right.
Chris moved to Oryn’s side.
“I never thought I’d be so happy to see the both of you,” said Chase. “I have to commend you on your excellent timing.”
They both unleashed their attacks into the mix. Chris fired a green column of energy. Argos invoked a large crimson fireball between his hands and brought it in front of him. The fireball extended to a beam of crimson energy with black lightning sizzling all around it.
All four beams of energy converged into one powerful, intertwined and unstoppable beam of energy that shot through Miseo’s energy wave. It impacted Miseo on the torso. He screamed one last time before his body exploded into hundreds of black, fleshy bits and pieces.
Their time was running out.
“Thanks, Ares, for bringing them here. Now please get them back immediately. This ship is about to blow.”
Chris and Argos each caught one of Ares’ arms and teleported away.
“I don’t have enough time to set the hyperspace jump, Chase. I’m sorry,” said Oryn with genuine sadness.
Chase put his hand on her shoulder. “Not to worry. I took care of that.”
They teleported away a second before the Eternal Wrath jumped into the center of the Gaian monstrosity.
The ship cracked and fiery veins extended from the center to the edges. Fire spewed from the many cracks, and multiple explosions happened on the surface of the ship, but it didn’t explode. And while half of the ship was on fire, it still hovered above the blue marble.
Chase and Oryn joined the busy bridge on board the Hope.
“Chase!” exclaimed Sarah with relief. She shot daggers at the woman whose shoulder Chase had his hand on. “Who’s that?” she asked, her tone cold and sharp.
Chase took his hand off Oryn’s shoulder and nervously scratched the back of his head with a forced smile. His lips formed a serious line as he looked deeply into Oryn’s eyes. “She’s a friend. Right?”
“Absolutely,” answered Oryn.
“Well, nice to meet you, but we still have a giant ship to blow out of the sky,” said Sarah.
“Incoming transmission from the Gaian ship,” said the communications officer.
“Let’s hear what that bitch has to say before she meets her maker,” said Chase. “Put her on screen.”
The red version of Gaia 2’s avatar looked completely mad. Her hair hovered around her skull, and her red eyes moved all around, each eyeball moving independently of the other. She looked possessed.
“I told you to stay away from this place, but you couldn’t resist it, could you?”
“And we’re finally ridding the universe of you.”
“Your pathetic fleet can’t do that.”
“Have you looked at the state of your ship lately?”
“What, this damage? It’s just cosmetic. My engines are still functional. I made you a promise, Fury. I told you there would be consequences if you ever came back. If I can’t have the Earth, nobody can. Say goodbye to your precious planet!”
With a single thought Chase opened a channel throughout the fleet.
“Chase to the fleet, fire at will. Give it everything you have, but destroy this ship now!”
The engine of Gaia 2’s monstrosity roared to life and the ship started moving towards Earth.
Every ship fired everything it had: every laser turret, every missile and torpedo. Explosions detonated on the surface of the titanic ship but it kept advancing towards Earth, picking up speed.
“Divert everything to your weapons systems—shields, life support. Keep firing at will!” Chase exclaimed.
Large bits of metal were blown away from all sides, but the fleet wasn’t causing enough damage overall.
Multiple hypers
pace windows opened nearby, and the admiral’s fleet jumped back into the fold.
“Sorry for the delay. We’re engaging the enemy now!” said an unfamiliar voice.
“Who is this?”
“This is commander Axiotimos. I’ve relieved the first admiral from his post. I’m sorry it took so long to get back.”
“Transfer all power to your weapons. This ship can’t fire back anymore but we can’t allow it to crash into the planet. That would destroy this world.”
“Understood. Redirecting all power.”
Even the added firepower from the Star Alliance fleet didn’t cause enough damage.
“What are we going to do?” asked Chris.
“Chase,” said Argos. “Anything you can do?”
“If I use my power to destroy this—assuming I still have enough juice left in me—I could create a black hole that would swallow Earth.”
“We can’t just let Gaia 2 take Earth with her,” said Sarah. “I can’t believe we fought so hard for this to happen.”
“More jump points forming one thousand miles on the starboard side of the ship,” said the tactical officer. “Multiple signatures of unknown origin. Running them against our databases— Captain, they’re Asgardian ships. The lead ship is hailing us.”
“On screen,” said Chase and Sarah at the same time.
“This is Thor, aboard the Mjölnir. You may want to back off a little. I’m assuming you need our help taking this ship out?”
“That would be awesome, but if our entire fleet didn’t manage—”
“I’m sorry, sir, we don’t have time to debate this. Please back off and witness Asgardian weaponry as an answer to your question.”
The Asgardian ships were massive, and at least as long as Fury super-destroyers. They all shot a thin, concentrated beam of white energy towards Gaia 2’s ship that was getting dangerously close to the planet. The continuous beams moved rapidly all over the surface of the ship, not only penetrating the armor but slicing massive chunks of metal and circuits on their way.
In less than thirty seconds, Gaia 2’s last bastion had been cut into hundreds of smaller pieces. The Asgardian ships then fired salvo upon salvo of quantum torpedoes to blow most of the remaining chunks into smithereens.
“That should do it,” said Thor. “My onboard computer tells me your planetary shield will hold and burn the rest of the smaller debris.”
“Thank you, Thor, we owe you a debt of gratitude,” said Chase.
“And you are?”
“My name is Captain Chase Athanatos, of the Earth Alliance.”
“Never heard of it.”
“Formerly the Star Alliance.”
“I see. I’m glad to see you survived the onslaught of the Obsidian Empire and their sneaky Zarlack friends.”
“The empire is now an ally, as your sensors probably already told you.”
“Turning an old enemy into a friend, that’s not an easy feat, Captain. Well done. While this conversation is interesting, I’m afraid that’s not why I’m here.”
“Why are you here, then?”
“I owed a favor to someone aboard your ship, Captain. Since Midgard was once a world under the protection of my people, I decided to honor his request. So that favor has now been repaid. But now that I have done so, the war criminal you’re harboring, Kvasir, must be returned to me at once. I’m under direct orders from Odin himself to bring him back to face justice, in a trial that will most certainly lead to his execution.”
“Execution? Thor, please. Kvasir was instrumental in saving this world today. Isn’t there a way we could negotiate on his behalf?”
“Captain Athanatos, it seems to me his efforts would have been in vain if we hadn’t arrived in the nick of time. Granted he’s the one who summoned me, so at least there’s that. I’m glad Kvasir was helpful in his last days. There is honor in this, and perhaps he will be granted a place in Valhalla when his life force is extinguished. But I’m afraid his release to my custody is non-negotiable. I don’t think I have to point out that it wouldn’t be in your best interest to challenge this request.”
“But Thor—” Chase pleaded.
“My patience has limits, Captain. Have Kvasir transferred to my ship immediately.”
TO BE CONTINUED
Afterword
Publishing books is an extraordinary but difficult challenge. If you reached this point, I guess you liked my work. Please help me support the book by leaving a review and/or a rating on Amazon. You’ll also be helping new readers find books they want to read. For further information about the Universe in Flames saga, please refer to my website, you can also follow me on my Twitter account or look me up on my Facebook page. I would also encourage you subscribing to my newsletter to get notified about new publications, be informed about sales and additional content available only through my website as well as some premium free content (like early access to the online Heroic Fantasy series I’ve started writing: The Kyrian Chronicles).
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Also by Christian Kallias
Universe in Flames book 1: Earth Last Sanctuary (Free)
Universe in Flames novella 1.5: Ryonna’s Wrath (Free)
Universe in Flames book 2: Fury to the Stars
Universe in Flames book 3: Destination Oblivion
Universe in Flames book 4: The Beginning of the End
Universe in Flames book 5: Rise of the Ultra Fury
Universe in Flames book 6: Shadows of Olympus
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About the Author
Christian Kallias is an emerging science fiction author. This is Christian’s ninth book.
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Armageddon Unleashed (Universe in Flames Book 7) Page 27
