The brief pause helped Ronnie in giving an answer:
- I was told you guys spread freedom across the Universe, so I decided to offer my services.
- Fraudulent pile of slime. - the Xeleon replied and shoved his foot in his face. Ronnie was definitely not prepared for that. The grunter's question was followed by another:
- How did you board the ship?
With the aid of some limp hand gestures, Ronnie explained:
- Science... dimwit.
The Xeleon landed another kick to Ronnie's leg and as a result he folded his legs in agony.
- You're not helping The Overlord this way. - the Xeleon said.
- Am... I supposed... to help him? - Ronnie said through some coughs.
- You'll have to, like it or not. - he replied.
- What happens if... I refuse? - Ronnie asked. The response from the Xeleon was a kick to his right wrist. Ronnie flinched from the pain. As soon as the pain dissipated, a glimmer of hope appeared. The right shackle was beginning to bend.
- "Finally, after so many attempts at snapping it!" - Ronnie said to himself. He then told the Xeleon:
- That won't convince me to help.
The Xeleon kicked his right arm again and another one of them spoke:
- How did you murder Ankonian?
By that point of his imprisonment, Ronnie was drained both physically and mentally. Amidst the exhaustion he found some strength, pulled on the right restraint and snapped it off the wall with the words:
- Oh boy, do YOU wanna know?
He followed that up with repeated gunshots from his fingers, which turned into Glock 19s. The Xeleons were briefly distracted by the bleeding, which let Ronnie snap the other restraint. Sadly two of the Xeleons ignored the bleeding and pinned his arms to the wall.
- Not gonna work! - Ronnie said and covered his arms in acid. Their skin vaporized and the Xeleons's shrieks of pain filled the cell. He began whipping the Xeleons with the remainder of the chains as if he was sexually dominating them. Hesitant at first, he gradually built enough confidence not just to whip them harder, but to also verbally abase them:
- What? I thought you guys liked torture. Have some more. Yeah, eat those chains! You think this is some joke, punk? Fucking sit down! You want some too? Have it!
Once he got too tired, he whipped out an Armsel Striker semi-automatic shotgun and aimed for their limbs.
- You screams aren't satisfying me! Put your backs into it and scream louder, so everyone knows you're FUCKED! - he said, as he discharged his firearm and the Xeleons vociferated for help. Even though the screeching stopped, because of the excessive amount of lead that laid waste to them, their squawks brought Ronnie to a high. He looked at his hands.
- Why did I not do this earlier? - he asked himself. He had no time to lose, though, as he was not out of the woods yet. The Overlord immediately found out that his minions have failed their assignment.
- He's freed himself! Send everyone you can down there! Don't let him leave! - he growled at Huklin and Retion. Huklin sounded the alarm.
- Yup, time for me to leave. - Ronnie said and zipped outside. - Right, um... where, where do I go? Got it - upwards! - he found a hangar on the opposite side of the ship. But it was too far away from him and the ventilation shafts were sealed off after Tyler and Garret escaped.
- "I can't use the shafts. Even if I blow a hole in one of them... what if I get stuck there? What if there's some bugs or viruses... No, I'm using the corridors and nothing else. Plus that will give me some combat experience." - this reflection aided him in figuring out the most comfortable method to chisel his way out.
Several hundred yards down the corridors, Ronnie encountered some Mistecks. This portion of the Overlord's army relied on fairly basic arcane magic to tear off the flesh of their victims. Their most unusual trait, aside from their magic, has to be the hole in their skull, which became illuminated along with their mouths upon casting a spell or a curse, and the fact that they were essentially a hovering torso.
- Why hello there! Are you volunteers for target practice? - Ronnie fired off that one-liner and threw 3 grenades at them. Only one of them died, while the remaining six slithered past the shockwaves and charged at Ronnie.
- Ok, ok, I get it, you don't like explosives. How about some 7.62 rounds? - with those words he held the trigger of an M240 machine gun and watched them fall. - Well, that was... oddly easy. Now where was I going... Ah, yeah, that way.
"That way" was a corridor with rooms on either side. Those rooms were identical to the one him and the brothers painted in blood. Culvyns, Zysets, Numeksi and Ptulens swarmed the corridor and began falling by Ronnie's gunfire. Blood ran like wild rivers and Ronnie was enjoying it thoroughly.
- Come on, is that all? Fucking bring it on, come on! - he shouted. His exhaustion and hunger did not hamper his spirit.
Not one more creature came out.
- Huh, they must be all dead... or sleeping... or hiding. - he said and moved on. The next portion of the corridor contained nothing, so he ran. The adrenaline surge kept him on his feet, running, not looking back. It wasn't just his body; his soul was thirsty for freedom. In a fit of anger, he spread his arms and sprayed the walls with acid, leaving them to dissolve. Then he proceeded to freezing the circuit boards that were on the walls and that he had immediate access to and ventilated them with bullets. Once in a while he growled as much as his lungs allowed it.
- "So this is how it feels to be truly rebellious, to cause damage without being arrested for it." - Ronnie thought. He felt lightness within himself, as if he had wings that he could spread and take flight; once again a rare occurrence. Even the accidental use of explosives, like C4 and grenades at close range, which knocked him around, could not obscure his spirit and state of mind. The aliens fell to the gunshots by the dozen. Ronnie could not be touched.
In the end, he reached the hangar in question. Instead of wasting time figuring out how to fly any of the vehicles there, he simply mined the place, slung some lead at the equipment he saw and the vehicles, opened the gates and... hesitated for a moment.
- "Should I... no, I can just leave. I can't run around with the chance of being caught again, whilst trying to wreck their armies. I'm all by myself and I can't risk it."
Ren'ul Furot stomped into the hangar, closely followed by some of his minions:
- You're not leaving, Ankonian!
Ronnie's gaze repeatedly shifted between the gates and Ren'ul, until he gave the Overlord a double middle finger, ran for the edge and jumped off the ship, whilst detonating the explosives. Another problem arose - he had not considered the turrets of the ship, which began firing at him. Most of the shots missed him, save for one or two, which shook him and tore off his right arm, parts of his face and a section of his abdomen.
- Oh God, no! Shit! - he did not expect to sustain gunfire. - Come the fuck on, how did I turn the jetpack on last time? - Ronnie was frustrated. Finally the engines sprouted from his back and feet, ignited and propelled Ronnie through the blackness of space. He was shuddering at the sight of his wounds, which slowly healed, until there was no more bleeding, visible bones or muscles.
***
- Which planet do we have to land on and start digging? - Tyler asked, but his question was drowned by the silence of the crew and the noise of the engines. So he repeated the question louder and Kalhun approached him, startled and almost dropping his equipment:
- Ehm... well... we have to land here.
He pointed at a planet on a hologram, generated by a holopad. The nebula they were flying towards was NGC 3603 - one that Tyler read about not long ago and found interesting. He was intrigued not only by the cluster, but also by the device and wanted to have a closer look at it. Kalhun gladly handed it over and observed as Tyler used it as if a boy played with a toy on Christmas.
- You seem obsessed with my holopad. - said Kalhun.
- Of course I am! We don't have such technology back on Earth! Well, to be
fair, we do, but it's not fully developed and not everyone has access to it. It's sad. And here you are, using it as if you've had it since your birth. - said Tyler.
- Why do you say that? Is your race threatened? Oppressed? Endangered? - said Kalhun.
- Frankly, a little bit of all three. But it's a very, very long story, which we don't have time to share. The question now is: where do we have to go and do we know where exactly to look for these stones? - said Tyler.
- We have decided to go to this planet first. - he pointed at the hologram. - It's not too far away, so we won't have to wait before we can commence piling the vebrils into the cargo bay.
- Are they radioactive, by any chance? - asked Tyler.
- No, absolutely not, but we have to be careful when loading up and transporting them, because vebrills are fairly brittle and once the tiniest cracks appear, they start leaking energy and eventually become of no use to us, let alone anyone else. We will land shortly - I was notified by the pilot. - Kalhun said to both Tyler and Garret, who only heard about the brittleness of the vebrills.
- What did he say? - Garret asked.
- He said we have to be careful with the vebrills, once we get to load them up, because they're brittle.
The ship landed and Tyler asked Harmon if it was a good idea for him and Garret to walk in front and see if there were any threats and dispose of them, before anyone or anything caused any sort of collateral or direct damage. She had no objections. Garret and Tyler armed themselves. Tyler chose a pair of DRD Paratus 18s, whilst Garret made an unusual decision and went for a Russian sniper rifle - a VSS Vintorez.
- What exactly made you choose, of all the weapons in the world... um, sorry, I meant on Earth...
- Yes?
- What made you whip out a Russian sniper rifle?
- Because Russian weapons better than American weapons! - Garret answered in a Russian accent and strutted down the ramp, closely followed by a sighing Tyler, shaking his head in mild annoyance.
Thankfully, the horizon was about as empty as a preschooler's piggy bank. Though that did not let Tyler and Garret lower their guard. The planet they landed on was a part of the HD 97950 star system. The system in question had five suns, which cast a fairly little amount of light. Once it was clear the area was safe, the remainder of the crew sloshed out of the ship.
- This is not going to be done in 5 minutes... - Garret's notion was justified. They had landed on a lowland, with cliffs comprising most of their surroundings. While the soldiers were preoccupied with scouting for potential threats, Garret and Tyler were not so focused and instead engaged in an existential debate:
- How many other species of aliens do you think exist in the Universe? - Garret asked. - Five thousand? Sixty thousand? Seven hundred thousand? Eight million?
- No idea, mate. What we certainly know is that those numbers are rapidly declining because of the Overlord and his... what's the best word to describe it... obsession? Vision? Who cares. - Tyler answered.
- True that, but I wonder what they could do. Or maybe even what they've seen, what they think. Do they have any dreams?
- How should I know? Could we leave this for later? - Tyler was visibly irritated by the questions, but it turned out that wasn't the real, or rather, only reason:
- You still feel remorseful, because we left Ronnie behind and want to get this over with, so we can free him as fast as possible? - Garret said.
Tyler turned around and shook his index finger at him:
- Hey! I was following orders. You think it's better for me to act like I don't give a fraction of a percentage of a fuck about Ronnie's life?
- Chill there. I was simply pointing out the obvious. - Garret wheezed and walked up to Harmon to ask about the mines and how to recognize them. Kalhun could not help but hear the conversation and told Tyler:
- Is he doing this on purpose, just to make you feel bad for yourself?
- No. He's honest to me. And that's why we're not just mere friends.
- Can I do anything to help...
- No. This is between us two only. You have nothing to do with this and it should stay that way. I'd hate to clutter your mind with our drama.
Kalhun lifted his right arm in the air and said:
- No pressure. Though I will say this: I'll do everything within my capabilities to complete this task and return to New Hope, so I can convince the commander to allow you two to undertake the emancipation of your friend.
He then gave a smirk and a nod. Tyler responded similarly.
***
The party was over a long time ago. Nothing could lead anyone to think that nothing happened at the house. Spilled drinks, bottles rolling across the ground, young people asleep over each other, on furniture, beds, on the roof, in the basement - not a single spot was free. It was all so quiet. Not a single noise could be heard from around or inside it. Until, of course, some of the young people woke up and quietly left the vicinity of the house. Ashlynn was still surrounded by her rapists, who were spread across the room.
- "Why am I naked? Where am I? Oh no... Did I... Who are these... Oh no!" - she saw the rapists, but she did not remember anything from last night. Her memories were full of blank spots. She felt dizzy and her knees were weak. Her pelvis was aching badly, her wrists were bruised, she had scratch marks all over her belly and back.
- "What happened to me? I don't remember... Did I have sex last night? I have to get out of here!" - Ashlynn said to herself and cautiously lifted Nathan's arm off of her chest. - "They're all... naked! Where are my clothes?" - once again she spoke to herself. After some time spent looking around, she found them scattered across the room. Because of the violent nature of last night's events, they were slightly tattered, torn and messy. So she put on her dress, without the underwear, which was destroyed, and tip-toed her way out of the room and in search of Zoey, Sharon and Abigail. The living room was in a similar condition; alcohol spilled all across the carpet, rolling bottles and cups, clothes dumped into piles, naked people. A noise came from the front of the house. It was the Gossip Crew. They were gathering around the car and were about to leave without Ashlynn.
- Don't leave without me! - Ashlynn yelped.
- Shh! Keep it down. My head hurts... - said Zoey. - Why are you yelling so much?
- Have you forgotten about me?
- No... We were about to call you. - Abigail said with a pinch of uncertainty in her voice, which Ashlynn did not detect.
- Who nailed you last night? - Sharon asked and grinned.
- I... I don't really remember... but I can barely walk and my waist is destroyed.
The Gossip Crew collectively and sarcastically wooed and marvelled at the fact that their party companion had sex, not knowing that she consumed a mix of drugs with a significant amount of alcohol.
- So how was it? How does it feel to have your womb sexually demolished by a macho at a party? - Zoey asked.
- It's not cool, Zoey. My clothes are ruined, I don't feel well, I can barely recall what I did a while after I drank, my parents will be asking me questions...
- We'll get you home before they've even left... wherever they are... now come on! Are you just gonna stand there and feel sorry? - Sharon scolded Ashlynn and sat in the driver's seat. Ashlynn's head slowly dipped down and her stare dug into the lawn, after which she kept company with Zoey to the back of the car. As Abigail sat in front, she asked Sharon:
- When's the next party?
- In two days, but I don't want to head... oops...
Sharon tittered and commenced choking with laughter.
- I meant to say...
- You meant to say you didn't have enough sex? - Zoey said through her sniggering, as Sharon drove away from the house.
***
- Sable, can you hear me? Sable?
- Ronnie! Thank the Universe! When and how did you escape?
- Can we discuss this in person later? I need to see my parents before I go back to New Hope. I saw many horrib
le images and I want to relax for a while, before I swing back into action.
- Of course.
- Don't think about it, Ankonian. You're coming back to New Hope first. I don't want you to contaminate anyone down there with a disease. No objections. Now! - said Stromak.
Ronnie had no other choice but to turn around and fly to New Hope. His joy plummeted in a downwards spiral and thought that the day would not end.
Chapter XIII
Assembling the shattered pieces
- How much of this stuff do we have to load up? - Garret was fed up with the monotonous nature of piling vebrills into the cargo bay of the ship.
- Not much left, Hexer. - Harmon answered.
The amassed vebrills filled 14 canisters, which were more than enough for the needs of New Hope. The crew swept itself with sighs of relief, whilst Garret was glad that it was over. Just to be sure, he asked Kalhun:
- Do we have to come back and do this again?
- Yes, we do.
Garret sighed with disgust.
- But not until the supplies we have are depleted. I'll discuss a concept with the research & development team about a device, specifically designed to recharge vebrills. Rumours suggest that there's one race somewhere around Messier 16 which has figured out how to do that a long time ago.
- M16? You mean the Eagle Nebula? - Garret looked up the name in his vast database.
- Uh... I'm not familiar with that name, but I assume it's a different one for the location in question. Is there a way for you to show it to me, just to be sure?
- Let me see here.
Garret produced a three-dimensional hologram of the nebula through a cavity in his right shoulder, which spawned a small projector.
- Hm... precisely! It's the same place! - Kalhun exclaimed.
- When do we lift off and do we have anything else to do here? Now I find the surroundings rather irritating. - Tyler said.
- Our pilot is making pre-flight checks as we speak. - Harmon replied and strapped herself in her seat.
The Immortal Trinity: Inheritance Page 21
