by James Somers
They took to the air as they approached one another. Their ignited blades struck one another as they passed and Orin struck the other man's face with a quick jab. They both soft landed and turned to face one another with blades on guard.
The other man staggered a moment from the hit, as he landed. He touched his face with his hand and looked at the blood when he pulled his hand away. The cloning facility burned behind him.
"So, what I was told was true!" shouted Orin. "You murderer! You're a traitor to your family and your people!"
The man did not answer the charge. He raised his blade and leapt again at Orin, who stood his ground. The man came down with a powerful blow and Orin matched his blade. They exchanged several quick blows, then Orin was knocked backward by a kinetic blow from the other man. He flipped over and recovered himself quickly; bringing his blade to bear.
"So Kale, I see you have been training. You rejected your people, but not their ways?"
"I was rejected by my father and my people!" said Kale angrily, and he blasted at Orin again with his mind, but the mental attack was countered and nullified.
"You betrayed your father the King! And for what? So that you could join up with the enslavers of our planet?!"
"No! For revenge. What loyalty did I owe to him when he dishonored me, his only son, before our people?!"
"Not your people anymore. And not his only son," said Orin sarcastically.
Kale struck again and again but Orin did not let his blade through. Suddenly he sensed someone else and quickly evaded another blade in flight. He launched himself up and away and came down to find two more Barudii surrounding him with Kale.
"So you led away other traitors as well?"
Kale and the other two Barudii rebels closed in on him simultaneously with blades drawn and ignited. Orin pulled a kemstick from under his cloak and ignited it. He did not wait for them to strike, but took the fight to them.
He struck at one of the two Barudii, while simultaneously attacking the other man with his kinesis.
The first defended himself with his blade while the man under Orin's mental attack failed to perceive his own weakness. Orin caused a massive firing of pain neurons throughout the man's body, especially in his hands and arms.
He buckled under the mental attack and threw his sword away as though it were on fire. Orin immediately sent his kemstick spinning behind his body at the newly vulnerable target. It caught the man directly in the chest. He seized and fell to the ground dead, as the kemstick fell away.
Orin diverted between his two remaining opponents, striking and countering as each came at him. He tried a mental attack on the other unnamed Barudii, but found him protecting himself kinetically. Kale moved in again as Orin defended a strike from the other. He tried to mentally pull the kemstick from the ground, but Kale intercepted it in flight and cut through the handle of the weapon, destroying it.
Orin wondered in passing thought if he would lose this confrontation. The other Barudii man was not nearly as skilled, but having to deal with both at the same time was tipping the scales out of his favor. Suddenly explosions began to erupt on the air field around them.
They each looked to the direction of the attack to see the army of General Grod beginning to move toward their position. Large war machines were firing volleys from some distance away at the ships on the huge landing platform, apparently in an attempt to destroy those preparing for lift off.
Orin used the distraction to strike again at Kale, who skillfully intercepted his strike but did not anticipate the leg sweep that Orin caught him off guard with; sending him backwards to the ground. The other Barudii renegade took advantage of Orin's move against Kale to strike at Orin from behind. As Orin turned to counter the strike, something flashed behind the man and a blade shot through his chest.
Orin looked toward the point of origin to find Tiet and Wynn emerging from the magnetic rail safety wall and running hard toward them. He was glad to see them, but for a quick moment the tragedy of Tiet seeing Kale and vice versa flashed in his mind. He turned to strike at Kale again who was still on the ground trying to get up.
He locked eyes with the younger man in that instant, and then Kale glanced behind Orin to the blade that had been hurled into his comrade. Orin did not have time to discern what had caught Kale's attention. The Barudii blade catapulted away from the fallen man's body under Kale's mental control and pierced Orin from behind. He lurched in shock and pain; his eyes still locked on Kale's face. He could hear Tiet shouting from some distance away.
Kale looked at the young man approaching with an older man following close behind. He was dressed in the same Barudii cloak as Orin. Kale stood over Orin's fallen body and extracted the blade from his back.
He knew the weapon very well. It was the blade of his father the King. He crouched down near Orin's body, which lay on his side bleeding profusely from the uncauterized wound. "This is Father's blade, Orin," he whispered in his ear. "Where did that person get it?" And then insight seemed to light upon his mind and it was seen in his expression.
He knelt close to Orin's ear, who was now gasping for his breath as his life poured out. "Is that my brother, Orin?" But he did not wait for an answer from the dying man.
The Horva were still reigning down a heavy volley of fire upon the platform; threatening to destroy his stolen ship and Orin's companions were closing in as well. He decided he could not afford another confrontation right now and ignited his father's blade long enough to drive it into the pavement next to Orin.
There it remained; imbedded halfway up the blade length as he extinguished it. He took another stolen stare at Tiet as he approached; then turned to run for his ship before it was destroyed by the approaching war machines.
Kale managed to reach his ship as another not far away on the platform was struck by a powerful blast from the Horva. He got to the cockpit and retracted the ramp as the engines powered up for lift off. He could see his brother reaching Orin's body and he wondered if the boy even knew that he had an older brother. The thought that his own younger brother might have no knowledge of him, bolstered the resentment and fury he had carried so long against Orin and his father.
The child had been so very young when the old incident had occurred, but Kale remembered him. He had supposed that all of the family, including little Tiet, had perished in the great battle that had reportedly completely wiped out the Barudii as a people. It was obvious that the report had been premature.
Kale had seen his father's body upon the battlefield after the battle was over and remembered his crown, but the King's blade had been missing. Now he knew why. He pushed the memories back in his mind and brought the engines to power. The old Barudii strider lifted off the platform and tore upward through the sky toward open space.
ORIN was very close to death when Tiet came upon him. He knelt in his mentor's blood to try to help him, but it was nearly over. Orin tried to speak as he coughed up more blood. "Who was that person? Who did this? Tell me so that I can avenge you!" said Tiet frantically.
Orin's voice was weak. He could only manage one word before his life ceased. "K…a…l…e…"
He was gone. And the pain of losing him on top of the loss of Dorian was only delayed momentarily by the bewildering last word he had given in answer to Tiet's question.
Wynn was beside him as Orin died. His own reaction to the name was one of realization rather than bewilderment. But there wasn't time now for any hesitation. The Horva were on the move toward their position.
"Tiet, we must go!" urged Wynn.
Tiet seemed not to even hear him. Wynn pulled him to his feet against his will and urged him away from their fallen comrade. He went along, knowing he must, and paused only a moment to ignite his father's blade and free it from the ground.
Wynn urged him on as they ran toward the cloning facility. He wanted to be sure that the equipment Grod wanted was destroyed. As they approached the building it became clear that the facility was in total ruin. Many fi
res were still blazing within and there was no way to get inside to investigate further. It certainly appeared that the bomb had done the job adequately.
The Horva continued to lay down heavy firepower as they approached the cloning facility. Tiet and Wynn ran back toward the magnetic rail and took cover behind the safety wall as the Horva strafed the area with pulse laser fire. They were now within four hundred yards of the rail and many of the ground forces split away toward the cloning facility to attempt to rescue any of their forces who might have survived the devastating explosion.
The safety wall was crumbling around them. There seemed to be nowhere to go. Tiet ran to the nearest of the giant magnetic rings and used his blade to make multiple cuts to the support as it rose above the safety wall.
Wynn discerned his intent and sliced away at the support for the same ring on the opposite side of the rail. As the supports gave way, they both combined their mental power to support the ring and then quickly sent it up into the air in a great arc toward the forces approaching their position.
Seeing the approaching section of the ring, most of the ground forces stopped firing as they attempted to scatter. The huge section of metal came crashing down into their frontline and smashed many of the warriors as it tumbled through their ranks. Some of the war machines caught in the path of the ring were crushed and burst into flame.
RANUL continued the scans of the planet surface, trying to close in on the disturbance the computer had picked up. The sensors concentrated on one city in particular. The database identified the city as Baeth Periege There was a very intense battle being waged from within and without the city perimeter.
"Helmsman, get us to that city immediately," he ordered.
Estall signaled for two of the other cruisers to follow them to the surface while the rest remained in orbit. The large Vorn warships began their descent through the atmosphere with shields at maximum for reentry. The sheering forces of the atmosphere beat upon the vessels but did not harm them.
As the three large battle cruisers came closer to Baeth Periege, Ranul was able to pull up a more detailed visual: several Vorn ships were leaving the city and heading away for open space as the battle raged on.
Ranul tried to locate the beacon from the Saberhawk, but was unable to locate it anywhere in the vicinity. He did however notice an old Barudii ship climbing through the atmosphere, but it was of the smaller strider class of vessel. They needed to get to the city soon; hopefully his friends could be found safe.
WYNN and Tiet stayed pinned down in the trench of the magnetic rail. The Horva had regrouped and were laying down more pulse fire against their position. Large blasts from the war machines were closing in on them. They looked at one another, trying to figure out what to do next. "The tunnel!" shouted Wynn over the explosions going off around them.
Tiet got up and followed the elder man toward the magnetic rail tunnel they had emerged from earlier. The explosions continued all around them as the Horva persistently moved in on their position.
The tunnel was nearly eight hundred yards away from them and the enemy was tearing into the rail trench with everything they had. Pulse laser fire was shredding the safety wall all around them as they ran. They shielded themselves mentally at different intervals as large chunks of concrete and metal flew at them.
Suddenly, large beams of energy shot overhead from another direction, but the shots weren't aimed at them. They stopped a moment as the firepower coming down on them halted. As they surveyed the scene, they could see several large Vorn battle cruisers coming in over the city from the southeast. The cruisers were firing upon the Horva army.
The Horva tried to return fire but it was useless against the shields on the cruisers. After several heavy volleys of laser fire, the Horva began to retreat away from the approaching warships. Many of the Horva began to scatter into the wasteland beyond the city perimeter, while the greater majority either retreated into the tunnel of the magnetic rail or stood their ground and died.
Wynn and Tiet watched as their own escape route was being used by those trying to kill them only minutes before. They were still hunkered down in the rail trench below a section of the crumbling safety wall approximately four hundred yards from the escaping Horva going into the tunnel. They didn't dare run from their position for fear the Vorn cruisers might pick them off with large pulse cannons.
From the shuttle bay of the lead ship, they noticed a large troop carrier coming down very near their position. They remained where they were as it landed, not having anywhere else to go. To their surprise, when the back of the transport lowered and the people inside came out it wasn't Vorn military but Castillians.
The warriors filed out of the transport and took up a defensive stance around the ship. Behind them came Ranul. Tiet jumped out of the trench when he recognized them. Wynn followed behind him. The warriors took aim on him until Ranul called his name and came out of the formation to meet them.
"Tiet! Where are the others?" asked Ranul over the sound of the cruiser's cannons, still firing on the retreating Horva.
Tiet's face gave away the news before his voice did. "Dead!"
Ranul was shocked by the news, but he hesitated only a moment; a battle was still raging around them. They entered the transport and took seats near the cockpit. The Aolene warriors filed back into the transport and took their positions inside. The ramp lifted as the pilot brought the ship off the landing platform and headed back to the Vorn cruiser.
Tiet could hear Wynn and Ranul speaking with each other, but he wasn't really paying attention to them. He felt safe again as they climbed skyward toward the waiting cruiser still blasting away at the Horva.
The tension of the fight began to be relieved somewhat, but with it came a flood of suppressed emotions. He began to weep bitterly as he pressed his head against the bulkhead. Ranul and Wynn left off their conversation with one another, but did not engage Tiet.
The Vorn cruiser received the transport and continued to clear the city of Horva combatants. They fled into the rail tunnel in droves while others continued into the wasteland on foot or in damaged war machines. They were pursued no further than the limits of the city.
A lone and injured figure watched as the Horva army retreated under heavy fire from the battle cruisers. He wondered where they had come from. All of those large ships were thought to have been destroyed by the Barudii sphere. The battle at Baeth Periege had taken a turn unexpected.
He wasn't sure how the cloning facility had been destroyed. The last thing Grod remembered was going to sleep in the cloning pod. He awoke to utter devastation, and all of his men in the cloning pods with him, were dead. Malec and the scientist Varen were also dead.
Grod could see his army was on the run without him. This battle was lost. But at least he was alive.
He spotted a personal transport vehicle near a section of debris and confiscated it. Firing up the engine, Grod climbed onto it and bolted away from the smoldering wreckage of the cloning facility toward the open wasteland beyond.
ONCE he was clear of the atmosphere, Kale scanned the space of sector 773. He quickly found the signal he was looking for. He plotted the course into the navigation computer and activated the auto pilot. The strider took off for the preset coordinates at three quarters of its maximum speed. His thoughts were returning to the surface and his fight with Orin.
He had thought the man dead for so many years now; the man who had come between him and his own father. Now he was sure that Orin was dead. But it was not at all satisfying to him. He even felt some regret.
He had not had such feelings since he saw the body of his father lying dead on the battle field near Mt. Vaseer. The betrayal of his own people, though they had rejected him, had not been as satisfying as predicted either.
He had wept over his father and mother and brother on more than one occasion, secretly. His years among the Vorn military had not been able to erase the memories he had of better times before the incident that changed everythi
ng for him.
Regret once again tried to settle upon his mind and once again he fought to push it away. After all, what was done was done. He had chosen his path and things could never be what they were again. As for Orin, he had initiated the attack on the landing platform. Kale had only been defending himself. There was nothing he could do about that. At any rate, it had been clear that nothing had changed in Orin's mind either.
But his younger brother was alive on this Castai. It did not matter. To change course now would be a death sentence for him. He had betrayed his people to the Vorn and now the Vorn to the Baruk.
In the distance, scanners picked up the large vessel he had fixed the navigation system upon. The strider automatically slowed its pace as the docking bay of the Baruk vessel locked onto it and guided the ship inside. Kale prepared himself to give report of the battle. He pushed lingering thoughts of home and family as far away from him as he could and proceeded down the ramp to the waiting Baruk.
INSIDE Tiet's cabin, Ranul and Wynn discussed the events leading up to this battle at Baeth Periege. The Vorn cruiser under Estall's command was still in position guarding the city, but the Horva had fled hours ago.
Still, the western portion of the city was in ruins from the battle. The space port and surrounding buildings, including the main cloning compound, were devastated almost completely.
Tiet stood in the shower stall of the washroom, letting the hot water pour over him. He wished the steamy water could cleanse away the recent memories in his mind; even that he himself could be dissolved in it and washed away never to be thought of again.
When the heating cell in his quarters ran low on stored hot water the temperature began to change and so did his desire to stay there in it. He turned off the faucet and stepped out to dry himself. He noticed in the wall mounted mirror that his body was covered in cuts, scrapes and bruises.
