by James Somers
The Baruk were winning. They had lost most of the Vorn cruisers trying to prevent the ground war that now was probably going to destroy the Twelve Cities, and he was ultimately responsible as their leader.
A flash of light blazed across his visual field and suddenly the tentacle was hanging from his leg, severed. From above the head of the great worm beast he could see a lone figure coming down on it with an ignited Barudii blade that was quickly driven straight into whatever brain it might possess.
The creature reared up as the soldier drove it deep again. The beast gave up the fight quickly and the head crashed with tremendous force into the ground near Tiet's paralyzed body.
Without warning, this person picked him up somehow, almost as if he had levitated up to him. And then they were off and running. He heard a voice as the scenery kept changing before his fixed eyes. "Don't worry; I'll get you out of here, brother."
It couldn't be. Kale? But he was in detention at Baeth Periege. And suddenly with the realization, he felt no anger, only relief that somehow and for some reason his brother was here to save his life.
He could hear Kale as he called for a retreat to behind the defense wall. "Abandon your posts and return to the city immediately, by order of the King!"
Tiet was glad Kale was taking charge. The men were getting slaughtered and he would have called the retreat himself had he been able. Hopefully, the remainder of the civilian population had been able to get behind Wynn's ten mile front by now. They had been nearly out by the time the defense cannons were set to auto track and left running as long as the Baruk were within target range.
Kale joined other soldiers who were now in full retreat from the advancing Baruk. They had to reach the access portals quickly to get inside the wall before the enemy caught up with them. Fortunately it appeared that the creatures were busy still feeding, leaving only the Baruk warriors on their trail.
The clatter of their projectile weapons could be heard all around, as the metal shells pounded the surrounding buildings and took down more of the Castillian soldiers retreating toward the defense wall. Of five hundred elite warriors that had come to the battlefield with their king, fewer than a hundred remained standing.
Kale tried to put as many structures between himself and the advancing Baruk as he could to block the storm of shells swarming around them. He found them easier to detect mentally than pulse blasts that traveled much faster, but it was still difficult to evade all the gunfire with his brother limp across his back.
He was supporting the majority of Tiet's weight kinetically, but his movements were still cumbersome. With the masses of Castillian soldiers dying all around him all he could think of was getting his brother safely behind the defense wall up ahead.
Some of the other soldiers had already reached the wall and accessed one of the portals through. One of the Vorn was standing at the doorway waving other Castillian warriors inside. Kale followed the others through the passageway that took them beyond the defense wall into the city. Several of the soldiers guarded the portal until they could see no other Castillian soldiers; then they followed the others through, sealing the doorway behind them.
The Baruk were locked outside of the city now. As Kale came into the open city he spotted a place where a med station had been set up and left for anyone that might be wounded in the battle. The other soldiers were congregating around several of the stations that had been set up while the city's population was being evacuated to Baeth Periege.
Kale laid down his brother and examined him. He passed a med scanner across his limp body and determined that he was alive and well despite the neurotoxin that kept him paralyzed. He took one of the needle leads from the scanner and pushed it into Tiet's deltoid muscle. It may have still hurt him but he needed to do a cellular muscle scan to determine how best to treat the poison. The scanner began to run through a series of tissue and function tests over several minutes. When it had finished, a series of instructions came across the screen to instruct Kale on what medication combination would be effective in reversing the paralytic effect of the Hurutai neurotoxin.
The gunfire beyond the wall was quickly quieting down, which disturbed him; they were up to something. He rummaged through the med box in the station tent looking for the prescribed drugs called for. Only two were needed, but the dosage had to be precise. He located more supplies to mix the concoction and went to work. Tiet remained seemingly lifeless on the ground.
Beyond the med station tents something was happening. The men were yelling and then he heard the screeching of the Hurutai. He went to the tent door to look out just as a spray of Hurutai spines pierced the flaps. Kale jumped back and could see several of the spines in his body.
He had the injection in his hand called for by the med scanner and immediately jammed it into a vein in his arm and pushed it systemically. He quickly began to get dizzy, but within moments the effects of the neurotoxin appeared to be prevented.
He went to work mixing another dose for Tiet. He could hear more than the just the Hurutai outside now. Kale fixed his mental senses on the area around him and found the Baruk warriors coming through the Hurutai tunnels into the city. Gunfire was erupting again as the remaining Castillian warriors tried to defend themselves against the steady stream of Baruk warriors pouring through the tunnels.
Kale worked fast to get the mixture prepared and when he had it he injected the medication into a vein in Tiet's arm. He could sense the Baruk closing in on where they were now and he didn't have the time to wait for the paralysis to be reversed on his brother. He quickly lifted him up kinetically and moved to the rear of the tent, where he sliced down the cloth wall with a kemstick and plowed on through to the outside.
The battle was raging again but there were hardly any of his comrades left alive as the Baruk began to capture the area the Castillians had been recuperating in. Kale ran for cover toward the large buildings ahead, but the Baruk were closing on him fast.
He could feel Tiet beginning to shift on his back as the paralysis wore off.
Ahead in their path a Hurutai worm erupted through the surface, leaving the brothers with no where to go. Kale dropped to the ground fast with Tiet as the reflexive spray of toxic spines sprayed away from the beast and sailed over their heads. Tiet was moving on the ground now, trying to regain his own muscle control as Kale drew his blade to defend as best he could.
Suddenly a flash of light appeared between the Hurutai and the buildings behind. Kale could see what appeared to be a huge window, to another place, materialize with the figures of men coming through it into the city. He could begin to make out the people as Horva warriors, and General Grod was leading them through.
They each wore a metal glove with wires trailing along the length of their arms to a small pack across their backs. The gloves were being held before them as they ran into the area, alerting the Hurutai to their presence. Streams of plasma energy shot forth from the gloves; some of them hitting the Hurutai. The creature screeched in pain and within seconds it fell over dead.
The Horva were running straight at him and Tiet, who was still trying to stand for battle. Kale raised his blade as he ignited it and prepared to fight the Horva coming at them. More streams of plasma energy issued forth like lightning from their fingertips, but the attack passed them and hit the advancing Baruk head on.
He was dumbfounded as the Horva warriors ignored them completely to fight off enemies behind him.
General Grod came right up to the pair of warriors as they stood there exhausted from the fight they had already faced.
"Come with me, we need to get you to safety," he said speaking directly to the young king.
Tiet responded now, appearing to realize more of what had just happened than Kale did.
"I knew it, Grod," he said weakly as he tried to catch his breath. "I knew you were a man of honor."
Tiet could still barely stand and Grod helped Kale support the young man as they made their way back toward the energy portal standin
g in mid air.
"My warriors!" said Grod into his own communication headset. "Return to the transgate!"
Grod, Kale and Tiet all proceeded through the portal and found themselves immediately inside the fortress at Nagon-Toth.
"SIR, we've been unable to confirm how many troops have off-loaded inside the city since the other transports began landing," said Sergeant Corbin.
"What about the power?" asked Wynn. "Have you had any success getting to the main supply conduits?"
"No sir. The Baruk are still fortifying that area very heavily. We can't get through."
"It's been two hours now and nothing from Tiet or anyone from the preliminary team."
"With all due respect sir, it seems clear that no one survived and the Baruk have the city now; how could they possibly have made it?"
"I understand the circumstances, Corbin, but I don't want to give up hope. And don't start that rumor among the men. It won't do anything for morale, and our fight is far from over. Now get the units mobilized, those Baruk aren't going to remain in Thalidi for long."
It was a fact, the Baruk were mobilizing their ground forces for the inevitable push toward Baeth Periege. For an hour they had seen troop carriers coming down from space into Thalidi. The defense wall was still in place and the Baruk were sitting safely behind it for now.
Somehow they had gotten into the city without disabling it and had apparently decimated the entire team that Tiet had taken to ambush their army. It looked like Kale had failed to protect his brother and considering the circumstances, it really wasn't a surprise. The Baruk were mounting a formidable ground force behind that wall and he wasn't sure whether they could stop it or not.
Frustrated, Wynn tapped the communication panel that was locked in with the Esyia. "Estall, what is your status up there?"
"We're trying to hold our own up here, Wynn, but we still haven't been able to blast that flagship," said Estall.
"We've been seeing a lot of troop carriers landing inside Thalidi…"
"I know, but we're completely outnumbered up here," said Estall. "We just don't have the ability to guard the surface and try to get to that flagship!"
"I understand Estall. I don't mean to accuse, I know you're doing everything you can," said Wynn apologetically. "Bad news. We may have already lost Tiet."
There was a pause for a moment before he answered. "Are you sure?"
"No. I can't be certain, but it appears the whole unit was wiped out as the Baruk made their way into the city. We've not heard any word from them. I don't want to believe it, but…"
"I understand. Let's just keep up the fight and hope we can manage to drive them back. It's all we can do…" said Estall.
Wynn tapped the communication panel again. The scans of the city were still inconclusive. The Baruk were jamming them somehow to hide their next move.
"Sir, the units from the other cities have arrived at the staging area," said Corbin.
"Good. We'll need all the help we can get. It looks like this is where our future is going to be decided."
IT had been several hours since they had come through the portal into Grod's compound and they were still being confined to the medical lab under guard. Tiet had been relieved to see Grod's aggression aimed at the Baruk, but what was his intent now? He wasn't sure. Kale was pacing and examining the room discreetly, looking for a way of escape.
They had not spoken since their arrival and neither seemed to know what to say to the other. Kale had been the last one he had expected to see coming to his rescue out there against the Baruk, but he was glad to have him.
After all that he had said and after trying to kill him inside his confinement cell, Tiet was unsure what he could say at this point to even begin a dialogue with him.
"How's your equilibrium? Your head hurting?" asked Kale suddenly.
"It's fine. Thank you for saving my life out there."
Kale stopped his pacing and just seemed to be listening, like the words were something he had wanted to hear but never expected to.
"Look, Kale, I'm sorry for what I said and did when you were in confinement. I just don't know what to make of all of this. I mean, you betrayed us…our parents, our people…how am I supposed to react to that?"
"I know. Believe me, I wish I could undo all that I've done. I would gladly give my life now to undo it, but I can't. You are my brother and I only want to have you forgive me. It's all I have left."
"I'm sorry. I just don't know if I can give that to you right now."
Kale looked at him now, there was great pain behind his eyes that Tiet partly wanted to see and partly wished he could relieve, but he just couldn't find it within himself.
Then Grod came into the room flanked by several warriors. They were still outfitted for battle.
"Grod, I'm glad you changed your mind about what we talked about," said Tiet.
"We can discuss that later," said Grod. "Right now, gentlemen, we have more pressing matters. Follow me."
He turned and led them out of the medical lab and down several corridors to another larger room full of data screens and all manner of technical equipment. Tiet immediately noticed a huge window on the far side of the room and walked past the General to see it.
He could see that it opened up beyond to a huge dome that looked increasingly familiar as he stared. It was the same room to which he had been brought to fight, when he was captured by Grod months ago, but now it was full of various equipment and a huge gateway of some kind that seemed to lead to nowhere; only the other side of the dome could be seen beyond.
"General, this room looks familiar," he said accusingly.
"You're right, it is the same battle arena where you killed my Teragore," said Grod matter-of-factly. "A very impressive display, young Master Soone," he continued without any note of remorse. "Come look at this information."
He joined Kale and Grod before the main tactical view screen in the room. They were surrounded by Horva warriors who were performing data retrieval and sorting.
"Here you can see what is left of your ships still in orbit as they battle the Baruk," said Grod as he pointed to the display. "We've been monitoring your progress for some time now and there are very few ships left. We noted that a number of them retreated at once while the remainder has taken to trying to attack the Baruk's main battle cruiser.
It appears that they were able to somehow get through the Baruk shields using a random frequency generator to fire your dispersion cannons; most ingenious, by the way. But you don't have the firepower to take out that ship, and it is essential that you do so.
We know that the Baruk are telepathically controlled by their leaders, known only as The Three. They will be aboard the flagship."
Kale listened carefully, but he did not volunteer what he knew about the Baruk leaders. The Three were much more than just telepaths. Lucin himself was embodied in those men. It was the Wicked One who controlled the Baruk.
"Grod I don't have any more ships to throw at them," said Tiet. "If you have ships to aid us, then we would be happy to coordinate an attack, but otherwise…"
"I don't have any ships like that here, but I do have something else," said Grod as he looked to the window and the chamber beyond.
Kale and Tiet looked at each other puzzled as they followed Grod to the window.
"That apparatus down there is called a transgate."
"Is that how you appeared in Thalidi?" asked Kale.
"Exactly," said Grod. "We had been working on it to attack your people by surprise."
"Great," said Tiet with a roll of his eyes.
"But now we can use it to get a strike team into the Baruk flagship," said Grod.
"You mean that thing will transport us inside that ship, even through their shields?"
"Yes, but we have one problem: the transgate draws a huge amount of power and we can't send a large force without draining our power reserves past the safety point. We're already down from the mission inside Thalidi," said Grod.
"Well, I'm glad you did," said Kale. "What can we do now?"
"We have enough power to send two or three people through the gate. If we can get inside then perhaps we might stand some chance of destroying their leaders and cutting off the ground army from their coordinated mental control."
"Without their leaders, we have a real chance against the Baruk," said Tiet. "I'm in."
"I'll go with him, General," said Kale.
"I will also go. I may not be a Barudii, but I can still fight the Baruk. If you're ready to go, then we don't have any time to spare."
"We're ready. Just lead the way," said Tiet.
"I know my way around that ship," said Kale. "I should probably lead the way once we get on board."
Tiet looked at Grod who nodded his own approval.
"Then let's go."
The three men made their way quickly down to the domed chamber. They each noted their own weaponry on hand as one of the Horva prepped the portal for power up. Grod was wearing one of the plasma glove weapons they had seen the Horva using during the rescue in Thalidi.
"What is that thing anyway?" asked Tiet.
"The glove channels plasma energy from this pack on my back and targets by way of this targeting laser located in my data-scope lens," said Grod. "They're good; we've worked hard on these weapons."
"Oh, we noticed," said Kale. "Your men fried those Hurutai with no problem."
"The weapon is similar to throwing a bolt of lightening," said Grod.
"I'm glad you've decided to be on our side," said Tiet. "It sounds like you've been monitoring our every move lately."
"Well, it helps to stay informed, doesn't it?" said Grod jokingly.
The tech signaled a lock on the Baruk flagship when they were ready. "Sir, we can't get an exact scan on what you'll face up there," said one of the men operating the control panel at the gateway.
"We don't have time to waste, we'll just have to deal with whatever we find," said Grod. "Activate the transgate."
