by Kip Hartzell
Jay turned to see a fully healed Rhe-A, wearing a spotless light blue E-suit.
“Rhe-A, I’m going to need my medical personnel ready to mobilize.”
“You have plenty of medical personnel. I trained most of them.”
John looked at Athene-A for guidance, she relented. John sighed. “Alright, stay close. Rhe-A, stay closer.” He looked at the table. “Here’s the revised plan.”
Chapter Twenty-Six: Payback
Jay was cleaned up, and re-equipped. Maya’s tube was moved to the medical section on Chrysalis. Shelly, dodged, and squeaked as people scrambled about, backing her up against a smooth wall. New equipment and armament was being hustled onto the shuttle. Athene-A rushed to the shuttle Scepter, and accompanied Hephaestus to the battle lines.
“We need to dust off,” John said, fully equipped for combat. His light blue E-suit was loaded down with both, offensive and defensive items.
Pandor-A strolled through the chaos with her hands behind her back, missing everyone that ran by her, like she knew where they would be at any particular moment in time. John took notice as she came up near him.
“Update,” he said to her, while he made last minute arrangements.
“Our defense force is nearing the temple dig site.” Pandor-A hesitated. “Ares called out of the TSD. He wishes to help. Some sense of redemption. The Council agreed. You, and the other Councilor’s votes would not have mattered.”
Jay stood there, watching John, his face looked angry at first, and then deep thought, as if remembering something he wanted to forget. “Good choice, he’s one of our best strategic minds for combat. You might want to wait as long as possible to tell Athene-A.” He squared away some last bit of equipment, as if the situation didn’t bother him, but Jay knew different. He then said, “Inform them we’ll be there soon.”
He was going to have to ask about that, if he survived, Jay thought to himself.
Shelly spotted Jay, and ran to him. She hugged him tightly. “Be careful, you fool. I’ll be waiting.” Jay hugged her back. Rhe-A glanced over long enough for Shelly to notice, then she kissed him.
Jay pulled away, and said, “Sit tight. We’ll be back soon.”
John stopped by them. “We need to go, Jay. We have two defensive teams in position, and one clearing the debris from the dig site. There are an unknown number of assailants converging on their position.”
“How do we not know who, or what they have to throw against us.”
“They are using their own scattering field to mask their approach, we can counter some of it, but right now, best guess. Let’s go.”
The shuttle skimmed over the tree tops, and through the valley. Troops sat nervously in seats and slings, studying the landscape, coordinating plans, and some even prayed. Drof flew Andromeda, while Xen targeted the enemy, until a borage of fire, and disruption bombs came their way. Comm chatter revealed that their defensive units at the temple were surrounded, and were slowly being forced back to the dig site. The scratchy video, and spotty intelligence reports, showed Jay that the enemy was coming out of nowhere. Creatures, and people, from both Earth and Terrahanian history, emerged. Monsters from the time of Olympus, people from ancient Samaria, Egypt, Mongols, Romans, knights in armor, Aztecs, Nazis, and many others too numerous to name. Jay couldn’t believe what he was seeing. John didn’t look surprised, and continued to coordinate the battle.
“Jay, we’re not going to be able to get the shuttle in, but, I can have a hole punched in the lines enough for Samm to get through. We get in, get the skull, and get out. Simple. Call a retreat, and everyone goes home. I’m calculating, that they still don’t want a full-on confrontation.”
“I’ll prep Samm.” He, and Rhe-A, raced for the vehicle. The shuttle shook from an impact. He sat in the driver’s seat and began manipulating the controls. Rhe-A got in, as well as Aidan, and then John.
John pulled up a tactical screen and transferred all his information to it. “The temple defense is being battered. Ares is putting up a good fight. Dionysus-Akiri is leading the outside perimeter assault team with a herd of Pegasi flying in more troops. They should be able to break through the lines to supply reinforcements. Athene-A and Hephaestus are flying cover for them.”
“You’re clear,” Drof said over the comm.
“Launching,” Jay responded, while getting waves, and thumbs up from the troops sitting on each side of the shuttle bay.
The bay door opened and the vehicle accelerated backward further above the trees than Jay would’ve liked. The sudden violence, once out of the shuttle, caught him a little off guard. He worked the controls and missed several trees that took impact damage from incoming fire. He jetted just above the ground, as explosions lit the area.
“I will clear you a path,” Drof said in Jay’s ear.
“Understood, following your lead, Andromeda.”
Samm shrank, squeezing its occupants closer together. It’s molecules compacting to its most dense form, but maintaining the shape of the Mercedes. It darted up and down, and side to side, dodging trees and explosions.
Andromeda sank down and pulled in front and just overhead, blasting trees and a kaleidoscope of troops out of the way. Rhe-A worked the repulser beam as fast as it would fire. She threw, what troops Andromeda missed, out of their path. They would hit the ground and roll to a stop, and then get back up and attack, too late to catch the vehicle.
“You know,” Jay said over the explosions and evasive maneuvering, “They are fanatically aggressive, and controlled. You will have to kill at some point.”
“I am aware,” she said, without taking her eyes off her targets.
They were getting close, when a giant Cyclops raised himself above the tree tops and swung a massive club at the shuttle. Drof and Hephaestus barely reacted in time to lash out with beams and rockets and point blank range. The beam severed the giant’s club arm, but not before a glancing blow struck the shuttle. Smoke billowed from its port side, and it wobbled away as the giant started falling backward. Jay accelerated between the one-eyed monster’s legs, clearing the distance just as it shook the Earth when his body impacted the ground. The shuttle veered back in front of the car and skimmed the trees, severing many of them, and enemy as it hit the ground, plowing its way to a stop.
“Drof,” John said over the comm, “are you alright?”
The comm crackled as Jay slowed the vehicle, while coming upon the wreckage. “We are alive, do not stop. The path is open. May the Great Creator be with you.” The comm was shut off.
“You heard, Jay. Proceed to the temple, best possible speed.”
He hit the enemy horde hard and fast. Ancient Egyptian warriors flipped over the top, and under the vehicle, as they shot past them. The cloak was of no use, so its power was transferred to the shielding. The vehicle powered up and down a hillside and took a pounding, while busting through the enemy line.
A light group of enemy soldiers flew out of the path of the car, as they crashed their way into an open area. Jay spotted the trenches, he had helped dig, leading to the temple.
“Jay,” John said excitedly, “we’re clear targets here in the open. We need to exit, now!”
“Understood, just a little longer.”
The vehicle came to a grinding halt next to a trench. Everyone piled out and into the ditch, except Jay. He was programming Samm to return to base. He leaped out, and into trench, stooping over as he ran. The car whipped around, and only got a few yards before it was hit by a missile, and erupted into a small mushroom cloud of destruction. Forcing them to drop for cover, as debris and pulverized gravel blasted all around them.
“Aw, those bastards. I loved that car,” Jay said, over the noise and settling dust.
After getting up and moving further down the trench, they met up with Ares, his natural height made him kneel to avoid being decapitated. “Come,” Ares said, “We’ve got the temple mostly clear of debris. He led them single file down the trench, holding a very long, and
large spear, at the ready. The explosions rocked the area, spraying hot metal and dirt over the top of them. Distant trees exploded, leaving splintered wood, stumps smoldering, and strewn about. Smoke filled the air around them. John took the lead from Ares as if competing, when suddenly, the trench floor heaved upward, sending a soldier up out of the hole. Jay recognized the soldier as a World War II Russian infantry man. He charged with rifle and bayonet. Jay stepped to John’s right, and leveled his weapon on the advancing killer. John bumped his arm and the shot went wild. John flicked a hand, and the soldier flew out the trench, landing thirty yards away.
“Your pacifism is getting annoying,” Jay said, over the noise of battle. An explosion threw dirt on them. They started running, again. “You know you can’t fight a war without killing, right?”
“I am aware, but I want to keep my convictions intact as long as possible.”
“Good luck.”
They huddled at a corner of the trench, where it ended just thirty yards from the stairs that led down to the ancient room. The rock slide boulders had been piled around the entrance to add to their defense. Small gaps in the rock mounds was left for an entrance, or an exit, as not to expose oneself very easily. The defenders used the stones for cover, while covering no-man’s land.
“Alright, we’re going across, one at a time, smaller targets,” John commanded over the noise of battle. Aidan held up an energy shield, taking light hits as his mass scurried across. Ares zipped across, taking out several advancing soldiers without incident.
“I will go with Jay,” Rhe-A said, as a command, and not a request.
“Very well,” John responded, without looking at Jay.
“You know, I’m right here,” Jay commented.
“Go! Go!”
Jay, with Rhe-A, gave a battle cry as they launched out of the hole. Jay’s personal energy shield activated, while Rhe-A ran next to him. An explosion detonated near them, sending them both airborne toward the rock barrier. Jay was awake, but couldn’t hear as the world rolled around. He could’ve sworn he saw a Zulu warrior spear fly overhead. Rhe-A was dragging him to the barrier, all the while, deflecting bullets, arrows, and RPG rounds. Next thing he knew, John had grabbed his other arm, and they all three dove into the rock compound. Jay got up on his knees and waved Rhe-A’s motherly attention away. He got up and staggered. He begrudgingly accepted her help down the stone steps, while John helped the Detachment defend the temple doorway defense area. Xen joined in to assist the group. Once the assault was repelled, John, Ares, and Xen came down the temple stone steps.
Rhe-A sat Jay down, and then leaned him against a wall at the foot of the steps. She had her handheld out, he continued to wave her off. John check on Jay’s condition, and once he was satisfied he was okay, he turned to Ares for an update. The mountain of a man supported a round concave hoplon shield with a black teardrop painted against bright orange sun rays behind it. He leaned on a huge spear that double as a beam weapon. Jay recognized the Corinthian style helmet with two eye slits and separated down the nose. The length of the cheek protectors gave him an ominous appearance. Its bronze color was accentuated by the white Pegasus horsehair crest on top going from front to back. A red cloak covered his cuirass that protected his back, but only came down to his chest on the front, exposing his chiseled mid-drift, as if daring anyone to get close enough to skewer him. His bronze colored greaves protected him from the knees down. Jay didn’t know what his pteruges was made out of, but the kilt style exposed large muscular thighs. If Jay were to go back in time, this is what a Spartan warrior would look like.
The moment was tense, as one looked down at the other, while the other stared up. Jay noticed the mental confrontation, and by the look on their faces, were going to put their differences aside, both knowing what was at stake.
Ares relented first. “I didn’t have time to read all the reports on the current situation, but I’m told, one of the tracker skulls is in here somewhere.”
“It is a long story, but yes, you are correct. We must hold this position until we find it,” John stressed.
“Why have you brought a weak Cousin to a war?”
John let the insult slide. “It seems our Cousins are developing a sense for agoam crystals. He’s the reason we know it’s here.”
Ares looked over at Jay, ignoring the dust that trickled down from the latest explosion. Jay was immediately intimidated by him. “I hope you’re right.”
“I am.”
Ares saw the conviction in John’s eyes, and said, “Then I shall endeavor to protect him as long as I have life.”
“Thank you, Ares. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Aidan held out a massive hand and stood Jay up. He looked around to see a dozen people moving rock from the partially buried temple up the steps, and outside to shore up the barrier entrance. Once there, they would either use it to barricade or launch them at adversaries that had gotten too close.
A close explosion blew bits of rock down the step, causing them to raise their hands to protect their faces.
Ares dusted himself off. “They obviously think something is here, they haven’t targeted the temple itself for fear of its destruction. I can use that to our advantage. Inform me when you have it.” Ares bounded up the steps and into the mayhem. John thought he saw a smile as he left.
“Wow, he’s intense,” Jay said, walking up to John, while dusting himself off.
“Yes, he can be quite single minded when it comes to fighting. Now, let’s get that skull and get out of here.”
Jay walked around the large room, listening to the fight outside. The ground shook from impact tremors, causing dirt to sift down from the ceiling in streams reflecting different colors from the dying sunlight. Jay took out Draco’s medallion, and let it hover. He was hoping it would narrow down the location of the skull. It spun, and quickly stopped, pointing at the far wall, away from the entrance. Jay directed Atlanteans, Minotaurs, and a couple of Cyclops to a rubble filled spot. They quickly excavated it to reveal another blocked passageway. It only took a minute to move a ton of rock. Jay climbed over a pile of rocks, and moved to the back of the passage way. He stood next to a smooth stone wall examining it with his hands. His night vision goggles formed over his eyes as he studied the symbols on the wall. He pushed a few wavy symbols, and then the eye. The wall dropped down, there it sat on a stack of flat rocks, the tracker skull. It was solid milky white, and polished so fine, Jay could just blow the dust off of it. He kneeled down, reached out into the darkness, and took it with both hands. He held it to his face and stared into the eye sockets. The ringing in his ears stopped. He felt good. He hadn’t felt this good since college.
“Jay!” came Rhe-A’s voice in his head, “do you have it?”
“Yes.”
“Good, we can’t hold this position much longer.”
Jay stood up, and looked past the stack of stones into a long dark tunnel. A flash of light, and then thunder, dropped dirt from the ceiling. The commotion drew Jay’s attention away from the tunnel, and he scurried back over the rubble to emerge back into the large room. There, he could tell the Destroyers and their minions were trying not to destroy the facility, as to take the prize from the holder. But, what they lacked in technology, they made up for in numbers. Bodies, and creatures piled up outside the fortified entrance.
Jay came out from the half-filled hallway and raced up the steps into the large makeshift open air bunker. He spotted John giving orders to soldiers, while fighting off the incoming threats. “Good, you have it,” he said, as Jay approached. “We are pinned in. Dionysus and his detachment are trying to break their lines, so we can escape.”
“That sounds good, right?”
“Yes, but not good enough. The Greeks have quelled their uprising in their military ranks. They think this skirmish is the cause of a rebellion. They are sending in their Air Force to level the area.”
“Great, kill everyone, sort it out later. It’s a Cousin trait
.”
Rhe-A was attending the wounded and having them moved underground. The ground shook, bringing down a few stones and gravel. Fiery objects bounced around the makeshift compound, allowing some Atlanteans to bat them back as if using a tennis racket. Jay caught a glimpse of Ares keeping the enemy at bay by quickly moving through their ranks, annihilating anything that got in his path. His destructive force was unbelievable. He made Maya look slow and old. Jay wasn’t sure, but in the dust and smoke, he thought he saw a woman from his memories, or someone else’s memories, Gai-A swatted away enemy soldiers as they attacked Ares. Ares gave her an appreciative look, and then went back to his destruction.
“Jay,” John said loudly, to get over the turmoil and broke Jay’s concentration, “get back downstairs until we’re ready to evacuate.” An onrush of assailants charged toward them, yelling and shooting whatever weapon they had. “Everyone,” John ordered, “fall back to the entrance, we’ll make our stand there.” They strategically retreated.
John ran down the steps to find an area where the communications worked. The floor exploded upward in spots, sending defenders to the floor. Out of the exploded holes, jumped a dozen Persians, American Civil War soldiers, and Zulu warriors. Most were cut down, and the rest were levitated just above the ground, and easily dispatched. Jay came to the conclusion that this is what the Destroyers did with the people they abducted over the course of time.
“I need to get the wounded out of here,” Rhe-A said, running up to Jay and John. We can’t hold this area any longer, John.”
“I know. Athene-A’s team has been stalled. We’ll have to hold a little longer.”
“It’s too late,” Professor Snodgrass said, standing next to one of the holes in the floor.
Everyone not defending the entrance, trained their weapons on him.
“Andromeda is down,” Athene-A told Dionysus over the comm.
“Understood.” She could hear desperate fighting in the background. “Apollo’s detachment is closer.”
