by James Somers
“Don’t hit the jaw area!” shouted Emil from nearby. “The glands contain an acid; part of the ignition fluid they spray!”
Good advice. Kale certainly didn’t want to get hit with stuff like that. Then it occurred to him—what Emil had just told him. “They spray fire too?!”
“Didn’t I mention that?!”
Emil took down another one with lightning speed. Everything was happening so fast—an eruption of pure chaos. The soldiers were spraying everything in the room with gunfire. Many were screaming as aerogores took them down; tearing their victim’s limb from limb in seconds.
Another one flew at Kale from behind. He reached out and half caught it in a mental grip, using its momentum to hurl the creature over his body as he rolled away and back to his feet. The soldiers beyond got a nasty present instead as the aerogore landed among them and caught the first it could get a hold of in deadly, vice like jaws.
“We’ve got to get out of here!” shouted Kale as he realized the stairs were now blocked by more of the reptilian creatures.
Emil drew a couple of spicors off of his vestment and flung them into the ceiling. They struck the same spot consecutively, vaporizing the matter between them and the next room above. The hole was just big enough. Emil wasted no time and rolled into the spire of light piercing the darkness. He immediately sprang upward through the hole. Kale took the hint and followed, clearing the frenzy just before one of the winged predators could seize his legs.
No sooner had Kale’s feet touched the floor above on the other side, before it buckled upward, sending the young men backward in a heap. Successive blows to the floor followed very quickly, and a hideous triangular head peered through the widening hole and fell back again.
“Let’s go!”
They both turned and with their combined mental force, they burst the wall outward into the debris strewn streets beyond and ran with every ounce of speed they could muster. Behind them, the last of the soldier’s cries faded into oblivion and the horrible screams of aerogores on the rage grew in intensity. The flooring gave way and the creatures shot upward through it and the stairway opening nearby.
The aerogores flooded out into the street in a rage of bloodlust, screeching to one another as they sought their prey.
Kale and Emil ran into another nearby hollow of a building as the aerogores flew after them. Surprisingly, the glass entryway was still intact—no way in but to go through it. A thought was all that was sent to smash through one of the large panes ahead of them, allowing the boys to proceed inside unhindered. A staircase led upward from the left. They took it—leaping over whole flights at a time, trying to put as much distance as possible between predator and prey.
The brownish scaled aerogores smashed through the entire entryway to the building in mass numbers, each several times the size of a man and winged at mid-body, sending glass and metal framing in every direction inside the building’s huge lobby. Those leading the reptilian pack quickly spotted the boys and hurled streams of flame upward at them. They were just beyond range of the searing chemical spray that mixed and ignited in mid-air just beyond the aerogore’s faces.
☼
TIET watched the display nervously as the technician adjusted the settings on the orbital satellite. Their group had successfully made it to the Sector City base and had found it to be enormous in comparison with what they had already seen under the rebel’s control. Tiet had not been able to reach his son or Emil through their collar pins and he was terribly worried.
“I think I’ve patched into the Maxus uplink,” said a rebel technician. “I should be able to get a live feed of the city now.”
Seismic disruptions had been picked up from the sensors throughout the city and were all available through their base computer systems.
“There!” said Alec as the image zeroed in on a commotion in the city.
Relief and panic hit Tiet all at the same time as he saw two young men in Castillian uniforms leaping from rooftop to rooftop, but they had heavy pursuit.
“What are those things?!” said Tiet.
“Aerogores,” said Alec. “They’re very deadly flying versions of the larger teragores.”
“We’ve got to get the boys out of there fast.”
“What about a transgate portal?” asked Wynn.
“I’ve got something better,” said Alec. “You could use one of our recall transmitters—you can teleport in utilizing a localized gate and then once you’ve got a hold of them, hit the recall and it will bring you directly back here.”
“I’ll go,” said Wynn quickly.
“No offense, but you’ll never catch the boys on foot, Wynn,” said Tiet.
“Well, you’re still suffering from your injuries,” he countered.
“To get them back, I’ll weather a little discomfort.”
“I’m in too,” said Grod, walking into the room.
They smiled; glad to see their old friend had arrived safely at the base.
“Then let’s go.”
☼
STREAMS of flame poured out of the sky at the boys as they leapt to another rooftop. Their only shelter was the various chimney stacks that jutted up out of the buildings. Kale and Emil ducked and weaved through them as they fled from the vicious airborne raptors dogging their steps.
A flash of light caught Emil’s eye to their right. Two men were emerging out of thin air onto the rooftop of one of the buildings nearby—one light skinned and one dark.
“Father!” he shouted, drawing Kale’s attention to them as well.
Both pairs of warriors were running across the rooftops in parallel.
“We’ve got to intercept them!” said Emil.
The young men adjusted their path and began to head for their fathers who were doing the same, several buildings away. The aerogores were a dozen strong in the skies overhead; reigning down their lethally combustible chemical mixture. A trail of singed asphalt and burning debris was left in the wake of the two young warriors as the flying predators sought to catch them.
The aerogores were several times the size of a man and had great leathery wings and four legs. They were rare to find anywhere near civilization, but extremely lethal and nasty tempered. The various obstacles the boys were ducking and weaving through presented some problems for their aerial attack, but they weren’t going to give up.
Kale and Emil were only two buildings away from their approaching fathers now. As they approached another ledge and began to make the jump across, an aerogore swooped up from between the buildings trying to catch a meal. Emil sailed into the air toward the beast, adjusting his flight just enough to dodge the stream of chemical flame that erupted toward him. He bounded off of the top of the creature’s head and cleared to the next rooftop.
Kale was right behind, sending his blade whirling ahead as the creature appeared. Just as Emil’s foot touched off of the great lizard, Kale’s blade sank into its head. Kale cleared the predator as it began to fall out of the sky; screeching in agony all the way to its death.
As the boys ran across the rooftop, Grod appeared from behind one of the structures—it was a small building labeled hazardous chemicals. Kale looked for his own father, who quickly appeared on the other side of the roof. They ran for each other as more streams of flame came splashing down on the roof after them.
Seeing their prey regrouping, the aerogores began to land on the building with their wings folded back to enable short fast sprints for the prized meal.
Grod and Emil ducked into the small building as the reptiles closed in on foot. Tiet noticed the warning written all over the structure.
“NO! Grod get out of there!!”
The aerogores spat flame at the structure which quickly erupted with tremendous force; killing the predators near it. Tiet grabbed his recall pack as the other aerogores closed in for the kill. They were so close—Tiet grabbed his son and leapt out over the side of the building, tapping the recall as they left the ground with aerogores lunging for them.
But the beasts caught only air as the pair dematerialized out of their grasp.
SIXTEEN
LUCIN stood in the desolate streets of Sector city. Nearby were the pods that he had sent to bring back the pilots of the troop transport that had killed quite a few of his soldiers three hours earlier. The ship was found demolished in the street a few blocks away, but no blood or bodies were found.
Several of his men were running back out of the building in front of the abandoned pods, toward him. A few of the men were deathly pale and two more were leaning against the devastated building vomiting into the street.
“Well, Lieutenant?”
“They’re—they’re all dead, sir,” he said gasping for breath. “Some sort of flying reptiles. It looks like they stumbled into a nest of them. Some of the creatures are dead inside and all of our people are scattered in pieces everywhere.”
Lucin did not pretend to feel any loss for his human soldiers. They were completely dispensable as far as he was concerned. “And what about the pilots of that ship, are they among the dead?”
“It’s difficult to say, but I don’t think so—only our men, sir.”
“Then they are still alive,” he said as he began to pace. “I want them found, immediately.”
“We’ll begin a search of the surrounding area, sir.”
“The entire city will be searched if need be, Lieutenant. I want them. No one is going to be allowed to insult me this way.” He turned and looked back at his Lieutenant. “Is that clear?”
“Crystal, sir,” said the Lieutenant and then he spoke into his communication link, barking orders for the deployment of more troops. “I want pod squadrons ready in ten minutes. I want continuous sweeps of the city by section until the pilots of that transport ship are found.”
Lucin scanned the skyline. Something moved on a high building ledge a block away—it was watching them. He called out mentally to the creature and it perceived his call—the creature leapt away from its perch into a dive toward the pavement. As the reptilian sailed toward their group, gun bolts began to lock into place.”
“What is it?!” asked one.
“It’s one of those things that killed our men!” said another.
“Hold your fire,” commanded Lucin.
The beast landed fifty feet away and stood still, glaring at them as Lucin calmly approached without fear or reservation. It screeched into the air, but as he got nearer to it, the creature began to lower its head in submission as though a lapdog returning to its master.
Lucin extended his hand and touched it; stroking it like a long lost pet. He and his astounded soldiers heard others screeching and looked up to see more of the beasts perched on the edges of the rooftops around them.
“There, now. You know who I am, don’t you? What is it that you have been up to today?” Lucin asked the creature, with more affection than he had ever shown toward his troops. “Have you been chasing after our prey?”
The great beast, easily three times his size, seemed to acknowledge his words with understanding—it bellowed out a low moan. Lucin’s troops lowered their weapons, but despite his influence on their minds, they were still in awe of his power and fearful of the beasts.
Lucin appeared to be in a deeper communication with the creature as he pressed his hands around its great head as though searching its primitive thoughts. The other reptiles remained upon their perches, watching without any perceivable malice toward what normally would have been a smorgasbord.
“They’ve gone,” Lucin said to his Lieutenant as he broke off from his mental probing of the aerogore. “They are not here, at least not where we can get to them.”
“Shall I stay our squadrons then?”
“No. Have them move throughout the city and secure its perimeters. We will move our legions out of the plains though. And we will move all of the cruisers away from the area except one. We wouldn’t want to intimidate our prey too much. They won’t poke their heads out from their holes if we standby guarding them.”
☼
TIET and his son materialized right back in the place he had departed from, inside one the Sector city base transgate portal chambers. When he looked around to find the faces of Wynn and Grod waiting for them, he couldn’t believe his eyes.
“Grod?! I thought you two were caught in that blast,” said Tiet.
“You’ll not be rid of me that quickly, old friend,” he laughed as they shared mutual relief at each others safe return.
Tiet hugged his son tightly despite his passing into the age of manhood.
“You keep getting away from me—”
“And you keep coming after me,” replied Kale happily.
“When will I ever learn, huh?” he said playfully as he panted, trying to get his breath back.
“Are you alright? Your injuries—”
Tiet placed his hand on Kale’s shoulder to reassure him. “I’m alright. Its worth a little pain to get you back safely.”
“I think I can help you with that,” said Mirah as she entered the room.
He wasn’t going to argue with her. The pain was causing his whole torso to ache considerably.
“You hold down the fort here with the others while I talk with your mother,” said Tiet.
He went on with Mirah, following her out of the transgate control room. She wasn’t very talkative, despite her obvious relief at seeing them safe again.
“Is everything alright?” asked Tiet.
“I was able to save the girl.”
“Do you mean the one that was hemorrhaging?”
“Yes, she’s been nearly starved to death and has old injuries that may have been aggravated when she escaped,” said Mirah.
She smiled and leaned over to kiss his cheek as they walked. He was in noticeable pain, especially to her trained eye. “This place has remarkably good medical facilities; far better than I would have expected. I may be able to do some therapy to increase your healing and get you feeling better without the pain meds.
“That would be much better. Lead the way, doc.”
☼
ALEC approached Grod in the chamber as he stood talking with one of the transgate technicians and said, “Grod, you’ve all gotten back safely then?”
“Yes, Tiet has gone with his wife to the med-lab, but we’re all fine,” said Grod.
“Good. I’ve been in contact with the other leaders of our resistance and they would like to speak with the king about our situation. I expect them to support our efforts, but I think they want to have a face to face with the king himself before they commit to helping us.”
“I’m sure it won’t be a problem. I once had a face to face with the young king and he was quite persuasive when seeking a treaty between him and my people,” said Grod.
“Good. If you wouldn’t mind informing him, the video conference will take place in our war room in a little over two hours.”
“I’m going to our ship with Wynn and the boys. I’ll be sure that we get the message to Tiet,” said Grod.
“Thank you. I’ll see you in two hours,” said Alec and they parted company.
☼
KALE, Emil, Wynn and Grod boarded the Equinox docked in the subterranean hangar bay of the Sector City base. Many other vessels, some even larger than their ship, were also housed in the underground facility. They had a descent sized army in this base, but it wasn’t near the number of the enemy waiting out in the plains beyond the city.
As they came up the ramp and into the ship, Juli was waiting anxiously for them. She bypassed the others and threw her arms around Kale’s neck. “I didn’t think I would ever see you again,” she whispered.
He reciprocated the affection; hugging her tightly. “Don’t worry Juli, Emil took care of me.”
The others proceeded on toward the armory, leaving the couple there in the foyer. Kale was glad to see Juli as much as she was. Since losing her parents during their escape from Draconis months earlier, Juli and Kale had become very close. Kale felt the need
to care for the young girl. He felt sorry for her loss, but deep down he knew it was more than that. Juli was beautiful and caring and she made no pretending about her feelings for Kale. He wouldn’t admit it to anyone else, but the obvious fact was, he loved her too.
☼
“ALEC would like for us to meet with him in about two hours,” said Grod.
“Tiet may still be in their med-lab in two hours,” said Wynn.
“We’ll have to make sure he is available. Alec is planning on a conference between the regional commanders of their resistance through the communications uplink. Tiet will need to present our plan of action at the meeting.”
“I could go over to the med-lab and make sure he doesn’t begin any treatment that would hold him up?” asked Emil.
“Go ahead then,” said Grod. “I know he’s probably hurting again, but tell Mirah that he doesn’t need to be sedated right now.”
Emil grabbed a few spicors to replace what had been used and a blade for Kale before heading back out of the room and down the hallway. Tiet and Juli were still in the foyer talking as he started past.
“Where are you going?”
“To the med-lab to tell your father about the meeting Alec has arranged with the other resistance fighters.”
“Can we go too?” asked Juli. “I’m dying to get off of this ship.”
“Sure, come on.”
The trio headed back down the loading ramp and ran across the bustling tarmac. Everyone was busy prepping their ships for the impending battle—a battle they prayed they could win.
At their hurried pace, they were able to reach the medical facility within a few minutes. They proceeded inside and headed back to the procedure chambers. “Mother!”
A chamber door slid back and Mirah peeked out to see the young group searching for her.
