“Umm...We shouldn't keep the Commander waiting should we?” she fidgeted around. Everyone still stared at her, until the man who Kai had threatened finally reacted.
“Uh yes,” he said. “We should go meet the Commander.”
He didn't seem like he held a grudge against Kai for what just happened. Maybe he was too distracted by what had just transpired in the room. So instead of dealing with Kai, he ushered everyone out of the room, giving Chris a small glare when she passed by him on her way out.
“How did you do that?” Carlos asked her.
“I don’t know,” Chris said. “I had this dream and all of a sudden I was able to use this power in it. I figured it was just a dream-exclusive thing, but then this happened.”
Carlos looked at her with an observing eye, “Did you by any chance feel any sort of fear during this dream?”
Chris stared at him, “Yeah I did,” she said. “But how do you know?”
“That’s the only possible conclusion,” he said. “That fear must have activated it.”
“Activated what?” she asked.
“You don't get it do you?” he asked. “You’ve finally got it.”
“Got what?” asked, still as confused as ever.
He smiled at her. “Your NOVA form.”
***
Chris was stunned.
The NOVA form was the highest prize for a cadet. And she’d just received it; primarily because she had been so afraid of everything that had happened to her. Seemed like kind of a weird way to get a NOVA form, but she’d take it anyway.
“What exactly does this power of yours do?” Carlos asked. “From my point of view, I saw a kind of blur and then you threw the blaster.”
“I can kind of stop the physical world around me, the people, the objects, everything. But my mind is still active and running, so I can see it all,” Chris said. “But the exciting part is I see these faded images that show me what a particular object in my field of vision is going to do. So it’s like seeing the future in a sense. I basically calculate the next movements of my target even before it makes them.”
“Oh my god,” he gasped. “That’s a high level power in the Elementa of Wind! The Wind Elementa has attacks that speed up a user and create the illusion of time slowing down. The only difference here is your mind is analyzing the past movements your target makes, and using it to accurately predict future movements.”
“Does that mean my Elementa is the Elementa of Wind?”
“Most certainly, yes,” Carlos said. He was clearly excited that she had achieved a NOVA form while possessing the very same Elementa that he did. He did calm down a few seconds later though, and everything went back to normal.
The cadets didn't turn anywhere into the branching corridors and kept urging them straight ahead until they reached a huge metal door at the end. It automatically slid open, and they pushed them through it into the room on the other side.
Chris looked around. Over the whole floor lay a red carpet with golden threads as a border. The metal wall was decorated with all sorts of weaponry; blasters, cannons, swords, and shields. Velvet furnishings were scattered around and a huge chair stood at the back of the room. A hand extended above the chair and waved at them to come forwards.
“Sit down,” the Commander said.
A couch faced the back of the chair. Carlos sat down and everyone followed suit. Chris expected the man to at least face them as he spoke but apparently he liked his identity to be a secret.
“Welcome,” he said. “You must be wondering what you’re all doing here.”
No one replied.
“So you all have an oath of silence,” the man chuckled, “Well, I just wanted you all to know why we’re doing this.”
Chris was confused. He didn't act like a Commander at all. What kind of a guy tells his enemy why he was attacking them?
“Tell us then,” Carlos replied calmly. “What was the necessity to take down Aliea? Taking down a group of young cadets is nothing but cowardice.”
“Do not worry, Commander,” he said. “What I am doing now is not exactly an invasion. It is an AcQuest.”
“A what?”
“AcQuest is an ancient word. It is the archaic way of expressing the act of acquisition,” he said. “This invasion of Aliea Academy is not for its destruction; rather it is for its acquisition. I will not be harming any of Aliea Academy’s cadets. I will simply recruit them and use them as my own. But if they don’t co-operate, then…”
“Don’t you dare lay your hands on them!” Carlos shot out of his seat but two guards pushed him back onto the couch.
“High Commander, you must not lose your temper,” the man said like he was speaking to a child.
“Why are you doing this? Why does Aliea have to suffer this fate?”
“You know very well why I have to do this.”
What is he talking about? Chris thought.
He took a deep breath, “The Wielder of Light,” he said.
Carlos clenched his fists, “You would attack a whole academy for one person?” he asked.
“No, Commander, I would not,” the man said. “One person is not the reason we attacked, though I’ll admit he was the final trigger. Aliea Academy as a whole has risen in power through the past few months. It has brought out a particular caliber of individuals, the ‘NOVA cadets’ as we call them, who each have the ability to single handedly change the outcome of any situation.”
“And this is wrong why?” Carlos asked, his voice infused with his anger and irritation.
“History will show you that nothing good has ever come from letting one person handle too much power. Aliea has created more than just one of these ‘overpowered’ cadets. The Academy’s power will soon monopolize the entire Universe. You cannot be allowed to create anymore NOVA Cadets.”
The room quiet. Carlos put his head in his hands, unable to retort to what the Commander had just said. Chris couldn’t respond either. She knew the Commander was making crazy statements, and yet she couldn’t find a way to actually prove him wrong.
Is he actually right? she thought, Is that why I can’t find anything to say against him?
“What you’re saying is just stupid,” Lisara broke the silence. “You’re destroying Aliea on the base of a whim? You don’t get to decide the Academy’s future. We do.”
“You were formerly on our side, yes? But now a traitor,” the Commander sighed. “Makes me ascertain my one rule in this business, trust no one but yourself.”
Lisara was stunned. How did he know who she was?
“I know of your sister as well,” he said. “Spies do not escape my notice for too long.”
Trisha looked at Lisara. Chris was stunned as well. No one other than her, Kai, Carlos and Juliana knew about them being sisters. How had this man come to know about all this?
“You must be stunned. You must be wondering how this man knows all this,” the Commander said. “Let me tell you, you may be spies infiltrating my side, yes, but did you ever think that there was a spy inside Aliea?”
“Aliea Academy has an extensive screening process for all its new recruits,” Juliana said firmly. “There is no way a spy from your organization could have enlisted.”
The Commander laughed, “Doesn’t the Academy’s student president take care of a portion of the screenings?”
Carlos gasped, “Jake,” he said. “Jake helped the spy get in didn’t he?”
“Spot on, Commander. I must say, the officials at Aliea do have a brilliant sense of ethics.”
“Don’t you dare talk about ethics you-”
“We all work for the Quantum Array, Commander,” the man interrupted Carlos’ surge of anger.
“What do we care?” Kai asked.
“I make sure our prisoners know who we are before they meet their end.”
“We don't give into people like you,” Juliana said. “No matter how strong they are.”
“Oh really?” the man was amused.
&nb
sp; “At least we have the guts to bite back,” Kai taunted him. “You’re afraid to even show yourself.”
The man laughed. The chair turned around, revealing a young boy no older than Kai and Chris were. He had chocolate brown hair and radiant, green eyes. His lips curled into a smile that had evil written all over it.
“Welcome,” he laughed. “I hope you enjoy your stay.”
Levi.
***
Burke looked at the glowing red box.
Think. Think. Think, he chided. He had to stop the Lambda Driver from overloading and he had mere seconds to do so. Overloading it was theoretically supposed to create an explosion rivaling a supernova. He didn't really know what could actually happen because he had never been stupid enough to overload the Driver on purpose.
The bottom line was that he needed to get the excess energy out of the Lambda Driver.
“That’s it!” He just needed something to absorb the extra power. He flicked his wrist. A small panel slid open and two thick wires rocketed out and secured themselves to the surface of the Lambda Driver. Burke had to admit he loved doing that. It made him feel like an amateur Spiderman.
“Engaging energy retriever,” he said.
“Activated,” his suit said.
Sparks of energy flew around the wires, as the energy flowed through them.
Burke grimaced. He felt like he had just been connected to a transformer. Huge amounts of energy surged between the Driver and his suit. He hadn't realized how painful it would be to take in so much energy, but there was no stopping now.
His visor brought up a red, warning dialog. Energy levels unsustainable, it said.
Great, he thought. Now my suit is getting overloaded instead.
He had no choice but to push a little more. He would rather have a broken suit than an exploding Lambda Driver. The wires glowed red. The excess energy was taking a huge toll on them.
Just a little more, he thought.
The Lambda Driver returned to its regular shade of deep black, a faint glow of red the only sign of the overload.
“Stop!” he gasped for breath. The wires instantly detached from the Lambda Driver and retracted back into his suit. His armor managed the excess energy efficiently. There were no longer any signs of the overloading. He realized that a good portion of the energy had been expelled as heat during the transfer.
He looked at the black box that just sat on the floor. Somehow it reminded Burke of the legend of Pandora’s box. Not because he, like Pandora, was curious, but because the box was something that could lead to a person’s downfall. Looking at the Lambda Driver reminded him of what Q had said, that the men who were threatening to destroy Zygrade wanted it. As the creator of the Lambda Driver he could testify that it was a cool gadget, but he wasn't sure it was worth destroying an entire planet for.
Just what were those guys really after? he thought.
“I’m coming your way,” Jade said. “Ten missiles behind me.”
“Ten?!” Burke asked. “You brought ten nuclear warheads to an empty tower?”
“Empty?!” Now it was Jade’s turn to be surprised.
Burke slapped his forehead. I should have told Jade the tower was empty, he thought. He had been so focused on the Lambda Driver that it had completely slipped his mind.
“What about the missiles then?” Jade asked.
“We’ll just get Q to-” that was when it hit Burke. They didn't have Q either. What were they going to do? Twenty kilotons of nuclear missiles were ready to go boom and the guy who said he would protect them from the blast had just disappeared.
“Bring them to the tower,” Burke said. “I’ll figure something out.”
“I’m five minutes away,” Jade said.
Burke thought hard. He analyzed every single method of possible escape, but any plan he made always hit a wall simply because the missiles were too fast to outrun.
He looked at the metal shutter covering the window. He lifted his fist up. Two small cylinders rose out from his forearms and shot miniature missiles at the shutters. They cracked easily and exposed the opening he had made in the glass wall.
He walked to the edge and looked far into the horizon. He could see the smoke trail from the missiles rising up in the sky. A huge griffin flew in front of them, powering his way through the wind.
Better get the Lambda Driver, he thought. There was no point to this whole mission if he forgot that. He brought it out to where he was standing and stared at it silently. It was his invention, and it had brought everyone so much trouble.
Can’t believe I had to suck out all that energy, he thought. Then his eyes widened. “Jade, I’ve got an idea,” he said.
“I know.”
Burke was taken back. Mind reading, he thought.
“Yes,” Jade said.
“You’d better stop that. It’s getting really creepy.”
“I’m on my way to get you.”
“Done,” Burke said.
He lifted the Lambda Driver. It wasn't very heavy, but his suit made it feel lighter than it was. Its ability to enhance the user’s physical abilities was top notch. Of course, he had a limiter on it because he didn't know how much he could enhance a person’s abilities and keep them safe at the same time.
The sound of the missiles flying sent a shrill whistle through his ears and left them ringing. It’s now or never, he thought.
He jumped off the wall and used his booster to keep him in the air for a few seconds longer. He waited for Jade to head towards him and timed his drop perfectly, with the Lambda Driver in his hands. Jade adjusted a bit in the wind and caught him clean. The griffin fully extended his wings and shot forward at tremendous speed.
“That’s too fast,” Burke said. “We need to go slower.”
“Very well,” Jade slowed down.
The missiles gained ground on them. Burke stood up and put out both his hands. “Multiple energy retrieval activate.”
“Activating energy system.”
Various panels opened up from his suit and ten cables shot forward, each one wrapping itself around the incoming missiles. Sparks of electricity flew as they absorbed the energy from the missiles’ core.
He was going to drain the missiles dry.
What would happen to him? He hadn't figured out that part yet.
In seconds, the wires were glowing a flaming red, and it wasn’t too long before his armor followed suit. There was no doubt that he was overloading with energy.
Could this suit explode? he wondered. That wasn't something he wanted to find out. He thought hard. He had come up with a way to expel this energy and fast.
“Use the Lambda Driver like it was meant to be used,” Jade suggested.
“I can't. It would just overload and create an even more dangerous explosion.”
“I did not ask you to feed it energy,” he said. “I asked you to USE it.”
Burke stared at the open night sky. That was probably the single greatest idea he’d ever heard. “Thanks Jade,” he said. Frankly, he didn't know why he hadn't come up the answer himself but it didn't matter.
“Activate energy expulsion system,” he said. “Open power redirection interface.”
A panel opened out of his back and a wire as thick as an arm shot out into the Lambda Driver.
“Redirecting energy,” his suit said. He felt the energy flow through his suit and into the Driver.
The wires glowed red hot, slowly changing to a brighter shade of blue. Their overheating was getting near uncontrollable levels. He knew he had to do this fast. He didn't have much time left. He sucked out most of the missiles’ power core, so it wouldn’t be long before the missiles dropped to the ground, lifeless.
“Jade, fly towards the tower,” he said.
“What do you have planned?”
“You haven’t read my mind yet?”
“I have. I was just being courteous.”
With a massive flap of his wings they changed course and headed to the tower, th
e missiles in close quarters. Burke retracted all the wires from the missiles, and left a sole one connected to the Lambda Driver.
“Get ready,” he said. “Activate Driver,” he commanded. His suit relayed the signal to the Lambda Driver and it hummed to life. The Driver was meant to be used with a ship but, theoretically, it could be used with a single person as well.
Theoretically.
Burke noticed his movements start to slow down. “This is it,” he said.
A huge black sphere expanded from the Driver and covered Jade and Burke. Burke could feel himself disappear bit by bit, he could feel himself dissolve into a stream of ‘Burke’ particles.
His mind lay in the world for one last second. An array of deafening blasts and scorching heatwaves contrasted with the serene silence. The missiles, in their last moments, had crashed into the tower and completely obliterated it.
Mission accomplished, Burke thought, and the Lambda Driver dissolved him completely.
***
5-2
Q helped Taylor sit up and leaned her against the wall. His explosion left everyone devastated. Taylor though didn't seem to have any injuries. Everyone else lay sprawled over the floor. He felt a bit uncomfortable looking at Taylor. All that he could think about was Burke’s theory. Did Taylor and the Anti-verse Taylor share the same feelings?
No. It can’t be, he thought. For years Taylor had taken care of him like he was her little brother. There was no way she would feel like that.
“You finally came,” Albion stood up and faced Q. A small trickle of blood ran down his forehead. His legs trembled as he struggled to stand still. The blast had hit him hard.
“My, my. What manners I have,” the White Knight King said. “I haven’t even welcomed our guest,” he looked behind Q, “Tobias, could you please welcome him for me?” he smirked.
Q turned around just in time to see a guy in white battle armor take aim at him with an oddly shaped blaster.
“On behalf of The White Knight King, Albion,” he finger teased the trigger. “I welcome you.” he fired.
His aim was perfect, and Q felt a sting on his neck. He felt around and pulled out an empty syringe. A single drop of purple liquid dropped from the syringe into the floor, and disappeared forever.
AcQuest: A Space Opera Military Technothriller (The Quest Saga Science Fiction Adventure Series Book 3) Page 25
