Equilibrium of Terror: Part 2

by Eddie R. Hicks

  Jazz raised his hands to surrender. Vaishea did the same seconds later.

  “You have got to be kidding me,” Jazz said as the armored person got closer. He vaguely saw their face through the tiny gold color tinted visor of their helmet.

  It was Chloe. Fucking Chloe.

  Chloe gazed at his face through his helmet for a few seconds. Then at Vaishea . . . the stare that the two gave each other was eerie. Jazz couldn’t blame them, the both looked like each other.

  “You’re welcome,” Chloe transmitted.

  “As I recalled we just saved yo’ ass,” Jazz said.

  “Those commandos would have taken you both out,” Chloe said. “I saved both of you and had every right in the heat of the moment to put you both down. Especially you Johnson, I aimed and shoot at random, had no idea who was who.”

  The darkened skies lit up once again, this time with blue light. Multiple flashes of blue light. The three looked on while Jazz quickly moved to unbury the rifle under the snow. Multiple psionics were teleporting in. Some of them were dropping off rangers in the process. Others were straight up teleporting down with additional psionics.

  The battle was just beginning.

  The three sprinted toward the transport, the only source of cover in the open and blizzard raging battle field. Chloe tossed her rifle to Vaishea as she ran toward and gripped the rifle of another downed ranger.

  “Bad time for introductions, but Vaishea, this is—”

  “I know who she is,” Chloe said, cutting him off. “And she isn’t Vaishea.”

  They entered the remains of the transport, and not a moment too soon. The first barrage of psionic plasma and magnetic rifle gunfire soared toward them from an uncountable number of angles. “More of this Whisper nonsense?” Jazz asked as he returned fire.

  “You have no idea.”

  The three ended up spreading out amongst the wreckage and snow and hunkered down. They relied on the targeting holo display from their rifle to track enemy movement as there was just too much snow falling.

  Chloe moved toward some sort of device and smashed it with her heel, before returning to add bullets into the fray. “What the fuck is that?” Jazz asked her.

  “I managed to rip out the mind shield from transport and reprogram it. We should be safe from direct telekinesis and psionics teleporting into top of us.” She lowered her head to duck from a psionic plasma ball. “We’re just not safe from that shit, so watch it.”

  “That kind of handiwork isn’t your style Vaughan!”

  “No it’s not at all!” Chloe shouted over the sounds of her, Jazz and Vaishea’s rifles firing. “It’s the handiwork of someone else . . .”

  The skies continued to flash with blue light as more psionics started to teleport into the action zone. “And . . . we’re fucked.”

  Silver Raven, above snowy tundra Rasi, Barnard’s Star System

  The Silver Raven swooped down toward the battle below them as the flurries from the skies blanketed the forces below them and directly in front of the Raven. Destiny grimaced at the exhibit of an uncountable number of psionics hurling balls of plasma while several groups of rangers slowing moved in, closing the gap between them and three people fighting for survival amongst the wreckage of a burning transport.

  She had one thing to say about the chaos. “That’s a lot of fire power.”

  “And it’s all being directed toward those three down there,” Eupiar said. Veloshira muttered something to Eupiar in the Hashmedai language; afterward Eupiar relayed the message to Destiny. “She wants to know what we should do.”

  “Last time I checked, we had no psionics on our side so . . .” Destiny said while assessing the battle, she then pointed to the three hunkered down people. “Those three . . . Chloe, Jazz plus one. It has to be them.”

  Eupiar relayed Destiny’s message back to Veloshira, who replied with a nod and forced the Silver Raven to aim its plasma cannons and bombard the rangers and psionics on the ground. Their sudden bombing run added to the light in the environment. Huge bolts of green plasma reducing the imposing rangers into ash while melting the snow beneath them. Many of the psionics in play switched their focus to the Silver Raven and began exchanging psionically conjured plasma with them. It didn’t take long for the skies to gain a glow of light, painted across the cloudy stormy skies.

  After the body count of the rangers on the ground was reduced slightly, the Silver Raven moved back up to the skies and circled around to deal with its new threat, psionics who all jump ported toward it and attacked the Hashmedai ship like a swarm of angry bees.

  “I guess that’s why Radiance never bothered with fighters . . .” Destiny as the Silver Raven rocked from its attackers outside.

  The burning transport came back into focus via the windshield. The three were still alive, and still shooting, some rangers survived Veloshira’s assault and continued to push forward despite the air strikes wiping out more than half of them.

  Veloshira began to speak to Eupiar; once again she relayed the translation. “Vel says she can’t target these guys.” Eupiar conjured a small projection and quickly flicked the hologram toward Destiny’s face. The projection showed a zoomed in exterior camera footage of how close the rangers were getting to the three. There was too great of a risk of friendly fire.

  “Leave that to me,” Destiny said, eyeing her combat gear from Earth lying in the lounge behind her. She moved back inside to suit up, full UNE combat armor and helmet, and her eSniper rifle. The weapon powered on and hummed as she held it in her hands, and ran toward the ladder leading to the lower deck.

  “What are you doing?” Eupiar asked her.

  “Crack open the front door and leave the shields in front of it irised. I’m going to lay down some cover fire for them.”

  Destiny began to lower herself down while Eupiar and Veloshira exchanged Hashmedai words back and forth. Just before the two of them and the cockpit were out of sight. “Vel says you’re insane,” Eupiar said. “And wishes you good luck.”

  Destiny leaped down into the cargo hold, as requested its doors opened and the shields covering it parted allowing Destiny to fire. The downside was the irised shields would work both ways. Should a psionic or one of the rangers on the ground get smart, they could take shots at her. The door connecting the cargo hold to the upper deck was sealed shut to keep the livable atmosphere above where it needed to be, thus turning the conditions inside the cargo hold into that of the outside world, cold and unbreathable.

  The cargo containers were magnetized to the floor, providing excellent cover for her as she looked through the scope of her rifle via her helmets sights. And what a sight it was. Purple orbs of plasma flew all over the place, there were explosions on the ground, and the odd psionic body being vaporized by the Silver Raven’s weapons fire. The burning transport came into view as the Silver Raven began to dive slightly toward it.

  The holographic crosshairs of her eSniper rifle zoomed into the back of the head of an unsuspecting ranger. She pulled the trigger, firing a massive projectile bolt that pierced through its shields. Destiny laughed as she saw the now headless ranger fall over in one direction as its head flipped and spiraled slowly to the ground, spraying blood all over the place. Two more rangers charged toward the three, and they lost their heads seconds later, Destiny's aim was unmatched. They were now dealing with one of Earth’s deadliest terrorist.

  The terrain zipped away suddenly, replaced with the cloudy horizon, and darkened snowy skies. Several psionics appeared in front of the Silver Raven, forcing Destiny to return to her cover as balls of plasma entered and melted the sides of her container crate and the walls behind her. One psionic thought he’d be smart and levitate inside the cargo hold, clearly forgetting that the mind shield would render his powers useless. Destiny reminded him of his mistake via two rifle blasts into his chest, creating two holes large enough for her to see the horizon behind him through it.

  An aerial evasive spin nearly caused Destiny to
lose her footing and get knocked outside along with the now dead body of the psionic she put down. “Keep it steady!” she yelled while returning to her previous cover and waiting for the Silver Raven to once again face down toward the transport on the ground.

  Destiny held onto her rifle and once again took aim as the AO below reappeared through her sights. One by one the remaining rangers lost their heads or were breathing through an extra hole in their chests.

  Seven left.

  Six left.

  Five left, wait he took it in the arm. Five left.

  Four left.

  “Fuck it,” Destiny transmitted to the two above. “Eupiar have her land this, this is our chance!”

  The Silver Raven landed behind the transport, its thrusts blew away slush and wet snow. Her smoking eSniper rifle was replaced with her trusty dual ePistols. After confirming they powered on, she stormed out running and gunning into the skirmish finishing off the last rangers along with the help of the combined firepower of the three she came here to rescue. The psionics above bombarded the stationary Silver Raven as well as the three who were running over. One heavily focused and charged psionic plasma blast from above dropped down next them, the follow up explosion knocked them all backward and to the ground and sent a massive plume of steam upward.

  Now that Destiny was closer to the three, she could see that two of them wore Radiance environment suits, while another wore Radiance combat armor, and the newer model by the looks. Jazz’s face was seen through the visor of one of the environment suits to her delight. He helped the second person in an environment suit enter the Silver Raven, she didn’t get the chance to take a look at their face. But, the person in combat armor, she recognized that face.

  Chloe and her being alive enraged Destiny.

  But there was a silver lining to all this, Chloe was still outside, struggling to get back up to her feet from the psionic blast. Jazz and the other made it back. Destiny could turn around, shut the door, and leave her ass behind. Or better yet . . .

  Destiny raised her hands holding her pistols, Chloe’s head came into view from the tiny holographic targeting scanner display. Snow was slowly building on Chloe’s back, meaning her shields were down. She could be killed relatively easily with her pistols. Destiny wanted to end her for leading the team that attacked her in Vancouver, the team that played a role in killing her husband Dollon and another one of her friends. She continued to aim the pistol at Chloe’s head in a similar manner she did when she was forced to put down Dollon due to the brainjack that was eating away at his soul.

  Destiny couldn’t do it.

  Every second she held it, flooded her mind with images of that horrific moment. She couldn’t bring herself to pull the trigger, not while she saw Dollon’s face.

  I must be out of my mind . . . Destiny thought as she ran outside toward Chloe, leaping and dodging psionic attacks left right and center. She picked up the woman she hated in a firefighter’s carry and lifted her body back aboard the Silver Raven. The Silver Raven’s doors rapidly shut as the shields unirised. The ship returned to the skies while under the continual bombardment of psionic attacks.

  Life support began to return to normal inside the cargo hold, allowing everyone to remove their helmets. Destiny noticed that there was two of Chloe.

  “Hold up . . .” Destiny said, realizing that the woman in the environment suit was Chloe, just with short hair. Meanwhile the person in combat armor removed their helmet unveiling the Chloe she knew, recognized, and hated.

  “It’s a long story . . .” was all Jazz had to offer as an explanation.

  The Chloe with short hair stared at Chloe with a shocked glare. “My gods . . .” she said.

  A clone? Perhaps, but the short haired Chloe looked a few years younger. Her from the past? A warped time travel accident? The last few days for Destiny had increasingly become more and more like a sci-fi novel and less like the normal new world she had gotten used to living in.

  All parties aboard ventured into the Silver Raven’s cockpit where Eupiar and Veloshira eagerly awaited their next move as the psionics outside ramped up their attacks against the ship and its shields. Jazz was the first to move forward, standing behind Eupiar who annexed his seat upfront during his absence. He frowned as he looked out the windshield at the bolts of purple light streaking through the falling snow, and lit up red and orange light below.

  “We gotta get out of here!” Jazz yelled, stating the obvious.

  “No!” said Chloe with longer hair. “I need to find a Whisper safe house.”

  Seriously? We saved your ass twice and now you’re making demands? “I’m sorry I didn’t realize you’re the captain,” Destiny said sharply.

  Her comment got the long-haired Chloe’s attention. “Look I don’t need your fucking attitude right now, drop me off at . . . ah fuck,” she paused for a second trying to remember the name of where she wanted to go, “Courelia city. You all can do whatever the fuck you want after that.” Jazz too turned around to look at Chloe, the face he had was a similar one Destiny had, surprised that long hair Chloe was barking orders like she was the captain. “She comes with me however,” she said, grabbing onto the younger Chloe with short hair.

  Jazz said. “The fuck she will!”

  “She needs to, it’s important,” Chloe with long hair said to Jazz.

  “You need to explain what’s going on—”

  “Jazz,” short-haired Chloe said. “It’s okay . . .” in her hands was a cubed device, similar to the ones that were located on the back of the helmets they were wearing prior to boarding, “the Whisper will want to see this anyways.”

  The long-haired Chloe turned to her double that she held onto like a valuable object. “So you know where it is?”

  “Okay grownup people!” Eupiar shouted. Destiny could sense she was growing frustrated with the bickering. “Vel really wants to know what our next course of action is since our shields are going down ‘n stuff.”

  “Courelia it is then,” Jazz said to her then addressed the two Chloes. “But I’m coming with you two.”

  “You didn’t answer my question,” Chloe said.

  “We’ve been to a safe house out there,” Jazz said. “So yes, we know where it is. And I won’t lie, I’d like to pop in and see what became of the humans we rescued.”

  “What humans?”

  He grinned toward her while crossing his arms. “Looks like we both got some s’plaining to do.”

  The Silver Raven adjusted its course and propelled out of sight from the swarm of psionics around it. Several of them attempted to jump port toward it to catch up, but ultimately, the speed of the Silver Raven was just too much. The small Hashmedai ship outpaced its attackers for the time being.

  Chapter Seven

  Veromacon, Aervounis, Luminous system

  The far southern section of Veromacon’s central platform held a small well-heeled community of homes overlooking the great ocean. The walls of the homes were pearl white with gold fences separating each household. The roof tops were adorned with black and silver railings, while purple and pink trees high above rustled as the wind passed through. Every home had a large outdoor swimming pool typically located on its third or fourth floor with a patio on the outside of it. A kinetic barrier was above and shielded the patio in case of rainfall, though it was installed more so in case non-Aryile races should take up residence in these homes. The Aryile people didn’t mind getting soaked during a meal such as the one Ary Ienthei was picking away at.

  Ienthei sat with his twin sister Ary Queenea, their mother Ary Marrea and stepfather Ary Dienei at a gold and white table that reflected the white light from the morning sunshine back toward them. A large plate sat on the middle of the table, it was full of sweet fruits of varying shapes, colors, and cuts; a traditional Aryile breakfast.

  “Stoarior blesses you, Ienthei,” Dienei said.

  “Stoarior blesses you too,” he said reluctantly.

  Both Ienthei and Queenea were
young adults by Aryile standards. They both had medium olive skin tone, dark yellow scales on the sides of their arms and necks and vibrant blonde hair - Altered of course to the disappointment of their mother as their natural hair color was a dark chestnut brown. She spent a large sum of credits to have their genes manipulated the way they were, right down to their hair color.

  Dienei looked at Queenea as her amethyst eyes, another part of her mother’s genetic manipulation, gazed at her meal with contempt. “Queenea do eat up, you have a long day ahead of you,” she said to her.

  Silence was her reply, Ienthei didn’t blame her, they woke up early in hopes that Dienei would still be sleeping. “As you wish . . .” she said slowly.

  Dienei extended his tanned hand forward, and held onto a sphere-shaped fruit, one that Ienthei had never seen. It appeared to have a layer of skin around it that was orange in color as Dienei held it in the palms of his hands.

  “What is that?” Ienthei asked.

  “This?” Dienei began to rip away at the skin of the strange fruit. “It is a fruit from the human home world.”

  Ienthei leaned in closer to look at it, brushing his long hair way from the left side of his face. “It’s so . . . orange,” he said.

  “Ironically that’s exactly what the humans call it; an orange,” Dienei said. “You peel the skin off it and . . .” The skin of the fruit was peeled away and tossed on a small side plate. Dienei presented a slice of the juicy goodness that lay inside to the three to see. “Now, we consume what is inside.”

  Dienei handed pieces of the fruit to everyone, Ienthei and his mother Marrea accepted while his twin sister kept her arms crossed against the silver morning robe she wore like the others. Ienthei took a bite, crushing it with his flat teeth. Sour juices squirted into his mouth, forcing his face to slightly squirm and grimace as a result.