“Be that as it may, I may enslave you myself soon enough now that I know how easy it is to do so. Or I may just crush you under my heel, as I would any other pest.”
“I’m feeling a lot of repressed anger. Mommy didn’t love you as a child?”
Argos growled. “Enough!”
“I must have touched a chord. Not so in control after all, are you?” She waited for a reply. “Argos? I thought you wanted me to keep talking?”
He didn’t answer. Good, it meant she was at least getting to him, at the very least on some level. She needed to keep him as distracted as possible to keep him out of her mind.
So there are older races. I wonder if there are still others left in the galaxy besides the Olympians—the Alliance could use their help.
“So are the Fury a younger race as well?”
“Don’t be absurd. We’re one of the oldest there ever was.” He corrected himself quickly, “I mean… is.”
“I thought you were extinct.”
“You thought wrong.” His voice was noticeably strained the longer he talked about it.
“Alright, but your world—”
“Is no more, yes…” He paused. “But that’s just a temporary setback.”
“So there are more of you?”
He growled again. “You ask too many questions. Sleep!”
Suddenly, she felt as though a dark veil had thrown itself over her thoughts. As her mind drifted off to unconsciousness, she was able to wrap her head around three final words.
Chase, help, Hellstar...
Then her mind dissolved into an empty void.
6
Ryonna’s first night in Hellstar had been a sleepless one. As was custom for new arrivals, she was assigned a lone cell. But Hellstar wasn’t a normal prison. Cells there were only temporary. Main population was actually just a large, open space. There was one fortified main entry, but several smaller doors led to interrogation chambers and medical centers, and one big door led to a morgue. The prison was mostly unguarded with the exception of sentry droids who would intervene only if the security of the prison was in jeopardy. Something that didn’t happen often, if the prison’s reputation was to be believed. The inmates did a good enough job of maintaining their own brand of order.
What that meant was that no one who came to Hellstar would ever get out. Not alive anyway. The population of the prison had the tendency to make their own rules. They would thin the herd regularly. Only the strong survived this place. Ryonna wasn’t that worried, though. Not many races were able to take down a Droxian in a one-on-one fight. What she had to be careful about was to not get overpowered by larger numbers.
Her stomach made a strange noise accompanied with some discomfort. She groaned but knew it was part of her plan; the quadrinium pin she had ingested was being transformed in her stomach, a process that would take some time. And while she might hate how she was feeling, it was normal since she literally had a nanite factory in her stomach. So it was bound to feel unpleasant at the very least. She hoped the doc had been right, or else her stay in Hellstar, and in the universe for that matter, was not going to be as long as she’d hoped. She had gone through a whole lot of effort and pain to get this plan in motion. It had to work. Ronan’s life hung in the balance.
Aside from the discomfort from the pin, there was something else that was causing her stomach to feel as though it was tied in knots. A fear gripped her heart and wouldn’t let go. She tried to tell herself that it was just nerves, but her instinct told her that she had no more time to lose, that Ronan needed her.
In the morning, a flying droid came to open her cell and accompany her to the general population. As they approached the large and clearly fortified gates, Ryonna rolled her neck first to one side, then the other, popping the bones loudly. The massive doors opened after a series of loud clicks and groans. She held her body stiff and tall as she strode past the dozens of creeps waiting within its walls.
Here we go, she thought.
The moment she crossed the threshold, the gates closed back with a loud, metallic clunk, and the ground trembled. She looked fiercely at everyone present. One pair of crazy eyes after another. Humanoids, Brins, insectoids… All the finest scum of the universe was here, no doubt. She gave them each a look that would melt ice to make sure she set the tone of her presence. She knew she had to make it clear from the start that she was not a being to be trifled with. After a few moments, most of the inmates went back to whatever they had been doing before she walked in. There was one Brin, though, who simply wouldn’t stop staring at her.
“Want a holo-picture? It will last longer!” she said defiantly, jutting her chin.
He didn’t answer. She walked right in front of him and stared down. Still, he didn’t move and his eyes stayed locked on hers.
“I suggest you get out of my way,” she said menacingly.
Brins were typically about the height of human beings. This one was actually about two meters in height and was well built. His purple, scaled skin looked filthy and he emitted an unpleasant odor. He still didn’t budge. He did, however, make the stupid decision to growl.
Ryonna had hoped to avoid any confrontation, but she knew very well she would have to mark her territory if she was to survive her stay here, however short it may turn out to be. She kept meeting his gaze until he made the first move.
But before he could launch his fist toward her thorax, she was already out of the way. She caught his arm and snapped it on his own back, taking a step away as he screamed through the agony of a dozen broken bones.
By this point a crowd had started to form around them. She decided not to let the altercation last too long. After all, she had more important matters to attend to. She delivered a single blow in a fast and fluid motion to the back of the Brin’s neck. He collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
“Now let this be a lesson to everyone,” she said loud enough so most convicts within earshot could hear. The crowd quietly dispersed.
“Very impressive. Although, you probably made yourself a few enemies. The Brins are well respected here in Hellstar,” said someone to her right.
She turned to see who had spoken. An insectoid Gorgar was standing there.
“Well, he looked at me wrong,” she retorted irritably.
“Maybe that’s because he’s both blind and deaf, and I guess now a cripple.”
“What?” Her face clouded with surprise.
“Nah, I’m shitting you. The guy’s a real asshole. I, for one, am happy you kicked his ass.”
Ryonna released a sigh of relief over the last comment. She definitely hated those who preyed on the weak, and she’d hate to think of herself in that category.
“Who do I talk to to get information around here?”
“That depends. What kind of information are you looking for?” The Gorgar smiled. He clearly knew something.
“I’m looking for someone in Hellstar.”
“Another Droxian perhaps? A young boy?”
Hope swelled in Ryonna’s chest. “Yes, where is he?”
“I can help, but everything has a price down here.”
“I don’t have time for—”
Before she could finish her sentence, the Gorgar vanished into thin air in front of her eyes. “Make the time,” he suddenly said from behind her.
A teleporter? She jumped instinctively back into a fighting stance.
“Easy, Miss...?”
“Ryonna.”
“Take it easy, Ryonna, I’m not your enemy. But I need your help, and I think you might need mine.” The insectoid was right, and Ryonna knew it.
“I’m listening.”
“I believe I know the one you are looking for.”
“What do you want?”
“I sense you are not planning to be here for long. I want you to take me with you.”
She shook her head. “Not in the cards.”
“Too bad. The boy won’t last long.” The insectoid turned away, but glanc
ed back at her intently. “He’s your son, isn’t he?”
“How did you—”
“Oh please, a mother’s love is obvious. But like I said, he won’t last long here.”
She jutted up her chin. “My son is stronger than you think.”
“That may be true, but it’s not really relevant at this point.”
“What does that mean?”
“He got into a fight with another convict yesterday. It didn’t look like he would survive his injuries for very long, I’m afraid. I’m surprised he lasted the night.”
“What? You son of a bitch, why didn’t you tell me that earlier? Where is he now?” She moved toward the Gorgar, but he just vanished and reappeared behind her.
“As I said before,” he began, “everything has a price. Mine is my freedom.”
“What about your life? I could crush you right now!”
“Well, you could give it your best shot, but I doubt you have the time to play cat and mouse.” The Gorgar then teleported again three times successively. First on her right, then left, and then in front of her. He moved so fast that Ryonna could hardly keep track. “If you see what I mean...” He smiled when he was finished.
“You can’t keep that up all day. Eventually, you’ll run out of juice.”
“Maybe, maybe not. But do you think your boy has that kind of time?”
A fierce rage boiled in Ryonna’s blood, but now if what that creature said was true, she might even have less time to find Ronan than she had thought.
“One day you’ll regret blackmailing me, mark my words,” she hissed.
“Do we have a deal then?”
“Yes,” she responded grudgingly. “Now where is my son?”
“Follow me. He was badly wounded, so we need to hurry. I hope we’re not too late.”
“If we are, the deal is off.”
“That’s not in the original deal. Let’s go.”
Ryonna growled.
The Gorgar started running, Ryonna following closely behind. After ten minutes, they arrived near something that looked like an arena of some sort.
“This is where he fought.”
Ryonna looked at the ground and saw blood. Lots of blood. Some of the fresher streaks did indeed look like Droxian blood.
“Alright, where is he?” she asked anxiously.
The Gorgar got down and took some of the Droxian blood between his fingers, licked it briefly, and got up again.
“What are you doing?” Ryonna demanded.
“Picking up his scent.”
“What? I thought you knew where he was? Don’t you waste my time—”
“Look, I’m the best chance you have to find him quickly.”
“Doesn’t look that way to me.”
“Droxians,” the Gorgar groaned, before suddenly: “There! He’s three klicks in that direction.”
“What are we waiting for?!”
They resumed their run and made their way to one of the smaller corridors. It was there that they ran into a problem. A big, fat, orange problem. He was a humanoid with dark, tribal tattoos covering his bright skin, and he was standing directly in their path. They came to a stop in front of him and Ryonna didn’t waste any time bothering to evaluate the situation.
“Move out of our way, or I will make you move.”
“You cannot pass through here,” answered the man with a deep voice.
“Wanna bet?” Ryonna replied, taking a step forward.
“Ryonna, maybe we shouldn’t antagonize him,” the Gorgar cautioned. “The Radioks are dumb, but they are numerous in this prison.”
“Who are you calling dumb?” the man bellowed.
“Not you, sir. I was making a general observation,” the Gorgar replied.
The fat Radiok seemed confused by the answer, so he started scratching his head, trying to figure out if he should feel insulted or not.
“Move away now,” Ryonna repeated impatiently through clenched teeth. “This is your last warning, fatso!”
“Who are you calling fasto?”
Ryonna turned towards the Gorgar. “Yeah, you’re right. They’re really dumb.”
The Gorgar nodded in answer.
“What?” cried the Radiok. “Nobody dares to—”
Before he could finish his sentence, he was taking a swing at Ryonna. And while she was much faster, she was still impressed by his speed considering the Radiok’s ample corpulence. She slid under him and went for a kick in between his legs. He didn’t seem to budge so she backed away.
“That should have floored him. What’s going on?”
The insectoid smiled. “That’s not where the Radiok’s genitals are.”
“Oh...”
“He’s pissed now anyway, so let’s finish this.”
The Gorgar teleported behind him and attacked the Radiok with three precise strikes to his back. The man fell headfirst to the ground with a loud thud.
“Alright, next time do that immediately.” Ryonna huffed, annoyed at having needed the assistance of a Gorgar.
“Again, not part of our original deal. And you’re welcome.”
“If you say the word deal one more time I will shove your antennas down your throat.”
“Charming…”
Ryonna stepped over the Radiok and they resumed their run. A few minutes later, they arrived at an intersection. The Gorgar made a weird noise and pointed towards the right.
“That way. We’re near.”
“Let’s hurry then.” The feeling of terror had returned to Ryonna’s chest.
They arrived at a series of rooms. Some of them looked like living quarters. She could smell a Droxian presence now. She rushed towards it and entered one of the alcoves before stopping dead in her tracks. What she saw terrified her. There was a Droxian body in the middle of the floor, face-down and motionless, lying in a pool of blood.
She froze, terrified to take another step. The body didn’t seem to be breathing.
7
The lift’s doors opened and Daniel and Chase stepped onto the bridge.
“Good to see you up,” the captain said upon seeing Chase.
“Captain,” Chase replied with a nod.
“Daniel, would you mind explaining to me why one of my security guards had to surrender himself to my brig?”
“Long story, Captain.”
“Alright, we only have a few seconds before we jump out of hyperspace near Droxia, but you will debrief me later.” His tone left no room for argument.
“Yes, Cap—”
He never finished his sentence as the Destiny’s hyperspace engines roared.
The second the Destiny made the jump back to normal space, all hell broke loose. Salvos of laser fire came crashing against the ship’s hull, rocking it. They were at the planet alright. And it was under a full-on attack.
“Shields up, now! Battle stations!”
“Shields are up, Captain,” answered a crew member.
“What the hell! I thought we were supposed to stand trial, not be shot on sight!” shouted Daniel.
“Status report?” demanded the captain.
“A fleet of several ships, some Obsidian and some Zarlack, are attacking a large fleet of Droxian ships as well as firing on the planet, Captain.”
“Get me Captain Dark’nar of the Droxian battleship Phoenix.”
“On screen, Captain.”
The captain appeared on the main holo-screen of the Destiny. He seemed as lost as they were, shouting commands in Droxian to his crew. After a few seconds he turned towards his main camera. “Captain Saroudis, do you have any idea what this is?” he demanded.
“None. But let’s not worry about that. We will engage and provide assistance; we owe you that much.”
“Thank you, Captain Saroudis, this will not be forgotten.”
The screen snapped off as the captain issued his next order.
“Target enemy vessels; fire at will. Torpedoes, lasers, everything. Red alert! Deploy all fighters now!” He tu
rned toward his two young friends. “You two, to your ships on the double. Alpha and Beta Wings need their wing commander.”
“Understood, Captain,” said Chase as they both ran off the bridge.
Chase and Daniel’s fighters were the last to launch, but soon they rejoined the rest of their wings. This was a far bigger onslaught than the one that had taken place on Earth a few days ago. Obsidian and their Zarlack allies had clearly amassed another huge fleet in order to attack Droxia, no doubt because of their intervention in the previous battle.
How had they gotten so many new ships so quickly? No one knew.
“Dan, what if Sarah is on one of these ships?” The question had pricked the back of his mind ever since he saw the Obsidian Fleet.
“Chase, not now. I understand how you feel, but you can’t let that stop us from destroying our enemies. They nearly annihilated a planet with seven billion souls, and now they’re trying to destroy another. They need to be stopped. Not to mention that if we survive this, we might just have found our biggest ally yet.”
“Let’s just hope they don’t bite the dust here today,” Chase replied.
“That’s more like it. Let’s help them make sure that doesn’t happen, alright?”
“Roger that. Engaging.”
Chase went into a fury of acrobatic maneuvers, dispatching enemy vessels one after the other. His mind was fully dedicated to winning this fight and it showed. After only a couple of minutes he had eradicated an entire enemy wing almost by himself.
He was directing his wing to the next incoming wave of fighters when he heard something in his mind.
Chase, help, Hellstar...
It was Sarah’s voice. He would know it anywhere. At first he froze, believing he was hallucinating. His ship took a blast of laser fire to his port shield, but he barely reacted until the onboard computer resonated another alarm: “Warning! Collision alert, warning!”
He barely managed to veer off course at the last moment, his shield brightening up from the close encounter with a Zarlack fighter.
“In the name of...” Daniel shouted via the comm. “Are you alright, Chase?”
“Yeah, sorry, got distracted for a moment.”
Universe in Flames – Ultimate 10 Book Box Set: An Epic Space Opera Adventure Page 53
