Universe in Flames – Ultimate 10 Book Box Set: An Epic Space Opera Adventure

by Christian Kallias

  Daniel looked at Argos, then back at Chase.

  “Who the fuck is this guy? Why does he look like you?”

  Ryonna stepped forward. “I thought Chase was supposed—”

  Before she could finish her sentence, Argos flipped his left hand. Ryonna flew through the air and crashed against the nearest wall.

  “Mom!” Ronan ran towards her and kneeled by her side. She was unconscious and bleeding from the left temple where she hit the wall. The young Droxian got back up and started running towards Argos, who flicked a finger and sent him crashing into the same wall as his mother. With a dull moan, he landed unconscious on top of her.

  Daniel and Chase didn’t wait to react. They both took aim at Argos and fired multiple shots with their rifles. But Argos put his hand in front of him and stopped every one of the shots with an invisible shield. He then made a fist and both rifles exploded in their hands.

  “What the hell?!” exclaimed Daniel, looking at his singed hands.

  The insectoid teleported to their side. Chase cast him a look.

  “Friend or foe?”

  “I’m Ryonna’s friend. My name is Tar’Lock.”

  “Alright then.” Chase gathered his thoughts quickly. “Sarah isn’t to be hurt, no matter what she does.”

  “Understood, but she seems in cahoots with him.”

  Argos lowered his hand and spoke. “Hello, brother.”

  “You are no brother of mine.” The anger in Chase’s voice was thick.

  “All evidence to the contrary.”

  “What do you want? Is Sarah your prisoner?”

  “More like a partner.”

  “I don’t believe you!”

  “Everyone has a breaking point, Chase, even Furies like us.”

  A thick rage started to engulf Chase’s body. He could feel a tremendous amount of power run through his blood, every part of his body under so much pressure it was about to explode.

  “Daniel, Tar’Lock, this asshole is mine.”

  Argos just laughed in response. “Do you think you can take me? Come on, bro, show me what you’ve got.”

  A second later, two blue fireballs blazed in Chase’s hands.

  “Kick his ass, Chase!” Daniel called.

  “With pleasure.”

  Chase’s eyes shined bright purple. He launched the first fireball, then immediately launched the second towards Argos’s head. But quick as they were, Argos blocked both of them with each of his palms, crushing them in quick succession.

  “Thanks for the power up, Chase. Not that I needed it but…”

  A second later Argos disappeared then re-appeared behind Chase, smashing his elbow against his brother’s head. Chase smashed into the ground, coughing up blood.

  “That’s all you've got? I’m disappointed,” Argos said with a smirk.

  Chase thought that his blood was in danger of literally boiling over, but he remembered what Aphroditis had told him. He had to control his rage or it could have catastrophic results.

  “Or maybe you’re afraid of hurting your friends?” Argos guessed.

  Chase’s eyes flashed to his brother’s face in fear. Could he read minds?

  “Let me help you here then. I don’t want you distracted.”

  “Wait—”

  But Argos got into a stance and pushed both his hands to the side. A powerful shockwave sent everyone but himself and Chase flying in every direction. Daniel crashed against the floor, Sarah was propelled backwards, and Tar’Lock’s body hit a rock formation nearby with a crushing sound followed by an agonized moan.

  Then Chase lost control.

  He screamed so loudly that the rock formations around him started to crack. The amount of energy being emanated from his body unhinged small rocks and floated the destroyed sentries and sent them flying around him. Argos looked up at the destruction, but before he could react, Chase was flying in the air, crashing down on him with hands joined atop his head and smashing him into the ground.

  Chase didn’t wait for him to get up. He kicked him in the face, and Argos flew in the air. Chase caught him in mid-air and squeezed his hand around his throat, using an enormous amount of pressure. Argos was clearly suffering, but he kept smiling. He kept smiling right until the moment that Chase sent him crashing into a nearby wall with a well-placed and powerful kick to the thorax. Parts of the wall cracked under the impact of Argos’ body.

  “Very good, brother!” he shouted, spitting blood onto the ground. “You have potential, I’ll grant you that. But look at you. You have no control whatsoever. You simply let your rage dictate your every move.”

  “I will kill you,” Chase swore.

  “You’re welcome to try, but you’ll need to channel way more hate and energy to do so.”

  With another wild shout, Chase unleashed half a dozen fireballs at his brother at an impressive rate. Argos deflected them all, scattering them around a wide arch and scorching huge holes in the ground, walls and high ceiling. But Chase kept firing more attacks until the resulting debris and smoke blocked his vision of Argos.

  But when the dust settled and the smoke had cleared, Argos was still standing.

  “You’re a pathetic Fury, Chase,” he said with a smile. “Let me show you real power.”

  He pointed a single finger at Chase and a thin red laser pierced through his brother’s shoulder. Chase cried out in pain and clapped his hand automatically over the wound.

  Chase was trembling now. Not so much with fear of Argos, but fear of himself. Fear of what he might do if he wasn’t careful. If he lost control.

  He had to find a way out of this situation. He had to find a way to protect the people he loved. But he was running out of energy. The last attack had drained him more than he knew.

  “Oh, poor brother, running out of juice already. Just when I started to have fun.”

  Chase opened his mouth to say something cutting, but stumbled back a step with a quiet gasp, still clutching his shoulder.

  “Do I have to kill one of your precious friends for you to show me what you’re made of?”

  “Don’t!” Chase shouted earnestly. “If you do, we will all die here!”

  “I don’t think so, Chase. You don’t have that kind of power. And even if you did, you are in neither shape nor state to make good on that threat. Who should I kill first?”

  Then Chase heard Aphroditis’ voice in his mind. “Chase, you cannot defeat your brother Argos today. You need to outsmart him. This is your strength; use it. It is the only way.”

  Argos looked left and right, then shouted, “Stay out of this, bitch! I’m coming for you next!”

  He could hear her too! How was that even possible?

  Chase didn’t understand, but it didn’t matter. He had to think of something and fast. He looked at Tar’Lock, the only body still moving, barely. He focused on him and concentrated on speaking only with his mind.

  “I might need your help. You seem fast.”

  Tar’Lock nodded slightly and Chase sure hoped Argos couldn’t hear every thought. But Argos was very distracted with what had just transpired.

  “Fucking Olympians! You think you can meddle in the affairs of other races? You will pay for this. You and I both know you are not allowed to interfere!”

  Taking advantage of Argos’ distraction, Chase turned to Daniel. He was still breathing but his face was bloody—he would need medical attention very quickly. Then he noticed the cluster of three grenades on Daniel’s belt and his eyes widened. Tar’Lock saw what he was looking at and nodded, understanding.

  “I don’t care if you’re my brother, this ends here and now, Argos.”

  Argos whirled around. “I don’t remember telling you my name.”

  So he hadn’t heard what Aphroditis had said. He’d just sensed her presence.

  “It doesn’t matter. Today is the last day it will be spoken.”

  “You’re funny, I’ll give you that.”

  His focus was entirely on Chase now. Perfect window
of opportunity. Chase maintained eye contact, but mentally shouted with every last bit of strength he had.

  “Now!”

  He launched himself at Argos, who saw him coming and entered into a defensive stance. But at the same time, Tar’Lock teleported and took the cluster of grenades. He also quickly recovered the quadrinium bomb from Ryonna, spat on it, and stuck it to the grenades before teleporting behind Argos, who was still distracted by Chase’s charge towards him. Without a second thought, the insectoid shoved the explosives into Argos’ clothes.

  Argos whirled around and sent Tar’Lock flying with a power blow, but the second his back was turned, Chase rushed forward. He threw back his head and released a scream that sounded like it had come from the depths of hell.

  A powerful beam of blue light erupted from both of his palms, melting the grenades deep into Argos’ back and sending him flying in the nearest corridor before they suddenly exploded. Everyone in the area was blasted back out of range as what was left of the corridor collapsed in a smoking heap.

  The dust settled and Chase ran towards Tar’Lock, who looked to be in really bad shape.

  “Thank you! I couldn’t have done it without you,” he said in a rush.

  “It’s not like I had any choice. This mad man would have killed us all,” Tar’Lock groaned in reply. “And it was a good plan.”

  “Will you be okay?”

  Tar’Lock tried to smile. “No, I don’t think I’m gonna survive this. My back is broken in three places; I can feel internal bleeding.”

  A sudden thought occurred to Chase and he leaned down. “Hang on.” He closed his eyes and put both his hands on Tar’Lock’s body.

  “What are you doing?” the insectoid asked.

  “Trust me.”

  White light glowed from Chase’s hands and started radiating all around Tar’Lock’s body. The result was almost instantaneous. Bones began to repair. Cuts began to close. After just a few seconds, Tar’Lock started to feel better than he had in years.

  “Thank you,” he gasped. “I bet that sure comes in handy!”

  Chase smiled weakly, just thrilled by the fact that it had worked.

  “Especially when considering I had no idea I could do that.”

  Tar’Lock’s eyes widened. “I find that both fascinating and terrifying.”

  “So do I,” said Chase, getting back up.

  One by one, he ran around and did the same thing to each of his friends. As Sarah had received the least damage, she was his last stop. But the second he got to her, his eyes filled with tears.

  He covered her in strands of light, and watched silently as the power took effect. When it was done, he leaned back on his heels, exhausted and anxious, and waited for Sarah to open her eyes…

  11

  Captain Saroudis arrived on the bridge of the SAD Cronos and happily approached his old friend, Admiral Thassos.

  “Admiral.”

  “Adonis,” she corrected him, “how many times do I have to remind you to call me by my first name?”

  “Very well, how are you, Ally?” Saroudis asked with a smile.

  “I’m fine. What about you?”

  “Very well, considering the last few months. You have no idea how much of a relief it was to see your battlegroup arrive.”

  “You had things under control. I’m sure you would have prevailed.”

  “Maybe, but that’s not what I meant.”

  “I know what you meant.” The admiral nodded slowly. “I’m very happy to see you survived as well.”

  “Any news of the home world? Maybe more ships survived?”

  “The Sixth Fleet protecting the home world fought to the death but they were overwhelmed by impossible numbers. They protected Alpha Prime as long as they could but… it fell.”

  Saroudis’ heart dropped. “Did you ever go back there to see if there were survivors?”

  “We’ve tried but Obsidian left a substantial amount of ships in orbit. In the end, I decided it was too much of a risk. At the time, the battlegroup had suffered too much damage for us to even attempt any kind of rescue.”

  “I understand. We were in bad shape ourselves.”

  “I bet. So I’m being told you allied yourself with a planet called Earth,” Ally said expectantly.

  “Yes, against my better judgment. But it has proven to be the right thing to do.”

  “Why against your better judgment?”

  “Technologically speaking, they really aren’t even space-worthy.”

  She nodded. “Ah, the first contact directive.”

  “Yes, but one of my trusted officers made a compelling argument at the time.”

  “I guess sometimes we have no other choice but to break the rules.”

  “Exactly,” he agreed. “How did the negotiations go with the Droxians?”

  “It’s still ongoing, but I simply couldn’t take it anymore. My second-in-command took over. Let’s just say they are in agreement with some reservations.”

  He smiled, knowing full well the drudgery of the legalese. “Well, since you just spent so much time negotiating down there, you must be tired of talking through it right now. Perhaps you’d like to tell me more sometime later. Over dinner, perhaps?”

  “That sounds like a good idea.” She smiled. “I just wish we could eat something different than rations. We’re running out of quadrinium even though the Droxians agreed to provide us with as much as we need from now on.”

  “Well, if you’d like to come onboard the Destiny, I think we can arrange something better than rations, Adm—sorry—Ally.”

  “That sounds like a terrific idea. But before we do, we should probably go back to Earth. I heard it got hit badly. Any news?”

  “We’ve received communications from our officers on the planet,” began Captain Saroudis. “It’s not pretty. There were a lot of casualties and quite a bit of civil unrest. We should indeed get back there as soon as possible.”

  “Agreed. For the time being, this is still your show. I’m not here to take control of your new Alliance.” She raised her hands innocently.

  “I appreciate that, but you should probably take command further down the road.”

  “We’ll see. You know me, give me a battlegroup and a target, and I’m happy.”

  Saroudis laughed. “Well, in that case you should feel ecstatic, because targets are not what we miss nowadays.”

  “I wouldn’t go as far as happy, but we certainly have lots to do and many battles ahead of us,” she replied.

  “Is your fleet capable of jumping back to Earth with us?”

  “Absolutely. As soon as our chambers are reloaded we can be on our way.”

  “Good. I’ll return to the Destiny and prepare my crew for the jump.” He suddenly hesitated. “Perhaps you’d like to come with me for that dinner? Make the jump onboard the Destiny?”

  “Yes, I guess there’s no reason for me to stay with my ship during the jump,” she said gratefully. “Give me an hour or two to finalize the preparations here regarding the quadrinium distribution and I’ll be there.”

  “I am really happy you’re alright, Ally.”

  “You said that already.”

  “That’s how happy I am.”

  Back in the Destiny’s captain’s ready room, Admiral Thassos sat on her chair while Captain Saroudis pushed it under her.

  “Thank you, Adonis. Quite the gentleman. What smells so good?”

  “I’m told this is called Chicago-style, deep-dish, pepperoni pizza.”

  “I have no idea what that means, but I can’t wait to have some.”

  The captain walked around the table and took the chair facing his old friend. “I did some research and it appears this is a very ancient dish from Earth that evolved over the centuries. The original recipe included the flesh of animals.”

  “Yuck!” Ally said, unable to hide her disgust.

  “I know, but our food synthesizers just replicate the taste. I have to admit, I did try meat on Earth and
it tastes delicious. But I prefer eating the synthetized version.”

  She gave him a look. “Alright, as long as no animal was injured in the preparing of this meal, I am happy to eat it. The smell is intoxicating.”

  “The taste is even better,” Saroudis replied, picking up his fork.

  Admiral Thassos took a bite and her eyes lit up immediately. “This is probably one of the best things I have ever tasted in my entire life.” She placed one hand over her full mouth to avoid being rude, but quickly cut another piece for herself.

  “Earthlings are very talented when it comes to making rich and decadent food. Their original recipes are not exactly healthy, but thanks to our technology, we can replicate the taste almost perfectly without the health problems of their originals.”

  “To tell you the truth, even if it wasn’t healthy, I don’t think I could force myself not to eat this right now. It’s just too delicious.” She smiled and took another bite.

  “Yes, that was part of their problem on Earth as well. It led to obesity and cardiovascular problems, and a host of other ailments within their population.”

  “But how do they feel eating the flesh of animals?”

  “They’ve been doing it for so long, centuries in fact, that I don’t think they think about it one way or another. There are people against it, of course, but this is a planet with many beliefs and different cultures and ways of life. Eating one animal in one religion is permitted, but could be construed as a crime in another.”

  “And do they get along with such diversity? That must have created conflicts,” Admiral Thassos inquired.

  “Before we arrived, yes, it did. In fact, there were small wars going on all over the planet. That being said, each country seemed fine respecting their own cultural aspects within their own borders. Actually, it’s more complicated than that, but I don’t want to bore you with such details. Let’s just say, the intervention of the Olympian Aphroditis changed all that,” Captain Saroudis added without thinking.

  Admiral Thassos dropped her fork. “What?”

  “Oh yes…” the captain backtracked quickly, “… that.”