Underwater the fight was slightly slowed down. Fish of all sizes fled the area; many, caught in the wake of some of the attacks, were thrown into the air along with the water.
Argos created a gigantic fireball and sent it towards Chase, who promptly did the same. Their attacks met in the middle. Water was driven away in all directions and soon they were standing within an air bubble they had created. Gigantic bolts of lightning flashed among the colliding fireballs. Then, at the center, an explosion threw both Chase and Argos into the air, spinning uncontrollably.
Chase was the first to recover and he lost no time raining hellfire upon Argos in the form of dozens upon dozens of medium-sized fireballs, which all found their target. Not wanting to lose his advantage, Chase flew toward Argos’ face with his knee to the forehead and sent him crashing back onto the shore of Tokyo’s harbor.
Chase purposefully landed with force on the bow of a nearby petrol tanker, sending it spinning above him. He grabbed it by the edge and smashed it down where Argos had crash-landed. The moment the ship impacted with Argos, Chase ignited it with a powerful fireball. The ship and everything around it exploded, and the entire area was engulfed in flames.
Then he heard it in his mind.
Chase, help me! That was Sarah’s voice.
But it couldn’t be. He was simply going insane.
Tears flowed from his eyes and were thrown into the air by the intense, pulsating energy Chase’s aura was radiating.
He flew within the flames and found Argos motionless in the furnace. He saw Argos’ body on the ground, flames burning his limbs and blood gushing from a deep cut on Argos’ scalp.
This is it, thought Chase. Now I finish this once and for all.
He approached Argos. The flames burning all around were repelled by Chase’s aura. He grabbed Argos by the hair, set his fist on fire and started power punching Argos again and again. With each punch, he could hear facial bones cracking and breaking under the pressure. Cuts opened, and blood flew all over the place.
When he released Argos, he fell like a rock on the still-burning ground, with a satisfyingly crushing thud. Chase kicked Argos and sent him flying yards away. With a thought he sent a powerful shockwave that promptly extinguished the fire around them.
Argos tried getting back up but stumbled back onto his face, now a bloody, pulpy mess. One of his eyes was so bruised it was completely hidden. Argos used telekinesis to lift himself up, but his legs were shaking.
The moment I have dreamt of for so long is finally here, thought Chase. He approached him calmly and raised his hand with his palm open. Time for some decapitation.
“Any lasts words, asshole, before I put you out of your misery?”
Chase’s rage was palpable. He was a paroxysm of fury. Logic and kindness were a long lost memory. In this moment he was the pure expression of his inner hate.
“Ye . . . yeah. Sarah’s still alive . . . But she will die if you swing your arm.”
“I’m not falling for this a second time!” shouted Chase.
“I . . . I wasn’t lying back then, and I’m not lying now.”
“You made me kill Sarah and my unborn child, and now you will die, you hear me!”
“You killed a clone!”
A series of lightning shivers traversed Chase’s body from head to toe and paralyzed him to the core.
“WHAT?”
“I cloned her. Her psyche was too strong. I tried torturing her. I even killed her once, but when I brought her back to life, I felt the child inside her. I knew I would probably kill the child if I kept torturing her, so . . . so I made a clone, a perfect duplicate of her and your unborn child and broke the clone instead. I don’t know how the cloned child survived the abuse, but it did. I saw the opportunity to get your attention right there. Once I broke her and invaded the clone’s mind, it was mine to control fully.”
Chase fell to his knees. Tears flowed like rivers and his hair fell back down as his aura receded.
“What are you saying? I . . . If . . . If you’re lying—”
“What? You’ll do what? Kill me? I got that, believe me. You’ve demonstrated not once but twice the ability to do so. I needed to confirm you could access that power again, though.”
“Why? What is it to you?”
“I need your help with something.”
“You think I’m ever gonna help you?”
“Well, if you ever want to see Sarah again and hold your child in your arms, you will do exactly what I ask, for as long as I need you. Otherwise you can kill me right now. But if my heart stops beating for more than thirty seconds, she dies instantly.”
Chase clenched his teeth and fists. His brain still couldn’t fully process the news. Hate had consumed him for so long. It had become his only companion lately. Right at this moment, though, he felt light re-enter his blackened and scarred soul. Little by little, a glimmer of hope he thought gone forever slowly permeated him from within.
Sarah and Chris are alive!
Chase looked down at the ground, his gaze fixed on the broken and burnt concrete. His mind raced. All the future he thought gone forever, the happiness he thought he would never get to experience again . . . All these emotions rushed through him and he had trouble dealing with their overwhelming force hitting him all at once.
“Now what?” he muttered, his voice trembling.
Argos healed himself by engulfing his body in red energy. Soon it looked as though the long fight had never happened. He dusted his dark and burned clothes.
“Now we need to get Aphroditis and get to the Tartarus system.”
“Why there? And why do you need Aphroditis?”
“Why does it matter? You’ll do as I say, and that’s all there is to it.”
Chase rose to his feet and healed himself as well.
“Don’t push your luck, Argos. You will tell me why you need Aphroditis or . . .”
“Or what, brother? Say goodbye to Sarah and your unborn son?”
Chase swore. “I . . . I want proof of life.”
Argos smiled, searched one of his pockets and took out a small, spherical device. He pressed something on it and threw it into the air, where it floated. It projected a holo-video stream.
“This is live,” he said, pointing at the floating hologram.
Chase looked at it and his heart grew heavier; but at the same time hope rose from the inner depths of his broken soul.
There she was, exactly like in his dream, standing in a pod filled with green liquid. Her eyes where closed but he could see she was breathing. A Zarlack guard stood on either side of the pod, each armed with a rifle.
“How do I know this isn’t a deception? You could have recorded this beforehand.”
“Ah, ye of little faith.” Argos shook his head from side to side. He approached the video stream and waved his right palm in front of it. An interface overlaid itself on top of the video. He entered a couple of touch commands.
“Guards! Take aim!”
Both Zarlacks took a firing stance and aimed their rifles towards the pod in which Sarah stood.
Chase’s blood froze. “What are you doing? Stop this at once!”
Argos smiled sadistically. “So, do you want to see her die in front of your eyes now or should we get Aphroditis?”
Chase’s eyes flashed brightly for a moment, rage again coming to the surface, and the entire city of Tokyo started to tremble.
“Easy, brother.” He touched the video stream again and added, “At ease.”
Both Zarlacks lowered their weapons and resumed their guard position on either side of the pod.
Chase let a deep breath of relief escape.
“Look, Laiyos, while I admit I want to kill Aphroditis for her actions, right now I need her for the next part of my plan. Alive.”
“She won’t comply with anything we ask of her. You know that?”
“Who said she had to be compliant? She just needs to come with us, by force if necessary; but I’ll let you ha
ndle this any way you like, as long as she comes along.”
“Alright, I’ll do as you say,” said Chase, resigned.
That’s when he heard Ares’ voice in his head. No, Chase! You promised. You can’t obey Argos. He will kill her!
Chase answered telepathically. I won’t let him, but for the time being, I have no choice. I’m sorry, Ares. You’re going to have to trust me on this.
Chase heard a growl of discontent within his mind but Ares didn’t push the issue any further.
“What are we waiting for?” inquired Argos, losing patience.
“You have a ship in orbit I suppose?”
“The Dark Star is in the Iron Fire’s docking bay, but let’s take the Iron Fire with us.”
“Why?”
“It’s less likely to be fired upon than mine these days.”
“I thought you could cloak?”
“My ship’s cloaking abilities are limited, just like yours.”
“Very well. Let’s go find Aphroditis, then.”
“Yes, let’s.”
Spiros Malayianis exited his quarters and went towards the nearest lift. When the doors split open he entered and pressed the touch controls that would bring him to the nineteenth floor. He didn’t like being summoned in the middle of the night like this.
But he wasn’t about to complain. His time aboard Damocles-3 during its occupation by Argos’ forces had been very stressful, as well as painful near the end. So he appreciated the fact that he could now sleep soundly. Most of the time anyway.
When the lift opened he stepped out and soon entered General Adams’ office.
“You asked for me, General?”
“Yes. Thank you for coming. Please have a seat.”
“What can I do for you, General?”
“I suppose you’ve heard of the latest Zarlack attack?”
Spiros nodded. Of course he had. Millions of people had lost their lives again. It seemed that Earth was cursed. Every few months a new attack scarred the planet.
“All these lives . . .”
“I know. Nothing we can do about this now, but I want you to start working on a new project soon. We can’t let this happen again. Ever.” The general’s tone was heavy and filled with a mix of determination and sorrow.
“I understand, General. What do you want me to work on?”
“A planetary shield.”
“I’ve been thinking about that, actually, in my spare time.”
“And? Is it doable?”
“I believe so. There are two ways of achieving it in my opinion.”
“Which are?” said Adams, raising an eyebrow.
“We can leverage the satellites already in orbit and create an interlink shield between them that would extend all around the planet; or we can build a specific shield, distinct from the satellites.”
“Many satellites have been destroyed during the attack.”
“I know, but not all of them, right?”
“Correct. Those orbiting above the American continent mostly. Which of the two solutions do you recommend?”
“Depends on your timeframe, really.”
“How so?”
“Well, if you want it sooner rather than later, then we need to leverage the technology we already have. So the satellite link shield would be the fastest to build.”
“I see. Any advantage in building a dedicated shield from scratch?”
“Many, actually. We would have more freedom regarding what could be done.”
“What about doing both?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, first we build the linked shields, replacing the destroyed satellites in the process, then, later on, we can worry about making a custom shield around the Earth. Heck, both could be used. If one fails, we activate the other.”
“The power requirement will be off the scales.”
“Whatever it takes. What happened on Earth today can never happen again. We can’t lose millions of lives every time the enemy shows at our doorstep.”
“This is the nature of war . . .”
“Please don’t lecture me about war!” said the general swiftly.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend, but understand our people suffered even more losses.”
“And you brought the enemy to our world. Perhaps they would have come anyway, but humans are really wondering if this Alliance wasn’t a mistake. Before we met you, we were safe.”
“I wasn’t here when my colleagues made first contact with Earth, but I can tell you that Argos and his forces would have found you eventually.”
“Perhaps. It’s no longer important. What is, however, is that we do all we can to protect ourselves now. Argos’ new move, sacrificing his entire fleet, was unpredictable, but I want us to be prepared the next time he thinks of something new.”
“While I wholeheartedly agree that we need to be prepared, we can’t possibly imagine what his next move would be. Perhaps his next crazy idea will work even with both shields.”
“We have to do something!” said the general, hitting his desk with his fist.
“Easy, General. I understand how you feel.”
“Do you?”
“I lost my entire family during the war with the Obsidian, so yes, General, I know.”
“I’m sorry. I apologize for losing my temper. It’s been a very long, hard day.”
“No need to apologize. I will start working on the shield projects immediately.”
“Actually, I need you to do something else first.”
“More important than the shields?”
“We don’t know yet, but it could be. Please report to Cedric in the engineering lab on the seventh floor. He and Yanis Tixichos are working on an AI interface device, and they could use your help.”
“An AI? What’s going on, General?”
“They believe an Artificial Intelligence might have penetrated all our systems on Earth through the Internet. So for us to create the shields, we actually need to make sure we will be able to use our systems.”
Spiros rubbed his three-day-old beard.
“And before you ask me more, please don’t. This AI thing makes no sense to me. All I know is it’s a potential threat and I want it dealt with. When we discussed this with Admiral Thassos she suggested you participate in the project.”
“I understand, General. I do indeed have experience with AIs. I’ve created those that run most of the Alliance ships.”
“Good, that will certainly be helpful. Thank you for coming and sorry for the late call.”
“Understandable, General.”
“You’re dismissed.”
Spiros got up, nodded, left the general’s office and headed back towards the lift. Time to see what Cedric and Yanis were up to. He didn’t like the idea of an AI being in control of Earth’s system and sure hoped the general misunderstood the finer details. He would know soon enough.
12
On board the Destiny, Commodore Saroudis sat on his chair pensively, while waiting for the first jumpgate travel to take place in Earth space.
Soon the admiral and the reinforcements from the Cronos fleet would be here. Too late unfortunately; the damage to Earth had been done. Saroudis still couldn’t fathom that yet again millions of lives had been lost on Earth.
He felt like destroying something to exorcise his frustration. He wondered if this would have played out similarly if Chase had arrived earlier or if he had never left in the first place. Of course, it was pointless now; it had happened.
They needed to make sure such an atrocity never took place again. But could they? No matter what they did, could they anticipate the enemy’s next move? That thought alone triggered a very depressing train of thought.
He needed to shake it off for now, and turned to his communications officer.
“Open a channel to the DC bunker.”
“Channel opened, Commodore.”
Fillio answered the call. “What can I do for you, Commodore?”
“How’s Aphroditis doing?”
She briefly looked to the side and lowered her voice. “She’s not doing so well. I think being in proximity to all these deaths has impacted her strongly. She cried a lot. When she started shivering I put her to bed. She’s sleeping it off now.”
Saroudis scowled. “Any news of Chase? The Iron Fire isn’t answering hails.”
“As a matter of fact, yes. He called a few minutes ago, inquiring about Aphroditis. He’s on his way here. So are Daniel, Ryonna, Tar’Lock and someone called Keera.”
“Who’s that?”
“I’m not sure, but it’s her ship that asked for authorization to land. The Valken, I believe. Ring a bell?”
“That’s the ship Chase came to Earth in, so she’s probably one of his friends.”
“Roger that, Commodore. Do you want me to pass a message to him when he arrives?”
“Yes please. Tell him perhaps he and Aphroditis should come on board the Destiny for a debrief and dinner afterwards. All of you, in fact.”
“Thanks for the invite, Commodore. I’ll pass it along to everyone,” said Fillio with a warm smile.
The commodore nodded.
“Aright, see you later I guess.”
“Absolutely. And Fillio?”
“Yes?”
“Thanks for taking such good care of Aphroditis.”
“Sure thing, boss.”
Saroudis terminated the communication, and, as if on cue, lightning appeared around Earth’s jumpgate. It was a thing of beauty. Soon the lightning disappeared and at the center of the gate a hyperspace exit window formed. Many ships emerged from it: the Cronos and its entire Earth Alliance escort, but also many Droxian ships, including quadrinium cargo ships. Soon the Destiny received a hail from the Cronos.
“Hello, Admiral,” said Saroudis gravely.
“Adonis, are we too late?”
“Yes, the battle ended sooner than we could ever anticipate.”
“Status report?”
“Three cities leveled on Earth, many destroyed battleships, satellites. It’s not pretty.”
The admiral cringed. “What is that Obsidian fleet doing here?”
“They came to help at a critical moment in the battle.”
Universe in Flames – Ultimate 10 Book Box Set: An Epic Space Opera Adventure Page 103
