I want him to think that. I haven’t yet deployed my full abilities; I need to learn how he fights first.
By getting your face beaten to a pulp?
If that’s what it takes, then yeah. I need to be able to anticipate his movements if I want to defeat him.
I see. Careful, he’s coming from behind you.
“I know,” said Chase out loud as he pivoted his body and landed a powerful right kick into the general’s face.
Arkoolis lost his balance and crashed to the ground. Chase unleashed a flurry of icy-blue fireballs his way. The general dodged the incoming attacks by flying upwards. Chase jumped in pursuit and went for a kick to the general’s face but only found air. The general reappeared above of him with both hands joined and smashed them down in order to hammer Chase. But he was prepared for it and dodged the blow at the very last moment, putting himself in a perfect position to counterattack.
He lit both his hands with blue flames and unleashed an incredibly fast combo of punches, including hooks and uppercuts. He ended it by grabbing the general’s armor with his left hand and head butting him with such strength the general flew away and impacted with a nearby mountain. It exploded upon impact.
Chase flew back toward the ground. After landing he cracked his neck. He checked his internal pool of energy. He had consumed less than two percent.
This fight was only beginning.
Ryonna saw the Valken approach her position, stopped her combat cycle and dismounted.
She experienced a strange feeling when she looked around and saw only destruction: her planet, her home, was literally on fire. She had never imagined she would be a witness to anything like it.
And to think only two people were responsible for this.
She was also worried about her son. She hated not having news from him, and the moment the Valken landed she ran into the cockpit and sat next to Keera.
“Nice to see you again, Ryonna.”
“Likewise. Let’s go. We need to find my son.”
“Roger that.” Keera brought the Valken high up in the sky and punched the engines to their maximum. “He’s a very resourceful kid. I’m sure he survived.”
Ryonna felt a sting in her heart. He was still an adolescent, and no matter how proud she was of him, she still felt overly protective. But Keera’s words filled her with pride. “I take it you two have met?”
“Only via comms, but he gave me the feeling he was a bright and courageous kid.”
Ryonna smiled. “Thank you for helping my son, Keera.”
“I was just at the right place at the right time, I guess.”
“Still, this isn’t your fight. I appreciate what you’re doing for us.”
“If I’ve learned anything during my time with Chase and his friends—you included—it’s that one doesn’t back down in the face of overwhelming odds.”
“Yes, as difficult as it is for me to say this, Chase does have that effect on everyone who gets into his orbit. We all strive to be better versions of ourselves since we met him.”
“Do you think he can defeat the Furies today?”
“I have no idea, but if anyone can, it’s him. We’re clearly not equipped to deal with the Furies ourselves.”
“Yeah, I got that. But he’s only one man, Fury— Well, whatever he is.”
“He’s willing to risk his life to save us all, even when he gets flak for his efforts.”
“What are you referring to?”
“Never mind. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Keera looked at her instruments. “We should reach the impact location in about ten minutes.”
“Very well. I haven’t eaten anything for more than a day. Anything I could sink my teeth into?”
“There are plenty of provisions in the mess hall. Help yourself to anything you’d like.”
Ryonna got up from the co-pilot’s seat and put her hand on Keera’s shoulder. “Thank you.”
“Anytime.”
When Daniel opened his eyes he was no longer in the forest. He found himself resting on a bed with a wet towel on his forehead.
What happened? Where am I?
“Anybody here?” he asked.
There was no immediate response, but then a young woman with long blonde hair came into his room.
“Hello,” said Daniel, not sure what else to say.
“Hello, sir, my name is Sendra. You don’t have to worry. We don’t mean you any harm.”
“We?”
“My mom and I. We found you near that building that exploded a while back.”
“I see. I take it I have you to thank for all of this,” said Daniel, pointing at his bandages.
She nodded and smiled.
“Well, thank you. Any chance you brought some of my gear with me?”
She opened a wooden cupboard, took a few things out and put them on Daniel’s bed. He tried to sit up but was rewarded with a strong pain that traveled his spine. “Ouch.”
“You shouldn’t try to move too much for the time being. You seem quite injured.”
“Yeah, a hundred-yard fall will do that to anyone, I guess.”
“How did you survive?”
“Let’s just say a tree helped.”
“I should get my mother. She will want to talk with you.”
“Very well. I’ll be right here. Looks like I’m not going anywhere for a while.”
Sendra smiled and left the room.
When she returned with her mother, Daniel thought he recognized her from a photo on the commodore’s desk.
“Are you the Saroudis family?”
The mother sent her daughter out of the room, closed the door and took a blaster out and pointed it at Daniel. “Who are you? How do you know our names?”
“Relax. Your husband is my commanding officer.”
Her eyes watered and she dropped the blaster to the ground.
“He will be really happy to hear you survived. Are your other two children around as well? We should try to get the commodore on the line.”
She wiped some of her tears, “Commodore?”
“Your husband was promoted.”
She smiled for a second, but her expression quickly turned back to sorrow. “I’m afraid neither of our sons made it.”
“I’m so sorry to hear this. Please accept my deepest condolences for your loss.”
“Thank you, mister . . .?”
“Tharraleos, Commander Daniel Tharraleos. It’s an honor to meet the wife of Commodore Saroudis. Without him we would all have been killed.”
“Why did it take you guys so long to come back to Alpha Prime?”
“It’s a long story. We were stranded on the other side of the galaxy. Outside the known regions, in fact.”
“Where is my husband, Daniel?”
“In orbit. I lost contact with the Destiny a few hours ago, but I’m sure they’re fine. We just need to find a way to communicate with the ship.”
“What’s the status of the Star Alliance? It’s been so long that we have lost all hope.”
“It has been mostly annihilated. Only a few ships survived the Zarlack attack. In fact, we thought they had completely destroyed Alpha Prime.”
Daniel put himself in her shoes. It must have been hard to not know if anyone had survived in the Alliance, and to wonder if her husband had been one of the victims. He could see in her eyes a mixture of pain, sadness and a smidgen of hope.
“I see. Here it’s been hell. When the attack began it rained fire from the heavens. In mere hours the biggest cities had been bombarded from space, and only a few survived. When we first met other survivors we thought at first that we could rebuild. But then they sent these lizard men to the surface. They tracked us and killed us by the thousands. Joshua, our first son, was killed in the bombing of the cities, and Ethan died sacrificing himself so we could escape certain death when a battalion of lizards came hunting us.”
Her tears now streamed down her tired face like wild rivers.
“I’m so sorry for what you had to go through. How did you manage to survive for so long?”
“We hid in underground complexes, caves, and moved farther and farther away from the big cities. After a few months the enemy seemed to have left, but they had left booby traps all around. We were attacked by vicious droids. Those that were once our servants had been reprogrammed to exterminate us.”
Daniel remembered his deadly encounter with one such machine.
“Did a resistance build? We came back the minute we received a distress call coming from the tower where you found me.”
“I don’t know. We’re always on the run. We never stay in one place more than a few weeks. It’s been more than two months since we saw another soul.”
“I see.” Daniel tried to sit up in bed.
“I’m not sure it’s such a good idea to move just yet. Your injuries are severe. We don’t have the necessary equipment to see if you have any internal ones. Perhaps you should rest until the Destiny finds us.”
“I have to contact your husband. The sooner I’m in med-bay on board Destiny, the sooner I can get patched up.”
He still throbbed with pain, but he forced himself through it. Once he sat on the bed he looked through the gear Sendra had put by his legs but he didn’t see any communications devices.
“You wouldn’t happen to have a communicator, Mrs. Saroudis?”
“Call me Alexandra. And I’m afraid not. Anything that emits strong electromagnetic signals could attract the wrong crowd.”
Made sense.
“How far are we from the tower?”
“About ten miles.”
Daniel realized the effort it must have taken to bring his unconscious body back from so far away and was really grateful. “Thanks for getting me out of harm’s way. It must not have been easy.”
“Reaper helped.”
“Reaper?”
“Our wolfen pet. He’s very strong. Once we made a structure to lay you upon, he dragged you back most of the way.”
Wolfens were very difficult to tame but it was said that once they had formed a bond with humanoids, they were loyal for life.
“I’ll have to thank him personally then.”
“If he takes a liking to you. He can be very aggressive with strangers. He saved our hide more times than I care to count.”
Daniel nodded. “I need to get back out there. Hopefully our shuttle is still intact and that’s the fastest way of rejoining the Destiny.”
“If you do you’ll have to go on your own. It’s pure luck we found you. We were gathering mushrooms in a forest nearby when we heard the explosion. I didn’t want to come but Sendra can be very persuasive. However, the area where we found you is notorious for droid patrols. Many have lost power by now, but if we have learned anything it is that we can’t be too cautious these days.”
“Then I should try to get my shuttle, swing back to pick you up here and bring you back on board the Destiny.”
“Do what you have to do, Daniel, but as far as coming with you, I’ll have to discuss that with my daughter.”
Daniel frowned. How was it possible that she didn’t want to jump at the opportunity to get back on board her husband’s ship? “I thought you’d want to see Adonis.”
“Daniel, don’t get me wrong. I’m grateful he survived, but he abandoned us here. For months we had to fend for ourselves. Both my sons are dead. I don’t know what to think anymore.”
“It’s not his fault, Alexandra. We also have been fighting for our lives on a daily basis ever since the fall of the Alliance.”
“And you are still fighting off the Obsidian?”
“It’s complicated. The lizard men you talked about are called the Zarlacks. We’ve been fighting them mostly. A Fury named Argos commanded their forces, and while we took out a lot of it—thanks to an alliance with the world that sheltered us after the fall—he has now freed the rest of the Furies.”
“Furies? You must be mistaken. They were defeated thousands of years ago.”
“I’m afraid not, and they’re back and wreaking all sorts of havoc. In fact, the Obsidian is now part of the newly formed Earth Alliance. They are helping us fight them back.”
“I’m not sure I like the world you’re describing, Daniel. Perhaps things aren’t so bad here after all.”
Daniel bit his lip.
Good job selling her on coming with you.
Daniel tried to get up from his bed but a cascade of pain radiated all over his body.
“You should try and rest some more.”
Daniel didn’t want to rest. He wanted to get to the shuttle and return to the Destiny, but his body didn’t seem to want to comply at the moment.
“Just an hour or two, then I’m going.”
15
Ronan checked the state of his friend Arknon. He was relieved to find a pulse but was worried by the multiple wounds all over his body. He used his portable scanner to try to get a better picture of his state of health and cringed at the result.
Arknon had internal bleeding and it was a miracle he was still breathing, even if ever-so-faintly. The temperature inside the pod was rising fast due to the proximity of the furnace outside, more so since the pod had been opened. Ronan had to act fast. He grabbed Arknon and put him on his shoulder.
“Hang on, my friend, I’m getting you out of here.”
Moving him this way was highly risky, but better than letting him cook inside the pod.
Ronan climbed out of the pod as carefully as he could. He put distance between them and the nearby towering inferno until the temperature was more bearable.
He laid Arknon’s body in the grass, went for the first-aid kit in his backpack and bandaged Arknon’s visible wounds.
When he ran out of bandages, Ronan removed Arknon’s boots, put them back on his own feet and quickly ran back to the pod to get the other first-aid kit. When he was about to climb out again he heard the comms on the pod activate.
“R-nan. Do --- hear? --ease respond.”
Ronan thought he recognized his mother’s voice but it couldn’t be her. She was too far away. Perhaps Keera had managed to patch her through.
He climbed back inside the pod and tried clearing the signal.
“This is Ronan. Is it you, Keera?”
“Thank the prophets you’re alive, son. I’m on board the Valken with Keera. We’re on our way. We should be there shortly.”
“It’s good to hear your voice, Mom. Weren’t you supposed to be on Alpha Prime? How did you get back here so fast?”
“It’s a long story, Ronan. I’ll tell you later.”
“Alright. Please hurry up. Commander Arknon is badly hurt. He needs urgent medical attention.”
“See you soon, son. Stay near the pod.”
“I’ll be a few hundred yards east of it. It’s too hot here. Plus I need to watch over Arknon.”
“Very well, son, see you shortly. Take a portable comms with you so we can contact you; and please be careful.”
“Right. See you soon.”
He looked around the pod for an earpiece communicator, put it in and activated it.
“Checking comms. Do you hear me, Mom?”
“Five by five, son. Our ETA is four minutes.”
Ronan ran back toward Arknon when a nearby explosion made him lose his balance and fall to the ground. When he got back on his feet he looked in the direction of the blast and what he saw made his blood freeze.
There stood a man in the middle of the fire, with his arms slightly extended to the sides, while pieces of burning ship and tons of soil and stones were sent flying all around him. A piece of the Phoenix rebounded only a few yards from him.
This is not possible. He can’t be alive!
But there stood the Fury, his skin burned to a crisp. His eyes shone red, giving him a demonic look. He levitated. While in the air he curled into a ball and suddenly extended his limbs, unleashing a powerful shockwave that extinguished most of the fire around him.
He unleashed the most ear-piercing, powerful and animalistic roar Ronan had ever heard. A bright red aura engulfed his entire body and his burns quickly healed.
What kind of monster is this?
After a few seconds the Fury’s skin was smooth, and he looked in perfect health.
Ronan was terrified. His brain simply could not interpret what he had just witnessed. He had to get back to Arknon but his limbs simply refused to move as fear enveloped him from head to toe. He couldn’t help looking at the Fury. Then their gazes met. The look on the Fury’s face intensified and he flew toward Ronan.
That sent the biggest jolt of adrenaline throughout his body and his legs started moving. He ran as fast as he could toward Arknon, but before traveling half the distance, the Fury landed in front of him with a look of murder in his glowing eyes.
“You! Are you responsible for this?” asked the Fury as he pointed toward whatever was left of the Phoenix.
“What’s it to you?”
“I’m gonna kill you anyway, but if you’re the one responsible, I might actually take my time and enjoy myself.”
Ronan swallowed hard. He had never felt so afraid in his entire life, but his Droxian pride wouldn’t let him show it.
“I really thought that would kill you, asshole.”
Miseo’s teeth clenched.
“Someone had to do something. You were destroying my world one city at a time.”
“As it should be, and I’m glad you told me the truth.”
Ronan didn’t wait. He sent a powerful right hook toward Miseo. When his fist impacted with the Fury’s face, not only did it not budge, but Ronan felt a horrible pain as the bones in his hand cracked upon impact. It felt as if he had just punched a twenty-inch-thick wall made of quadrinium-reinforced alloy.
“A destroyer didn’t take me out and you think you can hit me with your fist? Your kind is so pathetically stupid; we’re actually doing the universe a favor by wiping you out.”
Ronan held his broken hand in the other, his face deformed from the pain. He was not sure what had been wounded more, though, his hand or his pride.
Miseo smirked and shook his head from side to side.
“Proving my point. Now for some real pain.”
Universe in Flames – Ultimate 10 Book Box Set: An Epic Space Opera Adventure Page 135
