Starblazer- Through the Black Gate

by Reiter

  “Ask and ye shall receive,” Megan said as she stepped out from the line of foliage. Already the flames were beginning to die – much too quickly for her tastes, but she was not like her brothers and sisters; triggers held no appeal for her. They called for her to be too far away. Her right hand flew forward and a thin chain wrapped around the neck of the rising figure. Her target’s hands were nearly to the chain when the young woman sent current through it. A force field zipped down the line and took hold of the man’s torso. With a sharp tug, his body was off the ground and flying toward her. A hopping, turning back kick thundered into the chest of her target and brought his flight to an abrupt and painful end. The thin chain wrapped around the young woman’s fist before she drove it through the chest of her downed opponent. “Honey-butter is served!”

  “Copy that, Megan,” Reginald called back. “Watch your six though! These guys are coming out of the woodwork!” A gunshot roared through the night sky as something was struck just behind Megan. She calmly looked over her shoulder to see a man in light body armour fall to his death.

  “She’s aware,” Jake stated as he chambered another round.

  “Gracias, Big Brother,” Megan said softly as she broke into a run.

  “Da nada, hermanita,” Jake replied, “and you’re dead on for three bodies I see in the tree line trying to mirror Big Momma. Are you ready to shake and bake, Dina?”

  “Reading mean, clean and green, Big Brother,” another female voice responded. “I have two boom-booms left to my pack and I’m ready to serve these dishes!”

  “Copy that. Big Brother is returning to his normal sibling status. You’re Big Brother now, Specs.”

  “Was there ever any doubt?” a lighter male voice came on to the line. “I have reads on everyone and, FYI, Auntie Leesha’s been tagged. I repeat, they can find her with no light on a rainy day in a vacuum!”

  Aleesha chuckled at the sights and sounds that accompanied the young voices on the com network. She made eye contact with Survaysi who had no defense or argument. “And you wanted to know what I meant by ‘I sure hope you have insurance’ when you said you wanted to adopt children. You do know that used to be a standing structure before our kids got their hands on it, right?”

  “Shut up and just be saved already!” Survaysi grumbled as they reached the eastern parking lot. A young, white-haired female was behind the controls of a very sleek looking air-car. She quickly jumped out of the open window and landed with a highly stylized rocket launcher on her right shoulder.

  “Big Momma,” Dina said without looking at the large woman who wore a very proud smile on her face. “Auntie.”

  “Hello child.” Aleesha started to stop when Survaysi lifted her from the ground and placed her in the back of the air-car.

  “Big Brother, I got engines inbound,” Dina reported as she started to look around to see if she could locate the sound.

  “Roger that,” Specs quickly replied. “Sixteen point two five degrees to your port. Three bogeys coming in low and fast.” Dina turned slightly to her left and took in a deep breath, slowly blowing it out.

  Survaysi closed the roof section over Aleesha’s head and assigned the people in power suits to ride on the side running boards of the air-car.

  “Now, D!” Specs commanded and Dina fired the rifle section of her launcher weapon. A flash of flame lit up the area just in front of the barrel as her three-round burst fired into the head and chest of the man wearing a rocket pack. He was not given time to scream, but turned into the man to his left and the two of them were tumbling to the ground after the collision. The third man pulled up to avoid the collision, but that only meant he was a slower-moving target. A second three-round burst caused his pack to sputter and fail. He screamed at his approaching end which awaited him seventy-five meters below. “Scratch three!” Specs reported. “Mighty nice shootin’, little lady.”

  “Well, thankya kindly, suh,” Dina said as she returned the launcher to its housing on her back. “I sho do appreciate the spottin’ you so ably provided, suh!” She scrambled back to the air-car and jumped in at the controls. Survaysi remained on top of the air-car and drew her sword as the car moved forward. As Dina turned for the exit, each of her siblings took their positions on the running boards. Per usual, Jake was the last to get on and he slapped the car when he reached his position. Survaysi closed her eyes as she touched the flat of her blade to the air-car.

  “If Specs is waiting for us in the ship, that only makes five,” Aleesha said.

  “You don’t think Big Momma would assign just anyone to catch you, do you?” a very handsome young man smiled as he lifted the shaded visor of his power suit.

  “Javier!” Aleesha cried as she put her right hand to the window. She then looked to her left as the matching power suit visor lifted. Javier’s twin sister allowed her face to show a slight smile. “Joslyn.”

  “Aunt Aleesha,” she said softly, as that was always her nature.

  “Curious there, Meg,” Reginald said as the car tripled its normal maximum speed. It was a mode of transit that everyone had grown accustomed to feeling. “Did you chain those three?”

  “Blade,” Megan replied. “And it was five.”

  “It was seven, but only two of them weren’t stupid enough to leave the tree line,” Jake corrected.

  A flash of white light shone from the ground and the area of the spaceport where Gregoran had fallen exploded as a bolt of white light shot up into the sky. Dina kept her eyes on where she was piloting the air-car, but everyone else looked up.

  “So that’s the lackey Priest, Big Momma?” Jake asked.

  “Yeah,” Survaysi admitted. “It would appear that he’s grown a bit.”

  “A bit?!” Jake remarked.

  “Looks like his people told him where our communications hub was at,” Reginald said as he gave the signal for everyone to deactivate their wrist-coms. They had all just turned off their links when there was a bright light high in the sky.

  “How long do you think it will take him to figure out he just destroyed his own ship?” Javier asked. Another bright light sparked from the same position in the spaceport and they could hear the echoing cry of a man over the sound of the engines of the air-car. “About that long, eh?”

  “Before you break your arms patting yourselves on the back, you might want to look bottom-side,” Joslyn said bitterly. What had been the spaceport and the immediate area around it was now crushed into a gigantic ball of compressed brick, stone, tree, steel, flesh and bone. “That’s the kind of power we’re going up against, and all we did today was make him madder!”

  “Easy there, sour-puss,” Reginald said before Survaysi could speak. “We found out that while we’ve been training to be what we are…”

  “Adorable!” everyone said in unison.

  “… Zoll and his people have been busy too. I’m sure Specs tagged their com-signature before he copied and pasted ours on to it. As soon as High Priest Hothead gets to a com-line, we’ll follow him back to his base of operations, recon the joint and see if it’s as soft a target as his head and go from there.

  “None of us have forgotten that we’re going up against a godling’s pets, Jos,” Reginald continued. “Everyone on this here ride is family because the ones we had went bye-bye when Xaythra couldn’t handle her own business. Tau Upsilon was taken out by some seriously amped tech, and it’s not as if we don’t have some of that stockpiled too. Hell yes they can kill us quicker than they can scratch their nads! But right now, Baron Zoll and High Priest Gregoran need a How-To Guide just to find their balls, so I’m feeling pretty good about our chances.” Reginald turned around to look at his sister. They were not siblings by blood, but Survaysi had brought them together after they survived the downfall of their supposed goddess. They had been trained for years, but weapons and tactics were not the only lessons the former Second of Five had had to give. She taught them as much as she could about truth, life and love. If nothing else, these seven young peop
le loved each other with a passion that frightened most who witnessed it. “How are you feeling, sis?”

  After a moment of an engaged stare, Joslyn smiled and nodded. “Feeling a little cramped in this suit, hermano. We get back, you get this thing off of me, and I’ll make mojitos.”

  All of the young people wailed as Aleesha opened the small window in the roof of the air-car. She touched Survaysi’s leg and when the two women made eye contact, Aleesha projected, “Very well done!” but the voice in her head was not female… it was definitely male and sounded too much like Gregoran. Survaysi lost her smile as her adopted children exploded.

  “No!” Survaysi screamed out in the middle of the spaceport. People who were walking by turned to look at her, and a few gave her wider berth. A hand touched her arm and Survaysi quickly turned to see Javier who jumped back from the speed at which she had moved.

  “Big Momma?” he asked, his voice rich with genuine concern.

  Survaysi closed her eyes and put her hand to the strap that held her sword. “If I surrender, will you let them go?”

  “You’re hardly in a position to ask for anything, Second of Five,” Gregoran responded. “But I will ask the Master. Have them all stand down and I will speak on their behalf. You have my word. Delay even in the slightest and we shall see about making your nightmare a reality!” With one swift jerk, the strap was undone and the sword fell to the ground.

  “Big Momma!” Javier called to her as the ship carrying Aleesha was coming into sight.

  “All stations stand down!” Survaysi commanded. “We’re trumped, people. No way around it. We’re trumped hard!”

  “Yes, you are, Survaysi,” Killington said as he walked up to stand beside her. He had gotten through each of the surveillance measures and was in the sweet spot. With his powers, he could have killed them all almost immediately. Instead, he had chosen to walk up and start up a conversation. He held out his hand and her sword flew to his grasp. Survaysi closed her eyes to the truth of the matter. “You’ll be happy to know that… while I’ve been… training… I was also learning a few things about myself. I am a godling’s pet. So why am I trying to best you in field tactics? That is your area, and thusly I am trying to beat you at your fight. We’ve already seen what comes of that.” The shuttle landed and Aleesha smiled as the doors opened. She barely had time for her eyes to register that Gregoran was present when the shuttle was crushed into a sphere that was roughly the size of a basketball. “What I don’t need is a morale officer or a headstrong Chevalierra who is looking to prove herself to everyone.

  “I also don’t need seven commandos or the ship you have nestled in the mountains southeast of here,” Gregoran explained. “I don’t need them at all. But I think you do. Correct me if I am wrong.”

  “I will swear fealty if you release them here and now. No loopholes… no backstabs!”

  “You will swear fealty to me?” Gregoran asked as he rubbed his hands together. A lone tear fell from Survaysi’s eye as she nodded.

  Done,” the Priest said as he held up the sword for Survaysi to take.

  “Sworn,” she replied, taking the sword once more. Before she could look upon Javier or Joslyn, she and Gregoran were flying up toward his ship. She removed her wrist-com, but not before she heard her children calling after her.

  “What the hell?!” Reginald screamed as he and his siblings appeared on the Bridge of their ship. “What the hell just happened?!”

  “You came across a godling and were found wanting,” Gregoran replied as he turned in the Captain’s Chair to face them. Megan’s knees bent and she was ready to bolt toward the priest when she heard a voice call her name. The children turned to see Aleesha, Shanvah and Edwarn alive and well.

  “He saved our lives,” Aleesha explained before looking up at the priest. “Though for the life of me I don’t know why.” Another burst of light temporarily blinded everyone and they found themselves in a cave. As footfalls approached them, they heard a massive explosion that rocked the cave and drove several of them to their knees. The footfalls continued uninterrupted.

  “Someone please tell me that wasn’t our ship,” Specs said as he removed his computer goggles.

  “Oh, but it was!” Freund said as he stepped out of the darkness. “And now all of you are dead. Welcome to the hereafter!” With a nod to Gregoran, the priest nodded and teleported away. “You will come to find death so very liberating!”

  “Who are you?” Reginald said, turning his shoulder toward the old blind man. Freund smiled and chuckled.

  “I like you, boy! Things are still simple for you. They won’t stay that way, so enjoy it while you can. But to answer your question, my name is Freund.” Each of the young people looked to all of their siblings with most eyes falling to Reginald.

  “All that buys you is time to explain,” he said confidently.

  “I tried to warn you,” Kaila said as she walked up behind Freund. “These kids know fear… it’s what they call an appetizer. Hey kids!”

  “Kaila,” Reginald replied. “Are you vouching for this one?”

  “No, he vouches for himself,” Kaila quickly explained. She knew the only reason why they were listening was because of the mutual respect Kaila and Survaysi shared. “… but he’s the reason why all of you are still alive. Give him an open ear. That’s all I ask.”

  “An open ear he’s got,” Reginald replied.

  “Good!” Freund said with a chipper smile. “I’d like to welcome you all to Project: Dark Pawn!”

  Revelations come when you’re in the thick of it, pitting yourself up against something larger than yourself.

  Frank Langella

  (Rims Time: XII-4112.19)

  Persephone awoke and her face quickly formed a frown. She took hold of the bar that was above her bed and swung herself out on to the floor. Taking to her morning routine, a smile found her face and stayed there as she stepped out into the corridor.

  “I trust you had a restful sleep-cycle, Captain,” Satithe said and Persephone stopped, frowning in deep thought before regaining her smile and nodding.

  “Yeah, I suppose it is difficult to say ‘good morning’ when we’re living our life, eh, Sati? But yes, I did get some good sleep. Is everything still in one piece?”

  “Very much so, Captain.”

  “Good!” Persephone stated. “Can’t stand the thought of this cosmic spitball unraveling. The longer we keep our form, the more distance we’ll get.”

  “The simulator is ready for you, Captain,” Satithe reported, choosing to ignore the words she found to be distasteful. CK was quick to point out that her reaction to the statement was emotional. The resentment she felt was well-founded, but something she should discuss with Dungias at length. “Shall I prepare another sky-bike voyage?”

  “Negative. I think I will skip my normal dunking today, Satithe. Where’s my First Mate?”

  “He is in Engineering,” she answered.

  “Don’t know why he doesn’t just put a cot in that room and call it home,” she muttered as she reached the pole. “Give me express,” she said as she started her way down. The poles were one of the things she liked about the design of the ship. They were fast, one-man lifts. In requesting express, Persephone had deactivated the signal that closed the tube-way at the next lowest level. All the doors would open until she called for one to close. Persephone descended three levels before calling for a stop. She stepped out into the walkway and looked around, whistling. “I tell you, this part never gets old!” Nearing the center of the Xara-Mansura meant coming close to the heart of the ship’s power and means of propulsion. It was almost always warm here and the way the machinery worked felt more like the pulse of a living creature than the center of a construct. She shook her head and smiled, moving toward the double doors of the Engineering Deck. The scanning eyes moved in the customary fashion and opened the doors before she could reach them.

  “Z,” Persephone called out as she looked around. She shook her head at how t
he chamber almost always looked cleaner than a hospital surgery room. “Oh mad scientist… come out, come out wherever you are.”

  “He is completing his communing ritual, Captain,” Satithe explained. “He will be with you shortly.”

  “Communing ritual?” she thought. “Does she mean meditating?

  “Bearings, Satithe,” Persephone commanded. When the system actually stammered, Persephone made it an order. When she was given her direction, Persephone moved quickly to get a viewing of her First Mate meditating. He had witnessed her in the exercise; it was a default benefit in that he was her instructor. But she had never seen him attain what he called the Alpha State.

  “Captain, do be careful,” Satithe advised.

  “What’s up with you, Satithe? He’s not meditating, is he?” Persephone giggled as she moved more quickly.

  “I did not say he was,” Satithe justified.

  “I knew it!” Persephone muttered, almost running now. “He’s over here… playing… with his… stick!” Persephone stopped talking and moving as Z came into view. His feet were on the flooring, but she could not call what he was doing as standing, as only his toes rested against the metal grating. The rest of his shimmering body was nearly afloat. He was leaning forward, as if in mid-leap, with his hands out from his sides, equal to his chest, the palms facing the floor. His Osamu was parallel with the ground only a few centimeters in front of his chest. Both ends of the mysterious stick were aglow with a silvery light. White light seemed to be coming from inside it, shining out through the seams. His long white hair was coming away from his back and head as if it were reaching for the ceiling, and his gold eyes had been replaced with small, powerful stars.

  Persephone’s hand went to her hip and she took hold of her weapon.

  “Captain!” Satithe called to her.

  “Deactivate Satithe!” Persephone shouted and she could hear the computer powering down. Z’s eyes closed and his body slowly returned to a normal stance as he rubbed his eyes with one hand and took hold of Alpha with another. He moaned as he stood there and slowly removed his hand as his head went back. A soft breeze came from out of nowhere and Persephone looked around for the source, but she could not find anything.