A New Divide (Science Fiction) (4 page)

              "I now see why they call you the
Good Commander
."

              "I always treat the man before me better than I treat myself, General, and I treat myself pretty well. Now, General, if you will excuse me, I have a battle to win."

              General Casey left hastily as Mark looked to his holoband; there was a much more pressing matter to him. "
Virgil
? This is Mark. What is your status on locating our target?"

***

[<-Captain Virgil->]

-Minerva, Ash Fields-

              It would take several minutes for Mark's message to reach
Captain Virgil
, who was stationed as a recon commander on the surface of the once populated Minerva, now all but desolate. He and four other men were lying in a field of ashes that surrounded that single standing house several hundred meters off in the distance.

              "Hey, Cap? You got a call."

              Virgil listened to the message and relayed his own as he stared down the scope of his 20mm rifle pointed at the lonely home and the group of soldiers who were gathering around it.

              "Good copy, partna. Message took eight minutes to get here. It's less than we'd thought. I got eyes on the kid. They got some kinda bag over his head."

              Through his scope Virgil gazed at a sight I don't think he quite believed at first. It was Arcoh, who had stepped out of an airship, and he was now out in the open.

              "My god, man, I was thrown way off when they told me that he had the kid, but this is something else. That son of a bitch!"

              One of Virgil's men nudged him and whispered into his ear.

              "Captain, we can end this war today."

              "You got a lot to learn, sport. Look at his chest plate—that there is a light-shield generator. Arcoh may be arrogant, but he ain't no idiot."

              "What's the call, Cap?"

              Virgil sighed and he handed the rifle off to the man on his right.

              "We're going to need to get a helluva a lot closer. Too many secondaries for a firefight. Gotta be three dozen of 'em."

              The soldier took the rifle and smiled. "Just say the word and they'll never know what hit 'em."

              "They will when I get close. I'm going to need a gravity tug to avoid being noticed; when I land, cover me. Use the 20 mike rounds, in short bursts. That suppressing fire should give us a wide enough window for an extraction. And whatever you do don't hit the kid, or I will kill you myself."

              "Yes, sir."

              "Sending the transmission now."

***

              I was finally able to stand
, barely—I toppled and stumbled with every step, and I fell over catching myself with my knee. And Arcoh then presented his hand to me once again.

              "Let me be your voice of reason, Collin."

              I gave him my answer in the form of pulling his hand in and head butting him. There was a struggle, Arcoh fell back laughing, covering his blood-stained jaw and I swiftly received a bash on the back of my head from his legate's sword.

              "I have had enough watching you disrespect our king, you worm! Sire? Should I teach him some manners?"

              "No need, Ivan, let him speak. It will be the last time he will do so freely."

              I spoke out against him as Legate Ivan Lennin pressed my face against the ground.

              "We'll see about that, you bastard! You expect me to forgive and forget what you have done? Your sins here will be remembered forever, Arcoh! So you'll tell me everything I want to know as I steal that last breath from your throat! I SWEAR IT! Even if it is the last thing I am able to do with my life."

              Arcoh's patience had finally broken for me; he was no longer smiling when he stood up and wiped the blood from his nose. He loomed over me and showed me why the people called him the Snake of Eden.

              "I have done all I can to be civilized with you."

              "You have certainly done a wonderful job at that." I quickly regretted my comment when the legate then broke my leg. Even the excruciating pain barely broke my focus from Arcoh.

              "Do not be a smartass with me! You are going to bend to my will, boy! So now we do things the only way they have worked in the past. Ivan?"

              "Yes, my liege?"

              "Bring him to
The
Hammer
! Have him medicated! We need to adjust his attitude before we can move forward. But first I want him to watch as I destroy the citadel. I want him to watch the end of this inferior race!"

              I tried desperately to escape the grip of that 300-pound giant, but with a broken leg it was hopeless, but it still didn't stop me from gazing up at the sky, and the mountain country of Rayden far above us. Champions hate to lose.

              "Excuse me, my liege!" A messenger bolted out of one of the gunships and sprinted towards Arcoh.

              "What is it? You are disturbing my thinking space!"

              "Apologies, sir! There has been a disturbance detected in the stratosphere."

              "What kind of disturbance?"

              "We're not sure, sir, but it's disabling all communication capabilities here on Minerva."

              I began to see what the crusader messenger was talking about. Above us the sky was turning black and view of our motherworld was ceasing. This wasn't a normal storm, it had covered the area far too quickly. It was almost like an explosion, expanding at an incredible rate, stretching to the ends of the earth.

              Then came the sound and the shockwave from a single person dropping in from above us. Everything stood still in those few seconds—an interruption like none other. We waited for the ash cloud to settle and when it did I saw a tall, lanky man in a long trench coat. He landed directly between Arcoh and me.

              He arose from the ground and even the behemoth on my back didn't move. I don't think they could believe what they were seeing. I had no idea but I began to feel something churn in my stomach, like butterflies. I couldn't see his face, but I knew that presence, I knew that dogged, unkempt beard he wore. All I needed to hear was his voice to know he was there to save me, like he had so many times before, long ago.

              "Why don't you fight someone your own size, partna?"

              Within a fraction of a second Virgil took his sword and cut off Ivan's arm. He fell over backwards clutching his new stump in agony. Then Arcoh reacted appropriately but not quickly enough.

              "Kill that—"

              Virgil jumped on top of me pushing us to the ground, then came the rain of bullets from the field across the way—it felt like a swarm of freight trains were flying above our heads. Those 20 mike rounds were a force to be reckoned with; they took out half the soldiers that surrounded us.

              I looked back and struggled to free myself from Virgil, looking directly at Arcoh, who was being pushed back into his dropship by his soldiers. I'm sure his words were not too different from my own, as I began shouting at Virgil.

              "Wait! Take me back! I need him! You cannot let him leave here alive!"

              Virgil heard me but he had his orders. I would have done it myself, but I could not move on my own. He took a cylinder out of his pocket and planted it on the ground in front of us while I attempted to crawl back over to the fire zone.

              "I need him, Virgil! I need to know!"

              Virgil grasped my shoulders and shook me furiously. "You have this one chance to make a difference in your life! This is it, kid! I am giving you one chance! One chance to change your fate! Are you gonna take it, or let it fly? What's it gonna be, kid!"

              I gave a very wide grin and grasped his forearm. Arcoh and the others rushed towards us as this beam of benevolent light surrounded us. It took us up, a gravity tug, and within seconds we soared through the sky, passing by the surface of Minerva and its smoke-infesting skies.

              So I had made my choice. Arcoh had nearly convinced me at my highest point of despair, but what tore me asunder was the fact that he said, "You have no idea who you are," and he was right. Suddenly I felt all of my priorities shift; the thoughts of this great mystery of my origins and essence created a tempest of rampant emotion in my mind. The Remorans would feed the hunger, and they did everything they could to try and divert the desire I had to seek retribution for all that would happen.

CHAPTER 4 – ASCENSION

{>-Legate Ivan Lennin-<}

-Surface of Minerva-

              Ivan quickly received a genome shot,
and soon the agonizing state he found himself in ceased to be. He tried to remain alert to his surroundings, as the medics were doing what they could to stop the bleeding. But Arcoh himself had a far different agenda than worrying about his newly disfigured military commander.

              Arcoh's transport had flown onto a large plateau outside the smoldering remains where Rayden One had collided with the earth. The airship stopped near a very large bunker in the ground whose blast doors contained a hangar capable of housing an entire fleet of ships, and Arcoh had used this to his full advantage.

              Ivan moved slowly to the exit of the airship and looked over at Arcoh, who had summoned one of his generals over to him.

              "I want you to trace the source of the gravity tug! Find out who that bastard was, and retrieve Mr. King immediately!"

              "We have traced them, Your Eminence. There is a fleet of Remoran warships several hundred kilometers between us and Rayden."

              Arcoh looked at his general in disbelief and began to laugh hysterically.

              "Ha! You can't be serious? We're being attacked by monks! Those recluses?"

The Remorans were the first colonists to arrive in Eden. Their culture and society were shrouded in mystery; so when Arcoh learned that they had amassed an entire fleet, he could do nothing but scoff and think little of them. However, they were not at all what they seemed.

              "Seriously though? The Remorans?"

              "Yes, Eminence, well not entirely. They are the protectorate fleet that live on moons of Remora. Led by a seasoned commander formerly belonging to the
GDR
."

              "I don't care who they are, where they are from, or what their intentions are. They are disrupting the kingdom's operations and they must be dealt with accordingly! I brought you in for a reason. Take care of it!"

              "Sire, their firepower is like nothing I have ever seen before. With our numbers we cannot stand against them. We need to think of an exit strategy."

              Ivan then broke his silence, infuriated at the decision Arcoh had made. "You sent away 90 percent of our fleet! I warned you of a counterattack, sir."

              "And I warned you of not having a light shield, Ivan! Now look at you, bleeding over the robes that I have bestowed upon you."

              The general shook Arcoh as he stared up into the blackened sky where the Remoran fleet could barely be seen through the thick layer of clouds. He gazed on angrily at the massive warships that were raining down artillery on the Salaran-occupied planet.

              "Your Eminence, we have nowhere near enough firepower or men to withstand a full-scale invasion. We could stay, sir, and fight, and I would gladly stand by your side in the Hammer."

              Arcoh, being the coward he was had already made his decision. "No, tell the captain of the Hammer to charge shields at 100 percent. We are going to break through their blockade."

***

              My ears were ringing
and I was still hardly able to walk. My time spent in the suspension cell had greatly affected my motor skills. As a result I initially found it difficult to perform even the most basic of movements; it was a strange sensation to say the least.

              We were moving so quickly, the surface of Minerva passed by us in mere seconds. Before I realized it we had entered a chamber aboard a Remoran star carrier. Virgil quickly wanted to head towards the bridge but before he could I dropped to my knees and vomited all over the floor. As I coughed up the little food I had in my stomach he ran over to me and helped me to my feet. "Yeah, I probably should have warned you. Grav tugs take some getting used to. Let it all out, kid."

              I coughed and gagged the rest out of my system and I started to notice my surroundings. I was kneeling over a glimmering panel with a transparent bottom. This was the gravity room where troops could be directly extracted from the surface in dire situations. The ceiling of the room was coated with a sleek material that glowed with a strange incandescent light that was fading away, the tractor beam generator.

              "What is this place? Where are you taking me," I asked.

              "We're aboard the
Alexandria
. The first starcarrier of her kind."

              "You're with the GDR?"

              "No, all of Eden stood idly by and watched in horror as the Raydenites were being purged of life. But there was one man who has been waiting for an excuse to stand against Arcoh the Eminent."

              "Just one man?"

              I slung my arm around his shoulder and he nodded ahead of us.

              "Heh, well more than one. He wants to see you right away, so let's not keep him waiting."

              We had walked out of the room and into a wide white hallway. It was a vast ship filled with a very soothing ambiance. Strange as it might sound, it was like a relaxing mood was surging all throughout the carrier. Purple and red lighting covered the bridge just ahead, as white and green lighting surged through the hallways. The ship was very sleek and almost alien looking; it was quite a change from Rayden's very industrial atmosphere.

              Even Arcoh's crusader armada had a very dark and industrial feeling to their quarters and ships. This ship was truly a work of art, truly beautiful, and absolutely deadly at the same time.

              "I see the Remoran insignia all over the place."

              "Collin, you’re so attentive to detail. This fleet belongs to those who protect and guard Remora from outsiders."

              "A fleet from the moons?"

              "Just like your Raydenites. I imagine you'll get along with them just fine, kid."

              Virgil rushed down the vibrant hallway helping me along the way before we reached a door and walked straight through it—that led us to the bridge. It was almost like the door was an optical illusion.

              We phased through the transparent door and entered a large room that contained many soldiers dressed in white and blue jumpsuits. Many of them were sitting idly at their stations quickly relaying orders and typing in commands on their holoscreen displays. In the front of the room below the main section of the bridge stood a large holographic spherical projection. This "Command Sphere" contained the placement of all the Remoran fleet ships on both Rayden and Minerva.

              I saw a man with dark green combat armor, wearing four gold stars on his shoulder plates, standing at the helm of this sphere. He was very calmly giving commands to the officers around him while constantly referring to the sphere. Before I could ask Virgil who the man was, a woman dressed in a blue officer uniform quickly inquired the nature of my presence. "Captain Virgil! Why is Collin King on my bridge? He needs to be brought to the sick bay immediately."

              "Admiral, my orders were to bring him to the Good Commander immediately after we successfully completed the exfil op."

              "Look! He has vomit all over this weird jumpsuit he's got on. Do you need a better reason? You want to carry this kid around, letting him weigh you down?"

              I have to admit I definitely did not think much of Fleet Admiral Victoria Andrews the first time I laid my eyes on her. I looked to her as I used to look at all women, but that was probably because she was very beautiful. With her long red hair, her gleaming blue eyes, and a body so toned and sculpted, she left a lot to be desired, at least for me. I had a hard time believing that this precious flower could control anything; but I would soon learn that she was no precious flower.

              Victoria Andrews had a fiery personality and an explosive temper. I still say she always plays hard to get. By that, I meant that she was the kind of woman that would beat the hell out of a man four times her size for thinking he could get a piece of that "sweet ass." Yeah, she was certainly scary. She was a natural born leader, and after I tried to hit on her, I began to think twice about my respect towards women, especially Remoran women.

I had pushed Virgil away from me, and my legs shook with instability. I tried to prove to the lady admiral that I was most certainly capable of standing on my own two feet. It was my pride that drove me, because it was all I had left, at least that I knew of.

              "Who says he has to carry me anywhere, sweetheart?"

              "Don't fool yourself, you idiot. You'll collapse at any minute. Now why don't you take yourself to the infirmary before you fall on my clean floor? This is a place for commanders and soldiers, not gravball punks."

              I stepped forward and shouted at her angrily.

              "Listen here, sweetheart, I don't know who the hell you think you are! But—"

              She had no tolerance for being talked back at and immediately punched me in the face sending me flying back onto the floor, and I laughed as I wiped the blood from my mouth.

              "Damn, beautiful and packs a punch. I bet you're quite a handful in the bedroom."

              She lunged towards me and knocked me to the ground; she then mounted me and pressed her forearm up against my throat. "You listen here, dipshit! If we are going to have the displeasure of your company throughout our expedition, you need to know one thing about me. I have zero tolerance for men too immature to take orders from a woman."

              I smiled at her with blood-covered teeth. She didn't understand that I hated authority, I always have and I always will, so I decided I would treat her as an equal rather than a superior.

              "Hit me again. I get off on that sort of thing." She punched me and Virgil restrained her as the crew around me giggled. Then the man in the green combat armor stepped forward and outstretched his hand to me. I accepted his gesture and he helped me to my feet as Virgil caught me, shouting out to the crew of the bridge. "All right, y'all, show's over. Back to your stations."

"Mr. King, you would do well not to upset Fleet Admiral Andrews here. She has slight temperament problems." I blew a kiss to her as she shook her head. She forcibly made her way down the stairs of the bridge, pushing others out of her way simply with her brooding presence, and made her way back to the command sphere.

              Normally with my smartass attitude I would have said something clever to this man; but a strange feeling of propriety and respect came over me. I think that I was more curious than anything.

"I should thank you for saving my life, mister?" He smiled at me with a look of appreciation. "Commander Mark Wyman, supreme commanding officer of the Remoran expeditionary unit. And the lovely lady you just met is my second in command, fleet admiral Victoria Andrews."

Victoria looked to me over from the command sphere and shouted to me.

              "That's ma'am, or Admiral Andrews to you, Collin!"

              "Yes, sir!"

              I sarcastically saluted the lady admiral as she glared at me from below and continued to observe the command sphere. "Collin, my admiral raises a good point—you should go to the sick bay immediately. God only knows what they have put you through."

              My smiled ceased and I turned serious. That moment may have been the one chance I could have gotten closure for the atrocities Arcoh committed against my people. I wanted to see them destroy Arcoh and his crusade with my own eyes so I responded respectively to Commander Wyman in the hopes that he would understand my pain.

              "Commander Wyman, please understand, I have to see this."

              Mark turned to Virgil and after a short silence between them Virgil spoke out in defense for me. "The kid has been witness to the unimaginable horrors that the crusaders force upon their captives. That being said, he could provide some valuable insight on the enemy's position, and the tactics they plan on using against us."

              Mark was a very noble man, in fact he was known as the
Good Commander
; he earned this name by the fierce loyalty the entire Remoran Protectorate holds for him, the greatest leader of our time. He had dark skin, looked forty years of age, but he took the genome over five hundred years ago, from this came his wisdom. He stood tall with clean posture. It was a stance that really spoke for his character.

              I rarely took a liking to people I had met in a few moments but something about him really stood out to me, and I felt obliged. "Very well, Mr. King, join us at the Command sphere." Admiral Victoria spoke out as we walked around the circular platform of the bridge down the spiral steps. "Sir, this is ludicrous."