AcQuest: A Space Opera Military Technothriller (The Quest Saga Science Fiction Adventure Series Book 3) (12 page)

“
You fools, we must ready the device.
”

“
Yes, sire.
”

“What device?” Burke asked, but Q ignored him. He didn't want to miss out on a single word from this conversation.

“
Bunch of fools,
” the man they called ‘sire’ said. “
Come, my pet,
” he called out.

Q heard a shrill cry run through the air. A huge griffin flew above them and landed a little deeper into the hall. The creature looked a bit like Ruby, with its golden-brown feathers and all. Its eyes though, were different. They were a bright emerald green, radiant and beautiful.

“
Those earthlings are very insistent.
” he seemed to be talking to his griffin.
“
The Dark Knights are no party either.
”

“
True,
” A deep rumbling voice entered his head. Q’s spine shivered so terribly that he was afraid he would collapse.

He remembered that a griffin could communicate telepathically. This voice had to be the griffin’s then. It sounded old and ancient, like it had existed since the beginning of time itself.

“
Well, their loss if they do not wish to join our cause,
” the man said, then chuckled himself “
I must retire and become a poet don’t you think?
”

“
Yes, Sire,
” the griffin said in a monotone. Q realized it was a male griffin.

“
Very well. You may leave, I’ve matters to attend to,
” Q heard footsteps fade away into the distance. The ‘Sire’ seemed to have left.

Q prepared to follow the man but the griffin landed smack in front of him, its wings summoning gusts of wind that pushed Q back.

“Whoa! An actual griffin!” Burke ran up to the beast but Q managed to pull him back before something dangerous happened.

“
What are you doing here?
” the griffin asked them.

“Are you using telepathy?” Burke asked excitedly, “Just how does that work?”

Q ignored him and turned to the griffin, “Hi, Mr.Griffin,” he waved. “We were just touring this place, you know, looking at the tapestries and stuff.”

“
Silence,
” he bellowed. “
Do not take me lightly.
”

“You look like you don't like this place,” Burke interrupted them.

The griffin stood still for a moment, “
Another mind reader,
” he said.

“No mind reading,” Burke said. “I’m an expert in behavioral psychology though. Pretty easy to see you’re not exactly fond of this place.”

“
And just what would you do,
” he crouched down to their level. “
If that were the case?
”

“I would take you along with us and ask you to help us,” Q said.

“
And why would I help you?
”

“Because your master possesses a device that he plans to use to enforce calamity. A device that we need to take home to bring peace to my planet.”

“
Very well then,
” the griffin said as though it were a very simple decision for him. “
I have never liked my master to begin with. The only reason I serve him is because I had no purpose elsewhere, and a griffin must always have a purpose.
”

“Awesome!” Q said excitedly, “So you’ll help us?”

The griffin nodded. Q found it kind of unsettling that the griffin could be persuaded so easily, but he understood the whole ‘I need a purpose’ idea.

“
We must make haste,
” the griffin said. “
It won’t be soon before-
”

“DIE,” bellowed a voice from the end of the corridor. The griffin froze.

In front of them stood the man, the one they called ‘Sire’. He was dressed in plain white armor and a snow-white cape. His short gray hair didn't seem like the ‘old’ kind of gray, but more of the ‘magical’ kind. His long face was wrought with anger and hatred, his silver eyes showing his pure intent to kill.

“Thou hast betrayed me,” he pulled out a whip from his belt, one with a glowing white aura that Q figured was not for safety purposes. He whipped the floor with a thundering crack, “And you shall pay.”

***

2-4

“You must really like the taste of pain, Jade,” the White Knight walked towards the griffin.

Q looked at the whip the Knight was holding. It was definitely infused with great levels of energy.

“Beware of the might of Windalf,” the man yelled out.

“Who’s Windalf?”

“I’m Windalf,” the man said.

“Oh, Sorry, dude” Q said.

The man looked around the room as though he were searching for somebody. “Who is this ‘Dude’ you speak of?” he asked.

Windalf suddenly glowed as white as his whip, “My lord! Why now?!” he yelled. Q shielded their eyes from the harsh bright light. When the light died down, Windalf had disappeared.

Teleportation
, he realized.
What in the world is going on?

Jade also seemed to have disappeared. Q wondered if the griffin had meant it when he said he would help them obtain the Lambda Driver.

“
T-minus 20 seconds to departure,
” a feminine voice echoed from within the palace.

Burke tensed up, “It’s the Lambda Driver,” he said.

“Let’s go get it,” Q said but Burke stopped him.

“It’s too late. It’s started its initiation procedure.”

“So what’s supposed to happen now?”

“The Lambda Driver isn’t in its optimal conditions. If we’re too close to it we’ll get torn apart by the explosion it creates.”

“I think we should definitely run.”

“Definitely,” Burke agreed and they both ran for their lives.

“
T-minus 5…4…3
”

Q grabbed Burke and dragged him towards the water.

“
2….1…..ZERO.
”

They dived into the water, going down as deep as possible. Q used all his extra life energy to strengthen the energy suits and protect them from the blast. For a second they couldn't hear anything but the water pass by.

Was Burke wrong about the explosion?
Q thought.

As though in response to Q’s query a huge blast sounded inside the palace and shook the entire cave, sending powerful torrents through the water. They braved through the mini twisters the explosion set off underwater. A few minutes later, after everything had calmed down, they swam up to the surface to look at what damage the Lambda Driver had caused. The most obvious change was that the castle seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

Q gasped, “Where did it go?” he asked.

“My guess is the Lambda Driver absorbed all the matter from the castle, using it as energy for its teleportation,” Burke said. “The same thing would have happened to us if we got too close to it.”

“So where’s the Lambda Driver then?”

“It probably teleported itself to some other part of the Universe.”

“Great, so how do we find it then?”

“I think I just found a friend who can help us,” Burke grinned.

A gust of wind blew through the air, and a shrill cry followed. Q looked up just as a huge griffin landed next to him, its golden-brown wings gracefully folding into its sides.

“
I am most obliged.
”

***

Kai was still aboard the mothership. He was still right under the clutches of the enemy. And yet, he was as excited as he could be.

He had always believed that nothing was ever completely perfect. Every machine had a breaking point, every system had a loophole, every person had an Achilles’ heel. And the enemy?

He knew it had to be Trisha. She was perfect for the role, a high ranking executive inside the enemy’s organization, someone who happened to hate the entire ideology of her team. She was a person that he could tip over to his side pretty easily. He would finally have someone to help him take the enemy down. Excitement bubbled up within him.

A door slid open and, he and Trisha walked into the sick bay. Hundreds of cadets lay in their beds with bandages around their arms and legs. All of them were injured, with brutal cuts and bruises all over their bodies. Kai realized that the injuries were from the harsh weather outside, from all the ice that was flying at near bullet speeds.

“Do we have to heal all of them?” he asked Trisha.

She raised her eyebrow and shot a look that said, “What do you think?”

“Yes ma’am,” Kai saluted and hustled around while trying to figure out how he could heal these cadets.

“No we don’t, silly,” she laughed. “You don't have to do anything. Just let me take care of it.”

She thrust her hand forward, her palm facing towards the ground. A green aura emerged from it and flowed across the floor, flooding it with light. Kai stared in awe at the amazing sight. The aura created networks and channels, like it was a river of light, and soaked into every injured body in the bay.

The injured cadets glowed a bright green for a few seconds and then turned back to normal. Their cuts and bruises disappeared and most of them were up and about, their faces filled with wonder about how they had healed so fast. Kai was pretty surprised himself.

Trisha turned around, “And that’s how you-” she stumbled, her legs collapsing beneath her.

Kai caught her just as she was about to hit the floor. He lifted her up and rushed to her office. All the cadets made way as he raced through the corridors and past the doors, carrying Trisha.

All the way to the Infirmary office, he wondered what had happened to her. He could feel her chest strain as she breathed, her face scrunching up with each breath. The infirmary door automatically slid open, which was a relief to Kai because if it needed some sort of identification he didn't have any.

He lay Trisha down on a bed and made sure she was comfortable. He pulled up a chair and sat down next to her. Her skin was pale and sickly. Her entire body lay limp, her hands trembling as though she were having a horrible nightmare. He placed his hands over hers and gripped them tightly, “You’re gonna be okay,” he whispered.

He still couldn't figure out what had happened to her. She had been perfectly fine until she healed all the injured cadets. Her body didn't show any signs of injury, so a bit of rest would certainly bring her back to normal. Time was the only medicine right now.

He turned his attention to his personal problems. Just how was he going to get her on his side? It would be extremely difficult if he didn't take the right approach. One wrong move and he would be a goner. The biggest risk he faced with trying to get her on his side was that he would have to reveal his true identity and intentions. If she didn't side with him after that she could use all that information against him.

He spent the next hour thinking up a plan, stopping only when he saw Trisha stir. She opened her eyes in a daze and looked around drowsily, “I was unconscious wasn't I?” she asked and Kai nodded promptly.

Trisha sighed, “I still haven't got the hang of it,” she stretched out her still trembling hands and pressed them into her thighs to hold them still.

“What happened to you?” Kai asked.

“It’s my healing power,” she sat up. “It completely saps me of my energy.”

“Why use it if it’s so dangerous?” he was pretty confused right now. Why would you do that to yourself willingly?

Her face changed, “Sometimes you have to do things whether you like it or not,” she said and walked out the room.

Kai caught her hand just as she was about to leave, “You can’t leave in the state you’re in,” he said.

Trisha ruffled his hair, “I’m fine,” she said and walked out.

Kai watched as the door slid closed.
I guess she knows what she’s doing
, he thought. He lay down on a bed after she left, his mind more confused than before. He wondered what she had meant when she said that one had to do things whether one liked them or not. Maybe she didn't like doing this either. But then what exactly was motivating her to actually heal everyone when the side effects were so severe?

He heard the door open. He sat up to see Trisha’s head poke out of the edge of the doorway. She had come back almost instantly.

“Hello again,” she smiled mischievously. “Just dropped by to tell you that I usually recognize an Aliea Academy cadet when I see one.”

Kai lay there on the bed with his mouth wide open. He jumped onto the floor and charged at her. He had to immobilize her. Fast. It didn't matter if she was going to help or not. He had to make sure she didn't blow his cover.

Trisha stood there calmly and watched him charge at her. Just as he was about to knock her to the floor, she disappeared.

“You have to do better than that,” he heard her laugh come from behind him.

He turned around and saw her standing next to the bed. He ran at her again. This time Trisha didn't disappear. She stood her ground, and in a flurry of moves, pinned Kai to the floor.

“Just because I’m a healer doesn’t mean I don't know how to fight.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Kai managed to say as he gasped for breath.

She threw Kai onto the bed and stood in front of him. Kai had always seen Trisha as a sweet person but right now she was nothing but dangerous and threatening.

“What do you want with me?” she asked, her voice turning serious.

Kai breathed deeply, “I need your help,” he said.

“I figured you would say that,” Trish said. “I made it pretty obvious that I hate this place didn’t I?”

“Then why work for it?”

“They have leverage on me,” Trish said, “The reason I was forced to join and the reason I can’t quit.”

Kai looked at her expectantly. Just what leverage did the enemy have on her?

“The organization is holding my sister captive,” she said.

Kai felt a turmoil of emotions. He was furious knowing that the enemy would use such tactics to manipulate a cadet.

“I’ll help you in whatever way you need,” Trisha said. “But you need to help me as well.”

Kai already knew what she wanted from him, “We’ll get your sister back,” he smiled, “don’t worry.”

“Thank you,” Trisha managed a smile.

“So do we have a deal?” Kai asked.

Trisha put her glasses on, “Deal,” she said with a voice so sweet and deadly, it made Kai’s skin crawl.

Kai wasted no time and started briefing her about what he required for his mission.

“I need access to the ship’s main control room,” he said. “I can take over the entire mothership from in there.”

“Take over?” she asked. “You seem to think it's child’s play.”

“Trust me,” he smiled at her. “It is.”

“If you say so,” Trisha said and pulled out a huge blueprint from her desk.

“Is that the ship’s blueprint?” he asked.

She nodded in response, “This path is the most heavily guarded one,” she traced her finger along a line. “We have to avoid it at all costs.”

She started mapping the entire route out for him, “So we take this elevator to the corridor, para-jump to the next floor, get inside the room, cut through the wall and get into the weapons room, not take any of the weapons, exit the room, take the corridor to the elevator and then go two floors up, and finally, take the door to the main control room.”

Kai paused for a moment to comprehend everything she said. “Couldn’t we just take the elevator all the way to the top?” he asked.

Trisha looked at the map again. “Huh, I actually missed that,” she stuck her tongue out.

Kai sighed. He was beginning to doubt if choosing her to be an accomplice was a good idea. It wasn’t like he another choice though. He had to work with whoever he could find.

“Now that we’ve set the route, when should we pull this off?” he asked.

“At exactly 0400 hours. The guards’ shifts switch around then,” Trisha said. “If we slip in during a shift change we’ll have the least chance of getting caught.”

“Do you have a backup plan if we get caught?” Kai asked.

“Since no one else knows you’re an Aliea Academy cadet there won't be any problem,” Trisha explained. “They’ll just think we’re the maintenance crew going around to do a checkup.”

“I guess we’re all set then,” Kai said.

“This is going to be so much fun,” Trisha said.

Kai wished he could see it as fun too, but in reality, it was everything but that.

***