Dark Universe & Forbidden Love (39 page)

Once Kalan got far enough from
the hall, he was able to get in touch with Neiteo who had no idea what
happened. Neiteo was in hospital and Liutein apparently forgot him. He managed
to find a small transporter and picked up Kalan from the forest. Since they
didn’t have the code from Klizan, they couldn’t mobilize the Seventh fleet that
was being resupplied in colony TA-13 on planet Aluthen. Kalan did have the
emergency code at his home, but in order to use the emergency code, the fleet
commander must present the code in person. The problem was Kalan knew Liutein
must have soldiers check every vessel leaving Sylareon.

Later,
Neiteo made an excuse and requested to be transferred to a hospital on another
planet. Before Neiteo boarded the vessel for his trip, he hid Kalan at the
bottom of his bed and they passed the checking points successfully.

Once
General Kalan arrived at planet Aluthen, he swiftly took the full control of
the fleet. Then he contacted Klaycon and learned that 10 Estian vessels were
traveling with them on the way to Sylareon. The only good news was Estian
didn’t find out about the Hylocan eyeball. Klaycon also mentioned the missing
crew, but Kalan was not in the mood to solve that puzzle. He quickly
established the communication with other fleets. All deputy chiefs didn’t believe
that he said except one. Doensen immediately realized that Kalan was telling
the truth. They decided to regroup as soon as possible.

Several
hours later, Kalan met Doensen on the flag vessel of Fifth fleet.

“How do
you know about what happened on Sylareon and training center?” Kalan asked
directly.

“That
was quite a coincidence. I got that intel from a Glycan trainee named Gloria.”
Doensen sounded like he couldn’t believe that either.

“Gloria?
How can that be possible?” Kalan asked in surprise.

Doensen
further explained what Gloria told him and he also mentioned the Human.

“Jason.
It is him again. This time I will kill him right now!” Kalan said angrily.

“You
probably don’t want to do that.” Doensen said calmly.

“Why?”

“This.”
Doensen said as he handed a black ring to Kalan.

Kalan
took it over and scrutinized it for several seconds. He looked at Doensen in
surprise and said, “This is real. This is the ring!”

“That
was my reaction when I saw it.” Doensen chuckled.

“That
Human had this ring? How come?” Kalan asked.

“I don’t
know. But we can find out.” 

They had
several soldiers bring Jason to the bridge and put the ring on his hand. The
words showed up on his palm.

“I am
surprised that I didn’t find the ring when Lisania was imprisoned on planet Agirue.”
Kalan said easily.

“Don’t
be too hard on yourself!” Jason said ironically.

“Thank
you.” Kalan said with an evil smile, and then punched Jason on his face. 

Held by
four Glycan soldiers, Jason couldn’t even move his hands, but he didn’t give
in. He laughed and said, “You fight like a girl. You know that?”

Kalan
grinned slightly as his black uniform transformed into an armor suit.

“Clank!”
A dagger popped out of his fist.

“You
really like talking, don’t you?” Kalan said as he slowly stabbed the dagger
into Jason’s right cheek. It went through his mouth and came out from the other
side.

Jason
was trembling, blood dripping down from his face.

Kalan
pulled the dagger out and shouted, “Take him away!”

Doensen
waited until those soldiers took away Jason and said, “I actually thought you
would kill him.”

“We both
know if the Hylocan queen gave this Human the ring, the queen will come back
for him. We can use him to hunt down Hylocan. But right now I only care about
my family. I mean our families.” Kalan said hastily.

“You
want to attack Liutein just like this, with two fleets? Even if the fleets
protecting Sylareon didn’t fight with us, we can’t take down the palace.”

“That is
true. We need other fleets. But they don’t believe what I said.”

“When I
heard this from the girl Gloria, I thought she was crazy. But then you said the
same thing.” Doensen said in an understanding voice.

“That is
why we need to get the cruiser! There is a weapon on that cruiser and we need
it.” Kalan said firmly.

“What
kind of weapon?”

“You
won’t believe me. Anyway when you see it, you will understand.”

“OK. But
right now there are 10 Estian vessels around the cruiser.”

“Together
we have more than 600 vessels. They will run for their lives before we get
close.” Klizan said confidently.

“If they
don’t have reinforcement. Sure.” Doensen said cautiously.

“I will
keep in touch with my son. Set the course.” Klan said decisively.

The two
fleets slowly merged into one flow and entered the dark matter passageway.

Accompanied by Estian’s combat
vessels, the cruiser was sailing slowly to Sylareon. Klaycon made up some
excuse to buy some time for his father. The death of Etoe really got on their
nerves and they were so scared that nobody dared to sleep. They stayed together
in the bridge and did everything in groups including going to the restroom.
They couldn’t wait to get off this cruiser.

When
Gloria and Jason left the cruiser, Klaycon actually felt happy for her. That
was why he didn’t try to stop them. He also found out Yayi killed Etoe but he
didn’t know how. What he couldn’t understand was if the eyeball did it, why it
didn’t kill them all at once. He reviewed the captain’s log again and still
couldn’t figure out what happened.

Tired
and bored, Klaycon was thinking about the weird dreams he had. In one of the
dreams, Carila, Gloria, Nissen, Zier and he were walking with Etoe. They said
something to her when they reached the engine compartment. Then they left and
only Etoe stayed there. He decided to check out the engine compartment. He
asked everyone to come along with him.

Being
famous for its wide appetite, Yayi was the only living creature on planet
Egewe. Even though it didn’t have eyes or ears, it had extremely sensitive
sense of smell. It simply followed the smell and attacked. Glycan found that if
something had a smell resembling the sand scent on planet Egewe, Yayi wouldn’t
attack it. Therefore, they coated the engine room and the compartment
designated for keeping Yayi with a paint that had such smell. Every Glycan
military vessel applied this method to guard the dark engine.

Klaycon
and others went to the dark engine compartment and checked the door.

“I saw
this door before.” Zier said.

“I had a
dream that we came here and did something.” Klaycon said in an uncertain tone.

“I had
the same dream.” Carila sighed.

“Something
like that.” Nissen muttered

“Is it
possible that those bugs come out of the compartment and killed Etoe?” Klaycon
murmured.

“I am so
tired. I can’t think straight.” Carila whined.

“Maybe
the eyeball could control those bugs.” Klaycon said.

“I don’t
know.” Zier said tiredly.

They
stayed there for a while, but couldn’t find anything out of place. When Zier
stood very close to the liquid door, Klaycon suddenly had an extremely strong
impulse to push Zier. He backed off from Zier and fought against this thought.
Then he noticed Carila and Nissen were acting just like him. The moment Zier
turned around, that impulse disappeared. Klaycon, Carila and Nissen breathed
heavily as if they just finished marathon.

“What’s
going on?” Zier asked curiously.

“I don’t
know. It seems that I wanted to push you into the compartment.” Nissen said in
a scared voice.

“What?”
Zier was frightened.

“Same
here.” Carila said, her voice shaking.

“I hope
I didn’t push Etoe.” Nissen said in a low voice.

“Me
too.” Klaycon murmured.

“Warning!
Warning! Warning!” A robotic voice struck everyone.

They
quickly ran back to the bridge and were shocked at the view outside. Estian
vessels were shooting at each other with missiles, lasers and cannons. The
explosions lightened up the surrounding space like supernova. The fight lasted
less than a minute and all Estian vessels broke into pieces, leaving a debris
field kilometers long.

“Why
they shot each other?” Nissen asked.

“The
eyeball did it?” Zier said in a doubting voice.

“I don’t
know.” Klaycon said in a low tone. He was worried that the same thing might
happen to his father’s fleet.

Jason squeezed himself in a
corner. His cheeks were still bleeding and his tongue was almost cut in half.
He could feel blood spewing from his tongue. It hurt like hell. He slowly stood
up and looked out of the porthole. Right now, the fleet was approaching Cruiser
General Klizan. Jason didn’t see any Estian vessel. While he was wondering why
Estian left, he noticed the massive debris field. He had a hunch that the eyeball
did all this and he realised that the same thing could happen to this Glycan
fleet as well. He was worried about Gloria, but there was nothing he could do.
Jason sighed in frustration and crouched down in the corner.

After a
long while, he suddenly heard a voice in his head. He stood up and dashed to
the door. There was no one outside.

“Jason!
Jason!” The voice came again.

“Who…”
Jason was about to open his mouth, but the pain stopped him.

“You
don’t need to speak out. Just think what you want to say.”

“Alright,
who are you?”

“I am
Lisania.”

“I saw
this name when I put on the ring.”

“Yes, I
gave you the ring. Jason, I thought I could forget you, but I can’t. I just
can’t. I love you.”

“Sorry.
I don’t remember you, but my friend told me about you.”

“I am
sorry. It took this long.”

“How did
you find me?”

“First I
tried Guardian Fleet training center and then I went to Earth. Later I picked
up a signal from the ring. I followed the signal and here I am.”

“I
didn’t sent any signal through the ring.”

“I know.
This is weird. Usually only the Oracle could trigger this kind of signal. Never
mind. Jason, I will get you out of there!”

“Lisania,
I need to ask you something. Did you remove Gloria from my memory?”

Jason
was waiting for Lisania’s reply, but there was nothing.

When
Jason was talking with Lisania, the flag vessel of the Fifth fleet passed
through the debris field and docked with the Cruiser General Klizan. The moment
the door opened, Klaycon and others rush to the flag vessel for their lives. Nissen
and Carila almost fell over. Kalan finally met his son. They hugged for several
second. Then Klaycon asked him about his mother and other family members. Kalan
had no idea of their current status.

Later,
they sat down and talked about what happened. Kalan finally had a picture and
he didn’t believe the eyeball could do that. Because it was just an eyeball not
a brain. There was no way it could execute complex plans. Klaycon didn’t argue
with his father, because he was so exhausted. He hadn’t slept in the past
several days.

Doensen
checked the cruiser with some soldiers. He saw the eyeball with his own eyes
and now he understood what Kalan said before. He came to Kalan and said, “You
see this. The ring changed color.” Doensen showed Kalan the ring. Now it was
bloody red.

“Yea,
any idea why?” Kalan said and took over the ring.

“No. But
it happened when we got close to the cruiser.” Doensen said in confusion.

“What
about the debris field?”

“I sent
several vessels to check it. The initial analysis of the wreckage suggested
that those Estian destroyed their own vessels.”

“How do
you know that?”

“Missile
wreckages and hull fragments.”

“How can
that be possible?” Kalan asked in surprise.

“I don’t
know.” Doensen shook his head.

“It
doesn’t matter. We are going home now.”

“It does
matter. What if the same thing happened to us? Then we will never make it
home!” Doensen said seriously.

“What do
you suggest then?” Kalan said unhappily.

“I don’t
know.” Doensen sighed. He wanted to go home yesterday.

“Then we
are going home!” Kalan said decisively. He planned to use the eyeball to
influence the deputy chiefs of other fleets.

Nightmares scared Klaycon awake.
He sat up on the bed, trying to recall the details. But all he could remember
was blood, death and distorted faces. He couldn’t even tell who those faces
belonged to. Panic and frightened, he walked around in the cabin. He remembered
this feeling. He had same one when he was on the cruiser. Then he looked out of
the window and caught that they were right now in an asteroid belt, drifting
along millions of rocks and minor planets. Klaycon couldn’t even see other
vessels due to the high density of rocks.

“Why are
we here?” Klaycon talked to himself. He swiftly dressed up and ran out of his
cabin.

Ten
minutes later, he reached his father’s cabin and woke him up. Kalan was just as
surprised as Klaycon. They rushed to the bridge.

Doensen
was chatting with a colonel when Kalan and Klaycon walked in.

“That
was short. I need some sleep as well.” Doensen said easily.

“Where
are we? Why are we in this asteroid belt?” Kalan asked hastily.

“Our
patrols reported that other Glycan fleets were approaching us, so we hide here
just for a moment.”

“How do
you know they want to attack us? Did you establish the communication?” Kalan
asked impatiently.

“We did.
They are Fourth, Eleventh and Twenty-second fleet. They ask us to surrender.”
Doensen said calmly.

“Fourth
fleet was guarding a planet. They couldn’t be here. 22nd fleet was far away.”
Kalan said firmly.

“This must
have something to do with the eyeball.” Klaycon said in a scared voice.

“Shut
up!” Kalan shouted.

Klaycon
backed away quickly, casting his eyes down.

“Doensen,
can I talk to you in private?” Kalan asked nicely.

They
went into a nearby compartment and locked the door behind them.

“There
are so many places to go. Why did you make the decision to come to this
asteroid belt?” Kalan asked.

“It just
popped out of my head.” Doensen said innocently.

“In an
asteroid field like this, our radar can’t see anything. We can’t even keep the
communication flow among our vessels. Do you see what I mean?” Kalan said
uneasily.

“I know
all that. I don’t know why I just had this idea at that moment.” Doensen said
in embarrassment.

“How
long have we been here?”

“About
two hours.”

“Where
is Cruiser General Klizan?”

“Some
two kilometers away. Why you suddenly ask this?” Doensen sounded confused.

“Keep a
close eye on the cruiser, put a tracer on it and send more patrols out. We need
to leave here as soon as possible.” Kalan said seriously.

Doensen
ran out of the compartment and gave the order right away.

The
fleet was slowly leaving the asteroid belt. Lisania was piloting a Glycan
fighter jet and flying close to the carrier. She learned about the big Hylocan
eyeball from several soldiers while they were talking about it in panic. But
right now, she was more concerned about Jason and she knew she had to make a
move right now.

“Flight
control. This is patrol 34. Request refuel.” Lisania called in.

“Patrol
34, request granted.”

“Copy
that.” Lisania said calmly. She knew there was no way her fleet could defeat
this Glycan fleet. But since they were in the asteroid belt right now, their
radar had so many blind spots and her soldiers could take this chance to sneak
in. Then she could single out the flag vessel and she might have a shot to save
Jason.

Thinking
about this, Lisania had one of vessels in her fleet follow her closely and
headed to the landing zone. When she got close, she used her ability and gave
those Glycans in the hangar a notion that they had to leave the hangar right
away. It worked well and hangar soon cleared out. She and her soldiers got on
board without a fight. They quickly put on biological suits which made them
look exactly the same as Glycans.

“Major,
you take 20 guys with you, secure the bridge and take the carrier out of the
formation. I will take the rest with me. Once you have the bridge, let me
know.” Lisania said calmly as she slung a rifle over her shoulder.

“Roger
that.” A tall Hylocan nodded.

They
parted away in two groups. Lisania led 10 guys to the back of the vessel. When
they passed by Glycans, no one even looked at them. After they made a turn at
an intersection, Lisania stopped as she saw Gloria fighting a Glycan soldier
outside the compartment where Jason was held. Gloria quickly gained the upper
hand and knocked the soldier down. Then she noticed Lisania and her soldiers.
She wasn’t expecting the backup would come this quick. Just at this moment,
Lisania deactivated her biological suit and Gloria recognized Lisania right
away.

“Finally,
we meet again!” Gloria said angrily.

“You
didn’t really learn from last time.” Lisania said in a relaxed tone.

Gloria
darted to Lisania, taking a swipe at her face. But Lisania saw this move even
before Gloria started it. She slid aside and punched her head, knocking her
unconscious. Jason came out of the compartment, ran to Gloria, and held her
gently.

“Jason,
we gotta move. This Glycan girl can’t come along.” Lisania said firmly.

Jason
paused for a second and then nodded. He slowly put Gloria on the deck.

Lisania
got the message from the major. They had secured the bridge. She asked them to
maneuver the carrier close to Cruiser General Klizan so that she could use her
power to manipulate the crew on the cruiser.

They
fought off the reinforced Glycans and headed to the docking bay.