Fury to the Stars (Universe in Flames Book 2) (6 page)

Daniel chuckled. “What did you have in mind?”

“The one with the least kills is on drink duty for a
week.”

“Deal!”

Both Daniel and Chase vectored towards the nearest
wings of enemy ships and engaged them. Clearly surprised by getting fired on by
no less than three fronts now, they were easy pickings. They exploded one after
the other. Chase aligned a perfect couple of shots toward his nearest target,
successfully exploding the fighter wing, which promptly started spinning and
went crashing into another foe, the explosion claiming both fighters
simultaneously.

“Buy one, get one free!”

“Show off,” Daniel replied.

“That’s seventeen, my friend. Now who’s showing
off?”

“I’m still gonna say you.”

“Fair enough.” Chase laughed.

Then something happened. The
Cronos
fired an
intense beam of laser fire that instantly took out the biggest Obsidian
battleship still in play. Two successive shots then took down the next two
biggest Zarlack battleships, the first hit splitting the ship in half and the
second provoking a major explosion that disabled the targeted ship.

“I don’t know what that was, but I’ll take five,
please!” exclaimed Chase.

“I had heard the
Cronos
was getting equipped
with next generation R&D weaponry.”

“I’m also getting a newer signature on the radar but
haven’t seen any of the ships on visuals.”

“Oh,” Daniel said knowingly, “that must be the Omega
starfighters.”

“What are those? And why am I not flying one?”

“They’re the next generation of dogfighting war
machines. I had heard about them in passing but never thought they were
actually ready for combat.”

“Why don’t we see any?”

Right on cue, an impressive looking fighter with
sharp lines and glistening armor de-cloaked in front of Chase’s fighter.

“Hey, rookie! How do you like my new set of wings?”
called a familiar female voice over the comm.

“No way! Fillio?”

“Still as reckless as ever I see,” she replied.

“Well, you know me. That’s one sweet machine you’re
flying.”

“Very, and it’s been invaluable to our survival. The
cloak only works for a few minutes, but it definitely gave us the edge we needed
with our enemy encounters.”

“I bet! I want one of those, yesterday!” Chase was
almost giddy looking at the ship.

“You’ll have to ask Admiral Thassos for one, flyboy.
We don’t exactly grow them on trees, especially nowadays. Speaking of
starfighters, what the hell are you flying? I don’t recognize the design.”

“Oh, say hello to the F-140 Thunderbird, the first
Earth Alliance ship. I helped design it.”

“Really? What’s Earth?”

“Long story. We’ll talk about it over drinks. And
from the looks of it, Commander Tharaleos will be the one fetching them, for a
whole week,” Chase taunted.

“Alright, boys, see you later then.”

“See you soon, Fillio; really glad to see you.”

“Always a pleasure, Chasy boy!”

“Chasy boy?” echoed Daniel, trying not to laugh too
much over the comm.

“If you repeat that, I will kill you.”

“Whatever you say… Chasy boy.” The laughter overtook
him.

“Oh gods...”

As the battle continued, the SAD
Cronos
fired
another one of its main weapons and finished off the ship it had crippled
earlier. Then, as soon as it entered battering range, it started raining an
impressive amount of laser fire toward the smaller Zarlack ships around it.

It was an impressive victory, but it didn’t last
long. A few seconds later, all enemy ships still capable of jumping did so.
They had retreated. It only took a couple of minutes to dispatch whatever enemy
starfighters had been left abandoned on the battle theater.

Soon all Alliance and Droxian fighters rejoined
their respective battleships. Fragments of destroyed Zarlack and Obsidian
vessels slowly orbited Droxia. Each piece looked like a tombstone, remembering
the lives of soldiers lost. The allied forces watched as the floating cemetery
gradually disintegrated into ash, before vanishing amongst the stars.

Argos and Sarah arrived at Hellstar. Somehow, he had
managed to get permission to land under some pretense that he needed to come
pick up a prisoner for transfer. Sarah was again awake in her own mind. She
tried with all her might to take back control of her body, but nothing budged.
Not a finger. It had thrown her into a panicked tailspin.

They got off of the ship, the same ship that had
captured her what felt like ages ago, and walked a few moments before arriving
near a door that opened as they approached it. A hovering, circular sentry came
to greet them and ask that they follow them to the administrative section of
the prison. But as soon as the flying bot turned to show the way, Argos flicked
a finger and the droid crashed against the wall, collapsing to the ground in a
mess of sparks and ashes.

He and Sarah went the other way at a sprint. Every
camera they encountered exploded before it could catch any images of them. She
couldn’t understand how Argos was doing it, but it was clear that his powers
were great. If he was Chase’s brother, Sarah wondered if maybe Chase had
similar powers. But why wouldn’t he have told her about them? And why wouldn’t
he have used them before when they were in trouble on that desolate planet?
Sarah remembered vividly the beast that had attacked them. She could still see
Ryonna slicing it in two. Surely that would have been a great time to reveal
secret powers.

“Where are we going?” she asked in her mind.

“You’ll see soon enough.”

“I’d like to know now.”

“I don’t care what you’d like,” Argos replied in an
almost petulant tone.

“Boy, you are nothing like Chase.”

“That’s a compliment as far as I’m concerned, so
thank you.”

It was her turn to ignore him. “You aren’t even half
the man he is.”

Argos didn’t answer but she could see he hadn’t
liked the comparison. Perhaps there was something she could push more on the
subject.

“You do realize he is going to kill you?”

“He is welcome to try. Though, I don’t think ten of
him could even manage to wound me.”

“You’re very confident even though we defeated you
and your armada back on Earth.”

“Don’t get too cocky,” he replied sharply. “I
decided getting you was more valuable than destroying your pathetic world that
day. There is a difference between defeat and patience.”

“Losers will always find excuses.”

“Would you like to sleep some more?”

“Cowards too. Sure, put me to sleep if you aren’t
man enough to talk with someone who you won’t even give a chance to defend
herself.”

“Humans... you are nothing more than insects.”

“Say that to the Zarlacks that died at our hands.”

“Don’t flatter yourself. Zarlacks are nothing more
than insects either, but I’ll give you this, you fought well.”

“We outsmarted you, plain and simple.”

“And look where it got you. I am going to kill your
friend Ryonna. And your hands will be the ones that carry it out.”

Sarah faltered but tried to sound strong. “She won’t
fall for it.”

“Let’s wait and see, shall we?”

They arrived at the end of a corridor, a huge,
reinforced door blocking their path. Two more sentries were waiting there and
entered into combat mode the moment they saw the pair arriving. They issued a
single warning.

“Surrender immediately or be killed.”

Before Sarah could even blink, they collided with
one another as if by magic and exploded into a million pieces on the ground.

“Great tactic. Now who is going to open these doors
for you?” she taunted.

“I don’t recall saying I needed anyone’s help.”

Argos took a fighting stance and pushed Sarah’s body
out of the way. His teeth ground together and he made a growling sound as two
bright red fireballs engulfed both of his fists. He released a huge shout and
thrust both his fists towards the door. The fireballs merged into one and a ray
of red energy melted through the metal as if it was nothing.

“Wow,” Sarah uttered against her will.

“And you think I’m afraid of Chase?”

She had no response to that. His power was even
greater than she had feared. They stepped through what was left of the doors,
the melted edges still burning red as countless convicts came running towards
the entrance, clearly intrigued by what had just happened.

The first few ones were a few feet away when Argos
raised a single finger towards them. At first, it looked like nothing was
happening. Then, he shot out three thin lasers, like stings.

The first convict, a human-looking female got her
heart pierced; the second one, a race Sarah didn’t recognize, with
green-spotted skin, got his brain pierced; while the third went towards the
neck of an insectoid looking convict, effectively decapitating him. Every
single other convict around immediately froze, while the ones farther away just
turned tail and started running. Argos grabbed one with his mind and sent him
flying in the air for a few seconds. Sarah knew very well what was coming next,
but before she could mentally prepare herself for the spectacle, the convict’s
arms, legs, and head disconnected themselves and blood spilled all around.

When Argos took a step forward, the looks of
everyone present were nothing short of terrified. They didn’t know what to do,
too scared to move a single muscle.

“Alright, now that I have your attention, ladies and
gentlemen, I am looking for a Droxian woman by the name of Ryonna. Anybody seen
her?”

A convict stepped forward and pointed towards a set
of corridors nearby.

“Speak,” ordered Argos.

“They... they went that way, sir. Please don’t kill
me.”

“You’re all free to get out this place, but if any
of you try to approach my ship parked in docking bay five, well, I don’t have
to tell you what will happen.”

When the convicts didn’t move a muscle, Argos made a
growling noise that froze everyone’s blood instantly.

“I don’t think I made myself clear. I need the
diversion. So you either start running through there”—he gestured to the hole
he made a few moments earlier—“and make a commotion, or I don’t have any use
for you. If you catch my drift?”

That latest speech had the effect Argos hoped for.
All of the convicts started running towards the hole as fast as their legs
could carry them.

That should keep the sentries
occupied while we locate Ryonna
, thought Argos, smiling to himself as he watched
them run.

 Ryonna could hear every single beat of her
heart. It was hammering so hard that her body almost moved into a fighter’s
stance by instinct. After a few moments, she finally closed the distance
between herself and the body and turned the Droxian towards her.

The boy was dead, but it wasn’t Ronan. The weight of
her joy rolled her to a sitting position.
Not Ronan. Not Ronan. Not Ronan
,
she kept repeating to herself. She exhaled deeply in relief, but she felt sorry
for the boy nonetheless. She had still lost one of her own.

The Gorgar came to her side and didn’t say a word,
but he looked worried.

“It’s not Ronan.”

“I am very glad to hear that.”

“We still need to find my son.”

“Absolutely.”

“Any ideas?”

The insectoid nodded. “I have an idea. Stay here.”

Just like that, Ryonna found herself alone with the
dead Droxian boy.
Not Ronan
, she repeated to herself. But someone’s son.
Her body felt ravaged by emotion. She had truly thought this was her son. She
had felt that loss, and it had hit her like a fatal blow. She allowed herself
to feel every emotion she had been trying to hold back as she looked at this
boy who had been someone’s Ronan. They were even the same age; maybe this one
was a year or two older.

What was he doing here?
she wondered. She
understood now why her enemies had sent her boy here. And she was expecting
them to show up any day to claim them both. They would probably execute her in
the process. But maybe Chase’s battle with the Obsidian Empire had taken
priority over her personal issues with them. She could only hope. One way or
another, she had no intention of sticking around to find out.

She heard light steps running towards the alcove,
and instinctively she got up and hid behind the entrance. A person stopped in
front of the opening but she couldn’t see who it was.

“Deriak...
No
!” cried a familiar voice.

Before she could register who the voice belonged to,
Ronan ran towards the body, fell over it, and started crying.

Ryonna took a step forward with tears of her own.
She hated to see her son’s heart aching, but she was overcome with relief and
joy that at least his heart was still beating. Her son was here, in front of
her.

“Ronan,” she said, sobbing.

Ronan whirled around in surprise, his eyes widening
fast. At first, he looked as though he was in shock, then he stood up and ran,
launching himself into her arms.

“Mom!”

“My son...”

They both cried for what seemed like ages. Soon after
they finished, the Gorgar entered the alcove and said, “Ryonna, I think I
know... Oh... Ronan, I presume?”

“Yes. Ronan, this is... I don’t think I know your
name.”

“Tar’Lock; my name is Tar’Lock.”

Ronan released his grip on his mother and looked at
the Gorgar. “Mom, these creatures can’t be trusted.”

“I don’t trust anyone, son, but Tar’Lock has been
very helpful in locating you. I owe him.”

“Well, technically you found your son on your own,
Ryonna, so I don’t think our...”—he hesitated to choose his next word—“
arrangement
applies anymore.”

“Actually it does,” she disagreed. “If we didn’t
follow this poor boy here, we wouldn’t have found Ronan so quickly.”

“That’s fair and very honorable of you.”

“I will do whatever I can to help you escape with
us, but I can’t guarantee we’ll survive the attempt.”

“Nobody can guarantee anything in this world.”

Of course Ryonna knew Tar’Lock wasn’t going to
become a casualty right away. When she met him she saw, like she always did,
the moment of his death, and it did not seem to be happening on Hellstar. But
since insectoids didn’t really show signs of age, she had no idea if he would
be dead soon or in many years to come.

“Mom, how do you plan to get us out? Nobody escapes
Hellstar.”

“Well, let’s hope you are wrong, son. I have a plan
to get us out. We should get going towards the entrance of the prison. We have
a gate to blow.”

“With what exactly?” said Tar’Lock

Ryonna bent over at the waist with her hands on her
knees. Her face contorted strangely and she began making weird, gurgling
sounds. It looked like she was about to get sick. Both men took a step back. It
took a few retching movements and strange noises but she eventually spat
something out into her hands. It looked like a small, roundish, metallic box.

“With that,” she offered.

“What the hell is this?” Ronan asked.

“It’s a micro quadrinium bomb.”

“How did you smuggle a bomb in here?” Tar’Lock asked
in astonishment.

“I didn’t.”

“You’re not making sense! Care explaining how you
just spat one out?”

“It’s a long story; I managed to acquire just enough
quadrinium entering the prison.”

“And you spat out a bomb? Still not making sense,
I’m afraid.”

“Mom, I don’t understand either.”

She sighed. “I underwent a surgical procedure to
install a nanite factory inside my stomach. It transformed the raw quadrinium
into a crude yet effective explosive.”

“Ouch. That must not have been a fun procedure.”
Tar’Lock grimaced.

“Is that safe, Mom?”

“I should be fine as long as we reverse the
procedure within a few days.”

“Let’s go then. We don’t have time to lose,”
Tar’Lock said enthusiastically.

*   *   *

Chase was looking over the Omega starfighter in the
docking bays of the
Iron Fire
. They were nearly at the end of their
hyperspace jump to Hellstar and his stomach was in knots. He was worried about
Sarah; he kept seeing her ashen skin and blackened eyes from his vision.

That couldn’t be a good omen
, he thought. But he
tried to focus on the positive.

The Omega fighter was really a beauty to look at.
Thanks to Captain Saroudis, Admiral Thassos had agreed to lend them this one
for the purpose of Chase’s mission. It was a more advanced, more streamlined
version of the Manticore starfighter, looking meaner, sleeker, and more robust.
It packed impressive firepower as well, but the one thing that really set it
apart was its cloaking ability. Chase wasn’t even aware the Alliance had been
working on cloaking for a starfighter. Of course, in hindsight it sounded
logical. Cloaking a fighter was a tremendous strategic advantage, one that
Chase would need in order to enter Hellstar undetected. Prior to leaving the
Destiny
,
he had requested that his chief engineer friend Yanis take a look and find a
way for the cloak to remain active when the fighter was landed. He had to apply
a quick fix as time was of the essence, but he would get about half an hour of
standby cloaking. Hopefully, it would be enough time for him to complete his
mission.

Daniel entered the docking bays and approached
Chase, his arms laden down with weapons, rifles, grenades, and side arms.

“Preparing for a war?” Chase asked.

“It’s Hellstar, after all. We’d better have the
capability to defend ourselves.”

“I’m hoping for a stealth mission here, but it
definitely won’t hurt to have these.”

“I don’t think a stealth entry is even a choice,
Chase. While the number of living guards is low, they have artificial
intelligence sentries, and those you can’t really negotiate with.”

“Yeah, I guess not.”

Daniel sighed. “Are we going? The
Iron Fire
should exit hyperspace any minute now.”

“Yeah… let’s go.”

The
Iron Fire
dropped out of hyperspace a few
moments after Chase and Daniel had boarded the Omega starfighter. They engaged
the cloak and left the docking bay. After a couple of minutes, they approached
the landing port.

As instructed, the
Iron Fire
returned to
hyperspace as soon as they had left the ship. They would stay within quick jump
distance and return upon Chase’s signal.

It didn’t appear that they had been detected, so
they proceeded to enter the bay. It wasn’t shielded, but was protected with
very powerful ion cannons. The kind that could take on ships even bigger than
the
Iron Fire
. But it was none of these cannons that made Chase pause;
it was what he saw already docked on the platform.

It was the dark ship. The one that had taken Sarah in
the battle.

“Is that…” Daniel began.

Chase gulped. “It is. I—I hope we’re not too late.”

“At least there’s a chance you’ll find Sarah here.”
His friend tried to comfort him.

“Yeah, it’s just in what state that worries me at
the moment…” Chase blocked the image from his mind.

“Stay focused. We’re here to get her and your friend
Ryonna back. Should we shoot the black fighter now that it’s landed?”

“What if Sarah is onboard in a cell?”

Daniel paled. “Right. That would be a terrible idea
then.”

“We can’t do anything to compromise our presence
here anyway. We’ll have to enter the prison and see what we can do from there.”

“Do you have a plan on how to enter the general
population? I mean, this is one of the most deadly places in the universe. I
doubt they’ll just let us knock on the doors.”

“I know that. And… no. I have no plan. I just know
we need to be here.”

Daniel grinned weakly. “Why don’t I like the sound
of that?”

Chase landed the ship next to the black, heavy
fighter. They locked and loaded themselves with as many weapons as they could
carry as well as full body armor and exited the fighter. Chase hoped the
cameras in this place wouldn’t pick them up exiting an invisible ship. But even
before they stepped out, they heard the ongoing wailing of a siren.

As they ran towards the nearest gate, they could
hear laser fire and a great commotion behind it. They took automatic cover and
cast each other frantic looks.

“Something is happening here,” Chase muttered
quietly.

Then the gates opened. A couple of convicts sprinted
past them but were shot in the back by orange laser fire.

“Yeah, looks like there is a prison break in
progress. So much for stealth,” Daniel offered with a grimace.

“Alright, Daniel, be careful. We need to eliminate
the sentries in that corridor before we can proceed any further.”

“Roger that. The firing came from there,” Daniel
answered, pointing to the right.

“I’ll cover you.”

Chase stuck his right arm through the opening and
started blindly shooting in the direction where they thought the sentries were.
At the same moment, Daniel slid on the ground and shot multiple times. There
were three sentries that he dispatched in no time, and the next second, the
firing stopped.

Daniel got up and Chase followed him. There were at
least ten convicts lying dead in pools of their own blood in the corridor, and
a few more sentries besides those Daniel had destroyed lay in spiked piles of
sparking metal on the ground.

“I thought Hellstar was inescapable?” Daniel said
incredulously.

“Getting out is the challenge. Our enemy must have
blasted his way in and let the general population escape. That way, he wouldn’t
be the main center of attention. That’s what I would have done, anyway.”

Daniel gave him a look. “Let’s get to general
population as fast as we can then.”

They ran down the corridors, encountering more
sentries, but thanks to their body armor and laser rifles, they dispatched them
without too much trouble. A few moments later, they stood in front of a
reinforced gate that had a huge hole in the center of it, large enough for
people to pass through.

“I guess we know how they entered the prison,”
Daniel said conversationally.

“Yeah, not very subtle.”

“Look at the bright side: I’m not sure any of our
grenades would have even made a dent in this gate.”

“Yeah, they probably wouldn’t have,” Chase conceded.

They went through the hole just in time before
another set of convicts came from the other side, getting shot at by multiple
sentries. They quickly jumped out of the way and found cover. They engaged the
sentries, but there were too many of them and soon the two were pinned down.
Fortunately, the convicts running all over the place in a frenzy gave the
sentries many targets to shoot at, buying them a little time.

“What do we do now, Chase?” Daniel shouted over the
noise.

“Keep firing. I’ll think of something.”

*   *   *

As Ryonna, Ronan, and Tar’Lock progressed back the
way they came, they heard the wailing of the sirens.