Heaven Saga 2: Sands of Aquarius
Read Heaven Saga 2: Sands of Aquarius Online
Authors: Marcus Johnson
Sands of
Aquarius
By Marcus
Johnson
Text Copyright ©
2012 Marcus Johnson
All Rights
Reserved
For
all those who dream of a better world
Chapter 1 - Surprise! Fight for Your
Life
Chapter 2 - Surrender or Death
Chapter 4 - Reprieve and Assessment
Chapter 5 - A Night on the Town
Chapter 6 - Being Drunk, Being Bugged
Chapter 10 - Time to Themselves
Chapter 12 - Illusions or Truth
Chapter 13 - Doing What Mercenaries
Do Best
Chapter 16 - Flight into a Sand Storm
Chapter 17 – Searching for a Reason
Chapter 20 - Escape and Capture
Chapter 21 - Ransom and Relief
Chapter 22 - Honor and Understanding
Chapter 24 - The Sandy Wind of Change
Chapter 25 - Brothers in Blood
Chapter 26 - We Won’t Back Down
Chapter 27 - New Beginnings, New
Alliances
Chapter 29 - The Hawk and the Hammer
Chapter 30 - Politics as Unusual
Chapter 31 - Uncertain Departure
Chapter 32 - The Knight of Aquarius
Chapter 33 - Message of the Teacher
Chapter 35 - Troubleshooting an
Asteroid
Chapter 36 - The Honor of Lady Star
Chapter 37 - Mental Preparation
Chapter 38 - The Battle of Dega Six
Chapter 39 - Spiraling into Control
Chapter 40 - A Moment to Regroup
Chapter 41 - Battle over the Crystal
Moon
Chapter 42 - The Boiling Point
Chapter 44 - One More Tranquil Moment
Chapter 45 - Battle Over the City
Skies
Chapter 48 - Birth of the Degan
Republic
Alone
in the dark a young Shandi boy slithered cautiously through a labyrinth of
ancient tunnels and chambers. He stood at nearly six feet, the average height
of a child by the standards of the serpent people. In place of legs was a
massive scaled tail. The color matched his upper, more humanlike torso and was
devoid of hair. Instead it was covered in thick plated scales of brown and dark
green. His face vaguely resembled a human’s, with a round flat nose, slanted
crimson eyes and a pair of fangs showing through his lower lip. In his three
fingered hand he held a light torch, while on his chest he wore the sash of a
noble. Below the sash was his belt and on it held a slender scimitar-like sword
in an encrusted scabbard. A blast of wind screeched from the rooms ahead,
causing him to reach for his weapon with the look of fear in his eyes.
It’s
just the wind.
He thought to himself. Sighing, he continued forward.
Why
did I have to take that bet? My friends are long gone by now and I’m completely
lost.
The hallways were flat sandstone bricks built nearly thousands years
ago. After the Great Awakening most of the temples on Shandi Prime were
destroyed when the priesthood was eliminated. This complex was buried under the
sand for over a thousand years and still in pristine condition. Other than a
few cracks the hallways and rooms were in perfect condition. As the young boy
entered a hypostyle chamber he gazed upon the stories of the ancients. The
walls were lined with murals of the great battles before his people traveled
the stars. Etched onto the massive columns were depictions of the ancient gods.
Since
the Great Awakening two hundred years prior, the gods were cast out of society
as the Shandi embraced atheism. No god controlled their destiny, no god created
them, and there was no life to live after this one. Now they believe in the
power of thought becoming reality. Thoughts begin as fragmented concepts. When
joined they become true ideas. Ideas lead to action and action changes reality.
Thus the cycle of existence begins with each new thought in turn leading to a
change in the world.
He
marveled at the beauty of the murals. In ancient times they were warriors of
the gods and fought for the cause of their mythical immortals. Today they still
fought, but each fought for individual glory. As he wandered the massive
chamber he came to a sealed door. Holding the light torch he noticed a strange
symbol carved on the door.
What is this?
He thought to himself as he
touched the symbols.
It reminds me of star constellations. But I don’t ever
remember seeing this one in our skies.
As his hand brushed against the door
a rumbling began to sound. He started panicking and looked around quickly. When
he was about to flee the sealed door in front of him grinded into the walls and
a new passageway opened up.
So it wasn’t a ground quake after all?
Before
he entered the dark and narrow passageway he checked his light torch once more.
I still have a few more hours with this light before it runs out. Hopefully
I’ll find a way out of here before then.
He slithered tentatively down and
noticed a colossal room at the far end. As he entered he noticed the stone
floor was glowing lightly. At the center of the chamber was a statue set on a
base. He went up to the statue and gazed upon the visage of a being he’d never
seen before.
It’s not Kalaidian. It looks like a male. And his ears, they’re
round.
As the statue came into his torchlight its features showed more clearly.
The statue resembled a human man wearing the armor of the dragon with a
straight blade sword in one hand and a set of scales in the other. On the base
was something written in ancient hieroglyphics. He brushed away the dust and
read the symbols out loud.
“In
the days of twilight a great warrior will come. As the Teacher spoke, he will
be the two tailed Knight of Aquarius.”
* * *
Shiken
Ka awoke in his chambers and sat up. He looked out the window and saw the moon
shining brightly on his fiefdom, a desert planet on the outskirts of Shandi territory.
The sand sat silently as no wind could be heard. He turned and placed his
falchion on his back before heading out to the balcony to watch the night.
That
dream again. It seems like I’m having it more and more lately. Why? That
happened fifty years ago.
He stared into the night and looked up at the
stars. A knock came from the door in his room. He went back inside and answered
the door. Outside stood another Shandi clad in armor and wearing a green sash,
signifying his rank as commander. He closed his eyes and bowed before saluting.
“I
apologize for waking you at this hour my Lord, but I must deliver this
information to you now,” the commander said.
He
nodded. “It’s alright El Kar, I was awake anyways. So what could be so
important that you must tell me directly?”
“Our
contacts on Dega Jul have been informed that the Odarian merchants are planning
on hiring Kalaidian mercenaries. Normally I wouldn’t be too worried about it,
but this time it seems they have their hearts set on Valis Kein.”
He
shot El Kar a nasty look. “Never address Lady Star so casually. She may be an
enemy but Captain Valis is worthy of our respect.”
El
Kar bowed again. “I’m sorry my Lord, in my haste I forget to address the
captain properly. To be honest I’m more concerned with the Terran
Rakna
Maigar
she keeps under her thumb.”
Shiken
smiled. “I look forward to it El Kar. To fight Lady Star and the Terran is a
great challenge. After all, isn’t it the way of our people to seek out new
challenges to remain strong?”
The
Avoni flew alone through a light asteroid field at the center of the Degan
system. On the bridge Valis sat in her chair. Kivi stood at ready next to her.
In front of Valis sat Zae and Baed at their respective consoles. Kivi checked
the ship’s defenses one more time.
“I
have a bad feeling about this,” Kivi said.
“I
agree, something’s not right,” Zae added.
“I
know,” Valis said. “I anticipated this trap a long time ago. That’s why I’ve
got a plan.”
Kivi
turned to Valis. “Would you care to tell us more?”
“Last
week I received an offer from captain Krigik,” Valis explained. “He seemed
quite interested in making a deal with me and as our history isn’t the best, I
figured the stupid bird would set a trap out here.”
“Why
would he do that?” Baed asked.
Valis
pushed a button on her chair’s computer and played some recorded video on the
main monitor. “Remember when we fought the Rigika at the frozen moon to save
Brian and Seles? It’s been almost two years but I doubt he’d forget so soon.”
“He’s
seeking revenge?” Kivi asked. “Normally the Malcovin aren’t interested in
vengeance, just money.”
“Not
true,” Valis countered. “I’ve known Malcovin that hate losing profit over
anything else. They’ll seek any way to avenge the loss of wealth even if it
doesn’t bring them profit.”
“All
they lost was a drop ship,” Baed said.
Valis
looked at an image of the Krigik from the Degan registry. “No Baed, they lost a
whole lot more than a drop ship and thirty soldiers. They left the schematics
for the Talon for our
Maigar
to find and allowed us to develop our own
mobile suit. On top of that they lost out on the profit they would have made
from Seles’s return to Kalaidia. And the final factor, the Terran they would
have recovered. Dead or alive, Brian’s more valuable than any space ship.”
“In
other words, get ready for battle?” Kivi asked.
“That’s
exactly what we’re doing,” Valis answered.
“So
what’s the plan?” Zae asked. “You seem quite calm, but I’m not sure the rest of
us are.”
“You’ll
find out soon enough,” Valis said.
* * *
The
Rigika drifted behind an asteroid, watching the Avoni pass by through the
field. The Malcovin ship was a Geld class cruiser, heavy class, the same as the
Avoni. But its shape was very different. The Malcovin preferred a cube style
vessel to the Kalaidian cylinder shape, and as such, the Rigika appeared to be
a large cube like ship with shaved edges. Inside a large number of the birdmen
worked hastily at the behest of their captain, Krigik. He sat on the bridge
with the rest of the command crew. He wore a sash of golden silk and a crown of
white and gold feathers. He tapped his claw on the arm of his chair with
impertinence in his eyes.
“What
is the status of the operation!?” Krigik shouted.
His
commander checked the monitor once more. “All ships have reported in. All we
have left to do is to wait for the Avoni to enter the appropriate area of the
asteroid field.”