Heaven Saga 2: Sands of Aquarius (14 page)

She
called up the map system on the monitor. “There’s a small oasis nearby that
would make a great place to rest.”

“Thanks
to the phase cloak all we have to do is make sure we’re not seen,” he said
while pacing.

“What’s
the problem?”

“Did
you bring your
rakna
?”

She
pointed to the room in the back. “I left them in the storage locker. Why?”

“We
might have to fight some hand to hand combat.” He drew his
rakna
and
held the blade straight forward, looking down the blade. “Also, I think there’s
a way to learn to control the berserk.”

“What’s
your theory?”

“From
the literature I’ve read about the
Maigars
of old the best way to learn
to control it was by sparing with someone else who can enter that state of mind.
I think we should spar.”

“Isn’t
there another way?”

“No,
I’ve tried a number of things and still can’t control it. If I’m going to do
this with anyone I’d prefer someone who can fight me on an even level.”

“I
think you’re overrating me a bit.”

“No
Kivi, I’m not. You have much more potential to reach for.”

“I’m
glad you have faith in me.”

* * *

Valis
walked into the main dining hall of the Kein estate alone and noticed everyone
save for her grandmother had left. Next to Veda was a place for Valis with wine
and food ready. Veda stood up and smiled. “It’s good to see you Valis.” She
walked over and hugged her. “I’m sorry about what happened. Our agents usually
aren’t off target.” She went back to her seat and took up a glass of wine,
taking a sip. “Please, relax and have something to eat.”

Valis
went to her place at the table. “Tell me grandmother, why were my ship and the
others sent to Kalmar?”

“We
can’t let our rivals gain any advantage on us,” Veda said with a serious tone
in her voice. “This failure is not something I anticipated.”

“I
hope you’re not blaming me,” Valis stared angrily at her grandmother. “I’m a
damn good tactician, but if I’m not given the proper intelligence reports I
can’t do a thing.”

“No
one’s blaming you. But if we don’t take care of this mess quickly our financial
future will be compromised.”

“So
what we’re fighting for is wealth? Is it prestige? Or something else?”

“All
of those things, you know that. We fight because we must in order to survive.”

“Isn’t
this the same as when we lived on the homeworld? Constant fighting, never ending
battles, life lost. Isn’t there anything better than this?” Valis asked.

“I’ll
admit that his words are moving,” Veda paused, “But the freedom he speaks of
isn’t for us, at least, not on Dega Jul.”

“How
can you say that? You’ve heard the reports from home. The House of Commons is
close finally opening. Our economy is stabilizing and recruitment for the
military is booming. With a few words he changed a world. Why can’t we do that
here?”

“The
Merchant Council would never allow such a thing.” Veda sighed. “All they ever
do is bicker about whose trading rights are whose and such like that. Money
rules this planet and the people you seek help from are forced to work just to
survive.”

“But
you agree it’s at least worth a try?”

“Yes,
I do.” Veda stood up and looked to the stars. “I’ll see what I can do Valis,”
she said as she turned back to her granddaughter.

Valis
said a prayer before turning the glass aside and pouring out its contents onto
the floor.

“For
him I suspect?”

“For
Brian, for Kivi, and for all those who died in my name,” Valis said before
leaving.

* * *

Brian
crawled out of the Mjolnir’s front hatch and made his way to the thick, grassy
ground. Kivi stood nearby, stretching once more. Short palm trees filled the
area with a pond of open water at the center.

“This
doesn’t look natural to this planet at all,” he said as he joined her.

She
smiled. “No, this looks like vegetation from Kalaidia,” she touched one of the
palm trees, “This system was probably ours a hundred years ago.” She took a
deep breath before removing her sea serpent styled armor, revealing her uniform
underneath. “I need to take a bath. Would you care to join me?”

Brian
blushed. “No, I don’t think so.”

She
smiled as she walked away, “Your loss.” Kivi went to the pond and checked the
water temperature. She noticed Brian was standing behind a palm tree. She
removed her clothes and took a step into the water, submerging all the way and
then sitting with her head and shoulders above the water.

“Tell
me, what is the difference between the others and a southlander like you?”
Brian asked while staring in another direction.

“There
are no genetic differences. But physically, southlanders tend to be taller with
dark skin. Why do you ask?”

“I’ve
noticed a bias towards the northerners. There’s virtually nothing about the
southern continent or its people in the Avoni’s database.”

Kivi
let out a sigh of frustration. “A thousand years ago the Obrils submitted to
the worship of Kali. It was at that moment the Southlanders were subjected to
the priestesses of Kali. Our old ways were to be forgotten and the worship of
the Goddess was to replace it.”

“What
were your old ways?”

“The
things taught to us by Raulno.”

“Wait,
I thought Raulno was the god of sun that the southlanders worshiped.”

Kivi
laughed. “No, Raulno was a great
Maigar
banished to the southern
continent nearly fifteen hundred years ago. His actual name was Raulno Daeva.”

“That
sounds familiar.”

“That’s
because it’s the archaic form for the Daevon family. Raulno taught the people
of the ancient southlands the ways of the free spirit. He was very similar to
Gaelic Kein.”

“Do
all Southlanders know this?”

She
rolled over in the water. “No, only a few of us know as much as I do. When I
was a young girl my mother raised me to be the
Vleani
of my tribe. The
Vleani
are the high priestesses of the tribe.”

“So
you weren’t going to be a soldier?”

She
gazed at the blue sky. “When I was thirteen some officers came. I was an impressive
specimen back then so I was drafted.”

“By
gun point you mean.”

“Yes.
But if I hadn’t I’d still be walking the deserts for oases like this one.” She
stepped out of the pond and put her clothes back on. She walked up behind Brian
and took his hand. “In the days of old it was custom for the
Vleani
to
entertain a traveling
Maigar
for the evening.”

He
blushed as he saw Kivi’s deep crimson eyes and dark, mystical complexion. “But
I’m not Kalaidian.”

“Why
should that matter? You’ve been with a number of my kind in that way.” She
smiled, seeing something was holding him back. “Am I too much woman for you?”
She asked as she walked around him.

“Back
on Dega Jul one Ick-Tckt asked if you were my mate. He mentioned size as the
factor.”

“I
am rather tall.”

“That’s
true. If it weren’t for those ears you’d look exactly like a short human
woman.”

“Short?”
she asked. “Just how tall are they?”

He
held his hand above her head by a few inches, “About right there for those
living in my country.” He looked into her eyes. “You’re like a desert goddess
and I’d be happy to show you the pleasures of the flesh you seek, but,” he said
as he pointed off in the distance.

She
closed her eyes. “Shandi, fifteen or twenty I’d say.”

“Get
your armor on,” he said as he pulled out the
rakna
from behind his back.
“I always carry a spare for times like these.” He handed it to Kivi.

She
nodded and ran to her armor. Brian put on his helmet and scanned the area for
heat sources. Thirty
vetres
away there was a band of Shandi on foot,
dressed in full body armor and carrying pulse rifles. He drew his
rakna
and took up position behind a thick group of bushes.
It looks like fun time
is over.
He thought as they moved towards them.

Kivi
ran over to her exoskeleton armor and jumped inside. With a quick flip from the
rakna
Brian gave her she took her helmet and locked into place. She turned
and saw the Shandi surrounding him in a half circle formation. Turning again,
she saw a similar formation entering the oasis from the opposite direction.

“Brian,
can you hear me?” she asked into her com.

“Well,
that’s pretty handy,” he answered. “I didn’t know our suits could communicate
with each other.

She
hid behind a pair of trees. “Can you get back to the Mjolnir?”

“Not
at the moment,” he said while checking their formation. He picked up a heat
source in the sky. “It looks like this contingent has air support.”

Kivi
looked overhead and saw the same thing. “I’ll act as a decoy. Get to the
Mjolnir and take out their air power.”

“Of
course,” he said as he reached behind his back and pulled out a pair of pulse
grenades. When the Shandi closed within ten
vetres
he threw two grenades
at them. As they exploded he ran to the Mjolnir. Hearing the grenades go off,
Kivi pulled out a pair of her own. She rolled into plain sight of the Shandi
coming at her. With a pair of tosses, another set of explosions filled the
oasis. Seeing her, the Shandi quickly took up defensive positions and began
firing pulse blasts. The Shandi chasing Brian began circling around behind
Kivi, who flipped out her
rakna
and ran into the scattered formation
behind her. Seeing Kivi acting as the decoy, Brian made his way into the
Mjolnir and stood the invisible mobile suit up. Checking the radar, he was
found two aircraft and twenty seven ground troops. As the Mjolnir flew a number
of the Shandi on the ground looked up. In doing so, Kivi took the opportunity
to slash a pair of the snake men in half while rolling back into the trees. The
Mjolnir flashed visible for a second as it slashed and destroyed the first
Spit. A few seconds later, Brian bore down on the second aircraft as it tried to
escape. The Mjolnir quickly overtook the Spit in a chase. With another quick
slash of the mobile suit’s massive sword the second fighter was destroyed.

* * *

El
Kar entered Shiken’s chambers. “Our seventh ground patrol has encountered
resistance my lord.”

Shiken
nodded, “Finally. It was only a matter of time before we found them.”

“My
lord, why haven’t they escaped?”

“Our
surprise weapon likely damaged the mobile suit more than expected. Prepare my
ship and mobilize all of our ground forces. There’s a massive storm heading
into that region in a few hours and I want to pin them down.”

* * *

Kivi
noticed the Shandi were surrounding her with pulse fire. She scanned the area
and saw no way out. As she did so, a small object rolled on the ground near
her. Kivi evaded as best she could as she felt a surge of pain. Shaking her
head, she rolled to her feet as the Shandi closed in with grins on their faces.
Kivi’s eyes started glowing blue as she gripped the
rakna
blade tightly.
Time slowed down as she made her way quickly into their ranks, slashing them
with a lightning speed. A dozen fell as fast. The remaining dozen retreated.
She smiled wickedly under her helmet as she spun the
rakna
, gathering
energy in the blade’s twirling. After a moment she stopped and slashed the
blade towards the retreating Shandi, blasting them with a ray of red energy.
Five fell from the blast while another two writhed in pain as they burned to
death. She laughed under her helmet, repeating the energy attack as she chased
down the last retreating Shandi. As they burst into flames the Mjolnir flew
over her head and landed. Brian left the mobile suit and saw the carnage Kivi
had brought down onto the Shandi troops. She walked out from the trees with a
bloody sword and blood soaked armor. By the aggressive way she walked towards
him he could tell something was wrong.
She’s in the berserk and she can’t
control it!
He thought as he put up his shield just in time to block a blow
from her sword.

“Kivi,
snap out of it!” he shouted as he stepped back and drew his sword. Kivi stood
still for a moment, no expression showing because of the helmet on her
exoskeleton. He saw a faint blue light shining through the helmet, and a
strange sound, like laughter. “Have it your way,” he said flatly as he slashed
at her. He blinked and she was gone. Turning quickly, he managed to avoid her
slash at his left leg and retract his shield as he rolled away. She disappeared
again. Brian barely put his sword up in time to stop her from hacking off his
head.
I guess learning how to control the berserk isn’t going to be put off
any longer.
He blinked his eyes as they started glowing blue.