Legacy (15 page)

“
Even with the loss of the Constellation, I’m not quite sure we can hold off our position on this mountain much longer. They’re powerful and their plasma rifles cut right through our Mystic suits,” Tristan said, shaking his head, “But we’d sure like to have your assistance if you’re willing to help us.”

I shrugged, figuring I was coming down here to fight anyway. Braxton nodded, then asked the question I had in my mind all along.

“
We’ll help any way we can. But why are we so concerned about defending a haunted mountain range?”

16
^th
Luna – Growing Season – 1017

I don’t think we can stand a chance against these people. I’ve come to the conclusion that we are part of Legacy and everyone else who arrives is part of Earth. There are only two factions and both are enemies. It’s not USSC. It’s not ASA. We are either Earth or Legacy and the people of Foothold are Legacy.

I’m not sure we can manage against the forces of Earth. I’m not sure Legacy will survive. I’m sorry.

16

Braxton

Blaze Continent

Tristan was silent for the most part as we made our way down the mountainside. Although the Foothold has been maintaining a presence in these mountains for many harvests, they didn’t seem to move around enough to clear any paths through the forested cliffs. We managed though for quite a while before we came across a Constellation camp.

“
We can’t get past them,” Tristan whispered, peering through the bushes near the edge of the small cliff, “And we can’t afford to leave them alive. They’re too close.”

I had crawled along the grass, settling in next to him. I watched the people below us, moving around between their tents, completely unaware of the people watching from above.

“
But there’s got to be fifty of them and only three of us,” I whispered.

He shook his head, pointing toward another tent on the far side of the camp.

“
No, you’re forgetting the officer’s quarters. There’s probably seventy or eighty of them,” he replied as though he were offering me consolation.

“
And still
three
of us,” I reiterated.

“
No, you have two ion pistols,” he replied, creeping slowly backward from the bush, “That gives us at least a twenty-person advantage.”

By the time we moved a hundred paces back from the camp, Tristan had explained the plan to me. We then relayed the plan to Diana who happened to have the worst duty of all. Her job was to be the decoy, drawing the attention and the gunfire of the whole camp. We didn’t even finish explaining all the details of the plan before Diana agreed completely. I think this was the first time I was truly mad at her.

. . .

The camp was silent for the most part. We could hear the random conversations of people sitting down for dinner. There was the sound of pots clanging together as people cleaned dishes in the kitchen tent. It was just a normal evening in the camp of the enemy. Unfortunately for them, they had no idea that there were people who had been hiding out, waiting for this particular dinner.

On the southeastern cliff, hidden beneath the high weeds near a caspernutter tree was an invisible gunman. About ten paces to the west was another gunman buried in a crack between two large boulders. This particular gunman was a real. At the precise time we had agreed upon, the real gunman, Diana, fired several rounds from her ion pistol. She had aimed these rounds at specific targets, dropping two sentries and one man who was simply out for a quiet stroll.

This, of course, rattled the whole camp. By the time they reacted to the attack, the camp had already found itself the target of several snipers on the southeastern cliff. One sniper was actually shooting randomly, hitting nothing in particular. It made sense being that the sniper in the weeds was just a lonely ion pistol with its trigger attached to a string. The other end of the string was tied to Diana’s finger.

Diana took down two more targets from her vantage point beyond the boulders before she retreated and started firing from other preplanned vantage points. All the while, she continued making the sniper in the weeds fire at the camp. I had to admit that it truly looked like the camp was under attack by several people on the southeastern cliff.

I felt a fearful tingle build up inside as I realized it was our cue. The whole camp was now focused on Diana and those imaginary snipers – the opposite side from where Tristan and I were hiding. Tristan, with his weird acrobatic cables, looked down at me from the tree above. He nodded, letting me know that this was the point of no return. There was no option for failure. Just then, he swung down. I turned to the camp and spread my arms wide. Tristan from above and me from below – we let loose with a thunderstorm like no one had ever seen on Legacy.

37
^th
Luna – Growing Season – 1017

The shuttle is almost ready. We’ve loaded it with enough supplies to sustain the twenty-person crew for the journey and hopefully for quite a while once they arrive on Earth. We’ve been assured that the Jump Drive is safe for a one-way trip, though it still may need to be jettisoned after it serves its purpose.

If our people got everything right, the Jump Drive will land our shuttle in our solar system at a point in the past, but not as far back as the 900+ years that Relativity demands. I won’t explain the details here because I personally don’t understand all the alterations or the mathematical formulas I was presented with.

Now the only thing we need to do is hold off our position here long enough to get that shuttle back home. I don’t know what~

There’s a thunderstorm rumbling outside and that can only mean one thing when the skies are clear…

17

Diana

Blaze Continent

I peeked out from my vantage point behind the pinnut tree when the thunder erupted. The camp below me had been equally as confused by the frightening rumble of thunder erupting behind them. They barely had time to turn around before lightning crashed into them from the flying Tristan and the running Braxton.

I was stunned into silent submission as I watched the impossible acrobatics of Tristan. The lightning shot forth literally from his whole body as he flew forward on his crazy wrist cables. Then when he reached the pinnacle of his swinging arc, the cables retracted, leaving him as a tumbling ball of electricity in the air. When he landed on his feet several paces in front of Braxton, a loud explosion of electricity blasted outward from his body in all directions.

He and Braxton must have conspired prior to their attack, because Braxton leapt over the circular wave of lightning, allowing the wave to continue outward. Everyone in the camp was hit by this blast, electrocuting people both outside and inside their flaming tents.

After the rumbling dissipated, I kept my pistol aimed at the tents below. Tristan had expended his power completely and was now lying down near Braxton. Braxton also kept his electrified hands aimed outward waiting to see if there was any movement in the camp. Two of the tents were already fully ablaze and another was smoking from the embers along the bottom.

“
Is he okay?” I shouted.

“
He’ll be alright,” Braxton replied, kneeling next to Tristan, “It’s something we call Mystic exhaustion.”

I continued to examine the borders of the camp, afraid to let my guard down. After a few breaths of silence, I rose from my hiding place and started my trek down to the camp below.

“
USSC Mystics!” I heard Braxton shout suddenly, “We’re Legacy!”

I was currently out of view of the camp, so I had no idea why Braxton was shouting. I quickly made my way down the wooded path that would lead me back to Braxton and Tristan. I heard other voices as I approached quickly with my weapon ready.

“
We have another person on the cliff, so don’t be quick to shoot,” Braxton’s voice came.

When I rounded the edge of the cliff, I saw Tristan and Braxton sitting on the ground with several armed men nearby. I had one of the armed men in my sights as I approached, but it was easy to see that they weren’t subduing us. I lowered my weapon and rushed over to Braxton.

“
Why are we still alive?” I asked, wrapping Braxton in a hug, “And how did Tristan do that crazy stuff?”

I could feel the shudders of Braxton’s laughter, but I refused to release him. I’d probably confused him by my emotional display.

“
He’s got more than just the ingenuity of that awesome Mystic suit like the one you gave me,” Braxton said, lifting Tristan’s arm to show me the device attached to his wrist, “As an acrobatic guy, he requested the engineers of the Foothold to design him some retractable cables that he could launch at will.”

I examined the thick wrist strap with a metal spike protruding from it and resting on the back of his hand. It was indeed a beautiful piece of machinery that would still require a lot of skill on the Mystic’s part.

“
I love to swing and fly,” Tristan muttered, gradually losing the sleepy look in his dark eyes.

“
I’ve got to admit, it looked like a lot of fun,” I offered with a laugh.

“
Remind me to teach you someday,” he chuckled, “I’ve got three extra sets in case one of these gets damaged.”

“
I’ll have to take you up on that one,” I said.

. . .

We were escorted back to a giant cave that had to be only a mere two hundred paces from the Constellation’s camp. The enemy had been dangerously close to discovering and perhaps destroying the last hope of Legacy. While we may have been heralded as heroes, there was no time for celebration according to the scouts. There was another whole battalion headed up from the lowlands and these ones were dragging an ion cannon behind them.

Tristan introduced us around to the many people of Legacy who had joined forced with the Foothold to defend their planet against Earth. I learned fairly quickly that these people were simply referred to as Legacy, whether they came from the Foothold, from Green, or from Blaze. Braxton and I were now officially a part of “Legacy” along with Tristan, but now instead of that word referring to the name of our planet, it referred to the side we fought on.

“
We’re heading back to Earth to stop something that we’re sure is headed our way. If we don’t stop it, Legacy will perish,” the shuttle commander said, shaking my hand after we’d been introduced, “I’m not sure what’s going to happen here as a result of our actions, but either way, it’s been nice meeting you.”

“
What do you mean ‘as a result’?” I asked.

The commander nodded to someone who was carrying a bag up the stairs and into the shuttle. He returned his attention to Braxton and me.

“
We’re going to mess with some causality here on this attack,” the commander replied, “We’ll be changing the order of things and hopefully keeping the Earth away from Legacy.”

Now I remembered what it was like for Braxton and how I’d felt whenever the people of Foothold used to explain things to me. None of it used to make sense and now I was back in that same spot again. I nodded at his statement just like I used to in the old days. Then I grabbed Braxton’s hand in mine and stepped away from the shuttle.

A quake suddenly interrupted the quiet mood inside the cave. Rocks tumbled down outside the cave, some being quite large in size. I saw two people rush in from outside, screaming something about Earthlings. I turned to Braxton hoping he caught something that I didn’t.

“
I heard him say ‘more ships’,” he muttered, “Hopefully not another Constellation.”

“
We’ve got to get out of here,” the shuttle commander shouted, “Now!”

He turned and darted up the stairwell and into the shuttle. Another person rushed up the stairs behind him.

“
Half the crew is still down in the flatlands,” the man shouted into the shuttle, “Are we picking them up?”