The Fight for Creation: Book 01 - Life Warrior (18 page)

“You know how we got here. I’m just not certain we should do this; at least not yet.”

Dern was silent for a moment and said, “If not now; when?”

“I know; it’s just we may find something that could make a difference if we wait.”

“Perhaps that’s what the new music is?”

“We’ll see. I’m still worried.” Teg paused and said, “There is another development.”

“Oh, what is that?”

“I contacted that Lieutenant about taking a look at some of my Warrior’s armor and she said she’s starting to hear the music here.” Dern was silent. “Did you hear me?”

“I did. I’m just speechless. What does that mean?”

“Either the power of the music is increasing or she is becoming much more attuned to it.”

“Can you hear it?”

“I’m afraid to try.”

“I understand why.” There was a moment of silence and Dern said, “What do we do if we start hearing it?”

“We won’t have to worry about that.”

“Why not?”

“I believe Jon will hear it as well and he’ll go and see what’s going on. I’m not telling him about the Lieutenant. I’m yielding to his sense of delay and staying out of the issue.”

Dern chuckled, “If you’re scared, say you’re scared.”

“I’m scared; is that good enough for ya?”

“See you, Teg.”

“I’m sure you will.”

• • •

Jon watched the new Life Warriors go through their training at the electronic screen. Most of them were nearing the completion of their training and they were really making progress in using their armor. Suddenly he stopped and raised his head. He turned around and listened carefully. He looked up at the sky and the music grew louder. He didn’t recognize the melody. He pushed his com and said, “Amet, please call Lt. Masters and have her report to my office.”

“Yes Sir.”

Jon entered the coordinates of his office and teleported to Creator’s Song. Thirty minutes later Lt Master’s knocked on his door. “Enter.” Molly walked in and saluted. Jon returned her salute and said, “Are you ready to make our trip?”

“I’ve been wondering when you were going to go.”

“Why is that?”

“I’ve been hearing the music pretty much twenty four hours a day and it’s getting louder.”

“What!”

“I told your brother about it three weeks ago.”

Jon thought, “Which one of you knew about the music getting louder?”

Teg said, “That would be me.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You said you sensed you should wait. I decided to allow your senses to guide you without stepping in.”

Jon was silent for a moment and said, “Teg, you know you should have told me.”

Teg sighed and said, “I guess; I’m worried about our next mission.”

“You still should have told me.”

“I won’t let it happen again, Jon.”

Jon looked at Molly and said, “We need to go now. Please follow me.”

Jon left his office and boarded an attack shuttle in the landing bay. He punched the console and said, “Admiral Kim, I need you to open the storage facility. I’m going to arrive momentarily.”

Steve looked at Jon on his display and said, “I’m sending you the code sequence that will open the doors and allow the weapons to recognize your craft.”

“Thank you, Admiral.”

Steve wondered what the Admiral wanted out of the old facility. He pulled up a visual of the giant structure and watched to see when Jon arrived. He thought a moment and sent a message to Admiral Mandel.

Jon flew the shuttle out of the landing bay and Molly said, “I’m concerned that I might not be much use on this trip.”

“Why not?”

“The last time I went there the melody was deafening. If I’m hearing it this far from the source, it might be more than I can tolerate.”

“You need to let me know if it’s too much.”

Molly nodded and said, “I do want to see what’s causing this. So I’ll try to get through it.”

Jon shook his head, “Don’t wait until it’s too late.”

Molly said, “Yes Sir.”

Jon adjusted the coordinates and said, “I’m going to teleport into the outer planets first to see how you bear up.”

“Thank you, Admiral.”

Jon hit the teleport button and the shuttle appeared in the outer system. Molly grabbed her ears and fell out of her chair. Jon rushed over and lifted her and she was screaming, “Turn it off! Turn it off!” Her eyes were closed and she was rolling from side to side. Jon jumped up to teleport away but then he felt something. He reached over his shoulder and felt the handle of his sword. He pulled it and the glow burst out in the small bridge of the shuttle. Molly immediately stopped screaming. Jon leaned down and helped her off the floor to her chair. Molly opened her eyes and said, “What kind of sword is that?”

Jon was shocked. No one but his brothers had been able to see the swords they had found. Jon said, “You can see it?”

“Of course I can see it. It’s actually quite beautiful. What is it?”

Jon put it back on his shoulder and tentatively released the grip. Molly didn’t fall to the floor so he knew the volume was not going to disable her.

Molly watched the sword disappear and she said, “That sword came from where the music originates.”

Jon smiled, “It did.”

“You’re not going to tell me.”

“Not at this moment. Let’s go see what’s causing your discomfort.” Molly nodded and settled back in her chair and watched the display. Jon teleported in to the inner planets and sent the code to the storage facility. A green light illuminated on his display and he accelerated toward the giant structure. Molly stared at Jon as he flew the ship and wondered about the violet colored sword. She had heard its melody and it was different from any she had heard. The Admiral was different. She wondered what that difference was.

• • •

Jon landed the ship in the facility’s giant landing bay and waited as the bay pressurized. He stepped out and Molly followed him. He looked around and Molly started walking to the left, “It’s this way, Sir.”

Jon stared at her and was amazed that she heard the trace better than he did. There was something different about Molly and he wondered what it was. He fell in behind her as she went through doors and used elevators to move to higher levels. Jon looked at his wrist unit and saw that the oldest weapons were on the highest levels. He followed Molly and she continued to enter elevators and move ever upward. They finally reached the top floor of the facility. The door opened and Molly walked forward as if she was in a trance. Jon followed and watched until she reached the end of a giant wall rack that had ancient blasters on it. She turned the corner and walked straight ahead and stopped at the back wall of the facility. There hanging in long rows was the ancient armor used by the Naval Marines under Richard Wiseman’s command. Molly pointed and said, “These are calling us.”

Jon stared at the ancient armor. It was armor that the warrior had to open and step in. He knew the armor had camouflage capability but it was nowhere close to the power of modern armor. Why was this ancient armor calling?

Jon said, “Teg, I need you to come here now. I’ve deactivated the weapons systems and the coordinates are now on your unit. Get here quick.”

Jon watched as Molly moved around the long hanging rows and he followed her until she stopped and put her hand on a suit. She turned and said, “This one is mine.” Jon looked at her and then heard it. He reached over and touched the suit next to hers and said, “This one belongs to me.”

Molly looked at Jon and said, “Why do we need this armor?”

“I’m not really sure. I hope my brothers can help me answer your question.”

N
ewton looked at Vremel and Pride and said, “It appears the Megat have partnered with the Dremor.”

“What!”

“One of our fleets was attacked by Dremor ships while conducting landing operations on a planet the Megat had taken. They destroyed half of our ships before the others teleported out.”

Vremel said, “Did they then attack the planet and kill everything?”

“No, they left and didn’t return.”

Pride said, “This is not like their normal tactics. They’ve never confronted a fleet and they’ve always destroyed all life on planets they approached.”

Newton lowered himself to the floor showing his agreement and said, “We are of the opinion that the Megat have been able to acquire their assistance. We were still fighting on the planet’s surface when the Dremor attacked. We’re of the opinion that if we had killed all the Megat before the Dremor showed up, they might have moved on the planet.”

“Did you get any information about the Dremor?”

“Our videos don’t show them and our scanners couldn’t detect them. Those ships that saw them said they looked like a very fine mist or cloud. It appears they are not solid creatures.”

Vremel said, “The hull material of your ships didn’t stop them?”

“No it didn’t which also tells us that they are not made of energy. We have no effective defense against them.”

“Why would the Dremor team up with the Megat?”

Pride looked at the Zord and said, “Evil knows evil and finds comfort around it. That doesn’t mean this unholy alliance will hold up in the long run, but it does pose real problems for us.”

“Why do you say that?”

“What if the Megat have a self-destruct signal they’ll use if we defeat their forces on a planet? They’ll call in the Dremor and everyone and everything will die. We can’t afford the kind of losses that would entail.”

Newton stared at Pride and said, “So, what do we do?”

“We’ll send you after other evil civilizations while we try to come up with a plan to handle this problem.”

“That gives the Megat free rein.”

“It does but until we find an answer, any planet we come to save will be destroyed if we’re successful. We can’t allow that to happen.”

Newton stared at Pride and the huge cat said, “It’s the best we can do right now.”

• • •

Tegen teleported in and immediately looked around. He walked out into the rows of armor and put his hand on a giant white suit. He turned and looked at Jon, “This armor is mine. Why is this ancient armor mine?”

“I was hoping you could answer that question.”

Teg stared at the large white armor and reached forward and activated his armor. He lifted his arm and then lowered it. “Jon, my armor is no longer powered by the music.”

“What!”

“Try it.”

Jon activated his armor and immediately discovered that it did not respond at the accelerated rate. He turned it off and looked at Teg. He turned and looked at the ancient armor and closed his eyes. Molly stood to the side and watched the two brothers. She hoped she would learn what was going on before they clammed up in her presence. Jon said, “Teg, what is the major difference in the old armor and our modern unit?”

Teg thought a moment and said, “The way they’re powered and the force field they use.”

“Explain the difference.”

“The old armor was powered by a device called a Coronado Power Cell and the entire covering was made from those cells.”

“Go on.”

“The force field is not an electronic screen, but is an extremely hot field that is very similar to a blaster bolt.”

Jon said, “I believe that one of the communications said that they were affected by blasters.”

Teg slowly nodded.

Molly looked at Jon and said, “Who was affected by blasters?”

Jon looked at her and said, “The Dremor.”

Molly’s heart went into her throat. “Are you thinking about taking on the Dremor?”

Jon smiled and said, “No.” Molly started to relax until he said, “We’re not thinking about it; we’re going to do it.”

Molly thought, “Jeremy, I’ll be joining you shortly.”

• • •

Dremor; a word that struck fear in any civilization that knew of them. No planet had ever survived their invasion and, except for one instance, no being had survived once the invasion began. It was speculated that their choice of targets was made based on psychic ability to know which one could not be defended in time to stop them. Defenders always arrived too late. Sometimes days; other times hours; and in one instance, minutes. No one had ever seen a Dremor or a Dremor ship. They were a complete unknown.

What was known was that they made Vampires look like baby kittens compared to full grown tigers. Any life form touched by a Dremor was sucked dry of any organic compounds. All that remained was a dried out husk of inorganic minerals. It was also known that the process happened instantly. Billions were killed in such short timeframes, that it had to be instant.

It was also known that force fields didn’t stop them. The most heavily defended installations on the invaded planets were killed and the force field was still active when the rescuers arrived. One short broadcast for help from a planet said that their energy beams had slowed them down. The broadcast ended abruptly. This was one of the most deadly forces in creation; a psychic killer of unbelievable ferocity that had never tasted defeat. The three brothers were going to take them head on.

• • •

Jon, Dern, and Tegen sat in the conference room on board the Creator’s Song. Jon said, “It’s time we move forward.” Jon saw his brothers’ expressions, “You knew it was coming.”

“I don’t think we’re ready?”

Jon nodded, “I know; but this is not something that can be delayed.”

Dern leaned forward, “How do we know when we’re ready?”

Jon shrugged, “I’m not sure.”

“Admiral, please report to the Bridge.”

Jon looked at them and they jumped up and rushed up to the bridge. The Creator’s Song was firing its massive main beams and secondary beams at an incredible rate. Jon listened and heard the music. Jon turned to his brothers and said, “The ship is ready, even if we’re not.”

• • •

The Cat and Admiral Mandel looked at Jon from a display at Fleet headquarters. The Cat spoke saying, “I don’t like that you’re taking all three battalions.”

Mandel flinched and the Cat quickly looked at him. “I’ve never heard you actually talk before. It surprised me.”

“Telepathy doesn’t work with them unless I’m close.”