Universe in Flames 3: Destination Oblivion (24 page)

Two shadows argued
in the distance, but she couldn’t hear what they were saying over the unpleasant
and overbearing sound of the terrible winds. It sounded as if the entire planet
was wailing in pain, the sound hurting Aphroditis’ ears and making her soul
crawl into a deep, dark hole within herself, too afraid to face the agony, pain
and fear the sound’s vibrations were emitting all around.

She tried
blocking the sound by putting her hands on her ears, but it had no effect. It
came from within and all around her at the same time. Her entire sensory system
was overloaded.

Trying to figure
out what the two shadows were saying, she took a few steps forward, but it
required a tremendous amount of effort. The gravity was so intense—at least
three times stronger than on her home planet of Olympus.

When she was
about fifteen feet from the two arguing shadows she started to discern their
vocal exchange. However, the wailing wind did not allow her to understand the
words that were being said. Only the tone of the argument. It was very heated.
One of the shadows had a familiar shape and when it glanced at her his eyes
flashed red. Then it all went to hell. The shadows started fighting each other
and everything around them was destroyed. The ground cracked, stones and sand
flew everywhere and each blow they struck, whether successful or blocked,
resulted in increasingly powerful shockwaves that pushed Aphroditis farther from
the scene. She heard her voice being called in the distance, but barely.

“Aphroditis!
Aphroditis!”

But then one of
the shadows approached her at tremendous speed. He crashed next to where she
was standing. At this point she couldn’t move. She felt as if she had been
turned into a statue. Only her sight, sense of smell, touch and hearing remained.
Her pain receptors didn’t work anymore; or her sensory input had been
overloaded and numbed by the harsh conditions and cutting winds. The shadow struggled
to his feet painfully, but not before spitting dark blood onto the sand-ridden
ground.

He turned and
looked straight into her eyes. His eyes flashed at her, emitting a crimson
light that colored her entire vision and frightened her to the core.

“I’m coming for
you next. You will pay for what you’ve done!”

He made a fist
and prepared to launch a terrible blow at her. A crimson red aura danced around
him, with crackling, bright-red lightning bolts. The instant the shadow’s fist
hit her face, everything changed.

Her view
shattered, as if the images before her eyes were made of glass, and revealed an
image of Chase, shaking her body. It took a little while to regain her
bearings.

“Are you alright?
What happened?”

“I’m not sure. A vision
perhaps, but this one felt so different; so real and terrifying at the same
time. I thought I was there.”

“Where? Where
have you been?”

“I think on the
same planet I saw in my previous vision. A horrible, barren and hostile world.”

“Do you know what
planet this is?”

“No, I’ve never
seen a world like this. It was like a pure nightmare.”

“Calm down,
Aphroditis, it wasn’t real.”

“It felt real.
Whatever we’re doing at the moment, I’m afraid it will bring us there.”

“Are you changing
your mind?”

“No, I told you I
would help you save Sarah and I keep my promises.”

“And I will keep
mine.”

“I know, Chase. I
just hope you’ll find the strength to fight what’s coming next. I feel . . .
I have that deep, dark, black hole sensation in my stomach, as if all we’ve
done until now was nothing. That the real trial, the real darkness, is yet to
manifest itself.”

Chase pondered
these words. If that was true, if Obsidian, Zarlacks and Argos were just the
beginning and something even worse was on its way . . . The reality
of this was simply too much to bear. Chase’s mind couldn’t comprehend it.

“I sure hope you’re
exaggerating a little,” was all he could say in response.

She shook her
head solemnly from side to side as an answer.

Fillio entered
the bridge of the
Destiny
and went to see the commodore.

“Commander
Steriopoulou, where’s the rest of the group?”

“They went to
take a quick shower and dress for dinner. We’re still on, right?”

“Yeah. In fact,
after the day I’ve had, I think we’ll go straight to it. We’ll debrief
tomorrow.”

“Sounds good.”

“I heard Chase
put an entire security force out of commission.”

“Yeah, in less
than a second; but I don’t think he hurt them so much.”

“That’s not what
the admiral said, but I’m sure they’ll live.”

“I don’t think it
was wise to send them. It would have been better to try and talk to him.”

“I agree. That wasn’t
my order. Anyway, Admiral Thassos is really losing patience with Chase’s antics.
I can’t say I blame her.”

“I understand,
sir, but under the circumstances, can we really blame him? Do you know about
Sarah?”

“I heard, yes.
Between you and me, I really hope he manages to save her. Ever since he left us
things haven’t gone so well. It looked like it did for a while. In fact, we
dropped our guard a little too soon. We were winning most of our engagements
with the Zarlack forces and . . .”

“I know, sir.
There was nothing we could have done. They killed hundreds if not thousands of
their own, sacrificing their ships to take out three of our cities.”

“How can Argos
have them do this? I mean, who in their right mind obeys such orders?”

“Perhaps it
wasn’t an order; more like a command.”

“What do you
mean?”

“We know Argos used
mind control on Sarah; at least on her clone. And she’s one tough nugget. So perhaps
the Zarlacks’ brains are more prone to being controlled by their masters.”

“I hadn’t thought
of that; that would indeed explain their actions.”

“Yes it would.”

“Alright. I guess
I should also go and dress. Walk with me?”

“Mind if I stay
on the bridge a while?”

“Sure, but won’t
you need to change as well? Or do you intend to come to dinner in your flight
suit?”

“Nah, I’ll change
too, Commodore. Just want to rest a little. Like you said before: long day.”

“Here.” The commodore,
offered his captain’s chair as he got up. “The bridge is yours, Commander.”

“Thanks,
Commodore, see you shortly.”

Saroudis left the
bridge and Fillio lost no time accessing the doors of the reserve quadrinium
chambers.

Daniel, you’re
up
.

*  
*   *

Daniel and
Tar’Lock were waiting by engineering.

“How do we deal
with the people inside?”

“Non-lethal
only.”

“Yeah, thanks. Like
I was going to start shooting. And about that: I don’t like guns in case you hadn’t
noticed.”

“Right. Will you
be fast enough to immobilize five or six crewmen before any of them can raise an
alarm? I’d really prefer that the commodore didn’t realize we took quadrinium
from his ship until we’re long gone.”

“Shouldn’t be a
problem. What are we waiting for exactly?”

“Fillio will send
me a signal when she’s managed to unlock the reserve quadrinium chambers inside
engineering. This can only be done from the bridge. That will be our cue.”

“Am I reading it
wrong or are you attracted to her?”

“Who? Fillio?”

“Yes, and it’s none
of my business. Just thought I felt a vibe.”

“She’s a good
pilot, true.”

“Not what I
asked.”

“Alright, she’s very
cute and perhaps I like her. What is it to you?”

“Nothing, just
making conversation.”

“Right. What
about you and Ryonna?”

“What about it?”

“You also seem
close.”

“Not that kind of
close.”

“If you say so.”

“Look, I’m an
insectoid about half her size. How would that work exactly?”

“Love knows no
borders, man. All I’m saying.”

Tar’Lock clicked
something in frustration.

“Whatever you
say,” said Daniel with a smirk.

“About Fillio,”
added Tar’Lock.

“Yeah?”

“I think she
likes you too.”

“You think?”

But then the
conversation was interrupted by a quick, tri-tone alarm coming from Daniel’s
wrist.

“Show time.
Follow my lead.”

Daniel entered
engineering with his hands behind his back. He counted three engineers on the
left side of the room and one on the right. He indicated the number of people
on each side with his fingers. They looked at him puzzled, and one of them
approached him.

“What can we do
for you, Commander?”

“Nothing. I was
just stretching my legs. Hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at a—” Before
he could finish his sentence the man felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck.

Daniel barely saw
a brief series of flashes in front of his eyes, and every crew member in engineering
fell to the ground unconscious.

“Wow, you’re even
faster than I remembered.”

“Thanks, but I
suggest we move fast.”

“Right.”

Daniel went directly
for the reserve quadrinium chambers behind the engine room, grabbed some protective
gloves nearby, took a few pounds of the dark, blue-purple crystal and filled a
bag he took out of his jacket.

“Will that be
enough?” asked Tar’Lock.

“Yes, quadrinium
is incredibly dense. This is plenty already. Quick, take this back to the ship.”
Daniel handed the bag to Tar’Lock.

“Sure thing.”
Tar’Lock disappeared, the sheer rate of his acceleration blasting Daniel’s hair
about for an instant.

“I don’t think
I’ll ever get used to that.”

Daniel looked
around, making sure the crewmen were still unconscious, and then left
engineering in a hurry.

*  
*   *

When Daniel
boarded the
Valken
, he called Fillio. “Are you in position?”

“Yes, I’m aboard a
StarFury, ready to launch.”

“Good. We’re good
to go. See you outside. Land on the
Valken
upon launching, and let’s get
out of here.”

“Roger that. Did everything
go smoothly?”

Daniel heard the
familiar sound of a wailing alert just as Keera was lifting the ship off the
ground.”

“Yeah, just in
the nick of time. Launch now!”

“Launching. See you
soon.”

The
Valken
exited the cargo bay, and soon Fillio’s StarFury landed on board. The ship was hailed.

Keera looked at
Daniel. “Wanna answer that call?”

“How soon until
we can jump?”

“We can jump any
time, but does the
Destiny
have a tractor beam?”

“It does, and a
powerful one at that. Punch the engines to the maximum and tell me when we’re
out of range.”

“In 3
. . . 2 . . . 1.”

“Let me hear it.”

Keera keyed a
command and a furious Saroudis appeared on the holo-display.

“Commander! What
is this? Why did one of my StarFuries leave my ship without my permission, and
what happened in engineering?”

“Sorry,
Commodore, looks like we’ll be late for dinner.”

“This ain’t
funny! Come back aboard
Destiny
at once. This is a direct order!”

“I can’t obey
that order. We’re going after Chase.”

“No you’re not!”

Daniel cut the
communication short and signaled Keera.

The
Valken
jumped into hyperspace.

*  
*   *

After making sure
Aphroditis was feeling better, Chase went to the mess hall and ate until full,
which took him a few hours. Pizza, Chinese food—he spared none of his favorite
dishes. He really had been famished and had no doubt that this was because of
the previous fight. He had spent a lot of his power.

Finally, when he
couldn’t take another bite for fear of throwing up, he left the mess hall and
returned to the bridge.

“What’s with your
friend?” asked Argos.

“None of your
business.”

“Right. The
sooner we get this over with the better. You’re not fun to be around.”

“Did you really
expect me to be?”

“Guess not, but
it is weirder for me than for you. I’ve known you since birth.”

“I really wonder
what compelled you to wipe my memory, and what gave you the right.”

“I’m not gonna go
there, as I said before, but believe me, it was either that or kill you.”

“You would have tried,
perhaps.”

“Don’t flatter
yourself, just because you seem to manage your power better and to become stronger
than me under a specific set of circumstances now. You were never half the
fighter I was. Back then you couldn’t use your energy very well.”

“Or so you say. Since
I have no memories, I can’t really trust anything you tell me.”

“Whatever. This
family reunion is only temporary.”

“That’s right. After
we part ways, you’d better pray we don’t ever meet again for your sake.”

“It won’t matter
then.”

Chase didn’t like
that one bit. It was clear that whatever Argos was after was important enough
that he didn’t care if Chase came back for him afterwards. He really wished he
knew what that was all about.

“Can you reverse
what you’ve done to me?”

“What? You mean
give you your memories back?”

“Yes.”

“Hmmm. I’ve never
tried that before. Perhaps, but I’m not sure.”

“Would you?”

“I don’t think
that would make any sense to you now. Your life is different. Plus I don’t owe
you this. I only owe you your precious Sarah.”

“Don’t you forget
that!”

“Has no one ever
told you how annoyingly repetitive you can be sometimes?”

Chase didn’t
answer.

Argos passed his
finger across his scar.

“It’s not the
first time I’ve seen you do that,” said Chase. “What’s with that scar? We can heal
any wound. Why do you still have it?”

“It’s a reminder,
a parting gift from you, in fact. I decided not to heal it as a reminder of the
day our paths diverged forever.”

“I see. I’d say
sorry for the scar, but somehow I get the feeling it was deserved.”

“From your point
of view at the time, I have no doubt you thought so. You were trying to kill me
after all.”

“Wish I had
succeeded.”

Argos eyes glowed
red, his temper clearly being tested.

“Now is not the
time, Argos. We’ll have plenty of time to settle this one day. Soon.”

“Looking forward
to it.”

“Somehow I doubt
that, but I certainly am.”

“You should get
some rest, Laiyos. We are still quite far from our destination and I need you
in top form for what’s coming next. I can sense you haven’t recovered fully
from our last battle. You need to recharge.”

“The ship doesn’t
need you. It’s flying itself. You haven’t recovered fully either, so I suggest
you do the same.”

Argos exhaled
deeply and had to refrain from smiling.

“I will. For once
we can agree on something.”