Dark Universe & Forbidden Love (40 page)

When Hylocan took over the
bridge, Kalan was in the weapon bay. He quickly gathered all available hands
and launched the counter-attack. They swiftly overcame the initial panic and
turned the tide on Hylocan. Kalan had soldiers sever the lines for
communication and weapon control. Right now, he and hundreds of soldiers were
waiting for the robots to cut a hole on the door opening to the bridge.

In the
docking bay, Lisania requested the crew on Cruiser General Klizan to dock the
cruiser with the carrier. Once Jason, Lisania and her soldiers came aboard the
cruiser, they blasted their way to the bridge and took it over. Jason quickly
jumped into the pilot seat, his right shoulder bleeding badly. 

“Alright,
I am ready to go.” Jason shouted.

“Wait.
My soldiers are still out there!” Lisania shouted.

“Hurry!”
Jason said.

“Major,
get out of there. We are in the docking bay.” Lisania said hastily to the
communicator.

“My
queen, take off. We can’t make it! They are about to break into. Get out before
it’s too late.”

Lisania
paused for a second, and then she nodded to Jason. He quickly engaged the
cruiser into the dark matter passageway. The cruiser blasted off into the
darkness.

Tired
and hungry, Jason closed his eyes and sunk into the chair. Lisania walked to
him and said, “Come here. We need to take care of that.” She pointed at Jason’s
shoulder.

“Thanks.”
Jason said happily and followed Lisania to a nearby compartment. Lisania
sprayed some mist on Jason’s shoulder and asked, “So did you miss me?”

“My
friend told me our story, so I only know your name before I saw you today.”
Jason said slowly.

“At
least, you sound like you miss me.” Lisania said emotionally.

“Then
you shouldn’t delete my memory.”

“You
think I want to?” Lisania said sadly.

Jason
glanced over at Lisania. She was looking at him gently, her eyes filled with
tears.

“I
didn’t have choice.” Lisania said in a low voice, tears rolling down her
cheeks.

Jason
didn’t say anything. He somehow found it hard to believe this beautiful and
graceful Hylocan girl was in love with him. But he loved Gloria and he knew it
in his heart. He took out some tools from a first aid kit and checked the
wounds on his cheeks and tongue.

Watching
Jason did it in a clumsy way, Lisania took over the tools and fixed those
wounds for him. Now Jason felt much better. Suddenly, Lisania leaned in and
kissed Jason on his lips. Jason was thinking about pushing her away, but the
delicate feel of her lips echoed something far in his memory. After several
seconds, she slowly broke off and said, “Do you remember this?”

Jason
turned his head away.

“You
love Gloria, don’t you? I guess this is just fate. Even if you had me delete
your memory about her, you still can find her.” Lisania sighed.

“I asked
you to delete her from my memory?” Jason asked in confusion.

Lisania
knew Jason wouldn’t believe her. It didn’t matter anyway, because Jason and
Gloria were together again.

“Knock!
Knock! Knock!”

Lisania
opened the door. A soldier saluted Lisania and said, “My queen, we have emerged
from the dark matter passageway. I have contacted our fleet and they will be
here soon.”

“Any
sign of Glycan fleet?”

“No. In
the meantime, you may want to look at that thing.” The soldier said in a scared
voice.

“The
eyeball?”

“Yes, my
queen.”

While
Jason and Lisania were walking to the middle part of the cruiser, Jason briefly
told Lisania how he got involved in all this and what he knew about the
eyeball.

When
Lisania actually saw the eyeball, she couldn’t hide her surprise. It took her a
while to put her jaw back to where it should be. She stared at the eyeball as
it looked at her.

“So what
is it?” Jason asked.

“I don’t
really know. I can’t read it.”

“I am
pretty sure this thing killed all the crew.”

“I am
not surprised. I don’t know how powerful this eyeball is.”

Jason
then told Lisania about the ring and how it changed from black to bloody red.
Lisania told him that the ring was originally designed to protect whoever
wearing it from the Oracle’s mind-reading ability. Later the queen Vioael had
the ring added a small feature. When the oracle tried to read the queen’s mind,
it would change color and send a signal to notify queen’s guards. It was the
signal that led Lisania to Jason.

Jason
now understood how important the ring was, but he lost it.

“Lisania,
I am sorry. I lost the ring.” Jason said in embarrassment.

“Don’t
worry about it. It was just a ring. It has done its job and led me to you.”
Lisania said happily.

“Thank
you for saving me.” Jason said gratefully.

“Jason,
I can do anything for you. I love you.” Lisania said seriously.

It came
to this moment again. Jason could feel Lisania’s love and he felt bad to say no
to her.

“Sorry.”
Jason said quietly. It was so quiet that he almost couldn’t hear it.

Lisania
let out a sigh and walked away.

Hylocan fleet soon arrived at
Lisania’s location. The fleet commander and several high rank officers boarded
the cruiser and checked out the eyeball. They immediately realized its value
and significance.

Jason
was in the hangar bay. There were still two reconnaissance jets in there. It
reminded Jason of Gloria. They took one and it didn’t went very smooth that
time. Now he was going to start another trip. While Jason was checking the jet,
Lisania walked to him and said, “I am wondering whether you will leave without
saying goodbye.”

“Lisania,
it is time for me to leave.” Jason said calmly. He wanted to say something like
we would keep in touch, but he realized that it would get both of them in
trouble.

“Can I
see you again?” Lisania asked in a begging voice.

“I don’t
know.” Jason sighed.

Lisania
smiled reluctantly and then she ran off like a maniac.

Jason
heaved a sigh of relief and climbed into the cockpit.

While
Jason was just about to take off, he heard metal cracking sound and then felt
the cruiser was shaking.

“Jason,
get out, now!” Lisania called in.

“What is
going on?”

“I don’t
know. Something is pulling us! Get out!”

Jason
hit a button and the hangar gate slid open. He flew the jet out and saw the bow
of the cruiser was disappearing. The vessels in the Hylocan fleet were firing
their cannons and big guns. The cruiser was backing off at its full speed. A
vessel flew to the cruiser and docked with it. Hylocans were running to that
vessel through the docking passageway.

“Lisania,
get out of there!” Jason shouted to the communicator.

“I am on
the way. Are you out?”

“Yes.
Hurry.”

“I know.
You get out of here. I gave the order to fire at the cruiser when everyone is
out.” Lisania’s voice was calm and clear.

All of a
sudden, a fin at the rear of the cruiser broke into pieces and one big piece
stabbed into the docking passageway.

“Lisania,
the docking way was damaged. There are lifeboat at the back of the cruiser. You
can make it.”

“OK.
OK.”

“Hurry!”
Jason shouted. The Hylocan vessel detached from the cruiser and flew away. The
middle part of the cruiser had disappeared. Jason stared at the rear of the
cruiser, waiting for the lifeboats. A small gate near the tail opened but
stopped at halfway.

“Jason,
I am stuck.”

Jason
saw several Hylocan vessels coming for Lisania. But they are too far away. At
the same time, the tail section started to disappear. Jason maneuvered the
fighter to the cruiser, meters away from the tail.

“Lisania,
I will fire at the gate. On my count.” Jason said hastily. He could felt
something was pulling his jet as well.

“Now!”
Jason fired two shots and destroyed the gate. A lifeboat shot out like a
bullet.

“Yes, it
worked! Jason, it worked!” Lisania shouted excitedly.

But nobody
answered her. The cruiser and Jason’s jet both disappeared into the void.

Jason wasn’t prepared to make
that sacrifice when he decided to save Lisania, but he didn’t regret what he
did. At least, he was still alive, but he had no idea where he was. It was
pitch black without a star and all gauges were down. Jason wasn’t that worried,
because he believed whoever pulled this could kill him in a snap. He went ahead
and took a good nap.

After he
woke up, he was shocked at the view. It was a warm and sunny afternoon. There
were blue sky, green grass, a lush forest and several small wooden houses.
Jason couldn’t believe his eyes. He slammed his face several times to make sure
he was awake.

“It’s
real. This is real!” Jason sputtered to himself. He jumped out of the cockpit
and walked cautiously on the soft grass. As he got closer to the wooden houses,
he saw a dozen of kids running around happily. When he looked more carefully,
he saw both first and second class species. A farmer like guy greeted Jason
with a kind smile and said, “Hi, my name is Elen. You must have lots of
questions. But before that, would you like to have something to drink?”

“Why
not? I am Jason, by the way.” Jason said politely. He couldn’t tell Elen’s
species.

While
they were walking in the forest, Jason saw more and more small wooden houses.
They looked different from one to another, but all built in a simple and easy
style. He also saw a Glycan chatting with a Hylocan. Then there were Uainanese,
Yaseen, Oireitan, Dolanz, Ajiese, Lysisese, Jynese, Tizuee, Diilre, Intinese,
Sulan, Lozisusis and other species.

Jason
followed Elen and entered into a wooden house. The inside was spacious and well
illuminated by a light ball suspending in the air. Jason sat on a chair and
watch Elen pour some liquid from a green plant into a cup made by leaves.

“There
you go.” Elen said as he handed the cup to Jason.

“Thank
you.” Jason said as he took a sip. It was ice cold and tasted like fountain.

Elen sat
across the table and said, “You are different.”

“I don’t
follow.” Jason said innocently.

“Most of
new guys asked a lot of questions before they even sat down.” Elen said kindly.

“I was
too surprised to come up any questions.” Jason said honestly.

“So what
do you do?”

“Actually
I am a trainee in Guardian Fleet training center.”

“Guardian
Fleet? I see.” Elen said in surprise.

Just at
this moment, a lady walked into the room. She looked like in her 40’s, wearing
a white blouse and blue pants. She also looked like Human, with a pair of
almond like blue eyes on a heart-shaped face, but her blonde hair was more like
Glycan’s.

Jason
looked at this elegant and beautiful lady, and then he realized she and Elen
were from the same species.

The lady
walked to Jason and said, “We don’t usually welcome the new guy in this way.
Most of them couldn’t take a nap like you did.”

“Thank
you.” Jason said as he stood up.

“Relinee,
I will leave him to you.” Elen said.

“Thank
you, Elen.”

“See
you, Jason.” Elen nodded at Jason and left.

“You are
the commander of the superace!” Jason said in an admiring voice.

“I was.”

“When I
was on planet Yuwtoow, I found your record.”

“That
was a long time ago.”

“You
want the Hylocan eyeball. Is that the reason you attacked the cruiser?” Jason
asked directly.

“That is
very straightforward. Before we attacked the cruiser, we didn’t know the
cruiser carried that thing. Actually we just found out the eyeball. I was
surprised.” Relinee said honestly.

“Then
why you attacked the cruiser and how did you locate it?” Jason asked hastily.

“We
received a distress call from the facility on Yuwtoow. We didn’t know who sent
it, so I sent a fleet to check it out. However, when we reached Yuwtoow, the
distress signal disappeared. Then later we received another distress call
saying there were superace on the cruiser, so we attacked the cruiser, but we
didn’t find any superace.” Relinee said in confusion.

“That
didn’t make much sense.” Jason said and then he told Relinee what happened on
that cruiser.

Relinee
thought for a while and said, “You mean that eyeball did all this, including
killing all the crew, the Glycan girl and sending the signals we received
early.”

“Yes and
I also think the eyeball wants your fleet to attack the cruiser.” Jason said
confidently.

“I won’t
jump to conclusion this quick. We are trying to analyze the eyeball right now,
so we'll know soon.” Relinee said calmly. 

“OK.”
Jason nodded. He suddenly ran out of things to say.

“You
probably think why we keep you alive. Don’t worry. We are not trying to seek
anything from you.” Relinee said kindly.

“You
just read my mind. You have that ability as well?”

“No.”

They
both smiled quietly.

“Commander,
can I ask you something? So you just live here and enjoy your life?” Jason
asked cautiously.

“If you
were at my position, you will revenge, right?”

“Absolutely!”
Jason said decisively.

“I can
tell. You remind me of General Michael R. Stonan.” Relinee said slowly.

“He is
here?” Jason asked excitedly.

“Something
like that. Take some rest then look around. You will find him.”

“Sure.”

“By the
way, you can stay here as long as you want and you can leave whenever you
want.” Relinee said kindly, and then left the room.

Jason
knew his answer to revenge question might strike Relinee’s nerve, but that was
what he would do.