Dark Universe & Forbidden Love (52 page)

When Mark ran to Jason, he
thought Jason was dead. To his surprise, the badge in Jason’s pocket stopped
the bullet and Jason was still alive but lost a lot of blood from the wound on
his leg. Mark knew those Oepttese didn’t gave a damn about a Human’s life, even
though they were currently fight side by side against Dolanz. Mark told a
senior officer about the Hylocan eyeball and offered to find the eyeball for
Oepttese in exchange for their help to save Jason’s life. The senior officer
didn’t believe Mark but he had medics take care of Jason while he reported this
matter to his commander. The commander heard about the speculations regarding
the 10 Estian vessels that destroyed each other. He talked with Mark and
decided to give it a shot. He sent three vessels and 500 soldiers to go with
Mark.

Lucky
for Mark, the tracer he placed on Cruiser General Klizan still worked. He knew
this was a one way ticket, because Human tried before and it didn’t end up
well. Back then, after Mark and Salmon reported to Treton London that they
attached a tracer on Cruiser General Klizan, Treton sent five vessels to
retrieve the Hylocan eyeball. The five vessels simply disappeared without a
trace.

It had
been four days since he started the trip with Oepttese. Right now Mark was sitting
in a small compartment. Those Oepttese locked him up in the compartment all the
time. Mark was bored and worried. He didn’t really know whether the eyeball was
on the cruiser or not. He recalled that Diilre made the cruiser to accommodate
Hylocan’s ultimate weapon. He reasoned that if Glycan wanted to use the
eyeball, they must use the cruiser as a platform. He did hope Oepttese found
the eyeball this time, because Jason was in their hands right now.

Just
this moment, the door opened and an Oepttese carried dinner into the room,
followed by a senior officer.

“We will
know whether you are a liar or not in about one hour.” The senior officer said
happily.

“You may
not like what you will find.” Mark said coldly.

“We came
prepared.” The senior officer said confidently.

“Good
for you.” Mark said with a stiff smile.

The two
Oepttese left the room and locked the door behind them.

Mark
looked out of the porthole and caught something coming towards the vessel from
the distance. Mark thought it was a micrometeorite, but it started to slow
down. It was a small probe. Then he saw another one flying to a nearby vessel.

Just
when Mark was wondering whether to report this to those Oepttese, some 300
vessels appeared right in front of his eyes in a blink. It was a Glycan fleet
cruising in a battle formation. The symbols on the hulls showed that it was the
Seventh fleet. Some 30 combat cruisers swiftly surrounded the three Oepttese
vessels.

General
Kalan was sitting in the bridge of the flag vessel. He established the
communication with Oepttese and requested their commander to meet him on his
vessel.

Ten
minutes later, the Opettese commander stepped into the bridge, followed by his
aide. Kalan glanced over at the Oepttese without a care. He never liked those
four arms creatures.

“What is
your name?” Kalan asked coldly.

“My name
is General Eutiew.” The Oepttese said slowly. He was old but strong, his face
covered with wrinkles.

“I guess
Oepttese really have to use a General to command three vessels.” Kalan said in
disgust.

Eutiew
smiled in embarrassment.

“What
are you doing here?” Kalan asked directly.

“We are
on a mission.” Eutiew said calmly.

“I can
tell that. You see, we are in the middle of nowhere and anything can happen to
anyone. I will ask you one last time. What is your mission?” Kalan said in a
hard voice as he stood up from a chair.

“With
all respect, that is classified.” Eutiew said politely.

“I see.”
Kalan said as he strolled towards Eutiew, his uniform changing into an armor
suit. When he walked by Eutiew’s aide, he suddenly grabbed his neck and stabbed
a dagger into his belly. The aide slumped on the deck, blood spewing out like
fountain.

The
sudden attack shocked Eutiew. He froze there in shock, his mouth open, his body
trembling.

“I hope
this can cut all the bullshit. Do you remember my question?” Kalan said gently
as he used Eutiew’s uniform to wipe the blood off his dagger.

“We, we,
we are here to find Cruiser General Klizan!” Eutiew said in a shaking voice.

“You
see, that is what I am talking about. We are looking for the same thing.” Kalan
said happily as he glanced over at some 10 Glycans in the bridge.

“If you
told me this early, at least you can save one life. That is all your fault.”
Kalan said sadly with a big grin.

“Can I
leave?” Eutiew said in panic.

“Why are
you looking for Cruiser General Klizan?” Kalan asked quietly.

“We got
the intel that the cruiser was carrying a huge Hylocan eyeball.”

Kalan was
surprised. He never thought a second class species like Oepttese could know
about the eyeball. He looked around at the Glycans in the bridge. No one was
looking at them.

“How do
you know this?” He asked angrily.

“We
captured a Human and he told us.”

“Where
is that Human?” Kalan asked hastily.

“On my
vessel.”

“Have
your men bring him here and then I will set you free.” Kalan said seriously.

Eutiew
made the call right away and a small transporter carrying Mark arrived within
10 minutes. Kalan kept his words and set Eutiew free. He watched Eutiew board
the transporter and leave the hangar. When the transporter returned to the
Oepttese vessel, he flashed an evil smile and said, “Kill them all.” The moment
he had Oepttese vessels surrounded, he had given the order to sever their long
distance communication channels.

Hundreds
of big guns fired simultaneously, tearing the three Oepttese vessels into
pieces.

When an Oepttese told Jason that
they lost contact with his father, Jason was trying to eat those stone like
buns. He felt like falling into infinite darkness. He didn’t know what to do.
After a long while, he started to think other possibilities. He didn’t give up,
even though he knew the odd was not on his side. 

“Buzz!
Buzz! Buzz!” The blaring alarm echoed in the vessel, accompanied by flashing
yellow lights.

Jason
pushed himself up to the porthole and saw a cloud of Dolanz space fighter jets
heading towards Oepttese fleet. Following the jets, dozens of Dolanz combat
vessels were approaching slowly. Oepttese’s space fighter jets were scrambling
out of hangars. Tens of cannons emerged from the hull and fired at the incoming
Dolanz vessels.

The
space fighter jets from two sides quickly engaged. Missiles, explosions and
cannon fires painted a lightning storm in the space. Jason could feel
explosions were getting closer and closer. The vessel shook so bad that he
couldn’t stand on his feet. Oepttese soldiers were running in the corridor.
Jason knew this was a very bad sign.

“Hey,
Hey, let me out! Let me out!” Jason shouted at the top of his lung.

No
Oepttese even glanced over at him.

“Hey,
Hey!” Jason yelled.

“Boom!”
Another explosion knocked Jason on the deck. The entire vessel was trembling.
Jason felt he was in the middle of an earthquake. He could hear the hull
cracking. The deck was breaking apart slowly.

“Evacuation!
Evacuation! Evacuation!” A desperate voice howled down the corridor. Everything
fell into chaos. Everyone was running for their lives.

The
crack on the deck was getting bigger and bigger. Jason crawled over it and saw
a hangar right below the deck. Several transporters from Human fleet were
pulling in to pick up Oepttese.

“Hey!
Hey! I am a Human. Here!” Jason shouted hastily. Nobody looked at him. Jason
rammed himself into the crack and jostled forward, but he soon stuck in the
middle of the deck. He tried to pull back, but it didn’t work.

“Boom!
Boom! Boom!” A series of explosions lighted up the hull.

The
crack suddenly opened up and Jason fell through it, landing on the back of an
Oepttese. “Sorry, man.” Jason said as he struggled back on his feet and
crippled towards the last transporter in the hangar. Dozens of Oepttese passed
by him and jumped on that transporter. Jason was too far away and the
transporter started to leave the hangar.

Another
big explosion shook Jason off his feet. Then the gravity control malfunctioned
and everything was floating around. The transporter flew out of the hangar.
Jason sighed but didn’t give up. He looked around at the hangar and caught a
space fighter jet in the far corner. He floated to the jet and got into it.

“Bang!”
An explosion bursted through the hangar ceiling. Everything was falling apart.

Jason
quickly started the engine and piloted it out of the hangar before the entire
vessel blew up.

It was a
complete mess outside. Hundreds of jets were dogfighting and missiles were
everywhere. Dolanz fleet was trying to encircle the Oepttese fleet, but Human
space fighter jets were holding them off for now.

Jason
had no intention to get into the fight in this shape, because all he got was a
jet gun. He quickly left the battlefield and flew the jet to the Human fleet.
Just at this moment, three Dolanz jets suddenly appeared behind him. Jason
pulled up right away and made several sharp turns. The three Dolanz jets stuck
with Jason, blasting their guns at him. Jason made another sharp turn and
headed back to the battlefield.

“Warning!
Incoming missiles. Warning! Incoming missiles.” The alert sounded.

Five
missiles were flying to Jason’s jet. Right at this moment, Jason swooped into
the battlefield. It was like flying into a jungle. Things were happening so
fast that it all depended on instinct not reflection. Jason’s jet swam among
debris, crossfires and others jets like a sleek and agile eel. Crossfires
knocked two missiles off Jason’s tail. Just before the leftover three missiles
struck the jet, it darted to a Dolanz corvette and dove down. All three missiles
hit the corvette. It was so close that some wreckages scratched Jason’s jet.

“Man,
who are you?” A Human voice came in through the communicator.

“I am
Jason.”

“You are
a Human. How did you get into an Oepttese jet?”

“That is
a very long story.” Jason said as his jet rolled backwards and shot down an
Oepttese jet.

“Good
job, anyway.”

The
fight was getting more and more tense. Several Human jets were fighting beside
Jason. The number of Dolanz jets was dwindling, Human fleet were turning the
tide and started to push Dolanz back. Dolanz didn’t hold their ground and
retreated.

Jason
followed his new friends and landed on one of the Human carriers. The moment he
crippled out of the cockpit, three men surrounded him. One looked like in his
30s and the other two were 20 some.

“Jason,
right? You are good. You are very good. I am Voy, by the way.” A tall and thin
man said happily as he patted Jason’s shoulder. He had a long face with spiky
hair and black eyes.

“Thanks.”

“I am
Rewieteinal. They just call me Rew.” A short and muscular man with brown skin
said as he reached out his hand. His round face was dotted with freckles.

“Nice to
meet you.” Jason said happily as he shook Rew’s hand.

“Man,
you are not one of us, so where are you from?” Rew asked kindly.

Jason
looked at himself. He was still wearing the prison uniform from Listan. He
smiled in embarrassment and said, “I was a trainee in Guardian Fleet.”

“That
explains why you are so good. It all clicked now.” The older man said happily.

“He is
Kiel. The squadron leader.” Voy said.

“I
recognize your voice. We talked on the radio.” Jason said.

“That is
right.”

The
three asked Jason about his prison uniform and his business with Oepttese.
Jason briefly told them how he ended up on planet Weithei, but he didn’t
mention anything about Gloria and his friends. He said Oepttese captured him
right after he fought against the shark like monster. Then he diverted the
topic to the wound on his leg. Kiel then took Jason to the medical bay.

It took
about two hours for doctors to patch up Jason. During that time, flight control
commander Colonel Willington stopped by and asked Jason some questions. Jason
told the same story to him just like the one he told Kiel. After the treatment,
he could walk freely with just a slight limp. He also changed his prison
uniform to a jet pilot uniform. Before he left the medical bay, Willington came
back and told Jason that the senior officers were aware that he was a prisoner
in Listan, but they left him to decide what to do. Jason knew he couldn’t go
back to the training center and he certainly didn’t want to go back to Listan.
Right now he could only hide somewhere and wait things to quiet down. Then it
occurred to him that why not just stay on the carrier for the time being.
Willington seemed to know Jason would make such decision and he said nobody
could just stay on the carrier but do nothing. Jason knew what Willington
meant, so he said he could work as a pilot. Willington approved right away and
took Jason to the living quarter of Kiel’s squadron.

The
living quarter looked like a battered stockroom under glimmering light. Some 20
bunker beds scattered here and there as if the whole place just went through an
earthquake. When Jason walked in with Willington, nobody even looked at them.
Some pilots were lying on beds; some were chatting and others were just hanging
around.

“Where
is Kiel?” Willington shouted unhappily.

Rew
glanced over at Willington and said, “He is in his room.”

“This is
the new guy. Find him a bed and teach him all things.” Willington said coldly
and then headed to the door.

Rew ran
to Jason and said, “Nice to see you again.”

“Me
too.” Jason said as he looked around. Other pilots didn’t even bother to say
hi.

“Come
on, this way.” Rew said as he motioned Jason to follow him.

“Huh,
maybe an introduction. You know.” Jason said quietly.

“Oh, we
don’t really do that here. You will get to know them sooner or later or never.”
Rew muttered.

Jason
flashed a bitter smile. He and Rew went to the middle of the room and picked an
empty bunker bed. Jason took the lower bed and asked, “Who is sleeping
upstairs?”

“He died
today.” A pilot on the nearby bunker bed said carelessly.

“I see.
Who does this belong to?” Jason asked quietly as he pointed the luggage under
the bunker bed.

“He died
today as well. You can take whatever you need. We’ve already helped ourselves.”
Another pilot said coldly.

Jason
smiled reluctantly. He slowly lay down on his back. It had been a long day.