Different Paths (30 page)

Talia turned to study the newcomer. He was young
and very overweight, near obese, but had a kind face and bright eyes. The red
and black mark of a crane inside a circle was tattooed on his cheek just to the
right of his left eye; the mark of a Ko-dang – the second highest level of
Medium. Most who attain this rank served the Empire as couriers. They were
completely trustworthy. The magic which was used to help them become Ko-dang
bound them to the truth, whatever it might be.

Talia asked, “Do you know who I am?”

The young man shook his head but gestured to her
tiara. “No ma’am but I know of your House and that is enough for me to
guarantee total privacy in all matters.”

Realizing that she was running out of time, Talia
turned back to the table and scribbled a quick message on a blank sheet of
parchment.

‘A Shadow Orb was sighted one Tan ago in the
care of the Lemurians. It was liberated or destroyed by Omega. Several marks of
the Shadows have been seen in recent days. I fear a resurgence of the ancient
enemy. I seek your guidance.’

  Folding the parchment, she held it out to the
young medium. “I have no choice but to trust you. I need you to contact Lady
Aleksandra on Terra and give her this message. But know this… if you fail, our
people could suffer a great calamity not seen since the Time of Shadows. It is
that important.”

“I am at your service ma’am.” As his hand touched
the parchment, the magic of his station sealed it and bound the message to his
soul.

“I must get back. Please do not fail me in this.”

The young man shook his head. “Don’t worry ma’am.
I won’t.”

Closing her eyes, Talia released the magic of the
gem and felt herself fall back into her corporeal form. Taking a deep breath,
she removed the soul gem from the tiara and replaced it with her normal
emerald.

Leaving her small cabin, she went off to join her
friends on their desperate mission to save her niece and now…to possibly
confront an ancient evil.

Chapter 25

Major Marcus T. McDowell had always believed that
the early morning hours on Mars were the most peaceful.

The two small moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos,
were thought to be asteroids captured by the planet’s gravity in times long
past. The Major always found the motions of the two moons very different from
Earth’s moon. Phobos was a speedster, rising in the west and racing across the
sky only to repeat its path in elven hours. While Deimos plodded across the
sky, taking over two and a half days to complete its path.

Even with these two satellites, the night hours
would be totally black with the exception of the slight glow given off by the
translucent bio-domes which contained the atmosphere that allowed human life to
exist on the red planet.

Many of the automated drones which helped in his
work and the constant mining were offline at this hour. Even machines needed
some downtime. There had to be time for maintenance, recharging and refitting.
These were all done in the early morning hours.

Major McDowell glanced at his chrono and began to
check off items on his mental list of things to do before Achilles would
arrive. However with over six hours to go before the deadline, the Major sipped
his morning coffee and walked the gardens as was his normal ritual. He paused
to stare at the stars and watched as one star brightened considerably. He only
had a few seconds to ponder the significance of the numerous flashes of light before
alarms started blaring all across the bio-domes. Dropping his coffee, the Major
sprinted to his office as several explosions rocked the building and red dust
fell from the ceiling covering anything and everything.

Punching the com-link, the Major tried to catch
his breath. “Major McDowell to Romulus… come in Romulus.”

Static...“This is Romulus” static…“under attack,
multiple bogeys” static…

Keying the transmit button again, the Major
screamed into the mic. “Romulus! Romulus!”

But only silence answered him, until a soft voice
startled him.

“Having troubles old man?”

Major McDowell froze at the voice and felt the
unfamiliar chill of fear run up and down his spine. Keeping his movements slow
and deliberate, he turned around and watched in grim fascination as a black and
silver apparition stepped out of the shadows.

Taking a deep breath, the Major slowly sat down in
his chair. “Achilles, my son, welcome home.”

“That is not my name.” As Iaido lifted the visor
of his ARC suit he added, “and I am not your son.”

“That is your name. You were christened Achilles
for a reason. You were to be our greatest warrior; the chosen leader of the
Myrmidons.”

Opening a desktop humidor, the Major drew forth a
hand rolled cigar, bit off one end, spit the tip out and lit the cigar. Blowing
out a large puff of smoke, the Major leaned back in his chair and secretly
pushed a panic button on the underside of his desk with his knee.

“And if I am not your father, who is? I helped
shaped your skills and guided your development as a warrior.”

“You have something of mine that I would like
returned.”

“Bah. That little girl is nothing to you.”

“That is for me to decide, not you.”

The Major took another long drag on the cigar and
waved his hand slightly in a dismissive manner, as if the fate of Eve was
beneath his notice. “She’s around here somewhere but we have much to discuss,
you and I.” Gesturing to a chair nearby he said, “Come, have a seat.”

Iaido moved further into the room until he was
just across the desk from his former commander.

“I will have to decline. I didn’t come to Mars to
have a discussion. I am here for two things, Eve and your head.”

“I know you…you wouldn’t kill me. Your programming
wouldn’t allow you to harm a superior officer.”

“For your information I have become far more than
my original programming. Secondly, when you betrayed my brethren and left us
for dead, you were stripped of your rank.”

“Betrayed? Does not the thirty-sixth strategy of
Chou state when all else fails, retreat?”

“Chou’s strategy does indeed say that; but to
retreat is different than leaving your men behind to die. You fled the
battlefield long before the outcome was decided.”

“You don’t believe that any more than I do. You
saw they had the numerical advantage! We were three hundred, they had over a
million!”

“I don’t dispute that fact but we had the superior
position, superior firepower and the superior willpower. You fled at the onset
of the battle. Your cowardice shamed us. You spoke of honor and courage but
when the time came, you fled the field of battle and left us to die.”

“But you didn’t die!”

Iaido unsheathed his sword and thumbed the power
switch to the on position. Blue-white lightning raced up and down the
meteoritic metal blade. The flickering light from his blade danced off his armor
making him look more demonic.

“No thanks to you. Today I avenge my brethren.”

The doors behind Iaido slid open.

“Not today Achilles…not today,” said Major
McDowell. With a gesture to the door he added, “I think you have met two of my
Praetorians before.”

Iaido let his blade fall into a low aggressive
position with the tip down and slightly behind him as he turned slowly towards
the door. Studying the two newcomers, he immediately recognized them as the
Galactic Marshals from his Stone Mountain encounter.

“Yes, we have met. I wasn’t impressed.”

Cassius said, “We were acting under strict orders;
having to shoot someone while making it look like an escape attempt is not our
normal methodology.”

“Normal methodology? It was downright pitiful and
sloppy.”

Cassius grimaced at the remark but turned his
attention to the Major and asked, “Can I kill him now father?”

“Yes son, you may.” Major McDowell stood slowly
and began backing towards the door. He motioned to the larger Praetorian.
“Brutus, why don’t you join me? I’m sure your brother can handle this relic and
we have a mission to complete.”

Major McDowell paused at the doorway and looked
back.

“Achilles, I’m sorry that you won’t be around to
witness the fall of the General. It has taken nearly ten years to set up the
events of today. But in sixteen hours, he and his whole council will be dead
and I will be able to claim credit for the most perfect assassination since
JFK. Too bad you won’t be around to witness it. I personally think you would’ve
been impressed. Good-bye Achilles.”

Iaido moved to the center of the room. “Run along
old man, I’ll give you a three minute head start. That’s approximately how long
it will take me to kill your pet.”

Cassius asked as he rolled his shoulders around to
loosen them up before pulling forth matching silver gladii. “You are a
confident old bastard, aren’t you?”

Gladii, plural for gladius, were a type of short
swords of ancient Roman design with a blade that was approximately twenty-four
inches in length with two razor sharps edges. Originally designed as a
thrusting weapon, they were also very effective slashing weapons. They are
quick and lethal when in the hands of a master. Judging from the spins and
other maneuvers Cassius was taking his blades through, he fell into that
category.

Iaido realized that his opponent’s weapons were
also powered given the fact that whenever one gladius passed near each other,
sparks flew from one to the other; which meant they could pierce his armor. Iaido
knew that the length of Cassius’ blades could prove to be both an advantage and
a disadvantage. With a shorter blade, the wielder could respond quickly to the
ever changing dynamics of combat. However, it also meant that he would have to
be closer to his opponent to strike.

Iaido shifted the grip on his katana slightly and
raised the point until it was aimed at his opponent’s chest. “Might I ask you a
few questions?”

Cassius feinted quickly with one gladius which
Iaido easily deflected. “Sure old man. What do you want to know?”

“How many Praetorians are there?”

“Not that it really matters but there are two-hundred
and twenty-two of us.” Cassius attacked with a spin kick and several quick
thrusts; high, low, high.

Iaido calmly stepped back out of reach of the kick
and didn’t even bother to parry the thrusts since they were out of range.
“Where did the Major get the sample for your DNA? There had to be a starting
point.”

“From your brother Aeneas,” answered Cassius as he
launched a viscous attack routine, alternating high thrusts with low slashes
with several more high attack but added twin downward thrusts thrown in at the
end of the attack combination.

Iaido calmly took a step backwards while parrying
the attacks and immediately counter-attacked with a series of three downward
strikes while shuffling forward quickly. “But Aeneas died over ten years ago.”

Cassius’ shoulder flaps popped open and close
quickly. “True, but the toxins didn’t prevent our father from cloning him or
using his DNA to create us.” Cassius circled slightly to his left. “Aeneas
always said that your skills were highly over-rated. I’m inclined to believe
him.”

Cassius renewed his attacks with alternating high
slashes which Iaido blocked with ease but brought his guard up high. The
Praetorian lashed out with a kick to Iaido’s midsection.  Since they were both
in powered-battle armor, there wasn’t much of a chance of an injury but it did
disrupt his balance for a millisecond. Cassius grinned and seized his slight
advantage. With a yell of excitement, Cassius stabbed downward with both of his
powered gladii at his cousin’s heart.

Beneath Iaido’s opaque helmet he smiled. He had
already discerned that the Praetorian preferred to attack high on his opening
sequence.  It had been so easy to let the youngster believe he had the advantage.  

With a simple thought and a flick of his eyes,
Iaido engaged the Power Shield built into his ARC suit. A dome of bluish white
energy formed on his left forearm, right in line of the twin thrusts of his
opponent. The look of surprise and shock on Cassius’ face when his killing blow
was deflected…was priceless.

 Engaging the enormous strength granted to him by
his ARC suit, Iaido smashed his shield into the lower part of Cassius’ arms,
knocking them up and out of position. The young Praetorian was helpless to
prevent Iaido’s powered sword from sliding right through his armor and into his
stomach.

Cassius’s gut felt as if it was on fire while the
energy pulse from Iaido’s blade went to work short-circuiting his nervous
system. He had never experienced the amount of pain his body was going through.
It was unbearable. Only vaguely did he realize that both of his swords had
fallen to the ground, completely forgotten by his body. In a detached way,
Cassius felt himself fall to his knees but he had lost complete control of his
body.

Tasting the warm coppery flavor of blood, Cassius
struggled to speak one last time. “You cheated.”

Iaido powered down his shield. “Only losers claim
that someone cheats. A true warrior does whatever is necessary to win.”

Cassius cocked his head slightly to one side as if
he didn’t understand the words.

Iaido pulled free his blade. The Praetorian jerked
once and lay still forever as his blood pooled underneath the armored corpse.
Iaido turned and sprinted down the corridor in pursuit of his former commanding
officer. He heard the battle long before his saw it.

Rounding a corner, he found Xerxes and Brutus in
hand to hand combat. This was not a skill versus skill battle but a contest of
strength versus strength.

Iaido did a quick scan of the room.

DJ and Talia were blocking the only airlock with
guns drawn while the Major was huddled behind a pile of crates. As the armored
figure of Brutus crashed into the wall nearby, Iaido’s attention was wrenched
back to the titanic battle. Judging from the cracks in the nearby bulkheads, he
guessed that the Praetorian had been thrown like that a number of times.