The Beginning of the End (Universe in Flames Book 4) (17 page)

“Still, now we have a chance to do something about it. Ronan out.”

The moment the communication ended, he brought the long range sensors online and saw what Keera was talking about.

“This is very bad.”

“What is it, Ronan?”

“Look at these readings, Arknon. At this rate every city on the surface of Droxia will be entirely destroyed within the hour.”

“I’m not sure we can do anything about it.”

“But if there’s a way we should consider it. Keera said the damage is being done by only two Furies.”

“How can anyone have that much power?”

“I’ve witnessed Chase, a friend of my mom, fight on Hellstar. Suffice it to say these Furies are very powerful.”

“I might have a way to rid us of one of them, but you’re not gonna like it.”

“I think I know what your idea is. You want to crash the
Phoenix
into one of these Furies.”

“How did you know?”

“’Cause that’s the only thing that makes sense and has even the slightest chance of stopping these monsters.”

“We could exit the ship using escape pods once we enter the atmosphere.”

“What about the other people on the Phoenix? If there’s anyone else still alive on board they’ll be killed.”

“Never said this would be a perfect plan. We’re fighting for the survival of our entire race. We may not have a choice.”

Ronan felt frustrated, but knew that Arknon was correct. There was little choice in the matter. They needed to do whatever it took to defend their world.

Chase flew back inside the
Hope
and returned to the bridge.

“Well, that was stupid!” said Sarah.

“It worked.”

“And if a black hole forms from your little stunt?”

“I was careful about that.”

“You’re reckless, and you know it.”

“What do you say we table this argument for later. We still have a destroyer to take care of.”

Chase checked his instruments. The destroyer had passed through the rest of its destroyed counterpart and was already vectoring back towards the
Hope
.

It was gaining on them, and Chase swore before opening a channel to engineering.

“Yanis, why can’t we lose that ship at sub-light?”

“We can’t go any faster because your last stunt has blown three more power conduits. We’re literally hemorrhaging power.”

“Anything you can do about that?”

Chase wanted to tell Yanis that he had no idea if his sister had survived the suicidal blast that had started this fight, but he needed Yanis frosty. So against his better judgment he kept silent.

“You’re impossible! You push my ships past their limits and then who’s got to fix them for you when you break them?”

“Yanis, can you do it or not?”

“I’ll try to reroute power as fast as I can.”

“Thanks, Yanis. Chase out.”

Multiple torpedoes impacted the already weak aft shields.
This is not going to end well.

Checking power levels, Chase decided to micro-jump the
Hope
back near where the ambush had happened. Perhaps the Zarlacks’ hyperspace engines needed more time than the Alliance’s to recharge. He was about to find out. The ship wouldn’t take this treatment for much longer. Perhaps he could try to locate Fillio at the same time.

The
Hope
micro-jumped once more. The sight of the devastation the ambush had caused the entire battlegroup grabbed Chase by the heart. So many had died, and they might have been added to the list if Chris hadn’t told him to jump out of here. The
Hope
’s shields were recharging, but just when Chase thought he had bought a little reprieve from the enemy, the Zarlack jumped to less than three thousand miles on the
Hope
’s port side. It unleashed a flurry of torpedoes and a barrage of laser fire.

Chase tried to boost the shields but there was no more power. Now was as good a time as any to call the
Destiny
back into the fold. Chase reached for long range communications and tried to send a message, but the array had been damaged.

Crap!

He called engineering.

“Yanis, status on these power modifications of yours?”

“You’re shitting me, right? Your last jump disabled yet another conduit. Whatever time I needed before has just tripled.”

“Chase out.”

Chase realized he had been terribly rude with his friend, but the fact that he didn’t even know if his friend’s sister was alive or dead made matters even worse.

Three ceiling bulkhead panels fell down when the next set of torpedoes impacted the
Hope
’s shields. They almost fell on Sarah and Ryonna, but Chase stopped them with his mind and threw them to the side.

“Thanks,” said Sarah.

“Anytime,” added Chase.

The next laser-fire impact went through the shields that were no longer up on the port side. Part of deck three exploded and metal and other debris was sucked out into space.

Chase erected a force field on that deck.

Not going to end well at all.

Chase turned the
Hope
on its axis to present the starboard shields in an attempt to delay the inevitable but, while rotating, the ship moaned and the lights inside the bridge turned off.

Not now!

A laser pierced the bridge viewport. Chase tried to intercept it with his mind but was too late.

When it was about to incinerate both Sarah and Ryonna, a shield rose around both of them and absorbed the blast. It also protected them from the explosive decompression that followed.

Chase didn’t know if he should be in awe of his yet-to-be-born child’s powers or scared of them. For the time being that save had been a godsend, but he was wary of what that could mean in the future.

The decompression sucked a lot of equipment from the bridge out into space before the automatic force fields kicked in.

The blue-tinged field flashed multiple times. The power within the ship was too low and soon it would fail.

“We have to abandon ship,” said Chase out loud.

“Chase!” exclaimed Sarah pointing in front of her.

That’s when Chase saw it. The Zarlack ship blocked the light coming from the system’s blue star and plunged the bridge into total darkness.

The enemy’s destroyer charged its main plasma guns and opened fire.

*   *   *

When Ares arrived on the surface of Droxia with the battle droids, a city exploded in the distance. The shockwave traveled in their direction really quickly.

“Brace yourselves!” shouted Ares to the droid army.

The Gaia droid took a defensive stance and all the other droids took the same stance a fraction of a second later.

The shockwave hit them full force and most of them skid a few yards back until it had passed. Ares hadn’t moved an inch, his non-corporeal form unaffected.

“We need to act fast. There’s no way Chase can defeat both of these Furies. We need to get one of them out of commission, or at the very least wound him, before I can bring him here to finish him off. Perhaps that would give the other one pause.”

“I’ve located the nearest Fury about fifty miles to the north of here. We’re going to intercept him right away. Perhaps you should go get Chase?”

“I will come with you to see if I can be of assistance.”

“As you wish,” said Gaia as she flew into the air.

The other droids followed as she flew north. After the fifty miles they started their descent. They landed one after the other in front of General Arkoolis.

“What do we have here?” he said with a smirk. “I don’t remember seeing these guys before. Too bad you’re just a bunch of tin cans.”

The general extended his right hand and sent a fireball towards the droids. The targeted droid deflected the fireball with its hand as its shield lit up. The fireball flew into the sky.

“Interesting.
Finally
some challenge. This might not be a boring day after all.”

At least fifteen droids launched towards the general and delivered highly complex combos of punches, knees and kicks. The general blocked each of the attacks but had to take a few steps back in the process. He grew his aura and unleashed a war cry that sent a powerful shockwave all around him, flooring all fifteen droids. But the next wave was already on its way.

The general blocked the incoming attacks with ease. He sent three droids to the ground and decapitated a fourth with a powerful hook kick. Sparks shot from the droid’s neck. The general was so distracted fighting another ten droids that he was surprised when the decapitated droid grabbed him from behind.

“What the hell?” The droid immobilized Arkoolis with all four limbs. “I thought I had killed that thing already.”

The droid electrified itself and a large jolt of electricity passed through the general.

The other droids all unleashed plasma shots towards the general. The area around Arkoolis exploded repeatedly. The rest of the droids flew into the air to improve their angle of attack and add their own firepower to the mix. Five droids fired a blue ray of energy towards the Gaia droid and it syphoned the energy from them. It then created a huge, blue fireball between its hands. It shot it into the mix, and the already fiery battlefield exploded even more. The ground all around the point of impact split in multiple places. Stones, sand and water shot upwards through the cracks. The water extinguished the fire and generated a lot of smoke, which engulfed most of the droid army.

When the dust settled and the smoke dissipated, the general was still standing in the center of it all. He was covered with burns and bruises, but the droid that had delivered the electrical jolt throughout his body was gone. His teeth were clenched and he looked seriously pissed.

Without warning he shot two columns of powerful red energy in front of him that incinerated ten of the droids upon impact. Burning hot metal scrap and wiring hit the ground.

All remaining droids but Gaia’s launched themselves at the Fury. But they all hit air. Some knocked into each other in their momentum. The Fury re-appeared high in the sky and prepared a giant fireball above his head and he threw it towards the tightly packed group of droids.

Gaia’s droid intercepted the attack, extending both its open palms and syphoning every last bit of its energy.

“Impressive,” said Arkoolis, “but ultimately futile.”

He disappeared and reappeared right next to the Gaia droid and sent it flying miles away with a powerful knee blow to the droid’s thorax. The droid impacted the ground far from its point of departure and a sandy cloud rose on the horizon.

“Now where were we?” Arkoolis reacquired visual contact with the droids he had tried blowing up a few moments before.

The droids split up and flew into the air, forming a sphere around him.

He didn’t wait for them to make their move but started attacking one droid after the other. He moved at such incredible speeds it looked as if he was teleporting between each of the vicious punches and kicks he delivered to the droid army. While their shielding protected them from the blunt-force impact of Arkoolis’ blows, they were still sent away, flying miles in every direction.

Ares appeared next to Gaia’s droid as she was getting back up.

“How’s it going?”

“Not well. That Fury is toying with the droid army. I think he enjoys the fight, just like Chase enjoyed fighting against the three units at 2 Gs when we first showed him the training facility.”

“How much more powerful do you think this Fury is compared to Chase?”

“It’s difficult to say. He seems slightly faster than Chase—at least most of the time—but it’s possible he hasn’t yet revealed all of his potential.”

“What do you mean ‘most of the time’?”

“When Chase enters that mode in which he is enraged, he is considerably faster than what I’ve seen from this Fury today.”

“That’s good to know.”

“I’m not so sure. It took Chase the thought of losing Sarah to enter that mode. What if he cannot enter it anymore? He didn’t reach that level of power while training, no matter how much stronger he has become.”

“I’m sure he’ll prevail. He has to.”

“You do realize you’re putting an entire world in the balance?”

“Not really. If I don’t get Chase here soon this world is forfeit anyway.”

“That’s a correct assessment, based on the data I’ve observed.”

“That’s a very droid thing to say.”

“Remember that I only have a partial version of my matrix in this body. Most of my emotional subroutines won’t fit this avatar’s memory banks.”

“Right. What’s next?”

“Either you have a way to even the odds a little, or this Fury could wipe us out the moment he gets bored of the tickling we are inflicting on him.”

“Tickling, huh?”

“Pretty much.”

“Alright, let’s get back in there. I’ll see what I can do to level the playing field.”

“Whatever you want to do, I suggest you do it fast.”

“Understood.”

The Gaia’s droid flew back towards general Arkoolis and unleashed a flurry of plasma shots at him upon approach.

Arkoolis deflected the first five shots and blocked the last one with his right palm, making it vanish by closing his fist.

Then the ground around Arkoolis started glowing with a slight, golden hue. Stones and sand grains shook and vibrated.

The general felt the gravity increase.

“That’s a neat trick.”

The next wave of droids unleashed a series of terrible blows towards Arkoolis, who managed to dodge and block almost every attack. But every once in a while a punch, a kick, or even a plasma shot, scored him. In these rare instances, his purple metallic armor took most of the force and deflected the plasma with no sign of serious damage.

Ares’ tactic of artificially augmenting the gravity in a localized area around the Fury seemed to be working. The more the droids attacked the general, the more he was hit. But he fought with all his might and lowered the number of enemies with well-timed and perfectly aimed fireballs.

The Gaia droid entered the mix and scored a full series of combo attacks that sent the general to the ground for the first time.