The Solar Flare (17 page)

     “What planet?” Xavier and Bryant asked in unison, astounded. Nicholas pointed them to one of the monitors. Bryant ran over to it and looked at the coordinates. “Head for it! If the transmission gets stronger that means we are
definitely on the right track!” Bryant felt excited now. Part of the reason he was a tracker was that he loved hunting down targets, and he knew he excelled at it.

∞

     After a night of no sleep, shivering, and constant worry, Ava felt run down, thirsty, and hungry. She made another careful attempt to try to climb out and suffered another failure as she slipped and slid back down about six feet from the top. Defeated she sat down on the ledge and tried the PCD again. Wesley has to hear me, she thought. What if something happened to him? Was that the reason he didn’t come for her? Ava didn’t even want to think about that. She closed her eyes again. A few more hours passed. She felt so tired she almost did not hear the sound of a starship landing nearby. When she realized what the noise was, she started shouting Wesley’s name.

     Nicholas brought the Solstice down in a sandy desert at Bryant’s
order. Nobody could fathom why. How could the weak signal they picked up be coming from anywhere around here? He powered the ship down and lowered the entrance ramp after the computer registered the atmosphere compatible. Bryant, Xavier, Melanie, and Lucas walked out into the desert to have a look around, marveling at the discovery of another planet suitable for human existence. Xavier walked over to the massive rock wall that seemed to stretch on for miles. He noticed a small opening in the wall a few dozen yards away. Everyone was armed and on the alert for anything that could happen on an unfamiliar planet.

     “Are you sure the transmission came from here?” Xavier asked Bryant. The wind started kicking up and changed directions.

     “I’m certain of it. Shh! I heard something!” He lifted his hand as if to silence Xavier and began wildly looking around.

     “I hear it too!” Xavier started running toward the opening in the rock face. For once Bryant was a step behind someone. They stopped when they reached the opening to the cave, hesitating.  “She’s here, I can
. . . feel her,” Xavier said looking at Bryant.

     Ava could feel Wesley drawin
g near. She sensed the energy she was so familiar with. “Wesley, I’m down here!” She shouted as loud as she could. The two men pulled out flashlights and ran towards Ava’s voice, with Melanie and Lucas right behind them. Ava kept calling out to Wesley and felt elated when she saw the flickering of light above her. It’s Wesley, he’s come for me, she thought. She stood waiting patiently in her pool of water until two beams of light shined down on her. Ava’s eyes weren’t used to the light so she held up her arm to shield her eyes from the brightness. Suddenly she gasped. That is not Wesley, she realized as her eyes adjusted. She looked up at the four people standing at the top of the crevice staring down at her, recognizing only one of them, Bryant.

     “Ava Amherst
,” Bryant announced in a voice reflecting his genuine confusion as to why he would find her in such a state. Xavier stared down at her with wide eyes and his mouth slightly open, shocked at what he saw. Ava shrank back from the light, breathing heavily, unsure of what to do.

     “Ava, are you hurt?” Bryant asked
sincerely. Ava shook her head, a state of panic beginning to take over her mind. Everyone seemed to study her for a long moment and all she could do was gaze back. She had no means of escape.

     “Ava, I’m going to lift you out
now. Please stay very still,” Xavier’s calm voice broke the silence. He looks and sounds like sort of a dark angel, she thought. As he stood he extended a hand down towards her and then Ava could feel Xavier’s warm energy, the same as Wesley’s, flowing down to her, wrapping around her gently and slowly she began to rise out of crevice. She sucked in her breath, surprised by what was happening. Normally something like this would have freaked her out completely, but not since she learned the truth about the existence of Asterions. Then she remembered what Wesley had said, that Xavier had the ability of telekinesis. He lifted her out all of the way and set her down softly a few feet away, facing him. She stepped back immediately when his energy released her, breathing erratically while her eyes darted from face to face. Then Xavier walked forward towards her, extending his hand. “I’m James Xavier,” he said, calmly introducing himself.

     “I
know . . . who . . . who you are,” she stuttered, partly from being chilled, partly from being afraid. He nodded, knowingly. She looked at his outstretched hand, uncertain as to whether or not she should shake it. Wesley had not instructed her on what she should do if she ever crossed paths with him. She decided it wouldn’t hurt to shake hands with him; he did just pull her out of the crevice. She gingerly took his hand, he placed his other one over hers and held it for a moment before she pulled her hand back, out of his gentle grip. He feels just like Wesley, she thought, with a slightly different twist.

     “You’re cold, . . .
here,” Xavier removed his coat and placed it around her shoulders. She had no time to react, but accepted his action without protest. Next, a woman with ash blonde hair approached her.

     “
I’m Melanie Albright and that is my husband Lucas,” she said cheerfully as she pointed. She seems kind, Ava thought. The energy bouncing around in the small cave seemed so overwhelming, she almost felt lightheaded from everything going on. She was not used to these new Asterions; she had only ever been around Wesley and his crew. Melanie put a hand on Ava’s shoulder almost shocking her. “Let’s get you outside, it’s chilly in here,” she said as she started guiding Ava towards the entrance of the cave, everyone else followed closely behind, Bryant taking the rear, a smug smile on his face at finally reaching his target. He let his smile vanish as they exited the cave.

     Ava instinctively went to a nearby rock large enough to sit on and sat down.
She gasped when she saw the large black starship with silver windows. The others started to converse with each other for a few minutes in what sounded like an old European language Ava did not understand. She saw Xavier raise a PCD up and spoke into it quickly. Less than a minute later a tall, athletic, brown haired man ran down the entrance ramp towards them with a silver flask in his hands. He came over to the group and introduced himself to her as Blayke Winters and handed her the flask of water. Ava drank non-stop until it was empty while everyone watched.

     The bright suns warmed her quickly to the point where she no-longer needed Xavier’s coat. She unsteadily rose to her feet and took off the coat and handed it back to him and also the flask back to Blayke. She thanked both of them for their help and started looking around, temporarily perked up from the water. For a few moments, she seemed to forget that she wasn’t alone. She shaded her eyes with her hand and scanned the horizon, remembering she had left the backpack in the crevice, and looked back towards the base. It must be more than a mile away, she thought sadly. She looked down at her PCD, the power was exhausted. Ava’s mind raced; what do I do now?

     The others were watching her intently as the wind suddenly started kicking up. Then, Xavier walked towards her and spoke reassuringly to her. “Ava, I know that we startled you, but I want you to know that you have nothing to fear fro
m us. We will not harm you.” She looked at him, paying real attention to him for the first time since exiting the cave. He continued, “you’re exhausted and dehydrated, why don’t we get you aboard so Melanie can assess your condition and your injuries.”

     Ava suddenly took a few steps back away from them.
“No! . . . I’m fine, really. I appreciate all that you’ve done for me, but I’ll be all right.”

     “Ava, you need rest and rehydration, you could die out here
,” Melanie reasoned.

     “I won’t be alone very long, Wesley heard my transmissions, he and the others w
ill be coming for me any minute,” Ava continued to protest.

     “Ava, be reasonable. Come with us now, you are in no condition to be alone
,” Bryant urged.

     “You stay away from me!” Ava sho
uted hoarsely, pointing a finger at him. She knew he was not to be trusted. Xavier glanced back and forth between the two of them wondering what was going on.

    
Xavier’s PCD suddenly beeped. He answered it in English. Nicholas, the pilot, warned him that the computers on the ship were estimating a sand storm on the way and that for the safety of the ship, lift off was recommended. They way the winds were picking up, Ava knew they weren’t making it up. He looked at her and then up and around at the sky for a few moments as if he were trying to sense something. He shook his head. “No-one is coming for you Ava, I can’t leave you here like this. I’m sorry . . . we have to go now,” he said gently.

     Melanie and Lucas moved in to steady Ava
on each side by the arms. “You’ll be safe with us Ava,” Lucas tried to reassure her.

     “Please
. . . don’t do this! Please don’t take me away!” Ava pleaded with them, breathing heavily, the lightheadedness returning. She put a hand on her head, feeling weak. There was no way that she could resist them.

     “Ava, you need to rest. Trust us, this is for the best
,” Melanie said definitively as she and Lucas started guiding her towards the entrance ramp of the Solstice, Xavier following behind. Bryant brought up the rear. Ava concentrated on her breathing as they brought her aboard, she did not want to faint. She heard the ramp pull up and close right behind them all as the shock of cool air hit her. They brought Ava quickly to a small area of the ship that looked like a medical evaluation room. They sat her down in a chair with reclining abilities that felt more comfortable than it looked and raised her feet up. Lucas brought her more water while Melanie started asking her questions about allergies and her health history. Ava answered her inquiries honestly, though distracted by the sound of the ship powering up and lifting off.

     “
I’m going to prick your finger to analyze how dehydrated you are, okay?” Melanie asked.

     “Are you a doctor
?” Ava asked, suddenly concerned about how much she should let them do for her.

     “Sometimes,
” Melanie said with a smile. “When you live as long as we do, you have to re-invent yourself a lot.” She performed the task and inserted the cartridge with Ava’s blood sample into the computer for analysis. Ava watched with half open eyes. She had been mostly awake for more than a day and wanted nothing more than to sleep. “Looks like we need to start an IV and give you some fluids,” Melanie announced after about a minute. At this point, there wasn’t much else Ava could do except close her eyes and hope that Melanie knew what she was doing. She vaguely remembered a sting in her left arm as Melanie started the IV and Xavier’s concerned watchful eyes on her as she finally passed out.

∞

          “They have another ship!” Kaden bellowed to what consisted of his crew in the Draconis. Draves momentarily paused from commanding Darius, Kaden’s first mate, through encrypted transmissions in the commandeered pirate starship. They had hoped that such a plan would make Wesley believe the two of them had split up when they indeed had not. Kaden had actually been impressed that Draves seemed able to pull it together enough to advise both of them on evasive maneuvers, giving them the upper hand in the battle so far against the Andromeda. The same could not be said about their fight with the Principia. The new ship also performed extremely well, Ash had unraveled Kaden’s code for illusion and applied the same invisibility technology to their ship. The Principia fired mercilessly upon the stolen ship piloted by Darius and pursued the enemy relentlessly.

     “I’m going to take them down to the city, I can’t see them and I’m taking too much heat!”  Darius yelled
over the transmission in the commandeered ship. “You deal with Robinson up here!”

     “That’s exactly what the
y want you to do, you fool! Get up here, we must stay together!” Kaden commanded.

     Darius disobeyed orders and took the pirated ship down into Kyanos’ atmosphere. He emerged just over the city and started blasting buildings and anything else he could see. Fires and smoke immediately began to erupt amongst the collapsing buildings. “They are going to fire upon you from below
with cannons,” Draves shouted over the transmissions. At that moment, they did. Vance gave the order to fire at will at the foreign starship sailing just above.

     Meanwhile the Andromeda gained on the invisible Draconis, seeming to sense its presence. Draves, finding it difficult to focus his attention on two situations, turned his attention away from Darius and back to Robinson. The Principia gained on the small ship on Kyanos racing away from the city. “Draves, . . .  Draves! Where do I go from here? I’m blind without you! Answer me!” Darius
shouted; smoke beginning to fill the small starship. The sound of alarms could be clearly heard in the background.

     “Forget him!” Kaden ordered to Draves, who did not seem to care anyway.

     Draves cocked his head away from Kaden and the battle, apparently interested in something else that was happening. “What is it?” Kaden demanded.