A Warrior's Return (31 page)

“Talaric.”

Talaric froze mid step and dropped the
blankets, as his hand came back up from his waistband with a
pistol. He swung around with the pistol, completely shaken by the
sound of his name being called out.

The mirror had changed again, as if it were
a digital screen instead of a mirror. An older man stood portrayed
in it and somehow Talaric knew that the man was Tadias.

“Relax Talaric this is only a recording. By
the time you are seeing this I will have been dead for quite some
time. But as I know that one day you will see this message I am
encouraged to believe that my work and all I’ve hoped and worked so
hard to accomplish is still being fulfilled by the future
generations of my offspring, which let me tell you is a blessing
that I carry with me to the grave and beyond. I don’t know much of
what you may be facing in the world or worlds you live in Talaric,
but I can tell you this. Never doubt what God can do for both you
and whatever situation you’re faced with. I have been alive far
longer than many and let me tell you I am weary of the ways of man
and somewhat eager to depart for the peace of the grave, but I
still have some work to do so I’m here until I’m not needed
anymore. My long life has been filled with more excitement and
accomplishments than I had ever dreamed to achieve and it has
taught me a simple truth, that with God all things are possible.
God has a divine plan for everyone and every situation you may
encounter in life. Remain faithful to Him Talaric and He will
remain faithful to you! In fact He will be like a friend guiding
and preserving you through your life. I know He has certainly been
in mine. I hope my words of wisdom inspire you to either change or
to continue in the faith that I pray that you already have. Now on
to another matter. I hear congratulations are in order on your
upcoming marriage. Thunder Ridge is a perfect place for a union of
two hearts to begin. I want to give you a gift to go along with
your special day that has a special significance to me.”

There was an express of air, as a tray slid
out of the mirror itself. On the black velveteen surface of the
tray lay two silverish looking rings. One was larger than the
other. There was an elaborate swirling of embossed design that
twisted and turned about the surface of the rings.

Talaric reached out toward them and lifted
them off the tray and into the palm of his hand. The rings felt
warm to the touch.

“They are very special rings Talaric just by
themselves, but to me they mean even more. To me they represent the
bond of love I was blessed to share with the woman of my dreams for
many years. She’s been gone from me now for many more years and I
miss her terribly. Treat your woman well Talaric for as it has been
written, ‘He who finds a prudent woman has found a very good
thing.’ Wear the rings through the years, as your love story
unfolds. May your days be happy and your heartaches few as you
experience life and all it holds, together. Always together
Talaric. Always. When the time comes to depart this life Talaric
and it will, as all that are born of the flesh die in the way of
the world till our Master returns for us, I want you to see that
the rings are passed on to your sister Ellanara. She will need
them. Tell her that they were gifts from an old friend of mine and
that it’s fitting that they should be returned to him. Even as they
were given in the bond of friendship let them now unite that
friendship, which has been broken so that it might be restored
again even stronger and more lasting than before in a special haven
that only the bearer of these rings can find. Goodbye Talaric and
may God prepare your way before you. May you be ever mindful of Him
every day of your life and a servant of His until the end.”

The mirror returned to just being a mirror
on the wall. Talaric looked over at the bed to see if Eva was still
asleep. She was and the room seemed to be the same as well.

Talaric opened his hand just to make sure he
hadn’t dreamed everything up. The gleam of the engraved rings
stared back up at him glinting in the light cast off by the dim
glowing light panels located throughout the room. They were
real!

He closed his hand over them and bent down
and picked up the blankets that had fallen to the floor and
continued on to the bed. He covered up Eva and then got up on the
other side of the cushion and lay down. Within minutes Eva had
cuddled up next to him in her sleep in search of his warmth and he
put an arm around her and drew her close to him.

The rings were still clutched in his other
hand, as he stared up at the ceiling unable to go to sleep, as his
mind pondered on what the future would bring.

I sat in my chair not sure what good I would
be able to do with only five weapon platforms. Ellanara had only
been able to bring two of the damaged weapon platforms back online
to where they were functionally usable again.

The good thing was that they were on the
opposite side of the bar-Seth from the three that had survived the
battle. The space voyage had been restful, even if it had been
short. Any amount of time would’ve been too short to see this chair
and its array of screens again. Ellanara’s voice came over the com
line.

“Reentering the atmosphere everyone brace
yourselves.”

The reentry was as bad, as the exiting of
Earth had been. Perhaps even worse, because this time we were
hurtling toward something and not away from something. There was a
difference between the two.

The bar-Seth plunged into the ocean. Down we
went into the darkness. Our speed gradually decreased and Eleanor
pulled us out of the steep dive to bring the ship level.

“Shield is holding steady.” Came Katie’s
voice over the com.

She had been even less enthusiastic than I
had been about returning to our stations.

“Titus take your shot when ready.” Ellanara
intoned, after several moments the blue double beam shot down
through the water into the depths of the ocean floor below where
the beacon array sat fixed to the ocean floor.

The bar-Seth shifted with the force of the
water displacement caused from the explosion of the beacon array.
Eleanor started us upward out of the water and it was with relief
that I saw the sun. Only it wasn’t the sun, at least not my sun.
Did they still call this star the sun on this world or something
else?

I had a lot to get used to. Everything was
completely new to me here and I couldn’t help but feel a slight
fearful apprehension as to what it would mean to start all over
again in this new setting. I had Rafael and Talaric to help me and
with God’s help that would be enough.

Eleanor called out, “One ducky down
proceeding on to the next and last little rubber ducky. Oh I forgot
to ask you Talaric, you don’t have any of those mangy vermin with
wings on this planet do you? I’d sure like to run into a flock of
the rats with wings with this baby under wing. I’ll char them with
my afterburners after I tenderize them with the shield first.”

Before a laughing Talaric could answer a
face appeared on the central screen of the forward window.

“Welcome home brother!” The eyes of a man,
who was so similar to Talaric in appearance that he could only be
what he claimed, his brother, surveyed the rest of the room as if
he could see us.

“Welcome to everyone.” He said in a tone
that was rock solid with sincerity and I felt just a little bit
better about this strange new world I had come to.

But this world got abruptly stranger when a
woman stepped up beside the man. Her exotic half Asian looking
features were strikingly beautiful just as they were strong, but
her eyes!

Her eyes were completely unworldly and the
glowing blue color of them!

I heard Katie muttering in the com, “I
didn’t sign up for living with no aliens!”

I could’ve smacked her, because it was
apparent that the couple on the screen had heard her unkind words.
But they didn’t react negatively. Talaric’s brother smiled at the
exotic woman next to him and said, “Run along dear you’re scaring
the children.”

She gave him a look that said, “You’ll pay
for that later and then glanced briefly into the screen and split
her lips wide in an open smile meant for effect, “It’s good to see
you safe Ellanara.”

“You to Raya.” Ellanara responded half
choking on a laugh, as she caught sight of Katie’s reaction of
shock to the sight of Raya’s smile. The exotic woman’s teeth looked
as if they were sharpened steel!

Maybe she wasn’t an alien, but she was
completely alien to anything I had ever seen before.

She left the screen as Talaric spoke, “It’s
good to see you too Zevin. Tell me, has there been any signs of the
enemy?”

His brother’s face darkened from its former
happiness, “Yes, four days ago five aircraft came through the
beacon array. I was able to take out four of them with the defenses
that Ellanara helped me set up, but the fifth one escaped back
through. I think it was more of a scouting mission than the main
invasion.”

“Talaric we have to get to the second beacon
off the shores of the Shrine of Remembrance now! An entire fleet of
craft could come out of it at any moment, if they left four days
ago!” Ellanara said, who for the first time since I’d met her
looked panicked, which made my insides tighten up in shared
apprehension of what we could be facing.

“Get us there as fast as you can Eleanor!”
Talaric said firmly, sounding oddly un-panicked in comparison to
Ellanara.

It was almost as if he knew something we
didn’t.

Zevin spoke up from the screen, “God go with
you! I’ve already sent the tannin. You should be able to pick them
up on the way!”

The screen reverted back to normal and
Talaric’s brother was gone.

Tannin?

What was that?

We were pressed back into our seats, as
Eleanor pushed the throttle wide open. We were flying low in a
direct route to the next beacon point. My hands were sweaty on the
controls and I dried them off on my pants nervously.

The water gave way to land and then Eleanor
had to rise in elevation as we flew up and over the most majestic
mountains I had ever seen.

“Slow down Eleanor and pick up the tannins.”
Ellanara said calmly.

Eleanor sounded completely puzzled as she
slowed the bar-Seth down, “What is a tannin and how am I supposed
to pick it up?”

“You’ll see.” Was all Ellanara said.

I saw an array of green slower moving
signatures on my screen. I looked to my outside view and my jaw
dropped open.

“Dragons!” Katy screeched.

What, did we do land in Jurassic Park? First
there was a woman that looked like she could eat up small children
in the night and now this!

“They’re not coming inside or I quit! Heck
what’s the point of that, when we’ll all be dead!” Screamed Katie
completely beside herself.

“Calm down Katie I’m sure that neither of
the strange occurrences since last I was here have a penchant for
chewing up feisty little blondes, but you never know though. You
wouldn’t take long to snack on anyway.” Talaric said in a
good-humored tone.

Katie gave him a dirty look and then faced
forward again.

“Lower the shield Katie.” Ellanara said.

“What!” Responded Katie.

“Now!” Echoed both Ellanara and Talaric.

The shield dropped away and I watched, as
the flying beasts of legend swung around with the ease of a barn
swallow and landed stretched out all along either side of the main
fuselage of the ship. I swiveled my camera view and watched as they
latched onto the ship.

“Reengage the shield Katie and back full
force ahead Eleanor!” Ellanara said firmly.

The shield shimmered into place as Eleanor
asked, “Are they going to be able to hang on or breath at that
speed?”

“Step on it Eleanor!” Talaric said firmly
and we launched forward with the tannins latched on.

There had to be at least fifty of them in
various ranging sizes. Two of which were absolutely huge.

“It’s almost as if the ship was built to
carry them in such a fashion!” Sparky said staring unbelievably at
the screens at the truth before him.

“That’s because it was. We call them tannin
after their Biblical name, but you know them as dragons. They were
Tadias’s favorite animal out of all the beasts God made.” Ellanara
said.

“I don’t know what they are, but they sure
are tough blighters!” Eleanor said in awe.

The land disappeared and we were over water
again.

“Get ready Titus!” Ellanara called out.

“I was born ready!”

Then suddenly just ahead of us a beacon beam
shot down out of the heavens and into the water.

“Now Titus!”

Nothing happened.

“It ain’t working Miss Ellie, it’s flashing
red at me!”

Ellanara looked up from her screen at
Talaric, “I can’t fix it from here! I don’t know what we can do to
stop the beacon from working without primary weapons!”

“Can the ship’s shield block the
connection?” Talaric asked.

“No not its connectivity. It would pass
right through the ship!”

“What about the dome?” Talaric asked
doggedly.

Ellanara stared at him for several seconds,
“Yes that could work!”

“Hey guys I hate to butt in, but we don’t
have shields now either.” Katie said.

“What! Why?” Stormed out Talaric.

“Whatever shorted out primary weapons
drained the reserve power for the shield too.” Sparky said his face
looking stark.

I had been listening to them, but I had also
been watching my screens. They were coming!

One by one small craft popped out of the
water ahead of us and I opened fire with what I had left and had
the satisfaction of seeing one destroyed, but more and more of them
were coming to the surface and we were without shields and most of
our defenses.