Izikiel (24 page)

Space around the planet
Tellus
was alive with activity. Light emitting buoys outlined a series of space lanes which flowed with space ships. Black, silver and gold hulls reflected the sun’s light as the ships travelled to and from the planet. Two significantly larger vessels were positioned between the laneways and an orbiting moonlet. Their dark grey exteriors were dotted with weapon mounts and tube like protrusions. An imposing looking cluster of engines was situated at the rear of each ship. They were clearly military in design and looked powerful enough to wage an interstellar war.

‘What are those?’ Izikiel asked
.

‘
If it wasn’t impossible, I’d say that they were Juggernauts,’ Vorn replied.

‘Why would it be impossible?’

‘Because the last Juggernaut was destroyed over a thousand years ago,’ Vorn explained. ‘If I remember my history correctly, they were constructed as part of the fleet that went out to challenge the Void Lords. None returned.’

Izikiel
was overcome by a sense of awe as he realised where and when they were. This was the golden age of the human empire, when the colony worlds were at their peak. The final moments before humanity challenged the Void Lords and faced oblivion until the first disciple, Lady Serafine, showed them another way to do battle.

‘Hang on, if
that’s a Juggernaut, then that means we’ve travelled back in time over a thousand years?’ Jonas asked.

‘It would appear so. Whoever is manipulating time is powerful indeed,’
Cassandra replied. Her gaze travelled from Izikiel to the little girl and then back to Izikiel. Her meaning was not lost on him. There was a more pressing issue at hand though.

‘
Vorn, is anyone likely to realise that we’re not from around here?’ Izikiel asked.

The ship captain nodded.

‘We’ll be alright until someone requests our identification. Then we’ll probably get blown to pieces.’

‘That’s reassuring
.’

‘The only way around that is to disable our transmitter so t
hat we’re unable to communicate,’ Vorn said.

‘Won’t they just assume
that we’re hostile if we’re not responding to hails?’ Izikiel asked.

‘They’ll be able to tell that this ship is
Tellusian
in origin. That should be enough for them to allow us to land. After that, we may have some explaining to do.’

Izikiel saw Cassandra shaking her head as the others all had the same apprehensive look on their faces. Despite the number of weaknesses in their plan, Izikiel found himself trusting the ship captain.

‘Alright, let’s get ready. Xavier, Jonas, I suggest that you arm yourselves. Don’t forget that we’re landing on a planet which is mobilising for the greatest battle mankind ever fought,’ Izikiel said. Then he turned to Cassandra and said, ‘I need to speak with you. Alone.’

‘Alright,’ the human-form Elemental
said.

Together they walked out of the control room and made their way towards the medical bay. Closing the door behind them, Izikiel turned to
her.

‘Can you sense anything?’
he asked.

Cassandra’s eyes flared up as Izikiel felt her expanding her link to the Eternal Flame. The heat within the room increased noticeabl
y. Then, just as quickly, it was gone.

‘There is definitely a true believer on
Tellus
. A powerful one at that but there’s something wrong. It’s almost as if they are hidden behind some sort of field, struggling to connect to the Eternal Flame directly. I am unable to communicate with them,’ Cassandra said.

‘Can you sense any of the
creatures of the Void?’ Izikiel asked.

‘No. But there were none here at this time, remember? This is before the human fleet challenged the
Void Lords in space around
Vesta
.’

‘
Vesta
? You mean to tell me that the great battle was fought in space above
Vesta
?’

‘Yes. I thought you knew that? Why, is that significant?’

Izikiel considered it for a moment. What he had begun to suspect before was now becoming very clear.
Vesta was the key
.

‘I think
it might be but I’m not sure yet,’ he replied.

Cassandra’s blue eyes considered him for a moment. Every time she looked at him, he felt as if she were able to perceive what he was thinking.

‘Well if you figure it out, be sure and let me know,’ she said.

‘I will.’

They returned to the control room just as the first communication resounded within the ship.

‘Unknown vessel, this is
Tellus
planetary control. Our sensors indicate that you are on an approach vector. Please identify yourself or we will be forced to open fire. I repeat, please identify yourself immediately.’

‘Here goes nothing,’ Vorn said.

Adjusting several controls, he pressed a button to respond. Instead of the usual silence, a sharp crackling sound resounded throughout the control room. Speaking quietly over the static, Vorn responded to the hail.

‘Unknown vessel, your transmitter appears
to be damaged. Repeat message.’

Again
, Vorn disrupted the message. This time the reply took longer to come back. When it did, Izikiel realised that their gamble had failed.

‘Unknown vessel, power down and prepare to be boarded. Do not attempt to land. I repeat, do not attempt to land or you will be destroyed.’

Vorn flicked off the communication channel.

‘Well, that didn’t work,’ Jonas said.

‘No, it really didn’t,’ Vorn agreed.

‘What now?’

‘If we make a run for it we should be able to set down before they get near us. Once on the ground, we’ll be able to explain our way out of this.’

While Vorn was speaking, Izikiel’s attention turned to the view screen. Something had changed. The ships were still flowing along the space lane
s as before with the buoys emitting their steady light. Sunlight from
Tellus’
sun streamed across their metallic hulls. The moonlet was visible in the distance. With a sinking feeling, Izikiel realised what was wrong.

‘Oh, no,’ he said.

‘What is it?’ Vorn asked.

Izikiel simply pointed with his hand.
Silence descended over the control room as they all stared at the view screen. It showed one of the Juggernauts powering up. Its multiple drives ignited with a powerful orange glow. An array of weapon tubes protruded forward as it manoeuvred out of high orbit. Then its drives fired a single burst of flaming plasma and propelled the most formidable space ship ever built directly towards them.

Jonas’ mouth opened wide as he said
, ‘I think we’re in serious trouble.’

Izikiel was leaning on a metal railing. It was dark red in colour and cold to the touch. There were small pieces of rust on it which dug into his hands. None of this registered on him as he stared wide eyed at the incredible sight before him.
A gleaming blue and white ocean liner towered over the surrounding wharf and apartment buildings. The largest ship of its type, it was easily the biggest thing Izikiel had ever seen. His youthful enthusiasm was reflected in his smile as he waved at the passengers on board. Someday, he told himself, that would be me on board waving back.

‘Izikiel,’ Te’Anne said
, shaking him by the shoulder.

‘What is it?’

‘We’ve got to think of something before that ship ends up on top of us.’

She pointed at the view screen as she said it. Sure enough, the gigantic bulk of the
Juggernaut was getting closer. It filled a large portion of the screen, blocking out the space lanes and moonlet behind it. The similarity to the ancient cruise ship was not lost on Izikiel.

‘Can we outrun them?’
he asked.

‘Under normal propulsion? No chance,’ Vorn replied, shaking his head.

‘What about the quantum-helix drive?’

‘Yes, but where
would we go? I thought the whole idea was to land on
Tellus
.’

‘Oh, it still is.’

Cassandra looked up from the instrument panel as she asked, ‘You can’t be serious?’

Izikiel smiled.

‘Ok, you are. How exactly are we going to control our re-entry to avoid burning up in the atmosphere under that sort of acceleration?’

‘We’re going to use the power of the Flame to protect the ship,’ Izikiel replied.

Cassandra considered his words for a moment before replying. ‘That might just work given we only need to get far enough into the atmosphere that the Juggernaut can’t follow us.’

Vorn shook his head.

‘You’re forgetting one thing.’

‘What’s that?’

‘The Juggernaut’s were equipped with the most advanced micro-fusion weaponry mankind ever devised. They’ll destroy us the moment we begin powering up the quantum-helix drive.’

‘L
eave that to me,’ Izikiel said.

He felt the heat expand
ing within him as he floated upwards. Just as he began to see the outlines of the
Valiant Crusader’s
hull, he felt a hand on his arm. Opening his eyes, he saw Cassandra’s flaming blue eyes staring directly at him.

‘You
can’t,’ she said.

‘Why
not?’

‘
If you use the power of the Flame against the
Tellusians
you could alter the very course of history. Don’t forget, they don’t know about the Eternal Flame or that it can be used against the Void Lords. If you reveal that here you could destroy any chance humanity has of fighting back.’

Izikiel realised
that what she was saying was true. Humanity hadn’t learned of the Eternal Flame yet. They wouldn’t learn of it until countless perished in the initial conflict. A conflict that would forever change humanity.

‘But we have a chance to change things for the better,’ he
said. ‘Think about it, if humanity were to learn of the Eternal Flame now, they could challenge the Void Lords from the start. Combined with the fleet, they could be destroyed once and for all.’

Cassandra shook her head.

‘No, Izikiel. There is no time for any of them to become true believers and you are not ready to lead them. I’m sorry but there’s nothing we can do to help them. History
must
follow its course, regardless of how painful its consequences may be.’

Izikiel didn’t say anything. Instead, he loo
ked at the view screen. The Juggernaut was now so close that he could make out the individual turrets and weapon mounts on its dark grey hull. Interspersed between them were clear sections with people just barely visible inside. Human beings who had attempted to make a new life for themselves on the colony worlds. Now, each and every one of those on board was going to their death.

At that moment Izikiel truly hated the
Void Lords and their never ending struggle with the Eternal Flame and its followers. But even more so, he hated himself for being unable to do anything to save these people. Letting out a slow breath, he reluctantly agreed with the human-form Elemental.

‘Alright, I take your point. But we’ll still need to find another way of protecting the ship while Vorn fires up the quantum-helix drive.’

‘What if we attacked them?’ Jonas suggested.

‘If we did
what
?’ Izikiel asked.

‘Attacked them first. We’ve still got those nuclear flare bombs on board. That should be enough to distract them long enough for us to enter the planet’s atmosphere.’

‘Will that work?’

‘Theoretically, yes,’ Vorn replied. ‘But we’ll need to time this perfectly. The moment we begin spool
ing the quantum-helix drive, we’ll need to deploy the nuke directly at them. With the timer set to ten seconds, it should detonate at the same time that we accelerate forward.’

‘What if it doesn’t?’

Vorn turned around to look at Izikiel.

‘
Then this is going to be a
very
short trip.’

The quantum-helix drive commenced its spooling phase just as Jonas and Xavier deployed one of the nuclear flare bombs. Its timer set for ten seconds, the dark oblong shaped weapon glided silently into space. Izikiel
was distantly aware of Vorn’s voice counting down as he floated above the ship. He could feel Cassandra’s presence next to him. Glancing upwards, he was taken aback by the sheer size of the Juggernaut. While it had appeared huge on the view screen, seeing it up close was even more intimidating. For a moment, he questioned whether their bomb could really damage it. Then, there was no more time to think.

‘...one!’ Vorn shouted as he activated the quantum-helix drive. Personal shields sprang
up covering their occupants’ acceleration couches as the
Valiant Crusader
shot forward, heading straight for the planet below them.

‘Multiple weapons lock
. They’re getting ready to fire!’

G
reen beams of light began to condense on the tips of the Juggernauts’ launchers. They appeared as liquid spheres of light, ready to erupt at any moment.

Then t
he nuclear flare bomb exploded.

Izikiel was thankful that his physical body was well protected within the
Valiant Crusader’s
hull. He would have surely gone blind as a gigantic plume of searing white light exploded in a spherical direction. Then it contracted just as quickly as it had expanded. Jonas and Xavier had deliberately set the bomb to its lowest yield to avoid destroying the Juggernaut. Even so, the weapon’s power was formidable as Izikiel saw dozens of nearby ships flung off course.

Unlike the nuclear weapons he had seen pictures of when he was younger, Izikiel realised that the aftermath of the flare bomb did not result in a mushroom cloud. Instead, a thin disc shaped vapour trail erupted outwards from the point the flare co
ntracted to. He could see the Juggernaut listing from the initial explosion. Now as the vapour cloud expanded with only slightly lesser force, its shields wavered and failed. Large pieces of its dark grey hull warped and spun off into space.

(
’Izikiel,’) Cassandra’s voice spoke directly into his mind.

Turning his attention back to the ship
, he saw a massive wall of fire around the front section. Its angle of descent was so steep that it was burning up in the atmosphere. He had to act quickly.

(
‘
Ignis
’)
Taking control of the fire with his mind, he detached it from the hull of the ship. The force was incredible as the quantum-helix drive continued to unspool forcing the ship deeper into the planet’s atmosphere. Izikiel could feel his will straining to control the fire. Just as he felt
that he would break, the fire lifted.

(
’Thanks,’) he cast the thought out.

(
’Don’t mention it. Now concentrate or you’ll all be fried.’)

(
’What about you?’)

She sent him the mental image of a smile.

(’I’ll be fine. Don’t forget what I am.’)

Despite the effort of controlling the fire, his mind conjured up an image of Cassandra
wreathed in flames.
No, too obvious.

All of a sudden the pressure dropped and the
fire subsided. Izikiel realised that the quantum-helix drive must have unspooled fully as the ship decelerated rapidly. He looked around the control room as his personal shield peeled back.

‘Did we make it?’ he asked.

‘Only just. We lost some non-essential systems in the forward sections of the ship,’ Vorn replied. ‘Another few seconds of that kind of heat and we wouldn’t have made it.’

Izikiel n
odded.

‘You two ok?’
he asked.

Te’Anne smiled as the little girl gave him the thumbs up. Smiling back
, he turned his attention to the main view screen. It was showing them descending through a thin layer of wispy clouds as the sky around them turned from black to a deep blue. Dropping through the last layer of cloud, Izikiel’s eyes opened wide as he beheld the most incredible city he had ever seen.

Gigantic glass and metal buildings stretched far into the sky. Their fantastic angles and semi-organic shapes melded together to form an incredible futuristic metropolis. Hundreds of ships moved between the buildings, following clearly marked out traffic lanes. Large patches of parkland were interspersed throughout the urban setting.
Moving throughout the city, across the carefully manicured parks and standing on innumerable landing pads, were people. Hundreds and thousands of people. Izikiel couldn’t believe his eyes.

‘It’s incredible,
’ he said.

‘Yes,’ Vorn said. ‘It certainly didn’t look like this the last time I was here.’

‘This is the height of humanity’s civilisation, before the fall,’ Cassandra said. ‘This more than anything underlines the devastation caused by the Void Lords. They must be stopped.’

‘They will,’ Izikiel said. ‘But for now we need to figure out what’s going on and
we need to find the Interstellar Library.’

‘That shouldn’t be too difficult. The
Valiant Crusader
can interface with the city’s network and download the location of the Library,’ Vorn said.

‘Ok,
this
is
going to be a lot easier than I thought.’

A series of detailed schematics and information flashed across the view screen. Vorn scrolled through them, searching for the location of the Interstellar Library. The data reached
the end, a single cursor blinking.

‘There’s no re
cord of an Interstellar Library,’ Vorn said.

‘That’s because it doesn’t exist yet,’ Izikiel said after a moment
’s thought. ‘The Library was created by the second disciple, Sofija. But that hasn’t happened yet.’

‘So what do we do now
?’ Te’Anne asked.

‘Well, we could
-’

The ship was rocked by a series of explosions. Grabbing the cont
rols, Vorn stabilised the ship as red icons flashed up throughout the control room. After a moment, they dimmed to yellow and then stopped flashing.

‘What was that?’ Izikiel asked as he held onto one of the acceleration couches.

‘
Tellusian
interceptors. They’re firing on us!’ Vorn replied as the ship was struck again.

This time the red icons remained lit
up as the ship began to shake erratically. The view screen showed half a dozen ships following them. Their squat dark blue hulls had a central glass cockpit with twin weapon turrets on either side. They were clearly designed for only one thing.

‘We’ve got a hull rupture in the cargo area. Cassandra, can you find us somewhere to land?’
Vorn said.

‘Give me a moment,’ the human-form Elemental replied. Scrolling through a series of data on a side display unit
, she said. ‘There. Large landing pad, directly in front of us. Can you make it?’

‘Only one way to find out.’

Grabbing the controls, Vorn accelerated forward. The ship responded despite the damage it had sustained. As they moved past a particularly tall jade coloured glass structure, another wave of ships appeared in front of them. Hovering in mid-air, they opened fire. A series of projectiles accelerated towards them at frightening speed. Striking the
Valiant Crusader
, they penetrated its shield and struck the hull beneath. The force of the impacts sent them sprawling.

Struggling to his feet, Izikiel was vaguely aware of a series of persistent alarms blaring throughout the ship. Almost all of the red icons had stopped blinking and turned black. He watched as Vorn and Cassandra desperately attempted to manoeuvre the heavily damaged ship to the ground.

‘Oh no...’ Izikiel whispered.

The interceptors released another salvo of projectiles
. Izikiel instinctively knew that they wouldn’t survive one more direct hit.

‘
Cassandra, drop us to the ground now!’ Vorn shouted.

‘I’m trying but it’s not responding. I can’t -’

Izikiel watched the projectiles expand in the view screen. There were so many of them. Despite Cassandra’s warning, he reached out with his mind. Just as he was about to destroy the projectiles, a single word resonated in his mind and everything changed.

(
‘
Porro
’)