The Beginning of the End (Universe in Flames Book 4) (22 page)

“Only via comms, but he gave me the feeling he was a bright and courageous kid.”

Ryonna smiled. “Thank you for helping my son, Keera.”

“I was just at the right place at the right time, I guess.”

“Still, this isn’t your fight. I appreciate what you’re doing for us.”

“If I’ve learned anything during my time with Chase and his friends—you included—it’s that one doesn’t back down in the face of overwhelming odds.”

“Yes, as difficult as it is for me to say this, Chase does have that effect on everyone who gets into his orbit. We all strive to be better versions of ourselves since we met him.”

“Do you think he can defeat the Furies today?”

“I have no idea, but if anyone can, it’s him. We’re clearly not equipped to deal with the Furies ourselves.”

“Yeah, I got that. But he’s only one man, Fury . . . Well, whatever he is.”

“He’s willing to risk his life to save us all, even when he gets flak for his efforts.”

“What are you referring to?”

“Never mind. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

Keera looked at her instruments. “We should reach the impact location in about ten minutes.”

“Very well. I haven’t eaten anything for more than a day. Anything I could sink my teeth into?”

“There are plenty of provisions in the mess hall. Help yourself to anything you’d like.”

Ryonna got up from the co-pilot’s seat and put her hand on Keera’s shoulder. “Thank you.”

“Anytime.”

*   *   *

When Daniel opened his eyes he was no longer in the forest. He found himself resting on a bed with a wet towel on his forehead.

What happened? Where am I?

“Anybody here?” he asked.

There was no immediate response, but then a young woman with long blond hair came into his room.

“Hello,” said Daniel, not sure what else to say.

“Hello, sir, my name is Sendra. You don’t have to worry. We don’t mean you any harm.”

“We?”

“My mom and I. We found you near that building that exploded a while back.”

“I see. I take it I have you to thank for all of this,” said Daniel, pointing at his bandages.

She nodded and smiled.

“Well, thank you. Any chance you brought some of my gear with me?”

She opened a wooden cupboard, took a few things out and put them on Daniel’s bed. He tried to sit up but was rewarded with a strong pain that traveled his spine. “Ouch.”

“You shouldn’t try to move too much for the time being. You seem quite injured.”

“Yeah, a hundred-yard fall will do that to anyone, I guess.”

“How did you survive?”

“Let’s just say a tree helped.”

“I should get my mother. She will want to talk with you.”

“Very well. I’ll be right here. Looks like I’m not going anywhere for a while.”

Sendra smiled and left the room.

When she returned with her mother, Daniel thought he recognized her from a photo on the commodore’s desk.

“Are you the Saroudis family?”

The mother sent her daughter out of the room, closed the door and took a blaster out and pointed it at Daniel. “Who are you? How do you know our names?”

“Relax. Your husband is my commanding officer.”

Her eyes watered and she dropped the blaster to the ground.

“He will be really happy to hear you survived. Are your other two children around as well? We should try to get the commodore on the line.”

She wiped some of her tears, “Commodore?”

“Your husband was promoted.”

She smiled for a second, but her expression quickly turned back to sorrow. “I’m afraid neither of our sons made it.”

“I’m so sorry to hear this. Please accept my deepest condolences for your loss.”

“Thank you, mister . . .?”

“Tharaleos, Commander Daniel Tharaleos. It’s an honor to meet the wife of Commodore Saroudis. Without him we would all have been killed.”

“Why did it take you guys so long to come back to Alpha Prime?”

“It’s a long story. We were stranded on the other side of the galaxy. Outside the known regions, in fact.”

“Where is my husband, Daniel?”

“In orbit. I lost contact with the
Destiny
a few hours ago, but I’m sure they’re fine. We just need to find a way to communicate with the ship.”

“What’s the status of the Star Alliance? It’s been so long that we have lost all hope.”

“It has been mostly annihilated. Only a few ships survived the Zarlack attack. In fact, we thought they had completely destroyed Alpha Prime.”

Daniel put himself in her shoes. It must have been hard to not know if anyone had survived in the Alliance, and to wonder if her husband had been one of the victims. He could see in her eyes a mixture of pain, sadness and a smidgen of hope.

“I see. Here it’s been hell. When the attack began it rained fire from the heavens. In mere hours the biggest cities had been bombarded from space, and only a few survived. When we first met other survivors we thought at first that we could rebuild. But then they sent these lizard men to the surface. They tracked us and killed us by the thousands. Joshua, our first son, was killed in the bombing of the cities, and Ethan died sacrificing himself so we could escape certain death when a battalion of lizards came hunting us.”

Her tears now streamed down her tired face like wild rivers.

“I’m so sorry for what you had to go through. How did you manage to survive for so long?”

“We hid in underground complexes, caves, and moved farther and farther away from the big cities. After a few months the enemy seemed to have left, but they had left booby traps all around. We were attacked by vicious droids. Those that were once our servants had been reprogrammed to exterminate us.”

Daniel remembered his deadly encounter with one such machine.

“Did a resistance build? We came back the minute we received a distress call coming from the tower where you found me.”

“I don’t know. We’re always on the run. We never stay in one place more than a few weeks. It’s been more than two months since we saw another soul.”

“I see.” Daniel tried to sit up in bed.

“I’m not sure it’s such a good idea to move just yet. Your injuries are severe. We don’t have the necessary equipment to see if you have any internal ones. Perhaps you should rest until the
Destiny
finds us.”

“I have to contact your husband. The sooner I’m in med-bay on board
Destiny
, the sooner I can get patched up.”

He still throbbed with pain, but he forced through it. Once he sat on the bed he looked through the gear Sendra had put by his legs but he didn’t see any communications devices.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a communicator, Mrs. Saroudis?”

“Call me Alexandra. And I’m afraid not. Anything that emits strong electromagnetic signals could attract the wrong crowd.”

Made sense.

“How far are we from the tower?”

“About ten miles.”

Daniel realized the effort it must have taken to bring his unconscious body back from so far away and was really grateful. “Thanks for getting me out of harm’s way. It must not have been easy.”

“Reaper helped.”

“Reaper?”

“Our wolfen pet. He’s very strong. Once we made a structure to lay you upon, he dragged you back most of the way.

Wolfens were very difficult to tame but it was said that once they had formed a bond with humanoids, they were loyal for life.

“I’ll have to thank him personally then.”

“If he takes a liking to you. He can be very aggressive with strangers. He saved our hide more times than I care to count.”

Daniel nodded. “I need to get back out there. Hopefully our shuttle is still intact and that’s the fastest way of rejoining the
Destiny
.”

“If you do you’ll have to go on your own. It’s pure luck we found you. We were gathering mushrooms in a forest nearby when we heard the explosion. I didn’t want to come but Sendra can be very persuasive. However, the area where we found you is notorious for droid patrols. Many have lost power by now, but if we have learned anything it is that we can’t be too cautious these days.”

“Then I should try to get my shuttle, swing back to pick you up here and bring you back on board the
Destiny
.”

“Do what you have to do, Daniel, but as far as coming with you, I’ll have to discuss that with my daughter.”

Daniel frowned. How was it possible that she didn’t want to jump at the opportunity to get back on board her husband’s ship? “I thought you’d want to see Adonis.”

“Daniel, don’t get me wrong. I’m grateful he survived, but he abandoned us here. For months we had to fend for ourselves. Both my sons are dead. I don’t know what to think anymore.”

“It’s not his fault, Alexandra. We also have been fighting for our lives on a daily basis ever since the fall of the Alliance.”

“And you are still fighting off the Obsidian?”

“It’s complicated. The lizard men you talked about are called the Zarlacks. We’ve been fighting them mostly. A Fury named Argos commanded their forces, and while we took out a lot of it—thanks to an alliance with the world that sheltered us after the fall—he has now freed the rest of the Furies.”

“Furies? You must be mistaken. They were defeated thousands of years ago.”

“I’m afraid not, and they’re back and wreaking all sorts of havoc. In fact, the Obsidian is now part of the newly formed Earth Alliance. They are helping us fight them back.”

“I’m not sure I like the world you’re describing, Daniel. Perhaps things aren’t so bad here after all.”

Daniel bit his lip.

Good job selling her on coming with you.

Daniel tried to get up from his bed but a cascade of pain radiated all over his body.

“You should try and rest some more.”

Daniel didn’t want to rest. He wanted to get to the shuttle and return to the
Destiny
, but his body didn’t seem to want to comply at the moment.

“Just an hour or two, then I’m going.”

Ronan checked the state of his friend Arknon. He was relieved to find a pulse but worried by the multiple wounds all over his body. He used his portable scanner to try to get a better picture of his state of health and cringed at the result.

Arknon had internal bleeding and it was a miracle he was still breathing, even if ever-so faintly. The temperature inside the pod was rising fast due to the proximity of the furnace outside, more so since the pod had been opened. Ronan had to act fast. He grabbed Arknon and put him on his shoulder.

“Hang on, my friend, I’m getting you out of here.”

Moving him this way was highly risky, but better than letting him cook inside the pod.

Ronan climbed out of the pod as carefully as he could. He put distance between them and the nearby towering inferno until the temperature was more bearable.

He laid Arknon’s body in the grass, went for the first-aid kit in his backpack and bandaged Arknon’s visible wounds.

When he ran out of bandages, Ronan removed Arknon’s boots, put them back on his own feet and quickly ran back to the pod to get the other first-aid kit. When he was about to climb out again he heard the comms on the pod activate.

“R-nan. Do --- hear? --ease respond.”

Ronan thought he recognized his mother’s voice but it couldn’t be her. She was too far away. Perhaps Keera had managed to patch her through.

He climbed back inside the pod and tried clearing the signal.

“This is Ronan. Is it you, Keera?”

“Thank the prophets you’re alive, son. I’m on board the
Valken
with Keera. We’re on our way. We should be there shortly.”

“It’s good to hear your voice, Mom. Weren’t you supposed to be on Alpha Prime? How did you get back here so fast?”

“It’s a long story, Ronan. I’ll tell you later.”

“Alright. Please hurry up. Commander Arknon is badly hurt. He needs urgent medical attention.”

“See you soon, son. Stay near the pod.”

“I’ll be a few hundred yards east of it. It’s too hot here. Plus I need to watch over Arknon.”

“Very well, son, see you shortly. Take a portable comms with you so we can contact you; and please be careful.”

“Right. See you soon.”

He looked around the pod for an earpiece communicator, put it in and activated it.

“Checking comms. Do you hear me, Mom?”

“Five by five, son. Our ETA is four minutes.”

Ronan ran back towards Arknon when a nearby explosion made him lose his balance and fall to the ground. When he got back on his feet he looked in the direction of the blast and what he saw made his blood freeze.

There stood a man in the middle of the fire, with his arms slightly extended to the sides, while pieces of burning ship and tons of soil and stones were sent flying all around him. A piece of the
Phoenix
rebounded only a few yards from him.

This is not possible. He can’t be alive!

But there stood the Fury, his skin burned to a crisp. His eyes shone red, giving him a demonic look. He levitated. While in the air he curled into a ball and suddenly extended his limbs, unleashing a powerful shockwave that extinguished most of the fire around him. He unleashed the most ear-piercing, powerful and animalistic roar Ronan had ever heard. A bright red aura engulfed his entire body and his burns quickly healed.

What kind of monster is this?

After a few seconds the Fury’s skin was smooth, and he looked in perfect health.

Ronan was terrified. His brain simply could not interpret what he had just witnessed. He had to get back to Arknon but his limbs simply refused to move as fear enveloped him from head to toe. He couldn’t help looking at the Fury. Then their gazes met. The look on the Fury’s face intensified and he flew towards Ronan.

That sent the biggest jolt of adrenaline throughout his body and his legs started moving. He ran as fast as he could towards Arknon, but before traveling half the distance, the Fury landed in front of him with a look of murder in his glowing eyes.

“You! Are you responsible for this?” asked the Fury as he pointed towards whatever was left of the
Phoenix
.

“What’s it to you?”

“I’m gonna kill you anyway, but if you’re the one responsible, I might actually take my time and enjoy myself.”

Ronan swallowed hard. He had never felt so afraid in his entire life, but his Droxian pride wouldn’t let him show it.

“I really thought that would kill you, asshole.”

Miseo’s teeth clenched.

“Someone had to do something. You were destroying my world one city at the time.”

“As it should be, and I’m glad you told me the truth.”

Ronan didn’t wait. He sent a powerful right hook towards Miseo. When his fist impacted with the Fury’s face, not only did it not budge, but Ronan felt a horrible pain as the bones in his hand cracked upon impact. It felt as if he had just punched a twenty-inch-thick wall made of quadrinium-reinforced alloy.

“A destroyer didn’t take me out and you think you can hit me with your fist? Your kind is so pathetically stupid; we’re actually doing the universe a favor by wiping you out.”

Ronan held his broken hand in the other, his face deformed from the pain. He was not sure what had been wounded more, though, his hand or his pride.

Miseo smirked and shook his head from side to side.

“Proving my point. Now for some real pain.”

He extended his index finger towards Ronan and started levitating him upwards.

Ronan’s ear-comm activated. “Hang on, Ronan, we’re near.”

“You’d better hurry up,” said Ronan out loud.

Miseo, who thought Ronan was talking to him, smiled. “You’re courageous for a boy your age, I’ll grant you that, but I’m going to enjoy taking my time with you.”

A thin, red laser beam shot from Miseo’s finger and pierced Ronan’s shoulder. The burning sensation radiated around the point of entry.

For a moment Ronan thought he would pass out.

*   *   *

Sarah went to see Yanis in engineering but he wasn’t there. She tried his quarters, but there was no answer. She tried getting him on the comms.

“Sarah Kepler to Yanis, please come in.”

Still no answer. She had no doubt he was in no mood to answer right now, but the
Hope
’s internal power distribution was a mess. The engineering crew were doing their best to repair the broken conduits but they could use Yanis’ expertise. He had designed the ship, after all. Sarah knew how cruel it was for her to ask him to get back to work in a moment like this, but she also wanted to see how he was doing.

She resorted to asking the computer for his current position. He was inside a bulkhead tube near one of the damaged power conduits. After climbing three flights of ladder and crawling through the access tunnel, she was exhausted. Not really easy in her condition. Little Chris was really starting to show on her. In fact, she had no doubt that both Chase and the doc would reprimand her if they knew she was putting herself in such uncomfortable positions.

She felt a little worried about her pregnancy. Not only had she never really envisioned having kids, but Chris was going to be something else altogether. Reviving dead people, protecting her with in-womb shields and god knows what else. What human mother wouldn’t be terrified of what was growing inside her under these circumstances?

She saw Yanis with his head between his knees, sobbing, and it stung her heart just looking at him.

“Yanis, mind if I talk with you a little?”

Her voice startled him and he quickly wiped his tears. His voice trembled a little. “Sure thing, Cap.”

She sat next to him and put her hand around his shoulder. “I’m so sorry for your loss, Yanis.”

“Thank you. I still can’t believe she’s gone.”

“I know. You want to talk about it?”

“I appreciate what you’re trying to do here, Sarah, but I’d rather be alone right now.”

“I understand, but perhaps it’s better if you have someone to talk to.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Sarah. You know I like you, but right now you just remind me of Chase, and that’s not a good thing.”

“You do realize he did everything he could to save her?”

“So he says. But if he wasn’t coming up with one ludicrous tactic after another, she’d still be alive.”

“I think you’ve got it backwards, Yanis. If Chase wasn’t doing what he does, I think we’d all be dead ten times over by now. But I can understand how you feel at the moment. I’m sorry to have bothered you. I’ll let you be alone now.”

He embraced her and started crying on her shoulder.

She felt so sad for him. Fillio was all that was left of his family. He must have felt terribly alone right now.

“We’ll always be here for you,” she said as she patted his back softly. “I know you hate Chase’s guts right now, but trust me, he feels like crap as well.”

“I keep thinking this is a nightmare and I’m gonna wake up soon. I really thought he would get her back.”

“I know.”

Yanis released his hug and looked down. His eyes were red. “I said horrible things to him. Not only that, but I might have been partly responsible for her death as well.”

“What are you talking about? You did nothing wrong.”

“When Chase put her on the ground in front of me, I saw the multiple electrical burns all over her body. I think I caused this trying to improve the StarFury. I’m sure Chase told you that the new revisions could overload?”

“He did.”

“Well, it’s a design flaw I thought wouldn’t happen often. But when three Zarlack destroyers sacrifice themselves to take an entire fleet, that incommensurable burst of energy certainly overloaded her fighter’s power conduits, and the electrical burns on her body before he healed them were proof of that. So you see, in fact I might have killed my own sister.”

“No, this war killed her. Neither you nor Chase are responsible. You both did what you thought was best. When you feel better you can tell him you didn’t really mean it.”

“I guess so. I was never too keen on him at first. I really hated that he dated her back at the academy.”

“He did what now?”

“I’m sorry, I thought you knew. They were pretty close once.”

Sarah felt a little jealous for just a moment, and then realized she had nothing to be jealous about. So what if they had dated before he met her? She had dated other men as well. Chase went through hell and back to rescue her, and even though she was still a little mad at the consequences, she couldn’t blame him for it. In fact, she was fully aware there was no bigger proof of love, and yet she had given him so much grief for it. Nah, it really didn’t matter that he dated Fillio in the past.

“She never really recovered when he ended it.”

“Why did he?”

“Mostly because I asked him to. In fact, they had both been assigned to the
Cronos
, but after our talk he agreed to take his commission on the smaller
Destiny
with me, to make it simpler and use that as a reason to distance himself from her.”

“That’s quite a bro move, right there.”

“Yeah, I know. And I wasn’t even being such a good friend to him until then. But he saw how important it was for me, and he backed off. That’s why I feel so bad telling him I hated him earlier on. But I still can’t fathom she’s gone and I’m still angry. I’m not so sure that I’m angry at him. He just was an easy target, being there when it happened.”

“I understand, Yanis, and so will Chase. Don’t worry about that right now and take all the time you need to grieve. I came here to tell you that whenever you need to talk to anyone, you can come see me.”

“Thank you, Sarah. You and Chase are the best friends a man could ever ask for.”

She patted his shoulder affectionately and started walking back towards the access shaft.

“Sarah?”

“Yes, Yanis?”

“Was that all you wanted to say?”

“No, but it doesn’t matter. You need your alone time and I respect that.”

“You know what, Sarah, I could use a distraction, so if there’s something I can help you with? Perhaps it will help me think about something else.”

“In that case, we really need to repair power distribution. In fact, I thought that’s what you came here to do.”

“I did initially . . . until I broke down.”

“Well, take all the time you need, okay?”

He nodded. “Thanks.”

“Sure thing, buddy. I need to go back to the bridge now. I’ll see you later, okay?”

*   *   *

Saroudis was sitting on his captain’s chair on board the
Destiny
. The moment the last Zarlack destroyer had been dispatched, he had coordinated multiple search and rescue teams in their attempt to find survivors in the debris field that was once their battleground. A couple of ships had been disabled, so these received shuttles with engineers on board to help with repairs of their main systems. These could still be salvaged. But locating survivor pilots in their disabled starfighters, or other crewmen within severed parts of the capital ships, took a long time.