The Beginning of the End (Universe in Flames Book 4) (23 page)

“Any news from the away team?” he asked his communications officer.

“I’m afraid no answer from Alpha Team. I dispatched Beta to look for them an hour ago,” answered Lieutenant Brents.

“I don’t like it. It’s not like Commander Tharaleos to miss a scheduled report.”

“There might simply be too much interference from the debris field.”

Saroudis didn’t buy it. Something was definitely amiss.

It had been a very hard day, and Saroudis hated the fact that they couldn’t travel back to Droxia right away. He really hoped Chase could defeat the opposition there, but he hated not being there as backup. Commodore Saroudis rose from his chair as the rest of the bridge crew looked at him.

“Major Bradis, you have the bridge. Commander Philis, you’re with me. We’re going to the planet’s surface to help Beta Team locate Daniel and his team.”

Twenty minutes later Saroudis, Philis and three more armed soldiers were doing flybys on the surface of their now derelict homeworld.

“Would you look at the damage?” said the commodore.

“Yes, Commodore, it’s hard to believe anyone might have survived down there.”

“I sure hope you’re wrong. I haven’t lost hope my family could have survived.”

“I’m sorry, Commodore, I didn’t mean anything by it. The way you talked about them in the past, I didn’t know they were on Alpha Prime. I thought they had been killed earlier in the war.”

“That’s alright, Commander, I should never have talked about them in the past tense. It sent the wrong message. At least not before I was sure. But the fall of the Star Alliance had been so fast and brutal I didn’t really think there was a shadow of hope in that regard. Think nothing of it, Commander.”

The commander looked at his controls. He clearly didn’t know what else to say. “I’m picking up some readings one hundred miles southwest of our current position.”

“We should have a look at it. Adjust our course, Commander, and punch it.”

“Course adjusted, Commodore.”

They soon saw the column of smoke rising from their target destination.

“Seems something went wrong over there,” said the commander.

“Let’s check it out.”

*   *   *

When Sarah arrived at her quarters she felt dizzy. Something was happening inside her belly. She felt a warmth build up within her.

I can’t be due already. It’s too early! What the hell is this?

She managed to crawl onto her bed and rested on her back, trying to calm herself down with deeper breaths. She was petrified by what was happening. Chris was very agitated. She could feel him moving inside her as if he wanted to get out.

When she lifted her shirt she saw her belly glowing: it did nothing to reassure her. When she was about to call a medical emergency, something happened.

She was no longer in her quarters but, instead, she stood on an alien world. From the description Ryonna had given of her homeworld, she sensed it was Droxia. The planet was in ruins. Cities had been leveled and fires burned as far as her eyes could see.

“Hello, Mom,” said a voice behind her.

Startled, she turned around and saw a fully grown young man, looking at her with a big smile on his face. He was an awesome young man. His face reminded her of Chase somehow, but also bore some of her own traits as well as her father’s. He had flaming-red, long hair like hers, and had one green eye and one purple one.

“What . . . what did you call me?”

“It’s me, Mom, Chris.”

“This cannot be. I must be delirious from the pain and you’re just a figment of my imagination.”

“I’ve brought you here to calm you down. I sensed your fears and wanted to let you know everything will be alright.”

She shook her head. “This is not happening. It can’t. You haven’t been born yet. How can I stand here speaking with you?”

“Listen carefully, Mom, Dad is in serious trouble, and I will need to send some of my own life-force to him help fight our enemies.”

“Is that what’s happening with my glowing belly?”

“Yes, but fear not. You won’t be harmed, but I’m afraid some discomfort cannot be prevented.”

“How can you help your father? We’re gazillions of miles apart!”

“You shouldn’t worry about that, Mom. I just want you to breathe deeply and trust that I won’t hurt you. Only then can I send some of my energy to Droxia. As long as you’re agitated and afraid I can’t do it without hurting you in the process.”

She was so shocked that she had practically forgotten where she stood. “Is this how things are at the moment on the planet?”

“Yes, but Dad is fighting with all his might to make it stop. There are still hundreds of millions of souls that can be saved on Droxia today. He knows that and right now he needs a little help.”

“Let’s say for one second that I am indeed talking to you and this isn’t just in my head.”

“Well, technically it is, but it’s real nonetheless.”

“Right. Chase is fighting Furies on Droxia right this moment?”

“He’s fighting one of them at the moment, yes.”

“And you’re going to send some of your life energy to him?”

“That’s correct. But we must hurry. Soon you’ll wake up. Please remember what I said and just breathe deeply and trust me. Nothing bad will happen to you.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry, just breathe.”

The scene in front of her eyes changed and morphed back into the familiar bulkheads and viewport from her quarters. Except everything was tainted with a golden light now.

She closed her eyes.

Relax, everything will be okay
. . .

She took deep, long breaths and forced herself to calm down.

That’s when it happened. She felt the skin on her belly burn for just a second and all the previous discomfort faded away.

When she opened her eyes a golden sphere of energy pulsated a few inches above her. The radiant glow enveloped her with warmth from head to toe and she felt as light as a feather.

Thanks, Mom
, she heard in her thoughts.

The sphere of energy started shaking uncontrollably and soon it collapsed into nothingness before her eyes.

*   *   *

When Arkoolis unleashed three series of side kicks, exchanging feet as he pivoted on himself in between each attack, Chase blocked the incoming blows with his forearms, but soon the speed of the general’s attack increased tremendously and three successive kicks hit Chase respectively on the right leg, torso and finally on his head, sending him down.

Arkoolis created a big red fireball and threw it at Chase before he could recover. The explosion launched him into the air. Arkoolis went for the kill with a flaming uppercut, but Chase spun in midair and countered the attack by erecting a shield, successfully blocking the incoming punch.

Chase spun multiple times in the air before landing on the ground, skidding a few yards backwards as he did.

He unleashed a series of blue fireballs towards the general, who deflected them with his hands. The deflected fireballs exploded all around them, sending soil, stones and grass into the air.

The fight was well balanced up till now, but then the ground shook briefly. Chase felt a tremendous amount of power at that exact moment.

Crap, that has to be Miseo.

Chase realized what it meant. Soon there would be two Furies to fight and that would make things much more difficult. While he had no doubt the other Fury had survived the impact with the
Phoenix
, he had hoped he would have more time to finish this fight.

He knew all along that the general was a formidable warrior, but expected his training to have been enough to enable him to defeat him any time he felt like it. Up till now neither had any serious advantage over the other, and it was not for a lack of trying on Chase’s part.

Perhaps it’s time I gave you a hand
, said Gaia in his mind.

Chase remembered she could actually hear his thoughts now.

Yeah, okay. We need to dispatch him before Miseo arrives.

Agreed.

Feel free to intervene whenever you feel like it.

Keep attacking him. I will surprise him, and then you can finish him off.

Chase was not keen on that tactic as he felt it wasn’t an honorable way to fight, but he went with it anyway.

The general made the first move and attacked Chase with all his might. He was fast, even for Chase. Even after his 10 G training he had to use all his energy to keep up. But he dodged the first three combos Arkoolis threw at him.

Then Gaia made her move. Her avatar droid sent its knee towards the general’s chin. He didn’t expect it and he was sent flying upwards. A little blood was expelled from his mouth.

Chase took advantage of Gaia’s attack and sent two dozen small fireballs towards the general. They all found their target and he was thrown left and right, each new explosion inflicting more and more damage.

But then Chase stopped.

What are you doing, Chase? Finish him off while you can!

I can’t. This is not how I want to win this fight.

Chase, only the result matters! He killed millions of Droxians today.

Why am I not surprised an AI would say that? An incomplete one at that. I’m sorry, Gaia, I will avenge the Droxian people by defeating these two Furies, but I need to win this fight on my own terms.

Very well. I can sense you won’t budge on this, so I’ll finish him off myself.

I don’t think you stand a chance; you should really stand down, Gaia.

But Gaia didn’t answer. She was already flying upwards, both fists extended, and hit the general in the back as he crashed back down towards the ground, still not having recovered from the brunt of Chase’s repeated attacks.

Chase felt a little annoyed. But then it all went south really fast.

Gaia landed a series of powerful combos and bruised the general’s face, but then she missed with three of her punches and Arkoolis grabbed her droid arm.

“You shouldn’t have intervened in this fight, tin can,” said Arkoolis, just before ripping Gaia’s arm off the rest of her body.

He threw the robotic limb to the ground. Sparks flew and oil squirted from the droid’s now armless shoulder.

“You’re done,” said Arkoolis, extending his open right palm in front of him.

From it shot a powerful column of red energy that impaled the Gaia droid and left a basketball-sized hole in the droid’s chest. Arkoolis then flew towards it and decapitated it with a powerful, flying kick.

Gaia’s droid head rolled and landed not far from Chase. Its eyes blinked madly for a second and then faded to nothingness.

Chase felt sorry for the Gaia droid, but he had been adamant about not winning the fight this way.

Sorry, Gaia.

Arkoolis concentrated his aura and healed his wounds.

“Now, where were we?”

Chase grew his aura and took an offensive posture.

The general rocketed into the air. Chase went in pursuit but couldn’t fly as fast as his Fury opponent. When he had gained enough of a head start, Arkoolis stopped and grew a gigantic fireball above him. It was almost a mile in diameter. When Chase caught up with him, Arkoolis launched it towards the south. It slowly advancing towards the nearest city.

Bastard!

“That’s for letting that piece of metal intervene in our fight. To each action there are consequences.”

Chase’s reaction was instantaneous. He flew as fast as he could towards the slowly advancing fireball. He was by its side pretty quickly and fired two powerful columns of blue energy into it, trying to detonate it in the air. But it had no effect. He flew in front of it, positioning himself between it and the city, hovering about two miles above the surface. He launched a huge column of blue energy towards the fiery inferno that approached relentlessly.

When Chase’s attack impacted with the general’s fireball it slowed its descent a little, but it kept coming towards him and the city. The resulting shockwave traveled all around him and shattered most of the nearby skyscraper windows into millions of pieces. Chase increased the power of his energy stream, which further slowed down the incoming attack, but soon it was upon Chase. He stopped firing and tried blocking the fireball with both his hands extended before him.

The amount of energy was such that Chase couldn’t slow its descent fast enough, and soon he was descending as well, being pushed little by little towards the city with the giant ball of fiery energy.

“You fool! You can’t stop this attack with your bare hands,” shouted Arkoolis from afar.

I have to! I can’t let more millions of live perish here today. Whatever it takes I will stop this monstrosity from hitting the city.

Soon he was approaching the top of the highest skyscrapers and everything shook for miles around. More windows exploded and the temperature rose to dangerous levels. Chase could sense the panic from the Droxians below. He could hear the screams of people witnessing the scene unfold.