Universe in Flames 3: Destination Oblivion (12 page)

Saroudis
swallowed heavily, not sure if he wanted to know more. “Do you know who that
enemy is?”

“No. In my vision
they appear distorted, as if they’re not even from the same plane of existence
as us.”

“How is that
possible?”

“I have no idea. All
I know is that every possible future I look into lately, they’re there. Their arrival,
whenever it happens, seems inevitable at this point.”

“But will we
prevail?”

“There is
. . . There’s only one future I
see in which they can be stopped, but at great cost. Much of the life in this
universe will burn before it can be reborn, if
. . .”

“If it is even
reborn?”

She nodded.

“Are you ever
wrong?”

“I am neither
right or wrong, Adonis. I just see what could become, and sometimes I get hints.
A person, a place, that becomes clear in my vision, as if I’m being nudged
towards it. A way for me to know who or what will be instrumental for that
particular future to come to fruition.”

“Like Chase and
Earth?”

“Yes. They are
part of whatever the future holds, that’s for sure. And they are the keys to making
the only acceptable future hold.”

“Boy, that’s
really heavy stuff. I think I lost my appetite.”

“So have I. I’m
sorry, I shouldn’t have told you any of this.”

“No, that’s
alright. It’s fascinating, in fact. Plus I can see it takes a toll on you. So
if talking about it helps you release some of that burden, I’m more than happy
to listen. But mind if I ask you one more thing?”

“That’s sweet. It
does help a little, thank you. Ask away.”

“What about Zeus?
Will the rest of the Olympians help?”

“Doubtful.”

“Why?”

“When we stopped
interfering with younger races—Earth but also many others—it was for a reason.
A new age began once the Furies were defeated. The older races decided not to
interfere with the younger races. We decided it was your time to shape the world
you lived in. No matter the consequences of your actions.”

“I can respect
that. I mean, who doesn’t want free will?”

“Indeed. You
deserve it; every living being does.”

“So then why? Why
did you disobey? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you did. My instinct tells me I’d
be dead by now if you didn’t.”

“Because when the
only futures I could glimpse were filled with darkness, pain and death, so much
death
. . . I decided
I should do something about it.”

“What did Zeus
think?”

“Well, to put it
briefly, he banished me.”

Saroudis’ didn’t
know what to say. After a very uncomfortable minute of silence, he asked, “What
about Ares? I mean, before he was killed, was he banished as well?”

“Ares had been
banished long before me; thousands of years before.”

“Wow, alright.
Why, if I may ask?”

“He became drunk
on power. He lost his way, his
. . .
sanity. He made some poor decisions, exercised even poorer judgment and as a
result countless civilizations were lost because of him. It’s a miracle my
father didn’t kill him.”

“Boy, and I
thought the tales were just legends with lots of exaggeration. I also thought
they only applied to my race. I see they extend to the entire universe.”

“Most myths and
legends have their roots in reality. Whether the details are precise is another
matter.”

“Ever since we
arrived on Earth I have been studying their own legends. There are so many. Could
some of these be referencing other ancient races?”

“Without knowing more
about them I couldn’t tell you.”

“Well there’s the
Egyptians, the Norse gods, to name only those I’ve studied. There are many more
tales and legends.”

“I
. . . I’m feeling a little queasy.
Do you mind if we table this discussion for another time?”

“Absolutely. Sorry,
I didn’t mean to overwhelm you with all my questions.”

“I understand, Adonis.
You don’t need to apologize. Thank you for the lovely evening and tasty food.”

“My pleasure.
Shall I escort you to your quarters?”

She attempted a
smile and nodded.

Saroudis offered
his hand to help Aphroditis up. They left his dining room and he led her to her
quarters on the same deck.

A few minutes
later she was lying on her bed when it happened again.

*  
*   *

A bright blue
light shone from within Aphroditis and rays of light escaped her mouth and eyes.
Soon she was levitating a good three feet above the bed. The first minute of
vision mode was always painful and disorienting. No matter how many visions she
received, she never really became used to this part.

Soon the world before
her eyes split in two, then four, then eight; and within a minute or two there
were too many realities for her brain to count or register. Some were blurrier
than others, some darker, and a select few were brighter and blinked to attract
her attention. She focused on the one that blinked brightest. It took a while
for her brain to block the other realities.

Once she focused
on it, her vision became like a tunnel. She travelled through this reality and
saw things, possible things, from this particular future.

Then a face
flashed. It was Chase. He was crying, but his face was devoid of sadness. Then Earth
flashed into view. It bore some new craters, and Aphroditis heard the cries of millions
of lives going extinct.

She then saw
another face: Sarah’s. She struggled to understand how this was even possible,
but she had no time to dwell on it as she continued accelerating in her tunnel
vision. Another flash overtook her mind. It was powerful and she felt more
strain than ever before. It was a vision of a gigantic creature. There was no
doubt about it: it was a Titan. It was fighting two figures, but they were
running and jumping around it so fast she couldn’t make out who or what they
were. The tunnel vision resumed again at great speed, increasing both her
discomfort and sense of dread.

The rate at which
she accelerated was very disorienting. Aphroditis felt as though her body was
being stretched over space and time itself. The space between the flashes lasted
minutes now instead of seconds. When the next flash vision finally occurred, a planet
appeared out of nowhere. Aphroditis had never seen it before. With orange-red
surface hues, and large cities shining on its dark side. The planet started
spinning really fast, impossibly fast, and then, when it settled again, she saw
a very large armada of ships in orbit. She had never seen these ships before either.
They looked as if they came straight from hell, dark and spiky. She felt fear
and dread just looking at them. Suddenly everything was engulfed in bright
flames. Her body temperature rose, her skin burned and her organs and fluids
boiled within her body. For a brief moment, she felt as though she was really
burning, inside and out. When the vision ended abruptly it took the wind out of
her, and she fell, crashing onto her bed. She could barely breathe, wheezing
heavily; with each attempt only a fraction of the air reached her lungs and her
brain. Soon an even greater sense of dread engulfed her, like nothing she had
experienced before.

She tried to calm
herself, focusing on restoring a deep breathing pattern. It wasn’t easy at
first, but after a few minutes she managed to breathe steadily.

Only then did she
try analyzing what she had seen. The image of Chase with tears in his eyes was
new; on account of Sarah’s passing, for sure. But then she had seen Sarah in
the vision too. What did that mean? Sarah’s ship had been blown to pieces.
Chase had destroyed it to make sure the schematics for the Alliance’s new
powerful technologies didn’t fall into Argos’ hands. Yet there was no mistaking
her presence in the vision. Unless this was a flash from the past. That would
explain why she felt differently than during previous visions, and why it all
seemed out of place. Still, there had been no vision of the garbled and
distorted enemy. Unless the planet in the vision was their home planet. If that
was the case, she wondered what it meant to have seen their world and their
ships clearly this time. That couldn’t be a good sign, she decided.

She went into the
bathroom, bent over the hand basin and splashed cold water on her face. She
could still feel a weird heat within her, as if some of the heat from the
visions had carried over. She splashed more water on her face, until the water
turned red. Suddenly her skin no longer felt smooth. It was burned and oozing. Her
reflection in the mirror was pure hell. Deep cuts bled and oozed a thick, black,
semi-liquid goo. Flames burned where she was cut. That was when she saw him,
behind her in the reflection: Argos was smiling at her, a look of murder in his
shining red eyes. She screamed at the top of her lungs but nothing happened. No
sound carried away.

“I will get you. You’re
mine now!” His words echoed in her brain.

The mirror
exploded and large pieces of glass sliced through her face.

She screamed once
more, this time waking on the bed where she lay. Her heart pounded so hard that
the pain radiated throughout her rib cage. She quickly put her hands on her
face to feel its smoothness. Feeling no cuts or bruises eased her panic.

A nightmare?
Or another vision?
she wondered.

Before she could
think more about it, the ship rocked and she fell from her bed. The
Destiny
was under attack.

*  
*   *

On the bridge
Commodore Saroudis ordered the shields up the moment the first salvo of
incoming fire hit the ship.

“Saroudis to the
fleet: return fire.”

An entire armada
of thirty behemoth ships had jumped right into orbit. Three of the ships had
materialized where two ships and one defense satellite had been. One of these
ships had been the last off the assembly line, her fresh crew gone, just like
that.

“How the hell did
they jump here without us noticing their approach?”

“Unknown,
Commodore,” answered the helmsman.

“Lock all
batteries and torpedoes, and bring main weapons to bear.”

“Aye aye, sir”

And then it was
chaos. While the fleet in orbit matched the enemies in numbers, these were
behemoth-class ships. Even with stronger firepower, this was not going to be an
easy fight, and Saroudis knew it.

The second ship
hit by the incoming hyperspace Zarlack ship, the
Medusa
, exploded in a
bright flash, damaging a nearby Droxian battle cruiser.

The Zarlack ships
started spewing starfighters like locusts.

“All pilots
scramble to your ships now!” he shouted.

None of his best
wing commanders were here for what could very well be the most difficult
engagement yet. Saroudis swore, cursing Chase’s absence. And Daniel’s too. The
Earth Alliance had won many of the last battles, and they thought they were
safe. Saroudis realized how wrong they were.

“Open a channel
to Lieutenant Steriopoulou,”

“Sledgehammer
here. What can I do for you, Commodore?”

“In the absence
of Daniel, you’re my new wing commander.”

“Roger that. I’ll
be airborne in twenty seconds.”

“Give them hell,
Fillio!”

“You can count on
just that. Sledgehammer out.”

Two of the
Zarlack warships vectored towards the
Destiny
and opened fire with
everything they had.

“Target one of
these ships. Bring main weapons online and open fire.”

“Firing now,”
answered Lieutenant Sakis.

An intense beam
of green plasma shot from the
Destiny
and struck the target’s shields.
When the firing sequence ended, it had drained forty percent of its shield.
Meanwhile, the continuous pounding from the Zarlack warship made the
Destiny
shake and groan. It wouldn’t take this treatment for long. Its shields were
holding but being taxed faster than they should have been.

“Something’s
wrong. They must have upgraded their weapons. Commander, compare their
firepower with the logs from our previous engagement with the enemy.”

The commander
keyed a few inputs into his holo-console. His expression changed. “Confirmed,
Commodore. Both shields and weapons seem to be at least twenty percent more
efficient.”

Twenty percent
wasn’t much during smaller encounters, but with the size of the current enemy
armada, it could mean the difference between victory and defeat.

“Order the two
nearest satellites to fire full power towards the same target we’ve just hit. The
moment they do, fire a full volley of torpedoes.”

“Acknowledged,
Commodore.”