Child of Time (27 page)

Kiyan had charted a course towards the edge of the
asteroid field and was navigating through the belt with floodlights
illuminating the immediate vicinity. The nearby asteroids glowed
and the occasional flash as a small rock collided with the shields
was the only light that Kiyan could see. He caught a glimmer out of
the corner of his eye but saw nothing when he looked so he assumed
a reflection from an icy asteroid. Another glimmer caught his
attention from the other side making him pause a moment to examine
the area. Finding no asteroids in the area he replayed the
recording of the visual. There was a definite glimmer.

Kiyan began to feel a bit of nervousness coming on.
He was checking the status of the repair drones when he saw another
glimmer ahead of him. The repairs were 83% complete, estimated
operational in twenty minutes. A glance at Alec informed him that
he was only operating on a basic level. Increasing speed to the
highest that he could safely navigate the asteroid belt Kiyan
decided to get out of there. The ship jolted to one side from a
weapon blast confirming Kiyan's suspicions. Short range sensors
were operational enough for a fight. Kiyan found that trying to
navigate and fight was a lot more difficult without Alec helping.
Dodging an asteroid he watched as a fighter that was following him
collided exploding as it attempted to miss the asteroid. Another
fighter came into sensor range as Kiyan slid around another rock.
Point defends systems were already burning through shields when
Kiyan came around the other side and was able to aim a plasma
cannon at the fighter. A moment later all that was left was a cloud
of cooling molten metal. There was a jolt as the drop ship collided
with a small asteroid and shield warning bells began to sound.

“There are too...... many, you..... must
survive....... Can't let them.... capture ship..... need energy.”
Kiyan was about to retort with something when the influx of energy
paralyzed him. Alec interfaced directly to Kiyan and informed him
that the ship and this android had too much technology to let the
drakken capture. “Kiyan, you must survive until the Avenger
returns. Charge levels at 1742%. Live.”

Kiyan felt the massive amounts of energy stored in
his implants and was about to disagree with Alec when the android
exploded. The conclusion threw Kiyan across the ship. Picking
himself up Kiyan noticed the self-destruct sequence reach critical.
The blasts seemed to move slowly as they erupted from every console
and then the massive explosion from the engines propelled Kiyan
towards the wall. Kiyan held out his hands defensively at the
rapidly approaching wall and closed his eyes. When he opened his
eyes again Kiyan found himself floating outside the ship surrounded
by droplets of liquid metal. Looking back at the ship he saw a
gaping hole on the outside and flashes as it disintegrated. Kiyan's
HUD gave a warning just before the ship shattered into a million
fragments with a flash and the concussion wave that tossed Kiyan
ahead like a leaf before a hurricane.

Hurtling through space Kiyan tried to avoid the
asteroids by bending them out of his way but he found that he moved
more than the asteroids. Capitalizing on this discovery he slowed
to a stop and looked around. Turning he barely had time to react as
a fighter closed in on his position at top speed. Throwing up his
hands he felt the metal of the craft for a split second before it
liquefied. Connecting with nearby asteroids Kiyan began to move
towards the edge of the field. Glancing back over his shoulder as
he moved, Kiyan saw what looked like a river of fighters winding
through the asteroids at him. There was a drakken frigate deftly
maneuvering amidst the rocks like it was an extension of the pilot.
Darkness comes like a river but one is not.
The words of the
dream came back to Kiyan as he watched them advancing on him slowly
but surely. One is not. One is not a fighter like the rest or one
is not like the rest? Kiyan connected with a couple small asteroids
nearby and bent them at the advancing fighters as hard as he could.
His efforts were rewarded with a few fighters spinning out of
control and a couple explosions. The ones that he bent at the
frigate either dissolved under laser fire or bounced harmlessly off
of shields. Why aren't they firing on me? Despite Kiyan's best
efforts he was soon surrounded by a swarm of fighters that blocked
his every movement. Kiyan liquefied any that got close enough and
the drakken soon learned to keep their distance. The frigate soon
joined the circling drakken and appeared to be making scans. A
couple fighters decided to strike and loosed a barrage of laser
blasts at Kiyan. Stretching his bending to its limits he liquefied
the fighters and bent the metal around him as he sensed his shields
failing. Encased in a shell of metal his shields failed exposing
him to the icy cold of space. His metal shell protected him from
the vacuum but the cold bit into his bones until he felt the change
come over him. The cold lost its bite as the transformation
completed. Trapped in metal there was nothing more he could do. The
loss of energy finally took its toll and Kiyan slipped
consciousness.

-------

Drovak piloted his new vessel with the skill that
only lifetimes could impart. The protectorate vessel that they had
been stalking had sent a smaller vessel into the asteroid cloud. A
better opportunity might never present itself for the capture of
one of the protectors. The command of the mission was split among
three captains. Drovak was one of them but as he was the newest
captain the other two simply ignored him. One felt that they should
strike the battleship and seize the glory of victory. The other was
more prudent but only because he was more cunning. The second
declared that there were rumors that three battleships had
vanquished a thousand drakken vessels. Their strike force would not
last more than a few minutes in open battle. Besides who knew how
many reinforcements could be waiting to drop out of warp. No they
needed a better plan.

Drovak thought for a minute as he went to fetch a
dish from the kitchen for the first captain before a plan presented
itself to him. Returning to the conference room he attempted to
speak to the other two captains.

“Be silent whelp. I have been a captain for the last
sixteen clonings. Learn your place waste of scales.” The first
captain refused to even suffer Drovak to try explaining what his
idea was. Drovak glanced at the second captain and saw the same
look of disdain. A hint of a question was in his expression but he
bowed to the senior captain. Drovak saw the question and decided to
take a chance.

“Spawn of a maggot, I am the third captain of this
command appointed by the dark lords. They think I am worthy of
leading warriors of the dark one in battle so you will listen to
me, you descendant of pond scum.” Drovak carefully dropped the name
of the dark one while striking at the ego of the first captain. The
first captain would never listen to a clone that had been promoted
so recently. The second seemed to want to avoid a fight if
possible, he was the only one that would ever agree to Drovak's
plan.

The whisper of steel against leather was Drovak's
only warning as the first captain lunged at him. Ducking under the
table and swinging a hand full of claws at the back of a passing
leg Drovak felt his claws slicing through scales and muscle. The
first captain landed on the floor with blood pouring out of several
gouges in his leg. Before he could recover Drovak was on his back.
A dozen quick stabs with a long sharp knife hidden up Drovak's
sleeve finished the battle. Standing up from the twitching body of
the first captain he turned to the blaster held by the second
captain. The moment of hesitation was all he needed to dodge the
first blast and come up with his own blaster leveled at the second
captain's head. They eyed each other for a minute before anyone
spoke.

“I will take command of the troops and vessels that
were under him.” Drovak needed to appear strong in order to make
the other captain fear him.

“Transfer his personal food stores to my ship and I
will be satisfied.” The other captain lowered his blaster after
seeing Drovak's nod. “What is your plan?”

“I say we capture the smaller craft and fill it with
explosives.” Drovak holstered his blaster but still spun his knife
between his claws after wiping the green blood off. He needed to
maintain an edge of intimidation over the other captain.

“It could be piloted back to the battleship and
detonated when it docks.” The other captain was eyeing the twirling
knife as he spoke. “The explosion might be enough to destroy the
ship or at least damage it enough to make an attack with our strike
force practical. There is still too much risk. What if the ship
sends a distress signal?”

“There won't be any signal from the meteor cloud
because of the radiation and even if the battleship sends a signal
we will have already destroyed it before any reinforcements come.”
Drovak assuaged the fears that he could in order to convince the
other captain.

“I like it, there will be much glory to be had if we
win.” Drovak liked the look of greed that flickered across the
other captain's face. If only he knew Drovak's real plan.

Drovak made the necessary announcements and took
command of the other ships in the fleet. The plan that he had
devised with the other captain involved weakening the small vessel
with a swarm of fighters then capturing the damaged vessel with
grappling lines. Boarding and capturing the crew was the next step.
The other captain wasn't happy about capturing the crew instead of
killing them but a few more spins of the knife, a glance at the
corpse in a green pool of blood and the promise that information
could be had from the captives convinced him. They had some exotic
matter warheads that could be stored on the vessel and remotely
detonated. The drakken chosen to pilot the vessel were fresh clones
imprinted with unquestioning obedience and would slit their own
throat if commanded. The rest would be simple.

Drovak chose to personally supervise the capture of
the vessel. The other captain agreed with another glance at the
still corpse. Several hundred fighters slipped into the asteroid
field under cloak and waited for the return of the protectorate
ship. Drovak took the helm of his ship and piloted it skillfully
through the maze. Drovak couldn't risk using scanners to find the
ship so he had several fighters fly over the planet and locate the
vessel. He had trouble believing the report that the ship was
leaving the planet surface and heading in a random direction out of
the system. He had the fighters that were closest follow the ship
as he mobilized the rest to cut it off. He was further surprised
when he was notified that the ship had reached the asteroid belt
and was using visual methods of navigating it. Something was not
right here and Drovak didn't like deviations.

The first fighter reported cloak malfunctions shortly
before the vessel opened fire on it. Drovak decided to uncloak the
rest and move in with all speed. Drovak felt his plan come apart at
the seams as he watched the ship explode on his console screens. It
must have been damaged on the planet surface before the fight. From
what he knew of protectorate technology it should have taken the
greater part of the fighters present to subdue the vessel. He was
about to call back the fighters when he noticed a blip on his
scanner. Closer examination stunned Drovak as he saw the humanoid
figure hurtling through the asteroid belt without any shielding
from space. It must be one of the ascended. Drovak saw a glimmer of
hope as he ordered the fighters to capture the person. As he
approached with the greater number of fighters winding their way
through the asteroids he found that capture was harder than he had
expected. It appeared the ascended had the power to liquefy metal.
Any fighter that got too close turned into a cloud of metal.
Another ability that Drovak discovered as he got close was that the
ascended could move asteroids with his mind. There were a few
fighters that succumbed to rogue asteroids suddenly flying at them.
Drovak's ship's shields protected him from the flying rocks but he
didn't dare chance the melting metal. While he was deciding what to
do a couple of the fighter pilots decided to take matters into
their own hands. Before Drovak could stop them, they had opened
fire on the ascended. Drovak had weapons locked on them when they
turned to liquid and flew at the ascended enveloping him in a metal
bubble. Running scans of the metal showed extreme low temperatures
and fading life signs.

“Pull it into fighter bay one and erect the
containment field.” Drovak shouted orders at his crew. He had to
directly order a couple of fighters to attach grappling lines to
the chunk of metal. When it was in the cargo bay the containment
field was raised. Drovak had all the fighters engage the cloaks and
standby. Drovak went to the fighter bay to supervise the teams
tasked with cutting the metal off of the ascended. After carefully
removing the metal one of the drakken tried to slice the ascended
in two with the cutting laser. His still body served to remind the
rest of Drovak's wishes. The creature that emerged after the metal
shell was cut away was unlike anything Drovak had seen in any of
his lives. The tall clear ice body and what looked like tendrils of
metal reaching to all of its extremities with the glowing blue
eyes. The sharp spikes that rose in ridges along the creatures back
and arm looked lethal. The hands had long thin blade like claws on
each finger and sharp spikes extending from the wrists. Scans
showed life signs on a basic level. It was alive but hibernating in
a deep sleep state. Drovak and a couple other drakken loaded the
still ascended into a special stasis pod equipped with a
containment field. Drovak returned to the command deck and
proceeded to maneuver to where the rest of the fleet was
waiting.