Heaven Saga 1: The Lost Hero (19 page)

“There are at least twenty of them in there,” Kivi
said.

Brian released his shield and spoke the command to
activate its force field. He turned to Kivi. “It’s time to see if this shield
works. I’ll go first.”

“Okay,” she said.

He moved into the open doorway as the shield absorbed
the blasts coming at them and slowly advanced forward. Kivi followed closely
behind when the base shook again. The pair noticed they were in a massive hallway
littered with barriers. The Shandi continued firing on them.

“Kivi, I’m going to hand you the shield,” he said.

“I have a better idea. I’ll take the left, you take
the right.”

She drew her
rakna
blades and charged the left
side of the room. Blood flew as she danced amongst them. He deactivated the
shield and folded it into his arm. He drew his sword and charged the right side
of the room. As the armored pair slashed their way forward a number of their
enemies retreated. Tired and covered in blood, Brian and Kivi went to the next
room. He noticed a small blast had broken her left leg’s plate and she walked
with a limp.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“It’s nothing really,” she said as she gritted her
teeth. “The armor took the brunt of it.”

The pair moved their way into a chamber full of
monitors with a power tube at the center. After looking around and seeing no
enemies, he and Kivi used their weapons to destroy the consoles in the room. As
they went to leave a flurry of pulse blasts came from the other side of the
room. Kivi fell to the ground, battered by energy bullets. Brian activated his
shield and surveyed the situation. He slowly advanced towards Kivi, noticing
her armor was badly damaged and she was bleeding. The Shandi started moving
into the room to surround him. Brian’s eyes began glowing blue as he left his
shield to guard Kivi. They were paralyzed by his speed. One after another they
fell to his blade. Distorted laughter came from his helmet as he killed them.
He didn’t allow any of them to flee and killed them as they ran. Afterwards, he
returned to Kivi, picked her up and headed for the docks.

* * *

As a drop shuttle from the Daevoni landed in the front
dock of the base, the back opened. A number of Kalaidians ran out armed with
pulse rifles. The Shandi had been silent for half an hour. Lieutenant Laeda, a
tall Southlander with long black hair and brown eyes led the Kalaidians.

“Secure the port!” she commanded.

Her troops made their way through the docks and found
all of the ships and equipment abandoned. Moving towards the main entrance to
the base they found the door was locked. Laeda attached a hacking unit and
slowly forced the door open. On the other side, they saw bodies lying on the
floor and blood covered the walls. Laeda stood, shocked at how mangled they
were. She cautiously walked in while shadowed by a dozen soldiers. At the far
end of the room a single figure stood. It was covered in bloodstained armor and
held a Kalaidian, dressed in similar hardware. It moved towards the lieutenant.
As it got close, they aimed their weapons.

It stopped and saluted like a Kalaidian. “I’m
Lieutenant Commander Brian Peterson, 2
^nd
officer of the Avoni. This
is Commander Kivi, 1
^st
officer of the same ship. I request immediate
medical aid for her,” he said.

A couple of the Kalaidians moved forward and took Kivi
from him. Laeda walked up to him. “Brian Peterson? That’s a very unusual name.”
She looked at him closely. “You’re not a Keinien Android, are you?”

He watched as the Kalaidians took Kivi back to the
shuttle. “You’re very perceptive, um…”

“Lieutenant Laeda,” she said. She pointed to the
corpses. “How many troops were with you? And where are they?”

“We were the only ones to infiltrate the base. She was
wounded a while back, so I had to take care of things,” he answered. He checked
to make sure they were alone. “Let me tell you a little secret Laeda,” he
removed his helmet to reveal his long brown hair, blue green eyes, and beard
and mustache. “I’m not Kalaidian, or an Android.”

Laeda shook her head in shock. “The Teacher…”

“No, I’m not him,” Brian said. “But I am Terran.”

* * *

“Is their ship hailing anyone?” Valis asked.

“No captain,” Zae answered.

Valis watched the ship in front of them intently.
“Zae, check if they’ve launched their escape pods.”

“Yes captain,” Zae said. “They’ve launched all their
escape pods.”

Valis opened a channel to Seles. “Seles, have all
Novas take refuge behind the Avoni.”

“Yes captain,” Seles responded as Valis turned to her
bridge crew. “Zae, move all power to the forward shields. Baed, aim the front
of the Avoni right at the other ship.”

“Yes captain,” both answered.

The Gant ship began glowing and was surround by
particles.

“Zae, fire everything we have at their engine!” Valis
ordered.

The Avoni fired every pulse cannon at the other ship.
After a few volleys the ship stopped glowing and exploded.

Valis sighed. “I’m glad I knew the timing for this
from previous experience.”

Zae turned to Valis. “What were they trying to do?”

Valis stood up, staring at the wreckage on the monitor.
“In the last war, I used the same tactic to beat five Shandi battleships. If
you invert your ship’s gravity drive, it causes a gamma ray burst. No shielding
system in known space, even amongst the older races can survive that kind of
attack.”

“So that’s how you earned your rank captain,” Zae
said, turning back to her console.

“Baed, set course back to the asteroid,” she ordered.
“I have a feeling that
Maigar
of ours is causing all kinds of trouble.”

“Yes captain,” Baed said.

“Are you sure you’re alright Commander?” Laeda asked
as Brian followed her onto the shuttle. He watched as Kivi was attended to by a
pair of medics. He looked down at his armor and saw numerous breaks and small
wounds.

“Nothing I can’t recover from. The exoskeleton took
the brunt of the hits, both for me and her,” he said. He watched as more ships
came to recover the spoils. Lieutenant Laeda went out to speak with another
officer and came back a moment later.

“I’ve ordered everyone who’s seen you remain silent,”
Laeda said.

When the shuttle launched Brian looked out the window.
Outside, he saw the Daevoni. Other than being painted differently, it looked
exactly like the Avoni.

 “Lieutenant, where’s my ship?” he asked.

Laeda turned. “The Avoni was last seen in pursuit of
the warship. They should be returning shortly.”

“Thanks,” he said.

After a few minutes the shuttle landed in the docking
bay and Kivi was escorted to sickbay. He followed with Laeda right behind him.
Each crew member of the Daevoni stopped and stared as Brian walked by them.
When they reached sickbay Kivi’s armor was peeled off and she was brought into
the surgical room. He watched as they stabilized her and began healing her
wounds. After a few minutes it looked like she would be alright. The medics
stood around him, unsure of what they were looking at. One with short blue hair
and green eyes come out of the room where Kivi was.

“I’m the chief medical officer of the Daevoni, Nina
Raekar,” she said. “You’re a strange one. I’m sure there’ve been experiments to
make males, but you’re an exceptional specimen.”

“He’s not Kalaidian,” Laeda said.

“Call me Brian,” he said. “How’s she doing?”

“She’ll be up an about in a few hours,” Nina answered.
“She lost a lot of blood, but we got to her in time.” She looked at him again.
“If you’re not Kalaidian, then what are you?”

The door opened and in stormed an impatient Captain
Esra. “That’s a secret he shouldn’t be telling others,” she said.

“Sorry captain, I was just interested,” Nina said.

Esra sized him up. “Valis never tells me about her new
toys,” she said, following with a sigh. “My crew spoke of an android guarding
some of the Avoni’s crew, but I didn’t expect this surprise.”

He couldn’t help but stare at Esra for a moment. “I’m
Brian,” he said, saluting afterwards.

“You’re well-mannered for a Terran,” Esra said. “I
expected something hideous. You’re much more beautiful in person.” He blushed
while she laughed.

“You seem to know a lot about me,” he said.

Esra took his hand. “I spoke to Valis a few minutes
ago. She told me a few things. From the carnage you made I can see why she’d
hang onto you.”

* * *

Seles landed her Nova in the Avoni’s hanger and got
out. Taking her helmet off, she counted the fighters flying. She sighed with
relief after seeing no one had been lost. She headed to the door when Valis
came through.

“Seles, I need you to fly me over to the Daevoni,”
Valis said.

“Of course,” she said as they headed for a shuttle.
“What’s going on?”

“An unruly pair of officers is over there,” she said.
“One of them is badly wounded.”

“Are you talking about Kivi and Brian?” Seles asked.

Valis nodded. “Yes, Brian brought Kivi over to their
ship for medical attention.”

When they went inside the shuttle they found Mira
waiting with a med kit. Valis sat in the copilot’s chair and relaxed in her
seat. Seles sat down at the controls and glanced at Mira.

“It’s been awhile since you went on an away mission,”
Seles said.

“He’s such an idiot,” Mira said.

“His judgment is poor only because he lacks
experience,” Valis said as the shuttle closed up and flew out of the hanger.

“He takes too many risks,” Mira said.

“I second that,” Seles added.

Their shuttle met and escort of five Novaguards once
they came within range of the Daevoni. They landed and were escorted to sickbay
by three guards. There, they found Esra admiring Brian. His armor was battered
and covered in blood. Kivi was stable and sleeping in the room next door. Seles
and Mira ran to Brian, while Valis went to Esra.

“Are you alright?” Seles and Mira asked in unison.
They looked at each other with an edge in their eyes.

“I could use a little patching up,” he answered.

Valis turned to him. “Recover the Mjolnir and return
to base, one of the senior staff needs to be there. I’ll return with Kivi
shortly.”

“Yes captain,” Brian said.

The three left for the shuttle while Valis went to
Kivi.

“He’s quite the catch,” Esra said.

“You mean Brian?” Valis asked.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Esra asked.
“He is good to look at, but he’s also Terran.”

Valis smiled. “I know. Good fortune brought him to me.
Also, I need to know if Terrans really are the monsters we think of them.”

“And what do you think so far?” Esra asked.

Valis looked at the pictures of the dead Shandi. “I’m
having a hard time believing that’s Brian. He’s much more subdued, not
barbaric. But, whenever he’s in danger, it’s like something takes over.”

* * *

“Ouch!” Brian groaned as Mira tended to his wounds in
the shuttle. “I can’t believe your technology is hundreds of years more
advanced than Earth’s and you can’t make disinfectants painless.”

“I’d apologize,” Mira said, “But maybe you shouldn’t
put yourself in so much danger. Your exoskeleton is well built, but it can’t
protect you from everything.”

He looked at his pock marked armor. “It’s well made,
but it can be improved.” Looking at Mira, and then Seles, he saw something in
their expressions. “I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“I’m glad you acknowledge the screw up,” Seles said as
she joined them. “Mira, is everything alright?”

“He’s took a few nicks and bruises, but nothing to
worry about,” Mira answered as she checked her scanner’s readings. “What
concerns me is the excessive adrenalin levels in his blood stream. It’s not
much now, but the levels were extremely high a short while ago.” Mira looked
over at Brian’s armor. “Do you mind if I check the exoskeleton?”

“No, go right ahead Mira,” he said, handing it to her.

Seles checked their heading. “We’ll be at the Mjolnir
in a few minutes.”

Mira took the helmet and began working with it. She
hooked it up to her scanner and recorded all the data. “These readings can’t be
right,” she said as she scratched her head,” But the video proves the theory.”

“What is it?” he asked.

She looked at Seles and Brian. “When men existed
amongst our people, there were rare cases of a warrior going berserk. While in
this state, the warrior would gain extensive advantages in combat such as
improved reflexes, strength, speed, and weapon skills. Even those in Novaguards
would gain advantages. During the state, the warrior’s eyes would glow blue and
he would lose his sense of self. There were cases where the berserker would
attack his allies and remember nothing afterwards.”