THE VROL TRILOGY (173 page)

"Max - Krynos reports having found a huge
group of Vrol in the landing bay. He says there are dozens. We need
to help him out," said Jennie, as she went to slip directly to
Krynos' side.

"Okay, you go and start to eliminate them.
Stay clear, and just eject them. I'm taking the antimatter bomb
over now," he said, as he disappeared, the bomb going with him.

You'd better not screw up, dork.

Max found himself on the outside of the Vrol
Brood Carrier, not able to get inside.

Dammit, probably the same cantus that kept
us out of Vladros' castle when we went to rescue Jennie.

He quickly slipped to various locations
around the massive ship in the vacuum of space, looking for an
entrance. Luckily finding one, he used a gravicantus to blow the
bulkhead open, nearly being forced back by the depressurization
from the interior. Dragging the bomb with him (while using a
levitation cantus), he stood in a dark, slimy hallway, trying to
figure out how to get as close to the inside of the ship as he
could. In order for the bomb to work, it would need to be in the
very center. On a whim, he conjured an infoscreen, and finding a
massive space in the ship's center, he tried another slip. This one
worked, as he was already inside the moon-sized vessel.

What he saw astounded him.

There was what appeared to be a small Azulian
transport vessel inside a large room. Curious, he quickly entered,
looking around and examining the craft. Max saw a humanoid figure,
immobilized, on the far side of the expansive chamber. He left the
antimatter bomb behind and slipped to the person's location.

Oh, hello, Chairman Dictator Dickhead.

Max was looking at Len Johnson, strapped to a
bulkhead with numerous tubes and wires attached to his head and
body. Max considered liberating the traitorous politician from his
constraints, but figured he would just count Johnson as a casualty
of war and not say anything.

Jennie would probably like
that
, he mused.

Max surmised that Johnson's ship was what
facilitated the Vrol's ability to navigate side space. Thinking
quickly, he went to his lycan phase 2 form and used his enhanced
claws to tear up some of the wiring that connected the small craft
to the carrier. Once he was satisfied he had effectively destroyed
the Vrol's side space navigational capabilities he went over to
Johnson.

Hello, Mr. Chairman. You look
comfortable.

Len Johnson was completely unconscious, and
had no idea his hated enemy was staring at his face. Max considered
waking him, but turned and slipped off the ship, porting himself
the minimum distance away - 300 kilometers. Then he attempted his
cantus to trigger the dead-man's switch on the bomb.

Nothing happened.

Aw man, the same anti-slip cantus probably
prevents magic from penetrating the hull. I'll have to figure
something else out.

"
Max, where are you?"
Michael asked
over a private comm channel.

"
Outside the Vrol ship. Why?
"

"
Gadreel is inside the vessel, I am assuming with his brother.
We must take advantage of this situation.
"

"
Where are you?
"

"
Father's office. Come quickly
."

Max used the Hub to slip to Draagh's office
in Krynos' castle, finding his father, Gabriel, the king and Jennie
standing at the expansive mahogany desk.

"Hi sweetie. Welcome back. Your dad brought
me over," his wife said.

"Hey Jen. So tell me, they're inside the Vrol
ship? This is too good."

"We shall engage in glorious battle and
finish these fools off immediately," boomed Krynos, ready to enter
into the exquisite field of gore.

"Yes they are, but we must act quickly.
Samyaza retains slip capabilities, although not as robust as ours,"
said Michael.

"Robust? What do you mean?" asked Max.

"The Grigori are rebels, son. Before they
were cast from the Hub they had their genome modified. But that is
of no consequence. We must go now."

"Wait! We can't slip inside. There's some
kind of cantus preventing slips in, but we can slip out."

"How do you know this?" asked Gabriel.

"I just planted an antimatter bomb in the
center of the ship."

"Max, you shall take us to the ship. How did
you enter?" continued Gabriel.

"I opened a door. Well, I kinda destroyed
it."

"Very well, take us there, " said
Michael.

"Wait! Outer space? I'll die!" yelped
Jennie.

"Aw no, Jen. You're a hybrid like me now.
You'll be fine," said Max, immediately feeling a thunderous slap to
the back of his head.

"Ouch! Gabe! Seriously?"

"Max, while Jennie shall not perish, it
cannot bode well for her to be exposed to the vacuum. She has yet
to obtain her ghanlo, so she cannot move freely throughout the
void. Aside from that, Krynos shall not survive but seconds without
atmosphere."

"Oh, crap. Okay. Sorry," he said, getting a
stupid look on his face, as Jennie looked at him wondering why he
would be so quick to eject her into space. "Aw, Jen. I didn’t know.
I'm sorry," he said, kissing her on the cheek.

"They are still there. We go. Now," said
Michael.

The five found themselves outside the hull of
the Vrol Brood Carrier, with Jennie and Krynos encapsulated inside
a cantus-driven, pressurized oxygen bubble. Once inside, Max, threw
a quick shield over the hole in the hull and created an air-tight
seal. He then slipped everyone to the center of the ship, where
Johnson and his small transport had been stored.

"What the hell is this?" demanded Jennie upon
seeing an Azulian transport with a side space hook installed,
albeit, with all of the wires pulled out as Max had earlier
done.

"Just what we thought. This is what caused
all these problems, hun. I disabled the hook drive, but we still
have something to drag out of here."

"Uh, what's that?"

"It is Chairman Johnson. I believe he is
quite incapacitated," stated Gabriel, as he looked upon the
dictator with a curious glare.

"That bastard!" yelled Jennie. "Let's kill
him now!"

"No Jen, we can't. In fact, we have to take
him back with us, but first…"

"First? Hahaha! No, there is only a last! You
are finished, Cousin!" screamed Samyaza from the far side of the
large chamber. "Welcome to my vessel. Well, the vessel of my
wondrous creation, the Vrol."

The fallen Primulus was accompanied not only
by his brother Gadreel, but also dozens of lower and mezzo angels,
as well as hundreds of Vrol, all clicking their pinschers and
mandibles in anticipation of a quick meal. Alongside Samyaza was
Anaita, who was wearing an arrogant smirk. The Primulus truly
believed she was on the winning side as she looked at her
hopelessly outnumbered cousins.

The team looked around, taking stock of their
options. They weren't trapped in any sense of the word, but still
wanted to terminate the war without further casualties. They had
two choices - slip out or stay and fight.

They chose to stay

Michael lurched forward and executed a fire
cantus, creating a wall of flame that caused the resident Vrol to
screech and back up. Krynos went crazy at the same time, spraying
fire with his Tornado rifle.

"Wow, he looks awesome with a modern weapon,
doesn't he?" asked Max.

Jennie looked over and was equally impressed,
watching as the lycan king mowed down dozens of Vrol, each having
its own weapon and firing randomly.

Gabriel shot toward Samyaza's location, his
wings extended, and fanning the flames in their direction, while
driving them further into the bulkhead and causing the bugs to
trample their lower and middle angel allies. Max slipped forward
and used gravicantuses to push the rancid creatures back, as well
as break the bones of more than a few lower angels. As he attempted
to do more damage, Jennie was quietly in the background, shielding
her stupid/brave husband. He may have had a PhD, but he seriously
lacked in quick-thinking skills. When it came to inventing, Max was
the best, but when it came to battles, he was no more than a
mindless beast, destroying anything in his path.

And it actually turned her on.

"
Max, start to pound the bugs on the left, and force them to
the right. We need to corner them off,
"
she said over their familial connection, left open for Michael and
Gabriel.

"
Got it, hun. Dad, can you compliment that?
"

"
Yes son. I shall direct my flames toward the back-corner of
the chamber.
"

"
It is too hot for my wings. I need to cool
off
," said Gabriel, as he shot back to
Johnson's craft, landing next to Max's antimatter bomb.

Krynos had a centipede in his massive grip,
crushing its neck portal with one hand, while laying down a spray
of charge rounds and keeping others away from his position. Anaita
slipped to his side and attempted to hit him with a push cantus,
but Gabriel had created a protective, anti-cantus shield around the
huge lycan. Noticing her to his back, he swung around and let his
Tonado slip loose from his grasp, grabbing the rifle's strap as it
rushed by his hand. A quick flick of his wrist guided the massive
weapon directly into Anaita's face, breaking her nose and knocking
her back a few meters.

"Apologies, my dear. It is not often one such
as myself hits a female, but I have been informed that you are much
more a warrior, and much less a lady," the king craftily
cackled.

"
Brother, nullify the protections here
," said Michael.

"
Certainly
.
Max, is this your weapon?
"

Looking back, he thought
out, "
Yeah. Why? What's
up?
"

"
We shall need to detonate this. It would be best to surprise
everyone
."

"
Yeah, no shit, Sherlock! But it's a dead-man's switch. It
detonates when someone releases that red lever. It's a suicide
trip
."

"
Sherlock? Max, please do not use colloquial phrases while in
battle
," Michael communicated.

"
Sorry, pops. Okay, we need to figure out a way to get these
idiots to set off the bomb for us. But how?
"

"
Max, have you been paying attention to Krynos?"
asked Jennie, sounding worried.

Everyone looked over to the far side of the
chamber. Krynos was flat on his back

"
Krynos is down, and he's not moving,
" said Max.

"
I'll attend to him,"
said Jennie.
"
Michael, keep hitting these
guys
."

Michael wanted to keep Samyaza in place as
long as possible. The advantage he had was that they were in the
ship of his insectoid creations, and could do significant damage to
the craft from the inside. Pummeling the opposition with cantus
after cantus, he finally resorted to instigating the heady former
Primulus with crude words of insult.

"
Brother, do you remember goading me into fights when we were
young
?"

"
Yes, Michael. Why do you ask?"

"
I
need for you to do the same to Samyaza. Do it now,
please.
"

"Samyaza, you are a coward," boasted Gabriel.
"You are not worthy of your bloodline. By the way, you do know that
our father banished yours for siding with the ghouls, do you not?
Yes, he was in bed with them, and in more ways than one," said a
gloating Gabriel, obviously trying to get Samyaza to stay and
fight.

"Never! My father was an honorable Primulus.
He only sought to restore the natural order," yelled Samyaza, the
veins on his forehead bulging out from massively high blood
pressure.

While Gabriel went on with his verbal
assault, Max continued to hit back at bugs entering from side
hallways, while wondering what the hell his wife was doing.

Jennie sat crouched next to Krynos. The
thousand year-old lycan king had a dozen bullet holes in his torso,
and was bleeding out of his eyes, ears, nose and mouth, as well as
his chest.

"Krynos, what happened? I thought Gabriel had
a shield cantus around you?"

"Rhodium bullets, my child," he coughed, "and
the archangel's cantus was only against magical attacks. I shall
soon pass on to the Elysian Fields to battle with my
ancestors."

Jennie saw Anaita scrambling away, and could
smell death in the air. One of her new abilities as a Primulus was
the capacity to detect the stench of finality, and it permeated her
highly sensitive olfactory organ. Krynos was done. If he didn’t die
within five minutes, it would be ten.

"Is there anything I can do? Contact anyone
for you?"

"No, young one. Donus shall be king. He is
aware of this."

"Mmmm, okay. Hey, can I ask you
something?"