Void Star (10 page)

     Then the ship hit the snow between the glaciers, and they went through. Nathan realized too late that the snow was too soft. They tunneled deep down into the frozen world. Snow was flung up and hit them, along with rocks and ice until finally the ship slid to stop. Behind them, the tunnel they had created going underground caved in. They were buried alive.

     With the
Wrath
sealed in tight, the Breaker stood watch outside, floating after it. Fighter-bombers continued to pile out.

     Argum gave the order to commence bombing the area where the
Wrath
had just crashed. The fighters zeroed in, fighting against the storm, and began their attack.

Chapter 10

     Elsewhere, not everything was looking so grim. At a hidden shipyard within a multi-ring gas planet named Neroth, a celebration of sorts was underway. A middle-aged man stood before a throng of thousands. Dressed in clean, open brown robes with a white belt to mark the occasion like everyone else, the speaker raised his hands in triumph. His arms motioned toward where their vast battleships surrounded them, the fruits of years of work. Finally, they had rebuilt their fleet.
Finally
, they would have a chance at a future.

     This man was a little past his midlife with salt-and-pepper hair, which he wore combed to the side. Two light-brown eyes sat above a strong nose and a thick jaw. His naturally dark skin glistened with sweat that was both from apprehension and excitement.

     A great cheer arose from the masses. Screams of praise and jubilation echoed off the walls of their secret base. They calmed as the figure lowered his hands to speak.

     "This is truly a day of days. Easily one for the record books!" Fox Kalemegdon began. He held the sides of the speaker post and shook his head to himself. "I'll admit, I wasn't sure we would be able to accomplish this feat. When Earth was destroyed, my father swore we would rise again. And here we stand, poised to strike back. But our enemy is ruthless. They extinguish entire worlds on a whim. They murder and destroy at will. And now today…we finally have a chance to fight back."

     The crowd burst into cheers. The sounds reverberated throughout the great bay.

     Fox motioned for them to quiet down once more. "We have a responsibility now. We have the might, and we have the talent to meet our enemy on the battlefield once more. I have constructed a plan of attack with His Majesty's aid, one that aims at breaking the back of Ruvera. We will not fail in this. We cannot. Everyone in the galaxy will whisper of what we are about to do. The day the Elysians came. The day we all fought back."

     The people erupted once more. This time, he let them go with it. They had earned a moment of celebration.

     All around them were docking ports to massive battleships that could rival the Ruveran Breakers. They were one-third the size but faster and more agile with the upgraded shield technology. After going through several name choices for their battleships, like Vengeance, Marauder, and Justice, they finally agreed on one:
Valian
.

      The legend of Vale read like a dusty chronicle from another age. Long ago, hundreds of years ago in fact, two similar races of humans lived together. Those calling themselves Valians, and the other, the Ruverans. And then one day Ruvera surprised the world of Vale, filling the skies with primitive airships, though highly advanced for their day. They enslaved the free continents much like they currently did the known universe. Then just when things looked grim, the animal people and humans attacked in a legendary rebellion. They almost defeated Ruvera, though time erased how it failed. The loss brought terrible consequences, public executions and punishments. But their spirit lived on. The Elysians would take up their torch once more.

     Valians
1 through 22 were all ready to go at long last with the
Helcarion
as their lead command ship.

     "Now, let’s get to work!" Fox laughed. He turned from the microphone and was met by his personal aides.

     "Sir, the
Helcarion
is ready for flight on your order."

     "Excellent. Is His Majesty aboard?" Fox asked.

     "Yes, sir. He is under guard and stable."

     "Well, let's get moving." He patted his aide forward, and they entered the command ship. His men and women in uniform were lined up, forming a path for him. He pressed through, and as he crossed, he was joined by their ranks. Beyond him, the crowd was dispersing toward their assigned ships.

     Fox acknowledged to himself as he walked through the
Helcarion
that they had done the unthinkable. After what had happened to Earth, the fledgling Earthborn community had had nowhere to go and no purpose left but to wither and die out.

     And then his father, the Armiger Callius Kalemegdon, had gathered them back together. As soon as he found one group, he'd find another. So many had been scattered from Crystalis to Cenari.  Some reverting to such low jobs as cargo haulers and messengers for other sentient species. And slowly, a force developed. Then unexpectedly, countless millions whose worlds had also been savagely defeated had joined them too. As they built a sizeable offensive force, the Armiger united them under one cause: to defeat Ruvera once and for all. But to do that, they had to destroy
Razerus XIII
. It was the only way. And on Neroth, they had rebuilt a force ten times stronger and more powerful than anything they'd had for years. Now, after all that time, they were ready to fight again.

     Hope was back in their hearts, and Fox felt like it was all held together, still, by his father. But as the Armiger grew older and weaker and became ill, he knew the mantle of leadership would fall to him, and he knew he wasn't ready for it. His father had to hang on a little longer to see this all through.

     Sections of the ship were opening like a city beginning to turn on its lights, one at a time.

     He led his aide and personal guards up to the command center situated above the
Helcarion
. As he did, he could hear the other ships taking flight. Massive gunships rumbled to life for their first formation.

     When he reached the top level, he saw the bustling activity as preparations were in full swing.

     The director of flight met him as he came in. "Sir, we are standing by."

     "Where's my father?"

     "He isn't well enough, sir."

     Fox nodded. He was sad he'd miss this. "Take her out."

     He took a seat at the center of the room in front of the great monitors displaying the views from the hundreds of cameras throughout.
Helcarion's
great engines shook the ground. Fire exploded out of the bottom of the supership, and it slowly lifted off the artificial ground they had laid down within Neroth.

     Building momentum, it continued to shoot into the sky of the gas planet. The thin atmosphere spread as they burst through it. Then the viewers all showed something he hadn't seen in a long time: space.  They had been hiding for so long building their fleet.

     The
Helcarion
broke gravity from Neroth and idled. The
Valians
were up with them, ready to go.

With everybody ready to fight, Fox experienced a sensation he hadn't anticipated. He felt it running through him like something he couldn't control. This moment, everything was at peace. The universe was on pause. Their path was unknown, their future wide open for anything that would come their way. He hoped that they would do what was right, that they would make a difference again.

     After years of training and practice, constructing the ships and crafting the weapons, working with aliens throughout the universe, and secretly building this force—now there was only one thing left to do. It was time to attack Ruvera head-on before they knew what was coming. Velkas knew they existed, it was impossible to keep it completely secret, but he didn't know about the force they had built up.  Not yet.

     The chief security officer was at his side, Fox's moment had ended. "Sir, we just picked up an escape pod with an Asterion soldier on board. We believe he's a little mad from space travel but may have vital intel."

     Fox nodded. "Administer whatever medical attention he needs. We'll keep a close eye on him."

     "Yes, sir." The security officer left.

     The attack on
Razerus
loomed ahead, when his head of radio operations ran up.

     "Sir, I have reports streaming in."

     Fox turned from the screens. "Out with it."

     "Our lab on Aquaria was discovered. A Breaker-class ship rifted the planet to erase all trace of what we were doing there."

     A terrible feeling of loss descended on him. "Our people there…"

     "Didn't make it, sir. Except for one. That leads me to my other report. One of our drogue satellites just picked up a signal."

     "That's what they're for, Soldier," Fox said.

     The operator knew his vice commander was fighting back the bad news in his own way. "Maybe you should take a look. It's a coded message for you."

     Fox took the papers from his hand and saw the odd frequency. When he looked closer at the repeating numbers, he saw the words embedded in them.

     "Good work," he told his radio operator and turned to his director of flight. He motioned for him to follow him to the star map. "We're headed here. Now."  The planet he zeroed in on appeared to be moving through a system.

     His operations officer was at his side. "But the attack, sir…"

     "Will wait. My father will understand. This is more important." Fox flicked his head at his director of flight, indicating he was to do as he was commanded.

     "I'll let the Valian generals know too, sir."

     Fox took a deep breath. He hoped he was right to take a big chance on this side mission. But the message had promised him something—a new hope.

     He just hoped he wasn't too late.

Chapter 11

     After thirty minutes underground, Nathan had everyone gather in the cargo hold. Utilizing the wooden pallets for fuel and an old gas tank, he had a nice little fire going on the metal floor. The temperature was easily below zero and dropping.  The only light came from the fledgling fire and emergency lighting.

     After the crash land, Nathan turned off all nonessential equipment to kill any heat signature the Ruverans could pick up. Out of the kindness of his heart, he had even thrown Daphkalian a blanket on his way to build the fire. He had been nearly frozen. The locks on the cell were always powered by the ship batteries, so Nathan wasn't worried about his escaping.

     As everyone came down into the hold, Nathan made sure his combat-terrain vehicle had made it through. Besides a couple cracks in the window and a small dent in the side, the CTV-44 was fine. If it wasn't so cold on this planet, he'd be able to see if it still ran.

     Trevor and Kaida were in the cold-weather gear they kept aboard, including face masks. They stood warming up at the barrel fire, looking tired and haggard.

     The bombing runs continued overhead. So deep underground, the explosives only caused rumblings. At first, the Ruverans had pounded the area above them. Most likely, the glaciers had caved in together and buried them deeper. It wasn't yet clear how they would escape their frozen burial chamber.

     For a time, they didn't say a word. Yes they were being bombed, but the world had changed. A writhing darkness had devoured an entire galaxy.  It was continuing through the universe.  Who knew what was capable of or what it was. The rules to living were different now. It was more about escaping the path of whatever that thing was. And sitting motionless on this planet only meant it was getting closer.

     Then there were the Ruverans out there trying to kill them. Without the force drive again, they were essentially trapped in a snowball.

     And so they stood there, the three of them warming their hands in the cargo compartment as even their breath looked like it was turning to ice. Boost came down, oblivious to the cold, the attack on them, and the universe eater.

     "I got it!" Kaida said suddenly, through chattering teeth.

     The two men looked at her through freezing-cold hoods.

     "I solved one of the algorithms. The answer was easy once I thought about it."

     Nathan threw a few more pieces of wood into the fire, secretly apprehensive to get another piece of the alien's puzzle. The first part of what the alien had whispered had proven true. The darkness was real. But the second part was still too unbelievable.

     Kaida's hands were shaking, but she still managed to pull the Nymarian's data pad out. She fat-fingered the solution in. One of the three sliders on it moved over and unlocked. A small compartment on the side opened up. She set the pad down.

     "It's a hologram," she announced.

     A burst of light jumped out of the pad and unfolded into a figure. The creature turned out to be a robed Eckelion. They had encountered some in their travels. They were a sea people, blue-scaled and about three feet tall. This one was dressed as a robed Scribe, which meant he worked with an armored Absolver. One took life while the other atoned for it and recorded the history of what they both accomplished.

     "Greetings, Cleph'thera. I hope this message finds you well. I am Raxus, Scribe of Azel. By the light of the stars, my people are glad to assist yours in these dark times." The Eckelion bowed.

     Trevor turned his back to the fire and kept watching as the Eckelion paused.

     "A few days ago, we came across a Salarian emergency beacon. My Absolver, Azel, and I decided we should retrieve their holy relic back for them. We attacked a Ruveran ship and stole it back from them. Now I know I shouldn't have, but when we had it on board I touched it. Oddly, the moment I did, it showed me a vision. I saw many things of the present and the future. It was then I understood that the Salarian was trying to get it away to a specific person. I can't explain it, Cleph, but it has chosen someone to battle a great darkness—to protect us from being erased from existence. I believe that, somehow, we are supposed to help search for this person."