HE knew the ship well and made his way quickly and quietly toward the chamber of the Three; Lucin's mortal puppets. Kale encountered a number of warriors as he went, but evaded their notice. Soon he arrived at the chamber.
He guessed that Tiet and Grod would probably be close to the containment area by now and he had little time to distract the Lucin before intruder alarms would sound and they would lose the slight advantage surprise gave them.
Kale removed two spicors from his uniform and stepped back enough to throw them into the chamber door. They flashed violently, leaving a large hole through the alloy that comprised the door. Kale was through the door as soon as the energy dissipated.
He dived through and rolled to his feet, drawing his blade as he stood. The dispersion field ignited and lit the dark room around him, but the Three were not immediately seen. He closed his eyes and relied upon his mind, and then he found them. "You can come out, I see you," said Kale.
Kale immediately formed a kinetic bubble within the hole he had made and blew out the door mechanism with a thought.
"Did you think we would run from you Kale?" asked one of the Three.
"Or are you ready to end your life by trapping yourself with us?" asked another.
"You'll try to run before I'm through with you Lucin," said Kale.
They laughed in unison. "Pride goeth before a fal,l mortal. Do you really expect to defeat an angel?"
"You were an angel Lucin; now you're an abomination."
They approached him from three sides, coming into the yellowish glow of his blade. Kale protected himself mentally as he felt them apply their own great mental faculties against him.
Lucin was putting tremendous pressure upon him as he searched for a weakness in Kale's defense, but he could find none.
Kale could feel the pressure continuing to build as Lucin sought to attack him mentally. He knew very well that he would have been easily overcome by the angel if he was not forced to split his attention and power in coordinating his warriors on the ground and with the ships still fighting the Vorn cruisers around the flagship.
Kale decided that he would have to try a counterattack soon or Lucin might break through his mental defense. Suddenly Kale lunged at one of them to strike with his blade. The symbyte swept out of the way fast toward one of the others like a hand being pulled back to its body.
A large piece of equipment flew at Kale from its place in the shadows as he attempted to correct his maneuver to hit his target. He struck the large metal object, cutting it in two pieces.
The Three came close to one another now and Baruk warriors could be heard outside the one door to the chamber, but they could not get through Kales kinetic bubble or open the doorway to help their masters.
"Have you already summoned help for yourself, Lucin?" he asked sarcastically.
Lucin did not answer him. The Three came together, touching, their forms beginning to change before Kale's eyes. The human forms melded with one another, increasing their size to roughly three times their individual size. They congealed into a monstrous form.
"If it is a physical battle you desire, you shall have it, Barudii," scolded Lucin.
GROD and Tiet were able to see the massive containment chamber from their perch. They had climbed beyond the walkway toward the mechanism to avoid any Baruk warriors that might be happening by during the course of their duties. They climbed quietly along the structure toward the conduits above the chamber. The pipes were huge. It would take a throw of multiple spicor discs to get through those conduits without being instantly covered in the coolant flowing within. There appeared to be a minimum of personnel in the area at the moment. There was no time to waste.
Tiet removed three spicor discs from his vest. He and Grod moved to a catwalk that would give them an easier escape route. Tiet stood for the throw and targeted three separate conduit pipes to prevent any rerouting of coolant to the containment system, as Kale had suggested.
With deadly accuracy he sent the discs away to their targets. The discs exploded as they impacted the pipes, leaving huge holes in each one, and bluish colored coolant vapor spewing forth from them.
An alarm immediately sounded throughout the ship, as they began to make their way down the structure again to escape through the transgate. Baruk began to clamor into the containment system area. Then they spotted the pair. "Saboteurs!!"
The Baruk began to fire upon them as they ran down the catwalk. Projectiles clattered around them like rain as Tiet tried to block them with a kinetic field. More warriors began to approach them from the other end of the catwalk.
Tiet drew his kemsticks as Grod targeted the group with his data-scope lens. Suddenly a strike of plasma energy burst over the kinetic shield, arcing into the approaching Baruk. The warriors tumbled over the side of the catwalk as the energy hit them full fury.
More warriors were mobilizing already, but they didn't have time to draw out the fight; according to the wailing security alarms, this ship would be imploding in seven minutes.
KALE deflected several tentacles flying at him from the Lucin's symbyte form. The creature screeched as his blade vaporized some of its morphing tissue. Lucin couldn't get past Kale's defense. Then the ship's warning system went off.
"Evacuate ship, seven minutes to containment meltdown, evacuate ship," sounded the alarm.
The symbyte creature reeled back from the fight as Lucin realized the imminent destruction of the ship. He turned his attention to opening the door and breaching Kale's kinetic force field. Kale moved in to strike again, trying to keep it occupied and imprisoned until the containment field collapsed completely.
The creature spun on Kale and sent him flying backward with a burst of mental energy. Kale wondered if Lucin had now stopped expending his power coordinating his troops to concentrate on saving himself. Kale regained his stance and flung his blade at the creature. The blade struck and rebounded under mental control to his hand.
Lucin howled at him and held Kale in a mental grip that instantly fixed him frozen to the floor.
He knew that he would not get through the force field until Kale removed it. Lucin's monstrous form came at Kale and smashed a hardened appendage across his body that sent him into the ground and his blade spinning out of his hand across the floor.
Kale could hear the warning system stating that only four minutes remained before containment meltdown as the creature stood over him and began to pound away at his body. He could feel his bones shattering as Lucin desperately tried to remove Kale's mental focus on the shield that prevented his escape from the room and the doomed ship.
Kale was in terrible pain, but he blocked it out as much as possible as he continued to focus on keeping the field up across the chamber door until the last possible moment. Blow after blow pounded across his battered and bleeding body.
Kale could barely hear over the ringing in his ears. The warning system sounded a muffled cry of three minutes. Kale felt like his life was beginning to slip away and his body was numb; yet he continued to focus all his energy on the field.
GROD and Tiet leapt away from the catwalk and landed where they had ventured out of the corridor leading to the transgate. Several Baruk warriors met them, but Grod blasted them with plasma energy on their way through.
They ran hard for the transgate and did not encounter any other warriors along the way. The ship's warning system sounded out again at four minutes to meltdown as they reached the transgate and ran through. When they came into the domed chamber at Nagon-Toth, Tiet immediately asked the technician monitoring the gate if Kale had already come through.
"No. You are the only ones to return," said the technician.
Tiet turned back to the gate as Grod caught his arm to prevent him. "Don't go back, Tiet."
"He's my brother!" snapped Tiet. "I have to go back!"
Grod looked at him urgently, showing concern in his eyes.
"Keep the gate open as long as you can," he said and Grod released his grip on the young man's arm. He ran back through the gate and was immediately within the flagship again. He had no other way to find Kale except his mind.
Tiet felt for him and found him nearby. Several Baruk were working on a damaged door to the chamber; he could feel Kale inside and in horrible pain. He blasted the Baruk warriors with his mind before they even realized he was upon them.
He sent them into the wall with such force that none of them moved after they hit the ground. He could sense a force field that Kale held over the chamber door and the screeching of some animal was heard from within.
Tiet pulled a hand full of spicors and flung them into the wall, blasting a hole to access the chamber. As he entered the room a monster peered up at him. It was a horrific-looking creature and Kale's bloody beaten body was lying beneath it. The creature tried to attack him mentally as he flung a handful of spicors at it.
He was knocked down by the attack as the spicors sailed into their intended target and erupted all over the creature's large body. The symbyte flailed backwards away from Kale and writhed upon the floor, trying to reorganize its form.
He took the opportunity and grabbed Kale's battered body up in his arms; supporting his limp form mentally as he made his way back out of the chamber to the transgate. The warning system sounded again, "One minute to containment breech…"
ESTALL shifted in his captain's chair as new information began to come across the view screen. "Sir, there appear to be a large number of escape pods jettisoning from the flagship," said one of the scan techs.
"Ranul, what's going on?"
He ran more specialized scans of the vessel. "I'm picking up some sort of gravitational flux on board. It's difficult to pinpoint behind their shields, but there is something else odd about it."
"What?"
"The other ships are beginning to drift from their protective positions around the flagship."
"Are they running?"
"No, it just looks like they've stopped calibrating their position, like someone is asleep at the wheel. Wait a minute! The waveform I've been monitoring has discontinued."
"Can we break through?"
"I would caution against it, the gravitational disturbance is building in intensity. If it keeps up it will destroy their ship and pull in anything within a range of one thousand kilometers."
"Gunner, continue trying to punch through. Maybe we can help them on their way," said Estall.
WYNN could clearly make out the forms of the Baruk warriors as they began their charge across the battlefield toward their position.
"Ready your guns!!" shouted Wynn to his troops through his com-link.
The Baruk were running hard at them now, shouting a war cry as they advanced. And then suddenly, many began to slow and stop.
What's happening?! he thought as he peered through his data-scope lens.
Suddenly a number of monstrous worm-like beasts broke through the ground from within the group of Baruk warriors and began to attack them.
"Sonders!"
"Yes, Sir," said the soldier as he ran to Wynn's side.
"Aren't those the same creatures that were spotted entering the city before the attack on Tiet's group?"
"Yes, Sir, the same. But why are they attacking the Baruk?"
"I don't know but their group is within the range of our guns… Fire!!"
The Baruk warriors were caught in between their own creatures attacking them as the mental domination of the Lucin was released, and the rain of fire coming against them from the Castillian army. Many of the warriors ran in various directions to escape, while others tried to kill the Hurutai that were trying to kill anything within their reach, and still others tried to fire back at Wynn's forces.
"Should we charge them, sir?" asked Sonders.
"No, not yet… Let's allow those creatures to finish off as many as they will first. Something is finally going our way in this fight. Let's not give up the advantage we've been given."
TIET'S steps were beginning to get heavier and heavier as he ran toward the place where he hoped the transgate would still be open to escape through. The Baruk ship's computer was counting down the last minute. Tiet was still supporting the weight of Kale's body with his mind but he was struggling as the gravitational forces began to build aboard the doomed vessel.
Lucin's symbyte form began to recover itself from the spicor disc explosions. Pain coursed through its body, but that only fueled his anger and desire to escape the ship that much more. The Barudii had seized Kale's body but had left the chamber open as well.
With only precious moments to escape, Lucin's monstrous form moved quickly through the opening in the chamber door.
The computer was counting down and there was no time to reach any of the escape pods. Then he saw a trailing glimpse of a man with another across his shoulders running from the area; blood trailing behind them on the floor. However they got on the ship, there must be a way they were planning on leaving.
The gravity was causing intense pain in Tiet's legs as he tried to continue his pace toward the transgate, which he could now see up ahead. Nagon-Toth looked like home sweet home in comparison to this place now. Then he heard something approaching fast from behind.
He could sense the same creature that had been trying to kill Kale back in the chamber. It was coming up fast on him, but there was no time for a fight; only seconds remained before a complete collapse of the containment field surrounding those gravity weapons.
The symbyte gained rapidly on Tiet as he continued to run. Lucin moved quickly, contorting his terrifying symbyte body to reach for anything he could and pull himself along the corridor. His morphing appendages sprang outward, several at a time, to find anchors with which to pull his body along at a swift pace. He could now see the same portal that Kale's rescuer was running for and his pace quickened as the computer counted down the last ten seconds.
The portal was within reach now. Tiet ran through, with Kale still across his back. His brother's blood could be felt across his bare neck and was beginning to soak through his own uniform; but he was still breathing, still alive. As he ran through the portal he saw Grod waiting.
"Close the gate!!" he shouted as they ran through.
The technician punched the button as the symbyte monstrosity reached the field and began to come through. The transgate snapped shut like a light going out. A piece of the symbyte creature burst away as the field separated it from the rest of the body still aboard the Baruk flagship. The lump of tissue landed on the floor smoldering, but did not move.
THE Baruk flagship began to crumple inward upon itself as the containment field fully collapsed around the store of massive gravity weapons within its core. Ranul and Estall watched with their bridge crew as the whole superstructure caved inward.
The numerous escape pods trying to jettison into open space were quickly succumbing to the gravitational pull and being cast back upon their mother ship to join the imploding mass.
The other Baruk ships, many of which were already drifting or damaged were now pull toward the implosion. Then, without warning it burst outward again, destroying or damaging nearly all of those ships being pulled to it.
The bridge crew of the Esyia howled their approval as the whole conflagration went up before their eyes. Only three ships of the Castillian army remained and they were nearly out of shield power, but the fight appeared to be over; they had won against the odds.
"GET the medics in here!" shouted Grod to those monitoring from the control room.
Tiet laid his brother on the floor as gently as he could. Kale's expression was fixed on his face. His face was a mask of blood as he tried to speak to Tiet.
"Forgive?" he asked through the pain.
Tears welled up in Tiet's eyes as he watched the brother he had only recently known, dying before him. He could not hold them back as they fell upon the damaged body.
"Forgive?" Kale strained again.
"Kale, I forgive you all, my brother," he said through the lump in his throat.
And with that, Kale's expression turned from anguish to peace. He stopped his struggle and laid his head back to the floor and was dead.
The Horva medics rushed into the chamber, but Grod bade them to hold with a wave of his hand. The Barudii warrior was dead and they could not have saved him.
Tiet moved away from his body as the Horva prepared to remove him.
"I am sorry for your loss," Grod said genuinely.
He only looked at the General. He had no words now.
"My men will show you where you can rest awhile. I will contact your people in Baeth Periege and we will arrange transport for you back to the city."
Tiet nodded as he choked back his emotions. He followed one of the warriors out of the room as the medics loaded Kale's body onto a carrier.
"What do you want to do with this tissue that came through the portal?" asked the transgate tech.
"Have it taken to the incinerator, that way it will be completely destroyed," said Grod as he followed the medics out of the room.
The transgate technician left his controls after shutting down the control board and went to find a suitable container to remove the tissue. He found an old metal box and scooped the symbyte flesh into it. With the lid shut he headed for the incinerator to dispose of the specimen.
THE trip back to Baeth Periege was lengthy but uneventful. Tiet did not speak to anyone and no one attempted conversation with him. General Grod sat behind him on the shuttle flight, along with a contingent of his warriors; a proper escort for the Barudii King.
When they arrived within the city, Wynn was there to meet him at the port, along with seemingly thousands of people, both warrior and civilian, from among the Castillian and Vorn races. Tiet followed the casement carrying Kale's body as the Horva warriors carried it from the shuttle toward the main port building.
The crowd clapped and cheered for their young king as he passed through them on the walkway. He tried to be as cheerful as possible; waving several times to the people who had come to see him home, but the pain of losing his brother after so short a time of knowing him ate at him.
He was reminded of his other loved ones who had died around him in so short a time. He never doubted the purposes of God in all things, but it seemed so senseless to him.
When he entered the main port building, Mirah was there to meet him.
"I thought we had lost you," said Mirah.
Wynn was relieved to see him safe. Tiet would grieve for Kale, but he would certainly bounce back, in time.
They remained in the south gate only minutes longer before going on to the medical complex where he could get treatment for any lingering effects of the neurotoxin he had been subjected to, and receive dressings for his wounds.
When they arrived he followed Mirah on into the treatment bay. He seemed to be bruised all over. Mirah noticed fresh blood trickling down his arm, the same that had been previously broken and repaired. She cut away the sleeve of his uniform to examine it.
Mirah wasn't exactly sure what to say as she tried to concentrate on her medical duties. She liked Tiet, but they had never been anything more than friends. She had wondered if they might ever be more. He had lost some of the brashness he possessed when he had rescued her from the Vorn prison back on Castai's twin across the Rift. Now he was quiet and kind and very respectful of her as a professional.
Mirah remembered that he had promised her they would sit down and talk soon. As she dressed his wounds, she decided she was going to hold him to that.
RESNIOR watched the alarm on the transgate with frustration.
"Where did Merin go? He's been gone for hours and he's the only one trained on the shutdown procedures for the transgate until Orikel comes on tonight."
"I think the General had him running some errand to the incinerator," said one of the other techs in the control room. "But that was hours ago."
"Well someone needs to take care of shutting that thing down and I'm not messing around with it. I'm going to see if I can find him."
Resnior got up from his station, headed out of the control room and found the lift to take him down to the incinerator.
When he came down the main corridor he could see the main debris port was open. There was a metal container on the floor next to the port, but no Merin. He walked over to the container, which was open and laying on its side. On the ground was some sort of liquid residue. Resnior bent down to examine it. He noticed that there was also blood mingled with it.
When he stood and turned to return to the lift, Merin was standing there almost on top of him. Resnoir only had a moment before Merin caught his head with his hands and quickly turned it hard to snap his neck. The body fell to the ground dead.
Merin tapped the switch to open it with his elbow and pushed the body inside. He picked up the metal container from the floor that he had carried the symbyte tissue down in and threw the empty casing inside with Resnior's body.
After shutting the chamber door again he switched the incinerator on and turned to leave. He reached down on his abdomen and began to close the uniform shirt he wore. Underneath it, fluid from the symbyte tissue began to bleed through the cloth. He covered it up with his vestment and walked to the lift, letting the doors close behind him.
A Horva wasn't a hospitable body for Lucin to inhabit. Another would have to be found before the man's natural defenses could respond. Fortunately this planet had many to offer.