HTG - Chapter 163 ( Lunara POV )

Lunara

Chapter One-Hundred-Sixty-Three: Musings of Faith - Part Three

Galactic Quadrant: Darna Quadrant

Ruling Government: Talum Merchant Federation

Solar System: D-447

Planet: Ora

Location: Upon the sands of the Colosseum.

The city of Orarak rumbles in protest to the gravity which now pulls it towards the planet’s surface. There is not much time, yet Fennec has not arrived yet, and Dargo simply stares at the center of Kalon’s chest, saying nothing. He is unnerving us all, the others dare not move against him, but they also do not flee from him. I have seen few with nerves such as those who are loyal to Kalon, many who claim to be nobility would have fled at what we just witnessed. I have seen the weakness of nobles before, my mind pushes back the memories, and I focus.

“Dargo…” I begin, working up the nerve as the city rumbles more, “If you’re not going to kill us…”

“Kill you?” Dargo chuckles, his eyes still not leaving the black lines that ebb and flow from Kalon’s chest, “No, not you. Him though, I have yet to decide.”

Those with Kalon grip his body, ready to run, weapons in hand, eyes focusing. Each of them now controls their once uneven breath.

“One can only guess the potential ramifications of leaving him alive,” Dargo says.

I turn to Goddess Leora, looking to her for answers. Her eyes narrow as she shifts uncomfortably at his words. Her jaw tensing ever so slightly. Her words fill my mind as she speaks.

You would defy me, after everything we have been through?

Dargo turns to her, it is strange, I am not used to others seeing her presence. His face straightens as he looks at her intently. She shifts a little more, her mouth debating whether to speak before him.

He points to Kalon and says, “That is not a simple Spark like you said, do not pretend you do not know.”

Spark? What in the fragging hells is going on? My Goddess’s lips curl into an uncomfortable smile as she begins to speak.

My dearest Dargo…

Her head tilts to the side.

Are you not as curious as I am?

He turns from her, shaking his head, mumbling under his breath, as though having some kind of internal conflict. The ground tremors once more. The levelness of the city tilting further. My heart breathes a small relief as I see a shuttle above us, I can only hope it is Fennec. Maybe I can distract Dargo long enough… my hand tightens on the hilt of my Ionic sword.

The shuttle loading bay doors open, Fennec is standing on the end of it. The ship is filled nearly to the brim with people.

“Oi! Hurry the fuck up, cities coming down and the FSC is on the move!” Fennec yells.

Shit, I hadn’t even considered Federation Space Command. They will surely respond to this. But who will they side with? The nobles or the people of this city? No time to think, we need to move. Drawing my Ionic blade, the light erupts from the hilt forming a blade edge along its sides. I move between Dargo and the others, my hand trembles, but I borrow the resolve of the brave warriors behind me.

“Get to the shuttle, go…”

They do not wait for the words to finish before they are all dragging up Kalon and moving. Solara follows after them, pushing debris from their path.

Dargo does not stop them. He simply chuckles, shaking his head. “It is good to see that you inherited some of your mother’s brazenness.”

My jaw tenses as he says it.

“My—Lady!” Fennec yells, his tone irritated and brimming with fear. His weapon is raised at Dargo, but his hand is shaking, like he knows what Dargo is capable of.

Dargo raises his fingers up into the air saying, “Sleep…” then he snaps them.

Reality ripples as Fennec and all the others including Solara fall over inside the shuttle, slumping to the ground.

“That’s better,” Dargo says.

I lunge as he turns, it is my only chance. The air rushes as he moves to the shuttle, my Ionic sword too slow to even graze his shadow. In his hand, he drags Kalon by the foot. Air rushes again, he now stands above Kotina.

“She’ll do,” he says, grabbing her foot in his other hand.

I leap towards her, my blade retracting as I do, and I slam into the ground where she had been only a second before. The three of them are gone, nowhere in sight. No—no—no, not her too. I pound my hands in frustration on the sand. The city tilts further, the shuttle starting to slide with other debris. Fennec and the others are asleep, but I cannot let Dargo take her, and he will… he will surely kill Kalon, I could see it in his eyes. The city creaks with uneasiness.

My mind is racing, I can’t save Kotina or Kalon, what would Kotina do, what would Father do?

Kalon would say, change what is in front of you, wallowing will not help. My legs stand, and I rush towards the shuttle. I do not know what they would do, but I will not be the reason more die. Pushing Fennec back inside, I close the loading bay doors and jump over the mound of people that lay sprawled about. Climbing into the pilot’s chair.

“Please Fennec, please have left the command open,” I breath.

My hands run through the holos and the gauges start appearing. My breath is heavy but there is relief as the shuttle begins to rise upwards. The shuttle rushes into the air, the city falling still towards the planet. My mind tries not to think of those who will be left behind.

There are thousands upon thousands of shuttles streaming into the sky, trying to escape the dying city, we are among them. The city of Orarak plummets towards the surface of the planet, billowing a trail of smoke that can be seen even from here. Flagship Thorn has managed to regain some altitude, turning their nose towards those in the sky. My heart drops as I see their forward doors opening and firing upon the civilian shuttles. Their hanger doors slide open and smaller crafts begin cutting through the air towards the fleeing refugees.

My hand swipes through the controls quickly, waiting for the system override to be accepted, I tie my hair up quickly in a knot, taking it out of my eyes.

“Manual override accepted, limiters released—Warning…” the system begins, but I swipe my hand through it.

Plasma rips through the sky, missing its mark on most of the first wave of civilian crafts. Their targeting systems must be down. At least there’s that. I roll the ship as a few stray shots hurtle past us. The slumped bodies of those in the cabin of the shuttle slam against the top and then back down to the floor.

“Kada…” Arrum says, trying to stand.

My teeth clench, fucking hells, I don’t need this right now.

“What the hells happened?” Fennec asks, clutching his head, the rest of the group begins to wake now too.

Fennec climbs through the tangled group of people towards the pilot chair.

“Oh—fuck’s sake,” Fennec groans, pointing a shaking hand up above, just outside of orbit.

My eyes widen as I see shots coming from a Dreadnaught class battleship. To my surprise, none of them hit the civilian ships. Using the holo display I pull up a view of the craft and see they were aiming for Flagship Thorn. Finding their mark in a series of explosions across the bow of the ship. Destroying their frontal weapons, smashing into the bridge deck with the next volley. Thorn begins to fall rapidly as the next three volleys target their propulsion systems and strike at their Etherium reactor. Escape pods eject from its side rapidly.

As we break the atmosphere, I see the side of the dreadnaught, my eyes squint as I pull up a holo which zooms in. The ship bears the crest of the Gallec Empire, are they here for Solara? Space distorts as six more ships warp into the space around it. All of them bearing the crest of the Talum Merchant Federation.

On the comms, a wide unencrypted channel opens, I recognize the voice as the Federation Space Command’s senior officer for the system, Commander Merrik.

“Attention unauthorized vessel of the Gallec Empire, this is Federation Space Command actual, you are in violation of the peace treaty…” he stops mid-sentence as though receiving another comms.

There is tension in Fennec’s face. The group is beginning to chatter loudly behind us.

“Kalon… where is Kalon?” Arrum asks loudly over the group.

Before I can even try to think of an answer, my eyes grow wider as ten Gallec Empire cruisers warp in, taking a flanking position around the FSC ships which now do a hard burn to change positions. A new voice comes over the wideband communications, also unencrypted, the display says it is from the Dreadnaught class warship. The same one that shot down Flagship Thorn.

“Attention Talum Merchant Federation, this is Knight Commander Draken, Primus of House Draconis, hailing from the Gallec Empire. You will stand down or be fired upon. We are here in response to a distress beacon from the heir apparent of our house.”

Commander Merrik’s voice comes on now.

“We have received reports from Flagship Thorn that you fired upon the civilian city of Orarak, and them as they attempted to save it."

"We did no such thing," Draken says, there is annoyance in his tone as he asks, "Where is our heir?"

"We saw you firing upon Thorn,” Commander Merrik says over the comms.

Fennec’s face goes askew as he looks at me shaking his head, sweat beading on his brow.

“Where is Kalon!” Arrum yells, stumbling forward towards us with weapon in hand.

“Sekat…” Fennec says, looking out the viewport as one of the Federation’s cruisers explodes.

I could not see where the first shot came from, or who did it, how it was destroyed is now a moot point as the aftershock rattles our shuttle. The other ships begin to turn and fire. Steady streams of close-range fighter ships storm out of the hanger bays on the ships as shields ripple over the main structures. The darkness of space is awash in the torrents of man's folly as the first blows are struck in a conflict that could throw the entire galaxy into turmoil.

There is no hope here, this shuttle cannot make a jump.

“Over there,” Fennec says, pointing toward something on the holo display.

I peer closer, more ships are warping in, ships that I recognize, my father’s ships. My heart beats harder, hope daring to rise, like I’m a little girl again and my father is coming to save me.

“We might just make it out of this,” Fennec says, breathing less heavy, “Thank the gods.”

The gods, they are to blame for this, are they not? The thought disappears as I see my father’s Dreadnaught, the Hyperion moving to block the stream of shuttles and opening the docking bay doors to allow them harbor. He’s creating a wall to protect them from the fighting.

Within minutes we are inside the bay, and my father is tearing open the door to the shuttle, peeling metal from hinges and bulkheads. He sees me and breathes a sigh of relief before straightening himself. His eyes move around the cabin, the Kuwathi with me have never seen a Raven before, he is giant compared to them, yet Kalon’s friends, they do not cower like the others.

My father’s eyes linger on Solara, like he is surprised to see her, she stares back, giving a strange expression before turning away from his piercing gaze.  

“Where is Kotina, where is the boy?” my father asks. His tone is cold as it always is. The sigh of relief long gone.

He asks after Kalon too? Ravena must have called him here. “Dargo took them from me, I’m sorry, Father.”

“Where?”

I point toward the city where we came, a small sparkle of light high in the clouds still.

He turns, donning his metal visor and walking toward the glimmering shield that separates the vacuum of space and the shuttle bay. I rush after him, he is giving orders to knights that salute and move in different directions rapidly. He stands at the edge, his thick metal boots brushing past the shield. He leans down and grasps the edge of the platform… readying his stance to…

He leaps with so much force that people are blown back several paces. My eyes blink fast as I watch him move as a blur until I lose sight of him entirely.  

My head turns as I see a massive warship come into view… one that I recognize with the Theocratic Imperium’s marking emblazoned on its side. Inquisitor Victoria. Shit.