Diah felt her back smash into the hard metal of a Chyl cruiser as her and her mother landed atop it. She slid across the smooth golden surface and stabbed her dagger into the top to keep from falling off. Her mother did the same with her blade mere feet away.
“You really want to die then, daughter?” Wyrna asked as she stood. The wind whipped through her normally-pinned hair.
Diah steadied herself and rose. “I won’t let you take control, mother. I would rather die than watch our people be enslaved by your and your Kunar companions.”
Wyrna removed her blade from the cruiser and ran the flat side along her hand. She exhaled. “Then I will make sure that your last seconds in this life are full of nothing but pain.”
Wyrna charged her daughter, swinging viciously to try and land a decisive blow. Diah parried with ease, side-stepping and monitoring her mother’s movements. Years of training together made Diah her mother’s perfect combat match.
The ship jumped underneath them. Diah turned to see a squadron of Kunar fighters firing their laser turrets into its side. The ship buckled and swerved downward. Diah stabbed the top of the ship again and held on as the swerve became a full spiral into the rooftops of the business district.
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Kirrik ran into the cockpit of the Nova and threw himself into the front seat. He tapped at the screens and pulled on the throttle, forcing the Nova’s engines to kick into overdrive. The ship rocketed toward the shield guard when a section of the bay’s wall crumbled apart. The remaining ceiling of the bay caved in and the debris knocked the Nova sideways.
“Kirrik, we don’t have an exit anymore,” Zaius observed from behind him. “How are we going to get out?”
“Let me handle it,” Imi said as she moved past him and took the seat behind Kirrik. She slid a screen out from the right wall, clicked it into place in front of her, and pulled up the laser cannon’s targeting system. She searched around the remains of the bay as Kirrik kept them circling. “There!” She said, pointing. “There’s a weak spot in the metal right there.”
“You think we can break right through?” Kirrik asked.
“I know we can,” Imi responded.
Kirrik let out a soft laugh. “I sure did miss you.”
“Don’t get sentimental on me just yet, alright?”
Kirrik circled the Nova around once again, this time aiming for the weakened sheet metal of Flightline’s hull, while Imi pulled up the diagnostics for the Nova’s thrusters. She rerouted the power layouts and closed the grid.
“Are we sure this is going to work?” Zaius inquired.
“If it doesn’t, we’re dead either way,” Kirrik answered.
“Yeah, but I’d really like to keep living!” Nox snapped.
Imi tapped the side of her screen. “I’ve changed the direction of the power flow for the whole ship. When I say to go, give it all you can, okay?” She directed.
“Give her all you can,” Kirrik corrected.
“Shut up and boost!” Nox and Imi said concurrently.
Kirrik threw back the throttle as Imi slid all of the bars on her screen up. The cockpit flickered and the screens buzzed as the Nova skyrocketed forward. Everyone braced as the ship pierced through the thin layer of metal and blazed a luminous trail back out into space.
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Rana watched with sick glee as Flightline fell apart in front of her. She rolled her shoulders and moved up to the Requiem’s main console. “Look at all the little bugs escaping from the nest,” She observed. She leaned forward. “Fire the boost cannon. Let’s see how many of these we can wipe out in one attack.”
The Reclaiments around her scurried and tapped at their screens. “Firing in five seconds, Overseer,” one of them informed her.
The Requiem shot out a thin, string-like beam from its underside directed toward Flightline’s center. It struck, then disappeared. Rana grinned.
A white ball of plasma suddenly appeared, no bigger than a Kunar fighter. It expanded until it was the size of a standard cruiser, then exploded into a ball of light that rivaled a miniature sun. Anything that was caught within its reach was instantly disintegrated. The explosion withered away, and there was nothing left in its wake. Flightline, once the galaxy’s beacon of peace, was gone.
“We did it!” Rana shouted with psychotic joy. “Now, we fill the void.”
“Overseer, there’s still a few escape shuttles and some Flightline military vessels floating around,” One of the Reclaiments informed her. “Should we engage?”
Rana tapped her claws against the console. “Yes. Send out the fighters to clean up whoever is left. Kill them all.”
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Sky made her way down the capitol steps, heart racing, with Balakus a few steps away. She could still feel the lingering sting of Wyrna’s acid clearing out of her body. Her healing ability had been pushed to its limits, yet somehow she managed to survive.
“We need to help these people,” Sky said, noting the waves of scared and injured civilians running from their Kunar attackers. Hordes of Chyl military fighters had launched into the air for a counter-offensive. A dark gray settled over as storm clouds rolled in.
“The rain should help with the fires,” Balakus observed. “How much of your Kanushin can you spend on healing?”
“It depends on the injury,” Sky answered honestly. “If there’s people that need cuts, bruises or smaller broken bones mended, I can handle it. Anything past that would have to be a case-by-case basis. Patching myself up after those two attacks took a lot out of me already.”
Balakus examined the area around them, deep in thought. “The flight path of that fighter would have taken Ravig and Rhug down just a bit further. If we follow it, we can stop them from hurting anyone else. We’ll take care of whoever we can along the way.”
Sky nodded and let her staff melt into its bare energy form. It seeped back into her skin with a cooling aura. ‘I’d better save what I can for now,’ She thought. ‘The fight ahead is bound to get ugly.’
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“What was that?” Nox exclaimed, hands clasped tightly to the back of Imi’s chair. Zaius could feel the sweat dripping from his forehead. Their hectic escape from Flightline was rough, but the unexpected blast immediately after added a new layer of stress. They were on a ticking clock.
Imi studied her screen and the multiple readings that flashed across it. “Whatever it was, we can’t afford to take on another one. There are dozens of stalled ships and pods left floating out here.”
“What’s the estimated time to reboot for those specific pod units?” Kirrik asked, eyes tracking each of the suspended pods in front of them.
“For a standard syl? Ten minutes,” Imi informed him after a second of thought.
“We can’t just let them sit here, Kirrik,” Nox said. “We have to do something.”
Zaius noticed Kirrik’s hand tighten around the yoke. He was nervous. “Something on your mind?” Zaius asked him.
“My sister is on one of those pods,” Kirrik explained. “I hope she is, at least. That’s a whole other thought I’m not willing to entertain right now.”
Imi perked up. “You found Camina?”
“Sure did,” Kirrik confirmed. He rubbed the top of his head, just above his ponytail. “Watching her get taken from me the first time was hard enough. I refuse to do it again.”
Imi leaned forward and put her hand on his. “I know what you’re thinking, but we’re the only ship that’s still active. If we try to take the fight to them, the numbers game will catch up to us. Who will help the others at that point?”
“All we need to do is run a distraction for ten minutes, then keep the Kunar off them as they leave,” Kirrik planned out.
Nox let out a scoff of disbelief. “You really think we can take on a whole Kunar fleet for ten minutes?”
Zaius moved between the seats and stared out the cockpit window at the flagship nestled between the Kunar cruisers. Its shield guards lowered and a mass of jagged fighters spilled from its maw. “They’re sending the cleanup crew,” He said.
“Then we make a decision,” Kirrik voiced, ready to fly.
“Kirrik, we can’t take out that whole fleet,” Imi reiterated. “No matter what we do.”
“We have to try!” Kirrik shouted. “It’s not just about us anymore.”
Zaius heard the sound of Nox’s grip tightening on the chair and looked down to see her nails dug firmly into the cloth. He looked back out the window as an idea started to form. “What if we don’t have to take out a bunch of ships?” Zaius offered. “What if we only need to take out one?”
“That flagship? The one that instantly vaporized a whole space station?” Kirrik asked.
Zaius turned to Nox. “Nox, do you think you would be able to interact with the ship if we got you onboard?”
“Maybe?” She hesitated. “What do you have in mind?”
Zaius paused. “I want you to try and overload that weapon.”
Nox let out a nervous laugh. “You want me to tell that thing to self-destruct? Would we even be able to escape its radius?”
“If I calculated correctly, yes,” Imi added.
Kirrik grabbed the throttle and pulled it hard. The Nova sped forward into the incoming tidal wave of Kunar fighters. “Decision made, so hold on!”
Plasma bolts and turret fire rained down upon the Nova as Kirrik dipped and bobbed to avoid any damage. Imi pulled out her yoke and fixed it into place, swiping her console over to its cannon control mode. She aimed at the Kunar fighters and started firing as they swarmed the Nova.
“Anything we can do?” Zaius asked, his stomach clenched tight in anxiety.
“Just hold tight!” Kirrik yelled over the turret fire.
Zaius and Nox grabbed the sides of the cockpit and pressed up against the walls.
Kirrik braked and swung the Nova forward into a tight turn, shifting into a spin as Imi fired an arc of electricity from the two cannons. Six fighters took the hit and spiraled into their flying companions, creating a shockwave of explosions. The fighters split apart into smaller groups, allowing the Nova some much needed space.
A blast of laser fire nailed the Nova from behind. The ship rumbled. Kirrik tilted the yoke into a spin and pulled the throttle back once again to send the Nova rocketing up.
“There’s three behind us but I can’t lock on!” Imi told them. “They’re moving too fast!”
“Zaius, you need to release our mines,” Kirrik instructed. “Pull the switch to your left!”
Zaius ran his hand along the wall and stopped when he found a small toggle. He flicked it down and waited. Nothing happened.
“Zaius, the switch!” Kirrik said over his shoulder.
“I threw it but it’s not working!” Zaius replied. He flicked the switch up and down multiple times to make sure. “Nox, can you try?”
Nox put her hand against the wall and closed her eyes. “Come on, come on,” She muttered under her breath. A loud string of clunks filled the Nova.
“Mines out! Targets hit!” Imi updated.
Kirrik dropped the Nova into a deep dive as it approached the Kunar flagship. A barrage of blue cannon fire lit up the space around them. The Nova shook violently.
“What’s the plan, Kirrik?” Imi inquired.
“We’re trying to get inside, right?” Zaius added.
Kirrik turned the Nova onto its side. Zaius gripped the bars along the wall to keep from falling forward into Nox. The strain of gravity tugged at his core.
“Imi, fire along the bottom. Hit everything you can!”
Cannon bolts blasted the flagship as Imi fired everything she could. They smoldered and crackled against the Kunar ship’s shields. “We can’t break through the shields,” Imi noted.
Kirrik let out a frustrated grunt and flipped the Nova around, heading back into the mass of fighters.
“What are you doing?” Nox asked.
“Making this easier,” Kirrik responded. He braked again, tilted the Nova up and launched forward before taking a hard curve into the ship’s open maw. Kunar fighters ripped into the flagship’s side like bullets as they tried to follow.
Zaius realized what Kirrik was thinking as they moved in further. With the shield guards of the flagship down, they could enter with no trouble. The Nova slipped inside the Kunar’s docking bay at full speed.
“Imi, bloom!” Kirrik told her as he pressed the Nova into a tight corkscrew. Imi tapped away at her screen with inhuman speed. Waves of electric energy released from the Nova’s cannons and hit the interior of the bay as they flew through. A series of eruptions followed as docked Kunar fighters and the bay’s systems detonated around them. The Nova leveled out of its corkscrew and flew around to the front of the flagship. Blasts continued to riddle the docking bay and spread into the interior.
Imi ran a scan of the ship on her screen. “Shields are almost down,” She told them. “We used up almost all of our remaining energy on that maneuver, though. We have enough to keep shields up for a few more minutes and get away with the pods, but we won’t be able to try and dock inside anymore.”
“Nox, channel all power to the ship’s shields when I tell you to, alright?” Kirrik requested.
Imi gave Kirrik a confused look. “What are you planning?”
“Do you trust me?” Kirrik asked in return, avoiding the question.
“It’s not about trust, it’s about survival. What are you doing?”
Zaius looked at Nox, who shrugged her shoulders back at him. Neither one could tell what was on Kirrik’s mind. Zaius pressed up against the wall for safety.
Kirrik rotated a knob and placed his hands on the throttle. He waited as the swarm of fighters moved around the flagship and toward the Nova once more.
“Kirrik?” Imi called.
Kirrik didn’t respond.
“Kirrik? Hello?”
“Are you going to talk to us?” Zaius asked. He hoped that Kirrik’s plan gave them at least a small chance to live. Thoughts of Diah swept through him. He longed for the opportunity to hold her in his arms one last time.
Kirrik sent the Nova speeding into the swarm, toggling switches and pulling levers to increase its velocity. Fighters buzzed around them, unable to land their shots. The Nova broke through the other side of the swarm and continued its forward assault. The flagship grew in size as they approached.
“Nox, now!” Kirrik ordered.
Nox placed both hands on the wall and the cockpit went dark. Despite the engines sputtering off, the ship carried on at full speed. Zaius’ eyes grew wide.
“Oh no. No way!” He exclaimed.
“Brace!” Imi said as she also realized the plan.
The Nova busted through the window of the flagship’s bridge and careened into the floor, tumbling through its systems. Pieces of the outer hull ripped off and flung into the small crowd of Reclaiments within. Zaius lost his grip and flew into the opposite wall. A hard smack greeted him as he collided next to Nox. The Nova skidded along, sparks emitting from the clash of metal until it came to a rest.
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Sky searched the streets for anyone that she could. As her and Balakus had moved deeper into the business district outside of the capitol, the number of roaming civilians dipped dramatically. ‘Probably for the better,’ Sky told herself. ‘We don’t want any more unnecessary injuries… or worse.’
Balakus held out a hand and stopped her. He directed her attention toward the fighter that crashed halfway into one of the buildings ahead. His eyes darted around wildly.
“Be careful, Sky. These two are Overseers for a reason,” Balakus warned. “They’ve fought their way to the top using every dirty trick they could. Expect heavy resistance.”
Sky felt her nerves building, unsure of whether she could handle a head-to-head fight. “Is there anything I need to know?”
“Just try and stay back if you can,” Balakus advised. “Especially from Ravig.”
Sky understood. Ravig’s claws had managed to pierce deep into her skin the first time around, and his unbridled strength was more than she expected. She had gotten lucky, and knew that she wouldn’t survive a second attack of that nature. The image of Ravig’s Kanushin eating away at the Solstice soldiers fighting by her side was forever burned into her memory.
A Reclaiment crashed through the wall to their left, weapon readied. Balakus grabbed the front of his rifle, tilted it up as it fired, and punched the enemy Kunar in the face. He yanked the rifle from the Reclaiment’s hand and smacked it against its helmet with a sickening thwack. “Two steps back!” He ordered Sky. She obliged and he fired the rifle past where she originally stood.
Another Reclaiment, camped in the rubble to her right side, rolled down into the grass with a hole shot cleanly through its chestplate. Sky quickly looked over the other buildings, worried she would miss another hiding Reclaiment. The fighter exploded, scattering chunks of building around the area.
Heavy footsteps masked by the explosion rushed toward them, and Sky dodged out of Rhug’s way with barely a second to spare. He threw Balakus into the wall and followed up with a series of frenzied blows. Balakus blocked a few, but suffered from a couple of heavy hits to the left shoulder and hip. He swung at Rhug, who took the hit without moving.
“Now you die,” Rhug warned.
A series of red orbs shot down at Sky and spread across the area. They burst open with splashes of hot plasma as Sky cartwheeled and flipped around them. She held her arm out and manifested her staff once more. The smoothed, cylindrical surface felt perfectly attuned to her hand.
Ravig emerged from behind one of the neon signs dangling precariously from a nearby building, hand aglow. Marble-sized orbs flowed between his fingers until he tossed them at Sky. She twirled her staff and created a gust of wind that redirected them into the wall. A series of blinding flares went off as they detonated.
Sky rubbed the flashes from her eyes as Ravig jumped down and kicked her just under her right knee. She felt and heard a snap, dropping down in agony. Ravig lifted her by the throat.
“Heal from this,” He mocked and tossed her against the rubble. Sky bounced off of the debris and into the wall with another snap, this time from her arm. She rolled down the rubble and into the grass.
Balakus summoned his Kanushin, wrapping the energy into a shield around him as Rhug continued to strike. Balakus moved to the side and attempted another blow, but Rhug stepped back to dodge it. He closed the gap and placed his hand against Balakus’ head, slamming it against the brick and metal. Ravig slipped in from behind, claws white hot, and slashed Balakus across the back.
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Diah clambered out of the ship wreckage, soot and ash coated onto her skin. She inched forward and raised her daggers. A single drop of rain splashed across her face, followed by a few more as the storms picked up. Despite her blurred vision, Diah could tell they had ended up on some sort of landing pad.
Wyrna rushed at Diah from the side of the pad, almost catching her off-guard. Diah angled her foot and dropped her arm down to parry her mother’s attack, then launched forward into one of her own. With every strike, the anger within Diah grew.
“That’s it, Diah,” Wyrna taunted. “Strike at me. Don’t let up. Let me see you lose control.”
“Shut up!” Diah yelled as she slashed her daggers horizontally.
Wyrna cackled once again. “I wish you had always been this ferocious, daughter. Maybe then you would have had the spine to stand up for yourself!”
Wyrna blocked every one of Diah’s moves with ease and a shower of purple and yellow sparks.
Diah arched her body and raised her leg into a swift kick that connected with Wyrna’s arm. “You want me to have spine, mother? You don’t seem to understand what you’ve done to me.”
Diah threw a dagger, then followed up by charging into Wyrna. The older Chyl caught the dagger and took another swift kick in the chest.
“Your kicks are weak, Diah,” Wyrna criticized. “Too much time spent worrying about your loathsome friends, perhaps.”
Wyrna swung her blade and sliced through the bottom of Diah’s hair. Diah twirled and summoned a barrier as her mother swung down onto her. “Weak, weak, weak,” Diah repeated. “All I hear from you is that I’m weak. Yet all the abuse, all the suffering and death. That’s done nothing but harden me!”
Diah manipulated her barrier into a spiked shield and pressed it into her mother. The spikes stabbed into Wyrna’s arm as she knocked it away. “That bloodlust. That anger! Maybe I was wrong,” Wyrna said. “Maybe you’re not a lost cause after all.”
“Just stop!” Diah screeched. Her strikes became more impassioned. “Stop trying to make me into something I’m not! I’ve never been a lost cause. We can’t fight a war on two fronts, mother. Father would have said the same thing.”
“And that’s why he had to die, Diah!” Wyrna shouted back. Their fight became a ballet of deadly intentions. “He opposed me at every turn. He said I was too headstrong, too rash and violent to lead. I showed him! Everyone that has stood in my way, I’ve removed. Everyone except you, and I’ve spared you for far too long.”
Wyrna baited Diah into an attack and followed up with her own knee to Diah’s stomach. Diah grunted and knelt. Wyrna slipped around Diah’s side and smashed the hilt of her blade into Diah’s back, sending her to the ground.
“Listen to me, Diah,” Wyrna implored. “War is inevitable. We have a chance to come out of it in a better state of power than we’ve ever had. We have the chance to destroy those that dare stand against us. Humanity. The Kunar. All will kneel at our command! You’ve never been able to understand how intoxicating that idea is, nor have you ever been willing to do what it takes to attain it.”
“Because I refuse to be like you,” Diah spat.
Wyrna smacked her daughter across the face, but Diah didn’t flinch. She had to stand strong.
“I’ve worked alongside the regime to make sure we survive! I’ve taken my share of bullets and licks for all the ungrateful Chyl on this planet, yet it always falls on me. If not me, who else?”
“Gallard worked for us too, mother. You just never cared for his peaceful ways.”
Wyrna placed the flat side of her blade against Diah’s cheek. “You would do best to remove that name from your memory.”
“Or what, mother? You’ll kill me?”
Wyrna kicked Diah in the stomach with all of her might. Diah folded over face down onto the landing pad.
“Listen well, Diah. Only one of us is leaving this fight alive, and you don’t have what it takes to kill your own mother.”
Diah’s hand twitched. All the pain, all the emotion, all the anger and trauma welled up within her. Memories of Iva, Gallard, and her father took over. Her Kanushin sparked and burst into purple flames once more. Diah surged upward.
“I won’t let you hurt us anymore!”
Wyrna let out a sharp breath as Diah stabbed her in the heart. Diah froze. Her body trembled as the realization of what she had done settled in. Wyrna stepped back and blinked. Her hand caressed the hilt of the dagger.
“It looks like you’ve finally learned, Diah,” Wyrna said and dropped to both knees.
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