Alliance of Serpents (26 page)

The chilling rumble of an explosion in the
aft section of the
Refuge
brought her feet to a momentary
stop. Multiple aerial battles and countless hours logged in the
simulator had taught her to discern between the different sounds of
interstellar warfare.
That was a missile.

As if to confirm her thoughts, the intercom
came to life with Naelas' voice. "Enemy ships approaching! Launch
all fighters! I repeat; Vezulian Armada starfighters and transports
have been sighted! Launch all starfighters!"

The attack had begun. There was little time
to spare. With clenched fists, she made for the bridge as fast as
she could, weaving her way through the halls without looking back.
Arus will be safe in the vault
, she kept telling herself.
Armored soldiers and assorted ship personnel saluted as she passed,
but she paid them no mind. The lift was just down the next
corridor, and the longer the radio silence from Damien continued,
the more her heart welled up with fear.

Fear that was quickly compounded when she
rounded the corner.

At the end of the hall, just past the lift
doors, a viewport gave a clear view of an assault transport
hovering beside the
Refuge
. An astrotrooper floated between
them, aiming a large laser rifle at the glass. Before Kitreena
could even shift her feet, a powerful blast of green energy
exploded through the window, allowing the vacuum of space to
penetrate the hall. A furious wind began violently drawing the air
from the deck through the shattered viewport, and Kitreena's body
was lifted from the floor and hurtled toward the abyss of space.
She flailed in a panic, desperately clawing for anything to keep
from being sucked away. Somehow, her fingers found the edge of the
lift doorway, and she held on with all of her might. The air was
thinning rapidly, and her lungs felt as though they might collapse
upon themselves.
Just a few more moments . . . Come on! Just a
few more—

A sharp whine signaled the activation of the
emergency security shield. A solid wall of titanium dropped down
from above the viewport, sealing the vacuum and allowing the deck
to pressurize once again. Air came into Kitreena's lungs slowly,
and she gulped down every breath she could get. When she opened her
eyes, she found herself kneeling on the glass covered floor and
clutching her chest. The world went in and out of focus repeatedly
in a dizzying whirl of colors and shapes as the oxygen began
pumping through her veins once again. When her senses had settled,
she rose to her feet.

"Freeze," an electronically masked voice
ordered. To her left, the astrotrooper aimed his rifle directly at
her head. He stood at least a foot taller than she, clad in a
heavy-looking uniform of thick silvery material with rings at his
wrists and ankles into which his gloves and boots were fastened to
create an airtight seal. None of his features were visible through
his black visor. Two tubes ran from either side of his helmet to a
pair of flat oxygen tanks strapped to his back, and an occasional
hiss of air was expelled from a valve on top. He motioned with his
weapon as he spoke. "Hands on your head!"

It was a fine time to find herself alone in
the hall for the first time considering how many soldiers had been
bustling about moments ago. She took her time responding to his
demand, eyes darting about in search of some way out. The most
dangerous option seemed to be the only one available, and
desperation got the better of her. Raising her hands as if to
comply with his orders, she grabbed the barrel of his rifle and
directed it away from her head, spinning as she did so in order to
swing her foot up into the soldier's gut. His armor must've
absorbed the majority of the blow, because he simply took one
massive hand away from the rifle and punched her in the face as
hard as he could. She hit the ground like a pile of rocks, one hand
fumbling at her belt for her whip while the other wiped fresh blood
from her mouth. In the corner of her eye, she saw the barrel of the
rifle come back down, and she kicked the weapon away just as the
soldier pulled the trigger, sending a bright green burst of energy
into the wall beside the lift. With her weapon in hand, she flicked
her whip toward his wrist, and the sharp snap forced him to drop
the rifle. A second snap against his head had no effect—
That
helmet must be stronger than I thought!—
and that prompted her
to push herself up in a desperate lunge toward her attacker. Their
bodies collided into the far wall with a loud clang the tanks on
his back. More explosions sounded in the distant corridors.

"You're a feisty one," the soldier laughed
between grunts. "You don't honestly think you can best me in a
hand-to-hand fight, do you?"

Truthfully, brute strength was not one of
Kitreena's strong points. She knew that if she could get some
distance between herself and the soldier, she'd be able to use her
whip much more effectively, but it was clear that he had no
intentions of giving her any room. Instead, she struggled vainly
against the large man, desperately hoping for the appearance of
some friendly faces in the corridor. A violent shove from the
soldier knocked her onto her backside, but she rose just as quickly
as she'd fallen. The trooper's body spun in a blur, and his heavy
boot connected with her chin, knocking her against the wall in a
daze. He gave no room for retaliation, following the kick with a
solid fist to her middle. Clutching her stomach, Kitreena slumped
to her knees amid gasps for air. He stood over her, fists poised to
strike, but a sudden voice from the communicator on his wrist
stopped him in his tracks. "Ronah, are you there? Have you
determined if the intelligence report was accurate?"

He snorted and punched Kitreena in the cheek
as hard as he could. She felt as though she were adrift on a boat
amidst of a raging storm with the way her head was spinning.
Struggling to steady her senses, she squeezed her eyes closed and
opened them again in hopes that the floor would settle. Vaguely,
the soldier's words drifted through her ears. "Stand by, I'm
checking." Before she could react, he tore the leather pouch from
her belt.

"No!" she groaned, pushing herself to one
knee. Her whip lay uncoiled beside her, and she grabbed the leather
handle as she stood. Wooziness began to fade as she forced her body
to cooperate. The astrotrooper was already several paces away,
carrying his rifle in the crook of his elbow while he rummaged
through her pouch. As he rounded the corner, she heard him speak
again. "It's here. I've got it. Heading to the rendezvous
point."

"Get back here!" Kitreena shouted angrily.
She dashed after him as fast as she could, the floor seeming more
solid with every step, but to her surprise, the soldier had
vanished by the time she turned the corner, and he'd taken the key
to the vault with him. She cursed herself loudly for having let him
go, though she knew he wouldn't be able to get to Arus without
Commander Naelas' key as well. The brute couldn't have gotten far
in the brief amount of time that he'd been out of her sight, but a
number of the connecting rooms had secondary exits leading to other
rooms and corridors, and a quick peek through the first several
doors revealed nothing out of the ordinary. She found an empty
office here, a storage closet there, but nothing that suggested the
trooper had escaped through either. Her heightened sense of hearing
was little help; everything blended together with the distant
sounds of laser fire and missile detonations. Instinctively, she
lifted the communicator to her mouth to report the soldier, but
Damien's warning had stated that there were multiple astrotroopers
attempting to board the
Refuge
. Given that the Aeden
soldiers were ordered to either kill or capture any Vezulian
intruders they might encounter, announcing that one had stolen the
key to the vault would do nothing but panic the crew.

With a growl of frustration, she wiped the
blood from her nose and lips and headed for the lift. Failure was
not something she was accustomed to, and knowing that her failure
in this instance jeopardized Arus' safety made her feel that much
worse. Her only solace came in knowing that Naelas would be safely
guarded amongst his colonels in the battle command center several
decks below. Coiling her whip, she pressed the call button on the
panel beside the lift doors. "Where are those bloody Morpher powers
when I need them?"

A slight rumble from somewhere within the
ship echoed in the otherwise silent security vault. To say that
Arus felt foolish sitting in the center of the room with multiple
rings of armed soldiers surrounding him and an assortment of
magic-wielding guards lining the walls would be a drastic
understatement. He wasn't an incapable child, yet it felt as though
he'd been told that his skills weren't required and that he was to
lounge in a secluded hideaway somewhere while everyone else fought
for his freedom. Why should they have to suffer the burden of
protecting him? He was responsible. He could take care of himself.
No one should have to die for me. No one.
In truth, that
very thought was the main reason he was so upset over being locked
away. It wasn't that he questioned Damien's judgment; he knew what
was at stake. But, simply put, Arus didn't want anyone to lose
their lives trying to watch over him. And while he knew very well
that there was a chance he'd be captured again if he were to face
the invading forces, he hated the thought of simply sitting back
and waiting while good soldiers like Rollock and Timen were out
there fighting his battle. It made him feel like a coward.

Still, in his heart, he knew Kitreena and
Damien were both right. If Truce or Thorus got their hands on him
and somehow managed to regain control of the implant despite Doc
Nori's assurances that the mind-altering components had been
removed, the consequences for the universe could be deadly.

The vault housed mostly spare weapons and
munitions. Wide crates of pistols and rifles lined the floor in
rows, occasionally separated by larger containers painted in black
and marked as "volatile materials." It truly was nothing more than
a huge box of a room, its silver floor and ceiling as smooth and
undecorated as its walls. Some of the crates had been shifted to
the rear to make space for Arus and the troops surrounding him, but
their presence still made for a cluttered feel. The air was thick
and stale, and there were no ventilation shafts.
How long will
we be able to breathe in here, anyway?

Another explosion erupted in the distance,
sending heavy vibrations through the floor. Arus bit his lower lip
and sighed heavily, staring down at his boots as he tried to calm
his nerves. People were dying. People were dying, and he was just
sitting around biting his nails while his stomach turned itself
inside out. He tried to force down the instinct to swear revenge
for every soul that died, but it was much easier said than done.
I cannot submit to that way of thinking again,
 he told
himself.
I can't! I won't! Vengeance got me into this mess. I
can't forget that!

Apparently, his apprehensions had not gone
unnoticed. "Calm yourself," Doman's deep voice said as his heavy
hand fell on his shoulder. "You will be safe here." He had been
assigned to lead the squad of troops protecting Arus along with
Samas and Orchi. The two girls stood at either side of the large
entrance hatch where two sets of steel beams barred them securely
inside. Their half-circle weapons were drawn and raised as though
ready to strike, unblinking eyes fixed on the hatch itself. They
had remained there, as solid and unwavering as stone, since
Kitreena left. Doman claimed that they could stand in that position
for days without moving a muscle. Extraordinary warriors, those
two.

"I'm not worried about myself," Arus told
him. "I'm concerned for the people out there who are fighting to
protect me."

Doman drew one of the knives from his
shoulder harness and examined the blade. "They do their job
willingly," he said, running a finger across the edge of the
weapon. "No one is forced to join the Aeden Alliance."

Arus nodded slowly, staring at the floor. "I
know. But I can't help but feel responsible for what they're going
through right now."

Doman twirled the knife between his fingers
almost absentmindedly as he spoke. "You did not ask to be placed in
the situation you're in. Sometimes we find the circumstances of
life to be a bit more than we can handle on our own. The Maker has
a way of providing for His children through even the roughest of
times, much as He has done for you."

"I guess," he said with a shrug. The Maker. A
fat lot of help
He'd
been lately. Arus had never really
decided whether or not he believed in the Maker. Other than
enjoying the story of
The Blade of Kaleo
, he'd never really
given it that much thought. But he didn't want to insult Doman's
faith. "I just want to do the right thing, and I'm torn. Either I
risk myself to help the others, or I risk the others to protect
myself. The latter just seems so selfish, yet that's exactly what
I'm doing."

"You are focused too much on the here-and-now
rather than the overall situation," Doman said with an
understanding grin. "If the implant were to fall into Kindel
Thorus' hands, he could learn to manipulate it and control it, and
very likely, reproduce it! I know you don't have much experience
with Kindel or the Armada, but if he were to develop an army of
young men such as yourself, each equipped with an implant like
yours, he could devastate and conquer as many planets as he wished.
And I have no doubt that he would."

"Damien doesn't seem to think that Kindel is
a bad man," Arus responded, remembering his conversation with
Damien on the Observation Deck. "Just misguided."