Authors: Kyle Pratt
Enki
nodded as
Remee
passed the message. “Such a shame, I was hoping to
play with him for
awhile
and then kill him.”
“Even if you kill
me, you’ve lost.” Justin exclaimed. “The Titans will destroy this ship and you
along with it.”
When we kill you, we
change this future. You will never become the prophet to the Titans.
“You are such a
fool,”
Enki
said with a shake of his head. “How do you
become the prophet of the Titans?”
Those words from
both the demons and the
Nephilim
shocked
Justin.
The prophet died centuries ago. How can they think I am the
prophet?
With a dismissive
toss of the hand
Enki
signaled the major, “Kill him.”
Justin felt the
officer’s hesitation and even his fear that a firing squad might hit civilians,
but all he said was, “Yes, my lord.” The major called three soldiers forward.
Except for
Prisca
, all the former prisoners moved as
far away from Justin as the marines would allow.
Naomi,
now would be a good
time to arrive.
“Ready.”
Justin looked over
his shoulder to tell
Prisca
to move away when he
sensed her intent.
Aim.”
“No!” Justin shouted
as
Prisca
ran forward firing wildly. One of the three
executioners fell. Blood streamed from his chest. The startled soldiers
returned fire, hitting
Prisca
repeatedly.
The lights blinked
and then darkness filled the bay.
The Major shouted
for his men to cease-fire as the emergency lights came on.
Justin knelt beside
Prisca’s
bloody body. Rage filled his mind. He lifted his
eyes from her lifeless body to
Enki
and the two
remaining soldiers beside him. With a brush of his arm, he threw the two
soldiers into air. They landed with a thud upon the marines behind them. He then
focused his mind on
Enki
, wrapping the force of his
thoughts around the
Nephilim’s
throat and
preventing him from speaking and breathing.
Enki’s
arms flailed and
pointed at Justin.
Remee
, his eyes darting
between the suffocating
Enki
and the soldiers,
pointed at Justin and the other captives. “All of them…kill…shoot…do
something.”
A deep, angry, growl
filled the cargo bay. The soldiers continued to point their weapons at
Justin, but their heads looked in all directions as the growl grew in intensity.
Soldiers standing atop the bins went into a panic of wild shots and shouts as
dogs leapt upon them.
The Titan Canine
Corps had arrived.
Justin sensed the
presence of Thor, the dog that had befriended him that first day aboard
Exodus. Images of the Canine Corps, rushing single file along the air
ducts to the cargo bay, filled his mind.
Good Thor.
The soldiers below
shifted their aim to the top of the containers, but only terrified soldiers at
the edge of the bins were visible.
An explosion
reverberated from the rear of the cargo bay. Darkness grew as gunfire
shattered several emergency lights.
Imperial marines
paid little attention to Justin as they rushed past and engaged oncoming Titan
forces.
Justin’s eyes shot
back to where
Enki
should have been. He was gone and
so was
Ferren
. Several former captives were
dead on the deck, but others used what cover was available as they headed
toward the Acheron. Seeing no fighting at that end of the bay, Justin picked up
the pistol
Prisca
had used and, staying low, headed
in that direction.
Justin what is your
location?
It was Leonidas’ voice in his head.
Are you okay?
Naomi asked.
He did his best to
answer both as he took cover.
Get out of there
quick,
Naomi
commanded.
Most of the imperial marines are in that area.
Yes, thank you, I do
know that.
Retreating
marines set up a position near Justin. He sent them a mental misdirection,
enemy
on the left,
then
darted to the right behind a
bin. Turning his attention back to Naomi he said,
I am trying not to draw
attention to myself so I won’t get killed.
Running to the far corner, he
glanced around.
But, with all this gunfire that is going to be hard.
Behind
the next cargo bay, he saw Thor and two other dogs.
Come.
Justin obeyed and
dove toward Thor, sliding to a stop at his front paws. Looking up he
smiled.
The dog licked his
face, turned, and trotted off.
From about six
meters away, Thor looked back.
Come.
Justin rose and
followed the dogs as they climbed up the cargo bins. Ramps and
strategically placed crates had allowed workers to climb the bins. Where
these were not available, the dogs were adept at jumping.
After a couple of
jumps Justin, bruised and hot, started moving crates.
Once they reached the
top, a canine squad greeted him with nudges and nuzzles. Crawling to the edge
of a bin with several dogs, he looked down on a sweeping vista of the battle.
The imperial marines held a jagged and uneven line between him and the oncoming
Titans. From his vantage point, he could see the plan of battle clearly. The
Titans were in an arc largely along the line of the cargo bins. Their front
line kept enough pressure on the Earth forces to keep them pinned down, while
most Titan units pushed slowly forward behind the cargo bins and transports.
Many of the imperial soldiers were firing into shadows where, Justin was
certain, no Titans were. He became convinced they were being misdirected,
similar to the way he had soldiers look one way as he went the other. However,
the only ground that the imperial marines surrendered was paid for with blood.
As Justin watched,
he understood why the
Nephilim
were so intent on
destroying his kind. The Titans had started out as the best and brightest
humans and with work and training had melded into a well-disciplined army.
However, over the years, the Titans had changed, becoming more with both
psychic abilities that allowed them to know the true intent of those around
them, and a faith in something greater than the earthly government that
originally sent them. Justin knew that Titans would never be pawns of the
Nephilim
.
The dogs growled
and, all but Thor, headed down toward the deck.
Gunfire immediately
below his position grabbed Justin’s attention.
Naomi where are you?
“Here,” she said
with a gasp.
Justin turned at the
sound of her voice.
She smiled and knelt
down near him. “Your mind has been wide open for a while. I have been following
you.
Sliding away from
the edge so he could kneel beside her, he grinned. “I’m glad you reached me.
Now let’s get out of here.”
An explosion
thundered through the bay. Alarms sounded over the battle.
“Decompression Warning.
Evacuate the main cargo bay.”
Almost immediately,
Justin felt a breeze as the compartment began losing atmosphere, but a new and
horrible feeling swept over him. The blast had struck Leonidas.
Justin fell to his
knees.
Naomi opened her
mind to Justin and thereby to Leonidas. She wrapped her arms around Justin and
with her mind comforted them both.
As the life flowed
from Leonidas, Justin shared his jail cell encounter with God. “You will be
with him soon. You will see your family again.”
The mind of Leonidas
faded and then was gone.
Justin turned to
Naomi “You shouldn’t have come here. It’s too dangerous. You could be killed.”
“I don’t think so,
my destiny is with you.”
Justin thought that
a romantic notion and a bit out of place in the midst of battle, but the words
silenced his objections. “The Acheron isn’t far,” he said, “let’s go.”
As they moved away
from the battlefield, Naomi updated the Titan second-in-command.
The atmospheric
pressure is dropping fast
, the commander reported.
We have to retreat. Get to
the Acheron and launch. Our fighters will cover you.
There were few
marines at that end of the compartment and they were either moving away from
them, misdirected or quickly dispatched by Thor, Naomi and Justin.
The air was cold and
moist as they arrived at the Acheron and the breeze had become a steady
wind. Both the cargo and passenger hatches of the pirate ship were closed
and locked. Together they moved along the belly of the ship to a small
maintenance hatch. This they found unlocked. Once Naomi was in the hatch,
Justin handed Thor up to her. Thor insisted upon leading the way down a narrow
maintenance tube to one of the engineering compartments.
Once they were out
of the tube Justin suggested, “Let’s get to the bridge and see if we can
activate the sensors and weapons.”
Thor led the way
along the main passageway.
As the three of them
entered the bridge, Thor growled.
From the captain’s
chair,
Ferren
smiled. “Welcome aboard old friend.”
Naomi aimed her
rifle at
Ferren’s
head, while Thor inched forwarded,
growling.
The pirate continued
to grin. “I’ve got the reactor and sensors online. The engines will take
more time. Unfortunately, they’ve unloaded the missile bays and discharged the
lasers and particle beam weapons.”
“Perhaps they don’t
trust you,” Naomi snarled.
Ferren
shrugged, but
Justin sensed his fear.
The growing storm,
visible on the view screen, captured Justin’s attention. Tools and other
small objects were already flying in the wind. As it continued, the
danger to the Acheron would grow as even the large cargo bins creaked and
scraped their way closer to the hole in the hull. Something either flying or
scraping along would hit Acheron in a vital location. Justin knew they
needed to leave quickly and would need
Ferren
. “There
will be no more killing, for now. We need to get out of the cargo bay.”
Justin switched the
view forward to the bay doors. “Can you open them?”
The pirate shook his
head. “I can’t access the system. Even if I did, it requires a code that I
don’t have. What about you? Can’t you open them?”
The day Justin
killed Garrett flashed through his mind. He saw again the way he had
fixed his eyes on the bay doors and imagined opening them, the old lock cracked
and split with a pop. The door shrieked and blew away. “I’ll try to open them.
I’ve done it before.” Using the screen image, he reached out with his mind searching
for the door. There would be something, some flaw to exploit or some latch that
could be moved to release the doors. Many things flashed through his brain:
circuits, panels, metal, but it was unfocused and fleeting. “I need to see it
with my own eyes.”
“No.” Naomi said.
“It is already dangerous outside. If you blow the hatch you will be
sucked out and….”
“An emergency shield
should
activate,”
Ferren
said casually.
Naomi’s face went
stone cold. “We knocked out power to the bay as we fought our way in,”
“There
should
be
an emergency back up,”
Ferren
rebutted.
Her face turned
progressively deeper shades of red. “How long would that hold?”
“Probably long
enough,”
Ferren
said.
Justin felt
strangely calm about his decision. “I’m going out. If somehow I am the prophet,
or will be, I’ll be okay. If I’m not the prophet, it’s best that everyone
know that now.” He stepped toward the hatch.
Naomi reached out to
him. “I know you will be okay, but I am still afraid.”
“So am I, but I can
do this…”
She held his hand
tight.
“…but the longer I
wait the more dangerous this becomes.”
She released his
hand.
Reaching the
airlock, Justin looked out the portal hoping to see at least part of the bay
doors. He couldn’t. Reluctantly he opened the airlock to the storm. The
wind hit him like a punch to the face. He grabbed the steel handhold as he
stepped outside and looked forward. He could see the bay doors.
Focus.
Focus.
Nothing came back to his mind. He yelled into the wind. “God, do you
want me to do this? Help me!” Slowly the circuits that locked the doors
formed in his mind.
One little
spark
.
That is all I….