AcQuest: A Space Opera Military Technothriller (The Quest Saga Science Fiction Adventure Series Book 3) (15 page)

She put her hand on the muddy sand and channeled her life energy into it. It cracked and collapsed. She fell through the gap and into a tunnel. The water gushed in as well but she quickly summoned her Elementa of Earth once again, and used the debris lying around to seal the crack.

Elizabeth looked around her. Only a few gallons of water had gotten in, so no one was in any danger. She charged through the straight tunnel for a few hundred yards until she was sure she was below the Demon Riser. She opened her palm and used her Elementa again to blast through the surface. Her wings extended and she lifted herself back to the surface.

The Demon Riser stood in front of her. She was inside the force field.

I was right
, she thought. The enemy hadn’t protected the ground with their force field, and she was going to make their mistake count.

To the top
, she thought and entered the building. She pondered over whether to take the elevator or the stairs. The stairway had cameras throughout while the elevator had none. The choice seemed obvious. She ran into the elevator and punched in the numbers for the top floor. The elevator shot up and in seconds the door opened onto the top floor.

A man stood there, his hands holding a huge blaster ready for fire. “Why hello, Elizabeth,” he said. “Next time, don’t take the elevator.”

He fired his blasted and a beam of white knocked into her. Her vision blurred, and everything around her pulsated with glowing colors. She couldn’t hear anything at all. All her senses shut down as she collapsed to the floor, her body completely limp.

“Sweet dreams,” the man said.

And that was the last thing she heard.

***

Carlos stood inside the force field, and watched the power torrents of water split apart as they reached the shield.

“Finally,” Juliana said.

He turned around to see her pull herself up out of a hole. They had maneuvered the network of tunnels to position themselves right below the Demon Riser’s force field. Luckily for them, there was already a breach in the surface above and they were able to use it to get out. Carlos was drained from just moving around, and he was sure he couldn’t have blasted an opening in the tunnel roof if the situation had arisen.

“We better catch a breath,” Juliana said, and tried to get him to sit down.

“No time,” he escaped her grip and walked away. She chased after him, but he just kept going.

Sure, he felt drained and exhausted, but he wasn't going to let that stop him. He charged through the doors and into the building, motoring up the stairs and to the top floor in an instant.

“Why hello, Commander,” a familiar voice said.

Carlos eyes went wide at the sight before him. Elizabeth lay on the floor, lifeless. Her wings were spread out, wrinkled and limp. Jake stood next to her, a large blaster in his hand, a wide smirk on his face.

Anger surged within Carlos, and he had to do his best to not go berserk. “What did you do?” he asked, his voice was silent and deadly.

“See? He took the stairs,” Jake looked at Elizabeth, who seemed unconscious.

“What did you do to her?” he yelled.

“Oh Elizabeth? Nothing much really. She was just put to sleep,” an evil grin came across his face. “We just wanted to show you what happens to people who attack us.” He snapped his fingers.

Carlos legs collapsed beneath him, and he fell to the floor. He tried to get up but it was useless. There was an immense pressure keeping him pinned to the floor.

“You’re not the only one who uses the Elementa of Wind,” Jake said, a satisfied grin on his face.

Carlos tried to get up but the force was too strong. His exhausted body could do nothing more than lie in wait, hoping for a miracle to happen. Jake threw his hand up with his palm facing Carlos. A sphere of wind lay compressed in there, as though it were waiting to blast out and slash at everything that moved.

“It was nice playing with you, Commander,” he grinned. “But I’m afraid it’s game over.”

***

3-1

Taylor piloted the Orion through space. She and Ruby had been quick in getting to the ship and heading off of Dryke. She wanted to get away from before the Dark Knights realized she was missing and tracked her down.

“
So we’re heading back to Aliea now?
” Ruby stood beside her in her shrunken form.

“Yeah, no other choice,” she said from the captain’s chair.

“
Why do you have to wear your armor though?
It’s not like we’re under attack or anything
.”

“We’re in space, you can never tell when I’ll need it.”

Moments later a low rumble went through the Orion. It wasn’t the kind of rumble that loud noise created. This one was different. It was almost as if pure energy were being radiated onto them.

“A supernova?” Taylor asked, recalling that those powerful interstellar explosions could create shockwaves like this.

“
You would have seen a supernova much before you felt its after effects,
” Ruby said. “
This one seems different.
”

Taylor knew Ruby was right, but then what could this thing be? A bright flash of white light exploded right in front of her, radiating immense heat in the process. A huge radiant disc appeared from within the explosion, its surface expanding at exponential rates. At first glance the white light and intense heat seemed like the aftereffects of a supernova. But no, this one was different.

“It’s a portal,” Taylor said.

“
It makes sense,
” Ruby said.
“
Opening a portal this size could cause those vibrations from earlier
.
I can’t believe we just saw a natural portal form in empty space. That is so rare.
”

Taylor looked closer and saw a dark, curved surface protrude out of the portal, slowly increasing in size. “Who said that thing was natural?” she said.

A warship was making its way through the portal. The portal wasn't some natural marvel. It had been created specifically for the ship. Taylor had no idea where the ship had come from nor who it belonged to. All she knew was that it could wreck anything it faced. And she didn't want to face another one of those ‘I can wreck anything’ warships. She already had one of those waiting for her back home, although she was sure the mothership on Aliea would probably obliterate this one.

A blast of energy shot from the warship’s hull blasters and skimmed past the Orion. This ship was definitely not friendly. “We’ve got to get out of here,” Taylor said, her voice sounding a little more urgent.

She maxed out the Orion’s engines and the ship surged forward. The warship, though, just kept coming closer and closer. Taylor looked at the massive white ship. There was no way she could attack it or run away from it.

A blast thundered through the air and the Orion went crazy. Taylor was tossed around, hitting chairs, tables and anything else that was in her way. Ruby grabbed her and rose into the air, making sure nothing banged into her.

Taylor glanced at the Orion’s holographic viewscreen. A large puff of smoke came from the rear of the ship.

Oh gods
, she thought,
Kai is going to kill me
.

A white aura glowed around the Orion and its chaotic movements came to a standstill. The aura was so similar to Q’s Elementa of Light that she thought he was the one who saved them. Then she looked at the viewscreen and saw that the story was completely different. The warship was using a phase beam to pull them into the hangar.

Taylor hastened to the nearest computer and checked the Orion’s vitals.

Damn
, she thought. They were too weak to break away from the beam. The warship had caught them in its grasp.

“
We can’t let them take us hostage
,” Ruby said. “
Not until we know who they are
.”

“I tried setting up a communications line but they’re blocking us out,” Taylor said. “We have to evacuate the Orion.”

“
Kai will kill you if you abandon his ship.
”

Taylor bit her lip. It wasn’t just him. Even she didn’t want to give this ship up so easily. She looked at the warship, her mind desperately trying to grasp her options. They had only a few seconds left before the Orion entered the warship’s hangar. Something caught her eye. A small vent a few yards above the hangar.

“Ruby, you can survive in space can’t you?” she asked.

“
All griffins can. Why?
”

“Time to go,” she said and ran to the Orion’s hangar. She dragged Ruby with her into the Airlock and opened the hangar door. In seconds they had left the Orion.

“
What are you doing?! Kai will kill you!
”

“Watch,” Taylor said.

She waited until she had a clear view of the hangar.
Please make this work
, she thought and focused on her life energy, directing it into her palms. A beam of black energy blasted from her and into the hangar. The phase beam immediately cut off. The Orion hummed back to life. A rainbow colored aura glowed around it, and it disappeared in a flash of light.

“
WHAT DID YOU DO?!
” Ruby asked.

Taylor was busy trying to alter her path and reach the vent, but she answered anyway. “I activated the Orion’s homing beacon,” she said. “It’ll head to Aliea and stay in orbit around it until someone calls it down.”

“
We just lost our transport home
.”

Taylor glanced at the warship, “I don’t know about you, but I’m looking at it right now.”

They neared the vent. Taylor put one foot inside and checked if it was stable, there didn't seem anything wrong with the build. It felt solid and was large enough to let Taylor in. Ruby though had to shrink down considerably to fit into it.

“Get in here,” she said and headed in.

“
What did you mean you’re looking at your transport?
”

“This ship will have tons of escape pods. We can use one of those.”

“
You’re doing this based on a gamble?!
”

“This way the Orion stays safe, we escape this ship, and get to go home. If I didn’t do this, both we and the Orion would have been captured.”

“
We won’t be captured? You just attacked the hangar. They’ll obviously find us.
”

“We were too close to the Orion for them to think a living being fired that attack. They’ll just think the Orion’s defenses acted up. As far as they know, we never got onto the ship in the first place.”

“
Fine
.”

Taylor focused on the task at hand. The inside of the vent was dark and creepy. Even though everything seemed fine, Taylor couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was wrong. Then she realized that everything ought to feel wrong. She was infiltrating a war ship with nothing but a telepathic griffin for back up.

“
Being a telepathic griffin, I can read your thoughts as well you know,
” Ruby sighed.

“Always a pleasure to have my mind read,” Taylor said sarcastically. She had told Ruby countless times not to read her thoughts, but the griffin didn't seem like she’d listen anytime soon.

Taylor noticed a beam of light coming from the end of the tunnel. That had to be coming from some sort of opening. Her legs suddenly felt lighter and she ran through the vent as fast as she could, hoping her heavy steps weren’t loud enough to give her away.

She saw a grilled opening on the floor of the tunnel that seemed large enough for her to go through. She looked into it. A bright white glare flashed onto her face, and when her eyes finally adjusted to the light, she was amazed at what she saw.

There was a whole city inside the ship. People walked about, children ran after each other in multiple games of tag, and women chattered around noisily. Everything looked so normal. But this was supposed to be a warship. Where were all the guns and the cadets and the usual ‘I will yell at everyone’ kind of Generals?

“What is this place?” Taylor asked.

“
Beats me. Think they have Burger King down there?
” Ruby asked.

“Since when do you eat burgers?” Taylor laughed.

“
Q gave them to me once.
”

Taylor felt a catch in her chest, hard and painful. She hated that Ruby had brought up Q now of all times. She hated that she was worried to death wondering if he was safe, if he was all right. She hated that she couldn't be by his side right now, taking care of him and protecting him. All she could do was stare through the grill at the happy faces of the kids. At the happy faces of the people who didn't know that Aliea Academy had been taken hostage.

“
He’ll be fine,
” Ruby said. “
He’s Q after all.
”

Taylor just nodded her head and sighed deeply, trying to make herself feel a little more relaxed.

“
So how do we get down there?
” she asked.

“We can't jump out of the vent. Plus, I don't think it’s safe to get into this crowded a space. Our only option is to follow this path. Hopefully we’ll reach another opening.”

“
Okay then.
”

They had walked along the passage for a while longer when Taylor heard a creaking sound echo through the metal walls.

“What was that?” She froze.

Ruby froze as well. They had both sensed something. Taylor looked around, trying to look at what was causing the sound. “This is not good,” she said.

Ruby glanced at her. More specifically, she glanced at the rapidly widening fissure in the floor under Taylor. The vent was breaking under their weight.

“Run!” Taylor sprinted, charging on for dear life.

***

Ruby tried to open her wings. Not possible, the space inside the vent was much too small. She charged forward, sprinting behind Taylor on all fours.

The vibrating noise dulled until it finally disappeared. She saw that the fissure had finally stopped. She breathed a sigh of relief and turned to tell Taylor the good news. And as usual, the good news was completely overwhelmed by the bad news.

Taylor was missing.

She had just disappeared into thin air. Ruby looked about and saw an open grill in floor ahead of her.

Taylor must have fallen in
, she thought. She looked into the gap. No light came out of it, suggesting the room below her was unused, or abandoned.

“
Taylor,
” she called out. The silence was the only thing that replied. Ruby felt a skyrocketing sense of worry. What kind of situation had Taylor gotten herself into?

She wedged herself through the gap and landed on the floor, using her wings to glide herself onto it smoothly and silently. Her talons felt around, searching for anything that could give her a clue to where she was. She heard the sound of something hitting the floor. Her mind shifted into battle mode, focusing on her size and making herself larger.

The lights came on, flooding the dark room. Taylor stood near the switchboard, grinning widely. Ruby looked around. They were in some sort of empty storage room. A few boxes lay in the corner but other than that the entire room was empty.

“There you are,” Taylor said. “I was so worried about you.”

Ruby remained silent, replying with a blank expression.

“What happened?” Taylor brought her hand up to Ruby’s head, “You seem worried. It’s okay, nothing is-”

Ruby slashed at Taylor, throwing her to the wall. The Dark Knight fell to the floor limp and breathless. She caught her shoulder and groaned. Ruby charged into her with a classic takedown and pinned her to the floor.

“Ruby, stop,” Taylor pleaded, her face filled with fear. “Why are you doing this? Please. Stop.”

Ruby wasn't going to take any of that. She raised her sharp talons above Taylor and hacked her into shreds in an instant.

“
Boy, that was irritating,
” she said. She walked towards a crate at the corner of the room and sliced it open with her talon.

Lo and behold, Taylor sat inside, safe and sound.

She seemed very surprised, “How did you know that girl wasn’t me?” she asked.

“
She didn’t have the same whiny voice as you,
” Ruby joked.

“Just what was that thing?”

Ruby knew Taylor took pride in her knowledge so it wasn't a surprise her curiosity was aroused when she found a beast she hadn't seen before. “A Pluthencelet. Native to Pluto,” she explained. “They’re shape-shifters who can resemble anything they want. They usually use their techniques to hunt for food.”

“So that Pluthencelet was impersonating me to hunt you?” she asked.