The Guardian (Coranite Chronicles) (18 page)

“That’s what I thought I heard you say. But you know, space…has no air. It’s kinda impossible for us to do this without some kind of spacesuit.”

“Here, let me teach you the technique we use for situations like these,” said Slade. “Think about how you used the hover board.”

“I focused my spirit energy into my feet,” said Darek.

“Do it. It’s best to do it so you can understand.”

Darek took the board off his back.

“No,” said Slade, shaking his head. “Don’t take out your board.”

“But I thought you just—”

Slade said, “Focus your energy…without the board—as if you were using the board.”

Darek raised a brow at him. He put the hover board down. Then he took a deep breath and relaxed. He looked at his shoes, concentrating on it. They began to glow yellow.

“Is this what’s supposed to happen?” Darek asked, staring at the glow.

Slade nodded. “Put more energy into it.”

“More? Are you sure? Because, I mean, I can already see it…”

“More,” Slade said.

Darek exerted more energy into his feet and the glow became wider.

“Now maintain that energy,” said Slade. “And slowly bring that energy up your legs.”

Darek followed his instruction and the glow began to spread.

“Higher,” said Slade. “Keep going.”

The glow climbed up his legs, to his abdomen, and slowly began to envelop his whole body. In awe, Darek gawked at the glow that surrounded him.

“This is your spirit aura,” explained Slade. “Typically, the body houses the spirit. However, if your spirit energy is strong enough, you can let its power overflow. The aura acts as a shield, separating your physical self from this physical universe. With your spirit overpowering your body you become, in essence, like a spirit. And spirits…can travel the stars, walk through walls, and even see beyond what is physically possible!”

CHAPTER 14

Terror From the Sky

High above the red moon, a squadron of SE-A32 Strikers joined the fray. Strikers were the Federation’s main starfighters. These starfighters were mostly flat and had broad wings.

The pilot leading the squadron of Strikers kept his steely gaze focused on the battle ahead. He watched with a deep sense of awe as another squadron crossed his view, chasing after a giant flying eel. Bright flickers of laser blasts shone through the cockpit.

Then the silence was broken by a short beep. A message was coming in.

He heard a voice say, “Sever-1, Sever 1—this is the Federation cruiser
Fate
. Do you read me? I repeat. Do you read me, Sever-1?”

The pilot replied, “This is Sever-1. Go ahead. I read you loud and clear.”

“Sever-1, we are under attack! I repeat. We are under attack! This is priority one! We are leading a group of Support-class cruisers. We are in the middle of a supply run. These supplies must reach the frontline frigates and destroyers. Provide assistance now! Do you copy?”

“Copy that,” said the pilot. He switched the communications channel to speak with his squadron. “Sever squadron—we have a new objective. Supply cruisers are under attack. I’ve sent you all the navpoint. Move out!”

His squad responded.

“Understood…”

“Acknowledged.”

“Roger that. Let’s do this!”

The squadron of Strikers went full throttle, moving at top speed. They stayed tightly in formation to avoid getting separated.

It was chaos everywhere. Squadrons of starfighters swirled around them, defending the larger ships. Debris from starfighters drifted around the moon’s orbit.

A huge hairy beast flew into view and snatched a starfighter with its bare hands, crushing it into a ball. Then it threw the remains at a cruiser. The cruiser fired several blasts, blowing apart the sheets of metal.

“Can you believe we’re actually here?” one of the pilots gasped. “This is insane! And I thought dogfighting pirates was exciting!”

“Exciting?” another pilot groaned. “No, this is messed up.”

“Yeah,” said another. “I didn’t join the navy to attack the home of a bunch of space monsters—”

“Cut the chatter,” said the leader. “The objective is close.”

“Hostiles inbound!” one of them shouted. “Three Guardians at three o’clock!”

The head Guardian looked like a gargantuan knight dressed in full plate armor. The Guardians on his left and right were elemental Guardians. One of them had the appearance of a woman with a body of ice. The other Guardian looked somewhere between a tree and a man, with pine needles for hair and bark for skin.

“Target locked,” said a pilot. “Firing missile!”

The Striker fired his missile straight at the head Guardian. The missile exploded in its face. As the dust cleared, the Guardian did not look fazed. He swung his massive sword down, slicing a starfighter in half and breaking the wing of another.

“Sever-6 is down!” a pilot shouted. “This is Sever-12! I’m hit—” Before he could say more, the woman of ice passed by his broken wing. The wing froze over first… and then the sheet of ice swept across the rest of the ship, until it was entirely frozen.

“Pull up, Sever-12!” the leader ordered. “You’re headed straight for a frigate!”

Full of panic, the pilot of the frozen ship yanked on the control stick. “I-I can’t! It’s not responding! I can’t—”
Crashhhh!
The ice-covered ship shattered into bits of ice and metal as it made contact with the hull of the frigate.

With a flick of her wrist, the woman sent sharp icicles flying at the squadron.

A pilot gasped as cracks formed across the window, as though bullets had pierced it.

“Break formation! Break formation!” the leader said. “Then converge on my target! We’ll take them down one by one!”

The Sever squadron split up, diving in all different directions. The head Guardian tried to hit another Striker with his sword, but this time, the starfighter evaded. Four starfighters flew in a straight line. The head Striker acted as a diversion, firing a few blinding lasers at the Guardian. The Guardian swung his sword and missed again. The other three came up from behind, swerved straight at the Guardian’s helmet, and each one fired a missile at its face.

Boom! Boom! Boom!
Stunned by the combined assault, the Guardian was knocked back, reeling from the hits. His helmet flew off, revealing the Guardian’s wizened visage.

“Morduke! Are you all right?” the ice woman called out through telepathy. She wanted to help the giant knight, but a cruiser blocked her path. She called out to the other Guardian, “Gersham, help Morduke!”

But Gersham, a Guardian of plants, had enough trouble of his own. He was being pestered by a few buzzing starfighters around him.

“I’ve got him in my sights!” A Striker jetted toward Morduke, the Guardian of metal, who was still stunned. The pilot desperately tried to lock onto the Guardian’s head, but pieces of scrap metal kept getting in his way.

When the lock was finally acquired—something else got in his way.

The pilot became motionless, except for his hands, which were trembling.

“What are you waiting for?” the squadron leader demanded. “Open fire!”

“There’s a…. There’s a kid….”

“What are you saying?” the leader snapped. “Pull yourself together!”

The pilot exclaimed, “There’s a kid standing on the nose of my Striker! Could this also be some kind of Guardian?”

The pilot was shocked at the sight of Darek on top of his starfighter.

Darek thought,
Sorry, but I’m not going to let you kill him!

Black gloves formed around Darek’s hands. He placed his hands on the front window of the Striker. The starfighter stopped moving. Then—
whoosh!
—the entire starfighter became like fine dust.

Still in a seated position, the pilot gawked at Darek, and then glanced around in panic. His hands groped for the controls…but they were no longer there. He thrust his hand to feel for the seat…but that was gone too! His whole ship had turned into dust—just like that! He was now floating in space. His only protection from the vacuum was his spacesuit.

“D-d-did you see that?” a pilot said, looking through the cockpit window to find his squad member without a ship.

“That kid must be a Guardian too!” the leader said.

“The Guardians…have kids?” Another pilot wondered. “Why doesn’t he transform like the others?”

“Don’t ask questions,” said the leader. “He’s a threat. And he needs to be eliminated—”

“GAH!” Another pilot shrieked, steering his ship wildly. “My engine’s been hit!” The pilot looked over his shoulder. Slade was on top of the ship, hammering at it with his metal fists. “There’s someone here! He’s tearing my ship apart!”

“Come on, Sever squadron!” the leader shouted. “Just shake them off!”

Picking up speed on his hover board, Slade flew at another Striker. With his fist coated in a strong gauntlet, he threw one punch, following through. His fist went right through the window. He grabbed the pilot by the neck, tore him out of the seat, and tossed him aside.

“Darek, watch out!” Slade shouted telepathically.

Darek looked over his shoulder. A missile was flying right at him. Darek quickly moved out of the way. But the missile, after passing by, swerved right around and aimed for Darek again. Darek stretched forth his arm. Just as the missile touched the palm of his hands, it burst into dust.

The Strikers retreated. The Guardians regrouped and moved on.

“They’re gone.” Slade grinned. “Taking on starfighters isn’t as tough as I thought.”

Darek observed the fleet for a while.

“Come on, let’s take out some more before they get too close.” Slade activated his hover board and searched for another squadron to attack.

“Wait—look over there.” Darek pointed into the distance. “At first I thought it was just my imagination, but look. They’re moving all their ships toward the moon.”

“They’re making a big push,” said Slade. “We have to warn the Guardians!”

They soared back to the moon. Their boards left a white trail across the black sky as they raced to warn the others.

“Admiral,” said the commander. “The fleet has moved according to your orders.”

Admiral Halken rested his head on his hand as he leaned his elbow on the armrest. “Make sure to divert attention away from this ship. I want the cargo delivered straight to the moon.”

Hundreds of Federation warships moved together as a group. Thousands of starfighters escorted the larger ships. They all drew closer to the moon.

“The Guardians are reacting,” said an ensign. “Hundreds are moving together. They’re forming a large force. It looks like they’re preparing to intercept the fleet.”

The admiral ordered, “Get me a map of the battlefield.”

“Aye aye, sir!”

The hologram appeared on the bridge of the supreme warship. This time the hologram showed real-time image of everything that was going on around them. With this hologram, Admiral Halken could even see his own ship, the
Majestic
, in the heart of the main fleet. He watched as the Guardians attacked the front lines.

The admiral reached into the air, acting as if he were grabbing something and pulling it back. When he did this, the map zoomed in on the Guardians.

Right by the upper atmosphere of the moon was something that looked like a giant human eyeball staring at the main fleet. Many Guardians were near the eye, raising their hands to it. The whole area became warped and distorted, as if the light was bending around it.

“I don’t think that eye is looking at us out of curiosity,” said the admiral. “Take our ship away from the center of the fleet! And tell the fleet to spread out!”

“Aye aye, sir!”

The admiral clenched his teeth as he watched the strange eye. He had a bad feeling about this. He waited for a reaction. The pupil of the eye began to glow intensely. Then, just as the admiral had feared, the eye shot a powerful white beam of light. It was fast. Incredibly fast.

“Didn’t you hear me? Spread out more! We’re too close together!”

The giant beam of light was inescapable for many of the larger, slower starships of the fleet. As soon as they saw it coming, they were as good as dead. One of the first victims of the blast was another supreme warship. Even with its incredibly thick hull and armor, the beam of light ripped right through it. The beam went on and on, tearing apart everything in its path. The crew of the
Majestic
watched on in horror as ship after ship fell prey to the beam of light.

“Status reports are coming in!”

“Divisions 6, 8, 15, 22, 27 are reporting heavy losses!”

“We’ve lost the
Zeus
, the
Titan
, the
Defender
, the
Notorious
and—”

“Unbelievable!” said the admiral, gaping at the map of the battlefield. Hundreds of ships were marked with big red X’s. “In an instant, so many good soldiers…lost! These Guardians must be stopped! Bring us closer to the moon! We’re launching the cargo now!”