Chapter 41: The Wings of
Extinction
The silence of the void
was all that passes through Jaden’s ears. The touch of her katana’s hilt was
all she could feel. With her eyes closed and her breathing slowed, coupled with
the extreme darkness of the room she was in, Jaden entered a very deep
meditative trance, cutting herself off from the rest of the world. Jaden closed
her eyes and all her senses were shut.
Seconds later, Jaden
opened her eyes and found herself within a forested land. Tall canopy trees
blocked the sunlight, with occasionally rays of light leaking through the
spaces. Her body felt the chill of the nearby lake and her ears could barely
hear the sound of crickets in the grasses. The smell of dew filled her nose and
the wind brushed past her, pushing her long hair back.
Jaden stood up, brushed
away fallen leaves off her and began wandering the forest. Unlike her previous
visits, the land was not desolate or ruined. Rather, the area seemed to have
thrived with life. Still, she was well aware that this was nothing but an
illusion of her mind.
“Theresa? Are you
around?” Jaden exclaimed. “I’m back…though I did not fall asleep this time.”
“Indeed…” a voice
sounded. Jaden immediately recognized the voice to be Theresa’s.
Jaden halted and began
looking around, hoping to catch sight of Theresa. As she searched, she was
distracted by the sight of fallen leaves, circling around the ground as in a
manner similar to a miniature cyclone. The wind carrying the leaves accelerated
and more piles began to be pulled in by the force. The cyclone then began
expanding; eventually stopping once it reached Jaden’s height. An intensifying
light shone from within, penetrating through the whirling mess of leaves.
Suddenly, a small
explosion of white energy erupted from the eye of the cyclone, scattering the
leaves. Jaden raised her hand, shielding her blindfolded eyes from both the
leaves and the light. Once the light dissipated, her hand lowered to reveal
Theresa in front of her.
“Thirty night cycles
and then, here you are.” Theresa muttered out.
“So…am I ready yet?”
Jaden asked. “One month of training was crazy.”
Theresa looked on for a
few seconds, her smile unflinching and her eyes unblinking. She replied, “No.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“But…you’re getting
there. You’re just not focusing on the right things.”
“What do you mean by
that?” Jaden bellowed, frustrated by Theresa’s vague answers.
“Think Jaden. How could
physical training help in bypassing Iblisan’s invincibility shield? Almost
nothing can penetrate it. Some spells can destroy it but even you should know
that you are not prepared for such powerful spells.”
“So you’re telling me
that all the training I did for the past one month was wasted?”
“No…” Theresa answered.
“You still need to fight through his army and lieutenants. Your combat and
spell training, along with the time spent in the simulation, will assist you.”
“But I did nothing that
could help defeat Iblisan?”
“Well, you have been
doing something that will help but the problem is that you are not aware of
what you’ve been doing.”
“Then why don’t you
tell me?”
“We can’t and we won’t.
However, we will give you another hint: What can you understand that an
immortal like Iblisan can’t?”
“Huh? Well…” Jaden said
before scratching her hair in disbelief. She found herself unable to answer
Theresa’s question.
“Take your time Jaden.
The war is about to begin but you won’t be facing Iblisan so soon.”
“Listen Theresa, what’s
the big deal? You showed up out of nowhere in my dream a month ago, claimed
that you know a lot about me and suddenly offered to help me in defeating
Iblisan. But, you’re not even making sense half of the time. Then you
disappeared for one month, giving me nothing but a hint, and shows up only to
give me another.”
“It is good that you
cannot comprehend our actions. We can blend in better that way.”
“What is your problem
with Iblisan anyway? Why help us?”
“We are associated with
Asura, Goddess of Life and Death. She has allied herself with your faction so
it is only natural that we followed suit. Hence, we are now Iblisan’s enemy.”
“Does Asura know that
you’re even talking to me?”
“She does. If you ever
feel curious about us, she can help.” Theresa answered. “We can’t tarry around
for too long Jaden, lest Iblisan is aware of our assistance to you. Remember
the hint we gave you and you’ll find the answer eventually. Good day.” she gave
Jaden a long bow before fading into sand blown by the wind.
Jaden sighed as Theresa
vanished, disappointed that all the training she did for the entire month was
still not enough to appease the strange woman. Regardless, she was relieved by
the knowledge of having made some progress at least. No longer having any
reason to remain in her mind, Jaden closed her eyes to cease her meditative
trance.
Opening her eyes, she
found herself back in the real world, sitting in the middle of an isolation
room. She stood up and left to have a quick look at the clock right outside the
door.
“The pre-war briefing
is going to start soon. I’d best get there fast.”
*
* *
“Ah, Ms. Highland.
You’re quite late.” Zian said with uncanny cheerfulness as she walked up a
flight of stairs within the war room. Until the rest of the castle, the war
room was filled with military consoles and screens. Right in its heart was a
huge, metal desk with a holographic galaxy map of all planets and galaxies
discovered by civilization. Surrounding the desk were the leaders of the
individual factions that have sided with the Liberator Alliance, including
Asura.
“Tch, took your sweet
time. What? Fashionably late?” Asura commented.
“I thought you said you
won’t be joining us in this battle?” Jaden questioned.
“I won’t. I’m just here
to see what you mortals have planned so that I know what my sirens will be
doing.” Asura answered while adjusting her hat. As usual, her smirk never left
her face.
“Now that we are all
here, let us begin.” Zian announced. He then reached out for a planet within
the holographic map with a finger. Upon touching it, the map zoomed in and
revealed its three moons. Recognizing the moon, Jaden knew that the planet was
Marsara. Littered all over the planet’s atmosphere were a large number of
massive ships along with dragonites in their dragon forms.
“That’s a lot of ships.
You guys ought to send some back home to protect your own planets.” Jaden
commented.
“We have left several
fleets to depend our homes so these are what we can spare for the assault upon
Dissidia.” Vael’Luas, the Elder Darkcaller of the elves, replied. “After all,
Iblisan’s own army had tried attacking my planet about a week ago. His men
failed and we suffered minimal casualties.”
“The same can be said
for the United Herd.” Yoren Wincaller, Grand Shaman of the orcs, spoke. “We
held our ground and our ships won the battles.” he added while Chieftain
Magariela of the minotaurs and King Zavron of the dragonites nodded.
“Hmph, Iblisan didn’t
even bother to attack my sirens.” Asura boasted. “He must know what I’m capable
of. Coward.”
“How about the
Mannihilators? Any problems?” Jaden queried.
“Nope. Iblisan seemed
to leave our home planet, Mannihilate, alone.” Lady Nora answered.
“Heck, Iblisan did not
even try to retake Qurrentine even though the planet is very close to Dissidia.”
Blake Mason, representing Verslag and the bounty hunters, added. “Why would he
just send in his men to distant non-human planets and let them die without
doing much damage to us is beyond my million year old ass.”
“And he hasn’t attacked
Marsara.” Jaden added. “I wonder what he is planning.”
“That’s one reason why
I asked for the primary fleet to gather around Marsara.” Zian said. “All his
recent attacks were on non-human planets. He might be coming for Marsara next.”
“Alright. So, assuming
that we survived such an assault, what will we do then?” Jaden asked.
“We will mobilize the
fleet.” Zian answered. “My alien forces will lead the fleet as our shielding
technology could protect us from most of the initial shelling from any enemy
fleets we encounter. Our fighters will engage the enemy directly and focus fire
on the enemy frigates and dreadnaughts. The rest of your forces will follow
behind while your fighters fight off enemy fighters that get past our shields.”
“A good defense centric
strategy Zian but if the enemy fleet is larger than our own, we could be
fighting forever without enough offense.” Yoren evaluated. “I suggest that the
dragons charge in to support your fighters. With their overwhelming numbers,
the enemy will be forced into the defensive.”
“They might counter
with dark angels.” Vael replied. “The dark angels are very dangerous in any
space combat. Not only are they smaller than any fighters but they possess
incredible strength and endurance. Their fiery magic adds to their ferocity. The
dragons are probably the only ones able to combat them and we cannot afford to
lose so many of them in an aggressive charge.”
“Well, in that case, we
balance out the number of dragons charging and defending.” Zian concluded.
“Now, the sirens do not have a fleet so they will stay out of any fleet
battles. However, they have teleportation magic. Since the dark angels are
capable of infiltrating ships and killing the crew from within, Asura has
agreed to allow our captains to call for reinforcements through telepathy or
radio. A siren squad will teleport in to deal with the invading dark angel.”
“Of course, should we
land and have any ground combat, my siren army will all teleport in.” Asura
added.
“The same goes for us
Mannihilators, although we land on the planet rather than teleport in. During
fleet combat, most of us will inhabit the Snow Mannihilator ships to provide
aid.” Lady Nora said.
“What will we do once
we reach Dissidia?” Jaden asked.
“Well, first we crap
our pants because according to our scouts, the planet is crawling with cultists
and dark angels. We have to fight our way in or we’re FUBAR.” Mason replied.
“Most of our ships are
made for air-to-ground assaults. Perhaps we could clear a landing zone before
we land on Dissidia.” Mistress Sierra suggested.
“That sounds better
than my plan at least.” Mason retorted.
“Once we reach
Dissidia, we hold position. We must have another briefing like this once we’re
there since we do not know what Iblisan has in store for us.” Zian said. “Now,
be warned that Iblisan’s lieutenants will all be involved in the defense of
Dissidia. Two of them are especially dangerous: Dark Viper and Father Heyman,
the leader of the cultist.”
“If Dark Viper appears,
let me know and I’ll deal with him.” Jaden said.
“And if Heyman appears,
let me know. He owes me his life.” Asura added.
“Alright, that’s what we
got for now. Let’s return to our fleets and…” Zian said before a nearby alarm
sounded. The room began blinking in red and the nearby radar screens revealed a
large number of red dots moving towards the center.
“Damn! Seems like
Iblisan has finally decided to attack us.” Zian exclaimed. “Prepare to engage
the enemy! This may get ugly.”
Everyone but Jaden
agreed with a nod and promptly left the war room for their fleets. Jaden
watched as they left before turning to Zian who approached her.
“Jaden, gather your
crew and help me defend Marsara. You can go to your ship if you wish. We’ve
already prepped it for lift off.” Zian said.
“Alright.” Jaden said
with a nod before leaving to find her crew. As she ran out of the room, Vader,
who stood guard outside the room, asked, “Have your hosts reached a consensus?”
“Yes. We’re assaulting
Dissidia, after we deal with this attack. Come on! We need to find the rest!”
*
* *
Jaden pushed opened the
castle doors, revealing the skies swarmed with star fighters and darkened by
the raven black wings of the harbingers of extinction: The dark angels. Bearing
a massive pair of wings on their backs, the humanoid creatures incited a chill
in her back out of fear. Burning ships fell out of the sky, cut to pieces by
the seemingly indestructible swords of the dark angels. Black feathers fell
down from the skies like snow, painting much of the ground black.
“Ariel’s mercy. I’ve
never seen a dark angel before. I only know of them through stories and…to see
so many of them…” Jaden muttered out.
“It’s just like the end
of the world.” Reed added. “According to Bastion studies, the world will ‘fall
under a wave of black, burn under the blue flames of destruction and be judged
under the iron will of the God of Creation’. Seems legit.”
As Jaden continued
staring into the skies, something cold and metallic touched her exposed
shoulder, startling her. She turned to see Vader placing a hand on her, “Do not
fear Jaden Highland. As powerful as the dark angels are, they lack the magical
invincibility shield of their host. They can be destroyed by normal means.”
“Heck, Vader’s right.
According to the stories mom told us about, they can be killed like any other
human.” Markus added. Lucas, who stood next to him, nodded with a smile in
agreement.
Jaden replied with a
nod, acknowledging their words. Though she understood and appreciated their
attempt to calm her down, she was not truly fearful of the dark angels. Rather,
to her, the sight of the black wings served as a grim reminder of the being
they must defeat to end the war: Iblisan Alkaidus. To add to her worries, Dark
Viper might be the only person who could defeat Iblisan, unless Jaden managed
to impress Theresa enough to learn about the secret she kept mentioning.
“Come on guys.
Iblisan’s forces must be defeated before we could even start our push towards
Dissidia. Everyone split up and help our allies.”
Complying with her, the
crew went on their separate ways and began combating enemies they encountered. As
Reed walked past Jaden, he told her, “I’ll be at the Crimson Spinner. Let me
know if you want a free ride.” before making a beeline for the docks. Lucas,
Markus and Vader remained however.
“Jaden, Markus and I
will follow you. It’s about time the Highland triplets walk as one against
Iblisan’s force after what Viper did to our friends and family.” Lucas said.
“I concur.” Markus said
with a hand raised.
“My mission requires me
to remain with you.” Vader added.
“Alright. Let’s go.
Time to kick some ass!” Jaden exclaimed. She unsheathed her katana, enchanted
it with Dark Energies and sprinted into the city with her brothers and Vader in
tow.
As the party ran
through the ruins, Jaden placed a pair of fingers on her forehead in an attempt
to sense for high Energy levels as dark angels are known for being very
powerful magically. Through her readings, she felt a large number of cold
presences nearby, identifying them as aliens due to their lack of magical potency.
A few warm presences implied others races such as orcs or dragonites but she
felt a few searing hot presences that she believed belongs to dark angels.
One of them was above
her.
Jaden looked up and
brought up her sword in time to parry a slash attempted by a male dark angel
who dove from above. She struggled against the creature’s immense strength but
overpowered him in a push. As the dark angel recuperated in mid air, a fireball
flew past and collided with the dark angel, causing him to descend and crash to
the floor. Jaden turned to see Markus with flames on his fingers, implying he
did it.
Jaden turned back to
the prone dark angel and approached him. She kicked him onto his back,
revealing his appearance. The dark angel had very pale skin and a pair of
golden eyes. He was topless, revealing a very muscular build, while his lower
body had a black pair of pants. His hair was black and very long, reaching his
waist. As Jaden placed a foot on his chest, his body was barely moving. Being
immortal, he was not breathing.
Looking down at the
helpless dark angel with a smirk on her face, she brought up her sword and
muttered, “Your god calls you.” She then proceeded to stab the dark angel,
causing blood to spurt out of its wound like a fountain before it slowly died.
“More dark angels
approaching.” Vader said. True to his words, Jaden looked up and saw about five
of them flying towards her.
She turned to her
brothers and said, “It’s go time!” She jumped off the dark angel corpse and
began sprinting towards the dark angel flock. Lucas unsheathed his greatsword
and followed suit while Markus began hurling fireballs at the flock. Vader,
with his trusty rifle in hand, shot a superheated slug at them before reverting
to his ordinary bullets.
A dark angel flew
towards Jaden and attempted a slash but Jaden dodged it and quickly slashed his
exposed chest as he flew by. He flew blindly into the air, only to get rammed
by a star fighter in flight. She turned to the other dark angels and rolled
away in time to dodge a spew of magical blue flames summoned by the lot.
Lucas rushed in and
brought up his greatsword to shield himself from the flames. Before the dark
angels could improvise, Vader’s bullets and Markus’s fireballs flew in and
shredded the dark angels, killing them swiftly. Jaden simply watched as the
flock died.
The party marched on
deeper into the city, fighting off dark angel flocks and cultists the
encountered. Along the way, the party stopped to assist an alien soldier
clashing swords with a dark angel. Jaden charged her sword with Light Energies and
did a Magic Throw, throwing it at the dark angel. The katana slashed through
the dark angel and left it a bloody mess, before returning back to her like a
boomerang.
The alien turned and
waved at her with a smile as a way of thanking her, before a bullet penetrated
his neck from behind, killing him. She turned to the assailant and, in a fly of
rage, threw a Dark Lightning bolt at the cultist, killing him slowly. Once she
was done, she heaved a heavy sigh, disappointed that she was unable to stop an
ally within reach from death. She then decided to sense for more magical presence.
Suddenly, she felt a
strong Energy level, so powerful that the heat was painful to her. She flinched
from the headache but quickly ceased her sensing. She only knew one being around
who could possess such a high Energy level.
“Asura.” she muttered
out. “Come on. Let’s see if Asura needs help…though I doubt it.” The party then
rushed ahead towards where Jaden felt Asura’s presence.
True to her words, they
found Asura in the middle of a street, surrounded by dark angel and cultists’
corpses. She appeared pristine and, as usual, cocky with a smirk on her face.
No blood or wounds were seen on her but being a goddess, she probably could not
have them. She readjusted her hat before noticing the party and gestured at
them to come.
As Jaden looked at the
cocky but beautiful goddess, she could not help but recall Theresa, who told
her to ask Asura should Jaden wish to know more about her. Indeed, she was so
curious about Theresa’s origins that she considered asking Asura right there.
However, an explosion nearby brought her back to reality and she realized that it
was not the best time to ask.
“Having fun yet? Good.
Fighting is more fun when you actually have to work to kill someone.” Asura
said before looking down on the corpses around her, “These fools have no idea
who I am.”
“I’m guessing you had
no trouble here.” Jaden retorted.
“Hehe it’s that
obvious? I sometimes try to let them attack me but then I realized I couldn’t
get hurt. Forcefully sucking out the souls of living creatures was fun for a
while but I get bored quite fast. Punching takes too long to kill them.” Asura
boasted.
“They seemed pretty
endless. They are not letting up even though we’ve killed quite a lot of them.”
Lucas commented.
“And I know why.” Asura
said before winking at the party. “Turns out there’s a reason why Iblisan
attacked the other planets with such a pathetic force. They were distractions
while a few infiltrators move in to grab several things needed to create
something before fleeing.”
“What ‘something’?”
Markus asked.
“A Warp Gate.”
“A…what now?” Markus
said.
“A Warp Gate, a massive
ship capable of summoning other distant objects through the use of wormholes
capable of molecular transportation. Quite an ingenious human invention, well,
except for the fact that it requires the technologies of other races to be
built in the first place.” Asura explained.
“I heard of these Warp
Gates. The first prototype was built about fifty years ago but was banned when
it was discovered that it was built from stolen non-human technology.” Jaden
replied.
“Analysis of
schematics: Warp Gates requires a human dreadnaught ship modified to provide
space large enough to create the wormhole. An elf dimensional mirror, an orcish
rip field generator or an alien teleporter is required through reverse
engineering for the warp matrix of the Warp Gate to function.” Vader added.
“So that means these
Warp Gates are transporting ships and troops from Dissidia directly to Marsara
then?” Markus asked.
Asura nodded and
replied, “Yup. This Warp Gate is somewhere up there and someone needs to
destroy it. Apparently, our own allies are busying fighting off enemy star
fighters so they’re too busy getting overwhelmed by the unlimited waves of
enemies.”
“Incoming transmission
from the Crimson Spinner.” Vader said out of nowhere. He then recited in the
familiar voice of Reed Robinson, “Hey Jaden! You read me?”
“Yeah I got you. What’s
going on?”
“Jaden, unless I was
drinking too much alcohol yesterday, I swore I saw a huge ship that looks like
a Warp Gate when I flew into space during a dogfight.”
“You’re not
hallucinating it Reed. Asura just told us that there is indeed a Warp Gate up
there.”
“You’re serious aren’t
you? I thought those ships were banned by the Salvagers?”
“Well, Iblisan isn’t a
Salvager, is he?”
“He sure acts like one.
Anyway, from what I know of Warp Gates, that big monster needs to be destroyed.
I can’t do it because I got three fighters on my tail and Jaina is getting tired
of shooting.”
“Hey, maybe we could
all command a star fighter and deal with the Warp Gate ourselves. We’ve been
using the flight simulator and we’re pretty experienced with the real thing.”
Markus suggested while nudging Lucas.
“You could try, though
I doubt four star fighters could damage something as massive as a Warp Gate. A
few star fighters are still docked at the landing bay last I saw.” Asura said.
“But that place is too
damn far unless…” Jaden said before she spotted a dark angel approaching them
from the skies. “Look out!” Jaden exclaimed before pulling out her sword.
However, before the dark angel could reach them, something flew past and
tackled the dark angel down. Jaden approached them and realized that, much to
her delight, Lucky was the one who attacked the dark angel.
As the dark angel
recovered, Asura casted a spell, causing a grey, smoke-like substance to flow
out of his mouth towards her glowing hands in a long trail. Once the trail
ended, the dark angel dropped to the ground, dead. “So many souls to reap, so
little time.” Asura commented.
As Lucky stood up,
Jaden rubbed his neck, which he returned by nuzzling her. She turned to the
others, with Lucky still nuzzling her, and suggested, “I’ve been taking riding
lessons with him. He could take me to the landing bay quickly.”
“In that case, you go
first Jaden. Markus, Vader and I will catch up.” Lucas told her.
Nodding in approval,
she proceeded on to mount on Lucky’s back. Before she set off, Asura wished, “Good
luck. I suspect you might need it.” Raising its front legs and giving out a
loud neigh, Lucky leaped forward and began galloping towards the landing bay.
Knowing that this will be a rough ride, Jaden held on to his mane on one hand
while wielding her katana on the other.
After a few seconds on
travelling, the landing bay was in sight. Jaden was prepared to stop Lucky
until a fiery projectile exploded next to her. She turned to see a dark angel
in pursuit, prepared to throw more fireballs at her. In retaliation, Jaden casted
Dark Lightning but he dodged the bolt. He threw another projectile but Jaden
cut it with her katana.
The dark angel then
decided to dive in, preparing his sword for a slash. However, his attack was
blocked by Jaden’s katana and they began exchanging sword slashes with one
another. In an attempt to finish her off, the dark angel brought his sword high
up, trying to pummel her with a strong downward slash. Realizing that he left
himself wide open, Jaden slashed on his wings, causing him to crash headfirst onto
the ground and snapping his neck. She merely watched as his lifeless body
disappears into the distance.
Jaden pulled back Lucky’s
mane, stopping him as he entered the landing bay. She dismounted him, rubbed
his body and whispered, “You did good boy. Now, stay here and stay low. I’ll be
back…I hope.” She gave an affectionate kiss to Lucky’s snout before turning
around and running for a nearby star fighter. She climbed into the cockpit, put
on a helmet and a seatbelt before activating the ship’s systems. She pressed
several buttons before pulling back the steering handle, lifting the ship off
the ground. She turned the ship towards the bay exit and flew out.
With a pull of the
steering handle, Jaden tilted the ship up into the atmosphere, flying through
layers of clouds and straight into the blue beyond. The ship shook
uncontrollably from the pressure and velocity and Jaden’s heart began throbbing
with fear. Once the ship entered the dark void of outer space, the shaking stopped
and she calmed down.
Jaden’s jaw almost
dropped at the sight of outer space all over her windscreen. She has travelled
out into space many times in the Crimson Spinner but never had the full view be
right in front of her. The stars shone in the void like a large number of
jewelry in a black box. She suddenly recalled a moment when she robbed a bank
full of jewelries without being caught, only to receive a harsh reception from
her mother. If such beauty can be seen simply by looking up into the skies, she
wondered why she stole the jewelries in the first place.
“Perhaps this is why so
many people want to fly ships. The sight of space right in front of you is
breathtaking.”
Suddenly, a ship flew
past her, tailed by another ship marked with the Cult of Iblisan insignia.
Realizing that she was still in the middle of a battlefield, she began scanning
the void in search of the Void Gate. Rather without surprise, due to the size
of the Warp Gate, Jaden found it merely by turning her ship to the left. She then
adjusted her radio frequency to communicate with Vader.
“Vader? Vader, are you
getting this?” Jaden said onto her helmet microphone.
“Receiving.” Vader
replied.
“I have the Warp Gate
in my sights. Does your schematic have anything about a weak spot?”
“Analyzing…No.” Vader
replied. “We never encountered a Warp Gate, neither were Warp Gates deployed
into any battle before. Thus, we are unable to gain information on its
weakness.”
“Oh great.” Jaden said.
“Seems like I’ll have to just shoot it until it blows up.”
Activating the ships
boosters, Jaden accelerated towards the Warp Gate, eventually noticing that it
was the size of a massive fortress. It had an opening which held a black
wormhole which periodically brought in particles that would materialize into
ships and dark angel. She aimed her star fighter at the Warp Gate before having
it locked on.
“Well, here goes
nothing.” Jaden muttered before pressing a red button on the steering handle. A
missile was ejected out of the star fighter and, with its thrusters, flew past
other ships in dogfights, straight towards its target. Jaden observed as it
disappeared into the distance, leaving behind a trail of blue smoke. She then
looked at the radar, which tracked the missile’s path towards its target.
However, the missile disappeared
from the radar out of the blue and she looked up to see it dispersing into tiny
pieces. Shocked by the sight, she asked Vader, “Vader! My missile just
disintegrated when it came near the Warp Gate! What happened?”
“The orcish rip field
generator is capable of destroying organics by ripping apart the physical body
on a molecular level. This technology was reverse engineered and a modified
version is now used by the Warp Gate, capable of destroying projectiles.” Vader
explained.
“Great. Now how are we
going to destroy it now?” Jaden exclaimed.
Suddenly, a different
voice was heard from the radio, “Jaden. You there?”
“Jaina? That you?”
“Yeah. Reed caught your
transmission with Vader and tracked it down to your star fighter. We saw your
attempt to destroy the Warp Gate. The rip field generator makes it virtually
impenetrable.”
“My missile just
disintegrated.” Jaden said before noticing that the wormhole summoned by the
Warp Gate was closing, disappearing in a huge burst of light. “Um, Jaina? The
wormhole just closed.”
“Yeah I know. The Warp
Gate can only sustain a wormhole for a while before it must be reopened. The rip
field surrounding it can only affect physical objects and from what I’m aware
of, alien star fighters have laser technology. The rip field cannot destroy
energy and laser is a form of energy. Now, I think I know a weak spot for it.”
An alarm sounded and Jaden
looked at the radar, noticing a large warning saying, “Locked-On”. She then
looked at the rearview mirrors to see two cultist star fighters tailing her.
Seconds later, they opened fire, shooting cannons at her.
“Jaina, I’m in a
pickle! Tell me later! I need to shake these guys off!”
Jaden attempted evasive
actions, tilting her ship up before spinning around to dodge missiles locked onto
her. As she kept dodging, she noticed another cultist star fighter on a
collision course with her. She tilted her ship and barely missed the star
fighter while her pursuers did the same.
Thinking that she had
enough, she slammed her hand onto a big red emergency button which released a
missile facing opposite of her star fighter. The missile flew at one of the cultist
star fighters and destroyed it in an explosion. While one was down, another was
still chasing her.
However, just as it was
about to shoot at Jaden, a missile collided with it and destroyed it. “Miss us
yet Jaden?” a voice sounded in her radio.
A trio of alien star
fighters appeared behind her and she knew well enough who it was. “Lucas. You,
Markus and Vader really took your time.”
“We did our best. We’ll
follow your lead.” Markus replied.
“Alright Jaina. You
still there? What do you think is a weak spot?”
“Technically, it isn’t
a weak ‘spot’. It is more of the best time to shoot it. You see, the Warp Gate
uses a massive amount of energy each time it summons a wormhole and sustain it.
It can only do so for a while before the wormhole collapses and it recharges in
preparation for another. An energy spike my sensors are showing indicates that
it can overload if the wormhole was shot while it was being created. This will
create an explosion that could very well destroy the Warp Gate. Since you guys
have lasers and are not in any dogfight, you guys may be only ones up for this.”
Just as Jaina was
finished speaking, light around the Warp Gate began to light up while some form
of generator was starting up. Suddenly, in the Warp Gate’s opening, a black,
electrical ball of light appeared and expanded, looking very similar to a black
hold.
“Jaden, a wormhole is
opening up! Now’s your chance!”
“You heard Jaina guys!
Let’s go!” Jaden exclaimed before boosting her star fighter straight towards
the wormhole with the rest on her tail.
As she neared the Warp
Gate, she spotted a missile flying towards her and dodged it with a roll. She then
returned fire at the intercepting cultist star fighter, destroying it. More of
the cultist star fighters appeared, attempting to stop her party.
“Seems like they know
what we’re about to do.” Lucas said.
“Jaden, you go ahead
and destroy that big piece of crap. We’ll keep the others away from you.”
Markus suggested. He then flew his star fighter out of formation and shot at
the intercepting cultists, destroying some of them while Lucas followed. Vader
then turned the opposite direction and fired at other cultist star fighters.
With the cultists driven off, the path to the Warp Gate seemed clear.
Suddenly, a dark angel
landed on the ship, causing Jaden to scream in shock. The dark angel began
pummeling the windscreen with his sword’s hilt, trying to kill her by
destroying the windscreen and exposing her to the vacuum of space. The windscreen
began to crack from his repeating strikes and Jaden’s heart throb as she
panicked. She made frantic attempts to shake him off by turning and spinning
her star fighter but to no avail.
In a desperate attempt
to save herself, Jaden closed her eyes and tried to enter a meditative stance.
Her senses were shut down and she could hear the thoughts and heartbeats of all
living things around her. She could hear the panicked thoughts of both her
allies and the cultists in their ships, afraid that the battle may lead to
their quick death. A few others reveled in the chaos, shouting with joy with
every kill. She then read the dark angel’s mind and heard his thoughts.
“My lord Iblisan wants
her alive or dead. I will comply.”
“Stop hitting the ship.”
Jaden spoke through telepathy.
“What’s this? A voice
in my head?”
“Do not destroy my windscreen…or
else.”
The dark angel ceased
its attacks out of the sudden and held its head while screaming in pain. A
stinging pain lashed its mind and he began shaking uncontrollably from the
pain. Knowing that Jaden was the source, the dark angel raised his sword to
make one final attempt to destroy her windscreen but Jaden pushed her mental
assault, intensifying the pain and interrupting his attempt. The dark angel
then flew away, unable to take the pain.
Now that she was close
to the Warp Gate, she made a beeline for the opening wormhole. However,
forgetting that it had a rip field, her ship began to dissolve when it neared the
Warp Gate. Knowing that she has little time to spare, she accelerated her ship
straight to the wormhole and firing a single blue beam of laser at it. The
wormhole began to pulse with an intense blue light and knowing an explosion was
imminent, Jaden turned and flew away, leaving the rip field in the process.
The wormhole detonated
and the resulting explosion tore the Warp Gate in half. The shockwave shook
Jaden’s star fighter and rippled through the vacuum. Jaden turned to look in
time as the Warp Gate itself exploded into a massive ball of fire before
smaller explosions follow. The fireworks left Jaden in awe and joy and she
heard on the radio chatter:
“The cultist ships are
retreating! The dark angels are retreating! This battle is ours!” a male voice
shouted through the radio. A cheer was followed and true to his words, Jaden
looked around to see cultist ships and dark angels turn tails and run while a
few stragglers were shot down.
With the battle over, Jaden
leaned onto her soft seat with a sigh relief. The war was just beginning and
the Liberator Alliance has survived the first onslaught of the Cult of Iblisan.
“There is still more to
come, but I now know that we can defeat his army at least.”
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