Rayna’s interlink buzzed insistently and she raised her right arm.
“Rayna here. What’s up?”
“This is Sergeant Epstein, captain. One of my men reported seeing a bunch of kids about a half-mile from the prison...um...Level 5231.”
The woman paused for a moment, thinking about how to best deal with this one.
“Any positive identifications?”
“Just a moment.”
Silence on the open comm-net was her reply before Epstein reported back.
“Scanners indicate that there are two Praetorial Guardsmen with them, but I can’t make out their identification tags.”
“Keep an eye on them, and don’t–I repeat–don’t make any moves against them, or let them know that they’re being monitored.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Rayna broke the connection, still a pit pissed about losing most of her best hover tanks to that bitch. She was somewhat relieved that Epstein had survived the attack by sheer luck. Fayler turned up later with only a few of his units intact, most of his powerful force wiped out by the Starchild’s insane counterattack.
Well, she’d show her a thing or two about power, even if it meant destroying the entire Praetorial Guard in the process.
* * *
The Starchild plunged through the wispy atmosphere, feeling each cloud’s cold caress, but ignoring it. There wasn’t much that she could do about the chill until she reached the prison.
She could’ve easily reached her objective by teleporting, but the element of surprise would be lost.
Time was on her side for the moment, but that could change in such a subtle way if anything went wrong.
Bayen was the first to see that something wasn’t right.
Even as they reached the first sky tube that would take them closer to the prison, the sky dancer couldn’t shake the feeling that this all felt somehow wrong.
For one thing, there was no sign of any other living soul around and normally in his book, there should be. The shops on this part of the level were closed, lights were off and the only illumination came from the hover lamps overhead.
At this time, there should be a few places open. He questioned himself, while checking his watch. Yep, it’s 9:34:31. Closing time is usually in an hour.
Bayen kept his eyes peeled on the darkness behind him, on the now deserted walkway that they had just come from. Nothing.
Not a–
A soft flash of metal followed by physical movement grabbed his attention and the boy groaned.
We are being followed!
Great...
“Hey, Leona. You think that your sister would be pissed if I took her with me to go check something out?”
The woman shrugged. “That depends...”
“I believe I have just the thing to work out that aggression complex she has inside her. Might do her a world of good too.”
“What do you want us to do?” She asked
“Continue up as planned.” Bayen advised.
The Starchild touched down on the far side of Level 5231, believing that she had spotted something on her way down to the prison.
Doesn’t make any sense, since Calis should be at the outer defense parameter of the prison by now...I should be right there with him and the others as well. I think this is what the old man would refer to as being slightly ‘sidetracked.’
The shop behind her was ominously quiet, all its lights darkened and its door locked. Looking around, she could see that other shops were also in a similar state.
That’s when all of her mental alarms went off.
This doesn’t feel right, she mused, walking over to a railing and peering over the side. Three levels down, she could see lights and shops that were still open.
Looking back, she saw a noticeable difference.
This entire level has been blacked out. Why?
Bayen was again wondering the same thing, his mind sharpened by the sense that again, something wasn’t entirely kosher.
Both the sky dancer and Lara had both traveled quietly for more than 1500 feet away from the nearest sky tube access, and still there was no further sign of human life anywhere.
The shops here were closed as well, including a popular hangout a bunch of his friends called the ‘Zero G Express’. The place had various games, entertainment, music and giant chambers that was retrofitted a while back for the express purpose of simulating zero gravity conditions; hence its namesake.
The building was quiet too, where there should have been teenagers running rampart all over the place, using their money and what influence they had to have a good time.
“This is creepy,” Lara whispered, her dark eyes alight with worry and anxiety. “Where is everyone?”
Bayen didn’t know. “Something isn’t right,” he said out loud, taking out his quarterstaff and extending it. “There should be activity here, but there isn’t. That’s not right.”
“I wouldn’t know,” his companion chimed in. “I’m not from around here, so I wouldn’t have a clue as to what is or isn’t right.”
“Your sister knows.” Bayen responded, activating the light implement at the end of his staff and playing it around them in a casual sweep; lighting their path here and there where the hover lamps could not reach.
“She never told me.”
Bayen knew they were getting sidetracked from their task, so he didn’t say anything that would cause a full-blown argument. Instead, he concentrated on the problem at hand and continued his own investigation.
He panned his staff up and down the darkened windows of a few of the shops and didn’t like the creepy feeling that they elicited with the way they cast back their reflections.
Dark and foreboding...the sky dancer flinched inwardly.
“Nothing here,” Lara broke into his thoughts, after visually inspecting another shop a few feet downwards from him. “Just what are we looking for anyway?”
“People.” The boy replied, feeling clearly uneasy about the way the situation was developing.
* * *
Isis hovered over the level at a height of 200 feet, keeping her eyes peeled for an obvious signs of danger. From her point of view, this whole thing fairly screamed the word, “TRAP!”, and she knew that she would be right eventually.
The Praetorial Guard has to be behind this. But why? Why would they black out this one level and not others, unless....
Unless Bayen was here!
Adrenaline seizing a hold her, she quickly put her senses to work, searching for any signs of him.
A minute later, Isis found her boyfriend.
He’s here! But I thought he was supposed to be with the others, making preparations for the diversion...?
His thoughts, she saw, centered on the problem as to why there was no activity on this level, and also on the suspicion that he had seen something.
Lara’s there with him as well. That’s surprising.
Still concerned, she flew silently as she good, her mind still attuned to the area around her. Another minute passed before she came up to the spot where she knew he would be and spotted both Bayen and Lara.
But a tickle in the back of her mind alerted her to something else.
* * *
“Hello?” The sky dancer called out, seeing a light in a shop they investigated. “Is anyone home?”
The light’s owner never showed up, but the teenager’s growing impatience did.
“Shit.” He complained under his breath, not believing the luck they were having.
“Nothing?” Lara asked.
“Nope.”
“Cripes,” she moaned softly. “Now what?”
As of in answer, the window next to them exploded in hail of tinkling glass and diamond-like shards.
Neither Bayen or Lara had time to react as the next shot ranged in on them from afar. An explosion of heat and light nearly bowled them over, but by some measure of luck, both of them still remained standing on their feet.
“Move!” The sky dancer yelled, pushing Lara out of the way just in time.
The follow-up salvo gleamed bright yellow as Bayen repositioned himself.
Spinning his staff, he struck out; connecting with the shot and sending it away from them.
“Nice one, Bayen.”
“Not done yet.” He said, waiting for the next one to show itself.
A series of shots came raining out of the sky directly on top of them and the sky dancer swore, before launching himself out of the range of fire. the resulting salvos struck the area where he was just standing only a moment ago.
But the effects of the close-ranged blasts left him a little stunned.
“Gods...” the sky dancer groaned. “This isn’t fair at all...”
Lara agreed, while helping the teenager off the ground.
“I wonder who’s shooting at us?”
Bayen shook his head for a second to clear his head. “I’m not sure, but I can tell you already that it’s someone who doesn’t appreciate us snooping around.”
* * *
“A few more shots like that and they’ll be eventually killed...” The Praetorial Guardsman lieutenant said softly, while was overseeing the action from inside his hover tank. Then he glanced over at the hover tank’s weapons officer. “I said to go easy on them, Private Third Class! This isn’t the time to start showboating!”
The blond-haired woman shrank from her CO’s blistering words.
“S-sorry, sir. I just got carried away! Both of them are carrying weapons, so I just thought–” but the lieutenant silenced her.
“If we kill these two, then the others will come to investigate their disappearances. We don’t want that, now do we?”
“No sir,” the woman replied automatically, chastised.
“Then contact Green Division and tell them to round these two up.”
“Yes, sir.”
Isis had been this close in unloading on the hover tank below her, but found that after a few bracketing salvos, it had stopped firing and resumed a more, leisurely stroll back the way it came.
Puzzled, the girl was about to follow, when another hover tank showed up, followed by another.
Then, unexpectedly, four at once appeared on her left flank.
Noooo...she grated silently, feeling a moment of pure helplessness, sensing that there would be no way that Bayen or Lara could survive this new wave without some assistance from her. But the itch to do so was laced with hesitation. The fact that she had problems while dealing with Calis’s hover tank was an obvious sore point; with regarding her abilities as the Starchild.
However, her recent...explosive episode showed that she also had the power to overcome odds that would be calculated as an impossibility under more normal circumstances.
But I’m not normal. What I did earlier, wouldn’t be considered normal either.
The choice of allowing the deaths of those she loved didn’t dampen her spirits. Instead, these emotional outbursts made her realize that she was a lot stronger than most gave her credit for.
It was this strength that allowed her to do the impossible.
I am the Starchild. I am peace.
She focused on what she needed to do, allowing her emotions to spill over and fill her up; one feeling after another, but in concert with each other.
Then she acted.
* * *
Both Bayen and Lara looked at each other, once they had seen the hover tanks.
“Now we know.” Lara commented dryly.
“Don’t be too sure. These guys weren’t the ones that attacked us.”
“How can you be sure?”
The sky dancer shrugged. “Gut feeling. I think these jokers have some other purpose in mind.”
Then a bright light suddenly illuminated the area, before the hover tanks could act.
It got interminably bright forcing the pair to shield their eyes.
“No!” They heard a voice say. “No more! The city doesn’t need the likes of you terrorizing those who only seek to end this madness! I won’t allow it!”
The hover tanks started to vibrate like tuning forks and Bayen found himself looking at the war machines in sudden disbelief.
They weren’t moving...! They...they’re frozen in place...?
The vibrations got worse. Bayen’s ears were beginning to fill with sounds of screaming and tortured metal. The teenager cringed from the horrendous noises that reverberated agonizingly throughout the small street.
Then as if someone had popped them a giant pin, one of the hover tanks exploded outright in a hail of metal and carbonized fuel chunks. The tremendous explosion sent debris clattering all around them, shattering some of the windows with its own brand of self-propelled missiles.
A second one detonated in a similar fashion, the third not being too far off.
Men in that tank managed to escape and run before it, too, met its demise.
The other remaining tanks struggled to bring their missile systems to bear, to temporarily drive off the one responsible for their predicament. However, the onboard systems refused the commands that were being hastily punched in with remarkable accuracy.
One missile managed to leave its topside launcher, but its engine died a few seconds after launch, in a showery belch of fire and squelched response of what might’ve been surprise. Then it crashed to the ground and exploded in a hail of molten metal and sparks.
“Yow!” Lara cried out as one aberrant fragment hit her in the leg. Thanks in part to her body armor, she wasn’t injured.
A fourth tank vibrated itself into oblivion—there was nothing left afterwards except chunks of metal here and there.
Bayen didn’t know what to do. This situation was beyond anything he experienced in the past.
Another crew also managed to get clear before another blew up, but this time, one of the Praetorial Guardsmen had a shoulder-mounted energy cannon; which he used.
Or would have, had Lara not taken the initiative and fired on the man; stunning him into unconsciousness.
“Don’t.”
The man’s companion gave the woman a frosty look.
“Stand aside, bitch, and let us do what we were called upon to do.” Bending down, he proceeded to remove the man’s weapons’ harness.
Bayen was there in a split-second with his quarterstaff, stinging the man in the cheek with a quick jab; forcing him off balance.
“No. This isn’t what you were called upon to do,” he said in a quiet, but earnest tone. “Scaring people into stepping in line isn’t the way things are done around here. I am not going to let you destroy something that I have worked hard for. And I will do whatever it will take to make sure that you don’t do it.”
The man’s eyes bulged out, but he didn’t say anything, but listened to the boy’s words instead.
A fifth tank a short distance away erupted in a column of fire, but was quickly snuffed out.
“Now she,” he pointed up with his other hand, encompassing the Starchild with his forefinger, “will not only stop you, but destroy you completely. Without mercy.”
The officer’s face betrayed the fear he felt, but answered with confidence, “We shall see, sky dancer.”
In reply, the sixth tank also blew apart, a small testament to the Starchild’s awesome power.
