Star League - The Last Zomban

SL-TLZ Chapter 1 Escape

“The prisoners are escaping!”

Taybo hears the call come through and repeated in his helmet speakers. He flinches from increased volume that leaves his ears ringing. He tries to turn it down but, instead, activates a map of his direct area that pops up on the inside of his visor, faint enough not to obstruct his vision yet bright enough to sting his eyes.  He wishes that he paid more attention to how the helmet controls work. Where is my partner?

On screen is the last known position of the escaped prisoners in conjunction with his current position. His partner is way off in the other direction. This sets his nerves on edge. He shouldn’t be here. He is not a soldier but a cook who was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Taybo was called to fill in for the cook aboard a luxury yacht. While in flight, the yacht is attacked by the growing Akron Empire and he is captured along with the surviving passengers and taken to the home world to be trained as an Enforcer in their military. He was put on simple guard duty, partnered to a maniacal man who doesn’t care whether he lives or dies. The man didn’t want a partner, especially a young and inexperienced one. And today he chooses to leave him alone on this simple watch.

His thoughts scream at him this dark night on this dark street on the bleak surface of the planet Akron. It’s my second day and we’re on alert! How could this happen? Where is my partner? There are prisoners on the loose and he runs off on his own somewhere. What if I have to kill one of them? The thought scares him. Can I take a life? What if I kill one of my own? I’m not one of them! If accidentally kill anyone, I hope it would be my partner. This place would be better off without that butcher! And then the Overlords can execute me.

Shadows play in the corners of his eyes. He swings his pulse rifle around in response to shoot the first thing that moves and is thankful there is nothing there. His heart threatens to pound out of his chest. Anxiety begins to build throughout his body. His muscles contract and his breathing is rapid. He orders his body to relax but decides that is a waste of time.  Dizziness sweeps over him; sweat trickles down his brow into his eye. He tries to shake it off but it seems like a continual river running down his face. He reaches to wipe it but smacks his hand against the mirrored black helmet that protects his head, feeling silly for momentarily forgetting it is on.

The feeling of dripping sweat becomes all he can think about. Taybo can’t take the annoying feeling any more and unseals his helmet and rips it off his head, taking small pleasure in wiping his face dry. He fingers the shock of black hair atop his head. The evening air feels cool on his exposed skin. He breathes the fresh air feeling somewhat relieved. He is a young man of twenty. He wants to live longer and doesn’t want to be here. A small sound unsettles his nerves, wide frightened eyes survey the darkened landscape. Where is my partner? Why did he leave me? All is silent except for the sound of his own heart beat and the workings of his wind pipe. In the distance is the usual hum of the space port at the end of the road he is guarding.

A small thud to his right causes Taybo’s heart to jump into his throat. He backs up to the building a little too fast and hits it hard enough to knock the wind from is lungs. He fumbles with his rifle and curses himself for being too loud. He slowly peeks around the corner…and comes face to face with a beautiful woman who is just as startled as he is. He swallows down a dried lump that threatens to choke him.

A muffled cry sounds from the sling carried at the woman’s side. His eyes go wide. She has a baby! He shifts his eyes to the tattooed eye on the center of her forehead. His jaw drops slightly. He had heard she was in the area but didn’t know she was a prisoner. He fumbles to get the rifle into firing position. The other takes advantage of his inexperience. The last thing Taybo sees is her fist fly before the sight in his left eye is replaced by a bright circular light. He cries out in fear and unexpected pain. All air is driven from his lungs by a kick to his mid section. The last he remembers is pain in the back of his head and neck.

He rolls over to look at her through his good eye. “Yo-you’re the Zomban queen,” he manages to say before dropping off to unconsciousness.

****
Onna Tal runs into the startled young Enforcer and moves quickly. A quick punch to the eye followed by her right knee into his sternum disables him. An elbow dropped down on the back of his head when he doubles over takes him out of the fight. He rolls over and talks to her. She is happy that he doesn’t make any threatening moves. She doesn’t want to kill anymore people than she has to, especially one so young as this. Damn these Akron’s!

Sela Jax hovers between her queen and the downed Enforcer. She was chosen from all the Star League to get her safely off this disturbed rock because she used to serve as the queen's personal bodyguard before enlisting in the League. She is prepared to do whatever it takes to do so. She ushers Onna along the road and waves the other survivors forward.  Dree Pon quickly takes point. Her brother Trais moves up next followed by Sela's partner Vella Truik, who watches the rear. Vella also used to serve as her bodyguard.

Movement in the shadows alerts Onna to the oncoming danger. The boy’s partner raises his rifle and fires. Onna squeezes her eyes shut to await her death. Instead she is covered in a splattering of blood and brain tissue. It takes her a second to realize Sela quickly covered the queen with her own body. As her body falls to the ground Onna reacts on instinct with a side kick that lands under his pistol hand. His arm is slack so the kick pushes the pistol into the shiny visor of his helmet.

More quickly than she thought possible, he removes the damaged helmet and comes at her with a pair of knives that only one other saw him draw. He stabs at the sash she is protecting hung around her left side. She jumps just in time so the knife passes just under Kamen but sinks into the soft spot just below her rib cage. Onna has a sudden intake of breath as the knife strikes home. The quick sting suddenly turns to a burning sensation. Her pain can is heard in the low muffled scream that escapes  through her clamped jaw. It takes strength of her will to stay on her feet.

Trais Pon saw the Enforcer draw the knives. He knew in an instant the queen was in trouble. He couldn’t get there in time to do no more than pull the blade out. He has served her for most of his life as her personal bodyguard. He now blames himself because he should have been alert instead of mourning over his dead friend.

Without thinking, he reaches in and pulls the knife and the hand wielding it from her body. The Enforcer instantly takes notice that Trais if leaning in and off balance. He takes the advantage and swings the knife upward, slicing off Trais’s pinky at the knuckle and his third finger at the middle joint. He goes into shock at the sight of blood squirting out of his missing fingers.

In the blink of an eye, a small yellow ball of light emerges from the sling at Onna’s waist. It enters the Enforcers body, engulfs him in its light and turns him to dust that blows away in the slight breeze of the night. As the after image of the bright light fades away, Dree spots another Enforcer moving right behind Trais. She screams a warning to her brother a second before he sinks a knife into Trais’s ribs. The pain is so intense that it drops him to his knees.

Running now on pure adrenalin, Onna jump kicks the Enforcer right in the heart. His body seizes and twitches and falls to the ground. Onna is at Trais’s side in an instant pulling him to his feet. “We’re almost there!” she cries. “Let’s go!” Dree rushes over to help him up. Something is not right. His left lung hurts. It feels…he doesn’t know what to feel.  “Leave me…”

Onna hears a familiar whine of an engine and looks up. There, overhead is the ship she calls the Kresna. She grabs a radio from the dead Enforcer and opens it to all channels. “RD! Can you hear me?”

“There you are my lady!” replies a static filled voice. “I was beginning to wonder if you were still alive!”

“Go to the nearest clearing and get ready for a scoop and run!”

RD’s reply is lost to another on the same frequency. “Stop running Zombans and surrender. The Chosen One is mine.” After a moment of silence, “I know you can hear me Onna Tal. There’s no reason for any more bloodshed. Just give me the baby and you will be allowed to leave aboard your ship.”

“No,” Onna says. “You’re gonna have to kill me before you steal my son!”

“So be it. But how far do you think you’re going to get? You’re wasting time, resources and your lives. Is that what you really want?”

“What I want is to personally send you to hell!”

He laughs. “We’ve got your position. I’m coming for the chosen one.”

Onna smashes the radio on the cement. “Our ship is landing right over there! Now get up and let’s move!” Trais looks at her with distant eyes.  “If you stay here, they’ll kill you. Now let’s go!” His eyes suddenly focus on her tear streaked face. Those look like real tears. I’ve never seen this side of her before. I like it. Slowly, he allows himself to be pulled up. He ignores the pain and runs along with them.

The Kresna hovers above the intersection of the next roadway, so low to the ground the boarding ramp barely touches the ground. Dree runs ahead of the weakening group. She quickly surveys the area and signals the others to follow. Hidden behind the wall to her left, an Enforcer with a large assault rifle pulls the trigger and opens fire on the escaping prisoners. One moment Dree is signaling them forward, the next she is falling to the ground with her head missing from her shoulders.

Vella shields Onna with his body. He pushes her behind a column. The big muscular man is shot in the back; a gaping hole appears through his stomach. His eyes gloss over, he drops to his knees and then backward, and several arteries are cut, spraying blood in different directions. He is dead before he hits the ground. Onna cries for him. He was with her a long time before enlisting. He might still be alive if he had stayed with her, but then, her current bodyguard is dead. 

The Kresna swings slightly to starboard and begins to back to her position. Onna inhales suddenly. Trais jumps, afraid that she got shot or hit by shrapnel. The port gun turret swings into position on the concrete wall opposite them. In a blinding flash, the wall explodes with a sound of thunder, dust and debris and body parts rain down on them.  Onna blinks away the flash. The ship is right above her.

Trais pushes her up the boarding ramp, and then runs behind her dodging laser bolts all the way up. But just before he is clear, Trais feels something snag his shirt and then feels a sudden hot flash. He looks down to see a smoking gouge across his chest. The smell of burning flesh gags him.

“Son of a…” The ramp lifts and seals him in.