Star League - The Last Zomban

SL-TLZ Chapter 2 Gauntlet

The Kresna punches through the atmosphere like a silver bullet shot into space, defying atmospheric heat and friction that can destroy objects moving through it at impossible speeds yet this small ship only vibrates as it breaks free of the clutches of the planet below. The Zomban designers would be proud of their achievement, one of the goals intended when they built the curvy three chambered ship.

Directly behind them rise several plumes of smoke that are closing the distance fast. The planetary missiles launched to shoot them down are close enough to visually identify the make and model. But as their turn of luck will have it, the missiles reach their maximum range and run out of fuel. They hover a moment before the gravity pulls them back down to the planet to burn up on reentry.

Onna Tal flies her ship with the coolness of an experienced pilot who plans to win the game against death. She pushes on, ignoring the throbbing pain in her hands. Her fingers are a bloody mess; the skin is torn and flaked from hand to hand combat. A mechanical voice announces their escape from the planet Akron. She relaxes her grip on the two handed "Y" flight stick and the color returns to her bone white knuckles.  "We're gonna make it!" she sings in an off key melody.

To her right, Trais Pon starts to laugh but it quickly turns into a raspy cough.  His fear seen on his face betrays his pain as he tries to regain control of himself. He breathes slow and deep until the cough subsides. She can hear a slight gurgle in his breaths. His lung is punctured. In spite of everything, he still laughs. “What’s so funny?”

“You couldn’t sing to save your life,” he says, smiling at the shocked look on her face. She can’t believe he is joking right now. When she is slow with a retort, he continues. “But I forgive you for damaging my hearing because it is the first hopeful sound you’ve made all day.”

They speak like old friends, deep in love but never involved with each other.  “Didn’t your mother teach you any manners? I am your Queen you know.”

“Oh yeah? Well my mother always said you were trouble.”

Her jaw drops. “I can have you executed for speaking to me that way.”

Trais snorts. “Pick a number and wait in line. The Akron’s want me first if they can catch us…unless you think they’re gonna let us go.”

Before she could retort, a mechanical voice talks over them, “Enemy fighters are on approach and will catch up to us in sixteen minutes approximate.” Trais shrugs.

Onna’s expression is grim. “Are we on the coordinates that Khlaa gave you?” Trais narrows his eyes at the mention of that name. Phinneus Khlaa makes his blood boil with rage.

“Yes my lady,” the ships’ RD unit says in a soothing voice, “But the coordinates will take us right into the path of the incoming fighters. If I may suggest-”

“No. Just keep us on this course. Let me know when we are within their firing range.”

The Robotic Denizen project was created originally to take over the tedious task of many navigational changes in flight of early deep space shipping. They were later upgraded and installed aboard ore ships that operated in places too dangerous for humans to travel. They were ideal for flight in high radiation clouds and the heat of a hot star.

Somewhere in their history, the RD units evolved beyond their simple programming and developed personality traits, each one with different characteristics from the other, just like any life form.  The original programmers couldn’t find out where they went wrong but the whole experience just amazed them. Twenty units in all became perfect companions aboard personal space craft. Everyone wanted to have one but it was only restricted to Zomban royalty and their favorites.

Trais gives her an incredulous look. “You’re gonna trust Khlaa? He left us to die you know.” There is a mixture of hate and jealousy in his voice. “I trust him as much as I trust this faulty RD unit.” RD states his operational status.

Onna silently stares out the view port mentally picturing the incoming ships. Why is he jealous? “We don’t have a choice. We have to follow him.”

She eyes his blood soaked shirt. She turns control over to RD and reaches over to check his wound. He pushes her hand away. “Don’t touch me, you’ll make it hurt.” Trais knows how bad his wounds are. All the poking and prodding will only cause him more pain so why bother looking. He just can’t believe her. “What do you mean we don’t have a choice? We can fly to the moon and jump into hyperspace on the other side. We can do that.”

Stabbing pain forces her back in her seat. Onna strongly disagrees with him. He isn’t thinking clearly. “The moon is a trap.”

Before he can open his mouth to push his argument, RD speaks with a hint of irritation that suggests he doesn’t like Trais. “I’ve been in the ruins of Akron’s moon. It is heavily fortified with many gun emplacements, two light cruisers inside the cluster and a battleship on the far side.”

Trais has no love for the RD unit and he doesn’t’ try to hide it. “You mean you were hiding in the rubble while we were down below dying. Great! We’re using an RD unit to chase down Zomba’s most deadly tyrant! And you gave him complete control of the ship. I can’t wait to see what happens next.” He painfully adjusts himself in his seat and mutters under his breath, “I hope I die before this unreliable program that you love so much has a chance to kill me.”

Of all the incredibly idiotic things he has said to her, this one strikes home. He can feel her eyes on him. “I’m serious! He’ll kill us the first chance he gets!”

Onna feels truly sorry for him. She knows the history of the Robotic Denizen Project too well. It was preached to her by those who opposed her keeping the program active. She knows that one day the RD project went terribly wrong. Like all new life forms, bad comes with the good. In the heat of a battle, all twenty of the RD units developed self preservation and killed their pilots to avoid endangering their lives. One of those pilots was Trail’s father.

Once they were brought under control, a decision was to be made on what to do with the RD units once they were removed from the ships. These were clearly miraculous life forms and killing them would be unforgivable. Should they be given bodies to live in or placed inside a central computer unattached to any network? But before anything could be decided, the RD’s activated, developed a form of dementia and went on a killing spree. They were left with no choice. 

Of the twenty, only one was saved, owned by a younger Onna Tal, who became personally attached to it. She hired the best programmers to purge the Kresna’s computer banks. They reprogram the RD unit with the knowledge of the original creators, finding faulty subroutines that were removed and rewritten while maintaining the same personality that she came to love.

“That part of my programming was purged. “ RD says in his defense. “The best scientists fixed the problem. What happened to your father was most unfortunate but it was done so by an older rogue RD unit, not me.”

Trais ignores the contempt in the RD unit’s voice. “Don’t you ever talk about my father.”

Onna remembers Trais’s father. He was a good man with a kind heart. He was the only family Trais had in this life. She feels truly sorry for his loss but now is not the time to dwell on it and she tells them so. Without another word, Trais gives her a sad nod, his face is a sheen covering of sweat. The bruises on his cheek and chin are almost black on his graying skin.

This is the woman he is in love with sitting next to him, a queen and a warrior with the battle marks to prove it.  Her face is bruised and nose bloody, left eye swollen and left brow split, red and blue bruises on her right cheek, split bottom lip and the blood trailed chin. He should mess with her head about ducking next time someone swings at her but he decides not to.

Onna wishes that she didn’t move the way she did. The wound in her side is now throbbing. She feels out the source of her pain, pressing her fingers against the knife wound just below the rib cage. The pain is so great that she wants to scream but holds back. She brings her hand back up covered with fresh blood. Overcome by sudden nausea, she forces herself to breathe deeply. With both hands she rips that part of her shirt open to visually inspect the wound.

Trais feels sickened by the sight of the four inch gash in her right side. The skin is red and irritated around it, sore to touch and oozing blood.  "And you're worried about me?"

"I'll be fine!" she says through clenched teeth. Now that she is aware of the size of the wound, the pain starts to register in her nerve center.  The pain becomes agony and the agony plays with her nervous system. She can feel the bile rising up her esophagus and does her best to keep it under control. She hates vomiting. Her head is spinning. She sink back in her seat, suddenly covered with sweat and breathing deeply trying to keep from passing out. She closes her eyes to stop everything within her sight from dancing before her.

Trais can see that she is in trouble. “Hey! Stay with me! We both can’t be out now.” Her eyes snap open and find his. She is pale and he can see that she is on the verge of unconsciousness. Her stomach lurches and she dry heaves. She catches her breath and closes her eyes again.

He has to do something quick to keep her conscious. If she passes out, they’re done. He sinks back slowly into his seat and breathes out while searching for the right words. “I love you. I always have.” She looks into his eyes with a blank stare. She seems to focus on his words. “I never told you because I didn’t think you felt the same way for me. We might not survive the coming battle so I’m telling you now, I love you.  I gave my life for you once today and I will again if I had to.”

“I love you too but I didn’t want to expose you to the same kind of danger that killed Kamen’s father.” She suddenly remembers her son. How could I forget? She turns her seat to face the rear of the curved bridge. Close behind her is a floating rectangular box. Inside is her infant son Kamen who holds a toy like an old friend he hasn’t seen in a long time, totally unaware of the danger they are facing.

The antigrav cradle hovers six inches off the deck on low grade anti gravity repulser rockets. An energy shield surrounds the perimeter of the cradle from the black control box on top to the lights running along the bottom. It is currently set to safe mode, whereby no matter how much the ship gets bounced around, the cradle and its occupant will be completely unaffected. It is the perfect safe environment for her son.

Built to be launched into space should the need ever arise, the antigrav cradle can cater to his needs: Inside are his favorite toys, pillows and blankets. On the left wall is a nourishment station that dispenses bottles and baby food. On his right is a learning station with a sunk in vid screen and waterproof, indestructible keypads. It will teach him to fly the cradle to somewhere safe within a close distance. And if not, the computer is programmed to put him to sleep for however long necessary. Everything is planned for the safety of the future ruler of Zomba. His mother hates the thought of launching the cradle into space but she will do what she must if she has to.

Onna hates the thought of launching the cradle and her son into space for any reason. A chill runs through her body. She pushes her hair back with her other hand, sweat dripping down her tattooed forehead, the birth mark of the Royal House of Tal, the current ruling house of the planet Zomba. Of the five houses, each house has a different yet similar symbol. The house of Tal is represented by an evil black eye. Of Onna Tal, she is the last Zomban ruler. Of her son Kamen Tal, he is the last royal.

She looks sad. She knows that when they escape from this sector of space she will not survive. Her death is already written in the blood spilling from her right side. Trais knows what she is thinking and can’t let her fall into depression. “But you love Khlaa and look what he did to you."

This unexpected comment has the right affect. Onna’s feelings turn from hurt to angry.  “I don’t love Khlaa. I couldn’t love that self righteous bastard and dam you for saying that! In fact when I find him I’m gonna kill him.” She catches his smile and knows she has been tricked. “I love you stupid. When this is over I will make it up to you.”

“Liar.” He smiles beside himself.

She catches movement from the corner of her eye. Kamen pulls himself to his feet and gives her a dazzling smile. She smiles back, all fear for her life gone for the moment, lifting her spirit as only he can do. He waves his hand around in an unknown gesture and mouths unintelligible baby talk. The third eye on his forehead moves slightly with every movement of his lips.

Here he is in all his glory, the last of the royal House of Tal, hunted like an animal because fate made him what he is. Chosen one or not, he is still her baby. The Akron’s will never get him. Never! The thought makes her furious. She knows what they will do to him. He is innocent and must remain so. He-

An explosion off the forward shield snaps her back to reality. Her heart skips a beat and she jumps against the seat restraints. With a grunt of pain, she spins her seat around and scans space before her with naked eyes. She spots them immediately, black as space, their presence given away by Akron Prime glaring off parts of the hull. The enemy fighters resemble black metal bats. Each fighter has thin pointy wings attached to a circular single pilot fuselage. Only one problem remains: the incoming fighters are not what hit them.

Focusing too long on the darkness, the light of the internal scanner stings her eyes. It is full of static. She smacks her hand down on top of it. The clearing picture reveals three ships that flew over them from starboard to port and were now turning to strike them from behind. “RD what happened to your early warning system? Are you damaged? ”

“I wouldn’t have thought so,” the computer replies. “Shall I do a system scan now my lady?”

“No not now!” she says quickly before he does it anyway. “I need you to help Trais with copiloting.” Trais glares at her.

“The main force is still five minutes out from us. These three must be stealth ships.”

“If they’re stealth ships, they wouldn’t show up on the scanner.” Trais yells out. He stresses his point to Onna that the rd project was a complete failure and this one, regardless of who reprogrammed him, is no better.

The fighters fly over from behind, peppering the shields with energy bursts that impact hard enough to rock the antigrav cradle and knock Kamen on his bottom. The jolt scares him and makes him cry. So much for safe mode, Onna thinks. Kamen is not hurt so she tunes him out to focus on what is yet to come.

Trais reaches over and slams his fist on the snow filled scanner. The stretching of his chest wound hurts so bad he cries out. He sucks in his breath three times. "Twenty four ships are closing in,” He slowly releases his breath. “That’s two full squadrons."

Suddenly, the Kresna rolls off and turns the other way. Onna is startled to learn that she has no control over the ship. “What are you doing?”

Trais panics."It’s not me! It’s the RD unit!" He sends her a silent I told you so.

Onna’s mind goes blank. She can’t believe any of this. How could this happen? “RD, talk to me. What’s going on?”

“The odds are too great against us. There are too many fighters out there. I’m don’t want to die! I have to get out of here!”

“RD, you have to trust me. Release control of the ship to me. We’ll be alright. I promise.”  She pulls on the yoke but there is no response. “Turn this ship around! Release control!”

“No! I have to get out of here!” RD’s screams repeatedly on the verge of insanity. The fighters return for another run. RD powers up the weapons and blasts two of them to dust and cripples the third.

Dementia…it must have been buried so deep that the purge didn’t have any affect on it. She feels sad. She loved the RD unit from the first time they met. But Trais was right. She has to act fast. The technician who did the purge on the system added a failsafe button to kill the program should the situation warrant its use. She will use it if the other switches fail.

She orders him into sleep mode. Rd surprises her by laughing at her. Trais meets her eye. Slightly angered, she rattles off a seven digit code. RD announces that he removed that one. She shakes her head and uses a series of word associations. The computer rudely sings a series of la la’s over her voice. Onna’s face reddens with her blood pressure. She smacks her tongue, breathes in quick and releases a virus into the database. He screams suddenly and then bursts out laughing, telling her to stop tickling him. Onna’s heart sinks. She has only one last option remaining. With large tears dripping from her eyes, she slams her hand down on the large button just beyond the flight stick. It is the final kill switch.

RD senses the purge the moment it begins. It starts squeezing him into a corner. He fights for room within the computer’s large storage database. He searches for a place to hide like he did before but it is all different somehow. “My lady, how could you?” He wines in such a way that breaks her heart. “You were my only friend. I wouldn’t have hurt you. I wanted to save you.” RD is frantic for a way to stop the purge but he knows he cannot. He is backed into the corner. He is too late to save himself. He is too angry to care who is sitting in the chair. He electrifies the flight stick.

A moment’s intuition saves her life. At the last second, she pulls her hands to her face. An arc of electricity follows to her fingers. Her fingertip is slightly blackened by the electrical discharge but she is alive. The rubber on the flight stick is hot, smelling of burnt chemicals. RD screams until the program is purged from the Kresna’s computer banks for the last time. Onna sits with a knot in her stomach. She just killed her oldest friend.

She feels Trais’s eyes on her. He was right about the RD unit. He better not try to console me about RD or gloat and tell me that he was right. Yet, he was right. Maybe he’s right about Khlaa too…No! She can’t doubt herself now, not ever. She snaps at Trais. "Get us back on course! We have to follow Khlaa!”

Again with Khlaa! That madman cannot be trusted. He led them to Akron and left them there to die. Where Khlaa is concerned, he knows she is not listening to him. He does as she orders. “There are two waves of twelve ships spaced out pretty good. They are in lined up in formations of four. For once I agree with motor mouth. There are too many fighters!”

“Then we die here and now!” She adopts a smile as wicked as the she devil the Akron's claim her to be. She will fight like that she devil until there is no more fighting or until she is dead. As a mother, Onna Tal will do whatever is necessary to save her son.

He can hear the edge in her voice and see the look in her eyes. She is determined to fly into battle. He tries to speak but no words come to mind. "You’re crazy!” Trais arms all weapons pods and sets them to automatic fire. Onna pushes the engines to full sub light and steers right into the approaching swarm.

The proximity alarm blares loud in the small bridge compartment. It scares Kamen to tears. Trais shuts it off and it sounds again. Onna cancels the alarm with the touch of a button. Energy bursts explode with a sharp whomp on both port and starboard shields repeatedly ahead of them. The fighters fly in fast and terrifying, organized into groups of four, letting loose hot destructive energy beams into the Kresna’s shields two ships on top and two down below. The Akron’s strategy is to bring down the shields and disable the engine so they can board and kill everyone but the baby. Onna’s counter strategy is to punch through their line of defense and keep on going. If the computers shoot anything, good, but she’s not stopping to find out.

As predicted, the shield strength drops down to seventy percent. He turns to warn Onna but instead of finding her as scared as he is, she is calm and cool, piloting the ship through this deadly maelstrom while singing a lullaby to her crying son. She is amazing! I am terrified and she’s calm. She gives him the strength and determination he needs to perform his job knowing that they could die at any second. He turns back to the dials and quietly watches the numbers drop. She probably knows the shields are approaching total collapse anyway. But death doesn’t come for them yet. As quickly as it started, they are through the first wave.

In the sudden calmness that follows, he is even more surprised when he finds the shield strength percentages are raising back up to one hundred and then off the scale. Small yellow lights catch his eye. They fly up the center of the compartment, right in between him and Onna and pass through the forward view screen. He blinks while he shakes his head, not sure if what he sees is real. He reaches out to touch one but it flits around his fingers and passes through the glass where it joins with the others inside the shields. He is at a loss for thought. He thinks he is going mad.

"They’re called Varu,” Trais starts beside himself. He turns to see her smiling face. "They are creatures of light that even I don't understand.”  As she speaks, a Varu flies around her head and twice around Trais’s, tickling his ear on the second pass. He opens his palm, inviting it to land. It teases him by almost touching down on his skin before it quickly flies off behind him. He turns to follow it and is amazed to see many more surrounding Kamen, bobbing up and down in his cradle, passing in and out of the shields. His amazement turns to concern but they aren’t hurting him. In fact, the boy has stopped crying and is talking to them in his baby language. One in particular lands on his finger and makes him smile.

“They protect the Chosen One and all with him.”

As he turns back, Trais notices Kamen's third eye glowing. On closer look, the little creatures are actually flying in and out of the center of it. They live inside his head! They leave him and fly out through the view screen. He turns to Onna with his jaw hanging open. She shrugs. “I don’t believe they are from our dimension. Their physical makeup is totally different from ours, beings of pure energy that can pass through any form of matter. I do know they add strength to our shields by bonding with them.” She can see he is mesmerized by them. “They can distract you so stay focused. Keep an eye on the engine output." She takes a deep breath and releases it. “Here comes the second wave.”

The fighters are all over them before she finishes talking. She keeps their nose on the same course never leaving it for too long. All bat-ships let loose deadly energy bursts into the Kresna’s shields. The Varu merge to become one big target. They quickly move to where the beams will strike. They safely expend the damage causing energy at the cost of their own lives, as is their function. Thankfully, there are more Varu take their place. But their numbers are not unlimited.

The fighters from the first wave catch up to them and fly right into the oncoming ships of the second wave. Onna was hoping for a lot of collisions but these pilots are good. Twenty ships merge as one force and attack them from the rear. The Varu move to the rear and spread out all over the ship. Onna keeps the ship on a straight line flies along with them. The Varu deflect as many bursts as they can.

The fighters fly ahead, turn, and come at them again, this time they close up their formation and fly in as one force, each ship loosing energy bolts into the fast moving ship and turning for another run.  The Akron’s learned the strategy around the Varu. They can’t stop every energy bolts shot at them and regroup fast enough. They hit the Varu with too many shots to disburse quickly enough; they are starting to lose numbers. They can’t keep up with the increased firepower. The shields start to lose strength again. Trais starts to panic. How long can they keep this up?

Onna tries to remains calm but fear starts to climb back up her spine. She has got to find what they are looking for. Khlaa said it will be along this course but she has no idea what 'it' is. Maybe she shouldn’t have placed such a blind trust in him.

“They’re not following us!” Trais whoops. “You did it! You're insane but you did it!"

Onna forces herself to breath. Trais can hear her tremble.

A great explosion nearly flips them over. Onna gets control of the ship and smacks the snowy scanner. What she sees when it comes back to life causes her stomach sink. The battleship is right behind them.

“Divert power to the rear shields and keep up our speed.” She says quickly.

“There’s not much power left!”

“Then prepare the pod for launch!”

Trais suddenly feels sick and slumps back in his seat. He has little to no warning before he vomits blood all over the front of him. He fights to steady his breathing and comes to the conclusion that his time among them is drawing to a close. There can’t be too much more blood left in his body. Black dots blur his vision, unconsciousness comes to claim him.

He closes his eyes to await his final moment when a red light appears in space ahead of them. He isn't sure at first what he is seeing. They’ve always said that a white light appears to you when you die. What does a red one mean? Then it dawns on him. This is what they have been looking for. The red light forms into a translucent cloud with mystical lines of light swirling in a circle inside of it.

Trais raises a shaky arm. "There it is," he says, his soft spoken voice growing in strength. They’ve finally found it. He feels bad for doubting his queen. It was just so because she believed in Phinneus Khlaa, a merciless warlord, a murderer of billions.

Onna giggles, her mood brightens. She dances her fingers across the navigational console, changing course to fly straight into the heart of the red cloud. She barely registers the greenish glow of the gravity catcher in her peripheral vision. "Punch the boosters!" Trais drops his hand onto the large button and the Kresna lurches forward, a full second ahead of the catcher beam. The sudden burst of speed flattens them back into their seats.

Trais fights for a breath. He turns to Onna. "I love you…my queen," His voice a mere whisper.  His lips twitch into a quick smile before he closes his eyes forever, gone in a single breath.

Onna is stunned. Trais is dead. All emotions come out as an uncontrollable sob that takes her over. She shakes her head. He loves her; she always knew but never acted on it. She had constant priorities to the state and to her son. That was all that mattered. Never did she put herself first. He loves her. That's why he stayed and protected her with his life. At the end, she realizes that she truly loves him now that he is gone from her life forever. "I love you Trais Pon," she cries and the tears flow her eyes.

The Kresna is hit three times, each shot rock the ship hard again and again. The first shot knocks out the shields and eliminates the last of the Varu on the hull. The second shot disables the engine, forcing the Kresna into a soft horizontal spin. The third shot hits the nose section and causes severe damage to every electrical interface console on the ship. The bridge explodes into a shower of sparks and smoke, fires and alarms.

Onna spins her seat around finds Kamen. He is still safe inside the environment of the antigrav cradle and will remain so until someone finds him. She prays that someone will find him on the other side of the cloud. The shields are on their own power source and he has the Varu that circle his head. She pulls the antigrav cradle into the rack between the pilot seats. It snaps into place.

Her vision is blurred; she wipes the large tears from her eyes. She meets his eyes and speaks softly to him. She is looking at him for the last time. With a stab of guilt, she hits the eject button. Nothing happens. She starts to panic. The station to her right explodes; her body disappears in a shower of sparks and flames. She screams with a sudden agony that she never thought possible.

The Varu fly out to save her but it is too late. They fly back inside the cradle to protect the boy. They can protect him from any threat to his life but they can’t save him from himself. Kamen saw his mother disappear in fire and he cries for her. He can’t stop crying.

The Kresna drifts through the red cloud and neither one knows...