Star League - The Last Zomban

SL-TLZ Chapter 12 End Game

Captain Hald of the Akron battleship Tolkord watched as primitive ships attacked and destroyed the vanguard ships. He wanted nothing more than to assist them in their final battle but he was under orders from the Dunnolt himself not to move this ship at any cost. He will never disobey an order from the Dunnolt. He knew of those who did and they were fed to the beast underneath. He shivers at the thought.

So here they sit at the apex of the doorway in a damaged ship with no shields. They are on emergency power but systems are slowly being restored. There is no repairing the shield generator. It is gone. He doesn’t know how they got through the shields but he doesn’t like sitting here exposed.

If he survives this encounter, the Dunnolt will probably have him killed for all the damage to his personal ship. The hole where the shield generator should be is enough. He shrugs. He hates being in the service of the Akron’s anyway. He should suit up and jump ship right now. He likes the sound of the idea more and more but decides against it because when they move in on this sector, they will find him again no matter where he chose to hide.

He shrugs again and rededicates himself back to the Akron cause. He already regrets it. There is a short beeping from the comm board. It is the Dunnolt’s personal signal. He has succeeded in his task and is requesting a pick up. Good. He wants to get out of here himself before something else happens. Engine power is partially restored. It will be enough to get there and back again. He orders an immediate retrieval.

****
Jolan Oakraider celebrates the first victory of the unified fleet. No one believed that they could damage one of those ships let alone destroy them both but he kept himself filled with hope and faith and neither has ever let him down yet. He received a report that the third ship suffered a similar explosion. None of their ships even went near it. Then he thinks of his son stranded on the asteroid that was pulled into the cloud. He’ll have to ask him how he knew where to hit them but he knows it will be a waste of time. Jal will never give him a straight answer. For now, he’s just happy they are all alive.

“Sir the third ship is moving!” the sensor officer yells over the cheering.

Jolan turns to the screen. “Where is it heading?”

“It’s heading for the alien ship sir.”

His stomach turns sour again. “I see. Contact Jesta and find out where he is.”

She nods and speaks into the microphone hanging before her mouth. “Sir, there’s no response.”

“All ships move out. Close in on our unwelcomed guest.”

****
The blade is inches above his chest. He has a firm hold on Zetan's wrist and pushes with all his might to keep from being stabbed but his arm shakes under the strain. Jesta’s strength is failing yet Zetan shows no sign of tiring. He begins to doubt that this man is human.

“When I am through here and you are dead, I will take the child home and return with a full battle fleet. Everything you know and ever knew will be utterly destroyed!”

He wants Jesta to talk and lose focus so he can overpower and kill him. He knows this game too well. From the corner of his eye he sees the Scowl come again to strike the side of the ship. The jolt knocks Zetan off balance. The Scowl scrapes up the side of the ship onto the upper hull. Zetan eyes the hologram in hopes that it is his ship come for extraction. Thankful for the distraction, Jesta twists his arm and shoves the blade into the soldier’s sternum. He pulls the blade out covered in blood and prepares to stick him again but Zetan knocks it from his hand and punches him in the face.

The Scowl slams down on the upper hull and rocks the ship again. Jesta spins slightly and elbows him hard in the fresh knife wound. Zetan yelps and Jesta is pleased. “Good! You feel pain! You are human!” Zetan twists away from him to protect his wound and exposes his back side. Jesta punches him twice in the kidney and kicks the back of his knees. Zetan goes down but climbs back to his feet as fast as possible. Jesta hits him with an upper cut that knocks him flat onto a planner table near the holographic projector. Running on pure adrenalin now, Jesta immediately dives on top of him, wraps his fingers through his hair and slams his head into the console repeatedly. Zetan grabs Jesta’s arms and rolls him over. He gets on top and punches him in the face with a left and right.

The ship is hit again from above. The combatants bounce two feet in the air. Jesta bends his legs up under his enemy’s chest and kicks with all his strength. Zetan falls back first over the opposite edge onto the deck. Jesta lands flat on his back and forces the air from his lungs. Zetan gets to his feet a little too quickly; his legs buckle and he falls to his knees. Throbbing pain in the back of his head nearly renders him unconscious.

He starts toward Jesta when a splash of blue light barely misses his right shoulder. Aganon is on his feet with the baby in his arm; he hands him to Jesta so that he can give the Akron soldier his full attention. Now Zetan’s shows real fear. He runs for the exit. Aganon grabs him in a magic grip and shakes him so violently that he scares Jesta. He has never seen a Psyen show physical anger and doesn’t know if it is even allowed by their laws.

With his free hand he forces open the door to the left of the doorway they entered from. The room hidden behind is venting into space, the sudden gust of wind roars through the bridge. It pulls smoke and debris along with the remaining oxygen. It pops Jesta’s ears and pulls at him and threatens to take the baby from his arms. He holds on tight.

Aganon bounces the wide eyed soldier’s head off the ceiling before he throws him into the swirling vortex spewing air and debris into space.

“Rest easy Onna Tal,” he says. “Your son will never forget you." 

With short strides, he walks to Jesta who sits in a comfortable seat staring down at the baby in his lap. "You're a mess,” he says to the battered son of the Empor.

Jesta tries to smile but hurts too much. "You should see the other guy."

Aganon places a hand on Kamen’s chest. “Hello Kamen Tal of the royal house of Tal. Your mother was Onna Tal, queen of all Zomba, a place I know not but will learn all I can. She had a Psyen adviser. Only those with good hearts are assigned one. We never help the bad ones. She was someone at a crucial pivotal point, a crossroad, for lack of a better word. She was tied to an event that could decide the fate of all.” His eyes fall on Kamen’s. He feels suddenly uneasy; the baby is staring straight into his eyes, listening to every word. “You are that critical point Kaman. I don’t know what happened to your Psyen advisor, but fate brought you here to me. I will protect you now.” He looks up at Jesta, more determined than ever. “This is Jesta Oakraider. Your mother placed you in his care…”

Jesta feels a moments pride before he finds Aganon’s speech awkward. He can’t father a child so he will raise this one as his own. He accepts the charge given to him. He hears a scrape on the hull. "Our ride is here," he says through swollen lips. “Do you have enough strength to teleport us up above before my brother winds up killing us?”

Aganon smiles, “I’ll see what I can do.”

****
Captain Hald is nearly there. He can see the Kresna in the distance but there is a row of mismatched ships between him and his objective. He has no shields and but if he moves fast they can wipe them out before they come any closer. He will bring this battleship in close, extract the Dunnolt and fly back through the cloud. It is a perfect plan for a fool but he is no fool.

He should leave Zetan to the primitives and return home to survive and report personally what transpired here. They might promote him. Hmmm. He likes the sound of that. He is a fool. They will kill him for returning from a battle that he took no part in yet his ship is damaged. They won’t care that he was under orders from the Dunnolt not to move the ship for fear the doorway will close. 

And most importantly they will kill him for returning without the Zomban. He knows they will. No one is more important than the infant, not the Dunnolt, not even him although he doesn’t know why. The primitives are getting closer. He has to move now if he has any chance of success.

Suddenly, Zetan’s beacon stops transmitting. Hald stands with his mouth agape. He’s dead…Zetan is dead. The primitives are drawing closer still. The small and fast decoy ships are near. It’s time to go. I will come back for the Zomban if I can. Hald orders them back through the doorway.

**** 
The celebration begins anew when the remaining Akron battleship returns to the doorway. The entire crew hoots and hollers and hugs one another. They have defeated the Akron’s and sent them home. Jolan was worried that the battle would begin fresh until the red cloud disappeared as quickly as it first appeared. He turns the Watcher toward the Kresna and is taken by surprise when he sees the Scowl resting on the hull.

****
In another part of the galaxy, Antar leans forward on the elbows and studies the red cloud in a life size proportion on the opposite wall turned. His jaw is set and he wonders what the red cloud really is. The Zomban queen obviously knew. She took the Chosen One from them and fought through his forces like they were nothing. She knew right where the red cloud was going to appear and disappeared into it along with three of his battleships. He will not allow her to escape with the Chosen One.

He is convinced this is a portal. Khlaa used it to escape and now the queen. The first time it appeared, they were only aware of the remote carrier signal Khlaa used to activate it. When they got a visual, Khlaa and the cloud disappeared. They began searching for the source of the signal but so far found nothing. Now the queen activated it again. This time they are careless and leave the signal open. He sends Enforcer Commander Brak with a ship to find the source.

Nearly an hour later, only one ship returns with heavy damage. It will not answer their calls. Maybe the transmitter is damaged. Antar orders it brought down by remote.

A short time later, Captain Hald is marched before the throne with an armed escort. Antar looks down on him seething with anger. The Captain swallows a dry lump. He is scared. Good. “Where is Zetan?"

“He’s dead.” Hald fidgets under the stare of Antar’s cold eyes as he awaits an explanation. “We crippled the Kresna as ordered. Zetan went aboard to take back the Chosen One personally when it crashed into an asteroid.”

“It was destroyed? What became of the Chosen One?”

“I’m not sure. We couldn’t get close enough to search for wreckage.”

Antar jumps to his feet growling his frustration. “You’re not sure! Explain!”

“When we chased them through the portal, the minions of Khlaa were waiting for us with a mighty armada.”

“You lie!” Antar flips a switch in the arm of the throne and eyes it warily.

“I speak the truth! Phinneus Khlaa planned all this very well!”

Antar wants to kill him for mentioning that name. “Bool, bring up the data from the Tolkord.”

The image of the red cloud on the giant video screen changes to the attack on the battleships under Zetan’s command. So many small ships attack them at once.

"Bool, what is your estimate of their strength?"

"These ships are primitive by our standards."

“Primitive,” Antar agrees and turns back to Hald. "You were beaten by primitives."

"They used great numbers against us…and some of their ships were invisible.”

Antar is not convinced. “How did you survive? Did you turn and run?”

“No sir! After the other ships were destroyed I returned to bring you this data." Hald winces. He knows he just sealed his fate.

Antar sits back. “You did, didn’t you?” His face turns deep red. “You sat there and watched these primitives destroy two of our ships! You did nothing while they died!”

“Zetan ordered me not to leave the event horizon because he was afraid it would close on us.”

“You let them have the Chosen One! You were not to return without that child!" He pushes a button and a hidden panel opens in the floor and Captain Hald drops out of sight.

Antar turns to the screen. "Fleet three, go through the portal and search for the Zomban! The ship was destroyed but the child will have survived surrounded by yellow lights. I want the child brought back alive! Conquer the rest!"

The commander complies almost too happily. Bool relays a message from Commander Brak.

"Antar, we found the device beneath the surface of the moon. There’s a team of Zomban’s guarding it and they have us pinned down! There is a team of Zomban’s here."

Antar is confused. He repeats what he just heard in his head. "It must be the Star League. I thought those cowards ran off with Khlaa. No. They stayed to help their queen escape. The Star League!"

“I’ll hear no excuses! Take them out now!"

Seconds later, the transmission is lost in an explosion. He looks around the throne room for an attack, but there isn’t one. Fleet three reports the red cloud is gone. His men on the moon are dead, killed by that cursed Star League to cover the devil queen's escape. He orders them to stand down but stay ready.

If there was any doubt about Zetan’s death, he is now permanently cut off from home. That means Antar is now Dunnolt. He knew he would succeed him someday but this couldn’t have been better if he has planned it himself. None the less, he is outraged at the loss of the Chosen One. Damn you Zetan! The devil queen should have been killed instantly and not imprisoned. If not for your mistake we would still have the Chosen One in our possession. There were other mistakes made this day that need to be taken care of.

“Enforcer Taybo Ricyan, approach the throne.” The young man with the swollen eye is pulled to his feet and led by chains that bind his wrists. The terrified young man steps forward with caution. “You were on station at the west gate tonight were you not?”

“Y – Yes sir.”

“The devil queen escaped through your gate did she not?”

“Yes sir,” he repeats almost on the verge of tears. He suddenly feels defiant. "This was my first assignment! My partner left his post-"

"Be silent!" Bool hisses.

"He was under my orders to test your abilities. And you failed that test miserably! You froze! You were scared!"

"Of course I was scared! She was the Zomban Queen!"

Because you are a coward your partner had to defend your gate but she already had a foot hold in it! He was skilled with the knife, he stabbed all of them, but it was not enough to save him. He died in battle while you cowered like a wimpering child!"

Taybo scoffs. "Yeah, he's a real hero!" No matter what happens from here out, he knows they will kill him and stands taller. He will die with courage.

Bool fixes him with one eye.

“I never wanted to be one of you! You attacked a civilian Star Liner like pirates. You killed all opposition and made slaves of the rest of us! You forced me into your service! I hate everything you stand for!" He stares Antar right in the eyes. This is it. "That's why I let the Zomban Queen go!"

Antar growls and runs down the stairs two at a time. Taybo yanks his chains free and swings at his head but Antar is much too quick and fueled by hate. He grabs the boy by the throat and carries him to the far wall with his feet dangling. He slams him hard against the wall his breath escapes from his lungs. "You disappoint me! You were going to replace my dead captain but now you are a traitor." Antar backhands a button in the corner of the adjacent wall. A hidden door scrapes open behind him, the foul stench of rotten meat comes in with an ice cold breeze. In one final act of defiance, Taybo spits in his eye. Antar throws him backward into the darkness. As the door closes, a monster roars and Taybo screams as hard as he can through bruised windpipes. Antar laughs away his frustration.