“Baeth Periege is the main city used by the Vorn military and it houses their most advanced cloning facility,” Wynn said. “Grod needs to have control of this facility in order to perform the regeneration of his army. He will have to defeat the Vorn there. And if he does, he will have taken away the main power base and last refuge of the Vorn military.”
“What can we do?” Tiet asked. “If he takes that city and the cloning facility, how can we hope to stop him and a whole army of clones with our power?”
“There’s the problem, my friends,” Wynn said stroking his beard. “We are up against formidable odds, two armies and time itself. If we fail to stop Grod, which must be our first concern, then I fear only the Baruk themselves will be able to stop him.”
“If only our clans could have made peace,” Daooth said. “Men should act as brothers-not this killing of other races. Skin color is only difference between you and me.” Daooth pointed at Tiet. “My blood is red like yours, my heart beats same as yours. Even Grod, a clone of my dark-skinned people-fierce, strong, but he wants freedom just like us.”
“My friends, I realize that I have involved you in a seemingly suicidal goal,” Wynn said. “It may seem overwhelming, and I cannot ask you to endanger yourselves for this cause.”
“We’re already involved,” Tiet said. “That’s my DNA he’s using.” Tiet looked at Daooth. “I guess, I never though about your clan’s side of things. You’re right, Daooth, we need peace between the clans, but how?”
Orin nodded his agreement. “It’s easier said than done. This war has been raging back and forth for decades. We had better stay focused on what we can handle now.”
“We have a transport and some explosive charges that we could use to destroy the equipment Grod needs to conduct the regeneration,” Wynn said. “It’s just about the only way we can prevent Grod from coming into power.”
“I’ve been thinking things out, Wynn,” said Daooth, “I think I have way to destroy facility. We try to infiltrate city in transport then we having to fight our way through Grod’s army and Vorn military guarding city. In these caverns is link to old magnetic rail system. System used to connect Baeth Periege with military compound at Nagon-toth, before Grod captured it.
“Vorn military have detonated charges to bring tunnel roof down and cut off route into city. System still has power, but Grod not want to take time to clear all debris. It remain unused. System runs right into cloning facility. It used to send troops from main cloning facility to compound.”
“How fast is the rail system?” Wynn asked. “Baeth Periege is nearly one thousand miles away.”
“Be a frictionless magnetically suspended rail car system. It will travel approximately six hundred miles per hour,” said Daooth.
“That’s pretty fast. It wouldn’t take us long to get there at all,” said Tiet.
“Yes, but Grod already has the jump on us,” Orin said. “And where is the break in the system?”
“Break occurs approximately one hundred and fifty miles from city perimeter,” said Daooth. “Only problem, how to clear debris and pass through in time to stop Grod. Defenses of Baeth Periege will not hold him long. He has massive clone army, and Vorn military already very weak.”
“I think, with the Way, we might be able to clear the debris, but we will need time to work,” Wynn said.
“My people long for freedom,” Daooth said.
All of the men shared the sentiment. They gathered the explosive charges necessary and followed Daooth through the various side passages in order to access the magnetic rail system.
BAETH PERIEGE
It did not occur with the fanfare Ranul had expected, but the fleet had successfully passed through the transdimensional rift. The passage was surprisingly quick and uneventful. Estall’s cruiser, the Esyia, took lead of their small armada. Ranul scanned the area for other ships, but found none. They had no contact with the Saberhawk, which he had always guessed would be the case. However, there were no ships within scanning range at all, not even in orbit of the planet.
Kish K’ta had boasted of a space fleet on their way to wipe out the remaining people on Castai, but there was no evidence of it at all. Even from the Vorn computer records, Ranul had expected to possibly find a battle between the Barudii Sphere and the Vorn, but there was nothing.
“There isn’t much to see out here, is there?” Estall said.
“I know. That’s what bothers me. I suppose we had better set course for the planet and see if that’s where the action is. If Orin and Tiet are still alive, there will be something going on.”
Estall to the helmsman, “Let’s proceed to the planet.”
The ships glided forward toward the strangely familiar planet-Castai’s twin.
“Shields up,” Estall commanded. “If that Barudii Sphere weapon is out there somewhere, it mistake these Vorn ships for targets.”
“I agree. If the Sphere is in the vicinity, it could be cloaked from our sensors. That thing could very well have already destroyed the Vorn fleet Kish K’ta spoke of. I don’t know if it would have attacked the Saberhawk or not. It’s a computer, so I would expect it to destroy intended targets only, but who knows.”
“If the Saberhawk didn’t face anything out here, I bet they would have gone straight for the planet,” Estall said. “I don’t know any warrior who wouldn’t rather face a fight on the ground, rather than be cooped up inside a space ship.”
“According to these records, the planet is now inhabited completely by the Vorn. They have colonized it, since wiping out all of the other Castillian clans there. It’s sad that such genocide could occur,” said Ranul.
Estall sighed heavily. “That’s the awful face of war, my friend.”
Pulse fire blazed across the sky toward the perimeter defense shield surrounding the Vorn city of Baeth Periege. General Grod watched with great satisfaction as his forces mounted the assault upon the city. “How long will it hold?” Grod asked.
“Probably another twenty hours at this rate of replenishing.”
“Good, that gives us plenty of time. Is the team ready?”
“Yes sir. They’re waiting for you to join them for the assault.”
Grod headed away from the firing line toward an area to the south. The pulse cannons continued to pound away at the defense shield as the city’s gun systems attempted to repel the attack.
He made his way to a work site away from the main group. Malec was waiting for him with three hundred warriors outfitted for battle. The work site was relatively hidden from view of the city, just as Grod had planned.
“I’ve sent an advance team ahead of us, sir, to begin the breach on the tunnel barricade.”
“Excellent, Malec. The intercepts on local transmissions show that the Baruk may have already answered their distress call. They could be here within the twenty hours it will take to get through the perimeter shield.”
“Once we come into the city from the tunnel, we will be very close to the cloning facility. We should be able to disable the shield and allow our forces to continue the main assault while we begin the regeneration process,” Malec said.
“Let’s go.”
Grod went to the head of the group and into the tunnel they had been working on. It descended into an old magnetic rail system tunnel that had previously connected the city to the compound now controlled by Grod’s forces hundreds of miles away. Once inside, the Horva warriors began their rapid move to enter the city beneath the perimeter shield.
The tunnel had been barricaded at the city entrance, but the small team ahead of the main group would have it breached by the time they arrived. It was imperative to Grod to get to the cloning facility in time to complete the regeneration process before the Baruk could arrive on the planet. If he was to have any hope of success against that fierce race, he would need the advantage of the Barudii Way.
The tunnel was dimly lit by the emergency lighting which was still powered by the city. Main power to the entire system was split between Grod’s compound and Baeth Periege, but with the tunnel collapsed many miles from the city perimeter; it had been left abandoned.
