what you’ll face up there,” said one of the men operating the control panel at the gateway.
“We don’t have time to waste. We’ll just have to deal with whatever we find,” said Grod. “Activate the transgate.”
The gateway snapped into being before them. An image coalesced as the transgate brought the chamber at Nagon-toth into direct contact with a location somewhere on the Baruk flagship.
Grod grinned at the Barudii. “Gentlemen, it’s time.”
Wynn watched the last of the pulse fire emanating from Thalidi’s defensive batteries. Tiet had been wise to set the front for this defense at ten miles out from Thalidi’s perimeter.
The Baruk had been trying for nearly twenty minutes to use the city’s cannons against them, but the range was not great enough to reach. It appeared they were giving up on that tactic now and Wynn wondered if they might emerge soon for a face to face fight with his forces. He didn’t have long to wait.
The sixth gate began to open on the defense wall as Wynn watched through his ocular lens which magnified the image. They were coming on a fast march toward their position. From his grounded angle it was impossible to tell how many, but it looked like thousands. With all of their new recruits, Wynn still only had five thousand warriors to face the Baruk. It wouldn’t be enough. The Baruk were strong runners and within two hours they would be locked in combat.
There were no warriors anywhere in sight when Tiet, Kale and General Grod stepped out of Nagon-Toth’s domed chamber onto the Baruk Flagship. Kale studied the location for a moment and recognized where they were.
“Tiet, we’re near the core of the ship. That means we could easily access the power stream for the gravity bomb containment chamber.”
“What in the world is that?”
“Gravity bombs are large super dense alloy spheres that produce a gravitational field powerful enough to crush a ship’s hull like an egg. If we can disable the special containment field that prevents them from destroying this ship then-”
“Then this ship will implode around them,” Grod said.
“What do we have to do, Kale?”
“The coolant system would be the easiest to disable from where we are. If you and Grod can make your way down this corridor, you will come to an overlook for the containment chamber. You’ll be able to see a series of yellow-colored conduits running from above the chamber-these are the coolant conduits. I’m not sure how many there are, but if you can blow out at least two of them the coolant pressure will rapidly fall to zero. After that, it will take about ten minutes to lose the containment field altogether.”
“What about you?” asked Tiet.
“I’m going after their leader. He’ll need to be distracted or killed while you two attack the coolant conduits. That area is heavily guarded, but he can pull many more warriors to stop us if someone doesn’t distract him.”
Grod and Tiet eyed one another. “I think it’s a good plan,” said Grod. “Anyway, what else do we have? But if we are not back through the transgate before the ship implodes, the gravity could threaten Nagon-Toth-and of course, we wouldn’t survive either.”
“Then we’ll meet back here at the transgate,” said Tiet.
Kale watched his brother and General Grod as they headed down the long corridor. He would have liked to agree on meeting back at the transgate, but he did not plan on leaving the ship. Given the power of Lucin, he would have to remain to prevent him from escaping when the containment failure alert sounded all over the ship. If Lucin survived then this effort would be wasted and the war itself would likely carry on to the inevitable end with the Baruk dominating the entire planet. Kale was determined to give his brother the chance to be the king he could never have been himself.
LUCIN
Kale knew the ship well and made his way quickly and quietly toward the throne room of the Lucin. Kale encountered a number of warriors as he went, but evaded their notice. Soon, he arrived at the chamber.
He guessed that Tiet and Grod would probably be close to the containment area by now and he had little time to distract Lucin before intruder alarms would sound and they would lose the slight advantage surprise gave them. Kale removed two spicors from his uniform and stepped back enough to throw them into the chamber door. They flashed violently, leaving a large hole through the alloy that comprised the door. Kale was through the door as soon as the energy dissipated.
He dived through and rolled to his feet drawing his blade as he stood. The room was sparsely lit. Lucin was not immediately seen. He closed his eyes and relied upon his mind. Then he found them. “You can come out. I see you,” said Kale.
Kale immediately formed a mental bubble within the hole he had made and blew out the door mechanism with a thought.
“Do you think I will run from you, Kale?” asked Lucin.
“You’ll try to run before I’m through with you,” he threatened.
Lucin laughed. “Pride goes before a fall, mortal. Do you really expect to defeat me, one of the Mithri?”
Lucin approached him, coming into view beyond Kale’s blade. Kale protected himself mentally as he felt the mithrial being apply his own great mental faculties against him.
Lucin was putting tremendous pressure upon him as he searched for a weakness in Kale’s defense, but he could find none. Kale felt the pressure continuing to build as Lucin furthered his attack. He knew very well that he would have been easily overcome by Lucin if he had not been forced to split his attention and power coordinating his warriors on the ground and with the ships still fighting the Vorn cruisers around the flagship.
Kale lunged at him with his blade. Lucin swept out of the way fast. A large piece of equipment flew at Kale from its place in the shadows. He struck the object, cutting it in two.
Baruk warriors could be heard outside the one door to the chamber, but they could not get through Kales kinetic bubble or open the doorway to help their master.
“Have you already summoned help for yourself, Lucin?” he asked sarcastically.
Lucin did not answer him. His form began to change before Kale’s eyes. The human form increased in stature to roughly three times his original human form. He erupted into a monstrous form.
“If it is a physical battle you desire, you shall have it, Barudii,” scolded Lucin.
Grod and Tiet were able to see the massive containment chamber from their perch. They had climbed beyond the walkway toward the mechanism in order to avoid any Baruk warriors that might happen by during the course of their duties. Grod and Tiet climbed quietly along the structure toward the conduits above the chamber. The pipes were huge. It would take a throw of multiple spicor discs to get through those conduits without being instantly covered in the coolant flowing within. There appeared to be minimal personnel in the area at the moment. There was no time to waste.
Tiet removed three spicor discs from his vest. He and Grod moved to a catwalk that would give them an easier escape route. Tiet stood for the throw and aimed at three separate conduit pipes to prevent any rerouting of coolant to the containment system. With deadly accuracy, he threw the discs away toward their targets. The discs exploded as they impacted with the pipes, leaving huge holes in each one and bluish colored coolant vapor spewing forth.
An alarm immediately sounded throughout the ship. Grod and Tiet ran down the walkway toward the transgate. Baruk warriors ran into the containment system area. Then they spotted the pair. “Saboteurs!”
The Baruk fired upon them as they ran down the catwalk. Tiet drew his kemsticks as Grod aimed his plasma weapon. A burst of lightning arced over Tiet and into the approaching Baruk. The warriors tumbled over the sides of the catwalk as the energy hit them full force.
More Baruk warriors were mobilizing, but Tiet and Grod didn’t have time to draw out the fight-according to the wailing security alarms, this ship would implode in seven minutes.
Kale deflected several tentacles flying at him from Lucin’s symbyte form. The mithrial monstrosity screeched as his blade vaporized some of Lucin’s morphing tissue. He couldn’t get past Kale’s defense. Then the ship’s
