Estall gathered with his key warriors and noticed that Dorian was not among them. He turned to see her at Tiet's side helping support the young man as the trio headed down the passage leading to the hangar. He started to call out to her, and then thought better of it. He knew what few did about his younger sibling; she had long been infatuated with the young prince on the archive video files. 'Farewell, Sister,' he whispered as she and the Barudii disappeared down the corridor.
Vale watched from a hidden position as his primary target disappeared down a passageway. He squeezed his hand until bone cracked beneath his fingers. This human had been foolish to follow him into the corridors when he retreated. Vale released the Aolene warrior's neck from his grip, letting the lifeless body crumple to the ground.
His auditory sensors had picked up on their destination and their plan to leave in a ship from the hangar bay. It was imperative that he acquire his target before it escaped. The direct way would only draw more resistance from all of the Aolene preparing for battle below. His database lacked schematics of the city's interior, but data on the mountain of Vaseer was available. There was only one place to launch a ship from the mountain and Vale calculated that he wasn't far from it. He hurriedly retraced his path out of the mountain and headed across the slope toward the lower western face. The terrain didn't slow him at all. He just had to cover the half mile distance in time to intercept the Barudii warrior before he escaped.
THERE was a warm breeze funneling through the passageway as Orin, Tiet and Dorian approached the hangar bay. They could hear the low hum of large engines, apparently in a warm-up cycle. Tiet was walking on his own now.
As the trio came through the entrance to the hangar, Tiet got his first look at a Barudii space vessel. The ship was very large and filled a huge space in the hangar bay. There was nobody visible in the area outside and the gateway was lowered to the ground under it. The trio hurriedly made their way up the platform into the belly of the ship. Once inside, the ship had several levels accessible by various sets of stairs. Dorian and Tiet followed Orin up to the bridge level where Ranul and the Aolene warrior Millo were busy at various control panels prepping the ship for lift off.
'What happened up there?' asked Ranul. 'We heard gunfire.'
'Apparently the Vorn have built an android that somehow looks like me. It appeared in the public area and I think it was trying to kill Tiet specifically.'
'So that's what they wanted with it,' said Ranul to himself.
'What do you mean? Did you know about this thing?' asked Tiet.
'Yes, yes. I built it.'
'What?!'
'I thought I could mass produce an android army to combat the Vorn. The Barudii were all presumed dead and our people were slaves to the Vorn. We needed a way to fight back, but the Vorn seized the plans. They took my wife Ellai and my daughter Mirah and imprisoned them. I had to build it or risk their lives. Orin said you found Mirah imprisoned with some younger children and released her; and for that I thank you young man. It was completed just days ago and the Governor had it sent out to the cloning facility just before you arrived at my compartment. They must have sent it out to track you down after you killed those Vorn in the cloning complex. I didn't think you would be facing off against it, or even that you were still alive.'
'Well, it's flattering-I suppose,' said Orin. 'Now tell us how to stop it.'
'The best thing would be for me to try and stop it,' said Ranul. 'It might not harm me. This thing was built to last. However the main control system is in the head and duplicated in the chest. If you can get a direct strike at those two points with an ignited blade you'll bring it down for sure.
'It's extremely tough and strong, but it can't fly and the weapons are external to the unit; meaning it uses weapons just like a Barudii would. I had many data files concerning the warrior art to program with, but you still possess a key advantage in your kinetic abilities.'
'The Aolene put so much fire on it that it retreated into the passages somewhere.'
'It may have retreated, but its programming will require it to acquire its target. It will have to try again. We need to get you into space; then it won't have a target to chase.'
'How soon can we lift off?' asked Dorian.
Tiet raised an eyebrow at her question. Was she now coming along? Secretly, he hoped that she would.
'The ship is ready and Millo has volunteered to help you pilot the vessel through the rift.'
'Aren't you coming, Ranul?' asked Tiet.
'No Tiet, I'm not. My daughter needs me. I'm going to go with Estall and the Aolene to attack the remaining Vorn forces in the Capital. Perhaps when they're defeated, I will be able to get information on my wife's whereabouts.'
'We're ready to go,' said Millo looking up from his flight console.
'Tiet. Dorian. You two strap in over there for lift off,' Orin said pointing to a small group of chairs with flight harnesses. Orin walked Ranul down to the lowered ramp as he disembarked from the ship to join Estall and the Aolene warriors.
'Goodbye, old friend,' said Orin.
'Goodbye. I hope you make it back safely. Remember what we talked about. If you can't stop the Vorn fleet, the only other way to prevent them crossing will be to disrupt the rift. The engine destruct sequence has already been keyed into the ship.'
'I remember the final command code you gave me.'
'Don't forget that you have only five minutes to separate the bridge section from the rest of the ship before detonation.'
'I won't forget, Ranul.'
Ranul exited the ship and Orin pressed the panel switch to raise the platform. As he came back to the bridge section he strapped in for the journey at one of the helm control panels next to Millo. 'Let's go.'
The engines of the Barudii vessel powered up to begin raising the ship off of the landing platform. Orin keyed in commands to signal the mountain side hangar bay doors to retract and allow the vessel to exit. The large doors awoke as the command was relayed to the city's technological control systems. Each side was beginning to retract back into the rocky side walls of the hangar area as the old warship hovered above the ground in preparation to exit the mountain city.
RANUL could hear the rising pitch of the old Saberhawk class vessel as he quickly made his way through the corridors back to where Estall and his warriors were preparing to launch the attack against the Vorn. From a satchel, he retrieved his tracking device which read the wavelength signature of the android's operating system. If Vale was within one hundred yards, Ranul could track him. The device remained silent. The thought that Vale was not nearby was comforting; but what had happened to the robot after it retreated from the Aolene warriors?
He continued his ascent until he found Estall in the public area with hundreds of Aolene warriors prepped for war. They all wore the same black garment of the Barudii, and every person was loaded up with weapons for the battle. Estall looked puzzled to see Ranul as he made his way to him in the crowd.
'Has something happened, Dr. K'ore? I thought, surely your group had departed for the rift by now.'
'The others have, but I want to go with you and your warriors to engage the Vorn at the Capital. My daughter is there.'
'I see. Well, of course you're welcome to join us, and any information you have about their strengths or weaknesses would be appreciated.'
'Actually, the Vorn have several ships and multiple long and short range weapons at their disposal, but they don't realize you're coming. It would be best to spread out your troops as we come in to firing range, about five to seven miles from the city, so they won't have any large targets to fire upon,' said Ranul.
'Well, it may be good for us to encircle the city and come from all angles to converge on their cloning facility.'
'You should also know that the Vorn have a large number of sentinel robots at their command-probably in the thousands. By spreading your forces and coming from all directions they'll be forced to spread their own ground forces to protect the city. It's likely that many gaps in that defense will present themselves.'
