James Somers - The rise of Lucin

"Here they come," said Wynn.

"Split up!" shouted Tiet.

The trio rolled away from one another as a group of pods shot through their formation with all guns blazing. The enemy divided up at a three to one ratio.

"We're a little outnumbered," said Wynn as he took evasive maneuvers.

"And your point?" asked Tiet.

"We've got to get to the rendezvous, for one."

"These pods are a bit more maneuverable than our fighters," said Grod as he barely evaded incoming pulse bursts.

"Head away from one another," commanded Wynn.

"Why?"

"An old war maneuver from before you were born," said Wynn.

The trio each put their aerial fighters on a flight path away from the other two and pushed the ships into full throttle. The pods were more maneuverable, but not quite as fast. Each of the old Barudii aerial fighters was trailing three enemy pod fighters as they continued on track away from the area around the Vorn cruiser.

"Now, what?" asked Tiet.

"When we reach a fifty-mile distance from each other, we'll turn back from our course and head for an intersect point."

Grod laughed into his headset. "I think I've heard this in one of your old war stories, Wynn. I never get tired of hearing them."

"And he never gets tired of telling them," added Tiet sarcastically.

"Alright men, on my mark. Three, two, one, and come back on a heading of.0729," commanded Wynn.

The old aerial fighters each pulled a hard turn and came back on their pursuers who had been lagging only slightly. The pod trios split away into their own hard turn maneuvers and came right back into formation as they pursued the Barudii fighters.

"We're coming in fast," said Tiet.

"Use the rockets you have left and lock onto each others pursuing pods," said Wynn. "As we close the distance, everyone turn down and right 30? after we fire rockets at the locked targets. They'll be so preoccupied trying to catch each of us-"

"-that they won't realize they're heading into rockets fired from a different fighter than the one they are pursuing," Tiet finished.

"Exactly."

"Remind me to pay closer attention to his stories, Grod."

The Barudii fighters were closing the distance fast at supersonic speeds, each with a trio of pursuing pods in tow.

"Here we go," warned Grod as he kept an eye on his comrades approaching on his scanner.

"Lock targets and fire on my mark," instructed Wynn.

"I've got mine," said Tiet.

"Me too."

"And three, two, one, fire and turn!" shouted Wynn as he fired his own rockets.

Each fighter loosed its rockets and ducked away according to Wynn's instructions. They crossed the point they would have intersected with the pods in tow, not realizing that they had been locked in as targets of fighters other than the one each pod trio had been following. The rockets plowed head on with each of their intended targets as the Tiet, Wynn and Grod reformed their group.

"Now, let's get out of here and meet the others before we have any more company," said Wynn.

"It's odd that the cruiser is alone out here," said Grod.

"And that they only sent nine pods after us," Tiet added.

"I wonder what has become of the other ships that were said to have been with this one," said Grod.

"I'm sure we'll find out sooner than we want to," said Wynn. "Let's get moving while we can."

The aerial fighter trio adjusted their course and speed and headed away toward the Valley of Sayir.

JUST above a remote portion of the Valley of Sayir that began to slope upward toward the mountain bearing the same name, the Equinox burst into reality with a snap of white light. The ship was right side up according to Emil's lightning quick jump calculations, but it was still plummeting toward the ground in a crippled condition.

"Hey, we're not upside down!" shouted Kale.

"See what happens when I take the wheel?" replied Emil confidently.

The controls jerked hard in Kale's hands. "We're still falling!"

"Problem!" Emil focused on his instrument panels. "100ft…60ft…30ft."

Kale slapped the docking thruster's control. The ship lurched, struggling against gravity with all the resistance it had left-it wasn't enough. The Equinox slammed into the valley floor with a massive Boom!

The shields collapsed, sending random blades of energy ripping into the ground away from the impact. When the cloud of dust began to settle again, the ship was intact but was unlikely to ever get airborne again.

"Is everyone okay?" Kale asked.

"Present," said Emil.

"We're alright," said Merab and Jael.

Kale tapped the intercom, perhaps the only thing still functioning on the ship. "Mother, how are you, back there?"

It took a moment, but they replied. "I think we're all in one piece," said Mirah, "I take it, we crashed?"

"Yes, but we made it to the rendezvous point," joked Emil from the background.

Kale shot him a weary look. "We're down in the Valley of Sayir, Mother. It's probably a good idea if we abandon the ship, just in case we were to have an explosion."

"We can't move Ramah right now," said Mirah, "I need to monitor her for a while, especially after that crash."

Kale wasn't going to argue a losing battle. "We'll inspect the ship and try to make sure we're not in any danger by staying on board."

The intercom switched off on Mirah's end. She was adamantly against endangering a patient.

"I'm glad Ramah is doing fine, but explosions don't do much for one's health."

Kale moved from his flight chair and retrieved a tool kit. He tossed it at Emil. "We'd better get to inspecting this heap then."

It took an hour and a half to get main power restored and they found nothing endangering their stay inside the ship while they waited for the rebel forces to catch up to them. The engine's hyper-coil was supplying ample power, enough to even use the internal transgate if necessary. The group scavenged for food in the galley, and took turns sitting with Ramah in the Infirmary.

Juli and Kale were trying to get the scanners operational on the bridge so they might get a fix on the rebel army and find out how long it would be until their arrival, but no luck yet.

Merab, Jael and Mirah were in the galley finishing their meals, while Emil relieved the doctor and sat with Ramah. They were enjoying a very nice conversation and perhaps even a bit of flirting. All the crew had to do was to wait for the others and then decide on their next course of action.

LUCIN was standing on the bridge of one of his personal transports watching the main display. Information was continually updating and icons were shifting on the screen as the rebel forces converged on the Valley of Sayir. His Vorn battle cruisers were feeding his transport group the information from orbit-they were much too big and clumsy to be a part of the ground battle he planned to wage at Sayir. Lucin noticed that several groups of ships were coming from various directions-evidently they had a number of bases to operate from. His group of ships was flying a parallel course to that of the rebels fleeing from Sector City's underground base.

Lucin's armada of troop carriers was maintaining a distance just far enough to keep them out of sensor range, while his orbiting cruisers allowed him to keep an eye on his prey. He had the element of surprise on his side. His plan was simple, wait for all of the rebels to converge on the valley, and then bring his transports toward Sayir from the plateau to the north. They would approach at minimal speed and altitude and then swarm into the valley, making troop drops close to the enemy.

Lucin was counting on a minimal response to his human forces as they deployed for the ground battle. The rebels would be too preoccupied with the surprise he already had waiting for them at Sayir. By the time his human combatants joined the fray, the battle would be all but lost for the rebels and the Barudii helping them. Lucin would counter prophecy and reign supreme among humanity.