James Somers - Heir to the King

Her strength was unbelievable for a girl her size. He was off balance before he knew it and her weight and effort forced him back to the ground. He could feel something more driving down his throat from her hand, like a slimy tentacle of some sort. He was strangling on the appendage and trying unsuccessfully to beat her off with his fists.

Despite his inability to scream for help, his mother was quick to respond. Mirah was beating and clawing at her, but the girl relentlessly remained fastened to her victim.

"Emil, help him! She's one of them!!"

Kale could see only cold blackness in her doll's eyes. She was killing him, he thought. He noticed Emil coming upon her with his ignited kemstick, but the little monster was faster than expected. Emil swiped at her, but she suddenly disengaged from Kale and rolled off of his body under the weapon's strike and sprang in one move over Emil's head to land on his shoulders.

He was caught off guard and the girl used his surprise to her advantage. She plowed her gnarled hand into his mouth as she pulled his jaw down with her other hand from behind him.

Now Emil was flailing with the girl on his back; her small legs were dug into his hips to brace herself. Emil dropped his weapon and Mirah grabbed it and swung at the girl. She disengaged her second attack under the threat and bounded away from him, landing on the trunk of a large tree nearby. She looked like a large squirrel clinging to the tree.

Kale was on his feet as fast as he could recover, with his own kemstick coming alive in his hand. The girl hissed, then boldly launched herself at him. His vision was blurred a little as he tried to focus on her and clear his throat from the choking. She bounced off of the ground under his first strike then tumbled in the air over his head. His second strike guided by his kinetic senses struck the girl in mid air as she came down behind him. It was a clean strike; she didn't move again.

"Are you boys okay?" asked Mirah. "Let me get a bioscan."

"We don't have time," said Kale, "The soldiers are near-I can feel it. We've got to keep moving."

The group tried to recompose themselves quickly and moved on their previous path, leaving the girl behind. They came into the clearing that Emil had spoken of and almost immediately Kale could sense the soldiers waiting for them on the other side of the open area.

"Wait."

"What's wrong?"

"I think we're walking into a trap here. They're waiting for us on the other side of the clearing. Let's move back into cover."

They turned to recover their position back in the brush. Immediately blaster fire erupted on their position. Emil noticed that the blasts were meant to stun only, as they bounced around the trees without charring the timber.

Soldiers began to move out of their cover into the clearing and close the space between them. There were at least fifty or sixty heading for them while laying down a steady rain of stunning laser fire. Emil and Kale blocked many of the stun blasts that were coming at their position as they retreated further into the cover of the vegetation.

Then they were hit from the rear by more laser fire. More soldiers could be seen closing on them from the trees.

"I'll take the rear!" said Kale, "Guard my mother!"

They were back to back around Mirah, deflecting the stun blasts of the symbyte soldiers. Kale decided more action was needed. Soon the soldiers would be upon them. He moved away from his mother and Emil and took to the trees. A kinetic bubble, generated by his mind, formed around Mirah as he took off away from her.

He moved from branch to branch and tree to tree and quickly found his way above the soldiers. Kale swooped down into the enemy forces and began to bring his sticks into play against them. He hacked into the soldiers, taking down as many as possible as he deftly moved among them.

Their attack from the rear quickly began to disorganize as he slipped in and out of their ranks. Many of their own men were being taken down by crossfire in the confusion.

Emil was not having as much success in his efforts. The soldiers were almost completely across the clearing now and the fire was too concentrated for him to block it all. Several blasts got by his defense and brought him down hard.

The kinetic bubble was still in place around Mirah as the soldiers took the opportunity of Emil's unconsciousness and moved in on her. They blasted away in vain at the bubble, but Mirah could not move from the position to run either.

"WE'RE coming up on their position!"

Tiet brought the transport into a descent on the clearing just beyond the raging battle his family was involved in below.

"I've got two transports rising out of the trees ahead!" said Tiet.

"I'm on it; locking on targets."

Wynn brought the transport's missiles online as the targets began to clear the tops of the trees. He fired nearly every rocket the ship was carrying at the enemy transports.

As soon as they had cleared the treetops, the ships turned toward them to fire and were greeted by almost twenty high-powered rockets. The transports shattered to pieces before they could fire a shot and fell back to the ground much faster than they had risen.

Tiet continued his descent and landed the craft very roughly as he bolted for the door. Wynn and Grod quickly followed with Jael and Mareb close behind. They all ran into the battle.

The symbyte soldiers now turned to fight them as they ran into the fray. Tiet and Wynn began to maneuver through the symbytes, cutting them down at every turn of their swords. Tiet could see Kale far off among a second group of soldiers, battling with them furiously; his dual sticks whirling about him like circles of death dealing light.

When he came upon Mirah she was under attack by several soldiers trying to penetrate a kinetic bubble being maintained by Kale's mind. Tiet quickly dispatched them and somewhere in the fight Kale sensed him there with his mother and released her from her protective imprisonment.

She immediately moved to Tiet's protection and he headed for the transport with her. Kale and Tiet spoke in mental sensations through the space between them and Kale disengaged the fight and took to the trees after his parents as they headed for the ship.

Grod already had Emil's unconscious body in his powerful arms and was heading back to the transport after them, as Wynn and the two Horva soldiers laid down cover fire and defense for them.

The main group made it to the transport safely, though still under fire, as Kale bounded through the treetops over the symbytes and came down into the clearing en route for the transport. Tiet was already lifting off with Kale in his mind, knowing that he could make the jump to safety without any problem, but something happened as he ran for the ship. Tiet could sense a complete loss of control in Kale's mind and waves of pain taking over his body. He looked back through the open troop deployment door to the field below in time to see his son fall.

No shot had hit him, but he was losing consciousness quickly. Kale could see the transport just ahead and above him, but he could not make his body respond to his desire to lift himself up to it. As his eyes closed he caught a faint glimpse of Wynn touching down next to him on the ground.

Tiet brought the blaster cannons to bear on the soldiers emerging from the trees as Wynn lifted Kale's body to his shoulder and made the leap under mental power to the transport.

"I've got him, Tiet! Let's go!"

He punched the engine throttle controls and the ship surged away from the battle. The computer on board signaled a warning. One of the Horva soldiers slipped into the chair and read the display's information.

"I'm showing an enemy ship following us from ten miles back, sir."

"Grod, are the coordinates plotted in the navigation system?"