James Somers - Warrior Rising

The assassin tangled within the shattered stone like a discarded rag-doll. Tiet wondered why no blood could be seen on the body as it hung limply out of the rock. Orin appeared with Estall on the other side of the fountain. No one understood what had just happened.

“Tiet!” Dorian cried behind him. She pointed toward the heap of rubble. As he turned, Tiet heard the sound of stone tumbling. From beneath the heap of stones, Orin Vale’s doppelganger emerged. Orin saw it as well, but he couldn’t believe who he was seeing. Whatever this monster was, it was far too powerful to be human.

Vale stood and quickly reassessed the situation. Tiet drew his blade as he ran toward the mysterious aggressor. Vale also drew a Barudii blade-part of his disguise as a Barudii warrior. The two engaged in fierce combat. Tiet tried to enhance his own speed and strength using the Way, but his opponent was still too strong.

Vale blocked a thrust from Tiet, quickly pushing his blade away. A deadly mechanical hand plowed toward Tiet’s chest. Tiet anticipated the move, drawing a pistol first with his free hand to take advantage of Vale’s exposure. Tiet thrust the pulse weapon into his opponent’s face and fired without hesitation. Vale tried to correct and block the pistol as it came into position, but was not quite fast enough. The blast caught him in the side of the head and sent him reeling backward.

After seeing this person climb out of a rocky grave, Tiet wasted no time following through with his blade. Vale, having only a fraction of a second to recover from the pulse shot, countered the blade strike and whirled around behind Tiet.

Vale smashed Tiet in the back with an adomen packed elbow sending the young man to the ground gasping for breath. The android brought his sword to bear on Tiet, planning to deliver the deathblow. Dorian intercepted, attacking the android in order to draw his blade away from Tiet. Several fast strikes were countered by the mechanical man as she furiously tried to defend him. Vale’s blast-exposed cranium glistened in the available light as he parried blow after blow from the young woman.

The android suddenly flew backwards away from Dorian, slamming into the wall, thrown by Orin’s mind. Orin raced to Tiet’s side to help him up. The boy had been dealt a fierce blow and needed assistance to stand.

The Aolene took the initiative now with the android in the clear. They laid down a barrage of laser fire on him. Vale got up under fire, retreating down a passageway.

“We have to go now and take the ship into the rift!” Orin shouted. “The Vorn obviously know we’re here. I don’t know what that thing was-some kind of robot-but there may be more of them.”

“My people will take the transports we have and engage the main complex as you suggested!” Estall shouted over the din.

Some of the Aolene pursued the android, but no word had come back yet concerning its whereabouts. Estall gathered with his key warriors and noticed Dorian was not among them. He turned to find her at Tiet’s side helping to support the young man as the three of them walked down the passage leading to the hangar.

Estall started to call out to Dorian then thought better of it-He knew what few did about his younger sister. She had long been infatuated with the young prince on the archive video files. Now, he was here alive. “Farewell, Sister,” he whispered as Dorian and the Barudii warriors disappeared down the corridor.

Vale watched, from a hidden position, as his primary target disappeared down a passageway. The android squeezed his hand until bone cracked beneath his fingers. One of the Aolene had been foolish enough to follow him into the half lit corridors. Unfortunately, for the Aolene man, he had also found the robot. Vale released the Aolene warrior’s neck, dropping the lifeless body to the ground.

His auditory sensors picked up on their destination and their plan to leave in a ship from the hangar bay within the mountain. It was imperative he acquire his target before the boy escaped. The direct way would only draw more resistance from the Aolene preparing for battle below.

Vale’s 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 realized he was not far from it. The android hurriedly retraced his path out of the mountain and headed back across the slope toward the lower western face. The terrain didn’t slow him at all. Now, he just had to cover the half mile distance in time to intercept the Barudii rebel before he escaped.

A warm breeze funneled through the passageway as Orin, Tiet and Dorian approached the hangar bay. They heard the low hum of large engines engaged in a warm up cycle. Tiet walked without assistance 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, filling a huge space in the hangar bay. The vessel consisted of a central bulky fuselage with forward arching wings and a series of large engines to the rear.

No one was visible in the area outside the ship, but the loading ramp was lowered to the ground. The trio hurried up the platform into the belly of the ship. Once they got inside, Tiet found several levels were accessible by stairs. Dorian and Tiet followed Orin up to the bridge level where Ranul and the Aolene warrior, Millo, were busy at the control panels prepping the ship for liftoff.

“Welcome aboard the Saberhawk!” Ranul said.

“What happened up there?” Millo asked. “We heard gunfire.”

“Apparently, the Vorn have built a robot that looks like me. It attacked Tiet.”

“So, that’s what they wanted with it,” Ranul said to himself.

“What do you mean? Did you know about this thing?” Tiet asked.

“Yes, yes. I built it.”

“What?”

“I thought I could mass produce an android army to combat the Vorn. With the Barudii all presumed dead and our people enslaved to the Vorn, we needed a way to fight back. Except, the Vorn seized the plans first. They took my wife Ellai and my daughter Mirah and imprisoned them. I had to build it for them, or risk the lives of my family.” To Tiet he said, “I understand you found my daughter, Mirah, imprisoned with some other children. You released her?”

“Yes, sir, I did.”

“I thank you for that, young man,” Ranul said. “Anyway, the android was completed just days ago. Governor Kisch K’ta sent it to the cloning facility just before you arrived at my apartment. They must have sent it to track you down after you killed those men in the cloning complex.

“Can you tell us how to stop it?” Orin asked.

“The best thing would be for me to try and stop it,” Ranul said. “It might not harm me. But just in case, I can tell you 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 a Barudii blade then you’ll bring it down for sure. Call me sentimental, but I didn’t shield the CPU electromagnetically. The armor is tough, but an adomen blade would work.”

“My people put so much fire on it that it retreated into the passages somewhere,” Dorian said.

“It may have retreated, but its programming will force it to acquire its target again. It will feel compelled to try. We need to get you into space. Then the android won’t have a target to chase,” Ranul said.

“How soon can we lift off?” Dorian asked.

Tiet raised an eyebrow at her question. Was she planning on coming along? Secretly, he hoped she would.

“The ship is ready and Millo has volunteered to help you pilot the Saberhawk through the rift,” Ranul said.

“Aren’t you coming, Ranul?” Tiet asked.

“No, 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 Kisch K’ta is defeated, I will be able to get information on my wife’s whereabouts. ”