Ardican
Ardican
grabbed his assault rifle as his ship touched down. His soldiers were
doing the same, some looking determined, but most were evidently
nervous, fumbling with the clasps on their silver armour. Truth be
told, Ardican felt more nervous than determined, but he held his hand
steady, ignoring the pulsating vein in his neck and the beating in
his chest. He'd never really been in battle before, only training and
patrols of Prauw. Nothing like this.
He
stood up and cleared his throat. The other soldiers turned to look at
him. “Guys,” he tried to keep his voice steady, “I know you're
scared. We've no idea what's waiting for us out there; this mission
was never broadcast, never mentioned aside from on secure channels,
so maybe there won't be anyone here. Or maybe there's a whole
squadron of Adjeti. I can't answer that. All I know – all we know –
is that they used this...World-Burner to destroy Orbus. And now we
need to retaliate. We fire this laser through the Oblivion Gateway
and hit them where they live.” He shook his head. “They can't be
allowed to get away with this.” Soldiers nodded in agreement, and
one at the back, a Scaliman named Cresk, whooped. Ardican smiled. “We
can do this, guys.”
The
pilot emerged from cockpit, strapping on his armour and collecting
his rifle from the rack, feeding it a clip of armour-piercing bullets
specifically designed for taking on the Adjeti and their tough,
exoskeletal armour. He clapped Ardican on the back. “Nice speech.”
“Cheers
Yoron.” Ardican led the way to the exit ramp and his hand hovered
over the “release” panel. “Ready?”
Yoron
nodded. “As ready as I'll ever be, anyway.”
“Helmets
on, oxygen tanks ready, let's go!” Ardican roared. “Justice for
Orbus!”
“Justice
for Orbus!” The crew chanted back, raising their rifles.
Ardican
pressed the “release” panel, and the exit ramp lowered with a
pneumatic hiss. “Come on.” He led the way, steel boots meeting
the surface of the World-Burner. He looked around; it was even more
massive than he'd expected, easily the size of a small town. The
blackness of space was all around him, illuminated only by tiny
pockets of starlight and the fires of Sol in the distance. He could
clearly see the eleven planets of the Empire, and the Oblivion
Gateway: a warp-hole that led to the Adjeti homeworld of Oblivion,
the twelfth world of the Empire. Ardican stopped and stared, wishing
he could have seen this beauty under better circumstances. The hard
metal surface of the World-Burner clattered underfoot. “On me.”
He signalled to his men, and they formed a triangular formation, with
Ardican leading the charge, and Yoron to his left.
They
walked for what seemed like an age, the rattling of machinery setting
them on edge, but no resistance, and no other sounds of life. No
speech, no footsteps, nothing. “Do you think they've evacuated?”
Yoron asked.
Ardican
shook his head. “I've no idea...”
They
rounded a corner and Ardican fiddled with his helmet, bringing up the
nav-screen. “Not far now, just a bit further, just beyond the
ridge.” He felt the relief come from his soldiers, but his own
chest tightened: what if the Adjeti were waiting in the control room?
A
scream.
“The
hell was that?” Yoron shouted.
“Keep
it down.” Cresk hissed.
“Maybe
some in-fighting?” Suggested another soldier.
“Let's
find out.” Ardican led the troops into a jog, side-arms and gadgets
clattering by their sides. They slowed as they went uphill, until
they reached the top of the ridge. “There's the control room!”
“That's
not all there is.” Yoron said, pointing near to the control room.
“Look.”
Adjeti
bodies littered the ground, laying in pools of their blood. Ardican
led his team down the ridge and towards them. Leaning down, he patted
down an Adjeti, checking for a pulse. “Definitely dead.”
He
glanced round at the other corpses. Most had been slashed open,
either around the throat, or through the stomach and chest. Others
seemed to be torn apart, with limbs strewn over the ground,
blood-stains marking their brutal trail. “Be ready for anything...”
He muttered, more to himself than to the others.
The
control room's door had been torn from its hinges and the lights were
on inside. Ardican could hear voices as he got closer, but he
couldn't make out the words. “Who's there?” He called out. The
voices stopped and three figures emerged from the control room.
Three
humanoids with a body comprised of constantly moving, constantly
shifting insects, the Pyrkagia towered over Ardican and his men.
“Human,” the largest one hissed, “here to use the
World-Burner?”
Ardican
nodded cautiously. “I assumed you're here to do the same?”
“Of
course.” The Pyrkagia took another step towards him and the larger
Pyrkagias leant down, looking him in the eyes. “I have activated
the engine, it will fire shortly. And then it will explode. No
evidence of us being here.”
Ardican's
brow furrowed. “Why no evidence?”
“Because
the Primary does not want Pyrkagia to be associated with the Adjeti's
demise. Human intervention is fine.”
Ardican
shook his head. “No there's something...off here.”
The
Pyrkagias raised itself back up to its full height. “Cresk.”
Thirteen
gunshots fired in quick succession, and Ardican turned just in time
to see his soldiers fall, shot from behind with the armour-piercing
bullets; they stood no chance. “Cresk! What the hell?”
Cresk
shook his head. “I'm sorry Ardican, but they promised they'd let me
live if I kept them in the loop about this mission and helped them
when the time came.” He raised his gun again. “I'm sorry.”
Ardican raised his own gun, shooting first, nailing Cresk in the
shoulder. He missed his shot, the bullet slamming into a tube on the
wall. Ardican moved to the side, firing again, but this time barely
missing Cresk, who returned fire, holding down the trigger as he
tried to keep control of the jolting weapon.
Three
bullets hit Ardican in the chest, and he fell to the ground with
nothing more than a gargle. He could feel the blood seeping out of
him, he could smell it, taste it. “Cresk...” He gasped, fingers
relaxing and dropping his gun next to him. Cresk kicked it away and
walked towards the Pyrkagia, who escorted him away.
A red light lit up the darkness of space as the World-Burner fired
into the Oblivion Gateway. Out of the corner of his
eye, Ardican saw the Pyrkagia's ship take off. His vision darkened
and blurred, and he felt the World-Burner breaking up beneath him,
jolting him to the side. The pain erupted again and he screamed and
coughed, blood spewing out now.
As the World-Burner broke apart, Ardican took his last breath before
everything went black and his corpse drifted into the Oblivion
Gateway.
