Chapter 20: The Sun Warrior
The Lancelot slowed to a stop and landed. The Whizzing Arrow IV landed beside it, after having met up with Alistair.
"Now what?" Eva asked as her cockpit came up.
Alistair got out of the Lancelot and slid to the ground, panting with weariness, "I don't know." He replied.
Eva dropped to the ground, "Have you seen Kratos recently?" She asked, her concern for him growing.
"No." He replied, "I was too busy dealing with the Macbeth."
"How'd that go?" She asked him.
"I killed him and stopped the plans the Macbeth was being used for." He replied.
"Plans? What plans?" Eva questioned.
"It was equipped with a heavy cluster of black hole bombs." He replied, "If they would have gone off, all of Emproga and the space around it would be sucked into the implosion and killed."
"Why was he using bombs like that?" Eva asked.
"Under orders." He replied. "From Nereus."
"The Secretary of Defense?" Eva asked.
"He's the one behind everything." Alistair answered, "He's controlling the military, using Salzor as his pawn on Emproga. They seem to be in league."
"That's not good." Eva stated, "Isn't the President involved? Shouldn't Nereus be stopped?"
"I don't know anything about Vanel." Alistair replied, "For all we know, he's dead."
"A coup?" She asked.
"Maybe." He replied.
All around, they could hear the sounds of explosions and battle between the Nourasians allied with the Crogs against the Earth forces.
"What do you think the odds of us winning are?" Eva asked.
"Depends." He answered, "Who are "us"?"
"Anyone opposing Salzor, I guess." She replied.
"Not good." He replied, "Especially if Kratos isn't here yet. He could be dead."
She shook her head defiantly, "He won't die. He can't die."
"The Avatar-my brother-may have sent him, but that doesn't mean he's immortal." Alistair told her.
She nodded, "Right."
Alistair leapt into the cockpit of the Lancelot, "One of my contacts is giving me information!" He called over to her.
"You have contacts?" She asked.
"A few in the Earth forces still remain loyal to me. I'm hoping to get them to turn against the others, and hopefully assassinate Salzor if the opportunity is right." He replied. "Now…" He started reading it.
He slammed his fists into the console, "Damn it! Damn, damn, damn!"
"What?" She ran over, "What is it?'
"Kratos is dead." He muttered, "One of our best warriors is gone!"
"Are you sure?" She asked quickly, "Did they find a corpse or something?"
"No, not yet at least." He replied. He looked to her, "He was seen battling Gwen and her Corinna. She was one of the quad. He engaged her in the sky, just below space. He was last seen leaping from his ship and cutting hers through with his sword by other pilots. He was seen plummeting to the planet then." He shook his head, "There's no way he could have survived that."
"Are you sure?" She asked.
He nodded, "No ship in sight that would save him. His ship out of range and falling. He's as good as dead. How he died, we don't know."
"Well, that only leaves two of the quad left, right?" Eva asked.
He nodded, "The pilot of the Phaëton-I believe his name was Dan. And then, the Odysseus and its pilot."
"What's his name?" Eva asked.
"I don't know." Alistair told her, "I don't know of anyone who's ever heard it. He may not have a name…"
"Well, his name doesn't matter." Eva replied, "We just have to take care of him."
Alistair nodded, "Right." He looked outside, seeing the armies of both sides engaging each other.
While the Earth forces had superior weaponry, the Crogs never gave up, and the Nourasians-at least some of them-had magic.
"Let's move." Alistair said. He looked into the sky, seeing the winged shape of the Phaëton overhead, "Another one has come to us. The two of us can take him easily."
Eva ran into the Whizzing Arrow IV and flew besides the Lancelot towards their opponent.
Zhrog stopped and looked ahead, "There." He said, pointing ahead.
The Crogs moved forward, bashing in the doors of the massive ship and taking out the immediate guards.
Zhrog ran in and fired on any survivors or security personal who came.
"Move! I want this secured!" Zhrog shouted.
His Crog commandos moved on and secured the door, sealing it once more.
In minutes, the docked Crashing Blade was heading towards space, now under the leadership of the Crogs.
Soldiers burst in and leveled their rifles at Luna and her two knights.
"Surrender!" One soldier ordered.
Luna looked around at her two guardians. "Surrender." She whispered to them.
The knights dropped their swords to the ground and stood, awaiting capture.
"Execute them." The soldier in command said.
The other two lifted their rifles and took aim.
The lead soldier lifted his handgun towards Luna.
"See you in hell." He said.
The three shots rang out, and then, only silence followed.
The Whizzing Arrow IV and the Lancelot engaged the Phaëton over the main battlefields of Emproga.
"I'll hit it from the front, you from the back." Alistair told Eva.
"Understood." She threw the Arrow into a hard dive, trying to reach it from under the opposing ship.
Dan laughed as the feathers dropped down and opened fire, striking the Arrow repeatedly and causing them to rethink their plan.
The Lancelot was driven forward, blades engaged.
The blades came into the front of the ship as it made its kamikaze run to impale the Phaëton, but Dan was ahead of him.
The blasts were centered on the cockpit, forcing Alistair to dive his Lancelot to the side to avoid being killed.
The two floated near each other, training their cannons on the Phaëton.
"Is this all you can do?" Dan laughed.
He was a fairly young looking man. He was average sized with a head of mussed black hair.
"Die." He hissed.
The ships feathers dropped and opened fire, concentrating fire on the cockpits and engines of his enemies.
The two ships span to the side. All they could do to survive was dodge. Taking the battle to the Phaëton was suicide.
"Die, die, die!"
The flurry of energy bolts was nonstop, all directed towards the two ships which couldn't fire back.
Alistair looked at the odds. He couldn't get close enough to get a meaningful strike off; otherwise he'd be taken out. And Eva had less skill in combat than he did, so if she attacked, she would accomplish next to nothing.
"Time to die." Dan said.
The back and top of the Phaëton opened, revealing a mess of solar panels, all soaking in solar energy and charging its power through the ship.
"Die!"
The solar energy peaked at the nose of the Phaëton, and fired.
The stream of solar power lanced out, just missing his targets.
"One more!" He yelled, preparing to fire again.
The Phaëton started to smoke, and then, was gone in a bellow of fire.
"What happened?" Eva quickly asked Alistair.
"I don't know." Alistair replied, "If I had to guess, however, I'd say his systems backed up. He overloaded the Phaëton."
"Good guess." Eva said, "That's all I would assume."
"At least only the Odysseus remains now." Alistair said.
They looked towards space, and saw it.
The Odysseus.
"Speak of the devil." Alistair said, taking aim with his cannons.
The heavy cannons of the rounded ship opened fire, forcing the Lancelot to dodge side to side.
"Fire!" Alistair yelled.
The cannons opened fire, striking the hull of the Odysseus, but not doing any major damage.
Eva joined in, trying to draw its fire away from the Lancelot so it could plunge in.
The Odysseus and its pilot weren't fooled, and kept firing on both of them.
Alistair quickly formulated a plan. He triggered his swords, but dispersed them as he flew towards the final member-and leader-of the quad.
The wave of charged particles was sent out, forcing the Odysseus to fly back in retreat .
"Will he be that easy to defeat?" Eva asked.
"How should I know?" Alistair asked, "But, we can only pray so."
The sun began to set on the first day of the Earth forces attack on Emproga.
How many would live to see sunrise again on this planet?