Chapter Two: Dreams
He was flying, the clouds streaking past him as he hurled across the sky. He dove, then pulled out of the dive to come up in a looping and ended in a barrel roll. "Yeeehaa!" He let out a cry of joy as he felt the wind tearing at him, and took a deep breath. He felt free. He felt alive.
He turned when he heard noise. Looking below him, he could see a gigantic, star-shaped vessel descending. Then the noise struck again. He identified it this time. Cannon fire. He was low enough that he could hear the screaming below, the explosions. He could see smaller star-shaped fighters breaking their formation and begin strafing runs on a small town. He saw the airfield erupting in fire as the main cannons on the big ship opened up.
Rage built up over the years released and he gripped the control yoke firmly, not caring there weren't any weapons on the Vanship, and pulled the vessel over to head towards the attackers. "Not again, you don't," he whispered to himself. The Vanship didn't move. It didn't follow the course he set. Instead, it kept going in a circle, as if to mock him with a perfect view on the battle raging on. He tried to move the ship on another course again, but it didn't budge. He kept trying to pull over as he watched the people below getting slaughtered. He watched as the few surviving Vanships were shot down mercilessly. "Nooooo!"
And he watched as a family tried desperately climbing into a damaged Vanship and lift off, only to be shot down. He watched as a little boy and girl crawl out from under the wreckage, and he saw a woman standing on the ruined landing field, laughing. His rage turned into despair as he saw the battleship bombarding what remained of the town into nothingness.
Then Tomaas Riatavin woke up.
The CHULAINN kept a discreete distance to the SILVANNA. As the rouge ship docked with Walker's casino-dock, Tom decided to take over a Vanship. As he headed for the small launch bays that were attached to the sides of the CHULAINN, his sister intercepted him. "Where are you going?" He shrugged off the question. "Over to Walker's dock."
"And why?" Her gaze bore into him. "Simple. I want to talk to Walker. We need to know where they are taking Arvis next." She thumped him in the chest with her index finger. "You forget one thing, mister. You're a dead man. And dead people aren't seen walking around on docks like that." Tom chuckled. "Exactly. No one expects a dead man to walk around. That's why I'm going over there."
"All right, but I'm coming with you," she declared. He arched an eyebrow at her. "Are you sure? You haven't flown in a Vanship in years." Caroline shrugged. "You were the one who said it's like swimming – you never forget how to do it." Tom gave her a small smile. "You know, after this is over, we could just fly again for the fun of it." Caroline met his eye. "Sounds like fun – only one thing." "Yes?" "Please without anyone trying to shoot us down." She chuckled and headed for the locker rooms to get out the flying gear.
The small Vanship shot out of the CHULAINN's launch bay, propelled by a steam catapult, and headed for Walker's dock in the distance. As the ship set down in a private landing bay, the station's master greeted them personally. "Tom! It's been a long time since you've been here!" The big man with an eyepatch grinned. "You look quite well for a dead man."
"Thanks. You don't look that bad, either." "Aye, business is good," Walker faced Caroline. "And you, lass? How've ye been holding up?" She gave him a smile. "Good enough. It's good to see you again, Walker."
"Let me guess, ye wanted to talk about SILVANNA's next destination, eh?" Walker led them off towards his office. "Yes," Tom told him. "Well, the annual eight-hour Endurance Race is going to be held at the Horizon Cave. That's what I'll tell Alex, too. The Race, though, is only a farce to cover up on an auction deep down in one of the underground caverns of Horizon Cave. They say they will sell what they call the 'Key to Exile'. They claim it's an artifact from Exile. I think they're just bluffin', but it could be worth a shot."
"When is the race?" Walker stopped. "In twelve days." Tom glanced to his left and shook his head. He must be imagining things. "What is it?" Caroline asked. "Nothing, I just thought I saw something move." Tom froze as he blinked and saw it again – a slight shadow reflecting on the deck.
"Down!" He pushed both Caroline and Walker to the ground as a shot went off and richocheted off the walls. He rolled to the side and leaned against the wall, Caroline right beside him, and Walker next to her. "So, no one shooting at us, yeah?" He didn't bother to reply and peeked around the corner, then snapped his head back as a round hit the space where his face had been a split second before.
"Three Guild down the corridor," he whispered. "What are they after?" Tom shrugged. "Us, or maybe Alex - or even you, Walker. I don't know. For now, I just want to stick to 'shoot first, then ask questions'-tactics." April chuckled. "All right." She slid her pistol out of its hidden holster in her coat and flipped the safety. "What do we do?"
"Simple. Go out, shoot them up. Cover me." Tom kicked off from his crouching position and launched himself into the corridor. As he had suspected, the Guild people were shooting to kill, and he rolled as he hit the ground. As he rolled, he withdrew two sleek tubes from his coat and pressed the firing studs, sending two projectiles into two of them. One doubled over and collapsed while the other seemed hurt but still able to fight. They greeted him with a hail of bullets as he scrambled behind the nearest cover. As the Guild approached his position, he could hear the roar of Caroline's gun as she opened up, and he extended one leg. He heard a curse and a thump, indicating he'd managed to trip at least one of the surviving assassins.
Tom slid the two tubes together to form a fighting staff, whirled out of his cover and slammed the staff into the nearest opponent. The man doubled over in pain and Tom brought the staff down on his back, then brought it back up to block a swing from the other man. The Guild assassin had produced a sword from his cloak and was swinging it at him. From the corner of his eye he could see Caroline shooting down the corridor, that meant there were more of them. He twirled the staff around, ducked beneath a swing from the assassin and used the staff to sweep his feet from under him.
Turning back around, he saw another man running down the corridor, twin blades drawn. He lifted the staff horizontally to catch the downward swing and rolled backward, slamming him into the wall. The assassin kicked off and seemed to float in the air, then came back down, blades leading. Tom rolled out of the way. He wasn't quite fast enough and one of the swords cut into his shoulder. Rolling back to his feet, Tom stabbed backwards with his staff, catching a second assassin, then swung it back forward. The assassin locked his blade with the staff and wrenched it out of Tom's grip with a superhuman strength that was inherent to most of the Guild members.
As he lost his grip on the staff Tom dropped to avoid a slash from the sword, then fell as a sharp pain seared through his back. The man behind him had managed to get up and buried a dagger between his ribs. He'd probably been aiming for his spinal column, but his drop had deflected the blade into his ribs. The assassin in front of him, however, took advantage of his prone situation and raised his sword for a killing blow. Tom looked up and saw the gleaming blade slice down. He knew he couldn't roll to the side to avoid the blow in time. Time stretched as the blade swung down, the dim corridor lights reflecting off it, casting yellowish highlights on the metal walls.
There was a dull crunching noise, and the Guild assassin collapsed. Walker stood behind him, knife still in hand, and grinned. "Thought you could use a hand." Tom grabbed his staff and hauled himself back up, then watched as Caroline blasted the last assassin out of a jump. "Walker, you better go and tell Alex about the auction. If their assassins are here, then they'll have a battleship around, too. Can you create a diversion?"
A roar from one of the casino rooms cut off any answer. Walker grinned. "Shouldn't be too difficult. The GOLIATH is here, that's always trouble." Tom nodded and indicated down the corridor. "We'll go back and see if we can stir up the rest of them."
As he jumped back into the Vanship, Caroline noticed a red stain in her brother's flight suit. "Hey, Tom – what's that?" He glanced down at his ribs. "A scratch. I'll have it taken care of back on the CHULAINN." She nodded in concern and climbed into the navigator's seat. The Vanship blasted out of the hangar. She shoved aside her concern even as she watchd him wince as the Vanship accelerated.
As they approached the CHULAINN, they could see numerous little flares going off around the ship, indicating her guns were firing. "Crap – we're too late! They're already attacking!" Tom swore and gunned the Vanship's engines. Behind him Caroline produced a signal lamp and signalled the battleship. She hastily decoded the reply. "They're keeping them away from the station, but they've closed the launch bays – apparently one of the Guild fighters tried a kamikaze attack on the beta landing bay. It's on fire. Alpha bay is locked down."
Tom replied by putting the Vanship into a plunge. "Ready the cartridges." She glanced down at the little compartment that housed the ammo cartridges for the small guns that were mounted on the bow of the Vanship. "Ok." She reached down and mounted the cartridge in its slot. "Loaded. You got two hundred shots."
Her brother nodded and pulled the Vanship out of its dive. One of the Guild fighters ended up right in their sights, and he opened fire, the bullets mostly glancing off the fighter's armor, but several managed to penetrate the plating around the Claudia unit and pilot's compartment. The fighter went ballistic. The other Guild ships began to take note of the newcomer, and turned to face them. Tom juked the Vanship to the left to avoid the incoming fire, then opened up again in a steady salvo, and a second star-shaped fighter burst into flames.
The rest of them opened fire, greeting them with a hail of bullets. "Well, we certainly have their attention, Tom." Tom could hear the grin in his sister's voice. She might not like flying to fight, but the thrill of flying was still there. Tom's reply was a wild juke of the Vanship. He put the Vanship into a climb and headed straight for the CHULAINN. "Instruct them to fire at us."
"What?? Have you gone insane? Fire at us?" Caroline was livid. He shot her a quick grin over his shoulder. "Right. At us, where we will be in five seconds. But then fire in seven seconds." She copied his grin as she understood his tactics. "You are evil, you know that?" She relayed the message to the CHULAINN. As their Vanship shot through the air, the CHULAINN's main cannons thundered to life, and for a moment Caroline could see the massive shells zooming past them, then explosions bloomed behind them, hiding the Guild fighters from view. The shockwave from the blast caused the Vanship to buckle, and she could see the muscles in her brother's back straining as he fought for control over the vessel.
Something impacted against the side of the Vanship, and Caroline glanced outside. A large chunk of debris had hit them and buried itself into the hull. From what the damage looked like, it had probably severed some of the wire connections between the steering yoke and the stabilizer fins. It also didn't look as if it was fixable in mid-air. She hoped they were well out of sight of the station, or Walker kept the people inside occupied.
Over the noise of battle she could hear two different engine sounds, then unfamiliar cannons opening fire. Tom kept the Vanship flying in a straight line, and the CHULAINN was mopping up the rest of the Guild fighters and had sent a larger Vanship transport to recover them. For the moment, she enjoyed the vista she had from her position.
She turned back and looked at the station, two silhouettes casting slight shadows on the white clouds. A signal flare shot up from the station, and a myriad of flares seemed to go off on one end of one of the ships. The other went down in a spectacular display of firepower. She couldn't help but chuckle, and heard her brother snort slightly. "Aye, he's got them occupied good. But did he have to sink a battleship for that?"
Caroline laughed. "You know Alex. He likes to show off."
