NINE
Palace Eternia
Lower Levels
4 June 2017
It didn't take long to discover the access point into the lowest levels of the palace from the caverns. Frost's party quickly secured the area, set a tiny locator beacon, and marked the location on the map in their wrist computers.
"Location secure. Proceeding as planned," Frost replied softly into his comm mic. A double click was his only response. He motioned for the others to move out.
Catherine O'Rourke stayed close to the jittery Andre Wardman. Their job was to find a computer core, tap into it, and see what useful information they copy from it. The rest of the team would rescue Adrian Cobretti and the Sorceress; which would create a useful diversion to ensure O'Rourke and Wardman had as much time as possible.
No one had been in this part of the palace in a very long, and the amount of upkeep evident supported that theory. Every fourth light bar in the ceiling was lit. Corrosion spotted the walls and the conduits running along them. There was only enough room to advance single file because of the amount of piping conduits stacks in metal braces floor to ceiling and four deep at each level. Pale yellow light from above cast pools with long dark stretches.
Shoulder-mounted halogen lights dispelled some of the oppressive blackness, but not enough to make the tense humans feel calmer. They were essentially in the enemy's sub basement, never mind the back yard. Avoiding Hiss' forces at this moment was vital until the rest of the platoons got into position.
The corridor ended in a rusting stairwell leading upwards. Frost led his group of six cautiously up to the next sub level. No tracks were used because he feared even the quiet thump-thump of the senor waves would attract undue attention. He was proceeding on the assumption snake men had acute hearing. If so, they could be found out at any moment.
The next level proved to be in the same condition as the one they just left. Even so, they progressed as if the enemy waiting just out of sight. The slow advance consumed precious time, but this entire rescue depended upon the element of surprise. At Sub Level Three they discovered the power core and transfer stations for the palace's entire power distribution network. The older dungeon block was also on that level. Frost sent O'Rourke and Wardman off in search of the main computer core that was also located somewhere within the labyrinth of chambers.
Consulting his wrist computer, Frost planned out the next step in the search. He didn't know where to find the Sorceress, but he was fairly certain he'd find Adrian in the dungeons. Either the old stone dungeons built at the same time the palace had, or in the newer sophisticated one. Frost decided to try to old dungeons first since they were closer.
"Okay," Frost said to the remaining three members of his team. "Let's do it."
Four humans spread out in pairs using hand signals for communication. Catwalks criss-crossed the entire chambers whose boundaries were impossible to see. They gave the incredibly large power core at the level's center a wide berth as they crossed what turned out to be a gigantic chamber. The old dungeons were located on the far side in a northeasterly direction. They heard the screams fifty meters from the entrance to the old dungeons. Frost shivered at the sounds of those tormented souls. Each summoned their courage and snapped one by one through the portal into the ancient part of Palace Eternia.
Mother and daughter eyed one another for the first time with the secret the Sorceress had kept for so very long. Teela's eyes were unreadable while the Sorceress' reflected the wildfires coursing through her veins.
"How…did…you find out? Duncan?" Sorceress said, summoning all her strength to speak loud enough to be heard.
Teela snorted. "My father died the second year after He-Man left to fight the mutants in the future. With He-Man gone there was no one to stand against King Hiss' snake army. Many good men and women died trying"
The bitterness was unmistakable. Teela had never known her biological father. When the Sorceress could not care for her and guard the secrets of Grayskull at the same time, Duncan took her and raised her as his very own. It had been the most painful and saddest moment in the Sorceress' long life.
"No," Teela replied sadly. A solitary tear ran down her left cheek. "I went back to the Oracle of the Crystal Sea. Imagine my surprise when it showed me what I suspected a long time ago. How the last time I went to see the oracle it did show me my mother. And how you wiped those memories from my mind except for the knowledge of how much you loved me." She shook her head trying to hold back the torrent. Her heart ached, torn between her love for this woman despite all that had happened, and the anger at the knowledge having been concealed though for a very good reason.
"I have always loved you. And I am proud of you," Sorceress managed say. It was taking all her strength, but she needed to say it.
Teela snorted, exasperated by the irony of her mother's statement. "Proud? After you, He-Man, and Skeletor disappeared, King Hiss took advantage of the situation and unleashed his snake army. Their rampage lasted for weeks. Many good men and women died fighting them. In the end all I could do was sue for peace. The price of that was to marry him and his army would limit the damage their feeding frenzies would cause.
"Then He-Man shows up five years later broken and reclusive. It took everything I had and that of the Masters still alive to convince him to take up the fight once more. We hit Hiss' weakened forces hard. We won, but took casualties. Then Catra shows up with her fleet. Evidently King Hiss choked on his ego and called for help. We lost in half the time it took to defeat Hiss' army. So once again I am trying to keep the snake army from totally destroying the human population in revenge."
"The tide has shifted," Sorceress replied weakly. "My companions-"
"Spare me, mother. I know about your new friends. They are one planet against an empire. You know as well as I they haven't a chance." Teela stepped close to the helpless woman, whispering, "What can they possibly offer us? Hmm? What can they offer a galaxy subjugated by the Horde? He-Man fell. She-Ra fell. Most of their friends and allies are dead, imprisoned Elders–know-where, or are hiding. So tell me: what do your new friends have to offer?"
For the first time since Hiss bit her, the Sorceress' eyes were clear of the pain ravaging her body. She lifted her head and stared deep into her daughter's eyes. "Hope."
Teela had no response to that. Her heart was suddenly torn between wanting to believe this woman, and the cold hard reality of the current state of affairs in the galaxy. "No. There is no hope left in the galaxy," Teela choked. She turned and fled as the tears started to flow freely down her cheeks.
Sorceress slumped once more in her bonds, her strength gone.
Evil-Lyn had observed the entire episode from across the chamber. She had taken up station behind a pillar to watch. Though she couldn't hear a single word despite the good acoustics, Lyn thought Teela held some sort of place in her heart for the Sorceress. Most people did. This appeared to be something more.
Never mind about that, my daughter, a familiar voice spoke in the witch's mind.
Sighing, Evil-Lyn took one last disdainful look at Hiss' dying prisoner, and turned away. No one should have to suffer like that no matter what side they are on, the witch thought. Bile welled up in her throatat the sight of people slowing being consumed by Hiss' venom. Evil-Lyn knew she was no sweetheart. There were simply some things even she could not stomach, much less condone.
Catherine towed her jittery companion through the maze of pipes, electrical conduits, and catwalks even on the lookout for a snake patrol. She knew they were nearing their target as the power conduits shank to sizes consistent with the power supplies for large computer cores. Though the design was very different from the core in the Horde battleship, Palace Eternia's computer core was no less impressive.
Towering banks filled with a rainbow of colored crystals two feet thick, fifteen feet long, and over twenty feet high filled a five-hundred-square-foot area tucked in the northeast corner of the gigantic power core chamber.
Without a word to one another, the pair set about opening access panels to expose the conduits they needed to tap into. This core was vastly different in terms of technology. It wasn't quite as neat and clean as the core on board the Horde battleship. While this one wasn't dirty, it just did not appear to be as well organized. Pulling fiber optic bundles out proved troublesome. Finding connectors was easy. Getting one's hand in to disconnect them was something else. The lighting inside the casing left much to be desired forcing the pair to use their shoulder lights, which hampered their efforts that much more.
Wardman sat back on his haunches and drew an arm across his sweating brow. All thoughts of being discovered my walking retiles briefly forgotten. "This is impossible." His dismayed look passed over the bird nest of cables; conduits and connectors pulled from the access panels. "I don't know if we can put this back like it was even if we do manage to get into the system."
"Then I'll make it easy," Catherine replied, snapping another connection into the computer hub. "We'll leave it." She grinned broadly, "Got it. We're in."
Wardman sidled around to observe without getting in her way. Catherine deftly manipulated the keyboard, eyes glued to the display. To Wardman, Catherine's invasion into the data system was like a delicate ballet between her hacking program and the security software. One hunted while the other sought to slip quietly past.
His job complete for the moment, the young ensign's thought turned to fears of sudden discovery by a roving snake patrol.
Frost and his companions stole into the dungeons like soundless wraiths covering one another as they advanced. They need not have worried about sound. Tortured screams covered their movements nicely. Dank musty air on the humid side wafted through the old stone corridors. The stench of fear, pain and death was everywhere.
"How are we going to find them in here?" Private Golden whispered into his helmet mike.
The duo flattened themselves against the wall as the others likewise disappeared abruptly. A squad of six shocktroopers marked down the corridor away from the torture chambers. They appeared to be heading in the direction of the cellblocks. Frost indicated with hand signs to follow them. The robots looked like they were in a hurry. There were only two prisoners Frost knew of that could draw that much haste. He hoped this would lead to at least one of them.
He wasn't far off, though the cells he could see into disturbed him greatly. Humans were packed into barred cells like cattle waiting for the slaughter. Moans, weak whimpering, and the odd disparaging cry of despair tore at Frost's heart. No one should be treated like this who didn't deserve it. Frost kept his people out of sight. He didn't want the prisoners to see him, gain sudden hope of freedom, and give him away to the shocktroopers.
The troopers marched to the end of the corridor and turned left. This was the area of solitary cells. Considering the haste of the robots, Frost decided to gamble and waved his people forward. They advanced hushing the suddenly hopeful and muttering prisoners. This may be their only chance to free one of their comrades. Best to take advantage of it while there were only a couple robots to deal with.
Adrian didn't look up when the heavy door was unbarred and slammed open. Two shocktroopers stepped inside, weapons raised.
"On your feet, human," one trooper ordered, gesturing with its laser rifle.
The other troopers stepped forward and nudged him roughly with the muzzle of its weapon. "On you feet," the robot ordered.
"Don't touch me," Adrian snarled quietly. Anyssa stayed away per his request, though she clearly did not understand why.
Quickly tiring of prodding the uncooperative human, one trooper stepped closer to jerk him to his feet by grabbing a shoulder. The instant the hand landed, Adrian exploded into action. Anyssa was struck dumb as her cellmate's arms transformed into larger, brackish carapace-like appendages. Bone claws snapped out to spear the robots through the chest. Deftly, Adrian snapped the claws back into his arms and snatched the rifle from the toppling robot on his right. Adrian stepped past the dead robots and added to their fall with elbow shoves. Completing the transformation to inhuman monster, Adrian stepped into the corridor, laser rifle leading the way.
Frost and his companions crept up on the target cell, weapons ready, and nerves strung tight. When the creature stepped from the cell the group almost fired out of reflex because the thing looked like a shocktrooper at first glance. Likewise, Adrian almost fired because he feared more robots waiting outside. Both sides snapped their weapons upward simultaneously.
Reverting to human form, Adrian growled, "You're late."
"Traffic," Frost growled back.
The pair played the situation off as if it had all been a part of some sort of pre-arranged plan, which it most certainly was not. Anyssa thought she was just beginning to understand Adrian and his people through the long talked they had shared. No upon seeing more of his companions, she started to rethink what she thought she knew.
Frost whistled appreciatively when Anyssa cautiously stepped from the cell, the other shocktrooper's weapon clutch in her slim hands.
"Umm, that's not the Sorceress," the ebony-skinned soldier replied in a hushed tone.
"Well, at least your eyesight hasn't deteriorated," Adrian replied. He introduced Anyssa to his companions. "Anyssa, this is Corporal Frost. Frost. Anyssa."
"Charmed," Frost said absently. "Where's the Sorceress?"
Adrian shrugged. "Last I saw she was in chained up in the palace throne room. She wasn't in very good shape. She looked like Hiss bit her."
Anyssa had been trying to inject something into the conversation, but Frost kept waving her away. Now, she jumped in forcefully. "Listen! If Adrian is right, and the Sorceress has been bitten, she doesn't have much time left. Adrian told me about her mysterious ailment. Hiss' venom will only compound the problem and kill her that much quicker."
"That's all great and fine, but we are not familiar with the palace layout. We could stumble around here for hours and never find the throne room," Frost replied angrily. "We've wasted enough time as it is getting in here."
Anyssa's features hardened into the mask of a veteran warrior. "Then you have another problem." She indicated the rows of cells and hushed, but excited voices coming from within. "You can't leave them behind."
Adrian and his companions exchanged grim looks.
"Look – " Frost started.
"No! You look! The Snake Men feed on raw flesh. Freshly killed raw flesh. You starting to get the picture?" Anyssa snapped.
"Food," Adrian interjected.
"We don't have the time or the capabilities to get them out. The best we can do is get some out and hope to come back for the rest." Frost said, heart suddenly tearing over the grim decision at hand.
"And just how do we do that? Ask them to draw straws?" Adrian shook his head. "I need to find the Sorceress. Let Markson figure this out."
"I know the way, but we need to find the armory first. I need my weapons." Anyssa stared off for the exit from the grim dungeon. She paused at the end of the dimly lit corridor to pointedly stare back at Adrian.
Sighing heavily, Frost said, "Go. I'll catch up after I tell the colonel."
Catherine O'Rourke and Andre Wardman completed their raid on the palace computers just as Colonel Markson began moving Alpha platoon into the dungeons. The pair listened quietly to Frost's report over the tac net, and the colonel's fuming over the complication posed by the imprisoned civilians they could not leave behind.
Colonel Markson led Alpha platoon into the dungeons with the intent of saving as many people as he could while Sergeant Parks led Beta platoon to the massive hangar area where Lieutenant Garber and Jake Rockwell would be making their rather loud entrance to retrieve Beta platoon plus whomever else made it there. Markson would then lead the freed prisoners into the caverns where he hoped to evade pursuit.
They probably didn't have a snowball's chance in Hell of pulling it off, but leaving these people to their fate was something Colonel Markson just could not due despite he gruff complaints. He knew it had to be done. Those under his command knew that he knew. All they could do was make it happen. Before ducking through the doorway leading into the fetid dungeons, Colonel Markson paused long enough to watch O'Rourke and Wardman disconnect their equipment, pack it up, and head off in the direct Beta platoon took. Once assured the pair was safely away with their stolen information, Markson put on his game face, and joined his troops.
Corporal Frost had already departed to catch up to Adrian and his new friend. The rest of Frost's team was busy opening cells and gesturing for the prisoners to come out. Markson couldn't understand half of what the freed people were saying despite the Sorceress' assurances the planet's standard language was something remarkably similar to Earth's English.
Disheveled, unwashed, and miserable men, women, and even a few frightened children shuffled past their saviors. Alpha platoon guided the wretches in the direction of the caverns. The soldiers silently hoped whatever Adrian had in mind to do getting the Sorceress free would wait long enough to get all these poor people safely away. Everyone knew that would only happen in a perfect world. This one was far from that.
"Keep them moving," Markson spoke quietly into his helmet mike. Whatever it is you have in mind, Cobra, just give us a few more minutes before unleashing World War Three, he prayed silently.
Summer Throne Room
Palace Eternia
4 June 2017
Adrian was having problems on the way to the Royal Hall. His thoughts grew disjointed, jumbled, like a television channel constantly changing every few seconds. Fortunately, his subconscious mind could maintain the shape of the Alien he was using to scale the near shear walls of the corridors and the exterior surfaces. He darted among the shadows like a wraith searching for its prey. Death was on the prowl like the inevitability of the fall of night.
It took only a matter of minutes for him to locate the redesigned Royal Hall. Torches burned inside casting an eerie yellow-orange glow. The nightmare crawled around the exterior above the row of pillars looking for the ideal entry point. The eyeless head swung back and forth looking for hostiles in the immediate area. So far the alarm had yet to be raised. That would change after Adrian made his move.
The creature crawled up the dome's exterior to the top. It paused long enough to look to the east were the faint rays of light were just starting to glow. Dawn was not to far off. There wasn't much time left to rescue the Sorceress and get her to Grayskull. Their plan was about as seat-of-the-pants as you could get. The one thing they had going for them was the Snake Men believing these humans from Earth were not a threat. They were about to find out how wrong they were.
Adrian turned away from the encroaching dawn and set about finding the perfect spot from which to strike. He saw King Hiss sitting upon his throne with the human woman wearing the snake armor, the one identified as General Rattlor, and the witch Evil-Lyn. Two shocktroopers stood guard near the entrance with weapons braced across their chests.
Silent as the grave, the inhuman creature made its way over the lip of the dome with its open center giving an awesome view of the clear night sky. A network of beams kept the pillars supported as well as maintaining a proper base for the dome to rest upon. The creature darted soundlessly out across the thick beams in the direction of the Hiss' prisoner. The Sorceress looked a lot worst than when he'd seen her yesterday. Adrian could almost see the specter of Death waiting patiently in the background.
"I have waited a long time for this," Evil-Lyn whispered within earshot of the dying woman. "Now that the moment is at hand…"
"Does…this moment…give you…satisfaction?" Sorceress responded weakly.
Evil-Lyn pondered the question a moment. "It should. But it doesn't. No one should have to suffer like this."
"Enough!" King Hiss said, rising from the throne. "Dawn is nearly upon us. Finish this."
Evil-Lyn raised her right hand, the glow of her considerable magical power coming to bear. And yet, she hesitated. The Sorceress weakened as she was, curled her hands into fists, used the shackles to pull herself up straight, and stared Evil-Lyn down. Hiss was poised to threaten the witch with the same fate if she didn't comply when something plopped onto her left shoulder.
Annoyed at the sight of having her clothes soiled, Evil-Lyn scooped up a bit of the sticky goop with her right hand, sniffed the semi-translucent mucus. Cautiously, she turned her gaze upward – and nearly fainted. Perched upon the thick timber almost directly over her squatted a nightmare straight out of Hell. Translucent lips peeled back from razor teeth, which parted to reveal a second mouth. The thing hissed like some giant feline. Though it had no eyes to speak of that elongated head tracked the shocked witch as she backed away.
King Hiss stood rooted in place. Not out of fear, more like out of curiosity. He knew instantly whom it really was dropping soundlessly from the rafters between Evil-Lyn and the Sorceress. Though he was irritated over having the final demise of the Sorceress of Grayskull interrupted, King Hiss wondered once again what things his army could do with such a being leading the way. Hiss knew from the recordings taken by the mind sifter that Adrian Cobretti would never join the Snake Men. Ironically, the Serpent King considered that a waste.
Anyssa caught up to Frost short of the entrance to the throne room. She had stopped off at the armory to retrieve her sword, bow, and quiver. Those weapons were slung across her back in favor of a laser rifle. She also liberated several bandoliers of power cells. The pair slid up to the entrance from either side. The shocktroopers stationed just inside were clearly visible. Taking careful aim, Anyssa and Frost awaited Adrian's move.
They didn't have to wait long. Evil-Lyn's horrified gasp Jerked Anyssa'a attention to the spider-like creature perched in the rafters. It slid soundlessly to the floor keeping itself between the evil witch and the Sorceress. Frost risked a quick glance, nodded to his companion. The time was now.
Laser fire snapped Evil-Lyn around despite the hissing monstrosity advancing upon her. Both shocktroopers guarding the entrance collapsed from laser bolts fired near simultaneously. A black man and a warrior woman darting inside quickly followed those shots. Taking everything in at a glance, the pair slipped laterally along the wall to their right toward the prisoner chained between the pillars.
The alien monster took a step toward Evil-Lyn, but Rattlor's booming shout brought it around instantly.
"CHANGELING!" General Rattlor roared in challenge.
Adrian hissed in return, and easily leaped across the fifteen feet separating them. General Rattlor had prepared himself for such a move. He hadn't counted on the savagery of the bold attack, however, and both went down in a tangle of arms and legs. As the titans rolled away from Evil-Lyn they scratched and clawed at one another. The Alien's spiked tail thrashed about slamming against Rattlor's broad back to no avail. Finally, the serpent general wedged his feet up against the ribbed chest of his foe, and heaved with all his inhuman might. Rattler flung the creature a full thirty feet, and then some. It hit the polished marble hard cracking several thick tiles, and rolled to an abrupt halt at the dais steps. The spiked tail halted the roll by slamming its point into the stair King Hiss just happened to be standing on. Hiss merely watched the battle with mild interest, glancing momentarily at the tail imbedded in the carpeted stone step between his feet.
Frost squeezed off a burst from his pulse rifle at Evil-Lyn, who had started back toward the helpless Sorceress. Caseless titanium rounds bounced harmlessly off the hastily erected magic shield the witch threw up. The globe capping the scepter in her left hand glowed fiercely.
"Your pathetic weapons are no match for my power," Evil-Lyn sneered, eyes flashing.
Anyssa paused, laser rifle pointed in the witch's general direction.
"You still wish to challenge me?" the arrogant woman spat.
"Thinking about it," Anyssa responded. From the small of her back she pulled a throwing dagger constructed of Etherium. With a flip of the wrist, Anyssa grasped the blade, aimed, and let it fly.
The dagger tumbled end over end, struck the magic shield point-first, penetrated, and tumbled one more time before slamming into the globe capping Evil-Lyn's staff. The globe shattered on impact. Evil-Lyn stumbled backward more out of surprise than any real pain.
Frost slung his rifle and set to work. In moments, he had the Sorceress' ankles released. He was working on the manacles when Anyssa joined him. She kept a weary eye on the witch and her rifle at the ready.
"Where did you learn that?" Frost asked tightly. The manacle trapping the Sorceress' left wrist was giving him trouble.
"Simple physics, or so I'm told."
The left manacle finally released. Frost took the arm across his shoulders, and slipped his right arm around the woman's waist to support her. Using the carry strap to brace it, Frost brought the pulse rifle out. He couldn't fire accurately with the strap braced from the left shoulder, but he could lay down a titanium spray. Anyssa freed the other wrist in moments, took the arm across her shoulders and assisted Frost in guided the Sorceress out.
Rattlor quickly gained his feet and faced the most dangerous threat in the room. Evil-Lyn's staff exploded behind him, but he dared not remove his attention from this biomechanical monster even for an instant. Normally he didn't resort to such crude tactics, but the situation demanded it. The razor-sharp knife he rarely used was drawn now and brandished at the ready.
In response, Adrian shifted to another form. The Alien grew indistinct, blurry, reforming into something else. King Hiss grudgingly grew impressed with this human. That said a lot since He-Man hardly made a tenth of an impression on him. The transformation was completed in moments, leaving the towering bulk of a syngenor standing where the Alien once did. Bone claws snapped out from under the carapace covering the forearms as the creature moved to greet the bulky serpent general for the second round.
The titans launched at one another with cataclysmic force. Bone claws stabbed. Razor-sharp dagger flashed and darted. Muscled rippled. Challenges were roared and met by counter-roars. The humans were forced to the sidelines, as the entire throne room became the arena for battle. Inhuman muscles smashed and pounded trying to reduce their respective targets to putty.
Frost and Anyssa managed to make their way to the entrance. Frost had to shout to be heard over the cacophony of personal combat. "Save it! We have what we want. Let's go!"
Much as he wanted to finish this fight, from which only one could survive, the objective was what mattered. Adrian snapped Rattlor forward and just as quickly threw the suddenly of balance Snake Men away. But not without leaving a souvenir of the occasion. Adrian resumed human form before activating his armor by touching the glowing medallion hung around his neck.
General Rattlor rose to his feet once more ready for anything. Something wet trickled down his left cheek in tiny rivulets. Rattlor slapped a hand to the wetness. It came a green with his blood. Realizing the insult, Rattlor roared, "I will make you suffer for this, human!"
Pointing with his plasma rifle, Adrian responded, "Then it begins."
He and his companions disappeared with the dying Sorceress of Grayskull. Snake Men charged into the throne room less than a minute after the humans had departed. More could be heard outside.
"Find those humans. Kill his companions, but I want the changeling alive so I can tear him apart with my bare hands!" General Rattlor roared, sending the arriving serpents scattering for their lives in the face of his unbridled rage.
Quietly, King Hiss returned to his throne. He didn't do too much about the battle or the rescue of the Sorceress, which surprised Evil-Lyn. She dared not say anything after seeing the look in the serpent king's eyes. King Hiss had really been studying the enemy. General Rongar tried to warn him about these people from Earth. Hiss grudgingly admitted that Rongar might have been right.
Turning to his pensive bride, Hiss purred, "Go and bring me their heads. Leave the shape-changer for General Rattlor. If the Sorceress still lives, I will cure her for you, lock her in falcon form, and you may have her as your pet."
Steeling herself, Teela rushed forward brushing past a fuming Evil-Lyn. Teela snapped out orders to the first Snake Man she saw, picking up a few shocktroopers along the way.
An unsettling silence fell upon the shattered throne room as King Hiss sorted out what was going on, and tried to fathom what the objective was these humans had in mind.
Near Palace Eternia
Lieutenant Garber and Jake Rockwell listened quietly to the tactical net for the moment when they were to strike. There was no set time. They just had to listen and hope they didn't miss it.
Alarms could be heard from Colonel Markson's open mike. "All right! That's it. We're outta here!" Colonel Markson ordered. "Alpha Team, move these people out. Beta Team, stand by at the rally point." There was a brief pause followed by a low grumble. "Why couldn't Cobra have waited just a few more minutes?"
Frost reported in he had the 'package,' and was on his way to the rally point. The sounds of laser fire and several explosions punctuated the background. There was also the unmistakable sound Cobretti discharging his plasma rifle.
The APC powered up at Garber's command. "Power up, Jake. We're rolling."
Jake flipped the power switches bringing the War Machine to life. Both vehicles tore off in unison, tires ripping up the prairie lands as they struggled for speed. In his magnified display Jake could see Snake Men running around the ramparts of the palace in confusion. Both vehicles were running dark, their drivers utilizing the starlight sensors for navigation. That gave them precious seconds to not only get up to speed, but to close the distance before the perimeter defenses could be brought to bear.
The Snake Men may have been in confusion due to the rescue of the Sorceress, but they didn't take long in seeing the alien vehicles speeding toward the palace on what was clearly an attack run. Blistering red laser bolts lanced down from batteries designed for a large-scale assault. Fiery mushroom clouds erupted along the track the assault vehicles followed. The explosions ripped the quiet night asunder shocking villages awake for miles in every direction.
Yellow-orange flashes rippled across the landscape in the wake of the hurtling machines. One came close enough to break the War Machine from contact with the ground. Jake fought the controls like a veteran rolling with the pitching, jumping, and swaying until the War Machine landed on all eight wheels once more.
Jake refocused on the massive hangar doors set in the south side of the mountain upon which the palace had been constructed. The heads-up display reflected the dwindling distance to target. Wings laying flat against the machine's flanks snapped out and twisted parallel to the ground. Brief flashes of energy gave birth to missile drums on pylons out near the tips. Missile racks formed on the inboard pylons, each loaded with four Hellfire missiles armed with plasma warheads.
Both vehicles made it to within five hundred yards of the massive hangar doors, close enough the laser batteries could not traverse low enough to continue firing at them. Jake got an immediate steady tone of a target lock, and mashed the firing trigger. Eight Hellfire missiles roared and leapt from the inner pylon racks. Smoke trails intertwined as the rockets sped toward the massive hangar doors. The impacts seconds after launch were near simultaneous. Armored nosecones punching into the thick armor plate, and detonated. Plasma fire vaporized metal in eye-tearing splendor leaving gaping wounds behind for the assault vehicles to punch through. Ravaged, twisted, and melted remains of the once imposing barriers were further tormented are two armored vehicles slammed through the holes. Shrapnel flew in all directions as they skidded to a halt deep in the cavernous hanger filled with Horde tanks, fighters, air and land transports, assaults carriers, and maintenance bays.
The timing was fortuitous. No sooner had the vehicles stopped than another set of armored doors thirty feet in front of them parted. When the gap was wide enough, Catherine O'Rourke and Andre Wardman darted through making a Beeline for the APC. Flashes lit the corridor as a fierce running battle worked its way toward the waiting vehicles.
Suddenly, humans darted through the portal, turned and waited. More armored humans jumped through closely followed by Frost and Anyssa now entirely supporting the Sorceress. Adrian followed a few paces behind with the remaining soldiers of Beta Platoon.
Adrian paused long enough to fire a blazing shot from his cannon back down the corridor. He caught a brief glimpse of a flame-haired woman in serpent armor leading a swarm of snakes and shocktroopers prior to the canon vomiting boiling plasma energy. The humanoid woman dove through a doorway just in the nick of time to avoid being vaporized by the blast. The snakes and robots trailing close behind were not as lucky.
Snakes began appearing seemingly from out of nowhere, and all at once. Rifle and laser fire deafened both human and serpent. Snake Men dropped from the rafters landing on both invading vehicles. Every one was promptly blown off by a burst from a pulse rifle. War Machine's gatling gun roared defiantly, spraying twenty-millimeter slugs through the entrance to suppress enemy fire.
Frost tossed his rifle to Adrian, who brought up the rear guard, and hurried to the APC's ramp as quickly as possible. Jake's surprised shout over the tactical net snapped Adrian around. A Snake Man had landed on top of the crew compartment and was trying to claw his way in to Jake Rockwell. Adrian fired a quick burst into the closest enemy on the ground, snapped around to blast the creature atop the War Machine into oblivion, then turned back to the knot of serpents and shocktroopers attempting to storm the hangar.
A fountain of green blood sprayed the left side of the assault machine, but Jake paid it no mind. For every one they dropped, three more seemed to take its place. Battle drones were starting to appear blasting away at them with their dreaded railguns. Vapor trails littered the air as fleeing humans continued to pile into the waiting carrier. Miraculously no one took a hit.
Private Sanchez bounded up the personnel ladder on the right side, paused at the hatch to shout to her companion. "Drake! C'mon!"
Drake turned from the charging snakes he just shot down when another dropped to the ground ten feet from him. It hissed and spat a deadly stream of corrosive juices straight into Drake's face. Drake tried futilely to avoid it, but it was too late. Acid ate away flesh on contact. His dying scream mingled with Sanchez's scream from the carrier hatch. Drake died never knowing his reflexive pull of the pulse rifle's trigger ripped his killer open from groin to throat.
Lieutenant Garber dragged the woman back inside. "Forget him. He's gone!" Then he threw Sanchez bodily into the waiting arms of other members of the platoon.
O'Rourke jumped forward to secure the hatch.
A loud bump on the vehicle's nose, quickly followed by shattering glass, and a surprised cry from the driver's compartment. Garber snatched up the shotgun he kept handy for close encounters. He stepped into the forward compartment, and slammed the muzzle into the gaping jaws of a snake trying to worm its way though the shattered window.
"Eat this!" A pull of the trigger liberated the creature's brains from the confines of its skull. Garber punched the driver's armored shoulder. "GO!"
Adrian threw open the hatch to the driver's compartment, clambering in, and slammed the hatch. Jake continued to lay down suppression fire with the gatling gun as the APC backed out. Adrian didn't both with strapping in. He switched primary driving control back to his station, and began backing the War Machine out.
Teela picked herself up aft diving out of the way of plasma blast. She had a few bruises and her legs were red from the heat of the plasma fire, but she was otherwise unhurt. She arrived in the hangar with a collection of Snake Men and shocktroopers just in time to watch the Earth vehicles back out the way they came in. Shocktroopers, Snake Men, and battle drone braved murderous laser fire from the smaller vehicle to her right in a futile effort to put a stop to the escape. She was forced to duck and cover again when that little vehicle launched a salvo of small rockets from winglets on its flanks. Explosions rippled throughout the battlefield momentarily pausing the counterattack. As clouds of smoke wafted about the chamber, a renewed charge was mounted. They died abruptly in the area immediately outside the shattered hangar doors when one of the two missing Earther dropships released a Hades bomb right on target.
The boiling flames matched the boiling emotions inside Teela. She stared blankly at the flames inwardly wondering why these humans had risked so much to rescue two people, losing one in the process. It just didn't make sense. In the days of the Royal Guard they, too, had the motto of never leaving anyone behind, but there were limits to that. While the Sorceress had been liberated, if for no other reason than to die free, that couldn't have been the only objective.
Realization dawned on Teela, who abruptly whirled away from the clouds of choking smoke and scattered debris, and dashed down the corridor knocking snakes and shocktroopers out of the way in her haste. The aftermath sounds and smells from the battle faded as the former Captain of the Royal Guard pushed deeper into the mountain palace. Somewhere along the way she picked up a discarded laser rifle, fully charged. Teela slowed as she approached the dungeons. That familiar smell of alien propellants drifted on the still air. Dreading what she would find, Teela slid along the left wall up to the heavy iron doors leading to the cellblocks. Taking a deep breath to settle her nerves, and hefting the laser rifle, Teela gripped the handle of the opposite door and yanked it open.
Despite the size and weight of the iron barriers, they opened easily on well-oiled bearings. Teela darted inside when the gap was wide enough – and stopped dead in her tracks. The rifle muzzle drooped as shock set in. It dangled at the woman's side in seconds as blue eyes took in the stunning scene. It was too unimaginable to comprehend; yet Teela's eyes did not deceive her. A cold, creeping numbness settled over her as the implications for her people set in.
All the cells stood open and empty; their prisoners liberated.
Laser bolts whipped past the liberated prisoners and their alien saviors to impact the walls, ceiling, and ground. They only lost two prisoners to the murderous fire chasing them through the passages, but that was two too many for Colonel Markson. At one point during the wild flight into the caverns, he wondered how he'd gotten into this mess. Pursuing enemy forces broke up the colonel's musing. His platoons were well away with the rescued slaves so all he and his eight companions had to was fight a retreating battle to give them as much time as possible.
They're really coming at us, sir," Private Road said grimly. "I don't think we can hold them much longer. Even if we use that special ammo we can't hold more than a few minutes."
"I know," the colonel agreed. "Just do the best you can." Privately he wondered where the hell those three Guardians were.
Shocktroopers disgorged from the corridor leading into the cavern in a veritable tidal wave. A sea of black, armored figures forged ahead in the dim light of the caves using sensors to guide them. Despite this advantage, the robots had trouble locking in on their quary. The armor the enemy wore seemed to blend in with the irregular contours of the rock walls, a co-incidental occurrence, but a useful one. Evidently these alien soldiers had shut down any electronic devises they carried which might give them away.
Colonel Markson and his eight soldiers lay in wait for the growing sea of robots. All lay flat on the ground, or used stalagmites, corners or shallow niches for cover. There were way to many for them to make an effective diversion against, and then pull out without some or all of them getting killed. Grenades and other more powerful weapons in their arsenal could not be used even if they had brought them from the APC. The explosions might have brought the ceiling down on top of them.
The fugitives opened fire when the range was almost pointblank. The first three rows of robots exploded in showers of sparks and flying debris. Limbs were blasted apart, heads exploded, and shattered torsos littered the ground. Red laser bolts flashed in the gloom as the surprised machines fought back viciously. Laser bolts filled the air like a lethal red rainstorm. Markson and his people tried to return fire as much as possible, but the amount of lethal energy sizzling the air did not allow for many opportunities. Having pinpointed most of the enemy positions, the Horde robots advanced once more. With battle drones armed with railguns moving up from behind to support them, the shocktroopers would make short work of this delaying force, and press on to capture or destroy the remaining soldiers hiding deeper in the network of caves. The skirmish line marched past a side tunnel on the Horde right flank. None of the machines paused to scan that tunnel for an enemy laying in wait.
Their mistake.
Blue laser bolts lanced from the dark passageway to explode into two shocktroopers. More began raining down on the right flank as Jeromy Ironwood in his Blitzkrieg armor strode out to meet them. Two triple-clawed armatures on extension assemblies tore into the robot formations from Jeromy's right. Adamantium jaws clamped down on hapless robots and crushed them with ease. Last to arrive was Sonya in her brightly painted Hawk armor. Her beam spear led the way. Green thermo-energy sliced and diced shocktroopers as if they were made of tissue paper. Hawk and Claw waded into the sea of black armor under the covering fire of Blitzkrieg's laser rifles.
"It's about time they showed up," Markson muttered, angry at their dramatic arrival. He opened the comm channel the suits operated on. "What took you so long? Waiting for them to shoot us up before you got into the fight?"
"You run two thousand yards in a suit like this while avoiding Snake Men and Horde robots, and see how quickly you arrive," Sonya shot back. Her words were barely intelligible because her Russian accent became quite prevalent when she was agitated. "You are lucky we came at all."
"Children," Brad cut in sharply. "Fight the Horde now. Kill each other later."
The battle was over in a tense, adrenaline-charged minute. No robot was left standing or intact. The silent following the firefight seemed somehow more deafening than the battle. Sonya's keen sensors picked up the unmistakable sounds of more robots heading their way. By the sounds of the footfalls, an army of bigger machines was on the way. The tiny knot of humanity retreated deeper into the caves where the rest of the platoons guarded the rescued prisoners. Unfortunately, the situation got worst.
They had inadvertently run down a dead end passage. Sonya's sensors showed the second wave was close enough that they didn't have time to get out of their current location and retreat further. Colonel Markson's command would have to make its stand here. The freed prisoners were ushered to the back wall and told to hunker down to minimize making themselves a target. Jon spread Alpha platoon evenly to either side of the chamber they were trapped in. The three Guardians took up station in the center out in the open since their armor would sufficiently protect them long enough to get close and tear the drones apart with their melee weapons. As the humans and their charges settled down to await their enemies, the sounds of many heavy objects clanking in their direction could be heard. The closed the machines approached, the more panicky the civilians became.
A sudden cry from the civilians snapped Colonel Markson about. A portion of the back wall had vanished. A tunnel no one had seen before stood exposed for all to see. What drew the exclamation was columns of armed shocktroopers marching out under the direction of a human wrapped in shadow. The Guardians tensed for battle, but did not attack because even though the troopers poured into the chamber, they began taking up positions to repel the approaching enemy. Perplexed, Colonel Markson rose from his niche and cautiously approached the man.
Before the colonel could speak, the shadowed man replied, "If you wish to survive this night, come with me." He motioned to the troops behind him to begin moving the rescued civilians into the hidden tunnel.
As the man stepped out of the way, his features briefly caught the light from the lights attached to the pulse rifles. Weather-wore features, wrinkled brown eyes, and brown hair and beard liberally sprinkled with gray gazed about the scene before turning away. The mystery man followed the last of the civilians without waiting to see if Colonel Markson would follow.
Weighing the choices at hand, it was an easy decision. Stand and fight the approaching machines, and die. Or go with this mystery man and maybe die later. What was the Sorceress once said to Jon after the battle on the sanctuary moon? Where there was life, there was hope?
Putting on his best game face, Jon ordered his people to pack up and follow their rescuers into the tunnel. The shocktroopers retreated with them until only several robots, the colonel, and the cloaked man remained.
"Seal the tunnel," the aged man spoke gruffly to the machines.
"Yes, sir," the troopers responded immediately.
Once they were safely away from the exit, laser fire rang out followed by exploding rock, the sounds definite sounds of a cave-in, then ominous silence. Dust wafted through the pools of light cast by the pulse rifles. The cloaked man whirled away from the scene and led the way to safety.
It had been ten minutes since they blasted their way into and out of Palace Eternia. Adrian Cobretti, like most everyone else in the group, could remember the escape as little more than a stream of events all blurred together. He couldn't even remember the armor shifting its form, shrinking to the configuration of battle armor rather than a suit of power armor, to fit inside the War Machine's driver's compartment. He drove along side the APC as if he, like his machine, were on autopilot. Jake kept a careful watch for a return engagement by the Snake Men. Once Hiss figured out where they were headed, and one didn't have to be a genius to figure it out, he would likely throw whatever was the closest at them. So far – nothing.
The Sorceress lay on the troop seats toward the back where she would be out of the way should the need arise to employ the APC's defensive systems. No one in either platoon was a fully trained medtech so the best they could do was use the self-aid training to make the Sorceress as comfortable as possible. Andre Wardman kept out of the way, holding onto an overhead rack to steady himself in the pitching carrier. At one point the stricken woman's eyes opened, she moaned from the terrible pain she must be experiencing, and briefly locked gazes with him. In those eternal moments Andre understood the Sorceress' suffering. Pain of a kind no one could know without firsthand experience was reflected in those blue eyes. The spider web of veins standing out on her face, neck, and hands throbbed in tune with every heartbeat. Private Joanna Hansen knelt by her side just then, and the Sorceress looked away. Shaken, Andre watched for a moment more before struggling forward.
"How is she?" Lieutenant Garber asked; his eyes riveted to the sensor display mounted between the driver seats.
"Not good," Andre answered. "She looks so frail compared to a day ago. She's supposed to be immortal, though."
"Everyone has their weak points, kid," Frost put in.
"It's not right," Andre persisted, tears welling up in his eyes. "The Sorceress is so kind and gentle. She doesn't deserve this. It's just not fair."
Frost shook his head. "No one ever said life was fair."
Feril's voice broke in over the tac net. "We got fast-movers coming in from the east. We make out three pairs of Horde fighters."
Private Samuel Johnson kept one on the terrain and the other on the sensor display. "Jake, you see any ground units ahead?" he called across to Jake Rockwell.
Jake scanned his active sensor boards. "Nothing, Sam. They may be powered down."
Private Johnson pursed his lips grimly. Their flight from the palace took them around fields and past sleepy villages. Nothing moved out there in the inky darkness, as they roared ever closer to the Graylands and Castle Grayskull. By the map display above the sensor board, they were now less than forty kilometers from the Graylands. Despite weaving around fields and the occasional village, they made pretty good time in the past three hours.
Garber caught sight of a bright flash somewhere off to the west. He shifted his gaze and waited. Another flash shattered the night. The brewing storm rolling in off the Ocean of Gnarl was too far away to hear the thunder, but the intensity of those flashes, and the increasing number, meant a nasty one was blowing their way.
"Great. Enemies in the skies, a storm in the west, and an unknown area ahead; can this possibly get any better?" Garber grumbled.
"Be careful what you wish for," Frost cautioned.
The fighters broke from their assigned patrol vectors once their sensors lit on the speeding vehicles. Feril reported the inbounds as she and her wingman peeled off to take on one pair. Johnson and Cobretti veered away from one another to reduce the risk of colliding through evasive maneuvers, and to make it harder for the aerial units to strafe them.
Geysers of flame shattered the darkness as intense bolts of coherent light blasted craters in the grassland tracking toward the speeding slivers of metal. None connected with the highly mobile targets. The fighters screamed by at nearly mach one, angling away to come around for another run. Flaming columns erupted around the War Machine, but none struck its formidable armor.
"Wardman!" Frost shouted to be heard over the roar of alien fighters. When the young man jerked around, he continued, "Go to the aft storage and get a grip stock and a BCU."
The ensign hurried off immediately, and stopped after several steps. "A what?"
"Cigar box-looking thing with a handle on it. Little round thing looks like a coffee can," Frost described calmly despite the urgency of the situation.
The Horde fighters reached the apex of their turn and were now screaming inbound. Wardman popped up next to the ebony-skinned Marine with the items in hand. At Frost's direction, Andre twisted the coffee can into the grip stock. Frost then directed the young man to go back into the aft compartment, pop three latches on a Javelin missile, and bring it back up front. The pair snapped the grip stocks in place, yanked open the personnel doors on either side, and leaned out. Thumb triggers activated electronic systems as the enemy continued to dive. Winking lights seemly harmless from a distance shattered that observation as deadly blossoms of flame and smoke marched across the land once more.
This time the fighters bore down on them head-on. Eruptions forced Frost and Wardman to duck inside away from flying debris. Frost flipped the targeting sight over to the opposite side, laid the missile tube over the right shoulder, and took aim. Out of the corner of his eye, Frost spied Wardman still facing forward.
"Wardman!" When the ensign turned his way, Frost ordered, "Turn around."
Wardman mimics Frost's modifications to his own weapon and raised it to his left shoulder. That was the one important improvement over the original weapon system. Making the attachments ambidextrous made for easier utilization in a pinch. Like now.
"I got a lock," Andre declared moments after thumbing the activator switch."
"Locked on," Frost added.
"Shoot 'em in the ass," Lieutenant Garber ordered grimly.
Both javelin missiles roared from their tubes in unison. Twin smoke trails quickly disappeared into the cloudy night sky. The glow from two sets of drive engines veered and dodged to escape the sudden threats soaring in from behind. Evasive maneuvers failed in the face of excellent inferior Earther technology. Fiery blossoms marked the impacts several thousand feet in the air. Flaming pieces glittered briefly like meteors before going out and hitting the ground.
Flashing a big toothy grin, and dropping his empty weapon on the deck, Frost announced, "That is how you reach out a touch someone!"
Lieutenant Gambini stuck close to Feril's wing as they pursued the second pair of fighters. Feril got close enough at on point in the chase to pepper the trailing enemy craft with a burst from the gatling canon, but the Horde armor proved too strong for their ballistic weapons. This forced Feril and Gambini to trail further behind their prey in order to increase the range for the missile guidance systems to function. Horde fighters proved to be just as agile in atmosphere as in the vacuum of space. Feril knew all too well what the enemy could do having seen her last wingman blown out of the sky. She vowed this time would be different.
The Horde fighter began to pour on speed. If Feril didn't fire soon, he's get away and get in behind his pursuers. In seconds, the range opened to the minimum necessary for the dropship's missile targeting system to lock-on. The beeping tone in her helmet turned into a steady tone the moment a lock-on was achieved. Feril didn't hesitate. A squeeze of the trigger sent a twelve-foot missile rocketing from each upper pod. White smoke traced across the predawn gloom toward the target. The pilot finally realized the danger and tried desperately to evade, but it was too late.
A blinding yellow-white fireball turned night into day for brief seconds, before dying out. Gambini took the lead with Feril on his wing in pursuit of the other Horde fighter. Feril was prepared to offer up pointers, but she quickly discovered Gambini had done his homework. She only gave advice and encouragement on two occasions ending in another fireball lighting the night sky.
"Good job, Gambini! Now let's get back to the others," Feril replied, turning veering away from the glittering embers of the destroyed fighter.
The remaining enemy fighters were lining up for a strafing running on the War Machine. The pair was too far away for Feril and Gambini to get there in time.
Castle Grayskull
The Graylands, Eternia
5 June 2017
Dawn was beginning to brighten the eastern sky. The start of another oppressive day under the brutal dominion of King Hiss and his army of Snake Men began much like any other. For most it was just another dreary day of staying out of the eye of the serpents. For Adrian Cobretti and his companions, it was the continuation of a struggle not only to survive, but also to save the life of one of their own.
"I see you," Adrian whispered.
"I don't see anything," Jake replied, scanning his sensor board again. "They could be using passive sensors."
"Integrate your armor," Adrian told him. His armor created a helmet complete with reticule over the right eye. In that four-inch circle Adrian could clearly see the passive sensor beams emanating from what appeared to be tanks.
Jake whistled when he saw what his companion did. He immediately went to power up the missile systems, but Adrian told him to hold. They believed their target was unaware. Best to leave it that way until the last possible moment. Jake grew antsy as the range slowly dwindled. Both men were now totally reliant on their armor to locate the enemy. As the range dropped below one thousand yards, Adrian suddenly slammed the throttle level to the forward stops. War Machine literally jumped forward with no wheel spin. It was as if the machine had come alive and was finally unleashed.
"What are you doing?" Jake asked, a nervous hint to his tone.
"Let's see what this thing can do," Adrian replied, that dangerous tone back whenever he was focused on a course of action. "Get ready to throw the dog a bone."
Normally, being so focused was a good thing. This time it nearly proved disastrous. Moments before Jake was to switch to active scanning, and fire on the powered down tanks laying in wait for them, the warning klaxon indicating a enemy radar was searching for them sounded off in their ears. Adrian's head snapped up immediately to scan for the enemy fighters bearing down on them. It took only a moment to spot the winking lights of laser bolts lancing down toward them.
"Shields," Adrian commanded the onboard computer.
Armor plates slid into place over the wheels and cockpit windows instantly. Laser bolts smacked the ground throwing up twin towers of fiery debris in the path of speeding machine. None struck the intended target, but several came dangerously close. As the enemy fighters soared away to come around for another run, the winglets flipper over on their horizontal axis. The targeting system locked on to both airborne targets, adjusted the angle, and released two Hellfire plasma-tipped missiles. War Machine disappeared briefly in a cloud of dirty white smoke. Adrian's primary display split to show the view from the nosecones of both weapons hurtling toward their targets. Images of the enemy engine exhausts great larger and larger until it seemed one could reach out and touch them. The images suddenly dissolved in static, and two fireballs lit the predawn sky.
Jake tool over the weapons, rotating the winglets back to their normal deployed position as the materialization system reloaded the Hellfire racks. The targeting system switched to ACTIVE mode and painted the sleeping Horde tanks his armor's sensor system spotted. At the pull of a trigger, clouds of smoke vomited from the rear of the rocket pods. As each of the forty-eight tubes emptied, the fabrication system produced a new rocket in the tube ready for launching.
Rockets hammered away at the forward armor. Explosions cracked then peeled back tough Horde alloy until vulnerable openings appeared for more of the deadly weapons to destroy. Both tanks exploded in roaring explosions, alloy frames screaming as it was torn apart. War Machine darted between the flaming wrecks and through the cloud of black smoke. Sensors spotted the other pair of sleeping tanks behind the first. The winglets rotated once more, locked targets, and belched forth another cloud of smoke and rockets. The rear flank of the Horde tanks were not as heavily armored, and took less to punch through.
The APC rolled through the flaming debris of four dead Horde tanks, none of which managed to fire a single defensive shot.
No more enemy units presented themselves, and Adrian alloyed himself to relax just a bit. He ordered the shields lowered. Off to the west above the trees, inky darkness still shrouded the lands. Brief bright flashes split the night. Feril reported her radar was scanning a substantial cloud formation blowing in off the Ocean of Gnarl. Though the people on the ground could not see it because the Evergreen Forest blocked the view, The dropship pilots could see the veritable storm of lightning strikes flashing all along a storm front nearly fifteen miles wide.
Adrian had felt the presence of the ancient stone structure long before it became visible as a black silhouette against the oncoming storm. Facing due south, Castle Grayskull watched over the land like a giant stone sentinel, dark and forbidding. Though the stones used in its construction were once gray, they had turned a dark green over the ages. The face of the castle had been shaped into the likeness of a massive skull with oversized incisors. The mouth was drab, brown drawbridge – or jawbridge, as the Sorceress called - that looked like it had seen better days. A horizontal iron bar impossible free of rust was mounted across the middle. A weathered coat of arms also impossibly rust-free was mounted five feet above the cross bar. Turrets on either side of the skull sported narrow windows about two or three feet wide and five feet high rounded at the top. The rest of the structure behind the skull and towers had been designed and shaped like some gigantic insect on four legs.
Adrian slowed to a halt before the sloping purple stone ramp arching up to a thirty-foot span of open-air level with the jawbridge. Twin arches rose up from the sides of the ramp, the entire structure having been carved from a rock mountain. From where they sat, Jake and Adrian could just make out the bottomless mote approximately forty feet wide surrounding the pillar upon which the stilted castle rested.
Soldiers exited the APC, secured the area, and then formed a perimeter around the vehicles. Adrian and Jake powered down the War Machine, and climbed out. The winds were picking up ahead of the storm front. The air smelled damp, but fresh. Lightning continued to flash in the distance, only now they could hear the roar of thunder. Turning away from the light show, Adrian walked to the rear of the armored carrier, and strode purposely up the ramp.
Joanna Hansen was slipping a plastic bag filled with an unmistakable crimson substance into a refrigeration unit. She looked up at Adrian's approach.
"It was her idea," the private replied softly, pain reflected in her green eyes. She glanced at the Sorceress lying still as death on the troop seats.
Joanna stepped aside and Adrian moved forward. He slipped his arms under the Sorceress' shoulders and knees, and effortlessly lifted her. Sorceress moaned in pain, eyes flicking open briefly. Adrian turned and walked out the back of the carrier, around the back of the War Machine, and headed straight for the stone ramp. As he walked, the dream, which compelled him to join the Guardian Force, rose from the deepest region of his brain where he'd tried to bury it. Specifically, the part where he stood upon this very ramp watching the jawbridge lower, and the biomechanical hand of Horde Prime reaches out for him through the glowing blue nimbus rings in the 'mouth.'
His stride did not falter, spurred on by the Sorceress' tormented moans. The veins popped out on her face and legs pulsed in tune with her heartbeat. He tried not to think about the woman's suffering, concentrating instead on his footing. The walkway was not level. In fact, it appeared to have been purposely carved with ruts along its length crossed with ribs. That was the only real way Adrian could describe the design. While the perpendicular ridges where nothing more than shallow raised speed bumps, one could easily trip on them if one was not careful.
Before he realized it, Adrian stood at the edge of the thirty-foot gulf between the end of the ramp and the closed jawbridge. The castle looked even more intimidating and forbidding up close. He wondered how something that looked so menacing could be a source for hope in a galaxy ravaged by war? More importantly, how were they going to gain entry with the Sorceress in such bad shape?
"So what do we do now?" Frost said, examining the distance between them and the jawbridge. "We have a few things to reach out and knock with."
"Stop hanging around Rockwell, Frost," Lieutenant Garber responded sourly. "You're starting to think like him." He, too, stared at the sealed entrance and examined options. "So how do we get in?"
The Sorceress' labored breathing grew more so and raspy. She didn't have much time left. Adrian agonized over what to do. The Sorceress spoke once of her first arrival to the castle, and how it opened up to allow her entry. However, someone had already been inside at the time. There was no one in there no. No one human, anyway. The Sorceress had also spoke of the power and knowledge stored within in a way that gave one the impression the castle was somehow alive. Maybe Grayskull would sense the proximity of its wayward guardian and allow entry.
The six-pointed star on Adrian's breastplate began to glow faintly. The glow quickly increased in flickering waves until the rate was so quick it appeared to be steady glow. The winds whipping through the bottomless mote increased as the storm front closed in. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled from the west. Winds blowing off the storm front joined those blasting out of the mote. The combined forces threatened to sweep the humans from the ramp into the yawning chasm below.
A new sound struggled to override the blowing wind. A creaking, groaning sound, a rattling of chain, then the remarkable happened. The jawbridge began to lower! Adrian noticed his glowing crest for the first time. It slowly dawned on him that his armor had taken the initiative and somehow made contact with the forces within the ancient stone castle. The power armor had been created in part through the use of magic. And since the prolonged period of housing the engrams of their original owners caused the suits to evolve personalities of their own, Adrian's must have sensed the need to enter Grayskull and reached out to the forces within. Now the jawbridge was opening for the first time in over two years.
The rounded top edge of the bridge slammed down upon the lip of the ramp with a resounding BOOM that vibrated through the stone. The interior surface, now facing upward, had been contoured the same as that the three humans stood upon, only the jawbridge design was flatter. As Adrian saw in his nightmare, a set of glowing, pulsing blue rings hazed over by a faint white nimbus lay inside the 'mouth.' The winds seemed to have died down, but that was only an illusion. Beyond the edge to either side of the now complete bridge the winds continued to raise. It was as if an invisible roof and walls suddenly formed over the open expanse.
Lieutenant Garber turned to the squad who had cautiously approached. "Clear and lock your weapons. Pass the word."
Frost immediately pulled the magazine from his weapon, stuck it in a pocket, and shouldered the rifle. Lieutenant Garber did the same.
"Sir, I thought this place was supposed to be friendly to those who are friends of the Sorceress," Private Witouski said. His eyes darted over the yawning entrance nervously.
Garber nodded. "It is. But I don't want to take the risk of ticking it off. Pass the word. Once we have secured the entrance start bringing in the supplies."
The private acknowledged his orders, saluted, and departed.
Working up the courage, and screwing his face into an emotionless mask, Adrian boldly stepped forward. If Horde Prime really had been inside, it would have shown itself long before now. They passed through the glowing rings with no effort at all. Beyond lay a short corridor opening into a vast chamber. Weird support trellises that appeared more ornamental than functional lay to the immediate right. On the wall to the left hung a gigantic screen larger than anything they had ever seen on Earth. Straight ahead and slightly to the right about forty meters away was a long staircase with shallow steps leading up to stone throne set in the mouth of some vague beast. Ti the right past the supports was grand staircase that led up and to the right, possibly into the east tower. Yellow and white orbs glowed among the trellises. More littered the air above them throughout the chamber mixed with red, blue, and green orbs. Though they gave off ample light, there was no heat radiating from the orbs, and they did not dispel the inky blackness beyond the immediate structures in sight.
Adrian walked the few meters farther and eased carefully, gingerly, down to his knees. The Sorceress roused and awakened for the first time since being rescued from the clutches of King Hiss. He held her close, propping her up against him.
"Where…am I?" Sorceress whispered through chapped lips, her voice barely audible, even in the silent halls.
"Home. You're home," Adrian answered. A growing sense of dread created a sickly pit where his stomach should be. The Sorceress mumbled something; the name of a village, perhaps. "Grayskull. You're home in Castle Grayskull," he clarified, hoping that the name could somehow revive her.
The Sorceress straightened up a little, the fog parting before her mind and eyes. "Grayskull," she whispered to herself. "Grayskull."
As the faint word slid from her lips, the life seemed to drain out of her. Adrian clasped her right hand with his left, willing her to hold on, willing the ancient castle to do something before it was too late.
"Grayskull…" Sorceress whispered one last time, drawing in a raspy breath, and then sagged limp, lifeless as a sack of potatoes against Adrian. Her last breath hissed silently through dry, slightly parted lips.