I do not own Lorien Legacies or any of the characters.
Defenses
We stand in a line at the edge of the grass in front of the Sanctuary. Four people, one of them a normal human, against a warship with a hundred or so skimmers, thousands of Mogadorians, and Setrákus Ra himself. Boy. And I thought going into the desert when every human I met could be a terrorist trying to kill me was stupid. But, that's the Marine Corps for you. Quickly coming to look like my entire life now.
"This is a horrible idea," Adam speaks up finally, breaking the silence.
"Setrákus Ra cannot be allowed into the Sanctuary," Marina says flatly.
"You heard her," Six shrugs.
"We've already accomplished what we came here to do," Adam argues. "Humans have legacies now. There's nothing Setrákus can do to change that."
"We don't know that," Marina says.
"He controlled your home world for more than a decade and he's never been able to take away your legacies!" Adam argues.
"Because the Entity was hidden here," Marina says. "If he were to get the Entity itself, who knows what would happen."
"As much as I want to say we shouldn't be doing this, she's right," I sigh. "The last thing we need is for all Legacies to vanish and for Setrákus Ra to make himself a would-be god with the Entity's power."
Six and Marina both nod in agreement and Adam sighs.
"Alright," Adam sighs. "Then, if we're going to do this, we'll have to deal with the smaller elephant in the room. How do we kill Setrákus Ra without hurting Ella."
"We'll figure something out," Six says. "No one is going to kill Ella."
"I will," I mumble.
All eyes turn to me, two of the sets less than pleased.
"If it comes to it, if there's no other way, I'll pull the trigger first," I say. "But you have to be ready to pull it again as soon as the charm is out of the way."
"You're not killing Ella!" Six snaps. "How can you even consider-"
"Six," Marina says, stopping her. "James is right. There may not be a way to break the charm. If there's not, we have to be ready to pull the trigger."
"I can't believe you, of all people are condoning this!" Six snapped.
"I'm not," Marina says. "I'm completely against hurting Ella, and completely for breaking the charm. But we're about to fight the biggest warship of all and the one person who nearly killed all of us at once, and that was with Eight, Nine, and John with us. We have to face facts. There won't always be an easy way or a happy ending."
"Finally someone's talking sense," Adam sighed. "But why are you so willing to do it?"
"Because someone has to," I say. "And if someone has to, it might as well be me."
Adam stares at me a moment longer before turning his eyes back to the north, where the Anubis will be coming from. Marina slips her hand into mine, squeezing it, then also turns to the north again.
"So, defenses?" I ask.
"Well, we still have all of the guns and bombs," Six sighs, turning north as well. "Skimmers too."
"How good an explosion could those make Adam?" I ask.
"Fair sized," Adam says. "Planning to make them bombs?"
"Might as well," I nod. "We can wire twelve of the sixteen, line them up in front of the entrance, then when the Mogadorians that we all know Setrákus Ra is going to bring show up, we can blast them. Probably won't get them all, but we can get most."
Six and Marina nod and we leave, Adam heading to where all of our weapons are laid out, and the rest of us heading toward Phiri Dun-Ra, after I grab an empty burlap sack. I put it over Phiri's head, despite her struggling, then nod to Six, who quickly knocks Phiri Dun-Ra unconscious. I untie her from the Skimmer then tie the cables we were restraining her with around her arms and legs, binding her in place. Six walks her into the jungle so that she's out of sight, and then returns, helping Marina move the skimmers into place. I'd have helped but I don't have telekinesis. Instead, I go to help Adam with the C4. It's not exceptionally difficult, and a few of my friends in the corps had been explosives experts who had taught me the basics, like how to rig C4 bombs.
After a few minutes, the skimmers are rigged to explode and are lined up on almost the exact line that the temple's force field had been on before. With the C4 came a remote detonator. Twenty switches lined up with a corresponding red and green bulb for each, twelve of which had a red light currently lit. each switch had to be moved up one notch to arm the explosive, then had a metal pin that had to be guided around the switch to move it to it's firing position and make the bombs explode. I show it to Marina who nods then looks to Six.
"What's the full plan here?" Marina asks.
I look to Six and she nods.
"Whatever Setrákus wants here, he can't take it anywhere, without a ship," Six says. "So, while he's in the sanctuary, we'll be rescuing Ella and stealing the Anubis. We, being me and Adam. You and James will be running the defenses."
"Are you sure about this?" Marina asks.
"Why not?" I ask. "If all the troops are down here when they go in, they'll be fine. And after we wipe out the first wave with the skimmers, they'll be expecting a full scale attack, so they'll leave the ship to defend their Beloved Leader."
Marina thinks about it a minute then nods. Next, Six and Marina move the last two ships into place. They're on the edge of the jungle on opposite sides of the Sanctuary. The plan is to have Marina's telekinesis work the controls to fire the skimmer's cannons and create a crossfire. Marina walks to where she and I will be running the defenses from and tries to fire the cannon, but struggles.
"I don't know Six," Marina sighs finally. "It's hard to use my Telekinesis on something I can't see."
"Try propping the blasters up throughout the trees," I say. "She'll be able to pull the triggers easily enough."
Six and Adam nod and the three of us prop the Mogadorian blasters up throughout the edge of the jungle, camouflaging them with branches and grass to hide them from Mogadorian soldiers, but leaving them exposed enough for Marina to see them. She tests each, finding she was able to fire them all easily enough. Then, we meet back up near the skimmers.
"You don't even have to hit anyone Marina," Six reminds her. "Just make them think the attack is coming from all sides."
"Alright," Marina nods.
"What happens if Setrákus Ra is with the firs wave?" I ask and Adam nods, as though he's been thinking the same thing.
"We need to find a way to slow him down," Six says.
I look at the temple then at the others. We walk to the temple, staring at it, all trying to think.
"I suggest we dig a hole," Adam speaks up.
"What, a pitfall trap?" I ask then grin. "That'd be something to see."
"He's exactly the kind of asshole that doesn't watch where he's walking," Six shrugs. "Especially if he's sporting a huge boner to get into the temple."
"There's an image," Adam snorts.
"Yeah, one I could do without," I laugh, digging into the ground with my shoe.
Unlike the runway which is hard packed from the sun and from use, this dirt is damp and loose, though, being a desert, there will be a lot of roots.
"It'll be funny to see him fall in," Six decides.
"One of you should probably cave in the entrance too," I suggest, glancing at Marina who nods.
"I'll do it," Six says calling up a storm.
After less than a minute, a bolt of lightning shoots out of the sky, striking inside the stairway and collapsing it with a deafening crash. As the storm dissipates, Six walks over to inspect her handiwork. While she does, Marina begins to walk, counting her steps, then turns and does the same at a ninety degree angle before stopping and looking to the rest of us.
"Thirty feet per side should do it, right?" Marina asks.
"I'd say so," Six nods.
Marina walks one of the sides then stops, ice forming along her path. She turns, walking back along it, the ice thickening and forming an edge on bottom before she turns, making the rest of the sides. She continues her box until it's several meters tall with no top or bottom and the bottom edge lethally sharp. She has to constantly exert her power to keep the ice from melting, but doesn't seem too troubled.
"Now, we lift it up," she says, indicating herself and Six. "Then slam it back down as hard as we can."
Six nods and the two of them lift it into the air then slam it down, hard. Unfortunately, I was right about roots. The ice only gets about four feet before stopping, cracks running along it. Marina instantly races around the outside, repairing the damage before kneeling at one of the corners, her hands on the ice. After a few minutes, she steps back.
"Alright, quick, let's lift it back up," Marina says.
"You want it out of the ground now?" Six asks confused.
"Oh, it's a big scoop," I say. "Smart thinking. Lift it up Six. You'll understand."
Six shrugs, lifting the ice again, realizing what had happened as the ground inside the ice tore free from the rest of the ground. Marina had spread her ice under the dirt, scooping out everything inside the ice square to put back on top of the pit.
"James is right," Adam nods. "That is smart. This way we don't have to find really long branches to cover the pit with. But you should still be able to collapse it with telekinesis."
"That's my thinking," Marina nods. "Now, we just have to dig the rest of the pit."
"Right," I nod, walking away.
"Where are you going?" Six asks.
"To get a shovel!" I call back.
I find two with the random stuff the Mogadorians left us and return, stepping up next tot he depression left by Marina's scoop.
"Adam, would you like to kick things off?" I ask.
Adam nods and kneels down, placing his hands on the ground. The ground begins to shake, the soil inside the pit breaking apart and loosening. Then, Adam stands and I hand him a shovel before we all drop into the pit.
"Well, here goes," I sigh.
I drive my shovel down into the ground and make it an inch before it gets stopped by the first rock. I move it to the side and make it two before roots block its path.
"Oh yeah," I sigh. "This is going to suck."
I look over at the others. Adam shares a knowing look with me but Marina and Six are lifting out massive loads of soil with their telekinesis.
"Lucky," I grumble, stomping on my shovel before pulling it up, tearing the roots which successfully brush all the dirt off my shovel.
I sigh, crack my neck, groan, then set back in to work.
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