Auria

Chapter 16 - Death's Door

Master Gen spun 180 degrees in his golden fighter to face the wall behind him.  The armored suit rose slightly in the breeze and began shedding sparkling rings of bright chaff beneath.  Plasma bolts came from every direction, scouring the wall below, as did volleys of missiles - chasing their glowing-ember targets.  He fired everything at once, not at anything in particular, but striking the wall where other weapons exploded below.

Rings of shield energy grew into an expanding web of violent pressure.  Blue upon blue rings of plasma-bolt explosions tore into the wall's pulsating energy-shield, as did several incoming missiles.  Gen's targeting computer began repeating 'error', while radio traffic blurted alien-spoken expletives during his deliberate failure to engage anyone else.

The expanding rings over-shadowed a hideous weakness within the shield system - a complete failure of shield strength inside the strafe ring, compounded by multiple hits from all vessels.  A huge missile took out a circular chunk of the dome wall.  Gen turned, spun back around and flew forward, firing everything from his mind-lock within the mechanical beast.  His forehead gleamed with sweat and bulging veins.  The golden behemoth crashed into and tore straight through, ripping off a right wing in the process.

The dazzling fighter hobbled through the air once outside the dome, smoking from a torn wing.  A regenerative shield formed, collapsing the wing's fire while engines reorganized their configuration to fly in distress.  High above, massive, orbiting fleets came to life, peeling off drones as rows of shining bees.  They headed for the Arena.

“Come get me.” yelled Gen.  “I bet none of you have what it takes to leave the Arena to come out and play with the big boys.”

His winged suit reflected sunlight once the real one pierced the dome ridge.  It quietly graced shimmering shadows all around the damaged craft.  He sat perfectly still, perched against the side of the dome, waiting patiently for another miracle.

He'd expected hunters to pour through the hole in the wall and turned to face their direction.  Gen's radar pinged enormous surges of fighter wings making planet-fall from orbit, an even larger threat.  Suddenly, everything and everyone in the universe saw Gen as a threat and wanted him dead.

“Gen, what have you done?” said Sot via a comms channel.
“Nothing more than I should've done years ago.”
“This is madness.  They will shut down your engines and destroy you where you sit.”
“Remember, you removed the kill switches when you speed-stripped the suits.  They won't think very highly of you now, will they?”
“Come back inside, Gen, before they kill everyone here.  We're nothing to them, only assets.”
“Tell Auria and the others to meet me at the main gates when this is over.”
“There's no use telling anyone.  You're a dead man.”
“Loof...  Do it for me, Loof.”

Auria gasped in awe as she witnessed everything converge on the golden fighter and its eventual disappearance.  Then, she noticed long threads of fire spitting between the others, smoke and vapor trails leading in all directions, some spiraling to the Arena floor in a torrent of flames.  All hell had broken lose.  She knew Master Gen had a hand in it.

'238, are you seeing this?' she thought.
'They can't hold a second death-match while one is ongoing.  This is crazy.' thought 238.
'But, it's happening.  What do you think became of Gen?'
'Master Gen is dead.  I have no doubts.  Save yourself.  Head for shelter... now.'

Gen tapped fingers against the throttle control-tablet, tapping in a pattern which became faster and faster, increasing the rush of adrenaline flowing through throbbing veins.  Flashes of white light arced overhead, forcing him to darken the cockpit from immanent radiation.  The tapping continued - waiting, anticipating, undaunted - in a fever of relentless momentum.

“Gen, they won't fire on you directly,” said Sot, “not while you sit on top of the dome.”
“Good to know.”
“Better get back inside, if you're still able.”

Gen flipped a switch turning off the communications system, then breathed deeply and closed eyes.  The suit's dome grew darker by the second, exposed to light beaming down from the heavens.

'Run.' came a voice from deep within his mind.
“Really?” said Gen.
'Now.'

He pushed the throttle forward, rising above the dome a split second before the concrete exploded.  The engines cut, allowing his fighter to drop straight into a newly-exposed hole.  Inside the Arena, he throttled up and shot into the tree-line.  Hordes of drones entered the hole, some smashing into each other and the Arena, widening the hole, tearing themselves apart in the process.

Gen watched plasma bolts pass and rip apart trees.  He sped up, full throttle into the maze of tree-trunks, closed eyes and allowed his heart to slow, pumping ever-so-slightly, less and less.  The wing pivoted, turning him for a loop.  Spinning and spiraling, Gen turned into the tree-tops.

In a wakening state of consciousness, he blinked into a near-death experience and felt the waiting kiss of the gift, his one and only true power.  The stinging bolts continued to pass ever closer.  Eyes opened, yet the heart ceased to function entirely.  An unknown energy roared from nerves, inside muscles and a fully-aware brain.

A tree-trunk exploded to his left.  Gen watched each individual splinter sparkle and melt in plumes of fire and gushers of erupting steam.  He passed straight into the massive blur and on toward the next gushing torrent.  The trees slowly disappeared.

Drifting left, he spiraled downward, passing a covey of silver fighters.  Chaff spat from his undercarriage, falling in front of the slower-moving fighters.  A missile spun out of control and hit one.  It lost altitude and side-drifted into another.  Wings and engines erupted amid an ever-expanding, explosive force.  He watched the compression wave overtake him in slow motion, feeling the ripples, the individual notes and frequencies.  This was the true nature of the gift, the time Gen was allowed to think, feel and respond.

He passed under a nearby limb and climbed.  A nearby fighter struck the limb, spiraling left to right, torching another tree upon impact.  The circle of death continued, Gen leading the way at its center.  Eventually, the gift expired and he knew.  The heart pumped clean again, rebooting and regaining its former self.  His golden suit crash-landed in a rolling fume of dirt.  Master Gen jumped from the cockpit and held both arms in the air.

“Come fight me if you are able.”