Auria

Chapter 17 – The Gods have Spoken

“Where is everyone?” yelled Gen.  He stood alone in front of the crashed, mechanical beast.  “You wanted a fight.  Come and get it.”

A red craft similar to his own flew overhead, followed by four silver fighters.  It spun 180 degrees and fired, shooting down three silvery-shadows in a haze of smoke and streaming meteors.  The red beast quickly sat down beside Gen's crashed vehicle.  Shards of shrapnel continued to fall.  The cockpit flew skyward, its guts spewing steam.  The huge, gray, armored alien from Gen's previous altercation lept to the ground.

“There's a bounty on your head.” said the monster, leaving heavy foot-prints leading straight for the human.  “Is this how it ends?”

Gen laughed and continued watching the sky.  Several armored suits fought with the alien drones from orbit, smashing into trees and bare soil in fireballs of exploding engines and debris.  They appeared evenly matched, though Masters piloted their colored beasts and the drones bore none at all.

“I see you still don't recognize the real enemy.” said Gen, watching and grimacing against an open sky.
“Just here for my reward.” said the tall alien, stomping ever closer.  “I can retire... after I kill you.”
“We can all retire, you know.  It doesn't have to end this way.”

The thick-armed monster halted a few feet short and sniff-grunted the air, gurgling snot from its nose, glaring huge incisors.  It stood twice the height of Gen and ten times heavier.  It raised a large, muscular, open hand, preparing to squash the fly.

“Duck.” said Gen, dropping chest-first and rolling away.

A passing drone's wing struck the monster.  It sent him hurdling end over end against his own craft, arms and legs flailing.  The fighter did the same, exploding in the distance after striking the ground and striking a tree.  Gen hopped to his feet and patted hands against a dusty, black suit.  The sky continued to fall all around him.

In a darkened spire of plasma and lightening, a shadow grew to cover Gen's position.  A ship came out of nowhere - a solid, metal contraption with an open door beneath.  A ladder fell and slapped his face.  He grabbed it and held tightly as silver streaks of plasma bolts grazed the burning soil to his right.  Blue, pulsating shielding kept some of the bolts at bay, rippling the energy away and rotating waves of blue impacts around the ship.  An arm reached down - Auria's.

“What happened?” asked Gen.
“Get in.” she yelled.  “I don't know.”
“I'd rather die here... with my feet on the ground.”
“Something tells me you're not going to die.”  She smiled, still reaching a hand into his.

Auria hung from both feet grabbing Gen by the arm.  Clone 238 held onto her.  Gen laughed as she pulled him through the doorway.  Laying on his back, he continued laughing.

“Maybe, I wanted to die.”
“Don't be stupid.” said Auria.  “You're always so darned head-strong.”
“Master Gen,” said 238, “are you alright?”
“Not a scratch.” he nodded.

Auria reached over and dug fingernails into Gen's wrist, pulling away in a deliberate act of sedition.

“There.  You have a scratch.” she scoffed.  “You arrogant pig.”

Gen held his head high.  He rubbed and thanked himself for the effort.  Then, he perked forward and shown a look of shear eyebrows tilting toward a singular thought.

“Who's flying this ship?” asked Gen.  “Sot?”
“I don't know.”
“We need to find Sot.  He knows too much.  We can't leave him.”
“Where are we going?” asked Auria.
“Home.” said a short, light-gray-faced alien wearing a flattened hat and brown robe.  The robe touched the metal floor behind him in a way that could have allowed it to flop back over his head and he would have become a pile of robes.  It seemed very long.

“Thank you.” said 238.
“Yes, thank you for saving our lives.” said Auria.
“Sot.  We need Sot, then get us the hell out of here.”
“Yes.”said the small alien.

He returned to pilot position.  Outside the ship, a row of silver, wedge-shaped fighters began pummeling the rectangular ship with plasma-fire.  Blue rings expanded in every direction, then those fighters began to fire at one, singular point.  The shielding spurned from pale blue, to white and then yellow and red.  Slowly, the ship rose and made for the entrance gate, the two largest doors in the Arena.

Sot and several security droids waited by the entrance.  Their ship reached the outer wall, turned sharply and headed full speed to the gates.

Sot witnessed a slew of silver fighters chasing the ship.  Plasma spheres destroyed everything within reach.  He stepped into the cracked gate as the four droids he commanded were vaporized in a steady stream of mis-fires, most bouncing and ricocheting from the approaching ship's hull.

“Get in.” yelled Gen, his arm reaching from the belly of the hovering ship.  A second later, a bomb exploded behind the cracked door.  Loof bounced through the gate on all fours and grabbed Gen's hand, jumping inside.  He continued to run a muck within the ship's hangar, pouncing from boxes to panels and hit 238, knocking him down.  He landed atop Gen's shoulders.

“You are the best, Gen.” said Loof.  “Say hello to the greatest fighter the galaxy has ever seen.  I still don't know what you did, but you did it.  Kicking ass, kick ass...”
“Don't forget, we still have to leave this place.” said Gen, reaching over his head to remove Loof.
“Where is Sot?” asked Auria.  Gen shushed her.
“This is Sot.” said 238.
“Don't say it.” said Gen.  “Don't call him that name if you don't want him to kill you.”
“That's General Sot.” said Loof/Sot, standing upright and holding a pistol pointed at the group.  “I suggest you give yourselves up, or be destroyed.”
“I don't understand.” said Auria.  “Am I dumb?”
“If they shoot us on-sight, won't you die as well?” said Gen.
“You can't escape.” said Sot.  “There's a dampening field coming from the orbital ships that allow jumps coming to Sora, but disallow your leaving.  How do you expect to leave if you can't jump?”
“What will happen out there, when this is over?” asked Gen.
“They'll take what is theirs and leave.  It's a free-for-all.  Some Arena fighters will end up in the hands of other races.  Take your clones, for instance.  I'm sure there are clones of Gen'ichi Yamagata on-board every one of the mother-ships by now.”
“The ships responsible for the dampening field?” asked Gen.
“Don't get any bright ideas.” said Sot.

238 swept Sot's feet from beneath, grabbing the weapon from long-fingered hands as he fell.  Auria pounced, seeing opportunity.  She held a fist above Sot's head once straddling him.

“If this ear-piece still works, I can send a message.”  Gen pressed the upper-most part of his earlobe.  It blinked red, twice.  “This is Master Gen.  Avenge me!” he screamed, then smiled.
“You are sick.” said Auria.
“I need you.  Take out the ships in orbit, any way you can.  If you can't do it for me, do it for Auria.”
“Wow.  You really are pathetic.” scorned Auria.

He clicked the ear-piece and waited.  Outside, some of the larger ships in orbit descended toward the planet.  Their small, rectangular craft continued to zig-zag between trees, fighters in tow.  One fighter tried to ram the ship, barely missing and striking a hillside.  It exploded after plowing soil, causing a small avalanche of debris plummeting to the creek below.

In orbit, one of Gen's clones awoke in a strange place.  No air stirred, no sounds presented themselves, yet he heard thoughts.  Straining, he broke straps detaining arms, then legs, and found a suitable, metal rod, ripping it from the wall.  A security droid soon became aware of the rod when it burrowed deep into its torso.  The robot ceased functioning, but not before sounding the internal alarm.  Droids came from every direction.

Outside the room, another metal rod struck a second droid, then saw use as a pry-bar to open a sliding door.  The clone stood in front of a fusion reactor, glowing and humming within a magnetic, containment field.  Two more security droids hovered into the room and fired.  The clone stood silently, two gaping holes saw light through his chest.

The singular finale of his existence lay before him.  The metal rod drove deep, pushing the containment field aside as it made way into the fusion chamber.  The room filled with explosively, deteriorating helium, reacting with everything it touched.  A shock wave overtook the surrounding ships, pushing them away from the debris, then the second reaction began, an implosion.  The ships recovered, but distanced themselves for a brief moment.

“Jump.” said the small, gray alien piloting the ship-load of refugees.

A bolt of energy fired in front of the speeding vessel, expanded and vortexed into a funnel large enough for the ship to enter.  After passing through the whirlwind of energy, the vortex evaporated, leaving a line of silver fighters crashing into the exposed wall where it formed.