Through the Ghost

They wasted little time before fleeing down the hall towards the ship. The sound of orbital bombardment shook the glass paneling.

Anna had already made it to the other end of the hall, Chara clutched to her chest. Jaya followed close behind, her eyes on the chaos outside. Adrielle drifted listlessly behind him, moving forward with the urgency of a malfunctioning droid.

Anna tried to open the door but it refused to part for her.

She looked back at Jaya expectantly. The young operative stood in front of the glass panels. Kulrathi warriors had entered the courtyard. They slowly approached the dying Rahn like a horde of ghosts sent to collect another member. One stepped forward, its silver sword caught a bit of sunlight before arcing down towards the old man’s neck. Adrielle screamed, Jaya quickly turned away. She looked up at her brother in shock and confusion. He found himself at a loss for words.

She shoved past him, slammed her palm on the release and walked out the door. The thunder of projectiles and drop pods overlaid the sounds of combat that had broken out. Anna offered a quick glance in his direction, whispered to Chara, and followed Jaya through the door as well. Tal ushered an inconsolable Adrielle outside.

Smoke and dust filled their view. The facility had been enshrouded in chaos. Debris flew off buildings, as operatives valiantly fought off the invaders around them. The scent of scorched earth hung in the air. The wound in Tal’s side continued to burn as he pressed towards the safety of The Amaryllis.

I have taken liberties with getting the engines engaged, the AI notifies him. Operatives Frontera, Hawke, and a few recruits are currently engaged with the Kulrathi. Jaya has decided to aid them.

“Dammit,” he growled, pushing himself onwards despite the pain. He heard the concussive crack of Jaya’s rifle before he could even make out who was fighting. Through the steadily growing cloud of dust, and smoke he could make out blurred figures attempting to fight off the silver armored aliens. By the time he was close enough to assist all the recruits were dead or dying on the ground. Reis narrowly dodged a swing of a Kulrathi blade.

A surge of fear struck Tal as the Kulrathi brought its sword down on Reis’s leg. The silver-haired operative fell to the ground.

Tal rushed forward to help his friend, frustrated with his inability to help. A glance backwards showed Adrielle listlessly moving through the battlefield. Tal could only watch as The Kulrathi brought its sword to bear on Reis. Suddenly, a sword pierced the chest of the silver alien. The invader fell as Griff kicked it aside. He quickly helped Reis to his feet.

Another crack echoed out, a streak of blue cut through the haze downing another Kulrathi. Reis attempted to stand, Griff managed to keep him on his feet. Together the two moved towards the ship.

As Tal neared the landing pad, he heard the unmistakable roar of the engines growing in strength.

Operative West has started the engines.

The number of Kulrathi warriors seemed to intensify as the number of operatives decreased. Tal raced towards the ramp, dodging silver clad warriors. He looked back and saw Adrielle lagging behind. He stepped to assist her. A sword sliced out from his peripheral, he tried to dodge, but his leg crumpled beneath him. The Kulrathi moved for a second attack, as the blade arced down another one caught it in mid-air. Griff countered the attack and pushed the warrior away.

“Go! I’ll get Adrielle.”

Tal nodded and hobbled towards the ship slowly climbing up the ramp. The crack of a rifle called out once more as a blue streak zipped over his left shoulder. Once at the top of the ramp he dropped to the floor in exhaustion. He could only watch as Griff escorted Adrielle to the ramp.

“Griff!” Jaya shouted. The Orothros trainer turned just in time to impale a Kulrathi on his sword. Jaya pulled Adrielle to safety. She readied her rifle to assist Griff who was once more stuck in combat.

A nearby explosion knocked him off balance, he barely managed to regain his footing before another went off landing him flat on his back. He managed to drunkenly get to his feet as blue streaks flew around him, downing several approaching Kulrathi. He presses forward, each step seemed to take forever. The ship slowly began to lift off the ground; Jaya stepped backwards onto it, her rifle fired twice more.

As the ship hovered a good meter off the ground. More Kulrathi moved in. Gunfire cut through the smog; Tal and Jaya ducked behind the walls of the ship. She tried to fire her rifle again only to have it beep in alarm, signaling it was empty. A projectile hit him in the back, he stumbled but kept moving. Jaya attempted to step forward to aid him, Tal grabbed her by the arm. Her eyes instantly bore into him with hurt and anger, she tried to wrestle herself free. Tal held tightly to her wrist. Her fist lashed out against the side of his face causing him to release her. Just as she was about to exit the ship there was a loud grinding sound. She could only watch in horror as the loading ramp began to ascend.

“No, stop!” she screamed. She rushed forward, intent on diving off the ship if need be. A hand pulled her back, she lashed out once more. Anna leaned back, allowing Jaya’s fist to pass inches from her face.

“We have to go!” Anna shouted over the roar of the engines.

“Bullshit! Open that door! Lanie get the door open!” the younger operative argued.

“There’s nothing she can do, he’s gone,” Tal stated sympathetically.

The loading bay door closed with a cacophonic boom that reverberated throughout the ship. Jaya’s gaze switched between the two senior operatives. Tal could see the gears moving in her mind in an attempt to solve an unsolvable problem. Defeated, she slumped against the metal door. She doesn’t break down, she simply slid to the floor. The hollow look on her face was even worse than he’d feared.

“Jay-, “he attempted to comfort her, only to have the ship violently rock from an exterior impact.

The Kulrathi are firing at us from orbit, Allie alerted him. I need you to take the helm so I can manage our defenses.

There was a roar as the engines flared fully to life. He rushed up the steps with all his remaining strength. All thoughts of Jaya and Griff were pushed form his mind.

Through the opaque screen, he witnessed plasma bolts flashing past them towards the smoldering remains of the base. Tal took a seat in the pilot’s chair then did double take as he noticed Chara seated next to him. Anna entered shortly after, picking her daughter up and placing her in her lap. There’s a slight rumble as the ship fought against Praga’s gravity. The manual controls extended out from the console. His gloved hands grasp the bars with white-knuckled intensity. Anna reaches forward and a similar set of controls release on her side.

A shape appeared to the right of their ship. His heart leaped with relief at the knowledge that at least one or more other members managed to escape the assault. Another jolt caused him to come dangerously close to smashing his face into the console. Chara screamed as another barrage of plasma bolts rained down upon them. Out of the corner of his eye he caught a bright flash, the second ship didn’t make it.

Soon the blue skies of Praga shifted to the darkness of space. The turbulence of their ascent dropped to a light rumble. He breathed a momentary sigh of relief, almost cheered.

Then he saw it. A massive behemoth of a ship looming just ahead of them. Smaller cannons launched projectiles that passed by with the telltale blue glow of plasma fire. A hit sent a painful quake through their vessel.

Plasma missiles popped in the sky as the ship’s defensive turrets hastily worked to clear their escape.

“Allie, I’d really rather not be captured and tortured today.” The stars flashed by as he attempted to maneuver the ship around the plasma missiles. “Or dead, definitely, not dead.”

“Engaging warp core,” the construct announced over the intercom. “In Three…”

Another wave of plasma shells race towards them. Several popped like fireworks as rounds of ammunition sought to carve a path through the Kulrathi offensive. His hands began to tremble with adrenaline, his heart felt like it was about to explode.

“Two…”

They were so close they could now make out the intricate designs of the Kulrathi ship. From its massive size, white and silver plating, to the rows upon rows of guns facing their direction. A wall of plasma missiles launched towards them once more as seemingly every mounted weapon seeks to blow them from the sky. Tal and Anna exchanged a worried glance.

“One.”

There was a sudden moment of vertigo. The wave of missiles disappeared, the stars began to bend and twist before giving way to the purple glow of the warp drive.

Everything went silent to the point that even his own thoughts felt overly loud as he stared at the lights blinking by. He sat back in the chair, tension slowly fading now that the imminent danger was behind them. The harness tightened around his chest with each adrenaline-fueled breath. Then he and Anna began to laugh, out of excitement, fear, whatever. Chara confusedly looked between her parents as she tried to repress the sniffles and tears.

Glad to see that was humorous, Allie commented. Upon regaining composure, he pressed the center button on his chest causing the straps to snap back into the seat.

“Mommy, I don’t want to be here anymore,” Chara stated tearfully.

“Okay sweat pea, we’ll go somewhere safer.”

Tal watched them leave then looked back out the window.

I think you should inform our guests of our destination. Miss Adrielle is the closest, I am particularly curious about the abilities she displayed on Praga, Allie advised.

He remembered seeing the diminutive assistant lift the Kulrathi soldier telekinetically, the way the alien’s limbs bent and broke without any visible influence. The intense heat that emanated off her, the violet flames that burned away her hair.

About halfway down the hall Allie announced a change in plans. It seems Jaya has beaten us to our destination, and unfortunately, she has encountered Miss West. You should hurry.

Tal picked up his pace, he could hear the argument as he rounded the corner.

“Enough!” he shouted. “If you want to blame anyone, blame me. I cheated, I brought a gun to a sword fight. I broke the rules.”

“What?” Jaya asked the look of betrayal on her face was paralyzing.

“Reis told me about a prototype bracer he built; it had a small firearm built into it, I figured it’d give me an advantage,” Tal clarified.

“So, all the lives lost, the destruction of our home, was because of you?” Jaya’s gaze hurt more than being impaled by multiple swords ever could.

“Would you rather I let her die?” Tal fired back.

“Maybe,” Jaya snapped.

“You know,” she redirected her attention towards Anna. “I wanted to be you for the longest time, but now I’m seeing just how wring I truly was..”

“Jay,” Tal attempted to intercede.

“No! It’s starting to become quite clear that she gets everyone she loves killed. How long before I have to watch you or Chara added to that list?!”

Jaya was knocked off her feet as a fist struck her across the jaw. The raven-haired operative dropped to the floor, her left hand caressing her jaw. Jaya looks up at Anna, hatred in her eyes.

“That’s enough!” Tal commanded, stepping between the two before their fight intensified. He noticed Adrielle at the back of the room shifting anxiously as if wanting to say something.

Jaya reached into her pocket, Tal tensed up prepared for whatever she pulled out. Her hand reappeared white knuckled.

“You two enjoy working together, I’m out,” she announced, tossing the object at Anna before walking towards the stairs. An ornate silver ring clattered to the floor. Tal reached down to retrieve the frail metallic object. Decorative engravings lined the inside of the ring.

“It wasn’t their fault,” said a meek voice from the back of the room. Everyone looked at Adrielle.

“What?” Jaya asked.

“It was because of me. My father, Rahn I mean, feared it would happen the moment the Council informed him the Kulrathi would be arriving. He knew my people wouldn’t look too kindly on one of their own so openly around non-Kulrathi. Let alone one of their gifted.” There was a hint of venom in the way she said the word, as if the very concept made her ill. “The moment they knew what I was, they planned to level the place to the ground whether Operative Revin won the fight or not.”

The crowd of Orothros members remained in stunned silence, curious to know if there was another part of her story.

“What you did? To that Kulrathi after it shot Rahn, that’s this gift," Anna inquired cautiously. Jaya had drifted back towards the conversation.

Adrielle laughed acidly. “Raxastros, the Kulrathi’s dirty little secrets. I’ve never met another like me, my mother sent me away to live with Rahn when I was young, but I still heard the legends. They were beings that were deigned too powerful and were thus murdered the moment they began to manifest their abilities.”

“Can you control them? Your abilities?” Tal queried.

She shook her head. “It comes and goes depending on my state of mind. Rahn tried to find people that could help me harness my so-called gifts. Bad things happened to them,” she said. “Since then I’ve just avoided people, tried my best to hide who, or even what I am. I’d gotten good at it, hiding, but when they tried to kill me, and Dad protected me; I couldn’t stand by and let them get away with it. It was all the confirmation they needed to torch the place.”

Tal looked at Jaya. She tried to speak, but the words caught in her throat. Without another word, the operative stormed out of the room. Tal moved to follow her, only to have a hand grab his shoulder. When he turned around he saw Anna somberly shaking her head. We are approaching Station 815 now, Allie informed him.