Onidus 28
The Gevarrons do not understand our language, nor do we know theirs, but I can tell that they have been in their cells for a long time just by the amount of excrement and the strong stench of piss.
Protocol when we encounter a species we cannot communicate with who are in danger of being eliminated by the Nebulous Empire is to send resource ships that can arm and shield them, teach them our language, and give them the power to protect themselves.
But the trick has always been getting them to a safe place where they can heal and learn these things. Today, we don’t have that kind of time.
Nebs line the corridors of the prison facility they’ve erected on the Gevarron world.
I do not get the luxury of a moment to rest. I launch a pyretic orb at a shadow soldier, then another.
One fires at me. I divert the attack with a shield blast, then return their kindness with a larger conjured orb.
Two disintegrate into clouds of cinders.
A Neb grabs me from an adjacent hallway. I loop my arm around his, summon my Vibrance to my other fist, and punch him back with the added force. He caves and slumps to the ground. I shoot him with the rifle slung across my chest to make sure he stays that way.
Another blast rips toward my head. I duck beneath it, catch a support post, swing myself around it, and enter the hallway again with a pair of flaming orbs that tear through two more Empire soldiers.
Finding a staff on a downed Neb, I tuck the toe of my boot under it and kick it into the air.
Catching it, I spin it around and whack the approaching Neb in the neck.
Something splinters. My enemy crumples. I don’t take the time to look at the staff as I drop it.
Making it to the cell doors, I open them, releasing Gevarrons. There are hundreds in this chamber alone. I am not the only one who is down here. Ryz, Ulian, and Elsion have joined me in opening the prison and freeing an angry mob.
As we make our way out of the facility, more Neb ships arrive in orbit, their massive silhouettes looming over the world.
Fighters gush from their sides, headed for the surface.
But as my fear of doom rises, Isonian motherships pour in from another direction: Silvian, Chromis, Palathion, Gildon and more.
And then I see what gives me the most hope.
Amphir, with their black motherships and green crackling light, surge in from their homeworld. Silver and white fighters bolt out from their hangars, heading for the Nebulous ships.
The manufacturing plants at the other end of the colony gleam with the souls of my Isonian brothers and sisters. We can focus on them now that the Federation allies have come to our rescue.
Ryz meets me through the tides of Gevarrons still escaping the prison. He waves Ulian and Elsion to us.
We make our way across the dusty streets toward the plants and call every Isonian we can spot in the crowd to our position.
The warehouses have souls in racks with what looks like a series of helarina modules that are mid-modification.
The Nebs were planning to use souls as sources of energy.
I know the Delsfein were right when I see the transformer cells and network of powerlines wrapping through the machines. It looks like a prison for a soul.
The shadow soldiers inside the facility turn on us, protecting the souls and making it difficult to aim at them without having a crate at their backs.
Hold your fire! I call out. It’s too risky. Mask up.
Every Isonian fizzles into nothingness. I can sense them still, see their energy even if I can’t quite see their full physical form. But we sneak up on the Nebs as they do on others at night.
I take the first from behind with a knife to his throat. For Dasion. The next one that I approach catches my scent. He sniffs the air and then swipes at me. I duck and plant the blade in his side. For Aserin. He collapses.
In minutes, we have emptied the room of the guards and have access to the precious Vibrances that make our people the powerful soldiers of the Federation that we are. We each take all the crates we can carry and begin forming lines out the doors.
Elsion hustles up from a nearby ship, calling others after him. “Found the rest still onboard behind the shield of an exo-suit.”
I slow and look around for Solara. She was wearing one when I found her, but it was difficult to see if she had her shield unit or not with the damage to her carapace.
“Is this all of them?” I call back to him.
Elsion checks his wristband and nods. “The number of reported soulless to soulfire orbs in this area matches.
As the Gevarrons take over, crushing the last of the ground empire forces, we load the crates onto our ships. I set down the four I’ve carried and leave to check Viriden’s ship for Solara.
I cross the barren field to where Viriden’s ship is shielded up. A Neb fires at me from behind a stack of cargo containers. I take him down with one shot, then pass through the shield. “ION Alpha, do you have a record of Solara on your ship?”
“No, sir.”
Shit. I hurry outside to search for her. I scan the masses, looking for a human with bloodied golden hair and a torn shirt. I ask everyone I can on my way back to the prison facility, but no one has seen her.
Shouts erupt in a progressive wave, heading in my direction.
I turn to see a Neb fighter warming guns as it approaches the soul factory.
Isonian shields ignite in small bubbles all over the field.
But they are not going to be nearly enough.
My search for Solara has to wait, or my people will lose everything.
I run into the ship’s path. Placing my hands together, I gather the feeling of shelter Solara gives me, how it grows and consumes me every time we’re close.
When I spread my hands and turn them outward, releasing it, it encapsulates the factory all the way to the ships, an enormous shield that swirls and throbs to the beat of my core—my Bond with her.
The ship slams on reverse thrusters and fires. The blasts batter my shield, knocking me back. I grit my teeth and brace my feet, straining hard to keep my focus as I slide on the ashen ground.
Isonians run behind me, carrying crate after crate in mass numbers. They load Viriden’s ship and others from our fleet. But every missile from the Neb ship threatens the integrity of my shield.
“I can’t hold this forever!”
“I’ve got you, sir.” ION’s voice comes over my earcom, startling me. “Well, Solara does!”
Ion races in from the side, firing rapidly at the Neb ship. The enemy fighter careens sideways, tries to return fire, loses altitude, and bashes into the ground releasing a fiery plume.
“Solara?” I ask.
“I’m here.” Her voice is a bare rasp.
Ryz and Ulian join me in lifting their shields, so we form a tunnel for those moving the crates.
“So am I,” Kassian remarks in my ear. “Chris too.”
Tachyon dives and swerves across the land, firing on enemy vessels and filling the sky with fire. It is a relief to know my team is here. My exhaustion doesn’t feel as fateful when we pull together and hold the line as one.
The moment the souls are all loaded up, Ryz, Ulian, and I lower our shields and make our way to Viriden’s ship.
As we approach, the symbols on my body light up and blaze with stinging heat. I stop as the others continue on. I do not listen for words this time but for everything else.
The urge is to turn around. All over the compound, Delsfein run. They have seen something I haven’t.
They want me to look up. So I do.
A Neb cruiser falls from the sky, on fire, tumbling, breaking apart. Its mass is headed right for Viriden’s ship.
I wheel around. “Go, now!”
Viriden, who rushes to the edge of the deck, has his ship off the ground in seconds and hauls Ryz up by a golden wave of his hand.
I won’t make it. The other ships are already fleeing. Gevarron scatter. It is only me and the bodies and the stirred-up dust of engines.
And Solara’s voice.
I look over at her as she runs toward me. “Onidus!”
In the far distance behind her is ION, a thruster smoking. He is safe.
She is going to die.
“Turn around, Solara!” I point up to the sky as I run toward her. “Turn around and run!”
She looks up but keeps running toward me. I don’t know why. But I can’t stand the idea of her dying. It cracks my soul wide open. And I sprint for her.
The cruiser debris closes in. I’m almost to her. I summon my Variance to make my strides longer and get me to her faster. All I can think about as I catch her in my arms is how much I wish she’d live and that my power would be enough to save her life. “I love you.”
She sobs against my neck and holds on tightly. “I love you, too. I always have, since you first took my hand all those years ago.”
I kiss her cheek, savor the feeling of her in my arms one last time, and brace for impact. My rage over our situation, desperation to save my Bond, and battle-weary afterburn collide in one last Afterburn. Echelon, give us strength to endure this end.
Metal thunders down over us, groaning and squealing like dying ships do. Fire roars around us. Solara cries out.
The ground bucks upward and then caves. We tumble in a sandy, scorching haze. I fold my body around hers and lose my sense of light.
I hang on to her with everything I have.
Darkness rumbles and crashes around us. Thrusters explode in vibrant plumes of blue fire in the night that has consumed everything. Panels smoke as they whiz through the air, cutting by us. My body takes hit after jarring hit. I focus hard on a shield, but I am still hot with rage and denial.
The world rocks slower, topples, and falls silent.
When I open my eyes, Solara is beneath me, looking like a bruised and bloodied sleeping angel. I am still alive, still radiant enough to see her though her aura dims more with every second.
“Solara…” I cough in the thick dust. I can barely move where we are pinned in the wreckage.
“Solara.”
I sweep a hand over her face. It is still warm. But she doesn’t move or respond to my voice and my touch. The vein in her neck doesn’t move, doesn’t pump.
Tears blur my vision. I rest my forehead to hers as my last thread tethering me to this realm snaps.