Chapter Twenty-Eight: Abduction
Beatrix’s POV
The Red Rose shook as her speed exceeded the design parameters of the ship, I had ordered every last possible juice of power to be squeezed out of the aging ships engines and it was taking its strain on the structure.
“General, she’ll fly apart!” warned the engineer, her tone of voice extremely worried.
“Then fly her apart dammit!” I yelled, gripping the arms of my chair until my knuckles turned white. I had left Alexandria at the worst possible time, and by the looks of it I would arrive at the worst possible time too.
Too late…
Beatrix was really gunning for it, even Noding was impressed.
“I never thought a heap of junk like that could keep up with us.” He muttered as the Red Rose paced us easily.
“Needs must when the devil drives Commander.” I dryly remarked, remembering the instability of the Hildagarde II under speed but it had been needed.
“Regent sir! Alexandria reports that the airships have broken off their attack and are leaving!” yelled the comms man
I raised an eyebrow.
“What’s the word on the Lindblum attack?”
There was a pause as he contacted their home city.
“The attacking airships have disengaged, they’re withdrawing to the west.”
“Do we have any airships available in that area?” I asked.
“We have an old O class ship sir, the Ocelot.”
I nodded
“Tell her to pursue the attackers at a safe distance and give half hourly reports.”
“Right, is everyone clear what to do?”
“Are you sure we couldn’t just teleport in?” asked Ilvian as he looked unsettled at the particle rifle he was holding.
“No teleporters idiot.” Hissed Yugami, her arms folded.
“Kitiara, Rhiana, Ilvian you are with me…I wish the teleporters were online…it would make this easier, but with our advanced weaponry, this should be easy anyway.” I said
“What shall I do?” asked Yugami
“Keep an eye on the prisoners, taunt them a bit if you want.”
She smiled slyly but said nothing more.
“Ok…here we go. Quick in, quick out.”
They nodded as I piloted the Invincible up from the ground, it had been a disappointment to find the teleporters offline but it was of no consequence, we’d have to attack the castle from the sky.
The Invincible hovered over the streets of Alexandria, heading quickly for the castle, the many people in the streets couldn’t believe their eyes, neither could the castles defence teams as the Invincible aimed itself straight at the castle. There was general panic as a collision seemed inevitable but then the Terran ship pulled up at the last minute and skimmed overhead the castle, hovering over the sword and blocking out the moonlight which shone down on the city.
Four ropes were lowered from the Invincible, making the guards underneath look up in wonder.
As they looked up each one of them had a boot connect with their face, sending them sprawling to the floor, as they struggled to stand back up again they were shot and killed. Kitiara, Ilvian, Fury and Rhiana leapt off the ropes they had just descended on and landed nimbly on their feet.
For a moment there was silence, only broken by Fury’s laughter.
“What a rush…I haven’t done that in years. Now come on, there’s no time to be lost!”
“General!! The Invincible has been sighted!!” yelled our communications officer.
“Where?! Where?!!”
The communications officer was as white as a sheet as she stammered.
“D-D-Directly above the c-c-castle of Alexandria ma’am!!”
I swore heavily and turned to the engineer who was already on the voice pipes to the engine room.
“More power to the engines…Now dammit!!!”
I watched ashen faced the tragedy unfold in front of me. It was almost like history repeating itself. Called to the defence of Alexandria but to arrive too late to do anything but watch. It would only be a matter of time before the Invincible fired and then another city would disappear like Treno did…but not just any city, the city containing my niece.
I had to hand it to Fury, he was a skilled marksman. We blasted our way through the corridors, felling guards left and right. I had no idea where we were going but the adrenaline rush was pretty incredible as I raised my rifle and shot one of the few male guards in the castle.
“Good shot Kit.” Said Fury with a lop-sided smile as the guard collapsed to the floor.
We stopped in front of a large set of double doors which were locked. Fury sighed and pulled out a small metal circle from his cloak which he then placed on the door where it stayed. He then pressed something on it and ran.
“Take cover!” he warned
I followed him around the corner, he grabbed my arm and pulled me quickly, I landed up in his arms, I took the opportunity to put my arms around his waist. He looked down and snarled.
“Not now dammit!”
There was a heavy explosion which knocked me off my feet as Fury pushed me away. When I got back up he had already run forward into the room with Ilvian and Rhiana. I jumped through the hole in the door and skidded to a halt behind him.
In front of me was our prize, Queen Garnet Til Alexandrios the 17th, a rather pretty young lady who had become queen after the Eidolon wars, that’s what Zidane had told me once anyway.
“Ah…Queen Garnet.” I said with a smile
She backed away from me, terror in her eyes.
“Who are you? What do you want?!”
I smiled and took the opportunity to pull the cloak back over my head slowly.
“I’ve come to take you away.” I said
“Thunderchild?!”
I shook my head and chuckled.
“I’m afraid Thunderchild is no longer with us…I am Fury.”
She looked confused.
“But you really are Thunderchild…so…that…”
I raised my rifle and snarled.
“Enough talking…you are coming with us!”
“No she isn’t!” yelled a voice from behind me.
I turned and saw Adelbert Steiner and several Knights of Pluto blocking our exit.
“Steiner! Ahahahaha…How good of you to come and join the party…we were just taking her majesty here for a little trip.”
“Put the weapon down Thunderchild.” He warned, his sword already drawn.
“How many times do I have to say this,” I sighed, turning my gun around and opening fire, gunning down Steiner and his stupid knights as I shouted: “I…AM…NOT…THUNDERCHILD!!!!”
As the last body hit the floor I pulled the hood back over my head and grabbed Garnet by her arm roughly, she shrieked and tried beating me with her free hand. I stopped and hit her over the head with the back of my hand, she fell to the floor and looked up at me, surprise on her face.
“If you don’t comply, you’ll face a lot worse than that!” I warned, nodding at Ilvian and Rhiana who took an arm each and pulled Garnet to her feet.
“You won’t get away with this…Zidane will hunt you down and…”
“Ah yes, Zidane…You’ll have a chance to see him now.” Said Kitiara with a sly smile, I looked at her, surprised, she seemed to be getting into this.
Garnet stopped walking and allowed Ilvian and Rhiana to drag her along.
“What have you done with him you bastard!?” she yelled, tears beginning to fall from her eyes.
“Nothing…yet.”
The fires burning in Alexandria came into view before the city did, thankfully it appeared that the fires weren’t too heavy or many in number but nevertheless they were there as a result of my stupidity.
Then I saw it, hovering gently over the castle, that ship that had brought so much death and destruction to Treno, the moonlight shining off the blue paintwork. We drew closer, as fast as the airship could take us, towards the castle and the waiting Invincible.
“Prepare forward cannons, open fire when within range.” I ordered
“Invincible within range in one minute.” Reported the woman at weapons.
I hauled the struggling Garnet up the ropes and into the airship, when she was on board I nodded at Rhiana and Ilvian to let her go and then struck her on the side of her head with my rifle butt, knocking her into unconsciousness.
“Was that really necessary?” asked Rhiana
I glared at her and she looked away.
“Fury…incoming airships!!!” warned Yugami on the ships intercom. I hit the button on the wall.
“I’m on my way.” I replied, turning to Ilvian “Lock her in a room, don’t put her in with the prisoners yet.”
He nodded as I walked out of the room towards the bridge, Kitiara lifting up the ropes behind me.
“Invincible within range ma’am!”
“Fire!” I yelled
There was a muted detonation as our forward cannons opened fire, this was somewhat upstaged moments later when the Vigilance opened fire, the thud from their cannons making the ship shake.
Three shots impacted on the side of the Invincible, one penetrated the hull and started a fire inside. Our whole bridge crew cheered as smoke began to drift from the Invincible.
“General! We must cease fire!!” yelled our comms officer.
I turned, staring at her.
“Why?!”
“The Queen…she’s on that ship!” she warned.
I swore
“Quick! Cease fire!! Tell all ships, cease fire!!!” I yelled
The corridor floor momentarily became the wall, throwing me heavily into the former wall and then back onto the floor as the airship rolled with the impact, then I was covered in shards of metal and debris. Looking behind me I saw that a hole to the outside had been blasted in the wall and the corridor was now impassable.
If I had been a moment later I thought and then shuddered.
Picking myself back up I heard another cannon shot whistle past, narrowly missing the ship. I ran the next few yards to the bridge, running through the doors and skidding over to the control panel, shoving Yugami aside and feeding a complex series of commands into the ships computer.
I looked up as we moved away from the castle, turning the ship around I could see our aggressors, the Red Rose and a Lindblum ship. Setting the Invincible on a course which took us directly between them I increased speed to our highest possible velocity.
The Invincible turned and faced directly towards us, I tensed up, waiting for her to open fire…but surprisingly, she didn’t.
I cursed our inability to fire, Beatrix had ordered a cease-fire moments ago, and since we were in Alexandrian territory, her word was law…besides I didn’t want to risk killing my niece.
“Brace for impact.” I warned as the Invincible hovered still for a moment.
Suddenly the blue Terran ship shot forward at a high speed, flashing between the Vigilance and the Red Rose and sending both our ships into disarray. Both helm pilots turned to follow the Invincible. The Vigilance turned to starboard and the Red Rose to port.
With our ships so close together, that was not a good thing.
I laughed as I watched the Red Roses bow collide with the side of the Vigilance, crumpling in as it struck the stronger ships hull. They were stuck together for a moment and then the Vigilance managed to pull away but the damage was done. The Red Rose looked severely damaged and the Vigilance had some dents which looked nasty.
Setting the Invincible back into medium speed I turned us south towards the South gate.
“Well done.” Said Yugami, her hand on my shoulder.
“It was rather good wasn’t it.” I agreed
The bridge doors opened and a rather shocked Ilvian stumbled onto the bridge, holding an unconscious Garnet. Zidane immediately went wild and began smashing the forcefield with his fists.
“You bastard!! I’ll kill you!! I’ll kill you!!!” he yelled.
I turned and looked at Zidane.
“If you don’t shut up genome, I’ll kill you.” I warned
He growled at me but said no more.
“I thought I told you to take her to a room and lock her up.” I said, staring at Ilvian with my arms folded.
“I was on my way but the corridor was destroyed, I had to bring her here.” He said
I sighed, this wasn’t going quite according to plan…but these things had to be expected, no plan survives first contact with the enemy someone had once said.
“Very well…put her in a forcefield next to our genome king there…god alone know what might happen if we put them together. These genomes can behave like animals.” I muttered disdainfully.
I looked around to see Yugami staring at me.
“Present company excluded of course.” I added.
She stared a little longer, meeting my eye and holding it until she broke away and walked forward, staring out of the viewer.
“So…what now?” asked Ilvian, as the Evil Forest shot past beneath us.
“Now we take the South Gate and then head home.”
“South gate?” he asked quizzingly
I nodded
“Yep…it’ll save having to climb up over the mountains, I don’t know if this ship will take that.”
“Follow that ship!! Full speed!!” I yelled as we disentangled ourselves from the Red Rose. I felt a little guilty at not waiting around to see if the Alexandrian airship needed help but action was needed now.
The Invincible was going fast but our ship could match the speed easily. Fortunately, whatever damage the Terran ship had sustained also affected the ships speed, therefore we were able to follow her easily.
I turned around and looked at our map.
Noding walked up to me.
“We’ve lost two cannons and our starboard engine is at forty percent…it’s annoying, but we’ll live.” He reported
I nodded and stared at the map, the beginnings of a plan forming in my mind.
I ran a finger along our current course and followed it ahead towards a chokepoint in the valley ahead.
“He’s heading for the South Gate.” I muttered
Noding looked over my shoulder.
“So he is…crafty devil…but…we can trap him there!” he said with a smile.
“Just what I was thinking Commander. Comms, what ships do we have at the gate?” I asked, looking over to our communications officer.
“Two ships sir, one V class…the Victorious and another T class, the Turbulent.”
“Order them to move in on the Invincible…and shut the gate. We’ve got him now.” I said with a smile of assured victory.
Mizrahs POV
The basket underneath the Gargant swung unsteadily as we drew near to
Alexandria. Doctor Tot was still unconscious and Reiganna was beginning to get
worried about him.
“He’s slipping away…I need to get him to the Twilight Forest.” She whispered gently as she knelt next to him.
“We’re a little short of trees right now Reiganna.” Muttered Alex, perhaps a little curtly.
Reiganna narrowed her eyes but said nothing.
I sighed and leant backwards against the wall of the basket, everyone was a little taunt now, tempers were very frayed and I wouldn’t have been surprised if a fight had broken out. But, after what we had seen and barely escaped from, it was to be expected.
With a stomach churning lurch and a worrying roar from the Gargant, we arrived at Alexandria.
“That’s odd…this place is usually quite well guarded.” Said Alex as she leapt out of the basket.
Reiganna put Doctor Tot over her shoulder and climbed out, Alex then helped myself and Snikity out of the basket before throwing up a bundle of herbs for the Gargant which caught it in mid air and devoured it in two powerful chomps. Satisfied it trundled off down the tunnel again.
“Where does it go?” I asked
Alex shrugged
“No-one really knows…I think the dwarves might but they’re not letting on anything.”
She then walked up to the bottom part of the stairs and looked up.
“Hello?!!” she shouted
There was no response.
“Where exactly are we in Alexandria?” I asked
Alex walked a little way up the stairs, staring upwards all the time.
“We should be directly underneath the castle…”
Reiganna summed up what we were all thinking.
“So…where is everyone?”
“You don’t think Fury beat us here do you?” I asked
Alex was about to answer when there was a commotion from above and four woman guards came running down the stairs, swords drawn.
“You are prisoners of Alexandria! Surrender at once!!” they yelled.
We were too stunned to argue and allowed ourselves to be led away.