| Chapter 88 Tamara paced back and forth in the control room. Tom sat behind the pilots, watching her. She looked over and caught his eye. "You nervous?" he asked, flashing her a smile. She walked over, "Naw, I mean we do this everyday right?" she said sarcastically. He chuckled, "Yeah right." She sat down in the unoccupied chair next to him, "I think when this is over, if I'm still in one piece, I'm taking a long vacation." "That sounds like a good idea," he said. "Agent Neely, we're getting an update from Celeste," a tech said. The two glanced at each other for a moment. "Bring it up," Tom instructed. A young woman appeared on the screen. Tamara recognized her as one of the women that was with Nick and Brian the last time they were on Celeste. "The battle is starting in the air and on land. Be prepared to come out of your jump in the middle of it," she said. Tom nodded, "Thanks, we'll be ready." The girl nodded, then the transmission ended. "How long until we exit the jump?" Tamara asked. "At the rate the Celestian ships are going, about a half hour," another tech replied. "Damn, I hope we're not to late," she said, biting her lip. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ana worked her console with the ease of an expert. She had alerted all the incoming ships, and now she was helping instruct the massive vessels in the fight. Joseph and Nathaniel had taken it upon themselves to coordinate the battle overhead, while Mason and Anthony helped with the land battle. Every screen in the control room had a different view on it, wether it be from a ship up above, or from a flying vid machine hovering over the fields. LaDonna had her hand in helping as well, going from one side of the room to the other, making suggestions and pointing out missed details. While the battle overhead was well underway, the ground battle was just beginning. The two armies lining up to face one another. A.J. and Howie sat with Marie to the side of the room. All the activity had them a bit dizzy. They would go from listening to the generals of the ships, to the generals shouting commands to the thousands of troops in the fields. Marie listened for one thing, and one thing only.... Brian's voice. Every so often she could make him out amongst the other radio traffic. And once in a while his fighter would shoot across a camera angle, and for a moment she could see him. A.J. reached over and took her hand, just as one of those moments happened. Brian's fighter shot across the screen for a second. Marie bit her bottom lip, almost to the point of bleeding. "He's kickin ass up there," A.J. said, smiling at her. She nodded. "He'll be alright," he added. She looked at him with worry filled eyes, "I hope so." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nick watched as the opposing army marched over the hill and formed up. His army was outnumbered, no doubt about it, at least three to one. Several different races made up the army, some Nick recognized, others he didn't. But one thing was clear, they all wanted blood. Thomas danced around, all the commotion making him antsy. Nick tightened his reins, making him stand still. Deja vu. It was his dream all over again. He looked to his right, Rowland sat next to him, Kevin on the other side of Rowland. He turned in the saddle and glanced back at his soldiers. Thousands of men, ready to fight and die for him. Nick swallowed the lump in his throat, and turned back around. He drew his sword, and as he did, the air was filled with his entire army drawing there's. Nick glanced to the sky, seeing the small flickers of light. The battle up above was underway. He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling the cool breeze once more on his face. He took comfort in their presence. Nick opened his eyes and kicked Thomas forward, turning him to face his army. He looked at his men. All of them staring at him, waiting. He glanced at Kevin, seeing him with his sword in one hand, the reins in the other, ready to take off. "We fight for our home and our families! We cannot let them win, no matter the cost!" he yelled. The entire army raised their swords in the air, screaming. Nick glanced back at the opposing army, seeing them looking at one another. He raised his sword in the air, the suns gleaming off the engraved metal, "For Celeste!" he yelled, turning Thomas and racing towards his enemy, his army on his heels. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brian flew through a fire ball. "Angel two, keep up, I don't want to lose you," he called to his wingman. "I'm trying, you're hard to keep up with," the man called back. Brian smiled, forcing his ship into a downward spiral, chasing after another enemy fighter. "Angel one, there's one coming up, three o'clock." Brian looked over to see another fighter heading straight for him, his lasers firing away. He pulled out of his spin and banked hard left, his wingman going right. The two came around and caught the ship in their cross fire. "Good work, two," Brian called, just as his ship was rocked by a hit. Brian quickly looked around, trying to find where it came from. "Two where is it? I can't see it," he called. "Brian, it's right behind you," his wingman informed him. "Shit!" Brian muttered, hitting the brakes. The ship flew over him, the sudden move catching him off guard. Brian quickly came back to speed, chasing after him. He waited for his ship to get a lock, then fired. The ship exploded in front of him. Brian squinted against the bright light, banking his ship back around. "No Brian, you're in the........!" his wingman tried to warn. But it was to late. Brian realized his mistake as soon as he banked, now all he could do was hold on. He'd banked his fighter right into the laser beam from one of the big ships. His shields were on full, and he only caught a small portion of the beam, but it was enough. He watched as the lights on the console went black, his engines died, and he was left drifting in space. "Holy fucking shit!" he yelled, the movement of the ship making him dizzy. He closed his eyes, praying he didn't cross another lasers path. If he did, it would be the end. "Angel two, do you read me?" he called. Nothing. There were no sounds coming from his helmet. Finally his ship stopped spinning and just drifted. Brian looked up, finding he was getting further and further away from the battle. Alright that was a good thing. At least he didn't have to worry about the lasers. The bad thing was, with no signal, who was going to find him? Everything was off, even his life support system. Already it was starting to get cold, and the air felt stuffy. Brian looked at his console and pressed the button to start the engines. Nothing. He closed his eyes, "Please God, make this thing start." Again he pressed the button, and again nothing. This couldn't happen. He was suppose to go back. Isn't that what Nick said? He promised Marie he'd come back. How could this happen? Anger and frustration filled his soul and he started banging on the console, "Start you fucking piece of junk! Damn it! Start!!" Suddenly his engines came to life and his console lit up. His mouth dropped open in joy and shock. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he muttered as he waited for his systems to fully come up. "Angel two, this is Angel one, do you read?" he called, "Angel two ..." "Angel one, this is command, Angel two is gone," a voice came through his helmet, "Where are you? What happened?" "I got caught in the cross fire, everything shut down, but it's coming up now," he answered. "Where are you, we don't read your signal," the tech asked. "I drifted away from the battle. I'm ...wait, it's coming up, um about .87 degrees south of the battle zone," he answered. "Angel one, get out of there! That's the exit for the ships coming from Earth!" Brian's blood ran cold. "My systems not up to full yet, how long before they......?" he asked. "You don't have time, they're exiting now," the tech said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thomas ran with lightening speed across the field. Nick watched as the mass of bodies ran towards him. As they met, Thomas speared a young man through the chest with his horn, then kicked at the men forming around him. Nick swung his sword as Thomas made his way through the men. He could hear screams all around him, and the air was permeated with the smell of blood and death. He dared not look back, only forward. He just prayed that Kevin had headed his warning and was alright. He raised his sword and blocked a blow, then kicked the man in the chest, sending him flying backwards, knocking over others behind him. Nick raised his right hand and in it formed a ball of light. He threw it into the mass of men, turning his head as it exploded. Thomas lowed his head, taking care of a man that was running towards them. Nick patted his neck, then exchanged blows with another assailant. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rowland looked back to make sure Kevin was still with him. He had to admit, Kevin was a good fighter. Maybe it was the animal instinct to stay alive, but he was doing much better than Rowland gave him credit for. The battle had been raging for a good half hour already and he was still on his mount and relatively unharmed. Part of that was due to the white unicorn. The animal refused to let anyone near Kevin, kicking and using its horn to keep them at bay. What few got through, Kevin was able to handle. Kevin had just taken care of one of the ones that got through, when he looked up. "Where's Nick?" he called. Rowland glanced ahead, catching a glimpse of Nick's armor reflecting the sun light. He was surrounded by the other army, and fighting like he'd never seen him. Slowly the rest of the army was making their way to him. Kevin nudged the white unicorn up to Rowland, "We gotta help him, he's surrounded!" "We'll get there," the guard assured him, as they both pressed forward. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Marie was watching the screens, tears in her eyes. A.J. held on to her, his own emotions on overdrive. Nick was surrounded, but was holding his own. Brian on the other hand, couldn't get his ship up, and his time was out. "Please God, let them miss him," he heard himself saying. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Anthony was watching Nick on the screen, awed at how he fought with such conviction and what looked like ease. He'd been fighting for more than thirty minutes now, and wasn't even winded. Nick was truly a king in every since of the word. If anyone had ever doubted it, watching him now they would know it was true. Kings. The Book of Kings. Shit! Anthony jumped from his seat, "I'll be back!" he yelled, running out of the room to retrieve the book. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Come on, come on," Brian muttered, his eyes fixed on the displays on the console. Slowly the levels were rising. Forty-five percent, fifty ....... Brian heard a loud noise, and looked over as his heart jumped into his throat and stopped beating. Three Celestian ships appeared, all three piggybacking the ships from Earth. Through his helmet, Brian could hear the techs telling the large ships to take evasive action, but he knew they couldn't. That'd be like telling a semi to turn on a dime. It just couldn't be done. He grabbed the stick and forced it down, his ship responding slowly. "Move you bucket of bolts! Move!" he yelled at his ship. He glanced over seeing one of the ships coming straight at him. "Oh God!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "OH GOD!" Howie, A.J. and Marie said at once. They watched as Brian's ship slowly moved down and the large ship overtook it. Brian's fighter threaded in between the Celestian ship and the Earth ship it was piggybacking. Even at full power this would be almost impossible to do. Everyone in the control room glanced at each other, shock and awe on their faces. "Control, this is Tumacer I, did we hit him?" came a concerned voice. "Tumacer I, this is control, we don't think so. Angel one, do you read?" a tech said, "Angel one, come in over?" Brian moved his stick sideways, his ship lagging along. He barely missed one of the locks that held the two ships together, "I'm a little busy, give me a sec!" Marie smiled, as did everyone else. "Angel one let us know when you are in the clear. The ships will not separate until you are," the tech said. "Copy that," Brian said, as he worked his way between the two massive ships. Whose idea was it to make them so long to begin with? The image of the beginning of the movie Spaceballs entered his head. The ship at the beginning taking so long to pass, and at the end was a bumper sticker. What did it say? We brake for no one? Brian smiled as he dodged a communication antenna, if there was a bumper sticker on either one of these ships, he'd laugh his ass off. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Anthony skidded into Nick's room and ran to his desk, out of breath. He started to just grab the book, but something made him stop. He opened it to where the letters were placed and picked them up, thumbing through them. His heart was in his throat by the time he'd looked at the last envelope. There was a letter for everyone. It was eerie, and gave the young man chills. He started to replace them, looking down at the page the book was open to. His mouth dropped open as he realized he was staring at the prophecy. Not just a part of it, or the paraphrased version everyone learned as a child, but the whole thing, in detail. Anthony leaned on the desk as he read, his knees feeling as if they would give out at any second. He couldn't believe it, so he read it again. He shook his head, "No Nick, no," he whispered as tears welled up in his eyes. Quickly he placed the letters back in the book, grabbed it and took off towards the control room. Chapter 89 |