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Samh 1.18.1345 12:50
Talrederick was having a bad day. From the moment the warning went out that the Xiepvuians had landed in neighboring Jibialand, he had deployed with his troops there. Captain Giocal Raingiovanni had sent the first cry for distress from the citadel of Sintlycia Falls shortly before the communications were shut down. This was a new trick of the Xiepvuians—a technology that none of the Samhis realized they had.
The citadel had been under bombardment at the time of the distress call, but little else was known. Talrederick used the fastest available transports to get the bulk of his men there. When they arrived, most of the outbuildings were burning. The outer wall was made of electrical cylinders, but it was on the brink of collapse and the electric current was no longer flowing through it. Xiepvu troops were prepared to flood into it the second the left side fell.
The citadel center was dark. All its robotic defenses had been destroyed with careful precision targeting that left its black face pock-marked with red molten welts.
He was thankful that he had competent leadership at all levels of his staff, but without any method of communication, he knew this battle would be tough. He ordered each cadre to achieve specific goals, and once those goals had been achieved, they were to hold the ground gained and send a soldier back to the command center to get their next orders. If the orders did not arrive within the hour, they were to send another soldier and assume the first one was lost to the battle.
It was slow going, but he knew he could not proceed recklessly in this situation. The outer wall fell before they could dispatch the first wave of troops.
Captain Raingiovanni was brave and capable. Even though he must not have been aware initially that help had arrived, he soon discovered it. As Talrederick’s men broke through the enemy lines and dispersed them, they were able to contact him and coordinate attacks. After six hours of brutal combat, the citadel, or rather what was left of it, had been purged of the alien invaders.
As soon as the few Xiepvuians left alive were fleeing in space shuttles, Talrederick was ready to sit at a banquet and rest before the next day’s battle. Instead, he was given disturbing news. Captain Raingiovanni had learned of the attack only minutes before the communications had cut out. He had sent word for aid at once because he had a bad gut feeling about it. However, today was the day his daughter, Juliabella, and his grandchildren were to return home for a visit. He had sent word for her to stay in the country, but her reply indicated she was coming. It was then that he lost all communication.
Talrederick’s blood ran cold. He knew the Xiepvuians often had rogue outposts on the edges of the cities when they were attacking. The soldiers at these outposts would warn the main group of approaching reinforcements and would waylay travelers—looking for hostages and worse.
“Which way?” he asked.
Once he knew the direction, he called in his special guard. After briefing them on the situation, they headed out without delay in three ultra-helios.
At the 300-mile mark, he sighed in relief. It seemed that the daughter had decided against the trip. But just as he was about to turn the group around, a blip appeared on his radar. He glanced at the tubeway below him and saw it flashing red—showing a nearby breach. The sigh turned into a groan. The blip on the radar suddenly began moving away from the tubeway.
Within minutes, they had landed at the crash site.
“Search every crevasse for survivors. I’m going after them.”
“Sir! With all due respect, leave one man here and take the rest with you.”
“If anyone is still inside that wreck, they are going to need you all to get them immediate medical attention, and we are about an hour out. I will leave beacons so you can follow if you find nothing in the landcraft. They might have fled before taking any captives, but if they didn’t, someone needs to follow fast. Likewise, if I discover they haven’t taken anyone captive, I will return along the same path. We don’t have time to debate this.” With that Talrederick climbed back in the ultra-helio and took off.
Solocraft were fast, but the ultra-helio was faster. After a thirty-minute chase, he had a visual on the unit he was chasing. Sure enough, he noticed fifteen soldiers and one woman—who was not in Xiepvuian military gear. He hoped he was not too late.
He fired and easily took three of the soldiers out, but the rest of them scattered. The woman slipped with the jerk her solocraft made when the one it was following veered right. He needed to hit the lead craft to stop it, but did not want to accidentally hit her. By being programmed to follow, it created an almost perfect shield.
He darted upward and slammed on the throttle, keeping an eye on his radar. He had no way to predict where they were going, but if he could get in front of them and fire, he would have the solocraft she was coupled with in clear sights. As he flew over them, they shot at him with their laserlaunchers. One of them hit true on his windshield and cracked it. He was suddenly thankful for all the training on instrument fighting that he had been forced to take.
After maneuvering in front of them he quickly turned and let out a burst of fireshots. Five more, including one whose solocraft was linked to the captive’s were taken out. Unfortunately, Talrederick did not think how he was going to get her into his ship. Her solocraft slowed and came to a stop terrifyingly close to a large tree.
Hovering in space, Talrederick instantly locked on to two more targets and took them out. He scanned the area for a place to land and saw one of the solocraft veer off to get the captive and relink her vehicle to his. He tried to get a lock on him, but this soldier was clearly more experienced, probably the leader, and dodged through the trees avoiding a clear shot.
Talrederick quickly landed the ultra-helio as near to where the captive’s solocraft had stopped as he could and jumped out of it, throwing a shuriken at the soldier trying to reprogram the captive’s solocraft. However, the soldier moved at the last moment and it bounced off his armor disappointingly. Talrederick noted the lieutenant insignia and realized his assumption was correct—this was their leader.
The proximity alarms sounded inside the ultra-helio. Talrederick drew both his sonicpistols and scanned the area. As soon as he saw the four solocrafts closing in on him, he let out the blasts—knocking two riders off and sending their vehicles into trees. At the last minute he leaped back into the ultra-helio and slammed down on the shield button. The solocrafts sped past flacking him with energy burst from their laserlaunchers. Fortunately, the ultra-helio locked on, and as soon as he dropped the shields, it made short work of them.
He jumped out of the craft and took off after the lieutenant who must have finished programming the captive’s solocraft and was now running away. As soon as the guy jumped on his solocraft and started to take off, Talrederick let loose another burst from his sonic pistol, driving the man and craft into a tree.
“Lookout!” the captive cried.
Her solocraft was slowing but heading straight toward him. He felt the whoosh of wind as he dodged out of the way. As soon as it stopped, he rushed over to her and unbound the thick wire ropes holding her captive. As soon as he finished, he looked at her face and was amazed to discover that Captain Raingiovanni’s daughter, Juliabella, was the angel who had nursed him in the hospital. He stared at her speechless.
“Look out!” she cried, swiftly throwing a knife that had appeared out of nowhere in the direction behind him. Shaking himself out of his reverie, pure anger flowed through him at these thugs. One of the two attackers who had been trying to sneak up on him was now dead with a knife sticking out of his forehead. With a flick of his wrist a poisonneedle was in his hand, and an instant later the other joined his comrade on the ground with the needle sticking out of his neck.
Juliabella dismounted the solocraft.
“Thank y—” as she started to collapse, he caught her, and she moaned in pain.
“Juliabella, are you okay?”
“They gave me a shot. I can’t feel my legs, but my ribs still hurt.”
Talrederick swore under his breath.
“You saved me from a horrible fate.”
“I was in time then?”
“Yes, you are my hero!”
The thoughts that were flying through Talrederick’s mind made him feel anything but a hero. The woman he had been dreaming about and searching for over the past few months was here with him in the middle of nowhere, helpless in his arms. Taking a deep breath, he gently laid her on the ground.
“I need to pull out one of the bunks in the back, and then we will get you back to your father. Since the drug starts to make your behavior erratic, I will need to strap you in. I believe it will wear off in several hours, and you should be fine. She nodded, and he went back to the ultra-helio. As he started it up, red error messages flashed across the screen.
“No!”
He jumped out and began looking it over. Sure enough, one of the hits had severed an oil line. He was grounded until help could get here. Without any way of communicating, he did not know just how long that would be.
Pulling another lever inside the ultra-helio, the sides began to move outward as it shifted into a temporary shelter. He went to the back and folded out one of the built-in cots. Perhaps if he could get her strapped in before the second stage of the drug hit, he could stay outside and make it through the night.
Quickly, he returned to her and carried her into the cot. He felt her eyes on him the entire time. It took all his strength not to look down at her.
As he set her on the cot and reached for the first of the restraints, she put her hand upon his face and turned it toward hers before passionately kissing him. He moaned.
When she allowed him to come up for air, he stammered, “Juliabella, please, you are not yourself. You do not want this.”
“You know my name, but you have not given me the pleasure of yours.”
“Actually, I did several months ago, it is Talrederick, but you knew me as—” Juliabella laid a finger across his lips, silencing him.
“You saved me Talrederick. You are my hero. I most certainly do want this.” With that, she leaned forward and planted slow kisses down his neck. As a moan escaped his lips once more, Talrederick felt his control slipping.
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