Chapter 159: Star Cruiser

Saturday, June 19, 1971

I was on my feet and running towards the Tribal Hall before her scream died away.

I scanned the hall, but it was total chaos, and I didn’t have time to sort through it. I’d deal with it when I got there. I switched to Kip, down at the spacecraft.

“You okay?” I asked quickly.

“Yeah. A little nick on the arm. Unevia is down. She pulled her sword and took a swipe at me. I think she’ll live, but what’s going on?”

“Our guests have turned on us, it looks like. They’ll probably be coming after you next,” I told him. “Be careful. I’ll get back to you in a sec.”

Switching my scan to the train, I found a standoff. Tabita had her arm around Catherine’s neck, holding a piece from a busted vase to her throat, while Kalani held Tabita’s dagger to her mother’s throat. I tweaked Tabita’s motor cortex, but nothing happened. I realized that she now had a very intricate shield in place. I was almost to the hall, so I didn’t have time to examine it further. I made a decision, hoping it was the right tactic.

“Hang on, Kalani. I have to take care of the other warriors first. I’ll be there as fast as I can!” I thought to her as I reached the Tribal Hall’s door. I didn’t have time to hear her reply as I walked in, expecting to see carnage everywhere. The twelve warriors had taken hostages, Vickie, Jessica, Rose, and Izzy among them.

Their leader was holding a fork to Izzy’s face as he yelled for everyone to lie on the floor. I stood there checking the girls. They were surprised, but uninjured. Izzy was furious at the deception and now being threatened.

Suddenly, the aliens noticed me standing in the door. The girls became still, as did the Omugi, who were lying there with them. Several of the warriors glanced at their leader out of the corner of their eyes. ‘Leader’ looked at me and smiled with a wicked grin.

I scanned him first. The shielding around him was like the one surrounding Tabita. Even this close, I was not able to penetrate it.

“Michael?” Deedee called to me.

“You okay?” I asked.

“We’re in the Dining Car. The younger alien is holding Catherine, and Kalani has a dagger at the other one’s throat. Kalani told us to get out. Can you do something?” Deedee asked.

“In a minute, they have some sort of shield that I’m having trouble getting through,” I told her.

“They’re using strange magic, Michael. It’s not natural,” she told me.

I didn’t respond because Leader was trying to force Izzy towards me, using her as a human shield. I scanned him again. This time, I recognized what Deedee was calling magic. Their shields were mechanically driven somehow. I needed time to figure out what to do, and I needed the girls safely out of the way.

Stepping back out of the doorway, I reached down and picked up one of the alien swords from where the Omugi had stacked them, just outside the door. Then I tickled Izzy’s motor cortex. Leader looked at me in surprise as Izzy suddenly slumped to the floor, sliding out of his hands.

Thrusting the alien’s sword point down into the wooden floor, in the center of the doorway, I told him, “No one will stop you. I’ll wait for you out here. If you’re not too scared.”

I noticed Kip crossing the tracks as I walked towards the center of the compound. “Kip, can you pick them off if I can get them outside?” I asked.

“Sorry Michael. Too many innocents around you. I doubt I could get a clear shot,” Kip replied.

“Then get back to the spacecraft. Something inside there is powering their shields,” I told him.

“Aye Aye, skipper,” he replied as he turned and began running back to the spacecraft.

I saw the five female warriors grab their weapons and take off running towards their ship. I gave Kip a quick warning as I turned my attention to the seven males with swords.

This was not going as I planned. The leader and I stood facing each other, maybe twenty paces apart as the other warriors picked up their weapons and fanned out to surround me. I had absolutely no skills with a sword, and even less experience when facing multiple attackers. I figured he would probably attack me as soon as the other warriors reached their tactically advantageous positions. That didn’t leave me with a lot of time to come up with something.

“Remember what you did to my father and the others in your test, Michael,” Narvenia thought to me. “Use their power against them.”

I was standing there, trying to find a way past their shields, when I felt the ancient ring on my left hand begin to pulse. I looked down momentarily, to the sword I held tightly in my left hand, as the sword seemed to come alive. The blade began to hum and a pale light slowly flowed from the hilt, down to the point of the sword. The sight caused all of the warriors to draw back, and some frantic discussion ensued. “Don’rahall” was the only word I understood.

As I stood there waiting, not sure what was going on, the sword began to rise on its own. I instinctively grasped the hilt with both hands.

When the leader saw my movement, he hesitated only a fraction of a moment. Then, with a primal scream, he began charging towards me.

My sword, as if it had a mind of its own, parried his thrust then quickly recoiled to do the same to a second warrior who charged me from the rear. This, I found, was to be the pattern as over and over they charged me two at a time. I gave the sword its head, allowing it to do the fighting.

Even with the sword directing my efforts, there were too many close calls for comfort. And while I was able to escape serious injury, I was not able to inflict any either. I was sweating and beginning to gasp for oxygen when, on some unseen command, they all withdrew, still surrounding me.

I turned in a very slow circle, checking out my attackers. Between the sword’s skill and my protective shield, I didn’t have a scratch on me. But I was breathing hard and my pulse was racing. I didn’t know how long I could hold the seven warriors at bay. I noticed that several were bleeding, but none appeared disabled. I never even realized the sword had cut them.

A short burst from Kip’s automatic came to my ears. The warriors all paused to listen. Quickly, two of the warriors turned and began running towards the spacecraft.

“I guess the spaceship is a higher priority than I am,” I thought to myself. Then, “Two more coming!” I gasped to Kip.

“Let ‘em,” was his terse reply.

“I don’t know how I’m going to survive this,” I thought to myself.

“I love you, Michael. Please don’t say that!” came Candy’s small voice to my mind. Then the other girls chimed in and I felt the ring began to glow and my arm started tingling.

“You hafta let him do what he wants,” came the very small voice. “Please, let him. I don’t want to lose my new daddy,” Sunny told me.

“Who are you talking about, Sweetheart?” I asked.

“I don’t know her name, but she says you’re holding her back,” Sunny said. “I wuv you!” she added.

“I wuv you too,” I replied. Sunny was perfectly capable of saying ‘love’. But she and I had been using the baby-fied version ever since she heard me use it to tease her mother one day.

Taking a deep breath, and closing my eyes, I told myself to let go and trust in the sword. When I did, the ring pulsed so much, I thought it was burning my hand.

Then the sword raised itself up in my arms to point straight at the leader. The blade became brighter as I stood there facing him.

“Surrender or die!” I yelled in a language I did not know. My words caused the leader to recoil in fear. He lifted his own sword over his head and charged me once more. He had only taken a couple of steps when a blue bolt shot from the tip of my sword, striking him in the chest. He stopped, straightening to full height before dropping his sword and clutching his hands to his chest as he keeled over.

I spun quickly, pointing the sword at first one and then another, until four of the five warriors lay on the ground. The fifth started to charge, but then stopped. Dropping his sword, he knelt on the ground, his hands stretched out towards me, repeating the same phrase, over and over.

I just stood there, drawing in great draughts of breath while I tried to calm the massive adrenaline rush. I quickly scanned the fallen warriors. They were alive, but I had no idea how injured they were. I’d worry about it later.

“Bind them!” I told the Omugi who had now ventured closer.

“Kip?” I thought desperately.

“I’m here,” he replied, breathing heavily. “I’ve got three dead aliens. The other five, counting Unevia, are injured. Don’t know how badly. I found something ... it looked like it could be a power supply. It was pulsing like crazy and it wasn’t when we were in here earlier. So I fixed it so it won’t pulse anymore.”

“Great! I’ve got the rest. Four are hurt. Don’t know how badly. That leaves the two on the train. Help is on the way, so be sure before you shoot,” I thought as I began running towards the train.

When I scanned, I was surprised to find Tabita lying on the floor of the Observation Car with Catherine sitting on top of her.

“I’m on the way!” I thought to them.