Chapter 20

“Always attack. Even in defense, attack. The attacking arm possesses the

initiative and thus commands the action. To attack makes men brave; to defend

makes them timorous.”

― Steven Pressfield, The Virtues of War: A Novel of Alexander the Great

“Is everyone ready?” Razza asked.

“I don’t need to remind all of you this operation must go quickly. The captives rely on you. Many of them will be unconscious or injured. Expect to face Gazronnaas guards and heavy opposition. We don’t know how many of them there are, we can’t see into the containment facility. We can’t afford to use grenades and heavy weapons. Aim for the hips. The Gazronnaas are most vulnerable at the hip level.

“You all learned to transport yourselves but Jason has arranged to take you into your destination. Transport yourself back if you need to.

“The attack is imminent, the countdown starts now, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, go, go, go,” said Razza in her sergeant major voice.

Jason felt the brief transition he left the ship then accelerated towards the planet and began to pass downward. The rock was easy to pass through, much easier than when they rescued Razza’s family. All too soon they reached the cavern where tens of thousands of Azloc troops were teleporting in. A fraction of a second later they passed into the rectangular metallic prison.

Jason extended his legs as Rover leapt towards a nearby Gazronnaas who was raising his assault rifle. Lightning struck the shocked Gazronnaas from Rover’s triple horns. Jason fired rapidly at a group of five Gazronnaas troops. Piles of captives lay everywhere. The light was dim and failing. Jason’s armor warned of rapidly diminishing oxygen. More and more of Jason’s Marines entered the facility carried by dogs and engaged the Gazronnaas. The scene was chaotic. Jason felt Ooryphyon close by, moved several bodies and found her unconscious with both her parents lying on her. Both parents had several wounds on their bodies. Jason handed Ooryphyon’s father to Julia and her mother to Andrea.

“Get on a dog and get out of here.”

Jason picked up Ooryphyon while being protected by two Marines. As he jumped, he felt his shoulder burning, but he forced himself through the rock and back to the ship before he passed out with Ooryphyon in his arms.

“Emperor, I completed treatment on your shoulder. Prepare to be teleported from the medical pod. The Doctor is approaching and will discuss what was done and if anything more needs to done.”

Jason felt the customary jolt as he teleported from the pod and landed on his feet. He was weak and dizzy and shuffled into the dresser. While dressing he saw the Doctor walking towards him from one of the distant pods.

Many of the pods were operating and the hospital was busy. He hadn’t seen so much activity in the hospital section for a long time.

Thistrinoth appeared in front of Jason as if part of his heads-up display.

“A random shot from a distant part of the facility struck you as you were leaving. I brought you directly here and told them what was happening and why.

“I talked to the AI while you were being treated and learned everything the pod knows. The pod is an interesting device, but I do think we can do a lot better. The operation of biological beings fascinates me,” said Thistrinoth. “I have encountered much in the universe that is much more complicated, but I have had to learn biological systems from scratch and there is a fair amount to digest. It is so foreign to me.

“I can help your engineers improve your pod repair processes. I am well advanced in my research in the area. I am rummaging through engineering to find out what you have to work with.”

Thistrinoth was interrupted by the arrival of the harried looking doctor.

“Emperor, my name is Marastya Nurinasma, one of my parents is the Commissioner of Public health Borgusta who you have previously met. Both of us were reconstructed and for that we thank you.

“You received an injury to the muscles that surrounds the shoulder. You arrived so soon after your injury, we were able to limit any extensions of the damage due to the toxic nature of the para-plasma weapon the Gazronnaas use. We replaced a small amount of muscle. The size of the injury was only an eighth of an inch in diameter. You may notice a slight reduction of your strength for a week. Your exercise machine will modify your regime as you improve. You will be back to normal in two weeks. You may feel dizzy when standing for the rest of today. Be careful. Go and have a meal, you will feel better.”

“Thank you Doctor Nurinasma.”

She smiled, and as all doctors seemed to do; turned on her heel and walked quickly back the way she had come.

Rover, Rosie and Lilly appeared, in their Dog of the Apocalypse large forms, changed to conventional dog forms and ran up to Jason wagging their tails.

They furiously sent images of attacking Gazronnaas, horrible taste, and horribly injured captives. They showed drills breaking into the cavern and firing on the Gazronnaas, as tanks poured through Azloc portals.

****

The group sat somberly in the dreadnought battle control room. The room was alive with energy and activity. Multiple holograms showing different scenes of the battle below were projected from every table.

Yoyo wearily stepped onto the raised platform and raised his hand for silence.

He pressed a button and formed the biggest hologram Jason had ever seen.

“The battle is almost over. We have several teams investigating what they have stored on the lowest level.

“I will show you the sequence of events as they occurred. Most of you have been engaged in controlling either the space war or the battle under the ground. You can take a brief break and I will recapitulate the events in sequence.

I’m pleased to welcome the Emperor and his party back safely and with minimal damage.

“The first phase was a surprise underground attack. We wanted to ensure we recovered as many captives as possible.

“You can thank the Emperor and his resident creator, Thistrinoth Volgrukin, and sentient rocks for making the operation a much less traumatic one. We can also formally congratulate Thistrinoth on being the first creator to become a citizen of our Empire.”

The audience hooted and flapped their arms giving the customary enthusiastic applause. Thistrinoth emerged as a large hologram wearing his uniform and carrying his hat. He bowed to the audience then shrank to normal human size and sat next to Zafa on one of the vacant seats.

“We know the Gazronnaas are dependent on level III energy. On Porquenta and Mars they did not have generators but used siphons that collected the energy for their use and sustenance.

“Our Zaos spies discovered the underground facility had generators. They had backup siphons some of which were in use. We have not found the small level III generators our people construct in the Mini-Universe and on Norbut 19. They do not make them.

“The Emperor and Associates blocked level III energy from entering Bekta Delta and opened the dimensions needed by the demonic war hounds to be able to operate here.

“We have a question at the back?”

Thistrinoth stood in his seat and made himself larger so he could be easily seen.

“Admiral, the Colonel has a series of questions she wished to ask. May I answer those questions I do not wish to disturb the flow of the proceedings?”

Yoyo looked amused, nodded then smiled.

“When we enter a universe the Vostes and I can perceive different sizes of sealed portholes. These portholes are specific to each dimension. We open or close those portholes we want or we don’t want. We don’t need to go around the whole universe, we only need to do it in one location and it quickly ripples around the entire universe. When we set up universes, we decide which portholes are opened or closed. We are still exploring which are the best dimensions to allow at different phases of development of the universes. It takes a long time to evaluate the consequences of each of the decisions we make.

“In answer to your next question, there are two hundred and fifty-six possible dimensions. Twenty six dimensions make a big difference to how a universe develops.

“No, it is not difficult to do for either the Vostes or for me. It took us only a billionth of a second to do what we needed to do.

“Yes, my explanation is an oversimplification.

“No, I am not a god, all the Uzliumbax are on the pathway to become like me. Those from Norbut 19 are the furthest along the path.

“No, it did not take much energy. To find the open and shut mechanism is not easy for you as you are now. I use an enormous computational power. If every single AI in the Empire was to work on finding a single porthole it would take them ten years. It takes the Vostes working together in a trans-dimensional space in the Emperor a quarter of a second. It takes me a trillionth of a second. It would have normally been less than that, but I was a little tired as I had been learning everything you guys know about chemistry and biology at the same time. Organic chemistry was a bit of chore.”

Thistrinoth looked serious, then smiled and burst into laughter.

Most of the audience smiled or laughed. Yoyo looked amused.

“Admiral I apologize for the interruption, none of the other questions in people’s minds are relevant to your briefing. I have answered questions directly to two of them privately.”

“Thank you Thistrinoth, even I understood that explanation. I was expecting you to boggle my brain with mathematical equations and complex physics. A porthole I can understand. Portholes of different sizes, does not exceed the capacity of my brain!

“General Irolath Agron led the Zaos team, please stand up General so people can see you. General Agron has had a distinguished career. We fought together during the great war during which time she earned a formidable reputation. Very few generals take direct part in operations on the ground. General Agron leads from the front and has never avoided dangerous situations. She planned and implemented the infiltration strategy of the intelligence operatives into the subterranean system and she ensured the entire facility was mapped by personally visiting and looking at every level. I commend the Zaos intelligence group who faced frightening daily risks as they collected the vital intelligence we needed.

“They placed explosives strategically in every level so we could take the facility and reduce casualties. They ensured the generators and siphons ceased operation when we attacked.

Yoyo pointed to the hologram of the different levels and moved his pointer to the lowest level.

“Watch this point, then jump up above the next level as you watch the next sequence. This is the start of our operation. We masked our ships, and we had not yet attacked the Gazronnaas ships. We wanted our surprise to be complete.”

Several explosions occurred on the lowest level followed by very much larger explosions in every cavern other than the one in which the captives were held.

“Our engineers designed the explosives to ignite the Gazronnaas atmosphere and kill the Gazronnaas not wearing armor. The temperature rose more than we expected as the atmosphere in some parts was denser than when we originally sampled it.

“We also destroyed the shield generators next to the captives’ enclosure.

“The Azloc transported in while the Emperor and his party entered the captives’ enclosure together with the hounds and Marines to rescue the hostages.

“The atmosphere in the enclosure was deteriorating quickly. There were far more guards than we expected in the enclosure and far more captives. The guards were trying to kill as many captives as they could when our people entered the metal prison.

“The Gazronnaas killed a quarter of the prisoners, and injured half of them. The Emperor saved Empress Ooryphyon. A random shot hit him in the shoulder as he prepared to leave. The Empress will recover as will her parents, who were grievously injured, when they sacrificed themselves by lying on top of Empress Ooryphyon to save her. We found many family groups.

“As soon as we recovered the first of the hostages, we attacked the Gazronnaas fleet with overwhelming force. I will show you what happened.

Yoyo shifted the view of the hologram to show the relative positions of the two fleets. Explosions began around every single one of the Gazronnaas ships milli-seconds before the Uzliumbax fleet began to fire on them and send missiles. Only one Gazronnaas ship from Norbut 19 was spared. Yoyo boarded it.

“The newly arrived fleet proved to be fragile with few weapons that operated in Bekta Delta. We used the Oojokhi missile technique to surround the Gazronnaas ships while we were setting up the underground operation. We quickly and successfully boarded the Gazronnaas flagship. We did not find the Gazronnaas queen underground, nor was she found in the flagship.

“The Zaos installed surveillance drones in every storage area and many in every cavern. I want to show you what we observed.”

Jason watched a large Gazronnaas leave the captives enclosure. She was joined by a platoon of her troops. She formed a portal and they walked through.

The portal reformed and the platoon returned carrying her. They were joined by doctors and she was transported up several floors to a hospital area. She was taken out of her armor.

She remained unconscious for several hours. She held her head and looked uncomfortable.

She returned to the captive facility. She looked different and acted differently. When she left the captive facility, she joined a group of five with shiny black armor much like hers, and suddenly transformed into a twenty foot high pterodactyl. It is different from the pterodactyls we encountered in the mini-universe.

“I showed you the whole sequence. Now I will give you the timeline. She went through the portal and was away for two days. We believe she was on the Dermon world during the time you were there, Jason. From her behavior when she returned from the Dermon world, we think the same occurred to her as occurred to you Jason. Marcela and Adhhan both confirmed the destination of the portal.

“Thistrinoth, can you comment?”

Thistrinoth rose to stand on his feet.

“In that universe the creators were dominant for a long time, but as the universe began to contract there was an anti-creator or if you prefer destroyer who began to gain power and finally began to hunt me after I was weakened after undertaking a major effort.

“I suspect she knew I escaped and wished to pursue me. She rightly or wrongly assumed the Gazronnaas came from the same place as I did.

“On balance of probability, the Gazronnaas have been negotiating with the Dermon for some time to provide an opportunity to them to invade Bekta Delta. Bekta Delta used to lack the same dimensions as the Mini-Universe and would be suitable for the Dermon but they would have been constrained by seriously limited ambient power. If they were given a power supply, they would have been very dangerous.

“The difficulty we now face is the anti-creator can open the magic portals in the Dermon world again and she can if they return here once again shut off the dimensional portals to make this universe capable of supporting the Dermon. They could then move on to do the same with Nasta 9.

“They will soon find something has gone wrong in the Dermon universe and as the Gazronnaas Queen desperately needs allies, the anti-creator will reopen the level III energy portals. In another week it would’ve all been over and the Dermon would have been no more.

“We must go there and kill them both. The Gazronnaas Queen can change into a pterodactyl form. That is how I am sure she has the anti-creator within her. It is the form taken by the anti-creator; she has given that ability to the Queen. Together they are a very dangerous pair. The Queen would not be able to return to Bekta Delta without opening the magical portals. If we go there and switch it off again, we must return through the door to the universe established by the Destroyer priests and priestesses.

“Yoyo I think we must follow her as soon as possible. I assume we will need to go down into the cavern so we can follow the trail. I want to see Ooryphyon before I go. I received a message she has recovered consciousness and is in the canteen and wants to talk to me,” said Jason.

****

“I can see you were hungry,” said Jason as he arrived with his entourage in the senior officer’s canteen after Yoyo’s briefing. “That is your third plate of food!”

“Ooryphyon, you are looking cheerful despite your ordeal,” said Lisirra.

“Compared to the treatment I received when captured by the pirates and the Grork, the Gazronnaas were pussies. The Gazronnaas Queen was a nasty piece of work and by far the worst of the Gazronnaas. She killed half a dozen of her prisoners to make sure I cooperated.

“One of the Gazronnaas had the ability to listen in to telepathic conversations much as Oksana does. She overheard part of one of the conversations with my parents, Jason. They shot several prisoners before I admitted I was the one who was able to talk telepathically. She wanted me to entice you in while she was there.

“The Queen brought along her pet listener when you made contact. I switched to telepathy; I didn’t want her to know we used the Azloc system. She thought you were on the surface of the planet. I was able to get into the head of the listener and after a while, I could sneak into the Queen. Towards the end I was even able to influence her thinking.

“I discovered she was negotiating with the Dermon to form a partnership. I could recognize them in her mind. I managed to help her believe you would not attack for two weeks. Bekta Delta is suitable for the Dermon as it has level III power and lacks the same critical dimension as the Mini-Universe.

“Something funny happened during her last visit to the Dermon. I found what occurred as I went through her thoughts and memories. She met with the warlord and on the way back to where she had set up her portal, something nasty knocked her out. She had to be carried back by her troops. I could feel this thing in her. She and the thing formed an alliance and she was elated. She was ambivalent about going back to the Dermon world, but I managed to influence her to go. The other thing in her head was also pushing her to return as something was seriously wrong there and the being wanted to fix the problem. It told her if she didn’t go back, she could lose her allies,” said Ooryphyon. “I knew if she was out of the way it would be much easier for you guys to knock out the facility.”

“Do you know anything about this entity in her?” Lisirra asked.

“It was hunting something called a creator. The entity said the creator would be an enemy of the Gazronnaas and believed the creator will help the enemies of the Gazronnaas.

“We must chase after her as soon as possible. I assume they are the same Dermon as the people of Saulius. We know they are nasty pieces of work. I want to kill that Queen. She is an awful creature. She is rotten within,” said Ooryphyon.

“Aren’t you too weak?” Andrea asked.

“I managed to stay in good shape. I made sure I exercised every day and I induced the guards to feed us twice as much as they intended to. I was sick of the same stuff every day, but there was plenty to eat. They became more difficult once they realized trouble was on the horizon and we might know something about it. Maybe they would’ve become much worse if we would’ve remained prisoner for a long time, but fortunately they were malleable, and I could influence their behavior.

“When they started shooting us after the attack began, my father knocked me out. That was the last I knew of anything until I recovered in a pod. My parents are still in their pods, but they are going to be fine. My priority is to get that Queen and that horrible thing in her. I was pleased to discover it is stuck in her and can’t even get out when it returns home. If she dies the thing dies with her,” said Ooryphyon.

“I think you should relax and take it easy, we will all go after the Queen,” said Jason. How many soldiers did she go back with?”

“I don’t need to relax, I don’t want to relax, don’t stop me from going with you. I know exactly how she sets up the portal. We can set it up from here and we don’t need to go back underground.

“I suggest we take our full group and twenty soldiers. We need to defend ourselves against a patrol or be able to be sure we can neutralize the Queen and her sixteen troops. She is big and strong, and she can change into a pterodactyl since she has that thing in her. We didn’t find it easy to kill her father and she is a real tough customer.

“Jason, I want to apologize for my previous behavior. I did three cycles a day of magic while there and I spent many hours talking to my parents. I wanted to blame you for what happened to me. I admit I was so guilty about my own behavior; I couldn’t accept what I had done. I felt I must tell you in case something happens to one of us on the Dermon world.

“Now get us some elite troops and let’s get going!”

****

Ooryphyon set up the portal and they walked through the portal onto the plane.

“Marcela do you recognize where we are?” Jason asked.

She looked around carefully.

“Yes, I am familiar with where we are, Jason. The tunnel is a half an hour from here. There is no reason for us to walk this time. Either of us can transport the group to the door. Most of you can do it, you have extraordinary ability,” said Marcela.

One of the Marines approached Jason.

“Emperor, I can see the tracks of the Gazronnaas heading in that direction” – he pointed, then switched his vision to high-power – “I can see their party walking slowly in the distance. They are moving slowly but they are already half-way to the city. There is a patrol heading our way moving equally slowly. All the shuttles and gunships are on the ground and there is no activity I can see.

“Major, take your group to intercept the patrol, that is why we needed you. We will intercept the Gazronnaas Queen and her party,” said Jason.

The major waved to his group and pointed towards the patrol in the distance. His platoon moved away quickly and quietly.

“Hey, you guys, I will transport us to a position one hundred yards behind the Gazronnaas. I can see some cover and I will put us behind it. Kalalal you concentrate on the Queen; the rest of the snipers please knock out the military group. Aim for the hips on both sides,” said Jason.

“Jason, the anti-creator did exactly what you predicted, she opened up the magic portholes on her way through. I reversed what she did on the way in. This place will be an unlivable place for the Dermon in about five minutes. There was so much magic here, that even when it was shut down, it was taking a long time to disappear, but it also would take more than a week to return to normal if reversed. The Gazronnaas and the Dermon must move slowly to conserve their strength.

“I can detect other minds around here somewhere. Be careful,” said Thistrinoth.

Jason passed Thistrinoth’s warning to everyone.

“Make sure your assault rifles are ready for action and watch out for an ambush,” said Jason. “Now join hands. Change to the Azloc communication system.”

Jason moved the group to the mound he had seen which had several rocks scattered around it.

“Guys, the snipers are in place, but I can see two patrols of Dermon between us and the Queen. All of you need to get into position to hit the Dermon as fast as you can. They are all clumped together so load up grenades, then hit the Gazronnaas, directly after,” said Kalalal.

Everyone moved into position and at Razza’s command fired grenades.

“The grenades aren’t working very well here. Change to rapid-fire.” Razza commanded.

“They have split up and they are firing back, the Queen and her group speeded up, she is well shielded, and her soldiers are blocking me,” said Kalalal disgustedly. “The Dermon are pinning us down.”

“Our Marines are in a firefight with the other Dermon patrol. They aren’t going to be around to help us for a while,” said Julia disappointedly as she fired at one of the Dermon. “The Dermon shields are barely functional. They aren’t that difficult to penetrate and they aren’t that hard to kill.”

The impasse lasted several minutes longer.

“Thistrinoth switched on all the dimensions we have in Nasta 9, but it will take time for our weapons to work properly and for us to use our powers. The Dermon will not last long. I can feel my powers increasing,” said Jason. “It is pretty slow.”

Razza created fireballs and sent them in the direction of the Dermon then Jason created a sheet of fire and lowered it over the Dermon group. The effect was much less effective than on Nasta 9.

“They hit and injured Trackrof and Palatal. We must leave them here and will fetch them on the way back,” said Razza. “We are some distance behind the Queen and her group. Jason we will need a ride to catch them.”

“Form up and link hands.”

The group joined Jason and linked hands. Seconds later they were 100 yards behind the Queen and her patrol.

Jason formed a series of fireballs and sent them towards the Gazronnaas Queen. She evidently also had dimensional powers as she easily blocked them and sent her own fireballs back towards the group which Marcela blocked.

Kalalal continued her attempts to shoot the Queen.

The Gazronnaas group continued relentlessly ahead with the rearguard returning fire and blocking power attacks and assault rifle fire.

“Their shields are much more effective in this universe, I will paint one of them at a time and we will concentrate on that Gazronnaas until we knock them out of commission,” Razza instructed.

They chased after the Gazronnaas slowly whittling them down.

“I can see a patrol of Dermon slightly ahead of the Queen and to her right. They are sitting on the ground and look like they are in a bad way. I don’t think they are going to trouble us,” said Razza.

“Our Marines are running to catch us up. Seventeen of them remain. They will reach us in two minutes,” said Marcela from the back.

“The Gazronnaas shields are becoming less effective,” said Julia. “I suspect magic levels are decreasing.”

“The Gazronnaas group are slowing. Perna has knocked out three more of them, but they shot her in the leg, so she will need to wait here for us. They hit Patata’s left upper and right lower shoulder as well as her foot. She will remain with Perna. The combat suits stabilized them and are administering treatment.

“This place is hellishly cold,” said Jason. “The armor is barely managing to keep me warm.”

“The Gazronnaas turned our way and are lying prone facing us. I suspect the Queen has decided to stand her ground. Get down quickly, don’t make it easy for them, but keep crawling towards them.” said Razza. “Pukini, you and Begona take the left and try to flank them, Alfred, you and Alex take the right and see if you can flank them on that side. Watch out people, shields up, the Queen is bringing out her big guns.”

Several large fireballs headed their direction along with multiple smaller fireballs, slivers of ice and lightning. They slammed into the shield Razza formed. Her shield buckled under the onslaught as did Julia’s shield behind it, then narrowly missed them, passing inches above them.

Jason sent fireballs that descended from above the Gazronnaas along with a bus sized block of ice shortly after. The attacks fizzled into nothing as they impacted on a shield created above the Gazronnaas. Jason saw half the Marines running up behind them quickly erect a shield. The Queen’s shot fireballs at them. Their shield was ineffective. None of them moved after her attack.

The Queen was as strong as Jason if not stronger. He felt her beginning to try and probe his mind. He warned Lisirra and Ooryphyon. They began an exhausting telepathic battle. The Queen had several skilled and powerful telepaths working with her.

“Concentrate on one at a time, let’s knock them out,” said Lisirra, her nose bleeding.

At last they began to make some progress and knocked out two of the weaker Gazronnaas.

There was loud roar. The Gazronnaas Queen struck the ground with the flat of her sword.

The ground fell away creating an abyss that extended from the Queen to 25 yards from Jason’s group. She did the same a short distance away. There were now two wide and deep trenches separated by a narrow strip of ground between her group and Jason’s group. She could not be flanked without a very long walk around the extended abyss on both sides of the narrow strip.

“I don’t see any option, link hands and I will move us behind them,” said Jason.

“I can’t see our marines; I think they are down; we aren’t going to get any help from them. We must block the Gazronnaas from getting to the city. I doubt the Dermon are in a fit state to attack us, Thistrinoth tells me they will all be dead in another half an hour. We can’t leave the Queen here; she will take a shuttle to the border of the Universe and reverse the magic and dimensional changes Thistrinoth made. We must get rid of her and that entity,” Jason stated flatly.