Estranged

Relentless (2)

“I never stopped,” Aliyah said back.

Aunt Jebba scoffed. “Your actions tell a different story, Liya.”

Aliyah forced herself to take deep breaths. She stared at the golden, darkening horizon, imagining that her annoyance would simply descend and vanish like the sun was doing. “If I could do it all over, Aunt Jebba, I’d leave again.” Aliyah could not be certain, but she thought she saw Jebba Synthë flinch as if the words had struck her. “I didn’t and still don’t approve of the way you ran things. It wasn’t your fault; there’s a hierarchy in which we are merely cogs and to be at its top rather than bottom is only sensible. And so you gained the power to be able to protect your own, and I find that admirable, Aunt Jebba, more than you could think. But I couldn’t live with the things you had to do to maintain that power. You have to underst—”

“I know, darling. It is just how life can be sometimes when things don’t work the way we want them to. You know, for years now I’d been searching for a way to get out from under Wilda’s thumb.” Aunt Jebba took in a deep breath, reaching for Aliyah’s hand and clasping it in hers.” How poetic it is that it’s you who shows me the way.”

“Step away from the edge!” Germaine snarled.

She and Aunt Jebba whipped around. Germaine stood a few paces away, a slight bend on his knees, an anxious look on his face. He repeated, “Step away, you two.” He turned his head, scanning the tinted flat roof, glancing at every corner. “Something’s coming.”

They moved away from the railed edge, drawing closer to Germaine. He stood more than a head taller than them, still on edge, the red light from the phoenix holo above setting his dark skin aglow. And then Aliyah looked closely at the holo. She whispered furiously, “Germaine, up!”

He looked above, eyes widening as he saw what she had: a blue dot in the centre of the holo growing bigger and nearer.

A force rammed into Aliyah, catching her so unawares that her body was completely relaxed as she flew away from the impact, tumbled across the floor, and lay sprawling in confusion. There was no pain, only disorientation. She looked back. Germaine stood alone in the middle of the roof, eyes fixed on the sky. Aunt Jebba lay on the floor on his other side, about as far from him as Aliyah was, and equally as disoriented.

And then the scene that followed would have been stunning to Aliyah if she was not utterly terrified of it. A figure—donning a black ExoSuit whose seams glowed blue—fell through the bottom of the holo, contorted in a blazing arc that extended from the tip of an obsidian sword to the figure’s toes. The arc snapped just as the figure landed, raining down a mighty s***h on Germaine. The ground shattered on impact, spraying bricky shrapnel everywhere.

***

The truck finally came to a stop. Scott had finished sharpening his knives. Whylan had turned off his MiraLink; the earpiece he wore was his only connection to headquarters.

The lanky soldier grinned at Gringe. “It’s showtime, boss.”

Scott said nothing but acknowledged him with a look and a nod.

Gringe stood and walked to the end of the truck. He grabbed the door handle, opening the door to a dusky evening. A hundred similar trucks lay parked before him, stretching as far as the dusty road did till it dipped away beyond sight.

He leapt straight to the ground, then trudged around to the side of the truck so he was headed to its front. A large, square-shaped sign that creaked on its hinges stood by the side of the road: ‘Welcome to Irrhyian Sector.’ At the foot of the sign, shrubs grew, and from there—on either side of the road—it was just one long swathe of wild plants ruffling in the wind; green and uninhibited. And at the end of the stretch of vegetation lay the walls of the Irrhyian Sector. They were large and thick but spotted holes in random places and other signs of disrepair. Atop the walls, an army waited. Just over half a mile separated them and Gringe, but he saw them clearly.

And he saw the reasons why his own troops had to stop at this distance. Spaced equidistant along the length of the walls were four unmanned, golden cannons, gleaming even as the sun had almost fled the skies. Each of the cannons had a firing rate of ten proton beams per minute. Together they would tear his forces to shreds before they ever got to the walls.

Which was why he was here now; to go alone.

So armoured in his deep red ExoSuit, Gringe ran, charging at the walls, the army, and their cannons, all on his own.

***

The dust settled and only the suited figure remained in the centre of the roof, removing the sword from a smooth gouge in the floor. The figure had missed.

Germaine stood on the other side from Aliyah, his giant frame completely shielding Aunt Jebba like an unbreachable wall. Two long knives gleamed in his hands. Without taking his eye off the figure, he said to Aunt Jebba, “Whatever happens, stay behind me.”

A few tense seconds followed in which Germaine and the enemy only waited, staring at each other in silence. Then something odd happened. The figure turned and simply walked towards Aliyah, bearing down on her—sword in hand—with a casual yet menacing gait. Closer and closer the figure drew. Still, Germaine held his ground, remaining at Aunt Jebba’s side, until a foul curse escaped his mouth and he charged at the figure.

Aliyah could not be sure, but the figure, even though helmeted by the ExoSuit, seemed…pleased at Germaine’s decision to engage.

And engage they did.

The figure turned to face Germaine, brandishing the long sword with one hand.