Equilibrium of Terror: Part 1 (Splintered Galaxy Book 3) Read online

  More gun fire echoed through the skies, whoever that Aryile was chasing they were armed and posed a threat to him and the surrounding area. Vaishea started running on the sidewalks alongside the apartment they leapt on top keeping her eye on them as she reached for her magnetic pistol. They jumped toward another apartment. As they became airborne Vaishea took aim with her pistol pointed upward and rapidly discharged.

  … … …

  Dargonea’s jump port placed her back inside the temple. Two dead rangers lay next to the door while Dalhakei struggled to get to his feet with the aid of his staff with a frustrated and vengeful look on his bearded face. Dargonea ran toward him offering her hand, it was deflecting backwards by his hand.

  “Never mind me!” Dalhakei shouted. “Kill the humans fleeing, they oppose the order.”

  “Humans? Here?”

  “No time to explain! Let us not waste this chance the gods gave us to slay those that oppose us!”

  “At once, my lord,” Dargonea said before channeling her psionics to perform a teleport.

  “May the gods’ light shine upon you.”

  Dargonea’s body was enveloped in a bright burst of blue teleportation light.

  … … …

  ►► Silver Raven at Courelia spaceport dock, Rasi

  ► Barnard’s Star system

  Several new holographic windows hovered in front of Eupiar. Each window displayed security camera footage of the surrounding area Jazz and Destiny were in while her hands continued to type or flick away projections that she didn’t need to look at.

  “I’m killing whatever security cams I can find in the area,” Eupiar said.

  “Need a way out!” Jazz’s voice played on the cockpit’s speakers.

  “I’m working on it!” Eupiar said as she saw them climb up an outdoor staircase, leading toward the top of a taller condo with some kind of small forested park on the top. “For now, just keep going, you guys are doing well with the rooftop jumps.”

  … … …

  ►► Courelia upper levels roof tops, Rasi

  ► Barnard’s Star system

  Jazz and Destiny continued their run and leap across another nearby rooftop with the same results. Jainuzei keeping up with them from behind running and gunning at every chance he got. The small miniature forest on the top of their current rooftop, however, did provide limited cover as they ran in front of trees and bushes. Jainuzei wasn’t able to get a clear shot, and stopped at one point to scan the area with his targeting display.

  They got closer to the ledge and looked across at another rooftop they planned to jump toward, while Jazz looked downwards. A Linl woman had been taking shots at them from the streets below, and came pretty damn close to hitting him with the last jump they made. There was no sign of her from the quick glance he made, good, they made another leap, bullets from the streets shot upwards as they glided.

  Fucking bitch was hiding. Jazz thought as he looked down. The Linl woman had positioned her body around the corner where they couldn’t see.

  “They got help down below,” Jazz said as he and Destiny landed on the next rooftop.

  “Let’s stay away from that side,” Destiny said, running toward a ledge opposite where the Linl woman from down below was last seen.

  Another leap was coming into sight as the two of them were being reacquired into Jainuzei’s sights. They leapt across right as Jainuzei’s rifle bellowed, one bullet grazed Jazz’s foot seconds before he was about to jump. Instead of leaping across with Destiny he lost his footing and fell toward a balcony below. Had this been Earth, the fall would have taken him out as he easily fell past three stories before impact.

  “Fuck!” Destiny shouted after looking back and seeing Jazz was no longer with her.

  “Keep moving Destiny,” Eupiar transmitted. “I’m tracking a psionic closing in fast.”

  “Great,” she mumbled unenthusiastically.

  Jazz got to his feet, his hands rubbing the side of his head where it hit the side of the balcony railing. “Jazz, I got you, head inside that suite behind you,” Eupiar’s voice said.

  With little regard for who might be inside, Jazz’s rifle exploded, shattering the glass sliding door behind him and ran into the condo suite. This apparently was someone’s bedroom, rather a couple’s bedroom. A Linl couple leapt naked out of their bed, horrified to see Jazz shatter the glass door and enter, interrupting their bout of hot sex.

  “Don’t stop because of me!” he said to the freaking out couple as he ran toward the suite’s main entrance.

  “I’m unlocking the doors now,” Eupiar transmitted.

  Just as promised, the front door leading into the hallway was unlocked, freedom was at hand.

  … … …

  “Jainuzei, leave the human female, the other one fell below.” Dargonea’s voice transmitted to Jainuzei’s communicator.

  Looking across, the human woman in the red dress continued to run as Dargonea took to the skies, hovering her Javnis psionic body high above in preparation for an airstrike. Down below the ledge of the rooftops, he saw broken glass sprinkled across a balcony. This must be where the human male fell.

  “I shall deal with the other,” Jainuzei said.

  His massive body jumped off and landed on the balcony in question. Inside he saw a naked Linl couple scramble to get their clothes on. This human has no honor!

  … … …

  Vaishea from the streets below saw the large Aryile man jump off the rooftops and entered a suite with its glass sliding door shattered. One of the suspects must have entered she concluded and ran toward the building’s main lobby. She entered and saw three sets of elevators and ran toward them as a security camera in the ceiling watched her every move.

  … … …

  ►► Silver Raven at Courelia spaceport dock, Rasi

  ► Barnard’s Star system

  “Oh no you don’t!” said Eupiar as she watched one of the many hacked security cameras display a recording of the Linl woman attempting to summon an elevator.

  Eupiar quickly pushed away the cam projection while grabbing a hold of another holo screen and interacted with it. She smiled as she looked back at the security cam feed that now depicted video of the Linl woman, frustrated as none of the elevators she summoned came to meet her.

  “Jazz stay away from the elevators for now.”

  … … …

  ►► Courelia upper levels roof tops, Rasi

  ► Barnard’s Star system

  Jazz grunted as he moved away from the elevators he was about to summon. “Where the fuck do you want me then?”

  “The door at the very end of the hallway in front of you, I’m unlocking it now, get inside.”

  He ran toward the door in question as he looked behind to see Jainuzei enter the hallways behind him. Fuck. Jazz ran as fast as he could, he thought about shooting behind, but what was the point? His shields were still close to being full. All it would take at this point was one bullet from Jainuzei to put him out. One bullet Jainuzei was setting up to take. I really miss those healing powers.

  The door unlocked and opened, no doubt from Eupiar hacking, she probably caught on quickly that Jazz wasn’t going to have time to interact with the door’s open and close functions. Jainuzei hadn’t fired yet, which means he was probably half a second away from pulling the trigger, or perhaps he was hesitating, knowing that the bullet would pass through Jazz and potentially hit the Javnis family inside who watched, puzzled at the fact their front door unlocked and opened for no reason.

  Whatever the case was Jazz wasn’t taking any chances and slid like a baseball player trying to hit home plate as he crossed the threshold into the suite. The doors slid shut and locked instantly, while Jazz had to listen to the screams of terror from yet another Radiance family as the alien from Earth invaded their home.

  “Okay now what?” he transmitted to Eupiar after getting back to his feet.

  “I’m thinking, I’m thinking!”

  “Th
ink faster!”

  “Balcony I guess, see if you can leap to the next building, if you can get there fast enough he won’t know where you went.”

  A Javnis woman exited the kitchen carrying a tray full of glasses filled with water. She stopped and panicked upon seeing Jazz. Looking over his shoulder, Jazz saw what appeared to be a dinner table of some sort set up with food.

  Interrupted church, sex and now dinner, I’m on a fuckin’ roll today! He thought as he swiped a glass of water from the tray, downing its cool refreshing contents into his mouth.

  … … …

  Jainuzei lowered his rifle upon seeing the human man slide into the room, vanishing from visual range as the doors slammed shut. He holstered his weapon, and began to activate the overdrive system in his combat armor, causing his body to move at a faster rate. From there another command was issued, he transferred all power into his forward shields, and ran into the door at maximum speeds.

  The impact destroyed the door, while shattering his shields. Sparks, and fragments of what remained of the door were brushed away from his arms and he continued to run at the human who stood next to the entrance leading toward the suite’s balcony.

  He was petrified, as he should be. He thought he was safe, he thought wrong.

  Jainuzei leapt and tacked the human to the floor then removed his pistol to finish him. But... something was wrong, looking to the sides, he saw the human lost hold of his rifle, he was unarmed Jainuzei had an unfair advantage. Jainuzei rapidly holstered his pistol back, and proceeded to drive his fists into the human’s face instead.

  We shall finish this like true warriors, he thought while they engaged in a fist fight.

  … … …

  “Gods damn it,” Vaishea said, cursing as she made a third attempt to contact the Abyssal Explorer. “This is Commander Vaishea I have a situation.”

  Static was the only reply she got. She was being jammed.

  … … …

  ►► Silver Raven at Courelia spaceport dock, Rasi

  ► Barnard’s Star system

  Eupiar let loose a small laugh upon watching the Linl struggle with contacting her ship and the hacked elevators. The Linl eventually ran out of the condo’s lobby in a rage. “Talk to me Destiny, are you still alive?” Eupiar asked as she frantically tried to find security cam footage of Destiny.

  “I’ve had better days.” Destiny transmitted.

  … … …

  ►► Courelia upper levels rooftops, Rasi

  ► Barnard’s Star system

  Destiny recovered with a well-timed dodge, avoiding a barrage of plasma balls launched by the floating hooded Javnis psionic. As she came about, her dual pistols roared upwards toward the psionic while she continued running. She got close to the ledge of the building, this time there were no close rooftops to jump to. There was however, a staircase below that stretched across a small river. Better than nothing, and she ran and leapt off as a ball of plasma shot down and exploded behind her.

  She landed feet first on the railing to the staircase and started to slide down it. She kept one arm extended forward while another backward to balance herself as she slid down, the low gravity was giving her an advantage here. The trip down brought back memories when she was sixteen and an avid skate and snowboarder, doing all sorts of parkour tricks while keeping her body steady.

  The staircase rocked and rumbled, balls of plasma rained down behind her exploding and sending huge chucks of the staircase into the air. Destiny was either too fast for the psionic, or she was deliberately trying to destroy the stairs. Either way, it was annoying her. A quick pivot turn made Destiny pull a full one-eighty turn. She now faced the psionic while continued to slide along the railing of the staircase backwards. Her dual pistils fired once more, every bullet splashing across the psionic’s barrier. Every impact slowly draining the psionics concentration, the plasma barrage came to an end.

  But only for a few seconds, the psionic jump ported away.

  Shit. Destiny had no idea where she vanished to outside of the fact she wasn’t in visual range. She checked below to see if her position on the staircase was above the river. She was, so she leapt off and dived slowly into the warm waters below.

  Destiny almost felt like she was in space as she began to regain control of her body, kicking and swimming through the waters. Above the surface of the water, she could see the psionic floating around, and stopping as her cybernetic implants started to glow, whatever she as up to it wasn’t going to be nice.

  “Destiny, nice move but you aren’t clear yet,” Eupiar transmitted. “There’s a rapid transit tram close by, swim to it if you can, I’m forcing it to stop, you need to get on it!”

  Destiny swam up for air and to get a fix on the tram line in question. She saw it in the distance, the tracks were suspended a meter above the surface of the water. She swam toward the tracks while keeping an eye on the psionic who had not moved since Destiny came up. Yep, she was planning something nasty.

  Destiny stroked faster, pulling her body through the river toward the tram tracks as the tram stopped. She could see people inside the tram gaze out the windows with a confused look as to why their ride suddenly stopped and swung its doors open.

  The water temperature began to drop fast. A thin layer of ice started to take form on the surface. The psionic was freezing the water starting from the top down. Destiny dove lower into the depths of the river, where the temperature was still warm as she kicked and swam closer to the tram tracks.

  Looking up she saw the surface of the river become a thick layer of ice, which started to thicken even more as the temperatures down there started to quickly drop. The water all around her started to crystallize, its coldness started to cause her heart beat to become irregular from the shock. Almost there come on! The water around her resembled slush more than water. The tram line was above, but her body was starting to feel the gripping effect of the ice water around her arms and legs. With the last of her strength, she raised her dual pistols and fired, cutting away at the ice above her head while she pushed her body upwards to the surface.

  Air at last, it felt great, the humid air embraced her skin and began to warm it up. But now wasn’t the time to take a breather. She leapt away from the surface of ice she stood on, climbing into the tram, only to feel her body get pulled outwards by what felt like thousands of invisible hands. The psionic telekinetic mind gripped onto Destiny’s body, yanking her back outside. No god damn it!

  Destiny’s back slammed against the tram’s sliding doors as they shut while the tram resumed its course. Eupiar’s timing was impeccable.

  “Hang on,” Eupiar transmitted. “This just became an express train!”

  Destiny grinned as she slowly sat on the floor, her red dress was soaking wet and partially frozen on the edges. Small chunks of ice clung to the sides of her ginger hair while the passengers on board all looked at her with apprehension.

  … … …

  Vaishea heard a struggle in the distance as she exited the lobby, someone was being attacked. It had to be them, perhaps the Aryile found him. She ran circles around the building, passing the shattered balcony door entrance coming to another balcony on the same floor in which two large men stood engaged in an epic slug fest. The Aryile pushed his opponent against the railing. Vaishea raised her pistol upwards to assist, and aimed at the Aryile’s opponent. Just then the Aryile saw her from below, he grappled and pulled the man away from her aim.

  I’m trying to help you, why would you do that? She pondered then ran close in an attempt to get a better shot.

  … … …

  Jazz could taste nothing but the blood in his mouth as his arms pushed his body away from the floor. Someone from down below distracted Jainuzei just long enough for Jazz to see his rifle lying back inside on the floor. Now or never, he got up and sprinted toward it, a swift ankle grab by Jainuzei from behind sent him crashing back to the floor, in a last act of desperation Jazz’s hand reached out toward the rifle. He
felt the metallic material it was made of slap right into his hands as he hit the floor.

  Jazz rolled his body over the best he could and pointed the rifle toward Jainuzei’s face. He got three shots off, one missed, the second hit Jainuzei in the chest, though his armor protected him, the third shot went into the ceiling as Jainuzei leapt on top of Jazz, forcing the barrel of the rifle upwards. A tug of war for control of the weapon began.

  … … …

  Vaishea pulled her body up onto the balcony of the second floor before jumping into its railing to pull herself on top the next balcony above her, then the one above that. One by one, she scaled upwards to the balcony the two men fought on. There was no way she was going to walk away from a fellow Union soldier during a time like this. Whoever that man he was fighting needed to be stopped, and hopefully questioned. There was no doubt in her mind that heretics were at work here.

  At last she pulled her tired body up onto the balcony. She saw the Aryile pull a rifle away from the man and toss it aside while his other hand gripped around the man’s neck. Vaishea aimed her pistol forward in hopes that the man would see and just give up the struggle. The Aryile stood while lifting the man in the air with one hand by his neck. Vaishea was impressed with his strength, as the man was by no means a small person, he too was in great shape judging by the size of his arms. But in the end, the Aryile man was just taller and significantly stronger.

  Vaishea stepped closer, triggering the Aryile to turn to face her. He looked surprised and upset that she was here. He then did the unthinkable, with both hands he threw the man at her, causing them to both go flying toward the balcony rails. They slowly came to their feet as the Aryile charged at them with both of his arms out. The impact that followed sent Vaishea and the man tumbling off the balcony, slamming into the streets below head first.

  There was no movement from either of them afterwards.

  … … ….

  “Jainuzei I’ve lost track of the female, she boarded a train heading west,” Dargonea transmitted to him.

  Jainuzei looked down at the bodies of the human man, and the Linl commander. Satisfied at the results he transmitted back. “My target is neutralized. Come get me, she shall meet her end at the next station that tram stops at.”