New Dawn
Chapter 12

Leaving thetunnels but staying below ground, the team came out into the true undergroundcity. A trail of footprints was left behind them, clearly visible in the thickwhite dust that covered the roadways they followed. Empty buildings toweredabove them; streets forked off, blocked by a variety of vehicles. Andeverywhere they stepped, a plume of dust rose up into the air. Every now andagain a large, sparkling pillar appeared, holding up the roof to the cavernousunderground chamber. Windows stared out at them like empty eyes, and thedetritus of lives long gone was scattered around them. This place, Lucia thought, isspooky and ever-so-slightly terrifying.

Far in thedistance, she spotted a curved white metallic wall, and if she squinted hereyes she could pick out large black letters painted on the surface. N ... w ...H ... v ... n. It was a solid hour before they reached the wall itself, andthen all five stood in awe, necks craned, taking in the massive metal sheetthat towered over them.

Her eyesscanning the wall, she saw a small doorway. Strange. Then, further along, therewas a rusty ladder seeming to lead nowhere. Odd. It took her a moment to putall of these things together and form a thought that made them all make sense.And even then, she didn't put it into words. Instead, she spoke softly to Kabi.

“There'ssomething different here,” she said. “Something that doesn't make sense. Thevibes are, well, different.”

Kabigrinned and nodded in approval. “Very observant,” he said. “This, my dear, is thereal New Heaven. It is the spaceshipthat originally brought us to Archeonis. After crash landing on the surface ofthe planet, it was buried deep underground, and the city was built around it.The New Heaven proved to be anexcellent administrative centre for the city. And, of course, at the beginning,all power sources and medical supplies were on board the ship. It only madesense to do things this way.”

“Which iswhy the whole city came to be known as New Heaven,” Lucia said, understanding.

“Indeed,”Kabi said. “Come, let us enter.”

He led thegroup a short way down the length of the metal spaceship hull until he found astairway that led to a hatch. Agilely climbing up, he beckoned for the othersto follow. As the rusty stairway creaked under their combined weight, Kabiturned the large locks on the hatch and opened it just as the last man reachedthe top. A flood of fresh air rushed out to embrace them. Stepping inside,Lucia found herself in a long white corridor, bright and clean, in strong contrastto the city outside.

“Automatonskeep the ship clean and operational at all times,” Kabi said, noting hersurprise.

The manseemed to know exactly where he was going. So as he walked briskly down thecorridor, they followed him, ignoring the rounded plastic doors on either sideof them. Kabi reached an elevator and, pressing a button, took them all down alevel. They stepped into a large chamber filled with containers full of thingsthat they couldn't identify. A small, round automaton buzzed over, cleaning upthe dust of their footsteps and seemingly chiding them for being so messy. Andstill Kabi walked.

As theyexited the large chamber and entered yet another long corridor, this onedecorated with pictures of places Lucia was certain weren't found on Archeonis,Kabi checked his chronos and called a break. There were still six hours untilthe launch of the spaceship; they could afford a rest. Ulsa'hi and his men wentto examine the pictures they'd seen, and Kabi sat on the floor, lighting aSigar and smoking contentedly.

“I don'tunderstand,” Lucia said, coming to sit beside him. “This whole place looks likeit was once a thriving city. Why was it abandoned?”

“It wasn'tabandoned,” said Kabi, blowing out a plume of smoke. “It was emptied.”

“Meaningwhat?” She watched his smoke dissipate into the air.

“The leaderof New Heaven at the time was known as Professor Calen Mandrake,” Kabiexplained, still smoking. “He was the one who brought us to this planet. Buthumans are humans, wherever they're planted; and after a few happy years,factions began to evolve and conflicts began.” He sighed, shaking his head atthe foolishness of men. “So Calen threw everyone off the island. Only he andthe Archangels remained, continuing their research. And after the Professor died,the Archangels remained alone, until they were betrayed and then annihilated.”

Lucia hadto remind herself that he was talking about his own siblings. “And what of thefactions?”

“The twelvemajor factions went on to colonise the remaining islands and to form each ofthe twelve kingdoms of Archeonis.”

“You'resaying that Archangels actually exist?” asked Ulsa'Hi, who had overheard partof their conversation. He'd thought the figures mythical, but with Kabi aroundhe was willing to believe pretty much anything at this point. He'd seen enoughto make him question all he knew already.

“Theyexisted,” said Kabi, sadly. “Only two remain. The Supreme Emperor and myself.”

Maiceepaced around the medical bay. He had his tingling feeling of danger again andwas almost sure that the away team were walking into a trap. If only he couldbe there, maybe he could warn them. Ausanne looked up from the blood samplesthat Falorni had asked her to organise.

“Can't keepstill?” she asked, smiling.

“I justwish ...”

“I know,”Ausanne said. “You wish you were with them. But, Maicee, you can barely standfor an hour without feeling lightheaded. And ...”

She didn'tfinish her sentence, but Maicee saw her fists clenching and knew that theprincess too wished she were in the heart of the action. And he stronglysuspected that the only reason she wasn't was in order to stay here and carefor him. He grinned at her. He was truly grateful.

“Beyondthis hatch there is a plain, which is three miles from the launch site,” Kabi said,turning to the rest of the group. “Once outside of this door, we will splitinto two groups. Ulsa'hi, you and your men will proceed to the research labthat's marked on your map and try to recover as much data as possible. Luciaand I will go towards the spaceship itself and attempt to sabotage it. Anyquestions?”

To a man,they shook their heads. Then Ulsa'hi coughed. He'd had his differences withKabi, but the man had more than proven himself as far as he was concerned. Heoffered his hand.

“All thebest,” he said.

“Godspeed,”said Kabi, shaking the proffered hand.

He openedthe hatch, letting the warm, humid air of the flat plain rush into the ship.Then, one by one, they left New Heaven and went their separate ways.

Ulsa'hisniffed the air. They'd reached the research lab faster than anticipated, butnow he was sure there was something amiss. The laboratory itself was dark withno sign of movement from within. And unless his nose was lying to him, therewas death in there. He inhaled once more. There was a definite metallic hint tothe air.

Theycircled the perimeter of the fence until they found a gate standing wide open. Andthen, in single file, hands on weapons, they approached the entrance to thefacility. The door was ajar, and again Ulsa'hi smelled the odour of rottingmeat and copper that signalled death. With quick hand motions, he told his mento wait whilst he entered the lab alone.

Crouching,his bolt blaster in his hand, he slipped around the door and found himself in aroom that had once been some kind of reception area. Furniture was strewnaround, but more worrying were the streaks of blood on the walls and floors andthe burnt, blackened stains left by energy bolts. Still, there were no bodies.He signalled for his men to enter. This place was empty. He could feel it.

Steppingover upturned chairs and blood stains, he went to a glass door on the oppositewall, peering through the glass but seeing nothing other than flashing lightsfrom the machinery inside. Standing to one side, he pushed on the door, and ashe did so a body rolled out to meet him. It had obviously been propped upagainst the other side of the door, and from the white coat it looked to be ascientist of some kind. And from the maggots writhing in the cold flesh, it hadbeen dead for a while.

Ulsa'hicalled his men over. “We're too late for whatever happened here. Split up andsearch the place. Retrieve as much data as you can.”

Going backto the glass door he'd opened, he took a deep breath, then pushed inside. He countedthree, no, four more bodies, all in the same state of decay as the first.Shaking his head to get the image of maggots out of his mind, he concentratedon what he had to do. But he soon found that most of the computers in the labhad been destroyed, making any data irretrievable. It was only then that hetook a closer look at the flashing lights he'd seen from outside. And his heartfroze.

“Out! Out!Out!” he shouted, as loudly as possible. “Bomb!”

They barelyescaped the building before a fireball exploded inside, knocking them off theirfeet.

“Major, areyou all right?” one of the men asked.

Ulsa'hicarefully picked himself up. He was injured but mobile. “I'm fine,” he rasped.

Then,looking up at the burning research lab, he realised that it was a beacon forthe enemy. He had to withdraw his men.

“UpdateKabi,” he croaked. “We're getting out of here now.”

A long,wired fence stretched out as far as they could see. Through small gaps, Luciacould make out a wide stretch of concrete.

“It's usedfor the launch,” Kabi explained.

He took astep back and surveyed the fence. He could see an open gate just a shortdistance away with no signs of any guard. He pointed it out to Lucia, whonodded.

“It seemslike they're inviting us inside,” she said.

“And thatmakes me think that they've got a surprise waiting for us,” agreed Kabi.

“Well then,it would be rude not to accept their invitation.” Lucia grinned.

“But Idon't think we'll be going in through the front door,” Kabi said.

He lifted ahand to the fence, the area he touched morphing immediately into sand andscattering with the wind. Hand on her blaster, Lucia went through first. Stillnothing happened. It wasn't until they were three quarters of the way acrossthe concrete poured over the plain that anything occurred, and then the groundbeneath their feet began to tremble.

“Run!”shouted Kabi, already in flight. “The ground is opening!”

They bothmanaged to make it to the building at the far end of the concrete before theground fully opened. Huffing and trying to control her breathing, Lucia turnedand saw that a large, circular door had slid open, taking the concrete with it.Down the immense hole she could see the outline of a ship. A spaceship. Andjudging by its profile, the ship was easily ten times the size of adreadnought. Her heart stopped beating for a second.

A loudexplosion sounded, and in synch, Kabi and Lucia turned to see a fireball on thehorizon.

“The lab,”said Lucia.

Kabinodded. He was sorry for Ulsa'hi and his men, but there was nothing he could dofor them. He pulled at Lucia's arm, directing her towards the building. Andthen his com beeped.

“Ulsa'hiinjured. Lab destroyed. No data retrievable. It was a trap. We're withdrawingto the Freedom.”

Kabi lookedat Lucia, who shook her head.

“No, I'mnot going with them,” she said.

Shrugging,Kabi spoke into the com: “Message received. Godspeed.” He looked again atLucia. “This will be dangerous. It was only fate that saved Ulsa'hi and hismen. They should have died in that explosion.”

“I lovedanger,” said Lucia, her green eyes burning. “Now let's go.”

Kabiexamined her one more time, still wondering why she loved danger so much. Maybeit was the adrenaline. He shrugged and walked off into the building, Luciafollowing him.

Cautiously theywalked through the seemingly empty building, echoing corridors stretching outin all directions. But they knew this place couldn't possibly be empty. Theyjust hadn't found the right doorway yet. Finally, Kabi held out a hand to stopLucia from turning a corner and peeked his head around. Just as he'd sensed,there were two guards there, standing watch over a door. Lucia glanced too,then nodded once at Kabi, who rolled his eyes but allowed her to continue.

Reachingdown, she slid two daggers out of her belt, one in each hand. She closed hereyes, remembering where each guard stood. Then she took a deep breath, steppedaround the corner, and threw both knives simultaneously. Both daggers hit theirtargets, but Lucia had already concealed herself back with Kabi, just in case.After waiting a few seconds to ensure that no one came running to a silentalarm, they approached the guards. Kabi patted the more senior-looking man downuntil he found a security pass, then standing back, scanned the pass over the door.

Nothing.Again. Lucia sighed in frustration. The constant anxiety was getting to her.She wanted to fight now, to get it over with. But the door opened onto anotherempty corridor. Dammit. Kabi just smiled and pointed. There was an elevator atthe end of the hallway. Lucia raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Here's theplan,” Kabi whispered.

“They arecoming, My Lord.”

Lord Camuselooked up to see the elevator indicator turn red.

“Positions,”he said calmly.

Twenty ofhis finest men, Black Knights to the core, surrounded the elevator door,blasters trained on the exit. Camuse stood behind them, smirking. He couldn'twait to see Kabi's face as those last few seconds of life drained from him.

The liftstopped, the men held their blasters higher, everyone stopped breathing for amoment, but ... nothing. Camuse frowned. He tapped the shoulder of the soldierclosest to him and pointed at the still-closed door. The man strode forwards,hitting the button that should open the elevator. Then all hell broke loose.

As soon asthe doors slid open a fraction, Camuse's men began to fire, not waiting to seewhat was inside, just blindly shooting. Smoke billowed around the chamber,obscuring everything until the last blaster, drained of energy, stopped firing.And then the men waited with bated breath until the smoke cleared and theycould see the carnage that they'd created.

But allthey saw was the mutilated and barely recognisable body of a guard they allknew. Nothing else. The men turned questioningly towards Camuse. Then oneKnight groaned, lifted a hand to his neck, and collapsed, a quivering knifesticking out of his throat.

“Come out,KabiOnn,” roared Camuse.

Two moresoldiers fell, daggers protruding from their backs. The lights flickered. Themen were well-trained soldiers, but none could see where the weapons werecoming from. Lucia smiled in grim satisfaction. It had been Kabi's idea to usethe dead guard as a shield and the blaster smoke to conceal their movements.Dangerous, but it had worked.

“This is acheap trick, KabiOnn,” warned Camuse.

He took ahalf-step forward and felt a rush of air, then turned to see three shards ofcrystal sticking out of the very place he'd been standing. The lights flickeredagain, and looking up, Camuse suddenly saw what was going to happen. But itwasn't going to happen to him. He had a promise to keep to the Supreme Emperor.Whirling around, his cloak spinning wide, he ran.

There was aloud crack, then silence, then a crash as the ceiling above the soldiers gaveway. Kabi had quite simply turned the support pillars into sand. Very effective, he thought, satisfied.The Black Knights crushed, he stepped out of the shadows at almost exactly thesame time as Lucia.

“He'sgone,” said the captain. “That way.”

She pointedtowards an open side door.

“Ah, thenext level of his trap,” said Kabi, thoughtfully. “Shall we replace out what hehas in store for us?” He grinned, and Lucia grinned back.

Realisinghe was at a distinct disadvantage forced Camuse to run. But he wasn't runningaway. No, he had a plan. And this trap was certain to kill KabiOnn. He smiledeven as he ran. His right leg was stiff, the joint unable to bend properly, butit didn't slow him down, at least not by much. The wound was the final reminderof a long-ago defeat, one that today he was going to avenge. Yes, he thought, as he spotted theboarding ladder to his ship, KabiOnn isgoing to pay today for that defeat. And Camuse was going to face theEmperor with pride this time, not that greasy, abject shame that had eaten himaway after his defeat.

He climbedthe ladder to the spaceship's hatch as quickly as he could, thanking the Godsthat he'd taken stimulant pills before the battle to energise him. Reaching thehatch, he looked back and saw Kabi entering the launch pad, followed by a red-hairedwoman. Was it she, he wondered, who had created the wall of ice that had killedhis son? But with no time to contemplate the matter, he disappeared inside theship.

Luciagasped involuntarily. The ship was even more awe-inspiring up close, and hermouth dropped open. Kabi ran ahead of her, the two of them getting closer andcloser. The name New Dawn was paintedonto the hull, and Lucia didn't realise until she was close to the metal-bodiedmonster what was amiss with the situation. The name was newly painted. Therewere signs of other letters below them. Gods. It was an old pirate trick andone she knew well.

“Kabi, thisisn't the ship we're looking for,” she yelled.

And sheknew in her heart that it wasn't. This was a trick, a trap. This was a ship, not the ship. But Kabi just kept running.

“It mattersnot,” he told her, coming to a stop at the bottom of the ladder. “What mattersis to catch Camuse. And then we shall have all the information we need.”

Roughly, hepushed her back from the ladder, and she stumbled.

“This is atrap!” he told her. “Go back, now!”

Stillreeling from being shoved, she almost tripped over her own feet. Before shecould reach up again to grasp a rung, she saw Kabi push through the hatch andbang it closed. She heard the hiss of the air lock, the groan of metal as helocked the door, and she knew it was too late. She screamed his name,uselessly, and pounded on the metal hull. But it was futile.

It was onlyas she stepped back that she felt the weight of something in her breast pocket.Puzzled, she wiped her tears from her face and fumbled until she found what wascausing the weight. Her fingers grasped something, and she pulled out a smallamulet filled with sand. Kabi must have secreted it there as he’d pushed heraway. And looking at it, she knew what she had to do. She wiped her face onemore time, clutched the amulet in her hand, and backtracked.

Kabi couldclearly hear the electronic voice of the ship begin the countdown sequence ashe approached the New Dawn's cockpit.Fine, the ship wasn't the New Dawn,but that's what the painted sign had said. He sighed. Why did everything haveto be so complicated? He rolled hisshoulders and stretched, then, as casually as he could, and walked onto thebridge, where he immediately saw Camuse sitting in the pilot's chair.

“I think,dear KabiOnn,” said Camuse, idly, “that this would be a good place to end ourlittle feud.”

Kabipretended to think for a moment, then nodded. “Agreed,” he said.

He raisedhis hands, and once more the huge, double-edged crystal sword sprang to life.Camuse smiled and, standing, reached to claim a spear from a rack on the wall.

“Now ornever,” Kabi said, giving Camuse an evil grin.

Camuse onceagain thanked his lucky stars that the stimulant was still running through hisveins, letting his old, tired bones and muscles perform like those of a youngbuck. He circled Kabi carefully, looking for his opening, then pounced.

The two menfought ferociously, glittering shards of crystal flying through the air as Kabiblocked hit after hit. Kabi gritted his teeth, replaceing the place of focus asfast as he could, concentrating only on defending himself. Then he was pulledaway from the power as the ship rocked.

“Only forty-fiveseconds to take-off,” pointed out the ship's computer in a droning voice.

“Looks likewe don't have much time, Lord Camuse,” said Kabi, playing for seconds as hedesperately tried to reach his place of focus again.

Camuselaughed. “Then die!”

He thrustforward, and as soon as he moved, Kabi knew that he'd been caught off guard. Hetwisted his sword, but with no power and little concentration, he knew that histime had come. Camuse's spear drew closer, moving almost in slow motion, andKabi grinned, determined to meet death with a smile.

Then theship rocked again.

Camuse'sdelicate footwork had left him in an awkward position, balancing on his toes. Asthe ship jerked, he was pushed forwards by momentum, and Kabi's blade was injust the right position. Camuse screamed in agony as he was impaled on themassive crystal sword. But he was dead before he reached the hilt.

The shipbegan to shake violently, causing Kabi to drop his weapon. He had little timenow. Systems began coming online, electronics flickering and beeping. And thenthe main display system hissed and blinked, and a familiar face appeared.

“Scorpio.So good to see you again.”

Kabi sworevehemently.

“Now, now,Scorpio,” said the Supreme Emperor, smiling gently. “There's no need for thatkind of language. You forced me to do this, after all.” He sighed, a false lookof wistfulness on his face. “I shall miss you,” he said. “Goodbye, Scorpio, mybrother-in-arms.”

And withthat, the ship gave one last violent judder and began to ascend, its thrustersburning into life, pushing up out of the massive hole in the ground.

“Farewell,”whispered Kabi to those he loved best.

The Freedom had sailed to the closest baypossible to the launch site. The others had all returned; only Kabi remained onthe island. Those standing on the open deck heard the roar of the ship’s launchingbefore they saw it. Then the smooth, sleek shape of the craft slid out of thelaunch bay and began to rise into the deep blue of the sky. Following it withtheir eyes, they watched the spaceship fly closer and closer to the sun. Andall were watching as it erupted into a fireball.

Maicee feltthe tears spill down his face and collapsed to his knees, his head in hishands. He knelt, shivering, unable to believe that his uncle was gone. Theothers bowed their heads in recognition of the price they had paid. The missionwas almost over. It had been a success. But KabiOnn had made the ultimatesacrifice.

Gulping ina deep breath and ignoring her tears, Lucia gave the order.

“Set sailfor Britannia.”

And the Freedom slowly turned away from NewHeaven and pointed itself towards the open sea.