This time they were locked in force field cells instead of the metal ones like before. A quick glance around told Kiyan that three walls were black and the fourth was clear with two guards posted outside. Kiyan hadn't been in the cell long before one of the walls faded leaving a clear force field with the Voth officer from before sitting on the other side. Behind him was another darkened wall.
“For an alien spy you don't have any gadgets. You even look Voth.” The officer was glaring at Kiyan with a look of disgust.
“I don't need a lot of gadgets. You know my people will be contacting you if I don't check in with them.” Kiyan disabled his holographic disguise removing the ridges and marking of a Voth revealing his human facial features.
“Nice trick. Some sort of implants? To tell the truth, one of your people has already contacted us. He was, how shall I say, skittish. Now who are you and what is your mission? I shouldn't have to tell you we have ways of convincing you to be truthful.”
“My name is Kiyan, I'm the commander of the battleship Avenger.”
“You seem awfully young to be a commander besides everyone is a battleship commander these days.” Kiyan detected an annoyed note in the officer’s voice. What is your mission?
Kiyan walked up the clear force field separating them. “You will know soon enough.”
“I say now is soon enough. Tell me.” The Voth stood up and walked up to the other side of the force field. “I should warn you. You see we can draw the atmosphere out of your cell and I can watch you suffocate or I could have some poisonous gas pumped into the cell with you.”
“Oh I shudder at the thought.” Kiyan's environmental systems would protect him in either scenario.
The Voth tapped his wrist and a holographic screen sprang up across his arm. He looked at it for a moment before continuing. “Your fellow spy just told us everything. I'm just giving you the opportunity to tell us of your own accord. Funny that we should go looking for two spies and find two, just not the same two we were looking for.”
A quick telepathic scan on Kiyan's part revealed a thoroughly cooperating Jeremy. Jeremy informed him that they were telling him that Kiyan had sold him out. “Funny that you should mention that. You see Jeremy was just supposed to be a distraction so he never knew the real plan.”
Kiyan watched the brewing storm in the Voth's face. “I would normally just have you chipped but we tried that once. I will give you one last chance. Tell me what your mission here is and how you disabled your chip.” There was a cold tone in his voice
“An ace up the sleeve.” Kiyan almost laughed at the expression on the Voth's face.
“A what?” The frustration was becoming evident.
“Oh, I'm sorry. It’s an earth thing. I cheated.” Kiyan burst into laughter much to the rage of the Voth.
“You should have cooperated. I could have made your life easier.” The Voth pushed a button and ordered a telepath. “Now I will have my answers and there is nothing you can do about it. I am told having thoughts and memories ripped out of your head is a painful thing. I can only hope they were telling the truth.”
It was only a minute before the telepath arrived and was on the other side of the force field. His eyes widened as he realized who Kiyan was. “What do you want me to do child of time?”
“Tell him that I was able to infect the under cities with a virus that disables chips. Tell him that in a few hours the virus will be completed and the under city residents are going to rebel.” Kiyan watched as the telepath passed on his message to the alarmed Voth.
“A virus! How badly is it spread?” The Voth officer almost looked terrified.
“He said that it has been released in all the under cities.” The telepath stepped out of the officer's frantic dash from the room. He glanced at Kiyan before following the officer. Kiyan was trying to decide on the next course of action when the darkened wall on the other side of the room melted. Kiyan stared at the drakken for a moment before it spoke.
“So one of the protectorate whelps has got himself caught. Pray tell what is your name? I mean the title you get when you become a protector.” The drakken's tone might have been considered cultured if not for the growl.
“What my people call me or your people call me?” Kiyan paused as he examined the drakken. “You know I can't tell you apart very well, you almost all look like lizards.” This jibe caused the drakken to snarl revealing his yellow teeth. “Your people have called me Star Killer.” Kiyan watched as the drakken bristled.
“It is a myth, the Star Killer does not exist. Whoever you are doesn't matter. When we get the artifact then we will open our portal and then we will be able to erase the protectorate from the face of this universe.” The drakken had lost his civilized tone as he snarled at Kiyan. “Your death is sure.”
“Now I was wondering, how did you convince the Voth that they should trust lying scum like the drakken instead of us?” Kiyan scanned the force field as he talked.
“We showed them the might of the Drakken Empire compared to your pathetic fleet of a couple hundred ships.” The drakken made his disgust for the protectorate show in his voice and face. Kiyan finally isolated the frequency of the force field and tuned his shield emitters accordingly.
“Ha, I have a hard time believing you can call it might when six of our ships crushed a fleet ten thousand strong. Kiyan watched as the drakken drew a long thin blade. “You and your blades.” Kiyan grew a couple ice blades of his own behind his back.
“I will claim the honor of slaying you myself. The drakken went to the panel by the door and punched a few buttons. Kiyan was ready when the force field dissipated. Ice as hard as metal met the drakken blade with a clang. The Voth guards came at the sound but stood with blasters drawn as they watched the spinning and dancing fighters. The drakken was far more skilled with a blade than Kiyan had anticipated. The fight was over soon enough as Kiyan parried a slice with one sword and planted the other blade in the drakken's chest. The drakken blade fell to the floor as the frost spread rapidly over the twitching drakken. The drakken's final snarl was frozen in place as he fell to the floor. Kiyan sensed a plasma blast dissipate into his shields. Turning to the guards Kiyan laughed.
“My quarrel isn't exactly with you, let me pass unhindered and no harm will come to you.” Time seemed to slow as the next blasts hurtled towards him. The blasts were still moving fast enough that a couple hit Kiyan but blue arcs jumped from him and split the air with a thunderclap. When Kiyan recovered from the loss of energy he saw the still bodies of the guards laying where they landed. Another scan told Kiyan that Jeremy was only a few hallways further on. The first guard that Kiyan encountered never knew what attacked him. Another guard drew his weapon before a blast of air slammed him into a wall. Metal bending the door to Jeremy's room proved easy when Kiyan encountered the lock. Kiyan shifted into his ice form when he sensed the Voth waiting in ambush. Reaching out with his mind he felt the moisture in the air. Kiyan could even detect the water in the bodies of the Voth. Carefully he cooled the water until he sensed the unconscious Voth collapsing. Stepping into the frosty room Kiyan saw Jeremy behind a force field.
“Took you long enough. Neat trick causing hypothermia.” Jeremy was in his water form and to Kiyan's surprise had fingers of ice fire flickering over his body. “Come on, you going to let me out?”
“I'm working on it.” Kiyan interfaced with the security console and began breaking the encryption codes. “What's with the ice fire?”
“Ya about that, apparently I can only do it when you are nearby and ice forming.” Jeremy proceeded to flash blue flames around his cell. “It actually feels warm to me like I'm drawing the heat out of everything.” The barriers dissolved and the duo began working their way to an exit.
“Help us.” The telepathic message crashed into Kiyan's mind stunning him for a moment. When he recovered he knew what he needed to do.
“Come on, we need to go up.” Kiyan began sprinting as ice fire erupted across his glassy bo
dy.
“Why up?” Jeremy was running to keep up.
“We have to distract the Voth soldiers. They are hunting the kayloo trying to eradicate them.” Kiyan vaulted a railing and jumped off a wall over a startled guard.
“What about the under city?” Jeremy parted and flowed around the bewildered guard without missing a step.
“Fred and the others should have them sealed. It’s the bonded Voth up here that need help.” Kiyan spied a stairwell with a clear central shaft. He leapt into the shaft and free fell for a moment before firebending and blasting himself upwards. Jeremy followed a bit slower but still flowing up the stairs as if gravity were merely a suggestion. Kiyan found that ice bending the air above him and heating the air below him increased his speed exponentially. A thin metal roof yielded with an explosion of liquid metal.
“Now what?” Jeremy landed on the top of the roof next to Kiyan as they looked from the tallest building in the city.
“When the cold icy wind blows and the winged men fall from the sky.” Kiyan understood a part of the prophecy in that moment. He felt the wonderful chill setting in as he began bending ice fire as much as he could feeding it with the cold at his core. Opening his eyes he realized that he couldn't see anything but blinding blue flames stretching into the sky. Using his life bending Kiyan could sense what he couldn't see. Drawing heat from the atmosphere Kiyan could feel the cold slipping away as he grew warmer. Sensing a disturbance above him Kiyan turned his mind upward and sensed swirling moisture condensing into dense clouds. Kiyan could feel Jeremy bending the clouds into a storm but he could also sense that Jeremy was running out of energy. Electricity kept from Kiyan to the clouds and a dark shadow fell over the land as the clouds spread. Swirling snow glowing from the light of Kiyan's flames and the flashes of lightning was soon the only light that reached the ground. Kiyan felt his mind expand as more and more energy passed through his body. Soon he could sense the city and the residents. A wash of terror from the Voth about the black storm that raged overhead and the joy in the minds of the chipped Voth and kayloo as they were freed buffeted Kiyan from all sides.
Kiyan felt the fear of one of the freed Voth as if it were his own. Casting his senses around he felt the surroundings shift in an instant. The feeling of being in two places felt strangely detached to Kiyan. Time moved slowly as Kiyan looked back at the top of the building with a light like a blue star burning atop through the swirling snow and flashing lightning. On his other side amidst the queer shadows cast by the blue star in the unnatural darkness a Voth soldier was firing a blaster at a Voth and his kayloo. Kiyan walked over to the slow moving ball of plasma and reached out to touch it. Kiyan felt a flicker of energy as he absorbed the heated plasma. Attempting to airbend Kiyan found that the air felt thick and strange. Pushing some at the Voth there was a clap as air was split and rejoined in an instant. The blast of air crushed metal and stone like it was dust. The force missed the Voth but the aftershock caught him. Kiyan turned back to the Voth and his kayloo and noted the frozen expression of stunned surprise. Another sense of rage and Kiyan was half a world away fighting a dozen soldiers attempting to bust a door in after a kayloo. There was a frigid ting in the air as Kiyan melted their weapons.
Snow swirled around Kiyan as he glanced around. Scenery on this part of the planet was different that where Kiyan had been used to. There were no mountains here, just plains stretching into the horizon. A couple silvery flashes under the boiling clouds caught Kiyan's attention. His senses were heightened enough that even at the distance he could distinguish the falling shape of a person. Kiyan thickened the air near the ground to break their fall. To his surprise they both shifted into full sized dragons. One was a pale blue and the other was a deep red. Kiyan felt the presence of a couple more dragons near his other location. Kiyan felt more fear and flickered to a new location. Half a dozen kayloo were surrounded in a city square by soldiers. Kiyan was about to bend the plants to his will when a green dragon dropped from the sky. Kiyan watched as the plants twisted and swirled around the terrified soldiers. In another moment Kiyan was looking at a wild landscape and a few helpless Voth soldiers. The dragon caught Kiyan's attention as it began circling him threateningly. Attempts to speak resulted in a raging burst of ice fire and Kiyan was back in his own body.
Kiyan began to realize the amount of energy he was channeling to Jeremy. He began to stop drawing energy off the atmosphere. It was a few minutes before he had calmed the raging inferno. When he managed to return to his normal form he found himself on a frosted rooftop. There was no sign of Jeremy anywhere. A couple of dragons glided past in the direction that Kiyan sensed a fight. A shadow moved against the snow on the roof as Kiyan walked towards the edge. Kiyan had trouble focusing as the shadow approached. The dark hair swirled in the falling snow framing Terra's face.
“Why?” Kiyan felt darkness closing in before he had a chance to finish the question. The last thing he felt was the pleasant cold of the snow against his cheek as he collapsed.
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Fred, Addy and Ray were more than a little upset when they found out what Kiyan's plan was. Ray was the most disturbed by the thought of Kiyan turning himself over to the overlords. When Terra woke up she was also upset but resigned to what she called fate. Fred tried to calm them down by saying that he was sure Kiyan could take care of himself.
“What do we do now?” Jarrod interrupted them when he told them that he had done as Kiyan had asked. “The rest of the under cities will be freed within the hour.”
“Seal the entrances and have the telepaths scan as far as they can. We don't want to be taken by surprise.” Ray took the lead and began issuing orders. “Can the Voth down here fight?”
“Some have been soldiers for the overlords. We can fight but it’s not our way.” Jarrod looked uncomfortable.
“Your way or not the overlords won't hesitate to destroy us all if they get down here. They are an advanced civilization and must have drills or some other means of getting here.” Ray was blunt but he saw the look of determination on Jarrod's face.
“If Kiyan sacrificed himself to give us freedom we won't let them take it back without a fight.” Jarrod looked resigned to his fate.
“I wouldn't go so far as to say sacrificed.” Ray could sense Kiyan in the distance and all seemed well enough.
“I will call for any who will fight and the rest we can hide inside caves.” Jarrod was off at a run.
I can bend over the entrances to the side caves to hide them better. Fred went in the same direction as Jarrod followed by Addy. It took a remarkably short amount of time before they had hidden everyone that couldn't fight. Kayloo in various forms with Voth riders stalked the perimeter of the cave looking for any disturbances.
Ray shifted into his dragon form and joined the stalkers. Addy was in her battle form and Fred's crystal skin glittered in the light. The attack came without warning. Flashes of light illuminated the cave as dozens of squads teleported into the cavern. When the light was gone the defenders charged. Angry red plasma reached out and struck the first few kayloo as they neared the well-ordered soldiers. Their ranks broke as Ray slammed into the ground in the middle of their circle. Voth soldiers flew in all directions from the impact and the distraction rendered any organization moot.
Fred charged with Addy but was passed by Terra riding what looked like a griffin. Some sort of winged and feathered lion. Her eyes glowed as light flashed from her fingertips at any soldier that had the misfortune of meeting her. Jarrod was engaging in hand to hand combat as his kayloo snapped and snarled slashing left and right. Jarrod used his powers to misdirect his opponent causing him to strike where he was not. A touch to the head or a swing was all it took to disable an opponent. A soldier had a blaster trained on Fred as he charged but Fred hardly noticed the burn as the plasma dissipated harmlessly against his stone skin. He was about to duck the next shot when a small dart planted itself in the soldier's chest. Fred engaged the next couple Voth he met. The sna
p of bone followed with the screams of the injured surrounded Fred as he advanced. A roar from Ray shook the cavern as the battle ended almost as fast as it had begun. Ray in all his terrible majesty was standing over the cowering overlord when the dust settled.
“I surrender. Take them but don't hurt me.” The overlord had an ashen grey countenance as he begged for his life.
Jarrod rode his kayloo over to the overlord's location. “You have a choice. You can become one with a kayloo or you can be banished. The choice is yours.”
“Don't you see? You've doomed us all.” The overlord seemed to forget his fear as he was addressed by a mere bonded Voth. “These protector you call your friends can't protect us from the drakken. I spent my life doing what is best for the Voth people and you will have undone it in a few days. I will never let one of those beasts control my mind.”
“Then banishment it is. I would never want to subject a kayloo to your mind as it is.” Ray held the overlord firmly as the man raged at Jarrod's retreating back.
“What now?” Jarrod asked when the last soldiers had been taken care of. All but the overlord had chosen bonding over banishment. Terra and Freya glided over to their location.
“We could go to the surface and help up there.” Ray's voice thundered in the cave before he shifted back into his humanoid form. “This was only a part of the forces, the majority should still be on the surface.”
“Something is wrong.” Terra looked distant as she spoke.
“Help us.” The message slammed into Terra and Jarrod hardest.
“We have to get to the surface now. They are going to kill them all.” Both Jarrod and Terra rushed the terrified overlord. Freya held him down while the two rifled through his pockets. There was a tearing sound as Terra ripped a hidden pocket open. There was a flash and Jarrod, Terra and their kayloo were gone.