“What was that?” Ray stood over the trembling overlord.
“They took my emergency transport beacon!” They watched as the realization sank into the overlords face.
“Where did they go?” Fred asked the next question.
“I, I'm not going to tell you.” The overlord got a look of determination in his expression.
“The overlord headquarters.” The overlord's facade crumbled at Fred's words. “Come on we need to move now.” Cracks spread around them as Fred began bending. The floor began levitating as the ceiling split. A moment more and they were hurtling towards the surface.
--------
Terra and Jarrod found themselves in a shielded cell with their kayloo. Jarrod rushed the clear wall but staggered back when he impacted the force field.
“Let me handle this.” Jarrod watched in awe as Terra's eyes began glowing. There were several guards outside the chamber with weapons aimed at them. Light flashed from Terra's fingers and one by one the guards dropped to the floor. The last guard dropped his gun as he staggered to the control panel. He struggled for a moment before entering a code then collapsing as the force field dissolved. Terra shook her head as the glowing disappeared.
“Remind me never to get on your bad side.” Jarrod slipped around the corner with his kayloo stalking at his heels.
“I think I can implant the idea in your subconscious.” Terra laughed as she told Jarrod there weren't any more guards for a few corridors.
“That isn't what I meant. You are kind of scaring me right now.” Jarrod sprinted down the hallway with Terra and Freya close behind.
“Don't worry I don't mind warp my friends.” Terra laughed before pausing for a second. “He is in the next corridor then right around the corner.
Jarrod slipped up to the corner and squinted for a moment. Blood vessels bulged on his neck as he focused. There was a strange sound around the corner then a thump as the guard collapsed. When they walked around the corner they found the guard in the throes of spasms. Terra's light flashed and the guard lay still.
“Slow the heart rate. They pass out quietly.” Terra rode Freya in her griffin form as they advanced.
“I tried making him sleep but he woke up when he fell. I tried again then he got scared and it went downhill from there.” Jarrod stopped at a window overlooking the city. “What in the world is that?”
Terra came up to the window and joined Jarrod looking at the white flakes swirling outside. “When the icy wind rages.” A dark shadow passed the window making them both jump back. “Was that?”
“A winged man? It looked like a huge draconic kayloo. The prophecy was vague about what winged men represented.” Jarrod watched another grey shadow fly past in a flickering blue light.
“There is something wrong with Kiyan. He is fading.” Freya charged down the hall leaving Jarrod racing behind dealing with the startled guards. He rounded the corner just in time to see Freya and Terra launching up a stairwell amidst a flurry of falling snow. Taking a flying leap Jarrod caught the edge of a hole in the roof. He pulled himself up just in time to see a huge pale blue dragon slam into the white roof.
“Step away from him.” The dragon thundered at them. “He is dangerous. He could kill them all.”
Terra stood over Kiyan's still form with Freya circling overhead. “Leave him alone.” Terra struggled as she felt the mind of the dragon trying to force her away from Kiyan. Terra linked with Jarrod and Freya and pushed back with all their collective might. The dragon staggered at the attack.
“Why are you protecting him?” The dragon circled them warily.
“He freed us.” Terra stood her ground. “He is the child of time. He isn't going to hurt us.”
“He plunged the entire planet into an ice age. The child of time isn't that powerful.” The dragon glittered in the dark from the light of Terra's flashing eyes.
“It was not just him.” They all turned to look at the swirling mists vaguely similar to a person. “I did part of it, he just channeled the energy.”
“Why did you destroy the environment of this planet?” The dragon thundered at Jeremy's ghostly form.
The swirling fog dissipated for a second before reforming. “It was prophesied!” Terra and Jarrod yelled in unison.
“It is only temporary. As soon as I run out of energy and stop bending the planet will return to normal.” Lightning clapped across the rooftop.
---------
Kiyan sensed movement before he sensed anything else. The next sensation was the large scales against his face. When he opened his eyes and raised his head he found himself on the back of a dragon soaring above the clouds in the sunlight. The momentary fear of falling was quieted as Kiyan felt Terra's arms around him. He felt relieved as he sensed Jeremy's consciousness in the clouds below.
“What happened?” There was a flash of light and their surroundings changed to the simulator aboard the ship. Simulator was running a program that gave the dragon plenty of space to land. Kiyan tried climbing off the dragon but found his legs much weaker than he had expected. The only thing keeping him up was his implants and Terra.
“You overextended yourself. You may be an ascended but you can't control your powers fully yet.” Kendra moved to Kiyan's side and helped him to a seat. Give it time. The dragon had shifted back into a human form and approached Kiyan and grasped his hand.
“Dragon born! You have dragon blood flowing strong in your veins.” The descended dragon looked far younger than Kiyan had expected. A mop of curly blond hair washed over his forehead and bluish white eyes nearly glowed from the sharply defined face.
“I'm not a dragon. I'm just an ice former.” Kiyan wasn't sure what the dragon meant.
“There is no way that an ice fire bender powerful enough to cool an entire planet is not a dragon.” Kiyan looked into the pale eyes as the dragon spoke. “Call me Kronos.”
“I don't know. I mean I haven't changed into anything else other than ice.” Kiyan glanced at Kendra as he responded.
“I would believe it, both of your parents are powerful old dragons.” There was a tone of humor and pride in Kendra's voice.
“What about the planet and the kayloo?” Kiyan asked the question to no one in particular.
“The kayloo rebellion has succeeded in bloodlessly seizing control of the government. There are several Voth that chose banishment rather than bonding. They will be transported to another planet in exile. The Voth left on the planet have chosen to rebuild their civilization along a different path.” The Athena's AI relayed the current situation of the planet. “We have improved the strength of the Voth defense grid and have placed their planet under the protection of the protectorate. The Voth have offered us the temporal fragment and we will honor their wishes to be left out of the war. In three cycles we will be leaving their orbit. They have proposed an open borders alliance after the war is settled.”
Kendra saw a glimmer in Kiyan's eye when he looked up at Terra where she stood in the back of the room. “What about my friends from here?” There was an almost imperceptible quaver in his voice as he spoke.
“Just friends?” Kendra arched an eyebrow as she spoke. There was a bloom of color on Terra's face at the question.
“I want to stay. No, I mean, I want to go with you, not stay here. Here as in the planet not the ship.” Terra could hardly speak she was so nervous. “I mean if it is alright with you.”
Kendra spoke before Kiyan had a chance to figure out what to think. “It is our practice to accept a representative of every planet we protect into the protectorate. I think you could serve on Kiyan's ship if you wanted.” Kendra noticed the glimmers of light shining from Terra's eyes at the news. Remarkable, she thought to herself. One as young as Terra being a telepath so strong.
Chapter Sixteen: Proof
There was a flash and the feeling of being dematerialized. This was not a regular teleport. Inter universal teleports were a science that Drovak couldn't quite understand. Fortunately Prometheus knew what he was
doing. Drovak materialized in a hallway onboard the drakken vessel. He remembered how poorly drakken ships were lit. The hallway was barely light enough to traverse but it helped Drovak’s cause. From what he knew there would be a single clone piloting the ship through the portal. It would be incinerated when the ship passed through and someone would beam in on the other side to take control. If he didn't take control before the portal there would be nothing left on the other side but ashes.
Drovak stalked down the hallway toward the control deck. The clone must have seen Drovak coming in spite of everything he had done to avoid attention. The control deck door slammed shut in front of Drovak as he rounded the corner. The small computer Prometheus had given him proved useful in overriding the lockout. Like Drovak had expected, the clone had little tactical imprinting. The only skills he had been imprinted with was ship navigation. Drovak was ready for the clone’s surprise. Drovak caught the clone by the throat and plunged the force blade attached to his wrist into its chest. Death was quick and Drovak was busy reprogramming the controls. He pulled out of the fleet and disappeared into a warp frame.
Drovak felt safer at warp while he formulated a plan. He was sure to die no matter how the mission went. If he succeeded there was sure to be a long slow death. If he failed death might be quick or not. The only way that Drovak could figure was if he could somehow convince the dark lord that he truly was a loyal drakken. The dark lords spoke the words of the dark one. They were the only ones that the dark one communicated with. If one of them were to die, a new one would be chosen by the dark one but its knowledge and plans would be lost. Their clone sequences were engineered for maximum intellectual and tactical capacity. Its loss would set the drakken back for years. Drovak was nearing a drakken home world. He dropped out of warp but found himself surrounded by hostile fighters.
“Identify yourself.” One of the other ship opened communication with Drovak's ship.
“I'm here to see the dark lord. It is urgent.” Drovak snarled at the other ships.
“We will decide that.” There was hardly any warning before a volley of weapon fire was smashing into Drovak's hull. Primary shields came online even as Drovak exerted all his skill flying his frigate in evasive flight patterns. They had dozens of fighters on their side but Drovak had lifetimes of experience on his side. Flying his ship like it was a part of him Drovak used thrusters and pulse detonation engines combined with the gravitational pull of the planet to slide and roll around his adversaries. A squeeze of a finger on the trigger left the melted remains of a fighter skidding through space.
Thrusters on full Drovak overloaded the pulse drive while he boosted the thrust nozzle shielding. Releasing the built up pressure catapulted Drovak out of the way of a volley of fire and shattered the fighters foolish enough to try sneaking up behind him. Drovak unleashed a hail of fire on the surprised fighters leaving nothing but shrapnel. A quick scan was interrupted by alarms splitting the air with deafening clanging and the shock of a barrage of cannon fire overpowering his shields. Smoke filled the control deck as sparks and flickering consoles lit the room. Drovak discovered that among the few systems still operational were the maneuvering thrusters.
“Surrender your ship.” Drovak didn't see any way out but to comply. He piloted his ship down through the dense clouds of dirty fog that strangled the planet. Clean air poured out of the ground when Drovak's ship neared a large armored door. Underground was a huge hangar deck where Drovak was directed to land. Opening a hatch Drovak was assaulted with the stench and several drakken. He let them overpower him and soon Drovak found himself in an iron cell deep underground.
The only other prisoners were defective clones awaiting re-imprinting. After the initial snarling, one of the braver ones charged Drovak. Slashing as he dodged he left the other drakken’s arm covered in gashes. Blinded by rage and pain the other drakken bowled into Drovak and knocked them both to the ground. Drovak felt the burning sensation of sharp teeth tearing into his side as he sank his claws into his adversary's neck. There was a spray of green blood and a few twitches before Drovak threw the corpse off him and stood up. He had a few cuts on his side but nothing permanent. The ascended had experimented with the cloning process and had accidentally improved it over the drakken process. He has stronger and more agile than most any other clone he had ever met. He was able to think clearer than he could remember any other lifetime.
The rest of the drakken prisoners slowly stalked around the outside edges of the cell but none tried to test the newcomer any further. “Leave me alone or you will share its fate.” There was some unintelligible growling but Drovak noticed his end of the cell was empty. The hours passed without anyone coming to interrogate him. Drovak began to suspect what passed for administration had lost track of him.
“Hey, I need to talk to the dark lord. It is important.” Drovak yelled at a passing drakken worker.
“A defective wants to speak with our dark lord?” The sneer on the drakken’s face told Drovak that he had indeed been misplaced. Hearing the scratch of claws on stone he turned in time to impale one of the braver drakken with his claws.
“There's was a mistake. I'm supposed to be interrogated about speaking with the dark lord.” Drovak growled as he spoke.
“They all say there has been a mistake but you will soon see the truth. You will be repurposed soon enough.” Drovak wanted to rip the face off the drakken but resisted the urge as he began forming a new plan. Being repurposed might not be so bad. He could resist the imprinting process like he had so many time before. It could be a problem if he got repurposed for something like piloting a ship into the portal. If he could only get something like a guard or worker on the planet he could work his way close to the dark lord. The Drakken Empire’s greatest strength could also be their greatest weakness. Their clones were imprinted to be loyal so there was minimal security and no one would suspect a drakken of working for the enemy.
“What will I be repurposed as?” Drovak inquired hours later when several drakken collected the prisoners.
“Won't know until you are imprinted. You will tell me when you get finished. You won't remember any of this but you will be fixed.” The drakken strapped Drovak into the chair and began the process. Engineering concepts and scientific data flooded Drovak's mind. The information was new to Drovak. He had never been purposed as a scientist before.
“My mission is to manage the planetary geothermal power system.” Drovak was surprised by the amount of access he had been granted.
“You can check out any equipment you need over there.” The drakken was already off to the next defective prisoner. Drovak used the opportunity to change his uniform and select a few weapons from the cabinets. He made his way to a transport and was soon on his way to the geothermal facility. The geothermal facility was as dark and dingy as the rest of the planet. Drovak looked out over the cavern full of machines that converted the heat from the core of the planet into energy usable by the connected systems. It wasn't that efficient but it was self-regenerating. One of the dangers was that it could destabilize the planetary core and cause a meltdown if not managed properly. This could be the opportunity that Drovak had been waiting for if he was careful and played it right. The problem was that if he were to destabilize the core the overlord would evacuate. If he could only stop the overlord from escaping before a catastrophic meltdown.
Drovak passed some workers and hardly was given a glance. He arrived at his sector and was assigned a work station. From his station he was supposed to monitor the power grid and shut down anything that was overloading in his sector. A computer could do this but the drakken print out a clone to do what they don't want to spend time designing a machine to do. It is a wonder they ever became warp capable let alone conquered the known universe. It wasn't long before Drovak had hacked into the rest of the system and redirected control to the small computer Prometheus had given him. He still left a certain amount of control at the individual stations but he had the authority to override any
thing he wanted.
His life as an engineer came in useful. It had ended badly but he still remembered everything he had been imprinted with including the systems that stood for computers on drakken ships. No one challenged him when he walked out of the facility. Part of his imprint had been the maps of the power distribution grid. This world was a large planet but it was only inhabitable underground and only in the places that were protected from the caustic gases outside. The once thriving world had been slowly dissolved over the past couple hundred years after the invasion. Drovak shuddered at the memory. He had been there that day with several million other fighters as they overpower the planet's defenders. The last one had fought to its dying breath. The planet had been claimed for the Drakken Empire and they had proceeded to begin manufacturing ships. It had thrived when it was on the front edges of the empire but now it was in the center of an empire that had strangled countless worlds. One of the dark lords had been chosen here and he had made his seat on this pathetic excuse of a world.
“Identify yourself.” The challenge was growled out by a worker on one of the structures nearby.
“I'm inspecting a power distribution hub. It might be damaged.” Drovak shrugged off the insolence of the worker. This was still a shipbuilding world but no longer on the scale of when it had been in it's prime. As such the empire no longer supplied it with fusible material for the reactors. Its sole source of energy was what it extracted from the planet's core. If the geothermal energy system went offline it would only be a matter of hours before irreparable damage was done to what remained of civilization if it could be called that. A day offline and the acidic gasses would have seeped into the cavern and melted everything into a puddle.
The planet walked a thin a line between survival and desolation. Because of that energy workers had authority levels second only to the dark one and his guards. Drovak stared down a couple drakken workers that paused before giving him the passage way. One snarled as Drovak passed but he didn't dare strike when he saw the uniform.