THE JOINING: The Cycle of the Shards Book One
Chapter 20

The ship swung back around, targeting the two-story structure below, and peppered a volley of lasers down upon it. As with the last several times that this had taken place over the last few minutes, the shots impacted what appeared to be a primitive domicile and went straight through the roof and the walls. From what little could be detected from the inside, there were indications that several small fires had started. Left unchecked, it would collapse in a very short time period. The pirate Oi’Ramal growled behind his unneeded breathing mask as he moved past the house and once again flew over the collection of similar domiciles below, looking down upon the wretches of this backwards planet. He did not understand how they were lacking basic security instruments such as shielding or reinforced giranal building materials meant to take more firepower than even his ship had handy. Glancing down at the curious and panicked Earth dwellers, he considered firing on them directly, but decided against it, not thinking them worth the energy. This planet would likely be destroyed soon enough anyway regardless if the missiles were going to arrive on target and schedule. It was no matter to him, he had his mission and he would see it carried out.

After tailing his target all the way to the planet and intercepting them, he had initially thought that would have been the end of it and he could progress to phase 2, the destruction of the school and ideally the recovery of the Shards for his employer. Those hopes had been dashed when he had seen out of the corner of his eye the two white lights of wisps spiraling down to the surface, undoubtedly to complete the first part of their own plan. At that point, he didn’t have much choice but to contact his employer for further instructions. His payment was halved, but he received the information he needed, the individual that had been targeted for an emergency joining by the disgraced soldier. Now here he was, beginning to feel that he was wasting his time. There was no sign that there was anyone at home, no one had come screaming out at the sky, and he was having issues detecting any kind of life signs either before or now. Just the people in the streets below, and a couple figures near the house, probably trying to get a closer look. And why shouldn’t they? This was probably the biggest thing to happen to this planet since they had invented nuclear fission.

He adjusted a breathing tube attached to his mask, a device that he didn’t particularly require to be around this planet’s atmosphere but it did improve his intake levels, and started to retarget. At this point he decided to just set to hover and collapse the house. The next most likely place to strike his target was the school itself anyway, so taking care of both parts at the same time would likely earn him the good graces of his employer again, and perhaps restore his payment at the end of all this.

Right before he inputted his final commands was when he saw the figure breaking away from the pack around the entrance to the rear of the house, and moved towards the middle of the rear grassy area. He saw an hand extend and suddenly knew that he had been targeting the wrong location. The sword of Kon was there in the figure’s hand! His target was somewhere else altogether! He hurried to reset his systems as the figure broke out in a straight run for the lone large tree in the middle of the yard. Oi’Ramal depressed the screen and the shots fired, but slightly too late, and striking the ground behind and around the figure as it reached the tree. He emitted a larger growl and cursed the maneuverability of his craft, as it moved past the tree. It would take him a moment to come around, but when he did, this would end, and he would claim the ancient sword as his prize!

Finally, I’m back in my element. Critock thought as the laser blasts rang around him, kicking up dirt and grass. The shots fortunately had all missed through no work of his own, all he had to do was run as quickly as Kyle’s weary legs could carry him and that was enough. He correctly assumed that the pirate, if that was the same one, hadn’t had the benefit of getting a primer on Earth, whether through Tom’s learning machine or his own attachment to an Earth-bound brain. So he would have no idea at the speed, or what Earthlings could actually do. He noted the ship soar past him as he neared the sole skinny tree, and he hoped that both Kyle’s body and the tree limbs would keep up with what he had in mind. With a quick leap, he grabbed two branches and hefted himself up, using the velocity of his body as fuel to spring up into the tree itself. Without pausing he climbed quickly up the branches, through the sticks that poked his skin. The higher up he went he noted more of the multi-colored leaves and would have thought them worth looking at if he had the time, but there was no stopping him until he reached the top of the tree, which reached to approximately the height of the middle of the second story. His feet stood balanced on a top branch that miraculously supported his weight, and he turned smoothly to face the pirate’s craft, now having turned around and was moving right towards him. He stretched out his arm, again activating the Sword of Kon, and smiled slightly as its electricity arced out more furiously than before, almost as though it too was anticipating the battle. Laser shots rung out from the ship, but were slow enough that Critock swung his sword, knocking them away seamlessly. The pirate kept coming at him, and he braced himself. He knew the ship wasn’t going to come too near the tree for fear of crashing, but since firing at him wasn’t accomplishing anything the next trick was to try to scare him off balance. Once he had fallen, he would be easy pickings. So it was a game of chicken, then. He braced himself as much as possible as the ship continued to aim directly at him.

At the last possible moment, the ship moved upward slightly, just enough to miss the tree and Critock completely but still close enough for him to reach out and touch it. Which was exactly what Critock was hoping for. With a quick motion, he stabbed upward with both hands with the sword, causing it to drive into the fuselage of the craft. At the same time, he strengthened his grip on the sword, having mentally braced himself for what was to happen next. The ship kept going, its pilot unaware that his hull had been slightly breached, and the sword and Critock went with it. With a quick jerk that caused a significant amount of pain to his wrists, he was pulled along with the craft, the metal catching and supporting Critock’s weight.

The pirate looked back at the tree and saw nothing, and laughed mightily at his apparent victory. The enemy was dead! His reward was assured! Now he could move on to the rest of the plan, which was far, far simpler. He steered the ship away from the house in the direction of the school, and primed his weapons for maximum destructive power.

Shanna had been watching with mixed amounts of bemusement from watching Kyle climb a tree, and then horror at him being carried away with the vessel. She ran slightly after him before her brain caught up with her body. She uselessly called out Kyle’s name as she watched the ship soar away, her eyes never leaving Kyle’s body dangling beneath it.

Tom flew up next to her, similarly disbelieving what he was seeing. Putting on a brave front for the girl, though, he tried to keep the shaking out of his voice. “It’s ok, he’ll be fine. He’s done this a ton of times before.”

Shanna was not convinced. “What are you doing! Go after them!”

“He told me to keep you safe, so I’m going to do that. He’ll…”

She cut him off. “Safe from what? There’s only one ship! Help him!”

Tom tried to think of a way to convince her, but she had a point. She was safe. He sighed. “Keep an eye open, meet us back at Cri…Kyl…His house!” He moved off, accelerating as he followed the craft, by now very small in the sky. Shanna stood alone for a moment, then moved towards her bike. She climbed aboard, and began riding, but not in the direction of Kyle’s home.

Critock stole a glance below him, and immediately wished he hadn’t. Hundreds of feet below where he clung tightly to the sword, his body pushed diagonally by the speed of the pirate’s vessel, he saw the tops of buildings and trees far away, and people so small he couldn’t make out any identifying characteristics of them. He snapped his head back up, forcing himself to stare at the black hull. He glanced sideways carefully, assessing his situation. He didn’t know where the pirate was going now, but he knew that he wouldn’t be leaving Earth, which was fortunate. The ship wasn’t climbing any farther into the sky so Critock could still breathe, but that only meant that there was another target nearby. He felt the ship began to descend suddenly and grimaced as he recognized the surroundings. The pirate was going after the school.

Critock knew that the school would be more or less deserted this time of the evening. A quick scan of what memories he could access revealed that if there was anyone at the school itself they wouldn’t be in the building proper, but instead at one of the many overly decorated sporting fields nearby. Regardless, he couldn’t just hold on forever. His adversary wouldn’t be satisfied with just destroying a building, he undoubtedly would continue to take aim at anything he could nearby, and that meant if there were any events going on, they would be the next targets. As well, if the school was damaged or destroyed, that would force an end to his plan, and probably the Earth itself.

The vessel straightened itself out, and the velocity was low enough that Critock saw an opportunity. One of the thruster nacelle connectors was close enough to touch. Critock stretched out and grasped the edge of the long flat metal. He groaned as he stretched far enough out to wrap his arm around it, leaving his other arm still dangling, holding on to the sword. With three increasingly hard pulls, he extricated the sword from the vessel, and quickly brought it and his arm around to join in holding on, closing the sword as he did so. He let go with one hand to return the sword to where it had come from, tucked in his jeans, before grabbing on once again to the metal. He took a breath, looking over the metal and realizing that he could now see the school approaching, and yelled as he pulled himself up and onto the metal connector.

Now laying flat upon it, Critock looked up at the thruster itself, a long skinny cylinder. He thought quickly about just using the sword to cut it in half, but he wasn’t prepared to sacrifice himself. Disabling the ship would either end up getting him thrown off, or crashing the ship altogether, and although that would rid him of his adversary, this would also rid him of his own life. Removing those options, he rose up to an unsteady kneeling position. He gingerly turned around, looking at the main fuselage of the craft. He focused on the primary goal, removing the threat to the school so the plan could proceed. Critock wasn’t one to plan several steps in advance, so he chose to do the only thing he could think of with the limited time he had; Hope the pirate’s hatred of him superseded his desire to see his mission completed. He reactivated the sword, and with a roar, leaped through the air, driving the blade of the sword straight through the fuselage as he landed flat along the top of the rounded vessel.

A sudden crunching noise from slightly above and behind him diverted Oi’Ramal from his targeting of the pubescent education center. He quickly swung his large head around, almost detaching the breathing tube as he did so, just in time to see the tip of a sword retract from a newly created hole in the roof. He watched unbelieving as there was another crunch accompanied with the unmistakable Sword of Kon tearing another hole through his ship. Oi’Ramal cursed a long guttural Viviakian curse, (A language that had only survived millennia after their conquering due to the color of their cursing) and placed a hand on the weapon that sat in the co-pilot’s seat. Thinking better of it before his rage caused him to destroy the entire ceiling of his vessel, he turned back to his controls. Critock was here! Tearing holes in his ship! This was beyond just a simple bounty now, this was an insult that could not be ignored! Here and now, Critock would die! The pirate twisted his controls, and the ship began to twist.

Critock was hoping that the pirate was going to start with just shooting at him, figuring that his luck would hold and the only result would be more damage to the ship itself. Instead, he felt the ship tilting and had only a moment to clench his hands on the sword hilt as it swung around quickly. The vessel did a quick barrel roll to the right, and Critock had the presence of mind to keep holding on after the first one as it began a second soon after. Fortunately for him, this particular model of ship was not designed to go long distances upside down, otherwise his grip would have been tested. Instead, after each roll there was a moment to reestablish his equilibrium and grip. After the third roll, back to the right again, the ship stabilized.

Oi’Ramal ran a quick scan of the outside of the ship after shaking off the initial dizziness of the rolls and cursed again as he saw the x-ray image of Critock hanging on. He again had to restrain himself from grabbing his weapon and tearing his whole ship apart to rid himself of his prey who was getting more annoying by the second. He noted that he had bypassed his secondary target, but he no longer cared about destroying a simple building. Thanks to the holes in his ceiling, he could not simply fly beyond the atmosphere to suffocate this pest, lest he risk losing his own consciousness. He looked beyond the horizon now, and noted that there were a series of buildings, tall and metal, off to the distance. Trusting in his abilities and his instincts, he set his course for the main drive of the city. If he couldn’t shake him off, and couldn’t suffocate him, then he would just have to scrape him off!

From a fair distance Shanna could see the ship that Kyle had grabbed onto dip towards the school, and then spin a few times, sending her heart into her throat until the spinning stopped and she could still see the small figure holding on to the top of the vessel. She had ran to the best vantage spot she could, a large hill near the school that rose above a field and a few surrounding trees. It was a spot that only she went to, as far as she knew, whenever she wanted to be alone. It overlooked a good portion of the surrounding area, including the school, and she could even see a fair amount of the city’s outline. At night she could make out stars very well, despite the light pollution coming from the city lights. She came here now though due to needing to see what happened next, even if she couldn’t help Kyle, or whatever it was that had taken him over. Helpless, she sat on the ground, watching as the ship moved towards the city steadily, and did not blink. sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ FɪndNovᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

It was not a large city, but outside of the suburbs it did house several multi-story buildings stretching into the sky. The buildings stretched for several streets providing an ample maze if anyone would be so inclined to race through it. It was designed for efficiency for the pedestrians and automobiles that frequented it and for the businesses those buildings contained, but not a thought was given to any flying transportation that may come through. The streets that separated the buildings were enough for four lanes and the cars that they contained, but provided tight turning spaces without much margin for error if, say, a flying vessel slightly wider than two automobiles side-by-side and as long back as half of a bus came flying through. Oi’Ramal was lost in his anger at his clutching stowaway and only at the last minute did he input the needed commands to his control console to avoid immediate destruction by flying directly into the side of the aforementioned structures. Critock, clutching the sword from where it had last pierced the hull, could only hang on as the ship dove towards the black street and cars below.

As the ship dove, he felt himself sliding down, and around before he found himself looking up at the sword and sky above him, instead of his previous state of looking down at the road rushing up at them. He found he did not prefer this view, as he would much rather see his end approaching rather than a sudden stop. He hated having to put his faith in the piloting skills of a pirate that was undoubtedly commanded to kill him, but what faith he did have was rewarded when he felt the craft leveling off and tilting to the right. That faith was almost lost completely when he felt the ship suddenly pitch completely right and ascend up. He saw the building that they almost crashed into soar past them, and then realized they were moving into the city proper, with its narrow passageways. Critock realized, not for the first time, that he could not stay where he was, and had to get inside the vessel before his adversary finally accomplished his goal, as he could not stay lucky forever. The ship leveled once again, and he took the chance to steady himself. As quickly as he dared, he moved towards the leftmost edge of the ship, withdrawing the sword from the most recent newly created hole as he did so. Keeping an eye on the upcoming buildings and hoping his senses did not fail him at guessing which way the pirate was likely to turn, he drove the blade into the side of the craft, and pulled as hard as he could.

Oi’Ramal grimaced as he heard the sound of the sword piercing the hull, tearing another hole into his ship, but dared not turn to see what was happening, even as the sound changed from just another quick crunch to a more sustained rip. Seeing another building advancing upon him, he quickly angled the ship around a corner, trying to tilt the ship as much as he could to force his adversary off.

Having already experienced almost being tossed off by the pirate’s wild piloting, Critock was more prepared this time when he found himself swinging over the side of the ship, keeping a desperate grip on the sword hilt. This, however, was exactly what he wanted to happen. As he fell over the side, he grasped the hilt with both hands, and when the ship righted, the weight of his body and the incredible slicing ability of the Sword of Kon forced the blade down. The ship tilted rightward to slide down a sharp alley, forcing the top of the ship very close to the building’s walls, but Critock had been hoping for this, as the new position of the ship left him able to sit up, rather than dangle helplessly. As quickly as he could, noting that another turn was coming up that would send him either back to holding on desperately or even off the vessel completely, Critock finished cutting an imperfect square into the hull. He slammed a foot down upon the wall of the ship, and it flexed, but held firm. The building was upon them and he desperately jumped upon the vessel itself, knowing that if the cut wall did not give way, there was little chance that he would recover in time to save himself.

Oi’Ramal was growling lowly. With his maneuvering, there was no way the ingrate could still be maintaining his grip and his stability on the ship! But the tearing continued as he made a quick turn, getting closer and closer to the sides of the structures around him. As frustrated as he was, he was very close to throwing caution to the wind and just slamming the sides of his ship against the buildings, anything in order to force his enemy to the ground and finish his primary goal! Repairs to his ship could come later, damn it! But what brief amounts of sanity the pirate had kept him from doing anything more than keeping a few meters of air between his craft and the building next to him. Perhaps it would be enough to scrape the troublesome insect off! The alley was ending, and he made a quick decision to spin around again, hopefully causing Critock to lose his balance.

Instead of that occurrence, there was a sudden loud crash that, despite the risk to navigation, forced Oi’Ramal to turn around. He almost couldn’t fathom what he was seeing as there was now a large hole in the side of his ship, and in the middle of the rear bay was a child, barely past the rages of puberty, slowly breathing, and attempting to move. His ship had been breached by…this? No! This would end the way it always should have, face to face, not the impersonal battling of ships and lasers. Whether this was truly Critock or some incredibly lucky pubescent Earther did not matter to the pirate as he tapped the controls, steadying his ship out and setting it to automatic, flying it on a gradual slope skyward. Whoever this was would die all the same.

Critock allowed himself a moment to shake off the sudden shock of slamming flat on his back on the deck, his body slammed to the ground along with the newly torn metal slab thanks to the artificial dampeners and gravity that kept the internals steady even if the outside was out of control. Knowing that the pirate would be slowed by having to maintain his piloting, he rose up, his right hand still clutching the Sword of Kon, itself sparking with orange electricity. The pirate turned towards him, incredulous, knowing that this could be no one but Critock, as he clutched the sword of legends tightly.

“A child?!” Oi’Ramal spat in basic Marconian, half still unbelieving and half as an insult.

Critock sighed. “Look, I’ve been having a bad day, all right?” The pleasantries completed, Critock ran at the pirate, the sword rising with the intent of ending this fight quickly.

Oi’Ramal had a similar goal, but he was fueled by the rage at the not easily fixable damage to his ship throughout what had become a very long and trying day. Critock had heart and desire, but it was still the body of a teenager, as the pirate sidestepped the initial swing of the sword, and batted him away. Critock fell towards the cockpit, and turned quickly. He knew he couldn’t reason with the pirate, his type was motivated by money and revenge, and he was sure there was plenty of both involved right now. He didn’t bother with words as he slowly steadied his feet, planning his next attack.

Oi’Ramal was not interested in a drawn out engagement with the child, far too much time had been wasted on this endeavor already. Instead he slowly backed up, staring and rattling off a string of ancient curses at the boy. Critock stared back, even as the ship ascended, the air from the pressure making it difficult to breathe and also keep his balance, a problem that the pirate did not share. Oi’Ramal placed a palm on a standalone cabinet, which automatically opened and revealed a weapon. Critock’s eyes widened as he recognized the haphazard shape of the rifle as the pirate pulled it loose.

“A disintegrator? You know those have been outlawed longer than I’ve been alive, right?” Critock tried to distract the pirate, but it was to no avail as Oi’Ramal leveled the weapon at him.

No longer caring about anything but the utter destruction of his prey, Oi’Ramal used the weapon. A black laser streaked out of the barrel of the weapon, just as Critock dove out of the way. Instead of flesh, the laser hit the right side of the cockpit, and in a dark flash the front part of the console simply disappeared. Instantly the gelatinous connections began to spark and flame out, and both Critock and Oi’Ramal were driven to the floor as the vessel’s autopilot flamed out, which forced the ship to stop its constant leveling, sending it listing Earthward.

“ARE YOU INSANE?” Critock screamed in guttural Marconian, causing instant pain to his human body’s throat. He could not risk another shot from the dangerous weapon, which up until now he had only seen in military training holos. As the pirate recovered from the tremendous pushback from the shot, Critock rushed at him, striking the larger alien directly in his midsection. With the combination of the shot forcing him off balance and the child’s body hitting him, Oi’Ramal fell backwards on the floor, directly in front of the makeshift hole in the fuselage, where Critock could see the tallest buildings rapidly approaching. He knew he had only one chance to take advantage of the pirate’s lack of balance, since he could not rely on superior strength, and there was no time at all to effort a change of form, even if he could afford to expend the energy after already moving between wisp and basic Marconian body forms in the last few hours. With a quick lunge, he drove the Sword of Kon into the ceiling at an angle, moved away slightly, and as the pirate rose to his feet facing away from the hole, again leveling the disintegrator upon the Marconian-in-boy’s-body, Critock ran forward, jumping and grabbing the hilt with both hands, trusting that with the degree at it was thrust it would not simply fall out immediately. His body swung forward, and before the pirate could react Critock struck him in his facial breathing tubes feet first. Even with the lack of strength that the human body afforded him, Critock still poured enough force into the strike that it sent Oi’Ramal reeling backwards. Before the pirate could react in his defense he was forced out of the hole and off the ship, screaming an unintelligible string of low curses and still clutching the disintegrator. They were low enough to the city that Oi’Ramal did not fall for long, as his body crashed through a high-floor window, tumbling end over end past a series of desks before finally lifelessly slightly embedding into a reinforced wall.

Critock took a breath, glad to again have rid himself of probably the most annoying pirate that he had ever encountered. But before he could relax, he was suddenly reminded that the battle was not yet ended in his favor when a sharp ‘bang’ emitted from the front control console. He sighed heavily, forcing his weary body towards the vessel’s controls, settling himself in and assessing the situation. First and foremost, the ship was lazily gliding down to the street below, and Critock knew that not only would he probably die from the crash, even if he didn’t the sudden unexpected appearance of an alien spaceship onto the early-evening streets of the city would make the rest of the plan a lot harder. The controls on the main pilot’s side of the console appeared unharmed, but of course as everything ran in conjunction with everything else on this model of vessel he didn’t know if the ship would even have the ability to fly again. He noticed the main displays flickering on and off, and began to run a quick diagnostic while ordering the ship to resume normal flight if that was at all possible.

Tomkari had been trying to catch up to the ship for its entire flight but there was a limit to how fast a wisp could fly. Despite having left Shanna behind with the intent to reach Critock to help him fight the pirate, only now did he make it to the ship, after nearly losing sight of it several times as he as well moved through the city streets. He arrived inside to see Critock angrily pounding a fist at the controls. Glancing quickly at the state of the ship, Tomkari announced his arrival. “What did I miss?”

“WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?” Critock responded, exasperated.

“You told me to…”

“Never mind, never mind.” He saw a control he hadn’t tried yet, and quickly moved his hand in a spinning motion against the console. A loud alarm sounded, grating to the ear, and he turned it quickly off. “Is the girl okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, took off home.” The wisp flew towards the co-pilot controls, or at least to what was left of them. “This looks like it was hit by a…”

“Disintegrator, yeah, bastard didn’t give much truck to the conventions. See anything to get this thing working on your side?”

“There’s nothing left on this side! I think there might be an escape pack…”

“I can’t just dump this thing in the middle of the city! We need to get clear before we can ditch it.”

“You might not have a choice, Critock!” Tomkari looked around frantically. “Wait, this is a Verunian.”

“Don’t think the make of the ship is going to do much for us!” The ship was about halfway down to the city, and down below even the most oblivious of passersby could not miss the smoking wreck that was plummeting toward them.

“Verunians are old. Like predate-sensory-feedback old. They’re cheap so pirates like them. One sec.” Tom dove between Critock’s legs, who scooted back awkwardly as the wisp moved under the console.

“What are you doing?”

“This.” With the word, a new panel slid out from the main console, just barely missing Critock’s legs. There was a slight whooshing noise as a joystick expanded from the center, and a few lights and buttons began to glow different neon colors. “Old ships mean old controls. Can you fly stick?”

Critock smirked, relieved at an answer to imminent death having been presented. “Had to learn back at the academy. ’Bout three thousand years ago.”

Tom moved back to the co-pilot station. “Surely you’ve tried since theeEEENNN!” The Wisp was plastered on the headrest as Critock pulled back on the stick, depressing a manual button as he did so. The ship suddenly and violently ceased its dive toward the street, twisting and turning almost straight up. It creaked and groaned at the sudden forces that were being pressed upon it as Tom whimpered, yet at the same time Critock whooped out loud. Now this was flying! The ship did a victory barrel roll as it moved up and out of the city, and back towards the surrounding suburb.

Tomkari slowly moved away from the headrest, shaking at the aerial maneuvers that had taken them from crashing back to flight. He noticed Critock breathing heavy. “Nice….Nice flying.” Still recovering, The wisp couldn’t get the words out.

“Thanks…These bodies aren’t cut out for this. I almost blacked out.” Critock shook his head back and forth, trying to clear his vision from his watering eyes. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Now that we’re not crashing in the next second.” A few beats passed as they both internally thanked their various beliefs for their continued existence. “What’s next?”

Critock looked down out of the hard tempered windows next to him. “We set this thing down somewhere secure. Hopefully no one important finds it until…” He was suddenly cut off by two very loud and extremely close rushing sounds heading straight for them. The pair glanced back at the front screens just in time to see two grey vaguely arrow-like ships moving towards and then with a sudden loud roaring moved past them.

There was a loud blast of hissing and static from an unseen speaker and then a voice began to speak in English, which startled Critock for a second. “ATTENTION UNIDENTIFIED SHIP. IDENTIFY YOURSELF IMMEDIATELY AND FORM UP ALONG OUR WING, WE WILL DIRECT YOU TO THE CLOSEST MILITARY BASE.” The voice was stern, and left absolutely no question that they were to do exactly as commanded lest dire consequences ensue.

The voice repeated itself, and Critock sighed. He did not have time for this. He turned to Tomkari. “You mentioned something about an escape hatch?”

“Oh, now you want it.”

“Now we’re not diving into the middle of a city. Think it’ll still work?” Even as he asked, he was tapping controls that were still even slightly functional. The timing had to be perfect.

“Yeah, its not connected to the overall jelly, but it’s under this slab you just dropped here. You’re setting the self-destruct?”

“They can’t recover anything, they don’t know it’s alien. They don’t know it’s alien, they don’t shut down the city, and the school is still open tomorrow.” He tapped a final control, and alien numbering appeared on the flickering main screen counting down. Critock jumped out of the chair and headed back to the middle of the vessel, reaching and quickly lifting with a grunt the metal slab that had fallen during the desperate flight. Successfully pushing the slab clear, the pair were rewarded with the sight of a very old-style wheel, which Tom attached himself to and began to spin. After a beat, Critock added what little strength he had left and completed the rotation. The panel popped open, revealing a small rounded enclosed area, sounded by a loose white fabric. With no time to lose, Critock jumped down into the hole, glancing up at the wisp. “You coming?”

“I’ll fly out. You have ten seconds. See you in a bit.” Critock nodded as he closed the panel at the top, hearing the satisfying pressure sealing pop. He closed his eyes as he clutched the release lever, before quickly opening them again.

“Wait, what the hell’s a second?”

Lieutenant Anderson had already had a long day by the time they had gotten the emergency call to intercept this strange craft, which was at the time buzzing various locations throughout the city, starting at a high school and then moving eastward. Even now, approaching it after doing the initial flyby, he had no idea what it was. Too big to be a drone, but unlike any aircraft he had ever seen before. He sighed, doubting heavily that this was anything related to terrorism or an attack, since this city wasn’t exactly going to be top of the list of anyone’s lists. He gestured to his fellow pilot, forming nearly next to each other, preparing to escort whatever this was, and he depressed the communications switch.

“AGAIN, ATTENTION UNIDENTIFIED AIRCRAFT, IDENTIFY YOURSELF IMMEDIATELY. WE WILL OPEN FI-“

Just as he had mentioned his threat, sudden orange and blue flames began to erupt from the sides of the craft, and then not even a second later the strange vessel exploded with a blast much larger and brighter than a ship of that size should have been capable for. After shielding their eyes for an instant out of instinct, both pilots looked back in amazement as every trace of the ship had completely disappeared, with no trace of debris remaining. Anderson glanced over at the other pilot, and tapped the communicator switch again.

“You want to report this…Or should I?”

Shanna Ewing didn’t know any of the details from her vantage point sitting on the hill, her arms hugging her legs to her as she had watched the ship, Kyle still on top of it as far as she knew, disappear into the city. From there she only caught fleeting glimpses of the craft between the buildings far in the distance, until she saw it, a small speck, flying gradually higher and higher into the sky. Smoke began emanating from the craft, and then it began to sink back into the city. She thought she saw something fall out of it, could it have been a person? Could it have been Kyle? But then it leveled off and headed out of the city, back towards her. She took that as a good sign, that Kyle or whoever it was had triumphed and was now winging their way back to her. Maybe that little spirit thing helped? Maybe she was passed out somehow and she was imagining all of this? A multitude of thoughts went through her head, all the way up until the roar of the jet planes rushed over her head and towards the craft, the bright flash of light in the sky that made her shield her eyes. When she uncovered them, she saw...Nothing. The two jets that had so suddenly appeared were there...But the ship that Kyle had clung to along with his sword had completely disappeared. And Kyle with it.

She was a strong girl. She had been called a tomboy, one of the guys, a lot of things throughout her life. But in this instant all she thought about was that Kyle had just died. That he would no longer be in hers or anyone’s life any longer. That she would never get the chance...She lowered her face to her knees and started sobbing. The jets turned around, and she scarcely heard their loud distinctive sounds move past her and fade away into the distance.

For a minute all was quiet. The fabric of her clothing was leaving an uncomfortable imprint on her face, and she lifted her head up, still crying, still holding her legs to her. As she looked up into the last vestiges of sunset that splayed over the land, and the yellows and reds that came with it, she saw a lone figure walking towards her, but still at a distance. Even though fairly far away, she could make out his general shape, his stride, his brown hair.

She launched herself up and ran as fast as her legs could carry her down the hill, tears changing from grief to immense relief as she forced herself towards the slowly advancing figure. A full two minutes later, she launched herself forwards, and it was all Critock could do to remain upright as the sobbing teenager embraced him. He hesitated a moment, but his softer side won out, as he carefully returned the embrace, keeping his hands at shoulder level.

In-between gasps, she was able to get out a sentence. “Please, please tell me what’s going on.”

He sighed, his entire body aching, as was his mind as he realized that she had seen the whole thing and had thought him and Kyle dead. Of all the people on this planet, he realized that she could be trusted, and at this point, he needed fresh eyes on what was happening, something that Tomkari just could not provide.

“I’ll tell you.” He breathed. “I’ll tell you everything.”

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