“Witness the battle in the skies.”
I
0006 hours.
What was that?
Raviex was wide awake as he felt the ground shaking beneath him. The desire to sleep completely left him. What could have possibly caused the ground of the
The ground shook abruptly a second time, this time a lot more obvious than the last. It was not till the scale that the walls were crumbling. It was as if a light jerk. Nonetheless, it was enough to grasp Raviex’s curiosity. He got up and went to the huge windows. Lifting the thick golden curtains slightly aside, he saw men below going about in an urgent fashion, hustling for time. They too were holding their weapons openly in their hands.
Who issued a pre-war order, Raviex pondered. He was evidently displeased that he was not informed of it. He quickly went to his enormous wardrobe and opened its doors. For once, he was thankful that he was decisive when it came to picking out the clothes he wanted to wear. His collection of clothing ranged from formal to informal, elegant to trendy and casual. He took out the set of clothes he wanted and changed into it.
In a minute, he was ready to go. He was clad in his favourite blue jacket, white top and black trousers. Shifting and making sure his hands were comfortable with his black fighting gloves; he grabbed at his sword and left his chamber in a dash.
II
“This is the Kingdom Katelion Army Force Headquarters. The Capital is under attack. I repeat: the Capital is under attack. All war crafts and men return to the Headquarters immediately and return fire,” a cool female voice related the orders from the
“General Ford, the tracking device has picked up at least twenty thousand signals from the war crafts of the Valkyr Army,” informed young Bridge-Officer Rise.
“What’s their location?” the General barked.
Bridge-Officer Rise shot a disbelief look at his superior and gasped, “The enemy is fifteen hundred kilometres from entering
“Well, what is it?” pressed General Ford.
“The force field that was supposed to be shielding the
The middle-aged general’s eyes widened with shock and anger. He punched a red button which was connected to all communication system of war crafts and Z-Genes belonging to the Imperial Army.
“Attention, this is General Ford! To all war crafts and Z-Genes: full speed ahead to the
“Roger!” the whole of the Imperial Army responded in unison with determination.
He released the button and in a troubled tone, he added, “Let’s hope we’ll be in time to save her, Rise.”
The officer left for the pilot room at the bridge of the mother-ship to get the approximate time of arrival at the
He recalled the anonymous message directed to the commanding office of one of the mother-ships of the Imperial Army through the International Communication System (ICS). They had been travelling for more than seven hours then; their destination
“
The Imperial Army was confused and in the dilemma of whether they should return or continue with their journey as ordered for by the Royal Prince. Based on his instincts, General Ford chose to return to the
Now, six hours after the message was received, it was proven genuine. His decision was the right one. He dared not imagine the consequences if they had ignored the warning. What mattered the most currently, was to reach Katelion City in time to prevent the most tremendous defeat in Kingdom Katelion’s history—the capture of the Capital herself!
Raviex arrived in front of a computerized metal door. Still gasping for breath from his running, he placed his palm on the glass panel on the right of the door. He waited impatiently as the computer came to life as a red sensor blinked. A green ray shone as it scanned his palm thoroughly. Seconds later, though it felt like eternity to him, the computer permitted his entry.
“User identified: Raviex Katelion. Identification process completed. Access approved.”
The heavy metallic door created to withstand forced entries to the highest form of explosions drew upwards slowly. Unable to wait for it to be fully drawn up, he ducked and stepped into a dimly-lit colossal hangar. His eyes met a gigantic robotic warrior, standing ten storeys tall. It had never failed to spark awe in him. He was rather intimidated at times in the presence of a Z-tech Generation (Z-Gene), the creation of Z-technology, due to its incredibly massive build. It was currently lifeless; its head drooping slightly.
This was his Z-tech Crusader: White Dragon. Unlike a Z-tech Fighter, a Z-tech Crusader possessed greater statistics of powers and strengths. It ranked the second most powerful category of the Light-delivered Z-Gene and was considered to be an extremely rare breed of it. It was people’s belief that supposedly, the Z-technology could only be used by those of strong-willed and of high spiritual energy, otherwise known as Sacred Energy.
Logically, the higher the rank of a particular Z-Gene, the more powerful his pilot must be in order to move it. The Z-Gene was normally owned by warlords, famed fighters, the Royal Prince and the King himself. There could never be a twin of the same Z-Gene because every Z-Gene was unique, like how no two fingerprints could be alike.
The Z-Gene originally was used in wars because of their strength and the heavy armouries on them. During the peaceful era, it was used for heavy duties such as transporting materials for construction and also used during emergency rescues from natural disaster. Raviex wished it could remain that way where the Z-Gene did not have to harm but help others.
He ran a few steps ahead but came to a pause when he saw a lone yet familiar figure standing before White Dragon. He was certainly not expecting to see him. “What are you doing here?” questioned Raviex. He remained silent and motionless. Irritated by the response given to him, Raviex let out a frustrated scowl.
“Whatever it is, Erik, don’t try to stop me,” he warned bluntly. They held eye contact for a moment before he continued his jog towards his Z-tech Crusader. Just as he was about to pass him, Erik spoke up quietly.
“Don’t regret this, Raviex.”
The words sank in the Prince; an unsettling feeling aroused his inner self. Shrugging it off, Raviex rushed forwards. Time was essential. He had gotten hold of a guard and demanded to know the source of cataclysm on the
Raviex’s pulse raced as he felt his adrenaline pumping furiously. Now that he had overcome the shock of the unexpected coming of the Valkyr Empire, he was ready to battle after two years of hard training. He was determined to crush the enemy of Kingdom Katelion and even more determined he was to hunt down the murderer of his father— Dark Valkyr. He decided that it was time he would fulfil his vow on his father’s grave.
Alarms rang urgently as men ran hectically in every direction, going on with their business at hand. Orders and commands were being made through speakers by higher authorities. Monitors and screens were showing the destruction done on the city above.
“What the hell are you and your men doing down there?! Get the force field over the city, right now!” shouted a lieutenant Z-tech Fighter pilot; his voice booming through the operator’s earphone. The helpless operator winced.
“There’s some sort of unidentified problem and—” the operator started to explain but was cut short.
“I don’t bloody care what your problem is! Get the force field back on or neither of us will survive this day!” spat the lieutenant and hanged up the line as he steered his war craft away from a line of laser from the enemy.
Cold sweat dripped along Sir Damien’s sideburns. The controller vibrated tremendously in his hands as he fought to keep stable control over his Z-tech Arch-Defender. His magnificent Z-tech Arch-Defender, Eyphion was one of the finest created. He was on hot pursuit on a war craft. He tried to focus on the war instead of allowing his mind to wander about his premonition of bad happenings and the convenient failure of the force field which acted as a shield to protect the
He tapped on two buttons and without delay; a target ring appeared on his monitor. He focused it on the opponent’s war craft and fired two missiles at it. Both hit their target and blew it into pieces. He smiled in satisfaction.
In the middle of enjoying his small win, Eyphion spun in confusion after being hit fiercely on the side. He cursed himself for letting his guard down but discovered when he recovered from the spinning that it was Z-tech Crusader White Dragon who had crashed into him on the side. And for a good reason, too; missiles were launched at his previous position.
“Be careful, Sir Damien, you’re not as young as you used to be,” Raviex warned half-jokingly through the speakers. Sir Damien grumbled on that remark. He was, after all, the Prince’s mentor.
“Team Alpha, Beta and Gamma of Superior Army and Team Arietis, Centauri and Eridani of Great Army, handle the situation here. The remaining of Superior Army: follow me! We’ll have to lead the Valkyrians away from the Motherland at the north and west wing; Great Army to the south and east wing. Sir Damien in command! Hold your ground to your deaths! Do you read me?!” directed Raviex.
“Roger!” responded the two armies.
As he flew higher and further away from the
The assembly did not take long and soon, all were in position. Watching the swarm of enemies approaching, a sense of fear clung onto him. The human part of him yearned not to be present on this battlefield. Was it cowardice? But every living flesh has the instincts to preserve its life. War leads to bloodshed; bloodshed leads to pain and death. This was what robbed his father’s life.
No, Valkyr did! He caused the war.
His fury overwhelmed him. He was strongly reminded of the reason he chose to be here. I will avenge my father’s death!
While clenching tightly on the controller with the turbo engines on full blast, Raviex sped forwards, executing his attack.
“FOR KATELION!”
Both war craft and Z-Genes possess their own advantages. War craft is designed for long-range attacks whereas a Z-Gene is created in the image of a human body to fight using gigantic swords, metal rods and other weapons. But there is no doubt that a Z-Gene could easily defeat a war craft if it turns out to be a one on one match.
Raviex grabbed a Valkyr war craft’s wing and punched a fist into a vital part of it where the engines of it were likely to be placed. When he retrieved his hand back, the damage was visible. The metal which made out the outer layer of the war craft sunk back below, forming a print of White Dragon’s fist. The pilot of the war craft struggled to free it but his efforts were futile. Raviex shot upwards a few feet with the war craft in both hands and spun it around. He aimed it at two other war crafts which were closing in on him and let go. The impact was so strong that when it smashed into the unfortunate two, the three were badly damaged and crashed into the ocean below, swallowed by the deep blue water of the Phillarion Sea.
All around him was destruction. It was a miracle that they were able to prevent anymore of the enemies from entering the city. The six airborne teams that remained in the city had done a great job in taking out the foes there. Nevertheless, the city was already in a bad shape.
He envisaged a bloody scream as he pierced White Dragon’s sword into the centre of another Z-tech Destructor where the pilot would be sitting.
“Nice kill, Prince Raviex, I’ve always thought he wasn’t worth enough to be given a Z-tech Destructor,” a voice coursed through his speaker. It chuckled. A terrible sense of dread trickled down his spine as he turned. “I have finally found you, dear Prince, and I shall be your challenger.”
“Who are you?” demanded Raviex in a composed voice. He hoped nothing had betrayed his little fear for this new challenger. The voice was almost too friendly— and confident. Raviex knew the rank of the challenger’s Z-Gene. Its aura was much more significant than the previous Z-tech Destructors he had defeated. For the first time in a real battle arena, he was facing a Z-tech Templar of which, in the concept of yin and yang, had the same ranking but a total opposite of a Z-tech Crusader. The Crusader was delivered from the Light. Conversely, the Templar was delivered from the Darkness.
“I am the favoured Second General of Dark Valkyr, the renowned pilot of the infamous Soul Stealer. You may know me as Second General Hendrix Crone.”
“If you really are so favoured by Dark Valkyr, why are you only the Second General and not the First?” mocked Raviex.
Obviously aggravated, Crone sneered in despise, “If it weren’t for his connection to the Lord Valkyr, that brat wouldn’t have gained the position as the First General.”
“Brat?” repeated Raviex, puzzled. Valkyr Empire’s generals sure have some issues going on, he thought.
“And to think I thought this Kingdom has the most state-of-art technology to gain information about their enemies,” snorted Crone. “I’ll tell you his worthless name, Prince of Senadon— he is Lazachus.”
Before Raviex could ponder about the newly known name, Soul Stealer charged towards him, his sword ready to slash him into half!
In a dense forest nearby
The Fourth-Sight, named by her older brother, Keith, was invented to look at extremely far things, even at the range of hundreds of kilometres with the feature of night vision as well. At the bottom right corner of its lens, there were numbers in brilliant-green indicating the distance of the scene from the seer. It was equipped to zoom in up close and take instant photographs. Furthermore, attached to it was a satellite signal sender which enabled the receiver of the signal to watch what was being watched by the seer. All viewings could be recorded if the appropriate equipment was set up.
“Taking in information now,” informed Christine, speaking into her modified microphone. It was placed just outside around the curve of her right ear. She snapped many pictures of the on-going battle. It was no doubt that there were others witnessing the battle above the sky but not as detailed as what she was seeing. Moreover, the night sky was only illuminated by the stars and the three moons. It would be difficult to make out what was happening without night vision. She made a mental note to herself to thank Keith for this wonderful invention of his. Most of her gadgets and equipments were, as a matter of fact, invented by him. No one could have owned better weapons than her.
“Received,” her brother’s voice broke through the silent line.
The girl of sixteen frowned as she focused the lens on two particular Z-Genes which were clashing their swords, attacking and lunging themselves at each other. Though there were other war crafts and Z-Genes fighting around them, strangely, those two stood out from the others almost instantly. She captured a few pictures of them in action. She noticed that both were excellent fighters and pilots who fought with immense amount of strength and speed.
Suddenly, one of the Z-Gene was struck from behind by another Z-Gene. Despite her character of staying on neutral ground, a loud cry of foul play rang in her mind.
“C’mon! C’mon! What’s the matter?” Erik Wilgate muttered. His fingers raced across the keyboard which was connected to a single gigantic screen on the wall. It displayed datas and sophisticated diagrams of the power crystals stationed at allocated areas on the
So, why wasn’t the force field generated? The question kept spinning in his head. Twenty-year-old Erik was the youngest member in his department of computer scientists. His achievements of becoming the captain of his team at the age of seventeen, joining the ranks of the Chief Executive Officers three years later and also receiving the title ‘Knight Messenger, Colonel’ were considered amazing. Lots believed he was to be a great leader of the Kingdom in time.
The Katelion City Underground Security Army or the KACUSA (pronounced as Ka-Q-Sa) was part of the Kingdom Katelion Army Force. This department battled the enemy by using highly advanced technologies. Set with about five hundred computer scientists, war crafts and Z-tech experts and experienced strategy analysts, KACUSA fought by corrupting the enemies’ war crafts and Z-Genes’ systems through the usage of computer viruses. Easier said than done; in order to penetrate ten average war crafts, it might take at least thirty minutes. But KACUSA had proven itself handy at times.
If it was possible to penetrate the enemies’ systems, inevitably, the enemies could do so as well. So, it was up to the war crafts and Z-tech experts to heighten the defence system of the fighting machines, giving the enemies an extremely hard time or no chance at all to sabotage them. Strategies analysts worked to break off the enemies’ attack, making the Army’s job a lot easier.
Now, the crystals’ holograms were replaced with random live images of the battle going on in the skies. Erik knew that the two Armies were trying to keep the enemies out of the city but… how long could they keep this up? It was KACUSA’s responsibility to get the force field back over the city and to keep the citizens safe. The problem here was no one had any idea what the error was.
Erik took off his half-framed glasses and slumped down on his armchair. He ran his hands over his face in exhaustion. He closed his eyes and let his thoughts lift him. He needed to relax to think clearly. It was not of any help if his mind was on the verge of panicking.
Kairalina…
“Damn!” he muttered. He swore to himself he would never think about her in a way that he wanted her. He thought he could get over the fact that right now, his best friend, Raviex and his dream girl were together. It was not as easy as he thought. But what could you do when you have a shy nature? Moreover, when your love rival is an unofficial king? Besides standing aside watching over them, Erik really could not think of anything else.
Three swift knocks tapped on the door and before he could say a word, the door flung open.
“Kaira, what… what are you doing here?” Erik stammered, surprised to see her here. He fumbled for his glasses and put them on hurriedly. He stood up to meet her.
“Thank goodness I’ve found you, Erik!” Kairalina hugged him briefly in relief. “It’s a horror up there!” The young man nodded in agreement, clearing his throat rather awkwardly.
“What happened to the force field?” she asked, expressing the question Erik was certain the people of the Capital were wondering about. As much as he did not want to look bad in front of Kairalina, he had to admit that he did not know anything more than she did.
“I hope the force field will generate soon. The whole city’s going to be destroyed by the Valkyrians!” the girl exclaimed in distress. Her voice was seething with anger and worry. Erik knew instinctively she was praying in her heart for the safety of her father and the Prince. She sighed, “The situation must be really bad if a Noble Resident comes down here personally to check on things, isn’t it?”
Erik frowned, folding his arms to his chest. “A Noble Resident in KACUSA’s headquarters? Who?”
“Duke Ralph.,” she replied simply. Kairalina shrugged. “He is a Noble Resident anyway. He’s authorized to be here, right?” He nodded slowly, letting it to sink down. An uncomfortable feeling formed in his sub-conscious mind.
“Where did you see him?” The question shot out of his lips all of the sudden.
“Three rooms down on the left from this room,” replied Kairalina gradually, curious that Erik should ask such a question.
“The power source room!” He exclaimed as he rushed out of the door with her trailing behind him.
Erik keyed in the password needed to open the door to the power source room. A thought flashed through his mind.
How did he know the password?
The door slid open and he saw that everything in the power source room looked the same as usual. Colourful lights were blinking from the buttons of some complicated machines and computers which were fixed to the walls of the room.
At the dead centre of the room was a long tube which stretched from the ceiling to the floor. Inside the tube was a multi-coloured crystal rock. It had been here since
While Kairalina marvelled over the wonderful colours that surrounded the room, Erik stepped in and began his intense checking of the power source room. He did not really need to do much though; he just had to punch a few buttons and the computer would automatically scan through its data and recent condition. A fifteen-inch flat screen lighted up and the result was on it, ready to be read.
Erik settled himself on a chair and was prepared for a long stretch of reading when he stiffened and leaned forward to peer at the screen.
“What’s wrong, Erik?” asked Kairalina, curious.
“I’m not sure myself… It just feels… weird.” He shook his head. While the system claimed that everything was in order, there was something nagging him inside. He was a man of science and following one’s heart, as people put it, had never appealed to him. But right now, he was desperate. His heart was beckoning him to at least pour through the entire report. He resigned to it, though knowing very well that it could be a complete waste of precious time.
After a short while of reading, Erik was certain that something was very wrong with the report. He stood up unexpectedly and gave Kairalina quite a fright.
“You discovered the cause?” she gasped.
“The data… it’s impossible!”
Kairalina answered him with a befuddled look.
The bespectacled one glanced at her, nervous. “The data records that for the past five hours, the force field’s crystals power output are consistent—stagnant.”
“So, is that good or bad?” she asked, feeling as quizzed as before. She grimaced when Erik knitted his eyebrows at her. “I’m sorry. I don’t really get all these stuff.”
A tight, thin smile spread across his face as his fingers typed in a string of commands. He did not expect her to know anyway. Kairalina was not one to take interest in computers and technologies. “The power output of the force field’s crystals, as far as anyone knows, is never the same. There’s always a drop or rise in it, however insignificant it may be, despite our efforts to fully stabilise it. I suspect we’re merely looking at an image someone deliberately put up for us.”
“What?! But who…” Her sentence was left hanging as Erik cursed under his breath. He rarely lost his cool. This could only mean he was tremendously furious.
“If I ever get my hands on the wretched traitor—”
“Traitor?!” Kairalina repeated, wide-eyed.
Erik sucked in a deep breath to calm himself. He closed his eyes and counted from one to five in his head before resumed his current mission. “The computer system’s been rigged. Someone downloaded a program which freezes the pattern of the energy of the crystals’ power output. It successfully tricks the system into thinking that everything is in place. In actual fact… the energy level could be zero, which easily explains the force field’s disappearing act.”
The system detected no signs of being hacked; KACUSA would have been alerted almost immediately. No, whoever is responsible for this treachery did it from inside KACUSA’s lair. The culprit, without a speck of doubt, has the access into the Headquarter’s and the system itself.
He was quick to identify the harmful programme and destroy it. Once deleted, an alarm blared out, deafening the two. The girl covered her ears with her hands, wincing. The screen was now screaming, ‘INSUFFICIENT ENERGY. FORCE FIELD FUNCTIONING AT 17%.’
Both shared anxious eyes. The colonel wasted no time in commanding the system to restore the energy level back to normal. Soon, the alarm ceased and the power source room regained its peace. This time, the screen informed, ‘ENERGY LEVEL RESTORED. FORCE FIELD FUNCTIONING AT 99.97%’.
“It worked!!” Kairalina held Erik’s arm and congratulated him for his success and brilliance. Erik, nevertheless, was not yet in a joyous mood. Ironically, he was more troubled than ever.
Now, the question is… who is the traitor?
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