| Twilight of the Apocalypse | |||||||
| Chapter 7: Escape | |||||||
| Free Haven- Trimoire Island, 0745 hours, 15 June 2016 | |||||||
| Without warning, a beam of bluish-pink light enveloped me. Looking up, I saw that | |||||||
| the beam came from the craft still hovering above. The Stalkers were driven into | |||||||
| an even more uncontrollable frenzy when they noticed the intervention. | |||||||
| I felt myself move through the air at a stunning speed. I was being lifted up by the | |||||||
| beam. Soon, I could see nothing of the Stalkers as they vanished from view. The | |||||||
| brilliant and intense light blinded me. Hands grabbed me. I tried to move, but | |||||||
| a sharp pain in my head warned me to remain silent and motionless. | |||||||
| "Human.." the same voice I had heard said the word again. | |||||||
| "Ahhhhhhhhh…" I roared in frustration and defeat. Excrutiating pain numbed my | |||||||
| entire body and stung my insides. I could feel nothing, think of nothing, and worse, | |||||||
| see nothing still. | |||||||
| "Silence, human! We saved you from certain death," the voice barked. | |||||||
| "W-Who are you?" I asked, the pain less intense now. | |||||||
| "We are the Tol'Adjun, the warrior descendents. You are of interest to us. Very | |||||||
| much interest. | |||||||
| "Why?" | |||||||
| "Because your planet is something we desire very much," the voice replied. | |||||||
| "What is your purpose here? Why have you come? What have you done?!" | |||||||
| "We want all…" the alien beside me pointed to the outside, "that is within our | |||||||
| reach." | |||||||
| "What about those you call Stalkers?" I asked. | |||||||
| "They were the native species of our new homeworld. When we found the planet, | |||||||
| we destroyed most of them. The few remaining were to be sent to exile on another | |||||||
| planet at the edge of the galaxy. But this year was special. The Lord Darian told | |||||||
| us about this new route, one that would make travel easier by shorter distance." | |||||||
| "We passed through your solar system, and we discovered a blue and white planet | |||||||
| hanging in space. It looked so beautiful, so rich…We decided to take a closer look | |||||||
| but the Stalkers seized the opportunity to overpower the guards and escaped with | |||||||
| the spaceships they stole from our hangar." | |||||||
| "You want our planet?" I sneered. | |||||||
| "Yes, and more of our race will be coming to claim it for ourselves. We will do | |||||||
| exactly what we did with the Stalkers' homeworld. We'll strip it of its resources | |||||||
| then annihilate the entire population." | |||||||
| "You underestimate us, alien," I replied. | |||||||
| "We'll see about that," the alien hissed. | |||||||
| "Tagran, we've incoming!" another alien shouted from close by. | |||||||
| "What is it?" Tagran asked, anxious. | |||||||
| "Stalker, my lord!" came the reply. | |||||||
| "What?! Stalkers cannot attack us here. We're in orbit." | |||||||
| "No, it seems the Stalkers are flying." | |||||||
| "How is that possible?" | |||||||
| "I'm not sure, but they're a dozen of them now, trailing after us." | |||||||
| "Recall the Defta Pods," Tagran ordered. | |||||||
| The swarm of flying Stalkers catch up with the Tol'Adjun ship, and one after | |||||||
| another they crash into the ship. Their hard carapaces make dents in the sides | |||||||
| of the ship and with long, curved claws they peel at the metal, tearing the ship | |||||||
| apart. Soon, a hole was visible. Like a locust swarm, they dart into the ship. | |||||||
| "Ahhhh.." were the screams of the dying. | |||||||
| The Tol'Adjun ship's crew were not prepared for this unexpected assault. | |||||||
| Tagran dragged me into a small ship. As I entered, a bluish light surrounded me, | |||||||
| and I could not move. Tagran yelled something at the screen in front of him, and | |||||||
| the ship lurched forward, and out of the bigger craft. | |||||||
| "Where are you taking me?" | |||||||
| "To the other ship" was the reply. | |||||||
| But the Stalkers noticed the miniature craft leaving the ship and went after it, | |||||||
| their mighty green wings beating furiously. | |||||||
| One of them came close, and it latched itself onto the craft. Tagran's psychins | |||||||
| flared, and the Stalker imploded into tiny pieces of broken carapace and black | |||||||
| ichor. But another of the insect-like aliens rammed its long snout into the side | |||||||
| of the craft, and the ship went out of control. Tagran screamed and the world seemed | |||||||
| to spin around me. | |||||||
| I struggled to free myself, but the psychic barrier holding me was too strong. | |||||||
| With a defeated sigh, I lay back. I had survived when my comrades died. | |||||||
| I had escaped death many times before. Now, I knew it would be the end. | |||||||
