Episode XIX
Secret voyages to Heave and Hell. (Part. 3)
 

 I am Captain Ma’cran Vo’rant, Galactic Terran Vasudan Alliance, service number: 3-4-3-3-2-2-4-6-1. Serving Galactican Terran Destroyer Requiem, Black Sparrows Squadron.
 You have herd my comrades speak, and they speak truly. I do not know what it is you expect to gain from this trial of innocence, or what you expect to gain from putting me up here. Ah yes, of course, how could I be so nieve, I suppose that it is a stroke of genius on your parts. The Neo Terran Front hated my race for no other reason then because we are Vasudan, and you expect that hatred to broil over into me. Hatred is the true enemy, and you harbor it as if it were a friend.
 That man was at one point a Neo Terran Front pilot, at one point, but no longer. His actions do not prove otherwise, he has never attacked me, and I have stood… no, I will always stand at his side. Through the voyage through darkness, and light, I will be there with him, through heaven and hell. And that is all I have to say.
 I will continue the story, I will do what you ask, but you will not find what you seek. You will not find that you have the right to condemn this good man’s soul. For he is better then all of you, he has the strength to admit his faults. And as a famous Terran once said, the Truth shall set you free.

    * * *

Blood and smoke filled the air. Dove felt the bullet bearry itself in his body. The pain ran through his in tier body, it filled his mind, and rushed through his arms and legs. His vision blurred and he lost strength. His arms moved to his chest, and the thick red blood covered his hands. He raised his head slowly it pained him with every move. He forced his eyes open, and they cleared just enough to allow him to see. The guards backed off he saw Richtoven, smiling, and laughing. Richtoven aimed the gun again, but this time not at Dove. Richtoven fired into Sirus. The man fell, and slumped on the floor, dead. Sirus looked up Richtoven, and then the floor rushed up at –

    * * *

Kate watched Dove fall to the floor. Anger and rage gripped her. She opened fire; letting out a long battle cry she fired into the remaining guards, hoping that one bullet would hit Richtoven. Richtoven quickly jumped away, and ran off down the corridor. Kate tossed the weapon aside and, jumping over the dead bodies of the fallen guards, she ran off down the corridor after Richtoven. Dove’s body rested on the ground, creating a small puddle of blood on the floor. Kate wasn’t thinking about that, there was nothing in her mind now except hatred, hatred for Richtoven, hatred for the NTF. She drew her sword as she ran an officer stepped out in front of her, Kate cut her down in a single swing of her sword, and the officer fell against the wall, and slid down slowly. She could see Richtoven up ahead of her. She called out to him.
“Richtoven, You coward, face me!” She yelled. Richtoven only laughed, he continued to run down the hallway. Kate had to catch him, had to stop this now before anymore-good people died. This all had to end, here, and now. Kate pushed herself to the very limit of her power; she chased Richtoven through the hallowed hallways of the base. She turned a thousand corridors, a thousand curves, chasing, only chasing. She turned a corner, and saw an open door. Kate rushed inside. It was a cell complex, she looked around the room, inspecting each cell. He sword was up, and ready for battle. Sweat began to bead on her forehead.  Kate turned to a cell, and the most horrific sight she had ever seen filled her eyes. There, dead on the floor of a cell, was Extinguisher.
“Like the view?” Richtoven asked lowly. His voice seemed to come from every direction, from every part of the room. She could hear Richtoven in her head, from the door, the walls, the cell, and everywhere else.
Extinguisher got to his feet and threw himself against the cell door. Blood soaked Extinguisher. The hole in his uniform threw new blood down the cell door. Kate threw herself against the wall in terror. She almost dropped her sword. The cell door swung open and Extinguisher began to stumble out towards her. Hatred filled the dead man’s eyes. He pushed forward, blood staining the dark floor.
“Why?” He mumbled slowly. Kate’s eyes went wide. “Why?” Extinguisher repeated. Kate clenched her sword strongly. Extinguisher kept coming.
“No!” Kate yelled swinging hard she pulled the sword through Extinguisher, the image vanished and Extinguisher was back on the floor of the cell. Kate shook off the vision, Richtoven’s laughing rang through her head. She shook him off, and pushed herself out of the room, near nausea, she looked down the hallway and saw Richtoven running down the hallway. Kate pulled herself back together and ran off down the hallway towards Richtoven, she had to regain her confidence, or all of this would be for nothing. Richtoven turned a corner, and Kate followed him. Richtoven dove inside an open door. Kate hurried after him, she found herself inside the stations Hydroponics bay. The moment she stepped inside the door swung closed and two large locking bars slid into place. There was a long metallic screech followed by a metallic click. The sound rung through the bay. The lights were bright, giving the plants enough light to survive. The bay was like a jungle, plants reached the ceiling and it was impossible to see to either side of her. Color filled the room, as flowering plants produced ripe fruit.  Every once and a while Kate caught the glimpse of a water sprayer, built to provide the plants with precious water, now half of them were covered by plants that had never been tended too.
At first Kate thought that this had been an elaborate ruse, a way to get her in here so that Richtoven could make an example of the rest. Richtoven would kill them all, the same way he had killed Dove and Extinguisher.
“Leader for the Shivans.” Richtoven’s voice echoed through the room. Kate brought her sword up quickly. The room was hot, much warmer then the usual temperature. Sweat streamed down her face, and her hair stuck to her face. She thought she saw movement, she swung quickly and cut a plant in half. The green plant fell down around her feet; she kicked it off and continued to search the bay. Kate moved down the long, green alley. “Leader for the Shivans.” Richtoven said slowly. Kate spun quickly, trying to see if anything was behind her, trying to see if anyone was there. Kate continued down the length of the alley. The plants seemed to watch her; they seemed to weep for her. Suddenly water filled the room, one by one the sprayers turned on and filled the room with water. Kate pulled her hair out of her eyes and took a step forward.
The floor was slippery, and she slipped. The floor was hard, and her head crashed into the floor hard. She forced her eyes open, through the water, to try and see, to see if anything happened. Her stomach hurt, She looked at her stomach and saw a piece of the ceiling had collapsed on her. The ends had been cut, that had been no accident. She pushed off the beam and reached for her sword. She spun over unto her stomach and coughed blood unto the deck. The water drenched the stain, and the blood flowed down into the drain. Kate pushed herself up, and brought her sword to the ready. She continued through the dense underbrush, her face covered with sweat and water. The water pushed into her eyes, and she had wiped it away every so often. She continued through the forest, searching, looking, the pain and hatred never left her.
“Leader for the Shivans.” Richtoven said, that was close, Kate spun around and a sword barried itself in her stomach. She gasped, gasped for breath, gasped for life, Richtoven pulled his sword from her, its tip was drenched by blood, the red liquid dripped off the sword. Kate’s vision began to blur. Richtoven pulled his sword back and swung it down –

    * * *

Vo’rant and Ridow stood in the middle of the hallway, back to back they fought. Vo’rant let out a stream of unbeatable plasma. The NTF officers rushed them, and fell one by one. Ridow pumped the triggers of his guns, trying to fend off their attackers. Ridow turned to Vo’rant. He continued to fight,
“Why are they only using swords?” Ridow asked slowly. Vo’rant shook his head.
“I do not know, we should have been dead long ago.” He fired another volley. They continued to fight. Eventually Vo’rant’s gun began to click. With every pull of the trigger the weapon clicked. Vo’rant sneered. “My weapon is depleted.” Vo’rant spun the weapon and gripped the but. He swung it quickly at his next attacker. It crashed loudly against the man’s scull. The soldier was thrown against the wall with the shear force of Vo’rant’s arms. Vo’rant quickly tossed the gun aside and pulled his sword. He sliced the next person in half with one mighty swing. The soldier cried out in agony before he died. Blood splashed the tall Vasudan, turning his cloak a deep red.
Nearly at the same time Ridow’s guns ran out. First the right one began to click, and then the left one was empty. The next soldier ran up towards him. Ridow tossed the guns to the side, and prepared himself. The soldier attacked, his word high, Ridow grabbed the man’s hands, and quickly kicked him. The soldier’s grip on the sword was lose, and the weapon slid nicely into Ridow’s hands. Ridow took the weapon, and began to fight his next attacker. They came relentlessly, each one fighting till death. Vo’rant suddenly cried out in pain as a sword bit into the Vasudan.
“Vo’rant!” Ridow yelled. Suddenly pain shot through his chest, he looked down to see the tip of a sword sticking from his chest. “Vo’rant.” He uttered slowly; he fell to the floor dead.

    * * *

The GTD Requiem moved quietly towards its target. The large floating platform rested quietly in space, floating around its mother planet. As the large ship approached, it turned quickly. A long bright red blast emitted from the station and crashed into the Requiem. Fire erupted in the ship; it split slowly in half, pieces of the ship spread out. The men and women, who had called the ship home, were sent burning into space. The ship exploded in a grand ball of fire. Richtoven had won, the Leader for the Shivans had been defeated.

    * * *

Everything was black. The void was cold. Ridow looked around trying to see, trying to figure it all out, he was alone in the void, alone here in the darkness. Ridow looked around; darkness was all he could see. He stood in a beam of light, coming from nowhere. He tried to walk forward, but he didn’t go anywhere. Of course, he could never tell if he was moving, the light stayed with him, and the ground was featureless. He stopped, and yelled out into the void.
“Hello?” He asked slowly.
“Hello.”
“Hello.”
“Hello.”
“Hello.” His voice echoed back, a thousand tones, a thousand different voices and yet, all his own. He turned quickly with each voice; it’s as if the echo had come from everywhere, and yet nowhere.
“What is this place?” Ridow asked.
“This place.”
“This place.”
“What is this place?”
“This place.” The voices came again; again they came from everywhere and nowhere. The voices seemed to be spinning never staying in one place.
“Nowhere.” That wasn’t an echo, but it was his voice.
“Everywhere.” Again the voices came, where was he, was this hell?
“Light.”
“Dark.” Always four voices.  Ridow searched the darkness with his eyes, trying to find where the voices were coming from. Speakers, people, podiums, anything.
“Who are you? What-“ The voices cut him off.
“You.”
“Him.”
“Her.”
“Him.” The voices said slowly. A circle appeared in front of Ridow; the circle glowed around the edges, but in the center space glittered slowly. Ridow saw the planet, he saw the Requiem destroyed, Kate decapitated, Vo’rant and himself stabbed by the soldiers in the walkway. Then the circle displayed space again.
“He is Ridow.”
“The curtain.”
“Shadows.”
“Hidden.” The voices said one by one. David didn’t like riddles; he stared into the circle, trying to figure it out, trying to understand what was going on. The screen showed Ridow trip, he fell and crashed into the floor. Then the screen became space again; the circle began to ripple, as if it were liquid.
“One moment.” Vo’rant’s face was larger the life, as he spoke he floated through the water circle. Vo’rant had no expression, he didn’t look at Ridow, it looked out deep into the dark void.
“A single point in time.” David’s face drifted across the screen and then disappeared out the other side.
“Trapped in eternity.” Kate said, her face floated down into the circle and then floated out. What was going on? Perhaps he was being judged, if this truly were Hell, would his friends be judging him?
“A single moment.” Dove said, he floated into view as he spoke. The circle displayed space again, shimmering as if a waterfall.
“A decision.” Vo’rant said.
“A moment set apart from all others.” David said slowly.
“An idea.” Kate said.
“A way to go.” Dove said. David looked around; the screen changed quickly, it showed the two hallways, back when they had a choice. The screen showed them walking down one of the hallways.
“Did we chose the wrong way?” David asked slowly.
“Right.” Vo’rant said.
“Wrong.” David said.
“Yes.” Kate said.
“No.” Dove said. Ridow furrowed his brow, he had to realize that this wasn’t a game, destiny was an illusion he created for himself, there was no right, and there was no wrong, if life ended it was over. He realized he had been given a chance to start over, to try again. He changed the question.
“How do we avoid that future?” Ridow asked slowly.
“Chose again.” Vo’rant said
“Try again.” David said
“Chose the same.” Kate said
“Yet different.” Dove said. Ridow nodded slowly.
“Then send me back, and I will try again.” Ridow said slowly another voice came out of the dark, a deep voice, a voice he recognized, but strangely could not remember, perhaps it was a side effect of being in this place, a place out of time. Where was he, was he dead? Was he being sent back to try again? Or maybe all this was, was a strange dream. Perhaps he was still on that coffee table those doctors called on Operating Table. The voice spoke softly to him.
“You never left.” Sam said. Ridow realized to late, the circle grew, it enveloped him, the intire room grew white, the light enveloped him, things began to change, his mind split in half, Ridow screamed in agony, he lifted his hands to shield his face, and he was gone.

    * * *

Events spun, images passed, movement, time moved backwards, events never took place. Things changed, happened differently

    * * *

David looked down at the log files, he looked over the battle plans, he shook his head and tossed the plans across the room. “They will arrive, we’ve got to wait for them.” The officer shook his head.
“Admiral.” He began.” What if they don’t make it, we must not forget the possibility that the GTVA got to them first.” David shook his head. He held his head in his hand for a long moment before he spoke, slowly, he began.
“Then I want more options, the Leader for the Shivans must succeed.”

    * * *

Ridow’s eyes suddenly began to open. “He’s waking up.” Vo’rant said slowly. Ridow winced and brought a hand to his head. “You all right?” Kate asked quickly. Ridow nodded. Ridow suddenly realized where he was, quickly, his hands shot to his chest, he felt for the wound the sword had made, there was nothing. He let out a sigh of relief. This time it was real, and his death would be real.
“Yea, I’m fine.” Kate smiled. Ridow got to his feet. Kate looked down the two paths.
“Which way?” She asked. Ridow suddenly interrupted.
“You go that way, me and Vo’rant will head down this one.” Kate nodded slowly.
“If there’s any problems, call me.” Ridow nodded. Kate began to run down the corridor. Vo’rant watched her leave, and then turned to Ridow.
“What did you see?” Vo’rant asked. Ridow smiled. He shook his head.
“Only possibilities. Come on, let’s get moving.” Ridow and Vo’rant started down the long hallway. The hallway was the same, but this time things would be different, Ridow knew where they would meat with Dove, he knew they had him, but there was no time to think about that. If they interrupted things, if they tried to save Dove right there, then they all might die a second time, and that was one chance he couldn’t afford to take.
Vo’rant ran slowly beside Ridow, Vo’rant knew that Ridow had seen something, he could feel it, he could feel it all around Ridow, Ridow had seen something, something terrible, perhaps his own death, but now was not the time to think about that, Dove, his friend, was in trouble.
 
 

Leader for the Shivans 3: Journey from Dunwitch Hill
Will continue with:

Episode XX:
New Wings of the Dove