I didn't leave, because I'd
rather died myself than
lose her.
HMS T'zaht - Uruciwa Quintas -Polian Alliance
~~*~~
Rikard sat on the bridge of the Imperial warship as it rocketed through the storming Amsus fighters that were screaming down upon the beaches of Quintas, slamming into the Imperial auto-defences that threw up anti-air fire.
The lone Imperial ship shivered as it's the Zero riding on its back bolstered her shields, and both ships were buffeted by weapons fire. Amsus Raptors firing with their main cannons as they careened through the cloudless sky, angry vultures attacking the lone mountain lion that was trying to escape.
Rikard stroked a finger down his beard, his eyes flicking across to look at the engineering displays that showed the precarious state of the already heavily taxed starship. She had simply been through too much, Gorean, Lex Talionis, and now the Amsus; she would need significant time in a dry dock before she even resembled her past glory. Though he was impressed by the tough little ship, she was feisty, had to be one of VonGrippen's designs, Kardiac was too sledgehammer to appreciate the finer points of a starship that could mix agility with weaponry and still emerge strong.
"Shields failing," Wheeler remarked holding onto one of the 'holy shit' handles as the ship lurched wildly beneath his feet. "I could remind you that we do need those if you want to pull off the dumbass manoeuvre."
VonGrippen started in the seat across from Rikard, staring at Katz in shock as he blithely ignored Wheeler's flagrant insubordination.
"Get your finger out of your ass and stick it in the dyke like a good little Dutch boy," Katz shot back concentrating on his controls. "Hartley, do I have hyperdrive?"
"Prayer… we have prayer," Hartley called back through the intercom. "Things are exploding all over down here… oh crap I think that was important…"
"Think?" Katz leaned around to look up at the speaker, "What do you mean think?"
"I'm going to die," Rikard said with a light shrug. "Death by idiot henchmen… typical way to go for a tyrannical despot to go…"
"Shield's failing…" Wheeler repeated. "I can't give you anything more Skipper, we just don't have it."
"Katz!" VonGrippen barked warningly as he stood up, pointing towards the Amsus Raptor screaming on a collision course with them.
"I see it," Katz yelled back to her. "Now sit down, shut up and stop backseat driving all of you!"
Collision alarms began to ring out on the bridge.
"Ag, China you're an idiot," Rikard stated irritably as rested his elbows on the arms of his chair.
"Wheeler!" Katz called into the intercom, panic seeping into his voice.
HMS T'zaht - Earth - Amsus Occupied Earth
~~*~~
The T'zaht flashed into existence in the middle of a high climb, the engines stalling out as it banked through an elegant arc, gracefully falling back towards the planet in a steep nose-dive.
The alarms changed on the bridge, switching from collision as the computer suddenly began to process the fact that was in freefall. The altimeter squealing as it clicked through their rapid descent.
"Oh thank god," Rikard breathed as he released his breath.
"You were scared?" VonGrippen asked him from across the bridge.
"No," Rikard screwed up his nose. "But 'China you're an idiot' would have been terrible last words… I have a legacy to think about…"
"Come on," Katz coaxed, tapping commands into the computer, trying to reinitialize the main drives. Gritting his teeth as he punched commands repeatedly into a non-responsive system.
"I hate to be a kill-joy," VonGrippen stated dryly as he gestured to the tactical scopes. "But the Amsus are deploying ships…"
"One life-threatening problem at a time!" Katz barked. "I'm not Darien 'Mutha-farkin' Taine, I can't pull miracle after miracle out of my ass…" he turned his head to Rikard who had his mouth half open with an acrid comment on his tongue. "Not one single word Rikard…"
"I wouldn't dream about making any comment about your backside when all of our lives rest in the fact that… you… really should… ground…" Rikard's eyes went wide as he pointed through the Plexiglas at the on-rushing landmass that resembled New Zealand.
"Wheeler?" Katz looked desperately over at the young crewman who was wrestling with an access panel, replacing a burnt out circuit board.
"No time skipper…" Wheeler replied looking up.
Katz opened his mouth and reached down, triggering the Propylon drive a second time. The T'zaht flaring out moments before impacting somewhere north of Wellington, reappearing moments later in the initial arrival point, commencing its nose dive a second time.
"Oh god," Rikard muttered slapping his face, "he has our death's on instant replay."
Wheeler whooped in success as he slapped the circuit board into place, the engines suddenly sparking to life as the T'zaht rocketed out of her free-fall, sweeping up to face her next challenge. A trio of Amsus Battlecruisers that descended from the clouds to intercept her.
"Great," Katz commented as he switched his attention to the next danger. "Anyone else with a miracle or are we doomed… again?"
"You were doomed upon the moment of your conception," Rikard sneered. "As for Amsus Battlecruisers… I have a miracle or two I have been saving..."
"Saving?" Katz rolled his eyes. "You're an asshole, you know that?"
"Right time and place," Rikard said leaning forward to activate the communications system. Tapping in a few codes as he leaned back in his chair again. "There…"
"There what?" Katz demanded as he turned in his chair.
"There, they won't attack now," Rikard answered. "In fact the entire Earth defence network is registering the HMS T'zaht as an Amsus vessel…"
"And you couldn't do this on Quintas?" Katz's voice pitched towards incredulous.
"Actually I couldn't," Rikard responded eyeing a hangnail on his pinky-finger, using his teeth to nip it before it could cause him any problems. "The central access node for the Amsus Tactical network is here on Earth, and it simply would have taken too long to open an FTL-com to Earth from Quintas, input the access codes, and then wait for the battle group to update its fleet manifest… but here, on Earth… relatively easy. This is my planet after all, and they are my legion of terror…"
"Aren't the Amsus going to wonder at an Imperial ship with one of their transponder codes?" VonGrippen questioned.
"It's an Inquisition code," Rikard replied. "The Amsus don't question them, they aren't designed to question, merely obey. Now if you would be so kind… we need to reach Rome, preferably before Pacheyus-Ra does."
Castle Gandolfo - Earth - Amsus Occupied Earth
~~*~~
The Peligian possessed Polian warrior appeared, flicking first, then materializing out of the ether into the centre of the beautiful Piazza della Libertà. He was a vision of ancient death, burnished, and charred metal plates clanking as turned about, the Polian Staff weapon igniting as he blew a market stall to pieces, sending surprised humans scattering away from him, screaming and yelling.
Behind him were the ruins of San Tommaso di Villanova church, left as a tribute to the failed glory of the great Imperial Religion and all its other ineptitudes. The very heart of the corruption that had tarnished the Empire, and had laid waste to the once proud Polian people.
Ra ignored the useless remains, advancing upon the Papal gate before him, his staff weapon punching holes in it as TER-SEC officers sprinted up, their PKD's firing as they futilely ordered the behemoth to halt.
He spun his staff through his hands, sweeping back to knock the legs from one of the guards that charged at him, backhanding a second with his armoured gauntlet, the PKD shots bouncing ineffectively off of his etched armour as the TER-SEC guards tried to hold him back.
Driving his broken wrist blade through the chest of a third he stamped over the corpses, his third hand pushing open the smouldering wooden doors that opened on the Papal palace, the former residence of Cardinal Strathcona and his successor Bishop Lamont, the architects of the Jihad.
Amsus guards were waiting for him, peppering him with assault rifle fire, crouching behind cars in the courtyard. The bullets dented and rang from the battered armour, casing the mighty warrior to stagger under the onslaught.
His staff spun round again, blaring a blast that obliterated the car, sending it spiralling end over end into the air, a second shot blew it apart sending shrapnel into the Amsus troopers, cutting them down.
Castle Gandolfo - Earth - Amsus Occupied Earth
~~*~~
Rikard stood back in the ship, down beside the ramp, taking off his black tunic and tossing it aside as the siren rang as the large hatch opened over the rushing water of Lake Albano.
It was a brilliant Italian spring day, glorious sunshine in a rich blue sky, hardly seemed right that it was a day for battle. He took a deep breath, inhaling the pleasant aromas of flowers instead of the stale air of a starship, holding onto some cargo webbing as the T'zaht banked.
The warship climbed over the wooded Alban hills as it swung wide, descending towards the pontifical gardens of Villa Barberini. All arrayed in perfect symmetry, exactly the way that Rikard had prescribed them to be. Everything in its place, everything carefully ordered. The colours flowed by shade, and scent… Rikard sighed inwardly as he watched what Katz was about to do to his prized Orchid garden.
The Katz was standing beside him, loading a pulse rifle, getting ready to join him wearing Marine body armour. Katz hadn't spared him more than two words since he had decided to accompany Rikard to Earth. There was nothing to say, Katz was Katz and Rikard was Rikard… that alone strained the silence between them.
He looked at her and shook his head, "there is nothing you can do here, China."
"I'm still coming with you," Katz insisted firmly gripping his rifle. "unstoppable war machine or not, I don't trust you on your own…"
He fixed the Imperial Captain with an intent look, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as the ship touched down in the semi-circular gardens behind the observatory attached to the palace.
"This is my home," he said as he nodded across the well manicured gardens towards the picturesque Italian palace. "Literally my home, I have resided here for centuries, I find it calming… And I am not about to allow you, or anyone disturb that peace." He raised his hand and picked Katz up telekinetically, careful to restrain him without hurting him.
Rikard sighed as he relaxed his shoulders, "I respect your exuberance, but you must leave now." A second thought triggered the intercom, "Chuck, you need to lift off…" he backed down the ramp and into the gardens still holding Katz still.
"Rikard!" Katz yelled at him, but there was no fight in his eyes, for the young Imperial officer there was no real desire to go there.
The backwash from the T'zaht's VTOL drives blew Rikard's hair wildly as he looked up at Katz, releasing his hold and setting the youth back upon the deck. He stepped forward towards the edge of the ramp, rifle balanced against his hip. There was a look that passed between them, one of understanding that had developed between the two enemies. Katz would kill him, without hesitation, the next time they met. But for now there was understanding as the Imperial warship streaked skywards and away from the castle.
A cold mask settled over Rikard's face as he raked his fingers through his hair, pushing it back into its side part, looking across his ruined gardens, and the sound of Ra's battle from the inner courtyards reaching his ears. A dark look clouded his eyes as he turned, the master of his hearth and home returning to restore order to his house.
The house had always appealed to him, back in his time as Chancellor, lurking in the shadows of the Imperial palace co-ordinating a bureaucratic nightmare that kept the bloated Empire functioning, as much as any trans-galactic government could function.
Kardiac Strathcona, the man who would have ascended to the Papal See had it not been for the rise of the Immortal Emperor, had inherited the house from the last pope. Naturally upon his death, Bishop Lamont, the head of the Bishop's council, had taken control of the palace in Strathcona's stead. However, when the ashes from the Empire's fall had settled, and all resistance had been eradicated from Earth Rikard had found some small solace in the isolated house, cloistered away from the devastation he had wrought.
Turning from his ruined gardens, Rikard walked through a carefully cultivated hedgerow, crossing the immaculate white gravel towards the French doors of the papal observatory that backed onto the house. Using his mind he unlatched them, returning home quickly and silently.
It took Rikard's eyes a moment to adjust to the soft, warm and almost welcoming light that radiated from overhead lamps as he marvelled at the spectacle of his home before him. A deep, luscious, red jungle of carpet flowed between twin rows of wooden sculptures and Rikard found he had to use every ounce of will power to stop himself collapsing on the nearest chair. Throwing caution to the wind, Rikard stepped in side and closed the doors behind him.
The rush of rich, warm air that engulfed him was enough to make his head swoon and Rikard suddenly realised just how tired he'd been. Ever inch of him felt as though it had drawn bone weary, filling Rikard with a sickly coldness like the prelude to a bad case of flu. Having prevailed through Lex Talionis's horrors and the worst that the Gorean had to offer, the sanctuary of his home was enough to make him swoon and he found himself suddenly shivering, and not from the cold.
"Praetorian?" The slothful molecules of air hardly bothered vibrated at Rikard's feeble attempt at a whisper as he took another miniscule step, still clinging onto the doorknob as if it was a lifeline. Frustration began gestating within him as Rikard silently scolded himself for being so afraid. There was nothing in the house that should raise suspicion, everything from the whitewash walls to the stain glass windows possessed no threat whatsoever, even the smell of varnished wood and old books were comforting. On the country, they seemed to beckon him inside with a welcoming smile.
He could smell the scents in the air, sensing the battle outside that was merely delaying Pacheyus-Ra long enough for Rikard to get into position. The long stone hall that connected the main entrance to the observatory was more than sufficient for him to set a trap. Stripped to an almost utilitarian bareness, it was without clutter, exactly the way he preferred the house, stark and well appointed.
Using his own pheromone glands, he summoned the four Praetorian guards, permanently stationed to safe guard his private sanctum, from their den. Arriving quickly, the twisted incectoid creatures shimmered and vanished from sight as they slipped into the shadows of the hall. They knew his orders without words, readying their wicked barbs, prepared to attack once the front doors were breached.
Rikard smirked, kneeling back by the doors to his dining room tightening the laces of his black hiking boots. Rising to test his feet in them he loosened up his arms as he took several shallow breaths to clear his mind.
A simple twist his hand allowed the far doors to the Eastern gardens to swing open. He settled his eyes on the ancient on the stone arch that sat amidst the beautiful Roman garden, the trap was set, and all he had to do was play his part…
He had hoped to bring Galadriel to that house, an idle fancy that showed exactly how far he had fallen from his true purpose…
Beauty coloured the faith of the blind.
"You must not allow the Peligian to grab your mind," Prince Edward's words speaking sagely in his mind. "You are far too powerful…"
The door shook, quivering on its hinges as the great Polian warrior crashed against it. The Praetorian in the halls tensing in the shadows as they poised to spring.
Truly amazing creatures, they had been a refinement on his original Amsus design, combining various alien DNA combinations collected from xeno-archaeological sites throughout the Hegemony. A simple genetic splicing had given them a thirst for battle and a refined loyalty that was unbreakable. They would fight, and die, all because they loved him.
Love, after all, was just another weapon.
He picked at the collar of the black turtleneck he wore, fixing his eyes on the splintering door that would cave in at any moment.
It shivered a last time, as the doors collapsed. Ra standing resplendent in his bloodied and battered armour. His chest heaving from his exertion, panting as he tossed the damaged staff weapon aside. Extending his broken wrist blades as he stared at Rikard in the far doorway.
"I'm sorry," Rikard smiled. "I don't need a vacuum cleaner today…"
Ra extended his arm, the Peligian crystal shard clenched in his gauntlet. "You really should stop getting in the way Rikard," the alien spoke with Kardiac's voice, "it hasn't ended well for you up to now."
"Ahh but this time I have the home advantage," Rikard smiled politely. "Won't you come in?"
Ra marched forward, entering the foyer as the quartet of Praetorian struck, shimmering into view as they sliced at the Polian with their razor sharp barbs.
Ra's hand lashed out in a precise fashion, catching the lead Praetorian and hauling it savagely around to block the attack of the second. A co-ordinated ballet of pain, the creatures fought for supremacy, each employing artistic manoeuvres as they struggled against each other.
Rikard stood back, his arms folded as he watched, a cold look of indifference upon his face.
Ra hurled a lifeless Praetorian through a wall. His muscles rippling as he flexed, the inquisitor's regeneration stitching closed the gaping wounds that the last two Praetorian inflicted upon him. He advanced menacingly, catching the third and forcing it down towards the ground through sheer brute strength.
The last Praetorian seized its opportunity, sweeping agilely under the flailing fist of the Polian, carving aside the rent metal armour plates, driving its hooked barbs into Ra's back, hammering each of them in and out, tearing at anything vital it could, trying to free its companion.
Rikard lifted a hand, staying the attack.
Ra heaved himself upright, lashing out with the crystal baton, smiting the last Praetorian, crushing its skull and ending the desperate battle.
"That was pathetic Rikard," Ra commented as he straightened, casting off his torn armour plating, removing the visor and looking upon Rikard with the Polian's Tauran eyes.
"I had to try," Rikard responded simply.
"Where is the Sanctum Temporis?" Ra demanded advancing again.
Rikard glanced to his left, through the dining room towards the arch in the gardens. "Large stone arch? Etched with Polian warnings and looking like a neo-gothic art student's D minus shop project?" he smiled. "Never seen it."
"I will open it, and unleash the last legion of Peligian warriors," Ra intoned advancing again. "You and your world will burn, and in its ashes I will resurrect my people…"
Rikard stepped back into the dining room, "oh now come on, really… perhaps we could negotiate? A truce maybe?"
Ra rounded the doorway, his eyes staring upon the arch, his teeth baring into a smile. "The Amsus… and your pathetic race are dead. There will be no truce with you; your time on Earth is finished."
"Cliché at best," Rikard stated backing out onto the terrace. "You should really try something new, you sound like Kardiac…"
"Z'ræl was Kardiac," Ra remarked regally. Z'ræl fuelled his hatred and pointed him towards the Polians, he was the instrument of divine vengeance, and you humans were the sword Z'ræl plunged into their hearts…"
"Oh," Rikard purred as he stepped aside, allowing Ra to approach the archway. "I do enjoy someone who uses the third person to talk about themselves. It's like they are reading from their own biography, and lets face it with all the embellishing that is far more interesting than the person himself..."
Ra's hand reached out and touched the arch, watching as the crystal displays appeared upon the mirrored surface.
"It is still powered," Ra murmured, "Z'ræl is pleased, his army will awaken from its slumber and with it will dawn a new age…"
Rikard sank his hands into his pockets, "well now isn't this exciting, you about to unleash the armies of hell on Earth…"
Ra stepped back as the portal flashed and came alive, the micro-Propylon crystals buried in the arch framework activating as they tore a hole in space, creating a wormhole to somewhere else.
The mighty warrior stepped through the hole and vanished.
"Lekker," Rikard glanced up at the sun in its crystal blue sky, smiling as he mused that it really was a beautiful day, counting to ten in his head as he stepped through the portal after the last Peligian.
Sanctum Temporis
~~*~~
The vaulted cavern was immeasurably huge, curving towards heavily carved bosses that resembled a gigantic cathedral. Large dormers opened out from the viewing gallery over a floor that swept out as far as the eye could see with marble flagstones.
Standing at the balustrade, his arms braced on the railing, looking in shock, stood Ra.
Rikard bounced a little, skipping closer as he leaned against a huge stone column. "Problem Mista Z'ræl, baas?"
"Where…" Ra mouthed the words, his voice thick with emotion. "The Last Legion…"
Rikard leaned around and glanced down on the marble flagstones below, staring at the withered corpses, glittering gold bullet casings gleaming in the torch light. "How's your mind?" Rikard rolled his eyes. "You see I read Polian, and I also know how to use Peligian computers… and do you really think I'd keep a slumbering Army of Peligian warriors in my back garden?"
"You!" Ra turned, his nostrils flaring as his teeth bared.
"Is it? Actually it was about two battalions of my best troops, a couple of thousand rounds of ammunition… we humans have a saying, shooting fish in a barrel… seems appropriate to the situation," He smiled tightly. "I executed all of them once I had, naturally, performed experiments and interrogations on one of your officers, a General Sonriel… Oh boy did he scream," Rikard's eyes flashed dangerously. "I found out about Peligia, and of what you Peligians were up to before the Polian's purged your kind from space. And most importantly, he told me all about the Oracle device… unfortunately he died before I could get the location of Peligia from him. And the others… well each time I woke one up they tried to go on a homicidal rampage, much like you have done… So I did what must be done."
Ra's jaw worked as he stared again at the bones. "But… Heos… Trupranon."
"Dead," Rikard said thinking, "Oh and I am pretty sure the other one is dead too, I was quite thorough."
"I will destroy you, Rikard…" Ra stated as he raised his horned head, rage in his eyes.
"It is simple Darwinian mechanics," Rikard mused. "Your species simply wasn't strong enough to survive despite all your machinations… and now it is your turn. And since this time I am not hampered by Ophanim trickery, or the sentimentality that came from you possessing someone I care about… I am free to unleash the kind of holy hell upon you that will ensure you join your fellows, skewered on a spit roasting for all eternity."
The stone at his feet melted, bubbling up into the air as Rikard crafted and shaped it into a perfect sphere of stone. It hovered and bobbed before it span orbiting its master, a second and a third rising moments later.
Ra kicked the ground with his booted foot, lowering his horns for a charge, pushing himself forward into a charge.
Rikard kicked off of the floor, sailing in a perfect arc over Ra's head, the stone spheres spinning into a whirling dervish of speed as they slammed through the Ophanim field. Impacting with Ra kinetically.
Staggering, the Polian turned as Rikard settled onto the balustrade, his hands floating at his side as more sphere's rose from the ground.
"How did you…" Ra demanded.
"Ag, again you underestimate my intelligence," Rikard stated softly. "Your field negates my abilities, but it is finite. And there are a few other rules that are also finite, one of them being, objects in motion tend to stay that way until they are stopped… conveniently by your head as it happens." Rikard demonstrated by sending another trio of spheres spinning towards the Polian, sending him reeling.
"Now there are basic lessons of physics that I will be all too happy to teach you," Rikard said, stepping backwards off of the balustrade as Ra charged him again, sweeping out into the chamber as the Polian toppled over the balcony, crashing into the flagstones below.
The pile of flesh hauling itself up painfully as the inquisitor process began to knit the bones back together. Rikard swept downwards, gliding to stand in the midst of the bones of the dead Peligian army.
"But I think we should focus, instead, upon biology," He bowed his head as more sphere's formed and spiralled about him. "You see, you are attacking me using an alien body I have, in fact, closely studied. That very body in fact, was the Polian Liaison that was killed by a Commander Lauren Theruan, and I spent many hours learning its intricacies…" He smirked. "Add to that, the fact that I designed the Inquisitors using reconstituted DNA from a Qalabarim and re-animate corpses… and you see, you really don't stand a chance. Not like that, not against me. Accept that you are beaten, and surrender…"
Ra rose to his feet, "your death will…"
"Oh shut up with the dull rhetoric," Rikard stated waving his hand in disgust. "Really, it gets so old after the first hundred 'I'll kill you Rikard' statements." He rolled his eyes, "yes I know you desire it, and no you won't…"
Ra hauled back his arm, and threw the shard of Peligian crystal like a javelin, impaling Rikard squarely in the chest…
Rikard's eyes went wide, as he looked down at the shard of crystal protruding from his chest, gasping as he sank to his knees.
"Jislaaik!" he murmured as a trickle of blood seeped down from the corner of his mouth. His hands coiled around the shard as he stared at Ra, rising from where he had fallen. "Ag, fark bugger!"
THE END OF BOOK V