Altiris Knights:Civil War

Book 1:Chapter 1:The Mission

Cover done by  AliSaracen

Thanks dude! Really appreciate this great work!

A ship dropped out of light speed over the planet Ilmaer. Judeor shifted in his seat, and looked out the window. Good. They would be there in a few minutes, he thought. "Entering the atmosphere now. Strap yourselves in" said the pilot. He and his squad mates did as instructed, and again felt the familiar pressure of gravity. The ship glided down, and landed on an abandoned landing pad. Judeor and his five squad mates got off. Judeor tapped his wrist holo and a map appeared.

The others gathered around him. "Here is the plan. The storage facility is  very poorly guarded. Destroying the crates shouldn't be too hard. The biggest problem is getting back to the ship before they can call for reinforcements. Now, I'd rather all of us return alive, even if we fail to destroy the ore.

So, Jokkar and Rita, you are to stay here, to protect the ship and the pilot. Akala, Renlas and Lorya, you go with me, to destroy those crates. We don't have much time, so I suggest we leave now" said Judeor. "Whatever. Let's get this over with" said Renlas. Judeor nodded and the four ran to the trees, their weapons at the ready.

They had been moving for a few hours, when Judeor held up his hand, signaling them to stop. "Renlas, Lorya, go forward and get yourselves on a vantage point. If you see anything, tell us" said Judeor. They nodded and ran forth, while Judeor and Akala crept silently. Judeor gripped his saber staff, and preparing to wield magic. He saw Akala taking out her energy whip, also preparing to wield magic. Judeor's holo beeped.

"There is a Legion patrol group west of your position. 12 Commandos. We will keep going to the target" said Lorya. "Alright. Just leave some for us" Judeor replied. "No promises, brother" said Lorya. Judeor chuckled to himself. Just then, he sensed the Commandos close by. "We have some company" said Akala.

They hid behind the trees and watched the patrol group getting closer. Judeor hurled an electric grenade at them, the blast rendering their com links useless. As they stared at the trees in confusion, Akala attacked, snapping her energy whip at one of them, sending his head to the ground. The others fired at her, but she hid behind the tree. Disoriented as they were, the Commandos did not see Judeor creeping up behind them. He stabbed one through the heart and decapitated another.

The other nine had recovered, and attacked them. Judeor sent out a burst of lightning, electrocuting one of them. The other four fired their energy guns. He deflected the bolts with the energy shield on his left forearm and sent another into a tree with an air wave. He then attacked the rest with his saber staff.

They drew their energy swords, and retaliated. Judeor blocked a few strikes and slashed through one's abdomen, and delivered an elbow strike to another's temple, finishing her off with a slash. The last Commando landed a shallow cut on his shoulder, the energy instantly cauterizing the wound. The Commando, emboldened by the lucky hit, pressed her attack. Judeor recovered and disarmed her, and stabbed her in the neck, between her breastplate and her helmet. By this time, Akala had taken down the other four, and they ran after Renlas and Lorya.

"About time you two got here" said Renlas. "Oh, you waited. How kind of you" said Judeor. "Yeah. Took you two long enough. Come on. Most of the soldiers left on patrol. Maybe 30 are still there" said Lorya. "Alright. Get the jamming equipment ready" said Akala. They moved forward. They hurled electric grenades, and attacked. The defending soldiers opened fire. Judeor stood in place, conjuring several tornadoes, while the other three covered for him.

Renlas unleashed an inferno, taking out a group of soldiers with purple flames, and then a few more with his energy sword. Lorya took down four with a few shots from her energy gun, and Akala took out four more with her whip and earth projectiles. By this time, Judeor was ready. The tornadoes swept the rest of the soldiers aside. "Good. Let's get this over with. And be careful with your magic. The ore will explode and take out anything within a 2 mile radius" said Judeor, and they entered the facility.

They encountered no guards, and finally reached the room with the crates. "Alright. Lorya, set up charges and lets get back to the ship" said Renlas. As she did so, several figures appeared, blocking the doorway. They were armed with a variety of weapons-energy swords, laser guns, steel weapons, and energy whips.

"You fell for our trap. The purpose was not to stop you from getting to the crates, but to occupy you to give enough time for your charges to explode, which is approximately 20 minutes. A chance to kill 6 of the best Altiris Knights... Too tempting to let pass by" said the leader. "6 Altiris Knights, versus 19000 kilograms of Lokkas Ore... Doesn't seem to be such a good trade" said Judeor. "There is plenty of ore elsewhere. A few crates and several Wizards of Laakeir... Quite a small price to pay" the leader replied, and they attacked. Judeor faced the leader and two other wizards, while Lorya, Renlas and Akala fought off the rest.

Judeor correctly determined the leader as his greatest threat. The other two were unable to wield magic, and instead had to rely on their energy guns. He evaded their shots and disabled one of them with an air wave. The other fired, and Judeor deflected the energy burst with the deflector shield on his forearm and snapped his neck. The leader attacked, his energy blade coming for Judeor's neck.

Akala was separated from the other three, and quickly surrounded by four of the wizards. She disarmed one of his weapon with her energy whip, and crumpled his armor with the power of the earth. She wielded an earth spear and killed the man. She then ripped a few sheets of metal off the walls and used them as a shield, while she pelted the other three with earth balls and daggers, killing one of them, though the other two put up an ice wall, stopping the projectiles.

They then melted the ice, and sent the water waves at her. Akala got around one's guard and decapitated him with her energy whip, and his water wave disappeared. She sidestepped the other and rushed forth, dodging the ice spears hurled at her. She knocked the wizard's sword out of her hands with a kick and unleashed a barrage of hand strikes to her chest, taking her down with a sweep. She ended her with a metal sheet to the neck.

Renlas was battling another fire wielder, and Lorya was locked in a duel with two others. Akala knew Renlas would handle his opponent, and thus rushed to Lorya's side.

Renlas put up a fire wall, stopping his foe's fire wave, and sent out a fire whip, and attacked with his energy sword. His opponent was able to survive, being the slightly superior swordsman, though Renlas easily outmatched him with his magical abilities. He pressed his advantage, his blue blade slicing off his foe's hand. Renlas intercepted another fire whip and thrust his energy sword through his foe's abdomen, killing him.

Judeor knew they had run out of time. His foe was powerful, absorbing every one of his powerful lightning attacks, and stonewalling his even more powerful air attacks. From the grin on his face, Judeor knew the wizard was confident that he could stall out long enough. Let's see you try, he thought, and landed a shallow cut on his foe's face, distracting him, and unleashed a torrent of lightning.

Then, he heard the charges beep. He knew what he had to do. He would probably die, but at least he could save the others. He kicked the wizard in the chest thrice, pushing him away, and encased Akala, Lorya and Renlas in an air bubble. There were only 6 seconds left. He saw Akala looking at him, tears in her eyes. 

Akala watched sadly as the remaining seconds ticked away, and focused, bringing up an earth shield around Judeor, reinforcing it with metal. And then, the charges went off, and the ore exploded. They were hurled to the ground, and their vision went black.

Judeor groaned as he struggled to his knees. Despite the shield Akala put around him, the power of the explosion hurt him gravely. He could tell that several of his ribs were broken, and he had a slight headache. He looked around. Akala, Renlas and Lorya were all on the ground, barely breathing. Satisfied, he turned to his foe.

The wizard lay on the ground, his body burned to a crisp. Judeor smiled, satisfied. The ore was destroyed, and with it, the remaining Legion troops in the area. All they had to do now was to get back to the ship. The others slowly rejoined him. "Let's get the hell outta here" he said, and they rushed back to the ship.