Diamond Wings

Chapter 6 The Pursuers

   Two round, disc-shaped ships fly very close to her junk mound. Neither ship being very large, maybe big enough for a few passengers. One hovers not too much higher than the highest pile of garbage. The other, begins to land as Sarena crouchs behind her summit, curiously, but cautiously, peaking through gaps and holes in her mountain of trash.
   One of the panels on the grounded ship pops open, and lowers creating a ramp. Two small people exit the craft. Both wearing white and grey jumpsuits, with some kind of a contraption attached to their backs. Both with large green heads, resembling Glik's.
   Holding small guns of some sort, one turns left, and the other right. They start walking and looking around, continuously touching a small square lens over one of their eyes, and secured to their heads by some sort of gadget with buttons and lights.
   One of them walking towards her direction suddenly stops, as they peer up towards her location. She can faintly hear a familiar clicking tongue coming from the one staring, as the other one starts walking over to join the investigation.
   She tries to stay still, as she watches the two stand side by side talking to one another.
   Suddenly they both grip their guns as fire explodes downward from the apparatus on their backs, propelling them upwards, and towards her like rockets. One goes left and the other right, as they circle up and around the junk mound, flanking her. They float in the air above her, as they fix their guns on her, yelling in the familiar clicking dialect. She slowly stands, as she raises her hands in the air, in surrender.
   "OK, don't shoot. I don't understand what your saying," she says in defense.
   "Can you understand us now?" one of them asks.
   "Yes, I can understand you now," she replies.
   "Yet your not surprised? Not the first time you've been around a universal translator I see, interesting. What are you doing here? How did you get here? Are you alone?" they bark a barrage of questions at her.
   "My business is my own, and none of yours!" she declares, defiantly, as she lowers her arms and stands upright.
   "We're making it our business," one says, as they fire a burst of bright red energy below her feet.
   The junk beneath her breaks and shifts, causing one of her feet to sink. She clings to the side of the junk pile, regaining and securing her footing, stopping herself from sliding or falling down the slope of trash.
   "That was a warning shot! Tell us what we want to know and we'll leave you be. We're looking for one of our people, and we think you know where he his. Tell us where he is, unless you want to see, how good of a shot we really are with these things," they threaten and demand.
   She responds with even more defiance, as she silently turns her head to angrily glare at the one who fired a shot at her.
   "That's not going to work for us, silence is not an option here. I'll make this real easy. I'm going to count to three, and then—" The gunman never finishes his sentence, before Sarena leaps into action.
   Both of them stunned and shocked, as she pushes off the junk pile and leaps towards the gunman, drawing her sword. Only stunned for a second, as they quickly rocket backwards and start to fire. One having a hard time trying to hit a moving target, and the other having a hard time hitting a charging one.
   The gunman, thinking he flew out of range, of her attack, stops to steady his aim on his charging attacker.  
   Sarena proves him wrong as she thrusts foward with great speed, after one large flap of her massive wings. She swings at his incoming energy blasts, batting them away. He can't rocket away fast enough, before Sarena quickly slices his gun in two, before continuing her charge past him. She carves the jetpack from his back with another slash, sending the jetpack flying through the distant air.
   She grabs him with her other hand, rescuing him from his fall. Sarena holds him up, and in front of her, to deter any other gun blasts.
   "OK, you want to talk? Let's talk," she says, smirking.
   Suddenly the hovering craft, that's been still and floating this whole time, moves towards them. It gets close, before shining a beam of blue light, down to envelope her hostage. It pulls at him, and eventually after a small struggle, rips him from Sarena's hand, and up into the ship.
   Three small panels around the bottom open up, to reveal what looks like cannons of some sort. The aircraft then begins to open fire, raining down in a triangle of destruction, onto Sarena.
   She moves swiftly and agile, as she dodges the large red bursts of energy. Darting left, then right, spinning in the air to avoid the deadly rain. Bursting to the left and upward to outfly the fire, she flys close to the ship and above it, out of range and angle of the weapons mounted onto the undercarriage.  
   Flicking her wrist she positions the sword downward, preparing to thrust down onto the craft.
   Three small panels abruptly open, on the topside of the ship, revealing three more cannons. The closest one never fires, before Sarena follows through with her attack, unleashing a battle cry, and crashing down onto the ship. Her sword thrusts down vertically through the gun, as the aircraft lists from her assault. Hiding behind her spiked sword, more red blasts ricocheting off the blade, coming from the two operational weapons.
   The ship rights itself, leveling off. Sarena uses the upward motion to catapult herself, as she somersaults over the protective blade. Flipping over the sword, she uses the momentum to rip the blade, from the sparking and smoking gun. The two blasters, not being able to follow her fast enough, in her blinding attack, before she finishes her tumble, with another downward thrust, through one of them. She rolls her body around the spiked blade, to guard from the last of the topside weapons.
   Ripping off the destroyed gun's panel, she positions it in front of herself, like a shield. Slowly and Easily, Sarena pulls her weapon from yet another smoldering cannon, and stands upright. Walking over and smiling, reflecting the red blasts with her makeshift shield, she calmly thrusts down a third time, to destroy a third weapon.
   As she removes her sword, the ship lists again and starts to flip like a coin, in an attempt to shake her off. She struggles to keep her balance at first, but uses her wings to steady herself, riding the ship around until she's standing upside down.
   Leaping off and downward, Sarena spins to look up, at the upside down aircraft, above her.
   She shoves her sword through the center of the protective panel, before holding them above her head, launching and thrusting herself upwards, with powerful wings.
Sarena lances and skewers the ship, driving through the center with great force, and exploding through the other side.
   The cannons on the undercarriage, now facing upwards, turn to face her, as she thrusts into view. As they line up to fire, they all lower in defeat, losing power.
   She hovers triumphantly over the now smoldering donut-shaped craft, as it lists, and sinks to the ground. The ship falls into the bed of junk and garbage below. The trash moves and shifts making way for, and softening the crash, as the downed craft leans against the bottom of a junk pile, and comes to a stop.
   The still hovering gunman, bearing witness to the intense battle, looks down at the destroyed ship, wide-eyed and slack-jawed, in shock.
   He slowly turns to look up at Sarena, hovering high above. Her victorious and triumphant smile turning to an angered scowl, as she turns her gaze from the defeated enemy, to the witness. He trembles in fear and worry, as he quickly turns away from her intimidating stare, and rockets towards his ship in a hurry.
   Her eyes and attention turn back to the downed craft, as more little green people start to slowly emerge from the crash. They crawl out of the newly destructively formed center hole, battered, bruised and defeated.
   Her focus switches back to the flying green man's direction, as the humming of the other ship catches her attention.  
   It rises up into the air, opening it's ramp, as the gunman flies in, closing behind him. Slowly hovering around her, as she keeps her gaze fixed upon it, the airborne ship keeps its distance, until it gets closer to the crash site.  
   Reaching out with it's blue light, the hovering craft pulls the small green victims from the wrecked fuselage, and up into it's refuge.
   The ship hums louder, and then suddenly races away in a blur.
   "And don't come back!" she yells, in her triumph. Watching them disappear into the distant horizon before slowly hovering down, touching her feet onto the apex of a junk pile.
   Standing proudly and smiling, she looks over the battlefield of her victory. Planting a hand onto her skewered panel, she shoves it off, and frees her blade.
   She only looks around admiring her handy work for a moment, before  hearing a familiar voice.
   "Sarena! What did you do?" Glik asks in shock, as he climbs over the top of a junk mound, catching a glimpse of the crashed wreckage.
   "I heard the blasters coming from this direction and got worried. Then I think I saw a jetpack fly by? Followed by more and louder blasters, and then a loud crash. Are you OK?"
   "Of course I'm OK," she says proudly. "They didn't know who they were dealing with, but they know now, and they won't be back!" she declares, and stands triumphantly, putting hands on her hips. "Your welcome!"
   "Um, thank you I guess?" Glik offers, scratching his head and still looking worried, as he looks down at the wrecked ship. He starts moving down to the crash in a hurry, climbing and sliding down the junk pile.
   "Don't be worried Glik. I'm sure I scared them off for good. They won't be back," she declares, confidently.
   "They will be back Sarena. With much greater weapons and numbers. And when they do, we can't be here," he says, reaching the crashed ship, starting to climb in through the large hole in the middle.
   "Doesn't matter how many they bring, I can take them. You should of seen me Glik. You wouldn't be so worried if you would of seen me in action."
   Glik pops his head up through the damaged hole. "It's not that I haven't seen you in action Sarena, it's that I have seen them in action.
   "We're from the same world, and I even worked for them, for a while. They don't like to lose, trust me. That's why they won't let me go. I was only hired to search and scavenge hidden gems and treasures from this scrap heap of a world, for them. They would come back regularly to take everything good I found, and only leave me with enough to barely survive.
   "I like being my own man, making my own way. I've hid from them for years, and they still haven't given up looking for me out of sheer principle. They're prideful, narcissistic, tenacious and unrelenting.
   "They hoard technology, and even have ambitions of ruling the multiverse, deeming themselves superior to all other lifeforms. And the worst part is, that they have the numbers and technology to back it up!" Glik warns, panting from his scolding rant, as his head disappears back into the damaged fuselage.
   "I'm sorry Glik, I didn't know. I was just trying to help defend us," she says, with her head held low. "What are you doing in there? Shouldn't we be going?"
   "They won't be back right away, but very soon. I haven't had access to technology like this in a long time. Much of it is destroyed, but I'm trying to salvage what I can. Keep a lookout, just in case though," he yells, from inside the ship, frantically investigating the wreckage while Sarena begins to pan the horizon.
   "Yes!" he yells, in discovery. "Yes, yes, yes! Please work, please work, ya! This might just pay off yet Sarena, you might of actually scored us a jackpot!
   "Wait a second, wait a second, is this what I think it is?" he pops up out of the hole again, this time holding some kind of apparatus or gadget. "Sarena, you don't happen to know what this is, do you?" he asks, holding it up and eagerly smiling.
   "Glik, you know I don't know what that is. Just tell me," she says, rolling her eyes.
   "I know, I'm sorry. I'm just really excited."
   "I can see that. Now what is it?" she asks.
   "This . . . is . . . part of some portal tech!" he exclaims excitedly, a large grin on his face.
   "OK Glik, I know what a portal is. And it would be great to get out of here, but what good is just a part?"
   "Did you forget who you're talking to Sarena? I . . . think I can fix, and retrofit it to be able to work!" Sarena reserves her excitement, having a hard time finding hope these days.
   He sets the equipment on the outside of the ship, before diving back into the treasure trove.
   "Sarena, can you come over here real quick? I have something for you, and need help getting back to my lab with some of this stuff, so that I can begin repairs."
   She floats down off of her lookout, and onto the downed ship. Glik pops up again with a device in both hands, and a newly acquired jetpack on his back.
   "Here, this one is another universal translator I found for you. It also works as a communicator so that we can talk to each other from a distance." He hands her the gadget, as he quickly shows her various buttons on it, and how to operate it. She fastens it to her belt, and once secured, he reaches out to hand her a small rod.
   "And this one doesn't look like much, but is pretty handy in a fight, and I'm thinking right up your alley," he explains, showing her a button on the end of the rod. "Pressing this button creates an energy shield. Tap it for a small one, but the longer you hold it down, the bigger the shield gets, until it's body-sized. Press again to make it disappear. Here, give it a try."
   She takes the gadget, and presses the button, releasing the blue, glowing, transparent shield. It startles her at first, but she quickly becomes amazed by it.  
   Glik pulls a familiar gun up, pointing it at her.
   "What are you doing!" she yells, in fright, instinctively holding up the small shield. He fires a burst of red energy at her, which ricochets off of her shield.
   "Pretty nice, huh?" he asks, smiling.
   "Are you crazy? That was dangerous! Don't scare me like that . . . it is really nice though," she admits, admiring her new toy.
   Sarena dissipates the small shield, before holding the button down to spawn a large one in front of her. "This would of been even nicer, if I would of had it a little while ago." She laughs, before making the shield vanish and attaching the rod to her belt.
   "OK, here, help me get this stuff to my workshop," he asks, pulling up and handing over a few backpacks, filled with stuff.
   Grabbing another bag himself, and the portal apparatus, he blasts off, heading over to their hole in the ground. He throttles the jetpack to quickly lower down the shaft, as Sarena follows. They head down the hallway to Glik's lab and workshop.
   "OK, we're not out of the junkyard yet. Get out there and keep a lookout, while I try and make this work. If you see them coming, give me a heads up on the communicator, and get down here in a hurry. Close and lock both doors behind you, in case we need to buy more time. With a little luck, we'll be out of here in no time. Be careful Sarena."
   "Good luck Glik," she says, before returning to her lookout duty.
   Perched on top of a junk pile, Sarena scans the horizons. It's quiet for about a half hour, before a loud noise like thunder catches her attention. She turns to look towards the boom. Far off in the distance, she notices a faint green glow. More thunderous booms, as the green takes up more of the distant sky.  
   Curious, she reaches for her communicator.
   "Hey, Glik?"
   "Ya, Sarena?"
   "Does it ever storm here with green lightning and thunder?" she curiously asks.
   "Sarena, get down here now! They're coming!" he yells, in a panic.
   She jumps off her lookout peak and catches her fall with a thrust from her wings, as she drops into the shaft to their home. Slamming the round door shut over her head, before turning the handwheel until it clicks and locks. She slides down the ladder before running down the hall. Slamming another door, and cranking the wheel to lock it, before approaching Glik.
   "How's it going Glik?" she asks, frantically.
   "Almost there!" he frantically replies, before reaching for a backpack and throwing it to her. "Here, take this bag and go fill it with all the food and drink that you can." He returns to his tools and the equipment on his table, hectically working.
   She fills the bag in a hurry, and returns to Glik's side.
   He tucks a mess of wires into a small panel on the gadget, before snapping the panel shut, and flipping a switch on the side. The apparatus hums and comes to life, emitting a green glow from the inside, as it escapes small cracks and spaces on the outside. He lifts it off the workbench and holds it in his hands, admiring his quick handy work.
   "That looks like one of their guns," Sarena realizes.
   "That's because it is, only greatly modified. I ripped it's guts out and replaced them with the portal creating tech. It's not perfect because I had to do it in a hurry, and had limited resources, but it works.
   "It is capable of tearing through space time to another universe, but not through the universe. So we're stuck to other earths. The electronic codex was beyond repair so we're jumping blind.  
   "And I had to fit it with all the charged batteries I could salvage, but it should have enough power for one jump. After that, if we want to jump again, we'll have to charge it. But, I did fit it with a solar extractor, to absorb the sun's rays and charge it back up.
   "I was able to calibrate it, to at least locate and hone in on other life. That way, we shouldn't instantly die from entering an inhospitable world. Plus, any world that can sustain life, should have a viable sun, that we'll need for charging." Glik explains, extremely excited and proud.
   "I have no idea what you just said Glik. Just tell me that we can leave here and go somewhere?" she asks, in her confusion.
   "Yes Sarena, we're getting out of here," he confirms, smiling and happy.  
   "Sarena, I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier. I know you didn't know what we were up against, I should of explained how dangerous they can be. You were just trying to help, and you did. You did good Sarena, really good. Thank you," he says, apologizing and praising her.
   Sarena smiles and relaxes, a weight being lifted from her shoulders.  
   "Thank you Glik, that means alot. And thank you for being my friend, I don't know what I would do without you," she says, putting a warm hand on his shoulder.
   "Thanks for being my friend Sare—"  
   The loving moment ends abruptly to the sound of a thunderous and destructive explosion, on the other side of their door, as the room shakes and trembles. They both snap their heads to look at each other in panic.
   "Time to go!" they both say in unison.  
   Glik holds up the gun, firing a small green orb that only goes a few feet, before exploding into a large green glowing circle. They both excitedly look at the portal in awe and happiness.  
   Voices faintly begin to echo, from the other side of their door and from down the hall. Turning to look at each other, smiling, they take each other's hand, and step through the portal.