The Starseed Experiment

Chapter Nine, Part Two

Jezebel's heart leapt out of her chest. She had been preparing for this all week and now it was finally happening. She was terrified, but she had to find courage. She looked over at Belinda and found it emanating off her. That was the Reymera she knew.

She turned back to Gray as Roland came up behind her, taking her hand in his, "Get to the ship, we're going to need it."

Gray nodded curtly, "Attack now."

Jezebel squeezed Roland's hand to comfort back before turning to him, "We got this. We have everyone here behind us. And we three, we were born for this."

Roland nodded, a faint smile gracing his lips, "Yes, princess."

They kissed briefly. Belinda approached to break them apart, "Let's fight, just like I taught you."

With swords in hand they fled outside where they were met with a dozen spaceships in the sky, depositing what seemed like a hundred Draconian spawns. They had come just for her, she knew it. They didn't care about attacking anywhere else, not until they had her, and Roland and Belinda were dead. They were severely outnumbered, with only about fifty men on their side. At least they had guns to match the invaders'.

And they had one powerful spaceship of their own.

The fight started immediately, the reptilian aliens advancing quickly upon them. Jezebel took up her sword and slashed the closest one at the throat, then spun and stabbed another in the stomach. She was so engrossed in the fight that she couldn't put her focus on how Roland and Belinda were holding up. She had to just assume they were holding their own.

She flurried through a dozen more, using the techniques her sister showed her. With a few she used her powers, pushing them away with her telekinesis, contorting some of them so that their bones broke in midair. It was a good advantage. She wondered if that was why they wanted her blood, to consume her and gain her abilities.

She vaguely saw the pyramid floating in the air, heard the intense laser gun and the destruction of the other ships. It was hard to miss but then she glanced over and witnessed Belinda get shot, clean through the stomach. Her sister fell and in rage Jezebel slaughtered the beasts nearby and ran to her. She crouched down and screamed for Roland to join them. He was quickly beside them.

"Shield us!" she cried, and Roland complied, conjuring up a force-field around them. Jezebel looked at the wound before looking into Belinda's eyes, "You won't die on me, we still have a battle to win." She placed her hands on the wound and power surged from them, slowly but surely closing up the hole. Belinda breathed life back in before sitting up. Jezebel helped her onto her feet and Roland took that as his cue to drop the shield.

They continued on. Flurries of metal and bullets. They lost a lot of men, but eventually the pyramid had destroyed all the ships, and between the three of them and the ones left standing, all of the Draconian soldiers fell dead.

The survivors retreated back into the base and left the three of them staring at each other breathlessly. They had won, and it felt so good. Jezebel and Roland ran up to each other and Jezebel leapt into his arms and he held her, grinning happily. They were warriors, and Jezebel never felt more powerful, or relieved.

And just as Jezebel was grounded again she felt a presence and looked skyward. There she saw it, and her eyes widened in shock. She thought she'd never see it, had always wanted to, had always dreamt of it. There in the sky was the capstone, black, sleek, and shining. If her father was here he would have fell to his knees, as Jezebel was about to do herself.

The ship landed and the door opened and the three looked amongst each other once again. They all smiled and walked as calmly as they could toward it. They filed into it to find no one inside. It must have been self-controlled. She took to the command console and shut the door. She knew now how it worked, putting in coordinates for it to go to her mother's house. This was it, they were going home.

They flew toward their destination feeling grateful and excited, talking between themselves about what it might be like on Pleiades after all of this, though Belinda would go back to the Vega system. She took Belinda's hand, "Find us. We will always be sisters."

Belinda smiled, "Yes, always. But rest assured, I have a feeling we will all be meeting again. The Andromedan will want to speak with us."

Jezebel chuckled, "Yes, you are correct. I hadn't thought of him until now. I've been so distracted. I just knew I had to follow through with the mission."

Belinda laughed, so genuine and sweet.

They finally reached their mother's house and landed in the street, not caring if anyone saw, or if they got in anyone's way. They were sure many people had seen the ship floating through the sky. Now people could honestly say they've seen a UFO. Jezebel opened the door and she and Belinda ran out of the ship and through the front door of the house.

Julia was startled to see them, and upset in her shock, "Where were you?!"

"No time to explain," Jezebel stated, "You need to come outside."

Julia gave her a look that spoke that she still believed she was crazy, and that she was confused and bothered. But Belinda cut in, "Yes, mother, you need to come outside now."

She seemed to trust Belinda more and sighed, "Ok, I'll go out and see."

And see she did. She was utterly shocked, almost taken aback to the point of collapsing. She never in a million years would have believed in the capstone, having thought Robert was insane. But here was undeniable proof. They all boarded again and Jezebel set a course for Pleiades.

"Mother, I have to help you remember."