Altiris Knights:The Fall

Chapter 8:A Timely Arrival

Rohalla, Valaeon, Freya and Reala aimed their weapons at the ship, from which emerged 9 uriaks, one of them taller than a full grown man, armed with a sword.

"Since when do they have weapons?" Valaeon said, perplexed. "A group of those were present in their attack on Vanraael. We are in for a fight", Freya replied.

"We will deal with the armed one. Keep the other 8 off our back", Reala said, activating her yellow energy blade.

Valaeon and Rohalla stood back to back, and as the 8 uriaks attacked, Valaeon released several energy balls. The uriaks dodged, however, and Rohalla swatted a few aside with her staff.

Freya and Reala deflected the warrior's strikes, and retaliated with water. Their attacks were deflected, however, and the uriak sent them back with its tentacle legs. They narrowly avoided being trapped. The uriak released balls of thick green liquid, which they blocked with ice walls.

Rohalla slammed her staff into another's throat, crushing the trachea, and the uriak dropped, its body limp. Valaeon blasted another with his pistols, but it reformed, and, along with another, disarmed him. Valaeon leapt over them, and activated the double bladed energy sword he had taken from the enemy wielder he had killed earlier. He cut both in two, and pushed them both off the building. He rushed to Rohalla's side, cutting down two more uriaks. He retrieved his pistols, and blocked several strikes aimed at Rohalla.

Freya and Ryala managed to trap their foe in ice. They layered their magic around, creating a huge ice pyramid, keeping the warrior confined. Even so, small cracks were already appearing. Slowly, the uriak was freeing itself. Without fire, light or dark energy, killing it would be nearly impossible.

"Valaeon, Rohalla, we have to go now!" Freya called, staggering another uriak with an ice spear. The four turned, and ran to their ship, which seemed to be operational, much to their relief.

As they took off into the air, winged uriaks followed them, along with four small green ships.

Freya and Ryala opened fire from the ship's cannons, taking out two of the winged uriaks, and staggering one of the space ships. Valaeon and Rohalla maneuvered their ship, evading most of the green projectiles. A few struck though, shaking them. They accelerated, and as their ship flew into the vacuum of space, only the four uriak spaceships followed, and the remaining winged uriaks turned back.

"There are more of them!" Reala called, as she shot down another orb. Indeed, 9 ships followed them now, and it was impossible to evade their shots. Rohalla punched the emergency beacon. "Our shields are almost down!" said Freya, jerking her cannon and fired into a barrel of one orb, the golden bolts striking just as the green projectile formed. The combination of energies generated an explosion, destroying the ship. Ryala replicated the feat with another, leaving 7 more orbs. Valaeon and Rohalla took their ship for a spin, flanking the pursuers. Freya and Ryala focused their fire on one, and hit its underbelly, blowing it as well.

Their ship flew higher, side swiping two orbs, getting them in the way of two others, just as their barrels rotated toward them. Valaeon and Rohalla slammed the accelerators, and the ship narrowly evaded the green projectiles. Only four of them remained. And then, their shields dropped, and the green projectiles struck, barely missing the engines. Yet, it would not be long. Their wings were struck next, followed by several of the smaller engines.

"They cut our lightspeed drives", Valaeon said, as the ship shook again, jarring their bones. "We don't have much more time. If someone doesn't come soon, we are screwed", said Rohalla, looking at the holo screen with baited breath.

"More of them are approaching!" called Reala, as she spotted several larger orbs, followed by another dozen of the smaller ones.

They put all power into acceleration, but it was no use. Valaeon pressed the gold button next to his controls, and Rohalla followed his example with her own button, releasing the 8 missiles onboard. All 8 found their targets, taking down 5 smaller orbs, and the other 3 struck a larger orb, causing minor damage. Freya and Ryala maintained fire, taking down 3 more orbs. Their ship was smoking now.

As the uriak fleet closed around them, a group of ships came out of lightspeed, and hit them on the rear. Green plasma bolts vaporized many smaller orbs.

The uriak cruisers turned, and fired back, leaving the Alliance ship alone.

"We do not have the numbers to fight them off. Retrieve that ship and let's get out of here", said Captain Lok, observing the now 6 uriak cruisers and 30 star fighters that streamed toward his battle group.

One of the frigates, escorted by several fighter squadrons, flew to the smoking Alliance ship, and pulled it into its hangar, before returning to the battle group. The Helkaites battleship and the two cruisers formed a protective semicircle around the smaller ships, and destroyed an uriak cruiser and several star fighters, clearing a path for the rest of the battle group. The smaller Helkaites ships jumped to lightspeed, and the other three followed them after side swiping another cruiser.

Freya, Reala, Valaeon and Rohalla were rushed to the medical bay, and the frigate's technicians got to work on the repairs for the ship. The doctors examined them, and placed air masks on them.

...

"Captain, there is a call coming in!" Captain Kollves entered the command room, where several other officers were. "Patch them through", he ordered. The hologram of Captain Lok appeared.

"Captain Lok, any updates?" said Kollves. "My battle group picked up a distress call over Alegard. We retrieved one of your military ships in a brief engagement with an uriak fleet. All four onboard were saved, and are now recovering, and your ship is being repaired", Lok replied.

"Who were onboard?" "Rohalla, Freya, Reala and Valaeon. It appears that Kelta, Erjana and Zaeron have all been killed", Lok said. "Thank you for your help, captain", Kollves replied.

...