Chapter 28
Kevin’s point of view
“Who are they fighting?” I asked
anxiously.
“Doesn’t matter. They’re in our
space,” she stated firmly. “Chase them towards that planet. I’ll tell your
friends to land there.”
The planet in question was a one with
lots of dangerous mountain regions and rocky cliffs. I worried that Flyer and
his team might not find a safe place to land. Pushing that out of my head, I
joined Solin in throwing telekinetic bolts at the Valedron wing as the Dragon
Alpha wing flew towards the planet.
A minute or so passed and soon it was
us chasing the Valedrons who were chasing Flyer’s team to the planet. Between
us, Solin and I had destroyed three of the five ships. Something strategic came
to me as we neared the rocky landscape of the uninhabited planet.
“Solin,” I called to her.
She looked at me expressionlessly.
“Do make it so obvious that we’re only
after the Valedron wing!”
She paused but nodded.
I had realised that if the Valedrons
we hadn’t destroyed managed to escape, but it dawned on them that we were only
attacking them, they’d think we were allies and attack the Dragon Empire as
well as us. Technically, we weren’t allies: Flyer’s team had only encountered
us by accident and had me there as an old friend to ease a bit of the tension.
I threw a bolt at what I thought was
Dommur’s ship, but it missed easily. Solin did the same to Flyer’s and
Monsoon’s ships – but let her telekinetic bolt get a bit too close for my
liking. We then alternated between purposely missing Flyer’s team, then
attacking the Valedron team.
This method meant we didn’t manage to
destroy the last two ships due to divided effort. All seven ships – enemy and
friendly – landed at various places on the hazardous, rocky surface. Solin
veered away to the left, and I went right, seeking the two Valedron enemies. We
both changed form to Valedrons as we entered the atmosphere: eagles would be
too small to fight as.
“Flyer!” I snapped urgently. His head
spun around to look at me in shock.
“Over here, quickly!” I urged him.
His face softened as he recognised my
voice, and flew over to the outcrop where I was perched as a Valedron.
“Sorry about that, Zakkar.” he
whispered. “I thought you might have been one of the enemy pilots.”
“Well, I’m looking for them
with………What did you just call me?” I frowned.
“Zakkar. That’s who you are,
remember?” Flyer explained.
“Why don’t you just call me Kevin?
We’re friends – you don’t have to bother with titles.” I grinned.
“Just a cultural thing. Titles are
supposed to precede actual names.”
I flapped upwards, “We’d better go
find the rest of the team.”
He followed into the air, keeping an
eye out for other Valedrons descending from above to attack.
“What about the other enemies out
here?” he asked nervously.
“Solin can handle them.” I claimed,
confident in her strength. “So why were you fighting inside Soul Creature
borders? We told you that you can only fly through here without being attack by
us, but we can’t make any promises if you start fighting in our borders!”
“We didn’t actually mean to. We were
en route back to the fighter base after a deep space patrol, and we thought
since we had permission from the Soul Creatures, we could detour through your
space. Unfortunately, that Valedron wing ambushed us while we were passing
through, we had no choice but to fight back.” Flyer told me apologetically.
“I’ll tell Fotuf what you said. I’m
sure he’ll believe you if I do.” I stated understandingly.
We found Monsoon, and he tagged along
behind us, searching for the others.
Dommur’s point of view
After I landed, I hopped quickly out
of my ship and grabbed my energy rifle from the cockpit. There were two enemy
ships out there somewhere – two Valedron foes – and I didn’t want to get caught
off guard. I tried climbing the sides of the cramped rocky crater where I’d
landed, but the sides were covered in razor sharp rock and shale. I’d have cut
myself to pieces by the time I reached the top. All I could do was wait for the
others to find me, or wait for the Valedrons to come and attack.
Minutes passed tensely.
I ‘ope da otha guys are OK, I thought
to myself. Maybe Junarn can’t go anywheres, like me.
A horrible, agonised screeching broke
the silence. I dived behind my ship pointing my gun at the sky. It sounded
Valedron, but friend or foe?
Dat betta have not been Flyer, Monsoon
or Tailflit!
Another similar screech filled the
air, echoing around the rocky terrain eerily.
Dere goes another Valedron…
Nothing happened for a few more
minutes. I was getting worried that the others might not find me, hidden in
this small crater. Unwilling to risk the jagged rocks of the crater sides, I
clambered onto the top of my ship with my rifle and peered around in all
directions. I saw distant silhouettes – three, all Valedron, but one bigger
than the others. I nervously gripped my rifle more firmly. None of our team was
that big. It must have been one of the enemies…….
Hang on! Why would an enemy be flyin’
side-by-side wit some of us? Only two Valedrons pilots got dis far! So at most
one has to be one of our team.
Then I noticed what was going on. From
this far off, I could see the faint blue aura of energy hanging around the
larger Valedron. It was a Soul Creature. Two of them were here as well. I
sighed, glad they weren’t here to attack us too.
But where’s da otha Soul Creature…….
Flapping behind me interrupted my
thoughts. I spun around, and upon seeing the Valedron flying towards me, I
automatically raised my rifle and fired at it.
The Valedron screeched in surprise,
not expecting the sudden attack, driving its wings back and trying to slow
down. Then something I didn’t expect happened. Just as the rifle shot neared
it, the Valedron disappeared; it dissipated and all that was left behind was a
hazy, blue silhouette of a Valedron, hovering in the air. The rifle shot passed
right through the glowing haze, causing no damage.
In a flash of blue energy, the
Valedron reappeared and roared angrily at me.
It was then I knew what had happened:
it was the other Soul Creature. I had attacked a Soul Creature!! Remembering
Flyer’s urgency for us to drop our weapons during our last encounter a year
ago, I realised with horror that I may have just made a terrible – perhaps
fatal – mistake!
***
