The War Revealed - 3rd Novel in the Shadow Series

Chapter 24 .

Vai

More ships jumped in around us, above us, below us. More K'thaktran ships, a handful of Starwatcher ships, many more Brist ships and a few Gathering warships that I thought might be on our side until they fired on the Nebula. I hadn't heard of any Gathering warships go missing, but they must have for them to be with the Corruption.

The connection with the SingingStar was broken. Captain Axa immediately made a ship wide announcement. "All non-essential personnel are to enter space and use their light to defend the G.E.F. All children 14 and under are to gather in the Starrise. The Starrise staff will stay on hand to protect the children."

I wondered if Spencer had been informed of this before hand or if Captain Axa had made a spur of the moment decision. Captain Axa ended the ship wide transmission and turned to us. Minmin hopped off her chair and stood beside us.

"Stay close to Lieutenant Tanpo. Let her shield protect you if the Corruption show up. Vai, if anyone from our side is injured heal them as soon as possible. That is your main objective out there. Keep our people fighting for as long as possible."

I nodded.

"Remember," she addressed all of us light specialists, "everyone out there fighting on our side will be watching you. You must be their example. You must be their hope. You must succeed and you must survive."

"They will be everyone's shining beacon," Warpaint exclaimed enthusiastically.

A smile barely touched the corner of Captain Axa's blue lips. "And if you find the opportunity," she added, "destroy as many of their ships as you can."

She dismissed us and we quickly made our way to the shuttle bay. Owen's dad as well as Hani's and Nathan's families minus the littlest ones passed through the Aether field and out into space as we arrived. Mrs. Morgan would have been one of the essential personnel to stay on board. The Awakened One and Lieutenant Tanpo waited for us near the Aether field.

"You'll need to shield me from the K'thaktran ships's beams," Lieutenant Tanpo said. "I don't know why my shield won't deflect them while yours will."

"Why can yours keep out the Corruption in vast numbers while ours cannot?" the Awakened One said. "It is your light's power. All of our powers have weaknesses."

"We'll protect you and you'll protect us," Owen said with ease.

We drifted from the ship out to space. All around us ships fired on other ships. There were many of us in space using our light against the enemy ships. The nearest ship was a Brist ship.

"Stay close to me, sir," Warpaint said. The red lines on his white, chrome body spread until most of him was red.

The Awakened One didn't waste any time as he used his gray light to rip off a large sheet of metal and sent it back hurtling towards the Brist ship. It stuck in the side, but didn't seem to cause much damage. Another sheet of metal ripped off the ship as the ship turned its weapons to us. We split apart as a green beam sparked through the area we had just been in.

Shel's purple light centered around the weapon. The weapon crushed into itself over and over again until it was useless. It had a second weapon, however, that it quickly fired towards Shel. I wasn't sure where he came from, but Owen's dad was suddenly there next to Shel. He pulled him away just as the green beam hit that space.

"Our shields don't keep out the Brist weapons," Mr. Morgan warned.

"Be sure to stay away from the green beam, sir," Warpaint said pointedly to me. He was so close to me, his shoulder touched mine. He stretched a hand out towards the vessel and an Aether beam shot a small hole into the side of the ship.