The New Era Chapter 27

IN THE FIRST YEAR OF THE NEW ERA
The disc flew so close to Kyoko's head that she felt the breeze. Not having time to contemplate how close she came to death, Kyoko snapped around and fired. The Veletti flew backwards about a meter from the force of the beam. Out of the corner of her eye, Kyoko saw another Veletti materialize. She shot him with the laser gun as well. Kyoko turned quickly to see how Katina was doing. The Veletti were closing in on Katina fast, but she was holding her own against them.
Katina had been unable to replicate any laser guns. Fortunately, she had one of her own at her house. Target practice with the lasers had always been a source of sibling competition among the sisters. Although Katina was never able to rise to Kyoko's level, she was still pretty good. Kyoko and Katina had barely gotten out of Katina's neighborhood when Veletti materialized on all sides of them. A fierce battle had began, and though Kyoko was at first optimistic about its outcome, no matter how many Veletti they killed, more just materialized.
As Kyoko rapidly fired her gun, two more Veletti fell dead. Kyoko turned to shoot a third, but he was too quick for her. He fired a disc at her, and she had to jump out of its way. When her feet hit the ground again, they tripped over each other and she fell down. Her laser gun went flying out of reach. The Veletti aimed his hand at her head, then all of a sudden fell over, dead. Kyoko was surprised to see a spear sticking out of his back, but her explanation came when Drusus, Kile, and Pericula came running to their assistance. Seeing three more people they would have to fight, the Veletti retreated, vanishing into thin air.
Kyoko's heart gradually slowed down, as she breathed in deeply with relief. Drusus went to retrieve his spear, and Katina came over to where Kyoko was. "I see you guys got to the replicators well they were still working," Kyoko said.
Pericula nodded, she carried a laser gun by her side, and Kile had a sword. "I tried to get them to carry a laser gun," she explained, "but they wanted weapons they were familiar with."
As Katina talked with Pericula, Kyoko went to pick up her laser gun. "Isn't he a Nathorite," Katina asked, pointing at Drusus.
"He is," Drusus responded. Drusus turned to Pericula. "I take it there are no Nathorites in your city?"
"Only humans," Pericula answered.
Drusus nodded. "That explains a lot of the looks I've been getting."
Kyoko came back with her laser gun. "Enough talk," Pericula said. "Let's get going."


Hans handed his extra laser gun to Akristh. "You'll need this," he explained.
"Thank you," she said, taking the gun.
"We have too much fire power here for one group," Hans decided. "We should split up."
"I'll need someone to help me with Crassus," Akristh said. "I can't be defending him and watching my own back at the same time."
"I'll stay," Mucius volunteered.
"Alright, I'll go see if I can help someone else," Hans said. He nodded good-bye, then ran off.


Bakes thought he heard a sound down one of the hallways, and cautiously peered down it. Laser fire landed all around him, coming from the opposite hallway. Bakes dived in behind the boxes, somewhat sheltered from the laser beams, then returned fire. For a couple minutes, the whole area was filled with laser beams and explosions. It looked like he had found Gaius.
Then, the beams from the hallway stopped coming. Bakes fired into the hallway for a little while longer, then stopped. Cautiously, he emerged from his shelter, now crumbling from the laser beams. Bakes at once realized his disadvantage, the room was well lit, Gaius could see perfectly into it. The hallway was poorly lit, Bakes couldn't see a thing in it past two meters. He didn't know if he had hit Gaius or not. Perhaps Gaius had stopped shooting because he was hit, perhaps he had fled, perhaps he was lying in wait.
Getting a little nervous, Bakes fired into the hallway again. There was no response. Cautiously, Bakes approached the hallway, and peered inside it. He saw nothing. He entered the hallway slowly, looking all around him before he took any steps. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Bakes got a better view off the hallway. Besides two walls, a ceiling and a floor, the hallway was completely empty. Bakes realized that Gaius had obviously left it, and could well be waiting for him at the end of the hallway. The hallway was a rather short one, only about thirty meters in length.
With this realization, Bakes quickly pressed his body against the wall, making himself a harder target. He held his laser gun ready, watching the end of the hallway for any sign of Gaius. Half of himself screamed at the rest to retreat, that to proceed would be to play right into Gaius' hand, better to engage Gaius later when he had the advantage. The other half knew the damage Gaius could cause if he was loose even a little bit longer. Besides, Bakes' pride would not allow him to back down from Gaius. His back pressed against the wall, Bakes slowly inched forward, all of his senses alert.
When Bakes was about one meter away from the end, he stopped. There were four hallways that all dead ended at the intersection he was coming too, each forming right angles with the two on either side of it, and a straight line into the one across from it, so that it could be argued that this was not the intersection of four hallways, but of two perpendicular hallways. Bakes could see quite clearly into two of the hallways, since his back was against the wall. Those hallways were bare, but Bakes could not see the third hallway, the one he was closest to. Nor could he aim his laser gun into it. Bakes took in a deep but quiet breath and crossed his fingers for luck.
Moving as quick as he could, Bakes ran into the hallway, spraying it with laser fire, hoping to shoot Gaius before he had a chance to act. Bakes was so nervous, that long after it was clear no one was in the hallway, he kept shooting, his nerves at end. After about twenty seconds, he finally stopped. Bakes was filled with both relief and disappointment. He had survived, but Gaius had gotten away.
As Bakes turned to leave, he saw something that made his heart stop. It was a ladder, built into a small indentation in the hallway, so Bakes had not seen it before. Quickly, Bakes eyes followed the ladder upwards. It led to a small platform, about four meters up. By the time Bakes had looked up, Gaius was already in the air after jumping off the platform.
Gaius landed on Bakes. Bakes was thrown against the wall, but did not fall to the ground. Bakes' laser gun was knocked well out of his grasp. As Gaius gained his balance, Bakes grabbed onto the hand in which he held the laser gun, and slammed it into the opposite wall, hoping to make Gaius drop it. Gaius retained a firm hold on the weapon, and responded by punching Bakes with his left fist. Bakes stumbled backwards, letting up on his grip of Gaius arm. Gaius aimed the laser gun, but before he could fire it Bakes knocked the gun hand aside. Closely followed was his fist that knocked Gaius' face against the wall. Again, Bakes grabbed hold of the gun, but was unable to wrench it free from Gaius' grasp. Gaius left fist flew towards Bakes face, but was blocked by Bakes free arm. Gaius' foot kicked Bakes forcefully in the stomach. Bakes was knocked backward, releasing his hold on the gun. Bakes hit his head against the wall, and lost his footing. He fell to the ground. Gaius shot him with the gun.
Standing over Bakes' body Gaius shot it repeatedly, taking glee as it jumped each time he fired. He wished there was some way of killing Bakes more slowly. He had climbed up on the platform, but was unable to get a clear shot of Bakes, because Bakes had gone directly under it. He then waited for Bakes to move, but when he realized Bakes had noticed the ladder, he panicked and jumped down on him. Gaius kept shooting Bakes, angry at him. It was Bakes who had given Jistap control. Bakes could have stopped Jistap anytime he wanted, but he let Jistap humiliate Gaius in Calet. It was then Bakes, who went against Gaius when he came into power, and after Gaius was captured Bakes planned to kill him. Gaius had many people in the city he had to pay back, but Bakes was first on his list, and it felt good.

She had taken a chance, disobeying Bakes' orders, but it looked like it had paid off. Lauto had defiantly followed after Bakes, at a safe distance, just in case her help was needed. She had no personal grudge against Gaius like Bakes did, but she knew the extent of his evil and was determined to put an end to it. At first, as she came out of the hallway, Gaius didn't even see her, he was so intent on shooting Bakes' body. She seized her chance, taking aim and firing, but she was two seconds to late. Gaius had noticed her, and dived out of the way just in time. He collided roughly with the floor, forced by his momentum to roll over once, then, still lying on the ground, turned to fire his laser gun, only he had dropped it when he hit the floor. He could not possibly reach it in time, and so he just sat still and waited for Lauto to kill him.
Lauto raised her gun and pointed it at Gaius' head. She smiled in triumph, looking straight at him. To her surprise, he smiled back. It was not a forced smile, or a smile of honorable defeat, but rather a smile of pure delight.
Lauto heard the sound of discs being released, and before she had time to act, she found herself kneeling on the floor, her right hand, completely severed at the wrist, was lying beside her, still gripped around the laser gun.
Gaius didn't wait to find out what happened to Lauto. He grabbed his gun and ran out of the hallway.


Trembling, Ziet locked the door to his house. He wondered if the invaders could get him in his own house. Could they really transport anywhere? But why would they attack him? He had done no harm to them, why should they come after him. Ziet sat down in his chair, very nervous. He held both laser guns ready. Bakes had told him to give one to an unarmed Watcher, but he had no intention of doing that. He needed both guns for his own protection.
Hearing a strange noise behind him, Ziet got up and turned around. The last thing he saw was a disc heading straight for his head.


Hans stopped in his tracks as he ran across Quintus' body, mangled by the discs. Hans reverently stepped around him. Noticing Quintus had a laser gun, Hans bent down and took it, even though it was splattered with Quintus' blood. Laser guns were too precious to leave it there, considering the number of unarmed Watchers. Seeing the number of dead Veletti around Quintus, Hans could tell that the gun had gotten plenty of use.
About to continue on, Hans saw a figure appear in front of him. Hans quickly aimed his laser guns, but did not shoot once he saw the figure was Uther.
Uther stood still for a few seconds after he materialized. Then, he fell over. Hans rushed over to help him out. Gently turning Uther over, it looked to Hans like he was unconscious. Gently tapping Uther on the side of the face, Hans asked, "Uther, are you okay?
Uther slowly opened his eyes, and looked around. "Hans, it's over!"