ZION: WAR OF THRONES Chapter Eight

Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter. Just took longer to write than I thought. Hope you enjoy!

CONTROL CORE, ZION II

Three weeks later…

“So, you are actually agreeing to help us?”

David nodded as he looked at Ronald Carter’s hologram. “Zion is going to help the rebels in the fight with the League of Nations.”

Ronald nodded. “Thank you, um…David, was it?” thanked Jacob Netanyahu, the leader of the Israeli rebels. David (who now wore the prosthetic shoulder), Anne, Alexei, Anastasia, Andrew, Fergus, Zipporah, and Veronica were gathered in the Control Core, having a multi holo-skype conversation with the leaders of the rebel countries that were preparing to fight the League of Nations.

“Yes, it’s David,” David confirmed.

“Your assistance is much appreciated,” Jacob continued. “Now that that is settled, what are we going to do?”

“What’s the enemy been up to?” Anne questioned.

“We’re not quite sure,” Richard Floyd, leader of the rebels in Mexico. “I’ll send you the photos I took with those satellites over China.” Richard’s holo-image briefly turned to the side and appeared to be typing on something. “Okay. I’ve sent them,” Richard turned back to face them. There was a beep! which indicated that the photos were now in the holo-projector. David turned it on. Three holo-photos appeared. The photos were taken at three different angles of the gates that led into and out of the Peak. “See the massive troop movement exiting the Peak?”

“Yeah,” David said.

“Look at the next set of photos,” Richard instructed. David flicked the three holo-photos aside and three new holo-photos of the exact same place came up. But, most of the troops had disappeared with no sign of where they had went. “See? Most of the troops have suddenly vanished.”

“When were these photos taken?” Andrew enquired.

“Two seconds after the first three,” Richard stated.

“No, that can’t be right. Are you sure that the satellites did not skip something? Like time?” Or that there was some sort of glitch that could have wiped out most of the troops from the photos?” Alexei argued, coming over to David’s side and studying both sets of photos carefully, flicking back and forth between the two sets of photos.

“I hacked into the satellites. I would know if there was a glitch, and there wasn’t any. Period,” Richard pointed out. “And, no, the satellite did not skip time. I can assure you that the second lot of photos were taken exactly two seconds later. They simply vanished.”

“And there was no sign of them anywhere else?” Anastasia asked, beside Alexei, also studying the photos.

“No. No sign of them anywhere else around the world,” Jacob stated.

How can most of the troops simply disappear? They would hardly be able to move anywhere in two seconds. Where did they go? David turned off the holo-projector. “What about the troops that didn’t disappear? What happened to them?”

“Well, they boarded a magnetic levitation train and are heading for Moscow, Russia. The Russians are waging a battle against the Law Enforcers, trying to break free. It appears that the troops are going there to fight and bring Russia back under control,” Duncan Frazer informed them. “We would like your help.”

“How can we help?” David enquired.

“We are all busy assisting other regions,” Duncan explained. “So, we want you guys to stop the train before it reaches Russia, to give them a chance. And to help Russia break free from the League as well.”

“Alright,” David agreed. “We will do it.”

THE PEAK

Two and a half hours later…

Petrus stepped out of the car. He stuck his head in the window. “You may go now,” he ordered his driver. The driver nodded and drove away. Petrus confidently walked through the glass doors and over to a desk. Without looking at him, the woman at the desk pointed at the biometric scanner. “Place your palm on it. Also, there is a retina scan,” she instructed. He put the palm of his hand on the scanner. At the same time that it scanned his palm, a beam of blue light shone on his eyes briefly, then disappeared. Finally, the woman looked at him. “How may I help you, Petrus Romanus?”

“I need a plane ASAP,” he requested. “I’m going to Antarctica.”

MAGNETIC LEVITATION TRAIN

Jemima Lautner put her finger in the biometric scanner, then, once the train’s computer knew it was her, it automatically put the brakes on. Finger scan was to stop the train, hair scan was to start the train. The train screeched to a stop at the station – the first and last time they were going to stop before reaching their destination in Russia. Jemima turned to the other driver, Taylor Keynes. “Supervise the loading of the reinforcements,” she ordered.

IN A PLANE

Fifteen minutes later…

Petrus unbuckled his seat belt. The plane was now flying at hypersonic speed. The weapons and ammunition had been loaded on the plane. He hoped that Charles had not found out yet that he had left. He pulled out a pen, which doubled as a communication device. It had several different colour options. He selected the colour black, which activated the comms. On the previous Antarctica trip, before leaving, he had ordered one of the guards to give the same type of pen/communication device to Lord Owens.

There was a burst of static once the device was activated. “So, you’ve finally decided to communicate,” Lord Owens greeted.

“Be ready.”

TRAIN STATION

Taylor shut the door and headed off for the drivers cabin. The train was crowded with the Light Force and Law Enforcers and their weapons. He breathed a sigh of relief when he arrived in the drivers cabin, where there was plenty of room to move without stepping on someone’s foot. He sat down in his seat. “Let’s go.”

~

The reinforcements all braced themselves as the engines hum grew louder and the train started with a jerk. Then it became a smooth ride, so they all relaxed. “Everyone, put your helmets on,” Jemima announced over the trains intercom. “We’ll be arriving in Russia in twenty minutes.”

EMPEROR’S PALACE, THE PEAK

Charles’ phone beeped, indicating a message had come in. He unlocked his phone and checked the inbox. It was from Bellah:

Troops on the way. Battle should commence in approximately nineteen minutes and fifty seconds.

Charles replied:

Excellent. Project B?

The reply came a few seconds later:

Primed, ready, and eager.

CONTROL CORE, ZION II

“Camera’s been activated,” Anne reported. David came over and looked at the screen.

“Who’s camera is this?” he asked.

“Zipporah’s,” Anne answered. “And the audio is on.”

ON THE TRAIN

Zipporah took a deep breath and prayed to calm her nerves. It did appear that the League was going to attack Russia. They needed to stop the train, but they were not sure how.

One of the soldiers were talking quietly amongst themselves and she decided to listen in in case there was any helpful information. “…and once we’ve crossed the border, you and I are supposed to turn it on,” one of the soldiers said to the other.

“But, won’t the EMP turn off all our weapons as well?” the second one asked.

“No,” the one who had spoken first adamantly shook his head. “Because we, our weapons, and this train have shields around us that will protect us from the EMP. Same thing is going to happen with the other regions. At the same time that we will activate the EMP, the others will activate other EMP’s.”

Zipporah had a hard time hearing them, and realized that back in Zion II, no-one would have heard that.

CONTROL CORE, ZION II

“David? Zipporah’s sending out a message in Morse Code, using her com watch,” Einstein announced.

“What does it say?” David questioned.

“It is being transmitted to us as well as our operatives out there,” Einstein said. “It says that once they cross the border, two of the soldiers on board the train will activate an EMP in Russia, knocking out all power there. But, the soldiers, train and their weapons are protected from the EMP by some shields. Also, she makes a quick note about the same thing happening in other free regions. She says the EMP blasts are to be activated at the same time.”

“How come Richard and the others never mentioned the other trains?” Anne muttered.

“Maybe they had an invisibility device or something,” David theorised. He turned to Einstein. “Call those leaders and let them know what we’ve just discovered.”

EMPEROR’S PALACE, THE PEAK

Charles logged into the Library Archives on his laptop. He checked the Archives once a day to make sure things were being done properly. A message popped up on the screen. ‘PLANE FLIGHT LOG ENTRY.’ Odd. I never authorised any flights today, he thought. There was a link to the new log entry underneath the message. He clicked on it and read the file. Charles jumped out of his chair. What was Petrus up to, taking a flight to Antarctica without asking for permission, which was the rule? He picked up his phone and punched in a number. He turned on his voice disguise device, making his voice sound like Kyen’s.

“Your Eminence?”

“Francis? Petrus Romanus is coming to Antarctica and once he steps out of the plane, I want you and your men to arrest him and keep him locked up under tight security until I arrive.”

MAGNETIC LEVITATION TRAIN

Alexei turned on the comms in the helmet. He was using a signal to the others that no-one could trace. He was calling Zion II, Veronica, Zipporah, Fergus, and Anastasia, who had decided to join them. “So, now we know what exactly they are going to do, how do we stop it?”

“Take over the train?” suggested Anne.

“Wouldn’t work,” Anastasia pointed out. “Too crowded and we can barely move.”

“How ’bout turning off the train by planting a virus or something?” Fergus suggested.

“To do that, we’d have to reach the driver’s cabin and I’ve already stated that we can barely move,” Anastasia countered.

Alexei sighed. She was right. They hardly had any options, or any ideas that would work. Besides, even if there was room to move freely, they were heavily outnumbered and would be quickly killed. “YEHOVAH, we need you. We don’t really have any options or ideas. Please show us what to do. Amen.”

ZION II

Anne was heading towards the Detention Room where Kyen was being held. David had confided in her about seeing Kyen attack Anastasia. Kyen claimed that it was not him, but someone else doing it, controlling him. Anastasia had told them about how he did not want to attack her, and was fighting something, which had supported what Kyen had claimed. They did an entire scan of his body, but nothing had shown up in the scan. So David had Kyen locked up in Detention until they knew what to do with him.

She was going to give him his lunch. She arrived at the door and opened the hatch that covered the barred windows to see if Kyen was awake or asleep. But he was not there. He was gone.

ANTARCTICA

Kyen looked around him. Before he was locked up, he had managed to steal a teleporter. He had spent the past two weeks in Detention plotting and planning. Now he was going to execute it. He was in the Lounge Area of their Antarctica base. He knew that someone was pretending to be him and that he was meant to be Emperor. And he was going to use that to his advantage. He just had to find the Collins.

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