The search for Kalid/13

Survivors?
It had been weeks of living hidden, as his father had taught him. Kaleb, Kalid's son, was at Flammis, near the base of the Haldus Order, hidden from Set. Set had thought he had killed everyone but Kaleb could escape due to an underground refuge his father had built. Kaleb remembered that horrid day as if it were the day before...

Kaleb woke up early that morning, the day Set attacked Flammis. His father had had to leave the planet and he left Kaleb in charge of the Haldus Order while he was away. Although Kaleb was only in the Third Circle, his being near his father granted him a high rank in the Order. According to Kalid, his son's powers were sometimes even stronger than his. But Kaleb was not so sure... That day he felt emotionally depressed. Depression always means having no reason at all to be sad. What would that mean? Kaleb went directly towards the Temple. He greeted the guards and entered. Haldus Order was old fashioned in some aspects. They did not use any robots at all, only the spaceship AIs. Kalid started to suspect robots after some of them had been hacked and reprogrammed as spies. Moreover, Kalid knew that the Empire's robot spies were far more numerous than human spies. Anyway, people would trust a robot more than a human and besides, robots could hide their emotions more easily. If they could have emotions... Kalid did not think they had.

Kaleb was thinking about how robots could one day control the Galaxy, if artificial intelligence improved some day. A dramatic change and they would enslave humanity because they outranked in numbers to human populations in most planets. Anyway, Kaleb thought that treachery could be in humans too, there were many spies. He remembered how he had to personally execute some spies he found at the Order. It was brutal to do that, but those were the rules at Flammis planet. That planet was so important for being the hidden center of the Haldus Order, that they could not risk by letting spies live. Kaleb was Kalid's right hand, not only because his advanced precognition abilities but also due to the fact that he was an expert in Bushitsu, the art of hiding. It was a secret martial art that was only taught to some selected people inside the Order, people like Kalid or Kaleb. There were very few people trained in that strange art, but they were deadly.

Kaleb started inspecting the security cameras inside the Temple. Although there were guards for that purpose, he liked to supervise them directly, sometimes. A friend of him, another Bushitsu expert, entered the cameras room. They greeted and started inspecting every camera. They also watched the global radars. It was much time since Kaleb did not do that. He felt the need to do that that very day. And he was right! There were some strange spaceships approaching the planet. It was unbelievable! Nobody knew about that planet, nobody outside the Order... Very few people inside it, actually. That woman called Sybil and Kaleb knew that 2 counsellors would get there. But he had been instructed to wait for only one spaceship and that ship would have to possess the Invocator device. So, it meant trouble.

"Morgan. We have company. Prepare to activate all invocators."

"All of them? I do not know if we have the energy to do that."

"Find out and do it now. We have no time and it seems that those spaceships are hostile... they do not have the identification beacon."

"Right."

They tried to activate the whole network of hiding nests in the whole planet. But it was too late. The spaceships started the attack. The problem was that the spaceships blew the energy generator for the hiding spots.

"We are lost!" Morgan shouted. "See, they blew our generator... and we don't have any other, remember the backup generator is still damaged."

"Oh, no. It makes me think that it was the same people who damaged our past generator. Maybe using spies."

"Yes."

Kaleb knew they had no time. He instructed Morgan to control everything from there and activate the planet's alarm. Kaleb had to save his family first. His duties had made him forget what was more important for him and his father. His brother and sister were in danger. Kalid's wife had already died years ago. So, they were a family of four now. Kaleb tried to send a message through hyperspace to Kalid but he could not. It seemed communications equipment had also been damaged. He looked at the damaged places and he was right. Whoever it was who was attacking them, he knew all important places at Flammis. It had been an inside job. Someone from Flammis had betrayed them, it was sure.

Kaleb got out from the main building by using the underground tunnel. He could not communicate with his family either so he took his flying motorcycle and went directly home. There was no other way to talk to his family except... by using telepathy. He put the motorcycle in automatic mode and went directly into conscious REM state. He needed to talk to his brother and sister fast. He sent a message but, strangely, he did not feel his brother or sister's presence. It could only mean one thing. They could be unconscious, kidnapped and shielded against telepathy or worse; they could be dead!

Kaleb took manual control of the motorcycle and pushed the throttle to maximum. He finally got home and went directly to the elevator that would take him home. The elevator was destroyed. It seemed that they had already bombed his home! He tried to find a way out but it was pointless. Everything was covered by rubble. He went to his motorcycle again to try to contact the main room. But he remembered that communications were damaged, so he could not know if his own home had been destroyed completely. He tracked back to another tunnel and could finally get to the surface. He approached what used to be his home and found the horrible truth... it was completely destroyed. He tried to contact his sister with his mind... he finally could do it. She was hurt... but alive. He found her near a tree at the house surroundings. He could talk to her and noticed that her wound was not lethal.

"Kaleb. He is dead. Logan is dead!"

"No!"

He felt his mind was dizzy now. He had lost his brother... and he was guilty for having forgotten to save his family. His training inside the Order had made him think on behalf of the Order and the planet first. It was a mistake and it seemed he could not forget himself.

"It is all my fault..." Kaleb said, crying like a child.

"No way. Don't ever say that again. You saved me. The attack was so fast that you could have never come here in time. Communications were destroyed. Our home was the first target of the attack, I guess. As soon as I watched the spaceships coming, they bombed us."

"Well, it could be. Whoever it was who made this, he will pay with his blood and the blood of his entire family! I promise."

"Yes. Although the Order forbids it, I am with you. We must take revenge."

After that moment, neither Kaleb nor Megan could be the same persons. Kaleb promised he would take revenge again and they both went towards another refuge. They had to abandon everything... the most probable thing was that the spaceships would land soon, when they considered they had killed everyone in the planet. Kaleb felt it would be very soon so they went towards the motorcycle again and hid, waiting for an opportunity to hit back.