Emperors War

"Wait, I can help. How many battles have I fought in? How many times have I fought with my life on the line? Why would this be any different?" Aker was perplexed. How could Vance of all people tell him that he needed to stay out of the fight. Vance was there the entire time he fought and persevered countless times as he was in hopeless and bitter situation after hopeless and bitter situation.

"It"s not that I"m underestimating your fighting ability, there is no doubt that your ability is demon level...."Aker was slightly stunned, generally when Vance talked to him about his abilities, he told him he did well but he needed to improve. Aker didn"t know that Vance did that to keep him humble in the face of overwhelming ability. Aker was under the constant stress and pressure of battle and it would be easy for anyone much less a kid to succ.u.mb to the belief that they are great. People had a propensity to let their guard down when they underestimated their foe. Vance wanted to keep Aker from becoming an arrogant person for many different reasons.

"If it"s not my ability then what could it be? Haven"t I proven my strength, resolve and will over the last two years? If you, Teacher Mavis, Teacher Sampson and Cap are in trouble I want to help. I...I....don"t know what I would do if something happened to any of you." Concern was evident in Aker"s tone, as he spoke, he didn"t attempt to hide his fear that something could happen to them.

"Aker you have nothing to prove. It"s not that I don"t trust you it"s that these pirates are merciless. There is no quarter or negotiating. When they attack, they won"t care about the old or young, man or woman they will mercilessly and ruthlessly kill. There is only one way to deal with them and that is to take their lives before they take yours. Are you ready to swing your sword and become a harvester of life?" Vance peered down; his eyes drilled into Aker looking for his answer.

Vance merely waited a moment before leaving, there were no more words that needed to be said. The hesitation was evident on Aker, he was exuding it.

As Aker watched Vance leave, he couldn"t help but feel shame and cowardice. He lamented himself for not standing up and telling Vance "I will do whatever it takes" or some other idiotic line. As someone who lived and died by his belief and words Aker had come to value the words he spoke and the commitments he made to himself and others.

If he was to tell Vance something like that at this moment, he would leave himself without a path of retreat. Vance understood who Aker was as well as his mentality. He understood that while Aker had comprehension that was off the charts, created miracles, had an abominable will and kept his promises, his glaring and overwhelming weakness at least by the universe"s standard was his morals.

Admittedly Vance struggled with understanding Aker"s morals and ideals. For Vance killing and being killed was the natural order of the universe. Being betrayed and losing everything was not outside the realm of possibilities which is why when Vance first heard his charges as he stood in The Pit, he was able to maintain his calm. He only lost himself when he discovered it was his own brother who had stabbed him in the back.

As Vance left the room he was listening to the sounds on the hull of the ship. He was trying to ascertain how many different portals the pirates were going to create to attack. When pirates attacked a ship, they had bridges that could extend from their ship to the victim ship. These portals would latch on to the victim ship and cut a whole into the hull, these wholes were referred to as portals. They got their name of portals as it was a domineering door into your ship. Once the portal was cut there was no way to separate from the attacking pirate ship as you would then expose yourself to the void of s.p.a.ce. The only option was to defeat the pirates and the only way to defeat the pirates was to cut them down.

As Vance moved towards the bridge of the ship, he could hear the sound of several different portals being opened "Dammit, there must be at least four to five ships attacking..." Vance mumbled to himself as he ran as fast as he could.

"Everyone shut and lock your doors. Every room has been equipped with a lock seal that will prevent the pirates from getting in quickly. Until you hear my voice or the voice of someone you trust do not open your door under any circ.u.mstance." Cap"s voice echoed through the ship, because she was yelling into the microphone it caused the walls to vibrate.

Hearing Cap"s voice all the pa.s.sengers darted to their rooms, everyone was in a panic afraid that if they didn"t make it back to their room and lock the door they would die before they even knew what happened.

Aker, who was in his room, could hear the screams and cries coming from the hallway as everyone was pushing each other trying to be just a second faster.

In order to keep the rouse up of a normal ship transport Cap had boarded the ship just as she normally would, with people trying to hop from one planet to another. There was never a shortage of people trying to leave so there were over four hundred pa.s.sengers on the ship not counting the crew.

At the time of the announcement that the pirates were attacking most of the ship"s pa.s.sengers were out and about on the ship. Some were at the chow hall eating, some were getting exercise moving about the ship and others were just up in the common area visiting with one another.

"Help me mommy!!!" A cry broke through the screams and reached Aker"s ears. As Aker heard the scream, he was instantly brought back to the scene of him screaming for his mom upon first being taken. Without a second thought Aker opened the door.

Aker could imagine antelope being chased by a lion would be organized than the gaggle before him. As he was in utter amazement at the sheer lack of concern for each other as everyone was pushing and shoving to hurry along the group Aker looked down and saw a young girl no older than seven or eight curled up in the fetal position, shivering from fear.

Along the way the girl must have fallen and lost her mom. Laying on the floor with everyone pushing and shoving there was no opportunity for this young girl to get back on her feet. Aker could hear the subtle sniffling and crying as the girl waited for her inevitable doom.

Suddenly the girl felt herself being yanked up and pulled back. Before she could scream out a door was slamming in front of her, the mob was no longer threatening her and she was quietly sitting in a room.

Her wet face looked around at the gigantic room, she could hardly believe there could be a room this big on the ship. Her face was a cross of fear and confusion as her eyes scanned taking it all in.

Finally, her eyes landed on a young boy standing a couple of meters behind her, he had a genial smile on his face. As the girl looked up at him, she felt a jolt of fear through her entire body which caused her to shiver involuntarily. She couldn"t pinpoint why this smiling boy gave her such a feeling of fright; it was the same as staring at a wild dog. While you had never been chased and attacked by a wild dog you just felt an unexplainable fear.

Upon seeing Aker her eyes began watering again, her fear overtook her, and she fell back, fright evident in her eyes. As Aker looked down at her he couldn"t help but compare her scared eyes and shaking to a cornered rabbit.

Gently Aker"s voice called out, his smile as bright as he could make it, "Hi, my name"s Aker, are you hurt anywhere?"

The girl hearing the soft voice felt even more confused as his soft voice and face didn"t match the aura of intent he was exuding. Still afraid the girl who was on the floor put her arms behind her on the floor and used them to pull herself another meter away from Aker.

Seeing that his actions didn"t dispel the fear in the young girl but instead caused her to further back away Aker was left dumbfounded. He had already spoken to her in the gentlest way he knew how.

As Aker was contemplating how to talk to the young girl he heard the sound of a frantic woman yelling out "Sarah.....Sarah.....Sarah! Where are you, mommies looking for you! Sarah!"

As soon as the young girl heard the voice calling out for her, her small ears perked up and she raised her head totally enamored with the voice.

Aker obviously realized that this was this young girl"s mom calling for her. Aker could hear the panic and terror in the mom"s voice. She had lost sight of her baby girl and was calling out as if pleading to the universe to not torture her and return the girl.

As Aker listened to the pleading in the voice he couldn"t help but wonder if his mom had the same voice of terror and panic once she realized that Aker was gone. With this thought he couldn"t help but feel an overwhelming sense of loss and sadness rush over him.

As Aker was contemplating his own mom, he heard the vile voice of a man who had smoked too much. His voice was hoa.r.s.e and crackly as he called out "Hey pretty lady, how about you stop what you"re doing and help me with this problem I"ve been having. You see I"ve been out here in s.p.a.ce for a while and haven"t had anyone to keep me company. As soon as I saw you I thought you could help me with that.....what do you think can you help me?"

The man"s voice was clearly mocking and sarcastic. In no way could any of his words be construed as asking.

"I...I....I....leave...me alone.." The voice that had been frantically calling for the young girl was now nervously telling this man to leave her alone. Her voice was filled with fear and reluctance at the man"s words.

"I"m afraid I can"t do that. Your coming with me either way, it would be best for you if you don"t fight back....hehehe....." The crackly voiced man had a sinister laugh as though he had practiced this laugh to maximize its effect on people"s ears as they heard it.

"No!.....No!....." The woman"s frenzied voice filled the air as she was desperately trying to get away. Aker could clearly tell that the crackly voiced man had made a move and was now using force to try and take the woman away.

"Help my mommy..."

As Aker was listening to the struggle between the woman and the man a young girls voice pierced their struggle and landed on his ears. The young girl had tears now gushing down, her face was imploring Aker to help.

As the young girl stared up at Aker without seeing him make a move her crying intensified "Please help my mommy, please, please, please...."

This young girl no older than seven or eight years old was now begging Aker to help his mom. She was standing only meters away as she listened to the man who was going to hurt her mom.

Aker who had heard Vance"s words earlier was now cemented to the floor, his feet incapable of moving. He wanted to run out and help this woman, to stop the suffering of this young girl in front of him but if he did...could he?

As Aker was contemplating, his head filled with countless thoughts.

"Vance told me to stay out of it because he didn"t want me to have to fight these people yet. He made it clear that there was only one option if I fight. I don"t have to do anything, someone will show up and help her out, I just need to wait, clearly everyone can hear her screaming for help."

Aker was now making excuses for himself to ignore the little girl"s plea to go and help her mom. He was trying to validate his decision to turn his back and ignore the disgusting scenario being played out for him right outside his door.

He had steeled himself, now wasn"t the right time. In the future he would do what he had to do but now wasn"t that time. Besides he had already done enough, he had saved this young girls life, that should suffice to relieve his guilty heart.

As Aker was contemplating and justifying to himself the young girl abruptly stood up and ran over to the weapons in Aker"s room. Before she could get within ten meters of the weapons, she fell to the floor gasping for air.

Aker who witnessed the girl"s sudden movement and fall reacted immediately moving her away.

"You can"t go over there, the gravity is too strong for you. Thankfully you were stopped before you had a chance to actually take a step in." Aker who had pulled the little girl back had sweat running down his back, had that girl taken one more step she might have been flattened.

"Who care what you say! I need to get one of those weapons so I can go save my mommy!" The girl disregarded the fact that she was only one step away from death, not listening to Aker"s words at all.

As Aker looked down and saw the determination in the young girls face, he couldn"t help but feel ashamed.

He wasn"t sure if he had the strength to defeat the crackly voiced man, but he was certain that he would stand a much better chance than the little girl and the frightened and scared mom.

As Aker looked down at the girl with her strong resolve Aker couldn"t help but ponder on his inaction "I keep judging this universe by my worlds standards. I keep making decisions based on the rules and laws I knew growing up, but this isn"t that world. Right now, people are attacking intending to destroy and kill, a young girl is crying while her mom is being abducted, the young girl forced to listen to it all. Even this little girl was driven to such dire straits she was ready to pick up a weapon and kill. Despite that I"m listening and justifying my cowardice. I"m standing by and making excuses for my failures?"

Aker"s face and impression immediately changed. Suddenly his bearing which had frightened the young girl was now drawing in her attention. She could understand that the boy in front of her had just undergone a drastic change, but she couldn"t understand in what way. As she looked up at him, he looked the same as he did before but somehow, he seemed less scary and instead stronger.

"Don"t worry, I"ll go take care of that bad man." Aker gently called out to the young girl as he patted her on the head.

He walked over and grabbed his throwing darts and stared at his other weapons, pondering...finally he grabbed his sword and turned to walk towards the door.

As he was staring at the weapons earlier he was contemplating picking up the staff and just disabling the man, however, as he heard the screams from the mom he remember Vance"s words "there is only one way to deal with them and that is to take their lives before they take yours."
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With a big breath Aker"s resolve reflected in his eyes, there was a hint of sorrow in them but also a hint of spirit and courage.

Aker fired out of the room and witnessed a tall skinny man whose head was shaved go to slap his ma.s.sive hand across a women"s face. As the talk skinny man"s hand swung to hit her Aker was unable to see her clearly as she turned her head in antic.i.p.ation, but he could tell she was still a young woman.

Without hesitation Aker took his sword and stabbed forward driving the man away from the woman who had backed away, tripped and was now on the floor.

With baleful eyes that radiated darkness, the kind of darkness that shouted "I have committed countless atrocities" the tall skinny man stared down at Aker, looking at him in disdain.

"Boy, how dare you interfere in my business. You think I don"t dare kill you because you"re just a kid. Bahhhhhh.....I"ve lost track of the number I"ve killed, but I"ll start keeping track again from here on out…hahahahahaha."

Aker hearing the man"s crackly voice, sinister laugh and seeing his dastardly dark black eyes he didn"t doubt the man"s words at all. No wonder Vance told him that there was only one way to deal with them.

Seeing this person for himself all of Aker"s doubts were now gone, what morality? What life and death? What is right? What is wrong? All those questions were clearly wasted in front of such a man.

"You won"t get the chance to start counting again!" Aker who said the words leaped towards the wall, sword in hand, his heart at ease.