Where The Dead Ones Go Book 4 -Union-

Chapter 11

"Are we done for?"

I looked at Syden as we saw missiles swarm over our plane just a few hundred meters away from us and sighed.

"We might have to jump if we don't want our journey to end here!" I shouted as I look at Zenith whose sweating hands is trembling on the yoke, "We don't have any choice given the circumstances! We have to bail out!"

But he shook his head defiantly as he steadies his hands and grits his teeth, "I will not lose Vivet's memento to me, my dreams and pride along with it!"

He then pressed the internal comms to communicate with Asher.

"Better fasten your seat belts in a minute, Asher! Tell your dogs that this will be one heck of a bumpy ride if we want to touch the ground in one piece!"

We heard panicked yelps and barks as the High priest pointed at the two seats beside him.

"You better secure yourself because I will use every manoeuvre my father taught me in my dreams to get us all out of here alive and into Novus Zephyrant lands!"

We followed his instructions and in a few seconds, we heard barks from Asher telling us that he and his dogs are safe and secured.

"Perfect now hold on to your brown bags for this will be the best sensation you stomachs will experience!"

Syden looked around in a panic, "But we don't have any brown bags, Short Fuse!"

"That's the point, my friend," I said before smirking at him with Zenith.

The son of Koalemos just cursed under his breath and hold on tight as the Olympian Prince revealed his final gambit.

"Computer, engage gambit mode!"

The screen turned its lights from green to red in response, "Affirmative. Engaging gambit mode. All systems online and at one hundred percent capacity. May Tyche be with you, captain."

"Hah! I never gambled in my life but there's a first for everything, eh?!" he asked the computer in odd exhilaration as the missiles closed in on us, "Nothing to lose but our lives! Now, I'll show them how the son of King Zeus and champion of Queen Hera rules the skies! Discard fuel tanks three to seven!"

To mine and Syden's horror, he dropped the plane's extra fuel reservoir for long haul flights.

"Zenith!"

But he just flashed me a winning smile before winking, "You do know what will happen if we reduced dead weight in an aeroplane, right?"

Before I can even answer, it's Syden who cried out what I have been thinking all along, "I don't have to be a son of Athena to know what will happen! I am going to puke so much, my gut will reach the heavens above!"

"Exactly, Syden! Now, let's show these tiny bees the horsepower of eight imperial grade jet engines working at the maximum limit!" he then ordered the computer to give him the safety limiters control in a form of a red button, "Asher, you better close your eyes back there! Limiter release!"

"Aye, Captain. Limit released!"

And what happened was so breathtaking and crazy at the same time, I am sure I will be telling this story to our friends when we meet them again.

After I beat up Zenith, that is.

Syden is screaming and flailing during our entire ordeal as Asher and his dogs are simply barking and yelping in panic.

Our plane just managed to dodge the entire salvo of our enemy through sheer speed and the High Priest's awe-inspiring piloting skills as if he has been flying planes his entire life.

"Go back to your training simulations kiddies! You're going to need more than that to beat me in my own game!" Zenith shouted triumphantly as we somehow managed to deplete the weapon loudouts of our attackers which are now disengaging properly to rearm and refuel on the ground.

"But Syden cut short his celebration as he pointed at the radar showing thrice the numbers of our first pursuers, "We are talking about the Empress' Imperial Armada, Short Fuse! Of course, they are going to send more and have the capabilities and arsenal to do so! We will not last long at this point!"

As if to confirm our friend's words, the second wave of aircraft unleashed their full arsenal at us.

Hundreds of missiles are now swarming our backs.

I looked at Zenith who is now at a loss as to what to do next and give him a tap on the back, "Hey, you did great back there, but as Morris always say, "quantity is a different quality of its own". We have a good run, Your Eminence."

"Your Eminence?" he asked in a confused voice as Asher and his dogs howled in unison, "Yes, I am the High Priest of Queen Hera!"

He touched his chest, closed his eyes and began praying as hard as he can.

"Your Majesty, your champion needs your help! I need to make sure they are safely delivered to the ground. Please, help me!"

We can almost hear the screaming missiles behind as we stayed quiet for a few painful seconds until we heard a disapproving stately voice of a woman at our backs.

"You really are your father's son. Always relying on me to save his sorry ass," the three of us quickly looked around and to our joy, we saw the majestic Heavenly Queen in a smart cyan flight stewardess uniform flanked by Asher whom she is fondly patting the head, "As much as I want you to teach the lesson not to celebrate too soon, this is not the time for that, sadly. Very well, I am a known patron of demigods that I favoured in their endeavours and it just wouldn't do in my pristine track record to let my very own son and champion to burst into flames in my backyard."

Syden raised his hands in a panic to get the attention of the Queen which oddly blinked at him as he pointed outside the windows to show the missiles gaining upon us, "Uhm, Your Olympian Majesty, I am all for grovelling in your feet but can you please, please, do something with those flying sticks?! They are making me awfully nervous and dangerously breaching my safe space!"

"How can I forget how your father hates flying?" the peacock goddess asked herself in a whisper before nodding, "Very well! Koalemos and Lytta has served me loyally for eons, the least I can do is save their sons. Now, g*****a, do you remember what your mother told you about me refusing to fly on any planes with my husband unless something is done?"

I wracked my brain for the answer and thankfully I found what I am seeking for quickly as I grinned at the sneering goddess of marriage, "You absolutely refuse to fly on any contraptions without making sure that you have proper safety nets in case of emergencies."

"Exactly."

"My Queen, your future son-in-law is about to lose his consciousness. I don't want to hurry you up but if we don't want to lose more than that, may I humbly request that you take care of the missiles, please?" Zenith carefully beseeched her as our friend is indeed about to pass out hyperventilating.

"Fine! I really want to talk to you more but I guess I choose the wrong time to barge in, as Zeus always say," she said in exasperation before looking at the control panel of the cockpit, "Activate aerial defence countermeasure system!"

"Aye, aye, Your Olympian Majesty, activating aerial defence countermeasure system. Releasing pyrotechnic flares."

Even Syden returned to his sense when we saw in the screen what our aeroplane just unleashed.

A beautiful display of cyan coloured flares by the thousands from its wings that took on the form of the Heavenly Queen herself in all her peacock gown splendour that made the missiles change targets forcefully and explode on the countermeasures instead in a loud, almost ear-shattering sequence of explosions mid-air that lit up the fading form of Taurei and Avesa's mother in an ethereal, powerful glow.

"As I always repeatedly said to Zenith's father, violence can be avoided if we choose the right words and press the right buttons," the Queen said pointedly to me as I slowly get what she is saying, "The Province of Anoixi before was also where I keep records of nuptials back then. I am sure their systems have detected your marriage with Poseidon's spawn and if you use the weight of your title, I am sure they will listen and stop being so aggressive."

I nodded quickly and grabbed the radio from the cockpit, "To the Novus Zephyranth Imperial Armada Air Force, stand down, I repeat stand down. This is g*****a the First of the Province of Scythia, Emira Regnant of Emir Vaski the First's Wilkins Dynasty! Any attack on this aircraft is a violation of the Empire of Plurinational Alliance Xenocracy's Southern Province Treaty!"

Queen Hera urged us to wait for a minute or two as the aggressors are no longer showing signs of attacking.

"This the Novus Zephyranth Imperial Armada Air Force Control Tower. We have confirmed your identity and are now preparing for your imminent arrival. Please follow the electronic beacons on your land. We offer our sincerest apologies for the unnecessary violence we have resorted to, Your Highness. Control Tower out."

The goddess of cow smacked her puckered lips appreciatively, "Now, they have no choice but to play into the palm of Athena's daughter."

"You don't say, Your Majesty," I replied respectfully as we bowed at her fading form, "I am personally eternally grateful for the help you have given us in our direst moments even if you are barely able to keep conscious without your full power."

She nodded as she once again patted the head and back of Asher and Zenith before raising an eyebrow at Syden who is now really trying not to vomit.

"What will I ever do without your father, eh, Syden?" she asked but didn't seem to expect any answer at all before glancing at my direction, "You may learn things you may wish you never had in Novus Zephyranth. Are you still willing to proceed, g*****a?"

I nodded quickly, "Nothing is worse than not knowing what is to be known, Queen Hera."

"Or so Athena always say. This is as far as I can support you all. May your journey be a fruitful endeavour. Even though my very existence is at stake at this gamble of ours, a part of me curiously wishes that you don't have to pay the price the future may ask."

And with that, she disappeared completely leaving the four of us behind as our plane is now escorted by the wings of aircraft that are attacking us just earlier.

Suddenly, Asher barked outside the window and all of us unfasten our seatbelts to run towards the windows and see for ourselves what seemed to be a trick of the eye.

But it really is true.

Syden shouted up and down as he pointed at the skies before us.

"It's blue!"

-0-

"Please, Your Highness, on behalf of the Novus Zephyrant, accept our sincerest apologies for any misunderstandings and damages we may have caused earlier," Councilor Andrade said minutes after we disembarked our plane that was clearly pushed to its limits, "Though if I might be brave to say that I doubt even utilizing the entire branch of the Imperial Airforce Armada stationed here, we will still not be able to destroy that magnificent cargo plane."

I nodded and looked back at our transport being serviced by expert engineers and mechanics to assess the damage it has sustained for going beyond the limits of its speed.

"Would you believe that it is just a toy, a memento from Vivet given to the son of Zeus enlarged by his powers, Councilor Andrade?"

The man nodded quickly as he smiled at me nostalgically, "I do, Your Highness. For that very toy that Her Majesty possess was no mere plaything. It is a working model of the next-generation aircraft developed by Auralia and Hephaestus for immortals and mortals alike. It is filled to brim with the most advanced technologies Pax has ever developed up to that point. To see it flying before our very eyes, you may have to forgive us for believing it is one of Typhon's tricks to destroy us."

"Typhon's tricks?"

"Yes, Your Highness. Before you and your esteemed friends came, that vile creature was sending waves after waves of monsters and visions of our fallen comrades to destroy and haunt us. So much that we have decided to just eliminate everything and everyone entering our airspace and territories."

No wonder they didn't follow the normal protocol that Zenith was mentioning earlier and just opened fire without hesitation.

"I do understand the situation you are in and to tell you the truth, if I am in your position, I would've taken the very same course of action," I said honestly that made the elderly councillor surprised, "I mean, I am a daughter of the goddess of strategy. I always value the lives of the many over the few."

He nodded and shed a tear when he heard my words, "Forgive my moment of weakness, Your Highness. But your words echoed Her Majesty's. Before we part ways, she said that she is willing to sacrifice her very own life it means she can save just one more citizen if need be."

"Yes, that's Vivet for you. Even if she is my close friend, her mind is an enigma to me. At times, she acts like a normal teenage girl and yet, there are many times I caught her looking like a girl who bears the weight of the whole world in her shoulders."

The councillor just chuckled as we head towards Syden who is being taken care of by a team of excellent medics.

Turns out, he really hates flying and especially with the speed we have been subjected to, it may take more than a few hours for him to recover fully.

Zenith meanwhile is speaking gaily with the head of the mechanics taking care of his toy and the understandably impressed general of the air force.

"If you want, after your friend recovered, I can tell you more about Her Majesty's life before you meet her?"

I looked at Asher playing with the kids seemingly stuck in time under the breathtaking blue skies above us before nodding slowly.

"Why not, Councillor Andrade? After all, she is the one who made me travel on this journey of mine. Like everything has been planned all along and I am just nothing but a pawn in her games."

The old man blinked at what I said as he inclined his head curiously at me, "Pawn? Why I think that's the perfect word to start our story. For Her Majesty, Viera the First begins her life as the rest of those before her. A pawn in other people's machinations."