“No, what?” Rinslo asked, a curious expression now lingering on his face, the fear being mostly gone.
“They still regained some semblance of consciousness even as thousands of Aloi troops marched within their bowels. They knew what was happening every second of their lives, but they were now things, tools, and weapons for the Hegemony. Their minds were their own, but their bodies belonged to us. Have you ever seen a Crusader-class battleship? If you have, then you should know the ship saw you too.”
One could tell that Rinslo connected the dots very quickly by the confused expression on his face. The Frey commander kept his head low saying nothing.
“And now tell them how you ended up in Xan if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all, and it will be like lifting a weight off my chest, Stavos. I haven’t had the chance to openly speak about this for a long, long time and it gnawed on me with the years of isolation.”
“Oh, I’m dying to hear this,” Fars said excitedly. “I’m as curious about you as much as in Stavos.”
“See, we always had an eye on the Partak Sector but with the wars around the Ulyx Cluster, that task always took a backseat to our current carnage through the stars. We hated leaving our homeworlds, but every once in a while, one of us screwed something up and was punished by the rest of the Hegemony with certain special assignments. Now that I think of it, it was the best mistake I made in life.”
“Oh? A mistake you say?” Rinslo asked. He seemed genuinely interested in hearing what the Nameless had to say as well.
“Yes. My task was to scout the Partak Sector and make friends along the way. I had an escort of six ships and a hundred thousand troops. It was nothing too fancy or intimidating. We were spotted by a Federation fleet en-route to the sector and they destroyed my escort with ease. I managed to hide my body in the asteroid field and salvaged the one Templar that I could use for interaction. Those were the days, you know? Explosions, death, fear, fighting for your life, the excitement I mean, there’s nothing like it. I would kill a thousand Rinslo’s to feel that alive again.”
The Nameless got carried away in thought and he went silent for a good minute as we waited for him to continue. He shook his head, apologized, and continued.
“Eventually I ended up in Xan where your predecessor, Warden Sam’ar, that filthy Greth cunt, didn’t even take the time to check why an Aloi Templar was in his prison. Back in those days, the Federation was threatening with war and everybody’s focus went that way. I was left in Xan, alone and forgotten. You deemed me insane and never cared to ask why I was in your prison as you had more urgent matters to attend to such as brokering an alliance between your sector and an all-devouring superpower that would turn you all into slaves.”
He stopped for a moment and looked at the Frey commander who wouldn’t follow his gaze. The commander knew the words were most likely true and that was what hurt him more than real pain. The chance of being forgotten.
“And this specimen here,” he said nudging toward the Frey, “do you think that you’ll have a place in the Hegemony as the Frey do? That will never happen. Isn’t that right, Commander?”
The commander kept to himself with his head bowed down in shame. After all, the Frey were similar to the Eres, as they were a prideful race, so having to lie was something they despised.
“We promised an alliance so it was easier to infiltrate your society. Within decades the entire Partak Sector would be nothing more than a troop-churning womb for more Aloi troops to wage a war against their eternal enemy: the Ka. We learned that the Frey worked much better when it came to diplomacy. Other species looked up to their wealth, to their technology, and sophistication, thinking those were the benefits of becoming an ally of the Aloi. No race ever saw a drop of compassion or empathy. None. Do you understand that, Takkari? Every single race in the Aloi Hegemony is either so biologically modified and abused that you can’t tell them apart from the others, or they’re in a transition period waiting to be. That is what you’ve been brokering for, young Takkari. You’ve been killing yourself to become slaves.”
Another long moment of silence followed as Rinslo tried to process the information. I could see the cogs in his mind whirr and grind everything he just heard. It had been only a day since I found out, and I had been chewing on some of his words as well. Maybe even for years to come. It was hard to take in, but I wanted Rinslo to know. I wanted him to live and spread the word.
“Frey, what do you say to this?” I asked, but he didn’t want to answer. “Speak, Frey. There’s nothing to lose here as the cards are already on the table. You might as well play.”
He took a deep breath, looked at me, and then to the Nameless. He remained silent for as long as he needed to take in a deep breath and finally spoke.
“Your brothers and sisters are waging a war of the just. You know this, you know what will happen if the Ka prevail, and you still choose to be a traitor. I have no respect for you or these insignificant vermin you aligned yourself with. The Hegemony must find a special place for you, first betrayer, and they will. That’s all I have to say.”
The Nameless took the accusation with a straight face and I could swear that I saw a hint of a grin on his face as the Frey spoke.
“Charming, really. To be called a traitor by a Frey, hah. Life is truly rich,” he said crossing his arms.
“I don’t think you need any more confirmation of the truth than you already have,” I told Rinslo. “Get them both out of here, Fars. They heard what they needed to hear. Nameless, a quick word.”
Fars hurried the two along and pushed them out the door. I remained silent until the door hissed close, and when we remained alone, the Nameless sat in one of the chairs that adjusted itself to his size. I didn’t even know the chairs on this ship could do that. I had to ask him a simple question, and though I didn’t know him well I still felt he wouldn’t lie.
“Will you return to the Hegemony?”
He took a deep breath and thought about it from the look of it before he spoke. I didn’t know if he was expecting the question, but he should have.
“There’s no true living in the Hegemony, Stavos. I’ve been separated from it for so long that the only memory of being part of the Hegemony was the feeling of not having your own thoughts. We are a frightened race, Stavos. A race that keeps to its own. We live secluded on Arra, our homeworld, ever terrified of stepping out into the world. Our history is a history of death and destruction, and through it, our bonds grew tighter with each possible civilizational collapse.”
He stopped to take in a deep breath before he continued.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to speak about your past or your people.”
“Oh, I don’t mind really. See, at one point our minds had become so intertwined we had lost the sense of individuality that every other race enjoyed. It helped us survive, but it also reduced us to something so much less than we’d ever been. We became more machine than living beings, but we operated better than any other biological race. We solved immensely complex problems that spanned systems within seconds in our collective mind, but all that efficiency had a price. A price we had forgotten we were paying, a price I remembered in my years of isolation. We stopped living, although life is the only thing that truly exists.”
“So—”
“No, I will not return to the Hegemony,” he said, interrupting me. “I do not wish to become part of it ever again if that is what you’re worried about. I can’t promise I’ll follow you forever, I’m bound neither by honor nor any other simplistic notion. I want to experience how it is to feel alive, and you, Stavos, you certainly know how to squeeze life for its juiciest fruits. This is why I’ll join you. It’s because you attract chaos, It follows in your wake, and I love every second of it. Does this answer suit you?”
I couldn’t really say that it suited me. It wasn’t easy to accept that someone enjoyed your company because they thought you were the harbinger of doom, but then again he wasn’t far f
rom wrong either. An honest loyalty was always better than a false one, and if he didn’t mind being open with me, I wouldn’t mind the way he thought of us.
“I’m glad to have you on board, I guess,” I said sincerely but somewhat worriedly. “But if you’re going to stay, you’ll give me all the answers I seek. You won’t interfere if I decide to fight against the Aloi, right?”
“No, I will not interfere. They’re as alien to me as they are to you, Stavos.”
I nodded. He answered immediately, so I thought he wasn’t lying but then again it was easy for the Nameless to hide his emotions.
“Fine, then one more thing,” I said. “If you’re going to stay here, I’d prefer if you told us your real name. I can’t keep calling you Nameless, it’s just ridiculous.”
“A name? I haven’t thought about it. See, the Aloi have no name.”
“Then as a sign of our new alliance and beginnings, go and pick one.”
“Arthur.”
“What?”
“I’d like to be called Arthur. It’s a human name, I know, but I enjoy it.”
“That was quick.”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t think about it before? Not at all?”
He raised a non-existent eyebrow. “Is there a problem with Arthur?”
I shrugged. “Not at all, Arthur. I’m glad to have met you.”
11
Sharp metallic laughter reverberated through Xan’s storage vault as we stood there and stared at the closed doors. They were large, heavy things that weighed a metric ton and could probably withstand a very big blast.
“You’re done for, maggots! There’s an army of Mortian guards outside and a fleet of Greth ships above! Give up already and maybe you’ll live to see another day!” Lord Maelstrem roared.
“Fars, did you find my fucking armor?” I snapped over my shoulder as I stared at the doors. An explosion reverberated throughout the complex and shook the very walls.
The Mortians were etching ever closer and we all knew that they’d get in given enough time. There were probably hundreds outside, armed to the teeth as they tried to save their warden and the Greth lord.
“There’s a million storage units here, Stavos. It will take me forever.”
I cursed under my breath and contacted Mitto who was dodging Greth starships and fighters in the space above Xan.
“Mitto, we need more time. Can you give us five more minutes?”
“Boss, the Greth can’t hurt me, I’m too quick, too smart, too good. But you know… It’s a fleet of starships so you might want to hurry a bit.”
Mitto was underplaying the situation. When he said “to hurry up,” it actually meant something else. Something along the line of “I’m being chased by a hundred starfighters as a dozen Rogal-class battlecruisers are hitting me with broadside cannon fire.” but who was I to doubt him?
We had landed on Xan just as planned. It was supposed to be a quick in-and-out mission where I expected some trouble, but not nearly what we were greeted with. I expected them to let us land on Xan and then prepare a surprise attack, and that was what we had prepared for, but when you prepared for chaos, chaos usually didn’t care. No, that wasn’t right. Chaos never cared.
We were led to the vault where my armor was, but the warden thought he’d gas us while in there. My INAS picked up the change in the chemical composition of the air and I had my H-Nans focus on cleansing my lungs. Fars wasn’t bothered by the gas since Eres are extremely resilient against toxins. And Arthur? Well, Arthur was a Templar and you couldn’t poison a Templar with whatever concoction you could come up with.
We quickly locked the door before reinforcements came and were now stuck in the vault as Mitto battled it out with a surprise Greth fleet in orbit. They had come in fast and hard, forcing our ship to jump out and keep harassing them.
“Fars! Where’s my fucking armor?” I yelled again.
“I’m not a Shia, Stavos! I can’t go through this many storage units. I’m a warrior, I only count the heads of my—”
“Yes, enemies, heads, spikes, whatever. Fuck it, I’ll just find it myself. This may prove a bit uncomfortable, so I apologize in advance.”
I spread a thin net of nanites across the entire vault and mapped our surroundings. I’d been reinforcing the door as they searched for my armor, but it was a waste of time so far. When the nanites hit Fars and the others, I tried not to puncture them in too many places. The Warden and the Greth yelped squeamishly as the nanites touched them. Fars just shook it off and Arthur somewhat enjoyed it to everyone’s discomfort. He even let out a strange sound that was close to a moan.
“They’re breaking through,” Arthur said and his demeanor shifted entirely. I knew as much but had to focus elsewhere. “Ready for a bloodbath, Eres?”
“I haven’t had a proper clubbing in days,” Fars growled with a malicious smile on his face. They were both eager to kill something, but fighting hundreds of armed Mortian guards was dangerous even for the three of us, even if the Templar had regained part of his armor and weaponry.
“Got it!” I yelled and made my way down the giant aisles of the vault. I felt the nanites fire up as they came in contact with my Fyre Armor. They gave off a very particular vibration, one I had missed so badly. I shivered in anticipation. It was really there, and after five long years, I was about to put it back on again.
“Go put on your dress, Stavos. We’ll hold the line,” Fars said, stretching and warming up his muscles. He tried to insult me on purpose by calling it a dress, but I wasn’t letting it get to me. No, I was finally going to feel power only the Fyre Armor could provide.
I ran down as quickly as I could when I heard another explosion coming from the entrance. The door was blasted open and the Mortian guards swarmed through. That much I knew from the nanites that still sent feedback not mattering that I was already fifty paces out. The sound of battle immediately filled the place. I was looking forward to seeing which of the two would kill more despite it being a bit twisted.
I found the unit where my armor was stowed away and opened it violently with a jerk. My heart started pumping like mad as I took in the familiar sight of the Fyre Armor. I gritted my teeth like a starving predator seeing a wounded calf and whispered something even I couldn’t understand. I was that close to losing it. There it was in all its black, red, and golden glory, just waiting for its daddy to come home.
I pulled the armor out of the container and held it in front of me. A rush of adrenaline mixed with my dopamine receptors going wild washed over me as I bonded with the armor yet again. I couldn’t say it was like an orgasm because an orgasm didn’t make you feel like you could tear a starship from the heavens, no, it was even better. Far better!
For five long years, I trained to use my H-Nans the way I used my O-Nan cells and I probably did better than any other Technomancer in the history of our guild. Since I had that encounter with that strange creature below the mountains of Detera, my H-Nans became more responsive with every passing day. Although H-Nans had no real physical connection with our minds, I had managed to establish one despite the very physics that promised it couldn’t be done. But I had severe limitations. I could only use so many H-Nans before my body would collapse. I couldn’t create bots, I didn’t have the stamina for prolonged fights, and my attacks were, though practiced daily, still rather weak.
I played the cards I had in Xan and used my limited cell capacity to fortify my body and increase my physical strength. I had used ranged attacks sparingly, so I made my body a weapon while my true weapon rested in this vault.
A Technomancer’s best friend was his nanite-to-mind connection. It was all about how many nanites one could control without suffering burnout and even loss of consciousness. I had mastered that process with my limited capacity over the last five years, and I knew that if by chance I’d someday get my hands on a Fyre Armor and fresh O-Nan cells, I’d be on a level no Technomancer had ever been but Major Uriel himself.
&nbs
p; When the bonding process finished, something unexpected happened. Nanite whips and chains flew out in all directions, slamming into the units around me and ripping them apart. I felt electricity course through me, and the air started to crackle. I felt the H-Nan and O-Nan mix within my bloodstream, and for a second it terrified me, as I had no idea what was going on. O-Nan cells in their rawest form were not supposed to enter your body but here they were.
Mitto contacted me immediately.
“Boss, are you ok? Your biometrics are off the chart.”
“Everything… is… in perfect order, Mitto. Get us out of here in two.”
I had no idea if we’d manage to get out in two, but I quickly managed to adjust to the new sensation and bring my nanites under control. My nanite capacity had more than tripled and my connection to them was beyond anything I’d felt before. It felt as if they were part of me as much as my legs and arms were. Power washed over me like never before and I rushed to the entrance to take it for a well-deserved test run.
Fars and Arthur were encircled by Mortian guards who couldn’t get a clean shot because the two of them used other Mortian guards as shields. Bodies flew left and right as the two born killers rampaged through their ranks. Eventually, they would falter through the sheer number of enemies they faced but they would have made sure to die on a mountain of Mortians before that happened.
I stopped several paces short of the nearest guards and grinned as I spun the nanites into chains. They rushed along the ground and ripped five of the Mortians off their feet, sending them into the air, and pulling them back into the ground where they broke like ragdolls.
Two more chains sped across the ground and grabbed hold of guards who’d turned toward me. I raised them by their feet and let them hang there for the others to see. The Mortians’ focus immediately turned to me and a dozen of them rushed me with guns in hands.
I sent a wave of nanites at them, waist-high, and flattened the nanite wave into a horizontal guillotine that cut them in two at their hips. The brutality of the attack wasn’t left unnoticed to the remaining Mortians.
Redeemer: A Military Space Opera Series (War Undying Book 2) Page 12
