Before disappointment could bloom through my heart, I received a message from the Magellan. “Relay coordinates. Our transporters are still on line. But we can’t account for the ride.”
I’d transported enough to know what that meant.
“You got any heavy armor and personnel weapons left?” I snapped as I sent along my coordinates.
“We’ve got a spare set. Don’t worry, we’ll dress you on the way down.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Thanks.”
“Good luck. Magellan out.”
I stood and waited. Argoza watched me out of the corner of her eye. “What do I do?”
“Make a difference,” I said as the Magellan’s transport beam sliced through the hull and latched onto me. “Good luck,” I managed before I was split apart at the subatomic level.
I meant it.
…
Alyssa Nightingale
I… I couldn’t keep everyone safe.
As more and more battle drones transported down to the planet, I lost more and more people.
Every death claimed a chunk of my soul. It rocked through me as if my body had been the one to tear apart under the body drones’ claws and teeth.
The Forgotten were relentless.
Unstoppable.
I had managed to hold them back for ten minutes.
But I had ten minutes left.
I… there was no way I’d be able to do it.
All this death and destruction would ultimately count for nothing.
This was in vain.
…
Lieutenant Commander Nathan Shepherd
I materialized on the planet.
If orbit had looked like a sea of destruction, this was different. This was the apocalypse.
I’d never seen anything like it. In a ship as you watch broken vessels drift by you have distance. You are in part protected from the emotional import of the scene.
Here there was nothing protecting me from the destruction.
Torn bodies littered the rocky crags. Dust clogged the tread of my shoes as I sprinted forward, and I knew where it came from – the disintegrated bodies of the body drones.
My heart couldn’t process any of this.
My mind forced a cold blanket of hard reason to settle over me, pushing all emotion behind a wall of action.
Stop to stare at the dead, and I’d just join them.
I had to get to Alyssa and fight by her side.
Ultimately I would prove my father and Argoza wrong. I was not just one man. I could and would make a difference here.
With that burning thought the only fuel I needed, I propelled myself over the rocky terrain.
The Magellan hadn’t lied, and they’d outfitted me with damn fine tactical armor, arming me with a pair of directed hand guns and a modular rifle that could split apart and turn into mines.
I also had two electro blades slung across my back.
I reached around to them, plucked them out of their magnetic locks, and swung them forward. They blazed into life with a piercing zing that sang through the air.
Just in time. As I rounded a corner and up a rise, I came across my first body drone.
It flung itself towards me, just as another three drones blinked into existence all around me.
Before I could pitch backward and be chopped in half by their claws, something happened.
I felt… a presence wash over me. It was hard to describe, stranger to feel. It swept along my body like some disembodied touch.
Then it grabbed hold of my limbs and moved me.
I dodged past the drones as they lanced towards me. Somehow my arm came around, my electro blade swiping towards the nearest drone and collecting it right down the middle.
My other blade span around, slashing the two remaining drones across the back.
I was relentless. Or at least the force controlling me was.
Alyssa.
She was still alive out there.
I smiled, gladdened my lips responded to the move.
As soon as I’d dispatched the drones, that light touch disappeared and I stood on my own two feet once more.
I broke over the rise of the hill and stared down into the brunt of the battle.
I couldn’t describe it. Didn’t want to. Couldn’t settle my mind off what I had to do.
So I powered towards the center. I could see her now, directly above the middle of the battle. She was encased in a halo of light, like some avenging angel who’d descended from heaven.
Just beyond her was the Death Giver. As I stared in slack-jawed awe at the sheer size and menace of the ship, I saw something flit out of it, coming to a stop right in front of Alyssa.
The targeting sensors in my armor locked onto it and identified it.
Annabelle.
Christ, it was Annabelle.
…
The Outer Supply Station
The Chief still watched the battle from the bridge. Though the heat had been taken off the fleet now Alyssa fought the Death Giver, it was still hell up here.
She’d never seen chaos like it.
Still, she knew how to run her ship, so when a warning alarm blinked up for the barest second on the primary control panel, she thrust towards it. “Keep offering support to the Fleet main line.”
They’d all started referring to the combined Star Forces, resistance, and pirate ships as the Fleet.
It worked.
Sure, it was just a word, but it drew everyone in under the same banner.
She sunk her attention back on the panel.
… There was unauthorized access to one of the secondary hangar bays.
Someone was stealing a ship.
She wouldn’t have been alerted had she not retrofitted that entire are to bypass the trashed central engineering deck.
She narrowed her eyes and pulled her lips over her teeth. “Axis.”
“What?” The closest tactical officer span in his seat to face her.
She took a jerked step back. “There’s an unauthorized departure from docking bay Sigma. Stop it.”
The tactical officer span back to his controls, locking one broken arm over the console for support as the fingers of his good hand tore over the controls. “It’s… it’s too late. We can’t. Whoever it is has overridden our controls.”
“Crazy bastard. What does he think he’s going to do? The Forgotten will pick him off,” as the Chief said it, she wasn’t sure if it was a prediction or a wish. Sure, the man had been instrumental in developing the endgame weapon and preparing for the final stand, but he was still a monster. The Star Forces higher ups she could understand. She could even understand Admiral Shepherd. Cold hearted bastards willing to sacrifice anything for victory.
Axis was in another league. Axis enjoyed this, she could tell. She’d been around long enough to understand minds like his. Great, but critically flawed. If he’d been an AI, he would have been stripped back and reprogrammed. Because minds like that, no matter how powerful, are as equally destructive as they are creative.
“Track Axis’ ship.”
“Aye, sir,” the officer said.
The Chief stood there, head angled down, two arms locked on the primary panel.
“… The Forgotten are leaving him alone. Their still concentrating on the Fleet’s primary defensive line.”
The Chief paled.
No. No. It would not be fair if that bastard got away. He’d secrete himself far off in some untouched system and continue his experiments. He’d find some other excuse to keep doling out torture in the name of science.
And yet, she couldn’t afford to pull any forces from the front line to track him down. She refused to ignore H’agovan ’s sacrifice and jeopardize this victory.
“Axis is preparing to jump,” the tactician warned.
Just as the Chief curled all six hands into fists, there was a warning blare from the tactical officer’s console. “What is it?” she snapped.
“Another ship. Some
kind of light cruiser… wait. It’s Lieutenant Commander Shepherd’s ship. It’s headed towards Axis’ vessel.”
“What? Shepherd’s down on the planet. Christ, it must be Argoza. What the hell is she doing?”
The Chief watched in shock as Argoza’s ship powered towards Axis’ vessel. At first it looked as if Argoza was planning to share the same jump bubble as Axis, and flee the battle.
For a split second, the Chief growled in anger. Nathan had sent a short sharp message detailing what had happened to him before he’d reached the surface of the planet.
Argoza was clearly fleeing while she had the chance.
Except that’s not what happened.
Argoza’s ship powered towards Axis’, and struck the side of his vessel just as it jumped to warp. It was a perfectly calculated maneuver. It was effective, too.
Both ships exploded in a halo of light as the beyond-light bubble collapsed around them.
No one said anything.
Not a word.
The Chief nodded her head low. Argoza had just sacrificed her life. Yes, she’d done wrong. But no, that hadn’t been justified. And yet her sacrifice had made a difference.
The Chief would always remember that and her.
With a clearing breath, she twisted and continued barking orders.
…
Annabelle Williams
Now. Finally. We were here.
I no longer thought of myself as a me. I had been completely subsumed into the hive mind.
And yet… a part remained. Just a fragment. A shard of what had once been a mind.
My mind.
I held onto it with all the care of someone grasping a beating heart.
I would hold onto it until the time was right, and then I would let it go….
…
Alyssa Nightingale
Five minutes.
Every second was an impossible battle.
I couldn’t… couldn’t hold on.
Then Williams arrived.
I knew she would come before she materialized right in front of me. My connection to the hive was still in tact.
They would use her to subdue me, destroy the remaining troops, and swoop in to claim the endgame weapon.
I just needed to hold on for five more minutes.
Williams moved. She didn’t pause to stare at me. She couldn’t.
She didn’t have eyes anymore.
Or a face.
Her body was just an ethereal outline of bright white energy. It was like fighting the center of a dying sun.
“Williams!” the word cracked from my throat even though it was useless. My connection to the Forgotten hive told me she was completely at their mercy.
That didn’t stop me. “Williams!” I tried again. “You can fight it. You can push the hive back.”
She didn’t respond. Instead they moved her body towards me, so much power building across the tips of her fingers and the lengths of her arms it looked as if she would explode.
She sent a blast towards me. It was so powerful I had to yank my mind from the troops below. I brought up both arms and braced them before me, using every ounce of my power to hold her off.
It was barely enough.
Her energy ripped and tore and burnt around me. It was like being stuck in a gravitational storm. It felt as if my whole body would be pulled apart.
“Williams!” I screamed once more. My mind told me there was no point, but I couldn’t stop myself.
In many ways, she’d been my only friend. When she’d found out about my history, she’d embraced me.
I owed her for that.
She swiped towards me again, another blast of power spinning around me.
It thrust me back, sent me tumbling tens of meters backwards. I had to concentrate with all my mind not to lose my grip on my power and fall back to earth.
“Just… fight me, end this. Please, end this,” someone said.
It took me a startled moment until I realized it was Williams. She didn’t have lips anymore, but had transported her request directly along the same communication lines the Forgotten used.
“Williams!” I screamed.
She attacked again, her body thrusting forward, a violent wave of power arcing towards me.
It struck me across the face, twisted me around, and sent me spinning down to the ground.
I couldn’t control my descent.
I saw the ground flash up from below me.
Just before I struck it, I regained control of my power and began floating again.
Williams zoomed in towards me, snaked out with her flowing arms, and pinned me by the shoulders.
I pushed out with my power.
I couldn’t stop her.
She drove me right into the ground.
…
Lieutenant Commander Nathan Shepherd
God. One minute. 60 seconds.
I watched the battle, unable to do a goddamn thing. At the same time I had to fight for my life and the lives of everyone around me.
Now Alyssa was engaged in a deadly fight with Williams, she’d stopped controlling us troops.
We had to fight on our own.
I span around, slicing the closest drone across its side, dust scattering over my armored gloves and feet.
At every opportunity I snapped my head to the side and stared at Alyssa.
Just in time I saw her falling from the sky. Williams rammed into Alyssa and drove her into the ground.
“Alyssa!” I screamed. “Alyssa! Hold on!”
All hell broke loose.
50 seconds.
…
Alyssa Nightingale
Williams drove me into the ground so hard the rock cracked. Her burning face pressed close to mine. If it weren’t for the remnants of my power, my skin would have seared off.
“W-Williams,” I managed to push her name from my torn and cracked throat. “Williams. Push past their control. D-do it.”
As she pushed into me, it became almost impossible to hold the Forgotten back.
I was starting to black out. My mind being consumed by those growing riotous voices.
I felt my body go limp.
Then I heard his voice.
“Alyssa! Alyssa! Hold on!”
Shepherd. It had to be Shepherd. My body couldn’t be mistaken as tingles of recognition poured into my tired limbs.
Williams heard him too. For a brief instant she slackened her grip and shifted her head towards his voice.
I took the opportunity. I slammed into her, drawing as deep as I could and dredging up every last scrap of power. With a powerful cry ripping from my throat I pushed my implants to full.
All I had to do was hold her and the Forgotten off.
30 seconds.
…
Annabelle Williams
This… this was it. I could feel it now.
The end. Rushing towards me.
I could see Alyssa. She was right in front of me, and just beyond stood Shepherd.
My friends.
I still had a mind. Still had a heart pumping somewhere under the cloud of this power.
And I would use them.
“Fight it,” Alyssa begged once more as she fought me with renewed vigor.
She was doing the impossible and holding us back. But she couldn’t forever. In a few seconds I would break her. No, they would.
But I could hold them back.
I could.
I had not chosen this path. I had fallen into it.
I had not chosen to be here at the end of our civilization, but I was.
And this would not be the end.
I sank my mind into my limbs, calling to my implants.
All I needed was to hold them off for 20 more seconds.
…
Alyssa Nightingale
20 seconds.
Williams sprang towards me just as I pumped all my remaining power in a spinning arc around my body.
I sprang forward to meet her.
&
nbsp; I used everything I had – every thought, every loss, and every dream. They welled within my stomach and powered into my hands.
Williams and I met. I felt the wall of the hive mind behind her every move.
I faced them with everything I had.
Each second span into an eternity.
The hive reached out to me.
I… saw right into Williams’ blazing face.
And asked once more, “Fight it.”
She did.
Just as her power threatened to overcome me, she stopped.
“Live for me. Survive for us all.” With that, she turned.
Just as she did, I heard the Forgotten scream.
They sent a sudden blast towards Williams, a wave of drones amassing upon her.
I used the last ounce of my power to protect Williams and disintegrate the drones.
Then I fell.
…
Lieutenant Commander Nathan Shepherd
I watched Alyssa fall, all power gone from her form. I watched Williams stand back. She made eye contact with me.
It couldn’t have been for more than half a second. She didn’t have eyes anymore, and yet that didn’t matter. I knew what she was trying to convey.
I faced her and I let two words crack from my lips, “thank you.”
She turned and pushed towards the Death Giver.
Five seconds.
Williams started to attack the outside of the Death Giver, using her unimaginable power to pull off the outside hull with the ease of someone peeling an orange.
The body drones still left around me cried. Then surged towards me.
I brought up my gun.
Two seconds. I reached Alyssa and hovered over her body.
1 second. A drone jumped for the endgame device.
I bodily threw myself at it and rammed my arms around its throat, a scream tearing from my lips.
It reached its deadly claws behind itself and latched them around my throat.
It squeezed.
0 seconds.
Before the drone could rip my head off, the endgame weapon engaged.
It send out a single vibrant blue pulse.
Then nothing.
At first nothing happened.
Then the drone with its clawed-grip around my throat shivered.
In a single second, it turned to dust.
All around me, drones melted away, and high, high in the sky, the Death Giver convulsed. Great waves of disruption rippled over the hull like stones thrown in a puddle.
The Crucible- The Complete Series Page 78
