by Ray O'Neil
For Emich, the only people he wanted dead were the ones who put him through the experiments back in the facility.
Demeitri scoffed playfully. “You’re mistaking us for recruiters? Oh please, Emich. You insult me.”
“You seem to have the wrong guy. My name is Douglas. Douglas Hauser. It’s right here on my name tag, just in case you need help in spelling it.” Emich grabbed the jug for another swig.
“You’d have to do better than that to fool me, Emich. It would take far more practice to hide your German accent.”
Emich slammed the jug down, shaking the plastic table. “So what if I have an accent? Everyone here has one. Your Russian accent means nothing and my accent means nothing.”
Demeitri patted Valarie on the back, telling her to stand. Leaning forward, he spoke softly, almost drowned out by the background chatter around them. “Listen. We have no time to play games. You were in Project Götterdämmerung and you are the only person to survive the gene manipulation process.”
Valerie lowered a handheld screen to him, showing him his military profile. It had everything. Where he used to live, the day he joined, the battles he was in, the dates he increased in rank, everything that was recordable. Quickly putting it away, Valerie continued to swipe through it, the glow of the screen shining close to her face. Emich’s calm expression shattered, visibly panicking.
“It’s impossible to hide in this day and age,” Demeitri continued. “Once you’re in the system, anyone can find you. As long as they know where to look, of course.” He could tell Emich’s muscles were tensed up, ready to get up and bolt out of there. “Please, don’t think about running. I don’t work for the ERA. With the way they handle things, you’d be dead by now. No, I’m Demeitri Kuznetsov, the owner of Sindri Corporation. This is my personal assistant, Valerie.”
She gave him a little finger wave, then pushed up her glasses and returned to reading.
Emich raised an eyebrow at them. “If you’re so big, why don’t you just email me like a normal company?”
“Because we’re not like a normal company, that’s why.” Demeitri looked at the jug in front of him, seeing from the date that the bottle was older than he was. “I aim for a human element when I deal with business. Call me a dying breed, but I prefer things the old fashioned way.” He motioned over a hand at Valerie. “It’s one of the reasons I have her instead of an AI like everyone else.
“What the hell is the Sindri Corporation and what they hell do they want with me?”
“Well, to start, we built those Exoframes you’ve been wearing for the past seven years. But now we have a new one. It’s still in the testing phase and we can’t mass produce it until we find out how to make it… functional for everyone.”
“If you want me to enter another experiment, I swear I’ll—”
Demeitri held a finger up at him. “No, no. Not experiment. Nothing of the sort. According to our files on you, the experiment you were in has caused you to mutate. You’re not like us anymore. You’re better now, more resilient than a normal human being, more durable, if you will. If you agree to come with me, I will explain everything and you will be given the chance to jump start an entirely new line of Exoframes. They’re not just going to win the war against the Niflheim. They will become something the Niflheim will grow to fear.”
Emich looked to the side, thinking.
“I mean… it’s either this or stay here as a marine, constantly looking over your shoulder, afraid that the ERA will finally catch up to you and finish you off for good.”
Emich brushed his fingers through his beard. “And what if I don’t help you?”
Demeitri smiled, like how a shark does before a school of fish. “Then I’ll give the ERA the net to catch you with, if you know what I mean.”
Taking a long, finale swig, Emich set the bottle down on the table. With a quick shift of his eyes between Demeitri and Valerie, he stood up. “... When do I start?”
Chapter 9
Green streams of light coursed through the winter night sky, reflecting off of the freezing waters below. The Bering Strait was nothing but a small area of the Pacific Ocean wedge between Russia and Alaska. Nothing but icebergs and a few islands. Nowhere near civilization. Only two little islands: Big Diomede and Little Diomede.
A bright flash in the sky lit up the night for a second, nearly turning it into day. What could be mistaken as a second sun seemed to plummet from behind the northern lights, growing bigger and bigger. It wasn’t a meteor and it wasn’t man-made. The Yggdrasil ships that landed in the previous Spears were only part of the Niflheim recon. They paled in comparison to this one.
The ocean turned into a massive torrent of water around the crash site, the village on the smaller island experience the biggest earthquake and tsunami in its existence; being wiped out by the icy wall of water. What was a bridge made of ice between the two islands was now a towering mass of alien machinery, as if a mountain had fallen out of the sky. Huge tendrils exploded out of the water, connecting to the nearby islands, its crystal roots digging deep into the soil. Others dove deeper into the water, finding the bottom and blending into the icy sea floor. A thick mist surrounded the ship, its flaming bottom being flash frozen by the low temperature. The Yggdrasil floated there, keeping itself in place above the shallow ocean water.
It wasn’t going anywhere, but its inhabitants were ready to be released into the open world. Thousands of aircraft filled the newly foggy sky, the swarm splitting into two directions. The southern spire glowed to life, a dark cloud circling from the blue electricity zapping out of its long point. With a world shaking blast, the cloud spread across the open sea, growing towards the mainland around it. Floods had already wiped out the shores along the Russian coast before any signs of the oncoming storm were visible by satellite.
Since the Niflheim ships were invisible to any type of detection equipment, the sudden flooding of entire cities was the only clue Earth had that they were being invaded.
ERA and UAM battleships were ordered to take it out, along with any aircraft carriers in the area. Submarines who were already in the Bering Sea fired their underwater missiles, their Blackhole torpedos bursting against the underwater tendrils, creating groupings of whirlpools. It was enough to damage the supporting beams, but with their constant source of water, the Yggdrasil used ice to “heal over”. Sky Screamers dropped their payload of metallic petals, the flying buzzsaws diving into the water. The cover of the ocean was the very thing that was going to send the submarine crew to their watery grave, once the petals cut their way into their hull and unleashed their wrath upon anyone in their reach.
In a day’s time, the joined forces of the navies arrived; anti air guns firing at the long stream of Niflheim aircraft in the sky. It was no use in stopping all of them. By the time most of the naval forces could get close to the vicinity, the majority of the alien air power was already close to the mainlands, doing what they do best. The aircraft carriers showed up by the time the air was clear, seeing it as the perfect opportunity to send out a bombing fleet. It was only raining when they launched their bombers and fighters.
It was only a gentle rain falling from an ever growing rainstorm.
The military aircraft zoomed into action, staying low to do a joint torpedo bombing. They didn’t know that trying to sink the Yggdrasil would be pointless, the ice healing it before it could take on water. Zigzagging between icebergs, the fighters escorted the stealth bombers, the ETO coming into visible sight. The clouds overhead grew darker, making their cockpits forced to use night vision and the radar grid to see. A low rumbling escaped the ETO, a small blue light coming out of the Dunyair Spire.
A powerful blast of blue energy dissipated into the clouds, bright electricity spreading all throughout. Giant bolts of lightning crashed violently around the aircraft, striking them down in midflight. There was no need for defensive aircraft, now that the ETO was more advanced than the ones humans encountered in the previous wars. Now that it
was able to shoot the jet fighters and bombers right out of the sky through the clouds. Anything under the storm’s shadow was struck down, sent into the cold waters below.
The battleships fired off salvos, their massive guns sending the shots beyond the world’s curve. The Yggdrasil took plenty of hits, shards of its spires and citadel blasted into the air; the missed shots creating long columns of water in the distance. The impact of the powerful naval rounds caused the ETO to bob back, but it wasn’t enough sink it. They kept up the fire, but not for long. This Yggdrasil wasn’t the only ship to reach Earth.
From space, beyond the exosphere, a Niflheim ship slowed its course to a halt. A satellite blindly floated towards it, crashing into one of its back tendrils as they whipped around. The front of its hull bloomed outward, like a flower on the first day of spring. The three “leaves” were curved around its hull fanned out, cupping themselves towards the sun ever since its Martian voyage. Flipping over to face its open side towards Earth, its charged payload was aimed towards the Bering Strait.
Right at the line of ships that were encircling and threatening its fellow Niflheim spacecraft.
Like the North Star, twinkling in the night sky, the space cannon shined brightly — its energy building from within. The blinding beam of light plowed through the dark clouds, straight down onto a battleship. It exploded instantly, its back end obliterated on contact and the rest of it melting into blobs of metal, keeping their amorphous shapes forever as they dropped to the bottom of the ocean. The beam streaked across the sky, swiping through the UMA ships that were near its first victim. Dying out, the beam stopped to reposition and let out another deadly blast.
As long as the sun shined brightly, it would have plenty of fuel to continue its solar ray of destruction.
. . .
Gunfire filled the testing arena, the numbers of Beowulf bots dropping substantially. Emich practically glided through the maze of containers, the burst fire from his MBC4 surpassing that of their single-shot MBC3s. With more firepower, more rounds per second, and a bigger magazine, the MBC4 had only one drawback. Only the Siegfried Exoframe could absorb the steam produced by its heat absorbing tube. Combined with its photosynthetic skin and regenerator core, the Siegfried was, in theory, able to run without recharging as long as it is in battle.
A machine that ran on conflict. The ultimate battle weaponry.
Demeitri watched, high up above. He practically held his breath the entire time, the anticipation getting to him. None of the other soldiers have lasted as long, the fear of failure gnawing at the back of his head the entire time. Grabbing the air around Valerie's side, he searched for her hand without looking. She snatched it out of the air and held it by her hip, keeping her eyes down at the handheld she’s been monitoring the entire test session.
“He’s just completed process 300, sir,” one of the people behind him announced.
Demeitri kept his eyes glued to the glass. “How are his vitals?”
The employee typed on his computer rapidly as he talked. “Everything is normal, sir. Well, normal for him. No spikes in heart rate.”
“Good.” Demeitri let out the first normal breath since the session started. “Let me know if anything reaches red. Anything. If we lose him, this entire project is going to be wasted.”
Valerie knocked her head to the side, the left side of her lip curling in joy. “Oh, would you look at that. The ERA and UAM seem to be struggling as we speak.”
It got Demeitri’s attention, his head moving to finally look at her. “What did you say?”
“They’re involved with an ETO already, sir,” she said as she lifted her head and pushed up her glasses. “Their navies are trying to handle it, but it doesn’t seem they’re going to do any good. The UAC is discussing it as we speak. Care to intrude?”
Demeitri smiled back, a weight he walked in there with suddenly lifting off of his shoulders. “Yes, I would, as a matter of fact. To my office, then.” They held hands as they left the room, the automatic door opening for them. “If anything happens in the arena, message me immediately.”
The meeting between congress members was nothing but constant noise. All of their emblems were lit up by the time Demeitri could get to his office, Valerie patching her way in as they walked. The Sindri emblem joined the lineup, activating when the door swung closed. Demeitri sat in his chair, sliding to the side a bit from his momentum. Valerie took her place, standing on the side and keeping an eye out for counter-hackers, as usual.
Another common occurrence was how Childebrand of Nybling Bank was the loudest, as well as the harshest to listen to.
“There is no way around it commander, absolutely no way! Do you have any idea how much it costs to make one of those ships?! How many resources it takes to produce them?! There is no way you can rebuild a fleet in time, there is no way the other ships can arrive in time. It’s hopeless!”
“I’m not giving up,” commander Marr shouted back.
It was the first time Demeitri has heard him raise his voice, getting him to raise his eyebrows at it. “Whoa, now, did I come in at a bad time?” He was glad they couldn’t see the grin he was speaking with, or else it would make them more feral than they already were.
“Sindri.” The commander cleared his throat, his voice lowering in volume with each word until it was back to normal. “This is the one time we actually want you to hack your way into our discussions.”
“It was eventually going to happen.” Demeitri motioned to Valerie to mute the sound of the other congress members. The constant bickering lowered as their emblems shrank, only the UAM emblem staying dominant in the center of the holosphere.
“I assume you heard the news?”
“Not all of it… but enough.” Demeitri stood up to stand in front of his desk. “I have good news for you. I’ve found the perfect wearer for the Siegfried prototype. So far, all previous complications are nonexistent. This means he is ready to take it out into the real world for a field test.”
“That’s good to hear, but it’s not going to do much at this moment. We have a drastic situation that not even your prototype can handle. There is an ETO in the middle of the ocean, with no way for aircraft to get near it and no navy to destroy it. Our only chance is to send in men through transport subs, but who knows how risky it could be. Right now the ERA are just planning a defense. It could work, but they have a new type of weapon up in space where we can’t reach it.”
“Have you tried using ICBMs, by any chance?”
“That would do more harm than good,” Harold Marr said darkly. “A nuclear blast in space is the only thing strong enough in our arsenal that might take it out. But having something that size and that high would knock out every satellite we have and every electronic under it with its EMP effect. It would leave us sitting ducks while we still have the ETO problem to deal with.”
Demeitri looked at the pictures of the space cannon, Valerie showing him with her handheld. “What would you say if I told you my prototype could take out that space weapon without the use of such drastic measures?”
“You’re crazy,” Marr instantly stated.
Demeitri tossed his head to the side. “True. You have me on that one. But I will cut you a deal. One you won’t regret. Help me get my new super soldier up into space and into the space cannon, and I will give him to you instead of the ERA.”
Marr thought for a second before answering. “... Who is this super soldier you speak of?”
Holding up a finger, Demeitri took in a deep breath. “That is classified, even to you. To anyone, so don’t feel left out.”
There was dead silence for a while before the UMA emblem started to light up again. “I’ll get back to you. Wesleydale, attention.”
The sound of the others rose, their emblems growing back to normal size with the volume of their voices. It was calmer now, but still hard to tell who was who.
“Everyone, stand down!”
The talking stopped instantly. The sound of h
im being angry was made to have that effect on anyone who heard it.
“Wesleydale,” the commander resumed, “how consistent are the shipments to our moon base?”
The Wesleydale emblem flashed as its representative cleared her throat. “Yes, yes. Our Sky Train shipments have not been affected by the Niflheim. Not yet, anyway. With how they are attacking China and the Canadian District, there is no telling how long we have until the Lunar Rail System will be cut off.”
“That is all I needed to know,” Marr stated. There was another pause from him. “... Sindri. I’m giving you one chance and I’m only giving you this chance. Any other offer from you will be rejected instantly. I’ll even kick you out of congress if I have to. We’ll work together on this. You will send your Siegfried prototype to Outerpost Hati and from there, we’ll plan a way to get him into the Niflheim ship and stop this invasion once and for all.”
“That is more than I could ever ask for,” Demeitri slowly said, hiding his inner glee from his words. I’ll send him off right away.”
“Excellent.” Marr’s voice was still troubled. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a congress to quiet down. I am sure you’ll show yourself out, now that you have what you want, as usual.”
“You know me too well, commander.” And with that, he cut the connection, returning the holosphere to an empty orb.
Valerie lowered her handheld, approaching Demeitri with concern. “Do you really think Emich is ready to do such a thing?”
“Of course. Emich’s a brave man. Perhaps too brave, if you ask me.”
“What if he refuses?”
Demeitri scoffed as he crossed his arms. “He can’t refuse. The outcome is simple. Either he dies… or we all do.”
Chapter 10
The moon floated calmly, above a world with a maelstrom swelling from the north. The effect of the Niflheim over the years was always observable from space, the lights gone from where they once were, entire countries absent once night fell. The grey pinwheel swirling over the ETO continued to grow as long as the Yggdrasil was active. As long as the Yggdrasil was there, little hope was given to the chance of stopping this new invasion force. The sky train barely made launch in time, the winds above the site picking up as it was being fired from its magnetic rail port.
