by Ivan Kal
“I know, but we can’t wait any longer. I’ll speak with the Seventh. He should be ready.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Year 718 of the Empire — Galactic Core
Aranis evaded another missile. Already he had been hit several times, and he knew that he couldn’t allow any more such attacks. It was costing him too much at a time when he needed to be at his best. He fired off an attack and intercepted a missile, detonating it before it could reach him. He felt Adrian retreat, and wondered what other tricks he had up his sleeve.
Aranis was done with underestimating his opponents. Doranis was dead, and their mission was in danger. He prepared to bend space and go to the Conduit when Loranis reached out to him in panic.
“What is it?” Aranis asked.
“The Fleet!” she yelled at him. And then Aranis saw. He saw space burning, and he saw ships dying.
* * *
The Seventh prepared its forces for the right moment. Adrian had informed it that he thought it was time. The Seventh had been wondering when Adrian was going to decide to use their trump weapon. It knew the plan, knew that they wanted to draw as much of the enemy forces from the planet that housed the weapon. But the Enlightened weren’t biting—they weren’t going to move enough ships. The bulk of their force was there, but there were many ships all around it, blocking avenues of approach, for a large fleet of ships at least. But a smaller group might be able to stay close enough and get to the planet. The problem was that they would most certainly be overwhelmed eventually.
Adrian seemed to think that there was no other choice. So the Seventh sent out orders, getting its forces ready and positioning them as needed. The machine ships did the same, and the Black Swarm contracted and separated into sections.
Adrian told him it was coming. Everything was ready.
The new battle platforms, massive ships that were built in the facilities of the Custodian AI according to its specifications, moved to the forefront of the fleets. So far they’d been keeping them back, to prevent their loss. They only had three of them, and they were integral to their plan. The Custodian AI had been researching many different technologies—new weapon systems, defense arrays, propulsion, everything and anything, and many of these things Iris had continued working on. A few of the projects, such as this one, she even managed to complete.
The Seventh kept close watch through Araxi’s senses. Its orders were already sent to every ship in its fleet, and every Krashinar beast knew what to do. There was not going to be a need for the Seventh to order anything.
And then he felt it happen. The three ships activated their arrays, and a massive disruptor field that spread through subspace, and disrupted the skim-nullifying field. In that moment, everything seemed to happen at the same time. Every vessel on its side fired their skim missiles, filling space with millions of them in a short period of time. Then every vessel skimmed forward, changing positions and closing the distance. The Krashinar fleets reached close range to the bulk of the Enlightened forces and the Black Swarm appeared above them, but the Nomad Fleet—or, rather, a large formation of Nomad Fleet ships along with some Krashinar great beasts—skimmed into high orbit over the planet. There wasn’t much room, but Adrian’s attack with Moirai just a few minutes before had been intended in part to create enough room that a force could skim inside. Several thousand ships opened fire immediately, some on the shield that surrounded the planet, others at the ships around them. Skim missiles filled the space, but the Enlightened had realized that the field was down, and were firing back.
But by then, the damage had been done.
The first strike was devastating. The Enlightened were hurting, and they were hurting bad. The Seventh moved to capitalize on that advantage just as the skim-nullifying fields came back on-line. The disruptors didn’t last for long, but it had been enough.
* * *
Iris was lost in the battle, her mind pulled in a million different directions. But inside her new core she had the time and the processing power to accomplish all of it and more. A part of her guided the Black Swarm to collapse on the formation of Enlightened ships, the drones that made up the swarm crashing into them and cutting them into pieces as if they were materials to be harvested. The powerful plasma cutters broke the Enlightened ships apart, and the back line of her swarm reformed into the massive md cannons. Their shots put holes in formations all around them.
Her machine ships were taking a beating, but the Enlightened knew how to fight against them. They had done so for a long time. The machine ships were not as advanced, nor were they as important, however, and she used them to shield the Krashinar from incoming fire.
But another part of her was with Adrian, inside of her armor, looking through his implant. He and Moirai joined back in the fight, gunning straight for Aranis, and Iris used the armor’s features to help as much as she could.
* * *
Adrian left the confines of Moirai and appeared next to Aranis. Without giving him a chance to react, he slammed a kinetic blast into him, using Moirai as a focus. It sent the Enlightened flying into the distance, and then Ryaana appeared next to him. She wore an older version of his armor, and next to her were several balls filled with compressed water. He saw her use her power to excite the water and turn it into plasma, which she threw at Aranis.
The Enlightened managed to deflect, then grab a piece of a destroyed ship and hurl it at them. Adrian didn’t even bother blocking; Moirai disintegrated the debris with one of her cannons easily. He flew after him, pointing his hands at him and firing an anti-matter annihilation beam. His forearms held compressed gas, which he could use to easily execute the attack.
Aranis raised a powerful shield, but the attack still managed to damage him. Then Ryaana was there, the containers floating around her spewing plasma into Aranis’s face. The Enlightened fought back, slamming Ryaana back with a kinetic attack. Moirai fired her weapons, her hull blazing with light.
Aranis raised a shield, but even he couldn’t protect from so much fire. His shield barely held, and then missiles fired by the Seventh, dropped out of the skim. The ship-grade skim missiles slammed into Aranis’s shield and Adrian saw his shield get blown to bits. The explosions hit his body, sending him flying through space, his body burning. Adrain followed, he bent space and appeared next to him his armor firing plasma at him even as he converted the particles in his forearm and prepared another anti-matter beam. Aranis turned around, sending a wave of energy at the weapons fire coming at him, dispelling it. Adrian looked at him, saw Arnis’s eyes fill with anger. The skim missiles had blown off one of his wings and his entire body was scorched.
Adrian fired the anti-matter annihilation. Aranis opened his mouth as if to roar, but in space there was no sound. His body glowed with energy as dark matter surrounded him. Adrian’s attack smashed into it and everything went white. He blinked his eyes, trying to repair the damage. A moment later he was able to see, and just in time. Aranis appeared in front of him, his hands covered with dark matter. Aranis stabbed at him, and he barely managed to turn in time. The dark matter wave barely missing him. Aranis followed up with his second hand, and Adrian knew that he wasn’t fast enough to react. But then Ryaana was there, she slammed a kinetic wave into his side, and Aranis’s attack went wide. He turned his eyes to Ryaana and then beat his remaining wing at her. The kinetic wave forced her to bend space away.
Adrian took the opportunity to regroup. He reached for Moirai and she answered. The gravity around Aranis twitched and then bent, collapsing onto him as Adrian guided Moirai’s great power. Aranis curled up as the force of her attack threatened to crush him. Adrian felt his mind tremble as he kept the attack focused on the Enlightened.
Ryaana appeared next to him and sent a blast of plasma, but the gravity was so intense that it fizzled out before it even reached Aranis.
Adrian saw Aranis’s remaining wing break, his carapace cracking. And then he roared with his mind, and Adrian barely managed to shield both Ry
aana’s and his mind. Aranis exploded with power and Adrian lost hold on the attack, Moirai feeling some of the backlash. Aranis floated in the void, his eyes bloodshot and glaring at them. He pointed his arms at them and a red energy snapped at them. Adrian and Ryaana raised shields and defended themselves. And Aranis took the opportunity to flee.
Aranis moved, bending space and reappearing beneath the planetary shield. Adrian cursed inside his head as he felt Aranis move away from the battle and toward the massive structure. He needed to go after him, but all around him the battle raged. Moirai was being hit with so many weapons from so many ships that not even she could survive for long. The other ships around them were having the same problem. Titans, Dreadnoughts, great beasts—all of them were under attack.
He looked for Lurker of the Depths and found him and his ship engaged with Loranis and her Living-ship. He wasn’t going to be able to help anyone if he went after Aranis, but he knew that he couldn’t let the Enlightened go. He reached out to Ryaana, and then Moirai. With Moirai’s power he bent space and they reappeared inside the planetary shield. Under his guidance, Moirai opened fire on the structure, bathing it in weapons fire, but it quickly became apparent that whatever it was made out of—the insane matter compression, or who knew what other reason—made it completely invulnerable to Moirai’s weapons.
Adrian looked to Ryaana, who was floating next to him at the edge of the atmosphere.
“What are we going to do?” Ryaana asked.
“We need to go after him. I had hoped Moirai would be able to destroy the weapon, but it looks like we aren’t so lucky,” Adrian said.
“What about Lurker of the Depths?”
Adrian cast his senses toward his former teacher. He saw that Loranis and his ship were getting closer to the planetary shield as they were pounding each other. He could feel their mental battle reverberating through the Sha. “He’s keeping Loranis busy. Come on, let’s go.”
* * *
Lurker of the Depths was doing everything he could to keep the forces around him alive, giving Adrian and Ryaana time to deal with the other Enlightened or destroy the weapon. He was both fighting off Loranis as well as fighting against her forces. He was trying to influence the Created around them, or rather force them to kill themselves. It was impossible to take command of a Created’s mind, as the Enlightened had made them so that any attempt to get into their heads and recover memories would result in their death, and that was exactly what Lurker of the Depths was trying to achieve. If he pushed enough, they would just die from the countermeasure.
But Loranis wasn’t staying still. Not only were her ships focusing on his, she was constantly testing his mind for weakness. Lurker of the Depths was starting to feel the fatigue on his mind, and he could only hope that she felt the same.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Year 718 of the Empire — Galactic Core
Lurker of the Depths swam the ocean of Sha with his mind. His battle with Loranis was heating up, and he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to hold her off for long. All around him, other ships were dying to keep his own safe. Weapons fire scorched their hulls, and missiles exploded against their shields. Their task force wasn’t going to last for much longer. Elsewhere in the system the battle had exploded with violence—the trick that allowed them to skim had taken the enemy by surprise, but now a new balance was being found. The Seventh was pushing forward, forcing the Enlightened forces back, but they were not going to reach the planet anytime soon, and they couldn’t shut down the skim-nullifying field again for a while. That meant that they were on their own. Adrian and Ryaana were pursuing Aranis, and his job was to keep Loranis busy.
But by the way she was fighting, he could tell that it wasn’t going to be easy. She wasn’t interested in being distracted, and he could feel that she was going to force a true battle soon. The only chance he had was to force it before she did. Her ship was close to his, firing on him, but both had too many support ships around them for either to go down easily. Lurker of the Depths started sending mental probes toward her mind, small things that he knew could never break through her mind, and designed only to keep her distracted while he prepared the real attack.
He gathered himself and his power, pulling from deep within himself. The Sha state allowed him great power, but ultimately a battle of minds was decided by will. Loranis started sending attacks back, and he could tell that she was getting annoyed—and then he felt her attack him with a stronger attack, one designed to break into his mind.
The moment the attack arrived, Lurker of the Depths dropped his defenses and reached out. He felt her surprise and realization as he wrapped his mind around her tendril of power and pulled. In an instant, he pulled her mind into his own, pulling her directly into his construct: the place that he had built inside of his mind, the place where he was most powerful. Inside his mind he appeared deep in the waters beneath the ocean of his home world, inside the vast caverns that existed beneath the ocean bed. Across from him appeared his foe, the avatar of Loranis.
“You think that you can win just because you succeeded in bringing me here?” Loranis asked.
Lurker of the Depths didn’t respond. He was focusing on crafting his attack, and he knew he had no chance if he didn’t go all out from the start.
“You are strong,” Loranis said as she swam around, her avatar not at all obstructed by the water and the pressure. Of course it was only a projection of her mind, but weaker minds would’ve had difficulties staying in an environment that was hostile to them, and he knew that Loranis had never been aquatic. “But you are young. I have faced so many opponents over my lifetime that I have lost count. I’ve learned from the best of the People, until I rose to be the best myself. I taught the greatest of our telepaths, and still they were barely able to stand next to me. Do you really think you will be any different? The Sha state does much for Sha users, but it doesn’t level the playing field between telepaths.”
Lurker of the Depths ignored her as he prepared his most powerful attack. He reached deep inside of himself, to his own memories, to his own feelings and hurt. To the moment when he realized that his race had committed genocide based on a lie, when they had believed that the Song of the Universe itself had wanted them to kill other races that couldn’t hear it, races that had no telepathy. It was a moment when much of his kind had broken, when they took their own lives rather than live with the guilt.
But now Lurker of the Depths used that sorrow, that guilt and hurt, and made it the focal point of his existence. He bundled up all of his memories, and added all those of his people. The Sowir were a telepathic race that shared everything—to them, all of that hurt was magnified a thousand fold as each of them felt the hurt of every one of their kind. They felt their kin as they killed themselves, as they raged and lost their minds, as they fell into crippling depression. Lurker of the Depths bore pain of an entire species, and he was going to end this creature by bringing its crushing weight to bear.
“You are not going to speak? Not going to say anything?” Loranis asked. He could tell that she was suspicious, wary of him.
Finally, his attack was done, and he was ready. “I have a gift for you,” Lurker of the Depths said. The last person he used this attack on had been Valanaru, the Weaver of the Erasi, a telepath of amazing power. It was she who had named Adrian Heart of the Mountain, and his attack had nearly crippled her, and that was before he could enter the Sha state, when he had used the attack from some distance away. Now, Loranis was inside of his mind and both of them were in the Sha state. His attack was going to be far more powerful than that one had been.
“A gift?” Loranis asked, and he felt her preparing for an attack.
He threw his mind at her and pushed his attack at her. The suddenness and the violence of it took her off guard, and his attack bashed through her defenses and into her mind. A moment later, she screamed, her mind fighting to contain the pain of an entire species, the weight of an entire race. Her mind struck out bl
indly, one of her tendrils manifesting as a burning whip of molten lava around her. It lashed out and hit him, sending him flying back into the cavern wall. His mind, already weakened from him using the attack, took another hit and he felt pain as his mental construct shuddered around them.
But Loranis stood in the center of his construct, the water that filled the cavern spinning wildly around her. He tried to attack her, but the whirlpool of mental energy around her was so violent that nothing managed to get through. And then a blast escaped her, the water around her rushed out, being forced out of the cavern, leaving them floating in space. Lurker of the Depths grabbed on to the wall with his third arm and wrapped his tentacles around the jagged edges sticking out. Then he realized that he didn’t need to do that—this was all happening in his mind. He had exhausted himself more than he’d realized if he managed to forget that, even for a second. He pushed of the wall and floated closer. Loranis looked ragged but she didn’t seem otherwise injured.
“I see now what Aranis warned us about, how Doranis died,” Loranis said bitterly. “You are dangerous. It’s been… No, I have never faced any telepath who could create such an attack. Not even Aranis or Doranis are capable of doing something like that. It was…amazing, and you have my respect. But did you really think that I wouldn’t be able to survive such pain? Such grief?” Her laughter filled his mind. “Little child, I’ve watched as my race died of an illness that we couldn’t cure. I’ve watched my family, my lover, my children, my closest friends die from it, their bodies decaying and falling apart from the inside as I held their hands and felt their pain. And since then I’ve seen and felt so much more. I’ve felt every mind that my Created have killed, entire planets worth of agony and hate. And I bear it all—I bear it because I believe that there is no other way to save everyone.”
