Armageddon Unleashed (Universe in Flames Book 7)

by Christian Kallias

  “Well, he growls and murmurs stuff to himself in Asgardian. From his tone, I think he’s stressed. Also his tattoos are shining at erratic frequencies from time to time.”

  “Why don’t I like the sound of that?”

  “Tell me about it. If Kvasir can’t hack her, nobody can. But before we needlessly worry, we should probably ask him.”

  Yanis pressed a few controls on his holo-console and an intense Kvasir showed up on the holo-projector.

  “I’ve got the cap with us. She’d like to know how things are going. Are we going to jump into the fray anytime soon?”

  “It’s too early for that. Chase needs to involve Gaia 2’s computing resources at least three times over than what he is at the moment, I’m afraid.”

  “How’s your hack progressing?” asked Sarah.

  “Well, the basics are in place. Gaia is looking for her core consciousness using very low-priority threads to avoid showing on her counterpart’s radar, and I’ve put in place and intercepted the call to fire upon the planet. My code returned faked data about the destruction of a major city, and there was no other order, so I think that whatever Chase is doing is working. There’s also a part of Gaia 2’s CPU dedicated to another task. It has lowered in priority, but it seems she finds it important enough to spend a fair amount of CPU cycles on it. It’s highly encrypted and protected, so I can’t peek inside without the risk of being discovered.”

  “Could it be?” Sarah asked.

  “It could,” Yanis answered pre-emptively. “If I was a betting man, I’d say she’s not only fighting Chase but Cedric’s mind as well. It makes sense. Think about it. If he regains control of his mind, with a direct connection to Gaia 2’s matrix with all the implants, he could wreak havoc.”

  “Why doesn’t she simply kill him?” asked Kvasir.

  “Hey! That’s my friend you’re talking about!” barked Yanis.

  Kvasir’s facial tattoos blinked rapidly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean any disrespect, but I just don’t see what his value is to her at this point.”

  “If I may,” said another voice.

  It was Gaia’s avatar on a secondary holo-projector.

  “Sure, go ahead,” said Sarah.

  “Well, Cedric’s body is the last functioning piece of tech she has on Earth. The EMP took everything else out of the equation. Also, his mind contains information about most of us; she may still value having that information for the time being.”

  “Now that answer makes a lot more sense. Thank you, Gaia,” said Kvasir.

  “Let’s hope so,” said Yanis. “Which means there’s still a chance to rescue him.”

  “The moment I’m done with my consciousness rescue operation, I’ll try to get more info on Cedric,” said Gaia.

  “Very well,” said Sarah. “Keep me informed, all of you.”

  Before anyone could answer, Gaia’s holo-screen blinked red.

  “I’m sorry. I must go,” said Gaia in an unnerving tone.

  “What is it?” asked Sarah.

  “I believe Chase needs my help.”

  Her holo-transmission turned off, and Sarah felt a knot form in her stomach.

  When Chris opened his eyes the first thing he noticed was that he wasn’t hurting anymore. The pain from the treatment had been intense for so long he had lost track of time. But now that he was breathing with ease again and pain free, he felt as light as a feather.

  His jaw was sore, but that wasn’t surprising as he had spent many hours clenching his teeth as he suffered through the pain. There were no longer tubes in his arms.

  “Good, you’re up,” said Argos.

  “Yeah, and feeling pretty darn good about it too. I guess I have you to thank for that.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “So,” said Chris yawning, with both arms extended to his sides, “did it work?”

  “I’m awaiting the final results of the last batch of tests, but I’m pretty confident your rapid aging is a thing of the past.”

  Chris was relieved to hear that. Even though he hadn’t shown it to others, he was getting worried about his decision to alter his DNA. From the few weeks since he had been born, he had been enjoying life and all it had to offer.

  While giving his life to make sure the Furies were destroyed was a price he had always been willing to pay, now that he had experienced life as a child, adolescent and finally a young adult, he would have hated for it to keep flying in front of his eyes, with little to no time to enjoy any of it more fully, as any sentient being was meant to. Life was truly a precious gift, one he was looking forward to experiencing at a normal pace from now on.

  “That’s good. I’d hate to think I went through all this for nothing. Any news of my father? Have we defeated Gaia 2? I haven’t managed to keep track of time while you treated me.”

  “Perfectly normal. You were dosed with strong radiation, and the amount of pain you were in would have that effect on you. Regarding your father, I don’t have much news. All I know is that he entered Gaia 2’s matrix and engaged her, whatever that means. The fleet is still waiting for either his or Kvasir’s green light to make the last leg of the jump back to Earth.”

  “Then perhaps we should see if my dad could use some help?”

  “We would require the ability to enter technology with our minds for that to happen.”

  “I can do that as well, and when we have time I’ll show you how, if you want. But for the time being, let’s see if I can bring you along for the ride.”

  “How do you propose we test this? I don’t think jumping into Gaia 2’s matrix unprepared will help your father. We could make things worse.”

  Chris considered it for a while. His uncle was right; going in hastily and unprepared would most certainly result in disaster.

  “Yeah, let’s go see either Yanis or that Kvasir guy. Maybe they can help us with that.”

  Ares felt useless. There wasn’t anything he could do to help Chase, and not for lack of trying. He had tried for almost an hour to focus his thoughts on Chase to see if he could lend him a hand but he couldn’t get a lock. That was probably because Chase’s consciousness wasn’t with his body.

  Ares didn’t like being a witness on the sidelines while his friend risked his life. He also worried that, with all that had happened lately, the Furies had carte blanche to expand and build more ships, which could prove fatal to the frail Earth Alliance.

  But Earth’s survival was paramount. His sister had predicted that if Earth fell, so would most of the living beings in the universe.

  Aphroditis.

  He missed his sister very much, and hated that there wasn’t anything he could do for her. The moment the Gaia 2 crisis was over, they’d have to reconsider mounting some sort of rescue mission. If they could get her out of that infernal machine, then perhaps it would send the Furies back into dimensional exile.

  Though Ares agreed with Chase on that front: hiding the Furies under a rug as Zeus had was not a desirable option; even if right now it seemed better than the reality they were faced with. No, Chase was right, they needed to deal with the Furies once and for all this time.

  Since Zeus had lifted his spell on him, all of Ares’ energy had returned and he could again travel vast distances in the blink of an eye.

  He longed to have a one-to-one talk with his father about everything that had happened, about Oryn being his half sister, and to square things between them. But that wasn’t an option for the time being. No matter how much that ate at his soul, he had to refrain from letting Zeus discover that he also knew of his mating with a Fury female.

  If Zeus learned that, he would most likely retract his forces by ordering Athena to come home, and that could have catastrophic repercussions. So for the time being, at least, Ares shelved the matter, and pushed the questions he wanted to ask his Father into the back of his mind.

  Perhaps instead, now would be a good time to check on his sister and on the progress of the Fury fleet. That was the kind of Int
el that Chase would need once he was done fighting Gaia 2.

  He focused his thoughts on Aphroditis and teleported away from the Hope.

  After the Oryn illusion had been reduced to dust, Chase was now faced with Arakan to deal with inside Gaia 2’s matrix. Chase knew little about the supreme commander, having just a vague idea of his powers thanks to Sarah’s memories of her vision.

  In that vision, Chase had lost his fight with him but was still confident that he could be vanquished. This was not the same fight, but clearly accessing Sarah’s vision in his mind had provided Gaia 2 with a tool to create the most powerful enemy Chase would have to face.

  “So, you’re the traitor Fury that killed my friend, General Arkoolis. We finally meet. I’m looking forward to severing your head from your body,” said Arakan.

  His voice was deep and booming, resonating all around the infinite plane on which Chase stood. When he had emerged from the blood ocean only to get trapped in a regen tank, he had found himself on a Zarlack ship. Obviously, Gaia 2 could only use places inside Chase’s memory, though he wondered if she could use memories he had himself lost.

  Like memories of his life before he had been found on Alpha Prime. Argos had proposed to give him back access to those, which Chase had refused for fear it would overwhelm him when his focus needed to be laser-sharp.

  But he had partially lied to his brother. He feared more than that. Perhaps earlier in his life, Chase had also been on a power trip, and he may not like finding out who he used to be.

  Chase didn’t see the point in answering Arakan, though he wondered whether engaging Gaia 2’s illusions helped or hindered his goal of forcing her to use more of her computing resources.

  He needed to know. He mentally linked with Kvasir.

  How are we doing CPU wise?

  Right now Gaia 2 is using about thirty percent of her computing resources dealing with you.

  That’s nowhere near enough.

  I agree. How are you coping inside her matrix? Your vitals seem pretty strong at the moment so I assume it’s going well.

  For the time being, yes, but perhaps I’m playing it too safe. I’m not really engaging with the illusions she throws at me, and eventually she tries different ones. Do you think I should change my tactics?

  I’m afraid so, Chase. I think you need to get more emotionally involved with whatever you’re presented with to bait Gaia 2 into thinking that whatever she is doing is working. Otherwise it might take time we don’t have, and we might have to change our entire game plan. I would also think the grander the battlefield, the more resources it will take for her to generate. So unless you can get her to interact with you more, my recommendation is that we jump in with the fleet and attack her on two fronts; you from the inside, and the rest of us from the outside.

  She will detect this and will surely inflict serious damage to the planet. I’m nowhere near done with her. I’m just getting started.

  I know, Chase, but there is also the possibility you’ll tire way faster than she will. You need to crank things up in there. Right now she doesn’t see you as enough of a threat. She may be content to just keep you at bay and bide her time to grow. We can’t allow that.

  Right. Thanks for the status, Kvasir. How is your hack progressing?

  Slowly. My ability to move undetected is inversely proportional to her level of scrutiny. Right now I can only do a few low-level hacks. Once you get her to use fifty percent or more of her resources, I will be able to make more aggressive moves, and access more of her systems.

  Understood. Chase out.

  Chase closed his eyes, took a deep breath and decided to stop treating what he was seeing as just illusions. Obviously, he was protecting himself well that way, but it didn’t accomplish his primary goal of pushing Gaia 2’s CPUs.

  Chase re-opened his eyes and stared at Arakan’s livid eyes.

  “Hey, asshole, why don’t we drop the introductions and get to the good part?”

  Arakan frowned and unleashed a growl that made the ground tremble.

  Chase launched himself and unleashed a series of combos but hit nothing but air. Arakan was way faster than he thought, and soon Chase was catapulted backwards to the ground.

  When he looked up, Arakan was homing in on his position, knee first. Chase rolled to the side at the last moment and backflipped to an upright stance.

  Fighting on an infinite plane was disconcerting. Chase couldn’t get his bearings. This thought transformed the entire view around him, and he was in the dry desert plains on Earth where he had trained.

  That’s much better.

  His thoughts had created this new environment, and this gave him an idea. He added mountains all around, and they were now in a close-quarter fight, with tall cliffs on every side.

  “You’re fast, traitor,” said Arakan.

  “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

  They exchanged blows and fireballs, deflecting them before they could do any harm, creating large holes in the orange-toned cliffs.

  Chase turned Ultra-Fury and landed his first hits, propelling Arakan hard into the mountain. A large, circular crater formed on impact, creating a giant dust cloud. Arakan emerged from it and landed hits of his own at increasing speed. Chase felt he was being bludgeoned by hundreds of punches, unable to anticipate the next one, and soon the pain became unbearable.

  He unleashed a powerful shockwave all around, accompanied by an inhuman roar that turned rocks into dust and successfully repelled Arakan.

  Chase wiped his mouth and saw a large quantity of blood on his palm.

  Arakan levitated and came to within a few feet of Chase, an evil smile on his face. His eyes glowed red.

  “If this is all an Ultra Fury can do, I’m not impressed,” he snorted.

  Chase extended both arms to his sides and used telekinesis to dislodge large chunks off the cliffs. With a powerful motion, he smashed them together with Arakan in the middle.

  Unprepared for this tactic, the supreme commander of the Furies was hit but, when the dust subsided, he was still there.

  “You’re going to regret—”

  Chase didn’t let him finish. He teleported in front of him, sending him high in the sky with a powerful kick. He followed in pursuit and shot multiple fireballs that hit Arakan and affected his upward trajectory.

  They were miles high when Chase teleported into Arakan’s path and smashed him back towards the ground.

  Arakan fell like a shooting star and crashed into the ground, creating a massive shockwave, destroying the landscape for miles around and creating planet-wide tremors.

  8

  “I told you to watch your daughter! She wants to control you,” said the shadowy figure.

  Arakan was furious. His palace had been destroyed, both his children were missing, and nobody could give him a straight answer about what had transpired that night.

  “And I thought I told you I don’t want your advice anymore,” said Arakan.

  “That’s the drugs talking. I told you Oryn is manipulating you with these. You didn’t take them for two days and I’m back.”

  “Which should only prove you’re a figment of my imagination. When I’m off my meds, I start losing it.”

  “We both know that’s not true. You’re attuned to me ever since the time your race spent in the alternate dimension. When you take the treatment, it dulls your senses just enough so you can’t see or hear me anymore.”

  Arakan wasn’t sure of anything anymore, but waking up to find parts of the palace destroyed hadn’t been a pleasant surprise. Oryn and Miseo were missing, as was the latest destroyer out of the shipyard in orbit.

  Had his children stolen the warship? And if so, why?

  What did it all mean? Was Oryn responsible for all of this? Arakan was more inclined to think that Miseo had once more created this mess. He had been very volatile lately and had failed every mission given to him. Perhaps he’d taken Oryn hostage.

  “What are you going to do about it
?” said the shadow.

  “I’ll deal with my children later. For the time being, I still need to prepare my plan and finish what Miseo and Argos couldn’t.”

  “Destroying Droxia while it’s still rebuilding is a good move. You’ll cut the Earth Alliance’s near-endless supply of quadrinium, and it should slow them down.”

  It would also put fear into the hearts of any neighboring systems. While the Earth Alliance tried to understand what had happened, Arakan could attack his next target. Even though the fleet had grown in size at a satisfying rate for weeks now, the supreme commander wasn’t yet ready to take on the Earth Alliance directly. Especially now that the devious Olympians had entered the fray. Their ships were at least as strong as the Furies’.

  Olympus. Take it out, and this war would be all but over.

  “You’re not ready to take on Olympus. And don’t forget the Asgardians. They might be easier to deal with first,” said the shadow.

  Would they?

  Arakan’s shadow advisor was probably right. But Arakan wanted to kill Zeus with his bare hands above all else. He still couldn’t stomach the fact that he had soiled his wife.

  “I want revenge!” shouted Arakan, his voice echoing throughout the large throne room.

  “And you shall have it, Supreme Commander. But patience will be rewarded. The Olympians are too strong still. Once you have a hundred ships, you can wipe them out with ease. This is not a sprint. Time is actually on your side.”

  “Yes,” said Arakan with a big smile. “Soon the entire universe will burn.”

  “As it should. But what of Oryn?”

  “What of my daughter?”

  “I’m telling you, she is conspiring against you.”

  “Silence!”

  “Why is it so hard for you to admit it? She’s half Olympian, after all.”

  “She’s still a Fury.”

  “Yes, but your blood doesn’t run through her veins. If she ever learns of your deception, she could be a terrible thorn in your side.”

  “And what do you propose I do about it? She’s not even here.”

  “She will have to come back eventually. When she does, perhaps it’s time to put her to rest.”