"Until then, what is your suggestion?" Dryker asked.
"If you would, Alpha." Oberon cocked his head to the Ascendi Alpha's pod, the highest ranking Ascendi of the Anunnaki.
Everyone fixated on the Ascendi's avatar on the central disk. "For the record, I'm going to be objective. This fight among you scions is foolish. Like you, our Ascendi broods are clones of each other. One of the reasons we are so successful is that instead of feuding and scheming, we treat each other as though we’re the same sapient in different living frames."
"Your objectivity is appreciated, but we can't all be so warm-blooded," Oberon said giving a short laugh. It was clear by his tone that he hadn't expected the Ascendi to say that.
"You were raised by us, I would never expect you to be warm-blooded," the Ascendi Alpha said, his avatar on the central platform replaced by a holodisplay of a red, barren-looking planet with the occasional brown sea. Felik recognized it as Wraith even before his nexus told him. "It's important that we maintain a sense of normalcy...and punish those who detract from such. Ever since the StarMaster's death, the Wraiths have been growing bolder and bolder. Based on my protocols, our first move should be to blast them back to their equivalent of Old Terra's stone age."
Chapter 22
KAI
Astro Phoenix was supposed to be dead. As dead as the StarMaster. Deader even since the StarMaster had died only recently. Yet here stood the legendary hero.
Kai didn't move. She just stared at him, trying to stop from gaping.
Not quite six feet tall, he wore a tattered dark gray greatcoat, heavy-looking boots, and leg armor. A forest green alien glyph was emblazoned over his left breast. He looked to be in his late twenties and hadn't aged a sol from the videos she'd watched in her youth. That made sense, though, as this was almost certainly a synthetic frame. Even his bald shaved head and light black beard were the same.
As she met his gaze, his emotionless expression made her want to smack him. His damn eyes were looking straight through her like he wasn't even in the moment. Shit, maybe he wasn't. If the rumors were to be believed, Astro Phoenix had attained a higher level of unity with the Neural Network than any other Engineer. As if on cue, she noticed a certain admirable determination in his eyes.
She swallowed, realizing she had her work cut out for her. Killing him was not an enviable task.
"Hi," he said, hands at his sides.
She fought back a laugh.
"Hi?" Sarvill blurted. "You're a legend. You helped defeat the Minds of Errukav. You're one of the greatest heroes in the universe. The best you got is 'hi'?"
That seemed to give Astro Phoenix pause. A few seconds later, he said, "Hey, what's up?"
"Congratulations, Mr. Phoenix, you're dead," Sarvill said. "According to the rumors, an interstellar telepathic worm wiped you out at the order of the StarMaster."
"Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated," Phoenix said, a warm, nostalgic look spreading across his face.
Kai narrowed her eyes. "You're the one Jace.blek called."
"Yes, and I need to read your mind," he said.
Any average sapient would've cooperated there and then. But she wasn't average. She was the heiress to the Hellion network.
Need. She clung to the word. If he needed something from her, she could figure out a way to use that to her advantage. To eliminate him. His request was odd, too. On top of their ability to warp reality, Engineers were psionic aces. Reading her mind should've been extremely simple. Whether he just wanted her permission or there was something holding him back was a puzzler.
"That's a pretty big ask. Why should I let you in my head?"
"You're right. Because the fate of the universe may be at stake."
"If it were that important you would've read my mind already."
"I think you've got me confused with sociopathic politicians."
"Touche." Kai had to give him props for that. "I don't think you want to go into my head. Haven't you heard? I'm quarantined."
"Then it's a good thing that I don't use a nexus."
"Prove you're really Astro Phoenix first. Tell me why you went AWOL almost fifty solar cycles ago."
"Kai, are you an idiot? This is him." Only Jace.blek would be so rude.
Phoenix pivoted around as if to leave. Kai strode over and grabbed him by the wrist. "Wait."
He froze, his demeanor tense, and she regretted it. Releasing his wrist, she expected him to continue walking. And he did.
"Aren't you Engineers supposed to put emotions aside and be objective and rational?" she barked.
At that, he composed himself and faced her. "You've known me less than five minutes and, in that time, you've shown yourself to be manipulative, disrespectful, and presumptuous. Given that this is the first impression you're choosing to present, I’m not sure that I want to know you any better."
She tucked her hands behind her back. "With all due respect, in the last week, I've lost one of my best friends, discovered my mom screwed over my dad, and learned my network is in shambles. Oh, and I've been betrayed more times than I can count. So pardon my skepticism at the legendary hero of the Great Cosmic Wars coming to save the sol."
"I had hoped my rescuing you would suffice." Phoenix motioned to Jace.blek. "Go ahead. Give her a data node."
She parsed the one that showed up in her feed. It was a lot to take in, and she almost felt a hint of pity. One of his goals after defeating the Minds of Errukav was to train a new generation of Engineers. He knew it would help push the universe closer to his utopian vision. Arteyos had promised to help him with that. But becoming the StarMaster changed him. He had to cater to so many different interests. He let his starkeepers handle the creation of the new Engineer institutes.
They created schools that trained weapons, not Engineers. (An aside in the data node noted that it was likely that 16GX937 had been one of the Engineer-soldiers and used his abilities to reduce the composition of the nest's godweb earlier). Networks like the Starbleeders were allowed to run them and abuse students. Phoenix couldn't be a part of that, so he left to create his own school in secret.
Kai wondered if the Hellion network had its own Engineer-soldiers. If not, that explained how the Starbleeders were able to get the upper hand on them over time. She entertained the notion of scoring weaponized Engineers for the Hellion network. What a way to kick the Starbleeders' ass that would be.
And before long, she would exploit Phoenix’s resentment of the Starbleeders. Not yet, though. First, she had to get closer to him.
"This is about that bogey, right?" she asked.
"I told you she was smart," Jace.blek said.
Kai fought back the urge to snap at him. "Yeah, you think it was the black goo and you want to know everything you can about it."
"That would be helpful to us," Phoenix said.
"You're sure you're not an Engineer?" Jace.blek said to her. She gave him a long look. What the fuck had stuck itself up his ass? Did he even have an ass?
"Can he..."
Phoenix nodded. "Jace.blek, you're a busy sapient with your plans for the Invectials."
"Of course, I'll go back to doing the heavy lifting so that you can take credit for it."
It sounded like playful banter, but her nexus had added a hint of genuine resentment to the translation. Questions tugged at the edge of her mind.
"I warned you the best I could," Phoenix said calmly.
Jace.blek motioned to Kai. "Yes and be sure that you warn her, too."
With that he left.
"I can see why they iced the little toadstool," Sarvill said jovially. "You should dice him up and toss him in some of that food you humans like. What was it called? Spaghet?"
"Spaghetti."
Phoenix's brow furrowed for a moment then his stern eyes fell on Kai.
She took the cue.
"You need my memories of that ship. But truth be told, I couldn't even see it. It was invisible. In its own field." She'd sat in on enough neg
otiating meetings between her parents and other networks to know that sometimes you had to do more than dangle the carrot. You had to offer a bite of it. See how your target reacted to it. Then dangle it some more.
Phoenix's response granted her the useful information she craved. For a moment, he sounded shrewd and unshakable like the wise old master that he was. "That's because you don't have the right lens. Anyone can run their memory like it's a sim. But grant me access to your memory and I'll be able to run tests, analyze it, and discover details about that ship. Even find a way to physically see it."
"That ship killed my ship. He was my friend. Literally. Whatever threat you're fighting, I want to fight it, too. I owe my friend justice. If you let me do that, I'll let you read my mind."
"You'll be in a lot of danger."
"We're in a lot of danger already."
"It won't be easy," he said.
"Good. I like a challenge."
He turned to Raksamat and Sarvill. "What about you two?"
She shot them a meaningful look.
"Of course I'm in," from Sarvill.
Phoenix still hadn't given her a satisfactory explanation about not reading her mind here and now. That suggested that he was okay with letting her accompany him. What did that imply? Probably that he thought she was a threat to the universe to watch. A keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer kind of thinking.
To Phoenix's credit, he was not the naive hero she'd first pegged him to be. She wasn't being totally honest with him. But he wasn't being totally honest with her. Maybe it was a bias from her own background as an inquisitor, but she had a sneaking suspicion that he knew she knew.
What it all meant was that he didn't suspect her of trying to assassinate him. He was so concerned with her chances of letting whatever was in her head corrupt the outside world, that he wasn't considering his own safety.
A spinning black orb formed in Phoenix's palm. Kai watched streaks of blue electricity ringing around it. Without warning, they webbed out at her, Sarvill, and Raksamat.
A chill ran through Kai's body as everything darkened. Suddenly freezing air clawed at every inch of her.
"Fuck!" she said, her breath steaming.
She assumed her frame's climate control system would survive the major drop in temperature, but the cold still shocked her.
Front and center, an utterly silent lake of radiant silver mist spun—a field of living flames, dancing and whipping in one big spiral.
Kai shifted her weight from foot to foot, trying to understand what she was looking at. Her data node on Burkos had briefly mentioned pools of flame-like gases, deep under the planet's surface. This looked to be one of those hollowed subterranean spaces.
But the chamber was so expansive she couldn't even confidently say whether or not it was a chamber. A mess of glaciers and hills of icy formations stretched around them for miles, masking the horizons. Above, a thick layer of dark clouds acted as an endless veil, the wavering reflections of the silver flames running across them all.
Suddenly, the silver maelstrom let loose a twenty-foot high burst.
She whistled low. "Does it do anything besides look pretty?"
"This will take us to my institute," Phoenix said over the rumble of a distant glacier.
"It didn't occur to you that a shiny lake isn't the best hiding place?"
"I wouldn't worry about that. For starters, this entire chamber rightfully belongs to me. Or, at least, the alias I purchased it with. I also infiltrated Burkos's High Council and allotted a very small portion of planetary funds to ensure that no one enters this chamber, let alone the portal, under any circumstances.
Kai angled her head, her face lighting up. "Some would call that corruption."
A flicker of amusement passed through Phoenix's eyes. "Not according to local laws."
Before she could respond, he began snaking his way across the uneven, frozen ground that separated them and the lake of silver mist.
Her thoughts drifted as she and the others hiked after him. Other possibilities for Phoenix taking them under his wing, so to speak, existed. Worse ones. Perhaps he was simply a fake and lacked the ability to read her mind. He'd been quick to call her manipulative. With a sudden, fleeting shot of fear, she considered that he was manipulating her.
"Are you sure this isn't going to kill us?" Sarvill called.
In answer, Phoenix strolled into the silver mist and vanished.
Chapter 23
FELIK
Felik hadn't enjoyed his experience with the Wraiths. He'd even relished seeing this very moment, when the Union Omega—or part of it—decided to put an end to their technological expansion. Yet there didn't appear to be a direct link between the Wraiths and the hacking of Arteyos's ghost. But they would be punished for it.
"I concur with the Ascendi," the Anunnaki Blemu said. Obviously he wasn't biased in supporting his fellow Anunnaki. "We can't allow other star systems to believe they can leave the Union Omega without consequences."
"Look at you, doing the Envoy's job for him," Dryker said.
"Speaking of him, can we stipulate that Felik will allow us the Nassatar's support?" Xerix said.
Felik's surge of anger at the Chief Navigator replaced his concern. Even though he knew it was a ploy, he still resented them trying to make him look like a puppet of the Union Omega.
"We could ask him," the Ascendi Alpha said, all but outright doing so.
What a joke, Felik thought. They had asked him to attend the meeting and join the Watchers network, but they weren't going to offer him the respect they afforded themselves. He might as well have been asleep for all he was doing here.
"Wouldn't using it be overkill?" Hayland interjected, and Felik remembered the warning he'd given him earlier. "The Nassatar's past her battle days. We don't need to tarnish her like that. She's a symbol now, not a weapon of war."
"The Nassatar is a he now," Xerix said snidely. "And a symbol is exactly what we aim to present. So it would in fact be quite useful."
"I trust the Fleet Admiral's protocols on this matter," Dryker said. "Sending the Nassatar out is a bad idea. It makes us look desperate."
Oberon frowned. "You might have a point, but can we really call the Fleet Admiral's judgment objective on this matter?"
"My relation with Felik isn't influencing my decision," Hayland said.
Dryker continued. "Oberon, we should use your fleet and your...Elder One. I think we can all agree that would send the best message."
"There's no love lost on Oberon among the star systems," Har'oosh said. "If we lead with his weapons, it will undoubtedly be a severe blow to his karma."
"Now that would be an injustice," Hayland muttered.
"And there will be a lot more injustices if Megas becomes the StarMaster."
Even as their exchanges pushed Felik to increasing levels of irritation, he kept quiet and tried to find the humor in it.
Felik was taken aback by the directness. Was it a trick question?
Many Anunnaki spoke Basic without a translator and the Ascendi was one of them. His choice of the word "wonts" made Felik wonder how long ago he'd learned it.
More annoyance crept into Felik’s thought bubble than he’d intended
.
There was a lull in the starkeepers' conversation.
Apparently, they'd asked him a question. Felik hadn't been paying attention.
"I fear our conversation wasn't adequately stimulating for him," Xerix said.
"That isn't his fault. It's his neural virus," the Union Omega's Chief Xenobiologist, Iglione, said.
"Felik, you met with the Wraiths not so long ago," Oberon said. "Tell us how willing they seemed to stop their independence movement."
He breathed out slowly, knowing at once what Oberon was really asking him. To justify the assault on them.
"They won't comply with us." He couldn't see a reason to pussyfoot around that. "But they deserve an application of nuance as much as anyone else. We can't destroy them for what happened at the funeral. They're—"
"Spare us your moral opinions," Reyquaza said. "What can you teach us Phaetonians about morality that we haven't already heard a hundred times from a hundred other species?"
"Maybe you would be willing to teach me then."
"If your New Terran brain were capable of it, I could show you a map of the moral mathematics of the universe. You would understand then."
He had to remind himself that the Phaetonians were a lot more powerful than they let on. And that he was only one sapient against Reyquaza, an avatar for the big collective consciousness that was the Phaetonian species.
"I believe Felik presents a fair point. We should show nuance to the Wraiths," Oberon said. "And that's why we are offering them a chance to comply with our demands. If their response is not to our liking, we wipe them out."
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