Executor Rising: A GameLit/LitRPG Adventure (Magnus Book 2)

by Vowron Prime

  But Nova frowned—never a good sign. “It is not nearly enough,” she said, staring at her scanner. “While the suit’s passive stealth capabilities do indeed present a smaller signature than the other suits, this primitive optical illusion will not be nearly enough to fool Dyn sensors. Enable your energy dampener’s stealth field, please.”

  He did so. The readings plummeted to zero. He didn’t need to see the readout to know—Nova’s expression said it all.

  “Guess that means I’ll have to keep the energy dampener active the entire time,” he called out over the suit’s speakers.

  “If all goes according to plan, you should not be in space too terribly long, though I would still avoid as many sensors within the station as possible. While Dyn sensory technology is not overly dependent on visuals, I do not want you to take any more risks than is necessary.”

  “Yes, ma’am. The fewer firefights I get into up there, the better. There’s another problem, though. Midar doesn’t work from inside the suit.”

  “I see. That would make sense. I imagine your Midar pings are being blocked by the suit itself. I am unsure exactly how your ability works, but I assume your own body acts as a transmitter and receptor for your pings. Can you try to initiate the pings from outside of the suit?”

  “Never thought about that, to be honest. I doubt it.”

  He gave it a shot, but as expected, his first attempt failed. As did the second and third. He tried another tack. He concentrated on his cybernetic arm, which lay outside of the suit. By directing his pings through the arm itself, he was able to successfully bypass the suit’s restriction.

  “Got it. Well, not through the suit, but my left arm’s now acting as the ping transmitter and receiver. I’ve got no idea how that’s possible, but it works. Not like I’m going to be sending any pings up at the station, though.”

  “Still, it is good that you’ve found a solution. Now, let’s get you out of the suit.”

  Unlike the X42 that conveniently rippled open, this one had more rudimentary clasps and seals that each needed to be undone before he could peel himself out. It was also claustrophobic as hell. Both Nina and Nova had to assist him, making him feel like one of those ancient knights removing steel plate armor.

  Wrapping up in the hangar, the trio made their way back to the CIC to discuss the plan’s details. Nova took the lead.

  “We shall track your progress from this room, where we will be in contact the entire time. Because the portal will be strapped to the suit’s back the entire time, and given that your energy dampener blocks energy from traveling both in and out, we will have our own little communication bubble. In essence, the distance from here to you in space will be no more than just a few feet.”

  She played with the controls, causing the hologlobe’s projection to zoom in on the orbiting space station.

  “Once you step through the portal, I will remotely control your suit to accelerate on an intercept course with the orbiting station. Once the maneuver is complete, your velocity should perfectly match the station’s own, allowing you to then teleport right next to it.

  “Once at the station, there are a number of access points you could use, but the least detectable position would be the docking collar used for planetary transport shuttles. You will not be able to leverage Midar, so I have chosen a location with the thinnest walls, minimizing the risk of a blind jump.”

  The image magnified further, highlighting the cylindrical collars that jutted out like arms from the station’s central shaft.

  “It’ll be a bit risky to breach the station without Midar active, but I guess that’s a risk I’ll have to take. Ripping open the door and venting the station doesn’t seem like a great way to go unnoticed.”

  Nova nodded. “It should not be an issue. The docking collar’s airlocks remain empty when not in use. Such a short jump should be safe for you, even if done blind.

  “Once inside, follow the map on your HUD to make your way to the central power core,” she continued. “I will then enter your portal to interface directly with their console and sabotage the plant’s early warning mechanisms.”

  “Don’t suppose your people would have a handy self-destruct button to help us out?”

  Nova smiled, amused. “Of course not, but your actions will set into motion a chain reaction that will overload the reactor cores, though it will take several minutes to build. That should be more than enough time for you to retreat through the portal, after causing a distraction to allow the Dyn onboard the station to evacuate.”

  “Whoa, whoa, hold up a sec. We’re letting them evacuate?”

  “They are innocents, Magnus! You cannot simply kill them because it is easy.”

  “It’s safe. And logical. And it’s not like we’re talking about helpless Zevan here. They’re the enemy! Let them live and for all you know, they could go on to research tech that might get us killed one day.”

  “Or they may be thankful for your mercy and you may find yourself new allies.”

  MC snorted. Fat fucking chance.

  “I gotta agree with Nova here, Magnus. Think about it from a diplomatic angle for a sec; you’ll never be able to prevent word of their deaths from getting out, not without an army you don’t have. If you ever want to negotiate with Nova’s people in the future, you’ll be closing that door. But if you at least give them a warning, we can say that you attempted to minimize casualties and that the destruction of the station was a form of proactive self-defense. You have no idea how far that kind of thing goes at the diplomacy table.”

  That sounded farfetched, but it wasn’t as if he couldn’t see their point.

  “It is a moot point,” Nova chimed in. “The imminent collapse of the core will prompt an evacuation, regardless of any tampering I do.”

  After a few more back and forths, MC finally relented, with a few conditions—he was going to take out any Ultimators that crossed his path, and given that they had the blueprint of the station, they knew exactly where the high-ranking military officers were quartered. Their plan would add one more stop to eradicate as much of their leadership as possible. He’d then retreat through the portal back to Sanctuary right as the station blew.

  “It’s not enough. We need to do more,” he said. “We’re not going to win this war—and make no mistake, we are at war with your people—unless we play dirty. I’m talking guerrilla tactics. Psychological and informational warfare.”

  He pointed to the hologlobe. “There’s gotta be a shit-ton of sensitive intel there, right? Can we steal it? Or corrupt their information somehow? Something to throw a wrench into their plans. Even if it’s slight, I’ll take any win we can get. What’s the most damning thing we could do?”

  The room fell into silence as they considered their options.

  Nina spoke up. “The Zevan enslavement program? Make it public. I’m guessing that it’s a dark, dirty secret, right? Confidential intel? Just think of what would happen if that leaked to the general Dyn public.”

  “I am unsure,” Nova replied. “It would certainly be shocking news. But whether it would rally my people into action or not, I do not know. Many are loyal to the system in ways you could not comprehend. As much as it vexes me to say, most of my kind do think of the Zevan as lesser life forms. I doubt we would gain many allies.”

  “That’s fine. Between the station’s destruction and leaking the Legatus’s plans, I’d say he’ll have his hands full enough not to be bothered with us for a while. That’ll give us the breathing room we need to build up our power base.”

  “For maximum effect, we should make the leak appear innocuous,” Nova said. “I will seed Sareen’s documents without encryption to make it look like negligence. We can be sure that it will be discovered and publicized.”

  “What if he silences anyone who finds it?” Nina asked, to which Nova shook her head.

  “No, it will be all right. Once I have access to the network, I can place the document in several plausible locations. It will be
impossible to find and silence them all, and regardless, the Legatus will not be actively searching for such a leak. By the time he reacts, it would already be too late.”

  “Well then, I’d say we have a plan. I’d rather get this over with sooner than later—I don’t want another one of your chariots making a flyby while I’m gone.”

  “Magnus, for Nina’s benefit, I believe I should reiterate that destroying the spatial anchor will set off a series of events that will no longer be under our control.”

  “What do you mean?” Nina asked.

  “Destruction of the transit gateway meant disabling Kelruhn’s ability to teleport objects to and from other anchored planets. More importantly, outgoing communications are impossible, so in that regard, it was a safe action to take. Destroying the anchor, however, will completely isolate Kelruhn from the rest of the anchored network. Ships will not be able to transit, nor will communications get through.”

  “That sounds like a good thing, right?” Nina asked. “Fighting against an entire planet sounds hard enough; I can’t imagine what it’d be like to go up against an entire galaxy full of aliens.”

  “Right, princess, that’s exactly why we’re taking it down. Well, that and we want to take down their sat system. But Nova’s point is that while destruction of the teleporter may have gone unnoticed, that won’t be the case for the anchor.” He turned to address Nova. “I’m guessing your people have some kind of mechanism to know when it goes down?”

  She nodded. “Indeed, all anchors are sent regular messages to verify the health of the system. When Kelruhn becomes inaccessible, Ubiquity Prime will most definitely be alerted. I imagine it would take some time for him to send a fleet to investigate, but we can be sure that a fleet will arrive.”

  “How much time are we talking?” Nina asked.

  “About one year, at my best guess. The purpose of the spatial anchor is to enable safe interstellar travel via wormhole. Without it, wormholes become unstable, often ending in disaster. Even if successful, ships can end up in completely random locations without an anchor to guide them.”

  “So, what? They have to get here via conventional means?”

  “No, the Prime’s massive Planetary Assault Carriers are equipped with miniature transit gateways of their own, which can move them and a nearby fleet. Their teleporters are severely range-limited, however, and are capable of performing only short hops before they need to shut off to dissipate the immense heat buildup. I expect it would take any fleet a year to arrive at Kelruhn from the nearest anchored system.”

  “So, one year to defeat the Legatus, find and unite the Resistance, and be ready for whatever the enemy throws our way.”

  “Can you do it?” his sister asked.

  “We don’t have a choice. Fighting the entirety of the Dyn is a guaranteed death wish. If there’s any doubt of that, just look at the Resistance. By cutting off Kelruhn, we at least have a chance. A tiny sliver of a chance, but I’ll take what I can get.”

  The two girls nodded.

  “All right. It’s go-time. Let’s do this.”

  Several hours later, MC found himself staring at two one-foot-square portals attached to metal plates taken from some scrap metal. They weren’t nearly large enough to fit the suit, but he’d realized that he could simply teleport through the portal once the other end had been flung into space, which significantly reduced its size requirement. It had the added benefit of reduced mental fatigue and was easier to conceal.

  They’d placed the small portal inside the airlock-style vehicle bay that separated the hangar from the armory. Each door was hermetically sealed and designed to withstand explosions from both directions, so it ought to contain the vacuum of space without issue. Still, MC knew that any untested plan was a broken plan, so he was fully ready to kill the portal if the room didn’t hold.

  After securing one portal by fusing its frame to the wall, MC stood alone in the empty chamber. Taking a deep breath, he reached out with his mind and sucked the other into a wormhole, shooting it out into space somewhere above the planet. It was a total crapshoot—he had no idea where it’d end up, just that it was high enough that it’d take a while before it fell back to the planet.

  The instant he did, the room began to violently depressurize. Air was sucked through the portal into the vacuum of space, causing the other end of the portal to start spinning madly. The spectacle almost made him forget the headache that had just hit him. MC’s magnetic boots activated to prevent him from getting sucked forward, though it was hardly necessary given that the chaos took mere seconds to empty the room of its air.

  To add to the drama, Sanctuary’s atmospheric warning systems began blaring incessantly.

  “Can someone shut that damned thing off?”

  “On it!” Nina replied.

  The alarms cut out.

  “Thanks, princess. How are things looking out there?” MC asked from within the armory’s airlock.

  Nova was silent a moment. “The blast doors appear to be holding. I am detecting no atmospheric leakage from either door.”

  “Suit’s looking good, as well. Was worried about how the arm socket would hold up, but the seal is holding. I’m going to park here for another ten minutes just to make sure everything’s copacetic before heading out.”

  “Understood, Magnus. That seems wise. How is the headache?”

  “So far, so good. I can definitely feel it, but it’s nothing I can’t handle for a few hours. Making the portal smaller was the right call. I don’t know if I want to deal a whole lot more drain than this.”

  He glanced at the air supply display on his HUD—twenty-four hours remained. Plenty of time. In the worst case, Nova and Nina could always operate the drone that they’d tucked into a corner of the room to drop him some extra O2 tanks. Or he could just teleport back to do it himself.

  Taking a few steps, he stood right in front of the abyssal portal. An enveloping darkness devoid of light greeted him, the bleak blackness of outer space. But then the portal spun around to briefly show the planet. He was sorely tempted to throw safety to the wind and get out there, but battle-hardened experience of many years stayed his hand.

  “Al,” he said to Albert, the suit’s AI, “engage active stealth.”

  “Active camouflage… Online.”

  The suit turned invisible, but this time his arm did, as well. Nova had taken it on as a personal challenge to stealth his arm, given how much he complained about having to wear armor or gloves over it. To the disbelief of the other two, she’d actually managed to pull it off using the spare pile of LED emitters he had in storage. Leveraging both the autodoc and machine shop, she managed to jury-rig a system that tied into the M37’s onboard stealth systems, hiding his arm as well as the rest of the suit.

  “Nova, did I ever mention you’re an angel?”

  “You did not. I do remember you calling me by some other names, however.” He was never going to live that one down.

  The ten-minute marker came and went.

  “Well, girls, wish me luck.”

  “Psh. Since when have you ever needed luck? Go kick some alien ass.”

  “Good luck, Magnus. We are monitoring your suit’s video and sensor feeds from here, and we will be in contact at all times. Anything you see, we shall also see. Remember, if there are any issues, retreat through the portal at once.”

  “Copy that, Sanctuary. And relax! If two heads are better than one, what could possibly go wrong with three?”

  “Magnus, why the fuck would you say something like that? You just triggered a flag!”

  “Right… well, I’ve never been to space before. Gotta admit, this is going to be fun. Machine One, out.”

  Twenty

  “Magnus? Earth—no wait, Kelruhn to Magnus, come in! Hellooo?” Nina’s voice crackled through the suit’s comms system.

  “Shut up, princess. Just taking in this view.”

  And what a view it is.

  He gazed up at the giant blue-and-
green ball. Even through his suit’s displays, the sight was awe-inspiring. If the continents didn’t match, he could’ve sworn he was looking at a more ocean-filled Earth. A wave of nostalgia coursed through him, but not like it would have just a month fore. He had his sister now, and even a genius angel on his side. And he had Sanctuary.

  How the tides had turned.

  “Nova, can you spin the suit around?”

  He’d had to teleport in place several times upon exiting the portal, leveraging his ability to impart velocity onto teleported objects, including himself. Except this time, he applied an opposite force to counter the madly spinning portal, eventually bringing him to a stop. Still, the suit’s rockets did a lot better of a job at it than he could.

  A brief burst from the retrofitted rockets had him rotating, and another identical and opposite activation killed his rotational velocity entirely. That let him gaze back into the brightly lit armory through the teleportal.

  Surreal.

  He grabbed the metal plate housing the portal and slotted it into the storage compartment on the suit’s back while Nova spoke.

  “Your suit’s life support systems are functioning as expected. I have calculated your current position, and will now run a program that should put you on a docking trajectory with the station. Please do not attempt to move the suit during this time. In fact, I will disable your motor controls for the time being. You may override at any time by exerting more force than you normally would.”

  “Thanks, Nova. How long until I rendezvous?”

  “Around four hours. We will require regular assistance from your teleports, especially initially as you lose altitude toward the planet. But by the time you reach the station, you will be moving at nearly the same velocity, which should make boarding quite simple.”

  “All right, then. Let’s do this thing.”

  “How is the headache? You do not seem to be in obvious pain, but you would not show it even if you were.”