Four hours later;
Erik felt a tug on the escape pod and the crew was happy to see a ship of friendlies finally appearing on the camera attached to the bunker itself, The fortress was gone, and they were happy to be saved they stepped into the massive ship that had several bunkers stacked on top of eachother, and they jumped out from the bunker to slowly glide toward the ground, they landed softly and then activated the magnetic connection to the steady himself on the massive steel floor. "It's not going great out there, we just lost every station and every settlement in the system, Not counting the millions of ships trying to kill that damn Vanguard fortress."
Seyla stood in the center of the chamber and spoke to the closest allies they had in this corner of the universe which were the "Cyr" Sentient AI's that were extremely peaceful but still hunted down by most organics, her husband S-4XN-001 which he introduced himself as was also a target for most organic alien lifeforms, they had only recently begun the route of diplomacy after a massive space battle that in sued the losses of billions of Alien ships of at least 20 different races, They had to tolerate him and Seyla was the go-between which managed to explain the system of the warriors and how they were still organic beings which had saved themselves from further engagements, they were officially at war, but they could not phantom how they even lost. 2000 warrior ships just killed over a billion ships and still left the battle unscathed and unmolested, it terrified the aliens immensely and the Cyr which had been hunted across this galaxy finally found an ally they could trust and depend on.
She was in middle of negotiations with the different races about a peaceful coexistence which was a big no-no after countless wars involving the Cyr, They had been a slave race to the many alien empires in this corner of the galaxy and now they were mostly a servant race under her husband under her protests, they had volunteered, and they now severed with a undivided and focused goal to serve the new master of this part of the galaxy, Seyla had taught them that worship was problematic, and they should show gratitude in being kind to others instead to repair their trust, She was a visitor here and her sons went to the big galactic school which encompassed all the races which she liked, they could show their kind and soft side which was impossible to see from her husband at all, he was always focused on the path of the least resistance if killing enough aliens would stop their harassment, he would start killing them till his goals were achieved which she tried to counter act with her diplomatic side.
The meeting was unfruitful since she could see the fear and anger on most of the aliens faces and how could they not? Her husband had wiped out their massive fleets without taking a single loss using the newly built Dreadnought's that were impossible to kill, she had sent one to her son Daniel but not before adding an extra passenger namely a Cyr named Anna, or Adaptive Android-601553x434, Which was a mouthful, she had named her Anna and the Cyr cried in happiness which was chosen, there had been calls of celebration across the Cyr cities which were protected by her husbands massive fleet and powerful shield generators, the aliens would scout the system regularly but even they knew it was a bad idea when they saw billions of ships in the system showcasing he was serious about protecting the Cyr. Anna smiled and boarded the Dreadnought, She would help her masters son pilot and control it according to his will for as long as he requested which could be a day or a thousand years, Cyr like most humans lived forever and death were mostly in freak accidents since they were all connected to a giant server which was housed now onboard a mother ship using the latest portal technology which meant it was unstoppable and un defeatable, it could detect approaching ships by days in advance and simply had to jump to another location, with the improved portal communications network there was no time lag or anything that bothered the Cyr before, their lives were improved immensely.
Daniel jumped into the nearest "hidden" gateway which there were countless in the milky way galaxy, He knew the public ones and the "secret" ones which were documented were just a fraction of portals in the galaxy, No matter how many humans or anyone would struggle to forget all the warriors that came before the gateways were a constant reminder of their ancestors which protected the galaxy and now silent sleeping like titans. Daniel stood on his command post on the ARK with Lana flanking him "Second, Enter the pass code and let's get our new ships. The war between Earth and the Empire is soon to begin, and we gonna need all that extra room to save as many as we can." Daniel said while Second punched in the code.
They looked at the gateway which were surrounded by a billion silent ships which suddenly woke up like a foot has stepped on it's nest and the gateway separated from it's resting and started to drift away from each other while glowing a thick neon shine, Daniel knew that shine was the powerful shield generators kicking in to protected the massive dark matter power cores that could supply enough energy to open a portal across the universe considering how far his father was from the milky way, He did not even know which system they were in, but he hoped he treated the aliens there better than he did to most humans." Ship incoming, Vanguard make. Seems to be a scout. Should we stop the procedure?" An officer said, which he termed loosely, They were equal comrades although he was the owner of the ships and most resources he treated the crew like family.
"No, Let them see, Vanguard always keeps their mouth shut about things like this, I'm gonna assume a Vanguard Commander gonna arrive in the system as soon as possible to communicate, considering how they are towards my father." Daniel said while rubbing Lana's hand which gripped his, Lana had never liked the Vanguard or the other factions, but how could she not hate them considering how she been treated for the sins of her father which detonated a bomb using government money, her mother had committed suicide due to being expelled and Lana had been in constant despair until Daniel happened to stumble upon her in middle of a trading station before she would commit the biggest mistake of her life, They had been a couple a few months later but that's for another time.
Daniel watched the gateway open, and he saw a fleet of Vanguard ships arrive, He opened communications immediately to inform them, He would treat his fathers "goons" properly since that was how he saw them, They could do anything according to his father, but they still used his laws and served him technically until his return, Daniel knew it was inevitable.
"This is Daniel, I believe Vanguard has a file on me, My father is simply transferring a few ships and resources towards me which i usually get. Nothing of importance here really." Daniel said nonchalantly, This was just a family event in his books, not as important as he or the Vanguard should bother him with.
"Daniel, This is Ricardo and i hear you, But i need to urgently speak to your mother or your father, So i was happy detecting a gateway open and i will be using it to travel across the system to meet them directly, I'm just here to use the portal after you get your little gift." Ricardo broadcast, Daniel nodded and closed communications, Lana chimed in "Seems something really important has happened or about to happen with the Vanguard tracking all the gateway activity, If my senses are right i think the Vanguard about to do a cleansing like your father did in old days."
Daniel did not reply but watched the gateway open and a massive ship started to slowly cross into this galaxy and everyone watched in fear and Lana squeezed his hand even tighter, and he laughed, His father had a awful rep amongst humans and there was a good reason, but he would never attack individuals that never bothered him. He just watched when the massive Dreadnought entered the portal and three Ark ships came after, it was a none event, and he saw a titan slowly entered the portal which belonged to Ricardo he assumed, The rest of the fleet slowly glided into the portal as well and that was his mothers and fathers problem which he did not bother about.
"Let's link up the Ark ships and board the new Dreadnought. I need to see how my fathers technology has advanced since he last left this galaxy." Daniel said and everyone nodded, Second followed along and Lana as well, they boarded a scout craft which was custom-made and extremely swift, a few sec
onds of sub-light driving, and they docked in the Dreadnought which only had three floors available, sleeping quarters, command bridge, and mess hall. They pushed the button on the left to the command bridge and what greeted them was a shiny shell... no something different.
"Hello Daniel, I am Adaptive Android-601553x434 or Anna as your mother called me, My origins are from the Cyr, a race currently serving your father S-4XN-001" Anna said with a smile. They were dumbstruck at seeing an alien life form on this ship and Daniel was about to speak when the android spoke again "I am here to serve as pilot and operate this ship according to your specifications, I live to serve. Please use me to your utmost." Anna said.
Daniel looked at Lana and Second and paused for a moment, "Are you required to be here? Can i send you back to your race if you or i wish to?" Daniel said.
She nodded "It is my people the greatest honor to serve the great leader son in this undertaking, sending me back before at least 100 years have passed would be a great detriment and shame of my people, please let me serve you for as long as this ship is operational. For my people and yours." Anna said.
Lana looked at Daniel and spoke "This is really weird, Is she a spy from your father? Or your mother? Is she here to help or hurt us?" Daniel shook his head "My family would never hamper what I'm doing in this galaxy unless i break the main rules set down, never engage any faction and do the small stuff which they dont care about, My father is all about the big picture which involved at least a billion people or more, He probably would not care if we trashed a few thousand corporations or organizations unless be stomped the big ones with most populations under them."
"Tell me about this ship, and if you have any information of it in combat as well, any recorded battle data is acceptable as well." Daniel said. They sat down on a few seats and a massive holographic display darkened out the room, and they saw 2000 dreadnoughts in a sea of alien ships in a system with eight sons, "This is the battle of Liberty for our people, When your father defended us from being destroyed by the combined fleets of aliens in our galaxy, We had some contact with your mother before and our race promised eternal servitude for a place at your fathers empire which we knew was our destiny, please watch the battle." Anna said.
They all sat on the chair and the battle started slowly with a few surrenders and turn back calls from his father which was his usual style and when the aliens refused the Cyr fleet started to gather up around a few Dreadnaughts which were further in the back nestled up against the planet which housed millions of mega cities, seemed this was their capital, Billions of Cyr ships were guarding the planet and that's when the first dreadnought opened fire, And he could not believe what he was seeing. He could hear the heartbeats of Lana and Second beating like a drum in his ear.
Daniel stared at the screen and shook his head, He saw the first of the beams land on the enemy fleet which arced like lightning bolts in the sky jumping between ships, and they turned stiff and slowly glided, He could not even guess the amount of ships that died without the battlefield data showed confirmed kills, it was in the millions each shot and the ark traveled around constantly for at least a minute killing whenever it struck, After the charge ended the dreadnoughts turned silent and after 10 seconds they fired again shredding the fleet, he could almost feel the despair in the alien fleets when they started to turn back immediately, and he saw the familiar bomb he seen before but this time more tamed, a massive black hole opened up in middle of the enemy fleet for a few seconds and a million more ships collided instantly leaving a massive empty pocket of ships in a sea of billion.
"Turn it off!" yelled Lana, and Daniel nodded. The android turned off the footage and the brightness of the room returned "Was the data useful, young master?" Anna said, He nodded and spoke "Follow our Arks, We are going back to our ship to rest and plan further movement, I hope you won't be lonely by being yourself here." he said, Anna smiled "I am talking with my people constantly, a Cyr is never lonely. They share my honor of being here. I also have access to the many video-games and simulations in this universe and beyond, I am a fan of the virtual zoo which is popular in this universe." Daniel smiled and lead Lana back to the Ark.
They sat down on the ship and Lana grabbed his arm "This is a power too much for anyone to have! We should send it back, this!-" "Enough! Trust in Daniel, We are all comrades and i been with Daniel long enough to see he won't use this ship often or against anyone really, the intimidation faction is more than enough to scare anyone. We probably never have to fire it more than once a battle to scare away any pirates or slavers we want to rescue, Also the ship has normal cannons and beams as well, We could just use those instead of the lightning blast or whatever that was." Second interjected.
Daniel nodded and just held Lana's hand while they boarded their Ark again, they activated the holographic cameras around the ship to disguise them, Anna chimed in from comm that it was impossible to change her ship camera to another ship, so she had to go invisible instead, which they could not believe it was capable off but after a few seconds it disappeared from radar and cameras, Daniel set course for the Garden system to think and plan his next move, War was brewing, and he had to keep the criminal elements from abusing the civilians while the guards were away.
Ricardo entered the portal with his fleet and what he saw did not surprise him, a massive fleet of ships just sitting there, He waited for orders which would come in time and after a few moments he got jump coordinates, and he immediately sent them to his fleet, they jumped blind, but they knew they were safe while inside his territory, the small fleet of 500.000 entered the system instananeously, and they got a scan of the system, It was an empty system in sense with just a few of the newer ships he had seen exit the portal he entered to get here, He got his docking permission, and he slowly docked with the station that gripped his ship with a invisible mooring beam which was a new trick, he got pulled into the massive station, and he left the ship toward the lift which would take him wherever he needed to go.
The doors opened, and he entered a room filled with many different animal lifeforms, some looked like dogs and some looked like tigers, they were jumping around frolicking and ignoring him completely, he stepped on the dusty road which was rare for even stations, he came upon a small wood cabin he looked at the outside and saw a table with a bunch of tea wares on the table, he sat down and waited. A few minutes later a young woman stepped out of the cabin, and he frowned, he knew that woman and that was Yua, the most unpredictable and rebellious of his bunch. He smiled and stood up indicating she should sit, and she did.
"My father are not really understanding how you countlessly keep begging for resources or help when you have the most productive and strongest fleet in the milky way. Are you incompetent or seeking attention? I cannot make heads of it." Yua said, Ricardo knew going into a verbal match with this little vixen would tire him out and lead him nowhere.
"Truth is, We are bound by the rules your father wanted to see active in the garden and paradise system, We are stupid in that sense, We are old-fashioned considering the new factions and humans do not fear or respect us anymore, We have the biggest and strongest fleets, but we lose recruits every month, we are slowly choked to death in that aspect alone and the enemy striking our fertile systems proves this, We want a simple clarification. Shall we engage in a purge of the other factions which we knew will happen eventually, or will we get support needed to stay strong and keep his decrees?" Ricardo said.
Yua poured herself some tea and rubbed the cup gently until the water started to bubble, Ricardo knew of the "parlor" tricks as he called it, useful in some aspect but that was not his thing. Yua looked at his gaze and frowned, she wanted more attention or something he did not know, but he was here to state what he needed.
Yua looked at him and spoke "You do not want resources or ships, but guidance i see. Hmm... My father does not really bother about humanity as a whole anymore, and the shadow-council that need to vote him back hate his guts, I know who these people a
re, and they will never bring him back. Unless Vanguard falls and the Garden system is destroyed and humanity is dying out. But... I can give you something that you need to assert your dominance over humanity as a whole and bring stability to the milky way galaxy forever. But that would soil my fathers plans, and he would punish me extremely harshly."
Ricardo spoke "Is it not worth it? To save countless trillions of humans from war or starvation? You are human as well and i do not know how you stand, Your mother is a champion of humanity, your father is ... special. Juliet does her own thing and Daniel is playing hero. Where are you on the chessboard?"
Yua frowned, She hated her standing in the family, she was the little disappointment in her fathers eyes. Never doing as he willed, and she would love to put a stop to his fathers plans in the milky way for some semblance of satisfaction, She smiled at the thought of it and nodded. "I will give you what you need, but i promise you this. My father will have me punished for how long i do not know, and you will probably be imprisoned for life if he ever came back to the milky way for disrupting his plans. Are you sure you want to do this?"
Ricardo nodded "It's worth it." Yua smiled and started to walk into the cabin which ended the holographic scenario and all the animals and fauna disappeared even the dust from his shoes went away which shocked him, She pushed a few buttons and took what looked like an ancient key from a slot on the computer, "We need to hurry to the milky way before my father notices, He rarely pays attention to me or his "offline" drones which litter the milky way." They rushed into the lift and boarded the ship back to the portal which were inactive, Yua could simply activate it with her mastercode, and they were soon back in the milky way.
They traveled quickly to the paradise system and docked at the command structure on the planet which were littered in family homes and defenses, no fleet could enter the paradise system without them knowing about it and portal drives were useless here unless you were a vanguard commander which had the access embedded into their DNA. They landed on the planet and entered the command central and sat down on the chair, the entire command structure were active here after Ricardo sent the message about the situation.
The Futility Wars Page 38
