“Sounds good.”
“I heard Chase put an entire security force out of commission.”
“Yeah, in less than a second; but I don’t think he hurt them so much.”
“That’s not what the admiral said, but I’m sure they’ll live.”
“I don’t think it was wise to send them. It would have been better to try and talk to him.”
“I agree. That wasn’t my order. Anyway, Admiral Thassos is really losing patience with Chase’s antics. I can’t say I blame her.”
“I understand, sir, but under the circumstances, can we really blame him? Do you know about Sarah?”
“I heard, yes. Between you and me, I really hope he manages to save her. Ever since he left us things haven’t gone so well. It looked like it did for a while. In fact, we dropped our guard a little too soon. We were winning most of our engagements with the Zarlack forces and . . .”
“I know, sir. There was nothing we could have done. They killed hundreds if not thousands of their own, sacrificing their ships to take out three of our cities.”
“How can Argos have them do this? I mean, who in their right mind obeys such orders?”
“Perhaps it wasn’t an order; more like a command.”
“What do you mean?”
“We know Argos used mind control on Sarah; at least on her clone. And she’s one tough nugget. So perhaps the Zarlacks’ brains are more prone to being controlled by their masters.”
“I hadn’t thought of that; that would indeed explain their actions.”
“Yes it would.”
“Alright. I guess I should also go and dress. Walk with me?”
“Mind if I stay on the bridge a while?”
“Sure, but won’t you need to change as well? Or do you intend to come to dinner in your flight suit?”
“Nah, I’ll change too, Commodore. Just want to rest a little. Like you said before: long day.”
“Here.” The commodore offered his captain’s chair as he got up. “The bridge is yours, Commander.”
“Thanks, Commodore, see you shortly.”
Saroudis left the bridge and Fillio lost no time accessing the doors of the reserve quadrinium chambers.
Daniel, you’re up.
Daniel and Tar’Lock were waiting by engineering.
“How do we deal with the people inside?”
“Non-lethal only.”
“Yeah, thanks. Like I was going to start shooting. And about that: I don’t like guns in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“Right. Will you be fast enough to immobilize five or six crewmen before any of them can raise an alarm? I’d really prefer that the commodore didn’t realize we took quadrinium from his ship until we’re long gone.”
“Shouldn’t be a problem. What are we waiting for exactly?”
“Fillio will send me a signal when she’s managed to unlock the reserve quadrinium chambers inside engineering. This can only be done from the bridge. That will be our cue.”
“Am I reading it wrong or are you attracted to her?”
“Who? Fillio?”
“Yes, and it’s none of my business. Just thought I felt a vibe.”
“She’s a good pilot, true.”
“Not what I asked.”
“Alright, she’s very cute and perhaps I like her. What is it to you?”
“Nothing, just making conversation.”
“Right. What about you and Ryonna?”
“What about it?”
“You also seem close.”
“Not that kind of close.”
“If you say so.”
“Look, I’m an insectoid about half her size. How would that work exactly?”
“Love knows no borders, man. All I’m saying.”
Tar’Lock clicked something in frustration.
“Whatever you say,” said Daniel with a smirk.
“About Fillio,” added Tar’Lock.
“Yeah?”
“I think she likes you too.”
“You think?”
But then the conversation was interrupted by a quick, tri-tone alarm coming from Daniel’s wrist.
“Show time. Follow my lead.”
Daniel entered engineering with his hands behind his back. He counted three engineers on the left side of the room and one on the right. He indicated the number of people on each side with his fingers. They looked at him puzzled, and one of them approached him.
“What can we do for you, Commander?”
“Nothing. I was just stretching my legs. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at a—” Before he could finish his sentence the man felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck.
Daniel barely saw a brief series of flashes in front of his eyes, and every crew member in engineering fell to the ground unconscious.
“Wow, you’re even faster than I remembered.”
“Thanks, but I suggest we move fast.”
“Right.”
Daniel went directly for the reserve quadrinium chambers behind the engine room, grabbed some protective gloves nearby, took a few pounds of the dark, blue-purple crystal and filled a bag he took out of his jacket.
“Will that be enough?” asked Tar’Lock.
“Yes, quadrinium is incredibly dense. This is plenty already. Quick, take this back to the ship.” Daniel handed the bag to Tar’Lock.
“Sure thing.” Tar’Lock disappeared, the sheer rate of his acceleration blasting Daniel’s hair about for an instant.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that.”
Daniel looked around, making sure the crewmen were still unconscious, and then left engineering in a hurry.
When Daniel boarded the Valken, he called Fillio. “Are you in position?”
“Yes, I’m aboard a StarFury, ready to launch.”
“Good. We’re good to go. See you outside. Land on the Valken upon launching, and let’s get out of here.”
“Roger that. Did everything go smoothly?”
Daniel heard the familiar sound of a wailing alert just as Keera was lifting the ship off the ground.
“Yeah, just in the nick of time. Launch now!”
“Launching. See you soon.”
The Valken exited the cargo bay, and soon Fillio’s StarFury landed on board. The ship was hailed.
Keera looked at Daniel. “Wanna answer that call?”
“How soon until we can jump?”
“We can jump any time, but does the Destiny have a tractor beam?”
“It does, and a powerful one at that. Punch the engines to the maximum and tell me when we’re out of range.”
“In 3 . . . 2 . . . 1.”
“Let me hear it.”
Keera keyed a command and a furious Saroudis appeared on the holo-display.
“Commander! What is this? Why did one of my StarFuries leave my ship without my permission, and what happened in engineering?”
“Sorry, Commodore, looks like we’ll be late for dinner.”
“This ain’t funny! Come back aboard Destiny at once. This is a direct order!”
“I can’t obey that order. We’re going after Chase.”
“No you’re not!”
Daniel cut the communication short and signaled Keera.
The Valken jumped into hyperspace.
After making sure Aphroditis was feeling better, Chase went to the mess hall and ate until full, which took him a few hours. Pizza, Chinese food—he spared none of his favorite dishes. He really had been famished and had no doubt that this was because of the previous fight. He had spent a lot of his power.
Finally, when he couldn’t take another bite for fear of throwing up, he left the mess hall and returned to the bridge.
“What’s with your friend?” asked Argos.
“None of your business.”
“Right. The sooner we get this over with the better. You’re not fun to be around.”
“Did you really expect me to be?”
“Guess not, but it is weird
er for me than for you. I’ve known you since birth.”
“I really wonder what compelled you to wipe my memory, and what gave you the right.”
“I’m not gonna go there, as I said before, but believe me, it was either that or kill you.”
“You would have tried, perhaps.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, just because you seem to manage your power better and to become stronger than me under a specific set of circumstances now. You were never half the fighter I was. Back then you couldn’t use your energy very well.”
“Or so you say. Since I have no memories, I can’t really trust anything you tell me.”
“Whatever. This family reunion is only temporary.”
“That’s right. After we part ways, you’d better pray we don’t ever meet again for your sake.”
“It won’t matter then.”
Chase didn’t like that one bit. It was clear that whatever Argos was after was important enough that he didn’t care if Chase came back for him afterwards. He really wished he knew what that was all about.
“Can you reverse what you’ve done to me?”
“What? You mean give you your memories back?”
“Yes.”
“Hmmm. I’ve never tried that before. Perhaps, but I’m not sure.”
“Would you?”
“I don’t think that would make any sense to you now. Your life is different. Plus I don’t owe you this. I only owe you your precious Sarah.”
“Don’t you forget that!”
“Has no one ever told you how annoyingly repetitive you can be sometimes?”
Chase didn’t answer.
Argos passed his finger across his scar.
“It’s not the first time I’ve seen you do that,” said Chase. “What’s with that scar? We can heal any wound. Why do you still have it?”
“It’s a reminder, a parting gift from you, in fact. I decided not to heal it as a reminder of the day our paths diverged forever.”
“I see. I’d say sorry for the scar, but somehow I get the feeling it was deserved.”
“From your point of view at the time, I have no doubt you thought so. You were trying to kill me after all.”
“Wish I had succeeded.”
Argos’ eyes glowed red, his temper clearly being tested.
“Now is not the time, Argos. We’ll have plenty of time to settle this one day. Soon.”
“Looking forward to it.”
“Somehow I doubt that, but I certainly am.”
“You should get some rest, Laiyos. We are still quite far from our destination and I need you in top form for what’s coming next. I can sense you haven’t recovered fully from our last battle. You need to recharge.”
“The ship doesn’t need you. It’s flying itself. You haven’t recovered fully either, so I suggest you do the same.”
Argos exhaled deeply and had to refrain from smiling.
“I will. For once we can agree on something.”
17
Chase stood somewhere on Earth. The breathtaking view of the tall mountains all around and the fresh air made him feel at peace. Birds chirped nearby; wild animals ran all around him. This was incredibly relaxing.
Ares sat next to him.
“Earth sure is a beautiful planet,” Chase observed.
“Yes. That it sure is.”
“What can I do for you, Ares?”
“I’m sorry to interrupt this moment, but you should look up.” Ares pointed towards the sky.
Chase looked up and saw four points of light approaching from the distance. A feeling of dread built in him. “They look like meteors.”
“Except they’re not. They come for you. They come to claim this world.”
“Who are they?”
“We’ll know soon enough, won’t we?”
As they approached, Chase could see the sunlight reflecting on their chrome alloy. They weren’t large; they were barely bigger than escape pods. But their impact created large craters.
Chase jumped into the air and hovered for a second before flying towards the nearest impact zone. He landed inside one of the gigantic craters.
Upon close inspection, the metal box looked like a pod. It made a noise and its door opened. Thin smoke escaped and quickly dissipated into the air.
“Who’s there?” inquired Chase.
A hand grabbed the side of the opening and a tall man emerged from the pod. He looked human, but was wearing a shiny, purple armor that covered his trunk, arms and legs, but not his shoulders. It gleamed in the sunlight.
Chase didn’t know if it was the reflection of the sun on the armor or something else, but he could barely make out the details of the man’s face—only two bright, red eyes that reminded him of Argos.
Before he could say anything, three other shadows, wearing the same attire, landed next to the man who had just exited the pod. The ground shook.
They all looked the same, but Chase simply couldn’t make out their faces.
“Who are you? What do you want?”
There was no answer, only red, glowing eyes staring back at him.
Then more and more of these shadows appeared. At first twenty surrounded him, but soon there were hundreds, all staring at him.
“What the hell is this?”
Soon all he could see anywhere were duplicates of these shadowy men in purple, bright, metallic armor. Their presence blackened the atmosphere as they hovered in the sky.
Chase’s heart pounded in his chest. He was unable to process what was going on around him.
Suddenly he heard a voice that sounded like a million voices at once. Only one word: “Die!”
Every shadow launched itself at him from every conceivable direction and struck him at once.
Chase shouted at the top of his lungs and everything changed. He was in his quarters aboard the Iron Fire, his heart racing, panting for air, clearly shaken.
A dream? A vision? What the hell was that?
Spiros was having more and more trouble sifting through the millions of lines of code, trying to find a way to reprogram the entity. Cedric had fallen asleep at his terminal a good hour back and was snoring heavily. Yanis had gone for coffee and stims from the med-bay.
Spiros decided he needed a break from his current task and checked his latest scans. What he saw really terrified him. The entity had already assembled six facilities around the planet, clearly intended to become the generators for the planetary shield. It had created hundreds of thousands of drones to carry out the task really quickly, clearly having no qualms about how quickly it was depleting the Alliance’s quadrinium reserves. By his calculation, in just a few days they’d simply run out.
Spiros had kept the admiral informed, and she had already asked their Droxian allies for a large delivery of the precious material.
Their scans of Droxian, Alliance and Obsidian ships had not detected any presence of the entity, but Spiros was not yet ready to accept that they were immune to it. It was perhaps just not part of its plan; at least not yet.
The entity hadn’t made contact with them since their last conversation, but that was a good thing. Spiros hated being on the defensive and having to justify the earthlings’ past actions in order to ensure their future. Part of him agreed with the entity. The humans had really been hard on this world, and if there was such a thing as planetary consciousness, he could see why it would be utterly pissed.
Yanis entered with coffees and pills on a small tray and sat next to Spiros.
“I don’t know how long we can keep awake, even with all this. Surely we are performing at a way lower capacity than when in top shape.”
“I know. We should take turns sleeping.”
“Looks like Cedric didn’t want to wait.”
“That’s alright. You can be next.”
“You’re the oldest of us; perhaps you should sleep first.”
Spiros shot him a pointed look.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“No, you did; but it’s correct, I’m older. I’m also enhanced, which you are not.”
“Right, nanites.”
“Amongst other things.”
“I’d like to get enhanced too. Is that a possibility?”
“I don’t see why not, but some people don’t like augments.”
“Why?”
“They think it’s unnatural, that we’re cheating the circle of life and such nonsense.”
“I think it’s cool if it helps us be more efficient and more resilient as well.”
“I agree, obviously. We should get back to work.”
“Right. What’s new?”
“Look here.” Spiros showed him the scans.
“Someone’s been busy.”
“Yeah, at this rate this planetary shield will be done in a week.”
“Perhaps even faster.”
“Yeah, it’s difficult to evaluate since the entity is able to do so many things at once.”
“Can you imagine how great it would be if this thing was working for us? I mean, how fast it would churn out ships, repair damage?”
“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that. In fact, we need to try it; but we also need to be ready to kill it in case we fail to convince it.”
“It’s not gonna like that. We’d better make sure that part of the plan is foolproof.”
“I don’t think foolproof exists; hence the predicament we’re in.”
“Yeah. If we had to choose between wiping all the data on Earth and it taking over, I take it we would chose the former, right?”
“The fact that you’re asking means you know how awful both those solutions are. But yes, if needed, let’s turn every computerized system off and start with a blank slate. That ought to paralyze this world for a while.”
“I’ve thought about that too, fortunately.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, I discussed it with Cedric earlier. We could create an intelligent system to restore the basic OS you mentioned. It would do that on its own by populating it to drones, which would then populate other devices and so on.”
“That’s what I had in mind as well, but I’m thinking nanites might be a better delivery system.”
Universe in Flames – Ultimate 10 Book Box Set: An Epic Space Opera Adventure Page 109
