Of course, the complete robots hadn’t taken that kindly, so they’d opened fire, then fallen back to the next bay, where Helsen and the others had found more of them equipping themselves from crates of weapons. She just hoped no one hit, oh, a crate of grenades during the fight. That would ruin everyone’s day.
Helsen took a shot, removing the head of one of the robots. That wouldn’t put it out of commission, but that was where most of its sensors were, so she was happy to make it less of a threat.
“I’ve taken the command center,” Evelyn said over the comms, her voice calm as could be. “I’m seeing an anomaly in the station’s layout. There’s a large chamber between the crew and manufacturing wings, one which the scans indicate isn’t natural. According to the logs I can access, it was found approximately one day before most of the crew perished.”
“Fuck,” Helsen grunted, glancing at Ortom, whose face had gone grim. The orc wasn’t verbose at the best of times, but she knew he wasn’t happy about this entire operation. He was on the superstitious side, and she couldn’t blame him. They hadn’t found any bodies themselves, fortunately. “Plans?”
“I did say most of the crew, so I’m going to investigate. According to this, there’s the active beacon of one of the station crew in that chamber. It looks like the commander,” Evelyn replied calmly. “If so, we might be able to figure out what happened here.”
“How did you get the information out of the computer?” Helsen demanded incredulously. “It should be locking you out of everything! Shouldn’t it?”
“Simple. I’ve invoked the Rite of Succession, and told it to point me to its commander for a duel,” Evelyn told her, amusement in the elf’s voice. “It wouldn’t work if I wasn’t alone, but under the circumstances, the computer is also trying to keep the facility intact. It has decided that I’m too destructive to challenge, since I’ve dismantled all the defenses it threw in my way.”
“Shit, is this an AI?” Helsen asked, her blood running cold at the thought, but it didn’t keep her from putting another robot out of her misery, which she thought brought the number in their way down to two.
“Yes, but not a souled AI,” Evelyn confirmed, causing Helsen to relax a little. An unsouled AI wasn’t a big deal, but if they developed a soul, it could make things really difficult. An unsouled one could make decisions for itself based on its programming, with limited heuristic processes, but a souled one… those were truly dangerous, as they often could disobey their programming. That had led to one AI destroying the ship it was aboard when the crew tried to wipe it.
“Well, good. Keep us informed,” Helsen said, taking a deep breath, then nodded as the last robot went down. “We’ve cleared another bay, but aren’t sure if there are more robots in our way.”
“I’ll suggest that the AI have them stand down, but I doubt it will,” Evelyn replied dryly. “The only reason it’s listening to me is because I destroyed everything it threw at me.”
Helsen laughed, but Evelyn didn’t say anything more. She had to wonder how many robots the woman had destroyed so far. But… hopefully they could get through this without taking any more casualties.
“I recommend you shut down the robots in the way of the mercenaries. They’re just going to be destroyed,” Evelyn told the AI, looking at the holographic schematic of the station and adjusting a glove.
“I cannot do that,” the AI replied, his voice a deep baritone. “You will be challenged by any further defenses as well. While you are challenging the stationmaster for command, that does not give you the right to bypass station defenses.”
“I thought as much,” Evelyn said, looking around the room calmly as she paused, then asked. “So… who’s responsible for the deaths of the crew?”
“I am not certain,” the AI admitted. “Three hours after the stationmaster entered the space that was found, the incident occurred. I have attempted to secure the station in the aftermath but am not able to determine what happened. My sensors do not include sufficiently advanced scanners for magical effects. All of the crew save the stationmaster died within twenty minutes.”
“All of them? No one escaped?” Evelyn asked, looking around the command center again, noting the dozens of seats. “This was a major outpost, I’d guess that there were at least three hundred crew, if not more.”
“The Trifecta put up a shield that protected them from the effect for approximately fifteen minutes while they attempted to reach the shuttle bay, but they fell before reaching it,” the AI explained, a hint of discomfort in its voice. “The situation is not within those I was programmed to anticipate. I considered initiating quarantine protocols, but as I cannot detect any contagion, I decided against it.”
“Hm. Well, let’s see if I can’t find out,” Evelyn murmured, and waved as she headed for the door, fixing the path to the huge open space near the asteroid’s heart in her mind. “I’ll be back.”
“Please keep the destruction to a minimum,” the AI asked, a hint of desperation in his voice.
Evelyn simply laughed.
Chapter 50
There were a few robots in her way, but none of them put up a good fight. Evelyn didn’t even have to cut down any more blast doors, as the AI appeared to have acknowledged that those wouldn’t do any good. Instead, they opened when she requested access, and she was able to make it to the right area in short order, though as she drew closer Evelyn found more bodies, many of them collapsed in the middle of what looked like daily activities.
The worst, in her mind, was when she passed the cafeteria, and spotted numerous dead senne in chairs, behind the counter, and even one in the kitchen. The idea of someone having their life snuffed out without even the chance to fight back… it was infuriating, and Evelyn felt her rage rising as she walked.
She might not be the best person to accuse others of being overly ruthless. Evelyn was more than willing to admit that. She’d killed a great many people, and yet… yet she hadn’t ever killed people who were completely helpless. She faced them in battle, or killed those who came after her. Not civilians, not in their beds, not via poison. She had her own code of honor, even if she hated to think of it as that. No, Evelyn would never have done something like this.
Stepping over the body of a man in a hazard suit, who’d dropped a crate of what looked to Evelyn like mineral samples, she came to the entrance of the chamber in question, and paused to examine the makeshift airlock they’d put in place. It wasn’t perfect, but it looked like many of the ones she’d seen used for temporary work. She suspected they’d have put up a better one eventually, but for now the lock sealed against bare stone, while the rest of the stone had been coated in a translucent substance that likely sealed it properly. Evelyn thought for a second more, then shrugged and entered the airlock, pressing the button to cycle it.
Air hissed around her, and Evelyn waited patiently as it worked… then the inner doors opened, and Evelyn’s eyebrows rose.
The chamber before her looked nothing like simple stone, nor did it look like a geode or anything else she would have expected to find inside an asteroid turned star base. Shining silver covered the smooth hemisphere that formed the walls and roof of the chamber, while floating blue crystals provided illumination at nine points around the chamber. Heaps of silver, mythrite coins, and jewels rested here and there, along with silver sculptures of a woman that rested on pedestals, almost like statues in temples Evelyn had seen. At the far end of the chamber was a dais, nine steps of mithral leading up to the platform, on which was an elaborate throne made of the same precious substance, and a woman sat on the throne.
She was senne, Evelyn immediately noted, though one of a rarer breed than most of them. The light green skin was a relatively recent mutation that had come about after leaving their home worlds, as was the blonde hair she possessed, but otherwise she was about what Evelyn expected, just under two meters in height when standing, and with bright eyes. Likely blue, but from this distance Evelyn couldn’t be sure. A mithral cro
wn set with diamonds and sapphires rested atop her head, and the curvaceous woman was wearing a gown of deep green metal. Really, she was quite beautiful … but Evelyn’s gaze fell to the softly glowing red gem embedded in the woman’s chest, at the top of her breastbone. A spherical gem that pulsed with immense amounts of magic she could sense from across the room.
“Ah, a mortal come to pay her respects to the newest goddess at last!” the woman said arrogantly, standing from her throne and opening her arms in a sweeping gesture. “Come, bow down before me, mortal! Bow before your new goddess.”
Evelyn just stared at the woman for a moment, then sent a message back to the ship, this time purely mentally. “Fya, take a look at this, please.”
“Ah, dammit. I’m going to kill her,” Fya replied almost instantly, her voice grim.
Evelyn was going to reply, but then the woman’s smile turned into a thunderous scowl as she spoke angrily, magic flooding out of her. “I told you to bow, mortal!”
Magic rushed out of the woman in a relentless torrent, pulsing through the room in a silver-blue wave that sent the lights bobbing through the air, then it crashed into Evelyn. Compulsive magic hit Evelyn hard, and she winced as it clawed at her mind, trying to force her to her knees… but the gem set into her forehead did its job, as the powerful enchantment within shielded her from the worst of it, and Evelyn shrugged the rest of the effect off as she remained standing. A momentary spark of shock flitted across the woman’s face in response.
“I think not,” Evelyn replied coldly, taking a couple of steps forward, igniting her sword again. “Were you the one who killed the crew of the station?”
“Milady, that’s a wishstone! It’s incredibly powerful, and if she used it—” Fya began, but the woman spoke at the same time.
“Impudent mortal, I will sacrifice you to my glory, just as I did them!” the senne snarled, raising a hand, and an orb of scintillating white energy formed in her hand.
“Wrong answer.” Evelyn replied coldly, drawing on her magic hard.
The orb came at her, and she unleashed a brilliant beam of red magic in return. The two spells hit each other in the middle of the chamber and exploded violently, creating a ten-meter crater in the middle of the room. The woman gaped at Evelyn, who smiled.
“Some goddess,” Evelyn said.
“The hell?” Cass blurted as the station shook beneath her feet, staggering her. “What was that?”
“I don’t know!” Tivoli replied nervously, his head turning as he fingered his rifle. “Maybe someone started shooting the outside of the station? That’d explain—”
There was a shriek of metal and an explosion of dust erupted from only a couple of meters away, billowing over Cass and Tivoli, even as stone bouncing off their armor almost knocked them from their feet. Cass quickly took a couple of steps back, dropping to a knee as she raised her rifle, swapping vision modes to try to see what was happening.
A single figure stood out in thermal, and Cass blinked in confusion as the figure pulled themselves out of a… a crater in the right wall, while there was a hole to the left now. The fact that someone was getting up after that sort of impact confused Cass more than anything else.
The dust partially cleared, but not before she heard a woman’s voice, one that was slightly muffled. If it hadn’t been for the safety systems of Cass’s helmet, she likely wouldn’t have been able to hear due to her ears ringing… but instead, she was able to identify the woman’s voice from when they’d first boarded the station, and Cass’s blood chilled.
“Okay, I felt that one. Suppose it’s time for a decent fight,” Evelyn Tarth said, prompting Cass’s eyes to widen, though the following incantation made her far more concerned. “Flickering embers of the cosmos, hearken to my grasp and destroy all that lies before me!”
Twin beams of energy erupted from the cloud of dust, one bright red, the other more like a void given form, and they twisted around themselves in a spiral that consumed the dust. There was a deafening explosion from the next room, along with what sounded like a woman’s shriek of pain, and Cass blinked as they caught sight of Evelyn.
The woman didn’t look like she’d been injured by being thrown through a wall. Oh, there was a faint crack in the armor across her torso, and some scrapes in the material, but it looked mostly intact. Then the woman seemed to notice them at last.
“Ah, mercenaries. I suggest you vacate the area immediately and stay out of the way.” Evelyn said, dusting off her sword with one hand, then activated it. “This could get messy.”
“Uh… alright,” Cass said, looking at Tivoli once, then asked, “If you don’t mind… who’re you fighting?”
Evelyn was already moving into the breach, and she shrugged. “Senne commander with delusions of goddesshood. Now get, I don’t want any more collateral damage than—”
A scream of rage split the air, and Evelyn was cut off as a bright silver light erupted from the breach. Cass saw the elven woman throw up a brilliant red shield. The silver light flowed around it, evaporating another meter of the wall along with about two meters above and below the corridor, prompting Cass to hastily fall back.
“I think we should report in,” Tivoli said nervously, and Cass nodded, taking several steps back, then sped up as Evelyn spoke loudly.
“Come on, goddess, is that the best you’ve got?” Evelyn demanded loudly, almost sounding excited. “I’m barely bruised!”
Cass quickly tried to vacate the area, as she didn’t want to be anywhere near someone making a provocation like that, and activated her comm. “LT, Tarth is fighting someone near the center of the station, and I don’t think we want to be anywhere near it. She got thrown through a wall, and said something about delusions of godhood?”
“She what?” Helsen demanded, so incredulously that Cass couldn’t help a smile.
She broke into a run as another rumble shook the station and wondered just what Evelyn was doing.
Chapter 51
As the blast of ravening blue energy tried to engulf her, this time Evelyn dodged to the side, letting it rip into the wall like some hungry monster, and she clicked her tongue, speaking brightly.
“You really should work on your aim. I barely had to take a step to avoid that,” Evelyn said, energy swirling around her hand, then she grinned and gestured. “Like this!”
Three bolts of blood-red energy lanced across the room and slammed into the senne’s shield, curving through the air to follow when the woman tried to dodge herself. Oh, it wasn’t like the would-be goddess had been badly injured earlier, the worst Evelyn could see were a few tears in her dress, a drop of blood working its way out of her nose, along with what might be a few scrapes, but that was more damage than she’d done to Evelyn.
“Arrogant mortal, why won’t you die?” the woman snarled loudly, raising both hands in the air, and this time creating a shining orb of energy above her head that made Evelyn… concerned. Not for herself, as the orb was too diffuse to punch through her shields, but for everyone else aboard the station. It might rip the structure apart, and she couldn’t have that.
Evelyn stomped on the floor, focusing her magic, and an instant later a stalagmite erupted from the ground and hit the woman in the stomach like a missile. The senne let out an anguished cry as she was launched up and away, another hole punched through her dress, and the orb of energy detonated, a flash of light washing over the room, and the nearest of the crystal lights shattered.
More interesting to Evelyn, she briefly saw a wound in the woman’s stomach, but it quickly closed before her eyes. That explained a bit to her, and she smiled, speaking calmly. “Because you aren’t a goddess, of course. A true deity would be able to crush me like a fly. You are a mortal with delusions of grandeur.”
“Should you really be antagonizing her?” Fya asked softly, and Evelyn could practically hear the djinn wince. “The wishstone can make really her hard to kill.”
“Harder than a djinn?” Evelyn asked, raising an eyebrow s
keptically.
The senne regained her balance and hissed, concentrating as she glared at Evelyn and growled. “You will die! I won’t tolerate blasphemy!”
“Well… maybe? Or she could do something like that,” the djinn replied, as the stone on the woman’s chest began to glow.
The woman rose into the air, and all around her a combat mech phased into existence. It was a huge, humanoid figure that would practically brush the ceiling when standing upright, and it shared the colors that Evelyn had seen in the chamber so far, silver, white, blue, and just a hint of green from the head-mounted optical sensors. It had an energy sword emitter in one hand, and it ignited, creating a massive green beam of plasma.
“Hm. Decided magic wouldn’t cut it, then?” Evelyn asked, looking up at the figure thoughtfully, then shrugged. “Alright, I suppose this works. Let’s see if you’re a better fighter in that.”
Another scream of rage came in response, the robot raising the sword, which cut deep into the ceiling, and before it could come down, Evelyn lunged forward. Of course, she already knew the answer to her question.
No one with experience would have brought a combat mech into a room this size. There wasn’t any room to maneuver, no exits, and quite bluntly, attacking a single, human-sized figure with a combat mech was a laughable thing to do. No, if she was going to use one, she should have shot Evelyn with a shipboard cannon, not swung an energy sword. The commander obviously was a civilian, even if she had some combat training.
Chosen of Chaos (Eve of Destruction Book 1) Page 35
