The Forsaken Empire (The Endervar War Book 2) (21 page)

He felt his displeasure grow. His internal alarms went off. A disturbance had been discovered. It came from below, past the bulkhead of his own vessel, threatening the assets that lay against the hull. The automated systems compensated, and the mother ship activated its defenses.

Farcia heard the doors clamp into place. Large slabs of metal fell down, sealing the central lair shut.

What is this? she asked.

The combat drone reactivated and moved swiftly to protect Farcia. The machine arched into an attack stance.

A precaution, he said. Scans have detected a potential security threat.

Where?

From our acquisitions.

The Enforcer studied the problem, baffled by the anomaly. Over the last five days, he had examined the acquisitions intensely. The two secret Arcenian facilities remained in tow and sat seemingly secure next to the underbelly of the mother ship. He and his automated machines were still inside the two structures, performing one scan after another, completing the analysis. It had all occurred without complication until now. The drones had suddenly uncovered the threat: a self-destruct sequence that was about to go off.

I thought you had control, Farcia said. You told me the security systems were neutralized.

It was what the Enforcer had thought as well. He had meticulously decrypted the computing systems to both facilities and had assumed control.

I am resolving the matter as we speak, he replied, masking his anger.

He had begun another hack, this one more rushed than the last. His drones had found the problem at one of the facilities and had begun the data exchange. The result had established a direct connection between the mother ship and the Arcenian computing system.

Assuming full control, he said as analyzed the threat.

While he worked, Farcia crumpled in her stance. No, she said, bracing for disaster. This can’t happen!

They had fought for too long simply to lose everything now. She stared at the combat drone, nervous.

Stand by, the Enforcer said in his mechanical voice.

It all occurred in a matter of seconds. The danger of an explosion had arrived in a flash, only to dissolve in the face of the machine.

Commencing shutdown self-destruct sequence aborted.

The hack had been a success. The threat had been staved off.

Are you sure? Farcia asked. Do you know what caused it?

A failsafe, the Enforcer replied. Hidden within the security protocols.

To some degree, it was to be expected. The research inside the two facilities was secret for a reason. The Arcenian government had done everything in its power to keep the two facilities confidential and out of reach.

But now it was theirs. The Enforcer’s A.I. mind was embedded inside the Unity’s mother ship, and so he could feel it, resting against the hull. In his possession was not just secret research, but a weapon of world-ending power.

Knowing this, his displeasure lifted, along with the sting of defeat. He had nothing to fear.

Regardless, my analysis of the research is nearly complete, the machine concluded. Soon we can begin construction.

Chapter 21

Despite the recent scare, the two acquisitions were still considered safe. Following another battery of scans, the Enforcer had assured her that the original threat had been removed. The stolen secret facilities and their computing systems had been purged of any traps. Everything was normal and proceeding without incident.

Farcia was there now, touring the site. The tendrils from the Enforcer’s mother ship had burrowed deep into the interior of Depository A, the larger of the two facilities. She entered through one of the tunnels and eventually appeared on the other end. There was no oxygen and little gravity or light inside. For that reason, she had come prepared and wore her own environmental suit. With each step, the boots magnetically clamped to the floor. She activated her scans and followed the designated trail.

The depository and its sister base had both been state secrets, so few, if any, ever came here. The facility itself was sterile and tightly organized. Breathing through her helmet, Farcia walked past hallway after hallway and saw one sealed door after another.

Officially, none of this existed. At least not in any public or Alliance record. The research housed inside had been deemed highly sensitive or dangerous. It included many experimental technologies, all of which had been abandoned or declared defunct. Farcia, however, sought to revive one technology in particular. She came to the room where the research was housed and found that the sealed door had been pried off, leaving a singed hole in the middle of the wall.

She stepped through and found herself in the facility’s largest section. It comprised almost 80 percent of the interior. As a precaution, all power had been cut. In order to see, Farcia activated her visual filters and gazed at her surroundings. The technology she desired to obtain was impossible to miss. It physically hung from the ceiling and consumed most of the room. The remaining parts had been held in the other facility. But the bulk of the technology was here, in her sights.

There was in fact little to see. The actual parts were encased inside a column of black. Except for its enormous size, the monolith was nondescript but decidedly mysterious. Farcia placed her fingers against a small part of the obsidian surface.

The secret, she thought. The potential will be mine.

No one knew of this. No one except for the highest leaders in the Alliance. That coterie had been small, and nearly all its members had originally dismissed the secret technology as a failed project.

Her ally, the Enforcer, however, recalled the significance; his masters, the Unity, were among those who had been briefed on the project. Once, decades ago, they had even sought to control the inventor behind the technology. From what Farcia had been told, the scientist was a brilliant man, one whose genius was nearly unmatched. But he was also a cautious figure. In spite of many invitations, he had refused to join the Unity and convert into a virtual state of existence. Tragically, he had died in the Unity’s failed attempt to integrate the man forcibly into the collective. But at least his research remained preserved, albeit clandestinely. She could tell why.

Farcia gazed at the stored technology. To some, it might have been considered a weapon, a mechanism for total destruction. But to her, it was salvation, one that might breathe new life into this universe. All her hopes now hinged on this.

She walked along the room, stretching out her hand. Her finger delicately traced the monolith’s exterior. But even as she was surrounded in silence, Farcia was not alone. She heard the message come from her suit. A repeating icon flashed in her vision. Then she saw the shadow from the corner of her eye.

A lone machine had stepped into the room. It was a combat drone presumably under the Enforcer’s command and covered in chrome. He was messaging her, although on a different frequency. What is it? she asked, fearing something might be wrong.

The neighboring drone was tall, almost three times her size. Through her scans, she saw the shadow grow as the drone walked, bladed in metal. But very quickly the arms morphed and became two well-defined hands.

The technology is yours, the drone said, answering through the comm. After all this effort, you possess it.

The machine joined her at the site and glanced up at the secret research. Farcia noticed the singular eye flare in red. The drone then gestured to the technology with a lone finger. Like her, he was inspecting the column of black.

Yes she replied. We finally have it.

And I imagine you must be very pleased.

Farcia was surprised by the remark. The Enforcer was generally an entity of few words. Nor was he one to engage in much idle conversation.

Are you not impressed by it? he went on.

The machine waited for her response, as he planted his finger against the technology’s surface.

Farcia looked at her companion and suddenly became guarded. It’s just a tool, she said. With it, I can finally return to my people. That’s all I want.

So, you long for home. Don’t we all?

The machine and his finger remained attached to the column. Farcia could only assume it was all part of a final analysis.

But so many have died the drone continued. A necessary cost, I suppose

It was another strange remark from the machine. Farcia listened to the mechanical voice speak, but she heard nothing that was cold or calculating. Rather, his statements were oddly reflective. She wondered if it was an error in the translation.

Yes the cost, Farcia said. But this universe all it’s ever done is cause ruin.

She was speaking about billions of lives, and yet Farcia easily dismissed them.

I take it you don’t approve, then. Of this universe, the drone said.

It’s an abomination, she replied. It should never have existed.

She uttered the words, convinced it was true. Her stare was concealed behind the helmet, but the anger was beaming from her eyes. In response, the machine merely went on with the work. He held still, watching her with his singular eye.

I see, he said finally. Then perhaps we should rid ourselves of this place.

In another moment, his finger lifted away. He then stepped back from the technology, having completed the scan.

When? she asked. When can you deploy?

The Enforcer had yet to offer a firm timetable. The technology was theirs, but he was still running the simulations and refining the process they sought to harness and create.

The drone before Farcia offered his own reply.

Soon, he said. Very soon.

The machine then left, completing his preliminary task. The chrome body turned away, reverting his two hands back into giant blades.

Farcia shrugged. The Enforcer had replied with the same answer he had given before. Having seen enough, she, too, left the room and returned to the mother ship.

Unbeknownst to Farcia, however, the drone would follow, watching her every step.

The first and second stage of reconnaissance was done. The target and a variety of threats had all been accounted for. Now it was simply a matter of finding an exit.

The machine would find it soon.

***

Not all her surroundings were darkness and shadow. In a small corner of the mother ship was a passageway into another separate area.

The change was stark. The black and gray walls from the Enforcer’s vessel receded as Farcia walked past the soul-less machine hull. She could sense the light approaching. The connecting terminal had ended, and on the other side was the shuttle.

It greeted her modestly, igniting a fringe of lights around the central door. The craft was small, designed for light travel, and by no means was it built for war. But in contrast to the cold interiors of the mother ship, her own personal shuttle was embellished with yellow and white. Holding her helmet at her waist, Farcia boarded the craft. The door opened, and the warmth blew over her skin.

The interior was just as bright and almost luxurious. Everything inside, from the furniture to the floors and console boards, was inlaid with some variant of gold.

She threw her helmet off to the side and fell down into the floating chair. It was soft and pillowy and hovered above the floor. It was here that Farcia had often slept, buoyed up in the air. She pressed a nodule on her chest and let the fabric of the environmental suit unclamp. The cloth slowly shriveled, becoming a tight ball that fell to the ground. Farcia was too tired to pick it up. She let it roll to the rest of the mess inside the craft.

Sprawled on the floor was a clutter of clothes, along with her personal acquisitions. She glanced down and saw the medical vials and drugs. She had once had a large collection, all nicely arranged along a counter on the ship’s wall. But in her rage and frustration, she had thrown it to the floor. The medicine could only blunt the searing pain, not cure it, and finding it useless, she had tossed it aside weeks ago.

Bits of glass from the vials had shattered, and still she could smell the chemical odor in the air. Her ills were always more psychological than physical. But still, something was changing. Farcia coughed and then vomited. She teetered on the side of the floating chair and spat out the bile from her gills. She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand. A headache was suddenly eating into her mind. She looked painfully down at the mess on the floor. Farcia wished it would all go away. Not just the pain, but the mess. In every breath, she could inhale the chemical air, and now there was this smell of her insides on the floor.

Farcia fell back into her chair, hearing the solution in her mind.

Use the cleaner, the man had once said.

It was an errant voice that entered her thoughts. The words were familiar, but the man who had spoken them was now dead.

Red

Farcia looked across the cabin room. In the corner was the automated cleaner. It was an orb like machine that usually performed maintenance around the craft. She had deactivated the cleaner some time ago. Farcia had been afraid it would remove something she might need. Red would likely disapprove. This shuttle had once been his. Just leave it on, he had often said. I know it’s noisy, but it does the job.

Farcia remembered the words and was close to reactivating the orb like machine. With a simple voice command, she could easily do it. Instead, she turned away and shut her eyes.

It had been a mistake to come here. To this place where Red had once lived. The craft was small, but it was enough for a pair of passengers. For short periods, it had been their home. That was all gone. Decades ago she had stolen the craft from Red and chosen to rejoin her kin. This ship had always served as a reminder of that. A reminder of him and what she had left.

Farcia saw him now, in her mind. I was wrong, she whispered.

She was a fool to have thought that Red would ever help her. She was the enemy, and now she had no one. Even so, Farcia couldn’t shake the attachment. The man once her husband was dead, but he still occupied her thoughts. For so long, she had been conflicted by this need to be with him. Part of Farcia wished that he were still alive. Another part secretly relished his death.