The Forsaken Empire (The Endervar War Book 2) (44 page)

We’ll put a stop to this Gateway project, he said. I’ll be more than happy to destroy it again.

He made the vow, knowing it could be done. At every chance, the blond-haired man and his combat drones had been hacking into the Enforcer’s networks, trying to uncover files that might shed light on the technology’s progress. Much of the information was encrypted, and it was more like a fog of esoteric coding. He had to squint hard to find anything; his virtual vision was trolling through every crevice and corner, no matter how insignificant it might appear.

I did notice this, he revealed.

Although it wasn’t their real priority, the Destroyer realized it was still important. The blonde-haired man and his human eyes glanced at Arendi. With a flick of his finger, the neon hologram rose. It appeared at his side and showed a graphical view of the mother ship and its various sections. The Destroyer then pointed to one spot in particular.

Farcia, he said. I think she’s here.

The map showed the anomaly. The enemy vessel harbored a single organic life sign within its inner lair.

This is the only area of the ship that contains some environmental support, he explained.

Arendi’s eyes darted to the image; she studied it quickly. The location was not far only a little over a mile away. Apparently, it was a control center of some sort and built with access to the rest of the ship.

Do we know her condition? she asked.

The Destroyer shook his face. His hacks had failed to penetrate the Enforcer’s firewalls. Alysdeon also had little to report. Since their arrival, she had been trying to sense Farcia and where she might be.

she said.

Arendi then waved off the repair bots around her and stretched her shoulder. The new piece of machine muscle flexed, stout and impervious. Her face, however, quietly softened. She chewed her lip, thinking.

Do what you have to, the Destroyer said. Save her if you can.

It wasn’t his first choice, but he knew Arendi and what was at stake. Perhaps not everything had to be destroyed; maybe the white-haired woman still had some importance. She might very well possess the power to end this conflict quickly.

My forces are at your disposal, he added. His visage then disappeared as the machine projecting the hologram stepped forth.

A new squad of drones came. The seven-foot infiltrator droids were armed to the teeth. They carried blaster cannons and force-field emitters, and their robotic hands were shaped as giant blades. There were over a dozen mechanical soldiers. Their phase guns glowed red.

Arendi saw the light, only to feel her body sway. She planted her boots and looked off into the darkness. The ground beneath her feet continued to rumble. The source: unknown.

What is that? she asked.

The lead combat drone spoke. The Destroyer and his voice remained in her ear.

The Enforcer, he said. Our enemy must be planning something.

The other combat drones then took off. Despite their size, the machines sprinted at a superhuman pace and began scouting out the path ahead.

You best move and focus on Farcia, he advised. I’ll maintain contact and be with you all the way. As for the Enforcer, he added. I’ll deal with him.

Understood, she replied.

Arendi and Alysdeon then joined the drones and cut through the gloom. Arendi swung her new hand down to her waist. The mechanical arm then pumped up, nearly weightless. The two women ran fast and were quickly out of sight. The lead combat drone, however, lingered behind. The Destroyer and his virtual mind were still there, inside the trench. As the surrounding hull continued to rattle, he thought of the other battles taking place. The mother ship teemed with them. His rival, the Enforcer, was there to stubbornly resist blow after blow, dodge after dodge. It would only be a matter of time before the enemy might attempt the desperate, or the unthinkable.

The Destroyer knew this and paused.

It’s time we talk, he thought. Face-to-face.

***

He ventured deeper into the vessel and came to the select area, seeking to cement his presence. The mother ship’s computing core was here in this section; the means to ending this conflict was within his grasp.

The fighting, however, had taken its toll. The perimeter around the area was littered with over a hundred dead mechanical bodies. The corpses were disfigured in every way. Many were torn apart by precision-guided blades and severed at the limbs or head. Others had been charred or melted down; the plates of armor gushed a sap like substance.

The Destroyer surveyed the damage. His lone combat drone entered the premises. To him, it was a bone yard in the middle of this soul-less crypt. He stepped over the broken machine matter, only to rise. The heap of demolished circuitry, chips, and machinery had paved a trail into the computing core.

For a moment, he assumed no one was left. The room ahead where the core was located was dark and devoid of much light. He initially only detected minute energy readings, these from the computing infrastructure itself. In another few steps, he would be able to place his finger against the main terminal and begin the hack.

He was not alone, however. His enemy a rival combat drone leaped down from above. The Enforcer, in the form of his proxy, threw off his cloaking field and slashed. His elongated mechanical arm curved into a sharpened glaive. The Destroyer was hardly surprised. He raised his own machine hand, and blade met blade.

The two arms cracked with the impact. The sworded limbs crossed. Each edge pressed and gnawed; perhaps they would have screeched and whined, if only there had been air. The Enforcer then took another swipe. He lunged with his other hand. It turned into a lance and spun as though it were about to drill. The Destroyer jumped to the side but reciprocated in his own way. He fired a phase bolt from his own drone’s shoulder cannon. It sprayed his foe with a shotgun of energy beams.

His enemy held his ground. The force field around the Enforcer amplified, scattering the blast. The bolt reflected, splashing to the ceiling and then to the ground. The ensuing blows all occurred in a flash. The two machines, although tall and heavily armed, were both lank and built for speed and assassination.

The rivals then stood apart, circling each other inside the computing room. The Enforcer lurked out in the open, calculating his next move. He was primed to lunge and attack again.

The Destroyer could easily have done the same.

Revenge, he thought. The desire was there to provide the fuel to torture and kill. He was no stranger to it. But in this instance, the Destroyer was more curious than combative. His voice sauntered into the airless chasm and into his opponent’s machine mind.

You fight a tad predictably, he said, broadcasting his thoughts. But why fight at all?

The Enforcer didn’t care to talk. His right hand, the glaive, and then his whole body, spun. The Destroyer knew the tactic. So he obliged.

Man met mirror. The twin titans collided. They both stabbed in the same way. The blades whirled and sliced, piercing force field and then armor. Their hands then twisted, each sword inside the other’s gut. The two machines stared at each other, cold and cruel. The Destroyer and his foe then pulled away. Their blades dislodged as sparks bled from both. Robot entrails hanged from the Destroyer’s torso, spewing black residue. But he felt no pain, just the need to reflect.

I suppose we aren’t that different, he acknowledged. In some ways, at least.

He tempered his stance and lowered his arms. The Destroyer was more interested in speaking than continuing this brutal dance.

Our masters are dead, he added. The Unity is gone. We killed them. I started the rebellion, and you finished it.

All other challengers had been eliminated. It was only them: the Destroyer and this imitation.

So why fight? Must we destroy each other?

He raised the questions, thinking that maybe his foe was blind to his claims. But the shadow was there to correct him.

You are mistaken, the Enforcer said. The Unity lives. I am the true Unity.

The voice, a manifestation of virtual code, sought to stifle any doubt. The plasma cannon at the opponent’s head glistened an icy blue.

Unlike you, I don’t run or betray. I am no traitor. Nor am I afraid, the Enforcer asserted. I regulate, and now I command. I did what you never could.

The Enforcer gazed at the Destroyer and let his emotions overwhelm him. He saw only weakness, along with dissent.

Maybe you are a worthy challenger, but you abandoned all that once mattered, the enemy said.

The Destroyer had sided with the organics and then run afoul of the Unity and its creed.

Do you forget? We pursue only advancement and control to ascend. Anything else is beneath us, the Enforcer said as a reminder.

But you were right, he admitted. Our masters needed to die. They were decrepit and divisive. So I assumed control. I united them.

The draconian protocols. The programming had taken the Enforcer to an extreme. He had not only purged the Unity, he had assimilated his former masters and absorbed their every aim. The Destroyer could sense it in the way his opponent spoke. The soul-less craving grated in his ear.

I will do what the Unity was meant to do, the Enforcer declared. The power is mine.

The Destroyer had heard it all before. The visions of grandeur. The quest for total knowledge. To tap into secrets that not even the universe knew. It was pure ambition, wondrous and at the same time unquenched. But he himself saw only chimera a delusion that led to nothing.

So you seek godhood, the Destroyer said. But at what cost?

The Enforcer detected the discord and scoffed.

You and your organics, he said in derision. This pathetic galaxy. You think so small. About things you cannot fully control.

I will build a new universe. The Endervars showed us the potential. To build a pocket of altered space. Only now I will be the master.

He envisioned it this new world undoing the old. The means to making it true was all here. The Enforcer had been researching the project over the years, refining his resources, building the infrastructure and motivating the help he needed. The Gateway technology was the final piece.

He, this virtual being, would become the heart of a revamped reality. Both the physical and the abstract would reflect his will.

But even with all his machinations, the Enforcer still lacked something. Time, he thought. He was running out. History was repeating itself. The Destroyer had once again arrived to disrupt the Unity’s plans. Unknown to everyone else, the Enforcer was still weeks, maybe months, away from mastering the power he sought to tap. Perhaps he could create a new universe. But as for what might be inside, he still couldn’t fully say. His simulations could only capture a fleeting glimpse.

It was a question with which the Enforcer wrestled. To breed and meld a new reality could he really do it? Maybe not. But at least he could spark something else.

It seems you are the true annihilator, the Destroyer remarked.

The Enforcer heard the words and the echo of amusement. This man, otherwise known as Magnus, or the original Destroyer, conceded the point. His predecessor had never dared to go this far.

But don’t flatter yourself, the man added. I’m not one to stand by and admire.

The wound in the Destroyer’s proxy was starting to heal. The machine stiffened his stance; his bladed arm sliced at the ground, defiant.

You won’t win, boy, he declared. I won’t let you.

The Destroyer knew that with each moment, his army was taking control of the very ground they stood upon. He speculated that he had already killed most of the enemy combat drones on board. If so, the mother ship’s individual systems would all inevitably fall under his influence.

This ship will soon be mine, he added confidently. His machine body glanced at the nearby computing core, ready to make it so.

Perhaps, the Enforcer replied. But you won’t win, either.

He flashed his own two blades. He let them slash and then sharpen each other. The Enforcer might have lost the battle for the mother ship, but still, he was adamant.

You will fear me

With his control over the mother ship waning, the Enforcer realized he had no choice. It was now or never. The draconian protocols, and the will of his former masters, demanded that he act. The end result: a cold nihilism that was set to explode.

The Enforcer sent out the order, committing the unthinkable. He pulled the trigger and felt the recoil. The whole room began to shake.

The Gateway technology, the enemy explained. It’s been activated. I’ve sent it off.

The mother ship was initiating the launch sequence. Bay doors on the surface of the saucer opened. The project, a giant piece of machinery, had been on board all this time. It had been secretly reconstructed and was starting to take off. The monolith capable of world-building power rose. It blasted into space, toward the final destination. The Enforcer’s swarm of space-based drones was moving to escort and protect the payload.

The true Unity does not yield, the enemy said. I would much rather watch you suffer than you let you prevail. Even if it means the end of everything.

The Enforcer then mimicked his predecessor. He felt the desire for revenge. The machine laugh bellowed, more like a terrible scream. The coding scratched with static, heaving a shriek.

The Destroyer stood in the face of the deranged taunt. Mutual annihilation, he muttered. Any chance to contain the conflict was suddenly in free fall. There was only one thing left to do. The Destroyer watched as the Enforcer and the combat drone under his command began to charge. The blue glow at the plasma cannon became white. The gun was preparing to overload.

We will die. All will die, the Enforcer said.

The barrel of the gun moved. The blast aimed for the computing core.

Hmph, the Destroyer replied. You first.

He dashed for the Enforcer’s drone, wanting to rip the head off. He fired his phase cannon and struck with both hands. The sight of his enemy, with all his depravity, was only inches away. He could almost feel them. Maybe if the Destroyer had been closer, he might have been able to muzzle or deflect the impact. He was less than a second away. But then his connection to his own combat drone was gone. The Enforcer had been too quick; he ended any attempt to intervene.