The Forsaken Empire (The Endervar War Book 2) (46 page)

It was within the glow that she saw the blur. It rose and leaped from point to point, touching both floor and wall. With each landing, it seemed to smash, breaking whatever was there.

Farcia squinted and saw the debris. It was piling up, bursting over the ground. She then concentrated, trying to peer through the haze. In her weakened state, it was hard. But the blur never left. The face within peered back.

Arendi, she said, catching a brief glimpse. The woman was not far, charging through the flash. It had to be her. Farcia’s hands left her belly, and she tried to reach out.

No, the machine said, tightening his clasp. Remember

He sent the torment into her mind, hard. The Enforcer and his cold embrace refused to let go. Instead, he sought to draw blood.

Kill them, he commanded. Let the Savior feel your pain.

***

Arendi found the woman assimilated, half-machine. The implants ran across Farcia’s back and even into her face. The wires, tubing, and metallic spikes clung to her body in a tangled mane of weight and robotic circuitry. It was clearly extensive and drastic. The Enforcer had tried to claim and extend his control over the entirety of Farcia’s organic body.

Arendi saw this and slammed into the last enemy defender. Her right hand nailed the machine drone into the wall. The Destroyer then finished it off. His proxy, an infiltrator droid, fired a phase beam directly though the target’s exposed neck. The blast triggered at almost point blank range, frying the drone’s mechanical innards.

Area secure, he said as the enemy machine dropped to the side, lifeless.

Arendi then ran to Farcia. She pulled her out from the concave chamber, but the machine alterations remained attached. With her left hand, Arendi touched the woman’s anguished face.

Farcia, she said. It’s me. Are you still there?

Arendi could see that Farcia was still alive, perhaps barely. The Destroyer was nearby, beginning to analyze. His proxy knelt down and scanned the metallic rods protruding from her back. A blue icy light ran over the attachments and into the sockets going down into her neck.

The woman shuddered. I can’t control it, Farcia said.

Her neural activity was high, through no choice of her own. Moreover, the machine voice was still whispering through her mind. She tossed and turned, feeling the invasive touch slither and squirm inside her.

The Enforcer Farcia said. I can’t stop him.

Arendi saw tears drip over the woman’s cheeks and onto the implants under her eyes. The gray metal scaled over the skin like a disease. The nanomachines continued to prick and pull, wanting to infest and expand. The result had turned Farcia into a fully realized weapon. The Enforcer continued to wield her. The woman’s mind and body were nearly drained from the stress.

Still, Farcia was lucid enough to understand the threat. My kin they’re on their way.

Eleven ships, Farcia muttered. Her kin the Endervar vessels in the area were moving. The Enforcer desired to bring them under his command.

They’ll destroy us, she warned. They’re on course to attack the mother ship.

Arendi wiped the tears from Farcia’s face. Her thumb dabbed the wells of the woman’s eyes. It will be OK, she said.

But Farcia shook. The metal rods seemingly gnawed at her flesh, demanding obedience. She yelped. The pain it’s too much.

The force was overwhelming. The torment was both physical and mental. She felt like a beaten piece of flesh, mangled and on the verge of being eaten alive. She was ready to surrender. Her eyes drooped, afraid.

Kill me, she begged. I can’t stop him.

Farcia grabbed Arendi’s right hand. Her bony fingers touched the mechanical claw. They clasped around the sharpened edges, desperate and insistent.

Please, just do it.

Farcia was frantic. Her mind convulsed in panic. Almost every thought imaginable came like madness, only to be carefully steered and then directed.

Farcia heard the whispers. The machine sought to manipulate, forcing her to hate.

My enemy, she suddenly thought. Arendi Soldanas. The one who ruined us

But no. That wasn’t quite true. Try as she might, Farcia couldn’t see any of that.

This is my fault, she acknowledged. The gills in her cheeks drooled bile, and she coughed, hearing the machinery in her back continue to crank and squeeze.

Hang on, Arendi said, determined.

Farcia, however, ignored her. It’s too late, she thought, nearly convinced.

Please, Farcia said, resigned to her fate. She tugged again at the mechanical claw. End this. You have every reason to.

She spoke in a whimper and stared at Arendi almost apologetically.

There was no need for pity or mercy. If anything, this final act would relieve Farcia of all her pain. She felt the bladed metal in Arendi’s hand.

I’m not worth saving, she said. The depression and the defeat spoke for her now.

No, Arendi replied. Don’t give up.

She pulled away her right hand, bringing forward her other, more human, arm.

You’re not alone, Arendi said. I know.

A solemn but kind expression overtook Arendi’s face. She touched Farcia’s waist and then her belly. She touched the life there. It was among the reasons she was here.

Live, Arendi said. You have to live.

The words were certain. Farcia felt the resolve.

Arendi then glanced up. She focused on trying to free Farcia and removing the enemy’s control. Can you do it? Arendi asked.

Already under way, the Destroyer replied.

His proxy, the infiltrator droid, was hacking into the control nodes at Farcia’s back. The Destroyer had placed his hands over the metallic rods and had begun bonding with the nanomachines.

He was hoping to sever the connection quickly. This may hurt, he warned. There was no time to do this delicately. The Destroyer’s analysis had spotted the weak points. The beam cannon over his shoulder flared, melting through the robotic circuitry.

Farcia wailed. The machinery in her back was shorting out under the sudden shock. It smoldered as the beam blast cut through. Arendi grabbed Farcia by the shoulders and pulled her safely away. The metal rods in her back dripped with a splash of silver. The remaining implants festered, only to be taken over and converted to a new cause.

Done, the Destroyer said. I’m now assuming control.

The robotic wiring and metallic rods still remained in Farcia’s back, but the gray metal along her cheeks began to scale away. She staggered along like a malfunctioning machine, watching as the implants stalled and fell off her face like dry skin.

The extra weight across her body then slackened. With each step, pieces of mechanical debris dropped to the ground. But more important, the fire in her mind had shriveled into a wisp of smoke.

Are you all right? Arendi asked.

Farcia touched her forehead, and gasped. Yes, she wanted to say. Her mind was now fully hers. She felt the vacancy. The freedom. But even as the dust in her mind was starting to clear, Farcia could still hear it. The fury of commands, promises, and reminders had not completely waned.

The Enforcer spoke from the void, offering a final machine whisper. It was a thinly veiled threat.

I am your only hope, he declared. The only chance to revive your people. The choice is yours. Help me or never see your people again.

Chapter 47

The Gateway technology flew onward. The block of dense machinery began to unfold. The engines propelling the project gave way as the entire protective casing ejected out into space. The collection of remaining parts quickly assembled in an outbreak of activity. The Enforcer’s own machine consciousness was embedded within. He guided the construction methodically, without indecision or fault. Piece by piece, the components perfectly linked, forming a large mechanical cage that opened.

The technology rose in the vacuum. The soul-less knot of metal bloomed. The petals each a giant screen built to absorb and meld desired to give birth to a new, uncertain and wayward reality.

All that was needed was the power. It waited not far off. The collection of exotic matter, and all its cosmic fuel, lay behind the vast containment field. The Gateway technology sought the embrace. The last vestige of Farcia’s dead universe was about to receive it. The arrival was, perhaps, inevitable. There was little left to stop the Enforcer now. The machine overlord had told her so.

Farcia walked through the darkened hallways of the mother ship, still recalling the whispers. The Enforcer had virtually drilled the messages into her mind.

The promise. It shall come true.

Meanwhile, dead drones were everywhere. Broken shells and puddles of black liquid littered every corridor that she could see.

Farcia nearly tripped, still dragging the machinery in her back. Her shoulders were hunched, as the heavy tubing behind her scraped the floor and sparked. Arendi, however, held on to her arm and kept her steady. She walked Farcia into the mother ship’s control center. The circular room was dark, so Arendi pulled a flare from her belt and threw it out onto the ground.

The light flashed and beat back the gloom. Up ahead was the Destroyer, standing in the middle of the glow. His infiltrator bot was motionless. The seven-foot droid was a pillar of shadow, long and inert against the computing terminals in the room. But in truth, the man was actively scrambling. His virtual consciousness stretched on to his machine troopers and now to even the mother ship itself.

His lightning-paced march through the enemy vessel had secured pockets of control. Enough to establish some authority over the crucial systems. The Destroyer sensed it. His virtual hands worked liked he was in the dark, groping for anything that might be of use.

Status? Arendi asked.

Not good, the man replied. He was studying the scans. The battle for the mother ship may have ended, but the fighting was far from over. He could see the incoming danger. It was twofold.

The Gateway is almost in position, he warned. But there’s more.

The seven-foot droid projected the threat. The holoscreen emerged from over the control room and displayed the enemy that remained.

The Enforcer was exerting his remaining might. His fleet of space-based drones all automated ships under his command escorted the Gateway technology, only to leave its side and focus on the new target: them. The enemy swarm numbered in the thousands. Each ship was small but deadly. Their combined firepower was more than enough to take down a giant.

They’ll be here in minutes, he said. I don’t know how long we’ll last.

The Destroyer himself lumbered along in his newly commandeered vessel a ten-mile-long craft, battered and nearly broken. The siege had left the systems on board the mother ship a mess. He was trying to reconnect them and stitch the components together into a new computing framework. Unfortunately, he could still smell the enemy’s stench.

Main power and auxiliaries are ours, he said. As for everything else, I’m not sure. The Enforcer tried to sabotage what he could.

What does that leave us with? Arendi asked.

Only the basics. Some shielding and the comms.

The Destroyer knew that wasn’t much. With the computing core gone, he had to start from scratch. For now, the massive craft was practically comatose, drifting through space without engine power or weapons. It made the ship an easy target to be carved apart.

I suppose it could be worse, Arendi said.

She glanced at Farcia and saw her equally battered body. The woman was weak, hurting, and deformed. But still, she was alive and conscious. Arendi delicately placed Farcia in a corner of the room and told her to rest. She then looked at the Destroyer.

Let me help, she said. There has to be something we can use.

The odds were against them, but Arendi was still determined to fight. She took her mechanical right hand and began her own hack. The claw reached for a computing terminal inside the control center. The microfilaments from the sharpened fingers extended and entered a nearby port, hoping to access control of the weapons.

It wouldn’t matter.

Enemy contacts are almost in range, the Destroyer warned.

Even if the mother ship were whole again, the ship wouldn’t stand a chance against the oncoming swarm. It was about ten thousand mechanical drones versus one very large target.

Farcia knew this. She sat in her corner of the room, exhausted, but well aware. The chatter made it painfully clear. They wouldn’t survive. Not the Enforcer’s drones or what he was about to unleash. Even the echo in her mind pushed Farcia to accept it.

Let them die. They are your enemy. All of them are.

She cringed, holding her ears. Farcia wondered whether it was the Enforcer or just herself whispering. The reminders were profuse. They warbled across her thoughts, tempting her.

Your pain. All we’ll feel it

She scratched the implants and bits of metal along her cheeks, shaking. The cold touch forced her to remember the machine and his final message.

I am your only hope, the Enforcer had declared. Join me.

No, she muttered. Her skin crawled, as she thought of him and all the mistakes that she had made. She painfully pricked at the machine scabs scarring her face, wanting it all off her. But the damage was done. Her entire backside felt riddled with sockets, circuits, and whatever else the Enforcer had installed.

Hate. The Enforcer had told her to feel and embrace it. Even now, his echoes continued to pester her.

Unleash your destruction, the machine had said. Summon your power.

So she did. Farcia wasn’t content to sit and rest. She stood up from the corner, angry. Extending her right hand, she concentrated and let her fingers reach.

Revenge. Yes, she felt it, toward him the Enforcer.

Farcia heard the machinations in her mind and whispered back. The ancient words of her people spoke, clear and firm. They entered the surrounding cosmos and inspired a change that was swift. The result came blasting into space.

The Endervar ships are attempting to intercept, the Destroyer said.

He watched the scans with Arendi. The enemy swarm continued to roll toward the mother ship, but Farcia was there to provide some resistance. It was fierce. A barrage of particle-beam fire was streaking through the vacuum. The energized bolts carved into the darkness and rammed headlong into the approaching waves of drone craft.