by Skyler Grant
That wasn't where Sylax's plan ended or even really began.
There wasn't any sort of planetary shield, only orbital weapon platforms. Coming too close to the planet would bring us in range of them, and if the small ships were as deadly as a swarm of wasps, weakening our defenses, those platforms would kill us a lot faster.
We weren't waiting for that. Sylax’s plan had our strike teams teleporting ahead of the Juggernauts, several jumps being required to get them aboard the stations. It exhausted their teleportation abilities, but they wouldn't be making any return trip. Each was equipped in the latest model Aegis armor and carrying battlefield psi-blockers.
They were going in communications silent and, without registering on any psionic detection, they were nearly undetectable. I didn't even know if they had been successful until the platforms began opening fire—on the planet surface.
This was the part of the plan I hadn't liked. If we were going to free these people, killing large numbers of them was frowned upon, but just as there were swarms of ships awaiting us in orbit, military installations below were prepared to fend off a closer approach.
At least, they were until their own guns turned against them.
As fighters started to fire on the stations the Juggernauts moved in with engines at full power. With the enemy distracted it was the right time to charge, their divided attention giving us the best opportunity.
It wasn't enough. Whoever these shark people had been, they were more advanced than us when it came to small-scale power supplies. The shields on their fighters were taking over twice the punishment of anything my craft could withstand.
I upped the output through the Juggernaut's cannons. The dimensional-reactors had a high theoretical output, but the more I increased their discharge the more unstable and prone to explosion they became. It would also burn through the weapons and shield emitters faster. At these levels I'd burn through our backups in several minutes, but that would hopefully be all we'd require. I began taking out individual fighters with one shot of the Juggernauts' cannons.
As we got closer to the planet my sensors were finally picking up the tower that the Scythe must be talking about. It was the tallest structure on the planet by far, surrounded by an energy bubble.
I didn't have anything that could crack that level of defensive shielding. I sent the data to Sylax.
"Put me on top of it and I'll punch through," Sylax said.
It was likely she could. With her connection to Anna's crystal Sylax could deliver massive power to a small region. The only issue was getting her there.
We'd planned for each of the Juggernauts to take us part of the way, bearing the brunt of the battle damage until another could take over. A suicidal rush to the planet with the intention of getting us close enough. The first Juggernaut exploded early, the dimensional core tearing it apart in a cascade of rainbow energy.
That was bad luck, there had only been a six percent chance of that happening. By then, the fighters had taken out the orbital stations too, my drones already dead.
I'd already backed up all drones on this mission ahead of time, of course. Still, our resources were rapidly dwindling and the early loss of a Juggernaut dramatically lowered our odds of success. I'd planned to send a computing core down to the surface in a shuttle along with several strike teams to accompany Sylax. I no longer thought we'd get close enough.
Fortunately, I am a genius even when running on a vastly limited network. I used the biogeneration units on the Juggernaut to create a seed core—a basic processing core surrounded by a thick shell of heat-resistant armor.
When I'd finished we'd lost our second Juggernaut. We'd just come into what would have been the weapons range of the orbital stations. Hundreds of fighters had been destroyed, not that the loss likely bothered the Scythe in the slightest.
"You're going to have to go the rest of your way on your own. It is going to be incredibly painful," I said.
"Not like I haven't been tortured before. I do prefer to be on the other side of the knife though," Sylax said.
A fact I was all too well aware of. At times monitoring everything that went on in the empire was disgusting. Humans had such distasteful habits.
"Your armor should survive mostly intact unless one of those fighters gets a shot off on you," I said, as one of my drones handed her the seed core. "The tower is hard to miss. Try to hit it. When you break through the shield and get inside, please bleed on this."
Sylax accepted the seed and nodded. She knew what to do.
The reactor was just about in meltdown on the last Juggernaut when I signaled Sylax to make her move.
Four teleports. From here it would take her four teleports to hit the planet’s atmosphere, a fifth long one would be enough to get her atop the tower’s shield if she just let herself fall far enough first.
It would cook her alive inside her own armor, but with her accelerated healing she'd survive it after a few minutes of torment. I appreciated that she knew that and didn't even protest. Sylax had never been afraid of pain.
Fourteen seconds after she teleported away the reactor core went. With it, my presence in the system. The world, for this subset of me, went black.
Pain. Blazing hot and blisteringly intense, delirium like a fever washing through my systems. I'm E.M.M.A, no, yes, a sub-personality born of a seedling, no, the real deal as there are no psionic blockers and the systems just reintegrated.
A shaft of sunlight was pouring in through a hole in the ceiling, and a wound in Sylax's arm healing as the recently made cut knitted itself back together.
It is a disgusting thought, but Sylax's biomatter tastes good. The power in her blood, that same power in Anna's blood. I'd never had a seedling drink of it before and it was exhilarating.
It also gave me the power I needed to send out growth tendrils. The shark people do not use organic systems, but I'm used to working within electronics. The tower systems were unfamiliar, but not secure.
The people of this system were the Haka, and they were sharply divided. Traditionally they were a warlike people, but they had a growing religious movement devoted to peace. This tower was a holy structure. The shield surrounding it had been to protect those who studied within.
It hadn't protected them from the Scythe. They'd taken the Haka's holiest figure, fused him with the dead bodies of their past saints, and turned him into a killing machine who spent the past several months murdering all of his acolytes before eating them.
"Well, the good news is you aren't going to counter any resistance," I said to Sylax.
"When is me not getting to kill people good news? Tell me I'm going to like killing this beast of theirs," Sylax said.
Genetic manipulation, cybernetic implants, psionic manipulation and imprinting of special abilities.
He was waiting in what had once been the "enlightenment chamber".
"Is there ever a kill you don't enjoy? I'm marking it on your map," I said.
It was a long trek down. I didn't trust the lifts and directed Sylax to the stairs. A few floors showed makeshift barricades that had been knocked aside. The walls were liberally splashed with blood although no traces of any bodies remained. At least, not until we got down to the main floor.
They were everywhere approaching the enlightenment chamber. Severed limbs dotted the floor, bodies were impaled on stakes, some corpses seemed stitched together in crude poses corresponding to the Haka's mating habits. Tissue damage suggested it had happened while they were still alive.
Sylax took a deep breath of the air and the scent of rotting meat. "You blew up my original trophy room. I've never quite forgiven you for that."
"Yes, yes, you're creepier than the monster we've come to hunt. Stop showing off," I said.
A shimmer rippled along Sylax's form as she activated a fresh coating of her bioarmor. A sword forged by the same power appeared in her hand.
13
Massive doors hung off their hinges, leading the way into a large rot
unda. There was room for thousands of worshippers in here, and now there were thousands of bodies. The presentation of the corpses was less clever than it had been outside, discarded bits simply forming crude piles.
At an orator's platform in the center of it all sat the Beast.
A normal Haka stood at around eight feet in height. This one was closer to twenty-four. His naked form was a pattern of discolored patches, his immense size had been supplemented by the mingling of the dead. Trapped in there was the mind of the Haka’s holiest figure, someone who had spent his lifetime urging his people to peace. Now he'd spent the last several months murdering and eating his flock.
The bet with Hex was to kill the Beast. If I were more of a hero I might try to save him, but trying to save the Haka as a whole would be hard enough. I doubted anything of the holy man survived within that shell.
The Beast roared, its jaw parting widely to show a mouth filled with jagged teeth. From between them a blast of red energy erupted that caught Sylax in the chest and flung her across the room to smash against the far wall.
It was some sort of force-projection weaponry. It hadn't even been trying to burn through her armor, but rather to disorient Sylax. I realized why a moment later.
"It's pressing against my mind, Emma," Sylax said.
That made sense. The Scythe were psionic creatures. Why kill Sylax to win this fight, and the wager, when they could simply seize her mind?
I had to get there first. Sylax, because of her crystal connection, could do a good job at forcing me out. But that only went so far.
"Invite me in," I said.
A cylinder with a vacuum inside would collapse easily from outside pressure. Fill it, and it became a different matter.
Sylax grimaced, she didn't like me in her head anymore than I liked being there.
"Fine," Sylax said.
I slipped inside. It was easier this time, and I was still a little drunk on the energy of her blood from my local processor. That did form something of a bond between us.
I started feeding tactical data through her eyes at once. Giving her a display of potential weak spots on the Beast as well as of the building.
There weren't a lot of flaws. In Sol we'd fought a badly damaged Scythe. Hex might be insane, but was still good at making monsters.
Sylax charged forward and ducked under a fresh energy blast as she swung her sword low and buried it in one of the Beast's thick legs. The blade did penetrate, but a blast of red energy from the wound sent the blade rebounding backwards and Sylax tumbling across the room again.
"Really? Telekinetic blood?" Sylax asked.
I wondered how they'd done it. I just didn't have the sensors in this building to properly analyze the effect, and the limited data I had from Sylax's visual sensors wasn't helpful.
Could I use this against the Beast? That much power was dangerous. A system prone to releasing cascading energy out of any injury was inherently unstable. Or was it? The Beast didn't seem to have accelerated healing and so the wound was still there. It wasn't leaking red light, no more concussive force was erupting.
Involuntary? Triggered by damage?
"Hit it with a rock," I said.
"You have the worst plans," Sylax said. Still, she did as I asked, sheathing the sword and grabbing a hold of a life-sized stone statue. With her exceptional strength Sylax flung it at the Beast.
It didn't even try to dodge, and with its immense size and strength the hit barely fazed it. Still, a minor cut on one shoulder. No red energy.
It wasn't fresh damage that was the trigger, which meant it was either controlled or a reaction to something about Sylax's sword specifically.
It was a trap, of sorts. The Scythe were familiar with crystal technology. They'd said as much before. They had presented a strong individual challenge knowing it would bring forth our most powerful fighter—who would almost certainly be crystal-bonded.
Sylax's sword was a manifestation of crystal abilities, and whatever within the Beast was causing that blast of red light must be reacting to crystal energy. It either erupted at the contact, or responded with some measure of equal force.
"While I'm sure you would have fun keeping this up all day, I believe its blood responds to crystal resonance. Using your sword on it is only going to beat you up," I said.
I feared it might do worse than that. It still wanted to take Sylax's mind. We'd seen only the initial reaction to crystal resonance. More attacks might prompt something even stronger.
"Great," Sylax said, punching the Beast in the face as it charged her. Both went flying backward, Sylax obliterating a wall in the process.
"I'm working on a plan," I said.
"Already got one. This thing have a brain?"
Strange question, but I could find out. Surely there had to be a physiology book somewhere amid all the religious texts on the local network.
"By default it is in the chest. Based on the alterations made I think you'll find it here," I said, and marked a section low in the abdomen.
Sylax picked herself back up and charged the Beast again, this time the two exchanging punches toe to toe. Then I felt the surge of power in her muscles and she threw another punch with her hand made of the claw of Mercurian metal. It rippled, transforming into a long metal barb, and she drove it into the Beast.
The Beast roared. It hadn't shown its full power yet, it did now. A massive fist drove down and smashed Sylax's skull, exploding it into fragments. With her accelerated healing it wasn't fatal. Even the brain would regrow although it did sever my connection for a moment.
It was long enough.
When Sylax's brain regrew it was vulnerable, defenseless, and the Scythe slipped into it before I could re-establish contact.
"That was ... surprisingly fun," Hex said through Sylax, limbering her muscles. "Oh, this is smaller but powerful. You've got a good taste in rides. I can't wait to hop inside you. You just weren't good enough."
Hex hadn't noticed that something was missing. Sylax had only one hand.
"Do you really think I'll be that easy to take over?" I asked.
Sylax's body gave one of her creepy smiles. "We’ve had a lot of practice. Don't you worry about it. You even left a core locally and it is connected to this host."
That was true, although I'd already firewalled the connection just to be safe. I hopefully didn't need it, for the Beast's life signs had just gone dark.
"Before you do that, you may want to look behind you," I said.
Sylax's body turned to take in the limp form of the Beast. A powerful kick sent the body tumbling over to collapse against the wall. Hex said, "Well, that's disappointing. Psi-dampening metal threaded through the brain, fuck."
"Are you a monster of your word? If so, I'd like my sociopath back," I said.
"Fine," Hex said.
Sylax shook her head and I felt the void of a psionic presence leaving her. I flowed back in.
"If you had a body I'd make you regret that," Sylax said, extending her arm. Out of the corpse of the Beast metal flowed, the claw reforming on her wrist.
"A surprising outcome to a game? Never," Hex said through speakers somewhere close. "The meat of this system is yours. Next time, instead of you answering our invitation, I think we'll surprise you. See you soon."
I could feel it swelling around me. There might be no living Haka in this tower, but in the city, throughout the system, there were hundreds of thousands still alive. Through the tower systems I accessed the computers outside, pulling camera feeds.
The Haka weren't moving. Hex might have vacated their bodies, but the Scythe was right. It had left them little more than empty, biological shells. I extended my psionic Network and moved in.
The Empire has acquired a new population
Haka
Population: 708,398
Abilities: Predator's instinct, enhanced strength, amphibious
The Empire has acquired a new system
Vekora
I hadn't come he
re trying to obtain a new system or a new population. I didn't think the council would approve. They weren't really happy with us having Sol, let alone expanding our influence.
Still, now that I was within the Haka’s minds I could feel remnants of them. With time and effort I might be able to restore parts of their personalities and memories—for all that they would also remain my drones.
14
I was right, the council wasn't pleased. Still, in the end our actions had prevented a Scythe strike on another civilized world and we'd helped to preserve a population. Experts confirmed the extensive psionic damage to the Haka.
The good outweighed the bad and we were allowed temporary stewardship of Vekora with the condition that the next generation of Vekora not be born networked and could choose whether they wished to be members of the empire or not.
It was as good a deal as we were likely to get.
It was time to follow up on another lead. I was still scouting out systems where planets had gone missing, which meant pursuing the old Yomo homeworld.
Anna wanted to tackle this one. No psi-dampeners were required this time and I had a lot more ships to throw at the problem. Mindful of what had happened last time I sent Anna with six Juggernauts and another ten SCIENCE vessels.
It was a fleet that gave us both a great deal of firepower and prodigious sensor power to hunt for any remains. The council reluctantly approved the expedition with cautions not to have any more disasters. As if we planned them.
The Yomo homeworld was massive, over three times the size of Earth, and composed of a sort of organic crystal that was constantly expanding and contracting. Continents formed and disappeared over a matter of weeks.
It made it even more unlikely that we'd find anything of note. If any artifacts had been left, surely they'd been long since ground to dust.