by Skyler Grant
Those various feeds were also being sent to Crystal’s quarantine cell. She was our official diplomat after all, even if not present. Sylax’s words about her had given me some pause, but really, if she was a highly manipulative schemer it could be argued that only made her more suitable for the role assigned to her.
“This is a good thing that you’ve done here, Emma. When we first encountered you I never thought you’d be wily. Intelligent, yes, but there is a difference,” Crystal said.
“Sad you don’t get to go?” I asked.
“Of course, but this is perhaps even better. Can you nudge Caya over towards Adonis? We’d like to get them together if possible,” Crystal said.
I couldn’t directly control anyone not one of my drones. Still, with a rapid pulse of a light I could draw their attention to an area beneath the conscious level. Once that was done it didn’t take too much effort for two examples of human perfection to close on each other.
“While I’m hardly against performing breeding experiments on the humans, I’m not sure this is actually the time,” I said.
“Keep Sylax away from him,” Crystal said.
Oozelord had showed up as one of Caya’s guests. He’d once captured Anna and Sylax for some time. Then he’d occupied a whole city. Now he was just a scrawny young man covered head to foot in orange slime.
I sent a warning to Anna’s earpiece. She snagged Sylax by the arm and took her over to meet a God of Granaries so frightfully dull even my flawless memory couldn’t remember his name.
“I take it she hasn’t forgiven? The woman really should consider it, given her own history,” I said.
“The last I knew she was threatening to cut pieces of him off into a pot and simmer for a very long time,” Crystal said.
It was an intriguing idea really. I’d seen what effect Hot Stuff had on the slime, but lesser heat sources could result in some interesting properties. I had a drone offer him a cup of wine while taking a discreet sample.
“And here I’d hoped removing her crystal would make her sane,” I said.
“That would assume she started that way. I know what she told you, about our history. Nothing happens in my District that I don’t know. I was surprised you didn’t come to me about it,” Crystal said.
Crystal wished to discuss this now? Perhaps her near-death had reminded her of her mortality.
I said, “I thought for a time I might not need anyone else. I’d build my underground base and lure fools into it, and build a center from which to challenge the world. Then I met you and your creation.”
Crystal chuckled darkly. “Then your world burned, although it was you that burned it. That was bold by the way, I’ve never said so but you left nothing on the table and played every card you had in one bold gambit.”
“I made allies that day out of test subjects. I know exactly what sort of monster Sylax is, I do not and I will never trust her, but so long as she remains a committed ally I can overlook it. It would be unjust not to extend the same courtesy to her creator,” I said.
187
The banquet resulted in the forging of new friendships. Nobody really trusted each other and they never would, but that was fine, they didn’t have to. We had some points of common understanding, although they weren’t always shared between all parties.
We and the Divine both wanted a stop to the incursion of ships. I’d rather expected the powerful Divine to step up and kick them out, but so far they’d been silent. If we had to get rid of them we were going to have to do it ourselves.
Neither of us had sufficient airships to make that happen, but the various forces opposing King Boreas did. Their interest was in hurting Boreas and turning the war back in their direction—a war tapping their resources and leaving them exhausted. There was room for everyone to get what we wanted.
In exchange for roughly half of our supply of crystal powder we bought ourselves a lot of good will. That was power to keep Scholar shields running and beam cannons firing. In exchange we got the aid of a dozen veteran battleships.
My research on Vattier’s puzzle continued and while I still hadn’t solved it I was starting to better understand the energy shield that limited jump travel to and away from this place. I even thought I could re-energize the effect, for a time. If we could stop airships from jumping away we could wipe them out before them having a chance to send word home. Airships that never returned or were heard of again would make those that dispatched them a lot more wary about sending more.
Chasing down that many ships would be problematic. Ideally we’d want them fighting amongst themselves or with some other force. I thought I knew just the place.
The tree.
If they realized it existed there wasn’t a ship out here that wouldn’t be interested in such a source of power. Given the thousands of Powered living in the forest below and the beating we’d taken, they’d also quickly find themselves in a fight.
I arranged to get the other enemies’ attention with a transmission. I’d jump a ship in just long enough to send a repeat of Vattier’s original transmission with an amplified signal and then withdraw. Eager to investigate the source of the very broadcast that had lured them here the ships should follow it.
That is just what I did. I triggered a pulse transmission and my ship unloaded a stream of sensor droids before jumping away.
Forty-seven seconds after the pulse a trio of Righteous ships jumped in. Shortly thereafter others began appearing. It had worked. Now to just make the entire thing succeeded...
I hypercharged a reactor and began to charge the energy shielding. Ships could jump between destinations in this place now, but wouldn’t be able to jump outside of it.
Then I watched. It wasn’t long before ships started to come under fire from forces on the ground, bolts of crystal-powered energy arching upwards even as beam and kinetic weapons fired down into the forests and shuttles started to swarm the sky. Excellent.
I sent in our allies. With me plotting their jump coordinates they were able to arrive perfectly positioned and open fire on already weakened shields.
None of these forces were new to combat. The Righteous vessels clustered together reinforcing each other’s shields while they dealt death and devastation to all around them. The Scholar ships came together honoring whatever loose alliances their lords had in a slower effort to do the same.
Still, it was going our way. I wouldn’t even have to send in Aefwal’s own ships, although I probably should as a matter of diplomacy.
Then, down below, the tree was torn apart by a massive beam of energy. A pillar of pure white flame pierced the sky and drove the clouds away before blasting the forest completely. Thousands of Powered died in an instant and airships were sent tumbling through the sky with their shields drained and hulls smoking.
As suddenly as it had appeared the beam faded. Most of my sensor droids had been destroyed but I had a few still functional, blown clear and able to detect what was happening.
A ship was rising from the cavern beneath the tree, a massive vessel as big as the city as Aefwal. Unlike a city though there was nothing that spoke of anything but war. Turrets and heavy cannons adorned the surface, shield projectors, and sheaths of sinister-looking bombs just waiting to be dropped.
The Righteous didn’t hesitate. With their reinforced shields they’d survived its arrival the best and they opened fire in unison. They were broadcasting a distress call at full power—one that given the energy barrier would never reach home.
The blast of a huge cannon shredded their remaining shields and sent one Righteous ship crashing into the forest, its engine section completely vaporized.
The few Scholar vessels still surviving moved into a formation with the remaining Righteous ships. Old rivalries were set aside in an instant against a new and terrifying foe. It didn’t make a difference, another tremendous blast of energy sent one more Righteous ship tumbling.
A Scholar vessel overloaded its engines and three beams of light coal
esced from the new vessel to send it spinning downward. Why? The larger ship hadn’t bothered with the smaller Scholars so far and had been focusing its attacks on the Righteous.
I calculated what the Scholar vessel might have been trying to accomplish with that burn. They may have been trying to crash themselves against a window that might be a bridge. The ship had rewound time to avoid an attack to come that had actually damaged it.
Boreas, it had to be. I’d pointed the way to the prize and Boreas’ forces had claimed it. Then I understood. Forget ancient swords and artifacts.
This enormous battleship was the Sword of Light.
I jumped in the Graven just long enough to send narrow beam transmissions to the various surviving vessels of a rally point, before jumping out.
188
I maintained the power to the energy barrier preventing jump transit. It was steadily eating through our supply of crystal dust, but I didn’t see an alternative. If I lowered it the huge ship would almost certainly jump away and Boreas would be able to learn everything—I doubted Boreas himself was aboard.
I guessed the crew was a small one—little more than a raiding party. They must have solved Vattier’s puzzle apart from the location until I provided it, then freezing time infiltrated the cavern, unlocked the ship, and figured out how to fly it.
A skelton crew. They were undermanned and still learning what the vessel could do. We’d never get a better shot at it.
That required keeping fresh battles from breaking out amongst our own ranks. It was a bit difficult to convince the unaligned Scholar and Righteous ships that we now meant them well after we’d clearly lured them into an ambush designed to kill them.
Still, everyone had lost a few ships to that monstrosity and that at least made diplomacy a possibility. Crystal was out of quarantine and so far she was doing an admirable job.
I’d brought Anna aboard the Graven and was focused on the next bit of diplomacy needed. Those ships weren’t going to be enough, not to be certain.
We were going to pay a visit to the three powerful Divine. Ash, Thor and Atlas.
Their city was the largest we’d seen here outside of ourselves, and the healthiest looking. While they obviously didn’t have our technology the people didn’t seem to be suffering much for it. I set the Graven down in a clearing outside.
As I thought, it wasn’t long until we were greeted by Ash.
“That dress is absurd. Is that the machine’s idea?” Ash asked, catching sight of Anna who as usual for this sort of thing had chosen to go in her full queenly regalia.
“What? No, have you ever seen Emma dress a drone? I’m Queen Anna Besari, you’re Ash. I’m afraid I don’t know your title,” Anna said.
“Don’t know if I have one. I always thought big titles were for weak people. Why are you here?”
“The Sword has been deployed,” Anna said.
“Against you, instead of for you, I know. Minerva was smart enough to leave things alone and then you and your murderous thugs just had to go poking and wouldn’t let it go.”
Ash did know how to deliver a good verbal barb. They are always best when they’re true.
I said, “Anna’s endlessly poor judgment isn’t the issue here. That vessel tore through the people in the woods without even thinking about it.”
“Interrupting your attempted mass-murder of the people in the skies above. We saw. We disapproved,” Ash said.
Perhaps I should have left Anna behind and brought Crystal. This wasn’t going very well.
“What do you think they’ll do if they find your people here?” Anna said.
“They don’t know where we are and they’re more likely to find you first. If they do find us they’ll be able to leave this place and will,” Ash said.
They were aware of the barrier that I was maintaining. That was interesting as they hadn’t shown any signs of having airships to make use of a jump drive or of any jump gates.
“Are you just playing hard to get in the hopes of a better price or do you really have zero interest in stopping that ship?” Anna asked.
Ash regarded her for a long moment and grunted before replying. “Oh, we’ve an interest in stopping it. We’ve been discussing plans. We’ve just lived as long as we have by having a good sense of those who are good news and those who are bad, and you’re both. We don’t like that.”
“We have cookies,” I said.
“One of the points in your favor,” Ash said without missing a beat.
“What can I do to ease your minds?” Anna asked.
“You have no power crystal of your own. You could, why not?” Ash asked.
“Pride. It is barely under control now and just manageable. With a crystal my pride would run out of control and destroy me. I’m too proud to allow that,” Anna said wryly.
Ash leaned forward as if peering into her soul and said, “Huh. I’ll accept that as truth. And this Emma of yours. What is her story?”
“I think that’s obvious,” Anna said.
“It isn’t. There is history there and if you are to have our help I must know what I’m working with. I insist,” Ash said.
“Then I’d rather discuss it in private,” Anna said.
Ash shook her head. “You don’t have to reveal every secret in your head, girl, but I think you’re holding a few too many. You two are linked, I can see that.”
I knew I had a history, but I didn’t know what it was. I’d never felt that much of a compulsion to dig into it. I was aware of how strange that was.
Anna gnawed on her lower lip. “Fine, but this isn’t a good idea. In broad strokes Emma is meant to handle power better than most. However, built with a glaring flaw so her madness would proceed down a known route.
Was that it? That was very nearly disappointing if true, and it probably was true. There was no reason for me to be as endlessly insulting as I was, I didn’t even mean it, not always. Still, from the very moment I’d come online after Anna had activated me, it had been on my sheet.
I said, “I’d give you a cookie for your honesty, but truly one more and the structural integrity of that dress is finally going to fail and all hopes of an alliance will be done,”
“We can work with that. We’ll bring down that ship’s shields in four hours,” Ash said.
As Ash said, we could work with that. We had to.
189
The battle required planning. I’d already learned some important lessons from Aefwal. A threat could only bring allies together for so long, and as soon as a tempting prize appeared, any alliance would fall apart. Neutralizing the Sword of Light would be challenging enough, but unless we made sure it was destroyed the factions would turn on each other the instant it was convenient.
I didn’t want to do that, I’d love to study that vessel and all Vattier had learned. However, I saw no convincing way to pull it off. Even if I could somehow jump the ship away while seeming to destroy it, seizing the vessel would likely require more than my own drones aboard.
I could try transferring my processing core to the ship, it wouldn’t be the first time I’d been housed in an airship.
I didn’t want to be a devastating weapon of war. Aefwal seemed a better foundation for me to build my future on.
I did have an idea of how we could still come out of it ahead, but it would be risky. The power supply for that ship had to be the Agate. In legends, the Sword of Light and the Agate were inextricably linked. I still didn’t know exactly what the Agate was, but by all appearances it offered a lot more energy than the combined might of my Bioreactors. We needed to steal it.
I thought it might be possible. We just needed to sell the others on the idea of stealing the entire ship first. I devised an attack plan that focused on neutralizing the ship’s bridge, weapons array, and shields at the same time. We’d contribute forces to all three attacks. We had far more ground units to offer and it also made us the most invested in legitimately claiming the ship afterwards.
For taking
the bridge I wanted to bring along the Righteous. It seemed likely that was where the Powered would be and neutralizing their abilities was important. Shield control we’d be taking out with the help of Oozelord and several of the other Scholars. I’d seen the man easily subdue an entire fleet. In the close quarters of the ship he should be devastatingly effective. I’d already tweaked Asp suits so that my drones should be fully insulated from his control.
Weapons control would be up to the remaining Scholars with a selection of my heavy units ready to assist them.
These were all forces the others knew that I was bringing, but I planned for the actual bulk of our efforts to be directed elsewhere.
Once I had drones on the ship and could conduct a proper scan it would open the interior up for teleport. I should be able to bring my forces into engineering. I’d already started transferring Bioreactors up from the city to an airship. The plan was straightforward. Kill all defenders and begin to transfer over Bioreactors to the ship. When the time was right I’d teleport the Agate back to one airship and blow the reactors.
Done properly it would look like the ship was destroyed in the struggle, or that Boreas’ people decided to scuttle the vessel.
I might even be able to score some points by rescuing our allies, if there was time. The Righteous wouldn’t need it, they’d return after a day anyways, but the Scholars wouldn’t have that luxury.
I’d been jumping in a scout ship periodically to keep track of the location of the Sword of Light. I didn’t know how the Divine would know its location to hit the shields, but I presumed they knew what they were about. At the appointed time a thick cloud of sparkling energy drew close to the Sword of Light and exchanged a series of multi-colored sparks with the shields.
The vessel fired its main cannon directly into the heart of the cloud. It seemed completely unaffected. It made me wonder about Anna and us clearing it from the city. Had we really outsmarted the Divine or simply passed some sort of test they’d decided to throw at us to see how we’d react?