by Martin Jones
I had six human fleets and three alien fleets at my command as we entered Thrang’s solar system, and I had positioned the six human fleets in points surrounding the vast forces of the Darknet which were in positions around the planet. The three alien fleets were one light year away behind a neutron star, and were in position as reserves. There was also a defensive grid which would also need destroying. My neural computer told me there were 1,612 battleship and cruisers, with over 23,008 fighters either already in protective formation around the planet, or still bring deployed. Our forces were 867 battleships or cruisers with over 15.150 thought fighters. There had been no time to install Reality Imaging. That would take months to develop, and I sensed we really didn’t have that time. My inner sense told me Susan and Mad Dog were in grave danger, and as soon as I could afford to leave the battle with the Darknet fleet, I intrinsically felt I had my own battle to fight on the surface, and I knew it wouldn't be easy. I sensed a powerful dark force on the planet. Although I felt unified, and knew I could work both in and outside this reality, I still hadn’t worked out how I could use that. This moment I sensed would be crucial in my development. I felt that Susan and Mad Dog were trapped in some kind of beam in the largest city on the eastern seaboard of the only land mass on the Misty, grey planet, but I knew I had to be patient. I needed to win both battles, being the one in space, and the one on the surface of the planet; and the one in space had to be won first.
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It was with an incredible sense of release and joy that suddenly the beam switched off, and Phi entered their bleak, antiseptic white cell. She immediately sensed something had changed, and almost immediately she sensed Melville was above them, fighting it out with the Darknet fleet. She knew also that Phi had become aware of her link to her power, as she had a strong sense that he had come to kill her. She gathered her forces and sensed somehow that she had to destroy him piece by piece. She formed a huge ball of plasma and aimed it one of his heads and with a loud whoosh, she discharged it. Phi put up a strange appendage, which could once have been a hand, and a defensive shield sprung up between him and the plasma ball, so when it hit the shield, it disappointingly dissipated. She then felt a dark force grab her heart and squeeze it, and she felt she almost died, but what she had done in the nick of time is instantaneously moved out of reality, and then returned almost immediately in a slightly different position so his dark energy hand in the end grasped nothing. The move was extraordinarily exhausting, and she realised she was in trouble. Phi seemed impervious to her attacks, and all she could do to avoid his was to exhaust herself in avoiding his attacks by shifting out and back into reality. It occurred to her instantaneously though, that in avoiding his attacks, she didn’t have to phase out of existence, but simply someplace else. She tried that, but to her horror, there was a barrier in place which meant the only place she could go to was outside the construct!
“Very impressive my dear, but I wonder how long you can keep that up?” he said, amongst sounds of laughter, and then his onslaught began, and she faced the fact that she was really going to die unless Melville could help her!
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I ordered an attack by three of the fleets to create an offensive cordon around the Darknet fleet by the battleships and their defending thought fighters, while the cruisers moved in under a barrage of fire from the battleships to unload their thousands of thought fighters for a full frontal attack on their main capital ships. The silence, juxtaposed with the light show in front of me was strangely beautiful, like a bizarrely choreographed ballet with blue and red streaks of wave particle weapons, juxtaposed with the intense white beams of the enemy’s transrupter beams. In spite of the mesmerising sight, I was not blind to the carnage that was occurring in front of me. I desperately wanted to interject, but realised I would need to save my power for my confrontation with the evil that waited for me on the planet.
Suddenly, the protective enemy fighter cover expanded, meaning more of the enemy’s battle ships were firing now. I ordered the three fleets’ battleships to engage, and ordered the three remaining fleets to form to a position directly east of the conflict, and make a corkscrews formation which we had practiced many times in simulations. It was designed to penetrate tight formations and cause disarray. In the meantime, I sensed that the fleet would fall back to the planet, so I ordered all my reserves in to destroy the planetary defence grid. It was extraordinarily risky, but I knew two things. To defeat the enemy, I would have to be bold and take risks, and the second thing I knew was that Susan was being attacked by an evil entity, and she was close to death. I didn’t have time to stay and see if my strategy would work, I had to rescue Susan and Mad Dog now, so I handed over command to general Jom and materialised into the scene of the battle down below.
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General Jom watched as three of the enemy’s battleships exploded in the silence of space, but he could see that their thought fighters were losing too many in the effort. They had also lost the Cruisers Hawk and Destiny. They could not afford a battle of attrition!
He then watched the three remaining human fleets move incredibly fast in tight corkscrew formation, speeding towards the central hub of the huge Darknet fleet. Their fighters had recognised the danger, but it was more or less too late. The effect was miraculous. The disarray caused by this unexpected manoeuvre caused several battleships to get stuck in the cross fire from the oncoming formation and the existing thought fighters, and they exploded like huge, silent fireworks. The enemy formation then began to lose cohesion, and many ships escaped the confusion by leaving the enemy’s frontal positions and moving to the safety of the planetary defence grid, only to be picked off by the alien fleets’ ships who were not employed in destroying the defence array.
He sensed victory and ordered all ships to go in for the kill. The scene then became very confused, and all general Jom could do now was direct his own ship into the middle of the action.
∆∆∆
Susan and Mad Dog were fighting for their lives. Mad Dog had finally regained consciousness, and Susan, in desperately not wanting to exhaust herself by jumping in and out of the reality construct, made a plasma shield, and was now trying to protect them both from Phi’s onslaught. It was a terrifying sight to see it fully animated in flight. Its weird body parts weren’t connected and they seem to be flat and two dimensional. The faces were basically large mouths with serrated teeth, no nose and one glaring red eye in each. It gave off extreme evil, and it danced in front of them with the grace of a praying mantis. It was strangely beautiful, but utterly deadly! Each section was an abomination of living flesh, and each fire bolt aimed at them was agony, and weakened her shield. Without the shield, she was certain the bolts would kill them both.
Mad Dog opened his mouth, and she knew what he was trying to do, but he was just too weak. Where was Melville? She felt her power drain to almost empty. WHERE WAS MELVILLE? Then suddenly the air in front of them shimmered and he was there
∆∆∆
I felt the power of it immediately, and I sensed another power, far greater in intensity and far more evil, but was only there in this reality as a fragile spirit foot in the door, and it occurred to me that I had never fully understood what drove the Darknet until this moment. Pure evil was in the room with me. I sensed it wasn’t here enough to have power over us yet, but it was helping the weird two dimensional, dislocated monster kill Susan and Mad Dog.
I reacted immediately. I knew now where the power of the thousand came from, and I guess I’d always thought it was previous monks who had died and donated their spiritual power after death, hence my careful respect in using the power. I now realised this had been a lie on the part of my earlier monk construct, and it had been my power all along.
I opened my mouth, and the room filled with light, and the scream on all seventeen obscene faces was extremely satisfying.
My satisfaction did not last long. Although I felt my attack would have killed it normally, its prot
ection from the evil beyond meant it was merely shocked. It then came back at me with black bolts of extreme pain which slammed into me, and I had to phase out and reconstruct myself out of reality and return to survive.
When I returned fully remade and charged, I could tell both creatures were shocked. I decided to work on severing its link to its evil power-provider and sensed where the supporting tendrils were and my power changed and shot out precisely at those areas with a white fire. It screamed, and one by one, each connection was broken. I also sensed another scream at the other side of reality, and realised that this entity was doing this from the central hub of the Darknet, and before she, I think it was a she withdrew, I mapped the location for future reference.
For the first time I sensed fear in the monster in the room, and I let it have it with all my destructive power.
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The battle was going well. General Jom could see all fleets deployed, and indeed it was one bloody mess of a battle, but there were no more enemy formations, and each ship was fighting its own battles. They had just destroyed one of the larger enemy fleet battleships, although the effort had depleted their deployment of thought fighters as they avoided other enemy fighters around the third moon of the fifth planet. Just then, at the moment when he began to sigh a sigh of relief that their plans had actually worked, thousands of ships appeared from the edge of the solar system, all sleek white in nature, and all showing now dark energy signatures. It had been a trap! They’d waited for the fleets to be fully deployed and extended, at huge costs to their original fleet, and then gone in for the kill! He could tell they would not survive this. The fleets were too involved in the battle. A retreat order would be disastrous, and would lead to many deaths, and he wouldn’t even entertain that while Melville, the Pathfinder and Mad Dog were still fighting on the surface. He realised they had to carry on fighting, but he could see they were already losing now. The Gipluk fleet were in disarray, with all but one of their battleships destroyed or floating helplessly in space. He could just about tell on the other side of theatre, Emily’s fleet was in dire trouble.
“Fight until the death!” he sent to all forces, and he could hear shouts through his comslink. They needed something, they needed a miracle, they needed Melville!!
∆∆∆
Phi was petrified now. It felt the loss of the Mother, and while it struggled to fend off the onslaught from Melville, it suddenly realised it could die. The concept had been alien to it. It had died once, after a battle a millennium ago where the Mother had put him back together again as the bravest of her soldiers. It had no idea what it used to be, but the Mother had breathed power as well as life into it, but now it felt that power ebbing away. It wondered what faced it. The light emanating from the Melville was painful and power-consuming. Without the Mother, he would die. It sensed her there back in the main hub of the Darknet. With its last breath it shouted;
“Mother, why have you forsaken me, but as it died, and literally frittered away to nothing, which was strangely a huge relief, its last thought was that he knew that he had failed its Mother, and then it completely ceased to exist.
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Susan ran into my arms, and I looked at Mad Dog and sent him healing. I could now sense the battle in space was going poorly, and I sensed my Emily needed me. I tried to rematerialise on Emily’s ship, but felt there was a barrier stopping us. Then I felt it coming. It was enormous, and the stench of evil was overpowering. The white room felt rancid with its presence. I could see a black form in a female shape, and I knew I was facing the evil embodiment of the Darknet. Its power seemed endless, and I realised this was getting out of hand, and the people that I loved dearly were in trouble.
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We were completely surrounded now, and they were systematically destroying our ships from the outside in. We were giving as much as we got, but as so often in war, we would be beaten by simple mathematics. They had much more ships then us, and we just could not afford a battle of attrition!
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Emily’s fleet was in pieces, and they were being bombarded by enemy fighters. They moved erratically at the speed of thought, so the rate of shield depreciation was small, but there was so many of them, over such a large area, she could tell they would eventually lose their shield, and with over 600 crew aboard, she would have to deploy the FTLS speed and leave the rest of the fleet, Mad Dog, Susan and her Melville alone as they escaped. What she was relying on was her own screen of fighters which was keeping the battleships at bay, but she suddenly noticed two had broken free, and with a dreadful keening noise, her ship’s shield buckled under the weight of two transrupter beams from the two ships, and suddenly, her ship was being torn apart.
She sent the thought ‘engage FTLS’, but she knew it was too late. Suddenly gravity disappeared, and a hole appeared in the hull in front of her, and half of the bridge crew were sucked out of it. She had wedged herself against the defence console and her chair, but she was also aware that they were careering out of control directly towards the fifth moon of the planet as oxygen tried to replace what was being sucked out, but failing. This was it, the end of her life. Strangely, she didn’t mind at all, it was sort of a relief. She realised how lucky she had been. She thought back to her wonderful life with George, Susan and their dear friends in the Hand, and she peacefully prepared herself for death.
∆∆∆
Susan, Mad Dog and I looked at the smoky ephemeral shape of swirling feminine black and part of me was struggling not to puke on the spot. She then talked, and it felt like rivulets of hot lead poking through each vein in your body. It was utterly vile.
“You are strong Melville, and our joining will be sublime. We will enter heaven and rule eternally. I cannot beat you to submission so far from my home in the Darknet, but I don’t have to. I just have to take from you what you believe to be your destiny, and eventually you will join me at the heart of the Darknet. There you will see the power of it, and you will be mine to control. For now, I must bid you au revoire. Your friends can keep this multiverse, and when you join me, the true rebirth can begin.” she said to my utter amazement, and then she disappeared, and I looked around, and found Mad Dog, but Susan was gone! “No!!!!” I shouted, but I could no longer sense her. The evil embodiment of the Darknet had taken her and was keeping her prisoner until I made my way to the heart of the Darknet! I had lost her!
I then felt Emily’s presence, and realised she was about to die! I tried to materialise on her ship, but the damn barrier was still in place! I couldn’t lose her as well, so I changed reality so that we could escape and rescue her. I had no idea I could do that, and was astonished and relieved that I could materialised upon her bridge in spite of the barrier - I had just changed the mathematical equation of reality. It stunned me that I had actually achieved that, but I had no time to think about the implications of what I had just done!
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General Jom had just avoided destruction by thought shifting just as two transrupter beams were sweeping in for the kill. Just as things couldn’t get any worse, another fleet appeared out of nowhere, and he couldn’t believe how many ships the Darknet forced had. Suddenly he realised that they were not dark energy ships, and then he heard Dodd’s voice through the comslink;
“Geronimo!”, and suddenly swarms of ships were descending on the White Darknet ships, and for the first time he felt they might have a chance.
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Dodds couldn’t believe the carnage in front of him. He shouted Melville’s battle cry, and everyone cheered, and suddenly they were upon them. They took the enemy completely by surprise. They concentrated on the battleships and cruisers, and the enemy really didn’t seem to know what they were doing. They destroyed fifteen after just five minutes, and it seemed that the enemy were panicking. Dodds couldn’t believe how easy it was to destroy them. The ‘Father’s’ armaments were very effective, and even though the fog of war was thick, he could tell their fleets ha
d very heavy losses, and their contribution was vital in making this a victory!
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Mad Dog and I then landed on Emily’s bridge just as it was about to crash into one of the moons, so I took control of the hull, redirected its path, and mended the hull breach in the space of three seconds. Emily found me and hugged me, but I sensed things were finely balanced. I told Emily I loved her, and then ramaterialised in space in the middle of the battle. I could see Dodds attack in the periphery, so decided to weave a programme of confusion amongst the Darknet forces whereby they could no longer communicate with each other and became disoriented. The effect was supremely satisfying. Dodd’s forces now cut through the enemy forces like a knife through butter, and I sensed General Jom muster the remainder of his fleets into an effective killing force from the other side. This was now a killing ground, and many of the Darknet ships were disengaging and disappearing out of the battle.
I could feel how close we had come to defeat, and I sensed the sheer carnage of the engagement, and to what effect? We had saved Mad Dog and ensured the safety of this multiverse, but at what cost? The rebirth seemed just as far away as ever, and Susan was trapped in the centre of the Darknet, at the other end of reality! Depression struck me in the centre of my being, but after I rejoined her ship, Emily tentatively came to me, and seeing I was struggling she hugged me, and the universe seemed a slightly more bearable place. Then Mr Chu, Dodds and Yvonne materialised to join Mad Dog, Emily and I, and I was at least relieved to see that the rest of those that I loved had survived, but the black hole of the loss of Susan could never be filled. The die was cast, and my future had now coalesced around the creature of the Darknet. I would have to defeat her to release Susan, and I couldn’t begin to imagine how I would do that.