The Forsaken Empire (The Endervar War Book 2)

by Michael Kan

  Defeat. They all could feel it. The grim sensation was on Arendi’s lips. The android woman bit down on her teeth, trying to face the inevitable. The remaining skin on her cheeks twitched. They wouldn’t win. Not unless they had help.

  Farcia focused on Arendi and the lingering thought if only we had more ships

  It then dawned on her. They could stop this. Farcia knew how.

  Savior, she whispered. The android woman had come all this way for certain reasons. For reasons that Farcia understood. They were personal in nature.

  The captain Farcia added.

  Indeed, they were here on the edge of the galaxy, at the very site. The site where all this began. Farcia glanced up at the holoscreens, wondering how it might end. To save this universe would mean abandoning the old one forever.

  She looked at what was left of her former home and saw nothing familiar. It was almost the inverse. The dead matter of her old world was about to explode and cast out pure destruction. It would kill everything in the name of a heartless machine.

  No, Farcia thought. My people never wanted this.

  Her people. The forgotten empire. The memory still lived in her mind. She knew them intimately. They had achieved many great things. Things that this new universe might never know. But never had they wanted death. Not deliberately. They had only asked for life.

  Farcia realized this and felt the life growing in her belly. She sniffed, remembering her people and what they stood for. Maybe for once she could do what was right. But she would have to act fast.

  You don’t need the engines, she said.

  She broke away from her side of the room and came to Arendi. Her eyes were wide as she stared at the woman and all the technology around them. Arendi and her companions were trying to fight off the foe with brute force, using conventional weapons and shields. But they had yet to tap the mother ship’s true power.

  Farcia told them how. Access spatial control. Focus on that.

  She then touched Arendi’s mechanical claw. The small hand clasped the glove of metal. The heavy arm was attached to the room’s central computing tower, attempting to access the various systems. The robotic fingers then flinched.

  What? Arendi asked, confused. What do you mean?

  Farcia waved her other hand in the air, pointing.

  This ship, she explained. The Enforcer may have built it, but the energy inside it’s from my people, my world.

  Farcia spoke, knowing it was there. The technology was literally beneath her feet, contained by layers of machine metal. Weapons, shields all of that was nothing in comparison.

  Farcia uttered it again: Spatial control trust me.

  Arendi made the connection. She had nearly forgotten. You mean a portal, she realized.

  Yes. We can cross the distances in an instant.

  Farcia had shown Arendi the capability before. The method of travel was beyond known physical laws. But the mother ship possessed the power. In fact, the vessel housed a shard of Farcia’s dead universe. The energy, once harnessed, could easily make it true. The Endervars and their abilities to manipulate and mold space had transferred to this very ship.

  But why? How we would we use it? Arendi asked.

  To create a bridge. To where my home once was. I know the coordinates, Farcia said.

  Through the holoscreens, she looked out to space and recalled it. Reinforcements. I know where to find them.

  ***

  It had been twenty-one years ago that the experiment took place. Farcia had sought to create a bridge to her people and what was left of their world.

  Now, she was attempting to do so again. To replicate those same conditions and bring forth the realm of her ancestors. Space would bend, and so would time. The energy from the mother ship and its spatial generator would briefly close the gap.

  We’ll create a gateway, Farcia said. A true gateway.

  The enemy swarm continued to storm their position. The full wrath came, ready to annihilate them. The drone fighters hounded from above and below, targeting the mother ship, with the intent of crushing the ten-mile disk into nothing.

  But Farcia still had time. Maybe enough to make a difference.

  She began to see it from the hologram beside her. The blond-haired man had regained his grin. Spatial control is ours, the Destroyer said, completing the hack. Dialing in the coordinates now.

  Farcia felt the change under her feet. The force came thundering through the room. The power was taking shape, moving beyond the normal parameters. It crackled and surged within the vessel’s main generator, nearly breaking loose.

  Farcia let it ramp up. Don’t spare anything, she said. All of it was needed. The energy and the intensity would only climb, draining the mother ship of whatever fuel it had left.

  The spatial bridge. The technology of her people. Out in space, it was already beginning to form. The incoming portal would build and stretch for miles maybe dozens or more.

  The larger the better, Farcia thought. From what she remembered, the original experiment had spanned the entire area. The power had rapidly proliferated in size and at one final point even consumed. The mother ship could probably never match that scale. But it didn’t have to.

  Yes, the Destroyer said. I think it’s working. The disruption is growing.

  The rift appeared only several thousand kilometers away. At first it was small, like a simple circular doorway, but wreathed in sparks and flames. The dimensional fabric, however, was quickly breaking down to do more. The powers at work reached into this section of space and began paving the way for the bridge.

  The enemy, however, pressed its attack. The mounting blaster fire was tearing away at the last layers of protective shielding and raking into the mother ship’s armor. Farcia nearly stumbled with the impacts. The vessel itself seemed as if it were teetering toward collapse or were about to implode.

  Arendi caught Farcia by the arm. She steadied her, pulling her in closer. At Arendi’s touch, Farcia tried to look away. Although her ragged white hair dangled over her vision, she could still see Arendi there, standing nearby, trying to help and protect her.

  Why?

  Farcia didn’t say it, but it was hard to face the woman like this. She would much rather have looked at Arendi from afar or not at all. Having hated her, despised her, even yearned to hurt her, and then suddenly to feel something different was difficult. To feel the guilt.

  Farcia brushed her hair away from her eyes. She had shown the woman enough pain.

  Savior, she whispered.

  Farcia uttered the word, realizing that these might be their last moments. She could easily envision all the destruction. She had seen so much of it before. Base after base. Planet after planet. And now, perhaps, universe after universe. But instead she clasped Arendi’s hand and spoke louder.

  I never told you.

  What do you mean? Arendi asked.

  The truth, Farcia replied. What happened twenty-one years ago. I promised I would show you.

  She glanced up to the holoscreens and to the emptiness of space, hoping. Maybe he’s still there, Farcia said. Maybe they all are.

  Her frail body felt the energy of her people. The mother ship was using every last bit of it. It was then that the power strengthened and commanded the void to bend. For a moment, the existing universe opened; the barriers holding it together loosened and then connected to the domain of another.

  The bridge arrived, swirling against the night. The new storm erupted across the horizon, warping a corridor of space and time. It was how the Endervars had first arrived in this galaxy, funneling energy and ships through such portals. But in this instance, Farcia sought to release another force something once assumed lost.

  Alysdeon said, as she stared at the holoscreens. Something was coming through.

  The presence appeared on the scans amid the enemy swarm. New contacts, the Destroyer said. Man-made. Even bio signatures

  It was one. Then s
ix. Then over fifteen. And finally many, many more. The ships were streaming through, almost blinking into existence. The fleet emerged from the rift and entered into normal space. It came like a new wave, washing over the shore. Capital ships, carrier groups, and armies of automated attack craft suddenly lay perched over the battlefield, ready to strike.

  Arendi saw the various vessels and their formations. She recognized the designs, colors, and lights. It’s the Alliance, she said.

  But it was more than that. Much more. The truth was on full display. Arendi made the connection. She saw the piece of the past.

  It’s the strike force. After all these years.

  Yes, Farcia replied. The captain and the lost fleet.

  She had known all along, never really caring, until now. Farcia glanced at Arendi, thinking and then realizing. Perhaps this was something that she could salvage. Something that she could save.

  Twenty-one years ago they were swept away in the experiment, Farcia said. Now they return.

  Chapter 49

  The fleet struck with a fury. Battle carriers, dreadnoughts, and cruisers took off like sabers and spears flying through the night. Joining them were thousands of automated craft, launching into space and bolting toward their targets. The ships had quickly realized what was at stake. The distress call had made it clear.

  Arendi identified herself as she sent the message out across all frequencies. She pointed to the threat at hand and to what it might unleash. The Gateway, she said. It has to be stopped at all costs.

  The Enforcer and his chamber of power. The all-consuming reaction continued to escalate by the moment. The exotic energy inside was transforming and merging with the technology at the core. Meanwhile, the enemy swarm began to regroup. It no longer dominated the surrounding space unopposed. Alliance ships were filling the void with comm traffic and then weapons fire.

  They all felt it. The shaking over the mother ship began to stop. As energy from the craft’s main generator started to ebb and wane, so did the enemy’s assault. It effectively scattered; a new bombardment had come to clear the area.

  The Alliance fleet and its collective might arrived. From afar, dozens and then hundreds of gun blasts ripped through the offending swarm. Heated plasma and faster-than-light shells all went off. The main line of battleships had together launched an entire broadside into the machine flyers. But that was just the first strike. The fleet’s own army of automated drones plunged into the enemy, killing more.

  The Destroyer watched the destruction, pleased.

  The Enforcer is losing ground, he said. The tide is turning.

  The new wave of Alliance ships and their repeated barrage almost seemed to shatter the opposing side. The strike force then began to separate, overrunning the area and assailing the battlefield from all angles.

  Alysdeon marveled at the scans. Their reinforcements were more than ready to finish the fight. She then came to Arendi and asked,

  Still checking.

  Arendi was looking over the scans and cataloging the various ships. After twenty-one years, much of the strike force was still intact. She counted over two hundred sizable warships many from different galactic cultures as they sprawled over the area, attacking. Her machine systems were communicating with the fleet, feeding them intel and laying out the targets.

  As she did this, Arendi searched. The mother ship and its sensor readings were partially mangled, but there was enough data coming in to notice it. Of all the ships on display, she was looking for one vessel in particular.

  The Au-O’sanah, Arendi said. I’ve found it.

  The craft entered the battle, spinning through the swarm. The ship was relatively small but agile and fast. It was among the forces leading the charge against machine flyers. Arendi was familiar with the vessel. She knew the pilot well.

  Julian, are you there?

  Her voice spoke through the transmission. The mother ship’s communication array was boosting the power. Arendi brushed the front of her hair, asking again. Seconds passed, each long and pronounced, but someone was listening and wanting to speak.

  Arendi. Is that really you?

  She heard Julian’s voice. It was cluttered with static and was very surprised. The man asked as he commanded his own vessel to soar toward the mother ship.

  Yes. It’s me, Arendi replied. I’m here.

  Although she couldn’t see it, the pilot grinned on the other end. I received your message. We all did. We’re moving to intervene. Stand by

  The Au-O’sanah daggered forth, blasting its main battery of weapons. It flew, slicing away at the enemy drones with one pass after another as the rest of fleet did the same. The salvos rained down with the force of phase beams, torpedoes, and fusion bombs.

  The mother ship drifted, finally free and barely alive. The ten-mile-long craft had practically been beaten to a pulp. Parts of the hull were perforated and breaking; the outer edges and insides were charred and burned away. But in the end, the swarm had been forced to relent. The Enforcer and his remaining drones fell back, desperate to protect their priority. The Alliance was closing in.

  For Arendi, the smoke seemed to lift. She could hear the pilot loud and clear.

  Focus on the Gateway. The pylons, Arendi said. Maybe we can destabilize it.

  Copy, Julian said. The next strike is already under way. We’ll end this.

  As the Au-O’sanah moved on, the swarm itself dispersed. The machine flyers were scrambling to intercept. The diminishing fog of drones withdrew to the Gateway, trying to stave off the oncoming assault. But there were simply too many Alliance ships. The strike force was quick to advance and mount its next and final siege.

  Capital ships in range, the Destroyer said, watching the scans and chuckling quietly.

  Enforcer, he muttered. Prepare to suffer.

  The bombardment arrived, ruthless. Hundreds of warships converged, firing their main guns. The resulting barrage was larger, fiercer, and more precise than the last. With the enemy swarm nearly beaten and struggling to keep pace with the assaults, the targets ahead were fully exposed. The repeated volleys struck and massacred the space. The victim: the Enforcer and the containment field protecting his precious prize. Inevitably, the ring of pylons, each a pillar holding the Gateway together, fell.

  Forty percent down, Arendi said. Now fifty.

  The pylon network crumbled. The containment field sustaining the reaction then unraveled. Its stability staggered. The strike force fired again. The shots struck another segment of pylons before focusing on the Gateway itself. The technology smoldered at the core of the exotic matter. It was on the verge of converting the fuel into the necessary power. The heart inside was nearly ready to beat. But now it was naked and suddenly weak.

  Yes, Arendi said. It’s starting to fail. Collapse is imminent.

  ***

  Farcia could do nothing but watch. She had made her choice. The holoscreens reflected that. The intense glare from the Gateway shone over her face. Then it began to die. She saw the bombardment obliterate the technology. Out in space, the gunfire concentrated; beam blasts and artillery strikes intersected and combined, cratering away and slicing. This was the killing blow: an onslaught that was only set to destroy. The Enforcer and his chamber of power wouldn’t survive it. The machinery at the center of the reaction came apart. The assault was tearing it away, piece by piece. The Alliance warships surrounded the Gateway, emptying round after round, leaving nothing to doubt. The forbidden technology and all its potential perished under the attack. The incoming volleys sought to wipe the space clean.

  It all came with a cost, however. Farcia was the only one who could sense it. The light from the Gateway faded as the entire mass of exotic matter shriveled. Without the containment field, the dormant energy inside was about to disappear.

  My home, Farcia thought.

  The final reminder lay as a shadow. The remaining glow and the contours of the dead matter sank away into the
true night. Any chance to revive her people was gone. The prospect dwindled like an illusion, never really there.

  The promise it’s broken

  Farcia heard the echoes. They clattered into her mind. She shook, feeling the machine metal from the Enforcer still at her back, gripping her skin.

  We came all this way only to fail.

  The cold breath touched and nipped at her neck. The bellow dragged through her ears, scratching. The voice was trying to cling to her and summon that regret.

  Everything is lost the last hope

  She heard it all racing through her head. The sorrow and the guilt. The self-punishment gnawed, angry. But the torment came from no machine. It was simply she herself, desperate and afraid.

  The point of no return from now on, you are the last

  Farcia silently nodded to herself. There had been no other choice. Despite her own fears, she had to be strong and forge ahead. She looked back at the holoscreens and the ensuing collapse. For a moment, she tried not to cringe. The vision of her home was wasting away. The glimmers of light forever dimmed.

  Farcia told herself that it didn’t matter. That it was already dead. This remnant of her world was simply a corpse, floating in the void. If anything, it had needed to be put to rest. No tears needed to be shed. But Farcia cried anyway. Her eyes welled up with the liquid ash. She then dropped to her knees, holding in her pain.

  The Alliance continued to strike blows. The ring of pylons had been reduced to debris. The physical laws of this reality did the rest. The existing universe carried the corpse away. Through her tears, Farcia glanced at the shrinking field of dead matter. It was slipping into the darkness and then blinking out of existence.

  The great empire my people

  They were gone. There was no turning back. All she could do was watch and remember. As the last remnant finally disappeared, Farcia tried to move on.

  Good-bye, she said, closing her eyes, hoping to find solace.

  But for now, all Farcia could feel was the tragedy of it and nothing else. The tears drenched her face, leaving it awash in doubt.