by Marcus Sloss
Epilogue
Seetheus’ orb strobed in agitation. That insignificant Ovinious had stirred the divines into a frenzy. For the first time, Seetheus recognized a threat in the pathetic market guardian. The minor nobles had pestered him to no end about the containment overlaps since that cretin had spoken out. The worst part about the whole situation, was that Seetheus knew Ovinious was right.
The arrogance Ovinious displayed, shifting into a fish in front of the assembly was appalling. Seetheus’ orb still wanted vengeance, a feeling he should never experience washed over him. A soothing hum vibrated through his core. The door hissed open and two orbs glided in.
“The pestering minions refused to quit questioning us. It is as if they believe we withhold some hidden knowledge they do not possess. Pathetic. Apologies for our delayed arrival,” Kovrinous said, arriving with Marqunious.
A wave of joy radiated through Seetheus. “Finally, divines I can rely on. Seal the room, please, to ensure our privacy,” Seetheus requested.
His two faithful advisors sealed the room and enabled a silencer device.
“So, why the hidden meeting so soon? Has there been a new development?” Kovrinous wondered.
Marqunious thrummed with laughter and said, “You mean other the fact that Ovinious was right? We will need to deal with him. If only the contract was not so airtight.”
“We knew the compounding problems would be exposed eventually. Battle lines were drawn long ago in the forever anti-war. Our side drew on the support of our many members for eons as our ways were maintained and our divine kind prospered. Now we cannot and these failures are not helping our cause. I called you here, however, because the Owlvini Alliance has vanished,” Seetheus said with dire concern.
There was laughter at first as the others thought this was also a jest. Tracking via the Xgates was a given, there was no question about how such a basic process could fail. Audio, portal transitions, motherships, and even a host of spies maintained a close watch on the Owlvini for the divine council. When Seetheus’s orb hummed sadly they realized he wasn’t kidding.
“What do we do?” Marqunious worried.
Kovrinous generated a universal map. “This is unpredicted, but not disastrous. The Owlvini Alliance are devout in their hatred of us, but I am not showing that their going into hiding will have an impact on our operations. Our productions show four thousand two hundred and fifteen planets online.”
“Productions for what? Are these manufacturing bases? What for?” Marqunious asked, blatantly confused.
Seetheus expected more from Marqunious. The orb was his power master, with a mind so brilliant it regularly converted stars into black holes and sucked these vortexes of power into portals to contain the lower races. Seetheus gave the scientist a moment to clue in.
“We’re going to war?” Marqunious sputtered, his orb shimmering in fright. “My creations of destruction with never fail, they are designed for the eternities. You do realize how this will doom us, though, if we do not contain the enemy.”
“Exactly why we have those who worship us working in secret to help the cause. This is merely a short-term breach of contract. Our automations are unable to keep up with the Creator’s ever widening fan. Too many new species are successfully achieving space flight. We must use those who worship us to assist with the creation of increasingly larger armadas of automations,” Seetheus said with a reassuring buzz. “Everything will be okay in due time.”
Kovrinous reacted unexpectedly when he realized why this meeting had been called. A wave of panic cascaded through the divine. He said, “There are fewer operating facilities than there should be. Their loss, however, is not the problem. We predicted that some of our automation plants run by worshipping conglomerates might fall. The Owlvini Alliance has done more than disappear. We have additional systems without motherships. The data of their loss is wiped. The… The… You!”
Seetheus went to his ancient friend. “Marqunious is both correct and incorrect. We’re not going to war. We’ve already been at war … for years. That data is gone because our foes have started freeing old systems by tricking our motherships. Software updates are going out to patch the glitches, but they are a crafty opponent. The enemy is coming for us, my friends, and if we do not adapt, we will fall.”
He paused. These two were loyalist to the core; Seetheus both knew and counted on it.
“What do we do?” They asked in harmony.
“We must ramp up our production quietly to preserve what we can. We control millions of worlds, an armada of millions of motherships, and the collective will of the divines. When the time comes, we break the never-ending contract, crush our foes, and then return to dominating the savage races without silly things like the grand market. Now,” he continued, “this is what I need you to do.”
Seetheus went into a long-winded explanation to explain how events would rock the universe in a blazing inferno of death and destruction.
CHAPTER 1
AC1 glided over the lapping waves with their white caps dotting the horizon. The evening sun was fading below the horizon with the sparkling moon eager to illuminate the night. Our flight of airships curved with the shoreline not far off our right. There was no hiding our armada of makeshift aircraft while speeding north and that made me nervous.
My command tower was filled with the best Bastion Community had to offer. Jevon and I stood shoulder to shoulder war gaming our potential engagement. While we stood inspecting the wall, encased in acrium and nitrogen shielding, others were working at their stations.
Peterson was managing a team of drone operators, her tasks were a mix of easy and increasingly difficult. The average drone had received major upgrades to be able to follow, expand, and maintain vision on key areas. All she had to do was indicate areas and the drones did the rest. The hard part was I ordered underwater drones to trail our flying armada. The view below was murky with the naked eye but when you applied the heat sensors you started to get a picture of what lurked in the depths.
Our flight path revealed a lot with the evening sunlight. The low altitude journey from Mansion to the California coast above San Jose was very revealing. My ability to see the country, well it shook me. There were a few clumps of invaders trailing into portal, leaving Earth to get home before the blue faded. They were bypassed even though I hated watching them get away. That was not the worst sight. A lost America that converted from well-kept homes, bustling cities, and general production twisted into a desolate wasteland.
Not all hope was lost. The sporadic rural areas were surprisingly repopulated. I was expecting the millions of Americans from the metropolitan California cities to have major fortifications. Instead we observed many coastline showing pockets of humanity clinging inside pitiful defenses.
During the flight over we learned our fighting would not end with one insane human contorted to a siren's whims. While there may have been more people outside the cities, there was another horrifying theme; humans were enslaving other humans. No decency with contracts and one titty bar even had women in shark cages dancing outside to celebrate the end of season three. My initial assumption was to classify the oppressors as biker gangs. But they weren’t, this was merely what the infighting of a wild humanity led to. After three variations of these barbaric outposts I concluded the meek did not inherit the Earth.
Not all our drone footage and radio calls were depressing. There was hope out there. A National Guard unit secured a gold repository. When we established communications we learned they lived in horrid conditions and were pleading for supplies. Without hesitation I told them we would send help and to hold tight. The Bastion community was likely the most advanced human settlement on Earth, unless the Chinese had something going. That meant, to me at least, we needed to do our part to bring back order to the fallen world. All in good time.
Our cruising armada was managed by Longoria. She was crisp with her commands for the hundred plus aircraft soaring in our formation. Every spare sled wa
s converted with TP63 controllers to become open platform aircraft. AS 69s - Aircraft Sleds and Perci picked 69. In front of my ancient fairy was Setaria on the controls of AC1 with her wings tight to her body while focusing. Mclain and the fairy matriarch had found love in this crazy world. He stood at her side managing the modified weapons bolted onto AC1.
Elithen was at Longoria’s side ready to micro commands for the fleet if we were engaged. The male fairy was stoic and serious in his posture.
Sammie tapped against a new control station handling the steady stream of incoming data. Willow was at her side as another adjunct eager to help process the needs of the battle. The duo was updating our wall displays and relaying our orders in real time.
My final glance around the command room confirmed this was no minor engagement. We had three thousand mechanized soldiers being hauled to San Francisco. The object was clear, smash Jarod, the sirens, and their minotaur army. The need was dire, if we did not succeed, they undoubtedly would crush the resistance at the Teton Fortress. The bonus was we were on the job. A big fat bill would be laid on the president’s desk assuming we won. I doubted we would lose for numerous reasons.
“Slow, and then halt formation!” Longoria barked across the aircraft commander’s channel.
I watched the drones gain altitude, their camera zooms magnifying. Of all the crazy updates Bastion Community focused on, natural optic enhancers had been off the list for too long. With the pause, I added the purchase to the task folder. I bet synthetics came with them built in.
With everyone hovering fifteen miles south of the Bay Area, we played the waiting game assuming our timing was right.
I was taking a risk leaving the mine vulnerable but we needed this victory.
Mansion Mineshaft was well defended with five hundred soldiers at the ready. We had left the moment the Loxian Collective vanished from Earth. Could it be under attack randomly? Yes, but we were linked into the area with drone feeds on the wall. Our Gnet was being dragged with us in the guise of fake trees and sea trash.
Mitchell shifted from an overview map to join Jevon and me. He pointed at the first signs of the enemy forces. A hundred minotaurs sat lazily on a marina dock guarding a dozen gravity sled piled high with loot. Just like we expected, the main forces were standing down getting sleep. Our spy drones had confirmed Jane wanted her troops well rested before handling grand market purchasing. Well that and her evil plans of crushing Teton Fortress to build a slave army.
“They are so careless. Someone could pop out and smash them before the golden portals. But I know that attitude. Those soldiers don’t expect a thing,” Mitchell said with a grunt. His finger darted to an image further into the city. A group of armored warriors wearing aquatic power suits with hydrogen packs were walking for the docks. Unlike the minotaurs they had on aqua suits and superior shielding. “And here is the poor sap leading this mess.”
Jevon sighed and enlarged the image of Jarod and his entourage. Sally had given us a long breakdown of how deadly those suits were in the water. Something my fighting forces lacked was the ability to fight in the depths which led to this plan.
“So pompous, poor guy,” Jevon said, folding his arms. We watched the group arrive. Minotaurs suddenly plopped onto their feet pretending to be alert. Grunts were grunts regardless of the species it seemed. “To think all they needed was some drones to find Mitchell earlier and now us.”
“They set up some sort of proximity alert but we avoided it after the first trigger,” Mitchell said. I had read his report on how they were forced to use drones for recon when a scout got too close and a flood of minotaurs found a stray cat instead of the scout vacating the area. “I think they spent all their funds on this army the last golden cycle. Also this is a big force, sure easy for some goliath species to roll over but they are rare. I still think this part of the plan sucks.”
My manly grunt caused him to smirk. I replied, “Loot comes and goes, this is our best option,” I muttered, “Too bad Perci’s idea wouldn’t work.”
“The kill Jarod and end all the contracts? Yeah, I want to ask the storage mind talking Mr. T about that. It seems off that you get a contract extension when all your bosses die right before an Xgate change,” Jevon said.
Perci had thought if we killed Jarod a few minutes before the blue ended all his contracts would be free. Well, he could grant his contracts to others in a will. Which, in this case, would be this Jane he loved. For me, I had Perci, Willow, Nancy, Everly, Jevon, Mitchell, Longoria, and then lessor commanders tied to every single one of my contracts. Why? Well, we got into a long winded lesson with the sluggero siblings.
The sluggeros informed us that if I was the only contract holder of Sammie and Sammie held no contracts herself, what would happen if I died to a lightning strike. Sammie would be deposited on a planet she chose, if she wanted to find a new home, at the next golden portals. This was an easy, simple, and clean explanation. No contract, you go home when the golden portal illuminates assuming your master did not die a few days before transition. Then you waited until the next golden portal. I think, my frustration was evident during the briefing.
Where it got muddier was when others were contracted to you. For instance, a raiding kerbian employed an indebted fairy and found himself trapped on Earth. They still went home. They were raiding, became lost, and were given an option. How that option was given was expressed as a thought enters your mind. Confusing but understandable still. When you had purchased armies, like the one in front of us, and they were assigned to a leader who called Earth their home then they would stay here. We kill Jarod, contracts shift to Jane. Jane is now an Earth resident with an Earth army of aliens. You remove the overhead contracts of the sirens down the line and eventually the minotaurs could go home but it was not instant. There were always a few days of transition time to prevent sudden mass suicidal killings.
When the end of the lecture was over I was tracking the issue but felt it did not matter. Basically the minotaurs needed to be claimed by us and then we could set them free to go home next golden portal in a dozen days, not this one. So that removed any plan where we merely eliminated the leadership.
“Yup, while I want to know why the contracts have so many caveats I bet it’s pointless. We play by their rules. For now,” I said with my best evil laugh.
Willow rolled her eyes from the communications desk and said, “You’re a big softy, far too trusting.”
“I know warlords, and I have been right so far. Your wise words will be listened to regardless, my queen,” I said with a snarky yet playful reply.
“My King, all units are ready,” Sammie said.
I folded my beefy acrium covered arms to match Jevon. We watched Jarod throwing a tantrum. Again. That man was not sane.
There was additional yelling. Finger-pointing and Jarod stomping his feet like a child to the point his empowered suit created divots into the concrete. The group froze when a minion siren scoffed a retort that earned her dagger eyes from everyone. She stepped back with hands up. Eh, not like he could kill her.
One of the human women at his side raised a weapon and blew a siren’s head clean off with a big blue orb.
“Whoa,” Mitchell said reactively.
Those of us watching the unfolding scene were stunned.
Longoria joined us at the command board and said, “Smart, he kept her off-contract but ordered her mind warped to be his toy.”
“Sally and Willis said we can fix them?” Jevon asked. “After seeing that, I am not sure how.”
I shrugged while tapping my fingers together. “I get the cruise passengers being used as mindless slaves. These ones have blood on their hands. Do we want to save them? I guess the girls are innocent. Can they be blamed? Debatable. Jarod is different. We have footage of Jarod killing an old woman before he was sung to. So…”
“So, we get to play judge, jury, and executioner,” Jevon said with a heavy sigh. “Not like there is some universal crimes department we can pros
ecute him under.”
The room’s tension eased with the slight joke.
Our group watched as the headless body splashed into water; it slowly sunk to the depths below the docks lost from sight until it bloated. Another cruel end in this cruel universe. Jarod had cowed his army into following his demands, even the Jane siren was nervously following him onto the first barge.
The minotaur minions flowed onto the barge with Jarod standing at the front. The other loaded barges did not push off as the first one drifted away from the dock. My Gpad beeped telling me the time for the blue to end had arrived.
The Xgate not far from the city went to the ocean surface level. The blue fizzled out and the gray construct settled into a hover at the point it touched the water. The hour countdown before the golden illumination had begun. Jarod’s barge drifted past the first Xgate and further out to sea.
“Oh, you got to be kidding me, fuck yes!” Mitchell said with a fist pump.
Jevon glared at the scout leader who refused to stop his joyful celebration. “This is good but not the best case Mitchell. He is going directly for the next Xgate. What are your orders, my King?” Jevon asked.
“Give him a moment to get further away,” I said, waiting for the report from Aspen.
A video played on my Gpad. Goliath 1 showed five huddled citizens being rescued from a basement. The two dead were pinned by rubble. Sad, but I wanted this closure. Well, those two things were completedd. The blue faded and the enemy left Denver which meant I was free to focus on San Francisco.
Jarod’s barge arrived at the Xgate. That was good enough for me. He went too far from his troops and was dumb enough to leave too early. Probably what they were arguing over earlier.
“You have command,” I said fading into the background. “For the community.”