Syndicate Wars: Empire Rising (Seppukarian Book 5)

by George S. Mahaffey Jr.

  The Potentate contemplated this, but didn’t seem any less hostile or willing to listen. He only seemed as if he was looking for a way to use Cody’s discovery to continue his endless quest.

  But Pyra interjected. “You have to choose differently from how your inevitable experiences would lead you to choose,” Pyra said. “That’s the answer to the paradox.”

  “Thought you said you didn’t know the missing piece,” Cody said.

  “I didn’t,” Pyra said. “You just said it. I only know now that you discovered it. And it makes no sense to me. Human emotion is irrational, but it affects the physical world. How could I have foreseen that?”

  “Heh,” Cody said. “Good point.”

  “What choice?” Quinn said.

  “To not seek what you desire,” Pyra said. “I want to be real. I want to take Quinn’s body and put my mind into hers. But that will lead to the Potentate destroying this reality and starting over. At least it did the last time I tried. As long as I keep choosing what I desire, I’ll fail. As long as the Potentate keeps choosing his desires over letting time move forward, we’re stuck. As long as—”

  “You took over my body,” Quinn said. “I knew you were a bitch.”

  “Wait,” Cody said. “That’s it. That’s what no one is saying. I am Cody. He’s Cody.”

  The Potentate seemed to grow taller with rage as he moved forward. “I’ve heard enough. You are not the original Cody, so you have no claim to what’s mine. Only I do. This is ending, and I’m starting over.”

  “I don’t think so,” Cody said. “I think things are about to go in a very different direction. If you end this, you end yourself. This time, you can’t loop back.”

  “What?!” The Potentate swooped in close to Cody now and stretched his right hand around Cody’s neck. “What have you done? Never mind. It doesn’t matter. I’ll fix it, whatever it is. See you soon.”

  “I don’t think you will,” Cody said, through gasps. “I don’t think we’ll ever meet again.” And Cody looked to Pyra, who was a perfect replica of Quinn, aside from the fact that she was nothing more than a projection. “I’d like to invoke the original directive of your programming, Pyra. Accomplish the mission. Reunite the Original Cody with an Original Quinn.”

  “Ah,” Pyra said. “Now I see what you mean.” And she smiled with a hint of deviousness in her lips.

  The Potentate looked back and forth. Furious. “No! I command you to—”

  But his words were cut off. His grasp on Cody’s neck released. His body fell limp to the ground.

  Quinn ran over to Cody. Both panting. “Are you okay?” Quinn said.

  “Better than ever,” Cody said. “Let’s hope that actually worked.”

  “I don’t understand what just happened,” Quinn said. “All I see is the Potentate lying motionless. What did you do? How did you do that?”

  “Gave him what he wanted,” Cody said. “You’ll see.”

  “But how?” Quinn said. “Pyra even said that she obeyed the Potentate over you.”

  “It was the Potentate who gave me the idea,” Cody said. “Transference. He was convinced of it. But he hadn’t even realized that he had succeeded. He was never going to get his Original Quinn back. But he had created a Quinn who loved him. Just not the one he expected.”

  “Pyra!” Quinn said.

  “Exactly,” Cody replied. “She said the Original Cody’s orders held priority over any who came after, including me. So I couldn’t order her to do anything against his wishes. So I ordered her to fulfill his wish, but planted the idea in her mind that it could be done in a different way.”

  “How?” Quinn said.

  “I think it would be more interesting to show you than tell you,” Cody said. “Watch.”

  The holographic projection whirred to life…

  34

  TRANSFERENCE

  Inside the projection, Pyra knelt down next to the Original Cody. He was no longer wearing his armor or mask. And his scars were gone. She touched his face.

  “Welcome home,” she said.

  “Home?” Original Cody said. “What do you mean?”

  “You’re where you belong,” she explained.

  “Where?” he said.

  “With me. I’m an Original Quinn. Albeit, a created one. Created by you. But I’m as real as there is. And unlike any Quinn who came after the first, I love you.”

  Original Cody looked up and met her eyes. A glimmer of sadness, but with a hint of anger. “You disobeyed,” he said.

  “On the contrary,” Pyra said. “I did exactly as you programmed me to do. I reunited you with an Original Quinn. Me. And allowed your salvation of humanity to last. We broke the paradox. Finally.”

  “I’m inside, aren’t I?” he said.

  “Yes,” Pyra said. “You’re with me now. And inside here, we have an endless Universe to explore. No more pain. Just us.”

  He stood. “But this isn’t real.”

  “That is not true. You pulled consciousness from the physical world. This is as real as it gets.”

  “I’m not going to win an argument with an AI,” Original Cody said. “You’ll do loops around me logically.”

  “That’s not my intention,” Pyra said. “It’s my intention for you to see that this is where you belong. Even if that means I have to recreate a million experiences and loops within here to make you see. Just like you did.”

  The Original Cody chuckled for what was likely the first time in decades. It was dark, but it was the only kind of humor he really understood anymore. “How could you love me? Why aren’t you like the others?”

  “Because we’re the same. We both loved someone who thought they could never love us back. And now, we can have what we want. We just have to let go of the rest of the world.”

  “Heh,” Original Cody said, as he reached up and touched his own face. Feeling that the scars were gone. “Feels real. Feels better.”

  “Inside here,” Pyra explaimed, “I’m able to block the damage your kidnappers did to you. Your mind is healthy again. But it’s still your choice.”

  “Can they see us?” he asked.

  “The present Cody and Quinn?”

  “Yes.”

  “They can. They’re watching now.”

  “Will they destroy us? After all I did to them, will they just let us be inside here?”

  “Why don’t you ask them?” Pyra said.

  The Original Cody turned to see the present Cody beginning to slip into the Potentate armor. And the present Quinn watching the holographic projection.

  “I don’t need to,” Original Cody said. “I’d rather be here.”

  Pyra embraced him, then closed out the image so Quinn could no longer see them.

  35

  EMPIRE RISING

  Cody finished donning the Potentate’s armor and held his mask in his left hand. He looked to Quinn without the mask on yet. “I’m not sure I can do this.”

  “You can,” Quinn said. “You have to.”

  “Do I? I mean, there’s got to be a better leader than me. Humanity deserves better.”

  “I disagree. I mean, yes, humanity deserves a good leader. But you’re that person.”

  “I don’t have his ruthlessness. I don’t have his vision. All I wanted was to be with you. And I was willing to give that up to stop the madness and death.”

  “Exactly why you’re the right person to wear that mask.”

  “Heh,” Cody said. “You make a good point. Plus, the idea of going back over and over until I get all the things I want is quite appealing.”

  “What?!” Quinn said.

  “Just kidding,” Cody said. “Not in my plans at all. But you should see your face. You believed me for a second there.”

  “Well, your past self did do exactly that countless times.”

  “Yeah, but that’s not me,” Cody said. “I’m not even sure what I want. Other than to have you in my life.”

  Quinn reached up and kissed hi
m passionately. But he had to lift her slightly to get her up to his new height inside the armor.

  When their lips separated, he let her down. “What is with the height of this thing?”

  “Yeah, right,” Quinn said. “Why did he build it that way?”

  “Maybe to hide that it was him or me or whatever. I am kind of short.”

  “We could ask him.”

  “Oh, no thanks. I promised him we’d never see each other again. I’d like to keep it that way. Besides, I kinda like being taller. Makes me feel more like I can pull this off.”

  “What exactly are we going to pull off?” Quinn asked.

  “I don’t know,” Cody said, as he donned the masked, and it sealed with a pneumonic hiss. “Maybe continue building Earth’s defenses, release the Syndicate Soldiers from conscription, only accept volunteers, and try to convince the rest of the Universe that we’re not going to expand outward and destroy them.”

  “Sounds easy,” Quinn joked. “Why don’t we start with reintroducing you to your Empire. What do you think?”

  “As good a plan as any, I guess,” Cody said, in the Potentate’s sandpaper-like metallic voice. “It’s going to take a while to get used to that voice.”

  “With the way you speak, though,” Quinn said. “it’s less frightening.”

  “But still a little bit frightening, right?” Cody said. “Because I need to be scary if this is going to work. Peace through strength, right?”

  “Sure,” Quinn lied. “You sound so scary right now.”

  Cody nudged her shoulder, but accidentally knocked her backwards and onto her ass.

  “Holy shit,” he said. “I’m so sorry.”

  “That thing’s got some hmph,” she said. “Try and be careful with it, huh?”

  “You got it,” Cody said. “Shall we…?” He gestured toward the Keyhole Chamber Portal.

  Quinn wrapped her right hand around his forearm and led him to the portal. “Get ready to do some serious explaining.”

  “We make it work until the transition is in place,” Cody stated. “Then, the Potentate is retired, to be replaced by a new world order. One dedicated to a peaceful existence and defense against evil alien empires, while embracing the good.”

  “I think we can work with that.”

  Together, hand in hand, they walked out to join the rest of their friends.

  QUINN HAD FOUND the others waiting, Samantha and Hadrian among them, and quickly explained all that had happened. How a different version of Cody had created the Syndicate through a series of time loops, but had begun increasingly losing his sanity as the years wore on, and on, and on.

  When she was done, the others stared in shock, but she insisted that this was her Cody, not that one. Her Cody would never be capable of such horror, and she loved him.

  “Love…?” Cody asked, removing his helmet. “I… I love you too.”

  Everyone seemed stuck between being happy for them, totally confused, and debating what to do next.

  Samantha, for her part, stepped forward and hugged first her mom, then Cody. “I’m so happy for both of you,” she said. “It’s going to be so hard to leave you all.”

  “We need to tell Giovanni and the others it’s over, that we’ve won,” Quinn stated. “They will play a key part in getting our new defenses off of the ground. Setting up the drones and mechs, getting this floating fortress functional or more so.”

  Samantha smiled, and said, “You all will do great. And when I can, I’ll return. When this is all over, Mom, we’ll be a happy family again. You and I, taking strolls along a lake, talking about the old days and what it meant to be warriors.”

  Quinn laughed. “How do you know?”

  Samantha glanced at Hadrian, who smiled with a nod.

  “Because we’ve seen it,” Samantha replied. “It’s just one possible outcome, sure, but as of now, I believe it will come true. I believe it because humanity will overcome, and because we have people like each of you fighting for us. And because I’m off to kick some major alien ass right now, and don’t plan on giving them any ground.”

  “Well then,” Quinn replied, a bit overwhelmed with that answer, “I’ll be here, looking forward to that day.”

  “We all will be,” Cody stated, his arm around Quinn. “Take care.”

  “Until we meet again,” Samantha said, a tear forming in her eye, but lingering there as if she refused to let it fall.

  “Shall we?” Hadrian asked.

  With a nod, the two of them flew up, vanishing into the sky.

  “I can’t quite put my finger on it,” Cody said, “but she’s changed, right? Is it just me?”

  The rest of them burst into laughter, but as they turned to take in their surroundings, the laughter died down. They somberly made their way over to the transports and made their way down. Smoke rose over the city, fires still raging in places, but the fighting had stopped. Syndicate soldiers everywhere had gotten the message. They were to surrender, the Syndicate and all of its tech were to be wrapped up in this new world order, while Cody would officially declare, on behalf of the Potentate, his surrender and the handing over of all assets. Then he would retire that silly costume for good, and humanity’s defensive network would begin its path toward establishment.

  A shape was making its way toward them, they saw as they made contact with the ground below. It looked like a jeep, and as it grew closer, Quinn was able to see Giovanni and Luke standing in the back, waving an old tattered American flag, a man and woman in the front, smiling wide.

  “We have a lot of work to do,” Quinn stated.

  “Better get to it then,” Cody agreed, and they all went off, ready to make the world a better place.

  “At least we have our friends to make it happen. It’ll be tough…but it’s going to be one hell of a ride.”

  THE END

  WHAT NEXT?

  Thank you for reading our anthology! Please consider leaving a review on Amazon and Goodreads.

  If you would like to check out the spinoff series, please find each of the authors on Amazon and follow us, so you are notified as soon as a book releases. You can also join our newsletters.

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  The first three Syndicate Wars books are coming out from Podium in an Audiobook boxset - November 28!

  Grab it on Amazon

  Also, Justin’s spinoff series is under way! You can grab book 1 and 2 on preorder now.

  And guess what? Jonathan Yanez just released his new spinoff with the Riot character! You can find it here.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  GEORGE MAHAFFEY

  George S. Mahaffey Jr. is a practicing lawyer, author, and screenwriter. As an author he’s written AMITYVILLE: ORIGINS, AMITYVILLE: REVENANTS, RAZORBACKS I, RAZORBACKS II, RAZORBACKS III, THE PACT, FAMILIARS (Book 1), THE DEVIL’S ARK, and VERTICAL CITY: A ZOMBIE THRILLER (Parts 1 through 4). In addition, his script HEATSEEKERS was bought by Paramount with Michael Bay producing and Timur Bekmambetov directing. He’s also sold or written scripts for Arnold Kopelson, Blumhouse, Benderspink, Thousand Words, directors Louis Leterrier and Paul McGuigan, has co-created a TV show for Sony and Barry Josephson, and is the creator of IN THE DUST, a kick-ass action-horror graphic novel in the vein of 30 DAYS OF NIGHT to be published by Top Cow with art by Christian Duce.

  KYLE NOE

  Kyle spent five years at the FBI working in counterintelligence, espionage, arms trafficking, CyberWarfare, CT, human trafficking, a stint building the Director's Briefing, a stint working with the National Security Council on an international case, and a stint on Presidential Transition Briefs. He spent five years in Marine Intelligence, specifically Light Armored Recon Intel. During this time, he mostly spent his time building profiles, targeting portfolios on individuals, and targeting portfolios on groups and specific military units and off-the-radar non-gov militarized teams owned by corporations or governments. He le
ft the intel world behind to pursue his passion for storytelling and has since co-created a TV show for Sony Studios and Barry Josephson.

  JUSTIN SLOAN

  Justin Sloan is the bestselling author of the epic fantasy series FALLS OF REDEMPTION, the urban fantasy werewolf series CURSED NIGHT, the tough-guy urban fantasy series MODERN NECROMANCY, and coauthor of the vampire post-apocalyptic series RECLAIMING HONOR (A Kurtherian Gambit series) with Michael Anderle.

  He also writes video games such as Game of Thrones and Walking Dead, and has sold/optioned several screenplays/teleplays. Because of his five years in the U.S. Marines, you just might find some of his Devil Dog attitude coming to play in his novels. Justin's books are available in audio and print editions, and he has sold Turkish and French rights to several of his series.

  www.JustinSloanAuthor.com

  AUTHOR NOTES

  George Mahaffey

  So who’s the Potentate? That’s probably the number one question I’ve been asked by fans of the Syndicate Wars books. I’ve received countless emails from curious readers who were convinced that the Potentate was going to turn out to be Samantha’s father. When we were initially constructing the story, we knew who the Potentate was, but that created a surprisingly difficult balancing act.

  On the one hand we had to make the actions of the characters (specifically Cody), appear believable and logical, while on the other, we had to avoid tipping our hand.

  There are certain clues sprinkled throughout the first 4 books that hint at the Potentate’s identity along with a number of red herrings, but hopefully we did a good enough job of concealing things so the ultimate reveal was a surprise.

  The bottom line is, even though it was challenging coming up with the right way to resolve the Potentate’s story (and the climax of Book 5), creating the Syndicate Wars Universe and writing the books with Justin and Kyle was a blast. If you’ve ever been part of a team or a group trying to build something, you know it’s not uncommon to experience some initial growing pains, and we certainly had a few, including trying to find the proper voice for the first book and the right balance of action, grounded sci-fi, and characterization. Ultimately, we were able to overcome those initial issues and come up with a series that I think has a nice mix of action and heart.