“How are you doing that?” Kalian asked, dodging the stray energy bolts.
“As soon as their nanocelium comes into contact with mine, its base coding gets rewritten. Really, I’m just freeing it.”
Kalian pushed out his hands and diverted three missiles that were metres away from killing him. The AI glided above him, taking the energy bolts that the second ship had fired his way.
“They’re targeting you now.”
“Thanks for the cover.”
Kalian was forced to fly in an erratic pattern to avoid the next salvo. These new missiles were smarter than the others were, each taking a different flight path to catch him off guard. They came at him from every angle, some exploding when they were near him rather than chasing him down. An unorthodox manoeuvre let him evade one missile and push two away, but he missed the fourth. It detonated in front of him, shredding his exosuit with nanocelium shrapnel.
Alarms flared inside his helmet’s HUD, alerting him to extreme exposure. Kalian quickly wrapped himself inside a pressurised cocoon of telekinetic energy, shutting off his pain receptors to avoid the agony of exposure and the many pieces of shrapnel that had lacerated his skin. The damaged tuning fork came about and unleashed a barrage of energy bolts, wearing his field down.
“Kalian, get out of there!” ALF warned. “They’re both locking on!”
Both behemoths lined up either side, ignorant of ALF’s attack, and prepared to unload everything they had on Kalian. Piece by piece, he telekinetically removed the nanocelium and allowed his exosuit to absorb it and rebuild the armour. He just needed a few more seconds…
The assault never came. He opened his eyes and the helmet focused his vision on the Gomar, who had jumped out of their transport and started tearing into both ships. They soon disappeared inside the beasts, only to be glimpsed when they burst forth before diving back into the hull. Telekinetic explosions rippled across both ships as the Gomar let loose their rage. This was the kind of war they were used to.
But it wasn’t enough.
The enemy adapted quickly, making certain to adjust their positions and reabsorb the debris before ALF could reach it. For every bit of damage the Gomar delivered, the ships adopted a piece of each other and repaired themselves. Kalian gasped inside his helmet when the last and largest piece of shrapnel floated free from his body, allowing the exosuit to knit back together. Though his telekinetic bubble was pressurised and protecting him from the vacuum, without a fully functioning suit Kalian had been fighting to keep the remaining oxygen in his system from depleting and knocking him out, but with the suit repaired he could breathe once again. His skin and muscle had already begun the healing process, but his focus was on the enemy, whose tactics were changing again.
Kalian opened a channel to the others. “Get out of the ships, now!”
All but a few took notice of his warning. Kovak, Ellik, and Bal continued to tear chunks out of the enemy, oblivious to what was happening outside. Kalian shot upwards, narrowly avoiding the damaged tuning fork as it closed the gap between itself and the other enemy ship. Sef grabbed Ellik and pushed off from the black hull, but Kovak and Bal were still inside when both ships crashed into each other.
The nanocelium rippled over their hulls but it never let go, like two viscous materials coming together. After violently merging back into one massive ship, it changed its structure, adding a third limb to resemble a trident. Somewhere in the middle of that were Kovak and Bal…
The centre of the three limbs exploded with a salvo of missiles interspersed with energy fire. Cannons formed along its body and took aim at the Gomar who were still drifting in the direction they had jumped due to inertia. ALF cut between them, taking the energy fire and shooting down the missiles in a bid to save the Gomar. Smoke trailed from his port side as the AI looped over the top of the massive ship.
The salvo coming out of the centre limb was still hurtling towards Kalian. With both hands, he reached out and found the tip of every missile. They only required minor adjustments to send them into the path of the energy fire or even each other. The detonations worked to inflict more damage to the ship’s limbs.
It wasn’t enough to stop it. The enemy changed course to absorb any debris, but it wasn’t out of the fight by any means.
“Ideas?” Kalian asked.
“Everything we do it just repairs itself!” Garrion stated.
“We need to get Kovak and Bal out,” Ariah said through laboured breath.
ALF’s voice came over their channel “I have an idea…”
Vox’ aggressive tone replied, “I’m not doing anything that—”
“Stow it, Vox,” Kalian interrupted. “Priority one is stopping that thing from reaching Evalan.”
“It’s coming back around,” Larna warned.
Kalian looked around for the AI. “ALF?”
“See the moon behind you?” ALF asked. “You need to get everyone on to the surface.”
“What for?” Kalian asked.
“So the Gomar can push off and gain enough momentum to fly with you. Remember, there’s no atmosphere and its gravity is weak so if they use enough force and get the angle right their velocity will stay constant and they’ll be able to keep up.”
Kalian was already reaching out and taking a hold of every floating Gomar, pulling them in and flinging them all on to the moon’s dull surface.
“Where are we flying to?”
“You’re going to push that hulking slab of crap into the sun.”
Kalian looked back at the moon to see plumes of dust rising around the Gomar as they impacted its surface. “Can you handle that?”
We will try… Sef’s telepathic reply resonated much clearer in their heads than the other voices did over the comms.
“What about Kovak and Bal?” Ariah said again.
“Leave them to me,” Kalian replied, though, in truth, he had no idea yet how he was going to get them out.
“Incoming!” Garrion warned.
Kalian looked back to see the three-pronged ship heading straight for them, its cannons bristling. The sun was at its back, a bright beacon that beckoned any wayward passengers that floated through space.
“Now!” With as much telekinetic energy as they could muster, the Gomar launched themselves from the surface of the moon and rocketed back towards Kalian. It only took a few seconds for them to reach his position, and Kalian shot forwards with them, matching their speed.
As they approached the ship and began pushing out towards it telekinetically, missiles and energy fire erupted from row upon row of cannons, but their combined force on the ship pushed its own weapons back towards it as soon as they were fired. ALF escorted them, targeting any missiles that found a way around the telekinetic wall with his own weapons system. The AI was careful not to get between them and the ship for fear of being swept away.
The ship struggled to maintain its forward thrust against the force of their telekinetic power, and pieces of the black hull began to buckle and tear away. Another salvo of missiles became caught up in the push and careened into the colossal ship. After deciding the punishment was too much, the enemy banked in an attempt to get away from the telekinetic assault, but it only made their job easier, pushing it further out into space, though since the Gomar could not increase their speed as Kalian could, the gap between them and the enemy widened. Even so, with every scrap of power they could muster, the Gomar continued to push against the enemy vessel as they gradually decelerated, falling behind.
“You’ve got it now!” ALF hollered.
Kalian ignored the AI, more aware of the sweat dripping down his face. The exosuit tried to compensate and filled the armour with cool air but it did nothing to cool down his core. He could feel the Gomar’s exertion and knew he was now providing the bulk of the pressing force.
“The sun’s too… far away…” Ariah strained.
Kalian gritted his teeth. “We only need to get it so far… gravity will do the rest.” He knew it was a li
e. If Conclave ships could sit inside a star spot and charge their Intrinium, one of their ships could resist its pull. He just needed them to push a little further.
Evalan and its moon were far behind them now, reduced to bright specks in an ocean of stars. The occasional missile would fire from an unseen port and loop around to target one of the Gomar, but ALF was always there to intercept it. As the sun grew to the size of a hand, the Gomar began to wane. Without the ability to create their own thrust as Kalian could, their decreasing momentum was causing them to fall further and further behind, and keeping up the telekinetic battering ram from a distance was even more exhausting. One by one they tired and could no longer maintain the push, though the remaining momentum and sun’s gravity worked to pull them along all the same. Kalian picked up the slack, telling himself over and over again that it didn’t matter how big the ship was, what mattered was the enemy’s resisting force as it desperately tried to escape.
Eventually it came down to him, Sef, and Vox. The three of them flew with their arms outstretched and their indomitable will beating against the black ship.
“I… can’t…” Vox’s body went limp.
An alarm flared inside Kalian’s HUD alerting him to the detection of blood inside Sef’s suit. He was bleeding from his ears and nose due to the effort it was taking.
Kalian groaned and twisted his body, allowing him to look at Sef as he sent the weakest of telekinetic waves over him. Sef was flung backwards for a brief moment before the sun’s gravity grabbed hold of him and sucked him towards it.
ALF’s voice tuned in over the channel. “Have you got this?”
Kalian didn’t answer, he just pushed. Tethers shot out of ALF’s housing unit and connected with the stray Gomar, preventing them from tumbling into the sun. The nanocelium in their armour would protect them from the sun, but only to a degree. The temperature gauge inside Kalian’s suit was warning him of imminent danger and forcing him to stay in the shadow of the enemy ship.
“This should give it the last push.” Silent missiles flew over Kalian’s head, fired from ALF’s battleship. “Can you get them out?”
Kalian waited for the missiles to get within metres of the enemy before he stopped pushing and reached out, searching its interior. Finding Kovak and Bal wasn’t as easy as he had hoped, having detected other biological material inside the enemy ship. Much like the being he had come across on the Vanguard’s vessel, this AI had its own alien life form as its chosen host. Thankfully, Kovak and Bal had unique brainwaves found only in the Terran.
“Got you…” Kalian pulled both of them through the ship as ALF’s missiles exploded along its length.
Kovak and Bal were pulled free of the debris. Kalian did his best to keep the nanocelium shrapnel from tearing them all to pieces, but there was nothing he could do about the light from the star. The temperature raged inside their suits before ALF came between them, shielding them from the heat. More tethers shot out and connected with them. As they were pulled in, ALF released his final salvo of missiles and a barrage of energy fire. The enemy ship rippled with explosion after explosion, causing enough damage to prevent it from changing course and diverting from the sun.
The nanocelium hull burnt away under the stress until the ship was reduced to smaller parts, each set ablaze as they fell into the star.
“Did… did we do it?” Vox asked over the channel.
ALF replied, “We won the battle… now it’s time for war.”
Chapter 14
Li’ara ushered family after family towards the Starforge. Every street was filling up as the population of New Genesis abandoned their homes, guided by the UDC personnel stationed on the street corners, directing the chaotic mob to safety.
“What do you mean it won’t work?” Captain Fey’s voice carried over the crowd.
Detecting the panic in Captain Fey’s voice wasn’t easy, but Li’ara knew it when she heard it. She pushed through the crowds and joined the engineers surrounding the Forge. It should have already been activated with the evacuation well under way. Looking up, there was thankfully no sign of them, but Li’ara had seen Earth and Century disappear in a flash. She knew better than most that things could change in the blink of an eye.
“We can’t make a connection to Nova Prime,” Commander Vale spoke on behalf of the engineers who were still busy working the Starforge’s consoles. “According to the dialling system, they have seven Forges in operation, but all seven of them are being used to evacuate the Novaarians.”
Li’ara shook her head. “Even seven won’t be enough to evacuate a whole planet.”
“I’m sure they have ships in the air,” Vale assured.
“In the air is not where I’d want to be…” Li’ara replied quietly.
Captain Fey looked over the holographic display. “What about Corvus? The Trillik’s home world?”
Li’ara nodded her agreement. “Corvus isn’t one of the core worlds. It might be less of a target.”
Commander Vale put the engineers to the task of contacting the Corvus Starforge. Behind them, the crowds had grown around the corners of the buildings. The terrified faces of parents and children looked back at Li’ara, their eyes pleading to know what was going on. They don’t deserve this, she thought. Not only were they the last of the human race, they were also families, people with lives and ambitions. They shouldn’t have to keep running from one place to another in the hope of avoiding the next galactic threat.
Li’ara looked up at the blue sky again. “I hope you’re giving them hell up there…”
“Got it!” one of the engineers cheered.
The Starforge hummed as it came to life with bolts of purple lightning running around its crescent shape. The spark between the two points ignited and the wormhole tore through reality in an explosion of white light.
Li’ara grabbed Fey by the arm. “You need to go first. Someone needs to speak for us on the other side.” The captain hesitated, clearly wanting to be the last so she could ensure everyone made it through. “Go!” Li’ara ushered her forward until the light claimed her.
After that, there was no stopping the flood of people charging through the Forge. Li’ara stepped aside and kept watch, making sure no one was hurt or left behind. Captain Holt was still directing officers to do a final sweep to find any stragglers.
It took several more minutes to get everyone through, but it felt to Li’ara like a lifetime had gone by. If even one of them made it to the surface there was no telling what destruction it would cause. For all the damage and genocide the cubes had wrought, or the sheer destruction the Vanguard had been capable of, no one had seen what they actually did. How did they harvest a planet?
“Look!” Commander Vale pointed to the sky.
A duel-engine transport flew over their heads and circled the city before landing in the middle of a crossroads. As the side door opened, a sonic boom cracked the sky above, a sound Li’ara had come to associate with Kalian. The Gomar exited the transport, though stumbled might have been a better description. All twelve of them appeared exhausted and barely able to stand. Some had blood smeared across their cheeks or mouths that traced back to their ears or nose.
Kalian’s feet touched down on the gelcrete and his knees and hands quickly followed, putting him on all fours. Every bit of his suit was steaming, releasing wavy lines of heat.
“Kalian!” Li’ara ran over to him.
His helmet and gloves were reabsorbed by his exosuit, revealing a sweaty face and messy hair. It had been a long time since she had seen him this battered.
“They’re… big,” he said, holding out a hand to stop Li’ara from touching him. He tapped his armoured chest. “Hot…”
“Are you okay?” she asked, desperate to help him.
“I’ll be fine.” Kalian got to his feet as the Gomar caught up. “How’s the evacuation going?”
Li’ara turned back to see the last thousand or so making their way through the Forge. “It’s slow but steady. We coul
dn’t get through to Nova Prime.”
Kalian glanced at the wormhole. “Where does that go?”
“Corvus. It might work for us since—”
“It’s less of a target,” Kalian finished. As tired as he appeared, it seemed his brain was still far ahead of everyone else’s.
Captain Holt strode over as he gestured to the last of his officers to make for the Starforge. “How long have we got?” He asked.
Kalian stretched his back, clearly in pain. “Not long. We took care of the ones they sent, but they’ll send more. As long as we stay here they’ll keep coming.”
“Then let’s move,” Holt said.
“What about ALF?” Li’ara asked.
Kalian looked up at the sky. “He’s got his own ride…”
They all fell in behind the last of the crowds, ready to leave Evalan behind. Li’ara took one last look at their new home, wondering if she’d ever see it again.
While connected to his housing unit, ALF could feel every particle of it as if the ship were an extension of himself. Sat on his new bridge, the AI was hooked up to the unit via a dozen cables that found sockets on his back and head. He welcomed the new nanocelium that had become part of him, expanding his ship’s size by three times.
Another part of his consciousness was listening to everything being said between Kalian and Li’ara. It irritated the AI that his warnings to the Highclave had been ignored. Every planet in the Conclave should have a hundred or more Starforges in operation. Thousands, maybe millions, would die because of their stubbornness.
His sensor array detected the massive Starforge and his navigation systems responded accordingly. With the new nanocelium, the ship had already made a start on enhancing itself, chiefly the engines and the weapons. ALF was now able to close the gap between the Forge and himself in half the time it would have taken before.
The Starforge was certainly of his design, though Protocorps had been forced to use locally sourced materials to build it. Had the Terran or even the Kellekt constructed the station, it would have been made from nanocelium and been far more efficient. Thankfully, ALF now had some to spare.
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