Shadows of Olympus (Universe in Flames Book 6)

by Christian Kallias

  “Cross my heart—”

  “Never understood why people on Earth use this expression. Why would anyone hope to die?”

  “It’s an expression, Yanis.”

  “I know. It just doesn’t make sense to me.”

  “Don’t change the subject. Spill the beans already.”

  “Very well. I think the sphere might be an important component of ancient tech ships.”

  “Didn’t you tell us this already? I thought that was how you managed to improve the efficiency of our own shields during the last battle.”

  “Yes, thanks to its power signature mostly. But digging a little deeper I think this might actually be an essential part of the Ancients’ hyperspace ship’s drive. The device is made from an alloy that is unlike anything I’ve seen before. It’s hyper conductive and able to deal with insane amounts of energy passing through it. In comparison, our quadrinium hyperspace engines would look like toys.”

  Sarah’s eyes lit up. With the Earth Alliance in complete disarray and with having had to abandon billions of humans, they needed an advantage.

  “Okay, so that engine would be what? Faster? Bigger range?” Sarah asked.

  “Yeah, I would say both these things. It’s too early to be sure, and I would need more data on the technology this device belongs to. But perhaps it could be an instant drive.”

  “What’s an instant drive?”

  “An instant drive doesn’t use fuel to propel a ship into hyperspace. Instead it uses its energy—and I should stress the enormous amount this would require—to bend space and time so that the ship using it can instantly travel from one point of the universe to the other. In the blink of an eye.”

  Sarah’s jaw dropped. The implication of this could be huge. And the tactical advantage it would provide them with over the Furies incalculable.

  “You’d better not be messing with me.”

  “I told you this is just a theory. So don’t go apeshit on me if that happens to just be a part of an advanced flash freezer.”

  Sarah raised her eyebrows.

  “Look, I need more time. And if we can locate more tech from this species, then perhaps I can tell you more. At this point it’s just speculation, okay?”

  “Very well. Keep up the good work.”

  Sarah left engineering and went to her quarters. Even though it had only been a few hours, she couldn’t help wondering how Chase and Chris were doing.

  C H A P T E R

  VII

  Miseo was resting on his bed, looking at the perfectly smooth ceiling of his quarters. His entire body still ached from his argument with his older sister. How dared she do this to him? Humiliating him in front of his father? Rage boiled inside his veins like a pool of scorching lava.

  She could have killed him. He had long known she was a formidable warrior, but they had never gone that far in their training sessions. Miseo never thought she could be such a deadly foe. Of course, being siblings, the question never even crossed his mind. Neither did he know she harbored such jealousy regarding his preferred position with their father. Obviously, Fury traditions played in his favor; never would a female hold the throne. Or could it happen?

  No, that’s nonsense. I’m the rightful heir to the Fury throne.

  Still, Oryn could well pose a problem for Miseo’s ascension plans and he knew it. It worried him more than the current state of his own body. No matter how much it physically hurt, it was his ego that had been dealt a deadly blow.

  When the doorbell rang, Miseo tried to get up instantly, only to be rewarded with a sharp pain traveling along his spine.

  Fuck this!

  “Who is it?”

  “It’s me,” said the unmistakably cold voice of his sister.

  “I’m not in the mood for a chit-chat. Go away.”

  “Let me in, Miseo, or I’ll enter by force.”

  Miseo resigned himself to getting out of bed. He just did it more slowly to avoid any more unnecessary discomfort. He opened the door of his quarters and immediately turned his back on his sister.

  “We need to talk, Miseo.”

  Miseo walked to the other side of his large quarters and sat on his desk, trying not to flinch and give his sister the pleasure of seeing him in pain.

  “Come in, and talk.”

  A glacial air accompanied Oryn as she walked in.

  “I’m sorry for hurting you earlier. Please understand how frustrating it is for me. Because of my gender I can never replace our father, even though we both know he needs to be replaced. And probably soon.”

  Miseo flinched. Was she trying to trick him into openly admitting he wanted to take Supreme Commander Arakan’s place atop the throne? Though by now it was obvious she knew. But whatever her reasons, Miseo would not fall for it and openly say it.

  “That’s your opinion. Is that why you came here? So you’re sorry, fine. Apology accepted. Now if you don’t mind, I have things to do.”

  “Always with your misplaced pride, brother. You haven’t changed,” she said with a sigh. “Look, I understand you’re mad at me right now, but Father gave me control of the military operations for the time being. So, like it or not, I’m your boss now.”

  I don’t believe this shit!

  “In that case, what can I do for you, Commander?”

  “Don’t be like that, Miseo. I understand you must feel betrayed and your ego is bruised. I would really hope we can look past this.”

  Past you trying to kill me? Fat chance, you cold-hearted bitch!

  “I can sense your anger,” said Oryn when Miseo didn’t answer.

  “Be happy I don’t act on my anger.”

  “We both know you can’t hurt me, no matter how powerful you think you are. Or should I remind you that Argos’ brother almost got the better of you in one-to-one combat? If he hadn’t fought General Arkoolis before fighting you, he would probably have defeated you.”

  That did it. Miseo’s anger grew exponentially and he couldn’t contain his rage anymore. A large crimson aura expanded all around him, painting his quarters with red hues.

  Oryn shook her head from side to side.

  “A true warrior knows when to quit, you know. But one thing almost all Fury men share is that blinding, mindless sense of pride. It’s why you’re so inferior to us women. You’re lucky we’re not usually groomed to be warriors. We’d climb the ranks so much faster than you. If there was any gender equality on this world, you’d all be relegated to second-class warriors.”

  Miseo showed gritted teeth before unleashing a large, crimson fireball at his sister.

  Oryn reacted immediately and froze the fireball in midair with a sub-zero shockwave. Part of the wave traveled all the way back to Miseo and froze the skin on his face. The fireball exploded in midair and sent small icicles all around.

  “I’m going to let this one slide on account of your being hurt right now. But you’re going to listen to me carefully this time, brother, because I’m only going to say this once. I have a mission of great importance for you, and seeing how reckless you are and how scrambled your mind is now, I’m one second away from changing my mind.”

  Miseo tried calming himself by taking a long, deep breath. “Spit it out. What dirty work do you want me to do for you? But, more importantly, why don’t you do it yourself?”

  “I have another mission, which is why I thought I’d delegate you this task. So you can recover some of the graces you’ve lost with Father. But if you’d rather I give it to one of Dad’s generals, that’s alright. I’m sure they’ll get the job done.”

  Oryn turned her back and walked towards the door.

  “Wait!” said Miseo when the quarter’s door swooshed open.

  “For what? You want the mission or not?” asked Oryn, without even turning back.

  “What’s the mission?”

  “I’ll send it to you over the link. Be ready to leave by the end of the day.”

  She left his quarters and the doors closed.

  * *
*

  “What do you mean she’s on Earth?” said Cedric.

  Gaia turned her attention away from Spiros, who didn’t seem as if his brain had computed the news just yet.

  “She’s found a way to upload part of her matrix into one of my battle bots.”

  “How is that possible? I thought you guys were changing the encryption all the time.”

  “It was only a matter of time until she found a weakness. That particular battle droid had been damaged and she found a hole in its firewall.”

  “How could you let this happen? Aren’t you all-knowing? Weren’t the shields supposed to protect us?”

  “Cedric, your vitals are elevated, and I understand your frustration, but assigning blame will not change a thing. If you must know I had lost contact with that particular droid. She found a way to upload part of her consciousness into it. I think this happened at the exact same time as a large solar flare. It destabilized the shields for just a fraction of a second, but that’s all she needed to invade that droid.”

  “How much of her consciousness made it, through?”

  “I don’t know. She blocked access to her own systems the moment I detected her. Since the droid is in poor shape, it will probably take a while, if we’re lucky, until she manages to infect my other systems.”

  “If we’re lucky? Does it look like we have any luck on our side lately?” sneered Cedric.

  Spiros raised a hand to interrupt Cedric. “Gaia is right. There’s no need to point fingers. It’s counterproductive. We need to think of a way to fix the situation.”

  “But first we must protect ourselves,” said Gaia.

  “What do you mean?” asked Cedric.

  “Well, we’re the ones currently keeping her at bay. If you wanted to gain control of the planet and there were a handful of people doing everything to stop you, what would you do right after you’d managed to acquire a body?” said Gaia to no one in particular.

  “She’s coming after us,” said Spiros.

  “Fuck me!” exclaimed Cedric. “I might as well be called Sarah Connor right now.”

  Spiros shot him a dubious look.

  “Never mind. Translation: we’re fucked!”

  “You and your movies. Panicking will not help us right now. We need to stay clear-headed and focus on correcting the problem. First, we have to evacuate this facility right away and find a way to shield ourselves from her,” said Spiros.

  “And make sure we’re ready to destroy her when she does find us,” added Gaia. “Because, let’s face it, it’s only a matter of time now.”

  “Yeah, that too,” said Spiros absently.

  “And how do you propose we do this?” said Cedric, who was nervously pacing around them.

  “I might just have an idea about that,” said Spiros.

  * * *

  Chase was sitting on the captain’s chair of the Euphoreon. His gaze was lost outside the viewport when the holo-console in front of him beeped. It was a message from Sarah. He closed his eyes and checked it mentally.

  She wanted to know how the trip was going and to say hello. Seeing her smile on the holo-vid brought a smile to Chase’s tense face. He used his mental abilities to reply to the message. It would have to be a short audio message for the time being. He could go into his ready room and use the holo-recorder, but the Euphoreon was about to end its hyperspace jump. Now was not the time. He sent the audio message with his mind, informing her of their progress and telling her he loves her too.

  A handful of seconds after he had sent the message, the Euphoreon jumped out of hyperspace. At the same time the turbolift’s doors to the bridge opened and Argos and Ares came in.

  “You’re just in time,” said Chase, getting up from the chair. “Ares, have you contacted your Olympian friends?”

  “I have. I’ve informed Athena and Apollo of our arrival. However, as I expected, she won’t join us when we visit Zeus.”

  “That was a long shot and we knew it. What about the planetary defenses though?”

  “Athena assured me she took care of that. We can land safely.”

  “It helps to have a sister in the Olympian defense.”

  “I guess. I’m not sure how far she’d be willing to help us. She was clear that she doesn’t feel ready to openly defy Zeus just yet.”

  “Hopefully she won’t have to. We’re here to speak of peace and alliance, not to make the Olympians yet another enemy. We have our hands full already.”

  Argos stood in his usual posture, his arms crossed against his chest, and shot a cold look at Chase.

  “Anything you’d like to add, Argos?”

  “We’re wasting our time here. Olympians can’t be trusted.”

  “Look who’s talking,” said Ares, not hiding his disdain for Argos.

  “You’re lucky I can’t kill you a second time,” snorted Argos back.

  Chase cut the air with an open palm. “Enough! You don’t have to like each other to make this mission work. I don’t want to hear any more of this, is that understood?”

  Ares bowed in answer.

  “Sure, brother,” said Argos.

  Chase cringed. “I need both of you to be at the top of your game to make this work. So please put whatever differences you have on the backburner for now and let’s focus on convincing Zeus to join the Alliance. Or this will have been a colossal waste of time. We need to leave Olympus with a new ally. I’ve just received a subspace transmission from Spiros. Gaia 2 has managed to get herself on Earth. We can’t afford to be away too long, or there might be nothing left to save.”

  Ares nodded.

  “While I understand why you want to protect the people of Earth, brother, it’s also your weakness. What are they providing this Alliance with, exactly? Wouldn’t it be more effective to move back to Alpha Prime and have your base of operations there once and for all? I thought that’s what you sent Saroudis and most of the fleet to do anyway.”

  “Understand this, Argos: I don’t have to explain my reasons for wanting to save Earth, least of all to you. Aphroditis assured me it was a vital part of winning this war and I trust her.”

  “Oh, if the clairvoyant Olympian said so.”

  “What the hell is wrong with you, Argos? I thought you wanted to be a part of this new Alliance?”

  Chase noticed that Argos was quite pale. He pushed further with his mind and felt Argos’ heartbeat. It was erratic and too fast. He then focused on Argos’ eyes. He was averting them from his brother’s direct look.

  “Are you on drugs?”

  “What?” exclaimed Argos.

  “Something’s off with you. I don’t know what, but I can feel you’re not yourself right now. But if you’re hiding something from me, this will be the last time I ever trust you.”

  Argos took a deep breath. “If you must know, I’m not feeling very well. I think there’s something wrong with the air-recycling on this ship. I took some medicine from your sickbay but it makes me feel lightheaded and perhaps even a little irritable.”

  “I’d say so. I don’t think the air-recycling system is at fault, though, since the rest of us aren’t affected.”

  “I don’t know what to tell you, Chase, but may we proceed as you suggested not a minute ago and focus on this mission? I’ll probably feel better once we’re inside the atmosphere of the planet.”

  He’s hiding something. I can feel it. But he’s right. Right now I can’t afford to divert my attention.

  Olympus One appeared in all its glory through the viewport. It had multiple defense platforms that could destroy a single ship like theirs, but Athena kept her word and they passed the automated defense systems without so much as a scan. The planet was magnificent. It was at least three times the size of Earth, with a predominant green and blue northern hemisphere, while the southern hemisphere displayed more toned-down orange with a few speckles of green.

  Chase had never seen a planet like this before. It had three sets of rings around it, all at different angles. The
y reflected the light of the system’s three suns so that their color changed depending on the angle they were viewed from.

  But now was not the time to be fascinated by Olympus One’s beauty. They had to open negotiations with the mighty Zeus.

  “Take us in,” said Chase.

  * * *

  Sarah was called onto the bridge as the Hope jumped out of hyperspace. She sat in the captain’s chair. “Report.”

  Daniel was sitting at the weapons console. “We had to drop out of hyperspace a little early because our scans picked up some strange readings, Captain.”

  “Would you mind elaborating on ‘strange?’”

  “Pushing scans to maximum resolution. Hang on! This can’t be!”

  “What is it, Commander?”

  “If I’m reading this right—and I sure hope I’m not—I’m detecting multiple destroyers trapped in a material of unknown composition. The scan barely gets any data through the material. But this indicates they are Star Alliance signatures, all thirty-four ships.”

  “Thirty-four Star Alliance ships? Can you hail them?”

  “I’m not detecting any power readings from the ships. It’s like they’re offline. We’re entering visual range.”

  Sarah got up from the captain’s chair. “On screen.”

  The main holo-screen turned on and it took a little while for Sarah to understand what she was looking at. There was an entire fleet of Star Alliance vessels, but each of them was trapped in a brownish, semi-translucent material. It looked like some sort of resin.

  Chris stormed onto the bridge. “Cut power to the sub-light engines, NOW!”

  Lieutenant Commander Rentalis at the navigation console glanced toward Sarah for confirmation.

  Sarah pointed an absent finger towards the lieutenant commander. “Do as he says. Come to an emergency full stop, right away.”

  “Aye aye, Captain, full emergency stop.”

  The Hope stopped advancing.

  She turned her attention to her son. “What is it, Chris?”

  “If we advance any further we’ll suffer the same fate as these ships, and we’ll be trapped here until the end of time.”