Villain

by Ivan Kal

  It was frustrating, but she accepted it.

  She moved with the Sentinels, and they attacked the Created positions and pushed deeper into the territory they had claimed. Her team was tasked with rescuing the people still inside. Each room had redundant comm systems, so they knew that some still lived. Many had managed to evacuate, but a lot had remained trapped inside of their rooms. Every room had its own defense measures, and could be closed off completely, but the Created were slowly breaking in to the rooms, killing everyone inside.

  The counterattack was happening all over this sector, with thousands of Sentinels, soldiers, and agents of the Hand of the Empire. The sector was massive, the size of a city block or a small town that covered several levels. The area they were going for led directly to the impact point. There were assault shuttles and teams trying to breach from the outside, but from what she had heard from the comms, their assault was slowed. The Created had moved deeper into the complex before entrenching themselves.

  Then, as they rounded a corner, they encountered the enemy. Before they could even act, she reached out. Inside the Sha state, energy didn’t matter; only will, skill, and knowledge did. She grabbed them all with telekinesis and ripped them in half—a simple solution that didn’t waste any time. Eight scout-type Created fell to the ground in pieces, followed by seven warrior types. She could feel a stab of fear coming from the Sentinels around her, but she paid them no heed. They were not following her so that they could fight, they were there so that they could secure and escort the survivors back to safe areas.

  They made their way through the halls, with her killing any Created that they came near. They could do nothing against her. Anessa led the team into a housing area assigned to a small race from the other side of the galaxy—their representatives had been smart enough to lock themselves in their apartments. As she entered the large living area, she saw that the open space was filled with the Created, and up on the next floor she could see a strange weapon firing a beam in the doors leading inside an apartment where the survivors were hiding. She floated upward as the Created noticed her, the warrior types firing with their limb-mounted biological weapons, the other types using their Sha abilities.

  She felt them move through the Sha, and a shield sprung around her, protecting her. She reached out with telekinesis and ripped the vital organs from the ones closest to her, and then, up on the second floor, she saw the two new types: the Sha users and the defenders. She tried to pick up a defender and found that they were somehow resistant to Sha—she could tell that an ordinary Sha user would need to expend an incredible amount of power just to injure them with it. But she was in the Sha state, and she didn’t need to expend energy. She reached for the air around the Created and forced them to stay still before lifting them up and smashing them against the floor. The Sha users were firing beams of energy, but before her they might as well be children splashing water.

  She didn’t bother to use Sha against them. Two small turrets rose up on her shoulders and plasma bolts punched holes through their bodies as she landed on the railing. Grabbing the weapon that they were using to get through the doors, she crushed it into a compressed ball the size of her head with a concentrated effort of telekinesis, then left it floating over her shoulder.

  The Sentinels climbed up and accessed the door’s comms systems. The survivors were scared and didn’t want to come out, but Anessa didn’t have the time to wait, so a few of the Sentinels stayed with them while she and the rest moved on.

  They had a lot more of the building to clear.

  * * *

  Loranis watched through the eyes of her Created as the child of Axull Darr ripped through her creations. She was one of the three that Aranis had warned them about, the ones able to enter the Sha state. Loranis could tell that she was powerful, very much so, but in the Sha state all had the same potential. She also noticed that she lacked the finer control of wielding such power; if she had control, she could’ve dealt with Loranis’s forces far more efficiently.

  But this did not mean that she wanted to be drawn into a conflict with another being that had the power to harm her. Unlike Doranis and Aranis, she did not like taking unnecessary risks. It was why she had refrained from helping her creations. She only used the lightest of touches to watch through their eyes. She didn’t even dare look at the minds of her enemies for fear of the Sha user discovering her. It was in her mind better to avoid any chance of detection. She had already seen that the woman could bend space, meaning that she could come after Loranis even here at the edge of the system.

  The plan was nevertheless going well enough. She had eliminated a number of her targets, although not many that were important. The leader of the Empire and most of the core powers had survived, whether by evacuating or just by fighting their way through. She had underestimated the levels of technology that these core powers possessed; they hadn’t had many ground conflicts with them, however, so it was to be expected, and she had killed many, several hundred at least. Enough that their deaths would make for problems with this alliance against them. She doubted that it would destroy it—they were too afraid of the Enlightened to retreat now, and this attack would show them just how dangerous they could be—but the attack’s intention had always been to distract and delay. Now, when they no longer had the AI and its machine ships to do reconnaissance for them, they couldn’t afford to just let the enemy do what they wanted.

  Their own reconnaissance relied almost exclusively on her, and while the fight on the planet raged, she looked into the minds of the people in the fleets. She didn’t have the time to find those in charge who would have the information she needed, so she was skimming through the minds of everyone she could find. She hadn’t expected one of the Sha users here; the last they had heard was that they had split from this alliance. The Enlightened had been avoiding fights with them since the start, and there was no point in getting into fights with those who could be their equals. After they had disappeared, they had been worried about where they might pop up. The fact that the AI had gone silent sent a clear message.

  The last comm from the AI to its machine ships in the core had put them under the command of the Enlightened. The rudimentary intelligences in the machine ships had no way of growing beyond their constraints, so they were only simple tools now. But what interested Loranis now was what the status of the force that defeated the AI. She knew just how much ships and power the AI had possessed. She knew that any battle with it would have been hard won. Were they now crippled, and no longer a threat? Would they join with this Grand Fleet?

  The Enlightened needed to know so that they could plan accordingly. The presence of one of the Sha users seemed to suggest that they might be joining forces again. As she looked through the surface thoughts of many minds she found no indication that that was so. In fact, it appeared like the two forces would not be joining together, and she didn’t know what that meant. Did they know about the core? If they did, she would assume that they would gather together and attack there.

  She sighed with frustration. Anyone who was important enough to know was almost always behind powerful anti-telepathy defenses. She could get through them, but it was a long and a hard process, and one that would probably reveal her presence. The small part of her mind still connected with her creations told her that the Sha user had fought through the complex and had reached the fortifications her overseer breed had erected.

  The woman broke through easily and started killing her Created. Slowly, she was losing sight into the complex as her troops were being slaughtered. Then Loranis watched as the woman broke every single one of her creations’ defenses and found the overseer. Loranis was still inside its head when the woman set it on fire. With the death of the overseer, she lost all eyes into the massive complex.

  The attack had run its course.

  There were still many of her Created left, of course, but none in the complex. There were pockets in the city that were still fighting against the defenders, and t
hen there were the four small hives that had fallen outside the city’s shields. Those four were still fortifying and building up forces. The spore ships held a lot of biological material and Sha for them to spawn. She had loaded them up on the rim from the races she had harvested. Those Created would be hard to destroy, and she knew the defenders still had a lot of work in front of them.

  With her job done, she ordered her ship to turn around. There was no further point in staying here. Her ship set a course and then entered skim, heading away from the system.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Year 718 of the Empire — Sol

  By the time Adrian had heard about the attack on Sol, it was too late for him to do anything. He had been on Sanctuary, still discussing things with Seo-yun. The moment he heard about it he set a course to Nelus, which had the closest access point. By trans-space, it was a trip of only a few hours—but by then the fight was mostly over. When he came into the system, he learned that the Enlightened had targeted the foreign dignitaries staying in the Olympus Mons complex.

  It was a smart strategy, and one that had partially worked, as proved by the weary look on Tomas’s face.

  “We have lost fifteen races and their fleets,” Laura said. “They weren’t from the core, their technology meant that they added little to the Grand Fleet other than numbers, but…”

  “But every ship matters,” Tomas said.

  Adrian looked at Anessa. She had a tired look on her face, but didn’t let that stop her from attending this meeting. He knew firsthand how exhausting the Sha state could be. One might not be spending any energy, but it drained the mind. He turned to look at Tomas as he spoke. “I’ve been to the foundry, and I’ve allowed your people inside. You may take possession of all the ships that it had constructed. Most are Titans, with some dreadnoughts and battleships.”

  Tomas just nodded his head, not voicing his opinion. Of course Adrian knew that Tomas probably felt like Adrian had kept the facility of Axull Darr a secret from him. And in truth, he had, so he tried not to provoke Tomas more than was necessary.

  “With those,” Laura started, “we will have a lot more firepower. It will make up for what we lost from other races. More than make up for it, actually, as a single Titan could probably take all of those ships alone.”

  No one replied—they all knew the power of Titans.

  “We need to talk about a timeline. We need to act sooner rather than later,” Adrian said.

  Tomas finally met his eyes. “I am in the middle of so many political incidents that I barely have the time to sleep. So many officials and representatives have just died under my watch, I have about two hundred thousand of those monsters outside of the city, and you want us to sign off on the attack?”

  Anessa answered for him. “To not would be exactly what the Enlightened want. This attack falls in line with all of their actions so far. They distract and cause chaos, preventing us from striking at them or interfering with their plans.”

  Laura put a hand on Tomas’s shoulder. “They are right, Tomas. We can’t let them dictate our actions.”

  He closed his eyes wearily. Adrian could tell that he was drained by everything that was happening. He only hoped that Tomas could keep it together for a while longer. They couldn’t afford to have the Great Alliance break apart now.

  “I plan to set off for the core in about a month, with the location of the other access point your fleet will need to use. That gives you about a little more than a month before your Grand Fleet needs to depart. The timing won’t be exactly right, but I think that it will be close enough—provided, of course, that you have arranged passage for us through the Josanti League system.”

  Tomas nodded his head. “Yes, I’ve arranged it. You have the League’s permission to pass through their access point.”

  “Thank you,” Adrian said. The Josanti League access point was close enough to the core that it would take them only a short time in hyperspace to reach their target. If the Grand Fleet hit the Enlightened-occupied system before he hit the core, it would mean no chance of reinforcements coming. If Adrian hit first, then some could come, but it would still take them time to reach the core, unless they had an access point that they didn’t know about. Even then, the Grand Fleet could always follow behind.

  Soon enough, the meeting ended. Tomas still had to go to the briefings concerning the Created still on Mars. Anessa had wanted to help, but Adrian advised against it. She needed to conserve her strength and be on the lookout for Enlightened themselves. He was still not sure about having only her going with the Grand Fleet, but the core was more important, and they would need as much power there as they could. She should be able to hold off the Enlightened that she encountered.

  As soon as the meeting ended, the two of them retreated to their rooms.

  * * *

  A few days later, Adrian and Anessa stood in their rooms in Olympus Mons as two figures walked in.

  Anessa smiled and walked up with her arms spread wide as their children walked in. She embraced the twins and smiled.

  “Hello, Mother,” Vaana said.

  “Father,” Kane added over Anessa’s shoulder.

  Sora, the Wolion, walked slowly behind them and straight to Adrian.

  “How have you been, old girl?” Adrian leaned down and scratched her behind the ears where he knew she liked it. He could still remember finding her and her brother on Sanctuary as their mother died. The Wolions had been a large part of his life, and he was thankful that Sora had decided to protect his children. It made him feel better to know that she was with them. As Anessa finished greeting the twins, Adrian walked over and hugged them both. He didn’t spend nearly enough time with the two of them, but he did love them dearly.

  “This is a surprise,” Anessa said in a level tone. “I thought you were busy with ruling back on Shara Radum.”

  Adrian already knew why she had taken such a tone, and he also knew that their children were much like their parents. The twins had arrived along with the Shara Daim fleets, the ones that would now join with the Grand Fleet. Adrian and Anessa suspected the reason as to why the two of them were here with it.

  “Ah,” the twins said at the same time.

  “We are Kar Daim—” Vaana started.

  “—but we are also Dai Sha,” Kane finished.

  Anessa narrowed her eyes on them. “You are supposed to be rulers. You are not supposed to put yourself in danger by leading fleets.”

  “You did it yourself,” Vaana told her.

  Adrian smiled. He had told Anessa that they would use that against her.

  “And father did it too,” Kane added.

  Anessa’s eyes darkened, but he could tell that she knew that it was pointless to argue. They were their children, after all. They would not bend.

  “This will be the most dangerous battle you have ever been in,” Anessa told them.

  “It is the most—”

  “—important battle we will ever—” Kane continued.

  “—be in,” Vaana finished.

  Anessa sighed. She knew that they were right, and that nothing she would say would convince them to change their minds. “You will promise me to stay far away from fighting. You are commanders, and your worth is too great for you to go in the thick of things.”

  “We are Dai Sha,” both of them said at the same time, as if that explained everything. In a way, it did.

  Adrian put his hands on their shoulders. “Promise this to your mother. She will not be able to focus on battle if she has to worry about you—and if she has to fight against an Enlightened, then she cannot afford that worry.”

  He could tell that they wanted to argue still, but then they nodded stiffly. Adrian smiled at them and took a moment to just look at them. They looked much like their mother, like Shara Daim: dark skin, tall and wide. But their eyes were human, and he knew they were his.

  They settled in and talked about nothing at all, just spending time together. Such moments were rare, and precious. Ad
rian had had far too few of them in his life.

  He would need to remedy that in the future.

  * * *

  Two weeks later it was the night before Adrian was to return to his forces. He lay in bed with Anessa, their last night together for a while.

  “What are you thinking about?” Anessa asked. Her head was nestled on his shoulder, and his chin was on her head.

  He smiled at her question. She knew him very well.

  “I am wondering if Tomas will keep his word. If he will follow through with this attack,” Adrian said.

  “You think that he would betray you? Betray us?”

  “He is afraid of me,” Adrian answered.

  Anessa didn’t respond immediately. “He doesn’t understand you. Sometimes, I wonder if even I do.”

  He turned, pulling her chin up so that her eyes met his. “Of course you do. You are the only one that does.”

  “Do I?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Tomas thinks that you are incapable of love, that you don’t care about people. Only about your goals.”

  Adrian felt a pang at her questions. He wondered if he was wrong; perhaps she didn’t understand him. But then he shook his head. She was worried; they were about to go to war, perhaps their last. It was normal for her to have doubts and fears. So he opened his mouth and spoke, letting the feelings and thoughts that had been whirling inside of him for a long time out.

  “I love you and our children. I love my friends. I care about people, perhaps not in the way that ordinary people think I should. But I care. To me, individuals are not important; I am not here to protect them to coddle them. I think that they should find their way in life on their own. But I love what they represent, the potential that each one of them has. They could all be like us. It would be such a gift to live to see others grow and join us here. I want that, want to watch someone struggle and become strong. I want to see them reach their full potential. That is my love for them. My drive to become the strongest, to find another challenge and overcome it, is all so that I can find peers.” He paused, turning his eyes to the ceiling. Then after a moment he continued in a whisper. “Do you want to know what the happiest moment of my life was?”