An Empire is Born (Maraukian War Book 3)

by Michael Chatfield

  While the others trained, ate, and trained all the more, Mark had pushed and pushed himself through all his limits, his body on the verge of collapse once more despite the extra boosting and drugs he kept piling into it.

  It was Sarah who had forced him to take this break, to wind down, to actually retire to his room and do what most normal people did: sleep.

  So, he let his nanites clear out his systems, and that’s where the emotions returned, the memories. No matter how much he blocked them, he had to deal with it eventually. Now was the time.

  Turning the shower off, Mark stepped aside, feeling somewhat refreshed even if shaky. He shook his body and was dry; clothes formed around him as he moved to leave, to finally put his head on his pillow.

  He left the showers and returned to his room. He saw the door slightly ajar and his fight instinct quickly returned. Moving in close to see what was going on, he spotted a figure moving around, weapons in hand. Instinct took over and he forced the door open, pushing himself on top of the armed intruder and grappling for the knives.

  “Mark, it’s Ava!”

  The voice echoed in his mind as they tumbled in a heap to the bed and then to the floor. His strength overpowered hers as the knives clinked to the floor.

  The adrenaline that had flooded his systems dissipated slightly as his voice cracked out, “What the fuck did you think you were doing?”

  Ava struggled to breathe under his weight, but she shrugged. “Can’t move in without them.” She managed to slip a hand over her head and pull her knife forward, inches from his neck.

  It glinted at him. Mark let up slightly so she could move more, and instead of trying to get out from underneath him like he thought she would, she settled there and wrapped her arm around him, knife still in hand.

  “You just shower?” she asked. “This might have been much more fun, without the clothes.”

  Mark heard her words, knew and felt the meaning deep within his body, but he couldn’t.

  He tried to push off her, but she held on tightly. Her legs wrapped around his torso, pulling his face in closer to hers. Then she kissed him, her lips warm and soft. He responded without thought, without any emotion, till he felt her merging thoughts and feelings alongside his.

  “Ava. No,” he said firmly and pushed back. Trying to fight everything his body wanted. Her.

  She let the knife glint in his vision once more. “You’re saying no with a knife to your throat—good idea?”

  Mark tried to move once more but found he couldn’t. Nothing of his body seemed to want to let go of her. His mind forced its will down, but he suddenly felt too weak. There was no fight left for him. He stared into her eyes, recognizing what was going on, but not wanting to accept it still.

  “Full body scan tells me you’re in need of rest and recuperation. You’ve been pushing yourself too hard. Sarah tell you to come here?”

  Mark nodded, and finally, she let him up enough that he could slip out from her grip. This time kneeling while she stayed still, yet her breathing was quick. Emotional.

  “Then I suggest you get in bed and listen to her.”

  Mark looked at the bed, felt the need to climb in and let the world melt away around him. So, he did. He watched her finish putting several items in his drawers, unable to say anything else to stop her.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Luyten Conglomerate Headquarters

  Earth, Sol System

  10/3555

  The Vasilievich Corporation had been founded many years previously, almost alongside two others, Sosa Industries and Hozumi Productions. The two largest companies often went against each other in corporate bids for acquisitions. This time was no different and the young head of Vasilievich Corporation, Kilment Vasilievich, waited on the two opposing heads to tune in for this meeting via extra secured comms.

  Kilment had read over many reports coming from the different gangs over by Westerly Three’s complex. Over the last couple of years, they’d been buying up lands, buildings—and people, it seemed—and there was now genuine worry over the sheer amount of properties they’d managed to obtain.

  In all, it looked like the VC had just the one complex and garden center, but, looking closer, there were several off-shooting accounts and management companies all buying up local resources. To Kilment, it meant there were some very sneaky and clever minds behind the operation and he’d been watching for some time.

  Now there were several other bits of worrying reports coming from the legion. Reports about powered suits changing the user’s minds and bodies. Making weapons most of them would not be able to fight against. Couple that with the growing power behind the VC on Earth itself and it looked very worrying indeed.

  Uno Hozumi was the first to show her face through on comms. The petite Japanese woman had not only strong eyes but a stern enough face to go with it. Kilment had met with her in person and what she showed in body language, she matched with her striking intelligence.

  Hata Sosa was the youngest at this meeting. He only recently lost his father and had taken over the business. That meant to Kilment that he might well be naive enough to fight the both of them when they needed to make this decision together and back Senator Rimateus for Luyten’s greater good. Their system needed this financial backing, and the probable technology growth that would come with an alliance.

  Uno was the first to speak, knowing exactly what she wanted from the meeting. “My proposals to you are clear,” she said. “To bring our forces together with the FTL drives provided by Senator Rimateus, it is my belief that we each offer a decent piece to this contract. My company will provide all the production and facilities to build our ships. Sosa Industries has the technical know-how to put the two together and you,” she looked directly at Kilment, “have the weapons and alignment so that we can move forward and take over our smaller rivals. Obtaining the drives will bring us above the others on many levels. Using all of this to our advantage is paramount to how we three move forward.”

  Kilment hadn’t wanted to lead the get-together, so he was glad that Uno had. “It is all but a formality to agree to this. Yes, there will be no more rivalry between the two of you?”

  Uno cocked her head to the side to view Hata at a closer level, but Kilment could see the look of pleasure oozing from her. It was, after all, one of the reasons he’d just lost his father. Their arguments and lifelong feud, though, might finally be coming to a halt. “Is this agreeable to you, Sosa?”

  Sosa looked from the two of them to something over at his side. “We have been monitoring many communications through space lately. It is of great concern that the Maraukians are coming closer and closer to our systems. I would like a counter-proposal for us to work on while we’re negotiating over the transition.”

  Kilment wasn’t sure where this would be going, but when he received the files, he understood and agreed also. “A very wise man indeed to not leave his people undefended. I believe we can work on both projects.”

  Uno raised an eyebrow at this information package. “Agreed. We do not want to be left blindsided. I suggest we begin training and tasking all our forces. Senator Rimateus’s freighter will be within ours in a few weeks. Let us be ready. Then all we need to concentrate on is where to strike our negotiations first.”

  Kilment liked Uno. Although he was no pushover and she knew it, it was good to let someone else’s ideas and resolve forge on. He smiled. “I think Gilese will be that perfect place to begin inserting ourselves. Don’t you?”

  Chapter Twenty

  Skill School—Malazar House

  Tricticus, Emarl System

  10/3555

  James Perry didn’t look like your typical teacher. He looked instead like one of those big bastards who get earmarked as a machine gunner as soon as they start training.

  He had served on Fernix and Earth with his trooper brothers and sisters before his service was bought out by the Victor Corporation. Like many of the troopers, he had joined the EMF to escape his lif
e in the slums and possibly have a future.

  When he was given the opportunity to learn something other than how to fire a repulsor and try not to die, he jumped at the opportunity.

  Troopers were a driven group; they didn’t do things by half measures.

  So, the big, tanned James Perry had done his all to increase his understanding on any and all mechanical systems. He had worked with the design team for the different massive carriers that were built by the Victor Corporation and had gone on to work with the building crews that assembled them.

  He was one of the most knowledgeable people on the freighters that the Victor Corporation made. With his wealth of theoretical and practical knowledge, he had gone from a head engineer leading his own team to the leader of a Skill School based on Tricticus.

  He looked around the field that they had set down in. He was wearing battle fatigues and his helmet was sealed as he looked out on what remained of the city.

  There were bodies, of both Maraukians and humans, still all over the place. Signs of battle were littered around.

  The other cities were still recovering themselves; they didn’t have time to go and clean up another city.

  Most of the bodies had been eaten by the animals left in the city, leaving mostly bones.

  “Well, looks like the Citadel after the Harmony Chosen got in,” Kee, Perry’s second-in-command for the Skill School and ex-combat shuttle pilot, said.

  Behind them, several combat shuttles had people pulling out supplies.

  “Well, we best get started. The new trainees will be here in just a few weeks.” Perry accessed his NIAI. He sent orders out to his people, picking the ones who had been troopers. It would be easier for them to deal with the bodies compared to the civvies.

  “At least we’ve got plenty of fertilizer for the hydroponics people,” Perry said.

  “Maraukian fertilizer—yeah, I don’t think that it will really take off,” Kee said.

  Perry moved off with the groups of troopers taking the powered suits with them to move the heavier Maraukians that were littered all over the ground as people carried containers on anti-gravity sleds to an open area on the border of the city.

  Construction had started on the first Skill School on Tricticus. From the ashes of the defeated city, they would look to train the next generation of specialists needed to keep the different parts of Emarl running and allow them to push forward as a system.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  VCF Osdal

  In Transit to Emarl System

  10/3555

  Charles was working on projects even now. It was hard not to with his connection to the net and being able to access all public information in the Union as well as Earth and Her Colonies.

  There weren’t many items that were hidden behind firewalls that he couldn’t access either.

  He sent off a new and revised plan to the engineering crew of the Moby that should decrease the build time on the new power banks by a few weeks.

  His eyes once again turned to Jess, who nervously looked at the two nanite vats in the other room where Dodger and Ava were standing with their hands in the nanite vats. It didn’t look as though they were doing anything with their eyes closed, but both Charles and Jess knew that major changes were happening in the other room.

  Ava and Dodger removed their hands from the nanite vats, looking tired. They looked at Charles and Jess.

  “They should be a few more hours before they get out,” Ava said directly to Charles and Jess’s NIAIs instead of using her voice.

  “Understood. Thank you,” Charles said.

  Dodger and Ava nodded before they left the room. They had changed the key parts of Maxine and Gomez’s bodies; now it would be up to them how they would rebuild themselves.

  Charles watched with Jess as the nanites started to move faster and faster as their two friends rebuilt themselves.

  A few hours later, as Ava had said, the nanite vats stopped moving and started to dissipate. The nanites returned to their storage tanks and two people wearing fatigues were revealed.

  They were much taller than before and their bodies were made from toned and powerful muscles.

  Gomez opened his eyes and looked at his arm.

  Charles could feel the connection snap into existence with Gomez and Maxine as their systems came online and they started to wake up.

  The rest of the mergers could also sense that they had two more fellow mergers.

  Charles knew that they were all probably looking through the different cameras in the room to check on them.

  “How does it feel?” Charles asked.

  “Weird,” Gomez said.

  “Information overload,” Maxine said. All of their senses were greatly increased and they even had a network of sensors laid in their body now. If they wanted to analyze something now, they wouldn’t need any extra equipment.

  Gomez merged. His eyes shone before flickering back and forth as he started going through reams of information that only he could understand. After a few minutes, Gomez stopped merging and his eyes turned normal again.

  “Holy shit, that’s a rush. Damn, that’s incredible!” Gomez said, in shock from the information overload.

  “Looks like it’ll help with all of the work we need to do.” Maxine’s wry tone made Charles smile.

  Jess rolled her eyes, a smile playing at the corners of her lips.

  “I just wonder how many nanites we can control now? Might not even need a fabber!” Gomez laughed, an excited look on his face.

  The others laughed at his child-like glee as Gomez could only awkwardly look away, his face turning bright red.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  VCF Osdal

  In Transit to Emarl System

  11/3555

  A few of the containers within the VCF Osdal had been turned into messes so that the people of the ships could get together, have a drink, and blow off some steam. If there wasn’t a way to let off steam, then it was likely it would lead to accidents and fights across the ship.

  There were a fair amount of altercations within the messes already but it kept it more contained than across the ship or in the middle of someone’s working shift.

  The people outside the mess, smoking into the different vent fans, moved out of the way of the eleven people walking through.

  All of them had looks of respect on their faces as they nodded to the group. They pointed out different people, but most of the attention was focused on Mark, who led the group into the mess.

  The mess was a simple bar along one wall with people lining up and then seating strewn about. In one corner, there was some movie playing as people talked in different groups.

  The bar quieted down as people all noticed the mergers entering. It was hard to miss them: they were all tall as hell and built.

  The group moved to one of the open booths and dragged a table over. Nanites flowed from their hands, reinforcing the furniture so that they could sit on it.

  “I’ll get the first round.” Evan walked off, with Polwell joining him.

  “I’ll help him.”

  The room was packed with people but they were all subdued.

  They didn’t know what was coming in the future and they had learned about the Maraukians just a few months ago. Then the next thing they knew, they were in a fight against these beasts.

  They had faster-than-light drives, access to technology that was decades or centuries ahead of their own, and now there were mergers, a nearly mythical race that could fight these genetic monsters one-on-one.

  Most of the people in the mess looked at the mergers with respect. But there were a few who sneered and looked away from them, calling them mutts and dogs.

  Humans weren’t a smart race; even as they tried to lie to themselves, they were filled with prejudices.

  Mark sat back in his chair. The table was silent, ominous almost.

  People gave them their room.

  The troopers shook their heads, looks of understanding on
their faces. They had all lost someone in battle.

  Seeing the mergers and knowing the reports, their losses were more severe than most units could deal with.

  Mark felt a hand on his, gripping it tightly. He looked over to Ava. Seeing that pain there, he covered her hand with his.

  He might be a stubborn bastard but it looked like her perseverance was wearing away his walls as he remembered the different mergers.

  Evan and Polwell returned with the drinks soon enough. They passed the drinks around, making sure everyone had one.

  Mark held up the beer. He felt the heavy looks from the room, the hollow feeling deep in his chest. There was so much he wanted to say; he wanted to talk of each of the people who had been under his command. Words wouldn’t be able to convey their personalities, the way they’d get caught up in shit, or how they would have one another’s back; even if they were joking around or looked like they were busy with something else, they’d always lend a hand, complaining every step of the way, or with a smile and joke.

  As these thoughts passed through Mark’s mind, it passed through the others’ as well. They each thought of different memories, bringing rise to a small laugh here or there, or someone letting out a snort as they remembered the good times.

  They hadn’t been together for long but they had done so much together. Through merging, they’d shared their lives and souls with one another.

  It mattered not how long or short a period of time; it had a great impact on them as a fighting team.

  The mergers exerted control over their bodies, stopping tears from forming even as their faces distorted. These men and women, the strongest in the whole universe on the outside, were wholly broken on the inside.