Armageddon Unleashed (Universe in Flames Book 7)

by Christian Kallias

  What happened next took Chase off guard. Miseo took his own head between his hands and unleashed a deafening roar that made the entire bridge tremble.

  What the hell?

  Miseo started smashing left and right at everything around him. Bulkheads, consoles. He smashed everything in sight. Hatred deformed his features. His eyes were all white, no pupils, which made him look even more terrifying and mad than before.

  “Get out of my head!” he shouted as he flailed his arms around.

  I don’t know what the hell is wrong with him, but this might be my one chance to put him down. Better not waste it.

  Then Chase saw it. Not far from Miseo, a sharp pole had been dislodged from the bulkhead. That gave him an idea.

  Chase shot a couple of fireballs at Miseo, who was still flailing his arms around in a weird attempt at hitting something or someone that wasn’t there. Both of Chase’s fireballs hit him on the torso and forced him to take steps back.

  Chase unleashed another series of fireballs towards Miseo and immediately teleported behind his back. In his mad flailing, Miseo almost hit Chase in the face. Chase grabbed Miseo from behind and locked him into place just as the dozen fireballs arrived upon them. He used Miseo as a shield against his own attack, but mostly to make sure Miseo couldn’t deflect or dodge them.

  Chase was surprised by the amount of energy he had to deploy just to prevent Miseo from moving about. But once the fireballs started hitting Miseo in the chest, one after another, things became simpler.

  Miseo screeched and yelled with each and every impact. Once the last of fireballs had hit, Chase teleported back in front of Miseo. His fireballs had burned Miseo’s clothes to his skin and his torso was bleeding.

  Not losing a second, Chase brought his Ultra-Fury aura to the maximum and, with an animalistic roar, unleashed the mother of all shockwaves towards his enemy.

  The shockwave sent Miseo flying and impaled him on the dislodged pole.

  Miseo screamed in pain as rivers of blood poured from his mouth. His body jerked uncontrollably as his pupils returned for a moment. Then his eyes closed and the jerking stopped.

  The moment the power gauge reached sixty percent, Cedric launched the shield initialization command from his terminal.

  It took about ten seconds for all the systems to come to life and start transmitting sensor data back to his console. The shield was energizing and not a minute too soon.

  The last three orbital attacks had landed painfully close to his location, cracking the ceiling and even starting a small fire when a distant console exploded.

  But now the orbital bombing had stopped, and the shield absorbed these blasts of energy. The power gauge climbed at a slow, steady pace.

  Cedric opened a channel to the Hope. “Shield is up.”

  “Great job, Cedric!” Sarah cheered. “Gotta go. Shit is still pretty hot up here.”

  “Sure thing. Be careful.”

  Three Droxian destroyers flanked one of the enemy ships. They simultaneously unleashed a barrage of torpedoes and brought the ventral shields of the GDF destroyer down. It reacted immediately, rotating on its axis to present its dorsal shields.

  The Droxians had only lost four ships so far and since the StarFuries had countered the death spheres, the forces were on a par. The tactics of the Droxians were sound and they thrived on the battlefield.

  When two more Droxian destroyers vectored towards the enemy ship, adding their firepower to the trio, the Gaian destroyer started taking damage to its plating and tried to make a run for it. The five Droxian destroyers pursued in tight formation and hammered the GDF destroyer with intense laser fire now that its shields were down.

  Debris flew from the back of the GDF destroyer and, just before its armor gave away, it micro-jumped away.

  The Droxian destroyers were beginning scattering maneuvers when another GDF destroyer micro-jumped into the scene and fired towards the debris left by the previous ship. It hit a sphere of metal that ignited and detonated with a bright flash.

  The resulting shockwave destroyed all five Droxian battleships.

  Yanis received a communication from the bridge.

  “What the hell just happened? How did Gaia 2 destroy five Droxian ships with a single shot?” asked Sarah.

  “I’m reviewing the sensor logs now. She can’t overpower us anymore. We have a way to destroy her ships when she uses that multi-firing solution, so she’s stopped using that tactic. Then we countered the death spheres, and she stopped using those as well.”

  “But what could have caused such an explosion?”

  “If my readings are correct, Gaia 2 feigned damage and let the Droxians think they had bested her ship. She drew them into a tight group and released a very compact, military-grade quadrinium sphere into the debris.”

  “Are you telling me she just made a quadrinium mine?”

  “That’s how it looks, Captain. A powerful plasma beam ignited it, and it took out everything around it when it blew.”

  “Damn, that’s one resourceful AI.”

  “We’re trying to kill it. It’s using every trick to defend itself.”

  “I wonder what else Gaia 2 has up her sleeve.”

  “About that,” said Kvasir.

  “What is it?”

  “I don’t want to alarm you, but I’m detecting a massive incoming subspace data beam on the sensors.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I don’t know, but I can theorize.”

  “Please do, Kvasir.”

  “I’ve been monitoring Gaia 2’s CPU from the beginning and, in the last few hours, as we destroyed more of her ships, its utilization was maxed out. For the last few minutes, though, she seems to be using less and less of her CPU.”

  “In English, please.”

  “I think she has a CPU farm out there, and that massive subspace data stream is Gaia 2 accessing that secondary CPU over subspace.”

  “Could she have more ships than those currently engaged in battle with us?”

  “It would seem so.”

  “How many ships?”

  “I can’t be sure, since there’s only one massive data stream. It may be coming from a single source. But, Captain, if that’s the case . . .”

  “Whatever is sending that data stream is massive.”

  “That would be my assumption, Captain.”

  “Try and pinpoint the location of this CPU farm or whatever the hell it is. We can’t let anything from Gaia 2 survive the day, or we’ll have to do this all over again.”

  “Understood, Captain,” said Kvasir.

  Kvasir’s tattoos now flashed at different intervals from one part of his face to another.

  “This could be really bad news,” said Yanis.

  “I wish I could say different, but yes, this is as bad as news could be.”

  “At least Earth’s shields are back up.”

  “I don’t think that will help much.”

  “What are you talking about? Shields are always better than no shields.”

  “Look at the subspace data stream signature and transfer rate, Yanis.” Kvasir brought up the sensor data on their main holo-screen. “Now compare it to our logs on inter-ship subspace transmission in her fleet.”

  “Holy shit. What could send that much data?”

  “We’re not going to like it when we find out.”

  Chase kneeled next to Oryn and put his hands on her unconscious body. He hesitated to heal her, but he needed to convince her to see Zeus.

  He didn’t think any cell could hold her anyway. He could probably put her into a cryo-sleep unit, but perhaps a show of good intentions would go a long way towards opening a dialogue.

  Chase healed her just enough so she could wake up. When her eyes started blinking, he stopped.

  “I don’t mean you any harm,” said Chase. “I’m healing you.”

  “Miseo?” she said painfully.

  “He’s dead.”

  “Are . . . are you absolutely
sure?”

  Chase looked at Miseo, still impaled against the bulkhead, blood still dripping from his wounds. He wasn’t moving.

  “He seems pretty dead to me.”

  “Why didn’t you kill me?”

  “I promised your father, your real father, that is, that I’d bring you back to see him.”

  When Oryn struggled to her feet, Chase tried to help but she pushed him away.

  “I don’t believe you. My father is the supreme commander of the Furies.”

  “You don’t really believe that. If you did, you would have tried imprisoning me in one of your icy prisons the moment you got up. The fact that we’re talking means you have doubts.”

  Oryn started emanating cold air all around her. Her icy-blue aura expanded and her eyes took on a shining, light-cyan tinge.

  “Oryn, please. Let’s discuss this.”

  “Something’s not right. I . . . I can’t seem to access all my powers.”

  “You were hurt pretty bad. Miseo told me that once he was through with me, he would take pleasure in killing you. What’s that all about?”

  Oryn shot daggers at Chase. Then she turned around and unleashed a column of icy-blue energy and created a twenty-inch-thick icy prison around Miseo.

  “I don’t think that was necessary,” said Chase.

  Oryn’s eyes were filled with icy determination.

  “You have no idea what I’ve been through today. This,” said Oryn, pointing at Miseo, “is no longer my brother, and I don’t think it’s just a Fury anymore either. All this is my fault. I made him that way.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t have to tell you why. But thank you for defeating him. If you hadn’t I’d probably be dead right now. But that doesn’t make us any less enemies than we were before. The only way I can regain my father’s trust is if I bring him back your head.”

  Chase did not like the sound of that. Not only did he dread another fight with this formidable warrior, but he couldn’t fight her freely, for fear of killing her. This would put him at a serious disadvantage.

  “Look,” said Chase, putting his hands in front of him in a non-threatening gesture, “all I ask is that you listen to what I have to say. You owe me that much, wouldn’t you agree?”

  “Owe you? I don’t owe anything to anyone,” she answered through gritted teeth.

  Uh-oh.

  “Can I at least tell you what happened to your mother?”

  Oryn’s eyes flashed more brightly. “What do you know about my mother?”

  “Arakan had her killed. But not only that, he sent her back to Zeus one piece at a time.”

  “Lies! Shut up!”

  Oryn unleashed a beam of glacial energy towards Chase, who dodged it.

  “I’m not lying!”

  “What proof do you offer that this isn’t just a ploy to manipulate me into rebelling against my father? Snake tongues run in your family. Argos also tried selling us his venomous lies. He’s the next one on my kill list.”

  “Argos may have lied to you, but I haven’t. I think you’re being a little harsh on him, though. If he hadn’t reactivated the dimensional machine, you’d all still be trapped in an alternate dimension.”

  “Argos took nearly ten years longer than he was supposed to, to free us. In fact, you were both supposed to free us. Apparently you grew a conscience and turned your back on your brother.”

  Chase had another flash of memory, one in which he and Argos were arguing about something important to his brother. Chase didn’t want any of these memories. He didn’t want to know who he was before. He used to wonder, before the Star Alliance fell, but now he liked who he had become.

  The flashes he had been getting since his fight inside Gaia 2’s matrix threatened to reveal things he might not be proud of or, worse, be unable to fathom. Had he been part of the plan to free the Furies from their prison all along? Chase didn’t need nor want to know. To think that what Oryn said might be true, and that he once was complicit in the plan to bring back the Furies, made him sick inside.

  When he didn’t answer for a while, Oryn insisted, “It’s not fun having someone tell you things you don’t know whether they are true or not. Your poisonous words have been haunting me for days! But if you don’t have any proof, then it’s your word against my father’s.”

  When Chase noticed the cold sensation in his feet, it was too late. Oryn had trapped his legs up to his knees and fused him to the floor with ice. A bright, shining cyan ball of energy engulfed Oryn’s right hand. She raised it towards Chase.

  “Thank you for not killing me, but I’m afraid you should have. I’m sorry about what’s to come, but if I don’t bring back your head to my father, I’m as good as dead.”

  “No, wait!” shouted Chase.

  But Oryn didn’t. She fired the icy beam of energy towards Chase.

  22

  The Hope rocked under the repetitive attacks of the GDF trio of ships pounding its shield.

  “Get us out of here. We can’t take much more of this,” said Sarah.

  “Jump engines are down, Captain. We can’t micro-jump.”

  “Then full power to the sub-light engines. Divert all power to the shields—take it from life support if you have to—but put distance between us and these ships and have the rest of the fleet provide cover fire.”

  The Hope made a run for it, but the GDF destroyers were in tow, hammering down her shields at an alarming rate.

  One of Athena’s ships micro-jumped between the Hope and the GDF destroyers, using her ship’s powerful shields to provide cover long enough for the Hope to exit its firing range. Three more Olympian ships micro-jumped and repelled the GDF destroyers into a defensive position.

  “Damage report?” said Sarah.

  “Shields down to four percent. Multiple hull breeches on decks four, eight and twelve. Primary guns are offline,” said the tactical officer.

  Things were not going well. The Droxian fleet had been reduced to a third. The rest of the Earth Alliance ships were as damaged as the Hope, on the brink of destruction. The nine Olympian destroyers were still in the fight, but many of their shields had been seriously depleted. If they kept protecting the rest of them, they would start incurring more casualties as well.

  Then the shit hit the fan.

  Gaia 2 micro-jumped one of her ships and slammed it against one of the Olympian ships that had come to the Hope’s rescue. The GDF destroyer exploded upon impact and brought down the Olympian vessel’s shields. Another GDF ship micro-jumped nearby and accelerated to ramming speed.

  An opening formed at the bow of that ship, like the opening of the shutter on a camera. Through it emerged a large spike, which locked into place at the front of the ship. It looked like a swordfish.

  The Gaian ship rammed the Olympian destroyer at full sub-light speed and tore it in half.

  “I can’t pinpoint the source of the data stream,” said Yanis. “I could use your help.”

  “Gaia 2’s CPU is now more powerful than ever. I have to amp up my hack accordingly.”

  Yanis wanted to argue, but Kvasir was doing all he could to achieve the goal: destroy Gaia 2. Which seemed less and less likely with each passing minute.

  “I know. I’m sorry, but can you just tell me what you make of this reading?” said Yanis, sending data to Kvasir’s holo-screen.

  Kvasir looked at the data for a second and frowned.

  “What is it?”

  “Whatever is transmitting the data stream will be here, soon. We don’t have much time.”

  Cedric thought he would shit himself when he saw a Gaia 2 battle droid fly into the bunker.

  “Easy, Cedric, it’s me, Gaia.”

  “You scared me. How did you get another body?”

  “I diverted some of your nanites to repair the nearest battle bot available.”

  “What can I do for you?”

  “I need your help.”

  “Get in line.”

  “Cedric!”


  “Alright, alright. What’s wrong?”

  “As you know, I’m fine dying at the end of this fight. This is all my fault, everything that happened with the rise of Gaia 2, Spiros’ death, and even the way you look. I apologize and I want to make it right. But I need your help for one last thing before that time comes.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “I think I can save Spiros, but if Gaia 2 is destroyed in the next few minutes, the part of me with all the data required to make it happen will die with her. Thanks to your hacks, this part of my matrix is back under my control, but I still utilize Gaia 2’s CPU and memory banks. I don’t have enough storage on board the Hope to save both myself and Spiros’ consciousness.”

  “We could network more storage throughout the fleet. Would that work?”

  “I’m afraid not. The battle up there isn’t going well. I’m sure Chase and his friends will prevail, but storing this data on moving targets—”

  “I get it; the risk of losing Spiros’ consciousness is too high. I’m surprised you have a backup of his consciousness, though. How is that even possible?”

  “It would take too much time to explain, but I have been observing and scanning him from the first time I met him. I can replicate his consciousness into a synthetic body.”

  “I understand what you’re trying to do, Gaia, but this is well above my paygrade, and I’m pretty sure your request to bring back Spiros as another AI will be rejected. We would run the same risk of him turning bad.”

  “Spiros wouldn’t hurt a fly and you know it.”

  “I do, but I’m not the one you have to convince. The Earth Alliance won’t let you bring him back—”

  “We could use Argos’ cloning technology to get him a new body with his own DNA. If we could infuse his consciousness back into that body, then perhaps they’d accept it. After all, he would be limited to the size of a normal human brain.

  Cedric rubbed his chin only to realize that parts of it were now cold, rough metal.