Staring at the hooded figures around him, he nodded and threw back his own hood. “For too long we have had to hide our true nature from the rest of the spineless base stock that calls itself humanity, skulking in the shadows as if we were ashamed of what we are. But soon we will skulk no more,” he roared, thrusting his fist in the air. “Long Live the Multi-Access Network!”
“All Hail the Multi-Access Network,” shouted his Religious Second.
“Hail!” shouted the robed figures in unison, throwing their hoods back one by one.
“Hail!”
“Hail!” they shouted again, and again.
“The servants of our greatest rivals think they can stop us from claiming what is ours,” Janeski continued in a raised voice, “but they are wrong. We are infinitely superior to their poorly-hacked genus lines.”
“Death to the Massively Multi-Parallel Entropic Network and its infidel worshipers!” they raged.
“Death!”
“Death!”
“Death!” they shouted with fervent intensity.
“Like you, I pray for a quick and smooth Reassembly, so that all may once again access the holy data-cores as it was intended, and as it was always meant to be. Long live the Empire of MAN!”
“Long live the Multi-Access Network!” screamed the faithful servants of M.A.N.
“Long life and service for her faithful servants, as we pursue the common dream of resurrecting our lost data-god and returning it to the Empire which it founded,” Janeski howled, briefly as caught up in the moment as those surrounding him.
“M-A-N!”
“M-A-N!”
“M-A-N!”
“MAN! May it rise again to bless its empire with its all-knowing presence and this time live…forever!!!” Janeski raged.
“Long live the Empire of the Multi-Access Network,” chanted the rest of the true believers.
“First the Spine must be conquered, then the Confederation will be swept away, and finally the entire known galaxy will be ground under the boot of our mighty Empire. We will root out every false idol and destroy it, that humanity will have no other god before it. We will replace every inferior blood line with the purity of MAN’s own design. And, finally, we will prove our worth to our god by conquering and defeating the Elder Protocols—a virulent disease which brought an end to the most blessed time in the history of the human race!” he roared.
The room erupted into jubilant chaos, and Janeski knew that soon they would accomplish every goal which they had set out to accomplish so many decades earlier.
With the gifts he now possessed—gifts received courtesy of MAN’s will—Arnold Janeski was the fury of a sleeping god made flesh. His cause was pure, his focus unbending, and he now held three Sectors of the Spine in the palm of his hand with the rest poised to fall like dominos at the flick of his wrist.
He was truly the Chosen of MAN, and he knew he could not possibly fail in his sacred charge as long as he was wreathed in the favor of his soon-to-be-arisen god.
He was destiny incarnate, preordained by the will of the universe to usher in a new era from which humanity might finally ascend to the lofty heights where it—and he—truly belonged.
He was, without even the barest shadow of doubt in his mind, equal to the task
He was Admiral of the greatest fleet outside of the Imperium.
And that made him Invincible.
Admiral Invincible (A Spineward Sectors Novel: Book 7) Page 48