Rebirth (Rebel Wars Book 2)

by Michael Andrews

  “What…what do you want?” Markus said, turning to face him with a white-knuckled iron grip on his bare sword.

  “To tell you…that I know what you want. You want that woman to die. I can sense your…mind smells.” His words didn’t make the most sense, but the message came across as it was meant to. Jin had learned the human tongue because it hadn’t been far off from the Corporation language which wasn’t far off from their own. He didn’t think anything of that, but others would find that strange that three vastly different races and planets evolved the same language through time out of the thousands of languages every culture on each of their planets spoke.

  “No. I don’t. I just don’t want to be here. I want to fight.” Markus said trying to justify to himself that this alien creature was wrong.

  “Then go. Fight. Join your friends. I will save her life, we don’t need friend killers.” He said in his broken form of the human language.

  “What? No. I’m…I’m good.” Markus said.

  Jin brought his shoulders up to full height and let out a slow breath before turning his back and moving back to Fiora. He took a cup of water from the nearby table and dripped some across her forehead to cool her down. He seemed to ignore Markus’s existence, and the frightened Paladin let out his own sigh of relief. Eric smirked, not being much of a fan of the other Paladin from the few conversations he had with him aboard the ship. He thought the man was arrogant and believed that his attitude would be his downfall. Eric couldn’t respect men who believed the world owed them something and their lot in life was always someone else’s fault or problem. Eric turned back to the door and continued to smirk long after Markus had retired from his watch to get some sleep. Soon Eric passed out in a chair near the door, slumped over from exhaustion. Jin never slept, at least not in the way that they would have expected. His eyes never closed, and as the light of the new day rose up and filled the hut he would stand up and check the unconscious woman. She breathed, but it was a bare breath. He sighed and injected her with one more chemical, but that didn’t stop him from preparing for her death. There was a limit to all things, and even science and magic had their limits.

  Chapter 7

  Azhulhand surveyed the area with his specially crafted scope, the minerals and glass within processing around ten miles of distance from his current spot. The pods had separated and while he had sent a heavily armed human envoy to deal with one, he had sent a small group of Corporation soldiers to capture the other one. Now he stood at the top of a crested hill, looking out over the empty land that the human-bound drop pod had landed on. The forest hadn’t been here in a long time and so it was easy for him to survey the land, but he knew how long the landscape lasted on this world and it would change soon.

  The broken and destroyed vehicles that the humans had destroyed in their warpath amused him. He hated using humans as weapons, but he couldn’t risk two squads of Corporation men when he had so many disposable humans around. He could care less about them and he would never fight next to one, but he hadn’t been there and he was glad for that. He wanted them to think they could be victorious when so many others had fallen at his feet. Reinholdt had identified the goal-post for them and had set the trap so perfectly to capture the transport ship that they had nothing left to do but let Azhulhand hunt down and kill them for sport. It wouldn’t take much effort to seek them out with aircraft and obliterate them before they could fire a single shot, but then what would be the point of participating in a Blood Hunt if they didn’t want to feel the kill on their hands? Hell, maybe Azhulhand would be able to convince the goat of Reinholdt to put his feet to dirt and kill her with him. That would make his lifetime the Commander mused, forgetting for a moment he was holding his scope and fumbling it. He plucked it from the air as if he were catching a slow moving ball, which to him it might as well have been. The reaction time of Corporation people were far faster than that of humans, and he was beginning to wonder if it was worth tracking them down after-all. How many of them would it take to make him break a sweat, and would he even need to power on his apparatus and watch the terror in their eyes just long enough for him to rip them apart?

  He shook the thoughts away and continued to search for what he was looking for. There was no need to spoil the hunt for himself, he wasn’t going to have the opportunity for much fun in the future anyways, better enjoy it while he could. The Commander lowered the scope, satisfied he had gathered all of the intelligence he needed. They had destroyed the humans he had sent there and moved on, it appeared as if they had taken a few of their resources as well but it was nothing he wouldn’t be able to replace. The men he had with him now were heavily armored Corporation men all bearing his custom sigil on their chests. Their weapons were combustion powered heavy assault cannons that spat almost as many rounds as the electromagnetically powered counter-parts that the Paladins carried. The loud, booming sound of the weapons and the cloud of smoke made them more appealing to the Commander than the quiet death of the other weapons. He wanted to be heard and seen when his specialty squad crowded the battlefield and dominated their opponent, and he wanted to smell the fires he invoked as they unloaded onto the enemy.

  The golden armor of the Commander shined with the dying sunlight as he made his way to the carrier ship that hovered just above the ground. A quick leap took him into the ship, and he nodded to the pilot. The ship kicked off from the ground and a map appeared in his visuals. Reinholdt had sent a series of men and drones to the area they had highlighted before and a campaign was under way to take the ground from the Cydrakians. They hadn’t expected such a powerful force waiting for them there and Azhulhand had opted out of joining the siege in person after learning of the humans coming towards them. He had spent a month’s wages in contacts at the Tower to get information about who was aboard those ships. Once he learned it was his darling Alice, he had no choice but to send his 40 men and let them handle the rest. He called for Reinholdt to half the air-support he’d promised in the beginning and instead just bring enough firepower to cover his men. He didn’t care if they succeeded, he would get to it eventually but the effort was a nice show. His curiosity for the truth in the weapon had dimmed immeasurably after he had discovered Alice was coming. He had so much more to find out, about himself and about the capability of humans. He needed to know what it felt like to slay a human champion and gloat about his victory over the woman that had killed the Demon.

  “Reinholdt, come in.”

  “Siege is going well, a bit behind schedule without you there, but they are gaining ground. It seems the Cydrakians consider this place a holy ground and we’re impeding on it. They have some impressive combatants down here, your 40 was reduced to 20 in the first hour of conflict. I’ve resupplied them back to 75, but they are losing around five men an hour.”

  “Good good. Alice killed the traitors we sent down here. I have no word from the Officer I sent to deal with the other pod. I’m going to make camp and then in the morning continue to hunt. I don’t wish to risk my men with a night time on this planet.” He said, ignoring Reinholdt’s comments and punctuating his comment with a chuckle.

  “Yes sir, but what about the siege of the holy ground? Should we withdraw the troops until daylight?” Reinholdt said, quite aware that his colleague was ignoring his initial report. He knew how Azhulhand got when it came down to a matter of honor and battle.

  “No, let them fight it out. I’m tired of feeding the mouths of the weak anyways.” He said in a cruel move that surprised nobody. While he was capable of mercy and honor, sparing the weak was not his code. In normal times he would play it smart and order the men back to avoid too many casualties, but he wanted to make sure he had boots on the ground and all times and he also knew that Alice would figure out the holy grounds is the place to be. He needed constant fighting there to convince her that was where she needed to be. That was where he would duel with her, and take her head in single combat. Then he would have achieved the Blood Hunt and be known forever as
the Corporation Commander with the most impressive single-combat record in history. “In fact Reinholdt, send a hundred more men to accompany them. Stagger out shipments throughout the night and keep the fight going as long as possible. If they’re going to take this long we had better use it to our advantage.”

  “I will get it handled. Have fun on your hunt.” Reinholdt said. There wasn’t something in his voice that made Azhulhand feel as if the other Commander was annoyed. Maybe he was upset at the fact he wasn’t there to hunt with him, or maybe he was upset that the Commander had avoided the responsibility of sieging the holy ground and finding what they’d been fighting over all of these years. Azhulhand reflected on this, it was true that he could just finish what they started and leave but now he had a purpose to stay and his honor wouldn’t allow him to give it up. He let out a breath and watched the sun slip underneath the horizon. He hated to stay here during the night, not just because of the beasts that made their home in the night but because of time. Time was weird here, and it seemed as if the night dragged on for some people and was too short for others. Time fluctuated and was manipulated at night by the Cydrakians, it was how they were able to rebuild so quickly and take back what they believed was theirs. In Corporation tradition something was only yours if you were able to keep it for yourself.

  Night time was also when the planet changed itself, rotating ecological wonders like a change of clothes. The earth never shook, an amazing feat considering how much of the landscape shifted and changed. Mountains opened up to valleys and deserts and oceans spat up islands and icecaps. The Cydrakian people seemed to know how the planet would change and they adjusted their structures to make up for it. Reinholdt theorized that the Cydrakians were responsible for the planet’s changes, manipulating the terra like they did their own anatomy. It was another curious secret they would have to discover the truth to. Capturing and interrogating a Cydrakian was near impossible due to their nature, but they were closer to discovering what they wanted than they had ever been. Azhulhand sat down on a large rock outside of his portable base they had set up. The building behind was only a small building of 8 or 9 rooms but it was enough to keep him and his men for the night. They’d built a parameter fence and set up a watch tower to prevent themselves from being surprised. The Commander didn’t need but an hour or so of sleep, but he decided it was better to get a longer rest to make sure his aging body was up to the task.

  He leaned his bulk against the rock before settling down and crossing his legs in a meditative fashion. The air had started to cool down from the usual heat of a Cydrakian day, and though he strived for violence and war a momentary peace was never lost on him. He took a breath and looked out over the landscape, it was beautiful and no matter how many forests he burned or mountains he crumbled they always came back. It was hard to argue with a life like that, primal and raw with beauty and strength. He took a bar of cloned food from his pocket and bit into it. The soldiers in the mess hall would be making hot food right now, but he preferred the rations he carried on his person. A soldier used to the trenches and hard rocks in their back were often never able to go back to soft beds and hot food. When he slept, his hands were curled around a weapon at all times and he never got the deep sleep others talked about. He was the eternal veteran after-all, thrust into war as a child and every step he took as an adult was either on or towards a battlefield. It was the life he chose, and he was glad it was there to give him meaning. He thought of his wife and children for a moment and as always was somewhat disappointed that he didn’t miss them. He was not a good father and he never would be, he was a good soldier and that’s all he was.

  The cloned food bar was a mixture of nuts from a long dead tree on Corporation home world and a chocolate-like protein that was found on another conquered world. There wasn’t much here they were not afraid to try, so they didn’t eat anything from Cydrak. The idea of a food source that could manipulated on a whim was a frightening endeavor. There was no data backing how or at what range things could be changed and to what extent, and nobody was willing to test the idea by consuming the wildlife on the planet and seeing what happened. It was better this way, and clone food was easier to produce and maintain anyways. He chewed the food over and listened to the gentle song of the wind as it filtered past his helmet, he focused on the various sounds it carried and heard talk of his men and the cleaning of weapons. They had become a family in their years together and he was beginning to hate the idea of leaving this place, and yet he hated the idea of staying. Conflicting emotions weren’t new to him, but once he made a choice he stuck with it.

  He was ready to see the mission done and over with and to experience battle elsewhere, or perhaps to claim Alice’s head and the weapon from Cydrak and be on his way to retirement. He would be allowed a few years of peace before he passed away, though it wasn’t what he wanted. He shrugged to nobody and finished his protein bar in the peace of the night, knowing that day would bring another struggle of war and there would be plenty of excitement then.

  Reinholdt smirked over his console as he watched the scene unfold. The debris wasn’t just debris, as the crew of the Stormbreaker had come to find out, but instead hacker drones designed to mimic space debris. Shards of metal that surrounded and slowed a ship by absorbing the energy output of the engines and then dispelling it elsewhere. The shards of metal also dug into the infrastructure of the ship and sealed the hole they made to prevent decompression all while spilling smaller drones into the inside of the ship. Before most victims even understood what was going on their ship was being taken over from the inside by the microscopic army. An artificial intelligence was attempting to take down the electronic attacks he’d initiated on the ship, but his army of hackers were diligently combating the maneuvers of the A.I. and doing quite well. He was impressed with the skill of the entity, but it was only one system and not capable of the same feats as an entire network of trained technicians.

  Reinholdt watched as the engines of the ship redirected and started to get within docking range of his massive warship. It was done, they had captured the enemy’s ship and allowed Azhulhand’s prey to reach the planet’s surface. He wasn’t quite as keen on the plan as his allied Commander was, but it was part of the Hunter’s Law. He was duty bound to assist in the Commander’s Hunt or to perform the kill himself. He had seen what Alice could do and he was not about to engage in combat with her without being in the safety of the Eldritch Glaive. Here he was a master and a force to be reckoned with, outside he was just a simple man wearing a cloth uniform. He hated the feeling of armor and didn’t wish to be burdened with the plates and joints of the thing. He had an apparatus that he could use if he wanted to, but it was designed with the purpose of survival in space and little else. The suit could ensure he could survive in space for several days and provide him with the nourishment he needed, it was also complete with a top-of-the-line communications array that could stretch out to another system to hail a ship. But it was not meant to survive combat and he wouldn’t even attempt such a misuse of it.

  He ordered four security teams to stand ready in the docking bay he was directing the enemy ship to, each one of them outfitted with electrical stun weapons and plasma throwers. Direct fire in the ship wasn’t recommended and though he was certain a few shots wouldn’t hurt anything he wasn’t going to risk his beauty blowing up from the inside when there were other measures to be taken. The plasma throwers were similar to the ones the Demon equipped his Inquisitors with and could incinerate flesh, bone, and metal into ash with a single volley. That would do quite nicely, and it was completely safe to use within the bounds of his life’s work. He switched the view-screen over as the Stormbreaker was pulled into the ship, the swarm of men he’d sent down there taking up defensive positions all around. He ordered a surrender through the linked communique and then poured the anthem through the transport ship’s loud speakers. His complete control over the ship’s functions would prevent them from turning the noise off and the demora
lizing song would do nothing but weaken their resolve to hold out. He figured they may not have the same respect for his ship and may come out guns blazing, but the over watch held by his men should dismay them.

  After an hour, the ship opened up and the crew within came out with hands up in surrender. The arrests were simple and without complication or resistance, and this made him nervous at first. They freed the soldiers who were trapped in the firing tubes of the Stormbreaker and disarmed them easy enough. They wanted to resist but a demonstration of the plasma throwers broke their spirits and they surrendered. The rest of the security teams made their way into the ship and searched it with a precision that would scare most other military men. Reinholdt knew space, he knew emotions, and he knew hiding spots. Everything was searched and turned over to reveal any secrets they may have been hiding and that would happen to the hard-drive as well. The rogue A.I. was still in the system and still fighting against his team, but he knew the entity couldn’t hide everything. They’d pulled over status files on every crewmember and service records on the ship itself. There was an aged but skilled pilot at the helm, and they’d managed to capture her. The rest of the crew were inconsequential soldiers and technicians, most of the more interesting personnel had launched themselves to the ground. A squad of Paladins and Alice with her men. Alice’s profile was perhaps the most interesting to Reinholdt, her biological data had been erased and replaced with schematics and repair records. Something had happened to her and the file gave away just enough to make him believe that she was something different than human. Azhulhand paid no mind to the information, and that made Reinholdt even more nervous.