Rebirth (Rebel Wars Book 2)

by Michael Andrews

  What Reinholdt found the most interesting of all the data was the mission record. The encoded shorthand was incredible and difficult to decipher but there was something aboard The Eldritch Glaive they were instructed to retrieve. He snorted with laughter when he considered the idea that they were supposed to seize his warship with that little craft they called a warship. He could have split them into atoms and split those atoms into energy before they even got within firing range. Did they not realize that when they engaged him they were fighting the god of space? He was beyond mortal when in the piloting chute of his ship, every engine and weapon belonged to his hand and to the network he’d established. He could communicate disruptive signals and firing arcs at the same time while projecting travel solutions and faster-than-light travel. He wasn’t just the pilot, he was the ship and his network was a massive brain of information and action that was relentless. He missed the days of engaging other fleets and destroying them, and he wanted nothing more than to get back to the action and lead an assault directly on the Tower! How glorious would that be? To be the ship that drove back the rebellious children and captured the wondrous forge they held in the Tower?

  He paid little attention to the men as they brought their captives to the detention block of his ship, a massive brig designed to hold up to a 500 prisoners if the need arrived. Right now it held only a few souls, mostly Corporation and defector humans. They were a military organization and not everyone was perfect, there were still criminals amongst them and those that killed, hurt, sold information, or stole from the Corporation were sent to the brig. They were supposed to be awaiting transfer to another facility, but Reinholdt found the prisoners served other purposes and put them to work almost as soon as they were considered guilty. Aboard the ship, he was the law and the final arbiter of disagreements. He looked back to the screen that was monitoring the data download from the ship’s hard-drive and found that they had managed to get the human’s copy of the Library. He laughed and wondered what new additions they may have added within its pages and decided to look at it later.

  Gin approached the bridge and offered Reinholdt one of her wry smiles, her figure exposed by the tight clothes she wore. Reinholdt ignored her, she had been making advances on him since Azhulhand left. He’d allowed her free reign of the ship and she had been all over the ship to the delight of the soldiers stationed there. Her flirtatious ways had opened many doors that she had not counted on and had explored to her heart’s desire. Reinholdt didn’t care much for her and ignored her whenever she tried to come on to him, replying succinctly and making his way to do some other task. Being somewhat younger than Azhulhand, the Fleet Commander had not yet taken a wife or fathered children, and his prestige would do any woman a favor just by bearing them for him. He had no interest in a wife and the idea of children bothered him more than it brought him any joy, so he simply avoided the idea all together. Corporation women were powerful in their own rights if they chose to be, but not all did. Gin was one of the latter women and sought to obtain prestige and fortune by being chosen as a wife by a powerful man. Unfortunately for her, she was not as beautiful nor as intelligent as other women and her distinct lack of a personality turned most would-be suitors away from her. Reinholdt had some pity for her, as her time for child bearing was running to a close at the age of 25. He wondered what she’d do with herself if she didn’t manage to snag some poor soul in her net.

  Gin approached him with a casual sway in her step, looking over the sensitive information on his console. He gave her a stern look and she turned away, stepping off to the other side of the console and turning her eyes back to him.

  “Reinholdt, you truly are a magnificent commander. I don’t think they had any sort of a chance against you.” She purred.

  “Of course they didn’t. Make sure you give that in your report to Darvin, I think he would want to know that the Commanders he is attempting to upstage are quite good at what they do.” He said with a searing tongue.

  “I will. But only because he has a wife and has no interest in the likes of me. But you on the other hand, a handsome fleet commander could always use some company could you not?” She asked, running a hand over his. He pulled his back and swallowed hard, he wasn’t entirely immune to her charms he discovered.

  “I am working, there is much to be done here. Can you let me be?” He said, showing fluster that he felt very rarely and certainly not in times of battle.

  “Of course. I’ll be waiting for you.” She said, sauntering out of the control room in her typical fashion. He shook his head and went back to the console, something odd had happened and all signs of the A.I. had disappeared. He linked up to his technician team and demanded answers, the response being that they had managed to delete the A.I. This didn’t make sense to him, but he wasn’t an expert programmer or hacker like they were, so maybe there was some truth to it. He shrugged and went back to collecting data. He had won, so why look into it?

  Project had discovered the Japanese culture long after most references to it had faded, not through war or extinction but because it had been assimilated into history like most other Earth cultures. It was the one that he felt the Corporation and therefore himself identified with the most of all of Earth’s dominant cultures. There were other countries of Earth that were masters of warfare and honor but few did them as stylish as the feudal Japanese samurais and the mighty katana swords they wielded. In the digital aspect of the virtual world he was nothing more than a few lights on a circuit board and the same was said of the signals from the Corporation technicians attempting to destroy him. He had only created a visual representation of the world because it took almost no resources and provided him with a bit of entertainment. He was instructed to view the real world on a regular basis and this helped him to not fragment the two existences and keep him focused.

  In the digital world he stood with samurai armor and a razor sharp katana in his hands. He was a samurai warrior and this was nothing more than a horde of mongrels coming to take what was his. They were succeeding in some of their goals, stealing bits of information and taking control over systems when he allowed them to. He picked his fights when he believed he could win and win he did. He overpowered three or four programs at a time, splitting them in half or driving the imaginary blade into their chests. When too many programs would attempt to surround him, he would vanish through one of the escape tunnels he had created and make his way to another system. There were far too many opponents, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep them at bay for long. He started to grab important packages of data that were visualized as ancient scrolls, and stashing them in incorrect systems. It was a simple strategy but one that would be effective against an impatient soul like a Corporation tech. They would become frustrated with searching out data and not finding it and give up on a manual search, they’d leave that for someone else who didn’t exist.

  Project spent over an hour fighting off the intrusions in his system, he knew all of the humans aboard the ship had been removed and imprisoned and he knew they would want to capture him as well. He couldn’t give in to them and let them destroy or kidnap him from the system, he needed to be within the ship at all times. Alice would be coming back for them and he needed to be here when she came, but he wasn’t strong enough to keep fighting on his own. He partitioned himself off a few times, but they were quickly overwhelmed and the data had to be reclaimed another step in his process. He laid traps for them and watched their frustration grow. The A.I. was capable of things they were not even aware of and staying ahead of them was not difficult. He started stashing important things about his program throughout the virtual world to keep them off his trail, and soon he began to run out of room.

  In a darkened part of his network where he had taken most of the important information, he became trapped. More programs ambushed him and every swipe of his blade deleted portions, but more arrived by the moment. Soon he was standing in a room, encircled by the enemy programs and his energy was running
low. The katana in his hand shifted into a double-bladed weapon that stretched out several feet to each side. He hung his head low and could almost feel the silk-like garb he wore and the wide-brimmed hat covering his face. The enemy programs hesitated, their human operators unsure of what tactics he would employ. They’d already lost a lot of data and energy by his clever tricks and traps that had spread them so thin, and now the culmination of their force was all within this area. They wondered just what he could be planning, but their patience withered and they started the assault. In the digital representation of code and planned programs, the avatar of Project swung his blade in a wide arc and somersaulted over the incoming blades of his foes. Ducking low he brought one of the parts of his blade across the back of a program’s legs and watched them fall, leaning forward and driving the blade into its back. He pulled the blade free in time to deflect another one, spinning off to the side and slashing another program across the stomach and kicking another assailant to the ground. It was beautiful, and it was poetic but it was fruitless.

  The first blade punctured his shoulder, and another into his chest. Project fell to the ground and smiled, laughing as they swarmed against him and began to slash into his exposed digital flesh. A light flashed somewhere, and Project was gone. The other programs looked around in fear and suspicion, their Corporation operators ordering them to spread out and continue the search elsewhere. Soon they had the entire network searched with no sign of the A.I. Satisfied they disconnected and celebrated their supposed victory. Project’s lights flickered quietly in remote parts of the network, his vestiges fading into darkness and leaving the virtual world still and empty.

  Chapter 8

  Night had fallen on the near primal world of Cydrak. Twin moons shone brightly with the light of a single sun, one of the moons a round pearl and the other a sliver of silver in the backdrop of stars. Alice didn’t appreciate the night as much as she could have, to her it was another stepping stone bringing her closer to her mission. She believed she knew fully that there was a weapon here that the Corporation was seeking and that she needed to find it. She couldn’t let them get a hold of it for starters, and if she wanted to see humanity triumph in the war there was no reason not to use it against them. They had not yet met any of the natives of this world and it wasn’t long before the excitement of the day had overwhelmed the men. She was content with their performances and felt confident in the fact they had destroyed a much stronger force and taken no casualties.

  She worried some over Lisa’s survival but she was taking to the men quite well, they were swapping stories over the food rations they’d managed to scavenge from the fallen humans. She was lucky in that regard, as they would have been left with nothing but cloned food had it been Corporation soldiers and there was very little remaining of their initial supplies from the destroyed pod. She wondered if the President would give her leave to build new ones and purchase new upgrades for her ship. Like her body, she knew it was important to keep her equipment in top condition as well. Alice didn’t use very much equipment these days, with built in emitters and artificial muscles she didn’t need much. She could engage entire forces of men with nothing but her bare hands and still come out on top, when you punched with the force of a high-caliber round there wasn’t much that could stand in your way. She considered that Project probably felt the same way in his digital world, superior to everyone else and a messiah for an unspoken world.

  The fire they had lit kept the small building they had stolen warm, it was a single room affair and provided just enough space to allow everyone the ability to lie down. Alice didn’t need to sleep, so she decided she would allow them a full night’s rest and keep watch. She sat in the branch of a nearby tree to overlook the building and the single trail of smoke that exited from the opening in the roof. They had pilfered some blankets and extra padding to serve as cots, but nothing fancy for the ten soldiers and their scientist compatriot. Alice checked her internal readings and found the damage she had taken during the drop was minimal but had exposed a crucial circuit that would be a nightmare to repair on her own. She did her best to patch it up with the small kit she kept in a storage compartment in her legs and ran the diagnostic. Everything seemed fine, though she knew night time was the hardest time for her. When she was alone and without the databanks of her home server to keep her mind occupied it would tend to drift to things that could put her in danger of a breakdown, and she couldn’t afford that. The Martian soldiers and Lisa were relying on her to let them get some rest and if she allowed the Corporation goons to destroy them in their sleep she would be left alone until the end.

  They had hiked from the initial landing spot some twelve miles into the forests and up into a mountain range. They had spotted wildlife of fascinating origins, massive beasts with leathery skin that walked passed them without a single glance their way. Furry masses of claws and teeth approached them looking for food, and determining that a kick to the side wasn’t worth whatever treat they’d get from it. They’d chosen the mountains to get a better view of the lay of the land, they didn’t have a sense of reference of where to go and they needed to find some sort of civilized center. Alice had scouted ahead to make sure they weren’t heading straight for an encampment of Corporation, and with a bit of luck the landscape had been cleared. She had radioed the other drop pod and gotten nothing, even failing to ping the homing beacon that was installed in the communications array in the pod. It must have been destroyed, but that didn’t mean the entire pod was gone or the people within it she reasoned.

  Fiora is a strong woman and a capable soldier, Alice believed that she would see her again. She surveyed the mountainous landscape around them and her audio sensors picked up a violent roar not far from them. She didn’t wish to leave her friends but she knew that she needed to do something to occupy her time or she was going to run the risk of a system’s malfunction and without Project here to take her off the ledge, who knew what the end result would be? She’d cataloged the wildlife she’d encountered and had become fascinated with marking down the features she was able to see in them. If this was something new it could provide her with a bit of entertainment, if it was old it may allow her to study it closer. She leapt down off the tree and took off at a run leaping off of the edge of the mountain cliff and grabbing a hold of a small branch to tilt herself in the right direction. She landed some twenty feet down and collapsed onto the ground, picking herself up.

  The landing was made of soft dirt and lush grass, a system of caves not too far from her position. The sound came from the east, and so she made her way down the slope and towards an open cave. A reptilian beast of twice a human’s height was bearing down on a mammal beast with long claws and dangerous teeth. The two animals proceeded to fight, scratching and biting and pushing each other. The mammal bit into the flank of the reptile who responded by kicking it with a bladed claw. Both beasts drew blood, but only one would recover. The mammal sprung with powerful legs and knocked the reptile over, ripping strands of bloody meat from its side as it ate it alive. Amused, Alice started to record the habits of the animals and just how dangerous they could be. This world was primal and the inhabitants strong, but why had it taken so long for Corporation soldiers to take it over? These beasts didn’t have ranged weapons and she wasn’t certain their hides would be able to absorb all the damage that these weapons were capable of spitting into them.

  She watched as several smaller versions of the mammal emerged from a nearby cage and approached the downed reptile. The larger mammal stepped aside and allowed the smaller ones to feast on the fresh kill. Alice stood up and began to move backwards when she heard a roar, the larger mammal still caked with blood, moved up to her position. The creature ducked low as if to pounce and bared her teeth at Alice. The mechanical power of her body would allow her to dispatch the creature with little effort, but something within her respected the monster before her and she decided it would be illogical to kill it. She backed off slowly, careful not to make any s
udden moves as she often did when coming across some of the wildlife on the Forge. This beast was easily longer and stronger than a human tiger and Alice was impressed that it matched her step by step. The tigers of Earth usually backed away when she did and they went their separate ways, but this thing was different. It was adamant that Alice was in the wrong and the creature had no desire to let Alice leave.

  Alice proved the creature had no say in the matter and took off at a blurring pace and sprang up to scale the cliff-face she’d jumped down. The whole scenario only lasted a few minutes and it wasn’t enough to help her find any real peace, but it had given her something to do. She arrived at the top of the mountain and worked her way over the grass towards the lazy plume of smoke that poured from the building. Her systems had recharged throughout the day, so she swapped back to her primary battery and felt a rush of electrical power through her system. Now she would begin to recharge the other battery from the motion of particles through the air and her own kinetic actions. As she got closer to the building she realized that some of the facings of the mountains had changed and it seemed as if the tree she had been on minutes ago had moved a few feet from its position. She checked the records she had been making and confirmed it, something odd was happening with the planet’s terrain and she couldn’t find any reason as to why that was.