by Skyler Grant
"Then when team Earth kicked their asses they went on over," Sylax said.
"They're trying to do what they were made to do, although they are far weaker than they once were," Vince said.
Weak or no, they'd still managed to change the development of all life in this solar system.
"Not weak enough. But you have a way to protect yourselves from them," I said.
"We are masters of our own biology. In part with our psi-blockers, in part with our mastery of our own physiology, the Scythe have no way to gain a purchase with us. We had hoped to offer your people a similar protection, but that time has passed," Vince said.
"So do I have a Scythe for a hand or one of your creators?" Sylax asked, holding up her metal claw.
Vince frowned at the sight. "One of the few remaining Mercurians. There was some on Mars who aided in the alteration of the Martians. When Mercury was attacked they were not affected."
Sylax's claw was an actual Mercurian then, or what was left of one.
"So, I killed it?" Sylax asked.
"To be honest we're not sure. We think that you incorporated a part of its essence somehow, but we're not certain how. We've not seen such done before," Vince said.
I had an idea how. Like so much else that was probably a result of crystals, Sylax had a close connection to the Agate and that link had been especially strong when she'd killed the dragon. Anna's powers had also been demonstrated to be increasingly vampiric as a result of one of her crystals, a gift that had obviously been passed on to Sylax. It meant she'd somehow absorbed a part of what the Mercurian was.
"We need your help to fight them," I said.
"We tried to help you. You killed our people and you attempted to destroy our world. We are not unsympathetic, but we will not be aiding you further," Vince said.
"Perhaps you missed how convincing we can be?" Sylax said.
"Despite what you think we did not come to Earth prepared for war. If we had, the outcome would have been different. We wish you well, but we will not be assisting. If you ever fix your problems we would be interested in knowing you better," Vince said.
I might not have wanted a fight out of Venus, but I was prepared for one. I'd brought my heavy-hitters for a reason. There wasn't much that Sylax couldn't tear limb from limb one-on-one and if I unleashed the safeguards on Hot Stuff she'd leave the entire city a smoldering ruin.
I never got the chance.
A flicker of distorting space and the entire squad was back on the teleportation platform of Earth.
I didn't have a way to get us back without a teleportation gate. It was the Venusian’s doing. They hadn't shown that ability before, but then I was also limited in the size of what I could transmit. Regardless, I'd gotten some answers. There would be no help coming from Venus.
101
It was still days before the Martian Arks would arrive at Earth when the Omega team called me with results to report. It wasn't a total surprise, the group was far too dangerous for me to not be keeping a close watch on them. Of course, they were also very talented at avoiding my surveillance.
I wasn't going to deal with another auditorium full of Omegas, so this time I just met with the Primes.
"So, what have you got?" I asked.
"First of all, you're going to want to kill the others. They're too dangerous to allow out there," Vardok said.
I didn't disagree, exactly. I'd known all along that the Omega teams were a risk. That was why I'd kept each tower isolated.
"Your cruelty and self-loathing is noted," I said.
"He isn't joking. The other Esmes are terrifying. I always wondered what it would be like if I went wrong. I guess I usually go wrong," Esme said.
"That isn't you, they aren't even wrong. I've shown them the very worst of this world and made it clear they know who is to blame for it," I said.
"Guilt doesn't suit you, Emma, and the risk is too big for your self-indulgence," Martine said, with a glare at my camera.
Is that what it was? I couldn't dispute the scientific contributions that came from my Omega teams. Were they partly driven by my guilt as well? It was possible.
"I'll think about it. What do you have?" I asked.
"The Venusians weren't lying, first of all. Their psi-blockers are specific to their environment. That doesn't mean they're useless to us," Esme said, tapping at some keys.
The team had been busy. The Venusians had used some specialized microbes to aid in the attempted terraforming of Earth's atmosphere, and they'd combined our technology with theirs. The bacteria created could rapidly change an environment although at an extreme energy cost and some rapid genetic degradation.
"For use against the Martian Arks," Vardok said.
Obviously, although it might have some uses on Mars as well. Although we'd managed to liberate most of the surface of the planet, a few concentrated areas of Scythe presence remained stubbornly persistent.
"This is going to be difficult to execute. We'll need to actually get Bio-reactors aboard their vessels," I said.
"And access to their life-support systems for distribution. It will be a challenge, but we're not done," Vardok said.
"We didn't figure this one out, I had to have Caya have a look," Esme said, bringing up another display. This one was just math, a lot of math.
"That looks like the Mercurian subversion routine. Planning to brand your other aspects and put them to work in a lab?" I asked.
Esme frowned. "I hadn't thought of that. Taking all their will would make them far less dangerous. Still, they are also geniuses and might find a way to turn the whole thing back on me. You really should just kill them. Anyway, I think we figured out where the Mercurians went wrong."
The Mercurians had practically wiped out their entire species with their attempt to control and contain the Scythe. The math wasn't giving me a lot of answers, although of course wherever I checked the numbers it was flawless. Caya did know what she was doing.
"Does this involve them not being genocidal enough? Why is it you humans are so fond of genocide?" I said.
"Everything is trying to wipe us out. We're just better at it," Esme said.
Bloodthirsty, and mostly true.
"They forced the Scythe to be resident in their bodies and executed a mental shutdown command. What they didn't take into account was the psionic nature of the Scythe and how that impacted memory storage," Esme said.
I was partly psionic, partly organic, and partly electronic. My original processing core was electronic, although after absorbing a power crystal I'd communicated with my drone network partially psionically, then later upgraded myself to utilize organic components. When I'd blown up my original Laboratory I'd found myself transferred to the control systems of an airship just taken, purely by psionic means.
"The Mercurians ultimately deleted themselves, but since the Scythe were largely psionic their memory storage survived and they simply took over the bodies again after the execution of the command?" I asked.
"From what we can tell that isn't quite accurate but is close. It hurt the Scythe quite a bit, their capabilities pre-wipe versus post-wipe are sharply different. They have impartial control of their Mercurian bodies and interfacing with an organic system is not really a matter of seeking a stronger host, but one of necessity," Esme said.
That was intriguing.
"So, what do you want to accomplish?" I asked.
"We seize the Arks and infect their life-support systems to spread bacteria to alter the environment, enable psionic-abilities, and dissolve human flesh. This will isolate the implants in a non-psionic environment, where we then hit them with a more targeted command," Esme said.
It was a solid plan—tremendously difficult to execute, but a solid plan. If the implants really could be isolated and erased, the Scythe would be wiped out quickly.
"Leaving us the Martian Arks," I said.
Martine gave a wry grin. "Oh, the Arks are a tame prize here. Nothing is going to protect us even having
eighteen space-worthy vessels, not with an alien fleet on the way, but the real bounty here is the Mercurians."
Esme nodded. "We can't bring them back from the dead, although I wish we could. Scans show no trace of their memory patterns although we may have some from their corpses. But even Mercurian bodies are a treasure trove of their own allowing for organic manufacture and alteration far faster than your own growth vats or upgrade chambers."
I was again reminded of the use of the Omegas. Esme was right, I could use the Mercurians to give myself quite an upgrade.
102
Hot Stuff had yet to hit one of the Martian Arks with one of her shots but I still kept them firing relentlessly anyways. With the Scythe backing them, the Sedara aboard might be resistant to stress or exhaustion. If not, I lost nothing by keeping them constantly on edge and wary.
Still, I needed a plan now more than ever as to how to approach those invading vessels. The Omega team had given me a solution, but making it work was going to be a challenge. To implement what they had planned would require a boarding action, getting up-close and personnel.
They were scan-resistant and I couldn't teleport teams aboard. A space battle had to happen.
The Space Juggernaut project was coming along well. I now had twenty-four of the vessels ready for combat and they were the most formidable fighting machines I'd ever constructed.
Space Juggernaut
Crew: 18,000
Energy: Forty-seven Tier 8 Heavy Bioreactors
Shields: 158,000 MUK
Armor: Tier 8 Self-Regenerating Bio-armor
Weapons: 4 Tier 8 Heavy Energy Cannons, 2 Tier 8 Mass Drivers, 16 Point Defense Turrets, 48 Tier 8 Stinger Fighters, 12 Heavy Wasp Bombers
I'd built the Space Juggernauts to survive in a hostile universe, but when I was constructing them I couldn't know quite how the universe would be hostile. I'd done my best to preserve the versatility that worked so well in the battles on Earth, a combination of both energy and kinetic weaponry as well as energy shielding and regenerative armor.
The Juggernauts couldn't just deal out damage but could take it and quickly repair themselves. Furthermore, with the biological systems and growth vats aboard they could theoretically remain in space indefinitely. Even without some sort of accelerated engine design these ships could take us to the stars—eventually. They were built to survive the long trip. Even very long ones.
Unfortunately, based on my study of the crashed vessels, I wasn't sure just how effective they would be against the Martian Arks. On Mars my bacteria had worked well dissolving their hulls. The armor was formidable but ultimately something I could penetrate. The Martians had made little use of energy shielding, but they did use a 'psionic' shielding. That was a source of concern.
From what I'd been able to gather while studying the Martian vessels and speaking with Julasa, the psionic shielding phased incoming offensive energy attacks into another dimension.
The few tests I'd been able to perform showed that with Julasa's people powering it, it worked well, although exhausting them quickly. If the Scythe were able to use it as effectively as the original Martians, it was dangerous, and if given their psionic nature they’d managed to upgrade those systems I wasn't sure my Juggernauts would be able to hit them at all.
Still, I wasn't without ideas. Both the Mercurians and the Venusians had fought Mars and won. They obviously had a way past that shielding and I could deduce what it had to be, the psionic blockers.
Had I the opportunity to construct the weapon systems of the ship anew I'd have built them around the concept. Charged missiles with a psi-dampener core. I didn't have the luxury of completing rebuilding, but I could still work with what I had.
A lot of time designing in the lab and I soon had what I called the Anti-Psi Bubble. It was a grander name than it deserved. They were roughly spherical, housing a Venusian environment and my reproduction of the Venusian psi-blocker technology.
I'd load them aboard fighters and bombers, and use them to clear a path for heavy weapons fire, placing them in the areas of space I expected the Scythe to use their shields. In their vicinity they'd create a dead zone where psi powers wouldn't operate and my shots could pass through.
This way I could clear out any defenses in the way and blast some holes in the Martian armor. With an entry point made I could then send in shuttles. Neutralizing the Scythe vessels would be left to the boarding parties and their cargo of Omega research.
It had originally been my plan to fight the Scythe on Earth where we were strongest. If we were going to try to wipe them out for good that simply wouldn't work. Our chance to really neutralize them depended on a closed environment like the Martian Arks. I'd likely be dealing with a Scythe infestation on Mars for a long time to come, and if I let the bulk of them loose on Earth it would be even worse there.
I kept the Space Juggernauts in Earth orbit only long enough to fabricate the anti-psi weaponry and then had them break off to engage the Martian ships.
We'd meet in space and finish this, one way or another.
103
We were three hours until engagement with the Martian fleet when Caya demanded my attention. Caya was still on Triton along with a population of Flawess that had swelled to over thirty-thousand. They had laid claim to eight of the old Triton cities.
"You do realize that people that actually have to struggle for a living are soon to be in battle?" I said. Caya was in some sort of old Triton industrial facility built into the side of a volcano, bulky angular tech filling every wall.
"I am aware. I wouldn't have called if it weren't vital. I think I finally figured it out, how the Titans destroyed themselves," Caya said.
If Caya had finally figured that out it was useful information.
"It took you this long? You really are slipping these days. Eating that crystal didn't just add ten pounds," I said.
"I look better than ever, as you're well aware. Yes, it took me that long. While the Titans' level of technological advancement on average wasn't on par with ours, they were brilliant mathematicians. They had a particularly strong grasp of dimensional mechanics," Caya said.
Well, I went from mildly intrigued to very interested.
"Then I suppose this hasn't been exclusively a hedonistic getaway for your people. Tell me what you've found."
Caya swept her hand through the air. A holographic interface appeared.
"You've upgraded your display technology," I said.
"Two dimensional screens were too limiting. A holographic interface lets me use three-dimensional data compression for even more information. I've disabled that for speaking with you," Caya said.
Did she think I wouldn't be able to grasp her interface? Well, to be fair, I was going through a two-dimensional camera and I wouldn't. Still, it was rude. I also had to make certain to upgrade equipment around Caya.
"Yes, yes, you are mildly clever. Get on with it," I said.
Caya brought up a depiction of Titan, a satellite view of it spinning slowly in its orbit. A moment later it was surrounded by a corona of energy, the image flickering as if it were phasing in and out of reality.
"You're saying they surrounded their entire planet in a dimensional bubble," I said.
"Familiar, isn't it? That is what we did when restoring Earth to this universe. We even think they had similar goals, they were attempting to change the local physical properties," Caya said.
We had done the same thing to Earth, although there we'd changed the rules under which the planet operated by bringing it to a universe with friendlier physics.
"If it was a colder planet they wanted, I suppose we have to mark the results of their experiment a qualified success," I said.
"Quite," Caya said with a thin smile. "For all it was one that wiped out their civilization and almost exterminated their population. I trust, however, the most interesting bit of that hasn't escaped you?"
It hadn't. What we had done with Earth wasn't something that we were able to re
peat. For all that this universe had less stringent physical laws than the one we'd come from, it seemed to have stricter dimensional laws. Our jump drives no longer operated here, and most of the dimensional technology that the Scholarium discovered no longer functioned.
I couldn't have taken Earth back to where it came from if I wanted. If the Titans had managed it, they'd figured out something I hadn't.
"Can their feat be replicated?" I asked.
Caya looked smug. "I was hoping you'd ask. Let's find out."
My connection was severed with Triton including my physical feed to the network of cameras set up, and my drone connection. Triton became a void in the universe for several agonizing passing seconds before it returned.
My sensors were blaring nonstop alarms and I silenced them. The composition of Triton’s atmosphere had altered, drastically, retaining heat far better now. It would take time for the ice that covered the surface to melt, but melt it would.
I reconnected with Caya who was studying readings, the display a mass of data I could barely analyze. It seemed she had turned her three-dimensional data readings back on.
"Not quite intelligent enough to devise a new program, you reversed the original one," I said.
"I did, although it did require a few minor tweaks," Caya said, still sounding rather pleased with herself about the whole deal. "Titan is about to become a tropical paradise. The Flawless are claiming it, by the way. I'd say we deserve it."
"There is an indigenous species, if you haven't forgotten about them," I said.
Caya tilted her head. "True, I'll figure out a way to make them Flawless as well. If the Tritons had just been a bit more accurate in their original programming this never would have happened."
While I didn't fully approve, this was a valuable discovery. If the Flawless wanted Titan this badly I was inclined to let them have it, and if the Titans objected they were free to do something about it.