Rise of Aen (30 page)

Slowly, he sauntered down the poorly-lit passage way—it looked like one of those old train tunnels in horror movies, the lights flickering on and off. Aen chuckled; there was nothing to do afraid of, but the whole scene was striking. He half expected a ghoul or demon to jump out of the shadows! The metal hallway twisted and turned; the armory was deep in the bowels of the ship and quite far from the Operations Control Center. He climbed stairs that once moved much like an escalator, but now were little more than a dead artifact—like the rest of the ships
systems.

Floor after floor, he ascended, until he approached the half-open doors of the Ops Con with its orange lights spilling out into the dark hall outside. From where he stood he could see his companion skittering about in his new toy; the drone it had hijacked and
“possessed.”

“What took you so long?”
it asked, not even bothering to turn an address him. Aen expected little else from this AI with an attitude and simply sloughed it off with a
shrug.

“I walked—it’s half a mile or so down to the
armory.”

“And you couldn’t have teleported? It is rather
urgent.”

“So stop nagging me and show me what you have then,” Aen said with a cruel smile. His companion floated over to the main console and began punching in a few lines of code he couldn’t see from his vantage point. As he was about to move in to look closer, the main view screen crackled to life in a hiss of static. “That’s new.” He muttered, but it wasn’t why he was brought up
here.

Before he could make any further comments, the static melted away into a grainy image. Aen could make out what looked to be the moon with a massive sheet of white behind it, but the clarity was simply not there to truly discern what it was. Slowly the image cleared, and with it so did Aen’s understanding of what he was witnessing. It wasn`t the moon, it was an image of Pluto with the backdrop of the Kuiper belt behind it. Once full clarity was achieved—minus the pixel loss from the giant crack running through the bottom left corner of the screen—the image began to zoom in on the cloud of ice that surrounded the solar system. He watched as these chunks of ice and rock danced about in space; some impacting each other and spinning off in opposite ways. It was a constant motion; a well-choreographed routine playing out before his very
eyes!

It was an overabundance of these collisions that drew his attention; there was something very large moving through the darkness. Its shape was impossible to make out as only a few lines became visible for mere seconds as the ice ricocheted off the hull. But even though he couldn`t tell what it looked like, Aen knew exactly what and who it was; the Husk were about to clear the barrier of rock and ice which spread from the inner planets to the outlying crop of ice comets. In a matter of moments, anyone on Earth with a strong telescope and lucky aim would find themselves looking at a historic
find.

Aen watched quietly as the nose of the craft edged out of the belt and the distant sunlight washed upon the black hull for the first time. The initial photos Caretaker gave him were blurry and nondescript, but this was like being right there in person. It reminded him of a pine cone—an odd comparison, maybe, but an honest one, as the nose seemed to be the only smooth surface before breaking into layers upon layers of metal structures jutting forth from the central mass. Bit by bit, the light revealed more and more as the cone-shaped craft lurched forward; its shape was beyond his comprehension as it seemed to go on and on. Once it was clear from the ice field, it seemed to slow to a stop and the layers of “pine cone shapes” expanded out even more than before. The first thing Aen thought of was that it looked as though they were sitting quietly and listening to the multitude of radio signals from Earth that had travelled out that far. Earth was being studied before they would move in for the
kill!

This is what he needed to refocus on the task at hand. Before, it was only a blurry image. Now, though, he stood as he would in the darkness of space, staring this foreboding doom down, head-on. Maybe with all that he had been through and the new fascination and attraction to Lyxia, he had not taken the threat as seriously as he could have. But now there was no hiding it; the Husk were here and for certain they would gather all the Intel they could and push on for their
goal—Earth.

FOURTEEN

Lyarran Vessel Amarra, Southern Pacific Ocean Floor -
Four Months and Ten Days until Arrival

“How much of this ship is still functional? Are there any other storage rooms of weapons that we can use?” Aen wondered out loud as he finally broke his silent stupor at the image on the
screen.

“Most of the ship’s systems are still offline, but for the most part the internal structure of the ship is intact—other than a few compartments which are structurally compromised and flooded. Rooms have been hermetically sealed and everything inside has been preserved perfectly and should operate like the day they were loaded,”
Caretaker
replied.

“Any way of getting this stuff into the hands of our soldiers?” Aen quipped, knowing the odds of it being possible were low. He stepped inside and began to search for what he had initially set out
for.

“I am sorry—all cargo transport drones are unable to function under water. So unless you plan on flying the Amarra out of the ocean and dock it on land to offload, I believe the weapons are
useless.”

Those words lit a light-bulb of sorts inside his mind. Aen quickly began to think of possibilities to help in the resistance. “Caretaker, are you saying this ship is still
flight-worthy?”

“I did not mean to give that impression Aen. I have not done the proper scans of the Amarra’s systems to make such a
claim.”

“Scrap all of our other plans!” Aen said quickly. “Do the necessary scans now! I need to know if the Amarra is an asset or
not!”

“One moment.”
The echoing voice of the AI spoke, followed by silence as it began the search through the multitude of systems to find his
answers.

“Navigation systems slightly decayed, but can still be used.”
Caretaker called out after his first inquiries had
finished.

Aen fumbled through the data logs and manifests of the ship. The Amarra was a massive ship—over six kilometers long—and would be an amazing ace-in-the-hole for the coming fight. It was a piece of the puzzle that the enemy would not expect, an oversight that the Husk would
regret.

“Weapons unresponsive; PA cannons have only a few rounds able to be
launched.”

That was music to Aen’s ears; the Plasma Accelerator Cannons were an integral part of the plan taking shape in his mind! They superheated plasma rounds, and using a magnetic coil system, launched them at near the speed of light at their targets. The research he had done showed the devastation these rounds could create; a weapon that had kept the Husk hoard at bay for
eons.

“Reactors unresponsive—power levels zero, fusion chambers are unable to achieve reaction.”
This was the news Aen didn’t want to hear.
“But I believe using your heart as a power source can compensate for this.”
It
continued.

“Engine status unknown, without the reactors online there is no way to cycle them. The fact we are at the bottom of the ocean doesn’t help
either.”

“Check the readouts from when I was connected to the ship.” Aen interrupted as he paced in the Ops Con room. “I felt a pull from the reactor room; like the Amarra wanted to start the fire
within.”

“
Checking.”

Minutes passed in maddening silence as Aen stopped his pacing and waited for a reply. With a glance around the room, he could see multiple monitors scrolling through massive amounts of information; Caretaker was running ten or more data sweeps at
once!

“Anything?” he
asked.

“Patience, please,”
was the
response.

There was no time for patience, in his opinion. Time was something the people of Earth had so little of now. But he was at the mercy of this construct, and it alone knew the operating systems of this
vessel.

“There is evidence that your hunch may be correct.”
Caretaker said at last.
“The ship’s computers relayed the energy it was receiving and directed it to the drive relays, causing a reaction to occur in the start-up
cycle.”

“So she will
fly?”

“Considering the thrusters have no use underwater and the main engines cannot fire down here as well you would have to find a way to lift the Amarra four and a half kilometres from the ocean’s floor to clear the surface before we could do anything, but yes she will
fly.”

Aen smiled; his plan was taking shape. “Leave those details with
me.”

—

A sense of urgency filled Aen as he rushed to accomplish the impossible. Raising the long dormant Amarra would take a miracle, but he was hoping he had just that in his back pocket! He knew from the sheer distance the enemy was from Earth that he could pull off this task without them being aware. Hanging in the air, the Amarra miles below him on the ocean floor, Aen began to concentrate and grasp the ship’s hull with his telekinesis. He fell into a deep meditative state, as he reached out with his hands to grab something far larger than he could ever hold in them. Slowly, a sensation appeared and Aen could feel the coral-covered skin of the ship. As he curled his fingers to tighten his mental grasp, he began to pull. His heart raced as it churned out energy to enforce his will. With a great effort he felt it shift slightly, but the weight of miles of ocean water holding it down was too much even for
him!

With a deep breath, Aen let go and relaxed his mind; he had to think of a different way. With all the power he held, even he couldn’t part the sea like Moses. The thought held fast in his head—he didn’t have to part the sea, only lessen the load of water on top of the vessel he wished to raise. The concept wasn’t too far out of reach; water moved well if the right amount of force was
applied.

So instead of reaching down and pulling, Aen concentrated on creating a large oar. Once again his heart began to race and after a few minutes the waves began to break on an unseen object. With a slight smile of gratification, he began to move the oar through the water in a giant circle. Slowly, the invisible object began to do as he thought and a slight circle began to appear. His thought—maybe too hopeful—was to use a whirlpool to displace the water down to the sea floor to lessen the pressure on the ship. The air crackled around him as the amount of energy he was exerting was monumental, the whirlpool grew to mythical proportions, but soon it slowed in growth as it reached a mere five hundred feet deep. Aen pushed for a moment longer before giving up in frustration; the laws of nature had beaten him once
more!

He let go with his mind and the water continued its swirling motion as the momentum slowly died off. Aen began to frantically think of another solution. With a glace upwards, he knew that time was running out on the sensor blackout created by the enemy. He closed his eyes and calmed himself; wild ideas popped forth and he tried to validate them before tossing them aside in his mind. Over and over he mulled, finally giving in to desperation and his last resort
plan.

“Caretaker,” he spoke as he tapped his ear communicator. “I need you to run scenarios on what it would take to get the jump engines to fire and then plot a course to the nearest uninhabited land mass to land the ship; I will be there shortly to get it under
way.”

“The reactor is dead, Aen; there has been no fusion reaction in her furnace for over a thousand years. All scenarios result in the same, with no reactor activity there are no jump possibilities.”
Even through the static, Aen could hear the annoyance in the AI’s voice.
“Besides, even if we did have a functional reactor doing a jump in atmosphere is risky and not allowed by Imperial shipping laws 1187 and
953...”

“This isn’t Imperial space,” Aen interrupted, “And we are out of options and time! Send power to the reactor room and get me the plotted solution by the time I arrive.” He tapped the receiver in his ear to terminate the line and swore under his breath. Sometimes it took creative thinking to get things done and a machine was incapable of doing so. The solution to the reactor problem was plainly apparent as he stared at his reflection in the water below—it was him. It had always been him. Within his chest burned a star and if he could harness it he could, well, power the Amarra to do anything! Without a sound, Aen blinked away from view; he had set things in motion now and rushed off to finish them. Soon the world would be at war, and within the Amarra lay the arms they needed to defend
themselves.

—

An ancient tomb, that’s what the reactor room brought to mind, as Aen emerged from the shadows. A foot of water covered the metal floor; obviously the result of one of the hull breaches. Few of the many lights were lit, giving the room that familiar horror movie look. The smell of stagnant water permeated everything around him, causing him to gag after his first few breaths of air. Time had not been kind to this part of the ship. Mother Nature had imposed herself on this alien
landscape.

Sloshing through the water, he made his way to the rear of the room, which housed one massive reactor with a smaller one flanking either side. He climbed the steps up to the control area and read the bold white warnings scripted in Lyarran dialect. The two smaller reactors were the drive units that normally ran powered to the ship’s sub-light engines and every day running functions. From within one, a bluish glow was being emitted, a result of his power input to the alien system. The word “small” was the wrong word to use, as the flanking reactors were easily a full story tall and over a hundred meters wide each. The left one hummed rhythmically as it powered the ship’s minor systems, allowing Caretaker to go about his business. Aen felt a slight vibration in the water that increased as he climbed the stairs to the center
reactor.

Turning his attention to the centerpiece of the room, Aen began to look over what very well could be his sarcophagus if this went wrong. The main jump engine reactor stood prominently and dwarfed the rest of the room. At three stories tall, it was built into both the floor and the roof, and was obviously a main structural part of the compartment. Large and rectangular, its front was round and transparent—if the engine was running, it would have lit the room with brilliant light. It was off to the right of the front cap that Aen found the access
door.

“Do you read me?” he asked, tapping the control panel
microphone.

“Loud and clear with a slight echo,”
replied Caretaker.
“I don’t suppose there is anything I can say to dissuade you on your new course of
action?”

“If only there was another choice, but time just isn’t on our side,” Aen sighed as he punched in the codes to open the reactor access hatch. With a dull clunk that echoed around the room to add to the wonderful ambiance. “Once inside I won’t be able to hear you, so do you remember my
instructions?”

“Of course I do! Start the drive sequence once sufficient reaction has been achieved, complete jump and land on stable ground before sending out your message to the good general. Then we launch the drones to deliver the weapons to the selected sites. Once that has been completed I will reprogram the drones for combat and establish a defensive perimeter around the
Amarra.”

Aen sighed again, this time with relief. This next task would push him beyond anything he thought his body could take. Slowly and methodically, he began to take apart his armour and set it in one of the shelves near the reactor; he wasn’t going to need it where he was going and if he wore it he was sure it would
disintegrate.

Once stripped down, Aen hesitantly entered the chamber and slid down the sloped side. The cavernous interior was spherical—the shape better contained and sustained a fusion reaction on the scale needed to power the engines—and he slipped down the smooth surface before coming to rest at the bottom. Looking upwards, he saw the entrance hatch close and felt the mechanism lock it tight. He was truly cut off from everything, alone in the dark with the raging monster inside him. Aen climbed to his feet and closed his eyes as he readied himself to
begin.

In the blackness, Aen rose until he reached the center of the chamber. For a brief moment, he hung there silently with nothing happening. Aen reached deep inside and willed his heart to explode with power—to rage like a sun at the heart of a solar system! In an instant, it responded, throwing massive amounts of energy outwards and engulfed his body in seconds; Aen ceased to exist and was replaced by a blazing being of light. Magnetic prominences reached outward from him, only to snap back and burst forth flares of plasma. His skin burned away as the power tore from his heart. Like dust in the wind, the recognizable parts of his body simply blew away in a solar wind. The once dark and dormant reactor core was now struggling to contain more power than it was ever designed to
contain!

In the control room, Caretaker frantically keyed in offline systems to best divert the output of power. Within seconds, the entire starship had full power and was operating at more output then she was ever designed to. Once the power was diverted, the key sequence was punched in and the long anchored vessel began to shimmy in its watery grave. Sea life began to quickly retreat from the area as vibrations shook the sea floor to the scale of a minor earthquake. From the reactor room, a gravity bubble encased the Amarra as it began the jump sequence. The water that surrounded it was pushed away violently as the bubble surrounded the vessel and the sea floor beneath was thrust down causing tremors and shock waves spread out for
miles.