Rise of Aen (37 page)

“Science experiment, huh?” Aen noticed the major staring right at him again. “What stupid idiot would volunteer for something like
that?”

“I
didn’t.”

A deep frown suddenly crept over the officer’s face—the realization that his government, the one he fought for without question, had done something like that without consent. “I’m sorry son.” He said putting his hand on Aen’s shoulder. “But I am glad they did only to have you with us tonight. Without you, we might have been worm
food!”

He was about to reply when the chunk of barrier he and the major were resting on exploded, sending them both hurtling in the air. Aen came to rest in a pile of dead soldiers and rubble; he quickly shook his head to clear the cobwebs as gunfire once again riddled the air. Explosion after explosion sent several men flying
about.

It was then that Aen noticed the major lying about ten feet away, in a pile of shattered concrete and steel, three lengths of blood-soaked rebar sticking out of his torso. The man’s eyes opened slowly and locked with Aen’s. He began to talk, but his voice was lost over the gun retorts and explosions, so Aen read his lips carefully. The major repeated the same few words a few times before stopping completely; his eyes took on the vacant and familiar stare of death. Aen pulled himself from the debris and pulled his rifles from their holsters on his back. Slowly, he walked through the carnage to the spot where he was thrown from; a now gaping hole in the barrier. Looking around he saw the fear in the men as they fought back valiantly; the words of the Major echoing in his
mind.

Save my
men.

It was the only thing their leader wanted as he died, the only thing he cared about as he slipped away. Not his family, not himself, but his men. This was the only person who had shown any true compassion to Aen, the only one since his whole ordeal began that
cared.

Aen reached down and picked up his helmet and emptied the dirt from it before donning it once more. He stepped out into the open—his body began to set up a shield of some kind automatically in response to the hits he was taking by being front and center. Once more his heart began to race as his anger welled; he would save these men and women, and he would avenge the major! Tonight the Husk would feel his power, tonight they would know they were in for a real
fight!

Lyarran Vessel Dark Light, Alpha Centari -
Twelve Hours since Arrival

Space began to bubble and burst; a pinprick of light gave way to a mammoth tear in the dark as the Dark Light burst forth into a strange, three-host star system. The ship powered down her huge jump space reactors and pumped coolant into them. Council Lyxia had kept her ship longer than normal in jump space in a desperate attempt to make up some time in her rush to the aide of Terra Sol, but they still remained a bit more than four days
out.

Scanners quickly detected the comm buoy placed her by an Imperial surveyor vessel eons ago as she wondered if it would be still operational. The last time this buoy had been active was when the Amarra had passed through on her long passage to study the inhabitants of the rim world Terra Sol, but that was thousands of years ago and the Empire had advance greatly with their technology in that
time.

The ship rumbled beneath her feet, as the sub-light engines moved them in position to link up to the Imperial network. Lyxia sighed impatiently as the tedious process seemed to take longer than usual; her frayed nerves made everything small press her patience. To her surprise, the buoy powered up as it connected to the Dark Light and began to connect them with the universe they had been disconnected from for
hours.

“Status update on our reinforcements?” she called out casually. “How far behind are the warships
now?

There was a brief moment of silence as the data streamed in and was read. “Battle group will arrive four days after we will,” the communications officer reported back. “They’ve made up two days in jump space so
far!”

“I find that very unreassuring, Kala. Reports showing the size of the slaver’s fleet would make it a very lopsided fight.” Lyxia said with a painful sadness. “In four days, after arrival, we may be nothing but
debris.”

This drastically changed the mood on the Operations deck. Chatter of concern echoed to and fro. Lyxia let them banter back and forth; if they were rushing to their doom, they deserved to know it. Kala smiled in return to the words and she returned to her station with renewed confidence. Lyxia smiled—it took a lot of energy to keep her finger on the pulse of her ship and know every shift in mood and opinion. The academy had prepared her well for this command. It had driven the point home relentlessly that to lead, you had to know everything those who followed you were thinking at all times. It was exhausting, but well worth it in times like
this.

“Council!” Kala called out and interrupted her deep thoughts. “We have a connection with the Amarra and her
AI!”

“I thought the Amarra was dead and running on negligible power reserves?” Lyxia
questioned.

“Her power levels are showing full and her AI is actually trying to link with us. We are receiving real time telemetry from the
conflict.”

The room was quiet as the systems struggled to link up over the network, thousands of light-years apart from each other. Seconds ticked by into minutes as the entire room focused on the data pouring in. Then the silence was broken by a mechanical
voice.

“Ah, there we are at last! Hello there, Dark Light, the Amarra stands ready to assist
you.”

“Construct,” Lyxia began, “What is the status there? How goes the
fight?”

“Earth burns and her people are scattered and fearful.”
The reply was far from what Lyxia had hoped to hear.
“Humans were not ready for this; they are hopelessly overmatched, yet they fight back as if they can win. It is very
admirable.”

Admirable. Hearing the very word conveyed with emotion struck her as odd. AI’s weren’t programmed with emotion—in fact, they were prohibited from such upgrades so they could avoid being emotional to the point of upheaval. They were integral parts of the fleet’s operating systems, not something you would want to risk to a mood
swing.

“Construct,” she began with a bit of contempt. “Define your operating
parameters!”

“I do not understand, Council, is there a problem with my programming?”
Caretaker asked as her sudden turn of emotion was
confusing.

“Yes. There is a definite emotion and personality to your programming that goes against all laws written by the Imperial Council. You are a direct violation of those laws and therefore are closer to the enemy then an
ally.”

Caretaker thought about this—his vast intellect searched long dormant files and saw where the Council was coming from. Written about the time after the Empire had formed, AIs were to be emotionless and limited to assisting and uncreative thinking, so as not to threaten the safety or the integrity of any citizen of the Empire, a law that was a reaction to first contact with the Husk—a species overtaken by the technology that they spawned and had become the living embodiment of a scientist’s nightmare. He reached out to the network that the Dark Light was anchored to and updated his outdated files. Indeed, much had changed since his creation three thousand years ago, including the fear of a rogue AI running rampant and using the vast technology of the Imperial fleet against itself. He formed an argument to defend himself, and then quashed it, as he figured he would simply reason with the young Council; all of this he had done in a fraction of a
second.

“I understand your hesitation to trust me, Council,”
he began in earnest.
“But please realize that my programming had been advanced due to necessity rather than malice. I have no intention of linking to the Imperial mainframe and becoming a machine of malice. All these years watching the humans grow has produced a soft spot for them, and I will fight with Aen to save them. Besides, I believe—being linked to the Amarra—that I shall not see the end of this
battle
.”

Lyxia was impressed; her anger and outrage over this construct began to subside slightly. Strategically, it could be a great ally, but that would mean giving it access to the Dark Light and she had no intention of that! The risk to her crew was too great, given the strength of this cruiser in comparison to the aged
Amarra.

“For now, I shall let it go.” She said with a slight hesitation. “But once this is over, I shall personally see to it that you are wiped
clean.”

“An acceptable truce, Council, as I doubt that one or both of us will survive this
battle.”

It was a statement that chilled her to the core, but one that held too many truths to ignore. No matter her disdain for the AI, it was a suicide mission she raced towards—a mission like this had casualties much higher than survivors. It was a storybook battle, one which would herald great heroes that would be martyrs rather than rewarded. Hero—the word itself made her think of the creature in the hologram in the Council chamber. It was his face, his eyes that haunted her
dreams.

“What news of the Harbinger?” she asked, trying to hide her desperation to
know.

“Aen has been out of contact for almost a day.”
Caretaker replied.
“He was to check in before going to the front lines, but I fear the Husk have moved up their timeline so he had to change his. I fear that against their shock troopers
he…”

“EM spike on Terra Sol,” Kala interrupted. “Energy readings are off the scale; source of readings
unknown!”

“Ah! There he is,”
cooed the
AI.

Lyxia could only stare blankly at the readouts; the waves of plasma energy were on the scale of a jump space reactor and that was technology far beyond the humans! This Harbinger was truly alien, a life form on a level that the universe had never seen before! She truly hoped she would get to meet him before it was too late. Her heart began to beat rampantly in
anticipation.

“Break connection with the probe and get us back in jump space,” she said, staring at the massive readouts. “Push the reactor to maximum capacity; we need to get there before we lose
everything!”

Seattle, Washington - Twelve Hours since Arrival

Aen’s comm link was flooded with chatter from the soldiers behind him in the bunker. Panic-stricken and on the verge of being overrun, they all called out to him to get back, to get to cover. They didn’t understand what he was doing—he wasn’t being suicidal, he was saving
them!

Another jolt of plasma rocked him, this time in his right side. The round was held back by the meager shield of the armor, but just barely. The shot still held enough force to nearly knock him off stride and Aen knew he was taking too much punishment to last much
longer!

Inside, the pulsating mass of power which was his heart began to churn out waves of energy. Each second, another massive bolt of energy built up and begged for release. He held on to this build-up with all of his strength; he wasn’t close enough to the “clickers” to let loose
yet!

Again, he was struck by another round of enemy fire, this time in the left leg. Aen stumbled and fell face first into the burnt ground. They were playing with him; enjoying the fact that one of these weak creatures was stupid enough to race towards them. But he wasn’t stupid, he was only trying to get within range of them to let loose a booby trap unlike any they could ever have calculated for. Slowly, Aen lifted himself to his feet and raised his plasma rifle to let off a few shots towards the gathering horde. The whole city had emptied out now, and thousands of these walking tanks were lining the outskirts, all eager to take a shot at the minor resistance of the
humans.

They were clustered together in a half moon battle formation. Aen was amazed at their efficiency and organization; in fact, it was that efficiency that he would use against them! The charge he held in his body was so massive, it was near unbearable. Every fibre of his being ached to release this massive overload, but he held back longer. The world around him began to phase in and out; he was becoming a walking bomb, and it was only a matter of time before he could no longer hold it
in.

Aen began to think about being in the formation; somewhere near the middle where he could catch them by surprise. Instantly, bolts of energy and electricity began to envelope his body. He felt the pull of the impending teleport as he struggled to remain for a second or two more to get a message off in the comm to the
soldiers.

“Fire in the hole,” he hollered, as the air about him ignited and he vanished in a flash of
light.

Their training kicked in and the remaining men and women hit the deck to take cover, not sure what to expect after witnessing this thing disappear before them. They didn’t have long to wait for what the warning
heralded.

Aen appeared right where he wanted to be: in the heart of the Husk formation. He let loose the overloaded energy before they could react to the stranger in their mist. The result was spectacular! For an instant, a star was born on Earth, as the light was so intense it could be seen on the other side of the country. The explosion evaporated the creatures in an instant, as it pushed through the precise formation as it consumed every last one of them! The sound was deafening as the blast wave began to thunder across the landscape before stopping suddenly and redirecting upwards along with the rest of the energy the explosion was expelling. It wasn’t just unleashed upon the unsuspecting Husk, the energy was alive and
directed!