Chapter 8

Dominance

"We thought we had lived through the apocalypse, for the Demon had disappeared within a flash of blue. And that was our first mistake."


The entire ship groaned as the rocks chaining it to this bleak world broke into dead shards, to join the surface in its motionlessness. The air stirred angrily as it was disturbed, then the torrent screamed, screamed to die. The dust that had long settled upon this world were blown away, like puppets in the wind, to collect elsewhere. The stones that had gathered to cover the ship in a shell of grey cracked, then fell, revealing the destroyer in its full glory.

Through the viewscreen he watched as the smaller ship fled away, hastily retreating from the heavy shadow cast by his massive ship. He had half a thought to blast it to pieces, to be left alone in the barrenness, and the pain came again, a fair testimony to his mortality, a reminder that he in fact wasn't the God he had been worshipped as. It soured his mood, and he retaliated by launching a burst of energy, not at the ship, but at the ground in front of it. The land the explosion threw up covered the entire area in fine, chalky mist. In the least it had stopped his temptation, though he was far from satisfied with the turn of events.

"Hello, Operator. Your return has been expected."

He paid it no mind. "Good. Activate all drivers."

"All thrusters will be fully powered in approximately … 47 seconds."

They had lifted out of the atmosphere now, passing the glacial clouds made of dusty gases and into the skies beyond, to where he could see a fleet had assembled itself to welcome his return. Their red and blue markings rearranged themselves into a strange formation, a constantly-weaving web that could net even a single fighter. Too bad he had no intentions of sneaking past.

At his thought, the flank cannons unloaded a series of flare shots, designed to blind all senses of the enemy. As the fleet continued its shifting mass, they could do nothing as he simply turned the other way, towards where the net was relatively weak. The single cruiser in his way shuddered as a pair of torpedoes shattered its starboard defenses, along with the entire right side, which sparked as its internal systems melted.

"All thrusters online. Initiating jump in 3… 2… 1…"

The vacuum in front of him distorted as the ship's specialized thrusters boosted it through normal space, to what dimensions that lay beyond. He felt the Void's energy embrace him, lighting up the empty bridge in a translucent light, to chase away that shadows that had plagued this battleship for so long. Then the flash of blue disappeared, leaving him with an universe of chaos.


The salvo of noises which came from the startled crew was comparable to a thousand machines on the Mercury mines. It did not wane as he entered, nor when he angrily demanded the communications officer to contact the Board Fin, which seemed to have its entire starboard hull ripped open and replaced its insides with a darkness that occasionally sparked to illuminate the broken machinery. When the only response was static, his mood worsened.

"Send scout parties to the ship. I want to see if anything had survived." A few of the crew nodded and scrambled off.

In all honesty he had no expectations that anybody lived after the destruction. Sure, the ship automatically sealed off decompressed cabins, but the blast had more or less taken apart the side hull all at once, and based on what knowledge he had of the cruisers, he'd say it had most likely blown the main and secondary generators, which meant that no cabins would be sealed off, which guaranteed death of everyone aboard if they had been too slow to put on those bulky space suits, which wasn't likely in all cases.

"Sir," reported the nervous navigations officer, "the alien ship just disappeared. We can't trace its trails at all."

"Then don't!" he snapped back, making the younger man flinch, "ready the fleet to return to Earth. We need to make sure those blasted mercenaries don't decide to come back and finish off what they started."


A dead fleet was waiting for him.

Like the others of these strange humans, the hulls were a décor of red and blue, patterned oddly in sharp angles. The numerous ships floated endlessly, their defenses broken, weapons useless. He counted at least two dozen of the larger ships, whole or in pieces, over several hundred medium-sized ones, and a huge ship, massive in size, almost rivaling his own. They were in no ordered formation, just pointlessly drifting to nowhere, yet remaining still all the same. The defenses had done a good job.

"Operator, the ships' signatures match the hostiles encountered on Outpost Dust."

He ignored it.

Ahead, past the rain of motionless pawns, lay his goal. The Void Tower Avalon, the might of the Imperial Armada, once an impenetrable fortress that had held against the incoming onslaught on the rim of the Sol System for so long, now hidden away in the Void, to preserve this treasure, this monument to their victory. The enormous station appeared to peaceful, that its guns were hidden away, its weaponry stashed under its tough hide. Appearance was at best deceiving; what remained of the human fleet was its work.

"Operator, Tower Avalon has requested a password."

"My authority bypasses all security."

A pause as the AI processed the command and response. "You now have access to Tower Avalon."

"Good. Dock at whatever available bay."

The station grew closer, and with its proximity, its size larger, until the viewscreen was completely dominated by the structure. As the docking bay opened to invite him into the belly, a green glow lit up his ship. Swarms of repair drones dived onto his hull like infestation, smoothing the centuries of sleep that had taken its toll. A thud announced that he had been successfully anchored, then the hiss as cabin was connected to the main station.

"Welcome home, Operator."


"The ship is secure. We should be able to make it back to the Origin System within … fifty hours."

"Fifty hours is too long. They will already have destroyed everything in their paths then."

"Hardly. You underestimate the resistance they are currently struggling against. From what I've sensed, our dear Brother has only so far managed to gain access to a Void Tower. At this rate, they will barely have time to assemble an army before we arrive."

"Then I pray to the old Emperors that you are right."


The ever-bright lights greeted him with gold as he stepped through the corridor. The elevator hummed gently as he ascended to the top of the Tower, to the control room. Doors easily slipped from his path as he strode past. It was a wonder that this piece of machinery had survived for so long, even in the Void.

From where the intersection split left and right, the words "Control Panel" printed on a metal plate pointed at the right, he turned left, following "Cryo Chamber." Beyond another hall was a locked door, a rather rare sight. It slipped aside at his gesture, to reveal further the cryo chamber. It was tall and cylindrical in shape, where he entered at the bottom. Four cryopods, elevated high above the ground, hung on rails evenly distributed around the perimeter of the room. Within the center was the control console.

He didn't bother with the console. "Deactivate all cryopods."

Silently the pods slid down their respective rails, to come to a slippery stop at the bottom. Within the fogged glass were figures, figures of the gods, the undying warriors of the Empire, the betrayers in the dark. He waited patiently as each pod checked and rechecked its unfreezing protocol, then as they popped open to let their dues stumble out, each step a babe's, each move of ghosts.

"Welcome back to life, old friends," he greeted, even as no response came to his words.

The biggest of the four recovered first, leaning heavily against the pod from which he emerged. "Brother. You have woken us. Is the Armageddon over?"

"Yes."

"Then today should be celebrated," noted the only female, staring emptily at him, "The return of the Tenno. The Emperor–"

"–Is dead," interrupted the other, a strangely shaped one, blanketed by lines of razor spikes, "And we are his legacy. If you say the Armageddon is really over, then we shall take back what's ours."

He found that he couldn't immediately reply. Perhaps it was something that in the strange tone, or in those greedy words. Perhaps he shouldn't have woken them. Perhaps they had made a mistake first…

"Yes," was all he said. Then, "But there is a problem: in our absence, a new civilization has taken strength," was added almost as an afterthought.

"New civilization?" questioned the other. In the old times, he was known simply as the General, for he was the general of the Imperial Might, the commander to defeat the shifting enemy. Even now, after the thousand years, the aura of authority was still present.

"Humans. Not the Empire, I can assure you" to calm the storm. "Their power is only nominal compared to ours. Their technology is eons behind."

"Good," the General grumbled, "Then we should have no problem."

He only watched helpless as the conqueror strode from the cryo chamber, the deadly armor booming with every step. It was a certain mistake, he realized now, that he, the first of them all, had made, from the anger and frustration, from the unquestioning loyalty, which he had disavowed so long ago. Peace was a lie where war itself was alive, and to confront death would be to embrace darkness. If only he could go back just twenty seconds, and remedy the emotions that had strung him high from the Void.

The other three looked at him wordlessly before following the General. He found he couldn't meet where their eyes would have been, for the warriors they were, the deceiver he was.


He was pleased with the situation about.

No sooner was the apocalypse over were ships of these humans, flying right into their hands. The Avalon had proven itself again, destroying the invaders without so much as a scratch. From what he could see, what remained of the fleet were empty hulls, aimlessly coasting away.

"What happened here?" he asked, for no reason other than curiosity.

Oh, how he hated the sounds of these machines. "This fleet had stumbled upon one of our Void gates in the Gemini sector and unintentionally activated it. They did not follow our security protocols, and were subsequently destroyed for safety measures."

"Oh, really." Several looked to have been bombarded by torpedoes, while others seemed to have been blown apart by energy. "Have they attempted to communicate before they are fired upon?"

"Negative. The message they sent did not match with any known languages."

"Have you looked into their systems for translations?"

"After their destruction, their central processing cores have been evacuated and studied upon."

"And…?"

"The core did not match any known models."

He almost dented the control board right there. "I meant for translational purposes."

A series of beeps processed the question, although he was unsure why it took so long. "Their language is too unlike to successfully translate. Their concepts differ too much to be converted to High Orokin. The closest match found is Imperial Common."

"And what did it say?"

"Unknown."

Sometimes he wished he would have kept the Imperials for company. At least real people had a better sense of humor. "Send repair bots and builders. I want that fleet remotely operational again as soon as possible!"


"All systems normal. Engaging Void drive."

His single corvette was in no sizable comparison to the cruisers he was escorting. What had once been red and blue hulls were now etched with gold in odd places, like glue that held together the ships. A decently powerful fleet, now augmented with the power of the Void, was strong enough that the General had hoped it could serve as a demolisher to weaken this civilization before the Orokin fleet was sent in to finish the job. The thought was a uncomforting one, though he did not voice any opinions on the matter.

His current ward was the flagship of this ragtag flotilla. The word Dominance had been painted onto the surviving armor. The original hull was left alone by the drones, under orders, as a psychological facet to this short war. Once again he voiced nothing to it, though he wondered if perhaps he should have.

The strange patterns in the distance sharpened and stretched, until their shapes were distorted to be swirled into circles around the portal. His ship was the first to fly through, followed by the rest of the fleet, into the black maw, to reality, a place in the distance now. Gravity took his limbs and sloshed their insides back and around again. His armor was barely able to contain his shaking hands. The force of the wormhole opened was so great that his head slammed back into his seat as his entire ship, instead of steadily flying in, was sucked through the rip as though something heavy whacked its back to fling it through.

And the sun came into view.

It was a magnificent sight, that star he had called Home so long ago. The same star he had sworn to protect, the same star to which he offered his prayers, the same star he on which he spilled the sacred blood.

Now its orange glare painted onto his ship a dim color of despair, shaming him for the foolish infidelity, that in which ended all power to give rise to the chaotic plague which swept through the system. Deadly was the apocalypse, but gone it was now. Still he sensed the lingering pestilence, secreting just below the surface of a peaceful universe, to born turmoil again. The space was too empty, despite the looming planet, Dust. Where once should have been the Guardian stations was now empty, devoid of the familiar golden gleam, gone of the Empire's last chance.

"Operator, you seem distressed."

Only then had he noticed that his hands were gripping the armrests with unnatural strength, slowly caving in the steel construct. He forced his tenseness to relax, that there was a chance to start anew, despite the unease with which he would carry out the mission.

"That may be, but I am prepare to do this."

Buzz. "Very well. Reformulating battle AI. Heating up standardized weapons. The fleet is ready to deploy on your command."

"Now."


"We must be either really stupid or really desperate to do this," Sean muttered darkly, giving evil looks at the planet in front of them.

"Or both," noted Jenkins, who was currently eyeing Sean, making sure the man did not decide to attack the planet with his fists.

Pluto once again stood in their way, the dwarf's grey surface crude and barbaric. The jagged rock formations, a crater left behind by the juggernaut of a ship, pointed to the skies, as though fingers of mockery. The slightly smaller crater, created by the monster ship's cannon, lay equally untouched, a stain on the smooth, sandy surface. Even now the wind was trying to reclaim its uneven ground, to rough wear away the edge.

A single ship had made it before them. It was oddly shaped, resembling somewhat of a big-headed squid with far too short and far too few tentacles. Little flaps were extended along its rim, as though cilia. The top was perfectly smooth, revealing not even glass to view the outside world. It was a golden coffin, glorious in its design, dead on the ground, yet threatening at the same time. It meant a new presence was here, and based on so far what they had seen of the aliens, anything new meant potential death.

"Looks like somebody's here to crash the party," he voiced, eyes never leaving the still ship. Beside him, Jennifer put a hand onto his shoulder, a reassuring company.

Sean, on the other hand, only cocked his shotgun. "No one is crashing the party but us. Let's give this fucker a taste of humanity."

As they descended, it became clear where the alien itself had gone. Within the very center of the crater was a manhole, except for five times wider, and darkness all the way down. It was apparent that the alien was looking for something, and planned only to stay for a short while, leaving its ship out in the open like that.

A scanning showed that their sensors were unable to even penetrate the hull.

His eyes were torn away from the screen when a warning beeped, glowing a scarlet notice. Jenkins frowned. "There seems to be some seismic activity within the region. We should be fine … I think."

And the ground gently rocked their ship. High winds met their environmental suits, where loose stones and dust were carried to blind all trespasser upon this foreign place. The loose pebbles below their feet offered no assurances, constantly trying to squeeze away at just the right moment, to send them falling into the center of the crater.

The hole in the ground was bigger than its first appearance. At least fifteen feet across, it was perfectly circular, an architectural perfection. Golden walls continued for as far as their weak flashlight could shine, so smooth that it could be used as a mirror.

He didn't meet the faces of others, who were no doubt sharing looks of hesitation all around. Instead, he jumped in, feet first, and activated his boosters. A free fall turned into a controlled decent. Above, the others followed his example.

The darkness faded after some time, as the sky above disappeared in the distance. He estimated they had fallen for at least a few hundred yards, that deep beneath the planet's surface lay a secret, the secret that the alien had returned for. At the bottom was the porcelain floor, decorated with the golden symbol. His feet landed solidly on the ground, so quietly that it was barely perceptible, even with his audio-enhanced suit.

Nothing stirred to his intrusion, nor to that of his companions. Together, they stared in wonder at the new world, hidden under a stone of the old. Towering trees, made of the milky silk, reached for the ceiling high above. The four plants guarded the four corners of the massive chamber. From what he could see, there was a total of four floors: the one they had landed upon, a balcony above, and two more balconies even higher above. A meager waist-high barrier was all that prevented a top-floor occupant from falling, or to be impaled upon the marble tree. The white tile to their landed was only as wide as the tunnel. Farther was glass, revealing golden machinery beneath. Then were more plant-life, frozen in time in their own gardens, and a few benches that lined the walls.

A light hiss made him turn around. The door, a cylindrical device that made split the second floor area in half, turned. The black-armored figure that stood just beyond flexed its fingers.


"Admiral! We got an unidentified fleet approaching fast! Numbering at around sixteen hundred entities."

"Sixteen hundred?!"

"Yes, sir. Orders?"

"Hold your fire. We don't want to provoke whatever it may be. Could even be a miscommunication."

"Yes, sir."

He rubbed his chin as the navigations officer returned to his station, to monitor the mysterious fleet that had just appeared within the system. From what the radars were reporting, the ships had no signature of any kind, as if they needed no identification. However, what he was really worried about was the numbers. One thousand and six hundred was very large for any fleet, especially when he only had a total of one thousand and eight hundred for the fourth and fifth fleet combined. A thousand more from the third were on their way. Still he was quite unsure about a possible victory. He had seen what the aliens were capable of.

"Unknown arrival in thirty seconds."

"All hands to deck!" he shouted, surprising even himself. The officer looked at him strangely, a contradictory order. Yet he couldn't change it, that dreadful feeling. Something was coming, and he was almost sure of its malicious power.

"All weapon systems ready," reported the weapons officer, who snapped a quick salute before running off to direct whatever he was supposed to direct in the event of a battle. His sense of anxiety did not fade with the sight of Heliocentric Station's magnetic cannon shifting to prepare for fire, nor with the sudden glow of the containment field that was capable of deflecting a ridiculous amount of energy before it collapsed.

"Unknown arriving in five seconds. 4… 3… 2… 1…"

His jaw dropped.


A/N

Sorry for the late update. :( I was sick for a couple of days and that threw off my schedule for a while.

We are now halfway through the story! Thank you all for bearing with me. And once again, if you have something to say about the work, please post a review so I know what you people are thinking. It helps tremendously for any writer.