Prologue -Chapter1
The Resolve of a Rebellion
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A lone sentry stood watch within the confines of an exterior outpost atop the edge of the Xhaiden bridge colony. It was a cold and barren world and yet it boasted a magnificent view of the cosmos. Though he was well armed and protected within his little metal citadel, the sentry's eyes suddenly grew fearfully wide at the sight of a swift moving object blazing through the dark sky above him. He studied the object carefully, hoping that it was only some space debris burning through the atmosphere. But then, the trajectory of the object changed, and he knew without any doubt that their enemies were upon them.
“They're here!” his voice echoed through the cold metal halls of the bridge colony stronghold, immediately sending its occupants into a frenzy. Startled, commander Taber, an abnormally tall and stout man, leaped out of his chair and smashed his hand down upon the response icon so hard the screen cracked! “How many enemy ships!?” his deep voice boomed, but the sentry hesitated to answer. “Well!?” Taber demanded.
“There's only one ship, sir.”
Taber sighed. Both of them knew what this meant: Earth had dispatched The Exanimen to finish them. Taber hoped that if Earth was able to reach them this soon, they would again send a negotiation dispatch first, giving them time to make an escape. But Earth had grown wise to their schemes and indifferent to their fate, so long as the war came to an end.
The Exanimen were infamous, android killing machines with whom there would be no negotiating, nor would Taber be able to bribe them. Earth had made their decision, and it was to annihilate the enemy. Taber took a deep breath, renewing his resolve before touching another icon on the screen. “This is High Commander Taber—the Exanimen have come. All sentries arm up and report to Arnin.” He then touched the icon marked
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with Arnin's name. “This is Taber, report.”
“The scouting sentry has already alerted me to the location of the ship landing,” Arnin calmly answered. He was a seasoned soldier who did not rattle easily. “Surprisingly sir, they've descended nowhere near our location.”
“They simply fear being blown out of the sky by our defenses!” Taber declared, confidently.
“The Exanimen do not fear anything, sir,” Arnin respectfully corrected, before offering, “but we can be sure there is a strategy to their decision. . . .what are your orders?”
“Take every soldier we have and bring them back in pieces!” Taber nearly shouted.
“Yes sir—”
The Exanimen known as Syrek sat stoically within his sleek gray war ship, which was almost invisible on the rocky landscape. He was accompanied by two of his brother androids; though powerful in their own right, neither was as advanced as he, and both were subject to his command. He slowly twisted a knob on the control panel in front of him before giving it a push. A pulse burst forth from the vessel, traveling fast and far in every direction. Moments later, a message appeared at the top of his control screen. “Targets approach,” his cold voice rattled. “Prepare to engage.” The right arms of his brothers suddenly morphed into cannons, portions of which began to hum and radiate with an eerie blue glow.
Seeing another message flash upon the screen, SyRek said, “Target's source located.” He touched an arrow on the control screen, causing the ship to ascend, and then another which thrust it forward with a burst of fire from the tail.
“Don't send the soldiers out yet!” Doctor Xhaiden blurted,
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bursting into the command station of the colony stronghold. Everyone in the room fixed their eyes on the skinny scientist. Taber looked annoyed. With his well trimmed, salt-and-pepper hair and beard, he almost looked grandfatherly, but his personality was anything but that.
“Doctor, I'm a bit busy for your paranoia right now. With any luck, we'll crush these monsters before they ever reach this compound.”
“I don't believe in luck,” Xhaiden, countered sharply. “It's a trick—don't you see? It's as I warned you before, they're baiting us. They've done this on nine—different—occasions! They don't actually know we're here—yet, but if you attack them now, we'll have no choice but to fight. Just let them scan and leave,” Xhaiden pleaded.
Although he hid it well, the reality of his words hit the commander like a punch to the gut. “It's too late,” he attempted to sound indifferent. “Our sentries are already on their way; our survival rests with Arnin now.”
“And then what?” Xhaiden blurted, incredulously. “Win or lose, the androids will signal their masters, and a fleet will come next! To which of the sister colonies will we run?” His tone was scathingly critical, and Taber had heard enough.
He motioned to a few guards, “Get him out of here.”
“Get ready, they're coming,” Captain Arnin exhorted his troops, who were filed into six bulky courier ships designed for combat and rapid deployment. A warning suddenly appeared on his screen. “Incoming attack, boys. Anyone got a specific read?”
“Single projectile,” answered the pilot of another ship, “explosive, no doubt—”
“Alright then,” Arnin began, “they don't like these odds and intend to break our formation; let's give em what they want, re-converge, and unleash our fury.”
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“Yes sir,” the other pilots answered. But then, an alarmed voice shouted, “The projectile has detonated!”
“Break far and fast, or land immediately!” Arnin ordered, but it was too late. Suddenly, the power shut down in all the ships. “Wretched Earth tech,” Arnin growled as he tried to glide his ship down, knowing it had been an EMP. However, these ships weren't really suited to glide, and as they hit the ground, every man not strapped in was tossed about like a rag doll. Some were sent flying out of a hole torn in the hull of Arnin's ship. Two of the pilots tried to climb, resulting in a drop from so high that no one survived the devastating impact.
The Exanimen war ship suddenly soared into view, slowing down only long enough to deploy. “Finish the survivors,” SyRek commanded his brothers, who dropped out of the back hatch as it opened. He accelerated as they descended, the two of them opening fire as soon as they hit the ground. One focused his attack on soldiers who were filing out of a the nearest ship, while the other began to charge his arm cannon.
Arnin heard an explosion—he peered out a dusty window as he was helping a soldier, discovering that the Exanimen had destroyed one of the grounded ships. He could also see that more than a dozen men had begun to counter attack from the cover of rocks and smoldering ship debris, but the androids seemed indifferent to their barrage. “Status,” Arnin called, using the soldiers' shared channel; unlike the ships, their suits shielded their internal tech from the shock wave of the EMP.
“Their using a Pin and Win tactic, sir,” a soldier answered.
“I know,” Arnin's voice seemed to carry an ere of uncharacteristic dread. Fighting these things on foot had historically not gone well for soldiers. “Everyone, draw their fire away from the ships as much as you can; give your comrades time to replace the engine's power cells with the backups.”
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The Exanimen marched boldly toward the soldiers as they began to scatter in an attempt to draw fire. More than a few of them were blown apart in the process. Unnerving screams were beginning to dominate communication channel. One soldier managed to get close enough to toss a grenade before taking a fatal hit to his face shield. The grenade bounced once before landing between the intended targets and exploded.
Both androids were blown off their feet, but by the time the dust had cleared, they were already back to their feet. “Without our ship's artillery, we've got nothing!” A soldier lamented over the channel.
“No, that's it!” Arnin answered. “As soon as their backs are to one of us, we've got to start tossing those grenades one right after the other. Keep em reeling until one of the two remaining ships are up and running.”
“Yes sir!” several voices resounded.
Arnin carefully watched from behind the tail of his ship. They could not wait long to make their move if they hoped to survive, but the men were hesitant after seeing what happened to the last man to take the bold risk. He said a quiet prayer as he readied to make his move, but as soon as he stepped out, another explosion detonated just behind the Exanimen. He looked to his right to discover that a soldier had isolated himself in order to get off the attack. Seconds later, another explosion detonated—then another!
“Pace it out fellas, not all at once,” Arnin admonished, but the plan was working, and their enemies were getting battered. “How long before the cores are replaced?”
“Almost there,” one voice sounded.
“We need a minute!” another admitted.
“Alright. If they're able to, they'll lock onto you as soon as you power on,” Arnin warned. “One of you has got to make it into the air, so wait for each other before firing up.”
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Seconds later, a voice of optimism shouted, “Ready!” and less than a minute later, though it seemed like an eternity, came the other anticipated confirmation just in time, as the barrage of grenades had nearly ceased.
“Then get airborne! Everyone else, give those ugly anthropomorphs everything you've got!” As the ships fired up, every able man began to attack boldly, some even stepping out of their cover completely to get clean shots. But their enemy was not to be fooled; they immediately turned their full attention to the air ships. As one began to rise, the Exanimen unleashing the charged blasts, took aim and fired. The men watched helplessly as the projectile soared through the air, smashing into the nose of the craft. It exploded with a force that sent all the men near it flying, and the other ship reeling as it pulled away from the ground.
The pilot struggled to regain control, banking left just in time for the next volley to surge past. He then accelerated with a growling shout, turning the ship around about quarter mile out to the relief of everyone on the ground, who for a moment, feared he might not come back.
“What are you waiting for soldier? Take em out!” Arnin shouted.
“With pleasure,” the pilot answered with poise, opening fire with the twin guns at the front of his ship. The Exanimen struggled to remain upright against the relentless barrage of hailing metal. As they staggered about, they both began to charge their arm cannons. “Brace yourselves,” the pilot called out to the soldiers on board his ship.
The Exanimen fired one volley right after the other. One shot veered harmlessly off target as a result of a hit knocking him off balance, but the trajectory of the other was dead on. The pilot jerked the ship hard to the left as the volley blazed by. “Oh no you don't,” he murmured to himself before addressing his comrades on the ground. “Everyone, start running—get as much
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distance as you can . . . I'm putting these dogs down!”
“You heard em,” Arnin reinforced. “Let's get moving!” The men wasted no time retreating. Some were dragging the wounded by the arms in pairs. The Exanimen did not seem to notice and began to charge toward the aircraft. One unloading quicker volleys with the intention of distracting their target long enough for the other to land a kill shot. The pilot remained composed, ignoring the pepper of fire for the moment and steering further from his friends in in an attempt to draw the enemy away.
“I'm taking a lot of heat, sir,” the pilot's voice sounded rattled.
“Just do what you got to son,” Arnin answered.
The pilot sighed, “Alright everyone, I'm sorry—stop running and take cover.” He thrusted the ship forward and surged straight at his targets. A charged shot fired just as he drew near. He pulled up hard, deploying an oval shaped bomb as he ascended. He watched his scanners carefully, weary that they might unleash a power shot before the bomb detonated.
Moments later, a message flashed upon his screen notifying him that the bomb had detonated just in front of his targets. He could not have hoped for a better shot given the circumstances. The explosion ripped the Exanimen to pieces within a fraction of a second. The men on board could not hear the detonation over the roar of the engines but the pilot smiled, and said, “We got em.” Cheers broke out on board and on the ground. But then, a warning appeared—one of the Exanimen had managed to get a shot off before the explosion. He immediately forced the ship into a turn, giving it a little spin in order to see the volley with his own eyes. It was a tense moment, but his quick maneuvering had proved effective as the glowing projectile soared harmlessly into the night sky.
“Yeah!” he shouted, and his companions on board began the celebration again. He leveled the vessel out before checking
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on the men below, “How are things on the ground?”
“We're alive,” Arnin confirmed, “but you almost scared us to death.”
The pilot chuckled, “I'll send some folks to pick you up as soon as we take out the fray.”
“Be careful,” Arnin cautioned. Both knew knew that Exanimen war ships were no joke, and the pilots smile quickly faded at the thought of engaging this one.
SyRek was nearing the rebel stronghold. As soon as he was within accurate firing range, he unleashed a barrage from his ship's quad burst repeaters. The stronghold was sturdy, embedded to some degree in the rocky sides of a canyon wall, and its defenders were quick to counterattack with a barrage of missiles. SyRek had experienced such an attack a hundred times before, and even if he had not, his on-board data bank was equipped with thousands of scenarios. He only needed to choose the appropriate counter offense, and as the missiles neared, the android was ready.
He fired with precision, intercepting the enemy's attack with his own. All of the missiles exploded in quick succession at a safe distance from his ship except for one, but he avoided the straggler with a simple spin.
“Fire again!” Taber commanded, from inside the stronghold.
“It takes at least thirty seconds for the automation’s to restock, sir.”
Taber stood in alarm, “Our enemy will be upon us in ten!” He began ringing his hands anxiously, but then abruptly pressed the sword icon on his control screen. “War dock one, this is Taber—prep my battle suit. Authorization command.”
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In preparation to deploy, SyRek synced his AI with his ship before decelerating for the jump. He then released the exit hatch near the back of the ship and leaped out in the same way his brothers had earlier. During the free fall, he charged his arm cannon before firing on a set of large guns which had begun unloading on his ship as it was turning around. The android's volley annihilated the weapons, shaking the the compound so violently that some thought a craft crashed into the top. Seconds later, he smacked the top of the citadel hard, rolled, and darted for the missile defense which was about to take aim at his battered ship. He smashed himself into the weapon, gripped it with both arms, and ripped it free from its swivel. He determined that their defenses would aid in their undoing!
With the citadel's primary defense resting on his back, he leaped to the ground and placed it next to nearest hangar entrance. SyRek then sprinted a good distance away, turned, and took aim at the missiles as his arm cannon began to charge. He began to detect vibrations—something was coming!
“What do you say we go a few rounds,” Taber challenged. His voice was emanating from within the confines of his massive mechanized battle suit.
Without pointing his weapon away from the missiles, SyRek turned his head to scan this new threat. Taber's suit was several times larger than Earth's mechanized assassin. It boasted a large twin repeater which was attached to the formidable tech's right arm. The two stared at one another for a long moment as if both were weighing attack strategies. But then, without warning, SyRek unleashed a volley of missiles! Before Taber could even gasp, an explosive blast knocked him over and sent the android spiraling through the air, leaving a massive hole where the hangar door had been only moments before.
SyRek hit the ground in an uncontrollable tumble before sliding to a halt.
He immediately stood, cannon ready, only to find that
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Taber was back to his feet as well. They immediately fired upon one another. Taber took just enough steps to improve his aim, while SyRek dashed and bound about with agility Taber had never witnessed in any machine before.
“Is the Doctor seeing this?” Taber asked, over his com link.
“I'm here,” Xhaiden answered, watching the fight unfold on the screens in his tech lab. There was a bit of a tone in his voice from having been kicked out of the control center.
“I thought you designed this experimental monstrosity with the primary objective of destroying Exanimen—I can hardly touch him!”
“This is something new,” Xhaiden acknowledged. “But my readings confirm that the suit is holding up defensively—”
“That's because he hasn't thrown a power punch yet!” the commander interrupted.
“Get closer to him and switch to a steady stream,” Xhaiden counseled. “It will be drawn to him like lightning to a lightning rod.”
“Easy for you to say, pencil pusher,” Taber murmured to himself.
Taber hit a switch that fired up thrusters on the back of his Exanimen Hunter Armor. The suit jerked forward, allowing him to sprint. “How close do I need to be, Dr?”
“I don't know,” Xhaiden admitted. “It's never been tested—”
“Peachy—” Taber grunted, gritting his teeth in preparation for the unexpected. As he drew near, SyRek back pedaled toward a rock face while firing until the commander was nearly upon him. With only a few strides away, Taber fired! The Exanimen leaped at an angle to escape the enemy rush, but just as the Doctor had predicted, the stream coiled and bent to reach the target.
Sparks flew off the android's body as his lunge brought him along the rock face which he leaped from. His gun morphed into
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a blade as he was twisting to get an angle on his opponent. He dragged the sword down the side of Taber's armor, prompting a warning light to flash inside the suit.
Taber immediately turned to face SyRek as he hit the ground and fired just as the android was thrusting his morphed sword. Both machines hit their targets. Taber was striving with a shout and an iron grip on the trigger as SyRek was pushing hard to drive his blade deeper.
“You've got to change tactics, Commander,” Xhaiden warned, alarmed by the readings on his screen, “or you're a dead man!”
Without hesitation, Taber grabbed hold of the morph arm with his free hand and yanked it out with a growl, hoisting SyRek right off the ground in the process. He then ceased fire and grabbed hold of the android's body with his right arm and began to pull.
Knowing his plight was dire, SyRek summoned his ship to aid, but it was reeling from the combined assault of both the surviving pilot and guards, who had left the compound to attack from the roof with portable, infantry anti-aircraft cannons.
The joint materials in SyRek's shoulder stretched and strained until the arm snapped off completely. The rebel commander tossed it aside before slamming his foe into the ground again and again until his enemy was no longer moving. Then, Taber tossed the limp Exanimen about twenty feet in front of him.
“Doctor, does this fine machine I'm in charge of shoot?” Taber asked, as he casually approached his fallen enemy.
“Indeed—just switch back to auto, but hold the trigger until the green icon appears.”
Having won, Taber was finally able to take notice of the battle unfolding in the sky above, just in time to see the enemy space craft come apart. “Control, what is the name of that pilot?”
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“Sailias, sir,” a male voice answered.
“Inform Captain Sailias that he is getting promoted.”
“Yes sir.”
As Taber stood over the motionless Exanimen, the green light flashed on. “Green means you're done.” He aimed his weapon at the body of his enemy, adding, “Looks like the Doctor built me the superior machine.” And with that said, he blew his enemy in two.
“Control, all hostiles have been eliminated and we are leaving this rock for Beta Colony.”
“I will signal the full retreat sir—”
“Watch your mouth, cadet!” Taber snapped. “The victors don't retreat—we're just regrouping. Get what's left of this Earth assassin on the same departing ship as Xhaiden. Tell the Doctor that as soon as he's done pouting, I expect to know every secret locked away in this monster.” He then nudged the top half of the android with his gun and mumbled, “Assuming, that is, that there's anything left to unlock—”
Within the hour, people already began to leave. Xhaiden and his wife, Rosalia, were among the first to depart, and this by the Doctor's design. Their ship left in the direction of Beta Colony, yet, as soon as they passed through the atmosphere, they immediately changed their course. “What's going on?” Rosalia asked her husband. “Why aren't we going to Beta?”
Xhaiden swallowed hard before answering. “We're heading for Delta Colony—”
“Delta,” she answered, with perplexity in her blue eyes.
Her husband shook his head, “Some of us have been talking about this for months, and no one on board this ship is here by accident. In fact, the Exanimen attack has given us the opportunity to make this move. Taber is getting power hungry; he was able to remove me out of the command center without
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any hesitation from the guards. You know as well as I do that the colony bearing my name has effectually belonged to him for quite some time. We may not be in charge at Delta, but they've made it clear they want us there.” Though she did not speak, Xhaiden could tell his wife was not fully convinced. He embraced her, rubbing a hand through her blond hair in an effort to bring comfort. “I'm not going to pretend that what lies ahead is going to be easy, but at least we'll be able to work freely again.”
After his wife had gone to sleep, Xhaiden began to fiddle with SyRek's wreckage; after doing so for several hours, he was simply baffled. Exhausted, he rested his hands on the table and said, “You—my not so friendly friend, are unlike any Exanimen I have ever examined. Your creators, whoever they are, are not human. Only a machine could design a better machine. And as much as I hate to have anything in common with Taber, I'm also curious about what secrets may be hidden within you.”
The Doctor picked up a nearby cup of water and raised it high, saying, “Here's to a new beginning for the both of us.” After taking a quick drink, Xhaiden turned the light off and closed the door behind him, leaving SyRek to rest in the darkness.