"Captain Isaac, we need you to come with us." A group of Advanced Combat Androids marched right up to where I was idling in my bunk, their body language making it clear they weren't asking.
There it was. The summons I was dreading had come and I was not ready. Not at all. The Ascentron Circurrency operated by a clear hierarchy and I considered myself to be pretty high up on it. I had few peers, and even fewer superiors. Given the way the Second Officer looked at me at the shelter before we parted, I can make one or two guesses at what she had done now. My First Officer sat up at his own bunk, but I shook my head. This is beyond our pay grade now, and all I can do is follow the music. After cleaning my uniform as best I could, I got onto my feet and walked to the vacant spot in the androids' formation, and felt claustrophobic as the metal warriors closed the gap.
I didn't have to walk far, which was always welcome, but the sight of the rail transport waiting for us made me reconsider that feeling. It was a private model, which wasn't all that rare, but what was rare was the ownership stamp which decorated its side. A mechanical eye staring from inside a crystal; the mark of the Oracle, current CEO of the Ascentron Circurrency. The transport' insides was luxurious, but not as much as I expected. I was herded to the back where two guards flanked where I sat, their combat-forms primed and ready for action.
With only the slightest jolt, we were away and I found myself wishing we were boarded or maybe shot down by a stray shot. The rail transport weaved through public and private rail lines, passing through vacant stations with no life and busy ones bursting with refugees fleeing from the devastation. Of much more concern were the lines with destroyed or even missing stations, clear signs of this war' progress not going in our favor.
On and on we went until we passed what appeared to be the last station of this line. I looked at the guards for some explanation, but they remained as stoic as ever. When the transport reached the very end, I braced for impact, but nothing happened. We were still motion, and, as I looked out, inside a tunnel. I heard a small chuckle come from behind me, but when I look back, no one was there.
At last, after what felt like eternity, the rail transport slowed down to a halt at a typical-looking transit station. I disembark and was greeted by yet another team of guards. What am I, a Priki-ti-ki? I knew better than to complain, so I kept quiet and let myself be led to my doom. It's funny how the closer I get with every step to what I know will be the end of my life, the more my mind is filled with serenity instead of dread or even panic.
I knew I fucked up when we first entered this hellscape universe, and I dare anyone else to fit in my shoes at that moment. If the powers that be demanded that I be sacrificed as an offering to appease the shareholders, then who am I if not a most humble and obedient servant to offer my neck for the executioner's axe? My job's done, so let the other guy do it.
Anyone else but me.
For the first time in my long, long, long life, I felt fatigue. The catastrophe that has befallen the Horizon Needle has not come to a definite conclusion. Our current forces have driven back the invaders to where the breach originated, but no more. In another part of my mind, I tally the cost of rebuilding; how much of our stores will be drained and how many minds will be lost once the fighting stops. The waste is staggering, but such is the nature of war; a wasteful expenditure with minimal margins.
I stare at the Minister of Defense, whose appointment was made before my time as CEO. He ignored me, much more immersed in the data stream than I am in his position as the supreme commander of our armed forces. In our home universe, he was in command of the Ascentron Circurrency' strongest fleet, capable of holding his own against the entire galaxy' military might. I am curious what his thoughts are now, directing the barest scraps of power that he once held at his fingertips. Does he resent coming with us? Or is he biding his time for when his tactical genius can once more be brought at the helm of worthy fleet?
Questions for another time. I thought blithely, changing my gaze to look at the more interesting of two organics that make up my council. Ever since we arrived in this new universe, she has been engaged in a meditative trance, shielding herself with a barrier of 'psionic' energy. If it weren't for the Curator—the only other organic in my personal retinue—taking on the role of mouthpiece for the inactive Shroudwalker, I would have replaced her with someone functional.
But as it was, the information she has shared with everyone has been most enlightening. The hostile dimension we are currently in is what passes for the Shroud in this universe. In this realm, countless entities wage war on one another for inscrutable reasons, with most of them rallying under the banner of four patrons.
There is the Blood God, whose tenet is violence and whose worshipers are consumed by rage; berserkers who leap into melee without fear or any sense of self-preservation. In short, the complete opposite of everything the Ascentron Circurrency stands for. I will be more than glad to erase any trace of 'worship' for this entity either in this ship or in anywhere else in the universe.
Next is the Changer of Ways. It is a paradoxical entity, at once representing change and yet remaining unchanging at its core. For all that wishes to uproot the status quo, to become something else or alter their destiny in some way, this entity becomes their salvation, or their doom. It matters not to the entity, for its intrigues are many and its plans unknowable. This one' influence will be much harder to root out and identify by its very nature, but not impossible.
For the third, we go to the exact opposite of change. Stagnation. Decay. Entropy. The end of all things, embodied within the guise of the Plague Father. It is a jovial entity, relishing in the misery and erosion of the ages. It sees itself as paternal figure, to which all of its followers are but children to coddle and play with in the mire and muck of yesteryear' despair and regret. Again, another entity whose values are anathema to our own.
Finally, we come to the Prince of Excess. Its ascension was the death-knell of a galactic superpower, consumed to near-completion as only scraps of that empire remains now. What this being represents bears no special mention, for we ourselves are aligned with that intrinsic need for more. Thus, this entity I regard as the most dangerous of all for the Ascentron Circurrency, for we value what it values, and we crave what it craves. It would take a slight lapse of judgment, one small moment of indulgence before depravity consumes us all.
I will not allow it. I thought as my recollections came to an end. I have failed one too many times already. I will not let my new people become dust on the stellar wind. This, I swear it. Just as I had that thought, a request for entry came from the captain of the guard unit I'd assigned to pick up the Horizon Needle' captain. I granted it and watched as a lone Ascentron entered the audience chamber, surrounded by an amusing amount of combat androids.
"Target acquired. Resuming normal programming." The guard captain said with his eccentric way of talking. I waved him away and waited for the rest of the unit to leave before I started talking.
"Captain Isaac, you've broken my ship and endangered the lives of everyone that's on it with your actions. How do you plead?" The man looked up at me, shoulders sagged yet also relaxed. It was every bit the body language of someone that has resigned to their fate. Understandable, but not what I wanted from a man such a he. He will need some fire put back into him, and I will provide it.
"Guilty, ma'am. I fucked up, simple as that. Just don't blame the officers and the crew for this; they were amazing at holding up under pressure." I narrowed my eyes at his admission of the Second Officer into his compliment. It was her that brought up this matter into the proper channels, and she was right to do so. It just so happens that I have different plans in mind.
"So acquiescent, captain. I figured the man chosen to man the Horizon Needle would be someone with a bit more pride for their craft." I prodded, trying to see how deep I'll need to dig to make him squirm.
"That man died when he came here and saw everything." His eyes drifted faraway to a memory, one I am eager to get ahold of. "I'm what's left of him and I'd like to fade now and be forgotten. That's all I want now." I pretended to think it over, making a show of watching the Mentat engrossed with reading his experiment results and the still meditating, still unresponsive Shroudwalker. I didn't bother bothering with the only other Ascentron in the room, busy as he was making sure the enemy paid for their transgressions against us.
"You are a bold man to make requests of me. I like that." I said the only truth I've spoken since this whole thing began. "But not enough to grant it, at least, not until you've done something for me first. A chance for you to make things right by me and everyone that's still alive in this ship." I see a flicker of flame behind the man's dull eyes. A start, but I can do so much better, and I will.
"While you were unconscious, my personal forces have already been at work analyzing the nature of the breach and the enemies assaulting us. We have deduced that whatever is preventing the hull from regenerating as normal is a Shroud construct manifested by way of certain rituals and artifacts." I saw the man' eyes start to glaze again for a different reason and sighed. "Captain, the enemy have a weak point in the form of a building. We are going to bomb it back to hell, and you're going to carry it for us."
"Why haven't you bombed it already?" The captain asked an obvious question.
"Conventional munitions proved incapable of permanent damage. We had to look for solutions in unconventional research avenues." I gave the Shroudwalker a brief look before returning to the man of the hour. "As for why you'll be part of this operation, well, that's classified." The captain frowned at my answer, but he wouldn't understand anyway even if I told him the truth.
"You will be part of a decapitation strike led by Commander Loinvue. You will report to him and he will report to me. Understood?" The captain shifted from one foot to another, his face an amusing slideshow of emotions. He nodded in the end, no longer resigned but not eager either.
It will have to do for now.
There was the portal. The breach caused by my mistake, so would be written in the history books from now on. I huffed at the thought, and my First Officer looked at me with some concern. Or perhaps ex-First Officer is more appropriate, seeing as how everyone I was close to in any way were fired from their positions and reassigned somewhere else. Where I was falling, my Second Officer ascended; a masterful move of leverage and political pressure at where it will hurt me the most. The next time a catastrophic accident happened with the Horizon Needle, she'll be the one getting the heat as the new captain.
I can't wait for that day to come. In the meantime, there are perks to being an outcast. I glanced back down at my new body, inside which my old one served at its core and permanent occupant. It towered over the ruins of buildings, bristling with weaponry whose power hummed beneath my skin, waiting to be unleashed. I would feel giddy if it wasn't so unprofessional to do so. Even now, I am a model Ascentron employee, and so results I will deliver.
Of course, there' also The Bomb. The whole thing bolted to my back, armored thicker than my chest, and with its own dedicated shield generator too. I have a strong suspicion the plan involving its deployment would have me bereft of my entire torso because I wasn't told how to get it off in any way. All I have to do is walk through hell and kill some bastards along the way.
"Cap-I mean, Isaac. Do you have a plan to break through that?" My good man was of course referring to the absurd number of enemy contacts my sensors were pinging nonstop anytime I looked in the general direction of the breach. If I had a Paradox Titan under my command, my answer would be a double serving of the Perdition Beam, and then another for good more.
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"No fucking clue, Gibson. 'Aim and shoot at their heads' is a solid strategy if you can manage it. Me? I am going to shoot at their dicks if they have them." I chuckle bitterly as I remember getting 'exposed' to such sights without my consent. "This universe is nuts. I starting to wish I didn't volunteer for this shit and stayed behind.
"With all due respect, sir, you'd have died of boredom back home." Gibson said, his own Gigantes body dwarfing mine in height. What gives? "No one could have predicted this, not even the CEO's pet Mentat and Shroudwalker. Corporate is being dumb as always, looking for somebody to blame except themselves."
"Hey, that's a time honored tradition you're talking about here. Shirking from responsibility is a skill that I forgot to train, that's all." I smiled, feeling some of the tension bleed off my shoulders. So what if this is a suicide charge? I'm not the only one charging, and there will be tons of fire support from artillery and the air force.
I'll be fine.
BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!
I'm fucked. I'm fucked. I'm fucked. I repeated those words in my head as I ran away from the winged maniac with a broadsword as long as I am tall. My weapon systems fired back on their own, but their disunity and lack of focus meant that no real damage was being done. All it accomplished was making their target madder, which also made said target faster, as it turns out.
The mission started out fine at first. We marched out under the cover of several artillery barrages, using the ruins to our advantage to hide our approach. Then somehow we literally walked into two of the bloated corpses and one of the winged red ones at the same time. I was sent flying by a swing from the red bastard axe, right into yet another of the angry fucker.
I laid flat on my stomach to avoid a horizontal slash which exploded outwards into an arc of hellish fire. With not enough time to get back up, I half-folded into myself into a more compact form and poured more power into my thrusters instead, turning into a flying brick with guns. The move saved me from the follow-up downward stab into an upward slash which cut the earth asunder.
I unfolded behind a standing skyscraper and made a feint left before going right, catching stray debris from the overhead slash that followed soon after for my trouble. All the while, the breach mocked me with how close I was to it, dangling the end of our troubles just ten kilometers away. Granted, the whole stretch was full of enemies like my current playmate, but I could make it if-
A deafening boom came from behind me. The shockwave almost knocked me off my feet, but I stayed put by holding onto the nearby buildings. My sensors picked up an allied signature, that of one Commander Prescot. His body matched the red menace' own impressive bulk, thrumming with weaponry an order of magnitude mightier than my own. His main weapon, a prow-like blade, had stopped another overhand slash that would have halved me from my left leg to my right eye.
With roaring thrusters, he pushed back against his foe and thrust forward, managing to catch the red beast at its side. Whirlwind Missiles and Devastator Torpedoes launched from hidden launchers, giving the Commander ample time to dodge the devastating counter slash that came his way. He gave me the briefest of glances before returning to battle and I understood what he meant.
Move, you fool!
You got it, boss. I replied in my thoughts out of habit before executing my retreat for real. My memories get fuzzy around this part, but I do remember facing off a giant old Avian that spoke in riddles before it got blasted out of nowhere by several Tachyon Lance beams. It was pretty funny, all things considered.
Eventually, through grit and no small amount of luck, I found myself hiding a stone's throw away from my objective. The building looked to have been a Transcendental Innovation Department, but now it was a mangled and twisted ruin, surrounded by three layers of security. The first layer was patrolled by eight red bastards and seven bloated corpses. On the second layer prowled six androgynous horrors that were both beautiful and terrifying to watch. The topmost layer, where I was supposed to detonate my bomb, had nine Avian old men chanting around a weird crystalline growth that pulsated like a heart.
"Isaac! Isaac! Over here!" I turn around in bewilderment as I saw Gibson, my ex-Second Officer waving at me from his own hiding spot not far from where I am. A million and one question ran through my mind, but only one was worth entertaining this far into the plan.
"You got a plan to get through that?" I whispered to him through our short-range comms link.
"I was going to shoot them in the balls while you shoot at their dicks, sir." Gibson replied, looking too cheerful for my liking. "This is the most exciting thing I've ever done in my life."
"Well, don't hold your breath yet, this is going to get even more exciting once I make a break for the top." I said with what I hoped he would catch as the least amount of enthusiasm possible in my voice.
"I'll be right besides you when you do, sir. But maybe we should wait for the distraction first." The man gestured to somewhere in the distance behind us. Far off where the front line was, I could see a great many things moving at once, stirring great dust clouds that covered all. The earth began to shake as they got closer and closer, causing some of the ruined skyscrapers around us to crumble even further.
But then the dust cleared for a moment and I saw it. A singular machine that spanned kilometers of space and rose taller than most buildings. It levitated on hundreds of anti-grav engines, with hard points that bristled with weapons that would put a fleet of battleships to shame. This was death rendered in alloys.
"What the fuck is that?" I whispered to Gibson, who had by now moved on over to my hiding place.
"It's the Giga Warform they talked about in the mission briefing, sir. When it gets close enough to draw the guards away from the building, it will send a signal for you to start running and plant the bomb up there." Gibson helpfully pointed out the place where I'm most likely to die soon. "They also said that you can't possibly miss the signal to go, whatever that means."
I had several inklings as to what a lumbering war machine could do to make a signal, and none of them were good. As it was, we were in for an agonizing wait as the god-like engine of destruction moved into position. And it was drawing quite a crowd, monsters of all shapes and sizes gathered into huge hordes that block out the sky and cover the ground
The two clashed like surf upon the tides, the guns of the Giga Warform reaping great swaths of the monsters one after the other. Giga Cannons pummeled through entire columns of infantry while Tachyon Lances did the same for armored vehicles. Some of the Gigantes teams garrisoned on the Giga Warform battled red winged champions and androgynous performers, while others dodged anomalous energies launched by wizened tricksters and corroding fluids from the living dead.
It was maddening to see and hear all those lives snuffed in an instant. Even in a Gigantes body, I felt helpless and weak, I wasn't given much time to process such feelings, however, as the Giga Warform blared a cacophonous horn. From its depths rose a fearsome weapon, one I never thought I'd get to see close up in my life. The frenzy of violence rose to an ever greater pitch, tides of bodies crashing upon the bulk of the Giga Warform in what I assumed was a last ditch attempt to stall the inevitable. But it was no use.
The Perdition Beam fired and the world was gone. It gouged a canyon into the ground before the Giga Warform adjusted its aim and pulled up, right into the guarded ruins in front of me. Gibson and I hunkered down and clung onto one another to ride out the blast waves, hoping against hope we were going to survive this insane situation.
After several more minutes, the attack finally ceased, the results plain to see for all. Of the numerous hordes that swarmed the Giga Warform, at least half of them were exterminated with the rest in disarray. As for the guards of the ruin, the survivors were now up in arms, only the avians remaining on site while the rest left to make war on their new shared foe.
"If that's not the signal, I don't know what is. Come on, let's go and finish this." I said as I went out into the open, weapons free and ready to unleash hell. Gibson followed close behind and together we approached the top of the ruins carefully, making sure no one could get the drop on us. Once we were close, I deployed several recon drones to scout out the way ahead, watching through their eyes the throng of monsters still chanting in their infernal tongues.
"There's six of them now. " I said, looking at Gibson. "You take half and I take the other half?"
"Understood." He nodded, taking point as the vanguard. We emerged into the top level proper, our footsteps unmistakable among the faraway noises of war. Our enemies turned to look at us all at once, five breaking off from their ritual circle while one remained. Better odds, but not much better.
Suddenly, words not my own come into my mind, singing maliciously. They spoke thus:
The memory scars him still. The vision of eternity.
All lives snuffed if not by chance. Will his luck hold now, on this precipice of change?
We see more than you know.
The plans of the great and powerful.
The dreams of the weak and pitiful.
We are the future you fear.
The past you forget, we reveal and remember. All hail Architect of Fate!
The Changer of Ways.
Great Conspirator.
Tzeentch,
Our Master
And yours.
"Isaac, what's wrong?! Snap out of it, they're about to attack!" Gibson' shout pulled me up from my drunken mind, away from the voices that drown. I awake in time to see a great firestorm leap at me. Some of it manage to strike home even as I dodged the rest, my shields crackling with abnormal readings with some sectors spontaneously changing into solids or liquids of unknown make. What little licks of flame touched my armor turned them into living beings I had to stamp back into dead mass.
I shot a barrage at the closest avian I could see with my Stormfires, some of the shots landing while the rest turned to smoke. It swung its staff at me with speeds not possible with its physical build, nearly taking my head off before Gibson took the brief opening to unload a close-range execution with his Plasma cannons to the being's back.
"Sir, we need to-" Whatever words he was about to say next was cut short as the avian we mistakenly thought was down rose back up with the help of its wings, aiming the tip of its staff at Gibson. Before anything more could happen, however, Commander Loinvue appeared like a specter behind that foe, cutting it in twain once, and then twice all in the span of two seconds. The pieces lit on fire as they fell, turning into liquid, then gas before fading away entirely. Another avian shot off tendrils of energy at the commander, which was blocked off by the arrival of Commander Prescot, now armed with a massive shield and one-armed blade.
"Go, we'll handle this. You two get the bomb ready." I nodded at the man and began making my way to the objective, providing cover fire whenever I could to help out my saviors. Gibson was close behind, his weapons firing alongside mine. After the longest minute of my life, I finally reached the edge of the ritual circle, wherein the last avian stood by, waiting with a smile on its face.
Greetings, esteemed guest. I have been expecting you for some time now. The loathsome thing gave a mock bow, which I returned by shooting its face off. At least, I attempted to before all of my weapon suites turned to bubbles and smoke. An unexpected situation, but that's why Gibson is around. Seconds turned to a minute of the avian remaining as smug as ever with not a bullet or plasma bolt searing its stupid face.
"Gibson, why aren't you shooting its face off?" I asked my ex-First Officer.
"I-I can't, sir. My body isn't responding to me." True to his word, I saw Gibson' Gigantes body seemingly frozen in place, his eyes looking around in panic. I turned to see my foe and it nodded, confirming the obvious. Now that all options for violence were thrown out for me, I saw only one way out.
"What do you want from me?" I asked the question that underpinned the foundation of Ascentron Circurrency, and one I had always dread to hear the answer to.
Nothing. There's nothing I want from you. Its smile grew bigger as it said that. I simply came to see the firework show. It then retreated as though to give permission for me to put the bomb in. With no other choice in sight, I unlocked the bomb from its container on my back and placed it underneath the crystalline growth, transmitting the activation codes with a hearty kick.
Immediately, a countdown appeared in my display.
Thirty seconds to detonation.
Fuck me. I sighed at the sight, no longer having the energy to even run. I looked at Gibson, who was now freed from whatever spell bound him. He seems to have seen the countdown as well and looked devastated. We stood around, doomed to death and resigned to our fates when the avian from before suddenly appeared before us and wrapped us with its wings.
Before we could even struggle it was over, the scene around us now no longer that of a desecrated building, but instead of a ruined park, littered with wreckage and bodies of the fallen and not much else. I looked around and saw the Giga Warform, now seen from a bit off to the side, slowly moving backwards as it held the hordes at bay. Then there was a light, so blinding it was like looking at a star head-on. It filled every gap, consumed every shadow, and snuffed every sound.
The aftermath was a crater glowing with radiation, several kilometers wide and hundreds of meters deep. The more dramatic effect, however, was the sound of Liquid Metal surging forth from the Horizon Needle' wounded hull, finally able to close the gap that started it all.
In a couple hours, it will all be over.
