Allison felt the gravity shift when the sim started up. Suddenly she was on the flight deck of the U.S.S. George Washington. She always expected to feel the ship rocking. She’d seen oceans but she’d never actually been on a large ship on one. The aircraft carrier had no such motion. A warm ocean breeze brushed across her face and her hair whipped about when caught in an air current. She glanced to her right when a red-haired woman stepped up beside her.

  Every time she’d encountered her in the sim, she’d been shocked at just how short her biological mother was. She was easily eight inches shorter than Allison. Enid had a baby face to match her height. It was easy to forget even now in the sim’s 2023 timeline, she was over two thousand years old. Enid looked up at Allison.

  “Well Shadow, back for another try, or is it a lesson today?”

  Allison frowned. She had tried to survive the dogfight her mother had shot down twenty-one of North Korea’s MIG-29s in a hundred times. She had failed each and every time. No matter what Allison tried she ended up burned-in as the pilots of this era called it. It seemed impossible. Yet her mother had done it. Sure, the jet would never fly again, she basically did the same thing to the F-22N as Allison had done to Bit when she pulled the asteroid out of Yellowstone’s sun’s gravity well.

  “It’s impossible, Reaper.”

  Enid smirked in that way she did and got a devilish twinkle in her emerald eyes.

  “I have repeatedly asked you to call me mom.”

  Allison did a double take. Something was odd about the holo-sim program from the start. The Enid holograms reactions were off. She remembered their various training sessions, and somehow had figured out Allison was her biological daughter, or well her originator’s biological daughter. Allison decided to finally call her on it.

  “You’re a program.”

  Enid shrugged.

  “Am I?”

  Allison threw up her hands.

  “When I turn off the holo-sim program you vanish!”

  Enid threw a flight helmet at Allison; It was black with ghostly red eyes peaking out in various places. Allison caught it with a grunt as it hit her stomach.

  “I told you; I don’t need a helmet; I have my armor.”

  Enid raised a ginger eyebrow.

  “And I told you that Atlantean armor is all fine and good, but I told you need a real g-suit, yet you still haven’t bothered. The program simulates g-forces, your blood pools in your legs and you keep blacking out. You’re only half vampire. You want to survive the mission; You need a real g-suit.”

  Allison rolled her eyes in typical teenage girl fashion.

  “Let’s just do the F-14 today, okay? I already flew one suicide mission in a sim.”

  Enid quirked her head to the side and her pale white hand reached out and touched Allison’s forearm gently.

  “Want to talk about it, hon?”

  Allison groaned.

  “I came in here to relax, gah, not have a heart to heart with a fake version of my biological mother.”

  Enid shrugged.

  “Hasn’t stopped you before. Come on, let’s take one of the old girls up. You take the front seat this time.”

  Allison pulled the old-style flight helmet onto her head and climbed into the pilot’s seat of an F-14 Tomcat with markings much like her personal squadron’s symbology. All her fighters here were designated Shadow One. She started going through her pre-flight checks as the twin-engine jet was hooked up to the catapult system. The air boss spoke to Allison on the radio.

  “Go for launch Shadow One.”

  Another couple of responses came through, Allison chirped in that she was ready and extended the wings to their take off position. The catapult flung the fighter down the flight deck and the bulky fighter lept into the air. Allison swept the wings back and went ballistic. The one thing she could get away with in the sim was flying like she didn’t care about fuel because she didn’t need to. She barrel-rolled the fighter. Enid spoke on the radio.

  “Good take off. Different then what you’re used to, aren’t they?”

  Allison sighed. The fighter jets of the twentieth century were so primitive compared to her starfighter. Enid had taught her how to fly twenty different fighter jets, Russian, US, British, twenty-first century fighters, a ridiculous jet called a Blackbird, various generations. She’d also taught Allison how to fly prop planes from World War Two. The hardest for Allison to master were the helicopters of various types. None of these had any practical use in the thirtieth century. Her Athena could defy the laws of physics in ways their twentieth century predecessors couldn’t even conceive of. Allison switched her F-14 to attack configuration and engaged the three drone targets that were MIG-29s they were a real challenge in the F-14 as it was an older design. Allison took some superficial hits from bullets. As she ‘splashed’ the last one as the fighter pilots of this sim would say Enid spoke.

  “You’re getting sloppy. You are distracted. What’s going on?”

  Allison blushed.

  “It’s nothing.”

  Enid motioned with her head westward.

  “Land in Okinawa, I know a place.”

  Enid plotted a course for Allison. The teenager shrugged and adjusted course. Landing one of these artifacts was a much different experience than her starfighters. Sure, she’d had to simulate antigrav failures and land on a runway but that was in a fighter that could literally optimize its entire surface to accommodate for the antigrav failure. She touched down and got jostled by the force of the landing. Enid laughed.

  “You’re getting better, but still a bit rough.”

  Enid led Allison to a bar near the airbase she held two fingers up to the bartender and patted the bar. Soon two stubby bottles of Japanese beer were put down in front of them. Enid took a drink, Allison didn’t bother. It was holographic beer after all.

  “Well, Shadow, spill it.”

  Allison rolled her eyes.

  “It’s nothing.”

  Enid shook her head.

  “Allison, don’t do this to yourself. You’re obviously stressed about something.”

  Allison did a doubletake at her holo-mom. Well, her biological mom.

  “How do you know any of this, you’re just a program!”

  Enid shrugged and took a drink of her beer.

  “I am, so why not just let it all out, not like anything matters inside here. No one can hear you. Kind of like a diary huh?”

  Allison rubbed her face.

  “Seriously a diary, what am I ten?”

  Enid shrugged.

  “You know, I started taking mine seriously when I was somewhere like… two thousand one hundred and uh… eighty two? Helped a lot. I thought the therapist was nuts. But what do I know? I’m just a hologram.”

  Allison did another double take at Enid’s simulacrum.

  “Wait, she was in therapy?”

  Enid nodded.

  “I was sexually and physically abused as a child, my adoptive father faked executing my adoptive sister and my soul mate had his soul ripped out of his body and replaced with my mortal enemy. I was the judge, jury and executioner for the Imperial council for most of my life. I had some issues to work through.”

  Allison spun the beer bottle in her hand.

  “You’re the dark mother, you are a trained killer… you don’t feel guilty about anything… You’re an ancient vampire.”

  Enid laughed.

  “Oh boy. Look, just because I know how to kill and have killed doesn’t mean that my conscience is clean. For a very long time I thought that killing was all I was for. That I didn’t deserve love, or to be happy. I was wrong. I was used and I let myself be used. Some of the killing I chose to do, some of it I had to, it was my job, some I felt disgusted by, but it had to be done or many more would die. There was this templar keep, I must have killed a hundred and fifty people that night and burned it to the ground. It disgusted me that it came to that, but do you know how many people the inquisition killed? If I hadn’t a lot of innocent humans would have died. The humans tried finding vampires before, it always ended up with maybe one or two idiot vampires dead and hundreds or thousands of humans dead. It sucked but it was the lesser of two evils. I wish you didn’t have to make those choices…”

  Enid took another drink of her beer.

  “Allison, I had so many issues, my issues had issues. And triggers… oh so many triggers. I hated men. Child abuse really fucks you up. So, whatever it is, it’s not so bad, and based on my experience talking about it helps.”

  Allison sighed.

  “I don’t think I’m good enough to do what I’m expected to do. I let my Babu down… I let Aunt Maria down… She says it’s alright, but she seems so disappointed, and Eyre is upset but she’s being nice. Commander Holiday had to put the pilots in line today for me.”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Enid patted Allison on the back.

  “Is that all?”

  Allison narrowed her eyes at Enid. Enid held up her hands in surrender.

  “You have mastered Apiyo’s evil eye haven’t you.”

  Allison didn’t catch the reference the hologram made that she shouldn’t have been able to make. Enid continued.

  “Look Allison, everyone has that feeling. Even me. Even Maria and definitely Eyre. We’ve all been married, raised children, grandchildren, and we all still go looking for adults because we’re not sure we’re good enough to be making decisions on our own. For us adults are a little harder to find. I had to go to a fucking angel of all things, crazy old man. Look, you’re immortal, beyond that you’re damn hard to kill by unnatural means. I guarantee you ten thousand years from now you’re going to be wondering if you should ask an older being about something before doing it. Makes me wonder what the fuck Isis does when she has those thoughts.”

  Allison looked down at the simulated beer bottle between her hands.

  “This isn’t ten thousand years, its now, and I’m expected to lead these people into battle. If I can’t make them respect me, what hope do they have of surviving? Last time I was in the lead I lost half my people and my Babu. I can’t lose anyone else.”

  Enid sighed.

  “You know that mission you keep trying and failing. How many of your squadron die in that on average?”

  Allison looked up at Enid.

  “I don’t know I barely pay any attention to them.”

  Enid nodded slightly.

  “There were fifteen people in that squadron. I was their commanding officer. Only seven people came back from that mission. I did everything in my power to bring them back alive. I shot down twenty-one enemy planes. I flew that F-22 to the breaking point and right on past it. I used every vampiric trick I could, but I still lost eight good pilots. If you fly long enough, if you are in enough battles, you will lose people, it is unavoidable. That is why they call it the price of freedom Allison, it sure isn’t free. You need to understand if they’re in the military they’ve already accepted they could die.”

  Allison had fallen into a sullen silence. Enid took another drink of her beer.

  “You know, there’s a human novel about a Battlelord from the nineteen-eighties.”

  Allison blinked a few times and looked at Enid.

  “What? How?”

  Enid waved her hand and a beat up novel appeared on the bar in front of them. She held it up Allison read the English title, Ender’s Game.

  “This book was recommended reading for Marine officer cadets. It’s pretty dark. I suppose the life of a Battlelord is not going to be all sunshine and roses…”

  Allison looked at Enid’s emerald, green eyes.

  “What is it about?”

  Enid shrugged.

  “A kid who has a mind a lot like yours. Less teenage girl hormones floating around in it though. Fights an alien species, bugs, of course, wipes them out but sacrifices a human fleet to do it. Sacrifices thousands of human lives to win a resounding victory. The rub is… the general leading him, tells him it’s his final exam, a test. Endor was a pretty sensitive kid, not what you’d call violent by nature, but he understood to truly win a war you need to make the victory so thorough you win all other battles in the war without fighting. He would have never sacrificed those lives, or committed genocide if he thought it was real. So maybe he’s not quite a Battlelord… My point is, sometimes victory requires sacrifice. Being unwilling to sacrifice your men will lead to more death and more killing.”

  Enid sighed once again.

  “When I was a hundred and sixty… give or take, some demons escaped Hell. The werewolves asked for help, of course your grandfather agreed. We were treaty bound. So, he sent me. I had the only weapon the vampires had against the demons: Bloodseeker. Killed a hundred demons, moved faster then I’d ever moved before. I drained my entire blood supply and then some still lost over half those werewolves that were there with me. The thing is they understand sacrifice. Some must die so others may live. Good of the many all that bullshit. I wasn’t considered a terrible commander because they lost so many. I was considered a great warrior because I saved so many. It’s not about who you lose, Allison, it’s about who you can protect and who you can bring back with you. Sometimes you need to sacrifice a man so you can save the rest of your men. I don’t know what else to tell you.”

  Allison sighed when her HUD started flashing a comm signal. It was from the Vortique lead researcher on the science team she’d sent to her new acquisition. She swept it aside, much like the League’s ambassador to the Alliance, he was an excitable sort and tended to reach out to her with every new discovery. She’d gotten used to making him wait. Enid’s hologram glanced at Allison.

  “You’re not going to take that? Might be important.”

  Allison laughed.

  “No, he found a new style nut and bolt combo, universe changing, I’m sure.”

  Enid smirked.

  “You really are my daughter. Look, I guess it’s that time. That ship has a dark secret. He’s just found it. Well, a piece of a long forgotten dark secret. I left a key for you. Something only, you can use. Won’t stop others from trying to abuse it. It’s already caused some unfortunate mayhem. I took steps… to mitigate it but reality is a fickle thing, hon. Seraph is probably pretty pissed right about now.”

  Allison narrowed her eyes at Enid’s hologram.

  “Wait, you’re her, the Dark Mother.”

  Enid shook her head.

  “No, sorry, hon, just an echo left behind as guidance. I only know what she knew when she made me. Which was a lot, but not everything. Look, you don’t have much time. That call means they’ve found the core of your tesseract. I had one chance to get back here, and bring your other mom, your sisters, Apiyo’s sister, your grandparents and your brother back. Two identical keys to the multiverse. Only usable by someone with divine heritage. That’s you, that’s another teenage girl in another universe. The problem is, it’s also a key for the one bad guy who cannot be allowed into this universe, Chronos, the Black Son. My endless line of universes for him to destroy has one weakness. This universe. The only way into this universe are those tesseracts. The only way out of this universe is the tesseract here. That means certain powerful entities want it, one universe is not enough for them… Certain incorporeal entities…”

  Allison stood up and clenched her fists.

  “You’ve been manipulating me from the beginning! Bit was right!”

  Enid sighed.

  “Yes, she was. If I hadn’t you would be here on a dead world alone, because you cannot die. I hated being manipulated, I knew you would to, but I also know you would do what is right if given the chance.”

  Allison threw the bottle at Enid. Enid caught it with ease.

  “Allison, you can have a temper tantrum all you want, destroy this hologram over and over again, it will not change the fact you need to protect the tesseract. I’ll be here but if you have any questions now is the time to ask them because that call, you’re ignoring means things are going to start moving fast.”

  Allison had tears in her eyes.

  “How dare you put the fate of the entire multiverse in my hands? How dare you? I’m your daughter! Now you tell me Hazel, Miko, that girl from your video… my mom, you… all of you are depending on me to bring you back? I’m a teenage girl!”

  Enid nodded.

  “Yes, but you’re my daughter. You’re Apiyo’s daughter. You have a strength inside you that you do not understand yet. You carry within you a part of Seraph’s divinity. You are part goddess.”

  Allison screamed at Enid.

  “I hate you!”

  Enid nodded with a sad look on her face.

  “I knew you would. Like I said, freedom is never free.”

  Allison angrily spoke to a wall.

  “End program!”

  The hologram vanished around her and she angrily hit the accept comm icon on her AR HUD. The Vortique research in charge of investigating the ancient ship appeared on her display.

  “Tull, what is it?”

  The Vortique looked like he was about to burst.

  “We have found something, Battlelord, you need to return to the ship immediately!”

  Allison didn’t hide the skepticism from her face.

  “Tull we discussed this, I’m quite busy, unless it’s going to defeat the Sal’nash it can wait until our weekly briefing on your progress.”

  He nodded.

  “I understand, Battlelord, but this is something entirely new. We can’t even identify the material it was made out of. It has writing the likes of which we’ve never seen before! Nor have your Alliance xenologists. It might be a weapon of some sort, it is small but the energy readings are of a magnitude the only thing we’ve seen that is even comparable is a magnetar star!”

  Allison sighed. The hologram had been right… She thought uncharitable thoughts about her biological mother.

  “I’m on my way, do not touch it.”

  Tull blinked and seemed a bit insulted.

  “Touch it? Who would do such a thing? It has enough energy to vaporize a planet, who would want that in their hands?”

  Allison made a face.

  “It was a figure of speech. I’m on my way.”

  Allison’s trip to the ancient warship was quick. She hopped out of Bit and glanced up at the starfighter.

  “Bit, keep the engine’s hot, I have a bad feeling about this.”

  Bit responded.

  “Please be careful Allison.”

  Allison smiled.

  “I’m always careful.”

  Bit snorted and said nothing else. Allison rushed to the hidden cargo bay the science team had found. Tull had a League scanning device in his hand. His team were all staring into a cargo container. Allison looked over the Vortique, they were five feet tall at an outside maximum, so she towered over him. The secure crate held an unremarkable looking metal device. It looked like someone had glued two plus signs together. Allison pictured it as the core of a cube-like device. Enid’s hologram had called the tesseract core. She wasn’t impressed.

  “Do any of you know what a tesseract is?”

  The Tergan present looked at Allison. Tergan were the humanoid wolf-like aliens. This one was a woman. She nodded.

  “Yes, it is a four-dimensional representation of a cube. Mathematically proven but never seen in the natural universe. Why do you ask Battlelord?”

  Allison motioned to the tesseract core.

  “I have… intelligence that calls that a tesseract core.”

  Tull stroked the grey fur of his chin.

  “That would explain the power readings. A good portion of the device could exist in a forth or fifth dimension we cannot perceive.”

  Allison saw the runic language along the metal. She leaned in to inspect it more closely using the zoom feature of her contacts. Her eyes went wide.

  “I recognize this. I need to call someone.”

  Allison moved away from the device because all of a sudden, she was getting communications errors. Her call was to Maria, while Eyre seemed to know what her armor was, her aunt was the only person she thought who might understand the operating system language the armor ran on. Maria answered. She was dressed casually as this was after business hours on Earth, in fact she was drying her hair as if she’d just gotten out of the shower.

  “Allison, is everything alright? I was not expecting to hear from you.”

  Allison frowned.

  “I’m still mad at you, but… I need help with something.”

  Maria frowned.

  “What have you done this time?”

  Allison blinked a few times.

  “Nothing… there is this…”

  Allison flicked an image of the tesseract core towards Maria.

  “The language on it looks like the text in the armor boot up.”

  Maria raised an eyebrow and dropped her towel on her dresser. Her eyes were obviously scanning the image.

  “Trans-dimensional power core. The pegs on the side say containment mounts, core shield mount and focusing lens mount. What is that? It does not look Atlantean.”

  Allison blinked a few times.

  “You understand it?”

  Maria nodded.

  “Of course, it’s pretty basic Atlantean, you did not answer my question, what is it?”

  Allison was about to explain what they’d found but Tull interrupted her.

  “Battlelord? Battlelord!”

  Allison glared at the Vortique over her shoulder.

  “Just give me a minute here, I’m talking to my aunt about the language, I thought you wanted to know what it said.”

  Allison shook her head and looked back at Maria.

  “Aunt Maria, do you have a translation matrix for the language?”

  Maria nodded and flicked something towards Allison. The translation matrix downloaded rapidly and integrated itself into the holo-phone’s AR HUD translation system. Allison was about to say something else but Tull was tugging on her arm.

  “Battlelord, you need to see this.”

  Allison sighed.

  “I’ll call you back Aunt Maria, apparently something is happening that is more important than a conversation with the president of an intergalactic power.”

  Maria nodded as Allison ended the call. Tull dragged Allison back to the tesseract core.

  “Battlelord, the energy readings are pulsing now, it seems to be building up.”

  Allison’s eyes went wide.

  “You said it can vaporize a planet! Why didn’t you start with that?”

  By now the tesseract core was starting to visibly pulse with a magenta light. Allison confirmed the power readings were increasing exponentially with each pulse. She swore under her breath and grabbed the core which caused the entire science team to gasp in shock.

  “We need to get this away from the solar system. Bit! Get ready for launch!”