Machine Gods (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 2) (13 page)

“
Our two peoples
have come together as friends and allies in these last two years.
We have provided you with technical assistance
, and you have provided manpower and security. Even so,
recent events show us that our shared enemy is near. In the past,
we would have hidden, but with our combined strength, we have the
confidence to allow you into our circle.”

The senior officers
and officials nodded at these words. All of them, including Teresa
and Gun, knew the basics of their operation. They were on a
fact-finding mission to obtain intelligence on the Spacebridges and
the enemy. It was the details that Teresa really wanted to
understand however.

Ok
ay, so you are our
friend, and now you think we’re tough enough to do something. Why
do I think this means we will get our hands bloody on their
behalf?

She looked at the
alien,
specifically at her mouth as she
struggled with the English words.

“
We have experienced
much the same strife and struggle on our worlds as you have. Agents
sent by the enemy also forced us into wars amongst our neighbors
and ourselves for centuries. We are now all that is left of the
T’Kari Empire. We are but a fraction of our former selves, but we
will rebuild with our skills and your help. Today is a day that
will be remembered by future generations. It is the day that our
two peoples united forces against the darkness that turns us
against our own people.”

Ayndir nodded and
seve
n T’Kari entered the open space. They
held up seven icons on staffs. Teresa recognized one immediately as
the scythe type marking that was present on the clothing and armor
of the T’Kari. The others were completely new to her. She thought
what they might represent, and it quickly occurred to her that they
must be something to do with the other T’Kari, perhaps lost worlds
or colonies. Ayndir interrupted her thinking and confounded her
with her next words.

“
Even though our
many worlds and billions of people thrived
, we were never alone. A few of our great empires were
connected via Spacebridges that we built, much like the one you
constructed to reach here. Over time, we located a great Anomaly in
space that allowed multiple Spacebridges from different sources to
coalesce in one star system. We worked together to create this
system over a hundred years to create the great Network. When
completed, it allowed travel to the center and then back to any of
the connected empires.”

The model
transformed to show a convoy of ships entering a Spacebridge, only
to appear outside of a massive planet surrounded by further
Spacebridge entrances.

“
This construction
allowed travel and trade between scores of great empires in much
the way we are connected to the rest of your worlds. For many star
systems, it was the only way to retain contact with others, while a
small number maintained additional links to each other dependent
upon distances and technology.”

The image changed
to
show a living, thriving model of
hundreds of star systems with thousands of ships plying trade
routes. It was an image of a system that could only be dreamt of in
the far less developed Alliance. Teresa looked at it with
fascination, trying to imagine what it would be like to live in a
place filled with so many people and species. The map was spherical
in shape with groups of stars around the outside of the ring
connected by green dotted lines. Different colors then moved from
each of them to the central yellow point. The image quickly changed
to show badly damaged images from the surface of ravaged worlds.
Great cities burned and the skies of each one were black with
smoke.

“
As you have already
learned from our conferences on your capital world of Terra Nova,
our history is just as complex as your own. For the purposes of
this expedition, it is important to understand the significance of
Helios. To do this we must return to the Great Enemy and his place
in the downfall of the T’Kari.”

Gun shook his head,
and Teresa was convinced she could hear him complaining. Like him,
she had heard the stories of the T’Kari and the struggles they’d
been involved in. There were few in the Alliance that hadn’t lapped
up the stories of battle and defeat. Even now the T’Kari were
something new and foreign, and that always caught the attention of
the masses. As Ayndir continued, it was obvious she intended on
providing far more detail than ever before.

“
We are just one
race of the many hundreds that we know of. Most vanished long ago,
either through disease, war, loss of resources, or simply migrating
to new and better places.”

Teresa smelled the
air in the place. I
t felt damp and alien.
Even so, the low-level lightning and subtle mist coming in from the
vast open doors gave the place an almost mystical feel.

“
Each of our peoples
was connected, just like the spokes of a wheel, to this central
point that we call Helios. This star system is rich with worlds,
people, and resources. It is the focal point for all of us, due to
the collection of Spacebridges that we built. None of us controlled
this region; it was free for us all, and people from a hundred
different races lived there in peace. As I explained, a small
number of these systems were also connected directly to each other
as well as to Helios. We suspect that your own worlds also share a
hidden connection with Helios.”

The Alliance leaders
at the front seemed unfazed, but the audience of Navy and Marine
personnel was surprised by the information. Teresa looked at their
faces and to the front where Daniels was looking directly at her.
He nodded as though he’d just shared important knowledge with
her.

“
One of the lesser
races was a planet of biomechanical engineers who perfected the
grafting of machine and the living. For a long time, they were one
of the many people with Spacebridge connections to Helios. This was
until the day they decided Helios should be theirs.”

Again the imagery
changed to show paintings and artworks of an ancient war, with
millions of warriors locked into a never-ending struggle. Vast
fleets of ships clashed with great armies of machines, and entire
planets appeared to be engulfed in flames. Even Gun seemed moved by
the imagery.

“
The war was
terrible, and for a thousand years the enemy controlled Helios. He
used this time to seed planets and worlds with machines and
technology that we suspect was placed in case it was needed in the
future. We do not speak of their true name outside of our own
people; instead, we call them simply the Great Enemy, or sometimes
the Great Devourer.”

She waited for a moment and looked out to her
audience. They were captivated by the information, especially the
details of the enemy. She looked to her own comrades before
continuing.

“
It was this race of
people that sent agents to light the fires of insurrection, the
fires that started civil wars that raged for hundreds of years.
This continued until only seven of the old empires remained, and of
course, the eighth, the Great Enemy.”

The T’Kari lifted up
their icons at this point. Those present looked at them, but
without specifics, they were just faceless objects.

“
What happened to
the others we will never know because of what occurred next.
Perhaps they managed to break the Rifts and isolate themselves.
Many were destroyed, and now nothing remains of them other than
their sterile worlds and ruins.”

The image changed
once more to show a dark gray world with nothing but rocks and
debris on it. Teresa could only assume this was one of the
sterilized worlds.

Doesn’t
look much different to this moon
,
she thought, deciding to keep
her thoughts to herself.

“
To preserve what
was left, we grouped our last forces together and forced the Enemy
back into his domain before collapsing his Rift to Helios. We used
the technology of the Helions to do this. With the Enemy contained,
we all agreed to seal our Rifts to Helios. This was drastic and
left each of us weaker, but is also denied access to the Network
and our worlds. The Great Enemy was quicker, however, and in the
time it took for us to leave Helios and shut down the Rifts, he
left spies, equipment, and soldiers behind. It didn’t take long
before we turned against ourselves and tore our own worlds apart,
ready for his arrival. Even without the Rifts, the Enemy retained a
number of its commanders in our territories, one of which oversaw
our destruction. Only by keeping the knowledge of the sealed Rift
hidden, did we stop him escaping and doing the same to the
others.”

Ayndir lifted her hands outwards as if to encompass
everything.

“All that remains of our people from that final war
can be seen here.”

She paused while the
Alliance guests drank in her words. Only a few, including Teresa
and Gun, were unfamiliar with this last piece of information. Even
so, it was of monumental significance. Teresa’s first thoughts were
the questions so many Alliance citizens had been asking since ANS
Beagle had travelled through to New Charon, deep inside the Orion
Nebula.

Where is
the E
nemy, and why is he not
attacking?

“
With us beaten, the
Enemy left a handful of us in hiding
,
though for what purpose we do not know. We wondered for many years
why we had been saved, but none ever discovered the
truth.”

Ayndir beckoned for
one of her commanders to approach. He wore scarred armor and had
the look of an experienced leader about him. He stopped in front of
the Alliance leaders, shook their hands, and turned to the small
audience.

He spoke through the
translators of his suit,
“I am T’Kron,
commander of the Exiles. We are the sworn defenders of the sealed
Rifts. We are now just six ships and two hundred
T’Kari.”

Gun grinned
a
t the sight of a T’Kari warrior, “So,
have you heard of these Exiles before?”

She nodded and
whispered to him,
“Spartan spoke with
Ayndir about them. They patrol the Rifts and watch for signs of the
Enemy. They have the weapon that can disrupt and collapse Rifts.
The ship that helped us was one of theirs.”

Gun nodded with
interest. T’Kron used his hands to change the shape of the image
being shown, and this time it moved back to the rocky world of
Hades, the inhabited moon on which they all currently stood
upon.

“
A Guardian ship was
left here along with their commander, a number of agents from
different worlds, and a garrison, based on this very
moon.”

He pointed to the ground.

“
They appeared
periodically and attacked us if we tried to move out from our
remaining settlements, while they continued to stockpile equipment
and machines. It is our belief that this force identified your
worlds generations ago and established these stockpiles ready to be
used to break your people, just as they did with us. They were in
the process of leaving to attack you when our moon’s Rift was
destroyed with atomic weapons. Your work I believe?”

He paused as those in the audience familiar with the
Hyperion incident considered his comments.

“
With all our
space-based Rifts sealed, we were finally safe, but dared not raise
our heads too quickly in case it was a trick. Seventeen years
later, your people arrived in our system, and that is when we found
the Enemy had a secret. They had kept a back door into New Charon,
a way to bring in ships and warriors when the time was
right.”

This news caught the
attention of most of those present with surprise.
Evidently
, the General and the other
commanders already knew of the information. Teresa could see the
fear in the eyes of the Alliance officers standing alongside her.
It was a fear she could understand.

Gun looked less
concerned at the news, and she leaned in to speak, but a sudden
hush silenced the room. The T’Kari commander hadn’t
finished.

“
Together we held
back their forces before more ships could arrive and destroy the
Guardian vessel. Your arrival, and the arrival of the Enemy from
this unmapped Rift, has caused us great concern. We understood that
only Helios and the great wheel of Rifts could connect our empires
together. Now we find there are other bridges through space. We had
assumed this meant this part of space was secure. With the news
from the asteroid field now public, it would seem not. There are
other Rift entrances here that we are unfamiliar with. If there are
unmapped points, then it is safe to assume the same is true for
your own worlds, if the Enemy has any more forces in your part of
space. The Enemy could potentially appear and strike any world at
will, and before ships can be mobilized for defense.”

This piece of
information sent a shudder down Teresa’ spine; the very idea of a
hidden network reminded her of places like Hyperion back home.
Places where Rifts had been kept hidden and allowed the movement of
people, equipment, and even ships into weakly defended areas. Gun
moved and pushed to the front. He completely ignored the protocols
of a briefing and interrupted the commander. Two marine officers
moved hesitantly to apprehend him, but he glared at them and
clenched his fists; he meant business.