Chapter Ninety Nine - What She Sought In Her King

As the realisation that they might not win this war was slowly filtering down the ranks of the Imperial Armada, a merchant ship was running silent near to the no man's land in between League and Alliance space.  There were few League patrols here, they were busy shoring up defences of areas of space that bordered directly Alliance territory, using warning drones in no man's land instead.  But Maerlon was a pirate, he knew how to bypass these.

Had the mishmash crew arrived a week before hand, they likely would have turned around with their tail between their legs, for Alliance Spaceships had flooded this area, protecting the dying solar system that housed planet RS3.  However, in her rush to create a new invasion force, many of these ships had been sent to the three processing factories to be recycled into nanochips.  Now, there were just three ships circling the planet in varying ellipses, their speed constant and their range unvaried.  It was as if they were on autopilot flying a set course.

The planet itself had several new manmade structures upon it's airless surface, but there was no telling what personnel might be hidden in these structures from this range.  Luck and Law mentally scanned the ships and the planet, but though they could tell that the ships themselves held individuals that were controlled by nanochips, from the unpleasant sensation they felt when touching their minds, their reach was not long enough to touch the planet.

It was then that Guran realised something was wrong.

He had been bothered for a while over the Queen's frequent mention regarding a King.  He had first thought that she was planning on creating one, a second entity like herself to ensure her long reach, but somehow this did not feel right.  She had already proven that she could extend her reach through the minds of those with high abilities so why would she require a second self to do this?  But as the twins touched lightly those ships as their orbits were close to their position, the bursts in his mind revealed new data;

"He's here! My King!  He has come to me!"

With Yin helping to process his thoughts at higher speeds, he registered that she had summoned one of the megaliths to this solar system to capture her King, just as several puzzle pieces fitted together in his mind.

Yin, he thought, this Queen, she is the anomaly right?

*Yes.  She is the source of the anomaly.*

What constitutes as an anomaly in the Master's mind?

*Anything that does not belong in the recorded worlds or regions of space.*

Examples?

*The golden child program being activated.  The outsider's souls.  The sentient data was considered an anomaly, but the Master is dealing with this.*

The golden child program, you said that this was not activated right?

*Yes.  The male protagonist in this realm is Captain Maerlon Sarvian.  The female protagonist is Captain Jezmi Welhaven.  It is yet to be seen if they will activate the program.*

And the V.I.P's, I mean outsiders, are considered to be anomalies too?  So could an outsider have caused... all of this?

*It is logical to theorise this.*

And is it possible that an outsider could be repeatedly reborn in the same worlds... files... that I was born into and that Aidan followed me into?

*....The Master claims that this is possible.  It is possible that outsider's souls formed as data could attract or be attracted to like data when in the reincarnation cycle, thus following said data once rebirth has occurred.*

The Queen was obsessively seeking her King or rather a woman was obsessively seeking the one she considered her man.  It seemed as if it were more than deja vu.

He opened his eyes and turned to speak with the two Captains who had grudgingly accepted dual responsibility for the merchant ship.  Song had been left behind with Sly and a skeleton crew aboard the Sabine, while the rest divided duties with the four survivors aboard the merchant.  Jariden had invited himself aboard, while leaving his hired crew behind, though this turned out to be in their favour, making it easier to cross the League portion of the border.

"Ah, it seems we may have created our own trap to fall into," he told them.

Jezmi naturally flared up, ready to accuse him, but Maerlon cut her off.  "Explain," he said simply.

"It seems this whole invasion situation was due to the Queen wanting a specific person or persons to be her King," he said.  "I couldn't work out exactly what she was looking for, so I didn't mention it, being that it was too vague and not helpful in the scheme of things.  But I think I know who she is seeking now and she has found them."

"Who is it?" Maerlon asked.  Guran pointed at the twins.  The bridge went silent.  Of course this was not the actual truth, the Queen was not seeking the little backup system turned human, probably was unaware of his existence.  But how was he to explain that the Queen wanted one twin and not the other, he could not tell them that it was because Law was a reincarnated person as was the Queen, who kept chasing him through worlds as she couldn't accept his many rejections.  They probably could accept that the Queen was after the identical twin boys as they were unique in this galaxy.

"She has split her invasion force," Guran warned them.  "One of the megaliths will be returning here to capture them."

Jezmi paled.  "Over my dead body!"  She said and Maerlon nodded in agreement.

"We'll have to initiate the plan then," Maerlon states, rubbing at the stubble on his chin.

"I'll be heading to the scout shuttle then," Guran bowed and left the bridge with his small army of nanochips, the twins began to follow.

"Where do you think you boys are headed off to?" Maerlon demanded.

"Just to see him off," Luck said, tilting his head to one side as he did, causing the crew to believe him instantly.  Maerlon sent Zee to watch them, he'd been their father for too long to trust them so easily.

*****

Just as Guran had claimed, at the front lines, one of the masses retreated, but the Armada could not breath a sigh of relief at that moment.  The three remaining warheads and their hope to win this battle were now useless as without the element of surprise, they could no longer hope to damage the megaliths.  Half of the battleships had fallen, either to the nanochips destroying them or to self destructing and sacrificing themselves.

One mass had been damaged severely over the battle and just when the Imperials felt as if this lone victory was insight, the other megalith absorbed it into itself, gaining what power remained.  The Admiral's were debating whether to use the same sacrifice methods that the fleet who had destroyed the initial invaders had chosen, but were reluctant to use this other than a last resort.  It had not ended well for that fleet after all.  Even after the two Gold Warships and twenty silver warships from the First regiment arrived, they were not feeling optimistic about their chances.

Suddenly, a new voice piped up over the communications channel.  "This is Captain Corsair of the ninth regiment! We are coming to assist!"

"Oh great, it's the traffic control," one Admiral declared sarcastically.  However his words were soon declared null and void, when they listened to what she had to say.

"Will it work?" The Admiral of the First regiment asked, calmly.

"The devs claim it's a sure thing," she replied.  "It's only the range that they are uncertain with, so they provided a second option."

When she had abandoned her Admiral, who had voiced more reasons for their delay, she had encouraged their regiment to the science station to pick up the new weapons.  There was only time to fit the device onto one ship, she had chosen her own as she knew it was risky.  They had quickly shared out the other device, whose success was less guaranteed, but was created in the form of a missile.

She was almost stunned to silence at the sight of the megalith that she would have to move her ship close to face.  "Captain!" Her firstmate shook her from her stupor.

"Sorry," she apologised, quickly, before instructing use of the weapon. If the scientists were true to their word, then the device would disrupt the psionic signal between the chips and their operator.  Sure enough, the range was not great and only the closest chips succumbed to the device.  This at least stopped her ship from being harmed by the chips.

"Captain, the power cells are draining fast!" Her engineer warned her.

She cursed and advised the Admirals and her regiment of the issues, so they would need to use the missiles.  One of the ninth's ships flew close to her to take advantage of her disruptor before blasting one of the prototypes into the ship.  For ten seconds, the chips scattered and appeared to be useless, before the ship reabsorbed them.

"Again!" One of the Admirals demanded.  This time two ships struck it from different directions, causing a larger distruption and the Admiral took advantage of this to send one of the warheads into the unprotected section.  The explosion tore off half of the mass, most dead and the smaller sections easily dealt with under the rapid firing of lasers and missiles.

The ninth did not spare the remaining prototypes and fired them at the remaining mass, which could not evade them all.  The warhead neatly embedded itself before exploding and totally destroying the structure.

There were cheers throughout the channels.  They had lost one gold warship, several silver warships and countless battleships, but they had stopped the invaders from proceeding.

"What about the last one?" One of the Admirals asked.

"Let's send a message to the higher ups first," came a suggestion.  "I want more of those prototype disrupters and warheads before battling any more of those beasts."

*****

The merchant turned into a war machine as it's bulky, unwielding form flew towards the Alliance ships and began to fire all weapons.  As they did this, a small shuttle snuck towards the planet.  The three puppet ships were no real match for the merchant, but as it was not a ship meant for war, it's evasion was poor and it took a fair bit of damage.

Zee came wobbling back onto the bridge, clutching his sore head.  "Captain...!" he tried to explain as he fell into the arms of a concerned Jariden.

Captain Maerlon swore loudly.  "Those little shits!"