Rebirth (Rebel Wars Book 2) Read online

  Rebirth

  Rebel Wars Book 2

  Michael Andrews

  Copyright © 2017 Michael Andrews

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Disclaimer

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, business, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. This story contains explicit language and violence.

  Blurb

  Alice was a simple soldier caught in the war between the Rebellion and the Corporation, but her near-death experience left her in a mechanical body. As she fought to continue the Rebellion she faces the downside of her metallic form and the malfunctions caused by her emotions. Backed by the fierce Paladin order and the Artificial Intelligence, Project; she and her team head off to engage the Corporation on the planet of Cydrak. Cydrak is filled with shapeshifting beasts and alien creatures under siege by the Corporation. Fighting over the location of a mysterious bio-weapon, Alice and her team are pushed to their limits and must overcome themselves as well as the forces of the Corporation in order to save the universe and keep the Rebellion going strong.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 1

  The blue sky reminded Alice of the ocean view she had seen on Earth once as a little girl. Her father had taken there to demonstrate to her where they had come from. Much of Earth had been devastated from various wars and diseases before they’d ascended to the stars, but there were still a few pristine views left. Most of Earth had been treated like a giant museum, reminders of the error of human way stationed every few miles. Of course, she wasn’t on Earth now.

  Alice turned her view downwards, hard-packed earth and industrial sites rushing up at her. On each arm she hoisted a pale metal tube, death’s grisly scythe imprinted on both. She was the avenging wind, a deathly plague diving towards the outpost below with no regard for remorse and no intent for peace. She pulled the trigger on each tube, the cacophonous roars capable of deafening a normal human bore no effect on her drone-like body. The kickback and heat of the weapons gave her just as much concern, smoke clouding her vision for a mere second, the winds were far too strong to let them impede her long. The canisters that ejected from the ends of the weapons careened towards the ground, exploding into hundreds of smaller explosives. Alice missed cackling, this would have been perfect for her to let out a deep and hearty laugh. She kicked off of the drop-pod she was riding on, sparing it a quick glance.

  The crimson paint on the surface of the pod looked menacing enough, a faceless metallic being riding on top of it wielding twin launchers was more than enough to send a wave of fear through the men below her, or at least that was the hope. She tucked her knees to her chest and leaned forward, spinning forward like a pinball ready to bounce harmless off of paddles, only she wasn’t harmless. Before the projectiles could even hit the ground, Alice shot towards the tallest building in the outpost. Red-hot flames flickered into the wood as she collided with it, breaking and smashing through even the sturdiest of beams. She crushed right through the top three floors and landed with a resounding wave of fear in the middle of the crowded hall. Flames and smoke and steam came with her as her suit released the excess heat from her body, sending invisible waves throughout the ground floor. Soldiers dropped metal weapons that rebelled against their touch, wooden objects caught flame and at least three men had been unfortunate enough to catch her when she fell, killing them instantly.

  Explosions roared through the complex as her projectiles found their targets, guided by Project’s near omniscient AI mind. The explosives had targeted particular parts of the complex, mostly fuel supplies and ammo dumps. The targets responded in kind and added their own voice to the mix of panic and explosions around the complex. Alice lay, cradled while her systems rebooted her mind never faulting nor relaxing. She found it couldn’t relax anymore, and her conversation with Master Tillman had confirmed her fears, she was constantly dissolving her own feelings like excess data. It was complicated, and she dismissed the thought. There was plenty of time to think later, there always was. Councilman Robert Tate had feared her current crises would interfere with her ability to command, in some ways he was right, so Alice found new people to command. Violent men and women steeled with hatred and determined for vengeance against the Corporation. Fiora had accompanied her, but Alice was certain even in death she wouldn’t be able to get rid of her.

  The drop-pod smashed through a communications array on its way down, throwing thrusters downwards to slow its descent. It was a sturdy piece of tech and could easily survive the plummet, but the passengers weren’t guaranteed to be as lucky. Alice could hear it touch-down and send a burst of dust and dirt through the air somewhere in the complex, releasing Fiora and her squad of Paladins. The shouts around her were turning from fear into rage and weapons were being drawn. Someone had grabbed a fire extinguisher and yet another had started immediate triage on a wounded soldier. Their day had went from okay to absolute worst case scenario in a matter of seconds, and it was about to get much worse. Alice shot up from the ground, unfurling herself and her multitude of emitters to mimic the rise of an ancient phoenix, spitting hellfire as she revived from the fall.

  Every bolt hit something, even if it wasn’t the intended target. The emitters spat bolts of concentrated heat and light, burning through cloth, armor, and flesh alike. When Alice had landed there had been over fifty men in the room preparing for various tasks, none of them engaging combat with an advanced machine controlled by the mind of a human. Most of the men were human, with only a couple of Corporation handlers who were busy cursing and uttering orders out as fast as they could. They had lost control and Alice had stolen it away from. Each laser created chaos as they scrambled for cover. Alice remembered her old friend, Fear and almost missed knowing what that was like. Some of the men tried to pull weapons out and others tripped and fell as Fear spread his wings laughing as she wished she could. There was no control to be gained, no higher ground, this was death’s playground now and she was going to make sure they knew that.

  A few heavy slugs tore into her shoulders, the armored plating absorbing the damage but sending her spinning, she careened into it and spat out a retort of blasts. Dropping low a Corporation man who was struggling to turn his apparatus on, a bit of luck on her end. She moved through the wooden room and the fires, bringing her arrays up to snipe out a runner. Even in the grip of Fear, she remembered fighting with all of her might to stave off death; these men weren’t even trying. One drove a blade down into her back, managing a sneaky strike against her. She lifted her right leg up with enough force to drive him straight into the ceiling, his blade falling useless to the ground with a clatter. She rushed forward and drove her leg into the remaining Corporation officer. He was in mid-shout at a group of human turn-coats when she caught him in the groin. A crunching sound followed by an echoing scream that acknowledged his defeat. The wood building started crumbling from fire and damage around her, and she knew it was over.

  Alice let the remaining men run, no more slugs or lasers trying to cut her down. She walked casually out of the burning building, as if it
was no big deal; and it wasn’t. She recalled the feeling of first entering this body, how alien it felt. Now it was like a weapon to her, an emotionless bank of combat expertise and carnage. She didn’t care now for taking life, though she usually felt the weight before. She didn’t bother forgiving herself for not caring, after-all it was the traitor Michael that had brought her this way. The memory played in her mind at least four times a day, reminding her of the darkest side of humanity. A man who had been pushed to believe that there was only choice had blown off a portion of her face and put her near-death. The same man had squeezed the trigger on her friends, killing poor Steven and mutilating both Hero and Milly. She wanted to kill him herself, but that had been done already. He had robbed her of her emotional self, of her body she had been born in, and worse yet- he had robbed her of retribution. There had been not feeling of satisfaction to wash over her when she ripped the Demon open, and no sense of danger as her team made their escape. She was fairly certain in her human body, she’d have welcomed death. In a way, he had robbed her of the death he’d set out to cause. Even without true emotions, irony was not lost on her.

  It hadn’t taken long for Councilman (now President) Tate to take command over the Rebellion forces and begin to accept fealty and support from the humans that remained free from Corporation control. Overnight a fire had started, and the Corporation had begun to count costs they’d never believed they would have to. They issued a statement that a mistake had been made and not to hold humans accountable, but Robert blew that away by issuing a statement of open war and mobilizing fleets across space. The known quadrants were armed and sent at each other’s throats. The Birthplace of Stars forge started cranking out ships and weapons at such an alarming rate, even Master Tillman had reservations about their ability to keep up with demand.

  Two months had passed since then, and Alice and her team and swept away outposts every chance they got. This one had stumbled into their lap, a set of Corporation controlled human-defectors running a slave colony. They had forced all the humans to work, setting them to task creating fuel cells and weapons to be used on their own kind. Human Alice had hated human defectors almost as much as she’d hated the Corporation, but she held none of that prejudice now. They were all barriers in her way from shutting her metal body off for good. She couldn’t leave humanity just yet, they had been good to her in her life and she was determined to make Corporation control a thing of the past before she allowed herself to be unplugged. So many people had died since they’d arrived, and she was certain to do her best to make up for it.

  Alice emerged from the burning wreckage and observed Fiora and her Paladins facing off against a well-armored Corporation Officer. The beast of a man was outfitted with extra arms and was holding his own against her entire squad of six men. This was how humans had gotten so pushed back, so out of the fight. One properly outfitted Corporation Officer was capable of taking out entire squads of human soldiers. Alice reflected on the way they’d attacked her colony, and how they’d been able to take down Cal and his men so easily. They had been quite fortunate that they’d been able to survive that attack, and her people had grown so much stronger and braver since then. Fiora hadn’t been present during the attack, but she was becoming a beacon of pride for Alice; if she could feel such a thing. Fiora ducked a blow from one of the four arms the Officer wielded and landed a blow on his stomach, only to have her custom blade turned away by his armor. Alice wanted to interfere, but only for the logistical fact of moving to their objective quicker.

  She raised her arm and started to focus the energy to perform a clean, surgical blast on the distracted Corporation Officer’s face. Before her energy could come to fruition, the man was suddenly grabbed from below and ripped off of his feet. Fiora had dropped and lunged forward, tripping him and knocking them both to the dirt. The rest of her squad took advantage of this and assaulted the joints in his arms, ripping him open like a boiled lobster. Alice released the energy in the air and made her way over as they dropped blade after blade into his armor, rending it.

  “Stop. You have him, capture him for later.” Alice said. Fiora had righted herself and was about to finish him off when Alice spoke. She nodded and brought a heavily armored boot straight down on the fallen Officer’s head. He groaned, his bulging eyes rolled back into his skull and he faded into unconsciousness.

  “He was a tough one. I was surprised he was so easily knocked off his feet with a good old fashioned tackle.” Fiora said. The curvy beauty stood up and stretched her limbs out. The armor was tightly fitted on her, with plenty of flexible plates to deal with her unusually voluptuous figure. Around them the chaos had died down, apparently in the time it took for Alice to destroy a building, they’d established control over the rest of the compound. It was impressive to her, even in her current state that Fiora had gone from the colony’s fantasy pin-up to a lethal Paladin in her own right. Cal would have been proud of her that was certain, though Alice was even more certain Cal would have hated to see her fighting in his place. She’d killed The Demon in revenge for Alex, but he was more closely tied to the death of Cal than he had been to Alex. Didn’t matter. Blood was spilled for blood, as was nature’s way.

  “Never forget the basics.” Alice said. “Project, this site is secure. Any word on the fleet?”

  “You act like I’m not paying any attention.” The A.I. said with a sharp, harmonious tone.

  “It’s not that, Project. It’s I know how distracted you can get. And we both know if we don’t get some measure of protection here, they’ll just take it back. It seems like there was a substantial amount of fuel and ammunition we just blew up.”

  “That you did. But the resources to build more are within the planet’s surface. That colony you’re on is just a refinery operation. The real planet’s atmosphere would rip you apart. The colony sits just in the upper stratosphere and brings materials up via a complex drill system. You’re pretty lucky you didn’t blow the whole thing up.” Project said.

  “You knew all along I was planning on using explosives. You didn’t say anything.”

  “I had a bet going. I didn’t want to spoil the odds.”

  “Yeah, wouldn’t want you to lose out on a bet with the food processor!” Fiora chimed in.

  “Haha. You’re so funny Fiora. I prefer old-Alice’s humor to yours, and she wasn’t even that funny.” Project retorted.

  Alice had ceased paying attention, kneeling down into the dirt and forgetting for a moment she couldn’t physically feel the grains of sand against her flesh. She shook her head in a futile effort to clear it. Her databanks began to empty, and she immediately processed better. In the way a soldier who loses a limb in battle is constantly reminded of the ghost limb, she felt the same way at times with her missing body. She could sense the processors trying to align themselves with the electrical energy of her mental signature, and she could sense them struggling. Moments of battle often incurred this sort of response from her drone carrier, but it would clear up. Master Tillman warned her that over time it may not be able to continue doing so, a malfunction on that level could wind up scrambling her digital brains in the permanent fashion. Alice had asked him if that meant she would die, and he’d responded with no true answer. Even he wasn’t certain if Alice was capable of death at this point.

  “You alright?” Fiora said as she approached Alice’s kneeling form.

  “Of course. I don’t think I can be anything else.” Alice stood up and looked over the five Paladins. They were all young men, that wasn’t surprising. Fiora was one of the few female Paladins in existence, but not for lack of trying. Many women had tried out for the Paladin position, but the modifications and testing had too many permanent effects on the body. It wasn’t that women weren’t tough enough for it, there were just as many strong female Rebels as there were males- however the process often lead to lack of ability to reproduce. Males were far more willing to give that up than females. Alice had lost that ability long before her body had
been destroyed, but Fiora willingly gave it up in order to pursue her new career, and this was quite fascinating to Alice.

  The men avoided looking at Alice’s featureless metal face, instead choosing to check over their weapons and gear. Alice found that she liked them for the most part, felt they were capable and trustworthy. She missed her own band of misfits she’d lead into battle at the Dungeon, but many of them had been re-assigned. Alice had intercepted a document from one of them, a man named Luis who operated the team’s explosives. He had left because Alice was too disturbing to him, he couldn’t bear working with someone he had believed dead and was now “unnatural”. Alice didn’t blame him, she was certain in her human form she may have felt the same way. Though how different was she from Project? He was an artificial intelligence created from the dying brainwaves of a Corporation Officer, he just wasn’t given a drone body to party in.

  “Pod ready.” Project stated.

  The flexibility of the drop pods were amazing in modern day space-warfare. They used to be one time use pods that launched soldiers to the dirt and promptly transformed into junk metal. Now they could be refitted in only a few minutes and ready to launch again. They lacked the power to break atmosphere on most planets, but could get high enough for a ship to drag them the rest of the way without requiring the ship to enter the atmosphere itself. Colonies were different, depending on where they were, when it came to entering and exiting their atmosphere. This colony, being attached to such a strong and resource rich planet, was far too high in the planet’s atmosphere to gain enough momentum to break into the darkness of space.

  Alice nodded, and the rest of the group made their way to the pod. She pondered how it had become so easy to take out outposts of late. Maybe the sudden insurrection was too much for Corporation forces to handle, or maybe they had just grown used to beating Rebellion forces. Times were changing, and Alice was a factor they weren’t ready for. She wondered how long she could keep it up in this faux body, but she pledged to do it as long as she could.