Rebellion (Rebel Wars Book 1) Read online

  “Alex is dead.” Alice said on the video recording playing on the wall. Robert studied her younger features. She was a handsome woman back then, her eyes were full of fire and challenge. The investigator standing over her was shorter than she was if she’d been allowed to stand. His muscles were broad and thick, his eyes bulging against his head like he’d taken too strong a hit in the back.

  “Ghosts don’t kill people. Your husband does. 28 men in one night. He slaughtered an entire advanced patrol. Only a Paladin can do that. Your freaky super-human army is becoming a problem.” The investigator, Garin had said.

  “It’s a problem because you don’t like competition, now let me out of here to mourn my husband.” Alice said, standing up. The room was small with a chair and table, lined with cameras and a couple of in-house defense systems. If the prisoner got rowdy, there was plenty of firepower to put them into a permanent time out. Alice hadn’t been fast enough to duck the blow from Garin. His Corporation backed strength and speed caught her unaware and sent her sprawling backwards. The sound of the cracking of her skull was painful to Tate, even though he’d heard it a million times. The tape cut off.

  He hit another series of controls, this time Alice was standing in front of Garin on a podium. More guns than Tate could ever imagine being necessary were lowered on her. Garin’s remaining good arm held a small light generator towards the small of her back. Alice’s bandages were white and tightly wrapped on her arms, legs, and head. It had been hell getting her to that point, and Robert smiled wishing there was video of the brawls she’d been in. This tape was two weeks after the first, and things had steadily gone down-hill. Tate had called every lawyer and diplomat in the area to get her out of their hands, but law didn’t do much good if at any time a Commander like Bresh could simply dismiss it. Robert wondered if the Demon was first if that meant Bresh would be coming soon after. Or maybe Alice wanted to wait for Bresh to die last. Who could really explain her methods?

  “I come before all peoples of the universe, Corporation and Earthlings alike. Alex, my husband, if you’re out there I beg of you to come back home. You can see what these people are doing to me. Please do not continue this rampage, let them live in peace.” She said, but her lips never seemed to really move. It had taken a little bit of analysis, but all that was being heard was a voice recording she was instructed to lip-sync over. Robert had assumed it was to fool Alex, but it turned out to they couldn’t risk her to say something they were not prepared for. They didn’t want her voice going near the microphone. She had gained too much traction and attention so far.

  Alice’s hands were tied behind her back and bandages ran up her arms. They had put her through so much of what they thought of as hell that she had come back changed. The light in her eyes seemed dark in comparison and no longer could her face be forced to smile a true smile. Whatever happened when her lips curled now would never be considered a smile. The sound of violence announced the video’s end as bolts of raw light rained down upon the corporation goons. The frames stopped, and the video froze. Alice was smiling, but it was the devil’s own.

  Tate clicked off the video and turned toward the door, making his way across the room with purpose. He had one more video and he couldn’t bring himself to watch it, so his purpose was to leave before he convinced himself it was finally time to watch Alex die once more and the true birth of the rebellion.

  “Double all patrols surrounding the base, I want every ship fully loaded and prepared for engagement. Put the Tower on full alert.” He told the nearest guard who barked his orders perfectly. The Councilor brought himself to the nearest elevator, this time flanked by two of the guards outside his door. His personal security team was away from the Tower doing something he hoped would prove far more important than making sure his old and sorry ass was still alive. After a quick minute, the elevator dropped to the lower portion of the Tower and let him out. Each white-shoed step took him closer to his destination, the Star Forge.

  Around the forge was a garden that put Adam and Eve to shame, wildlife and vegetation of every possible kind flooded the area. There were special walkways designed to keep some of the more dangerous beasts and plants away from humans, but there was always that risk. His guards kept him flanked, and it occurred to him that he was fairly certain he hadn’t bothered to learn their names. At one point in time, he was sure he knew everyone, but things had kept changing at a pace his elderly mind was struggling to keep up with. His fingers ached from arthritis and yet the muscle memory kept them yearning to pull a trigger or hack a data pad. He’d been the model soldier in his youth, though they’d never fought a true war during his career. A few rebellions and religious zealots here and there, but nothing to really build a career with. As soon as they had come across a military power, they’d given up. Something his heart would never forgive his race for.

  The branches of massive willows swallowed the path, his guards gently pushing them open to let him through. The light down here fluctuated between bright and dusk and night all over again. The cycle was to keep the various lifeforms happy for at least a period of time. Robert preferred the dusk-view of the Forge more than anything else, but he wasn’t the only one the lighting system had to keep happy. A roar in the distance caught his attention and a quick smile. It was easy to forget the fact entire prides of lions resided in the Tower, a floating cornucopia of surprises. He put his head down as he stepped onto the steel bridge that stretched out to the floating island of the forge. The bridge floated freely of any restraints, held in place by some near-mystical machination of iron and magnets. The bridge was illuminated by mock fireflies floating around him, the sides a sheer black that covered the rest of the world from his view. Anyone watching him step on the bridge would lose sight of him immediately, giving the appearance that he’d taken a step into space.

  Moments passed before he stepped out of the darkness of the bridge and into the hallways that ran through the gargantuan structure. Pounding bass thumps assailed his ears along with the electrical buzz of various machines at work. This was the brainchild of the rebellion, a pure and powerful intellect with advancement being the only purpose worthy of achieving. The parents of the three Tillman sisters resided here, running the entire forge with their army of scientists. It had been no surprise to Robert that they had sent the three girls to go with Alice to her colony, it had been in desperate disrepair since the coming of the Corporation and needed their genius. What did surprise him is that all three of the sisters remained loyal to Alice after returning home. The woman was a solid leader, but she was fierce and not everyone could handle the ferocity beneath her skin- Alex had been the singular exception to this rule. Her fire was dim compared to his.

  Robert shook his head as he walked, the guards stopping to push a mob of drones out of his way. The mechanical people were always called drones, because they had outlawed sentient machines since the 2300’s. Too many laws and moral codes to do it right, and when they had tried it before someone always ended up going too far and the world was left colder after the Artificial Intelligence had left its corporeal form. It wasn’t uncommon for digital A.I., but never again would it be allowed to let one walk in the metal flesh. Reports of an A.I. going crazy in a nearly indestructible shell was never a good thing, and Robert would never let that happen again if he could avoid it. The drones around him were grey, round, and capable of little in the way of processing other than their specific tasks. The traffic jam had been caused by a small magnetic disk dropping in front of them, and they were too busy discussing the logical implications of who should pick up the obstruction than to simply move it out of the way. There were downsides to stupid machines, Tate bemused.

  The guards- Alan and Eric, Robert thought- moved the drones out of the way and leveled their rifles forward, fear splashing on their features. Once the mob had been moved they could see yet another problem along the buzzing internal hallways of the Forge. A tiger napping on one of the bridges ahead of them that would lead throu
gh the maze-like interior. The guards looked back at Robert and Robert shook his head moving forward.

  “Master Tillman.” He shouted.

  “Yes?” Came the voice after a moment’s pause.

  “Your kingdom is a mess and I urgently need to get to the projects lab. Will you kindly get me there?” He stated, exasperation evident in his voice.

  “Ah. Tigers got out again. Such a nuisance. I would love to drop everything I’m doing Councilor and move you to the specified area, but I have approximately 1200 experiments and processes going on right now that it would be far too inconvenient to bother taxing the system further to move you because you can’t get past a feline. You have guns. Shoot it.” Master Tillman said through whatever communication device he was using.

  The guards shrugged and levelled their rifles at the tiger, prepping to spray when the Councilor stepped forward with no regards to their weapons. He simply walked up to the tiger, snapped his fingers, and the tiger looked up at him. It was a beautiful animal, one with eyes the color of unnatural silver and the fangs of a beast that had been accustomed to tearing through armored flesh. They said the unnatural origin of the gardens made the beasts stronger than their Earth kin, and if that was the case that would make anyone brave enough to tangle with them that more impressive. Robert’s finger snap echoed throughout the room and the tiger got to her feet, looking over Robert hesitantly. Tate snapped his fingers once more in an elongated movement outwards, the beast following his hand and stepping outside of his range as if to let him pass. He motioned for his guards to come forward and walk with him. The tiger let out a pained roar before falling to the ground, blood running from its darkened eyes. The guards exchanged looks, unsure of what they had just witnessed.

  “You are new here, so I’ll let what you just witnessed be a lesson. Do not fire your guns in my goddamn tower.” He stated, giving them no looks as he walked ahead of them. “If there is a problem that needs to be solved with violence, find another way to do it. Your ammo won’t pierce the walls or any of that nonsense, however it will create a source of panicked rumors and discussion that will only set us back. Now, as far as to what I just did: you will need to do your best not to say anything about that either. If you must share your experiences over a beer or flagon of ale, then do so and simply embellish the story to say the tiger obeyed my commands from the pure presence of command I exude. But do not mention its demise, I would hate for the world to know I so carelessly expunged a majestic life in order to make way for my walking.”

  Robert’s tone had mellowed and become dangerous, something the guards noted and decided to keep his advice close to their hearts. The door in front of them oscillated and revealed a brightly lit room that seemed to stretch for miles in any direction.

  “This is the project’s lab. I’ll need for you to wait at the door.” Robert said before stepping into the belly of the beast and offering them a subtle grin. He spun on his heels and made his way through the crowds of scientists and gadgets that polluted the project’s lab, with no more regard to the tiger nor the guards on his mind. The suite of available tech was astounding to anyone not used to the many layers and weaves of the project’s lab. He moved swiftly with practiced grace through the corridors, the bright white light of the room cloaking his similar matched suit as he went. Various eyes hovered over him for a mere moment before turning back to their work, it was too important to make the Councilor important to them, after all he was a small man in a new world where advancement was the only crucial thing.

  Tate’s arrival into his laboratory went widely unnoticed by the others occupying the room, his computer terminal humming to life as he got close to it. His fingers touched the pads without much speed or grace. Typing was something he was used to, but never very skilled at. His arthritic knuckles ached as he made his way into the computer terminal, wishing he could have just had access to his office but he knew the reasons why. The files displayed before him showed him some of the new projects the Forge was being used for.

  “Hello, Councilman.” Project said from behind him. Councilman hated the name for the A.I. Why the hell did we have to call it Project? He thought to himself, maybe because it was the first A.I. created using cerebral projections from a corporation mind. Project had let them understand more about their foes than virtually any other study could have let them know. The A.I. worked much faster than any A.I. ever created and it almost never allowed itself to rest.

  “Yes?” Tate replied.

  “Welcome again to my laboratory. Is there anything I can assist you with? As you can tell, my task delegation programming has improved. The lab is functioning and processing faster than any lab in human history ever has. Even Master Tillman is impressed.” The A.I.’s voice was smooth and harmonic, almost song like. That variation in the vocal patterns was something that Tate had always liked hearing. This was not one of those times however, as he was scanning through the research documents. He needed something to ensure that Alice would be able to complete her mission to gain access to the Library. This wasn’t going to end well if she didn’t and still went on her way to assassinate The Demon. She would need a bit of help, or she’d wind up disassembled and rendered to nothing just like her late husband. There were humane officers of the Corporation, but The Demon and his inquisitors were not amongst them.

  “Yes, very impressive. Access security cameras from my office, view my meeting with Alice.” Tate said.

  “Done. She’s biologically stupid.” Project said.

  “No, she’s not. Her mind isn’t based in science or politics, it’s based in warfare. Review her ship’s records from her most recent flight.”

  “Done. I will agree with your previous assessment, she is not quite stupid. But her intellect is overshadowed greatly by her hormonal responses.” Project said.

  “Yes, this is true. Do you understand what I have requested her to do?” Robert Tate said.

  “Of course. I also understand the realms of thought that would allow you believe that is a good idea, assuming of course you do actually believe that is a good idea and you’re not just trying to get her killed to avoid the inevitability of open war. I personally think that you’re trying to kill her, but we will talk under the rouse that I believe your deception.” Project said, giving a noticeable wink but Robert wasn’t looking at him as he absently thumbed through various blue prints and lab reports.

  “Your sense of humor needs an upgrade. I’m not trying to kill her. I owe her husband too much to let her die. But you are correct that if she does die, there is little skin off the rebellion’s teeth and we go back to our chess game with the Corporation. So play along as you wish, but right now I need to know if you have any projects available that we might be able to use to assist her.” He said

  “I will play along. It depends, we have no maps or recon on the Dungeon itself. It seems to be that the Dungeon is a small space station that orbits a gas giant. The planet will be inconsequential to the mission, so I assume that they will be attempting some sort of direct landing on the station. Stealth options are limited as the station will know when their ship gets near them, and a direct raid will be highly unwise. It seems to me that they will need a way to disrupt sensors and still manipulate their docking procedures to allow them aboard.” Project said.

  “Yes. But what do we have that can provide that? They picked up a box that privateers use to disrupt light-speed travel. But they burned it out increasing the output to disable to enemy ships.” Robert replied.

  “So I will go with them.” Project said. Robert scoffed immediately, ignoring him.

  “I was thinking maybe if we upgrade project SSLO9 we can use it to disable all subspace communications long enough to get them to slip into docking range. And if we give them an upgrade to Hero’s Paladin armor we will be able to use him to provide a distraction long enough for Alice and her team to engage the inquisitors.” Robert said.

  “SSLO9 is a glorified walkie-talkie and immensely weak compared to my
genius. You’re ignoring me, but I know you heard me. I will assist them in the mission. My manipulation and upgrade capacities on their vessel will render them invisible, and allow me to take over the A.I. onboard the station. You can send another A.I. if you wish, but I am the best choice. Not to mention, your girl will have no clue what to do with the Library even if she manages to find it. I will.” Project said.

  Councilman Robert Tate hated tough decisions. He had to make them all the time and it frustrated him that for once an easy solution didn’t present itself. This seemed to be an easy solution, but how well did he truly trust an A.I. fashioned off the brainwaves of a dead Corporation Officer? He supposed he trusted the A.I. enough to manipulate the most powerful research vessel in the history of the galaxy, so what harm could it be to send Project with Alice? He was going to ask how the projects here without physically being here, then considered himself an idiot for even questioning Project’s capabilities in that regard. The super-sentient computer program could probably a million processes at once before realizing it could do triple that amount. Robert stopped thumbing through the files when he came across a newly uploaded project from the Stormbreaker. The authorization signature was from Alice, but it wasn’t her project. Robert could barely believe his eyes when he realized it was written and designed by Andreya and her younger sister Lisa. He didn’t see the third sister’s imprint on it, but that rarely meant anything as Milly was the most forgetful of the two.