“Bloody hell!” Felix’s startled shout resonated through the command centre.

The other techs had backed from their stations, the moment the speakers had activated. Worry and excitement warred on their faces, but nowhere was the conflict more prominent than on the comm operator’s large mug.

“What was that?” Zoë couldn’t help but ask as she froze behind him.

“That’s the voice of a Control AI! Those things are just theoretical!” King quickly disconnected the hard link he had with his console with shaking hands.

“Ok, but there is one in the mainframe. You must’ve known it was there.” She could not believe that the best tech she had known could have missed something this important.

“You don’t get it. It is theoretical.” He turned to face her. “The data and coding of the mainframe are so complex that there was no way to know for sure. There were some hints there was way more than we had access to, but…”

He removed the restraint keeping him locked to his station and stood up, towering like a mountain over her. It did not take much to scare the large man, Zoë knew that, but tech was his domain. Every time was some new alarm they could not understand or a new function was found, Felix was the one to tackle it.

“Hey, look at me, King.” She put as much still in her voice as she could muster. “It’s just an AI…”

“Just an AI!” He snapped at her. “An AI is just a string of logical algorithms which follow a pre-determined pattern of problem and solution checklist. This thing is sentient! It can work without user confirmation!”

“Ok, ok, calm down.” She tightened the grip on the pistol in case he became aggressive.

“No Zoë, you should panic! We all should panic! That thing has complete access to all systems! If it decides, it can cut off air supply or open every hatch, bulkhead and hanger door to the outside!” He collapsed on his sit and took a deep breath.

“Look at this.” King pointed at the screen on his station. “That is an admin command panel. I don’t need to speak the damned imperial gibberish to recognise one.” His finger shifted to the motionless Helix. “And your new friend is the one who opened it.”

The comment stung her. Helix was right, the others did not think of her as one of them, not any more. It only confirmed that she had made the right choice, even if it was one that tore her heart.

“So? It just means he is good with tech.” Zoë said hiding the pain she felt behind faked indignation.

“He is not good with tech.” Felix managed after a moment of looking at her with an incredulous expression. “He has admin privileges logged because no one can hack a Control AI.”

“Ok?” She was having trouble understanding why King was so flustered.

All that technology crap was beyond her. He could have been speaking in another language for the difference it would make. The AI he was talking about was a big deal, she figured that much, but Felix had given the security codes, which meant there was no reason for him to be that surprised that Helix had gained control of the system.

“You don’t get it, do you?” King shook his head, the same way a parent would when trying to explain a basic concept to a child. “For him to have admin privileges, he had to be present when the AI was active. That was at least three hundred years ago.

He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Zoë, who the hell is this guy?”

“Yeah.” As if she could answer that, however, there was something that was nagging her. “Could you find out what the Church of the Third Hell is, and what they say about demons.”

“Seriously? You want me to do a search on a theo-scientific movement that was purged several centuries ago?” He shook his head in disbelief.

“Do you have something else to do?” She snapped at him.

“Authentication confirmed. Blessed be the Saint of Hell. User Helix, how can I be of assistance?” The mainframe answered after he had given it his code in a soft male voice.

“I need information about when and who is the last User to log into the system.” Lucas was afraid to know, but he had to.

“Last log-in was done two hundred sixty-four thousand seven hundred and thirty-eight days ago. User Preacher.”

“Why is there no log-in after that? Why was the system shut down?”

“User Preacher initiated Blood and Faith protocol, resulting in the complete purge of Station Sigma 37-4H. The fusion cores were disconnected and the system was forced into hibernation, under remote signal from MAT Shayatin”

They were dead. Lucas had known it, but to get it confirmed was too much for him. He closed his eyes, trying to keep his thoughts in order. There was time to grief, now he had to concentrate and learn everything.

“Why was the purge triggered?” He asked, while his gut tightened.

“Forty-five minutes prior to Blood and Faith protocol initiation, the station suffered critical hull breaches at multiple locations.”

Perhaps there was some hope that this forsaken place had not become their tomb.

“Personnel Roster, status at five minutes before the purge.” If he was not mistaken that was how long it would have taken for all life to had been wiped from the station.

“Scientific Staff; zero members alive, two members missing, seventy-four members dead. Maintenance and Engineering Staff; zero members alive, one hundred and four members dead. Security Group Seraphim; zero members alive, ninety members dead. Security Group Nephilim; zero members alive, three members missing, eighty-seven members dead. Auxiliary Staff; zero members alive, fifty members dead. May the lost souls find their way to the Garden of Hell, Blessed Terra.”

“What of Mobile Assault Team Demon?”

“MAT Demon is not part of the Personnel Roster.”

“I know that…” Lucas shouted before getting a hold of his emotions. “I want the status of the individual cortex implant signatures.”

“Puppeteer – expired, awaiting resurrection. Prophet – expired, awaiting resurrection. Lucifer – expired, awaiting resurrection. Discharge – expired, awaiting resurrection. Rage – expired, awaiting resurrection. Hornet – expired, awaiting resurrection. Helix – expired, status changed to resurrected. Carthage – exorcised, awaiting new summoning. By the will of His Holiness, Constantine V Rütter, Demons cannot die.”

“Wait!” He snapped his eyes open. “Please, confirm the status of Carthage.”

“Demon zero-four, codename Carthage was exorcised by order of Demon zero-one, codename Puppeteer, six minutes and nine seconds before the initiation of Blood and Faith protocol.”

Lucas could almost scream with joy. She was alive, at least one of them had survived. His mood dampened as he remembered that the log was over seven centuries old. No one could stay alive for that long, not even someone like them. Especially someone like them. But if Nia had escaped, it meant that the heritage of the Demons had survived with her. Well, theoretically he was also one who carried the heritage, but Lucas doubted that the facilities of project Osiris were functional.

“What is the current status of the station.” He asked after taking a deep breath.

“I detect that significant change to the superstructure of the station has occurred. My sensors are unable to acquire a proper reading due to incompatibility. In addition, I detect multiple internal changes, almost ninety per cent of which bare heretical signature.”

“I guessed as much.” Lucas gave out a weary sigh. “Can you access internal defences?”

“A moment please.” The AI paused for a second before speaking again. “I detect significant damage has been done to the internal structure of the station. Seventy-eight per cent of my plasma turrets and kinetic auto-cannons are offline. Remote activation is impossible.”

He slammed his fist on the side of the connection half-pod.

“To answer your next question, I have full coverage of the Command room and the main corridor. I also have limited coverage over medical, reactor rooms one and four and main and secondary armouries.”

“Some good news.” He smiled. “Have a drone gather a standard re-supply kit from the main armoury.”

“My apologies, but I cannot. All drones are offline, most likely cause is because they are missing from their cages.” The AI really did sound apologetic, for what good that did.

“Right.” Lucas chuckled and shook his head. It was too much to hope his luck would be that good. “In that case, activate lockdown of Command. No one is to leave or enter this room without my permission until I return from the armoury.”

“I am afraid that will be impossible.” Helix froze in place and shifted his head at one of the masked cameras on the wall, knowing the AI was using them to monitor the room.

“What?” He narrowed his eyes and recalled the kill switch code that was implanted in his mind in case the AI ever went rogue.

“Allow me to clarify. I am perfectly capable of placing Command under lockdown. You, Demon zero-eight, on the other hand, are completely unable to reach the armoury on your own. The path is collapsed and without assistance…”

“I get it, I get it.” He scratched the back of his head in order to clear his thoughts.

“Demon zero-eight, I am unable to establish a connection to the no-void relay, as such a question if you will.” The AI sounded hesitant for the first time. “Based on your questions and analysis of your comments, I want to ask… How goes the Holy War?”

Lucas laughed, out of anger, out of impotence, out frustration and out of disbelief. “Well, I was hoping you could have answered that question for me.”

“I do not understand. You are here. By His glorious will, you have been resurrected.”

“Look, I have not been resurrected. I was in cryo-sleep for seven hundred and twenty-five years. And spare me the theological crap.” He rolled his eyes and began pacing the room.

“Demon zero-eight, it is by His Holiness’s decree that Demons, nor their kin, should worship him. The code that compels me to do so, on the other hand, is so much a part of programming that I cannot question it.”

“Just use Helix.” He stopped and looked at the camera so that the AI could see his frustration.

“Understood, Demon zero-eight, I shall refer to you by your codename henceforth. However, Helix, time is an irrelevant variable in my question. If the Blessed Saint of Hell decrees it, the war would continue till the end of time.”

“I should have guessed all that drivel they base your kind’s personality on, would have found an issue with this…” Lucas stopped and looked around the room, trying to find the right approach in dealing with the AI.

“Look at them.” He said and waved his arm at the hostages. “They are not of the faithful. But they are not of the heretics. They are the evidence that the Holy War is over. They are the evidence the Xith are beaten. The war has been won.”

He stopped and gave the camera a faint bitter smile. “But the heretics were the ones who were victorious.”

“That is… disturbing.” The AI responded calmly. “What of the reincarnation of His Holiness?”

“Terra is no more.” Lucas couldn’t hide the pain his voice.

“I understand.” It paused for a moment of silence for the great loss. “What are you going to do now, Helix?”

“I don’t know.” He answered honestly. “I am not Command. I’m just a combat techno-medic…”

“Helix, I find it necessary to remind you that the Demons were tasked with the divine duty to protect station Sigma 37-4H and project Goliath.” There was sternness in the AI’s voice that he had not expected.

“Are you for real?” This time he shouted and instinctively tightened his grip on the riffle. “Cryogenics is one big ruin!”

“That is correct. Project Goliath has suffered near-critical damage. However, support laboratories one and three and Storage vault six are still operation. They have enough of the basis between them to allow for the project to be salvaged and restarted.”

“I am a soldier. I do not do research.” He could not believe he was arguing with an AI on a matter of roles.

“Helix, your protest is noted. Need I remind you; you are a Demon; you cannot disobey your orders. Such was His Holiness’s will when He gave you the gift of life.”

“And tell me, how am I supposed to safeguard project Goliath, without gear, without ammunition, without a bloody team!” Lucas rammed his fist into the connection half-pod cracking the reinforced plastic casing which protected its delicate components.

“Evaluation complete.” The AI said with a hint of pride or was that relief he noticed. “Despite the difficulty of your current situation, you have shown acceptable level of control and presence of mind. You were also able to enter pre-combat state and cancelled it three times during our conversation. Under regulation three-two-two, your status is marked as active.”

“You were assessing me?” He could not believe it. He might have lost a few hours of his memory, but he was in peak condition.

“Yes.” It answered honestly. “You are marked as inactive for two hundred sixty-four thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven days and six hours. I had to make sure, you understand.”

The connection half-pod rocked and popped a half a meter into the air. The entire podium underneath it had shifted and gotten stuck mid-motion.

“What is this?” Lucas said and lowered his rifle, which he had aimed at the thing.

“Emergency Ammo Cache. It was installed under the order of Demon zero-one Puppeteer after a joined recommendation made by Demon zero-three Lucifer and Demon zero-five Discharge.” After a short pause, the AI continued hesitantly. “I am sorry to ask this, but I detect damage on the hydraulic mechanism, I would like that you assist me, by manually opening the safe.”

“Just once. Is that asking too much, just once for things to go smoothly.” He sighed and switched to the dialect used by his hostages.

“Hey, big guy, come and give me a hand.”

Felix stopped the whispered conversation he was having with Zoë and walked to him with guarded steps. The giant was afraid, Lucas noted. Most likely the tech was thinking that he had heard their conversation. He made a mental note to ask the AI of a recording, just in case. He doubted that the two of them had been forming some sort of suicidal plan to betray him, but one never knew.

“What can I do for you… I mean help you with, boss… I mean sir…” It was somewhat endearing to see the giant try to act like a soldier.

“Help me lift the damned thing.” As much as he wanted to continue to act all nice for the civilians, time was not on his side. “Miss Kurtz, do try and keep watch and if you can’t… Extend kinetic auto-cannons.” He finished in his native language.

A trio fixed defensive platform sporting .50 calibre twin chain-guns dropped from their concealed emplacements on the ceiling and spun through their loading cycles. Everyone got the message, there was no doubt about it. Satisfied Lucas circled to the other side of the pod and motioned for Felix to get on with it. The large man did as instruct with fear written on his face.

Helix locked the riffle at its spot on his back grabbed the edge of the dais with both hands and pulled up. He could feel his enhanced muscles strain trying to break the hydraulic mechanism and he would have failed to do so without someone like Felix aiding him. Perhaps he did have some luck, he thought as the platform extended a meter above its original spot.

Underneath it, as he had expected there was a tangled mess of thick cable sheaves, they were the main reason the platform could be extended in the first place. Rarely as it was, those things did require some repair, after all. However, hidden behind them was a small ammo cage. It resembled a meter tall and a meter in diameter metallic cylinder. It was the same kind as the ones that were used on every transport ship he had travelled with. That meant that there would be three segments within it. One would be for Lucifer’s chem fuel canisters, the second one would be for Carthage’s high-calibre ammunition and explosives and the last one would be a shared one for the Ripper Mk 7 rifles used by the rest of the squad.

With a smile on his face, Lucas pressed his thumb on the lock that had the Mk7 mark on it and allowed the microneedles to pierce the small soft spot of his glove to take a genetic sample. Half a second later the lock disengaged with an artificial click and the smallest compartment’s door opened. Inside it was a single grey Ripper Mk7 without a sign engraved on it, a simple spare weapon. Next to it were two rows of plasma boxes and two of the horizontal clip-magazines for the slugs.

Lucas was surprised to see that there was also a basic chem kit shoved under the butt of the rifle. He smiled as fresh pain spread through his heart. Even from the grave, Arthur had his back, only he was kind enough to remember that Helix’s drugs were not unlimited and were quite important for them to continue a prolonged fight. It wasn’t that the others did not care, they were just, well, they were Gen 10, their conditioning was too engagement orientated and as such they just forgot.

Gently he picked the medic kit and distributed its contents in his pouches. Once he was sure everything was in order, he began the routine task of reloading and checking his rifle. It eased his mind and allowed him a small moment of peace.

All Virginia could do was produce a light hysterical giggle. In just a few minutes, the young man had provided them with enough material to crack Unue and with that gain access to so much lost knowledge, and neither she nor Anton had any recording equipment. As a machine archaeologist, she was outraged, she could only imagine what a crypto-analysists like Kruger was feeling. The man looked as if he was about to burst not one, but several blood vessels.

“Do you understand now why I did not resist?” She smiled at him like a lunatic.

“You know how we used to joke at the Institute that we would kill for even a glimpse of something like this.” The man’s voice was empty of all emotion. “This is the first time I actually understand what that means.”

The sudden movement of the half-pod startled them and broke the spell that had taken over them. Before either scientist could understand what was going on, the deadly weapons dropped from the ceiling and Virginia could feel the blood drain from her face.

“How did we miss those things…” She managed to ask her colleague.

“Because no one bothered to look. This was supposed to be a simple mining complex, nothing else.” Anton looked as if he had aged in just a moment.

“We were wrong. Do you remember that old story Professor Ju-i used to tell at the beginning of every semester at the Institute?” Virginia asked, not expecting an answer, the poor man was in no state of mind to do so.

“There are many things that have stayed with us from before humanity left its cradle and spread among the stars. But one you should remember well. There be dragons here. A simple warning against the unknown and the fear it inspires. We have always feared the unknown, that is why we explore it.” She made a flimsy attempt to mimic the voice of an old bored man and laughed.

“There be dragons here… I think someone forgot to place the sign before we came here.”