Baquil stood awestruck before slowly turning and facing the mercenaries,

“Major, take these gentlemen to the lounge and close the deal, I believe I have to fix a situation” she breathed.

"Yes, Colonel"

The Major nodded and obediently led the executives, bandits and cloaked figure into the lounge.

She then faced the Sergeant who had been viewing the Zin compound on satellite, reeling back in shock as she saw the horrific altercation which was taking place.

“What” she cried.

“I'm not sure, it just popped up a few minutes ago, I think it must have been cloaked,” he responded.

Baquil slammed her fist against the master alarm causing yellow lights to streak across the room.

Hovering a few hundred meters away from the scorched ruins of the base was an Epsilon ship. A colossal craft casting a shadow of the entire area could be seen carving its way through the thick concrete with precision laser blasts.

“Sargent, contact headquarters, find out the markings on that ship and get me their contact information I want an explanation! This is my mission, my plan” she roared.

Now furiously typing away at a console she whipped out a device and shouted more commands at the team.

“Captain, contact that vessel, I want them to explain the nature of their attack, I want to know who’s running that operation” she barked.

“Yes, Colonel” she replied.

The Captain spun around in her chair to plug in a series of wires, connecting through radio to the military craft below. Placing a headset over one ear she spoke into the microphone.

“This is Orbiter Sub Command, I repeat this is Orbiter Sub Command, please state the nature of your attack, I repeat please state the nature of your attack and your commanding officer”

No response ringed back, only empty crackling silence.

"Try again," she hissed, hand resting on her holster.

The Captain frantically started pressing buttons, trying everything possible, emergency codes even signal messaging.

"Nothing's working Colonel, I don't even think it's being received" she cried.

“Try issuing it on a civilian channel,” Baquil shouted while barking orders to a nearby cadet.

“But Colonel, the entire planet would hear…”

She turned frightened, hands frozen in action, unaware of what to do next.

“ I don't have time to put in the requisition forms, we have an asset on the ground, just do it,” she cursed.

Grabbing the microphone the captain began to shout a quick message, ensuring a steady broadcast throughout.

“This is Orbiter Sub Command, I repeat this is Orbiter Sub Command, please state the nature of your attack, I repeat please state the nature of your attack and your commanding officer”

Still, an eerie silence was all that was returned.

“Sargent, what did the serial number detail?”

The soldier fumbled forward, a silver tablet in his hands.

“According to our records the ship is one of the many patrol cruisers which orbit the planet, a standby craft for security purposes, shortly after the unexpected pilot breached the planet’s atmosphere the vessel was reassigned to a classified operation, I’m getting nothing but firewalls past this point, I’m sorry Colonel, although I do have an explanation as to why they are not responding"

"We did a structural analysis of the vessel through the photos, its short and long-range communications antennas have been destroyed, and we are still trying to find some sort of explanation. There's nothing there but tarnished metal and the damage looks internal” he replied.

Baquil pounded her fist upon the desk in fury, before gazing into the hologram infront.

"What could do that to an antenna?"

"I know Colonel, it's a clean blast"

Baquil's eyes flashed for a moment before she

“Any reply from headquarters? We may have to neutralize the vessel” she questioned.

“No response, still pending” he replied.

"Still pending? What do you mean still pending"

"No response.." the soldier replied.

"This isn't some backwater, this is the Orbiter, we should have a response and now" she cried.

Baquil stood back, gazing at a giant hologram of the picture in the center of the room, her mind viciously calculating, eyes tossing side to side as she tried to find out the best course of action.

"If there's no reply in fifteen seconds I want an orbital strike on its position, clean and direct taking out all weapons systems, then requisition two T-52 teams to scout the ruins, we will set up a five..."

Suddenly a sharp ring sprang through the room. The officers all looked up in horror at its source.

Hand shaking Baquil slowly turned to look at the red panel sitting at the main control console, the ring, sending shivers down her spine.

Baquil stalked forward, her hand gliding through the air to rest on the receiver. Bringing the panel up to her ear she whispered one word.

“Baquil?”

There was a moment of silence before her reply was met with a buzz of static.

“Director Qux, has landed on the Orbiter, he wishes to speak to you about certain events in the past 24 hours.” a synthetic voice replied.

“Who is this?” she questioned.

No answer replied as the device went dead. A soldier entered the room, the steel doors sliding open.

It was one of Qux’s guards, a battle-hardened veteran of the third order.

Baquil offered a sharp salute as he entered, preparing for the worst.

“Director Qux has arrived and requests your presence” he announced before stepping to the side in a dignified manner.

Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and raised their hands in a respectful salute as the director entered, his presence casting a wave of putrid fear among all.

Walking forward in a ceremonial gold crested uniform, upon his chest showed a precocious amount of medals. His greyish hair flapping in the air-conditioning.

“Director, I wasn’t expecting you,” she said, her voice quavering

"Conference One, Now" he waved.

Baquil followed as they stalked down the metal halls in silence before eventually reaching a vast chamber. The director placed his hand upon a scanner quickly before ushering her inside.

“Baquil we need to talk, I presume you are familiar with Colonel Parkins, General Yee, Minister Avion, Minister Moin and Governor Alion”

He motioned to a series of bureaucrats and militiamen who were behind him, most were wearing the elaborate and beautiful uniforms of a supreme society, however, all had worried looks plastered on their pale faces.

Baquil kept her hand saluted, surprised to have this many high-ranking officials in the same room.

"Sit down" he stated.

Colonel Parkins was a short grey-haired man, one of true collective blood meaning he had facial features similar to an Earth Asian, General Yee, a tall thin man, his complexion dark, a section of his eye was removed, a robotic counter piece firmly lodged in its place, Governor Alion was a tall female who wore a white uniform coated with various medals and achievements, a popular politician among the younger generations.

Lastly, the two ministers had the look of bloodthirsty elderly cutthroats who had been in politics since the dawn of time.

Clearing her throat Baquil quickly took charge of the room, abducting the conference.

“I need to talk to you about something…”

"Sit down Colonel it can wait" the general replied hastily.

Alion took to the podium, almost shivering in fear.

The director took the head seat at the table and the rest filled in the empty spots.

“Not soon ago, the collective was faced with one of the greatest threats it has seen since the Kestle war when an unknown pilot in an unknown technologically superior craft, defied known science and appeared at the center of our solar system. Once we had quickly disrupted this enemy with a horrific amount of force needed, the ship crashed, suspiciously close to where your asset was located, upon arrival, the creature said it only wished to see “one person”

"One person?" Baquil questioned.

"Yes" she replied cooly

Alion played a tape from the shattered droids recordings of the creature's voice, its elegance and charismatic nature sending shivers down their spines.

"I think we know what that is" the Colonel muttered.

"Quiet, let the director speak" Yee barked.

Now, this same creature was violently apprehended, and last we heard it was on a heavily guarded Epsilon ship heading for a secure facility in the Northern hemisphere."

"Where is this now?" Baquil asked.

"That's the question" General Yee stated.

The Admiral pulled up a log of the vessel's last transmissions and thrust it upon the table.

"Thirty minutes after takeoff the Epsilon ship disappeared, not a single soul was to be heard from, and the only survivors from the mission were squads in the nearby town who were sent to investigate the c-52 carrier”

“Missing?” Baquil cried.

“Yes, missing” a minister added.

“How does an Epsilon ship go missing? It’s practically the size of a town itself?”

“We believe the pilot of whatever craft penetrated the surface was able to incapacitate the crew and take over, possible cloaking the craft and making modifications against our override controls, at exactly 0753 today the craft disappeared, vanished without a trace, currently a team of sixty scientists are trying to use mathematics to discover its location however we know two things, one it hasn’t triggered the shield meaning it’s still on the planet and two, it is anywhere in this circular radius.”

"Or it's attacking Zin's compound" Baquil shouted.

"What?" the director questioned.

"An Epsilon ship, it recently interfered with our abduction, started carving up the Zin compound" she replied.

"Zin? who?" Alion inquired.

"Is this the legion General Zin?" a minister questioned worriedly.

"Yes, he's still alive surprisingly," Baquil replied.

"I can send the coordinates and launch a recovery team immediately" Baquil suggested.

"Send them but stand by, we still don't know if this is the work of a separate government branch," the minister said coolly.

"Can we not act?" a general inquired.

"No, any form of mutiny or take over at this scale has to be brought before a governing panel, standard regulations" the Director responded.

“With all due respect Sir, then why are you bringing this to me? Shouldn’t this be sent to a crisis room if not the President himself?” Baquil asked.

"Silence Director, there is a reason we are here" a minister shouted.

“That's the problem, we haven't heard from the collective command in over twenty-four hours, we all sent messages along with twenty other political members however none have been able to make contact, the governmental tower is dark, and I myself have dispatched seven troops to give a physical message and scout what is happening but we still have no idea, right now we are all reporting to the Grand Admiral Mionius.

He has gathered council across the area and we are trying to put together a string of events, following these events we even sent thirty soldiers to the skyscrapers but still, they were barred from access, drones have closed off the area, and an army of thousands lining its halls and with the protection of the tower, I fear the worst, every governmental official in our parliament buildings has been incapacitated, we are at a loss of leadership, that is why this was all able to happen, that is why our forces are in such chaos” The governor replied.

"Can we not shut down these troops? Could they be standing guard due to some precalculated threat? Litmos has never failed" Yee responded.

"That would be, unlikely, and ignorant to believe, I think we all know the cause" a minister cursed.

"If that is true then surely we are doomed" he replied.

"Do not speak of death yet General" the director interjected.

“There is only one entity able to carry out such a feat and if we are to understand what is going on a force of combined might is needed to take back the parliament buildings"

"A feat which will bear no easy toll" the governor stated.

"She may have taken control, to our luck the Collective backbone and mainframe is run by Litmos, and that AI is entirely dependable, and the reason why we do not need to worry about any form of leak, however, she, she still holds vast amounts of power,”

Baquil looked startled at these remarks, possibly frightened, a fiery light of curiosity burning in her eyes.

“But then why here? She is everywhere, she is almost the backbone of our civilization, direct action against her would be futile?”

“If that is true then everything is doomed however we have to assume her protocols have stayed the same and there is some sort of external reason for this, we can not assume the worst without exploring every other possible scenario"

"An ignorant stance it seems," the general said.

"Right now the Grand Admiral has commissioned this team to discover the location of the Epsilon ship, and since it has varying ties to John Taylor, then we decided it was best to bring it to you Baquil.” the governor said.

They cleared their throats and Baquil motioned towards the hologram.

"Here, we might as well observe our enemy" she replied.

They sat in awe as she showed them the live footage of the Epsilon ship tearing into Zin’s compound. Walls crumbling as the colossal craft of war churned the land in ash and smoke.

"I will not sit idly by and watch, if the halls of our people are silent then we will act" the governor shouted.

"Do we agree?" Alion inquired.

"Yes," they nodded in unison.

The Director leaped to his feet and barked orders at one of his guards from behind possibly to have the craft swiftly neutralized.

“We still have time, we can dispatch troops to the location and have the ship neutralized within moments" Alion shouted.

"The ship should be our main priority, there are citizens in the Northern Hemisphere's lives that are endangered" the director questioned.

"The entity came for him.. he must be vital, crucial, he is the final piece" a minister muttered.

“But is it worth it?” the director replied.

“What do you mean?” the governor asked.

“I think this charade has gone on long enough, I believe we all know what sits at the control of that ship"

"You think it's time we enlighten Baquil?"

"Yes I do, we have no more time for lies" the director shouted.

He turned, eyes placid with fear and began to speak.

"there's a reason why we are so obsessed with immortality, striving for a false treasure, and it is not the reason you were spouted in the propaganda of your childhood Baquil."

"We don't have all day director, make it quick" Alion cursed.

"Why do you think the collective does not control a more vast chunk of the galaxy?" he began to stalk around the room as he spoke, eyes drifting towards the outside.

"Power? preservation of course, why spread ourselves thin, why not ensure peace and tranquillity in our lands?" Baquil replied.

"Peace? peace? if we were so concerned about peace, a planet of starving and damned would not lie beneath this station" he cried.

The director stopped moving to assert his final gaze upon the planet below.

"there's a reason for all of this, a reason for this visit, a reason for every gallon of blood split and Quand spent."

"A reason for the needless bloodshed" a governor muttered.

"In the early days of our spacefaring, as you well know, we were visited by the creature, we were frightened, no, terrified. We had just been attacked by an entity so powerful it inspired fear in the hearts for generations, became taboo, a legend, a horror story of ancient time, a religion and naturally we decided we needed some sort of defence, how could you sleep knowing your fate lay in the gambling hands of an unknown enemy? The clutches of another being who may rid your very existence with the snap of its finger, your life existing at the whim of another. Destiny in the grasp of someone who cared not for anything but themselves and thought of all life was made to grovel at its divine feet.

Our entire livelihood was determined by one snide invisible, omnipotent creature, we did not want to be the feeble peasants who lived under a watchful god, gambling at the feat of some unknown lord. We didn’t want to be in the luxury of the domain of evil. So we acted as fast as possible, this was over a thousand years ago, dating back to the remnants of history, the very beginning of time itself. We strew ships across a thousand stars to find the truth, to find the source of the immense being, at first we found nothing, simply dust and blood but eventually, we found fractures, legends of a grand society and of blood-chilling atrocities which had been committed in its wake, we found empty fleets of space-vessels, grand armadas ten times the size of our proudest navy abandoned. We found magnificent ancient spires and cities, which would merit legends of old, we stumbled upon entire planets with cities and colonies of millions buried under miles of placid sand.

We came across legions of the dead, piles of bodies slaughtered eons before our people ever picked up a spear, their blissful towers were cracked and shattered, their great cities nothing but crumbling foundations, and what was fascinating was what we discovered was just the beginning, Civilization enough to make our mighty empire seem like a squabble of mud, a series of forwarding outposts, great worlds marvelling our own homeworld nothing but measly space-ports in their grand utopian society. Our greatest achievements were but a fraction of their power.

When the teams tried to send vessels into the heart of the abandoned, we could never find out what happened, nothing but empty silence would return, our communications would falter and not one of the brave soldiers or expeditions we sent in ever returned.

However despite this massive loss of life, the trip did bear one crucial tool among the dead there was a single moon, orbiting a small desert planet, alone in the twisting halls of a vast military complex we found a raving madman, they were the last of their species, ravaged by grief and loneliness to the point of hysteria. The being had used cryogenics and advanced cybernetics to stay alive hanging on to existence by a thread, a candle flickering in the hot dry wind.

Upon our first encounter it seemed horrified but soon rejoiced. It muttered words, a half speech of its former tongue and a dialect our translators still are unable to decode. To our dismay, the creature died three days after we found it, but it was adamant about one thing, we inspected a single device it held dear, it was a square box a few meters in diameter we called the Invictus cube, its insides alien and immensely complex, a creation from unknown science, centuries ahead of its time and millions ahead of ours.

What the creature had done was find the solution, it had created a shield, a working field that surrounded up to seventeen entire solar systems and protected them from the touch of god, it was a way to be free, a way to escape destiny furiously drawn out by another, a way to truly live. We were no longer subject to the shackles of oppression and destiny of fate. A device had been fashioned to give back freedom, and liberty to existence. It died before the secrets of the box were fully revealed, only able to explain how to use it, not how to create it.

I believe it was trying to make something to save its own people but was too late, able to finish the magnificent product but was left to its own dismay with no people to aid, none to save. Cursed to watch in agony as it only imagined what its own feats could have accomplished. Cursed with the memories of what could have been. It had carried on in a crazed desire to spite its enemy. Living its days in destitute to create a magnificent device in the hopes to one-day exact glorious revenge. Fashioning something which would dissolve the tyrannical rule of its foe and provide a shimmer of hope for the universe.

We brought the box back to our own solar system and placed it at the glowing heart of our sun as instructed, ever since then it has still been beating, it has kept our people free and the surrounding area prosperous, free. However there was still one problem, they never told us how to create it, only how to work it, and with the device in our solar system's sun, it would be futile to even attempt to analyze it.

We were stuck with a ticking time bomb, never knowing when it was going to stop working, would we be safe for ten more years, a hundred, perhaps another thousand, all we knew was our main defence could falter at any moment and what lay outside… what lay outside would always be there, it would always ravenously look upon our civilization with hatred, a desire to conquer and it would wait, wait for a day which was bound to come. It would wait an eternity.

Naturally, we knew we had to do something and there was a plan set in motion, if you can't beat your enemy, then join their horrid ranks or at least adapt their very own tactics. The project was to beat the maze, follow the creature's own instructions and create a god of our own, an omnipotent being to fight this grand creature in a battle of tantalizing proportions and win. Ensuring safety, security and prosperity and our rule forever. We would put thousands to the test in the maze and those who showed promise would have their minds wiped and be essentially brainwashed to become our unwilling slaves, robots bred to serve a grand empire, a god who served the people, not the other way around.

The balance would be restored. However at what cost was this reassurance? and how would we know brainwashing would ensure our own safety if our own chosen god turned against us. I see too many flaws in an already flawed plan, lies upon lies. The truth is this has cost us billions of lives, the Kestle War, planets, advances in medical technology and other sciences which could have altered the very face of our world tenfold, do you know how much this place has cost us? the orbiter itself?

Think of the wonders we could have accomplished if we had focused on improving the galaxy and the lives of the people, and ponder on the magnificence. I like many others believe that the great device in the heart of our star is all we need, it will continue, it wasn’t designed to last only a few years, it wasn’t created with a single fault, it was a work of love, a creation of beauty, of spite, it was designed to last the lifetime of the star and all of this is mindless as when the great star of ours explodes, death will already run rampant and billions of years will have passed.

We will be insanely lucky if even a remnant empire is still around, so in order to save the lives of thousands, we must turn a blind eye. Try to get John without alerting her, for if we do, she will risk everything just to ensure the slightest possibility of reaching the end goal.” he raved.

Baquil looked stunned, her eyes sliding back and forth to process thought, she calculated, a great revelation passing through her mind. She gasped in horror, others at the table too revelled in complete shock, for once in their lives the truth was being revealed. The visage was pulled from her eyes and light, horrifying light streaked in.

“What can we do?” she muttered.

“The only thing we can do is find the human before she does, and if anything, prepare to kill him if the variability of the future is too great, '' one of them said.

“The greatest minds of our empire already work tirelessly to tear this problem to pieces, but it's still up to us to secure that Epsilon ship and its crew, I have a plan that will set things in motion…” the director chimed.

"It's up to us to send that creature, back to its master, and hopefully forever" Alion stated.

"We have to be quick, decisive and most importantly fast" the director noted.

He walked towards a screen behind him and pointed at a digital map of the battleground. Just as his pale hand floated above the enhance button the door slid open. Out from the hallway walked a T-451 Enforcer, the hunk of steel and guns a macabre weapon of death, its robotic eyes shining a bright green, its hands two large-sized miniguns. Behind it flanked four drones, humanoid metal soldiers with assault rifles in their clutches.

The entire room fell silent, an alarm purged through the air, and a red light flashed from the intercom system. The Enforcer lifted its massive arms and cast a putrid look across the room. Baquil gazed across her political counterparts startled how a machine of this destructive quality could possibly have escaped lower storage and reached the control levels of the Orbiter.

“Enforcer 51123, please state the nature of your intrusion,” a minister asked, utilizing the array of numbers scrawled across its manufacturer’s label.

"Unauthorized access can not relay details Minister, please remain in station" it replied.

"What the hell is this, Enforcer state your duty?" the director shouted while quietly pressing an alarm bell.

The creature didn’t respond, it simply looked and fixed its eyes upon the speaker, its steel body was over eight feet tall its arms each holding a minigun grafted onto steel, its visor a pale green stretching across its featureless face, on its back was a large processing unit, designed to input and output commands to a group of soldiers.

This was a butcherer, a man-killer, a soldier of iron designed for combat on hostile infested worlds and to face the heat of the bloodiest battles and emerge with the victory. An abomination of cruelty.

The Director’s guards had pulled out their weapons aiming their pistols at the creature’s vital points, it was five of the guards facing off against an Enforcer and twelve drones. You could see beads of sweat slowly drip off of the soldier's faces as they prepared for a standoff, fingers twitching on the triggers as they awaited commands from their leader. The Director paused before he too pulled out his own personalized blaster, the rest of the table did the same, it was ten against twelve, only five of the defenders well-armed. Suddenly, the computer screen lit up red, as Litmos flashed a delayed warning message.