Pursuing the Demon Lord Read online

  Approaching a planet such as Araxium Vos I with shields up would have alerted any nearby forces long before they had approached orbit. As it were, stealth was the Demon’s greatest ally. But acquiring this world and it’s shipyards would put an end to that. Aevalonis stopped at a side window to stare at the orbital shipyards that were no building ships for her forces. In a few months time, they’d have fresh battleships to counter the Human’s military might.

  Silently, she prayed that the humans would never find out that they struck from only a handful of worlds. Their entire effort to reclaim worlds that once belong to them balanced precariously on repeated victories. Failure was not an option. Men and women of various races saluted as she passed, to which she nodded in response, setting them at ease. This rebellion had been a long time coming, and the Humans would pay blood for blood.

  “Status report.” Aevalonis demanded as she reached the bridge and sat in the Captain’s chair.

  “Repairs are proceeding ahead of schedule.” An engineering officer spoke from his station. His displays earlier had shown dangerous red due to multiple air breaches that were now a warning yellow. “The Maiden’s Vengeance will be ready to sail by this time tomorrow if we proceed as is.”

  “Give the men my commendations and order them to slow work on repairs. We won’t be dead in the water now so we can afford a little time to relax.” She spoke while scanning through the latest reports of the planet-side invasion. They had since secured the mines and several major cities on the rocky surface of Araxium Vos I. Only a few holdouts remained that would fall quickly with the combined efforts of her forces and the newly liberated slaves.

  “Captain,” A young girl with a dog-like face began. Saphyxes, a genetically modified race of once-humans that were created for the sole purpose of “relaxation” for the “superior” humans. Scars ran along the girl’s face, a tribute to the mercy of her previous master. Just the thought of such a thing made her body quiver in a rage. Her entire body was covered in fur beneath her uniform. She wore no gloves, nor boots, as none of the standard issue ones would fit her kinds paws. Regrettably, there were no plans to develop shoes or gloves for them either. The rebellion’s sole focus was winning a nigh-impossible war.

  “Yes Lyrin?” Aevalonis responded, using the girl’s name. The two had become close friends in the early days of the rebellion.

  “Did you make it to the summoning? Any useful information about their new acquisition?” Ears perked up all around the bridge.

  “The new Hero.” She growled. “Declared that he would make me his woman.” Not but the sound of consoles beeping was heard upon the bridge as Aevalonis slammed her fist upon the arm of her chair. “Let all our ships know, I will pay a bounty to any who bring me the Hero, Chet, alive if possible. But I’ll lose no sleep if they bring me his corpse.”

  ——————————————————

  Where the hell had I gone wrong? One moment I was sure this was nothing more than a fantasy world of swords and sorcery, yet here I am in an orbital car and flying upwards into the planet’s atmosphere. Sure, it would be a nice ride were it not for me sharing the car with King Lard, Princess Perfect, and the Queen who sat next to me and rubbed my leg whenever the King wasn’t paying attention.

  “Look Hero, isn’t the view from here absolutely stunning?” the Princess asked as she stared out the window towards the massive skyscrapers far below. Turns out, the Capital was actually the Capital Planet and it was covered in one giant sprawling city. “Every time I see this view it leaves me breathless. And to think this is only one of the many planets under our banner!” The girl had turned from shy to chatty as hell the moment we stepped into the shuttle.

  Well, we stepped, King Lard levitated upon his golden throne. No wonder he was so fat, dude wouldn’t have to use his legs with a chair like that. Wouldn’t be surprise if he had them removed for being unnecessary.

  “Yeah, its certainly something.” I spoke, barely glancing out the window, doing my best to try to ignore the increasingly bold hand upon my leg. “So, King dude, where are we headed for again?” The Queen clicked her tongue just loud enough for me to hear as the King turned his attention to me.

  “Don’t you pay attention? The royal shipyard of course!” The man spat in irritation.

  “Oh right. Why are we going there again?”

  “To give you your ship to hunt down the Demon Lord in! Gods, its like I’m talking to my son here.”

  “You obviously didn’t hit him enough when he was younger. Force fosters respect after all.”

  “I’ll have to remember that for the next time we have a boy.” He grumbled. Yeah, fat chance of that happening.

  Metal beams formed two skeletal cylindrical foundations housing an astronomical amount of mechanical arms. Mechanical arms that worked constantly placing prefabricated metal plates and welding them together forming the shell of a ship. Within the shell, hundreds of workers laid down wiring, setting the foundations of what would become a massive cruiser class ship. Sadly, that was not to be my ship, but one used by the royal navy.

  “And here we are.” The King announced as he proudly presented a small ship able to be commanded by a single pilot. “This right here is our top-of-the-line Corvette class ships. The Xaylix, proudly named after one of our greatest admirals from long ago.”

  “Why am I here again if you have an entire armada to hunt the Demon Lord?” The past thirty minutes had been nothing but the King talking about the nation’s proud history and unbeatable navy. History that I needed to know like I needed a stroke.

  “The sync-rate boy! Don’t you ever pay attention?” The King sighed, “Single pilot ships have advanced integration software that allows the ship and the pilot to act as if they were one! A marvel of technological progress!”

  “Still not hearing why I’m needed.” I tapped my feet as I ran my eyes along the body of my new ship. It looked like a crescent moon shape-wise, with a single massive engine connected beneath the central body. A pair of cannons that shot a choice of either metal slugs or condensed plasma at high speeds were placed at the ends of both wings. To the left and right of the engine sat heavy ordinance bays for mines, missiles, or other goodies. Not the brightest place to put the highly explosive bits on a ship, but thats just my opinion.

  “Our pilots at best can manage only a fifty percent sync-rate. This leads to delays in actions between the pilot’s mind and the ship’s movement anywhere from one to three seconds. An entire lifetime in the cockpit of a high speed attack craft such as this. Yet, those we summon are able to achieve near one hundred percent sync-rates.”

  “So I won’t have any delays. Gotchya.” I took a deep breath to steady myself. I wasn’t nervous, but I was super fucking excited to get my own space ship! I feel bad for insulting King Lard and his son now, I didn’t know I’d get to cruise through space in style! “I’m going in.” I announced and strode down the loading bay towards my ship.

  “If you need any help, call central control. They’ll sort everything out!” The Princess spoke from behind me. I raised up a hand and waved as the bay closed behind me.

  Chapter 3: My Ship Part 2

  I cracked my knuckles as I walked through the loading bay of my ship. My ship. It was my ship. I owned this. I couldn’t stop grinning like a loony bastard who got a girl he liked to go to prom with him. This was way better than any previous moment in my life. Except being born, that took the top spot easily. Kind of hard to beat the moment you truly started existing.

  “Love you mama.” I said as I kissed my fist. With barely contained excitement, I walked further into my ship. A small dining area and bathroom was built just beyond the loading bay. Beyond that was the private quarters and cockpit all in one. A fold up bed built into the wall, various shelves for numerous personals, retractable dresser for sets of clothing, and a flight seat at the very front with all the various controls.

  “Lets get this kitty purring, I got a Demon Lord to woo.” With
great gusto, I leapt into the pilot seat. And just as quickly as I was hyped, I was overcome with dread. I had no idea what any of these fucking buttons did. “Well…shit…” I grumbled.

  “Human presence registered. Welcome pilot, to the Xaylix class Corvette.” A slightly female robotic voice spoke from all around me. “I am your on-board Artificial Intelligence Assistant. AIA for short.”

  “Aya?”

  “Your pronunciation is off by point oh oh oh four eight one decibels.”

  “Uhhh…what?”

  “Name change underway. Welcome Pilot, I am Aya.” Great, my ship had a bitch for an AI. “Beginning user scan.”

  A holographic representation of myself appeared next to me as a laser scanned me from head to toe. There I stood, my perfect six foot one inch height with short brown hair and amazing hazel eyes. God I looked amazing. If I were a woman, I’d do me.

  “Analyzing complete. Greetings Chet Rosenfield of Earth.”

  “You know of Earth?”

  “Affirmative. Your people are designated as extremely hostile and unstable in matters of galactic security. All contact is to be avoided at all costs.”

  “I always knew the aliens were afraid of us. So, other than me being the first Earthling this far in space, Sup Aya?”

  “Error, unknown designation ‘sup’. Please define.”

  “Sup, as in whats up?”

  “Calculating.” She paused for a moment. “The nearest celestial body located directly overhead would be Salyzan IX located roughly three light minutes away.”

  “Light minutes? The fuck?”

  “Please state desired unit of distance calculation.”

  “Miles please.”

  “Error. Desired unit not found.”

  “That’s bullshit! The imperial system will rise again!” I sighed, “Alright, how about meters?”

  “Salyzan IX is located fifty three billion, nine hundred and sixty two million six hundred and forty two thousand and four hundred forty meters directly overhead.”

  “Fuck man, space is big.”

  “Affirmative.”

  “Alright Aya, let’s get down to brass tacks.” I cracked my knuckles and looked over the control panels. I had no idea where to begin.

  “Error. This ship contains no units of brass in its construction.”

  “I meant lets get down to business.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  “Right, how do I fly this puppy?”

  A large spike-like wire jabbed towards my head directly from the center console. If I hadn’t been slouching forward in my chair, it’d have embedded itself directly in my forehead. As it was, it just nicked the top of my head and ripped out a path of hair. Great, judging by how my hologram now looked, I resembled some sort of Fallout chem addict.

  “What the fuck Aya?! That could have killed me!”

  “Please insert syncing software into your frontal lobe implant.”

  “I don’t have one of those Aya. Any other bright ideas on how to fly this thing?”

  “Negative. All registered pilots should have an implant placed upon their frontal lobe. It is under ‘Mandatory Requirements for Starship Usage’, page eighty five, paragraph twelve, subsection C.”

  “Well like the brave scientist who invented gravity once said in my world, ‘Laws are meant to be broken’. Can I get a user manual or something?” She didn’t respond. “Ay-oof!”

  I felt a great pain engulf my entire body as a massive encyclopedia landed directly atop the boys that sat snugly within my jeans and boxers. As I swore every swear word I knew, and the fucking robot had the cheek to state that her database was updating, I glanced at the book that had landed in my lap. It was beyond massive, like an entire series of encyclopedias mashed together into one. Like any good school boy, I turned to the last page first.

  Twenty six thousand pages. Fuck that.

  Irreverently, I tossed the book off to the side. “Alright Aya, fuck that. We’re doing this shit trial by fire style.”

  “Affirmative. Commencing Weapons Free Protocols.” Red lights began flashing all over the room as sirens began wailing in an uneven beat. “Please select target for nuclear devastation.”

  “Calm down you crazy bitch!” I shouted. Instantly, the sirens and lights ceased.

  “Acknowledged. Weapons disengaged.”

  “If we’re gonna do any devastation at all, I’ve got a friend or two that still owe me a few hundred bucks.”

  “Acknowledged. Please state names of designated targets.”

  “Carey J. Lewis and Michael H. Tolwicks.”

  “Targets confirmed in data banks for future elimination.”

  “You can’t get money out of dead people Aya.”

  “Correction, targets confirmed for extortion.”

  “Thats my girl.”

  “Attention Xaylix class Corvette, this is Control. Is everything okay? We noticed your weapons arm and un-arm. Over.” A female voice spoke from all around the room. I looked around for some sort of microphone to speak into, but found nothing. This is why I hated new-fangled technology, nobody ever kept things the same. Where the hell was my xbox headset? “Xaylix are you there?”

  “What the fuck do I do Aya? Wheres the microphone?”

  “Press the communicator button on the right arm of your chair.”

  “The one that looks like a telephone?”

  “Affirmative.” Fucking ship designers.

  “Hello Control, this is the captain of the Xaylix vessel. Just running through the ropes here, nothing special.”

  “Affirmative Captain. We recommend you achieve a safe distance of ten light minutes before doing any sort of weapons testing.” A few beeping noises sounded over the comms. “We have updated your navigation charts to display a nearby asteroid field for some live practice. Over.”

  “Control, I think I love you.” Light laughter sounded over the comms,

  “Good hunting out there Xaylix. Over and out.” The sound of the communicator shutting off sounded through the room.

  “Right then, lets get this guppy swimming Aya. We got some rocks to obliterate.”

  “Affirmative. Please disengage airlock clamps before engaging power to engines.” I looked over the massive amounts of controls in front of me. All sorts of buttons lit up with no description for what they were. With a sigh, I looked over at the manual laying upon the floor.

  “Aya, when we get back from this we’re getting you a joystick.”

  “Negative. Any modifications to this vessel will render the two year warranty null and void.”

  “Why the hell is there a warranty on a military vessel? If this thing breaks, the owner dies!”

  “You are the captain, not the owner. Queen Risat Salyzan is the current holder of the receipt for this vessel. Should we find ourselves in an inoperable state the Queen shall receive the full value of this ship as outlined in the warranty.”

  “Well tough shit to her, this is my ship now and I plan on violating that warranty asap.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  ————————————

  The Queen sat next to her Husband as they watched the construction of their latest Devastros class cruisers. Thick plates of Durstal armor was currently being welded to the outer frame by robotic arms. While these ships wouldn’t be as grand as the Battleships currently under royal command, they would still form a formidable long-ranged strike force.

  “You’re positive that your plan will work, wife?” King Lavian quietly questioned as he floated beside her in his levitating throne.

  “Yes. By now our ‘Hero’ will have had an accident with the syncing software, killing him instantly. Any moment now, someone will investigate why his ship is still docked. Then we will be free to obtain a more pliable Hero.” She grinned deviously. “That boy should have known better than to insult us and strike our son.”

  King Lavian shuddered. It wasn’t often he saw this side of his wife. It was as if she had the mind of a demon he
rself with all the schemes and plots. But while she was the brains behind their rule, he was the might. Or at least…he used to be. He remembered fondly his time as a Commander of a small fleet many years ago. To navigate the stars once more, extinguishing pirate clans under a storm of massed slugs and missiles. He sighed, remembering the days when he was his own man. All before he was forced to marry the Princess, now Queen of the Empire. Ever since that horrible event, he had let himself go. Once a toned man fit for command, now no more than a repulsive politician.

  “Mother! Father! Look, look!” Princess Egyle rushed to her parents side and pulled at them in earnest eagerness.

  “What is it dearest?” Her father smiled at the rambunctious girl who reminded him of himself when he was younger. She had always loved space ships of all kinds, and was currently in schooling to learn about the requirements for starship command. He deeply wished his son could be far more like her instead of the pretentious prick he was.

  “The Hero’s ship is flying off!”

  “”What?!”” Both the King and the Queen shouted.

  —————————

  “Fuck yeah Aya! This is awesome!” I shouted as I slammed the throttle controls to the max. The ship rumbled as the engines kicked into high gear, leaving the shipyard far in the distance. My left hand was gently placed upon a sphere that would control the ship’s pitch and roll via micro-thrusters located over the ship’s body. Needless to say, I spun that shit and sent this baby into a roll.

  “You are currently veering away from initial target destination. Please commence with course corrections.”

  “Man Aya, you need to chill. This is the time to bask in the moment of awesome.”