The distended time of the phantom zone dropped away, replaced by a single starred system. Deep in wild space, this place only had a number in Republic charts. Dan rolled his shoulders and scanned for his target, the swamp covered world with three moons. The third planet from its parent star, Zakuul, the capital of the Eternal Empire.
“It’s pretty enough,” Dan kept his distance, but aligned his body with the planet’s surface. The city structure known as ‘The Spire’ loomed tall, a luminous monolith that reached beyond the limits of the atmosphere. “But keeping the Emperor’s throne room at the top of that thing is a definite failure in critical thinking…”
His eyes flicked to the crystal topped diamond staff in his left hand, a tool constructed by May to entrap the Emperor Valkorion’s soul. With the man already in space, it would be extremely easy to blitz through the Spire’s shields and reach the Eternal Throne. Dan squinted, until the gigantic mechanical chair appeared.
“I’ll need to be a bit more delicate than normal, or I’ll destroy the throne,” Dan traced a path through the Spire’s corridors, until he found a maintenance access to the airless exterior. The Eternal Throne was also a control device, powered by the Spire and connected to the droid run ships of the Eternal Fleet. “There's no sign of the ships, but I’m not going to scan the whole system with x-ray vision…”
The ancient, hyper-advanced vessels of the Eternal Fleet, were all equipped with cloaking technology, something Dan had great interest in. The builders of the fleet hailed from the Lokath system, a super advanced megastructure constructed around a star. Dan had future plans for the Lokath in his own universe, but this version held undamaged assets he couldn’t find at home.
“I want HK to take a look at the droid ships before we go… but for that, I’ll need the Throne intact.” Dan cracked his neck and zeroed in on the distant entrance. His body raced backward, until he retreated well outside the star system. “Let’s see how fast I can actually go and still make all those corners…”
The biofield around him shifted to mimic the night sky, midnight-blue flecked with crystalline stars. Dan kept his eyes focused on target, body still as he waited for the only ship in the system to drift out of his chosen path. The three kilometre long dreadnought was worth leaving intact as well, even if HK had to convert or upgrade its systems.
“Now…” ki thundered under his skin, an amplification to his biofield that turned the world to a blurr. For the second time in his life, Dan pushed past the barrier of light and into a colourless world.
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
The edge of the massive flagship was already to his left, with the door to the Spire an instant behind. His hand reached out and speared the way into the reinforced metal, biofield hard at work as it limited the damage to the airlock. Dan pierced a narrow hole, one that led him into the corridors of the ship.
Walls flicked past on either side, his body held just above the limits of the passageways. Several unfortunate figures stood in his way, a cluster that turned to vapour as he sheared past a second sealed door. Each turn tested his limits, perception almost too slow to follow his chosen path.
A wall buckled as he edged to close, teeth ground as he pulled back in time to snap left, the final hallway before his goal. The access to the Throne was more fortified than the external hull, but its gate did nothing to slow his progress in the room. A beautiful sight, armoured glass that exposed the domineering seat to the wonders of space.
Valkorion was still seated on the Eternal Throne, unaware a threat had already reached him. Dan shook his head and slowed. Hand extended, he drove the crystal topped spike into the crown of the Emperor’s head, until the oversized diamond rested on the man’s skull.
Colour and sound returned to the world, a sputter of air that misted a haze of blood between Dan and Valkorion. The briefest moment of shock touched the Emperor's eyes, before they rolled into the back of his head. A cascade of runes expanded and contracted, a web that forced the man’s broken soul into the crystal prison May prepared.
“Sorry, but you’re sitting in my chair…” Dan jerked the ink-black diamond from atop the fallen Emperor's head and tossed the man’s body aside. His vision penetrated the sides of the Throne, layer after layer of complex technology. A flick of his fingers and a symbiote clone slipped into the machine’s inner workings. “Take control of the Eternal fleet, then lock out access to the Throne from anyone but you or me.”
A ripple of his biofield and Dan returned to his mad dash, this time in reverse. Tenebrae’s second body was dead, the last relevant fragment of his soul trapped forever. The Eternal Empire itself could wait for HK’s forces to arrive. Without their invincible fleet, they would fall quickly, especially with Venom inside their capital world’s mainframes.
‘Make sure you multiply that clone and spread across the world, there’s an advanced warship buried in the ocean sized swamp.’ Dan tapped at Venom with his mind. ‘You can also infiltrate their limited human run navy and take control of that massive flagship of theirs.’
‘We understand our mission,’ Venom grumbled. ‘Why go through the effort of establishing control over these worlds… the greatest threats are now dead, these empires cannot stand with the snake at their head.’
“You can slack, if you like,” Dan laughed as he moved out of the system, ready to enter the phantom zone. “But, once we return home, your clones will remain, as well as any children you wish to leave behind… I want you and the Killiks to begin the creation of your own Empire, one that will one day extend beyond the galaxy and across this universe.”
Venom fell silent, while Dan jumped into the terrible infinity of the phantom zone. Even if this universe couldn’t be connected right away, one day he would be able to force his way through universal boundaries on his own. Perhaps when they returned, Venom would have merged with all other life and created an endless army.
‘We understand…’ a snarl, edged with excitement, bubbled from Venom, accompanied by a mad cackle. ‘I shall prepare a primary clone, as well as a series of children to help grow the population!’