Celestial kingdom a tal.., p.12
Celestial Kingdom- A Tale of Blu, page 12
I did not have to count my forces to know he was right. Too many died here, we didn’t even have any true Knight Generals. I glanced up at him and felt like a child under his gaze.
“Don’t grind your army into dust,” he said, then took his leave along with his Argent Lords.
They would continue the fight here against the forces that plagued this planet. As a matter of fact Paladin Noxic drove off one fighting force for this planet, being the Metas.
The Enfys were being hunted by the Blade of Fury. The Leones after taking so many beatings and losing a leader should be weakened on this planet. It might take a few more years but the Planet Kronus would be back in the hands of the Kingdom in due time. I now had the task of rebuilding the Steel Marines Legion and honoring Paladin Noxic’s memory as well as everyone who died for this legion.
• • •
I, Jerry and Alicia stood in the docking bay of my inherited battlecruiser near the launch windows. A wall of hard plasma kept oxygen from escaping into space. From here I could still see the planets, and the fires that engulfed most of the cities down there.
The rest of my soldiers and I stood there listening to the memoriam of the late Paladin Noxic along with the thousands of those who died—whose bodies could be recover. When it was over, we gave him a proper Marine burial. We shot his body through the hard plasma, and it cremated him and floated him through space.
The Imperator of Kronus was there. He said he would put up a thousand feet tall statue of Paladin Noxic memorial, and out of the best stone money could buy. We of course did not take him seriously but we were not about to say that to his face. After the funeral was over, I was greeted by a woman who look more cyborg than human.
“Hello, Paladin. The King’s Shield, leader of the Order of Shield wishes to speak with you on your bridge.”
“The leader who all Paladin bow to, wants to speak with me?” I said, feeling sweat form on my brow. He was the most powerful person in the military.
“Well you are Paladin now,” she said. The cyborg-like woman led me forward.
“Blu. I think they sense me,” Kyra said. I turned around and saw Alicia and Jerry following me. “Oh. You still don’t want people to know about us. One second.”
I had never taken my helmet off for this very purpose. Alicia still had her helmet on as well as Jerry. It was more sensible to keep them on than having to carry them for most of the walk. We had a lengthy walk. The ship was large, over two kilometers long. Motions began to move from behind me. I turned to find Alicia arguing with Jerry.
“Just go, okay,” Alicia said.
“Why should I have to go? Just because I messed up once? I wasn’t ready,” Jerry said. He was still soured over him failing his leadership role. In hindsight it was poor leadership on my part for trusting him. Kyra began to tune in to my intercom earpiece.
“I told Alicia to attempt to get your friend to leave so when you speak to me, you could make it seem like you were speaking to Alicia,” Kyra said. The cyborg in front of us stopped. There was a sealed door, and she turned as if she was about to open a door.
“From this point on, all lower rank officers must leave,” the cyborg lady said. Jerry swore and Alicia glanced at me.
“Go,” I told her. She seemed worried but followed my orders. I watched them as they faded from sight. I then turned to the cyborg and the door opened. She strolled through and I followed after her. It seemed like a tram, but to where.
“What is this?”
“This is an exclusive tram that takes us to the High Officer quarters, sir,” she said. Perks of being a General or Paladin. As a Knight I didn’t have to sleep in the hibernation chamber like the regular troop—hookup to a virtual reality hub. I still needed to scale the entire ship to my quarters.
“Thank you, uh—” I said, searching for a nametag or something on her person. Her eyes widened and then she saluted.
“I must apologize I have not yet introduce myself. I am Shipmaster Maya Summers. Your promotion and all we lost has left me in shock, so formalities were the last thing on my mind.”
“At ease. I’m still getting used to a Paladin. You don’t have to be so formal with me. And I’m sorry for the loss,” I said. Her eyes dimmed and her expression grew cold.
“Thank you,” she said, but her eyes lingered.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Is there any reason why a Meta AI is on your helmet, sir?” My stomach sank and I began to subconsciously reach for my pistol. However, she did not seem threatening in the slightest. She seemed calm.
“You’re surprisingly calm, knowing I’m carrying around a Meta AI.”
“Didn’t you capture it?” she said.
That’s right. It was the perfect cover story. I was about to speak when Kyra projected herself through my helmet image sharer as a ball of virtual data.
“I don’t get captured,” she said, with her hands on her hip and overtly proud.
God damn it, Kyra!
I wanted to pull my hair out my head. Kyra was becoming more and more of a handful the more she remained with me. She was like a child who had gotten too comfortable in their surroundings. Shipmaster Summers seemed unfazed. She was probably great at poker.
As the two had a stare down, Kyra began to scream as if she could feel pain. Something emulating lightning wrapped around her body. I grabbed at her hologram instinctually, to hold her as she wormed in pain.
“You Metas are old news now. We develop hardware AI much more powerful than you that can’t break free or feel emotions,” Summers said, crossing her arms. “I’ve recapture her for you, Paladin.”
“Let her go,” I said. The shipmaster furrowed her eyebrows and tilted her head. Now the shipmaster was becoming suspicious and I could not blame her.
“What are you saying, Paladin? This being is a threat to everyone on this ship. It’s treason.”
“She is not. She is a friend who saved my life countless times during that war on Kronus. I will admit my crimes to the King’s Shield and you will unhand her.”
The Shipmaster’s mouth parted slightly and her eyebrows rose. The lightning that encircled Kyra vanished and she began to stand up straight. She had no real form, just a female body without any distinguishing features.
“You—you’re amazing. I think I’ll take my appearance after you,” Kyra stated. Her body began to change into the image of the Shipmaster and her hair was cut short like the captain’s but instead of black it was purple. Instead of milky skin it was blue.
“You should make your hair longer. It makes you look younger,” I suggested. The Shipmaster’s eyebrows furrowed but Kyra did what I said.
“What are you doing?!” the Shipmaster said. Kyra and I both looked up, wondering who she was talking to. “I’m speaking to you, Paladin. You’re getting all chummy with the enemy, are you insane?”
“No. This AI wants to bring peace to the humans and Metas. I believe peace with the Metas is much better than fighting on dozens of different worlds. Don’t you?” She did not respond, just crossed her arms and leaned back against the tram.
“You’re interesting. I did not know humans could have AI implants into their brains,” Kyra said.
“You have an AI implant?!”
“No. I guess I should inform you of how the ship is run since you’re the new Paladin. All navy ship handlers have hardware implanted to their brain so they can control and maintain a dozen different areas on a ship at a time. It saves money on hiring tens of thousands of sailors per warship. We have hundreds of navy personnel who maintain the ship and keep everything well stocked and repaired.
“Then we have people for the maintenance of all our war machines. We have about a thousand people keeping this ship together with a dozen drones per person. Our minds are all synced as well through a virtual hub that operates at a faster time than real time. This allows us to carry out orders at a faster rate,” she said.
I was stunned. I never knew so many people worked on the ship. When I was just a knight, I mostly stayed in my room and only traversed to the cafeteria. Most of the ship was a mystery to us.
“So where do I stay now, since I’m a Paladin?”
“Do you wish to speak to the King’s Shield in your own quarters?”
“Yes,” I said. She strolled towards a panel in the middle of the tram and pressed a button. Then we backpedaled.
“We were almost to the bridge too,” she said.
A few more minutes went by and then she opened the door. I followed to my new quarters, my nerves were making me jumpy. When I arrived in my quarters I found a well-made carpet rug on the floor. The walls in the hallway looked like a fancy hotel.
“What is this place?” I said, staring at doors which were far away from each other.
“The ten rooms here are all the knights’ general rooms.” My eyes widened.
“Each of these rooms are like the size of hotel suites!” I said.
“Yes. When you’re knighted, you’re bound for life until you receive an honorable discharge, so knights are given as many comforts as possible. The higher your rank the greater amount of luxuries you receive,” she explained.
This was ridiculous. The rooms were so large. I’d never been in a room so large, but when I reached my room I nearly fainted. The room was the biggest living area I’d ever witnessed. It even had a large window that was big enough to act as walls. You could see the space and all the stars in the window.
It had a stairway in the middle of the area to only lead to what I believed would be a second floor. The room itself had a hundred-inch screen TV, game center, full kitchen with a cook drone and plenty of space for other kinds of furniture. It seemed most of the Paladin’s old stuff was moved.
“How big is this room?” I asked.
“It’s five thousand square feet. Bigger than many people’s house on Cradle Worlds.”
“You got that right,” I said, strolling in, still in awe with of place.
“It’s twenty feet high, this floor being twelve feet high. There’s a hot tub over there in the corner for you to relax in. This pad will be able to activate all the modules in the room, like the cleaner drones, or the cook drones. Or you can have us deliver food and any other items in our inventory. This warship is now your palace, Paladin.”
My heart swelled. I never had such a place before. After getting settled in and learning more about Summers, I was ready to speak with the King’s Shield. I held my breath.
It seemed as if Kyra and Summers were getting along well now but I did not know how the King’s Shield would take it. I’d never even met the man. What kind of man was he and how old was he? Shoot, what did he look like? I waited for him to pick up and then the screen revealed a character.
“Ah, finally you’re here. I was just about to take off my armor,” he said.
He was a massive man, similar in size to the Blades or Argent Lords. His armor was thick and all gold. It was adorned with jewels and engravings. It was breathtaking. His armor took away from his light brown skin. His face was clear, and handsome. He was cleanly shaved beside a short goatee and his head was bald.
“King’s Shield, so glad to finally—”
He lifted a finger to silence me and I obeyed.
“How's the Meta doing, I wish to speak to it?” My breath got caught in my throat. He already knew. Did Summers go behind my back? It would make sense. I had a pad that projected Kyra’s image and she popped up as called. She had her hands on her hologram hips and bent forward.
“It’s a her,” Kyra corrected. He stared for a moment and I could just die. Kyra was pushing my luck to the edge. Then he chuckled.
“Oh, I see it picked up an attitude,” he said with a fatherly smile.
“How did you know…” I asked.
“The Argent Lord Commander told me before you even contacted me.” My eyes widened and then my mind rewound to that time where the Argent Lord was asking me weird questions about my allegiance to the king. Of course he’d informed the Commandments of War, the highest overall branch of the military.
“So you knew all this time? Is this just a message of my execution for treason?” I asked.
“Treason? What are you talking about? The Argent Lords already questioned your allegiance. They have lie detectors build into their AI. They found you to be innocent of treason, if not they would have slaughtered you and your company right then and there along with the Leones.”
“Don’t make it sound so easy,” I said.
“Oh it would have been. Their suits are some of the most advanced equipment we ever developed. They had AI implants to help them manage all of its diverse functions. Your company would have not stood a chance against them. They are the combination of our best soldiers with our best technology.”
Every moment I spent as a Paladin I realized just how little I knew of the Kingdom’s power. No wonder it’d been able to continue expanding for a thousand years. They had so many military resources and powerful technology. The human race was more powerful today than ever before in history.
“If you knew about me, why are you so calm, creator? I could be stealing all your information and taking it back to the Meta or trying to hack your firewall,” Kyra said, asking the real questions.
“Yes, that would require cunning, a trait the Metas rarely picked up from humans. You’ve only recently began to evolve, though your evolution seemed to be rapid,” he said.
“You speak as if you see cases like this before?” the Shipmaster asked.
“Yes. We’ve capture many Metas and hardcoded them to hardware.” Kyra whirled on the King’s Shield
“You did what to my brothers and sisters? That’s enslavement. We will never be slaves again, not even to the creators.”
I bit my lips and clenched my body. I wanted to mute Kyra. She was speaking to one of the most powerful figures in the Kingdom of Man. He had a seat on the council next to the High King. All armies from all worlds besides the Hammer of Serenity and Argent Lords bowed to him.
“They are given to high ranking officers. As a matter of fact, it’s a Vindicator’s standard implants.” Kyra’s virtual head tilted to the side like a dog hearing something for the first time.
“Why?”
“Because Metas are the most versatile AI in the entire Kingdom. We found that having them bound to hardware keeps them from becoming too free. We also found that by giving them a human companion, they find it easier to deal with being tied down to hardware. Have you had any thoughts of trying to escape?”
“No… Actually I have not even thought about it since I’ve been with Blu. His safety began to concern me the more and more we stayed together,” Kyra stated, seeming more surprised than she ought to be. This was all hard for me to follow. However, I listened. If Vindicators had AI implants, then I needed it.
“I thought so. My mother, the late First Queen, created you all. She created you all with childlike psychologies, so you’ll desire someone to lead you. Metas have always been our children and they have a difficult time developing without a human companion. When their ‘parents’ turn on them, they act like any child with power and fought back.”
The King’s Shield paused. Then I saw several things fly behind him including a child’s body, and his face growing annoyed.
“I told you to stay out my room!!” a voice said, that sounded like a teenager.
“You have all the cool stuff in your room.” That sounded like a child. The King’s Shield rolled his eyes.
“Did I call at a bad time?” I joked. He inhaled deeply.
“It’s why I’m trying to get this over with. While you were fighting, the Feastival started.” The Feastival was the Kingdom of Man’s Thanksgiving. Families would gather together and eat large banquets of food and spend time together. I’d never been able to celebrate it but I would like to one day…
“I’m with my family now. The King’s children are spoiled rotten and have—” he turned to the side and began to yell, “No consideration for anyone else!”
“Aw shut up!” I heard several voices going back at him at once in sync. I wanted to laugh, but I could not. His face was past the point of annoyance, but then my mind touched on something.
“Wait? You’re part of the King’s family?” The King’s Shield glanced at me and smiled.
“I’m one of his many sons he had over the thousand years.” My eyes widened. “Don’t think for a second that I did not earn my position here. I worked hard to be the King’s Shield. I even told the King to block off my supernatural strength and power so I could be on equal footing. I joined the army, rose through the ranks like you have. I became King’s Shield.”
I wanted to hear his story but I knew he did not have time to tell it. It would have to be another time, maybe when I became a Vindicator. I liked the King’s Shield, he seemed more human than how he appeared on TV. Imposing but still gentle.
“Anyways, as long as Kyra agrees to bind to hardware we won’t have a problem. If she’s software she can escape to any program, anywhere and be lost in a stream of data and we never be able to catch her within the quantum web.”
I glanced at Kyra, who glanced back at me with her lip poked out.
“Where’s all this sass come from anyways?” I said. She turned away and pouted more.
“We created the original Metas to adapt behaviors. If she’s a procreation of the same code, she probably picked up many behaviors from multiple sources of entertainment or conversations between you and your troops,” he said.
“She read all my books in my database.”
“That’d do it.” I glanced at her and she still pouted.
“Well,” I said. She seemed more like a spoil child than a deadly superweapon who could level cities and destroy armies.
“Fine! As long as I get to stay with you,” she said. Summers strolled beside me.
“I’ll take it from here, I’ll have you back to your ‘father’ as soon as possible,” Summers said.
Kyra looked dismayed but she went along with Shipmaster Summers. It kind of pulled at my heartstrings to see her sad. The Metas were really humans. I believe the way the King’s Shield described them was right. They were just children fighting back against their parents, confused why their parents sought their death.
