It had been exactly two weeks since Nolan had "defected" back to the Viltrumite Empire and flipped the entire board on its head.
After Nolan's betrayal, Allen, Zoe, and I had immediately returned to Talescria with Oliver's medical pod in tow. With Nolan being officially branded a traitor and an enemy of the universe by Thaedus, I threw myself entirely into the war effort. If the Coalition wanted a weapon, I gave them one. Especially since they were the ones with insider information on the known galaxy.
The Viltrumites were pushing hard, stretching the Coalition forces thin across multiple fronts. But I pushed back harder.
Just a few days ago, a massive Viltrumite battalion attempted to siege the Vespian Antimatter Refineries—the Coalition's primary source of fuel for their ships. Losing it would have stranded half our fleet. I deployed to reinforce the breaking frontline. I didn't even bother engaging them in prolonged hand-to-hand combat. I unleashed a massive, continuous volley of supercharged plasma blasts. I obliterated their entire frontline in a matter of seconds, leaving the surviving dreadnoughts to limp back from where they came.
When the footage made its way back to Talescria, Thaedus and the Coalition leaders were publicly grateful. However, privately, they harbored a much darker sentiment toward me. My enhanced hearing easily picked up the whispered conversations echoing through the halls of the High Council.
"He's too powerful. It's unnatural."
"Nolan betrayed us without a second thought. What happens when the boy realizes he can conquer us himself? He's a ticking time bomb."
"We must prepare countermeasures at once."
The fear was palpable, but I found it to be a massive headache. Honestly speaking, their paranoia took a backseat to the real problem keeping me awake at night.
The Viltrumites were acting completely out of character.
Every time I clashed with their forces over the past two weeks, it didn't feel like another battle in war. It felt more like an evaluation. Whenever I dropped into a warzone, they didn't swarm me. They didn't try to overwhelm me with numbers to ensure a tactical kill like they were trained to do. Instead, their elite soldiers would step forward one by one and engage me in single combat.
When I inevitably overpowered them with ease, breaking through their defenses and preparing to deliver a lethal blow, they wouldn't fight to their dying breath like I was used to seeing. They would simply stop all movements, cease their struggling, and look at me like it was an absolute honor to die at my hands. When I held back, mostly because I was utterly confused by their sudden submission, they'd look at me in surprise, give me a respectful nod, and retreat.
It was bizarre. And the way they looked at me... it wasn't with the cold, genocidal hatred I was used to. It was a mix of awe and calculation. I'd even intercepted fragments of their telepathic comms as they retreated from a failed siege.
"The blood of the Empire flows well in him."
"He is incredible."
"No, he is more capable than we have been told. He is ready."
None of it made sense. I often wondered if they were acting that way because I had not only defeated a top-tier, longstanding Viltrumite like Conquest twice, but had also stopped two of their top officers from overtaking a crucial supply line with relative ease. It made the most sense to me since they respected strength above all else. But at the same time, I couldn't help but wonder why everything felt like a series of tests.
But what am I being tested for? I contemplated. To fight Thragg? He's a ruthless tactical genius, so everything that's going on with them has to be a part of his plotting. I just need to figure out what his angle is, especially with Nolan now being on their side again.
Later that same day, I found myself standing in the back of the High Council chambers.
The room was buzzing with panicked energy. Holographic tactical maps projected glowing red Viltrumite fleets slowly encroaching on Coalition space. Even with my recent victories pushing them back, the Coalition forces were being stretched dangerously thin. Some of the leaders were arguing over which sectors to abandon and which to reinforce, desperately trying not to send all their heavy hitters out at once.
I tuned most of the political bickering out, keeping my eyes locked on Thaedus.
He sat at the head of the massive table, stroking his beard in deep contemplation. Throughout the entire two-hour meeting, his face cycled through a series of cold, calculating expressions. He looked like a grandmaster staring at a chessboard, plotting a move five steps ahead of everyone else in the room.
As the council adjourned, Thaedus waved me over to his private office.
"Mark, I have an urgent assignment for you," he said, bringing up a star map on his desk. He pointed to a blinking yellow dot on the far edge of Coalition space. "Observation Post Epsilon. It serves as our deep-space early warning system for the eastern quadrant. Twenty minutes ago, it went entirely dark."
I frowned, stepping closer to the hologram. "You think the Viltrumites took it out to create a blind spot for a flanking maneuver."
"Exactly," he nodded grimly. "If they move an armada through that sector undetected, they could strike Talescria directly. We cannot spare a fleet to investigate, and standard interceptors won't reach it in time to restore the communication system before the Viltrumites exploit the gap. You are the only one fast enough to get there, secure the outpost, and report back before they can make a move."
"I'm on it," I said instantly. I didn't want to waste a single minute.
I left his office, bypassed the hangar bays entirely, and blasted straight out of Talescria's atmosphere, pushing my speed to its peak.
I tore through the vacuum of space, leaving a streak of burning energy in my wake. Tapping into some of my suit's reserves, I crossed a distance that would have taken a standard Coalition cruiser two weeks in just under an hour, arriving at the coordinates way ahead of schedule.
Post Epsilon was a massive, spinning satellite station orbiting a dead gas giant. As I approached, I expected to see a swarm of Viltrumite warships, or at the very least, a debris field.
But the station was completely intact.
Odd, I thought, landing softly on the exterior hull and manually prying open the primary airlock. The interior emergency lights were flashing a dull amber, but the station was dead silent.
"Hello?" I called out, my voice echoing down the metallic corridors. "Anybody here?"
No answer.
I floated down the hallways, my muscles coiled and ready for an ambush. But the deeper I went, the more my confusion grew. There were no bodies. There were no plasma scorch marks on the walls. The reinforced blast doors weren't even dented.
I breached the command center. It was also completely empty. Half-empty mugs were still sitting on the consoles, and digital logs were paused mid-entry.
A coordinated evacuation, I realized, putting the pieces together. They hadn't been attacked or wiped out; they'd been ordered to leave.
I walked over to the outpost's primary communications monitor. It was still functioning perfectly. The power hadn't been cut; the long-range transmitter had just been manually switched to standby.
Maybe they were warned of a planned attack and left before anything happened, I tried to reason internally as I tapped the console, bypassing the local lockouts, and opened a direct, encrypted channel back to the High Council chambers on Talescria to figure out what the hell was actually going on.
The monitor flickered, a burst of static clearing to reveal Thaedus. He wasn't in his private sanctum or the council room. He was standing in some kind of moving ship, entirely calm, with a massive, rotating holographic projection of the planet Viltrum glowing behind him.
"Thaedus, what the hell is going on?!" I demanded. "The outpost is completely empty. There was no attack. It looks like they were ordered to evacuate ages ago."
"I am well aware, Mark," he replied, his voice chillingly steady. "I issued the evacuation order myself three days ago."
I froze, my mind racing to catch up. "What?! Then why'd you send me all the way out here?! We're losing ground on the frontlines!"
"I needed you out of the way," he stated simply. "I needed you lightyears from Talescria so that our true plan could proceed without your interference. But it seems you've gotten there faster than anticipated."
"What plan?!" I asked, my voice tinged with disbelief. "Did Allen know about this?! Did Talia?!"
"No. Only myself and the highest echelon of the Coalition leadership," Thaedus explained, clasping his hands behind his back. "Nolan's defection was the final, undeniable proof we needed."
"About?!" I questioned.
"About Viltrumites not being redeemable, Mark," he replied with conviction. "Nor can they be reasoned with. The time for conventional warfare is over. I have authorized the Endgame Protocol."
Conventional warfare?! What the fuck?
"The Endgame Protocol?! What are you talking about?!" I questioned, trying to make sense of the situation. "The entire Coalition armada is out there fighting right now! We don't have time for this!"
"They are but a distraction," Thaedus responded softly. "To draw Thragg's fleets away from their homeworld. While they are engaged, we are moving our ultimate weapon into position over Viltrum. A planetary bomb."
"A planetary bomb?!" I repeated, my heart nearly jumping out of my ass at the words. "You can't blow up Viltrum. Its crust is too dense. You'd need a weapon the size of the Earth's moon just to crack it."
"Under normal circumstances, yes," he nodded. "But we found a catalyst. We reverse-engineered the solar-plasma technology from the grenades you've supplied. We scaled the thermal output of your unique solar radiation into a massive, concentrated drill-bomb. It will melt through Viltrum's crust and destabilize the core in minutes."
What the fuck did I just hear?! I thought, staring at the screen in pure disbelief. They're using my own power to bolster their weapon of mass destruction?!
"But the planetary destruction is only the delivery method," Thaedus continued, his eyes hardening into something entirely ruthless. "The core of the bomb contains a massive payload of a perfected, highly volatile strain of the Scourge Virus. When it detonates onto the planet, the virus will vaporize into the atmosphere and ride the cosmic shockwave across the sector. It is designed to rapidly seek out and eradicate all Viltrumite DNA in the galaxy."
All Viltrumite DNA?! I thought, my eyes widening.
"Are you insane?!" I yelled, slamming my fist onto the console, heavily denting the metal. "I have Viltrumite DNA! My dad has it! Oliver has it! You're talking about executing us too! Call it off, Thaedus! Think about the innocent half-bloods who haven't done anything!"
"Oliver is currently resting safely in a secure vault within the Coalition's medical facility," Thaedus replied coldly. "His Thraxan heritage ensures his life will be a mere blink on the cosmic scale regardless. Do not let your human sentimentality blind you. His brief existence, and yours, are necessary casualties to ensure the universe breathes freely for the next billion years."
What the fuck! I thought. He's sounding more and more like a Viltrumite as this conversation goes on!
"If you launch that weapon and destroy that planet, you'll invoke Thragg's wrath!" I roared, my suit flaring to life and illuminating the dark room. "He'll slaughter ninety-nine percent of the Coalition before he even succumbs to the virus's effects!"
Thaedus closed his eyes briefly, completely unmoved by my threat. "It's a risk I'm willing to take to ensure the Viltrumite threat is ended for good."
This old bastard has lost his fucking mind! I thought, panic finally getting to me.
"Thaedus, listen to me! My father hasn't defected! He's making some kind of play, he's—"
"Your father's sacrifice will be honored as the galaxy's salvation," Thaedus interrupted, turning his back to the screen.
"Thaedus! THAEDUS!" I called out, but the feed cut to black.
As soon as it did, I turned around and blasted out of the outpost.
He's gonna kill us all! He's gonna kill us all! I repeated like a frantic mantra. I have to get to Viltrum before he does to intercept that bomb!
I tapped into the deepest reserves of my suit, pushing my speed massively faster than the speed of light as I tore through the terrifying, endless black of deep space.