The two machines sprinted through the streets at break neck speeds; Conrad, “The quiet hand” and Jax, “Wight”. The city had finally started to settle down as the invading forces had wiped out the rest of the local guard. The battle was decisive, swift, and brutal. The panels overhead were all but destroyed, allowing clear view to the massive warship that hovered just over the surface of the planet, massive floodlights angled upwards further illuminating its form. Jax could start to feel wear in his legs as the makeshift connection was starting to show faults. Occasionally losing his footing, glitchy vision and, strangely enough, blue sparks, emanating from the corner of his vision. They weren’t permanent, and went away as soon as he tried to focus on them, as if they were avoiding his line of sight. His mind drifted around when he saw them. Being reminded of the first time he saw blue sparks fly all those years ago. Every so often he would see them in the corner of his eye when he slept. Or as he stared up to the sky. One day, he mentioned it to his therapist, she prescribed him some medicine that day and called it off. The next day, Jax was vomiting blood in the sink after piloting.

  “We near our objective, Jack-”

  “Jax”

  “Jax… we are near our objective. However, I am receiving sitrep’s from our pilot that state the enemy has already gotten a strangle hold on the area as well as the platform.”

  “No surprises there, I guess Vanguard wanted to take this place over from the very start.”

  “A wise assumption.”

  “Alright, well, how are we supposed to extract it if it's crawling with Vanguard cronies? Not like we can just hold out until the ship gets there, good way to eat rail gun fire, I hear.”

  “While, I haven’t had much time to formulate a proper plan. We could relocate our extraction zone; however, that carries the risk of not knowing the surrounding area. Thus, we would need to scout it. And I’m not sure if I told you this, but I am currently on a mission. Bringing you to safety is also my responsibility, but I am here on Knossos to retrieve the treasure hidden within.”

  “Glad to hear I was a secondary objective. So what, we just brave that pillar of death?”

  “Not exactly. I was thinking we could defend against it, and provide us with a little cover from that war ship.”

  “You mean plasma shielding?”

  “Correct. You are currently seated within a local guard Argonaut. My hopes are that it has some sort of access to the internal strategy console used to coordinate the troops. If you can access that, maybe we have a backdoor to whatever system is controlling the direction of the plasma shielding.”

  “So you need me to access the console. Find out whatever system is controlling the plasma shielding, and then use that to provide cover from the warship as our escape ship comes down?”

  “Correct.”

  “That's bad shit, insane. Even if the strategy console is busted thanks to the raid. We don’t know if I can get in. Argonaut hacking is a whole other field of expertise. Way outside my comfort zone.”

  “We don’t have that many other options. The shield is our only way, without it the warship will destroy us.”

  Jax glanced back up to the sky, to the looming leviathan bristling with enough guns to over power an entire nation. “Alright, fine. So how do I do this hacking thing?”

  Jax and Conrad, we positioned just outside the immediate area of the platform. Its stature casting a shadow over their makeshift den. Conrad’s Argonaut was hooked up to Jax’s with wires running up and down the size of it. Jax sat in Conrad's cockpit, also hard-wired into it. He ran through the plan one more time in his head. When he jacks in, the system will transport his consciousness into the console built into his Argonaut. Naturally, his implants will try to create a spatial environment so that his mind can comprehend. Once inside the inner system and he can understand his surroundings, his main priority will be to search around until he finds any thread linked to the automated defence systems of Knossos. Once he finds a lead he will signal to Conrad who will upload an N.E.C to do all the hacking, guided by me. And, BAM. We can control the shield. Jax was surprised when Conrad mentioned the N.E.C. He had worked with a couple before, and they never failed to confuse him. He heard nerds spout on about how they perceive the net as how we perceive real space, and that they basically man made sentient intelligence. But to him, those all felt like buzz words for a fancy AI system. “Alright, Jax, everything is in place. N.E.C is on stand by, and you’re hooked up to the console. Are you ready?”

  “I’m good to go. It feels weird, though. You sure this stuff you hot wired to my nervous system won’t fry me alive.”

  “I’m positive. Starting upload on 10, 9, 8, 7…”

  Jax braced himself. Settling back in the uncomfortable chair and drilling the plan into his head. Get in, find info, upload, get out.

  “4,3,2…”

  In, out, in, out.

  “1!”

  With that, he felt half a second, not a quarter second, of the most excruciating shock run up his entire spine before he was plunged into darkness.

  Blue sparks

  The blue sparks again.

  They flew around him like glowing butterflies.

  He could feel his body fuzz all over. Like he was dipped into a bath of static.

  For a while, he simply let his mind wander, drifting around the void, filled with glowing particles. But before he could feel his consciousness slip away. His brain sharpened. Everything around him went from a fuzzing mess into a sharp, focused, empty void.

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  In, out

  Jax couldn’t see anything. Everything around him was black. First, he tried to move his arm. But he received no feedback. No muscles tightening or the feeling of movement. He tried to breathe, but there was nothing. At first, he felt like he was suffocating. No oxygen entering his lungs, or leaving. It was agony, the sensation of choking though was washed away when he realised that. It was just an illusion, a figment of his oxygen starved imagination.

  So, he couldn’t move, see, breathe or really do anything, it was pure sensory deprivation. Jax took a deep breath, or rather convinced himself he did, and focused his thoughts. The console only responded to commands it understood, bare minimum. He spoke the words “Terminal, open”

  His mind was then injected with 4 simple options

  1: Terminal D.C

  2: Terminal reset

  3: SYS open

  4: SYS close

  “Open system”

  Once again, he could feel information feeding directly into his brain. Like something planted a memory into his head. The thought read:

  SYS open:

  -Terminal dogma

  -Dogma orders

  -Protocols

  -Local files

  -SYS close

  Jax had been here before. Poking around in Argonaut systems. It always felt so surreal, the pure information being whirled around in his head. As his mind drifted, Jax could feel the connection blur. The thoughts in his head buzzing and warping. Quickly, he straightened himself out. Returning to the state of focus he found himself in before his mind wandered. The thoughts sharpened once again. The 5 options appearing in his mind's eye. Calmly, Jax responded, “Protocols”.

  And so, talking to himself in the void. Jax slowly peeled away the layers of the console. Navigating through menus on menus of information. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing as not before long Jax had reached his first fire wall

  “Local defense mechanisms.” He said,

  -Alert you lack clearance to access this file; please provide decryption key

  Jax let out a sigh as strong as the hallucinatory systems would allow before focusing his thoughts on a single word. “Arrived,” and before long Jax could start to feel the slow integration of another presence in his mind. Pieces of it filling the empty spaces in his subconscious. Not before long he could fully feel the presence of this individual writhing in his head, squirming and picking apart his thoughts. The sensation felt like someone had released a batch of worms into his head, as he could feel it lurking in every corner of his mind.

  “Local defence mechanisms.” He said again, the focus required for that sentence increasing as his mind constantly drifted off the odd sensation. The same message as last time beamed into his head, but it was swiftly cut off as the worms writhed and rushed through the soft tissue of his head. Darting to each corner of his subconscious like mycelium roots exploring the soil in a forest. It was but for a moment; the worms in his head died out shortly after before the same message beamed into his head, this time with a very different verdict

  “Clearance has been granted; please navigate to the menu for further options.”

  Jax almost couldn’t believe it; it was like magic. Quickly he made his way to the menu, and there he found it. “Shield defence systems.”

  Once again, he opened his mind to the worms, and they quickly went to work before he jacked out.

  His mind slowly became acclimated to the real world once more as Conrad stood over him, flashing a light in front of his eyes. “Are you awake?” He asked

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m awake.” Jax said, brushing the light away from his face. “Did you get control of the shielding?” He asked, slowly rising from the cockpit.

  “Yes, I should be able to remotely access their protocols.”

  “Perfect. I’m surprised you got to grips with the net so quickly.” Conrad says, extending his hand to Jax and fishing him out of the cockpit.

  “That isn’t to say I liked it,” Jax said, coughing as his lungs got used to the air.

  “Reguardless of your satisfactory state. We have acquired the necessary code. We can now mount our assault.” Conrad said, stepping from the Argonaut chassis and into his nest of wires. Typing a few lines into his computer before starting to clear out. Jax stayed on the Argonaut however. Peering through the rubble and towards the ruined landscape. “Hey,” Jax said

  “What do you know about war?”

  Conrad looked up from his work. Pausing for a moment before replying

  “I know that it is inevitable, and that the only way to stop it is through the judge.”

  “Would you say we are at war now. Across the Orion arm. Factions clashing and destroying the world around them. Is that war.”

  Conrad stood up straighter. Looking Jax in the eye. “I believe that the term, war, carries a different meaning in our time.”

  “And why is that?”

  “In the old times, war was an event that started and ended. A period in history were multiple powers clashed for dominance over ideals, recourses, or influence. In our time, spread across the known humanitarian sphere are millions of groups, all trying to survive in a hostile environment. And everyone has a different idea of what is right and wrong. And with an uncountable amount of life seeded through the universe, two groups will eventually clash. It is a product of the world we have made for ourselves. So while it could be considered in older times that we are at war. I would say that for the word to hold the same gravitas. We would need a single conflict to grand, so spectacular, so horrific that it cements itself as an event that alters the very structure of our world.”

  As Conrad spoke, and as Jax glared at the destruction. Conrad’s words felt strangely relevant. As if he ripped the truth buried in Jax’s head and placed it in front of him

  “Tell me, are you familiar with the hypothetical War On Peace?”

  “Hm?”

  “The War On Peace was an idea that our current world is sustained by constant fighting. It brings jobs, a flag to follow, and is a status quo that many are born into. Many see it as something that should be stopped. That the fighting will eventually wear humanity out, much like death itself. Death as a truth prevents the eternal life of many, it ushers new generations that change the world, it ensures humanity continues in a cycle. If we were to stop dying there would never be change. We wouldn't be so driven to usher in change within our lifetimes. But despite this fact many try to cheat. Extending their lives because they fear the void, the time when you stop being a person. The same is true for our eternal conflict. “The war on peace” as a concept is what will happen when two super powers make peace. Allying themselves to prevent the further battle. Hypnotized by the fear that their never ending fighting will be their undoing. This event will have two consequences. It will form a super power so strong it will have the power to take on every other faction. And second: it will break the house of cards their conflict held up. And all it will take is one desperate action from one group, no matter how big, to bring back their conflict to show the world the truth. And from there, chaos will ensue. Like telling someone they’re living in a simulation, the truth will break their world and bring about its end. Thus, The War On Peace”

  Jax stared at Conrad with empty eyes. His mind churning on the idea and trying to think of something to say.

  “Its quite the miserable concept isn’t it?”

  “Yeah….” Jax replied. Looking back at the landscape, “Alright, let's go then.”

  Hello again

  So the last couple weeks have been really busy. But with the new year finally in full swing and my writing engine back on I've got back into the habit and am ready for more sci-fi goodness. I’ll admit that this chapter was written between holidays so it's kind of jumbled but the next chapters are all written this year and much more cohesive. However, seeing that a single holiday can throw off my schedule I’m only going to post one chapter a week, no matter if i wrote ten. But just to let you know where I am, chapter 11 is currently in the works, with the next chapter bridging act 2, which will be much longer. Anyways, thank you for giving this note a read through, i’ll see you in a week