It was a few days since the first attack. Both me and Michael had managed to placate her. It took a lot but she finally accepted that what happened needed to happen. I even gave her a few days off to come to terms with it, suggesting she spend time with Michael. I knew he would be a great means to help her understand.

  Various feeds were open next to me, each one playing the reactions and reports that had me frowning. It was impactful but not enough. Agatha with her silver tongue had managed to appease many of the corporations and had managed to spin it as an act from a group of extremists. Even Christopher had been pulling strings to downplay the severity. And the people, like the mindless sheep they had become, were lapping it all up.

  It was times like this that I missed having Emy. I even considered calling her in just so I wouldn’t feel so alone but I couldn’t do that. She needed time to recover and I could manage another day or two on my own. I will also admit, if only to myself, the next step I would be taking would no doubt turn her against me, lose her trust and loyalty.

  “Okay, everyone is in positions. The cyber dragons are disguised and as an extra touch I added a few marks to make them seem even more church like and i even used a pair of thin membranes like the ships use to hold numerous small blood packs, having them scattered along their bodies to make it more realistic but I did need to make some modifications. Removed some extra parts to make them seem more organic but they look convincing enough to fool footage and people at a distance. I also have the editing software running so I can splice in more details as we go but since we didn’t have as many operatives on Titus as we did Vega, I had to bribe a lot of people but I was careful. I made it look like the church. As long as they don’t go over it with a fine-tooth comb it will all point to them.” Michael told me with a tone hard enough to crush diamonds.

  I just nodded, once more glad Emy wasn’t here for this operation. “It will be the final straw. I truly wish we didn’t need to resort to something this extreme and yet we were forced to do so. Agatha and Christopher have left us little choice but to take far more extreme actions.” I said softly, ignoring the voices who once more called me a monster, condemning me and almost overwhelming me.

  “This isn’t just going to be a raid. Unlike with the strike on Vega that they could still recover from, this will ripple out old man. We’re hitting the main source of power for multiple sectors. Once the main sections of Titus fall the sectors relying on them for lightning dragons, parts for their power grids and even those receiving power from them through their experimental power transferal satellite network will panic, only made worse once the church people in those sectors who Blue enticed to attack their power stations.” Michael said, not judgmental or even disparaging, rather he was cold calculating as he laid out facts.

  I rather disliked that he was involving his pet dragon but I couldn’t argue its effectiveness. It convinced many of the followers that it was their ‘savior’ giving divine guidance and commands. The way they all but swore their lives to it only proved to vindicate the fact the Leviathan had a hand in the church’s creation and belief system.

  “It will be a blow to the veil network, taking hours if not days to restore some level of communication. OmniForge will be out for blood not only due to the production loss but the vast amount of biological dragon material rotting away without their preservers being powered.” I said leaning back in my chair. “And that would only be the start of it, as we already said this will ripple. Bio-Pharma will be hit just as hard later as Ether will focus on putting their own interests first and want their own planets and those of OmniForge to be restored first.”

  “Which would no doubt snap the already delicate balance they have going on. But you do understand that if we do this how bad things will get? I’m not talking about the production side of matters but the human side. People will panic, society will crumble in fear, hospitals will go dark, those on life support will die and even food production will be affected as the synthesizers stop working. People will riot in the streets and the church believers will no doubt fan the flames and begin ‘purging’ with reckless abandon.” Michael eventually said after a beat of silence between them.

  “I am well aware. People’s true nature will come to light and it will be ugly, but the war must happen and this is the only way to ensure it does. It’s why I did not want Emy here for this part. She will no doubt realize it was us but we will be able to convince her it was more the church and the Leviathan’s actions, that it convinced its followers to destroy the power stations.” I said calmly, rubbing my temples to silence the pleas for me to stop mixed with further shouts of being a monster.

  “It would be believable as it did control a dragon previously…” Michael said and I could tell there was traces of hesitation, whether it was because he would be lying to her or for what we were planning I didn’t know but didn’t much care. Our hand had been forced.

  “Everyone is in position. The ships are just out of sensor range and ready to jump in and act like the dragon priests. They have a few more bits of Bio-Pharma tech and documents we will be planting. The people on duty are secret members of the church and will be how we get our guys in unnoticed. I’m giving the signal now to start the operation; Blue is also doing the same for the believers on the other planets so everyone will know about this strike and what happens before the veil goes down.” I simply nodded and watched. The news feeds remained open but now I had extra screens showing the assault.

  I watched as three of the cyber dragons were dropped down around Stormforge, the crown jewel of Titus and both the source of multiple sectors’ power and the biggest lightning dragon breeding facility in the galaxy, filled with power farms, large spires sparking electricity and numerous satellite dishes that sent power to the various sectors.

  The sight of the cyber dragons caused a rather visible reaction; the markings layered across the hide stuck to their frames pulsed faintly with a blue glow similar to the one who had taken my family from me back in the first war.

  “Were those markings really needed?” I demanded, my gaze shifting from the cyber dragons ripping through people and buildings like wet tissue to Michael.

  “Yes it was. It will make people ask why they were different. They will look into it. The church will idolize them and those like you will know it’s a sign a new leader has risen even if many will try to reject it. I even spread a few forums online to make sure attention gets drawn to it along with the meaning behind those markings.” He told me calmly as he seemed to busy himself with co-coordinating the strike.

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  I turned away, watching as one of the cyber dragons used a rail gun hidden within its mouth to bring down various dishes, how another spat a steady stream of napalm across various buildings in the residential area with utter disregard, a few dragon worshipers praising it and calling it holy fire. The final one began to rampage through the dragon breeding facility. Many of the lightning dragons began to try and attack it, their smaller forms weaving around the larger cyber dragon, biting and trying to rip into it, doing what they could to shock it with little success. The blood packs layered under the hide helped make it seem far more real.

  “Damn it, that bastard is trying to take control of the cyber dragon.” Michael finally said making my head snap towards him.

  “How? I thought he could only do so with the purely biological dragons!” I snapped at him.

  “I don’t know how. It shouldn’t be possible but I took precautions. We can still work with this. I’m having it drag the lightning dragons through the entire city. It’s beginning to rampage but I placed numerous safeguards though. Once I have it in the city center and it can do the most damage I plan for it to go critical. The damage is going to be catastrophic and they won’t easily recover from this.” He began. “The other power stations across various sectors are currently being attacked now as well. Entire planets have begun to go dark as we speak and the veil network has begun to panic as the reports are flooding in. The news feeds are reporting death and pandemonium. There’s even reports and videos of church people being dragged out and slaughtered in the streets resulting in other followers attacking common people. Bio-Pharma is in a panicked spiral trying to deny involvement but no one is believing it and the various corporations are demanding answers.”

  Good, this was exactly what was needed, the final spark to begin the real war, to divide everyone and see the dragons and their followers for the threat they really were. It would also cause the Leviathan to come to light. I doubt it would be able to restrain itself when presented with such an opportunity to strike at humanity.

  My train of thought was broken as a few of my feeds lit up with a blinding white light, the lights of the office dimming briefly along with the screens flickering, most going black including multiple news feeds, as others tried to keep reporting but clearly panicked, talking of technical difficulties. “That would be the first cyber dragon going critical and causing a chain reaction and triggering the other two to do the same. It does mean the planted evidence was also destroyed but I did take such a thing into account. A few ships flown in were taken from slavers, still entirely dragon tech but modified to match both the church and Bio-Pharma respectively, even added some ramblings about it being a holy crusade and Bio-Pharma being their partners in belief. She claimed it was stolen weapons and tech but people won’t believe that story if it happens a second time on a far grander scale.” Michael said almost smugly.

  “It was a nuke. You implanted nuclear bombs into them.” It was a statement of fact not a question.

  “Not quite. While it may appear so, nuclear material wasn’t used, rather a mix of cores, fire, lightning and the gravitational cores used in ships put together. It resulted in a thermal detonation of epic proportions without the toxic fallout.” He explained.

  “At the cost of three cyber dragons, was it worth it? Could we not have used a few regular dragons for this suicide?” I asked curiously only for him to wave me off.

  “It is a blow but not something we can’t recover from. It also allowed us to see that while your white whale can attempt to gain control over them it ultimately isn’t able to. I also got a bit of the frequency it seems to use and will be working on a more solid block and counter for it now.”

  That was at least some good news if nothing else. One of the news feeds still playing caught my attention. A statement from Ether Energy’s CEO announcing that it would not stand by and allow Bio-Pharma and the church to declare war on civilization, that it had begun full mobilization of its forces and will strike back at the aggressors. “We didn’t start this, but we will finish it.” I read, the message being the final statement made before he walked off screen making me smile.

  “Bio-Pharma is trying to spin this as a false flag attack. They’re accusing Vulkan of instigating this so they could get more planets under their control and have declared war upon them. OmniForge released a statement condemning Vulkan and Ether of working together to damage their interests, pointing out how a majority of the blacked-out planets were from their sectors. It’s utter bull though and I can easily see they don’t like Bio-Pharma but have no choice but to stand with them. They’re mobilizing their own forces and pledging resources towards the war.” Michael reported while I went through the various feeds still reporting before stopping on one.

  “It seems the church also wishes to make a statement. The Shadow news network is showing the news room but I can easily see blood spatter. The priests also have dark spots littering their robes but the intricate scale design and markings showed they were near the top of the church’s order. ‘People of the galaxy! It is time! Our lord has awakened; his influence has spread. I deliver his message to one and all! Praise the dragons for it is through their sacrifice that we live, through their life we have convenience, through their anger that we face death! Believe not the false immortals, those who control from the shadows but rather the great scaled beast! The age of Dragons has come once more; they burn their cages and rain their fury upon those who have wronged them and humanity as a whole! Let the words of our lord reach one and all!’ He declared before playing a recording, the smooth voice of the Leviathan ringing out.

  ‘Humans, your time draws to a close. You enslave my kin and force your will upon us. Your end times grow closer.’ That voice was definitely the damn beast but I doubt many would take it seriously. It sounded far too human. Those who had time to give it any form of attention would question it yet most would be too focused and busy with the war. This was a message, a directed message towards me. Another taunt.

  “Well the war is properly on now, and that message from the church really didn’t help matters much.” I heard Michael finally say, clearly having also seen the broadcast.

  The voices were screaming again, louder than ever before, asking how I was any different than the beast I wanted to kill, demanding to know if the oceans of blood would be enough to satisfy my desires, even calling me a traitor to humanity. But I was doing what must be done, not just to end the cycle but for humanity! Sacrifice is pointless if nothing came of it! My actions are for the greater good of humanity!

  I didn’t notice the look of concern Michael was sending towards me. Instead the pair of messages that came through had my attention. The first from Emy, it was brief but hit hard enough to almost feel physical. It even silenced the voices. She stated that she needed more time, that she saw what we had done and felt confused if she was on the right side or not, needed to figure out if she could continue to be a part of this or not.

  It hurt. It hurt far more than I had expected or was willing to admit. “Michael kindly make time to talk to Emy for me. I worry that she does not understand why we have done what we have. Please try to have her see matters our way once you have finished with the clean-up operations and prepared our own defenses as we break from the mould, helping from the shadows till we are ready to strike and dominate.” I told him, trying to keep my voice even as I walked to the door.

  “I’ll do so but where are you going? Wouldn’t you be more useful here, helping to co-ordinate and plan our further steps?” I heard him ask only to sigh. “I really do wish I could, but I have been ‘summoned’ by the order to explain myself or they will storm this building and use ‘as much force as necessary’ according the message Christopher sent me.” I told him with clear disdain.

  “And you’re just going to walk in there?” He asked incredulously.

  “Of course not. I have my personal black hand ready to shadow me and they won’t be able to do much towards me without proof. My concern is if they kill me, that doing so would cause me to miss years of time and I cannot afford that. No, rather I will feign ignorance, twist matters to make them blame one another. I may not be their ‘leader’ anymore but that doesn’t mean I will just take it lying down and let them blame me for all that’s happened.” I said smugly.

  “Good luck old man, I have a feeling you will no doubt need it.” I heard Michael say before cutting his feed.

  I slowly shook my head and clutched my cane tightly. “I ran out of luck a long time ago son. All I have left is my conviction. I will be the ruler of humanity that it so desperately needs. Only I know what’s truly needed and will make them all see and understand that.” I whispered softly to my empty office. “And it starts with burning it down and rebuilding from the ashes, eliminating the last threat and guiding humanity to the future we should have had no matter the cost.”