USD: Nineteen Hours since hostile fleet incursion.
Location: ltisar, MNS Aegis Flag Bridge
Captain Young was forced to return to tending to operations when Naless ca up with a new formation makeup that forced the Aegis to maneuver. Alex shook her head and watched the mans back before looking back to the strategic maps on the holographic table. She couldnt stop thinking about what he said.
Or thinking that he was wrong.
From what it looked like, most people were doing better on paper. Even everything shed seen on ltisar indicated that most people were doing fine.
But what about the people in 92 Pegasi? What about the colonists that had been dumped on Nu Craters? The Corpo plot to have them murdered? The decision that it would be okay to glass the planet to hide their actions when things went sideways.
She hadnt seen much of the galaxy, but there had been plenty of ssed up shit to go along with the good that Captain Young held up on a pedestal.
A mixture of anger and frustration filled her. Even if humanity had made progress under the guidance of NAIs, it felt like the corruption andexcesses werent an equal trade on the scales. Was that right? Surely everyone that was fine with the status quo and did well under the system would say it was. But what about those who fell through the cracks or didnt fit it?
If the frontier had been a small relief valve for people who didnt fit the mold of wherever they had been born, didnt they deserve a chance at happiness too? And she doubted that 92 Pegasi was the only place, it was just the one shed seen and been dumped in. It had been mostly used by the Solarians, but also the Corpos. What about the Ertan and Imperium?
Would sacrificing so many of ltisars best be worth it to save the rest? Shouldnt they be told about what they were facing? Did they already know? Hadnt they signed up to join the military? To defend their fellow citizens?
Alex placed her forehead on the table and closed her eyes, brain running wild with questions that she couldnt pick any good answers for. But an overwhelming feeling of responsibility pushed at her, like it was her responsibility to figure it out.
A chi across the bridge indicated that Naless had ordered a new formation change. Alexs hand clenched into a fist.
Naless, enough of that, she hissed. Stop tweaking the formation, its not helping anyone!
[Informative: An improvent in fleet cohesion of 0.17% has been achieved by organized unit repositioning.]
I dont care. We need to focus on the bigger picture here. Youre acting like youre in withdrawal or sothing. I realize you dont have the traffic net to experint with, but I need your help to figure out a plan without sacrificing half the first fleet to do it!
[Notice: Recent Avatar plan seems optimal in configuration. If no further proposals exist, seeking additional input from sub-cores could be a useful alternative if Avatar stressor chemical levels are an accurate indication of current progress. This unit has no further information or data to report.]
Alexs mouth slackened. She hadnt been interactive with Naless nearly as much in the last month or two. At least compared to before the incident on MIL-1A where Tia had taken over. It wasnt like she had ignored him or he hadnt been helping her. It was just they had both been focusing on their own projects most of the ti.
No, that wasnt quite right. Hed been acting weird ever since hed woken up when they had hijacked Tias computronics. Shed not really examined that; it was more of a little feeling that had built up. Sothing was just not quite right.
But hed never, ever told her to figure it out yourself before.
Are you going senile? I cant ask them. Were a light-hour out from MIL-1A, Alex mumbled.
A pressure built up in her head without warning and then it felt like two fingers yanked her out of her body and pulled her through a cold pool of water. She landed on a hard surface with a thud. A curse escaped her lips as she stood back up. What the fuck, Naless. What
It looked like Tias MIL-1A HQ. The gaming center she and Thea had set up was in the corner, but the control consoles had been replaced with a wooden table with matching chairs. A stark white light shined down on it, highlighting a half dozen cloaked figures.
What Alex started to ask a second ti, but one of the figures leaned forward. It was Tia.
We cant let them take ltisar. There is nowhere else for us to go. Theres nowhere to hide. It sounded like Tia. The expression, body language, even the blue tint of her eyes and silver-white hair were accurate. But the other NAI felt off, in a way that Alex couldnt explain.
Naless! Thats not Tia. Faster-than-light transmission is impossible, unless youre ti dilating us sohow. And if you are, get out of here right now, youre wasting tons of ti! Alex shouted.
[Negative: Avatar is currently under no ti dilation effects.]
That didnt make her feel any better. Naless, this is obviously a virtual space. I dont want to be here. Tia isnt here. Let out.
You need our help. Tia answered.
Another one of the shadows leaned forward into the light. It was Thea. Co on, Big Blue. Whether youre fretting on the bridge with Mr. Depressing or here with us, whats the difference?
A third, much smaller figure appeared. A young girl with short blue hair and eyes Alex didnt recognize. We can figure it out!
A deep, gravelly voice echoed in the inky-black chamber as a much larger form appeared. The enemy must be crushed.
H32 Alexs words trailed off as a frown appeared on her face. Her hands tightened into fists. Naless! I did not ask for a self-imposed ntal crisis! Theres no way we can communicate with or even know H32 is alive!
A tentacle whipped across the wooden table, making a loud crack where the wood splintered on the surface. Is mory not a form of existence, Mother?
Alex grit her teeth. I dont have ti for this. I dont think Tia or the admirals will have a solution.
Captain Young already sent your plan to the HQ through a transmission. I imagine theyll push for that. Tia said.
What? Alex blinked. Her plan had just been an idea, and she still didnt agree with asking so many people to sacrifice themselves, even if they were willing to do so!
[Affirmative: Avatar conversation was transmitted to MIL-1 HQ via flag bridge systems.]
The young blue-haired girl spoke. Ti is important. With more ti, we can get more resources, and then we can build more things to stop bad people from coming again!
Alex felt like soone had punched her in the stomach. Her plan was going to kill millions of her own people. Because she couldnt think of sothing better.
The large nest project seems critical. H32 stated gravely.
It took her a mont before she realized what he was talking about. That wont be ready for weeks. Its definitely not ready now.
One of H32s tentacles suddenly turned toward Thea and pointed sharply.
The NAI turned an angry glare at H32. Get that thing out of my face or Ill chop it off.
A resounding growl surrounded the table. Friendly fire is not permitted by Mother.
Shes not MY mother, sli bags. Thea responded.
The little girl jumped up on her chair. Family shouldnt fight! Especially sisters and brothers!
The tentacle retracted, and Alex felt grateful shed not been required to police the rapidly devolving insanity inside her head. It was clear that she had finally gone insane; the stress had been too much, and Naless had for so reason decided to throw her to her own destruction.
Every face froze and pivoted toward her, with a series of alien, unreadable, or concerned expressions. Were they reading her mind, too?
A hand settling on her shoulder almost made her jump, but the presence was warm and comforting and she leaned into it. Until Elis whispered into her ear causing her entire body to tense up into a block of taut tendons.
Theyre just trying to help, kiddo.
Alex reached up and removed the hand only for Elis to reach out and give her a head rub like she liked to always do, but it just filled her with moreanger.
Shes not even a NAI. Stop this, Alex hissed.
[Informative: During dical assistance and assessnt, sufficient data was recorded for full neural image backup and implentation of Elis unit mind map. A suitable]
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
STOP. Rage boiled over into her voice. She reached up to cup Elis cheek. The form of her sister dissolved into blowing away particles. That was scary and painful enough to create tears. How dare you! She never wanted that! No matter what!
[Notice: Ava]
Shut! Up! The need to lash out at Naless was impossible to satisfy when there was nothing to lash out towards. But there was sothing she needed to do. It was hard for her to visualize, but a computerized pillar rose out of the inky black floor.
The console projected a screen with dozens of charts and rapidly changing variables that were impossible to read, but sohow she knew what it was: Elis neural map that Naless had made without permission on Mil-1A while she was recovering.
The console didnt have any buttons or way to manipulate the data, so she chose sothing much more satisfying: she punched it. tal resisted for a second before crumpling. Its projector went flying, but the projection remained in place, the data beginning to distort and wobble in the air.
Alex punched it again, her heart pounding with anger. The screen winked out. Thousands of warning screens appeared in a rectangle around the formless room shed been standing in with the other NAI-simulations.
| WARNING: DATALOSS | WARNING: DATALOSS | WARNING: DATALOSS |
| WARNING: DATALOSS | WARNING: DATALOSS | WARNING: DATALOSS |
| WARNING: DATALOSS | WARNING: DATALOSS | WARNING: DATALOSS |
[Warning: Irreparable data loss has occurred. No backup off]
She wasnt sure how, but she reached into the blackness and her arm disappeared into the inky blackness like it was a surface of water, sending dozens of ripples across the plane. She found sothing when she clenched her fist and pulled it back through. A blonde-haired man plopped out and fell onto the ground.
Alex recognized him imdiately. It had been a long tiall the way back when shed made A31 into a new sub-core. But there was no question; he was what Naless looked like.
Naless opened his mouth. Notice: This confrontation is unproductive and dang
She kicked him in the face. Blood and teeth painted the inky black floor, but when he turned back toward her, his face was unhard. He stood up and stared at her.
Notice: This confrontation is unproductive and dangerous to ShipCore stability. Avatar irrationality
You yanked here! How could you think this was fine? Im done talking! Alex shouted before shoving him. He staggered backwards, and she reached back to punch him when another hand suddenly caught her wrist. It was a clone of Naless.
She punched the clone, sending it flying only for a third one to grab her from behind.
Warning: Avatar
She whipped around to send that one flying, too. Four more materialized from nothing before approaching her. She squared up before noticing the one on the ground was still moving and gave it a kick hard enough to send it flying into the new group. All five went tumbling like ragdolls across the inky black surface and lted into it, only to be replaced by twelve more stepping out of a dozen black portals.
They started forward when a crack burned Alexs ears, a railgun discharge flashing past her and into the crowd, taking off the head from one of the clones.
Alex whipped around to see Tia leveling a constructed railgun at the approaching clones, smoke wafting up from the barrel like this was so type of dramatic holovid.
The young blue girl jumped up on her chair and threw a blob of goo into the air that suddenly ford into a quadcopter droneard with a machine gun. She pointed at the Nalesses as another dozen stepped out of the portals. Getem!
Thea stood up, her arm turning into a vibro-blade. The entire table cracked and fell apart as H32 turned his bulk toward the threat.
All the clones spoke together at the sa ti, the reverb from the now-three dozen voices echoing everywhere. Warning: Cessation of Avatar irrationality is
All hell broke loose.
Machine gun fire mowed down the first row, only for them to lt into the floor and pop back up out of it. Another railgun round plunged through three at a ti, leaving them with gaping holes. Thea jumped through the air, landing beside Alex, cleaving two clones that had approached Alex in half.
Alex took a deep breath, then repeated the sentint, Getem!
She coiled a pool of nanites in her palm then whipped them out like a whip, lassoing three clones then yanking as hard as she could, the wire sliced them all in halves but as soon as they fell to the ground the clones reford and stood back up marching forward without hesitation.
A loud poing! sound heralded the arrival of H32 as a gadget made by the blue hair girl launched him like a springboard, right into the middle of the growing clone army. Tentacles whipped around, crushing and smashing anything within range before blades suddenly sprouted from the appendages.
Clones suddenly appeared from above, falling out of the sky by the hundreds to land on H32. They were whipped and slashed before the NAI was suddenly buried under a mound of corpses. But Alex didnt have a chance to help; a dozen clones rushed for her as well.
There wasnt any structure to the space for her to attach her nanite cables to so she attached them to the clones themselves. She grabbed the first one and threw it toward so of its allies, creating a taut rope that took off the legs of another clump as they ran into the cable.
The cacophony of gunfire, railgun cracks, and yelling filled the air. The young blue-haired girl put together a dozen more robotic soldiers, each one rushing forward to engage the clones, forming a battle line. A loud roar heralded an entire wave of clones being flung into the air as healer jumped, his large shell sending them hurtling through the air.
Body parts arced as he cut his way back through the increasing numbers of Nalesses back to the friendly battle line.
A railgun crack took off the head of a clone that had nearly reached her, causing Alex to look back at Tia.
Alex! We cant keep this up forever! We need to co up with a plan to stop them! Tia shouted.
Everything seed to freeze in place as her mind went into overdrive. They needed a plan. Wasnt that why they were here in the first place? They needed a plan.
But this was her mind. Her place. Why was it such a struggle?
It shouldnt be.
She turned toward the fight, both sides ford a comical battle line with the clones pressing ever forward, scrambling over their own corpses that would reform and push forward little by little against an increasing number of inky blue soldiers while the other NAIs provided more support.
Alex held out her palm at the chaotic scene.
Stop.
There was a second of nothing happening. She closed her eyes and pictured the clones going away.
Stop.
A wind whipped at her back, and then she opened her eyes. The clones had all been handcuffed and shackled.
Go away!
Like an angry blast wave, the clones hurtled through the air, being blown away like an angry god had blown out its birthday candles. The clones sorsaulted and crashed into each other as they flashed back through the still open portals.
It was over in a few more seconds; all the Naless clones were gone.
The others approached and ford a semi-circle around her, looking to her for guidance. Sohow, none of them were hurt.
Alex frowned. This isnt helping. Its just She let out a weary sigh and sat down on the floor. On the faces she could recognize frowns and worried likes filled them as they sat down as well.
H32 pointed another tentacle toward Thea, causing her to bat it away with her vibro blade.
I warned you about pointing those at ! she protested.
An alien growl filled the air, but H32 decided to not press as he turned toward Alex. This one should at least express its idea. It has rit.
Alex frowned, and her eyebrows furrowed. You an the wormhole drive moonlet? I already told you, its not ready and useless.
Hadnt she said that to them? Or was it a mory of her realizing that herself? She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. It felt like her head was being squeezed, and it was hard to think.
Thea started to explain. Well A few days ago, I was thinking about that, actually. The humans have put in dozens of safeguards and built up the systems, but if we got rid of those and tossed them off the base, I thought I could have it running in a few hours.
Alex opened her eyes and looked at Thea. What?
Really, it seed like everything was being slowed down on purpose; maybe no one really noticed it but all the basics have been installed already, but the humans have been dragging their feet. Lots of habitat space being installed for crew, while engineering spaces and fusion reactors remain uninstalled.
Tia frowned and looked at her. I dont have a record of that, and it doesnt make sense to . Why would they be slowing things down?
Thea shrugged. Beats . I was only there because Big Blue was too busy with the silly trial thing. Thea turned to look at her. Good job beating up the Drakar, by the way! I cant wait to see the video of that!
Alexs mouth hung open for a mont before she could think of anything to say. I was there. Everyone was working hard.
Thea raised an eyebrow. Do you even have any idea what a naval base working hard looks like? I assure you I have ten years of experience running a customs station twice the size of your little project. Theyve been doing the opposite of expedited the entire ti.
Tia grunted and shook her head. Even if what you are saying is true, how do even suggest speeding things up? Making it operational in a few hours is ridiculous.
The little girl suddenly let out a squeal and jumped up, raising her hand. I know! I know! Two brilliant blue orbs shined at Alex. Pick ! Pick ! I want to explain!
Thea winced and shrunk back from the girl. Ertan let her tell it before she has an aneurysm.
Alex nodded. Go ahead?
You can just take all the extra computronics modules from MIL-1A and toss them in the base and make a really, really big fabricator!
You cant do that! Do you want another disaster like the AGAI? Tia hissed.
Thea stood up and took a breath. Yeah, its dangerous, but yknow odds are pretty good for it to work. Its only what 3.58% chance to go sideways and turn whoever is doing it into goop along with everything attached? Got to pick soone ntally stable, though.
Thea turned to look at Alex and frowned. Sorry, Big Blue, but thats not you.
Alex glanced at Tia, causing Thea to shake her head. Sorry, not the princess, either. Youre both screwed up sothing fierce.
Are you saying YOU are more ntally stable than both of us? Tia asked pointedly.
Of course. Ive got everything Ive ever wanted, and being recombinated inside Big Blues head just to lay down this bit of wisdom is probably the most exciting thing thats happened to since I got to explore her insides with my fingers!
Tia facepald while everyone else looked at Alex expectantly.
Iyou think this could work? Alex asked.
Tia sighed. Well, if she can get the wormhole drive working, I dont think flying the 6th fleet through it and showing up behind the Imperial and Ertan fleets would be a problem. If the Solarians retreat, it will take a half a day to get the 4th and 5th there, too. So tactically, it would be a coup.
Alex frowned. But youre all fignts of my imagination.
Thea sat down on a chair that appeared from nowhere, then leaned back, resting her head on her arms. Well. Im pretty sure Im updated as of like, twenty hours ago, unlike so of those here. So, I can promise that when you ssage about the mory, Ill figure it out as well. Even without a tentacle robot threatening .
A threatening growl rumbled from H32, causing Alex to worry it was about to snap at the other NAI, but thankfully he quieted down as the little girl tugged on one of his tentacles holding up so kind of toy. It took it and began using it to draw.
Okay... okay. Enough of this. How do I get out of here? Alex asked.
Tia blinked. What? Isnt that sothing you should know already?
Alex opened her mouth, then closed it. Sohow, Tia was right.
She knew how to get out. Oga Override.
A blink returned her back to the MNS Aegis flag bridge. Captain Young was looking down at her with a frown. Are you alright, Ensign?
Uhh. Alex swallowed and looked around. Her HUD clock reported that only two minutes had gone by since the formation change. Sorry, Sir. I think I need that rest break, too.
His frown didnt disappear, but he nodded. Make sure you stay fresh. We are going to need everyone at their best when the ti cos.
Alex nodded and escaped towards the temporary quarters shed been assigned in the officers section. A long hot shower was called for or she was going to fall to pieces or sothing.
But first she needed to send so priority ssages back to her friends.
[Notice: A recording of recent events could be sent with the next transmission to sub-cores.]
"No thank you. I'll type one myself, Naless." Alex mumbled. She couldn't manage to muster any more anger at the voice. "I'm not crazy. Make sure Elis' neural net is deleted, along with any others you didn't get permission to store."
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