ShipCore

USD: A month after A3123Y departure.

Location: Nu Crateris, SRS Heaven’s Fire II, Rexxor CIC.

Heeler’s metallic tipped tentacles tapped rhythmically on the command console. It was difficult to maintain a constant stream of inputs on the dozen screens laid out before him mentally, so the addition of the physical controls had been…efficient. The cold, dim lights of the command bridge cast an eerie array of shadows throughout the space, emphasizing the alienness of the compartment.

Several of the Rexxor new-type nestlings sat on their haunches, staring at their own screens, a new set of tentacles rising from the back of their necks to tap at the different controls at their stations. A single human console had been an afterthought of an addition, bolted to the bulkhead beside Heeler’s command console.

The single human on the ship, Daniel Ashburn, sat contemplating a growing list of messages and seeing to the coordination with the humans and directing his own group of ship units that Heeler had granted him command over. If the man had any fear or distaste of the Rexxor preferred surroundings, the smell of humid meat, or the organic additions to the ship’s hull, he made no sign of them.

But Heeler could taste the human’s fear and discomfort anyway. It was a grudging respect Heeler had to present to the human, and if the human did not let it show outwardly, Heeler was capable of ignoring what he could smell. For as long as it was necessary. Or useful. The man was exactly both, a human to deal with the humans was… quite necessary.

At least if he did not wish to fail his mother’s intentions.

Heeler turned his thoughts to the invasion barges which dominated his main display. He had calculated every possible scenario that could play out once the invasion barged reached Hades. His machine mind had run through countless simulations of the deployment until they had come up with the most effective strategies.

The need for victory pressed down on his carapace, the responsibility to make it happen weighed heavily. Heavier than when he had launched himself and his brothers to the stars, for his entire race was now bracing for an intense war into the nest of the Hadenics. To take it for themselves.

A chime drew his attention, and one of his sub-routines detected an anomaly in one of the barge’s propulsion systems. An angry hiss drew the attention of his brothers and a raised eyebrow from Daniel, but Heeler did not elucidate. Many errors had been detected in the barges due to the hasty construction.

Despite the precision of his machine mind, directing the many hundreds of thousands of construction bots had been a strain, and sub-routines that took care of each process were not infallible when things out of normal occurred.

A small impurity in an ingot casting could cause a defect in a thruster housing, which could cause premature failure of the engines more sensitive components due to vibrational issues with the plasma flow. It was just one example of a small issue compounding until it became a critical failure of a major system.

And yet they had done the impossible. The six great hive ships for the six remaining queens who had risen to the greatest power were complete. In the end, they had not been subdued by flame or rock, but by the mercy his Queen had blessed them with. The human’s great ship carried the remnants of their race off the smoggy darkness of Dedia with his kin. Each ship was a city in itself, complete with a now functional Chi-level subcore.

His Queen’s vessel was twice as large as the other vessels, and all were ready to embark on their single planned journey to Hade’s surface where they would act as the nucleus for an invasion that had been long in the planning.

Heeler transmitted the need for a full diagnostic to his workers, and they obeyed. There could not be any more delay to their invasion. A scheduled update from Y-4993-R was due, and the previous day’s report had not been entirely positive.

Minutes turned to hours as Heeler watched the maintenance and repair work done on the faulty hive ship thruster. The report was overdue, but as Heeler’s patience finally run out, it arrived.

The news was as he feared; the Hadenics had redoubled their efforts again. Y49’s territory inside the moon had diminished despite the copious amounts of bloodshed spent to hold it. More and more, the organic units of the sub-core’s command had degraded from the insidious environment inside the artificial moon.

Automated units had been developed and deployed. Nestlings grown to pilot their drones had begun to outnumber those whose purpose was to breach the tunnels and unleash rockets and projectiles. It was a change. So, the Rexxor would change as well, as battlefield conditions demanded. Those who had survived were returned to safer zones where they could age and grow stronger, for when the need of close combat troops returned.

Each nest would deploy an army a thousand times larger than the forces Y-4993-R controlled. Each one would pierce the crust of the world and establish its own transport tube, engineered, and developed purely for the purposes of breaching the molten layer and allowing the Rexxor to flood the interior with thousands of vehicles of war and overwhelm the Hadenics once and for all.

USD: Several hours after arriving

Location: Meltisar, IFRB Interstellar Headquarters, Justice Building

The Corporate lawyer droned on and on, arguing for Alex’s confinement for the remainder of the trial. The tension in the courtroom was palpable…except to her. Her JAG lawyer had conferred with the Solarian one, and both had warned her this might happen, but not to worry. The IFRB judge had been reminded of the Meltisar Navy’s cooperation during the matter.

The Navy had provided a helpful reminder: the number of Navy Marines lining the walls at attention was only matched by the number of IFRB bailiffs that looked distinctly unhappy to be sharing their space with other armed personnel.

When the black uniformed Corpo argued that there was a high degree of certainty that she could cause further harm, and easily escape with the resources afforded to her. When he finally sat down, her lawyer stood up and began his rebuttal; reminding the court that she had come voluntarily. That no military force or police action had been required to bring her to the courtroom today.

Alex’s eyes flickered to the Corpo lawyer. The man’s hands were shaking, and he glanced at her with an angry glare for a second before it flickered into a calm neutral. She realized her lawyer had taken a pot shot at the aborted attempt to arrest her on MIL-1A. A smile crept onto her lips, causing the make to look away.

The heated debate continued, but she couldn’t help but turn her focus away to other things. The organization of Meltisar’s response fleets was nearing completion. Clandestine packages had begun to arrive at the flagships of each of Meltisar’s primary fleet groups. They were clearly marked as important, but then sealed by sign of the High Admiralty prompting the captains of the vessels to ignore them until ordered to look at them again.

Regular crew would give the crates a wide berth. The admirals the crates were locked under would hopefully never notice. They would all be lucky if the ships were decommissioned, and some future quartermaster not yet born had the bad luck to find a package of highly illegal ammunition.

The chime of a datapad interrupted the Solarian lawyer, drawing an angry stare from the judge. Before he could admonish the naval officer in attendance, a second one went off. Then a third. A litany of chimes echoed through the hall, and men began to stand up and leave in a hurry. That drew her attention, and then her pad chimed as well.

| ATTN: ALL PERSONNEL |

| IMP FLT EMERGENCE IMMINENT |

| ALL PERSONNEL REPORT TO DUTY STATIONS |

Nameless dropped a data feed into her left eyeball’s HUD, detailing more information, but Alex knew she needed to get back to orbit, and would need to meet with Admiral Parks aboard the MNS Aegis. She started to stand, but Veliana reached out and grabbed her arm.

“What are you doing?” the purple-eyed NAI hissed.

The judge was not happy, and the interplay drew his attention from the departing personnel. “Young lady, sit down immediately! This session is not adjourned!”

Alex rose the rest of the way from her seat, looking up at the judge. “Your Honor, the Imperials are expected to be jumping into the system within twelve to sixteen hours,” Alex replied urgently, shrugging off Veliana’s grip. “I need to get back up there.”

The Corporate Lawyer began to argue with the Solarian one, the chaos intensified, and the Judge shouted for order. He didn’t receive it. Alex shook her head; the scene was a joke. She was needed in orbit and turned to leave.

The Corpo jumped in front of her and shouted for her arrest. She stepped around him. Bailiffs shifted uneasily while the only Meltisar Personnel who hadn’t moved an inch played unhappily with their sidearm holsters, primed for confrontation. Even if they weren’t necessarily loyal to her, they had no love for the IFRB personnel, and she had seen the orders the Admiral had given them.

Not a hair on her head was to be harmed.

Halfway up to the main exit, the two massive doors suddenly burst open. Alex blinked. A giant man, at least eight feet tall with embers glowing in his eyes, stood before her. Suddenly, the ornate architecture and very tall ceilings made a little more sense. “Stop, criminal,” he bellowed. “You will not escape justice.”

Her eyes were drawn to the skin at his neck. It was scaled, a pattern of orange and black. Alex realized the man wasn’t human.

[Notice: Analysis reveals this individual is a full-blooded Drakar.]

Alex grunted. The others who had mentioned Drakar to her before were right. The encounter was memorable; the man was certainly…large. But she was not interested in what he had to say. Apparently, he wasn’t interested in what she was about to say either, because when she opened her mouth, he let out a roar.

Everyone else fled the courtroom in terror, including the marines, bailiffs, and judge.

His body rippled, muscles underneath his skin reforming before ballooning outwards. The man’s simple robes exploded into shreds as he gained size rapidly, and in a few seconds, the man had completely disappeared. In his place was an honest to gosh dragon from a fantasy novel, complete with two wings.

The ember glowing eyes remained, and a heated breath washed over the room as it let out a roar directed towards her.

Alex shut her mouth. Fear should have been running its icy fingers down her back, but it wasn’t. She looked over her shoulder; everyone was gone except Veliana, who had retreated to near the judge’s podium, staring at her and the Drakar with wide-eyed shock.

Turning back to the angry…dragon…she felt the AGAI was scarier. Was that only because her friends and a lot of people were in danger? Or had something changed…in her? The Drakar was large, and looked like a formidable piece of nature, but was pointed only at her.

Alex took a step forward, “I—”

She didn’t flinch as the Drakar’s tail whipped through the benches of the courtroom to strike at her. The concrete beside her feet suddenly erupted upwards, slamming it to a stop before the rebar inside it was yanked out by force. The metal rapidly shifted to blue just before impaling the Drakar’s tail, eliciting a roar of outrage.

Ripping every local computation module into maximizing her ANUF node took half a second. She knew exactly how to allocate her points for this fight.

The tail whipped back, smashing the attached ball of metal and concrete into the building’s wall like a mace, shaking the entire structure. It whipped back to strike at her again, but suddenly froze mid-air.

Barely discernable blue tendrils wrapped around the appendage, dozens of them anchoring it from further movement along the wall’s edge. A fine cloud of blue dots began to form throughout the entire space, rapidly multiplying through the air until every dust particle was aligned.

“Please, there is—”

The Drakar lunged forward; hits claw lined arm that was large enough to squash her plunged through the air to do just that. Alex reached up, the ground behind her erupted, mimicking her movement to slam into the alien’s hand. It tried to swipe at her again, but suddenly was yanked sideways as more blue tendrils attached to the wall suddenly contracted.

Off balance the Drakar tried to snap at her, only for her to pull down a pillar of metal from the ceiling to smash it into the dragon’s back. Splinters of wood and debris flew into her tightly held nanite field to be dissolved.

Alex reached out and directed a new group of wires from the pillar to suddenly wrap the dragon’s wings before they could send a burst of wind at her. She closed her fist and suddenly the thin skin was turned into shreds, sending blood and destroyed leather flying.

The angry roar turned into a shriek of pain. She wasn’t sure if dragons actually could breathe fire, but it didn’t matter because she wrapped wires around its mouth and snapped it shut. A stress gauge showed the alien tried to struggle against it, but the harder it tried, the more damage it did to itself as the fine wires cut through armored scales like they were soft skin.

That was to be expected. She’d made sure they’d cut through starship hull plates when practicing.

Alex reached up and pulled down more bars of steel from the skylight. The poles stabbed into the ground around the Drakar, and wires erupted from them to tie themselves around each joint, pinning it to the ground.

Large, ember eyes stared rage at her.

She stared back, unimpressed. “Are you done?”

The desire to rip her to shreds was discernable in the alien’s eyes. She leaned in closer. “The Drakar seem like a very angry race, although I only have a test group of one.”

“H..how?” Veliana finally spoke, approaching carefully.

Alex looked at her. “How what?”

Veliana reached out and a small purple ball of nanites formed, then fell on the Drakar’s claw. The light from them disappeared and a puddle of dead nanites flowed to the ground like sand.

Alex grunted. “Nameless, delete any video feeds of this.”

[Notice: All recording devices were disabled upon Drakar transformation, with the exception of Avatar’s and Veliana’s own visual.]

“I don’t understand. Drakar disrupt nanite cohesion at close range.” Veliana continued.

“Let me explain,” Alex started.

Veliana looked at her expectantly.

“Blue is better than purple,” Alex said carefully. A smile appeared. “I’ll leave you to take care of the mess here.”

Veliana looked like she was going to cry. “H..how?”