A4 - Chapter 167 – Prelude to War (Patreon)

USD: 4 days after awakening.

Location: Nu Crateris, Outer System, Gas Giant High Orbit, A3123Y

The never-ending persistence of soft beeping monitors and status screens flowed out of A3123Y’s command center as a sliding door automatically authorized her and slid open. Her HUD automatically highlighted several screens and made a small summary of operations before placing it unobtrusively in her peripheral vision.

As she scanned the various consoles, she couldn’t help but notice how few crew members there were left on the station. The once bustling environment of voices and people had given over to the more sterile one of beeps and quite whisper of machinery.

Amy bit her lip as she entered the room, pushing away the thought of what had happened to most of the MilTech operators that had once staffed the station. None of them had come back from their expedition into Hades’ interior, not even Wyles. The remaining personnel were the engineers and non-security personnel that had remained on the station.

With the reparation of the Solarian prisoners that they had once carried, Amy couldn’t help but feel like things had become deserted. Morale seemed to be at an all-time low, for not just her, but everyone. The burden of operating the massively growing mobile station had fallen squarely on Abbey’s shoulders as the station’s NAI.

There had been a small trickle of new personnel from the colony on Dedia, but that had been devoted mostly to orbital operations and population A33 and maintaining the supply lines for the orbital construction. Nearly everything was automated now, from maintenance drones to mining and production. An army of GAI units organized and worked in tandem, while being regulated and over-viewed by Abbey or sometimes Heeler.

A tension filled her. This had not been what her goal for the organization had been when she had pictured Starlight Revolution. A group of NAIs and people working together to achieve a common goal of prosperity and safety for them all.

As she surveyed the command center, taking in its new configuration, it struck her that it had been completely converted into something she might expect to see on the flagship of a navy fleet. The bridge was split into a lower and upper level.

The platform’s engineering and tactical consoles that controlled the ship were below, showing all the operations and status screens detailing the station’s operations and status.

Split above that was a large flag bridge that had status screens detailing the various navigation charts for the system, details on every group of ships in the system. Delivery quotas and manufacturing speeds for various systems and ships were present on another screen, while the Solarian and Corpo task forces were displayed in detail. Issues were colored in red, and each individual ship was accounted for, along with its trajectory and estimated capabilities.

Amy’s HUD highlighted everything and populated a growing screen off to the side of her vision. It was almost disorienting, but it was much more readable and understandable than when she had first woken up. Either she or her ‘MainComputer’ was adapting to how it presented things to her, and she still felt a nervous pang at what that meant.

The food factories; the fishery and gardens were empty of people. They still provided the food resources, but those were now packaged in a new unit that prepared them for shipment to the colony.

Armor plating had replaced the observation decks’ crystal vistas, and the station had become more militarized and converted towards a new purpose: warfare.

Abbey rotated the command dais and stood up as Amy approached, a brilliant, excited smile that felt like it could pierce her heart.

“Amy!” Abbey chirped before running over to hug her.

Okay, not everything had changed. Amy smiled back at her. “It looks like you did a lot of remodeling.”

“I’ve been taking Heeler’s advice to get ready. There are enemies in the system, and we need to be strong enough to beat them!” Abbey explained cheerfully. “Heeler has requested we speed up operations on the transport mission. He says he needs more reinforcements.”

Amy frowned and looked up at one of the massive displays hanging from the ceiling. A dozen large ships were detailed, along with their contents; Hundreds of Rexxor power infantry units. These weren’t the small nestlings she had seen, but the larger ones that she remembered Elis describing fighting with Booper.

They were the size of… tanks. With back mounted railguns and missile launchers displayed in the schematic. Other units had PDC-K cannons mounted on them. There were even mobile defense units that projected D-field around them. The scale of everything began to dawn on her when she realized the unit counts were listed by the thousands.

Her eyes drifted to the ships’ blueprints. Each ark was a dozen kilometers long, had its own mobile factory and refinery sections, and was a city unto itself.

Amy covered her mouth in panic, causing Abbey to tilt her head in confusion. “What’s wrong?”

Shaking her head, Amy swallowed. “How can these even enter Hades? I don’t think they’d fit in the tunnels you’ve been using.”

“Oh! No. They won’t enter the planet. They are designed to make landfall and then dig their own tunnels before deploying their ground and space forces to multiple beachheads in the interior!” Abbey explained.

“Okay.” Amy said, resignation entering her voice. This wasn’t reinforcements, this was an invasion. One on a planetary scale she was having a hard time realizing.

“Is this a good idea?” Amy asked. The risks and events during the expedition she’d technically… died on came to mind. “The Rexxor weren’t immune to the EMF waves that caused the expedition to be turned into those… things.”

Abbey nodded in agreement. “Heeler has already accounted for that. The battalions are equipped with their own power armor and weaponry.”

“And… that stops the EMF transformations?” Amy asked hesitantly.

Abbey tilted her head and had to think about it. “Oh! Heeler says… why don’t we just have a meeting?”

A fuzzy field of energy suddenly formed beside them and Amy stepped back quickly as the simulated round form of Heeler appeared. Tentacles waved in the air and he turned to sight them both, with the glowing round socket inlaid on his now metal armored carapace.

“You wish to know about the combat units?” Heeler growled. “My Queen has modified these new spawnlings to be more resistant to the influence of the EMF waves. Their bodies react violently to modified DNA strands, and resist changes to their structure. After extensive study, their immune systems have been redesigned to not only repair and remove aberrant structures but also monitor themselves for tampering.”

A tentacle rose up and tapped one of the screens. It obeyed immediately, transforming into a detailed anatomical drawing of one of the Rexxor in question.

“In the worst case, which might be expected near the central hives where EMF transference can’t be mitigated fully by their power armor and armored carapaces, we will utilize full sized warships and vessels to conduct strike operations. Lieutenant Lavigne demonstrated the efficacy of this method.” Heeler finished.

Abbey smiled at her. “Does that clarify?”

Amy nodded quietly. “There are… twelve of these barges?”

Heeler growled an affirmation. “Twelve for now, but my force estimates show that we will need further assistance from the homeworld. My Queen is already leading efforts to increase the other hive Queen’s production quotas to match her own. The spread of technology has been slow; their reluctance to submit to her has caused many delays, but that has been dwindling with the reality of resource scarcity.”

Amy swallowed; her eyes glancing up to a monitor that showed Dedia IV… and its destroyed climate. Weather bands that had once kept the equator a pleasant temperature year round with seasonal dry and wet periods had been replaced by a freezing blanket that covered the entire globe. Particulates filled the air with dust, a runaway process that had started with the massive eruption of the largest hive on the planet when it had been nuked from orbit.

The five hundred megaton blast had set the massive nest on fire, and it had burned for almost a year, filling the atmosphere with a unrelenting stream of smoke. The asteroids that Heeler had collided into the surface had not helped things.

Although environmental restoration projects had been calculated and proposed, Heeler had only put a small amount of resources into them.

“Dedia was habitable once, but now we’ve destroyed it.” Amy whispered.

Heeler growled at her. “We have little choice. The damage can be repaired one day, but now we must act and swiftly. We have few resources and defenses compared to those who would destroy us. Taking Hades for our defense is something that we must pursue relentlessly. When the Corporate Systems or Solarian Fleets; or any fleets come through the jump point in pursuit of our destruction. We must be equipped to turn them away!”

Abbey looked at her with pleading eyes. “I agree with him. I’m worried about Ackman and Portmaster Whitely! We never meant to come to Nu Crateris for so long, and we need to get back.”

Amy nodded, but she still felt conflicted and stressed. She’d felt that way since she had woke up, and dealing with everything only exacerbated her anxiety.

“I have set a course for mid-system. We’ll reach real-time communication range with the Solarians there and make our demands to them. Then we can head for the Corpos.” Abbey said. The screens on the bridge lit up with new colors, showing their projected course and actions in real time.

Amy nodded. “I am hoping we will be able to convince Larret.”

Abbey smiled. “Hopefully Lavigne will put in a good word for us!”

Amy looked at her but didn’t voice the thought that he’d be lucky if the entire crew of the Hot Rescue hadn’t been locked up.

Abbey reached out and took Amy’s hand gently. “Are you okay? Do you want to take a break?”

Amy swallowed and nodded. “I… I think that’s a good idea.”

“We can go eat lunch at that sushi place,” Abbey suggested.

***

Two days later, they neared the rendezvous point mid-system. A chime inside her head informed Amy that Abbey was pinging her. Still in her quarters, Amy put the call onto the room’s main holo screen.

Abbey’s face appeared with a serious expression. “Commander Larret of the Solarian fleet is on the line,” Abbey informed her. “I sent our demands. They’re cooperating so far. But she wants to talk.”

“Okay. I’m ready. Put her through.” Amy replied.

Amy knew all too well the precarious position the Solarians found themselves in—trapped with a small fleet behind enemy lines and pursued by the Corpos with nowhere else to run.

Both fleets had received supplies from a ‘neutral’ Starlight Revolution tender, but still, tensions ran high. Amy sat down on the couch and composed herself just before Commander Larret’s image appeared on screen.

The video feed split to display nameplates for both Abbey and Larret and Amy nodded to both of them. The Solarian Captain wore a crisp white uniform, and her peaked captain’s hat covered her straight brown hair. Two determined hazel-brown eyes stared back at her.

“NAI Abbey, Manager Tanis,” Commander Larret acknowledged them both. “I’ve received your directives, but I cannot accept them.”

Abbey’s voice took on a cold, firm edge. “If you don’t comply, your fleet will be wiped out before we move to deal with the Corpo detachment. We are prepared to do that if necessary.”

Amy glanced at Abbey, concern etched on her face, fully aware of the weight behind those words should the Solarians refuse to cooperate. As Commander Larret stared at them, Amy tried to break the tense silence by changing the subject momentarily.

“How is Lieutenant Lavigne?” Amy asked, attempting to sound casual. “I would like to thank him and Sergeant Morrison for rescuing me.”

Commander Larret’s expression morphed into a frown. “The entire Hot Rescue crew has been sequestered and locked up in the brig pending investigation and court-martials,” she informed them.

Amy’s heart sank at this news. Though not entirely unexpected, she had hoped that they’d be spared due to the Corpo task group’s positioning. She was sure they desperately needed every available hand; however, if they had chosen to imprison Lavigne and his crew regardless, it foreshadowed a grim future.

Commander Larret’s brow furrowed as she seemingly weighed her options. Eventually, with visible reluctance, she acquiesced to their proposal. “Our mission isn’t to deal with you,” she admitted, her tone fraught but resigned. “We’ll comply since it doesn’t seem we have much choice. However, I will not disarm or allow you to board our vessels without fighting back.”

Amy exhaled in relief, grateful for Commander Larret’s decision.

Abbey nodded before answering. “We didn’t ask you to. We’ll send you the course your fleet needs to follow.”

After Larret exited the call, Abbey turned her attention back to Amy through the screen. “Now we’ll need to deal with the Corporate Fleet,” she said.

Though Amy agreed with a nod, an uneasy sensation lingered within her; she couldn’t help but feel that handling the Corporate Fleet would prove far more challenging.