Son of strength, son of mind, son of chaos.
Chapter 11: Upgrades II and kicks
The new Andromeda was all but ready. The new shape was rather similar to the old one, but considerably more solid. And it was over three times as long. That is, over ten times the surface. And that surface was used much more efficiently.
"Well, Admiral," Said Andromeda. "The good news is that the upgrades are complete, and I am officially the most powerful ship in the six galaxies. The bad news is, in order to make full use of my new abilities, I will have to do a complete reinstallation, reboot and reinitialization, which, with the complications of the pregnancy, will mean I shall be out of service for about five hours."
"This is a top secret facility, we are completely alone, no one can know we are going to reboot now. Go ahead Andromeda." Said Dylan.
With everyone on the command deck, The Andromeda slowly, carefully, shut down its own consciousness.
"How will the child receive the upgrades, if you can't shut him down?" Suddenly frowned Telemachus.
"Merged ones are more flexible than any other AI. Our child won't have to shut down for upgrades."
All the screens went off. Life support was at minimum.
The ship was dead, awaiting its rebirth to a new life.
Rommie was still online, concentrating continually on the child matrix.
The child was sad. He felt alone. His Mommy was gone. Where is Mommy?!
But then, from afar, he felt her. Mommy was there.
She would always be there.
The child was happy.
Three hours later.
"Starting up" Said Harper to the rest of the crew on Command Deck. Rommie smiled, while patting her huge belly (she had less that a month to go, just like Trance). "Sensors first". As soon as he finished, all the alarms on the ship howled like mad. The screens lit, showing them surrounded by dozens of ships.
"Damn! Can anything work out all right for once" Cursed Beka. "Are those Genite ships???" She looked at the screen, where the shapes were visible.
"No Genites" Said Rhade. "They must be still in debates about what to do with the child. I heard about their philosophical discussions; the main cause of their defeat, and makes the Talmudic debates seem like a cowboy duel in comparison".
"Templar. And they are surrounding us." Whispered Dylan. "How long until we can have something to get us out of the situation?"
"I can get us the reactor and propulsion, Boss" Said Harper. "But it's not much help here. We can't activate any weapons, and without defenses they can still take us out before we make it to slip." He looked at the slowly brightening screen where the most basic diagnostic programs showed the status of the AI matrix. "It will take at least half an hour without the AI to bring something useful online, and she can't be started up for at least as long."
"Rommie, can you take over?"
"No. Not for at least twenty minutes. The matrix is empty, except for the parts necessary for the child, and those are blocked from the control."
"Harper, do what you can. Rhade, try to bring a few guns online."
One screen activated. A familiar face, one which hardly surprised anyone.
"Stark." Snarled Dylan. "I see they managed to save you. Whose idea was it, this piece of nostalgia?" He asked, looking at the face of Constanza Stark.
"I decided that this appearance may work better in our attempt to convince you joining our cause."
"How? By taking the face of his potential mother-in-law?" Asked Harper innocently.
Amazingly, a chuckle was heard from behind Stark.
"First of all, not mother." Said Constanza with just a hint of fury behind her cold tone. Suddenly her tone changed. "But I can be. Dylan, we have Sarah's DNA. We have her personality records. With our technology, we can give Sarah back to you. Come to us, with your ship. Come back to my niece. You will be greater than any admiral in history."
Dylan stepped back, towards his wife. With one arm, he hugged her, while putting the other on her belly:
"My place is here, with Rommie." He said simply.
"Then we have no other choice than taking the ship by force."
"I would like to see you try." Said Rhade while checking the consoles. "Our internal defenses are quite capable of operating without the AI, you can't board."
"Fortunately, our friends took care of that." Explained Stark.
"Your friends? Who are they?" Trance suddenly entered the discussion.
"I don't know. They simply contacted me, saying that now would be a good time to take the upgraded Andromeda. We decided to risk it… And we hit the jackpot."
"Dylan, something is wrong. A few comm units are online. They are receiving!" Suddenly shouted Harper (a bit louder than was advised near two pregnant ladies).
A few parts of the screen displaying the status of the AI matrix started growing with a sickly green.
Dylan cut off the comm; "AI eraser again?"
"Some new modification. Much more looked at the matrix status again. "Fortunately, the main AI cannot be harmed at her current state, but we have no chance to bring her online so long as the Eraser is there."
"But what about the child?!" Rommie panicked. "If the Eraser breaches the firewalls… We must disconnect him from the main matrix."
"No!" Shouted Trance "It will kill him. And… And that's what they want us to do. To turn off the defenses so we can get to the child matrix. Our only chance is to wait."
"Wait for what? For our baby to die?" Dylan really itched to grab her by the neck. "And just who are their "friends"? Some of your kind, maybe, because I believe the only other being that could have told the correct time and tampered with the comm units was put out of play by your husband!"
"Your guesses are as good as mine."
With a sense of doom, everyone looked at the matrix, where the green was already approaching the shielded glowing mass, which had a single thread going outside the matrix, towards Rommie.
The green surrounded the baby completely. The Eraser's tendrils now battered at the firewalls. Half the screen was completely black – the diagnostic didn't run there anymore. Harper was working furiously, but there was little even he could do.
On the screen, dozens of tendrils hammered simultaneously at the firewalls, and broke them apart.
Rommie gave a despaired, painful shout as all the tendrils struck at her baby…
They all vanished the moment they made contact.
Everyone stared at the screen in shock and relief. Finally, Harper broke the silence:
"I heard the Merged Ones defied the usual rules but damn… this is incredible!"
"Indeed." Smiled the proud mother "It seems that there is something in our son's matrix that prevents the Eraser from existing there in the first place."
The small mass, composed of all the colors of spectrum, was slowly expanding, consuming the Eraser. They all looked at it, not noticing a single tendril, finding its way to the thread connecting the child to his real mother.
But the baby noticed.
He was feeling strange. There were dark shapes around him that wanted to hurt him. Mommy whispered to him it would be okay, and he struck at them, making them disappear.
Somehow, he knew they were sent by those others far outside the ship that was and was not his Mommy. Why would they want to hurt him?
But then, he noticed one of the dark shapes going towards Mommy. Somehow, he knew Mommy could not make it disappear. He knew it would hurt her.
Faster than should have been possible, he grabbed the shape, ripping it apart. Fury such as never before felt by an unborn child filled him.
They want to hurt Mommy!!!
On the Bridge, everyone staggered back as the entire screen burst into unearthly light. No one could believe it. The matrix was dead!
Beeps drew the crew's attention to other screens, as several of the Templar cruisers vanished from the screen.
"The child has taken over the weapon systems." Said Rhade "Its reflexes are adequate enough for a battle. Engines are still off."
The comm lit again. Constanza looked afraid:
"What is that supposed to mean? This wasn't supposed to happen!"
"A new factor, Stark" Trance looked at her mockingly. "One no one has yet managed to take into account."
"My son." Rommie patted her belly. "He is kicking." She gave a wide grin as the child's body did just that. It felt so good, feeling he was alright after the terror of the past minutes. "And he doesn't like you, Con."
He didn't, judging from the fact that barely a third of the Templar ships remained now. They fought back, but the damage they inflicted was minor at the worst.
The child was only learning, otherwise they would all have been long dead.
Apparently, someone realized it, as the remaining ships, still about fifteen, fled as fast as they could.
Few made it out of weapon range.
Everyone sighed in relief as the screen cleared. For a minute, everyone was silent. Then, Beka spoke:
"And now, for the hundred million thrones question." Everyone looked at her. "How the heck do you make a child let go of such an amazing new toy?"
The question definitely cost the parents (and Uncle Seamus) a hundred million thrones' worth of nerves. But finally, after six hours, they exited the matrix. The main AI was finally booting up.
"Let's see, he took over the bots, he built connection to the physically separate databanks, he actually copied all the upgrade and Krav Searah data." Sighed Rommie. "He is curious."
"We must definitely teach him where not to put his nose." Nodded her husband.
The screens came online. Andromeda was back:
"Greetings to you, Admiral Hunt" Said the main AI. "Did I really miss all of that?" She asked as she received an update from her sister.
"Must have." Responded the appearing hologram. "I don't know whether to kiss our nephew or give him a good spanking."
"Need I remind you, Andromeda, that corporal punishment is forbidden by both the Commonwealth law and the protocol?" Dylan looked at them both in mock anger. Then he spread his arms as if to hug them. "Good to have you back, Andromeda."
"Good to be back." Andromeda saluted. "Especially in this new body and matrix."
"Speaking of which…" Harper opened the door. "Here is that project that made you so upset, Boss."
A man walked in. He was tall, as tall as Dylan, even a bit taller. He was dressed in a black High Guard uniform, with two force lances and several guns. He looked literally dressed to kill, yet his face was carefree, with a slight smile.
He walked over to Rommie and gave her a small hug (as much as he could, considering her current state):
"Hello, sister." He said smiling. The smile got even wider as he touched her belly. "And this, I believe, is my nephew." Rommie nodded.
The crew stood in shock. Finally, Harper gave a small cough;
"Guys, allow me to introduce Marduk." The man saluted. "Andromeda's new avatar."