Author's Note: Thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter, much appreciated. As promised here is chapter 13 posted a week after Chapter 12, though it is kinda rushed. I do have college and other things to worry about. Well, anyway, on with the fic!

Disclaimer: Refer to the prologue

Story Title: Corrupted Programming

Chapter Title: Interrupted Communications

Grand Marshal Yomex's Command Ship

Brad followed the green green ant drone down the corridors of the Cluster ship. He couldn't make his move yet since there were other robots in the vicinity, and he knew that they wouldn't just stand by and let him do what he was planning to do without doing anything to stop him. He had to wait until he and the ant drone were alone.

He followed the robot until they entered a small, door-less compartment near the back of the ship. Inside the compartment was something that looked like a large laundry chute The ant drone gestured toward the chute. "You may relieve yourself there, human. Take care not to fall in, all matter that falls into that chute is instantly vaporized."

"Uh, thanks." Brad said. He looked around and saw that there were no other occupants inside the compartment aside from himself and the ant drone. It was the perfect time to strike. "Hey, um, could you turn around. I kinda can't go with someone watching."

A slightly perplexed look came over the drone's face before it turned around to comply with Brad's request. The moment it did so, Brad immediately flung himself at the back of the drone. The boy's hand shot out and slammed into the ludicrously exposed off switch on the drone's back. The drone's perplexed look changed into one of surprise. The surprised look stayed on the drone's face for about a second before the drone's "pupils" dilated as it shut down.

Brad leapt out of the way as the ant drone toppled over. Its green bulk slammed headfirst into a wall as it did so. The force of the impact was enough to loosen the drone's head from its body. The head clanged against the wall, flew off the green robot's torso, bounced off the ground, and smacked right into Brad's forehead. The boy gave out a yelp of pain and surprise as he was knocked over from the impact of the robot's head.

"Ow…" Brad groaned, rubbing his forehead with his right hand. He looked down and saw the decapitated drone head staring blankly at him. "Well, at least that saves me the trouble of having to pull it out myself."

Brad made his way toward the green ant drone's body. He looked doubtfully at the hole where the ant drone's head and neck used to be. Sure, he had seen his little brother, Tuck, merge with an ant drone before, but would it work for him as well? He shook his head, trying to clear it of the sudden doubt he felt. There was only one way to find out if his plan would work.

The redheaded boy took a deep breath before he tentatively started to squeeze into the opening. He squirmed feet-first into the drone's body slowly until he finally got most of his body below the neck into the drone body. What happened next occurred so fast that it disoriented Brad with its speed. He didn't even realize anything had happened until he heard a monotonous yet familiar voice say. "This mind is mostly unused, but it will be sufficient."

Initially, Brad didn't know where exactly that voice had come from. After a moment he realized that it had come from his own mouth. He remembered that the very same thing had happened to Tuck when the little boy had merged with the red ant drone in the past. He remembered that Tuck's voice had changed into a monotonous warble. Brad smiled his plan had worked. He started to do a victory chant but abruptly stooped due to the fact that his mechanically augmented voice made the chant sound very strange. Besides, he had no time to waste. He had to stop Yomex's transmission.

Brad concentrated and attempted to call up the robot's memory. Suddenly, Brad's mind was staggered as new data flowed into it. After the momentary disorientation from the sudden data influx, Brad found that he could sift through the ant drone's memories. He chanced upon the schematics for the command ship's systems and studied them intently. From the schematics he saw that the communications system was decentralized, making it impossible for him to knock out communications without first going through the entire ship. Fortunately for him, the communications system drew power from a single reactor that was separate from the ship's main reactors. All he'd have to do was to destroy the reactor and the communications system would be rendered totally inoperable.

The boy reactivated the body of the ant drone and made it stand up. Using the ant drone's claws, he reached down and picked up the drone's head. He unceremoniously scrapped out the circuits inside the head and tossed them into the garbage chute. Brad poked two small, indistinct eyeholes into the now hollow drone head before he placed it over his own head. His disguise completed, he walked out of the compartment and made his way toward the communication's systems' reactor.

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Viruz smiled as he listened to Yomex's speech. It had begun, it had finally begun! Soon their forces would topple Vexus reign and Queen Jennifer, under Yomex's subtle but sure control, would rule the Cluster. Under the command of Yomex's puppet queen, the Cluster would go forth and conquer the galaxy, and the galaxy after that, and another galaxy until the whole universe would bow to Cluster might. But more importantly, at least to Viruz, he would have his revenge on Queen Vexus for refusing to mass-produce him all because of an accidental misfiring caused by an internal malfunction. At the thought of vengeance, the High Commander's smiled became wider.

He turned to XJ-9, their rebellion's figurehead. It had almost been amusing to watch her reprogrammed persona playing right into their plans. He'd had to stop himself repeated from laughing as he watched XJ-9 act out the part unwittingly. Another part of him almost pitied the robot girl. But "almost" pitying was far from truly pitying her. She was just, after all, nothing but a pawn in their rebellion, a tool to be used.

"Communications are out!" a roach drone suddenly shouted, snapping Viruz out of his musings.

"What?!" Yomex demanded.

"The communications systems' lost power, I don't know why." Reported the drone.

"Well, find out why!" Viruz roared.

"What's going on?" XJ-9 asked, a puzzled expression on her face.

"Just a slight setback, Queen Jennifer," Yomex said reassuringly. "I'm sure the problem will be remedied soon enough."

"The communications systems' power core has been destroyed," A red roach drone reported. He turned to Yomex and Viruz. "By ant drone 423503."

"That's the drone Brad was with!" Jenny exclaimed with alarm. She bolted for the door before Yomex and Viruz could stop her. Yomex turned to Viruz.

"Go after her. Whatever happened, I'm sure that human boy had something to do with it. I knew he was acting suspiciously." Viruz nodded curtly and quickly went after Jenny. Yomex turned back to the red roach drone. "Get Fixit here, at once!"

Cluster Imperial Palace Strategic Center, Cluster Prime

The yellow roach drone in charge of the Cluster Imperial Palace Strategic Center looked on nervously as the computers attempted to trace the transmission from Yomex's vessel. The tracers were getting closer to finding the source of the transmission, but the heavy signal masking of the transmission made it very hard to triangulate the source quickly. Suddenly, the transmission ended.

"What the—" blurted out the yellow drone. "What happened?"

"The transmission stopped." A red roach drone replied.

"Did you get vector for the source?"

"No, we were getting closer but it stopped to soon for us to finish tracing it."

Had the roach drone been created with sweat glands he would've started to sweat profusely. Queen Vexus would not be happy about this. And he knew all too well what happened when the Queen was unhappy. The robotic yellow roach gulped and looked around the strategic center. At his glance the other drones quickly looked away, signaling the fact that none of them would volunteer to give Vexus the bad news. Looks like he was gonna have to do it himself. He just hoped that he wouldn't end up like all the other bearers of bad news. Trenbling, the yellow robot turned and exited the strategic center.

As he exited he heard one of the other roach drones remark: "Dead drone walking."

Cluster Command Cruiser of Assault Group 16, somewhere close to Cluster Prime

Group Commander Gladius, a Smitus-type command robot, listened intently to the transmission from Grand Marshal Yomex's ship. Waiting for the transmission to end and thus signal his Assault Group and other groups like his to attack Cluster Prime. Then, the transmission abruptly ended. A part of him was surprised since Yomex usually ended his transmissions with a formal sign-off. But he brushed those thoughts aside. He had to attack.

"Okay boys, the transmission's ended." He said to his crew. "Prepare to wormhole jump."

"Sir, incoming transmission from Group Commander Siberius." A roach drone reported.

Gladius grimaced in distaste, Siberius was the commander of his groups partner group, Assault Group 15. Siberius was known for being careful, too careful for Gladius' tastes. "Put him through."

The face of another Smitus-type robot appeared on the communications screen. "Gladius! I'm glad I got to you. Don't attack, I think something's wrong. The Grand Marshal always finishes his transmissions with a—"

Gladius waved his hand in annoyance. "I think that you think too much, Siberius. I, Group Commander Gladius, commander of Assault Group 16, destroyer of enemy ships, scourge of enemy fleets, and master of space combat will not waste my time dithering around while there is a battle to fight!"

"But—" Siberius began, but Gladius cut their communications. He ordered his Assault Group to jump, leaving behind his partner assault group.

But Assault Groups 16 and 15 weren't the only ones. The scene repeated itself among many of Yomex's assault groups. The more careful commanders sensed something amiss and opted to stay behind while the more brash commanders drove headlong into Cluster Prime. As a result, what would have been a perfect planetary bombardment force ended up with many gaps in their positions. Gaps Cluster prime's defenses took advantage of.

Taking Cluster Prime would not be as easy as Yomex and Viruz had envisioned.

Cluster Stealth Wasp

Dr. Wakeman checked the displays on the craft's panels. Only a few more minutes 'til they exited the wormhole. She moved her hand close to the cloaking system's controls. The planetoid should mask their arrival, but it was prudent to activate it as quickly as she possibly could. The faster they were invisible, the better their chances to sneak in unnoticed.

"Get ready," she said to ADAX. "If we exit wrongly it might get very, very rough for us."

ADAX snorted. "Rough? We just took on an entire alien armada, and you know how that turned out."

"Yes, we barely got out alive." Mrs. Wakeman said sardonically.

"Hey," ADAX said. "At least we gave 'em a good hiney whuppin'."

"Yes, right after they gave us a worse 'whupping'." The doctor quipped.

ADAX was opening his mouth to say something when the Stealth Wasp suddenly exited the wormhole. The instant the wormhole closed, Dr. Wakeman flipped on the cloaking device. As the ship turned invisible, Mrs. Wakeman looked at the craft's threat receiver. She sighed in relief, their entrance had gone unnoticed. She turned the Stealth Wasp tpward the direction the monitors showed XJ-9 was. As she rounded the planetoid, a small, squarish vessel came into view. The monitor showed that XJ-9 was inside it. The doctor gritted her teeth and headed straight for the Cluster ship.

Author's Note: Well, that's all for now. I promise to update as fast as I can. Please review.