Dark Hunter's resolution.
Chapter 5: Piracy, new command.
21st August 2901
Xathana system, Xathana shipyards.
Reverting back to sublight speeds, Shockwave's attack craft form engaged its stealth fields, disguising himself from all but visible views. Behind him, Aru'san dropped out of FTL, her form folded inwards, the wings set along her torso and tail, her head set straight and drawn in, bearing a shape similar to roughly that of an attack craft as well.
Ahead, the NKI fleet was already engaged, firing at range at the defending Alliance shipyard fleet. Mass accelerator fire and laser fire from dozens of miles away flashed by around them, the NKI fleet dropping out of FTL at close range to gain surprise. Alongside them, NKI fighters and bombers flew towards the four Alliance destroyers a hundred miles ahead.
Comm chatter from the fighters was heard, the translated voices of the NKI Leg'hrul and Kro'nogri being identified:
"All fighters, target the opposing fighters, break a hole in the squads to let the bombers get to the critical systems of the destroyers." A voice, the squadron leader, rang out on the comms, before directly addressing the two craft and their passengers:
"Infiltrator craft, hang back until we've broken the fleet lines a bit before slipping through to the main facility."
Acknowledging, Alex called Shockwave and Raxler, also addressing Aru'san: "See if any of you can tap into Alliance communications. Long range comms are out for them, but their radios are still working. Get us an idea of their situation."
"Very well. Scanning all channels." Said Raxler.
Aboard the shipyard shuttle bays, stomping through the corridors, Admiral Kha'laran spoke to Captain Kal'sik, his XO on site.
"We need to coordinate with Alliance reinforcements in the next Alliance defence post, we can't hold off these raiders indefinitely. It's been confirmed there were internal saboteurs of automated defence satellites, and they've damaged our communication relays. Combined with the jamming signals from ships outside our weapon range, and we're on our own."
"Then hunt down the ships, destroy them. We're sticking too close to the shipyards, and surely the more complete dreadnought has sufficient defensive arms to defend itself and the two less complete ships in drydock?" Offered Kal'sik. Swerving to face the captain, Kha'ralan spoke sternly:
"No. Our orders are to protect the ships at all costs, and that is best accomplished by focusing out force nearby!"
"Which means that in the event that they breach our lines for even a short time, they shall have a better chance at damaging the dreadnoughts." Quipped Kal'sik. The captain's aggravation was beginning to grow, with his advice on aggressive defence being continually shot down by his senior ranking officer.
Ignoring Kal'sik, Kha'ralan began to make his way to the shuttle docks. He spoke one last time to his captain: "You have your orders. Follow them, its our best course of action. Don't let your pride and temperament impair your judgement. You are an intelligent officer, but my fellow admirals did comment that you perform better in a lesser leadership role anyway, which would be best considering past mistakes." He was obviously referring to Varya. Nearly 1 and a half years ago, and that military disaster was still Kal'sik's 'iconic' military moment.
Seething, Kal'sik turned to head to the main command centre of the shipyards, in a more fortified section, built into a captured asteroid used for some of the shipyard's raw materials. By the time the admiral's shuttle had departed the hanger, Kal'sik's next steps were in motion.
The resources I need to end this war once and for all are here, just beyond my complete grasp, and I am continually denied using them. But my time shall come, I know it. And the Alliance shall see me for my ruthless strength, and the UIP shall burn world by world.
"One of the battleships just took a direct turbolaser hit to the starboard shield array! Focus all fire on that section!"
"NKI heavy ships opening fire, barrage hit, shields overloading! Keep it up!"
"Shields about to go critical, overload too much, get away from the ship before the EMP backfire detonates!"
Sure enough, as the Alliance Battleship finally lost all main shields, the overload of energy absorbed by the shields was released in a single pulse. The electrical pulse fired out, striking some NKI and Alliance craft just the dogfighting or fleeing.
Inside craft, synthetic programs were wiped, and organics struggled inside dead hulks.
A convoy of shuttles limped, struck in all systems by the EMP, but not entirely. Comms and sensors were down on all the ships.
Aboard one shuttle, Admiral Kha'ralan slammed the dashboard hologram interface, growling in anger at the dead state of his shuttle.
"Sir, I can see a flight of NKI fighters coming in to take out stranded Alliance ships!"
Cloaked, Aru'san and Shockwave flew behind the fighter squadron, using the hole blown in the flank by the battleship's shield overload. Much further behind, the Liberator and its fleet closed in, all guns blazing, focused on the non shielded battleship, melting the armour with the superheated laser and plasma fire.
"All fighters, squadron of shuttles ahead, looks like some of them are carrying officer markings!"
Taking the communications, Alex issued a command: "We can't risk them escaping, even if their craft are limping. Destroy the shuttles, then continue through."
The lead fighters opened fire a few seconds later.
Aboard the Liberator bridge, Se'rie was taken aback by the kills Alex just authorized, intaking a breath sharply. Norstith reinforced her: "It had to be done. We couldn't take them alive, so we had to rob the Alliance of critical resources."
Sighing, Se'rie hoped that any more deaths in this battle would be less numerous. She surveyed the shuttles being torn apart by fighter fire, while the fighters, and presumably stealth disguised Aru'san and Shockwave made it past.
On the command bridge of the station, Kal'sik stared numbly at the screen, seeing the vaporized remnants of Admiral Kha'ralan's shuttle and its 2 escorting shuttles, caught in an EMP blast, and picked off by NKI fighters.
Kal'sik forgot the true situation momentarily, and asked the command staff aloud: "Kha'ralan is dead. Who is next in command?"
"You are sir. You're in command of the fight now." Said a female Kro'nogri communications officer.
A new part of Kal'sik's mind was opened at this point, and he exercised caution, but used his newfound command: "The loss of the admiral has shown me a change of tack is needed. Tell half of the Alliance defence ships to engage the NKI ships further out, with the others providing long range cover fire. And bring as many guns of the dreadnoughts online as possible."
"Sir? You do know that the weapon activation will take half an hour."
"Then stop asking questions, and begin activation sequence."
Outside, the NKI fighters were engaged in various dogfights in the space near the facility, while the bombers hammered away at the facility itself. The NKI fleet, including the Liberator, was focusing fire on the defending Alliance fleet, so they were occupied.
However, amidst the chaos, several dozen boarding craft slipped through, along with two unique craft.
"Targeting the more complete dreadnought will ensure the harder target falls first." Stated Shockwave, firing his thrusters to head towards the underside hull of the gargantuan ship. Raxler was atop his frame, sitting on the armoured wings of the attack craft, surveying the battlefield and the dreadnoughts.
Aru'san's frame, under cloaking, spread its wings, the surface area that also provided lift, now providing an exchange surface for the heat from her more powerful drive core and main reactor aboard. However, she slowed down slightly.
Inside, Alex asked: "Aru'san, your speed is falling. What's wrong?"
"I am taking extra time to scan the dreadnought nearest us, the more constructed ship. I cannot fully understand it, but the data feeds coming to me about the ship are prompting my self preservation programming to delay my runtimes to carry out the task at hand."
"Your feeling fear, I think. The large size of the ship seems to be intimidating, I can agree there."
"I am only mildly concerned about self preservation in light of its physical size, although the troubling data is concerning the main reactors of the main dreadnought and the less complete ships."
"I detect it as well. Energy readings from the main cores are rising, the more complete ship's more rapidly. They're bringing the ships online." Stated Shockwave, his voice slightly faster now.
Swearing mentally, Alex brought the comms channel up, saying to Aru'san and Shockwave: "We continue forwards, but I need to warn the fleet!" He then spoke through the channel:
"This is a critical alert. I'm not sure if fleet scanners detect it yet, but the main cores of the dreadnoughts are powering up! Main weapons are offline, but the defensive weapons will be online in a few minutes! Focus all fire on the less complete dreadnoughts, we're going to infiltrate the more complete ship, gather intel, and sabotage if possible. Once we're clear, engage the remaining dreadnought!"
Norstith acknowledged, and cried to the comm channel, signalling the other fleet ship leaders: "You heard the human! Focus main fire on the lesser dreadnoughts now!"
Se'rie was at a terminal, saying to the sensor staff commands: "I want detailed scans of the dreadnoughts, any weaknesses in their structure we could exploit now or later."
She looked out worriedly at the battlefield, and of the facility hundreds of kilometres away, visible as a greyish speck from here:
Please come back alive.
The hole burnt through the floor, and from it, Alex and Raxler leapt through, the former completely sealed from the vacuum of space in his hardsuit. Raxler chimed out the status:
"Infiltration successful, boarding craft heading to sectors closer to main reactor and AI core storage. Aru'san and Shockwave, help coordinate precision targeting with the fleet, and attack critical systems of the facility."
"I shall pinpoint critical points on the ships with laser sighting, relaying it to the fleet ships." Rumbled Shockwave. Even as he spoke, he was perched on the top of the immense ship's hull, in bipedal mode, synching up his targeting lasers to the NKI fleet's systems.
"I am heading to attack the facility itself. I shall target the jamming towers on the facility's asteroid surface on the far side." Said Aru'san, thrusting off under cloaking as she reported.
Nodding, Alex whipped his head around in fear as his helmet detected a moving presence down the corridor. His arm coming round, plasma rifle unfolding, the wrist light shone on a construction drone, a self replicating model, capable of making more of itself. Sighing, Alex lowered his arm, asking Raxler: "Will these things be a problem?"
"These are mere construction drones. They posses basic programming, and are barred by code to attack any organic being of size sufficient to be classified as sapient. They will not be aware of us."
With his magnetic boots clamping to the corridor floor, Alex set off, beckoning Raxler to follow: "C'mon then. The boarding party should have nearly finished scouting out the path to the drive and AI core."
Lining up her targets, Aru'san came out of visual cloaking, now only visible to the naked eye. She had the first jamming station in sight. With these towers gone, the targeting systems of the NKI fleet would be improved and not disrupted.
On the asteroid's far side, away from the main battle minus a few dogfights, Aru'san fired to full throttle, her torso thrusters glowing bright blue. Closing in towards the tower, the fire from the lone laser cannon arced uselessly around her, unable to target her accurately.
Charging her main reactor, Aru'san first deployed a missile from her build in small weapons bay, firing it off. The projectile streamed in, and in seconds it had accelerated, and smashed into the particle shields of the tower. But this warhead was an EMP shockwave warhead, which transmitted its energy along the shields, shorting out not only the particle shields, but the ray shields too. And in the moment the tower shields failed, from 5 kilometres away, Aru'san charged her molten metal accelerator cannon, and fired.
Under molten state, metal does not respond to magnetic fields. To combat this, the metal was electrically charged after being melted from aluminium and tungsten. The mass accelerator coils drove the molten metal down the suspension chamber, concealed in the back of Aru'san's 'throat' and out of her mouth. As such, a glowing stream of red hot metal slag shot forth, at speeds around mach 8, and collided with the tower.
The tower keeled over, metal fusing together under the heat, also being initially broken by the kinetic impact of the molten stream. The jamming signal vanished, and with a simple acknowledgement, Aru'san flew off back towards the facility, to take out the other main jamming station.
"Captain! Jamming tower 2 isn't transmitting anymore!"
"Intensity of NKI fire on dreadnought number 8 is increasing! They're firing more accurately now!
Snarling, Kal'sik drove deep scratches into the metal chair he sat in, as he listened to the panicking officers around him. He shouted: "Is the more compete dreadnought ready!"
"Weapons systems are go! AI core is coming online!"
"Good. And when the second lesser dreadnought comes online, use its engines to move it behind its same condition sister ship! Use it as a shield to protect at least one, but keep at least a 5 kilometre distance between it and the other dreadnought!"
"Yes sir!"
"Sir! Unidentified craft approaching the jamming tower at high speed, visual detection only!" Cried a young tech officer, pointing at a video screen, showing a strange craft flying at high speeds towards their general area of the facility.
On screen, Kal'sik saw the craft unfold, and expand, extending what appeared to be wings, and legs, arms, a tail, and a reptilian head. But it was not organic, nor synthetic, but somewhere between. The metal armour and glowing stripes gave away its synthetic features, but the skin, a grey scaly hide, which seemed to be resistant to the conditions of space.
On screen, the creature seemed to rear up, before closing in on the last tower, now 400 metres from their position on the bridge. Looking out of a viewport, Kal'sik actually saw it, a beast, firing a small blue missile from somewhere, and then opening its maw, and firing a glowing red beam, not only knocking over the tower, sending it spiralling into space, but actually melting large, visible sections of it.
The creature flew overhead, passing by the command bridge, coming within 30 metres actually, low to avoid the laser turrets around the bridge, and itself. As it flew, Kal'sik was in awe, and rage, as the creature's somehow red glowing wings, like heat panels, were spread wide, almost triumphantly. The claws on the limbs were intimidating, and for the briefest moment, the creature slowed, locking eyes with the bridge, and for one moment, Kal'sik's eyes.
The eyes, a deep piercing blue set of organic appearing eyes, seemed to flicker once, then the creature flashed a pair of fusion drives, and rocketed away.
Still in awe, Kal'sik snapped out of his daze, requesting a status report, to which he received good news for once. The dreadnoughts' defensive weapons were now online.
Immediately, the ore complete dreadnought lit up with laser fire, while the shield role lesser dreadnought lit up, thought with less cannons, also. A volley of missile fire illuminated the dark expanse, covering the few hundred kilometre distance to the NKI fleet.
As the ships vibrated slightly under the volley of defensive fire, a tech reporting synthetic soldier on the bridge buzzed aloud: "Defensive fire not critical to shields, but it is not recommended to proceed any closer."
"Alright then. Hold position, keep our shields up, but maintain as much fire as possible!" Said Norstith. This was bad, the battle had now become a stalemate. With the NKI fleet out of the range they needed to quickly finish this, the battle would be long and drawn out, something the NKI could not afford to do.
The infiltrators were the best hope for victory now.
"I thought you said the AI cores would be offline and detatched on the dreadnoughts." Asked Alex, looking at the sight before him.
"Correction, I stated that fact based on reports at the time. It is confirmed that the AI cores of the two less complete dreadnoughts are now present, but it seems we arrived as the AI core had been fitted to the more complete vessel. At present, it has not yet fully downloaded all its necessary programs."
In front of them, inside a massive open space, sat the drive core. Akin to the fusion plant's sector of the Emancipator, this space was even larger, roughly 800 metres in diameter. However, it was larger for a reason.
Inside this massive 800 metre wide, circular chamber, occupying the vast majority of the space, was the frame for the AI core. Not just a frame, a ship in its own right, literally. According to initial data mining of the less restricted files accessed on terminals approaching the core, the dreadnought frames were indeed built here, in the Xathana shipyards, but the AI cores were modular units, integrated into the actual carrying vessel for the main fusion plant and drive core. The whole vessel was in fact, a small destroyer sized ship, able to travel in FTL at reasonable speeds, armed with enough defensive and offensive weaponry to go toe to toe with ships nearly twice its size, but most sinister, the fact that the AI core controlled everything aboard itself made this ship like an individual mind. And once integrated into a dreadnought frame, with its carrier vessel able to eject and reconnect at any moment if need be, the dreadnought could go from a simple gargantuan weapon, to a thinking, self aware ship, able to pilot itself.
Luckily, the distrust of AIs being unlimited by the Alliance made sure that programs were installed to show the benefit of organic and synthetic minds working together, rather than only one or the other. There would be a crew, just one significantly reduced for a 12 kilometre long ship.
This AI itself was equivalent to an infant, having only come online literally a few moments ago. It was busy uploading programs and files, whilst the infiltrators were readying a strike.
Ordering a set of infiltrators to hack the AI connections, Raxler turned to Alex, radioing in: "The AI connections cannot be stopped indefinitely, but they can be delayed, giving us time to determine how to correctly shut dow-ow-ow-bzzttt!" Raxler began to vibrate, his eyes flashing red hazardously.
Panicking, Alex stepped back, unfurling every weapon he had. The synthetic soldiers near the AI connections were continuing their work, but despite crying orders, they seemed to not heed anything, seemingly stuck on their last command, unable to end their function of slowing down the AI program uploads.
Buzzing, Raxler seemed to identify Alex: "Target Human. Affiliation NKI, terrorist group. Subject for immediate termination." Unfolding his built in plasma swords, Raxler charged, seeming to roar in a buzzing tone. Yelling in shock, Alex spun away, using his dark matter to launch himself high above to the ceiling, his magnetic boots clamping onto the ceiling. Running while cloaking himself, he dodged any close shots as Raxler opened fire with his twin plasma cannons and even his neutron beam cannon. One hit from that beam weapon and Alex was history.
Panic surging in his voice, Alex screamed onto any open channel available: "Infiltration mission here! The AI core of the more developed dreadnought is online, and very dangerous! It's hacked my squad, disabling them, and Raxler is attacking me! He's been hacked! I NEED AN ASSIST!"
Still having the channel open, not bothering to shut it off, Alex screamed to Raxler, while dodging another yellow neutron beam pulse: "Raxler, its me! Your creator Alex! You're better than this! Don't let that thing hack you, you're superior to anything other synthetic I've had the luck of knowing! Snap out of it! Don't make me destroy you!" His voice seemed to crack out loud on the last part. Something about his own creation, someone he knew he could always rely upon, turning on him outside of their will, stung deep in his soul. Raxler was like a son to him, and a brother, and a most valuable ally. Losing him would be like losing a part of himself.
"Please, I can't lose you, you were all I had in the time I spent alone! Fight back! FIGHT BACK !"
The hacked synthetic merely buzzed as it processed, and ignored the pleas for help, firing more beams and plasma bolts at the human overhead.
Her heart stopping, Se'rie looked desperately at the communications console, where she had heard the panic and hurt in Alex's voice as he tried to desperately convince Raxler, his synthetic copy, to obey.
She had to do something, something to stop that AI from destroying Raxler and Alex. Then, she remembered something on the word hacking. She knew someone who could hack any system, and was more advanced than any organic computer system made today could possibly be unless made by his own race.
She ran over to Norstith, saying: "Scan the dreadnoughts, keep exploiting the weakness. I'm getting help from someone who can out hack that new AI."
"Shockwave." Said Norstith, realizing who the only person to fulfil that role was.
"Shockwave. You need to deactivate the AI core of the dreadnought, and disable Raxler, do not destroy, repeat, do not destroy Raxler."
"Understood, heading to the dreadnought now." Upon hearing Norstith's command, Shockwave flew towards the dreadnought's hull, firing laser bursts at the ventral hatches, the ones that would open to release the AI, drive and fusion core vessel. Blasting a molten section, Shockwave comm'd Aru'san: "Aru'san, take over my job as fleet targeting designator, and take out any defensive gun emplacements on the other dreadnoughts from a distance."
The mech transformed in mid flight, floating through space, smashing through the melted metal panels, and climbing on magnetic hands and legs up the space between the AI and drive core vessel and its hold, like a vast spherical chasm. Taking on tank tread feet, with metallic, magnetic tank treads, Shockwave rumbled up the slope.
Ahead, at the equatorial ring, high above, plasma fire erupted from the main access terminal, unseen yet, but aimed at a desperately dodging black and red armoured human high above.
"Why do you seek to destroy me human? I have done no wrong, and yet you act with an army to destroy me and the other hardware units nearby in this facility. My orders are bound by my programming, but you seek to destroy me yourself. I do not understand your aggression, but I shall take necessary measures to ensure my software's continued existence!" The hacked robot roared his declaration to the human through a hacked channel, each syllable punctuated by another plasma or neutron beam pulse.
Leaping around on his mag boots, Alex yelled back through the channel: "I've worked enough with synthetics to say that its not your fault, but its what you will be used for!" The next part came in a whisper: "And you hacked my friend, my ally. You went too far. And I won't stop fighting you until you're offline!"
"The primary reason for your continued combat endurance is due to your synthetic additions amplifying your physical capabilities. That asset can be just as easily overridden as it was to override your synthetic ally and servant."
As soon as the sentence was uttered by the AI through Raxler, Alex's scanners detected a foreign signal invading his primary systems, breaking through his on board synthetic hardware systems. Unbeknownst to him, the hacking triggered random actions, including beneath his back armour, where his neural spine implants protruding from his skin flashed bright red, his cybernetic lower limb and finger joints flexing and shaking briefly, all the random systems triggering helplessly, as if the AI was sifting through a random assortment of tech. The magnetic boots disengaged, sending Alex floating helplessly into the space between the chamber and the AI/drive core vessel.
"Primary power system accessed, access to main power generator restricted by no software route." Raxler chimed. High above, Alex sputtered over the pain and disturbance: "Only accessed by hand, get around that."
"Alternative energy delivery system hacked, shutting down organic fluid transport system."
At that moment, one last flash went on Alex's visor screen, sending warning lights all over: Blood pump disengaged. Blood flow rate halted.
In that same moment, a blast from a plasma bolt ripped into the floor beside Alex, the shockwave sending the non magnetized human further out into the space. The armour system sent out a hardware distress beacon. Inside the suit, Alex was panicking, he could already feel himself becoming tired, his brain not getting the oxygen it needed.
In his vision, through the screen, he saw Raxler simply staring at him, the AI hacking's red optical glow taunting him as he slipped into darkness.
As he slipped into unconsciousness, the last thing he saw was a purplish blue energy blast fire towards Raxler.
Stomping towards the AI/drive core mainframe interface port, Shockwave had already detected the alarms from Alex's suit. The human's circulatory pump had been shut down. And in front, Raxler stood, aiming his plasma bolt at Alex to kill him.
Shockwave weighed the options. He could save Alex, but the risk was that the interference from Raxler and the AI hacking the suit would make it too slow to save the human. Alternatively, he could attack the AI core, and possibly face Raxler assaulting him, and still risk the death of Alex by oxygen deprivation. One choice had a higher survival rate for the vulnerable organic, the other had a higher degree of mission success.
Shockwave had never been spiritual, not to Primus, nor to any deity or mystical entity he had ever heard of. But he believed in luck, or fate. As he charged his weapon, he sent a hopeful chant through his processor, and as the infamous right arm cannon charged a bluish purple, his choice was made.
Megatron and I agreed on one thing for certain, the mission success always comes first. I hope that sacrifices can be avoided, but I will not hesitate to make them for mission success.
The bolt fired, an EMP and ionized particle burst. Raxler was inches away from it as it passed him, but the blast continued, hitting the AI core interface, sending bluish-purple energy ripples over the AI core.
Through Raxler, the AI screamed, a buzzing noise through the comm. links, and went offline, at least temporarily. Rocketing quickly to Raxler, Shockwave sent an electrical pulse into the robot, turning him online. As Raxler rebooted, Shockwave all but smashed into the AI terminal interface, plugging into the interface ports through hardwire connections and wireless routers, beginning to release destructive programs into the core, and for measure, he released a secret load he carried through a small tube into the main data file hardware.
A swarm of nanites invaded the AI core system interface, seeking out primary systems, mainly wireless routers, and devoured the wiring. With the viruses unleashed, the cybertronian level hardware and software attacks overwhelmed the AI core. Through a wireless link, Shockwave detected the useless transmissions for assistance, blocked, and the questioning of why it needed to die.
With a sense of indignity, Shockwave merely disregarded the AI's pleas as that of a lesser life form. He did not show mercy to something the mission told him to destroy, and he never would. It was logical to treat an enemy as a lesser being than your self, it de valued their life, and dulled the feelings of having to terminate it. It was not a shame to destroy it, it was not a victory, it was simply the mission parameters being fulfilled.
As Raxler came online, in addition to Shockwave wiping the AI core, he saw the body floating in the chamber gap, noting the low and decreasing life signs and brain activity. Though all his runtimes were still not fully operational from rebooting, he knew enough to try and increase the chances of survival for Alex. Firing his fusion back rockets, Raxler opened a wireless channel, hacking into the circulatory pump systems, rebooting them.
As he collided with Alex, he grabbed the human's hardsuit, and rocketed to the chamber side, magnetic boots online again on both the root and the human's suit. Scanning the armoured human, Raxler noted that blood flow was continuing, but brain activity was very low, and from ocular scans of internal cameras in the suit, his organic skin was very pale.
"Ally Shockwave, I have stabilized Alex, but no more additional medical attention can be given. He needs transport."
Shockwave analysed the system, and had a thought, of how to save the human, and make this mission a success. As he disengaged from the AI interface, Aru'san's call came in: "Shockwave, the NKI fleet is being forced back, the guns are too strong on the lesser dreadnoughts, and the fleet has already lost 2 frigates and a destroyer, and a cruiser is being evacuated! The third dreadnought is offline, report your status!"
Approaching Raxler, Shockwave transformed into his attack craft mode, relaying an order to Raxler: "The AI core is wiped clean, there is no AI program left. The mission is a failure, unless you commit your software abilities."
"Clarify." As Raxler asked this and placed Alex's body inside Shockwave's cockpit, the mech replied:
"Interface with the dreadnought, become the new AI core programming. There is sufficient fuel for a 500 light year jump, but no further. I shall take Alex back to the Liberator, and help escort the dreadnought out of the facility. Do not power weapons on until fully integrated and engines are on."
Raxler paused, taking much longer than normal to process the orders. His eyes flickered, contemplating, until he approached the AI interface, clicking in approval.
As Raxler began his upload, his programming working furiously to connect to the entire ship, Shockwave's attack craft rocketed out of the hole he blasted in the ship's ventral hull.
"Aru'san, we are retreating. Escort me back to the Liberator."
"Understood, relaying retreat orders to other NKI fighters and bombers." The synthetic beast AI flew in alongside Shockwave, cloaking with him, firing full thrust to the distant NKI fleet.
"Where is Raxler?" Asked Aru'san.
"Hacking the dreadnought, I wiped the AI core clean, he shall assume control of all its systems, and flee with it. Alex is inside me, and needs immediate medical attention due to oxygen deprivation."
"Integration at 82 percent. Engines powering up."
"87 percent, shields online, engaging full firewall defences."
"100 percent. Opening fire on exterior docking cradles, engaging fusion coils and powering up FTL drive."
In the facility, the gargantuan ship's defensive lasers turned on the facility, firing on the docking tubes, construction modules and any drones still inside. Scans showed that the only synthetics inside the dreadnought included the construction drones, and Raxler had already sealed any bulkheads where any Alliance workers or guards were aboard.
The fusion coils fired, incinerating the facility docks and asteroid surface behind it, melting the surface with few million degree heat. Then, with the soundless ripping of docking cradles and metal support structures, the dreadnought, possessing only its defensive weapons and ammo less offensive weapons, broke away.
"Dreadnought 7 has engaged FTL course, its heading away!" Screamed a technical officer.
Aboard the facility command centre, the bridge was a hub of activity and panic. Officers scrambled to get communications online once more, and the look on Kal'sik's face said it all.
The table in front of his command seat had been ripped off its supports and thrown across the room, and the dark matter coiled fiercely around his claw tips. His anger grew with every metre the dreadnought flew away, under NKI control.
His dreadnoughts could not take that thing out, and his facility cannons were defensive only.
The NKI had destroyed none of the dreadnoughts, they had done something just as humiliating to Kal'sik. They had pirated a dreadnought, a mark II dreadnought. And who else was involved, other than that wretched human he made part of the slave legions on Varya, the Cybertronian his UIP informant had offered as an asset to space bridge technology, and the same synthetic slave that ruined the Varya battles by hacking the slave network.
As soon as my superiors contact me, I will be executed for my failures here in addition to Varya. Admiral Kha'ralan dead, and I let the NKI steal a superweapon. If I was not denied the resources, I could have slaughtered them! That UIP filth has aggravated me for the last time! I want to hit them where it hurts most!
Then, it hit Kal'sik. He would not let any communications reach the Alliance until a patrol or scouting fleet came by to check, and by then, another AI core would have been delivered to the Xathana shipyards to one of the two remaining dreadnoughts.
If he was to be likely judged as a wasted investment by the Alliance, he would take it upon himself to make himself into a useful asset, and the use of another dreadnought was key. The Alliance was holding back the complete destructive potential of these machines.
And his allies be damned, regardless of whether they be UIP moles, traitors, informants of Alliance. The UIP would burn, the NKI would burn, those filthy UIP pirates would burn, and if the Alliance didn't like the results he got form this plan to save them and himself, they could stand aside.
There was only one true way to guarantee victory in a war: massacre, genocide. No more capturing, no more prisoners. A scorched planet policy was the key to winning this war once and for all.
The NKI fleet was ready to pull out, with commotion caused by the apparent pirating of the dreadnought on Raxler's part.
In the hanger bay, Norstith and Se'rie waited as Aru'san landed, with Shockwave landing in attack craft mode. Before they could even move to rush in to see Alex, a group of synthetic medics rushed in with a stretcher and an oxygen supply.
In seconds, as they moved rapidly to a medical wing of the ship's interior, Alex's chest armour and helmet had been removed, the oxygen mask applied to his face, but his body unmoving. His body was unmarred, minus a few burns from electrical fuse spikes at his cyborg limb joints. But his body was pale, and cold.
Looking at the human being rushed into care, Se'rie stood there, numb, ignorant of the announcement of the pirated dreadnought going into FTL, and the NKI fleet following. Norstith stood by her, and he pulled her into his dark matter feathered chest, she began to weep, her avian chirps mixing with pained cries of loss.
Oxygen loss and brain trauma, I was not known whether Alex would wake up any time soon. He would wake up, but how long until then was uncertain.
Long chapter out of the way now, phew. As usual, leave reviews/comments if you wish to give me feedback or advice, no flames please.