T3ST Colony, June 23, 1000 Solar Era
“Grand Elder Enine. Have you departed yet? The Earth Federation Nexarm Special Force has finally entered space. We need to hit the EFSF quickly and seize the initiative.”
“Admiral Sullivan.” Enine swore his hair was turning white at a faster pace ever since he became the grand elder. “As you know, we encountered a complication with one of our nexarms.”
He had ordered many members of the T3ST colony to attempt the use of the nexarm unit primarily piloted by Xeight.
“Originally, we thought that the engineer neurorevo sent over had interfered with the AI. But, over the last day, we’ve ordered many members of our T3ST colony to enter the cockpit. On average, only one out of ten found themselves able to control the nexarm unit.”
“All of these citizens of ours that could control that malfunctioning nexarm unit chose to remain on the T3ST colony instead of joining the starship force when requested. It’s honestly… baffling.”
“Have you managed to convince the primary pilot to board?” Admiral Sullivan questioned.
“Yes. Xeight has agreed to at least board the ship.”
“Good enough. Perhaps the unit is just encountering some issues due to it being slightly older, having been used by your colony for more than a decade. As directed, hit the assigned target hard and fast. I will await your good news.” Admiral Sullivan cut the call.
Yes. They needed to increase their chances of victory. The nexarm unit’s malfunctioning will likely be a long term problem to be solved. They had best set off.
He strode to the bridgehead and sat down in the elevated captain seat. He tapped his neuro circlet.
“Attention, volunteers of the T3ST colony.” His voice was solemn. “Perform final check and we will launch in thirty minutes. May the stars be with us and guide us to our freedom!”
The few hundred spread throughout the starship roared in excitement in various locations. They all had already bid their loved ones farewell a day or two ago.
The entry bridge as well as many arms locking the starship in place within the dock retracted.
“How are our parameters?”
“All stable, grand elder,” replied Asix, who was seated to Enine’s right. Asix and his neuro circlet were attached to many cables that ensured his connection to all the primary functions of the starship.
“E-cube levels are currently at full. All weapon cluster systems are functioning. Engine efficiency is perfect.”
“Prepare the warp drive. YAtwo. How many jumps will we need to reach the destination?”
“Two jumps, grand elder,” replied a young woman seated at the front of the bridge. “Based on the distance and our size and weight, our e-cube levels will drop to approximately sixty-eight percent.”
Humans had long developed the warp drive, which wrapped space and gravity around the starship to travel far distances. The limiting factor was the energy required for the technology. The e-cube had long revolutionized energy, with the compound effectively a man-made dense energy storage comparable to nuclear material.
Yet, even with the stacks of e-cubes, two relatively short jumps within the Solar System would already deplete this state-of-the-art starship by more than thirty percent of their onboard energy supply. This was why humans remained thoroughly trapped within the Solar System. That, and the fact that terraforming efforts required centuries-long, even a millenium-long timeframe.
“Begin warming up warp drive and weapon systems. Nexarm pilots are to be primed and ready for combat.’
“Yes, grand elder.” Zseven, Bone and Yfour’s voices sounded through to Enine.
“Xeight. At the very least, do use your unit to control neuro arms and defend the ship if needed.”
“Fine,” grumbled Xeight in annoyance. Though stubborn, he could not deny the request to defend those on board.
A moment later, the decagonal tube starship steadily floated out from T3ST colony’s dock, its black pearl hull a majestic yet menacing presence.
The other four elders that had also boarded the starship remained in the lounge that had been converted to the chamber of elders. They were there for safety in case the bridge were to be destroyed.
“Scan the path to the first jump destination. Expand your sensory systems across the whole sector to ensure that no dangerous objects will be within the jump route.”
A few members belonging to the navigational team began mapping the path and the surrounding areas, and a hologram of their analysis lit up at the center of the bridgehead.
These few members used many predictive AIs that identified potential dangerous objects and clusters, performing trajectory models that crisscrossed close or even across their path.
It would be suicidal to jump if the path was obstructed by an object large enough to penetrate the warp field. Even then, it was almost impossible to guarantee a hundred percent safety. The advanced AI relied heavily on EM waves, and predicted a real-time image of the zone by analyzing a large area surrounding the jump target.
However, light from said jump location took time to reach the starship. The further the jump, the less accurate these predictive AIs would be, increasing the risk of an unknown object within the jump route. Then, there was also the possibility of two starships jumping into the same area…
“Grand Elder,” A dark-brown haired senior with gray streaks bowed his head. “The route will have an open two minute window with ninety-nine percent safety in seven minutes.”
“Prime the countdown, Qeleven. Attention crew. Jump will occur in approximately six minutes thirty seconds. Maintain your vigilance.”
The lights throughout the whole starship dimmed.
Twenty, nineteen, eighteen…
“Grand elder. You have yet to name our starship,” Asix complained over the countdown.
“Does it matter?” Grand Elder Enine gazed around the bridgehead to see all of his people nodding their heads.
“Very well.” He took a second to think. “As the grand elder, I bestow upon this ship a name. The name of Starship Oneiroi!”
Three, two, one.
“Starship Oneiroi. Executing jump.” Qeleven intoned. The few members on his navigational team all focused as they stabilized the ship direction.
The warp drive whirled and hummed, the frequency vibrating the eardrums of all the members on board, as the stars in the bridge’s vision turned into bright lines.
After a short minute, the stars returned to normal.
“First jump complete. Calculating the second jump.”
“Starship Oneiroi. All ship parameters remain stable. E-cube levels down to eighty-four percent.”
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Starship Oneiroi slowly tilted itself in space using side-vent the released compressed charged heavy particles.
“Second jump route. There will be a narrow one minute window in two minutes. Grand elder, should we delay?”
“When is the next open window with almost guaranteed safety?”
“Three minute window in thirty-three minutes, grand elder.”
“Maintain your analysis. Confirm jump safety closer to the jump window.”
Within the starship’s hangar, the team led by Senior Zseven and its three other members, Bone, Yfour, and Xeight was already well-prepared inside their nexarm units.
“Have you all gone over the mission plan?” Senior Zseven had adapted the original plan such that the starship would provide more long-ranged offensive support while Xeight would instead be on defensive duty.
“Yes.” The three voices of the three sounded through their coms.
“But,” Bone interjected, sounding rather dissatisfied. “The mission plan is too damn fucking conservative. We are here to make a resounding statement!”
Xeight inwardly sighed within his unit. That was very much his older brother. Aggressive in nature.
“Senior Zseven. Although I am only on the defense… I do believe that my older brother would struggle to execute the current mission to the tee. He--”
“Bone is capable!” Yfour’s annoyed voice cut in. “Just because you’re a stubborn wimp doesn’t mean--”
“Quiet, Yfour!” Bone bellowed and silenced his younger sister. “Xeight!”
“Grandpa. I have sparred with my older brother many times. My older brother is-- sorry, Bone-- a mad, impassioned, proactive fighter. This mission plan will not suit him.”
“I see. This plan was given to us by the martian command.” Senior Zseven now felt somewhat troubled. “I will have to… We have some time before and after the second jump. Xeight. Adjust the mission plan with your understanding of your older brother.”
“I’m only on the defense. I am not actively partici--”
“Shut up, Xeight! Do you wish for big bro to die?” Yfour was incensed, releasing her frustrations onto Xeight in a fit of annoyance. “Just fucking adjust the plan you stubborn little shit!”
Xeight had to admit, he had rarely seen his sister so… animated. He had no choice but to acquiesce in silence.
At this point, he noticed that Jen had come along with a number of hand-sized cans and a few rolls of tape. She had tightened herself with a harness as well.
He opened the cockpit and Jen waved to him with a beaming smile.
“I adjusted and built this nexarm. So, I decided with the second jump being delayed, I’d decorate it for its maiden mission!”
Xeight’s unit had a primary maroon hull with a mix of brass and metallic silver parts. Due to the unit’s decade-long use mining asteroids, it had quite a number of scratches that gave it a weary and experienced warrior’s look.
Seeing Xeight’s funny expression, Jen rolled her emerald eyes. “I’m not repainting the hull. Just adding a decoration!”
Slightly embarrassed at being exposed, he returned into his cockpit to adjust the mission plan.
Yfour climbed out of her unit and hesitated as she approached Jen. The two had yet to say anything of note to each other. She frankly had no trust in Jen, and mostly tolerated her because of Xeight, and the fact that she maintained their nexarm units and the attached weapon devices.
Jen never held it against her though. When she had chosen to join the T3ST colony, she had fully expected to be quite isolated. Luckily, James MacLeod had an amicable relationship with Xeight. It was a relief that she found Xeight to be even more similar in nature to her than expected.
She instantly knew what Yfour was after.
“Observe.” she whispered with a smile.
The harness pulled her up to Xeight’s nexarm’s shoulders, and the spider arms popped out from her exosuit. Each arm held tape and she began taping different open-shapes. When done, Jen spray-painted the opening between the tape.
A can sprayed a mist-like gas that rapidly dried the paint, and Jen repeated the whole process again.
With the many arms of the exosuit, Jen was quickly done in a short fifteen minutes, revealing an emblem of a chimera, a dastardly beast. It had the mane of a lion, the wings of a bat, the claws of a tiger, additional serpentine heads, the horns of a rhino and features of many beasts.
Perhaps for the first time, Yfour felt a sense of connection to Jen.
She picked up a number of spray cans and harnessed herself to hover over Bone’s gunmetal black unit. Imitating Jen, she decorated Bone’s unit with a skull alongside a few bones. Being less practiced, her efforts were rather haphazard. Yet, that only made the skull look even more menacing.
Meanwhile, Jen had moved to Yfour’s prussian blue unit.
“What do you prefer?”
“I…” Rather surprised at Jen’s offer, Yfour found herself lost. She had never thought of her own unit’s emblem.
“Eel.” Bone snapped his fingers. “She’s very slippery in bed.”
That certainly made Yfour blush a shade of deep red, but she agreed to the emblem with a nod.
Jen decided to give Yfour’s unit a dangerous electric eel with a wide open fanged jaw.
Second jump in five minutes.
“Get back into your units and secure yourself! Stop playing around!” Senior Zseven could no longer watch the youngsters frolic around with the impending jump.
“Senior! What do you want?!” Jen yelled up at Zseven’s mostly metallic silver unit.
“I’m just a dying old bull. Now get yourself safely secured!”
Second jump in three minutes.
Jen tried to hurry back to the engineering lounge beside the hangar, but ended up knocking a number of spray cans everywhere.
“In.” Xeight had noticed Jen’s tardiness.”Leave the cans.”
Jen obeyed and a wired hook pulled Jen up into Nexarm Chimera’s cockpit.
An additional secure guest seat was already open.
“The cans--”
“Don’t worry about those.” Xeight had activated a few of the mining functions on his unique nexarm unit and rapidly dispatched those devices to collect the cans.
He barely secured the cans before the second jump started. His vision shook and his ears hummed for a minute before his surroundings settled again.
“Attention, crew.” Grand Elder Enine’s voice sounded through the coms. “We have arrived at the outskirts of Vesta. We will be on cruise control while remaining in the dark as we approach Vesta. Our mission here will commence in two hours. Combat personnel, make ready.”
Jen, intent on completing her task, had begun spray-painting the emblem of an old bull onto Senior Zseven’s metallic silver unit. Yfour had chosen to give her a hand, having rather enjoyed decorating Bone’s unit.
“Xeight. Have you finished making the adjustments?”
“Yes, senior. Sending them over.”
Senior Zseven examined the adjusted strategy for their combat unit. His heart began racing as he examined the plan. It wasn’t any sort of major adjustment to the main mission objectives-- their targets were still the same.
Whereas the previous plan was for each nexarm unit to spread and evenly hit multiple targets, Xeight had adjusted the plan to where Bone was the primary, reckless driving force behind the offensive while Zseven and Yfour were to cooperate to cover any of Bone’s blindspots. The two would, of course, continue jabbing at mission targets, but in a more restrained and of distracting function, in order to preserve strength for covering Bone’s charge.
“Very well.” Senior Zseven barely kept his voice level as he further examined the plan. Xeight had even added details on how to position sensory devices in combination with the weapons devices relative to the nexarm central control unit, to maximize their effectiveness. He finally understood why his son, Enine, had been so insistent on bringing Xeight along.
There were also instructions on how to set traps with the many different weapon devices, not to mention, details on how to counter similar weapons.
Despite his lack of interest in the war, Xeight intuitively had a grasp of all these puzzle pieces. The more Zseven read, the more horror he felt within his heart. This grandson of his had included highly unethical strategies as well. He came to the realization that it was a good thing for Xeight to have minimal interest in the war.
ETA to Vesta is one hour. Activating stealth mode.
The lights in the starship dimmed as the system entered a status of energy conservation, in a bid to restrain all traces of EM waves from the ship. The X-alloy on its black pearl surface also quickly began dissipating any traces of heat.
____________________________________________________________________________
Unidentified Space, June 23, 1000 Solar Era
Five sand red starships with Mars’s symbol floated in empty space.
At the very center was a starship three times the size of Starship Oneiroi. It consisted of three hexagonal tubes combined tightly against each other.
To its side was a ship similar in size to Starship Oneiroi. The three remaining ships were half the size.
“Vice-admiral Zheng. The T3ST unit has entered the outskirts of Vesta.” A uniformed man saluted as he relayed the information.
When Mars had initially announced its independence, the Earth Federation had concentrated whatever forces it had in the belt on Ceres and Vesta. Until now, Mars had taken no action against these two key terran resource points in the belt, but the martians had taken hold of quite a few of the smaller resource points.
“Prepare to jump to Ceres. Any signs of Ceres dispatching troops to reinforce Vesta yet?”
“No sir.” It was Ensign Khan stood beside the captain’s seat who replied.
“Good. That must mean that Vesta has yet to detect their approach. Any information on the Earth Federation Nexarm Special Forces?”
“They were delayed by a week. Their last known activity is lunar training.”
“Good! We will wait for Ceres to reinforce Vesta. Maintain combat readiness and the warp drive primed.”
“Yes, vice-admiral.”