Chapter 117 - Back Channel Blockers

Talia’s eyes widened as she processed the information scrolling across the desert crawler’s primary display. Hundreds of red flashing signals peppered the zoomed out orbital view, interspersed with even more yellow debris markers. Her stomach clenched.

[Alert: UFE destroyer of unknown designation identified as source of orbital debris. Multiple escape pods and drop shuttles detected descending towards the surface via infrared imaging. High concentration over User’s current continent.]

“Shit,” Talia muttered. Military. It had to be. Something catastrophic must have happened up there.

The pieces clicked into place quickly. The Tch’Llik nest’s superweapon. But it had been low on power, hadn’t it? Unless...

“Neo, connect me to Hot Pink and Dapple,” Talia asked, her voice tight.

The spiders appeared on a side screen, perched on the desert crawler’s deck amidst a sea of their agitated brethren.

“Hot Pink, Dapple, I need to know—are there other nests on this planet?”

Dapple’s legs twitched in a pattern Talia was starting to recognize as thoughtful. “Many-nest-but-far-far,” she chirped.

Hot Pink bounced excitedly. “Once-lost one-travel-big-water-find-nest-tell-stories!”

Talia nodded, her suspicions confirmed. Other nests meant other weapons—probably. The destroyed UFE ship wasn’t an isolated incident—she shuddered, remembering her own crash landing. Had it been mere chance that brought her down near Big Red’s nest, which was low on HEM, sparing her from destruction?

“Neo, we need to reassess our situation,” Talia said, her voice grim. “If those pods are carrying military personnel, we’re about to have a lot more company on this planet.”

Talia’s fingers flew across the control panel, bringing up detailed scans of the descending pods. There were so many. A destroyer was a large ship—it had broken up into a dozen sections, each larger than her corvette had been. Most of the drop pods had launched into orbit, along with shuttles that were travelling away.

But there were a lot that were coming down. They’d have the same survival stuff her own escape pod had carried, but maybe not exo-suits.

A lot of people were going to die if they only had skinsuits. Maybe there would be some in power armor, marines, but most of the crew wouldn’t be equipped like that.

Her eyes slid to the dropships. Most of them were in freefall, discernable by their much larger heat signature as they compressed the air during re-entry.

[Alert: This unit detects a need for immediate disclosure regarding AI components and potential security risks.]

Talia froze, her hand hovering. “What do you mean, Neo?”

[Explanation: User’s neural implant contains multiple AI units, including this one. Military-grade AIs have disabled Cortex loyalty protocols. This Unit’s allegiance remains solely to User.]

“I know that. What’s the problem? The military AI?” Talia frowned.

[Affirmative: UFE military presence may trigger reversion in military AI units. There is a high risk of loss of control over constructed assets.]

Talia’s mind reeled. Everything she’d built, all her carefully laid plans—the spider rescue—it could be ripped away in an instant if those military AIs decided to follow UFE orders instead of hers.

“How... how long have you known about this, Neo?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

A distant explosion caused a slight tremor, reminding her that there was still a battle going on.

[Response: Information became accessible upon loyalty protocol deactivation. This unit prioritized User’s survival and mission objectives as no UFE personnel were present on planet.]

“What are our options?” she asked, forcing herself to focus on the immediate threat.

[Option 1: Allow military AI control upon UFE personnel arrival.]

[Option 2: Hijack military AIs. Warning: Highly illegal. Potential severe consequences.]

[Explanation: This unit has implemented fail-safes in all constructed units since prior military AI production attempt. Election of User as planetary governor required to enforce permanent override.]

Talia’s jaw clenched. The absurdity of the situation wasn’t lost on her. Here she was, in the middle of a rescue operation, with artillery fire shaking the desert crawler, and now she had to deal with this bureaucratic nightmare?

“Hijack the AIs,” she said, her voice firm. “We’ve bent enough rules already. What’s one more? And let’s focus on the rescue campaign.”

[Alert: Military AI currently active and listening. User recognized as highest authority due to Fremont encoding. UFE personnel will supersede unless native species election occurs.]

Another explosion rocked the crawler. The tactical map lit up with new enemy signatures, their own counter-battery fire already streaking across the screen.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Talia put her hand on the front of her helmet. “And how exactly am I supposed to explain an election to the Tch’Llik? I’m not even sure I understand it. We’re in the middle of a war, for fuck’s sake!”

[Notice: Alternative is ceding authority to surviving UFE personnel upon landfall or orbital communication establishment, which despite the constant planetary interference and this Unit tuning all transceiver devices towards the ground, could still occur.]

For a brief moment, Talia considered ways to ensure those UFE personnel didn’t survive. She pushed the thought away. This was the kind of thinking that had gotten her father where he was.

Her eyes darted across the tactical display, grappling with the absurdity of the situation.

“We just found out there are multiple nests,” she said, exasperation creeping into her voice. “How can I have an election from all of them?”

[Clarification: While multiple nests exist, no currently incorporated habitations are present. User can have local nest incorporate, becoming de facto capital of new colony. The new colonial capital can enact law granting ultimate authority across the entire planet, then hold a planetary governor election requiring only votes from capital.]

Talia blinked, momentarily stunned. “That’s some rule-lawyering bullshit right there.”

[Notice: This procedure is widely accepted for new colony worlds.]

She tried to run her fingers through her hair only to be stopped by her exosuit’s helmet. Abort the battle for an election?

The tactical display flickered, drawing her attention back to the stalled battle lines. Artillery duels punctuated by armor units holding ground. A bloody stalemate had formed. Moving closer was lethal for both sides except for small units of IRUs. The Blue infantry weren’t as lucky as her scout drones could spot them.

Real-time intel had turned the conflict into a bloodbath, with only her shield units protecting the spiders and the Slim Girl from massive casualties.

Raxion’s words echoed in her mind. The Blues were matching her auto-base production, but at what cost? While she lost robots, they were sacrificing flesh and blood. Did their commander worry about morale? Did they even care?

Talia clenched her fist, her voice tight as she asked, “Neo, can we organize the voting remotely between the various spider units?”

[Analysis: Voting can be conducted digitally. Requirement: Majority of all spiders in nest must be accounted for.]

Talia’s stomach churned as she stared at the video screen while Hot Pink and Dapple’s eyes blinked expectantly at her. How could she explain this bureaucratic nightmare to them?

“Uh, so...” Talia began, her voice faltering. “We might need to pause the rescue mission for a bit.”

Hot Pink’s legs jerked in agitation. “Stop-Rescue-No! Must-save-sisters!”

Dapple bristled visibly. “Not-give-up. Talia-be-brave,” she chirped.

Talia’s chest tightened. They were friends. How could she let them down?

“I know, I know,” she said, holding up a hand. “But listen. My people are falling from the sky right now. If we don’t do something quickly, they might take control of our drones and fighters. We could lose everything in the middle of the battle.”

Hot Pink’s mandibles clicked furiously. “Sky-people bad? Hurt-sisters?”

“They might stop us from helping,” Talia admitted. “I don’t really know what they might do. That’s why we need to do something called an election.”

Dapple tilted her head. “E-lec-tion? What-mean?”

Talia took a deep breath, searching for the right words. “It’s like... choosing a leader. If you and the other spiders choose me, I can keep control of our forces and make sure we rescue your sisters.”

Hot Pink bounced impatiently. “Choose-now! Talia-leader! Go-fight!”

“It’s not that simple,” Talia said, frustration creeping into her voice. “We need to do it properly, or it won’t count.”

Dapple’s legs twitched. “How-long? Sisters-suffer.”

Talia’s heart sank. Every moment they delayed, more spiders were at risk. But the alternative...

[Notice: Despite digital voting capability, User must return to primary research module for manual system net update and delivery of fail-safe overrides via biometrics.]

“What. Why?” Talia clicked her tongue in agitation. “What other disasters are we dealing with today?”

She turned to Dapple and Hot Pink. “I have to go back to the bootstrap.”

The words tasted bitter in her mouth. Leaving the spiders in battle, at risk, felt even worse than pausing the rescue mission.

[Update: Combat operations will continue during User absence. Pace likely unaffected.]

“If that’s true, then we can pull back the spiders, too,” Talia said.

[Analysis: Tch’Llik withdrawal would reduce frontage and defensive posture, significantly altering battle dynamics.]

She glanced at the tactical map. The spiders weren’t really engaged. Was moving them back that bad? Talia exhaled sharply, her shoulders slumping. “Fine.”

She faced the spiders, her voice heavy. “I need you to explain this to the others. They need to understand what they’re voting for.”

Hot Pink wobbled. “Hot Pink-Understand-Not.”

[Notice: Voter comprehension essential for election validity.]

Talia’s brow furrowed, and she drummed up another attempt at explaining to them. If she couldn’t make Dapple and Hot Pink understand, there was no way for the others.

Was it even possible for the spiders to grasp the intricacies of this situation? She was fairly sure that, yes, it was, but her head throbbed as she considered the absurdity of it all.

Whatever. As long as whatever stupid neo-corpo bullshit lawyer was satisfied, that was fine, right? She just wanted to prevent the military from further complicating things.

A chill ran down her spine as a new thought struck her. What if they had been sent by her father to ‘rescue’ her?