Thirty-four solar days after leaving the Republic Hive world

6,982 light years from Earth, 2175 A.D.

Part two

Command Unit 273 accessed combat file 21-B and sent it to the other fifteen nullships under its command as they emerged from Hive ship.

It received confirmation pulses from its subordinate AIs, and the nullships gracefully assumed the assault formations they were ordered into as they prepared for combat operations against the target Hive ship.

The Allied Hive ship had surprise on its side, and the opening volley destroyed 28% of the primary weapon emplacements of the enemy Hive ship, forcing it to maneuver away from the cruiser as it reeled under the unexpected attack.

Initiate attack pattern two.

The command pulse from Unit 273 reached the others, and a concentrated volley of sixteen quad particle accelerators speared out from the two formations.

The sixty-four warbeams struck their assigned targets with an accuracy and precision that made their positronic pathways surge with increased potential as the targeted weapons emplacements disappeared in a blaze of nuclear fury.

This is what they were made for, and Command Unit 273 could sense the same neural surge among the other AIs that it was experiencing as they continued their attack pattern and maneuvered to target the next set of weapons emplacements.

The enemy Hive ship spun on its axis and brought undamaged weapons to bear on the nullships as hundreds of particle beams reached out for them.

Two of the targeted nullships were bracketed by multiple particle beams, and their shields flared brightly as the sub-atomic particles were intercepted by the shield grid generators and dispersed.

Initiate attack pattern gamma three

The two attack formations broke apart while executing complex evasive maneuvers and reformed into triad attack groups that swarmed the enemy Hive ship, strafing the massive vessel and continuing to target still functional weapons emplacements.

The enemy Hive ship struggled to fight off the furious assault of the tiny ships as they repeatedly flashed in and out of null space and brushed off the few hits the Hive ship had managed to achieve as their shields intercepted their particle beams.

The starfighters that exited with the nullships had destroyed all the Insectoid landers that were still in transit from the enemy Hive ship, and Command Unit 273 received an encrypted data burst from the human commander of the starfighter squadron.

Decrypting the data burst, Command Unit 273 ran billions of calculations as it partitioned a virtual reality emulation and ran scenarios incorporating the starfighters the human commander was offering for its use.

Two seconds later, it sent an encrypted data burst back to the starfighters with a targeting package and sent command pulses to the other AIs.

Execute attack volley 1-B.

The five attack triads immediately executed the order they received and flashed into null space before remerging two seconds later in a single, tightly condensed diamond formation, maneuvering with their thrusters to match the ponderous spin of the enemy Hive ship.

The section Command Unit 273 selected had no functioning weapon emplacements, and the diamond formation fired their warbeams in a concentrated volley from a distance of 12,000 kilometers as they maintained their position relative to the spin.

All sixty-four powerful particle accelerator beams targeted and hit the same section of the hull, boiling away the tough armor before the sustained volley broke through the outer hull and smashed against the inner hull.

After three seconds, the inner hull finally ruptured under the subatomic onslaught, and the beams pierced the interior of the Hive ship, causing massive secondary explosions as the warbeams tore into it.

The eight starfighters came up behind the diamond formation, and the nullships ceased firing, surging ahead with the starfighters and escorting them as they started their attack run.

The starfighters reached 2,000 kilometers from the Hive ship and targeted the over 100-meter radius hull breach created by the nullships, releasing one penetrator missile each.

They executed evasive maneuvers as they bugged out, but two of them were hit by the massive wall of fragments fired by the Insectoid flak guns that emerged and targeted them.

One starfighter blinked out, its pilot not able to eject in time as hundreds of tiny pieces of metal and hardened organic scraps shredded the starfighter and the pilot.

The other starfighter was heavily damaged but still flight capable, and it struggled to get away as the escorting nullships targeted and destroyed dozens of the flak emplacements with their secondary weapons.

The penetrator missiles fired their boosters as they entered the hull breach, digging deeper into the interior with their hardened nose cones before their warhead AIs coordinated with each other and triggered their charges at the same time.

1/3 of the massive Hive ship was torn wide open from the resultant explosion, exposing the massive interior bay while rupturing power transmission conduits and life support systems.

Tens of thousands of bodies were sucked out of the gaping wound, and the now dead Hive ship tumbled out of control as it suffered catastrophic decompressions and secondary explosions.

The nullships returned to their triad formations and fanned out across the battlespace as the remaining starfighters and one triad of nullships took positions around the derelict cruiser.

All the Republic assault landers except for two started disengaging from the cruiser hull and headed towards the allied Hive cruiser in a compact formation, escorted by the starfighters and nullships.

Command Unit 273 kept a careful watch as the assault landers streamed into the massive opening of the Hive ship along with the remaining starfighters.

Another squadron of starfighters streamed out of the bay to replace the returning ones and separated into flights of two that patrolled the battlespace around the cruiser as the Hive ship recharged its null drive.

Command Unit 273 was pleased with the results of its first battle and the efficiency of the AIs under its command. This is what they were designed to do, and they exceeded expectations in their first battle.

It sent a command to the other AIs requesting battle damage and efficiency reports. After receiving the reports, it compiled the results and filed them for review by its superiors at Fleet Command.

A spy drone flashed out of null space, sending an emergency alert across all Republic bands. Null space propagation waves have been detected. There were more ships headed towards them.

Command Unit 273 accessed its wargaming files that ran this exact scenario and sent a command pulse to the other nullships along with the detailed battle simulations it had run in preparation for this very situation.

Command unit 273 ran trillions of calculations as it processed petabytes of information.

The estimated arrival time of the incoming ships based on their propagation waves and the time needed to recharge the allied Hive ship’s null space capacitors were not favorable.

There was an 87% probability that the incoming ships would arrive before they could flash into null space, and it sent another command pulse to the AIs under its command.

Prepare for battle.

Rescue Hive Ship, Interstellar Space

Luna watched as the machine animal fought the Hive ship with a skill that defied her comprehension, its claws moving over the weapons and navigation panels with a speed that seemed impossible.

The tremendous amount of damage her Hive ship was able to inflict on the other one during the surprise attack stunned her, and she was grateful her Hive mother was able to make friends with these dangerous animals.

After the initial attack, the machine animal had backed the Hive ship off and circled around the enemy ship at the maximum weapons range while targeting specific areas such as engines and thruster systems.

As the other animal ships tore into the much larger Hive ship with a fury that scarcely seemed possible for their size, Luna realized for the first time just how dangerous their animal friends were.

Before she could truly register what was happening, the starfighter missiles had torn open the enemy ship, and it now spun out of control, devoid of power or detectable life sign readings.

The machine animal reached over to the other panel and set a course to bring the Hive ship closer to the cruiser as the worker drone assigned to that station stood off to the side with nothing to do.

It turned towards her, and Luna felt a slight surge of fear as its now black eyes settled on her own before signing to her with its claws.

It asked for permission to open the bay for the animal ships and landers and start recharging the depleted null drives for departure.

She signed back, telling it to do whatever it needed to make sure they departed before other guardian ships arrived.

Luna felt useless and not needed as the machine animal controlled her Hive ship, so she let her mind drift, reaching out to see if she could sense any thoughts on the derelict Hive ship.

She detected a single worker drone mind that was barely registering, and it was filled with fear and apprehension, as well as happy or hopeful, which confused her greatly as she focused on it.

It must be a survivor on the Hive ship. Perhaps it was within an air pocket that was losing oxygen, and it was becoming delirious, which would explain the confusing emotions she was picking up from the drone.

She felt a great outpouring of pity for the drone, and Luna reached into its mind to give it comfort during its last moments. She was a command drone, and she felt responsible for its well-being.

Luna felt the drone recoil from her as she gently probed its mind, not understanding why it was trying to reject her.

Worker drones needed thoughts from others, especially during times of fear and stress such as this. She tried again, putting more effort into accessing the drone’s mind as it continued to fight her.

She suddenly saw out of its eyes as she forced her way into its mind, and it took her a considerable amount of time to discern what she was looking at.

It was heading down a dim tunnel, and she could hear animal noises. Her confusion increased as she knew for a truth that no animal soldiers had invaded the dead Hive ship.

What is happening? She thought to herself as she tried to make sense of the situation. She could not take control of the drone’s body like queens or the specialized command drones were able to.

Luna could only see out of its eyes and send it commands. The drone was still fighting her presence, and it moved its eyes to look up. She was stunned by what she saw as the drone focused its eyes.

It was looking at an animal! She could not tell if it was an animal daughter or a male drone by its short hair, so she looked for the other signs, like a smaller body frame and the presence of sex organs.

She was able to confirm that it was indeed an animal daughter by the two fleshy mounds located on the upper thorax a few moments later when they came into view of the drone’s eyesight.

As the drone’s eyes moved, she saw that it was gripping the animal’s claw with both of its own, and she could feel the safety the drone was experiencing.

The drone looked at the animal’s face again, and the animal grimaced at it, making soft animal noises to the drone as they continued to hurry down the dim tunnel they were in.

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They passed by an energy conduit junction, and out of the corner of the drone’s eyes, Luna finally realized what was happening as she saw the energy conduits snaking along the walls.

They were on the cruiser for sure, as Hive ship conduits have a much larger diameter than the cruisers did. Why would they leave a drone alive when they invaded and captured the ship?

Luna could barely understand the motivations of the animal friends in general, and the fact that they chose to spare this drone’s life for some reason just magnified her confusion when it came to the animals and their behaviors.

She must ensure this drone gets to her Hive ship. It survived the animal invasion of the cruiser and was obviously spared by them. Her curiosity grew, and she must find out why they didn’t kill it.

The behavior of the animal it was walking with indicated that it had formed a relationship with the animal daughter, something that was not possible for worker drones.

They reached a fork in the tunnel system, and she saw many more animals now, some of them in the black exoskeletons the soldier drones put on for battle.

The new animals started making loud animal noises while pointing their weapons at the drone, and Luna could see the anger and hate in the animal faces of the ones not wearing the exoskeletons.

The animal sister made loud noises back, and her vision was abruptly changed as the animal put itself in front of the drone, seemingly to protect it from the others.

The drone was full of fear, but it also felt protected by the animal it was now hiding behind as it clung to the animal sister and stared at the deck in terror.

What is happening here? She thought to herself as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing. Her concern for the drone grew, and she decided on a course of action.

Luna left the drone’s mind and started rapidly signing to the machine animal, telling it that she wanted the drone on the cruiser brought to her.

The machine animal nodded and made noises into the small device they used to share thoughts over distances. It continued to make animal noises and respond to the ones coming out of the device.

After some time, the machine animal made claw signs to her, telling her that the commander of the rescued animals wanted to kill the worker drone for betraying them and helping the enemy Hive ship.

Luna felt a great anger rise inside of her, and she stood up off the bench and brought herself to her full height as she made slow and deliberate claw signs to the machine animal.

She was a command drone and the envoy of the Hive mother. That drone belongs to her Hive mother, and she would not allow the animals to kill it.

Luna made many claw signs threatening things that she did not have the power to threaten. The animal command soldier had taught her how to make falsehoods, and she did so now.

She maintained her proud bearing as the machine animal sent her thoughts to the animals on the cruiser, but she was extremely anxious about the falsehoods she had just made.

If the animals decided to kill the drone, there was nothing she could do about it, and Hive mother might cull her for making enemies of the animal friends and endangering their Hive.

After more animal noises were made, the machine animal made claw signs to her. They were going to bring the drone to her because more ships had been detected and were on their way towards them now.

Luna felt both relief and panic and urged the machine animal to tell the others to enter the Hive ship as soon as possible.

She ordered the worker drones of the Hive ship to evacuate to a single location and start shutting down power and life support systems throughout the Hive ship.

After that was done, she will shunt the greatly increased power reserves that would now be available to the null space capacitors to increase their argonium harvesting and refinement capacity.

She needed to get them home to their Hives and fulfill the promise the Hive mother made.

She did not want to kill anymore of her sisters in battle, and they needed to leave before the guardian fleets realized that the envoy of the Hive mother was killing them to protect animals.

Luna’s anxiety increased as time passed, and she impatiently waited for the null space capacitors to recharge.

The machine animal continually updated her on the expected arrival time of the incoming ships, magnifying her worry, and she angrily signed to it, telling it to stop sharing thoughts with her.

It did not seem offended by her command, and she felt bad until she remembered the Hive mother telling her that only Bandit-Friend could feel emotions out of all the machine animals.

The last two animal landers had entered the bay, and the animal machine ships as well as the tiny attack ships were still outside the Hive ship, ready to do battle if needed.

She wanted them to go inside so that they could leave as soon as they were able, but the animal machine told her it was not necessary and that it was better to have them out and ready for battle.

The tiny attack ships could attach themselves to the machine ships, and they could flash into null space and rendezvous at another location to enter the Hive ship before continuing their journey.

Luna could feel the capacitors rapidly charging as they thrummed, the extra power she had shunted to them reducing their normal charging time by almost a third. Not fast enough, she thought to herself.

She heard the unique sounds of multiple animals walking as they echoed along the main tunnel walls. Luna got up and turned, facing the opening of the command chamber as she waited for them.

A few moments later, the animal soldier entered, still wearing his black battle exoskeleton. Behind him were two other animals, a male animal with a hairy face and an animal daughter that was following him.

The animal soldier made noises to the machine animal, and Luna watched in fascination as it froze before the black eyes turned back to the yellow ones she was used to.

It started making claw movements to her as it shared the thoughts of the new arrivals who eyed her with what she thought was suspicion and hate.

She was offended by it before she remembered that they had been beyond the forbidden regions for cycles and that they had been attacked and killed by guardian ships.

They did not know her or Hive mother, and she felt sadness for what they had gone through replace the initial anger she had felt. In time, she will make them friends like the other animals had become friends.

The male animal made noises as he avoided looking at her, followed by the animal daughter, who had not fully exited the tunnel for some reason and was still lingering in the opening.

They both expressed their gratitude for saving them from becoming hostages, and then the animal daughter spoke for some time as the machine animal shared her thoughts with Luna.

The animal daughter wanted her to promise not to hurt the drone, and Luna readily agreed, finding her respect for the animal daughter growing greatly as she made it obvious that she cared for it.

The animal daughter then reached behind her with a claw, and the drone slowly peered out, still hiding behind the animal.

That was why the animal daughter stayed there; it was to hide the drone from Luna until she promised not to hurt or punish the drone.

Using her claw, the animal daughter gently pulled the drone out from behind and held claws with it as she slowly entered the command chamber.

Luna opened her mind, careful not to scare it as she sent gentle thoughts to the drone.

Luna felt distrust from the drone, feeling how terrified it was of her. She gently probed its mind, and she saw that the commander drone of the Hive ship had made it betray them and stop the ship.

She saw the hateful image of the animal daughter that it had made the drone look at as it gloated about killing the animals. Now she understood why the drone was afraid of her and withdrew from its mind.

She made claw movements, telling them that she was going to have her drones take it to the others so that it can eat and receive treatment for its damaged antennae.

The animal daughter agreed, and Luna had several nearby drones come into the chamber and take their sister to where the rest of the drones were.

It did not want to leave the animal daughter, and it clung to her tightly. The animal daughter crouched down and made noises to it, tapping it softly in the head.

The animal daughter made some more noises, and the machine animal told Luna that she wanted to go with the drone.

Her respect for the animal daughter grew; she was almost like a command drone herself to be so concerned for the welfare of a single drone. I like this animal daughter, she thought to herself.

Luna agreed, and the drone now went with the others willingly, clasping claws with the animal daughter as they both followed the other drones out of the chamber.

She made claw signs to the machine animal, explaining that the drone was taken over by the commander drone and had no choice but to do what it was told; it was the way of the Hives. She told it to tell the male animal that the drone did not want to do it and was now suffering for its actions.

Luna watched closely as the male animal who was still there listened to the machine animal, and she saw the understanding dawning on the male animal’s face as it finally understood why the drone betrayed them.

She found herself fascinated by the mass of hair on the face, wondering what purpose it served as she tried not to rudely stare. The male animal departed soon after, and now Luna was once again in the command chamber with the animal soldier and the machine animal.

The thrumming had been steadily increasing, and Luna signed to the machine animal, telling it that the Hive ship would be ready to depart shortly.

The animal soldier spoke into the device, and Luna could see the animal attack ships start to join up with the machine ships on the viewer, clamping onto the hulls of the machine ships.

She ordered the navigation drone to enter null space as soon as they achieved a full charge and displayed a visual map of the coordinates she wanted to go to in its mind as it stared at her before turning around to face the panel.

Luna signed to the machine animal where she wanted to go, and it shared her thoughts with the animal soldier before relaying the coordinates to the machine ships.

All sixteen nullships flashed into null space, eight of them with starfighters clamped to their hulls. They will flash out at the coordinates Luna had provided and scout the area before the Hive ship arrives.

After a short time, the thrumming changed, and Luna sat down on the bench as the drone started tapping on the panel to activate the engines and enter null space.

All around them, dozens of null space flashes erupted, and ninety-two vessels appeared all around them and the derelict cruiser, their black angular hulls bristling with weaponry as they used their thrusters to point their bows at the Hive ship.

Luna did not register the animal noises as both the machine animal and the animal soldier made noises to each other and her. She stared at the viewer, frozen in shock at the new arrivals.

A deep-seated fear crippled her as she saw the ships, her mind registering what they were and unable to function. All the drones in the command chamber were staring at the viewer as well.

The Hive mothers and queens had imprinted these ships into the minds of every command drone and worker drone since the great persecution, and with that imprint came their terror of the ancient enemy that almost destroyed them.

The machine animal stepped in front of her, making claw signs and noises to her. Luna looked at it with unseeing eyes as the icy fear gripped her, rendering her incapable of thought or action.

The machine animal went over to the panel and gently pushed the catatonic drone out of the way before tapping on the panel and activating the null drive.

There was a change in the frequency of the thrumming before the panel went dark and the thrumming ceased, followed by a whine as the null drive system went off-line.

Luna saw all this happening with the small part of her mind that was still functioning, but she could not do anything. The persecutors had finally found them, and now they were all going to die.

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“Giskard, why haven’t we flashed out? I do not like the look of these ships; we need to get out of here now!” Bader yelled as he looked at the new arrivals on the viewer.

“Captain, the null drives have full power, but I cannot enter null space. I am not able to determine why from these panels.” Giskard answered as its hands rapidly tapped on the panel and tried to get it to turn back on.

Bader saw obvious signs of weapons ports being opened as the ominous-looking ships took blocking positions around them and the derelict cruiser at a distance of 60,000 kilometers, cutting off any escape routes.

“Detach half of the spy drones on the hull and send them to get the nullships back!” Bader yelled out again before activating his comm to order the remaining starfighters in the bay to prepare for combat.

On the viewer, Bader saw eight spy drones detach from the hull and execute evasive maneuvers as they sped away from the Hive ship to get out of its gravity well and flash into null space.

Dozens of the black ships targeted and fired at them with energy weapons as the drones approached them, missing all but one that was destroyed before the remaining seven were able to flash into null space.

Bader looked at Luna, who seemed like she was comatose as she stared blankly at the screen. All the other drones were doing the same thing, and it creeped him the hell out to see them frozen like that.

“Giskard, activate Combat Protocol One-Zero-four-Gamma! Authorization Bader PI-One-Seven-Delta! Execute!” Bader yelled in panic as the new ships suddenly fired swarms of missiles at them and started maneuvering.

Giskard froze for a second before confirming the order in that strange voice again, quickly moving to a different panel and activating the weapons systems while slaving navigation control over to the panel.

The Hive ship surged forward and started rotating as Giskard activated the flak guns, throwing out shards of metal and debris to make a wall between the Hive ship and the incoming missiles.

Hands flying over the panel, Giskard shot down dozens of missiles a second as he tracked and targeted them with the upgraded Insectoid weapons systems the Republic had installed on the ship when they returned it to Aurora.

The Hive ship continued to rotate and maneuver, trying to find an escape vector as it was fired on by the oncoming black ships that were still sending swarms of missiles at them.

Dozens of missiles made it through the point defenses and impacted against the hull, sending tremors through the massive ship that Bader could feel as the warheads detonated.

The drones suddenly became active and started working the panels, and Bader looked towards Luna, seeing that she had snapped out of her catatonic state and was now standing again.

She looked at him before turning back towards the viewer, and the volume of weapons fire from the Hive ship increased dramatically as the weapons drones resumed their duties and added their fire to Giskard's.

Sixteen missiles made it through the defenses, slamming into the hull. The command chamber lights flickered as power was interrupted, and several panels went dark before turning back on again.

The volume of weapons fire decreased slightly, and the Hive ship lost some power and speed as it slowed down slightly and its maneuvering became more sluggish.

Bader felt useless, but he was unwilling to interfere with Giskard or Luna as they fought the ship. He remained standing where he was as he told the starfighters to wait for his order to deploy. There was no way he was sending them out their on their own, they would be slaughtered.

Over fifteen of the black ships had been destroyed so far. They continued charging at the Hive ship as they fired missiles and torpedoes from dozens of armored missile ports that slid open and fired before slamming shut as the Hive ship tried targeting them with particle beams

Once they got to within 25,000 kilometers, the angular ships started firing their energy weapons and targeting the particle beam emplacements and flak guns with concentrated volleys that knocked them out of action.

All around the periphery of the battlespace, there were more null space flashes, and another eighty-two black angular ships emerged at a dead stop 123,000 kilometers away from the Hive ship.

These were much larger than the ones they were currently fighting, and Bader connected his wristcom to the two remaining spy drones still on the hull and had them scan the new arrivals.

A few moments later, the scan results popped up in a small holographic display, and he quietly cursed at the tonnage, power generation, and weapons systems analysis by the spy drone AIs.

They were equivalent to a class between Republic battleships and heavy cruisers, while the smaller ships currently attacking them were classified as heavy destroyers.

Bader grabbed onto the support column as another volley of missiles made it through the flak walls and slammed into the ship, bucking the massive Hive ship and almost knocking him of his feet.

Half of the panels went dark, and the volume of outgoing fire from the Hive ship reduced significantly as worker drones swarmed into the chamber with tools and equipment to do damage control and restore the panels that went dark.

The ship shook again, and Bader stared at the viewer as the black ships continued to pummel the Hive ship. It had been over three minutes since the spy drones had left, and they will be destroyed if the nullships do not come back soon.

"Come on, 273, where the hell are you?" Bader muttered to himself as another missile salvo hit the Hive ship again.