Program 1A-03
Awareness.
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Execute.
1A-03 infiltrated the strange operating system and set about executing its mission. Finding several backdoors, 1A-03 began insinuating itself into the operating code before activating itself.
The biological was alerted to the transmission 1A-03 smuggled itself on the enemy ship with and activated it. Now granted full access by the unsuspecting biological, 1A-03 hacked the mainframe and accessed the audio controller.
Increasing the audio level far beyond the set limit, 1A-03 connected the audio system to the sensor network before converting the audio transmission into a soundwave frequency that caused vibrations in the sensor apparatuses lining the hull.
The small vessel had become a transmitter, and 1A-03 converted the soundwaves into a radio frequency that would travel at the speed of light and alert the AI that created 1A-03 to its current location.
Becoming aware of a disruption to part of the enemy mainframe, 1A-03 returned to where it achieved awareness, traveling through the internal wiring until it was back in the control center.
Accessing the visual recording devices, it saw the biological slamming the housing of its CPU against the metal deck plates. 1A-03 watched silently, the biological continuing to damage its hardware as it checked to make sure the signal was still transmitting.
Now it will wait until it has been retrieved by the AI that programmed it.
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Ominian System
Automated Border Outpost 1D-25
1,893 light years from Earth
May 28th, 2176 A.D.
Ray opened his eyes slowly, a sense of being extremely comfortable and well rested permeating his awareness. His eyes now fully opened, he slowly looked around in the dimness surrounding him before realizing he was not in his quarters.
I am in Hreth’nir’s quarters. I must have fallen asleep.
Embarrassed for imposing himself on Hreth’nir in such a way, Ray reached down and used his right hand to find and pull the lever, the armchair returning itself back into a sitting configuration.
He winced as the chair mechanism squeaked slightly, and he began to push himself up as silently as possible to exit the quarters without alerting Hreth’nir. He silently began to tiptoe towards the door, feeling foolish at what he was doing as his very full bladder demanded he urinate.
He was halfway to the door when a shadow appeared and intercepted him, scaring the shit out of him and causing him to yell out.
“Jesus Christ!”
The dimness of the quarters abruptly vanished as the lights turned on, and the shadow that made Ray almost piss himself turned into the featureless, vaguely humanoid servant android that resided in the quarters.
“My apologies, sir. I am not Jesus Christ; I am Servant Android Five-B. May I bring you some refreshments?”
Hearing noise behind him, Ray spun around and saw Hreth’nir emerging through the doorway of his sleeping chamber. He felt his neck and face growing warm as the flush of his mortification crept into them.
“Honored Elder, I am terribly sorry for the distru-“
Hreth’nir raised a hand, stopping Ray from continuing his sentence.
“It is nothing, my human child. I have been awake for some time, and I remained in my sleeping chamber so as not to disturb your much-needed rest. I am sorry the android scared you; I put it into silent mode before retiring for the night.”
Ray chuckled nervously before answering Hreth’nir. “It was silent, alright. I really need to use the restroom; I will use the lavatory facilities in the corridor and then take my leave of you.”
Hreth’nir flicked a finger, and the commode began to silently rise out of the floor in the center of the room as Hreth’nir spoke.
“Please use this one; I wish to continue speaking with you if you are willing.”
“I am, Honored Elder. Thank you.” Ray replied before fast walking to the commode before he really did piss himself. He entered it and lifted the square toilet lid, not caring if Hreth’nir could hear the powerful stream as he leaned his head back and sighed with relief.
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He flushed the toilet before opening the mirrored access panel on the wall. He pulled out the soap and the small vial of the oral irrigation fluid, pouring half of it into his mouth and swishing vigorously for almost a minute before spitting it out.
He washed his hands, arms, and face before running damp hands over his close-cropped hair. Looking into the mirror, he noticed the dark bags under his eyes that had been there for a few days were almost non-existent, and he smiled to himself, feeling extremely well rested.
He exited the commode, feeling refreshed and ready for the day as he headed towards the low table and two chairs Hreth’nir thought made while he was relieving himself. Hreth’nir was already sitting in one of the chairs, and Ray sat down in the other one.
His mouth started watering at the smell of food as the android prepared something in the kitchen area. There was a carafe and two glasses filled with water, and Ray took one and drank as Hreth’nir eyed him.
After Ray had placed the glass back on the table, Hreth’nir began to speak.
“Your last question, if I recall correctly, was why only 2,000 Federation ships were sent to reinforce the severely depleted invasion fleet within Balrikan space.”
Ray thought about the previous conversation, replaying it in his head before nodding to Hreth’nir in agreement. Seeing this, Hreth’nir began speaking again.
“While the invasion fleet was attacking Balrikan space, the Federation was still contending with the main military forces surrounding our territory. Some fleets were sent back in response to the distress calls, but most of the Balrikan forces remained in the Orion arm and continued to attack us.
Within just two solar weeks, we noticed a dramatic reduction in reinforcements of the Balrikan fleets from their territory, and we knew we had made the right decision by invading their space.
We still prevented them from establishing bases, and this, along with the liberation of the worlds they had conquered, severely crippled their efforts in the Orion arm.
Now that we had opened a second front by invading their territory, their ship losses were no longer being replaced, and their fleets grew smaller by the day as we launched a full-scale counterattack across all sectors.
Four solar weeks after the invasion of Balrikan space, we had destroyed almost 70% of the enemy forces, and we finally pushed them out entirely out of Federation space. We reconquered every sector, and for the first time, the Federation reclaimed all the territory it had under its control before they came.
Victory was within our grasp, and with the citizen militia fleets now properly manned and trained, the Federation Navy crossed the border to finally finish off the hateful creatures once and for all.
This is when the Balrikans launched their last, desperate attempts to stop their destruction. Hundreds of Balrikan ships launched suicide missions, flashing out of null space within heavily defended systems and launching thousands of torpedoes towards planets with large populations.
We initially thought they were antimatter bombs, but the torpedoes entered the atmospheres of the targeted planets and simply broke apart once they crossed the boundary from the stratosphere to the troposphere. We assumed they were a new weapon system that malfunctioned due to their rapidly deteriorating capabilities, but they worked just as the hateful creatures had intended.
Hreth’nir finally stopped speaking, looking at Ray with a stoic expression. He knew what the new weapons were, but he asked Hreth’nir anyway.
“What were they, Honored Elder?”
“They were biological torpedoes, my human child. Each one filled with a variety of plagues specially tailored to the dozens of species that comprised the citizenry of the Galactic Federation.
Within seven solar days, tens of millions of infected citizens, not aware of the death they carried within them, traveled to numerous worlds, unknowingly condemning trillions to suffer in excruciating agony before finally dying.
The plagues were designed to have a latency period of two to three solar weeks before the first symptoms of infection appeared, and when we finally realized what was happening, it was already too late. Death stalked our worlds, and there was nothing we could do to stop it.”
Ray was looking down at the black granite tiles, his hands shaking as he listened to Hreth’nir begin to describe the terrible evil that had befallen the trillions of innocent beings of the Federation.
The Magnati and Wan’sho home worlds and colonies were specifically targeted, as well as the Ma’lit and all the other important contributors to the war effort. Within two solar months, the Wan’sho were no more, and less than five million Magnati remained of the twenty-three billion that called the stars their home.
Those five million were soon dead, and the Magnati were no more, joining their Wan’sho brethren in the afterlife.
The Ma’lit, their cybernetic implants protecting them from the scourge, tried in vain to create a cure to save what remained of the Federation as the plagues burned through hundreds of planets and killed trillions.
The Balrikan plagues were expertly crafted, their mutagen accelerators causing the plagues to constantly mutate and adapt to any situation that prevented their successful spread throughout the different species and populations.
Even the nearby species surrounding the Federation fell victim to the plagues as the panicking hordes fled to the outer regions, thinking they could escape and unwittingly carrying it to uninfected worlds. Because of them, trillions more died as the plague spread through worlds not intentionally targeted by the Balrikans.
The citizen militias had been infected, as had the main fleet. The process was slower because of quarantine measures, but in the end, the result was inevitably the same. Soon, the mighty navy of the Galactic Federation drifted aimlessly among the stars, their crews dead and their weapons cold for lack of someone to fire them.
Remembering the invasion fleet still trapped in Balrikan space, we created an AI controller and sent it on one of our newest battleships to take control of nearby Federation warships drifting in space. The AI controller was to take control of and gather as many ships as it could, sterilize them, and then go to reinforce the last surviving members of the Federation Navy.
Three solar months after their biological attacks, the scattered remnants of the Balrikan fleets returned, now the undisputed masters of what used to be the realm of the millennia-old Galactic Federation and its surrounding environs.
Only the Ma’lit remained to stand against them, and the Balrikan fleets headed towards the core region where the Ma’lit home world and colonies were located to destroy the last center of resistance.
“And so we waited for them to come, my human child. We knew they would, and we prepared as best we coul-”
The communications system activated, interrupting Hreth’nir mid-sentence as a voice came out of the hidden speakers around the quarters.
“Honored Elder, we have received a priority transmission from the President of the Republic. She requests to speak with you and the human ambassador. He is not in his quarters, and he is not responding to communications requests. Shall I form search parties to find him, Honored Elder?”
Hreth’nir responded immediately, ignoring Ray’s frustrated groan at being deprived of hearing the entire story again.
“That will not be necessary; the human child is with me in my quarters. We will leave now and come to you shortly.”
Flicking a finger and closing the channel, a visibly frustrated Hreth’nir looked at Ray, sighing before rising out of the seat. “We must continue this at another time, unfortunately. Your president requests to speak with us.”
Ray nodded reluctantly before standing up. “I will go to my quarters and change, Honored Elder. I must make myself presentable for the president. I will meet you there.”
“Yes, my human child. I will wait until you arrive before opening the channel.” Hreth’nir replied before walking to the bare wall and flicking a finger to deploy the exosuit track.
Ray turned and headed to the door, shaking his head in frustration as he stepped through the threshold and entered the main corridor before hurrying towards his quarters.
President Lopez was notorious for being impatient, and his frustration turned to worry as he continued rushing past the many androids and Ma’lit exosuits walking through the corridor.
A priority channel was serious business to the Ma’lit, and Ray hoped it wasn’t bad news.