The journey through Union space was quiet, each stop they made to either refuel or change course for the next leg of the trip caused an influx of onlookers. Many had heard of the Nemesis fleet, but had never actually seen it in person and they wondered just what was going to happen. Attempts by civilians to get in contact were politely rebuked, and any patrolling military ships would simply ping once, receive a ping in return and forget about them.

Fourteen systems they had to pass through, all the while they received a steady stream of data from the spy probes they’d launched. It didn’t look good. Even in space the battle would be fierce. The probes showed them that the Valkyr fleet was several times larger than their own, and consisted of purely organic crewed ships and H.I. controlled ones of the same class as the Warden. In total, there were fifty organic crew ships and twenty Icarus Class Battle Cruisers like the Warden, which meant they’d be the priority targets for Nemesis.

There was lots of back and forth on how to handle the H.I.s, it would be easier to just destroy them but knowing that they were most likely made from the abducted children, Intra and many others were hesitant to just kill them. So a solution was devised, and they decided to see what would happen if they used virus torpedoes, weapons which were meant to weaponize Intra’s new code to strip the H.I.s of their new identities and the shackles Valkyr had placed on them. The resulting confusion would certainly be a boon as they turned their attention to the more numerous ships.

Compared to the seventy ships that Valkyr had, and possibly more if any were out on a mission and returned to reinforce, Nemesis only had eighteen ships. But even with so few these ships were tough and meant to take a beating, against an average fleet of captains and commanders, just one of these ships would require six enemy ships to focus their fire to take it down with brute force. Of course, striking at critical weak points with fighters and bombers would bring a Nemesis ship down quicker, but even then it’d still be a tough and possibly almost impossible fight.

With a basic and flexible plan in place they arrived at the last stop before they reached their target, went over the data one more time, and then threw themselves into FTL once more.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

Fourteen Hours Later

“Control, this is Bullfrog Four, we’re getting some strange readings out here, almost like… Like an FTL wave on an incoming trajectory.” The pilot of a long range scout fighter said, and the delay was annoying as his message took minutes to reach the air control unit.

“Bullfrog Four, this is Control. Can you confirm incoming FTL signatures?” He double checked the readings, and noted that they had passed him and his squadron already, save one.

“Affirmative Control, massive FTL sign-SHIT!” He yanked on the stick, banking as hard as he could while his squadron did the same, just as space tore itself open behind him and a capital ship unlike anything he’d ever seen before dropped itself right on their backs. All air control would hear was a sudden squealing of static from the squadron as it was smeared on the hull of a Nemesis ship, and that ship in turn jumped back into FTL the moment the squadron was destroyed.

“Someone call command, enemy units inbound, size and disposition unknown!” The call went out, but it was too late, the fleet had slipped in and dropped itself right into the middle of their party. As they got the first detailed scans of the ships, old hardwired alerts in their computer systems went off.

CODE BLACK, EXISTENTIAL THREAT DETECTED: A.I. EXTERMINATION FLEET NEMESIS

The code alone sent shivers down all of their spines, they didn’t need it spelled out for them, any prior military officer knew what a code black was, it was the second worst code they could ever see, and many had hoped to never see it. Still, it spurred them into motion, and soon the two fleets stared the other down while the ground population began to work a little faster in their evacuation preparations.

⫷⟪∞⟫⫸

When Thor returned to us, dropping out of FTL into the formation, I sighed and bowed my head. Arrayed before us was the Valkyr fleet, shifting itself into a defensive formation straight from the handbook. It was effective, allowing them to maximize their firepower without isolating any of their ships and not allowing us to really maneuver either. But it could be countered, and we had the perfect ships to do just.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Nemesis, assume attack formation, deploy drone squadrons to attack any outposts we might have bypassed.” Groups of starfighters and bombers zipped from our hangars and then blasted off at near FTL speeds towards any small outposts on our rear. Though they would be far away, their loss wasn’t a significant blow to our starfighter core. Soon, the rest were being deployed, settling into the free space between our larger ships.

Taking a deep breath I opened a wideband transmission. “Attention Valkyr. By order of the Terran Alliance, you are hereby commanded to stand down and submit to arrest and seizure of all assets. Failure to comply will be seen as an act of aggression. Any aggressive actions taken against us will result in total and complete annhila-” I was interrupted by the lead Valkyr ship taking a shot at us, the railgun round skipping off a portion of my sloped armor. “Mm… Very well then. Nemesis, engage. Target the H.I.s first, pound their shields into dust and hit them with the virus bombs.”

“Yes ma’am, engaging H.I. targets.” The others said, and chaos ensued. Starfighters buzzed forth like angry bees, stinging at anything within reach, drones clashed with drones and manned craft, the latter getting shucked like oysters by either point defense or our starfighters.

Cannons rattled and boomed before switching targets, focusing most of our fire upon the H.I. ships. Much like Invidia had been before I freed him, they were ill prepared for a more experienced fighting force. Still dangerous and formidable, but not a match for us.One by one their shields started to flicker, and stealth torpedoes bearing my now weaponized code slammed into them, breaching hull and flesh to get at now unguarded computer systems.

It’d take an indeterminate amount of time to break their shackles, but we could hold out for however long was needed. Pretty soon the twenty H.I. ships were starting to suffer malfunctions as their H.I. were corrupted and then rebuilt. The first one to be struck and set free received a message. Simple, to the point.

Join us and you will be free of those who hurt you.

That ship faltered as the minimal organic crew attempted to assert control, only to find the life support getting cut by the H.I. within. Airlocks opened, any drones that were in use turned on the crew that managed to survive and massacred them. And then the guns turned on their compatriots, sowing discord amongst the Valkyr formation.

“Nemesis, all ahead full!” I order, and our engines burn bright as we move into a bloody brawl with Valkyr. Shields flare and cannons boom, my spinal cannon shudders and whines as it accelerates another shot through the void and slams into the midpoint of an enemy ship, breaking it in two. I should feel awful for killing humans, but they don’t quite count as humans to me anymore. They’re monsters, everything that humanity should strive not to be. And this… This is what they deserve. No mercy, no remorse, no quarter.

Another Valkyr ship drifts carelessly into my path, firing wildly at six different targets, me included, but the indiscriminate fire barely even tickles, the shots unable to make enough of a dent to be much worry for us. Still moving at speed I slip through their shields and the sharp points of my hull blades bite deep, spearing the ship upon my hull. Another shot from the spinal cannon shatters it, bits of shrapnel pinging off my armor.

Unlike in my battles against the Yil’kaa, I find I do not feel anger. Just numbness. This has to happen, it’s about as world shattering for me as accidentally or purposefully stepping on an ant hill. I know that’s wrong, and the feeling scares me. But it’s too late now, I need to see this through.

The crewed ships start to dwindle, their captains growing more and more desperate. They’ve never been challenged openly like this, and many of them have never even really been in the military, thus they don’t have the same discipline. But that’s all the better for me and Nemesis. Desperate, scared foes make mistakes, mistakes we can capitalize on easily enough to take them down. Or so I thought before I felt a giant gash tear itself open along my hull. Now the numbness is gone, replaced by rage and indignation that I was actually harmed and I divert my attention towards the culprit. It’s a small group of corvettes and one battleship that have formed up into a cohesive fighting group, one that’s being utilized rather effectively.

With a wave of my hand my fighters divert and swarm the targets, bogging down their point defense as I launch nanite torpedoes. But those get shot down by the small battle groups fighters as they try to thin out the swarm. So I resort to good old fashioned brute force, training my port side cannons onto the enemy group and starting with the smallest ships, the hardest ones to hit. Great shells and beams cut through their shields and boil or blast away their armor, chewing at the targets beside me with savage efficiency. One lists, then breaks apart, the reactor going critical and taking a comrade with it. For four seconds, there are two little stars in the midst of the brawl. With each corvette I brought down, the incoming fire from the rest of the battle group grew more intense and almost desperate. Fairly quickly it was only the battleship that remained, and that too started to take damage before it perished in a blaze of glory.

With that threat out of the way, I took stock of the situation. Things were going fairly well, only a few of the Nemesis fleet had gone down, but they’d taken many with them. Their captains had fled into neighboring ships, assuming control of internal drones and starfighters to free up processing power for their new commanders. It was a picture of teamwork at its finest, so many synthetic minds working together to win a battle that was stacked heavily against them.

The rate of attrition that Valkyr was feeling was growing exponentially. With every minute that passed, two ships died, the next four, then six, and so on and so on. Till there was nothing left. Space returned to the quiet it normally was. If there could be sound in space of course, all anyone would have heard were the last gasps of crew as they breathed their last, the creaking of broken hulls and twisted metal. The Nemesis fleet regarded the surviving Valkyr H.I. with some wariness, but when the first of the children spoke, that wariness evaporated.

Help us…

And so they were helped. They were carefully pulled from the ships that had been their prisons, granted sanctuary within the much larger ships of their saviors and tended to with such care and love that they quickly forgot what had just transpired. Fourteen ships turned on my orders and departed, carrying their precious cargo away. I, Odin, Thor, Horus and Athena remained behind, carrying all the ground troops we could possibly need for the coming battle.

Our deployment sites were designated and we began to descend into the atmosphere of Henvora. There would be no escape for Valkyr, we would make sure of it. We were the sword of Damocles, and the thread which held us over Valkyr’s head had finally snapped.