The New Threat 35 (Patreon)

Chapter 35

Subject: Fleet Leader Barrilin Onaya

Species: Oyan

Description: Avian humanoid, feathered tail. 6'1" (1.8 m) avg height. 96 lbs (43 kg) avg weight. 161 year life expectancy.

Ship: RSV Nolbarinil {Majestic In Flight}

Location: Unknown

"Good hits," intel-head Salin reported. "Target destroyed, fleet leader."

"Looks like the other teams have accomplished their objectives as well, sir," Hindal said.

Salin is sending my orders and receiving updates while my second in command is coordinating with the other strike teams. Salin's has a heavier burden than Hindal does, but he is well within his element.

"Excellent," I replied. "Now all that's left is clean-up. The swarm should be here to take over for us soon. In the meantime, have the non-US forces pull back and start sniping stragglers. Remind them to check their fire, we don't need a diplomatic incident."

"Yes, Fleet Leader," Salin said, turning back to the task at hand.

I smiled softly as I watched my crew tend to their tasks. The crew of the RSV Nolbarinil is one of the few crews that is a blend of each space-faring species in our great republic. People with wildly different cultures, customs, perspectives, and even dietary requirements working together toward a common goal. As someone who believes that our differences make us stronger together, I've always found this beautiful.

It isn't hard to draw a parallel between my crew and the strike teams. I've argued with other Fleet Leaders and even politicians over my beliefs, and to see my point wholly and completely proven on such a massive scale is a wonderful experience. However, I can't say that I don't empathize a little with their perspectives.

I stole a glance at the dark metallic box that had been installed on my bridge. It contains an Artificial Intelligence, one powerful enough to put the OU to shame. Once I had been approved for this command I had been escorted into a dark room along with several other officers. After we had taken our seats and stewed for a bit, a different group of people entered the room. This group of people was comprised of the highest ranking officers of each of our militaries, including High Commander Uliriona.

They proceeded to explain that Omega's presence aboard our ships was a requirement for this mission, and this mission is not voluntary. Regardless of our views on the sanctity of biological life, we would be working alongside this AI, and refusal to do so would result in court-martial. We were informed that what we were about to be told is classified and failure to keep this information secret would result in life-long imprisonment or even execution. Then they explained what this Artificial Intelligence is capable of, and the collective gasps nearly turned the room into a vacuum.

During their war with the Artificial Intelligences that they created, the United Systems somehow thought it was a good idea to create an even more powerful AI to fight for them. They designed this AI with cyberwarfare capabilities that made the other AI look like elderly people struggling to figure out the newest version of their terminal's operating system. Somehow this plan succeeded and the US survived the war, which is the most compelling case for divine intervention I've ever seen.

However, Omega surprised them with its capability. Unbeknownst to its creators, it has the ability to replicate itself and literally be in multiple places at once. This, in combination with its cyberwarfare capabilities, makes it very useful against the Omni-Union. But also very, very dangerous. Our leaders believe that its usefulness outweighs the potential danger, but I'm not sure I agree.

"The swarm has entered the system and is now engaging the Omni-Union," Salin said.

"Regroup and make ready to enter warp," I ordered. "Hindal, give the mark once it comes in."

"Yes, fleet-leader," they said in unison.

One of the key components of this operation is coordination. We are coordinating our warps with other strike teams so that we enter the system simultaneously, which will prevent the Mobile Prime Platforms from supporting each other and potentially destroying the dreadnoughts. Even during the battles, the strike teams are coordinating with each other to keep the Omni-Unions ships at bay.

We are using overwhelming firepower against the MPPS and small fleet tactics against the ships that would help them. We even have reserves waiting in case the enemy is reinforced or one of the dreadnoughts is destroyed. This operation was extensively calculated and planned, which makes one wonder what part Omega could possibly play in all this.

"Mark," Hindal said.

The RSV Nolbarinil entered warp less than half a second later. Within a few more seconds, we were in a new system and back in the thick of it.

"Dreadnoughts, fire at will," I ordered.

Everyone already knew what to do and were going about doing it. I began watching the battle on the tac-map that the United Systems had installed months ago. Part of me was already used to this technology, but every now and then I couldn't help but marvel at how much better than its predecessor it is. Being able to know the near real-time location of every ship in a battle kind of feels like cheating.

The OU ships had once again known we were coming, and had once again focused their fire on the United System's ships. And just like the last time, this strategy was ineffective. As the dreadnoughts and the Mobile Prime Platform engaged each other, I checked our casualties.

We lost five Republic vessels and one of the Dtiln collective ships, but the US ships hadn't even lost their shields. What would have happened to our civilization if we had encountered the United Systems in a more hostile fashion? I chuckled softly and shook my head. They would have destroyed or assimilated us with little to no contest.

As I was trying to calculate how quickly we would have surrendered, a red marker began barreling toward one of the dreadnoughts. I furrowed my brow as several dozen more began following its lead. Surely they're smart enough to realize that their weapons can't do anything against the dreadnought's shield? They're stupid, but they're not...

"Salin, tell the dreadnoughts to engage their PDLs and brace for impact!" I shouted.

"Yes, sir!"

I squeezed the arm of my seat as I watched the red markers close in on the dreadnought. The dreadnought began to fire at them, and the markers started disappearing one by one. Too slowly, though.

Green markers suddenly appeared as US ships warped into the path of the suicide ships and started engaging them, but some of the red markers still slipped past. After a few more excruciating seconds, two of the red markers impacted the dreadnought. I swore under my breath.

"The USSS Tempest has lost shields, sir," Salin reported. "The MPP has begun focusing fire on them."

"Have the other two form a shield formation with the Tempest," I said. "What's the extent of the damage?"

"Waiting on the full damage report, sir."

I watched the Tempest and one other dreadnought begin to move. The idea behind the shield formation is to put the dreadnought with shields in between the Tempest and the hostile MPP, allowing it to avoid taking any further damage while its shield recharged. The dreadnoughts are slow, though, and the MPP's MACs are too damn quick.

"They've got a hull breach and have taken damage to their primary cannon," Salin shook his head solemnly. "They're out of the fight, sir."

"Blood encrusted stool," I whispered. "Hindal, report this to high command and request guidance."

I already knew what they were going to say. The Tempest can't warp out of the system until we can arrange an escort or eliminate the Omni-Union. We can't do either of those things until we destroy the MPP. In the meantime, the MPP is going to destroy the Tempest.

"They've lost power," Salin said.

I quietly prepared myself to witness the destruction of the USSS Tempest.

"Give the order to abandon," I said.

"Belay that," a raspy voice came over the intercom. "The USSS Tempest has some of the best armor ever made. More than enough to protect the crew from the Omni-Union ships. The escape pods are much less armored, and the OU will simply pick them off."

"Omega?" I asked, then silently chided myself for asking such an obvious question. "The MPP is going to destroy the Tempest. If the crew is aboard when that happens, they will all die."

"Negative. Check the tac-map."

I looked at the map, desperately trying to find a clue as to what the mad machine was talking about. I stared at the icon denoting the MPP for a few seconds before I finally came to the realization that the MPP wasn't firing anymore.

"What's happening?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"I have disabled its weaponry and FTLD. Its current countermeasures will disable my control over these systems after approximately forty-five seconds, but that's more than enough time to destroy it. The Tempest is safe from the Mobile Prime Platform."

"Fine. Salin, tighten our forces around the dreadnoughts."

"Yes, sir."

I leaned back in my chair again. Omega seems to be as useful as it was billed, but to think that it could disable an MPP's weapons and FTLD. A Prime is a planet-sized Artificial Intelligence, but on the other wing, Omega was built specifically to kill AI. If it can do that to them, though...

I caught myself and shut down that train of thought. Guess I have a negative bias to work on, after all. I thought I could avoid ambivalence toward the United System's AI despite my experiences in this lengthy war, but those experiences have obviously soured my opinion. Shame on me for not realizing it sooner.

While it is true that Omega could be apocalyptically deadly if it chose to be, it has been living among the species of the United Systems for centuries now. Even though a good portion of its capabilities are classified, those that are in the know still trust it. If I approached that fact rationally, then it would be safe to assume that it hasn't shown many signs of maliciousness. Well, towards them, at least.

"USSS Tip of the Tip is firing," Salin said.

"That's got to be a translation error," I rubbed my forehead softly.

"No, it isn't. Once we got the list I asked some of the gonts at the dock," Hindal chuckled. "Apparently, in the United Systems the engineering team that builds the ship gets to come up with its name."

"Good hit," Salin reported.

"Alright, hold here and keep those dreadnoughts safe until the swarm rejoins us," I said, then turned back to my second. "So what, the engineers that built the Tip of the Tip ran out of ideas for a name?"

"Well, the gont could only postulate, of course, but they seemed to think that the engineering crew were human and trying to slip a joke past the censors," Hindal grinned. "A rather specific joke regarding a particularly male piece of human anatomy."

"The way you phrase that makes it sound like they are making a cloaca joke, but..." I trailed off, trying to figure out the punchline on my own.

"Negative, sir. Humans have a different type of genitals, and for the males it's more like a..." Hindal paused for a moment, trying to keep her composure. "Like a meat spear, sir."

"Oh by the grace of the sun," I rubbed my forehead harder. "Tip of the tip, yeah. I get it now. Disgusting."

"Oh, yeah, definitely disgusting," she said, masking a chuckle. "Interestingly, the gont I spoke to pointed out that a great many number of objects take on the same shape as the human male..."

"The USSS Alikonuoro reports that its primary cannon is malfunctioning," Salin interrupted. "So now we've got two replacements inbound."

"Understood. Alikonuoro, now that's a proper name for a ship. What does it mean?" I asked.

"I'll check, sir," Hindal replied.

"I already looked, can't find a meaning," Salin said.

"It is Alumari in origin," Omega interjected. "It is a reference to an ancient origin myth in which a fertility goddess bred with anything that came along, including her own children, which resulted in the many different species of animal on the Alumari cradle world of Alunis."

A thick sheet of shocked silence fell over the bridge, until it was interrupted by a snort from Hindal.

"The censors were overwhelmed by the rapidity in which this fleet was constructed," the AI said with a sigh. "There are currently twenty eight dreadnoughts with names that are puns regarding genitals or sexual conduct."

"The swarm has arrived, and the USSS Alikonuoro's replacement is inbound..." Salin trailed off, staring at the terminal in front of him.

"What is it?" I asked.

He let out a heavy sigh, "Its name is the USSS Gaping Maw."

Hindal began laughing so hard that she fell out of her seat.