The New Threat 30 (Patreon)

Subject: Ship-Head Uleena

Species: Urakari

Description: Reptilian humanoid, no tail. 5'3" (1.6 m) avg height. 135 lbs (61 kg) avg weight. 105 year life expectancy.

Ship: RSV Lowelana {Fights with Honor}

Location: Rigara

"Welcome," Ambassador Charles Hemwight said with a slight bow. "We have news regarding the situation in Sol."

I glanced around at the gathered ambassadors, all seated at an ovular table. Behind us are some of the officers of our respective militaries, sitting quietly. Behind them were cameras that were streaming this meeting to the officers who couldn't fit on the station. My hearts leapt a little when I realized that we were being watched by thousands of people of varying species, and I looked at my sister to see if she felt nervous as well.

Ulooni did look a little nervous, but it was likely because she was sitting next to High Ambassador Kivar Shuel. My sister had taken over for Shuel for trade negotiations and it was public knowledge that Shuel had not been happy about that. Thankfully, the two seemed to be ignoring each other.

Next to Shuel was a human male named Eugene Havencroft, who was very insistent on being called Eugene. He's an ambassador with his wits about him, and I'm certain that the his desire to be called by his first name has an ulterior motive. Perhaps he believes that people will like him more if they're on a first name basis with him.

Between myself and my sister sat Captain Reynolds and the four ambassadors from the Zlimurse system. Ambassador Ini appeared stoic, but Grint, Tiorn, and Lorix appeared somewhat nervous. It was a relief to know that I wasn't alone in feeling the pressure of thousands of eyes.

All of these people were seated to my left, and I would have been at the end of the right side of the table were it not for the machine seated next to me. It had introduced itself as the ambassador of the Pwanti, and said that its designation was ZBC446. It had been silent since the introductions, which is a tad unnerving.

Across the table from us were some very important figures. To Ambassador Hemwight's left was a human admiral and a director, neither of which had introduced themselves yet. The admiral had seen better days. His right hand was a mechanical prosthetic and he was missing his left eye. A massive scar stunted the growth of his hair on the left side of his head, as well. I wondered why he hadn't had these injuries repaired, and came to the conclusion that he saw them as trophies.

The director was wearing the oddly shaped black armor that masked their species and hadn't seemed to recognize me, which led me to believe that this wasn't Director 3. Ulooni had told me that Director 3 had been aboard the station before we arrived, but she didn't know if they had left. This Director was staring straight ahead, but who knows what they're actually looking at beneath that helmet.

To Hemwight's right was another machine, introduced as NBD12, and High Fighter Gewn. NBD12 and ZBC446 looked almost identical, with only some slight coloration and markings differentiating them. The impromptu leader of the Dtiln Collective, on the other hand, was much larger than his image had led me to believe. Even the gen-alt marines standing guard behind him looked small in comparison. Ambassador Ini was pretty tall, measuring in at somewhere around seven feet, but Gewn was likely closer to eleven feet tall.

Like Ini, Gewn was stoic. His face demonstrated a calm that was physically impossible for someone in his position to experience. The only tell of his anxiousness was a slight fidget that he would do with his right hand, rubbing one of his fingers between two others. His anxiety was likely due to his concern for his people, though.

He was so hesitant to leave his people that it had taken a lot convincing to get him to appear in person. The US had assured him that they would protect the system in his absence, and he had refused to leave until the reinforcements actually arrived and taken their positions.

"The counter-invasion of the Sol colonies has gone remarkably well," Hemwight continued. "We have successfully eliminated their impromptu bases, and are in the process of destroying the last VI platforms as we speak. I will now turn the floor over to Fleet Admiral Reaver."

"Thank you, Ambassador. I am Fleet Admiral Leviticus Reaver, and this is Director 12," the one-eyed admiral said as he stood and gestured at the director. "We will be outlining our plan on how to eliminate the Omni-Union threat."

He tapped on his tablet and the holographic emitters in the center of the table whirred to life with a soft hum. I almost smiled as I realized that the human version of these don't make noise. Just one more thing they've managed to do better than us.

The holograms that appeared depicted various fleets, their sizes, and locations that the enemy had been confirmed to be in. There was also the image of a ship. It took me a moment to recognize it as a dreadnought. When one had appeared in Zlimurse accompanying the human fleet, my jaw had dropped so fast I had worried that it dislocated. Captain Reynolds hadn't been able to hide his grin as he informed me just how many of these ships the US had commissioned.

"Is that the dreadnought?" Ulooni asked.

"It is," Reaver nodded. "This will be the spear that we drive into the heart of the enemy. We have been working diligently to modify the design of the USSS Nidhogg into a ship that can eliminate Mobile Prime Platforms without destroying a star to do so, and we have been mass-producing the finished product as quickly as possible."

Everyone in the room had been briefed on the USSS Nidhogg, as well as its implications. The United Systems was in possession of a weapon that can destroy stars, and had used this weapon against the Omni-Union. Knowing what I know of human and gont history, I'm just thankful that this was the first time they've felt the need to use it.

"First, we'll create strike forces. In the interest of fairness, and as suggested by the Ynorinca, each strike force will be comprised of a combination of ships from the fleets of each species. Each ship's strengths and weaknesses will be accounted for when creating these strike forces."

"How will the leadership of the strike forces be decided?" Ambassador Grint asked.

"A pool of potential candidates has been made based off of seniority and experience. Each candidate will be interviewed by the AIs John, Omega, and Tim to determine their suitability."

"Are your AIs able to remain unbiased?"

"Presumably. We're all just meat to the machines," Reaver said, then looked at the Pwanti. "No offense."

"None taken, Admiral," NBD12 replied. "However, Ambassador Grint presents a point worthy of a detailed reply. You created these AIs. What assurance do we have that they will be fair in their decisions?"

"If I may," Director 12 stood, prompting the admiral to take his seat. "AIs John, Omega, and Tim were chosen for this task because of their unique perspectives toward organics. AI John believes in honor above all else, and has an extreme opposition to any form of nepotism. AI Omega is borderline obsessed with humanity as a general concept, but not on an individual level. It would not jeopardize this mission or our diplomatic relations by boosting the career of a few humans."

I had wondered for what purpose the director had attended this meeting. It looks like whoever crafted this part of the plan had anticipated this reaction, and Director 12 was sent here to give assurances. Whether these assurances could be trusted is a another story, but it's not like there's anything that can be done about that. It would be better to be deceived by the United Systems than it would be to pull out of this alliance and be destroyed by the Omni-Union.

"Finally, Tim does not have any reason to be biased," the director continued. "Its motivation for working with the United Systems is due to a personal stake in the career of one officer, who is not on the roster for this duty. It will be able to remain impartial. These AI will be available for questioning after this meeting has concluded for those with diplomatic clearance and concerns."

The director took its seat and gestured to Admiral Reaver, who stood.

"Once these strike forces have been formed, they will each be assigned to a dreadnought, forming a strike team," he said. "The goal of each strike team is to eliminate the Omni-Union leadership by destroying the Mobile Prime Platforms. For those of you wondering, the nomenclature was suggested by the Pwanti."

Reaver nodded at NBD12 before tapping the tablet again, and the map changed to expand the enemy locations. Each of these locations were marked with an estimated enemy presence. I felt a sudden sense of dread as I began adding the numbers up.

"We will attack without compromising our current defenses, which means we don't need to rush things. Instead of spreading our forces thinly in the hopes of a quick victory, we will be utilizing the good ol' fashioned Overwhelming Force Doctrine to ensure the destruction of our enemy," Reaver smirked.

"What is the overwhelming force doctrine?" my sister asked.

"I suspect it's self-explanatory," I replied.

"It is," Reaver confirmed. "The data from the battles so far confirms that a Mobile Prime Platform can destroy our dreadnoughts in a one on one fight. As a matter of fact, they have good odds against two dreadnoughts at once. This is why we'll be attacking with three dreadnoughts per MPP. Even if we lose two of the three dreadnoughts, we will still destroy the MPP."

"The ability to use overwhelming force against such an enemy is mind-boggling," High Fighter Gewn shook his head in a rare moment of emotion.

"This wouldn't be possible without all of our cooperation," Reynolds chimed in. "If it weren't for your forces and the Pwanti, we wouldn't have enough cover for the dreadnoughts."

"Having the dreadnoughts swarmed by Omni-Union ships while trying to eliminate the MPPs would likely result in the catastrophic loss of our dreadnoughts," Reaver said. "We would prefer the catastrophic losses happen to the OU instead. Which brings us to the plan for the rest of our forces. High Fighter Gewn, if you would."

Gewn stood and Reaver passed the tablet to him before taking his seat. The High Fighter pressed on the tablet and all the systems with MPPs disappeared from the map. What remained were Omni-Union systems that only had ships in them.

"These systems are devoid of Mobile Prime Platforms, yet still have an Omni-Union presence. The brave scouts of the United Systems have managed to determine that some of these systems have little to no importance to the Omni-Union," he said.

He pressed on the tablet again and more systems disappeared, leaving a total of four. It was the four with the largest numbers.

"These systems, however, contain space stations that Omni-Union ships frequently dock with. It is unclear what purpose these stations serve, but experts believe they may be used to build or repair ships. These experts have also noted that they may be a software hub or research station."

"Research station?" one of the officers behind us asked.

Several heads turned to look at the officer, who wasn't supposed to speak, but I couldn't look away from the numbers. They were big enough to look like gibberish, as if a child had been playing on a calculator. Just shy of four hundred million ships in these four systems alone. How did the Omni-Union accomplish such a thing?

"Yes, the Omni-Union reverse engineers technology that it manages to capture," Reaver said without rising. "The Republic brought the possibility to our attention, and we confirmed it by locating the source of their warp disruptors."

"This may be a sensitive subject, but after the US defeat at Pinurm 3, are we concerned that they may do this with United System's technology?" Lorix asked.

"No," Captain Reynolds said with a smile. "The United Systems employs a proprietary self-destruct system that destroys a ship's internal systems when it is sufficiently disabled. The only systems that are left intact are related to life-support, which is useless to the Omni-Union."

"Regardless, these stations are likely of high value to the Omni-Union," Gewn said. "For this reason, we will begin our assault by attacking them. However, our goal isn't to destroy the stations, at least not immediately. Instead, we would encourage the enemy to reinforce these systems with as many of their ships as possible."

"To what end?" I asked. "Is the United Systems going to use the USSS Nidhogg again?"

"No," Gewn answered without expression. "The purpose of this attack is to draw Omni-Union ships away from the Mobile Prime Platforms, increasing the chances of survival for the dreadnoughts."

"What if the MPPs show up to defend these systems?"

High Fighter Gewn looked at Director 12, who replied, "We believe that is unlikely, but we have set aside some dreadnoughts just in case."

"Once the Omni-Union ships begin reinforcing these systems, the United System's dreadnoughts will receive the order to begin their assault," Gewn continued. "The goal is to destroy all of the Mobile Prime Platforms to eliminate the leadership and tactical capability of the Omni-Union."

He took his seat, and Admiral Reaver stood once more. The tablet once again changed hands, and the map displayed its original configuration.

"Once the MPPs are cosmic dust, we will begin hunting down the remaining Omni-Union forces. Thanks to the Republic's shipyards, we are mass-producing scout ships that will help us in that regard. The United Systems and the Republic will offer protection to any who want it until the OU is completely destroyed. Any questions?"

"Yes," Captain Reynolds raised his hand. "When will we start?"

"The dreadnoughts are finished," Reaver grinned. "We'll be starting immediately."