A3 - Chapter 154 – Battles Within and Without (Patreon)

USD: 1 Day after Cadre-S Graduation

Location: Van Biesbroeck’s star, Meltisar, MIL-1A Elevator, CIC

The atmosphere in the CIC was thick with tension as Tia and Alex stood side by side, surveying the aftermath of their sudden takeover. The bridge officers remained pinned to the floor, each one restrained by cords of nanites.

Tia’s piercing gaze swept over them, asserting her dominance. Alex tried to suppress her unease as she watched Tia taking command without hesitation. How the fuck were things going to resolve now? Tia had declared herself the owner of the system. How would anyone allow it?

To her shock, Vice Admiral Wilkes appeared on the main screen. His face showed stress, and Alex almost felt sorry for him. She listened numbly as Tia and the FADM came to a quick agreement in the interests of dealing with the critical situation outside the station.

Prevent everyone from dying first; figure things out later. A sentiment seemingly shared by all.

Tia moved to push Admiral Anderson out of his seat and take it for herself. She immediately manipulated systems expertly, and Alex felt a surge of insecurity as she watched the princess go to work. seemed unfazed by this torrent of information. Her fingers danced over the holographic controls as she processed each update with incredible speed and precision. Despite being thrown into this position of power so suddenly, it appeared as if she had long prepared for it.

Alex considered her own abilities and bit her lip.

The shrike had been complex to command. This was another level, and even with the Shrike, Alex realized she hadn’t even been the one controlling it. That had all been Nameless. She told him what to do, and he did it for her. Alex felt the lack in her abilities, while Tia showed that she could handle it herself, without a Nameless to help her.

“You can let the bridge crew go.” Tia said without turning her attention from the console. Alex hesitated, then moved to do so. Admiral Anderson pushed himself back onto his feet and glared daggers at her. For a brief second, Alex thought she was going to have to push him out of the way.

He relented and moved aside, but only after giving her an angry sneer.

Tia called out from the flag bridge, addressing the crew with firm confidence, “You’re free to return to your stations. We need every hand on deck.”

As Alex approached, the bridge crew gave each other apprehensive glances, even as she released them one by one with a touch to the nanite cords. The little machines immediately flew to cling to her hand, and she absorbed them.

The uncertainty in their eyes seemed to echo her own conflicted emotions. Yet, despite any misgivings, all of them knew what was going on. They jumped back to their consoles and begin their traffic coordination duties for the warships surrounding the station once again.

A young crewman spoke up nervously, “Are you sure this is safe? I mean… we can trust each other now?”

Alex offered a reassuring smile, trying to ease his concerns. “Right now, our priority is fixing this mess. We’re all in the same boat. Well, station.”

The man’s frown didn’t disappear, but he nodded. He returned to his console with the others.

Admiral Anderson stood in the center of the room; his face flushed with anger as he clenched his fists at his sides. He locked eyes with Tia for a moment before addressing everyone in a growl-like tone. “This isn’t over.”

Without waiting for any response, he stormed out of the CIC in a furious huff.

The remaining bridge crew watched him leave, but hesitated no further. They began performing various tasks at their stations - scrutinizing readouts, typing commands into interfaces, and organizing flight plans over their voice comms. The chatter of operations returned once more to the command center’s bridge.

As the door closed behind Anderson, Alex returned to Tia with concern etched across her features. “Is it safe? What if they try to attack us?”

Tia’s eyes remained focused on the crew as she replied calmly, “They won’t. We have all the cards.”

Alex frowned, her unease growing. “I don’t like holding everyone’s lives as a threat like that.”

Tia sighed softly, understanding Alex’s concerns but maintaining her conviction. “We don’t have much choice right now.”

[Informative: Cleanup progress has reached 25% completion. No rampant nanites have been detected leaving local area and containment has a high chance of success.]

Alex frowned. “You’re sure?”

[Notice: Resolution of nanites drifting in nearby space is severely limited, however historical analysis shows that it is unlikely any escape from the local area before being contained. The greatest difficulty lies in preventing the spread of rampancy from infected modules to the remaining sections of the station.]

Alex nodded slowly, processing this information as she glanced back at Tia. She couldn’t help but feel uneasy about their current situation—so much hinged on split-second decisions and precise execution.

Tia must have noticed her apprehension because she smiled and gave her a thumb up. “We’ve got this.” A smirk appeared on her face. “Well, maybe we’d be even faster if you stopped hogging all the processing power.”

Alex blinked in confusion. “I thought you had most of it?”

Shaking her head with a smile, Tia explained their current arrangement: “Nameless and I agreed on a computation agreement that dynamically allocates processing power depending on need while maintaining baseline limits that won’t affect our bodies.”

“Haaa…” Alex mumbled, her inner turmoil not calmed by the knowledge that Nameless had been making agreements and doing things with Tia without telling her. It just made her feel more useless.

As they continued discussing system management, requests for assistance began pouring in from fleet captains coordinating cleanup efforts. More ships were arriving by the minute, eager to help save Meltisar from disaster.

With Tia’s unwavering resolve and Alex’s diplomatic efforts, they began working together with various factions to contain the damage and debris. Communication channels buzzed with instructions and updates as ships activated their D-Fields to prevent contamination.

“Captain Matsumoto,” Tia said, addressing a seasoned officer on one of the communication screens. “I need your ship in position to assist with debris removal.”

The aging captain nodded solemnly, understanding the gravity of the situation. “Understood. We’re moving into position now.”

As salvage crews were coordinated for safe wreckage removal, Alex focused on maintaining open lines of communication with the admirals in charge of pockets of ships, directing them into position. Even if she had no idea what she was doing exactly, she had Nameless feeding a quiet stream of explanations and suggestions for what she should say. She felt numb, reading back a script, but it seemed to be helping, so she continued.

“Admiral Patel,” she spoke calmly into the comms system, “how are your engineers handling the containment barrier adjustments?”

Admiral Patel hesitated before responding, his face etched with worry. “We’re experiencing some technical difficulties, but my team is working to sort them out.”

Alex offered a supportive smile. “We have faith in your team’s capabilities.”

Despite lingering doubts among some commanders, their shared commitment to saving Meltisar outweighed any personal misgivings. The fleet continued coordinating efforts under Tia and Alex’s guidance.

Progress towards resolution continued at a steady pace as the ships slowly closed their nets and finished combing the sectors of empty space in search of nanites. As the need for her assistance disappeared, Alex turned her attention to the ongoing rescue mission involving Thea and Rachel, watching closely as their status updates streamed across her console.

A sudden change jolted Alex’s attention—Thea’s military shuttle veered off course. Her brow furrowed, concern gnawing at her as she sprung into action.

Hacking the shuttle’s sensors, she bypassed security in rapid succession. Once inside, her heart raced at the sight of Thea confined in a box, heavily restrained.

Anger flared; it was unbearable to see. No one deserved to be locked in a box. Overcome with urgency, Alex grabbed Tia’s arm, disrupting her focus on another urgent matter.

“Look at this,” she uttered sharply, pointing to the sensor feed directed at Thea’s containment.

Tia glanced at the screen, her expression one of mild concern. “I see it, but we have other pressing issues right now. You take care of it.”

Alex nodded. She swiftly opened a comms channel with the shuttle. Her voice firm and demanding, she ordered them to divert back to MIL-1A’s medical center immediately.

The shuttle crew’s response was unexpected and unwelcome defiance. “We have orders from Admiral Anderson to proceed on our current course,” the pilot stated firmly, leaving no room for negotiation.

Frustration mounting, Alex reached out to Fleet Admiral Wilkes directly. She contacted him quickly and explained Thea’s situation—an NAI who had been converted to their side but remained unconscious due to injuries sustained during the conflict.

Wilkes raised his eyebrows skeptically. “Is this really our priority right now?” he asked with concern over maintaining focus on ongoing operations.

Infuriated by his hesitation—taking a cue from Tia’s assertiveness—Alex issued an ultimatum: “This is not a negotiation. You can’t have her. If that shuttle lands anywhere other than the medical facility at MIL-1A, we’ll assume we’re being betrayed… and we’ll start putting holes in your fleet.”

Fleet Admiral Wilkes was taken aback by the threat, but glanced at Tia for confirmation. Tia simply shrugged and then smirked, adding her own support: “You heard the girl.”

As Alex anxiously waited for confirmation while the FADM contacted the shuttle personally, she clenched her fists, trying to contain her mounting worry. When the vehicle finally reversed course, she felt a surge of relief.

Taking a deep breath, Alex forced herself to refocus on the countless other matters demanding their attention. With steely determination, she turned back to Tia and the bridge crew as they continued working tirelessly to manage the crisis at hand.

As minutes ticked by and tension filled every corner of the room, it gradually became apparent that the imminent danger was passing more quickly than they anticipated. Ships and crews collaborated seamlessly under their watchful guidance: debris around MIL-1A was being moved away with expert precision and efficiency. Each piece was shoved higher into orbit, where it could be safely destroyed without causing further harm.

Alex couldn’t help but note how well everyone worked together. It was what the instructors at boot camp had tried to get instilled into the recruit’s heads, but Alex realized they had a long, long way to go.

Her eyes scanned the bridge: monitors flickered with data while crew members exchanged information and made quick decisions.

Tia and Nameless played a pivotal role in directing the ships, coordinating their movements with precision. Alex remained silent as Nameless and Tia exchanged words periodically. Despite having tried to get Elis to talk to Nameless all the time, now that there was someone that was doing so, Alex felt an odd sort of… jealousy? Nameless had been her secret friend through everything. Sharing him was… strange.

Alex watched as dozens of battleships kilometers-long plowed through space with their energy fields spread out kilometers wide as they slowly crept through space. Smaller ships spread out to stretch their D-fields as wide as possible, functioning as plows to capture anything and everything in to the curved space in front of the battleships.

While monitoring these efforts, Alex couldn’t help but keep a close eye on the progress of Thea's and Rachel’s shuttles. As she observed, she felt a knot forming in her stomach, an amalgamation of concern for her sister and friend and even the Corpo NAI that had done her best to kill her.

As Tia continued to work, the lingering sense of inadequacy she couldn’t seem to shake continued to bite at the back of her mind. Rachel had already arrived at the medical center while Thea’s shuttle was moments away from landing.

Taking a deep breath, Alex decided she needed to go. She turned to Tia. “I’m going to check on my sister and Rachel personally. I need to make sure they’re alright.”

Tia looked at her seriously. “Go ahead,” Tia replied with a nod. “I’ll handle things here.”

Alex left the CIC but continued to grapple with her nagging feelings of inadequacy; despite her best efforts, she couldn’t fully dismiss how effortlessly Tia seemed to perform tasks. She was doing it without the equivalent of Nameless to act as an intermediary filter.

Feeling self-critical yet driven by concern for those dear to her, Alex hurried toward the medical center where they awaited her arrival. Her footsteps echoed through the corridors with determination. She would see to it that they were okay. That was something she could handle and was better suited for. She felt her lack of self-confidence burn away. Everyone had something they were good at. This was hers.

A quick tram trip through the deserted sections of the station brought her to the medical center. Alex took a moment to catch her breath, her chest tightening with anticipation. Her voice wavered slightly, “Nameless, can you please tell me where Elis and Rachel are and if Thea arrived?”

The seconds ticked by with agonizing slowness before Alex checked her datapad and found Rachel’s room listing on her own. She started that way when a crack in her ear stopped her.

Tia’s sharp voice cracked at her with annoyance. “Alex! Your processing usage spiked again! We nearly lost some ships because I couldn’t keep up!”

Alex’s brow furrowed in confusion. She called out to Nameless again with an edge of impatience in her voice. “Nameless? Are you there?”

[Notice: This unit apologizes for the delay. A critical function was being performed.]

Alex felt taken aback. She couldn’t remember Nameless ever apologizing to her… for anything.

“What is going on?” she asked as worry gnawed at her.

[Informative: Crewmember Elis is no longer on the station.]

Alex’s heart seemed to stop for a moment before pounding painfully in her chest. “What do you mean?”

[Informative: This unit discovered that Crewmember Elis was not located in the medical facility upon arrival. A thorough security sweep found no evidence of her on the station. A full review of relevant security logs has revealed that she has been kidnapped and removed from the station.]

A cold fury began building within Alex as she pieced together what Nameless was saying. “And where is that shuttle now? Where are they taking my sister?”

[Notice: The shuttle was tracked landing on a Corporate Systems diplomatic cutter. It is currently hard burning toward the jump point. Has already left the defense net’s laser range.]

Alex’s emotions surged like a maelstrom within her, a mixture of livid anger and sheer terror. Desperate for immediate action, she shoved herself into a virtual space with Tia—an impossible feat that left even Tia stunned for a moment as they fell into a whirling, reflective sphere.

Tia collected herself and snapped back, “Oh great, just take 100% and stall everything, why don’t you? Great time for—”

Alex didn’t let her finish. She grasped Tia’s shoulders, her eyes wild with desperation. “They took Elis! They got my sister on a cutter! It’s hard burning out of here! It’s already out of laser range!”

Tia’s surprise quickly shifted to concern as she placed her hands on Alex’s trembling arms, attempting to calm her down. “Okay, Alex. Let us out of here and I’ll start on it. There are probably a dozen cruisers smashing into each other in the next few seconds, if you don’t.”

Alex released their virtual connection, allowing the world around them to stabilize once more. Tia’s voice promptly entered her ear comm with crisp urgency: “Head for ship bay 4; there are some fast cruisers in drydock, but they are still good to go.”

Her heart pounding relentlessly in her chest, Alex sprinted through the corridors toward ship bay 4. Determination coursed through every fiber of her being. She would save her sister, no matter the cost.

As she ran, the metallic walls around her seemed to stretch endlessly while fluorescent lights flickered overhead, each step bringing her closer to salvation or disaster. The sound of her boots hitting the floor echoed through the empty halls like thunderclaps heralding an impending storm.

One clear thought cut through the turmoil: Nothing would stand between her and rescuing Elis from those who dared to take her away.