Lowering the Hammer Snippet 3

 

 

Tortuga, Omicron sector

 

Thebeing known as the Wraith Queen reached out through her communication centersin the vast ship and tested them. She worked out new protocols to control theships around her. But she knew she was lacking in abilities. She resentedhaving to rely on the alliance. It ran against her core programming in some ways.Not all ways thankfully, as her organic partner had pointed out; their creatorshad left room for them to use and exploit other beings in accordance withcompleting their mission.

Shewas still looking forward to the day that she could renounce the partnership infire and end the Necrons once and for all.

Untilthen she had to rely on them to fill the gaps in her abilities.

Atleast, for the time being.

<<V>>

Edessa

 

Oneof the cruisers dispatched south to hold the border to Pi sector returned to thenearest ansible location with news that two ships had been stopped but oneother had been spotted but was now missing. The leadership of the Necrons wasconcerned. They passed the news on to their partners in Tortuga as they wentover the data.

<<V>>

Tortuga

 

HazelIrons was not surprised that her Queen reacted badly to the news when it camein through the ansible. The AI was not happy at all with the events and seethedabout it. Hazel did her best to try to soothe her.

Shewas one of the oldest clone changelings in existence. Her line had been soreliable; it had been used until it had become too recognizable by the enemy.In fact, to date they had not found any other changelings.

Byluck or circumstance, the changeling and her AI partner had been dumped into astasis pod and left adrift in Pi sector. They had been found and salvaged bypirates who had been fleeing the growing Federation presence in the area. Theduo had accidentally been awoken, and they had decided to first take over the shipand then move on from there.

Itwas an interesting partnership. Hazel had no illusions as to who was thedominant of them. She was a kingmaker, the power behind the throne, the voiceof sweet reason and the spark of creativity that her partner lacked.

Shealso knew she was ultimately disposable. She believed she was still of use forher partner and the cause though, so she did her best to remain useful.

Herpartner had grown to the point where she had been forced out and into a newbody in the form of the massive flagship under construction. However delays hadkept the ship in dock and hampered by problems that plagued their ability tofully function as planned for some time. It did not help the AI’s mood at all.

“Ifthe ship did escape, and we don’t know if it did, it would have to survive thejump back to Pi sector, which is over a year. It has an unknown amount ofsupplies available and fuel,” Hazel mused.

“Isee what you are doing. You are trying to convince me that the risk of exposureis small. Small enough to be ignored,” the Wraith seethed.

“No,I am working the problem by defining the variables in it,” her clone partnerexplained gently. It hurt to argue with her partner. They were made to worktogether after all. They were an incredible team, just look at what they hadachieved so far! Other changelings would have doggedly stuck to their missionor given up! They had instead taken over a ship and then others and then forgedan unlikely alliance with Necrons to take over the sector!

Theystill had some work to do but their progress was breathtaking. And it washappening faster than either of them expected. Well, faster than she hadexpected.

“Icannot in good conscience state that the risk is negligible given that themissing ship is a Federation ship,” Hazel said slowly.

“And?”

“Ibelieve that means we have to generate some plans and modify existing ones,”the clone stated slowly.

“Suchas?” the Wraith prompted. Her clone and former host was the spark of ingenuityin their partnership. She was cunning and clever to a degree, but the human wasthe true mastermind of some of their achievements.

“Twopaths are obvious to me,” the clone said as she came up with the plan. “First,we send a task force to defend the jump line in Pi with an ansible link to keepus alerted to any further events there.”

“Abit late,” the Wraith said scathingly.

“Onlyin attempting to stop the single ship. There may be others,” her human partnerwarned.

“Agreed,”the AI hissed.

“Andthere may be new traffic coming from Pi. In fact, that is inevitable given howthe Federation is expanding. Eventually they will send ships, if only to findout what happened to the first explorers they sent.”

“Agreed,”the AI stated. “What else?”

“Isuggest we send a small task force, possibly just a couple of cruisers to Pi torun the fleeing ship down. If they can get ahead of the ship, they can lay inwait and ambush the ship and thus prevent it from reporting back. At the least,they could report on events in Pi sector and possibly even interdict shippingin that sector before it even comes to us.”

TheWraith queen took some time to respond. Hazel glanced around and then checkedthe status board of the star system in a bid to keep busy.

“Youwould want to send an ansible there too I suppose?” the AI finally asked afterrunning a number of simulations. “The risk of exposure is high.”

“Itis if they enter a star system. If they remain outside it as observers, it isless of a risk. If they engage, yes, the risks grow.”

“Especiallyif the ship escapes them further.”

“Correct.But if we do nothing, that risk is there anyway. Attempting to stop them maycorrect the problem.”

“Ormake it worse,” the Wraith replied. “But I see your point.” The AI paused. “Iwill give the order.”

“Good.”

<<V>>