The conclusion of a three-chapter arc that was supposed to be one chapter. No, I don’t know how that happened either. Words just appeared. I was a helpless bystander during the entire process.
Be that as it may, in this chapter, the Calnian garrison are making their last stand with Red taking fire to give them the chance they need to kill the escaping hive ship. Red’s not used to having anyone to rely on, and the last person she trusted betrayed her. The Calnians have their faults. They are proud, even arrogant and they want so badly to be better than what they fear they are that they go to dangerous lengths to prove themselves, but there is still much of them that reminds our AI of humanity and what it used to be.
Maybe out of all the species she’s encountered and all the potential allies that failed to be, the Calnians will be the ones that become her first true friends.
For an example of how much both Red One and the Calnians are putting into this possible alliance, check out the snippet below. For the full chapter, check out the link above and enjoy!
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“Nanil,” Red One called, sounding as close to fear as the young woman had ever heard her, the hive’s prow swinging inexorably towards her, its energy signature spiking beyond orange on Intent’s readouts. The hive vessel was slewing up and to port to face Retribution as the weapon-ship blew past it, both vessels continuing to trade fire. Retribution’s shields flickered like a dying light panel as the hive’s batteries cut through them with nearly every shot it made, but despite the terrible damage they were inflicting, they couldn’t cut as deeply as they could on the Hegemony’s interstellar units. The synth had been right. She could take it. She had taken it, and given Nanil this chance.
Nanil didn’t hesitate. They had their target. “Squadron,” she ordered. “Strike.”
Even preoccupied by Implacable Agent of Retribution, the sleeper hive had attention – and weapons – to spare. The instant Nanil’s squadron appeared, the Meer-Ulson vessel opened fire. Her squadron had tried to screen the shieldless Assured and Disciplined Response, but they had to open their ranks to put all their core release cannon on the target. Hierarch Aesm-Tren had known his unit would never survive, but he would have been dead without the squadron’s support.
“If we’re with you, that’s one more target they’ll have to deal with. We can draw a few hits away from the rest of the squadron,” he’d said, confident and steady in tone as he laid out the circumstances of his death. FAD through and through, Aesm-Tren and Assured and Disciplined Response never wavered, not even when the hive loomed before them.
His vessel flashed into vapour as weapons meant to kill units much larger than a mere border sentinel broke through Response’s ECM. Another beam punched through Condemnation of Acrimony’s forward shields, ripping straight through the vessel from prow to keel. Half its crew died in that instant, but the border sentinel held course. Disallowance of Importunate Methods lost its primary hangar to one strike and its bridge and senior staff to the next, but its synth took command for the vital moments that the sentinel needed.
Aboard Nanil’s own vessel, warnings screamed as Intent’s shields were breached again and its keel was torn open again and her crew died again. Even with the guns Red One had left it, the hive vessel had more than enough firepower to destroy her command in the next few seconds.
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