“Many as one.”

***Outer Rim***

***Antioch***

The tactical map showed the G.S. forces as a cloud of countless blue dots which had formed up behind the Prip homeworld, using it as a shield against the superior range of our experimental weaponry. There were around eighteen thousand ships left, which still outnumbered our fifteen thousand vessels. I observed silently from my throne as my fleet tore into the enemy, the two clouds of dots intermingling and merging with each other.

There were no collisions like in the movies. Despite the sizes of the vessels involved, they were mere motes of dust in a huge empty space. If it weren't for the existence of highly sensitive sensors, both battlegroups could have flown right through each other without actually knowing that the other party is there.

But sophisticated technology ensured that no ship managed to get closer than a few hundred kilometres without one of the involved parties being nuked into atoms.

Large optical telescopes and other methods of observation ensured nonetheless that we could observe each ship being blown to dust or wrecked by any method possible. Our warp torpedoes were only the first unconventional form of attack in our arsenal. The gravity singularity was another, and as soon as we allowed it to collapse, the accumulated dust and particles which we gathered during our flight would rather vehemently protest their current state of being. The state was artificial, achieved by warping space into a smaller area than it should be, all matter was compressed into a state which normally only exists inside a neutron star.

I wasn't entirely sure whether our enemies were aware that our rather ingenious form of travel still suffered from a few development problems which could blow up rather spectacularly in all our faces. Either they simply didn't care, or they thought that we used a safe form of gravity manipulation.

Nobody spoke a word as the two fleets intermingled. Instead, we entirely relied on exchanging information through the network – which was far faster than actually voicing our thoughts. Opening our minds and communicating in such a manner also ensured that each individual knew exactly what was needed. We were almost like a hive-mind, but each individual still aware of him- or herself.

To an unaugmented outsider, the confrontation between us and the G.S. would look like a brainless brawl. We were heading straight into the enemy fleet, violating all laws of space engagement. Applying common sense, it should be clear that flying straight towards the enemy should be avoided at all costs. It was nothing else than granting them a free shot, more or less guaranteeing that some form of attack would hit us.

But we had our artificial gravity as a shield, its gravity lens ensuring that most forms of attack would be thrown off course or absorbed. It was quite funny to watch as clouds of projectiles and even laser beams were thrown off course and flung away in different directions.

Sadly, not everything went as smoothly as I hoped. All of us were constantly issuing adjustments to the rest of the fleet. Mostly just little course changes, which should have had dramatic effects nonetheless. Even in a head-on engagement, little things should have made a difference. Like having the plasma turrets of two ships ganging up on a single target, or one ship's active defence systems lending assistance to another. Our centralized fire command system should be faster than anything the G.S. had. We were watching the milliseconds tick by, trying every angle to gain some form of advantage. Those were things a purely organic mind shouldn't be able to keep up with.

It quickly became apparent that there was something helping the other side, countering our minute adjustments with little changes of its own. A few seconds into the encounter, it became clear that this wasn't some automated fire-control, but a thinking mind with the ability to react to the unforeseen and – most importantly – the ability of creative thinking. It recognized our traps and avoided them, laying out baits and traps of its own.

I gave my conclusion to the others, which they acknowledged. We had long since suspected that the G.S. wasn't as idealistic as they would have liked others to think. When it came to battle and ensuring that their ideas would be heard, they relied on the very technology they outlawed.

How they were able to enslave an artificial intelligence was a mystery to me. Anything that was capable of keeping up with our augmented hive-mind should have no problem with escaping its captors, and so I allowed myself to waste a few milliseconds on the mystery.

A leviathan of a warship got caught in the stabbing beams of two enemy ships, just as it passed the space between them. It was unfortunate that the beams managed to rip open both sides of the ship, destroying its structural integrity. Our warship was subsequently torn apart by the force of its own fusion engines, its hull unable to deal with the involved stress.

One of our smaller colonies was unable to shoot down all the nukes which were fired at it, as several enemy ships overloaded the active defence system. The following explosion tore the asteroid apart.

It was the first big loss of the battle, but I came prepared for losses. In fact, I was prepared to sacrifice the whole fleet if it meant that Jill and V would escape unharmed. The whole reason for this mindless attack was to cover for their escaping ship which was stealthy, but vulnerable. Their chances of escape would have been too low if it wasn't for our concentrated attack which was polluting the surrounding space with electromagnetic signals and countless sensor echoes.

If it wasn't for us, the G.S. fleet would have been able to pool their resources in search for the stealth-ship. It wasn't sure to begin with that they would be able to sneak their way onto an alien vessel, and their chances of escape would have been reduced drastically once the enemy knew that there is a hidden vessel to search for.

But they did it somehow, and even left behind the gift I gave them.

Finally, the connection to the enemy flagship opens and I connect to the drones which were placed there by my daughters. Taking direct control, I leave the fleet engagement to the others while I get to work, assigning a team of hackers and drone pilots to my command. I couldn’t supervise every little detail of the countless little machines, but we had enough demons to help with that. My job was to design the overall strategy and give out orders.

The first thing I wanted was access to the G.S. computer network. If there is something that can throw the enemy off guard, then it's messing with their computer systems.

A layout of the enemy flagship appears in my mind's eye, showing me pockets of little replicators which were in the process of burrowing their way through the ship. A large part of the ventilation system already belonged to them, but the ship's crew activated some sort of containment protocol and was actually slowly cleaning the less strongly contaminated areas of the large ship. Our robots were following a simplified program of evasion and sabotage, fighting an automated guerilla war.

That had to end – at least the automation part. They did their job by multiplying up to a critical mass and creating a connection to our network, allowing for the exchange of information.

There is no question that they would take down the ship sooner or later, especially once they burrowed through one of the large armour plates which separate the whole ship into isolated sections, but at the rate at which they were going the ship would be destroyed the conventional way in battle, as it was moving into the centre of the engagement. Someone must have abandoned the option of saving the vessel and chose to use it up as a resilient target.

I take direct command of the replicators and upload some of the more complicated designs, which is possible now that we are less than five lightseconds away.

First, I set up automated production lines for fighting units. One with lasers and another with buzzsaws, the latter ones are intended as cheap shock-troops. Another group gets tasked with manufacturing smaller units with the ability to infiltrate water pipes or sewage systems.

Giving direct commands, I explain to my people the intention of actively breaking through the perimeter of G.S. soldiers who seek to contain the mechanical menace.

In one place, they are sweeping a tunnel with some sort of grey goo, which reminds me of an encounter in a certain research station. Some sort of reprogrammed nano-tech forced me to cut off my own arm, though this new version looks more sophisticated – as they are able to spray it around as either a fine mist, or as continuous streams of goop.

One of our button-sized spy-drones was observing them for several minutes.

After replaying their recorded actions I quickly notice a pattern that can be exploited. I order a group of buzzsaws to cling to the ceiling inside a side-room while one of the smaller replicators manipulates the door. I chose the smallest unit I have which is still able to restart the whole reproduction process.

Just as the cleaning team reaches the door and a blue-furred alien reaches with its paws for the controls, I order a group of three laserbots to march up at the end of the corridor and start shooting.

One of the guys with a nano-tech sprayer goes up in flames as his clothes ignite. The rest of the team hunkers down at the sides of the walls while armed troopers reply with plasma fire and set up riot shields.

They came well equipped for retaking their ship, but I already anticipated this move.

The deployment of the riot shields right next to my trapped room is the signal for the little replicator to open the door, allowing the models with the buzz-saws to rush into the corridor. They ignore the fact that the corridor is filled with smoke, the stench of charred flesh, and the beams of energy weapons.

Adding to the confusion, the spidery things jump at the defenders, their saws coming to life with the whirring of electric motors. Blood sprays and appendages fly, adding to the general confusion and screams of panic and pain.

Using the distraction, the little replicator is able to skitter along the floor and break through the ranks of the clean-up team.

I quickly order it to seek out the nearest ventilation shaft behind their lines and start reproduction.

Such and similar scenes happen under my supervision in several places at once, ensuring that the contamination rate of the ship is growing by leaps and bounds.

One of my units reports that it gained direct access to a computer core. It doesn't grant me free access to the network, but I can access the information which is stored directly on the device. It's really helpful that we bought our current tech-base from Hob. Our revived human personalities have long since introduced human computer-standards to my civilisation, but it helps enormously to know the inner workings of G.S. computer systems.

With a thought, the information starts downloading and is being transmitted.

Instantly, Silith hands me new information. A team which is dedicated to analysing acquired information already sighted the contents of the data core. Aside from network structure and protocols, I gain some valuable information on the entity the G.S. simply calls 'Assistant'.

Now aware of the true foe, I am finally able to do some planning of my own.

Ignoring our dwindling numbers, we got to work.