Unipsi, lovely entity

chapter 28: prey

The next day Idra behaved as if nothing happened. She woke up as if she was in her bed, used the toilet and got ready for her strategic meeting. As the first one, this new almost mid journey meeting was held only for the higher officials. Scilla, Morea, Castro and 3 more ship official were waiting for Idra to explain what they were going to find.

“as I said previously we are heading toward Shimuya 3°-2°. Unfortunately for you I’m looking for a Morfian ruin so it’s going to be way harder. For context the ruin of our first contact belong to the Valurk. I’m no expert on Valurk tech but, in comparison, I know quite a lot about Morfian due to their massive presence in Esterian space. Morfian were more advanced than Valurk and filled our space with ancient ruins used for unknown purposes. Morfian are usually green coloured, not exactly tall but not a midget neither. But we don’t really care. What we care for is their technology…”

“my apology but why don’t we care about them?” asked Castro.

“always speaking aren’t you? They are extinct so why should we care. There is no real point in gaining information on their physical form, society and so on. All we need is tech to have something to reverse engineer. Understood?”

“well I…”

“shut your mouth”

“yes”

“so, Morfian technology is not really accessible. Most military tech is blocked under bio-scanner built in the weapons so don’t touch them. So called virgin or pure weapons are a rarity and must be approached wisely. But those guns won’t be our bigger problem. Morfian ruins are usually protected by ancient sentient machines and those can pose a real threat. Smart and really fast at re-elaborating new strategy and adapting to us. We will hit hard and fast. Shimuya 3°-2° should only have a centralised AI. So we rush to it and put an end to it’s life.”

“wait you are telling us that we are going to fight machines and that they are alive?” asked Morea.

“yeah. What’s so strange about it? Did you think we were going to fight against Morfian and steal their tech?”

“no, but living machines… living… machines”

“I don’t get it.”

Scilla intruded

“she is asking if machines can be alive to begin with. Even the best AI has no humanity, they just mimic their creators but never create.”

“well maybe you have to update your definition. Machines can’t be alive as organic matter is but confined to their own world they can live. The only purpose of life is reproduction. All the other shit is just a derivative of the intellect. There is no greater meaning, just parasites of flesh consuming and repeating. Exactly as bacteria do, complex life just wants to keep on living. Machines are not different. Once you get too far they start feeling the same, they want to make more of themselves. Isn’t this life?”

“well it’s a bit re(reductive)…” started replying Morea but she was cut short.

“it was a rhetorical question. Machine consciousness is not related to a body, I can say more about AI civilizations but fortunately for us we should only face one AI this time. It will control several bodies with different shapes. Just shoot at everybody and don’t get hit. I don’t believe they will have energy weapons but even their standard electromagnetic ones can shred you apart.”

“any way to defend against such weapons?” asked Scilla.

“power armour helps and I will provide my scan of the surrounding. To do so I will upgrade Commander Lis with one of my helmet and an adapter. I will share my information with Lis and then she will decide how to move you all around. Got it?”

“why not upgrade all of us?”asked Castro.

“because I don’t have that many spare armour and as you can imagine, silly boy, I don’t trust you enough to give you one of my armament that could easily kill you.”

their conversation dragged on but most of it was fairly useless. Idra had her plan and all the Sheridan crew was there only as a small tool, an addition to speed up the process. Nothing more.

Few days later inside the NDU armoury Scilla, in her power suit, was stepping on the same pedestal that Idra uses to change her suit. The machine was mainly for configuration while Idra was going to do most of the job herself.

“So this will be your new face for a bit”

Idra was holding a black helmet. Its pointy shapes and the total absence of visible sensors or fissures for the eyes sent off an ominous vibe.

“don’t worry Scilla, it will be fine. Now big girl bow your head cause I can’t reach you up there”

Scilla oblige and soon she found herself in total darkness. The helmet was comfortable, more than hers, but at the same time the lack of feedback was definitely strange.

“so give me a second… and voilà the power should be on. Do you see something?”

In the left upper corner a series of phrases appears. Code line of some kind but unreadable for Scilla.

“yes… it seems like a BIOS boot. Is it normal?”

“yep, it’s scanning your suit to adapt as far as it could…. now It should display in unified language.”

--new host detected--

--suit model not recognized--

--optimization low--

--system start--

Immediately after the front part transformed into a screen. It was perfectly reproducing the outside. Maybe it wasn’t even a screen. It felt as if there was just a piece of glass between her and the outside.

“I can see… this is amazing… it’s so clean. No real imperfection, no aliasing. I’m definitely envious.”

“too bad but I can’t let you have it. Now follow the calibration instruction. The machine will guide you.”

--execute suit visual check--

Scilla looked around her suit until the machine was satisfied.

--suit mapping completed--

A series of information stared appearing on the HUD. First her armour conditions piece by piece, all at 100% for now. Then on the left a series of empty bars appeared.

“Idra what are those empty bars?”

“nothing really important. It will fill in with data, like resistance to shit, armour coefficient and so on. Your suit isn’t compatible so you will have none of those working. However let me give you a gun. This should work.”

Idra gave Scilla a “normal” Esterian pistol. Once the helmet saw it a counter appeared on the right.

“whoa, that’s a real time ammo count like a video game”

“cool right? It’s adaptive to the gun you are using. Now I should be also appearing on the upper left as 511”

“I see it. So it’s an integrated comm system”

“exactly. Now let me test if the shared transmission works”

Idra pushed something on her suit arm until a scan was sent out. Scilla revived all the data and her hud started showing object of interest beyond walls, highlighting things such as Idra herself, the door commands etcetera.

“now the finishing touch, while I take what we need look around a bit to get familiar with it. Zoom on things and so on”

Then Idra turned her back to Scilla and bended over a massive crate to search for something. As aspected Scilla couldn't resist such view and her “zoom test” was directed on Idra’s butt. She couldn’t be happier but…

“Scilla… you know that I can see your video feed right?”

She immediately looked somewhere else.

Oh fuck, oh shit, oh fuck. Not good. What do I say…

“even if you stare at my insignias I can’t give them to you. But I will mark your suit”

Wait what? She thought I was staring at that dangling piece of clothing, not at her butt behind it. Nah that it’s impossible…. But if she thought I was staring at her ass she would have gotten embarrassed or angry… I guess I’m saved.

“uff… I like them. They are cool. Moving around and all”

“I know. They also help with the camouflage. Finally! I found what I wanted.”

Idra pulled herself out off the box, in her hands a strange high-tech paint spray. She moved closer to Scilla and sprayed the suit.

“wait what are you doing?”

“marking you. Don’t worry this is only visible for other Esterian systems. You know just in case a different scavengers saw you. This way they won’t attack you on sight.”

“thanks”

“no problem. Now give me back my helmet. You will have other moments to test it.

More time passes and the night before arriving at destination Scilla had a new dream. Even before seeing anything she felt cold. Extremely cold, way below 0°C. She was in the swamp, no civilization around her, just trees and water barely below her knees. It was winter and it was snowing heavily. The wind blowing furiously, it felt like a cry, a desperate cry from the planet itself.

“what the fuck is this time…”

Her thinking was interrupted by the sound of a heavy shot, probably a sniper rifle, coming from above her. On the top of the tree she was standing by, she spotted Idra. She was in a similar sitting position as the one she showed on Icar 3°.

So that’s why she shot while sit. She is a tree hunter.

Without losing time Idra dropped down in the water and started rushing toward her prey. At the hunt scene Idra was staring at a massive beast. The same kind of the one that she saw drowning in her previous dream. It was in agony but still alive. Idra stare at it as the creature blood flow out of it’s body and dispersed in the swamps water. Now it was even colder, so cold that her dream broke apart.

That felt definitely different. The alien creature was not there this time neither. Why? What was it’s purpose? Tell me that she can hunt?

The time had come. 30 minutes until the end of the last space jump. Scilla and her crew were all ready in their combat position while Idra was taking her time getting into her ship. At some point on the screen of the main deck a square appeared. It was focused on an empty pilot seat inside a tiny and claustrophobic cockpit. In the upper middle of the seat there was an open cable that was coming from the ceiling. Then Idra appeared. She quickly sat in and connected her suit to the cable.

“Sheridan, how much time is left?”

“23 minutes” replied Scilla.

“good”

then Idra’s helmet mouth zone opened up as a complementary part emerged from behind the camera view. It was an oxygen mask, sort of. It connected to Idra’s helmet sealing itself. Now Idra’s voice was slower, calmer and colder.

“remember the plan. Move to defined coordinates and wait. Once the destroyer is onto you fake a malfunction for about 1 minute. Then I will rain hell upon them.”

“don’t worry I remember the plan. Are you sure you…”

“there will be no problems. Just don’t get in the way. For all the stealth duration there will be no direct audio/video feedback”

Inside the NDU cockpit the light went of leaving Idra in total darkness. It was surreal and frightening. Minutes passed and as soon as the jump ended Idra took off.

“NDU 511 going dark” as she said so Idra’s ship disappeared from all cameras and electronic systems.

“good luck” whispered Scilla from her commander position.

“Sheridan move to coordinates. Full power. Weapon team stay vigilant, just in case”

10 minutes of travel and other 20 before the Xoraxtas destroyer appeared and their communication reached the Sheridan.

-“X.F.R (Xoraxta’s free republics) Toguxra to unknown vessel, you are trespassing. Provide identification.-

“do you recognize that ship?” asked Commander Yurai.

“no Sir. We are looking for a match in our database but nothing for now.”

“shit. It is facing us so it’s probably coming from the ex Droxi space. Its shape is unusual. Vice Kuxor how much do you bet that it’s a bunch of stupid scavengers running away from a Lean extermination patrol.”

“50 UC that they are humans doing stupid humans things”

“count me in. So still no match?”

“nope… wait a reply… it’s all fucked up. I suppose their comm system got shot”

-”XFR Toguxra to unknown vessel. We are going to approach you and get on board. Do not resist”-

“fucking humans. Too stupid to do anything.”

“what a pain in the ass” conclude Commander Yurai. But then the 60 seconds were over.

A loud boom echoed through the ship, alarms started ringing immediately. Panic shouts and confusion spread like wild fire.

“WE ARE HIT!. WE ARE HIT COMMANDER!”

“what the fuck was that. Was it the ship?”

“NO! It’s... above us!”

Their sensor moved toward a massive electromagnetic trace and now they were pointing at the NDU. Along the U branches there were 4 massive rail-gun, 2 on top and 2 on the bottom of the ship.

“fuck the big ship was a decoy. Return fire, redirect power to all weapon counter system. Cut out energy from everything that is not needed. Those were rail-guns right? What did they hit?”

“we have 4 breaches in the left side hull”

a second power surge light up all their sensors and soon after a second volley of bullet hit the ship. The counter systems filled the space with bullets, but it was useless. Idra’s volley was just too fast to be intercepted.

“It pierced all our hulls commander! Auxiliary left generator is loosing power”

“how the fuck can it shoot so fast. Launch our missiles. Thrusters full power we are retreating, there is no possibility of winning. We must reach enough speed for an emergency jump. All energy that is not used must be put into electronic defence system. They will shoot their missiles soon.”

But no missiles ever come from Idra. She had no reason to shoot them. Her rail-guns could shot so fast that keeping track of a moving enemy and hitting it was not a big issue even in space. The destroyer sent out all it’s missiles. Some of them were nuclear warhead.

“I bet you won’t like those, fucker!” exulted Yurai.

On the NDU, Idra was almost sleeping. Everything was going as she predicted and now the battle was almost over.

--missiles incoming--

--Hipera systems online--

If the Toguxra lit up the surrounding space, the NDU was a small star of bullet. A series of small turrets emerged from the side and started firing so fast that neither the Toguxra nor the Sheridan sensors could keep up with the shot bullets. The Sheridan crew look astonished and afraid at the battle. A ship as big as a bomber was taking down a 400 meter ship armed with way more than just cannons and counter systems. Sure Xoraxtas ship were never the best, but that was a one side battle.

--nuclear missiles detected--

--ECM activated--

--10 nuclear warhead acquired--

--redirecting missiles--

“what the fuck is that! Our missiles are coming back commander”

“WHAT! Shoot them down immediately”

In their counter measure confusion, a third volley of bullets struck the ship again. This time it was right above the command position.

--loading deep breach charges--

--loading completed--

--firing--

--target hit--

Then the forth volley hit, the same position as before. Toguxra speed had almost reached the minimum for a jump, they could see their success, but Idra was only toying with them. A series of explosion destroyed entirely the left generator and damaged the central one along side the gravity generator. They destroyed all their own missiles but at what price. Now they needed even more time for a jump. It was clear that there was no room for winning. And so they surrendered. And SOS message started spreading in the space, reaching both the NDU and the Sheridan.

There are few planetary shared law among nations but one of them, respected even by most pirates, is the SOS surrender signal. An SOS during combat means a surrendering and a need to stop the hostilities. The loser will become a prisoner and so on. As strange as it could sound there was not a real reason to kill the enemy crew. A Ship crew alone is nothing, what matters is the ship itself. Destroying a 100 millions or more ship, or capturing it for parts is what people are really after. All expect Idra. For unknown reason Esterian do not follow any shared rule, and this was no exception.

The NDU moved in and attached itself to the Xoraxtas Ship. It then started pulling the ship toward a gas giant nearby.

“Idra, what are you doing?”

“removing any proof of your presence”

“how does pulling a broken ship around will help us? Are you not going in to remove the recordings?”

“no need for that. Just toss them into a planet so big that will crush them and it’s done”

“Idra you don’t have to do that… we can find a…”

“Remember. Don’t get in the way”

“Fuck. Morea can’t we stop her?”

“they are too far. If we move now we will get caught in the planet gravity and will face the same end… I’m sorry commander…”

Scilla could only sigh at such atrocity. She was not the only one that had a problem with killing “innocents” even if enemy they still believe in honour in battle.