USD: 1 Day after Cadre-S Graduation

Location: Van Biesbroeck’s star, Meltisar, MIL-1A Elevator, Main Transit Hub 36

Both yellow and black had resorted to utilizing the high-powered long-range projectiles to devastating effect on the environs. When there was a lull in the fighting as the yellow created distance between them, Alex caught a good look at the woman’s face.

The outfit was completely different, not that the hologram inside the smuggling compartment had been in full color, but Alex recognized the face.

She grabbed Tia’s shoulder to get the other girl’s attention. “I know who that is. She was the border guard NAI at 63 Hydrae.”

Tia’s eyebrows furrowed. “What is a high level Corpo NAI doing here?” Turning back toward the fighting, Tia rested a hand on the column. The other girl’s cadet uniform resembled melting latex before congealing into a tight fighting skinsuit that would have been fit for a pinup in Alex’s apartment.

“Doesn’t matter. I’m going to go join the fight. You need to get Rachel to one of the bunkers. If things get worse, they’ll probably eject them into a safe orbit.”

Alex frowned. “I can help fight, too. I’m not useless.”

Tia turned to look stare at her, “I know you aren’t, but one of us needs to get Rachel to safety or she is going to die. This is going to probably be a battle of attrition, even as violent as it is. Once you get her somewhere, we’ll need to work together.”

Tia turned to nod toward the black expanding tendrils on the station. “Worst-case scenario that grows too much for us to handle with our computronic limits and we have to retreat to the cable to prevent it from going down to the ground while some slow bastard in charge of battleship figures out they need to laze a third of Meltisar’s orbital budget. Preferably while not frying us in the process.”

“But… It’s a space elevator. If you cut it here, the counterweight would be released and the whole thing would crash into the moon. There're billions of people living in the area that it would destroy!” Alex protested.

“Okay. Now who’s being the princess? We don’t have many good options. The entire reason for the way our systems are setup is to prevent gray goo scenarios like this, and some stupid bastards went and made this thing specifically to bypass them.” Tia said.

“She’s right.” Rachel said, finally speaking up. “Actually… just leave me here. You two should figure out how to stop it without considering me.”

Alex did not like that idea at all, and her eyes shifted to the other side of the station. “I spotted the transit hub’s bunker. It’s on the other side of the module. I can take her there, then come back to help.”

Tia nodded. “Don’t take too long. I know I said it will be an attrition fight, but the faster we stop that thing, the better our chances are of stopping the rampant black thing.”

“Wait…” Rachel started to protest, but Alex’s hand slipped into hers.

“Come on!” Alex said, pulling the other girl out from behind the column. The Corpo and black thing were on the other side of the station, so she figured now was the best time to go.

Explosions racked the transit hub, tremors a near constant threat to their balance. They only made it a tenth of the way before Alex was forced to skid to a stop at the top of a set of stairs, with Rachel bumping into her back.

“Why did you stop?” Rachel shouted at her.

“Wasn’t sure you could jump that far.” Alex said.

The last steps had been carved away, and a blue field glittered in front of a view of the moon below. Falling through that would be like plunging into a vacuum. Without a flight suit there wasn’t a good way to get back inside.

“It’s not that far, especially with station grav.” Rachel said, although she didn’t look happy. Alex didn’t blame her.

“Okay. Let’s go.” Alex said. She put her words into action and hurried down the stairs, with Rachel right behind her. Before the last step, she kicked off and landed on the other side with several feet to spare. Turning around, she beckoned for Rachel to jump next.

The other girl didn’t hesitate, but just as she jumped, the station shook heavily from an explosion nearby. Alex’s heart jumped into her throat as she realized Rachel would not clear the jump.

The blue cloud around them shimmered as Alex reached out to grab Rachel. The soles of her boots sunk into the still solid floor, preventing her from being pulled off balance. Her fingers didn’t quite reach the other girl’s outstretched hand, and a snapshot of the other girl’s terrified expression was drilled into Alex’s mind.

Blue filaments flowed off of Alex’s skin into a rope and Rachel caught it just in time for Alex to yank her forward to catch her in an arm.

Rachel’s face being so close to hers made her cheeks heat, but it was not the time for thinking about anything other than getting to the emergency bunker. Alex released her the second she was sure she had her balance and wouldn’t fall into the I-field covered hole.

Getting her breath back, Rachel looked at her pointedly. “Why didn’t you just cover the hole up if you can make things like that?”

“Good point. To be honest, I’ve only used my active abilities once during a boarding action, and that was even more hectic!”

“You were in a boarding action?”

“Yeah, when my corvette got destroyed.”

“You had a corvette?”

The confusion was written all over Rachel’s face, but a sudden shake had Alex dropping the questions and taking Rachel’s hand once again. As they reached the top of a flight of stairs leading out of the tunnel under the rail groove, Alex poked her head out of the depression to look for the fighting.

Three nanite swarms were colliding in a frenzy of blue, yellow, and black, so Alex assumed Tia had joined the fray. If anything, the combat had become even more violent as projectiles flashed through the area, doing even more damage to the station.

Smoke was quickly filling up the area completely, making it harder to see all the way across the transit hub, and she was worried that the longer it took them to get to the other side, the harder it was going to be.

“We need to speed this up.” Alex murmured.

[Informative: Utilizing historical visual records, a best estimate path has been created.]

A glowing blue node appeared on her HUD, complete with a solid line with arrows helpfully pointing to the next one.

“Thanks, Nameless!” Alex said before looking back at Rachel. “We need to hurry.”

Rachel nodded, emotion disappearing from her face.

As soon as they crested the top of the stairs, multiple shards of metal were flung their way from spalling shrapnel. Alex’s cloud of nanites caught them and repurposed them as they came.

Alex realized it wasn’t even directed fire, but the side effect from the combat between the three fighters who didn’t even notice them.

They sprinted through the station, Alex following the waypoints Nameless put up for her that zigged and zagged through rents and tears in the module. The further they got, the worse the condition of the station seemed to get.

In the smoke, Alex caught sight of Tia with her own arm converted into one of the NAI type sword blades while dissolving parts of the environment to use as directed projectiles. The Black NAI was still bulling forward, although its form had degraded into a large, only vaguely human shaped form with multiple tendrils flowing from it that ended in different melee weapons.

The projectiles that hit the black thing didn’t seem effective, and while the addition of Tia to the fight had seemed to take off some of the pressure from the Corpo NAI, the black thing was still heavily fixated on the woman.

A line of blue needles flashed toward them as the rampant NAI moved out of the way and Alex didn’t realize the danger until they were passing through her field without being absorbed. None of them hit her, but Rachel’s hand tugged out of hers as the other girl staggered.

“Are you okay?” Alex shouted, taking back Rachel’s hand and pulling her behind a support column.

“Y..yeah.” Rachel stammered, but she slid down the side of the column to sit down as soon as they reached it with her hand holding her side.

Alex immediately saw the problem and her heart sank. Four long needles were half sticking out, running down from her shoulder to hip. The blue nanites that had stabbed into her were slowly dissolving into the air.

Rachel’s face paled immediately, and her breathing turned ragged. Alex couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked like one had gone right into a lung.

“Nameless! Help! First-aid!”

[Informative: Sub-core Celestia has released nanites to my authority and sends apologies. I have initiated repair sub-routines on Cadet Rachel’s injuries.]

Alex watched as the dissolving nanites on her side reversed course and immediately staunched the blood loss. Rachel suddenly gasped and then coughed up a large amount of blood tinged with nanites that splattered her uniform, but color returned to her face almost immediately.

[Notice: Emergency repair to multiple arteries and the resolution of a pneumothorax has been conducted, however, ongoing tissue repair will require extended duration.]

[Recommendation: Continue rescue procedure.]

Rachel reached up and pushed at Alex. “You should go help Tia. Leave me here. I’ll try to get out on my own.”

Alex turned to look at where Rachel was looking. The rampancy had expanded in size by almost double since they had first spotted it, the tram tunnel’s lights having completely died as the invasive nanites wrapped around power conduits and subsumed the current for their own use.

Alex swallowed and looked at their escape path on a mini-map on her HUD, and shook her head. “No. We are almost there.”

Rachel’s eyes widened as Alex kneeled down and picked her up, holding her in both arms like a princess. Rather than argue, she wrapped her arms around Alex’s torso to hold on.

Without further discussion, Alex leaped into action, running twice as fast as she had before. She realized they should have just started like this as she quickly covered ground, jumping over obstacles and dodging projectiles that had become too large for her cloud to consume.

What else was she missing? A thought occurred to her.

“Nameless! What about those new abilities? Can’t you make some turrets or something?”

[Informative: No created schematics for Avatar equipment currently exists. Would you like me to create some for you?]

“Shit, yes! Start with a sword-thing and gun like they are using! How about a 22mm—no! A 32mm PDC-K! Buzzsaw that thing down!”

[Informative: Creation of a ship-caliber PDC-K is far beyond Avatar's creation suite capabilities and would—]

“Stop explaining and start doing!”

[Notice: Avatar should refrain from interrupting MainComputer. It has valuable information to share.]

“We are getting shot the fuck up here. Be more concise!”

[Informative: A station mounted 32mm PDC-K is within Avatar’s control net range. Would you like me to form a hardline connection and overwrite MIL-1A MN authorization to include Avatar?]

“YES!”

Rachel squeezed her tighter as they continued. That was fortuitous as Alex almost stumbled and dropped her as her vision split in half.

“What the fuck is this?”

[Informative: Avatar control net of 32mm PDC-K has been activated. Usage should be intuitive, although Avatar deficiencies in capabilities could require a testing period.]

It was like looking out of two sets of eyes, except one pair was what she’d expect a manually controlled turret targeting screen to look like back on one of the Shrike’s tactical consoles. It was disorienting, and she had to slow down to avoid tripping on debris.

It was pointed out into space, the exact opposite direction she wanted. Prompted by her desire, the turret rapidly swiveled to point towards the transit hub. The weapon’s arc of fire wasn’t specifically meant to target that area, and the hub was only just barely in its line of sight.

Still, it was enough. As soon as the black entity entered the targeting view, it highlighted in red and the turret buzzed to life, expelling a stream of 32mm shells.

The destruction was not as loud as the railgun cracks the other NAIs were using, but the red tracers filled the transit hub as they punched through the ceiling and into the rampant NAI with wild abandon.

At first it seemed to work, but the steady stream of shells was suddenly silenced when an enormous explosion silenced the PDC-K she had hijacked. Her vision flashed back to normal.

[Notice: A nearby Meltisar Navy frigate has destroyed the MIL-1A PDC-K with an estimated 4-6kg railgun projectile.]

Alex cursed. What was that captain thinking!? They needed the larger, higher-powered weapons ships, and the station mounted. The railguns and weapons the NAIs were throwing around were more than capable of wrecking everything, especially with the clouds swarming around melting things for material, but it wasn’t on the same scale.

Everything seemed to explode, and Alex found herself flying through the air while holding onto Rachel so as to not lose her. The two of them slammed into a bulkhead sidewall, and Alex glued them to it with nanites as the floor below had disappeared in a considerable area.

The nanite cloud around them was a dark blue, the entire outer skin of it melting a thick layer of shredded metal that had once been shrapnel.

[Notice: A military vessel has fired upon the section with a high-explosive weapon. Estimating 200mm or greater shell.]

Scanning the fight, Alex noticed that the yellow nanite cloud had disappeared, leaving Tia and the Rampancy to fight one on one.

Alex adjusted her grip on Rachel, who had been knocked unconscious. Getting her feet on the wall, Alex shoved off of it and catapulted toward their destination. A-Grav didn’t kick in until she was once again over an intact section of the flooring.

The floor flexed as she landed on it, hinting at the structural weakness to the section. The transit hub was just a tiny piece of the overall station that was MIL-1A, but it was totally shredded from the battle. There was now a section missing where the tram rail used to run, with a diameter of at least twenty meters. She suspected that was where the shell had hit.

“Nameless, first-aid again.”

[Informative: Cadet Rachel has suffered severe head trauma and impact damage. While her condition might be stabilized, it is recommended that she be delivered to a professional medical facility for treatment.]

Alex grunted. They were almost there; it was just a little farther. She carried Rachel around the corner to where the bunker was supposed to be.

A rectangular blue I-field had replaced the entryway and Alex froze. The Bunker module had already detached from the transit hub. They’d already evacuated and the entire headlong rush to it had been a waste of time.

“Hey!”

Alex spun around as a voice called to her from behind.

It was the Corpo NAI standing at the edge of Alex’s nanite field, her own field having disappeared. She was carrying a large rectangular box. “You should put her in this. I don’t think the section’s I-field is going to last much longer.”

Alex blinked. “She wouldn’t fit in that.”

“It expands.” The Corpo NAI explained.

“What is it?” Alex asked.

A gentle smile appeared on the Corpo's face. “An inflatable emergency escape pod. There are a dozen of them in the hub.”

The woman pointed to the wall. There were five more, just like the one she had. The emergency lights flashing over them and the words ‘Emergency Escape Pod’ were written in large, unmistakable letters.

Alex felt like an idiot. She’d seen them all over the place, just without the markings.

“Inflatable?” Alex asked, hesitation entering her voice.

“Yeah, beats me. I wouldn’t trust something like that myself. I think they are an imperial design. Don’t see what choice she has, though.” The Corpo put her foot on the box and slid it across the floor to Alex.

Alex set Rachel down on the floor gently, then looked at the directions. Nameless highlighted a red handle for her. She pulled it and one side of the device inflated into a long tube, just a bit smaller than the hole the bunker escape module had left in the hallway.

Alex hesitated, staring at the double layered sheet of soft plastic looking material. “Is this thing really space rated?”

“It’s supposed to be self-sealing and repairing, I guess.” The woman answered, but there was a lack of confidence that didn’t make Alex feel any better.

[Informative: After careful analysis of station integrity, the truthfulness of the I-field failure claim has been substantiated. Failure imminent within 90 seconds. This unit has initiated a super-saturation of Avatar SN02 levels.]

Alex moved quickly, and Rachel was safely deposited in the chamber. Twisting the end of the tube sealed it and a green light turned on at the solid base to confirm that it was secure.

“Thank—”

Alex’s appreciation died as the woman slapped something on the side of her neck before leaping away. Spinning around toward her, Alex shot her an accusatory glare. “What?”

“Sorry. I need your help to stop the AGAI, stop the rampancy from spreading, and deal with the princess.” The woman said as a sly grin appeared on her face, her eyes twinkling.

Alex felt her brow furrow as she realized the Corpo was having fun.

Having fun.

A scroll of red messages appeared, but Alex pushed them to the side.

|Upsilon Override–Failure|

|Phi Override–Failure|

|Chi Override–Failure|

|Psi Override–Failure|

|ERROR|ERROR|ERROR|ERROR…|

|Command Override Rejected|

|AUTHORITY: OMEGA|

Reaching up to her neck, Alex pulled the device off and tossed it at the Corpo NAI’s feet. “I think it’s defective.”