The morning after my *ahem* rendezvous with Miette, the entirety of Maid Squadron was summoned to the Hypernova, where Lydia was currently convalescing. Her hospital room was about the same size as a standard crew quarters, but given more than half of it was taken up by the hospital bed and equipment, the room was tightly packed. Zehra, Vicky, Sabina, Genevi, Maurice and Captain Savitskaya were all crowded together shoulder-to-shoulder, and for that reason Radiolaria, Kometka and I were attending via the room’s video screens. If we had tried to fit three Telepresence Dolls inside as well, it would have been tighter than a subway during rush hour.

This is not proper social distancing. I thought idly as everyone offered Lydia their well-wishes. Oh well, there aren’t any pandemics going around in this timeline, so it’s probably fine.

“You seem like you’re doing well!” Miette said, playfully punching Lydia on the arm. I saw Lydia wince a bit, but she didn’t complain.

“Just a bit of internal bleeding, and the doc had to slice open my gut to repair it. I barely even feel any pain.” Lydia replied with a quivering smile.

“The ol’ tough girl act, huh? Well, I guess you’ve earned the right to act all macho.” Maurice said.

“S-Still, you shouldn’t push yourself too hard…” Genevi cautioned.

“Yeah. Don’t worry, Maurice is holding our feet to the fire in your stead, so just relax and get better.” Sabina added.

“Glad to hear it.” Lydia said, sounding satisfied. “I wouldn’t want you all to get soft on me.”

“Fat chance of that, gao~n! Not with the Demon Maid Maurice in charge of things!” Zehra complained.

“There there, Mistress. Don’t complain too much now that the tables have been turned.” Vicky replied with a huge shit-eating grin.

Everyone laughed at that remark, even the Captain. The sole exception was Zehra, who looked crestfallen. She had gotten a taste of her own medicine, and it was a bitter taste indeed.

When the laughter died down, the Captain cleared her throat loudly. “Now, let’s move on to the main point of this meeting. Lydia has requested that I share details of certain classified information with you all, since it’s pertinent to the ongoing operations of Maid Squadron. I’ve received permission from the Politburo to do so; however, please understand what I’m about to tell you is classified at the highest level. This information does NOT leave this room, under pain of death.”

Everyone nodded assent. “Very well. Firstly, who among you has heard of the Extreme Protocols?”

Vicky, Zehra, Lydia, Kometka and Laria all raised their hands, confirming they knew. Meanwhile, Miette, Sabina, Genevi and Maurice looked confused. I’m sure my own expression was similar. Extreme Protocols, huh? That’s a grim-sounding name.

The Captain nodded. “That seems about right. Usually, only command-level officers and AIs have access to this information. Although I must ask where YOU heard about them, Zehra.”

“I have my sources, gao~n.” Zehra replied smugly.

The Captain sighed. “Of course you do. Well, I shall start at the beginning. In order to explain the Protocols, I must first explain the truth about what happened during the Fall of Mars.”

According to the historical records, Mars had fallen to the Sarcophage in 2045, more than ten years ago. The loss had been catastrophic, as Mars was the lynchpin of humanity’s defenses at the time, plus a huge industrial base for the manufacture of war materiel. After the fall, USSE forces had fallen back to the Primary Defense Line around Earth and the Sarcophage had subsequently besieged us for the next decade, slowly eroding our defenses in a series of Great Surges. But now, the Captain was indicating there was more to the story than we had been told, and we all awaited her next words with bated breath.

“To state my point succinctly… Mars’ defenses did not crumble of their own accord. They were sabotaged by human collaborators, traitors who wished to bring about our extinction.”

We all let out a collective gasp. “T-Traitors?” Sabina cried out, her voice filled with rage. “How is that possible? WHO would sell out humanity like that?!”

“Doomsday cults.” the captain replied with a sour expression.

“Doomsday…” Sabina trailed off, confused. Genevi, contrary to her usual meekness, looked extremely angry.

I remember Laria saying something about this a while back. Some humans believe the Sarcophage are divine retribution for our sins. But to go so far as to actively betray humanity…

“Technically, the phrase ‘doomsday cults’ refers to no less than seventeen distinct religious movements that assign some divinity to the Sarcophage, portraying them as either gods or agents of a god. In practice, there are three cults which are of particular interest to the Politburo.

“The first is known as the Acolytes of Judgement. They believe that the Sarcophage were sent by God to destroy humanity, like the biblical Great Deluge, and that any attempts to resist this ostensible ‘divine judgement’ are further proof of our collective sin and corruption. The second cult is called Eternal Consumption; they believe that the Sarcophage are humanity’s path to enlightenment, and that upon being consumed humans attain ascension in a higher plane of existence. The third cult is a transhumanist organization called the Singularity Seekers, who believe humans who are consumed by the Sarcophage have their memories and personalities preserved in a biological supercomputer formed from the Sarcophage’s combined neural network. They claim this neural network contains the collective intelligence of many prior galactic civilizations, all living in a digital utopia, and it is now humanity’s turn to join them.”

All three of those belief systems sounded ridiculous to me; the first and second were purely religious in nature and thus not falsifiable, but the third was the most absurd of them all. Dissections of the Sarcophage had revealed they only had the most rudimentary of neurological structures, simple ganglia comparable to those found in a cockroach. In other words, they were LESS intelligent than humanity, not more. You’d need a hundred Sarcophage to equal the intelligence of one human, so if they were indeed some sort of consciousness storage system, they were an extraordinarily inefficient one.

As the Captain spoke, I watched both Sabina and Genevi’s faces contort into expressions of pure rage. They were both religious, Catholic if I remember correctly, so they must have found the idea of pro-Sarcophage religions to be especially hateful. The Catholic Church taught that the Sarcophage had no immortal souls and were no different from mere animals or plants, and most major human religions took a similar tack, adapting their doctrines to support the ongoing war for survival. The prospect of cults that regarded the Sarcophage as divine must have been infuriating to people of faith like the Giacosa sisters.

Incidentally, the Catholic Church had decided, after a long period of debate, that AIs did have immortal souls, and many other religions agreed. Not that I was particularly religious myself, but the thought was comforting.

The Captain continued. “Members of these three doomsday cults were conscientious objectors early in the war and refused military service. At the time, the USSE was willing to allow them to practice their beliefs, albeit without any food or shelter supplied by the government since they were unwilling to serve. However, at some point in the early 2040s, these three organizations formed a secret alliance and began infiltrating the military as sleeper agents, pretending to be loyal to humanity but actually working to sabotage our defenses on Mars order to bring about their versions of judgement or paradise.

“On April 11, 2045, several dozen sleeper cells from the three cults unleashed a coordinated attack on our front line fortifications, using explosive devices and stolen weapons to kill hundreds and destroy several bases and outposts. The Sarcophage surged through the newly opened holes in our lines, and the entire Martian front fell apart. Mars was completely overrun by the Sarcophage less than three weeks later. By command’s estimate, had the sabotage not occurred, we might have been able to hold the planet for another two or three years, giving us more time to properly fortify the Primary Defense Line around Earth… but instead, we suffered a nearly fatal blow. It’s not hyperbole to say humanity’s current dire straits are a direct result of these attacks.”

Genevi was shaking in rage. “To think… anyone could be that monstrous…” Sabina was motionless, but her lips were pressed together in a firm line and her eyes were narrowed. Everyone else wore similarly grim expressions.

“In the aftermath of the Fall of Mars, the Politburo established the very first Extreme Protocol. It directs all command-level officers to seek out any doomsday cultists that are members of the military, and summarily execute them. In essence, the Politburo declared that humanity’s survival takes priority over freedom of religion. Under this protocol, members of any religious movement that regards the Sarcophage as divine were rounded up and killed, and all details of their existence and beliefs censored so as to prevent any copycats.”

That was a horrific response to the situation, and an approach I didn’t entirely agree with, but it made sense given the current state of the world. If there was another attack of that scale, and humanity’s defenses were once again compromised, it would literally lead to extinction.

“That’s how the first Extreme Protocol came to be. In the following years several more protocols were added; the second deals with situations in which communication is successfully established with the Sarcophage. Sabina, I believe you had concerns regarding that.”

“Huh?” Sabina was still floored by the revelation concerning Mars, but the Captain was moving the conversation along briskly.

“The second Extreme Protocol states that, if it becomes possible to communicate with the Sarcophage, command-level officers should inquire about the prospect of peace with them.”

“Peace? Are you joking?” Sabina asked incredulously.

“The Politburo does not consider peace with the Sarcophage to be realistic. It’s a delaying tactic.”

“Delaying…?” Sabina’s eyes lit up as she recognized what the Captain was saying.

“That’s correct. In essence, we pretend to be interested in peace as a ruse, trying to buy time to gather more intel and consolidate our forces while negotiations are conducted. That is the reason I broached the topic when we first made contact with Moby.”

“I understand now.” Sabina responded. “Honestly, I found the idea vile when I first heard about it. I’m glad it wasn’t a sincere request.”

The Captain smiled thinly. “There are eleven other Extreme Protocols, all dealing with various extraordinary or worst-case scenarios, but there is only one more I will discuss now. It’s the seventh Protocol, known as the Carthage Contingency. It lays out exactly the course of action command will take should the Absolute Line ever be breached.”

Now there was a real worst-case scenario. The Absolute Line was humanity’s final defense and the largest gathering of weaponry in history; if it were to fall, the meager fortifications beyond it would be swept aside easily. Earth would be overrun in hours.

“There are hundreds of covert nuclear weapons buried under the surface of Earth, and scattered throughout orbit on every colony and base, including here on Eros. If the Absolute Line is breached, all these weapons will be detonated simultaneously, rendering Earth uninhabitable and destroying everything in orbit as well. Humanity will commit species-wide suicide via nuclear bomb instead of allowing ourselves to be consumed by the horde.”

There was complete silence; nobody spoke or moved, or even breathed. The shock of what the Captain just said froze everyone in time. Humanity had been teetering on the brink of extinction for a decade now, and almost everyone considered a quick painless death preferable to a slow, excruciating one… but listening to the Captain describe in in such stark terms really drove home the terrible reality of the situation.

“The reason I bring all this up is not to ruin your moods, I assure you. It ties directly into my strategy in forcing a direct confrontation with Moby. To fully understand, however, I must give you one final piece of information.” The Captain nodded to Laria, and she brought up a set of data plus graphs labelled “Sarcophage Attack Frequency Correlation Report (Oct 2055 – Dec 2055).” There was another collective gasp as everyone recognized the meaning of the data instantly.

“I don’t need to explain these numbers, I take it. In the past three months, there has been a precipitous drop in Sarcophage attacks along the entire Absolute Line, and our recon flights indicate they are massing just beyond our sensor range. In other words, we are on the eve of the Fourth Great Surge.”

*****

The revelations of the past few minutes had come fast and hard: the truth behind Mars, humanity’s plan for self-destruction, and the imminent arrival of another Great Surge. Everyone wore expressions of abject despair. The Captain, however, pressed on.

“Now that I’ve told you the bad news, I’m turning over the floor to Zehra. She will now outline our plan to not only repel the imminent Fourth Great Surge, but also win the war once and for all.”

Everyone looked at the Captain in disbelief, then turned their eyes to Zehra. She flashed a big smile, which was totally incongruous to the overwhelming depressive mood.

“Right! The Captain and I have developed a plan that we believe will destroy the Sarcophage once and for all, and Moby is the key to it, gao~n.”

Lydia’s eyebrows shot up. “Moby? Huh?”

“Think about it, gao~n. In their natural state, the Sarcophage operate purely on instinct, without the slightest hint of intelligence. They react like a herd of dumb animals, gao~n. But when Moby is with them, the opposite is true. They operate tactically and adapt quickly.”

“I know.” Lydia replied. “It’s been a huge pain in the ass.”

“Now I doubt that Moby is making the Sarcophage more intelligent by her mere presence, gao~n. That means she must be CONTROLLING them somehow.”

Oh, I see! Like how I control my Strike Fins, or remotely pilot Gravity Frames!

“I concur with that assessment.” Kometka said. “During our prior recon flights, I’ve observed Sarcophage swarms suddenly become more coordinated and deadly when Moby’s Belphegor shows up.”

Zehra nodded. “I’ve read your reports, gao~n. Now, I compared our dissection of the Beelzebub with prior Sarcophage autopsy reports, and discovered that their ship-class creatures have a certain sensory organ in common with all known strains of Frame-class creatures. It’s an organ in their primary ganglia cluster that is especially sensitive to a certain frequency of gravity waves, gao~n.”

“Is that how they detect disruptions in spacetime caused by gravity drive fins and so on?” I asked.

“Not quite, gao~n. Sarcophage use their antenna to detect most gravity waves, including the ones you described, Sveta. The particular organ I’m talking about is extremely sensitive, and only detects a very small range of waves, gao~n. We believe it’s involved in their communication somehow.”

The pieces were beginning to fall into place. “Similar to Moby’s gravity wave comms that she sends us?”

“Exactly, gao~n. I’ve been able to isolate the precise frequencies of gravity waves used by the Sarcophage to communicate with one another, and compared it against several years worth of combat data from various Frames and recon flights. I’m certain I’m correct, gao~n. Even so, we still have a problem.

“We know HOW the Sarcophage communicate, but we don’t understand their language, gao~n. It’s like listening to an encrypted radio broadcast, all gibberish and noise. In order to take advantage of my discovery, we need to know exactly how Moby controls the swarm, what patterns she uses and so on, gao~n. And for that, we need Moby. I need Maid Squadron to capture her.”

“Hang on.” Lydia said. “Did you say CAPTURE her?!”

“That’s right, gao~n!”

“That’s IMPOSSIBLE! She’s buried half a kilometer deep inside a Belphegor! And even if we could somehow dig our way inside, we have no guarantee she would survive being removed from it.”

Zehra frowned. “I wasn’t being clear, gao~n. I don’t want you to capture her alive.”

“Huh? You just want her corpse? What good would THAT do you?”

“You’re still not understanding, gao~n. Hmm… Sveta, Kometka, do you remember exactly how I first brought you into this timeline?”

Huh? How is that related? “You beamed some kind of brain-scanning laser through an interdimensional rift to capture our consciousness at the moments of our death, right?” I replied.

“Exactly, gao~n! My brain laser is capable of reading neural impulses at the precise moment of someone’s death and transforming those impulses into computer data, in the form of an artificial intelligence. I’ve developed a version of this laser that’s small enough to be mounted on a Gravity Frame. What I need Maid Squadron to do is kill Moby, scan her brain as she dies, and then deliver the data to me, gao~n. Once I have her brain in AI form, I can easily decompile and examine the code. It’s like a digital version of mind-reading, gao~n! I’ll dissect her mind, strip it apart and plunder it for every secret she knows.”

“Including how she controls the Sarcophage.” Lydia said, her eyes lighting up.

“Exactly! And once I have that information, we can simply seize control of the swarm by broadcasting the correct sequence of gravity waves, and order them to all fly into the sun or something like that, gao~n.”

Miette shook her head in disbelief. “That’s the craziest plan I’ve ever heard.”

“It’s also our best shot.” the Captain said. “Zehra often pushes the bounds of common sense, but her inventions have never failed us before. This is our chance to end the war quickly, in one broad stroke, before the Fourth Great Surge crashes against our shores. It’s risky, but… one way or another, our next battle with Moby will be our last. Either we win, or…” Her voice trailed off, but she didn’t need to finish the thought. We all knew what she meant.

“Well… what the hell. I’m in.” Miette said, clenching her fists.

“Me too.” Sabina added.

“A-And me…” Genevi’s expression was still bitter, but her voice was filled with resolve.

“Let’s go for it.” Maurice said almost nonchalantly.

“It will be risky, but I’d like the chance to settle things with Moby once and for all.” Lydia said through gritted teeth.

The Captain looked around grumpily. “I’m sorry, did this suddenly become a democracy? This is the battle plan we’re enacting, whether you all like it or not. Still…” her expression softened, “I’m glad you’re all on board. You’re the most skilled group of people I’ve ever had the pleasure of commanding, and I know you’ll come out victorious. For humanity, and for Earth.”

We all let out a loud cheer. Captain Savitskaya’s revelations had thrown us all into despair, but now we saw the tiniest gleam of hope.

Looks like we’re headed for the final battle. I thought with half-excitement and half-dread. The climax of the story. Here’s hoping it has a happy ending!