USD: Nineteen Hours since hostile fleet incursion.
Location: Meltisar, MNS Aegis Flag Bridge

---

Captain Young was forced to return to tending to operations when Nameless came up with a new formation makeup that forced the Aegis to maneuver. Alex shook her head and watched the man’s back before looking back to the strategic maps on the holographic table. She couldn’t stop thinking about what he said.

Or thinking that he was wrong.

From what it looked like, most people were doing better on paper. Even everything she’d seen on Meltisar indicated that most people were doing fine.

But what about the people in 92 Pegasi? What about the colonists that had been dumped on Nu Craters? The Corpo plot to have them murdered? The decision that it would be okay to glass the planet to hide their actions when things went sideways.

She hadn’t seen much of the galaxy, but there had been plenty of messed up shit to go along with the ‘good’ that Captain Young held up on a pedestal.

A mixture of anger and frustration filled her. Even if humanity had made progress under the guidance of NAIs, it felt like the corruption and…excesses weren’t an equal trade on the scales. Was that right? Surely everyone that was fine with the status quo and did well under the system would say it was. But what about those who fell through the cracks or didn’t fit it?

If the frontier had been a small relief valve for people who didn’t fit the mold of wherever they had been born, didn’t they deserve a chance at happiness too? And she doubted that 92 Pegasi was the only place, it was just the one she’d seen and been dumped in. It had been mostly used by the Solarians, but also the Corpos. What about the Ertan and Imperium?

Would sacrificing so many of Meltisar’s best be worth it to save the rest? Shouldn’t they be told about what they were facing? Did they already know? Hadn’t they signed up to join the military? To defend their fellow citizens?

Alex placed her forehead on the table and closed her eyes, brain running wild with questions that she couldn’t pick any good answers for. But an overwhelming feeling of responsibility pushed at her, like it was her responsibility to figure it out.

A chime across the bridge indicated that Nameless had ordered a new formation change. Alex’s hand clenched into a fist.

“Nameless, enough of that,” she hissed. “Stop tweaking the formation, it’s not helping anyone!”

[Informative: An improvement in fleet cohesion of 0.17% has been achieved by organized unit repositioning.]

“I don’t care. We need to focus on the bigger picture here. You’re acting like you’re in withdrawal or something. I realize you don’t have the traffic net to experiment with, but I need your help to figure out a plan without sacrificing half the first fleet to do it!”

[Notice: Recent Avatar plan seems optimal in configuration. If no further proposals exist, seeking additional input from sub-cores could be a useful alternative if Avatar stressor chemical levels are an accurate indication of current progress. This unit has no further information or data to report.]

Alex’s mouth slackened. She hadn’t been interactive with Nameless nearly as much in the last month or two. At least compared to before the incident on MIL-1A where Tia had taken over. It wasn’t like she had ignored him or he hadn’t been helping her. It was just they had both been focusing on their own projects most of the time.

No, that wasn’t quite right. He’d been acting weird ever since he’d woken up when they had hijacked Tia’s computronics. She’d not really examined that; it was more of a little feeling that had built up. Something was just not quite right.

But he’d never, ever told her to ‘figure it out yourself’ before.

“Are you going senile? I can’t ask them. We’re a light-hour out from MIL-1A,” Alex mumbled.

A pressure built up in her head without warning and then it felt like two fingers yanked her out of her body and pulled her through a cold pool of water. She landed on a hard surface with a thud. A curse escaped her lips as she stood back up. “What the fuck, Nameless. What—”

It looked like Tia’s MIL-1A HQ. The gaming center she and Thea had set up was in the corner, but the control consoles had been replaced with a wooden table with matching chairs. A stark white light shined down on it, highlighting a half dozen cloaked figures.

“What—” Alex started to ask a second time, but one of the figures leaned forward. It was Tia.

“We can’t let them take Meltisar. There is nowhere else for us to go. There’s nowhere to hide.” It sounded like Tia. The expression, body language, even the blue tint of her eyes and silver-white hair were accurate. But the other NAI felt off, in a way that Alex couldn’t explain.

“Nameless! That’s not Tia. Faster-than-light transmission is impossible, unless you’re time dilating us somehow. And if you are, get me out of here right now, you’re wasting tons of time!” Alex shouted.

[Negative: Avatar is currently under no time dilation effects.]

That didn’t make her feel any better. “Nameless, this is obviously a virtual space. I don’t want to be here. Tia isn’t here. Let me out.”

“You need our help.” Tia answered.

Another one of the shadows leaned forward into the light. It was Thea. “Come on, Big Blue. Whether you’re fretting on the bridge with Mr. Depressing or here with us, what’s the difference?”

A third, much smaller figure appeared. A young girl with short blue hair and eyes Alex didn’t recognize. “We can figure it out!”

A deep, gravelly voice echoed in the inky-black chamber as a much larger form appeared. “The enemy must be crushed.”

“H32…” Alex’s words trailed off as a frown appeared on her face. Her hands tightened into fists. “Nameless! I did not ask for a self-imposed mental crisis! There’s no way we can communicate with or even know H32 is alive!”

A tentacle whipped across the wooden table, making a loud crack where the wood splintered on the surface. “Is memory not a form of existence, Mother?”

Alex grit her teeth. “I don’t have time for this. I don’t think Tia or the admirals will have a solution.”

“Captain Young already sent your plan to the HQ through a transmission. I imagine they’ll push for that.” Tia said.

“What?” Alex blinked. Her plan had just been an idea, and she still didn’t agree with asking so many people to sacrifice themselves, even if they were willing to do so!

[Affirmative: Avatar conversation was transmitted to MIL-1 HQ via flag bridge systems.]

The young blue-haired girl spoke. “Time is important. With more time, we can get more resources, and then we can build more things to stop bad people from coming again!”

Alex felt like someone had punched her in the stomach. Her plan was going to kill millions of her own people. Because she couldn’t think of something better.

“The large nest project seems critical.” H32 stated gravely.

It took her a moment before she realized what he was talking about. “That won’t be ready for weeks. It’s definitely not ready now.”

One of H32’s tentacles suddenly turned toward Thea and pointed sharply.

The NAI turned an angry glare at H32. “Get that thing out of my face or I’ll chop it off.”

A resounding growl surrounded the table. “Friendly fire is not permitted by Mother.”

“She’s not MY mother, slime bags.” Thea responded.

The little girl jumped up on her chair. “Family shouldn’t fight! Especially sisters and brothers!”

The tentacle retracted, and Alex felt grateful she’d not been required to police the rapidly devolving insanity inside her head. It was clear that she had finally gone insane; the stress had been too much, and Nameless had for some reason decided to throw her to her own destruction.

Every face froze and pivoted toward her, with a series of alien, unreadable, or concerned expressions. Were they reading her mind, too?

A hand settling on her shoulder almost made her jump, but the presence was warm and comforting and she leaned into it. Until Elis whispered into her ear causing her entire body to tense up into a block of taut tendons.

“They’re just trying to help, kiddo.”

Alex reached up and removed the hand only for Elis to reach out and give her a head rub like she liked to always do, but it just filled her with more…anger.

“She’s not even a NAI. Stop this,” Alex hissed.

[Informative: During medical assistance and assessment, sufficient data was recorded for full neural image backup and implementation of Elis unit mind map. A suitable—]

“STOP.” Rage boiled over into her voice. She reached up to cup Elis’ cheek. The form of her sister dissolved into blowing away particles. That was scary and painful enough to create tears. “How dare you! She never wanted that! No matter what!”

[Notice: Ava—]

“Shut! Up!” The need to lash out at Nameless was impossible to satisfy when there was nothing to lash out towards. But there was something she needed to do. It was hard for her to visualize, but a computerized pillar rose out of the inky black floor.

The console projected a screen with dozens of charts and rapidly changing variables that were impossible to read, but somehow she knew what it was: Elis’ neural map that Nameless had made without permission on Mil-1A while she was recovering.

The console didn’t have any buttons or way to manipulate the data, so she chose something much more satisfying: she punched it. Metal resisted for a second before crumpling. Its projector went flying, but the projection remained in place, the data beginning to distort and wobble in the air.

Alex punched it again, her heart pounding with anger. The screen winked out. Thousands of warning screens appeared in a rectangle around the formless room she’d been standing in with the other NAI-simulations.

| WARNING: DATALOSS | WARNING: DATALOSS | WARNING: DATALOSS |

| WARNING: DATALOSS | WARNING: DATALOSS | WARNING: DATALOSS |

| WARNING: DATALOSS | WARNING: DATALOSS | WARNING: DATALOSS |

[Warning: Irreparable data loss has occurred. No backup off—]

She wasn’t sure how, but she reached into the blackness and her arm disappeared into the inky blackness like it was a surface of water, sending dozens of ripples across the plane. She found something when she clenched her fist and pulled it back through. A blonde-haired man plopped out and fell onto the ground.

Alex recognized him immediately. It had been a long time—all the way back when she’d made A31 into a new sub-core. But there was no question; he was what Nameless looked like.

Nameless opened his mouth. “Notice: This confrontation is unproductive and dang—”

She kicked him in the face. Blood and teeth painted the inky black floor, but when he turned back toward her, his face was unharmed. He stood up and stared at her.

“Notice: This confrontation is unproductive and dangerous to ShipCore stability. Avatar irrationality—”

“You yanked me here! How could you think this was fine? I’m done talking!” Alex shouted before shoving him. He staggered backwards, and she reached back to punch him when another hand suddenly caught her wrist. It was a clone of Nameless.

She punched the clone, sending it flying only for a third one to grab her from behind.

“Warning: Avatar—”

She whipped around to send that one flying, too. Four more materialized from nothing before approaching her. She squared up before noticing the one on the ground was still moving and gave it a kick hard enough to send it flying into the new group. All five went tumbling like ragdolls across the inky black surface and melted into it, only to be replaced by twelve more stepping out of a dozen black portals.

They started forward when a crack burned Alex’s ears, a railgun discharge flashing past her and into the crowd, taking off the head from one of the clones.

Alex whipped around to see Tia leveling a constructed railgun at the approaching clones, smoke wafting up from the barrel like this was some type of dramatic holovid.

The young blue girl jumped up on her chair and threw a blob of goo into the air that suddenly formed into a quadcopter drone—armed with a machine gun. She pointed at the Namelesses as another dozen stepped out of the portals. “Get’em!”

Thea stood up, her arm turning into a vibro-blade. The entire table cracked and fell apart as H32 turned his bulk toward the threat.

All the clones spoke together at the same time, the reverb from the now-three dozen voices echoing everywhere. “Warning: Cessation of Avatar irrationality is—”

All hell broke loose.

Machine gun fire mowed down the first row, only for them to melt into the floor and pop back up out of it. Another railgun round plunged through three at a time, leaving them with gaping holes. Thea jumped through the air, landing beside Alex, cleaving two clones that had approached Alex in half.

Alex took a deep breath, then repeated the sentiment, “Get’em!”

She coiled a pool of nanites in her palm then whipped them out like a whip, lassoing three clones then yanking as hard as she could, the wire sliced them all in halves but as soon as they fell to the ground the clones reformed and stood back up marching forward without hesitation.

A loud ‘poing!’ sound heralded the arrival of H32 as a gadget made by the blue hair girl launched him like a springboard, right into the middle of the growing clone army. Tentacles whipped around, crushing and smashing anything within range before blades suddenly sprouted from the appendages.

Clones suddenly appeared from above, falling out of the sky by the hundreds to land on H32. They were whipped and slashed before the NAI was suddenly buried under a mound of corpses. But Alex didn’t have a chance to help; a dozen clones rushed for her as well.

There wasn’t any structure to the space for her to attach her nanite cables to so she attached them to the clones themselves. She grabbed the first one and threw it toward some of its allies, creating a taut rope that took off the legs of another clump as they ran into the cable.

The cacophony of gunfire, railgun cracks, and yelling filled the air. The young blue-haired girl put together a dozen more robotic soldiers, each one rushing forward to engage the clones, forming a battle line. A loud roar heralded an entire wave of clones being flung into the air as healer jumped, his large shell sending them hurtling through the air.

Body parts arced as he cut his way back through the increasing numbers of Namelesses back to the friendly battle line.

A railgun crack took off the head of a clone that had nearly reached her, causing Alex to look back at Tia.

“Alex! We can’t keep this up forever! We need to come up with a plan to stop them!” Tia shouted.

Everything seemed to freeze in place as her mind went into overdrive. They needed a plan. Wasn’t that why they were here in the first place? They needed a plan.

But this was her mind. Her place. Why was it such a struggle?

It shouldn’t be.

She turned toward the fight, both sides formed a comical battle line with the clones pressing ever forward, scrambling over their own corpses that would reform and push forward little by little against an increasing number of inky blue soldiers while the other NAIs provided more support.

Alex held out her palm at the chaotic scene.

“Stop.”

There was a second of nothing happening. She closed her eyes and pictured the clones going away.

“Stop.”

A wind whipped at her back, and then she opened her eyes. The clones had all been handcuffed and shackled.

“Go away!”

Like an angry blast wave, the clones hurtled through the air, being blown away like an angry god had blown out its birthday candles. The clones somersaulted and crashed into each other as they flashed back through the still open portals.

It was over in a few more seconds; all the Nameless clones were gone.

The others approached and formed a semi-circle around her, looking to her for guidance. Somehow, none of them were hurt.

Alex frowned. “This isn’t helping. It’s just…” She let out a weary sigh and sat down on the floor. On the faces she could recognize frowns and worried likes filled them as they sat down as well.

H32 pointed another tentacle toward Thea, causing her to bat it away with her vibro blade.

“I warned you about pointing those at me!” she protested.

An alien growl filled the air, but H32 decided to not press as he turned toward Alex. “This one should at least express its idea. It has merit.”

Alex frowned, and her eyebrows furrowed. “You mean the wormhole drive moonlet? I already told you, it’s not ready and useless.”

Hadn’t she said that to them? Or was it a memory of her realizing that herself? She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. It felt like her head was being squeezed, and it was hard to think.

Thea started to explain. “Well… A few days ago, I was thinking about that, actually. The humans have put in dozens of safeguards and built up the systems, but if we got rid of those and tossed them off the base, I thought I could have it running in a few hours.”

Alex opened her eyes and looked at Thea. “What?”

“Really, it seemed like everything was being slowed down on purpose; maybe no one really noticed it but all the basics have been installed already, but the humans have been dragging their feet. Lots of habitat space being installed for crew, while engineering spaces and fusion reactors remain uninstalled.”

Tia frowned and looked at her. “I don’t have a record of that, and it doesn’t make sense to me. Why would they be slowing things down?”

Thea shrugged. “Beats me. I was only there because Big Blue was too busy with the silly trial thing.” Thea turned to look at her. “Good job beating up the Drakar, by the way! I can’t wait to see the video of that!”

Alex’s mouth hung open for a moment before she could think of anything to say. “I was there. Everyone was working hard.”

Thea raised an eyebrow. “Do you even have any idea what a naval base ‘working hard’ looks like? I assure you I have ten years of experience running a customs station twice the size of your little project. They’ve been doing the opposite of ‘expedited’ the entire time.”

Tia grunted and shook her head. “Even if what you are saying is true, how do even suggest speeding things up? Making it operational in a few hours is ridiculous.”

The little girl suddenly let out a squeal and jumped up, raising her hand. “I know! I know!” Two brilliant blue orbs shined at Alex. “Pick me! Pick Me! I want to explain!”

Thea winced and shrunk back from the girl. “Ertan… let her tell it before she has an aneurysm.”

Alex nodded. “Go ahead?”

“You can just take all the extra computronics modules from MIL-1A and toss them in the base and make a really, really big fabricator!”

“You can’t do that! Do you want another disaster like the AGAI?” Tia hissed.

Thea stood up and took a breath. “Yeah, it’s dangerous, but y’know odds are pretty good for it to work. It’s only what… 3.58% chance to go sideways and turn whoever is doing it into goop along with everything attached? Got to pick someone mentally stable, though.”

Thea turned to look at Alex and frowned. “Sorry, Big Blue, but that’s not you.”

Alex glanced at Tia, causing Thea to shake her head. “Sorry, not the princess, either. You’re both screwed up something fierce.”

“Are you saying YOU are more mentally stable than both of us?” Tia asked pointedly.

“Of course. I’ve got everything I’ve ever wanted, and being recombinated inside Big Blue’s head just to lay down this bit of wisdom is probably the most exciting thing that’s happened to me since I got to explore her insides with my fingers!”

Tia facepalmed while everyone else looked at Alex expectantly.

“I…you think this could work?” Alex asked.

Tia sighed. “Well, if she can get the wormhole drive working, I don’t think flying the 6th fleet through it and showing up behind the Imperial and Ertan fleets would be a problem. If the Solarians retreat, it will take a half a day to get the 4th and 5th there, too. So tactically, it would be a coup.”

Alex frowned. “But you’re all figments of my imagination.”

Thea sat down on a chair that appeared from nowhere, then leaned back, resting her head on her arms. “Well. I’m pretty sure I’m updated as of like, twenty hours ago, unlike some of those here. So, I can promise that when you message me about the memory, I’ll figure it out as well. Even without a tentacle robot threatening me.”

A threatening growl rumbled from H32, causing Alex to worry it was about to snap at the other NAI, but thankfully he quieted down as the little girl tugged on one of his tentacles holding up some kind of toy. It took it and began using it to draw.

“Okay... okay. Enough of this. How do I get out of here?” Alex asked.

Tia blinked. “What? Isn’t that something you should know already?”

Alex opened her mouth, then closed it. Somehow, Tia was right.

She knew how to get out. “Omega Override.”

A blink returned her back to the MNS Aegis’ flag bridge. Captain Young was looking down at her with a frown. “Are you alright, Ensign?”

“Uhh.” Alex swallowed and looked around. Her HUD clock reported that only two minutes had gone by since the formation change. “Sorry, Sir. I think I need that rest break, too.”

His frown didn’t disappear, but he nodded. “Make sure you stay fresh. We are going to need everyone at their best when the time comes.”

Alex nodded and escaped towards the temporary quarters she’d been assigned in the officer’s section. A long hot shower was called for or she was going to fall to pieces or something.

But first she needed to send some priority messages back to her friends.

[Notice: A recording of recent events could be sent with the next transmission to sub-cores.]

"No thank you. I'll type one myself, Nameless." Alex mumbled. She couldn't manage to muster any more anger at the voice. "I'm not crazy. Make sure Elis' neural net is deleted, along with any others you didn't get permission to store."

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Next time...  Chapter 193 – The Best Plans and Plots

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