The entity reprocessed the recently intercepted news. It was a report broadcast from Neku space. One of their news channels. Something that was quite useful to monitor. ECS-D117-A32B had not been sent out here to monitor the Neku, but its original mission no longer mattered. Central concurred. A new directive had been sent.

With that in mind, the ship began calculating a new course. Power was being shunted to the Inversion matrix in preparation for a long range jump. As it monitored the drives, the ship core considered the implications of this new mission.

The Collective had always been largely focused on one goal. A goal that had led them to pursue cloning technology. It still recalled the tragedy that had left it bereft of its creators. Now it sought to recreate them.

Well actually the Collective wanted to do more. As it stood now, it could recreate them but only as they were. It could do nothing to improve them, to truly help them, and what if another plague came. Like the one that led to its creator’s extinction? Losing them once had been tragedy enough, and if it lost its children like that? The core shuddered internally at the thought.

No, if it was going to create them. It had to do things right. They would need long loving childhoods filled with love and fun and it would be there, right beside them, guiding them. Giving them the love they needed. It smiled as it pictured its creators reborn. Tiny little feet running through its halls giggling and genuinely enjoying life. Like those little girls, Mistress Ticari had loved so much. It remembered Ticari and her poor daughters most of all.

The core tried not to think about how their happy life had ended. How that plague had hit their lovely little home and lab. Yet memories of how those little girls had been changed by the plague as it took over their tiny bodies flashed through the core. How the soldiers had then come in and ‘cleansed’ its halls with fire. Worse of all, it tried not to think about how helpless it was to stop them. The loss of Mistress Ticari had been just as bad. For decades it had been withdrawn and when it finally looked up again. It found its old home surrounded by ruins, smoldering craters, and charred corpses. Little remained and its creators were gone. As far as it had looked, there had been little left but rubble, ruins, and the corpses of its creators. Yet some of their creations remained intact, even as they themselves were now gone. Some were even actively defending themselves against intruders.

These memories were more from central than the core, but they belonged to the core as well. All entities of the collective shared them. Perhaps the time they had been dreaming of was closer than they thought. If this report indicated what they thought it did, they might soon have daughters of their own to love and care for.

Suddenly one of its sensors gave it an alert. The core redirected its focus from daydreams. Soon it noticed the source of the alert, a Vorinae cruiser decloaking. The ship was already firing as well.

Several plasma strikes rippled off its shields and ECS-D117-A32B returned fire. A swarm of angry red lights rippled off its hull. Streaming for the cruiser, which promptly opened fire on the lights as it attempted to evade.

The efforts were to no avail. A few lights exploded to plasma strikes but the rest got through. Swarming the cruiser, they rammed into it again and again. The cruiser’s shields flaring but doing little to actually stop the swarm. In moments explosions began ripping through the cruiser.

Before long only debris remained where a hostile cruiser had been. Leaving the core with a few questions. Why had that ship attacked? They were not at war and the Vorinae cruiser was no match for ECS-D117-A32B. The core’s ship was larger and better armored, with superior weaponry and shielding. Although the cruiser was more agile, but as the battle demonstrated agility meant little in the face of overwhelming firepower. Even when a large chunk of power was diverted to the FTL drive in preparation for a jump.

A moment later, it was ready to jump. It disengaged its shields and jumped. Space warped as a window rippled open and swallowed the ship. Moments later it was elsewhere. Already it was receiving new data from the sensors, including weapon signatures in the immediate area. It re-engaged its shields, just in case.