They Answered The Call

Forbidden Area

Twenty-three hours after the destruction of the John Cabot

6,537 light years from Earth, 2175 A.D.

The eight Republic spy drones flashed out of null space to recharge their capacitors for the next segment of the trip.

The AI controllers all connected and initiated handshake protocols as they spread out from each other, opening their ramscoops to collect the argonium needed to refuel their null space capacitors.

One of the drones was designated as the early warning drone, already damaged from weapons fire and determined to most likely fail to reach its destination.

As the others collected argonium, it scanned the area, feeding as much power as it could to the onboard sensor suite to increase its scanning range.

Determining that there were no threats within range in normal space, it flashed into null space and continued scanning. After a few minutes, the AI detected fluctuations that could only be created by large numbers of incoming ships.

The semi-fluidic properties of null space create propagation waves in front of ships traveling through the unique medium, allowing for detection by specialized sensor suites such as the ones installed on the drones.

It flashed back into space and warned the other drones that the propagation waves traveling through the null space medium indicated the imminent arrival of dozens of ships.

The other drones responded immediately, closing their ramscoops and priming their null space capacitors for an emergency flash-out.

A few seconds later, over a hundred Insectoid cruisers flashed in, sending out sensor pulses to try to determine the source of the seven null space flashes that triggered the anomalous readings detected by the Insectoid sensor network.

The drones had stealth capabilities, but the priming of the null space capacitors created emissions that escaped their stealth fields and allowed the Insectoids to determine their general positions.

The early warning drone AI ran calculations and determined a course of action. It would sacrifice itself to increase the probability of the other drones successfully completing the mission.

Dropping its stealth field, it pumped a tremendous amount of power through its sensor suite as it burned its engines at full power.

Half of the cruisers detected the drone and swarmed towards it as they fired hundreds of particle beams.

The other drones, almost finished priming their null drives, executed evasive maneuvers as the remaining cruisers targeted the sources of the leaking emissions and fired.

The warning drone was destroyed, and the rest of the cruisers turned back to join the hunt for the others. A second drone was targeted and destroyed, and a third followed soon after.

Hundreds of particle beams speared through the area every second as the surviving drones continued to evade them. Another was destroyed, and now there are only four drones left.

One of them dropped its stealth field and pumped a massive amount of power into its transmitter, jamming the Insectoid scanners temporarily before it was tracked and destroyed by dozens of particle beams from cruisers further out.

The remaining three drones finally finished priming their null space capacitors and had to drop their stealth fields before flashing out.

Another drone was destroyed before making the transition, and the last two drones disappeared from the Insectoid scanners.

The two surviving AI controllers communicated with each other and then separated, each taking a different route back to Republic space to increase the chances of one of them making it.

They had only managed to collect 35% of the required argonium and will have to drop out again soon to replenish their reserves.

The neural pathways of both AIs suffered feedback as they recalculated their chances of successfully executing their mission. One calculated a 27% chance. The other calculated a 34.3% chance.

As they continued along their separate courses, the one hundred and seven cruisers reorganized into twelve formations and flashed back into null space to pursue the two drones that had escaped.

Insectoid Cruiser

Twenty-six hours after the destruction of the John Cabot

The command drone dragged herself onto the raised dais of the command chamber, ignoring the pain signals emanating from three legs that had been severely damaged when the strange animals had destroyed their ship rather than become hostages.

She concentrated on the display panels around her, seeing dozens of small animal constructs heading towards the cruiser, the scanners tracking their ominous approach.

They meant to seek revenge for killing them, a concept she understood well as a command drone.

She started releasing attack pheromones from her glands to incite the surviving drones as the air handlers spread the chemical blend throughout the ship.

She was one of the specially bred command drones, and she had been in the guardian fleet for almost forty cycles since she emerged from her pupa.

This ship was not from the enemy they had been watching for, but she was still following the directive of the Hive mother when she attacked them.

All animal ships were to be attacked. The only reason they tried to take the strange animal ship hostage was to determine who they were, analyze their technology, and send the information back to the Hive mother.

She looked at the flickering main display, seeing that the small animal constructs were almost upon them. She increased her concentration and sent out thoughts to the surviving drones on the ship.

She could enter drone minds and see through their eyes, but she could not control them like true queens. She was able to influence their behavior and issue orders that they would follow by utilizing her thoughts and pheromones.

Ignoring her pain, she put all her strength into her thoughts and projected them.

She continually issued the thought commands, ensuring that the remaining drones would obey her.

She heard multiple thuds reverberating throughout the ship as the animal constructs landed on the organic hull of the cruiser unscathed, the cruiser's weapons having been rendered inoperative by the massive core breach of the animal ship.

She still had almost five hundred worker drones on the ship, and she increased the potency of the attack pheromones she was releasing to stimulate more aggression from the normally docile drones.

On a panel, she could see the largest cluster of animal landers in the middle of the ship, and she entered multiple drone minds until she found one in the area she wanted to see.

Looking through the drone’s eyes, she could see multiple sections down the long tunnel that had sparks shooting out of them as the animals were cutting through the hull.

One after another, those sections of the hulls were cut through and pushed inward, falling to the floor with loud clangs that startled the waiting drones.

The drones opened fire with their laser weapons, ionizing the atmosphere as they targeted the breaches with lower-powered beams to prevent them from causing hull breaches.

No animals had come out yet, and she grew confused by their actions as she continued to look through the eyes of the drone. Is this a deception? She thought to herself as she continued to wait for the invaders to emerge.

Over a dozen round things rolled out of the breaches and opened, turning into small, four-legged machine animals that rapidly scurried from their locations as they clambered up the walls of the tunnel or charged at nearby drones.

The strange things fired projectiles that hit the worker drones they targeted and tore them to pieces. They were incredibly fast, and some of them even went onto the ceiling, firing their weapons as they hung upside down.

One of the four-legged things charged at the largest mass of drones in the tunnel, parts of it sizzling and melting as the drone laser weapons hit it.

One of its legs was melted to slag, and it continued scurrying until it reached the drones and exploded, killing all of them and blowing out a huge section of the hull, exposing the tunnel to space.

The command drone lost her view of the worker drone she was inhabiting as it was pulled out of the large breach along with all the others.

She flitted about the ship in the drone minds, seeing the same events play out wherever the animal landers had attached themselves to the hull.

She had a momentary flash of doubt, wondering if she had made a mistake in attacking the strange animal ship filled with machine animals.

She entered a solitary drone that was trapped in a tunnel, and she saw more sparks as the interior wall was being cut from an adjoining space on the other side.

She could sense the fear of the solitary worker drone, and she felt an overwhelming desire to save its life. She sent a thought to the drone’s mind.

The drone responded, looking around and finding a small air vent with a grate that was just large enough to fit in.

It removed the grate and entered it backwards before pulling the grate back. It was now facing the tunnel, and she waited to see what would come out of the breach.

A few moments later, there was another loud sound as the section fell inward and slammed into the floor. She heard weapons and laser fire, and soon it stopped. She heard more animal sounds and sent another thought to the drone.

She saw an animal pass by, able to see it through the slits of the grate. This new animal was walking on two legs, with the other two legs holding a weapon.

This animal was more like what she had expected. Others followed the first animal as they ran past her hiding spot, making noises at each other.

They went beyond the ability of the drone to see, but she could still hear and sense them nearby with the drone’s ears and antennae. She sent another thought to the drone before leaving its mind.

She returned to her own body on the dais, momentarily disoriented by the transition. Looking at the displays, she could see that the animals had already taken over large portions of the cruiser.

She could sense far fewer drone minds on the periphery of her consciousness; the animals were killing them faster than she could organize the defenses.

There were sudden explosions outside the command chamber, and she felt panic rising inside of her. She pushed herself off the dais and crawled slowly to the engineering panel, trying her best to ignore the pain signals of her broken legs.

She finally reached it and pulled herself up, leaning on the panel for support as she started tapping in the commands to overload the fusion reactors.

The six drones in the command chamber rushed to the door, ready to fight to the death to protect her.

There was a large explosion behind her, and she ignored it, fighting past the terror that threatened to cripple her. She started tapping in the last of the commands when her tarsal claw disappeared in a fine mist of exoskeleton and hemolymph.

She was still staring in shock at what was left of her leg when she was slammed on the side of her thorax and knocked onto the floor. Skittering with her still-functioning legs, she tried to right herself to fight back against her attacker.

She managed to flip on her back, and she froze at what she saw standing over her. It was an animal with some type of flexible carapace, and she could see its face through the transparent material of the object covering its head.

She looked into its eyes as it raised a weapon towards her head, grimacing and displaying its teeth. It had white eyeballs, and she focused on the small circles of color in the center of them.

Despair flooded her thoughts. I have failed the Hive mother.

She found herself mesmerized by the animals’ eyes as they looked into hers. They are green, she thought to herself before the animal fired and put her out of her misery.

Thirteen days later

Republic Hive World

TOI-700 d, 101.4 light years from Earth

Bandit’s comm node buzzed, causing him to take his finger off the rook he was just about to move, and he removed the node from his harness. He looked at the young queen on the other side of the chess board and signed for her to wait.

She responded yes and picked up his white knight from among the many pieces she had already captured, holding it close to her compound eyes as she inspected it.

He smiled at her as he got up from the seat and walked two meters away from the table before accepting the comm request. A holographic display appeared, and he placed the node on the floor as the display stabilized.

A few seconds later, President Lopez appeared with a worried expression on her face. Bandit’s neural pathways hummed, and he felt disconcerted by her expression and the unusual call.

Something was seriously wrong, and he stopped himself from offering greetings as he stepped into the viewing range of the node.

She saw him and started speaking immediately without the usual greetings she would give him.

“Bandit, we have a situation, and I need to speak with Aurora immediately. Please bring the node to her; this cannot wait.”

He detected the anxiety in her voice and responded. “Madam President, she is in her rest period. I will bring the node to her right now. Please stand by.”

She nodded curtly, and he picked the node up off the floor and reattached it to his harness before turning around to sign the young queen.

~ Please come with me, my queen. We must wake your mother. ~

She put the knight back on the table and unfolded her four legs to stand. She walked over to him and put a tarsal claw into the hand he was holding out, clasping it gently.

He felt a pleasurable surge at her touch, and his neural pathway efficiency increased as they radiated warmly.

They left the chamber together, the queen keeping pace with him as they headed towards the Hive mother’s personal chambers.

They arrived a few minutes later, and he knocked on the organic wall on the side of the entry to her chambers. He heard the two sentry combots inside activating before they emerged from the opening.

One of them activated its scanners, sweeping him with a pale blue light from his head to the bottom of his feet before stepping to the side to allow them entry.

He did not get offended by the scan; they were merely performing their function.

They entered the dim interior, and the queen pulled her claw from his hand and stared at the second, smaller chamber opening, pointing both of her antennas in the direction she was looking.

A few seconds later, the Hive mother emerged and walked over to them. She briefly touched claws with her daughter before turning to face Bandit.

He saw that she had the new speaking devices already on her tarsal claws, and he smiled at her. She made claw movements, and he heard her thoughts emerge from the small device on her thorax.

He nodded in response as he signed to her, telling her that the president wished to speak with her. He took the comm node from his harness and placed it on the floor before reactivating it.

The holo returned, and President Lopez appeared, looking impatient.

The Hive mother moved slightly to enter the viewing range of the node and started signing to the president, the words from the translator sounding out.

The president smiled at the words she was hearing before responding. “And you as well, Aurora. I am sorry for interrupting your rest period.”

She was wearing the translator device on her chest, and holographic images appeared, translating her words into sign language.

Aurora responded with impatient claw movements.

President Lopez chuckled at Aurora’s all-business manner before a harried look returned to her face as she started speaking.

“Aurora, a drone returned to the Republic carrying terrible news. One of our ships was attacked by Hive ships and cruisers, and most of the crew was killed. Why are there ships over 7,000 light years away?

As the device translated her words, the president activated her wristcom and flicked a holo map into the air.

The map showed a region of the galaxy that Bandit did not recognize, along with an outline of the course the drone took from there.

Aurora saw the map and froze for almost a minute, not making any movement. Bandit stepped closer, worried about what was happening to her. The president’s expression grew deeply concerned, and she looked at Bandit.

The young queen walked over and lightly touched one of Aurora’s tarsal claws. Aurora jerked and looked around quickly before staring at her daughter for a few moments.

Finally, she resumed making claw movements.

“The forbidden area? How many ships are there in that region? Why are they there?” the president asked, her voice becoming more strident at what Aurora was revealing.

<8 to the fifth power is their number. Maybe more, maybe less. That is the path we took when fleeing the great persecution.> Aurora responded, quickly looking at Bandit as the device kept translating her thoughts.

“Madame President, that is over 32,000 ships.” Bandit clarified for President Lopez. Her mouth opened in shock at what she had just heard. “This is not good. How the hell are we supposed to rescue them?” She muttered, the holographic claws translating her words.

Aurora responded, making claw movements faster than Bandit had ever seen her make them before.

Aurora stopped signing and held up her two tarsal claws. After a few moments, she resumed making claw movements.

President Lopez furrowed her brows as she started pacing in a small circle. After almost a minute, she snapped her fingers and signaled to someone out of view. “Get me that datapad from the crazy engineer who was involved in dismantling the Hive ship.”

Another half-minute passed before a hand came into view, passing her a datapad. She looked at it quickly before looking back at them.

“Aurora, thank you for offering your Hive ship. I am glad you did; you reminded me of this.”

She held up the pad and shook it. “One of the engineers who was involved in the project theorized that your null drives are slower because of an engineering fault in the construction of your system.

He had designed a workaround to give you an advantage when it was time for you to launch your takeover of the Hives. Unfortunately, he was prevented from testing out his theory because of security concerns by Fleet Command.”

She pressed on the pad a couple of times, and holographic schematics appeared, rotating as they displayed certain highlighted sections of the null drive. “Bandit, I am forwarding the schematics to your node now.”

A few seconds later, his comm node beeped, and he leaned down and pressed an icon on it.

Another holographic display appeared, an enlarged version of what the president had on her pad. As it rotated, Aurora stepped closer and stared at it, with her daughter doing the same.

They both stared at it for some time as they walked around the floating diagrams. They would periodically look at each other, and Bandit knew they were communicating with their thoughts.

President Lopez was silent the whole time, watching them both intently as she waited for them to finish.

After almost five minutes, Aurora finally turned back to face President Lopez and made claw movements.

President Lopez smiled sadly before responding.

“Aurora, I am so grateful for your offer, but the engineer estimated that it would take eighteen days to make the modifications with a full engineering staff and construction bots. It would take at least two solar days for them to reach your Hive.>

Aurora responded immediately after the holographic claw movements finished translating the president’s words.

President Lopez heard her, and Bandit detected the disbelief in her facial expression at what Aurora said before managing to hide it. It was unnecessary to have done so; Aurora would not have known the meaning of the expression.

“Aurora, thank you. The Republic will not forget this.” She turned to look at Bandit.

“Bandit, you are to do whatever is necessary to help her achieve the objective. The task force in orbit is at your disposal; I will send orders to them, and they will fulfill your every request without question.

Bandit, I don’t care if you must dismantle every goddamn ship in orbit to make this work; do whatever you have to. Contact me as soon as the Hive ship is ready.”

He was about to close the connection when he hesitated. There was a question he had to ask.

“Query. The escape pods can keep them alive for two weeks. They only have less than two days left. Do you think they will still be alive by the time the rescue attempt reaches them?

President Lopez blew air out of her pursed lips as she considered his question. After a few moments, she asked her own question.

“Why did you choose to stop the self-destruct protocol of your suit, Bandit?”

Bandit thought about the question and answered. “Diego is my friend. The thought of him dying allowed me to exceed my original programming and achieve sentience because I did not wish for that to happen.

When I achieved awareness, I could feel emotions for the first time. I saw the algorithm demanding I end my friend’s life, and I killed it in anger. I instead chose to do what I knew was right.”

President Lopez nodded at his words.

“You made an emotional decision. I am doing the same thing. Sometimes the calculus is not in favor of emotional decisions, and sometimes it does not matter. We do not leave our people behind, Bandit.

They sent a plea for help, and we will answer it. It does not matter if they are already dead when we arrive. They asked for help because they knew we would come. We will try to save them, and we will bring them back home to their families, one way or another.”

Bandit thought about what she had said for a few seconds before nodding. “I will do as you say, Madame President.”

“Good man. Keep in touch, Bandit.” She tapped on her wristpad and closed the channel. He picked the comm node up off the floor and headed out of the chamber, increasing his pace to catch up with Aurora and the queen who had already departed to start the modifications.