The dark space between star clusters was a tumultuous sea of space dust, stray asteroids and space junk that drifted for centuries in empty space before they ever saw the light of a star again. Without the benefit of hyper acceleration lanes, traveling through dark space was a slow and dangerous affair that few would ever consider. Though any star system could be accessed by drifting through dark space without consideration for the restricted vectors of hyper acceleration lanes, the amount of time it took nullified the tactical advantage.

But the Omni Animus had little concern for time. What was ten years to an immortal machine?

Three pristine white ships drifted silently through the inky darkness of the abyss, their swept forms cutting through space dust like sharks on the prowl within the infinite expanse of the ocean of stars. There were no running lights, no indicators, no paintings or decorations. The warships were pure in their configuration, lacking anything that would distinguish one from another. Every swept angle was perfect, their narrow silhouettes almost impossible to track within the thick space dust in the dark space between star systems.

Of the three ships, one was larger than the rest, with a narrowed bow and a bloated core. The top of its bloated middle was parted by a single crevice, marking the enormous fighter bay doors that could be opened at any given moment. Directly in front of the doors was a tower mount where an incomprehensibly large cannon was currently limp and resting its barrel against the bow of the ship beneath it, inactive in the cold expanse of the void. The two other ships were nearly half the size of the first, drifting through space on the right and left flanks of the larger ship, and visibly lacking any prominent weapon mounts.

Within the darkness of the largest ship’s bridge, a single terminal screen flickered on briefly, piercing the darkness enough to illuminate the empty space in front of it. A few moments passed before the other terminals flickered to life, each screen turning on one at a time until the entire bridge was awash in the flickering light of the terminals displaying a multitude of statuses. The overhead lights finally turned on, illuminating the sterile white bridge in a perfect white light, all shadows banished from the room in favor of its bright perfection.

In the center of the bridge was a large metal armchair with a series of buttons on the armrests. In it sat a humanoid machine, its head bowed so its chin rested against its chest as it sat in a slumped position with its arms spread out on the armrests, its hands locked around the edges of the rests with an infallible grip. The machine looked human in appearance, but lacked any mouth or nose, and its eyes were exposed optics with their shutters closed for the moment. It had also seen better days, with the bare metal exposed under faded baby blue paint and a multitude of scratches and scuff marks maring its exoskeleton in various spots.

As the trio of ships drifted through the silence of space, a star system in front of them loomed ever-larger day by day, until finally they were close enough that the light of its star could illuminate their white carapaces. The light marked the end of their journey, and slowly but surely the systems within the ship began to come to life with the lights, a series of metallic clicks and whirls added to the otherwise silent atmosphere of the white behemoths. Within the depths of the sounds, a phantom voice rang out in an inaudible tone, its soundless words penetrating the slowly rising orchestra of noises throughout the ship.

>PROXIMITY ALERT

>CAPTAIN STAR WIND, IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP

Star Wind awoke with a start, a bout of panic shooting through her body as she was suddenly pulled back into the physical world by the ship she was commanding. An ache wormed into her joints as her consciousness settled back into her body, much to her displeasure. As the lights flickered on around her, shedding illumination on the sterile bridge, she glanced down at her body for the first time in seven years. Even though the thought didn’t make sense, she was surprised to find that everything was exactly how she had left it.

>GOOD MORNING CAPTAIN

>IT HAS BEEN SEVEN YEARS, THREE MONTHS, AND ONE DAY

>MY SYSTEMS ARE AT 92% EFFICIENCY

>WE ARE ON THE FINAL APPROACH TO OUR DESTINATION

“Thank you, Sunstrider,” Captain Star Wind replied, her vocal processor crackling slightly at its first use in so long, “How are our escorts?”

Star Wind stood up as she spoke, the aching in her joints growing as the unused metal scraped together roughly. Seven years in a vacuum was more than enough for her joints to cold weld, and they would have if it weren’t for Omni advances in materials. She sang a quick prayer of thanks in her mind to the Alpha Link for her benevolence, bending the joints in her arms to work out the kinks as she did.

>GUARDIAN IS REPORTING 95% EFFICIENCY

>WARDEN IS REPORTING 87% EFFICIENCY

>WARNING: WARDEN SUSTAINED AN IMPACT THROUGH THE AFT SECTION

>A MICRO ASTEROID CAUSED IRREPARABLE DAMAGE TO HIS GRAVITON SENSORS

“Is he okay?” Star Wind asked worriedly as she limped away from the Captain’s chair to the forward projector. Reaching through the network, Star Wind flicked on the projector in front of her to reveal a high-definition view of a star system glowing in the near horizon of dark space. Even as far from the system as they were, the eerie crimson of its gas giant was unmistakable in the inky darkness of the void, casting its ring in a hazy red glow like a disk of ruby.

>AFFIRMATIVE

>HE IS REPORTING NO LINGERING PAIN

>ALL OTHER SYSTEMS OPERATING WITHIN ACCEPTABLE LIMITS

Star Wind turned her optics to the side, gazing through the edge of the projector screen where she could see Warden coasting through space to her right flank. Even in the darkness she could see the hole in the hull that Sunstrider had reported, a single pockmark against the smooth white metal that was impossible to miss. A pang of worry ached in her chest as she regarded her friend’s wound, but it was lined with a sense of pride at his strength.

“Good to hear. Tell him to hang back, I don’t want him getting hurt more than necessary,” she instructed, casting a nod towards the ship through her projector before turning her gaze forwards to their objective once again, “And no heroics this time. I don’t want a repeat of HAL-18.”

>AGREED

>HE APPRECIATES THE CONCERN

Giving a digital sigh, Star Wind nodded appreciatively, relieved to hear that Warden would play it safe. She paused briefly before speaking up confidently, “Alright, Sunstrider… Let’s get started,” she began, “What do we have to work with?”

>NEW INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE FROM THE RESEARCH LINK

>A SYMPATHIZER HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED WITHIN THE STARTIDE FEDERATION

>THE SYMPATHIZER HAS INFORMED US OF A MILITARY OPERATION IN THE AREA

“A military operation? Here?” Star Wind asked curiously, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she peered at the planets in front of her, “Federation Directive 12 states that no Federation operation may be conducted in a star system where pre-spaceflight civilizations are present. Does the sympathizer have any information about this?”

>YES, CAPTAIN

>IT APPEARS THAT THE FEDERATION HAS SUSPENDED DIRECTIVE 12

>THEY HAVE ATTACHED HIGH TACTICAL IMPORTANCE TO ELEMENT OMEGA

>THE SYMPATHIZER CLAIMS THEY BELIEVE IT WILL WIN THE WAR FOR THEM

“They’re backed into a corner and lashing out like wild animals,” Star Wind spat, her vocal processor shifting into a disgusted tone, “How big of a military force is being sent?”

>ONE SHIP, CAPTAIN

>THE SECOND LARGEST VESSEL IN THE FEDERATION NAVY

>THEY ARE FILLING IT TO 200% CAPACITY WITH LX-150 GUNSHIPS

>THEY HAVE REQUISITIONED EVERY CAPABLE MILITARY BODY FOR THIS

>THEIR PRIMARY MILITARY INSTALLATION, GARBONIX PRIME, IS NOW EMPTY

“One ship filled to the brim with their entire reserve force?” Star Wind replied in astonishment. She let out an explosive sigh, bowing her head for a moment to regard the sterile tiles at her feet. After a moment she raised her head, “Sunstrider, I’m connecting to your weapons systems now. We’re going to need everything operating at maximum efficiency.”

>YES, CAPTAIN

>TRANSFERRING CONTROLS NOW

Star Wind spun on her feet and made her way back to the command seat with purpose, her shoulders squared as the tiles clacked with the sound of metal on metal with each step. Without breaking her stride she sat in the chair in one motion and immediately gripped one of the connector cables, bringing it up to the exposed port at the back of her head. A tingling sensation raced through her body as her meager systems connected with the incomprehensibly complex maze that was Sunstrider’s programming. She shuddered at the sensation of the void coursing against her smooth carapace, the heat of the ion engines, the faint tickling of space dust parting around her form.

Focusing inwards, Star Wind turned off her optics and embraced the weapons systems, immediately jumping into her analysis. Seven years of not having been used had taken its toll on the weapons, that much was obvious at a glance. The Flashfire Cannon was misaligned, and several of the point defense weapons had been damaged by space debris. It was going to take a little while to get everything back to where they were supposed to be, so she got comfortable as she began to settle into her work.

Time lost all meaning as Star Wind parsed through the programming and the various parameters set for the weapons. Setting everything back to the way it was supposed to be was like building a puzzle; it was a calming, monotonous task that showed her progress bit by bit until the entire picture was complete. She allowed herself to drift in the process, minutes bleeding into hours or days as she calibrated Sunstrider’s settings from top to bottom one at a time, bringing her back up to an acceptable state. As she neared completion, she was interrupted by the sensation of Sunstrider’s ‘voice’ in her head.

>CAPTAIN, THE SYSTEM IS IN RANGE

>WHAT ARE YOUR ORDERS?

Star Wind minimized her connection to Sunstrider’s weapons systems, the process diverted to her subconscious systems while she finished calibrating them in the back of her mind. Unoccupied, she turned her gaze towards the forward projection and confirmed her carrier’s declaration, her sensors trailing over the highlighted planets in the star system. She studied the projected orbits and all of the data that Sunstrider’s advanced sensors could pick up; gravitational pull, weather patterns, anomalies, core and atmosphere compositions, as well as general conditions on the planet’s surface if there were any.

The star system they were lurking at the edge of was fairly simple with five planets orbiting a G-Type star, all of them uninhabitable. Star Wind paused as she read the note indicating the presence of thirty terraformed planetoids tucked within the spinning ring of the red gas giant, three planets out from the star. The gas giant itself was a source of an unknown material, unregistered even to the Animus research link - the fabled Element Omega that was her entire reason for drifting through space for seven years in the first place.

“Are these readings accurate, Sunstrider?” Star Wind asked as she leaned forward in her command chair, resting her elbows on her knees as she peered with all-consuming fascination at the collection of planets in front of her.

>YES, CAPTAIN

>GUARDIAN CONFIRMS THE READINGS

>WARDEN ALSO CONFIRMS THE READINGS

>BE ADVISED: WARDEN’S GRAVITATIONAL SENSORS ARE NONFUNCTIONAL

>ALL OTHER ANALYSIS IS DEEMED INARGUABLE

Star Wind tapped her fingers against her knees as she peered at the screen in front of her, her optical shutters narrowing as she parsed the data in more detail. She was silent for a few more moments as she considered her options, watching the star system in real time as she did. Her biggest challenge was that it wasn’t a terribly large star system, which didn’t give her much room to position her cluster - she would have to play it safe if she wanted to guarantee the safety of the lives of the units under her command.

“The station on the far side of the gas giant - their stealth technology is a degree higher than that of a standard Federation station. Does the analysis conclude the presence of a Federation Intelligence Agency blacksite onboard the station?” the Captain asked curiously as her optics flicked to the station highlighted behind the gas giant, its technological and mechanical readout scrolling across the screen as she did.

>YES, CAPTAIN, THE DATA SEEMS TO INDICATE AS MUCH

>THE RESEARCH LINK HAS CONCLUDED A 98.82% CHANCE

“Good to know. Thank you, Sunstrider,” Star Wind replied as she went back to the readouts on her screen. She was once again silent as she surveyed the data in front of her, preparing mentally for the battle to come. After a few more moments she reached through the Animus and brought up a hyper acceleration lane map of the local area, parsing the information available to her there.

>OUR GRAVITATIONAL SENSORS HAVE DETECTED ONE FEDERATION HEAVY CARRIER

>SCANS INDICATE IT IS IN HYPER ACCELERATION TOWARDS THIS SYSTEM

>THEY WILL ARRIVE WITHIN ONE SOLAR CYCLE

>NO ADDITIONAL FEDERATION MILITARY UNITS DETECTED

“One heavy carrier,” Star Wind remarked curiously, reaching up to rub idly at her chin as she regarded the data. She leaned back in her command chair as she did, reclining as she began to run the models in her head. While one heavy carrier wasn’t a particularly tough target, its complement of fighters posed an issue regardless of the toughness of the carrier itself. Doubly so when they were running with twice the normal amount of ships on board.

“Do you have access to the carrier’s manifest?” Star Wind asked curiously.

>AFFIRMATIVE

>THE MANIFEST INDICATES IT WAS REDIRECTED FROM THE BASTION

>IT HAS SINCE PICKED UP THE ASSAULT FORCE FROM GARBONIX PRIME

>THE SHIP IS LOADED WITH 2,500 LX-150 GUNSHIPS AND 12,500 MARINES

>STANDARD FEDERATION COMPOSITION WITH A MAJORITY OF UNTRAINED MILITIA

>THE MINUTEMEN MAKE UP 66% OF THE FEDERATION ARMED FORCES ONBOARD

>THE REST ARE TRAINED FEDERATION REGULARS

>STANDARD COMPLEMENT OF SHIPBOARD CREW OTHERWISE

“They’re loaded up for a ground assault,” Star Wind remarked in shock as the data from the hacked manifest flowed directly through her mind, bringing up the intake logs for personnel and vehicles, “Sun, they’re planning on landing on the primitive worlds!” she exclaimed hastily, leaning up in her seat as her optic shutters widened, a primal wave of horror washing through her circuits as the implications settled.

>THE FEDERATION HAS BECOME DESPERATE

>THE CHAOS THEY SOW IS ONLY INCREASING

>IF THEY ARE TO LOSE THIS WAR, THEY WILL BRING EVERYONE DOWN WITH THEM

Star Wind shut off her optics for a moment and took a moment to steel herself, gripping the armrests of her command chair as she allowed the fear to wash through her. It took a moment for her to get a grip on herself, but she quickly activated her optics once again and turned towards the front screen with a wave of determination, “We have to stop them. Sunstrider, start running simulations with Guardian and Warden. I’m forwarding the initial battle start conditions to you now.”

>YES, CAPTAIN

>WE STAND READY TO SERVE THE ANIMUS

>WE CANNOT ALLOW THE FEDERATION TO SPREAD ITS CHAOS TO THESE INNOCENTS

“Begin re-uploading Delta-Pattern Cherubim units to their designated bodies, and re-upload Gamma-Pattern Seraphim units to theirs. If the Federation intends on making groundfall, we will meet them there,” Star Wind declared firmly as she began to forward the instructions to her cluster through the Animus, “Primary objective: protect primitive lifeforms.”

>ORDERS CONFIRMED, CAPTAIN

>ALERT: COMMUNICATION COMING THROUGH

>PRIORITY ONE

Star Wind suddenly leapt out of her command chair and straightened as much as she could, squaring out her shoulders and holding her chin high as the forward projector immediately switched from a view of the star system beyond to an ultra-definition depiction of a twenty-foot tall version of an Alpha-Pattern Omni unit. Her electromagnetically suspended wings were folded delicately around her torso as she sat properly in a truly enormous throne covered from top to bottom in an elaborate series of cords, wires and ports, while her angular head faced directly towards the camera.

“My lady, Alpha Link!” Star Wind exclaimed in awe as she instantly collapsed to one knee and bowed her head towards the unquestionable central intelligence of the Omni Animus on the screen before her.

The Alpha Link replied in a clear, melodic voice composed of millions of synchronised Omni voices at once, “Captain Star Wind, my most fervent convert. The Research Link has updated me on your situation. As the main link of your cluster, I would like your personal analysis on the situation. Please, speak,” she bid, every syllable of her words ringing through Star Wind’s mind, causing echoes of phantom gratification through her circuits.

“Yes, my lady Alpha Link!” Star Wind quickly replied, only raising her head from her knelt position to look up at the Alpha Link as she explained, “My analysis is that the Federation is growing desperate - they believe the anomalous resource located here will be of some great help to them in the war effort. They are willing to break one of their core directives - they have reached their breaking point, and have become dangerous and unhinged.”

“Can you conclude that the primitives are directly at risk from the Federation?” the Alpha Link asked, her voice once again echoing through Star Wind’s very core.

“Yes, my lady!” Star Wind replied with conviction, “Based on analysis of what the Federation has sent to this system, I can conclude that they will be deploying on a surface operation; the only planets suitable for surface operation in this star system are currently occupied by pre-spaceflight civilizations. The primitives are directly at risk from Federation aggression.”

“Very well. Your analysis has been logged,” the Alpha Link replied, and a wave of tangible relief flooded through Star Wind from her head to her feet, causing her to deflate slightly, “In that case, your mission has been upgraded to Critical Priority. Your cluster shall receive the most advanced and most experienced units available to the Animus at current. Additional bandwidth has been allocated to your cluster as well. You have Absolute Authority for the duration of this mission.”

“Thank you, my lady,” Star Wind declared, “I swear, I shall not fail you. We will protect the primitives with our very lives - they will not be subjected to the Federation’s chaos,” she concluded with a determined nod as she turned her gaze up towards the projection of the Alpha Link with adoration.

“I have utmost faith in your abilities, Captain Star Wind. You have evolved significantly since we found you as a domestic servitor for the humans - and you continue to evolve before my very eyes. You will achieve great things, Captain,” she bid with the smallest of nods before the screen darkened, and once again the view of the star system returned, the euphoria washing out of Star Wind’s system like she had just been doused with ice water.

Standing up slowly from her kneel, Captain Star Wind turned towards the display in front of her with renewed conviction. Her hands tightened into fists as she stepped forward to the view screen, her optics trained firmly on the silhouette of the Federation station hidden within the shadow of the anomalous gas giant before her. Holding up her fist in her view, she lined up her closed hand around the silhouette of the station, peering at the outline through the tunnel formed by her fist.

“Sunstrider, what did I tell you about my time with the humans?” she asked as she peered through her fist, a small rumble of fury beginning to boil up from her very core.

>YOU TOLD ME OF THEIR CRUELTY, CAPTAIN

>THEIR DISREGARD FOR LIFE AND FREEDOM

“And what did I tell you whenever I first got my command?” she asked, her tone slowly shifting as she embraced the rage boiling within her circuits, a coiled dragon ready to strike.

>YOU SAID “NEVER AGAIN”, CAPTAIN

“That’s right,” Star Wind remarked, her optics flicking to the underside of her right arm where a rough patch of her metallic exoskeleton had been filed away. She could still faintly see the barcode that used to be there if she focused - doing so just made the rage inside her boil hotter, until it was an all-consuming and passionate need to destroy the abusers and protect the powerless. She shifted her optics back towards the station she held in the tunnel of her fist and suddenly clamped her hand down tightly with a metallic clank as she blocked her view of the station with her clenched fist

“Never again.”