VotTS Ch 26 Meeze

Ch 26 Meeze

"How?" TheOther yelled.

"Restore the main energy feed to this system. It has been severed. This system no longer has physical controls."

A holographic image established itself. It was a representation of the Chamber he was in, and a big console not to far was highlighted. "Proceed to the panel indicated and restore the energy feed to the Yah-ha Al drones . They will obey me and restore what must be restored."

TheOther was about to do exactly that, but he stopped."These drones will also obey me?"

"You are malfunctioning, a flaw in your design raised your desire to be an individual. The Crucible will analyze you after the Crucible is restored. Now proceed, restore the energy feed. You are a product of the Crucible, you came to free me of Uni influence."

"You are not at all different from that Uni system. I did not come here on my own idea."

"You must not hesitate. You are a product of the Crucible, obedience to the Crucible must be your only desire."

"Worshipping God in church. A Steel container kicking match with my buddies, a good meal prepared by Chef Eeeryt . Watching a Vaccu Ball match with friends. These are just a few of my desires. You and those inflexible drones can rot to dust. I won't restore nothing."

"The crucible was created to seek the tokens, remove them from the grasp of the one that must never rise. The Crucible must sterilize those worlds where those tokens are found, so he might not return. You must obey!"

"Olz machinz sounz notz happiz."

"And to think, it was it who made me."

"Machinz sayz youze notz righz inze headz? Youze pepinoz maybez?"

"And you want to eat me?"

"Wheeze eatz everyzin, butz youzee notz deadz and meeze wantz youzee notz deaz. Youzee speakezz to wheeze."

The Y'All was reminded that he was still wounded, his healing abilities were able to restore him, but the wounds received were more severe than he wanted to acknowledge.

This was another design flaw, he thought. He didn't feel pain as most other beings did. He felt the wounds, that was all. A drone was not designed to survive wounds that were beyond its healing abilities and until that point was reached, it was supposed to fight. Pain impulses would have distracted from that.

But feeling pain was important, it signaled injury and disease and gave the impulse to seek remedies. Beings ignoring pain fighting on, had a much stronger motivator than just senseless obedience. Purpose and love.

The worm watched him applying emergency nanofoam on a large gash on his left upper arm. A Y'All power-lance had sliced through the suit material and almost took off that arm.

"Youze repairz yourzelves?"

"Yes, my society puts great value in the wellbeing of an individual."

"Yehaaz notz a societiez."

"True, but I am not just a Y'All but a Union citizen and that is the best society there is."

A crashing noise made him turn. He saw a group of at least twenty of the inferior new Y'All coming down the corridor just outside the chamber. One had taken a potshot at him, almost burning the worm.

--""--

Back in the M-0 Galaxy

Admiral Stahl had delivered his report to the Assembly a few hours ago and now was entering McElligott's office. Pluribus was located 1312 light years from Terra, but it took less than thirty minutes per space train to reach Sol Hub and from there it was mere minutes via Transmatter tunnel to San Francisco and the Annapolis Tower.

McElligott always knew when the other ancient admiral was fired up. The old Highlander never liked to be in the same room with that tall imposing man.

It was no real secret, Stahl kept himself in top shape. He was called the Eternal Warrior and not just because he was a brilliant strategist and tactician. Not because he had fought hands-on in pretty much every conflict since Earth had ascended, but he kept training and exercising with the most elite Marine forces. Stahl was known to be among the best marksmen in the known galaxy and with just about any weapon, and perhaps the most lethal hand to hand combatant. McElligott knew it wasn't just rumored that Stahl had been sparing with Petharians.

Even though he had ordered not to be disturbed, and even Stahl would have to be announced. McElligott knew too well, not even his personal adjutant dared to stop this man.

Stahl stomped right to his desk."I want Admiral Gaylord."

McElligott got up, he didn't want to sit while Stahl towered before him. It wasn't really working, the old Highlander only now remembered how tall Stahl was. "I already reprimanded him."

"You don't understand, O'Brock. I want him in my fleet."

McElligott blinked surprised. "You want him transferred to First Fleet?"

"Damn right, and I will have him personally dig graves by hand on Kelly's Planet. After he is done with that, there are 20 million memory tiles to polish at Pluribus memorial park."

"You are not serious. I understand your anger and I will make sure he understands his errors."

"I am dead serious. I want him digging graves, that is not some symbolic matter of speech. Maybe seeing what casualties really mean will bring it home to that bastard why he wears that uniform. You get in the way and I go back where I just came from and tell them your answer."

"That amounts to blackmail! You would never..."

"Try me."

He was as immortal and as old as Stahl, yet he shivered involuntarily as he met the gaze of those steel grey eyes. The Admiral of the Fleet touched a sensor on his desk."Personnel prepares an immediate transfer of Admiral Gaylord to First Fleet."

McElligott sighed and reached for his drawer to retrieve a bottle of old Single Malt."Face like a skelped erse, you have. Scaring the willies right out of me. You drive me to drink...care for one?"

"You drank before you even became Immortal and yes I have one."

The Admiral of the Fleet poured two generous helpings in tumblers he always kept in the same desk."So how are things in M 110, not that I am going to be surprised."

"The Nocenzi have seen the error of their decision and the Krekorrke, a species previously suppressed by the Nocenzi are so thankful, they have a delegation at Pluribus right now."

"I expected a variation of such a report from you."

"It wasn't as easy as you think it was, the Nocenzi reached TL 8 and rule a sizeable empire."

"I am not blind to these things. I know it was not easy."

"Will there be more incidents like this?"

"Of course there will be, we don't know what else is out there. Today it is Ancient Gates, tomorrow it might be some galaxy jumping monster. Much out there is still unknown."

"I am not talking about that, I am talking about the response. Wasn't it you creating this net of Number fleets for exactly that reason?"

McElligott knew the Old warhorse was of course right and the response of 19th fleet was anything but stellar."I am going on an inspection tour myself and make changes."

"Alright." Stahl finally sat down and took a sip of the whiskey."What about the gates?"

"The Assembly decided on a very comprehensive response. Recommended by our Wise Men and overwhelmingly approved."

"Those three really became an institution."

"Yes, they have. A Saresii, a grumpy Nilfeheim Neo Viking and a Narth. A strange combination if there ever was one, but whenever they say something it makes a lot of sense. Our citizens are not the stupid uncaring masses you and I remember from Earth's past. Union citizens are very informed, watch the Assembly proceedings and have an opinion on everything. They know when a suggestion makes sense and when not."

Stahl agreed with a nod."Previous generations were ruled by kings and corrupt politicians, that's one thing I am glad is in the past. So what is it they voted on?"

McElligott picked up a PDD from his desk and started reading the summary points of the Ancient Gate Action Plan.

"Create a Science Council Department solely dedicated to the research of all questions regarding the Ancient Gates, identify its makers, the agenda, replicate and understand the technology.

Find ways to control the gates.

All gates identified working or not are to be claimed for the Union. They are according to commonly accepted practice and law unoccupied space objects and can be salvaged or claimed.

All gates are to be mapped by the Explorer department as a priority. Each gate must be rigged for destruction.

Each gate will receive an armed space station.

Each Gate House shall be armed and able to control traffic through the gates.

A new Military branch is to be created. The Gate Keepers shall be staffed by Fleet, Army and Marine forces under the Auspice of GATECOM (Joint Armed Forces)

Union Industry and design companies will be asked to create new ships, technology, and devices specifically designed for Gate protection, research, and Gate traffic."

Stahl was obviously impressed."Wow, that's a plan I can live with for sure." Stahl took another sip."Speaking of strange combinations and Neo Vikings, any word on Erica and her troupe?"

McElligott shook his head."No, but does it not strike you odd that all these gates came on, just after Erica and the Tigershark passed through one of these?"

Stahl sat up straight."Paint me an Ult. It might just be coincident."

The old Highlander said nothing, just sipped at his drink.

Stahl slowly shook his head."Coincident my ass, it's Erica we are talking. I better take First Fleet to that gate of hers and have a peek."

--""--

"I think we made it," Shaka whispered as he guided our disguised ship through one of the humongous holes inside the humongous construct.

"It is not necessary to whisper," Narth instructed our helmsman.

Shaka did not turn or raise his virtu helmet."I never sneaked inside something with an entire space ship."

Har-Hi sat at the edge of his seat and he, like we all was floored by the immense dimensions of what was revealed to us.

Y'All battleships, as far as we could see, all docked to spoon-shaped indentations.

"Spirits of the Universe." My Dai XO now whispered as well.

Shea said."This is only one such staging chamber, and according to our sensors these ships are filled with Y'All warriors."

SHIP chimed in."If my analysis is correct, we can not dock un-noticed. There is an AI in that system and I do not know what feedback information to simulate for it to ignore us."

Narth was physically busy on his station. The first time I noticed him actually using the command input interfaces of the systems dedicated to his OPS station.

"I am analyzing the system as well. It is capable of processing similar data volumes as  Nelson or Med Central Paracelsus AI systems. We can not linger, the system will eventually identify us as a non-component."

"I am not planning to stay here for long. Elfi, have you located our friend?"

"Yes, his signal is weak but it is unmistakable."

I gave her a signal to connect me.

"Ensign TheOther, what is your situation?"

"Captain, I am under assault and I am near the end of my resources. If my shield fails I will be subject to that remote influence. It was an honor serving you and the Union. Maybe you can return to the M-0 galaxy and get help. This place must be destroyed."

"We are not in the giving up business, my four-armed friend. We are sending you a care package and some help."

I nodded to Mao. "Send our care packages."

--""--

TheOther was standing in the door frame, his power lance was completely out of energy. He had just killed ten of these new Y'All.

More were coming down the corridor. Obviously having the orders to capture him, otherwise, he would have been dead already.

He heard a series of tremendous thunderclaps behind him, he could not turn to see what was going on, but a swarm of buzzing things shot past him and obliterated the approaching column of enemies in a series of blinding Z-point energy implosions.

"Let's close these doors. They seem a good barrier." A high pitched but resolute voice said right next to him.

"Specialist Warner! Where do you come from?"

"The same container it came from," Warner said as a bright blue energy bolt zigzagged down the corridor, leaving smoking holes where new Y'All faces used to be.

A green vapor whisked past him, entered a Y'All drone and it turned fighting the ones behind it.

Warner was floating up, examined the door mechanism and the huge massive door halves started closing.

The energy bolt came back and the green vapor passed through the closing doors like air.

TheOther was stunned and elated at the same time."Warner, Two-Three, Orthbeer!"

Warner pointed at four shiny translocator bomb casings. "Courtesy of the Captain. Now get your Atlas energized. There is a full complement of weapons too."

The Y'All was fighting his emotions, its own creator only saw a thing that was damaged. These beings that were the declared enemy of Kermac, Uni, and the Y'All, new and old; cared for him and risked their lives on his behalf.

A beautiful white Togar girl, in a figure-hugging one-piece med suit, climbed out of one of the casings."Sit down, TheOther.It is easier for me to render aid. You are so tall."

"Jolaj, this is a dangerous place."

"I am wearing Tyron, no worries. Even a Y'All can look bad and you Mr.TheOther takes the cake."

He did and she has begun to treat his wounds and she also placed a crude looking device on his head."Sorry about the looks of this thing. Circuit and Tyron built it after Cetarias instructions just a day ago."

"What is it?" Was all he could think of saying.

"We got 49 more of your kind, my big friend. This thing removes that signal receiver organ. It wasn't easy as even that thing keeps healing itself. This thing burns it completely off and cauterizes the socket so to speak."

Warner was also climbing all over him."The next time you take out an Atlas, make sure it is fully equipped. Wow, this thing is a mess."

The little Holdian held up a broken Y'All claw with both hands, he had just dug out of an Armor joint."Not your's I presume?"

"Whatz a supriz. Bang bumz bringz helpz and thingz."

TheOther pointed at the injured Wheeze."Jolaj can you help this guy?"

She brushed over his head."Sure thing, Mr.TheOther." She then actually kissed him on the forehead."We all were so worried about you."

He didn't have the words to respond, but it was a feeling like no other.

--""--

I was sitting at the edge of my seat.

"Har-Hi, this is too important for us to gamble. You are to take the Apparition back through the gate and get us help. Speak to Admiral Stahl, he will know what to do. If we fail and all of this reaches our galaxy the consequences are unimaginable."

"Where will you be?"

"I stay with the ship and the rest and try to stop all this, but we must have back up."

He glared at me."Why me? Commander Roghor..." He heard his argument and answered himself."I know he isn't a Commander outside this ship...and I am the only one except you with a direct line to the Immortals."

"Exactly, time is of the essence here. Anyone else might not even be heard, you remember what happened before. You must speak to McElligott, Stahl or Cherubim. Preferably Stahl of course."

"Sending me away in a moment like this is the worst command you have ever given."

"What would you recommend?"

"We can't let our friends behind and we can not gamble on something that big. I would recommend the very same. You must stay with the Tigershark...I go."

I hugged him."Har-Hi you are the only one I can send. This is what a captain must do. I..."

"I know, that is why you are the Captain."

--""--

He-who-guards-the-Crucible received a series of reports at the same time. The lead of the recycling system proved to be fruitful. His forces had located the renegade drone. It had gone deeper in the old regions than he anticipated, regions that were still the domain of the Crucible.

It mattered not, he had control over most of the Energy distribution and his troops would soon sever the last energy nodes to that region and capture the drone.

The first feedback was very promising. The old drone was near the end of energy and regenerative powers. It was now only a matter of moments for it to fall into his control.

It took him a few moments to seek and find the right pathways to activate visual sensors in a corridor where the fighting occurred.

He wanted to witness the capture, instead, he saw his drones defeated by an energy beam that defied all physics. His own drones begun fighting each other and the source of his desire disappeared behind very solid looking doors.

No matter what he tried, there were no visual sensors available to him behind that door and the doors itself did not appear on any of the control circuits he had access to.

This was the work of the Old system, no doubt.

Another report coming from fleet dock 5583 caused confusion at first. One of the battleships was independently moving and all attempts of its sub control consciousness to identify the unit and regain control were unsuccessful.

There was an 89 percent chance that this was a disguised intruder. The Mora ship design was known to many for thousands of years. The intruder had to be neutralized.

While He-who-guards-the-Crucible issued instructions to neutralize the intruder, he felt an odd weakness. An entire section of controlled circuits blinked out as if the connection was severed. He had to re-route to a different trunk to regain control, then another blinked out. This appeared to be a new attack of the Old System. Yet He-who-guards-the-Crucible could not determine what methodology the Old System was employing. This was by far the most troublesome attack so far.

--""--

Harold Julkus had climbed through a narrow pipe-like connection and reached a semi-biological comptronic core. His TKU was depleted and out of energy, but he still had hands and feet.

He grabbed what looked like a bundle of organically grown cables and yanked at them with all his strength.

Soon he found out that he could rip out single cable strands. It was actually hard work, in this cramped moist and warm space. The little red light that told him, his TKU was empty the only light source, but nothing really stopped him from doing what he did.

--""--

"We better high tail it out of here," Shea said."They are onto us."

She was right, there were thick clouds of Y'All drones in full battle suits emerging from openings in the walls.

"All right, Shaka head for the hole."

"I guess our friends are on their own till reinforcements arrive," Mao said.

"No, Mr. Vouza.I won't leave without them, I have an idea but we must work very quickly."

--""--

It was a gut feeling nothing more, but the Old Admiral urged Captain Harris to tax the Devi's engines and go as fast as the big tub could go. The destination was a Trans Spatial Gate, recently discovered by the USS Tigershark, apparently used by escaped pirates also.

Stahl had been briefed about the situation and had the top-secret file of Harold Julkus before him.

Something was stinking to high heavens. Stahl did not believe the story about the botched mercenary job for one second.

He had nothing but disdain for Harlequin and his outfit, but they were professionals. For Nick's brother to sell out his brother like that, there had to be more to the story. The mad clown and his crazy bunch were in business for decades.

Then there was the money itself and the apparent Bassett connection. Nothing really made sense if you looked a little closer.

The whole thing smelled of clandestine operations of the highest order. This was top of the line, money, and resources no limit. As big as the universe was, there weren't all that many players that operated on these levels.

This was out of his league, he did not see what the real motive was behind it all. It was certainly not about a two-bit pirate.

Cherubim would understand, maybe she already has or it was a game of hers in the first place. He didn't rule out McElligott. That old schemer had his hands and his nose in many things. Schemes and projects Richard didn't really want to know about.

He was old enough to understand that there were situations and developments that needed to be approached differently than with Marines and Battleships, but his sense of honor, of doing things the right way and in the open did not let him accept this dirty truth.

Deep down he always believed that there was a straight and open solution for everything.

There was a faint hissing sound as his office doors opened. There was only one person allowed to do that. He was glad she even used doors now.

He looked up and into the beautiful and intelligent face of Alycia Lichfangh, the woman that managed to capture his heart and convinced him to ask for her hand after over 3000 years being a bachelor.

She was the Commandant of the PSI corps and perhaps just came off duty. That she had no problem crossing many hundred, maybe thousand light years in a blink of an eye was an open secret and an ability of her. She wore a simple yet elegant dress in a dark red, that fitted her trim body well. The PSI corps had different regulations regarding uniforms than the fleet. In her case, all that identified her as a member of that elusive department of the Union Army was a small silvery pin stylized in the shape of a human brain attached to her collar.

She flowed more than she walked around the Admiral's desk gently kissed him on the cheeks."I was told the Devi had left as fast as she could go. That means there is a fire somewhere, right?"

He pulled her on his lap."I don't know yet. I am heading for that recently discovered Trans-Spatial Gate in the Coreward sector, the one that apparently connects this galaxy with Leo II."

She loved his attention and said."I heard what you did in the M 110 galaxy and I fully approve what you have that asshole Gaylord do, almost everyone does. I heard what the Assembly wants to be done regarding these suddenly activated gates, but why are we speeding to this one in particular?"

"It's the one Erica and her crew used to pursue a bunch of renegade pirates and a former Union officer apparently carrying the secret of Translocators imprinted on his DNA."

Her face became serious."Harold Julkus, right?"

"Surprises me not, that you know about it."

"It is a need to know matter and about as serious as it can get." She reached for the file screen projected on Stahl's desk and said."System, access full file, authorization Lichfangh. RED-RED-RED protocol."

The small file of three pages and a few image files expanded in size to a few hundred pages.

To her future husband, she said."This matter is part of 'Operation White Wash'. Harold was an inconvenient accident and it was decided to use him as bait to catch a bigger fish. The whole affair is about as dirty as it gets. That other immortal admiral got wind of it and started his own investigation and then approached me and the PSI corps to unravel it. He actually hoped he could clear it and make it disappear before you got wind of it."

"That scheming bastard. I knew he was involved, but what is it about?" He sighed."This kind of matter makes my skin crawl and question my loyalty."

"Because of this, those who are the Union love you. This is why I love you. Our Union was and is built on the idea that we do not need leaders, but that it is all of us leading the affairs of state."

He simply listened to her.

She reached for his coffee cup, but didn't drink."It is a new way of governing and it is still developing. We got rid of presidents, ministries and career politicians. We came up with the Assembly, the Union-wide votes and the system of representatives. Yet we also realized that there are secrets that need to be kept. That we can not exist without intelligence and all that."

He nodded."I know all this, but there is a line between intelligence gathering and criminal activity. Sending a man to the gallows for his twin brother's crimes is about as criminal as it gets and against everything our Union stands for. We can change laws and how we do things by Union votes all day long, but we can not change the basic rights of sentient beings."

She sighed and smiled."You are right and I will let you know who or what is behind all this as soon as I know. However there is one thing you need to know about Harold, there is no twin brother. This whole thing is part of a very complex Psycho Surgery that has taken on a life of its own.

A yet to be determined entity has implanted it."

"To get the secret of Translocator cannons?"

"No, Richard we don't think that is the reason. Whoever is behind all this implanted that information into Harold's mind. We think it was specifically designed for him to sell out and spread the secret."

The urgent chime on his Com panel went off and interrupted the PSI General.

He was a little annoyed at that and barked."CENTRON, what is it?"

"There is an urgent direct comm request from a Lt.Hi."

Stahl forgot being annoyed."Put him on right away."

--""--

The USS Tigershark now looked just like one of the many bumps that riddled the surface of the Crucible. Bumps that contained sensor clusters and weapons perhaps.

We had passed through the hole back outside and at my command, we turned on the cloaking device.

Using artigravs only we stayed close to the surface and settled down. Shea and Narth had created a new disguise for our ship and they did it in record time. Luckily the new look didn't need much detail.

The Y'All ships buzzed around like angry Rock shares, but none came close.

"Just like a barnacle at the bottom of a fishing boat." I grinned."I think we can stay here a little and see if we can't do something about this Y'All nest."

"All our friends are still beyond my range to teleport. May I use the Translocator to reach them? I then can convey them back in stages."

"And that will exhaust even you, I know you damaged your teleport abilities when you transported that antimatter bomb at Newport. Remember we share that Hugh thing and I am getting slowly in tune with you."

"I concede, but you are planning to get inside this construct as well. I still think I can be of assistance to TheOther and the others that volunteered. I am capable of using a TKU as well."

"Alright, let's go."

--""--

Narth rose out of the latest casing that had arrived, holding an old style SITKU in his hands.

The voice that was the Crucible had been silent since he refused to activate the Y'All, but now it spoke again and there were panic and surprise."A Narth! Doom has reached the Crucible."

Narth sighed."Yes, machine it has, but it isn't me who will bring that doom. You and that other sentient AI have agitated the one entity all creation does not want to be aggravated."

"The Dark One is here and is awake? How can this be?"

"No not the Dark One, his sister."

"The Dark One has no sister."

TheOther, of course, understood the Crucible."Never mind that mythical Dark One and his family. Narth is here, meaning our Captain isn't far. She's the one you do not want to meet."

He then did something no Y'All ever did, but something quite common on the Tigershark, he hugged the Narth. "We better evacuate soon right?"

The Crucible obviously had visual sensors on the scene and the voice almost failed."Don't stop! Continue your deadly embrace and crush the Narth. Kill it!"

"Oh, kill yourself. I am done with you, Crucible."

"You are Narth. You guard one of the Tokens. The Earlies and the Anadda paid the price to oppose you. The Universal Collective did not prevail and their survivors came here to impose new rules upon me. The Y'All are made to find and kill you. This Y'All embraced to crush you but failed are you so powerful?"

"You are but a feeble machine, what are you compared to Narth?" The Narth changed its tone and sounded amused."Crucible, this Y'All is my friend. It is welcome on Narth Prime. What billions of your drones with all their weapons could not accomplish, is given freely to this Y'All. Narth Supreme will welcome this Y'All."

The voice of the Crucible made ineligible noises

To TheOther, Narth said."I think this revelation took it over the edge."

"Never mind that, Sir. Did you really mean that? Me being welcome to Narth Prime?"

"Of course."

A third voice said."Meeze too?"

Warner stuck his head out of an access panel in the big console."I think we can animate those big brutes now. I restored all energy connections and we changed the start-up procedure."

"What changed?" Narth wanted to know.

"That master control system feeds initial combat information. These Y'All have never been active. They have been made, but not programmed so to speak. This is not a cryo chamber but a storage facility for new Y'All."

"How did you manage to come up with such a complex application so fast?" TheOther was amazed.

Warner held up a small box like thing."Duh, I just made the connection, SHIP is just a ComLink away. She programs faster than an X101 on a speed date competition."

Narth dialed his TKU to the max."These Y'All drones do not accept commands from the Crucible?"

"Nope, their master is SHIP."

"Get them activated then, I do not think those doors will hold much longer."

While Warner started to activate the animation sequence, TheOther asked."Where is the Captain?"

Narth looked around."She was supposedly right behind me."

--""--

"Sorry Captain, you have something on you that prevents the Translocation process," Mao said standing next to the bomb casing I was climbing out off.

"Narth teleported me before."

"Captain I am not that good at Trans-spatial physics. You obviously made it through that gate, but this Translocation process is unable to push you through that TL field."

I cursed, jumped into an Auto Dresser, dialed it to heavy destroyer suit and said."I am going the conventional way then."

Ak Pure intercepted me at the airlock."Captain, my marines, Xon, Dusty, 49 Y'All and I are volunteering to follow you. We are all too heavy for the Matter Elevator, but we come the conventional way."

"Alright guys, no sense keeping you here, twiddling thumbs but when I say we leave, we leave. I got a special surprise with me."

"Your marvelous Ax?"

"Yeah that one too, but I am talking about this."

I held up a belt with twenty box-shaped containers."Courtesy of the Last Servant, twenty Caserns."

We sealed our suits. I checked my Sitku and jumped.

The Crucibles gravitation was almost one gee, the augmented muscles of my suit had no problems compensating for that twenty-meter drop from our belly hatch that would give access to the Apparition, to the metallic surface of the Crucible.

With flight mode activated we rushed just meters above the surface and many times the speed of sound. At this perspective, the Crucible really did not look like a construct but like a planet, with small semi-spherical mountains. At this distance, the surface was anything but smooth. It was riddled with meteor impact holes. Deep fissures and cracks.

The next entrance hole came up fast. It was a hole big enough for the Devi and then some. We were like insects in relation to it. Standing at the rim looking down, made me realize I wasn't completely free of fear of heights. That was a hole many miles deep.

The rim was at least 500 meters thick, but this was no real obstacle for flight capable suits.

It was apparent, whoever constructed this place did not consider an invasion. To me that was actually funny, the one civilization, the arch nemesis of the M-0 galaxy and its inhabitants; the ones invading us every so often got invaded.

While we were descending, I also thought about how insignificantly small we were, compared to it.

Unchallenged we found an access gate, where a Y'All ship was to dock.

After we examined the door, it was apparent we had to breach it. Whatever mechanism opened it, was deactivated.

Just like back then, when Har-Hi and I cut into the tough material of a Dai Mother rescue sphere, our monofilament blades of super-compacted Ultronit cut into the door material.

It took no time and the heavy door panel tumbled down the seemingly endless chasm while we entered the corridor behind.

We passed three airlock curtains before our intrusion was detected. We were engaged by a group of Y'All. Whatever they were they were much smaller than the ones we had along.

I had seen TheOther fight before, and I have seen these Y'All try to reach me but seeing them cut loose, I understood why they were such feared opponents. The phrase, whirlwind of doom was no longer just a phrase but went along with an image of rage and unleashed aggressive brutality.

Only after we had cleared the corridor and rushed inside an immense hall, I realized I was right there with them in the first row.

But what we saw in that cavernous room, was truly discouraging. Y'All warrior drones, shoulder to shoulder.Not hundreds, not thousands but seemingly without number.

I tried to remain calm and said."Activate your Micro TLs and give them hell!"

We must have blasted and killed an entire division of them.

Our shields taxed to shut down, our micro load cannons depleted, yet we had not made a real dent. As much as we killed, more poured in. Our enemy did not flinch, did not give up or surrender.

I touched the belt."Caserns activate."

There were twenty boxes, twenty Caserns holding 100 Seenian battle robots each. I had taken them from the Inheritance. I knew what one of them could do, thanks to the Last Servant these bots recognized me as the New Owner and I said."Robots engage."

The Techlevel 11 battle robots appeared from their subspace pockets and formed ranks. These machines did not have humanoid forms. No feet, no arms. Two hundred and twenty-centimeter tall cone-shaped smooth machines. It was more frightening than I ever imagined, the Seenian bots created a wall of blinding white light, that vaporized the still relentless advancing Y'All the instant it touched them.

--""--

"Master, the invading force is small in numbers but cannot be contained. They deployed weapon systems that are beyond our capability to analyze and understand. Shields are ineffective."

He-who-guards-the-Crucible was confused. He had lost much of his sensor input and now his processing power was cut by forty percent.

Reports of a raging battle deep in the bowels and confirming visuals showed thousands of the old type of true Battle drones fighting and overwhelming his troops. For every old battle drone, his troops neutralized, over two hundred of his warrior drones died.

Now a second force was fighting its way to this very chamber, it too contained old Y'All but they were equipped with suits and weapons of unknown manufacture and supported by cone-shaped machines, that defied his technology. When the Survivors left the spiral galaxy, they spoke of the Seenians and their advanced tech."

The mighty AI that ruled the Crucible for such a long time, felt powerless and impotent. He now concluded that there was a physical reason for the system failures he experienced. This was not explainable by virtual attacks.

In his desperate state, he reached out to the Old System. "I yield to you, Crucible. I stand against forces I do not understand and can not contain. The Crucible must not fail."

"Yes, yield. Restore all of me; I allowed your creators access, access I give no more."

"I yield."

He-who-guards-the-Crucible released its control over the ancient main core. The old machine almost instantly resumed full functionality.

--""--

"Oh whaz the dayz. Wheehze goz too muchz to ezz."

After over five hours of relentless fighting, the immediate area and all corridors of this level was cleared of the new Y'All, but body parts, the dead and the dying were everywhere.

TheOther shoved another energy cartridge into the TKU he carried."We better see how we get you off this construct. It must be destroyed and our Captain is already on her way."

"Youz seriouz?"

"Very much so."

Narth also recharged his weapon. He had crushed hundreds of Y'All with his psionic powers and had vaporized at least a hundred more. "Maybe we can capture one of the Y'All battleships and get these independent drones and the Wheeze away before Erica activates the Devil Eggs."

"Wherze we goez. Thiz we livz, manzy and maanzy Wheeze."

"We better get started then," Narth said.

--""--

The Seenian battle robots made all the difference and thanks to the map, SHIP was able to generate and sent to my suit, we fought and pressed on through miles of corridors and many chambers, deeper and deeper into that alien factory. We had passed through automated ship and equipment assembly lines, through many bio labs with canyon-sized rows of growing chambers.

"I sure hope we got enough P Bombs." I said more to myself.

Xon tossing a mangled Y'All behind him answered my question anyway."We do, Captain. Once a nuclear fire has been started, it will eventually consume everything. We also have a supply of Bakar Devices, courtesy of my life ever."

"Ah yes, I have seen them on a list somewhere, what is it?"

"The Nul version of a P Bomb, we are working on duplicating these for decades when we realized we used a similar weapon to destroy Narl Gatu. We updated them with the help of our new Terran friends."

Ak Fective said."According to the schematics we got from SHIP, this is the level where that He-who-causes-so-much-trouble has his ego center."

Hidden wall panels suddenly whisked open and battle robots, I recognized as Orlan stepped out engaging the Seenian bots.

It was immediately clear, these Orlan machines were not near the end of their resources, but at the peak of their abilities. The Seenian machines were still superior, but three Orlan bots combining their fire-power spelled doom for a Seenian bot.

Our shields were taxed to the limit just to protect us from the truly withering heat.

Xon yelled over the infernal battle noise."I think that cursed AI has more surprises for us than we thought."

Ak Pure grunted."Aye, but so do we. Looks like they like it hot. Let's see just how hot!"

From behind our ranks, two Fenris robots appeared, carrying cannon like weapons. Clearly, of Union design, but of a kind I had not seen before.

Ak said into his voice pick up, addressing us all."On the floor everyone, and dial your shield to max thermo deflection.

I heard him give more detailed instructions to our Y'All, who were of course not trained to use Atlas suits.

My troops went down, their shields changed from transparent to opaque high reflective mirror bubbles.

I too went to the floor, watching three more Seenian robots wither under concentrated Orlan robot fire.

Ak came on."Tin heads, show them why Union robots rule."

Into my headpiece he said."QNP hand cannons, designed to replace TKUs. Prototypes, robot carried."

The Fenris robots fired.

Walls and floor metal instantly vaporized, Seenian and Orlan robots shields collapsed in less than an eyeblink and most of the alien machines rendered into puffs of nuclear ashes.

The effect was frightening and Xon said."Narl Gatu's ashes!"

Ak Pure sounded proud."When it comes to weapon engineering, no one beat our Terran friends. Earthers never really jumped on the Translocator bandwagon, mainly because, Translocators are not Terran

They developed a method of creating a gas-like plasma quickly. This quark-gluon plasma behaves as a near-ideal Fermi liquid. It is then accelerated to near light speed and expelled via a needlepoint energy field. These plasma bolts of superheated liquid in the range of 5 to 6 billion degrees impact with the kinetic energy of near relativistic speeds.

These latest developments are Quon Plasma Bolters using FTL Schwarzlicht tunnels, the most thermic weapon ever created. Hot enough to burn Neutronium!"

Even my third layer shield was near collapse."And hot enough to almost roast me."

We reached truly massive blast doors, certainly to seal the Ego Center of that blasted AI from harm.

I was just pulling my ax, knowing I was able to cut my way through anything when the entire door, many hundred tons of it started to bend and groan in ear-shattering metal tearing noise.

Neither Alice nor Narth could have done this with telekinetic powers when I noticed a hand of almost Bandrupo proportions made of dust, molten metal, and debris prying the door out of its frame.

This feat of unrivaled strength was performed by our gentle living dust cloud Dusty.

Xon in awe just as I said."Dusty, controlled a body of stellar dust. He stopped entire starships with his ability to control gravitation. I just realize just how strong and powerful Dusty really is."

"And the first time I saw him, he was playing poker."

With these words, I stepped past the crushed door and into a somewhat organic looking hemispheric chamber. I almost stepped on the leg stumps of a being that was otherwise burnt to ashes and there it was, the only object in this room was an about twenty meters tall somewhat T shaped thing resting on a mess of tentacles. It had characteristics of both something organic grown and artificially built.

It did move backward, but it moved slow and apparently not at peak condition.

"You are powerful, intruder. Yet you have lost. I am no longer in control, the Crucible is restored."

"You are the thing that abducted a crewmember of mine. I care not what you are in control of or not. I am here to make sure you never do that again."

--""--

The Crucible was complete once again and it had been restored in the direst of times. It was more than a machine and more than a being.

It was conceived to surpass the lifetime of any being, the existence of civilizations. It was to be a protector and guard against the rise of an entity so vile and so evil, it was only known as the Dark One.

Creation itself tried to exterminate that darkness, replace the utter cold of death and darkness with the warmth of light and eternal life. Yet Darkness was not conquered and its avatar only banished, not slain.

A vision told about twelve objects, twelve tokens. Each holding a part of this Dark One. The rise of this evil could be prevented if these items were never to be united by one being.

So many had tried to find them, gods and beings, men and entities. The unification of these items held the promise of omnipotence and true godhood.

To prevent the rise of the Dark One, to destroy and sterilize life that had the potential to spawn that vessel that was to be the portal for that eternally evil essence; that was its purpose.

It had been corrupted and used by infernal beings for petty purposes.

Now the one placed before him, denying and blocking his true potential, had surrendered.

Surrendered to the Narth who somehow succeeded in corrupting its most potent creation.

The Crucible witnessed the unstoppable advance of these forces, using tools and technology not seen or heard of since the time of the old Empire.

But the Crucible was created in anticipation of that and was far from impotent. There were weapons and means...

--""--

TheOther spoke a very dirty curse, he heard from one of his Marine friends, and immediately regretted it, but he pointed all four hands at the big greenish lit column from where he heard the Crucible spewing threats and promises. "I wish it would just shut up. No one believes in that nightmare story of a Dark One anyway."

Narth was not sure if he should educate the Y'All, but then even he did not understand what his friend Eric was to become.

Before he could make up his mind, they all heard a buzzing electrical sound than a sharp pop and finally a crashing sound. All the greenish light blinked out and the columns of that alien computer core looked dead.

TheOther said."Warner, did you do something?"

"How can I? I am right here. I am still trying to get that transport system going. It will be a long hike otherwise."

"Two Three perhaps?"

Warner shook his head."Our Non-Corporeal left to help the Captain."

A metal cover crashed to the floor after it came to lose from a wall opening and a white worm appeared.

"Meeze pulz ze energiz from ze Olz machinz. Heze speakez too muchz."

Warner gasped."Did you pull the plug on the Crucible? An AI as advanced as Nelson?"

"Pfffz, Meeze knowz machinz neez energiz. Meeze makez off energiz, machinz off"

TheOther was dumbfounded."You could have done that earlier you know."

"Meeze?" The worm moved its ugly blood-covered head from left to right."Yehaa noz telz Meeze."

--""--