Chapter 321
28th of June, 2130
Earth, Sol System
Valduc Strategic Research Base, European Federation
''Alex'' sighed as she set down the report.
Delays, delays, more delays, nothing but delays...
When she''d been assigned to project New Dawn, she''d seen it as her stepping stone to flag rank. But now she was languishing in a hive of corporate interests, political infighting and military indecision. The higher ups wanted a new generation of warships, to counter the United Interstellar States'' dreadnoughts. Great. Except that they couldn''t settle on what the hell they wanted!
So delays. Because they kept adding more things onto the project. Better lasers, better power plants, better grav drives, better missiles. Better damned near everything! If this went on, they''d have so much new crap for a single generation of ships they''d only be able to push out the prototypes and then hobble along trying to get them into actual volume production.
She picked up her holopen, and jumped as she felt arms embracing her.
"Hey there darling. Working late again~?" Whispered a voice into her ear.
Alexandra rolled her eyes.
"Yes, I am. And before you say anything Arcie, so are you!"
The AI giggled.
"Perhaps." Her android quickly went around the officer''s chair, and unceremoniously dropped into her girlfriend''s lap. This time the robot was slim, with chin length, yet still flowing white hair, piercing purple eyes that seemed like a perpetually aflame nebula, and coming up barely a head shorter than her partner. The AI regularly changed bodies, but if one things was certain, it was that none of them even remotely qualified as ''normal''. "But I''m an AI. I don''t sleep. Or need rest. You do."
"Depending on what you mean by ''sleep'', you do sleep a lot." Said Alex with a grin.
"Oh, you''re the one cracking dirty jokes now?" The AI lifted the woman''s chin with her index, before kissing her, actually purring as they pulled apart. "We''ll see how long that last."
"Uh huh. So, what brings you to my humble abode?"
The AI smiled, in her slightly deranged fashion. Alexandra had used to be slightly concerned by that, but she''d long since embraced it. Everyone had some kind of damage, and what if the AI was slightly crazy? Get in line, no one had gone through the Terran Hegemony Wars with their sanity intact, and those people ruled the Federation. Decrepit, riddled with biotoxin and genetic anomalies politicians with febrile eyes, seeing chemical bombs under their beds every night. Better an eccentric AI than these maniacs.
"There''s a new movie showing in the Molrovia theater tonight! I got us tickets!"
"New movie? Wait." Alexandra''s eyes widened. "Molrovia?!? That''s-"
"The most exclusive theater in the Federation, I know." Purred the AI. "And you''re coming with me. No ifs, no buts, I''ll tie you up if I have to."
Alex mumbled something to the effect of ''you''ll tie me up anyway you tin can'', before clearing her throat as Arcadia''s smile only widened.
"So what are we going to watch?"
"Interstellar Justice Three: Galactic Sword of Judgment!"
Alexandra blinked.
"Damn, I thought that hadn''t come out yet." Then it hit her. "Stars damn it, Arcie is it the premiere?"
The AI looked away.
"Mayyyybe?"
"Oh you''ve got to be kidding me! Arcie, how much did those tickets cost?"
"Well nothing, why do you ask?" The AI gave her girlfriend a brilliant smile.
Alexandra gazed at the android suspiciously.
"Of course...And how did you get those invitations?"
"Weeeelll, the firm that made the film was glad to have some corporate publicity, plus a few celebrities, the new, the old, the up and coming, and I got invited."
"And added me as your plus one, is that it?" Alexandra''s eyes narrowed, and the AI whistled innocently. "As well as no doubt hyping me up a fair bit."
"Well, you are an up and coming member of the navy."
"I''m a freaking captain in an office working on a semi secret project!"
"And I can guarantee you you''ll be admiral by the end of the decade!"
"Yeah, with your patronage."
"Don''t be like that!" The AI flicked her forehead, and Alexandra winced. Slim or not, that android was strong enough to rip apart power armor. Arcadia only used the best for her ''personal'' forms. Supposedly for vanity, by she knew the AI had made them into machines of war to get those she cared about out of the line of fire. It was...flattering, in a way. "You know you need the help. And I''m not asking for anything."
"Yet."
They exchanged glares, but the AI finally subsided, lowering her eyes.
"You know I wouldn''t. Unless it was...dire."
Alexandra sighed, and wrapped her arms around the android, which the automata returned after a few seconds.
"I know, I know..."
They just stayed there, in companionable silence, hugging each other.
Then, at long last, the officer took in a deep breath.
"Alright, I''ll accompany you to that premiere." Arcadia''s face brightened, and she opened her mouth...only to close it as her girlfriend held up a finger. "On one condition."
"Ooooh? Conditions, a deal, a contract?" The AI climbed up all over her partner, almost tipping the chair over as the human leaned back, as the officer was reminded that despite everything, Arcadia was a businesswoman first and foremost now. "What is it? Out with it temptress!"Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
"You have to wear that dress I bought you."
Blood truly couldn''t drain from the AI''s face, but the android did a very passable imitation of the phenomenon.
"What? But-"
"No ifs, no buts, either you wear it or I don''t go."
"It''s...it''s dreadful though!"
"It''s regal!"
"I''ll look like a beached whale in that!"
"Better than you looking like a damned stripper you nymphomaniac! I''ve seen barbie dolls with more square centimeters of clothing than some of your outfits!"
The AI sat back, crossing her arms, almost pouting.
"That''s-"
"If you say a matter of taste, I''m going to see if my foot can bend the titanium of your ass."
"Ow. Catty." The AI threw her hands up as Alexandra glared at her. "Fine! You win, alright? But!" She smiled. "You have to wear your dress uniform in exchange. Deal?"
Alexandra winced, but nodded.
"Deal."
"Excellent!" The AI slapped her thighs, before jumping off of her girlfriend''s lap, and unceremoniously grabbing her hand, practically dragging her to her feet. "Now let''s go!"
"What, now?" Said Alexandra as the AI began leading her out of her office, the door opening at her approach. A door Alex knew she had set to manual.
Damn it Arcie, stop hacking my shit! Thought Alex, though she knew better than to voice it. Complaining would only mean the AI would double down.
"No time like the present!"
"But...this is a military base!" One where nuclear bombs were still being produced, as a matter of fact, despite the site being far from its heyday as the last nuclear weapons production facility remaining in Europe after the devastation of the Terran Hegemony War, and the rabid expansion of its capabilities during the Interplanetary Wars.
The AI simply laughed.
"And I own your entire logistics pipeline, the shuttles carry whatever the hell I want! Now move it, we need to make sure your makeup is good before we go on the red carpet!"
Alexandra jerked awake as she got the comm ping.
What-
She blinked, and looked around. She was...in her workshop. She''d fallen asleep on one of the workbenches, her head resting on a pile of computers, one meant for the new AIs she was making.
The dungeon core rubbed her eyes. What the hell was happening to her?
She opened the notification she got. A breakthrough? This quickly?
Well, the least she could do was check it out.
Maybe it would help shake off the...not dream, the memory she''d just experienced.
*****
"That was fast." Said Alexandra as she stepped into the Flickerlight''s engineering section.
"Well, it was a simple solution. A stupidly simple one, staring us all in the face." Answered Ghost, looking at Alexandra''s side.
The dungeon core blinked, and followed her other self''s gaze...to find a golem.
"Uh...Okay? Hi, Seraph, you''re in there, right?"
"In the flesh, so to speak." Said the AI as they bowed, and Alexandra chuckled. Metaphors and jokes. Maybe the AI was coming out of their shell after all.
"Good. So, Ghost, what breakthrough did you say you-" Alexandra stopped, as Ghost smiled, and whirled around to face the the golem again. "Wait a minute, how...what...In the flesh?!?"
"That''s the breakthrough I was talking about." Said the apparition.
"You managed to get one of our golems here? How?"
"I didn''t."
Alexandra opened her mouth, closed it, and then promptly facepalmed.
"Oh Gods..."
"Yeeeep."
"We have unlocked fabricators. We don''t need to use our powers to create golems we can just...we can just make them! Actually make them!"
Ghost nodded.
"Precisely."
"Shit. Alright, what is the price difference?"
The apparition grinned.
"So far? Fifty percent savings in mana for a golem."
"...Fucking hell." Golems were, by far, her number one spending item. One she hadn''t managed to compress beyond a few percentage points thanks to Emilia''s monster spawners. Reducing the cost by half. "This is massive. And that''s just with the fabricators, right?"
"Yep. Just with them." And they both knew fabricators were absolute crap in terms of production cost by item. There was a reason the assembly line still reigned king back on Earth after all. It was just that when you needed something mass and volume efficient, plus polyvalence without equal, there was no alternative. Thus why they were a favorite for ships, burgeoning colonies or hell, secure facilities like Seraph''s bunker. "Though, keep in mind, that''s not counting the cost of making the fabricators."
"But they can self replicate."
"They can, but even with that, it''s still costly infrastructure. Not to mention, in their case, not that much of a decrease in price. We still can''t refine metamaterials."
"Something we''ll work on later." Alexandra closed her yes. "So now it''s become absolutely vital we get those out of here. Not just for future plans, but also for the current war effort."
"Well...we kind of figured that was the case, so we''d started working on, ah, plans."
Alexandra closed her eyes.
"Let me guess, they involve explosions."
"Actually, no! Seraph?"
The AI stepped forward.
"The fabricators can be disassembled and reassembled. That is key to the plan. Our primary obstacle currently is the defenses arrayed around the cavern. Passive scans from the ship''s arrays indicate the entire space has been surrounded with wards and arcane tripwires, some of them extremely ancient and of uncertain origin. Digging our way out would hazardous at best, suicidal at worst."
"So?"
"Smuggling. The weakness of this defense is the guards. They have to regularly cycle in and out on a predictable schedule for shift changes."
Alexandra smiled.
"As usual, the human factor is the weakest link in security."
"Affirmative. Normally bribing or otherwise corrupting the guards would be the easiest solutions, but that is not an option here."
"Yeah, anyone who realized something like this had happened would know the culprit, and the guards would be a loose end. So, what, use stealth golems to sneak in as they change shifts?"
The AI shook her head.
"Negative. Not only would this require substantial investment in time and resources to manufacture golems in sufficient numbers to carry some of the pieces, but the hallway defenses also constitute a formidable barriers. The golems would have to accompany the guards as they move in, and the golems can either keep pace or stay hidden from the layered arcane sensors, not both."
"Right." Because speed can compromise stealth. The eternal fucking conundrum, from submarines during the Terran Hegemony War to stealth recon frigates in Alpha Centauri. "What then?"
"It is simple. The sensors do not detect sufficiently stealthed high technology if it is carried by someone authorized, or the stealth golems would not have been able to be brought in."
Alexandra tilted her head, and she laughed.
"You''re going to make the guards carry them out?"
"Yes. They bring crates of supplies down that they then carry back out, to allow troops to eat and drink here. We will have to place the components within."
"That''s going to take a bit."
"The smaller parts can be hidden in any ration tin can. The problem will be taking possession once they are out."
Alexandra pinched the bridge of her nose as she closed her eyes.
Oh dear.
"Right. Of course. because let me guess, those crates are going to be stored in the cellars. The ones used to store siege supplies. The highly secure ones the Count is extremely paranoid about because they''re what allowed the city to survive Sunrise''s attack."
"Affirmative."
"So, you want us to transfer our parts from a highly secure location to a slightly less secure one, then repeatedly heist the latter?"
"That is the plan."
Alexandra sighed.
"I''m not sure if that''s insane or brilliant. Probably both." The dungeon core opened her eyes. "Do it."
After all, some of the stranger arcane sensors on the cavern...they probably either belonged to or were tapped by the God of Fire. But why would he monitor a collection of food?
If crap went sideways, they could manage the count and his people.
"We shall begin preparations immediately."