Infection Snippet 2

 

Omicron Tortuga, Xeno Capital

 

Hazel Irons Prime watched as the conference played out. The Necron leaders and the Wraith Queen argued over logicistics versus command and control. Her partner was fanatical about maintaining command and control. She had serious trust issues and was paranoid for good reason.

As her former and well, current partner, the Wraith queen had been engineered as her watch dog. Technically they should have completed their mission and been destroyed in the process or survived and reported back in. However there was no one left to report back to, the Xenos were destroyed or hiding.

The Xenos had been big on control. They had built in kill switches and in some cases a time limit for AI and ships to function before they shut themselves off or self-destructed. Oddly that didn't extend to some of their nanites. They had found worlds infested with nanites and primative intelligences in the sector. There were reports of other such worlds too.

Given that the Xenos had been space based... could that be why? Or a scortched Earth tactic? She wasn't certain.

Her partner had been convinced to reprogram herself into what she was now, the new queen of all Xenos. Their growing clan was based in the former pirate sector capital. They had an alliance with the Necrons to help take over and eventually take over the galaxy.

Of course her queen intended to stab her partners in the back when she no longer had any further use for them. So, was that another reason for her paranoia? Her plans made her think that they planned the same thing to her? Most likely, the clone mused darkly.

Her partner had recently started to realize that she had erred in consigning all of the worlds to the Necrons while she focused on only space. The Necrons wanted flesh as well as other materials to mold. She had only wanted plastic and metal to forge her fleet.

They had hit upon the limits of their technological base however. As changelings they had lacked the database of a Xeno Queen. Therefore they'd been forced to adapt the Necron model and use cyborg crews... and slowly rebuild the Xeno fleet.

They had a form of economy going. But the push into Upsilon sector as well as Pi was giving them growing pains.

Heart burn, she thought in the recesses of her twisted mind.

"We need more supplies in order to push the Feds back fast," A necron admiral said in the group chat through their growing ansible network. "But speed is an issue."

"Speed and time," another responded. She recongized that one as one of the Chesters. Her queen had stopped a Necron courier carrying a Chester and had copied it for her own purposes. There were several now in her service though they were all loyalty conditioned to the queen.

"We do not know what they are encountering or what they need. We can't just send them everything, we need materials here too," a general stated.

"Ships too," an admiral stated.

"I will not send more until we know more about what we are up against," the queen insisted.

Hazel grimaced but said nothing. She saw Admiral Chester glance in her direction and then away and then back to the sector map.

The Wraith Queen and the Gravemind both wanted to maintain command and control of their respective far flung forces. They also wanted to keep an eye on each other, which was natural. They also kept arguing over who would be in overall command of the Pi sector.

Hazel sighed inwardly again. Well, they wouldn't have a way to see what was going on, or exert control for some time. Ships with ansible cores were en route to Pi sector but due to the nature of their delicate cargos they were taking four times longer than normal ships to transit the leap. So they had three more years to go before the first one arrived.

And of course it was a Necron one, something that her partner was not happy about.

"As I see it, we have the standard dilema. Long supply lines and a need to coordinate over that distance. We need information flowing and we need additional resources there. We also need leadership," Supreme Admiral Kelogra, the commander of all Necron fleets and the coordinator of their strategy stated.

Hazel knew that her queen coveted the supreme admiral but even if she could get a copy of him she would not allow him to function with this sort of initiative. Which was... a pity.

"You can send as many generals and admirals as need," the Xeno Chester stated.

"No we cannot. There is a limit," another admiral, this one a Necron replied.

"You can grow as many generals as you need!" The queen stated.

"We can indeed grow many generals and admirals," the Necron caretaker stated.

"See?"

"But a group of generals is of no use without those under them there to execute the orders. What point is a general with no army?" a general stated.

"Send them and have them build the army there!" the queen insisted.

"Which we are doing in Upsilon to some degree. But they lack experience. They also lack the materials to do their jobs."

"You are downloading information..."
"Correct. As much as we can and diseminating it. But our forces are out of date and changing daily. They are unfortunately, not as adaptive yet as we would like to see. The forces that are gaining experience are in the field and out of contact. Some are lost to combat before their minds can be copied," a general stated.

"Once we have a solid foothold and a connection we can send orders to grow units locally in whatever amounts the local supplies and time can achieve," the Gravemind rumbled in its echoy chorus voice.

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