Homeworld divided, p.7
Homeworld Divided, page 7
He paused, and a soldier handed him a paper cup of water.
“Thank you,” he said. “As I was about to say, we have another team combing through available databases trying to find a match to the ship in question and it’s owners, until then, we trade space for time, evacuate civilians in the path of our enemy, and buy time for us to plan a counterattack once we have more information.” The sound of chairs scraping the floor filled the room as everyone in attendance rose. “Dismissed.”
Untitled
1147 (MT), 7 October 2025
Groom Lake, Nevada
* * *
Luckily, Rooth was a talented pilot and managed to line them up on a runway. Unfortunately, they still came in with a lot of speed and less inertia dampeners than before. Henry’s stomach lurched as the ground rushed towards him before leveling off.
Henry’s restraints held him as his head whipped forward. A horrible screeching sound filled his ears. The barrels of his cannons bent on striking the runway while sparks showered the screen and him. He felt the craft skew sideways before coming around to face where they’d come from. He took a deep breath as he realized they came to a stop.
“If you’re not dead, sound off,” he gasped. A chorus of acknowledgements, mostly groans, came back. His neck and head throbbed as he undid his restraints and walked back towards the troop bay. “Junior, what’s the situation?”
“Well, we’re grounded for now,” the AI replied. “That other ship came down in the mountains opposite the base, mostly intact, unfortunately.” Carlos chuckled.
“Hey guys, we brought the UFO crash site to them!” he laughed. “Seriously, though, is anyone hurt?” While Carlos passed out heating patches and aspirin, Mike got a handle on the situation.
“We’re on the main runway, close to the edge of the salt flat,” he said. “There’s a backup hatch on the port side, let’s get our gear together, and rescue these people.” He looked at Rooth. “How badly is she damaged?”
“She can get airborne again,” Rooth replied. “The vertical takeoff system is intact, and our engines can still generate good thrust, but I need to patch some of these holes and try to repair some of the dampeners.” He looked around towards the others. “We also can’t afford to get in another big fight, we’re all kitted up, but if we took a bunch of shrapnel or the cabin was suddenly depressurized- “
Henry nodded. “We get it, bad news for the people we’re trying to rescue,” he said. “Where are they?”
“Their exact location is unknown,” Junior replied. “It’s reasonable to assume they’re deeper inside the facility for their protection.” Henry nodded and set about equipping the team for the mission ahead. Krek grabbed the Gauss rifle and plenty of ammo. Henry handed Gene a spike machine-gun and a backpack full of ammo before passing out grenades and magazines to everyone. Every spike rifle had a munitions launcher slapped on and Henry checked them off as they walked out of the escape hatch onto the runway. Once everyone passed him, Henry followed.
He stepped out under the noon sun. Even in October, heat mirages rose off the runway and salt flats around them. The runway bore heavy scars from Sugar Mama’s crash landing, and ahead of them, past the dropship’s engines, he spotted a row of hangers and out buildings. Beyond the mountain behind the buildings, a trail of smoke rose into the sky, marking the area where the enemy ship had crashed.
Hefting his rifle, Henry nodded to Swayze, and they got into formation. “Remember where we parked,” he said to the group as they stepped off.
Chapter Seven
1200 (MT), 7 October 2025
Inner Sea Administrative center, Inner Sea, Montana
* * *
Quassik paced around the room, listening to the cleaned version of Roqo’s last words again and again. “Yes, it’s all coming together,” Quassik said. “That explains the familiarity with M’nok technology. They would have to be M’Nok themselves.” His eyes, a little too close to a bird of prey for Chloe’s liking, bore into her. “Has Roberto finished looking into the handshakes?”
“Si senior,” Roberto said. “I did not want to interrupt your train of thought, it seemed most important.” Quassik shook his head.
“If it’s important, go ahead say it,” he said. “We’re waiting.” After a moment, a gentle tune played over the speakers. Chloe and Issac looked at each other.
“Roberto, what is this and where was it?” Chloe asked.
“Hidden deep in the handshake, an unnamed AI performed with Gway, Ewait, Junior, and myself,” the AI said. “I’m sure if I rummage through the other AI’s data I’ll find the same thing.” Chloe folded her arms.
“That still doesn’t explain what it is or why it put the AIs to sleep,” she replied. As she spoke, Quassik downed his coffee before yawning. “It sounds like a lullaby?”
“Because it is Ms Matsura,” Quassik said. “That’s enough Roberto.” He cast a sleepy look at Chloe and Issac. “It is a lullaby used to ensure hatchlings sleep when they’re supposed to.”
“So you’re saying that our vast array of hyper-advanced AIs all got bodied by a lullaby?” he asked. Quassik nodded.
“Remember the AI is based on a living M’Noks psychology,” he said. Then it clicked for Chloe.
“The lullaby, its effects are psychological, right?” she said. “As in a M’Nok would hear this and feel sleepy?”
“But you can resist it,” Issac said, picking up the thread. “You can take a walk, drink coffee, or eat something sour. An AI without a body can’t do that.” He paced around a bit. “So if an AI based on M’Nok heard the tune, then they’d feel compelled to go into sleep mode. They’re still starting it themselves, so we just need to find a way to wake them up.” Chloe looked back at Quassik.
“So what’s the deal with the Lost Light?” The M’Nok dipped his head, his hackles dropping with him.
“a long time ago, around twenty of your years, we had seven motherships in our fleet,” he said. “But tensions were running hot. Most of us assumed we were on the right path towards Tal-S’zan, excuse me, Earth, but others had their doubts.” He stood walking closer and leaning over their work station. “A young male named Greith began watering those seeds of doubt.”
“A demagogue,” Chloe said. “He played up people’s fears for power, didn’t he?” Quassik hesitated, but only for a moment.
“I’d like to believe his motives were more pure,” he finally said. “Although, considering he was my brother, I may not be reliable enough to assert that, anyway, yes, he convinced a good portion of the population of each ship that the Matriarchs were leading us to our doom, that we were passing perfectly habitable worlds by for a fairy tale, a child’s fantasy.” He slumped slightly, and Chloe heard the bitter sadness in his words.
“He convinced the vice Shiplord of the mothership Guiding Light to go along with him,” Quassik said. “They were going to sabotage the navigational data, but were caught. We couldn’t give them a fair trial however, their execution would spark a mutiny.”
“So you compromised,” Chloe said. Quassik clicked and nodded.
“We gave them the Guiding Light, and they took anyone that was willing to follow them,” Quassik said. “None of the matriarchs or full shiplords went with them, and fortunately, we had enough remain that we didn’t totally lose any single clan to Greith’s machinations, after they left, we renamed their vessel, the lost light in our records and used her as a ghost story to frighten hatchlings.” He shook his head. “Now that old ghost has returned to haunt us, I wonder what happened to her and her people.”
Chloe looked pulled up, an image of the ship hovering over Pheonix. “I take it they didn’t have this with them?” Quassik shook his head.
“That design is unfamiliar to me,” he replied. Chloe returned her hard gaze to the image. Mom, dad, please be ok.
Untitled
1300 (MT), 7 October 2025
Forward Base Jefferson, Utah
* * *
Qrora watched the drone footage with great interest. “So this is an Armored Cavalry Squadron?” he asked. Captain Tanner nodded.
“The tip of the spear itself,” the other man replied. Qrora took a moment just to appreciate the fact he had his chief military advisor with him. The portion of Tanner’s team, that wasn’t an active part of Midnight November, continued training and drilling the M’Nok Army of Montana, all under the careful supervision of Mr Lewis. Here Tanner provided invaluable insight into interacting with the various parts of the American military machine as well as effective leadership for his own forces.
The tanks and cavalry fighting vehicles of the armored cavalry squadron kicked up dust as they rushed towards the northern Arizona border. In the distance, Qrora could make out shapes.
“Can we enhance the image at all?” Qrora asked. “Let’s see what we’re up against.” The tanks opened fire, continuing to advance while the Bradley CFVs stopped and began to raise some kind of external launcher.
“Looks like we got mechanical zoom,” the warrant officer manning the drone said before tacking on a “sir.” Two kinds of enemy immediately became apparent. The taller one seemed about nine feet tall and mechanical. An angular snout like head sat atop a bulky torso with four arms and two legs. One set of arms held a large weapon, while the other two held small boxes, each with a metallic parabolic dish.
The other was…weird. Fleshey tri-legged things stalked forward. Their heads resembled mushrooms and what they lacked in arms they made up for with tendril that grasped what were clearly old spike rifles.
“Definitely familiar with M’Nok tech,” Qrora remarked on seeing them. Tanner nodded as the tank’s shells began to find their marks. Sabot rounds ripped right into the robots, ripping limbs apart, and caving in chests. The tripod people fared little better, sabot rounds utterly disintegrated them and machine gun fire tore them apart. The warrant officer sneered.
“These guys ain’t shit,” he said. “Came all this way just to get their asses kicked.” Qrora however, kept his eyes glued to the screen.
The robots, if they hadn’t been completely killed, continued to function. The boxes flashed and sections of the Abrams’ armor flashed yellow before bursting. Yet the mighty machines continued to fight. Bradleys burned like kindling.
“They need to fall back,” Qrora said. “We need a better understanding of their tech and weapons before we attack them properly.” He looked at the warrant officer. “Get the commander on the comm now.” Tanner passed him the hand mic for the radio.
“Just so you know, these guys with the stars, they don’t like being told what to do.” He shifted in place and shrugged. “Or told that they’re wrong.”
Qrora merely shrugged as he took the hand mic. “They’ll learn,” he said.
Untitled
“This is spooky,” Henry said as he stalked through the looming hangar with the rest of Midnight. He looked back at the side door they entered and shrugged. No turning back now. He recognized the closest two planes immediately. A J-20 sat angled into a corner with a Russian Su-57 shortly behind it. Even though Junior had confirmed it on the way, it still felt good to see he had been right. Then they began seeing other craft he didn’t. Not seeing immediate danger, they relaxed. Slightly.
“Alright Junior,” Mike said. “What are we looking at?” No matter how often he addressed him over comms, hearing Mike sound like he was having a conversation with himself.
“Well, for starters, we got the export model of the Su-57 behind it,” he said. “The Su-75, apparently we bought it from India after they bought it from Russia, and of course there're all kinds of prototypes in here, some foreign, some ours.” They paused when they caught sight of an F-35.
“What the hell?” Gene said. “We’ve been using these for years. Are they just sentimental?”
“That’s a no,” Junior replied. “This is actually an F-35 built with mostly M’nok materials, it’s only been flown a few times tough.” A map appeared in Henry’s visor. “You’re going to have to use the cargo elevator on the opposite end of the hanger to access the greater part of the facility.”
They ducked under a massive black plane vaguely resembling the SR-71 Blackbird to get to the cargo elevator. Henry suspected it was the AURORA plane he’d heard rumors of while not actually seeing it himself.
“What’s below here?” Krek asked as they stepped into the elevator.
“More prototypes,” Junior replied. “Although these are a little more…out there.” Henry grimaced as they crowded onto the elevator.
“What’s that mean?” he asked as the elevator groaned to life and began to descend.
“Just like I told you,” Junior said. “Alien tech as in not from Earth.” Swayze cast his gaze at Henry.
“Did you guys make contact with other M’Nok before?”
“Trust me, we would have known,” Gene said. “And if we had, would we have been surprised to see you?” Before an argument could start, Junior muted all comms.
“Boys, Boys, Boys,” the AI from Brooklyn said. “All the tech we have down here is way more advanced than anything we have, none of it M’Nok, or really human.”
“What’s that mean?” Ari asked, but after a brief moment, they had their answer. They were stunned.
Untitled
Chloe leaned over her workstation in the control room. Next to her, Issac looked through some files Roberto had given them when the AI lit up a projector near them.
“Eureka, my friends,” Roberto purred. “I have found the enemy ship, or rather, a close facsimile.” Chloe cracked a wry smile as Roberto projected an image of the ship over phoenix.
“You know I could listen to you read the dictionary,” she said. “What is this? How did you find it?” Roberto pulled up a number of cross references and indexes.
“My elder cousins posses extensive knowledge of the M’Nok and their history, and Ewait is quite the military historian, probably because he grew up with Shiplord H’Kai.” Isaac held up a hand.
“Wait, wait, wait, are you saying you woke up Ewait to talk to him about this?” He threw up his hands. “Why didn’t you wake all the AIs up?”
“You misunderstand, amigo,” Roberto replied. “It’s more like I just rummaged around Ewait’s room while he was sleeping and pulled some books off of his shelves.” He blew up the image of the ship even further. “Anyway, the ship itself, or at least its closest match, is this landing ship from historical records. It’s a blueprint battleship, an assault lander meant for breaking orbit and delivering troops to the surface.” Chloe narrowed her eyes at the mention of blueprints.
“But they never actually built this?” she asked. “Blueprints, it was meant to do this, why not?”
“They didn’t have time to,” Roberto replied. “By the time they would have been ready to deploy this vessel, recapturing planets from the Blacktide was a moot point, not when the fleet was already crippled from fighting them.” Chloe frowned as she looked over the lander.
“So this is, as far as we can tell, A M’nok design?” She scratched at her chin. “We need to wake up the other AIs. Getting them back at 100% will hopefully turn things around.” She looked up towards the ceiling, vaguely towards the motherships in high orbit. “But how?”
Untitled
Henry kept his head on a swivel. This is all so surreal. All around him, craft from another world filled the hangar. Disc shaped craft made of strange metal sat alongside triangles as black as night and a host of other odd shapes. Carefully, Midnight made their way through the subterranean hangar.
“I used to look at books filled with pictures of all the old alliance ships,” Krek said. “My parents hoped we’d bump into another member of the alliance.” Henry paused near a torpedo shaped craft with bits of what he recognized as bits of a wind mill embedded in it.
“See anything familiar?” he asked the big M’Nok. “Anything at all?” he looked back to the big M’Nok only to see him shaking his head. “Galaxy just got bigger I guess.”
They kept walking. Henry found himself distracted by several craft resembling flying wings off to one side when he noticed Carlos pause.
“Not big enough, I guess.” Henry followed the medic’s gaze to a more earthly looking craft. A circular cap sat on a saucer shaped skirt. Metallic half spheres protruded from the underside of the saucer, and Henry noticed ball turrets across the upper hull. On closer inspection, it was apparent that the hull was held together by riveted steel.
“Well, people built this,” Henry said. He noticed a faded swastika on the hull and shook his head. “Horrible people, but still.” Ari pointed at the symbol as well.
“I’ve seen this symbol before,” he said. “The bad guys in Raiders of the Lost Ark wore this, but was it really lost if they left a map to it?” Mike motioned for them to keep moving.
“That symbol belongs to real life ad guys,” he said. “They killed a lot of people for no good reason.” They heard a rumble upstairs. “Junior, where’s the exit?”
“Across the hanger, another elevator,” The AI replied. “Heads up, I think we got company topside.” Henry pivoted to the elevator they’d walked in from before backing away.
“Is it another cargo elevator?” he asked.
“Negative, standard elevator,” Junior replied. “But it can only fit half the squad.” Henry scowled and motioned for Mike to head down.
