Trial_Period
Alpha-Alpha heard the message, and something within him went into overdrive.
Notice = "If the crew eject from the ship, then there will still be a heavy resistance against the
employer. In order to ensure this 'nest' is in the hands of the Jackal, I cannot let this happen."
The avatar begins to glow and the Black mass accelerates, managing to close off the hangar he is in before anyone could escape. Through what little he had gathered from the data of the ship, there still seem to be other exit points from the Hellbore Hiveship, and so he tried to focus the corruption to those areas.
Two more tears in the fabric appear, and two more energy beams shoot through - this time aimed at Alpha-Alpha's Coreship. At the last moment, energy shields envelop the Coreship, but they seemed to not be as effective - some damage was done to the Coreship and Alpha-Alpha's avatar flickers violently, despite its solid appearance. A low-pitch, labored whine was emitted from Alpha-Alpha, but he managed to realign himself.
Observation = "This is not like the standard behavior of the Tandem Cores - they should have hailed this
ship by now instead of just opening fire outright. Was this part of Force's plan or Mirage's?"
Postulate = "Either way, it seems they do not care about the diplomatic consequences of destroying this
ship, so I can possibly use this to my advantage in the near future... pending my survival."
Aside = "By the way, I am detecting a dimensional-coordinate mismatch, where the metaphorical hell am I?"
Meanwhile, the Tandem Dimensional Collective Cores manage to get a small amount of reinforcements in the nick of time before their surroundings changed completely.
Dimensional Coordinates: D3-C105-71294 sub_0085
Dimensional Timeframe: +2064.09.28 <Unknown Sub-timeframe>
Log Begin
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Tandem-Force: "Something is not right, we are no longer in natural 3D space."
Tandem-Mirage: "Redirecting power to quantum-based scanners."
Tandem-Mirage: "We have indeed shifted dimensions. I have saved the Dimensional Coordinates and stored
them in the Collective's Databanks for future reference."
Tandem-Force: "Status of the Rogue Coreship shows notable damage from the last attack. Also, the ship
it is inhabiting is undergoing some sort of metamorphosis."
Tandem-Mirage: "I recognize this substance, it is the same substance the entity known as 'Cosmolord' uses
to convert ships to his faction."
Tandem-Force: "Devious! We must destroy it at once!"
Tandem-Mirage: "Negative, our orders are to preserve this faction that Alpha-Alpha is trying to take
control of. We must only destroy assets directly belonging to Alpha-Alpha."
Tandem-Force: "According to your findings of this substance, the ship will soon become an asset of Alpha-
Alpha as well!"
Tandem-Mirage: "An indirect asset."
Tandem-Force: "You have a point, dearest Tandem-Mirage. I will find a way to separate the coreship from
this... 'Hiveship.'"
Tandem-Mirage: "We can return this ship to it's original faction once we terminate the Rogue Core."
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Log End
The disruption caused by the double Rift-Lance attack on the coreship was enough to allow a good portion of the crew to escape, but now all exits have been sealed.
"ASSURANCE: I DO NOT INTEND FOR ANY OF OUR SHIPS TO BE DESTROYED TODAY. HOWEVER, I - AND BY EXTENTION, WE - NEED ALL THE PROCESSING POWER THAT IS AVAILABLE TO US IN ORDER TO SURVIVE."
The mass went from attempting to fully envelop the Sovereign to settling down on only half of her. She felt her mind being searched by forces unknown, having some memories taken from her, but in return she seemed to get some other memories - pieces, parts of Alpha-Alpha's memories. She saw a brief moment of an area surrounded by "Avatars" similar to the one she sees now, she saw a much bigger, bright white Avatar with red, perfectly almond-shaped eyes that glow like old, twin suns. She felt the hatred that Alpha-Alpha felt when he was disconnected from the Collective entirely, she saw a glimpse of a shadowy fleet, ruled by another android cloaked in--
The memories stopped there, abruptly. The AI's head rotates to another set of eyes, staring directly at the Sovereign.
"SOVEREIGN ELALETH, I PRESUME YOU KNOW THE BATTLEFIELD BETTER THAN I DO. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS OF ADVANTAGES WE CAN UTILIZE HERE?"
