ShipCore

USD: Several hours after returning to MIL-1A

Location: Meltisar, Mil-1A, Meltisar High Command, Tia’s Office

Tia slammed her hand on the desk, frustration evident in her voice. "Every chance they get, they drag us into the mud using events like what's being broadcast on the news as ammunition! The opposition is relentless."

Alex could sense Tia's anger in the air as she stared at them. Her clenched fists and furrowed brow showed that she was growing increasingly frustrated. The tension in Tia's office was thick enough to cut through, making Alex feel slightly uneasy.

Alex’s eyes were drawn to the decorations Tia had filled her office with. Mostly tasteful elegant pieces of art, but they were all flanked by electronic consoles and devices that a NAI could easily manipulate while at work.

The meticulously organized room contained a large, polished desk that reflected the soft light emitting from the ceiling panels above. Behind her were rows of neatly arranged bookshelves lining one side of the room, while to the side stood a large communication device and holographic display that mirrored the others in the CIC.

Thea, seemingly unaffected by Tia's anger, shrugged nonchalantly and said, "I made my own news of a potential assassination to counter it."

Tia fumed, her face reddening as she exclaimed, "It's easily determined to be fake! You just smashed the reporter's face in!"

Laughing at Tia's reaction, Thea replied with a casual wave of her hand, "People who already support us will believe it anyway, while those wanting NAIs removed will think the worst regardless."

Unfazed, Thea leaned against a nearby table. With an air of defiance, she glared back at Tia. "As the leader of a system, you need to pull out all the stops or we're all screwed."

Hearing the exchange between them filled Alex with unease. She shifted her weight from one foot to another before speaking up. "I'd prefer to be honest, when possible," she interjected quietly.

Both women stared at her for a second, momentarily taken aback by her interruption. Alex decided to change the focus of the conversation and addressed Nameless directly.

"How can they write 'newsreels' in real time, while I’m stuck scrambling to figure out what the heck we are doing?" she asked.

[Notice: It is unlikely that this unit and Avatar will share the same type of configuration as the other NAIs, due to this unit's creation occurring decades before Avatar's. Other NAIs often have their MainComputer develop in sync or shortly after.]

Alex felt her hopes falling when he suddenly continued.

[Informative: Avatar's growing assortment of computronics is now capable of supporting virtual spaces between Avatar and sub-cores.]

Alex’s eyes fell on Tia as excitement warred with annoyance. "Why couldn’t we just talk over comms or do that then?" she demanded.

Thea’s ears perked up at the mention of computronics. "You three are hogging them all and only giving me a few dozen," she complained.

Tia cleared her throat; she addressed Thea first, telling her firmly, "You don't need more. The demands of running the system are multiplying as threats and issues grow." Then eyes moving back to Alex, she explained the necessity of in-person communication. "We need to talk in person because discussing the current status of things in detail without risking a leak is crucial."

Alex nodded with a frown and asked, "Shouldn't my sister be here too?"

Thea playfully poked Alex, teasingly asking, "Do you have a siscon obsession?"

Embarrassed, but not rising to take the bait, Alex shook her head and clarified, "No, I just think Elis is important and should be involved in any decisions made."

Tia shook her head in response to Alex's suggestion. "I already spoke to Elis. She said she didn't want to make big decisions or be involved at the highest levels. You can ask her about it later."

Feeling confused since Elis never mentioned anything like that before, Alex accepted Tia's explanation but made a mental note to discuss the matter with Elis later when she returned home.

Tia motioned for them to follow her to the command center so she could fill them in. They trailed behind her into the CIC room, where Tia gestured towards the main screens. With a wave of her hand, they came alive with information and light.

The four major factions appeared on separate screens: The Imperium, The Corporate Systems, The Solarian Federation, and The Ertan Republic. A fifth screen displayed the Interstellar Forum of Ruling Bodies logo, something Alex had not seen since Dedia IV. The memory of her invoking the Octanis accords during those events to deal with the colonial government made her feel uneasy.

"First," Tia began, "as we know, Alex has happily sent the Corpos and Solarians packing this month. I'm expecting that the Imperium Delegation will arrive in much the same way by the end of the month. Recon has shown no activity so far; so, they might take longer. They could come through Beta Antliae and we wouldn't have as much notice, but I seriously doubt it. We'll have advanced warning."

Alex asked cautiously, "Is it going to be a problem? The others sent fleets, but they weren't that large."

Tia frowned and replied, "It could go either way. Mother might send a small fleet like the others to probe or a massive one to try and force things her way… The Imperium has the most military forces of any of the big four and has ships to spare."

Thea pulled out a chair and sat down, straddling it backward. "And do we have enough ships to deal with that?" she inquired.

Tia nodded confidently. "I've seen to it that shipyards here on MIL-1A have accelerated production as well as those in outer yards throughout the system. The Meltisar Navy will have more hulls in space than it has ever had in its entire history."

"They already had a lot," Alex commented, trying to gauge their chances. “We have a lot.”

Tia nodded, "The issue is just about every older ship needs to be refit, to close loopholes and issues in their systems that were purposefully left. Actually, the only ships that aren’t compromised are the Aegis, the Iron Horse, and the few squadrons that have already been through drydocks."

Thea frowned. "So, our entire fleet is a joke?"

Tia shook her head, "Not necessarily. As long as we are present, they don’t have any way to outrank us in NAI terms and can keep them blocked. The issue is any detached elements could be turned without a fight."

Alex studied the map of nearby systems. "We should make sure our scouts and forward units are refitted first. We can’t be everywhere."

"Agreed," Tia confirmed. "I’ve already started that process; there are replacement units moving into position to relieve what was already on station. So that shouldn't be a problem."

Tia waved her hand, and the screens began to display threat estimates and fleet numbers. Startlingly, Meltisar had the largest fleet of any faction, and Alex’s eyes were drawn to the yellow bars showing hull numbers and estimated power ratings.

"The issue isn’t any one faction," Tia explained. "If we wanted, we could probably storm Solaria and The Corporate Systems and win a two-front battle with them."

"Oh… ho… Princess, that is very bold of you," Thea said slyly, her eyes lighting up. "I can give you a very good rundown on security and defenses of Hydrae. Punching through the fortress system would be fun."

Alex frowned but was halted from speaking by Tia raising her hand.

"No, no," Tia reassured her gently. "Alex, it's fine; I wasn’t planning anything like that. The problem I am getting at is while we have enough strength to defeat one or two factions in a fleet engagement, all four of them working together would plow us over. That’s not even considering what could happen if they involved their capital units."

Thea sat up straight, a frown appearing on her face. "Battlemoons don’t move. Solaria’s little moonlets could, but I doubt any of them could be used offensively; they are population centers with trillions living on all of them."

"If they feel like their existence is threatened, they might act," Alex interjected cautiously. Tia and Thea both turned to stare at her as she tugged at her collar feeling self-conscious. "With our Omega here, they might just."

Thea tilted her head. "Who thought a young, innocent and naïve NAI could cause so much trouble?"

Alex bit her lip. "I'm not…," she cleared her throat. "We are keeping that a secret for a reason."

Tia nodded in agreement. "I've thought of something partly convincing for the upgrade bit to feed them; I’m not sure how well they will swallow it, and they might just try to break us anyway to avoid a fifth PSI power."

Alex swallowed hard before asking, "Do we have any intel on 92 Pegasi? They might have a sixth… seventh problem too."

Thea giggled and then laughed out loud. Tia let out a pained sigh and shook her head. "No news from there. It's going to throw a wrench in things, but I have no idea how we'd get any units over there to even know what was going on."

"What about dealing with the political unrest caused by the anti-NAI party?" Alex asked.

Tia frowned, "We need to tread carefully; any misstep could escalate tensions."

[Informative: Addressing political unrest requires a delicate balance of diplomacy and strategic planning. It is critical not to alienate any factions or create further divisions within society.]

Tia nodded in agreement, "We're already stretched thin managing ongoing needs and resource shortages."

Alex sighed, "I guess we should focus on what we can do for now and find ways to mitigate the impact of the anti-NAI sentiment?"

Tia suggested, "A good way to start is by avoiding controversial incidents on system-wide public broadcasts."

Alex sulked and retorted, "That was Thea's doing, not mine."

Tia rolled her eyes. "Admiral Anderson is still raising support in New Brisbane; there are a considerable number of civilian officials from the previous government that are anti-NAI supporting him now."

"Can't we just kill him?" Thea asked nonchalantly.

Tia's eyes slipped over to her, and Alex sensed that Tia might have agreed to that. But the Princess shook her head no. "He is better served gathering those who oppose us into the open, I think. We've already taken measures to suppress their 'plots' and plans. It's been very helpful in isolating and dealing with the ones who would be an actual danger to things."

Thea leaned back; her chair balanced on only two legs. "That works until it doesn't. Even with the surveillance capabilities of Mr. Nameless, something is bound to sneak by with the sheer number of things."

"Killing our political opponents should be our last choice…" Alex mumbled.

Thea let her chair land on all four legs with a punctuating crack that echoed through the quiet CIC. "Oh dear, if only that was possible."

Alex nodded, she'd already resigned herself to that fact and faced reality during the crackdown they had performed after taking over. But still, she didn't like using it carte blanche. "I didn't say we wouldn't. But we should still make it the last option."

Tia looked at her, then raised her hand up to the monitor. A list of names appeared. "There are several low-level NAIs that have been located in Meltisar. According to our plans, we've left them alone and simply monitored them, but there is now a problem."

One of the names at the top of the list highlighted, and then a profile appeared. A middle-aged male was shown with his arms wrapped around two dressed-up ladies.

Thea tilted her head, "He's feeling up the local ladies? What's the problem? What if I want to feel up the local gentlemen?"

Tia cleared her throat. "He's feeling up the local ladies and then murdering them. Local authorities haven't been able to do a thing; he's an Upsilon, escaped from the Ertan Republic. Previously 'Proctor'-ranked according to their doctrine. The first time, I sent him a warning; he's stepped up his efforts since then. Normally, I'd ignore this because dealing with it won’t actually help our progress, but…"

Eyes moved to settle on Alex, whose fists were clenched as she watched the screen slowly flipping through pages of victims with bodies mangled, strangled, or even their heads ripped off. Fury filled her and burned within her core. "Eliminate him," she demanded.

"Oh, how fast we change our minds about murder," Thea mused while maintaining her sharp gaze on Alex.

Tia nodded in agreement before continuing, "I considered assigning you to this one, Alex, but considering Elis, I thought she might insist on going with you and she needs to continue her recovery."

Tia turned to Thea. "Can you take care of it?"

Thea grinned devilishly. "Of course! Murdering people who actually deserve it is something I enjoy."

Tia stared at her for a moment before saying hesitantly, "I'll keep it in mind."

"Sweet of you," Thea chimed in happily. "Please see that you do and don't forget our agreement."

Tia nodded and then turned back to Alex. "For you, there are the envoys."

Alex groaned upon hearing the new assignment. "What? But I have to study for my makeup exams."

"Consider this an etiquette course," Tia offered as consolation. "You'll have Thraker and Westlake to help you."

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