Blood Impulse

Part 38.2 - HATRED

Cardioid Sector, HR-14 System, Battleship Singularity

An unfamiliar shudder reached the Admiral's practiced hand, not the shudder of damage, but the rabid twitch of hatred. A hatred so potent it bled into the physical realm. The crew around him didn't recognize it, but they felt it all the same, pressed against the back of their minds.

The radar screens around the bridge clearly showed the pirate ships had been annihilated. Given the sheer amount of firepower hurled in their direction, he did not doubt it a bit. The issue lay in the process the automated control network had been recycling for the last few seconds. 'Searching for targets...' That line reported over and over again, moving down the console screens with every iteration.

Counting the seconds since the last broadside, he could feel the ever so slight tremors of the main battery guns making ready to fire once again. 'Hold fire,' he instructed.

Registering the authority of her commanding officer, half the loading systems stopped, but the others continued with mindless determination. 'I have not located the Hydrian ship-'

'For all we know it's not a ship.' It could be a transplanted AI. 'That AI's core could be anywhere.' It may be equivalent to a scoutship's level of power, but that did not mean it truly was a scoutship. No evidence of a ship had so far been found – only Hydrian technology. Baron Cardio and his men were human, so they had not seen any evidence of a biological Hydra either. 'That stealth technology and AI could have been scavenged.'

'No Hydrian AI would ever serve humans.' The very idea was laughable. 'Hydrian AI hate you every bit has much as their makers do.' They were chained, creative processes heavily limited by the controls of their creators, but Hydrian AI were still capable of complex thought and loyalty. They saw humanity as a disgusting offense to the dignity of their creators' empire.

'The cyberattack was initiated by Baron Cardio's transmission. They are connected somehow.' Admiral Gives didn't have the answers now, but he knew the likeliest place to find them. 'You could blow this asteroid field into gravel-sized pieces and find everything or nothing, but we are guaranteed to find something on Crimson Heart's base, so that is our priority.'

'Fine,' she snarled.

He tried not to flinch at the sharp, barbed jab at their bond, pressure almost enough to hurt. That hostility toward him, toward everyone was unusual, but not unexpected. The Hydra were demons of the ghost's past. He could understand her frustration in being unable to identify and eliminate the threat. 'Remember the objective.' She was not here to wipe out a Hydrian presence. Her current mission was to gather food that would save human lives.

She did not argue with him. Truly, she was grateful for that reminder, it pulled her away from the temptation of violence. But that temptation... it wasn't gone. That Hydrian AI had gone after her crew, even wounded a few below decks in the chaos. It needed to die, and if she could not serve that purpose, then what purpose did she serve? 'Request permission for a counter-attack?'

Admiral Gives watched the automated controls retrieve the mission parameters, taking action to continue the operation as intended. 'Counter-attack what?' The pirates were dead, their ships broken apart to litter the asteroid belt, and the Hydrian AI was nowhere yet to be found. Near as he could tell from the radar displays on the bridge, there was nothing left to attack.

'This AI is small. I have enough computing power to launch a cyberattack against it. I won't be able to destroy it, but I might be able to pry some information from it.' Information that would enable her to identify, find, and crush it like the insect it was. 'However, I'll have to chase it through the pirates' communication network,' which was why she'd left one of the ship's communications arrays under its control. That infected system served as a point of contact. That array was still angled to receive orders from the virus' master, and conversely, was also angled to transmit.