Chapter 6: February 10th, 2349

It had been a few days. Jabr and Akari were sitting at their table as they were eating sandwiches in the mess hall. It was just them in the room as it was sometime after lunch. The overhead display was on, but it was showing a commercial and currently on mute. Ericson walked in and saw the two comfortably sitting.

“There you two are... , “ Ericson said as he got close.

“Ericson,” Jabr waved his hand to him. “Come and have a seat with us.”

“I am assuming you already had lunch?” Akari remarked.

“I am good,” he replied as he went and had a seat next to them. He sat across from them as he put the tablet down.

“How goes the whole project?” Jabr asked.

“Yeah, how is Minerva?” Akari asked.

“Minerva is fine. It is pretty much the same day as before. I checked up her system, and there are no errors or anything.”

“That is good to hear,” Jabr said. “It is too bad that she is confined to that one room. She would get to learn everyone if she was out of that place and walking about.”

“You took the words right out of my mouth,” Ericson said. “I came to you two in need of help.”

“What do you need?” Akari said, putting her sandwich down.

“Minerva is an advanced AI, but she is missing an important thing right now. She needs to be mobile. What you said is exactly what I need for her.”

“How can we help?”

Ericson put the tablet down on the table. He pressed a couple of buttons as the whole thing turned on. A holographic display emitted from the screen, similar to what his left arm was able to do. The image reflected a skeletal structure similar to a human skeleton. The image held still but would slowly rotate in the air.

“I am in need of an android frame. I can take the quantum computer and attach it to the center portion of an android frame and connect it to the body itself. She would be able to fully operate the mechanical body. The catch is that I don’t know how to easily get a hold of one.”

“Would it be possible to get a companion bot and have it modified to carry her ... well, what is her?” Jabr asked.

“I was thinking of that. The catch is that I need to have a couple of frames to do this.”

“Why not just put an order and wait for it to arrive?”

“Minerva has put together her own modifications that she wants to have to the mechanical frame since this will be her body. She doesn’t want just to have any ordinary android body.”

“She is making demands from you?” Jabr mocked him.

“No ... I just want to make her happy, that is all.”

Akari seemed to chuckle a little bit. “Why do you want to appease her so much?”

“It’s my job to make sure that she reaches full potential. I created her, and I want to see what her program can do.”

“Hmmm...” Akari smiled. “It sounds a little more than that, but whatever ... you need a companion bot frame?”

“Yes, I plan on putting an order for one of the latest Hellas Planitia Android Industries Model 101. I will take it apart, but I will need more parts to make the modifications necessary.”

“You aren’t going to turn her into some weapon, aren’t you?” Jabr asked.

“These are companion bots ... they aren’t designed for combat.”

“I was just joking around, man, don’t worry about it. Yeah, go ahead and put in order for the model. It will take about another two weeks for it to arrive, though.”

“Two weeks?”

“Yeah,” Jabr sighed. “Shipments are reduced to once a month now. Ever since priority is placed to reinforcing colonies for a possible attack, places like this are low on the chain. The gate arrays are being used continuously to ensure shipments between colonies are received in a timely manner.”

“I can imagine that. They want to make sure warships can be produced as quickly as possible and getting our defenses strengthened.”

“Not to mention, those other systems get checked out,” Jabr added. “They need the arrays to send warships to scout different systems for anything that could be valuable for information and whatnot.”

“Well shit,” Ericson said, putting his hand down on the table. “That still leaves me with another problem too. The frame that Minerva is constructing will require parts from Yokolina bots. You know what I am talking about, right?”

“Wait?” Jabr asked, almost laughing at him. “You mean those ... non-human looking bots?”

“Husband...” Akari said, tapping his arm. She looked at Ericson, “Forgive him for playing around.” She put her finger to her chin. “I might be able to help you out on this. Do you need a male Yokolina model or a female?”

“Female preferably. It probably wouldn’t matter much, especially if I put in an order for the Hellas Planitia model. I will be taking both frames and making one out of it.”

“It sounds like to me that you are just making another companion bot ... like you might be ready to have fun with her ... if you know what I mean?”

“Jabr, come on,” Ericson slammed his fist to the table. “I didn’t construct an advanced AI to fuck her. I am trying to do what I can to make her like us. It is the only way for her to realize who she truly is.”

“Ignore my husband,” Akari said. “It is alright. I am really happy for her Ericson. I wouldn’t mind helping her out. I have family members that use the Yokolina models. I have a cousin that is willing to part with an old model XC-5. It is a relic from the Exodus, but we still have them on New Olympia. We can have it shipped to you as soon as possible.”

“How much money do you want for it?”

“It would be free.”

His eyes widened. “Seriously? Just like that?”

“Just like that... , “ she answered back with a smile. “Trust me. We have better models than those junk heaps. If anything, my cousin says that the one he has is just taking up space.”

“Excellent, you can tell your cousin, thank you.”

Jabr seemed to stop with his jokes. Even he seemed to nod his head to him. “We don’t mind helping you out one bit.”

He turned his head and looked at the TV display. The advertisements had long ended, and it now depicted the news media. It was still on mute, and the anchorwoman Chenguang was behind her table talking about the latest news. She seemed composed and was reading on what was displayed on her teleprompter. The Chinese subtitles were still on. Ericson read some of it and all their attention went to the TV.

“TV unmute!” Jabr called out. The display responded immediately as they could now hear the anchorwoman speak. She had just changed to a new topic.

“In other news today,” Chenguang explained. “We have received word of a battle that occurred over the orbit of Cipra. The UHN Courageous and the UHN China would successfully destroy two Itrean warships that approached the outer system.”

The news feed showed a brief clip of the UHN China. The stealth vessel was seemingly flat in design. It almost looked like a dark gray arrow with wings. It was hard to see, especially with the blackness of space behind it. That was until the recording showed it firing a full salvo of missiles. The camera feed was coming from the Courageous that showed the ship it was adjacent.

The live feed then changed over to a recording that depicted two small Itrean warships. These ships were painted red. They were smaller than the battleships seen over Eutera. They looked to be about half the size of the UHN Champlain that was at Eutera. They had a smaller hull and had one centripetal ring near the end of the aft engine module. It had a small rail gun turret mounted on the dorsal section along with a small twin mounted gun near the forward section of the hull. Below it was a small missile pod. One of the ships fired four small missiles or torpedoes. Another clip showed the ships firing its twin mounted guns at an incoming salvo of UHN anti-ship missiles. Despite it destroying some of the missiles, one ship was struck by four UHN missiles. It tore into the hull, and the whole ship exploded.

“Yeah!” Jabr cheered.

“Hmm...” Ericson thought.

The recording ended as it went back to Chenguang that continued on with her media coverage.

“This mounts as one of the first encounters in which the UHN has successfully won the battle. Regardless of the actions of the defense fleet over Cipra, there are some claims that this is only the first of many battles to come over the planet. The people of Cipra have made requests that more ships come to defend the colony. Chairman Aniruddha made a press conference to cover more on this event.”

The live feed changed over to a recording that depicted the chairman as he stood next to his podium. He looked as he did a week ago. There were slightly more reporters than last time. The Chairman actually seemed more composed as well. Perhaps the victory cheered him up a little bit, but Ericson already knew some concept of politics.

“The victory at the Cipran system is one that we cannot ignore,” Aniruddha said. “The actions of the brave crew successfully destroyed two warships that were closing in on the planet. For the first time, we have been able to show that we can fight back against an enemy force. These Itreans can be stopped, and we can successfully protect our colonies. I ask all colonies to continue upgrading their defenses. All shipyards are fully operational, and construction of new warships is underway.”

The recording ended and returned back to Chenguang. She continued her news coverage.

“Chairman Aniruddha, is currently requesting a conference of all leaders of each of the colonies to attend the P14 Conference in two weeks. Despite the loss of Eutera, Aniruddha makes a promise to keep the seat of Eutera open in remembrance to the fallen colony.”

The anchorwoman changed her position on her desk as she got ready to read the next story.

“In other news,” Chenguang explained. “Families of the missing colonists of Eutera have begun to stage protests at the UHA Admin Center on Mars. These family members consisting of those that were related to those that were taken by the Itreans from the fallen colony days prior have begun to make demonstrations. Many are demanding that the UWA and the UHN conduct deep space missions to find and confront the Itreans in hopes of rescuing those that have been kidnapped by the hostile alien race. UHN Fleet Admiral Karina Annika had this to say.”

The scene on the TV changed to an older Russian looking woman. She was dressed in a red and blue naval uniform. The uniform was a formal dress that looked similar to Captain Nguyen’s uniform. She had a red cap that she wore over her short blond hair. She had a look of a politician or somebody that had been in front of a metal podium before. The scene behind her was different. Behind her was the United Human Naval Forces emblem. It depicted a series of planets that all connected to a center. A red triangle was painted behind the row of circles. A ship similar to the UHN Champlain (A Magellan class Battleship) was symbolized in the very center of the emblem itself.

“The UHN forces cannot at this time launch a rescue force to save those of the colony of Eutera,” Fleet Admiral Annika explained calmly in a light Eastern European accent. “We do not know where the Itreans went, nor do we have the resources to go and rescue them if the colonists are still alive. We do not know where the Itreans live at. If the enemy force could easily take down one of our warships with the forces that were present at Eutera, we would face heavy losses. For the families that protest outside the gates of the UWA Admin Center, I understand your feelings about this situation. Good people were lost that day. The Champlain crew makes their promise to somehow find and save the people of the colony. For now, the only way I can ask that you honor the victims is to help the war effort in building up our forces. Donate money, join the UHN in defense of the colonies, donate resources, join up with the workforces to construct new ships, and find ways that you can help the men and women of the UHN. Let us not make the same event happen as we did at Eutera. God Speed the UWA!”

The live feed changed back to the anchorwoman sitting behind her desk. She took a deep breath before she continued her coverage.

“UWA Martian Central News will be back after a word of our sponsors,” Chenguang said.

“TV on mute!” Jabr announced as the TV went and muted its volume. Nothing more needed to be said as the three looked back at each other.

“So, we can take the sons of bitches down!” Jabr said with some minor triumph.

“I hate to say this ... but those Itrean ships at Cipra,” Ericson replied. “They look very small. They didn’t have much to them.”

“What are you trying to imply?”

“They were scouts ... trying to find weak prey.”

“Well, those scouts won’t have much to say back to their command, will they?” Jabr chuckled a little bit.

Akari remained quiet. Even she knew where Ericson was going with this.

“I am no military expert, but something tells me that the next attack on Cipra is going to be bigger. Eventually, they are going to be sending bigger and bigger fleets to analyze why they didn’t return. I can’t speak for the Itreans, but I think Cipra is in deep shit. Maybe it won’t happen today. Maybe it won’t happen at all. Maybe it will happen in months. All I know is that if I were them, I would be curious as to what is going on at Cipra.”

“What choice do the Ciprans have?” Akari asked Ericson.

“I don’t know. I recommend a planetary evacuation, but no place is truly safe.”

“I heard on the news that they won’t make the same mistake over Eutera when it comes to future colonies,” Jabr explained. “The UHN will make a stand and fight.”

“Oh, they will have to. Eutera was tiny compared to the other colonies. Hell, even on Titan, they have more people there than Eutera ever did. Cipra has millions compared to the thousands on Eutera. Don’t get me started on Oshun, Cebravis, or Mars. What about you, Akari? What about New Olympia?”

“What about it?” she asked.

“I keep hearing wild stories about that colony. I hope they are ready against the Itreans. Have you heard anything from your families when it comes to this threat?”

“The New Olympians can handle any threat that it faces. The Itreans won’t hurt us.”

“I wish I can speak with that same amount of confidence as you do. These aliens mean business. Of course ... in the end, I can’t worry about it. I face other threats than a measly hostile alien race.”

“What do you mean ... ah...” she remarked.

“Yeah...” Ericson said as he rested his back to the chair. “We can talk about it here since no one else is present but if there were more people, then it would be an issue. You two need to make sure that no one knows about what is happening here. What I am doing ... I can trust you two since you are my friends, but everyone else will try to destroy Minerva.”