EXXOS
Now that the Shana Rei had replenished themselves with dark matter from the Dyson sphere, they spent that material extravagantly. Hanging over the doomed planet of Kuivahr, the hex cylinders ejected millions of black plates to assemble the opaque sphere, building it up piece by piece to swallow the whole planet.
Each hexagonal plate fit exactly against another, and the englobement grew steadily to form a perfect sphere. Surely such geometrical perfection was the antithesis of the complete chaos desired by the Shana Rei. The shadows continued to be contradictions to themselves. Exxos found it ironic, but he did not need to understand everything about them; the events served his purposes. He felt proud and strong now, controlling the powerful new warships the shadows had created for them. He had everything he wanted. Almost.
With the glut of free material from the Onthos home star, the shadows built whatever Exxos wished. Manipulating this matter caused them no pain, since they had already suffered for it millennia ago. Now, Exxos and his robots redesigned their black warships, making them superior even to the ones they had used at Ulio Station. He could not risk losing any more robots, so he demanded thicker hulls, increased shielding, more powerful weapons. Invincible ships, juggernauts of destruction.
The black robots dispersed, only ninety-eight of them left, but with these enhanced warships he could wreak tremendous havoc. Every single one of the remaining robots had mental processes identical to his own, so they could coordinate their attacks with unparalleled precision. Sentient life-forms would be doomed, starting with Kuivahr.
Meanwhile, deep in their cybernetic minds the networked robots continued to solve the problem of how to exterminate the Shana Rei, when it came time to do so. The design and theory for an entropy dampener proceeded, millions of steps being solved in the background, one at a time.
The black englobement below was more than half finished, and once the sphere completed itself, Exxos knew, all the screaming from the Kuivahr population would cease tormenting the Shana Rei. This would be a perfect victory, without the loss of a single robot.
His giant black battleships soared out of the shadow cloud, ranging closer to the enshrouded planet. He watched the trapped victims struggle in a useless attempt to flee. The robots had destroyed an automated cargo lifter and a holding platform, but that was just targeting practice. Several refugee ships had rushed away, panicked traders fleeing as soon as the Shana Rei arrived. The black robots pursued them, but the human pilots demonstrated unexpected prowess in evasive flight. It didn’t matter.
His ninety-eight titanic battleships would be enough to secure the planet as the Shana Rei smothered it to death. All across the Spiral Arm, humans and Ildirans would grow very afraid.
By the time the rapid englobement was sixty percent complete, the planet had mostly quieted, but a final ship raced away. Hungry for the pursuit and the prize, Exxos guided his own battleship while linking his mind with the engines and the weapons systems. The angular craft was like an extension of his own mechanical body as he plunged after the last escapee.
The human pilot swooped and dodged, proving to be more nimble than the enormous robot warship, and Exxos was surprised when his first volley of energy bursts missed. He accelerated, increased weapons power, and launched another fusillade—but the human ship dove downward and astonishingly looped back and headed straight for him. Exxos couldn’t adjust his targeting swiftly enough. Surely, this small vessel had no weapons that could harm him!
Four small defensive jazer blasts punched against his hull, causing little harm; then the ship changed course and roared upward. Exxos veered after it.
He intercepted a comm transmission, which was no doubt meant to be taunting. He saw a woman with long dark hair and intent eyes, crowded in the ship with a teenaged boy, a toddler, and other adults, one of them a green priest. Exxos identified Prince Reynald, the son of King Peter and Queen Estarra. Ah! He would consider it quite a victory if he could snuff out that one human life.
More important, another passenger, a female, was one of the halfbreeds that the Shana Rei desired so badly. Osira’h, child of a green priest and the Mage-Imperator. The Shana Rei would want to capture her, and Exxos wanted to kill her.
The female pilot sneered at him. “You bugbots wrecked my distillery, and now you’re destroying our world. You’re a real pain in the ass.”
The robot battleship closed in, but somehow the fleeing craft continued to dodge. “Toast your victory, smug son of a bitch,” said the man beside her; then the passengers all yelled in alarm as the pilot spun the ship, throwing them to one side.
The rear cargo doors opened, and containers tumbled out like chaff falling toward the robot battleship: drums, kegs, crates filled with bottles, all of which smashed against Exxos’s hull. The debris and flash-vaporized liquid were merely a distraction. Exxos dodged, but the accelerating ship was gaining distance. But the prey had no place to go. Exxos could easily run them down.
Suddenly, with a flicker of movement and rapid deceleration, a blizzard of large, ornate ships appeared: Solar Navy warliners arriving in the Kuivahr system! In an instant, the Ildiran fleet filled empty space, hundreds of war vessels.
With flashing red optical sensors, Exxos scanned and counted—more than three times the size of the black fleet the Shana Rei had created for them. Exxos was surprised by this setback, but not alarmed. His ships were invincible. The Solar Navy would be inadequate to defend themselves.
Communication signals buzzed among the robots, all of whom reacted, pulling together. The lone escaping human ship raced pell-mell toward the Solar Navy cohort, blasting out a distress signal and begging for sanctuary. Exxos did not want to let the halfbreed girl or Prince Reynald go, but now he had a much bigger target. Even though these Solar Navy ships outnumbered the robots, his vessels were substantially more powerful, with greater armaments and tougher hull shielding. The Ildirans didn’t stand a chance.
He finished his threat assessment in less than a second, and his robot counterparts came to the same conclusion. They responded to the challenge with a certain amount of glee. Yes, this would be a very satisfying fight. He looked forward to seeing Kuivahr’s orbit strewn with massive amounts of wreckage.
The black robots synchronized their thoughts, synchronized their attack strategy, and drew into a unified, organized force. The black fleet activated their weapons systems and plunged toward the Ildiran Solar Navy.