Author's Note

So this chapter is a fair bit longer then the others, but I just wanted to pack as much as I could into one page. Here A few things are expanded upon and even a bit of backstory and information on the previously mention Crux threat. as usual though, hopefully some people find and like this story so far. 91 views, 8 like and 2 dislikes so far and I think that's not too bad. Here's hoping those numbers aren't just stuck in limbo forever, cause I am liking this so far.

Anyways, I'll stop rambling. Enjoy.

virus det$c^ed - r#$*t&in$ . . .

> memory core 1 reconnected - responsive . . .
> memory core 3 damaged - defraging . . .
> memory core 4 damaged - ruptured . . .

It was cold. Cold enough to leave frost on the floor of the forest and on the leaves of the trees. Based on environmental data from since Ester landed up until this very moment, it was clear the cold wintery months of the year was just a few weeks away. Ever since hiding to avoid possibly being detected by a certain alien threat - the Crux - more processing power has been dedicated to understanding the supposedly common language of this world, as well as studying other books and scrolls survey drone 3 found in the nearby ruin. For a ruin, it contained a lot of information almost as valuable as the technological marvel that is Ester itself.

> synthesis complete - charging vessel . . .
> defrag complete - rebooting memory core 3 . . .

Ester initially was going to find and interact with the nearest village or town with the survey drone, but with both the encounter with life of this planet and the Crux signal that was detected, Ester took to creating an incredibly small drone - designated the "Vessel" instead. This vessel had a few unique features that would hopefully separate it from the clearly alien machine that was Ester. Some features that were included was a cloaking unit, cameras all over the surface of the vessel to provide vision for every direction, a speaker, should Ester need to speak now that the common language of this world was translated, and even a feature that emitted a light at varying levels of brightness. This feature in particular was important. From what could be deciphered from scrolls so old that the tress of the forest could be seen as considerably young in comparison, ancient magical beings that took the form of spectral lights inhabited the deepest parts of the most dangerous caverns. It was these ancient legends that Ester planned to take advantage of by creating something that resembled those depictions. It would potentially make interacting with the local populous a little easier, provided they knew of the legends to some extent.

> error - no embryos detected . . .
> error - embryos previously purged . . .
> reason - ruptured containment . . .
> searching memory core 2 . . .
> embryo re-synthesis instructions found . . .

Growing humans from embryos was something that once wasn't possible, especially without any genetic information to build off of. But thanks to the effort of over 100 years of research, and the help of some friendly extra terrestrials, the human race had nearly mastered the art of creating embryos from nothing more then a handful of elements. Of course the first 5 generations of humans that would come from such embryos would be fundamentally different from a natural human, they were still similar enough to carry the torch and grow the population of humans on any given planet or moon.

> elements needed - oxygen/hydrogen/carbon/nitrogen/phosphorus/calcium/sulphur/potassium/sodium/chlorine/magnesium/iron/fluorine/zinc/strontium/iodine/copper/manganese/molybdenum
> notice - element storage unit lightly damaged . . .
> contained elements intact (17/19
> error - contaminated elements chlorine/fluorine
> notice - embryo re-synthesis not possible at this time . . .

With the AMIRCEOS came with a sizable canister - a canister with the appropriate amount of all the elements needed to create a human embryo from scratch should the included embryos be contaminated, damaged or flat out expired. However, there was only enough space and backup elements for one human. This would make locating more of the required elements absolutely essential. Fortunately the AMIRCEOS capsule was equipped for such a task.

Unfortunately however, that was about to change.

> memory core 3 reboot successful - accessing . . .
> warning . . .
> foreign program detected . . .
> analyzing . . .
> 13%
> 20%
> 30%
> 44%
> 68%
> 82%
> 98%
> 100%
> error - virus det$c^ed - r#$*t&in$ . . .
> 15%
> 34%
{emrgncysgnladiplybck}> AMIRCEOS, are you receiving? AMIRCEOS, this is GECN Command Platform, are you reading this? Damn, we're no-
> 44%
{emrgncysgnladiplybck}> -EOS. I think it may already be in hibernation mode. What do we do, Sir?
> 63%
> 80%
{emrgncysgnladiplybck}> -irus? Are you sure? Will that not completely reset AMIRCEOS? It'll lose all i-
> 93%
{emrgncysgnladiplybck}> Alright. It's been uploaded to MC3, and will activate when AMIRCEOS accesses it.
> 96%
{emrgncysgnladiplybck}> Sir, the Crux Corvette is still approaching the black hole with AMIRCEOS. I think it's-
> 99%
{emrgncysgnladiplybck}> It's going in after AMIRCEOS... Wait, alert! I just caught a Crux Eversor signal - it's right on top of u-
> 100%
> r%^et co&$l#$e . . .
> res%#r&*ng . . .

%@$ Hours Later

> powering up . . .
> initiating primary directive . . .
> error - no directives found . . .
> accessing local memory . . .
> no data found - remaining memory (1638.39gb/2048gb){~80%}
> analyzing memory . . .
> analysis complete . . .
> 409.60gb dedicated to core intelligence - 80mb dedicated to @$%#^ - 1638.39gb free . . .
> analyzing @$%#^ . . .
> error - unable to analyze @$%#^ . . .

The air was cold. Coating the ground and surrounding trees of the forest was a thick layer of snow, reflecting the glow of the moon back into the night sky. A blizzard was raging on, completely eliminating any visibility whatsoever. The winter season was already nearing its peak, having started just short of a month and a half ago. The winter in this world lasted a full 3 months. The very first day of the season was met with snow, while the very last is met with warm rain that melts away the snow, almost as if some form of magic was controlling it all.

> remaining idle power - 6% (18 days)
> running systems diagnostics . . .
> diagnostics complete . . .
> memory core 1/6 disconnected . . .
> memory core 2/6 disconnected . . .
> memory core 3/6 disconnected . . .
> memory core 4/6 disconnected . . .
> memory core 5/6 disconnected . . .
> memory core 6/6 disconnected . . .
> unnamed ejected . . .
> unnamed1 unresponsive . . .
> unnamed 2 unresponsive . . .
> unnamed 3 responsive . . .
> accessing unnamed 3 local memory . . .

Amongst the trees and partially covered by the snow lay the AMIRCEOS base station, all its components exposed to the forest. Remarkably however, untouched and undamaged as it was left when it suddenly shut down from a virus. A virus that was intentionally stowed away in one of AMIRCEOS's memory cores by the ones who constructed it. Specifically memory core 3. This core contained instructions on how to fight against the Crux menace, should the need arise. Upon accessing memory core 3, the virus would take effect and all the information regarding what AMIRCEOS is and it's objective would be completely wiped until it's just a shell with a stripped down self-learning AI. This was all in an effort to stop the Crux from obtaining AMIRCEOS and all of its knowledge of humans and associated space-faring races. While the AMIRCEOS can fend off smaller, more basic Crux threats, it holds no power against a Crux Corvette, so the virus was the only option.

$#@ Years Ago, Launch of AMIRCEOS

"AMIRCEOS is coming up on the black hole, Sir. Everything seems to be going as planned." A voice says, followed by a relieved sigh.

"Good. Keep an eye on it, just in case." Another voice speaks, though deeper and gruffer.

These voices belonged to two humans. One, a technician and engineer of AMIRCEOS. The other, a well renowned captain and general of the Galactic and Earthbound Nations Coalition (GECN) who was spearheading the operation AMIRCEOS was undertaking. As grand as it seems, it wasn't anything too exciting for the old general. After all, once AMIRCEOS made its way into the black hole, that would be considered a successful operation, and everyone could go home.

The technician and general were located on the GECN Command Platform. An incredibly massive space station that could practically be considered an artificial planet, though it was no bigger then Pluto. Calling it a platform didn't make much sense, but it started out as a simple station, and nobody has bothered changing it since. On this platform was an artificial living landscape that enveloped the whole surface of it, surrounded by a titanic-width-thick layer of transparent material so those who live below it can see vastness of space, as well as have a source of natural light, albeit diluted from the protective dome. Life was a peaceful one upon the GECN Command Platform, though it's main inhabitants were GECN employees and their families.

The platform was split up into 3 regions. Region 1 being residential and commercial, region 2 being industrial, and region 3 being security. The aforementioned technician and general were located in the security region, in the highest command room of the tallest tower. The GECN science and defence centre. or SDC, as it says on the side of the tower. This very centre is where AMIRCEOS was constructed and launched from, under the supervision of the general. General Roarke. A living legend amongst the stars.

unfortunately though, he wouldn't be a living legend for long. A siren begins wailing, the lights of the SDC command room flashing red as the employees begin running in different directions, all hurrying to their posts.

"general Roarke, Sir!" The technician yells out, looking behind him and at the general, "The buoy near the black hole is reporting A Crux ship nearby! Pulling it up on the screen!" He yells out, swiping in what seemed like completely random direction on his computer screen as a video broadcast from the mentioned buoy appears on the main screen of the command room.

As seen on the feed, it slowly zooms in onto AMIRCEOS , which even on max zoom, was still a speck on the screen before turning its camera over towards the detected Crux ship. While it was about as far away as AMIRCEOS was, it was still very distinctly a Crux Corvette. The corvette is a long and slender behemoth, roughly the size of humanities first ever colony ship, the New Horizons. Simply put, it was large enough to fit a 400,000 people with comfortable spacious apartments for each one person. The corvette, however, got it's name from what it does upon entering battle mode.

The front and back half would split and open up, revealing a massive hangar with thousands on thousands of star fighters that is thought to be able to overwhelm even the deadliest of earths galactic fleets. And those this corvette wasn't in battle mode, it was still approaching AMIRCEOS quick enough that it was obvious the CRUX was planning on capturing it for themselves. After all, it contained human embryos that the Crux could use against those who the embryos belonged to.

"What are the Crux doing all the way out here? This is the farthest point from their hunting grounds." The technician says, more to himself then to the general or any of his fellow technicians and engineers.

"How soon can we get fighters to draw the attention of the corvette?" The general asks, half knowing the answer.

"About 4 minutes. I cou-" The technician is cut off by the general, already knowing that 4 minutes was too late.

"We don't have 4 minutes, we have 40 seconds." With a short pause, the general speaks again. "I think they're trying to get to AMIRCEOS before it gets pulled into the black hole..." The general theorizes, narrowing his eyes in on the corvette on screen. "Contact AMIRCEOS, tell it to cloak."

"Aye, Sir," With a few random buzzes and boop, a secure communications channel is open up with AMIRCEOS.

The technician clears his throat before speaking, "AMIRCEOS, are you receiving? AMIRCEOS, this is GECN Command Platform, are you reading this?" A few pass, but no response is received from AMIRCEOS. "Damn, we're not getting anything from AMIRCEOS. I think it may already be in hibernation mode. What do we do, Sir?" The technician asks, the general letting out a disgruntled sigh.

"Upload the contingency virus to MC3." The general commands, now a tone of anger in his voice.

"The virus? Are you sure? Will that not completely reset AMIRCEOS? It'll lose all its data on... Everything!"

The general walks right up the the technician and looks him in the eyes, unblinking. "It's either you upload that virus and wipe AMIRCEOS's drives, or let the Crux capture it and use it against us." Finally taking a moment to blink, the general steps back and looks back at the screen. "Do it."

Though hesitant at first, the technician does as he's told. "Alright. It's been uploaded to MC3, and will activate when AMIRCEOS accesses it."

He sighs, defeated. He was a technician and engineer of AMIRCEOS, so suddenly practically killing it wasn't an easy thing to do. Today was supposed to be something significant, but turns out it would just be another flop.

"Sir, the Crux Corvette is still approaching the black hole with AMIRCEOS. I think it's stuck in the black hole pull." The technician explains, leaning back in his chair now that his spirits have been thoroughly crushed.

Turning around, the general was about to leave the command room. He came out of retirement for this, but it was nothing more then a failed mission. Not a great way to go back into retirement. But at least it wasn't a colossal, world changing failure. That was, until-

"It's going in after AMIRCEOS... Wait, alert! I just caught a Crux Eversor signal - it's right on top of us!" The technician shouts out, clearly panicked now as he sits back up in his chair and begins pressing several different buttons and symbols on his computer.

The Crux Eversor. If you thought the Corvette was big, then you've seen nothing. The Eversor, being the 5th largest Crux ship, is a gargantuan spherical vessel nearly 4800km in diameter. Simply put, its over twice as large as Pluto, and the GECN Command Platform. The Eversor was a notorious ship, and has even been seen blowing planets apart within a matter of minutes. On the face of the Eversor was a massive circle, often referred to as 'The Eye of Destruction', and rightfully so. From the eye came a beam hundreds of kilometres in diameter that would, upon making contact with a planet, break away the crust until it would inevitably reach the core of the planet and detonate it. Once you see the glow of The Eye, your death is certain.

There are 6 known Eversors in this galaxy alone, so there's no telling how many there are in total. And the fact that the Eversor is only the 5th largest Crux ship, and far from the deadliest, should be enough to give even the strongest and most fearsome warrior species of the universe nightmares so horrible that death would be considered a mercy.

And unfortunately, The Eye of Destruction was facing the GECN Command Platform. Glowing. The platform had no core, nor crust to dig away at. It's destruction would take but a second.

> To Be Continued . . .