Intergalactic conquest with an AI

After the recording ended, silence settled in the room. Rex and Cleo didn't speak for several minutes, the weight of what they'd just seen pressing down on them. Cleo quietly summoned several holo-screens, each showing different segments of the field footage they had reviewed.

Rex finally broke the silence. His voice was low and thoughtful as he stared at the image of Soldier 593. "So… how's that young soldier doing now?"

Cleo brought up a new screen, this time displaying a medical report. "According to the official report," she began calmly, "he didn't survive. The stim injections he used... they might have kept him running for a little while longer, but the side effects alone would have left most people bedridden for weeks due to total exhaustion."

She tapped on the screen, highlighting medical data.

"But his injuries were critical. Half of his heart was pierced, and his windpipe was completely destroyed. In theory, we could have saved him with emergency treatment, artificial respiration straight into the lungs, and rapid cardiac stabilizers. That might've bought us a few minutes."

Cleo paused, her eyes drifting toward Rex to gauge his expression.

"But… he collapsed a full kilometer away from the outpost. And just as our patrol reached him, a wave of infected arrived. Under those conditions, it was impossible to help him. That's everything the report says."

She stood silently, waiting for Rex's response.

Rex looked at the screen for a few moments longer, then slowly closed it with a wave of his hand. "What about the creature? Were we able to kill it… or even capture it?"

Cleo's eyes flickered as she summoned a new screen. "No, capture was impossible. Killing it, even more so. According to field data, the creature's strength exceeded that of a Tyrant unit. Its combat capabilities put it at either Tier 3 Peak… or low-end Tier 4."

She showed an image of a massive, blackened arm with jagged claws that was twisted and alien in design.

"The Tyrant unit was able to sever one of its arms during the fight and brought it back to the outpost for analysis. That's all we recovered."

Rex leaned forward, studying the grotesque limb. "Do we know anything else about it?"

Cleo shook her head. "Negative. We don't have any units advanced enough to properly analyze this specimen. To learn more, we'd need to go there in person, but we're stretched too thin with our current campaign against Nexum."

She then summoned a logistics report. "Still, I've already instructed one of our merchant convoys to deliver weapons and materials to continue Aegis production on that planet. Just in case the creature attacks again."

After that, Cleo dismissed all the screens. The room dimmed slightly as the last holo faded.

Rex let out a deep, exhausted sigh and let his head fall back against the couch. He closed his eyes. "Feels like there's never going to be a break for us, huh?"

"Affirmative," Cleo replied as she moved closer. She gently placed her hands on his head, her fingers working into his scalp with a comforting massage.

"If we truly want any 'rest,' we'll need to appoint multiple generals who can take our orders and handle operations. But for that, we'd need to reach at least half the size of a mega-corp. Only then will we have the power to influence anything in this galaxy."

Rex opened his eyes slowly, staring up at her with a mix of weariness and wonder."Conquering the galaxy, huh…?" he said, his voice softer now.

"You think I'm really ready for something that big? I mean… I used to just go with the flow. But lately… I've been forced to see how small I really am in all this."

Cleo looked down at him, her expression calm and unwavering, her eyes reflecting both warmth and unshakable logic.

"You may be small now… but even stars begin as something smaller than dust," she said gently. "You just need time. And someone to help shape that dust into fire."

"Ha! That sounds nice and all, but time is something we just don't have." Rex's voice was sharp with frustration as he stood up from the couch, running a hand through his hair.

"Even now, the two worlds we just conquered are on the verge of being taken back by Nexum. And if we destroy the incoming fleet... well, it'll only bring more problems. It's a treasure fleet, after all."

He moved across the room with purpose, opening a nearby locker and pulling out a fresh set of clothes, dark, lightweight, and built for movement.

Cleo tilted her head, watching him. "Where are you going?"

"To train," Rex replied while slipping into a fitted black shirt and tactical pants. "I'll try out that new augmented reality training room. Better than just sitting here and letting my mind spiral."

Without another word, he left the room, the door sliding shut behind him with a hiss. Cleo remained still for a moment, her expression unreadable, before returning to her console to continue bringing the fortress's weapons systems online.

Meanwhile, in one of the quieter wings of the massive structure, near the eastern medical bay, the twins were still kept under strict watch.

They hadn't been told anything, no news of Rex, no updates about the ongoing conflict, just silence and polite dismissals from the bots maids that tended to them.

Nyra sat on a cushioned bench, her hands gently cradling her growing belly. She stared at the walls, at the soft blue lights that lined the ceiling, and tried to focus on her breathing. But her thoughts were elsewhere.

"Sis…" she asked softly, her voice trembling. "Have you heard anything? About Rex? Or anything at all?"

Across the room, Lyra was in the middle of a quiet training session, manipulating the dark, shifting strands of her blood weaponry, leftover knowledge passed down from the now nearly extinct Blood Clan. She let the crimson strands dissolve as she turned toward her sister.

"No…" Lyra said, her voice flat but tired. "The only ones I've seen are medical bots and the maid bots. They just clean and check on us. I tried asking them, but they always say the same thing: that they don't know anything."

With a sigh, Lyra sat down on the floor, hugging her legs and resting her chin on her knees.

Nyra lowered her gaze, her fingers pressing gently into her belly as if trying to feel the movement of the life growing inside her. The silence in the fortress was beginning to feel like a weight on her chest. She clenched her eyes shut and the tears began to fall.

She didn't sob loudly, but her shoulders shook as she wept quietly, overwhelmed by fear, loneliness, and the uncertain future of her unborn child.

"Sis… I don't know if he's okay. I don't know what's going on… and I'm scared."

Lyra's head shot up the moment she heard her twin's voice break. She stood quickly and rushed to Nyra's side, kneeling in front of her and gently placing her hands on her arms.

"Hey, hey… come on. Don't cry. I'm here," Lyra whispered, her voice softer than before. "We'll be okay…"

Nyra buried her face in Lyra's shoulder, her voice muffled. "I don't want the baby to be born when our situation is like this…"

Lyra closed her eyes for a moment, holding her tightly. "Then we'll make sure it's not. Even if we have to carve out a new world ourselves."

The two sisters stayed like that, quiet, holding onto each other in the middle of the cold, quiet fortress.

Meanwhile, billions of light-years away from the Cleopatra Fortress, far beyond any known star charts or galactic maps, in a quiet, forgotten system surrounded by violet nebulae and dying suns, two ancient beings sat in silence.

On a lone rocky cliff that overlooked a vast, wild world filled with primal beasts and untamed land, the Lady in White rested calmly atop a smooth stone.

Below her, monstrous creatures roared and battled with tooth and claw, fighting fiercely for dominance over a stretch of land soaked in the blood of many cycles.

Sitting beside her was someone even older, someone whose presence made the air shimmer with a soft, divine light, her older sister.

The Lady in White broke the silence first, her gaze shifting from the brutal skirmish to the serene smile of her sister. "Sis… I don't know how many cycles have passed anymore. But you're still letting yourself be toyed with by those parasites..."

Her voice was soft, but there was a hint of frustration beneath it. She looked her sister in the eye, frowning. "Shouldn't you be doing something by now? Those creatures are destroying what you helped shape. Why won't you stop them?"

Her older sister said nothing at first. She simply reached out and gently cupped the Lady in White's cheek; her touch was warm and calming.

"You know the rules," she said, her voice like a lullaby on the wind. "The laws of the Ancients are clear. We were each granted a single world to nurture. We could give life, help it grow, but never interfere once another Titan's creation touches it. If life we birthed is destroyed… it is no longer ours to protect."

The Lady in White scoffed and pulled her face away gently. "Rules, rules, always rules. When will you ever stop following them? I didn't realize you were such a rules addict, sis..." she said with a pout, crossing her arms like a child annoyed with their parent.

Her sister chuckled warmly, the sound echoing faintly across the rocky plain. "Oh? And have you already forgotten?" she replied while leaning closer. "I have broken the rules once."

She let out a breath and, with a flick of her fingers, summoned a delicate crown made from silvery-white flowers that didn't exist anywhere else in the universe. She placed it gently on the Lady in White's head, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear.