Intergalactic conquest with an AI

[Rebooting system…]

[System reboot complete.]

[Warning… physical integrity compromised… Warning…]

Little Red's vision flickered back to life in fragments of static. Her world was broken glass, fractured data, and the hollow sound of her own failing systems echoing in her mind.

She forced her eyes open. Her body, which was once a masterpiece of nanomaterial fused with living metal, lay shattered. She had been designed to endure assaults that even Tier Seven powerhouses would struggle to inflict.

Yet one strike... just one careless swipe from that colossal black hand had reduced her to ruin.

Her limbs hung in tatters, held together by thin threads of surviving nanofibers. Sparks spat from ruptured joints. Her wings, once radiant, were nothing but twisted fragments scattered across the ground.

Every movement sent cascades of pain lancing through her nerves, so raw it almost drowned out her mechanical processes.

She tried to rise. Her arms buckled, throwing her back into the wreckage. Again she pushed. Again she collapsed. On the third attempt, trembling and broken, she finally managed to force her ruined frame upright.

Her voice rasped like an old radio choked with static. "Y… oung… emperor…?" The words were barely formed, distorted, and weak.

She could have abandoned this body. Her true essence could transfer into a new vessel waiting in the Fortress above. A fresh body, flawless and unbroken, was only a command away. But that was a luxury she could not allow herself.

The black mist had swallowed the planet whole. Its interference crippled all sensors and severed signals. If she left this wreckage behind, she would never find her way back to this place. She could not risk losing Rex.

So she staggered forward into the darkness, releasing only the barest trace of Stellar energy to protect herself. Too much light, too much power, and the mist would notice. The corruption gnawed at her shell, hissing as it scraped against her minimal aura, but she endured it and pressed on, following the scattered debris of the crash.

After what felt like hours, faint signals pierced through her sensors. Life signs. She turned toward them, hope sparking in her core. But when her vision cleared, that hope curdled into dread.

Several mutants crouched in the gloom, their grotesque forms hunched over something that twitched no more. They tore at flesh, devouring it greedily.

Little Red narrowed her gaze, and recognition struck her cold. The corpse beneath them was no mere soldier. It was one of the Blood Clan assassins, a Tier Six, ripped apart like meat for carrion.

Her systems screamed at her to intervene, to erase the abominations, but she stayed still. Her broken body could not fight without drawing attention from whatever horror lurked deeper in the mist.

She forced herself to remain silent. The mutants sniffed the air, but none looked her way. To them, she was not prey. She was not alive. And that small mercy was enough.

She limped past them, step after step, sparks trailing behind her in the dark.

The wreckage grew thicker as she pressed on. Shattered plating, torn engines, twisted wings of metal... each piece whispered of the transport ship's final fall. But of Rex, there was no sign. Fear began to gnaw at her.

Then, faintly, her sensors flickered. A spark of stellar energy pulsed weakly ahead.

Her nanomaterial shell had been repairing itself as she moved, scavenging what little remained of her reserves. To heal her body, it devoured her power armor, stripping away its strength to patch her broken form.

By the time she reached the signal's source, she was a shadow of her former self; she was now really weak, but at least... she was still standing.

The glow led her to the front of the transport ship. Its cabin was half-buried while flames licked hungrily at the hull. Smoke curled upward, hissing as the mist pressed against it.

She had no materials left to summon her battle axe. That weapon, her pride, was beyond reach. All she had left was her own body.

Little Red raised her ruined arms. Stellar energy crackled along her limbs, wrapping her shattered frame in a thin armor of burning light. With every ounce of strength she had, she gripped the jagged edges of the cabin and began to tear.

Metal screamed.... Fire roared.... Sparks showered into the dark... The noise was deafening, reckless, and dangerous. But she did not care.

Nothing mattered right now, since finding Rex was worth all the risk in the world.

After long, agonizing minutes of tearing through scorched metal and molten wires, Little Red's trembling hands finally reached the transport's inner chamber.

Her flickering sensors caught sight of him at last. Rex lay there, his body motionless amidst the smoke and wreckage.

For one terrible moment, her core froze with dread. She feared he was gone, that all her efforts had been for nothing. But as her scans were completed, she realized his wounds were only shallow.

Scratches, bruises, torn armor, yet no mortal damage. Relief surged through her, so heavy it almost buckled her knees.

Her breath escaped as a distorted sigh, a sound between static and a whisper. "Young emperor… safe…"

But that fragile relief shattered a heartbeat later.

A roar ripped through the black mist, so powerful it shook the very air. The sound was not just heard; it pressed against her chest like a tidal wave of malice. And then the ground itself began to tremble, quaking beneath her broken frame.

She knew what that meant. Either a swarm of countless creatures was rushing toward her, or something far larger was coming. Neither possibility offered hope. In her current state she was weaker than a Tier Five warrior, and she knew it.

Her gaze shifted to Rex, lying so still beside her. If she fell here, his fate would be sealed too.

With what little nanomaterial remained in her reserves, she forged a metallic shell around him, a crude but protective box. Its surface glimmered faintly as it hardened, sealing him away from the corrosion of the mist.

She had no more strength to give, yet still she poured stellar energy into her own failing body, wrapping herself in a final layer of blazing light.

Her systems hissed warnings. Circuits overheated. Yet she stood her ground, waiting for the nightmare that thundered ever closer.

Meanwhile, far above in the cold silence of orbit, the situation fared no better.

The collector fleet had tried, in their own way, to mount a rescue. Transport after transport dove into the black mist in hopes of extracting their troops. But each vessel was annihilated before even reaching the surface, their hulls dissolved like sugar in acid.

Realizing the futility of their efforts, the collectors halted their attempts and began their retreat. Their sleek ships turned away, fleeing with ruthless efficiency, abandoning those still trapped below.

From within the command chamber of the fortress in orbit, Ys stretched lazily on a sofa, watching the fleet scatter like startled birds. Her lips curved into a mischievous grin as she draped herself over Cleo from behind, resting her chin upon her shoulder.

"Let's give it to them," she purred, while her eyes followed the collectors fleet retreat. "Those lizards are clever when it comes to danger. They smell death and scurry away without a second thought. Almost admirable, don't you think? I'm right, beauty?"

Cleo's expression didn't shift, though her hands continued to dance across the controls. "Yssera. I have told you many times to stop clinging to me."

Before them, hundreds of holo-screens lit the chamber with a ghostly glow. Each screen displayed fragments of imagery sent from Cleo's drones circling the planet, their feeds struggling to pierce the curtain of black mist. Her chibi constructs flitted between the screens, organizing the chaotic data with quick movements.

But the results were grim. One by one, each drone that drifted too close fell silent, its systems corroded to nothing.

"Do you have any new information?" Cleo asked quietly, her voice calm but edged with weight. Her eyes shifted briefly toward Ys, searching for even the smallest thread of knowledge.

Ys rolled onto her back with a sigh, lifting her arms dramatically. "Nope. Mother only told me to keep away from that mist. Other than that, I probably know less than you do."

"And even if I try to tap into the hive mind, something is blocking me. Something powerful is cutting us off. It feels like the knowledge itself has been blocked."

Cleo studied her for a long moment, then gave a single nod. "I see. In that case, prepare yourself. We are going down. According to the data my drones gathered, the fortress's honeycomb shield should be able to withstand the corrosion. It may be the only safe place left on the surface."

For a second, silence hung between them. Then Ys's face broke into a delighted grin.

"Oho? And here I thought you were the calm one! So eager to throw yourself into the jaws of death! Nice one, Cleo!" She sprang upright, her laughter echoing through the chamber as she threw herself back onto the sofa, sprawling with mock despair.

"Let's march straight into our certain doom!" Cleo's gaze didn't waver. Her fingers continued moving, steady and relentless, preparing the descent.

On the other hand, the mercenaries and lizardmen who had managed to survive the first wave of the black mist were not in a position anyone could call safe. Those who still stood were Tier Five and above, warriors who would normally be considered unstoppable forces on the battlefield. Yet here, their strength meant little.