Intergalactic conquest with an AI

Unlike machines or lifeless buildings, every one of them was made of flesh and blood, and the creatures hiding within the suffocating mist craved nothing more than to tear into exactly that.

No matter which way they turned, shadows writhed out of the fog, twisting into monstrous shapes that lunged at them with ravenous hunger.

The Tier Six warriors stood their ground with confidence, their strength still enough to cut down the abominations without difficulty... at least for now. But the Tier Five fighters were in far greater danger.

They were being overwhelmed not only by swarms of Tier Two and Tier Three creatures but also by the occasional Tier Four. And worse still, from time to time, even another Tier Five monster emerged from the depths of the fog; its presence alone pushed them closer to their death.

It did not take long before one of their own, a Tier Five, fell beneath the claws of the grotesque creatures. His screams were swallowed by the mist, and the ground trembled with the sound of flesh being torn apart.

"Sir! Please, stay close to me! None of our scanners are working in here; their readings are useless! You will be safer with me nearby!" Zanar shouted with clear panic in his voice.

He stepped to Valxir's side and raised his weapon, slashing at the twisted shapes that lunged from the fog. In moments, Volkong and Zorbag had joined them, forming a protective wall around their leader.

"Zorbag! Report your status!" Valxir shouted, his blade dripping black blood as he wrenched it free from the skull of a giant Tier Five infected.

"Boss! Space rifts can't be opened in this mist! It blocks everything! Even instant movement is sealed!" Zorbag shouted back.

With his massive fists wrapped in blazing stellar energy shaped into vicious claws, he tore through one abomination after another, each swing of his arms carving deep furrows through flesh while the laser cannons mounted on his shoulders flared, spraying searing beams of light that burned holes straight through several infected at once.

"And the sky? Is it safe to fly?" Volkong bellowed while driving his hammer, a colossal weapon forged from condensed stellar fire, straight into a Tier Five monster. The creature's body cracked and shattered beneath the blow, collapsing into a twitching mass of meat and bone.

"I wouldn't recommend it!" Zanar's usually melodic, almost feminine voice rose above the chaos, though it carried a sharp edge now. He unleashed another sweeping wave of stellar energy that cut a line of creatures into writhing halves.

"I just saw two of the lizards attempt to escape upward, but something in the sky devoured them whole. I couldn't make out what it was, but its power… at least the middle of Tier Seven or maybe worse!"

"Tch. So we're trapped here then, are we?" Valxir muttered between blows, his strikes carving through one endless horror after another. "What about those lizards? Any survivors?"

"I can't tell, boss!" Zorbag shouted loudly, his voice strained with effort. "This mist is too dense. I can't see beyond my own hands. It feels like we're fighting underwater."

"Hey! Look up there!" Volkong suddenly shouted. His eyes locked on the heavens, and the others followed his gaze. Above them, something massive and radiant cut through the thick fog.

Its brilliance grew larger with every heartbeat, accompanied by streaks of familiar light... the rapid flashes of laser fire, the crackling trails of plasma bursts, and the glowing arcs of kinetic turrets tearing through the night. Each blast carved fleeting windows into the suffocating darkness.

"Ohhh! I can't see a thing!" Yssera's voice rang out with childlike excitement, utterly at odds with the chaos below. She pressed her face against the towering glass of the Cleopatra's Command spire, peering eagerly into the mist.

Her green eyes sparkled with delight as the battlefield outside lit up. At that exact moment, one of the winged horrors hurled itself against the fortress window. Its claws screeched across the barrier, but the massive honeycomb shield, clinging to the fortress like a second skin, held firm without so much as a crack.

The turrets answered instantly, a thunderous volley reducing the creature to smoking fragments.

"Ah! That startled me!" Yssera exclaimed with a laugh while pulling back from the glass. Her smile widened with pure amusement as she watched the beast fall. "But my, wasn't that thing hideous!" Her expression was that of a child who had just discovered a fascinating new toy.

Cleo, standing nearby, couldn't help glancing at her in silence. Her eyes softened with a mix of confusion and disbelief. To Cleo's mind, the Kryssari were still the ugliest creatures she had ever seen, yet she held her tongue.

Since a confrontation with Yssera now would be pointless. Instead, she folded her thoughts inward, choosing silence while the storm outside raged on.

[Creator, the defensive systems are being overwhelmed. The number of enemies has reduced their efficiency by forty-five percent.]

The young AI's voice rang steady despite the chaos. She was controlling both the descent of the fortress and everyone of its defenses, but the truth was as she reported.

Since Cleo had already reduced the shield's optimization to the bare minimum, thus allowing it to stop only the largest threats from breaking through. Thereby countless smaller and mid-sized creatures now slipped past the shimmering barrier, crawling and swarming into the shield's interior like vermin through cracks in a wall.

"Understood," Cleo replied coldly. "Expand the shield's diameter to two kilometers. Deploy the fighter squadrons inside the perimeter, and send the legion to reinforce the turret lines. Their priority is to keep the guns alive."

The young AI obeyed without hesitation, carrying out her commands with precision. Slowly, the chaos inside the fortress began to settle. The shield expanded outward in a sudden wave of light, its luminous edge pushing creatures back and granting more space for the defenders to maneuver.

Fighters roared out into the mist, their engines howling like angry beasts, while the legions formed gleaming phalanxes of energy and steel around the fortress turrets.

For a brief moment, it seemed as though control was being regained. But in war, moments of calm were often no more than illusions. There was always a stone waiting to tumble down the mountain, and when it did, it brought an avalanche that crushed every plan.

And this time, the stone came in the form of a massive fist.

From beyond the fog, a colossal fist of unimaginable scale slammed into the Cleopatra's energy shield. The strike was so devastating that space itself fractured around the impact; a web of black cracks tore open the air. The fortress groaned under the pressure, and the shield shuddered like glass about to break.

In less than a heartbeat, Cleo redirected the energy from life support, the warp drives, and even the primary weapon systems, which was ripped away and funneled into the engines and the shield. The fortress pulsed with raw light as systems dimmed across its vast halls.

But even that was not enough. The second blow came with blinding speed. The massive fist punched through the air and smashed Cleopatra down, driving her from the sky with earth-shaking force.

The fortress struck the planet's fragile surface like a falling mountain, carving a crater so deep it split the ground apart. The impact tore through the crust, unleashing a violent earthquake that rippled for kilometers in every direction.

[Shield integrity: eighty-five percent and recharging.]

[Warning: minor hull damage detected. Repair drones deployed.]

"Ouch… I think I hit my head on something…" Yssera groaned. She rubbed her forehead and blinked in confusion until she realized the "something" was Cleo's head. Cleo's gaze met hers; it was really sharp and burning with murderous intent.

"E–eheh…" Yssera gave a nervous laugh before retreating instantly. Her body stiffened as instinct screamed at her to run, yet her legs betrayed her, frozen in place. Before she could process the feeling, the fortress shuddered violently once more, as though the very planet wished to bury it alive.

"Divert all life-support energy into the defensive grid!" Cleo commanded, her voice being audible all around the fortress. "Return fire! Saturate the mist!"

Obeying her will, the Cleopatra's vast arsenal roared back to life. Cannons hummed, plasma engines screamed, and turrets unleashed torrents of firepower in every direction.

The fortress blazed with fury, its weapons cutting blindly through the suffocating fog, turning the mist itself into a storm of fire and light.

"What are you doing? Isn't this just wasting precious ammunition?" Yssera asked, her green eyes wide as she pressed her face against the towering glass once more.

From her vantage point, the world outside looked like a festival of fire and chaos. Beams of light lanced through the mist in every direction, plasma bursts exploded like stars, and tracer rounds painted streaks of brilliance across the darkness.

"It is not waste; it is strategy," Cleo replied with calm certainty. Her gaze remained fixed on the displays around her, watching every flicker of data, every pulse of energy. She raised her hand and pointed toward the battlefield.

"Look closely. Where the light from the weapons dies shorter than the rest… that is where the enemy hides."

Yssera leaned closer to the glass, narrowing her eyes. And then she saw it, an area of the mist where the glowing arcs ended prematurely, swallowed before their full reach. A shadow darker than the fog itself loomed there, vast and formless.

"There it is," Cleo said, her voice now sharp. "Main rail cannon fully charged. Correct aim by twelve degrees. Hold position. Stand by for firing sequence."

Deep within Cleopatra, a low vibration rolled through the fortress, like the heartbeat of a slumbering giant about to awaken. The colossal rail cannon, a weapon forged to pierce stars themselves, shifted on its axis.

Enormous mechanisms groaned as its barrel realigned, the energy coiling within it reaching a brilliant, blinding peak. The air trembled as arcs of raw lightning crawled across the fortress, drawn to the weapon's magnetic charge.