LF Friends, Will Travel

Our Clockwork Children: Chapter 20

Much like many things in life, everything was going fine for the Uhae, until it wasn't.

It was a relatively cushy job, as close to such a thing that could be found in the military. Being on defensive duty for a species that never got attacked was an unsurprisingly peaceful role. Sure they had a military defence because that's how militaries work, but they'd never had to use it. At least not since the Baruz, but that species had been made extinct long ago by an AI.

So for the Uhae on defence, it was the start of another easy and peaceful day... Until it wasn't.

ODIN started firing a mere 46 nanoseconds after their fleet warped into range. They already knew what they were firing at before they'd even entered the space: they just had to recalculate the angles. Frankly, 46 nanoseconds was a rather slow time, but to be fair to the AI, they were out of practice.

On the other side, it had taken a whole 48.5 seconds for the organic minds of the Uhae to realize what was going on, make an assessment, and start returning fire. ODIN was on their third volley by that point.

The mishmash of Terran vessels fired their payloads, focusing on a few ships at a time, warheads the size of small cars and other assorted objects slammed into targets all at once, consuming them in fire and death. There was no need for coordination or delay between switching targets since it was all ODIN; all one mind, all one thought controlling the Terran fleet. Each barrage of fire overwhelmed the defences of each ship of the defensive fleet in turn, providing a force multiplier while the Uhae split their decision-making among many separate entities.

The return fire from the Uhae was... ineffective. The AI-controlled vessels dodged and moved unpredictably, mathematically being the most difficult object for an organic-based targeting system to hit. Some of the Uhae attacks did hit their targets, peppering shields or in some cases causing even more permanent damage: disabling and destroying a handful of ODIN's ships. But a handful wasn't enough, wasn't nearly enough to stop the never-ending march of the AI's attack.

ODIN would have much preferred to have a human crew behind his vessels, their combat effectiveness was reduced by over 32% due to the lack of their creator's special brand of chaos and individual thinking. Having a single AI micromanage everything was inefficient. But 68% of a Terran AI's effectiveness in war was still a whole lot of effective firepower and destruction.

The Terran didn't have the technological advantage with their fleet made of surplus parts, they didn't even have that much of a numbers advantage: A lot of their fleet was troop carriers or orbital bombers. But the Uhae had relied on their XK abilities for far too long. Their physical training and strategies were weak and outdated, especially compared with someone like ODIN who had spent a good chunk of their life going to war.

The Uhae tried their tricks. It was almost funny, seeing their desperate attempts at communication with ODIN's vessels, not that such a trick would work on the AI. The Terran responded, of course; it would be rude not to do so. Every message and communication request was responded to with a simple message.

"I am the wrath of Far-Sa-De. Fear me and weep for no negotiation or quarter will be given."

Then ODIN would send them a rickroll. Even in times of war, they may be an AI, but they were a Terran AI.

As minutes ticked by, the defence fleet was being whittled down as casualties started to stack up. 20, 30, 50, 70. It became quickly apparent who was winning control of the planet's orbit. A railgun shot cut through two of ODIN's vessels, the small spaceport that hung in orbit having fired the blast. ODIN felt an annoyance at such an unexpected attack. Scellestra couldn't be expected to provide all the intelligence about this planet, but it was still annoying.