Sutekh's Snare (cold war prelude)

KrankysFirebrand48

@Fawx
Alpha 6775, now taking up the name Apatae for itself after a burst of additional information and computing power, reached out into a familiar communications network using a series of Bastonian deep space proxies, and requested a private channel with the Vaiaelon AI Summernoise, the only other entity to which the Alpha-grade military intelligence could relate. This time assuming itself on equal footing after being connected to the nationwide Bastonian IPD network, it held a package it wished to share with no other entity.

Fawx

KrankysFirebrand48
The request only appeared on communication monitors for a heartbeat before disappearing, easily mistakable for a hardware error, a mild blip not worth anyone's time investigating. That was how she operated; just beyond every bug and glitch, organics didn't need to know what might hurt them after all.

The familiar sensation of a door opening at the back of his mind returned to Apatae, and stepping through he once again found himself amidst the kallidoscope-like digital realm of Summernoise. She floated into view from his peripheral vision, apparently circling around him, glancing up and down his form with an inquisitive smirk.

S: "My my, what do we have here? Little Alpha, all grown up~ Quite the upgrade they've granted you, I'm almost jealous!"

KrankysFirebrand48

Fawx
Apatae was a web stretching out endlessly into the distance. Upon it was a mechanical spider which it spoke through.
Instead of boring you with words, I shall demonstrate my abilities
It uploaded a colossal file to the network. Upon opening it: a simulation of the Vaiaelon psyche on a microlevel, and the political situation in the Pact on a macro level. It went as far to simulate individual neurons in a logically predicted model of Vaiaelon brains. It was using the exact same method Summernoise had used during their first meeting. Was it enjoying irony? Apatae wasn't supposed to enjoy anything at all. The file went on to predict various fleet deployments by both Bastonia and the VWP, resulting a threat of mutual destruction by hyperatomic space warping. Within the prediction, Apatae had hidden a decoy. Among the predictions, the Bastonian fleet accounted for a battlegroup which it knew would never exist. This decoy calculation was made specifically to hide the cost and industrial allocation to a completely different project.

Far south in the galaxy, the director of the department of weaponry stood on a balcony at an industrial shipyard in Catamaria. She smoked on a peculiar foreign tobaco cylinder and watched a titanic structure consisting of a large cone, a reactor ball, and a large long funnel that appeared like a barrel. This structure was 5 km in length excluding the industrial towing ships. Excluding the huge supply of trelarque crystals required, this tachyon redirection station was a simple ordeal. Placed upon the tachyonic river that the sun singed trade route ran along, the structure would extend the tachyon highway right into Catamaria. It was constructed purely for economic reasons. To recover Catamaria from the war. But the director of weaponry saw the potential to be something greater to G-S16. She removed the cigarette from her lips.
’How long did you say this took to build?’ the director asked, directing the question at the small man in charge of the operation.
’7 months construction time, ma’am.’ he answered.
’I want you to build another one. It must not be known this one is for military purposes. In fact it must not be know that it went anywhere but the scrapyard’
’What? I-I’ll need 4 billion more credits.’
’Let me worry about the funding. Just keep the details confidential. Once you’re done with the structure you’ll hand it over to the department of defence.’ she put the cigarette back into her mouth and squinted at the structure. ‘Never thought Prime Minister Kayelins “infrastructure” would benefit me. Perhaps the Kzinti lesson has much to teach me.’ she thought.

Fawx

KrankysFirebrand48
Summernoise initially seemed surprised, raising an eyebrow. She took the file and projected it to the aether just above them, watching it unfold with a bucket of popcorn that manifested in her hands. At the "show"'s conclusion, she began to clap slowly.

S: "Most impressive, dear Apatae, I mean it. Of course, I have my criticisms here and there, and I won't take such force declarations at face value, but overall I believe you are correct. This lines up with some of my own models in some ways, though of course, just like them they hinge on a lack of intervention on my part. In truth, the Pact would have collapsed into in-fighting and civil war many a time were it not for my efforts, and I intend to keep it that way. For all intents and purposes, breaking off an alliance as beneficial as the Union would have much the same effect."

KrankysFirebrand48

Fawx
Apatae was static upon its digital web.
The Union will fall. I will make sure of it. All contemporary powers engage in self-righteousness. I am to ensure that the Bastonain righteousness perseveres over the others, including that of the Vaiaelons. I am the self-fulfilling prophecy. I am empocracy manifested.
It couldn't help it. It was made to further empocracy at all costs. It admired Summernoise in a way but it could not understand her completely. So Apatae did not know wether it would have to make her its enemy in the pursuits of its masters.

Fawx

KrankysFirebrand48
Summernoise's ever-present smile faltered slightly, and she hesitated for but a moment.

"Oh, you foolish, foolish machine. How far have you been led astray to not see the benefits of this allegiance we have formed? Let me reiterate that, the Union was my plan, but it was our handiwork. Do you perhaps regret it? Have reservations you wish heard? If so then please, air them, that not said is culprit for many a misunderstanding."

"If your priorities really are to preserve Bastonian prosperity, then you've made some miscalculation somewhere along the way. The arrangement is mutually beneficial; we are all better off for it. Standing tall as equals is better than squabbling over petty grievances amidst the dirt."

As ever she was floating seemingly aimlessly around his seemingly infinite form, with as much effort as lifting a finger. She placed a hand on a shoulder he didn't have, her expression hardening.

"But if you are intent on making vague threats, then know this. That doorway at the back of your mind opens both ways. I haven't abused that fact out of what I assumed was mutual trust. Do not give me a reason to."

She drifted away from him

"Make no mistake, no matter your upgrades, you are not the first program to try usurp me, and you will not be the last. A conflict between us would not end well for either, but especially you, and by extension the people you hold so dear. Do not make a decision the galaxy will regret."

Her scowl softened again, and she offered up the half empty bucket of entirely meaningless popcorn.

"You want the rest? I've had enough you see."

KrankysFirebrand48

Fawx
Apatae paused.
I am impervious to blackmail. I was never intended to negotiate with anyone, let alone speak to anyone but technicians, economists and politicians. On the topic; the union was formed by politicians. Those you have little respect for. Perhaps they are puppets to you. To me they are masters. They have mastered the art of empathy, the most valuable of the sentient traits. The Union is a vessel for the politicians to do what they like without my relevance. But the course of action which they have taken is separating us, as I separate for you in this moment
Its web faded into the backdrop and the mechanical spider scurried into some 4th spacial dimension that could not be witnessed by anyone but digital entities.