A Greater Presence

Maximiler felt his consciousness get tugged into the deeper confines of his mind. He couldn't do anything to combat this feeling, no matter how hard he tried.

'Protect the carrier~' That voice that held a thousand lesser voices whispered, but at the same time, the voice boomed all around him. Slowly, but surely, he was surrounded by darkness, a familiar one though. It resembled the same darkness that had embraced his mind before he was rebirthed into the body of this clone.

'Carrier... Carrier... Carrier...' The voices echoed again and again around Maximiler, until he found himself before a strange being. For some reason, although he was certain that this being was not human, he felt no urge to run or act in a rash manner.

The alien stood at about three meters of height, and had a pale gray skin. It's limbs were long and lanky, and its chest was wide. A long head that bore two black eyes and two dots just below for nostrils looked down at Maximiler.

"Human... I have finally established a mental link strong enough to let us communicate." It had no mouth, but it was able to speak clearly in the English Language that had remained a staying language throughout human space.

"And who might you be?" Maximiler folded his arms and looked up at the alien creature.

"I am... the last living mind of my people... At least, the last of us that exist outside out galaxy..." It spoke. "I am the creator of the Reboot Protocol, the last hope of my people."

"Your people? Who or what exactly are you?" Maximiler asked.

"For now, that doesn't matter. What matters is that I have retrieved something from the wreckage of your Cruiser, the Nova Krakov." The name of the Heavy Cruiser that he once commanded was like a bomb dropping in the depths of his mind.

"Here. I believe you called it Heroic Spirit." It held out its open palm. Above the palm, a floating grid of complex patterns appeared. It resembled a high tech holographic image.

"Heroic Spirit?" Maximiler was surprised. Heroic Spirit was the name of the highly advanced Artificial Intelligence that was unique to the Nova Krakov, and the Nova Krakov alone. There was no other AI like it, as every Cruiser or Heavy Cruiser, and any other ship class that was operated by the USC had their own unique AI system. That was, aside the public civilian models that all utilized the same AI with the same basic programing. The only way they differed was if their owners made changes to their basic programing.

"With this, your battle is complete. Goodbye, human. Till when next we meet." The holographic projection above the alien's palm blinked away, and Maximiler's mind was once again claimed by darkness. When next he opened his eyes, what he saw left his mind reeling. In the grip of his mech was a lean, metallic sword that was made from unknown materials. A few inscriptions were obvious on the flat of the blade, but that wasn't the most eye catching part.

Maximiler's gaze tracked the blade, until it go to where the shaft of the blade was buried into the thick flesh of an elite mantis mech unit. The greenish-purple flesh had begun corroding, eating away at itself around the blade, but the blade wasn't affected one bit.

Instinctively, the memories from his past life running through his mind, he pulled out the blade, drawing it in an arc like he had done over a hundred times at the end of each battle against the mantis. The purple blood that had gathered on the blade left it just before it froze over in the cold of vacuum space.

His mind ran at an impossible pace. He couldn't even track it. It almost felt as though his head was storing a super computer of sorts. Things that he didn't even have the time to think about before ran through his mind, processed at record speed. Tiny details he never paid attention to became much more important to him.

In Maximiler's past life, he had gotten a brain augmentation, and even a minor implant. It was one of the perks that came with his position as the commander of one of the most powerful Heavy Cruisers in USC space. Free augments and implants; all these were available as long as you had enough merits Fleeter Merits to exchange them with.

Even with those augmentations, he had never been able to do what he was currently doing.

The battle had stalled, both sides having trained their attention on the sole glowing mech that stood between the wreckages of the two elite mantis mechs. An orbit of flowing silver debris floated around the mech that had its two eyes glowing like mini suns.

[Initiating Reboot Protocol - Restarting Heroic Spirit Program... Heroic Spirit is now online.]

Maximiler's mind reached a deeper level of immersion with his mech. He raised up the rifle that was held in his left arm, pointing it into the distance and taking aim. He felt as though he was on another plane, letting his body just move. He didn't rely on the aiming systems of his mech, nor the targeting coordinates sent in by the space station. His target was large enough for him not to miss.

'Just a little more punch...' He thought to himself and pulled the mental trigger. The silvery debris flowing around his mech in a tight circle came together right before the muzzle of the rifle. He had run out of physical rounds, but he didn't need any rounds for this shot.

A massive bullet the size of the mech's rifle took shape. The distance lights and explosions glinted off its smooth surface.

All this happened in a single moment, before the bullet seemingly tore through space, shooting forward and straight into the thinned out ranks of mantis.

Boom!

An inaudible explosion rang out as the solid round slammed into the side of the mantis frigate. The green lights that shone through what few windows it had flickered violently as the frigate tipped. Its thrusters sputtered, the engines dying out.

Boom!

Another inaudible explosion rocked through the frigate. This time, it was much more volatile as flames tore through the hull of the spaceship, spreading out into vacuum space before sputtering out. Multiple more explosions rocked the insides of the frigate before, in one blinding explosion, the frigate was swallowed in a cloud of fire!