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Arn sat on the ramp next to Elana. Above them, smoke still poured from the open door of the dropship. Prisoners sat in a hunched group to their left, heads bowed, occasionally coughing or wiping blood from still fresh wounds.

“Your man is a little headstrong,” commented Elana, taking a sip from the flask in her hand.

“Hauser? Yes, he is that. I am not sure how we will explain to Lieutenant Jax the fact that we have a tank stuck in the Mech Bay.”

Elana laughed, “Concern for his fellows? Sheer enthusiasm?” she shook her head and continued, “I must say that he arrived at the right moment, although more than once, I was not sure he was actually on our side.”

“Yes, Hauser does have that effect on people. Conn is speaking with him right now...”

With a vicious grin, Elana looked over towards where the rest of the Tanks stood.

“Now that should be interesting...”


*

To be truthful, Conn was not actually speaking with Hauser. He had the man by his throat and was shaking him, whilst the rest of the tankers stood around.

“You...” he said, “will be the death of me...”

Hauser said nothing; it was hard to speak whilst Conn was cutting off his air supply.

“I told you not to do anything stupid... but you...”

Conn dropped him to the floor and burst out laughing.

“The look on Elana’s face, when you almost fried her...”

The tanker looked up sheepishly as he struggled for breath.

“Get out of my sight,” wheezed Conn, “and Hauser?”

“Sir?”

“Well done...”

*

Elias tried vainly to contact Von Jankmonn. Maggie had jammed all communications meaning that the Tech had absolutely no idea what was happening. He smashed his fist into his useless equipment with a feeling of futility.

“Elias?”

The Tech turned and found Jax standing behind him.

“We have a problem, Sir,” he said, waving his hand at the communications array in front of him, “this AI definitely proves that a village somewhere is missing an idiot. She is more than unpredictable, and there is nothing that I can do from here.”

“So? Get yourself a shuttle and go and see what you can achieve up there. Swing by Elana’a position and pick up a few troops. From what I have heard, Arn and his men are on a similar wavelength to Maggie.

“We need that frigate at least and Maggie would be a useful addition to the Dark Falcons, if she can be reasoned with.”

“And if not...?”

“Then I am sure you will think of something. We have a little problem of our own to deal with down here still, before I can concentrate any more resources on her. If needs be, use the SDS and deal with her appropriately.”

“Sir!” replied the Tech as he rushed from the room.

“And Elias...”

“Sir?” the Tech paused.

“Make sure you take Hauser with you,” laughed Jax, “his unique style may be of some use.”

Maggie noticed the launch from the SDS; the fighters the missiles and she even recognised the power signature of the mass driver. It was not that she ignored them as such, rather that in her own delusional state, she really did not believe that she was the target. It was only when the first laser pulses struck her fighters, that Maggie realised that not every one of the adoring subjects she imagined, loved her in truth.

The first blow was not struck by the SDS; Von Jankmonn had fired in desperation, hoping to distract Maggie from whatever she intended to do with the shuttle. His targeting had been relatively random, he had fired into a group of drones with no expectation of causing any real damage. Now he had her attention.

Clarity came in ripples and occasionally crashing waves to the AI. Right now, she was semi-clear; and enemy had attacked her and neede to be destroyed. What her supercomputer could not calculate was the possibility that a single fighter was the only aggressor. A rapid sweep of her sensors indicated four possible sources; the fighter was the first, which she dismissed with a mental command that her drones destroy it. The second source was the nearby shuttle which was lightly armoured and had no offensive weapons. Reason dictated no threat. Thirdly the frigate, but it was travelling away from her and there was no indication of weapons fire. Curious.

The SDS! A traitor, a viper clasped to her own bosom. Rage swept away any purpose of thought, any reasoning ability. Maggie ignored the lack of sentience in the SDS, attributing its attack as jealously. She took the missile launch as personal, not the response to a series of commands issued from her real antagonist on the shuttle. Her irrational thought process now blanked the existence of the other craft, focussing all of her energy on the task of punishing the, as she thought, once obedient subject.

*

“Von Jankmonn!” Elias’ voice whipped across space, “Get yourself out of there now. She has forgotten about you and we need you back on the frigate.”

The pilot bristled at the tone in the Tech’s voice. How dare he speak to him like that? Was he not a warrior? A Jade...no, he was not. Still, even though the order came from a Tech, it made sense. He could deal with the freebirth, if and when he survived.

Elias had not expected a reply. It had been a risk transmitting, but Maggie was now too far gone. She was aiming for the SDS at full speed; it was a miracle that the drones had remained focused on Von Jankmonn. Not for long though, the pilot and the SDS drones would take care of that.

His problem was two-fold; how did he keep Maggie from infiltrating the SDS computer system and how the hell was he going to stop her?

LRM’s arced away from the asteroid, their initial objectives adjusted in real time to compensate for the Caspar’s precipitous movements. Elias had a clean connection with the SDS, his laser array linked directly. He was furiously entering contingency plans, to give the SDS at least some autonomy for the obvious scenario. At some point Maggie would wake from her pique and cut Elias’ signal, that or send a couple of warheads their way.

“What are you doing?” asked Arn, in reality with absolutely no understanding of the reasons for Elias’ actions.

“Maggie will return to sanity at some point. I am guessing the moment she starts fighting for real. A missile up your tail-pipe is a great wake-up call.”

Elias’ grin disappeared when he saw the blank expression on Arn’s face, “Is everything ready?”

“We are as ready as we ever will be,” said Arn, glancing at Hauser whose fixed grin made him worry, just a little.

“In that case, get everyone together and give the order to disembark,” said Elias, turning back to his console.

“What about you? Are you sure about staying?”

“I will be fine. My volunteer crew and I will make sure that you have your chance, just make sure Hauser follows the plan as discussed.”

Arn nodded, already moving through the crowded rear.

“Listen up!” he shouted. It was not really necessary to shout, but it made him feel better.

“We will move in teams. New guys clipped by line to the more experienced ones.”

He saw them lock down their helmets, check their seals and then their weapons. A wave of his hand brought Hauser and Conn towards him.

“Listen, you maniac,” he whispered to Hauser, “there will be no improvisation. We need your two brain cells working together and concentrated on the job in hand. Do you understand?”

“Sir!” replied Hauser, for once looking serious, “You can count on me.”

Conn laughed, “We can count on you to stick to the mission, that’s for sure. What we have no idea is what you will do when things go pear-shaped.”

Hauser smiled, “Don’t worry, Sir,” he said, “I’ll get you there.”

They missed his muttered comment of “...and then we’ll see...” which was probably for the best.

[/size]

Maggie was extremely busy. Even her vast computing tower was being taxed; although she had been damaged she still thought and processed extremely rapidly. With three potential main antagonists, plus the whirling cloud of drones and inbound missiles, she had a headache. Elias’ constant distractions and the mass projectile shooting towards her, it was little wonder she missed the slowly approaching Hauser.

For once, the less than predictable Rating, was following his orders. There was no frantic charge, no reckless assault, only the sweat-soaked concentration required to remain both invisible and alive. Hauser needed to avoid the munition-rich kill zone and manoeuvre the craft in such a way that he gave Arn and his crew a chance. They could discard the impromptu vessel once they were locked on, but right now it was all important.

Ever so carefully, he angled the little vessel nearer; Maggie’s gyrations were not helping. He waited for his moment, knowing that the AI enjoyed the theatrical. Finally she straightened, releasing a tremendous broadside which smashed into a group of the SDS’ drones and he gave it full throttle. His target was one of the AI’s bays, from which occasionally issued one of her drones. Now he could let loose his true nature and with a whoop of delight, he rocketed in.

*

“What was that?”

Maggie liked talking to herself, there really was no-one her equal, so why should she bother? She had noticed the sudden flare of a rocket engine and was annoyed. A missile? How had she missed it?

It was when Hauser gunned his craft, slamming and skittering to a halt inside her, that Maggie realised wat had happened. She had been boarded. Like an unbroken colt she reared and bucked, forgetting about the rest of her problems and concentrating only on the very real threat to her existence. Her reaction was instant flight, but that solved nothing; it only removed her from the immediate danger of the SDS.

Her sharp, high-G movements sent the framework of the makeship craft sliding and skittering around the bay. Two drones which were still inside tried to move to fire on the invaders but even Maggie’s control was useless. Arn unclipped himself with difficulty. Followed by Conn and one or two others. Instead of trying to rise, he crawled to the bulkhead and hung on. One by one, his team rolled free, only Hauser stayed, his desperate attempts to negate Maggie’s wild ride eventually bearing fruit as his little craft slammed into the wall, wedged between racks of redundant equipment.

“Move!” screamed Arn, Conn responding crab-like. He pulled an explosive charge free from his belt and placed it in the middle of a maintenance port nearby.

“Clear!”

Arn turned away as a sheet of flame was born and died almost immediately. Their magnetic boots functioned well, but the bay was still open to vacuum. Hand over hand he pulled himself through the jagged opening; Hauser’s instructions had been clear. They could not let go. To do so, was worse than death.

His team followed and he led them down the passage, finding and undogging a lock, which he closed after them once they were through. Hauser was taking too long and he cold not stop to wait for him. Gravity was something Maggie did not need and was a luxury thay could not afford.

*

They were inside! Maggie was furious. The violation of her outer skin had not been traumatic, but the thought of these parasites crawling through her innards was. She activated her point defense systems, as she continued to race away from the SDS. Nothing else existed in her mind. The drones were forgotten, Von Jankmonn and the frigate had never existed. All that she could think of was ridding herself of Arn and his men.

It was to their favour that she was just a little insane. She could not think straight and they had to take advantage of that. Hauser was aware of their and his limitations and he had a plan.

Maggie continued to scream, her childish cries blasting forth. Her pain had lessened, but she was in a mad cycle, the release of her terror found sound. She could not remember anything but the feeling of glorious power, of invulnerability. Hauser in particular had shown her that even the Warrior-Queen herself was not immune to attack, and she was scared.

On she raced, oblivious of direction, with only one imperative; she must get away. Behind her followed Elias, the gap between them widening with each passing moment and his concern rising. Now he was sure, Maggie was travelling at the highest speed possible... directly towards the brilliant danger of the sun.

*

Arn was locked to the deck by the magnetic soles of his boots and his suit protected him to some extent. What it did not do, was relieve any of the effects of the High-G force they had initially experienced, and some of his men were still slumped unconscious where they stood.

The AI seemed to have decided on a straight course for now, and Arn still had a mission to complete. He could see Conn moving.

“Conn?”

“Yes...”the reply was faint but intelligible.

“We need to move. There is no guarantee that this crazy machine won’t start throwing us around again.”

Conn grunted and ever so slowly started to move. No-one else followed him.

“It’s up to us Conn,” said Arn, bringing up the map on his HUD. Elias had given them one target, which he had insisted would allow him to bargain with Maggie. Arn was not so sure, but he had to do something. He turned and felt the comforting clank of Conn’s boots as he followed him.

*

Anger began to rise from within the centre of Maggie’s being. She had been violated, torn apart by insignificant beings Who were they to besmirch her? What could she do? She would kill them all.

Her sensors saw the bright orb, burning before her. She would send them all to a flaming death. What was that? Movement! There were still parasites within her. In her maddened state, the AI could only think of ridding herself of the infestation. There was no rational consideration of her own demise; was she not almost god-like? No, she would cleanse herself in the purifying fires.

She felt the welcoming touch of the sun’s deadly radiation; it was still weak, but soon these humans would feel its welcoming caress.

Something smashed into her side, wrenching her from her gleeful contemplation of destruction. Again it hit her and she felt her skin slowing away with the violence of the contact. A small insignificant voice bit at her, as a third and just as painful collision struck her.

“Maggie? This is Elias, we need to talk...”

This time the blow was no friendly love tap, it punched through her lower deck, opening a gaping hole to space.

“The next one won’t be so gentle...”

Maggie roared with rage, executing a brutal turn so that she could deal with this persistant worm. As her sensors reached out for the shuttle, she activated her weapons systems, fully expecting to destroy the small craft with little effort.

 

Jax listened carefully to his various commanders; the Hanseatic League forces had put up a fair fight, but the combined forces of Star League machinery and Dark Falcon tenacity had beaten them into submission. The Captain-General’s rather messy death had certainly served as an object lesson and those surviving soldiers were now under guard.

They had added two dropships to their already growing naval force, although the third, having received Hauser’s personal touch, was more of a wreck than a ship. Right now, the dropships were nothing more than extra equipment, if they could not recover the Congress Class Frigate. Its two docking collars would give them some opportunity of returning to Winfield, or at least of contacting their Khan. With the SDS and its drones, plus the planetary complex, they could hold off any attackers, although any chance of returning to Winfield was minimal to say the least.

The briefing over they crowded round the holotank, as they watched Maggie’s finale play out.

*

“Can you receive me, Elias?” Arn was not sure that the irrational AI would even allow him to talk to the Tech.

“Loud and clear...” was the reply.

“We have secured our objective and are starting our negotiations with Maggie, as discussed.”

“Negotiations? You have invaded, caused vast destruction and are now blackmailing me ...”

“Enough!”

Elias’ voice roared through the open circuit, it seemed as though he was fast losing patience with the petulant Caspar.

“We do not have a lot of time. Your unthinking actions have not only endangered yourself, but valuable resources for the Dark Falcons, and that includes you, Maggie.”

“What exactly do you mean?” asked Arn, more than a little confused.

“Our less than rational companion decided to create her own funeral pyre, taking you with her of course. Even now, her residual velocity is carrying her towards the sun. We need to get you out of there, as soon as we can.”

“And what about me?” her voice was rising again.

“You, I’ll deal with later!” snapped Elias, “for now Arn, I will be coming across in the shuttle. Once I have arrived and your team has been recovered, I will try and see if we can save Maggie.”

“I do not need your help!”

“Oh, you need help Maggie,” replied Elias, as he nodded to his pilot to start the engines, “serious help.”

“Okay, I have a plan,” Elias said quietly, Hauser looking up from where he sat, “but I am not sure that you are going to like it.”

The tanker said nothing. He had associated the role of an officer with Elias, and so knew from experience that his opinion was not really required.

“Maggie’s fuel supply is limited. In fact, she only has enough for one concentrated burn,” Elias noticed Hauser’s apparent interest and continued.

“We cannot get away from the sun’s gravity well directly, so we are going to have to do it another way. By increasing her dive into the sun and tracing the correct path, she should be able to sling shot around, breaking free of the sun’s pull. However...”

Still Hauser said nothing. He had yet to hear how this affected them, and him in particular.

“...someone is going to have to stay on board. Just in case there need to be any final adjustments. That, to relieve any concern you might have, will be me.”

“You’re insane!” snapped Hauser, “The heat inside here, even if it doesn’t blow up the explosives, will kill you.”

“Not,” replied Elias, “according to my calculations. It will be close...”

“ ‘Mad’ Elias,” snorted Hauser, “it certainly suits you!”

“We will see,” said Elias, “for now, I need to talk with Maggie. Time is short. I suggest you and the pilot make your way back to the frigate. I am going to speak directly with our charming host.”

*

Maggie had been listening. She had little else to do. She was feverishly trying to think of a way of ridding herself of the humans. It seemed that only Elias would remain with her. Her velocity coming out of the manoeuvre would send her away from the frigate, which the Dark Falcons could not afford to lose. Once she got away, she could take time to recharge her drive, before she worked out a way of exacting her revenge.

Those robots left could help her to repair the major damage, and she still had significant firepower at her disposal. The key though, was the deactivation of the explosives, and the removal of any possible detonator.

She heard Elias approaching and mentally prepared herself. A direct frontal attack was not the way. Submissive. That was what she needed to be. She would convince the idiot human of her sincerity, and then she would strike.

*


“Hello Elias, how are you?”

Elias smiled to himself. A change of tack. This AI was really nothing more than a manipulative child, and so shamelessly he began to play the game.

“Maggie, so nice that we can actually have a civil conversation.”


“I think that we started on the wrong foot, perhaps we should try again?”

“Of course,” said Elias, “what do you have in mind?”

Maggie followed the shuttle’s path as it lifted off, and decided that there was little point in waiting. She ordered one of the robot’s closer, its clawed arms grasping Elias tightly.

“Now,” she snapped, “You will do as I say...”

There was the report of a rifle and the robot span away.

“Missed you...” said Hauser with a smile, and Elias wondered exactly how he should take the comment.