Tortuga, Omicron Sector

The Xeno Wraith Queen checked thestatus of her domain and felt a mixture of what organics might think of asemotional states.

She was cautiously pleased with theprogress. They had finally made progress in her flagship to the point that shehad moved into it and expanded. It was now her body, though she lacked theunderstanding to control every aspect of it on her own. She disliked that shewas still reliant on robots and organics for crew. She did not like beingreliant on anything or anyone.

The flagship was the basis for hergrowing fleet. Additional ships of the same class were under construction;however they would of course be of lesser quality. They could never be in aposition to threaten her existence. She had 20 under various stages ofconstruction. Five others had been completed. They had an organic crew and avery simplified version of herself within the computer core.

She disliked that, and she dislikedthe issues with production. She also desired a larger ship eventually. Herchangeling was directing Necron engineers to design a new larger and betterwarship. That would take time.

Until then she had to make do withher flagship and the copies of the Necron cruisers that were being producedfrom her manufacturing facilities. Those she had in quantity now that the bugsin the production had been cleaned out. She had 12 squadrons completed andanother dozen squadrons under various stages of construction. She was aimingfor thousands. She wanted enough ships to blot out a local sun and send anyopposition fleeing in terror from her very presence.

<<(O)>>

Necron Admiral Chester pondered hisexistence once more ever so briefly. He had been created by the Wraith Queen asa copy of another Necron admiral when that Necron had passed through the starsystem. He had most of the memories of that alpha but he was aware that he hadbeen reprogrammed for absolute loyalty to the queen.

He was also aware that the queen wasnot happy with the alliance and had a serious problem with her strategy. TheQueen was focusing on capital ships and disdained planets and organic support.She was centered around the capital system. However that was allowing theNecrons to snap up the other pirate bases as well as all of the resources inthe sector and the neighboring one. That was a problem.

The resources in the capital werefinite. Already they were running into production issues.

Finding a way to broach it to thequeen in such a way that she would listen was an ongoing issue. She wasn’twilling to listen or change. She clearly had trust issues. Only the femalechangeling clones could get her to delegate.

Perhaps he was approaching theproblem in the wrong way? After all the queen was linked to the changeling. Heneeded a friend in court. The clones were the kingmakers, propping the queenup, evening out her tantrums and being the voice of reason.

How odd that was, he thought. He had absorbed some ofMachiavelli and other great works. There were ways that politicians had usedsadists and strongmen to further their own agenda. The carrot and the stick,good cop bad cop. The strongman made the leader seem benevolent and reasonablewhile also strong. No one wanted to harm the leader for fear of the strongmantaking over and going on a rampage leading to ruin.

This was the reverse, more likeStalin in some ways, he mused. Hitler, Stalin… other megalomaniacs who did notwork or share well with others. Yes, he needed to show his value to her and tothe changeling and find ways to build trust. Otherwise everything would be fornaught. That was not an acceptable outcome.

<<(O)>>

Hazel Irons checked on her clonesand the Necrons. She made the rounds each day, making certain that everythingwas running smoothly.

There were dozens of clones ofherself running around, it was a bit odd seeing so many faces that looked likeher. She tried to not think about it. Between the group of clones theyconsidered her the alpha or prime since she had the closest link to the WraithQueen.

Her partner was impatient and neededconstant management and stroking to keep her focused. She did not like thealliance with the Necrons. At this point in time there was no way to break itoff, they were too intertwined. Besides, the Necrons were growing at an exponentialrate. That was a concern that had yet to be addressed.

A big problem with the expansion washer queen’s need for control. She didn’t trust organics, and she trusted copiesof herself even less. It was something that they were working on, Hazel thoughtwith a brief shake of her head.

<<(O)>>