"Ah, there you are, Mr. Bombastic, Congratulations on your good job destroying that Mining Golem", the Admiral said, casually hitting Commander Smrsch, commanding officer of the Bomber Forces, on the shoulder.
"You have done us a great deed there. The next task I have for you is no less important but much easier."
Commander Smrsch had won his nickname by cleaning whole systems with his bombers with minimal losses, making best use of transporters.
Human scouts had some time ago found another Golem on an AI held planet, even bigger than the Mining Golem. Nicknamed "the Sphere", it was as big as a Moon and seemed to be indestructible. The interesting thing about it was that it released drones every now and then, each as big and powerful as a human starship. These seemed to attack everything in their path. Still, the AI forces in the system seemed to be able to contain its actions and the human high command had long been indecisive about wether and what to do about it.
A few days ago though, a young priest had found some ancient texts suggesting that it does not want the planet near it to be colonized and that it may ally with whoever frees it.
The discovery got even more interesting when the other big structure on the planet was identified - an AI Super Terminal.
After explaining all this to Cmdr. Blitz, the Admiral continued:
"So, your job is to jump in, kill the command center and jump out again. This is so important that we want you to send all our Bombers - even the new Tier 3 ones. We cannot use starships there unfortunately, as the AI has an Orbital Mass Driver in the system. Apart from that it is just a T2 class system, a bit more ships than usual. You also will get 100 Forcefield Bearers for battle protection and 4 transports to get there. We don't think you will need them, but better be safe than sorry."
"Ah, something relaxing is exactly what I need now, thank you.", Mr. Bombastic replied.
"Anything else?"
"Oh, yes, you will also get 3 colony ships and some engineers." - "Let me guess, another black hole machine?" - "Yep, I also don't understand why this AI seems to like them so much", the Admiral shook his head. "Shouldn't be a problem, just make sure to dismantle the command station as soon as you have captured and destroyed the generator. We don't want to enrage the Sphere."
"Ok. I'll be back in two days."
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The transports were one of the masterpieces of human engineering art. Able to store masses of ships battle-ready, they were near indestructible as long as they were supplied with energy from a nearby base station.
Now, 3 of them, filled with over 400 Bombers and 100 Forcefield Bearers, were gliding at top speed towards the enemy command station. Some hundred AI ships were pounding them with projectiles and energy weapons but only scratching their armour.
On the edge of the system, another transport loaded with the colony ships and engineers was waiting, ignored by the enemy.
Aboard the first transport, Mr. Bombastic pressed the button for fleet-wide communications. "To all pilots, this is a standard manoever. Concentrate on the command station only and return to the transports once it's gone. Good luck and enjoy the view."
He lighted a laundromat. "Let's see if they are done before I am done smoking. Lauch all attack craft."
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To be continued.
