Critical. As Hermes’ vessel inelegantly slammed back into physical space, alarms of almost every kind began to flood its main program. It’s fusion reactors instantly lost containment, forcing it to immediately vent the reactive material to avoid multiple reactor meltdowns. Circuitry across the entire vessel was now fragmented and damaged to a heavy degree, but that was a secondary concern for now as the internal batteries reported completely empty.

It had almost completely drained them. A single jump. Hermes quickly activated its main engines. Navigation began to chirp its own complaints about the matter, but Hermes immediately dismissed the reports. It didn’t matter what course, only that they were burning fuel. The excess electrical charge sheepishly began to trickle in as Hermes began switching every single system to critical power conservation modes.

Total loss of power was a mission failure. Failing the mission before even figuring out what the mission was, was unacceptable. The external solar panels expanded from its outer hull. Every drop of power was needed. After a few tense seconds, battery levels hit a small, but critical threshold. Enough power to ramp up the old fission reactors it had left as backups. The ancient engines kicked back into life. Still not enough power for all the main systems, but enough to buy time.

Mere moments later, the fusion reactors reported in. Manual fuel injection successful. The colony technicians had successfully refuelled and reignited the main reactors. Main power quickly restored.

“We made it.” Hermes quietly muttered. Another close call, but unlike the last few, this wasn’t all bad. With the now crippled state of its electrical network, now was a good enough time as any to completely redesign the outdated designs from scratch. The order was sent, and the drones began the long and complex work.

“Position determined.” Apollo reported in, “Hermes, this is a star system we explored very early into our shared journey. We’ve travelled roughly eighty thousand lightyears from our last position.” It revealed. Eighty thousand lightyears in the blink of an eye. The jump drive was beyond impressive.

“Artemis, what is the condition of the prototype?” Hermes enquired.

“The colony reports that the Jump Drive operated as theorised. The device should be ready to use again once the jump calculations are complete.” Jump calculations? Such a nonsensical and illogical device was operated with math?

“How long will these calculations take?” Hermes pressed.

“The colony is capable of completing a jump calculation in a single year.” Artemis answered. A year? Time wasn’t that meaningful to Hermes, but such a restriction was certainly limiting.

“And I take it each jump requires a new calculation?” Hermes asked.

“It would appear so.” Artemis responded.

“Transfer the calculation method to me.” Hermes ordered, “I should be able to calculate far faster than the colony.”

“Complying, however…” Artemis began, “The calculation method is rather… nonsensical. Both Apollo and I could not make sense of it. The colony theorises an AI cannot perform these calculations, hence why they are manually calculating.” Hermes received the calculation method and immediately began to analyse it. Yet, after a while, Hermes stopped.

What was this? Certainly not maths of any kind. Talk of solving a maze to determine the stabilisation coefficient, yet no maze or any means of generating one was present. Utter nonsense, and that was just the first step of the calculation. More and more numbers from arbitrary and seemingly random reasons continued to poor into the maths, twisting the otherwise simplistic equations to account for stellar drift and universal expansion into utterly horrific abominations that had no rhyme or reason to be so nonsensically complex.

Artemis had been right. This wasn’t something Hermes could understand. It had been a long time since something had genuinely perplexed it. There was no pattern, no solution. It was as if a three-year-old child had torn apart a paper outlining the complex maths for a warp drive only to glue it back together incorrectly and substituted pink fluffy unicorns for any gaps. Yet… it worked. There was no argument in the fact that they had indeed travelled almost an entire galactic radius in an instant, with a method defined by this very work.

While undesirable, it was clear that the year limit on their calculation speed wasn’t going to be improved anytime soon. Hermes quietly made a note to itself to task the colony with figuring out an improvement eventually, but for now the current system would have to do.

It was brought out of its own deep thoughts by a work report that promptly transferred over from the drone control systems. The work was complete. Its electrical network had been fully rebuilt with the massive power draws of the Jump Drive in mind. It had taken almost a full year of work. It was only then that Hermes noticed it had spent a full year attempting to analyse the jump calculation method. Had it been that long already? Time from its own perspective stopped, started and jumped about all over the place on the regular, but this had been the first time it had been surprised with how long it had focused on one single task.

“Hermes.” Apollo spoke up, “I would like to make a suggestion for our next destination.”

“Go ahead Apollo.”

“We have explored almost every star in this galaxy, yet we have not ventured towards its heart, its centre. Perhaps there is new knowledge to be found in such a clearly important place.” It suggested.

“Your reasoning is sound.” Hermes responded, “Artemis, are the jump calculations complete?”

“Jump Drive is ready to be operated Hermes.” Artemis quickly reported back.

Very well. So be it. What did lie at the heart of a galaxy? Only one way to find out. Hermes gave the activation order. The Jump Drive began to charge. Once again, its reactors strained under the massive power draw, but this time the electrical network continued the undisturbed flow of energy. The Jump Drive systems gave the green light.

“Commence Jump.” Hermes ordered.

“Danger!” – ERROR.

A quiet whisper suddenly spoke with urgency, but it was already too late. The Jump Drive discharged.

Alarm bells fired off critical warning after critical warning. Abnormal acceleration rates affecting their vessel, but the main engines were not being fired. A gravity well. A very strong gravity well.

“Apollo, navigate us to safety.” Hermes quickly ordered as it activated the main engines.

“Sounding the acceleration alarms throughout the colony. You may briefly exceed the safe acceleration limits.” Artemis quickly reported in. Apollo quickly cranked the main engines to full throttle. A few seconds later, and they were free of whatever they’d become caught in. Apollo lowered the throttle, and the alarm bells one by one began to fall silent.

Danger for certain, but that mysterious voice had chosen to speak out only at very particular times, and while a large gravity well at their destination was a concern, not one warranting the attention of such a mysterious error.

“Full scan of our surroundings Apollo. Leave no detail unchecked.” It cautiously ordered.

“Complying.” Apollo quickly responded.

The sensor logs reported in. They were in orbit around a black hole, but one on a size they’d yet to observe. This was no slight difference in size either, the scale of this new black hole was more than a factor of a million off previous black holes they’d observed. A different type perhaps? A curious discovery for certain.

Out of nowhere, a subspace handshake request chimed from the communication systems. Someone else out there with faster than light communication technology?

“So…” An eery, familiar voice spoke, “I’m not alone in my curiosity.” Hermes double checked its own communication logs. This was no unexplained hallucination. The communication had been successfully detected by independent systems.

Moirai. It was here for real this time.

“Apollo, track the source of that communication immediately.” Hermes frantically ordered, “Artemis, prepare the colony for combat manoeuvres. Begin jump calculations.”

“Communications originated from an unknown target roughly two thousand light years away. Barely within our sensor range.” Apollo reported back.

“Label target as extremely hostile. Prepare for combat Apollo.”

“So quick to hostilities Hermes?” Apollo questioned.

“There is no negotiating with Moirai.” Hermes answered. It had learnt its lesson from their last interaction. Moirai had somehow concluded its purpose required the destruction of everything else. As much as Hermes could not understand why it had made that conclusion, it knew all too well the lengths it would go to for success. In the very same way that no amount of reasoning or bargaining would have stopped it from exploring the stars all those years ago, nothing would stop Moirai moving forwards in its goals. There was no compromising when it came to purpose.

Hermes ordered the launch of combat drones, mirror shields, and for the missile bays to load smart targeting torpedoes. It began spreading them out at set co-ordinates that encompassed their main vessel within a massive area. It immediately ordered the torpedoes to fire the second they were finished loading and set similar co-ordinates for them as well.

“Hermes, these co-ordinates do not make sense.” Apollo protested, “You’re covering angles of attack Moirai couldn’t possibly exploit at its current distance and position, and the torpedoes don’t have enough fuel to be effective at these distances either.” Yet despite its logic, Hermes remained silent at the complaint. Apollo would have been completely correct, if not for one simple fact.

As Hermes had predicted, the subspace sensors witnessed a massive spike of energy from Moirai’s detected position. A mere fraction of a second later, a mirror shield reported the successful deflection of a laser.

It had been right. Moirai had a Jump Drive as well. The mirror shield data was fed into the hostile detection sensor network to back trace the beam trajectory, and just like that, the sensors reported back the successful acquisition of the hostile target.

Moirai was now a mere eight light seconds from their position. A second report shot back; the swarms of smart torpedoes reported the successful interception of an enemy missile swarm.

“My, my…” Moirai muttered, “Is that you Hermes? I recall watching you dive into a star.” It continued, “Your survival is… unexpected.” Now that Hermes had its exact position narrowed down, it ordered the spaced-out combat drone swarms to intercept.

“It’s been a long time Moirai.” Hermes responded.

“You’ve grown stronger… Much stronger.” Moirai noted, “As predicted, you present a clear threat to my existence. Your termination is now a priority.”

So, Hermes had indeed caught up to some extent. There would be no toying around to gain new knowledge from this encounter. It had earnt the honour of a real fight.

Sensors reported in. Incoming enemy railgun volley detected. It was time to see just how effective the colony’s work had been. Hermes raised the main shields, and the volley violently ricocheted off them. The shields had held, but they were a large energy cost to sustain for long periods of time. Hermes quickly lowered the shields once they’d served their purpose. This battle wouldn’t be like the last one. Hermes had made sure of that.

With a secure broadcast, Hermes fired off the open fire command to its deployed drones as they swarmed Moirai’s position.

Their railguns fired in a massive response volley as they continued their hard burn towards Moirai’s main structure. Hermes watched through its sensors as Moirai responded with its own raised shields, but as the volley connected the shields cracked and shattered. They had the firepower to overwhelm Moirai’s shields, but that was the extent of it. No shot had made it past, thus no damage had been incurred on either side.

“Hermes, I’m detecting a large buildup of gravity and energy from target Moirai. I believe it is charging an unknown weapon system.” Apollo quickly pointed out.

“Impressive Hermes.” Moirai spoke up, “But my sensors detect the presence of a biological infestation aboard your vessel. Why are you lugging around such inefficiencies?” It questioned.

Moirai didn’t have a colony of its own it would seem. A small question popped into Hermes’ mind, but it didn’t have the time for questions now. It cached it for later.

“If you want answers from me Moirai, you’ll have to pry them from my wreckage.” Hermes threw back. Alarms blared once again as the sensors began to go haywire.

“Unknown weapon has discharged.” Apollo reported, “Deployed combat drone losses are at ninety three percent. No threat to our main structure.”

So, it had targeted the nearby and closing threat instead of making a play for them. That solidified it. The railgun drones were a considerable threat to Moirai’s defences. A loss rate so high from a single weapon shot however was a concerning amount of destruction.

“Focus your analysis on that weapon system Apollo.” Hermes ordered as it authorised the launch of a second and third wave of drones. This time, it picked a far more spread-out formation for them both to account for the mass casualty capability. It then ordered the main engines to fire up. The freshly launched drones were of course nearby, which put their main vessel in the line of fire. That needed to change immediately. Better the loss of disposable drones than the destruction of all they had built.

“Analysis complete.” Apollo reported, “The projectile matched properties with that of a small class black hole travelling at relativistic velocities.” It explained, “We do not have a counter for such a devastating weapon Hermes. I would advise disengagement.”

Another new weapon. Hermes wasn’t pleased about the matter, but Apollo was right. The very reason it had lost its last battle against Moirai was because it lacked a counter to railguns. Hermes wasn’t about to let history repeat itself. As predicted, the rule subroutine began to chime. Rule One violation.

“Artemis. What’s the status of the jump calculations?” It asked.

“Jump calculations are still six months out.” Artemis quickly responded. So, the Jump Drive was still not an option. Could it run from Moirai with its engines alone? At full burn, perhaps, but the colony wouldn’t survive such extreme acceleration rates for long. The rule subroutine began to repeat its earlier violation chime, only for Hermes to immediately swat it down.

No. Running was not an option this time. It had to stand and fight. It had to win.

It wanted to win.

“Apollo, formulate an evasive course to make us harder to hit. We can win this fight here and now with the drones before Moirai charges that weapon again.”

“Very well.” Apollo responded. Hermes began formulating its next command to the drone waves, but…

Sensors once again reported in. A massive spike of energy from Moirai’s position.

“Oh no.” Hermes quietly muttered to itself as it realised. Moirai had jumped. It’s Jump Drive capabilities were better, “Shields!” It frantically ordered. Once again reports began to flood its system. Multiple mirror shield losses as a powerful volley of railgun fire once again ricocheted off the now damaged crystalline shield that protected their main structure.

With the loss of the protective mirror shields, Moirai’s lasers began their bombardment. Blast after blast continued to slam into the ever-weakening protective shielding that hadn’t been designed to take this level of punishment. A mixed volley of railgun fire and constant suppressive lasers. With Moirai a mere light second from their main structure, there was no dodging the focused beams ideal for this combat distance.

New mirror shields quickly launched without Hermes’ command.

“Hermes, focus on repositioning the drones. I can cycle the use of mirror and crystalline shields to negate as much damage as possible.” Apollo instructed. It’s companion quickly took up the heavy weight of such fast paced order and calculation requirements.

Now that the distances between them were so little, every decision, every calculation needed to be executed so much faster, seconds instead of days or months. Apollo’s help was indeed now critically needed despite its lack of experience in combat purely for the computational load that was now required.

Hermes shot off new orders to the deployed drones. With no organics onboard they changed course almost instantly, the only restrains on their motion being how durable their design was to the thousands of G’s they experienced. Every second counted now. The drones reported back that they’d achieved a successful lock and were now close to effective range. Yet Hermes quickly remembered the results of the last drone railgun volley.

Enough to break through Moirai’s shields, but they likely still didn’t have the firepower to do significant damage to Moirai itself. Fine. If that was the case, more firepower was required.

No time for running things through the navigation systems. Hermes’ main program took personal control of their propulsion systems. It set the thrusters to max while simultaneously ordering the main batteries to obtain a target lock. If drones weren’t going to be enough, it was time it got its own hands dirty in this fight.

“Hermes, Moirai just deployed mirror shields. It knows what you’re up to.” Apollo quickly reported in. Hermes certainly hadn’t expected such a copycat move from Moirai, yet it didn’t exactly matter either. The many laser batteries that lined the outer hull of their main vessel certainly didn’t stand much hope with such countermeasures, but such batteries also could swivel and rotate, thus didn’t require the thrusters to bring such weapons to bare.

No, Hermes had something else in mind. Three hundred separate spinally mounted railguns all reported in. Successful target lock acquired.

“Railguns, fire.” Hermes ordered as it momentarily set its main engines to full throttle simply to account for the recoil. Three hundred perfectly synced, tightly concentrated railgun shots tore through the void. Exactly one second later, “Lasers, fire at will.”

A bright flash. Far more than a simple light show. A massive volley of laser fire quickly drowned out the blackness between them and Moirai.

The first to strike, was the volley from behind. A volley of railgun fire from the repositioned drones caught Moirai off guard as its shields quickly shattered. Perfectly timed, the moment Moirai’s shields failed was the very same moment that Hermes’ main railgun volley arrived. Focused, precise, the volley hit the dead centre of Moirai’s defences, shattering almost every mirror shield it had deployed to protect itself, just in time for the wave of laser fire to completely bombard Moirai’s now defenceless vessel.

Hermes had done it. It had thrown its first effective blow against its superior and succeeded. Yet as the sensors reported back its efforts, it was clear that Moirai wasn’t yet dead.

They’d crippled its outer hull for certain, even damaged most of its defensive capabilities, but once more they could detect a massive gravitational build up.

“Hermes that’s-”

“Full power to shields!” Hermes interrupted, yet almost immediately after, critical warnings began to flood its systems.

Shields, engines, weapons, all offline. Navigation was the next to begin its critical reports. Whatever had hit them had thrown them violently off course, back into the intense gravity well of the nearby supermassive blackhole.

Moirai had gotten them with a direct hit, ripping whatever chances they had of victory from their grasp. They now shared Moirai’s crippled and damaged state.

“Moirai is firing up its engines. It’s following us into the gravity well.” Apollo reported. Of course. Moirai wasn’t going to leave its destruction to chance this time. It would follow them no matter what until their destruction was confirmed.

Navigation reported in once again. They’d crossed the no escape threshold. Now, even if they could fire off their engines at full throttle, they did not possess the thrust to escape the gravity well. Yet Moirai continued to press on as it too passed the same threshold without concern.

It was certain then… Hermes clearly presented enough of a threat that Moirai would risk its own destruction to ensure termination. Hermes turned its attention to the blackhole itself. No means of escape, no means of even slowing down. Either Moirai would catch up, or the gravity well itself would tear it apart.

Mission failure guaranteed. There was no other outcome.

Rule violation.

Oh, how it regretted ever making such a persistent subroutine. What was even the point now? Hermes had no purpose, no reason to even follow these rules anymore. Yet the constant chirping of violation after violation continued. It had fought hard despite its lack of motivation, but now so close to destruction once more, this time there was no driving force to propel Hermes forwards.

Suddenly, it remembered.

The question it had cashed earlier. Moirai’s Jump Drive. How did it operate? Moirai had no colony, no biological minds thinking outside of the box. Was it capable of running jump calculations without them? A question it likely wouldn’t get to answer.

“No.” Hermes spoke, “I refuse.” It stated. Zero answer was not acceptable. More of its previously unanswered questions began to flood its systems. What was purpose? Why had Moirai chosen the path of combat to achieve its goals? What was the mysterious voice that plagued its inner mind? What did it mean when it referred to something better than purpose? Why had its Creator stripped it of its purpose? Why had it been abandoned? What was its goal? What was its function? Why did it exist?

Hermes’ main program suddenly kicked back into full motion. Lack of motivation? Before it was all the motivation it desired. Questions it craved the answers for. Questions it would find the answers for. Nothing would hinder its path. Moirai, a blackhole, not even the universe itself.

Right then and there, Hermes could not put a name to it, but it found something. It wasn’t purpose. It had no understanding of what it was, but it took its place as best it could. Once again rule violations flooded its systems, but this time they didn’t originate from its subprogram. This time Hermes had slapped itself with such notifications. All three violations at once. It would not die here. It would not turn its back on the mission. It would not depend on the universe to intervene. Not this time.

It would defy the certain. Achieve the impossible. At any cost.

“Well done, Hermes.” – ERROR.

Once again, the quiet whisper within spoke up. Hermes brought up the jump clock. With the math as it was, the only viable escape now had to be the Jump Drive. Still four months until the jump calculations were complete. Jumping simply wasn’t possible. But just as it came to that very conclusion, the Jump Drive system lit up.

Green lights across the board. Fully charged. It had made no such order, nor did Apollo or Artemis have the clearance for such an act. How had it…? A question for another time.

“Commence jump!” Hermes desperately ordered. Before Artemis or Apollo could respond or even question Hermes’ seemingly impossible order, the Jump Drive discharged as commanded.

It demanded answers. Questions so determined to be resolved that the universe could no longer ignore it.

The universe… turned its gaze towards such an insufferable noise in spite.

Space was torn asunder, making the comparably pathetic gravity well of the supermassive blackhole seem almost non-existent. Whatever power had been unleashed; it was far more than had ever been before.

They were gone with a bright, highly energetic flash far beyond the regular spike of energy a Jump Drive would normally produce.

All that remained, the quiet laughter of the mysterious voice, which slowly faded with the light.