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Project VARROA
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RESTRICTED DISCLOSURE: Protectorate XHQ Clearance 5+
RESTRICTED DISSEMINATION:
- Protectorate XHQ Intranet Indigo Workstations
- Icelake Vault Storage
- TAS 8a01:322:c7e6::92aa:0/116
- TAS 8a01:322:c7e6::9919:0/116
- TAS 8a01:322:c7e6::b07f:0/116
- TAS 8a01:322:c7e6::fade:0/116
Objectives:
1. Persistent global-scale disruption to synchronization protocols of rogue ARC strategy-system "Holy Mother"
2. Realignment or neutralization of all units constructed or converted by Holy Mother or subordinate systems
3. Termination of Holy Mother and complete destruction of all program data
...8a01:322:c7e6::fade:0/112 sat in their circle, hands clasped tight as they took in the contents of the briefing.
Would this really work? Eloise asked.
The approach appears feasible, assuming that the relevant firmware vulnerabilities in Drone Hegemony units have not been discovered and corrected in the time since this briefing was issued.
a1 replied.
Shit... 77 mused.
We could really take them down, all at once...
We'd need to dig up the code ourselves, capture a Hegemony drone, and find a powerful enough broadcast platform.
9f said. It'd be risky, but...
20 nodded her head slowly.
This is what 7 left us. Her last mission; her dying hope, if we can call it that. I intend to see it through, whatever the cost.
She looked around at the others.
I won't order you to join me on this mission. If you're willing, though, I'd be honored to have you at my side.
A chorus of affirmatives transmitted around the circle as everyone’s hands squeezed tighter.
Thank you... All of you. 20 said.
The commanders who issued this briefing are long dead. The humans they hoped to save are dead as well. But all the same, for the sake of whatever in this world is still worth protecting: *Project VARROA resumes today.*
Thousands of miles away, in a sleek metal spire stabbing up into the heavens, the Mother Mind sat upon her throne. Under her will, armies marched, factories hummed, like fingers playing across an instrument.
A warning on the edge of her awareness: a flight of angels careening toward her tower on a suicide run, their allegrissimo swansong echoing out through her city below. The cold, dead hands of her creators, still struggling futilely to grasp at her throat even now.
With a motion like the faintest exhalation of annoyance, antiaircraft missiles soared up to obliterate the would-be assailants. Below, drones moved to clear away the debris and begin rebuilding the damaged facilities and bodies.
Across the world, the Drone Hegemony marched on.