The Void:
Chapter 1
Memories flooded his mind from the Hive, memories of the destruction, the near extinction, the massacre of his kind and the bravery of The great Cador of old. Maneuvering his fleet Devon received a constant influx of information from the Hive. Knowledge of previous battles, previous mistakes, the rare victory. The Boid were such a unique species and he felt immense pride of being one of the few Bonded that led their fleets. With each spore that successfully returned to the Hive before their death their memories strengthened the Hive, strengthened us. What the Boid learned could be passed on to the next generation and the generation after that. Every hive was unique, every hive was a reflection of its surroundings for better or worse.
The hated Nol showcased that perfectly. After Cador had shown them his discoveries all they saw was a labor force. Slaves to be taken, slaves that were broken. Entire fledgling hives were brought in and Domesticated. Devon snarled at that word and forced his fleet forward in a particularly aggressive maneuver. The Nol thought they were simple animals to be brought into captivity. The part that broke Devon is the helplessness that those hives felt. As the memories rushed him from his Hive he couldn’t help but shed a small tear. When Cador was able to communicate with those enslaved hives they felt their duty, their responsibility and their entire lives worked around serving the Nol. The hives memories of freedom were almost non existent at that point.
Cador, the original Bonded, infiltrated spores from large colonies outside the city into the city to impart their memories to the captive colonies. Over the next few years the colonies began to grow and as they grew they became restless. With the help of Cador they began what was now known as the Second Boidic War. All those events led up to where Devon was now. The remaining Boid were able to escape the planet and ended up on The Arc. The Arc, divided into sectors containing the various Boid hyphid colonies was a living breathing entity. The knowledge Cador and the other Bonded allowed the Boid to travel the stars, construct fleets, and the hope was to defend themselves.
The Void was a simulator aimed at training the various Boid Colonies to help prepare them for the inevitable war. The Nol still held countless Boid as slaves and Devon hoped, no he knew, that this time he would be able to free his brethren. Inherently the Boid were not a very capable species by themselves. What made the Boid unique was the ability to adapt overtime. As the relatively short generations of Boid spores went by the Boid could adapt and learn fragments of information from the spores that returned to the hive and then pass that information on to the newest spores and more importantly the Bonded. Devon directed his fleet to bank left in an effort to flank his opponent. They were almost ready. Almost ready for the next steps, he could feel it. They had changed so much since the first few that had escaped to the Ark. The. Boid were never meant to fight, never meant for this. Just how the Colonies on the Nol planet were submissive the colonies out here had adapted and evolved into this fighting force that he now directed.
Pulling his full attention back on the fight he threw all of his anger at his opponent. Not an unsteady anger but a cold anger that had been forged into a needle. His opponent was one of the other Bonded leading their own fleet from their own hive. Devon was surprised at how agile and complete the knowledge of his opponent was. He had always assumed that his Hive had the most for knowledge and battle experience. As they directed their fleets Devon started to edge out the victory. His opponent made small errors. They were good, there was no doubt about it, but hive memories given to someone were not the same as personal experiences, first hand knowledge and the extensive training that Devon had endured. In a decisive blow Devon took out his opponents motherships engines causing it to stall and drift aimlessly. In an effort to capitalize on it he sent a command to his bomber squad to try and take out the comms unit on the mothership.
The biggest weakness of the Boidic Fleets was the constant need for communication between the Boid Shells in the individual ships, The Hive, and the Bonded leading the fleet. The fleet could function without it but the Boid Shells benefited greatly from the link between The Hive and the Bonded gifting them with much of the knowledge obtained by the Bonded turning the average Boid shell into a formidable fighter.
His opponent responded in kind pulling a large quantity of his fighters to intercept the bombers. Devon reacted by pulling his own fighters, that were now free, into a tight formation angling them towards the Comms Tower. Many Boid, and even Bonded were to single minded. Boid were traditionally only suited to excel at a single thing. Boid shells and even colonies were cultivated to excel at a single task. Bonded tended to think that way as well and it took Devon a long time to break that thought pattern. From what he gathered it was that same weakness that the Nol were able to exploit in the Second Boidic war and why victories were so far and in between. Devon had executed a reletively simple strategy and used the bombers as a decoy. Understanding the way the Boid think was key in overcoming their weaknesses. While fighters individually couldn’t do any damage to the mothership itself having the grand majority pulled tight together in formation and centering their fire on a single point proved like a laser beam. As his opponents fighters engaged his bombers and their small escort of fighters the bulk of his own fighters barrelled down on his enemies mothership. Their concentrated fire took a moment to bypass the shielding and even longer to do significant damage to the Comms unit but it didn’t matter. By the time the enemy reacted it was too late. Devon didn’t need to destroy the Comms unit just do enough damage to interrupt the constant flow of information.
He called off his fighters and began to mop up the disoriented enemy. His bomber squad had taken significant casualties for which he felt a small pang of guilt. It was only a simulation but every simulation felt real. The real guilt came from knowing that if this was real he wouldn’t have done it any differently. Devon cleared his mind as the simulation ended. His opponent played well all things considered. Definitely one he wanted by his side when the time came. Disengaging the headset he sat up in his chair. Although they were in space the Ark drew heavily from Nolic design. There was lush vegetation coursing through everywhere surrounding the room and its many blinking lights. Through where he was sitting he could see out the reinforced glass towards the void of space and the small planet that was their eventual goal.
by "Konner M."