Intergalactic conquest with an AI

"I think that is impossible... at least for now." His voice was heavy, knowing how much those words would crush Carlos. "Cleo is still searching for a way. But you know how it is. Advanced medical technology for humans is rare in this galaxy...."

Carlos's fingers curled against the glass, his breathing uneven.

Rex exhaled slowly, his own frustration boiling beneath the surface. "Because who would create technology for slaves…"

The words left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Carlos's voice trembled as he spoke, his eyes locked onto Rex's with a desperation that cut deeper than any wound. The raw anguish in his gaze was almost unbearable, a silent plea that carried the weight of a man teetering on the edge of despair.

"Is there really no hope to save both of them?" His breath hitched, his hands curling into fists so tight his knuckles turned white. "I can't lose another loved one, Rex... Please... please..."

Rex's chest tightened at the sight of his friend's face. That look... it was the same one from that day. The same raw agony, the same unbearable weight of a choice no man should ever have to make.

His mind drifted back, back to the day Carlos's wife died.

She had gone into labor in one of those dimly lit back-alley clinics, the kind that illegal medics ran in hidden corners of the city. Because in this galaxy, normal office workers, people like Carlos and Rex, could never afford a real hospital. They were expendable. Disposable.

The delivery went wrong and Carlos was given a choice... save his wife or save their unborn son.

He had been moments away from choosing her, from refusing to let go, from selfishly clinging to the woman he loved. But she had slapped him hard, fiercely, her eyes filled with more fire than fear.

"If you choose me over our son," she had whispered, her voice trembling but resolute, "I will take my own life to follow him."

And so he had chosen.

His son had lived. His wife had died.

For years, Carlos blamed himself, drowning in guilt so deep that nothing could pull him out. Nothing, until Rex had beaten the living hell out of him, knocking some sense back into him, and forced him to see what he still had.

Little Erik. His son. His reason to keep going.

And now… he was standing in front of Rex again, carrying the same unbearable pain.

Rex let out a slow breath, running a hand through his hair. His usual bravado was gone, replaced by a quiet, steady resolve.

"I don't know, Carlos." His voice was soft but firm. "Cleo hasn't found anything yet, but she's still looking. The problem is our galactic-range antenna isn't fully built, so she has to use the Cleopatra's systems to search the web. It's going to take time."

Carlos gritted his teeth, his knuckles pressing against the glass of the medical tank. His body shook, the weight of his fear and helplessness threatening to crush him. "Please… please, do everything you can to find a way to save them…"

His voice was breaking, each word a fragile thread holding him together.

Rex exhaled, already knowing this was coming.

"I knew you would say that." He pulled up a holoscreen, scanning through medical inventory records. "We don't have much time, but we can still keep Sharon in suspended sleep for a little longer. The real problem is the chemicals needed to stop the baby's growth."

Carlos's head snapped up, his eyes blazing with a flicker of hope. "Then just buy more!!"

"It's not that simple." Rex's fingers tightened into a fist before he closed the holoscreen. "We already sent out the request to our trading fleets, but it's going to take time. First, they need to receive the request. Then, they need to find the supplies. And after that, they need to get them here. This sector is a damn backwater, Carlos. It's not like we have ships coming in and out every day."

Carlos's shoulders slumped, the flicker of hope extinguished as quickly as it had appeared. He pressed his forehead against the glass of the tank, his breath fogging up the surface.

Rex sighed, his voice softening. "Get some rest, man. We'll talk about everything later. You need to heal faster. I'll come see you again tomorrow."

Carlos did not respond. He just stood there, staring blankly ahead, his mind a whirlwind of fear and regret.

Rex turned and stepped out of the room, letting the door slide shut behind him.

The moment he was in the corridor, he leaned his back against the cold metal wall while staring at the ceiling. The weight of the situation pressed down on him, heavier than any battle he'd ever fought.

His breath felt heavy. His chest felt tight.

Then, slowly, he crouched down, burying his face in his hands.

"Fuck..."

The word came out as barely more than a whisper, a raw admission of his own helplessness. And for the first time in a long time, Rex felt truly powerless.

For Rex, Carlos was more than just a longtime friend. He was a brother, bound not by blood but by something even stronger, a bond forged in the fires of shared struggles, unspoken sacrifices, and the kind of loyalty that defied reason.

And no matter how much he had prepared for this moment, no matter how many ways he had rehearsed the conversation in his head, telling his brother to choose between the people he loved was never going to be easy.

He sat there, knees drawn up, arms resting on them, his mind drowning in the weight of it all. The sterile hum of the station's systems echoed around him, a stark contrast to the storm raging in his chest.

Then, without a word, he felt someone settle down on his left. A moment later, another presence joined on his right. Two heads gently rested on his shoulders, their warmth a small but welcome comfort.

A soft voice whispered near his ear.

"You told him already, didn't you?"

Rex blinked, then slowly turned his head. His tired eyes met the familiar crimson gaze of Nyra; her expression was unreadable in the dim hallway light.

He sighed while rubbing his face before answering. "Yeah… I did. And just like I expected, he didn't take it well." His voice was heavy, each word weighed down by the burden of what he'd just witnessed. "By the way, what are you two doing here?"

"Nothing much," Nyra murmured, pressing a little closer. "We woke up a few minutes ago, took a walk around the station, and then we saw you sitting here alone."

Rex felt a warm pressure around his arm as Nyra wrapped herself around it, her presence a quiet anchor in the storm.

"Mmm, I see." He let out another breath, then frowned slightly. "Then… why are you two barefoot?"

At his question, Lyra stiffened.

"Ehem… well… we just like feeling the cold of the floor while basking in the sun," she said, her voice a little too quick, a little too rehearsed. "Right, sister?"

Rex glanced at Lyra's face, noticing the slight nervous twitch at the corner of her lips.

{Hah. As always, you suck at lying, Lyra.}

Shaking his head with a small smirk, he reached up and ruffled both their heads, making a complete mess of their hair.

"Put some shoes on. This is still a construction zone. The last thing I need is you stepping on a stray screw and whining about it for the next week."

Before they could retaliate, he stood up and stretched, rolling the tension out of his shoulders. Then, without another word, he turned and started walking toward the training room.

Behind him, the twins exchanged a glance before scrambling after him, their goal now clear... revenge.

If he was going to mess up their hair, they were going to mess up his too.

Meanwhile, deep inside her lab, Cleo worked in silence. The glow of various data streams reflected against her pale skin, the hum of processing units filling the space around her. Her lab was a sanctuary of order and precision, a stark contrast to the chaos unfolding elsewhere on the station.

Her gaze remained locked onto the lifeless Shadow's body lying on the table before her.

{This… coffin.}

A vessel of war. A relic of a past that refused to stay buried.

Her fingers moved swiftly over the console, entering command codes with practiced precision. A spark of anticipation flickered in her eyes as she muttered under her breath.

"Now… let's see where you have been all this time."

More than anything, she wanted to know how this Shadow had managed to infiltrate her station without triggering a single scanner. That should have been impossible.

"System. Show the last recorded coordinates of the Shadow."

[Understood.]

A pulse of energy rippled through the lab as the main holo-projector came to life. A vast galactic map unfolded in the air before her, thousands of stars glowing like scattered embers in an eternal void.

Then, slowly, a glowing red trail traced a path through the galaxy. The Shadow's journey.

Cleo's eyes narrowed as the route came into focus. It stopped on a planet, then the signal vanished only to reappear again on this oceanic world.

Her fingers flew over the console as she zoomed in on the location where the signal had disappeared. The planet's data loaded instantly, scrolling across her screen.

[Nebulous-Type Planet]

A slow smirk formed on Cleo's lips.

"I knew it…" she whispered, her voice barely audible.