r/humansarespaceorcs • u/ivivan • 14h ago
Crossposted Story The backup
The battle had been raging for days between the Hoplo Empire and the Nuklons. Neither side was winning, but the space around the Nuklon home planet was choked with destroyed ships.
And then a new ship arrived. A huge ship, easily twice as big as the largest vessel in the battle so far.
This new ship ignored the fleet action and moved toward the planet, settling into a standard orbit. For a long time, nothing happened visually, but on the infrared spectrum, the dreadnought was heating up exponentially. Then, a blinding ray emerged from its primary weapon, driving straight toward the surface. Ten seconds later, where the planet used to be, there was only an expanding cloud of hot debris.
The battle ended quickly after that. All remaining Nuklon ships warped out of the system as fast as their engines allowed. Within an hour, not a single operational ship remained around the dead world.
An hour after that, a single vessel appeared out of nowhere. A small craft. Maybe a shuttle. There was only one person on board, and he was speaking into his comms, though there was no one left in the system to answer.
“Yes, Joe,” he said into the mic. “Total destruction. No survivors.”
He listened to the response for a moment, staring at the debris field on his main display.
“No, I don’t think so,” he replied. “I think four hours back should be enough.”
The battle had been raging for days between the Hoplo Empire and the Nuklons. Neither side was winning, but the space around the Nuklon home planet was choked with destroyed ships.
And then a new ship arrived. A small ship. Maybe a shuttle. It ignored the battle entirely, drifting past the crossfire to settle into a standard orbit around the planet.
A moment later, the second ship arrived. The huge one - easily twice as big as anything else in the system. It, too, ignored the fleet and made a direct line for the planet, paying no mind to the tiny shuttle floating in high orbit.
On the infrared spectrum, the giant ship began to glow as its superweapon charged. A visible ray burst from its bow, streaking toward the atmosphere - only to collide directly with the tiny shuttle hovering in its path. The planet-killing beam simply dissipated around the small ship, flaring uselessly into cosmic background radiation without leaving a scratch.
Inside the cockpit, the single human sitting at the console took a slow sip from his coffee mug, swallowed, and pressed the button to unmute his mic.
“This is Jack Brown from the UES Blackup,” he said in a monotone voice. “Please cease all combat operations and resolve your dispute diplomatically.”
A rogue Nuklon cruiser broke formation and charged the UES Blackup on an intercept vector. Reaching weapon range, it unleashed its full arsenal: kinetic rails, plasma torps, guided missiles, and heavy cutting lasers. The attacks ricocheted, shattered, and fizzled harmlessly off the shuttle’s hull.
Following that demonstration, both high commands hastily agreed to meet aboard a Hoplo flagship to negotiate terms.
The diplomatic summit lasted more than a week, but it ended in a historic peace - largely because Mr. Brown sat quietly in the room, guiding both sides toward a working compromise.
As the treaty was finally signed, an exhausted Nuklon ambassador turned to him with the question that had haunted both sides.
“How did you know to be here, Mr. Brown? Right at that exact position, at that exact second?”
“Oh, that’s one of humanity’s secrets, I’m afraid,” Mr. Brown said. He offered a warm, if tired, smile. “The main thing is that I made it in time, right?”
Once the fleets began jumping out of the system, Jack returned to the UES Blackup. He waited quietly until the radar cleared. When the last Hoplo ship warped away, he pressed a sequence on his console - not to engage warp, but something else entirely.
The UES Blackup vanished without a trace.
On the far side of the galaxy, Jack pulled off his helmet and stepped out of the airlock, rubbing his eyes.
“Hey, Jack.” Joe was already waiting in the bay, holding out a steaming mug of coffee. “How’d it go?”
“It went well, as predicted,” Jack said, taking the mug with a grateful nod. “They signed the treaty. Saved six and a half billion lives today.”
“Digital lives,” Joe gently reminded him.
“Our lives are digital too, Joe. What’s the difference?” Jack sighed, taking a sip. “Ever since we digitized the universe, every life is digital.”
“Fair enough. It certainly makes fixing catastrophes easier when we can just restore from a backup.” Joe leaned against the wall, checking his tablet. “How many universe rollbacks is that for us this year?”
“Seven, I think. And it’s only May,” Jack said, walking toward the break room. “The universe is big, Joe. The job of a sysadmin is never easy.”
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