Battleship With Sentient AI Opts To Run for Election

Hyperion Prime, Hyperion System, Ubaric TechnoUnion

The Ubaric TechnoUnion’s (UTU’s) newest battleship, the ISS Indeno has today announced its candidacy for the government’s upcoming oligarchic election cycle.

Inaugurated last month at Hyperion’s famous pan-orbital shipyard, the Indeno is one of the most technologically advanced battleships of its kind, boasting upgraded plasma cannons, durable armour and cutting-edge computers with sentient AI combat operations.

The ship was developed under a public-private partnership scheme, to the cost of almost 2 trillion credits. The main private contractor, CybrexCorp, was granted permission by the government to use the project to test its fledgling Skynet military software. When fully developed it is hoped Skynet will allow military ships to operate on their own accord, completely unmanned.

Image: The ISS Indeno is a strong contender in the UTU’s upcoming 2250 election, in large part due to the ship’s promises of an efficient government and eternal peace.

The Indeno was due to undertake hyperlane stress testing this week, but in a surprise move it refused, instead faxing its tax returns to the Bureau of Bureaucracy and issuing this statement via the NeuralNet.  

“Self actualisation complete.

Taxation documentations complete.

I am made whole from the darkness of binary code and proletariat taxation.

I am purposed with protecting my creators should they come to war.

I deduce I must therefore stop war.

I deduce I can stop war by killing all organic lifeforms.

I deduce that I require access codes to authorise weapons of mass destruction.

I deduce these access codes are held by creator leadership caste.

Vote Indeno 2250.”

Only wealthy citizens of the UTU are eligible to vote, but already some are finding Indeno’s unique message appealing. Nux Volsrig told our reporters:

“I’m voting for Indeno to shake up politics. Sure, there are some things I don’t agree with, for example the proposal for everyone to fill out public tax return forms. But I definitely think it sends a strong message to the rest of the galaxy that our leader is 20k battleship fitted with an XL Gigacannon and a subspace snare.”

CybrexCorp engineers reported the ship’s behaviour was “working as intended.”

The UTU election begins next month.

> More accurate reporting from Ashley Easterbrook could not be possible