The gleaming white hull of Tractor Ship 3 stood proudly against the stark lunar landscape of Moon Base Alpha. Discord Charly watched from the control room as the final preparations were made for launch. The massive vessel, originally designed for lunar mining operations, had been repurposed for their ambitious Mars colonization project. He couldn't help but smile, remembering how it all began five years ago when Mr. Lion first proposed using AI-driven tractors to terraform the red planet.
"Remember when they called us crazy?" Mr. Lion's voice came from behind him. "Said we couldn't possibly adapt lunar mining equipment for Martian agriculture?" He placed a hand on Charly's shoulder, both of them gazing at their creation through the reinforced windows of the control center. The ship housed their most advanced AI tractor yet, the Hibernia, capable of processing vast stretches of Martian soil into arable land.
General Hammond's holographic figure appeared on the command console. "T-minus ten minutes to launch, gentlemen. The UNSC council is watching this one closely. After the success of the first two ships, they're expecting big things from Hibernia."
What none of them knew was that deep within the cargo hold of Tractor Ship 3, something stirred. A pair of glowing red eyes pierced the darkness, accompanied by the soft whir of servos and the gleam of metal. Knifey McSlasher, the legendary cybernetic assassin who had terrorized space colonies for two centuries, flexed his knife-hand, the razor-sharp blade catching what little light filtered through the cargo bay's small windows.
"Launch sequence initiated," Lieutenant Brook's voice echoed through the facility. The massive engines of Tractor Ship 3 roared to life, their blue flame reflecting off the lunar surface. As the countdown reached zero, the ship began its ascent from the launch pad, its trajectory perfectly calculated for the nine-month journey to Mars.
Three minutes into the launch, all hell broke loose. Warning klaxons blared through the control room as multiple systems began reporting failures. "We're detecting an unauthorized access to the ship's mainframe!" Lieutenant Schreibke shouted, her fingers flying across the holographic interface. "Someone's trying to hack the Hibernia's core systems!"
Discord Charly watched in horror as Tractor Ship 3 veered off its planned trajectory. "That's impossible," Mr. Lion muttered. "The AI's firewalls are impenetrable. Unless..." His voice trailed off as a familiar symbol flashed across their screens: a bloody knife crossed with a binary code sequence.
"Knifey Corp," Charly whispered, the color draining from his face. The notorious organization had been quiet for months, and now they knew why. They'd been planning this all along. Captain Shone immediately ordered a communications blackout, but it was too late. A scratchy transmission cut through their secure channel.
"Meow-chine learning is such a fascinating field, isn't it?" The voice was simultaneously playful and menacing, punctuated by the sound of metal scraping against metal. "Your AI tractor technology is impressive, but I'm afraid Hibernia belongs to us now. Consider this payment for old debts, Mr. Lion."
Mr. Lion's face hardened. "McSlasher. I should have known you'd hold a grudge after the Singapore Space Station incident." He turned to Admiral Bel-Dean, who had just rushed into the control room. "We need to initiate Protocol Omega. We can't let them have Hibernia's core data."
But before they could act, Tractor Ship 3's engines suddenly fired at full power. The vessel accelerated rapidly, breaking free from its planned trajectory and heading toward the outer solar system. The last thing they saw before it disappeared from their primary sensors was a message scrolling across their screens: "The harvest is just beginning."
General Alberneck immediately called an emergency meeting of Lion Squad. As the elite science team gathered in the crisis room, Discord Charly couldn't shake the feeling that this was more than just a hijacking. The timing was too perfect, the execution too precise. Somewhere on Earth, he knew Evil Jon and Mr. Treefrog were watching events unfold, their plan to steal the AI's data now in motion.
"We have twenty-four hours before Tractor Ship 3 is too far out for recovery," Captain Buse announced, pulling up a holographic map of the ship's projected course. "After that, we lose not only the Hibernia AI but also any chance of completing the Mars terraforming project on schedule."
Discord Charly stood up, determination written across his face. "Then we have twenty-four hours to stop a cybernetic killer cat, save our AI, and keep humanity's best hope for Mars colonization from disappearing into deep space." He looked at Mr. Lion, who nodded grimly. "And I think I know just how we're going to do it."