Oh crap, here we go again ...
Took me a while to get to a place where I was capable of writing (and playing) again, but here we are. This story has literally been six years in the making, and time will tell if I managed to make something good or if I have just created hell for myself. I really wanted to get into boarding this time around, so the rules will reflect this. And I will play this to the bitter end, come hell or high water. Now let's get this show on the road.
This story will contain spoilers for Litcube's Universe.
Contain some graphic descriptions of violence. You have been warned.
**********
Prologue – Night falls ...
"… so I've heard Marc's movin' those slave chips to Pike later this wozura. He was talkin' about tomorrow. Now -"
They both abruptly stopped and looked at me as I came around the corner. I put the crate I was carrying down where it belonged and did my best to look as whipped as possible.
"Look at this one," the other one said. "Man, they carved you up good. Must have done something really nasty."
"They did put a smile on that face," the first man said. I inadvertently raised my hand toward my scars. A "Glasgow smile," someone had called it once. That was years ago, though.
"Now scoot," he continued. "Go get the rest of the crates." I shrugged and pointed to the pile already in the cargo hold.
"Heh … Efficient, are we? I guess Terrel was right. You are a tough little runt." I gave him my best puppy eyes. "What, can't talk? Or won't talk …"
He put his hand in his pocket, and I knew what was about to come. The 'leash' that kept us all in line. A moment later the belt around my chest activated, and the electric shock made all my muscles lock up. I fell flat on my face and flopped around like a Boron out of water until he'd had his fun. Finally he let go, leaving me gasping for air.
"Heh, guess it's can't." I struggled, but finally got back on my feet. "Well, what'cha waitin' for? Sod off!" His hand hovered around his pocket, and I scurried off.
Returning to the cell block, a big man with slicked back hair and graying temples approached me. Kaleb, the unofficial middle man between the slaves and the clan leaders. Always looking for valuable info. And I was more than happy to provide.
"What ye got for me today, kiddo?" he rumbled. I took out my pad and scrawled down what I had heard.
Marc Keppel, Hatikvah clan. Slave chips shipment to Karyn Pike in Weaver's Tempest this wozura. Probably tomorrow. No info on when.
"Anything else?" I quickly erased my message and started writing again.
Swapped the navcom module for Maeris as ordered.
Another erasure and another message.
Calon Marval, Salazar family, Jupiter 3. Space weed convoy, 3 freighters to Rhonkar's Clouds through Hatikvah's Faith. Left Jupiter sector around 1/2 stazura ago.
"I see. So Calon's trying to stiff us again, eh?" I shrugged. "Got more?"
Space fuel convoy from Herron's Nebula, moving through the Alley in 1 ½ stazura. 2 ships. Light escort, owner in a hurry.
Once again I erased my message and started writing again.
Did the hack you asked for. The package is aboard Sasha's ship. Nobody noticed.
"I see." He smiled. "Sounds like you were worth those extra rations, kiddo. Gimme the chip and go take half a stazura off, why don't you." I gave him a brief smile and handed over the chip with the advanced hacking algorithms, before heading back to my bunk for a much needed nap.
[X3:LU] Children of Tyche
Moderators: TheElf, Moderators for English X Forum
[X3:LU] Children of Tyche
I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am 
DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed
DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed
Re: [X3:LU] Children of Tyche
Assets, rules and mods list
NOTE: Some small edits were made, both to clarify a bit, and to deal with a few situations my initial rules didn't cover. Just in case some of you wonder why some things were changed.
Assets:
TL Ozias - "Avalon" Factory ship. Carries a PHQ.
M5 Kestrel - Anna's ship, currently unnamed.
M5 Kestrel x 2 - Scout drones
0 credits
General rules:
- Conditional DiD. No reloads, except if the game/computer crashes.
- No buying new ships. Piracy, salvaging and buying second hand ships is allowed.
- No weapon-, shield- or missile producing Saturn Complex Hubs. The Alaankwa mod allow me to manufacture every weapon, shield and missile in the game aboard TL-class factory ships. I can only produce parts I have blueprints for. See blueprint section for details.
- If I need a Saturn Complex Hub I can only buy the ones available at the shipyard spawned by the Stolen Saturn mod. The Terrans won't allow anyone outside of Sol access to their newest toys.
- Factory ships can construct all ship classes they have a docking slot for, and are also capable of recycling ships for building materials. Ship construction require blueprints. See blueprint section for details.
- All ships constructed by factory ships come fully tuned and carries a standard equipment suite consisting of a jumpdrive, boost extension, SETA, duplex scanner, Navigation Command Software MK1 and Combat Comman Software MK1 and MK2. All other upgrades must be reverse engineered, and due to limitations in the factory ship production lines I need to mine crystals to manufacture these upgrades. The two exceptions to this rule are the Remote Control software and the Plutarch Tractor system, as these, to the best of my knowledge, can't be salvaged through normal means. I can "research" these at the PHQ, and it will take 5 and 8 ingame days respectively.
- Tensions are high due to the situation in the Omicron Channel, and most equipment docks, shipyards and military outposts run strict background checks on their customers. Due to my shady origins I can't normally pass these background checks, meaning I can't buy ships the normal way. If I want to buy a station I can 'persuade' TL captains to do a bit of shopping for me by boarding their ship and using some gunpoint diplomacy. The ship can only be used for a limited amount of time before the authorities start getting suspicious, so I have five ingame hours to do my thing before I have to sell the ship, scuttle it or recycle it. Failing to do this means the local authorities start breathing down my neck, and I will do a dice roll every hour to see if I can dodge the cops or if they smell a rat. Losing the dice roll will result in a 5 level rep loss with the faction that owns the ship. If I build a TL that's not a factory ship, or find a TL that's been abandoned, I can use it freely.
- Teladi are a bit more lenient, but even they won't sell me ships, and still require a +8 rep before I can access their equipment docks, shipyards and military outposts. A lot of claws also need to be greased, so I have to come up with a 50 million bribe before they will let me in.
- Pirates are neutral, but due to my history with them I can't do any personal trading, as the risk of getting caught is too great. Yaki are neutral, and will allow me access to all their stations once I unlock their stock exchange. This require either slaves, space weed or space fuel. The Yaki will also be my only place to hire and train marines.
- The PHQ must be placed in an unknown or unclaimed sector. All factory ships, stations and Saturn Complex Hubs must also be placed here. Blueprints for ships and equipment will be transferred from the factory ships, and in the case of "researched" upgrades I will cheat in the money needed to buy the necessary lisences. The PHQ is also needed to create more factory ships.
- I can trade basic resources with all factions I have at least a neutral rep with, as someone has to keep the wheels turning. The Alaankwa mod makes all hired trader pilots start at level 8, meaning they can start UT duty immediately.
- If the Avalon and the PHQ are both destroyed, the game is over. The Avalon can rebuild the station seed, but it will take 15 ingame days to complete and will use all available production capacity.
- Phanon will activate when I reach a +3 rep with any race.
- OCV will become active at a random time after the first 24 ingame hours are up. I will decide when through a dice roll.
Blueprints and reverse engineering:
- Ships must be scanned to aquire blueprints. To get a scan the ship either has to be owned by me, or the shields of the ship I want to scan must be below 7%. I need 3 scans to get a complete blueprint, and the same ship can not be scanned more than once. Incomplete blueprints can be used, but the resource cost go up significantly. Reverse engineering a ship at the PHQ will provide a complete blueprint.
- To research upgrades/equipment I need to either recycle a ship with the upgrade installed, or I need to transfer it to the PHQ or one of my factory ships for reverse engineering.
- Once I recycle a shield, weapon or missile, the blueprint will be unlocked for all factory ships.
Mods/scripts used:
Litcube's universe by Litcube
Alaankwa mod by temetvince
Stolen Saturn by Solarahawk
Various homebrew scripts and tweaks for setup and manipulation of the game, such as removing money from the player account to "bribe" people.
NOTE: Some small edits were made, both to clarify a bit, and to deal with a few situations my initial rules didn't cover. Just in case some of you wonder why some things were changed.
Assets:
TL Ozias - "Avalon" Factory ship. Carries a PHQ.
M5 Kestrel - Anna's ship, currently unnamed.
M5 Kestrel x 2 - Scout drones
0 credits
General rules:
- Conditional DiD. No reloads, except if the game/computer crashes.
- No buying new ships. Piracy, salvaging and buying second hand ships is allowed.
- No weapon-, shield- or missile producing Saturn Complex Hubs. The Alaankwa mod allow me to manufacture every weapon, shield and missile in the game aboard TL-class factory ships. I can only produce parts I have blueprints for. See blueprint section for details.
- If I need a Saturn Complex Hub I can only buy the ones available at the shipyard spawned by the Stolen Saturn mod. The Terrans won't allow anyone outside of Sol access to their newest toys.
- Factory ships can construct all ship classes they have a docking slot for, and are also capable of recycling ships for building materials. Ship construction require blueprints. See blueprint section for details.
- All ships constructed by factory ships come fully tuned and carries a standard equipment suite consisting of a jumpdrive, boost extension, SETA, duplex scanner, Navigation Command Software MK1 and Combat Comman Software MK1 and MK2. All other upgrades must be reverse engineered, and due to limitations in the factory ship production lines I need to mine crystals to manufacture these upgrades. The two exceptions to this rule are the Remote Control software and the Plutarch Tractor system, as these, to the best of my knowledge, can't be salvaged through normal means. I can "research" these at the PHQ, and it will take 5 and 8 ingame days respectively.
- Tensions are high due to the situation in the Omicron Channel, and most equipment docks, shipyards and military outposts run strict background checks on their customers. Due to my shady origins I can't normally pass these background checks, meaning I can't buy ships the normal way. If I want to buy a station I can 'persuade' TL captains to do a bit of shopping for me by boarding their ship and using some gunpoint diplomacy. The ship can only be used for a limited amount of time before the authorities start getting suspicious, so I have five ingame hours to do my thing before I have to sell the ship, scuttle it or recycle it. Failing to do this means the local authorities start breathing down my neck, and I will do a dice roll every hour to see if I can dodge the cops or if they smell a rat. Losing the dice roll will result in a 5 level rep loss with the faction that owns the ship. If I build a TL that's not a factory ship, or find a TL that's been abandoned, I can use it freely.
- Teladi are a bit more lenient, but even they won't sell me ships, and still require a +8 rep before I can access their equipment docks, shipyards and military outposts. A lot of claws also need to be greased, so I have to come up with a 50 million bribe before they will let me in.
- Pirates are neutral, but due to my history with them I can't do any personal trading, as the risk of getting caught is too great. Yaki are neutral, and will allow me access to all their stations once I unlock their stock exchange. This require either slaves, space weed or space fuel. The Yaki will also be my only place to hire and train marines.
- The PHQ must be placed in an unknown or unclaimed sector. All factory ships, stations and Saturn Complex Hubs must also be placed here. Blueprints for ships and equipment will be transferred from the factory ships, and in the case of "researched" upgrades I will cheat in the money needed to buy the necessary lisences. The PHQ is also needed to create more factory ships.
- I can trade basic resources with all factions I have at least a neutral rep with, as someone has to keep the wheels turning. The Alaankwa mod makes all hired trader pilots start at level 8, meaning they can start UT duty immediately.
- If the Avalon and the PHQ are both destroyed, the game is over. The Avalon can rebuild the station seed, but it will take 15 ingame days to complete and will use all available production capacity.
- Phanon will activate when I reach a +3 rep with any race.
- OCV will become active at a random time after the first 24 ingame hours are up. I will decide when through a dice roll.
Blueprints and reverse engineering:
- Ships must be scanned to aquire blueprints. To get a scan the ship either has to be owned by me, or the shields of the ship I want to scan must be below 7%. I need 3 scans to get a complete blueprint, and the same ship can not be scanned more than once. Incomplete blueprints can be used, but the resource cost go up significantly. Reverse engineering a ship at the PHQ will provide a complete blueprint.
- To research upgrades/equipment I need to either recycle a ship with the upgrade installed, or I need to transfer it to the PHQ or one of my factory ships for reverse engineering.
- Once I recycle a shield, weapon or missile, the blueprint will be unlocked for all factory ships.
Mods/scripts used:
Litcube's universe by Litcube
Alaankwa mod by temetvince
Stolen Saturn by Solarahawk
Various homebrew scripts and tweaks for setup and manipulation of the game, such as removing money from the player account to "bribe" people.
Last edited by Zaitsev on Sun, 7. Apr 24, 09:06, edited 6 times in total.
I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am
DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed
DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed
Re: [X3:LU] Children of Tyche
Let's roll out an actual chapter, shall we?
Next chapter should be up by either Thursday or Friday.
**********
Chapter 1 – … and in the darkness, angels cometh.
I don't know how long I had slept, but I woke up mid air as the station impossibly dropped a good couple of meters. Something had hit us hard! Flailing helplessly for a moment, I then crashed into the bed and rolled onto the floor.
Ow! OwowowowOW! Shit! Felt like a broken rib. Again. Sonnova …
Suddenly the sound of weapons fire echoed through the hallways, followed by running feet and screaming. Then I noticed a mug in the corner floating up, followed the feeling of my weight against the floor slowly disappearing. Did the grav plating fail? Or … did someone turn it off?
The lights flickered, then they went out. Moments later the emergency lights kicked in, filling the room with its dull, red hue. The sound of weapons firing mixed with the clanging of mag-boots against the floor, and those boots were closing fast.
I froze. My brain worked with all the speed of molasses in the coldness of space. My heart threatened to jump into my skull, and my hands were shaking like I was holding one of them rivet guns they used to patch the hull.
C'mon! Think! If you don't get your rear in gear you're gonna die here!
Then it hit me. The ventilation shafts. The ones in here were too small to get inside, but the ceiling was a crow's nest of pipes going everywhere, so maybe … Maybe I could hide up there? A careful push sent me upward, and once there I wedged myself in behind the biggest pipe I could find.
Time seemed to grind to a halt. The stabbing in my chest each time I drew breath. Sweat clinging to my body like a second skin. Roaring guns getting ever closer. People screaming. The wet, splattering sound of what I could only assume was bodies being ripped apart. Tears that wouldn't leave my eyes no matter how much I blinked. My hands shaking so badly I was sure they could hear the rattling of the pipe. Chest tightening to a knot. Breath threatening to catch in my throat and give me away.
The gun roared again, this time just outside my door. Then the door opened, and someone stepped inside. Curiosity got the better of me, and I dared to peek around the pipe. Black power armor with red stripes and a stylized bird's wing on the right chest plate. Something tickled my mind …
Angels!
Rumors thrived in a place like this, and you could always find this one crazed guy sitting in a corner, talking about these ships that came out of nowhere, wiped out all opposition, grabbed whatever they were there for and disappeared like friggin' ghosts. Nobody knew anything about them, and those who tried to find out often ended up missing, but every single one of those nutjobs mentioned the wing. The scuttlebutt had nicknamed them 'angels' because of the wing, but this was no angel.
I closed my eyes and waited for death. The sound of mag-boots against the floor came closer. Sweat mixed with the tears I couldn't blink away, and stung my eyes. My throat remained dry no matter how much I swallowed. My heartbeat was like hammer blows in my ears, and I was sure that suit of armor down there could hear me. Any moment that gun would start wailing, and then death would rain down on me. Any moment now …
Nothing. The clanging foodsteps faded as it wandered off. Letting go of a breath I didn't know I'd held, I let out a sigh of relief. My mind was still riding high on adrenaline and refused to work. The roar of guns in the background reminded me that I better get it working, or I would die here.
C'mon! C'mon! C'mon! Think! Think! THINK!
Another sigh found its way out. A gaping maw had suddenly opened up in my stomach. Snapping, snarling. Wanting to swallow me whole. My mind felt like it had been swaddled in a dark, heavy blanket, slowly crushing the life out of me. Was this it? The end? Dying like some rat in a cage? I swallowed, again and again, in hopes of getting rid of that lump in my throat, but to no avail.
Time seemed to have lost all meaning, and I had no idea how long I floated in the dark. My mind screamed, craving to know why, but going unsated. I felt like hitting something, and barely managed to stop myself as that would surely have alerted the 'angels' still roaming around. A stream of old curses found their way into my consciousness, and I had to stop myself from hitting the blukhead again. After a while I decided I had to do something, even if it meant I would end my days facing the business end of a plasma blaster. At least it felt better than floating up there and being utterly useless.
Lacking mag boots, I knew I had to be careful. I had learned the hard way how zero g worked when a blackout caused the grav plating to fail last year. You aimed, and once you were in motion you didn't stop until you hit the hull. Bouncing off something meant you were frakked, as getting stranded without anything to grab onto was a real risk. And this time there might not be anyone to turn the gravity back on.
My first thought was to see if anyone else was still alive. I maneuvered myself around the pipe, aimed for the door and pushed. Floating silently through the room, a giggle found its way up from my lungs. Despite the sweaty palms, shaking hands and my heart racing, this tickled me somehow. I reached the door and on a whim I grabbed the mug floating in the corner. It was quite heavy, and if I got stuck somewhere it might give me the boost I needed to get to safety. Might. I put it under my shirt, tucked the shirt into my pants and peeked outside.
Nothing had prepared me for the carnage that awaited. Kaleb was floating in the dim, red light, his torso literally cut in half and his guts floating around him like some misshapen belt. My stomach immediately turned itself inside out, and I turned away and sprayed a brownish yellow cloud across my room.
Uuuggghhh …
My rib flared up and started sending white hot knives through my chest. I wiped my mouth and tried to get the puke out of my nose, only partially succeeding. The sour taste of acid lingered in my mouth, and I almost threw up again. My head spun, my heart thundered in my ears again and my breath turned to rapid, shallow gasps. Then I saw the other bodies, all mangled by weapons fire in some way.
Stars … This … this … th-this is a s-slaughterhouse …
The sound of mag-boots snapped me back to reality.
Shit! ShitshitshitSHIT! Nononono!
My mind froze again, and my entire body locked up. I was gonna frakkin' die here! Butchered like the … rest … of them …
My blood suddenly boiled, and it snapped me out of it. Ok. Hide. The room I was in was the common area in the slave blocks. Two stories of bunk rooms, and with the same crow's nest of vent shafts and pipes up in the roof. Hopefully I could pull the same stunt and hide up there.
Being in a hurry I pushed a little too hard, and almost flew face first into one of the pipes up there. Once again I wedged myself in between a pipe and the hull, and once again I was convinced whoever was down there could hear my heartbeat. My mind suddenly raced. Why attack us? Why this station? Why kill everyone? What were they after? What would happen after they left?
The black, faceless armor marched across the room, weapon at the ready. Could it see me? Did it know I was here? It stopped!? My heart skipped at least a dozen beats. I bit my lip to keep the sob from escaping, and somehow managed to keep my breath under control. Tears were flooding my eyes, effectively blinding me, and I didn't dare move to wipe them away.
After what felt like eons I heard it move again, steadily making its way to whereever it was going. Once I was sure it was out of earshot I finally allowed myself to let that sob out. It turned ito a series of ragged gasps, and tears, spit and snot mixed into this gooey blob clinging to my face. I suddenly felt completely exhausted, and my mind started toying with the idea of following the black armor to get it all to end.
No! You don't get to die that easily! Not without a fight! You fight, goddamnit! Fight!
Something stirred somewhere and dragged me, kicking and screaming, out of that sorry state. The armor had gone toward the hangar. Pods. I knew where they were. Two decks above me. There was a maintenance shaft further down, away from the armor. Not normally accessible, and tight as frak, but I had to try.
Gliding from pipe to shaft to cable, I slowly made my way toward the hatch I was looking for.
Damn. Locked.
I thought about it for a few moment, then decided I had to go back to my room for my toolkit. It consisted of a few lockpicks, a screwdriver with various bits, a spudger and a hacking tool, and while it couldn't deal with hardened locks without Kaleb's chip, it would probably be able to break this one. Probably.
After some planning I had a reasonably clear flight path and could monkey branch myself from one pipe to the next, making corrections along the way. All right, here goes nothing …
Oh sh – Nonono!
My fingers slipped, and I barely managed to grab a cable that was hanging down. For a moment I wondered if it would be able to stop me, but fortunately it held. I swallowed and praised whatever deiety was watching over me before heading down toward my cell.
Ewwww …
Yeah, everything was covered in puke. Chunks of the stew they gave us for dinner was floating in mid air, and the smell had me on the verge of throwing up again. I did my best to ignore it and headed for the bed. It was battered and broken from me landing on it earlier, and I silently hoped the hacking tool had survived. Reaching into the pillow I felt the familiar shape of the pouch, and once I had it I opened it and checked. It all looked in good shape, and the little box with the hacking tool lit up like it should. Everything seemed to be in working order.
Phew …
I just floated there for a moment, crying tears of joy. With this I had a fighting chance. Or … at least more of a chance than I had a minute ago.
As I headed for the door it hit me. The chip. I might need it, especially if the pods were locked. That meant … digging through … Kaleb's … pockets. My stomach churned at the very thought.
Looking at the body, slackjawed and with eyes staring into eternity, I … I just couldn't do it. He had been the closest thing I'd had to a friend in this place, and seeing him like this … I wiped my tears and headed back to the hatch, hoping my basic algorithms would be enough.
Unscrewing the control panel was harder than I thought. My hands were still shaking, making it hard to get the screwdriver in place. Finally it slipped in, and I twisted the handle, but instead of unscrewing the screw it rotated me instead. Befuddled I tried again, with the same result. Then it hit me. Zero G. Without gravity to hold me down there was nothing to counter the momentum. Let's see …
It was probably an odd sight, arms and legs spread out to any point of contact I could reach, but it worked. Kinda. I had to hold the screwdriver at this odd angle, and my rib was not happy about the strain I was currently putting on it to stabilize myself. Finally the last screw gave up, and I could connect my hacking tool. The four wires went into place, then I turned it on and waited for it to do its thing.
The hacking sequence only took some fifteen seconds, but they felt like days. My mind started conjuring up images of the black armor coming back and blasting me to pieces, something that didn't exactly help with my impatience.
Finally the hack was finished, and the lock opened. I disconnected my tool and put it all back into the pouch, then I snuck in through the hatch, closed it behind me and headed up. Hopefully the other side wouldn't be locked, right? Right …?
The maintenance shaft was really tight in a few spots, and had collected at least a couple of years worth of dust and grime. I felt like one of the rags the mechanics in the hangar had hanging out of their back pockets all the time, and I probably looked like one as well. Now I just had to get to the pod, hope it would work and … Voices?
"… you done yet, soldier?" a male voice said.
"Gimme a sez," a female voice responded. "Just a liiiitle … there! Timer's set. Let's go."
"What about the slave blocks?" another male voice said. Sounded young.
"What about them? We sent a sweep team through, and if anyone's left they won't be alive for much longer. Now let's get out of here!"
Timer? Much longer? Something was up, and none of the options I could think of sounded good. Now or never, eh?
I'd heard no footsteps and they had been silent for an awfully long time. I slowly opened the hatch and looked around. Nothing. They just vanished? Some gizmo with blinking lights was hooked up to a control panel a couple of meters under me. My guess was that this was the timer they talked about, and it looked like it was up to no good. Better check if there were any working pods still left.
Minutes felt like hours as I bounced from one pod bay to the next. Most of them were gone, and the few left in their bays were locked down. Finally I found one in standby mode. Crossing my fingers, I hoped I could break the lock before I got visitors. Or that timer behind me reached zero, and whatever it triggered sent me to hell.
The lock gave me more problems than I had anticipated. On the other hand this was a properly hardened lock, designed to keep someone like me out. I briefly regretted not getting the advanced algorithm chip from Kaleb's corpse, but I just couldn't bring myself to go through his pockets. The images of his corpse floating mid air flooded my mind, and my breath caught in my throat for a moment.
My hacking tool took a good minute to work through the lock, and I was so focused on it I didn't hear the footsteps approaching. As the lock broke and I opened the hatch, the black armor raised its weapon. Instinctively I tried to jump out of the way, but the hail of plasma bolts found their mark.
Y'know, it's quite the odd sensation getting shot by plasma weapons. The electric charge make your muscles lock up. You feel your skin peel from the searing heat for a brief moment before the nerves get scorched. The undescribable sensation of water vaporizing, blowing fist sized craters in your body. Tumbling backwards, because the half kilo of body mass that just turned into vapor acted as a rudimentary thruster.
Momentum from my jump carried me through the hatch, and I tumbled inside. Since the pod was in 'get the frak outta here' mode, the same hatch slammed shut the moment the pod registered a life form on board, and it immediately initiated the launch sequence. I vaguely registered the sound of plasma bolts against the hatch before the pod launched.
Suddenly the world turned bright white. Then it all faded into darkness …
Next chapter should be up by either Thursday or Friday.
**********
Chapter 1 – … and in the darkness, angels cometh.
I don't know how long I had slept, but I woke up mid air as the station impossibly dropped a good couple of meters. Something had hit us hard! Flailing helplessly for a moment, I then crashed into the bed and rolled onto the floor.
Ow! OwowowowOW! Shit! Felt like a broken rib. Again. Sonnova …
Suddenly the sound of weapons fire echoed through the hallways, followed by running feet and screaming. Then I noticed a mug in the corner floating up, followed the feeling of my weight against the floor slowly disappearing. Did the grav plating fail? Or … did someone turn it off?
The lights flickered, then they went out. Moments later the emergency lights kicked in, filling the room with its dull, red hue. The sound of weapons firing mixed with the clanging of mag-boots against the floor, and those boots were closing fast.
I froze. My brain worked with all the speed of molasses in the coldness of space. My heart threatened to jump into my skull, and my hands were shaking like I was holding one of them rivet guns they used to patch the hull.
C'mon! Think! If you don't get your rear in gear you're gonna die here!
Then it hit me. The ventilation shafts. The ones in here were too small to get inside, but the ceiling was a crow's nest of pipes going everywhere, so maybe … Maybe I could hide up there? A careful push sent me upward, and once there I wedged myself in behind the biggest pipe I could find.
Time seemed to grind to a halt. The stabbing in my chest each time I drew breath. Sweat clinging to my body like a second skin. Roaring guns getting ever closer. People screaming. The wet, splattering sound of what I could only assume was bodies being ripped apart. Tears that wouldn't leave my eyes no matter how much I blinked. My hands shaking so badly I was sure they could hear the rattling of the pipe. Chest tightening to a knot. Breath threatening to catch in my throat and give me away.
The gun roared again, this time just outside my door. Then the door opened, and someone stepped inside. Curiosity got the better of me, and I dared to peek around the pipe. Black power armor with red stripes and a stylized bird's wing on the right chest plate. Something tickled my mind …
Angels!
Rumors thrived in a place like this, and you could always find this one crazed guy sitting in a corner, talking about these ships that came out of nowhere, wiped out all opposition, grabbed whatever they were there for and disappeared like friggin' ghosts. Nobody knew anything about them, and those who tried to find out often ended up missing, but every single one of those nutjobs mentioned the wing. The scuttlebutt had nicknamed them 'angels' because of the wing, but this was no angel.
I closed my eyes and waited for death. The sound of mag-boots against the floor came closer. Sweat mixed with the tears I couldn't blink away, and stung my eyes. My throat remained dry no matter how much I swallowed. My heartbeat was like hammer blows in my ears, and I was sure that suit of armor down there could hear me. Any moment that gun would start wailing, and then death would rain down on me. Any moment now …
Nothing. The clanging foodsteps faded as it wandered off. Letting go of a breath I didn't know I'd held, I let out a sigh of relief. My mind was still riding high on adrenaline and refused to work. The roar of guns in the background reminded me that I better get it working, or I would die here.
C'mon! C'mon! C'mon! Think! Think! THINK!
Another sigh found its way out. A gaping maw had suddenly opened up in my stomach. Snapping, snarling. Wanting to swallow me whole. My mind felt like it had been swaddled in a dark, heavy blanket, slowly crushing the life out of me. Was this it? The end? Dying like some rat in a cage? I swallowed, again and again, in hopes of getting rid of that lump in my throat, but to no avail.
Time seemed to have lost all meaning, and I had no idea how long I floated in the dark. My mind screamed, craving to know why, but going unsated. I felt like hitting something, and barely managed to stop myself as that would surely have alerted the 'angels' still roaming around. A stream of old curses found their way into my consciousness, and I had to stop myself from hitting the blukhead again. After a while I decided I had to do something, even if it meant I would end my days facing the business end of a plasma blaster. At least it felt better than floating up there and being utterly useless.
Lacking mag boots, I knew I had to be careful. I had learned the hard way how zero g worked when a blackout caused the grav plating to fail last year. You aimed, and once you were in motion you didn't stop until you hit the hull. Bouncing off something meant you were frakked, as getting stranded without anything to grab onto was a real risk. And this time there might not be anyone to turn the gravity back on.
My first thought was to see if anyone else was still alive. I maneuvered myself around the pipe, aimed for the door and pushed. Floating silently through the room, a giggle found its way up from my lungs. Despite the sweaty palms, shaking hands and my heart racing, this tickled me somehow. I reached the door and on a whim I grabbed the mug floating in the corner. It was quite heavy, and if I got stuck somewhere it might give me the boost I needed to get to safety. Might. I put it under my shirt, tucked the shirt into my pants and peeked outside.
Nothing had prepared me for the carnage that awaited. Kaleb was floating in the dim, red light, his torso literally cut in half and his guts floating around him like some misshapen belt. My stomach immediately turned itself inside out, and I turned away and sprayed a brownish yellow cloud across my room.
Uuuggghhh …
My rib flared up and started sending white hot knives through my chest. I wiped my mouth and tried to get the puke out of my nose, only partially succeeding. The sour taste of acid lingered in my mouth, and I almost threw up again. My head spun, my heart thundered in my ears again and my breath turned to rapid, shallow gasps. Then I saw the other bodies, all mangled by weapons fire in some way.
Stars … This … this … th-this is a s-slaughterhouse …
The sound of mag-boots snapped me back to reality.
Shit! ShitshitshitSHIT! Nononono!
My mind froze again, and my entire body locked up. I was gonna frakkin' die here! Butchered like the … rest … of them …
My blood suddenly boiled, and it snapped me out of it. Ok. Hide. The room I was in was the common area in the slave blocks. Two stories of bunk rooms, and with the same crow's nest of vent shafts and pipes up in the roof. Hopefully I could pull the same stunt and hide up there.
Being in a hurry I pushed a little too hard, and almost flew face first into one of the pipes up there. Once again I wedged myself in between a pipe and the hull, and once again I was convinced whoever was down there could hear my heartbeat. My mind suddenly raced. Why attack us? Why this station? Why kill everyone? What were they after? What would happen after they left?
The black, faceless armor marched across the room, weapon at the ready. Could it see me? Did it know I was here? It stopped!? My heart skipped at least a dozen beats. I bit my lip to keep the sob from escaping, and somehow managed to keep my breath under control. Tears were flooding my eyes, effectively blinding me, and I didn't dare move to wipe them away.
After what felt like eons I heard it move again, steadily making its way to whereever it was going. Once I was sure it was out of earshot I finally allowed myself to let that sob out. It turned ito a series of ragged gasps, and tears, spit and snot mixed into this gooey blob clinging to my face. I suddenly felt completely exhausted, and my mind started toying with the idea of following the black armor to get it all to end.
No! You don't get to die that easily! Not without a fight! You fight, goddamnit! Fight!
Something stirred somewhere and dragged me, kicking and screaming, out of that sorry state. The armor had gone toward the hangar. Pods. I knew where they were. Two decks above me. There was a maintenance shaft further down, away from the armor. Not normally accessible, and tight as frak, but I had to try.
Gliding from pipe to shaft to cable, I slowly made my way toward the hatch I was looking for.
Damn. Locked.
I thought about it for a few moment, then decided I had to go back to my room for my toolkit. It consisted of a few lockpicks, a screwdriver with various bits, a spudger and a hacking tool, and while it couldn't deal with hardened locks without Kaleb's chip, it would probably be able to break this one. Probably.
After some planning I had a reasonably clear flight path and could monkey branch myself from one pipe to the next, making corrections along the way. All right, here goes nothing …
Oh sh – Nonono!
My fingers slipped, and I barely managed to grab a cable that was hanging down. For a moment I wondered if it would be able to stop me, but fortunately it held. I swallowed and praised whatever deiety was watching over me before heading down toward my cell.
Ewwww …
Yeah, everything was covered in puke. Chunks of the stew they gave us for dinner was floating in mid air, and the smell had me on the verge of throwing up again. I did my best to ignore it and headed for the bed. It was battered and broken from me landing on it earlier, and I silently hoped the hacking tool had survived. Reaching into the pillow I felt the familiar shape of the pouch, and once I had it I opened it and checked. It all looked in good shape, and the little box with the hacking tool lit up like it should. Everything seemed to be in working order.
Phew …
I just floated there for a moment, crying tears of joy. With this I had a fighting chance. Or … at least more of a chance than I had a minute ago.
As I headed for the door it hit me. The chip. I might need it, especially if the pods were locked. That meant … digging through … Kaleb's … pockets. My stomach churned at the very thought.
Looking at the body, slackjawed and with eyes staring into eternity, I … I just couldn't do it. He had been the closest thing I'd had to a friend in this place, and seeing him like this … I wiped my tears and headed back to the hatch, hoping my basic algorithms would be enough.
Unscrewing the control panel was harder than I thought. My hands were still shaking, making it hard to get the screwdriver in place. Finally it slipped in, and I twisted the handle, but instead of unscrewing the screw it rotated me instead. Befuddled I tried again, with the same result. Then it hit me. Zero G. Without gravity to hold me down there was nothing to counter the momentum. Let's see …
It was probably an odd sight, arms and legs spread out to any point of contact I could reach, but it worked. Kinda. I had to hold the screwdriver at this odd angle, and my rib was not happy about the strain I was currently putting on it to stabilize myself. Finally the last screw gave up, and I could connect my hacking tool. The four wires went into place, then I turned it on and waited for it to do its thing.
The hacking sequence only took some fifteen seconds, but they felt like days. My mind started conjuring up images of the black armor coming back and blasting me to pieces, something that didn't exactly help with my impatience.
Finally the hack was finished, and the lock opened. I disconnected my tool and put it all back into the pouch, then I snuck in through the hatch, closed it behind me and headed up. Hopefully the other side wouldn't be locked, right? Right …?
The maintenance shaft was really tight in a few spots, and had collected at least a couple of years worth of dust and grime. I felt like one of the rags the mechanics in the hangar had hanging out of their back pockets all the time, and I probably looked like one as well. Now I just had to get to the pod, hope it would work and … Voices?
"… you done yet, soldier?" a male voice said.
"Gimme a sez," a female voice responded. "Just a liiiitle … there! Timer's set. Let's go."
"What about the slave blocks?" another male voice said. Sounded young.
"What about them? We sent a sweep team through, and if anyone's left they won't be alive for much longer. Now let's get out of here!"
Timer? Much longer? Something was up, and none of the options I could think of sounded good. Now or never, eh?
I'd heard no footsteps and they had been silent for an awfully long time. I slowly opened the hatch and looked around. Nothing. They just vanished? Some gizmo with blinking lights was hooked up to a control panel a couple of meters under me. My guess was that this was the timer they talked about, and it looked like it was up to no good. Better check if there were any working pods still left.
Minutes felt like hours as I bounced from one pod bay to the next. Most of them were gone, and the few left in their bays were locked down. Finally I found one in standby mode. Crossing my fingers, I hoped I could break the lock before I got visitors. Or that timer behind me reached zero, and whatever it triggered sent me to hell.
The lock gave me more problems than I had anticipated. On the other hand this was a properly hardened lock, designed to keep someone like me out. I briefly regretted not getting the advanced algorithm chip from Kaleb's corpse, but I just couldn't bring myself to go through his pockets. The images of his corpse floating mid air flooded my mind, and my breath caught in my throat for a moment.
My hacking tool took a good minute to work through the lock, and I was so focused on it I didn't hear the footsteps approaching. As the lock broke and I opened the hatch, the black armor raised its weapon. Instinctively I tried to jump out of the way, but the hail of plasma bolts found their mark.
Y'know, it's quite the odd sensation getting shot by plasma weapons. The electric charge make your muscles lock up. You feel your skin peel from the searing heat for a brief moment before the nerves get scorched. The undescribable sensation of water vaporizing, blowing fist sized craters in your body. Tumbling backwards, because the half kilo of body mass that just turned into vapor acted as a rudimentary thruster.
Momentum from my jump carried me through the hatch, and I tumbled inside. Since the pod was in 'get the frak outta here' mode, the same hatch slammed shut the moment the pod registered a life form on board, and it immediately initiated the launch sequence. I vaguely registered the sound of plasma bolts against the hatch before the pod launched.
Suddenly the world turned bright white. Then it all faded into darkness …
I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am
DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed
DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed
Re: [X3:LU] Children of Tyche
It's still Friday in my time zone, so let's roll out chapter two.
After this I'll aim for about one chapter every week, both to build up a bit of a backlog, and because I want to avoid burnout.
With that out of the way, let's go!
**********
Chapter 2 – An unexpected arrival
I woke up, gasping for air. My feet were halfway to the ... floor? Before I was … awake …
Whereever I looked it was all white. No discernible walls, no roof, no floor, no lights, no nothing. Was … was I … dead?
"You are not dead," a voice said. "At least not yet." Was it reading my mind? I looked around for the source of the voice. Someone to my left. A … woman? It looked human, but the skin was sickly pale and the eyes were coal black with white irises. The milk white hair was tied back in an elaborate braid. She … it? Was dressed in simple black clothes, with ice blue trim. I just stared, trying to make sense of it all.
"My personal designation is Morrigan," it said, answering my silent question. "I am Sohnen. What may I call you?"
Sohnen. Spooks only mentioned in the deepest, darkest corners you could find. Some old timers had talked about an encounter with a Sohnen battleship in the days leading up to the Terran Conflict, but it was all disregarded as the ramblings of lunatics.
"You are not restricted by physical limitations in this place," it continued. "You can speak."
I swallowed. A veritable storm of emotions rushed through me.
"A-Anna … M-Morgan," I croaked. Tears came rushing, and I just cried. The voice ... The voice they stole all those years ago was back. I buried my face in my hands and cried myself hoarse. Morrigan just watched silently.
At last my tears had run dry, and I once again tried to make sense of it all. My mind grasped the first thing that came up, which was the strange room and this … creature in front of me.
"W-what's a 'Sohnen' exactly? And what are you doing here?" My mind spun in place, but if I could keep her talking …
"We are a purely mechanical species. In some regards we are not unlike your Terraformers, although we achieved true sentience eons ago. As for your second question, I came to this sector after our sectors were attacked by another machine mind. A most fearsome enemy, it it was set on conquest. We fought back, but slowly lost ground due to sheer atrition. I was set to meet up with my fellow Sohnen at our rendezvous point, but an attack destabilized the wormhole and threw me off course. I … have not been able to contact any of my brethren."
This creature was utterly alien, but the brief pauses and equally brief wandering eyes made it radiate a very human sadness.
"So you're a robot?"
"In a sense. I am this ship, but if needed I can take a form like the one you see before you. I am currently unable to correctly emulate an organic life form though."
So any question triggered a veritable info dump. My mind was still as blank as my surroundings though.
"What's this place?" I pointed at the white nothingness surrounding me, hoping to keep her talking.
"This is a construct provided by the mainframe aboard my ship, the Avalon. Your form … body was failing rapidly. I brought you aboard to preserve your consciousness before your body ceased to function."
"Preserve …? I-I don't …"
"I transferred your consciousness to the quantum substrate that makes up the mainframe of my ship. It is a fairly simple process, and the transfer is flawless."
I did the old triple take.
"S-so I am dead …?" I was … Well, shocked didn't really cover it. I couldn't describe how I felt.
"Not in a true sense. Your physical mind was deconstructed, and now exist here. You retain all your memories, experiences and thought processes, and your mind is as capable of evolving and aquiring new information in here as it was in the physical world. In that sense you are alive, as your consciousness still exist. I am capable of reconstruction your body, if you wish. I can also terminate your consciousness, if that is your preference. The termination process will not cause any agitation."
It felt like my heart had just dropped into the soles of my feet.
"C-can I be alone f-for a moment?"
"Certainly. Call on me if you require anything."
Morrigan simply faded into the background, and then was gone.
Once I was alone I slumped down on the floor, leaned against the block I woke up on and just stared into the white nothingness in front of me. Was this even a floor? Was I actually seeing this endless whiteness? Could I call this 'stare'? Was this truly a floor I was sitting on? It felt real. How … What … wh-why … Tears stung my eyes and my breath caught in my throat. Breath? Tears? I suddenly felt cold, my limbs were heavy, and there was a deep, dark hole growing in my stomach that threatened to swallow me.
"Wh-Why!?" My blood suddenly boiled and I slammed my fist into the floor. I hit it again. And again. And again. In the back of my mind this tiny voice wondered why my knuckles hurt …
I sat there for Gunne knew how long, and once again the hole in my stomach grew into this great maw, snapping and snarling, trying to devour my very being. It all felt so hopeless. The temptation to call for Morrigan and have her pull the plug grew stronger by the second. What was it she said? 'No agitation?'
Time seemed to fly by lightning fast. I ran the whole thing through my mind again and again, trying to make sense of it all. In the end I think I just … resigned. Stopped trying, and went with the flow.
"Morrigan, are you there."
"I am." She appeared to my left. I got up and took a …. breath? Goddamn, this was going to drive me frakkin' nuts! The boiling blood flared up momentarily, and with it came the urge to punch the floor again. Telling the urge to sod off, I forced myself to calm down.
Relax. Deep brea – Oh, for frak's sake!
Kaleb's words echoed in my mind. 'How does a mouse eat an elephant, kiddo? One piece at the time.'
Amidst all this madness there was one thing I could work with, though. The only thing I could understand.
"You mentioned you could reconstruct my body? What's the catch?" Ain't no free lunches. I had learned that the hard way.
She cocked her head as if I was some new, exotic bug she had discovered.
"Catch. Drawback. Hidden agenda. Caution. Suspicion. Understandable, and not entirely unwarranted. My motives for saving you were, at least to some degree, selfish."
"Do tell." I raised my eyebrows, only to realize she …? Ah, whatever. She might not be aware of what that gesture meant.
"Very well. I have come to the conclusion that I require a liaison, one who understands the local species and can interact with them more efficiently than I am capable of. Furthermore, the record I have available for this sector are seventy eight point four cycles old, and more than likely heavily outdated. I also require resources so I can attempt to contact my brethren. Without up to date information about this area, I am for all intents and purposes blind. I could use probes to gather the necessary data, but that could take sevaral cycles and I can not exclude the possibility of our enemy having already calculated my position. Time will therefore be of the essence. There are also socio-political aspects to consider, as I know little of the current state of affairs among the local population, and would like to avoid drawing too much attention."
I blinked a few times, trying to digest it all. One thing stood out though. Information gathering was my kind of game, although hacking the ships of small time crooks and tricking drooling pirates into thinking I was too stupid to understand what they were talking about was a far cry from what this sounded like. A brief image of Kaleb's dead body flashed before my eyes. Maybe … maybe this could help me get some answers …?
Trying to sort my thoughts, I took what my mind insisted was a deep breath.
"So let me see if I get this right … You need someone to help you navigate the ins and outs of this clusterfrak we got over here, you need resources to see if you can contact your people, and you're worried the big bad that drove you off your home turf is following you?"
"Correct," she said.
"And what do you need me to do?"
"I require information first and foremost. Updating my navigational data should be a priority, as it will allow me to better devise strategies in case our enemy follows me. I already have my two scouting drones surveying the local area, but any additional information you can provide would be valuable. Establishing listening posts and securing access to resources should be next. In the end I will have to find a suitable location for a base, so that I can search for my bretheren. If … they are still out there.
Again this brief pause and wandering eyes, making her come across as sad.
"I have readied a ship for you," she continued, before I could even ask. "The abandoned ships surrounding the station your pod came from provided enough materials and data to allow me to construct a scouting craft. The salvaged data banks indicate it is classified as a 'Kestrel'."
I briefly wondered what sort of 'base' she was talking about and what a 'suitable location' would be, but asking would probably trigger another info dump. Regardless, I would have my own ship. Only a Kestrel, but it would be a start.
After this I'll aim for about one chapter every week, both to build up a bit of a backlog, and because I want to avoid burnout.
With that out of the way, let's go!
**********
Chapter 2 – An unexpected arrival
I woke up, gasping for air. My feet were halfway to the ... floor? Before I was … awake …
Whereever I looked it was all white. No discernible walls, no roof, no floor, no lights, no nothing. Was … was I … dead?
"You are not dead," a voice said. "At least not yet." Was it reading my mind? I looked around for the source of the voice. Someone to my left. A … woman? It looked human, but the skin was sickly pale and the eyes were coal black with white irises. The milk white hair was tied back in an elaborate braid. She … it? Was dressed in simple black clothes, with ice blue trim. I just stared, trying to make sense of it all.
"My personal designation is Morrigan," it said, answering my silent question. "I am Sohnen. What may I call you?"
Sohnen. Spooks only mentioned in the deepest, darkest corners you could find. Some old timers had talked about an encounter with a Sohnen battleship in the days leading up to the Terran Conflict, but it was all disregarded as the ramblings of lunatics.
"You are not restricted by physical limitations in this place," it continued. "You can speak."
I swallowed. A veritable storm of emotions rushed through me.
"A-Anna … M-Morgan," I croaked. Tears came rushing, and I just cried. The voice ... The voice they stole all those years ago was back. I buried my face in my hands and cried myself hoarse. Morrigan just watched silently.
At last my tears had run dry, and I once again tried to make sense of it all. My mind grasped the first thing that came up, which was the strange room and this … creature in front of me.
"W-what's a 'Sohnen' exactly? And what are you doing here?" My mind spun in place, but if I could keep her talking …
"We are a purely mechanical species. In some regards we are not unlike your Terraformers, although we achieved true sentience eons ago. As for your second question, I came to this sector after our sectors were attacked by another machine mind. A most fearsome enemy, it it was set on conquest. We fought back, but slowly lost ground due to sheer atrition. I was set to meet up with my fellow Sohnen at our rendezvous point, but an attack destabilized the wormhole and threw me off course. I … have not been able to contact any of my brethren."
This creature was utterly alien, but the brief pauses and equally brief wandering eyes made it radiate a very human sadness.
"So you're a robot?"
"In a sense. I am this ship, but if needed I can take a form like the one you see before you. I am currently unable to correctly emulate an organic life form though."
So any question triggered a veritable info dump. My mind was still as blank as my surroundings though.
"What's this place?" I pointed at the white nothingness surrounding me, hoping to keep her talking.
"This is a construct provided by the mainframe aboard my ship, the Avalon. Your form … body was failing rapidly. I brought you aboard to preserve your consciousness before your body ceased to function."
"Preserve …? I-I don't …"
"I transferred your consciousness to the quantum substrate that makes up the mainframe of my ship. It is a fairly simple process, and the transfer is flawless."
I did the old triple take.
"S-so I am dead …?" I was … Well, shocked didn't really cover it. I couldn't describe how I felt.
"Not in a true sense. Your physical mind was deconstructed, and now exist here. You retain all your memories, experiences and thought processes, and your mind is as capable of evolving and aquiring new information in here as it was in the physical world. In that sense you are alive, as your consciousness still exist. I am capable of reconstruction your body, if you wish. I can also terminate your consciousness, if that is your preference. The termination process will not cause any agitation."
It felt like my heart had just dropped into the soles of my feet.
"C-can I be alone f-for a moment?"
"Certainly. Call on me if you require anything."
Morrigan simply faded into the background, and then was gone.
Once I was alone I slumped down on the floor, leaned against the block I woke up on and just stared into the white nothingness in front of me. Was this even a floor? Was I actually seeing this endless whiteness? Could I call this 'stare'? Was this truly a floor I was sitting on? It felt real. How … What … wh-why … Tears stung my eyes and my breath caught in my throat. Breath? Tears? I suddenly felt cold, my limbs were heavy, and there was a deep, dark hole growing in my stomach that threatened to swallow me.
"Wh-Why!?" My blood suddenly boiled and I slammed my fist into the floor. I hit it again. And again. And again. In the back of my mind this tiny voice wondered why my knuckles hurt …
I sat there for Gunne knew how long, and once again the hole in my stomach grew into this great maw, snapping and snarling, trying to devour my very being. It all felt so hopeless. The temptation to call for Morrigan and have her pull the plug grew stronger by the second. What was it she said? 'No agitation?'
Time seemed to fly by lightning fast. I ran the whole thing through my mind again and again, trying to make sense of it all. In the end I think I just … resigned. Stopped trying, and went with the flow.
"Morrigan, are you there."
"I am." She appeared to my left. I got up and took a …. breath? Goddamn, this was going to drive me frakkin' nuts! The boiling blood flared up momentarily, and with it came the urge to punch the floor again. Telling the urge to sod off, I forced myself to calm down.
Relax. Deep brea – Oh, for frak's sake!
Kaleb's words echoed in my mind. 'How does a mouse eat an elephant, kiddo? One piece at the time.'
Amidst all this madness there was one thing I could work with, though. The only thing I could understand.
"You mentioned you could reconstruct my body? What's the catch?" Ain't no free lunches. I had learned that the hard way.
She cocked her head as if I was some new, exotic bug she had discovered.
"Catch. Drawback. Hidden agenda. Caution. Suspicion. Understandable, and not entirely unwarranted. My motives for saving you were, at least to some degree, selfish."
"Do tell." I raised my eyebrows, only to realize she …? Ah, whatever. She might not be aware of what that gesture meant.
"Very well. I have come to the conclusion that I require a liaison, one who understands the local species and can interact with them more efficiently than I am capable of. Furthermore, the record I have available for this sector are seventy eight point four cycles old, and more than likely heavily outdated. I also require resources so I can attempt to contact my brethren. Without up to date information about this area, I am for all intents and purposes blind. I could use probes to gather the necessary data, but that could take sevaral cycles and I can not exclude the possibility of our enemy having already calculated my position. Time will therefore be of the essence. There are also socio-political aspects to consider, as I know little of the current state of affairs among the local population, and would like to avoid drawing too much attention."
I blinked a few times, trying to digest it all. One thing stood out though. Information gathering was my kind of game, although hacking the ships of small time crooks and tricking drooling pirates into thinking I was too stupid to understand what they were talking about was a far cry from what this sounded like. A brief image of Kaleb's dead body flashed before my eyes. Maybe … maybe this could help me get some answers …?
Trying to sort my thoughts, I took what my mind insisted was a deep breath.
"So let me see if I get this right … You need someone to help you navigate the ins and outs of this clusterfrak we got over here, you need resources to see if you can contact your people, and you're worried the big bad that drove you off your home turf is following you?"
"Correct," she said.
"And what do you need me to do?"
"I require information first and foremost. Updating my navigational data should be a priority, as it will allow me to better devise strategies in case our enemy follows me. I already have my two scouting drones surveying the local area, but any additional information you can provide would be valuable. Establishing listening posts and securing access to resources should be next. In the end I will have to find a suitable location for a base, so that I can search for my bretheren. If … they are still out there.
Again this brief pause and wandering eyes, making her come across as sad.
"I have readied a ship for you," she continued, before I could even ask. "The abandoned ships surrounding the station your pod came from provided enough materials and data to allow me to construct a scouting craft. The salvaged data banks indicate it is classified as a 'Kestrel'."
I briefly wondered what sort of 'base' she was talking about and what a 'suitable location' would be, but asking would probably trigger another info dump. Regardless, I would have my own ship. Only a Kestrel, but it would be a start.
I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am
DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed
DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed
Re: [X3:LU] Children of Tyche
Welp, I guess I got some good news and some bad news ...
Let's start off with the bad news, which is that my computer has died. The CPU became unstable, with frequent crashes when I tried to play, and it ultimately decided to fly off to the great silicon heaven. This means I can't play or access my word documents to continue writing, so updates are on hold for now.
The good news is that the CPU was still under warranty, so I should be getting a replacement in a couple of weeks. My saves and writing should also be intact, so once my PC is back up and running I'll return to Anna's adventures. It will just take a while.
In the meantime I wish you all a happy holiday, and maybe I'll see you in 2024.
Cheers,
-Z
Let's start off with the bad news, which is that my computer has died. The CPU became unstable, with frequent crashes when I tried to play, and it ultimately decided to fly off to the great silicon heaven. This means I can't play or access my word documents to continue writing, so updates are on hold for now.
The good news is that the CPU was still under warranty, so I should be getting a replacement in a couple of weeks. My saves and writing should also be intact, so once my PC is back up and running I'll return to Anna's adventures. It will just take a while.
In the meantime I wish you all a happy holiday, and maybe I'll see you in 2024.
Cheers,
-Z
I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am
DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed
DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed
Re: [X3:LU] Children of Tyche
All right. After dealing with some real life obstacles I make my return. Note that this was written while I was sleep deprived as heck, so if you see any typos or glaring mistakes, please let me know. Now, without further ado, let's jump straight into the next chapter.
**********
Chapter 3 - New beginnings
A searing white light filled my eyes, followed by a weird sensation of sliding through a tube that gradually got narrower. A final feeling of being squeezed, followed by a sudden drop. The light faded, slowly turning into a small room. A pungent smell of amonia filled my nostrils, followed by a feeling of being covered in slime.
More details started filling in. A bench, a few lockers, light coming from somewhere. Gunmetal grey walls, with obsidian lines that pulsated with a feint ice blue light, similar to the color I had seen on Morrigan's clothes. Seen? Could I …? Gah! Go away!
I reached out in front of me, and my hand immediately hit something. Looking around I realized I was in a pod of some sort, and I was wondering how to get out when it suddenly opened with a soft hiss. The air outside of the pod was chilly enough to make me shiver, and for a moment the idea of going back in and closing the lid felt very tempting.
"There is appropriate clothing to your left." Morrigan's disembodied voice echoed through the room, and my heart skipped at least a couple of beats.
"Fraggin' hell …" I kept the more juicy curses to myself and found the clothes she had mentioned. As I put them on I noticed they had a strange texture, almost … slippery? I couldn't quite find the words for it. Not uncomfortable, though.
A part of me wondered if they felt that way because I was still in that construct, and the clothes felt funny because my mind had finally cracked and started making shit up. I pinched myself to make sure it was real, but then again it had hurt when I hit the floor in the white room, so there was that.
"Goddamnit, Anna!" I muttered through clenched teeth. "Get a grip! Focus!" Right now, worrying about my surroundings being real or not was a luxury I couldn't afford. I pushed it away and concentrated on the here and now, like where the only door in the room was leading.
A quick glance in the mirror hanging on the wall, to make sure I didn't look like a clown – Frak, the smile was still there – and then I headed for the door.
Opening the door I looked around carefully, my mind still fighting the notion that this was simply a more advanced construct. For all I knew I could be dying in that escape pod, with this just being the last gasp of my brain before croaking. Anyway …
This room was considerably larger, I'd say about fifteen meters up to the ceiling, a good thirty meters across and maybe forty-five to fifty long. The walls, floor and ceiling were all covered in the same gunmetal grey material, with the black obsidian veins pulsating with light, forming intricate patterns.
Then I saw it. A big, black ball hovering about a meter off the ground. It almost reached the ceiling, with the same blue patterns of light criss-crossing the surface, and it looked … fuzzy? This thin layer of black smoke, in lack of a better word, covered the surface, with ripples sometimes spreading across the surface before it all calmed down again.
"What the hell …" I stared. Everything else faded out of reality, and I stood there for Gunne knew how long. Finally a sound made me snap out of it. Noticing my mouth hanging open I shut it with an audible click. Looked like this was going to be a common theme, to stand around dumbstruck while the gears in my head moaned and creaked under the load.
Against my better judgement curiosity took over, and I inched closer to the sphere. For all intents and purposes it was just a black ball hanging in mid air, but it held my mind in an iron grip and refused to let go. Before I knew it I was next to it, and my hand was somehow reaching for the surface.
"I would advice against touching it." Morrigan had seemingly materialized out of thin air, scaring the bejesus out of me.
"Bloody frakkin' hell, don't do that!" She gave me a blank stare, and it dawned on me that I was dealing with an entity that might not understand the concept of fear or distress.
"Anyway, what is that thing? And what's … this?" I gestured at a random wall.
"The sphere is a station seed," Morrigan said. "It is a spatially compressed nanite swarm that is capable of constructing a base from surrounding materials."
I raised my eyebrows in an expression I hoped would be interpreted in a 'go on' manner.
"This," Morrigan continued, "is the Avalon." She imitated my gesture, and for a moment I wondered if she was mocking me. "It is my ship. And me."
"I am currently looking for a suitable place to deploy the seed," she continued. "The sensor arrays it contains are significantly more powerful than the ones I have, and I will be able to search for other survivors more effectively. It also has a fully functional shipyard, as well as advanced research facilities, high level equipment fabricators and extensive storage areas. It was intended to be one of our field bases, but we never got the chance to use it."
"Oh …" Half of that flew straight over my head, but it sounded like a more advanced version of the pirate base I had lived on, combined with one of the shipyards they always talked about.
"Your ship is ready, by the way. I can take you to the hangar immediately."
"Uh … yeah, sure." My mind was bouncing all over the place, still trying to make some sort of sense out of all this. I wasn't even sure what I was supposed to do.
"Tell me again, what am I supposed to do here?" I said as she started walking.
"You are my resource- and information gatherer. The resources I salvaged from the station you came from allowed me to construct two scout drones, which are currently gathering navigational data as we speak. However, their rudimentary AI can not perform ship scans or salvage operations. I will need you for that."
"Ship scans? Salvage operations …?"
"Yes. I can not disregard the possibility of our enemy showing up in this sector, and as such I will need a defensive fleet to muster whatever resistance I can. Unfortunately I was not carrying any blueprints of my own when the attack forced me to flee, so I will have to rely on replicating local designs. For this purpose I have constructed a scanning module that, through several scanning techniques, can create a blueprint of the ship in question. It is not perfect, as ships by their very nature create a certain degree of interference, but by scanning several ships of the same type I should be able to refine the blueprint.
"As for the salvaging part, it will provide me with resources until I can create a proper supply chain. The Avalon has extensive recycling facilities, allowing me to extract approximately eighty-five percent of the components and raw materials from a ship. I can also reverse engineer any weapon, shield type, missile and module you bring back, although my fabricators require certain crystalline components to make them compatible with your technology. Unfortunately I do not have a mineral scanner template, and I spent the few crystals I had available to construct the scout drones …"
"We have those here," I shot in. "Maybe we could buy one?" She gave me one of those blank stares again. "Or salvage …?" I suggested. It suddenly hit me. "You guys don't have money, do you?"
"Money. Item or verifiable record accepted as payment for goods or services. No. We operate as individuals, but we serve a greater whole. Resources are freely exchanged when needed."
Bet you'd give any Teladi conniptions, I thought.
"Salvage it is then. What about the 'information' part you mentioned?" I steeled myself for another info dump. Maybe I could teach her to give me the cliff notes at some point?
"I also need a … I believe a suitable term is foot soldier. Someone who can walk among the inhabitants of these sectors without raising too much suspicion. I will need access to resources at some point, such as energy production, various internal components and construction materials. Data from prior visits suggest I would not be suitable for negotiating the necessary agreements, which means I will need you to perform this function. Additionally, in case the enemy is already here, I do not wish to announce my precense just yet."
"Okay …"
Somewhere in the back of my head a plan had started forming. Stations. She wanted stations. All I knew about those was that they were big and were hauled around by these massive ships. Hm, maybe Maeris could help … Or Sasha, although he would probably yell at me for sneaking that spider into his ship's computer. Or shoot me. That was also an option. Or Val, I heard she had set up shop somewhere down south. What was that sector called again …
I was distracted by an oddly familiar smell, and suddenly noticed we had moved into a new room.
"Why does this place smell like a kitchen?" The words more or less fell out of me, like someone cutting open the bottom of a sack of potatoes.
"Kitchen. Food. Meal preparation. Nutrients. That would most likely be the bioreactors. Initial scans of the wreckage where I found you indicate that your weapons use metallo-organic compounds in various components. The scent might be similar to your food, especially in the initial stages of production, but the end product is far from edible."
Too late. This would forever be weaponized meatsteak cahoonas to me now.
I followed her into an elevator, and we stood there in silence while it took us to where ever we were going. We exited into a tube like structure, and through an observation window I could see what I assumed were docking clamps. The ship itself stretched on for what appeared to be at least a couple of kilometers, and for a moment I just stood there awestruck. Again. It honestly felt like my mind was going to explode.
Morrigan stopped in front of one of the docking clamps. I looked through the window at the sleek, silver grey hull outside. The second fastest ship in the commonwealth, only beaten by the pirate version. And then only because they disregarded anything resembling safety and ran the reactor at a constant 110%, eking out a bit more speed. Fastest ride in town, but you might arrive at the Pearly Gates rather than your destination.
"One thing," I said. "Since it looks like we'll be relying on salvage I was wondering if you had anything I could use for eyes and ears. Keep an eye on sectors when I'm not there."
She gave me her usual blank stare for a moment.
"Eyes and ears. Listening. Watching. Yes, I do carry a small number of remote surveilance units. Be careful, though. I can not manufacture more of them."
"I'll keep them safe," I said, hoping fate wouldn't make me a liar.
**********
Chapter 3 - New beginnings
A searing white light filled my eyes, followed by a weird sensation of sliding through a tube that gradually got narrower. A final feeling of being squeezed, followed by a sudden drop. The light faded, slowly turning into a small room. A pungent smell of amonia filled my nostrils, followed by a feeling of being covered in slime.
More details started filling in. A bench, a few lockers, light coming from somewhere. Gunmetal grey walls, with obsidian lines that pulsated with a feint ice blue light, similar to the color I had seen on Morrigan's clothes. Seen? Could I …? Gah! Go away!
I reached out in front of me, and my hand immediately hit something. Looking around I realized I was in a pod of some sort, and I was wondering how to get out when it suddenly opened with a soft hiss. The air outside of the pod was chilly enough to make me shiver, and for a moment the idea of going back in and closing the lid felt very tempting.
"There is appropriate clothing to your left." Morrigan's disembodied voice echoed through the room, and my heart skipped at least a couple of beats.
"Fraggin' hell …" I kept the more juicy curses to myself and found the clothes she had mentioned. As I put them on I noticed they had a strange texture, almost … slippery? I couldn't quite find the words for it. Not uncomfortable, though.
A part of me wondered if they felt that way because I was still in that construct, and the clothes felt funny because my mind had finally cracked and started making shit up. I pinched myself to make sure it was real, but then again it had hurt when I hit the floor in the white room, so there was that.
"Goddamnit, Anna!" I muttered through clenched teeth. "Get a grip! Focus!" Right now, worrying about my surroundings being real or not was a luxury I couldn't afford. I pushed it away and concentrated on the here and now, like where the only door in the room was leading.
A quick glance in the mirror hanging on the wall, to make sure I didn't look like a clown – Frak, the smile was still there – and then I headed for the door.
Opening the door I looked around carefully, my mind still fighting the notion that this was simply a more advanced construct. For all I knew I could be dying in that escape pod, with this just being the last gasp of my brain before croaking. Anyway …
This room was considerably larger, I'd say about fifteen meters up to the ceiling, a good thirty meters across and maybe forty-five to fifty long. The walls, floor and ceiling were all covered in the same gunmetal grey material, with the black obsidian veins pulsating with light, forming intricate patterns.
Then I saw it. A big, black ball hovering about a meter off the ground. It almost reached the ceiling, with the same blue patterns of light criss-crossing the surface, and it looked … fuzzy? This thin layer of black smoke, in lack of a better word, covered the surface, with ripples sometimes spreading across the surface before it all calmed down again.
"What the hell …" I stared. Everything else faded out of reality, and I stood there for Gunne knew how long. Finally a sound made me snap out of it. Noticing my mouth hanging open I shut it with an audible click. Looked like this was going to be a common theme, to stand around dumbstruck while the gears in my head moaned and creaked under the load.
Against my better judgement curiosity took over, and I inched closer to the sphere. For all intents and purposes it was just a black ball hanging in mid air, but it held my mind in an iron grip and refused to let go. Before I knew it I was next to it, and my hand was somehow reaching for the surface.
"I would advice against touching it." Morrigan had seemingly materialized out of thin air, scaring the bejesus out of me.
"Bloody frakkin' hell, don't do that!" She gave me a blank stare, and it dawned on me that I was dealing with an entity that might not understand the concept of fear or distress.
"Anyway, what is that thing? And what's … this?" I gestured at a random wall.
"The sphere is a station seed," Morrigan said. "It is a spatially compressed nanite swarm that is capable of constructing a base from surrounding materials."
I raised my eyebrows in an expression I hoped would be interpreted in a 'go on' manner.
"This," Morrigan continued, "is the Avalon." She imitated my gesture, and for a moment I wondered if she was mocking me. "It is my ship. And me."
"I am currently looking for a suitable place to deploy the seed," she continued. "The sensor arrays it contains are significantly more powerful than the ones I have, and I will be able to search for other survivors more effectively. It also has a fully functional shipyard, as well as advanced research facilities, high level equipment fabricators and extensive storage areas. It was intended to be one of our field bases, but we never got the chance to use it."
"Oh …" Half of that flew straight over my head, but it sounded like a more advanced version of the pirate base I had lived on, combined with one of the shipyards they always talked about.
"Your ship is ready, by the way. I can take you to the hangar immediately."
"Uh … yeah, sure." My mind was bouncing all over the place, still trying to make some sort of sense out of all this. I wasn't even sure what I was supposed to do.
"Tell me again, what am I supposed to do here?" I said as she started walking.
"You are my resource- and information gatherer. The resources I salvaged from the station you came from allowed me to construct two scout drones, which are currently gathering navigational data as we speak. However, their rudimentary AI can not perform ship scans or salvage operations. I will need you for that."
"Ship scans? Salvage operations …?"
"Yes. I can not disregard the possibility of our enemy showing up in this sector, and as such I will need a defensive fleet to muster whatever resistance I can. Unfortunately I was not carrying any blueprints of my own when the attack forced me to flee, so I will have to rely on replicating local designs. For this purpose I have constructed a scanning module that, through several scanning techniques, can create a blueprint of the ship in question. It is not perfect, as ships by their very nature create a certain degree of interference, but by scanning several ships of the same type I should be able to refine the blueprint.
"As for the salvaging part, it will provide me with resources until I can create a proper supply chain. The Avalon has extensive recycling facilities, allowing me to extract approximately eighty-five percent of the components and raw materials from a ship. I can also reverse engineer any weapon, shield type, missile and module you bring back, although my fabricators require certain crystalline components to make them compatible with your technology. Unfortunately I do not have a mineral scanner template, and I spent the few crystals I had available to construct the scout drones …"
"We have those here," I shot in. "Maybe we could buy one?" She gave me one of those blank stares again. "Or salvage …?" I suggested. It suddenly hit me. "You guys don't have money, do you?"
"Money. Item or verifiable record accepted as payment for goods or services. No. We operate as individuals, but we serve a greater whole. Resources are freely exchanged when needed."
Bet you'd give any Teladi conniptions, I thought.
"Salvage it is then. What about the 'information' part you mentioned?" I steeled myself for another info dump. Maybe I could teach her to give me the cliff notes at some point?
"I also need a … I believe a suitable term is foot soldier. Someone who can walk among the inhabitants of these sectors without raising too much suspicion. I will need access to resources at some point, such as energy production, various internal components and construction materials. Data from prior visits suggest I would not be suitable for negotiating the necessary agreements, which means I will need you to perform this function. Additionally, in case the enemy is already here, I do not wish to announce my precense just yet."
"Okay …"
Somewhere in the back of my head a plan had started forming. Stations. She wanted stations. All I knew about those was that they were big and were hauled around by these massive ships. Hm, maybe Maeris could help … Or Sasha, although he would probably yell at me for sneaking that spider into his ship's computer. Or shoot me. That was also an option. Or Val, I heard she had set up shop somewhere down south. What was that sector called again …
I was distracted by an oddly familiar smell, and suddenly noticed we had moved into a new room.
"Why does this place smell like a kitchen?" The words more or less fell out of me, like someone cutting open the bottom of a sack of potatoes.
"Kitchen. Food. Meal preparation. Nutrients. That would most likely be the bioreactors. Initial scans of the wreckage where I found you indicate that your weapons use metallo-organic compounds in various components. The scent might be similar to your food, especially in the initial stages of production, but the end product is far from edible."
Too late. This would forever be weaponized meatsteak cahoonas to me now.
I followed her into an elevator, and we stood there in silence while it took us to where ever we were going. We exited into a tube like structure, and through an observation window I could see what I assumed were docking clamps. The ship itself stretched on for what appeared to be at least a couple of kilometers, and for a moment I just stood there awestruck. Again. It honestly felt like my mind was going to explode.
Morrigan stopped in front of one of the docking clamps. I looked through the window at the sleek, silver grey hull outside. The second fastest ship in the commonwealth, only beaten by the pirate version. And then only because they disregarded anything resembling safety and ran the reactor at a constant 110%, eking out a bit more speed. Fastest ride in town, but you might arrive at the Pearly Gates rather than your destination.
"One thing," I said. "Since it looks like we'll be relying on salvage I was wondering if you had anything I could use for eyes and ears. Keep an eye on sectors when I'm not there."
She gave me her usual blank stare for a moment.
"Eyes and ears. Listening. Watching. Yes, I do carry a small number of remote surveilance units. Be careful, though. I can not manufacture more of them."
"I'll keep them safe," I said, hoping fate wouldn't make me a liar.
I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am
DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed
DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed
Re: [X3:LU] Children of Tyche
I'm not dead, I swears. Anyway, new chapter is here.
**********
Chapter 4 - Silver wings
I looked at the Kestrel again. There was one issue …
"I should probably have mentioned this before, but how do I fly this thing?" I said.
"That has already been taken care of." Morrigan said. The tone of her voice changed ever so slightly, and I got the impression that she was … amused? Maybe a hint of pride?
"Uh … Sure, I guess …?" The feeling that I shouldn't doubt someone who had transferred my consciousness to a new body she had built from scratch crept into my mind. Besides, if she had doen it once she could do it again, right? Right …?
Morrigan gestured toward a small pad. I hesitated for a moment, then stepped onto it. A blue shimmer filled my eyes, and suddenly I found myself on a similar pad in a very cramped room. It took me a moment to realize the pad was some sort of matter transporter, and I was now aboard the Kestrel.
I looked around to get my bearings. The room was about one by two meters, with a tiny sink, a microscopic head, some lockers and a storage unit for a space suit. There was a hatch leading down to what I assumed was the cargo hold, and another one that was was marked with 'airlock'. Yeah, let's keep away from that for now. Don't want to space myself.
"Put the space suit on," Morrigan's voice said, scaring the bejesus out of me again. Frakkin' hell … "Your body is not fortified against vacuum. I do not wish for you to perish out there."
"Aw, you do care." That comment was more for me than her, cause I had seen what vacuum does to a body. Death came quickly and painfully, as your air got sucked out of your lungs, your spit and tears started to boil off and your tissue started to expand due to the lack of pressure. Having seen it I definitely had no desire to experience it myself.
After climbing into the space suit I maneuvered myself into the pilot's seat. The space suit was a bit unwieldy, but I somehow managed to get my carcass in position behind the stick. Now, what did Morrigan mean when she said flying this had been 'taken care of' …
I stared at the controls for a minute, and this odd sense of familarity came creeping into my mind. I somehow knew what the buttons and switches did, and what the controls would do.
"What the hell … How do I …" I should have learned that Morrigan's an eternal shadow on my shoulder by now, because the response came immediately.
"I added new memories," she said. "Only basic flight training, as anything more had the risk of disrupting your memories, or even cause personality changes. You biological intelligences are quite … fascinating."
"You frakked with my brain!?" The thought of her being able to add stuff, seemingly without any difficulty, made me see red. I felt... violated. What else could she have changed?
"I added approximately one hundred and fifty gigabyte of data. My estimates indicate that the human mind is capable of storing in excess of three petabytes, meaning this is but a fraction of your total capacity. You should be fine."
"That's not the … You know what, never mind!" I held my tongue, as even the short time we had spent together told me she simply wouldn't understand. Besides, she had saved my life. Without her I would be dead, and … And why was the inside of my visor fogging up all of the sudden?
I cracked open the helmet and wiped away the tears. The image of all the people I had known splattered across every corner of the station reared its ugly head, and I immediately wanted to punch something. My hands helplessly gripped thin air. It was the same hollow feeling I'd felt when Stef got sucked into space after the airlock failed. I watched him die, and I have never felt so powerless, so unable to do anything.
Finally I forced myself to break away from the ghosts, and decided to concentrate on the task at hand. As I understood it she wanted me to salvage and scan abandoned ships, and pick up any weapon, shield, missile and piece of equipment I could get my mitts on. For a moment I considered going after ships flying through this sector, but the stories I had heard about pilots getting mad and releasing swarms of fighter drones quickly made me reconsider. The Kestrel being a rocket motor with a cockpit and a life support system strapped onto it meant it would probably collapse if a spacefly sneezed on it, so … Yeah, let's stick to abandoned ships.
My hands felt like doll hands guided by a puppeteer as they ran through the pre-flight checklist. Reactor online, reaction mass tanks full, MPD generators at one hundred percent, RCS thrusters functional …
And before I forgot, a proper name. I chose to name it "Lonesome Crow," both because that was kinda how I felt right now, and because Kaleb had once mentioned owning a ship by that name.
"Mh … Ready for launch. I think." I said over the radio.
"Launching in three, two, one, go." The engine fired, blasting me out of the docking clamp at breakneck speed. The acceleration pushed me into the seat, while the ship's gravity control system fought to keep me from getting turned into paste. Almost like being the rope in a tug-of-war.
Once clear of the Avalon I looked around. The sector was quite beautiful. A planet off in the distance, nebulas glowing, the local star lighting up the place … And I was out here, all by myself. For the briefest of moment I considered running away, but common sense smacked me in the face by asking 'and do what, exactly?' Common sense had a point there. A pirate mutt who had lived her entire life under the boot of whatever pirate lord sat on the top that week, had no ID, no money, no nothing, wouldn't get very far.
So, first order of the day – drop a satellite. Fortunately Morrigan had loaded the computer with a data sheet, and it said the satellite sensor array had a range of one hundred and eighty kilometers. Good. That meant I could drop it a bit above the ecliptic. Satellite hunting was apparently a mildly popular activity among pirates, as it meant a ship would show up to replace it, and some of them would 'mysteriously' disappear. The things you hear when people think you're too stupid and whipped to understand what they were talking about …
Satellite down, and what do we have here? An abandoned Mercury Tanker XL, and a single IRE floating around. Time to get to work, I guess.
As I approached the impulse ray emitter a new question arose.
"Uh, Morrigan? How do I pick up stuff, exactly?" I assumed my trusty shadow was still there, and I wasn't wrong.
"Just fly into the item in question. Your ship will automatically use the gravimetric component of your shields to capture the item and deposit it into your cargo bay. Be aware that the mechanism will not activate if your cargo bay is full, or if the item is too large to be carried by your ship. Flying into items under these circumstances may result in shield depletion or hull damage. There is also the risk of ordonance detonating, so be careful."
"Duly noted."
Needless to say, I approached that gun very carefully. Ease back on the throttle, 20 m/s relative speed should do it … I felt the puppeteer in the back of my mind again, taking control of my hands and making me not impale myself on what was literally a loose cannon.
My fears seemed to be at least somewhat unfounded, because just before the IRE hit the hull a shimmering bubble appeared around it, and it floated off to the side and went underneath my ship. Moments later I heard the cargo bay doors cycle, and the ship computer told me I was now the proud owner of one IRE. From what I had picked up form the pilots visiting the station, this was essentially a pea shooter. Barely able to harm a space fly, but if Morrigan could recreate it I would at least have some way of defending myself. Though, with a Kestrel the best defense appeared to be flooring it and let the turret deal with whatever was capable of catching up to you. Anyway …
***
The Lonesome Crow was hanging a couple of hundred meters off the nose of the Mercury. Or rather what was left of it, as it was full of pock marks from whatever guns they had used. Guess I had to … ugh … go outside and do my thing.
"I guess you want me to hack this thing, yeah?"
"Correct. Your space suit has a built in hacking tool, and I have made a computer worm that should transfer access. Now all you need to do –"
"I know. Find a panel, hook up the tool and let it do its thing."
"I assume you have some prior experience, then."
"I've done it once or twice, yes." Never while the ship was still in space, though …
"Good. My scanners have discovered an active panel on the ventral side of the hull. I will highlight it on your suit HUD."
Anyway, I got out of my seat and opened the hatch to the airlock. This thing was downright claustrophobic, and I felt I had to step out of it to be able to change my mind. I pushed the "open" button, and a very nice computer voice reminded me to connect my suit to the EVA backpack first. Welp, good thing someone had made this idiot proof I guess.
Second try went somewhat smoother. A couple of robot arms came out of the wall, grabbed me and held me in place while the EVA system got connected. I heard a slight hiss, and the taste of metal briefly tickled the back of my tonuge before I got the green light. I took a couple of deep breaths as the small chamber decompressed, trying to steady myself for what awaited me. My spine felt like a stream of cold sweat, the type you get when you got a really bad flu and a 42°C fever.
The airlock finished cycling, and the hatch swung open. Looking out into open space sent an involuntary shudder through my body, and at that moment I would have sold my soul to not have to go out there. Unfortunately I had already sold my soul …
Every fiber of my being fought against the idea of stepping into empty space, but with what was possibly both my own and Morrigan's survival hinging on me getting my ass out there, I had to. My heart felt like it was tripping over itself inside my ribcage, and the stream had grown to a full blown river. One, two three … Nope. My body refused to cooperate.
C'mon, Anna. You have to! For Kaleb's sake. For Stef … For 'Tasha …
The ghosts reared their head again, threatening to swallow me whole. I told them to kindly sod off, as I had stuff to do.
My hand had let go without me noticing it, and I had slowly drifted halfway out of the airlock. I didn't think my heart could pound any harder, but it was galloping away like a jackhammer on steroids right now. Saliva filled my mouth and my stomach churned, ready to turn itself inside out. My breath turned into rapid, ragged gasps, and the air in my suit turned stale as the systems in my backpack struggled to keep up.
Get a grip, Anna! A tiny voice stirred in the back of my mind. You'll probably get yourself killed if you don't get a grip! And what good will that do, eh?
I took a deep, shivering breath and then slowly let it out. Fast in, slow out. Fast in. Slow out. It allowed me to regain enough control to move out of the airlock. The nice computer voice was back, giving me a basic rundown of how the suit thrusters worked. Guess something, or someone, had figured out I was green as grass and decided to give me some help. It also gave me something to focus on, which served as a nice distraction. Now, let's see …
"Ohshitohshitohshitohshit!" The hull of the Mercury was closing fast, and I was sure I would crash into it. At the last moment I finally managed to push full right thrust, and veered off to the side. Phew.
"Easy now. Easy …" I slowly inched my way toward the panel highlighted on my HUD. The area was heavily damaged, and parts of the panel had been blown off. Guess that saved me the hassle of prying it open, then. Now, how does this thing work …
Activating the hacking tool, I watched as a couple of silver grey tendrils literally grew out of my suit and hooked into the panel. Guess this was less of a hacking deal and more of a 'find the right spot and let the magic happen' deal. I didn't mind, though.
So, that's all she wrote, I guess. The tendrils hooked up to the ship and my HUD reported a lot of data traffic going on. Now, this was something I could work with. Since I had physical access I could launch several attacks to break the ship's firewall, and I knew a little secret – a hidden back door buried deep in the systems that was intended to be used by salvagers. If I could reach it I could launch a side channel attack and break the encryption. It was a fairly crude method, but with the Avalon's compute power behind me I could make it work.
There. Analyzing patterns. Now I just had to bombard the mainframe with access requests, look for a response and … presto! The worm got in, took over the ship and transferred control to me. I checked the cargo hold for juicy stuff we might be able to use, then did the scan thing and sent it to the Avalon so Morrigan could pick it apart. So, this was going to be my life from now, then. Go EVA, find a suitable access point and then watch as my space suit turned into a squid and ten-tickled the ship into submission.
I couldn't help but crack a smile at my own terrible joke, and it honestly helped lighten the mood a bit. Now, I should probably head back to the Avalon and see if this IRE I had picked up could be turned into something useful …
Back at the Avalon curiosity got the better of me, and I watched while Morrigan probed the weapon from one end to the other, and then broke it down to its base components to be stored in the cargo bay.
"So that's it?" I said. "You can now build a million of those?"
"If given access to enough materials, yes."
"Cool!" Watching this whole process take place had me all giddy! Me trying to figure out how things worked was a big part of the reason why I ended up doing hacking jobs for Kaleb, and watching Morrigan slicing this thing apart tickled me in all the right places.
***
"I have detected another abandoned ship," Morrigan said. I was neck deep in the IRE blueprint, and while I only understood a small fraction of what everything in there did, I could learn.
"It is a corvette-class ship," she continued. "My searches have classified it as a 'Heavy Centaur'. It could be suitable to defend the Avalon if needed."
"On my way." I grabbed my suit and headed for the elevator. Hopefully it would take me to where I needed to go.
It did, and I made my way over to the docking clamp where the Lonesome Crow awaited. A quick transporter trip later, and I was heading for the Heavy Centaur at full speed.
"Whoa! Watch where you're going, you frakkin' idiot!" As I approached a pirate had gotten uncomfortably close, and almost caused a collision. Come to think of it, I had probably been a little eager myself. Anyway, I waited for the computer to find a suitable access point and then headed for the airlock.
The hatch opened, and I stared at the dull gray hull hovering a hundred meters over my head. Going EVA still made my heart race like a runaway jackhammer, but it wasn't quite as bad as the first time. With my mind not drowning in blind panic I had some semblance of control, and as a result things went a tiny bit smoother.
"Easy now …" I came to a halt just half a meter from the panel the Crow's scanners had picked out. This one looked like it was in even worse shape than the Mercury, but it was still alive and kicking somehow. Time to work my magic, then.
My magic squid tentacles got me access, I worked my hacker witchcraft, and half a minute later the ship was mine to command. It even came with some juicy loot, and after a quick scan I sent it over to Morrigan for dissection
As I entered the small room behind the cockpit I saw a bunch of pirates buzzing past the cockpit window, and the satellite feed gave me the reason for this frantic activity. A Boron patrol was making its way through the sector, and the pirates were clearly not happy about it. Could lead to some more loot, though. Time to return to the Avalon, me thinks.
Morrigan was busy working on her gizmos, so I found a screen and was able to tap into the sensor feed from the scout drones as they were zipping around the universe. One of them was racing through Brennan's Triumph, which was somewhat of a pirate stronghold from what I'd heard. Lots of ships roaming around, and there were a few factories and a pirate base there as well. The other one was up north, flying through a Teladi sector of some sort. Wonder if …
"I see you have made yourself comfortable." I almost jumped out of my boots. Frakkin' hell, how did she do that?
"Trying to," I said, taking a breath to get my heart rate back down to normal.
"In that case, why not try on your own? I can give you full access to the drone- and satellite sensor data, allowing you to prioritize your targets at your own leisure. If you are able to locate more combat ships and weapons, as well as finding a general purpose freighter, that would be of great help."
For a moment I wondered where this sudden trust came from, but decided to not to look the proverbial gift horse in the mouth.
"All right, I'll do my best."
"Good. You can use this console when you are on board the Avalon, and I will also make sure the data is shared with your Kestrel. I will create an aggregate of all the data to make it easier for you to see what needs to be done. And if you require my assistance in any way, do not hesitate to contact me."
"I'll do that. Speaking of combat ships …" An abandoned Nova Vanguard popped up on the feed from the sector we were in, so I headed for the hangar and prepared to do my magic tricks again.
"Where the hell did they dig up this old bucket of bolts?" I was once again floating in space, hooked up to this Ringo Moon cheese Nova. It was old, with the mainframe probably being older than me. All the better, cause that meant it would be easier to crack. These mid 30s models had an unlisted override that led directly from the access controls to the mainframe, to circumvent an error that could lock a pilot out of their ship. The error was quickly fixed and the override removed, because … Well, the ships with this particular weakness got stolen all the time. Surprised this thing was still out and about.
Anyway, I dropped the worm in, got control of the ship and did my scan thing. One more blueprint for the archives. And off it went to the Avalon to become spare parts.
Getting back to the Lonesome Crow, I found myself sitting in the seat letting my thoughts wander for a bit. We needed more blueprints, I had to find a suitable freighter, and there was this issue about finding a mining ship somewhere.
"Easy now, Anna," I said to myself. "Don't bite over more than you can chew." Right, first things first. The best thing to do was probably to expand the satellite network. Sectors bordering pirates would be the obvious choice, as pirates would often rile each other up, get stoned out of their minds and go on senseless raids. I had also seen them go after pilots who wanted to save time by going through pirate space. That usually ended badly, but could mean more loot for us.
My thinking was interrupted by a message from the Mercury's computer, telling me it had made it to the Avalon. I had set it up to keep me updated, just in case something went south. If nothing else it could warn us, so we could get the hell out if shit hit the fan. It also meant we now had some new blueprints to work with. I thought about it for a moment, then called up Morrigan and had her start production of four IREs for me. It was mostly for show, but if nothing else it could keep my tail clear of missiles in case someone decided to get triggerhappy.
Back on the Avalon I came just in time to watch the last IRE get prepared. It was quite fascinating watching the nanite weavers 'grow' the thing seemingly out of thin air, and I couldn't help but grin.
As the IREs were carted off to be mounted on the Crow, another load arrived. My guess was that the Nova had made it back to the Avalon, and was now in the process of being stripped and disassembled. The machines around me came to life, disassembling the weapons and missiles that had been brought in, scanning them left to right and front to back, before nanite fog broke them down to their base components and sent them to storage. It was like a sort of intricate dance, and I couldn't wait to see what we had picked up.
Let's see. A bunch of missiles, a particle accelerator cannon, more PRGs, explorer software and a best selling price extension module. Morrigan probably wanted to take a look at the modules, and while I wanted to find out what a 'shaped plasma discharge warhead' was all about I had work to do.
The Heavy Centaur docked as I was preparing to leave, and another load of loot arrived. Sweet, we now had two hundred megajoule shields, some more missiles, a handful of … uhm, energy bolt chainguns and a phased array laser cannon. Sounded fancy.
I picked up the distinct smell of fish when the scanners and disassemblers were done with the laser cannon. Guess it needed a different mixture of that metal-whattafrakever stuff for its construction. First weaponized cows, and now weaponized fish? Funny. What would be the next, weaponized nostrop? Or space fuel?
Time to expand. The Lonesome Crow was hovering high above the ecliptic in Atreus' Clouds, and the next satellite was ready to drop. Sensors came online and revealed a whole lot of nothing interesting, but that didn't mean it was a waste. Time would tell and all that. In the meantime I planned to keep expanding by heading to Elena's Fortune. Being squeezed between two pirate sectors, it might get some nice traffic.
Nothing. The trip down to Elena's Fortune was spectacularly uneventful, and the satellite sensors revealed a whole lot of jack all. Argon patrols were all over the place though, which may or may not explain the lack of exciting stuff. Besides, I doubted I was the only salvager out here. Might just have been unlucky.
Drifting through space under minimal thrust, I checked the data from my scouting drones. Number one was currently mapping Hatikvah's Faith, and an absolutely massive pirate fleet was moving through as the scout zipped past them. I also spotted an abandoned Harrier, but getting there would most likely take too long. Too bad.
I followed the drone for a while, and watched it move into a sector called Aladna Hill. Like all border systems it was heavily fortified, and the drone picked up a battle group to match the pirate fleet down by the southern gate.
Swallowing heavily, it started to dawn on me that we were a tiny, tiny fish in a very big pond. My hands suddenly felt clammy inside my gloves, and it was like I had challenged a bully, only to have eight of his friends join the party. My mind reeled, and I imagined one of those fleets showing up at our doorstep if I screwed up. Even if we somehow managed to produce a bunch of those Heavy Centaurs, arm them and get them operational we would be frakkin' pulverized! Stars …
The air in my helmet was turning stale again …
**********
Chapter 4 - Silver wings
I looked at the Kestrel again. There was one issue …
"I should probably have mentioned this before, but how do I fly this thing?" I said.
"That has already been taken care of." Morrigan said. The tone of her voice changed ever so slightly, and I got the impression that she was … amused? Maybe a hint of pride?
"Uh … Sure, I guess …?" The feeling that I shouldn't doubt someone who had transferred my consciousness to a new body she had built from scratch crept into my mind. Besides, if she had doen it once she could do it again, right? Right …?
Morrigan gestured toward a small pad. I hesitated for a moment, then stepped onto it. A blue shimmer filled my eyes, and suddenly I found myself on a similar pad in a very cramped room. It took me a moment to realize the pad was some sort of matter transporter, and I was now aboard the Kestrel.
I looked around to get my bearings. The room was about one by two meters, with a tiny sink, a microscopic head, some lockers and a storage unit for a space suit. There was a hatch leading down to what I assumed was the cargo hold, and another one that was was marked with 'airlock'. Yeah, let's keep away from that for now. Don't want to space myself.
"Put the space suit on," Morrigan's voice said, scaring the bejesus out of me again. Frakkin' hell … "Your body is not fortified against vacuum. I do not wish for you to perish out there."
"Aw, you do care." That comment was more for me than her, cause I had seen what vacuum does to a body. Death came quickly and painfully, as your air got sucked out of your lungs, your spit and tears started to boil off and your tissue started to expand due to the lack of pressure. Having seen it I definitely had no desire to experience it myself.
After climbing into the space suit I maneuvered myself into the pilot's seat. The space suit was a bit unwieldy, but I somehow managed to get my carcass in position behind the stick. Now, what did Morrigan mean when she said flying this had been 'taken care of' …
I stared at the controls for a minute, and this odd sense of familarity came creeping into my mind. I somehow knew what the buttons and switches did, and what the controls would do.
"What the hell … How do I …" I should have learned that Morrigan's an eternal shadow on my shoulder by now, because the response came immediately.
"I added new memories," she said. "Only basic flight training, as anything more had the risk of disrupting your memories, or even cause personality changes. You biological intelligences are quite … fascinating."
"You frakked with my brain!?" The thought of her being able to add stuff, seemingly without any difficulty, made me see red. I felt... violated. What else could she have changed?
"I added approximately one hundred and fifty gigabyte of data. My estimates indicate that the human mind is capable of storing in excess of three petabytes, meaning this is but a fraction of your total capacity. You should be fine."
"That's not the … You know what, never mind!" I held my tongue, as even the short time we had spent together told me she simply wouldn't understand. Besides, she had saved my life. Without her I would be dead, and … And why was the inside of my visor fogging up all of the sudden?
I cracked open the helmet and wiped away the tears. The image of all the people I had known splattered across every corner of the station reared its ugly head, and I immediately wanted to punch something. My hands helplessly gripped thin air. It was the same hollow feeling I'd felt when Stef got sucked into space after the airlock failed. I watched him die, and I have never felt so powerless, so unable to do anything.
Finally I forced myself to break away from the ghosts, and decided to concentrate on the task at hand. As I understood it she wanted me to salvage and scan abandoned ships, and pick up any weapon, shield, missile and piece of equipment I could get my mitts on. For a moment I considered going after ships flying through this sector, but the stories I had heard about pilots getting mad and releasing swarms of fighter drones quickly made me reconsider. The Kestrel being a rocket motor with a cockpit and a life support system strapped onto it meant it would probably collapse if a spacefly sneezed on it, so … Yeah, let's stick to abandoned ships.
My hands felt like doll hands guided by a puppeteer as they ran through the pre-flight checklist. Reactor online, reaction mass tanks full, MPD generators at one hundred percent, RCS thrusters functional …
And before I forgot, a proper name. I chose to name it "Lonesome Crow," both because that was kinda how I felt right now, and because Kaleb had once mentioned owning a ship by that name.
"Mh … Ready for launch. I think." I said over the radio.
"Launching in three, two, one, go." The engine fired, blasting me out of the docking clamp at breakneck speed. The acceleration pushed me into the seat, while the ship's gravity control system fought to keep me from getting turned into paste. Almost like being the rope in a tug-of-war.
Once clear of the Avalon I looked around. The sector was quite beautiful. A planet off in the distance, nebulas glowing, the local star lighting up the place … And I was out here, all by myself. For the briefest of moment I considered running away, but common sense smacked me in the face by asking 'and do what, exactly?' Common sense had a point there. A pirate mutt who had lived her entire life under the boot of whatever pirate lord sat on the top that week, had no ID, no money, no nothing, wouldn't get very far.
So, first order of the day – drop a satellite. Fortunately Morrigan had loaded the computer with a data sheet, and it said the satellite sensor array had a range of one hundred and eighty kilometers. Good. That meant I could drop it a bit above the ecliptic. Satellite hunting was apparently a mildly popular activity among pirates, as it meant a ship would show up to replace it, and some of them would 'mysteriously' disappear. The things you hear when people think you're too stupid and whipped to understand what they were talking about …
Satellite down, and what do we have here? An abandoned Mercury Tanker XL, and a single IRE floating around. Time to get to work, I guess.
As I approached the impulse ray emitter a new question arose.
"Uh, Morrigan? How do I pick up stuff, exactly?" I assumed my trusty shadow was still there, and I wasn't wrong.
"Just fly into the item in question. Your ship will automatically use the gravimetric component of your shields to capture the item and deposit it into your cargo bay. Be aware that the mechanism will not activate if your cargo bay is full, or if the item is too large to be carried by your ship. Flying into items under these circumstances may result in shield depletion or hull damage. There is also the risk of ordonance detonating, so be careful."
"Duly noted."
Needless to say, I approached that gun very carefully. Ease back on the throttle, 20 m/s relative speed should do it … I felt the puppeteer in the back of my mind again, taking control of my hands and making me not impale myself on what was literally a loose cannon.
My fears seemed to be at least somewhat unfounded, because just before the IRE hit the hull a shimmering bubble appeared around it, and it floated off to the side and went underneath my ship. Moments later I heard the cargo bay doors cycle, and the ship computer told me I was now the proud owner of one IRE. From what I had picked up form the pilots visiting the station, this was essentially a pea shooter. Barely able to harm a space fly, but if Morrigan could recreate it I would at least have some way of defending myself. Though, with a Kestrel the best defense appeared to be flooring it and let the turret deal with whatever was capable of catching up to you. Anyway …
***
The Lonesome Crow was hanging a couple of hundred meters off the nose of the Mercury. Or rather what was left of it, as it was full of pock marks from whatever guns they had used. Guess I had to … ugh … go outside and do my thing.
"I guess you want me to hack this thing, yeah?"
"Correct. Your space suit has a built in hacking tool, and I have made a computer worm that should transfer access. Now all you need to do –"
"I know. Find a panel, hook up the tool and let it do its thing."
"I assume you have some prior experience, then."
"I've done it once or twice, yes." Never while the ship was still in space, though …
"Good. My scanners have discovered an active panel on the ventral side of the hull. I will highlight it on your suit HUD."
Anyway, I got out of my seat and opened the hatch to the airlock. This thing was downright claustrophobic, and I felt I had to step out of it to be able to change my mind. I pushed the "open" button, and a very nice computer voice reminded me to connect my suit to the EVA backpack first. Welp, good thing someone had made this idiot proof I guess.
Second try went somewhat smoother. A couple of robot arms came out of the wall, grabbed me and held me in place while the EVA system got connected. I heard a slight hiss, and the taste of metal briefly tickled the back of my tonuge before I got the green light. I took a couple of deep breaths as the small chamber decompressed, trying to steady myself for what awaited me. My spine felt like a stream of cold sweat, the type you get when you got a really bad flu and a 42°C fever.
The airlock finished cycling, and the hatch swung open. Looking out into open space sent an involuntary shudder through my body, and at that moment I would have sold my soul to not have to go out there. Unfortunately I had already sold my soul …
Every fiber of my being fought against the idea of stepping into empty space, but with what was possibly both my own and Morrigan's survival hinging on me getting my ass out there, I had to. My heart felt like it was tripping over itself inside my ribcage, and the stream had grown to a full blown river. One, two three … Nope. My body refused to cooperate.
C'mon, Anna. You have to! For Kaleb's sake. For Stef … For 'Tasha …
The ghosts reared their head again, threatening to swallow me whole. I told them to kindly sod off, as I had stuff to do.
My hand had let go without me noticing it, and I had slowly drifted halfway out of the airlock. I didn't think my heart could pound any harder, but it was galloping away like a jackhammer on steroids right now. Saliva filled my mouth and my stomach churned, ready to turn itself inside out. My breath turned into rapid, ragged gasps, and the air in my suit turned stale as the systems in my backpack struggled to keep up.
Get a grip, Anna! A tiny voice stirred in the back of my mind. You'll probably get yourself killed if you don't get a grip! And what good will that do, eh?
I took a deep, shivering breath and then slowly let it out. Fast in, slow out. Fast in. Slow out. It allowed me to regain enough control to move out of the airlock. The nice computer voice was back, giving me a basic rundown of how the suit thrusters worked. Guess something, or someone, had figured out I was green as grass and decided to give me some help. It also gave me something to focus on, which served as a nice distraction. Now, let's see …
"Ohshitohshitohshitohshit!" The hull of the Mercury was closing fast, and I was sure I would crash into it. At the last moment I finally managed to push full right thrust, and veered off to the side. Phew.
"Easy now. Easy …" I slowly inched my way toward the panel highlighted on my HUD. The area was heavily damaged, and parts of the panel had been blown off. Guess that saved me the hassle of prying it open, then. Now, how does this thing work …
Activating the hacking tool, I watched as a couple of silver grey tendrils literally grew out of my suit and hooked into the panel. Guess this was less of a hacking deal and more of a 'find the right spot and let the magic happen' deal. I didn't mind, though.
So, that's all she wrote, I guess. The tendrils hooked up to the ship and my HUD reported a lot of data traffic going on. Now, this was something I could work with. Since I had physical access I could launch several attacks to break the ship's firewall, and I knew a little secret – a hidden back door buried deep in the systems that was intended to be used by salvagers. If I could reach it I could launch a side channel attack and break the encryption. It was a fairly crude method, but with the Avalon's compute power behind me I could make it work.
There. Analyzing patterns. Now I just had to bombard the mainframe with access requests, look for a response and … presto! The worm got in, took over the ship and transferred control to me. I checked the cargo hold for juicy stuff we might be able to use, then did the scan thing and sent it to the Avalon so Morrigan could pick it apart. So, this was going to be my life from now, then. Go EVA, find a suitable access point and then watch as my space suit turned into a squid and ten-tickled the ship into submission.
I couldn't help but crack a smile at my own terrible joke, and it honestly helped lighten the mood a bit. Now, I should probably head back to the Avalon and see if this IRE I had picked up could be turned into something useful …
Back at the Avalon curiosity got the better of me, and I watched while Morrigan probed the weapon from one end to the other, and then broke it down to its base components to be stored in the cargo bay.
"So that's it?" I said. "You can now build a million of those?"
"If given access to enough materials, yes."
"Cool!" Watching this whole process take place had me all giddy! Me trying to figure out how things worked was a big part of the reason why I ended up doing hacking jobs for Kaleb, and watching Morrigan slicing this thing apart tickled me in all the right places.
***
"I have detected another abandoned ship," Morrigan said. I was neck deep in the IRE blueprint, and while I only understood a small fraction of what everything in there did, I could learn.
"It is a corvette-class ship," she continued. "My searches have classified it as a 'Heavy Centaur'. It could be suitable to defend the Avalon if needed."
"On my way." I grabbed my suit and headed for the elevator. Hopefully it would take me to where I needed to go.
It did, and I made my way over to the docking clamp where the Lonesome Crow awaited. A quick transporter trip later, and I was heading for the Heavy Centaur at full speed.
"Whoa! Watch where you're going, you frakkin' idiot!" As I approached a pirate had gotten uncomfortably close, and almost caused a collision. Come to think of it, I had probably been a little eager myself. Anyway, I waited for the computer to find a suitable access point and then headed for the airlock.
The hatch opened, and I stared at the dull gray hull hovering a hundred meters over my head. Going EVA still made my heart race like a runaway jackhammer, but it wasn't quite as bad as the first time. With my mind not drowning in blind panic I had some semblance of control, and as a result things went a tiny bit smoother.
"Easy now …" I came to a halt just half a meter from the panel the Crow's scanners had picked out. This one looked like it was in even worse shape than the Mercury, but it was still alive and kicking somehow. Time to work my magic, then.
My magic squid tentacles got me access, I worked my hacker witchcraft, and half a minute later the ship was mine to command. It even came with some juicy loot, and after a quick scan I sent it over to Morrigan for dissection
As I entered the small room behind the cockpit I saw a bunch of pirates buzzing past the cockpit window, and the satellite feed gave me the reason for this frantic activity. A Boron patrol was making its way through the sector, and the pirates were clearly not happy about it. Could lead to some more loot, though. Time to return to the Avalon, me thinks.
Morrigan was busy working on her gizmos, so I found a screen and was able to tap into the sensor feed from the scout drones as they were zipping around the universe. One of them was racing through Brennan's Triumph, which was somewhat of a pirate stronghold from what I'd heard. Lots of ships roaming around, and there were a few factories and a pirate base there as well. The other one was up north, flying through a Teladi sector of some sort. Wonder if …
"I see you have made yourself comfortable." I almost jumped out of my boots. Frakkin' hell, how did she do that?
"Trying to," I said, taking a breath to get my heart rate back down to normal.
"In that case, why not try on your own? I can give you full access to the drone- and satellite sensor data, allowing you to prioritize your targets at your own leisure. If you are able to locate more combat ships and weapons, as well as finding a general purpose freighter, that would be of great help."
For a moment I wondered where this sudden trust came from, but decided to not to look the proverbial gift horse in the mouth.
"All right, I'll do my best."
"Good. You can use this console when you are on board the Avalon, and I will also make sure the data is shared with your Kestrel. I will create an aggregate of all the data to make it easier for you to see what needs to be done. And if you require my assistance in any way, do not hesitate to contact me."
"I'll do that. Speaking of combat ships …" An abandoned Nova Vanguard popped up on the feed from the sector we were in, so I headed for the hangar and prepared to do my magic tricks again.
"Where the hell did they dig up this old bucket of bolts?" I was once again floating in space, hooked up to this Ringo Moon cheese Nova. It was old, with the mainframe probably being older than me. All the better, cause that meant it would be easier to crack. These mid 30s models had an unlisted override that led directly from the access controls to the mainframe, to circumvent an error that could lock a pilot out of their ship. The error was quickly fixed and the override removed, because … Well, the ships with this particular weakness got stolen all the time. Surprised this thing was still out and about.
Anyway, I dropped the worm in, got control of the ship and did my scan thing. One more blueprint for the archives. And off it went to the Avalon to become spare parts.
Getting back to the Lonesome Crow, I found myself sitting in the seat letting my thoughts wander for a bit. We needed more blueprints, I had to find a suitable freighter, and there was this issue about finding a mining ship somewhere.
"Easy now, Anna," I said to myself. "Don't bite over more than you can chew." Right, first things first. The best thing to do was probably to expand the satellite network. Sectors bordering pirates would be the obvious choice, as pirates would often rile each other up, get stoned out of their minds and go on senseless raids. I had also seen them go after pilots who wanted to save time by going through pirate space. That usually ended badly, but could mean more loot for us.
My thinking was interrupted by a message from the Mercury's computer, telling me it had made it to the Avalon. I had set it up to keep me updated, just in case something went south. If nothing else it could warn us, so we could get the hell out if shit hit the fan. It also meant we now had some new blueprints to work with. I thought about it for a moment, then called up Morrigan and had her start production of four IREs for me. It was mostly for show, but if nothing else it could keep my tail clear of missiles in case someone decided to get triggerhappy.
Back on the Avalon I came just in time to watch the last IRE get prepared. It was quite fascinating watching the nanite weavers 'grow' the thing seemingly out of thin air, and I couldn't help but grin.
As the IREs were carted off to be mounted on the Crow, another load arrived. My guess was that the Nova had made it back to the Avalon, and was now in the process of being stripped and disassembled. The machines around me came to life, disassembling the weapons and missiles that had been brought in, scanning them left to right and front to back, before nanite fog broke them down to their base components and sent them to storage. It was like a sort of intricate dance, and I couldn't wait to see what we had picked up.
Let's see. A bunch of missiles, a particle accelerator cannon, more PRGs, explorer software and a best selling price extension module. Morrigan probably wanted to take a look at the modules, and while I wanted to find out what a 'shaped plasma discharge warhead' was all about I had work to do.
The Heavy Centaur docked as I was preparing to leave, and another load of loot arrived. Sweet, we now had two hundred megajoule shields, some more missiles, a handful of … uhm, energy bolt chainguns and a phased array laser cannon. Sounded fancy.
I picked up the distinct smell of fish when the scanners and disassemblers were done with the laser cannon. Guess it needed a different mixture of that metal-whattafrakever stuff for its construction. First weaponized cows, and now weaponized fish? Funny. What would be the next, weaponized nostrop? Or space fuel?
Time to expand. The Lonesome Crow was hovering high above the ecliptic in Atreus' Clouds, and the next satellite was ready to drop. Sensors came online and revealed a whole lot of nothing interesting, but that didn't mean it was a waste. Time would tell and all that. In the meantime I planned to keep expanding by heading to Elena's Fortune. Being squeezed between two pirate sectors, it might get some nice traffic.
Nothing. The trip down to Elena's Fortune was spectacularly uneventful, and the satellite sensors revealed a whole lot of jack all. Argon patrols were all over the place though, which may or may not explain the lack of exciting stuff. Besides, I doubted I was the only salvager out here. Might just have been unlucky.
Drifting through space under minimal thrust, I checked the data from my scouting drones. Number one was currently mapping Hatikvah's Faith, and an absolutely massive pirate fleet was moving through as the scout zipped past them. I also spotted an abandoned Harrier, but getting there would most likely take too long. Too bad.
I followed the drone for a while, and watched it move into a sector called Aladna Hill. Like all border systems it was heavily fortified, and the drone picked up a battle group to match the pirate fleet down by the southern gate.
Swallowing heavily, it started to dawn on me that we were a tiny, tiny fish in a very big pond. My hands suddenly felt clammy inside my gloves, and it was like I had challenged a bully, only to have eight of his friends join the party. My mind reeled, and I imagined one of those fleets showing up at our doorstep if I screwed up. Even if we somehow managed to produce a bunch of those Heavy Centaurs, arm them and get them operational we would be frakkin' pulverized! Stars …
The air in my helmet was turning stale again …
I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am
DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed
DiDs:
Eye of the storm Completed
Eye of the storm - book 2 Inactive
Black Sun - Completed
Endgame - Completed