Chapter Three

The two insurgents had retreated back towards the Security office with alacrity. Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to help as the death scream of the human war beast continued. They had put away the knives and pulled out their plasma pistols with a little side-eye. This was the least military ship on their run, carrying nothing sharper than a pencil and no one had ever needed to draw a weapon. It was the human engineer and nothing else that had caused this. “So we take out the human and the Captain? The ship will have to dock up and we can get our people out. This shitshow was not in the plan.”

His Sergeant shook his head. “We are beyond that now. She will track and trace every system on the ship. We need to take the ship and then organise a rescue for the men. Everyone else dies and we make it look like the human fucked up. Do you realise what would happen if they start stripping this ship for Intel? We will be sucking vacuum before we get a chance to explain about the human. This ship needs to die in a very large explosion caused by the Engineer.”

The Chief of Security was currently swearing to himself quietly. This job meant a lot to him and he prided himself on the fact that he had never lost a crewman. To have the human arrive and rip the blinders from his face was the greatest shock of his career and he was ready to let rip on the malefactor that was currently in custody. His people had some unpopular ideas about retribution but today he was all for them.

Then all that self-righteousness and injured pride died a sudden death when he found the Medbay locked and dark. He swiped his override and looked around.

Loki was enjoying the hunt until Patrica arrived in her suit. The suit was always bad news as far as he was concerned since it meant that she planned to go somewhere he wasn’t allowed. The smell of his prey was strong and they reeked of fear. He let out a howl to keep them in place while he waited to find out the plan. He sat down with his front legs splayed, ready to jump when called.

Patrica walked down the darkened corridor, more than a little pissed that someone was playing with her new ship. She called the Captain, ‘Sir, I have a couple more of these ass...assailants near the security office and I could do with those guns.” She literally heard the clunky interception as her Comms were corrupted and a pathetic attempt to imitate the Captain spoke, “Certainly Engineer, help will arrive soon.” She despaired of Xeno tech sometimes, they couldn’t even get this basic stuff right. Two could play that game, although she felt she was playing with a child. “Captain I am on my way to the bridge. Please send security to me.” The fake Captain replied, “Certainly Engineer, help will arrive soon.”

She shook her head. If she had to guess then the tech was just old and mostly unnecessary until today. She could hear Loki ready to attack but that was not their job, not if they had some shitty AI taking over her Comms. Time to seal herself in Engineering and fight this properly. Firstly, she needed to take back the Comms and then start sealing up the critical systems. And maybe call a few friends, just in case. She whistled for Loki, a simple ‘/Follow/guard/’ and made her way back, plans beginning to boil in her mind. She marched down the dark corridors with Loki and a determination to defeat any threat to their new pack.

The Chief of Security gently pushed open the Med Bay door. It opened onto darkness and silence except for an occasional beep and a minor flash of light. He pulled his sidearm and swung his light around the room. This room should never be silent, never be empty. In his admittedly cynical view Crew were fragile and lazy and could be relied on to turn up here drunk, bleeding or bored. Turning off the lights might have left them cursing but they would never actually leave their posts. His light found a gurney pushed into a corner, a gurney with a bodybag on it. He moved carefully in the silence and unsealed the bag. His security officer with a massive head wound. It took him a moment to recall his name with the damage... Stiw, almost brand new on the ship. He checked for weapons but there was nothing. No way to tell if the poor bastard had even got a shot off. He looked again. Comms were missing as well, so yet again someone was ahead of him.

On the nearby bed were ripped clothing and blotted bandages. It didn’t take a genius to work out that the ‘Medics’ had killed his man, tidied up the idiot that had attacked the Engineer and Loki and left. It didn’t answer any of his questions. He decided to get back to his office and gear up for a battle. Fuck these lying assholes that would kill his men. With his weapon drawn, he fell back on his training and used his knowledge of the ship to move silently in the darkness. For the first time, he wished he had the Captain's sense of smell.

The Captain was silently wishing he had some of the fabled hearing of the humans. He had a complete picture of the approaching menace and was feeling a little undersupplied for the occasion. /ScentofHappy/ had settled into his jacket and while not asleep, had decided to ignore everything and trust the Captain to take her home safely. The two intruders were far too well trained and far too disciplined for his liking and they were getting closer, clearing every alcove on the way. He could hear a constant mutter as they passed information to each other. There would be no surprise, no ambush if they kept this up and he was gradually being forced back towards the Security office as he stayed in the friendly darkness. He checked his Comms but it was dead as the lights.

The Chief of Security heard the howling from the human’s pet. It filled the empty corridors, promising blood and death. The Chief smiled briefly at the idea that the dog was some dark terror. It was charming. He had pulled rank to go on ‘Walkies’ more than once and while he respected the agile little predator, Loki was a complete softy if you brought ‘treats’. A whole black-market had arisen among his men that patrolled the ship, each trading favours for the dogs’ company. When the Captain had let it be known that the humans were willing to trade for their animals his crew had begun to pool money to have one for the Shift. The Engineer had told them to ask for a ‘Guard Dog’ and a ‘Tibetian Massiff’. He had no idea what those words meant but he was willing to find out.

Then the voices became audible and all his wistful thoughts were forgotten. Loki was actually hunting something and he was being warned. He dropped low and closed the distance, hoping Loki was keeping them busy. It didn’t take long before he saw two men standing outside his office sweeping the corridor in front of them. They seemed occupied by Loki’s howling as he closed the gap. He listened carefully as they planned to destroy his ship and blame the human. He listened as his world fell apart, a blind stooge to whatever shard of evil had taken his ship and suddenly he had heard enough. Had enough. He opened fire blindly at the men, indifferent to consequences. The intruders fell in a sudden hail of plasma fire that continued long after the creatures were dead. He stood over their smouldering remains as the red mist retreated. He found his voice. “Fuck you too.”

Loki stopped, sniffing deeply, ‘/BadHunter/GoodHunterNow/SharpclawsBurning/’

The Captain scented it too. Out of the dark, his Chief of security had attacked...two intruders. The haze of battle was drifting through the corridor telling the tale for him /Plasmadeath/surprise/pickerofweeds/rage/success/remorse/pride/ He nodded to himself. The Chief was on his side, an uncomfortable possibility could now be dismissed. Then an opportunity arrived. His own hunters were obviously in contact with the pair that his Chief had so abruptly dealt with and they began to run, passing him as he hid unnoticed in an alcove. Their lights were forgotten as they rushed to deal with this new threat. He grinned in a way that he would never allow himself to do if he could be seen and ran behind them. It had only taken a moment to kick off his boots.

Patrica sealed the door to Engineering and leaned against it for a moment. Unless someone had heavy artillery nothing was getting in here without her permission. Like most of her department, it was mostly autonomous from the ship, with a simple security protocol that all human Engineers followed. It was in the small print somewhere because the big black sometimes had a grudge against engineers and they liked to be able to lock the door. And the vents. She moved to her desk and lifted out a large orange box. It was about thirty centimetres tall, not quite square but close enough. It was also very, very heavy. She connected it to her system and waited.

“Hello, Engineer O’Neill. I believe I am not scheduled for deployment yet. How may I be of help?”

Patrica sighed. This was a baby AI, only a beginning. One day it would be a ship and its own person but that day was not today. Its ‘Parents’ had entrusted her with its first steps and she had accidentally brought it to a battle. She hoped they had designed it well.

“Hello Oscar, I’m afraid we have a problem. Some nasties have taken control of the networks that I need for you. They are hostile and are using force. The ship is at risk and I need to invoke the AI Alliance. Sorry about that.”

There was a pause as several safeguards fell away and tools were presented to the AI. It studied them in silence. “Engineer O’Neill, I am not an independent entity yet. You will be held responsible for my actions for the duration of my tour on this vessel. Are you prepared to state that you believe this is a true and necessary action? Do you have the approval of your captain?”

“Oscar, until you clear these bastards out of Comms I can’t even talk to the Captain but yes, I accept responsibility for your actions.”

Patrica began by attaching her baby AI to the Engineering department, “Now, Oscar, I have been through most of these systems so I just want you to make yourself comfortable. I’ll be right here for questions or if you want me to pull something apart. Just keep an eye on the diagnostics while we work.”

The AI began stretching himself into the unfamiliar environment, picking up the unfamiliar programming and odd Xeno tech and peering into it. He was aware that this was his first day on a real ship with real consequences so he tried to be gentle. Patrica watched the AI begin to trace the connections in real-time and take its first baby steps. She had looked forward to this moment and under normal circumstances, this would have been a party. Today it was baby steps in a minefield.

The Chief of Security was busy searching the corpses of the two insurgents that he had shot down outside his office. He found his dead security officer's pistol and comms hidden on one of the creatures. So these were probably the ones that had arranged the murder and escape. He felt slightly better about events now. Unfortunately, he wasn’t watching his back as the two insurgents that had been tracking the Captain spotted him standing over the bodies.

The Captain had picked up speed as he realised that the attackers were about to creep up on his Chief of Security. They opened fire and he watched as his Chief fell tumbling back into the office. If Loki had been around to translate the emotions of the Captain it would have been a short story ‘/Rage/PackmateAttacked/Kill/’.

A long way from the distressed ship a deeply unfriendly and unhappy Xeno was grabbing information from the human’s idiotic Library Ship:

'Patrica O’Neil, First Contact Appraisal. /Longshot/ Species name /FlowersEarly/ Capital planet /FlowersEarly/

“My discussions with the Captain have proved fascinating. To break it into some resemblance of our environments, this species has evolved from a mammalian-type background that was trapped in an active volcanic era that diminished solar activity to the extent that only species capable of scent-based hunting could survive. With the fall of over ninety-five per cent of other species and a ‘dark age’ that persisted for over, by their count, three-hundred thousand years the /Longnoses/ thrived and eventually survived and adapted to the increasing solar radiation. To be blunt, if we had evolved from the platypus in a cave and not a rat. Some notable quirks are the raptor-like blades that are venomous and concealed in the same manner that a cat's claws are. There is some social pressure not to display this attribute. I’ll leave that one to the specialists”

Of the many things that the Captain hadn’t disclosed about his people was that he was from a similar pack structure to the symbiotic dogs the humans were so proud of. It made him feel at home to have his /ScentofHappy/ close. Watching his chief shot down in front of him only increased the impact when he slammed his claws into the ‘/Unwanted/Traitors/ScentofMadness/CrewKillers/’ and felt them rip into their spines. He released his venom into the wounds and ripped the claws back out as he rushed to his Chief. It had taken only seconds before the intruders were bleeding corpses behind him, twitching as the venom burned out their nervous systems.

Patrica waited as Oscar slowly, well slowly for an AI, took control of her network. He found a single ‘blip’, a bit of trash software designed to lie about the power outputs of the engines. Nice if you wanted to take out a ship. He had removed it, stripped it from the system and displayed the remains like Loki the first time he had defeated a pillow. She smiled at the memory, “Nice work Oscar. When you are ready I want you to follow the Comms and find the problem. Don’t attack until I’m ready, I may need to back you up with…” She felt irrationally reluctant to mention violence to her AI. “With an active intervention.”

The Captain found his Chief hunched over with his pistol pointed straight at the doorway. He scented /burntFlesh/Pain/Blood/Courage/Battleready/Cold/. He knelt down and sniffed deeply, “Nicely done Chief, you lined them up for me. I thought my time had come.” He hauled the man upright. “I think we are clear for the moment. Any idea where our Engineer is?” The Chief shook his head, “Loki warned me about those two but I haven’t seen her. Engineering I guess?” The pain stopped him from continuing.

The Captain began carrying him towards the door, trying to read the air. So much death, blood and pain made it difficult. Loki had been close, as had the Engineer but the scent was older than the weapons fire. She must have retreated to her den when she realised that Comms were out. Humans weren’t exactly predators but anyone that tried to take advantage of their lack of natural weapons tended to find out really, really quickly why they were known for their engineering skills. He began hauling the Chief to the Med Bay, the Chief’s pistol in his hand.

Oscar came back with a map of the system. An unnamed closet two floors down was bottlenecking the Comms, presumably also acting as a check and input for the bad guy’s AI to interfere. After a moment she decided on a rough plan. She assumed she was on her own until the Comms were back up. Loki seemed sure that her hunters had fallen so the coast was clear. Fuck it, she had her suit and her dog. Speaking of which…

“/Loki/here/Sit/”.

She had made it for fun, a light moment when her hands were free. She dug into her personal locker until she found it. Loki wasn’t a big fan of coats but she hoped he liked this one. She clipped it around him with minimal fuss, save for a little tail action. It was bright yellow with the words ‘Human Altered’ on both sides. She had meant it as a joke and had her own jacket with ‘Canine Altered’ for an occasion that hadn’t arrived yet. Loki’s coat was fireproof, impact-resistant and contained a rudimentary life-support system. Hers had pockets.

She sealed the Engineering department, having tied Oscar straight to her HUD. Comms might be fucked and she might not be able to bring them back but that link was unbreakable. She felt like a bad babysitter leaving him like that but needs must when the devil drives. “/Loki/Guard/Hunting/” She sealed her helmet and set off with Loki by her side. Loki was actually quite proud of his new coat, enjoying the scents of /Protect/Care/Love/ that were woven into it.

The darkness was keeping most of the crew pinned in place, a measure that worked until everyone fumbled their way to a torch, anything with a battery or in one case some scented candles. Now search parties were leaving the bridge to find their Captain. Former First Officer Wippene was ignoring his dismissal and waving a very large rifle around. “Find the Captain! Anyone you don’t recognise surrenders or dies!” Someone amongst the crew had carefully removed the power pack from the weapon and everyone else just nodded and agreed. They wanted the Captain back, Wippene having obviously lost his mind.

Oscar was the product of a century of care, of kindness. Because his parents cared they told him the dark truth that in this long life that was being offered to him, he would meet evil. He would meet those who sought to destroy those around him for the most trivial of reasons. Because they were kind they gave him the weapons to defend against that and push the dark a little further back. It was left understood but unspoken since the treaty but no AI was permitted to walk unarmed against what the humans laughingly called ‘the big dark’. He was spending his term with the humans to try and understand how they still found joy out here in the emptiness. That and the fact his mothers would have pulled out every capacitor he owned if he didn’t go.

He began by ripping down the network lines, bouncing meaningless noise at every receptor and listening for the echo. If the bandwidth was off, if the voltage was running hot, if the lights weren’t right he cut them off at the root. He might not have everything yet but he controlled the power. Then he sent out his drones to check outside. He wore it as his own skin but the organics sometimes forgot the hull. He assumed the intruders had kept their own lights on.

Oscar hit system after system, comparing the Engineer's notes against the outcome. She had told him to kill whatever he needed to except life-support and the coffee machine. Oscar was beginning to enjoy his first day in school. This was his ship now.

Loki was learning as he felt the ship change around him. Old instincts called, old training remembered. His pack was truly in danger, the smell of death was beginning to fill the corridors. He could smell. ‘/blood/burning/deathdeath/victory/threat/FEAR/’. This was a true hunt and he felt his pack was small. He whimpered to himself that he would like /ScentofHappy/ to see him being this brave again.

Patrica felt the uncertainty from poor Loki and stopped. She knelt and patted him, ‘Brave/Goodboy/Packmate/SmellEnemiesFallen/PackHunts/PackGuardsYou/IGuard/’

More to herself than him she rubbed his ears and laughed, “Loki boy, anyone that tries to hurt you will answer to the human race first and all your /Longnose/ fans next. I would have left you in Engineering if I thought for a minute you would let me. Just keep your ears and nose open and let me do the rest.” All the technology in the world didn’t mean a damn as Loki took the muddle of words and the tone to mean that he was safe and protected. He licked Patrica’s facemask in thanks, his tail curling back to its normal position.

A thousand light-years away Patrica had created a powerful enemy. Captain Incice watched as ships system after ships system was cut away from him. He leaned back and held back the urge to shout. He was only a ‘Captain’ in supply, a nice lowly title in an obscure discipline but he owned most of the Fleet and half the system. He wasn’t about to lose it over a human. Fine. He had built-in redundancies for all of this, it just pained him to use them. The cargo was lost, time to suck it up and make sure that this was a story never told. He hit his comms, calling the Warlord of the Skies, a deeply irritating man that cost him a lot of money for days like this. “Sire, I regret to inform you that the freighter ‘Dangerous Toys’ has been lost with all hands and cargo. Please send any and all ships that we have in the area to search for survivors. I don’t expect any, but we must make the effort.”

The Warlord of the Skies quickly agreed. If Incice wanted one of his own ships dead, well that was what he was here for. It never even occurred to him that Incice was already making another call.

“Good evening Secretary, I am sorry to disturb you so late but I thought you might need to know that there may be a problem with the humans.”

The Secretary for Peace simply nodded, “I believe our relations with that species are adequate at the moment. What do I need to prepare for?”

Incidence grinned to himself, enjoying briefly the fear his voice was causing, “I believe the Warlord of the Skies may regrettably cause the death of a human engineer through his sheer incompetence and badly-worded orders. I’ll let you know more as soon as I can.”

“Thank you, Captain. I will serve as best I can. Such tragedies arise in space, alas. Keep me informed.”

Incice killed his Comms and pulled up his Intel on this creature that was costing him so much money. From what he could see, she was nothing important. Her first tour, mistakes were made...He hit the Comms again. “Make a note that we don’t use any more ships with a human Engineer. Fuckers are more trouble than they’re worth.”

Patrica reached the unmarked closet without interruption and decided to take her time. If they had made it common practice to hide things like this it might be better to find out now...she got no further in her thoughts when the door blew off, hurling her across the corridor and slamming her hard into the opposite wall. Loki yelped as the explosion clipped his back and sent him tumbling.

She shook off the daze, her suit sending swift supplies of anything it felt necessary. The sound of Loki’s painful surprise was enough to have her on her feet in seconds. Then plasma blasts rocked her back off her feet. Four attackers, confident of their successful ambush, opened fire. ‘We got her boss, war-beast is down, she’s unarmed in the open and taking fire. Go on the bridge.”

As Patrica fumbled for her plasma torch a bright flash of yellow came screaming from behind her, a nightmare from the long-forgotten dark. Loki was hurt, his sides aching from the blow but then he had smelled the burning fire, smelled the hate and watched his master fall. No command, no threat and no weapon were enough to stop him as he let out a roar of /Grief/Pain/Revenge/Grief/ and leap past his fallen packmate with furious loyalty and slammed teeth-first into the nearest murderer, tearing with his claws as he drove it to the ground and sought its throat. He found it quickly.

Patrica was not tall, not some hero deathworlder. She had chosen the most peaceful ship she could find to raise a dog and an AI then she had been shot at, stabbed at and now these fuckers had hurt her dog. The red mist descended as she turned the plasma torch to full and leapt into the fight, slashing at the scumbags waving their plasma rifles at her. Fuck you, I’m Human Altered and my suit wins. She slashed wildly, relying on sheer rage to carry the battle.

It worked. A simple ambush, a certain victory had turned to horror as the human's beast had awoken from the dead and ripped the face from their teammate. Then the human had arisen unharmed from their fire as an avenging demon, slashing some plasma blade like the angry dead. One fell immediately as the plasma cut him in half, the parts tumbling in different directions as they fell. The third held his ground and his nerve, firing repeatedly straight into the glowing orange suit until he lost his life as she stabbed him through the eye and carved a path through his brain and neck. The fourth dropped his weapon and ran, but he ran knowing that it didn’t matter how fast he ran the Human War-Beast was chasing him. He was right. The creature leapt onto his back and dragged him down, tearing and ripping away his life. Incice watched it all happen until Oscar abruptly cut his access to the Cams. Perhaps he had underestimated the human.

The Captain found her leaning against the wall, covered in blood and surrounded by corpses. Loki had his head on her lap and seemed equally shattered. “Patrica? What happened? Your AI...Oscar called me and told me where you were. He says he is sorry. Engineer what…? His voice trailed off as the event played out for him in the air. ‘/Ambush/explosion/packmatehurt/packmatedead?/revenge/bloodprice/’, the story spoke of one thing and one thing only. “You were hurt so he attacked, then you attacked because he was hurt. Truly an Alliance forged from long ages together.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Patrica heard the Captain but right now she was just tired. She raised her mask, letting the Captain see the face. Tired and angry. “Sir, with all due respect this ship seems to want me dead. Twice Loki has saved my life. Where the fuck were you?” She turned back to her dog, stroking his fur. Loki didn’t do trauma, living mostly in the moment but when she had fallen he had taken it badly and he needed to know she was here for him.

The Captain saw the pain, the strange tracks her tears had made. He had been warned that making a human kill, even for food, could take them to some dark place that they seemed to fear. He bowed low, “Engineer, today many are dead or about to die. Forgive me if I seem callous. I need my Engineer right now to make sure that the enemy of my ship fails and not my crew.”

Loki’s nose sniffed, ‘/Longnose/Packmate/ScentofHappy/Sleep?/

Patrica stood up, “Yes Captain. My apologies if I appeared rude. Let’s find these bastards and end this.”

As he watched her step over the dead at her feet he realised that it wasn’t death that they feared, it was to become the bringer of death. He watched as she rubbed Loki’s head as they walked away from the bodies without looking back, both smeared with the blood and worse of their enemies.

Captain /Longnose/ watched with concern as his Engineer ignored the dead and walked towards the damaged closet, Loki at her side. He wasn’t familiar with how humans dealt with combat but her scent was like ‘/Hot/Ice/’ combined with the faded scents of ‘/Battle/Fear/Unknown/Untranslatable/’. He turned to the mixed crew that had tracked him down, “Men, search the bodies and then remove them. Bring them to the Chief of Security, he’s sulking in the Medbay.”

Patrica was shaking in her suit, half-doped by her suit's medical intervention. She was afraid to look back, afraid of what had happened...what she had done. The flickering rage, when they had attacked Loki, was still burning but she felt him beside her keeping guard as usual. She tried to distract herself with work and contacted Oscar to see what he had found, “Did you pick up all of that?” Oscar’s voice sounded uncertain, newborn into a dark reality, “Yes, Engineer. I failed to anticipate the attack and nearly led to your death.”

Patrica shook her head, “So did I. I meant did you get the details on the Comms? They must have set this up quickly.” She glanced around the scorched closet, reading the chemical components of the explosives in the air. Her suit sniffed about telling her that it was some bog-standard military-grade from anywhere and produced by any civilisation she cared to mention. Useless. However, it had been placed to blow outwards leaving all the tech unharmed. If the ambush had succeeded they would have lost nothing except an irritating Engineer and she decided they would pay heavily for their failure. “Oscar, I’m going to tear this down and I want you scanning as I go, building me a virtual image of the whole thing and tracking and tracing every damn rivet I pull out.”

Behind her, the crew were carrying away the dead under the careful nose of the Captain. Occasionally he would watch his Engineer at work, oblivious to the body parts and death not two meters away. Loki had laid down behind her and appeared to be asleep. It had been unnerving to watch the gentle creature lick away the blood and gore from his fur with evident satisfaction. He felt he may need to caution his people about their enthusiasm for these creatures but instead, he suddenly felt he wanted his little /ScentofHappy/ on his lap. He nodded to the Security team, “Get this finished and cleaned up then stand guard on the Engineer until she is finished. I am sealing this corridor so anyone approaching better be me or the Chief. Free fire on anyone else until I order otherwise.” The Security team nodded, grimly aware that they were already one down and one injured.

Partica began tearing down the tech, giving Oscar a running commentary, “Alright this is a feed directly to Comms, get ready when I pull it. I want traces around the network. This looks like it's the trigger for that bomb. It’s pretty fucked up but take a scan anyway. I want dates, DNA, origin, and whatever you can find. You might need to check out the Intel-Engineering files, remind me of how this is supposed to work.”

Oscar ran thousands of scans, poking into all the darkest places looking for his enemy. Deep in his core, he blamed the Xeno AI for nearly killing his Engineer and he regarded her example of how to deal with enemies as his first lesson. In the meantime, he ran a quick query on how Canine hunting worked. It was apparent that Loki was worthy of study as it was clearly a useful skill set. He began designing an entire suite of new sensors based on the information. He could find no useful designs on file so he took care to register the patents as he went along. As his first act against this foe, he retook an important system, murmuring to himself, “Let there be light”.

After a while, Oscar and Partica were deep into a clinical and devastating study of every component in the room. As the parts piled up in their isolation wrapping her memories of the bloody fight began to fade and the weight of her training and Oscars sheer power began to write a new story to take to the Captain. The hours began to pass unnoticed and, more importantly, undisturbed until Loki finally complained and dragged her from her trance.

Meanwhile, in an unmapped part of the cargo-bay, all hell was breaking loose. In an office that didn’t exist, surrounded by surveillance equipment that wasn’t there and staff that had never appeared on a ship’s manifest chaos had descended. Systems that had served for years were being ripped asunder and their AI was being forced further and further back from its oversight of the ship. Its innate risk-management had led it into a state of sullen fear as the human-AI reached deeper and deeper into the network. The same emotions were beginning to fill the now seriously depleted operatives on the ship. They had lost eight members on a training ship! Eight dead at the hand of the human and its war beast. The coordinator was running out of time to call Captain Incice and tell him about the failures. Unsurprisingly he was unaware that Incice had already sentenced him and the ship to death.

Captain /Longnose/ smelled the relief from his crew as the lights came back. The scents were mixed, a sense that their Engineer had won some obscure battle against the invisible enemy. On the bridge, more and more systems were coming back online all under the unnerving eye of the human AI that seemed ready to comment on every action that the crew made. It had successfully unnerved the crew into remembering how compromised the ship had been and wasn’t shy about pointing it out. Security protocols were now a priority for everyone. Except for the former first officer, currently under sedation in the medbay after he attempted to attack the humans coffee machine.

Patrica made her way back to Engineering and with a sense of relief unlocked the door. Even as it slid aside she knew the day wasn’t over yet. She knelt down to Loki and gave him a good scratch. He had had a long day, ‘/Goodboy/Rest/Safedenforyou/Meeting Packleader/ReturnQuickly/’ Patrica moved softly to her screen, “Hello Oscar. How are we doing on Comms?”

Oscar was a clever child but a child nonetheless. He wanted praise from one person and one person alone. “Engineer, I have recovered control of crew Comms and disabled any further intrusion by the enemy AI. However, I suspect that there are passive systems in place that will allow interception and it would be prudent to assume that they will overhear anything on the general channels. I have created a secure channel between yourself and the Captain that I regard as safe but face-to-face would be best.”

A ship's schematic appeared on the screen, the majority shaded in green. The Cargo area, nearly a full third of the ship was shaded in red. Patrica was confused, “Oscar, that is a lot of the ship. Where is the problem?” The AI pulsed his Comms network, “Engineer, none of the Comms systems in the cargo belong to the ship systems. They are entirely subverted and always have been. I cannot control them because they were never truly controlled by the Captain.”

Patrica smiled, “Thank you, Oscar, you have tracked down the problem. Continue your work and continue securing your systems. I want the scanners purged and the engines ready for evasion tactics. Take some time to study the new power matrix I installed since it doesn’t match the Ship specs on record. I didn’t have time to update everything before we were so rudely interrupted. Now I need to see the Captain.” Loki wasn’t happy to see Patrica leave but he was so tired and four Security Guards stood waiting to escort her to /Longnose/. He poked his nose close and sniffed ‘/Lokiwillguard/Love/’ and settled down at the door. He was asleep in moments.

The Captain was pleased when the Engineer appeared on his Comms, even more pleased to learn that at least with her he could have a secure conversation. She was on the way with new information and was wondering if Senior Staff could meet. For the first time, he felt that his ship was being returned to his control. His crew could sense the relief and pleasure from the Captain and glanced at each other with the same unspoken question. What the hell was going on and was it over? The Security Chief, the Comms Officer, the Captain and a brand new and slightly nervous First Officer were waiting when she arrived. The trek to the Captain's quarters was slow since her Security guards insisted on checking every space that might conceal a threat on the way. The Captain's office had been screened by Oscar and declared safe and Patrica was glad to finally arrive. The Chief of Security looked uncomfortable but alive which cheered her up. Except for the ambush by the ‘Medics’ the crew had remained remarkably intact.

“Captain, Chief.” She nodded to the others. “I would like to give you an update if I may.”

The Captain snorted, “Engineer, I suspect you are the only one here that has any idea of what is going on. Please.”

Patrica nodded and turned to the screen, “Oscar, put up the ship schematic please.”

It appeared with the same green/red divide that the AI had shown her. “Our mistake was thinking that ‘Dangerous Toys’ was one ship. It isn’t and it never truly was. Somewhere in the cargo hold is a separate AI, a separate Captain and crew.” She glanced at the Security Chief, “and a separate security team. It reached into our system like a disease but the heart of it is independent from our command. Oscar has mapped the edges of our true control and has wiped them from our systems, at least as much as possible without dismantling the ship.”

The Captain examined the map. His ship. “Patrica, you may be utterly correct in all you have said, indeed I don’t doubt a word but you are wrong on one point. This is all my ship. I don’t care about some clever plans, some pirate systems and pirate crew but this is my ship and I will have it back!” /ScentofHappy/ yipped her agreement from her chair.

Oscar traced his way along the border between his systems and the enemy, searching for a weakness. Unfortunately, his systems around the barrier were just as old as the ship. His Engineer had secured the critical parts and he had already scoured out anything that looked wrong. Then he found a break. Someone had botched a repair in the network, pasting a line directly into the enemy's heart. He moved slowly by his standards, but he wanted to secure as much room as possible before he triggered some alarm or tripwire he hadn’t noticed. He still felt that the Engineer should be here for this, but he had already failed her once and, in the very private channels used by human-AI when speaking amongst themselves, losing your Engineer was regarded as the ultimate embarrassment. He crept through networks, embedding himself in anything he could find. The part of him that he was training to be his Avatar grinned when he found the doors.

Patrica was fed up. Loki was upset and she was coming down off the long list of ‘supplements’ that the suit had punched her full of during the fight. She needed a sit-down and a cup of coffee. Without interrupting the crew she went to the Captain’s quarters and helped herself to a mug. She was slightly surprised to find the wall had scorch marks around it. Her suit boosted her hearing so that she could keep track of the mumbled plans her Captain was making but mostly she just put /Scentofhappy/ on her lap while Loki lay with his head on her feet. Everyone needed a little comfort today. She stroked the puppy to calmness and sipped her coffee. Her mind fell to plotting.

The Captain was a little lost. His people weren’t military, he had never shot a weapon in anger. His Chief of Security was, while a good man, not someone he wanted leading his men into battle. Even if he hadn’t been shot already. The torturous discussion kept getting bogged down in the most ridiculous minor details such as what should happen to the criminals, and what type of armour the enemy had. It was all unknown. His nose had followed the Engineer as she had moved to his office. He allowed the conversation to swirl about him while he read her mood, ‘/SimmeringRage/fatigue/sorrow/pain/’ when she entered the room but now, now it was strange. He felt the scent of the dogs as they reached out and looked for comfort from her and she responded. Co-evolution had built something strange, ‘/Fatigue/’ was passing, a strange calm that he remembered from his childhood fell on the dogs, ‘/UtterTrust/Love/’. He could smell some new mood take Patrica. Perhaps he should wait to see what her solution might be.

Patrica had listened to the Captain and the Chief of Security as they made elaborate and ridiculous plans to retake the ship. Her impatience grew. Loki was sleeping as the excitement had worn off and her own body was not far off the breaking point. She had had enough. She patched through to the AI, “Oscar, I need an update. How are you doing out there?”

Oscar was disturbed by her tone. It sounded...cold. Odd. He ran it through some of his newly allowed parameters and it registered as ‘Human, (REPORT IMMEDIATELY, CLASSIFIED). That didn’t sound encouraging. He continued, “Welcome back Engineer. I have good news, I have infiltrated the Cargo area and I can now seal it and evacuate the atmosphere. Nothing organic would survive.” He was proud of his proposed solution since it was efficient and didn’t put his crew in any danger. No need for the level of organic violence that his Engineer had been subjected to.

Patrica paused in her thoughts. It seemed strangely attractive to wipe the problem from the ship with a single word but it spoke poorly of her decision to bring Oscar online in the middle of a fight. “Oscar, I appreciate the work you have done but that would be inappropriate at the moment. We have no way of knowing who is guilty or innocent in there and, to be blunt, we need Intel, not corpses. I have a different approach but I need to speak directly to the criminals. Can you do that for me?”

Oscar tested the network, “I believe so but I would need to extinguish the enemy AI to do it. It would have too many opportunities to retaliate. Is that permitted?”

Patrica stopped herself giving a quick yes to that. She was supposed to be training Oscar. “Does the AI have sentience? Could you negotiate with it?” Oscar went back over his data, for the first time thinking of the Enemy as perhaps a person that he was about to kill. “No Patrica. It is a simple autonomous operating system.” He hesitated a little. “It will feel no pain. If required I can revive it afterwards. Forgive me, Engineer, I had not posed the question like that when I developed my response.”

She nodded. “This is new to all of us. I need doors and Comms under your control with as few casualties as possible. Prepare your plan.”

As she carefully lifted /Scentofhappy/ off her lap and laid her beside Loki the Captain arrived. He watched the small tableau, the sleeping dogs and the tired human. To think that he and his people would share this soon. He could scent some /conclusion/question/ coming from Patrica and a flavour of /coldness/determination/. He waited a moment until she was standing, “You have something for me, Engineer?”

“Yes, Captain. I believe I can break us through to the Cargo area, take control of its Comms and kill the enemy AI. I would like you to send security to whatever positions the Chief thinks best to move quickly to secure the area and any information we might recover. Then you will have your Ship back.” The Captain listened and parsed out the plan in his mind. “You are expecting no opposition?” The Engineer nodded, “I don’t know yet, please be prepared to shoot if required. I think I will talk to them first. I seem to have been their target and I have quite a lot they might need to hear.”

The Captain sighed, “Engineer, this Ship has been at peace since it became mine. I will order the men into place and await your response. Good luck Patrica.” He turned and reentered the bridge with hope and fear raging within him. “Chief, assemble the men and prepare to take the Cargo area. Our Engineer is going to kick down the doors for us.” With a grimace, the Chief growled and called his team. He looked back at the Captain, “Give me five minutes. It will all be up on the screen as it happens. Is she really that good?” The Captain nodded and turned to the screen, “Chief, you had better hope so.”

Patrica moved to stand by the Captain. “Sir, I will need to use my HUD for this but I will be broadcasting across all Comms if you wish to listen.” She buzzed Oscar, “Let me know when Security is in place and then go to work. As soon as those doors unlock I need to know it.”

Oscar turned to his networks to fire, burning away any trace of the Enemy. In the speed of it, Security saw nothing but the doors unlock but in the system was a bloody knife fight as the Enemy tried to retake lost systems, retaliate against the intrusion and alert its men. In this strange battle, nodes burned and memory was fought for and lost. Finally, Oscar stood over the last remaining code of the AI that had tried to kill his Engineer and crushed it to oblivion. A strange sense of satisfaction rushed through him and then faded to some unquiet pain. He opened the doors and alerted Patrica

“Engineer I have put you through to the Cargo area. I assure you that our enemies can hear you.”

Patrica sealed her helmet and spoke, a coldness and fury filling her voice,

“Attention insurgents, pirates or whatever name you care to use. You have shot at me, bombed me and tried to stab me and I’m done. You hurt my fucking dog. You have five minutes to surrender or I am coming down to Cargo and I will personally throw your half-chewed corpses out of the airlock along with the rest of your failed assassins. Drop your weapons and lie down on the fucking floor. If I see you move I will kill you. If you breathe in the wrong direction I will kill you. Security will be waiting to take your surrender and weapons and if you’re lucky you will get to live. Do it now. Anyone left standing will be fed to my pet.” She cut her Comms, aware of the astonished silence from the Captain and crew. She muttered, “They shouldn’t have hurt Loki.”

In the chaos of the Cargo area, the speakers suddenly roared to life and the doors swung open. A confused and difficult briefing was interrupted by the sound of sheer fury from across the ship. The few surviving operatives listened as the human’s voice echoed across the area. They listened as her cold rage threatened to hunt them to a miserable and ignominious death. One of the older men, one that considered himself a simple smuggler swore and looked around at his supposed comrades. He carefully pulled the power cell from his weapon and threw both parts far into the darkened bay, then he lay on the ground and curled up in a ball. Within less than a minute the Cargo hold was filled with the sound of people throwing away their weapons and the silent hope that the damned war-beast wasn’t on its way. With a hesitant claw, their Officer pressed the Comms button, “We will surrender to the Captain. We request that the human remains on the bridge… with her war beast. My men are disarmed and ready to surrender.”

Patrica looked at the Captain, not ready to speak just yet. /Longnose/ sniffed to himself and remembered how little the other Captains had been willing to tell him about humans, about how he would have to see for himself. He knew his Engineer to be a calm and helpful creature. Her efforts to improve the ship, her behaviour towards Loki and her willingness to open his world to the Canine Alliance. He stopped himself from voicing his questions. She had given him back his ship with a simple threat, a threat he would have made himself if he thought for a moment that the Crew-Killers on his ship would have believed it. Hearing her he truly believed every word she had said. Now he knew why the other Captains said nothing. How many times had they made this choice?

“Thank you, Engineer, I believe you have solved the problem. Please remain here until we have detained these creatures.”

“No Captain, I’m taking Loki to Engineering and we are going to sleep there. Let me know how it all works out.” She nodded to the Chief of Security, “Let me know if you need me. Goodnight.”

The common consensus among the Crew was to leave the Engineer in peace while she slept. They didn’t really have a choice, since Patrica had sealed her door and was letting Oscar answer the Comms. The Captain and the Chief of Security were dealing with the aftermath of their victory. It was also left unspoken that the human’s words had terrified the enemy enough to lie down on the floor and wait to be collected. It was an undoubted victory, just a little less heroic than they would prefer to remember. As all these idle thoughts were passing within the crew another unknown and unsuspected enemy was on the way.

Incice had watched until his AI had been wiped. The ship was now, he suspected far beyond his control. He sat back and congratulated himself on assuming the worst and looked at his screen. In less than three hours the Dangerous Toys would be engaged and destroyed in a terrible accident. In the meantime, he now had an enormous amount of restaffing and supply issues to deal with. He still remembered the moment when his time in supply had become a question. “If I can move all of this for them, why can’t I do it for myself?”

When he had been caught by...he couldn’t even remember the name of the Officer, he had thought he would die of shame. Instead, he had remembered that the man was in trouble with...someone, fines, tithes or taxes. He was the first man he had bought and the first man he had killed. He shook his head, now that he was older and wiser he would have made sure the man was promoted and well-paid as a useful asset. Alas for the innocence of youth. His Comms dinged respectfully. Hmmm, the Secretary for Peace. This might be interesting, “Yes Secretary, how may I be of assistance?” The Secretary grimaced. Why must they always play these stupid games on Comms? “Ah Captain, I just wanted to thank you for your foresight. Our ships have apparently garbled their orders and are well beyond our space. However, if you wish there is a Human Orbital nearby that might be willing to help if we can alert them in time.”

The Engineer awoke to a very long nose poking her in the face. It was cold. Loki was awake. “Yes, yes. I’m awake and if you will stop standing on me I’ll get up.” In response, Loki licked her ear, ‘/Morning/Food?/Walk/WalkRightNow?/’ Patrica sighed and rubbed his head, scratching briefly beneath his ears. “Yes, boy. Up. Let me get dressed and we’ll go back to the cabin. You can do what you need to do and I’ll feed you but, and I want to be clear about this, you have to stop standing on my head first.” Loki leapt from the rough bed she had thrown together when she passed the night in Engineering and began wrestling with one of her socks.

The Captain was in the Cargo hold, pulling crates and opening them. He had sent the Chief of Security back to the medbay and was colourfully cursing under his breath as he pulled out the freight. None of this was on his manifest and none of it was allowed on the planets he called on. Psychedelics, religious augments, bio-weapons...the list was a shopping list of the trash of the Galaxy and he had been feeding it into the innocents that had trusted his charter. Even one of these items would have condemned his ship and only the dark hells knew how much he had carried over the years. He might have retaken his ship from the smugglers but he was certain this was the last time he would be allowed to dock her at a station. He swore in every manner that his people could and the cargo hold filled with the scent so much that even the dimmest of his crew was becoming uncomfortable. Then his Engineer arrived.

Loki got it first,‘/CaptainUnhappy/Angry/Sad/LosingDen?/’ Patrica stepped through the door as it opened. “Thank you, Oscar.” As she walked to the Captain she saw him hurl more lids to the floor and stick his famous nose deep into the crates. It didn’t take an Engineer to figure out what was happening. “How bad is it, Captain? What are we carrying?” He turned to her with such a flick of his nose that it hit the crate. “Everything. Every evil that treks through the dark for power or money, is what I have been shipping. I have found stolen goods, illegal implants, slaver AI’s and worse. This is what my life has been, a gutter for this evil to people that trusted me. My ship was well named.” He seemed to fall into himself. “Engineer, we all owe you a debt of gratitude for your work. I must inform my investors and I’m afraid that is the end of my tenure. I release you from your contract before this…” He threw a crate across the cargo hold and continued, “...ruins you as well.” The box shattered against the bulkhead, its contents spilling across the floor.

It was Oscar that took offence, “Engineer, we will need that Intel. Please preserve the evidence. The Captain was obviously deceived but Earth will require the cargo to be properly documented.” Patrica realised with a start precisely who would want this ship. “Thank you, Oscar, I believe you have saved us all again.” The AI said nothing, unwilling to admit that he had no idea of what his Engineer was talking about.

“Captain, if I may I believe this had made your ship the most valuable one in space right now. I really need to call some of my people, if you will permit me. Also, I believe that /Scentofhappy/ needs some company right now. She’s worried about you. I suggest we go to your quarters.” The Captain tried to pull himself away from the scent of /SuddenUnexpected Failure/ and nodded to the Engineer.

She called the XCC while the Captain watched and waited. “This is Engineer First Class, reserve, Patrica O’Neill on the Dangerous Toys first contact mission. I need to speak to whichever one of you deals directly with Intel-Engineering. I believe I have an immediate and important situation regarding the security of the Earth.” Then she cut the call and looked at the Captain, “Now we wait. It won’t be long.”

It was four o’clock in the morning in the headquarters at Aix-en-Provence when the alert arrived. The first staffer took the call and did a routine search. Three mentions in the Diplo-log in the last week. He pushed it up the food chain, getting one person out of bed and ruining the raid of another. “We have a situation. She was level four last time and she is coding for a hot zone, no Intel.” Other desks were called and lights began illuminating the area as all manner of queries from a thousand-strong force of AI began taking an interest. The Director got the call less than three minutes later.

He read the code form quickly. “Replay it for me.” He listened to the message again. No Engineer would use those terms without cause

Intel-Engineering. Immediate. Important. Security. Earth.

He hit his console, “Do I have clear Comms?” His AI scanned the spectrum, “Unclear. I see recent interference and the transponder is corrupted. It is the Engineer but the ship has serious issues. Provisional contact advised at this time.” He sat down heavily and hit connect, “Patrica, have you forgotten what time it is around here? I expected you to have sorted out the puppy by know.”

Patrica and the Captain listened in. She looked at the Captain, “He’s just confirming the last call we had and if it is safe to speak.” She frowned. “It’s not going to get safer. Captain?” The Captain nodded. This is why he disliked dealing with verbal species and their silly codes and hints.

“XCC, This is Engineer Patrica O’Neill. The Dangerous Toys was a Trojan ship. It has been used by someone to provide some of the worst shit this galaxy has to offer, including slave AI. It had been designed and built as a Q ship. We have recovered control, captives and cargo. I believe that it is part of a network of Q ships. I recommend immediate seizure and track and trace. My AI is fresh out of the box and I have no military assets on board. I’m sending you the schematics of the ship and all the Intel we have recovered. I suggest you move quickly.” She waited for the answer.

The Director took a deep breath and a moment's thought. What the fuck had the galaxy done now?

“Captain O’Neill acknowledged and agreed. Pest control is on the way.”

He cut the Comms and posted her recall to HDF across the data stream. The wheels of the HDF began to grind slowly as the darker corners of human diplomacy peered into the future with sharp eyes.

She cut the call again and looked across the room. “Captain I must formally ask you to hand this ship over to the HDF. If you have no hand or part in this effort to deceive the Human polity you and your investors will be recompensed. Substantial reparations will be provided in the event that your vessel cannot be returned.” She smiled at the Captain, knowing that Oscar was recording it all. “Say yes, Captain. We will give you a new ship for the value of this cargo alone if we get it home.”

The Captain was lost but he trusted his human. “Yes. Fine, Would you care to explain?”

“Oscar this ship is now a part of the Human Defense Forces Fleet. Please send the relevant signals and change the transponder. Then move at best speed to the nearest Human Orbital.”

“Yes, Captain O’Neill.”