Ginny Aboard Shadow Hunter:
As I walked back to the bridge I felt Rider’s eyes on me. The brothers both seemed to like my wardrobe a bit too much. I need some more clothes. After a long shower and a lot of scrubbing, the smell still lingered after more than a week in my blue suit. I didn’t have many options so my black cat suit was pressed into service. I hadn’t planned to ever wear it in public, but the attention was flattering.
I detoured down to the foundry and added a variety of garments to the cue. I liked the look and feel of them, but I wasn’t used to being seen. A thief wasn’t in the public eye much and I’d been alone when I’d first started wearing them. In some ways, the attention did appeal to me, but I needed to focus and the two already were attractive enough to be distracting. I didn’t need the added looks or whistles of appreciation I was getting.
Once I’d placed the order, I headed for the bridge to review the status of the ship. “I really need to get some real food. That’s definitely going to be my next stop.” Ship repairs and then food. That sounded good to me. Now I just need to ditch these unwanted house guests. Unfortunately, the truck Abry had worked so hard on fixing up for me was sitting idle down there somewhere. I made a mental note to grab that on my way out, could come in handy.
* * *
“Oh, hey Athena!” I greeted my friend as she stepped onto the bridge. “Is everything okay?”
Athena looked uncharacteristically reserved. She wrung her hands together and wouldn’t meet my eyes. Oh no… what did she do?
“Rose?” I pressed, using her real name.
She braced herself and looked at me, then wilted again. “I… it’s just…”
“Tell me,” I commanded, fearing the worst.
“It’s my mother,” she said, looking up and some of the pain deep down bled through the pleading look she gave me. “I-I don’t like to talk about it, but she’s got terminal stage four cancer.”
I swallowed. That was basically saying she was on death's door with their medical technology.
“The doctors say she’s got about six months to live. It seems so rude to ask but… c-can you help her?”
I felt so relieved at the question. It wasn’t something bad. She hadn’t done anything. Nothing but put herself out there. She was the same sweet caring Athena as always. She wanted to save her dying mother but hesitated because it seemed rude to her. That's why everyone loved her. She was just so sweet. If she wasn’t such a joker and hilarious it would almost be sickening how nice she was.
“The nanobots. Would they even work on something like that?” Athena asked.
“I’m not sure.” My eyes turned upward. “Bob?”
“The nanobots are more than capable of healing cancer, however, they would need to remain active long term or there would be a chance it could come back.”
“Long term?” Athena asked.
“The injections you received broke down and entered your waste after healing you. For this, we will program them to remain active indefinitely.”
“Um… you can do that? Y-you’re going to help me?”
“Of course! Don’t be ridiculous. You’re my friend, Athena.”
Athena started crying. “Thank you, thank you! You’re the best friend ever!” Athena embraced me tightly. “You can call me Rose, you know. At least when it's just us.”
“Let’s get an injection ready for her. Bob, do I need to program anything?”
“There are one or two options you should look over. I’m sending them to your wrist computer.”
“Thanks.” I smiled at my friend and we headed for the medical bay. Half an hour later the injection was ready to go. It would heal her and keep her healthy. If any of the nanobots left her body, they would immediately break down. I’d added that feature so no one tried to replicate it by studying her blood.
Athena couldn’t stop smiling and it was ridiculous how many hugs she gave me, but I bore it well. The amount she talked about her mother made it clear how much she loved her. I was essentially giving her mom a lease on life. Rose was overjoyed and it made me happy to help.
* * *
My bed was soft and just perfect after a long day. I was stressed, and worried something would go wrong. Ever since Rider had contacted his people and scheduled a pickup a few days later than planned something had been bugging me. Something other than having treacherous house guests aboard my ship.
“Captain,” Bob’s voice sounded from the speakers. He sounded hesitant and unsure of himself. Even when I’d added myself to the crew and he knew I shouldn’t be a crewman he didn’t sound so unsure of himself.
I was immediately on alarm. I sat up. “Yes, Bob?”
“I was reviewing the audio logs aboard ship and came across something I think you should hear. I understand your respect for privacy… but in this case, I think you’ll agree with my assessment to share it.”
“As long as it’s not some intimate moment, Bob, you’re probably right.”
There was a pause. “Let me know if you disagree with my analysis, Captain.”
He planned the message. Viper and Rider, Tom and Gary were talking. A lot of what they said was about me, and it was enough to make me blush. Both brothers found me attractive, which was flattering, but it was weird hearing others talk about you in what they assumed was private. I was about to tell Bob to stop the recording when they began talking about how to steal my ship. By the time the recording finished, my hot anger had cooled.
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“Bob, is there any indication that Athena knew about this?” I asked.
“None. It’s like you heard. Tom planted the idea in her mind and she came to you.”
The calls to the rebel cells and the delay finally made sense. So Tom and Gary are planning to ambush my ship huh? I clenched my fists together. A strong urge to murder them in their sleep hit me. The two had sat and discussed the best way to seduce me! And the worst part was it was all to achieve their goals, not cause I was just that good-looking. I was livid.
“To think I was interested in them,” I muttered.
The worst part was if not for the war we’d probably have gotten along fine. I hated war, but that was no excuse for their actions or choices. True, that hadn’t gone through with it yet. The crime, as they say, hadn’t yet been committed, but the part where they discussed how best to woo me hit me hardest. That crossed the line.
Bob could vent air to their quarters… my nostrils flared as I thought about it. No. I won’t kill them. Even if they deserve it. In my heart I felt they did, my mind could understand their thinking though. I was conflicted about what to do and tired from the long day. My throat ached from the lump that formed there. I wasn’t sure what to do so I told Bob to keep an eye on them and went to bed. I slept terribly.
* * *
The first thing I did after waking up and running to the bathroom was make some plans. I pulled up our resources on my wrist computer and ran some questions by Bob. I wanted some contingency plans but there wasn’t much time to implement them. I’d be ready next time for sure, if there was a next time, but I needed some kind of plan and I needed it now.
“How long does it take to build and install the cloaking device on the shuttle?”
“Around sixty hours.”
“Too long. What about installing some kind of crowd control device?”
“I have designs for a stun pulse cannon. Sends out a wave of energy all around it that stuns any nearby organics.”
“Oh. Wow. How long to build that?”
“Three days,” Bob said.
“Bob, that’s too long. For now, just mention things we can implement in the next ten hours.”
“Alright, Captain. I’ve got nothing. Do you have any other ideas?”
I sighed. “The shields are optimized for heat. Can we change that to make them more generalized?”
“That would require some slight modification and reprogramming but yes, Captain. I believe we could do that. Currently, our shielding is immune to all heat weapons like basic lasers. We would lose these capabilities but receive better defense against shockwaves from explosives and kinetic munitions.”
“That is more pressing than the heat shielding. Get started, I’ll reprogram the shielding for our needs. Show me the base model to work from.”
As I worked I thought of other preventative measures I could take. I wasn’t going to tip my hand, but if they decided to go through with it, I was going to be ready. I ordered a false wall built in the shuttle with enough room for three SB units to hide behind and had the RB units add a canister of knockout gas that Bob or I could trigger. I also had Bob build me a stunner that looked similar to my laser pistol, only slighter bigger, and painted blue. I didn’t much like the look of the design but I could tweak the casing when I had more time. Right now as long as it worked I’d take it. It gave me the means to defend myself without spilling blood. I was all for that. If I’d thought about it, I’d have made one earlier.
“And done!” I tapped the enter key to finalize my shield modification program. Everything had been optimized to survive the heat and radiation of a star. Adjusting it for more general coverage was easy. Doing it well wasn’t something I had the skills or time to pull off, but I didn’t need to. Thus I had a workable general shield that was more than capable of my needs, but far weaker than I’d hoped. The Triv’s shielding would be comparable and against most enemies that would be excellent, but I could see the potential for so much more. I just lacked the knowledge to get the most out of them. I also had a history with the Triv so having superior shields to them just seemed smart. Another thing to address later.
“Are the hardware modifications finished on the shuttle?” I asked.
“Yes, Captain. Would you like me to upload the modified program remotely?”
“You can do that? Awesome! Wait, that’s bad, right? If you can access it, couldn’t anyone?”
“Anyone with a quantum device and the necessary skill set could access the shields programming system if they could locate the link access point.”
“Can we remove that?” I asked.
“I detect seventy-three points in the code where an intrusion could be launched from. Shall I attempt to eliminate them? I predict a 7% drop in efficiency to do so.”
“Do it. I don’t want anyone to be able to hack my ships.”
“Shall I begin minimizing the risks aboard the Shadow Hunter as well, Captain?”
“Yes.”
“You’ll need to implement the shield modifications manually then.”
“No problem,” I said. “I’ll do that now.”
It wasn’t hard, I just had to walk down there. While down there I check on the RB units, false wall, and the knockout gas canister. Both were well-hidden and looked to be in good order. Now if anything happened, I’d have some hidden backup, and no one would be any the wiser.
I went to the foundry next. It was time for a wardrobe upgrade. The ship suit was great, but Arby had scored some extra materials on the planet so I could afford to be a little frivolous. This wasn’t about fashion though, I wanted to upgrade my defenses before walking into an ambush.
With Bob’s help and the advanced alien technology at his disposal, I designed what I called my war suit. It was totally sick! The reactive armor from my suit was easily replicated here but enhanced. Instead of a light skin suit, this baby was heavy duty. The suit was three times as thick with a dampening field grafted into the reactive armor. Any kinetic force would be absorbed and then redistributed to counteract the impact. The method of redistribution utilized gravity technology which could be used in space to move around. On the ground, the force could be stored to power a sudo jump jet.
The reactive armor strength had been more than doubled at the cost of flexibility and comfort. The legs, arms, and torso were reinforced with a robotic framework that linked with my nervous system through my nanobots giving me superhuman strength and endurance. I launched myself into several walls testing it, never once though did I stop smiling. It was just too cool! The impacts charged my jump jet and let me bounce around like a kid in a bouncy house.
I’d opted for several other defensive measures and weapons. The main weapon was a stunner, it deployed from the slim backpack to sit over my head with supports mounted on my shoulders. I could have gone with a laser weapon but that wasn’t my style. The war suit also came equipped with a shield belt, flare launcher, laser-guided micro missiles (which weren’t much different from grenades, except for their precision targeting and range), and AI-assisted combat algorithms. Those could be set to assistance guidance mode or automatic, which would turn even my somewhat klutz self into a badass ninja. I could walk a tightrope with no problem, but I also might stub my toe walking down a hallway. Yeah, my skills were many and multifaceted, go figure.
It also came with an air tank mounted below the main stunner. The helmet had a resource scanner, quantum communications, range finder, and weapon targeting system built in. The feet, knees, and hands had gravity manipulators that could be set to attract or repulse. In the former mode, they were perfect for adhering to the hull of a ship in space and climbing a cliff face on a planet. Set to repulse and they added force to any melee strikes for close-quarters combat. Finally, the entire suit was fitted with a neural disruptor that could be activated to shock anyone in contact with the suit, aside from the operator.
There was a sonic sensor that could map terrain via sound frequencies and detect movement, DNA-locked access, and a few other bells and whistles. And if that wasn’t enough, I looked amazing in it. Sleek and dangerous. It came in my favorite color too! Bob really knew how to spoil a girl.