I should probably explain our mission. Our mission for this trip was to explore the first three closest stars to our own which happened to be 6ly, 6.5ly and 8ly. In terms of travel time one way, without excess downtime within the star systems, would amount to nearly 10 months. So the estimated time to completion for this mission was around 2 years.
While medical technology had advanced greatly in the past 500 years, the average lifespan nowadays is 180 years, but even so it was still a huge commitment of time by the crew. It didn’t really matter how long the journey took for me because as long as I had a power source I’m basically immortal.
An hour into our warp Cpt Johnson handed over control of the bridge to the XO and left for the conference room after telling me to meet him there. I appeared within the conference room and spotted Dave, Vahlen, a Marine Captain and the completely average man I tagged from before.
Cpt Johnson walked in and commanded me to seal off the room which I did without a word as I think I already know the meaning of this meeting. After nodding to show it was done the average man stepped forward with a briefcase in his hand.
“Hello everyone you can call me Agent White,” ‘so original this one,’ I think. “Before I go any farther I must warn you that everything I tell you must not leave this room or you will be held accountable of high treason, of which the penalty is death.” He clicks open the briefcase and passes an envelope, marked top secret, to everyone except me. I go stand behind Vahlen in order to read over her shoulder.
“While the vast majority of people believe this will be a simple exploration mission that is not the case.” He flips open the folder. “Back in 2483 a radio disk, under the control of the Gaian government, picked up an extremely disturbing radio signal coming from the Caprican star system, the last star we will visit.”
“I’ll play the audio clip now.”
*static* Faintly garbled words can be heard along with what sounds like explosions in the background. The explosions become louder while the words cut away completely replaced by screams of terror and pain. The explosions suddenly stop and now there is only cries of pain and alien roaring. *static*
As the audio cuts off silence permeates around the room, each person contemplating what they’ve just heard. ‘I thought it was suspicious that we were so heavily armed but hearing that I’m kind of glad we are.’
Vahlen is clearly disturbed as she speaks up, “I understand what role the others may play but why am I here?” Agent
White looks over at her, “As the most prominent Astrobiologist in your field we need you here if the aliens are hostile and we have to figure out their weaknesses.” Vahlen looks almost green now, “so you want me here if you need someone to create a weaponized virus.” Agent White is impassive as he responds “Yes if it’s necessary to protect the human race.”
‘I really want to put my arms around Vahlen to comfort her right now but sadly I’m incapable of touching her.’ I do it anyway because the gesture should count for something at the very least. “It’ll be fine Vahlen that’s an absolute last resort sort of situation.” I don’t know if it’s the words or the gesture but she calmed down a little. “So Agent White could you explain our mission then?”
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I had noticed his eyes narrowing slightly and a hint of a frown had formed because my interaction with Vahlen but it was gone so fast no one else saw it.
“Our mission is the scouting of the Caprican system for potentially dangerous aliens and based on our findings either establish contact or leave undetected and warn Gaia. As of right now the Gaian government has been slowly militarizing our solar system with the potential threat of first contact now underway.”
“Captain Green I want you preparing the marines for any potential defense or boarding of ships actions as well as assaulting fortified stations.” “I’ll whip them into shape sir.”
“Captain Johnson I want you running battle drills and getting the crew ready for potential ship to ship combat.” “I’ll get Twitch to fire them up.”
“That’s all, just read over the envelope for a more in-depth report and be ready. I’ll repeat this one last time nothing leaves this room. Dismissed.”
Some of you may ask how I was able to maintain the warp bubble and listen in on this conversation. The answer would be the years’ worth of warping I did. It provided so much data that my ship brain was basically doing it for me. In addition the space between stars had far fewer patches of real space that intruded within the bubble making it that much easier, a regular AI still would have had trouble but not me.
With the briefing over people started to go back to their duty stations and prepare for the upcoming mission. I walked back with Vahlen to her room because she still looked disturbed about her potential role in the upcoming mission.
‘I need to get her working on something to distract her otherwise she’ll obsess over this. It could be worth getting her to continue working on my body but how to phrase it.’
We reach her room and after making sure the room is secure from prying ears I start talking, “Vahlen.” “Yes Scott,” she replies sitting down on her bed.
“This mission has got me worried about you. I can protect you if you stay on the ship but I if you leave it I have no way to do that. So, I was wondering if you could potentially accelerate the process of making me a body, maybe even get Dave’s help as well. If I had a body that could accompany you to dangerous situations that would alleviate a lot of my concerns.”
She seems to have perked up a little during my speech. “It’s really sweet that you said that Scott,’ she says smiling slightly, ‘it really was. I actually think that’s a great idea, it’ll help get my mind off of the mission.”
‘That was the plan my dear.’ “We also have 9 months, at least, before we get to the Caprican system so the project should stave off boredom at the very least.”
Vahlen is pacing back and forth now. “Yes, yes this is perfect actually. Scott I promise you I’ll have your body ready before we reach the Caprican system.”
I reach out my hand, laughing she mimes grabbing it and we shake. “It’s a promise then Vahlen.”