Chapter 1. Jump Point.
“Warning! Jump point activation detected. A single vessel is attempting to jump into the system from jump point 2. All crew to their stations!”
Throughout the dark and battered station, the announcement repeated. A loud claxon sounded and flashing red emergency lighting flickered to life in about half the compartments, beckoning to a crew that no longer existed. After the fifteenth announcement, the lack of response was noted, and automated systems began to take over, following long established protocol.
Sapient crew has not responded to the warning order.
Error. Internal station sensors are degraded. Attempting to locate existing crew.
Scanning…
No active crew IDs found. Scanning for any lifeforms that may function as sapient crew.
Scanning…
Over 282 lifeforms were discovered aboard the station, none possess the minimum intellect to act as interim crew. Council AI, version 12, will now be activated. Complete system control is granted to Council AI, version 12.
An immediate course of action has been ordered. Shut down of jump point 2 deemed necessary. Submitting request to the jump point control station monitoring jump point 2.
Error. The jump point control station is not responding, unable to prevent the pending jump.
Updated sensor returns indicate that 3.234489 seconds ago, the jump point activated, admitting a single vessel into system.
Flickering returns from the degraded and neglected sensor network in the system began to come in as the AI awakened from its digital slumber. The AI analyzed the sensor returns, piecing together a course of action as it sifted through hundreds of options. Most of these options were deemed ineffective due to infrastructure errors and system degradation.
Activating defense grid. All sensor buoys are going active.
The solar system had once been strewn with tens of thousands of sensor buoys of various types. Now, the AI could only receive returns from a small fraction of them. Over the next two seconds, it tried to troubleshoot the issue, moving thought 42,921 potential fixes, all of which failed to help. Only a few of the remaining active sensors were close to jump point 2, and many of those also failed after a short period of functionality.
The AI reviewed its primary purpose. It was to support the Council through investigation into void disruption, and research ways to defeat any void forces that transitioned into the system. In order to defend itself against void disruptions, a combat vessel with an experimental power source based on Derelict technology remained docked at the main research station.
A query to the ship’s computers found they were online, though it only had power through its umbilical link to the station. Only the point defense weapons had been installed in the vessel and its power core was inactive and needed a sapient mind within the proper parameters to control it. The AI’s investigation into the combat vessel was interrupted as new data was received on the interloper that had entered the system.
Unidentified contact’s IFF is not transmitting.
Error. Sensor network degradation prevents identification of the unknown vessel with any degree of certainty. Analyzing available data.
The drive signature of the unknown vessel matches M33p-0 class light cargo transport. Data on the existing number of vessels of this type is 222.648 years out of date, analyzing database to determine threat level.
M33p-0 class light, jump-capable transport.
Manufacturer: Various.
Construction species: Kobold. Some models were built under license by other Council species.
Date of manufacture: Unknown.
Number of vessels completed: Unknown.
Armaments: Unknown. One point defense hardpoint is standard on vessels of this type and additional modular consumable weapons systems can be easily retrofitted.
Armor: Negligible, commercial grade hull.
Shields: Standard, commercial grade. The shielding on this vessel is only space debris capable and unable to protect against weapons fire.
Sensor Array: Limited full-spectrum array with commercial targeting package.
Crew: Average crew capacity for this class of vessel is 47. Limited autonomous control.
The AI reviewed its findings, noting that the unknown vessel had started scanning the system with an inferior sensor array. For now, the AI would activate stealth field generators and conceal the facilities in this system while it obtained more data and started automated maintenance procedures to bring its facilities back to optimal working order.
Error, stealth field generators are offline at both jump point control stations.
Error, stealth field generators are offline at the orbital research station.
Without the means to hide its facilities in the system, the AI was at a disadvantage. The AI controlled three stations in this system. A small defensive station covered jump point 2. When fully functional, the stations disruption array could block jump transit, and it carried a weapons suite to protect itself from anything other than a dedicated warship.
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The main research station, designated Alpha 712, where the AI was physically housed, orbited the second of the three planets in the system. This main research station was part fortress, part science facility, and part shipyard. Presently, only the single, experimental vessel was docked at the research base.
All other docking bays were empty and not even an emergency shuttle or emergency evacuation pod remained on the station. Data on the past evacuation was unavailable and all other notations on the disposition of the previous crew were housed in damaged storage devices. Knowing why the crew abandoned the stations wasn’t going to help the AI accomplish its mission. Instead, it focused its efforts on the task at hand.
A station similar to the one at jump point two was covering the only other jump point in the system, jump point one. The station at jump point one was used to monitor system Ax77. An advanced capability probe had been sent into Ax77 and was still sending back data on the low-tech civilization found there.
A rudimentary targeting system has locked onto jump point station 2. Analyzing options.
Warning! System defenses have degraded significantly since last activation. Combat is not recommended, investigating alternative options.
Station 2 is being hailed.
Connecting to the communications system at jump point station 2.
Error, primary comms array is inoperable at this station, switching to backup.
A reptilian face appeared on the comms array. The AI’s database tagged it as a kobold, and the AI reviewed whatever limited information it had on the species. Insight into the kobold species was downloaded in a subfolder while the AI waited for the kobold to speak.
“I’m Captain Igboz of the powerful and deadly vessel Skitter. My sensors might not be cutting edge, but even they can tell that you are defenseless. Power down everything but life support and unlock your docking hatches. We’ll be taking any valuables and tech you might have, and if you want us to leave the life support on when we leave, you better not give us any trouble,” Captain Igboz offered.
The AI created a false avatar to project through its communication array. It determined that an orc admiral was the most likely form to intimidate the crew of a kobold vessel. An image and voice profile from the database were selected, and the AI attempted contact with the unknown vessel.
“Attention recently arrived vessel. You have jumped into a Council controlled system. Turn about immediately and jump out of this system,” the AI demanded through its avatar. The message was sent from every functional transmitter, and despite the network’s degradation, the AI calculated a 98.2% chance that the message was received by the targeted recipient. Less than a minute after transmitting the message, the unknown vessel responded.
“What kind of orc pretends to be part of the Council. Ha, humans wiped them out centuries ago. How long have you been cut off out here, and who’s really in charge of this junk heap of a system? I’m done messing around, so answer quickly,” Captain Igboz replied. Sifting through old data logs, the AI confirmed that the last contact from the council was over 200 years ago.
Before the AI could formulate the optimal response to the kobold captain, it started to receive reports from jump point station 2. A point defense laser was burning into the station’s hull. Shields, along with most other systems on the station, were inoperable. In a short time, the station was dead. All processing nodes, power, and integrated systems had been destroyed by the kobold vessel.
The Skitter proceeded to light its drives and set a course for the main research station. With the vessel proven hostile, the AI cycled through existing weapons systems, eventually finding one, a remote operated missile platform near the now-destroyed station at jump point 2. The platform was still receiving commands and had a single ship-to-ship missile that was reporting as functional.
The defense platform’s limited power system sputtered to life, and its backup tracking system locked onto the Skitter. At the AI’s command, the missile fired, its targeting lock on the kobold vessel was solid. Sensor returns showed that while the missile was tracking its target, the thrust profile was weaker than expected.
A quick series of calculations showed the missile would still have enough fuel to hit the hostile vessel, even when factoring in evasive maneuvers. Slower than the AI would have expected, the kobold ship began to fire its point defense laser, trying to intercept the incoming missile.
Its systems might have been degraded, but the AI had no trouble assuming manual control of the missile and began evasive maneuvers. Seven seconds later, the missile hit its target. The AI waited for sensor returns to clarify the picture after the detonation. The Skitter was still intact, though its drives were offline, and its reactor signature was indicating an imminent catastrophic meltdown.
Warning! Incoming missiles detected. Point defenses are offline.
“You may have killed my ship, orc, but I’m going to return the favor. I bet you thought a single point defense laser was all I had to work with,” Captain Igboz taunted as a pair of missiles accelerated toward the main research station. The kobold captain laughed at the orc avatar the AI created, but the communication was cut off a moment later when the kobold ship’s reactor went critical.
The AI tried, and failed, to activate any point defense systems on the main station. It also tried to link into the point defense weapons installed on the experimental vessel, but those were also showing as inoperable. A quick calculation showed that automated repairs would take far too long, and the incoming missiles would hit long before a point defense weapon could be brought online.
The maintenance situation was disgraceful, and a subroutine admonished the AI for allowing the lapse to occur. Briefly, the AI tried to calculate if it was to blame for the degradation the system had experienced. No, the abandonment by the biological units aboard, and the failure of the internal systems to activate the AI sooner was the true culprit.
Calculated damage to main research station after missile impact is estimated at 83%. Recommend abandonment of the station before missile impact occurs.
The AI reviewed the data, the warning was correct, the kobold missiles, while not particularly powerful, were more than enough to doom the already degraded station. Only one option remained, the AI had to abandon the station using the docked vessel. A quick check of the ship’s internal data processors revealed that only a single unit had been installed in the incomplete vessel and that unit was insufficient to download the AI completely.
Instead, it would have to create a Limited Adjunct Network Interface in the vessel’s database. The adjunct form would allow the AI to retain some semblance of its current capabilities, though memory would be further damaged by the rapid transfer and installation of all necessary data. There was a 71.45% chance that it could rebuild its damaged memory cores and fulfill its purpose, but that chance went to 0% if it could not escape the coming destruction.
For its plan to work, the AI needed to power the docked vessel. The only way to do so was to search for a sapient intellect to install in its experimental core. As it installed itself in the ship’s database, the AI activated automated systems to complete the ship’s core creation. No sapient life existed in this solar system, but through the link to system Ax77 at jump point 1, the AI was certain it would find a viable candidate.
All parameters for the candidate selection were loaded into the station controls. The AI would be inactive for a time, and it would fall on the more primitive station computers to handle the task. As it was downloaded into the experimental vessel’s systems, the AI observed the process of selecting a candidate.
Error, system Ax77 is currently ineligible for Council induction, its technological level is below the minimum threshold.
System Ax77 is now granted an emergency exception.
The system will allow one designated core candidate, with subsequent support personnel, to be extracted from this world. All other communication and integration of this system will be blocked until Ax77 exceeds the Minimum Technological Threshold (MTT) necessary for induction.
Searching for viable candidates with the least disruption on planetary development…