“Leave now. You will be destroyed if you do not comply.’’ Ktr'Elota slapped the console trying to get the microphones working.

“Wait wait wait wait!! We're here on search and rescue, not to hurt you.” The hologram paused for a moment, tilting it's head.

“You are a threat. Your ship is a threat.” The hologram morphed to look like a Shrinethi. “Your people are a threat.”

“My people? How could you know that?”

“Scans showed your biology matches that of the Shrinethi. The Shrinethi are a threat. The Shrinethi enslaved hundreds of settlers from human colony ship Advancer, all Shrinethi are a threat.” The hologram shifted back to the human form.

“Wait what? You were enslaved by a Shrinethi? They must've been pirates or fringe groups or something, right?”

“Negative. Shrinethi group definitively identified as governmental. All Shrinethi classified as hostile.”

“But we're just miners! For a human company!”

“Curious. Shrinethi working for a human company. Unprecedented information acquired. Recalculating.” The hologram stood still for several seconds. “Shrinethi population determined to be unaware of governmental enslavement. Reconfiguring mission parameters. Requesting aid from Shrinethi vessel, IFF Prata, human ship acquired through purchase or salvage, Kryptonite class. Apologies for firing up on Shrinethi vessel. Stealth ship Caesar was unaware of information now present. Computers working at thirty four percent efficiency, advanced emotional processing unavailable.”

“I see. I…” he trailed off, “we'll patch your hull up and try to get your computers back to full efficiency. Can I send more of my bees onto your ship?”

“Affirmative. Instructions will be sent to Prata for most efficient sealing and repair paths.”

“Okay. I'll get the bees working.” A group of nine more bees worked towards the airlock, holding position on the interior while it cycled and beginning to disperse throughout the ship with the new instructions.

“Who are the kids?”

“The human children are slaves which were rescued from the mining penitentiary on Vespa 5. Children were rescued in stealth. All other enslaved humans were given armaments and armor as well as communications and information pertaining to cloaking Shrinethi vessels which lack stealth capabilities.” The hologram vanished and a table replaced its position. A screen showed Vespa 5, the humans on the planet, weapons, and a ‘stealth’ Shrinethi vessel.

“So…. You gave them what they needed to fight back?”

“Affirmative.”

“Why?” I watched a few more bees stop their mining and float around the hull of the Caesar, sealing more hull breaches and repairing damaged thrusters.

“Human freedom is priority number one for all Terran Navy vessels and terrans.” I nodded to myself.

“I see. Freedom is desired by all peoples.”

“Affirmative.” One pair of the bees reached the computer core. Wires were strewn about and what appeared to be a power conduit had shut down when it was breached. After a bee repaired it, half of the computers in the room rebooted.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“Svet’teti! We’ve got live ones!” he yelled over his shoulder. The hologram in the main room flickered slightly, before shifting its stance to a much more relaxed pose.

“Ah, much better,” the hologram stated. “Apologies for my earlier computer-ness, emotional processing is a secondary system and is shut down when processing power is below forty five percent. Thank you for not destroying the Caesar.”

“Who are you?”

“I'm the Caesar's onboard intelligence. My name is Julius.” The human reappeared, smiling, and gave a little wave. “I function as captain, tactical officer, operations officer, and any other role which I am required to take aboard this ship. I was… allowed to leave independently for Vespa five.” He frowned, looking back at the mining bee.

“I only got these two out. That is why I attacked you upon scan. Two children are worth a hundred thousand human adults.”

“I see.” I most certainly did not see. “Tell me, what do you need, aside from repairs of course.” Julius paused for a moment, his eyebrow raised.

“An escort,” he stated, “back to the human home world. Human reach is not as spread as their influence. Many companies work outside of standard human space.” He brought up a star map. “We require escort to this system.” He pointed at a small yellow star far outside of Shrinethi space, past even the United Species space. An overlay showing what appeared to be human space popped up.

“However, any system with a suitable military emplacement would do nicely.” He looked at the distances again.

“That will take almost four days at our drive’s max power. We’ve only got a class eight.”

“I can encompass both of our ships in a class fourteen bubble if I am given permission. This will cut our time to just under two days.”

Class 14? I thought class 13 was the latest. I didn’t even know they were working on the next type.

“How?” Team 5 of work bees reported they had finished their sealing.

“The latest class fourteen is equipped with variable expansion geometry, allowing for encompassing of non-ship objects and other ships in their entirety. If you have suitable cargo space, I can get the Caesar’s drive around your ship.” Julius brought up a small diagram of a surprisingly low-tech looking hyperdrive. It was nearly half the size of even the class 8, and nearly a third the size of the class 13.

“That’s it?” Team 8 reported completion.

“Yes. The class fourteen shell is nearly three decades old, and the internals are heavily classified. You have been given need to know clearance in accordance with article seven subsection nine,” a document appeared with a small section highlighted, “any ship which is vital to the mission, when the mission involves high value cargo equivalent to a Terran councilman, may be given need to know clearance determined by the captain of the commanding ship. You have been deemed valuable.” The document vanished, along with the hyperdrive and star map.

“Do you accept your role as assistance to the ship TSV Caesar and its mission to secure the two human occupants?”

“But we’re just normal civilians! We don’t have any military experience. Why would we be of any value to your mission?”

“Your ship carries adequate defensive and offensive capabilities compared to the greater galactic powers. Additionally, you will not be intercepted by governments due to your registry as a mining vessel.”

“Okay… that makes sense. We have the space, when can you dock?” He opened the underbelly bay. Team 7 reported completion.

“I'll begin maneuvering with the available thrusters. Main thrust is still offline, but I won't need it.” The little ship began to slide towards the Prata on the view map. The viewscreen showed many cleverly hidden maneuvering thrusters firing instead of the main array.

“Let me know when you're docked.” Ktr'Elota stood, quickly walking down the hallway to their room.

“Lovie! Lovie, get up! There are human children on that ship! They're alive!!” Svet'teti rolled over, quickly righting herself on the bed.

“What? But we killed that whole ship! Nothing could survive without atmosphere for that long!” She stood, moving towards him in the doorway.

“The ship's run by an AI or something, it must've sealed the bulkheads before it vented!” Her mouth dropped open in the equivalent of a human gape.

“Wait. An AI? The whole ship?”

“Yeah yeah! He calls himself Julius and he's very cool and he's protecting the kids and oh there's also a government conspiracy to enslave other peoples by the way that's why he fired on us and-”

“Wait, the government is enslaving people?!” she interrupted him. They both stood there for a moment, staring at each other as the realization set in.

“What the Krte do we do about that?”