Allison was in her hangar doing what she had done after all her school responsibilities were done since she was grounded, she was working on tracking the Sal’nash by figuring out how to track the Space Manatees. She was sure she was on the right track, since her encounter with Aryni and her troops that looked very similar to the Sal’nash, at least in their chitin armor. She cursed not getting samples to bring home. She hadn’t been able to go to the planet again since she’d been effectively grounded. She realized as she was bemoaning the fact she couldn’t confirm DNA that she actually could now.
Her lack of pilot license in the System’s Alliance was no barrier, she could use her LSR license. The only thing stopping her was permission from her parents and she could pop out for a quick wormhole jump under her LSR license which she would need no special authorization for since she was going to a beacon, one no one could see but those in the know…
Allison quickly started powering on Bit’s systems. The AI seemed confused when Allison removed her cancelled license and replaced it with her LSR License.
“Allison, your pilot’s license was revoked for medical reasons. You shouldn’t be requesting a launch vector.”
Allison smiled.
“The LSR has approved me to fly under that license and as per treaty, it is valid in the System’s Alliance. So, get too it.”
Bit didn’t answer for a few minutes.
“It appears what you’re saying is valid, the request went through. Even your coded beacon jump was authorized.”
Allison grinned. She was back. Watch out Sal’nash!
“Do your parents know you’re leaving the planet? The military?”
Allison shrugged.
“Doesn’t matter. The military can’t tell me no anymore, they suspended my commission. I don’t need special permission from parents under my LSR license.”
Bit sounded frustrated.
“Ah, but what about your armor, flight requires a full environmental suit!”
Allison smirked.
“Nope, not under my LSR license. No requirement for full environmental armor.”
Bit sounded defeated when she spoke.
“You’ve found a way around all the restrictions placed on you very effectively. I should probably stop teaching you so much about avoiding bureaucracy.”
Allison smiled. She noticed the door open to her personal hangar. Her father had breached the sanctity of it, which was odd, he never came here, also he was in full uniform and was on duty currently. She hopped down. She noticed he was carrying a secure case.
“Dad, what is the matter?”
He looked at Bit and saw the heat coming off of her conventional thrustors.
“Planning on going somewhere?”
Allison shrugged.
“Maybe I’m just testing her systems.”
He frowned.
“Well, I just got an alert as I was pulling up that you’d registered a flight plan. I’d be proud of the data infiltration prowess, if you hadn’t just broken fifteen laws…”
Allison shook her head.
“No laws broken, no permission from parents required under my LSR pilot license. What do you need dad?”
He narrowed his eyes.
“Your mother is going to be furious. Between you being put back on active duty and your license being reinstated, and you flying off without our permission.”
Allison blinked a few times at her father.
“What? No… no. I still need time.”
He frowned.
“You’re out of time, hon. The board and council want you on active duty. Apparently, there is an LSR fleet enroute that you are to take command of. They will be here tomorrow. A ship was sent to bring them here via wormhole. I have your armor and weapons in here.”
Allison shook her head.
“No, I need a medical and mental evaluation before I can be put back on active duty. As per a regulation that I’m sure Bit can tell us and I logged a flight plan, which I need to take, or I could get sanctioned. So, uh, how about, we set something up with medical tomorrow morning before school?”
Her father looked displeased when Bit quoted the regulation in question, it left no wiggle room. She also quoted the notification timeline for transition from medical leave to active duty. The only way around them would be sign off by the president herself. Which would definitely happen if Maria wanted this badly but would give her more than enough time to get off world and into a wormhole.
“I can still cancel your flight plan.”
Allison shook her head.
“Sorry dad, LSR license, I’m sure you can put a request in with the embassy to ask for it to be suspended temporarily but I’m not breaking any laws so… And I’m technically working on something in my capacity as an LSR Battlelord. So, stopping me from launching would be considered interference with LSR operations which could be a diplomatic incident.”
He dropped the secure case on one of her worktables.
“You are so grounded.”
Allison shrugged.
“Well, dad, umm, then you’d have to admit to mom why I’m grounded… and if you don’t I can tell her… so as I see it, there isn’t much you can do to me about this uh, thing. I mean, I have nothing to lose you’re already punishing me, you on the other hand…”
He hit her secure case with his fist.
“Allison, I’m not happy with this attitude.”
She shrugged.
“Dad, I love you, but I’ll deal with you being mad at me to get done what I’m trying to get done. You didn’t raise me to ignore people in need. I have to go. Love you, be home in a couple of hours!”
She hopped into her cockpit. He didn’t say anything else; He just placed a folder data storage device on her secure case. She waved to him before launching. She ran into no resistance during her launch, or wormhole transit. The planet was just the same as she recalled it was when she dropped the beacon off. Bit spoke as they arrived.
“Why are we here again?”
Allison found exactly what she was looking for, one of the alien ships had been caught in the orbit of a gas giant. It was easy to find, even a hundred thousand years later, it had power. Her lack of environmental armor would hamper her. There were other ships that crashed on moons she could probably find DNA on desiccated corpses but without environmental armor, something with atmosphere was the best option. On the class H planet, chances are they’d be long decayed after a hundred thousand years. She set a course and did a short FTL jump to the alien ship.
She did a slow flyby. It had no running lights. The ship had battle damage. Her enhanced sensors were showing interior atmosphere. She also detected several dead bodies floating in space. She could bring one with her for sure, just needed to tractor it through a wormhole. Bit spoke. Allison jumped. The whole scene was spooky.
“Allison, the ship’s hangar door has power, and I can open it, it is a very basic form of Qual’sa language and computer system.”
“Bit you scared me half to death. Open the hangar. If we can’t find any DNA we can grab one of those bodies.”
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
Bit focused the fighter’s spotlight on the hangar. It slowly opened. Allison swept Bit in for a soft landing. As the hanger closed the internal atmosphere rushed to fill in the large bay. All shuttles and fighters had apparently launched, leaving a large empty space. The lights flickered on and off as they struggled to maintain power. Allison pulled out her survival kit and grabbed the flashlight, pistol and survival knife. Bit’s scanners showed the atmosphere was still breathable, it wasn’t even stale.
“Insane how stuff is still working after so long.”
She hopped out of Bit and started making her way through the ship. The hangar bay seemed cavernous even on this small ship with all of the lights malfunctioning. She started recording immediately with her contacts. They didn’t auto-record now that she wasn’t active military. The hangar was on the bottom bow of the ship. It was centered and it was a ramp, rather than a sliding door. Likely the ship could land on a planetary surface and launch an armored division. The ship was on the scale of one of the System’s Alliance destroyers.
Her flashlight helped compensate for the lights that had failed in the intervening hundred thousand years. Some were on fully, some were just burnt out, others were struggling to work. Conduit hung from the ceiling in some parts. Some of the damage actually seemed to be older than the most recent battle. Damaged parts had been piled on the side of the gangway. Parts of it were metal, parts were organic. Allison spoke.
“Bit, is there an antimatter containment system on this thing?”
Bit took several moments to respond.
“Yes. It is aft, in the engine room. It seems there is no ejection method… Also, it appears they had no idea how to repair their own ship. Some of the damage is from a previous battle and would easily have been repaired by competent engineers but it is still there. Based on scans, it had been months.”
Allison pointed her flashlight at some of the organics.
“How about the organics, are they alive?”
“Yes. Mostly it is a chitin-like substance. Have you found any indications of remains?”
Allison shook her head then realized Bit wasn’t in front of her.
“No, nothing, a whole lot of nothing. Not even bacteria on my scanners, except for me. It’s not even dusty. I guess it wouldn’t be, it’s a mostly sealed spaceship. The air is clean too. No smells of note. The worst is carbon scoring from energy weapons fire. Seems like it was before the most recent battle.”
She found a room labeled armory in basic Qual’sa, a language she was very familiar with after a year and a half on their home world.
“Bit, could you open the armory door?”
The door shuddered and slid aside several moments later. The lights struggled to come on but then failed. She shone her flashlight around the room. Several of their energy rifles were still there. She felt the ship shudder around her.
“Bit? What just happened?”
Bit took several seconds to respond.
“The ship just powered its main thrustors and engines and is heading towards the gas giant. I’m afraid we’re stuck here unless we shoot our way out, it has locked down all access points and reinforced the shields at the hull breaches. Also, the interior hangar door has been magnetically sealed. I am afraid any attempts to escape will result in depressurizing a sizable portion of the ship.”
Allison frowned and picked up a pistol and a rifle.
“ETA to atmosphere?”
“It is slowly decreasing its orbit; Thirty minutes will be our point of no return.”
Allison sighed.
“Well that just means our timeline moved up. Interface with the computer and see if you can stop, whatever this is. Also, if you could find me some bodies, I’d really appreciate it.”
Allison retreated from the armory and continued exploring. The ship seemed to lack amenities. The quarters were functional at best. Still, she found no bodies. Bit was quiet and she could still feel the shuddering of the ship as it slowly edged closer to oblivion at the hands of the gas giant. Allison was halfway through the countdown to death when Bit spoke again.
“I have been unable to undo this atmospheric entry trajectory. There is some sort of autonomic function, like your lungs and heart. It operates underneath the ship’s operating system. It is locking out all access to all functions it is using. It is likely to protect it from what we’re trying to do. I have found bodies, but I do not believe we have time to complete the mission you’ve set out.”
Allison shook her head.
“No way, we’re doing this or we’re going to die trying.”
Bit sounded exasperated.
“Fine, sixty meters aft and twenty meters port you will find a room labeled cold storage. There are several remains in there, preserved by a cooling system.”
Allison rushed off towards cold storage and found it. There were other doors, it seemed like this was the cargo hold for the ship.
“Found it, can you open the door.”
The door slid open with some complaints. Allison was forced to kick some ice out of her way. Inside she saw several bodies of the chitin wearing aliens. She quickly cut off a sample of skin and put it in a sample container before retreating. Bit closed the door behind her.
“Let’s get out of here.”
Allison rushed towards the hangar bay but stumbled backwards as she was nearly crushed by an armored bulkhead. She fired the energy rifle which remarkably still had charge. It projected a bolt of red energy and bounced back towards her. She was forced to dive for cover.
“That was foolish, the door is magnetically sealed, energy weapons will just be deflected.”
Allison looked at her projectile pistol and sighed.
“Is there a way around? Service ducts? Air vents?”
“I am afraid not. The ship was not built with maintenance in mind. It would appear you are stuck. I will continue working.”
Allison slid down the wall of the passageway and sighed. Her timer started going negative eventually. Bit spoke.
“The ship is returning to orbit. Odd, all it did was scoop atmosphere.”
The sealed bulkheads started to open one by one. The lights that had been struggling before were burning brightly shortly thereafter. She checked her scanner.
“It looks like the ship was having power issues, now it’s not. What changed?”
Bit spoke shortly afterwards.
“It appears the reactor is producing a hundred-fold power increase. It is reaching nominal levels based on the computer. Allison, the wormhole generator could theoretically create a wormhole sizable enough for the ship to transit the event horizon without interacting with the funnel. Its main engines are being brought online. We could take this home.”
Allison bit her lower lip. Standard policy was to bring the ship to Pluto, but she had no authorization to travel there it was secure space. She shrugged.
“We’re here under an LSR flag, as I wasn’t ordered here, this salvage is mine by law. So… should we keep it? A warship under our belt could be helpful and I do own a corporation. Or could make one.”
Bit pondered for several minutes.
“You’re right. I will open a wormhole comm and arrange it. It still needs repairs.”
Allison shrugged.
“Yeah, but I bet you the Sal’nash Queen field will have no impact on its technology. It might be nice to have in our back pocket, that’s all I’m saying. Especially if it was designed for those morons to use it. Intelligence was not why they were selected by Aryni. I bet you could run it yourself.”
Bit interrupted her train of thought.
“Whatever happened used up a quarter of the remaining antimatter. I suspect it utilizes that in some fashion.”
Allison continued to move aft until she found the engineering section. What she found was something akin to a beating heart. The generator had veins wrapped around it. It pulsed with a pink light. A mulch of pink and green pumped through clear pipes into it.
“What the f… what am I looking at?”
“That is the power core. The mulch has a strange energy about it. I see now. The gasses it absorbed are used to produce an organic compound, which it uses to grow a high energy plant which it drains to power the core. There is a very primitive and inefficient antimatter generator that is used to prime the ship in the event of power failure to seek out a source of hydrogen which can be used to generate more organic matter. Allison, this ship is a cybernetic entity. Its organic components appear to be regenerating the hull as we speak. I see. The mechanical portion is not self-repairing. Our arrival must have drained the capacitors, and it was forced to generate more power to charge them. There is a conventional FTL drive, but there are some bio-mechanical parts I just do not understand. The ship’s base language is Qual’sa, but used in such a way a child would understand it. You should be able to pilot from the helm. I believe this ship was abandoned due to damage and crew loss but it was placed here so it could maintain itself until it recovered. Allison there are six incoming unrecognized FTL signatures. They have transited out of FTL, apparently our presence has been noticed by someone. I do not have any data on the ship configurations.”
Allison didn’t waste time.
“Have you gotten the layout yet? Can you plot me a path?”
Bit projected an interior layout of the ship for Allison and provided a line to follow. Allison took one more look at the strange organic generator and turned towards the hatch. She ran towards the bridge.
“Bit do anything you can to prep for us to get the hell out of here then launch. At best you can make a wormhole, at worst you’ll need to fly escort.”
Allison could hear the alien ships trying to communicate. It was hard to tell with alien languages if they were angry or it was the way they sounded. The language was unintelligible to her. She brought the ships up on the viewscreen. She swore under her breath, whoever they were must have been monitoring the system because they’d come out of FTL at a minimum safe distance from the gas giant. Bit with her stealth systems would have been invisible to most sensors and almost invisible to optical scanners. The alien ship she was on, apparently not so much.
She looked at the rest of the controls. Bit had been right. A six-year-old would have enough reading comprehension to understand what each control did. It was a basic Qual’sa interface, they weren’t holographic like System’s Alliance, they were physical. She powered on shields. Powered the weapon’s systems. The unknown alien weapons were projectile, and a railgun round glanced off her ship’s shields.
“Well, that was a warning shot. Bit target the Eden Prime wormhole beacon and go as soon as you can.”
Allison took a few moments to look over the ships she was facing. They had bulbus green hulls and bristled with weapons. Allison targeted the biggest and fired her own warning shot, the weapon was a strange blue bolt with a spiral of red around it. She couldn’t identify the weapon type, but the button basically said, small bolt. There were two more buttons big bolt and mega bolt. The small fleet that if she guessed she would describe as a cruiser a destroyer and two frigates, started to break formation. Allison grinned.
“Yeah, this dhampir has fangs.”
Bit spoke.
“Allison, they appear to be taking up a battle formation. Should I project the wormhole? There is a chance they could follow us.”
Allison sighed.
“Yes, I’d rather get this ship back then not. I’d also rather not get into an actual firefight in a ship I haven’t trained on with weapons I don’t understand. Why are you even asking?”
Allison began evasive maneuvers as rail gun slugs and missiles started coming her way. She pressed the button labeled protect. It seemed to be an effective phalanx defense system consisting of plasma balls. Blue streams of balls poured out from various small turrets and the missiles exploded at range. Allison grinned when she saw the tell-tale energy coursing over the wormhole projector arms. The wormhole appeared and Allison rushed through. Bit was forced to do some evasive maneuvering of her own when the ships and their recently launched fighter cover realized she existed after the energy build up.
Allison cruised out of the wormhole beacon’s safe area with Bit following her close behind. She tapped the command to show the aft view of the ship on the main display. She saw one of the frigates tip’s as it started to transit the wormhole.