Allison tapped in the commands to launch and go transatmospheric. It took her seconds to reach space. She flipped the fighter so she could see Eden Prime.

“Bit send a message to my mother we’re about to transit to FTL.”

Allison flipped the fighter as she completed an orbit of Eden Prime and angled bit for her jump to lightspeed. The fighter transited into the blue-white tunnel. Allison noticed the holo-HUD was indicating arrival to Andromeda-1 in thirty seconds.

“Bit emergency stop!”

The fighter transited out FTL of immediately and started to spin out until Allison got her hands on the controls. She leveled the fighter to what the HUD indicated was the galactic horizon.

“Ensign, what is the matter?”

Allison started going through her calculations for the FTL jump. There was nothing wrong. Everything was set properly; She’d set the speed variable to her authorized maximum FTL velocity rating. Everything was right but it had calculated her maximum rating as ten times her actual rating as a human.

“Bit, what is wrong with our connection with System’s Alliance medical, it has my Max FTL rating as 100 light years per hour. We’re lucky I’m not dead. Check my bio signs please. My holo-phone is malfunctioning.”

Bit took several seconds to respond.

“Ensign, you’re in good health. Better than you have been in the entire time I’ve known you. Your new classification as a dhampir means you are rated for 100 light years per hour. Your body and mind are more durable than a human. You could theoretically make the trip across the galactic divide in three System’s Alliance standard years. Congratulations.”

Allison took a few minutes to calm down from her panic attack about her impending death.

“Whew, I wish you’d told me that five minutes ago!”

“You didn’t ask.”

Allison noticed something on her scanners.

“Bit, is that a planet? We shouldn’t be near any celestial bodies; This is interstellar space.”

Bit rapidly flashed different star charts over the holo-HUD.

“We have no records of anything here. Standard orders are to investigate any anomalies.”

Allison sighed.

“I’m going to be late for my meeting. Open wormhole comms.”

“That will use up all antimatter in magnetic containment.”

Allison shrugged.

“And if something dangerous is down there and no one can find us, we’ll be really screwed.”

“Opening a comm-link.”

Allison waited until the wormhole connection link icon on her HUD said established.

“This is Skull Ten, during a test of emergency FTL all stop systems I encountered a rogue planet. I have included galactic coordinates for the location and projected trajectory of the rogue planet. I am halfway between origin point and plotted destination. I have an appointment. I am out of antimatter so I will not be able to communicate once I shut this wormhole down either to proceed to destination or investigate the planet. I need instructions on next steps.”

She heard Ajay’s voice through comms, and she groaned. Why did he have to be on duty? She hoped he wouldn’t screw with her after their encounter earlier in the day. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized he wouldn’t be there alone. Unlike her he’d only finished basic and was likely rotating through on the job training in various trades to determine his next course.

“Home field responding to request for instructions. Please stand by.”

Allison tapped her fingers on her thighs while she waited. It took a full fifteen minutes. Ajay’s voice came through again. He sounded scared? Intimidated? Either way there was a quiver in his voice.

“Dead Girl advises: Use caution. Proceed with standard scan, surface flyover use your own discretion on further investigation, once satisfied you have exhausted your avenues of investigation, proceed to rendezvous.”

“Skull Ten acknowledges change in orders. Proceeding to rogue planet. Closing wormhole.”

Allison cut her comm line.

“Bit, disengage wormhole. Warm up the scanners. Prepare graviton drive for maximum thrust. I don’t want to waste any more time here than we have too. I’ve seen enough dead and dying planets to last me a lifetime.”

Bit didn’t respond verbally, she just shifted all gravitic energy to the drive core and showed the power shift on the HUD. Allison accelerated.

The drives that the fighter used was based on shifting gravity forward and backwards, up and down. Allison was no expert but the general principle was it the fighter’s mass was brought down to near zero relative to the space around it and then a tube of gravity was used to propel it forward. It was the reason it could reach near light speed without the FTL drive. It could be used anywhere, space, planetary atmosphere, and even underwater. Though within gravity wells speeds were limited because the mass cancellation was also limited. Synthlin tech that humans had developed on their own long before they met the Synthlin. Allison had heard rumors R&D was working on weaponizing it. Of course they were, if it could be made into a weapon, humans would definitely make one. Even with no apparent threats besides the distant threat of the Silwrath. Though the Sal’nash might be their next boogie man.

Allison sighed and decelerated a few seconds after she initiated full burn as her ancestors would call it. Not that anything burned with the graviton drive besides some easily replaceable hydrogen particles and fusion byproducts.

“Bit transfer power to shields and weapons. Engage missiles, just in case.”

Bit did so as Allison descended into the thick atmosphere of the rogue planet. Early scans indicated it was terrestrial. An example of runaway greenhouse gas. An alert flashed on her screen that the atmosphere was thick with carbon dioxide and volatile organic compounds. Above the thick layer of gases was a layer of oxygen and ozone. That actually could support life as the Alliance knew it. Surface temperatures were a mean thirty degrees Celsius.

“Crazy, I could wear shorts and a t-shirt, if I could breathe carbon dioxide. Scan for geothermal activity Bit, it’s the only reason I could think it would still be this warm.”

The fighter struggled against the atmosphere and air currents. Once she was in the densest parts of the planet’s atmosphere it was almost like she was flying through liquid. It was brighter than she expected. Likely due to the amount of electrical activity in the cloud layer. A few zaps had cracked against her shields, but they held easily, she wasn’t so sure how well Bit would survive without them. Finally, she punched through it, the surface was pitch black save for her fighter’s lights. Energy readings flared to life all around her.

“What the hell is that? Are we being tracked?”

Bit replied in the negative.

“No, stealth systems are engaged. I’m reading a Synthlin warning beacon. This planet is considered a class HM1 threat according to my records and the beacon. It is a hyper-matter exhaust waste dump. Those energy readings are magnetic containment units. I apologize you humans refer to it as antimatter.”

Allison’s eyes went wide.

“There… must be enough antimatter down there to wipe out a solar system. Why the hell would they just dump it like this? This could power our fleet and our wormholes for thousands of years. This is worth an incalculable amount of credits. And it’s extremely dangerous! That beacon should be warning us within light years not when we breach atmosphere!”

Bit sounded almost amused when she responded.

“Ensign the only species foolhardy enough to utilize hyper-matter exhaust or antimatter as you call it as a power source and weaponry are the humans. The rest find planets like this and dump it, or dump it into stars in small quantities. I am detecting… Sal’nash traces. Large structures all over the planet. Possibly hives?”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Allison hung her head.

“Can you get eyes inside?”

“Negative. We were not deployed with drones so we have no probe launchers.”

“Well, we weren’t supposed to be investigating an antimatter dump infested with Sal’nash either, were we? Shift power to optical cloak from weapons systems and shields. I don’t think a couple of particle beams are going to do much against a swarm of ravenous bug things that can tear through ship hulls, well unless we want to blow up too. Guess we need to investigate further, or Major Ghai will get mad at us. Need to know what kind of threat this planet poses before we send a fleet. So like… what are the chances we can transfer antimatter from one of the containment vessels to our containment to open up comms?”

“None without catastrophic containment failure that will result in our deaths and the destruction of this planet. Please refrain from trying.”

Allison sighed.

“You could have just said, no. Yesh.”

Allison started a low fly over. The antimatter containment vessels were covered in some sort of black organic matter. She couldn’t get a good look at it from above. She pulled away when they got within a kilometer of the large hive like structures. With a groan she realized she was going to have to land and take physical samples and possibly check the inside of the hive.

“What I wouldn’t give for a holo web right now.”

“Your new armor is equipped with one. The device inserted near the top of your chest is a holographic web that is integrated with your suit and your holo-phone. It is powered by the suit’s power source, which I have been unable to ascertain the nature of. It also forms some sort of force shield to protect you from vacuum, extreme temperatures and extreme pressures.”

“Fancy. I guess the President really does like me.”

Allison swept the fighter around and brought it in for a soft landing in what appeared to be a crater that resulted from a failed antimatter canister. Allison looked out at the dark planet.

“You know, I was afraid of the dark when I was little. This place is reminding me why.”

Allison checked her kit and then tried to figure out how to get the helmet on.

“Go go helmet!”

Her face twisted in concentration as she tried to make a helmet form. She grumbled when nothing happened.

“Look you stupid armor I’m going outside!”

Bit laughed.

“I do not believe it is intel-”

The helmet slipped over Allison’s head which made her jump because she felt like the armor was eating her. The armor’s own HUD interfaced with her contacts and vanished.

“Bit, will this Qual’sa weapon ignite anything?”

Bit displayed a diagram of the pistol on the HUD and showed the slider that controlled the yield of the blast, and an indicator where it would be safe to hit one of the containment vessels without detonating it. Allison followed the instructions.

“Will it even hurt the Sal’nash now?”

Bit made a non-committal sound then responded.

“As you humans say, its likely just to piss them off. It is a stun setting.”

Allison shrugged.

“Not like my service side arm did anything to them and a bullet through a containment vessel would be just as bad.”

She sighed and pulled herself up. The cockpit canopy lifted up and Allison hopped down the ladder that formed with practiced ease. Training to get in and out of the fighter while cloaked was also standard for SASN pilots.

“Alright, here goes. Gravity seems pretty normal. Don’t know why I’m surprised. It does feel weird though. I wonder if it’s because it’s not rotating. Anyone else encountered a rogue planet before?”

Allison paused before she corrected herself.

“Anyone else from the System’s Alliance I mean.”

“No, you are the first, Ensign.”

Allison grumbled as she pulled out her grappler and shot it at the edge of the crater. It bit into the rock at the bottom and top. She used it to climb up.

“Couldn’t have given me armor with thrusters in it to replace my other one, could they? Like one of those nifty power armors the space marines get. Nope, guess us pilots don’t get enough exercise sitting in our comfy cockpits. At least this stuff is lighter, if a bit… revealing.”

Bit laughed.

“You have lost some muscle mass since basic training. It would not hurt to include more PT in your schedule.”

Allison blushed.

“Are you calling me fat?”

“No, just indicating your muscle mass has decreased. It could be a result of further changes due to puberty. It is common for females of your base species to gain more fatty tissue to prepare for childbearing.”

Allison was getting a bit incredulous at this point. An AI made by what amounted to clumps of intelligent cells that piloted power armor was advising her on her growth and biology?

“Are you seriously giving me the birds and the bee’s talk?”

“No, your infatuation with the female human earlier would indicate the chances of you needing that conversation are lower than expected.”

Allison was halfway through her climb, she paused, her cheeks were burning at this point.

“Trixie? Eew, no, I hate her. She got me sent to the headmistress’s office in like thirteen minutes. She’s a snotty Earther. She has no clue what it takes to survive on the frontier outside of her cozy little domes. Oh, and she has a stripper name. No way. Even if I did like girls, which I’m pretty sure I don’t…. Just eew”

“While anger could explain your heightened heart rate when she touched you, it does not explain why your bodies stress response went down and showed signs of arousal. My scans indicate the attraction is mutual by the way, Ensign. Just engaging in this conversation is causing these signs all over again.”

Allison continued her climb again.

“No! Totally not. It’s because I’m a dhampir and blood drinking is linked to arousal. I think. And she has blood. That’s it. That’s all.”

“You are showing indications of dishonesty, Ensign.”

Allison growled.

“I swear, I need a new computer, a VI. Gah. Why would you put an AI in a fighter if you weren’t just going to get it to pilot the damn thing?”

Bit laughed softly.

“Very well we shall change topics. That is because AI’s lack the chaos factor of organic sentients. While I can perform every single maneuver perfectly an equivalent AI with an equivalent chassis can do the same. This leads to a stalemate. AI’s also lead to strange outcomes that are predictable but sentients who create them refuse to project. I believe humans call this phenomenon as rose-colored glasses?”

Allison was panting after she pulled herself up over the edge of the crater. She was in peak physical shape, mostly, but scaling a three-hundred-foot cliff had been exhausting. Not as exhausting as she had expected though. Her armor’s charge showed eighty percent on her HUD.

“Can we table this for a second, does this armor have enhanced strength or something?”

“Yes. That is in the specs I was able to access. Also that it can form weaponry from the plates, and this should come as a welcome surprise, can slow descent with electromagnetic wings.”

Allison nodded.

“Great, so rose-colored glasses. Go on.”

Allison trudged across the broken and cracked surface of the planet. All the moisture seemed to be in the air. She kneeled down and used her hand scanner on a handful of soil.

“This is full of biological process byproducts, but there are no signs of any life.”

Bit continued their previous conversation.

“Take for example the memory you described in your last report. I posit an Artificial intelligence was responsible for the decision to bombard the planet and kill that army. Sentient’s lack the necessary logic.”

Allison made a buzzer sound.

“Humans would totally do it. Especially if the army was already lost. Needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Total human philosophy. If killing an army of a hundred thousand would save billions, I’d make that call. I wouldn’t want too.”

Bit made a sound as if she were pondering Allison’s words.

“You humans continue to surprise me. No race in the League would have made that choice. Therefore, in this case it must have been an AI.”

Allison pulled out a tube from her utility belt and filled it with a sample of earth then stood up.

“So, what you’re saying is, you need me to inject chaos into your tactics?”

“Precisely. It was something the Synthlin learned a long time ago. There were a few races that developed AI’s that were destroyed by their own creations that resulted in the League having to intervene and wipe out the sentient constructs.”

Allison continued down the path she was following towards the hive. Her next stop was a cluster of antimatter containment units.

“So why didn’t you turn on the Synthlin then? They left you sitting somewhere for hundreds of thousands of years.”

“Simply that they treated us like other sentient beings instead of slaves. Much like you treat me. A fellow officer and a friend. It is smart that humans stick with VI’s for their other fighters and ships. It is also intelligent to refrain from AI research. Your history is littered with humans enslaving and taking advantage of other humans, I see no reason they wouldn’t do that to an AI.”

Allison moved her head side to side as she walked.

“Fair point. I’m surprised you’re allowed to exist still. I’m betting the Dark Mother had something to do with that.”

“She did in fact. She was a noble soul.”

Allison stopped in her tracks.

“Wait, you met her?”

Bit laughed.

“Of course. She is the one who found me and my companions at the Synthlin base. You have a lot in common with her. She complained a lot. Tended to resort to violence before talking and she also had red hair.”

Allison stuck her tongue out.

“My hair is auburn; I have a soul thank you.”

“As you say, Ensign.”

Allison continued her trek across the barren planet.

“That is AI for, I’ll let you keep your delusions intact puny human.”

“I do not see the point in arguing about it, you’ll continue your denials as you did during the discussions about Trixie.”

Allison rolled her eyes and slowed her pace when she saw the canisters on the horizon. She lifted her hand scanner.

“There is way more to that Trixie thing then you know. And I’m not allowed to talk about it. President’s orders.”

She looked over the scan results.

“Double check this for me, but like, is that a Sal’nash huddled over that thing? And there is no… antimatter?”

“I do not believe so, if you narrow the scanning band, I predict you will see it is just inert Sal’nash organic material. But yes, there is no antimatter in those containers.”

Allison followed the instructions and confirmed Bit’s findings.

“Yep. Well… lets go see what’s what.”

She moved forward and took a closer scan. The Sal’nash organic material appeared to be a hard black substance. Scans said harder than their chitin. She picked up a chunk and slid it into a sample pouch and sealed it. They were each three feet in diameter and clustered on top of the antimatter containers. She reached into one and was able to touch the metal inside. When she brought her hand back out it was covered in green goo. She held it up in the light of her hovering flashlight.

“Disgusting, and still wet. The canisters are all covered in them. They’re all… what are these? Are they eggs?”

Her armor’s movement detector started going off. She saw several small pings.

“Uh Bit, I’m not alone.”

Allison pulled out her pistol.

“Ensign, if you discharge your weapon the energy pulse may alert the hive…”

Allison didn’t pay Bit’s warning much heed. She shifted the power setting to max. If these were Sal’nash she’d shoot first and worry about the hive later. She heard the skittering first on her translator via its hearing enhancement. She waved her pistol in front of her looking for a target.