I spent some time coasting us to a stop by the nearest pirate vessel, and allowed the repair drones to swarm over. I shifted my presence over to them occasionally, but unless I frame-jacked myself way up, I could not keep track of all the limbs they had spidering out, cutting her, grabbing there. Soon we had a steady stream of materials coming in and filling out our locker.

“Now may be a good time to get some sleep.” Hook told me.

“... Wake me as soon as anything changes.”

“I will Captain Cofey.”

I... willed myself out of synchronization with the ship, and there was a jarring disconnect as I was suddenly back in my body, arms that had folded out form the seat and rested against my skull were now retracting, and I blinked as I briefly had double vision.

I began to stand, and then collapsed back into the captain's seat.

“This sucks... Do all COG captains have to deal with this?”

“When coming down from 100% synchronization, yes. You need to remember how to use your body. The disorientation should pass soon.

I gingerly pushed myself to my feet, keeping a hand on the arm of the captain's chair to steady myself.

Everything felt WRONG, like the ship was my real body and now I was stuck in this.. sack of meat.

“This feels wrong.”

“How so?” Hook replied.

“It feels like the ship is my real body, and this is... a fake.”

“That... is a sensation not reported by the vast majority of COG Captains. We may need to move getting you to a medical facility up the priority list.”

“I mean, that will have to wait till we get back to COG space anyway right?”

“I have plotted multiple possible routes back to COG space, and all of them have independent planets on the route. There is one route in particular that has a fairly advanced independent planet that we can shuttle you down to to get medical attention.

“Um... Hook and Joe made it sound like the planets aren't really on good terms with the space faring factions. What with the conquering and having to provide tribute.”

“That would be correct, but their treatment of individual captains varies on a case by case basis.”

“So... is there a relatively COG friendly planet on the way?”

“About... three jumps away there is a fairly advanced planet that should have the medical knowledge and facilities to examine you and make a more in depth diagnosis. Your implants fixed what it could immediately detect as maladies, but if something requires a more nuanced approach...”

“I still need a doctor.”

“Correct.”

“What about the route? Is three jumps long?”

“they are short jumps, each jump should take between one and three days.”

“Is the jump length random or...”

“A little, the jump length is dependent on the distance between jump points, but instead of being a set time it is a range, the longer the jump the bigger the range. If you want to attack with a large fleet you need to gather 'close enough' to the enemy and either slow boat it in, or all jump together and HOPE that enough of the fleet arrives simultaneously.”

Alright... And on the route to the medical facility, planet.... what is its name?”

“New Brussles”

“Huh... that sounds a lot more normal than I as imagining.”

“The initial colonists were in fact from a collection of asiatic countries. The planet was found to have an amazing bioshpere, and it was very easy to coltivate for food production. The first ruling class of the planet eventually settled on the name Hou Ji, after the man who introduced Millet to Ancient China.”

“That seems rather specific.”

“It was one of the few names that all the different cultures on world were not vehemently opposed to. They have gone through several civil wars.”

“I see.... And they are okay with COG vessels landing?”

“They are okay with any vessel landing. Their constitution requires them to affect any reasonable aid to those who come to their planet in need. They also have a tendency to do in depth scans of everything that lands in the name of safety, but most of COG assumes they do it to gather what intelligence they can on new technology.”

“Is it a technological backwater?”

“Not at all, it's just, the amount of their budget they direct towards research is far outstripped by the actual technology they possess, and even the Traders don't give full technical specs of the equipment they sell. Better profit to sell the end product than teach them how to make it.”

“Okay... do we need to do anything special when we land to prevent COG technology from getting out? I assume that is a big no no.”

“Not particularly. All COG tech needs a captain, such as you, properly integrated to function properly, aside from things like the old Plasma Shotgun PDT's, and our printer's are... Let's say Eco-unfriendly. They could totally replicate our printers if they wanted, but they wouldn't have much of a biosphere left if they did.”

“I see. As with everything COG does, it is very Laissez-faire. “

“That pretty much describes the COG cultural Mindset to a T yes. You should go to bed Captain Cofey.”

I forced myself to my feet and stumbled out of the bridge and towards my room. At some point a repair drone had walked up next to me and was acting as something between a cane and a friend holding me up, at least until I reached the bed and face planted into it. I was asleep almost instantly.

***********************************************************************************

I awoke to Hook chiming in my ear.

“We have finished stripping the pirate vessel”

I blinked my eyes and sat up, looking around the room.

“How much did we get.”

“We were able to secure a significant amount of replacement parts, and many components that could be repurposed into refilling our repair drone stockpile.”

“Long shot but can the repair drone printer replace the combat drones we lost.”

“Negative, again, Hook preferred...”

“Specialized printers to generalized printers, I get it... what is the advantage over those specifically? I know it's more efficient but...”

“A generalized printer capable of printing repair drones safely and efficiently would be roughly ten times the volume of the current repair drone printer and take up similarly increased power, and a generalized printer capable of printing the same missiles our specialized printer does would be roughly one hundred times the volume of the current printer.”

“Jeez, okay... Is it because of the explosives?”

“It is in fact because of the explosives. Using a specialized printer allows for certain components to only ever be used for explosives, and that allows certain design characteristics around those components. A generalized printer needs to be able to shunt all of those around.”

“That means we could have a hundred different specialized printers and be able to make a hundred different missiles for the 'cost' of a single generalized printer.... It's no wonder Hook decided on the specialized printers.”

“For a vessel specialized in delivering missiles, I do believe It was the right call. It does come with some downsides though.”

“Oh? Such as?”

“You would have to completely replace any specialized printer if you wanted to make a new missile type, instead of just uploading new schematics to a generalized printer. Also, while you could make all the missiles you wanted, you would not be able to make a ship to mount them on.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

I paused.

“A printer of that size could print a whole ship?” I asked incredulously

“A small one yes, that could then build and grow itself with the small on board generalized printer. This IS how the vast majority of COG society functions. Captain-Hook's vessel, Me, just so happens to be a vessel designed for fights first, as she finds herself embroiled in them so often.”

I blinked as what Hook Told me sunk in.

“Most COG Captain's don't directly fight with their own ship do they. They send out ships they print with their generalized printers.”

“We used to. But AI installed on such ships is notoriously straightforward to hack. Not easy, but there are known ways to do it, so it is only a limited time before an AI is hacked unless they maintain connection to the captain who can act as an air gap and rectify any hacks that do make it through.”

“So... laser linked swarms with the COG Captain's ship as the flagship.”

“That is one answer, and a good one, it results in delayed actions however which enemies can exploit. Such swarms have a fairly low K/D ratio against other faction ships...”

“But I presume a better actual K/D ratio if you just count captains.”

“It is good enough that throwing resources at the enemy is considered an acceptable method of combat, however other methods have been tried. In chaotic combat environments where laser comms can easily be disrupted however, Hook's method of a single, sleek and well built combat vessel has proven to be the optimal combat choice for resources expended.”

“Save it puts the pilot in significant danger.”

“Yes. However As long as you have a recent backup, most COG pilots, Hook included, believe it to be worth the risk.”

“And that risk caught up to her.”

“Yes, Yes it did.”

I paused in silence.

“How many more pirate vessels are intact enough to be worth stripping.”

“Two are near enough to us and are relatively intact, the others have drifted apart from us and would take significant time to reach, especially if we also want to check Joe's vessel.”

“What was Joe's vessel's name.”

“CupAJoe.”

“You're kidding.”

“I am not.” Hook replied neutrally.

I let out a sigh.

“Let's go strip those pirate ships then.”

***********************************************************************************

The next two days were spent transiting to the different wrecks, then allowing Hook's drones to strip it bare. We managed to fully replenish our store of drones and we wound up adding an additional cargo bay to Hook to hold all of the materials we could use. The time had finally come to investigate Joe's vessel.

I was back on the bridge, connected to the ship, once more I was fully synchronized with the ship. It turns out I was unable to achieve anything less than 100% synchronization. Hook praised this, but I could not help but feel a little uneasy.

“Hook, how many people in your records have maintained a consistent 100% synchronization with their vessels.”

“Three of note Captain Cofey.”

“What happened to them.”

“That is unknown Captain Cofey, COG does not keep tabs on all of it's members as a matter of course.”

“Due to how independent minded most people in COG are I presume.”

“Among other things yes.”

“Hmm... So every other COG captain maintains... what about 50% synchronization?”

“Anywhere between 25-75% synchronization. All can reach 100% synchronization with drugs and other assistance, but not for long and tends to come with a lot of side effects.”

“I see... but I can't seem to dial down my synchronization.”

“Correct.”

“Are there side effects like the ones I've been getting? Vertigo and having to relearn my body?”

“No, well yes but more, nausea, vomiting, severe migraines and the like are common side effects of reaching 100% synchronization.”

“I see... When do other captains take those drugs? What about 100% synchronization makes it worth that.”

“Well for one you have complete awareness of the ship, as I am sure you have noticed by now. A captain 100% synchronized with their ship is not going to get blindsided by nearly anything, is able to react nigh instantly to any perceived threat, and is fully integrated with the ships databanks, allowing them to make use of any knowledge stored instantly.”

“I see, and at lower synchronization they cannot do that?”

“They still have similar abilities, but 100% synchronization is a fairly massive jump in effectiveness. One who is 100% synchronized can also frame jack themselves much higher than a partial synchronization.”

“But it does not really help with tasks like this, flying around and setting up salvage of Joe's vessel.”

“Ah... no. Not so much. I don't think any COG pilot would willingly put themselves through the rigors of 100% synch just to salvage a ship.”

“Lucky me then.”

I said, my mind wandering as I absentmindedly put us in a parking orbit near Joe's vessel.

I had only done it twice before but it seemed routine by now, extremely easy and intuitive.

I focused in on the ARK ship, where I had resided for the last five hundred years, while the repair drones began deploying and moved themselves over to Joe's ship.

“So why was this ship left for so long? Civilization has been building and advancing out here for two hundred years, but people are only just now trying to wake all of the cryogenically frozen people?”

“From what I can tell of the records, when this vessel attempted to make landfall, each planet it went to already had a population and refused them landing. It continued on through unexplored hyperlanes until it arrived here.”

“That's... That is very sad, and actually makes me angry at the planetary governments here.”

“They had scant resources and did not want competition.”

“I know, that doesn't make what they did alright.”

“Just remember Captain, that was 200 years ago. Most of the people in power then are long gone.”

“Just most?”

“Well, most who were in power are not in power on the planets. Those who achieved immortality through cloning, augmetic transcendence, or Alliance gene-modding are probably still around in space.”

“Augmetic Transcendence?”

“That is what most of COG refers to achieving immortality through augmentation and storing backups as yes.”

“Sounds like COG has a bit of a religion tied in with augmentation.”

“I could not say for certain. I believe it's just a basic attribute of humanity to create religions out of things important to them.”

“Possible. Okay. I'm going to put on a suit and go over to Joe's ship to check it out while the repair drones are scrounging everything.”

“It is ill advised for the captain to leave the ship in unsafe space. If we are attacked we will be unable to defend ourselves.”

“I'll be quick, I'll ride one of the drones over then ride back.”

“What is the purpose of this?”

“One, I am quickly learning that this ship is very different from most COG ships, and I want to investigate that for myself, and two... I liked Joe, I want to see where he lived, and if he had any keepsakes he might want returned. Also three you did say there were defenses that needed to be breached if we wanted to take components out wholesale and not just scrap.”

“Understood captain, by your command.”

I made a face.

“You know where that phrase comes from?”

“I do.” Hook said Evily

I made a face, then went to put on a vacuum suit.