As they left the planet and started moving towards the jump point, Jordi saw that the Espurna was pushing its drives, as if trying to catch up with the kirkugger that had left before them.
Sitting comfortably on the bridge, with a hand over Ryoshi, he had to ask.
“Ok Friday, what is going on? Why the sudden hate towards that other ship?” - he asked.
“Because!” - she said, sounding frustrated - “Turns out Jeeyze’s species are telepaths. Usually they hide their communication with the ship AIs but, as she and I are one, she couldn’t hide it.” - she explained.
“And from what I could hear they are extremely sexist. That ship is a male and said things like ‘I don’t know why you and yours are coming, at all’ or ‘You’ll be a bother, don’t get in the way’ and stuff like that. Even now he’s still spewing shit so I want to show him what a lady can do. And if he eats an asteroid I won’t be sad, like at all” - she finished.
Jordi took a deep breath. He had read about sexist societies and the pain inflicted in the badly called weak sex, he was also aware that humankind had been like that for centuries but his formation under the Empire had never given a chance for those thoughts to form; he found himself unprepared for this conversation.
“I know what you’re thinking right now” - said Friday in a more amicable tone - “Or at least I can imagine what thoughts are racing through your mind right now. Don’t bother, is not like you can imagine and I’m myself are actually feeling Jeeyze thoughts and feels, which is a new and disgusting experience to be honest”
“Let’s try to focus on the mission then. I understand but cannot imagine your pain and, probably, what I’m saying reeks of insensitivity. Still, we do have a mission, and an important one at that; and I know both you and Jeeyze will show them who’s the best before we are finished” - Jordi interceded - “Heck, I’m more worried about you both going overboard and me trying to somehow hide how much advanced and better you are from the others”
“Lest we forget, we all know the kurkiggers true origins, with everything it entails” - he continued - “How many out there do you think know the whole truth?”
“That’s… actually a good point. Jeeyze says thank you though.” - said Friday.
The Espurna stopped burning so hard and went back to a more common speed. From the ship communication system came out some sentences that Jordi was sure Friday didn’t intend to, like “this fucker is still going on” or “yeah yeah, laugh now, you’ll be crying before long you disgusting piece of desicated shit”.
So Jordi decided to leave Friday alone with Jeeyze and checked the system they were traveling to by himself.
It was a standard system with a blue star and five planets, two of them in the goldilocks zone and one had a huge research base on it.
There were two gas giants and a dead rock the size of Venus; it looked like Luna but bigger. Probably a moon that some event had kicked out of orbit and had been trapped in this one, it was barely spinning too.
The coordinates they had been given were far from the normal jump point of that system. The jump point was between the two planets in the goldilocks zone but the coordinates they got would put them almost at the edge of the system, near one of those gas giants.
“Jump will start in a minute” - said Friday with a monotonous tone.
Jordi looked through the bridge main window and saw the tail of the other kirkugger jump. He prepared mentally for the feeling - it had been a while since his last jump - and, without realizing, grabbed Ryoshi, who looked at him.
The blinds came down, he heard the engines switch and then felt in his stomach the jump. He waited a few seconds and decided to go lay down on his bed, carrying a Ryoshi that was just happily moving her tail.
The moment he touched the bed he felt his consciousness slip. By the Emperor! How much he loved that bed!
Friday let him sleep for as much as he needed, they had eighteen hours in jump space and there was no chance that he would ever sleep that much.
—
When he woke up he felt strange at first then recognized the view of his room in the Espurna and saw a meowing Ryoshi standing on his belly.
“Good morning girl” - he said smiling and tapping her head - “And good morning Friday, how long have I been out?”
“Just short of seven hours, you probably did lots of exercise to need that much rest” - she answered. She knew exactly how much and what type of exercise he had been doing, but she wasn’t going to tell him that.
He stood up and felt his muscles were sore all over, he would probably need a couple more days to fully recover.
“I’m going to take a quick shower. Could you set up some coffee and a light breakfast? Also, and I know this is a stupid question, I saw some specific drones in the mission details, I’m guessing we have already twenty or so prepared?” - he inquired
“I only manufactured 15. We have other drones that I think will be needed. In any case the mission details said they would have a couple of materials ships, so that’s more than enough to feed a fleet of kirkuggers” - she answered
“As I said, a stupid question” - said Jordi smiling, and went to take his shower.
On long missions they had to ration the ship’s water so his showers were a mix of water and high pressure vapor, but now they had a full tank so he enjoyed a good hot shower with pressure exactly as he liked it.
Once he finished the shower he went to the kitchen and found the coffee and a couple of toasts with cheese spread on them ready for him. He sat on the stool and enjoyed it, feeling being back home as nowhere he had been before.
“You have no idea how much I’ve missed you” - he said out loud.
If Friday had been able to blush she would be doing so, she started to discover some new feelings instead.
Once finished he moved to the leisure room and sat on the coach. Ryoshi took no time to sit by his side and lay down with eyes closed and purring.
Jordi tried to find more information about the system they were going to, the research station, anything at all, but to no avail. Everything was labeled as classified.
He checked the time, they still had about ten hours before reaching their destination so he switched off the main screen and decided to spend part of that time chatting with Friday.
He shared his experiences on the planet. The food, the musical, he even talked about Er’anie.
Friday felt the pain of jealousy when he was talking about her. The way he described her, the unsaid words about how he felt, it was too much.
Still, she stoically applied logic to his worries and did her best to console him.
Then he talked about the karkles and the krlners, although he used the human word dragonkin to refer to them.
“I would say you’ve had quite an interesting and eventful holiday” - said Friday.
“Yeah, you can say that again. But still, I’m happy to be here with you all, this is where I belong” - he answered
Pride. That was what Friday felt at that moment, there was no mistaking it. She had made a home for him to come back to and that’s about all she could do for him as a ship’s AI.
But, deep inside her, she wanted to be more, she knew she did.
She had already taken some pictures and videos of both Honey and Er’anie and she had to admit they were similar in some aspects.
It was probably their facial features. If someone were to draw them they would start with a pretty similar base for both of them.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Big, honest eyes with a small but a bit pointy nose and a big smile over an angled face, with sharp and thin but expressive eyebrows.
Basically, he had a type. Friday felt like that was important and saved the data on a private folder in her system.
—
The moment they left jump space the Espurna received instructions to move to a set of coordinates not far from where they were.
Their scans told them there were about two hundred ships in the vicinity, ninety per cent of those were kirkuggers.
But close to the gas giant, extremely close and in geostationary orbit, there was a massive hospital ship with a couple light frigates and a couple material freighters by its side.
The kirkuggers were either completely dipped in the gas giant atmosphere or leaving that space.
“We have an incoming priority communication” - said Friday. Other AIs would be obliged to pass that without warning but Friday was not a normal AI, she had awakened, so she could do whatever the fuck she wanted. Still, she and Jordi prefered that they followed proper procedures.
Xe’nia’s face appeared on the bridge screen.
“Hello Jordi. I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon” - she said with a smile, then her face turned serious - “First, a warning. I’ve read about your, let’s say discoveries. Neither you, nor your ship - both the AI and the mind underneath - must inform anyone about the reality of how kirkuggers are made” - she said.
“I know you had been warned before but this is different” - she continued - “We rarely have so many kirkuggers in the same place and for good reason.”
“I understand” - said Jordi solemnly - “And they do too” - he finished.
“Good” - Xe’nia said with that smile of hers again - “See that they do. Now for the mission.”
“This sun has gone nuts, we are still in the process of understanding what is going on and why is happening.” - she started explaining - “The thing is, the sun's rotation is accelerating and is emitting some radiation that goes through our shields. We already have a few hundreds of beds occupied with injured ones”
“The kirkugger shields are different though. As you - and probably, only you among the explorers - know, the biological systems of the species underneath work with our shielding technology in a way that we haven’t been able to duplicate. They recover incredibly fast and only a hit that overloads both can injure the ship” - she continued - “From what we’ve seen, this gas planet atmosphere helps those kirkuggers who have received a good dose of radiation and, after an hour or so, they can go back”
“Now for the issue at hand. We have a couple ships that got stuck at the start of the sun’s change and they have about a thousand people each. We also have about twenty thousand in a research center on the first planet. We are aware the kirkuggers can hold up to thirty people at most so this is basically a logistics mission”
“The kirkuggers mission is to collect as many people as possible and bring them here. This gas giant protects us from the radiation but we don’t know for how long since the sun rotation is gaining speed and its radiation gets farther and farther as the spinning accelerates”
“I’ve sent your ship the locations of those who need urgent rescue. Mark one and do your best. We have some communication drones all over the system and I’m coordinating everyone from here. Once we detect your ship has received too much radiation we will have you come back to rest for a while. Rinse and repeat. Any doubts?” - she asked, finishing.
“All clear. Just send us the coordinates and we’ll start straight away” - Jordi answered.
“Good. Good luck and be safe, I know one who would be sad if something happened to you” - she said and terminated the call.
“What the fuck?!” - Jordi exclaimed - “Like I needed to hear that now..”
“I would think she said that so you had something to look forward to and also. after the way you said your goodbyes, so you know she’s looking forward to seeing you again” - said Friday with a smile on her voice.
“That makes sense.” - he said after thinking about it for a couple seconds - “Ok, let’s move and please tell Jeeyze to keep her thoughts away from the others”
“She heard everything and understands the gravity of the situation, don’t worry” - answered dryly Friday.
—
As the Espurna was moving as fast as the engines allowed inside the system, Jordi took a look at the current situation, with the amount of drones deployed he had almost instantly status updates.
Between the two planets in the goldilocks zone was where the action was. There were two massive ships surrounded by a couple hundred kirkuggers.
Some of those were located in grid formation and quite close to the massive ships, acting as a radiation shield between them and the sun.
Some kirkuggers were flying towards that grid, most surely to replace the ones that had absorbed the most radiation.
Then there were the ones docked to those massive ships, about 4 each, and a good line of kirkuggers waiting their turn to load and leave.
And finally there was a long line going back and forth from and to the first planet, about 50 ships on every way.
In the expanded system map there was also a red circumference marking the edge of the radiated space.
Jordi checked their speed and saw that it would take them about an hour to get to the ships, and an hour and a half to get to the first planet.
They had been told not to use the jump in radiated space because they weren’t sure how opening a door to another dimension could affect the radiation and the sun, so that left them with the in-system engine but he felt it was not fast enough.
“Friday, we’re already at our top speed, right?” - he asked.
“And then some. We’re at 120% and Jeeyze tells me she can go like that for a while. She insists that she will get too irradiated before getting tired of going this fast, and since a rest is already planned this is ok. She wants to try at least one full journey and see how it goes, I trust her on this” - Friday answered.
Jordi was frustrated, this was the worst part about space, how massively huge it was and how slow their speeds were still.
So he stayed there, on the bridge, looking at the big screen and the movements of all the other ships.
He called for some video from communication drones closer to the massive ships and the view was astounding.
All those kirkuggers on grid formation, showing one full side to the sun and receiving that mysterious radiation that would burn normal ships.
“We’re about to enter the radiated zone, shields are at full and we’re positioned so we receive the least amount of impact” - said Friday bringing him back to reality.
And the moment they crossed that red line in the map the Espurna trembled.
“Ok, that hurt a bit at first, but the shielding is attuning with Jeeyze and she feels better now.” - informed Friday.
Jordi looked again at the display. All those hundreds of kirkuggers, all going through that pain to save as many beings as possible. What the hell had happened here?
—
As they were approaching the two massive ships they were passed by a few kirkuggers that were either bringing back Empire citizens or coming back to rest after a shielding shift and Jordi zoomed on some of them. They clearly showed some burns in their exterior that were already healing.
He didn’t have to ask, he felt Jeeyze’s feelings. Nervousness for the pain she was about to go through, pride of what her species were capable of and her indomitable will to do whatever was necessary.
He felt it basically because she accelerated just a bit more.
Their first task was going to be to pick up some survivors. Xe’nia had set it up this way because, even though all kirkuggers were based on the same species, they were all different beings and thus had different sensitivity to the radiation.
Depending how resistant they were they would be assigned for a shielding shift in their next journey.
They reached the two massive ships and put themselves in line with the others waiting to dock.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t just blow a hole and dock there, even with the other ships shielding them some radiation could pass and it looked like it was lethal for most beings.
So they had to use the existing docking ports and others that the techs on those ships had been able to create with their tools and the time they had already spent here.
From the looks of it the operation had been going for a few hours already and, luckily, all the critically injured had been already evacuated. What was left were those who could still move about.
While they were waiting Jordi used that time to free as much space as he could on the ship. Packing the gym equipment, putting the couch of the leisure room towards the wall. It would be good if he could carry one or two more on each journey. He also prepared some drinks and healing blankets that Friday had been assembling.
When their turn arrived, he was at the door and Friday maneuvered perfectly into position.
The door opened and a rush of beings started to come inside, in an orderly manner but as quick as their feet or whatever appendages they used to move allowed them.
There was an armored Ki’rlenn on the massive ship door helping people go through with their two sets of arms, they looked at Jordi and saluted with a quick movement of their head.
It showed that they had been given a map of his ship because they all knew where to go. Using every space in the kitchen, his room, the gym and the leisure room.
“We can fit three more!” - said a voice close to the bridge and the Ki’rlenn turned their head back and instructed three more to board.
“That’s it, next!” - the Ki’rlenn shouted, and Friday closed the doors and started moving towards the gas planet as fast as the Espurna could go.
Jordi turned his head and for the first time was aware of the current situation, with thirty five beings of all kinds just sitting or standing everywhere on his ship.
He was sure they could’ve fitted more, but the amount of oxygen on the ship was another variable to take into account and Xe’nia had run the numbers.
Fit more and the kirkuggers will need too much time to regenerate the amount of oxygen needed, and this was their first journey of many.
“Probably to see how much the Espurna can handle, maybe the next journey we load a lot more and the third one we do the shielding while regenerating oxygen” - Jordi thought.
Jordi started distributing drinks for everyone and attempting to give comfort, but as an introvert that was kind of a nightmare for him. Still he was doing his best to offer as much relief as he could.
For her part, Jeeyze was putting everything on her speed. He had explored other systems but never before had felt the ship moving as fast as she was now. It showed her eagerness to do more and possibly, to escape the radiated zone as soon as she could.
—
They docked on the hospital ship and the 35 passengers left the Espurna, thanking them as they left.
Jordi received a ping on his wrist-pad and went to the bridge to find a communication waiting for him.
Xe’nia appeared on the screen, dark shadows showing under her eyes.
“Quite good for a first trip. And our scans say that your ship is in pristine state, not affected by the radiation at all.” - she said.
“So, next one, you’re going to the planet” - she continued - “Keep in mind the planet is deeper inside the radiated zone and the docking and load will be a bit more complicated. Good luck and see you in a few hours.” - she finished and terminated the call.
They received a flight path and instructions about how to access and dock into the research station. This was going to be tricky.