chapter 94
POV: Lola
“We will make it to the ship in approximately 10 minutes.”
All of us relaxed as soon as we heard that. There was a bit of a panic when we lost contact with Captain and Dean’s squad.
Remi did send a morse code type message telling us to continue to act like nothing was wrong, but it was so hard not to try to help them, especially when we felt Dean and his squad disappear from the space all bonded with the Captain could perceive.
We could now see them again, which especially relaxed Sam. The wait was excruciating, but finally from the cameras I could see them returning. Then we all heard Captain’s order.
“Prepare for takeoff,” all of us immediately started to move.
The motion around the ship was instant. Everyone was moving around, going through their task lists for emergency takeoff.
I personally didn’t have much to do, but I helped as much as possible, coordinating tasks as some finished them before others so they could help finish some of the tasks not on their list.
I contacted Bob, as he still had quite a lot of cargo outside.
“Do you need more workers to bring the rest of the things inside?” I asked him and almost immediately got the response.
“No, the Captain said to keep them out. Says it's highly unlikely that we will be leaving right away.”
That confused me a bit. Didn’t we just murder five people who were probably a part of a larger organisation? Of course, I still didn’t know a lot of the details, but none of this seemed good.
Finally, the Captain entered the command bridge, Dean following him closely. I expected Sam and Dean to hug or something, but they didn’t do anything besides giving a small nod to each other.
“Captain, are you alright? What exactly happened?”
He then explained what happened, and I felt a cold shiver, something that I should not be able to feel. Just the thought of being ripped away from Captain felt repulsing.
“Captain, why were our minds still connected to yours even though we didn’t have a bond?” Dean asked, and that part of the story really interested me as well.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“Honestly, I have no idea. We can contemplate on that later. FH, bring up the news feed.”
As soon as Captain finished saying that, the screens changed, showing a reporter of some sort near a building that was on fire but was quickly being put out, talking to a newscaster.
“The details are sparse, but it seems like the large explosion here wasn’t a terror attack by the cult known as Mecha Ascension. Instead, this seemed to be one of their hideouts.”
“So you are saying this was some sort of an accident?” the newscaster asked the reporter on site.
“No, from what we understand, this was deliberate. It seems that the explosion was triggered purposefully.”
“This was our on-site reporter Cordal Fihmer. We will get back to him as soon as there’s more information about what happened there.”
Now only the newscaster was on screen. He was about to say something more but stopped like he was listening to someone speaking.
“This is incredible news. The Mecha Ascension cult that was believed to only contain members who were rogue AIs and their sympathisers. It seems that instead the AIs were controlled and made to do the things that they did by their controllers. It seems that this cult might be more infiltrated in the workings of this city than originally believed.”
I saw as the Captain relaxed from that news. “Good, seems like the bonded AI’s that were released by killing those five are doing as much damage as possible to their former owners. They will come after us eventually, but they will for now have to worry about surviving the city’s authorities.”
“Wait, so we're staying?” Bob asked, and I was quite curious as well.
“Perhaps it will all depend on the new skill I got. If it can truly strengthen my bonds so no one can rip them away so easily, then we will stay. If not, the best option is to leave. Everyone keep up to date on the news. I will go and focus on the new skills to integrate them properly, then we can see what we will do next.”
The captain left for the 4th floor to his meditation room. He seemed a bit troubled, but I could see why. This place was supposed to be a new start that was perfect for our needs, yet now we had made a powerful enemy the first day here.
All of this happened so fast I have not even had the proper time to realise that something went wrong. I could’ve lost him. There has to be a way we can be stronger. My thoughts were interrupted as Dean asked me a question.
“Lola, do you know how captain can have so many bonds? Normally it takes even drone lords multiple rank-ups to get to the numbers he has.”
“I have been out here in this galaxy for so little time, I honestly have no idea what is normal and what isn't. You two should be better informed than me.” I answered Deans question hoping they could figure it out as I had no idea.
“Most likely it’s a combination of things, like him being half cybernetic, perhaps the fact that he also has the mind and basic affinities that could also boost the number of bonds, and of course his mechanist’s affinity. It is weirdly named, not the usual kind of name for an affinity that deals with making almost anything and controlling AIs.”
It seems like Sam has put some more thought into this than Dean or I have.
“I am more interested in the fact that you could still feel connected to the captain. You said that it felt like your mind was protected. Can you explain?” Sam asked Dean, who took some time to think things over before he answered.
“It’s difficult to explain, and the only reason I could sense what was happening was because with the other bond, the only trace left of the captain was what was protecting my mind. If I have to describe the feeling, it was like my mind had a protective bubble around it that felt like the captain, but it wasn't directly connected, not in the way a bond is. I do not know if I can explain it better.”
Sam started to pace up and down, something he obviously picked up from the captain as he liked to do that as well.
“That is definitely extremely unusual. You even said that they tried to get access your memories but couldn't because of this protection?”
“Yes, they couldn't even get anything from my squad members.”
We waited and waited, but Sam didn’t seem to come to any conclusion, finally seeming to give up.
“I literally have no idea what could cause this. It’s certainly useful, but hopefully we won’t ever have to rely on that protection again.”
All of us agreed on that. We waited like that, doing nothing in particular, and eventually Bob started to leave when we all felt it. Our bond to our captain seemed to solidify somehow, like the connection we had to him was more secure.
My happy feeling over captain’s success was quickly extinguished.
“I do not think that this amount of strengthening will do it,” Dean commented.
“Well damn it, that means we’re leaving. It's going to be a pain having to store everything once again, but also a good challenge,” Bob said as he once again started to leave.