chapter 144
POV: Lola
We were soon going to be jumping into FTL again. This was just a minor stop, and the only reason we were still here was that Bob needed to use some of the drones to survey outside of the ship so he could figure out what type of concealment we could build with our currently available resources to hide who we are.
It was nerve-wracking to be here, not because of the emptiness of space, but because the captain wasn’t here to protect us from the mana. We could feel it trying to crash into us and change us in ways not meant to be changed, but it couldn’t, as we were now protected.
I suspect it would have been easier if we didn’t have to hold up every other AI as well who didn’t have our protections. Fortunately, FH did the heavy lifting in that department.
We could all still feel the captain far away, and even now he held together our bond network somehow, but I guess distance really didn’t matter in that regard. I wonder if he could learn how to send messages even from that far away. It would be really convenient if he could.
It didn’t take too long before we got the acceleration warnings and were in FTL soon after. It would be a long flight. I was going to have to go and help Bob as he was setting up a fabrication station on the cargo floor. We would be preassembling as much as we could of our disguise. When we dropped out of FTL, we would be installing it.
Soon weeks went by, and we started to run out of tasks. We were still doing our own things, but more and more we found that we gathered around the dinner table even without the captain being here. I started to enjoy those moments more and more, so soon it was a regular thing we did.
FH and I were also quite busy trying to figure out who that woman was that the captain decided to take such a risk with. It did not come as a surprise to me what he did, as he seemed to never pick a good woman, although he wasn’t the kind who let them roll over him. That was where most of his problems came from.
I honestly just hope that she doesn’t kill him out of rage before anything else. The captain seemed to have a way of driving those kinds of women mad in every possible way. They would love and hate him almost equally, which is why those relationships always ended so badly.
The flip side is that with his personality, I’m pretty sure anyone who could remotely be classified as normal wouldn’t be able to handle him as well. Well, I guess we will see how he manages.
It was a long trip, but we were finally out of FTL, about a two-day journey from the battle moon. We were in empty space once again. There was plenty of cosmic radiation out there, which made our job a bit more difficult, but we had the technology to clean up the radiation once we were done.
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The design we were going for was quite simple. We were basically building boxes that were going to hide the fact that we had wings. If you looked at the ship from the back, it sort of looked like a cross, with a thick rectangle going horizontally and thin rectangles going vertically. The thin ones extended the entire length of the ship. We also made the front a lot pointier.
We did have to detach the side engines’ propellers, which they didn’t like much, but understood the need. We also covered up two of the main engines, although those covers could be removed instantly whenever we needed. All of these changes made us look like a more standard cargo transport than anything else.
The captain should have made it to the moon almost ten days ago, as the modifications to the ship took longer than expected. There was also the problem of getting the permissions to approach the battle moon, as apparently, anyone who didn’t have permission to approach would be shot down.
“Everyone, I just got a message from the captain,” FH announced to us all.
“What do you mean you got a message? I’m not detecting him in range,” Bob quickly asked, but I already knew how the captain had contacted us and just listened as FH explained.
“He’s using the quantum net. We have certain places where we could leave messages, and while everyone can see they’re coded messages. I do not think anyone would know how to decipher them.”
“That’s some good thinking. Is the captain safe?” Dean asked.
“Yes, he says he is, but plans have changed a bit.”
No one said it out loud, but through the bond, I could feel almost every AI groaning in displeasure. What has the captain done now?
“I will display the message.”
“I am safe. Verrona managed to convince everyone, while I was pretending to be unconscious, that I had expressed interest in becoming one of the fighters on the battle moon. And after I woke up and confirmed it, almost no one questioned that decision.
“All of you need to be careful who you contact. As all of you are wanted for questioning by the Adventurers Guild in regard to breaking universal law.”
That we all knew. FH had found that out only ten minutes after we dropped out of FTL, as she was able to use the quantum net once again.
“I managed to make a deal with the Duke. Well, more like I agreed to his request, which wasn’t really a request, but it fit with my needs, so why not, and I got plenty of benefits in return.
“Turns out the Duke wants a war with his brother, the father of Verrona. He wants a legal justification to kill him and dismantle his pirate empire. Verrona herself pledged loyalty to the Duke, which her father definitely didn’t like.
“There was already one kidnapping attempt of Verrona, which I managed to stop, but they couldn’t be traced back to the Pirate Lord. Which is where I and all of you will come into play. These small-scale kidnapping attempts will not work for our needs; something bigger is needed.
“Attached to this message will be the location of a supply system for the battle moon. There should be a decently sized force belonging to the Pirate Lord there in hiding. You all need to make it so that that force will try to forcefully take Verrona, and during that attempt also get me out.”
What followed were more details of everything. There were a lot of moving parts. At least the time frame did extend. In fact, the captain wanted us to take longer, as apparently he could gain quite a lot by staying there longer. That troubled me for a bit until we made it to the last part of the message.
“The Duke made me a gladiator. This means that I’m no longer under Verrona, which she didn’t like that much, but she can’t go against. Still need to stay close to her, but this should help keep her at arm’s length. Will have a lot to do. I have to go now, but I will keep you updated as often as I can. Hope to hear from you all soon.”
“That was the last of it,” FH said. We all stayed quiet for quite a while afterwards.
The captain was playing dangerous games, but from the sound of it, if we played things right, we were going to walk away having gained quite a lot—and, of course, start a war that would lead to the downfall of a powerful Pirate Lord and his empire.
“I’m pretty sure that nickname of Pirate Pain is going to stick after this,” Sam said, and we all agreed.
“Seems like there is even more to do. I, for one, have no idea where to even start with this,” Bob said, and soon we were in a discussion of how to accomplish the captain’s crazy task.