Chapter 40
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TIME:
AT THE SAME TIME
LOCATION:
BETA CHARON
20 AU FROM BETA CHARON
INNER KEIPER BELT
CARRION MAULER
POV:
Capt. Marcus Danov
"Who in the hell is that!" I shout at the sweating man operating the sensors in the corner. I would have to consider having to replace the idiot if he couldn't stand working under a little heat and pressure. "I don't know captain, the only thing that can see it is the visual sensors! The radar and IR sensors are detecting nothing!"
I growl in frustration someone new must be moving into the system, unless. Hoping I was wrong I briskly walked to the sensors station, "Show me what those damn visual sensors are looking at! I want at least an idea of what or who we're dealing with!"
"Y-yes sir, give me a moment!"
I don't wait, shoving the buffoon out of the way causing him to fall to the floor with a pained groan. I pressed a few keys and had the sensors zoom in towards the suspected location of the ship that we only just noticed.
My stomach dropped and I felt the nape of my neck grow cold with sweat. The ship that appeared on the screen wasn't something from the damn Reclaimers; the colors were not right for it; no this was somebody else, somebody I had been warned by the boss to look out for.
"Oi whoever the fuck is running comms send an alert to the main group, maximum priority on laser band; I don’t want the princes to know a damn thing, the system governorness has returned and we are about to attempt an emergency retreat!" I sprint back to my command chair ignoring how the room grows even more frenzied with activity. 'Just our luck first those fucking insane bastards from the 'Burningthorn Princes' try and attack us, then we were told to keep watch of the hyperspace exit despite lossing two thirds of our support, and finally the fucking system governorness returns in her flagship.'
I sit down and quickly send the command codes to override the safeties on the ships thrusters, while also shifting max priority to them. We had to get out of here unless we wanted to end up as space debris.
"Sir! The readings from the hostile void ship energy is spiking! The readings don't match any known weapon holotype I have ever seen!"
My eyes widen and I attempt to change the priority to shielding, hoping and praying it was just a laser cannon. Just as I shift full power to supplying the plasma shields something must have slammed into it. The lights in the room flicker and darken as power is drawn and diverted to our only protection.
"Damage report!" The CIC grows noticeably more quiet as everyone tries to listen in on the report. "Nothing besides shorts and electrical problems sir!"
The fact it didn't pierce was a miracle, the governorness's ship was if rumor was to be believed a class V, it should have pierced straight through. I breathe a sigh of relief, maybe we will get through this.
"But the shields are now switching to using the reactor for their plasma at this rate we have only minutes before it fails!"
"How long until we can enter FTL! And for fucks sack who is controling the weapons, I want to our coilguns firing at the thing yesterday!" Just as I finished the sentence I received a request for communications from the captain of the Opulent Reaver. "This is Danov, what do you want, Raine!? We're dealing with a bit of an issue right now!"
A grim face sternly replied, "We aren't going to escape this Danny boy, I'd recommend we should at least bloody their nose!" I snapped at him asking how he knew that for certain. "They're draining our shields; they don't intend to let us escape with FTL dumbass! They're clearly trying to strain our shields by slamming them with whatever the fuck they are shooting us with; you should hopefully have enough experience behind that thick skull to know how that will make our escape difficult! So, I say we just fire everything we have at her! She's about to fly past us and once she sees our thrusters we're dead anyways."
Raine rarely got insulting when communicating details, so it was a surprise when he was suddenly slinging insults around. I froze but ultimately a part of me had to agree they would be sailing past us in seconds, when thats done our thrusters will probably be destroyed; we needed to at least give them a last fuck you.
"Okay I'll follow your lead and have your fire control systems had more luck than ours; we can't get a lock on at all, every sensor is being blinded by that laser they're using!" I suddenly received a request to download data from the Opulent Reaver, immediately I accepted it and after checking the details relayed them manually to the coilguns targeting computer.
I took out a flask of some cheap alcohol and brought it to my lips, we were three seconds from firing at the damn voidship; soon it would pass us and likely cripple the void ship. We all watched in silence as the vessel went just beside us. Then nothing, pitch black darkness, I didn't even have the time to realize my body was being atomized by an excited beam of particles.
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TIME:
MOMENTS AFTERWARDS
LOCATION:
BETA CHARON
20 AU FROM BETA CHARON
INNER KEIPER BELT
ASTRO DAWN
POV:
Lilith Runethari
"Elimination confirmed the Void ships are dead in the abyss. Thrusters and CIC have been confirmed to be inoperable, other facilities' status are unknown."
I let out a held breath. I didn't expect that to actually work. They may have cut off the location of every internal sensor, and had nothing to record or otherwise use as reference. Their fatal mistake was rather ironic in that regard, was forgetting to make sure that the locational data couldn't be switched back on. When that one captain downloaded the firing solutions he doomed himself. We had just changed some of the contents thanks to Mom nearly instantly cracking their dated—even by human standards—encryption.
Now with one ship destroyed we focused all 30 particle emitters onto the last ship and upped their output. In seconds it was swiss cheese and the ship lost control and began to drift. Frankly there might be crew still alive on the first ship, but the other vessel was probably completely lost; Mom had blown over a thousand of half a meter wide holes into the 390 meter long vessel to make sure the CIC was destroyed.
This definitely has announced our arrival and used up all charged particles in the emitters..."Lilith we have just received a message from the Tachyonograph. The station will relay the data in the post's hanger. It has deemed the risk of discovery too high, and laser based data transfer would take too long; the tachyonograph would take too much power for a message its size. Would you like to return to the listening post now?"
I took a moment to consider the options I could wait for her to ambush any force that comes to check up on the now destroyed look outs, or return home. The temptation to stick around and wait for a response fleet to arrive was almost too sweet to resist, but I ultimately decided that nothing much could be gained from destroying a few rickety ships, while having no way to scrap anything from them. Towing cables would be wasted on these vessels.
"Let's return to the Listening post. Start prepping the FTL drive and alert Liza that she and the other can stop sheltering."
"Lilith, Adalyn seems to be doing minor chores, it would seem Liza did not alert her to the circumstances; it however appears she didn't notice."
I continue to lean over the glossy red metal of the holo-table, wrapping my fingers on the edge. I was in a slightly anxious mood now that we were on our way home. It would be the first time I came home in close to 4 months; I could only wonder what the AI controlling the post had gotten up to. I didn’t spare a thought towards the games the thralls were playing with each other.
ACTIVATING FTL DRIVE IN 10, 9, ... 1, 0. ETA TO LISTENING POST CRIMSON MIDNIGHT NOSTALGIA, 10 MINUTES AND 36 SECONDS.
With a small unnoticeable shake we started our journey home. It felt strange. I have never left the Listening post for longer than 2 weeks and now I'll return after 4 months. I expect a lot to have changed, and I imagine a lot of those ancient maintenance problems are gone; hopefully this station can finally return to its prime.
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TIME:
1 HOUR LATER
LOCATION:
BETA CHARON
30 AU FROM BETA CHARON
INNER KEIPER BELT
MIDNIGHT NOSTALGIA'S HANGER
I turn around after taking a few steps off the elevator. The thralls were frozen with their mouths gaping in awe at the companies of different sized and shaped robots standing in orderly rows. They had started appearing soon after the ship had landed, so I decided to take my time getting the thralls ready to leave the Astro Dawn.
"Welcome Liza and Adalyn to our home Crimson Midnight Nostalgia or just Midnight Nostalgia. Adalyn I will have much to explain so follow one of these robots to your preselected room, I would be happy. Liza I would like you to do the same, I will meet with you after explaining things to your junior, Adalyn." I watched the two thralls leave being guided by two light security automatons each. Finally alone I addressed the station AI, "Now YAGA I would appreciate it if you could have these robots unload all the material cargo I bought. I want to start the production of a new medium sized MAT so take whatever you need to make it. And finally can you share your sensor readings with MARA in the Astro Dawn."
"Yes I will send it momentarily and welcome back my lady Lilith. I have repaired 87% of all systems; only minor systems remain unrepaired; I was forced to prioritize certain systems."
I take out my tablet and without needing to ask and I am sent a copy of all the systems that have been fully repaired. I quickly read through them and am left feeling proud at the choices made.
"Thank you YAGA you were a little too brief in your explanations but that can be worked on. Mom, could you send YAGA the details of the facilities and requirements needed for rapid hybridization?"
"Yes, what are you planning to do Lilith?"
I scoffed, she could probably guess, but she always knew how to humor me, "Well I am hoping to build an army of course. What the documents and studies say, that if we build the proper facilities it can vastly speed up the rate of hybridization. Aria is taking as long as she is because we couldn't build these necessary facilities."
"I see that would be a wise idea, but this will take a lot of construction time for the post's MAT. It would take an entire month to construct the machines that oversee the process. They comprise an extremely precise series of monitors, advanced medical AI, and for security of the entire process I would prefer using a bioobfuscation pod I managed to discover in the texts. These parts are so complex I believe we can only construct them whole in the MAT, assembly is beyond our capabilities. After the monitors and advanced medical AI are completed, we can produce six bioobfuscation pods—that will make the hybridization process more secure from potential gene thieves—every month at high material cost; currently we can produce 13 pods. Not including all the other complex organic substances and bio-catalysts we'll need for the actual process."
I groaned while nodding, 'More work, great.’ I started walking out of the hanger deciding that I should start looking for a room that would be suitable for this project. The problem is it needs to have the rating as the process uses a lot of power and electrical problems could prove fatal to the expensive machine and its occupant; not that I care about them in the slightest.
"How long would we have to wait for the hybridization to actually be completed, assuming we have all the proper equipment."
"It would take at least 2 months for what I would consider viable for a simple foot soldier, but that poses a high risk of complications later in life and the modifications would be minimal. The slower we take the process the safer and more stable the dhamphir will be. We can also reduce how extensive the modifications are and save some time."
I stop but shake my head. I should leave the planning to Mom, "Okay I want this as our secondary priority. Our primary objective is to be producing firearms, ammunition and body armor in a quarter of a year. Extensive automation is acceptable until we can either destroy the pirates or convince them to leave us alone. Eventually we will have to come up with something that normal humans can do as I doubt the government will appreciate me not employing anyone; it would mean they won't be able to spy on me as easily."
"Should I consider making infrastructure for civilians as a tertiary goal?"
I tap my foot on the metal floor and groan before eventually agreeing, "Yes but it is the lowest priority, the factories will be on Beta Charon 3 since it has a little more metals in its crust than its neighboring planets. Its moon Beta Charon 3A has some aluminum, nickel, and has traces of copper. Any silicon we get from the rocks we'll store for later I'm sure we'll find a use eventually. I would like to begin scouting the asteroid belt in the inner system past Beta Charon 3, it wasn't ever fully scanned so maybe we'll be lucky and find the scattered core material of some dead shattered planet.
"Okay that's all I can think of, YAGA can you have one of these security bots lead me to the thrall known as Adalyn. I have some news to break to her, both good and bad."
A spiderlike robot skitters past me and jumps once to get my attention before racing off down the corridor. 'Now let's see if she believes me or not. I should also tell her to use the training rooms and train herself. Though I should probably not mention why I want her to train, I doubt she'd be comforted to know she'll be the first... well first besides Aria.'