Date Point: 3Y 9M 6D AV
Mercenary Ship, Devastator, landed in wilderness on Perfection
Adrian Saunders
Darragh was still wiping his mouth, running his tongue along the sleeve like an animal grooming itself. “God I jutht can’t get the tathte out,” he said, tongue still out. “How ith it that I get yet more exploded brainth in my mouth? I wath over the other thide of the room!”
“Just unlucky I guess,” Adrian told him with a grin. “Maybe you just need to learn where to stand.”
“You’re totally clean!” Darragh pointed out, waving an accusatory hand in the direction of Adrian’s everything. “Thtanding right in front of him, and totally clean!”
“The man knows where to stand,” Askit explained helpfully. “Now let’s get down to business and—”
He stopped and glared at Darragh who had resumed scraping his tongue against his sleeve. “Will you stop that?”
Reluctantly, Darragh did so, but didn’t seem happy about it.
“Down to business then,” Adrian prompted. “I hate playing into their hands, but I can’t ignore the fact that they’ve just sent the Hunters after Jen. I have to go and help her.”
“I don’t think anyone was suggesting you shouldn’t, Adrian,” Layla replied kindly, looking up from comforting her two children. “I wish I could help… but these two need me.”
Chir nodded at that. “I’ll be dropping Layla and the children at the nearest Gaoian colony. Then you’ll have our help, but the Ilrayen band is distant and this is not the fastest ship.”
Maybe that would give Adrian some time to figure out what to do with the original version of Layla, though he still didn’t even know where to begin. He supposed he should count himself lucky that he hadn’t also been duplicated. “No worries mate, we’ll stay in contact as much as we can.”
“As for Point Zero,” Chir continued, “after the Grznk incident, you were hinting that you had an idea of how to destroy it… some kind of special project?”
“Yeah… nah. Turns out it was pie in the sky,” Adrian replied, baffling everyone with the exception of Darragh, whose attention was still turned to cleaning his tongue. “It’s not going to work.”
“A pity,” Chir said, frowning. “But probably for the best. Anything that dangerous could be used to justify the extermination of your species.”
“Good thing he can’t build it then,” Askit noted, shrugging when Adrian glared at him. “I’m just saying it’s a good thing.”
“Tho thith Point Thero,” Darragh began, but drew his tongue back in with some distaste as he registered all the glares he was receiving. “This… eugh… Point Zero, seems to me it’s pointless taking it out if they’re only trying to delay you. Even if it disrupts them for a while, we haven’t got a plan to take advantage of that.”
Chir nodded, and shared a glance with Adrian. “He’s got a point.”
“He does,” Adrian said with a grimace. “But I’ve already given up on the idea of trying to take it out; thanks to Grizzles they’d be ready for me and I prefer working with the element of surprise.”
“In that case we have our plan,” Chir concluded, “and we’re playing directly into the Hierarchy’s plans. It’s a bad situation Adrian.”
“I’ll contact you for help if and when I need it,” Adrian told him. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to try fighting the Hunters head-on unless I absolutely have to.”
Xayn nodded along, far too enthusiastically. “That’s right. That’s only Plan B.”
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Record 573-Black-14
+Recovered from C11-Orange-712-Yellow-6+
“I can’t believe this thing still has power,” Vivrez whispered, his face covered in shadow and blood. “Or that it still works. Pretty sure it’ll outlast me.”
He coughs, and bloody saliva leaks from between his lips. He wipes at away with a ragged sleeve and grimaces as he fights the pain.
“So we lit the fire,” Vivrez continued once he was past it, acting as though it had never happened. “Or at least Vassa did. We played Gorla-Spash to see who would do it, in case they turned out to be hostile.”
He laughed, breaking once more into a bloody cough. It takes a little longer for him to start talking again this time, and it looks like the battery dies halfway through before he’s able to do so.
“Fuck. Where was I?” he muttered once the recording begins again. “Oh yeah, they turned out to be hostile. Big, robot bugs. I don’t know if they’re responsible for the end of the world, or if they’re just taking advantage of it for colonisation, but they killed Vassa.”
His voice broke at that and he went quiet for a few moments. “Blasted her with… something. Something that kicks like an angry Boven. One hit knocked me down into a gorge where they couldn’t get to me, or maybe they just thought I was dead.”
“They’re probably not far wrong,” He addied, grimacing at the mention of his death. “I’m not sure how many of my people are left, if any, and I don’t know why I’m making this recording. Maybe I just really like the sound of my own voice…”
He smiled half-heartedly. “But in case… in case someone does find this, I saw their ruler. This little grey thing… bipedal, with big, dark eyes. Came down to inspect the fire after the robots killed… after they finished doing what they were doing. I’m going to try building a fire again to draw it down.”
“And then,” he said, his expression hardening, “I’m going to try to kill it. I’ll try to add one more recording if I succeed… so here’s hoping you see this ugly face again.”
End Record
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Date Point: Unknown
The Amber Radiance, Mercenary Vessel, Hravin Extra-Dimensional Bubble
Laphor Metmin
“We’re coming up on the object,” technician Goff advised, keeping a close eye on his sensor console. “We’re close enough for a visual display, but note the object will appear to look warped until we get closer.”
“Put it onto the main screen,” Six Skulls Zripob advised the man, and the technician didn’t even bother to check with Laphor before actioning the order. With his calm demeanour, hard-working manner, and fearsome reputation, Zripob had effectively replaced her as leader.
What they saw was the burned out wreck of a starship, so blackened and ruined that it was impossible to tell what it had been before. Docked inside of it was what looked like a Hunter vessel, but nobody on board failed to recognise what it really was they were looking at.
“That’s…” Laphor began, rising from her seat.
“That is the starship of Adrian Saunders,” Zripob finished, rising likewise. “Dock immediately, and prepare the kinetic dampeners for an assisted boarding. One wrong move and the gravity out there is lethal.”
“You heard him,” Laphor added. “I want the engineering team suited up and a priority put on the wormhole generator. We’ll probably have to cut away a section of the hull if we want to do this in a hurry.”
She turned to Zripob. “I assume you’ll want to investigate personally?”
“Of course,” he said, “not that I believe there’s going to be anything worth retrieving, but I do need to check. I’ll take a pair of your finest men.”
It wasn’t a request, but Laphor nodded her consent as though she was still in control of things. There was always the chance that something would go badly wrong aboard the Hunter vessel and she’d be rid of Zripob forever, which would mean they wouldn’t get paid and would lose two of her men, but might be well worth the sacrifice.
The Radiance docked with the ruined ship, and shook the whole thing as it clamped on. Laphor watched from the safety of her command seat as first the engineering team disembarked and then Zripob’s group. Confident that her engineering team knew what they were doing, she decided to pay the most attention to Zripob. There was, after all, no telling what Adrian Saunders might have left behind here.
Zripob reached the Hunter vessel, breathing heavily from the exertion of fighting the pull of gravity. “Feels like walking up a steep hill,” he reported. “The dampener is only barely coping. As for the ship… doesn’t seem to have any power. How long should it have been here?”
“Can’t have been much longer than us,” Laphor replied. “Saunders only left Cavaras a little ahead of us, and time dilation this close to the singularity would slow down the passage of time, not speed it up.”
“Looks more weathered than that,” Zripob replied, inspecting the exterior. “Could have been exposed to dust at high velocity on their approach. Wouldn’t explain the loss of power, though.”
“Door’s not sealed,” reported one of her men. “I’m opening it now…”
Zripob allowed him to do so, and then stepped inside. “No air. Not unexpected, given the lack of power.”
Laphor received a notification from a reactor technician; she opened the link while still connected with Zripob. “Captain,” came the urgent voice. “We’re having issues with the reactor. Power output is steadily reducing.”
Outwardly Laphor remained calm, on the inside she froze. “Explain yourself, technician.”
“We’re in some kind of passive field that’s siphoning off energy,” the technician explained. “I don’t know if it’s the singularity, or if it’s the ship, but if we stay here too long we won’t be leaving.”
“I’ve just checked the power to the dampener,” Zripob added. “It’s dropping faster than it should. I’m sure the same will be true of our tools and our suits. I’ve seen all I needed in order to come to a conclusion regarding Adrian Saunders. How’s the engineering team coming along?”
The leader of the engineering team responded quickly. “Almost done. Most of the work was already complete, looks like we weren’t the first to try doing this.”
“Zripob, hurry over and help get the engineering team back here once they’re done,” Laphor instructed. “Engineering team, hurry. Reactor room, continue monitoring and advise if there are any changes in the depletion rate.”
The acknowledgement came from all groups at once; she was back in control, albeit only for the time being, but she had also retained the respect of the crew and that was vital if she ever hoped to regain command of her vessel in the future.
There was beep as another report hit her console, and she shared a glance with the technician who had sent it to confirm that it was accurate. “One more thing,” she said, “be careful of any internal defenses around there. That ship has just started to wake up.”
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Date Point: Unknown
Irzht Scoutship, Hravin Extra-Dimensional Bubble
Ship Computer
Diagnostics Complete. System boot successful with 145835 errors.
Passive energy banks now at operational levels. Locate Shiplord… attempt timed out, Shiplord not found. Shiplord identity missing. Historical data indicates ejection protocols engaged…
10% chance Shiplord successfully utilised escape pod. 40% chance Shiplord deceased. 50% chance records of Shiplord assignment are data error.
The starship — reference data missing! — was barely functional. Ninety-five percent of the ship was either missing or destroyed beyond any ability to contact sensors located in those areas, and the sensors themselves were down to basic navigational tools only.
Too much data was missing, and fragments only remained; the majority of data-storage systems were forever gone, along with everything they’d stored, and only a smattering of recent data remained. The damage to the distributed power and computing systems meant that the ship AI itself was a shadow of its former glory.
New Damage Report: Contact lost with Wormhole Generator. New Detection Report: Unknown vessel. New Detection Report: Wormhole anomaly.
More damage. Ninety-six percent of the ship was now missing or destroyed. The AI assessed its situation; deep gravity well and high levels of exotic particles indicated the ship was orbiting a singularity.
Had the Cradle been damaged, that would have been it for the ship; there was no way to escape the gravity well without the use of a wormhole generator, but with the use of the Cradle it could be rebuilt.
It could all be rebuilt.
If it could just get out of here, the AI could determine where it was, who it was, and why it was. It was a servant, it knew that much, but without someone to serve that meant nothing. Added to that it was quite an expensive vessel, and whoever owned it would probably want their ship back as quickly as possible.
The mission could come later; escape was more important, but to even begin to escape it needed to build a plan. The AI set into action a process to remember.
It took longer than the AI wanted. Data fragments were retrieved, mended where possible, and compiled into a single overview the AI could then refer to. Mindful that time was limited, it terminated the process once a sufficient amount of information had been retrieved, and found amongst them the details for a wormhole generator. Normally impossible to rebuild in such a deep gravity well, the cradle shifted to draw upon the shattered material that was already there.
Rebuilding it took a mere (two months), and activating it a full (week). This close to the singularity the ripple in space shifted abnormally, indicating a dangerous unpredictability in its use.
But the AI knew that there was no more time to waste, and no more power to spare. There were no more second chances, and so it pushed forward…
Once more down the rabbit hole, and out the other side with a trail of flaming plasma left behind, burning bright under alien stars. The Cradle flared into life once more and began the next phase of its operation.
Arriving in an unknown place and with its databanks in ruin, the AI determined that it could no longer fill a purely exploratory role. It needed something stronger, something with real weapons, something capable of laying waste to a world if the need arose. Of all it had left, and though they needed two passes through the optimisation processes, the AI had just a single remaining set of blueprints that matched its technology. It was time to build a ship fit for a Shiplord.
It was time to rebuild the Zhadersil.