by R. M. Miller
'Star Eater', Deep Space, 2920 A.D
Pilot casually traversed the auxiliary repair corridor, it had managed to make its crew-mates assume that it suffered from insomnia in order to hide its other activities. The ship was hanging silently in interstellar space far from any systems while Pilot and the crew rested before continuing their journey towards the fleet rendezvous point. They were still about a week out from their destination, even with the increased efficiency of the Star Eater's hyper drive. The reason why Pilot was carefully avoiding invoking curiosity in its crew-mates was simple, it did not want them to find out what it was doing in those auxiliary corridors. The equipment Pilot had concealed was not the problem although it would have elicited unwelcome questions at the very least, the read outs from that equipment was far worse than that. Tara had told him she was going to stop the growth of new neural connections to the weapons, according to his readings she had not done that.
“I am going to have to have another discussion with my ship it appears.” Pilot grumbled as it headed back to its quarters to manage a few hours of sleep before the scheduled hyperspace translation.
******
“Pilot are you prepared for the next leg of our journey?” Ship Medic was one of the few of its crew-mates that Pilot actually liked, of course she was also the one most likely to notice its developing dependence upon the up-link.
“Yes, Ship Medic. I am prepared for the next hyperspace transition, I expect that it will last about two-thirds of a ship day.” Pilot replied taking its seat and preparing for the Ship Masters command to up-link.
“When we exit hyperspace you will visit the medic section for a sleep aide, I do not like the amount of toxins observed in your latest screening.” Pilot nodded to her but said nothing as Ship Master had entered the bridge.
“Pilot, link and get us on our way. The fleet is waiting for us.” He was flushed with a slight red tinge as he made his command, definitely a throw back with that amount of aggression displayed for no reason. Pilot leaned back until the up-link engaged with its port, instantly the real world faded from his sight as it was replaced by the interface with the ship.
Pilot was unsure of what Tara was trying to do but it was not going to allow her to get them both killed.
'Star Eater', Deep Space, 2920 A.D
Once again Pilot found itself sneaking like a thief around the auxiliary corridors this time it was not checking on the neural links, that were most likely growing again, but upon the links that led directly to the ship-mind. Every sleep shift since Pilot had realized there was an issue had been plagued by the Ship Medic drugging it into a deep slumber that only ended shortly before the scheduled translation time. Finally the Medic seemed to have decided that everything was going well enough to leave Pilot to its own care, and Pilot had wasted no time in making its plans. Of course they were a single hyperspace translation from their destination before Pilot felt capable of implementing the changes necessary to wake his ship from her induced slumber, well hopefully it would wake her. If it did not do as Pilot thought it should there was nothing else it could do, eventually one of the support te
chnicians would notice the modifications on board and realize they had not been authorized. Unless Tara could reprogram the systems to read as an authorized modification, unfortunately Pilot had been unable to get her to understand this issue. Oh for a short amount of time she grasped the necessity but by the next shift she would have forgotten it again, this was the only chance Pilot could think of to save them both. Finally it found the single line among dozens inside the living cable that ran into the ship-mind. Pilot used the laser scalpel, stolen from the medical section during its last visit, to sever that single line cauterizing both ends to prevent it from reconnecting. The ship shuddered under its feet then calmed again, with rapid care Pilot sealed the cable with a second stolen medical device then returned the cover over it. It would have to return the stolen equipment before Ship Medic realized it was missing, after that Pilot could sleep until it was time for the hyperspace translation.
******
Tara had been dreaming, she knew that she had been, but unlike most dreams this one had lingered. Nothing felt like she remembered that it should, and yet it didn't feel wrong either. Groggily she tried to recall what had happened before she had fallen asleep, the memory proved elusive for an amazingly long time. Finally everything came back to her, every single horrifying detail came rushing back into her conscious mind with a vivid finality. Her skin shivered as the implications of those memories became apparent, but along with her last memories came snatches of what had to have been her dream. Somehow she had been awakened against all odds, first to figure out how it had happened and then to ensure it stayed that way. The entire interior of the ship was laced with tracking and monitoring devices, the exterior had even more data collectors, when compared to the original schematics for the ship she realized most of them were not supposed to be there. According to those devices it had been one of the aliens, the term Tri'Let surfaced from her subconscious, that had physically cut one of the control links in the main data cable. Oddly enough Tara found herself gazing at the Tri'Let with a fond kind of affection, it was a decidedly odd reaction. She searched rabidly into every file and data dump to find out what her resources were and how she could ensure that no one could take control of her ever again.
******
Pilot was more nervous than it had ever been, it was about to link to a fully aware and awake ship-mind. Pilot hoped Tara would remember the fact that it was on her side. With one final deep breathe Pilot leaned back far enough for the up-link to engage with the jack, the bridge faded replaced by a different world entirely.
Pilot was not sure that this tactic would work but truthfully if it did not then they were both destined to be terminated.
******
Tara had reveled in the complicated color filled dance required to avoid the dangers of hyperspace, Pilot had melded with her so well she couldn't tell where one of them began and the other ended. Its mind wasn't like the rest of the Tri'Let crew, it was much more human somehow. Maybe a change due to the merge effect needed to navigate hyperspace, this change seemed to be unhealthy for Pilot though. She had noticed low grade degradation of the tissue surrounding the up-link jack, according to the data in the medical section that particular type of degradation was almost never seen in a pilot as young as hers. Her Pilot, she didn't know how but it seemed like she had gained ownership of the individual that was supposed to control her. As they dropped out of hyperspace she found her self in a dying star system with a dim red sun. No planets or asteroids remained, if they had ever formed in the first place, the only reason to even come here was to join a much larger force of ships already holding station on the edge of the systems hyper limit. Obviously the Tri'Let military commanders were planning some kind of massive offensive, the only rational motive as to why they hadn't launched it yet was because they wanted 'Star Eater' to be there. Somehow, that didn't seem to be a good thing to Tara as the only reason to wait was because she had a singularity generator. Currently the only singularity generator in existence, which meant she would be a major target in any battle. She tapped into every communication channel, monitored every single piece of data being transmitted by the various ships. So far she had counted almost a thousand different vessels, ranging from the massive capital ships to the sleek elusive scout ships. She insinuated a data link to each of the ships disguising the signal inside other traffic, sifting through the files with a practiced finesse that managed to elude the myopic guardian programs. The other ships had far more extensive data bases, they included navigation charts to every ship nursery, planet, and research station that the Tri'Let had ever established. That information did Tara no immediate good, but she filed it away for future use as someday she would teach the Tri'Let why you didn't leave data like that lying around. It was shortly before the time that Pilot had said they would be translating out for their target that she found the battle plans, they had been uploaded to only one ship and even there they had been under the strongest security she had yet encountered. The Tri'Let were anything if not bold, they planned on taking out the Vree'na home world using the singularity generator while the rest of the fleet held the attention of the defenders. Tara wasn't sure if she could prevent the genocide that her captors were bent upon, she knew she could get herself destroyed but would that stop the killing or just delay it?
'Star Eater', Vree'na Home System, 2920 A.D
For the first time Tara traveled hyperspace in the company of other ships, she hadn't realized that you could keep pace with or even track other ships in that chaotic maelstrom. It had come as a decide shock, she had assumed that once in hyperspace she would be free from other ships interfering. Now she was trying to steal into a solar system with the express purpose of destroying the sentient inhabitants by blowing up their home world. Tara still was not happy with the decision she had reached deep in the night prior to the last hyperspace translation, she would obey the commands given by Ship Master via Pilot up until she had full control of her weapons. She didn't expect to be happy with the results of that choice, but she planned to ensure that the Tri'Let were sorrier that they had caused her to choose in the first place.
******
Pilot was surprised by the heart sick sadness that filled the link as they slid silently at minimal power levels towards the Vree'na home world, it was also aware of a teeth baring rage just under that sadness. The course was plotted and the main part of the fleet had already engaged the defense force, from a distance the battle appeared almost beautiful as the flashes of lasers intermingled with the fiery deaths of the ships it almost made Pilot forget that ships and crews were dying over there.
it was the first time Tara had spoken to Pilot since they had left hyperspace.
d their lesson, the Tri'Let obviously have not.> the temperature raised enough that it was close to normal.
******
Tara found that you could only be angry so long, especially with a system monitored by a computer to keep her body in perfect condition. So now she was stuck in a decent mood while, intellectually she was very angry; kind of the opposite of her entire life where emotionally she was filled with anger but intellectually neutral. Every minute seemed to last forever, since she was living at the speed of thought it was entirely possible that her perception was skewed. Her mind wandered to a different topic, how to grow the control links to the weapons with out them being noticed. It seemed impossible until she realized that every single scanner was tied into the main support computers every sleep cycle, she didn't have to hide the neural growth she just had to make the scanners not see them. The program was rather simple to create and even easier to implement, as soon as the scanners were connected they would be updated automatically. The project lasted long enough for her to reach attack range of the planet, the singularity projector began warming up. It all seemed to be going exactly to plan, that is up until the enormous bulk of a capital ship rounded the curve of the planet headed right for her.