Dangerous Toys (Part Thirteen)

Captain /Longnose/ moved onto the silent bridge, almost alone with his thoughts. Patricia had shown him something and it was taking a moment to settle. He had added a few new scents to his ‘human are strange’ file but now he felt he was at the root. She was smaller than most of her kind, definitely smaller than most of the crew but it meant nothing. Inside, built-in was the same way they treated their ships, there was a ... /waiting/, waiting for it all to go wrong. Of course they secured the systems because they built it strong and still expected it to fail. Today she had told him privately that they had mere hours to escape whatever was coming and yet took the time to play with Loki.

If you stepped away from the magic, if you just looked at the reality for humans, they held difficult worlds by sheer strength of will. They had no scales, no claws and yet they were proud and able to serve beside anyone in the galaxy.

He was pulled from his thoughts by /ScentofHappy/ as she dropped Loki’s ball at his feet, her stubby tail swinging. /Wagging/. He hadn’t realised that humans had so many words regarding dogs. He knelt down and picked up the ball, /LokiBall/Return?/’. He threw the ball to his new friend and watched as she struggled to pick it up. /ScentofHappy/’ lied happily, ‘/Present/Loki/PlayAgain??/’

The Commander of the Recovery Initiative Fleet was beginning to become impatient. The ‘Pirates’ should have dealt with the ship by now. He had already called ahead to the nearest Orbital reporting that he was in pursuit of some renegade ships. One-third of his fleet was failing badly in killing a cargo ship with no weapons. His Second Officer arrived, “Sir, our systems are nominal.” The officer was well aware of his Commanders displeasure. The fleet was waiting to go and be heroic and nothing was happening. Eventually, the Commander nodded, “Good. Take us to the target, full speed.” He stood up, “Get the weapons ready and the ship secured for battle. Go to stations.” He watched his Second Officer leave. He didn’t know how he had lost ten ships to a trader but he was going to find out.

The missile kept broadcasting its false shell of signals, taking care to stay within the normal speed range of the Dangerous Toys. After several hours the math began to change. Within the next hour, its pursuers would be able to identify it as a decoy. That was unacceptable. It moved to a different tactic, emitting another false set of signals that indicated engine failure and power loss. It broadcast calls for help and then fell silent. In the darkness of space, it headed back towards the enemy.

Oscar watched as the bundle of vague signals resolved into a collection of ships. The Engineer had stopped them in their tracks when the first missile had exploded signal warfare amongst them. As he tried to keep his ship quiet, he watched as one-third of the enemy fleet chased the bogus signal. Only a third. The rest were hanging in space for the moment. He sent an update to Patricia, “Engineer, the enemy fleet is now within my sensor range. They have sent perhaps ten ships after the decoy. I estimate them as Frigate class, standard central worlds emissions. That would mean that there are twenty similar ships ready to follow us if we are discovered.”

Patrica held her hand as she went to adjust the Comms. “So...how fast can we run?”

The bridge was silent as she went to tell the Captain, Loki at her side. He was throwing a ball to /ScentofHappy/ and he turned as she arrived, “Hello Patrica, I have already alerted the crew. How bad is it?” She paused. It was so easy to forget that this man knew her emotions before she did. “Captain, Oscar thinks there are twenty ships out there looking for us. Another ten are chasing the decoy. They won’t be a problem.”

The Captain raised his eyes at that, “Really? Your decoy was that good?” A brief smile crossed her face, “No sir, the problem is what happens if you catch one. They have a different set of orders once a threat is confirmed.” She bowed slightly, “and I confirmed it. Now we have to deal with the rest. I suggest we run as fast as we can and hope the good guys are out there looking for us. I can’t fight this ship, you have nothing. Maybe against one, even two I might get us home eventually but twenty? If they catch us we are dead.”

“So we run?” He looked into the face of a human at war. His people had never had a war but now he had learned a scent he would not forget. “Very well Engineer. Make it so.” Patrica nodded, “Sir.” She left as the Captain was picking up /ScentofHappy/ and putting out the orders to the crew. “Attention All. You will immediately move to your emergency positions. Please ensure that all items are locked down…”

Out in the dark Patrica’s missile flew closer to the enemy fleet, hiding itself against the emissions of the local star. Its systems were passively reading every system of the oncoming fleets and comparing it to known ships. Once it resolved the identification it moved to risk assessment. Multiple incoming enemies, target undefended. Civilian Crew. In the complicated algorithm provided by humanity it came to a conclusion to inflict ‘Maximum Damage/Unrestrained Response Level 6/’. The missile began to slow down, confident that it was directly in the path of the Pirate fleet. A mix of oddball physics and frightening engineering began to build as the ships approached.

The missile counted to the nanosecond and flared within the onrushing fleet. A warp field modulated to crush anything in range ballooned out, smashing the ships into normal space in a brief flicker of light. Then the field retracted, pulling the burning wreckage into a micro-singularity that boiled hot for a moment and disappeared, leaving only a slight hint that they had ever passed. Level six response achieved.

“Oscar, I want you to prep the Engines for overclocking. Get ready to run the fields hot. Dump anything that we are carrying cold. I want all crew either on the bridge or in the canteen. Give them a warning and then depressurise the rest. Anything that can breathe better be in the canteen before you do it or I’m sending a note to your parents. Oh, in case I forgot to mention it leave Engineering alone. I’m going to be working from my consoles there.”

Oscar studied the strategy and tactics, trying to achieve the same balance as his Engineer had but the algorithm evaded him. In small steps, she had taken the ship and crew into the teeth of an enemy fleet and he couldn’t understand how she had done it. It was like she hadn’t even noticed she was taking the ship to war until it was ready. He tried replicating her steps and was erased within hours. His parents had warned him that this would happen, that chaos for the average human was far more than he would ever experience, that they had a sense for it. He ran a full diagnostic of the ship and himself and prepared to run. In a moment of humanity, he decided to trust she would bring them home safe and began building his first Avatar. It was smaller than he had originally planned but it would serve.

“Engineer, the engines are ready. Once the crew is secured you may activate at will...

Please ensure Loki is safe.” Patrica grinned at the last bit. Oscar didn’t even realise that it had been the AI’s that had pushed for the Alliance. He wanted a puppy.

“Alright, let’s go.” She checked the ship. All compartments were empty. “Let’s blow this place.” They pulled every gas and ran it through the heat extractors and then dumped it into space. Patrica carefully cut every system that could withstand a few hours of Zero. The prisoners might get cold but fuck them. She watched as chunks of frozen crap slipped quietly into the dark. She checked her consoles, “Oscar, in five minutes I want you to move faster than you ever imagined. Ship mass is down forty-three percent. When it hits fifty I want you to run at full power. Either we have friends out there or we die. Check your tactical database and gear up.”

Oscar took control of the engines, he watched as his Engineer smoothed out the power and made it ready for him. She seemed satisfied. He ran the power back up from silent running and peered deep into the space that was along his chosen route. Let the chase begin. He poured every available joule he could drag from the systems and went for it, blasting the ship at a speed he thought useful.

Captain /Longnose/ gazed at the ship display. He watched as the numbers began to climb. His ship had doubled its normal speed and still kept accelerating. What had the human done to his ship? Is this why everyone wanted one? Suddenly he grinned, confident that no-one was going to catch him.

Patrica watched Oscar carefully. She nodded to the screen, “Well done, you are handling your ship beautifully. Now just keep an eye on the scanners for me.”

Oscar felt a warmth rise from the engines.