“They escaped! I can't believe it! How is it possible to fuck up like that!? If the higher-ups learn about this, heads will roll. I have to cover myself... make sure that nobody can blame me for all of this!”

- Research Diary of Ouluk Kelemdar

***Deep Space***

***Antioch***

Humming, I skip towards the mess hall, holding a notepad in my regrown hand. After Min introduced Silith and me to the practice of first-aid, it took only a few hours until the crust of blood was replaced by a silvery froth – nano-tech which was busily rebuilding my hand.

The process was quite fascinating to watch and worked like with a 3D printing machine. The little machines added layer by layer, instead of regrowing the hand like it happens with reptiles. That would have been creepy to watch.

It took days and itched like hell the entire time, but now I am as good as new. The only issue is that the skin of the regrown hand still has a silvery grey colour, remnants of inactive nano-machines. According to our little doctor, it should go away within a few days.

Still, I am in a good mood. Whistling, I enter the mess hall and find Min, Sam, Silith and Lisandra at one of the large tables. They fall silent upon noticing me and four pairs of eyes make contact with each other. I can't help it, somehow I feel like I am being left out. “What's going on in here? A large meeting which I wasn't invited to?”

“Just a little bonding, hahaha,” Sam replies nonchalantly. “After all, Lisandra has to get used to us.”

I furrow my forehead and look at the slender woman. She and I didn't get to talk much since I rescued her. Somehow, I have the feeling that she is avoiding me. No good. We are living on a small ship. If we don't get along it will be awkward. And she is Silith's sister. I doubt that she will go away, now that she is here.

“Okay. I'll join in. How does this bonding work?”

Lisandra exchanges a glance with Silith and clears her throat. “Sam wasn't clear enough. It was meant as bonding between Silith and I. We are sisters after all. There is a lot to catch up to. Stories to tell, memories to share...” Her voice wavers at the end and her gaze wanders everywhere except to my eyes. It's clear that she is trying to hide something and isn't very good at it.

Narrowing my eyes, I decide to find out what's going on. “What does this bonding involve? Why can the kids know about it, but not me?”

Min clears her throat. “That's something that should be kept between females.”

They are so bad at this. “Sam is a guy. Why don't you give up and tell me what's going on?”

“A boy,” he croaks. “I don't count until I am grown up.”

Pursing my lips, I give them a look which can be only taken as utter disbelief. “Sure... and I am able to fart antimatter. What are you guys up to?”

Silith gets up and sashays towards me, smiling. Once she is close enough, she hooks arms with me and draws a little circle on my chest. Guiding me towards the table, she establishes a mental connection. 'Don't worry. They are actually trying to surprise you with a little present, so why don't you play along?'

“It's really something personal. Lisandra and I were exchanging old memories, some of them hurtful. Min and Sam are here because they know our entire story anyway,” Silith explains nonchalantly. She pushes me down onto a bench and sits down on my lap, hugging an arm around my neck.

'Are you sure that nothing is wrong? You know that you can talk to me about everything,' I try to reassure her, using our secret communication line. “I understand...” After quickly checking the expressions of the others, I find only relief among them. Still, I want to know what this was about.

Silith kisses me on the cheek. The simple gesture sends a nice tingle down my spine and before I know it, I smile like an idiot.

“Thanks, but it seemed to me like you left the medical station for a reason. Are you sure that you are back to full health?” Silith asks concernedly.

“Yes! Now that you remind me!” I raise the notepad triumphantly. This was the original reason why I left the station. While I was recuperating, I used the free time to investigate the Haven's security system. The manner in which we broke into the research station reminded me that our own ship isn't any less receptive to direct interaction.

“When I invaded the research station, I got an idea regarding our stowaways and I think that I found a way to catch them!” I announce proudly.

“Stowaway?” Lisandra asks, worried.

That leads to a short explanation in order to bring her up to date. Apparently, the others avoided telling her, hoping that she has an easier time adapting when there aren't additional worries on her mind.

“... Well, it actually gave me the idea that our mysterious friends aren't actually masters of hide and seek. We came to that conclusion because Sam and Min mentioned that they belong most likely to the Survivalists. But tell me, would it make that much sense for a Survivalist to develop perfect camouflage? Judging by my own capabilities, it would take a lot of points to reach a degree of skill which is sufficient for what we are witnessing.”

I clear my throat. “Not to mention, we already guessed that there must be more than one of them on board. It's extremely unlikely that all of them are experts at camouflage. So, which other skill would allow them to hide a large group, even if just one of them has the expertise?” Grinning, I can see the realization dawn on their faces.

“They hacked us!” Silith screams in outrage. “How!? I am sure that my systems are safe!”

“Your systems are safe from a Designer's point of view,” I reassure her. “But – and don't take that as an insult – you aren't a specialized hacker. You are a Designer.

“I assume used a shuttle and latched onto our old ship, the Chimera. It must have happened back at the pirate station. We already know how good the pirate armour is for hiding from sensors. At that time, the Chimera was a hacked up piece of handicraft work. It was easy to get access to the systems and I assume that they recommissioned some of the ship's parts back then. They were hooked into our systems all along, even while we designed the Haven. It wouldn't have been too hard to install a backdoor. Heck, we even aided them by choosing a compartmentalized design.” I smile.

“How?” Min asks.

“They created a little, secluded living area of their own, using the stolen shuttle,” I answer. “They hid it in one of the empty spaces which we reserved for future expansions. They were playing us like an instrument, and I can even prove it.” Feeling smug, I point at the notepad and call up the database of our security system. “Do you see those surveillance timestamps? Each of them marks one of the events where our sensors registered the strange shadow.”

I giggle. “They really tricked us there. It never occurred to me that the shadow was never real. It was just a distraction to send me off on a goose-chase, hunting ghosts, while they were poaching in another part of the ship.”

Lisandra looks at me with sincere astonishment in her eyes. “And all of that occurred to you while you were attacking a space station full of enemies?”

“To be honest, I was about to kill a few people. The adrenaline must have stimulated my mind.” The words slip out before I can stop myself, and Lisandra's expression immediately changes to wariness. Now she is regarding me as if I am a wild animal.

Sigh... I am not good at this stuff. Here I thought that I could break the ice between us, and I had to go and ruin it immediately.

“Whatever.” I point at the notepad. “I managed to counteract the changes to our computer system. Our guests have a secret airlock in storage room 2-0-4. There are seven of them.”

“Great!” Silith turns the notepad around, so that she can study the map. “What are we waiting for? Let's catch them and throw them out.”

Lisandra gasps. “You want to space them!?”

I purse my lips, ignoring Lisandra. That woman clearly has no idea how the world works. Though, I admit that spacing them by default may be a little hasty. They stole from us, but they are just trying to survive. “The only reason why I didn't do that already, is because I have no idea of their capabilities. One versus seven strikes me as bad odds. Yes, I have my drones, but they could also have something up their sleeves.”

Silith titters. “We just have to catch them when some of them sneak out for another raid. As long as we pick them off one by one, we can minimize the risk.”

Sam enters the discussion. “Can't you throw them into the cells which you already prepared beforehand? Lisandra obviously dislikes the idea of killing them.”

Min nods. “Yes, and who knows... they might come in handy.”

I raise my hand to stop them. “I don't want them to run around our ship. Taking them out one by one involves the chance of the others noticing that something is going on. Actually, I had a different plan, but I needed to check with Sam and Min.”

Turning my attention to the twins, I ask my question. “When we devised the attack on the space station, you warned us of the effect of electromagnetism on our bodies. We used the fusion engine's field emitters to catch the capsules. I get that such strong electromagnetic forces fry the nanotech in our bodies, and that's bad, but is there a way to use the effect in order to stun them? I checked, and there is a way to modulate one of the emitters to affect the secret chamber.”

Min and Sam somehow manage to shake and to nod their heads at the same time.

“Yes, if you modulate the field very carefully.”

“That's next to impossible. You would have to know exactly where they are, and you would also fry all the electronics in that part of the ship!”

“You are right, but the affected stuff would be largely in the ship's storage area. That includes doors, some screens, speakers. Nothing vital. We protected the important stuff against electromagnetic shocks.” I shrug. “I would have to rebuild the storage area anyway. There is no way to know what kind of crap they have installed down there. They had months to set things up. We wouldn't be able to trust our own ship.”

Silith bites her lower lip. “You think it's that bad?”

“You tell me...” I gesture at the twins. “If we are right, then they are from another V.C. faction. They have access to the same nano-tech. Who knows which capabilities they have. I don't even know how many classes there are.”

Silith's looks crestfallen. “That depends on who designed their race. I don't have much insight into this race-creation-quest. But I can read the greyed out areas. It suggests that almost everything is possible... within certain limits.”

We argue back and forth, seeking arguments in favour and against both plans. In the end, we decide to go with the option of stunning our opponents while they are still in their secret area. It bears the chance of killing them outright, but apart from Lisandra none of us is that concerned about the possibility.

Better to be safe than sorry.

G.O.D.: New Quest! Catch yourself a Kitty Cat!