USD: 38 Days after arrival at Fort Glisson

Location: Nu Crateris, A3123Y, In pursuit of Corporate Systems warships

The Corporate frigates had done as expected and split into four different trajectories, all aimed for the Gas Giant in an attempt to slingshot themselves while going dark to escape. SR01 had been directed toward the one they knew was already damaged in the exchange in 92 Pegasi, while A3123Y continued to burn toward another.

Both ships they were chasing were doomed, but the other two had a good chance of escaping once they went out of line-of-sight.

“I’m receiving a message from H32. It wishes to know if we would like assistance in chasing down the enemy.” Abbey said, a frown creasing her face. “But something is strange. The time delay is too short.”

Wyles frowned. “They must have a ship there. Did one slip into your laser comm?”

Abbey was silent for a moment.

Amy felt concern. If the Corpos had prepared a trap for them and there were more ships waiting in ambush, they might be damaged in the fight, even with the upgrades.

Abbey puffed up her cheeks. “There is a ship there! It slid right into our laser comm with the planet, and since it has the same authentication, I didn’t even notice the parallax or the aiming data changing!”

“It’s in stealth… no EM emissions. I am pointing telescopes at it now… it’s pretty big! Oh… Oh… Umm. It looks sort of like the Corpo battlecruiser, but it’s very… different,” she said.

“Could the Corpos be spoofing your authentication?” Amy asked.

“No way. For sure, it’s another NAI and its coding checks out to be H32…”

Wyles frowned and leaned forward to read the status display on Abbey’s console.

“How sure are we that this H32 is friendly?” He asked.

Abbey tilted her head. “Umm, it’s a valid Starlight Revolution Corporate channel and as an NAI generated from A13X, pretty sure?”

“Do the SR Corporate bylaws allow hostile takeover?” Wyles asked.

“Huh?” Abbey asked.

Amy shook her head. “No, there’s a strict hierarchy. I don’t know what authority Alex gave it, though, and SR doesn’t delineate NAI or human authority into separate groups. If it is Nu Crateris’ system manager, then technically it outranks us on anything pertaining to the system. “

Wyles grunted. “I don’t know everything about NAIs, but is there risk that it could hijack our Abbey? I know there are certain ranks and the like and if that’s possible, we should cut communications and possibly leave.”

Abbey shook her head. “There is no way he could be higher than me. A13X gave me the highest level she could. I imagine she did the same for H32, so we would be the same level.”

Amy made a decision. “Transmit to them. Ask them if they can assist with taking out the two that are getting away, Abbey.”

“Roger! I’ll ask…” Abbey said.

A few moments later, two blips appeared on the nav display as sensors picked them up.

“Two new contacts! Blipping us with SR IFFs. SR... 01 Heaven’s Fire? And SR02 Repurposed Morsel.” Abbey said.

“Those are some… unique names.” Amy replied.

“Data on the Heaven’s Fire is coming in. I believe it’s the Tremissis. But it’s been changed heavily.” Abbey offered.

Wyles shook his head. “So they captured the battlecruiser? That’s hard to believe.”

“Seeing is believing. If Abbey says so, then I believe her.”

Wyles nodded. “I wasn’t saying she was wrong, just that I would think it wouldn’t be possible to capture a capital ship like that. They are meant to be resistant to take over.”

“Obviously not resistant enough.”

“Course projections place contacts for all four Corpo frigates within the next hour! They aren’t getting away!” Abbey cheered.

Amy nodded, but the news didn’t make her happy.

“Send open transmission to the Corpo ships. Inform them they will be destroyed if they do not cut their acceleration and surrender.” Amy ordered.

She hoped they’d take the offer. She didn’t want to kill them all, although she knew she’d direct Abbey to do just that if they refused.

USD: 38 Days after arrival at Fort Glisson

Location: Van Biesbroeck’s star, Meltisar, Orbital Elevator Nexus MIL-1A, Shuttle Zone C

Alex and Lieutenant Harmon’s trip back towards the shuttle waiting for her was quieter than their trip to the Medical Center. That was okay for Alex. She was halfway lost in thought. Elis had not been happy with her leaving, and it tore at Alex when she had to go. Even with all the promises that she’d be back as soon as basic was over.

During their trip through the area before she hadn’t really paid much attention to their surroundings and the conversation, but as Alex’s head cleared she realized the shuttle section of MIL-1A differed from the public sections she had spent most of her time in. Fluorescent lights hummed overhead, casting shadows on the metallic floor and walls.

Despite the utilitarian design, there was a slightly abandoned feel to the area, although cargo bots passed them by several times as they delivered or fetched pallets and barrels as needed for whatever task they were performing. The sound of voices was absent, and it was almost silent except for the whirring of the cargo bots and the hum of machinery and environmental systems.

Even though it felt deserted, the corridor was still well-maintained and functional, with no sign of the rust of degradation. Alex noticed the storage cutouts that were spaced evenly along the walls and a few rooms had their doors ajar, revealing supplies and equipment stored within. While the area did require security clearance, that seemed unsafe to Alex. Why bother to leave the doors open?

Schematics and diagrams dotted the walls, showing directions to different access points in the area. She really had no sense of location from them, though. Her datapad map would have been infinitely more helpful, and she wasn’t sure why they had plastered the plastic maps on the walls.

Several times they passed by rooms marked with hazard symbols, and those doors were closed. At least they weren’t completely insecure.

They were about halfway there when two men stepped out from a cutout in the corridor and blocked their path. Alex and Lieutenant Harmon both frowned at the same time. A soft sound behind them caused Alex to glance back and two more men were approaching them; alarm bells went off in her head immediately and she started to say something when Harmon stepped forward.

“What’s this about? Some problem up ahea—”

He didn’t finish his sentence as one man suddenly lashed out with a hand-held stun gun, jamming it into the Lieutenant’s stomach and setting it off with a vicious crackle.

Alex didn’t know the who or why they were being targeted, but she didn’t need to. The standard ROE for peacetime had been drilled into her head and the men, whether civilian or military, had assaulted an officer with potentially deadly force. She snapped to action.

The man with the stun gun tried to turn it on her, but she caught his wrist and yanked him toward her. She squeezed as hard as she could with her fingers, the crunch of bones in the man’s forearm sending him to screaming in pain as she landed the full force of an open palm strike into his cheat to send him flying through the air and cracking into the metal bulkhead of the corridor. He fell to the ground, neutralized.

She could hear the men behind her rushing forward so she rushed the man still standing in front of her as he back pedaled in surprise at her attack. He raised some type of weapon at her, but she slapped his arm to the side before he could point it at her, then grabbed him by the throat and spun.

Her aim was off, but the man’s legs swiped into one of the oncoming men’s face sending him to the floor while the other man continued to arc through the air down the corridor.

The fourth man had a long pole device and the tip of it suddenly arced with electricity. It wasn’t a firearm like she feared, and she realized Harmon was likely still alive. This group was trying to capture them for whatever reason.

“Fuck off!” She shouted, but the man didn’t pause and continued forward. Glancing to her sides, she spotted an emergency fire alarm. She reached out and shattered the glass covering with her fist, smashing the red button to send spinning red lights to life along with a warning klaxon.

Her attacker cursed, but didn’t hesitate to continue forward. Alex dodged the shock spear by continuing to dart backwards and around it. She couldn’t find an opening as he kept the shock point darting in and out rapidly. As she gave up space, she realized that the men that she’d left wounded had recovered and had started toward Harmon, collecting the man up by the feet and torso before hauling him off.

“Hey!” she shouted, but was forced to deal with the threat on hand. As she stepped back past an open crate full of some type of cloth, she had a sudden idea. Taking a risk by dodging sideways instead of backwards, she darted around the shock spear to grab the crate’s ajar lid.

It was a heavy chunk of rectangular metal, almost too heavy for her to swing fast enough to block the next stab. Somehow, she managed it anyway, and the impact batted her attacker’s weapon away. She reversed the momentum and slammed the edge of the lid into his neck, his head flying off in a shower of blood.

A voice erupted from down the hall. “Ertan’s Savior!”

She turned toward it and saw three men approaching, each with a rifle raised. She raised her hands as they pointed them at her.

“Please! They attacked us, and they grabbed the Lieutenant! I don’t know wh—”

They all three opened fire, some type of energy hitting her right in the chest. Her entire body felt like it was on fire, and she raised a hand to her torso to confirm there weren’t any bullet holes. They hadn’t shot projectile and apparently it was a non-lethal weapon.

“She’s not going down.”

“We don’t have much time; Again.”

The horrifying realization that these men were with her attackers dawned on Alex. She reached down to grab the crate’s lid to use as a shield, but the energy pulses slammed into her again.

The electric shock paralyzed her with pain and numbness. Her vision turned red.

|WARNING: RAMPANCY DETECTED 104.3% OVERLOAD|

|TERMINATING RAMPANT UNITS IN PROGRESS|

|SYSTEM SHOCK DETECTED, NERVE DAMAGE PRIORITY REPAIR|

She had the lid in hand somehow and threw it as hard as she could at the man in the center of the formation. She missed, but it clipped his helmet, sending him falling backwards. The other two switched to full auto and lit her up.

Alex lost control and fell to her knees, a numb feeling filling her entire body as tormented nerve fibers shut down. Red flashing alarms blared at her and blood and nanites flowed from her nose. The pain wasn’t that bad, and she didn’t lose consciousness as they shoved a black hood down over her head.