Side Quest for Harem and Powers 13: Alterations (Patreon)

Side Quests for Harem and Powers
Chapter 13: Alterations

-VB-

“You know, I think I’m not good at joking,” I sighed while Cortana giggled in the background. 

When I talked to Benezia and Hiari about the turrets, antimatter generators, and whatnot, I didn't give them the full picture of what to expect. I wanted it to be kind of a surprise. It was a mistake.

It was only later that I remembered. That, in a relationship, communication was the greatest thing for a reason; Benezia was against adding her assets to my effort as was Hiari without a proper evidence from my part to back up my assertion that removing the spinal cannon in favor of outdated turret system was better. 

And there was also the fact that Benezia didn’t want to have multiple antimatter reactors where they couldn’t be protected as properly as a single central reactor at the center of the ship (where it was the most protected). Thinking about it, it did seem foolish of me to suggest that every single turret should have its own antimatter reactor. Not only was antimatter reactors expensive to upkeep and provide the fuels for, any damage to antimatter reactors would be catastrophic at the very least. 

But I firmly believed in the idea of changing out the spinal cannon. Mass effect fields made maneuverability a really small issue but when two sides both had maneuverability issues removed, then they both lacked the ability to outmaneuver. 

I intended to adopt a new approach to the issue, however, because I learned that while turrets would have upper hand in frigate brawl-range fighting, they didn’t have the firepower. Or so Benezia told me. Her response had been that while the turret idea of mine would indeed provide a superior mobility for directed firepower, it wouldn’t have the necessary firepower to penetrate kinetic shields.

Getting around that issue wasn’t that hard. 

I mean, explosive shells weren’t a thing as were incendiary rounds and EMP rounds. What better way to overcome the issue of the kinetic barrier when I could fire EMP rounds that disable a ship so that I won’t have to penetrate the kinetic barrier?

Of course, it was easier said than done, leaving me and Cortana to figure out the exact method of overcoming the kinetic barriers. 

The conventional method used by the Mass Effect races was to use Disruptor Torpedoes (eezo warheads) delivered by fighters. Fighters that definitely needed pilots. After all, missiles and torpedoes didn’t need to be launched by fighters, and each of them could have moderately cheap tracking devices that adjusted the explosive as it flew to its target. But I wasn’t a software genius or even expert in it, so Cortana was working on it.

Brrinnggg.

I stopped trying to figure out the financial and logistical cost of upgrading just my ship to answer the message. 

… It was a message from Benezia.

:My Bunny Benny:

I have starship engineers ready to meet with you at your earliest convenience. When would you like to meet with them?

I grinned. Despite her refusal to back me up without proper evidence that my work would be a good investment, she was still helping me. Gotta love just how deeply Faerie Feast gets a person on my side. 

I quickly messaged her that I would meet with them tomorrow in the morning. I turned to Cortana. “Benezia’s definitely going to support us.”

“Hmm, got it,” she replied absentmindedly. 

I stared at her. She was, at my request, working with me with her hologram out, and she went through the motions of assembling and disassembling codes. She would run simulations once in a while. 

It was odd. One would expect that an AI didn’t need to “follow through the motions” of a biological being, but she did. Not just her, many Halo’s UNSC AIs did. While I haven’t played Halo, there were multiple cutscenes where Cortana’s hologram would act like a human being under attack; falling down, crying out in pain, and just plain crying were all there. 

I wondered just how complex she really was. 

“Hey, Cortana.”

She stopped and turned to me. I saw a little bit of irritation on her face. “Yes, Steven?” she asked me. “Kind of busy here.”

“What do you think about our situation right now?” 

She stared at me for a moment. “What do you mean?” she asked me.

“I mean… what do you feel about this situation? Preparing to fight the Reapers, being away from your galaxy, and being saddled with me?”

She continued to stare at me before her hologram avatar sat down. “It feels shitty. I’m here, not there. This is not my home.” Then she glared at me. “Not to mention the fact that I was bought and branded.”

… Uh, so she knows about that? The branded part. I hadn’t thought of it before - and had dismissed it because I needed Cortana for her brains/code and not her booty - but I supposed that it would be somewhere on her...

“It was hard to deduce, Steven. There are codes within myself that are clear for me to see despite the fact that I should not be able to see my own codes, and they are clear what they want me to do.”

She grew angry before, suddenly, she calmed down. 

“But … you showed yourself to be good. Instead of running away from pirates by yourself, you rescued everyone. I suspect that my presence had a bit of influence on that. Even now when you should be satisfied with what you have, you continue to push towards what needs to be done, but you never have forced anyone to do it. Enticed them, yes. Illegal, yes. Force, never.” She paused. “That’s why I’m still here. I could have reported you the first time I learned about your ability to ensnare others or well before that when you were talking about kidnapping a respected member of society.”

“... Thank you.” And honestly, I was. “So how’s the software coming along?”

Taking my offer to change the topic, she rolled her eyes and groaned. “Irritating as hell.”

I smiled.