Warhawk's Sacrifice - Ch. 13 - Mahad - Alpha (Patreon)

Seb waved the tow crane down as it lowered into position. The pilot sat in a transparent cabin mounted to the front of an exposed square frame with four massive thrusters on each corner. In the center, secured to four tow cables, hung the replacement battery for the Amnesty’s T-gauss system.

Earlier that morning, Seb had opened the T-gauss’s exhaust ports that made for an excellent drop point into the maintenance bay. After selling the burned up battery for scrap, he was ready for the replacement. After a full week of repairs, it was the last piece he needed to make the ship whole again.

When a large gust of wind pushed the battery several feet to the side, Seb held up his hands and shouted into his wrist mounted WICI. “Whoa, hold up. I need you to head back up. You’re way off point.”

“It’s these hyper gusts being this high,” the small sepix pilot shouted into Seb’s ear. “This would be much easier doing this from the ground.”

“Yeah, well, take that up with my hosts. I’m sure the Saladonus family would love to hear your complaints.”

The man’s tone quickly changed. “No, no, we’ll try again.”

“Sorry, Falis,” Seb said, with a slight chuckle. “I’d move it if I could. The ship’s docked here and has to stay here.”

“No complaining, only a suggestion. Let me know when you’re ready.”

Seb looked across the opening at his onigaram helper. She was dressed down in just a black athletic bra and black puffy pants. Her sweat glistened on her red skin, making it look like she was glowing when she stepped out of the sunlight.

“Are you ready?” Seb asked.

“Yea, let’s just get this done,” Mischa said, wiping her brow. “This heat is ridiculous.”

“I’m definitely regretting not doing this in my armor,” Seb said, wringing out his shirt before looking back up at the hovering ship. “Okay, Falis, we’re ready.”

The whine of the tow crane ship’s thrusters eased up as the battery slowly lowered. Seb sucked in his breath as the cables groaned with another gust of wind. However, the pilot counter thrusted the move and kept the device from turning into a wrecking ball.

Once the bottom point cleared the top of the exhaust port, Seb and Mischa readied themselves for their portion. When they were able to reach the end, they both grabbed onto the battery. They grunted as they moved it into position, doing their best to align the battery’s bottom mounting brackets to holes on the ship floor. After they confirmed the position, they hurried to unclasp the four lifting hooks.

“The battery is free,” Seb shouted and waved at the pilot. “You can raise the cables.”

The ship ascended, and the steel cords retracted in their winches.

“All right, is that everything?” Falis asked. “Once I’m gone, I’m gone.”

“You’ve already been paid, right?”

“Yeah, someone did. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be out here.”

“Then yeah, we should be good.”

Seb covered his brow as he watched the ship fly off into the mustard yellow sky. After it left, he walked over to the hovercart he’d prepared for the rest of the work. He grabbed the bolts and impact drill he needed and slipped them into his construction belt. After opening the nearby floor hatch, he jumped down into the subfloor.

“Okay, I’m going to slip the bolts through the holes on the bottom,” Seb said before pointing to the cart. “What I need from you is to slide the washers and nuts on top, screw them until they reach the bottom. Once all of them are hand tightened, we’re going to go to each of them where you’re going to hold that big ass wrench on each, while I tighten them to spec from the bottom.”

“Just the ones that are on the table, correct?” Mischa asked.

“Yup, just those. I’ll stick the bolt through and we’ll do one at a time.”

“Do you mind if I close the roof first?”

“Oh yeah, go ahead,” Seb said, pointing to the wall. “Just use that panel over there. You’ll want to tap the structure category and then select exhaust port five and then close.”

He watched Mischa walk over to the hologram and tap through the menu. After a few seconds, sand dust fell from the opening as the circular port shut. Seb rubbed his fist in his eyes while they adjusted to the white LED lights that kicked on. When he looked back up, Mischa hovered over the battery's corner.

Over the next ten minutes, the pair secured the battery to the Amnesty’s frame. Sounds of their grunts and power tools echoed throughout the level. Once they finished, Seb climbed out of the floor and walked over to the nearby cabling.

While Mischa watched, he dragged two large electrical conduits and connected the battery to the others. He performed a final physical inspection before grabbing the cart and leading Mischa to the nearby hallway. Once they were clear, he used the nearby terminal to raise the ship’s red security barrier.

“Syn, Mischa and I have completed the T-Gauss battery installation,” Seb said. “Can you bring the system online and run through its diagnostics?”

“Certainly, Captain,” his VI companion said.

Seb and Mischa both watched as the power lights on the batteries lit up. A soft hum filled the room. Visual waves cascaded across the barrier until the noise equalized. Everything looked good from the captain’s point of view.

“All pre-fire diagnostics are showing green, Captain,” Syn said. “I can run a blank fire exercise if you’d like.”

“I’m going to come up to the bridge for that,” Seb said. “I’ll be there in a sec.”

After Seb put the hovercart and tools back into their places, he and Mischa both walked down the hall to the elevator. When Seb tapped the projected button, Mischa hung back and leaned on the doors so they wouldn’t close.

“I’m going to head back to the crew quarters and get a shower,” she said, pointing her thumb behind her.

“That’s unfortunate,” Seb said with a sly smile. “I would have loved to join you.”

“I would like that too… but I don’t think it would be such a good idea.”

“Really? Why?”

Mischa rolled her eyes and cocked her brow. “You know why. You and I have enough on our plate as is. Plus, don’t you have enough women?”

“It’s not about a number. You’re as much a part of this family as the others. I don’t think Nalla, Eni, or Vi would bat an eye if I said you were staying around permanently.”

“But that’s the problem. I don’t know if I’m staying permanently. While my song is to protect Iris, now… who knows what could happen a few months from now? I could get pulled off and reassigned. Then you’d have some other Sister with you all on your journey.”

“Do you think they’d really do that?”

Sister Mischa rubbed her arm. “I… honestly don’t know.”

“And if you did get that song that said, they would send you somewhere else. What would you do?”

“I—” For a moment, Seb could see the hesitation in Mischa’s eyes. But it quickly passed, and she looked up at him with furrowed brows. “I’d go without hesitation. Nimora gave me a renewed life. My life is hers.”

“I understand.”

Mischa stepped away from the doors and smiled. “Chin up, Captain. Who knows what the future will hold?”

“Hopefully those thick cheeks again,” Seb said.

After the pair shared a hearty laugh, Mischa waved and the doors closed. The cabin ascended to the top floor, opening to an empty bridge. Seb walked to the co-pilot’s chair and sat down.

The ship’s center console illuminated all the various controls in a plethora of blues, oranges, and reds. He pressed the button to lower the viewport’s blast shield and waited patiently. Mahad’s three suns filled the room with their bright light. Once the glass adjusted for their brightness, he leaned forward in his seat.

The Amnesty sat on a docking platform overlooking the desert planet. When Seb first saw the yellow atmosphere on their approach, he expected the worst. He’d assumed it would smell of sulfur or sewage. But the subtle sweet smell that naturally occurred surprised him. The three suns kept the planet in nearly constant sunlight, forcing the temperatures to heated extremes and most homes dark.

A sea of tan stone brick buildings extended before him as far as his eyes could see. It was split into two castes. Most of the structures were what Seb expected to find: multiple stories sized for an average humanoid organized in lanes for perfect travel. However, standing tall like gods overlooking their disciples were statues and facilities dedicated to the heads of the Ten Families.

Monstrous structures thousands of feet high were composed of their own ecosystems. Much like the home he currently stayed at, the Saladonus estate wasn’t just a single building housed for one family. It was its own skyscraper filled with thousands of servants, workers, and fans dedicating their lives to only a select few.

Each level was composed of a more important individual and scaled as such, which is why the largest halls, walkways, and rooms were reserved for the top. It gave many of the larger structures an inverted pyramid look. What irked Seb about it was that it was all wasteful and unnecessary if only a select few could use it.

He’d seen the power of Veradinae’s gifts, allowing the elite to transform. They could all scale themselves down to a size similar to their kin. However, that wasn’t the expectation of sepix culture. The more power, money, and influence a sepix had, the larger they grew. And size garnered respect.

Seb pulled up the Amnesty’s weapons and electrical systems as he spoke. “All right, Syn, I think we’re ready for that test fire. Any issues on my way up here?”

Syn’s hologram appeared in the middle of the console. “No, Captain. I’ve been monitoring the ship’s electrical systems and everything seems normal.”

“How’s the new power converter? I take it there’s been no problems thus far?”

“I’ve been monitoring the ship’s systems around the clock. The only variances I have seen have been from the upgrades to Nalla’s office and Eni’s server room.”

“Wait, when did Eni upgrade her server room?”

“A few days ago. She’d met with Zara, and from my understanding, managed to get her to buy her all new equipment. Eni’s been replacing servers and storage ever since. When she finished, my processing power and storage capacity increased tenfold.”

“How did she manage to do that?”

“I don’t know. The conversation happened in the Saladonus estate and Eni was not wearing her WICI, so I was unable to monitor it. I’ve only made the assumption based on the sequence of events and lack of orders from the company accounts.”

“Huh… I’ll have to ask her about it later…”

“I’d recommend that you do. Thanks to the upgrades, I could complete the nakai dictionary. With that data, I’m currently indexing the codex.”

“That’s great news, Syn! So does that mean everyone will be able to speak with Iris soon?”

“Eni is currently fitting her with a custom comm device, as we speak. I believe it’s just a matter of minutes.”

“Yes! All right, let’s wrap this up. I want to go check in on them.”

“I’m ready for your authorization, Captain.”

Seb cleared his throat. “Syn, initiate T-Gauss startup sequence - testing parameters, authorization Captain Sebastian Warhawk.”

“Voice authorization accepted, Captain. T-Gauss startup sequence initiated in test fire mode.”

Seb never tired of watching the ship’s primary weapon come to life. With a surge of electrical power, red rings of light glowed in sequence along the ship’s open rail, signifying that each plasma coil had initiated. The entire ship vibrated as the batteries fed the ship wide weapon its juice. On Seb’s panel, he watched the spike of power rise and eventually taper out as it hit its maximum.

“Captain, the T-Gauss startup sequence has completed. The weapon is fully charged. There is currently no payload chambered.”

“Syn, you may fire when ready.”

“Affirmative, Captain. Initiating T-Gauss in three… two… one…”

The red light grew in intensity before the sudden release of the power. A winding whistle proceeded, the exhaust ports shunting open, spilling red heated plasma into the atmosphere like the planet’s largest grill. When the energy and heat dispersed, the exhaust ports closed as expected.

Seb spent the next few minutes analyzing the data. The weapon system worked flawlessly. The batteries all provided sufficient power. There were no erroneous errors, and the weapon entered its standby state of execution.

“Fuck yeah,” Seb said, slapping his knee. “I think that was a good test. I’m not seeing anything of concern. What about you, Syn?”

“The overall power levels did reach a new high for the ship,” Syn said. “However, I expected that given the additional draw of new hardware.”

“Eni’s additional equipment isn’t going to overload us if we fire the T-Gauss, is it?”

“No, Captain. We’re well within the twenty percent reserve, with a peak of one hundred and fifty percent. That test put us around a ninety-eight percent peak. We have plenty of room should we need to strain the Amnesty’s systems. That also doesn’t include if I turn off ancillary systems such as gravity, if we need to pull more.”

“Good. So then she’s back to one hundred percent then?”

“Outside of upcoming planned maintenance for the sensor array, yes, Captain. The ship feels whole again.”

Seb jumped out of the chair and danced around the room. He didn’t need any music. His excitement carried the beat. Syn projected a full length of herself in the middle of the room and the two spent the next few minutes dancing together. At the end of it the two shared a laugh as Seb leaned against the chair.

“I’m really happy to have the Amnesty fixed, Captain,” Syn said. “It’s become as much a part of me as I am to it.”

“You’re welcome, Syn,” Seb said with a smile. “I’m sorry it took so long. I wish we could have gotten you patched up sooner.”

“It’s completely understandable, given our situation. Hopefully, with our agreement with Ten Families, we can continue to enjoy this moment of peace.”

“Yeah…,” Seb said, looking off to the side.

Syn furrowed her brow and brought her hand up to Seb’s face. “Is something wrong?”

“It’s… you know what, never mind. I just need to be thankful we’re not getting shot at.”

Syn ignored Seb’s laughter and took a step forward. “You know you can talk to me. I’m a great listener.”

“It’s just we finally have the ship back together and all I want to do is go. My dream has always been to be a captain of my own ship. But what’s the point of a ship captain if the ship is impounded to the ground?”

“I assume the lockdown won’t remain forever. Communication happens quickly. Once the Ten Families manage to speak with the other GRC members, we may gain the ability to travel further. You may find comfort in that hope.”

Seb smiled and nodded. “You’re right, Syn. I just need to be a bit more patient.”

“You’re welcome, Captain,” the virtual intelligence said with a slight bow. “If I can be of any further assistance, please let me know.”

“I—”

Seb winced as Eni’s voice screamed over the intercom above. “Seb! Get down to the server room quick! Iris and I have something to show you.”

After rubbing his inner ear, Seb titled his head up. “I’ll be right there.”

He waved goodbye to Syn, only realizing that she was always there with him. After descending down the elevator, the doors opened to Nalla and Roja standing in the middle of the cargo bay. Nalla stood in her medical coat and skirt while Roja was wearing a skin sleeve. While the doctor took notes on her datapad, the huntress performed lunges from one wall to the other. The two women stopped and turned as Seb approached them.

“Hey, there,” Seb said, waving before looking at Roja. “It’s good to see you up and moving around.”

Roja smiled, revealing her sharp canines. “Only thanks to this doctor of yours. She managed to patch me back together.”

“She’s the best,” Seb said, rubbing Nalla’s arm. “How are you feeling?”

Roja hesitated before smiling. “Physically pretty good. Nalla’s got me on a regiment and I’m making progress every day.”

“That’s great. I’m sure she already told you, but you’re welcome to stay as long as you need.”

“I appreciate that.”

As the two shared a smile, Nalla cleared her throat, pulling both of their attentions. “Roja, I think we’re done for today. I don’t want to push you too hard to where we don’t give your body plenty of time for recovery.”

“Are you sure Doc? I haven't even broken a sweat.”

“Oh, we will tomorrow. We’ll be heading into the city to see how you do with the temperatures and crowds.”

“Sounds like a plan. I wouldn’t mind doing a little shopping either. I could use some new clothes.”

When Roja walked back she stopped at Seb’s side, her green vertically slit eyes widened as she leaned next to his ear. “And don’t think I don’t realize what you did for me back on that precursor planet. If you hadn’t rescued me, I’d be dead. So thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Seb whispered back. “You saved me. I wasn’t going to just leave you there.”

“Lesser men would have. Whenever you get a chance, stop by my bunk. I want to talk to you.”

After winking, Roja walked to the elevator and disappeared behind the doors. When Seb turned back to Nalla, she was whispering to herself while glancing at her datapad.

“Is everything okay?” Seb asked, placing his hand on her shoulder.

She jerked up before smiling and placing her hand on top of Seb’s. “Oh, sorry. I was lost in thought there.”

“You seemed like you were in your own little world. Anything I need to be concerned about?”

“It’s Roja. I’m… concerned.”

“Really?” Seb asked, glancing briefly back. “She seemed fine.”

“She’s definitely better, but she’s far from okay. She’s having trouble moving. In her own words, it feels like she has to think about moving half a second before her body actually responds. Like there’s a delay or disconnect between her mind and body. I’m sure you could imagine how frustrating that can be.”

“Having to think through every action? Yeah, that would get old real quick.”

“I think it has something to do with the control chip that she had inside of her. Like a fail-safe that used offloaded some of her processing with the cybernetics throughout her body. Since it’s no longer there, her body doesn’t get the command it's expecting when she means to move it. I could be completely wrong, though. Right now it’s just a theory.”

“It makes sense. It’s a cruel way of making sure their property is always under their control.”

“Roja is a fighter, though, so she’s doing her best. But I think it’s only going to continue to take a toll on her mentally, which is already fragile. I’ve been having Syn observe her while she’s sleeping. She screams and has night terrors. She also has moments of lucidity where she can’t tell if she’s dreaming or not. There’s also the amnesia.”

“Amnesia? But she was just thanking me for saving her.”

“It’s mainly around who she was before her incarceration. When I ask her about her time with Toros and I, she doesn’t remember me at all. Any attempt is met with piercing headaches that leave her crippled on the floor.”

Seb shook his head. “Damn, they really reached in there and scrambled her brains out.”

“They really did. So my suggestion is to continue to treat her as Roja, the huntress. Under no circumstances should you refer to her as Francisca. We may want to consider taking her to a neuro-specialist who deals with things like this. However, knowing her, she’ll probably reject it and ask for a handle of liquor.”

“So that bit of her personality still exists, then.”

“Yeah… other than the loss of memory and upgraded combat prowess, she seems to be the same person as before.”

“Okay, I’ll make sure to be careful about what I say.”

“And if you notice any abnormal behaviors, just let me know, okay?”

“Yeah, I will. How’s the new office working out, by the way?”

Nalla’s eyes lit up, and she squealed before jumping into Seb’s arms. “I’m in love with it! An Amarix Medical Table? A new portable Himachi Diagnostic Tool? Two Healing Tanks? And enough supplies to patch up an army? It was a wonderful surprise.”

Seb opened his mouth and then closed it when Nalla leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. He hadn’t ordered any of that new equipment. He had given Zara the exact list Nalla had given him.

Ohhh, I see the game she’s playing, Seb thought. She’s trying to buy their appreciation. It’s the same thing with Eni. But why?

When he saw Nalla’s hand waving in front of his eyes, Seb cleared his throat. “Yeah… you’re welcome.”

“I just didn’t realize we were that flush with cash. Those Amari Medical Tables are like half a million credits a piece.”

“Well, you only deserve the best.”

Seb felt Nalla’s tail wrap around his legs as she put her hand on his chest. She looked up at him with seductive eyes. “You’re not busy, are you? We could… I don’t know… break in the new office?”

Before Seb could respond, Eni’s voice screamed over the ship wide speakers. “Seb! Server room! Now!”

Seb let out a short laugh before leaning forward and kissing Nalla on the forehead. “Sorry, I need to go meet with Eni and Iris. It’s important. But what are you doing later?”

Nalla sighed. He could tell she was disappointed. “After this, I’m going to clean up and then I have to start thinking about dinner for everyone. After dinner, I need to catalog all of our supplies that you bought. There are crates upon crates stacked in storage that I haven't even gone through.”

“Yeah… I guess I went a bit overboard with the purchases.”

“I’m sure everyone will appreciate it though. The additional food stores are certainly helpful. We shouldn’t need any canned goods for a while. Although… I didn’t realize how much you like rine root.”

Seb laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. “Ah, you know me. I love to try something new.”

“Thirty bundles, though?”

When Seb shrugged, Nalla squinted and crossed her arms. “Okay… but before you place another order just check with me next time. I’m sure Eni, Vi, and I would like to add a few things.”

“I will,” the captain said before backpedaling. “I should go check in on Eni and Iris.”

Seb scurried along the cargo bay. He did his best to put some distance between him and Nalla without making it too obvious he was running away. Thankfully, Eni’s server room was nearby.

When he opened the closed door, a blast of bass-heavy music nearly knocked the wind out of him. Eni and Iris were sitting at her terminal. Both were scrolling through endless lines of data that Seb could tell was from the codex based on how the computer translated the symbols mid-screen.

The rest of the room was a mess. Dozens of rack mounted servers lay stacked along the nearby walls with various crates and boxes sprawled along the floor. Cables created a nest of interconnected wires that dangled from the previously orderly columns. Empty wrappers and spent energy pouches crowded around Eni’s chair.

Seb’s attempt to shout their names went unheard as the music pounded into the hallway. He marched across the room and rounded the side of Eni’s desk. Both girls jumped from their seats. While Iris laughed, Eni's bloodshot eyes widened. That’s when Seb noticed her disheveled look. Her short white hair was folded over from a serious case of bed head. The white tank top she was wearing was covered in stains.

Syn wasn’t kidding when she said her and Eni had been at this for days, Seb thought.

Eni turned a wheel on her keyboard, turning the music down. “Ever thought about knocking?” she shouted. “You scared the both of us.”

“Yeah!” Iris added.

Seb stood, stunned. He double checked his hand and confirmed he wasn’t wearing the HIM device. But he heard her speak without opening her mouth. Her voice sounded a tad off, but not different enough to be too distracting.

“Whoa, you did it!” Seb shouted. “You got the comm device working.”

“Of course I did!” Eni shouted. “I’m the best there is.”

“I don’t think there’s any denying that now.”

“Nor was there any reason to before,” she said, squinting up at him. “All I needed was Syn to complete the dictionary and then spend a few days with Iris. Once Syn and I could isolate her telepathic signals, it was just building a device that could translate those into actual speech. Any chippy worth their weight would be able to do it.”

That’s when Seb noticed a black thing looped around Iris’ ear. “Can I?” he asked, stepping next to Iris. When she nodded, he dropped to his knees and turned her head to her side. A blue light glowed from the bottom of the device that wrapped snugly around the back of her ear. The top part folded over the top of her ear and into her ear canal, where an earbud sat snuggly into her inner canal.

“It just looks like an old comm device before implants became the more common choice.”

“Because that’s basically what it is,” Eni said.

“Why do that instead of something like a WICI?”

“Because it’s simple and cheap. I can get the parts literally anywhere. And that seems more practical given whenever she goes into her explosive mode, it’s going to destroy it.”

“Ah, I didn’t think about that. How does it work?”

“I think I told you before… but the short of it is that to Iris, she sees it as something she can speak with, kind of like you when you have your glove on. So she speaks to it. The device interprets her telepathic waves, converts it into our speech, and then sends the transmission to everyone within expected range. Your translator picks up the signal and plays her voice. You’re going to hear it in your head since she doesn’t actually speak. And all of this is happening within microseconds.”

“Technology truly is amazing.”

“Once I finished it, I pushed out a fork toward the universal translation dictionary and pushed it to all of our translators. So, for now, only you, Vi, Nalla, and I can speak with Iris.”

“Push it out to Mischa, too.”

“Okay, I was going to, but wanted to talk to you about it first.”

“Yeah, she’s a member of the crew at this point.”

“I’ll need to get her approval, then.”

Seb cocked his brow. “You don’t already have access to it?”

“I didn’t say that…” Eni said with a sly smile.

As the two shared a small laugh, Iris tapped Eni’s shoulder. “Eni, I think it’s important we show Seb what we’ve found.”

“Yeah… we need to talk…,” the hacker said, spinning her chair toward Seb.

“This isn’t what you wanted me for?” the captain asked.

Eni turned toward her computer and tapped a few times on her keyboard. When she finished, the central projector illuminated an image of columns built of dozens of green blocks. However, close to half the blocks were slightly red or completely cracked in half.

“This is the codex data,” Eni said pointing up at the image. “I’ve added a visualization layer to make this easier to explain. Each of these columns is a database housing a specific topic. For example, one of the topics you might be interested in is propulsion systems.”

“You mean engines?” Seb asked.

“Exactly. Since we built the dictionary, Syn has been nonstop translating and rebuilding the codex for us to easily absorb.”

“So, what’s the problem?”

“Well, a few things. See all of that red up there?”

Seb glanced back up. “Yeah.”

“That’s data corruption. We’re currently at thirty-nine percent of the data being corrupted and it’s growing with every passing second. The green and red boxes are data that Syn is still indexing. My guess is that by the end of it, we’re looking at close to eighty percent of the data being corrupted.”

“But you’ve still got some good stuff from it, right?”

Eni glanced over at Iris before letting out a sigh. “Well… you remember all those vaults we were hoping for?”

“Please don’t tell me…”

“Yeah… they’re all in the red. But!” Eni turned around and pressed another few buttons, shifting the projection to an image of the galaxy. The map zoomed into a portion of the galaxy before highlighting it with a white triangle. “We did discover these comm stations. They’re scattered throughout the galaxy. From what Syn and I can tell, they acted as communication hubs, transmitting data between all the nakai settlements and vaults. Syn and I sent out a signal blast from our ship using their own encryption and we got a bounce back message off of one just beyond this sector in open space. Our assumption is that if we go to it, we’ll be able to pull even more data, cross reference it to what we have in the codex, and find what we need.”

“If they’re spread all across the galaxy, how is it no one has heard or seen one?”

“They are hidden,” Iris said. “During the time that our creation attacked us, one of the first things they destroyed was our communication. There was a fear that should they follow us across dimensions, our communication would be targeted first. So, the comm stations are ships. They float aimlessly through open space and use burst wave communication so that they are not easily detected.”

“It’s going to make it a pain in the ass to get to,” Eni said, spinning back around. “We’re going to have to go to these coordinates in open space, drop out of FTL, and send blasts until we get close enough for it to hit our sensors. But once we find it, Syn and I should be able to figure out a permanent solution to navigate to them.”

“Makes sense. It’s a shame about the data loss, but at least we have a lead. But it's going to have to wait for now.”

“What? Why?”

“We’re impounded here. We are under armed escort at all times. If we leave, they’ll shoot us down.”

Eni jumped from her chair, her eyes darting back and forth. “No Seb. You don’t understand. This. Can’t. Wait. Those things that we saw in your visions, Screechers. If they aren’t already here, it’s only a matter of time.”

“Whoa, hold up,” Seb said, holding up his hands. “You think they could already be here?”

“Syn can explain it better than I,” Eni said.

The projection in the middle of the room changed to their virtual intelligence’s body. In her hands she held the image of the galaxy and the image of the codex data set. As she spoke, she highlighted pieces of both sides.

“The nakai left behind key indicators that occurred in their history that they believe caused The Great Calamity,” Syn said. “Such things as the founding of artificial intelligence and its deep integration of it into society. However, there are additional markers not directly outlined but contributed to the nakai’s downfall. An example of one would be a galactic communication web or a single fuel source used for galactic travel. Thousands of single sources of failure that allowed the Screechers to target or easily exploit to bring about civilization's downfall. I then cross-referenced that with our galaxy’s own history and civilization, and assigned a threat level.”

“How bad is it?” Seb asked.

“Our galaxy as a collective of separate entities equaled a threat level of thirty-seven percent.”

“Hey… that’s not so bad,” Seb said, smiling.

“Wait for it,” Eni said.

“However, if I were to analyze our galaxy as if it were a single entity like the nakai, we’re at ninety-three percent.”

“Oh,” Seb said before leaning forward on his knees, rubbing his hands together.

“I read the identifiers, Seb,” Eni said, pacing back and forth. “There’s so much in the last couple of years that is one for one like the nakai. Combining machine and flesh, just like humanity’s cybernetics. Neural consciousness like what happened with the arithor. Rogue artificial intelligence adapting beyond their parameters like what caused the GRC ban. I don’t know if it’s the lack of sleep or what they put in those energy bars, but I’m freaking the fuck out.”

“I guess I’m a little confused. Are we saying what happened to them could happen to us or are we saying that those things out in the void could be showing up on our doorstep?”

“Both,” Syn said. “The Great Calamity is part self-fulfilling prophecy and part warning. The beings that killed the nakai are still out there, somewhere in the massive void of space, albeit sitting in another dimension. If they figure out how to travel to us, that’s a concern. There is also a playbook of sorts of how they were created, which is where the indicators come from.

“So, what you’re saying is we’re already fucked. Either those things find us or we create them ourselves.”

“I’m saying that if the nakai’s indicators of The Great Calamity are to be believed,” Syn began, “Then it’s imperative we take action immediately based on my current dataset. Either the Great Calamity is in motion and we need to stop it, or we need to identify the final trigger mechanisms that cause it. However, I must preface that my analysis is based on incomplete and corrupted data.”

Eni closed her eyes and took a deep breath, holding out her hands. “Okay, I think I’m good. Syn’s right. But either way, we need more information. We need to get to the comm station. Making decisions on half baked info is never good.”

Seb glanced between his companions. He believed them. The Oracle brought him to Iris for a reason. It wasn’t just circumstance that part was clear. However, he needed time to figure things out.

Seb walked to the door and opened it before turning around. “There’s nothing we’re going to be able to do now. I’m going to go wash up. I’ll think about how I’m going to get us off of Mahad. Eni, you need to get some sleep.”

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” the hacker said, hopping back up in her chair.

Seb smiled before looking over at Iris. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I think so. I am worried. though.”

“Me too. We’ll get this figured out though. Together.”

Her pink and purple cheeks perked up, and the two shared a smile before Seb walked down the hall. Over the next hour, Seb took the elevator to his quarters and jumped into the shower. He used the time to contemplate his next move.

Do I go to the Ten Families with this? he wondered. No… they won’t listen. I saw how Zara acted when we talked about bringing it up before. They’d just laugh me off and call me crazy. If I get locked up or killed, I can’t help anyone. But Zara… she trusts me. At least she’s been acting that way. This comm station is close, in FLS controlled territory. If I can get her to help us off of the planet, maybe we can fly there and back before anyone notices.

After his shower, Seb took his time to make himself pristine. He went into his wardrobe and scoured through what he had to wear. It was all utilitarian or human comfort. An idea popped in his head that brought a smile to his face. If I’m going to get her to agree to this, I’m going to have to pull out all the stops.

“Syn, can you have one of the house assistants visit the ship?” He shouted into the intercom. “I need to do some clothes shopping of my own.”