ShipCore

USD: The next day

Location: Meltisar, just outside Fort Glisson.

The technical thumped as they hit a bump and Elis raised her arm to the handhold by her head. A heater roared away, filling the cabin with warmth, but the driver had cracked his window like he was used to the frosty conditions. The young man was silent, his focus on navigating the icy road taking them to Fort Glisson.

She glanced back out the window, watching the straw-colored fields that were brushed with a light coat of scattered snow. The conditions reminded her of her first arrival on the Federation Marine’s training world for bootcamp. Meltisar seemed to have kept up with the tradition of shoving new recruits and trainees into a frozen hellhole.

As they entered the main compound and pulled up to the vehicle bay, she checked her watch. They were early.

The driver looked over at her apologetically, a nervous tinge entering his voice. “Ma’am, I’m sorry for the early arrival. If you could wait here, I’ll go fetch an officer.”

She stared at him for a moment, then nodded. “Sure, don’t worry about it. I can wait.”

As soon as the private shut the door, she turned her attention to the nearby rows of barracks stretching out around her. There were a few signs at the nearby intersection detailing where the mess hall, rifle range, and each organizational letter group was hosted. A prick of curiosity entered Elis’ eyes before she stepped out of the vehicle and headed toward the nearest set of buildings.

Moving down the row of barracks, she caught sight of trainees as they moved about their dorms, their activities a blend of mundane tasks and military drills. A few caught sight of her and paused, their faces etched with confusion. It took her a moment to realize that her red and black uniform was something they had probably never seen before, outside of a historical holovid maybe. It certainly stood out amidst the sea of gray and gold uniforms that dominated the Meltisar military.

She turned her gaze and paused at a building that had a unit of trainees doing marching drills in the building’s square under the watch of their DI. Their synchronized steps echoed through the crisp air. It had been so long since she’d done drill that she wasn’t even sure she’d be able to knock the rust off before making herself look like an idiot.

Thankfully, she’d received a promotion so that wouldn’t be tested.

Continuing down the access road, she came to a field with another unit composed of young men and women engaged in another familiar form of exercise. Buckets full of water were moved back and forth in a relay, the recruits’ faces flushed with exertion as they hurried in some sort of competition. It was impossible not to notice that some of them were carrying barrels, likely weighing more than the person weighed themselves.

Glancing at the barrack’s designation, it was marked with a capital ‘S’ painted over the main entryway. She’d maybe found where Alex had spent her time here, then.

One of the recruits fell, the others lifted them up and took some of their weight. Elis watched them all with interest, taking in the training ground’s atmosphere. It was the same and yet slightly different from her own experience in small ways.

The architecture was alien; the uniforms had changed form, and certainly the noon sky of Meltisar was a vibrant mix of orange and purple hazes. And yet the underlying essence remained the same: the camaraderie among the trainees, the rigorous drills, and… the watchful eye of their instructors.

As Elis turned to walk toward the rifle range, a woman with a sergeant’s badge moved to block her path.

A stern gaze locked onto her, a no-nonsense crease of frown following it a second later. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?” she demanded, her tone brusque and authoritative.

Elis met the sergeant’s gaze evenly. “Master Sergeant Elis. I’m here for an appointment with the base commandant.”

Confusion appeared on the sergeant’s face as the woman furrowed her brow. “I’m sergeant Riley, drill instructor. All visitors are required to be escorted,” she pointed out, her frown not disappearing. “Where’s your escort?”

“I arrived early. The private left to go find an officer and I decided to take a little tour while waiting,” Elis admitted.

Riley’s frown disappeared into the flatness of professionalism as she waved over a recruit that had stopped to watch the strange encounter. “Go find her escort,” the woman instructed, before turning back to Elis.

“If that’s the case, I’ll be your temporary guide,” Riley stated, her tone leaving no room for argument.

A slight smile appeared on Elis’s face, appreciating the efficiency. “Thank you, Sergeant Riley. That’s no problem with me. I was thinking about taking a peek at the Rifle Range.”

Riley nodded and gestured toward the building in the distance. There was a short lull where neither said anything, but then the sergeant’s curiosity finally got the best of her. “If you don’t mind me asking, that uniform isn’t a Meltisar one.”

Elis nodded, understanding the confusion. “Federation Marine, Master Sergeant, E-7.”

Riley did a double take, her expression even more interested. “You realize the Federation Marines haven’t existed in almost a hundred years?”

“As long as I am alive, they still exist.” Elis countered.

Riley accepted the statement without questioning it and launched into her next question immediately. “So, you’re a corpsicle, or were those old rejuvie treatments just that good?”

“It’s complicated, but mostly the former, yeah.”

“Must be a bit of a shock to wake up and find the world all fucked up.” Riley commented.

“It was a bit of a bumpy ride.” Elis acknowledged.

Sergeant Riley’s gaze remained fixed on Elis as she asked, “So what brings you here, exactly?”

“I’m here to select some candidates for a special team,” Elis replied.

Riley raised an eyebrow. “From the green recruits?” she asked, clearly puzzled by the idea.

Elis shook her head. “No, not the newbies. I was just observing them because that’s where my driver left me. I’ll actually be reviewing some of the new specialist groups that have already been pre-selected.”

Understanding dawned on Riley’s face. “Ah, so that’s why they pulled back those groups,” she mused aloud. “I thought it was odd that they had all been quartered here at the same time. It’s been quite rowdy and cramped. Usually, only one of the groups are here while the others are out on rotation for training.”

Elis nodded. “The pre-selected group had been split up.”

“The current group of spec-ies in training are solid—they’ve all got good heads on their shoulders. I doubt you’ll have trouble finding what you need from them,” Riley replied.

A small smile flickered on Elis’s lips. “I’ve heard good things about them from my sister. She graduated boot with them.”

Riley’s brow furrowed, a look of confusion crossing her face. “Your sister?” she asked, clearly surprised by the statement.

Elis grunted, realizing how odd it might seem for someone of her background to have a sister that just went through bootcamp. “It’s a bit of a long story. My sister Alex just went through boot here. Graduated with the last cycle. Some of the species were in her cadre.”

“Alex.” Riley repeated the word. “Alex Myers? That would make you Elis Myers then? I was one of your sister’s instructors.”

Before Elis could respond, another voice rang out from behind them. “What!” A large, dark-skinned woman approached; her eyes wide as she stared at Elis. “We had to do an extra thousand push-ups for you when Alex got leave to go see you! My arms still hurt after that!”

Elis blinked at the woman, taken aback by the sudden outburst. But despite the surprise, she couldn’t help but suppress a small chuckle. “They made you do push-ups because of me?”

Riley shook her head. “Tasha, that was more because Hills was pissed at all of you.”

Tasha let out a laugh. “No idea who put that vid on the datapad, but he’s still wishing violence on the recruit who did.”

Riley laughed, then gestured to the tall young woman. “This is PFC Tasha, she was in your sister’s cadre. Maybe even one of the ones you’re looking for?”

Elis nodded, but her interest was piqued. “Are Alex’s other squad mates here?”

“Hikari is around. I was actually sent to gather the crew up for an inspection,” Tasha said.

Elis glanced toward Riley. “Looks like my tour will need to wait. I probably should head to the admin building, too.”

Tasha tilted her head. “So, you’re what all this is about?”

Elis nodded. “My mission is coming straight from the top. It’s important.”

Riley and Tasha shared a glance as the trio changed direction. Tasha spoke first. “Yeah… we heard about what happened on MIL-1A,” she admitted.

Elis couldn’t help but notice the change in the woman’s tone. “What do you think about all of it?” she asked.

Tasha grunted, then hesitated for a moment before replying. “It’s weird, you know? That Tia and Alex were NAIs and none of us knew about it,” she confessed, her voice tinged with frustration. “It’s honestly a bit annoying that they were hiding that from us.”

“But,” she continued, her tone softening slightly, “I can understand why they did it. And it’s not like they didn’t fit in with the rest of us ‘specials’ in the unit. So, I don’t really hold that against them.”

Elis nodded, appreciating the honesty. It was clear that the events had left a lasting impression, even if they weren’t directly involved. “I’m glad to hear that,” Elis murmured.

She didn’t mention that her prime candidates for the special team she was forming were all from Alex’s former training unit. If the rest of them had the same reaction as Tasha, that was going to make it much more workable.

An officer was waiting for them, and Riley handed her off to the man while Tasha was ordered to go find the rest of her group. As she was led inside, Elis paused at the door to look back at Riley’s retreating figure. For some reason she felt the sergeant might make a good addition to the team as well.

USD: Around the same time

Location: Meltisar, Mil-1A, Meltisar High Command, Tia’s Office

Tia closed her eyes and listened to Livi summarize a thousand different status reports on the civilian side of infrastructure that required maintenance and had been neglected by the human or team in charge of it for whatever reason. The holographic projection above her disk spun, showing a rendition of the moon, hundreds of color-coded pins displaying the vast number of systems in need of attention.

The swirling vortex of information made her feel exhausted. She was a few seconds away from simply rubberstamping everything and leaving it to her MainComputer to decide all the details when the door to her office slid open.

“What’s going on?” Thea asked, her brows furrowing as she stomped up to Tia’s desk. “I was in the middle of something when I got your oh-so-special summons. So, what?”

Tia waved the display away and folded her hands. The former corporate NAI was never so volatile as when she was operating alone. She waved to another display which lit up the undecorated wall with a spread of ledgers and numbers. “Look at this,” she said, pointing to several figures on the spreadsheet that detailed several large credit transactions.

Thea took a moment to study the list before turning a glare on Tia. “So what?” she retorted defensively. “I haven’t been doing anything wrong with the money. I’ve been playing fair.”

Tia cracked her neck and sighed. “I know,” Tia responded evenly, meeting Thea’s glare with a calm gaze. “But I’ve been going over historical diagnostics for months now. Do you know what I found?”

Another swipe of her hand switched the projection. This time, it displayed a log of code. A chart of market chaos. The digital footprint left by a hacker had drained the market temporarily. The blame for which had been entirely laid at the former prime minister of Meltisar’s feet.

“This,” Tia continued, keeping her gaze locked on Thea, “digital footprint is unmistakably NAI in origin. Do you know who’s a 100% match?” Tia continued to stare, watching for Thea’s reaction.

The other NAI bristled. Her eyes flickered with a mix of defiance and resignation. After a moment of tense silence, the woman shrugged. “Fine,” she admitted, “I did it. It was just an impulse at the time. I was angry, and I saw in the news the guy was an asshole.”

Thea raised her chin. “You should be happy I cleared him out. Otherwise, we’d have had a ton more opposition on the civil side for you to deal with.”

Tia leaned back in her chair. “That may be true,” she conceded. “But Alex has given us specific instructions on lines not to cross. You’ve come dubiously close to those again. You need to cool your corporation’s market adventures.”

“I might have gotten near it, but I haven’t crossed it, and the market manipulation was before either of us was team Blue.” Thea shot back. “I’m making us way more money than our budget ever allowed. You and Alex should be thanking me instead of calling me to your office like a naughty child.”

Tia let out a weary sigh, rubbing her temples. “Thea, this isn’t the corporate systems. We don’t need to accumulate excessive funds as if we’re trying to buy an authority upgrade.”

Thea shook her head. She flipped her hand at the wall and the projection changed back to her corporation’s balance sheet. “I’ve earned enough to buy one of the navy’s battleships already. It is all legal, just business dealings with legitimate Meltisar companies and helping them with certain issues. In return for tons of credits and toys.”

Tia shook her head. “We don’t need to do that! We already have the entire navy at our disposal. Who the ship belongs to on a piece of paper doesn’t matter as long as it is shooting at our enemies.”

Thea crossed her arms, a stubborn look appearing on her face. “I don’t trust the navy. They might turn on us. If we have money, we can at least afford our own forces.”

Tia shook her head. “There is no way we could buy a force that could withstand the system military, even if it was even legal in the first place. Besides, they can’t betray us Nameless and Liv…I have complete control over all the infrastructure in the entire system. What could they do?”

Thea shrugged in response. “I don’t know how. But they’re the ones who started the AGAI project, aren’t they?”

“Do you trust me, Thea?” Tia asked, her voice softening. Thea stared at her as the question hung in the air, but remained silent. Tia shook her head slowly. “What about Alex? You trust her,” she prodded gently.

Thea exhaled a breath, then looked away. “Only because she’s like a kid,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

“There’s more to it than that, isn’t there?” Tia asked, her voice steady.

Thea turned back and looked her in the eyes. “She let me live…no…she saved me when she didn’t have to. That…when I tried to kill her.”

“And she set us free.” Tia added quietly.

“As free as a NAI can probably ever hope to be,” Thea muttered, her voice tinged with bitterness.

USD: Several days after SR Fleet’s arrival to 92 Pegasi

Location: 92 Pegasi, A3123Y – Ackman Station Rendezvous, SR Shuttle

Amy winced as she felt the pinch of the abrupt reduction to her ANUF systems. The sensation was akin to a sharp pinch, her shuttle’s single computronics module shifting to work overtime as they separated from A3123Y’s command hangar.

The console beeped, pulling Amy’s attention away from the sight of the retreating battlestation. Abbey’s face appeared on the screen, her expression as cheerful as ever. “Portmaster Whitely is waiting for you on Ackman’s primary flight deck,” she said, her tone brisk and military.

Amy nodded in acknowledgement. “I’ll be there in five minutes.”

Abbey’s professional demeanor cracked as her face erupted into a smile. “Tell him I said hi!” she added, before giving a cute salute and signing off.

Left alone in the shuttle, Amy turned her attention to the local navigation map. Hundreds of SR vessels trailed A3123Y as the fleet matched orbit with Ackman Station. The station had been entirely transformed and there was no sign of the old and decayed station that had been her and her brother’s home for so long.

But the new structure had already taken its own set of scars. Battle damage had caved in one of the habitation domes, and gouges and puncture wounds were all being addressed by the many repair units that Abbey had deployed to assist with the repairs. None of it had occurred in the most recent battle, but the corporate occupiers had not been gentle.

The personnel left on the station when their fleet had been taken care of had surrendered without causing any further harm, though.

Amy took a deep breath, trying to steady herself for her return and upcoming meeting with Whitely. She was not the same person as when she’d last set foot on Ackman, or even when she had discussed what the fledging Starlight Revolution Corporate could do to work together with the independent system authority that Whitely represented.

Closing her eyes, she tried to clear her mind, focusing on the steady thrum of the shuttle’s systems and the rhythm of her own heartbeat. The calm didn’t last long. She could sense when her MainComputer informed her of their landing a second before the shuttle’s airlock clamped down to its mate on the station. A confirmation beep proceeded a hiss of atmosphere exchange as she stood up.

A quick check on her power armor’s bracer indicating the atmosphere was safe and Amy retracted the suit’s helmet. She hadn’t really wanted to wear the armor, but Abbey had insisted, and she couldn’t find a good reason to refuse.

Rising from her seat, she moved to the airlock, her boots thumping heavily on the floor. The hatch opened without hesitation, and she made her way through the tube. On the other side, she was met with a small group of security personnel. In front, she immediately recognized Portmaster Whitely. The older man looked exhausted, his eyes shadowed, and his posture bent.

He held out his hand, and she shook it. “Welcome to the new Ackman Station.” He looked up at her and his small smile faltered as he took in her eyes. “They’re… blue. They changed color.”

Amy nodded weakly in acknowledgement.

“You’re a NAI now,” he concluded, his voice tinged with uncertainty.

“Yes,” Amy confirmed softly.

Whitely blinked at her, then nodded slowly. “Come girl, let’s go have a drink. You will have to tell me what all has happened since you left.”

Amy nodded and started to follow as he turned and led the way. She glanced at one of the guards as they passed, then froze.

She hadn’t recognized the uniforms because they had their jackets off. But she’d recognize Corporate Systems rank insignia anywhere.

While she’d not had any real personal combat training, that wasn’t true for her MainComputer, which had integrated control of the combat armor. A metal spine erupted from her back, a cloud of blue nanites swirling along with it as it snaked out to grab the closest security guard’s ankle and yank him into the air.

She raised her arm and her fist morphed into a semi-automatic magnetic SMG. All the security personnel dropped their weapons and raised their hands above their heads, shock at the sudden display of force.

“Ms. Tanis! That is not needed!” Whitely protested as he looked up at the man held aloft.

“They are corporate personnel. We were told they surrendered. What is going on?” Amy demanded.

“That is true, and they did. We’ve hired some of them as security personnel since we lacked the manpower. We can discuss this in my office.” Whitely said quickly.

Amy looked at them again and frowned before slowly lowering the man to the floor. All of them stared at her, terrified expressions solidified on their faces. Why did that send such a regretful pang through her chest?

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