Current and Blood

Tarka:

Ianna slammed her fist into the table as hard as she could, regretting the action only a moment later. The latest set of algorithms had been unable to make out the rest of the recorded distress signal from the Globber. She leaned back into her chair and looked back up into the screen, now blank where the useless information had been a moment before, and studied her own reflection. 'Not really too impressive' she thought to herself and chuckled. Her wide blue eyes showed mirth in the screen. Human eyes. Framed with golden strands of hair. Her eyes shifted to one side of her own reflection and looked at a new one that had joined hers. It was sleek grey and shiny wet. Dolphin.

Swiftleaper didn't like gravnests. His skin always itched when had to put one on so that he could go onto dry land. Not that the ship had anything like dry land. Just parts with water in them and parts with air. The Stardust was just like any other Terran ship in this respect though. They were good ships and all four races of Earth got respect out on the starlanes with them. He had just entered Ianna Tropper's workroom as she cursed at her equipment and hit the table in front of her. He winced a little. Humans always did get a little to frustrated with things at times. He put in a quiet whistle-click to his pager and asked Flops if he could come over to the workroom, then cut it off when he got the affirmative bark. He refocused on Ianna just as she turned around.

"What are you doing in here Swiftleaper? Don't you know that I have work to do?" Ianna glared at the Dolphin.

Swiftleaper swished his fluke back and forth. "Oh don't I know it sir. The Captain wanted me to check in here to ask you face to face how you were doing. She said that you had turned off the holo projector in this room." He looked around the room idly; he had wondered how one would turn off the Captain's holo projectors when she had said that. He saw now. The three projectors in the room had been taken from their mounts and had the cable to them cut.

Ianna snorted at that and didn't stop glaring. She was just to busy for this. "Look, you can tell the Captain tha...."

Flops ran into the room at full speed and skidded to a stop at Ianna's feet before standing up on his hind paws. He gave a kind welcome bark. "Hey, Swiftleaper said something was in need of fixing?" The dog looked about the room. Noting the damage to the projectors with a soft chrf. He smiled inside at the pilot dolphin. From the look of the communicator, she would need a little doggy hug fixing too.

Swiftleaper was relived that Flops had made it to the room with as much speed as he had. The Technician was top rate at both fixing things and human frustrations. He looked back at Ianna and wondered if she would go on with want she had been about to say. She seemed to have thought better of whatever it was though. Flops had already repaired one of the projectors with a quick replacement of the cable with one from his belt.

The Captain's projection popped up in the middle of the room with all of the abstract colors and lights. Showing the feelings and moods of the AI that was the ship. "Ah... I see that you are all here." There were flashes of yellow and blue, showing happiness at the thought.

Ianna looked at the projection and smirked. Stardust was a good Captain to work under. "I have not made any progress in getting more of the distress signal Captain. It seems to me that we might not know what it said."

The projection flashed. "It no longer matters Ianna. I know you have tried your best. We will be entering the system that Globber's Signal came from though. So we will find out soon enough what it was about. I will need you all on the bridge now."

Everyone was filing out of the room and heading up to the bridge when the dolphin turned to the projection that was fading. "Stardust, wait. I know that Globber is your mate. We all do. I would like to know though. How are you holding up?"

The projection brightened again for a moment. "Whether your heart is cold ice of current or hot boiling of blood, the love and the pain is still the same." With that, the image disappeared from the room. Swiftleaper turned away and followed the rest of the crew to their stations.

Twohart:

Ianna swore, upset about her failed progress. She was proud to be under the captain she was under, and darn lucky, too. She'd served on worse ships, she remembered... Swiftleaper followed close behind her, the captain's eyes and ears. Right now, she had to prepare for their drop into the new system.

Lillieth:

Ianna followed Swiftleaper to the bridge quietly, thinking about the transmission from Globber. She wished that she could sort it out for Stardust. "I just don't know... I was so close and then it just faded." She looked up at the projection of Stardust "I failed Stardust... I'm really sorry."

Stardust flickered, "Don't worry Ianna, now take a seat... all of you. We are entering the system that Globber was in. We have to keep a sharp eye out. It's been reported that there are bandits out here raiding ships. The last thing I want to do is become a victim."

Swiftleaper, Ianna and Flops listened and went to their seats. "Aye, Captain... What do we watch for?" Swiftleaper peered at the screens on the foredeck closely. A vidscreen came to life and the Captain directed everyone's attention to it. "The reports I've received show that the bandits have their ships cloaked. If you watch carefully, you'll see that there is a fluctuation in the star patterns just before the ship appears."

Tarka:

Flops looks at the screen in front of him and grunted softly to himself. It looked all messed up and icky... Ianna had been using and set it for color again. He really never could understand what the big thing about color sight was. Ah well. Time to get to work. Engines were at 99%...lander wings at 99%...Ship subsystems... (His thoughts drift onto all of the stats of the Stardust: doing his job as well as the next dog.)

Swiftleaper settled down into his padding and water filled pilots station. He linked up to the net with the socket above his ear and closed his real eyes and let his senses travel out past the presence of the Captain. He always pictured her there as a really wonderful female Dolphin. Sleek and grey without the mark of a socket at all. Then onward out into the darkness. The solar winds became the current of the ocean... the light the resistance of the surface.... He sent out clicks and looked for echoes. (The radar and Veern systems on the surface of the Stardust extended and started active searches and scans).

Stardust felt her systems link up with her crew, one by one. Each in its own way. Flops' good-natured, but simple interface. Ianna's always-fixed face, interfacing with the equipment in a strange way: making it a part of herself. And Swiftleaper's tendril right into her net. There were other feelings there, within Swiftleaper's link to the net, that had nothing to do with the piloting of ship as well. It was time to enter the system. Time to find Globber.

He was out there. Already she could feel that.

Captain Kleped looked at the newest prize. It was a ship, trapped with force lines and hooks. A Terran ship. "Come out come out wherever you are ship. We do have to talk." He didn't expect it to talk though. That would come a few hours later when they started the probe into the AI that was the Globber.

Twohart:

The Captain's attention wandered, however briefly, to a few years ago, when Globber had set out on this... mission. It had been his own idea: one she still couldn't understand. He was younger than she was; perhaps that had been it. Flops trotted along the bridge, silent. Every once in a while, a cry would ring out from one of the various parts of the ship, a cry from Her that kept him busy. The legs of the dog moved him swiftly in time to his work, clicking along the metal in syncopation to the work of his tools. There was an odd clatter to the left -- not in tune with his timeless work. "Cap'n...?"

"What is it, Flops?" Stardust's senses did not leave the moment to moment duty of the ships systems, but her scanners and focus concentrated on Flops.

Others were beginning to turn around, too...

"IT'S AN ATTATCK!"

The humming of the ship had increased dramatically, Stardust's effort to defend herself. It was the kindest of Shes to Flops...one he responded to. "What about the detection devices! I thought they weren't-" *BOOM*

"Shut your mouth, Ianna! I want those positions, NOW!" It was a snarl.

"YES Captain!"

---

By Nimble

The cloaked pirate turned out to be only a scouter, with only the standard equipment aboard. Already the controlling ship skirted the edges of her vision, taunting with the sure knowledge of having the prize. Ianna looked up uneasily...something strange was coming in her signal..."Captain..."

About them, the ship trembled in response. Flop's eyes were rheumy.

Lillieth:

"Cap'n Stardust this is signal is big... I think it might be the ship the scout came from. Position is seven oh two point five by three point six... and its coming in very fast! We need to take evasive action... NOW!" Stardust roared to life and banked hard to the port side as Swiftleaper sent impulses to the controls, Stardust herself could feel the tremor in space as the cloaked ship just missed her starboard side.

"They were trying to ram us... Fools! Everyone at your stations! Flops! Where are you?" Flops came running down the corridor fast as his legs would carry him and slid into his padded seat, "Here, Cap'n! Let's get us outta here!" Flops spun some dials, and Stardust could feel more power surge into her structure. Her engines flared and yet it seemed that she was held back.

Stardust asked again, "More power Flops! I think they've netted us with a tractor beam." Flops dialled and pushed buttons rapidly, but to no avail....

Argon:

Globber found himself floating. His control of his systems and sensors gone. He felt his systems operating, and some control and sensory input, unrelated to movement or control was still open to him these secondary programs were operational and he had some control over them, but it was though through a haze or a fog. He knew that the crew was different. The movement of the ship and the actions of the crew were totally unlike his pilot Harrishah would make. As Globber was able to bring more circuits online he began to realise just how little control he had left. Globber did find that the ships intercommunication system had been left connected. The ship's visual intercommunication modules, Globber started to activate these, to see what was happening to him, and what had happened to his crew. He opened the visual input on the bridge. He found that the resolution of his camera failed at more than five or ten meters from the lens, yet the aural receptors were in perfect order. One of the three figures Globber could make out turned to another and said....

Tarka:

Kleped looked over to his first officer. "Damn it all. How the hell do the Earthers keep these things running? I thought that you could do it without the AI!"

Fal looked over at the captain. He was a big Veen, and rather mean as well. "You can sir. Just not well 'til you can put in a new computer system. You can almost never get a Terran Ship at all. First you have to figure out how to take out the AI from one. Dumb Earthers treat them like people. So it makes any job of getting them out of the ship all the harder."

Kleped grumbled... this prize was already looking less and less like one every day. Their scouts already reported that another Earth ship had come into the system and had escaped their attack. At this rate there would be a fleet of earth ships here in a few days! "Get Tip on it then. Have him, 'question' the rest of the crew."

Fal nodded and would do just that. By telling someone else to go tell Tip to do that.He didn't like Tip's 'way' of asking questions himself.

Flops sped down the hallway to the aft engine room and leaped through the door. The more they had to dodge pirate scouts the more the engines were under pressure. "Charrrf Captain. The stats on the 4th intake do not look good. I say we sucked up a rock. We'll turn it off for repairs later."

A flickering holo appeared next to Flops. "Will this effect speed? Turn? Or breaking of the ship Flops?"

Flops shook his head. His ears flopping around. It is where he got his name. "Nope Ma'am... You only need two to run an engine and each has six. Built in safety."

The holo flashed and disappeared, only to reappear on another part of the ship: in the mess hall this time... "Ianna. With the scans that you have been doing, how sure are you that asteroid 5748 is where the pirate base is?"

Ianna looked up from her food and frowned again... she eyed the holo module overhead....

Stardust watched Ianna with her pickup, then chuckled. "Tell me when you are done eating."

Soon everyone was back on the Bridge. Ianna was talking."I think that I have pinpointed the exact location of the pirate base." She waved her hand over a flat table and a holo control formed.... She called up a map of the system with it. "There it is."

Swiftleaper looked at the map then to the back of the bridge... to where he always thought the Captain was. Her lights flickered. "Lets do it people. Let's go in. Any suggestions? Plans? Ideas?..."

Lillieth:

Ianna looked up at Swiftleaper; "We'll have to go in cloaked... it's our only chance of getting past their sentries. Can we do that Flops?"

Flops nodded his head, his ears flopping around as he did. "Sure can... I've been working on a special plan for that. You ready to become invisible Cap'n?"

Stardust chuckled and her crew could feel the vibrations. "You've all done a great job getting us here. I'm sure we'll find Globber and I thank you for that."

Everyone smiled and started to get up and move to their stations. Ianna adjusted her monitors and put on her headset, Flops moved dials and buttons and Swiftleaper looked carefully at the charts and maps of their destination.

Stardust shimmered and the view of her outside hull disappeared. She thought silently, trying to project her thoughts, 'Globber we are here... We have come to rescue you...'

Argon:

Globber continued to open circuits and reroute elements as his self-diagnostics were reactivated. He found that although many circuits had been crudely bypassed or terminated, the pirates had overlooked a number of alternate circuits. Within twenty minutes of being reactivated, he found that he was completely self aware, and peripheral systems were on line. He found that his major systems, propulsion, sensory and weapon systems felt as though they were puppets on a string. He found the source of this external interface... but he considered it wise to leave it intact for the moment. Not to let the pirates know that he was now within a nanosecond of re-circuiting and having the ship back within his control. Globber did a quick inventory of the crew and more importantly his own crew. The pirates numbered thirteen strong. A total of five on the bridge, four attempting to learn to operate the ship with the AI offline. Three pirates were guarding Globber's fifteen crew, and five were in sick bay. Globber noted that of his crew in the cargo hold were in good shape, and he took note of the cases of pressure suits in the hold. Globber began opening channels to EM radiation, and soon began receiving Ianna's message. Globber knew that unless he disconnected the pirates interface and gave himself away, the pirates would discover his transmission. However, there are other forms of communication.

Narf had been set to guard the Globber's crew. He was NOT happy... He wanted to be at a gun port, firing away and making his name and fortune. Instead, he was stuck down here, in the cargo hold, with nothing to do.... As he stood by the port, his gaze drifted around the hallway. He noted the panels and lighted displays on the wall... the pipes and conduits on the wall. The rivets, the dials and the gun port access tube....

Narf blinked, then stepped over to the wall, and looked down at the tube: it was an opening that you slid into. Inside was a chair, handles, and a large Protogammalaser cannon. Narf didn't hesitate for a moment. Before you could say 'What prisoners?',Narf was in the chair looking for a target.

Narf flipped switches and pulled levers, soon getting his display on line (to the AI he didn't know about).

As he swivelled the chair and gun around, and a number of objects appeared on his display. He fired at them: *boom* *boomboom* *boomboom* *boomboom* *boom*

Ianna bent over her monitors. "Captain. I think I've got something here."

The Captain flickered. "What is it?" she asked.

Ianna listened and watched. "Well, one of the guns on the Globber is firing, but note the pattern."

The Captain listened. "Yes... Old Morse code isn't it?"

Ianna replied. "Yes, and its Globber himself!"

Shadow:

"What's he saying?" Ianna tapped a few keys, ran over the logs of the firing pattern. "Hmmm.... You want the word-by-word or a summary?"

"Summary, please."

Ianna nodded. "Okay. Globber has been taken over by a hostile force. He's functioning, but not at full capacity... In fact, that message was about the extent of what he can do currently. They've got him cut off from most of the ship's systems. He has to sneak around the blockages. Captain, He also says that there's no way he can dislodge the raiders from the inside, and we sure as heck can't just nuke the ship.

Stardust thought for a moment. "And your point being?"

Ianna took a deep breath. "I think we're gonna have to go in there and kick the scum out ourselves."

"I see."

Ianna shrugged the powered armour suit uncomfortably, unaccustomed both the weight and the idea of wearing such equipment. 'Dammit, I'm no Marine,' she thought bitterly, 'What in God's name am I doing in this suit? It's not fair. Just because I'm the only human on this crate, I get to wear the armour and go first. Wonderful.' She nudged her thrusters as the airlock cycled open and drifted in the direction of Globber's hull, cursing the day she signed up for the service.

Tarka:

Flops watched as Ianna went out in the power armour and grinned.... For all of her mumbling about it she was going to have fun. He just knew it! Would work out all of those hours of frustration. He got into a sled and started to get the thing ready for the trip over to the Globber. He would have to fix the holes she was going to put into it.

Ianna drifted to within a meter of the hull and stopped. Then used small jets to move herself over to one of the small backup airlocks. From the data that Globber sent out, it was the Veen that held the ship. Nasty in a normal fight, but no match for power armour. She twisted the manual release on the airlock and tried to open it. <*shink*> The handle came off in her hand. "Damn power armour: has the brains of a grunt."

Flops turned on the com. "How you doing Ianna?"

Ianna got Flops on the com and glared at the air lock. "You can fix airlocks can't you Flops?"

Flops blinked. "Yes sir. Why do you ask?" The next thing he heard was Ianna's inertia thrower firing. "Oh..."

Ianna stepped into the now open airlock and hit the switch for the backup lock to close where there was a hole in the hull. She hit another switch, and pressurised the small lock with her own air after it was closed again... then walked through the inner door. <*skrink*>

Flops winced as the sounds of ripping metal came to his ears.... More work to do... He started the sled over to the Globber. Now there was small arms fire coming from over the intercom.

Ianna blasted one Veen that she had caught by surprise, making him a smear on the wall. Another one over to one side was firing at her with some kind of laser gun. She frowned. She was not in a good mood. She tossed him a bomb and turned around. The hall behind her was turned into Swiss cheese. There was no sign of that Veen anymore.

Kleped danced in fury. "What do you mean you don't know what is happening?!?" He was about to go on when the bridge door fell in and a fully armoured Earther walked in.... Within moments three of his men were already dead. There was only one thing to do....He put the barrel of his atomizer to the case over the AI matrix at the back of the bridge. "Don't even think it Earther..."

Ianna looked at the Veen. "Damn it all.... Stardust?... Can that thing hurt Globber?"

A small holo pops up next to Ianna's face. "I am not sure. This ship is not built like mine... I think yes though."

Argon:

Globber had taken control of the interface as soon as Ianna entered the airlock. Now, being in full control, he watched as Ianna hacked and bombed her way to the bridge, leaving behind a wake of death and destruction.

Globber sealed the gun port, where Narf sat awaiting more targets, then deactivated all weapons. He followed Ianna's progress to the bridge, and as he opened the cargo hold, he reminded the crew that pressure suits might be a good idea. Mysteriously panels in the arms hold opened to the Globber's crew, and soon any remaining Veen were either awaiting their relative's last respects or taking up residence in the cargo hold, minus pressure suits or anything else. Globber watched through his now active sensors as Kleped pointed his atomizer at the cover of his matrix.

The cover of matrix 7 on the main bridge.

The cover that was a Faraday cage to protect his circuitry throughout an electromagnetic pulse.

The cover that worked by sending a powerful AC electrical current through it.

Globber waited for just the right moment.... The moment that the barrel of Kleped's atomizer made contact with the Faraday cage cover.

Kleped said, "That's right Earther, one more move and the AI of this ship gets it."

Ianna hesitated, and felt hatred for the Veen and the way they would use an AI in such a way.

Kleped was saying, "That's right Earther," he accentuated his words by tapping on the case with his atomiser. "The <tap> Veen <tap> are <tap> VICTORIUS! <tap>..." *BAAZZAPPCCKKTTTPP*

The Veen pirate captain's eyes popped and his head exploded as 100,000 volts of pure AC power at 10,000 Amps passed through his body.

Ianna wiped pieces of baked Veen of her power armour as the rest of the force and the Globber's crew met on the bridge. The crew of both ships high-fived and hugged one another. Globber was glad to see his original crew back. The crew of the Stardust was happy and soon both ships were in repair, and they set their sites on the Pirate base.