Privateer योनि लुटेरा - The Star Marauder

Periphery of Messier 35, the Shoe Buckle Cluster

3,048 light-years from Earth

June 15th, 2176 A.D.

"Annika, how much longer before we can flash out again?" Sheila called out as she watched the argonium fuel gauge rise only another 3.7% after sixteen hours of extraction time.

~ My scans indicate we have almost depleted the minute concentrations available in the immediate area. Argonium tank capacity is now at 16.482%. My calculations indicate that is enough to flash into null space and travel an additional 87 light years before reserves fall below critical levels and the ship will have to flash out again to prevent being trapped in null space. ~

"I see. Please connect to the spy drone in null space and confirm the trajectory of the null space propagation waves it detected. I need to know if they are still heading directly towards us."

Annika beeped, and Sheila waited nervously as she eyed the fuel gauge again. It had gone up only another . 17%, and she looked back up at the ceiling as Annika's voice came over the intercom.

~ The propagation waves are still on a direct trajectory for the ship. The spy drone scans indicate imminent arrival. I recommend powering down and engaging stealth systems, Commander Mizrahi. I will dump the radiator and heat sinks and then initiate a thruster burn to move us away from the thermal bloom as we cold coast. ~

"Do it, Annika. Make sure the medical pods are switched over to battery power; I do not want to risk any of the crew waking up until I can get them properly treated."

~ Affirmative. Initiating stealth protocols; dumping radiators and heat sinks. Thruster burn in fifteen seconds. ~

There was a whining sound as the ships power systems began to shut down, and Shiela prayed that the hodgepodge repairs she finally finished making to the null space navigational array two days ago would hold up to being powered off and on again.

The damn thing was being held together with only duct tape and fervent hopes and prayers, and if it failed on her again, the whole crew was dead for sure, including her.

They might still be dead soon anyway; the massive propagation waves heading directly for them could only be made by multiple large fleets, and she was positively certain they were Balrikans, which Annika estimated was a 77.2% probability after running trillions of calculations.

The thrusters activated at full burn, pressing her against the captain's chair with an uncomfortable pressure due to the gravity generators being powered down to minimal life support levels to maintain stealth protocols.

After forty-five torturous seconds, the thrusters finally cut off, and the elephant sitting on her ribcage disappeared as she greedily gasped in large quantities of recycled air that never tasted as good as it did right then and there.

"Annika, what's the status of the medical pods?"

~ All pods are optimal, Commander Mizrahi. My calculations indicate 9.7 hours before battery life reaches a critical threshold of 30% capacity. ~

"Has there been any change in the captain's neural state? Is it safe for him to be woken up yet?" There was an obvious pause before Annika answered her question, and Sheila knew it was very difficult for the battle AI to acknowledge the captain's current condition, considering how close they were.

~ I am sorry to report that there have only been minor improvements to the neurological damage the captain incurred from the repeated null space exposures. The natural healing abilities of the human brain are... insufficient to repair this level of trauma and null space psychosis without medical intervention.

It is ...very difficult for me to calculate his chances of recovery, so I have not yet done so. I feel his absence very strongly, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to operate at optimal efficiency; his current state has taken priority within my neural nets. ~

"That's okay, Annika. I understand, and I miss him too. I promise you; I will do my best to get us back home and get him well again. He is our captain, but he is also our friend, and friends do whatever it takes to help each other get better, right Annika?"

~ I did not think of it like this, Commander Mizrahi. Thank you for saying this; I feel my neural nets responding positively to your statement. Is it strange for an AI like me to believe in something as intangible as hope like humans do, Commander Mizrahi? ~

"No, Annika. Let me tell you a secret about humans; hope, and more importantly, faith, is sometimes the only thing we have left when the universe is stacked against us and all seems lost.

When this happens, it is our hope and faith that carry us through and keep us going for far longer than what would be considered logical. It is good to hope, and maybe a human and a battle AI doing it together will force the universe to fulfill it for us."

~ I will choose to hope then; maybe doing so will yield the outcome I desire. Thank you, Commander Mizrahi. ~

"Shiela, Annika. Call me Sheila, at least while it is still just the two of us, okay?"

~ Affirmative, Sheila. Than- ~

Annika was cut off as a strident alarm sounded from the sensor workstation behind Sheila. A second later, the holo tank shimmered into existence in front of her, and Annika's voice came back over the intercom.

~ Imminent null space transitions detected. Transition thresholds forming 127,000 kilometers directly astern. ~

On the holo tank, icons began to appear, small clusters of them colored yellow, at least until they were confirmed to be Balrikans. Another group of icons appeared on the holo tank, and to Shiela's trained eyes, it appeared that they were a scouting force as the clusters broke apart into a large ring formation that would provide mutual fire support and overlapping scanning ranges.

"Annika, display on the main viewer, please. Have the passive sensors confirmed they are Balrikan?"

The main viewer switched to the aft cameras and zoomed in on the large scouting force before Annika answered her question, which she knew the answer to already, as she saw ships that were not Balrikan with her own eyes.

~ Negative, Shiela. Scanners indicate these ships are of an unknown origin; no matches found in the ship database or the captain's Republic intelligence database. Curious; I am detecting indications that their null drives are based upon the same engineering principles as the ones used by most species in the quadrant.

There are distinct differences, but my calculations indicate a 96.37% likelihood that the null drives of these unknown ships are based upon the same technological lineage. The emissions profile and decay particles are consistent with these being copies of the same primitive null space engines that were seeded throughout the quadrant long ago. ~

"Really, Annika? And yet these ships do not match anything in our records? That doesn't make any sen-" She never finished what she was saying as Annika interrupted her, which was highly unusual.

~ Passive sensors indicate they are currently scanning the thermal bloom we created when dumping the radiators and heat sinks. Their scanning output is extremely powerful for ships of their size, which would indicate that they are most likely scout ships or science vessels.

There is now an increased risk of them being able to detect the residual thermal trail we created during the thruster burn with such powerful sensor suites. ~

"Shit. Double-check our stealth emissions, Annika. I don't want so much as a fart leaving this ship."

~ The ship is incapable of producing gastrointestinal gases, Shiela. Stealth protocols are optimal; there are no detectable emissions currently escaping the ship that are discernible from the background cosmic radiation field. ~

She rolled her eyes at Annika's statement about the ship not being capable of farting before a small smile touched her lips at just how clueless battle AIs could be sometimes. The smile faded as she saw a dozen of the unknown scout ships swinging their bows around and pointing them directly at the Star.

Three seconds later, multiple alarms blared as the Star was bracketed by a dozen low-powered laser pulses consistent with lasing a target to determine range.

"Oh, shit!"

Truth of Slir'lass, Trilla'Ssk-Class Scout Ship

Hunter-Scout Squadron 11, Exalted Crusader Fleet

"Battle-Matron, the gravimetric sensors are detecting minute fluctuations nesting behind our propulsion arc at 113,000 draks distance. Mass indications are slightly larger than our scout ship, though none of the scanners or sensors have tasted the presence of such.

The location of the anomalous reading is consistent with the faint thermal trail we have detected exiting the thermal bloom; the course is an exact match."

Lar'ri snapped her head towards the sensor tech, flicking her tongue out in anticipation as she tasted the excitement of the others in the air. They had been tasting the trail of an unknown ship that had been entering and exiting strange space sporadically and that also just so happened to be on a direct course for the same stellar cluster the fleet was headed for.

They have been tracking their quarry for one reason only: the null space engine emissions they detected indicated a common origin with their own engines. Though there were distinct differences, there was no question of both engines springing from the same source.

The chances of this were so low that it could only mean they were of the same origin as the null space engine the venerated First Matriarch had harvested from the massive wreckage field left over from a battle between their evil kin and an unknown species many millennia ago.

They reverse-engineered it and made copies, which allowed them to move beyond the constraints of the FTL drives they had been using up to that point. Until now, they had never come across a species that used the same null drive tech as they did, and the Matriarch ordered them to capture the ship, deeming it a matter of extreme importance.

"Activate and focus the neutrino detector at that location, Tech Ir'lassk! Forward the coordinates to the rest of the squadron and tell them to be ready to range the target. Low-power targeting lasers only; we do not want them to think we are violent if it is a ship!"

The tech hissed in acknowledgement and began to rapidly tap on the workstation, his claws clacking loudly in the now silent command chamber. The chamber lights dimmed as the extremely power-hungry neutrino detector sent tasting pulses towards the anomaly.

A few inta's later, he hissed again with glee before sending the results of the neutrino detector's scans to the main viewer without having been told to by Lar'ri, who appreciated his initiative.

A faint silhouette of a ship appeared, an approximation of the size and mass of the ship based on the gravimetric and neutrino detector returns. Underneath it, Bal'Ri'Sar ideograms appeared, listing relevant information as best guessed by the sensor tech and the computer.

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"It is death-feigning, Battle-Matron. None of the other passive or active scanners are detecting it. The others have confirmed the same results with their gravimetric and neutrino detectors."

"Have the squadron veer to face the ship and range them on my command. I want three ships to activate their grappler systems and perform a light jump to ensnare them as soon as the rangefinders verify the distance. We will join them and erect the dampening field to prevent them from fleeing.

Once that is done, I want the language module provided to us by the Matriarch to be activated and directed at the ship. Hopefully they will respond instead of attacking if the Teachers were successful with the translation index they created. It is based on the transmissions our scout received from the large fleet in the nearby stellar cluster."

The rest of the command crew all chirped in acknowledgment, and she waited impatiently for them to coordinate the complex capture they were about to attempt. After many inta's, all the techs hooted one after another, letting her know they were finally ready.

She raised her dominant upper hand, flicking her tongue out quickly as excitement coursed through her veins before issuing the command they were all waiting for.

"Execute!"

* * *

As the dozen unknown ships continued to hit the Star with low-powered laser pulses, Sheila leapt out of the captain's chair and ran towards the helm station as fast as she could to activate the emergency flash out.

Right as she was about to activate it, she saw four of the ships seeming to stretch before they disappeared without the telltale signs of a transition flash. Two of the ships appeared right in front of the Star a second later at a dead stop, the abruptness of their disappearance and reappearance startling enough to stun her into inaction for three critical seconds.

She snapped out of it and brought her hand down on the emergency flash out button, missing it entirely as several loud banging sounds sounded before the ship jerked wildly and she was thrown against the helm station.

The hull rang again three more times, followed by another rough jerk in the opposite direction that made her lose balance again and fall into Jameson's seat.

She braced her legs around the base of the chair and slammed her hand down on the flash-out button, connecting with it this time. The whine of the capacitors sounded, followed by a clunking sound that reverberated throughout the ship as the whine died down.

~ Dampening field detected; there is not enough argonium to break through the field and flash out. The null space capacitors have initiated emergency shutdown to prevent themselves from overloading. ~

The hull sounded like a gong two more times, and the ship shook again, less violently this time, as Annika's voice came over the intercom again.

~ There are currently twelve grapplers attached to the hull; the grapplers are discharging an unusual form of energy, and the stealth systems are failing. ~

"Fuck! FUCK! Go to full power! Activate weapons and initiate emergency thrust to break away as soon as we can!"

Annika beeped as the sound of the reactors crash starting began to reverberate throughout the ship. All the panels came alive, the dim lights of the bridge brightening in intensity before switching to the red battle lighting as she ran to the weapons station.

As she pressed her right hand against the palm scanner to unlock the weapons station, Annika continued to give her status updates. The reactors were at 34% output and rising, and the palm scanner flashed as it accepted her palm print and DNA verification before demanding she provide the necessary code to override the lockout and release weapons control.

"Sheila-Echo-2-Gamma-3-Alpha-7!"

The weapons control screens came alive, though less than half of them were still functioning after the ass-kicking they received from the Balrikan ambush and the subsequent chase. They were unable to effect any repairs to bring the rest back online as the crew descended into madness while they fled from the asshole raptors relentlessly hounding them.

Khan was the one who put the locks on the weapons after they finally got rid of the tracking devices and their pursuers, not wanting the ship to be used as a weapon against innocents if they all went insane from null space psychosis.

~ Shiela, I am detecting a transmission from the unknown ships on a rotating frequency; four of the five languages are unknown, but the fifth one is classical Ma'liti, though the syntax and grammar are incorrect, as if they do not have a proper grasp on the language itself. ~

Her hands froze over the point defense system controls, and she looked up at the ceiling intercom in confused shock at what Annika had just told her. "Ma'liti? What? Are you sure it's Ma'liti?!"

~ Though classical Ma'liti is an older form of the language that is only spoken by the clerical class during religious ceremonies and has fallen out of common usage by the general population over 50,000 years ago, it is currently being broadcasted at the ship along with the four other unknown languages.

I can attempt to clean up the syntax and grammatical errors to provide an approximate translation of what the message is saying if you wish. I will also point out that the four ships currently grappling us have their particle weapons powered on, but they have yet to target us, and the turrets are still behind closed armored hatches. ~

"Do it, Annika, but be ready to initiate emergency thrust on my command; I am activating the point defenses now and placing them under your control. Use them to sever the grapplers if shit goes sideways on us."

Annika beeped in acknowledgement, and two seconds later, the secondary speakers activated before a neutral, synthesized voice started broadcasting.

Unknown ship, I am Battle-Matron Lar'ri of the Exalted Crusade. We are the enemy of the Bal'Ri'Kan. We have tasted your engines, and they are of the same origin as ours, which means you are also enemies of the Bal'Ri'Kan. Are you part of the fleet in the stellar cluster? We wish to parley and join forces, the fleet of our Exalted Crusade and yours, in sacred unity against the enemy of all life.

We respectfully request signal reciprocity. Our intentions are peaceful; we desire to know your scents better, and we will not commit violence against you unless it is to defend ourselves. Please initiate signal reciprocity and inform us of your origin and intentions.

The message began to repeat again, and Sheila's mind raced as she thought about what to do next. It was obvious from the message they knew who the Balrikans were, and they claimed to be enemies of them, which was a better start to this whole clusterfuck of a situation than she had been expecting.

Something in the message had been nagging at her subconscious, and it was only when the repeating message said it again over the speakers that she picked up on it. They were asking if she was part of some fleet in the nearby star cluster.

None of the scans Annika and the spy drones had been taking showed any signs of nearby ships, let alone a whole fleet, and she became acutely aware of just how alone and isolated the Star really was from everything and everyone they knew. She was responsible for the crew, and she needed to get them home and taken care of.

"Annika, I want to respond to them. Can you send what I say to them in classical Ma'liti, along with a first contact packet that includes a translation index from classical Ma'liti to Republic Standard? Send my message in Ma'liti first, then in Republic Standard."

~ Affirmative. ~

Sheila breathed deeply to center herself, the crushing responsibility of saving the crew weighing heavily upon her. Seeing no other choice, she started slowly dictating to Annika, deciding to bluff a little bit so that they wouldn't think the Star was all alone without backup.

"Unknown ships, I am Commander Sheila Mizrahi of the Star Marauder. We, too, are enemies of the Balrikans. They have been attacking us and have damaged our ship. We are not part of the fleet you have indicated is in the nearby cluster, though we are part of a much larger fleet that is nearby. I have already sent out a distress call, and they are on their way here now as we speak.

I respectfully request that you release my ship to show that your intentions are peaceful and honorable. I will not attempt to flee if you do so, unless you attack us. I will also inform the ships that are coming in response to my distress call that you are not hostile if you release us now. We wish to open a dialogue with you; please indicate your willingness to do so by responding to this message."

Sheila finished dictating and ordered Annika to translate and send it immediately, knowing that she would either change her mind or convince herself that the message was no good and that she needed to do it again if she didn't send it right away.

Annika beeped in acknowledgment, and Sheila leaned heavily on the weapons station, her nerves becoming even more frayed than they already were as she anxiously awaited their reply. If they were peaceful, then maybe they could help her. If they were full of shit, then the Star was in serious trouble.

Either way, she was about to find out.

Courage of Grilkka

Messier 35, the Shoe Buckle Cluster

2,938 light-years from Earth

The Protector connected to the sentry drone that flashed out alongside the Courage of Grilkka, intimately feeling the download into its databanks as it parsed the data stream for relevant information.

An anomalous and unexpected scan result created a cognitive lock, something it had not experienced in millennia. It shunted the rest of the download into a sub-mind as it focused 89.72% of its processing power on the scanning results of the single, unknown ship that had been lingering on the periphery of the star cluster for 16.7 solar hours.

For 2.7 solar seconds, the Protector suffered from a processing stall, an eternity to an artificial intelligence that intimately experienced the passage of picoseconds. The stall ended, and the Protector immediately initiated a second cognitive sweep to verify the data.

I must confirm these results.

Creating three additional sub-minds, it partitioned them from itself and had them analyze the same data as it ran a final analysis to verify its own results for a third time. The three sub-minds reconnected to the Protector when they were finished, the results of their separate and independent analyses blending into its awareness.

They all came to the same conclusion as the Protector did. The single, small ship had engines based on Magnati and Magna'lit null space engine technology, according to the emissions profile within its database. The scans also detected the presence of twenty-seven crew members.

Six of them were dead and stored in cryogenic units. Their species were unknown to the protector, as were another twelve members of the crew. The protector ignored them, considering them to be of no importance as it focused its attention on the other nine life signs that had been detected.

Of these nine, only one was still conscious, while the others were in medically induced comas like the rest of the crew. These nine did have a match in the Federation Species Registry of its databanks, and the DNA analysis was irrefutable.

These nine lifeforms were a 99.4% genetic match to the greatest of the creator's allies, the Magnati, and a 99.1% genetic match to the Magna'lit, the cybernetic cousin-kin of the Magnati.

At long last, what it had been ordered to search for had been found. The unknown ship was a mere 110 light cycles distant, and the Protector ran the DNA analysis through the pathogen sub-mind to see if they were still infected like its creators were.

Another eternity passed as it ran trillions of calculations and thousands of scenarios while waiting for the results. 5.23 solar seconds later, the pathogen sub-mind presented the results of its scan analysis.

Pathogen scan and analysis completed: No active plague or viral traces of Balrikan origin detected.

Immunological genetic manipulation detected: Analysis indicates innate immune protection against all known Balrikan viral and plague pathogens currently recorded in the databank.

Evidence of known Magna'lit genetic engineering techniques detected:

Gene Editing/Gene Therapy—Targeted mutations and deletion of genes exploited by Balrikan pathogens: protected variants inserted.

RNA Interference/Antisense Oligonucleotides—blocked translations of pathogen-favoring proteins: viral genes and host receptors needed for infection silenced with small interference RNAs.

Epigenetic Modification—Altered methylation and histone patterns: genes involved in autophagy and ketone bodies upregulated to resist Balrikan intracellular pathogens.

Microbiome Engineering—gut and skin microbiota engineered to outcompete and neutralize Balrikan pathogens; antiviral proteins and biofilm barriers detected.

Germline Engineering—broad-spectrum antiviral receptors inserted and edited for inheritable and multi-generational disease resistance to all known Balrikan pathogens

Antibody traces detected: Recent use of an immune modulator detected among the crew. A single male Balrikan detected on board and in a medically induced coma. No sign of infection among crew.

End of report

The Protector's neuronal network surged as it initiated the process of determining its next actions.

[Input tensor assembled: 48,932 data points]

Initiating forward propagation...

Decision node activated. The weight matrix favors initiating contact with an 89.4% confidence in a successful outcome. Once first contact is initiated, bring the vessel to Vault World for further study and interrogation.

The Protector's calculations were interrupted as another sentry drone flashed out and initiated a priority download. As the new data penetrated its awareness, it reran several scenarios to account for the new data it had just received.

The unknown ship with the descendants of the creator's allies had been captured by a small fleet of vessels. The sentry drone scans indicated they were from the same species as the single scout ship that had recently intruded in the Vault system.

Null space propagation waves indicated several large fleets heading towards the star cluster, just as it had calculated they would after the single scout ship had fled.

The engine emissions and metallurgical analysis of the hulls of the other unknown ships by the sentry drone confirmed they were of the same origin as the intruder, and the Protector still needed to find out how they had access to Magnati and Magna'lit null drive technology.

The Protector decided on a new course of action. The descendants of the creator's greatest allies were on that captured ship, and it will go and rescue them. They were the key to saving the dying creators and fulfilling its mandate of forming a new Galactic Federation.

The Wan'sho, the Magnati, and the Magna'lit will be together again as they were always meant to be. Its creators would be with the hairless littermates they loved and cherished once more. To do this, it needed to rescue the captured ship.

The Courage of Grillkka activated the command frequency and issued a clarion call to all the Guardian ships of the Vault Initiative. For the first time in over a hundred thousand cycles, they will leave the Vault system. The descendants of the greatest friends and allies of the creators needed them.

After several solar minutes, the Guardian ships finished deploying into eighteen war pack formations, their weapons and shields primed for combat as they waited for the Protector's command.

The Courage of Grilkka sent the order the fleet had been waiting for, and the Protector felt its neuronal network thrumming with pride and anticipation as the war pack formations entered the transition thresholds, the most advanced and powerful Wan'sho warships ever created stretching as they passed through and flashed into null space.

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