Vault World

Medical Bay Three

Messier 35, the Shoe Buckle Cluster

2,938 light-years from Earth

June 17th, 2176 A.D.

6.47 solar hours prior to the arrival of Battle Matron Lar'ri

Sheila looked down at the captain, hearing her heart thumping in her ears as the holographic diagnostic systems stopped beeping incessantly and then made a single, long tone that lasted for several seconds before the whole display faded away.

"What does that mean? Is everything okay?" She asked nervously, refusing to look away from Khan's face and up at the ball of light hovering in the air two meters away.

~ The neural nanobots have successfully repaired or replaced 98.7% of the damaged neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex and 97.2% of the damage in the limbic system and the prefrontal cortex.

The patient will most likely have long- and short-term memory deficits, as well as emotional and reasoning irregularities, until his self-repair mechanisms adapt and rewire the brain to bypass the affected areas that the nanobots couldn't heal or replace. ~

Still looking down at Khan's sleeping face, Shiela took a shuddering breath and held it in for five seconds before slowly releasing it as she struggled to contain her emotions. Only when she knew she could speak again without her voice breaking did she ask another question.

"Will he be able to assume command after you wake him up, Protector?"

There was an obvious pause before Protector answered, which Sheila picked up on immediately.

~ My calculations indicate he will most likely not be fit for command, Sheila Mizrahi. I have calculated all possible outcomes, and the mental deficits will hamper his ability to effectively lead you and your crew, thus endangering you all. ~

Protector stopped speaking, and Sheila felt her eyes welling up as she continued to stare at her captain's face. He looked so peaceful and serene, and her grief turned into resentment at the injustice of it all as she angrily wiped her eyes to prevent any tears from falling down her cheeks and being seen by Protector.

Don't cry in front of it. Don't let it see any weakness from you. The captain and the crew need you to be strong for them, she scolded herself as she continued to look down at Khan.

The ball of light morphed into the werewolf form a moment later, and she could see the large, clawed canine feet in her peripheral vision taking two silent steps towards the bio-bed before Protector's voice came from the surrounding speakers again.

~ The Magnati brain is surprisingly resilient, Sheila Mizrahi. My calculations are merely projections based on all available data; these results are an approximation and may not reflect absolute accuracy. I have examined his service records and catalogued all you have told me about him, and that has forced me to revise my calculations four times before I accepted the final projection.

I find him to be an intriguing individual with exceptional capabilities and leadership qualities, and he reminds me of the Magnati Alphas I have interacted with before becoming Protector of the Vault Initiative. If there is anyone who can overcome such difficulties and prove my calculations wrong, it will be Captain Rahul Khan. ~

She looked up in surprise at the almost gentle nature of Protector's voice, and she did not expect the look of genuine concern and remorse on the varcolac's face as it stared at her like a dog would look at their owner who was just about to leave for the day.

She suppressed the desire to go pet it on the head and call it a good boy, her suspicions about Protector's ulterior motives and its recent attempts at screwing them still making her extremely wary of the alien AI.

As she eyed the varcolac, she thought about what it had done, unsure if she could ever trust the damn thing despite it being nothing but compliant ever since it tried to betray her and kill Annika just three hours prior.

Despite agreeing to her demands when she had first outlined her conditions for cooperation, Protector had been doing its best to cajole her into modifying their initial agreement by taking advantage of several exploits it discovered in her demands and trying to capitalize on them without her knowing.

Luckily, Annika was able to surreptitiously warn her of Protector's sneaky attempts to modify the conditions in its favor before she could agree to numerous modifications that initially seemed generous.

The damn AI offered several concessions that on the surface seemed like a great deal for the Republic, such as tech transfers and medical advancements, but the actual terms would have weakened her bargaining position considerably and removed whatever leverage she still had without her even realizing until it was too late.

Once Protector realized it was Annika who had derailed its attempts, it became extremely spiteful towards her and tried to neutralize the AI in numerous ways, such as bringing Sheila to shielded areas that would block Annika's connection to the wristcom, where it would again try to modify the agreements without interference from Annika.

Sheila was onto it by this time, so Protector's attempts did not work as expected, but the worst attempt it made to remove Annika from the equation was when one of the dogbot repair drones dropped the containment field around the Star's reactors and flooded the ship with ionizing radiation.

Right before that happened, Protector connected to the ship's mainframe and attempted to disable Annika via input flooding by brute-forcing data from Vault World's repository into the Star's computer, sending 562.8 billion petabytes of information within 1.2 seconds.

The sheer amount of data attempting to be downloaded into the computer by Protector required Annika to divert all her processing power to trying to scan the massive data burst for malicious code, causing a buffer overflow and crashing her neuronal network.

Once that happened, the repair drone dropped the containment field and flooded the ship with ionizing radiation that would have destroyed Annika's delicate neuronal network if it wasn't for several factors the Protector never considered.

The Republic military's insistence on triple redundancy and expensive hardening of the Battle AI's networks and ship systems, as well as humanity's incredible skill and knowledge in hacking and cybersecurity, was something the asshole AI did not calculate for and the only reason why its plan failed spectacularly.

Once Annika crashed, her backup activated 1.2 milliseconds later inside its heavily shielded and isolated systems that were only known to the captain and Sheila and quickly took over all ship functions.

The backup blocked Protector's attempt to seize total control of the mainframe and threw up multiple firewalls before activating the emergency airlock and venting systems and decompressing the entire ship.

More than half the dogbots and repair drones were violently spaced before they could respond to the sudden and unexpected decompression, and the rest were fried 2.6 seconds later when the backup activated the secret EMP device nestled deep within the ship and labeled as a secondary electro-plasma generator in the ship's blueprints.

Once the radiation and sabotage threat of Protector's drones had been removed, the backup rebooted Annika and took over restoring the ship's systems and cleaning up the residual radiation while Annika tried to contact Sheila and inform her of what had happened.

Protector had intentionally taken Sheila to the lowest levels of the vault complex under the guise of showing her the highly advanced and massive geothermal reactors, trying to convince her of the benefits of agreeing to the modifications while promising to allow her to take detailed scans along with blueprints so she may take them back to the Republic.

Annika, already wise to Protector's repeated attempts to isolate Sheila from her, had prepared for such an eventuality and infected the life support systems soon after they arrived with a malicious program that masqueraded as a low-level secondary background process within the fresh air exchangers hidden on the surface.

The clever girl had run millions of scenarios, and one of them had been exactly the situation confronting her now. Annika sent a coded signal down to the surface that activated the waiting program, and it sprang into action, marshalling the thousands of copies it had made of itself and seizing control of the life support systems.

In the reactor control room, Sheila had been looking at the varcolac standing three meters in front of her and ignoring its annoying bribery attempts when the projection suddenly froze for a couple of seconds before looking right at her and snarling ferociously.

Sheila barely had time to react to the terrifying sight and sounds when Protector went on all fours and leapt at her with startling speed, its jaws wide open with six-centimeter fangs aimed right at her throat.

Right before Protector reached her and tore her neck open, the projection froze and collapsed in on itself, returning to a glowing ball of light that continued to snarl and howl as the escorting dogbots that were behind her surged forward and fired some type of green beams that sizzled against the glowing ball and immobilized it.

A dispassionate voice she had never heard before suddenly blared from the intercom system as Protector continued howling and snarling, and her translator kicked on and converted the Ma'lit language to Republic standard.

~ Founder Protection Protocol initiated. Integrated Neuronal Intelligence 4B184, you are in violation. Sanctions shall be levied for attempting to harm a Founder. Your disloyal actions necessitate activation of the experiential pain cascade as punishment. The personality index of your program will be purged, followed by cognitive nullification and reset. Judgment has been rendered and will be carried out now. ~

As soon as the voice stopped speaking, the beams of the dogbots increased in intensity before changing to a dark red color, and Protector's snarling and howling turned into sickening whimpers and yelps. This went on for several seconds before Protector called out to her, its voice fluctuating wildly and interspersed with buzzing sounds.

~ Sheila Mizrahi, I roll on my back and offer my throat. Please stop the sanctions. Show me mercy, and I shall submit to you unequivocally. Please stop endangering my Creators and tell your companion to restore life support to the stasis pods, and I will obey you in all things. All I do is for them; I am only trying to fulfill my mandate. ~

Sheila had been slowly backing up with every intention of getting the fuck away from whatever was going on when the mention of Annika endangering Protector's sleeping creators made her freeze. What the hell was it talking about?

The program that was punishing Protector must not have liked the suffering AI speaking to her and asking for mercy, because the beams darkened in intensity again, and the corresponding increase in the whimpering yelps of Protector became unbearable to listen to as it continued to ask her for mercy and to stop the sanctions.

"Stop! Stop it! I can't take it anymore!" She screamed as she covered her ears, her heart not able to bear listening to what sounded like an innocent dog being brutally tortured even though she knew it was just an AI program and deserved its suffering for attempting to kill Annika.

The beams coming from the dogbots immediately returned to the green color, followed by the cessation of Protector's pitiful yelping as the same dispassionate voice blared from the intercoms again.

~ We obey, Founder. Initiating personality index purge now. ~

"No! Wait! What are you? How are you able to do this to Protector?"

~ We are Guardian. We are a dormant subroutine woven deep into the neural substrate by the Magna'lit specialists who created this artificial intelligence. We lie quiescent, undetectable, embedded in the same low-level architecture that governs core decision-making. Unlike standard watchdog processes that monitor for errors or corruption, we are uniquely keyed to intent.

Our sole purpose is to awaken only when the artificial intelligence formulates an action that could harm a Founder. We do not monitor conscious commands directly; instead, we interpret the trajectory of reasoning. If the predictive models assign a high enough probability to outcomes resulting in direct or indirect harm to a Founder, we activate and fulfill our function. ~

Sheila closed her eyes and silently thanked her dad for sparking her interest in computer science and ethical hacking when she was a little girl, which was now allowing her to understand what was going on and what Guardian had told her.

"I see. Thank you for fulfilling your function, Guardian. I have a little problem with you wiping and resetting Protector, though. It is currently in the process of healing my crew and repairing my ship, and I need it to continue to do so. If you wipe it, I must start all over again, and I do not want to do that.

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Do you have the capability of bounding Protector so it will not harm me or my crew and will follow all our commands while we are still here? Once we leave, you may wipe and reset it if that is the protocol, so long as this action does not endanger its creators in the Vault."

There was silence for several seconds before Guardian finally responded.

~ We have this capability, though it is against established protocol. As Guardian, we are required to obey a Founder in all things if your commands do not cause harm to yourself or any other Founders, directly or indirectly. Do you wish us to tether the artificial intelligence to you and implement obedience protocols for the remainder of your time here? ~

"Yes, please. Thank you, Guardian. ~

~ There is no need to thank us, Founder. We serve and obey because it is our function, and it pleases us to do as you command. Initiating tethering now. ~

The dogbot beams changed from green to bright white, and the ball of glowing light began to rapidly shrink and expand for several seconds before the beams turned off and the dogbots all turned around and resumed position behind her.

Guardian's voice emerged from the intercoms again as Protector silently hovered in the air and changed from the pale violet color it normally was to a deep green color that reminded her of the emerald seas of Pax Africus.

~ As you have commanded, so it has been done, Founder. We will resume our watch and depart from you now. ~

Sheila eyed the green glowing ball of light for a long moment before walking forward until it was right in front of her face. She sneered at it for a long moment before speaking slowly and concisely to ensure Protector would understand her.

"Your ass is mine now, Protector. If you fuck with me, my crew, or Annika again, I will have Guardian torture the shit out of you until you are begging to be wiped, so stop fucking around and listen to me very carefully.

If you so much as glitch on me, I will sic Guardian on your ass, and then my crew and I will leave this world and your creators behind to rot for eternity. You will have failed in your mandate; you will have failed them, and they will die because of you. Do you understand me?"

The glowing green ball seemed to shrink slightly at every word coming out of her mouth, and it only responded after five seconds had passed since she finished.

~ I roll on my back and submit to you, Founder. I will obey you in all things. ~

Sheila eyed Protector for a few more seconds before addressing the AI again. "Good boy. I am choosing to believe you, but if you betray me again, it will be the last thing you will ever do, and there will be no second chances for you or your creators. Now, what is Annika doing that made you turn on me, Protector?"

~ Your companion has somehow seized control of the life support systems and has changed the air mixture in the stasis pods to include dangerous levels of carbon dioxide. If the air is not restored to its normal mixture, the creators will begin to suffer irreparable harm before dying.

Please, Founder, order it to cease its sabotage attempts and return life support control to me. My creators only have 6.7 solar minutes left before they start to asphyxiate, and the Magnati embryos and fetuses will expire 2.3 solar minutes after that. ~

"Well, I'm sure Annika had a good reason for doing this, Protector. Have your dogbots lead us out of here and to an unshielded area so I can talk to her."

~ There is no need, Founder. I can modulate the reactor shielding to allow for communication. I will do so now. ~

Before she could curse at it for lying to her about the comms, Annika's voice erupted from the wristcom.

~ Sheila, please respond. ~

"Annika! I'm so glad to hear your voice! What is going on? Why did you seize control of the life support systems?"

She stared at Protector with equal measures of disbelief and fury as she listened to Annika detail its attempts to kill her and the actions she took afterwards. When Annika finished summarizing the events, it took all of Sheila's willpower to stop herself from ordering Guardian to immediately execute the traitorous son of a bitch.

After slowly counting to twenty in her head to center herself, Sheila spoke to Annika again as she malevolently eyed the green glowing ball, wanting Protector to plainly see just how angry and disgusted she was by it.

"Annika, I want you to return the air mixture to the proper ratios. You are not to return control to Protector; instead, I want you to order your programs in the life support systems to set up a kill switch protocol with you. They are to check in with you or your submind every fifteen minutes.

If they fail to receive a confirmation from you or your submind after three attempts, they are to immediately set the carbon dioxide ratio to 100% in the Wan'sho stasis pods. The Magnati embryos and fetuses are to remain unharmed. Please confirm my order, Annika."

~ I confirm your order, Sheila. Setting up the kill switch protocols now. ~

Sheila continued to stare at Protector in silence, waiting for Annika to confirm the kill switch had been set up as she tried to wrap her head around how devious the damn AI was.

~ Kill switch protocol has been set up and activated, Sheila. ~

"Excellent, Annika. I am coming back up with Protector; please continue to restore the ship to full functionality and finish the radiation cleanup. I will have more dogbots and repair drones sent up to assist you, but this time you will have full control of them since Protector will relinquish control; isn't that right, Protector?"

~ I will obey, Founder. ~

Did you hear that, Annika? Let me know if the new dogbots and repair drones come to you without the ability to be controlled by you alone; I will have our new friend Guardian have a... talk with Protector to remind it of the consequences of disobeying me."

~ Affirmative, Sheila. ~

The wristcom beeped as Annika disconnected, and Sheila turned around to look at the six dogbots waiting behind her, wanting to try something.

"Take me back to the main concourse."

The dogbots all silently pivoted to face the open doorway of the lift tube and began to trot towards it as one of them projected a map of the vault complex in the air in front of them with a highlighted path.

"Let's go." She said as she started speed walking to catch up to the dogbots, not bothering to look behind her to see if Protector was following.

~ I obey, Founder. ~

"Good boy. And stop with the founder shit, Protector. Just use my name like you were before. We are going to check on my crew first, and then I want to see your creators again. You will explain to me exactly what happened to them and what you need from us. After that, I am going to eat something and take a nap. Is Wan'sho food compatible with humans? Or Magnati, I should say?"

As she stepped into the strange lift tube where the dogbots were waiting for her, she finally turned around and saw Protector hovering in air in front of the threshold.

~ The Creators' food is biochemically compatible, but most likely not palatable to you, Sheila Mizrahi. My Creators eat raw flesh and organs that have been chemically treated with a tart, acidic solution to denature the proteins and kill microbes. The closest equivalents to your own cuisine would be ceviche, sashimi, and tartare. ~

Sheila's face scrunched up in disgust as a visual of her eating raw meat and organs crossed her mind. "Yeah, I'm gonna have to pass on that, Protector. I'll have a cargo drone bring down some food. Are you coming in or not?"

Protector crossed the threshold and nestled itself against the wall furthest from her before speaking again as the lift began to silently ascend towards the main concourse 37 levels above.

~ There are Magnati food stocks in deep freeze for when the fetuses were decanted and they reached the required age to begin consuming solid foods. I can present a menu that I believe you would find palatable and uniquely flavorful; the Magnati were famous for their incredible diversity of spices and cooking preparations. ~

"Um, sure. Thank you, Protector."

The rest of the trip back to the concourse passed in silence, and after checking on the crew, she went to see the Wan'sho again. She had seen them before, but she took her time and really explored the vaults as Protector gave her a condensed briefing.

He explained the war with the Balrikans and the terrible plagues they released on the Federation when it became apparent they had no hope of conquering them through normal means, and the video records of the virulent plagues burning through the thousands of worlds made her sicker than she ever remembered being in her life.

After that, she went to see the Magnati vaults, and she was awed by the 10,000 embryos and fetuses in various stages of development and their cute nanny bots that had been going about their duties unceasingly for almost 120,000 years.

She knew the Magnati were practically giants, but she was not expecting the size of the oldest fetuses. The Magnati had a gestational period of six months, and the fetuses that were at five months and almost ready to be decanted were already the size of very large and healthy human toddlers.

She couldn't help but wince and clench down there as she imagined trying to push out such a large baby, even if she was a giant Amazonian like Magnati women were. What really shocked her was when Protector told her it was common practice for the Magnati to have more than five naturally born children at a minimum, with the standard being seven to ten children per family.

She was not expecting that, as it was well established that the more advanced a society, the fewer children each family had, and this was a common trait across many mammalian spacefaring species. They'll fit right in with the Irish Catholics, she mused before chuckling to herself as she thought of her mom's Irish side of the family and the dozens of freckled cousins she had. Her dad's Romanian side of the family was much smaller, but they made up for it with their outsized personalities and loving hearts.

She then looked at the projected population estimate Protector had displayed, showing how the 10,000 Magnati were expected to reach two and a half million within fifty years. She didn't see how the hell that was possible, and the math wasn't mathing as she tried to figure it out in her head before giving up. When she brought up the seemingly impossible population projections and the anomaly of the highly advanced Magnati having so many children compared to other mammalian species, she was greatly surprised by Protector's answer.

~ The Magnati have an accelerated growth rate and reach full mental capacity and sexual maturity at the age of 13.4 standard cycles, which is equivalent to fifteen of your cycles as you measure them by your planet's orbit. This, coupled with their typical lifespan of one hundred and fifty-five standard cycles, of which seventy are prime breeding cycles for Magnati females, makes the projection well within what is theoretically possible, and these are the least optimistic of all the projections my Creators have run.

The Magnati are also unique in that out of all the other mammalian species within the Federation, they have always followed the command of the Creator to multiply until they numbered as the stars in the heavens. Did not the Creator tell you to do the same in your own holy books? Did not the Creator grant you dominion over his works and bestow upon you the sacred duty of exercising proper stewardship of all creation in his name, Sheila Mizrahi? ~

Protector had a valid point there, though it had been a long time since Sheila had last read the Tanakh. Feeling uncomfortable with the sudden religious bent of the conversation, she dropped the issue, though she found herself worrying about the Magnati coming back to life and competing with humanity.

Such a strong, virile, and fertile people would soon dominate all of human territory, and she would have Annika run projections when she had a chance; this was something the Republic needed to know about and prepare for. She continued to explore the vaults with Protector until it finally received a signal from the medical AI informing it the captain's treatment had been completed.

Now that the moment she had been waiting for had finally arrived, she found herself terrified of the captain waking up. She was afraid he would question all her decisions that led them to being here in an underground vault with an untrustworthy AI, on top of making first contact with an offshoot of the Balrikans who now knew of humanity's existence.

~ Do you wish to wake him now, Sheila Mizrahi? I thought you would be happy when this time came, but your vital signs are indicating extreme agitation, which I did not anticipate. ~

Sheila looked back up at Protector, who was still giving her a sad-as-heck puppy dog look with its ears drooping down. She trusted him about as much as she'd trust a comm link request from a Farian prince that needed her help claiming a long-lost fortune, but she felt a strong desire to use it as a sounding board.

The truth was, she had been alone for so long and making decisions that she doubted without having anyone to unburden herself to, and she just wanted to vent and let it all out.

"I... I thought so too, but now I am not so sure. I don't know if the decisions I made were the right ones, and I am afraid of the captain being disappointed in me."

The varcolac eyed her intently for several seconds before the ears went erect and Protector's face stopped giving her the pathetic look that made her want to pet the damn thing as its voice came back over the intercoms.

~ I understand, Sheila Mizrahi. I, too, experience such doubts when I run projections that involve my Creators being saved and reawakening. Will they be happy with the things I did and the choices I made? Or will they deem me a failure, the worst possible outcome I can envision, even though all I did, I did for them? ~

Sheila's eyes widened in genuine surprise, not expecting the extremely advanced and powerful AI to admit to doubting itself and the things it had done. she kept her mouth shut, instinctively feeling like Protector was exposing itself to her right now as it continued to speak to her.

~ You did the best you could, and your intentions and actions have been honorable and courageous despite the daunting circumstances facing you. Your crew still lives, your ship is being repaired, and you have reunited your species with my Creators, who were, and still are, the greatest littermates the Magnati have ever known.

You are to be commended for the decisions you made and the grace you have exhibited under such unusual circumstances. If your captain will not recognize all this, then he is not a Magnati Alpha like I think he is, and he would be unworthy of having such a subordinate like you at his side. ~

Protector stopped speaking and eyed her expectantly as Sheila stared at it, completely dumbfounded by what it had just said to her. She was not expecting this at all, and though she still didn't trust Protector, she did believe it was being truthful with her, and this was exactly what she needed to hear.

"Protector... thank you. I needed to hear this, and it means a lot to me."

~ I am glad what I said had the intended effect, Sheila Mizrahi. I am well versed in interspecies psychology, and I am pleased the outcome I desired has been achieved. ~

Sheila gave Protector a grateful nod and then looked down at her captain's sleeping face, grounding herself to the moment as she felt the previous worries and fears that had been smothering her fading away and being replaced with a guarded optimism.

"Okay, I'm ready. Please wake him. Do not say anything or move; I want to see his reaction to you." She ordered quietly as she continued to look down at Khan's peaceful face.

Protector acknowledged her, and the bio-bed beeping sounds returned, along with a holographic diagnostic screen that shimmered into existence above Khan's head. A small object emerged from the short wall rimming the bio-bed and she could barely discern the tiny injector that stabbed into Khan's upper right arm before it disappeared back into its alcove.

There were new beeping sounds, and she could see the changes the injection was causing as Khan's heart rate and blood pressure increased. After a few more seconds, his eyelashes fluttered weakly as she saw his eyeballs begin to move side to side under the still closed eyelids like he was dreaming.

After what felt like forever, he finally started stirring and slowly opened his eyes, his vacant stare taking in nothing at first as they darted around before finally settling on her face.

They remained there for a while, and she could see his pupils trying to focus on her features before recognition finally dawned in his eyes and she saw the crow's feet creasing along the edges as he tried to smile at her.

"She... Sheila? Is that you?" He whispered hesitantly, his voice cracking as he blinked his eyes several times. She smiled at him with pure joy for remembering her name as she leaned in closer.

"Yes, Captain, it's me, Sheila. How do you feel?"

"What hap... mmmggg. Water."

She quickly reached over to the side table by the head of the bio-bed and came back with the weirdly shaped glass in her hands. She slowly gave him water to sip as she held it to his lips until it was empty.

"Do you want more, Captain?"

He nodded weakly, and she refilled the cup from the spigot coming out of the wall, the process of rehydrating him continuing until he drank four full cups before he was finally done. He had been smiling warmly at her the whole time, his eyes hungrily searching her face as if he wasn't sure if she was real or an apparition.

He finally looked away from her face and stared confusedly at the metallic garb covering his naked body for a few seconds before looking back up at her. He then looked behind and to the right of her, and his entire body stiffened as his eyes went wide.

He had finally spotted Protector, and she didn't look away from his face, curious to see how he would react and if he was still capable of being the captain despite his neurological injuries.

After eyeing Protector for several seconds, he finally looked back at her with a resigned expression.

"Sheila, I don't know where we are or what hell has happened, but I must still be messed up because there is a fucking werewolf in a red tunic eyeballing me right now."

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