Chapter 22

With the attacker captured and taken to the brig, the tension I had been feeling at the risk of another attack lessened. It didn’t ease the underlying issue of what she had said. I didn’t think that she was bluffing when she said that she would call reinforcements, but I wondered where they would have come from. From my talks with the captain, they didn’t have many working ships. I asked Alta to have Hertal come to the nearby conference room, to discuss what happened and what we had learned. I didn’t have to wait long before he entered the room. From what I could read of his expression and body language when he entered, he seemed to be genuinely glad that the attacker had been captured.

“Captain, I was told that you caught the person involved,” Hertal said, with a sigh of relief. “Did they say why they did it?”

Alta appeared in the room and gestured to the wall behind us. A display shimmered into existence and Hertal watched the conversation that I had with the prisoner before she was escorted to the brig.

“Do you know who this person is?” I asked sternly, “or what they meant by a battle group of ships would come when she called? From what you told me, out of the four settlements you know of, there is only one ship and that one is currently sitting in our space dock.”

His eyes widened in shock, “Rihs’tal?! I didn’t really think that it could be someone from my vessel!”

“What do you know of her?” I asked, leaning forwards slightly. “How long has she been a member of your crew?”

“She only joined just before we left on our search that led here,” Hertal replied, lost in thought. “I thought it odd at the time, but the leading council said that I needed her expertise.”

My eyes narrowed and I began to think of how I would need to handle this. This would change things slightly, since it meant that there were more obstacles ahead of us.

“It looks like plans will be changing,” I said with a sigh. “It sounds like they were worried that there was a threat and added her. If they added her to the ship, given what she said, then they are in contact with others. It could be Neornith, or they could be receiving orders from the ruling body of the home world, believing them to be legitimate. If that is true, then your ruling body would have either known there were other settlements and withheld that information from you, or they were told to follow orders for more gain and went along with it. She probably arrived there some time ago and they produced a reason she hadn’t been seen by others. One that would make sense, given the disconnected nature of the settlements.”

Hertal’s eyes widened in surprise, and I saw him begin to go over things in his head. His surprise changed to frustration and anger.

“What do you need me to do, sir?” He asked in a dark and angry tone. “This cannot go unpunished.”

I thought for a moment and asked, “How long do your missions last? Especially when you are on a scouting mission such as this?”

“It depends on what we are looking for,” He answered. “In the case of our current search, they had expected it to take weeks or even a few months. Why do you ask?”

I smiled, “I wanted to know how long I could have you here, before it could cause problems back home for you.”

“You would wish us to stay?” he asked in surprise. “Even after everything that has happened?”

I nodded. “I can use all the help I can get. Besides, the actions of one person are not the justification of penalizing an entire group. If I could, I’d have you all just stay here, but I know that you all have families of some kind back home.”

Hertal smiled. “You honor me with your words, sir, and maybe when this issue is dealt with, some of us may just take you up on that offer. For now, what would you have us do?”

I nodded. “I want you to talk to Tali, Alta and Hobbs. See where your crew will be best served in helping us. If it can move up our timetable, then we will use any help we can get. Besides, I think we will be installing new upgrades to the White Claw very soon.”

I could tell that Hertal was confused, so I said, “Your crew member, the attacker, was caught with stealth technology on her person. It allowed her to sneak up on me without being seen. The only reason we found her was due to distortions that were made when she hurried or moved too fast. Alta has her teams working to reverse engineer the technology, which could prove useful. It is a bit worrisome to think what our enemies have used it for, but, with some time, we should be able to find a way to see through it, or even use it on our own ship. The Obsidian would be the best place to use it, since it is a scout vessel, but being able to cloak the Claw would be advantageous.”

He nodded. “What of our ship? I know you were hesitant, before, about making any changes or upgrades until you were sure we wouldn’t be a threat. But, if there is a threat to our people, our home, we need to be able to defend ourselves.”

“You are correct there,” I replied with a nod. “My plan is to focus on the White Claw and get her fully operational. Since our original plan won’t work, we can leave your ship here for her refit, while we take the Claw to your home.”

Hertal’s eyes widened in surprise, “That would be great, but it would put my home at a disadvantage.”

“Yes, it would,” I replied. “But that may be what is needed. Remember, there is something else going on here, given what our prisoner has said. That means we need to have every advantage when arriving at your settlement. I would need to interact with your settlement’s AI unit, then we will be in a better position to handle things.”

Hertal began to become lost in thought, going over everything I had said. I knew that I was asking a lot of him, but I was certain that I was doing the right thing.

“I should be against this,” he said softly. “I should be putting my people, the ones I grew up with, first, but I can’t this time. We struggle for food and supplies sometimes. We try to farm, forage and hunt what we can, but the area our settlement is in can have harsh climate changes. Whole crops have been lost due to freak weather conditions and game has gotten thinned over the centuries. If your story is true, then you coming to our world could change so many things. Due to the AI not being helpful, we haven’t called on it in nearly fifty years. Things need to change, and I want something better for my people.”

“I want the same for your people, as well,” I replied. “However, they may not all be as receptive to me as you have been. Even if they aren’t, I won’t leave them hanging, but they will need to know that I will still be in charge of the AI, even if I am not around.”

Hertal looked confused by that statement, so I explained, “We have been creating a buoy network to extend our sensor range and influence. I plan to drop such buoys along the route to your settlement, as well as to the others.”

His eyes hardened, “So you will just withdraw your support and that of the AI if they don’t follow your orders?”

I shook my head, “Not at all, Hertal. I will give them full access to the facilities and tools that have been locked out for them, but the AI will not let them work against me, either. The protocol makes the AIs obedient to me and will put my protection first. I want them to thrive as much as you do, but I will also need to stay connected with the settlement. If you are with us, it can allow you to see how things are doing there, talk to families who choose to stay and let the people know how things are going here. Doing this would allow the settlements to have more direct contact with one another and we could start working to set up proper trade routes.”

I saw his posture and features relax as I explained things, and I didn’t blame him for being mad or suspicious. I would be, too, under the same circumstances. We spent the next half an hour going over my plans for his people and his ship. They would be merged into the existing crew of the White Claw, though if some opted to stay and work on the refit of their ship, I had no problem with that. We then started talking about the upgrades we would make to their ship. The power plant and luminal drive were old and obsolete even for a derelict. It looked as though the ship had been one of the earlier vessels and their AI confirmed the ship to be far older than anything we had recovered.

They would receive the updates to their weapons systems, and Hertal was excited by the turret system that we had put on our ship. He asked if there was a way to hide them and I got a big smile on my face. We ran some tests and produced the idea of two stealth drives. They would be located in two different areas of the ship; that way if one is knocked out, the other could still function. One would cloak the ship, while the other would maintain a cloak on the turrets. If done right, we would be able to mostly mask their location and make them harder to pinpoint and take out. We sent the updated designs to the work crews to incorporate once the science teams finished with the cloaking tech.

Once our meeting was done, we shook hands, and he went off to inform his crew of what was going to happen. I had Alta inform their ship’s AI and asked for him to assist where necessary. He had begun making his own drones, which were assisting in the work on the Claw.

Hertal had been surprised when he first saw the drones and envious when I had told them that they were designed and made by the AIs. I started noticing differences in the various drones that I would see moving about in the ships, corridors or out in space as they passed a window around a week ago. Instead of the uniform design they used to have, there was a new addition to them, color. It seemed that each AI had added their unique color to each of their drones. Perhaps they needed to differentiate them for the various work crews, but I was surprised I hadn’t noticed it before.

A quick check from Alta told me that Ev and Vish were on the Claw. Ev as always was working in the engineering room, while it looked like Vish was with one of the work crews working near the rear cannons. I decided to head over to the research and development bay to see the progress that they had made with the suit so far. It took me about twenty minutes to get there, since I wanted to enjoy the walk, rather than taking the tram there.

We had converted one of the docking bays to a large lab to allow the work teams the space they needed for the fighter we had found. The fighter was no longer there since the components we couldn’t readily use were fed to the mass-fabricators for the raw material. They were using holo displays, a lot like what was on the bridge of the Claw, to manipulate schematics, adding, removing, or adjusting parts or equations as they went. It was a marvel to see and was probably why the system had been put on the ship. The room was only separated by the workstations, allowing large or small materials to be brought in or made in the room.

I glanced about until I was approached by the lead scientist and engineer for the R&D department. He was lanky for a Mac’skarian, but from the work he had done so far, I had no doubt about his ability.

“Ahh, captain! I didn’t expect a visit from you today,” he said with a warm and inviting smile.

“Thank you, Er’tanik,” I replied as I grasped his outstretched hand. “I just wanted to see how things were going. If you needed anything? Though I was anxious to see if you have figured anything out about the suit you recently received.”

Er’tanik nodded in understanding, “I understand your interest, sir, especially given how it had been used. I have put my best people on it, and I expect to get results soon.”

I thanked him and gave him a quick overview of what I had planned for the suit, both in the short term and the long run.

“It will work perfectly for the buoys!” he exclaimed excitedly. “That I am certain I can get ready before you leave for their planet. As for the turrets and the ships themselves, that will be a bit longer, I think. We need to be able to understand the best way to power the system, and if I am honest, I would rather perfect it before using it like that. Even if it is just the turrets the cloak is hiding, they will leave a distortional wake due to the movement of the ship. Not to mention the rotation of the turrets themselves. I would be far more confident in the application of those if there is no way for any of our enemies to see through it at all. Don’t worry sir, I promise that it will be my top priority.”