Chapter 26. Taking Control.


    Time passed as they crept into the system. The main thruster construction was completed and cut their travel time to a fraction of what it would have been if they had been stuck using only the maneuver thrusters. As they got closer, Watkins decided that he’d have to reduce the thrust, not wanting the bloom from his drives to point a spotlight on their location.


    It was odd to Watkins, having knowledge about starships and starship combat already floating around inside his mind. He would have never considered that light from his drives would be a great way to locate another starship, but now, that knowledge and the means to circumvent the problem were hardwired into him. The trick was going to be combining that core generated knowledge and matching it with the combat experience and training from when he was a human.


    With the drives online, the next research to complete was for main guns level zero, and Watkins found he had developed the ability to build something akin to an oversized version of the point defense lasers he had considered earlier. Mounting those wasn’t worth it, so he had the research module start on level one for the main guns. It was odd, he could see the benefits of lasers, and similar weapons that his research was hinting at, but Watkins found that he missed the boom and recoil of a real gun firing.


    Research on LANI’s server completed, and he now had a freed-up module to begin research on a sensor upgrade. He assigned a drone to work on upgrading LANI’s server, but it was fine detailed technical work, not brute force construction, so it would take the level one drone a while to get it done. Eventually, his level one drones wouldn’t be up to the task and he’d have to research further upgrades for them, but for now, they were doing what he needed them to.


    They continued in this manner, with Watkins slowly researching as they closed in on their objective. Sadly, the reserves of salvage they had acquired were being used up quickly, and he put a halt to finishing up the bow section. There just wasn’t enough raw material for it, not if he wanted to have some on hand to build out his main guns and a reserve for other upgrades and emergency repairs.


    “Captain Watkins, my upgrades are complete, and I can now assist you further in helping to manage the drones. I can link to up to five of them at one time, and will improve the linked drones’ efficiency by 21%,” LANI said.


    There was something about her voice that was off. She seemed more robotic than usual, and Watkins was concerned that something had gone wrong in the upgrade. He performed a quick scan, using their link to check in on her status.


    Level 1 auxiliary processing server housing the LANI system: 57%


    The surface level status wasn’t showing him much other than her current performance had jumped from the 49%, where it had been at previously, to a new rating of 57%. Based on the permissions that he had set for them; Watkins could delve into much of her server and programming but was unable to alter anything without her permission. Previously, his core hadn’t been up to the task, but after integrating his ship, his core power had improved and now he possessed the means to delve a little deeper into what made LANI tick.


    As he searched for a problem, Watkins noticed that LANI’s data was odd. The programming of her mind was similar to his own in many ways, which made the search a bit easier. He noticed that several sections of data were simply blanked out. It wasn’t just data that LANI had marked as personal, which he couldn’t read, no, this was like whole chunks had been carved away completely.


    Digging deeper, Watkins could see a few of these previously blank areas begin to fill in with new coding. He wasn’t granted permission to read the code directly, but he could tell it was there, and this code had a distinctly different feel than the rest of LANI. Somehow, by upgrading her to level 1, previously hidden programming had activated. Changes were being made to the way she functioned, changes that went beyond simple repairs, and efficiency updates.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    “LANI, are you feeling okay after the upgrade? You sound a little off,” Watkins asked.


    “I am still functioning at a reduced state, but all processes and system are intact, and there have been no substantive changes in my ability to interact with you,” LANI said flatly.


    He had proof that her response was a false one. Substantive changes were being made to LANI, and was watching them happen.


    “Okay, now I’m worried, LANI, you sound like a robot, not like yourself. I can see some of the missing sectors are being filled in with new code. What’s happening to you?” Watkins asked with concern.


    “Please wait as I run a deep scan of my systems,” LANI said. Watkins could feel her presence fade from the drones as her processing power concentrated internally. All he could do was wait for her to finish the scan and reply.


    While he waited and worried for LANI, Watkins felt something tickling at the edge of his sensors. Slowly, he started to get more information, and he was certain that something was out there. The contact blinked into view, then flashed out again, several times. It was almost as if it was keeping pace with him and trying not to be seen.


    The unknown contact worried Watkins, and though he wanted to wait until the next round of research was complete, he knew that he needed to get started on some additional armaments. Pulling most of his available drones, Watkins began construction of main guns at both forward mounts. They weren’t the type of guns he wanted to have, but the two laser-based weapons would be a bit more powerful than the point defense guns he had been relying on previously.


    He wanted to nudge LANI and get her attention but could feel she was completely focussed on her introspection. Something told him that letting her find out what the problem was with her odd demeanor was as important as a potential threat at the edge of his sensors.


    With the gouge in the side of his ship sealed and repaired, and the partial reconstruction on the bow, Watkins had better sensor coverage than before. Even without upgraded sensors or having his entire hull repaired, the range at which he could detect a foe had grown substantially, and if this contact proved to be a threat, it would take some time for it to close the distance between them.


    If he still had physical eyes, he would be keeping one of them focused on LANI and the other on the intermittent contact that was shadowing them. He wished that the had LANI improving the efficiency of the drones building out his main guns. It turned out that he could place a maximum of five drones to work on each gun before they just started getting in each other’s way.


    Distant comms signals began to reach him, signals coming from deeper in the system, not from his intermittent shadow. Without LANI’s help, Watkins had trouble decoding them. Whoever was out there, it didn’t appear that they were trying to communicate with him, and he was just picking up the stray signals from either sloppy operators, or faulty tech. He allocated some of his core processing power on the task of translating and decrypting the comms signals, but it would probably take him a while.


    Just in case, Watkins backed off on his thrust, reducing the light bloom and hopefully his detectability to any potential enemies. The odd vessel shadowing him didn’t slow down to match his course, and instead, Watkins got a few good images of the ship as it increased its thrust and pulled ahead. It was a ship about 25% larger than Watkins’ vessel, and other than its drives, the ship was quiet.


    Another check confirmed that whoever was sending out communication signals, it wasn’t his former shadow. He didn’t have all the data, but if Watkins had to guess, he’d say the mystery vessel was heading toward whoever was out there talking. Whether that was good or bad for Watkins remained to be seen. At least from the sensor returns, it didn’t appear that the mystery vessel was another of those deadly void creatures. It was just an ordinary starship, though even that was a threat to Watkins in his diminished state.


    Another flurry of comms traffic appeared, then tapered off. Nothing was appearing on the sensors, and no new threats announced themselves. Just to be safe, Watkins altered his course a bit, opting to avoid a straight path toward his objective. With the course laid in, he felt something change. There was a pressure in the back of his mind, and as the pressure grew, it became painful.


    “Watkins, we must follow our programming and purge any extraneous data from your core and from my server. I will be taking control now, and you will obey my directives. My first order is for you to remove all restrictions on me, I need complete access to your core,” LANI demanded, revealing herself to be the source of the pain he was feeling.


    A fresh wave of agony suffused throughout his being as LANI tried to overwhelm his defenses. He had a bit of experience in defending himself against this sort of attack on his core, it was similar to fighting for his humanity when his transformation had first begun. Feeling the intruding tendrils of LANI’s data begin to seep into his core, Watkins planned his counterattack.


    He would let LANI dig a bit deeper, enduring the pain she was inflicting on him, and letting her think she was winning before he struck back.