He was going home to have a drink and then think about the future, doors had been opened tonight, he needed to figure out how to best use them.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-ONE
THIRTYONE
Home Base
The Nismel came falling out of slip space trailing a large section of the metal station with it.
The ship spun slowly with no signs of life except for the few emergency running lights along its bridge and aft section and even those dimmed and threatened to go out.
The ship was severely battered,
scorch marks and large puncture holes adorned its outer hull while pieces of its dorsal and ventral wings were completely missing.
She was venting precious fluids and oxygen and would have been marked as a derelict had it not been for the small maneuvering jets that kept trying to right the ship.
The bridge was a disaster,
a haze of smoke filled the air as consoles,
and metal housings from different systems lay strewn about the floor,
the captain’s chair was sitting somewhere behind what was left of the communications station. Maintenance bots were busy trying to stop leaks in the hull all over the ship.
Shira lay pinned into her pilot’s chair a smaller support beam having pierced her side.
Sweat ran down her face as one outstretched arm held tightly to the joystick as she desperately tried to right the ship.
Rom was next to her, a deep gash in his head but holding a compress to try and staunch the bleeding until help could arrive on the bridge.
Blake sat over the only working console left with a stone visage and a bloody scar running down his cheek that nanites were already starting to repair. He pushed through menus on the system squashing the red warnings and error alerts that popped up at random to tell him what he already knew,
the ship was dead.
Finally, Blake managed to get a primary sensor screen up on the network.
“It doesn’t look like anyone is following us, we might have just gotten away,”
he said with a small bitter chuckle.
“How is she, Rom?” Blake said starting towards the pilot’s chair a severe limp evident in his gate.
“She will live, Captain.
The nanites are already going to work on her,
but we need to remove this piece of the beam,
and soon. Any idea when we can get a damn AI doctor up here?”
Rom asked Now holding his bloody compress to Shira’s side.
Blake looked at the screen and tried punching a few more menu’s but to no avail.
“Anyone hear me? Someone give me a status update”
he said into his com, but nothing came back but static.
He leveled a grim gaze at Rom
“We are going to have to move her ourselves; hopefully, the way is not open to vacuum we need to get her to the medical bay, fast.”
He said looking over his pilot’s wounds with concern and guilt warring for space on his shocked face.
Blake went over to the wall and pulled open a cabinet, within it were various emergency supplies, He had learned where all these were during one of their long sojourns in slip space, better to be safe than sorry he had thought at the time.
Blake walked over to the pilot’s chair
“Stand down Shira. She is as good as she is going to get, let’s get you looked after”
Blake said.
“Shit Captain, I can still fly her,” Shira answered through clenched teeth.
He looked at Rom
“Hold her down, this is going to hurt.”
The massive beast nodded and braced her shoulders as gently as he could.
Blake took the torch and began cutting through the beam as close as he could get to her.
As it heated up, Shira began to scream,
the shock subsiding and being replaced by pain.
An agonizing two minutes later part of the beam fell away,
and both Rom and Blake lifted her and started their way to medical.
The rest of the ship was in no better condition. Bulkheads were warped,
and trash was strewn about the ship.
He had still not heard from anyone and was beginning to fear the worse.
It looked like at about mid ship the entire hallway bent down.
Blake assumed the whole ship had been hit by something powerful enough to literally bend the ship in half,
he tried to avoid the thoughts about the structural soundness of his first command as they made their way down the hall as fast as they were able to move their wounded friend.
When they reached the medical bay,
they found Xera and Davi there.
Xera had a few cuts but seemed no worse for wear. Davi had been protected by the shielding the medical AI had lowered.
He had mercifully not come around yet,
mostly because the AI doctor had kept him heavily sedated.
Xera nodded at Blake and helped lift Shira onto the vacant examination table.
The Artificial doctor began working on her right way.
“I’ll stay with her Captain until we know the worse of it,” Rom said.
Blake nodded and turned towards Xera.
“Are you okay?” he asked looking her over once more.
“I am Captain, but if you don’t mind me saying,
the ship is done.
Do we have a plan to get out of here?”
He looked down for a moment and then back up at her.
So much hope in those eyes that he would find a way to get them out alive.
“I am working on it,” he said giving her what he thought was a confident smile.
“I am off to see how the rest of the ship faired.
Stay with Davi won’t you?”
he asked, she nodded.
The com in his ear burst to life “Anyone there?” came a high-pitched voice.
Blake just about smiled.
“Kree, you’re alive,” he said.
“Yeah, no thanks to you psychos. I have internal coms back on, the ship is running on internal batteries, and aside from that, she is fucked.
Please tell me we have a plan to get out of here”
he asked with stress and fear evident in his tone.
“I will get back to you,
we are working on that now,” Blake said
and then switched off the comm.
Morgan was in his head then.
“Captain I need to have a private conversation if that is alright?”.
His world went black and suddenly Blake found himself sitting on a couch in a lovely Victorian living room he blinked having only a second ago been aboard the ship.
He knew this living room,
the smell of Jasmine and Old Bay wafted out of the kitchen.
The curtains shifted as a warm summer breeze came in through the large bay windows.
This was his grandmother's house and if there was ever a safe and happy place to be it was here. “Interesting choice” came a voice from his left.
He turned to see a woman sitting in the recliner next to the couch, perching at the edge of the chair, with a straight back and a regal posture.
“Hello, Morgan,” Blake said a little defeated. “Come to rub in the fact that I have now killed everyone on our crew?”
Blake got up and crossed the living room to the dark wood standing bar that his grandfather had kept.
From inside he pulled a bottle of Chivas and two glasses. He walked back over and plopped down on the couch.
Blake poured a generous helping into each glass and handed one to Morgan.
“I never expected it to end like this”
Blake hung his head,
“I can’t see a way out of this one.”
Morgan sipped the whiskey.
“It’s obvious Captain.
I can imagine given time you would see it,
but since you seem to be a little overwhelmed,
<
br /> your first time in space and all”
Morgan said sarcastically,
“The Specter of course.”
Blake could have slapped himself on the forehead and screamed “DOH!”
Of course, how had he not seen it until she mentioned it? Blake straightened his back;
the ship might die but they wouldn’t.
The crew would live.
Morgan shifted slightly in her seat.
Blake noticed her uncomfortable shift.
“What’s wrong Morgan?”
“Well, this brings me to the reason we are sitting here. It seems I need a host, and since I am bonded with you, you are the only candidate that is viable. But it would mean some things”
she said, still seeming uncomfortable.
“There are some drawbacks and some rewards in doing this Blake.
Only you can decide if we are able to do this.
I cannot force you,
this is one of our directives that we cannot disobey.”
Blake looked questioningly at her
“I thought we were bonded.”
Morgan shook her head
“I am currently bonded with the ship,
but to understand humans better I absorbed some of your personality when I interfaced you with the ship.
Because the ship is a non-entity,
I am able to bring you all together and sync with each of your minds.
It’s kind of like dipping your foot in a pool.
Since the ship isn’t really alive,
I cannot truly interface with it,
so most of my abilities are lost.
But if I interface with you,
I will not be able to speak with the others except through you.
You and I will be paired, we will share your brain; thus you will never be alone,
but you will gain all of my experience and knowledge as if it was your own.
Plus, I will be available for consulting.
Understand you will have impressions and expertise,
where I will have the experience that gained that knowledge.
This is how we keep you from going mad since I do not have my own real personality,
but one that is derived from the host,
I am able to process the experience and transfer the knowledge.
Like I have done in a small way already.”
Blake thought on that, that knowledge could be useful out here, but never being alone,
never having a moment without true peace.
That was a hefty price to pay, he thought.
This was a tough choice to make.
Blake looked into her deep green eyes and raven colored hair,
the woman sitting so nice and proper had Mediterranean coloring with possibly Israeli features.
She was striking, and suddenly Blake knew why. “Why did you choose this form?” he asked Morgan. She looked quizzically at him.
“Because I knew you would find it pleasing.
Why do you ask?”
Morgan looked confused at him.
Blake just shook his head, could she be naive enough not to have known that she had chosen the features of his perfect woman.
Blake shifted forward
“What does this merging consist of? I mean when you say together, is it permanent?
Is there any time for me?”
Morgan matched his gaze seemingly getting over her discomfort
“No, you are in control, you can remove me at any time, but you will lose the knowledge.
Think of me more as the voice in the back of your head, except you can hear it.
You will have time for yourself where I will withdrawal allowing you time alone.
However, I will know what is happening even if you do not feel my presence thus never truly alone. I, with permission, may take control until you reassert your control.”
She said leveling an inquiring gaze at him
“Are you considering it Blake,
is it something you could live with?”
Morgan braced herself for the answer.
Blake deliberated, stroking his chin as he weighed his options.
It was not an easy choice,
but what made it easier was that if he needed to,
he could remove her.
If it became too much, they would have another conversation.
“I will do this for now, if it becomes more then I can handle we might have to have a different conversation,”
he said with a frank gaze.
Morgan nodded in understanding, as with any being that had free will this was something,
she knew to be a lifeline for which they clung.
Morgan had been paired with many beings over the centuries, and all had started the same way.
She bore no ill will and understood all too well free will and how they needed it.
Morgan could do no harm to the beings that she was paired with,
and in time they would realize that.
They would recognize the gifts that she possessed were worth the price, they always did.
Besides she liked this captain,
he was strong, and she had scanned his mind, knew of his past.
He was a good man and one worthy of pairing. There had been some in the past, who hadn’t been, where she had been more of a slave then friend,
but she tried not to dwell on that.
“So, what do I have to do?” Blake asked as he stared into the green eyes of Morgan.
She seemed to relax,
Morgan shook her head
“You go to the medical room, all of you have been prepped for pairing, it’s part of the augmentation. It will not take long but will be… disorienting as we start the merging process.
You might be out for a bit.
You will need to ensure orders are given,
Xera will have the coordinates on where to go.
Set everyone in motion and then report to the medical bay,
we shall proceed,
once you are on board the Specter the pairing will begin, you will pass out,
so you need to warn everyone, so they don’t panic. They are not to wake you,
once the pairing is complete, I will wake you.
You will be up in time to see the final leg of our journey.”
Blake nodded and suddenly the room dissolved, and he was on board the Nismel with all the chaos still intact.
“Shira, Rom prep the Specter, we are getting out of here” addressing the small group in medical.
“Xera prep Davi for transport and move all the gear to the Specter,
Rom will show you where it is,
prepare to abandon ship people.”
Blake said, giving the order no captain ever wanted to give.
“Rom, I am going down to medical,
once the Specter is prepped,
I need you to come get me,
don’t be alarmed but I will be unconscious”
this caused a concerned look to form on Rom’s mostly stoic face”
don’t worry I will be up before we land,
Xera knows where we are going.
Now let's get going.” Blake stated,
clapping his hands for emphasis.
The others slowly made their way towards the docking bay.
Blake carefully laid down on the now vacant medical bed as the Artificial doctor program began to activate.
Xera, having returned to the medical bay to collect supplies watched in shock as the back of Blake’s neck opened where no opening had been.
The medical bot inserted one of the blue boxes,
the one that was tied to the ship into him.
“You are pairing with Morgan” she whispered reverently.
Xera had heard about the process,
she had even studied it.
Yet it was not considered literal,
it was supposed to be a theory at best.
But here it was in the fl
esh, the machine inserted into the being and thus begins the pairing of the minds.
Once the device syncs with the brain,
the personality is formed.
Well, in this case, it was done before and then the memories are introduced as knowledge.
It shocks the system into a semi-coma as the two minds sync,
the amount of data is supposed to be astounding. Blake felt the small box enter the base of his skull. He didn’t even know he had an opening there.
It didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t comfortable either.
Then like getting hit by a train,
light filled his vision.
Knowledge began to stream from the box to fill the empty crevices of the human mind that remain unused.
Knowledge and muscle memory poured out of the small box to be directly processed by the brain. Blake couldn’t even keep track of it all.
It was confusing to see, and he couldn’t even keep track there was so much.
Finally, his conscious mind,
tired and confused shut off.
Dropping him into a deep dark coma.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-TWO
THIRTYTWO
Into the Looking Glass
Seafu sat cross-legged in front of the large monitor that showed a representation of slip space,
his eyes closed, breathing slowly.
“How is your mind?” whispered Forsaken from within. The pairing had happened a week ago, Seafu had recently awoken from his coma, swimming with the knowledge
that was not his own.
“My mind ….is recovering” Seafu thought.
And of course, Forsaken could understand and hear these thoughts being within Seafu.
Seafu opened his eyes which had changed to a bright silver.
Nanites were coursing through his body even now making changes to his system.
Seafu could not have imagined how taxing the pairing would have been despite the warnings from Forsaken.
Seafu felt off and not himself,
he was tired when moving too much and his head felt heavier than before.
He found himself having to rest for hours after waking from the coma.
Even with the nanites improvements over and above what most get,
the standard interpretation software and breathing augment to allow beings to breathe on hostile planets without suits. He could not overcome the weariness of being paired.
It was hard to think on any subject for very long. Seafu was very tired and even using simple meditation was taxing on him.
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