EDFS Andromeda[b]
[b]Bridge
Hijikata listened to Benead's suggestion with a knowing nod. Given that docking wasn't really an option, shuttle was preferable. "Of course. I look forward to our future cooperation, and we'll make sure to keep an ear out for you come what may." The channel was cut then, as Benead apparently went to deal with the Battlestar they had been hailed by, and it allowed Hijikata to give a rueful smile as he sank back into his chair a bit. "Well, this wasn't what I expect when I signed up for the Earth Defense Forces. Makes me almost feel like a cadet again," he commented, earning grins and chuckles from the rest of the bridge crew as they got back to work
Collab with Sundered Echo
The Valorous Intent Artificial Intelligence, known by her crew more commonly as Valerie, was at any given time in control of well over a dozen separate constructs. Most were mere service androids, some were drones, both sensor and attack. One was the physical embodiment of the image she displayed for her crew, an android that was designed to appear human in every way, known as a Ships Avatar. The most important, though, was the ship itself. It was her body, its sensors her eyes, its drives her heart and its weapons her fists. There was never any difficulty controlling it all, after all, her mind was so large as to be spread across three decks of the ship.
Her Avatar was already moving towards the starboard airlock, and she had notified the medical team and the only engineer they could spare from their own repairs, to meet her there. She had achieved close formation with the Andromeda already, and reached out with the communications systems, her voice, to request docking instructions. It was somewhat surreal for her to be speaking to a ship with that name and not hear it respond directly. She had fond memories of her few interactions with the AI that had once used that name, though the Andromeda Ascendant had preferred to go by Rommie. Those emotions had been quickly partitioned to her Avatar however. Strong emotion consumed too much processing power for her liking when dwelled on.
On the bridge of the Andromeda, the crew watched as the Valorous Intent moved into close formation. It was an interesting ship to view, with large loops that served some unknown purpose if they didn’t miss their guess, forming the ship into almost like the head of a trident, not like the typical pike design of the Earth Defense Forces. But then again, the EDF was modeled around a more traditional naval set up for it’s ships, so it was to be expected that this might not hold over between cultures.
Hijikata gave the ship, and it’s expected inhabitants, a calculating look as Dmitri worked comms. “Sir, they are requesting docking instructions,” he called over.
Now that was a bit of an issue, since the Andromeda didn’t have airlocks as part of it’s design. Sure, there were boarding craft, such as those used by the Gamillons in the war, but those generally worked by forming a hermetic seal on the hull of the ship, not connecting to airlocks. As well, construction had taken place on Earth itself, not in any orbital structures, since those had been destroyed during the war, so all embarkation had taken place in atmosphere, not in space.
Fortunately, something like this had been anticipated, and with a nod from Hijikata, Dmitri passed along the message. “Valorous Intent, this is the Andromeda. We copy your request, however our ship does not possess airlocks for in transit docking. If possible, you can make use of our stern hangar bay for the transportation of crew over to our vessel.” They would just have to wait and see how the message was received.
This was an awkward turn of events. Unlike its larger cousins in the High Guard fleet, the Eternal Vigilance class did not posses any small craft beyond its unmanned drone compliment. There was neither space nor a need for such when the ship was capable of entering an atmosphere to safely disembark its crew. They at least possessed the dorsal and ventral drone hangars, though those were not really designed to accommodate anything other than drones. They would do for now though. With a thought she directed the crew to meet at the dorsal drone hangar, while simultaneously contacting the Andromeda. “We do not have any small craft to make the trip, however after sustaining losses of our drones in the previous battle the dorsal hangar should have enough space to land one of your transports.”
The message sent by the Valorous Intent was quickly received on the bridge, and Dmitri turned to look at the Admiral. “Looks like they need a ride. Apparently they don’t have any small craft and want us to give them a lift.”
It was a request that earned a few joking remarks, that quickly subsided as hijikata nodded and looked over to Cabrera. “Send over a Seagull to pick our guests up.”
“Yes sir,” Cabrera replied, radioing the order down to the hangar bay.
The deck crews scrambled, a white and yellow transport ship maneuvering into launch position before being given the go ahead. Engines flared as it roared out of the hangar bay and made a sharp turn to the right, heading towards the indicated location. The pilot was quickly able to figure out the location of the indicated hangar bay and flew the ship in for a landing there in front of the gathered party.
Settling down, with the engines on standby, a side door opened to present two security officers in green combat uniforms and wielding pulsar rifles, while the pilot stayed in his seat to wait for them to all get aboard the vessel. “Gentlemen, ladies,” said the one on the left. “Step inside and take a seat please. It shouldn’t be a very long trip.”
Valerie, the android Avatar of the ship, was left to her own control then, the primary intelligence withdrawing from direct control. In effect, it left her with the same personality, but far less processing power. She was standing at the front of the group, where her metal body, hidden behind the human appearance, could stop any fire from their guests, though she did not expect them to attack. As her, the medical team and the lone engineer carrying the crate of nanobot containment units boarded, they kept their hands near their holstered Force Lances. With a larger crew High Guard Lancers would have accompanied them, but the Intent lacked the crew complement to have any Lancers onboard. The crew all took a seat each as instructed, but Valerie remained standing. Between her built in gravity harness and mechanical body, it would take an exceedingly bumpy ride to knock her off her feet, and she was determined to fight the embarrassment of having to ask the people they were aiding for transport in any way she could, however small. “Thank you.” She said neutrally. “Whenever you’re ready.”
Looking back, the pilot noted that Valerie was still standing, and did feel it fair enough to warn her. “You may want to sit down ma’am,” he said to her as the two security personnel got on board as well, the equipment being brought over secured and the door sealed shut. One moved into the co pilot seat while the other took up a position near the rear.
He shrugged at her assertion that she would be fine, and fired up the engines, gauges and screens flickering up as power output rose, the ship oriented around, and departed the drone hangar. As he had said, it was indeed a quick trip back to the hangar of the Andromeda. The ramp was lowered and the Seagull was able to fly in, the ramp closing behind it as it pulled in for a landing.
“Thank you for flying EDF airlines,” the pilot said with a grin as he shut everything down in sequence. “Have a nice day, make sure to tip your waitress, and watch the step.” The side door was opened as the two guards stepped out to allow the rest of the crew to exit. The hangar bay bustled as ships were refueled, prepared for combat, and janitors worked on what seemed like a spill of some kind, though no one commented on it.
Fortunately, Roche had been informed of the arrival, and had left the Imperium crewmembers aboard to go tend to the new arrivals. He stood before them in a light blue overcoat, more sky blue as opposed to the navy blue of the Admiral’s uniform, flanked by guards with pulsar rifles as well. “On behalf of Admiral Hijikata and the Earth Defense Forces, I welcome you aboard the EDFS Andromeda,” he said, figuring that navy tradition could be ignored in this circumstance. “I’m Commander Roche, executive officer. The Admiral is currently dealing with affairs on the bridge, and couldn’t be here. He apologizes.”
“It is an honor to be aboard.” Valerie said once they had disembarked. “And I understand. My own Captain also elected to remain on her bridge. I am the Valorous Intent Artificial Intelligence, the crew call me Valerie.” She had to consciously override her usual tendency for deception with non-crewmembers as she spoke. As a scout ship with stealth capabilities, she not only enjoyed knowing everything about a situation but also usually tried to make sure everyone else knew nothing about her. Some argued that it was a flaw to allow the basis of AI personality to be defined by their ‘bodies’ purpose, but in Valerie’s opinion those people were misinformed.
“These are the medical personnel. We would have sent more engineers but we cannot spare them right now.” She said gesturing back at the men and women behind her. “With introductions out of the way, we should waste no time in returning your ship to full battle capacity. I have a feeling we won’t have much time. We should discuss the nature of the aid we can provide first however, you may not agree with the technology we have available.” Captains liked to give tours of their ships, which was nice, but Valerie could easily tour the whole ship from one computer terminal… Not that she would tell them that so soon though.
Roche looked on in curious surprise as the leader of the Valorous Intent’s delegation announced herself relatively up front to be an AI, and he had to do a double take to try and confirm this. Sadly, that didn’t work out too well given the makeup of Valerie’s shell. Still, it wasn’t as much a shock as it might have been. The EDF had been experimenting with AI for years, even seeing some success on the Yamato. The only real surprise was the body that seemed indistinguishable from that of a human.
He nodded in response. “It’s alright. For the most part we will be needing assistance with hull repairs. Our main engine was fortunately not damaged heavily in the Imperial attack. As well, we could use some assistance in a matter that arose from our transition here, if possible.”
“That is good. The aid we have to offer is in the form of nano machines, both medical and engineering. They are already programmed for human bodies, so as long as your crew is not genetically modified my medical team can get to work right away. I will need to program the engineering nanobots with your ships specifications before they will be of any use, but once they are programmed they will persist and automatically repair any hull damage you suffer. If that is acceptable to you.” Valerie was light on the salesman talk - it wasn’t exactly her purpose after all. She simply wanted to get it done as quickly as possible.
Roche found himself being impressed yet again. Nanomachines were another of those things the EDF had been working on, but that had been sidetracked by the Gamillar War and developing weapons to fight them. For some reason the creation of weapons to prevent the destruction of Earth was more important than idle scientific research.
“No, no genetic modification as far as I am aware. I can check with the Chief Medical Officer just to be sure though,” Roche replied. “And that seems acceptable. I take it you will need access to a computer terminal then, or can it be done manually?” After what had happened with the AI on the Icarus, he was understandably a bit wary about handing out access to the network aboard the ship.
A knowing smile crept onto Valerie’s face. She had tracked the AI from before when it had attacked her, and seen that it had done the same to the entire fleet of mismatched ships. “Oh don’t worry. I am not going to rifle through all your files like the Icarus’ AI… He was quite rude. Didn’t even say hello. A computer terminal would be easiest of course, but I could just as easily download the necessary schematics from most portable data storage. I can do the programming myself. As well as schematics for the shape and composition of the hull, I’ll need to tell the nanites where they can get raw material from for the repairs. I assume you have a store somewhere for such things?”
Roche had to work to keep the chagrin away from being visible as Valerie addressed the unspoken point of concern. It was a bit unnerving to consider that the two AI’s could have conversed, but he supposed it wasn't entirely unexpected, just going off technical capability. Shifting away from that, he turned to her questions. “Yes, we have a supply of raw material laid in for the construction equipment aboard as well as repairs, and we’re fortunate that our supply is full at this point.”
He didn’t answer that first part, instead moving forward and gesturing for her to follow. It was a short walk over to a computer console for the hangar bay that was connected to the network, though there was no seat. Roche moved off to the side to let the AI go to work, though the security personnel watched with an attentive gaze for signs of shady activity
“Medical team, go with their men to where you are needed.” Valerie said before walking up to the console. It was fairly primitive, but it didn’t really matter. It wasn’t as though she needed to actually type anything out. She placed her hand on the screen, linking in to the ships systems. The only outside sign of what she was doing was that her eyes would be blinking rapidly. Within the network though, she quickly accessed the required information and downloaded it, beginning the programming right away. Faced with so much information though, she couldn’t resist taking a slightly larger peak. She browsed the ships historical files, learning as much as she could of the Andromeda and its battles, a considerable amount considering how much faster the information world moved than the real world. She was careful to delete any record of her activities beyond what she was supposed to do though. Humans had a nasty tendency to misinterpret curiosity for espionage.
Once she had judged the time to be such that staying longer would look conspicuous, merely a few seconds in the physical world, she took her hand from the console, and stored away what she had discovered for processing once she reconnected with her core intelligence. “I have what I need, thank you.” She said, taking the crate of Nanite storage units from the lone engineer she had brought with them. “It’ll take a few moments to complete the necessary programming.”
Roche and the security personnel watched on as Valerie placed her hand on the computer screen, taken aback that that was a way that she could access the data within, if the rapid blinking wasn’t a bit disturbing in turn. Still, if something was up, they weren’t aware of it, and no objection was given once she removed her hand and announced that she was finished.
Roche was perfectly fine with waiting, considering the benefits it would give. “Alright,’ he replied, casually observing what went on with the nanobots that the Valorous intent had brought over. He was sure the engineers would love to get a look, but they were busy for the moment so he would have to do in their stead.
When Valerie had completed the programming, she placed her hand on the small panel on the side of the crate. It took barely a second to transfer the code to the nanites. Then she tapped a button on the crate that caused the top to fold open, revealing a number of sealed cylinders within. “You might want to warn the crew that your ships hull is about to start repairing itself.” With that, she tapped a few more keys and the cylinders opened up. The air above them shimmered in what one might mistake for an intense heat haze as the uncountable tiny machines rose out and started spreading into the air.
“There, all done. For the moment, the nanobots will just repair the hull of the ship, prioritising sealing breaches and keeping primary bulkheads intact. They’ll continue to operate at all times, and will begin repairs the moment a shot impacts, though don’t expect them to save you from significant fire. I have directed them to avoid your ships systems for now, until I can get a better understanding of how your ship works, its safer to let your people repair anything complex. If you run out of material for repairs, you can bring small asteroids onboard and the nanobots will take what they can and restock your supplies. For the moment, there is a limited number of nanobots onboard, but if you like how they work, we can see about altering your foundry to construct replacements… That is likely a topic for another day though.”
Roche nodded as he watched the crate open up to reveal a number of sealed cylinders, which opened with a few taps to dispense the nanites inside, distorting the air like a heat haze, with wavy lines, before spreading out.
He walked over to another console on which sat a radio, and activated the internal comm. The message was passed up to the bridge, and quickly distributed across the ship. “Attention all hands, this is the admiral. In a few minutes, technical assistance from the Valorous Intent will begin to make itself known through the usage of nanotechnology. Be aware that the hull will begin to seemingly repair itself without any outside assistance, and act accordingly. I have had full assurances that they pose no health risk to the crew, and continue as normal. That is all.”
Roche returned to hear the rest of Valerie’s explanation on the nanobots and what the nanobots would do while they were active. He nodded as Valerie finished, keeping that in mind so he could relay the direction to Engineering and the bridge later on. “I see,” he replied. “Well, thank you for your assistance. It certainly makes things easier on us. And being stuck in this galaxy, as least until we can figure out where the Milky Way is, helping one another is certainly in common interest.”
“I agree, And I believe Captain Shohashi will too. But I fear even if we are able to return to the correct galaxy… It will be too late. By that time, the battle with the Nietzscheans that rages even now will be over. And with their projected fleet size, no scenario I have yet simulated has ended well for the Commonwealth. But enough of that. Once the medical team finishes instructing your crew on the use of medical nanobot, I should get back to the Intent.” As the usual storage point of the valorous Intent AI’s emotions, Valerie felt quite disheartened by remembering what was likely happening to all her brother and sister ships right now. That, and it almost seemed like she was betraying them by not dying with them. But she wouldn’t voice those feelings to a total stranger.
That was interesting to learn, and Roche couldn’t help but comment on it. “I see. We have our own deadline, though there have been enough distractions to ignore it for the moment, that by the time we return Earth will have been conquered by the White Comet Empire. We can only hope that the Yamato will be able to succeed without us.” He nodded in acceptance of her latter statement, and moved over to wait for the return of the crewmembers.
That wouldn’t take too long, them having been ferried via automated walkway and lifts to the med bay, where the Doctors had been working on what patients there were, medical staff depleted a bit due to the assistance they had provided to the Culling of Prospero. The dispersal of medical nanobots had been effective and relatively easy, and soon the rest of the Valorous Intent crewmembers were back in the hangar, ready to return to their vessel. From there it was a simple matter to load them and their gear back onto the Cosmo Seagull and return them to the dorsal drone bay from which they had departed, both parties satisfied and none the worse for wear, if not exactly comforted by all they had learned of each other.
