TGS snippet 2

Sitrep: I finished the sleigh print, though it's going to take time to sand, patch, paint, sand, paint again, and finish.

Yesterday I roughed out the first of the Semper Fidelis stories and sent it off to Wayne. If any other Betas want in on this, let me know.

On to the next snippet!

Ensign Leopold didn't mind processing information while the fleet waited and licked its wounds. It beat sitting there doing nothing. For an A.I. especially a smart A.I. there had to be something going on to occupy their minds.
  As ship A.I. of the rebuilt dreadnought Bismark, current flagship of Second Fleet, he had plenty to do managing the ship and personnel on board. But, he didn't mind helping the admiral out. He too was curious about the enemy. The more they learned the more they could use against them in the next engagement he knew.

That and his curiosity about who he was shooting at, and who was shooting at him helped him while away the time it took to break into a captured enemy database. This one had been carefully copied before he'd started his investigation. His last 2 attempts had taught him to be careful about what booby traps he tripped. Someone had gotten cute with self-erasing viruses. The reports from other captured databases hadn't mentioned them, so they must be a new innovation.

And it was just his luck to run into it. He was a ship A.I. not a code cracker. He'd almost given up on the project but a stinging rebuke about giving up on a challenge had stopped him.

What he found when he opened the files was the Sword of Retribution's war book. He copied the contents and then set up a script to compare it to their own copy of the Horathian war book database while he delved in deeper.

Files were cross-referenced in a small corner of his mind as he accessed a list of personnel on some of the ships. There were lists of command staff, something of interest to the resident spook he knew.

One thought hit him right off. He set up a script to compare the names of the ships to those they had confirmed destroyed and those they suspected.

He almost bypassed the names of the destroyed ships but he did his duty and performed a quick scan just to be thorough. One name came to the A.I.'s attention right off. The A.I. passed it on to Lieutenant Guadino the staff Intelligence officer. He knew it would make the lieutenant's evening.

:::{)(}:::

First Lieutenant Kelly Guadino grinned a triumphant tight-lipped smile as she passed on the information to the staff during the following morning's meeting. “So, you are telling me that we gutted the Horathian's First BC squadron, and one of the officers who was killed was none other than...” First Lieutenant Jojo, the admiral's Neochimp female chief of staff stumbled to a stop in shock as the idea penetrated through to her.

“Commander and Prince Adam Ramichov. Yes,” Kelly replied with a broader grin. “Leopold found it; I just independently confirmed it last night.”

“Hot damn,” Lieutenant Commander Garfield, the staff tactical officer murmured with a shit-eating grin. “The boys and girls back home are going to love it.”

“And the enemy is going to be pissed when they find out,” Second Lieutenant Aleck Rowland, the staff navigational officer replied. He had been injured in the aftermath of the battle while volunteering for SAR duty. His right arm was in a sling.

“Oh, it gets better. One of our guards reported a conversation. Recorded it actually,” the Neogorilla stated. All eyes turned to her. “I didn't have the time to process the conversation then. But, when I ran a search on Ramichov it popped up. It turns out we've got a prisoner. Mason Ramichov, Lieutenant in their Marines and junior Prince.” Many of the officers sat up straight with wide eyes as they stared at her in shock. She nodded with a grin. “He's third in line for their throne. Well, he was,” she said.

“Hot diggity damn!” Garfield said with a raised paw. That earned a chuckle from the assembly.

“I've passed orders to have him segregated. He's not one of the injured so he's still here. He's one of the leaders so we'd have to do that anyway.”

“Agreed,” Admiral White rumbled with a nod. “He'll need special handling. I think we'll have to use a stasis pod in his case.”

“I—agree sir,” Kelly replied slowly. She didn't want to blow the opportunity of turning or at least getting more intelligence out of the young man.

“How are we with their implants?” he asked. She turned to the doctor.

“Well, we know a bit more. They are making some. But, the ones they have 'salvaged'. The doctor grimaced. “...Are interesting. They got them out in one piece, surprisingly. Then they purged the data to the basic OS and reinstalled it in another user.”

“I'm curious what the prince has in his,” Jojo said. “We could find all sorts of things buried in there,” she said, turning to Kelly who nodded along with her.

“Which is why I want him in stasis. Don't even let him have the chance to activate some sort of suicide protocol,” Admiral White ordered, turning to Kelly. She sobered and nodded.

She grimaced as the conversation turned back to the doctor's report. She stilled as she realized that they might never wake the prince up. He might be a bargaining chip, sure, but she doubted he'd ever get back to his people. No, they'd keep him, like a trophy.

Or, going down the rabbit hole, they'd take him apart. They'd strip his mind, copy it, and then go through his memories to sift out the nuggets of information they could. It would be ugly, but it could happen.

A part of her wanted to shiver at the thought of doing that to another living being. But, a darker part reminded her about who it would be used on. Pirates didn't deserve any sort of sympathy, especially from someone like her she reminded herself sternly.

:::{)(}:::

Lieutenant and Prince Mason Ramichov sat quietly in the brig with the others. A few of the Marines played a card game. Two of the squids did their best to sleep, despite the lights in the compartment being on. There were only so many racks to go around, they were crowded and annoyed. A prison ship, even a derelict would have been preferable. Apparently, the enemy hadn't thought of it, or had and discarded the idea.

He had managed to quietly convince everyone with him that he was a Marine lieutenant, not someone important. They had garbled his name, but he was sure it was a minor delaying tactic. No doubt, his lie would be uncovered soon enough. His name was in the computer systems somewhere after all.

He frowned, mentally curling his lip when a squid nudged him and nodded to the view out the door. His face went impassive as he saw alien species interacting with a human guard. There had been some trouble with that but the threat of being gased had reined in his people. At least, for the moment it had.

Technically, they should have segregated him as an officer. Not that he was going to complain. He had thought about being locked in a room and had come to realize he'd rather have some company than to be locked up alone. At least he had someone to share his misery with.

They had the one toilet, no privacy, but the guard allowed one or two at a time out to use other facilities from time to time. They were always carefully controlled. He'd seen a burly PO try to test a Neogorilla. A single gape tooth yawn and flex of his massive biceps had stopped the PO cold before he could mix it up. He hadn't tried anything after that.

Mason couldn't really blame him. It was one thing to shoot or torment Neos when you had weapons, quite another to deal with them when the situation was reversed. It was a bitter yet humbling experience.

“This is like a damn nightmare,” he muttered softly to himself.

“If you find a way to wake up, let me know so I can do it too,” a squid muttered.

He was surprised when after lunch he was called out and then escorted to sickbay for another check up. He sat on the gurney and waited. A nurse came over and before he could react she pressed a hypo spray to his exposed arm. Within a second his body slumped. He was barely aware of someone catching him, and then oblivion took him.

:::{)(}:::