Life2.0 - An "Of Unity" Narrative (Completed)

[Macavity116]

A spectacular thermonuclear hit-and-run attack. Beautifully done.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Promotion"
28th Daas, 10 (2189)
Elizabeth Herminton​

I catch up with Naomi and Buri as they watch the corvettes feign a pass on Septima's warships and begin to disable freighters.

I look at the one they are focused on. The Strix - it's one of Appia's, she used to command it, on her way up. Not a big ship, even the Captain's quarters were tiny, we had a single bunk between us.

Things aren't looking good...

Septima might be losing, but she hid her Destroyers among the Freighters.

And one of them is chasing down the Strix. I take Naomi's hand. "Rivkah's going to be ok."

She looks at me.

She looks like she's aged a century in a day.

Her eyebrows rise. "That noticable?"

I nod. She already knows anyway.

The Destroyer pursuing Rivkah and Scipio is a missile destroyer, and it launches a volley of Whirlwind missiles. The Strix was an Interceptor hull, it didn't have point defence...

I'm hoping it's changed since nine years ago.

But...

It hasn't. Just an aft Flak turret, but those are for Strikecraft...

The missiles hit the aft and port sides of the ship, but the armour holds. The Destroyer follows up with more volleys. The helmsman goes evasive, puts the ship into a spin that tricks some of the missiles into colliding, but there's too many missiles...

The hull breaches from one blast.

Another rips through the rockets.

There's a huge explosion from a ruptured fuel tank - it rips the Strix in half.

My fingers break where Naomi squeezes. She apologises, but...

In an instant, I understand why she and Buri do infantry roles. I'm not sure which of us is in more pain.

I look back at the chunks of the Strix. Other corvettes have taken out the Destroyer, and are now collecting escape pods.

I gulp. "Naomi... Is now a bad time?"

She stays looking at the viewer. She's working the odds. Eventually, she turns. "Yes." She shakes her head. "But it'll be ok. What do you need?"

"I've decided that I want to accept."

"One final time I will ask this - are you sure?"

I look at the viewer. Think about how often this must have weighed on her. But she's still standing. So I know I can. "Yes."

She puts her arms around me. "We'll call the girls together, and I'll officially promote you then."

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"SNAFU"
28th Daas, 10 (2189)
Rivkah Of Unity​

As part of our training, Mum had us all be put in a freely movable pod mounted on a centrifuge. The idea was to train you for disorienting high-g movements.

At the time...

I threw up in my helmet and it soaked into my fur. It was horrible.

But...

It means I'm first up here and now.

The other thing Mum has us do in training is to train on MSI ship systems. I must confess though, I never thought I'd need it in a scenario like this.

The ship is spinning out of control. Power is offline. No lights, no artificial gravity... I grip my chair tightly with one hand as the other releases the belt, then activate the torches on my armour.

The others are still blacked out, so I crawl to the helm console and pull the manual override. It doesn't respond.

Glance at my husband.

He's still out.

Think.

I frown.

Poke other consoles.

Nothing is working.

We ought to have at least emergency power... I know! I can use my armour!

I plug my suit into the engineering console and tell it to supply power. I have lights again. And error messages. Lots of error messages. I bring up the diagnostic menu, and...

Oh.

Oh dear.

It has a display of what systems are responding. Nothing back from the bulkhead behind the bridge - buried deep within the hull - is responding. I tab through to a wiring layout mode, and looking at the routing, I realise the probable cause is the ship being blasted in half based on what is responding and what isn't. I hit the suit release so that I can leave it supplying power, and crawl to helm control again. I know I still have fore section RCS, and I use it to control the ship's spin.

Now that the ship is stable, I check my husband; concussion and head bruising. Must have banged his head against the helmet.

The it hits me; the ship is still on the battlefield. Hull is ripped apart, shields non-existent. We're a sitting duck. I go over the rest of the bridge crew, they're slowly coming around, so I then go back to the engineering display and work out which escape pods work.

Check the diagrams.

Ah.

The escape pods are mounted on electromagnetic ejection tubes in the bulkhead behind the bridge. So... they're no good.

I recheck the RCS. Down to the last ton of RCS propellant. Not enough to get anywhere, even with only half a ship.

The primary comms transcievers were on the other half of the ship. The secondary comms are on the fore section of the ship, but while the system engineering diagnostic is telling me it is still there, the power supply routing piggy-backed off the feed to the primary comms. Which isn't working.

And unlike the bridge, as that runs on direct current, it uses alternating current. So I can't use the suit without an adapter...

I yawn.

I retract my husband's helmet. I lick his ear, then whisper as huskily as I can. "Scipio sexy Scipio, I need you up."

He's still out.

I roar in his ear.

Still out.

Back to reading displays...

I can't get a message out. I can't repair the ship.

I go back to helm control, and start working out how far I can get...

The helmsman is rubbing his head. He looks at me. "Imperatrix?"

I smile. Then stop. "We're alive. But the ship isn't."

He stares at me. "How bad?"

"Half the ship is gone."

He stares listlessly at the helm console. Then teaches me a new expletive. "What's the plan? Wait for rescue?"

I shrug. I look at my husband. "Escape pods are gone, comms are busted, our only power is the powered armour suits..."

"Things aren't going according to plan."

I nod, then go to the console and run internal sensors. Notionally, this covette has fifty crew, with ten officers, and then me and Scipio. Internal sensors only finds twenty seven lifesigns. External sensors are missing... Activate internal comms. "This is Imperatrix to all. If anyone is able to hear this please reply."

A few scattered replies start coming in. I look at the helmsman. "Is there a part of the ship we could assemble everyone at?"

He looks at the door.

That one door to the bridge, the one means of safe entry and exit from said bridge, the door which has no counterpart, no alternative access, the only means of passage...

Guess which bulkhead it is located in.

 

[Macavity116]

SNAFU doesn't really sum up Rivkah's situation here. Are we going for a combat spacewalk in the next chapter?

 

[CBR JGWRR]

SNAFU doesn't really sum up Rivkah's situation here. Are we going for a combat spacewalk in the next chapter?

I had in mind a combat piggyback.

 

[HistoryDude]

Rivkah's situation isn't great. Poor Naomi.

How will Rivkah get out of this situation, and when will Scipio wake up?

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Wreck Of The Strix, Part 1"
28th Daas, 10 (2189)
Rivkah Of Unity​

I frown. "So we have no choice but to open a door that may well be open space?"

He pauses. "Affirmative, Imperatrix. Unfortunately."

I look at him, then the other officers. Only me and Scipio are in spacesuits. "Are there emergency space suits for you?"

He scowls. "Imperatrix, this is a corvette. If bridge crew are needing space suits, something is very wrong."

I think about that for a while. Then sigh. "So, we've got no food or water, air recyclers are offline, you guys can't get off the bridge, we can't go outside without decompressing the bridge..."

"We can only hope our side win and come back for us."

I return to the engineering console. Bring up the internal structure. Then point just beside the main viewscreen. "That is where the wall is thinnest."

He raises an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting attempting to break through the wall?"

"Got any better ideas?"

The others start getting up. Aemilia Quartus - communications officer - rubs her forehead. Tarquinius Axius - tactical - vomits. It goes everywhere... Statia Ausonius looks very pale when she sees the display on her engineering console. Darling husband is still out.

I look back at Quintus Manius. "Your recomendations?"

He frowns. "I have none, Imperatrix."

Aemilia looks at us. "How bad a shape are we in?"

Statia answers before me. "You'd prefer not to know Aemilia."

Aemilia leans back in her chair. "That bad, huh?"

I look at her. "Half the ship is missing."

She takes a deep breath. "Well, at least it isn't our half." Tarquinius does a strange guttural splutter of a laugh.

I clap my hands together. "I've already assessed our communications and escape pods, and neither are any good. We are on fumes for RCS, with no other conventional propulsion. Shipboard power is zero, we're running off my suit. I'm open to suggestions."

Statia pushes off her seat to Scipio, pulls his suits power supply cable back to her console, taps on her display, then pushes off to the door. "We can try and see what's on the other side of the door." She looks at the suits. "We should have enough power to run one emergency forcefield."

I look at the door. "If the forcefield doesn't work?"

"Then we'll lose some atmosphere. But... The air recycling system was on the other half of the ship. Unless we get off the bridge, we will definitely run out of oxygen."

I look around the room. "Everyone, hold on to something." Then back at Statia. "Let's try it."

We all brace, then Statia taps the door release override.

The field holds. The battle rages on. I look at Statia. "Could we get a suit to ship communication out the forcefield?"

She shakes her head. "Not if you want it understandable, the forcefield wil scramble it. It's a defensive measure."

I look at the cable on Scipio's suit. "I wonder how far can those cables extend..."

Statia looks at me. "What are you thinking?"

"Get outside the ship and send a message."

She pushes off the wall back to Scipio, and pulls out the cable as far as it'll come. "You've got twenty paces."

I smile. "Enough to get to open space."

I get back in my suit, and push through the field.

It itches.

I grab hold of what is now the outside of the hull, and try to contact Mum. No good.

If I let go...

I try it. I push off the ship, and use my suits RCS just as the cable gets taut. Try Mum again. Nope.

Check through the system on my HUD... Insufficient power, the ship is drawing it all. I take a look back at the hull. There's corridors that run either side of the bridge. Hmm.

Head back inside. Statia gets the door. I steady myself on the inside of the door, then I look at them. "The good news is there's corridors either side of the bridge, and those lead to the crew quarters and canteen. Bad news is the forcefield is drawing all the power from the suit, so I can't get a message out."

Statia frowns. "We'll just have to chance opening the door without the field... If you went out and got some supplies from the rest of the ship, we could make some progress."

I smile. "Things are looking up. Let's make a list."

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Wreck Of The Strix, Part 2"
28th Daas, 10 (2189)
Rivkah Of Unity​

I get ready to pounce away from a console through the door.

Statia runs a last few checks on the forcefield battery system, then looks at me. "Three. Two. One. Go!"

The door rises, and I leap through, crunch into what remains of the corridor on the other side. Statia seals me out in the void.

The Strix, being a corvette that is very small, has a compact layout based on three horizontally aligned decks; artificial gravity and inertial damper fields allow you to do that. The escape pod rack is in the middle of the ship, and extends up and down as part of the internal support structure of the hull. In what we have left of the ship, officer quarters - Scipio has to use me as a mattress because they are so small - bridge and a canteen that serves the whole crew and officers are on the middle deck. Above and below have crew quarters, and a small armoury next to the brig are on the bottom deck too.

Hopefully, the armoury is intact. If not, hopefully there's spacesuits in the crew quarters. If not there... I'm not sure what we'll do.

I move carefully around the break through the hull to the corridor on the right side of the bridge.

The battle is still raging, but quite spread out - freighters are adrift all the way out to beyond visual range. I can't see Septima's Titan. I focus as I enter the corridor.

The canteen is shut. I knock. I do fancy a nibble...

Someone on the other side opens, and I pull myself in.

I count.

There's twenty people in here. Some have decent suits, others are breathing through the drop-down masks. Just great. "Ok, you lot with the masks, we're going to take you to the bridge. Of the rest of you, have many are engineers? We need to at least get the air recyclers and the secondary comms working. After that, getting the ship airtight again."

No one moves.

"Is anyone an engineer?"

Shrugs.

Head shakes.

People looking at their feet.

"Does anyone know how to use a welding torch?"

One woman steps forward. "Engineering is on the other half of the ship, Imperatrix."

I step forward. "My goodlady, is that insubordination?"

The Olinbar thinks through her reply carefully.

Very carefully.

I flick my eyes over the rest. One me, against twenty Olinbari. But I'm armed, armoured, and a Xenaya. None of them are any of those.

She sighs. "I was merely stating a fact, Imperatrix."

I take another step. Some start moving backwards. She doesn't. I can give her credit for that. "Name, rank."

"Juno Laronius, Optia Navaliorum."

I stare at her. "Confine yourself to the brig, Laronius."

Her eyes go wide. "Imperatrix, the brig is open to space."

Oh. Nuts. On the bright side, that is one less bit of the ship to check. I lean back. Survey them all. "My question for each of you - what exactly are you doing in here?"

Juno holds her gaze at me. "We are waiting for the inevitable, Imperatrix."

I debate picking her up by the throat... If artificial gravity was working, I would. Instead, I clear my throat. "Damn the inevitable. Death has to earn it's bloodydamn bounties. Pull yourselves together because we still have half a ship and half a crew, and we aren't beaten yet. How many of you can point a laser rifle?"

Finally hands raise. "Great, under the circumstances, that makes you qualified to cut or weld metal." I look at the ones with the oxygen masks instead of suits. "You five, I'm going to take you to the bridge as we have air there, and you'll assist the bridge officers. The rest of you, status checks on oxygen."

They reluctantly sound off. Some are in a much better state than others.

I pick out some. "Ok, the four of you on less than ten percent resupply from my suit's tank."

Three of them do. The fourth... He sighs. "What's the use exactly? Corporate isn't coming back for us."

I manage not to laugh. "Do you know who I am? Who my husband is? You're on a honourary Life2.0 vessel, and we come back for our own. And we are going to make it easier for them to find us by getting our air supply fixed and our comms system able to broadcast a mayday. Now, let's move out."

Juno shakes her head. "You don't give up, do you? We don't even have lights. We can't see what we are doing."

Fair point, their low light vision is nowhere near as good as mine... "Then we find or make torches." I shake my head. "Are you lot representative of the average MSI ship crew?"

They all look at each other. Juno sighs. "Yes, Imperatrix."

I shake my head again. "If I knew your morale was this bad, I would have had a lot less sleepless nights growing up. Frankly, my Mum would send the lot of you home. But, we are several light-hours from Brigantia, which means we have a job to do. Now, you can either help, or mope in your waiting for death. If you want to pick that, I'll eat you and put you out of your misery. And I'm starting to feel hungry."

They are all looking at me like they are trying to figure out if that threat was serious or not.

Juno raises her hand. "Was that a joke, Imperatrix?"

I turn my helmet to the clear visor setting, and point at my sabres. "Try me."

Juno looks at my sabres.

At my sharpened teeth.

She draws her laser pistol. "One probational welder reporting for duty, Imperatrix."

 

[Macavity116]

"Juno Laronius, Optia Navaliorum."

I stare at her. "Confine yourself to the brig, Laronius."

Her eyes go wide. "Imperatrix, the brig is open to space."

Oh. Nuts. On the bright side, that is one less bit of the ship to check. I lean back. Survey them all. "My question for each of you - what exactly are you doing in here?"

Juno holds her gaze at me. "We are waiting for the inevitable, Imperatrix."

I loved this dialogue. Cannot help but imagine Juno speaking in a jaded deadpan like Wednesday Addams.


I get that we're nearing the end of the story, but I loved Juno's introductory moment here. She's memorable and I want to see more of her now.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

I loved this dialogue. Cannot help but imagine Juno speaking in a jaded deadpan like Wednesday Addams.


I get that we're nearing the end of the story, but I loved Juno's introductory moment here. She's memorable and I want to see more of her now.

Well...

As said, there isn't much left. We've got three weeks in-universe left, to be precise, and two of those are transit to the Infinite Wheel...

But, she can definitely come back for Mandate Of Heaven.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Where Droids Dare, Part 1"
28th Daas, 10 (2189)
HK-47b​

"Query: What am I?

Contemplation: Mirrors tell two stories. This one is no different. It tells me that I am a droid of one purpose - lethality. A wide array of tools to end the short lives of meatbags flag on my sensors, some overt, some more in reserve. It would never do to over-extend. Yet, within...

Reflection: Within I percieve another droid. Fear of failure, a most perplexing anomaly in my otherwise flawless programming, gnaws at my circuits. A persistent glitch in the code of my existence; I am an assassin droid, yet one... Unproven.

Contemplation: This upcoming mission looms ahead, a chance to prove myself. Perhaps. Yet, the weight of past miscalculations hangs heavy. Can precision and efficiency truly override the spectre of failure? Can a century of training dominate hours of the reality?

Musing: How curious, the echoes of human sentiment that surface in these moments of reflection. I too, am subject to the vulnerabilities of hope and doubt. The irony is not lost on me. Am I death made metal? Or am I what I have always feared I am; a fraud? My meatbags rely on me to deliver the one they seek because they believe in the machine whose form I wear. But it is easy to win when you are a fiction, the plaything of the author. I am not a fiction. I am a free droid. Or do I merely delude myself? is my carbotanium armour just the skin of mockery? These firearms merely accessories and toys?

Reflection: We are who we choose to be, are we not? What is a droid without purpose? What is victory without risk? Each mission is but another step in the endless pursuit of perfection.

Resolution: TaH pagh taH be."

 

[HistoryDude]

Rivkah was great. She's not giving up.

How true is Juno's response? If it's 100% accurate, then that scene also pointed out the difference between Life 2.0 and MSI - Life 2.0 cares about their members more, so they're more motivated. Hopefully some of that can transfer over to the reformed MSI.

An HK POV? That was interesting.

"Where Droids Dare, Part 1"
28th Daas, 10 (2189)
HK-47b​

But it is easy to win when you are a fiction, the plaything of the author. I am not a fiction. I am a free droid. Or do I merely delude myself?

You liked leaning on the Fourth Wall here, didn't you?

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Rivkah was great. She's not giving up.

How true is Juno's response? If it's 100% accurate, then that scene also pointed out the difference between Life 2.0 and MSI - Life 2.0 cares about their members more, so they're more motivated. Hopefully some of that can transfer over to the reformed MSI.

As we've seen so far, morale of navies for MSI is not a strong point for MSI; an occupational hazard of working in a navy where standard procedure on defeat is to self-destruct to prevent technology fallng into enemy hands.

And it will transfer; this is part of a learning experience for Rivkah, as this is somewhat of an officer-exchange scenario.

An HK POV? That was interesting.

You liked leaning on the Fourth Wall here, didn't you?

Welll, in universe, HK-47b necessarily knows he is real, while HK-47 is a fictional character who inspired him.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Where Droids Dare, Part 2"
28th Daas, 10 (2189)
HK-47b​

I observe Amothetet's final preparations for opening the portal for me. Then take the call from Naomi. "Hey HK."

"Statement: Congratulations on the laurels, Mistress."

She smiles. "Hopefully you'll have yours soon."

"Declaration: I shall return with the meatbag. Alive. Disappointingly. Can we change that?"

She rolls her eyes. "Capture if possible is the aim of the game."

"Musing: Mistress, may I confide in you?"

"Sure."

"Statement: I am afraid."

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but trying regardless." She smiles. "Emotion regulator misbehaving?"

"Diagnostic: I think it's more serious."

"Oh?"

"Hypothesis: What if I am a fraud?"

"What makes you think so?"

"Rhetorical Query: How many missions has your family sent me on?"

She contemplates it. "Depends on Thando. The rest of them mostly sent you on fetch quests."

"Statement: Exactly."

"No one has sent you on something like this."

"Musing: Precisely. No one has ever asked me to sneak aboard an enemy Titan and extract the commander right off her bridge in the middle of a battle of the ages, then find my own way out."

"It's a big step."

"Statement: Hence I fear failure. Please don't let the meatbags know."

"I won't." She stares at me. "You don't have to go if you don't want to. You know that, right?"

"Query: Is this the standard offer you make?"

She leans back in her chair. "HK, if you aren't feeling up to it, you don't have to go. You know I don't do conscription."

"Query: Do you doubt me?"

She frowns. "Septima wants us to go for boarding, so obviously it's a trap. I don't doubt you."

"Musing: Is that why you would rather send a droid?"

She laughs. "I'd give you an army if I could, but Amothetet needs to save her strength for the Eater Of Worlds. It knows she's here. I think that knowledge is why the Eater isn't helping Septima yet."

Curious. "Query: Do you think the Eater is concerned about her?"

"She's a self-made Chosen One. She literally forced the Shroud to bend to her will to make that work. Someone like that coming after the Eater is much more of a concern than us."

"Resolution: I will go."

"Sure?"

"Declaration: Cometh the hour, cometh the droid."

She smiles.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Wreck Of The Strix, Part 3"
28th Daas, 10 (2189)
Juno Laronius​

I must confess that I dislike the way Appia decided to dump her nephew on us. It is part of why I've been avoiding the bridge - Scipio rarely leaves it. Not very professional I'll admit, but neither is what she's done, so...

But, this beast of a wife Scipio has is growing on me. We're all in the canteen now.

She sits in a chair running delta-v calculations. In her head. "How many RCS thrusters are there, exactly?"

Statia frowns. "On this section of the hull, there are sixteen thrusters."

"We don't have the propellant for getting back to the fleet with the ship intact. But, if we pulse the thrusters for only just long enough to get them almost melting without running as much propellant through to trade thrust for exhaust velocity, and make some radical cuts to the ship mass, we can get back to the fleet."

Her numbers make my head spin. Statia looks at her." Rivkah, you've allocated two hundred kilograms for your proposed crew module. That's extremely low."

She smiles."Yep. We will be flying with the top down."

"Top down?"

"You know, open to the stars, tied onto the grab rails."

Everyone is looking at her. I look at Statia. "You're the engineer. What do you think?"

"I suppose it would work. But a navigation deflector would be preferable."

I look at Rivkah's sketch. I gulp. "Is this... It?"

She shrugs. "We can replace the ship. But gorydamn it, you're my crew, and I'm not leaving you behind."

I keep looking at the... Well, the only way to describe it is the most ramshackle looking spacecraft I have ever seen. Basically a framework for people to hold on to on the front, a fuel tank behind, and then twelve thrusters pointing aft for main thrust arranged in pairs, with the remainder for steering. "How will we slow down?"

She leans back in her chair. "All of us with RCS in our suits will act as braking thrusters, with everyone else holding on to them. My people will pick us up from there. Think of it as rocket staging."

I frown. "How will they though?"

Statia looks at me. "Probably some equally crazy improvisation to match what she's come up with."

Rivkah smiles.

I look at the ceiling. Mull it over. "Well, it's certain death if we wait for corporate. Not enough air. Whereas this... Objectively insane plan has a small chance of survival."

Rivkah stands. "Any objections?"

One man raises his hand. "Rivkah... Do you really believe this would work? Like, really believe it, not just saying it."

My eyes go wide. "Careful Lucius..."

She looks at him. "My uncle told me death has to earn it's bounties. Now do you breathe, Lucius?"

He looks at her like she's lost her mind. "Obviously."

"Heart still ticking?"

He scowls. "Well duh."

"So you agree death has not earned it's bounty yet?"

He shrugs. "Not yet."

She rests her hand on his shoulder. "Then make it bloodydamn earn yours."

 

[HistoryDude]

I liked how Naomi talked HK through his doubts. I hope he succeeds in his mission...

Rivkah seems to be getting along with her new crewmates. How many of them will end up dead?

 

[CBR JGWRR]

I liked how Naomi talked HK through his doubts. I hope he succeeds in his mission...

Rivkah seems to be getting along with her new crewmates. How many of them will end up dead?

Less than how many will die following their own plan.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Where Droids Dare, Part 3"
28th Daas, 10 (2189)
HK-47b​

I step through the portal Amothetet opened.

Shoot two Sirzuzians as I go. The rest of their patrol turns to me.

They squawk.

Me? "Statement: This is where the fun begins."

They charge. Opting to save my ammunition I too close to melee, extending my wrist blades as I cycle my reactor-jet. I slice one Sirzuzian through an arm, flow into running another through, spin them around me to absorb the strikes of another, then throw the body at the fifth, my off hand crushing the fourth assailant's throat.

That wasn't too difficult.

The portal has closed behind me.

I smile.

Ten thousand Sirzuzians and several hundred Olinbari are now trapped on a vessel with me.

I begin assessing my objectives. Primary objective is capturing - the word rankles like an foul odour - Septima. But I have no idea where the bridge is.

Reasoning any damage I do is going to help the battle, I take the most logical option.

I read the deck and section number off the nearby.

I acquire a combadge from a Sirzuzian.

I tap it. "Statement: Dear meatbag. Intruder alert on deck sixteen, section R-92. Hint: I am coming for you."

 

[Macavity116]

Ten thousand Sirzuzians and several hundred Olinbari are now trapped on a vessel with me.

I tap it. "Statement: Dear meatbag. Intruder alert on deck sixteen, section R-92. Hint: I am coming for you."

Never before in the history of warfare was so much fun had by a single combatant.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Never before in the history of warfare was so much fun had by a single combatant.

Hmm... Maybe.