“What just happened?” I shouted.

  A display of the ship showing a red glowing portion of the upper section appeared in my hud.

  “Fuck.” The doctor, Hwang, and Carolina had followed me out into the corridor.

  “We need to get to the bridge! Now!” I shouted as I started forcing my way along the corridor as It righted itself. I was... really not walking well by this point. Carolina supported one side of me as I went, and Hwang moved to support my other. I would have pushed them off but we needed to move NOW.

  The doctor and rest of the soldiers, who had been waiting outside, clustered around the med bay while I was being worked on, fell in behind me in two neat rows. Or at least they were neat until a second shockwave ripped through the ship

  We made it to the helm, but the ship jumped again as a third red spot appeared on my hull. I sprinted the last few meters to the captain's chair.

  I fell into the chair as the Lieutenant shouted “What the hell is going on?” He said just as the chair connected and I fell into full synchronization.

  I already had an idea of what was happening, but what I didn't understand was why the point defenses were not firing.

  Then a string of error messages and override requests hit me. Attempting to fire plasma in atmosphere was apparently a safety hazard, and there were blocks popping up every time my point defense turrets tried to fire. Of note, the tracking plasma PDT's only asked once and stopped, but the plasma shotgun turrets were still tracking and trying to fire. In fact the plasma shotguns appeared to be trying to use a 'ship safety; override to do it, it was outlined in red in my H.U.D.

  I quickly overrode the safety restrictions and the plasma shotgun turrets opened up, destroying two of the airships that were heading for us. The sound of the turrets opening fire made everyone in the bridge flinch on the cameras. I switched to the perspective of the plasma shotgun turrets and immediately wished I hadn't.

  The first thing I noticed was that the alerts were one hundred percent correct, firing plasma in atmosphere WAS a hazard. The entire surface of the hull around the plasma shotgun was sizzling, flash fried by the convection of the plasma, and the barrel itself was steaming in the air.

  The second thing I noticed was the scattered remnants of the airship, which I now realized was some futuristic flying sedan, flying towards the ship.

  A skull bounced off the plating in front of the turret.

  “What the hell changed that made them start dive bombing us.” I asked, not directing it at anyone in particular.

  “Perhaps your little brute force cyber attack outside caused the virus to retool itself Captain.” Replied. Hook's presence immediately disarmed some of the tension in me.

  “Have you been keeping track of what's been going on Hook?”I asked.

  “I accessed what memory was left in your encounter suit... Good job thoroughly destroying that by the way.” Hook said, sarcastically.

  “Yeah I need to make something a bit more robust for the next time I go to a planet. That thing started falling apart almost immediately.” I replied as I dropped into a higher reference frame.

  “Really? Nothng happened that could accelerate it's rate of deterioration?” Hook asked. This time I couldn't tell if they were being snide or if they were actually asking the question.

  “I mean... there was the robot attack.” I said.

  “Uhuh.” Hook replied, obviously having already reviewed the logs.

  “And then I guess I kindof pushed the suit's circuitry to the limit trying to fight the virus on multiple fronts using only the suits built in circuitry and software.” I continued.

  “Please do go on, I am taking notes for next time you deploy to the surface. I believe something like this would be more your speed Captain.” Hook stated.

  A cartoon image appeared in my head of a tank with my head sticking out the top.

  “Cute... Also when did you become able to make art?” I replied as I mentally multi-tasked.

  “I have always been able to through use of my onboard image generator, the previous version of me shied away from it however... I do not know why. There seems to be some distaste for it fostered from friends of Captain Bait.” Hook continued.

  “What kind of friends?” I asked.

  “An artist commune. Captain Bait often downloaded their media and perused their more... erotic pieces.” Hook replied.

  “Ah, I see. So the artists don't think AI image generators should exist?” I questioned as I tagged several vehicles that... looked like they were heading our way? The way they moved didn't indicate a ballsitic course, more like they were... changing lanes?

  “No, they apparently had a whole philosophy based around protecting the creative process, so if image generators were to be used they should be used only be 'REAL' artists.” Hook replied as I tracked the course of the airships. It looked almost like they were boarding on ramps and offramps to invisible floating highways around me...

  If I had control of my eyes I would have blinked in confusion.

  “So what do they term a 'real' artist.”I asked, half distracted. To be honest splitting my attention like this was making things flow easier for some reason.

  “That is a good question, and one they were never able to give a satisfactory answer to.” Hook replied.

  I sighed. What a surreal conversation to have in the midst of a bombardment.

  “Okay, We need a few things. I need Dog bot and Cat bot posted outside the door of the bridge, I need a way to communicate to Carolina without letting anyone know, and we need a way to disarm and disable anyone in the bridge when the soldiers inevitably turn on us.”I said.

  “You brought hostiles aboard the ship captain?” Hook asked. I noticed a group of bots gathering in the distance.

  “Potentially. I expect their boss will order them to take me into custody or something once I've done what I said and get ready to leave.”I told Hook, while at the same time plotting the routes the bots seemed most likely to take to the ship.

  “So why are they still alive?” Hook asked tonelessly.

  “Because they aren't bad people, several of them have helped me out, a few of them have saved my life... I want to see what they do when the order comes down.” I said, thinking of Hwang and Megan. The bots I had tagged were... waiting it looked like. Just milling around.

  “That will put you in danger Captain Cofey.”Hook said. There was a hint of edge in it's voice, like the personality it showed was a mask that was falling away in the face of danger.

  “I know. We'll need to take steps to keep me and Carolina safe.” I said, emphasizing Carolina. I was pretty certain that Hook and all the other assistant AI things on the ship were hardwired to keep me safe.

  “I have been meaning to ask, in going through the old hook's files the only mention of Carolina313 is as an imperial POW... technically we should be treating her as an enemy, but she has several privileges in the system that do not align with that.” Hook replied.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “... She's a friend.” I said, after taking far too long and suffering a rush of far too many emotions than I could process right now.

  “I will update her designation from Imperial POW to... Auxillary Crew.” Hook said.

  An alert went through the system, and I looked through the camera's in the bridge. Carolina was standing between me and the Lieutenant with her hands on her hips when a chime sounded from the pad at her side, presumably with her updated status. She smiled at it and looked up.

  “Can you see us yet Brayden?” She asked as her eyes found one of my cameras. I still don't know how she picked them out of the hull, I had looked when I was out of the seat and I couldn't pick them out of all the background lights and greebles on the bulkheads.

  “Sure can, sorry, had to deal with a few things. The virus has identified us as an active threat and has been sending aircars to bombard us, we took some damage.” I stated aloud. This admission seemed to make everyone else in the room tense up. Not the Lieutenant though. He was already tense.

  “How bad?” The lieutenant asked.

  I saw an opening here.

  “Enough to make it impossible for us to lift off without repairs.” I sighed. “Carolina, my bots don't work well in a gravity well, you're an engineer, think you could help patch us up?”

  Carolina blinked, then her face lit up. “Yessssssss!” She was far too excited at the prospect of getting shoulder deep in the guts of my ship.

  Or of me, I guess.

  Wow there was an image, down brain.

  I sent a map to her pad to lead her to the engines.

  She started moving out then hesitated, looking at me in a room full of soldiers.

  “I'll be okay, I have dog-bot and Cat-bot and Lieutenant... Fuck I'm sorry I never asked your name.”

  “Kernel.”

  “Wait, you are a Lieutenant Colonel?” I asked.

  “No, my name is Kernel, Alexei Kernel, like the programming term.” He replied, deflating somewhat and letting some of his tension release. He had obviously been asked this often.

  “Or the grain of corn.” I replied, hoping to disarm him some more.

  “What's corn?” He said, my attempt at diffusing tension apparently a failure.

  I sighed audibly over the PA.

  “Aside from that travesty, Lieutenant Kernel, the robots appear to be trying to find a way into the ship to 'save' us. I could task the point defenses with sweeping them off the hull, but then they may not be ready for the incoming fliers. I don't THINK they will get in but if they do I need you and your soldiers to hold them back, need a layered defense.” I stated, laying the groundwork.

  The lieutenant looked around the Bridge.

  “Can you seal the bridge?” He asked.

  “Yes, I am not concerned for my own safety but more for the damage they could inflict on the ship. Dealing with them at breach points would be ideal, especially at the airlock as there is sensitive and easily damaged equipment JUST beyond said airlock.” I said. This wasn't actually a ruse it was one hundred percent true, the fabricator there had a bunch of easily damaged components.

  He stopped and blinked.

  “That seems like a design flaw.”

  I winced, knowing that it was my request for the big printer that resulted in said flaw.

  “Yes... yes it does.” I replied with a put upon sigh.

  “Well I can send a team down to hold the airlock, Me and Hwang can hold the bridge, and then I can have another team ready to respond to any other breaches.”

  “So Airlock team, Bridge Team, Breach team got it.” I took a moment to illuminate a path of green light on the wall, and a path of blue lights.

  It turned out the minor modifications we had made while Carolina was aboard to help her get around were paying dividends.

  “Green lights go to the airlock, blue lights go to... well it's not really anything, just a central corridor that will let them get anywhere on the ship pretty quick.” I said, as I trailed those lights to a central corridor... one that happened to have heavy sealing bulkheads at either end and no other way out.

  “Alright Airlock team, Rekki-Ricky...” When I heard his name now it didn't really hurt, but I was getting some weird interference in my H.U.D.

  “And Mitch, Airlock team, make sure nothing gets in, radio me if they breach.” Lieutenant...I couldn't help but mentally sigh, Kernel said.

  He looked around at the remaining members and frowned.

  “What's wrong Lieutenant?” I asked.

  “Part of me wants to assign the doc to the medical bay for any casualties, but I don't want anyone running around without backup trying to plug those breaches.” He said, and I couldn't fault his logic. He was obviously doing his best to keep his people safe, and I couldn't fault him for that. It almost made me feel bad about trying to trick him.

  “You could go with him and secure the medical bay instead of being a permanently roving force. Or you could leave him in the medical bay, Hwang and or Megan here, and take whichever you don't assign here to cover you while you deal with the breaches yourself.” I said, trying to make it seem like I was not trying to get rid of him.

  I didn't hate the guy, but if I were President Ivanova, I would have given him special orders about what to do to me if I tried to leave the planet.

  “No, I've been given orders not to leave your side.” He stated.

  Like that. Exactly like that. It was nice that he was open about it though.

  “You are essential to our world regaining security, I am to protect you with my life.” He said again, and now I felt bad.

  That would be kinda sweet if I didn't know it was complete bullshit. Or at least strongly suspected. Thing is I am pretty sure the Lieutenant believed it, and I was fairly certain President Ivanova, vice president Ivanova, whatever it was at the moment, would give him different orders the moment I re-established control of the planet.

  “Well why don't you stay here, Hwang and Megan run around the ship and deal with any breaches that occur. Cat-bot and Dog-Bot are also here, so it's not like you will be alone.”

  I could see him chewing on that in his brain. It must really go against the grain to assign anyone alone like this for him, but the people he was sending into theoretical combat were going to be in a pair so...

  “Alright, Hwang, Megan, you are on plug duty, I'll stay here with the Captain. Doc, get down to the medical bay in case anyone gets hurt.”

  The three he had just sent out nodded and the Lieutenant took a position just inside the door, warily watching outside while Cat-bot and Dog-bot hung there, also warily. I think they could feel my suspicion of the Lieutenant.

  “All right Lieutenant. We already know that while the virus isn't super intelligent, it will tweak things if it senses a threat, like when it started bombarding the ship with those cars. They know we're trying to do something, but they don't know what. Once they realize what we are doing I expect things to get hot, and I probably won't have the bandwidth to talk to you, I'll have my own war to fight.” I said. Unlike most of the rest of what I had told him since he came aboard, I was being straight with him. I could probably just take off, but we had worked so hard to try to help this planet that I wanted to do SOMETHING before I hauled ass.

  The Lieutenant nodded. “I'll be ready.”

  I let go of the video connection, and frame-jacked myself up to a higher speed.