The guards immediately fanned out across the room, all of them turning to keep an eye on me, guns not quite in my direction.

  Carolina came up the stairs with her hands on her head, one of the redheaded guards staying very close behind her, almost but not quite pointing his gun at her back. The deaconess came walking up behind all of them, hand lowered, no weapons pointed her way. Her eyes darted over to the woman with long black hair, her face was classically beautiful, pale, but her visage was a little ruined by the frown plastered across her face as she glared at me, accusingly, as she stepped out form behind the cordon of guards with guns to face me. I felt an overwhelming urge to raise my hands, but none of them were 'quite' pointing those guns at me... Indignation rose in me.

  I raised an eyebrow. “Is this how you treat people who've come to help?” I asked.

  “You are unfortunately a member of a foreign power on our soil in a time of crisis. Precautions must be taken.” The lady with the long black hair said. I figured I knew her name but...

  “Indeed. Vice-President Cassandra Ivanova I presume?” I asked.

  “Yes. You are Captain Cofey I presume?” She replied

  “You would be correct.” I nodded at her.

  She paused for a moment.

  “Do your people not stand when introducing themselves? To a woman and head of state no less?” She said, her turn to be indignant.

  “Not when said woman is threatening me and my crew with automatic weapons I don't” I stared right into her eyes, unblinking. I was going to get myself into real trouble like this one of these days, I thought as the guards around me started shifting their weight.

  Or you know. Today.

  I had been worried about this. People in power in crisis situations had an unfortunate tendency to want to try to exert that power in a dominance display. Surprisingly the few people who didn't do that tended to be military, since they actually trained for crisis situations. This woman was a civilian bureaucrat who had no idea how to handle the situation that just got dumped in her lap.

  She paused a beat.

  She opened her mouth

  I interrupted her before she got her mouth all the way open.

  “Hold on, before you launch into whatever speech you have planned, here is what you need to know. First, I fought the berzerkers who did this to your planet in orbit. Second, I came down here to help. Third, I have already begun retaking this facility from the virus's that infect it. Fourth, I was the one who let you in out of the rain, as it were.” I motioned weakly with my arm in the direction of the door I opened to let them all in.

  I stated all of that, hoping to head off whatever imperious and possibly lethal thing she was about to drop on us. Hopefully she would be smart enough to actually listen and change her response after that... if not...

  She paused again.

  Here's hoping. I really didn't want her to just arrest me and torture me into helping them. Because now that I thought of it that was 100% on the table.

  “Thank you... for your help... what did you say your name was again?” Ivanova said, her eyes boring into mine. She seemed angry but... Planning. She was definitely coming up with some kind of plan. Which was better than her just telling her men to shoot me I suppose.

  “Captain Cofey, my ship is out there, Hook.” I motioned to my ship out on the pad.

  She eyed the ship and turned back to me.

  “From the design of your ship, you are with the... the name of your organization escapes me, the cyborgs.” Ivanova said dismissively.

  “C.O.G.” I replied just as shortly.

  “Yes. Them.” She said the 'Them' bit with some venom. I was starting to think I was in hot water here.

  “Why are you here captain. Not on the planet, you already said, but why in this sector of space.” She asked, her eyes boring into me. She really didn't trust me.

  “I am currently transporting multiple C.O.G. Stacks back to the homeworld for reinstantiation. C.O.G. Has no formal 'joining' or navy, as an organization with anarchic ideals, I am as close as you'll find around here to a 'member' of C.O.G.” I said, being very careful with my wording.

  I had learned long ago it was best to deceive with the truth.

  Unfortunately politicians, good ones at least, are fully capable of telling when someone is trying to do so.

  “So you are not officially a member of C.O.G.” Ivanova said, a smile tugging at her lips, like she thought that she had got me.

  “As official as most C.O.G. Members that mine asteroid fields way away from here, but less official than those that actually fight battles over planets let's say.” I answered. I had to be careful here, I could tell a hungry politician from the way she looked, she was desperate, and if I didn't have something bigger backing me she'd try something... dumb.

  She seemed to relax at my words however. Or maybe not relax... she felt less like a coiled snake about to strike at least.

  “So, you said you came here to help, what can you do for us Captain Cofey?” She asked, finally.

  “Like all member's of C.O.G. I have multiple augmentations that allow me to act as a firewall of sorts. Any system I am connected to will remain clean of the berzerker infection, allowing me to actually secure digital ground against them. I have been slowly clearing out the airports internal infrastructure.”

  Ivanova nodded but frowned. “I see... I appreciate your help , Captain, but if it's taken you this long to secure part of a spaceport I don't see how you could help secure the rest of the planet.”

  I nodded. “You are correct. It has taken me much longer than would be normal to secure this place, that is because of two issues. One, I am not currently directly connected to my ship, I have been using only the processors found in my suit and it is badly damaged, once we establish a hardline between my ship and the rest of this complex, and then the rest of your world, I will be able to purge critical infrastructure, at least enough for you to reestablish a foothold. I won't be able to purge everything, that will be up to you, but I can get you on your feet.”

  Ivanova nodded to this. “And the second issue? You numbered that problem so...”

  I sighed. “The second issue is why I came here in the first place. Using my implants to achieve full synchronization with other systems SHOULD be relatively painless, however every time I use it I have become more and more injured. I walked in here under my own power.”

  “Barely” Carolina added, to which I glared.

  “Barely, but after synchronizing with a robot and then this facility, well, it's more than just your guns that keep me from standing.”

  Ivanova's eyes widened a little, as they flicked over me, tallying my immobile legs and the weak movements I had made with my arms since she got here.

  “So you're sick.” her eyes softened with pity.

  I hate pity.

  “I originally traveled to your world because you were the closest that could provide medical aid.” I stated.

  She paused for several moments, which gave me the chance to bull forward.

  “In order to begin clearing out your infrastructure I need to connect my ship to your networks via hardline. Unfortunately there is enough interference being put out right now that connecting my ship to your systems wirelessly is just not good enough, so we will need to run a physical cable out to my ship to connect to your systems.” I said, fudging the truth a little. I really felt like I could not trust this woman.

  “That's going to be difficult with all those robots outside.” The old bodyguard with the snowy white hair said.

  I raised my eyebrow at him.

  “Agent Chatham.” He said as I eyed him.

  I gave him a nod.

  He nodded back.

  “You are correct. I was trying to break into the charging ports around the spaceport, leave my own little surprise for them when they go to recharge. I have already hacked one of the robots directly so I know how I can get them to either regain control or shut down, and I believe I have an efficient little code package I can insert into them when they charge. The problem is I am entirely unfamiliar with your system infrastructure and I have no idea what the robot charging stations look like from inside the system, so I have been fumbling blind through the architecture. I did manage to get control of the cameras and doors though, as you say.”

  “That was you that let us in?” Agent Chatham piped in. I thought I had said so earlier, but form the look in his eye he wanted to confirm. I got the feeling from him that he didn't believe my story, or was just generally paranoid. Which was... admittedly not a bad idea in this situation. It just made it harder for me.

  “Yep. Thankfully this starport is built to last, or that crowd of robots would already be in here giving us CPR right to the pavement.” I replied, nodding with my head to the tarmac outside swarming with robots.

  “CPR?” President Ivanova asked.

  “The virus isn't driving the robots like a mech or a ship, it's tweaking their own systems to cause the most chaos it can. In the robots case, it has them set in permanent emergency mode, has lowered the sliding scale of what qualifies as 'human in danger' to encompass EVERYONE, and has removed the safety limits on all of the robots responses to it. Someone breathes out of turn? Robot thinks they are choking and performs a heimlich maneuver that breaks the victims back. Someone gasps and holds their breathe? Robot thinks they have ceased breathing and begins CPR, at full strength, crushing the ribcage, lungs, heart and spine. It's actually rather inventive, as hacks go.” I said. I was actually rather impressed by what I had seen of the virus's activities in the robot, and brought up what data my suit had saved when I was inside it. I could actually formulate an attack strategy for the next round, so hopefully if I had to tangle with them again I would be able to take them down easily. Heck maybe I could take them down without getting manhandled.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  One could dream.

  The president raised an eyebrow as I said inventive. I cringed inside. That sounded like I was praising the Berzerker's, and I mentally kicked myself.

  “So why aren't they directly controlling them, driving them like mechs as it were. If they were they could have picked up those SMG's from Seok and Kiselev and sprayed us all down while we were running.” Agent Chatham asked.

  “Because they couldn't. Even if the virus' were that self aware, which they aren't, they have no context of the physical world. Even what they see through camera's doesent actually mean much to them unless you attach it to a facial identification program, it's all just code. The only things that COULD have directly controlled them in such a manner were the Berzerker's in orbit, and I and Baron Hannity put them all down hard.” I said that last bit with emphasis. I was still mad at what the Berzerker's had done to Hook.

  And the planet of course.

  “Baron Hannity?” Vice-president Ivanova asked.

  “Last imperial ship standing from the fight in orbit, he and his squadron got taken unawares, I came in late to the party and helped him clean up.” I replied.

  “Wait, is Lord Hannity the ship or the captain of the ship.” Agent Chatham asked.

  “Both, the imperials do things weird.” I said.

  What. They did.

  “I see.” Ivanova said.

  “Don't interact with captain's much do you Madam vice-president.” I replied. She was president now right? That's how vice president's worked when the president died? I feel like this is something I should know and it killed me that I couldn't just pull up a database from the ship to check.

  “Madam?... No, we don't, we send up tribute for whoever holds the orbitals, but that's been pretty consistently free traders for the last decade. The last time one of the factions stretched out this far it was the C.O.G. And they stopped picking up tribute.... fifteen years ago now? They just kind of disappeared.”

  “Yeah, that tracks. C.O.G. Pilots are hard to organize and even harder to keep on track. Unless you have a lot of traffic from C.O.G. Territory keeping an area like this staffed with pilots is going to be difficult.” I said. Everything she said made sense with what I knew of C.O.G.

  “You can't just keep a flight of your military over a planet once you conquer it? Seems like a waste.” Ivanova stated, looking both incredulous and a little disdainful.

  I sighed, feeling a bit out of my depth as all I knew was what I had been told, but I guess it was enough to parrot it back.

  “C.O.G. Ships are all owned and operated by C.O.G. Members. There is no true military, no conscripted soldiers, the most we have is C.O.G. Citizens who volunteer to undertake a military task, like defending a world, or taking one from one of the other factions. I am betting it wasn't even a military force that took your planet last time, but a small group of independent operators that was working in this region for another goal. What does your planet send up as tribute?” I asked. If answering her questions set her at ease and made her less likely to do something drastic, well, it was worth it to hypothesize my way through this.

  “We send up a number of ores that are surplus to our needs.” The president answered haughtily.

  “Yeah that's even more reason why they abandoned you so readily Madam Vice-President. Do you produce much media? Entertainment?” I replied.

  “We have our entertainment sectors, and why do you keep calling me Madam Vice-President?” President Ivanova said.

  “Sorry, it may be an archaic term now, that was how we referred to a female president of a country back where I'm from.”

  “Where are you from?” President Ivanova asked, clearly curious.”

  “He's from Holy Terra!” Emilia shouted, which made me wince as the world went a bit wobbly around me. I must be in worse shape than I thought.

  Vice-president Ivanova opened her mouth and raised a hand shakily, but I interrupted. “Yes, I'm from old earth, yes I am super old, no I don't want to answer any more questions about it. We've gotten off track.' I said, realizing that I had been meandering with the conversation when we should be focusing. Especially since Emillia dropped that bomb on us.

  “Hold on, wait, finish your previous thought, why did you ask us about our entertainment and scoff at us sending up ore?” Agent Chatham asked.

  I sighed. “You really don't know much about C.O.G. Do you?” I asked the both of them. All of them really, as I panned my head back and forth.

  “Not really, only what ships bring newswise, and C.O.G. Does not share much information.” Agent Chatham continued the conversation. Vice-president Ivanova seemed... a little out of it after that revelation. Which seemed odd. God was she part of their religion?

  “Unless you are also C.O.G. Right. Okay. Well, what do you think of my ship?”I asked.

  “What?” Ivanova answered the odd question.

  “Look at my ship, what's the first thing you think of.” I asked, motioning to Hook with my head.

  The president looked out the window.

  “It looks... nice.” She said diplomatically.

  I looked around to everyone else exasperated.

  “Anyone else chime in, what does it look like to you.” I said. This felt like back when I was teaching a morning class in university. Getting anyone to engage was like pulling teeth.

  “Creepy” Carolina's 'brother' piped in. I couldn't help but notice that at some point he had covered his arm in some kind of wrap, which was good... but he was also moving it like it hadn't been carved down to the bone.

  Ominous. Or weird. If he kept it low key as he had since we started talking I was fine with weird.

  I looked at him, opening my mouth, a little lost, but he pointed at himself and said “Ed.”

  “Right, Ed, any other adjectives?”

  “Glowing.” one of the blonde bodyguards piped in.

  “Dangerous.” Said the brunette

  “Alive.” Said Agent Chatham.

  I snapped my fingers and pointed at him.

  “What are you getting at, could you tell us openly” Ivanova said, frustrated.

  “Sorry I was a teacher, old habits are hard to break. The point is my ship is alive, sort of. It's capable of growing and changing like a living thing. It has on board construction and repair facilities that both allow it to maintain itself and upgrade itself, to a limited extent. Part of this whole suite of systems are both mining and salvaging arrays allowing it to get raw material, like your ore, from any suitable asteroid... so waiting for you to send up ore from your planet's gravity well is going to appeal only to the very new C.O.G. Members, and those are the ones who probably don't have the strength to hold your planet in the first place.”

  Ivanova put a hand on her head. “So your people are self-sufficient, and practically immune to trade. Great.”

  “No no, not immune,” I said, interrupting. I could tell this avenue had cut off another thought in her head, I assume she was going to attempt to bribe me to maintain some control of the situation.

  “Raw ores mean practically nothing, but the more refined something is the more difficult it is to do without a full blown factory. Some C.O.G. Vessels ARE full blown factories, but most set up their own refineries and production lines. Raw materials are practically useless, refined alloys, especially anything that requires gravity to refine, are better, things like microchips and other high precision goods that CANNOT be produced while under maneuvers or otherwise going through space are what most C.O.G. Members are interested in. Really anything that saves a captain having to set up even more infrastructure on an asteroid somewhere is going to be valuable just from a time savings point of view.” I replied.

  “So your ships can't make EVERYTHING on their own. That's good to know.” Ivanova said. She was obviously plotting something again I did not like this.

  “MY ship cannot make everything on it's own. As I said, factory ships. That being said I can make most things that my ship needs to function, it's getting it beyond base functionality that needs help. So yeah, if you retooled your industry to produce a surplus of high tech goods C.O.G. Would take a keen interest. Also media. Honestly more than anything physical C.O.G. Members love media. It get's boring out in the black and we think really fast, the more things we have to stimulate us while we're out in the dark eating rocks to make a new compartment the better.” I replied. I had felt this myself, I was just thankful that Bait had kept Hook stocked with tons of media. Including a surprising assortment of old earth movies and shows, all tagged under 'entertainment for ARK rescuees'. She really had been thinking ahead, I thought sadly.

  “So, what, making new cartoons would make C.O.G. More likely to help us?” Ivanova asked. She was really pumping me for information and I needed to steer the conversation back to what was going on now.

  “Woah woah woah, I never said anything about help. They're more likely to want to spend time here, which means they'll be on hand if someone or something attacks. Let's get back to fixing the problem right now. I need a cable run to my ship from here so that I can use it's processing power to purge the starport, and then clear some critical infrastructure so you can go about reasserting your own presence in your network.”I said, hopefully cutting off the interrogation. I didn't mind giving them information on C.O.G. But it both felt like I was getting lost in the weeds and that I was giving her ammunition for whatever it was she was planning. My eyes briefly darted to Emilia, who had been standing in the back staring at the Vice-President's head this whole time, which was really weird but also kept her from freaking me out anymore so I was fine with it.

  The president, vice president... Ivanova looked pensive, then looked up at her Agent Chatham.

  “Do you think we'll be able to run a cable out to his ship?”

  “With all those robots running wild I think we'd die in the attempt. We'd need to bring in an army unit to secure the facility before I'd be comfortable even trying, and getting in touch with them is going to be difficult to say the least. I think our best bet would be to let Captain Cofey try to secure the terminal digitally as he has been doing, while we try to contact reinforcements to consolidate here.”

  I sighed. A third option had occurred to me, but I hadn't wanted to do it when we landed lest I start a war.

  “There is another option.” I gave voice to my thoughts.