I frantically switched between camera's, trying to get a view on the situation.

  The closest one showed Megan and Hwang laying in the corridor, Hwang's legs were on fire and she was currently on top of Megan, likely where Megan had pulled her.

  I quickly shouted over the intercom “HOLD YOUR BREATH.” And engaged the fire suppressant systems.

  Chemical extinguisher's blasted down at Hwang and Megan and filled the corridor with inert gas. I hoped they had heard me.

  I pinged Carolina's pad with a message saying

  ARE YOU OKAY?

  And set about damage control without waiting for a response.

  Dog-bot's main gun was meant to pierce starship armor, but thankfully using it in an atmosphere had robbed it of most of it's armor killing potential.

  Instead it had blasted out in all directions after piercing through the Lindwurm. At least I hoped it pierced through the Lindwurm.

  As if on queue I had a flash, and could see... not much left of what was the Lindwurm. I think there were pieces of it, but unlike in the void my ship was making it hard to discern any detail in the momentary flashes I had.

  I checked the atmospheric composition of the corridor Hwang and Megan were in and found it was breathable... or at least I wouldn't suffocate them.

  “You can breathe now.” I said loudly.

  The two of them, who had been laying completely still on the ground, began coughing heavily, bad enough that I thought they would crack a rib.

  I'M OKAY

  Came the reply from Carolina, which gave me a sense of relief.

  Most of my repair bots were set to fixing all the damage the Lindwurm had done as it was burrowing through my ship.

  I surreptitiously dropped myself out of my higher reference frame.

  How had it torn through hardened steel and titanium so easily? It wasn't harder than said materials, or else Megan and Hwang's bullets would have just bounced off, and it certainly seemed like Dog-bot had been hurting it by bashing it with it's tentacles...

  Dog-bot... They were a good dog.

  Morose thoughts started to creep in as the adrenaline faded and I stopped thinking purely in emergency disaster mode and started to process things like a normal human being.

  I was about to bring up the collar wall when Megan and Hwang shouted at me. Switching my focus to them from the one camera that could see them from way down the hall they were shouting up at the ceiling.

  “I can't hear you! The pickups and camera's are all burned out! Come towards my voice!” I said over the intercom speaker near the camera.

  Megan helped Hwang up, it looked like her leg was pretty badly injured, her pants were... melted to her boot, and she was holding it up so that it didn't touch the floor.

  “Captain Brayden! There's still a fire and it's getting bigger!” Megan said Breathlessly. Hwang was about to add something but the sudden stop caused her leg to bounce into the bulkhead and all that came out was a strangled scream.

  “Damnit... I have no eyes left in that section. Get out and I'll seal it and find a way to deal with it.” I lit some lights up leading them to medical. “And get Hwang to medical! One lost limb per voyage is more than enough!” I added at the end.

  I sent to Carolina's Tablet

  BIG FIRE, I CAN'T SEE IT, SEALING SECTION, INITIAL FIRE SUPPRESSION FAILED, ANY IDEAS?

  I sent to her. I could just break in and scream my voice at her, but without knowing what she was doing or where she was I didn't want to startle her.

  The reply came soon enough anyway.

  I'LL DEAL WITH IT.

  That sounded ominous whatever that was.

  I needed to get a handle on the current status of the ship.

  Vessel Name:Hook

  Propulsion:

  1 CFD-111 Fusion Reactor(FUEL: 31%)

  2 CFT-10 Fusion Torch Drive

  14 CFT-97 Fusion Torch Maneuver Thrusters

  4 CMDCGAMT-4 Auxillary Cold Gas Thrusters

  Primary Armament:

  1 CPL-77 triple barrel tracking plasma projector

  1 CPL-66 double barrel tracking plasma projector(DAMAGED, OPERABLE, MUST BE BROUGHT OFFLINE FOR REPAIRS)

  Secondary Armament:

  2 CSL-3 Missile Launchers1

  Current warhead count:39(max 108) Heavy MIRV shaped plasma warheads

  1 Missile Auto-fabricator(current production loadout: Heavy MIRV shaped plasma warheads)

  Current missile fabrication limits:63(WARNING:RAW MATERIALS SHORTAGE)

  1 CDL-2 Drone Bays:

  Current drone count:10 CCD-14 plasma drones(max bandwidth limit's to 2 drones per bay)

  Defensive equipment:

  1x CEWJ-90 Radar Jammer

  1x CEWD Laser Dazzler, 1 damaged

  1x CEWODJ Omni-directional Radio Jammer

  1x CEWCM Countermeasure Launcher

  Current Ordnance Count:

  Chaff: 8

  IR: 4

  Active: 2

  4 CPP Plasma Particle Shotgun Point Defense System

  2 CPP Guided Plasma Munition Point Defense System

  Utility equipment:

  Autonomous repair drones(41/108, PLEASE TASK DRONE PRINTER FOR REPLENISHMENT )

  Autonomous repair drone printer

  1 CML 2 MINING BEAM

  1x CTU Medical Unit

  C.O.G. REPAIR MATRIX: 3 OF 4 NODES ONLINE.

  CURRENT STATUS: REPAIRING OUTER HULL, RESTORING ARMOR, REPAIRING INTERNAL RELAY AND DRIVE CONDUITS. REPAIR MATRIX 4 OFFLINE, CATASTROPHIC DAMAGE.

  4 CDS-SWR Radar Panels, 1 damaged

  2 CDS-LWR Radar Antennae

  1 CDS-RTR Radar

  HULL INTEGRITY: Breach detected, sealed, significant internal damage to relays detected, repairs in progress. Maneuvering drives offline(4). Warning, Fire detected(7)

  Shit... the thing had done a lot of internal damage, and in particular had wrought havoc on our repair bots while I had been using them to corral it.

  We did seem to have sufficient raw material to replenish the repair drones and make repairs, but once we were done with that... there wouldn't be a lot leftover.

  More concerning however was our low fuel, at this point I wasn't sure we'd have enough to make it to prime, the fight and both entering and exiting the atmosphere had severely taxed our fuel reserves.

  I was about to bring up our destination system when I felt a section of my internals suddenly lose power.

  And then the bulkheads around the powered down section sealed.

  And the airlock in that area opened.

  I rapidly switched between all my camera's looking to get eyes on everyone.

  Megan and Hwang were in the medical bay with Rekki-Ricky and...

  Huh, I guess he had reset.

  As I was saying, the doctor was there as well...

  But no sign of Carolina.

  I sent to her pad

  I'VE LOST POWER TO THE DAMAGED SECTION AND IT'S VENTING INTO THE VOID! WHERE ARE YOU!

  The wait for the reply was nerve wracking, but it came relatively quickly.

  IN YOUR WALLS FIXING YOUR SHIT ;)

  I was a little taken aback by her message, but once I had a chance to absorb it it gave me a warm fuzzy feeling.

  WANT SOME REPAIR DRONES FOR HELP?

  I sent as a message

  SURE, SLAVE THEM TO MY PAD, I WAS GOING TO ASK IF YOU COULD SEND SOME TO CHECK ON DOG-BOT FOR ME.

  Came the reply. I paused before sending.

  DO YOU THINK DOG-BOT COULD'VE SURVIVED?

  I sent.

  SHOULD'VE, THE BLAST CAME FROM IT'S OWN GUN SO THE WORST DAMAGE WOULD HAVE BEEN OVERHEAT AND ANY ANCILLARY DAMAGE FROM INTERNAL FIRES IT STARTED... AND WHATEVER THAT THING'S CARCASS DID TO IT.

  I know it was probably dumb to have a surge of hope for the survival of a drone, but... Dog-bot had grown on me, and the thought of it's death had made me legitimately sad.

  I send control of six of the remaining repair drones to Carolina, and then looked through the archives for a control interface through the pad that she was using and linked it to her.

  A swarm... well a group. A dozen of my repair drones started scuttling... somewhere at a command from Carolina's pad.

  THANKS :)

  Carolina sent to me.

  I smiled inwardly.

  ALSO YOU NEED TO TAKE A BREAK NOW. I'LL HEAD UP TO THE BRIDGE IN 15 MINUTES TO GIVE YOU YOUR MEDS.

  I winced.

  I was about to send a reply when I was pre-empted.

  DON'T EVEN START WITH ME, THE DANGER IS OVER AND YOU HAVE BEEN THROUGH THE SHIT. TAKE YOUR MEDS AND TAKE A NAP TILL WE GET TO THE TRANSIT POINT.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  I responded.

  YES MA'AM.

  It looked like we were home free so I didn't want to argue, and I probably should disconnect...

  It was just hard to get any sleep when I kept seeing these flashes.

  And also I was anxious about... everything.

  We had just been hunted, and killed our hunters in the worst way, assuming they hadn't managed an emergency warp out... Jump out... Transit out... Whatever.

  We had just been boarded, and I was feeling hollowed out from all the damage the Lindwurm did to my insides.

  We had multiple new people aboard, and while they seemed chill I wasn't entirely certain of their loyalties, though none seemed especially attached to their homeworld...

  Except maybe Megan. Hmm...

  She seemed nice and respectful, but she also was obviously very attached to rank and structure, so she may want to go back home just because of that... she may even agree with the vice president due to her being the commander and chief. Sense of duty and all that.

  It didn't seem likely from what I had seen of her, but it was something I'd have to watch out for.

  I whiled away some time watching my repair drone fabricators slowly churn out replacements. It was actually very slow, which I attribute to the highly sophisticated nature of each repair bot. Eventually, as I was watching a wafer being generated, my attention was drawn to the medical bay.

  Hwang was now on the medical bed while Megan and Rekki-Ricky were sitting on fold out chairs that, again, I didn't even know were in there.

  I kindof felt like maybe I should study the specifics of the interior of the ship more.

  Doctor Smith was waving at me.

  “Is there something you need Doctor?”

  “I've treated everyone as much as I can and they all need rest. Do you have a place for them to sleep? And is it safe to exit the medical bay?” Doctor Smith asked matter-of-factly.

  “Yes, your rooms are complete and everything is clear. Carolina just engaged in... extreme firefighting so I locked everything down till I knew what was going on.” I replied.

  The doctor blinked.

  “What do you mean until you knew what was going on? Aren't you the ship?” Doctor Smith asked, perplexed.

  “She's in the engineering crawlspaces, and it's real hard to keep track of her. Need to put a bell on her. Anyway she made her way to the manual controls and dealt with it before I did, so it came as a surprise.” I replied.

  “Huh... that feels like something that's normally automatic on C.O.G. Ships...” Doctor Smith asked.

  I wondered about that.

  He was kindof right.

  “Hey Hook, why wasn't that automatic?” I asked hook over the ship systems after dropping into a higher reference frame. It was fun being able to basically pause conversations mid-stream and look up information, I was probably going to get addicted to it. Huh, I bet lots of C.O.G. Captains were.

  “My previous incarnation was set up to handle many ships functions automatically yes, though something like venting atmosphere is still an action the captain would have to be notified of before occurring as it could affect the integrity of the ship. However since the reboot I have been unable to re-implement many of those features, as due to the compromised nature of my forebear extra access to other systems has been locked and may only be re-enabled by the captain manually.” Hook said.

  I sighed.

  Back to the doctor, who was still waiting for an answer. “Found the problem, when I got infected by the Berzerker virus I had to delete...” I paused again. Hook, despite constantly saying they weren't an AI, fit basically every definition of an AI a lay person had. It was probably better to play a little closer to the vest with it.

  “I had to delete a large chunk of the ships systems to purge the infection completely while in combat.”

  Rekki-Ricky said, a little panicked. “Wait, YOU got infected? I thought C.O.G. People and ships and stuff were immune? Wasn't that how you were able to help Hou Ji?”

  I replied, sighing. “No, we're not immune, at least not all of our stuff, we're just able to respond more quickly and decisively, and we are able to partition our systems better so losing one system to an infection does not immediately spread to everything else. For all intents and purposes every system is fire-walled from every other, and every time the virus wants to communicate with another section it would have to go through ME, and I am essentially un-hackable.”

  “Oh.” Rekki-Ricky replied.

  I let out a sigh of relief. In my head. Cause the whole unresponsive body thing. My relief was short lived however.

  “Wait essentially?” Rekki-Ricky asked.

  I swear he was like a child with the why why why.

  That's not fair.

  Children were at least cute. Mostly.

  I sighed. Keeping secrets and keeping track of who knew what was hard. I wanted to say fuck it and tell them how the viral attacks messed with my body, but that felt like a secret C.O.G. Had been trying to keep for awhile.

  “Yes, essentially. Saying anything is invulnerable is basically inviting fate to come along and prove you wrong, and since I don't like the idea of some Berzerker coming up with a super virus tailor made to destroy me, I'm gonna say essentially.” I replied.

  “You sound superstitious for a C.O.G. Member.” The doctor asked.

  “Engineer's and scientists can be some of the most superstitious people you will ever meet. Once met an engineer that told me a story, he worked in a factory, enormous machines, millions of parts, very hard to trouble shoot. One day the owner of one of those machines died, and the next day the machine stopped working right, just shredding anything you put into it and rendering it useless. A week after the funeral the engineer's kid came in with some of his ashes in a pouch, and taped it to the side of the machine, apparently was his father's last wishes. They started up the machine and it ran perfectly, and no one knew why. A supervisor came by, saw the pouch, and ripped it off and threw it out, and the machine stopped working again, so then said supervisor had to go hat-in-hand to the old engineer's family and ask for some of his ashes, re-attached it and the thing worked again. Now did the extra weight on that one component in that one spot possibly re-balance the whole acre wide machine which corrected an error and allowed it to function? Maybe. Did the spirit of the machine need a piece of it's emotional support engineer nearby to function properly? Who knows. What I do know is no one touched that sack of ashes again till the whole machine was decommissioned.” I recited a story I had heard over and over again from my engineer friends back home.

  The people present in the medical bay just kindof looked at eachother.

  “That sounds like bullshit.” Hwang piped up.

  At which point Carolina popped out of the ceiling, upside down, her jumpsuit stripped to the waist leaving her only in a grease stained undershirt.

  Her sudden appearance made everyone jump, including Hwang, who would have fallen out of the medical bed if it werent for the restraints that automatically engaged to catch her. Well, hold her, her leg that had been stripped of the melty bits was kindof just flopping up and around.

  “No no, he's right, same thing used to happen with Shield cell thirty four on our ship. Chief lost her wife and taped her wedding ring to the side of the cell cause it was her favorite part of the ship. Only cell that never had a catastrophic failure, always just lost power and shut down quietly!” Carolina squeaked, some sort of fluid floating off of her in gobbets, which threw me a little till I realized we were not under power and of course the fluid wouldn't be drawn down by the magnetic pseudo gravity we were using.

  Actually, same for Carolina because she had stripped her suit down to her midsection. Huh... that's actually a smart idea for working on a ship, variable gravity for yourself...

  “The fuck did you come from?” Megan exclaimed, swearing for the first time I think ever.

  Everyone turned to look at her.

  “What?” She asked.

  “You swore.” Hwang said.

  “Yeah! Did you see that? She just, like, popped into existence!” Megan fired back.

  “You never swear.” Rekki-Ricky said, looking at Hwang and getting a nod back.

  “Of course I swear, I swear all the time!”

  Hwang snorted at this, but Rekki-Ricky looked... scared. He looked scared.

  Uh oh.

  “Anyway, you guys have rooms ready, why don't you go grab some shut-eye, kip, or whatever slang for sleep you kids all use these days.”

  Hwang snorted. “Sure thing old man.” She said as she opened the door. She looked up at Carolina, who was still hanging from the ceiling and was giving Megan the same look I thought Rekki-Ricky had.

  “You coming?” She asked Carolina.

  “In a bit. I still need to help Brayden.” Carolina replied.

  Hwang nodded and left with everyone else.

  “Weren't you going to check on Dog-bot?”

  “Already did. His core modules should make it, just going to need a new body to put it into, and that's a YOU thing.” She said.

  I mentally started queuing up another drone, then sent a share request to her pad so we could both work on the same program.

  Interestingly enough, this program didn't have a share function before, but as soon as I knew I needed it I was able to nigh instantly grab the programming required and essentially bolt it on, and all it caused was a little flicker in the program as it was installed and run.

  I was pretty sure coding was supposed to be harder than this, but I wasn't going to complain.

  Carolina perked up as she heard the ping from her pad and proceeded to flip upside down and land on the now vacant medical bed.

  “Probably need to sanitize that.” I mentioned.

  She nodded and took out her pad.

  I expected her to immediately make with the engineering, but instead she stood there and just sortof chewed on her lip.

  “Brayden, we need to talk.” She said.