"What's wrong?" Anna said at once, setting down a barbell.
"Stabilizer orb. Ophelia bleeding out and I'm... woozy. You're very pretty," I said.
"You have a direct connection on that ship?" Anna asked, and let out a sigh as she began to pace. "Damn it, Emma. This is why you fill me in on the plans."
"I should totally do that. You're so smart and capable," I said. I really didn't feel well.
Anna moved to a wall comm and hit it. "Doctor Batavius? I need the dimensional drive up and running now."
"You also need a love life. Sometimes we never get what we want," Batavius said.
Doctor Batavius shouldn't be so mean to Anna. Anna didn't deserve that.
"Doctor Batavius, Emma was foolish enough to tie herself to a remote connection and is now networking with a stabilizer orb. You can give me the dimensional drive in the five minutes it takes me to walk down there, or I can start shooting everyone in Engineering," Anna said.
There was a pause. "I'll have to cannibalize some existing systems. Do you actually have a plan, if I get it up?" Batavius asked.
Of course she would. Anna always had a plan.
ON THE GRAVEN the man who must be Captain Aldo discovered my wrist connector and pulled it from Ophelia's arm.
"Oh, this is interesting. A completely different core than yours. An upgrader?" Captain Aldo asked. "Now that is valuable.” Aldo put my connector on top of the orb. The pain running through my systems grew even more intense.
Aldo hit Ophelia in the face with the butt of his rifle, knocking her unconscious, before vanishing for a few minutes and returning with a case and some equipment. Several wires were attached to my remote connector and I felt some sort of interface snap into place with my systems. Even through my fog of confusion I could figure out his intent.
He was attempting to trace my crystal, he was trying to find the Powerhungry.
ANNA MEANWHILE HAD MADE her way down to the Command deck and was using the external interface next to my core. I really should build her some proper interface systems, why was I so thoughtless? I should be a better person.
"Do I have my drive yet or am I going to start shooting?" Anna asked into the comm.
"You've got one jump. I'm not going to promise you any more," Batavius said.
Anna's fingers flew over the keys. Around the Powerhungry space rippled and warped.
"Wheeeeeeeeee," I said over ship-wide comm as reality tore itself apart. This was fun!
The Powerhungry rematerialized.
We were almost brushing hulls with a mid-sized warship. I recognized the design at once. Righteous.
I wasn't sure why, but my head was beginning to clear.
Anna tapped a few buttons and frowned. "Doctor, why don't I have shields?"
"What part of cannibalizing systems did you not understand? Well, let us be honest with ourselves. Probably none of it," Batavius said.
The Righteous ship was less curious why we didn't have shields. What appeared to be a Scholar warship—the Powerhungry—had materialized right next to it.
Cannon fire tore into us and the ship shook violently.
"Emma. Are you with me?" Anna asked.
"I am, although busy deleting all records of the deeply delusional words I said," I said.
"Kill your remote connection. We can't stay here," Anna said.
"I kill that connection, we'll be leaving Ophelia to die."
"Then we leave her to die," Anna said. "You're more important."
Anna was right. But I could still try to do something. I quickly generated a clone of my intelligence in the bracelet. I'd vowed I wasn't going to do this, but there was a chance my copy might be able to help Ophelia.
It also meant I stayed in that connection too long.
Aboard the Graven, Aldo said triumphantly, "Got you." He hit a comm. "This is Aldo. I've got the location of an upgrade core. I'm guessing it’s an airship. Sending current coordinates and preparing to attack."
I wanted to see who he was talking to—just the Graven’s bridge, or someone else? But Anna was right. I killed that connection.
Instantly the remaining fog disappeared from my mind. It felt good to be me. And I detected who Aldo had communicated with—that wasn’t good.
"They managed to back-trace my connection somehow. We've got ships incoming," I said.
"We aren't staying," Anna said, and tapped at the keys. Reality started to bend for a moment and then snapped back. On the Engineering deck the dimensional drive exploded, flames roaring out.
Our armor on the port side was already half-gone and I triggered the thrusters to turn the ship so that our other side might soak some hits.
"Dimensional drive is offline," I said.
“Really?” Anna said, then growled into the comm, "Doctor Batavius?"
"It is on fire. There is nothing more to give. Shoot me if you must," Batavius said.
"Later. Get me shields," Anna said.
My remote sensors were picking up several ships just entering range. One of them was the Graven at full burn. I didn't recognize the others, but they all had similar profiles. It was some sort of pirate fleet.
"Five pirate vessels incoming. One of them is the Graven. For once in your life I guess you're popular," I said.
"I bring the party with me," Anna said, staring at the displays. "Time until the pirates get here?"
"Three minutes."
"Wolfson? I need a strike team for a boarding operation," Anna said.
"We're already geared up and ready to go your Majesty," Wolfson said.
"We can't teleport into their vessel," I said.
"Can you get us overhead? We'll drop the Wolves and Hot Stuff on them from above," Anna said.
Given the power-dampening effects of the Righteous I wasn't sure how much they could do. Still, I'd learned firsthand the dangers of underestimating Hot Stuff and the Wolves seemed capable warriors. It wasn't as if we had options. At the rate we were taking fire I wasn't sure I could even keep us alive until the pirates showed up to destroy us anyway.
16
The Righteous ship was in better condition than we were. Even with the Powerhungry at full thrusters they were firing their own engines, keeping us from getting above them. I opened the bottom deck ramp and engaged the overdrive, briefly overpowering the system so the Powerhungry could get into position.
The Wolves and Hot Stuff deployed at once. Hot Stuff led the way bursting into full blaze the moment she left the ramp. The Righteous hull was so heavily armored it took several seconds for her to burn through, then she was dropping from sight and the Wolves were moving in behind her.
As soon as they were clear I lowered the ship even more, our hull screeching against the Righteous vessel.
"You're a really terrible driver," Anna said.
"While I expect you haven't given much thought to preserving your worthless life, I have. They can’t get a good firing solution on us from below. I intend to keep us here as long as possible," I said.
"I like to be on top too. No need to explain," Anna said, operating a console. "How is your head doing?"
"Better. Why is it, by the way?" I asked.
"The Righteous make heavy use of stabilizer orbs in the core, but they also use the power of a Void crystal to selectively counter some of the effects. It’s how their ships stay in the air," Anna said. "I just had to get you in range."
It was a risky but bold plan she'd come up with in seconds, and for all that it might get everyone killed, it was effective. It was all on my behalf. I didn't need to be under the influence of that orb to recognize that despite her nearly infinite number of faults, Anna made for a good partner. I was lucky to have her.