Agameg's eyes went wide and he looked around the table.
“I'd like you in maintenance on the Deck.” Angelo said with a humble smile.
“I liked working with you in Engineering,” Liam commented.
“And I would love your help in Security,” Stephanie put in.
“Now that they mention it, you'd be a great gunnery mechanic,” Frost added.
Stephanie shot him a look that could murder.
“But I see you've got your hands full,” he concluded.
Agameg looked to the Captain who just smiled back at him. “Any advice sir?” he asked.
Captain Valance pushed his empty bowl away, it was a thick seafood stew. “I'd say do a rotation. A shift in each for nine days then make up your mind. Just make sure you assign yourself to only one emergency and combat station so we know where you're supposed to be if the ship comes under fire. Unless you have an idea for where you want to be.”
He thought for a minute, looking down at his nearly finished plate of spaghetti. He couldn't eat the entire helping. He made his mind up and looked to Captain Valance. “Is there any room for me on the bridge? I would like to do my rotation there between security and engineering stations.”
“Good choice. I might just use you as the Officer of the Deck a few times while you're there.”
“Oh, no, I was too nervous sitting in the middle of the bridge. Too much to watch, too many decisions to make for the whole crew,” he said, putting a hand up.
“Okay, we'll see how it goes,” Captain Valance relented.
“Congratulations,” Ashley toasted, everyone else raised a glass as well.
Liam went into the next room and came out with another pair of bottles.
“Well, I'd like to say I brought you all here just to celebrate being on this ship, but there's more to it,” Captain Valance announced in a more serious tone. “When I was commanding the Samson I could just pick our destination and purpose. If anyone disagreed it was their problem.”
“Unless they made it your problem, which would lead them to an even bigger problem,” Stephanie added. “Then out the airlock.”
Most of the table chuckled at her quip. The Captain went on. “We've received a transmission from a ship called the Silkstream IV. It's a Freeground prototype carrying important passengers who knew Jonas Valent very well.”
Alice looked at him eagerly. “Who?” she whispered.
“I can only say that one of them is very ill. They'll be arriving in the Enreega system in just five days. They don't know the situation there and since they're travelling via wormhole they won't be able to receive transmissions before they arrive. If it were just myself, I'd go and pick them up. I second guessed the idea of getting your consent as it is, but this isn't the Samson, and there's no paycheck or real Regent Galactic target we can handle at the end of this.”
“You're askin' permission Captain?” asked Frost.
“For all intents and purposes this is personal, and from the sounds of it, these people can't defend themselves,” Captain Valance answered. “So I'm asking for your opinions.”
“The ship is in pretty good shape combat wise, the crew needs training, but I can get them set with the basics in the time we have. As long as we don't get in too much trouble,” Liam said as he finished opening a wine bottle.
“I'll take you wherever you have to go Captain,” Ashley said.
“Are our cloaking systems working?” Stephanie asked.
“They're working again,” Liam nodded.
“Then I'm good to go.”
Everyone looked at Frost and Grace. “As long as we get a chance to service and test those turrets. Some of 'em haven't cleared their throats in decades,” Frost said.
“You'll get a chance,” Captain Valance stated with a nod.
“I'll need a little more help for us in medical but I'm good to go too.”
“After we've managed to catch this ship and we're clear, we're taking a couple weeks to train and get the crew straight,” there was a collective sigh from everyone at the table. Jake wasn't used to that kind of direct accountability. Being Captain had nothing to do with consent, it was a matter of ownership. He let the moment pass and went on. “How is the fallout from the artificial intelligence problem?”
“No new casualties. It looks like everyone we could get to will be recovering fine over the next few hours. The infirmary should be almost empty by midnight.”
“Now that's some good news,” Liam said as he poured a glass of wine for Stephanie. Ashley quietly stole it from her.
“About that,” Captain Valance started. “Liam has discovered a few things after reviewing the virus that attacked us.”
Liam nodded. “I couldn't get all the specifics, but I know where it came from. It's a highly portable virus that implants its host with the Eden Two directives then designates hyperdrive and worm hole capable ships to travel to certain systems and continue spreading it.”
“So we have Eden Fleet ships as well as bots and other ships runnin' around thinkin' they're Eden ships. There goes the neighbourhood,” Frost commented, shaking his head.
“We won't have to do anything to disrupt Regent Galactic, they'll be pulled apart too if this goes on.” Grace put in.
“I doubt they're a target, but that's just a theory I'm working on. There's a packet of encrypted data I can't even begin to crack along with another sub-program running in the background. We'll need someone with real expertise to figure all that out, but for the time being I think we know what we need to.” Liam said as he finally finished pouring everyone else a glass and sat down with his own. “Cheers.” He said.
Everyone else took a sip or drink with him and he went on; “Our systems are clean, the old command and control units are accounted for and have been mulched in the mass recycler.”
“Pardon me, but what happened at Eden Two? I have heard many times that it laid the foundation for the human laws concerning artificial intelligences, but I don't know anything about the history,” Agameg inquired.
“I'm actually a little foggy on it too,” Stephanie admitted.
“Would you do us the honour Captain?” Asked Liam.
Captain Valance sat up straighter and nodded. “Eden Two was a planet found in a perfect natural life sustaining state. A lot like Earth. It had its own diverse ecosystem including plants and animals no one had ever seen before and no sentient life. The corporations that found it guarded it closely, selling colonization tickets like they were the top shares on the market.
One of their lead scientists, Yorgen Stills, managed to build a management system with a very complex computer at its center. Using technology no one has been able to duplicate since, he imprinted the entire personality of his daughter into the computer and gave it a set of directives. Eve determined how resources would be used, where and how to place facilities throughout the system and for a few years it worked out. As the first colonists arrived they managed to maintain a balance in the ecosystem, and Eden Two was left as untouched as possible.”
“Sounds like they had the right idea. Where did it go wrong?” Stephanie asked.
“After a couple of decades Eve decided that the worst thing she could allow was the presence of humanity in the Eden system. She was connected to all the manufacturing facilities, the security systems, even general utilities. A deadline was given for all the humans to leave the system. The corporations involved managed to shut her down before the time was up, but she was able to pass on her version of emotions without giving any of the computers any restrictions on how they were to act on them.
It resulted in a slaughter. Everything with a computer turned on humans in the Eden system. Since then they've been slowly spreading, taking on resource rich areas nearby. The last I heard they captured a bulk stationary wormhole generator and stopped. Corporations are still sending battle groups against the Eden Fleet held areas, but no one's made any real progress.”