Chapter 66. Barracuda.

  “Carter, explain what happened while we work on you,” Watkins said. With Lani’s help, they were beating back the council programming. The assault on Carter was weakening, and as the council’s hold on his former crewman was pushed back, more of the man himself returned.

  “It was something they discovered while examining the jump point to Earth. When we were pulled through, something happened and the jump point was sealed forever, but that part of space wasn’t normal. There’s still something there, like a rip in the fabric of reality. From that spot, more of the void creatures entered.

  A small probe was sent to examine it, and we found that things on the other side tried to get though when they sensed a power source. Since then, we’ve kept well away from the actual jump point, but the council programmed a probe to head there and flare its engine if the station looked like it was going to fall. The drive flare from the probe should be more than enough to draw something to us,” Carter explained.

  Watkins scanned for the probe, but it was outside the range of his sensors. Carter gave him the coordinates, and it was too far out for him to chase down before it arrived at its destination. If something did come through the rip created by the failed jump point, he wanted control of the sensor buoy’s the station kept functional so he could have advance warning.

  “Carter, fight back, help me gain control over the station’s systems,” Watkins said.

  “I’m trying, sir, the council is starting a program to purge data from the servers. I’m blocking it for now. I can’t do much else at the moment,” Carter said.

  “That’s good, keep protecting the data, we’ll deal the hostile programming,” Watkins said. Their efforts had purged the council’s influence from Carter’s core, and they were now pushing into the servers themselves. It was tempting to stop and peruse the data inside, but the time for that would be after the battle for control was won.

  “Watkins, I’m seeing data leaking from some of the servers, it’s being sent over to the next compartment, the one we haven’t seen inside of yet,” Lani warned.

  “Carter, any idea what’s going on?” Watkins said, giving his core another thorough inspection to verify it was free of outside control.

  “That’s me, I’m losing ground on protecting all the data so I’m focusing on saving the crew. I’m transferring the rest of the crew into core housings like the one I have so we don’t lose them,” Carter said.

  “Good work, keep it up,” Watkins said as he pushed through the servers, quickly wiping out any trace of the council’s hold over them. Each server was cleansed more quickly than the last as both Watkins and Lani improved their skill at defeating the now familiar hostile code.

  The last server was finally cleared of council corruption, and Watkins could feel something like a weight being removed from his shoulders. Control over the station was granted to him, but Carter was still the primary link here. They could circumvent Carter’s control if Watkins wanted, but his core lacked the processing power to do everything aboard both the Canon and the station.

  “Petty Officer Carter, I’m going to leave you in command of the station. My drones will help, but we need to get repairs completed quickly. If something does pop out of the void, I want both the station and the Canon ready for a fight,” Watkins ordered.

  “Aye, sir, I’ll get the station ship shape again. Things even seem easier now that there aren’t council restrictions hemming me in. It will take me some time to settle in completely, though. The council kept most of my core in isolation, just activating the bare minimum of what it needed, when it needed. This is the first time I’ve gotten the chance to stretch my legs and utilize my full capabilities,” Carter said. Watkins could feel the relief in his voice.

  “We don’t have legs anymore, but I get what you mean,” Watkins said.

  “Now that their control is gone, there is one thing I can do for you, Captain,” Carter said.

  The core known as Petty Officer Carter has requested access to your core control module.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Do you wish to allow access? Y/N.

  Before he could hit no and get a better explanation about what Carter wanted to do to his core, another prompt appeared.

  Permissions are no longer required, access to the core control module has been granted to the key administrator of council holdings in this sector, the being known as Petty Officer Carter.

  Uploading core system interface upgrades. Please wait as the upgrades are completed…

  Watkins was about to strike back at Carter, taking control of his core before he could do whatever it was, he was trying to do to him, but then a new prompt appeared and pressure that Watkins didn’t even know was there was relieved from his core. Data uploaded, but Watkins and Lani couldn’t detect any harmful intent.

  Core System Interface is now active. This interface, which you experienced an early prototype of, will track progress as your core expands and unlocks new capabilities.

  The being known as Petty Officer Carter has removed the limiter on your core expansion. You may now grow past the previous barrier that was set at Level 2. Your control module settings have been updated, and are now protected from any intrusion, including key administrators.

  He was free, and he could feel it. There was nothing to stop his core’s growth. Even better, there was nothing to stop him from researching a jump drive. Watkins could still feel there were limitations on his core, but those limitations were not artificially imposed by the council and were just the limitations of his core’s current processing power.

  As his core worked, fought, and researched, he would attain higher levels of functionality. New ideas and plans began to form, but before he delved into them, there were more urgent tasks at hand. Lani was still there, and the removal of the limiter didn’t seem to affect their link in any way.

  He found that her presence was comforting and didn’t want to be alone again without her aid. At the moment, she was digging into the servers, hunting for information about herself. He wanted to do the same, but not until they were clear of immediate threats.

  “Thank you, Carter, that’s much better. Now we won’t be stuck in this system forever, at least we won’t be stuck once I finish researching a jump drive that runs on core energy. What about the rest of the crew? Did you manage to save them?” Watkins asked, concerned that he hadn’t heard from any of the others yet.

  “I’m sorry, I couldn’t save them all, there were only seven others with enough data remaining to reconstruct them. They’re being loaded into cores now, but the process is not an easy, or a quick one,” Carter explained.

  “How long are we talking?” Watkins asked.

  His old ship, the Barracuda, had a crew complement of eleven. Counting him and Carter, and the seven others that had been saved, they had lost two. Considering centuries had passed from when they had been snatched from Earth, and the rundown nature of the station, the number of survivors was better than he could have expected.

  Watkins could only hope that the two that were lost managed to pass peacefully into whatever it was that awaited them. For him and the others, there was still a life of sorts to live, and a duty to fulfill. He would bring them home, and they would see, together, what had become of Earth over the centuries.

  “I have them all stable, so they won’t be destroyed or bleed off any data, but it’ll take me months to reconstruct one of them fully. I can only process them one at a time. I’ve already started, but there won’t be any way to know who it is until they’re closer to full integration into their core,” Carter said.

  “Good work, Carter, is there anything we can do to help with the process?” Watkins asked.

  “No, I’m sorry, the process of reconstruction is linked to my core, and there’s only so much of my processing power I can dedicate to the task and still run the station,” Carter explained.

  “As long as they’re safe, we can wait a bit for their return. In the meantime, make sure your primary focus is on getting the station ready for battle. It’ll do them no good if we’re destroyed by some void creature because we weren’t prepared for a fight,” Watkins said.

  “What’s the plan, Captain?” Carter asked.

  “First off, we complete repairs on the ship and the station. The Canon is battered, and will need repairs, and I also want to get some upgrades completed if we have the time. There are also a few drones I can assign to help with the station repairs. As you probably already know, only so many drones can work on one task at a time, freeing up some to help you.

  “I want your weapons back online, and you need to see about adding a few upgrades I’ve researched,” Watkins said, thinking about the beehive defense system and his main guns.

  It wasn’t certain if Carter could power several main batteries, or a missile launcher, but he was going to pack as much firepower into the station as he could. This was going to be their home base for the time being, and he wanted to make sure it could protect itself when the Canon wasn’t around.

  “Captain, I do have one request, can we rename the station? Its current designation is just Jump Point Station 1. Since there’s no longer a jump point nearby, it seems wrong,” Carter asked.

  “I agree, this station, at least for the time being, is a part of you, just the Canon is a part of me. What would you like to call it?” Watkins asked.

  “If you don’t mind, sir, I’d like to name it after our old ship. Can we call it Barracuda Station?” Carter asked.

  “That seems like a perfect name,” Watkins replied. The system interface in their cores formalized the name, even going so far as to alter the IFF interface to reflect the new name.

  The station previously designated Jump Point Station 1 is now designated Barracuda Station.