“May I recommend you wear at least minimal armor sir? There are light encounter suits with a sealable air supply near the ramp.”

  “Not as bulky as the full space suit I hope?”

  “No sir, these do not have built in RCS thrusters and only light augmentation at the joints, and standard implant integration. Well in addition to environmental protection and heating and cooling coils, as well as...”

  “I got it” I interrupted and nodded, something between me and the outside world was welcome, especially when everything had been infected by a Berzerker virus, but I could tell Hook would go on about every feature in the suit if I let him.

  Between the two of us, Carolina and I were able to get me down to the main ramp, an area that I had never been before. It actually opened directly into the medium fabricator I had salvaged and installed, the 'hallway' we passed through was actually the main manufacturing floor.

  I put on the light body armor, which came with it's own one piece suit that I had to practically roll onto myself after I asked Carolina to turn around.

  “Is there another for Carolina to wear?”

  “If you go back to the bridge you can command the fabricator you just walked through to build another for her.”

  I thought about how much work it would be to get down here with my current condition, and looked over at Carolina.

  She pursed her lips.

  I could tell she was going to say she should go unarmored, and I could also tell I'd feel like a complete ass if I did it.

  I sighed. “Hold on, let me get this on and I'll go up and figure it out.”

  She looked relieved as I got the shoulders of the suit over my chest and stepped behind me to clasp it in place.

  As soon as it sealed I felt the whole suit give a shudder, and additional information began popping up on my hud, suit integrity, environmental data including air quality and content, and oh hey, it just enlarged the blinking medical alert that I had minimized fifteen times on the way down here, joy.

  Though there was a new option available on this medical alert, I actually read through it.

  EXTREME VERTIGO DETECTED. INITIATE SERVO STABILIZATION?

  I thought-clicked yes and immediately was standing straight, not a waver in my stance.

  “Oh that's cool...”

  “What? Carolina asked.

  “The suit can stand for me.”

  I tried to walk, there was a little resistance, then the suit seemed to figure out what I was trying to do and I practically glided along.

  “Oh this is so much better... I never want to take this thing off!” I exclaimed.

  “Captain Brayden Cofey, That is not recommended, while the light encounter suit is designed for short-to-mid term use, it does not have the waste recycling present in larger more robust suits or in the helm station.”

  I glared up at the ceiling.

  Carolina asked. “Waste recycling? Helm station?”

  “Don't ask, you don't want to know.” I replied shortly.

  I hadn't either, until I had inquired halfway through my three day bender in full synch about what happened when my body needed to poop.

  Hook had almost gleefully told me in graphic detail how the helm station handled it.

  “Alright, let's go back up to the Helm, I'll make you a suit real quick.”

  “Do we have the time for that?”

  “Whatever the berzerker's did to bugger the city isn't going to stop anytime soon, even if I get hooked in.”

  She nodded, then we both started making our way up. I could tell Carolina was watching me to see if she needed to catch me, but it felt like the suit was bracing whenever my head began to swim.

  We reached the helm(again) and I ducked in through the door. Carolina came in behind me.

  “I've never really looked around in here... It looks way more high tech than anything else. Little dark though.”

  She wasn't wrong. While the rest of the ship was... pretty bland, save for the drones running everywhere and the strange techno-organic feel of the design.

  The bridge was covered in running lights, displays, holo displays, multiple stations where someone could sit and connect in... I honestly had not investigated it much. Everytime my eyes drifted over a certain section of the bridge I twitched a little. Other than the running and indicator lights however everything was shrouded in darkness. C.O.G. Did not believe in overhead lighting apparently.

  Carolina's gaze caughton something. “Is that blood?”

  Her gaze had caught on the part of the bridge that made me twitch.

  I didn't answer her.

  “From my archives that is the section of the bridge Captain Joe was manning was he was killed in action. All organic matter that could impede ship operation has been cleaned, however the chemical interaction of blood with the station has caused a permanent stain. It will need to be replaced to remove.”

  I quickly sat down in the helm station without saying anything.

  The suit I was wearing had a sphincter that opened to allow the connection probe through, and I was once more in full synchronization with the ship.

  It didn't take long for me to find the specs of the suit I was wearing, and I loaded them into the fabricator.

  It came back with an hour long wait time, and I quickly dived into the schematics, removing all the bits that would integrate with the wearer's cybernetics.

  The counter went down to 10 minutes. After I made sure it would fit her, which turned out to be a non-issue, as the interior... body glove? Was incredibly elastic. I started up the process and said over the bridge's speakers.

  “10 minutes and we'll have your suit.”

  Through the bridge camera's I could see Carolina walking around my inert body.

  “So you are really running the entire ship from here?”

  “Yep. Like it's my own body. Only without the aches and pains and falling over.” I replied flippantly.

  She snorted.

  “Kindof sounds like you'd be more at home in a ship-body than a human body.”

  I paused.

  She wasn't entirely wrong.

  “You aren't all the way wrong on that. I don't think the body I was born with likes me very much.”I replied.

  Her face turned sad as she looked at me.

  “I'm sorry you've had to go through all that, it sounds like you've had a hard life.” She commiserated with me.

  “Says the woman with cancer.” I replied like the ass I am.

  “And like that, all my sympathy, whoosh, gone!” And we were done with the sad talk, mission accomplished!

  I chuckled.

  “With luck we can get you on a proper treatment regimine here. I know we've been giving you meds to keep it at bay aboard ship, but I doubt COG medical technology is really up to snuff on this. They seem more likely to just cut out the cancerous part of you and replace it. Or if it's really bad, upload you to a new body.”

  Hook Chimed in. “My records show I should at least attempt to defend COG medical practices in this regard... however your assessment is accurate. COG medicine is focused on holding conditions at bay until augmentation can replace the malfunctioning part or a COG consciousness can be moved to another body.”

  I made a snorting sound over the sensors.

  Carolina made a face, then poked my body.

  “So how much do you feel when you are in there.”

  “Nothing.”

  “Nothing at all?”

  “Nope. Apparently that is weird, and another reason to get checked out. Most COG pilots.... Captains.... people doing this have a synchronization rate somewhere between zero and one hundred percent with the ship, and that sliding percentage lets them keep semi-aware of their body. I'm not sure what the percentage's mean but...”

  “From my records Captain-Hook was able to continue drinking coffee with her body at fifty percent synchronization, and maintain a physical conversation at 25%.”

  “There you go.”

  “But you don't.”

  “Nope, stuck at 100%.” I replied.

  She looked pensive there, through the camera's. She looked up at said camera before replying.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “That's... not good is it. If you run an engine at maximum thrust all the time it's going to break down and need maintenance sooner.” She said, her mind working at this problem.

  “On the contrary” The new Hook interjected “Very few pilots are able to maintain 100% Synchronization for any length of time. That Captain Cofey can do so sis phenomenal.”

  “And yet...” I said.

  “And yet it does indicate there is likely a physical anomaly within Captain Cofey's brain. That being said I am certain there are many Captains back on Prime who would love a brain scan of Captain Cofey. You may be the father of a whole new line of augments!”

  I paused.

  “That would actually be pretty cool, and gives me even more reason to get to prime, but I still need to make it there in one piece. Need to see a doctor about all the weird stuff going on, and to see if there is anything worsening from my condition.”

  “Your implants, while they are registering multiple anomalies in your brain, appear to be keeping your condition in check so far Captain.” New-Hook stated.

  “And I would like to keep it that way.” I replied.

  “So... You've talked about it before, what exactly IS your condition Brayden?”

  It was kindof nice to be called by my first name now and again, it made things feel less... intense.

  “Don't know, parts of my brain swell up and put pressure on other parts of my brain. I needed a wheelchair on bad days back home. I got put in cryo because they thought long term exposure to cold could reduce the swelling enough that later on they could operate, assuming they could figure out what was causing it in the first place.”

  “So... wait... you went into cryo BEFORE the big diaspora, before everyone left earth?”

  “Yep, was a helluva trip with Joe and Hook waking me up five hundred years later.”

  She looked like she was about to say something, but didn't. She stopped and thought for a good long while

  After an uncomfortably long pause she spoke up.

  “That sounds... intense.” was all she said.

  “Wasn't that intense till pirates attacked... And Joe and Hook died.” I replied.

  She frowned, then went and sat in one of the empty seats in the bridge.

  “So, if you all have implants that let you see stuff in your heads... why have screens here? And holo stuff?” She asked.

  “They are mostly backup systems, in case a Captain's implants are damaged, or there are auxillary crew aboard that either cannot or will not link in. Also they help when the captain is not at 100% synchronization, they can offload some of the data to a terminal and view it from their corporeal form while also doing things in their snychronized space. Captain Joe used it to assist Captain Bait during the fight with the pirates, for example, as he could not synchronize at the same time as Captain Bait due to security protocols, but his implants allowed him to partially connect and improve the efficiency of the turrets substantially.” Hook replied

  “I thought all COG members would have the implants to do that.”

  “They should, but COG is not monolithic. Also occasionally COG ships need to transport people from planet to planet. It's not like people want to stay on their homeworld forever. Furthermore C.O.G. Captains may have family on board that are not fully augmented as per C.O.G. Standard, though that is rare on a ship built for battle like Hook.”

  “Huh... for some reason the way Hook and Joe described it I actually thought they would all be heavily augmented.. Also I didn't think interplanetary travel was all that common”

  “Oh it's not common, at least not as common as plane flights in your time Captain. There is a lot that can go wrong with space travel after all, but deep within faction territories there's fairly regular transportation done either by COG captains or drone ships said captains have made. It does not take a very smart program to fly to a planet, land, wait to take on passengers, take off and take them somewhere else. It is energetically expensive however, and while there is no universal currency, each planet has ways of regulating who can use said transport ships.”

  “I honestly thought COG folk wouldn't bother with setting up a transport network, what with them being so anarchic.”

  “It only takes one member of COG to want to make space trains, then once they build one another captain will say 'I can make it better' and then an entire sub-culture is born trying to make the best space train that gets the most people on board. They invariably lose interest over time, but by that point the planetary populations have a decent network, and it's not like the planetary governments cannot call up COG Captains for help. COG captains are generally fairly accommodating to planets in their factions territory, especially if the planet is having issues and it's, say, impacting the ability to upload media to orbit.”

  “Right, media, Hook mentioned that COG captains are starved for stimulation.” I replied, thinking back to my first conversations with the two captains.

  “Being able to slow down time around you and experience things at a much higher reference frame leaves a lot of empty time to fill, especially if for some reason they HAVE to stay at a higher reference frame.”

  “That's been bothering me, why would they? In that fight I even put together a little script to bounce me in and out of frame jack during the fight because the pace was constantly changing, I would launch, then I would evade, and then there would be... nothing to do between the salvo hitting and whatnot.”

  “You did? That is... well most COG captains do not do that. They describe moving from one reference frame to another as anywhere from disconcerting to nausea inducing.”

  “Huh... I don't feel that at all.”

  “I will add it to you list of abnormalities captain.” Hook deadpanned.

  If I could have made a face at Hook I would.

  “So... does that mean you are kinda special Brayden?” Carolina asked.

  “I'm sick Carolina, there's just some weird stuff that comes with it.” I answered her

  “Okay but... hold on. You can maintain this full synch forever basically, when it seems really hard for other people in your faction to reach that.” She outlined her argument.

  “Yeah but I can't go up or down in synchronization.” I argued.

  “Yeah but... isn't full synch just better for controlling a ship?” She countered.

  “I mean...”

  “Technically yes Carolina.” Hook interjected.

  “So... I mean, you should get checked out, but maybe you want to investigate your condition beyond 'let's cure this'. I guess I work for the empire, and this would make one of the empires enemies stronger if it got out.... but you did me a solid so I'm just saying.” Carolina seemed to have confused herself and ground herself to a halt. She was blinking as if she didn't understand where that whole 'empire' thing had come from.

  “God, if I were a lord captain this would be easier. Even something minor like being a baronet would mean I should be able to make a decision like this.” She said alloud. I was eyeing her out of the corner of my... lens. I think she would have driven herself into a fugue state if she had gone on this line of thought when we first found her.

  I thought.

  “What if you were?”

  “What?”

  “What if you were a 'lord-captain'?”

  “But I'm not.”

  “What is the difference between the clones on the crew of an imperial ship and the lord-captain who controls it?

  “Uh, the lord captain has all the codes to her ship and a signet ring that identifies her to her other holdings. Or him I guess. I only ever dealt with My Lady Carolina.” She replied.

  “So... if you were to, say, get ahold of said signet... do you think her other holdings would identify you as the Lord-Captain?” I asked.

  She stopped and blinked.

  I was waiting for it. Hook wouldn't be able to continue the deprogramming they... it... had begun, so this was what we had. If she could handle it now.

  “I... I guess I could... My Lady Carolina didn't have any family who would take over her holdings, so they'd just be sitting there until another Baronet came along to claim it forcefully. I'd still need more information...”

  “Like information that might be in a logbook?”

  “I mean, yeah...”

  One of the hatches in the bridge popped out, and the remains of the logbook and the damaged signet popped out on a tray.

  “Oh my... You had them?”

  “I found them in the captain's ready-room. Along with her hand... Just before I found you.”

  “Why did you wait till now to tell me?”

  “Because last time I told you you appeared to have some kind of pre-programmed response that turned you into a burnout. It was like talking to someone who had just smoked a ton of, I don't know, space weed. Hook figured it was some kind of sleep conditioning and had been doing something to dampen it down while we were on the way to the planet, but that Hook is dead now so... Now or never.”

  She blinked, and reached for the signet.