Similar to the whisperings and vision that had occurred in the Firian Palace; On Planet Rock, strange visions of lost loved-ones seemed to be haunting those within the citadel, especially near the chamber of Kings, where all Rockian Kings, or Queens, had to undergo their test for leadership. Planet Ice reported sightings of strange feline creatures helping those lost in the storms or caves, guiding them up and out of the most dreadful of labyrinthine cave systems.
Even Planet Bone, with its new, strange yet working political system and the recent -though well-kept secret- development of shortages related to the growth of the Lichen covering most of their world, saw notable improvements in their crops, even the worst-off patches showing new expansive growth and even higher yield than before seen. Little blue berries had even begun to appear in the lichen, packed with extra protein and vitamin-rich that seemed to grow even after the lichen had been harvested, some cargo batches arriving at their destinations full to bursting from the continued growth of the lichen and berries.
This strange increase seemed synonymous with the recent shortage being made semi-public on Bone, as though the admittance of a problem caused the planet itself to react and replenish. Tekla had suspected in the initial discovery of the berries and the continued growth of harvested lichen as merely a coincidence, that the likelihood of such being from a psychic response to the worries of the populace were far fetched at best.
Even the followers of Sternum seemed suspect at the changes occurring on the planet, and Tibia, one of Femurs many 'conquests' -though in truth she and Sternum had been childhood friends and terrorised Pelvus and Femur while growing up- and head of the machinists guild noticed even the ships acting strangely too. The living ships utilized by Bone pilots were known for being particular about their operators, not to mention their use, most were brave enough to fly straight into enemy lines, their tusks able to pierce most ship hulls with ease and webbed wings strong enough to withstand most blaster fire to an extent. Now, some were showing signs of curiosity, as though the added technology to their bodies were allowing them more autonomy and even sentience.
One such, Tibias' own ship, a Cargo Freighter she named Lobe, had begun to turn certain readouts on and off, as well as working with her for more complicated tasks. The last time she needed to pick up a load of cargo from Ice; the ship seemed to shiver as she did and self-adjusted its controls as the wind picked up, the hauling line swaying, but not too much to offset the ship, as it seemed to work with her without direct control direction. Cryos had been there, met her gaze briefly in concern when he noticed the cross wind, but she waved it off with a smile. When she had finished that run and returned to Bone, she could have sworn she heard a purring sound from her ship when she powered it down, but had been unable to find the source before it stopped.
Tibia ran tons of diagnostics, performed physical checks, even taking apart all of the technologic additives Tekla had designed and helped mass-produce, finding nothing wrong, some systems adjusted for better functionality as though the ship had done the modification without her, and instead left it alone as she did not see any harm in her ship having some semblance of autonomy. What upset her about this, was that others mentioned similar, but not nearly to the level she had experienced.
Not until an accident where two ships were being tested at once, one in a stationary hover, the other next to it being tested for controlled reaction time, the hovering one deciding to lurch sideways suddenly to avoid the second as it moved too far into the first ship's area and the two nearly collided. It returned to its hover without command, and the second ship landed and powered down, the pilot and all other technicians in hysterics at the sudden movement of the unmanned ship.
After the event in the testing facility, all ships were checked over, inside and out, and only a few seemed to have the strange sentience, though only able to perform somewhat menial tasks without guidance. Like a form of autopilot that would activate on its own, if necessary, and would act based on external stimuli and previously recorded responses.
Tibia found that her cargo freighter seemed to be the only one of the seventeen refurbished units that had shown signs of this sentience, and that hers reacted in ways the other smaller ships did not appear able to. Lobe would wait for her to start an action, see what she planned to do, and activated other systems for her, especially when taking off or landing, as the process usually required two people, which she had streamlined for herself to be able to do alone prior to her ship seeming to gain sentience.
One day following her learning of Femur and Sternum heading off for some big meeting with the other world leaders, Tibia decided to try something even she thought was bordering on insane. She went to her ship, outside her home as she hated leaving it near others and in the bustling mechanic shop where she worked normally, and to keep it from being ripped off by some bumbling fool, which had happened to her a few times.
She went inside, gently caressing the ship as she walked along. Tibia smiled, stopping in the main corridor and shaking her head as the lighting came on without her saying a word. She went to her quarters, lay on the bed, and closed her eyes. She remembered the few times she had been around the Sand people, their telepathy a necessity for the mouthless beings.
Tibia directed her thoughts to her ship, to its core, the ten-chambered beating heart a steady thrum and constant she knew she could rely on, a different sound, like a curious trill, slowly coming from the walls near her. On her feet in a flash, expecting to see a Cannoli worm or some other small critter, yet seeing nothing that could have made the sound visible. She checked through her room anyway, the drawers of her nearby bedside table, the closet for her old uniform, and the hall outside her room before she was satisfied the noise had to be her imagination.
"Ok, I am going crazy." Tibia sighed, moving to sit on the side of the bed, looking at the fleshy floor at her feet. As she thought over the sound, where it might have come from, possibly a leak in one of the fuel lines doing something strange, the floor rippled, and a single word in Bonean script appeared, as though raised from it. Tibia blinked, moving to gingerly run her fingers over it, stiffening when she realised she was seeing and feeling her ship reacting to her. The word, read 'No'.
"You… Lobe, can you understand me?" She spoke, sitting up more but watching the floor and growing increasingly tense as the word smoothed out, and was replaced with 'Yes'. She gaped, beyond confused, slowly relaxing and becoming a bit excited, that she had discovered this first, and would be able to rub it in the faces of the other mechanics, then made a face when she realised she may have to give Lobe up. The word 'Yes' was then replaced with 'Problem?', which further proved something about her ship was definitely sentient, and that it watched even her smaller facial expressions.
"Possibly. We… uh, I," she quickly corrected herself, "need to talk to Femur and Sternum." Her silly grin at Lobe simply clearing away the word and powering up its engines told her it was ready for anything, and held complete trust and solidarity in her, or so she hoped.
"Justicar Frost, we've managed to take out the majority of the guard without issue. All have been disarmed and are in holding cells." Rysint beamed, grinning as he entered the small viewing room of the security wing. Frost had made himself comfortable, and already had the long-range scanners sending false information to the rest of the alliance as he watched their new prisoners idly.
"Well done. And without even alerting the populace. Keep the patrols up with some of ours, just for appearances. Some will notice if the patrols are too sparse."