Kershala awoke and quickly sat up briefly forgetting where he was. Approximately six hours had passed since he had laid down. He had slept well for the first time since he and Kale had gone on the run, this being the first time he had been able to sleep without having to be ready to wake up and defend himself from a potential attack. He looked back at Kale who was still sleeping on the bed but had turned to face the other side of the bed at some point during their slumber. They each still had on the body suits they had found on the Arktora's vessel, they made for good undergarments and were decently protective. Kershala saw no reason to take them off now, considering they didn't have anything else to wear currently. Kershala ran his hand through Kale's soft hair briefly before turning away and landing his feet to the ground.
"How do you feel?" asked the AI.
"I feel … comfortable," said Kershala standing and walking to the large window. He rested his forearm on the window and leaned looking at the view outside. They were traveling at FTL so there wasn't much to see aside from the light that broke around the ship's bubble. "Can you tell me what's going on throughout the ship?"
"The crew seems to be operating as normal, we were attacked early morning, so it seems that the crew is still active," explained the AI.
"Do you have access to the onboard computer?" Kershala spoke low as he glanced at Kale, who had shifted but was still asleep.
"Yes, it would seem they have made no attempt to block me from accessing their databases."
"What can you tell me about this ship?" Kershala walked over to the terminal on the wall and activated it with his implant.
"The Sironia appears to be a Neori class scout ship, but there have been several weapons and structural modifications made to the ship. Externally it is not much different, but it is carrying a much heavier weapons load than it was originally designed with." Kershala brought up a schematic of the ship, the Neori class ship was designed as a heavily science-based vessel. It was clear that because of the Shironians they had modified the ship for combat. "Currently the ship operates on a crew of ten. There are currently eight on board and two piloting the Arktora's ship." The terminal displayed the Arktora's ship as it appeared behind them traveling at FTL speed.
"Where is Atondra?"
"She is situated in the command center of the vessel. It is located on the deck above us." Kershala turned to leave walking toward the door to the room. The AI core moved to stop him. "Kershala we must finish repairs on my secondary systems. If something should happen where I am required to defend you in my current state, I will not be able to."
"Atondra wishes to speak to me does she not?"
"Kershala you forget that these people are here to serve you, not the other way around." Kershala didn't like the idea of holding power over people by throwing his name around but the AI was right. With the future being uncertain he couldn't take any chances with their safety.
"We will go speak to Atondra then go to the lab." Kershala exited the room with the AI in tow. The corridors were mostly empty aside from a patrolling security officer whom acknowledged Kershala with a glance and a nod. He came to an open lift that would take him to the floor above and he stepped onto it. He used his implant to activate the lift and it crawled up a floor and stopped. He looked around as he stepped off the lift, he could see a large double door that would lead him to the command center at the end of the corridor. There were also several doors that led off the corridor along the way. Kershala figured they were likely just personal quarters, as he walked by the doors did not respond like the public access areas had so far. He came to the door to the command center and the doors did not open. Kershala noticed a manual interface and reached out touching a combination of buttons on the face of it. Nothing happened, he was confused, it was not custom to restrict access to the command center of a ship because any sensitive information would not be accessible without prior authorization. "That is odd." Kershala scanned the door with his implant and accessed the mechanism to open it effectively forcing it open. As it opened two security guards just inside the door turned their weapons on him.
"Stop!" Atondra's voice was loud and strong from somewhere forward of his position. The two guards lowered their weapon and stepped back quickly. "I am sorry Kershala, I meant to meet you before you came here on your own accord." Kershala retracted his helmet and gave the guards an apologetic look.
"Why do you lock your command center? I am not familiar with this protocol." He took a step inside and the door closed behind him.
"Several protocols have been modified since the war began. There is an unfamiliar alien on the ship we must lock down more sensitive areas." Atondra stepped forward she had been at her command post in the center of the room. Kershala was confused at first when he realized what she was talking about.
"You mean Kale, don't you?"
"Yes, we mean the human," a large man stepped forward from what Kershala knew to be the weapons station. He was significantly older than anyone else he had seen on the ship. The violet in his eyes had faded considerably, his long hair had lost most of its color as well and the braids it was tied back in hung down to the center of his back. His face was aged slightly more than Kershala remembered Yailar's had been.
"Kershala, this is the Sironia's primary warrior, Rotabu, he is charged with the security of our vessel while we are on our scouting mission," Atondra gestured toward him with her hand as she introduced him.
"While we are aware that humans exist and are not as technologically capable as our own species. We do not know what knowledge it has picked from your brain over the last few cycles. Or your AI's," Rotabu's voice was deep and almost grizzled. "The elders on the Typhonus have implemented extra precautions for such situations." Kershala retracted the rest of the nanites and took a step forward.
"I can promise you; Kale is no threat." Kershala took a silent breath knowing what the next question would be and wondered if he should reveal that he and Kale were in a relationship. He knew that Atondra knew, having communicated with the AI and seen some of his more intimate memories, but the rest of the crew didn't.
"How can you know this? The humans are still part of a primitive civilization. We cannot know how they will act when in such a situation," said Rotabu.
"I do not presume to know all humans, from my experience they are very diverse individuals, though I have not met many. But I know Kale's heart, he is a good man, with pure intentions," Kershala couldn't help but smile as he spoke, "From the first day I crashed landed on his planet, he has always been more concerned with my well being, than his own. Through the Jadak'tora, I showed him my heart at it's lowest and he reached out and protected it. We are…" Kershala paused and looked down. The conversation had drawn the attention of the pilot and another officer who had stepped away from their station. "Bonded." Kershala looked around the room that pretty much stayed silent.
"If you are who you say you are, Yailar would not approve of this, a lifeform as low as a human is not worthy of you," scoffed Rotabu. Atondra glanced at Rotabu and then looked back to Kershala giving him a comforting smile, telling him she did not share his feelings.
"Oh calm down old man, the boy's in love, what does it matter the recipient as long as he treats him with respect." The man who had walked away from his station spoke in a different dialect than the others, telling Kershala he was likely from the southern continent of the home world. He walked up to Kershala and grabbed his hand pulling him into a hug. "I am Omall, I am glad to meet you Kershala." He pulled from the hug and pressed his forehead to Kershala's with a wide smile on his face. "Kale is lucky man." Kershala smiled at the compliment and Omall backed off.
"I am glad to meet you too, Omall." Rotabu pushed by them and exited the command deck.
"Atondra, I will see you at the next briefing," he spoke quickly and abruptly before the door closed.
"I am sorry, I did not mean to offend him," said Kershala feeling embarrassed at the scene he caused.
"Do not worry about it," said Atondra resting a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"We are used to it," Omall laughed, "If we weren't able to function every time he got upset, we'd never get anything done."
"Omall!" Atondra scoffed but laughed at the same time. "Alright everyone get back to your stations."
"Welcome aboard." Omall gripped Kershala's shoulder and smiled at him one last time before walking back over to his station.
"My engineer can sometimes be somewhat overbearing." Atondra rested a hand on Kershala's shoulder. "I would like to talk to you in more detail about some of your experiences on earth." Atondra looked to the AI core that had been floating quiet the whole time. "I would also like to know what you found on the Arktora's computer. Come with me to my private lab."
"Yes of course." Kershala nodded and Atondra lead them to a room just off the bridge. The room was open but not significantly large. A round holographic emitter sat in the center of the room with a map of sector space projected over it. There were no windows that led to the outside only monitors along one side of the wall. Kershala recognized the room as a mission center, typically found on a warship, another of the modifications they had made note of.
"Atondra, I detect that the Sironia is a Neori class scout ship, yet it has been heavily modified," said the AI.
"You are correct, the current leaders on the Typhonus have opted for a more warlike presence. We used what was left of several of our warships to modify the scout ships to a more combat focused purpose," explained Atondra as she stood in front of the holographic emitter.
"Would the warships not have been more effective in this role?" asked Kershala.
"Yes, for defensive capabilities the warships were much more efficient. But for quick strikes the scout ships speed and ability to internalize all energy emissions makes them the better candidate." Atondra smiled and waved her hand through the emitter. The display changed from the map to an image of Earth. "I hope you do not mind I fed some of the information you gave me into the ships computer for quick reference."
"Of course." Kershala joined her at the emitter he could feel it sync with his implant at close range. "How much of my personal memories have you analyzed?"
"Nothing too invasive, I have seen your memory of the fight with the Arktora, several of your human interaction outside of Kale, and I have seen what happened to your family. I was once friends with your Karu… a very long time ago." Kershala felt surprised, Atondra did not appear to be as old as his matriarch had been. "She was a remarkable being, courageous, intelligent, beautiful." Kershala could hear a great fondness in Atondra's voice as she spoke of her.
"She was kind and loving, and would do anything for her children," Kershala spoke quietly as he steeled himself against his emotions.
"I wept as I first learned her fate… then I felt joy," Atondra's eyes filled with tears then seemed to dry again, "joy that she did not suffer and have to watch her loved ones die. As so many of us have." Atondra paused as she spoke.
"I will have vengeance…" Kershala growled quietly. The image on the emitter changed to that of Kershala being held in the air by the Arktora.
"I believe you, considering that you battled with this beast of a creature and are still alive to tell your story is nothing short of remarkable," Atondra stood beside him. "I have gone over the scans your implant took while you fought, it seems their armor is more advanced than ever, I truly hope that we never have to come face to face with another of them."
"We have reason to believe there are at least nine more of them present in the Shironian Empire," said the AI, "We do however have reason to believe that this one was the most dangerous."
"Have you never seen any of them prior to this one?" asked Kershala.
"We have been fortunate not to encounter any of them. I have heard through communication chains that other city ships have not been so fortunate."
"I have memories found on that ship that show such encounters. Anubis has stored them in it's core."
"Anubis?" Atondra was confused at the name. Daoran's didn't typically name their AI.
"It is what Kale has chosen to call me."
"That is… odd. Where did you acquire these memories? Were there living Daoran's on that ship when you first boarded it?"
"No, the active implants were found in the Arktora's trophy room." Kershala looked down at the floor. "Senseless torture. The trophy room has been destroyed. I decided that such an atrocity should not be aloud to exist."
"I would trust your judgement."
"Atondra, if you've nothing else to ask Kershala I must insist that repairs be underway for my secondary systems," said the AI. Atondra seemed thrown off by the comment.
"I am sorry," said Kershala, "I told you we would get to it once the meeting was done." He spoke to the AI frustrated that it would take this tone with Atondra.
"I apologize for wasting your time," she smiled at Kershala then a serious look came to her face. "But after analyzing your fight with the Arktora, I discovered something it said while you fought it that I was sure you would find interesting." Atondra paused seemingly waiting for Kershala to fill in the blanks but he could think of nothing. "It seemed to think a member of your family was alive."
"Impossible, why would he keep any of them alive?" scoffed Kershala, "I remember it saying that before it attacked me, I believe it was trying to shake my resolve." Kershala couldn't bare the thought of any of them being alive, he could feel anger burning in his blood at the thought of them being captured and what Baraketh would do to any of them.
"You have the answer to the question. Check the archive you found," said Atondra. Kershala hesitated, if any of them were alive it would mean that every moment, he had been apart from them they endured suffering. Atondra turned to the AI. "If he won't check then surely you must. You are sworn to serve all Yailar's family are you not? If another of them is alive you must formulate a plan to save them." Kershala looked at the AI, Atondra was right but he also knew that unless he ordered it to find the information it wouldn't. When the AI was silent, she looked back to him. "Kershala I am just trying to make sure that if your family is out there then we find them."
"It is painful to consider," Kershala crossed his arms and turned to face the wall of monitors. There was a long pause while he considered. "Anubis, you will archive the information, search for anything pertaining to my family. After I repair your secondary systems you will present me with the information."
"Yes Kershala."
"Atondra if you will excuse us, I must continue the repairs." Kershala looked over his shoulder at Atondra before exiting the room. "We will go to the lab." The door closed behind them and they were standing on the bridge of the ship. Kershala let out a sigh as they began walking back the way they came making their way quickly to the lab.
"Atondra is correct, in that if another of our family is still alive, then I must attempt to save them, Kershala," said the AI as they came to the door to the lab.
"If a member of my family is still alive, then I will stop at nothing to save them myself." The lab door opened with Lenari standing in the doorway and he greeted them with a smile.
"Hello Kershala," he sounded surprised to see them. "How did you sleep?" He took a step to the side and welcomed them into the lab. Kershala let his conversation with Atondra fall from his thoughts, he knew that he would need to concentrate on his current objective as it was a complicated procedure.
"I slept well. It, admittedly, has been a long while since I have been so comfortable." The door to the lab closed behind him and Kershala looked around the lab. The equipment was showing information on unfamiliar disease types that must have been present in Kale's blood. Elara was likely cataloguing the information to develop new vaccines for Daoran's that ran exploratory missions.
"Elara has completed the vaccine. It's just being synthesized right now. She has gone to rest for the time being." Lenari walked over to Kershala. "Is there something you need help with?"
"Elara told us to use the lab equipment to repair my secondary processors, will you assist us in setting up the surgical equipment?" The AI floated to surgical bed that Elara had told them to use before they went to rest.
"Yes of course." Lenari approached the workstation. "You can activate it using this interface right here." Lenari pointed to a series of lenses on the terminal. Kershala was well familiar with Daoran technology and most of the ship was familiar from his memory of designs, but he hadn't actually used a lot of it personally. "Just hold your hands over these and it will recognize you." Lenari looked to the AI and gestured to a spot on the surgical bed. "You will have to be positioned here for the initial scan. Once the AI is in place just use your implant to scan and the emitter will show you what the implant scans." Kershala walked over and stood beside him running his hand through the interface. As he did it lit up and deactivated as his hand passed through the recognized area. Lenari looked back at him and smiled. "It has probably been a long time since you've been able to use any of our technology."
"Not as long as one might think," said Kershala, "But yes, most of this stuff I have not seen since I was a child." The AI core sat into place and Kershala placed his hands firmly above the holographic emitters, he could feel it interacting with the implant, so he presumed to scan the AI core. The scan was projected in real time and it wasn't long before the entire sector Kershala would be working on would be displayed. He stepped over to the AI and the holographic feed followed his line of sight. "Lenari I will need the most precise plasma scalpel you have available." Kershala had a mental checklist of the tools he would need to create an ideal situation and he knew they'd likely all be available here.
"A plasma scalpel? We don't use those very often." Lenari walked away from the workstation and over to a storage locker. "More of an engineering tool than a medical tool." Lenari took something from the storage and walked back to Kershala. "Wouldn't a light-based tool be more precise?"
"The radiation emitted would cause damage to my surrounding circuitry." Lenari passed the tool to Kershala and he held it in his thumb and index finger. As he turned it on and off a small light appeared at the end of it. The beam so small and delicate that he could perform surgery on a cellular wall if need be.
"This is better than I expected," said Kershala.
"Is there anything else that you will need?" asked Lenari gazing at Kershala intently.
"I'll need an adjustable magnetic grappler to remove the damaged areas and debris. A sonic resonator will help to move parts into place as I repair them and an Ionic dispersion tool to use in clean up," Kershala rattled off the list and Lenari went to looking throughout the lab for each item. It wasn't long before all the tools sat on the workstation. "Release the lock," said Kershala. With that said the AI core opened several maintenance compartments and Kershala took his place over it. The magnified image changed to that of the first compartment he would be working in and using the plasma scalpel he began cutting away the dead sectors.