Double post but it's a chapter so meh.
As the number of chapters remaining in the FTL Arc approaches zero, the level of my satisfaction with the quality of the chapters also approaches zero.
At this point I'm churning out chapters just to get this over and done with, but I feel like the quality might be faltering because I'm kinda rushing a little. Hopefully once we get to Mars my muse will get out of this rut and I'll be back to mass producing chapters for a
good reason. Else I might have to go start that quest after all.
---
50 - Infiltrator
The Engi seemed to be staring blankly at me for a couple of moments before responding.
"Perhaps I should be more specific. Can you explain the technical process behind the deployment on nanobots with sufficient capability to serve as industrial construction units?"
"I can - well, the basics, anyway,- and I will, as soon as you tell me exactly how you got on my ship. I know you didn't just walk right on in - Dante would have seen you."
"I broke down into composite nanites and each nanite entered the ship individually through the walls and floor of your vessel."
Yeah, that'd do it. Not like I had sensors scanning the inside of my solid Bullshite-Unfairium alloy walls, or anything.
"I see. As promised, I'll show you the blueprint for the Faith Foundation nanobots, then."
Of course, I wasn't going to show the blueprints for anything else - giving the Engi a Fabricator blueprint seemed like a terrible idea at best. Well, actually, the Fabricator itself wasn't so bad. It was pretty much just a vending machine for nanobots. The stuff I didn't want them getting their hands on was the resource transmission technology or, worse, Resource Cores.
As I brought the Progenitor designs up on one of the bridge's many consoles, the Engi's single eye brightened, glowing crimson, and he… it? stepped closer to study it.
The correct pronoun for Engi was probably it, I realized. After all, it was fairly unlikely that a mechanical race would bother with gender pronouns. But then, what did I know?
After a couple of seconds of staring at the design - in contemplation, I hoped, and not confusion, because the diagrams didn't mean squat to me, - the Engi nodded once.
"This design is… not dissimilar to the more advanced theoretical designs of the Assembly. I note there is no marked power source. Is that information classified?"
Huh?
Oh, right. The nanobots all received power - and metal - from very short ranged resource transmitters, connected to the Fabricator that released them. Without them, the nanobots simply weren't useful. A built-in generator on that scale would be orders of magnitude less powerful than required for the kind of construction a Progenitor Fabricator was expected to be used for, and that was only counting the construction itself and not the flight from the Fabricator to the target.
"Power is supplied wirelessly to the system through the Nanite Fabricator. Individual nanites would be incapable of generating the required power with onboard systems."
The Engi rotated his… its head slightly, and one of its eyebrow plates raised slowly. For a bunch of robot… artificial intelligence… things, the Engi were surprisingly good at facial expressions.
"You previously indicated a lack of understanding of the technical operations of the Faith Foundation. This does not match current observations."
"My technical understanding is limited to the fact that I know the nanobots need a fabricator for power, and that's about it. Hell, I think just looking at that diagram is giving me a migraine," I lied, with a completely straight face.
The Engi seemed satisfied by that, which was strange because even I thought it was a weak excuse.
"You also indicated that your objective was to visit an existing Faith Foundation facility to present your Pilgrim vessels, yet clearly no such facility exists."
Ah. He had a point there.
"I don't suppose you'd believe me if I told you this was just a little detour?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"No," came the rather quick reply.
"Mm. Thought not."
There was silence for a moment as I tried to think of something else to say, in order to stall so I could think of what I needed to do next.
I still wanted to pawn off my problems to the Engi or the Zoltan - I just needed a way to approach them. The overall fate of the Faith Foundation was largely irrelevant - once someone else took over I would be disassembling everything and leaving, hopefully never to return, so it wouldn't matter whether or not people noticed the random group appearing from nowhere and disappearing just as quickly.
My best chance, I figured, was to just visit their homeworlds and politely explain.
I mentally sighed and dragged my thoughts away from the future, turning my attention back to the present. I summoned two more of my 'crew', and Dante and Byron, both wielding Progenitor-upgraded versions of the standard Bright Foundation SMG, appeared in the doorway of the bridge in short order.
"Now," I said as the two NeoAvatars stepped into view. "You've explained how you got on and I've explained how the Pilgrims are building that base. Your business here is done. These two gentlemen are going to escort you back to the airlock, we're going to hop on back to Merridew, and we're going to kick you off."
"That is an inefficient procedure for maintaining operational security."
"Excuse me?"
"If I am left on Merridew, I will immediately request an investigation from the Assembly. The Faith Foundation clearly operate on a level previously considered unattainable for the next century, at least. In the event that you contest any evidence I may present, the Assembly will side with me over you. Which will lead to an attempted investigation of your operations."
I frowned, thinking it over.
"Are you… blackmailing me?"
"Yes," the Engi answered without a second's hesitation.
I had my NeoAvatar place her hands on her hips as I admonished the sentient nanite cloud. "Well, sugar it up some, why don't you?"
The Engi 'frowned' again. "I do not understand. How are soluble carbohydrates relevant to this discussion?"
"It… aw, never mind," I sighed, waving a hand dismissively. "I guess you guys aren't so great at the metaphoric stuff."
"No," Unit answered straight away.
"That was rhetorical."
Unit's eye blinked out and then flashed back into life.
"Understood."
I took a few moments - well, a few moments form Unit's perspective. It was several minutes, for me.
"Okay. If I kick you off the ship, you call the Assembly on me. I don't want to deal with them… not yet. So here's the deal. You're going to stay on the ship. You're not going to interfere with my crew, or the ship. You're not going to go wandering around on your own. Either Dante or I will be watching you at all times. You're not going to make any effort to communicate with the Engi, or anyone else on this ship. You are, for all intents and purposes, my prisoner right now."
"Understandable precautions for containing an enemy infiltrator," the infiltrator in question put in.
"If you want to chat, feel free to talk to whoever's with you, but don't get your hopes up for looking at more blueprints."
As I said that, I closed the still-open blueprints for the nanobots. Didn't need them at the moment, so it was just an admittedly negligible drain on power.
"Query. Why did you grant me access to the technical details of Faith Foundation equipment if I am to be your prisoner?"
"One - I wasn't originally planning on taking you prisoner. Like I said, I was just going to drop you back on Merridew, but since I don't want to deal with the Assembly just yet, I'm playing ball." After a moment's consideration, I added, "Also, I just really, really wanted to know how you got on my ship. Thanks for telling me - now I have an idea what to look out for later on."
The Engi nodded. "I presume I will now be escorted to a holding cell?"
"Yup. Dante."
I quickly spun up a second stream of conscious to remotely control the second NeoAvatar, reaching out to tap the Engi on the shoulder before jerking my head over one shoulder.
"Come on, buddy. Got a nice room for you to hang out in. Just don't try to phase through the walls or whatever."
The Engi complied without fuss, stepping out of the bridge and into the hallway. "That would be impossible. The level of technological mastery to utilize infantry scale Phase Field Generators is far beyond the Assembly. Also, I will refrain from deconstructing and infiltrating the walls of your vessel, as I suspect was the spirit of your instruction."
Smartass, both of my current mental instances thought as one.
---
Once Unit was settled into one of the empty crew rooms, I spun up a third stream of consciousness, mainly because I was starting to realise that I had some serious problems with my focus. One thread remained in direct control of Dante, watching over and occasionally conversing with Unit. One thread began reading through every scrap of data I had stolen, copied, or found online, searching for anything and everything relevant to the Engi Assembly - I wanted my dealings with them to be as polite, as cordial, and, most importantly, as quick as possible.
The third instance of my mind went back to finish the work that Unit had so abruptly interrupted.
---
By this point in time, Station LDC-952 was an absolute wreck. It looked… rather intact, actually, from the outside - there were no obvious signs of damage, until one looked through the windows.
Inside was a completely different story. Delicate equipment had been reduced to slag. Walls had begun to warp and melt, and there were points throughout the station where the ceiling was beginning to sag and droop.
My nanobots reported all that, and the rest of the damage, painting what would have been a grim picture had anyone been on the station at the time. Since I'd gotten them away beforehand, though, I was fine on that count. I'd even teleported out the two chimpanzees!
Despite the incredible interior damage, though, the station still looked intact. And I wanted to change that.
A couple of Progenitor nukes, in the right locations - and by that, I mean one Progenitor nuke, placed literally anywhere on the station, - would be easily enough to reduce the remains to statistically insignificant mass.
So I built six, basically bolting them to the exterior of the station. My ships retreated to a safe distance and then I observed through dozens of cameras and sensors as LDC-952 became, for a very short period, a miniature star, a blooming flower of red-orange fire ripping through space and vanishing as abruptly as it had appeared.
Apparently the fire hadn't removed the entire atmosphere, then.
Unfortunately, whether because my catharsis had been interrupted or because just blowing up a shell was less interesting than a full, flaming station, the facility's complete and total decimation was not as comforting as I would have hoped.
Oh well. I sent the two Pioneers loaded with prisoners over to Erran. I wasn't sure of the exact arrangement between the Zoltan and the Federation, but since these particular Zoltan had sided with the Rebels, that's where I sent them.
That potential problem now rather thoroughly dealt with, I shut off that thread.
---
"Crewman Dante. There is something I wish to inform you of."
"Oh?"
"The Assembly's 3rd Reconnaissance Fleet will be arriving momentarily."
No sooner had he finished speaking than the automated routine responsible for dealing with sensor input began yapping away in my ear.
Warning - Engi ship detected. Warning - Engi ship detected. Warning - Engi ship detected. Warning - Engi ship detected. Warning - Engi ship detected. Warning - Engi ship detected.
Oh, for the love of....
"Why are they here?" I queried Unit.
"I requested an investigation from the Assembly," Unit explained with the same dull monotone as usual.
"You said you'd only do that if we kicked you off the ship!" 'Dante' exclaimed.
"Incorrect. I explained that if I was removed from this vessel, I would request an investigation. At no point did I state, or mean to imply, that I was not going to do so anyway."
God. Fucking. Damnit.