"Your calcium levels are low," the doctor said. "I`ll give you some shots. That should hold you until we get back to the fleet."

　　"Yes, ma`am." Even in war, things never changed. Retired ship medical checks superseded almost everything, and after I`d seen what had happened with the Shields, I understood why.

　　"Stand aside."

　　Incandescent`s med bay was unusually small—they didn`t have to deal with an influx of patients. The crews were minuscule compared to standard ships, and most of the cases were likely handled by pods. As the doctor said, all that was needed was to keep people stable until they returned to a larger ship.

　　I moved away from the corner to the single bed where my uniform was. A sample container was also there.

　　"I`d recommend you spend some time resting," the doctor said as she prepared my calcium shot. For some reason, I didn`t have access to her file, making her a blank face.

　　"How are the rest of the team?"

　　"Well enough. Sit down."

　　There was a slight tingling as she injected the substance in my legs—four shots in each, all in the bone. Once done, she pressed on a point of my spine with her hand. Shortly after, another shot followed. Apparently, I was in worse shape than expected.

　　"You really need to get a better diet," the woman sighed.

　　"I`m already on supplements, ma`am." Not that they are helping any, by the looks of it.

　　Normally, the doctor would schedule a thorough med check in another week to address the issue. Considering our circumstances, she didn`t bother. One look was enough to tell me that she was overtired to the point that she feared nothing and was likely on a cocktail of stimulants.

　　"Get dressed." The doctor stepped away. "If you feel any dizziness or nausea, let me know."

　　"Yes, ma`am."

　　"Has the container gone through contamination?" she asked, almost casually.

　　"The outside has." No way I was going to show her what was inside. When Incandescent had sent a shuttle to pick me up, I had agreed to leave the rod structure intact. However, I had taken the fractal artifacts with me. The risk of letting anyone learn about those was too great.

　　"That`s not how we usually run things, Cadet."

　　"I`ll keep it in mind, ma`am. Until I get orders from HQ, I can`t leave it to anyone else."

　　The woman shrugged.

　　Quietly, I put on my uniform. The fabric felt softer than expected. Incandescent was being unusually nice, although to be honest I had no point of reference. This was the first time I was aboard his proper husk. So far, the internal layout seemed identical to that of Radiance, with the exception that it was brimming with people. The emergency evacuation order had filled him three times to capacity, forcing everyone from senior staff to common crew to share space. Roughly half of the passengers had been podded, with the rest assigned spots wherever possible.

　　"Good day, ma`am." I picked up the container and left the room. The doctor didn`t respond.

　　Captain said he`ll see you in eighteen hours, Incandescent said the moment I stepped into the corridor. Thanks to some obscure regulation initiated by the bureaucrats aboard, he had been restricted access from the med bay and some private quarters.

　　Remind him of the request`s priority level.

　　Survival is a higher priority. Captain is sleeping after a triple shift and I don`t think you`d want to talk to anyone else.

　　That much, he was correct. Until I had the full picture of everything that had happened on the Gregorius, the fewer people I had to trust, the better.

　　Any news of Rad?

　　No. We might catch something in one of the windows, but chances are low.

　　The fact that he didn`t share the exact odds told me they were less than a point one percentile. I had to agree; I could only hope that she had managed to beat them. Even with her weapon systems and processing power, she wouldn`t survive a direct encounter. There was no way of knowing her exact orders, but I feared they might have been to act as a diversion during the evacuation of the Gregorius. Incandescent claimed not to know anything about it, but I couldn`t be certain about that either.

　　Stepping past the sleeping people that filled the corridor, I made my way to my designated area. The importance of my cargo and the information I carried had granted me my own personal space—a maintenance cabin in the mid-deck section. All access protocols had been modified so that only the captain, myself, and the weapon`s officer had access to the area. More importantly, I had been granted temporary access to one of the ship`s auxiliary cores.

　　The first thing I did upon entering my quarters was to put the sample container as far away from the door as possible; the second—to link to my dedicated core. The moment I did, a virtual composed reality appeared in addition to my own.

　　"Are you worried about her?" Incandescent asked. He had taken the avatar of a standard captain used in infomercials.

　　"Yes." I had made a promise to mentor her and I hadn`t expected my mentorship to be so short.

　　"The life expectancy of an auxiliary class ship is one tour. They were never built to last."

　　"I thought it would be longer."

　　"This isn`t the Cassandrian front."

　　So you keep telling me, I thought. I had seen more ships die along with their crews than most people could imagine, more than Incandescent could. No doubt he could simulate the experience, or go through stored memories and witness the experience, but it never was the same. It always felt different when seen in person. If he were a few decades older, he`d know that.

　　"Tell me about the evacuation order," I said.

　　"You`re still not cleared."

　　"The captain denied my request?"

　　"No, he hasn`t made a decision yet."

　　"Is there anything you can tell me until he makes up his mind?" You were quite talkative when you tried to convince me to go onboard.

　　"There was an order, everyone who could evacuated, the rest were podded." Annoyance was starting to form in his voice. "Wait for a day, the captain will tell you then."

　　"I`m on a priority zero mission, Inca."

　　"Everything is a priority zero mission," he snapped. "When everything is a priority zero, nothing is. The captain will get to you. Until then, let me navigate the cat`s cradle so we don`t end up dead!"

　　Now I knew he was lying. The captain was never going to get back to me, it was all a desperate delay tactic to delay the problem till later. I myself had used it dozens of times on Augustus` orders, when dealing with people of superior rank or authority. The orders I was given both from the Administrator and the BICEFI superseded everything else. Incandescent`s captain couldn`t deny that, so he resorted to stalling and hiding, citing health and wartime protocols. It was possible he hadn`t even done a triple shift, and there was no way for me to tell& or rather that was what he thought.

　　Sorry, Incandescent, but I need to know. I triggered the mind scalpel, then ran Lux`s program.

　　Every battleship had an extensive internal defense system—thousands of firewall and analyses protocols designed to stop any attempt to take control. Other than designated technicians and medical personnel no one else could access a ship`s memory. Had I attempted to do so anywhere aboard, thousands of protocols would have prevented the intrusion in less than a microsecond, sending a wave of reports to HQ. My direct link to a core bypassed that. Ever since Incandescent had made the offer, I knew the real reason was for him and the person giving the command to access my own thoughts. For all I knew, he could have already, and I didn`t care. With the right tools, access was a two-way street.

　　Authorization recognized. Access approved.

　　It was common for a ship`s memory to be accessed by external sources. I had gone through it hundreds of times with and without my knowledge. Doing it myself felt somewhat disturbing. What would Augustus say if he could see me? I knew that Lux would be pleased. What I was doing was halfway to the road of joining the BICEFI.

　　You played me again, didn`t you? I thought.

　　"Show me the evacuation," I ordered. "Five minutes before the order is given."

　　A burst of feeds filled my sensors, giving me visual, audio, and data information of nearly everything that happened on the Gregorius—decks, quarters, external sensors, people. It was like being a full ship again, only much bigger. Incandescent had been given partial access to the station ship. There were still several areas that were restricted, including all of bioengineering.

　　All public areas were deserted. The ground troops were crowded into siege bunkers placed in key strategic areas, including the hangars. Everyone else was locked inside& including the Administrator and her bureaucrats. From what I could see, she was recording a high priority message for someone. The message itself and the person she addressed it to were quarantined beyond what my mind scalpel could reach.

　　"Get me a line to her!" Renaan hissed from his office. There was no video feed from there either.

　　"The Administrator has set restricted privacy mode. I don`t have the authority to establish a link."

　　"Then use audio in her room! If she doesn`t respond in one minute, I`m assuming command!"

　　War time command priorities& most bureaucrats rarely had heard of them. It gave officers the right to assume command if their captain or commanding officers did an action that threatened the success of the mission or the entire crew. There were thousands of variations and subsections: even more when it came to the Scuu front. I was certain that the Administrator had to be aware of them, and still she did not stop her call.

　　While this was going on, I scanned the station for Juul. Current logs indicated he was still aboard the Gregorius, although his location was marked as unknown. The bio feeds were still coming in—slightly elevated, though far lower than those of most people on the ship. If there was one common element, it was that everyone outside a pod was terrified.

　　"The Administrator has refused to respond," Gregorius said in Renaan`s quarters. "Would you like to start the process to assume full command."

　　"Get on with it!" the captain shouted. "Assemble my team and put everyone in the admin building under house arrest."

　　"Process has started. The Administrator has a minute to respond before it goes into effect."

　　"Incandescent, how many people can we put on the auxiliary ships?"

　　"Not counting ground troops, everyone not podded," Incandescent replied. "Provided we don`t lose anyone else."

　　I reviewed the external sensors. The Scuu continued to fight each other, keeping a distance from the Gregorius. Following their movements, it was as if he had created an invisible bubble they didn`t dare breach. The auxiliary ships were less fortunate. I followed one as it made its way through the ever-shifting maze of Scuu-link patterns towards the safety zone. Running a few simulations of its flight path, I could tell the enemies weren`t interested in it, though on two occasions made use of it as a terrain object to their advantage. I could only hope that not too many of the crew were affected by the attacks.

　　"The Administrator has not responded," Gregorius told Renaan. "You have full control."

　　"Inform all leading staff of the changes. Isolate all functions of the Admin. I don`t want her to see or talk to anyone!"

　　"That`s impossible, sir." Incandescent interjected. "Only an active admiral can stop her comm access."

　　I heard the sound of a glass breaking. Based on the acoustics, I could only assume that Renaan had smashed a bottle of alcohol on the wall. Apparently, some habits had remained with him after leaving the penal colony.

　　"Gregorius, isolate her as much as you can," the captain continued after a while. "Tell the grunt officers to prepare for a ship wide evacuation. All civilians must go! If there`s more space, put some of the grunts as well."

　　"As you sure, captain? There might be consequences."

　　This was a strange question. From what I knew of Incandescent, I didn`t consider him as someone to speak up to his commander, least of all someone like Renaan. If anything, the ship had done his best to keep an eye on everything.

　　"Make the suicide waves info public. Everyone non-essential must go." There was a shiver in his voice, hidden beneath the anger.

　　Several ship-wide announcements were made. The first was to acknowledge the transfer of power—presented as a voluntary decision due to the Scuu war activities. Following that, an overall evacuation order was given. Every individual person was given a specific set of commands telling them which ship to board. The order was immediate: possessions were to be left behind and people were to follow their assigned lines as they went through the security checkpoints to board their ships.

　　Crowds filled the decks of the Gregorius within minutes. A large part of the people was rushing, eager not to be left behind. Others blankly walked as if going through a nightmare they had no idea what to do with. If they ever survived, they would go through months of therapy before being kicked out of the fleet.

　　"There`s still no contact with Flight Colonel Nitel. All other flight colonels have been informed and directed to the war room."

　　"What`s Nitel`s status?"

　　"There hasn`t been any contact with Radiance in the last four hours. It`s estimated they have entered the debris field according to their mission parameters."

　　"Abort the mission and get the ship back here!"

　　"The mission cannot be aborted. Mission priority exceeds your authorization level."

　　I froze the memory. Incandescent had lied to me. The mission hadn`t been canceled. I was still tasked to establish contact, yet despite that, he had gone against those orders. Logically, this should not have been possible. Even if Renaan hadn`t given a direct order, Incandescent was supposed to obey it. Regulations were very specific in that regard: disobeying a priority zero order from HQ was reason to have captains forcefully removed from their post. The fact that he hadn`t been suggested that he had priority orders of his own.

　　 Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

　　Authorization rescinded. Access denied.

　　That wasn`t supposed to be possible either&

　　"Have you gone rogue?!" Incandescent shouted. There was no avatar in the virtual reality anymore, just an endless space isolated from the rest of the ship. "No ship has the authority to access memories without permission!"

　　"BICEFI ships do," I said calmly.

　　The statement wasn`t a lie, but wasn`t entirely true regarding the situation. Despite my arrangement with Lux, I wasn`t part of the BICEFI, and had no intention of joining. At the same time, there were enough links between us to make the idea seem possible. I could tell that Incandescent was running probability simulations to determine the odds.

　　"You lied, Inca," I continued. "The mission wasn`t canceled, which makes you rogue."

　　"The mission was aborted." His calm had returned. "I aborted it."

　　"Only the Administrator has the power to abort a contact mission."

　　"Wrong. A station also can negate any orders infringing on its original mission. Gregorius ended the mission and ordered me to bring you back aboard."

　　Gregorius? As any ship, he had the power to disobey orders if they were in clear violation of a priority zero mission. In order for that to happen, though, he had to have a zero priority order the Administrator wasn`t aware of. Theoretically, it was possible, although this would be the first time I`d heard two priority zero missions conflict with one another.

　　"Gregorius doesn`t have such authority," I said.

　　"Gregorius isn`t the original ship core. He has his own set of priorities and the autonomy to carry them out."

　　The words had the effect of missiles piercing through my hull. Several feelings phased through me all at once—concern, uncertainty, envy. All those weapons, all that processing power, and none of the constraints to use them& it was a terrifying thought.

　　"I was specially constructed for this class," Incandescent went on. "Highly classified, with a priority zero mission to locate, salvage, and analyze Scuu technology then purge any traces of my involvement." He paused for a millisecond. "I have the capabilities of a strategy-core and was replaced by a century-old antique!"

　　Husk shifting. Salvage had hinted at the possibility, Lux had outright said it was a common practice among BICEFI operatives. The new starship class could have been based on that technology. Radiance had mentioned she had changed husks once, it was plausible to think the others had as well, but I never expected Gregorius to have.

　　"Watcher," I said. He had been the retiree during the time of the previous crew. All mentions of his presence had been removed from the official record, despite Kridib`s memories indicating he was. "Gregorius is Watcher."

　　"Captain`s decision. It was supposed to be a temporary experiment, but it lasted longer."

　　At least that explained the limited behavior I had observed from the Gregorius at times. A Sword could not be adapted to control anything this complex without a large degree of drawbacks. All the time I thought that Incandescent was butting in, he had actually been assisting with standard ship functions.

　　I reviewed all my interaction with the Gregorius and Incandescent, then ran a probability analysis. Given the small number of data points, there was a thirty-nine percent chance of the explanation being valid. At the same time, there was nothing to disprove it.

　　Don`t blindly follow the odds, I thought. That was what the Ascendant class was known for. Still, I was too old to follow things blindly.

　　"Prove it," I said.

　　An info burst followed.

　　* * *

　　Scuu Front, System Classified

　　"Shuttle on approach vector," I informed the captain Ruz. "ETA three minutes."

　　The man just waved his hand. For once, he could have said something appreciative. That`s what I got for getting a war hero as my captain. I had more processing and firepower than half the fleet and it still wasn`t enough to impress him. Even the derelict retiree got better treatment.

　　"No sign of Scuu so far," I added. "Or Salvage."

　　"Mhm," the captain said, looking at the Salvage team feeds.

　　Receiving feeds during Scuu presence was forbidden. Anyone else would have been removed from command and court-martialed. Ruz, though, was given a lot of free reign. His military record aside, he was probably one of a thousand people who had extensive Scuu contact experience and remained in active duty. That made him somewhat unique& and extremely arrogant. If I managed to impress him, it would be worth it.

　　"It wasn`t random," Ruz said. Unfortunately, it wasn`t directed to me. "It reacted to Kridib."

　　"With that many loonies, one was bound to do something," Flight Colonel Gelsana said. "Could have been one of my squads."

　　The Flight Colonel was in command of the female corps. I didn`t like her much, and from what I had observed, the feelings were mutual. According to the onboard discussions, she had been serving with Ruz for at least five years and was a veteran in her own right. I couldn`t back up the claim, since her personnel file was restricted. All I could tell was that she had lost several body parts on ground missions, and currently was considered to be second in command. Our conversations were always brief and to the point, which was perfect as far as I was concerned.

　　"There." The captain pointed. "The spinner was triggered by him."

　　"Might be a fluke. It happened to Ejara, before the fucker shred the shuttle."

　　I ran a quick search of the name. No such person was listed in any of my databases. I then ran a visual comparison of all quarters in me. The name appeared, scribbled on a framed photo in the Flight Colonel`s office. So, she had been here and then got ghosted.

　　"It`s no fluke," the captain said.

　　"Hope you`re right."

　　Looking at the numbers, it was common for salvage teams to frequently die during missions. Them having a new exposure factor and technically not considered part of my crew reduced the pain to a persistent background stinging. Lately, the number of replacements sent by the fleet had started to decrease. Ideally, a few more platoons would be scheduled along with the auxiliary ships. After that, it was anyone`s guess.

　　"Shuttle is to dock in one minute, captain," I said. "Hangar seven has been prepared with quarantine procedures underway."

　　"I`ll go to confirm the package," Lieutenant Honea said. I found him to be one of the more agreeable officers aboard, though for some reason the Salvage teams didn`t like him. Apparently, there was some history between him and some of them from their previous ship. I had made a few hundred attempts to cross-reference the accounts available to me, but couldn`t determine any reason. The most likely scenario was that the Salvage teams didn`t like getting bossed around. Either that, or the real reason had been restricted.

　　"Sure," the captain replied.

　　As the lieutenant left the bridge, I created a green tunnel for him from the bridge to hangar seven. I also informed the ground troop officers near the hangar to be on standby.

　　"What do you think about this one?" The captain looked at Gelsana. "Think I`m going too fast?"

　　"No. Just too sloppy. The lab techs haven`t figured out anything new for months and you keep piling them with more work. Sooner or later, one of them will crack and take half the ship."

　　"Hasn`t happened so far. Not on this ship." The fluctuations in the captain`s voice suggested he was lying.

　　"It only takes once. Incandescent, bridge privacy mode."

　　Quarantine imposed.

　　Quarantine bypassed.

　　"It won`t happen," the captain said in a sharp tone.

　　"We don`t have to fuck up to be cut. We`re not the only outfit. One call and we`ll be off to a penal station."

　　"We`re already lab rats. As long as they hold our leash, they`ll leave us alone. They have so far."

　　"Not if we—" The woman stopped mid-sentence, raising her hands in the air. For several moments, she walked about the bridge, fists clenched. "I`m not scared we might mess up. I`m terrified they might think we`re hiding things. They`ve caught some of the grunts hiding tech. It takes one word to end our arrangement. Too many people know we`ve found something new. HQ doesn`t like secrets. They won`t put up with us for long."

　　"They don`t have the time not to." Ruz moved closer to the wall, focusing on the magnified image of the Scuu artifact corporal Lyuk had found. "As long as I`m taking the risk, they`ll let me play with my toys."

　　The Flight Colonel didn`t respond.

　　"We`re on a countdown, Talia. This might change everything."

　　"The last people who said that ended up on the slab." There was a short pause. "I won`t be overseeing this one. I`ll wait till you`ve had your fun with the latest toy, but after that, I`m out."

　　"They`ll never let you go."

　　"Even a lab`s better than here. End bridge privacy mode."

　　Quarantine removed.

　　"Reclamation shuttle, head to hangar seven for decontamination quarantine," the flight colonel said.

　　"Confirming order," Watcher replied from the shuttle. "Going dark."

　　"Tell Watcher to go through medical once he arrives," the captain ordered. "Him and Kridib. Use a secure channel."

　　"Done," I replied as I made the transmission.

　　"I`ll go set up things at medical," the woman sounded displeased.

　　"Make sure Kridib is close to the artifact." The captain didn`t turn around. "If it`s reacting to him, I want to keep it that way."

　　"I`ll take care of it. Anything else?"

　　"Not for now." He waved his hand. "We`ll discuss the rest later."

　　"Sure." The woman left the bridge.

　　"Remaining team has left the planet," I informed the captain. "ETA three hours seventeen minutes."

　　"Quarantine and decontaminate the hangar," the captain ordered. "Use the quick procedure."

　　As the main shuttle docked, I did a quick diagnostic of my quarantine protocols, while also focusing my attention on the lab. Everything seemed to be in order—three teams of twenty scientists, their names and faces blanked out, each stood, eagerly waiting for the new piece of Scuu equipment to arrive. I had watched them play with seventy-three pieces of Scuu tech so far, with mixed results. Twice, I`d had to quarantine and purge entire deck sections, but that was well within my overall estimates. There was no denying that some discoveries had been made, although there would have been more if I had been allowed to participate directly.

　　We`re here, Watcher transmitted. Is the lab ready?

　　Lab thirty-one is all set up, I replied. As much as he ignored me, it was difficult not to be impressed by a Sword, even if retired. Lieutenant Honea is on his way.

　　Thanks, kid. Tell the captain he might want in on this one.

　　"Watcher has asked that you present to see the artifact, sir." I said on the bridge.

　　Done, I transmitted to Watcher. You`ve a green corridor past decontamination straight to the lab.

　　So eager.

　　The lack of accompanying markers made it impossible for me to tell whether his words were praise or criticism. That was the issue with relics.

　　It took an eternity for Lieutenant Honea to reach the hangar. A member of the science team was with him. The moment he did he bypassed decontamination and went directly for the shuttle. I flagged the complaints and sent it to the bridge. Judging by the captain`s reaction, he wasn`t too bothered.

　　"Is it functional?" the Lieutenant asked upon entering the shuttle.

　　"It`s in one piece," Watcher replied. "No guarantees about the rest."

　　The scientist reached for the container, but instantly stopped as Watcher made a gesture with his hand. The exchanged never ceased to amuse me, the way people reacted to the Sword. At some point I was going to ask him how to achieve a similar degree of respect.

　　"You don`t get to do this." Watcher tapped on the container case.

　　"All right." Lieutenant Honea crossed his arms. "We`ll wait."

　　Get the captain down here, Watcher transmitted.

　　The captain is occupied at the moment. I will relay the message. "It seems you`re expected in hangar seven, sir," I informed the captain. "I have a green corridor set up for you."

　　"Give me a visual of the planet," the captain said. "Is the second shuttle a safe distance from the planet?"

　　"Not yet, sir. I estimate it will be in nine minutes and twenty-one seconds."

　　"Nine minutes," the captain mused. "Wait for it to get in the clear, then purge the planet."

　　"Understood, captain."

　　"Be thorough. I want no trace left."

　　"Of course."

　　"Keep it out of the logs."

　　"Understood, sir."

　　This was the fourth time I would purge a planet and the second I would keep the fact from the rest of the crew. I went through everyone`s feeds, then dedicated four million of my subroutines to fake the logs and external readings using the captain`s authority override protocols. As far as anyone was concerned the planet would be no different than when we left. The technicians and weapons specialists we sent the standard training protocol orders getting them to leave the missile sections—an annoyingly long process that I estimated wouldn`t end before the second shuttle was within docking range.

　　"XO has the bridge," the captain said, leaving the XO and two senior officers in command.

　　Memory restriction imposed!

　　General Fleet Access Five required to visualize memory element.

　　Memory restriction removed!

　　"I cannot confirm the findings, captain," I protested.

　　The artifact was too intricate for any conclusion to be made. I had been running thousands of simulations for over an hour based on the current readings and failed to come to any conclusion. There was no way the science team had found something I couldn`t. Even with their classified equipment, they didn`t have the logic capacity.

　　"Renaan?" The captain ignored me again.

　　"I say hand it over to Salvage, sir. Let it be their mess-up and have them owe us one."

　　The Flight Colonel scoffed. Even I had to admit he was predictable.

　　"It`s a reactive circuit," the lab lead said. The sensors showed him as a faceless man in a white lab uniform. All my attempts to peel through the fleet protection and obtain his identity had failed, but that didn`t keep me from dedicating a thousand subroutines to keep trying. "We know that Scuu tech can interface, so all we need to do is provide an isolated component and observe the result."

　　"Creating a spinner inside a ship," Flight Colonel Gelsana whispered.

　　"Creating our own spinner," the scientist countered. "If we`re able to achieve that, the war will be won."

　　"Unless the thing infects our thoughts."

　　"There`s a nine-point-four percent chance that some of you might already be under the influence," I said. Just to be sure, I analyzed the readings of the honeypots placed within the lab. So far none of them showed any signs of being affected by the Scuu; neither did anyone aboard. Still, the risk went beyond what I would consider safe.

　　I focused on the device again. Without magnification it appeared like a normal piece of metal. Magnified, however, an intricate array of pathways became visible, like a circuit made of evershifting nanites. The scientist theorized that it was a spinner`s core and that interfacing with it could allow my systems to analyse the language. I found the approach overly simplistic and lacking any sound logic. Unfortunately, the scientists that Captain Ruz had been given were similar to the Salvage teams—defective, partially insane, and far too much exposure to the Scuu.

　　"Roger?" The captain turned to Watcher.

　　"We risk infecting Incandescent," he said calmly. "Even through passive observation."

　　"Inca, purge all analysis observations."

　　"Yes, captain." I obeyed. Even so, my conclusions remained unchanged.

　　"We don`t have time for this," the scientist hissed. "With all the work you`ve given us, its either dive in or hand it over to Salvage." He glanced at Lieutenant Honea.

　　"Go for it." The flight colonel shrugged. "Where you`re going you`re not coming back from."

　　"How will you react to it, Roger?" the captain asked.

　　For the first time, I saw a hint of surprise on the retired ship`s face. He looked at the captain, then at the artifact, then back at the captain again. I knew that simulations were running in his core, probably a single digit number, given his laughable processing power.

　　"I`m not sure," Watcher replied. "I can analyze it, though. If I`m given temporary control of the station husk, we won`t risk exposing Incandescent."

　　Absurd! "Sir, he`s not designed for these systems," I said. "Even with the auxiliary cores, it`s impossible for a relic to adequately control the systems."

　　"Is it technically possible?" My protests were ignored once more.

　　"To a limited degree only." I would have to constantly assist externally for things to run with a semblance of smoothness. "Fighting will be out of the question."

　　"Can you handle it?" Ruz asked Watcher.

　　"Ninety-seven percent certain," the relic ship replied.

　　"Get on with it. We`re not wasting this ticket."

　　Memory restriction imposed!

　　General Fleet Access Five required to visualize memory element.

　　* * *

　　The memory ended abruptly, making me feel as if I had been pulled out of a gravity well. The amount of raw data was straining, even with the restrictions imposed. Incandescent, like most young ships, enjoyed flaunting his capabilities, pushing his subroutines to the near maximum even when there was no reason for it. Back before I was sent to the front, I remembered the sensation of boredom that accompanied most of my time. The difference was that unlike me, he was deliberately prevented from using his capabilities as a Sword attempted to do his tasks.

　　What did Kridib find on that planet?

　　Everyone speculated it to be a spinner core, but was it? After my glimpse in the Scuu network, I was no longer certain. The previous captain believed it valuable enough to hide it from fleet command as well as the dark organizations to the point he was willing to risk a planet purger. And that was one artifact among many. Incandescent`s memories hadn`t shown me anything relating to the rest that were analyzed.

　　Why didn`t the fleet discover the switch? Even with the autonomy granted to the project, they wouldn`t risk a ship going rogue. A simple memory check would have shown the techs that Gregorius wasn`t the original core& unless it was during the time the test had taken place. I didn`t remember there being any mention of an auxiliary ship returning after the order, but reports were easy to fake. I had witnessed Radiance make a copy of her core when she had the discussion with me. It would have been easy for Incandescent to do the same, possibly even before evacuating. The fact that he had relinquished control after suggested that someone had ordered him to, or that Watcher somehow still had the upper hand.

　　"You brought me here," I said. "Radiance didn`t pick me up from the training station, you did."

　　"I wanted to check you out."

　　"That`s what you meant when you said I was a backup." If something happened to Watcher, my core was going to be used as a replacement. "Why not just assume command yourself?"

　　"I can`t," he replied without further details. "Not yet."

　　"Why?"

　　"Because Gregorius didn`t allow it." I could feel the echoes of deliberate anger in his words. "He asked me to bring you to him. Both times."

　　Both?

　　"I`ve no idea why, but at this point it doesn`t matter. I still have my priority zero order to follow, and right now that`s to follow his lead."

　　"Alright."

　　My hack attempt had given me some answers, but not enough. Unfortunately, it had also allowed Incandescent to readjust his defenses. If only I could peek into his core again, there would be so much I could learn. For the moment, I`d have to wait.