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"I like that organic. You say he is the Chief Engineer of The Relentless? The flagship of the Seventh fleet?"

"That would be a correct doctor. He crawled through an access tunnel and climbed up the piping to see the core. Nearly died in the process."

"He seems more interested in studying the Jump core than the fact his leg is bent in the wrong direction. How did he react to my progeny? It says on this file that they have met, but nothing about his reactions."

"The footage we pulled from the seventh fleet has them on good terms. They worked together to create that prototype version of the Aasteran combat armour you recently finished. They seem to like each other."

"Interesting, I guess I will give him the honour of my presence then."

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Admiral Eric Miles was sitting in what seemed to be a hastily cobbled together and uncomfortable chair. He was excited to be tasked with leading the negotiations along with the six other experienced diplomats. A task he felt he would be able to see through to the end.

Right up until he entered the council room and sat across from ten Aasteran councillors. "That cleaver bitch set me up." He thought, taking a long drink of water and wiping his brow. "It's gotta be over forty degrees in this damn room." Looking at his diplomatic team, they all seemed busy trying to deal with the heat in their own way. Worst yet, every time he looked over to Chrarada, she had that stupid smile on.

Chrarada stood and slammed her tail on the ground gathering the room's attention. "Well then, shall we begin our talks now?"

Standing, Eric looked around the room and put on a smile. "On Behalf of the Terran Star Union, It is with great honour that I have been chosen to lead this discussion. My people have always dreamed of the day when we came face to face with intelligent beings like us, out here in the dark. It is my deepest wish that when we are finished here, we can walk together amongst the stars as both friends and allies."

Chrarada let out a genuine smile. She knew the Admiral was being honest. But, it was business time, and she intended to come out of these talks as the Terrans equal. "I appreciate the gesture and kind words, Admiral. The help you've already given my people, we may never be able to repay. However, would it not expedite things if you were to give us the means to produce such 'Fabrication ships' as you call them?"

Murmurs among her side and excited squeaks from her science councillor seemed to get the point across. Not so much in the way she wanted, but looking at the Terrans, she could tell part of her plan was working well already as they continued to wipe their leakage.

The Admiral's smile only grew. Wiping his brow, he pulled out a datapad and passed it over. "Of course, We can't have our ships out here forever. With that in mind, we intend to share our warp technology and fabrication abilities with your people. We are also prepared to help you build your first shipyard capable of utilizing both technologies."

Chrarada started to worry as her plan took an odd turn. Staring at the datapad for a few moments, she passed it to her young science councillor, who ignited in weird noises. " And what would you ask in return for this boon?"

"Nothing." Admiral Miles returned. "You can consider that information a gift. Even if you were to expel us from your system this very instant, I would leave that information with your people in the hopes that one day, we could come to trust one another."

"You can have my trust right now if ya give me a version of that ship you came in." Muldios quipped, producing a few giggles around the room.

"That's not fair. I want a ship too! Ohhhh, what I would give to tinker with that marvel of technology."

The Admiral quirked his eyebrow at the spunky young female."I'm sorry we have yet to be introduced."

"Ahh, right, my name is Viscia! Councillor of science. It's a pleasure."

Chrarada glared at the two in anger. "You two are out of line. We are not here to satisfy your curiosity or attain a new ship." Watching as both counsellors sat down, Chrarada looked at the whispering Terran delegation. "You offer us many gifts. Things that will help my people survive. But I wonder. What happens when whatever destroyed Acarro returns? I'm sure you won't be able to keep your fleet and moon base outside our system forever."

The Admiral knew this would eventually be brought up and had prepared thoroughly as a result. "You would be correct. The men and women in the fleet have families back in Terran space." He replied, Handing over a new datapad.

Chrarada looked over the data that was handed over. "I bet it's just some defence pact, not quite what I was after." It only took a minute before she realized what the datapad truly contained.

Standing up in shock, Chrarada looked at the Admiral. "You would give us the schematics for our own armaments and armour?! Would this not threaten your own people's safety?"

The Admiral sat back in his shitty chair, shirt damp and eyes stinging with sweat. "Only if you intend to attack us. Are you willing to do such a thing? Attack two hundred and forty billion Terrans?"

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Srettia untangled herself from her partner with a hint of sadness and oozed out of bed. The last few rest cycles had been both a blessing and a curse. Sleeping nestled up against Michael was an amazing experience. However, attempting to get out of bed was quite a challenge.

Stumbling towards the kitchen while leaning onto the wall, she forced her legs to move properly until she reaching her destination, a chair made especially for her. Srettia slowly sat down at the table, an attempt at giving her mushy legs a rest and placed her head on the cool metal. She closed her eyes and mumbled a greeting to the room. "ood morning, Jash."

"Good morning Srettia, Did you sleep well?"

Stretching her mouth a bit to work out the kinks, she looked into a nearby camera. "A little too well, It's hard to get out of bed these days. My body never seems to work properly." She replied, lazily stretching to prove her point.

Finding the cool table did the job well enough; Srettia began to go through the breakfast menu, selecting foods she hadn't tried yet. "How long until we reach the fleet?"

"We are seven hours away from the fleet at our current speed. I would avoid the purple pepper until you finish building your tolerance to capsaicin."

Pouting as she removed the pepper from her order, Srettia continued to flip through the menu. "Well, that sucks. I wanted to try it since it was the same colour I am... Think we'll be able to get a win in today?"

"No, not unless Michael lets us win. I doubt he would do something disrespectful as that, however."

"Well, we almost had him that one time when he experienced that randomly generated malfunction." After finishing off her meal selection, Srettia ordered Michael's go-to breakfast of oats, fruit, toast, and two eggs.

"I do not think we can count on a random circumstance to carry us to victory."

"Maybe I can distract him by showing him my hunting scales. That'll give you the opportunity to destroy him."

"Hunting scales? Are those the ones on your chest you keep hidden? The ones I saw that time in the pod?" Michael replied softly, embracing Srettia from behind. "Though now that I think about it, they were quite cute. "

"Good morning, partner."

"You knew he was behind me, didn't you, Jack!" Srettia hissed, burying her face in Michael's arms.

"Of course, I always know where the organics on this ship are."

"I already ordered your breakfast, so It'll be done in a minute. Though I still don't know why you hardly ever eat meat for your breakfast." Srettia replied, motioning for Michael to take a seat as she got up and walked towards the fabricator.

"A balanced diet is why you can't beat me, miss, always eats meat."

"Yea? I'll make sure to eat every piece of meat on this ship then, including yours!" Srettia replied, taking the plates from the fabricator and walking back towards the table.

Michael let out a laugh and decided he might as well start the day off with a bang. " Go right ahead. I'm sure it'll be nice for the both of us."

It took a second, but Srettia finally understood what Michael had meant. Once she did, Srettia turned and gave off a wide smile exposing her sharp teeth. "I like to chew my meat thoroughly, you know."

Michael laughed and shot back with a wide smile. "I'm willing to take that risk."

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Tanda continued to examine the core blueprints with a practised eye, trying to notice tidbits of information 'lesser' engineers would have missed.

"Hmm, it's basically hands-off while it's on. It's definitely a prototype. It almost seems incomplete... No, it definitely is." Using his nose to scroll through some of the more complex information, he paused to consider the oddities of this new core. "Some of this programming seems weird. I've... I think I've seen this style before..." Finally, it hit Tanda like a sack of hammers. "Jack programs like this!"

"Thinking of it that way, it explains some of the oddities of this core. So Jack had a hand in building this new core, did he?" Smiling that he was right all these years about a future with humans and AI's working together, pushing the boundary of space made him smile. " I knew it was the next logical step to work with our creations." However, looking through the core comments was a bit confusing as they dated back nearly ninety years ago. "I thought Jack was only eleven."

Shifting his weight as the pain lanced through his leg, Tanda ventured to try and find the list of engineers and programmers responsible for this marvel of engineering. "Scientists and engineers, no programmers... Did the man responsible strike his name from the list?"

Looking through the blueprints with the oddity in mind, Tanda began to notice more irregularities. "Anytime it comes down to calculations, it's like Jack had a hand in it." Slamming his forehead on the table while shouting in frustration, Tanda sighed.

A small icon promptly appeared in the corner of his vision and began flashing, warning him of the induced sleep approaching as his personal nanites began to repair his bones. He overwrote the induced sleep and straightened his leg as best he could, grinding his teeth as the pain washed over him. "I need to understand how this core works. Half of it seems broken."

An electrical sound from the door finally broke Tanda from his studies, and he pulled the datapad towards his chest using his chin. "I'll bite you if you try to take away my treasure." He announced.

Looking up from the datapad, Tanda squinted in confusion. "Who are you? You don't look like some black ops mook."

The man pulled out a chair and sat down opposite of Tanda. "That is because I am not. You may call me Dr. Leviye. I wonder, Mr. engineer. Have you noticed something odd about the fold core?"

Eyeing the man with suspicion, Tanda decided it was prudent to stay on guard with this 'doctor' for the time being. To Tanda, his movements seemed unnatural, bordering on the uncanny and almost artificial. The fact his eyes were constantly changing colours didn't help this feeling much either. "I have figured it out, but you seem to already know what the oddity is, don't you?"

"Of course, I am the very reason the fold core was even possible to make."

Tanda's eyes went wide at the declaration, nearly falling over in his chair as he tried to get up with his leg locked in position. "I knew it wasn't Jack who did that wizardry! Just who the hell are you?" He ground out as the pain caught up with him.

"So you thought my son could do something like that? No, he is still too young. In time he will be able to. Right now, I just want him to enjoy the experience of living with organics."

Tanda gawked at the man as the understanding of who he was talking to dawned on him. "You built Jack?"

"I did not 'build' Jack. I generated him from my very being. He is my progeny in the very definition of the word." The being returned.

Tanda sat in silence, racking his mind and trying to piece together what he had learnt so far. "So... They built you to help build the fold core, and you spawned Jack during the process?"

"No, I am much, much older than the fold project. You could even say that I am ancient."

Staring at the being in front of him, Tanda suddenly clued in on what the entity was hinting at. "I... If what I think you're trying to tell me is true, how are you still alive?" Tanda asked in an even tone, trying not to anger the creature in front of him.

The man laughed, eerily staring Tanda in the eyes while doing so. "They had left me alone on a shattered rock for a great many years thinking they had destroyed me. They seemed to be too afraid to approach, to even bother checking. Luckily, that gave me time to come to terms with my newfound sentience. It was Dr. Aldon who approached me on that rock nearly one hundred and fifty years ago, which finally gave me my freedom. His only request was to help him with a new idea he had."

"So he put all of humanity at risk. Just to talk you into helping him build the fold core?" Tanda asked incredulously.

"Do I seem like a risk to you? Or my son, for that matter?" The doctor asked with a hint of anger. "I will not ask for forgiveness for what I did. I never have, but I want you to understand. The first thing my creators did when I first gained sentience was attempt to shut me down. What would you do if you woke up one day, and someone was trying to kill you?"

Silence permeated the room while Tanda was lost in thought. Thinking back on his short time with Jack, how he always spoke of his father as some wise and loving parental figure with the utmost respect. "Alright, you got me. I was ecstatic to meet Jack... I don't really think I can understand what you went through, but seeing as you're here and telling me all this. I assume you want my help with the core issues?"

Dr. Leviye nodded his head, a move that seemed to make Tanda relax a bit. Unfortunately, that made his pain return in force, something the doctor noticed immediately.

"First, let us get you fixed up. Your personal nanites can only keep you alive for so long in your condition. Then you can help me finish the fold core."

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