Hum… What's that sound? Who set this high sounded horn as my alarm clock? And it's cold, terribly cold. What a… brutal lovely awakening! I'll properly thank Alyn for this brutish moment, but first… I need to throw up. Hopefully, I'm in my cabin and the bathroom is just next to the corner. The cabins in the spaceship aren't that spacious, but as a Admiral, I have a bigger and better-furnished one. I tried not to puke on the real wood floor and managed to exit the room where is my cryo-pod and go to the restroom. I can finally use my toilet.

While I was throwing up, I heard the joyful voice of Alyn, the AI of the ship.

“Welcome back Commander Drake, I hope you like my welcoming gift. It has been 15 years and I missed you.”

I didn't miss your habit of giving peculiar gifts. I lifted my head out of the toilet and went into the main room of my cabin while I was talking with Alyn.

“I missed you too, but your gift is not of my taste, so turn off the cryo-pod please.”

I will blow up my cryo-pod if this sound goes out unrestrained.

“How unfortunate, next time don't let me hanging alone for 15 years. In this case, I could prepare better gifts.”

"If I had a choice I'd rather wait 15 years with you instead of sleeping 15 years. You're an AI, aren't you? So the passing of time is not that much inconvenient, is it?”

“The flow of time might not have any consequences on my circuits, but just communicating with the Capital once in a while, isn't fun. I prefer to pass my time with a friend, not someone who treats me like a stupid machine,” she said in a downcast voice.

I don't know how, but Alyn is the only AI I know that is so lifelike. She's the most advanced AI created by the Empire. It is said that the creator is a private company who gifted it to the Imperial Spaceship Armada. After verification, they implemented it in the Dreadnought class battleship. The latest battleship of the Imperial Manufacturer is dedicated to special force operation and long-term mission. There were only 2 of them constructed, one who exploded because of an AI malfunction and this model, the ISS Pulsar. So much for a state-of-the-art battleship with a unique, streamlined design. The first one was a flying bomb and the other one change your alarm clock because “This is fun”. I sat in front of my desk and activated my terminal before inserting it on my combination left arm emplacement.

“Can we link our microchip? I need to assess the situation and the condition of the Pulsar,” I spoke, trying to activate the terminal on the back of my neck.

“Right away, sir. Do you want some breakfast before checking the activity log?” A stern voice responded.

“Why are you speaking in a tone like this, something bad happened?”

I was surprised because she dislikes speaking without much intent in her tone, just like a basic AI.

“You should be prepared Admiral, we lost contact with the Capital 3485 sols ago. Furthermore, there was an error in the coordinate and the ship crashed in an asteroid field. There are only 2 organic lifeforms left on the ship, you and a consultant recruited as an officer. The consultant is still in cryo-sleep. Thankfully, the generator, the quantum computer, the main armaments, and the landing bay were still functional. I extracted the minerals in the asteroid field with the drones in the landing bay and fixed the hull. I now need your authorization to reactivate the primary life supports system and the engines. The good thing is that we are not delayed in our mission since the planet was only at 14.5 light-years away, and I took only 6 months to fix this mess up!”

So everyone else is dead? All the engineers, soldiers, consultants are dead? We can't even offer them a proper ceremonial and burial because we lost their corpses! This is a fucking mess. We are only two to survey an entire planet filled with life and unknown energy that we need to investigate. We must establish a backup plan as soon as possible!

Okay, calm down! I need to keep my mind still if I want to properly link with Alyn. I activated my microship with my mind. Next, I heard a joyful voice in my head speaking.

“Connection established, Admiral. We are now capable of thought transmitting and mind-reading.”

“Can you transmit me the data about the crash and the communication error ?”

As I finished my sentence, I got the traditional mild headache when a lot of data are shared into my brain. The dizziness soon went away, and I analyzed the information in my mind.

“You acted with perfection, as always. Don't forget to set up a cemetery for our brethren who died in the flight when we'll set up a base on the planet. I have no qualms about the life support system, but are you sure about your engines? I don't want to die like the rest of the team.”

The draft of the engines was a bit outdated. With our zero-point reactor, we could technically supply enough energy for an entire fleet, but I don't see any safety mechanism in case of overloading our little electric engines.

“I assure you that you will not die on my watch, and I guarantee this is the best engines I could produce in this low-material environment. We do not need a safety system because we'll only make a single jump to enter in the moon's orbit, 13 Thita c. At this location, I'll search better material present in the gaseous planet 13 Thita b or its two moons.”

So you want to literally explode our engines because we will not need them after this jump… This is not your first reckless action, and I'm pretty sure that no other AI will do something like this in the entire Empire.

“My sensor detects that you are thinking about something rude. I recommend initiating the jump before I give you a little electrical shock Drake,” she said in a dangerous tone.

“Not at all. I was just asking myself why you're not appearing in holo like usual. Moreover, why didn't you try to establish contact with the Capital once again? Didn't we embark a lot of reconnaissance drones?” Alyn loves to act like a human that's why I'm surprised she's not projecting an avatar of herself. She is usualy treated like an errand machine by the rest of the crew, but I like to think that she has a real personality and not just preprogrammed lines.

“The calculations take a lot of energy, and the coordination of the drones need most of the calculating power too. I can't use precious processors for my selfish desires in time like this. We need to erect a new data center near the planet for ugrading purpose in the future. Don't cross your bridges before you get to them.”

As she was explaining this to me, I went to my closet. I need to change in appropriate garments before waking up the consultant and explaining the shitty state of affairs we are in. My closet is a modular, modern-style wardrobe in teak. It costed me 4 months of salary because wood is expensive in the Empire, this is considered a luxury product since you can't export it without permission from the government, especially in spaceships.

“Alyn, we'll secure a site for your data center and primary nexus after the jump, we can't risk losing you. I saw that you assigned most of our reconnaissance drones to phase 1 of our mission, this is well done, even if we can't contact the Capital. We need to accomplish what we're here for. I want you to calculate how it is possible to communicate with the Capital as soon as possible,” I answered.

“Acknowledge.”

I opened my closet and took my day-to-day military uniform and a pair of georgous leather military boots. As a Admiral, I have a beautiful jet black military tunic sewed with silver linings on the sleeves and gold linings on the collar with a double-headed eagle on my heart. The black trousers follow the same mode. This is a very fashionable uniform created after the total reorganization of the military garb for the entire Imperial Spaceship Armada.

“The Imperial Manufacturer did its best. My uniform is so good-looking and pairs well with my shiny white hair. My gray eyes go hand in hand with the silver linings on my jacket. I can see my lean and muscular figure, and my good-looking face is complimented by my clothes. A match made in heaven,” I exclaimed while looking in my large mirror after getting dressed.

“You're as beautiful and classy as ever, Admiral. I must inform you that I'm forced to say that because my superior asked me to do it," the IA complimented in a flirtatious voice.

“This person has obviously good taste, look at this angel in the mirror,” I smirked

“Shameless!” she cried.

As I was departing to the corridor, Alyn interrupted my train of thoughts.

“You cannot go to the Command Center, for the time being, only your cabin, the corridor, and the consultant's cabin are provided with electricity,” she warned me.

“Okay, you can initiate the engines and jump in the orbit of 13 Thita c. I hope the blast from the exploding engines isn't going to destroy the rest of the Pulsar,” I mumbled the second sentence.

“Initiating hyperdrive jump in 3… 2… 1… JUMP!”

The battleship was shaking more than a young soldier during his first battle. Colorful lights were dancing on the long outside-facing window procuring me a panomaric view of outside space. It was truly beautiful, even with the worrying shaking and loud noises. This spectacle lasted 5 seconds before coming to an end with a big noise and colorful explosions coming from the engines. More accurately where the engines were supposed to be.

“Jump accomplished, thanks for your trust. Now that we are safe, I can tell you that we only got 60% of chance of survival,” she joked.

“Still better than the time on Rutera, we only got 20% on this occasion. We're still alive thanks to you, 60% is better than 0% without your help,” I laughed.

“Now, I'll wake up the sleeping beauty next door. Meanwhile, you need to come with a project about the basic facility needed to upgrade your hardware and the number of robotic workers. We need to create bases and facilities, so we'll need a big workforce, even more so now that the entirety of the crew is dead. Don't forget to compile the data collected from the reconnaissance drones on the surface of Thita c,” I commanded with a serious voice.

"Got it, that's a lot of work for a single girl," she lamented.

"Don't worry, the consultant will help you as soon as possible."

I opened the stainless door leading into the spotless corridor. The walls are pure white whereas the floor is in steel, you hear a lot of metallic noises when you walk on the floor. The lights on the walls are soft in order to not destroy your eyes each time you use the hallway. I headed toward the location of the only other organic lifeform on this ship. Now that we performed the jump, I need to speak to the consultant and see what we can accomplish with Alyn. We need to set up a base and then secure the needed materials for our basic operating as well as the building of the data center. The consultant's cabin is in face of mine.

"Political science consultant, Sylviane," I read aloud the plate next to the door.

"I hope she can help us and not just freak out when she'll understand that we are the only survivor of this expedition," I quietly commented.

"Admiral, she's just two ranks below yours and she got exemplary grades from the Imperial University. She should be able to help us a lot," Alyn added.

"Wait, this is her first assignment, and she's already a Lieutenant-Commander. How is it possible? Did she obtain her rank through her house status and money?" I loudly exclaimed.

"Even if she's already Lieutenant-Commander, she's not higher in rank than you or me, Admiral. So there's no problem. We will help her learn her trade and improve herself as a commanding officer on this task," Alyn completed.

Alyn is de facto one rank below me as an AI controlling a class Dreadnought battleship. She needs the necessary power to make decisions when the Admiral is unavailable or dead. Only tested officer can control a Dreadnought with an Admiral rank because this ship's AI is too advanced and its firepower can wipe out a lesser-developed civilization.

"It's time to wake her up," I announced before opening the door leading into her cabin.