USD: 40 days after the battle of Dedia IV

Location: 92 Pegasi, Ackman Orbit, Asteroid Belt, A3123Y Orbital

Amy and Abbey sat side by side in A3123Y’s command center. Both had half a dozen wide format displays in front of them, but the contents that each girl focused on were entirely different.

Abbey’s screens scrolled blazingly fast as she streamed multiple data feeds of information rapidly. Her ability to multitask was inhuman, and she simultaneously worked with A31 to optimize the station’s design upgrades, smooth production lines, and create plans for future expansion.

Amy in contrast, studied her screens quietly, reading reports by various new employees who had suggestions, complaints, and concerns. More importantly, they had insights into several groups that had begun to pique Amy’s concern. There was a growing anti-SR sentiment in some mining crews.

Amy leaned back in her swivel chair and let out an exasperated sigh. They had helped A31 get back into shape after the battle, and in return Starlight Revolution had refurbished their ships, restored them to new-status or even upgraded them at no cost as resources had become available.

A31 had essentially replaced every small-class mining vessel in the entire system, as thanks. Now some thought it should do more, or that they should be the ones determining who got what and when.

Amy rolled her head to look at Abbey. The short blue-haired girl didn’t look any older than 11 or 12 years old because the NAI had rushed the production of the Avatar. It created a strange disconnect, especially when Abbey channeled her NAI side.

"How are the production lists looking, Abbey?"

Amy glanced at the rapidly scrolling screens. The text moved so fast she couldn’t even catch a single word, and half of it looked like complex math.

Abbey continued for a second before pausing, all the screens freezing as the young NAI’s attention turned to Amy. A massive grin erupted on her face.

"Good, we've got two new AM production modules online and ready to go."

Amy raised an eyebrow. "Already?"

Abbey hesitated, fidgeting with the papers in her hand. "Well, I sort of shoved them into the priority list. I think we really need the anti-matter; it’ll make a huge difference in what we can do."

Amy nodded, her eyes scanning the list that had now paused.

"Did you have something specific you wanted to use it for? AMCN missiles?”

Abbey shook her head, eyes shining with excitement. "I want to make an AM powered particle cannon!"

Amy looked at her blankly for a moment. “What is with you and giant laser beams?”

“They will only add a kilometer.” Abbey gave her an innocent look.

Amy looked at her skeptically, “Only.”

“The new warships we will build should be able to handle smaller targets, but I want to be able to vaporize the battle cruisers and battleship they might send in one shot!”

Amy knew that such weapons existed in the inner worlds, but only had a shallow idea of what they really entailed, but it sounded worthwhile. Ertan knew that they’d need something to deal with large threats.

“Okay. But don’t slow down the warships again. We need those sooner rather than later; we already have small threats in system.”

Abbey nodded, her face serious. "I’ll make sure we keep those on schedule. I've also been working on some ideas for how we could make the merger work. I think keeping Ackman as a separate station with a different purpose will be best."

Amy smiled, pleased with Abbey’s initiative. "Good. Let's make sure we're prepared for the meeting with Whitely tomorrow."

A few hours later Amy shut her screens off and stood up. “Abbey, that’s enough. Let’s call it for today and go get dinner.”

“But…”

“No buts. Let A31 handle it, we need to go eat.”

Abbey’s stomach decided to grumble loudly at that moment. The screens flipped off a second later. A look of surprise filled her face then she knocked her knuckles on her head, smiling, “I’m out voted, let’s go!”

Amy and Abbey headed out of the CIC and headed down the main concourse, chatting about less serious topics, such as what they were going to eat. Several eateries and food places had sprung up in the ‘commercial’ district.

The concourse was bustling with activity.

It wasn’t an official designation, but it was where a majority of the crewmen looking to dip into entrepreneurship had set up. A few had even quit their ships to run the shops full-time. Amy was still deciding on whether to make it official or not, but as they arrived, she realized it was probably an already done deal.

"So, the sushi?" Amy asked, turning towards Abbey as she scanned the the different signs.

"We had that last time, but yes anyway!" Abbey replied, giggling. "I'm starving."

They angled towards the sushi place that was stocked with many of Abbey’s favorite ‘fishies’ from the repaired aquaculture systems. Amy had seen several of the future designs and had a worrying thought about the station’s future as a walk-in aquarium. Amy and Abbey stopped in front of the sushi place, debating which rolls to order.

A group of younger miners passed by, laughing and carrying on loudly. That wasn’t an odd sight, but one pointed toward Amy and made a loud wolf whistle at her.

At first her cheeks heated, but then she felt annoyed. “Ugh. Those morons only want one thing.”

"Yeah! I know. I hate how pushy they are even when I give it to them," Abbey said puckering her lips to mimic Amy’s annoyed look.

Amy froze forgetting the miners to stare at Abbey in horror. “Wait. What? Abbey!”

Abbey looked up at her and tilted her head in confusion, “What?”

“Did someone… did someone make you do things? Touch you somewhere inappropriate?” Amy struggled to ask.

“What are you talking about?”

Amy furrowed her brow, “What did you mean when you said they were pushy?”

“I was just agreeing with you. All they want are spaceships. New miner that, new ore collector this. Mobbing each other over who gets to fly the destroyer!”

Amy opened her mouth to respond, then closed it without saying anything. She shook her head. “How about the rainbow rolls this time?”

Amy yawned and rolled over, the soft flannel comforter and smart foam bed a far cry better than the hard cold bunks on the Badger. Her alarm gently cooed at her to get up, but she pulled the flannel against her skin a bit tighter.

Right up until the alarm began emitting a horrendous shriek that forced her out of her warm cocoon to deal with it.

“Raise the room temp one degree, morning prep routine please.”

A robotic voice echoed confirmation and Amy went to use the bathroom. Nature’s call satisfied she took a refreshing hot shower. Warm air dried her off without the need for a towel and she took the time to take care of her hair braids as well.

Selecting one of her new outfits, she pulled on a comfortable set of underwear and a personally tailored bra that A31 had made for her. Made for all the women on the station.

It was so much better to have free clothes that were personally made to your exact measurements, she thought.

She finished dressing with her normal work pants, a black shirt, and her Starlight Revolution branded jacket-hoodie that was the normal style for employees to wear now.

Alex had left a dozen different design choices for the rank insignias and Amy quite liked the golden plate with her name on it underneath a star with its points connected by a circle.

Moving to the attached kitchenette in her apartment, a cup of coffee and some breakfast rolls were already waiting for her, and she pulled up a seat on a stool and took a sip of the hot beverage while reading her morning updates.

The meeting with Whitely wasn’t until later in the evening, but Amy noted that Abbey had sent her a message asking to meet after she woke up. She sighed, the young NAI Avatar was a work-a-holic for sure. Amy wasn’t sure if that was good for her or not, she didn’t have any real close comparisons to judge by except Alex.

She supposed the two were similar enough, both being prone to flights of thought or zipping from one activity to another. A frown creased Amy’s lips. She had been spending more and more time thinking about the long blue-haired girl that was supposed to be her boss. She had so many questions to ask her.

Amy really hoped she wasn’t… dead. Pushing the morbid thought away, Amy continued to scroll her morning news. When she finished breakfast, she set the room’s auto cleaner to work and headed out to find the rambunctious blue haired avatar.

It didn’t take long to find her; the Abbey was standing outside waiting.

Amy rose an eyebrow, “How long have you been waiting there?”

“I ran over as soon as you woke up! I solved the destroyer crew problem!”

| : D |

“Did you set up a GAI core for it? I’m still not sure how great that is until we figure out who to trust with it.”

“Hehe. Follow me, I’ll show you!” Abbey took her hand and led the way.

| ^^ |

Amy shook her head and followed, finding it hard to resist a smile at the younger girl’s enthusiasm.

A feeling of confusion washed over Amy as they arrived at the bulkhead divisor to the prisoner’s module. They still hadn’t been able to determine what to do with the Corpos they had rescued from the life pods, and Amy had left them under A31’s custody until a determination was made on whether to repatriate them or wait for the CS to ask for a prisoner exchange.

As they entered, Amy voiced her confusion, “Why are we here?”

Abbey didn't explain, but instead led her to an interrogation cell. A feeling of misgiving teased at Amy; there was no way she would allow the prisoners to take back control of the destroyer!

The room was a spartan bare metal space, with muted lighting and a single metal table with three chairs. Amy recognized the man sitting behind it, his hands cuffed to a loop on the table, as Captain Yalof.

She had spoken to the man several times and had found him reasonable if a bit narrow minded. He looked up as they entered, and she was shocked to see a deep-seated fear enter his eyes as he stared at Abbey.

Abbey spoke first, “Hello Captain Yalof! I am sorry if you had to wait for very long! Would you like a snack or some water?” She beamed a massive smile at him.

Yalof answered hesitantly, “N..no thank you.”

“That’s odd. Amy do you know any reason that every prisoner should refuse when I ask them that?” Abbey smiled looking up at Amy as she took her seat.

“No idea.” Amy shook her head. She felt a weird feeling of concern as Abbey began to question the man about how he was being treated and how he felt about the station.

A heavy undercurrent of appeasement easily discernable in his answers which felt very out of character compared to what Amy expected after her previous meetings with the man.

Just as she was about to stop Abbey and question her about what was going on, the young girl led the Captain to a final question.

“So… would you like to join your crew or would you be interested in running the repaired destroyer as my subcore?”

| ^^ |

Yalof reacted instantly, “Don’t make me like them! Anything else but that!”

Amy looked between Yalof and Abbey feeling like she was stuck in some type of melodrama skit, and she was the butt of the joke.

Right until Abbey hopped up onto the table and then punched her small fist into the man’s chest.

Blood splattered across metal some of it flying into Amy’s open mouth. She jerked out of her seat and backed away to the door as Yalof screamed and pushed himself backwards in his seat. His chained hands and Abbey’s grip inside his chest held him in place as he struggled. Abbey’s free hand gripped the table and somehow ate away at some of the metal.

Amy’s hand shook as she touched the door handle, “What..”

Captain Yalof went limp for a moment and Abbey pulled her arm free, turning to look at Amy with a big smile. “Mission accomplished! Subcore Captain and crew acquired!”

| ^^ |

As Abbey slid off the table, Yalof spasmed and then the bloody hole in his chest began to knit itself together rapidly.

“It’s only an alpha-level, so we really should keep the destroyer within the same system. I can work with A31 on upgrading it to a full subcore level later if we want.”

| : ) |

Abbey took a step toward Amy a tilting her head sideways with a confused look. “What’s wrong? Did I do something wrong?”

| : ( |

Amy felt tears starting to well in her eyes as she pushed down her first instinct to flee, instead she knelt down and pulled Abbey in a hug. Amy’s heart pounded in her chest as she tried to gather herself.

“Huh?” Abbey felt confused but hugged Amy back.

| :o ? |

It was difficult for Amy to find words, “I don’t think this was a good thing to do.”

As if that was a signal Captain Yalof suddenly stood up, metal cuffs shrieking as they gave way and Amy hugged Abbey tighter at the startling sound.

The man’s eyes blazed with a sinister blue light, motes of black dancing inside his glowing sclera. The wall at the back of the interrogation chamber made a clunk sound, and then it began to rise. A large open chamber was set behind it, dozens of men were in SR uniforms standing at attention.

Captain Yalof moved jerkily as he joined the formation at the front, all of the men saluting. Amy realized they were the Corpo prisoners.

All of them had glowing blue eyes as Captain Yalof.

Abbey broke the silence, “I’m pretty tough, I don’t think you can break me, even squeezing me this hard.”

| ^^” |