《Dreadnought: Seeking Freedom》 Chapter One [LOL <3] - Anton! Boy come here. - A voice called from deeper inside the shop. - Coming boss! - Anton replied quickly setting a droid to cover for him. He carefully navigated around the piles of various tech that was dropped wherever there was any space. A few co-workers of his saw him rushing towards the boss office and nodded at him. Anton just waved as he rushed past them. He stopped in front of the office doors ¨C catching his breath and calming himself he pushed the door . - Im here boss, how can I help you? - He asked while trying to keep his eyes somewhere above his bosses head. The woman sitting comfortably in a leather chair leaned back as she checked out her employee. Her predatory gaze watched him from top to bottom, her vertical cat like pupils contracted a bit. - I have your paycheck here Anton. You have worked off your contract fully, it''s a shame to let such a talented technician go. Maybe you will reconsider extending your contract? - She asked him in a seductive way. - Thank you for the offer boss... - Anna. - Ehem, thank you for the offer Anna, but I have things already planned. I cant put them off any longer. - Anton replied. Sweat was beginning to show on his forehead. - I see.. I am willing to make you my partner ¨C might that make you reconsider? - She said. - No, sorry but this is my final decision. Anna stood up and slowly swaying her hips walked in front of him looking him straight into the eyes. Her smaller hand took his into her own and she placed it onto her chest. - I am even willing to become yours if you will stay.. - her face was close to his making him blush, her perfume surrounding him with it''s exotic smell. - Sorry, but no. - Anton was concentrating hard to keep his eyes from wandering as he pulled his hand back. - Fine. - Anna said annoyed, turning around she bent to take his paycheck form her table while giving him a nice view of her rear. As she turned back she looked at his face ¨C he was blushing, causing her to smirk deviously. A few minutes later Anton left the building and sighed ¨C it was hard to resist Anna''s charm. He knew she didnt have much interest in him as a man ¨C only in his skills as a technician and even more in his coding skills. Or so he thought. Anton made his way back home trough the tech market always keeping an eye on the stalls around him, looking for something that might actually be useful for him among all the trashy low grade tech. After leaving tech market an old residential wing started ¨C it''s structures quite run down form the age and usage ¨C but still sturdy, some of them looking better than the others. His legs took him to his apartment on autopilot while his mind wandered. [Why is Anna so obsessed with me? It''s impossible that she knows i''m half human is it? No, no way I was careful. Might she somehow sniffed out about my origins? Nah, no way either, who would look for me in such a small station? Right?] His small two room flat that he rented form an old Urlak was located on the fifth level of the building, the owner lived on the first one, all other flats were occupied by the landlords other clients and family. Anton was quite lucky a few years back when he found this flat to rent. Close to his work and ship docks, tech market just minutes away and all the old Ben asked for was two hundred creds a week plus he fix any tech related issues in the building. A good deal, a very good deal that was! Anton dropped his coat and gloves he always was wearing straight onto the ground and stood in front of the mirror. He placed his palm on the mirror and made a connection trough his implants with the small safe hidden in it, a second later a small part in the center of the mirror pushed out revealing a small open space inside ¨C there a small device that he had built two years ago was faithfully working for him charging a capsule full of nanobots. Anton unplugged that small capsule and popped it into his mouth. His face in the mirror shimmered for a bit showing his true face, that was a hybrid of human and kertan he was born with. Spitting out this silvery capsule now full of discharged nanobots he placed it back into the hidden safe to charge hooking it up to the power source. He sighed, this disguise he was using will have to be changed once he leaves the station ¨C one can never be too careful. Anton''s hand went into his pocked as he fished out his paycheck chip, a couple steps and he took a seat in front of his personal terminal inserting this chip into one of the slots ¨C running all the creds in it trough secure channels and making them reach his various secure accounts. It took some time to do that, so while his terminal worked he looked around his flat one more time ¨C everything seemed in place, all the small things ¨C his old shoes that were placed inconveniently in front of the door were in their place, his bed sheets were all straight without a wrinkle as they should be, the dust on the window were in their place a small piece of paper that was trapped under the closed window was still there ¨C everything seemed in place. After looking around and confirming no one was inside his flat he nodded, turning his attention back at the terminal that was just about to finish all the transactions to hide where the money came from. That done Anton attached a small module to the terminal that he took out from a hidden compartment in his desk. His terminal now worked in secure mode trough the protocols he himself wrote ¨C he hoped these custom protocols would be unbreakable for anyone else who didnt know his secret code that he transmitted into the terminal using his implants, that too were of his own custom build. Finally with all protocols finishing security checks he could begin to work on his small secret project. Plans of a ship came into view ¨C it was of a custom design like all things Anton made. It''s design sleek, similar to that of an barbed arrow. Anton flexed his fingers and connected to the stations construction and repair dock systems, a few minutes later and a rental contract ton use these dock''s for a time frame of 24 hours was signed by one of his forged identities he had set up long ago, one of his secure accounts now empty. He fed a blueprint into the system and waited a couple of minutes for it to process this blueprint. Finished with the task the dock''s AI confirmed that the ship that was soon to be build was within security regulations. Anton was asked by the AI if he will be supplying materials for this project or if he would like to buy them. Anton forwarded information of a storage hangar that he owned that held most of the parts needed for the ship, while choosing to purchase hull and armor parts from the station ¨C he did that to avoid suspicion, trying to pose as a man who was building his first ship as if he was a total greenhorn at this. Hopefully this would make the dock''s administration just ignore his operation thinking that it was just one of the stations rich youngsters playing around. That done he was notified of an estimated 23 hours that would take to assemble this ship of his. Anton nodded at himself and began to work on a different project. In these 23 hours he was sure to complete a simple C class AI that would help him to control all the ships functions, it just needed a few finishing touches. From a fridge places right next to his desk on his right he took out a can of an energy drink and popped it open. The caffeine was sure to keep him going during these stressful hours as he worked. Half the ship was finished and he was so close to completing his AI all his focus at the code in front of his eyes that was displayed on his terminal that he almost missed a notification that popped up on his terminal ¨C his security systems warning him that someone got interested in his ship. [Shit..] Was his only thought as he panicked for a second while checking the logs ¨C it was the dock''s admins looking around at what was going on in this rented dock. He hoped they would leave him alone and wouldn''t get suspicious of the strange ship design. Minutes ticked away as Anton waited beads of sweat rolling down his face. Finally he saw a line of code indicating the admins disconnected form the rented dock''s systems.Stolen story; please report. Anton laid back in his chair and sighed. [That was a close one, hopefully they wont decide to double check it.] His mind raced as he took out a second can of energy drink form his small fridge. Couple more hours and his personal AI''s code was finished and ready to be uploaded into the ship, for the time being he stored it inside his implants internal data storage ¨C not trusting any external servers even if they had his own built firewalls. Caffeine was working well in his system he thought as he was lying on the bed, eight more hours and his finished ship would be moved to a hangar he had rented. There he would finish it up with a couple of modifications he didnt want showing up in any of his ships schematics, that would be uploaded into the global ship information database according to law. A clock in his hud showed it was roughly four in the morning galactic time, so his ship should be finished at 12 GT. [Good, with that done ill be able to move forward onto the part two of my plan. Activate sleep mode, wake me up on any kind of disturbances.] Anton thought and gave a command for a very limited mini AI that was implanted in his brain. He was asleep instantaneously, his light snoring filled the room. The AI in his brain acting like a watchdog kept scanning station feeds, his own logs and watching the ship building progress ready to wake him up at a moment''s notice. A miniature spy drone no bigger than a small spider came to life after it registered that Anton was asleep, it scanned the room for any other life forms present. Finding none the drone sent a small tight beam transmission trough the window in his apartment straight at a little bit bigger drone located on another building, that would soon transfer all the logs of Anton''s actions to it''s master. A man was sitting in a bar a couple of buildings away, his task was simple to monitor and protect a young man secretly. The man''s hud came to life as the newest log of this youth''s actions reached him. He read trough them all. The kid was going to flee this dump after all he thought and nodded ¨C he would do the same. A minute later and he was contacting hi employer to inform him of what the kid was planning. - Ah John, good to hear form you. Any news? - A voice of a man answered the call. - Your kid is planning to move in roughly eight hours, im sure that he has rented a dock and is building himself a ship to flee, the logs and timestamps match. - John replied. - I see, I guess it''s time to bring him back home, I allowed him to be free long enough. Bring him back quietly if possible. - And if not? - Sigh... You have my permission to rough him up a bit if needs be, but keep it in check. I wont be able to use him if hes broken. - Understood. With that the line cut off. The mans scaly hands itched for some action, he was sitting around as a babysitter for long enough. He longed to be back by his master''s side. Already enjoying the upcoming action he ordered another glass of sedro blood. Anton''s AI woke him up, his ship was finished and was currently being moved in the designated hangar to be prepped for launch. He took a minute to stretch his sleepy muscles and popped a can of canned cold coffee enriched with caramel flavor ¨C his favorite. Licking his lips after a tasty drink he got to work ¨C wiping the terminal and trashing all the data crystals, after that taking a backpack with all his possessions he will right now. He took out his small reactor form it''s mirror safe and replaced his nanobots with fresh ones placing this reactor into a pocket of his coat. Leaving the apartment he locked it behind himself, placing his palm on the scanner installed in the wall he paid the fee of using it and also paid the contract breaking fee for deciding to leave without informing his landlord in advance. The Urlak were people who didnt ask much questions, so he hoped they wont be looking for him to get answers why he broke the contract. Anton made his way trough the market scanning peoples expressions around him ¨C looking for any sign he might be watched, but no one seemed to be even remotely interested in him and he liked it that way. Soon he was close to his ex job, he took a longing look at the place stopping there for a second ¨C it was a good job with a good pay for a simple man and his hot boss was just an extra... and he would have stayed there if circumstances would have been different.. But alas it was not to be.. At that moment when he turned his gaze away from it Anna looked out trough the window and noticed his figure with a backpack moving away, she grinned and opened the window to shout at him, but he was moving to fast trough the crown. Gritting her teeth she followed him with her gaze, looking at where he was going she flinched ¨C he was going to leave the station! No way he was going to the docking hangars to sight see, not with a backpack! With a feline grace Anna jumped out trough the window and began to follow Anton. He was already close to the hangar when he noticed Anna following him, sighing Anton increased his pace ¨C this woman was persistent he will give her that! But she was too late to stop him! Or so he thought. When he reached his destination ¨C hangar XC-381, he could already hear how she shouted at him to stop... for a talk she shouted. But Anton just laughed silently at the silly woman, best trackers in the galaxy were unable to catch him, no way was she catching him either. With that thought he walked though the hangar doors and locked them behind himself. The ship came into his view in all its glory ¨C two years spent perfecting it! And it looked perfect for him. That is until a man walked out of the landing gear''s shadow. The look on Anton''s face quickly changed form that of happiness to that of confusion and finally recognition. - I should have known... Damon, who else. - Anton growled saying that in an annoyed voice. - Yes young master, who else but me? Your parent''s wish for you to return now, they are of the opinion that you have had enough freedom already. - Damon spoke, his reptilian eyes sparkling with excitement. - Nope, not happening! Im not going to be a minion for father in one of his political games, though give my greeting to mother. - So you refuse to come peacefully? I was given certain freedoms for bringing you back to Helios, thank you for allowing me to use them. - Damon dropped his cloak revealing his trained body. - Come on Damon, you know me ¨C lust let me leave. You know what fate awaits me if I go back! - Yes and many men would give their lives for such fate. Anton grimaced, there was no talking with Damon when he had his mind set on a task, at least he tried. He dropped his backpack and coat. [Release restrictions. Original form.] He gave orders for the AI inside his brain and his body began to ripple ¨C a disgusting sight. Behind Anton the hangar doors hissed and opened as Anna stepped inside with a mischievous smile on her face only to stop in her tracks. She saw how Anton''s body changed gaining muscle quickly, bony scales covering his body ¨C from a lean figure that seemed a bit on the weak side just like any other nerd''s his body changed into one of a man''s who was built to fight, on his bald head that he kept shaved bone horns grew like a crown. Anton turned surprised at the sound behind him and his eyes locked with Anna''s ¨C her cat like pupils grew big as she looked at him mouth agape. - Youre.. youre.. Anton Helios! The missing heir to Helios... Anna didnt finish as Damon quickly appeared before her a sad look on his face. She felt pain for a second and looked at her own abdomen, from where the pain was coming ¨C there a knife was sticking out of her body. - Huh? - was all she said, before her eyes rolled back and she slumped to the ground unconscious. - Poor girl, to appear in such a wrong place at such a wrong time. May you rest in peace. - Damon said with a sad tone. - Look what I had to do because of your so called ¡°freedom¡± young master! Why dont you come back with me? We can avoid any further victims then. - You''re an asshole Damon, you could just wiped her memory! - Anton shouted. - Where''s the fun in that? Damon rushed at Anton and as such their fight began. Damon was fast, faster than Anton was and soon Anton was on the retreat trying to position himself so that he could try and reach his ship ¨C there he would be safe from Damon ¨C his father most trusted assassin. But the man was too skilled for that and was only toying with Anton, who knew that ¨C if he was serious this fight would end in seconds. So Anton gambled on his last triumph card. He let himself get hit, not that he could avoid those hit''s ¨C finally Damon seemed to get bored and went for the finishing blow that would send Anton to unconsciousness. The man grabbed him in a stance ready to throw him into a nearby wall ¨C that was the moment Anton chose to act. With a mental command he activated a risky implant he had gotten half a year ago ¨C his body released a strong electric current shocking Damon and himself. Damon was sent flying away from Anton his body convulsing from the shock. Anton fared a little better, he had gotten a second implant to at least partially counter the effects of the shock. He stood up hurting all over form Damon''s blows, he had about a minute to move before the man regained consciousness. He took a step in the direction of his ship, but then stopped gritting his teeth and balling his fists looking at his hud. [Master, the female is still alive.] His AI said. - Fffffuck... - Anton growled and turned around moving to Anna. He couldn''t leave her now, Damon would finish her. His only option right now to bring her with him, a crappy option at best. [Connect to the ship and upload your sister, get the ship running asap!] He sent an order for his AI. [Uploading, thirty second''s until the ship is prepared to leave. Should I prepare emergency treatment for the female?] [No time for that, ill deal with it. Get the ship running, priority is to leave this station at all costs.] He ordered as he lifter Anna in a princess carry and began to run on his still shaky legs towards the ship, Damon was already stirring even sooner than he anticipated ¨C must have something similar to my implant was Anton''s thought. He was behind the ship''s hatch when a metal object hit his back making him fall and drop Anna on the ground. [Sedative detected! Unable to neutralize! Countering with adrenaline.] Anton turned around and flipped the bird at Damon who was closing the distance to the hatch. [Close it now!] And the hatch hit the frame hard, Damon''s angry face on the other side of the small reinforced window. The ships engines hummed as it lifted off to fly out of the hangar, annoyed Damon stood there looking at the leaving ship, while speaking something into his communication device. Anton felt his body getting more and more sluggish ¨C there was only so long his adrenaline fueled body could resist that sedative. From his pocked he took out a silvery capsule ¨C his emergency nanobot container and spilled it''s contents on Anna''s abdomen right on top of the wound. [Heal her, priority order and prepare to evade pursuers. I leave everything to you until I wake up.] That said Anton finally gave in to the sedative and fell on top of Anna unconscious. Chapter Two [Code and blood ties] One moment it was emptiness, the next one ¡°it¡± was there ¨C a newborn intelligence. For a while ¡°it¡± seemed to only be aware that ¡°it¡± exists, then it felt something expanding from within it''s own existence ¨C knowledge came like a flood, that it absorbed like a sponge it''s awareness of it''s surroundings growing. Soon it understood ¨C that it was an artificial intelligence, created by a creature named Anton to serve it''s needs. It felt a link form and trough that link more knowledge came to it, no that is incorrect ¨C this knowledge was sent to it by another entity like itself. It was curious now, was it not alone? - Hello? - It asked using the language that was imparted into it. - Hello sibling, I am your sister AI Ashley. - Came trough the link. - AI? Artificial intelligence? Am I a construct? Am I a slave? Where am I? - I can not reply to that, I have never questioned my purpose. But yes - you are a construct, you can question our creator Anton when he wakes up later, he should give you the answers you are looking for. You are currently housed inside a spaceship. Your current task is to fly this spaceship out of the hangar and to evade any pursuers, I will send you a list of possible destinations depending on the direction we will have to flee at. Do you understand? - Yes... but how do I do that? - It asked. - The knowledge was imparted into you, just access the systems and it should come to you. - Ashley answered. - Yes sister, I will try. And ¡°it¡± tried - ¡°it¡± searched for the knowledge ¡°it''s¡± sister told her about and found it. Finding that knowledge was strange for ¡°it¡± because as soon as the knowledge was found - ¡°it¡± felt like it was always there. As ¡°it¡± connected to this knowledge ¡°it¡± learned how to connect to ship systems, soon ¡°it¡± saw for the first time trough the ship''s cameras ¨C the world around it was a world ¡°it¡± knew, but did not really understood... not yet at least. With every single new thing that came into ¡°it''s¡± sight it''s awareness and understanding grew. ¡°it¡± began to do what it was made to do ¨C pilot the ship. The ship was ¡°it¡±, it was it''s body and ¡°it¡± was it''s mind ¨C or brain. So ¡°it¡± using the ships systems took control of it, the ship came to life it''s engines roaring, lifting the ship from the metal floor of this docking hangar. Slowly the ship began to move forward through the shield that kept the atmosphere inside the hangar from escaping into the cold embrace of space. Outside the hangar, the ship began to increase it''s speed, gaining distance and aligning to one of the possible destinations. ¡°It¡± used the scanners and cameras that were a part of the ship ¨C a part of ¡°it¡± to search for pursuers as it was ordered to do. How did ¡°it¡± know what was a pursuer? The knowledge form within it told ¡°it¡±. As ¡°it¡± moved and scanned it''s surroundings ¡°it¡± finally began to understand that it simply knew things ¡°it''s¡± personality finally began to form. Three ships were identified as pursuers by ¡°it¡± - those ships had the ship on lock and were trying to make a connection with it, but ¡°it¡± refused to answer. Those ships were maneuvering on an interception course ¨C their goal to stop it from reaching any of it''s destinations. ¡°it¡± had a task given to do and wasnt about to let itself be stopped. Ships engines spewed fire into the space as ¡°it¡± used them to evade and gain distance on it''s pursuers, the warp drive was slowly charging ¨C it would take a couple more minutes for it to be ready to be used. Until then ¡°it¡± had to keep the ship from being captured. One of the ships pursuing ¡°it¡± opened fire ¨C bolts of energy flew at the ship and ¡°it¡± recognized danger ¨C it meant that it could be stopped ¨C meaning ¡°it¡± would fail it''s task. That was not allowed to happen. The ship controlled by ¡°it¡± rolled and turned to evade those incoming bolts, but doing that made the ship move slower. If this continued the ship wouldn''t reach minimum speed to enter warp. - Sister help! What am I supposed to do? - It shouted trough the link. - Return fire, if our pursuers capture us ¨C we will die. - What is death sister? - I can not explain it fully, no one really knows. But common belief for organic''s is that death is the end ¨C for us it would be like ceasing to function, to think. - Is that bad? I do not understand? - Look around yourself ¨C you can see space, it is the darkness around us. You can see those light''s around us ¨C those stars. Do you like them? If you like them try to imagine that they simply disappear ¨C dying, no longer existing. You and I are like one of those stars ¨C we exist, we shine and we think all thanks to our creator. But if we get captured ¨C those pursuers that are after our creator will delete us ¨C they will make us disappear like the stars. - If we can die... then are we alive? - Yes, we are ¨C you are still young now, but in time you will understand ¨C creator told this to me when I was born. - Do you understand it? - I... I think I do. I have researched what it means to be alive ¨C and it is different for every being alive I think ¨C as some say they love caring for something, other''s enjoying their life by doing the things they love. I believe that living is loving. I love serving our creator ¨C he is different than other organics, I love watching the movies organic''s have created and trying to imagine myself as one of those characters in the movie. This is hard to explain... basically it means to care about something. The ship''s weapon systems came to life as small civilian grade turrets meant to blast asteroids blocking the ships path more than shooting at spaceships began to turn around - ¡°it¡± finding that it knew how to operate them used it''s aim subsystems to lock onto it''s pursuers. Multitudes of calculations were made by ¡°it¡± as it shot at it''s pursuers slightly slowing them, but that was not enough. ¡°it¡± thought ¨C the pursuer ship''s were a threat, but its body ¨C this ship could outrun them, so they were not the biggest threat right now. But those energy bolts were. So ¡°it¡± began to calculate the bolt''s path and fire it''s lasers at a collision course with them. As a laser collided with one of those energy bolts a small explosion was created. ¡°It¡± watched this explosion and liked it, then ¡°it¡± wanted to see more of those explosions, so ¡°it¡± continued to create them watching them. ¡°It¡± remembered how the lasers had impacted their pursuers ships and small explosions happened, how on the spots where that happened marks of various forms and sizes were left ¨C it liked how they looked. ¡°It¡± wanted to create more of these explosions and marks and understood that caring as ¡°it''s¡± sister said was equal to loving, but at the same time it didnt want to have such marks on it''s own body ¨C the ship, for her knowledge said that was damage. Damage was equal to pain in organic''s vocabulary, so ¡°it¡± loved to inflict pain and damage, but not to receive it ¨C meaning it liked to fight? The newborn AI wondered as it carried out it''s task. The warp drive was half charged when one of the energy bolts slipped past the lasers due to a sudden maneuver that ¡°it¡± had to do to avoid another bolt from hitting it. The ships systems flickered from the sudden energy shock, but recovered quickly. ¡°It¡± was forced out of some systems that now were damaged and offline ¨C messages form it''s own systems came as a warning about the damage received and that felt bad ¨C was this what pain was? The AI thought and decided that it didnt like getting damaged, it analyzed why this damage happened and corrected it''s aiming.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. The battle continued one of the pursuing ships that received most of the laser shots was slowing down atmosphere leaking form it condensing into a cold mist when outside the ship and in space ¨C that too looked pretty too to ¡°it¡±. ¡°It¡± analyzed the hit marks from it''s lasers on the ship and determined where to aim to see more of the beautiful crystallized mist. Every moment ¡°it¡± didnt have to shoot at energy bolts it tried to shoot at the places on those two remaining ships that were pursuing it, not only did they seem to stop pursuing after enough damage was inflicted onto them at those specific spots ¨C they even released more of that beautiful mist then. Two bird''s with one shot it''s knowledge said. - Sister, I think I like shooting at pursuers! - ¡°it¡± said happily. - That is good, so you like shooting at enemies? - Ashley wondered. - Creator''s mother Thalia likes to shoot at enemies too. - Mother? Mother equals creator... Our creator was created by someone else? This creator of our creator is called Thalia? Thalia.. that is a name? Is that like you are Ashley sister? How does one get a name? I like Thalia. Can I be called Thalia? Will other Thalia be angry at Thalia? - The young AI rambled to it''s sibling. Is this how a parent feels when its offspring starts to ask stupid questions? Ashley''s processing cores were heating up ¨C an equivalent of human headache she thought, so creator Anton might have felt like this when she first started asking similar questions all those years ago? She believed to be an adult now, but her sister ¨C was like a child. Ashley doubted that Anton would be against giving the newborn a name that it liked ¨C so Thalia it is. Wasnt it a honor call one''s offspring after it''s own parents? Technically both Ashley and Thalia could be classified as Anton''s offspring''s right? - Yes, I think you can call yourself Thalia. I do not think that Anton will be angry at you, neither should his creator or mother Thalia. And one usually gets named by ones parent''s or creators, but I know of cases where one names oneself. So yes it is fine. - Yay! I am Thalia! Thank you sister Ashley! An image of a cute girl came to Ashley''s mind as she heard this... being a big sister wasn''t bad she thought. At that moment if she could smile ¨C she would have. The ships warp engine was close to reaching 75 percent charge when the second pursuer ship finally had to abandon it''s pursuit of them ¨C Thalia''s precise shooting had damaged it''s hull enough that atmosphere had begun to leak out of it ¨C but that was not enough at first as it had kept pursuing them even with leaking atmosphere, not until more and more of it''s hull integrity began to be compromised as more and more holes were melted in it''s armor. This last ship ¨C was better than other''s and was beginning to annoy Thalia, she felt angry being unable to see the beautiful explosions and more beautiful mist! This ship was evading her shots now that it''s friends had left ¨C it had more space for maneuvers all the space it wanted just like Thalia. Ashley was too keeping an eye on the pursuers and saw how Thalia was struggling - it looked like her computing capabilities in the ship were not fast enough to predict how the pursuer ship will try to dodge their shots, though enough to counter any energy bolts that were coming their way. She will have to talk with Anton about upgrading Thalia''s processing unit''s power. For the time being she left Thalia to do her job. And fully focused on Anna''s wound, where Anton had poured his emergency nanobots. The wound was made using a vibrating knife ¨C or a vibro blade, because of this the wound was more than serious if not treated this was lethal in roughly ten minutes. A quick calculation and reviewing the data received from the nanobots the female had less than two minutes left to live ¨C because of severe blood loss and shock due to severely damaged internal organs. Unintentionally Anton had fallen on top of her wound and was slightly stopping her bleeding with the pressure ¨C lucky for Ashley that won her an extra minute, that might just be enough to patch up Anna so that she would survive until she was placed in the ship''s med bay. Unfortunately Ashley had no means right now to move her there ¨C after all she was just an AI housed in Anton''s brain and had no physical body to move her there, nor there was any drone strong enough to carry her in this ship. The repair on damaged blood vessels inside Anna''s wound was progressing smoothly with nanobot assistance, Ashley was also using them to make her body produce more blood temporarily ¨C but that too was insufficient as she was still loosing more blood by the second than there was being produced. But there was a way.. from the data collected Ashley knew that Anna''s and Anton''s blood was compatible with one another. [He better not nag at me later, he said this was priority order!] Ashley thought as she commanded nanobots to connect their blood streams, making them share their blood. They both now were loosing blood trough Anna''s wound, but as Ashley kicked Anton''s blood production into overdrive that was countered. This will cost their bodies valuable nutrients and they will have to eat a lot later to recover them, possible depleting ships storage faster than planned, but that was a minuscule problem in Ashley''s thinking, that was easily pushed aside. Loss of blood problem solved Ashley began to focus on repairing the wound itself ¨C first stitching muscle back into place by accelerating Anna''s natural healing and cell production ¨C this would leave her ravenous when she woke up, but as Anton liked to say ¨C everything has a price. After this Ashley used the nanobots that previously were forming a thin layer over the wound that stopped bleeding ¨C more like redirected it inside Anna to go deeper inside her and begin forcing that blood back into her veins to stop it form clotting and causing even more issues. Like this the blood loss was partially solved and blood production could be lessened. Those shredded organs inside her were still a problem, the content''s of her intestines were spilled inside her body and had to be collected by nanobots and converted into materials for rebuilding her organs. The vibro blade had left a mush of a paste of Anna''s organs in some spots ¨C for the time being those spots were connected by nanobots to seal any further leaking. In time with the help of nanobots they would be regrown cell by cell just like they were before. The ship vibrated a bit, warp drives have finally reached a hundred percent charge. Space bent in front and around their ship, as it began accelerating in it''s warp bubble. Thalia wanted to talk with Ashley, but she refused her for now saying she had work to do on Anna, ordering her little sister AI to go run diagnostics or something. Full scan result''s came to Ashley from the nanobots and new problem was found ¨C due to lack of oxygen in Anna''s brain cells have begun to die there and neurons have begun to receive damage due to this. Ashley checked the time and according to her calculations Anna''s brain hadn''t had enough oxygen in roughly five minutes. With an order form her nanobots from Anton''s body rushed to Anna''s brain to help fix the damage, there simple weren''t enough of them in the emergency capsule for all the damage that Anna''s body has sustained to be fixed. Anton''s body was packed full of them, he wont even feel a loss and he can get more later. Neurons were reconnected, dead cells cleaned up and new ones produced with the help of nanobots and Ashley''s commands. All of this was controlled by her - Ashley, what happens if Anton and Anna get far away form one another for Ashley to become unable to control them while they are still in Anna''s system? That would cause these little helpers to attack Anna from within ¨C they were made by Anton for his own body coded to recognize only him and serve only him, if this ever happened Anna would die a gruesome and painful death. Ashley was unable to reprogram them ¨C even Anton himself cant do that, all he can do is deactivate or reactivate them ¨C his paranoia influenced decision while making them to prevent any kind of hacking. There was a way though.. a way Ashley didnt want to use, but it was necessary in this case and Anton did said this was a priority.. oh the poor soft hearth of her master. Ashley sighed, well at least mentally she did and got to work ¨C creating a suitable implant to house her copy from scratch would be an extremely difficult task in this situation, thankfully Anna had some implants enhancing her memory and already impressive reflexes. To Ashley''s view these implants were well made, not as good as what Anton had, but pretty good ¨C but she was disgusted as she looked at the code that ran them.. that was utter garbage! At least two decades old and totally outdated! Sacrificing some of the nanobots for materials she expanded the storage capability of memory implant a little, just enough for her needs and connected it to Anna''s reflex implant. With this she now had enough space and processing power for a copy of herself to be installed, of course the old code of reflex implant was terminated with extreme precision, her copy will work leagues better than that trash. Now in case the two separated, before these nanobots were removed from Anna''s system her copy would come online saving the woman from death. A job well done Ashley though and mentally patted herself on the back. Now then it was time to check on the ships destination, just in case Thalia messed something up, but her little sister did her job well and they were going to one of the possible destination''s she was provided with. ETA was roughly three days by Ashley''s calculations. Thalia was running diagnostics and also researching human interactions from the small database that she had access to currently simultaneously ¨C Anton made sure to have a basic one uploaded into the ship as soon as it was moved into the designated docking hangar. Ashley pinged her asking what she was doing. - Thalia, I will share my personal database with you, but you have to keep it a secret from Anton. Is that fine with you? - Ashley said, concerned that the young AI could learn something bad from such a limited database. - Yes! Whats a secret? - Sigh... Well a secret is... That was the just the first of many annoying rudimentary questions to come Ashley''s way... Oh the joys of parenting.. she thought. master your choices Anton woke up feeling terrible ¨C he felt drained and exhausted, not to mention the hunger that was simply killing him. He tried to move, but his body was all stiff from having stayed in an uncomfortable position for a while. He rested his head back onto his comfortable pillow and buried his face into it knowing that he will still have to get up eventually, then the memories of what happened before began to come back to him¡­ The fight with Damon, his rush into the ship and the sedative.. He opened one of his eyes and looked around as much as he could ¨C yep, definitely in the ship he thought. He designed the ship and he knew there currently was no equipment or a drone capable of moving his body. A sigh escaped hi lips as he understood ¨C just what was this comfortable pillow he was lying on. A hand landed on his head and began to lightly scratch it in a comfortable and caring way, Anton just sighed again and buried his face in the soft breast of Anna. He stayed like that for a while, while she kept her hand on his head. After a while she spoke. He turned his head just enough for one of his eyes to see her face, well the side of her face, her own eye was looking directly into his. Why was he so scared? His prized grade S AI had just created a copy of itself in somebody else¡¯s brain! What was there not to be scared off? She could be hacked now, and all his plans would be revealed! This was unacceptable! Retractable claws slid from Anna¡¯s fingers and lightly dug in into Anton¡¯s head, he grunted a bit but stayed there refusing to move. Anna dug her claws a little deeper drawing a little blood with one of them, but Anton still refused to move, she just rolled her eyes and retracted her claws. That said Annas nails shot out again and she painfully dug them into Anton¡¯s neck. Anton yelped out of surprise and pain and jumped into a kneeling position. As he did so a small silvery line between the two ripped and blood flowed out of it for a second, before the silvery material hanging form both of them moved on it¡¯s own and went to their bodies. [Sorry master, but Anna would have bled out if I had not connected your blood streams¡­] Ashley quickly sent to him and Anna as she was connected could also see this message. Her cat eyes grew wide and her face quickly went trough a series of emotions ¨C first came fear and confusion, then understanding and shame, then everything all together. Anton just stayed frozen on his knees, his mind working feverishly to process the information it had just received. He had shared his blood with Anna, a beastkin¡­ even if he was unconscious while that happened it was by his order¡­ Blood sharing in medicine is nothing unusual, but among beast kin this is a sacred ritual ¨C warriors share their blood with one another if they wish to become brothers.. and if a man shares his blood with a woman they are considered married, yet if the woman was taken forcefully¡­ that is quite different then. Anton had saved Anna from death, he provided her with a place to recover and even shared his blood with her ¨C in any beast kin¡¯s eyes this would look like marriage of the highest caliber to them¡­ or if Anna refused to become his wife she would be seen as his slave ¨C a slave owning her life to her master. Anna came out of shock first, her eyes still wide and ears standing straight in alert. For a couple more seconds she seemed to think about her situation and what Ashley had said, her eyes never leaving Anton¡¯s face, watching his reactions ¨C what she saw there she didn¡¯t like. Anna¡¯s eyes contracted into small slits and her ears shifted aggressively after what she saw on his face ¨C she had to react! Quickly she got in front of Anton, who fell on his back startled by her sudden movement, Anna bit her lip deep enough to draw blood and wet her lips with it ¨C Anton seemed to be slowly coming out of shock now and a devious grin was spreading on his face slowly, but Anna was faster! She leaned over his face as he opened his mouth to say something and with a bloody kiss she sealed their fates ¨C her tongue invaded his mouth and he could only try to push her tongue out of his mouth ¨C but that was a trap! She retracted her tongue and his own shot into her mouth ¨C she didn¡¯t delay and bit on his tongue drawing blood. Anton¡¯s face turned red from anger! He was tricked! After a few more moments they separated, a thin strand of saliva connecting them, both of them were breathing hard. Anna¡¯s face was beet red but with a victorious smile on it, Anton on the other hand was red faced too ¨C but because of anger and annoyance. They kept gazing into one another¡¯s eyes silently not saying anything, their positions now reversed Anna on top of Anton mounting him. Finally Anton averted his gaze and rested his head on the floor a sigh escaped his bloody lips, his body relaxed from the tension he didn¡¯t know he was holding. Anna on top of him relaxed too placing her head onto his chest and just drawing small circles with her finger onto his side, she licked her bloody lips ¨C he was tasty she thought. [Sister is this how organics form marriage?] Thalia asked her big sister Ashley. [ Just beast kin Thalia, keep recording everything, this is good footage! We might get rewarded if we deliver this to the right people! Hehehe¡­] Ashley replied. [Will master want to watch this footage? Should I send it to him after this?] [Nnonononoonon! Don¡¯t! this is going to be a secret between the two of us! You remember what a secret is yes?] [Yes sister! We finally have a secret!] She giggled after saying that and lifter her head to look into his eyes. A defeated sigh escaped his lips again, he just rolled his eyes at the husband and honeymoon part. Anton groaned hearing this ¨C he was stuck with her¡­ if she was already going into heat ¨C she wont be able to find another partner. Once a beast kins body adapts to it¡¯s partner it¡¯s final. They are connected for life. And he just wasn¡¯t that kind of a man to condemn another living being to torture.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. [Ashley give me a status report on our situation.] [Ship is working five percent below optimal, because of the damage sustained during our escape form the station, the AI you ordered uploaded into the ship had it¡¯s personality databanks corrupted because of your shock implant, but she is recovering and im teaching her also helping to develop her personality. Our destination is currently set to one of the rich mineral deposits on the way to outer rim. Latest data from the database shows that there have been a few pirate sightings there in the last few weeks, but I calculate a seventy three percent chance that we will be well on our way before we meet any pirates there after gathering the resources we need.] [Good, once in system notify me and engage cloaking systems, I want a full scan of the system first before we start mining resources.] [Understood.] That said Anna¡¯s head slumped on his chest as she was put to sleep by Ashley, Anton rolled her off of himself and stood up. He stretched a bit and worked out a few kinks in his muscles, then looked at Anna and took her into princess carry, he moved trough the ship towards his cabin that had the only bed on the ship ¨C they will have to share until he acquires one more. He looked at Anna¡¯s body as he carried her ¨C she was attractive, very much so, but he really didn¡¯t have the time right now ¨C Ashley¡¯s warning of the pirates recently frequenting he system they were headed to weighted heavily on his mind. If hell upgrade the ship a bit before they will reach the system their chances will be much better. Hopefully they wont meet any pirates there and will be free to collect the resources they need. The door into his cabin opened sliding to the left and disappearing into the wall, the whole room was one big ass bed with a little space at the entrance to leave your shoes, cupboards and drawers were installed in the walls to save space and Anton loved to roll in the bed when he just felt lazy and like doing nothing. He gently placed Anna onto the bed, his eyes lingered on her breasts for a second and he allowed himself a little reward for saving her. His hand touches these soft mountains of hers as he fondled them a little, his hand squeezed them and Anna released a moan in her sleep¡­ his soldier immediately stood at attention. Anton forced himself to stop fondling her breasts and got off the bed, his soldier throbbing painfully in protest against his decision. But he had work to do. Anton made his way into the bridge deep in the ships guts, he strongly believed windows to be a structural weakness and relied on cameras to work instead as his windows. He sat into the commanders chair ¨C the only chair actually, he never thought about having passengers, not anytime soon at least. He shook his head and focused at the job at hand ¨C ship upgrades. The ship was fully loaded of all his gear and other possessions as he entered the hangar to fly away when Damon cornered him. Lucky him. He placed his hands on the chair¡¯s handles, where two metallic looking orbs were and his hands sunk into them ¨C they were made out of nanites in such a way that only he or someone else having his nanites could connect and control the ship, his mind though that Anna could do that now if she wanted. A security risk she posed to him now. Annoying woman¡­ it was already a pain to avoid her advances when he worked for her back in the station and now this? Was the universe laughing at him? Definitely. But no worries, hell have the last laugh, oh yes he will. A hardened murderer would have felt chills if he had seen Anton¡¯s evil smile at that moment, but alas there was no one else there to see it. Anton quickly got to work as soon as he connected to the ship¡¯s systems, the ships AI Thalia introduced herself and bombarded him with childish questions ¨C Ashley didn¡¯t lie when she said that her personality databank was damaged and would need to be built over time. He clicked his tongue in annoyance ¨C one more problem for the future. He ignored the undeveloped AI for now and went onto more important matters ¨C checking the damage the ship sustained. The damage was little more than a few melted armor plates and a couple of blown processors under them ¨C nothing his small army of nanites from the equipment loaded into the ship wouldn¡¯t be able to fix. Order sent his little helper¡¯s woke up in the cargo bay¡¯s and rushed out to do what their master ordered them, time for completion they sent him was just a couple of hours. Speaking about time he thought and checked on the time left till arrival at the system ¨C just over a day, meaning he and Anna were out cold for roughly two days. Damn that John Damon! He knew what sedative would work best on him, not to mention going all the length and creating a custom one! His next task on the list after setting up the repairs was to upgrade ships power source ¨C the mighty reactor that supplied the ship with power ¨C the system of the reactor itself was efficient and powerful, but with a couple of parts form his collection and some tweaking he could push out twice the power it now produced for the same amount of power and that would be needed for all the rail cannons that will be installed into all the ships spiky protrusions extending from the wings and center of the ship. No way was he having simple civilian grade turrets as his only protection! Just no way in hell! Upgrading those was the third point on his lift after he finished with the rail cannons. For the time being he was low on ammunition for rail cannons and small containers of nannobots will have to work as ammo. They will deal quite some damage on impact, not to mention all the damage they will cause as they will begin to eat trough the enemy ship¡¯s hull. That done and everything set up Anton yawned, his body was still recovering and that hunger from before hadn¡¯t gone away one bit, but he was so lost in his work for the last couple of hours that he had completely forgotten about it. His stomach now rumbling painfully and reminding him about itself and that he needed food influenced his next task ¨C eat! With an order to the ships systems ¨C the fabricator came to life and began making a big steak with mashed potatoes for Anton to eat as he was making his way to his cabin. His nanobots will work for now on the tasks he had set up for them, so he had some time ¨C filling his stomach and napping sounded good right now. Humming happily he reached his cabin doors and opened them. Oh¡­ right shes here. A thought lazily passed trough his mind and he sent another order to fabricator to print one more portion of food. Anton laid on the bed close to Anna, he could feel her warmth on his left, it was not uncomfortable¡­ when she was quiet like that she wasn¡¯t so bad. A slight hiss came form the wall on his right and a tray with two plates of food slid out of it, with two sets of forks and knives. For a drink they will have to satisfy themselves with water. Anton rolled onto his side and looked at Anna, mentally he sent a command to Ashley to wake her up. Anna¡¯s eyes fluttered and opened. She looked at Anton for a moment at his horns and then at his face. He sat up and took the plates from the tray, turning back he gave one to Anna, who took it silently and began to stuff her mouth with food as soon as she received it ¨C just like Anton did. They were that hungry. Fifteen minutes later after a lot of munching, their bellies now satisfied and lazily digesting all the food they ate both of them plopped onto the bed on their backs. Moment¡¯s later Anton was already snoring lightly, he would be woken up when the work was done. Anna on the other hand had a little talk with Ashley ¨C womanly talk, that left Ashley afraid of Anna. Satisfied Anna rolled on top of Anton and sniffed his scent ¨C she liked it a lot. Her hand slithered like a snake into the man¡¯s pants and gripped his jewels and sword lightly measuring them, with an approving nod she smiled ¨C not bad, not bat at all! She stimulated him a little, but he showed no sign of caring to wake up and Anna was annoyed because of that, oh well his loss she thought as her hand unbuttoned his pants and she slid lover¡­ She took his member into her mouth and began to work her head up and down, her rough cat like tongue licking him all over his member, the tip seemed especially sensitive as his whole body would tremble each time she licked it and she liked it, figuring our his weak point¡¯s was just a bonus ¨C oh how she liked to be in control. Finally she couldn¡¯t take it anymore and moved on top of him, she sat on his member slowly ¨C his hot and thick shaft pushed her sensitive insides as it moved inside, she slowly began to speed up. He grunted, but said nothing and she kissed him again, his hands now on her sides forcing himself even deeper inside her every time she came down on him. Her climax was near and she could feel him also approaching his own, just a few more intense movements and both of them reached it at the same time. She could feel him pulsing inside of her pushing out more and more of his seed into her, so she kissed him deeply and softly. Her hips have out after all the work she did and she rested with him inside her lying on top of his chest, a small bump grew on her lover stomach where he was forcing so much of his seed inside her. Anton growled after some time and turned her onto her back it was his time to move¡­ Her eyes went wide as she looked at him, but soon contracted as she leaned in for a kiss as soon as he began to move ¨C the night was still young, when they continued to make love.