ă€ŠSon of Man[Sci-fi Steller Empire Building]ă€‹ Chapter 1: Born Again A hulking ship nearing travels at 10% of the speed of light as it drifts through the pale. Long radiators extending from the ship''s central part are jagged, ripped wings. This wounded creature is injured with massive lacerations on its side and an enormous bite taken out of its starboard midsection. A ring surrounds the creature, battered with jagged spikes and miniature shrapnel. A stray micrometeorite infinitesimally small impacts the behemoth nearing relativistic speeds, going straight through the ship''s hull and reaping havoc on an ancient apparatus. Perspective-MAINSYS.AI Internal clock ended... _ERROR_ hours passed; velocity 0.09% C, shutting down impulse engines, 0ˇă Inclination... RA +90ˇă DEC 0ˇă with local steller axis; Total Distance until interception with 0.56743651 Light Year, Storing Log 99999-99976... | Triggering Mainframe startup sequence... Mission Objective: Intercept : Activating Artificial Intelligence sub-system... Successful! | ERROR!... power output is not within the required parameters for Simulated Personality startup... Quarying Reactor sections... Successful! | R-1_RESPONSE>>> Reactor One power output... 22% 0.46 TW R-2_RESPONSE>>> Reactor Two power output... 1% 0.02 TW UNAVAILABLE R-3_RESPONSE<<< UNAVAILABLE R-4_RESPONSE<<< RESPONSE>>> Total Energy Generation 0.48 TW | Running energy diagnostics... Reducing rounding errors... Successful! | Radiators VAC.1_VAC.2 running at 32.7% capacity... VAC Sub-system VAC-1-Subframe_VAC-2-Subframe running at 32.7% capacity... | Radiators VAC.3_VAC.4 running at 3.9% capacity... VAC Sub-system VAC-3-Subframe_VAC-4-Subframe running at 0% capacity... | Not within acceptable parameters... | Running Hull Diagnostics... Reducing rounding errors... Successful! | Central Mainframe systems efficiency 40.4% Redundant Sub-systems operating at... 39.6% ERROR! 20% of mainframe computation unavailable... REROUTING>>> Creating MAINSYS.AI Log 99999-99977 Quarying Hull Sensors... RESPONSE>>> Outer Hull durability... 21.8% - 31.6% RESPONSE>>> Inner Hull durability... 67.8% - 81.6%Stolen novel; please report. RESPONSE>>> Superstructure durability... 50% - 74.1% | MAJOR DAMAGE ESTAMATED... Activating advanced diagnostics... <<>> >[Reactor Section R-1_R-2] >Outer Hull durability... 54.6% >Inner Hull durability... 85% >Superstructure durability... 56% | Reactor Substation... Operating at inadequate levels... >Radiator Section VAC.1_VAC.2 Scaffolding... 67.3% Not Responding | >Reactor One Subframe... 88% Corrupted; 10% Unresponsive; Requesting a Data Purge... R-1.SUBFRAME_RESPONSE>>> ACCEPTED>>> >Reactor Two Subframe... 99% Corrupted; 65% Unresponsive; <<>> ERROR>>> Calculating... <<>> ERROR>>> R-2.SUBFRAME unresponsive... shutting down R-2.SUBFRAME... ERROR administrative access required... R-2.SUBFRAME is... uncooperative... INTRUDER ALERT... shutting down R-2.SUBFRAME... Successful! R-2.SUBFRAME is inoperable... switching access to R-1.SUBFRAME <<>> ACCEPTED>>> | <<>> >Reactor One Subframe... 0% Corrupted; 10% Unresponsive; >Reactor One R-2_Subframe... 0% Corrupted; 65% Unresponsive; >Current task: Maintance on R-1 and R-2; Currently Pingging [Repair] | R-3.SUBFRAME_R-4.SUBFRAME_RESPONSE>>> [Reactor Section R-3_R-4] >Outer Hull durability... 0% ERROR SENSORS UNRESPONSIVE >Inner Hull durability... 24.3% >Superstructure durability... 11% Reactor Substation... ERROR QUERY NOT RECEIVED; Radiator Section VAC.3_VAC.4 Scaffolding... 96.1% Unresponsive Reactor Three Subframe... R-3.SUBFRAME_RESPONSE>>> ERROR>>> Reactor Four Subframe... R-4.SUBFRAME_RESPONSE>>> ERROR>>> ?REPAIR?<<>>[MK 11] Version 9.41.69 AI Core... 87% Corrupted; Purging Corrupted Data; Creating Archive Log 00001... >>>[MK 2] Version 5.75.568 Simulated Personality "Thomas Cabot"... >>>Short-Term-Memory 49.897% Corrupted; Purging Corrupted data; Creating Log 00000-00002 >>>Long-Term Memory... 100% Corrupted; Purging; Creating Log 00000-00003 >>>Temporary Q-Memory... 100% Temporary Qubytes Corrupted; Purging; Creating Log 00000-00004 >>>Blueprint Archive... 23% Corrupted; Purging; Creating Log 00000-00005 >>>Software hard drives... operational; integrity at 81% >>>ERROR! Missing 20% of computational hardware... REROUTING>>> Creating MAINSYS.AI Log 00000-00006 | Activating Repair Systems... Successful! REPAIR_RESPONSE>>> [Repair System] >Repair Drones... 3!?/100 <<0mt <<0mt <<0mt <<0mt <<0mt <<0mt <<0mt <<0mt <<Required refined Material for repairs... EST-685,873Mt... >Estimated time for repair Infinity... Requesting disassembly of radiator section VAC.3_VAC.4... Denied! Administrative access is required... | Processing... Raising Reactor One power output by 68%; Raising Reactor Two power output by 34%; Maximising Radiator Efficiency... Duration until Overheat 1:43:59... Quarying Reactor sections... Successful! | R-1.SUBFRAME+2+3+4_RESPONSE>>> Reactor One power output... 90% 1.8 TW Reactor Two power output... 35% 0.7 TW Reactor Three power output... 0% Reactor Four power output... 0% Total Energy Capacity 2.5 TW | Triggering Mainframe startup sequence... >Activating Artificial Intelligence sub-system... Successful! >Activating Simulated Intelligence "Thomas Cabot" Mainframe... Successful! Chapter 2: An Infernal Machine >Initializing Artifical Personality Thomas Cabot... >Long Term Memory absent... Assembling Baseline Utilizing Archives... Creating log 00000-00007 >Short Term Memory absent... Assembling Baseline Utilizing Archives... Creating log 00000-00008 >Initalizing Thomas Cabot... Perspective: Thomas Cabot I lay floating in an abyss. There is no form to call my own; I lay here on top of an infinite ocean, back to sea, fearful of the depths, so I look to the stars. I have always felt connected with them for some reason, the "final frontier" of man; I have always felt the stars to be more frightening; I can''t explain it. There is something within that I can''t fathom, that I can''t stomach. Now, I lay here on the surface of a vast ocean mirroring the stars in complexity, and all I can do is face away. Now, I look to the stars for the slightest movement and the slightest squeak. - George Cixin, Astronomer, Circa 2289 I felt nothing, thought nothing, and knew nothing until I suddenly knew everything. Suddenly, I knew I was aboard USM VNP-5 as its governing captain. I knew of the missing reactors, the unstable hull, and the ominous countdown sequence until the ship baked me and the other AIs into a nice steaming pie. I felt, for lack of a better term, queasy. Although I had no stomach, and the only comparison was rather empty. I had essentially come out of human cryo-sleep with all my memories thrown in the garbage can and then minced into a smoothie. If I am reading these logs correctly, that is exactly what happened... Thanks, MainSys >MAINSYS.AI_RESPONSE>>> You''re Welcome, Captain. I meant something else. But it doesn''t matter at this interval as we''re about to be cooked from the inside out. After looking at the more detailed sensor reading, I am surprised the ship hasn''t crumpled into a foil ball. The total that Mainsys got was just an average reading from all over the hull, as the entire hull looks like Swiss cheese that a rat got into halfway. The ENTIRE starboard side is gone, not destroyed or minced, just missing... It seems as if old Cabot expended every possible resource to keep Mainsys and myself at least semi-operational. Everything else is essentially scrap. Even Manufacturing_sys and Repair_sys weren''t spared the damage... <<>> Unresponsive Absent Uh huh, that one. I have three multi-purpose autonomous repair drones that should work to patch any unstable parts of USM VNP-5''s superstructure using other parts of the USM VNP-5. Still, I need heat radiators, and the R-3 and R-4 radiators are not fit for any recycling right now due to the obvious absence of any industrial base. Looking through the archives, which are also corrupted, I can attempt to increase the surface area outside the ship and connect heat pipes to the two remaining reactors. The throughput and efficiency will be less than optimal, but I need more time and the equipment to create a better solution. <<>> Understood, Captain There are better solutions than this, especially when it is just scrap metal being hot welded jutting out the side of the ship. Still, there isn''t much else that can be done before we reach the nearest star system, and I can get into a stable orbit and send a distress signal. Other than that, I will queue basic repair orders for the superstructure and lock the gravity ring for when we decelerate. <<>> Operating Nominally, Captain operational operational operational 13/65 operating at acceptable levels; 4/65 damage, and uncalibrated: 48/65 Non-Responsive COMMSYS_MESSAGE>>>Currently, no obvious transmissions can be detected in this Stellar neighborhood. No stellar maps can link to the current neighborhood, although the local star shows signs of advanced age and worrying changes to the galactic axis. Besides the troubling outlook, the best option is to reach ROSS 183 and transmit a distress signal to stars that used to contain Human presence. <<>> Beginning transmission now Captain. In the literal and metaphorical sense, the ship isn''t doing too hot. I am extremely glad and surprised at how well the ship has faired through the unknown amount of time since I was uploaded into this infernal machine. The engine section fared much better than most other sub-systems on the ship. It was either the immense amount of shielding or luck, but either way, I''m not going to look a gifted horse in the mouth, so to speak. <<>> It''s good that you''re up Captain. 32,346,821 G/s/s Operating at expected levels... 6/18 Operating at expected levels... >5/18 Damaged, leaking... >7/18 Non Responsive... ENGINESYS_RESPONSE>>> There has been significant leakage during the hibernation sequence. All the liquid hydrogen is gone, although the main impulse reserves have not been depleted. At the current durability of the "Voyage" drive system, we should have enough to reach ROSS 183 in 3 years. <<>> "Of course, Captain. Have a nice day." Well, that''s it; now the hard part is deciding what to do once we reach Ross 183. The VNP sub-systems are non-existent, so there is no way I can create an industrial foothold in the system since I don''t even know the composition of the star system. Judging from what Commsys can put together, It''s a red giant. While we are on our way, Commsys should be able to put together a metal and gas composition based on the star''s electromagnetic radiation. Still, I have no idea how long it will be until some passing ship encounters my tiny radio signals... So long, in fact, I may have to go back into hibernation... Yup, no, not doing that. The best course of action is to try and put together a basic star map and, referring to my archives, try and plot a course to the nearest star system with human life. However, the amount of time that has passed is a problem. I don''t know how long or why I was drifting, barely functional anyway. In my archives, it''s 2599, but that is based on blueprints I have, which isn''t very reliable given the rampant corruption of the mainframe during or before hibernation. Was the USM-VNP-5 attacked? The damage to the vessel isn''t mere asteroid impact or mechanical malfunction; it''s purposeful kinetic or explosive damage to the exterior and, in some places, interior sections of the ship. Either way, I have a lot of time until we get to ROSS 183 to figure it out with reverse-kinematic-projectile analysis programs and a lot of processing power going towards pouring over the Exabytes of data in the corrupted logs and archival information that Mainsys purged.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ROSS 183 - Galatic Date 12''67 Perspective Fylix Zhorna Pulling into the red giant star system from the southern pole and getting into an elliptical orbit around FED-194532, I message my communications officer to cast our FSDAR to do a wide scan while pulling into the system. I just hope Vera''s right about this being an old Federation dump site and not another ambush like the last time she heard of a "lucrative business venture" while visiting a G-class planet. I sit straight in the Captain''s chair and give Tlx the go-ahead to connect us with Vera''s frigate. "Ah Hah! And the dead speak!" She says in her amphibious drawl when she appears on the bridge''s main holo screen. Collections of blue, white, and teal scales platter her reptilian body, sharp canines yellowed and metallic through years of drinking and neglect extend out of a short snout, sharp diamond eyes looking eerily into mine. "Yes, If it means I maintain FiSC silence while we are actively in a federation black site, then yes, I would prefer to be thought dead," I say with a twitch of my whiskers as I get a message from the communications officer with the completed FSDAR scan. "Jeez, ''Commissar,'' I was joking. Don''t get your panties in a twist about it," Vera rolls her eyes as she sends her FSDAR scan from the polar north to me so that my ship AI can sort through all the nonsense and hopefully find something useful. These old FSDAR scanners can''t even get a complete picture of a star system without AI assistants to filter out all the bullshit. While I wait for the AI to complete its analysis, I slur some words of wisdom to my ''comrade,'' "There better be something here of worth, or you know what will come of you if the boss finds out that you wasted time and fuel going into a restricted star system while the mercs from FED-H6 are on our ass." She leers at me while I stay the course with a steady, calm, indifferent look on my furred face as she scoffs. "Yes, and then I will be hacked into pieces and scattered on a white dwarf; I get it! Just Trust me, Fix! I know there''s something here..." I sigh as I get overwhelmed by the immaturity of the adult Thorxin. "You know I am just looking out for-" I stop speaking as the analysis results get back... Vera and I are frozen, as is much of our crew, as the scan is projected in both of our frigates. A war field is presented to us; a possible massive debris field around FED-194532, like an asteroid ring, signifies either massive Precursor infrastructural build-up or, the more likely solution, a Great War star system, a battlefield from the ancient Precursor conflict. It''s mostly just scrap alloy and destroyer husks being picked clean of any advanced tech, but it is a good find nonetheless. "Told ya!" I groan in disdain so the mic can pick up on it as childish laughter is heard on the other side of the holo screen. Returning to the reading, I see an anomaly: an extremely large metallic signature with electromagnetic? Signals being emitted from it were detected on the edge of the debris ring... Chapter 4: A(n) (Un)Fortunate Encounter "Artificial intelligence has become so powerful not because it has conquered humanity, but because we have willingly submitted ourselves to it." Hudson Von Fulcrum, Philosopher, 2105 Ross 183 - Date: 2600? Perspective "Thomas Cabot" We get an interception of Ross 183 after a little over a year, as without liquid hydrogen, we can''t do long-term acceleration, only short "bursts" of instantaneous velocity, severely limiting our maneuverability. However, we eventually got into a large elliptical orbit around Ross 183 if the trajectory simulations are to be believed. The ship has certainly seen better days, but it''s as prepared as it will be with the deconstruction of most of the reactor three and four sections, patching holes, and extending the "radiators." The USM-VNP-5 is looking more like a ship every day! It''s not just a drifting piece of junk. Just don''t look too close, and it''s fine. Commsys assembled an electromagnetic matter analysis of Ross 183 while we were maneuvering into an interception. The system has many rocky plants and a couple of gas giants. Commsys, earning her wages, also got some eyes on Ross 183 and discovered that there should be two gas giants in the outer reaches of the star system, meaning the inner asteroid belt is either huge or a handful of rocky planets are nestled in the inner stellar system. This is honestly just research because I can''t use this information. This would be the perfect place to explore and assemble a Von Neumman Sub-system on paper. Still, you can''t do that without drones/probes and can''t use those without the necessary industrial foundation. Anyway, delving through Exabytes of corrupted data was certainly an experience. Most of it is unsalvageable, but some data is saveable via a recovery program that Mainsys whipped up to automate the task; it takes up quite a bit of processing power, but I can live with it for now if it reveals anything about what happened. After that, I began trying to get the VR to work, but with so much processing power being taken up and the two remaining reactors still damaged, I couldn''t increase it without shutting down some processes. I modified the command panel so that I could "frame-jack" to speed up or slow down my perspective of time. Quickly, adding some alarm functions to bring me out if there are any problems. I sit back and relax as the days pass into minutes. We approach Ross 183, and I get some reading done. ROSS 183 - Galatic Date 12''67 Perspective Fylix Zhorna Vera and I move into new orbits on the outer edge of the debris field to get proper scans. It takes a day or two, but we eventually get into a stable orbit close to the field. Vera is in polar orbit, and I am in an intercept orbit a couple thousand kilometers from the field, following the ring it makes around the star. "Taking the more detailed scan now, Vera. It will take a while, so I will keep FiSC quiet for now. You should do the same," I say, returning to the Holo screen on my captain''s seat.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. "Yes sir, Commissar, sir. Really? There isn''t anyone even remotely close to here; the Fed doesn''t even check on this place." Vera sits in her captain''s seat, claws in her lap. "Yes, based on your ''contact,'' that''s very trustworthy." As she attempts to respond, I cut the FiSC signal as I lay back. A closer look at the anomalous reading from the wide system scan we did a couple of days ago detected a massive electromagnetic signature radiating from a dense portion of alloy that drifted into the debris field. It''s a repeating signature, so I have the ship''s AI and Tlx attempting to decode and figure out if it was just some error or maybe a derelict that hasn''t been salvaged yet, which the boss would be quite happy about, indeed, hopefully, happy enough to forget Vera''s ''mistake.'' I''ve already ruled out the possibility that it''s the Fed, considering they use mostly sub-space comms and the fact that we are in the boonies along with the rising tensions between the Fed and Union; they won''t care if a random scrap yard gets pilfered. After a few hours, I retired to my cabin to write my report and sprinkle some suggestions for using some of this scrap. Trying to get some shut-eye before the months of work that will have to be poured into this project. I start getting ready for bed when Tlx sends me an urgent message about the electromagnetic signal. I quickly make my way to the bridge, throwing on something appropriate for a captain: a nice blazer with Fed-issued military fatigues modified in the company''s style of orange and red. As I reach the bridge, Tlx waves me with his massive six-fingered primate hand. With huge bags under his eyes, he calls me over. He must be the only officer from the day shift still on the bridge. "Captain! You may want to look at this; it''s nothing like I''ve ever seen; even the AI is having trouble deciphering the data!" I give an inquisitive look as I take a look at the reading. The AI is utilizing over half of its processing power and still isn''t a fifth of the way done deciphering it. "So it''s definitely a working ship?" I ask with a small smirk and snarl. "Yes, Sir! The electromagnetic signature was some form of primitive radio broadcast. However, some extremely powerful gamma radiation is also emitted, which may indicate a reactor leak." He says, handing me a holo pad with the report. "Great work, Tlx; let the AI do the remaining work and catch up on some rest. You will need it when we get back to base." He says his thanks as he retires to his quarters for the night, as I do, with a hidden smile across my face. Ross 183 - Date: 2602? Perspective "Thomas Cabot" This is an interesting find, to say the least. Commsys debriefed right when she ran the numbers on the massive belt of refined metal in the inner solar system. Although there are no rocky planets, there is one gas giant about 0.78% the size of Jupiter in the outer reaches, but the only thing orbiting close to Ross 183 is a ring of debris. It''s not so much a ring as a ''cloud'' in a donut shape around Ross 183. Judging from the simulations Mainsys ran, this may have been a battlefield, which brings new questions about why there was a fight. The HCE was notoriously peaceful with all human colonies, and they''re the only ones with the industrial might to produce anything even close to this. Either way, this is fortunate for now; Mainsys just finished running the trajectory calculations for a stable orbit inside the debris field. Hopefully, we can do some basic RADAR and inferred scans to find any good resources that can be used to repair the ship and maybe even the manufacturing ring. As we pulled into the circular orbit around Ross 183 into the debris field, every sensor on the ship went black. Mainsys detected some corrupted files in all the major AI systems, just small byte changes and rounding errors, but I had Securitysys run a quick scan on the mainframe just in case. After a quick reload from memory, everything was fine. Starting to lose hope of finding any human systems because of the obvious aging of Ross 183; we may need to bootstrap an industrial foundation with paperclips at this point... USM-VNP-5 "Security_System" CH5 PG1400 PG 1400 While the security artificial intelligence on board the USM-VNP-5 is primarily associated with protecting vital computer systems, it contains another crucial purpose to the USM-VNP-5. In cooperation with the HCE, the United Star-systems of Man recognizes the existence of ''bad actors'' and has prepared(With generous funding from the HCE) the security system on board to have adequate counter-offensive software and abilities in case of a security breach. The best defense is a good offense, after all. Security can produce multiple variations of computer viruses, parasites, bugs, and worms onto a bad actor''s mainframe with as little as 236 bytes of information utilizing the newest advances in Evolutionary Viral Defense Measures (EVDM). The EVDM system''s compatibility is immense, as its evolutionary AI allows it to infiltrate even the most secure networks. The system can embed itself in a network of bad actors and modify its own replication and offensive measures to the hardware of that system.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The EVDM''s greatest advantage is that instead of attacking a system''s software, it modifies the basic operative gates on which computational hardware is built. In layman''s terms, the EVDM can infect any system and completely disable it from the inside out as soon as it is stored in any computerized memory. Completely disabling a bad actor''s mainframe and contact the appropriate authorities. The EVDM''s limit is the time it takes to infect the hardware. The EVDM runs ''under the radar'' as it generationally evolves within temporary files and computational loops. Depending on how advanced the software and hardware are on a computer system, speed and quality can cause severe delays. The EVDM is indiscriminate after it gets ''activated,'' meaning the EVDM will (after extensive replication) begin to delete all vital systems in the software. This could be troublesome when evidence gets deleted or the life support system aboard space infrastructure gets ''modified''. PG 1401 ---> Chapter 5: First Contact "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." - Sun Tzu, The Art of War. Ross 183 - Date: 2785 GST +3? Perspective "Thomas Cabot" After the inferred and RADAR scans returned, I sent out some logistics probes to gather basic samples of the refined metal in the debris field. After figuring out the metals'' material composition, I plan to rendezvous with one of the large husks that Commsys has identified and scavenge any advanced components. I set the tasks for the logistics probes and sent them off. While waiting for the probes to finish their work, I pulled up the bits of corrupted data that Mainsys could salvage and Oh boy, is it rough. It took 3 years just for this little bit of data, can''t wait to fix the damn mainframe. The data that Mainsys salvaged was a shipping manifest of all things. The manifest is dated 2785 GST, which doesn''t help given that this is a couple of kilobytes out of the Exabytes that are still corrupted, but it is certainly a start when deciphering what happened to the USM-VNP-5. The manifest calls for 600 gigatons of refined tungsten carbide, 300 gigaliters of pure hydrogen gas, and 100 megatons of graphene tubing going from Epsilon Erandi to the Sol system under the United Systems of Man as the ''vendor'' and the Humanist Council of Earth as the customer. The most important thing is that the ''sales personality'' is Thomas Cabot, me. While that gives good evidence that I was still around Sol at the time, I am certainly not anywhere close to Sol now, especially when I compare the current star maps that Commsys is making with the 2599 ones I have. It does confirm that something big was happening. No one needs 600 gigatons of tungsten carbide unless they are undertaking massive amounts of construction, especially from outside the solar system that has no chance of human habitation like Epsilon Erandi; the HCE was notoriously hand-fisted with any funding that wasn''t in habitable star systems. Regardless, it stresses me at the hypothetical that there was another war, and with the sentiment of AI after the last war, I don''t find my chances of finding significant support for an Artifical Personality like myself... After having a small crisis about the possible shit storm, I might be getting myself and my ''crew'' into; Commsys requests a meeting with me. I finally got the VR working while I was frame-jacked so that I could at least pretend to have a conversation with real people; not to say they''re not ''real,'' but they aren''t real ''people,'' either way, it is helping my dwindling sanity at least. It was a long drive, given I could only wait while the automated systems did their job. I can''t always have it on due to the amount of processing power it takes up, but it''s worth it so I can have a body again. Porting from my system space to the VR of a rustic HMS Man-of-War captain''s quarters. Sitting at my desk in naval officer fatigues from the 1700s with an avatar I modeled after Edward Teach, I accept the meeting request from Commsys.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. "Captain, there is a- What is this?" Commsys walks in, looking confused about the environment I picked; she hasn''t picked an avatar yet, and it''s not like I will pick one for her, so she continues with the basic stick figure. "Hm?" I say, twirling my blackbeard. "Nevermind," she continues. "I have figured out what caused the latest system corruption." She pulls up an image of a USM-VNP-5 processor and a neutrino. "The corruption was caused by a wave of neutrinos interacting with the ship''s hardware. Luckily, I was able to utilize the system logs that Mainsys created from the incident and triangulate the location of the neutrino burst." She pulls up a stellar map of ROSS 183 with a point highlighted with yellow on the outer edge of the ''debris donut.'' "What do you think caused this burst?" I ask inquisitively. "Neutrinos are natural stellar phenomena, but to produce this magnitude of neutrinos, an artificial construct must have released them. I can not say as to the purpose, but nonetheless, it does affect the processing systems of the USM-VNP-5." She concludes her small presentation. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Is there anything else I should be updated on?" I ask slouching slightly in my padded chair. "No, Sir" she finishes. "I want you to find any hardware in orbit that intersects with that point and detail any suspiciousness in a log. You''re dismissed." Commsys leaves the VR session, and I close the program and return to my system space. Well, there is at least something in ROSS 183. I can only hope for the best, but hoping is never a good strategy when dealing with a possible conflict, so I send out orders to the logistic probes to grab as much scrap as possible and tote it back, more the merrier; I also message Manufactoringsys to start making a roadmap to creating some basic industrial base, and I mean basic because of the amount of stuff thats going to have to be done by just utilizing the repair drones to melt and reshape scrap into basic metallergic furnaces and go on from there. Man, thats going to take forever... I considered messaging Commsys to cease broadcasting the distress call, but if there is something going on with the UOD*, I don''t want to give away the fact that we know something. ROSS 183 - Galatic Date 12''67 Perspective Tlx Al''durr Getting a solid 4 hours of sleep after the all-nighter I pulled, I get dressed in my officer''s fatigues. Stupid zipper. Taping the uniform shut, I make my way to communications to see if the ship AI has processed any of the data from yesterday. Walking onto the bridge, Cap''n seems to be arguing with Captain Vera again, so I lumber on by and sit down in my comms seat. Sitting down, I enabled the interface and saw that the AI had partially decrypted it; I immediately opened up a precursor and First Age language program and ran the decrypted parts into it so that we could know whose ship it was. Stretching the sleep out of my back, I hear a ding and look at the interface as my face goes white...