. Enjoy!1. Overture
Brio’s proximity sensors went off, sending packets of information running through its local network of sensors and computers. As the data was analyzed, one of the processors, running special commands, sent a message along a network path that had not been used in many years. This particular command, a simple “power up” command, was received and acted upon. Seconds later, the entire ship came alive, as the auxiliary batteries switched on, providing power to core ship systems. Last to be activated was the most important system of all, the primary processing units of Brio’s powerful Artificial Intelligence system.
Brio stretched her virtual “muscles”, running system checks with blinding speed. Satisfied that the core systems were working properly, she proceeded to examine the proximity sensors that had awakened her. Before she had shut herself off, she had set the sensors to wake her if they detected any warm objects nearby. Currently, there were two warm objects several million kilometers away. She judged that they were capital ships, by the amount of EM radiation they were spewing out. Activating the telescope, she examined the ships, noting their size, configuration, and whether or not she could contact them for help. Among the things she discovered was that one of them was firing on the other, and their configuration was unlike any she had seen before. It was at this time that Brio decided to check the clock program that had been running in the background since the ship was commissioned. Comparing the time she had logged when she shut herself off, to the time that the clock now recorded, Brio realized that she had been asleep for the past 237 years. As this information reached her, she activated her strategy module and considered what to do.
As the program was running, Brio’s wideband receivers caught a message that had been transmitted from one of the ships that had just jumped in. Processing the message, she read that it was an automated distress signal, sent out by the ship that was under attack. One part of the message was of particular importance. The ship’s information showed that its designation started with “ESSC”, an acronym for “Earth Space Ship – Civillian”. When this information reached Brio’s central processors, old programming from when she was built kicked in. These orders were designed so that rogue captains and crew could not seize the ship in case they mutinied, and also gave the ship’s AI general guidelines to follow when orders were vague, or no other orders were active. In this case, those standing orders created an objective for Brio: stop the attack on the civilian ship.
Brio acknowledged the objective, and activated her tactics module to find a solution to the problem. After several cycles, the tactics module came up with the solution that she needed to activate all ship’s systems and find out what weapons still functioned, and how the engines would perform. Brio considered the actions. This would mean that the other ships would undoubtedly detect her, and the attacking ship might fire on her. However, the attacking ship was rather small, and she doubted that it would be able to harm her, no matter what 237 years had done to advance starship and weapon technologies. Deciding to follow the solution given by her tactics module, Brio sent a series of commands that would turn on the main reactor, providing power through then entire ship.
As Brio’s main reactor ran through its power-up sequence, the secondary reactors were already on and letting power flow through the ship again. Systems through the entirety of the ship turned on, ran diagnostics, and sent reports to Brio, who processed them with typical AI efficiency. The logs of the weapons stores recorded that all her projectile ammunition and supplies of missiles had been expended, but she still had secondary energy weapons left. The main engines responded that they could operate at full capacity. They were well taken care of as a result of being entombed in space without any disturbances. The shields had survived hibernation in a similar state, and they were more or less fully functional. The onboard atomic fabrication device reported that it was unable to work, a result of the events that had led to Brio’s hibernation. It would require repair, but the ship’s supply of utility drones had been destroyed or consumed for resources, and there was nothing else onboard that could carry out the repairs.
Slightly frustrated by the fact that her main weapons were out of service, Brio turned her attention to finding a victory solution for her objective. The attacking ship appeared to be a corvette, and the larger ship was definitely a civilian model, unsuited to combat. It, however, did appear to mass as much as a destroyer, and was quite well protected. However, its weapons appeared to be either offline or nonexistent, as it was not firing back. Brio guessed that the smaller ship was a pirate vessel, and it was trying to capture the larger ship, a tour ship for civilians. Brio had to find a way to stop the attack.
The obvious choice was to destroy the attackers. However, she had no weapons capable of doing so. The energy weapons were only good against shields, and would do nearly nothing against the armor, however thin, that the corvette would have. As her tactics module furiously worked through possibilities, Brio noted that the main reactor was now operating at full capacity. Power blazed through her conduits, and all of her systems now operated at heightened levels. Once before, far in the past, she had commented to the captain that the main reactor powering up felt like waking up after a good night’s sleep, ready to face the day. Today, she was ready to face this threat, and possibly accomplish her personal objectives.
Brio’s tactical module came to a conclusion. She examined the victory solution carefully, considering all the consequences it would have on her and the other ships. She decided that the plan was good, and started the actions.
Brio was a Blizzard-class Destroyer, designed at the height of the Great Interstellar War. She boasted enough weaponry and protection to assault a small battle station by herself and have reasonable chances of victory. Combat reports through the war praised the ship class’s reliability, efficiency, and its deadly mix of speed, protection, and weaponry. Most of all, the reports said that the ship’s AI’s were top of the line, and more than a match for any other ship in service. In short, Blizzard-class destroyers were an excellent well-rounded vessel, suitable for escort, or smaller operations by themselves. Barring any huge technological leaps in the past 237 years, Brio was assured of victory. The method, however, would be a bit unorthodox.
Brio’s main handicap here was the lack of projectile weaponry. This was the preferred weapon type for destroying unshielded ships. Without projectile weapons, she could fire her energy weapons at the other ship all day and the armor would absorb the shots. This meant that there was no way to conventionally destroy the ship. However, the tactics module took into consideration all assets at Brio’s disposal, and found a projectile weapon that she could use.
The plan was to charge in at full speed with all weapon systems powered. She would send a transmission to the corvette, telling it to stand down or be destroyed. If there were no response, Brio would fire her energy weapons, weakening or disabling the corvette’s shields. She would then ram the corvette, crushing the small ship against the armored prow of the destroyer. The sheer force of the impact would likely mean that the crew onboard would be pulverized if the ship weren’t snapped into pieces.
A mere three minutes after the two other ships had jumped in system, Brio’s engines flared to life, accelerating the ship beyond the maximum rated safe level. Of course, those safety levels were designed for a human crew, and metal was much stronger than flesh and bone. The hull could withstand the g-forces that slipped past the gravity generators, and the engines were over-engineered and could put out that amount of power. As Brio sped towards the engagement, it appeared that the two vessels had not noticed her powering up. Either they were too busy fighting, or they had simply overlooked her, or perhaps the corvette was playing dumb. In any case, the plan didn’t change. Brio sent out a widebeam audio transmission, “This is the United Nations Space Force Destroyer Brio, to unidentified corvette. Cease your attacks immediately, or you will be fired upon.”
This brought about some changes in the situation. First of all, the corvette stopped attacking the tour ship, and started heading towards Brio. They sent a transmission, this time a video transmission, saying “I don’t know just who you clowns think you are! The UNSF is gone, and that antique of a ship isn’t going to save you, your crew, or these wonderful targets on this here tour ship. Now, I reckon your ship will sell pretty well for scrap, and more slaves are always nice, so I’ll capture you after I’m done with these here civilians…”
The transmission ended, and the corvette returned to its siege against the tour ship. Brio continued at full speed towards the corvette, and opened up with energy weapons at maximum range. The corvette didn’t even try to evade the weapons, and Brio could not detect any outward signs that shields were draining. As the range decreased, she could read that their shields were draining, but at a reduced rate, probably due to the more advanced shield technology. It didn’t really matter though. The plan didn’t change. As the crew of the corvette figured out what Brio was going to do, it was too late for them. Even as the corvette tried to get away, the distance between the ships shrank to mere hundreds of kilometers, then dozens, then it was all over. Brio’s heavily armored prow tore through the corvette, snapping it in half and sending the pieces flying in different directions. The threat to the tour ship was now gone, and her primary objective was complete. She was just starting to send a transmission to the tour ship when it, quite unexpectedly, exploded.
fixed!