Maintenance Access - Rain
In the maintenance access area of the Phantom, you find yourself in a room reminiscent of the bridge. The walls are covered floor to ceiling with consoles and touch screens controlling and displaying the workings of the ship. Everything from fuel levels and weapons status to the air conditioning and heating systems are displayed. With your trained eyes however, you notice that most of them seem to be under a kind of lockdown, preventing manual access to them. Straight ahead of the door you came in is the door leading to the ship core and AI data core room. Unfortunately, the door is locked by unknown means and won’t open. You can however see into the room through a reinforced window that's part of the door, and what you see amazes you.
In the center of the room is a large metal sphere suspended in place by reinforced beams jutting out of the ceiling and floor. Wires of all sizes hook into and attach to the sphere, drawing obscene amounts of energy. Giant reinforced wire/hose like structures come out of each side of the sphere and disappear into the floor. The whole room seems to pulse, as if the sphere itself is drawing in the light around it. Your trained eye can tell that this is unlike any ship core you’ve seen, as it is an antimatter core. In fact by most accounts this type of core is theoretical at best. The fact that your ship has an antimatter core speaks volumes of your employer.
At your questions, ANDI readily replies,
”Ms. Causwell my own records on you all are quite limited as it appears they were mostly erased. I will give you what I can though. It appears that you came highly recommended as a top tier pilot. In fact, while there are no official records saying as much, you were considered one of the COFTA’s best pilots, unofficially ranking higher than any human and many non-humans. In fact, the only humans to match or exceed you were those with major cybernetic enhancements and augmentations. However, it wasn’t just your piloting skills that were taken into account. Your skills as an engineer and programmer were also looked at, and your lack of an allegiance to any single entity.” ANDI pauses, allowing you to process what he said.
”It appears that was more, but I am unable to access it. I am sorry for not being able to provide more information.
In regards to your other question about taking manual control, I will say that it is possible to do but is not advised. While your abilities as a pilot are in no way in question, you do not have access to all the resources I do. I have flight logs and simulations from nearly every major space battle of the past century from which I can draw data, and have been programmed to examine over one million possible scenarios every second. Additionally, the autopilot feature is meant to allow you to leave the ship and take part in off ship missions at any time.” ANDI pauses for another moment, almost as if considering something.
”If it is of any consolation, I have a number of simulations that I believe are based on your performance in various dogfights and bombing runs.” With that, ANDI is once again silent and you are left in the maintenance room with only the buzz and whirl of hidden machines as company.
Looking around the area, you note that during your initial inspection of the room, you missed a small printer like object in the far corner. You eventually recognize it as a 3D printer/manufacturer for ammunition and small parts. Judging by the variety of weapons in the armory, the printer likely has blueprints for just about any type of physical bullet or projectile you could want. As you’re checking your gun, you can feel ANDI watching you from the dome set into the ceiling in the center of the room. At your question, ANDI is quick to answer.
”While I do not have a lot on this station, I will tell you what I can. I will be broadcasting this to the rest of the crew since it pertains to them also. According to the official COFTA records, the station is a classified military research station. However, our employer provided an additional file with more information on the station. The station seems to be devoted to researching person-to-person neural interaction and communication but three months ago went dark. Buried shipping logs show that approximately four months ago an unknown artifact was delivered to the station. The last roster available shows twenty two names and nothing indicates this might have changed. Additionally, three weeks ago, a COFTA patrol ship docked and never left. Most COFTA patrol ships carry only six to eight patrolmen. Under those conditions, it is possible there are up to thirty people aboard the station, though it is unknown how many, if any, are hostile. However, because the patrol ship never left, our employer would like us to assume the worst. Once we dock at the station I will be able to provide a floor layout and possible additional information.” Silence once again returns to the armory, leaving you to clean and take care of your weapons.
