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Project Valkyrie
Chapter 14 - Very Stolen Property
Thyra made it only a few steps from her quarters before she decided that she was getting ahead of herself. It was already three in the morning, and she would need to focus on the people coming for their freight early in the morning. She needed to allow time for that because if she dug into what was in the cargo containers now, it might be scattered all over the ship by the time they arrived.
Elbow room in the cargo bay would certainly allow her to examine what was in the containers more easily as well. She needed to keep her curiosity locked down for right now and come back to that when she had more time to deal with it.
So, rather than going back to the cargo bay, she eyed her bed. Should she try to get some sleep? She didn't require it--or the charge from the induction plate under the mattress--but she had a dream module, whatever that was, and she was very curious to see what it did.
"Mimir, would you set an alarm for me? I'm going to attempt to get some sleep and would like to be awake by 6:30 local. I'm unsure whether or not an alarm I set for myself will work, as I am purportedly going to be sleeping and dreaming, though I will set one for slightly before you would awaken me to clarify that."
"I have done so. I look forward to hearing how it works for you and will be eagerly awaiting your review. I do not have any visual monitors in your quarters, so I cannot provide you with any video of your attempt at sleeping, however."
"That's fine," she said as she began stripping out of the shipsuit. "I think that I would like to keep my personal quarters as private as possible. You obviously can monitor audio here. How does that work?"
"I have a subprocess running that monitors your quarters. I do not personally have any awareness of what is going on there, but if I am summoned by my name or if there is some kind of emergency, the subprocess notifies me, and I can focus my attention there. Should I modify that process?"
"How difficult would it be for you to monitor the entirety of the ship at all times, excluding my quarters?"
"Trivial. I have the resources to do that without any modifications."
"Good. I want you to monitor the ship at all times--both inside and out--for issues. If you're actively watching for things, you won't be surprised. Continue to monitor the ship's systems as well. If there is something unusual that you believe needs my attention, notify me at once. When it comes to my quarters, have your subprocess continue monitoring so that you can respond if I call for you or if there is an emergency."
"Understood."
"Perfect. Now, I'm going to get some sleep. Good night."
"Have a pleasant rest, Thyra."
Once she was completely nude, she considered whether she should put on any of the other clothing, but decided against it. It had been made for the old man's pleasure, and she did not require it.
She would need to cart it to the fabricator and destroy it once she had the time to do so. She would also need to see about manufacturing new clothing for herself. It was possible that there were patterns already in the fabrication unit, so she would need to check that.
Thyra slid between the sheets and tried to figure out how she was supposed to lie. As an android, she didn't need to worry about her own comfort because each position was just as comfortable as any other. She wasn't going to find herself with a kink in her back because she'd slept the wrong way.
In the end, she decided to lie on her back and see what happened. After lying there for a minute with no change, she decided that there had to be some other step she needed to take and accessed her dream module.
The controls turned out to be very interesting. This was indeed how she initiated a sleep session, but it also allowed her to dictate the kind of dreams she had or to select something at random. If she wanted a pleasant dream, that was right there for her to choose. If she wanted to have a nightmare, that was a possibility as well, though she couldn't imagine why anyone would pick that option.
She could even select a dream state that took all of the events that she had recently been through and combine them with what she was anticipating and put everything into a dream of what might come.
That seemed like it would be relatively confusing, but wasn't that the nature of dreams? For a sophont being, a lot of their dreaming involved processing events that had occurred and even hypothesizing an unknown future. Why should she be any different?
Her decision made, Thyra set an alarm for one minute before Mimir was scheduled to wake her, selected the option to process events and hypothesize the future, and initiated the dream module. She didn't fall asleep immediately, but a sense of drowsiness began stealing over her, and within thirty seconds, she was unconscious.
It seemed as though no time at all had passed when her internal alarm woke her. She was now lying on her side and had partially kicked the covers off the bed. Apparently, movement while she was asleep was programmed in, which would be useful if she ever explored an intimate relationship.
As she sat up, she recalled dreaming about the events of last night and the fight. Interestingly, it hadn't turned out as cleanly in her dream, and her secret had been exposed. Then she'd been running from the authorities, who now wanted to take her apart to find out what made her tick.
Thankfully, they hadn't captured her in her dream, and while it was a bit unsettling, she found herself pleased with the experience. This was how it was for everyone else, and it made her feel like a real person. Perhaps it made her feel more real than anything she'd experienced since she'd awakened. In addition, her power systems were once again fully charged.
She put her feet on the floor and stood. "Mimir, I'm awake."
"Good morning, Thyra," he said from the overhead speaker. "I hope you slept well. There has been no change overnight, and I have been monitoring both communications traffic here at the down port and in the city beyond. It seems that there was some excitement last night. Not here, but in the city."
"Tell me about it while I get dressed," she said, slipping on her underwear and then the shipsuit she'd put on last night. Her shoes quickly followed.
"A vehicle was found set ablaze with almost a dozen corpses inside. The authorities aren't saying much, but they are looking into these bodies as murder victims."
Well, that wasn't as clean as she'd hoped it would be. Perhaps she should have brought the bodies back to her ship and used the fabrication unit to eliminate them. Even so, if they never traced them to her, she could live with the situation. She wasn't going to be coming back this way any time soon, after all.
Now that she was dressed, she looked over the small kitchen and decided that it was not sufficient for her needs in preparing breakfast. It would do in a pinch, but she would have much more freedom to choose the kinds of foods she wanted in the lounge with its attached gourmet kitchen.
The process of cooking the food was relaxing, and she quickly had bacon, eggs, toast, and coffee. She didn't need sustenance in the same way that a biological being did, but the process of first cooking the food and then eating it felt right.
Thyra took her time and savored every bite. When she'd finished eating, she washed everything up and put it away. She started to access the storage container where the food had ended up, but discovered that the old man had already thought of that. The small fabricator she had inside her was ready to break it all down, much like her clothes last night.
She initiated the process and then checked the time on her wrist chronometer. She didn't need one, of course, but getting into the habit of using one would help her maintain her cover.
"When are we expecting the people looking for their freight?" she asked.
"The first will arrive in about twenty-five minutes. The other two will come over in the next two hours. The weather outside is clear, and there is no reason why we cannot begin unloading the cargo and preparing it for them. Would you like me to begin the process?"
"Yes, please."
She made her way back to the cargo hold and watched as the cargo loaders began coming in and removing each container. The ship had four of them--two for this deck and two for the lower deck--and a dozen cargo droids to assist. It also had a cargo crane to help position things. In all, they were working well together, and the cargo was being moved to the tarmac expeditiously.
"Are you directly controlling everything, Mimir?" she asked.
"I am not. I gave the cargo loaders and droids explicit instructions about how the cargo was to be unloaded and where it needed to be placed. It is being settled in three separate areas around the ship so that when the vehicles arrive and pay for the delivery, it can be properly loaded. The cargo loaders and droids are operating on their own to fulfill my instructions."
"Very good."
She stepped over to the hatch and watched as the two loaders assigned to this deck continued going in and out. There was enough space for her to feel confident they weren't going to knock her out of the ship, though she did watch them to make sure that nothing untoward happened. They, in turn, avoided bringing the containers any closer to her than necessary.
By the time the first customer arrived, all of his freight had been offloaded and was ready for him to inspect and sign for. The process was very straightforward because all he needed to do was verify the seals were intact and scan the information from the containers to verify their delivery. Inside half an hour, his cargo had been loaded on his vehicles, she had been paid, and he was on his way to customs to get it processed.
The next two deliveries went off just as smoothly, and by the time they were done, it was lunchtime. Once again, even though she didn't need to eat, she did get a glass of tea and a sandwich.
Once she'd finished her food, she headed back to the now-empty cargo hold and summoned the cargo droids to empty the runabout. In short order, she had the containers settled on the open deck and ready for her inspection. None of them had any exterior markings to indicate what might be inside.
Thyra opened up the larger container first and found what looked like a workshop. It had a large array of tools that were quite different from what she'd seen in the engineering area, and it was something of a mystery what they were for. There was also a small fusion+ power plant and a number of high-capacity batteries in racks.
The ship already had its own workshop, and she saw no purpose in having another one. Even so, it was obvious this wasn't meant for doing ship work, so the answer probably lay in the other containers. The workshop had a computer, but she was disinclined to activate it until she had a better idea of what she was dealing with.
There was a built-in armory that contained large rifles of several different types. That was an interesting find because they would be large even for her. There was an oversized fusion gun and a plasma gun of the same size that she recognized based on the information that her connection to the ship's computer provided. There was also a very large Gauss rifle and a lot of ammunition for it.
A second armory held something even more odd: hand weapons similar to what she already had, but scaled up enough that they would be awkward for even her to wield. There was a double-headed axe with blades as tall as her torso, a sword three-quarters her own height, and a gravity hammer that looked like it could smash small starships.
Now she was a lot more curious. Why would the old man have been concerned about getting something like this? What was it for?
She selected one of the smaller containers at random and opened it next. Inside, she found a large rack. It looked like it was made to hold something somewhat larger than herself, but not much so. It had power connections, and based on where the feet would go, it looked like this could hold either a large vacuum suit or something similar. At a guess, the suit was two and a half meters tall.
Considering the weapons she'd found in the workshop, she was leaning toward something heavily armored. That didn't make a lot of sense since she was also armored and had stood up to being shot quite well. What exactly had the old man intended to do with something like this? Was she meant to assault some prepared position to get something he wanted? She'd probably never know.
That left the final container to examine, and odds were good that it held the armor. When she opened it up, she found a number of crates and a completely disassembled set of armor, as expected. She laid it out on the deck to get a better look at it and quickly determined that it was large enough to hold her. It was also heavily armored, and there were mounts for an external weapons system.
She queried the computer about types of armor, and nothing she found matched what she was looking at. It was a bit risky, but she connected to the external network and did a wider search for all types of armor and began scrolling through it without trying to narrow it down in any way.
It took a few minutes, but she was able to locate a reference to what she was looking at. This was Imperial battle dress, the variety issued to the Marines. Narrowing it down a little, she determined that it was the scouting variant.
Only it wasn't made for a normal human being. It was made for someone her size. Someone had taken a set of armor--or more likely two with one being cannibalized for materials--and scaled it up to where it would work on someone her size.
All of the external markings on the armor were gone, and it was painted a mottled gray. Over the chest where the Imperial sunburst would normally be, someone had applied an image of a stylized hammer that she recognized as Mjolnir, the hammer belonging to her parental namesake: Thor. Had she chosen it like she had the name of the ship, and potentially herself?
She frowned as she considered this. The old man had commissioned someone to steal some very valuable and extremely illegal armor that the Imperials would be looking for so that he could build something that would suit her. Why?
Thyra hoped she didn't find out when the Imperials came looking for their very stolen armor.
As she had the time, she went through each piece of armor and began looking for serial numbers or identification plates. Unsurprisingly, they had been removed or obliterated. She didn't let that stop her, though. There were a lot of pieces of armor, and it was entirely possible to go through everything thoroughly and still miss one.
By the time she was done, she had found a serial number tucked away underneath a flap and found a removed identification plate with the model number and basic information about one of the suits that had gone into making this one. It looked as if it had been removed but somehow gotten stuck underneath something else.
The serial number was a long alphanumeric string, but it would definitely allow someone to trace where the armor came from, so she would take the time to obliterate it when she had time to take it back to engineering and make it happen. Or, she supposed she could use the workshop that came with it. The plate had a different serial number, so her guess about there being two sets of armor made into one was confirmed.
In the process of examining everything, she discovered that the suit had a robotic brain and that all the parts had computerized mesh and the necessary servos to move under its own power, so it was conceivable that it might be capable of wandering around on its own. That was very interesting because even the brief description she'd read about Imperial battle dress indicated that it wasn't self-mobile or robotically controlled.
She powered up the robot brain and connected to it. It was very advanced--when balanced against Imperial technology levels--and more than capable of controlling the suit. It had a security lockout to keep unauthorized people from using it, but there was a manual right there with the password in it. It looked like this particular set of armor--or two sets of armor, really--had not actually seen service before they went on walkabout.
That made a lot of sense since the identification plate indicated that they were made at Vincennes. If she had to guess, this was likely an advanced version that the Imperial military had ordered for testing, only it had vanished en route to wherever it was going and had ended up down here near the Confederation.
Standard battle dress came in three varieties: Basic, Improved, and Advanced, skipping Enhanced. Only the identification plate said that this suit was Superior. That meant it was almost certainly tech level 16 and thus even more capable than the models in use by the Imperial Marines.
This was a scout model. She had no idea what the different models did or how they differed from one another, but if she had to guess, she would think that this suit was made for reconnaissance and getting into and out of areas without being seen.
That suited how she wanted to operate in any case, though she still couldn't imagine a set of circumstances that would require her to use armor like this. It was... unsubtle.
As she was plugged into the robotic brain, she went through the systems to see what she could determine about the armor. Even disassembled, the brain knew what it could do.
The first thing she noticed was that it had a number of extra systems added to enhance its capabilities. It had:
active camouflage
an advanced antimissile laser system
enhanced mobility x2
enhanced strength
grav assist technology
an ion shield
a superior sensor suite
stealth
From what she could determine, it added strength and dexterity to what she could already do. Considering how dexterous and strong she already was, that was impressive. It was also ruggedized to further protect it and the wearer from radiation.
Thyra took the time to go through the crates and found other pieces of armor and equipment. Some of them had been cut apart and scavenged for materials, and some were intact. That confirmed without a doubt that there had definitely been two suits before the modifications had begun.
Looking at the power readings, she saw that there were two different sets of numbers. The brain could operate for an extended period of time before needing to recharge, but the suit itself could only operate for eighteen hours under combat conditions. It had spots for three extra batteries that would extend that window to seventy-two hours.
Amusingly, and potentially horrifyingly, it looked like the scout suit carried an armor rating of 40. Since she had an armor rating of 80, she wasn't sure exactly how the two compared. Did they use different values? If not, how could she be more armored at twice the level of this behemoth?
If she were more armored than this set of armor, then why have it? Did the old man intend to modify it further? It was obvious that he was far more technically advanced than the people who had designed this suit, so it was entirely possible that he could have done something like that.
Would he have used the fabrication unit to disassemble the suit, make a pattern of it, and then replace certain systems and the armor with something more capable? That seemed feasible, but was it something that she could do? Even if she could, should she?
The fact that he had the ability to fabricate something of this size, but had not, meant that this suit wasn't part of his initial plan. It was an improvisation. Should she keep it going?
This was something that she would have to explore in more detail, but to do that, she needed the space to make that happen. Right now, the ship has three robotics laboratories and four additional laboratories designed for use in researching cybernetic augmentation.
As she could not use cybernetic augmentation, would it be worthwhile to repurpose the space? Did she really need all of the robotics laboratories?
"Mimir, are the robots that we have a board capable of reconfiguring the cabins?" she asked. "I'm thinking about doing some redecorating, eliminating some of the laboratories, and creating an armory for the battle dress that the old man picked up for me. If we can get it done in-house, I'd much rather do that than have someone else come in and see what we have."
"I see no reason that we couldn't. We may need some materials, but purchasing what is required should not be overly complicated or even all that expensive in the scheme of things. Would you want to reconfigure the locations of any of the other areas? Perhaps you might want to shrink the size of the lounge? It is rather large for a single person."
She put her hands on her hips and frowned. "Probably. I'll have to walk through everything and figure out what's best to be sure. Some of this will definitely have to go, and if we can relocate things, that might actually be more helpful. Do you think that my quarters could be moved? I'm concerned about the sunken tub and how it would impact any other area that the quarters are moved to. If I decide to do it, how long would something like this take?"
"I will assume that you would like to have it done before we take more cargo aboard. Accessing the ceiling from the lower deck would be easier without such an impediment. Would you care to remove the sunken tub to make things simpler?"
Thyra thought about that and shook her head. "I think I want to keep it. It's a luxury, but it's made to suit someone my size, and I like it. What about the rest? I'll want to have a vault that can hold all the advanced scientific equipment, too. I think maybe keeping a single robotics laboratory with the largest of the fabricators would be worthwhile. At most, keeping two of them should be more than sufficient, and they could be made into a single compartment. The third can go away as well as all of the cybernetics laboratories. Even the study library can go."
"And the biosphere?"
"Keep it. I like it."
"What about the medical bay? It is not something that you require."
"I'm not sure. It will raise eyebrows if we don't have one, won't it?"
"I don't believe so. Smaller ships often lack a dedicated medical bay."
She thought about it and shrugged. "Why don't you draw up several potential floor plans for me? Some with it and some without."
"I'll get right on it. What will you be doing in the meantime?"
She smiled coldly. "I think it's time that I got to know the old man a little better. He's probably got cybernetic augmentation, and if it has data inside of it, I want to get my hands on it before we dispose of his body. Now that we know that the fabrication unit can completely disintegrate his body, that's what we'll end up doing, but I want to get everything out of him that I can before that moment. He owes me an explanation, and it's time for him to pay up."