The Admiral and the Assistant

Hala Osira was desperately wishing she had known more about this assignment before she'd signed up for it.

Six months, she thought. I can make it for six months.

The chances of promotion, if she could could finish this six-month stint, were high. Even with only a year as Lieutenant under her belt, she could be looking at making Lieutenant Commander. Then it was only one step from that to Commander, then to Captain.

The hallway she walked down was tall yet narrow, with lofty, elegant stonework. Her shoes clacked on the glossy marble flooring as she reluctantly marched to the Cryptographer's Chamber. Though the hallway was spotless and well-lit, everything was gray, and felt gloomy.

The duty had sounded so easy, when she'd signed up for it. Help manage the Cryptographers. Carry messages for them. Run errands for them. They were a terror to be around, they were creepy, but Osira felt that she could deal with a little terror to accelerate her career.

She should have thought a lot harder about why the Imperium had to offer such a rank bump for a six-month stint. And why nobody was allowed to do two stints in a row.

The thorough psych eval before he she'd been accepted had been another red flag she'd ignored.

She took a deep breath as he reached the door to the Chamber. She pulled out a large brass key and slid it into the lock. It turned with a satisfying "chunk!" and the tall doors opened.

She blocked the doors open, took a deep breath, and walked in.

The Chamber was vast and round, with lofty cathedral ceilings and ornate stonework throughout. A circular medallion design dominated the floor, with thirteen circles spaced evenly around it. During the meeting, each Cryptographer would stand in one of the circles while they communicated.

Osira tidied the Chamber, setting things to rights. Not that there was much to do. She moved briskly, with firm determination. If she got done quickly, maybe the Cryptographers would get done quickly.

An oppressive air settled over her, thick and claustrophobic. She felt as if her lungs were compressed, as though she were struggling to breathe. Chains of terror wrapped around her, squeezing her chest. Her eyes widened.

I can breathe, she told herself. She tried to force her lungs to operate like normal. Nothing is keeping me from breathing normally.

And yet, she felt as though she were four fathoms underwater, with the surface far above, beyond sight or hope. She looked at the door.

A lone Cryptographer stood there, staring at her impassively. The Cryptographers had no facial expressions-- none that anybody had ever been able to figure out-- but she nonetheless felt that it somehow had an expression of... disappointment.

It turned from her and silently took its place in one of the circles.

Another Cryptographer arrived, and another, each one ratcheting up the terror that filled her. She was supposed to stand alert while the Cryptographers met, but the best she could manage was to stay squeezed against the wall of the chamber, quivering.

Thirteen Cryptographers took their places, then they began conversing. Horrible clicking and chittering filled the chamber. Lieutenant Osira keened in terror, unable to stop herself. Her involuntary moaning didn't seem to bother the Cryptographers any.

She didn't know how long they discoursed. Time held no meaning this close to them. She shakily forced each lungful of air into herself, and let it out again, her body having forgotten how to do it automatically.

At last, at long last, the Cryptographers fell silent. They filed silently out of the room, all but one, which turned to her.

"The... Remnant... has... been... selected," it said. "We... have... agreed. The... Solution... has... failed."

With fingers nearly too numb to operate, Osira pulled out her notepad, writing the words down in shaky letters.

"Tell... Admiral... Stonefist... we... are... sorry."

It turned and left without further word.

"Any response yet?" Kinnit asked.

Grimthorn shook his head. "Nothing. I sent a request for prioritization of the Feeder problem, but it's been three days. No response from the Emperor."

"I suppose he does have an entire galaxy to run," Kinnit said. "But I thought he'd prioritize this." Her brow creased in worry. "What do we do?"

"We can't wait any longer. We carry out the last standing orders," Admiral Stonefist said. "Captain Minius said thinks he can help us find the Aberrant."

"He said Flander can help us find the Aberrant."

Grimthorn's mouth pinched tight.

"Right. I don't know that I believe that much more than the other. In any case, it's the only lead we have. We'll leave the fleet on standby and go chase the Aberrant down. I hate to leave the Feeders, but... I don't know there's much else we can do with them anyway right now. The infographers are working on the energy signatures and vectors Minius provided, but all our movement calculations are based around jumpholes. Even with narrow energy signatures, it's hard to tell where they could be going if they don't have to use jumpholes. They could be coming from anywhere in the galaxy. If Minius is right, and they can just... jump without jumpholes, it's going to be extremely difficult to find them."

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Kinnit nodded.

"The Aberrant, then," she said. "Minius said he's been following their ship for a couple days. Their ship's scanner is not very good, which is making it difficult for them."

"Let's rendezvous with him," Grimthorn said. "Maybe we can stream our scans to their ship, give them a little more to work with."

It took nearly a day for the Swordheart to contact and get into the same sector with the Ocher Dawn. Once they'd successfully met up, Admiral Stonefist took the bridge with Kinnit at his elbow and contacted Captain Minius.

"Admiral Stonefist here," he said. "Captain, do you read me?"

"I do," said Minius.

"We're prepared to begin transmitting our scan data to your ship."

"Ah... it are going to be a minute," Minius said nervously. "Brutus are fixing the data receiver. We have not often used it."

Grimthorn nodded, trying not to let his exasperation show. The Swordheart waited behind Minius' crew patching his ship back together.

Kinnit piped up while they waited.

"Tell Flander I said hi!" she called to Minius.

"Oh, he are right here," Minius said. Flander leaned into view and waved a pincer at her.

"I like Flander," she said quietly to Grimthorn.

"You would," he said with affectionate exasperation.

The minutes stretched out.

"Have you considered a new ship, Captain?" Grimthorn asked finally.

"A new ship? What are wrong with the Ocher Dawn?"

Grimthorn bit back an unkind reply, and struggled to find something productive to say.

"Besides," Minius said, oblivious to Grimthorn's struggle, "a new ship are far too expensive. The Dawn does have a great deal of room for our scrap. A new ship with this much room would be..." Minius stared at the ceiling and whistled. "Far too expensive for our kind. We are no Navy, that can simply fetch a new ship."

"I... see," said Grimthorn finally. "I just want to point out that it's a concern that our privateer might disintegrate without warning. What about repairing your ship?"

"Oh, we are repairing the Dawn!" Minius said brightly. "Well, we will. Here soon."

Grimthorn reviewed the scans of the Dawn.

"Captain, if I can give you some unsolicited advice, please prioritize repairs. Your frame has metal fatigue throughout. The beams supporting your, uh, unique engine array are especially stressed. The girder holding them in place is buckling. The uneven load from your mix of engines is causing increased wear on these structures."

"Oh, that are good advice, thank you Admiral. We'll start there, just as soon as we get to it."

The bridge fell silent again. Grimthorn refrained from making any more observations about the Ocher Dawn. Captain Minius didn't seem to grasp the seriousness of his ship's condition. Grimthorn wasn't sure if he was an idiot, or just idiotically optimistic.

"Ah, fixed!" Minius said. "One moment, and we can receive your data!"

Grimthorn let out a little sigh of relief.

"Go ahead, Admiral," Minius said.

Grimthorn nodded to Lieutenant Renning, who began streaming the scan data.

"If Flander can tell us what he's looking for, our infographers can set up an algorithm to scan for the anomalies he's detecting."

"Ah, of course," Minius said. "Ah... would we still be eligible for the finder's bonus?"

"Of course. You have my word," Admiral Stonefist said.

Minius turned aside and consulted with the robot. Muted snippets of conversation floated back to the Swordheart's bridge, accompanied by tapping and scraping sounds.

"...what do you mean you can't? What about their scans?" Minius could be heard to hiss quietly. He muttered to Flander some more, then his voice got louder again. "What are a 'vibe?' You tell them! We do not have to be the ones to find-- oh, all right!" Captain Minius came back into view of the bridge monitor and cleared his throat. "Ah, Flander does say that it would be complicated to describe. I have not yet understood what he sees in the scans."

Grimthorn's jaw clenched.

"So we're chasing across the galaxy following the delusions of a psychotic robot," he said quietly to Kinnit. "This is certainly a phenomenal use of Navy time and resources."

Kinnit laid a hand on his arm.

"This is the only lead we have, sir."

Grimthorn nodded tightly.

"Very well. I suppose you're right. I don't have to like it, though." He spoke up. "Lieutenant Renning, once we have a vector and a jumphole, forward all that information to the infographers. Perhaps they can parse some meaning out of the scans that will help us understand what the robot is seeing."

"Yes, sir."

A flurry of tapping and scraping sounds came through the bridge monitor.

"Flander says he have found the trail," Minius said, his voice tight with excitement. "It are leading to the spinward jumphole."

"Acknowledged," Grimthorn replied. "Let's see where this bloodhound leads."

The Swordheart followed the Ocher Dawn for several days, tracking Flander's observations of the scan data. Admiral Stonefist's patience with the whole process dwindled with each passing hour.

"What are we even doing here?" he muttered as he stood in the captain's dais on the bridge for the third day in a row. "We should be finding these Feeders, not chasing ghosts."

"Just a little longer, sir," Kinnit said.

"How much longer do we do this? The infographers have found no rhyme or reason to the jumpholes the robot selects. Worse, there's absolutely no correlation between the scan data and the jumpholes."

"I'm certain he knows what he's doing, sir," Kinnit said.

"I'm certain he's just crazy." Grimthorn sighed. "At least he hasn't killed our privateer Captain. Yet."

"He wouldn't, sir. He's very sweet."

Grimthorn's mouth twisted in frustration.

"Later, I'm going to forward you some reports to review. Along with some security footage. You really don't understand how deadly these robots can be."

"They're only dangerous if their programming goes off, right?" she rejoined. "Maybe Flander's found a way to fix his programming."

"He would be the first. No robot has ever 'fixed' themselves."

"Firsts happen. I know some things about being the first," Kinnit said with a small smile.

"You're different," Grimthorn said. "That thing's a threat."

"Am I different? How much damage could I do if I went rogue?"

Grimthorn opened his mouth to retort, but nothing came out.

"The question's moot," Grimthorn said. "You wouldn't go rogue."

"And neither would Flander."

Grimthorn drew in a slow breath through his nostrils. It was time for him to drop the subject before he said something he'd regret later.

Sudden tapping sounds came through the bridge monitor. At the same time, Lieutenant Renning's console started beeping.

"Scans coming up with a ship, sir," Renning said. "In the next sector over. Looks like a civilian long-hauler."

Minius popped up on the bridge monitor.

"Flander does say he have found them," Minius said.