BoTH Chpt 14

==Blood on the Horizon - Chapter 14 -==
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===Peeping around, seeing what Lies inside===
"I… Have no idea what I'm doing," I admitted to myself as I looked around at the bridge of the now identified Invader Jumpship. "This thing isn't like the Manassas with all of the automation upgrades."
 
I sighed as I looked around. That was a problem that would have to be resolved another day.
 
I left the bridge and used the docking collars to board the first of the trio of Dropships that were attached, the three aerodynes being unfamiliar to me.
 
"I've got your names," I touched the door to the airlock that was marked with the first ship's name. "Vagabond, Troy, and Messenger." I repeated before beginning to cycle said airlocks. "Now let's see what you hold inside."
 
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Unlike the Manassas, these ships had all been properly mothballed before being left behind, and as such, all I had to do was flip a few switches and reconnect the fuel tanks to the fusion engines. The task made far easier to the small amount of gravity the station generated.
 
"Now, are you really a Vagabond?" I asked as the Fusion Engine on the dropship purred to life. "Let's find out."
 
Leaving the engine room behind, I walked through the ship to the cargo bay, stopping in the crew quarters as I did so to get a picture of those who had left the sip behind.
 
But the ship was stripped bare of any personal effects, with only the bunks and computer terminals left behind.
 
But in the cargo bay was something interesting… Rows of 'mechs lined the twin cargo bays, the lack of any armament telling me that they were industrial 'mechs, but they still held value all the same.
 
"There's around thirty machines here," I muttered, and eyed the stored quadmechs. "I'll have to see if they left behind the manifest. Might be something interesting here."
 
The third cargo bay merely held spare parts for the 'mechs that were stored below, but it also held the manifest, and a quick glance told me exactly what I was looking at. "We've got thirty Daedalus Industrialmechs and a trio of old Jabberwockys."
 
"Probably some other goods on the other two dropships," I left the Vagabond behind after noting what was stored there. "Guess I'll find out."
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===Fortunate Circumstances===
"People are idiots," I dropped my head onto a desk deep inside of the station. "We're a thousand years in the future and people are still writing their passwords down."
 
"At least this time it helped me out," I sighed. "The SLIC would have had these guys executed for something like this though. I've got access to classified data here."
 
Opening up the data, I began to read. I wanted to know why this station existed, and if there was a reason that it was placed here instead of somewhere else.
 
But that wasn't what I really needed the information for. There was a partially disassembled computer core in the cargo area of the station. And from what the engineer's notes said it was a stripped down AI from the SDS systems.
 
I wanted to use it, but I would need to know some pieces of information first. If the SDS system was the reason that this station was abandoned, then I would have to go with Plan B and simply take the Manassas into known space.
 
So I began reading, some of the technical data went over my head, but I understood enough to grasp the basics of how the SDS system worked. Honestly, this universe being the future of the eighties actually helped in some regards, because even though the tech changed in different ways, it meant that I could generally understand the concepts that were utilized.
 
What I didn't understand, was just how they managed to get an AI that worked and linked to a network and were able to still operate independently from one another.
 
"It's magic," I said after a minute of looking over the specifications for how the SDS transmitters worked. "I have no clue how they managed to get a functional AI defense network that worked off of old data and orders being transmitted."
 
"But I don't need this to work off of transmitted and old data," I stroked my beard. "I only need it to run a few automated functions and to help jump the Invader to the where I want to go."
 
"So, stop and focus, what do I need from this to make it work?" I asked myself as I looked over the data.
 
"I need the AI runtimes to help keep the ship running," I looked at the information. "I don't think I need the whole AI though."
 
After a few moments, I set aside the 'Noteputer that the data was on and stood up. I needed to do some thinking before I tried anything.
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===Simulations and Haircuts===
"I'm going to have to track down this brand," I looked at the bag of coffee beans that was intact even after all these years. "This is some of the best coffee I've ever had."
 
Allowing the infusion of caffeine to help with the exhaustion, I started working on isolating the runtimes that I would need to run the King Henry V, making copies that I transferred over to a computer terminal to run tests on.
 
"Test number fifteen," I said as I began to simulate the Jumpship's systems, issuing commands to the basic intelligence and hoping that everything worked as planned.
 
Everything ran smoothly at first, the isolated runtimes working as intended until they ran into something that they hadn't been programmed for and shutting down.
 
"I'm really glad I took those programming classes in college," I sighed as I stopped the simulation. "It's only another programming language that seems simple until you actually go to learn it…"
 
Looking at the failure points, I rested my chin against the cold metal of the desk and exhaled. I was going to be here for a while.
 
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"Man, I need a haircut," I looked in the mirror for the first time in a few months.
 
I was already pale before I had been stranded in space, but now I was extremely so, the lack of sunlight doing me no favors. My hair had grown long as well, the bronze curls of my youth coming back and my beard now long enough to braid if I wanted to.
 
"I'm a mess," I laughed at my appearance. "I'll trim the beard a bit, but the hair has got to go. Grabbing a grooming kit I had found, I switched on the electric trimmer and began running it over my head, clumps of shorn hair falling to the ground as I began to work at looking like a civilized man again.
 
"That's better," I cleaned up the hair and combed my beard, tugging the tangles loose and making sure it was straight before trimming the outer edges and around my lips.
 
"I don't look like a homeless bum anymore," I grinned at the man in the mirror. "I'm definitely paying a professional barber once I'm back to civilization though."
 
Leaving the bathroom, I got dressed and checked on the terminal I had left running test number twenty.
 
"Partial success," I smiled. "So we're at at least fifty percent of the way through figuring this out."
 
I sat down and looked at the information before nodding to myself and moving out of the room.
 
"I'll try to fix it and try again tomorrow," I moved toward the bunk. "After I find out what's so important about the Messenger."
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Chapter 14