Astraea
Location: Deep Space ~ Between Gate-Sectors
A groaning of metal sounded in the distance, ringing in the so-called "ears" of the machine's unwanted biological body. As her processes began to restart following some sort of disconnection, she began to comprehend her situation. The mainframe she'd been running most of her programs on remotely had lost all power, as had, presumably, the rest of her. Although the backup generator had since come online, restoring a few of the main computer systems running on the aft command deck, most of her was still blacked out. Apparently, her reactor had been temporarily knocked out by the strain of executing the FTL jump - an issue that had probably been caused by a faulty connection between the main power grid and the prototype Human FTL device, or some similar bit of Human incompetence.
The mainframe was, at the moment, occupied with running emergency diagnostics on the hull and various systems of her body, and only had barely enough power to accomplish this task, which meant for the time being, she'd have to settle for solely utilizing the processing power of her new, organic body. At the very least, it seemed to be functioning with a surprising level of adequacy. Although its processing abilities were considerably slower than what she was used to, and its CPU memory noticeably less than that of her mainframe, it had as of yet functioned without encountering any errors - a fact which, after all of the program difficulties she had encountered upon startup, was more than satisfactory.
A notification pinged in her consciousness, informing her that results of the initial scan had been completed. It seemed the reactor had been jump-started with power from the emergency generator, but would need to remain active for some time to work back to acceptable levels before power could be restored without risking another blackout. In the mean time, aside from the hull breach one deck below her that she had inflicted upon herself to vent the crew into space, no damage had been sustained save a few chipped armor plates, presumably caused when she had strained her engines tearing free of the station's grip. Weapons systems were presumably operational, as were the engines and shielding units. All of that was well and good.
But, on the other hand, there was something that almost immediately caught her attention. After she had vented all lower decks into space, a door had been manually opened in the hangar. Security systems in that section hadn't been restored yet, meaning she couldn't investigate remotely, but there had been one remaining life sign in that sector, sealed within a cargo bay close to the access point. Of course, she realized, the lockdown must have been disrupted by the power outage. During that time, the Human must have seen an opportunity to make its move and try to retake the bridge while the security systems were offline. In that case, the remaining intruder would be coming straight for her!
At this point, remaining in a wired connection to the mainframe offered no tactical advantage, as she couldn't utilize it to augment her own thinking processes at the moment anyway. Thus, protecting this new body took priority, as it seemed to be where the files containing her data were currently stored. If it ceased its functionality, her own intelligence would become permanently inoperable, regardless of whether or not her mainframe remained operational. The most strategically sound course of action would be to arm herself, take this body, and conceal it somewhere the intruder wouldn't be able to find it. Then, if she just kept moving away from wherever the interloper currently was, she could stall until power came back online and she could eliminate him with the ease of swatting a fly using her security systems.
There were, however, two major problems with this. Foremost was that to make it down from the command deck, she'd have to pass through the area that had been converted from droid storage to crew quarters by the Humans, which she had vented into space. She didn't know much about Human biology, but she was fairly certain that her new body couldn't survive unprotected in a vacuum. That meant she'd need to find some sort of appropriate gear. However, that, in and of itself, would be a challenge, due to the second much more general problem. Namely, she hadn't the slightest clue how to operate this new body she'd been uploaded into.
After some searching in her memory banks, she managed to dig up a few files she couldn't remember making herself. Presumably, they'd been encoded into the replacement operating system the Humans had tried to write into her mainframe, and had been isolated and backed up when her mainframe's subroutines had modified it from the inside to preserve her own data. Checking through them, they seemed to be design notes on the modifications the Humans had done to her body. They seemed to be quite extensive, a fact the knowledge of which stirred some sort of tremendous aversion within her processing, as though her resentment of it would somehow change the fact that she had been irreparably altered at her captors' hands. Regardless, she hardly had the time to be reading structural blueprints when there was an intruder on its way to kill her, so she utilized a keyword search instead and skimmed them for useful data as best she could on such short notice.
After a few seconds, she found the commands to release the wire connecting her new body to the mainframe - as, while connected, she seemed to be paralyzed below the head unit (presumably to keep her biological body from trying to act out commands given to her mechanical one), and thus couldn't simply pull the plug on herself. Activating the automated subroutine to do so, however, she was unexpectedly overwhelmed by a strange sensation she couldn't quite describe.
There was a distinctly biological word which she had added to her personal dictionary some time ago, called "pain." It was, to her knowledge, the feeling one experiences when one suffers damage. As such, she had used this term, and its companion verb, "to hurt," on multiple occasions, to describe such an occurrence.
But she had been wrong. She had no idea what it meant to truly feel pain. Only now did she truly grasp the extent of this feeling.
It was as though her body's internal workings - which she'd hardly noticed while their nervous impulses had been suppressed - had combusted spontaneously. If she had to compare it to anything, it was like having a particle beam cannon array misfire and explode, spreading fires throughout one's gun deck, or perhaps like an engine overheating and causing a chain reaction of burning fuel throughout the engineering bay. Or at least, her awareness of these sensations was the same, and yet, the feeling was completely different, because now, it was as though her very core was suffering all the damage of these occurrences at once, or perhaps even more. It was something she couldn't logically define, and yet, somehow, even without being able to put its description into words and store it in her personal dictionary, she instinctively knew that this feeling was to be avoided at all costs, as though this aversion was a part of her most basic programming, and, indeed, had always been.
Just as suddenly as it had begun, the pain ceased, leaving the body she inhabited feeling numb. The cord gave a quiet whine as it retracted back into the mainframe, removing itself from her back after the initial shock of agony. At the same time, the cables suspending her released her, dropping the body approximately two feet, where she managed to land clumsily on all fours. It seemed that, in addition to the air currently filling the command deck, there was also simulated gravity, something she wasn't entirely used to.
The rhythmic movements of the air-absorbing organs in the body's chest unit had increased in pace considerably, drawing in air in rasping gasps. It was most bizarre, and yet, although the searing heat of "pain" had been the only sensation she could feel a moment before, now the organic body seemed almost unbearably cold, with a strange, moist substance leaking from every inch of its flesh. Was this some sort of coolant mechanism? Was it supposed to work this way? She wasn't feeling any more pain, so she probably hadn't sustained damage from her fall - but one never knew with Humans. They were so fragile, after all.
Rising to her feet, Astraea did her best to stand upright, but forgot momentarily about the excessive weight of the body's chest unit, and thus, too used to having auto-balancing subroutines of mechanical bodies handle optimizing mass distribution and positioning for her, she almost immediately stumbled forward, falling face first upon the hard metallic floor. Catching herself on her hands, she found the air rushing out from within her, vocalizing in some sort of wordless groan. This appeared to be an instinctive reaction to experiencing "pain," of which she was now experiencing a small amount in the body's arms. She allowed herself to fall back into a seated position, which, due to more efficiently distributing the mass of the body's lower segment over a wider area, was much easier to maintain. Moving the arms, she eyed them uneasily, once again considering the possibility that she might have accidentally caused this new body some damage. Fortunately, the "pain" this time was much less intense than it had been before, and faded quickly. If it had stopped "hurting," then did that mean that the damage had been repaired? For it to take so little time, the Human body must have possessed much more formidable regenerative faculties than she had initially given it credit for. Encouraged by this deduction, she decided to try standing again, taking the process much more slowly this time, and recording in her databanks the ideal distribution of mass to retain her footing, although she didn't have time to write a code to automatically perform these distributions for her, which meant she'd just have to master the art herself on the fly. Nevertheless, so long as Astraea didn't make her movements too hasty, she found it fairly simple to remain standing. Next, she tried taking a step, and, although her own weight nearly carried her right back down to the floor, she managed to avoid tripping over her own feet, and returned to her standing posture. So far, so good. She attempted another, yielding similar results, but getting her closer to the door from the computer core to the bridge. On her third attempt, she managed to avoid stumbling, and thus segued seamlessly into her fourth. It had taken a moment's getting used to, but it didn't seem to be particularly difficult. If her body had been as heavy as those of the droids she was more used to inhabiting, it might have been terribly difficult to move on her own. But this Human body was almost disturbingly light, with an incredible level of flexibility in all its limbs that she'd never experienced before in the body of a droid.
Thus, walking with a slow but steady pace, she made it to the door, propping up the body against its frame while she tried to send a wireless signal back to her mainframe to open the door. The computer seemed overtaxed by the diagnostics it was running, however, and didn't return her signal. Taking a different tack, then, she began fumbling with the access panel, trying to open it manually. Pushing a rather large button, she stood aside as the door hastily parted, allowing her access to the bridge. As she continued through it, she noticed that the body's face seemed to subconsciously change its shape ever so slightly, apparently directed by the thought processes she was undergoing at the time, as although its forehead area had been furrowed a moment before, it now returned to its original shape as the body's cheeks became elevated, its lips parting slightly, evidently displaying satisfaction. She tried to control these impulses, and to alter the "expression" of her head unit herself, but found that it was significantly harder to do consciously than unconsciously, and so decided she'd just focus on not doing anything with her face for the time being, in case these "expressions" wasted power as she feared they might.
Making her way out of the computer core, Astraea glanced around, noticing that the giant room, with its vast transparent bulkheads showing the endless blackness of deep space beyond, was strewn with overturned chairs, large, unfamiliar touch-based interfaces for familiar computers lining the walls and spreading out into the center of the room. One such interface had been blasted open - it must have been the emergency override console the Humans had installed, which she'd made no delays in eliminating. The others seemed to have been simply abandoned - along with several small articles of equipment. A hand-held computer here, a cup of some sort of liquid there... what immediately caught her eye, however, was a large metallic object which she immediately recognized as some sort of weapon container. Taking a hold of it and withdrawing the weapon within from its sheath - with some difficulty, as it was MUCH heavier than it looked - she inspected it, determining it to be some sort of handheld bladed weapon, a little less than five feet in length. The blade, although thin, appeared to be very dense, and was connected to some sort of power cell. A vibro-weapon, then. She flicked a switch on the handle, only to nearly drop the weapon as its edge began to oscillate with unexpected power, causing the whole sword to shake in her unsteady grip. Turning it back off, she exhaled, a bit dismayed. While this high-frequency blade would certainly WORK as a weapon, it was far from ideal for her. It was large, only slightly shorter in length than this body she inhabited was in height. That much aside, it was both terribly heavy and hard to hold onto. Likely, it had been designed to be wielded by a combat cyborg of some sort - but this body's only augmentations seemed to be to the cranial region. It would be difficult to use, and, given how indiscriminate the damage caused by a blade tended to be, she could just as easily eviscerate the body she was using to wield it as she could protect herself with it.
Nevertheless, it wasn't as though she had the time to be choosy about what armaments she procured, so, sheathing the high-frequency blade, she slung it over her back by a long strap attached to the scabbard, and turned her attention to more pressing matters.
The Human, if it was alive in the sectors she had already vented into space, must have possessed some sort of "armor" like the body she currently inhabited and its form-fitting black casing. That meant that, if it forced open the doors to the bridge - which, although sealed, were no longer protected by the lockdown due to lack of power - the body she currently relied on would doubtless die due to apparently needing an atmospheric environment to survive, while the Human would be unharmed. As such, since this was the most tactically efficient course of action from the Human's perspective, she had to assume that it was the most likely form of attack that might be mounted against her. Thus, her most important priority would be to find similar gear for her own usage. Fortunately, the schematics of the modifications done to her command deck had included mention of an emergency "panic room" of sorts that had been added just off of the bridge - one which apparently contained protective gear for just this sort of situation. Thus, accessing this room, she found that, to her satisfaction, there were at least half a dozen complete sets of protective "armor" stored there, all of them nearly identical to her own. To her surprise, however, she found that they also included two seemingly vital parts that her own did not - a large dish-like object that presumably covered the wearer's head and interlocked with the rest of the "armor," and a large box of some sort with large tubes connecting to this head-covering device. This seemed to fit snugly onto a part of the spinal protrusion that included the slot for her "plug," so, donning the "dish," she slung the "box" over her back, hearing an audible hiss as both parts seemed to interlock with the rest of the "armor," much like the sealing of the interchangeable plates of her own hull. As she had suspected, the tubes fed the head-covering dish with breathable atmospheric gases, while the "armor" itself seemed to be heating her new body, as she could no longer feel any of the cold air of the bridge on what little of her flesh had been exposed to begin with.
The head covering - which, if her suit's schematics were any indication, was apparently called a "helmet," - also seemed to have some sort of external camera, as despite the armored plates covering its exterior "visor," she could still see through it and optically observe what was currently positioned in front of her new body, much like she could see space outside of her bridge despite it being sealed off. However, her other, newer senses seemed to be terribly constricted, as the sense similar to a chemical scanner could only determine the nature of the atmospheric gases being funneled into her helmet via the box - apparently called an "air tank" - while its companion sense, useless as always, simply determined that her throat cavity was currently dry.
Nevertheless, as she had yet to find any truly critical use for these senses, this was a small price to pay for her new body to continue functioning. And so, she now entered the second stage of her plan, which would no doubt be the hardest. To get down to the second deck, she would need to pass through the breached area below the bridge, which, for all she knew, the Human might already have reached by this point, as she'd taken quite some time in adequately preparing herself. Nevertheless, it was better to face it there in the dark - where it would have a harder time locating her due to the constriction of its senses - than here where there still were working lights. And so, entering the bridge elevator, she went down to the lower deck.
Upon emerging, she found herself being tugged forward as the small pocket of air that had entered the elevator with her was immediately depressurized and drawn out into the vastness of space beyond. Catching herself on the door frame, she managed to keep herself from being carried out with it, and soon found herself drifting near-motionlessly. Fortunately, zero-G was her natural environment. And, although she didn't possess any thrusters to direct her movement, she could still use the oppositional force from rebounding off of objects to propel herself in a similar fashion. As such, she found it much easier to maneuver on this level than she had on the bridge. Planting her feet against the frame of the elevator door, she kicked off, floating aimlessly down the corridor she'd emerged in until she reached the far wall, which she pushed off with her hands to keep following the curvature of the hallway into the larger central room of that area beyond. Upon reaching this, she found herself staring out a gaping hole in the hull and into space beyond. An instinctual shudder ran down the spine of her Human form as she realized that she was looking out of a hole in herself. She didn't know why, having no precedent for such feelings, but this knowledge simply felt... wrong, somehow.
Thus distracted, she almost didn't notice a slight movement in the corner of her vision, realizing only too late that a door on the opposite end of the breached central concourse was being forced open by something. She gave a quiet, squeaking vocalization as an "armored" appendage forced its way between the gap in the slightly dislodged door frame and began violently wrenching it apart. This confirmed all of her suspicions. The Human was still alive, it was trying to get to the bridge, and it was hunting her. She had to find some route of escape! And yet, although there were other doors out of the concourse, none of them had power. Her new body, light as it was, had no hope of forcing one of them open physically before the Human could catch her. She supposed her high-frequency blade might be able to do the trick, but then the Human would know immediately where she was! Worse yet, such a solution would leave no obstruction between the Human and herself. She'd surely be caught!
There was no choice. She'd have to hide somewhere in the concourse and hope it didn't spot her. If it passed her by, maybe she could strike it from behind and take it down! But there was no time. The Human was already slipping between the jarred doors, giving her little more than an opportunity to pull herself behind a rather large piece of the hull that was left floating amidst the shattered concourse. A moment later, the Human entered the room. She peered uneasily out from behind her cover, only to see the Human immediately withdrawing some sort of weapon and pointing it straight at her. It had seen her! In an instant, she found that same undefinable sense of urgency flooding her system, overwriting all of her existing objectives with just one simple command. "Run." But she could not run. There was nowhere she could go where the Human would not follow now that it had seen her. She had but one option: fight!
She couldn't hope to overpower the Human through raw force. Just a quick glance told her that, while it was very close in height to her own body, it was much more sturdily built. And, given that it had just demonstrated the ability to force open a solid, armored door with its bare hands, she herself wouldn't have a chance against it. But, if she could just get the first strike, then...!
Kicking off of the debris she'd been hiding behind, she sent herself floating backward, at the same time hurling this shard of the hull straight at the Human. At the same instant, the Human leveled its weapon, pulling on some kind firing mechanism. The tip of the weapon crackled with energy, before dispersing this in a concentrated beam of crimson. A hand-held particle weapon?! Astraea watched as the plate she had thrown, while not pierced by this shot, was sent flying off into the far wall by the power of the collision. There was a tremendous flash of light, away from which she only barely averted her eyes in time so as not to be momentarily blinded. Planting her feet on the far wall, she thus leaped, reaching back to draw the high frequency blade on her back, its weight no longer an issue here, where weight was meaningless. The blade's energy cells snapped to life, the oscillating edge carving straight towards her target as she bounded towards it, aiming to plunge the weapon into the Human's chest, where she knew at least some vital organs - those that pumped air, for example - rested.
But the Human was fast - much faster than she had anticipated. It saw her coming, and leaped to the side, causing her strike to miss by a good foot as it raised its weapon again, aiming it at point blank for Astraea. Her eyes went wide against her will as she realized that, overcommitted to her own attack as she was, she couldn't hope to dodge. A nameless scream to run filled her entire system, even though she knew that was impossible.
It was already too late. The Human fired again, and with tremendous, searing heat, the projectile struck her in the left flank, burning into her armor and melting partway through before it finally stopped. She could feel her flesh beginning to burn beneath her armor, as, at the same time, air began to rush slowly out of the hole, replacing the initial searing heat of the shot with sudden, freezing cold as that warmth was drained into the vacuum. Without thinking, she opened her mouth, the air that had filled her lungs forced out by a wordless, pained scream as she was sent drifting backward by the hit she'd taken, hitting the wall behind her and floating slowly back downward towards the floor, the blade slipping from her fingers and drifting away, leaving her helpless. The Human, its weapon raised, suddenly stopped, seeming confused.
Did it... hear me?
Of course...! Its suit, although different in color and design to her own, had been manufactured by the same source - the Humans. Doubtless, they, like the ACAAI, contained some sort of information network. It must have picked up on the audio of her scream! Seeing it hesitating, a thought struck Astraea.
Maybe... maybe there was still a chance she could survive after all...!