"I knew where it was thirty years ago," Piper responded. "Odds are it'll have drifted a fair bit since then. I could probably still find it again, but it'd be a huge long-shot. Not only to find it, but then to assume we could recover its computer core, and assuming the core's even intact and functional."
Jenny added, "Unfortunately I cannot help with that. I don't know anything about how my previous ship was designed or where the computer core would be located, or even what it looked like."
Sarah swallowed a mouthful of food then suggested, "It shouldn't be that hard to figure out where the computer core's located. The real question is if it'd still be functional. From what you said boss, the ship was as torn-up as the Hammersmith."
I pointed out, "Yet the Hammersmith's core was intact. And Jenny's fine. Even if the core wasn't functional, maybe we could access the files? Then we could find out where she was made. Or at least where her ship came from."
Piper had a sip of coffee then stated, "We won't be in that part of the sector any time soon, so we don't need to decide anything right now. I'll keep it in mind, but it feels like a long-shot and without much in the way of tangible reward. In the meantime we know where the Hammersmith is and we know there's more valuable salvage to be had there. If there's anything to be gained from Jenny's old ship now, it'll still be there in another quarter or half year. I feel like it's a lower priority, frankly."
Sarah agreed, "We still have to inventory everything we recovered from the Hammersmith, then find a buyer for it, then make Piper's next delivery on schedule. I get what you're trying to do Amanda, and I appreciate your concern. But I think the boss is right, it's too much of a long-shot to go rushing off after that. And like I said last night, I'm doing all right."
"Ok," I nodded slowly. "I know you keep telling me that, but... I know what it's like being trapped in a body that doesn't fit. I know how much that sucks. I don't like the idea that you're stuck like that forever because of an accident and circumstance."
The cute engineer shrugged, "Except that doesn't apply, I'm not trapped in a body that doesn't fit. It's new and different from what I was used to before, but every day goes by I'm more comfortable. And like I said last night, there's some things I liked about this right from the start."
I sighed but nodded again, "Ok Sarah. I'm sorry, I'll try and drop the subject."
The three of us... The four of us were in the mess, Piper and Sarah and I were having a late breakfast, while Jenny was sort of present as well. She was communicating with us via the ship's intercom system, so it was more like she was everywhere in the ship at once rather than only in the mess.
We'd all been up for a few hours already, but breakfast was delayed as the three of us had some lengthy conversations over our first cups of coffee.
Piper decided to let Sarah plug the AI into the ship, while I wanted to talk to them about what Jenny revealed to me the night before. I'd been up half the night thinking about that stuff, and wanted to share it with both of them before they gave Jenny the run of the ship.
Neither Piper or Sarah had known where Jenny's 'template' files came from, or why she only had female bodies in her library. Learning that the three of us were now basically clones of the AI's former shipmates didn't seem to bother Sarah or Piper. Considering the originals all died hundreds of years ago, it's not like we were going to run into them or anyone who knew them.
And Piper already had nearly thirty years to get used to her situation. She still hadn't shared any more details about her past, but for all me and Sarah knew our captain had been in her current body longer than the one she was born with. And we still didn't know if she'd faced the same decision Sarah had, but the engineer and I both suspected that was the case.
After the three of us got through discussing all that, Piper and Sarah went down to the hold and plugged Jenny into the ship while I started preparing breakfast.
It only took the AI a couple minutes to find her way around, familiarize herself with the ship's functions, the engines, sensors, everything else really. So far she hadn't tried to take control of anything, she was just acting passively, monitoring things and conversing with the three of us while I prepared then served our morning meal.
Piper and Sarah and I finished the rest of our breakfast in silence. After that it was time to head back down to the lower deck and start going through everything we recovered from the Hammersmith. We began in the main hold, with those twelve shipping containers.
Sarah and I were both in our new outfits again, while our captain remained dressed as casually as she was yesterday afternoon. It was still a bit jarring to see her in shorts and a t-shirt, but I had to admit she had an attractive figure. The captain also had a datapad with her to take notes and keep track of everything, while Sarah and I did most of the work.
While it wasn't too laborious it was still time-consuming, as we had to unseal each large shipping container then inspect and record what was inside before sealing it back up and moving on to the next. It was late afternoon by the time we finished the last one, then the three of us took a break while the boss reviewed her notes.
"Five containers full of spare parts," Piper said. "All military grade and in brand-new condition. Along with the ship's computer and the armaments, that could all go to the same buyer. My contact runs a shipyard, they specialize in repair and overhaul work."
Sarah pointed out, "They're not all 'generic parts' though. Two of them were, but the other three will be worth a lot more. One container of computer tech, and two more of rare and valuable engine parts."
The captain agreed, "That's why I wanted the inventory. I'm sure my contact will be interested, and we know each other well enough I trust he'll pay a fair price for that stuff."
"What about the disaster relief supplies?" I asked. There were four containers of that, two held enough emergency rations to keep a few hundred people alive for half a year. The other two were loaded with enough medical supplies to open a clinic. Or equip a small emergency hospital for a while.
Piper replied, "We'll hang on to that for now. I doubt we'll get a good price for it at our next stop, but there'll be buyers elsewhere in the sector."
She continued, "I don't know yet what to do with the grav sled or the e-suits. Though my shipyard contact would be interested in both."
One of the containers held a dozen brand new military-grade environmental suits, three each in small, medium, large, and extra-large. And the last two containers were a set, they contained a disassembled 4-seat open-top grav sled. It was a sort of passenger vehicle, meant for ground-level or low-altitude travel. Like the rest of the salvage, it was brand new and military-grade, so it was rugged and valuable.
"You're thinking of keeping the grav sled?" Sarah asked. "Disassembled, or do you mean put it together and use it?"
The captain shrugged, "Put it together, rig up some way to secure it in the main hold. There's been a few times I could have used something like that, but not enough to justify the cost of buying one."
She added with a grin, "One nice thing about being in the salvage business, you sometimes get lucky and find stuff you can use."
"You don't really need a dozen new e-suits though," the engineer pointed out. "Though it might not be a bad idea to keep a couple of them?"
"That's what I was thinking," Piper agreed. "I have a few on board but they're all a little iffy. At the very least, the three of us should have brand-new e-suits."
I grimaced, "That works for you two, but I'm going to have trouble fitting in any standard e-suit."
Our captain responded "We'll get one of them modified for you. Pick one that otherwise fits, then get someone to adjust it."
Sarah asked, "So we keep three of the suits and sell the rest?"
"We'll keep six," Piper decided. "One each for the three of us, and three spares just in case. Like I said, the ones I have on board right now aren't in the best condition."
She continued, "So that's five containers of parts, and a half dozen e-suits we'll be looking to offload, along with the computer core, two laser turrets, and a missile launcher. Four containers of disaster relief supplies we'll hang onto until we find a buyer, and one grav-sled I'm still debating whether or not to keep."
"What are we doing next?" I asked. "Or is that it for today?"
The captain thought a moment, then decided "Let's inventory the weapons and ammunition we recovered. That shouldn't take long, then we'll call it a day. We'll tackle the ship's safe tomorrow."
We all moved from the main hold into the secondary hold, then one by one we checked each of the cases that came from the Hammersmith's armoury.
The twelve smaller cases were all ammunition.
We had three cases of high-density low-integrity pistol ammunition, also known as HDLI. It was designed for use on board a ship, the slugs were made of an alloy that was similar to lead but much softer and more fragile. It tended to turn into a powder when it hit anything solid, so it generally wouldn't punch through a ship's hull or even a window.
As a medic I hated it because it was almost impossible to get every last speck of it out of a wound. Not that I liked any kind of weapons or ammunition, but the HDLI stuff felt particularly nasty to me.
There were another three cases of high-velocity penetrator pistol ammunition, known as HVP. That was the exact opposite of the HDLI cartridges, the projectiles were hardened and meant for penetrating armour. That was typically restricted to use planet-side, or if you were expecting to be up against folks in body armour. Or if you were fighting on someone else's ship and didn't care about poking holes in it.
The other six small cases were more ammunition, but for rifles or carbines. Once again half of it was HDLI and the other half HVP. In total we had about twenty-four-thousand rounds of pistol ammunition and fourteen-thousand rounds for rifles or carbines.
The six larger cases were full of weapons.
We had a dozen shotguns, a dozen automatic rifles, two dozen automatic carbines, and six dozen pistols. Everything was brand new and military grade. The shotguns each came with a shoulder strap and bandolier for shells, the rifles and carbines had shoulder straps and three magazines each. The pistols came with holsters, and they also had three magazines apiece.
"Shit," I said as I stared at the boxes. "There's enough here to equip a small army."
Sarah commented, "The Hammersmith only had a dozen marines on board, and maybe two dozen crew who were trained for boarding parties. I wonder why she was carrying so many weapons?"
"It's standard procedure," Piper replied with a shrug. "Deployments to war zones, dangerous or unfriendly sectors. They'd have enough small arms to equip everyone on board, with spares. Doesn't mean they were planning anything, but it's a military ship, military organization."
"So we're selling all this right?" I asked. "I mean, we don't need it do we?"
Piper replied, "We'll keep some of it. There's a couple ports where you two will need to be armed when you leave the ship. I know a guy who'll buy everything we don't want though."
She added, "Next time we visit the Hammersmith we'll have another look around the armoury, there must be ammunition for the shotguns that we overlooked."
That was the last of our work for the day. The armoury cases were all stowed back on the shelves then the three of us returned to the main deck, and I got started preparing dinner.
There was some more conversation as we ate, but this time instead of talking about work or the ship, it was more personal and friendly.
That was another new experience for me. Of the three of us, Sarah was the most affable and outgoing. Piper seemed a little more introverted like me, but I got the feeling she was making an effort. So was I, and it felt good. Like we were all gradually getting to know each other better, perhaps we'd eventually go from crew-mates to friends. Actually it felt like that was already happening.
I found out that Sarah grew up on one of those Imperium core worlds I'd been so desperate to get to, and I learned that life there wasn't much better than it was on the agricultural world I came from. They had higher tech in the core, but for average citizens it was no utopia. The main difference was they worked at tech jobs instead of farm jobs.
The biggest surprise was both Piper and the Demeter were originally from the Imperium too. Our captain didn't go into any more detail than that, apart from saying she left for the frontier so she could live free and by her own rules.
Jenny was mostly quiet as we talked, and it was easy to forget she was even there since she didn't have a physical presence at the table. And she didn't have much of a past to talk about. She was brand-new when she was installed in her former ship, she came on-line as the ship was preparing to set out on its last mission.
Eventually the conversation tapered off, and finally we all turned in for the night. Or at least, those of us who needed sleep did. Jenny said she'd continue to monitor the ship and the sensors while we rested.
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"I knew where it was thirty years ago," Piper responded. "Odds are it'll have drifted a fair bit since then. I could probably still find it again, but it'd be a huge long-shot. Not only to find it, but then to assume we could recover its computer core, and assuming the core's even intact and functional."
Jenny added, "Unfortunately I cannot help with that. I don't know anything about how my previous ship was designed or where the computer core would be located, or even what it looked like."
Sarah swallowed a mouthful of food then suggested, "It shouldn't be that hard to figure out where the computer core's located. The real question is if it'd still be functional. From what you said boss, the ship was as torn-up as the Hammersmith."
I pointed out, "Yet the Hammersmith's core was intact. And Jenny's fine. Even if the core wasn't functional, maybe we could access the files? Then we could find out where she was made. Or at least where her ship came from."
Piper had a sip of coffee then stated, "We won't be in that part of the sector any time soon, so we don't need to decide anything right now. I'll keep it in mind, but it feels like a long-shot and without much in the way of tangible reward. In the meantime we know where the Hammersmith is and we know there's more valuable salvage to be had there. If there's anything to be gained from Jenny's old ship now, it'll still be there in another quarter or half year. I feel like it's a lower priority, frankly."
Sarah agreed, "We still have to inventory everything we recovered from the Hammersmith, then find a buyer for it, then make Piper's next delivery on schedule. I get what you're trying to do Amanda, and I appreciate your concern. But I think the boss is right, it's too much of a long-shot to go rushing off after that. And like I said last night, I'm doing all right."
"Ok," I nodded slowly. "I know you keep telling me that, but... I know what it's like being trapped in a body that doesn't fit. I know how much that sucks. I don't like the idea that you're stuck like that forever because of an accident and circumstance."
The cute engineer shrugged, "Except that doesn't apply, I'm not trapped in a body that doesn't fit. It's new and different from what I was used to before, but every day goes by I'm more comfortable. And like I said last night, there's some things I liked about this right from the start."
I sighed but nodded again, "Ok Sarah. I'm sorry, I'll try and drop the subject."
The three of us... The four of us were in the mess, Piper and Sarah and I were having a late breakfast, while Jenny was sort of present as well. She was communicating with us via the ship's intercom system, so it was more like she was everywhere in the ship at once rather than only in the mess.
We'd all been up for a few hours already, but breakfast was delayed as the three of us had some lengthy conversations over our first cups of coffee.
Piper decided to let Sarah plug the AI into the ship, while I wanted to talk to them about what Jenny revealed to me the night before. I'd been up half the night thinking about that stuff, and wanted to share it with both of them before they gave Jenny the run of the ship.
Neither Piper or Sarah had known where Jenny's 'template' files came from, or why she only had female bodies in her library. Learning that the three of us were now basically clones of the AI's former shipmates didn't seem to bother Sarah or Piper. Considering the originals all died hundreds of years ago, it's not like we were going to run into them or anyone who knew them.
And Piper already had nearly thirty years to get used to her situation. She still hadn't shared any more details about her past, but for all me and Sarah knew our captain had been in her current body longer than the one she was born with. And we still didn't know if she'd faced the same decision Sarah had, but the engineer and I both suspected that was the case.
After the three of us got through discussing all that, Piper and Sarah went down to the hold and plugged Jenny into the ship while I started preparing breakfast.
It only took the AI a couple minutes to find her way around, familiarize herself with the ship's functions, the engines, sensors, everything else really. So far she hadn't tried to take control of anything, she was just acting passively, monitoring things and conversing with the three of us while I prepared then served our morning meal.
Piper and Sarah and I finished the rest of our breakfast in silence. After that it was time to head back down to the lower deck and start going through everything we recovered from the Hammersmith. We began in the main hold, with those twelve shipping containers.
Sarah and I were both in our new outfits again, while our captain remained dressed as casually as she was yesterday afternoon. It was still a bit jarring to see her in shorts and a t-shirt, but I had to admit she had an attractive figure. The captain also had a datapad with her to take notes and keep track of everything, while Sarah and I did most of the work.
While it wasn't too laborious it was still time-consuming, as we had to unseal each large shipping container then inspect and record what was inside before sealing it back up and moving on to the next. It was late afternoon by the time we finished the last one, then the three of us took a break while the boss reviewed her notes.
"Five containers full of spare parts," Piper said. "All military grade and in brand-new condition. Along with the ship's computer and the armaments, that could all go to the same buyer. My contact runs a shipyard, they specialize in repair and overhaul work."
Sarah pointed out, "They're not all 'generic parts' though. Two of them were, but the other three will be worth a lot more. One container of computer tech, and two more of rare and valuable engine parts."
The captain agreed, "That's why I wanted the inventory. I'm sure my contact will be interested, and we know each other well enough I trust he'll pay a fair price for that stuff."
"What about the disaster relief supplies?" I asked. There were four containers of that, two held enough emergency rations to keep a few hundred people alive for half a year. The other two were loaded with enough medical supplies to open a clinic. Or equip a small emergency hospital for a while.
Piper replied, "We'll hang on to that for now. I doubt we'll get a good price for it at our next stop, but there'll be buyers elsewhere in the sector."
She continued, "I don't know yet what to do with the grav sled or the e-suits. Though my shipyard contact would be interested in both."
One of the containers held a dozen brand new military-grade environmental suits, three each in small, medium, large, and extra-large. And the last two containers were a set, they contained a disassembled 4-seat open-top grav sled. It was a sort of passenger vehicle, meant for ground-level or low-altitude travel. Like the rest of the salvage, it was brand new and military-grade, so it was rugged and valuable.
"You're thinking of keeping the grav sled?" Sarah asked. "Disassembled, or do you mean put it together and use it?"
The captain shrugged, "Put it together, rig up some way to secure it in the main hold. There's been a few times I could have used something like that, but not enough to justify the cost of buying one."
She added with a grin, "One nice thing about being in the salvage business, you sometimes get lucky and find stuff you can use."
"You don't really need a dozen new e-suits though," the engineer pointed out. "Though it might not be a bad idea to keep a couple of them?"
"That's what I was thinking," Piper agreed. "I have a few on board but they're all a little iffy. At the very least, the three of us should have brand-new e-suits."
I grimaced, "That works for you two, but I'm going to have trouble fitting in any standard e-suit."
Our captain responded "We'll get one of them modified for you. Pick one that otherwise fits, then get someone to adjust it."
Sarah asked, "So we keep three of the suits and sell the rest?"
"We'll keep six," Piper decided. "One each for the three of us, and three spares just in case. Like I said, the ones I have on board right now aren't in the best condition."
She continued, "So that's five containers of parts, and a half dozen e-suits we'll be looking to offload, along with the computer core, two laser turrets, and a missile launcher. Four containers of disaster relief supplies we'll hang onto until we find a buyer, and one grav-sled I'm still debating whether or not to keep."
"What are we doing next?" I asked. "Or is that it for today?"
The captain thought a moment, then decided "Let's inventory the weapons and ammunition we recovered. That shouldn't take long, then we'll call it a day. We'll tackle the ship's safe tomorrow."
We all moved from the main hold into the secondary hold, then one by one we checked each of the cases that came from the Hammersmith's armoury.
The twelve smaller cases were all ammunition.
We had three cases of high-density low-integrity pistol ammunition, also known as HDLI. It was designed for use on board a ship, the slugs were made of an alloy that was similar to lead but much softer and more fragile. It tended to turn into a powder when it hit anything solid, so it generally wouldn't punch through a ship's hull or even a window.
As a medic I hated it because it was almost impossible to get every last speck of it out of a wound. Not that I liked any kind of weapons or ammunition, but the HDLI stuff felt particularly nasty to me.
There were another three cases of high-velocity penetrator pistol ammunition, known as HVP. That was the exact opposite of the HDLI cartridges, the projectiles were hardened and meant for penetrating armour. That was typically restricted to use planet-side, or if you were expecting to be up against folks in body armour. Or if you were fighting on someone else's ship and didn't care about poking holes in it.
The other six small cases were more ammunition, but for rifles or carbines. Once again half of it was HDLI and the other half HVP. In total we had about twenty-four-thousand rounds of pistol ammunition and fourteen-thousand rounds for rifles or carbines.
The six larger cases were full of weapons.
We had a dozen shotguns, a dozen automatic rifles, two dozen automatic carbines, and six dozen pistols. Everything was brand new and military grade. The shotguns each came with a shoulder strap and bandolier for shells, the rifles and carbines had shoulder straps and three magazines each. The pistols came with holsters, and they also had three magazines apiece.
"Shit," I said as I stared at the boxes. "There's enough here to equip a small army."
Sarah commented, "The Hammersmith only had a dozen marines on board, and maybe two dozen crew who were trained for boarding parties. I wonder why she was carrying so many weapons?"
"It's standard procedure," Piper replied with a shrug. "Deployments to war zones, dangerous or unfriendly sectors. They'd have enough small arms to equip everyone on board, with spares. Doesn't mean they were planning anything, but it's a military ship, military organization."
"So we're selling all this right?" I asked. "I mean, we don't need it do we?"
Piper replied, "We'll keep some of it. There's a couple ports where you two will need to be armed when you leave the ship. I know a guy who'll buy everything we don't want though."
She added, "Next time we visit the Hammersmith we'll have another look around the armoury, there must be ammunition for the shotguns that we overlooked."
That was the last of our work for the day. The armoury cases were all stowed back on the shelves then the three of us returned to the main deck, and I got started preparing dinner.
There was some more conversation as we ate, but this time instead of talking about work or the ship, it was more personal and friendly.
That was another new experience for me. Of the three of us, Sarah was the most affable and outgoing. Piper seemed a little more introverted like me, but I got the feeling she was making an effort. So was I, and it felt good. Like we were all gradually getting to know each other better, perhaps we'd eventually go from crew-mates to friends. Actually it felt like that was already happening.
I found out that Sarah grew up on one of those Imperium core worlds I'd been so desperate to get to, and I learned that life there wasn't much better than it was on the agricultural world I came from. They had higher tech in the core, but for average citizens it was no utopia. The main difference was they worked at tech jobs instead of farm jobs.
The biggest surprise was both Piper and the Demeter were originally from the Imperium too. Our captain didn't go into any more detail than that, apart from saying she left for the frontier so she could live free and by her own rules.
Jenny was mostly quiet as we talked, and it was easy to forget she was even there since she didn't have a physical presence at the table. And she didn't have much of a past to talk about. She was brand-new when she was installed in her former ship, she came on-line as the ship was preparing to set out on its last mission.
Eventually the conversation tapered off, and finally we all turned in for the night. Or at least, those of us who needed sleep did. Jenny said she'd continue to monitor the ship and the sensors while we rested.
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