I hadn't thought of it. I hadn't really seen the need. Still, Anna was technically Queen per our little arrangement and if she wanted one, I could accommodate her.
"I can make you something. Given our building materials it will need to be organic. You can have a living one, if you'd like, although I know you've probably never been that close to another living being," I said.
"Bone?" Anna asked.
"The offer to make you a sex chair was not literal," I said.
Anna closed her eyes for a moment and carefully said, "As a building material."
Oh. That I could certainly do.
"Go get some sleep. I'll have something ready in a few hours," I said.
6
A week later we were in a far better position than we'd started. The repairs and conversions were finished and we actually had a presence in the airship now, and some real defenses. I was eventually able to let Ophelia out of the grinder. After a few hours of vomiting she seemed well enough.
Research Complete
"Ophelia"
From your study of the subject’s accelerated healing you are now able to imbue a similar if more limited effect in your own biological components or your agents for a cost in power points.
THAT WAS EVEN BETTER than I'd hoped for. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get any ability at all from studying Ophelia, since I'd already gained from her after observing the speed crystal when it had been bonded to Runner. That meant I could gain multiple powers from one crystal, if it were passed to someone else. That was useful knowledge, Power cores were a rare commodity.
Every time I had been able to respawn a drone, I dropped another hive on the Wolves—at least until they sealed the breaches. It took longer than expected, the bees really must have given them a difficult time.
Anna was delighted with her throne. I'd scanned enough humans at this point that I had a wide range of possible bone shapes and sizes to use. The final result was a well-polished white chair, skulls on the back and arms adding ornamentation. It was a challenge to make it properly functional as well, wiring in communications and control functions.
That week had been a new sort of peace that came to an abrupt end.
IT WAS the middle of the night when a figure materialized in the throne room. The woman was dressed completely in dark colors. She tossed a pack at the base of my computing core before dissolving into some sort of mist.
I wasn't limited by human reaction times. I brought a drone next to the package, secured it, and teleported both outside of the ship. It was just in time, a massive explosion tearing the drone apart.
That explosion wasn't the only one. The ship was wracked by a number of blasts. On the Research deck the quarters were surrounded by a shimmering energy bubble. Another separate sphere of energy seemed to have captured a cloud of dark mist.
The inhabitants of the Espionage deck—it had to be. They'd decided to try to wipe out the leaders of all the other decks.
I checked on Anna. It was good that I did, she was limping down the hall, a vicious-looking cut on one leg. A pistol was in her hand, but I didn't think it would do her much good against an enemy that could become immaterial. I teleported her to the throne room.
Anna growled and settled back on her throne, blood staining the white bone.
"An assassin. Who are they?" Anna asked.
"If we assumed it’s people who would be happier with you dead, that’s everyone who ever met you. Fortunately they are targeting more than you, which actually narrows the list of suspects. I think they must be from the Espionage deck. They tried to destroy my core and hit the Research deck as well," I said.
"We've been fortifying too long and not being aggressive enough," Anna said.
Even Anna could be right sometimes.
"What are you wearing anyways? It's sad," I said.
"I like lingerie, it isn't sad," Anna said.
"It is like dressing up for a birthday party and nobody shows. Nobody will ever show," I said.
Anna winced and stretched her wounded leg. "Not the time to screw with me, Emma. My assassin turned into mist. Are they all doing that?"
"Your assassin didn't dissolve in horror from the sight of you, it is their ability. However, the Bats seem to have some sort of containment field holding one," I said.
"I don't want to hold them. I want to kill them. Can we do it?" Anna asked.
Could we? Most of my existing defenses wouldn't be much good against an enemy like this. Acid sprayers and hallucinogenic spores would both fail. Standard firearms would be useless, as would melee weapons.
"Hot Stuff. They can become gaseous at room temperature and I expect her thermal extremes will disrupt their systems," I said.
"Send her," Anna said.
I wasn't going to send her in without what help I could provide. Hot Stuff was too valuable to lose.
Hot Stuff was already on the way to the throne room from her cabin. I opened up her upgrade menu while on the way.
Hot Stuff
Age: 37
Height: 121.3 cm
Weight: 61.4 kg
Physical Stats
Values out of 10
5=Average
Allure: 10
Endurance:3
Strength: 4
Agility: 4
Primary Fire Matrix
HOT STUFF HAD HORRIBLE STATS. I suppose she didn't much need them given her destructive powers. I was going to make a quick change however. I upgraded her with the minor healing ability I'd just gained from Ophelia. While I was at it, I gave the upgrade to Anna as well.
Anna flinched on the throne, her leg twitching as the flow of blood from the injury slowed.
"Ophelia in range?" Anna asked.
"No, I upgraded you with a bit of her ability. Hot Stuff as well," I said.
"Good," Anna said. "Get everyone but Hot Stuff together. Your offensive drones too, if you can build new ones."
"I can build new humans too since installing genetic sequencers in the lab. One of these days I'll build one worth knowing," I said.
"Do it," Anna said, rising out of her throne. "If we're in disarray, so are the Rats and the Wolves. We're taking this ship."
Every so often I was reminded how brilliant I am. At times I questioned the alliance I had made with Anna. This wasn't one of them.
I'd been hard at work getting weaponry and armor for our people. Without access to mining, everything I produced had a biological source. The armor was grown in my growth vats, layers of hardened exoskeleton made to suit the human form. The guns appeared fairly conventional, but on the inside were a collection of acid growth sacs with a simple sprayer. They were limited compared to a conventional rifle, in both range and spread, working more like a shotgun.
I produced two more soldier units.
Candice
Gender: Female
Specialization: Explosives
Traits: Perky, Fearless, Annoying
Diana
Gender: Female
Specialization: Ranged
Traits: Cowardly, Poor Singer, Meticulous
"READY TO KILL, KILL, KILL!" Candice said excitedly.
"As long as it isn't too risky," Diana said.
"The riskier, the better! Go Team Emma!" Candice said.
Creating the perfect human wasn't easy. Perhaps that is why humans spent so much time trying. Still, these would serve my purposes well enough.
"Command, do you read?" asked Doctor Batavius over the comm.
"Better than you can, doctor. We're well up here, good work on capturing one. Move them over to a research pod. We're launching offensive operations, keep your heads down," I said.