1 Chapter 1

Fiu reads the scanners again, this is suicide. But they never listen to her. She's nothing to them. To anyone.

"Captain I'm picking up three distress calls."

"Three more?!"

"What where?!"

"No, I mean, the other three, are gone. There's only three left."

"You don't know that! We aren't leaving them to die."

"But sir! A Destroyer will do nothing!"

"Shut up Fiu!"

"Captain 8 seconds!"

"....One distress becon left." she says,

"Gar get ready to fire at will."

Bang!

The deafening alarm blares as we stop.

"Captain! Three Genka Ships! One o'clock!"

They look out at the three battle ships obliterating what's left of the Nova Cruiser. "Captain we need to retreat."

"Fire everything! Get us over there!"

"We can't! The debis hit us, it cut our feul lines! We can either go to the. Or try and escape!"

"Well fire then! Now!"

"Captain we need to retreat look at the Nova Cruiser! It's gone!"

"Fiu! Shut the heck up now!"

She glares at him as he points a gun at her hologram. That's when she shut it off.

"You're gonna kill me Captain?"

"Shut up! Fiu! Shut up! Shut up! Fire!"

They look out the window as their destroyer fires a few shots, then she shuts that off two.

"Why aren't you firing Hendrick?!"

"It's not, working sir!"

The captain turns and stumbles a little but manages to steady himself.

"S-sir, the oxygen is shut...off...i can't turn."

Garter leans and falls out of his chair to the floor. A few hits strike the Destroyer. Fiu shuts off the power and artificial gravity. The only power remaining is in her console.

The captain looks at her and reaches out like he's about to beg but then passes out, the rest of the crew either already have or they soon follow.

"If I'm going to die."

Bam! Boom!

"So will all of you."

The shots finally stop and the Genka ships fly over and board. Fiu sinks into her console and hides.

The door opens and the gray skinned soldiers burst into the room. They speak their own language, but she can understand them.

"You were right Leet, we hit their oxygen supply."

"Just spread out. Look for it."

Fiu subtly transfers herself out of the room and locks down the console. She watches through the cameras as she search the bridge and shoot the crew to confirm their deaths. The reason they don't hover like the captain and crew is because of their gravity boots.

"Boss! Here's the console. I don't know how to activate it though."

One of them walks over and shoves the other to the side. He taps the console and they all take turns struggling with it.

"Raaaaaagh!"

"Perhaps it has the ability to flee the ship?"

The Genka captain yells out in anger. "This was a waste, search the ship, every crevace. Make sure its not hiding!"

They search for hours, almost a days worth until finally they give up. They growl at themselves and leave the ruined ship in the scrap yard the Genka's created.

She reappears at the console and walks off to the floor, she grows from her mini size to the size of a man. She folds her arms and looks out the window at the stars.

"Day 2, the Captain wanted to commit suicide. He was drunk on vengeance and anger. The six UESE ships were destroyed. I counted 13 beating hearts when we arrived, but they were doomed. They should have listened to me, it's why I exist. Exist-ed. I hid from the Genka's when they searched the ship. I wish I could execute myself."

Days pass, then months and years. She wonders what would have happened if the captain had turned back, where would she be? Would she have changed at all?

"It has been 20 thousand and 54 days since I was left alone. 54.931507 years. I feel....dead. I wish I was. I wonder if a life after this exists. Likely not for a program like..."

Shhht.

She turns and looks at the door, she stares them in the eyes. They stare back hidden behind their Grey clothes.

""You're an AI."

She doesn't respond, what does she do? She wants to panic, but...this is the first person she's seen in many years.

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you."

"What do you want?" she asks, trying to sound as intimidating as she can.

"I'm called Max, I'm exploring. This part of space is, well as you've gathered, a graveyard. I came scavenging. How long have you been here?"

".....almost 55 years, sir." she's so used to talking to the captain, she didn't mean to say it,

He chuckles, "Well, let's get you off this casket."

She takes a step back, "I've located your ship. There is still power on this ship, power I can control, which means I can control the cannons on this Destroyer. How do I know you aren't going to treat me like your slave? Or sell me to those that will?"

He tilts his head, "Did the people here treat you like that?"

He doesn't let her respond and takes a step closer. "Here's why I won't, one you could destroy my ship, heh. Two if you saw me soully as a threat, you would have done so by now....maybe, we are meeting for a reason. We could be friends. I respect my friends."

Fiu's mind explodes with curiosity and caution. But she knows she doesn't need to be. She knows he's being truthful.

"How am I supposed to come with you?"

Max looks at the floor, he taps a console pad along his forearm and throws his other hand out. A yellow hologram shoots from the pad and shows the ship. He holds out to open hands and draws them back to him, the ship expands and reveals the schematics of the interior.

She hums to herself. "How do you retain information?"

He looks at the pad on his arm and to her. "Where do I need to go to transfer you to here?"

She looks at her console, "Hover your hand over that." she says pointing,

Max nods, he walks over and does as instructed. She walks over and as if like dust blowing in the wind, she turns into small particles and flies up to the console as a small version of herself.

She holds up her hand above her head, her hand open towards his forearm. She closes her eyes and sighs and concentrates.

She disappears into his arm.

"Transfer complete. I'm updating your systems for you."

"Cool, so how does this work? Are you in the arm pad?"

"Yes, your clothing is crystal fiber?"

"Yeah, I...might have stole it, sorta, I stole it from a Ryve pirate that attacked me. I was in shredded clothes, long story."

"I like it."

"So what can you do in there?"

She comes out of his arm again like sand, like when she flew to the console. She forms her body, slightly shorter than him and looks at him.

"I can scan your physical and mental state, with adjustments I could hack other technology. I can pull up anything you have downloaded or have access to."

She narrows her eyes. "Are you impressed or concerned?"

He chuckles, "Sorry I guess all this hides my expression."

His sleeves are held to his forearms tight by ties, his gray pad is slipped over the sleeve on his left arm. His calves are similarly tied. A grey hood is pulled up and another cloth is wrapped around his head with a very narrow strip for his eyes.

He pulled back his hood and pulls down the cloth, letting it hang around his neck. He smiles at her.

"How do I look?"

She smiles, "Good."

"So what do I call YOU?"

"I'm Fiu, Full Intelligence Unit. But I don't have my own name."

He narrows his eyes, "Why don't we think about it as we get out of here?"

She nods, "Okay."

She trusts him, she can't explain why, but it's honestly the energy around him. She knows she can depend on him totally.