Chapter 24: The Ship Has Evolved!

DING!

It wasn’t an alarm.

It was deep and clear, like a thousand silver bells ringing through solid crystal, and it didn’t come through the speakers... It rang straight through the middle of all seven of their skulls at once.

The dim red emergency lights across the bridge, the stairwells, and the cargo bay went out and warm golden light poured out of the air itself.

It spilled across every console and every dead screen.

Every floating speck of dust caught it and glowed as seven bruised, sweaty, blood-smeared survivors were suddenly bathed in light like something out of a painting.

[NOTICE: REMNANT PROTOCOL MILESTONE ACHIEVED!]

[TUTORIAL HAS BEEN COMPLETE!]

A huge gold-bordered panel unfolded across the canopy, big enough for everyone on board to read from wherever they were standing.

[TUTORIAL EVALUATION]

[Vessel: Wanderer-7]

[Master Captain: Leo Kaine]

[Crew: 6 (All Surviving)]

[Casualties: 0]

[Hostiles Neutralized:]

[• Void Carapace Worms (Level 1) x71]

[• Void Stalkers (Level 1) x9]

[• Void Carapace Brood-Mother (Level 1, Apex) x1]

[Objectives:]

[• High-Grade Alloy 50/50 ?]

[• Copper Conduit 20/20 ?]

[• Tier-2 Micro-Fusion Core 1/1 ?]

[• Tier-2 Scrubber Cores 4/4 ?]

[FINAL GRADE: SSS]

Below it, a second panel.

[REWARDS]

[Master Captain: +200 Survival Points]

[Master Captain: +2 Levels]

[All Crew: +1 Level]

[Vessel Evolution: UNLOCKED]

And below that, a third, smaller one, in a slightly less golden shade of yellow.

[Personal note from this unit: An SSS grade... with this crew. This unit has reviewed the footage four times and still does not understand how... This unit suspects luck, plot armor, and Crew Unit: Chloe... Mostly Crew Unit: Chloe!]

"SSS..." Jin-Ah whispered on the bridge, the gold text reflecting in her dark eyes.

Her brain was clearly struggling to file it anywhere. "Zero casualties... Every objective met... An apex threat killed before the Novice Buffer even ended..."

She never got to finish the sentence as the golden light began to surge.

A pillar of warmth erupted from the deck beneath her, wrapped around her body, and sank straight into her bones.

[Crew Unit: Jin-Ah — Level 3 ? 4]

She gasped and her hand flew to her chest.

On the next station over, Ms. Tachibana closed her eyes as the same light washed over her, and a soft involuntary sigh escaped her lips.

[Crew Unit: Aoi — Level 3 ? 4]

Down in the cargo bay, Harper, Chloe, and Camila lit up all at once.

[Crew Unit: Harper — Level 2 ? 3]

[Crew Unit: Chloe — Level 2 ? 3]

[Crew Unit: Camila — Level 2 ? 3]

Harper’s bronze aura flared so bright it lit the whole bay. Camila’s exhaustion just melted off her face, and she laughed holding her hands up to stare at them.

Up in the crawlspace, Elena gasped as the light found her in the dark as a shiver of emerald ran across her gloves.

[Crew Unit: Elena — Level 2 ? 3]

[Mechanical Attunement: Sensitivity +20%]

She pressed her palm flat against the turret mount above her without thinking, and her eyes went wide.

She could feel it... All of it... Every bolt, every seam, every hairline crack in the hull for meters in every direction...

It was like the ship had suddenly started whispering to her.

’Oh,’ she thought, a little dizzy. ’Oh, that’s... that’s beautiful.’

And then she’d die before admitting it out loud, meanwhile on the bridge, the gold poured straight into Leo’s chest.

Once then again.

[Master Captain Leo — Level 3 ? 4 ? 5]

[Strength +15% | Neural Sync +20% | Spatial Awareness: 500 meters]

It hit him like jumping into a hot spring after a week of snow as the shaking in his hands stopped, the pounding headache from the turret faded and the nosebleed dried up and quit.

And suddenly, he could feel the space around the ship, not see it but feel it...

Every drifting rock, every chunk of carcass, out to five hundred meters in every direction, like the edges of his own skin had stretched.

He checked his status.

[Level 5]

[EXP to Level 6: 0 / 21,000]

He stared at it.

"Twenty-one thousand..." he said flatly.

[Correct. The free samples are now over... Please enjoy the rest of your life.]

"I hate you."

[This unit is aware. This unit has chosen to interpret it as affection.]

Then his SP counter ticked, and the irritation evaporated on the spot.

[Survival Points: 592 + 200 = 792 / 1,000]

Seven hundred and ninety-two.

...Two hundred and eight points away from spinning the Wheel of Fate again.

’Two hundred,’ he thought, and a slow grin spread across his face. ’Two hundred more, and I get to gamble with the universe again.’

"Hey!" Harper’s voice suddenly cut through the intercom. "Is it just me, or is the floor moving?!"

RUMBLE...

The Wanderer-7 began to shake as a long shudder that ran through the entire frame, like an old animal stretching after a very long sleep.

Deep in the engineering hold, the Foundry roared to life.

[Foundry: Integrating Kestrel-9 Micro-Fusion Core...]

[Processing 50 units of Graventhal alloy...]

[INITIATING VESSEL EVOLUTION...]

[This unit would recommend sitting down. This unit is about to rearrange the furniture... All of it...]

Through the canopy, Leo and the girls watched in total spellbound silence as the ship began to reshape itself around them.

The rusted pitted hull plates along the bow went soft and flowed like liquid silver across the frame.

Decades of micrometeorite scars smoothed away into clean angular ridges that swept back along the hull like the wings of a hawk as the dull grey paint dissolved into a deep matte gunmetal, laced with faint shifting veins of blue that drank in the starlight.

...Graventhal.

The landing struts retracted into armored housings flush with the belly.

CLUNK! CLUNK!

The cramped bridge stretched and the ceiling lifted half a meter as well.

The corroded bulkheads peeled back to reveal smooth dark composite panels, and recessed lights washed the deck in a calm cerulean glow.

The old flickering analog dials at every station dissolved and were replaced by floating holographic consoles of clear blue glass.

Even the air changed.

The stale metallic taste of recycled tank air disappeared in one long sweeping breath as in its place flowed something cool and crisp... almost sweet in fact.

It was like stepping outside on a winter morning.

Camila burst into tears.

"It smells like outside," she sobbed, laughing at the same time. "It smells like outside!"

Harper slung an arm around her and buried her own face in Camila’s hair, and didn’t say a single joke for once.

Outside, the changes were even bigger.

The new armor flowed up around the base of the turret and swallowed it into a sleek dorsal dome, giving it a clean unbroken firing arc all the way around.

Beneath the nose, two slim emitters slid out and locked into place.

[Installed: Ventral Pulse Lasers x2 — ONLINE]

[Function: Automatic point defense... They will shoot down debris, small missiles, and anything stupid enough to fly too close...]

Along both flanks, two heavy armored hatches slid open and then shut again with a hollow disappointing clunk.

[Installed: Missile Pods x2 — EMPTY]

[Requires: Warheads... Warheads require materials... Materials require you to go out and find them... This unit apologizes but this unit is not actually sorry.]

And deep in the ship’s belly, a big ring-shaped housing locked into place around the hull’s core and sat there, dark and silent.

[Installed: Magnetic Deflection Shield Generator — OFFLINE]

[Requires: Additional materials to activate... The ship now has a shield but it just can’t turn it on. Think of it as a very expensive promise.]

"So we got missiles," Harper said slowly over the intercom, "but no missiles and a shield, but no shield."

[Correct... Welcome to the military.]

HUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

Deep in the stern, the new fusion core locked into place.

A low smooth bass hum rolled through the entire ship as every flickering light on board went still and bright at once.

[Ship Power: 5% ? 100%]

[Note: The new core is strong, but it is not magic... The turret, heavy Foundry recalls, maneuvering, and the shield, once you get it working, will all drain it. However, the new hull can also slowly draw power from starlight, radiation, and energy around the ship. In short: you can run out but you can also fill back up, as long as you are not stupid about it. This unit has seen you be stupid about it.]

The shaking stopped as the ship sat silent and dangerous in the ruined crater of the dead moon.

[Evolution: COMPLETE]

[Vessel Tier: 2]

[Classification: Tier-1 Assault Corvette]

Jin-Ah frowned at the screen.

"Wait. Tier-2 vessel... and Tier-1 corvette?"

[Correct. The ship has moved up from Tier-1 to Tier-2... However, among actual warships, it is the very lowest grade of assault corvette there is... Congratulations, crew. You have evolved from a floating garbage can into the single weakest warship in existence. This unit has never been prouder but this unit has also never had lower standards.]

Harper’s laughter roared through the intercom sounding loud and completely unrestrained.

"’The weakest warship in existence!’ I swear this thing has a personal vendetta against our dignity!"

[This unit does not have a vendetta... A vendetta requires effort. This unit simply tells the truth, and the truth happens to be unflattering.]

"See?!" Harper wheezed. "VENDETTA!"

Thump!

Elena dropped out of the ceiling hatch onto the bridge deck as she brushed her hands off and stepped up beside the throne.

Her face was still streaked with black grease.

A few strands of honey-blonde hair were stuck to her forehead but her chin was high, and she was staring at the glowing blue consoles with an expression that was nothing short of awe.

"It’s not weak," she said quietly, almost to herself, running her fingertips along the smooth seamless edge of the co-pilot station.

Her talent flickered emerald under her glove. "The whole frame sings. There isn’t a single weak seam in it anywhere. It’s... perfect."

She looked over and caught Leo watching her with an amused half-smirk.

Her cheeks went pink.

She cleared her throat and stuck her nose in the air.

"Not that you had anything to do with it, of course. The metallurgy was entirely my expertise."

"Sure, Sterling," Leo chuckled, sinking back into the throne.

It had become soft dark leather while nobody was looking. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."

Ms. Tachibana rose from her station and walked over to stand on his other side.

For a moment, she didn’t say anything.

She just looked out at the new ship, at the clean blue light and the smooth dark walls, and something in her face softened.

"You did well, Leo," she said finally. "Better than well... I don’t think any of us would be alive if anyone else had been sitting in that chair."

He opened his mouth to make a joke, however nothing came out.

She smiled at whatever she saw on his face, rested her hand on his shoulder for one brief second, and went back to her station.

Leo stared straight ahead at the canopy.

’Two terms...’ he thought, his ears burning. ’Two whole terms of fighting this crush, and she wrecks me in two sentences.’

[The Master Captain’s heart rate just spiked by twenty beats per minute... There are no hostiles nearby and this unit is drawing its own conclusions.]

"Mute." Leo hissed.

[No.]

He tapped the armrest.

The golden banners dissolved, and a new status screen bloomed across the canopy.

[WANDERER-7 — STATUS]

[Class: Tier-1 Assault Corvette (Vessel Tier 2)]

[Captain: Leo Kaine — Level 5]

[Crew: Aoi Tachibana (Lv 4) | Jin-Ah Park (Lv 4) | Harper Bell (Lv 3) | Camila Morales (Lv 3) | Chloe Ivanson (Lv 3) | Elena Sterling (Lv 3)]

[Hull: 100% (Graventhal plating)]

[Power: 100% (Ambient recharge active)]

[Life Support: 14 days]

[Fuel: 100% (Range tripled)]

[Weapons: S-Rank Mag-Rail Turret ? | Pulse Lasers x2 ? | Missile Pods x2 (EMPTY) | Shield (OFFLINE)]

[Survival Points: 792 / 1,000]

[Novice Buffer: 67 hours remaining]

Leo sat up tall and looked past the screen, out at the black sea of stars.

The two-hour death clock was gone... The twenty-four-hour cap was broken as they had two weeks of clean air, a reactor humming like a sleeping dragon, armor that could shrug off rocks, and a gun on the roof that had just turned a four-hundred-tonne horror into mist.

He looked around the bridge.

At Jin-Ah, grinning at her console like she’d won a prize. At Sensei, resting her hand on her navigation station with quiet pride. At Elena, pretending very hard not to be impressed by the walls.

Footsteps clattered up the stairs, and Harper, Camila, and Chloe spilled onto the bridge, wide-eyed and laughing, staring around at the new ship like kids on the first day of summer.

Chloe hung back a little at the top of the stairs.

She was smiling with the rest of them but her hand had drifted up to her throat, and she was swallowing, over and over, like it was dry.

Leo noticed it then he sighed and gripped the armrests as a slow grin spread across his face.

"Alright, ladies," he said. "Take your stations..."

He looked out at the dark beyond the asteroid belt.

"Let’s go see what else is out there."