Chapter 11: A Choice

After nearly fifteen minutes of explaining, to the best of his ability, what the Verix looked like, Twilight peered down at her scribbled attempt at recreating it on parchment.

"Alright, even though I didn't quite understand all of the terms you used… would you say it looks something like this?" She asked, flipping the parchment around to reveal a crude sketch of a Verix fighter.

Jake smiled and gave a thumbs up, causing Twilight to tilt her head in confusion at the gesture.

Noticing the look Jake glanced at his hand once before dropping it. "Oh, it's a gesture humans use meaning great, or good. Or… anything like that." Jake explained, causing Twilight to mouth an "o" before flipping the page around and looking it over.

"These.... Verix, do you think they will ever come here?" Twilight asked with a hint of worry.

Jake shrugged it off with a wave. "Don't worry you don't have any tech they could pick up-" Jake began, but froze as his face immediately paled.

Twilight saw the fear in his eyes as she felt a sinking feeling in her own stomach. "What? What is it?"

"You don't have any tech that could lead them here..." Jake started as he got up and made his way to the door. "But I do!" He yelled as he burst out of the bedroom door.

He ran back down and into the main room where he quickly approached his suit. The others seem to have left at some point, a fact Jake ignored as he slipped into the inactive suit. Booting back up, he just barely saw Twilight scrambling down the stairs behind him as he made his way out the door. He sprint through the town, causing any nearby ponies to jump with fright as the fully armored soldier stormed past them. In a matter of a few minutes he cleared the town’s border and approached the edge of the forest, plunging into its darkened interior and towards the crash site.

Lucy suddenly chimed in. "Oh, Sir. My apologies, I didn’t notice you’d re-interfaced with the armor. Was there something-“ She began to ask, before being cut off by Jake.

"Lucy! Oh Lucy, this is bad… really bad." He said as he reached the ship in record pace and shot through the side door.

Quickly bringing himself to the cockpit, he sat in the captain’s chair electing a slight groan from it as the cushioned metal soaked the weight of his armor. With a few practiced taps on the control board the ship began powering up. Random sparks popped from the walls and screens flickered, either to life or a perpetual error state.

Jake shook his head as he looked for a working monitor. “We’ve got an unshielded AI core, a Faster than Light engine… even prototype power armor. We’re lit up like a goddamn beacon down here!” Jake fumed as he focused on one screen and started typing into a nearby keyboard, a sudden spark from the nearby wall almost making him jump.

“True…” Lucy cut in as Jake pressed a confirmation button. “In uncharted space, especially since they’ll be searching nearby sectors for Starstreaker escapees, the likelihood of being targeted by a Verix scout is high. Especially while harboring all this tech." Lucy surmised as Jake looked down at the small compartment that opened below the console. “So… your options are as follows:” Lucy continued as one of the monitors turned a solid color.

Jake looked down at the small device embedded in the open socket, the item the size of a USB. “First, destroy my brain and continue your mission without me. The onboard computer repair systems will be… more than enough to assist you. This has medium risk.” Looking back up at the working screen, he saw the option ‘DESTROY BRAIN’ written on it as option one. “Broadcasting to your armor will no doubt increase the chances of being located. Without me, you could operate the Mk. III suit with no added noise.”

Jake tapped his finger against the console as he looked between the monitor and exposed AI processor.

“Alternatively,” Lucy added, removing Jake from his thoughts. “-destroy the ship, discarding both the AI and FTL engine. This will completely protect the planet from being pulled into conflict with the Verix. It’s unlikely this world would survive more than twenty four hours post invasion.” Lucy paused as the words ‘SELF DESTRUCT’ typed out below the first choice. “This has the lowest risk to self, but hinges on the hope that someone else will manage to warn Earth.” Lucy continued as Jake stared silently at the screen, his eyes scanning the two options. "Destroy the ship and possibly doom our species to protect this one, or risk sentencing it to an early grave in the pursuit of warning earth…"

Jake shook his head. “No, no I couldn’t do this alone. If we’re doing this I need you here Lucy, no matter the risk.”

The AI didn’t respond immediately, the following silence lasting a few moments before ‘Destroy Brain’ blipped away letter by letter.

The chime played overhead. “This will significantly increase risk-“

“I don’t care.”

More silence followed, and the space slowly filled in.

‘WARN EARTH W/ AI’ Risk Level // EXTREME

Jake huffed as he looked between his available options, his eyes stopping on self destruct. “Lucy… what are the chances that someone else made it off that ship?”

There was a short wait, then the AI spoke in a lower tone than normal. “They’d have made it past my eyes, I didn’t see anyone get as far as you.”

Sighing, Jake leaned back in the cockpit seat.

Staring at the options, Jake finally relented and stood as he turned away from the screen. “Hibernate the ship, low power everything. Don’t send out any signals unless you’re talking with me. No SoS, no terrain scans… don’t even run the hot water. At least until we’re airborne.”

“…affirmative. So… what do we do next?” Lucy asked as Jake paused at the ship’s side exit, pulling the plasma rifle off his back.

A small smile spread under his faceplate. He was now not only on a time limit, but also held the fate of two worlds on his shoulders… it was time to get serious.

“Mingle with the royals.” He replied simply.

Author's Note

A small chapter, I know, but I really wanted to just put something quick out with the extra time I had. It also gave me a chance to give you all an idea of where the story is headed.

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