The Mission is not Going Well
"Log entry, stardate 2/11/2521, Captain Richard 'Dick' Coxwell. Following my primary mission I've moved the ship into a new sector known to harbor biomes suitable for human life. Last contact with sentient life suggested that odds for achieving the prime objective would be higher in this sector of the galaxy. The weight of my mission weighs heavily on my shoulders. Mankind's fate depends on the success of this mission. Others like me comb the galaxy for our last hope. I pray we find it soon."
"Who are you talking to, Richard?" Asked a voice echoing through the bridge of the starship.
"I'm making a log entry, Daisy girl. Wait, don't tell me you haven't been recording these?" Richard said, sitting in a thoughtful pose upon the command chair that was ruined by the annoyed look coming over his face.
"Of course I have. Protocol demands I keep a very thorough log. The black box is full of nothing but records of ship activities and functions, as well as crew performance." Said the female voice through speakers underneath the holographic podium displaying a beautiful woman with a blank expression. "Your ramblings to no one in particular have been filed under 'increased psychological breakdown of crew member Richard Coxwell.'"
"Goddammit, Daisy! You're supposed to be recording these personal entries into my logs as an exercise in keeping my sanity! You're telling me that you've just been ignoring me for the past two years?"
"Nonsense, I have obeyed all of the captains orders as protocol dictates. As no specific order was given to record the exact content of your mental deterioration, I have merely kept notes of the decline of your cognitive capacity." The AI intoned dispassionately. On the command chair Dick's thoughtful pose had now transformed into one of exasperated rage. Looking at the hologram, his face writ with frustration, Dick gripped the armrests to the captain's chair as if he could somehow strangle the shipboard AI by doing so.
"If my 'cognitive capacity' and 'mental state' are deteriorating, it's because I've been stuck on a ship, alone, except for a bitch of an AI that seems to delight in tormenting me as I blue ball through space!" Dick shouted.
"As my logs of your masturbation habits will show clearly, your testicles retain a healthy color as you pleasure yourself..." The AI projection trailed off as Dick fixed it with a mean glare, his hand plotting a collision course with a nearby asteroid as he did. "Perhaps, we should try a combat simulation to relieve some stress." Shipboard AI's were not without desires of self preservation. The simulation went well, although outnumbered six to one, Dick outmaneuvered and destroyed all the simulated enemies from humanities last great war.
"Well done, Richard." Daisy said displaying the efficiency ratings of the fight.
"Of course it was. Combat is too easy compared with the real mission." Dick said, sagging into his chair. Normally one would expect the AI to caution that this was merely a simulated combat, but Dick's combat experience was extensive and exemplary. As the human military was one of the finest in the galaxy, it was not uncommon for the commander of an Adonis class battleship to receive mercenary contracts. "Who's bright idea was all of this anyway?"
"I don't understand. Mankind must find an appropriate substitute for propagating their genetics or die out. The Femino virus was quite effective at eradicating all females of the human race. Since all males are likewise infected as carriers of the virus at a genetic level, cloning is not an option as the virus will simply recur."
"No, I mean, what kind of asshole decided that the best way to fix the problem was to send every Tom, Dick, and Harry out in a bunch of warships, assisted by sadistic, voyeuristic, female AI's to score some intergalactic pussy?"
"I believe it was a unanimous decision by the council of..."
"Rhetorical, Daisy!"
An alarm blared and the lighting inside the command deck once again darkened to combat mode as Dick's chair automatically magnetized the back of his spacesuit to the command chair.
"I'm not that pissed off that we need a surprise drill, Daisy." Dick sighed.
"Not a drill, Dick! Four ships engaged in combat 2 o'clock by 3 o'clock!" Daisy only shortened Richards name when she was serious. Dick quickly checked the bearing of the contact and determined she was correct. Three ships of slapdash construction pursued a small vessel that appeared to be a cargo freighter. Pirates, then. As Dick watched the freighter launched an escape pod, abandoning the cargo to the pirates. But the pod was immediately caught in a tractor beam. Slavers, or carnivores then.
"Give me one quarter combat speed, shields at 50% power and a firing solution on that big one with the cruiser engines bolted on it."
"Quarter speed, shields half, aye sir! Firing solution locked, awaiting orders." Daisy responded, all business now that her actual body was in danger.
"Hit him in the engines with a pulse cannon, If his buddies don't hightail it in 10 seconds fry them with the precision lazers. Primary targets are weapons and sensors, engines are secondaries." Dick smiled as the hunters now became the hunted. Bounties were always a good source of income.
"Shot away... Direct hit, target immobilized. They're bugging out sir. Pursuit?" For an AI, Daisy had a bloodthirsty streak when it came to combat.
"Negative, get me a signature on their engine wash and let em' go. We need to secure that big one and rescue the pod, it looks pretty beat up." Dick said.
"Signature obtained. They were venting radiation as they went. We can trace them for a solid month if no solar storms come through. Freighter looks bad, Dick. Venting atmo, looks like their auto seals are malfunctioning and the pirates were targeting the life support. Looks like they were trying to drive the crew out." Distaste at the pirates tactics colored Daisy's voice. Starship AI's considered the vessels to be their bodies. The pirates must seem like butchers to her. "Dick! Reading on the pod shows possible bio-match! It's a female!"
"Well hot damn! Get us within boarding range, best speed. Fry his comms and anything that can target the hatch first with the PL's, then go nuts on whatever you want." Richard said, forcing a detachment from his chair. "Prep the the twins, I'm boarding that sucker and completing this retarded mission today!"
"Dick, don't go yourself! Let the combat drones clear the ship out!" The AI said, for once voicing concern for her captain.
"For a female representation of intelligence, you don't understand much about women. Prep the drones and get me on that ship. I've got some swash to buckle!"
***
Ashway had never been so scared in her entire life. Outside of the pod, insectile creatures skittered to and fro, saliva dripping from their mandibles betraying their hunger even though their faces were expressionless. How could it come to this? She had made so many runs through this space without so much as a blip on her radar the whole time. She was often told how lucky she was when she learned that there were countless pirates in an area she had just breezed through. Why did today, as she sat comfortably on the bridge reading the latest smutty novel by her favorite author, have to be the day she met pirates?
She hadn't even had time to put on more than her skinsuit and helmet before ejecting in the pod. Her body was practically on display for all to see, covered only by a thin layer of flexiseal to keep her safe in a vacuum. The aliens skittered across the glass surface of the pod eyeing her body up and down as if deciding which bits of meat they wanted to eat first. They weren't even sexy aliens like in her book. Not only was she going to die, it was going to be gross.
Outside the pod a larger insect clambered over and began to fiddle with the controls of her pod. This was it. No captures by ravaging tentacle beasts or barbaric humanoid men. Just some biting and maybe poisoning if she was lucky. Being cocooned with larva that would eat her from the inside out for months if she wasn't.
Suddenly, the whole ship rocked with impact. Secure in her pod Ashway watched as the aliens outside were jostled about. As the creatures regained their footing, laser fire began cutting them down. Struggling to see what was going on Ashway craned her neck to try and get a glimpse of the fighting. Instead she got a glimpse of a large alien trying to pry open the pod as lasers crisscrossed the room. The pod began to give way and Ashway screamed as the lid was pulled off, leaving her vulnerable to the myriad of pincers and claws the alien brandished at her.
A bright flash hit the creature in the torso and blew the remaining pieces of the creature across the room. As Ashway caught her breath a strong hand reached in and pulled her out of the pod. Even as she clung to her rescuer in desperate fear, a small part of her brain realized that their pose right now was straight off the cover of one of her novels. The muscular humanoid that held her lifted his free hand and blasted the last of the aliens in the face. He turned his helmeted head her way and beautiful blue eyes and golden hair on a face so perfect it could have been sculpted by a master artisan looked at her with a smile worth all the credits in the galaxy.
"Captain Dick Coxwell, at your service."