Shipping Part 1

TerraFed Notation: Official transcription is on file of Incident DEF-23594 and its aftermath. Excerpts have been taken from the above mentioned court martial, the official ship's logs, other dreadnought ships' logs, and personal statements taken from the principal actors. The Captain's personal log was unavailable. This edition has been redacted to make it read smoothly.

Captain Forogrove, though found not guilty of all charges, continues to be blackballed for further promotion, and is viewed with heavy suspicion by the military hierarchy. Those in rank above her loathe her, but those in equal and lower rank will follow her to death and beyond, especially those who strenuously compete to win a place on her ship.

*************

Athena leaned against the bulkhead, counted bodies around her. The tiny closet they were holed up in was dark, cramped, and should have never been able to hold them all. If she'd ever suspected that the ship was alive, and sometimes moved pieces of itself around to suit its own purposes, she certainly believed it now.

She had been named for the goddess of wisdom. She certainly hoped she could live up to the name.

Damn, that bitch moved fast! Athena'd been chosen as the best chance to win against her, but it had been close. So close.

Terra hadn't known what they were up against. Neither had the other captains of the dreadnoughts. And, only now, was Athena Forogrove beginning to grasp what they were facing, and she still wasn't sure if they'd succeed in containment.

Amendment: they'd succeed, one way or the other. It remained to be seen if they'd survive to accept the accolades of a properly concluded operation.

Six officers and herself crammed in a closet. Captain, Chief Doctor, Chief Engineer, Chief Therapist, Chief Security Officer, Communications Officer, Chief Navigator. Best of the best. Almost caught with their pants down on main watch. Would it be enough?

She was out there. On their bridge. Trying to talk our people into doing her will.

Funny, the equipment wasn't working. Neither were the doors. It would take a little time for them to be able to communicate with the rest of her followers as they took over other portions of the ship.

Athena slowed her breathing to a respectable rate. "Status?"

"We're fucked, Captain."

"Not quite yet. She doesn't have us. Let's figure out a way to make sure that doesn't happen."

************************

A week ago, when all the Dreadnought Captains had their conference, Terra was still at her mercy. No matter where she went, no matter what she said, people followed her. Believed her. Left everyone and everything and followed, no matter where or what.

Even when smarter heads prevailed and pulled the vids and audios, she still found ways around it. Shut down transportation? She walked. And her followers followed. Pull the plugs and hide the techs who can set it up for her? Her followers would locate old auditoriums or band shells or even megaphones. Shut down a road over a body of water? They took boats. And more and more gathered, and followed.

The only thing that saved Terra's amalgamated government is that she was still in the "my cause is just" phase. Neither she nor her cult had thought about kidnapping key members of the ruling body and have them listen to her forcefully. Nor had she thought about taking their money. Yet.

It was bad enough that, even with the warnings on vid and audio, people were still urging their neighbors to come and listen because her messages "made a lot of sense". The more the governors thought of high-tech solutions, the more her followers went low tech. And it worked.

Terran containment wasn't working. When her speeches changed to include "taking her message to the stars," TerraFed made the decision: treat her like a virus. They shut down all interstellar travel. Nothing in, nothing out. All the private interstellar shuttles were moved out beyond the solar system. Even the smaller TerraFed ships - from Intrasol shuttles all the way up to frigates - were removed to past Jupiter's orbit, in case a second containment was needed. Word spread fast, fueled by TerraFed vids: nothing in, nothing out. Pirates will be shot on sight.

And then TerraFed moved all the dreadnoughts in, to surround Terra itself. Even from an orbit beyond Luna, they could be seen from the earth's surface. The world watched, and waited...

******************

"We can't keep this up. Something's gotta give!"

"We still don't know how she controls her people. If we knew, we could take action. But anyone who tries to arrest her just joins her cult!"

"Maybe she's one of those fucking mutants. Hey, Athena, you've got one on board, ask it!"

"Jamie, if you ever refer to my Chief Therapist in those derogatory tones ever again, you and I will settle our differences in a trial by combat." Her frosty tone actually dropped the temperature by five degrees on all the dreadnoughts, startling all the captains. She was that tight with her ship? To influence their ships that way?

"I... I'm sorry, Athena. I... um. Chalk it up to the stress?"

"This time, Jamie. Let it only be the once." The temp rose again, but not to the previous degree of warmth. The other captains in conference took it as the delicate warning it was.

"So. We don't know how she controls them. We know she's got a radius. We know it's tied to communication. So, either a mental or a vocal limitation. Considering she goes to great lengths to get equipment to give her speeches, we assume there's a vocal component. It could be mental-driven, but we can't dismiss implants to enhance a latent mind control."

"Resonance, perhaps?"

"Can't rule it out. Can't rule out other things like subharmonics. Or even implants in all her followers, though unlikely; the cost would be astronomical."

"Maybe it's visual. Can't rule that out either."

"When audio was cut from vids, nobody wanted to follow her. As soon as audio was added again, we'd lose techs. If there's a visual component, it's restricted to direct line of sight."

A silence as they thought.

"Can we.... fight fire with fire? Contain her with suggestion?"

"If we do, we'd have to be very, very careful. Maybe vent our frustrations to people trapped on the planet, let them embed and lose them to her charms?"

"Cold, but do-able. What kind of containment?"

"Maybe one of the dreadnoughts, if we set it up beforehand? If the ship itself hides the weapons, hides the essential equipment, keys it to captain only, would the ship know if the captain is being mind controlled?"

[At this point, the transcript freezes. We surmise, from the expressions on all the captains' faces, that the ships themselves took over the conference and were communicating with each other and their respective captains. The freeze lasted five minutes, and recording resumed as if the plan was already discussed and implemented.]

"Right. Athena, you think you can do this?"

"I'm the only female captain. Perception of weakness, or perhaps empathy. It makes sense to use me as bait."

"Good luck. May we never have to execute the second half. If we do, it was a pleasure to serve with you. Truly."

"The pleasure's all mine, Eldritch. Though I still say your parents were too into role playing games when they named you." They grinned and signed off.

******************

Status?

Infiltrators on all floors. They had embedded sympathizers in our crew, who allowed multiple shuttles to dock simultaneously against your direct orders.

Can we isolate them?

Working. You are the priority, since only you can countermand your earlier orders. Extra shielding between you and usurpers on bridge.

Thank you. But our crew is important too.

Isolation and containment are being simultaneously implemented. Some areas are easier than others.

From here on in, you understand your orders. No one on board anymore, no one out. No weapons, no movement out of sealed areas unless there's a hull breach.

All areas under seal. No communication whatsoever as per your orders. They are trying to countermand, but no one's codes are working anymore but yours. Things will slow accordingly, without the rest of me working properly.

Continue lockdown. Attempt to isolate our people from the infiltrators. identify problem spots to me. Ah, I'm being slapped, one of my crew needs me, breaking link-

"Captain? Captain??"

"Easy, Doc. I was talking to the ship, not in trance because that bitch was trying to get me. Checking on the rest of the ship."

"How is everyone?"

"Stressed. Some are under duress, being forced to try to open doors and equipment areas, and they are locked. No one's codes are working anymore, including your own. She may have outmaneuvered us once, we can't let that happen ever again. Darien, Alex, Wang Jing, Inaya - we're out of time. You know what we're up against, you had access to the files. We need to figure out fast how she does this, and counteract it. Ely is sliding extra blast shields between us and them, so if she even tries through the walls, it'll fail. We hope." The Chiefs Engineer, Therapist, Security, and Communications, respectively, nodded grimly.

"We pray," intoned Carlos gloomily, which worried everyone. He was a confirmed atheist as well as Chief Navigator.

She glanced at him. "You are one of the most dangerous people to fall into their hands, since you can navigate the ship. You might even be able to disable the ship and take over, despite the overrides. So, you stay here, stay put, and do not move. Contribute to figuring out how to stop her if you can. But from here. Got it?" He nodded, and shuffled over the few inches he had of personal space to listen in on the four-way conversation already in progress.

"Alex." The Chief Therapist jumped a little. "I know stress blocks your talent, but if you can, see if you can get a bead on anyone hurt or killed in the takeover." She nodded, closed her eyes, tried to relax and reach out.

That left the doctor. "Jabari, I know you want to be out there, but unfortunately this is extreme triage. The rest of the crew will have to fend for themselves, we prepared them as much as we could. Your priority is the six of us. And if any of us start acting out of character..."

They held up a syringe. "Understood, Captain."

"Excellent. Let's find a way to bring this bitch to heel..."

********************

Travel was completely halted. On Terra as well as interstellar.

They were taking no chances. She had been so close to taking over the ship, what if she had an exit strategy? People raged and spluttered at the restriction of global lockdown; the government was firm.

Privately-owned ships' owners were secretly relieved. When you had enough money to buy your own interstellar vehicle, you suddenly had an affordable ticket off planet, but it also made you easy pickings in the vastness of space. Not just pirates; some of the private ships had more firepower than the smaller military liners. And would pick up a side hustle or two, if they knew where you were. Translation: they'd take out you and your ship for the goods and parts to sell on the thriving black market. Including parts of yourself, if they were still good. Money didn't help in the coldness of space.

Charter space ships took it the hardest, with all the refunds they had to remit. At least the military ships could still pull a salary! But even cargo-only was planet-bound till there was a resolution.

People kept looking nervously at the sky, and the ships that glittered there, even in daylight...

*****************

She was getting pissed.

What's the use of having all her subjects on a ship if she can't spread her message to the crew, and travel to other planets for the same?

When they'd arrived at the bridge, it was empty. They got the feeling it hadn't been mere seconds before, but the equipment was locked. Not even the experts she'd specifically recruited to her cause had been able to even open the panels, much less reconfigure the equipment. And they couldn't leave, either - the doors had closed and locked behind them. They couldn't even pry anything loose to hammer at them.

What, was this resting lump made out of one seamless piece of matter?

She kicked a chair, discreetly. She didn't want her followers to see. She could only give the same pep talk so many times with conviction.

And she really needed to pee!

And now her foot hurt.

****************

I have isolated fifteen percent of our crew in safety, with supplies and facilities.

Excellent, please continue to do so if you can.

It is... difficult. You humans look alike to my circuits.

Link me into the vids with no audio, I'll help you sort friend from foe.

Give me two cycles of undivided attention.

I'll warn them. "People, Ely wants me to help sort our crew away from our unfriendly visitors. I'll be in trance for two hours."

"Okay, Captain. Be careful, we don't know how powerful this woman is."

"Vid only, no audio. Ely is pretty sure it's audio dependent. We'll test."

"Right, give us feedback on the monitor here, the one that magically appeared when Ely heard us say we needed one. Tell her thank you."

They are welcome.

*********************

"Any word?"

"We keep getting the message Stand By. If it's gone on this long, they don't have the Captain. So there's hope."

"Are the other dreadnoughts getting any messages?"

"Same as us, Admiral. It seems like all energy output is directed within. All of it."

The implications sank in. "She's... that tight with the ship?"

"Seems so."

"Hunh." He sat back, impressed despite himself. "So, she might just carry this off."

"Give her time. Their plan, and her orders, were clear."

"Very well. We wait, though rather impatiently." He shook his head. "No wonder the Dreadnought Elysium has broken every faster-than-light flight record on the books, if she never has to give an order out loud..."

**********************

Carlos stopped looking at the vid screen. It was giving him headaches, how fast ship-and-captain meld was flicking from camera to camera, finding and isolating their people from her.

How Darien could sit there, while the lights blinked fast enough to give a brain-normative person an epileptic seizure, and fiddle with electronics no bigger than an old-fashioned quarter with utmost concentration...well, it staggered the mind. Inaya was assisting him, though she'd asked Jabari for a headache remedy earlier.

Alex was also in trance, trying to find people and help. But her erratic gift wasn't working well again, and Ely didn't have processor space to augment her.

Jabari watched their captain's still body with a worried eye, but ready to do whatever necessary. They refused to even look at the screen; they'd only watch helplessly while their charges suffered.

Wang Jing watched the vids, and Carlos could see their own implant slowing it down so they could follow its progress at their own pace. Sometimes they would murmur towards a microphone pickup in the wall (when did that appear?), and he could almost follow how their suggestions were being implemented.

He felt useless. But the captain was exactly right about him - he ran just-in-case scenarios in his head for fun, where he got to save the day. But he was the navigator. He'd never run this particular scenario. How could he be the hero, when the ship had to stay put at all costs?

He sighed. And waited.

**************

Forty percent of crew isolated and safe.

When the captain showed signs of returning to consciousness, Jabari and Carlos were right there to help her sit up, take a drink, eat a protein bar. Carlos had even thought of a way to use facilities in their cramped space, and she gratefully used them. "Good man," she whispered, patting his should weakly. He drank in her praise like he was dying of thirst.

Wang Jing was quietly pleased with their contribution, and Alex just looked exhausted. But it was Darien and Inaya who were triumphant as they handed over a set of what looked like hearing aids. "We need a volunteer - no, no one in this group - to try these out. Someone of low enough rank that if they get cultified, their knowledge will make no difference."

They could see her and Ely flicking through, selecting, contacting, agreement. A process that they were certain didn't exist twenty-four hours ago was happening at the speed of electrons.

Of course Darien volunteered to take them. Athena agreed, but "You are under explicit orders to go there, deliver, and get the hell straight back. No stopping off in Engineering to check things out. That is a direct order."

"But, Captain-"

"No. Period. If these do not work, you need to work on variation two. There is no one else to make them. And no time to argue. But you know the conduits best and can do this safely and quickly. Go."

He huffed, but a panel slid open in the wall, and he was gone.

Part 2: https://vocal.media/futurism/shipping-part-2

Part 3: https://vocal.media/futurism/shipping-part-3

Part 4: https://vocal.media/futurism/shipping-part-4