“I really did,” Elyssa agreed, almost sadly. “Aiden Thorne, hope of the universe. Tucking one daring victory after another under your belt, wanted by the Deeks even before you turned to piracy. Everyone hoped for a chance to crew your ship, and those of us lucky enough to be chosen for the honor were the envy of the fleet.”
“I take it you don't harbor those sentiments anymore?” he said, struggling to keep the strain of his desperate evasions out of his tone.
“I did, for a long time,” Elyssa replied, sounding almost wistful. “I swallowed the nonsense you told us about how turning to “privateering” was keeping up the fight, even when everyone else had given up. And I tried to ignore how as the years went by, you picked less and less targets based on military value, and more and more based on how many chits we'd score from them.”
Her voice grew cold again. “Then you picked up the twins as new crew. I listened to them talk about the wealth to be made in piracy, saw their mercenary and utterly self-serving worldview. And I realized that they fit in perfectly on the Last Stand. That somehow, in the years since I'd received the honor of being transferred aboard, this ship I loved had become a place where I no longer fit in.”
Aiden would've been more blown away by this revelation if another series of hits hadn't just slagged two of the crew cabins, opening the corridor beyond to vacuum until emergency doors could slam shut. Even in the bridge, he felt the sudden rush of air before it quickly stilled again.
Talking his way out of this was sounding better by the moment. “You never so much as expressed your concerns to me,” he said.
The facilitator's sadness morphed back to bitterness. “I was a military brat, Thorne. I saw the obsession for destroying the Movement in my parents. How nothing, not even their own daughter, would sway them from the fight, until it finally took them away from me.” She snorted. “I saw that same obsession in you. What hope did your humble, overlooked shields and repairs officer have in the face of that?”
“I failed you, then,” he said quietly, slewing his ship down and left to avoid the final atomic as it blazed past and began to curve back around at them.
“No more than anyone else,” Elyssa replied, not sounding as nonchalant as she likely hoped for. “And as you can see, I ended up a criminal in any case. Probably one less ideologically pure than you've remained, if you still balk at slavery. But it doesn't matter now, since your ship is about to be blown to pieces.”
“No,” Ali abruptly said, voice heavy with inexorable certainty. There was a slight crackle as she finally kicked the facilitator off their comms.
That was all she said, and for a moment Aiden was confused. Not to mention annoyed, at her taking it upon herself to cut off his attempt at negotiations. Apparently the captain didn't need to be kept in the loop about things like that.
Before he could get on her case about it, to his shock the last atomic, which had been getting dangerously close to the ten mile range that would put it near enough to damage his ship when detonated, abruptly winked out of existence on the display.
Radiation warnings joined the others as the Last Stand rode the tail end of the explosion, the breached rooms glowing red with this new threat. But the blast wasn't enough to seriously damage the ship, especially as a layer of shields finally came up that wasn't immediately overloaded by incoming fire.
Of which, he noticed, there seemed to be a lot less: the fighters had stopped shooting, so only the laser bursts from the transports were still incoming.
“Um, one of the fighters just shot down the last atomic,” Barix said, sounding baffled. “A missed shot at us with the luckiest possible result?”
Aiden somehow doubted it; as he continued evasive maneuvers he shot a quick glance at Ali. She was staring straight ahead at nothing, limbs locked with inhuman rigidity so she didn't so much as sway with the maneuvers he was putting the ship through.
She spoke, voice so flat she could've been mimicking the gunner or one of the Fixes. “The Caretakers are making you an offer, my love. Name yourself their ally, swear yourself to the cause, and they'll aid you.”
“Wait, what?” he demanded. “Ali, if you can save my ship then do it! This is the worst time to bargain!”
“If I have sufficient cause, I can compel the Pilot AIs to override their core priorities on your behalf,” she replied calmly. “But If I do so, it must be for the benefit of humanity, not just this ship. Otherwise the Caretakers would be taking sides in a fight between humans, killing some thinking beings for the sake of others. Not to mention asking AIs to betray their masters without sufficient cause. Neither of which we are willing to do.”
“Wait, you can take over the fighters?” Barix demanded. “Why didn't you offer to do that in the first place, you stupid machine? Before my cabin got blown to the void again!”
Ali ignored the man, waiting patiently for Aiden's answer. He grit his teeth. “I don't want to die, but I'm not going to make myself a slave to artificial intelligences that want to conquer humanity.”
“Screw that, I will!” Barix called frantically. “I'll shoot this idiot in the head and take over the ship right now if he's going to get us killed!”
At his station the gunner tensed, although he continued to focus on returning fire at the transports. But Aiden got the sense he was ready to act if the Ishivi did more than make threats. Which was reassuring, until he realized he wasn't sure
