Hannah called it Hull-Dancing. Everyone else? They called it suicide. Well except for her friend, Captain Avery Maclaine. The Capricorn was a unique ship, not only was it's hull design one-of-a-kind, but the interior systems were cutting edge, what was it doing in the hands of a bunch of pirates? That was Hannah and Avery's little secret.
The first notable feature was it's multi-core shielding system. Where the vast majority of races, including humans, were only able to use one shield type to bolster their outer hull, the choices being molecular shielding, gravitron, neutron or ion, the Capricorn could switch its shielding type on the fly between three, depending which they had installed, making it a menace in combat because finding the right weapon to deal damage to the shielding would be foiled instantly by a shield-type change.

So with an advantage like this, why was Hannah's plan suicide? Well perhaps because her idea was to make like she was going to run headlong into the enemy vessel before near-enough scraping just over the top of them, or below them, giving them pointblank range to fire on the hull before breaking away, switching between shields to keep them guessing. Of course the entire process would strain the generators temporarily, it was a worthwhile move to pull a tactic they'd never dealt with before.
She certainly proved as much when they chased down a Dastan Military Cargo vessel, the first job was disabling its engines, turning it into one big metallic lunchbox for Avery's Ravens to snack upon. The rest was quick maneuvering and using the cargo vessel as a shield from the escort cruisers attacks. Whatever was on board, they didn't want to risk destroying it, something Hannah used to her advantage before breaking into her Hull-Dancing technique.

How had she developed it? By crashing the Capricorn over and over in randomized Simulators until she no longer crashed, she was obsessive when it came to practicing her flying. Needless to say, the Dastan Cruiser Captains weren't prepared for such a brash style of combat, quickly overwhelmed and soon destroyed as the gunners on-board the Capricorn took full advantage of the point-blank range to deal as much damage as possible.
All the while, the smaller fighter units had been trying to attack the vessel but frequently found themselves at a disadvantage since stray fire could have hit the cargo vessel or indeed the other cruisers. The sudden strike of the Capricorn was therefore a successful attack, with everyone either damning Hannah for being insane, or simply raring up for the second stage of the heist.

The second most notable feature was how well the Capricorn was built for ship-to-ship hull-breaching. The shifting wings and transforming engine compartments allowed it to adjust for a target vessel, plant against it magnetically and burn through the hull. Most cargo vessels were vulnerable to this because of their straightforward designs and obvious storage-block compartments.
Of course it wasn't like they could just run in and grab the cargo, they had one final obstacle, there would be troops on board. And that's where the boarding parties came in, three groups of men, typically trained and lead by their Gunnery Sergeant, Jack Weathers. Not big on brains, but a worthy enough soldier that he could whip up even a bunch of miscreants into shape for their Captain and get them to work as a reasonable fighting force.

In a rushed heist like this, however, Hannah couldn't leave the bridge of the ship, so in her place went John "Doc" Mertens. If it meant hurting the Dastan Military, he didn't mind too much, he didn't approve of killing any captured enemies, but he wasn't not going to fight for his life when in danger. But ultimately he owed Avery for taking him on, so it was only natural he'd do his best for her. Of course that didn't stop him acting like he begrudged everything they did, but that was simply his personality. The ship's 'nanny'.
John waited for the boarding parties to go first. Of course no surprise that gunfire was soon heard. The Dastan Military still favored solid ammo for their weapons, it was inexpensive but still effective against most things, so no surprise when solid metal was flying overhead and shell casing clattered to the floor.

Frankly he preferred Dastan weaponry, because wounds from solid ammo were usually easier to treat than some of the energy or chemical based weapons he knew of. Those were much nastier, in some cases melting flesh or cauterizing wounds and making a hell of a mess internally. He leaned into the cargo bay of the Dastan vessel with his pistol raised and cradled with both hands, watching the rest of the Raven's boarding party fight their way into the halls. They would be mopping up the soldiers while Avery and the ships workers started checking cargo and transferring items.
This was a good opportunity for Doc too, they were running low on some medical supplies, this ship was bound to have more, however his attention stopped on a particularly large crate. Hell he wasn't sure he could just call it a crate. At the center of all the other standard storage containers was one large black container, relatively long and printed along the side of it was H+:001, followed by the symbol of the Dastan military, a triangle with a half-moon inside it.

Given the rather intimidating size of it and the absolutely clean black metal surface, he could only assume the most valuable cargo was stored inside it. Sticking out like a sore thumb. Though of course he doubted they'd expected a sudden attack like this, so making something look so garish was probably meant for whoever they were presenting it to.

Avery made sure that Doc was being looked-after during the heist. She couldn't be babysitting the man, not when she had to oversee the appropriation of cargo, but she did make sure one of her other Ravens kept Doc alive. She could admit that the medic wasn't a bad shot when he needed to be, but he was far from her best fighter.

She gave her men and women some cover-fire as they scurried off with some crates that were clearly marked as medical supplies

"Hurry it up!" she barked as she took out another two Dastan soldiers. She glanced over the crates, making note of the ones remaining. She knew their time was very limited, and they needed to make the most of it. She ducked down when a shot landed a bit too close to her shoulder for comfort, and popped back up again to fire her own pistol in return. As soon as the crates they had came for here taken, she moved to retreat. That was when she spied the large, unmarked black container. Whatever it was, it was unusual, and the Dastan soldiers seemed to be making an effort not to shoot it. She gestured to her workers, and then to the black box.

"That one too!" she ordered.

As Jack kept the fighting tot he access tunnels, the workers were swiftly moving between ships, using crane arms from the Capricorn to grab the larger pieces and slide them through quickly, they were efficient at this since they had practice, not only as dock workers but also from their many heists. John meanwhile had gotten closer to the black container. Frankly, it was a little over-sized. He ducked swiftly as a shot went overhead, pulling a grim face, that was a little too close. His bodyguard returned fire, but John sighed, sitting down in place as he waited. His guard and their opponent exchanged fire a few times before he leaned out into view, firing up at the Dastan soldier several times. It was enough to catch them with two int he chest, even if the third shot went wild.

The doctor watched as the automated crane-arms floated into the cargo hold and grabbed the black container, good, he wanted to see what was inside it. The man stood up again, firing towards another incoming soldier before dropping and sneaking around between the boxes. Frankly he'd never been much of a marksman, he was passable, but where he really excelled in training had been hand to hand combat. As the Dastan soldier he fired at tried to get closer to Doc's guard, the medic sprang him, gun holstered at his hip. He grabbed the man's wrist and thumb, wrenching them so he was forced to drop his rifle.

A palm thrust into the back of the shoulder and another tug of the wrist forced the soldier face first into another crate with a heavy thud. Doc quickly changed his grip, pressing his fingers down into the neck of his foe. The pain of the mans fingers pressing deeply into a soft spot was enough to paralyze the soldier and force him down where a swift chop to the back to the neck finished the job. Knowledge of anatomy meant knowing the soft spots and physiological weaknesses in most biological entities with enough study, but human-to-human he had a clear advantage.

As the last bits of major cargo were grabbed, the doctor retreated, he was satisfied with the medical supplies he could see, everything else looked basic. Food supplies, extra munitions, incompatible fuel rods and spare materials for hull repair, he and his assigned guard returned to the Capricorn. The fire teams were also returning, still firing on their foes, the Dastan, however one team had an extra member in tow, or rather, not an extra member, but a prisoner. Tied and bound, being dragged by two of the soldiers. He supposed they would be worked over for information on extra cargo vessels, but he pulled a bit of a face when he noticed the frame of the soldier. They'd best not think about torture. It was a mess to clean up, besides, he didn't condone violence towards defenseless women, even if they were soldiers, perhaps men too, but the Doc was a dying breed of chivalry, or at least he liked to believe.

As the last of their people made it background, the breaching panel slammed shut, sealing quickly and detaching from the hull. He could hear the rush on the other side as the cargo hold depressurized. Any living Dastan soldiers in there would be spaced in a matter of moments, another grim thought, but he simply shook his head and turned around, staring quite particularly at the large black box,
"This normally isn't for me, but my curiosity is piqued.." He said out loud, mostly to himself, approaching it, but he didn't try to open it yet.. Rather.. That was a good question, "How the hell do we open it..?" He pondered, again out loud, the surface of it was practically seamless, except for the corners and edges as well as the imprinted numbers and letters, "Big, black unbreachable box.." John smirked to himself, "H-plus, zero zero one.. If that was a serial number it might be the project name then model number.. Meaning this is the first of its kind.. If not the prototype, you'd think the Dastan would come up with a better way of serializing though, this is way too simplistic,"
"Uh sir.."
"Hmm?" John stared at his assigned guard,
"You're talking to yourself again,"
John grimaced and sighed, rubbing his head, yeah, bad habit, he talked to himself a lot, thinking out loud, it came with being a doctor, in some ways, especially when studying the biology of a species and recording ones findings in a recording device. Still, the question stood, how would they crack open this box?

Once the hull was sealed again, Avery braced herself for the familiar lurch of Hannah pulling the Capricorn away from the Dastan ship and into open space. Holstering her pistol, Avery stretched a bit and checked herself over quickly for any injuries worse than a bump or scrape. Finding none, she let her workers catalogue the new acquisitions and headed for the cockpit.

The cockpit door opened with a familiar, comforting hiss and she stepped into the relatively small space.

"One of these days," she said teasingly to Hannah, "you're going to kiss the hull of one of those ships and it's going to kick you back, and then where will we be?" Leaning against the edge of one of the control panels, she crossed her arms and watched her friend work. "Picked up some good stock this time, I think. Doc should be happy for a while, at least."

"The day I kiss the hull of an enemy ship is the day I've kicked everyone off the Capricorn and put its engines on overload." Hannah replied, "So I'll probably be in hell," She added, barely skipping a beat as she worked to quickly move the vessel away from the cargo ship, the engines were still hot, so they could go any time, it was best to jump to hyper space for a bit and follow the beacons to a neutral territory, of course there were also the Anomaly paths, but there weren't any nearby,
"Good stock huh?" Hanna added, grinning to herself as she pointed over to one of the bridge workers, particularly the one managed the engines, "Fire up the Jump Drive, we're getting the hell out of here." after that brief interruption she broke the Capricorn away entirely from the cargo vessel. Hannah could see life-pods scattered all around, mostly those escaping from the destroyed cruisers, some from the cargo vessel, the Dastan would have fun sorting this little mess out,
"I guess that means I can have a cold one on the Dastan Empires tab," Hannah finally added, grinning over her shoulder at Avery, "Did they have anything special?" Hannah asked with a smirk, angling the Capricorn further away from the battlefield as the jump drives came online, the nearest beacon was a Ghost beacon, the kind bandit groups like theirs tended to use.

The engines howled, Hannah didn't envy anyone in engineering being near that sound, the jump drive whirred, singing in low pitch before their ship blasted forward. Although with inertia dampeners they simply jolted a little on board, space warping around them, becoming a brilliant blare of colors and lights dancing around the ship. Hannah could leave the ship on autopilot for following the beacons.
Meanwhile, the fire teams were patting one another on the back, already celebrating another good haul while Jack lead their captive to the brig. Even a ship like theirs had some-where to store prisoners. The fire teams often also acted as the ship security team, though for the most part security on the ship simply meant trusting the other guy.

Hannah stood up, stretching her arms then alleviated some pressure on her spine,
"The worst thing about being stuck in the pilot seat is I get all stiff," She grumbled, this was a complaint she made often, but she always ended up piloting anyway, it was her one true passion. Just then the comms bleeped and she looked over her shoulder again, it was the captains receiver,
"Hey, Miss Maclaine," The Docs voice could be heard, "So this big black mystery box, care to have the honors of opening it? That is if you can figure out how.."

Avery could have kept bantering on with Hannah, but she was distracted by the comm going off. Reaching over, she touched the button on the receiver.

"Doc, you're one of the smartest men on this ship, and you can't figure out how to open a box?" she teased. "Sit tight, I'll be right down. Take a headcount for me, will you? Make sure everyone's more or less in one piece." With that, she let go of the button again and looked at Hannah. "Coming with me, or staying here to oversee your bridge minions?" She really didn't care which option Hannah chose; she let Hannah do what she liked, for the most part, and Avery trusted Hannah not to get them all into any trouble that the pilot couldn't get them out of again.

The doctor shook his head to himself, just because he was smarter than the average mook on board the ship it didn't exactly meant he had a degree from the Dastan University of Engineering, if it were easy to open, he doubted whatever was inside was really worth the trouble of such a tightly sealed case. Still, something about it felt off, some random cargo ship with cruiser escort, out in the middle of nowhere with something like this? Were they trying to be discreet? Normally Avery wouldn't just go after a random freighter either, so she must have had a tip from some-one about it, that was usually a good way of grabbing cargo ships like this.

Hannah chuckled to herself at the offer,
"What? Are you kiddin'? Sit on my ass on an autopilot run through Hyperspace? I should strap you into the seat every once in a while, I think they can handle it without me," The goliath woman smirked, resting her hands on her hips as she followed the Captain, most people knew to get out of her way, most men weren't even her size, anyone who didnt know she was the pilot of the Capricorn thought she was all muscle, it was nice at least that she could be underestimated for her skill.

John had been searching around the black box as he waited for the Captain to appear, mostly running his hand over the surface it had been a very long time since he'd seen anything anywhere near this clean on the ship when it wasn't his medical tools. He almost envied the military that particular facet, but not enough that he could justify what they wanted him to do as a Doctor and Soldier.
Biological weapons. The moment something like that came up, he was out, they had the nerve to turn a doctor into a soldier then ask him to create viral weaponry for use against enemy troops, anything to attack them, nerve gas for certain species, or some long-term plague they could use for attrition. Sweat them out til they dropped dead or begged for a cure. Not John's style. He became a doctor to help people, sure there were other ways to help people, but something that cruel was beyond his limits.

John's hand stopped when he came across something odd in the metal. Where he originally had believed it to be solid and smooth, there were parts of it that were bumped out near the center of the panel displaying its serial number,
"Well.. That's interesting.."

Avery grinned as she headed out of the bridge with Hannah in tow. It didn't seem to matter that Hannah was a head taller than Avery, the two gave the impression of being a matched set. Avery's steps seemed to match Hannah's effortlessly, even as she moved around some of her crew as they scurried back and forth through the corridors. It wasn't a long walk to the cargo storage bay, really, so it only took a few minutes for Avery to walk in and see Doc and the strange crate.

"So what have we got?" she asked, walking over and leaning in to look closer at the box. Now that she was closer and able to get a good look, she could see the Dastan emblem on it, and the odd serial number. "Interesting..." Reaching out, she carefully ran her fingers along the odd raised bumps on the panel. Now that she was up close, the whole thing seemed much more visually interesting, and she felt the distinct need to explore it with her hands, as well. She made her way around the box, her fingers exploring every seam and edge as she went, until her fingers brushed a panel that was different than the rest.

"What we have here is a failure to dissociate." The doctor replied, smirking to himself, he doubted anyone would even get the joke but he shrugged to himself and stared long and hard at the cool black metal on the surface, he could see their blurred reflections on it. Hannah too was rather interested in it. Frankly their normal hauls never really brought anything this curious. She was also caught on by the serial number on the facing side, what could it mean exactly? Not many serials included a plus sign. It was likely code for something else, Dastan were usually pretty straightforward though. So whatever the H meant was also important.

The doctor looked over when Avery touched the panel. In contrast to when he'd touched the same area and nothing happened, she actually managed to start something up, a hard-light panel sprang to life on the surface, bringing up a screen and a computerized voice blurted forward,
"Greetings, Emperor and Generals. As you have been told by Doctor Zenos, this is the project you have all been looking forward to today. The HumanPLUS project has been a long and difficult task. But our entire team at Zyodex Industries is proud to present to you, HumanPLUS subject Zero Zero One."

"Looks like a prerecorded message. But HumanPLUS..? What the hell is that?" The doctor asked out loud. The machine was no longer speaking, however instead the large black box shifted the solid metal plating expanding at the front, the corner popping out as if they were locking the faces of the storage unit down. From the edges a white mist began to hiss. The doctor sniffed the air and raised his brow, "Smells like a sterilized environment.. Dont worry,"

The metal plating at the front seemed to bend suddenly, the metal pulling back in sections and folding backwards over itself piece by piece as lights inside began to come to life, eventually revealing the inside of the unit entirely. There was several worktops, dozens of chemicals, a computer, notepads neatly placed on a desktop and what looked to be a very specific chair. But most importantly of all, a large tube-like structure, within which there was a bright green liquid.

Suspended in the transparent substance was a young woman, from what he could tell, her body was fully clothed in an unusual battledress that seemed to reflect the Dastan military style, only not entirely. And it looked like she was still quite alive, even though her mouth was clearly visible, which meant she was breathing the green fluid. Likely a synthetic amniotic fluid.
"Subject Zero Zero One has been tested with a full range of desired responses, the personality matrix is interchangeable also allowing for educational rewriting, but at its core the subject remains the future of warfare, whether it is in space, in the air or on the ground. One merely needs to enter a Neurolink with the subject in their dormant state and interface with the subjects mind." The computerized voice continued to explain, the recorded voice playing with dulcet tones and even a hint of allure,
"It came to our attention that the Emperor will be celebrating his birthday soon, so as an advance present, we offer the first subject to you. Please, enter the container and use the Neurolink chair to interface with the subject."

"Neurolink technology," the doctor stared as the chair next to the glass tube shifted, a headset similar to what the girl in the tube was wearing came down from above, hanging in place, waiting to be worn, "I thought they banned that, what the hell is the military doing with technology that could literally fry a person's mind if one thing went wrong?" Doc muttered, but frankly there were more questions, why was the machine calling this girl in the tube the future of warfare? Just what exactly were Dastan up to? Genetic engineering..? Wait.. In some ways it made sense, they'd been forcing many doctors into military work at the time that they'd taken him on too. Was it for this? Was he almost a partner to the creation of a genetically engineered human?

Avery pulled her hand back when the panel lit up. That was definitely not something she had been expecting, and the reaction was instantaneous. There was a faint humming, and then the panel came to life and began speaking to the group. As she listened, Avery's eyes narrowed a bit. This had been intended for the Emperor? Aside from the fact that they'd stolen directly from the Emperor (every thief's dream), it was also suspicious. What was so important that it had to be given an escort in a nondescript cargo ship?

"Doc...?" she asked when the recording paused and the crate opened to reveal a young woman suspended within a tank. "What are we looking at?" She walked slowly around the tank, examining it from as many angles as she could, only half-listening to the recording as it picked up again. Her attention was grabbed again when she heard the word 'neurolink.' She'd heard rumors about neurolink technology, and had managed to get a few snippets of information on the tech out of John, but she never thought she'd see the technology up close like this. Before she could second-guess herself, she slid into the chair and slid the headset on.

Upon Avery questioning him, the Doctor immediately responded;
"Well to begin with, it looks like the Dastan have been performing genetic engineering experiments, if the thing in this tank is what I think it is, we're basically carrying a ticking time bomb with a human body, but apparently the only way you can start her up is with that seat," He pointed it out, leaning in closer to the tank. No response at all, clearly she was completely out cold, even as her body shifted and twitched. He supposed the fluid was electrified, making sure to probe and test the body, keeping it's reactive capabilities in check with mild shock treatment,
"It's called a Neurolink. It lets two people link their minds, they originally tried to design it as a multi-person system for managing ship operations, but the first designs for small fighters were too dysfunctional, even two people joining minds caused problems, like swapping memories or, in some cases, the system overloaded and turned them into vegetables, it's not something you just-" The Doctor stopped his explanation, he was so focused on the girl in the tank that he wasn't paying attention to Avery, who seemed to just leap into the chair voluntarily and put the headset on by the time he even glanced her way, "-Voluntarily try out, are you completely out of your mind?!"
"Should I smash it?" Hannah asked curiously of the Doctor, who was then rubbing at the bridge of his nose,
"No, no smashing, she's now linked into the system, you smash that and she'll either come out insane, or come out a vegetable, same for whatever this is in here," There was a brief pause then Hannah grinned,
"Well I guess that would make me the Captain.. So smashing time?"
"No!" The Doctor yelled, staring at her accusingly,
"I'm kidding!" Hannah raised her hands in a defensive manner, chuckling away, "You think she'll be okay?"
"If the Dastan improved the Neurolink model, then maybe, we'll have to wait and see."

Unfortunately by the time Doc had fist began yelling, Avery's mind was drawn into a vortex of light and sound before being thrown into a void of darkness, the world around her was shadow, though she could see herself, until things started to take shape, new lights and colors, gravity prompting her feet to touch ground that appeared below her, a field of grass spreading across the darkness and that darkness soon started to scatter, slowly but surely revealing a deep blue sky, a perfect Gaian atmosphere for humans to breath in. Although the sky had some slightly odd features, most notably, asteroids could be seen orbiting the planet, slowly, like a moon, but an entire belt-like field that sat between the planet and the sun that glared between the rocks,
"Hello..?" Came a meek voice behind the Captain, it was that of a young child, perhaps only ten years old or so. She was just a girl in a white dress, red hair around her shoulders and cold blue eyes that stared up at her curiously, "You're not the Emperor.. Why are you here..?"

For one brief, wildly disoriented moment, Avery was very glad she wasn't prone to motion sickness. The spinning, whirling colors of the neural link made her stomach turn, but she was able to bully it into submission before lunch forced its way back up. As quickly as the vortex appeared, it vanished, and Avery suddenly found herself standing on some foreign planet. It was vaguely Earth-like, as far as she could tell: she wasn't choking on the air, and she didn't feel any heavier or lighter, and the ground was solid beneath her feet. But the sky was different, and she definitely didn't recognize the rather breathtaking asteroid belt that obscured most of the sun.

"Okay, this is a bit strange," she murmured as she took a few cautious steps. She barely managed not to jump when the voice came from behind her, and she whirled around to see a little girl. "Who are you?" The girl seemed kind of familiar in a way that Avery couldn't quite place, even though she was pretty sure she hadn't met the girl before. "Am I in the neural link? Is this what happened when I connected to it?"

The girl continued to stare up at Avery for a moment before taking a few small steps forward and reaching her hand out to gently grasp the index and middle fingers of one of Avery's hands, smiling up at the Captain. Upon doing this the area around them seemed to flood with animate images of both their lives, although Avery's was far more overpowering considering how much longer she had lived. The girl stared around at the various places, each individual setting where for moments at a time Avery was drawn back to her youth, many of the moments being with Hannah, a once-sickly little girl that eventually grew into the tall beast that she was now.

At the same time they seemed to dance occasionally to moments with that of the red-haired girl and an old man, the only word she really used for him was Grandpa, he had a dead look to his face, yet for the girl he sitll smiled and played with her, until a final image of her running into a street to catch a ball, only to have a hovercar come skidding towards her, The instant of terror was so quick that it was barely felt. The girl let go of Avery gently and smiled up at her again,
"Captain Avery Maclaine of the Capricorn.. You know who I am." She grinned gently. And Avery would, she was Reina Viscaros, accident victim at ten years old, "You are not the Emperor.. But you were too curious not to try this.. I am glad I could recognize you or you would have died." She offered the strange piece of relief, after all Avery would have felt something else, this space that she'd fallen into was designed to trap, and ultimately kill, the Emperor of Dastan.

The girl rubbed at her head softly, seeming slightly frustrated, the very feeling of frustration would have been shared,
"Oh dear, Grandpa didn't tell me what to do if it wasn't the Emperor, he was sure he could convince him.. So that means I have to wake up.. But I don't want to wake up.. It wont be me anymore.." She froze stock still as something rose up behind her, it appeared to be an artificial construct, certainly nothing human, the girl gave Avery one last smile before the image of her scattered however final words filled the woman's mind,
"Bye-bye, Miss Maclaine. If you see my Grandpa, will you hug him for me? I didn't get to say thank you.."

The synthetic creature turned its head toward Avery, seemingly unaware of what happened,
"Welcome to the HumanPLUS startup program, please state the specifics of what you would like this unit to do. If you are interested in having the Unit taught directly by you or your peers, then you may choose the Blank Slate template and it will be given basic functionality and learn to function as per your desires. This is recommended for those who desire to give their unit specific training that may not be available in this version of the HumanPLUS startup sequence."

As soon as the girl touched Avery's hand, Avery's world seemed to expand and swell past what it seemed like her mind could hold. It felt as if she simultaneously had a second set of memories in her head (that curiously seemed to stop too early) while at the same time being laid completely bare for the little girl to see. Avery could see flashes of her youth go past: the monotony of school, getting into fights with bigger kids in the alleys to defend Hannah, learning to drive a beat-up old hovercar. Then she was pulled into the unfamiliar memories, feeling all of the associated emotion as if it were her own. It culminated in a jolt of terror and pain before fading again, and she looked at Reina.

"I don't know if I'll ever come across your grandpa," she said, "but if I do, I'll tell him." She couldn't bear to refuse the girl's request, but she also couldn't make a promise she wasn't sure she'd be able to keep. She blinked in surprise when Reina vanished and the synthetic took her place. Still hooked up to the neural link as she was, she understood the basic instructions, but she still had no idea what the HumanPLUS or whatever it was was programmed to do already.

"Can you give me a list of command options?" she asked carefully, watching the synthetic.

The synthetic machine paused briefly, staring at Avery with its facless mask, it's figure unomving for moments before it came to a basic consensus, and shook its head,
"Negative, I am an artificially responsive program, my recognizable list of command options is far too expansive. However I can give you a basic clarification of the process."It explained, the area behind it seemed to shift and transform, the image of the young girl appeared once more, but the life in her eyes before had vanished,
"The HumanPLUS Subject is grown in advance, its base memories, personality and physical structure are replicated from either a living person or a comatose patient. Fresh samples are necessary for both the personality matrix, memory core and the living body."

The image of the girl began to stretch, her clothing changing and shifting into the same uniform as the one in the glass chamber, her blue eyes, however, had turned red during the growth process, but they still stared lifelessly ahead,
"The Subject is grown rapidly while their body is given continuous physical stimulation of the muscles and essential operative centers within the brain to keep it active, wetware implants allow seamless integration of personality types, training and other peripheral options. A Neurolink is established with the subject and the HumanPLUS Startup program is initialized."

The synthetic creature placed a hand towards itself,
"I am fully equipped with a standardized set of job specifics, ranging from military roles such as Soldier, Pilot, Combat Medic and Commando to mundane roles such as Maid, Chef, Servant, Secretary. However the full list is lengthy and would take time to go through every single entry, it would be in your interest to simply think what you want most of the Subject and state the desired option. If I cannot fulfill the requirement, the Blank Slate protocol is offered."

The red-haired girl shifted position, a large stone wall appeared before her and she punched toward it in a single, mechanical fashion, the brick wall shattered as though hit by an explosive shell,
"As you may have been made aware in the briefing, the use of Advanced Energy is a standard subset, however the Subject is fully capable of developing its abilities within the Blank Slate protocol, allowing it to fulfill any role desired, even with a little training time involved. The Subject, in all roles, will be fully obedient and follow all commands given by you with zero deviation. However, it would not be in your best interests to create conflicting commands." The girl turned back towards Avery, once more staring past her lifelessly, "For example; setting a Prime Directive such as protecting your life, then telling the subject at a later point not to protect you will cause a conflict, resulting in functional disorder." As if on cue, the image of the grown Reina suddenly lifted its hands to its head, a look of pain spreading across her face, this state having been induced on purpose by the synthetic creature, where there had been a deadened expression, she now was in fact suffering, but it soon stopped and she returned to a neutral stance,
"Belaying a conflicting command would be best, in order to preserve full functionality. As a further recommendation; creating a Prime Directive pass-code for shutting down the Subject on command would also be wise, should you require a method for stopping the Subject at will."

The synthetic placed its elongated hands behind itself, staring in Avery's direction once more,
"You may place similar rules and constraints on the Subjects personality, giving it as much freedom or as little as you require for it to function. Please feel free to express your desires with your mind or through words, your are, afterall, linked directly to the Subject at this point. When you are ready, touch the Subject and offer your desire to them. This Subject also appears to come with its own Recommended Default protocol, labeled Reina. Items attached to the Reina protocol include; Partial personality matrix, Fragmented memory core, no Advanced Energy settings. These limited conditions would be considered similar to the Blank Slate protocol and are likely a simple test Protocol left behind as an example. There is no further Data on the Reina Protocol."

Avery listened carefully as everything was outlined, even though the information seemed to settle directly into her memory as if it had always been there. She assumed that it must be part of how the Neurolink worked: she seemed to instinctively know (or absorb quickly) any information the synthetic machine she was linked to wanted to share.

She took a few moments to really sort through the influx of information, and then looked at the synthetic.

"What would happen if I decided I wanted the Reina Protocol uploaded?" she asked. She got the feeling that the Reina Protocol was the little girl she had just met. "You said it was partial and fragmented, what if it was uploaded and I wanted the gaps filled with the most compatible constructs available?"

The synthetic stared at her briefly, as if digesting the question again, it seemed to be considering a correct response. Even though when it gave information, any that it had stored within it remained hidden likely so as not to overload Avery's brain with all the extra personality matrixes, training and memory cores stored within, though eventually it responded to her again,
"Unfortunately my calculations cannot predict what would happen if you loaded the Reina Protocol. If you desire that I attempt to fill in the blank spaces to ensure functionality, then I will attempt to do so. However I cannot improvise the missing data or link it together without further relevant data or historical reference points of the intended memory. If that is possible at all; it will be up to the subject to attempt to reassemble the fragmented memory correctly. Until such a time as it being restored correctly; the fragmented memory will be similar to the condition known as amnesia. The partial personality matrix appears to be fully formed and in order with a small number of breaks that are more easily fixed, but it appears to be only worth the experience of a child at roughly ten to eleven years old. The Blank Slate would give a standardized obedient personality and roughly twenty years of experience equivalent to the age the body is grown to. With no Advanced Energy settings it will have to decide how to apply it as per either it's, or your desires."

The Synthetic stayed quite for a moment again, shifting and looking towards the red haired doll, then back towards Avery,
"If by chance you encounter relevant historical data after activation of the Subject. It is possible to Neurolink with it and attempt to further reconstruct the memory core directly. You may link with the subject as frequently as you desire in order to adjust the personality matrix, set Prime Directives or adjust the memory core. However I will only be present for this session, in order to allow the subject maximum capacity for its Memory Core and Personality Matrix; I shall be automatically erased. Before that occurs; do you have any further questions?"

Avery considered the new information for a moment. She did want to load up the Reina Protocol; it felt wrong, somehow, not to let the 'original' (as she understood it) personality be in charge. However, if the damage to the personality was as bad as the synthetic was implying, Avery got the feeling that uploading Reina wasn't such a great idea, at least not yet. She hesitated a moment longer, and then looked at the synthetic.

"What is the recommended protocol for life aboard a cargo vessel?" Calling the Capricorn a cargo vessel wasn't a lie, exactly; the ship was technically a cargo ship, although sometimes the cargo was a bit less than legal. "I need her to be able to function productively aboard my ship while I learn more about her capabilities." Also not a lie; Avery wanted to learn as much as she could about Reina and the doll itself.

"Related Job Training for a Cargo Vessel could be; Machine Operator, Dock Worker, Foreman, Security Officer, Secretary, Engineer. For full Military application, the Security Officer protocol would be recommended. The Reina Protocol is not compatible with these Protocols. An individual personality will be provided. Would you like to make a selection?" The synthetic responded simply, noticing the incompatibility, were it more aware, it would have commented that this should not have been the case, but instead it simply continued to speak, regardless of the conflict, "Remember that the Subject will learn as you teach it and adapt to function as you require, no matter what protocol you select. This is the primary function of the Blank Slate, it iwll be given a basic obedient personality, immediately take in what you say and what you desire to teach it and from there develop its abilities and personality to better perform within the boundaries you set by branching out and researching relevant material and/or media."

It then paused briefly, once again considering what Avery had said, especially about the abilities,
"Are you referring to Advanced Energy? Would you like to be reminded about the capabilities of Advanced Energy? I can offer an explanation and an example, however the fluid adaptivity of Advanced Energy will mean that the protocol chosen could change its application drastically when compared to other applications." Once again, were the synthetic more aware of the situation, this should have been considered strange to it, that the person enteringt he subject's mind didn't know about these powers beforehand, but that was not its concern, it was fully equipped with knowledge about the subject, regardless of the situation.

Avery listened carefully to the list of recommended protocols for working on a cargo vessel. They were all useful protocols, of course, but she wasn't in any immediate need of any of the listed programs. Aside from that, she wanted to keep the doll close, to keep an eye on it and try to understand it a bit better. She wouldn't be able to keep that close an eye on it if she had the synthetic upload any of the pre-programmed protocols. She could teach it what it needed to know as they went, if she needed to.

"Alright," she said, considering the protocols one more time. "I don't need any of those for the moment, so upload the Reina Protocol." She would have uploaded the Blank Slate, but it didn't feel right to let the Reina file just get deleted like that, not if she could help it.

"Then, the Reina Protocol will be installed. Beginning shared memory spike in three, two, one." It announced, at the count of one, the memories of the young Reina began to flood in again, however the images were disjointed, faces were missing from several people. In several of the memories, people that were originally in certain places, seemed to vanish and reappear at random, as though the memories were trying to establish if they were even real at all. The only faces that seemed to be solid were Reina's own and that of the old man she referred to as grandpa. The only other solid image that seemed not to change at all was that of the vehicle speeding towards her.

The synthetic program began to dissolve from the ground up, however not before bowing politely to Avery as the memories were shared,
"So ends the installation program. Feel free to access the Neurolink as frequently as you need to reprogram the Subject to your desires or make adjustments to its memory and personality. Subject activation in twenty seconds. Neurolink ends in ten seconds. Refrain from moving too much upon exiting the link." It advised calmly before the last of its appearance scattered, leaving only the disjointed memories of Reina.


"Woa-woah-woah, sleeping beauty is awake," Hannah announced as the figure in the tank began to shift slowly, however she then looked to where Avery was, "C'mon you crazy freakin idiot, don't tell me you got stuck in a computer," She called out to Avery, leaning in closer, John was flipping through some of the notes, though as he stared over at the waking figure in the tank, he then looked over at Hannah and Avery,
"I've got a vague idea that she's probably about to wake up, are you sue you wanna be that close..?"

Avery had to stand her ground as the unfamiliar memories washed over her from the neurolink. Everything was out of place and definitely disjointed, and it took her a moment or two to really brace herself and not slip under. When the flood receded some, she managed to find her way back to her end of the neurolink. A whirling vortex of color later, and she was waking up in the chair.

She cautiously opened her eyes, and then immediately closed them again with a groan. The light from the cargo bay seemed to stab directly into her brain like a pry bar, and her head throbbed.

"Gods almighty, I feel like that one time I let you talk me into drinking that horrible liquor," she muttered in Hannah's general direction. She leaned forward, out of the chair a bit, and put her head into her hands. It didn't stop the pounding.

"Heh, it's the one time I kicked your ass and I didn't even have to lift a finger." Hannah replied with a wide grin, whether she'd said it out loud or not, she had actually been worried for her friend, it would have been really stupid to lose Avery to something like this, "It's that curious nature of yours, you never know when to leave well enough alone," The larger woman added, smirking, she'd often played on that, hell, just jumping straight into this computer proved that her curiosity could over-ride her better sense of judgement.

"You're lucky your brain isn't hemorrhaging, early work into neurolink technology made peoples brains bleed out, it was abandoned as dangerous technology because you could overload your mind with a second personality and set of memories, literally forcing a split persona into you while turning the linked partner into a permanent vegetable." Doc explained, folding his arms, "I guess some-one continued research into it. There's now way they could have developed this without killing hundreds more people after the initial ban." He added, however stared at Avery, "I'd be shouting at you, but I think a headache is both punishment enough and an incredibly lucky case of getting off easy." He pulled open one of the research books again briefly,
"I need to go through all these notes, it seems relevant but I've got to figure out where it begins, it definitely has to do with the thing in the tube though. What exactly happened in there, Captain?"

The doctor backed off rather sharply as the tube let out an initial hiss, smoke-like mist spraying forth from various exhausts. The figure in the large glass container continued to shift and move. The device covering the upper half of her head pulled up then back, sliding away and allowing for her messy red hair to be freed. The green liquid was draining from the top of the tank, slowly to the bottom, filling smaller vats where they were being filtered and cleaned for reuse.
As the liquid lowered, so did the girl until she was on her hands and knees, her body expelling the last of the liquid from her mouth as the glass seal slowly lifted. The green liquid seemed to pull from her body as though it were all connected indefinitely. It wasn't an unheard of concept. Originally used for riot squads, OxyGel was a jelly-like substance that interacted with the body, trapped the individual but still provided oxygen, effectively paralyzing their target with no harm done. Although some found that it didn't always discriminate about how many orifices it entered, leading to many complaints about the possible inhumane nature of its use.

Eventually she looked up at the three, the Doctor and Hannah staring back at her, rather dumbfounded while she tried to focus on them, then Avery, for a moment, a light of recognition hit her face before she stared around at the cargo hold with a slightly confused look,
"Where am I..?" She paused briefly, then looked up a little at what she could see outside of the tank, sitting back on her rear as she did so and suddenly smiling widely, "Oh..! The cargo hold!" She announced as though she should have known the whole time, it was in fact a memory she'd gleaned from Avery, amongst many others, during the final neurolink transfer, "But.. How did I get here..? I-..Huh..? That's strange.. Why cant I remember my name..? Everything in my head is all jumbly.."

"Stop talking at me," Avery grumbled, pressing her fingertips to her temples in a vain attempt to stop the throbbing in her head. Hearing her own voice reverberate through her skull made the pounding worse. "Just... give me a minute." Even thinking about speaking made her want to whimper and curl up into a ball. After about a minute, she did manage to make herself speak again, though.

"It was weird," she said. "Like some sort of terraformed Earth, in my head, but it wasn't mine, if that makes any sense at all. I was sort of almost walked through the startup process for the doll." She didn't mention anything about Reina yet. She likely wouldn't, at least not until she managed to make sense of it herself.

She barely reacted at all when the tube opened. What she did react to, however, was the new voice. She looked up quickly when she heard the voice that the synthetic in the neurolink had spoken with, although the mannerisms were different.

"Reina...?" she tried cautiously, looking at the figure sitting there.

oc was watching the scene quietly, eyes off the notes, but he was already garnering a slight feeling of dread as to what the doll in question was. To be contained in such a way and to have a lab practically built around it. The girl int he tank was a biological weapon, although the evidence was circumstantial at best, he could only put his money on that as the obvious conclusion, though he kept his jaw grimly locked.

The captain called it by name and the red-haired girl, though confused, responded almost immediately, raising her arm, in a child-like fashion and grinning widely,
"Here ma'am!" She called, as though responding to a teacher calling her form a registry, though she froze suddenly, realizing her own name and grinning to herself, "Oh..! I'm Reina..!" She balled her hand up into a fist and knocked the side of her head sticking her tongue out, "Sorry," She added soon after, staring up as Hannah got closer.

The taller woman glared down at Reina, looking just briefly to Avery, then to the girl sitting on the ground once more, her brow raised a little, what a strange young woman. What exactly was she? She certainly acted odd, however before she could say anything, Reina grinned again, giggling as she spoke,
"Woaaah..! You're huge!" She admired out loud, though Hannah was slightly taken aback, eventually holding her fist up, as though insulted, though she was grinning,
"Yeah, I am, wanna make something of it?"
"That's so awesome!" She giggled again, "Wait, am I huge..?" She stared at herself suddenly, trying to flex her arms, to no avail, she looked much too scrawny next to Hannah, "Aw.. I guess not.."
Hannah was perplexed, she'd never had some-one answer like that, the girl showed absolutely no fear. Hannah stared over at Avery again, before backing away a little,
"She's weird.. So in the case of this ship, that's pretty normal.."

Doc continued to watch, even he was rather surprised at the odd behavior of the girl from the tank, if he was right and she was some kind of weapon, then shouldn't she have a more formal personality, if even a personality at all? Frankly he almost felt like he was looking at a child, a scatter-brained child, but a child nonetheless,
"Avery, you said a startup process for the doll, what do you mean exactly? Do you have any clue as to exactly what she is before I find out later from these research notes?"