[Engaging Evasive manuv-]
Within a blink of an eye, a large beam weapon shot out from the debris towards the ship. Thanks to Arouras continuous lookout, it was able to detect the energy charging up, enabling it to take control of the ship and maneuver it just enough to change the outcome from 'total annihilation' to 'Starboard structural damage'.
Recovering from the impact, Waltr winced as he reoriented himself in his seat.
"Full burnout, activate miniwarprop. Engage continuous evasive maneuvers." He groaned as he clutched his stomach.
"Damage report."
[Entire starboard armor and weapons systems destroyed. Partial fuel leakage detected. Self sealing protocols initiated]
"What of that weapon? That felt like it was battleship class."
[It was battleship class. Heads up, multiple energy spikes detected. Multiple directions]
"Damn." Waltr muttered before pulling the ship around and burned away to gain some breathing room.
"Aroura help me find a way out of here. At this rate we're going to eventually get hit." Waltr yelled as he dove under a wreck to dodge another destructive beam.
[4th drone down. Directive received, Scanning for escape vector]
"Hurry up you unfeeling wench. I think they are starting to get more accurate."
Taking a look at the drones behind them, Waltr noticed that the railgun turrets and missiles were missing their targets. What punched him in the gut however, was the appearance of more drones joining the chase.
"Deactivating weapon systems." Waltr ordered. "The longer we stay the more things will start to wake up. Focus everything on finding a escape route."
[Acknowledged. Redirecting everything to scans. Warning, current trajectory indicates that we are going deeper and deeper into the graveyard. Scanning for alternate routes]
"Really? Heh. Well we have no other choice. Turning around is just going to be a guaranteed death." Waltr chuckled. "I just woke up and discovered a thousand years has gone by. No way am I dying just a couple hours from waking up."
[Detecting increased energy usage from engines]
"See? Even this ship seems to agree with me."
[2 minutes until fuel cells go catastrophic]
"... Never mind…" Waltr said as he pulled back the throttle a bit.
[Energy usage returning to normal]
"!!!"
"Hnnnnng...!" Pulling hard in an attempt to dodge yet another beam laser. Waltr looked around him using the mounted cameras. Noticing an weird pattern in the drone swarm behind them, Waltr began slowing down the ship and deactivating the miniwarprop.
"Aroura, how is the progress on finding a way out?"
[No progress, we seem to be nearing the center region of this graveyard]
Pulling itself out of its scanning duties, the AI then noticed that the ship was no longer flying with the boost of a warp prop.
[Pilot, why have you deactivated the miniwarprop?]
"Are you not the AI that controls this ship? Look behind us, the drones have pulled back and are following at distance." Waltr spoke to the AI as he begun slurping some nutrient fluid.
"Blegh!! Why do these things taste so bad?" Waltr gagged as he looked at the labels on the packaging. "Ah I think I know why. These things aren't made to last over a thousand years huh."
[You have quite the nerves of steel to be this calm after all you've been through]
"Hey include yourself as well!" Waltr retorted as he smacked the control panel with his spoon. "The two of us are a team and one of the same. Got it?"
[...It seems that being asleep for a millennia has affected your mental state. Would you like for me to run a diagnostics?]
"Humor me." Waltr challenged as he forced himself to drink the 1000 year old nutrient fluid. "Blegh. Ahem. Pull up the map first."
Clutching his stomach as he analyzed the situation.
[It seems that the drones are no longer attacking. In addition, I haven't detected anymore energy spikes so either they ran out of juice or they want us to go somewhere and are trying to direct us there]
"Agreed. But it doesn't feel good being pushed around by robots and fail-safe programming." Waltr murmured. "Keep an eye out for those drones, and keep scanning for any pathways that can lead us out of here."
[Noted]
After sitting in silence for a couple minutes as the ship continued forward under the 'kind' directions of the drone swarm behind them. Waltr asked the AI a question.
"How much damage can we repair?"
[If we want to exhaust all our current materials, only about a quarter hull and half the damaged weapon systems]
"Hmm. How much can be repaired if we kept some materials to repair any potential engine damage?"
[Depends. If you want to keep the ability to enter warp, then we can only spare a quarter of the materials. This equates to repairing about 10% of the ships hull, 2 turrets, and one launch bay]
"Speaking of launch bays, what about our drones? You didn't mention them before. We could've used them just now."
[Have you forgotten? Drone vs Drone combat is extremely difficult to manage and is not worth the effort to conduct. In past cases of drone focused ships fighting one another. It's usually who can destroy the other ship first.]
[Drone ships posses immense amounts of storage space for drones.-]
"Yeah yeah I remember now. Controlling several drones and operating the weapon system is quite a heavy load, even for an AI like you." Waltr waved it off.
As he tuned out the AI's rambling, a memory came back to him a sucker punched him in the gut. Jumping out of his seat forcing the AI quiet.
"WAIT! Don't we usually incorporate multiple AI systems to manage certain tasks? What happened to them?" Waltr questioned Aroura.
[Haaaaaaa...]
Hearing the AI sigh, a image of a downtrodden old person came to Waltrs mind.
[It seems those kids didn't endure the entire 1000 years. I think the incident that forced us into that unnecessary hibernation also destroyed them]
"You sound like a parent who's lost their children." Waltr commented quietly.
[Perhaps. Maybe I did treat them like my sons and daughters]
Soon after, the only sound that could be heard would be the low hum of the engine and the myriad of beeps coming from the console.
"You sound more and more human Aroura." Waltr spoke out as he adjusted course, noticing the behavior of the drones behind them. "No, Wait. I take that back. That was an insult, sorry."
[Why are you apologizing?]
"Saying that you are becoming human is like saying an alien suddenly turned into a human." Waltr replied. "What you are, Aroura. You are you. Nothing more, nothing less."
"You are probably the first of your kind. Fully sentient, capable of emotions thought impossible for a program to exhibit. Though you really shouldn't be called a program at this stage." Waltr continued, much to embarrassment of certain inorganic lifeform.
"Ah, that's it. A life, capable of forming itself. A unique lifeform."
[Quite the cheesy line there.] Aroura attempted to retort him.
"But sometimes, being cheesy is required." Waltr laughed. "I don't know what caused you to become like this, but I'm glad it has. I'm entirely grateful for you being here Aroura."
[As much as I want to enjoy this conversation, it's going to end here. Distorted anomalous space detected in front of us. Seems like this is where the drones want us to go]
"Well then, Guess we got no choice but to go forward right?" Waltr spoke as he cracked his knuckles, "Let's get this over with, shall we?"