Wulfgars eyes resembled more those of a wolf than of a human. As their eyes locked; a strange sensation came over him as their thoughts and minds became one. She gasped as her brain absorbed life times of memories.
The nural link worked by filling in the blanks between two minds trying to communicate. It translated hand signals into thoughts and intentions. Intentions on the other had were complex and often were felt rather than understood. It was this Nural Link that enabled the true feeling of a look 'that could kill.'
Mia's sense heightened as multiple lifeforms began to be revived from their slumber. Visually their skin pigments and muscle tones had began a cellular reprograming of sorts. The life pods power fluctuated as their intake of nutrition asserted itself. Their bodies had been genetically engineered to absorb atomic mass by touch.
A distorted fear induced wave of emotions transferred to Zyphr; His eyes filled with tears as his body began to change subtly at first. "The things I have seen my lady Zephr..." He mumbled off in deep memory recall.
The Nuro-Link that most races had adopted as the best covert communications relay; had a small "back door" that with enough focus, Wulfgar had made contact. The otherwise mute hybrids developed the ability to communicate via telepathically. For As much Science and Tecnology that was needed to make this link possible; Wolfgar preferred his voice.
"Are We releasing them?" Cred now had his Sword drawn. Zyphr broke eye contact and shouted, "Their bodies are growing in mass... Their Cryo chamber wont hold them." Focusing she melted the locks on 4 of the pods. Cred sliced into the mechanized locks with his sword. Now released from the chambers the three stood before the 12 half wolf-half hybrid humans.
They devoured what was left of the atomic mass of their pods. Much like a fizzle, atomic mass could be stripped of its atomic mass equivalent. They grew in strength incrementally and progressively.
As Zephyr and Wulfgar spoke at the speed of thoughts their minds became one knowing each other. They both paced around each other as a bond formed. Smiling Wulfgar broke eye contact and looked for the beautiful green eyed red head Artimis. A slight wave of relief swept across The young commanders face.
Mia and Zyphr agreed on many things, one of them was that this Biogenic technology is not too far behind that of their own. It worried them. Not only for the fact that was the technology pretty equivalent of what they can do. It was the fact that: Zephyr and Mia Were Desperate.
The universe they lived in; had be discovered by pioneering humans from an unknown source. Of course, when anyone records 'humans' everyone thinks of one place. The reason why it was 'unknown' was it was very clear time in this universe was moving at an incredible speed. To decide on a start date was a matter of great debate that had raged on for millennia.
It was unclear when life had become something that needed to be manipulated or edited. But; it was clear life had a price tag and it wasn't fair to those who thought they were truly free. As larger races often would eventually turn on their creators; the galactic corporations only lasted for a few hundred centuries after the founding of the first planet discovered in this galaxy.
As The Nevick Empire was division of peace, they openly hunted down any and all who worked for these nefarious and elusive fractions of dark rain research centers. Upon one such raid, The Nevick Empire absorbed a technology that only a bounty hunter would love.
The Capture/PATAA (Prey Acquisition Target Aperture Arrestor) device was designed to 'Tag' a humanoid form and covert it into a digital file with in the hunters mind. Effectively taking their prey alive. The Pataa had been designed to access the mind of the prey during the download. In the same instant of capturing a prey; a Nevick would know his last thoughts and feelings. It did not work on bounty hunters and some variants of Armor designs. For hunting the general public, it changed everything about being a bounty hunter.
As Zyphr thought about what Wulfgar had mentally dumped into her memory cores; she held her chin and smiled. From what she quickly began to understand: These 12 were to be the ones that woke up first from cryo sleep. Another set of 12 was their back up. It was very possible that the others were awake too.
The issue and therefor, the reason 'why' there was two sets of crews was that: One set was made up of law abiding citizens. Where as the others was made up of a reformed criminal element that were to seize the ship if the first wave failed in their task.
It was unknown why no records of the secondary crew, and their pods, could be found. Or why this criminal element was given this privilege.
Mia being who she is; took a moment and slipped away from the large group. As much as She enjoyed walking in emptied hulls of colony ships; doing it in person was rare.
It had become a hobby of sorts for her as She had watched the recordings and holographically recreated them. Mark 89 was quickly becoming her favorite. She was made of nearly indestructible alloy, and possessed an incredible intelligence. Yet 'curiosity' as if it was a virus soaked her mind to the core.
She froze as she could detect a imbalance in the air. Tilting her head, she walked into the dark foreboding hallway. A pulsing neon blue lite illuminated her faceplate every 5 seconds. She wasn't thinking about her surroundings or what could be in here. She was thinking about the fact the blinking of the blue light was actually 5.5345 seconds. It bothered her enough that as she walked up to it, she reprogramed a more accurate 5 second pulse. She smiled in satisfaction.
Looking down to what the beacon could be, she discovered the other crews life pods. The flashing blue lite was to signify an infusion had taken place. She examined the cylinders used. And the damage to the pods. Nothing of what she saw made sense.
MIA downloaded all she could know about what she could see. Touching the pods she was able to access the atomic memory of the pod. The onboard computer engaged.
A logo appeared on the diagnosis screen as Mia accessed the pod. Four letters Identified its operations system. 'RAIN' was a military AI system that had civilian training. It was not user friendly.
"Please Identify." A low voice echoed in the darkness. Mia turned and smiled.
"Well hello." She stepped closer to the panel. Her eyes dilated as she approached. The letters RAIN melted into a small white dot on the screen.
It blinked slowly as she stepped forward. She watched the blinking light as it began to blink in series and patterns. Her smile faded.
Cred had began to try and heal the 12 hybrids by the time Mia returned. She ignored him politely as he asked why she left. Standing before Zyphr now she reported.
"I realize I could have instantly reported this information to you commander; but I have reason to believe this vessel is no longer safe to be on." Zyphr smiled at the irony and looked at her panicking and perhaps paranoid android. She responded with a sudden seriousness.
"What's going on?" Mia touched her friends temple and transferred her memories.
The women approached Cred as he admired the growth the Wolf like men had undergone. Their biceps and chests had swollen with muscle tissue.
Various bone, and muscular changes began to manifest themselves. The 6 males had undergone serious physical changes. Their ears although human; had fused to the sides of their heads. Additionally some tufts of hair behind their ears had promise of future hair growth possible. The women remained unchanged for the most part other than wide eyes that they shared with their mates.
There was a certain shared fear and excitement of genetic Eureka's being made all over as Mia and Zyphr approached. Truly Cred was fascinated by all of this change and growth- but- this was not the time.
"Cred, the vessels AI has activated a core overload." Taking his attention by near force; he looked directly at the two of them.
"An AI is forbidden to do that, that's...." He looked to the others and frowned, "They have to come with us." Cred said with a stern tone. Nodding Zyphr looked to Wulfgar. With a look and a thought the pack was in formation and ready.
"What should i call you and your people?" Zyphr had asked their leader.
"Back when we trained together we were part of a college Volleyball team." He shrugged as his words echoed clearly now in all of their minds, "We were called the Berserkers. But I'm sure that's not what you mean."
Smiling she nodded, "No...but...that will do my friend."
Fifteen individuals made their way back towards the docking ring. Silently the core of the ship began to heat up to critical temperatures. Mia remotely monitored the Mark 89s core. As multiple systems were now online; MIA remotely hacked into the systems and took everything she could find.
The systems of the Mark 89 were vastly compromised. Little if any useful information. A reference to a name used by the crew of this ship had been redacted several times in many ships internal logs. The Enigma powered up its thrusters as the docking ring irised closed and retracted.
As the ships core began to go critical, Wulfgar and the other three hunters watched on from the bridge of The Enigma. A bright white blast of super heated plasma belched out of the skin of the Mark 89. It lurched and rippled as the explosions expanded inside the atmosphere inside. Mia on the other hand; seemed to be in a thoughtful state.
"Lady Zyphr; What is An Alicren?" Knowing perhaps of the horrors that Mia had escaped in being Ignorant; she smiled slightly, "Can I tell you when you are older?" As The Genesis Mark 89 exploded with fury and rage, The Enigma jumped into faster than light speeds. As the event horizon rippled on the view screen, Mia was only looking for someone to verify what she had assumed.
Quietly in the momentary darkness of FTL. Mia became aware of a 16th entity aboard The Enigma. What worried her, is she had no memory of a 16th person aboard her vessel. The ship Had no memory. She never made mistakes. She checked 4000 more times in the next millisecond. As they dropped from Faster than light speeds, Mia had no choice but to inform the crew there was an unregistered entity aboard.