Starship Vengeance

Chapter 2

I made my way to Dr. Thompson's lab with Lisa and her guard in tow. I received some strange looks as we passed by crew members. I dismissed the odd looks and focused on my objective. We arrived in the lab and I found Dr. Thompson in his usual position, hunched over a screen. "Welcome Admiral" said Sarah as she materialized in front of me.

"That's a neat trick Sarah" I replied. "I see you've been busy on multiple projects."

"You're archaic methods of communication leave me with time on my hands to pursue other interests" Sarah said. "Who are your friends?"

I turned to introduce Lisa, but stopped when I say her jaw was practically touching the floor. "The human fly trap is Lisa and that is her guard behind her" I answered. Lisa came to her senses and glared at me.

"She must be important or dangerous to justify the personal security" Sarah said.

"I just happen to be both" Lisa said indignantly.

I cut them off before more could be said. "We came down here for a very important reason. Lisa has plans for a ship that she claims will be able to assist in evacuating Earth."

"The files are on Earth, and only I can access them" Lisa cut in.

"She is a feisty one Admiral" Sarah said. "I think I like her. Just tell me how to access you data and I can get it for you."

Lisa's frown transformed into a smug smile. "You are welcome to try. I wasn't lying when I said I was the only one who could gain access." She then gave Sarah instructions on how to locate the hidden network. "Let me know when you give up."

"There is no need to childish antics" Sarah said. "I had the data pulled up the moment you walked in. I'm working on gathering every bit of data on your planet, and your 'impenetrable' network was easy to crack. Although, I will say it was probably the hardest to gain access to."

The color seemed to drain from Lisa's face. "Who exactly is this?" she asked, looking at me.

I couldn't help but laugh. "This is Sarah. She was being held captive by the Zrynt. She is an ancient AI."

"Watch who you are calling old" Sarah said with a laugh.

"Would you mind displaying the ship that is going to be our salvation?" I asked Sarah.

A moment later a holographic image of a ship appeared in front of us. I looked like a large rectangle. "Before you make fun of its outward appearance" Lisa said before I could say anything, "I want you to see what makes this a viable option. She had Sarah link controls to a nearby tablet. I watched as the ship started to break apart into smaller rectangular ships. "Each ship is really a large number of smaller ships that join together. There is a permanent backbone that controls the ship once it's joined together. The original designs called for a massive jump drive in the rear. Each smaller ship is a fully enclosed living quarters. We had planned for fifty people per living quarters."

I did some quick math in my head. The main ship was twenty ships tall, twenty ships wide and thirty ships long. That meant that the main vessel could hold twelve thousand ships. Assuming they all held fifty people that meant that six hundred thousand people could be on board. "You really planned on leaving with six hundred thousand people?" I asked.

"Not at all" she replied. "Most of the ships would be container ships loaded with supplies. We planned on taking about one hundred thousand."

"Sarah, do you see any design flaws, or improvements that could be made?" I asked.

"The design, although not aesthetically appealing, is quite logical. I'm assuming the plan was to use each ship as housing once a suitable site was found. In order to evacuate the planet as well as take necessary supplies, I calculate you will need about two thousand such vessels. You do not have the time to complete that many. I recommend making the ships larger. Increase the living quarters to house one hundred people and increasing the number of ships. This would increase the capacity to twelve million, with room for supplies. This alone will not be enough though. I would add a second jump drive. The larger drives would allow you to jump anywhere in the galaxy in two jumps. The addition of the second drive would mean you could reach your destination in a matter of minutes. In the time it would take to unload the ships and re-attach, the drives would be ready to jump again. This method would require you to manufacture twenty such ships as well as requiring pre-built infrastructure for those departing."