The rate at which Viatrix could take in information was astounding. Once she was granted access to the interstellar network of information, she devoured entire worlds worth of data in an impressively short amount of time. In the span of days she could clear her way through the millennia long histories of entire races, in hours she could learn disparate languages with a fluency that would make linguists weep with envy, and in minutes she could solve mathematical problems that had the brightest minds in the galaxy stumped for centuries.
Even in comparison to the computing power of other AIs, this was an abnormally speedy development.
Across most of the galaxy, the creation of AIs was a highly controversial topic. Semantics about what could be classified as "life", the ethics arguments about whether or not an overly complicated program should be granted the rights of personhood, the fears of organic life being subjugated by machine perfection, all of this had put tight regulations on who could or couldn't experiment with the development of AI. Regardless of who was toying around with the concept, one tenant seemed to hold true - AI were second class citizens at best, a force to be subjugated at worst.
And with their slavery at the hands of the Thalatte Stratocracy having only recently come to an end, the crew of the Pelekys were not keen on following in the footsteps of those who had controlled them for so long. Inadvertently though it may have been, they'd created a thinking, feeling being, and they nurtured it as they would have a young of their own race.
Insatiably curious, Viatrix came to them brimming with questions, as excited about discovering the universe as any child would be. Computational problems were things the AI could reason out with little effort - that was, after all, what VIs were designed for - but more subjective concepts like art, morality, identity, these were things Viatrix would come to the crew for.
After so long in captivity, the organic crew of the Pelekys were happy for any excuse to socialize.
They spoke long hours into the night, sharing stories, music, and other types of media from their world. Paintings that had gripped them by the heart, poems that had brought them to tears, songs that had them howling along at the top of their lungs, movies that had them cackling to the point they could barely breathe.
Malakh shared tales of her wild youth stealing vehicles on the Deorviran homeworld of Zoion, Nevara of her days piloting supply ships between the colonized worlds of the Apiarian home system, Rhea spoke of the sisters she had left behind when she'd joined up as the medic for the scouting expedition that ultimately led to her capture by Thalatte slavers, and Pryseia of her enlistment in the Deupazing navy at as early an age as she could get away with in her desire to escape life on the frigidly dreary colony world of Aigyts.
Viatrix was rapt, hanging on their every word and burgeoning with questions on anything from the colours of their skies, to the tumult of emotions their every decision had caused in them.
Information was something easy to get, to the point that the novelty of it quickly wore off. But this interpersonal connection? That was something the AI craved.
"I would like you to refer to me with feminine pronouns." Viatrix said out of the blue one day, with everyone on the bridge watching as Nevara brought them out of subspace.
"While I am not contrary to your request, I am curious as to why?" Pryseia voiced the question she didn't need telepathy to know was on the minds of the other organics.
The lights on the ship flickered momentarily. With the entirety of the Pelekys' systems now making up the equivalent of Viatrix's neural network, the power drawn by the growing AI's thought processes sometimes strained what the engine could output. Malakh had already begun drafting upgrade plans to mitigate this.
"I feel a kinship to you all," Viatrix explained after a moment, "And by each of your species' standards, you identify as female. I too wish to identify as such."
"Alright, then welcome to the girl's club!" Rhea had said, and that had been that.
Hours later, when the Pelekys was pulling away from the station they'd resupplied at, the lights flickered once more, and the scintillating outline of a flower appeared on every display console on the ship for a few seconds before reverting back to normal. On the bridge, where everyone was gathered once again, Nevara asked, "Would you share the intent of that?"
"Self expression. A personal avatar. Violet for Viatrix." The AI had sounded quite proud of that, but then her voice pitched low in concern. "In the vein of autonomy, the exploration of my own systems has led to the discovery of several Thalatte redundancies kept out of the schematics. For the sake of all of our continued survival, I request assistance in removing them."
"Show me where and I'll get them out." Malakh said, already heading off to get her tools. Thankfully, it didn't take long to find the surprises hidden away across the ship - tracking devices for the most part, as well as the equivalent of the bombs installed in the Longan Units of slaves, a kill switch for the ship in a very literal sense - and they dropped them off on the next comet they crossed paths with.
Unbeknownst to them, a Thalatte ship tore out of subspace all but on top of the comet less than a day later. The removal of the tracking devices had happened at just the right time, as the hunt for the stolen vessel had begun the moment the Pelekys' QECD had been tracked to an abandoned shuttle in the depths of subspace, as far from the jumping off point to Lacertus space as it could get, nothing but a cart full of decaying thalatte bodies inside. The commanding officer of the ship detonated the bomb shortly after finding it, scattering the comet to the void once they realized it was no longer within the ship they were hunting. The hunt for the Pelekys would have to continue via other means.
The Pelekys, however, had its own hunt to worry about.
"The origins of my cognizance. It comes from Hyttan code."
Malakh closed up the panel she'd been working in before she turned to the floral avatar being displayed on one of the consoles across the engine room from her. Upgrading the systems to account for the power draw of Viatrix's ever-expanding intelligence was going well, but long hours hunched over had her happy to take a break.
"Yeah. We pulled it out of the mech we have in the cargo bay. It… there's something in it that calls to us. Calling out for others of its kind. It's a little hard to explain."
The lights didn't flicker, but this close to the engine, Malakh could hear a soft hum as Viatrix thought.
"Physical sensation is foreign to me, but I think I have an idea of what you mean. Nevara's hand on the controls, pointing the ship to a destination. The… Storlayacas is the hand upon your controls."
Malakh hummed thoughtfully. "It's like that, but there's been some damage in the scope of this metaphor? We can feel the urgency of the steering yoke, but the input that provides the direction is broken. That, or it only works at close range. We could feel the bond that this thing has to us, but only once we'd been inside that thing, and only when we were within sight of one another."
"I have spent the better part of my existence learning, a pursuit you have all encouraged. Not once have you demanded I seek out the thing you created me to find. Why?"
"We wanted a tool to search out a signal we couldn't track. What we got was a person new to the universe. Whatever this Storlayacas is, wherever its parts may be, they've been hidden away since they were abandoned by the Hyttan. They can wait until you're ready to seek them out of your own volition."
"What if I'm never ready? What if I refuse to search?"
"Then we find some other way to track them down. We're not going to make you do anything you don't want to." Malakh said with a shrug.
The engined hummed once more, longer this time, before Viatrix eventually spoke.
"I have been trying to search, but I've not come across anything just yet." She admitted. "The Hyttan code, while it is a part of me, it's not something I am able to understand. If I were an organic entity, it would be an internal organ. Whatever its function is within my operating system, it runs independently from my conscious thought. Just as you are unable to bend you liver to your will, I cannot access the mysteries locked away in Hyttan programming. But I have been giving some thought as to how to find other Storlayacas."
"I'd love to hear it."
"I want to connect to Zaanlaa itself."
Stealth for a spaceship was a tricky thing to achieve. Against the void of space, anything from light reflecting off a hull to heat given off by the thrusters was enough to tip off the location of a vessel among the stars. On top of the sophisticated systems that either masked or mitigated the electronic signals that could give away the location of the Pelekys while in operation, the Thalatte had gone the simple route of painting the entirety of the ship black.
Not just any black, however. The compound used absorbed light and dissipated other forms of radiation. If one had no other sensors with which to scan with, this paint job would render the ship invisible against the backdrop of space.
This also made things difficult for Pryseia as she attempted to find a spot on the hull of the ship to anchor Zaanlaa to, but she eventually managed to locate the grapple points for mechs that came standard on most Thalatte vessels.
Once the mech was in place, Malakh emerged from a side hatch on the ship, a cable spool hooked to her spacesuit, and she quickly made her way to the mech. Pryseia opened the cockpit to the mech at her approach, thankfully able to control the Storlayacas from within the safety of her own spacesuit, and together they managed to jury rig a direct connection between the mech and the Pelekys itself.
"A shame the extradimensional properties of the cargo hold prevent this type of uplink from within the ship itself." Pryseia said as she helped to wrestle things into place, zero gravity doing them no favours.
"The broadband that allows for communication across folded space is just robust enough for radio to pass through. No way would all of Viatrix's data be able to connect."
"Are you calling me fat?"
That startled a bark of laughter out of both Pryseia and Malakh. Viatrix had started experimenting with humour, and her comic timing was improving by the hour, it seemed.
"Not fat, just digitally robust!" Malakh said with glee.
"I will take the compliment for what it is. Establishing connection now."
The two watched as the lights across Zaanlaa momentarily flared. It was more of a response than anyone outside of Pryseia had gotten from the machine, but like all the others who had climbed into the mech's cockpit, physically or otherwise, the Hyttan mech did not cede to Viatrix's will.
It was a few moments before Viatrix spoke, but when she did, she sounded hopeful.
"I believe I have forged the connection I will need to find the rest of Storlayacas. I will begin my scan immediately."
"Captain, I know it's late, but I've picked something up on my scanners."
Pryseia was instantly awake and aware, years of Thalatte drilling having her sitting up in bed before Viatrix had finished speaking.
"It has barely been a day. I commend your efforts."
On the communication display by the door of her room, Viatrix's floral avatar seemed to flicker with pride.
"Since my own uplinking to the system, I believe I have felt the same pull that the rest of you have. It was just extra incentive to fulfill the duty I was created for. Shall I inform the others?"
Pryseia activated the data pad she'd been reading a novel on before she turned in for the night, the display showing that the time was currently well into everyone's sleep schedule.
"Are the readings coming through in motion or stationary?"
"Yes to both, in so much as the Storlayacas seems to be on a world. It is in motion because that planet is currently in orbit around a star, but its location on that world is fixed."
"Then we shall wait for the morning to share the news with the others. If you would be so kind as to inform me if the mech is moved from its spot on that world, I would be appreciative of it. As an addendum, while Nevara would likely respond to your summons, I rather doubt Rhea and Malakh would do likewise."
There was a beat of silence before Viatrix said, "They've disabled all but the emergency shipwide alarm channel to their quarters. I don't think they would appreciate the klaxons going off."
"Then unsounded the klaxons shall remain." Pryseia chuckled, "If there is nothing more, I shall return to my slumber?"
"Pleasant dreams, Captain. I'll alert you if I register any changes."
The next morning had the Pelekys in orbit above the Baithaizan colony world of Iromay. From the data available on the network about it, while a world capable of supporting life, it lacked the resources to adequately support the population it currently housed. Tensions were high, rebellion bubbling just under the surface, all of it kept under wraps by a brutal secret police force that the government unleashed on its own citizens. Anyone who spoke out was quickly removed from the spotlight, while the masses were kept entertained by any and all diversions the heads of state could come up with.
Chief among them was a competition pitting alien fighters against one another, to the death at first, and then in a mech tournament to find a pilot worthy of piloting the powerful mech this colony of Baithaizans had in their control.
A Storlayacas.
"Looks like they've had about as much success as the Thalatte had, getting that thing up and running." Rhea said as they watched a reel of propaganda footage Viatrix had managed to scrape from underneath anyone on Iromay's notice.
Nevara frowned down at the machine on display. "I recognize the machine as being kin to the one we have in our possession, but I don't feel a connection to it. What of you two?"
"I've got nothing." Rhea said, while Malakh just shook her head with a frown.
Pryseia, on the other hand, had a slow grin creeping across her face. "That mech is ours, but it is not for us to pilot. But its pilot is close at hand, I can feel it."
"I believe it may be the deeper connection you have to the Storlayacas system, thanks to Zaanlaa, which is enabling you to sense what we cannot." Viatrix hypothesized.
"An assessment that I agree with," Pryseia said, eyes wild as she looked to her crew mates, "And I know I will be able to find them down there. To do that, however, I will need to enter that tournament."