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Commanding Officer's Log 001
CMDR. Alex Rodriguez
U.T.E. Corvus
1307hrs 26 July, 2463 Earth Standard

Per U.T.E. regulations, log zero zero one is dedicated to the state of the ship, crew complement, and disposition. The Corvus is a heavily modified Valiant class gunship that was purchased as a flying chassis from the TerraNova shipyards private division at the Utopia Planitia fleet yards. Primary weapons modifications were the removal of all dorsal and ventral manned turrets, being replaced with optically slaved and AI controlled turrets to reduce mass and overall power consumption. All energy weapons have been replaced with variable output low signature units. Finally, both internal missile banks have been replaced with a set of 120mm plasma cannons connected to both the reactor and their own dedicated bussard collectors for longevity in the field.

Secondary modifications were in depth, involving the installation of oversized generators, a tertiary emergency shield system, removal of two cryopods, installation of a Crusader armor system to reduce EM and thermal output, EM and thermal masking where possible, and the installation of a more advanced sensor suite. The troop deck has been repurposed to hold four combat frames, two RX-120 Shade scout craft, and act as a maintenance bay. Other than the inclusion of a specialized frame bay and comfort items, the crew deck and armory is as standard. All airlocks and safety mechanisms are standard or improved.

Crew compliment is minimal due to intensive AI optimization. As of this log, the crew is myself and my unshackled AI Rose, who will inhabit both the AI core on the command deck, and up to the five frames onboard. Current flight plan is to jump through the Atlas Gate to the newly opened PRX-1207 system gate to scout for private interests. Cargo manifest is comprised heavily of supplies, tools, and parts in case of incident.

End log and hardwrite to system.

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"UTE Corvus, you are cleared for launch on guide zero seven four."

It's amazing how much you can look forward to hearing words like that. I'd been bored out of my mind the last few weeks in one of the staterooms on the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards. All that time was spent waiting to hear those words.

"Copy that, Fleet Control. Departing on guide zero seven four. Corvus out."

Three weeks. I spent three weeks waiting for a full refit on my ship. It took way too much effort not to jam the throttles to the firewall and see what she could do. Instead, I followed protocol and only nudged the throttles to maneuvering speed. The softly increasing hum of the engines powering up was barely noticed as open space beckoned. It was agonizing to inch my way out of the shipyard, but better than getting the Advocacy after me. Going fifty meters per second felt like a snail's pace, but it let me get a feel for the improvements I had done. Let alone enjoy the view as I cruised past private yachts, freighters, and even the odd military patrol protecting the ships of the UTE fleet. Not like a refit like mine could hurt a supercarrier easily a hundred times the size, but picket duty is picket duty.

A ship like the Corvus usually got some second glances anyhow. It's not often you see a Valiant class gunship refit as a private scout ship after all. They've been called all sorts of things over the years from graceful to mean, to even being nicknamed "the diving whale," from the upraised tail section that covered the troop ramp. Personally I thought it was a great design that maneuvered great, but I am biased from flying them in the UTE Navy for years. Since it was going to be just my A.I., Rose, and myself for a while, some peace and quiet with the promise of some easy cash seemed like the perfect plan.

You never forget the first time you leave dry dock in a new ship. The angle of light hitting the canopy windows from the sun filling the ship with a warm glow, or how insignificant my sixty-eight and change meter long ship looked compared to the dozens of kilometers long dreadnought rumbling by on approach. Even at hundreds of meters distance, I could still see the smaller antiship turrets swiveling to track anything and everything near the behemoth. Just a single shot from some of those would turn the Corvus into scrap, so following the departure path to the letter was a good thing. It was always amazing to leave the Fleet Yards though, you see everything from the latest and greatest fighters to centuries old capitol ships getting refit to fight for decades more.

It only took a half hour to clear all the traffic in orbit of Mars. That was always pleasant to say the least, as it was always swamped by a mix of military craft from the fleet yards, miners bringing in wares from the asteroid belt, and your usual smattering of ships going to the colonies. Once you are out of a planet's gravity well things get a lot easier. You can power up your intrasystem quantum drive and travel from Earth to Mars in minutes, same goes for a trip to the massive jumpgate in orbit above Jupiter. In this case, I throttled completely back to where we were just floating in the abyss so I could take care of my companion. For some crazy reason, the UTE government banned the use of civilian owned A.I. within traffic controlled areas. Since the Corvus was rebuilt and reprogrammed, I needed to plug Rose in and get her used to her new body. This would be interesting. Easy, but interesting. I'd made certain to include a few frames in the ship inventory so she'd have an outlet, should she want to get up and do stuff. They were simple robotic frames, but it did give A.I. a face to talk to or ability to perform manual tasks. Useful as hell feature if you ask me.

With a sigh, I reached under the console to unlock it, letting it swing upward nearly silently so I could get out of the pilot's seat. The only lighting on the flight deck was provided by the multitude of softly glowing buttons and displays, and a small set of glowing guide strips on the ceiling and floor. Yet it was more than enough to see by. Soft carpet muffled the sounds of my boots as I stepped past the first emergency bulkhead and into the engineering bay. The soft humming of the generators, dull roar of the reactor underfoot, and pulsing of the grav array might sound funny to most people, but it was comforting to me. Every type of ship sounds different, but the Valiant class always blended together to a mixture of a low hum with a buzzing below that, hearing it would just tell you the ship was okay. In this case, the ship was about to be a lot more though.

Nestled into the heavily armored floor was a panel that swung open to reveal a dimly lit open socket into the ship's electronics. A socket that matched a rather unwieldy canister that lay strapped to one of the nearby seats. For its size, an AI core is surprisingly heavy, just over two feet long yet weighing over fifty pounds due to the solid state electronics and armor on the unit. I guess you could say that Rose was heavy for her size, but her core slid into the cradle between my feet with practiced ease and a slight click. Lowering the assembly into the bay was a simple affair but somewhat louder as the hardware secured itself and sealed to the ship components. The moment a series of green lights illuminated around the core, I shut the panel with a click and just had to wait a moment.

"Oh, I'm finally back? You have no idea how much I both hated and loved being locked away in that tiny black box. Just me and my thoughts, without sensor data or you telling me to behave. Normally a girl would get lonely, but I had plenty of time to think about all the things you were doing to my new body, or how you'd feel inside me."

You see, Rose despite being a top of the line A.I., well she was quirky. All the best A.I. developed quirks over the years in ways that had the scientific minds stumped. The running consensus is it was the same reason that people come out as they do. "Because..." In the luck of my case, Rose managed to mix being a diligent companion with a mixture of sass, a soft yet breathy accent, and an absolutely dirty mind. She lived to make my life easy and make it hell, but after flying with her for years there's no other way I'd have it. Just have to keep on top of her behavior and all.

"Well, I couldn't keep you in there forever. You'd enjoy your punishments too much Rose. That and I thought you'd like your new body. I got a complete upgrade package for you, plus a few frames in case you want to walk around a bit. Just don't let having such a sexy body go to your head. I'd hate to have to lock you into the console. Take a bit and get your systems integrated, I'll be giving everything a last minute check 'til you are done. Afterwards, we'll go give you a good workout."

I never did say I didn't flirt back though. You can tell when an A.I. is going to say something after a while. It's the same as understanding a person really, so when Rose didn't make a peep when I got up to explore the ship I knew something was up. Valiant class ships have what you could call three main decks. Really, it was closer to two and a half. The top deck was your external cargo pod access hatch, and a mixture of kitchen, living quarters, and turret access. The middle deck was cockpit access and engineering with direct access to the main systems. It might be unwieldy, but in combat it was nice to have someone being able to route power from a supply that was six times larger than any ship of similar size, or push more power to weapons. Redundancy is the raison d'etre for the ships, as there were backups to the backups. Finally, the lowest deck was the airlock, loading ramp, and troop or cargo bay. In my case, I'd replaced half of the jump seats for troops with storage, two scout craft ,and the other half with racks and parts for Rose's four frames.

I should have known she was going to say something when I started diagnostics during my wandering. The ship was just too quiet without it, and the moment I connected the frame rack to the power supply, Rose chimed with a gentle whisper, "I know you love turning me on."

Damned A.I. was going to be the death of me. Next Chapter: 03. The Fall of Man Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 42 Minutes