"I don't need to come to the rescue. The help signal was accidentally sent. Everything is fine here."
After sending a message, he shut all further communication and silently stood up. He wore two high-tech gauntlets. He also placed a mask over his face that supplied him with oxygen.
The moment he stepped out of the command center, he felt the pressure suddenly drop. But a thin layer of energy shield came out of the gauntlets and covered his body.
The shield protected his body from the changes in pressure, but also changed his body weight according to the atmospheric pressure to help him walk better.
He didn't go to the engine room. As the command center was still working fine, the chances of damage in the engine room could be ignored. He ignored even the other areas.
There was only one place where he wanted to go. It was the weapons room.
He didn't realize that something seemed to have changed within the ship when he left the command center.
The main screen in the command center started flickering. There were some unreadable characters flashing through the screen.
Every second, these characters were changing and growing longer. It was like a loading bar was made, purely out of these unreadable characters.
Once the loading bar reached the end of the screen, the flickering stopped. The lights in the command center became brighter, and proper readable characters appeared on the screen.
~Ship Status: Critical
~Hull Damage: Critical
~Shields: Offline
~Weapon Systems: Offline
~Quantified Damage: Ninety Percent
~Checking Quantum Engine Status: Working
~Checking Power Draw Status: Insufficient
~Damage criteria had met the lowest threshold.
~Preliminary Assessment: Requirements met for self preservation
~Performing Final Assessment...
Another loading bar materialized on the screen, accompanied by the same unfamiliar characters. The progress of the loading bar was much slower this time.
Every few seconds, the bar only moved up by one percent. And as the bar moved, the lightning across the entire ship started fluctuating, and even the load on the power source of the ship had increased.
....
Cassian rushed through the Main Bridge, and reached the Armory. But the moment he opened the door, he felt his body being pulled by an overwhelming force.
There was a big hole in the armory, which was connected to the outer space that constantly tugged on him.
Fortunately, the shield around him became denser, and his weight increased more. He was able to stabilize his feet and rushed inside the armory.
Most of the loose boxes had already flown out through the hole. He could even see some weapons floating across the space, right within his view.
Fortunately, the more important weapons were in a secure chamber that was more firmly fixed in place.
He inserted the control key in the chamber, to open the door and rushed inside. Only after the metallic door closed behind him, separating him from the pull, he was able to sigh in relief.
"I might not survive this. But screw it! If I am going to be screwed, I'm going to screw them as well. As for that family..."
He didn't even have to hurt that family directly. They did all this to make him come crawling back to them. They wanted to scare him, but not kill him. This was also his biggest opportunity.
If his guess was right, he could use this to his advantage. And even if he died, at least that bastard was going to suffer with the Empire's involvement.
This thing couldn't just be shoved under the excuse of a pirate attack. The ones in the Empire weren't fools. If they were, then this thing wouldn't be so elaborate.
"They would probably arrive within half an hour, if not sooner. Then let me prepare a small gift for him."
He brought out a few compact weapons, including plasma guns that could be carried on his back. He also picked a few solar particle guns.
There were a few bigger weapons in this place that were even more powerful. Unfortunately, even they couldn't break through a starship's shield. Moreover, it was hard to carry them, even if his body was strengthened through the bio serum.
"Now, let's see the uninvited guests."
He took a deep breath. His heart was beating faster, even though he was filled with adrenaline. This was the first time he was going to face an enemy like this, while all alone.
A single attack from that ship could obliterate him. He was gambling everything on them not killing him. But if he was wrong, then this was the end.
In that case, the only consolation he had in his death was that he had at least screwed his fiance's family.
It wasn't wrong to call him a little petty in that regard. They treated him like a beggar with that compensation, and expected him to come crawling back to them?
He really wondered what their faces were going to be like when they were faced with the Empire's laws.
.....
~Final Assessment Completed.
~Final Assessment matches the Preliminary Assessment.
~Final Self Preserving Condition Satisfied.
~Awakening Primordial Ship's Systems.
~Performing emergency repairs.
The loading bar in the control room had reached the end, and something miraculous happened.
Cassian wasn't in the Power Room. If he was there, he would have noticed that another Reactor Core had appeared there. And the new core was devouring the old core, becoming even brighter.
"Greetings, Captain." At the same time, a voice fell in Cassian's ears.
"What?" Cassian was lost. Why was he hearing a girl's voice? Had someone infiltrated the control room, and was speaking through the comms?
He wanted to rush out of the room to check, but his legs froze. He noticed the entire chamber filled with weapons, merging within the walls.
Only the weapons that he was carrying were left behind.
"Apologies to the Captain. Emergency repairs are being performed. Consent is assumed." The same voice came once more.
"W-what are you?"
Cassian subconsciously took a step back. The thing that he had seen just now, felt surreal. It was as if the ship had actually come alive.
Even the flickering light had stabilized.
"The previous captain called me Esme. As the current Captain, you hold the authority to rename me. Would you like to use the authority?"