KD drew all that in. It was fairly simple after all and while Gaia did not know the language KD was useful in that realm. It was designed for assistance in scientific pursuits but had been programmed with a vast array of technical skills, most important of which were those that used the computers and of course there was always delegation of tasks as it knew that there were other droids in the maintenance area that were programmed with the right skills that it could essentially command. The repair bots were not as sophisticated as all they had to do was repair things and not perform any sort or analysis.

EACH SECURITY DROID IS MODLEDLED WITH A COMMUNICATIONS DEVICE IN THE EVENT THAT ORDERS ARE CHANGED. THIS CAN BE MODIFIED TO BROADCAST AT RANDOM INTERVALS, IN A SENSE TRANSFORMING THIS INTO A HOMMNG BEACON OF SORTS EASY ENOUGH.

AS FAR AS ASSIGNING A DROID TO PROTECT YOU FROM DANGER IS AS SIMPLE AS ISSUING COMMANDS TO ONE. AND THE OTHER BEING ORDERED FORTH TO ENGINEERING IS AN EASY MATTER THOUGH IT WILL NOT USE LETHAL FORCE ON ORGANICS, SAVE FOR ASHLYN. THERE IS AN ARMORY NEAR HERE BUT THE DROIDS ARE FITTED WITH WEAPONS CAPABLE OF STUNNING.

THE DROIDS N THE MAINTEANCE AREA ARE LIKELY TO BE DISABLED. IT IS STANDARD PROTOCOL TO DISABLE WEAPONS BEFORE SEEING TO REPAIRS … RECOMMENDATIONS OF ALTERING THESE DROIDS TO GIVE TO VEN AND USING DROIDS NOT SLATED FOR REPAIRS OR MAINTEANCE FOR THE OTHER PURPOSES AND DISABLING THOSE NOT USED. I COULD SHUT THESE DOWN AND ENCRYPT A PASSWORD INTO THE COMPUTERS THAT NEEDS TO BE OVERRIDDEN EASILY ENOUGH …. THE SECURITY CHIEF WOULD BE ABLE TO OVERRIDE THIS BUT SEEING HOW HE IS NOT WITH VEN AND IT IS VEN WE DO NOT WISH GETTING THE DROIDS THIS SHOULD THWART HIM.

THOUGH AS A FURTHER PRECAUTION I CAN HAVE POWER TO THE COMPUTERS CONTROLLING THEM CUT. AGAIN, A MINOR OBSTACLE FOR THE CHIEF BUT FOR VEN AN ADDED LAYER OF PROTECTION.

ALTERING THE DROIDS TO GENERATE A HOMING SIGNAL WILL TAKE 15 TO 20 MINUTES. KD explained waiting for any alterations to her plans with hat knowledge. There was another matter that the droid thought of.

A DROID CAN BE DISPATCHED TO SOP INTRUDERS. VEN IS NOT ASHEN AND SHALL BE TREATED AS SUCH. THE SECURITY DROIDS, HOWEVER, WILL USE LETHAL FORCE SAVE FOR WITH THE WOMAN.

Gaia took in the last part of what KD said. She could kill Ven, while it could save problems later on, she wasn't a killer. She decided against that action but sending one to capture VEn and his slave, mainly the slave. Still She wanted to at least she could be free. So she had KD set the droids to retrieve the woman. She also had the droid to protect armed and one sent to engineering but the others where sabotage in case VEn manage to get his scales on one.

KD was placed at work. It delegated the repair bots after ordering the security droids that were still function to carry out their assigned missions. With one going to engineering it had paused before sending it relaying some more information.

WHILE ONE DROID WILL HAVE AN IMPACT IT IS UNLIKELY THAT A SINGLE UNIT WILL DEFEAT ALL THE ASHLYN PRESENT. THERE ARE FOUR UNITS AVAILABLE IN ADDITION TO THE ONE DISPATCHED TO CAPTURE THE CYBORG AND THE ONE THAT SHALL REMAIN HERE. SHOULD THE OTHER THREE ACCOMPANY IT? Success MAKES BLOWING A HOLE IN THE HULL UNNECCESSARY AND WITH THE SECURITY CHIEF OUT OF THE WAY WE ONLY HAVE VEN, THE CYBORG AND TWO INFERIOR SECURITY DROIDS TO DEAL WITH ALONG WITH THE AQUATIC CREATURE OR CREATURES FROM EARLIER

Whether one or four KD dispatched the units as necessary. One off to get the girl. Its other work had been uninterrupted though Gaia was contacted again by Luna. The communications clearer now.

“We have managed to lure off two of the three ships destroying those with a coordinated effort. That left those that made it to the planet. Their ship was the hardest to deal with but once their Queen fell those that made it to the island were easy to deal with. What is your current status?”

" Understood I'm dealing with Ven as we speak, and I'm about to end the bugs down here on my end." Gaia explained not giving to much information just encase her coms was tapped, and or it was not really Luna again. "Yes KD provide it back We don't need any chances of failure on this." The voluptuous alien said shifting wait to one hip as she spoke. She was being tactical in this decision so she hoped, so far everything she had done or attempted to do changed on the whim. Well her mentor would be proud to her adapting to the situation as the situation change. A hunter never stayed with her plan when the playing field shifted, to say the least this place was a underwater contained hell, the playing field always shifting, nothing ever clear or a sure thing. Is this what being in the ADD is like, then its easy to see why they are always a step behind. She thought as she awaited Luna's reply.

“Understood,” Luna replied. “It may be some time before we are able to get to you seeing that the ship is underwater. Continue with what you are doing, stay safe, I shall be there shortly.” Evidentally she had not come across the recall button for he sub though to her credit she probably had no idea that there was one since it was not normal.

The security droids were deployed though in the time that KD was delegating repairs she was contacting by Maliki for a status report. He could not see her on the cameras after all nor Ven and his crew though the Ashlyn were still secure in engineering where the security chief was, still busy being controlled to deal with overriding the environmental controls bringing the surrounding temperature to safe levels.

As KD explained to her previously though it would take him some time. He had seen the security droids heading there.

“Hm … I had believed that all the security models were offline. Had I known this would have been much simpler ...” faulty information, perhaps, or perhaps the Queen was able to control the security chief before escaping spreading false information he could not say.

KD's work on the remaining droids had been near complete though when another interruption occurred … one of the security droids had returned and it was not alone. It had an unconscious Vanessa, stunned that could be brought around easily enough. This droid, however, seemed to wait for instructions having a simple matrix unlike KD and thus had to be ordered outside of security situations.

“Perhaps it would have been, but for now it useless to dwell on search things. As long as they can assist in the mission that is fine.” Gaia replied to the crew chief. As Vannesa was brought to her. Finally some head way at least now a part of her mission was complete. In way a secondary objective; A strand of joy filled her heart, but the battle if not the war had been won as of yet. She ordered the droid to lay her down on a table, She the order KD after he finished his current task to assist in the removal or deactivation of Vanessa’s control or at least jam the signal. As ofor the droid she sent to slow down the Crew chief hopefully it could find the Ashlyn and kill him or slow him down enough for the other to take out the ship and for her get away with her objective both Ven and Vanessa.

Back to the task of destroying the queen. Clearly Maliki was still working on the climate controls. How much longer would he tasked with that before he turned to other objectives. More importantly If Ven was aware of Vanessa's disappearance? How long would it take for him to make that switch and take control of her. Considering her previous actions and concern for her master, would she even be helpful... These things ran through her mind as she waited for the girl to recover.

Vanessa had been laid out and it wasn't long before KD went to work on some sort of jammer. It had theorized that Ven could assert control whenever he wished though there was probably some sort of range. Regardless there were Aschen technologies that made jamming and boasting such signals easier and Vanessa did come around in short order.

Disarmed she did the typical in that she was gaining consciousness in a new environment, basically she was trying to make sense of where she was and what was going on. Two security droids were now her one of which was with KD who was receiving a report from it so that the smarter droid could process the assembled information.

KD then got updated reports from the other security models and how the assault on engineering went. KD had an internal comlink which proved useful. Whenever it had to contact a scientist with the results of an analysis, rather than pulling itself from work to find a shipboard com it could contact the scientist from it's work station without any sort of delay while it continued to work, it was a convenient feature that it was installed with and now it used that to determine what was going on.

Maliki was coordinating with them to some degree though the plan had changed … it was the security chief that would be the biggest obstacle but with the security droids being dispatched there it had thought that the matter would soon be under control.

“Where am I?” Vanessa asked unable to determine where she was. She figured she was still in the submerged ship though she had no way of knowing how long she had truly been out.

“A safe place for now.” Gaia responded to the waking woman. She wasn’t sure long she could trust the cyber girls actions, but for now she hoped she gained an ally. For now she let KD Work his magic, she would be moving out, just incase the droids didn’t succeed the bombs needed to be in place, or things could go further array. Luckily Ashlyn tech seemed far more advance thus the jammer should work Nicely.

“Guess you’ll be needing an explanation, but under the circumstances, lets just say Ven isn’t the only one with hidden motives.” She said trying to reassure the newly awaken girl as showing it Vye.

Vanessa nodded with that explanation still attempting to get information without asking it seemed just by remaining aware though the jammers prevented any sort of remote control on Ven's part. Whether she had to check in with Ven at certain points she did not say.

KD continued though soon pulling her aside to relay it's report as received by the security droid. It' work was halted for the time being but the other repair droids kept up with the work. Altering the transmitter to broadcast was easy work after all and it could report while carrying on it's work. I had waited until a report from the security droids came in before bothering Gaia with a full report.

Gallactic Basic appeared on the readout screen. THE SECURITY DROIDS WITH VEN TOOK SEVERE DAMAGE IN THE APPREHENSION OF THE CYBORG. ONE WAS DESTROYED AND THE OTHER NEARLY SO.

THE DROIDS THAT WERE DISPATCHED TO ENGINEERING HAVE SECURED IT. THE SECURITY CHIEF HAS BEEN DETAINED AND THE ASHLYN QUEEN HAS BEEN ELIMINATED ALONG WITH THOSE THAT WERE PRESENT. OF THE THREE DROIDS SENT THEIR ONE HAS BEEN DISABLED, ONE HAS TAKEN NO DAMAGE AND THE LAST SLIGHTLY HINDERED. AT THIS STAGE THE SHIP HAS BEEN TAKEN. EFFORTS TO COORDINATE WITH MALIKI HOULD HELP DETERMINE WHERE VEN AND THE REMAINING ENEMY DROID IS. ALL THREATS HAVE BEEN NEUTRALIZED SAVE FOR THOE ARTIFICAL CONSTRUCTS AND THE ALIEN LIFE FORM WITHIN THE WATER WHICH CAN BE NEUTRALIZED IN SEVERAL DIFFERENT WAYS.

So Ven was still around and no doubt pissed, though his security was nearly destroyed which should mean he was on his own . The queen was dead and Nin was happy to hear it. However she didn't really want to go after Ven If manage to survive then that was that but for now she wanted focus on getting out and destroying the ship perhaps she could get the two play against each other and get rid of the rouge robot.

There was little need for Gaia to hunt down Ven at this stage. He was vulnerable and on his own though assistance had been coming in the form of fellow agents, the Queen dead and the Security Chief captured.

There was the assistance of Maliki who she had managed to save indirectly and since he and the Security Chief were the last ones left. However, technically they were under salvage laws here and other Ashlyn might come, the ship had to be destroyed … this was an isolated world as far as she could tell. That aquatic creature probably a member of the only sentient species on the plant and as far as she could tell it showed no signs of such functions so she may not even be aware of it.

Vanessa was a key factor in this though. “Ven isn't here … he never came to the planet and the thing out there is a machine, a robot that he is controlling remotely. Our ship is in range of the world so he can broadcast a signal to it, it's been fitted with boosters to pick up subspace transmissions though his typical range of controlling machines tends to be the length of a typical room, nothing like this.

“Unfortunately the robot has suffered damage right before we were to meet with you and there was no time to repair it so I was helping it along. It can hobble around though movement is reduced drastically. Once Ven moves his ship though the robot will loose that connection and be just a standard model. With the guards destroyed he may think that I had been lost too and departed or ...” she paused and seemed to calculate. She had no idea that Gaia was an agent though there seemed to be no real loyalty towards Ven.

“Or he may put plan B into motion, I do not know of how determined he is.” Naturally she had no idea as to what he situation was like in regards to the ADD at least no since her last update to the ship.

Gaia breathed a heated sigh. So much for attempting to capture him. At least she had Vanessa."Then there's no point in lingering on here." She decided to find MAlki and the security officer than leave the area." I have friend who can get us off planet we just need to contact them and link up on the surface.. Is the sub you came down in still operational." Gaia questioned expecting the answer to be yes. She still had to destory the ship it should a simple as throwing the engines into over drive and setting the explosives, which she was ordering the droids to do.

The blue alien was begin to see why Ven relied on the droids, it was so much easier and safer to do so. She would still need Malki's help in doing so.

“Yes, it sill functions unless Ven did something to it. Doubtful, since he was never here but possible if he wanted to be spiteful,” and she knew that Ven was. Her current state attested for that when he had rebuilt her.

Coordinating with the droids the security droids that had been dispatched earlier one could be moved to check and guard the sub against Ven just encase. She and the droids rigged the ship with explosives after meeting up with Maliki who told hem where the explosives would do the most good. Even the Security Chief was helpful now that the Ashlyn Queen was deceased and overloading the engines would be a simple matter. Even without his help KD would have likely been capable of bypassing safety measures in time though.

Capturing Ven had not been an option though she had saved two lives and captured Vanessa. Plus the ship was going to be destroyed too. The security droids had to be left behind as there were no space for them with four people and KD the sub was cramped as it was.

The sub would depart for the surface, sensors and shock waves through the water even at this distance indicated the destruction of the vessel. Perhaps that alien creature was still in the ship, if so she had the ultimate revenge against it.

When getting to the surface Gaia encountered fellow agents among the bodies of several dead Ashlyn within that “base” she had been in.

“So it is done? I see you have a souvenir too,” Luna referred to the droid she saw. She paused though, her eyes skipping over the two Aschen survivors to focus on Vanessa. She went wide eyed and at firs said nothing else.

“Vanessa?” A pause. “VANESSA!”

It was obvious that Luna wished to speak with her abducted friend. All that was left was the clean up and getting a ride back to the base with one of her fellow agents as she and the survivors were assigned crafts to move out on.

All in all Ven may still have been at large though it was not all for nothing and there was some success here. Next time. The best thing was that prototype he was remotely controlling had to be destroyed and next time, if there was a next time, she knew exactly what to look out for.

The ship was cramped with four beings and a droid but the sub was quick and the ride swift. The alien breathed a deep sigh as she stepped into fresh air; The loud muffled sound and bulge of water told the ship had been destroyed. Though the alien woman felt the glee of success she also felt the burn and seething hatred for her two consecutive assaults. She would receive counsel from the High priestesses in do time, but in the mean time she only held her prayer. As such she took the time to give a mourning prayer for all the Aschen that had died. She then convened with the Major, who took note of the survivors and of course KD. There was few bugs that had been killed the blue alien felt a tug of joy over their demise.

Gaia smiled at Luna's response to seeing her long lost friend."I have taken liberty of jamming all control from Ven. I'm sure there is a way to restore her true freedom. I will ask my peoples scientist to help as needed." The woman announced." I'm not sure but we may be able to remove some of the cybernetics and replace with living tissue." The quarrina spoke.

What she was relatively new and in testing trails with mild success; So it wasn't guaranteed to work fully, but it was a glimmer of hope to restoring the girls humanity. There was no time real to talk and it was obvious the Major had catching up to do with Vanessa. She glance to the sky briefly it was a strange set of colors within the sky marking the days end. She didn't know exactly how long she had been down there, in that little box of hell it matter she was out with a victory, small some would call it. But She had done mostly what she had set out to do, that was find out what Ven was up to and save Vanessa. That was done, but Ven was still out there perhaps watching. It didn't matter really she was going to track him done and bring him to justice, that was her solemn vow as she board the craft to leave the planet.



THE END