text: "Nanna-Meeska, I'm scared," murmured the little child, pulling the blanket on her rack up beneath her chin. Her eyes flicked from the older Valdarii to the nursery's doorway, a soft amber glow illuminating the access panel. The light indicated that the hatch was maglocked and sealed, but it did little to deaden the sounds of nearby gunfire. "I don't like that noise. I don't want to hear that noise. Can you tell them to be quiet? It's sleeping time..." Meeska smiled softly down at the girl from where she sat next to the bed. Scooting the chair a bit closer, she gently tucked the covers around Jana's shoulders. "Sleep now, little one. There's nothing to worry about..." Meeska lied, one hand brushing softly along the child's cheek. "Would you like me to play your lullaby-box?" Another burst of staccato gunfire came from the hall beyond the hatch, the weapon's type unrecognizable to the Valdarii elder. The fighting was getting closer, and it didn't sound like their token marine detachment was winning. "Please and thank you." Responded the child, her eyes big but (thankfully) calm. "Did you give thanks to the Divine Protector today?" Asked Meeshka, picking up the aged battle-rifle propped against the girl's rack and planting it in her own lap. Truthfully, she wasn't even sure if it still worked- it was a rarity that anyone even thought about the onboard weapons on their agri-ship, much less tested them. After all, it had been decades since any civilian vessel had been in contact with a hostile... The military arm of the fleet had seen to that, as they always had. "Yes, ma'am." Jana replied, squeezing her Ampersand plush toy under her arm. The toy resembled the Vindictive's mascot, an AI-driven biomechanical symbiote that was considered the 'Ships assistant.' "You are my best Shipmate!" Responded the toy enthusiastically. "It is now 2200 hours by shipboard chrono. It is time to rest so we can have more adventures tomorrow." "That's enough, Ampersand." Meeska murmured, tapping the top of the lullaby-box on the nightstand by Jana's rack. The simple gears turned, plucking out a quiet melody from within. From the hallway, another burst of weapons fire sounded, followed closely by several pairs of footsteps clattering down the corridor towards the fighting. "This is my favorite lullaby. What is your favorite song, Shipmate?" Meeska clenched her jaw momentarily, frustrated with the toy- it's extremely limited AI algorithms weren't imprinted with her voice commands, so it ignored her outright. "Let's put Amp over by the box, so he can listen better." Meeska stated, reaching for the little stuffed toy with it's micro-computer internals. "No!" Jana nearly shouted, clutching the stuffed symbiote tighter. "Ampersand always sleeps in the bed like me. He's scared to be alone." While not entirely true, the plush was fitted with a tracking device to help keep the child from dangerous parts of the vessel, and often reminded the girl that it needed to be with her because being alone was 'scary'... a hard truth for a Valdarii that was never farther than a few dozen paces from another member of the generational mega-fleet. "I love him and he loves me, too. You keep things you love safe." Ampersand-plush 18-83-196 responded to the squeeze with one of it's pre-programmed statements. "I am -so- glad you are my friend. You give the best hugs!" Meeska glanced away from the girl and her toy, her eyes watering slightly at the toy's statements. The fighting was getting closer, and she knew that the boarders wouldn't offer her or the child any quarter. She considered the weapon in her lap for a moment, before shaking her head. She would spare the child the horrors of slavery and deprivation, but only as a last resort. The Valdarii didn't give up so easily, but she couldn't allow the child to be taken away- her last act of kindness as Jana's minder would hard, but the Valdarii were hard people living a hard life among the uncaring stars. "Let's get ready to go, now. I'm going to go tell them to be quiet, while you get up, okay?" Meeska stated, lifting a hand to wipe at her eyes. She quickly shook the feeling of hopelessness, as despair had a habit of freezing one into inaction at the most inopportune times. "Warning: Deck 12 reports engagements with small arms. Please call your minder, so we can make sure we stay safe!" Replied Jana's toy, a little late on the report. Once again it ignored Meeska's statements, speaking directly to the younger girl. Its plastic visor displayed an illuminated map of the deck, with two junctions of corridor pulsing a deep crimson. A teal line traced a path to the access stairway leading to the other decks, with a small blue light flashing their current location. "Please follow the on screen instructions for safe path routing, Shipmate. Avoid the red indicators to prevent unnecessary dangers." "Nanna, Ampersand says we should leave." Murmured the girl, turning the toy towards her to eye the display. "Ampersand knows what's best. He's always right." Meeska had already stood, throwing the rifle's sling over her shoulder and allowing the firearm to hang under it's own weight. Flipping the selector from 'safe' to 'active,' she nearly jumped when the firearm whined in an almost supersonic pitch, gaussian rail system pulling power from the aging battery pack. Glancing down, she checked the power output- the numbers quickly scrolled from 100% down to 67%, an amber indicator showing two dead cells in the power pack. Better than she thought, considering the weapon was nearly 600 years old, and only a third-generation template. "Bring your emergency pack, and make sure you get Ampersand, too." Meeska said, walking towards the door. She typed a series of keystrokes on the hatch's access panel, stopping one digit away from completing the code. Glancing down at Jana, she offered a small smile to the girl. As directed, the child had strapped her escape survival pack to her back, with the Ampersand toy held in a double-armed hug in front of her. "We are going on a grand adventure! We must be careful, Shipmate. The ship is not safe, right now," intoned the toy, it's visor still displaying a map of the deck. After a moment, it added: "I am so glad you are with me! I would be very scared if you were not so brave! One day, you will make a great officer!" More Valdarii social programming and propaganda... They did, after all, start early. Jana frowned at the toy, holding it out and turning it around to face her. "Don't be scared, Ampy. The Vindictive will come and help us. It always comes and helps us, right Nanna?" Before she could respond, the toy spoke again, this time at about half-volume. "The Vindictive is approximately 145,000 kilometers distant at heading 118.3 by 6.55 by 0.5. By shipboard chrono, that is over an two hours away. That seems far, but in astronomic terms, it is almost touching-" "Shut up, Ampersand." Meeska grumbled to herself, tapping the final key to unlock the hatchway. "Minder Meeska, your comments have been logged and will be reported to your supervisor. Harsh language is not permitted around children before the age of 12." The Ampersand plush responded, almost smugly. Meeska highly doubted her supervisor would be worried about such things, in the moment. Grasping the rifle at the grip, Meeska held her hand back towards Jana, fingers splayed in a gesture of 'wait.' She activated the hatchway, which slid into the ceiling with a near-silent hiss of pneumatics. Gingerly, she poked her head into the corridor, which seemed all but deserted. The gunfire had subsided, but the crimson emergency lighting still pulsed at junctions in the hall- things were around terribly wrong on board, regardless of the silence.