>>6070599“All pilots, all stop.” You command, breathing a sigh of relief.
Your Nav officer complies and you see your wingmate’s blue trail shrink as their ion engine shuts off in turn. Before you can receive verbal confirmation, though, you’re interrupted by a burst of static.
<span class="mu-s">“PEEDEE DID IT!”</span> Your comm unmutes itself and the cockpit’s speakers peak as your young friend’s recognisable voice blasts through at max volume. <span class="mu-s">“Take that stupid Guard doggy! Peedee followed you to Captain-Friend-Dal’s new batty fly box and Peedee beat you!!!! HAAA!</span>
You wince and adjust the volume as your Ulveng pilot stares out the viewport, for once speechless. The Void Wyrm flicks its wings and arms, tearing loose the last of the attached cables — their red glow fading away to white immediately as Guard’s influence wanes. Now in control, the young entity that you met in your simulated dreams strikes a pose and lights up her newly acquired wings and frills a brilliant orange — a puppet to the dogmatic AI subsystem no longer and now moving much more organically. Or organo-metallically, you suppose, considering the space dragon’s unique biology.
<span class="mu-r">FOREIGN CONNECTION SIGNAL STRENGTH: 80%</span>
<span class="mu-i">Oh, that’s not good…</span>
You had thought that the severing of Guard’s control over the Void Wyrm would also relieve its intrusion and scanning of your implant but this is apparently not the case. Perhaps the connection is linked with the ongoing scenario or maybe your previous lapse in concentration gave the malignant AI too much of a foothold in your mind to be so easily dislodged. Either way you need to get out of this simulation before it finishes scanning your biometrics and positively identifying you as its target.
“Oh wow, Peed— Um, meant to say… <span class="mu-i">I</span> is really big in this box!”
Oblivious to your ongoing distress the Peedee-Wyrm is still wriggling around inspecting her newly stolen form.
“Dallas, is that… I mean, clearly she is but-” Cleo still seems a bit tongue tied. “I kinda didn’t believe you said you’d found an entity in the ship's systems, I just wanted in on the fun but…”
“Wha-? Wing?! I have wingys an’… oooh feets?! D-Dal look! Have legs an’ toe claws an’ flappy wings again.”
You uncover your eyes and try to push through the pounding headache to look out at your friend and promised student. The dragon-like being has curled over comically and is delightedly wriggling her toes — each one larger than even Cleo.
“Y-yes, I see Peedee. Well done, and thanks for following Guard here to help us.” You manage.
“Is this the little friend you told us all about?!” Kiro butts in excitedly, “The mysterious old but actually still young crew member from the original crew? She doesn’t look so little to me!”
“Wait, ‘again’.” Cleo asks suspiciously, “What did she mean she has wings and claws ‘again’?”
The wolf-like woman squints at the Void Wyrm who is waving in a friendly manner whilst peering at the ant-like beings in the toy-sized Foxbat.
