>>6113644You look down at the fairy as another question burns its way to the fore. “Where do you come from?”
‘I come from the ship. I am the Captain.’
“You were born aboard me?”
‘Yes. I awoke at time 0735.’
“Today? All fully-developed?”
‘Yes.’
You bite your lip. “If a member of the crew dies, what happens? Is it possible to recruit new sailors?”
‘A new sailor will be recruited and trained.’
“From where, though?”
The Captain once again looks baffled. ‘From the Ship.’
“So, when you die you just respawn? Like some kind of video game?”
‘No. New crew must be recruited and trained.’
“How long does that take?” Depending on their position and level of expertise, training a new human crewman could easily be a task of months to years.
‘Unknown.’ She pauses, and you can actually feel her reaching out to some other fairies somewhere deep in your hull. ‘Protocols dictate milestones, not timelines.’
“You could start right away, then? With recruitment?”
‘Negative. Vital resources are required.’
“That’s still not very helpful, you know. What kind of resources?”
‘Material resources.’
You grit your teeth and try not to get short with the tiny creature. “Such as?”
The fairy pauses again, this time querying your logistics corpsmen. ‘Autogenous replenishment will principally require proteins, oils, and complex carbohydrates.’
“… Food? You’re saying I need to eat food to repair and resupply and even train new crew?”
‘Affirmative.’
That was probably the first straight answer about anything you’ve received all day. “What else do I need to do, then? Do I need any special facilities to do maintenance?”
‘Certain repairs that cannot be performed underway may necessitate port calls and time in drydock.’ The Captain purses her lips. ‘Exact requirements unknown.’ Naturally. Then, ‘recruitment may also require time in port.’
You check the time as you chew on her words. Six minutes to launch.
You can’t help but think about the Enemy. Twenty-four monsters, lost to a one, for a single dead foe and no anti-ship missiles launched. They had not simply charged into battle with courage and lost, they had been… expended, not as assets but as munitions. Assuming the Enemy’s carrier isn’t suicidally stupid or hopelessly insane they had sent a huge portion of their air wing to die on the off-chance that one or two might get a missile in edgewise. If the lives of their aircrews really are just that cheap, and the monsters you now faced could replenish their losses by eating and resting like living organisms healing from injuries, it made a certain cruel sense. Perhaps there was some other reason, but that had all the cold logic a monster could hope for.
