Testing the Aegis prototype required moving it outside the ship, where the ship's systems could be evaluated without interference. Tanya stood on the observation deck with the rest of the team, watching as Sage used a remote pilot to manoeuvre her creation through its initial flight trials. Everything seemed to be working as intended at the moment.
"It looks so different from the design schematics," Drew observed, studying the curves of the hammerhead configuration as it moved through space with surprising grace.
"I needed it to look good," Tanya replied, unable to hide her pride as the ship executed a perfect rotation that showed off its flowing lines. "A peacekeeping vessel has to inspire confidence, not fear. People need to see it coming and think 'thank god, help has arrived' rather than 'oh no, another warship.'"
The prototype moved through space with fluid precision that belied its size at nearly 200 metre it was one of the largest ships she had built. The hammerhead prow caught Genesis's external lighting and seemed to glow with inner luminescence from its quantum-enhanced materials. It oozed confidence.
"Sage is really putting her through her paces," Janet commented, watching the ship transition between variable mass configurations. One moment it was manoeuvring like a fighter craft, the next it had the ponderous stability of a capital ship.
Cameron was monitoring the test data on his tablet, his expression growing more impressed with each completed manoeuvre. "Power efficiency is exceeding projections by twelve percent. But the draw still means it risks burning out its reactors."
Simran looked over the number as well. "I can't see this being successful in a long engagement, or the pilots will have to learn to balance its power usage."
Cameron got in a fresh set of data to analyse.
"Dimensional anchoring is stable across all mass configurations. The gravitational array is responding to control inputs with zero lag time."
Tanya nodded and then turned her attention to Amara.
"How's everything else progressing?" Tanya asked, finally tearing her attention away from her ship to focus on the larger picture.
"Fabrication machines are installed and operational," Amara reported, consulting her ever-present tablet. "Drew's been helping with integration while we work on the fighter modifications. The delivery went smoothly—Kozlov's contacts know their business."
"The AI coordination for the fighters is functional but not optimal," Simran added, her frustration evident. "They respond to commands and can operate in formation, but their decision-making algorithms need work. Sometimes they make choices that are tactically sound but strategically questionable."
"Give me an example," Tanya said.
"Yesterday during simulation trials, a fighter correctly identified an incoming missile as the highest threat to its assigned protected vessel. But instead of intercepting the missile, it abandoned its position to attack the launcher, leaving the protected ship vulnerable to secondary threats."
"Sounds like they're thinking like individual pilots rather than coordinated defence systems," Tanya observed.
"Exactly. They optimise for immediate tactical problems rather than maintaining their assigned roles within the larger formation. I have a few fixes that I need Sage to look over before we push it to the squadron."
[Looking over them now.] Sage replied, being able to multitask was an advantage of being an ancient AI. Tanya turned back to Amara.
"The financial side has been smooth sailing," Amara continued. "Most of the battleship deals are finalised, though we still need to handle the crew remains situation. I've been coordinating with Fall Kingdom contacts about returning the bodies. It will actually provide good cover for some of our other business relationships."
She pulled up production schedules on her tablet. "We already have orders for three rescue ships, which gives us the perfect excuse to begin mass production. Build one for the customer, keep one for ourselves. The buyers are asking for delivery within two months, which is aggressive but manageable."
Through the viewport, the prototype completed another series of test manoeuvres designed to test its limits. All systems were performing better than expected. The only problem was that she couldn't mass-produce ships of this quality and would need to spend time crafting them or work out a workaround.
"Speaking of mass production," Janet said, "we have an obvious problem. We're designing a fleet without having a crew to operate it."
The observation deck fell silent. This was a problem that had no easy solutions. They could build ships, a whole fleet, even. But ships without crews were just expensive sculptures drifting in space.
"AI isn't good enough to run an entire fleet," Simran said definitively. "The fighters might work with autonomous systems, but capital ships require human judgment for complex operations."
"And we can't exactly post job advertisements for 'Peacekeeping Fleet Personnel, Must Be Willing to Operate in Legal Grey Areas,'" Cameron added dryly.
Janet had been studying Genesis's database during quiet moments over the past few weeks, and her expression suggested she'd been thinking about this problem longer than the others.
"Genesis was a bio-lab in its previous life," she said carefully. "I've found some interesting capabilities in the archived systems. Cloning technology, memory implant procedures, and accelerated learning protocols. I think I even found some locations with old workshops. We could potentially create crews who would be loyal by design."
"Absolutely not," Tanya said immediately, her voice carrying steel. "We're not creating people to serve as crew. That's exactly the kind of thinking that led to the brain-in-jar experiments on the battleship."
"I'm not talking about slaves," Janet clarified. "I'm talking about people who would be created with full autonomy but with implanted knowledge and cultural values that align with our mission. They'd choose to serve because they genuinely believe in what we're doing."
"That's still manufacturing consent," Tanya replied firmly. "Creating people with predetermined loyalties isn't consent. It is sophisticated brainwashing."
Amara had been listening to the debate with her usual pragmatic attention to problems and solutions. "Then you need to make a decision about recruitment. Either we start hiring people and hope there are no security leaks, or we find existing groups who might be loyal to our cause. But we can't build a fleet and then hope crews materialise when we need them. Sometimes hard choices need to be made."
Carlos, who had been silently watching, spoke up. "Maybe we can buy a crew? There are still plenty of slave traders within many of the kingdoms."
The responsibility of leadership settled on Tanya's shoulders once again. Every choice she made seemed to carry moral implications that extended far beyond simple engineering problems. Build ethically and risk operational failure, or compromise principles for practical effectiveness. She didn't like any of the plans presented, but she also knew that they were right a fleet without a crew was useless.
"I need time to think about this," she said finally.
[Testing sequence complete,] Sage announced through the ship's communications. [All systems performing within optimal parameters. The vessel is ready for designation.]
Through the viewport, the prototype hung motionless against the star field, it's hull catching light in ways that made it seem alive. The ship that had begun as theoretical concepts and design challenges had become something real, something capable of changing how conflicts played out across the galaxy.
"She needs a name," Tanya said, feeling the moment's significance.
She'd been thinking about it during the construction process, considering names that would reflect the ship's purpose and capabilities. Something that honored both its protective mission and its role as the prototype for an entirely new kind of fleet.
"Marv," she announced. "Her name is Marv."
//Designation accepted,// Sage replied, and somehow the ship's running lights seemed to pulse with satisfaction. //The vessel responds positively to the chosen identifier.//
"Marv?" Drew asked. "That's not exactly what I expected for a revolutionary peacekeeping vessel."
"It's perfect," Tanya said, watching her ship—Marv—hang in space like a promise of better things to come. "Marv sounds like someone you'd want to have watching your back during a crisis. Not threatening, not pretentious, just reliable."
But she wasn't happy with the level of testing they had done so far. She wanted to see it in action against other ships.
"All right, let's see what Marv can really do," Tanya said, settling into the Genesis observation deck as the test sequence began. Marv hung motionless in space, its gravity well generators powering up for the first live-fire exercise against the modified fighters.
Cameron monitored the power readings from his station. "Gravitational array is at full capacity. We're reading significant spacetime distortion within a three-kilometer radius of Marv's position."
"Simran, release the fighters," Tanya ordered.
Eight of the modified neural fighters shot forward simultaneously, their AI coordination systems working in perfect synchronisation. They moved with the fluid precision of a hunting pack, adjusting their approach vectors to avoid mutual interference while maintaining formation integrity.
Then they hit Marv's gravity well.
The effect was immediate and dramatic. All eight fighters simply stopped, their forward momentum instantly negated by gravitational forces that pulled them into stable orbit around Marv. Their engines strained against the artificial field, but the gravity well was too strong. They were trapped like insects in amber, exactly as planned.
"Incredible," Drew breathed, watching the fighters struggle uselessly against forces they couldn't overcome. "Complete battlefield control within the effective range."
"Power consumption is enormous, though," Cameron warned, studying his displays with growing concern. "The gravitational array is drawing nearly one hundred percent of available reactor output. Way more than during the initial testing. Life support is on backup power, and defensive turret systems are offline."
Tanya nodded, recognising the tactical limitations even as she admired the spectacular effect. "How long can we maintain this?"
"At current power draw... maybe thirty seconds before we start risking reactor shutdown."
The captured fighters continued their futile attempts to escape, their AI systems cycling through evasive manoeuvres that had no effect against gravitational forces. But as Cameron had predicted, the power requirements were unsustainable.
"Twenty-eight seconds," he announced. "Power levels dropping into the red zone."
"Shut it down," Tanya ordered.
The gravity well collapsed instantly, reality snapping back to normal with an almost audible release of tension. The freed fighters immediately scattered, their AI systems recognising the opportunity and executing high-speed evasion manoeuvres that carried them well beyond the gravity well's effective range.
"Five escaped clean," Simran reported, tracking the dispersing fighters on her tactical display. "Three are regrouping for another attack approach."
"And Marv is defenceless except for its armour for the next sixty seconds while the gravitational array recharges," Cameron added grimly.
Tanya studied the tactical situation with growing understanding. The gravity well was devastatingly effective within its range, but the power requirements created vulnerability windows that smart opponents could exploit.
"We need more ships," she said, recognising the solution. "Rotating coverage so one vessel can recharge while another maintains battlefield control."
"Overlapping fields of fire," Janet agreed. "First ship captures incoming threats, holds them for thirty seconds, then hands off to the second ship while it recharges."
"The coordination requirements would be complex," Simran observed. "The handoff would need to be precisely timed to avoid creating gaps in coverage, or you could overwhelm them with numbers, but…."
"We would need to crew them," Tanya finished for her.
"It should be manageable with proper planning and communication," Cameron said. "Especially if we design the ships to work together from the beginning rather than retrofitting coordination later. It is still in its design phase."
They watched as the remaining fighters regrouped and began their second attack approach. This time, the AI systems had learned from their previous capture, and they approached from multiple vectors simultaneously, forcing the gravity well to spread its influence across a wider area.
"Smart," Tanya said approvingly. "They're adapting to the threat profile."
When Marv activated the gravity well again, it caught only six of the eight fighters. Two managed to maintain enough distance to avoid capture while still threatening the Aegis prototype with their weapons systems.
"Partial capture," Simran reported. "But the uncaptured fighters are maintaining attack positions just outside the effective range."
The power limitation remained unchanged, with thirty seconds of operational time before system shutdown. But now they had hostile fighters in firing position when the gravity well collapsed.
"This is why we need escorts," Tanya said as mock weapons fire from the free fighters registered hits on Marv's hull. "The Aegis-class can control the primary battlefield, but they need support vessels to handle targets that stay outside their effective range."
"Or we need better power management," Drew suggested. "Capacitor banks that could store enough energy for extended operations."
"That would require significant modifications to the power distribution system," Cameron warned. "Plus the additional mass would affect the variable mass manipulation systems."
"No, the rotating coverage approach is better," Tanya decided. "Build the ships to work together, design the tactics around mutual support. A single Aegis operating alone should be the exception, not the standard deployment."
The test sequence continued for another hour, exploring the tactical limitations and opportunities created by the gravity well system. They discovered that the effective range could be extended by reducing power output, but at the cost of capture effectiveness. They found that the charging cycle could be shortened with better reactor management, but only marginally.
Most importantly, they confirmed that the Aegis-class was a specialised tool rather than a universal solution. Devastating within its operational parameters but vulnerable outside them. Like any weapon system, it required proper tactical employment to be effective.
"The coordination challenges are significant," Simran said as they reviewed the test data. "Multiple ships operating gravitational fields in close proximity... the interference patterns could be problematic. We need more ships to test it."
"That's an engineering challenge we can solve," Tanya replied confidently. "Synchronised field generators, coordinated power management, shared targeting systems. Complex, but not impossible."
"It also means we need crews who can work together seamlessly," Janet pointed out. "This kind of coordinated operation requires trust and communication that goes beyond normal military cooperation."
"One step at a time," Tanya said, watching Marv complete the final test sequence with flawless precision. "First, we perfect the ships, then we figure out who's going to crew them."