The modifications were completed and tested within Elizabeth's promised day, and Tanya had to admit the results were impressive. The dual-mode piloting system transformed her temperamental sphere into something that responded like a normal spacecraft, while the ramped acceleration curves eliminated the brutal onset that had nearly knocked the test pilot unconscious.
"Well, aren't you a quick study," she said to the ship, touching its hull affectionately. "Learning to play nice with the humans already."
//Credit belongs to the master builders. Their experience with pilot interface optimisation exceeds your current capabilities.//
"Fair enough," Tanya conceded. "Though I prefer to think of it as the ship finally deciding to cooperate instead of being a stubborn perfectionist."
Now came the part she had been both anticipating and dreading. It was time for the vortex skipping test that required her personal presence aboard the ship. The drones and vortex skipping were her main contribution to the design, and she had fought hard to keep their specifications secret from the other engineers.
"IP rights and classified information," she'd insisted when Garret had pressed for access to the drone designs and the black box that coordinated their operations. It wasn't entirely a lie. The technology was certainly classified, even if not in the way he assumed.
The drones themselves were elegantly simple: basic propulsion systems, communication arrays, and sensor packages that recorded various frequencies and dimensional readings. Tanya wasn't entirely sure all the sensor data was necessary, or if Sage was hiding crucial calculations within the flood of information, but the principle was sound.
"Remind me again why the drones are essential?" Klein asked as they reviewed the test parameters.
"They scout ahead and map safe vortex entry points," Tanya explained. "The sensor data gets processed by the black box, which uses proprietary algorithms to identify the coordinates of each location in both vortex space and realspace, then links them to the navigation computer"
//I could perform these calculations without drone assistance, but maintaining operational security requires plausible technological explanations,// Sage whispered in her mind.
"And why do you personally need to be aboard?" Elizabeth pressed, her tone more insistent than before.
"The decoding algorithms are stored solely on my multitool," Tanya said with a straight face. While lifting her arm to show her tool. "A Security precaution to prevent unauthorised access to the navigation system."
"That seems unnecessarily restrictive," Garret added, his frustration barely contained. "If something happens to you during the mission, the entire navigation system becomes useless. Surely there's a way to create backup access protocols?"
Captain Davidson didn't look convinced, but he didn't challenge her in front of the others. They had already had this discussion in private, and she won. He had agreed to let her run the test herself, on the condition she came up with a cleaner, less risky solution before the actual mission.
For Tanya, that was good enough. If she played this right, she might not only prove the drones and her navigation system worked, but also earn a bit more freedom in how she ran her projects. Davidson might think he was keeping her on a leash, but she saw room to bargain. If the Pathfinder delivered today, maybe she could stretch that leash into real trust.
The test itself was elegantly simple and normally impossible. The pathfinder would be dropped at the edge of the star system and attempt to jump directly to a predetermined location on the opposite side, bypassing all the gravitational reference points that human vortex navigation relied on.
"Ready for deployment," the test pilot reported as they prepared to launch from the cruiser's hangar.
"Let's go, girl," Tanya said to her ship as the hangar doors opened. "Try not to break anything important."
The initial phase went perfectly. The drones deployed in formation, their sensors painting the local vortex topology in brilliant detail across Tanya's displays. Sage processed the information with inhuman speed, identifying optimal entry points and calculating precise exit coordinates.
"Navigation solution computed," Tanya announced, watching the black box place targeting reticules on the pilot's HUD. "Execute on your mark."
The pilot followed instructions exactly, flying to the location and engaging the vortex drive at the indicated coordinates.
They emerged exactly where they were supposed to be, thousands of kilometres from their starting point with pinpoint accuracy.
"Holy shit," the pilot breathed, staring at his instruments in disbelief. "That truly worked. We just jumped exactly where we wanted to without a gravity beacon."
Tanya grinned, feeling the familiar rush of engineering triumph. "One down, let's try another jump to confirm—"
Alarms screamed across the cockpit as the vortex drive failed to respond to activation commands.
"Drive two is offline," the pilot reported, his voice tight with concern. "Attempting restart... negative. The system shows a critical failure in the primary matrix."
"Switch to drive three," Tanya ordered, she watched the diagnostics with dread starting to build.
The pilot's hands moved across the controls. "Drive three... also showing failure. Matrix won't initialise."
Two drives down. Tanya felt sweat breaking out across her forehead as she started to realise that they were stranded in space with only one functional vortex drive, and no guarantee it would cycle back online properly.
"I can't figure out what went wrong," she said, running diagnostics on both failed drives. "The power levels are stable, the control systems are responding, but neither vortex matrix will initialise."
//Multiple system failures suggest external interference rather than design flaws.//
"We need to get back to the ship," the pilot said. "How long until Drive One comes back online?"
"Twenty minutes, and that if it does come back online. I am not certain it will," Tanya said, but she was already moving toward the ship's maintenance access panels. "Or I can try to fix this manually before it has a chance of damaging drive one"
"What are you thinking?"
"The three drives share a common manifold for power distribution," she explained, pulling out her multitool and starting to disassemble access panels. "If I remove the whole manifold and salvage parts from the damaged units, I might be able to jury-rig a direct connection to drive one."
It was desperate engineering, the kind of field repair that would make any of her professors cringe. But as Tanya worked, cutting connections and rerouting power systems, she was running the numbers, and things weren't adding up. They had done systems testing, and they had all passed.
"There," she said finally, sealing the improvised connection with her limited tools. "That should give us enough power regulation to get home. It's ugly, but it'll work."
They had to wait for the first drive to cycle back online before attempting the return journey, leaving Tanya plenty of time to worry about what had gone wrong with her supposedly perfect ship.
//Allow the investigation to proceed naturally. I am curious to observe their diagnostic methods.//
"You know what's wrong, don't you?" Tanya whispered.
//Multiple possibilities exist. Educational value lies in watching how experienced engineers approach systematic failure analysis.//
The jury-rigged system held together, and the first drive came back online. By the time they docked with the cruiser, Tanya had already made her decision. Something about those failures felt too convenient, too perfectly timed to cripple her ship without destroying it outright.
The master builders were waiting in the hangar with diagnostic equipment and expressions of professional concern. Those expressions might have fooled her a week ago but not today.
"Multiple drive failures during operational testing," Elizabeth announced, connecting her analysers to the Pathfinder's systems. "We need complete system diagnostics to identify the root cause. This kind of failure pattern could indicate fundamental design flaws."
"Absolutely," Garret agreed, his earlier frustration now channelled into technical urgency. "We need access to all system logs, including the black box data. Navigation system malfunctions could cascade into drive failures through feedback loops we haven't anticipated."
Tanya watched them work, noting how quickly they had moved to connect their equipment, how eager they were to access her classified systems. "I'll handle my own diagnostics," she said, stepping forward. "Thanks for the concern, but I know my ship better than anyone."
"Tanya, this is bigger than one shipwright's pride," Elizabeth said, her professional demeanour showing cracks of frustration. "If there's a systematic flaw in the integration between your navigation system and our drive designs, people could die."
"Then we should be extra careful about what being attached to the ship," Tanya replied evenly, already activating her own scanner from her multitool. She had learned to trust her instincts, and right now they were screaming.
"Look, we designed half the systems on this ship," Garret protested. "We have a right to know if our work is causing failures."
"You have a right to be paid for your work," Klein interjected, stepping between the other masters and Tanya. "You don't have the right to classified information."
While the masters argued, Tanya slipped underneath the Pathfinder's hull, ostensibly to examine the drive mountings. She was also looking for the device her scanner found. The device was no bigger than her thumb, its surface covered in hairline sensors and what looked like micro-manipulator arms. It was attached to the primary power coupling with surgical precision.
She'd never seen anything like it, but Sage's knowledge filled the gaps instantly. //Spider drone. Data logging unit. Designed to steal data from unsuspecting ships.//
Tanya carefully disconnected the device, feeling her emotions getting the better of her. Someone had planted this, and it was someone with access to her ship, someone who knew exactly where to place it for maximum effect while maintaining plausible deniability.
She emerged from beneath the ship with the spider drone palmed in her hand, studying the faces around her with new understanding. The master builders were still arguing with Klein about diagnostic access, their frustration seeming genuine enough. But someone here had wanted to steal from her and had caused her ship to fail. The black box logs stay classified," she announced, cutting through their debate. "I'll run my own analysis and share what I can."
"Tanya, we're just trying to help—" Elizabeth began.
"I know exactly what you're trying to do," Tanya replied, her voice carrying a steel that surprised even her. She looked each of them in the eye, wondering which one had betrayed her trust. "And I'll handle it myself."
Captain Davidson stepped forward, his expression thoughtful as he surveyed the tense group. "I think we've done good work today. The navigation system performed flawlessly, and that was our primary objective."
He gestured toward the master builders, his tone diplomatic but firm. "Why don't you all take a break? Get some rest, review your data. We'll reconvene tomorrow to discuss next steps."
"Captain, we really should run full diagnostics now while the failure signatures are fresh," Elizabeth protested. "Waiting could compromise our analysis."
"The technical staff can handle the immediate assessment," Davidson replied smoothly. "You've been working non-stop. A few hours won't hurt."
Garret looked like he wanted to argue, but Klein was already packing up his equipment. "The Captain's right. We're all running on fumes."
"Fine," Elizabeth said, though her frustration was evident. "But I want full access to the failure data first thing tomorrow."
As the master builders gathered their gear, Davidson caught Tanya's eye. "Miss Furrow, could I have a word? There are some logistics we need to discuss about tomorrow's schedule."
Once they were alone in a small conference room adjacent to the hangar, Davidson's diplomatic mask slipped. "What did you find?"
Tanya pulled the spider drone from her toolkit, setting it carefully on the table between them. "Someone was spying on my ship, and it caused interference."
Davidson picked up the device, examining it with the practised eye of someone who'd seen such things before. He sighed heavily, suddenly looking older. "I was hoping I was wrong."
"You suspected?"
"Three master builders, each with their own agendas and outside contacts. It was always a risk." He set the drone down gently. "I think it's time we retired them from this project."
Tanya felt a mixture of vindication and disappointment. "All of them?"
"The device could have been placed by any of them, or someone acting on their behalf. At this level of classification, we can't afford to take chances." Davidson's tone suggested this wasn't the first time he had dealt with something like this. "They're brilliant engineers, but this project has moved beyond their security clearance."
"What happens now?"
"Now you get your ship back to full operational status, with some additional security measures we should have installed from the beginning." Davidson stood, pocketing the spider drone. "And we see who gets nervous when they realise their little surveillance operation has gone quiet."