Another Life (Oc x reader)

Chapter 46 - Dream Team

Ethan wakes up Richard Ncube and catch him up on the situation.

"And you waited until now to pull me out of soma?"

"Until now we weren't at war until now."

"You were. You just didn't realise it. The war started the day they rammed that implant into Sasha's brain. First thing I wanna do is talk to this new AI, get whatever intel we can out of her."

"If she'll comply. She doesn't exactly follow orders." Jason tells him.

"And William? Is his coding okay?"

"August is running a complete diagnostic, checking to se if there's any sighs. Of Achaian infiltration." Jason answers.

He frowns. "August? Did we lose Dillon Conner?"

Jason and Ethan glance at each other confused. "Dillion Connor is safe in soma."

"Soma?"

Jason checks his tablet. "Assigned to team three."

"August Catawnee is our chief engineer. Is that a problem?"

"It's a, uh.. surprise.. William's acted autonomously for a computer meant to run this ship."

"His coding is constantly evolving."

"You say evolving, I say design flaw. But if we can get this new AI to spill the beans on the Achaia, then hopefully it'll all be worth it."

"Let's get you hydrated and up to speed. We've got a lot to catch up on." Ethan tells him.

...

With a deep sigh, Ethan takes a cup from the kitchen cabinet to prepare some coffee. "I haven't slept for 36 hours."

"Hope that coffee's laced with speed." Richard says and he chuckles.

Ethan takes a seat at the table and looks at Richard. "It was your idea.. for me to take over the mission from Yerxa."

Richard looks at him, slightly surprised he knew that.

"Dubious told me, before we left Earth."

"I stand by that recommendation.The only reason this ship is still in one piece is because of you." Richard then tells him and then gives him the tablet he had in front of him.

"What's this?"

"Your dream team, the one Dubious asked me to put together for you." He says and Ethan looks at it. "Nicole Martin, combat medic. Three tours of duty. Dominic Grey. He helped code our country's first drone missile program and made sure the Y-2038 problem didn't delete all of our bank accounts."

"He's a good guy to know."

"Yeah."

"It's an impressive list."

"So then, why is some punk hacker running diagnostics on our AI?"

"Yn and I woke up the crew I was assigned."

"Yerxa's crew?"

Ethan frowns. "Ian and this crew had the most experience with the Salvare before this mission."

"That doesn't mean they're the best."

"We have been through far too much for you to sit here and judge us." Ethan says leaning forward, Richard raises his hand in surrender.

"Whoa, I'm not. I swear, I.. I'm just trying to understand why Dubious would saddle you with a lesser crew on a mission as vital as this one."