It stood before him completed. For five years he had led this engineering project and the sleek black beauty before him was worthy of such devotion. Smiling proudly, it occured to him that Black Beauty may have been an approprate name had it not already been taken. That, and the fact that she had already been christened over a decade earlier.
Mars & Minerva.
As a name it couldn't be more perfect. Two projects, overseen by himself, rolled in to one.
Mars was a combat variant of the Cobra Mk3. He had been involved as a young engineer in the development of that ship over 20 years earlier. His first assignment in fact after graduating as an astronautical engineer. A dream job, working for the highly regarded Cowell & MgRath shipyards in Lave. Then along came Galcop with a request for a super tough scout ship. The Cobra platform was a no-brainer, their words, but he heartily agreed. Old man Cowell had appointed him project lead on the spot.
That had been the year 3105 and Galcop was locked in a terrifying war with an alien species called Thargoids. The Federation and Empire were largely staying out of it, "short-sighted, self-serving idiots!" he'd thought at the time. Galcop were left to defend humanity on the Northern fringe of the populated bubble.
The spec for this new, super tough scout ship stated that Mars must be able to out-run all known Thargoid ships. He knew the Cobra inside and out, the blue prints were ingrained in his brain. He mentally upgraded the engines and reinforced the hull to support that extra load.
Mars must also be able to withstand Thargoid weapon systems for longer than any other existing warship. He was handed a data stick of Thargoid data; many Galcop Navy pilots had lost their lives compiling it.
"The hull will need further reinforcement!" he'd mumbled to himself while reading down the spec.
"Maybe," they told him, "but the hull must be made from a special alloy we will provide." That wasn't in the requirements list, it had seemed odd to him that such a key detail was missed out.
"Who manufactures these alloys? Where are they coming from?" he'd asked them casually, expecting it to be one of the big materials science labs, maybe in Reorte or Zaonce.
"We don't believe they're human," was the response, "we found them on a planet a few thousand light years away. We're working on a re-engineered version, but we should be able to provide enough for a small number of prototypes."
Non-human, but not sure. If it was Thargoid technology they'd know for sure - but would they say? A few thousand light years he realised, that was a few typical service intervals for a Cobra. Were these people hinting at a third advanced civilisation, somewhere, thousands of light years out there in the black?
Over 15 years, the Mars project had created the most advanced warship ever built, at least by human hands. The toughest armour and most efficient shielding. Powerful thrusters pushed the revised Cobra hull even faster, and it was already the fastest ship in the civilian market. But Mars had been only half the project.
The other half is what truly set this ship apart.
It had been well established for centuries that the human brain reacts far slower than a computer equivalent. When up against a foe as formidable as a Thargoid Hydra, that relative slowness coupled with fear spells certain death. Galcop had decided that the best chance this scout ship had to survive Thargoid contact was computerised control that could make the right decision, immedately, every time.
Meet Minerva - the most advanced battle brain ever devised.
He was never sure if Minerva was sentient. There were tales of such machines going rogue and projects being shut down. The Federation and Empire had both joined Galcop in banning sentients.
Was the most advanced Battle Brain ever devised an AI system?