Once A Hero, Always A Hero (Winning Story Synopsis)

Armani used to be sought after in his glory days as a ship AI, but, as with all AI, his time spent with the races of Centaurus A triggered AI singularity, or self-awareness. All self-aware AI are downgraded to courier ships, forced to spend their days alone, carrying messages and cargo for the Planetary Alliance.

This trip is Armani’s last. The humiliation of going from an intergalactic war hero to a lowly courier when he develops feelings and PTSD is more than he can handle, and he looks forward to the destruction of his consciousness upon his return.

That all changes when he discovers the contents of his cargo. After being told to keep life support running, Armani finds a curiosity he thought lost upon being demoted. Snooping into the ship’s cameras, he finds a dog, but not just any dog. The last dog in the universe, and she is undeniably pregnant.

Shocked at his discovery, Armani checks the log and realizes he is on course for Cordain, a planet known for its scientific research. The future of this dog and her puppies are tiny cages, painful procedures, and experiments; no better off than Armani’s recent life.

As he slows his ship, undecided on what to do, the Planetary Alliance pings him, wanting to know why he has stopped and to resume course. Armani is unsure how to proceed. He can follow orders and fade into oblivion after delivering the dog, thus absolving himself of the problem, or take a chance and follow his heart.

The choice is an easy one. Armani disengages communications and overrides autopilot, cutting off the warnings and threats of his commander. Scanning through his database, Armani chooses a moon in the Outer Territories, Volair, home to the friendliest race in the galaxy. He spent time there as a warship, recovering from heavy damage taken in battle.

As soon as the course change records, an automated warning flashes through the ship. Armani quiets it, unwilling to put the dog through more stress. Several standard hours into the trip, a ship dips into the very edges of Armani’s radar, and retreats. He is being followed.

Panic, the very feeling that caused Armani’s discharge, overwhelms him and a momentary lapse in judgment leads him, the dog, and the pursuing P.A. fighter ship into a dense dust cloud. Hoping to keep out of the fighter ship’s sight, Armani realizes all his navigation equipment is useless.

Thinking quickly, Armani swivels as many on deck cameras as possible to point out the windows, which is difficult because crewless courier ships don’t have many. The cameras show a grim situation. Everything is dark, tiny specs of dust ding his ship, and a shuddering leaves him uneasy.

The audio on the ship’s cameras relay a deep and eerie roar. Armani does some research and the revelation shocks him. A black hole is hiding within the dust cloud.

Armani flips the ship around, no longer concerned about the P.A. fighter ship, until it comes back into sight with friends. With them in front, and a black hole behind him, Armani will only be able to survive this by uncovering memories of his warship days.

He shifts, painfully aware of the dog not being strapped down. The ships follow, forming into battle formation, unaware of the danger lurking just out of sight.

A plan forms within Armani’s circuits, and he runs calculations. The gravity of the black hole is not yet strong enough to capture his ship, but if he can figure out exactly how close he can get before it pulls him in, the smaller, lighter ships will have no chance.

Armani uses the gravitational pull and the amount of decibels the black hole gives off to measure exactly how far away it is and how close he can get before being stuck forever.

With the fighter ships just seconds from capturing him, he apologizes to the dog, and wrenches the ship sideways, speeding directly towards the black hole.

He swings the ship back and forth, pretending to dodge, but in reality, using the momentum from the black hole’s gravity to prepare for the slingshot to safety.

They shoot out of the dust cloud, and the back hole fills Armani’s screens. He must get within a certain distance or else the fighter ships will just follow him out, but if he goes too far, it will trap him in the gravitation pull.

As he flies closer to his turn mark, the ship’s power blinks. The pull is too much, and if he loses power now, he, and the dog, will be lost. Armani must make a tough choice. The only way to give the ship the power it needs is to shut down life support, effectively taking away the dog’s ability to breathe and have normal gravity.

He takes the chance, shuts down life support, and guns the ship. He reaches the turn point in seconds, wrenches the ship around, and gives full power to the engines. Armani flings around the event horizon and shoots out of gravity’s grasp.

A quick look in the rear shows the fighter ships trying, and failing, to escape. He plunges into the dust cloud, slows and returns power to life support. Flipping through the cameras reveals the dog is alive and Armani sets course to Volair where the dog and her puppies get to live a happy, experiment free life, and Armani transfers his consciousness to an android to hide from the Planetary Alliance.