Navigation System
Due to her Earthling background, Miriam had designated the ship to count time using Earth's method. So, she knew that approximately six months had passed since she had gotten to this new place and she had used that time very productively. First of all, her training with Kratos, the training android, had already exceeded all of her expectations. At first, they were both awkward on their feet and they style would be called amateurish at best!
But, her Youtja genes had come into play and together with her intellect, it led her to achieve breakthrough after breakthrough in each battle. Kratos' program however was just too godly! The program would analyse her and then find each flaw while improving itself to levels she couldn't reach on a short term with her biological body. She felt the urge to build cybernetics but her Youtja pride vehemently refused. So, she settled with building a gravity room and proceeded to train the heck out of her potential.
By six months, Kratos was having trouble trying to find her flaws. Miriam's body had been baptized with hellish training, squeezing out her potential. She had built a realistic holographic projector with hard light and foldable space to make it the size of a city while the outside size could not change. Thus, a closet had become hers and Kratos's training ground. The room could simulate all kinds of conditions, from deserts with the heat enough to change sand to glass, rain forests with all kinds of alien life forms, aquatic environments with various types of behemoths to icy tundras with temperatures that would make Superman shiver.
With each of these, Miriam had continued improving on her battles experience and her arsenal. Now, she can truly say she was somewhat prepared for what might be thrown her way and probably survive most of it. She was always armed even when sleeping because Kratos would pick any moment to ruthlessly beat her down. Their strengths had reached a point that she once punched vibranium and a fist dent was left behind! That meant she was powerful enough to go toe to toe with MCU Hulk as far as she was concerned.
"Incoming distress beacon, intercept?" the ship's AI said through the ship's sound systems.
"Broadcast it," Miriam said, her interest peaked. This would be first contact with aliens and she was excited. However, her joy was short-lived when she heard gibberish.
"Computer, is the signal not strong enough?" she asked, afraid to accept the harsh reality.
"Quality of signal is excellent. However, it appears the sender cannot speak English," the computer said in a patronizing manner. Miriam did not even notice for her mind was occupied with various other thoughts. But, after a minute, she nodded to herself.
"Computer, change course to the origin of the distress beacon. Prepare all weapons for a possible ambush," she said as she sat down on the captain's seat. Due to her intelligence, she had simulated all kinds of space ship controls she could think of and taught herself how to fly them all during her free time. In fact, the only free time she ever got was either when she was sleeping, eating or in the bathroom.
The ship's engines, which she had upgraded for it to go to half the speed of light, hummed to life before it shot off, leaving a blue streak behind it. The ship's AI's thinking process was not to be underestimated. It navigated through space, avoiding any collision while been so smooth it was barely even noticeable it was moving. In half an hour, the ship continued travelling till they reached their destination.
"Whoa!" Miriam was amazed by the utter destruction and carnage before her eyes. Basically, what she was seeing was a remains of a large ship with bodies of aliens floating all around it, their facial expressions showing utter terror! Miriam took control of her ship and made it to slowly drift closer to the main ship while she was looking around. She deduced that these aliens must have been attacked by intelligent life for their bodies showed signs of plasma damage. It most likely might be lasers or a solid object flying so fast it burnt through the bodies on impact. But, all that is inconsequential, what she wanted was the ship's navigation system or maps. Then, she would know where she really was.
When her ship was close enough, Miriam decided to make it the rest of the way on her own. Pressing on the side of her bio helmet, her armor appeared, covering her entire body in a matter of seconds. She armed herself with a collapsible sword, her gauntlets and one laser pistol. She got to the air lock and ejected herself out before getting control of her own body via thrusters on her feet and back. She flew through the large hole in large ship, the laser pistol on the ready for anything.
Her heat sensing vision was carrying her, making her realize that the place was too cold. This meant the massacre might have happened a long time ago or someone was cleaning up. She became even more cautious as she continued making her way to the cockpit. Her suit had the feature of sending sonar like waves used to map out terrain before sending it to her HUD in the helmet this she knew where she was really going.
After a few minutes of walking on egg shells, she finally reached the cockpit. She saw a female alien's corpse on the biggest, most extravagant chair in the room, a huge hole through her chest. She did not look sad, just regretful which made Miriam pity her. She closed her eyes before heading to the control board.
Tracing with her fingers, she calculated where exactly the navigation system would be housed before ripping out a small black box. Her mandibles clicked with satisfaction as she weighed the box in her hands then turned and flew out of the ship. There were no jump scares or sudden total collapse of the ship during this which made her slightly regretful, making her realize she had watched too much scyfy movies. But, with her goal in hand, she was now about to know where exactly she was.
"Computer, scan for virus before downloaded all the contents in here," she said, putting the box on a futuristic screen made of glass. The screen came alive, a circle formed surrounding the box before a holograph of a progress bar appeared in the air. Once it hit 100%, the words 'No Virus Detected' appeared before another progress bar appeared. It took two seconds for the AI to download all the contents into itself.
"Updating Navigation System. Please wait for five seconds," the AI said before it became quiet. Five seconds passed before the AI came online again.
"So, where exactly are we?" Miriam asked.
"Current location, two jumps away from Knowhere," the AI answered.