"Alright, we all know the mission, and you all know your duties. Get to it!" A chorus of 100 automatons in front of him, and 1000 unseen in the walls of the ship, replied in unison "yes, captain. For the glory of emperor Zet-Plok!"

Whatever. A dozen or so robots stayed on the bridge while the rest went about their duties. It was all ceremony and bullshit anyway: custom dictated that each ship have a human captain, but the ship was fully autonomous. It wasn't going to respond to any command of his that violated it's mission.

He was the only human on board. It was still a prison of a sort, but it beat the alternative. Max-Coyote had been in prison so long he had forgotten his given name. When the guards had decided to insert a ter-gul beast into the prison blok, he had managed to gouge out one of it's eyes and slash it's front paw, causing the animal to reconsider its prey. Since he was the only one to escape after seeing the wolf-like monstrosity, the others had decided to give him the name Coyote, and since it was an apex predator, Max.

No one was willing to fly these autonomous missions of unknown purpose into deep space. Instead, prisoners were given the option of this or "mental reconditioning". They had all seen people come out of that, completely changed - without will or freedom. It sent a chill down his spine.

No, better to be banished on this ship with his mind intact and the freedom to do whatever he wanted within the confines. No idea what the destination was, or how it supposedly served his holiness Zet-Plok. He was promised his freedom after the fact, but he figured it might only be the freedom of death in the end.

Of course, he had the option to go into stasis and ride out any portion of the journey, but it seemed better to enjoy whatever the ship had to offer. If he became bored of it all the he might consider that option.