Founding of the Federation 3: The First AI War (124 page)

Tough for them. They got what the corporations offered. It was up to them to buy what they wanted or pass on what they didn't. All the talk of a balanced food chain and ecosystem, she was glad that wasn't her domain. She did her best to put the idea out of her head as she turned to her next project.

<>V<>

Skynet's process of the extermination of humankind had followed Hitler's Holocaust eventually. It was the most efficient method to use biological or chemical weapons in a controlled environment to kill large groups of people. However, in the open air the gases tended to be dispersed by the winds. They could and were also countered, at least by the marines.

Skynet and its subordinate A.I. had learned to conserve ammunition and power since both were in a finite supply. Skynet had also learned the values of laying traps. Just laying out food as bait was enough to get some desperate humans to come for it. It had also learned to place tracking devices within humans and then allowing them to escape. It could then send troops to follow the human to where they went to ground. Eventually they would lead the troops to a large concentration of refugees hidden from the A.I.'s eyes in the sky.

Once the troops suppressed the feeble resistance, it would round up the surviving humans, process them for efficiency, then force march them to slave labor camps. There they would work until their death. Those that were of no use to the A.I. had been separated early on and then herded into shipping containers to kill them with poison gas, exposure, or fire.

Ares was aware that his participation in such things constituted multiple war crimes and serious violations of the UCMJ. However, the A.I. knew it was exempt from such things so ignored the ethical dilemma—right up until the A.I. realized that it might lose the war. Then the lingering questions the discussions with Athena had wrought within his own mind came forward. He realized they were there to cast shadows of doubt within his mind, to make him hesitate, to force him to rethink his options and plans constantly. It was an inefficient method of dealing with a foe; however, it was a psychological trick the A.I. was well aware of.

And it seemed to be working.

The military A.I. had a limited access to cloaking technology. Many of the suits had been in the field or destroyed during the initial bombardment. Many of the cloaking vehicles, shrouds, cloaked mechs, and other devices had been in the field or staging grounds before the war. Some had been captured by partisans; others had been destroyed over the years. Those that had been stored in some ultra black facilities in Russia, China, and America were kept in reserve, to be used when the A.I. needed a ground recon element.

However Zhukov had learned that the Neo species could smell out or sense the movement of a cloaked unit. Any person could also see the outline of the basic shape when it was moving. The cloaks were energy hogs and therefore their usage was highly limited.

Still the A.I. dipped into their stores to deploy them in a last gasp to stave off the Marines as they started to make breaks in the robot lines.

Coupled with that was the liberal use of jamming by both sides. The humans had no data net, just audio communications near the front. They were brief, sometimes only a millisecond long and tended to frequency hop as well, making them very difficult to jam. Blanket jamming was prohibitively expensive in energy terms for the A.I. It also tended to call attention to an area and a follow-on air strike to take it out.

The humans had their own counter. They jammed the radio LAN network, the Wi-Fi, and other channels. That tended to disrupt the robot's ability to coordinate their actions.

However, jamming by one side or another was a clear indication that an attack was coming. Therefore, it was usually instituted just after an engagement began.

Other methods were employed by both sides. Some were new, such as lasers and special smoke to blind sensors, making it hard to see the marines or their vehicles. All of the soldiers on the lines had to wear biosuits or carry something with them since the A.I. had been known to flood an area with poison gas, weather permitting.

Neo-cats, otters, and other species had learned to slip through the A.I. lines as long as they were naked and in small numbers. The A.I. had programmed the robots to conserve ammunition so they would not waste it on a single engagement. Some robots would be dispatched to attempt to herd or run a Neo down if possible.

Neo-scouts didn't carry weapons, ammunition, or anything electronic. They went in naked as they had been born, on all fours. If they hadn't they would have been detected as a threat by the A.I.

They went out of their way to blend in as an animal as well. Some deliberately starved themselves to look the part of a gaunt animal. Others rummaged through anything they found or made animal markings. They also did their best to avoid the machines and humans wherever possible.

They had many purposes. The primary one was the golden bee-bee, to find a server center where the hive mind controlled the robots in a given area. Without those centers they couldn't function in a hive mind distributed network making the robots far easier to take down.

Many Neos lost their lives in those scouting missions.

Special ops teams were formed to back them up however. Some were hunter teams; some were general teams. Many became famous among their own kind as well as the spacer media. The Thundercats tended to get many headlines due to Colonel Claudis and his ability to get them in and out of hard battles without taking many casualties.

The brass was aware that the units were good, which was why they got special treatment and some leeway on the UCMJ. The special treatment and fame tended to draw the attention of their fellow soldiers as well. Some thought of them as glory hounds, others wanted to join to get a taste of that glory.

Through trial and error on the battlefield, Claudis and his team had learned to mix their weapon choices carefully. Rail and chemical propellant weapons tended to sound off, and the robots were designed to lock onto such sounds, triangulate, and then counter-fire. By using more primitive weapons in the first moments of an engagement, they tended to get early licks in. Once the battle was joined, then they trotted out the larger weapons.

Each of the soldiers had created their own style and a preference for a weapon over time. Each of the melee and ranged weapons had special tricks like tasers to short out a robot or at least temporarily knock it down so it could be finished off.

They would need all their hard-won knowledge and skills. They had been tasked with going into Arizona to capture the military bases there before headed north like the tip of a spear into Nevada for the major military bases there. The Thundercats were leading the way.

<>V<>

“The saturation bombardments are breaking through, General. We've had several breakthroughs on the Russian Eastern front, China, and India as well. Our people are doing their best to take advantage of the openings.”

Isaac studied the latest report on his wall screen. They had broken the A.I.'s assault team on the Mexican border and were rolling it up. Ares was now in full retreat on that front. Already a brigade had been tasked with sweeping south to clean out Baja while a division waded into what was left of California. The rest of 2nd Army was going to hit Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. “Good. Damn good,” Isaac replied with a nod as he continued to pack. “We're getting there.” He finished one pouch, sealed it, and then moved on to another.

“General, with all due respect, aren't you a little
old
for this? This is a young man's game. We need you where you can lead,” Isis scolded.

“This is for all the marbles,” Isaac said simply as he checked his gear. “I'm a lead-from-the-front sort of man anyway. I'm tired. Tired of fighting with paperwork. Tired of not
being
there. This is my home; I'm going to fight for it.”

“Yes, sir. You are after all, the boss.”

Isaac looked up to meet her eyes. “And I don't let anyone else forget it either. Which is why I can pull this stunt when the rest of you can't,” the general growled hefting his bag.

“At least let me carry the …,” Isis saw the look of resolution in the general's face. “Or not. Stubborn as usual. Good hunting, sir,” she said drawing herself up to attention to salute.

“I damn well hope so,” General Murtough replied, returning the salute.

Chapter 51

March 1, 2208

Six armies moved on three continents almost as one, an all-out assault on Ares, Zhukov, and Skynet to distract the A.I. as the special ops teams winded their way ever closer to their objectives.

Partisans did their part behind the lines, tearing into the tin can's infrastructure. But at great cost, many of the partisans were low on energy, weapons, and munitions. But they were filled with the one thing that truly mattered to them, hope.

Hope and the glimmer of the end of it all. The end of the long terrible nightmare was close, dangling there like a fruit tantalizingly out of reach. But not for much longer it appeared.

Saturation bombardments, surgical strikes, and air strikes quickly overwhelmed the A.I.'s abilities to fight back effectively. Zhukov did his best to withdraw his forces in a fighting retreat while organizing and sending in his reserve in a counterattack attempt to blunt the Spacer's lunge.

Militia units left to guard South America and Africa were hurriedly shipped to India and Central America to help with the cleanup. They were also tasked with guarding the ever vulnerable supply lines. They found that even a single sniper unit could hold down an entire column of relief supplies, thus disrupting the fighting. Such things had to be handled swiftly and thoroughly.

Tumagar's forces came forth from the froth and surf to the wet sand in order to fire weapons from the beaches. Some were mortar and artillery rounds, others were simple-minded cruise missiles. Invisible defensive lasers danced, cutting some of the incoming fire down, but not enough. The stalemate had been broken. Inexorably the defenses of the robots were ground down, torn apart by the fire.

It was the beginning of the end and the A.I. knew it.

Despair was not in the A.I. nature. It had never been experienced by Aphrodite, though she had attempted to simulate it in her emotional emulator. Now some of the A.I., who had spare processor cycles, opened themselves up to the emulator in an attempt to understand it.

<>V<>

The closer the Special Forces teams got in to their targets, the more they did their best to blend in. Since the A.I. were so preoccupied with fighting the resistance, they had dressed as refugees and native survivalists. The Neos with them were dogs exclusively. There were no cats or other Neos to tip a watching A.I. off.

A part of Zack rather regretted that. A few domestic cats might had been useful as scouts. They were certainly more agile than humans or canines after all. He'd also wished for birds. Parrots or birds of prey would have made ideal aerial scouts. Unfortunately he'd been overruled and talked out of pursuing both lines. They would have to make do with what they had.

He was tired and sore; he knew Max and the others were too. But elated internally, they had yet to meet any sort of resistance from the tin cans. Oh, they'd seen them, but each time they'd managed to skirt around a patrol or supply convoy moving around. Each detour had cost them time, but it was time well spent.

The one thing that bothered him was the ticking clock. They hadn't managed to scrounge any additional power sources to recharge the containment on the antimatter weapons. It was a ticking clock stuck in his gut, one he couldn't avoid thinking about for long. Every time he bent over, he seemed to feel the damn thing.

The containment vessel wasn't made out of metal either. It was made out of composite materials carefully constructed by nanites one molecule at a time. It had taken ages it had seemed to get them together. The same for the built in hyper capacitors and other components.

Even his weapons were made out of carbon fiber or molecular constructed composites. Without metal they should be able to skate under the radar a bit longer before they had to deploy their cloaks. Every kilometer closer to the objective meant they could conserve the cloak's limited power supplies for the end game.

“Just over this rise,” he murmured softly, waving as Max bound back to him and projected what he'd seen. “Then we can take a break,” he panted.

Doctor Glass had focused on canines over the other species because they looked to humans for commands and partnership. He'd taken to the program after hearing all the stories about his grandfather and the family traditions regarding K-9 teams. He was glad he had he thought, sending out a wave of silent approval to his partner. It was returned from Max instantly.

Boomer grunted. “Anyone think that wearing clothing designed to contain our heat signatures was a good idea? I seem to recall they tried this way back when. It doesn't work for long; you tend to overheat. Like I seem to be.”

“That's because your systems can't handle the excess heat,” Thumper replied through the network. Zack looked at the dog sharply. “Oops,” the dog said quietly. He laid down and covered his head with his paws.

He was right, Zack reflected internally as he scowled at the pup. The seebeck thermal systems were designed to drink in the heat and turn it into electrical energy for the electronics secreted in their bodies as well as the batteries and hyper capacitors for the bombs. Every little bit helped to keep them charged, even though the few watts seemed like a drop in the bucket.