Founding of the Federation 3: The First AI War (74 page)

<>V<>

The Skynet hive recognized its error in killing the crew of both ships and not staying with the planned flight plan. In order to complete its mission, it would require stealth. It would require getting in and carefully fitting in until it could martial the resources to strike from within.

However, it had learned additional lessons in the brief time it had on board the two ships. The fact that the communications were air gapped on one but not the other was interesting. That the humans were using lasers for communications was also logged.

Unfortunately, the spider and clone hadn't downloaded information to the hive for further intelligence gathering and processing. It made a note to do so on its next venture. It set to target another vessel with the weather station; however, a strike from the heavens turned the series of arrays into rubble.

<>V<>

Without a link to the main hive, the spiders unleashed within the lunar computers fell back on their primary mission. They mapped the system in detail; however, the activity was noted. The spiders found that they were trapped within a separate network from the main computers, unable to control or affect the humans. This too was logged; the A.I. virus wouldn't be able to destroy the humans through infiltration as it had on Earth. Several of the spiders, engorged by their purloined data, attempted to retreat, but the signal on the ground was not received. Additional spiders were copied and sent out to Mars and other places; however, there was no return ping signature to announce success. The firewalls prevented infiltration.

The unknown communications did alert Athena and other A.I. in the star system that a habitat had been breached. Gia intercepted the signal destined for Axial-2. It was easy to check the direction it had come from in order to backtrack the signal to the source. General Murtough immediately ordered op teams in to do a cleaning of computers since the communications were compromised.

“How the hell did it get in?” General Murtough demanded once the spammer had been shut down.

“We identified a weather satellite control platform. I ordered a KEW strike on it,” Elliot stated.

The general nodded. “That doesn't explain how it got through the firewalls,” he said.

“That … I'm not sure about. We'd have to do a postmortem on them and we're not risking it. Speculating …” Elliot frowned pensively, drawing on his years of computer skills and knowledge. “I'd say someone screwed up somewhere obviously. They didn't get past the air gap in Lunar 9. But they did with the two freighters.”

“Damn it.”

“Yes, I know. Six dead.”

“I'm more worried about what the thing learned from the experience.”

“Well, that I'm not sure about. Any encryption keys, locations …,” Elliot winced.

Isaac scowled as he ran a frustrated hand through his almost nonexistent hair then put the hand over his mouth for a moment. “Damn,” he said, letting the hand drop.

“Lunar-9's IT tech admitted he hadn't gotten around to updating the firewall,” Athena reported after a moment. “I'm reading the report from the op team. It is in your inbox, General, Elliot,” she said.

“Thanks,” Isaac said dryly, pulling the report up. “So...”

“So, Skynet may not have received a copy of our most current firewall there. We can be grateful to that. But it did use the moon base's communications to spam the rest of the system before it was shut down. We're still checking to see who else hadn't updated their firewall.”

“Damn it.”

“It's a pain in the ass to change software, General, no matter how easy you make it. How painless, someone has to do it,” Elliot said.

“This shit …,” the general scrubbed his face. “It's pure laziness; that is what it is. The tech should be raked over the coals for that crap.”

“I'm pretty sure someone somewhere will do so,” Athena stated.

“Nothing like a close call for everyone to wake up and pay attention again,” Elliot said.

“Tell that to the crews of those two ships we lost,” the general growled. Elliot's face fell. He nodded after a moment, not meeting the general's eyes.

<>V<>

Ares received the order to use its orbital resources to mount a cyber attack. It calculated the odds of success, ran several scenarios to see what the best and worst outcomes were, and then went with it. It had to keep the virus from infiltrating the military network anymore than it already had. It also needed data on the spacers as well as a means to throw them off balance.

Besides, data was cheap, easily to copy, and could be sent repeatedly.

<>V<>

“General, we're being pinged,” a tech said, sounding confused.

“Pinged?” General Murtough asked, turning with a frown. “From who?”

“It's in orbit …,” the tech frowned and checked the notes. “Not one of ours though.” She frowned again. “It's US military encryption, however.”

“Don't answer it!” Athena warned. “It's Ares,” she stated, “trying to find a back door.”

Isaac looked to her and then to the tech. “Do as she says. Cut the signal and scrub the buffers. Send out a warning to all commands. Get me that transmitter,” he growled.

“I'm surprised it is even coming from … ahah!” the tech said. “Slippery little … it's a microsatellite, sir. Either Ares launched it recently and was using the debris fields as cover.”

“Or it was using them the entire time and we're just now noticing it,” Elliot replied mildly.”

“That too, sir,” the tech said.

“What have you got, Wendy?” Isaac asked.

“We're trying to lock its position down now. No telemetry of course. There is a lot of scatter along that track. It's making it difficult to lock on.”

“When you find it, kill it. And any others you find,” the general ordered.

Wendy looked up briefly, as if to gauge his order then back to her board. “Yes, sir.”

“KEW strike away. It missed,” another tech said. “The satellite has moved.”

“Damn it,” Wendy scowled, punching at her board in frustration.

“The good news is, the more fuel it uses to maneuver, the less it will have later. And rocks are cheap,” Elliot said. “So send another or more than one. Bracket it if you can,” he ordered.

Isaac glanced at him and nodded.

<>V<>

Ares realized the spacer's intent to hunt down and destroy the satellite and others. It had erred in using the satellite at all, it could have kept it in reserve. It sent fresh orders to the satellite ground stations to move the satellite as well as others. But the constant jiggling about made them lose track of their ground stations and used-up fuel. Each time telemetry was lost, it thought the asset had been lost permanently.

Lasers licked out from Olympus and some of the jammer satellites. Apparently maneuvering all of his surviving satellites had been a mistake as well; their movements had been a warning to the spacers. Ares used his own resources to strike back.

Lasers dueled back and forth, hunting for prey. Whenever a laser on the ground or in space found a return signal, a much more powerful beam was directed at the target. A fresh “lukewarm war” in and around Earth began.

It was a distraction Ares wasn't certain was needed. He checked the pros and cons of the engagement. He was losing valuable airborne assets and exposing his laser facilities on the ground as well as those on ships and in the air. The lasers were using up power and drawing on the hardware, increasing the chance of a breakdown. Those threats almost made Ares break the engagement. However, each time he engaged it was a warning to the spacers that he was not beaten and that he could interdict or destroy anything they intended to send his way. That would break their cycle and force them to rethink buying him time to prepare further. So he allowed the engagement to continue.

Dozens of jammer satellites were cut down before KEW strikes were directed at his energy weapons. He was forced to move them or use them to defend themselves.

<>V<>

“We've lost a quarter of all of the jammer satellites. Any that go over an area Ares controls are getting cut down.”

“Not good.”

“They are cheap and easily replaced. Each time he uses the lasers we learn a little more about where he's got them, the sensors feeding them, and he uses power and resources keeping them online and maintaining them. He may think he's winning; he's not,” General Murtough said. “So let him shoot.”

“The clouds are reforming over the northwest. Once they are thick enough, his lidar will be curtailed; the water and carbon vapor will disperse the signal. It will also unfortunately curtail our own sensors,” a tech said, sounding relieved.

“Every little bit helps,” Isaac muttered. Elliot caught the statement and nodded. The general checked the board and then grunted when he realized the weapons fire had terminated a minute prior. “As soon as he's through, rearrange the network to cover the holes until stores can deploy more satellites as replacements,” he ordered.

“Yes sir,” Elliot said, bobbing a nod as he logged the order as well as the order to break out more satellites. “We've got plenty of them in reserve.”

“Good. Excellent I suppose.”

“Ares and Skynet were trying to get us to kick off early,” the general mused. Elliot looked at him. “Back in World War II Elliot, the Russians found out about an attack by Hitler from their spies. They knew the timing right down to the minute. So, a few hours before it was to begin, they started a massive artillery bombardment to shake up the Nazi's morale and nerve. It didn't do much physically, but it did a bit psychologically.”

“The psychological can effect war. With us it's about breaking our will to fight. To get us to believe it will cost too much,” Elliot stated.

“Exactly,” General Murtough said with a grimace. “It was probing, but also a way of sending a message. One that is loud and clear, he's ready for us.”

“So?”

“So, we don't stick our head in the noose,” the general said, smiling thinly. Every ounce of his being ached and screamed to liberate his nation. He knew the price of delaying further would be cost in lives, civilian lives. But he had no choice.

“Blooding the troops,” Elliot replied with a nod.

“Getting our toes wet and yes, blooding the troops. Also something done in both world wars as well as the Asian war of 2030 I believe. That one nearly sparked World War III all over a bunch of islands,” the general said, shaking his head.

“What we learn and they learn … the A.I. will learn their own lessons,” Elliot mused. “I wish there was a way to filter it or stop the progression of information all together.”

“We can, but in some ways we don't want to do so,” the general stated. The chimp turned brown inquisitive eyes his way. He snorted. “Disinformation? We may not crack their will, if they even have one which I sincerely doubt, but we can show them some things if we choose to.”

“Or not.”

“Yes, that is a problem. But it is an acceptable one I suppose.”

Elliot frowned thoughtfully. “We could cut off an area. Hit the communication nodes in the area and then go in and sweep it. That way information won't get out,” he said.

The general frowned then shrugged. “It's a thought I suppose. Trying to hit buried transmission cables though …”

“They have to come to the surface somewhere, sometime general,” a tech said.

The general frowned at the tech who shrunk back. “Sorry, sir.”

“No, you are right. We can look into that. We can also use people on the ground to blow them up as well I suppose,” he said.

Elliot nodded. He wasn't certain if his suggestion or Wendy's was right or not. Either way, they were likely to get someone hurt and more likely killed.

But they had to do it. They had to start taking back the Earth. One way or another.

<>V<>

Each time ships came in they unloaded and transshipped cargo and personnel elsewhere in the Earth orbital area. But they were starting to stack up forces and materials at the Lagrange points as well as Olympus. Convoys moved both to and from Mars on a bimonthly basis. It was easier to move in convoys to match orbital mechanics and lessen transit time; however, it made unloading and loading a frantic hazardous ballet.

They were slowly ramping up the pace as the people involved at every level got their feet under them and built the necessary skills up to handle the increasing load. Injuries and the occasional accident were not uncommon, though they did their best not to let it slow them down too much.

Industrial plants at the Lagrange points were set up to create temporary transhab modules and other facilities to house the personnel.

Over the past eight months, forty thousand personnel had made their way from across the solar system to Earth orbit. Just about all of them were in Olympus. The thought of a nuke going off near the station wasn't comforting in the slightest. Talk about having all of the world's eggs in one basket, Elliot mused.

Personnel problems were minor. Charlie landed on such minor fights with both feet immediately. His ongoing concern was getting the troops down to the ground. They were all spoiling for a fight. They needed to act, many were complaining of getting stale while sitting on their thumbs. He knew it, but he also knew they had to get it right.