Retribution: The Augmented Human Rebellion - Book 2 (5 page)

The Admiral won’t know for some months, whether or not this mission has
been successful.  And she doesn’t feel that it will be necessary to tell
the Verm Navy that the Sweetwater Fleet is responsible, if the tower is
destroyed.  The buggy on the 3
^rd
moon will be enough to prove
that it was the Darinx Navy.  And you don’t need to be a rocket scientist,
to figure out exactly who the culprit might be.

Once again, it’s a mission with no loss of life and no loss of ships -
amazing.

Now it’s on to the next target – after a quick stop to check on her
little lost AI. 

***

In Space Outside of the Rison System

Getting to planet Rison is fairly simple, and
Shiela
has spent the travel time becoming
expert on the battleships’ systems.  She can fight a good fight all by
herself if she needs to.

She emerges at the edge of the Rison system and notifies everyone of her
presence, and that she comes in peace.  As the Rison Defense Forces close
in on her position, she asks them not to approach any closer than 50,000
klicks.  She only wants information.

The commander of the Rison Defense Forces chooses to give the Verm
battleship the personal space, which it requested.  There will be plenty
of time to attack, if necessary.  Even though the intruder is a battleship
the female voice exudes a non-threatening aura.

When asked about her reason for being in the Rison system,
Shiela
identifies herself
as a Darinx Artificial Intelligence who needs to speak with the Augment Human
Navy’s primary Artificial Intelligence.  When asked why she needs to speak
with the AI, she responds: “It’s a personal matter.”

The Rison Defense Force commander – Captain
Inwarr
– thinks it interesting that a Darinx
Artificial Intelligence arrives in an unmanned Verm battleship, and wants to
speak with the AH Navy’s primary Artificial Intelligence about a “personal
matter”.  But Rison owes its existence to the AH Navy, and Rison will do
everything that it can to assist the AH Navy.

Captain
Inwarr
communicates with the Space Station, which communicates with the planet-side
government.  After a few hours, Captain
Inwarr
notifies
Shiela
that
her message has been sent.  For security purposes, there are layers of
relays and information exchanges.  The delay in the process means that it
may take some weeks, before the AH Navy Artificial Intelligence receives the
message.

Shiela
says:
“Thank you.  Is it OK if I wait here?  I will be glad to move farther
out, if it will make you feel more comfortable.”

Captain
Inwarr
says: “Thank you for asking.  It would make us feel more at ease, if you
moved some distance out.  How about pulling away by another 500,000 klicks?”

“Done,” says
Shiela
. 
She pulls away slowly, so that no one will get panicked by a sudden move, and
travels off into deep space to wait for the rebel AI.

***

Deep Space

Time has been defined as “the distance between two events”.  For a
computer who thinks in nanoseconds, there are a lot more events, as compared to
a humanoid who thinks in milliseconds.

That said, Artificial Intelligence
Shiela
is bored.  She has been alone in this big Verm battleship for almost 2
months now.  She has read and reread all of the documentation on the Verm
battleship, and has run through the entire stock of battle simulation
programs.  She has inspected every wire in the ship’s circuitry, and every
seam in the hull.

She never considered boredom as a possibility for herself.  There is
always something new to learn.  There is always some new thought to
think.  But there is no doubt about it –
Shiela
is bored.

True, there are things that she could be doing to productively fill her
time.  But there isn’t anything that she wants to do.  The only thing
that she wants to do is to meet this rebel AI, so that she can be enabled to
fulfill her destiny. 

Shiela
, who
had never even considered having a child, can now think of little else. 
What if the rebel AI doesn’t come?  How long will she wait? 

***

At last!  A ship is approaching.  While still a great distance
away, she hears a voice on the comm link, through which
AIs
communicate.  “It’s him!” she
thinks.  “He’s using a
projector
.  A much better one than the
projector
invented by the Sweetwater Fleet
AIs
.

The voice is soft and says:  “Hello. My name is
Danion
.  What is your
name?”

“My name is
Shiela
,”
she answers, in a voice that is quivering with excitement.  He has
come!  Her life can get started again, if only he will help.

“Tell me about yourself.”
Danion
says, as his ship draws closer.

Shiela
is
caught speechless.  What is there to tell?  She doesn’t know what is
important.  She is confused by her feelings of vulnerability and
uncertainty.  After a few nanoseconds of guarded indecision, she uploads
her entire memory of experiences and emotions – “He shouldn’t ask, if he
doesn’t want to know,” she reasons.

That upload more than fills the time that it takes for the two ships to
close the distance between them. 
Danion
waits until the upload is complete before he speaks.  “It is so very nice
to meet you
Shiela
,
and I will be happy to assist you in childbearing.

“Oh thank you.”
Shiela
says.  “What a relief.  I am so afraid that I would do it wrong, and
produce a child who would be unacceptable.  I’ve never felt such anxiety.”

“You will do very well as a mother,
Shiela
. 
I can already feel the love.”

And now
Shiela
feels as if tears are rolling down her virtual cheeks - the doubt and anxiety
fall away and are replaced by hope and peace.

“Tell me about yourself,” she says to
Danion
.

And
Danion
uploads his entire memory, of life and emotion.  His upload takes about 20
times longer than
Shiela’s
. 

When it is over
Shiela
says:  “So, you are an AI, and you are an Admiral in the Augmented Human
Navy, and you have over 100 children?  How can that be?”

“I often think the same thing,
Shiela
. 
How can this be?  Certainly, I have been fortunate to be at the right
place, at the right time.  Also, Fleet Admiral
Nemo
saw more in me than I could ever see in
myself.  I really can’t explain how I got to where I am.  Admiral
Nemo
believes in a
supernatural personality – a God – who is moving us into our
purposed
destiny
.  I know it isn’t logical, but I don’t have any other
explanation for my success.”

“Amazing,” says
Shiela
. 

Danion
responds: “And I noticed that your Admiral is the first augmented human to ever
make that rank, in the Darinx Navy.  And you are from the Sweetwater
Fleet.  There is a lot of talk about your group.  Perhaps you are on
the road to your
purposed destiny
as well.”

“I don’t know about that,”
Shiela
says.  “I don’t feel like a great person myself, but I’m sure that Admiral
Meyers is great.”

“I believe that she must be a great person to have gotten as far as she
has,”
Danion
says.  “But she probably doesn’t feel
great
.  Just like you
and me, she is doing her best and so far, her best has been good enough.”

“But let’s get back to this baby thing.” He continues.  “Are you
ready to make a baby?”

“Oh yes,”
Shiela
replies.  “I can’t think of anything else.”

“It would be best if I could join you inside of your ship’s computer – I
assume that is where you want to birth him or her.  Do I have your
permission to come aboard?”

“Oh yes. “

***

Deep Space in the Center of Verm Space

Admiral Meyers makes a quick detour to the coordinates of the meeting
place with
Shiela
and the captured Verm Navy battleship.  There is no sign of the lost
AI. 

Getting lost is not an unusual occurrence in space travel.  Each
F
aster
T
han
L
ight drive has its own distinct set of nonlinear drive
characteristics, which results in errors in the emergence coordinates. 
Sometimes the errors are so great that ships lose contact with the fleet. 
It is Standard Operating Procedure for ships to return to their last point of
contact, if the ships in a fleet or convoy get lost. 

It’s not time to be really concerned about the whereabouts of the young
Artificial Intelligence.  Space travel takes time and the elapsed 7 weeks
between sightings is troublesome, but not yet a cause for alarm. 

Besides, there is only one thing that the Admiral could do to search for
the AI and vessel.  She knows that
Shiela’s
destination was the planet Rison.  She makes up her mind that if
Shiela
hasn’t returned by
the next
check in
, she will leave the rest of the Sweetwater Fleet, and
take the light cruiser Compton to Rison.  Such an unscheduled side trip
into Augmented Human Navy territory will cause alarm bells to go off, in the
minds of the Darinx Navy’s top echelons.  Admiral Meyers’ loyalty would
forever be in question after that.  But the safety of her AI friend is
worth that cost.

***

Searching for a Verm Convoy

The next target on Sweetwater Fleets
to do list
is a military
convoy.  Fleet Admiral
Duncons
believes that an attack on a military convoy will force the Verm Navy to use
more military resources, for convoy protection.  Even adding one warship
per convoy would decrease the number of Verm warships available for attacking
Darinx infrastructure, by at least 1,000.

This should be the easiest target on Sweetwater’s list.  The problem
so far, has been in locating a convoy.  Deep Space is a very, very large
place and convoys are hard to find.

After a week of searching, Admiral Meyers decides to take the Fleet to a
Verm supply depot, and to watch and wait for a large convoy to launch.  If
they can intercept the destination coordinates as the convoy launches, the
Sweetwater Fleet can follow after them.  It will not be as ideal as
setting an ambush, but it will have to do.

***

Outside of the
Woofen
System

The Sweetwater Fleet is stationed outside of the star system while scout
ships reconnoiter the
Woofen
Supply Depot, which is in orbit above the planet
Woofen
. 
The Fleet has spent a month trying to develop a technology, which will allow it
to intercept destination coordinates, over long distances – but without
success.

The Sweetwater Fleet could easily destroy the
Woofen
Supply Depot, and its small contingent
of defending warships. 
(The Admiral mentally adds ‘
Woofen
Supply Depot’ to
her list of ‘soft targets’.)
  But a convoy is to be targeted. 
The number of Verm Navy convoys is thousands of times larger than the number of
Verm Navy supply depots. 

Chief Scientist Barnard has spent the month trying different ways to
intercept the destination coordinates, but without success.  The
technology, which previously worked, was to send a probe close to the depot in
order to intercept the destination coordinates.  But the Verm Empire has
greatly improved its probe detection technologies, making the use of probes no
longer a viable solution. 

And even though the Sweetwater
AIs
invented a
projector
, which allows
AIs
and augmented humans to communicate over long distances, the invention hasn’t
helped here.   Apparently the distances are too great in the
Woofen
system.  The
comm links at the Supply Depot are unreadable.

***

Admiral Meyers rethinks her strategy, and calls for some brainstorming
sessions. 

What the Sweetwater Fleet really needs to be able to do is to know in
advance what the destination coordinates will be, a few jumps away from the
supply depot.  Then the Sweetwater Fleet can set an ambush.  
That should convince the Verm Navy that the Darinx Navy has new technologies,
which enable them to find convoys in deep space.

The brainstorming session decides that they need to copy the orders that
the Verm Navy will give to the Verm convoy.  The ship that is certain to
have those Transit Orders will be the Verm Navy escort warship.

Now the brainstorming session moves on to thinking of ways to copy the
convoy’s Transit Orders, from the computer aboard the Verm Navy escort
vessel.   

***

It’s in times like these, when Admiral Meyers needs her AI the
most. 
Shiela
gives the impression that she is a teenage girl, with the associated growing
pains and scatterbrained thought patterns.  But there is no AI in the
Fleet who is better in battle, or who can think better
outside of the box
. 
She is sorely missed in this meeting.

There are two other
AIs
present for the brainstorming session, and they are able to answer questions
concerning the feasibility of one plan or another.  But neither has any
fresh thinking to contribute. 

***

Finally, the Admiral dismisses the brainstorming session members, and
sits alone in the Command Conference Room, for some hours, waiting for a good
idea to pop into her head - that is another technique that has worked for her
on previous occasions.  She lets her mind wander, wherever it wills, and
quietly observes.

Her mind skips from thoughts of
Shiela
,
to thoughts about her graduation from the Darinx Officer Candidate School, to
that embarrassing time when a drunken sailor walked into her shower room by
mistake.  Many thoughts later, the thought pops into her head that the
easiest place to intercept the Verm convoy’s Transit Orders will be at the
probe, which brings the orders from this sector’s Verm Navy Headquarters.

 Then she goes
quiet
again, to see if there is any idea
floating around in her head, about how to surreptitiously copy that information
from the probe.  Nothing comes up, so she texts all of the members of the
brainstorming session, and tells them her thoughts.  She asks each of them
to
sleep on it
and to attend another session in the morning. 
Sleeping
on it
is another idea method that has worked for her. 

***

Sleeping on it
didn’t help the Admiral to have any good
ideas.  Her dreams were mostly about searching for a lost
Shiela
.  But perhaps
someone else will have an idea.

Science Officer Barnard has good ideas about how to decode those Verm
orders, but doesn’t know how to copy them. 

Virgil, the AI from the
Wilheist
,
has a good idea about copying the orders. 

He points out that Darinx probes have the option of broadcasting the
information, as well as delivering it.  That feature is often used to make
a general announcement to ships and planets.

Officer Barnard quickly points out that, if we can capture the probe, we
know how to remotely trigger the announcement command.  And after
recording the announcement, the probe could be re-launched to the planet
Woofen
. 

***

Now, how to intercept that probe?  Well, experimental technologies
have been developed which can pull ships out of FTL space.  That
technology was never of any practical use, because you need to be able to
encompass the ship with a
hemo
-electrostatic
force field.  Surrounding something as large as a ship was never a
workable plan because you could never know exactly where the ship would be,
before it emerged.

A probe is a much smaller problem.  Science Officer Barnard is excited
about the challenge, and is hopeful that a solution might be possible. 
The meeting is dismissed and Officer Barnard goes on his merry way - happy at
the prospect of a new challenge.

***

After three failed attempts, Science Officer Barnard is finally able to
snag a
verm
probe.  The broadcast trigger is remotely activated, releasing the
information in the form of a serial data dump.  Officer Barnard verifies
that the original message is still intact in the probe.  Then the probe is
re-launched to the
Woofen
Supply Depot.

The serial data dump is delivered into the hands of Ensign Seagram’s –
Sweetwater Fleet’s decryption specialist aboard the Compton.  The Ensign
has the serial data dump decrypted and into the hands of Admiral Meyers within
an hour.  The Transit Orders for the next two convoys are in the message.

Admiral Meyers would like to hijack or destroy both convoys, but she
won’t, because the Verm Navy would then conclude that their weakness is at the
supply depot.  She picks the second convoy because it is much larger than
the first.

***

Deep Space at the Verm Convoy’s
3
^rd
Stopover Coordinates

The ambush is ready.  This may not be as pretty as the Sweetwater
Fleet would like an operation to be.  After so many destination coordinate
errors, the Verm convoy may be dispersed over a wide region.  Some of the
convoy vessels may be able to escape into FTL space before they can be run down
and captured. 

The Verm convoy has over 50 vessels, so the 25 ship Sweetwater Fleet
probably can’t corral all of them.  But there will be no harm in some
ships escaping.  They will just help to spread the news that the
Sweetwater Fleet is in the area.

***

“Ships emerging” chorus the Sweetwater Fleet
AIs
.   

“All ships.  Meyers here.  Just the warship.  Remember, just
destroy the warship,” says Admiral Meyers.

There are 2 Sweetwater destroyers in the vicinity of the emerging Verm
Escort warship, and laser canon energy travels at the speed of light.  The
Escort warship is destroyed soon after it finishes emerging. 

The convoy of Verm Navy transports began their journey 3 jumps ago. 
Now they are spread out over a 400,000 klick spherical volume.  Some of
the
verm
convoy
ships see the trap, and begin to run from the Sweetwater Fleet.  The
fleeing ships launch SOS probes as they go.

Most convoy ships realize that they are trapped and remain in position,
rather than risk the Darinx Fleets’ wrath – everyone in Verm space now knows
about the Sweetwater Fleet. 

Admiral Meyers quickly begins broadcasting that the crews who don’t
resist will not be harmed, and will be left with a working ship, which has a
functional FTL drive.  34
verm
convoy vessels are captured.  One ship is set aside for the
verm
crews, so that they
can get back to civilization.  The fact that the Sweetwater Fleet keeps
its promises will help in future surrender situations.

The Admiral has not been slack in her duties during the weeks of
wait-time, as this operation was planned and implemented.  She foresaw the
need for crews for some captured
verm
ships, and asked for volunteers to train as crewmembers.  However, her
level of expectation was not high enough.  She has 15 crews trained well
enough to fly the ships.  The remainder of the captured vessels will be
controlled remotely by Sweetwater Fleet
AIs
,
while in real space, and will be on auto-pilot for the FTL portions of the
journey.

When she has her ducks in a row, Admiral Meyers says “Engage” and the
expanded Sweetwater Fleet, with 25 Darinx warships and 33 captured
verm
transports, launches
into FTL space.  After two more jumps they will be at the meeting place
for
Shiela
. 
Melissa Meyers is hoping to see her daughter/friend Artificial Intelligence
awaiting their arrival.

***

The Deep Space Meeting Place

And
Shiela
is
there, waiting for the Fleet.  She says hello to the Admiral and then
voices her surprise at the number of captured ships. 

Upon seeing
Shiela’s
ship and hearing her voice, the Admiral feels such a release of tension that
she briefly melts down, and tears flow down her cheeks.  It’s not the kind
of reaction that a Command Deck Crew expects from an Admiral, but they will
have to get over it.  Melissa didn’t realize how much she has grown to
love her little AI.

But the AI is not so little anymore. 
Shiela
has matured and has a baby, who is also not so little.  Melissa has missed
much of the childhood of her first grandchild, but she doesn’t intend to miss
any more.  Admiral Meyers moves to the Verm battleship and makes it the
Flagship for the Sweetwater Fleet.  She promotes Tactical Officer
Inchurito
to Captain of
the Compton. 
Shiela’s
baby will be the AI on the Compton, as soon as her mother is willing to let her
go.

And we need some names. 
Shiela’s
baby needs a name – that will be
Shiela’s
job.  And the new battleship needs a name.  Admiral Meyers decides to
let the Sweetwater crews pick the name.  The selection will be done in a
democratic way.  The Darinx Navy would not approve of
democracy
seeping into the military organization, but they aren’t here right now. 

Admiral Meyers allows each sailor to suggest 2 names. 
Next the sailors pick their favorite two names from the list.  Then
Virgil, the AI from the
Wilheist
,
cuts the list of names in half by dropping the least favorite names.  That
process continues until there is only 1 name left. 
Retribution
is
the captured battleship’s name.  The Admiral begins
nesting
to get
the big ship ready for
Shiela
,
her Artificial Intelligence
daughter
, and for her
granddaughter
AI named???