by David Nash
You have met Marvin. The Humanoid armor he inhabits is his choice, when I earned the right to command him he was inside a ship identical to the one you will earn. If desired, the sentient Kernel can inhabit other mechanical forms, some of you will command battle groups thorough the Kernel you will command.
The Ensign is currently locating the cloaked ships, and as he finds one and identifies its Captain, one of the nine of you will be selected to claim your ship by right of conquest. It will be to the death. Any questions?
An older officer raised his hand, while my Chinese military rank is rusty; I believe he was a Colonel in the Chinese Marine Corps
“You call the ship a sentient being and that it has a racial identity. Is it not just an artificial intelligence? Why can’t we dispense with the notion of conquest and simply reprogram the ships to do what we want.”
“I will excuse your ignorance this time, Kernels are not what you call artificial intelligence, there is nothing artificial about their intelligence. Ensign Marvin is a sentient being, as is all other members of his race. The Kernel of Sentience maintains Confederation law and has ruled this galaxy longer than our recorded history. Anyone that does not show Kernels the respect they deserve, will find himself under the command of one. Kernels do not think as we do, nor are they biological, but make no mistake, they are people. IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?”
A loud “Yes Sir!” came from ever mouth in the room; however, even a fool could notice that it did not come from every heart.
I marched out of the room, looking more confident than I felt, my Ensign communicated through my implant. “Thank you General, I hope you do not mind, but I have archived your conversation for future reference.”
Marvin records everything, he has been very clear about that on several occasions, if he chose to notify me he archived the conversation, it will come up again, I will have to think about this in depth later.
“No need to thank me Marvin, You are very important to the Legion, and I hope you record THAT for future reference.
17
It took nearly a month for Marvin to find the ships and identifying their captains. Finding them was not hard, it was the second part that was time consuming. Marvin used some method that I do not understand or can even begin to explain to identify which ship belonged to each Barkun, I do know it had something to do with the carrier signal between the ship and the Barkun implant. Dr. Farholm was very interested in the technique and spent a lot of time assisting Marvin.
Commander Aegeus and I discussed the law and I am ready to argue that China was acting on the Legion’s behalf in capturing the Barkun, and that the Barkun were unlawfully interfering in planetary development by actively interfering with governance. I had good arguments that all actions, if not legal, were at least the sole responsibility of the Legion. Marvin was noncommittal on when asked his opinion. However, before we get into that, I have to tell you about Askew’s party.
After we left the MSS compound, Marvin informed me that the Commander had requested we meet him at Camp McCall.
We landed at Pineland, and Commander Askew led the team into a large administrative building for a briefing.
When I entered the room, I saw nearly 300 men, as well as a few women. All individuals inside the room were in civilian attire. The Commander gave a huge grin and said, “We might not have gotten a large quantify, but we sure recruited a huge quality.” The room was at attention, and all looking straight at me. “As You Were!” I commanded, and started thought the crowd. When I got to the front of the room I looked and addressed the crowd.
“I am Commandant Davis of the Legion. I assume Commander Askew has briefed you all on the situation. Those with prior service with the Commander may have noticed he has been promoted, but now wears a naval rank. That is because naval tradition is the closest we have that behaves how actual space battles are fought. Some of you may also have realized though, that I am a General instead of an Admiral. I can explain very simply. Once a Marine, Always a Marine, frankly I my Daddy would roll over in his grave if he ever saw me in a white suit.”
That got a few laughs.
“Seriously folks, while the command structure is based in Carrier strike groups, the ground forces will form the central culture in the legion. You cannot own ground unless you are on the ground. The Majority of the battles will happen in space, but infantry will win this war. I felt it was only appropriate that the Commander of the Legion recognized that formally.”
After that statement, the room was filled with loud grunts, hoorahs, ooh rahs, and a few “ranger’s lead the way!”
“The people in this room will form the core of a new culture. By enlisting in the Legion you will have to give up everything you care about so you can ensure those things will remain alive. We have a lot of work to do and a short time to do it. 10 years sounds like a lot, but Rome wasn’t built in a day, and I have it on good authority Rome wasn’t built without the help of aliens.”
We have three essential missions in the immediate timeframe. Hostile aliens have infiltrated our political system. Currently, our intelligence branch is locating their ships, but we will have to root out the ship captains individually.
Next, we have to figure out how to board hostile spacecraft. We have a prototype ship to assist in that, but the people in this room will have to learn how to close with and destroy the command structure in close combat in order to take ships.
Lastly, and just as important, we need a training plan. Once the alien coup is destroyed, our ranks will swell with all branches of service from many nations. Currently, the Chinese are in the process of assisting the Legion deal with their aliens invaders. Each branch has its own culture, as do their host nations, but we have to prepare for a new kind of combat with unimaginable costs for failure. You all came into this room as American service members from all branches; you will leave this room as Legion.
It is we be Legionnaires battling in space that protect Earth. We will not just protect Earth from a Barkun invasion, we are going to hurt those lizard-skinned bastards so bad no one will ever fuck with Earth again.
Knowing all that, anybody want to quit?”
To a man, they snapped to attention and saluted. They wanted in. To me those salutes were more sincere and meant more than the catchiest motivational phrase.
With input of the room, we created teams. I wanted to eventually break up the units so we did not have rangers, seals, or raiders. But that would come with time and training. For now, we did not think it was wise to do anything that would break up perfection. The SEALS formed my boarding teams, and using a blueprint of a Punishment ship provided by Marvin, they mocked up a bridge and ran scenarios on how to ram it, conquer its captain, and then ordering the ship to decompress by opening all hatches. The small numbers of men that could fit on a punishment ship did not allow for a long battle, it was mad minute or failure. As soon as the bridge was secured, explosive decompression would end the fight.
Operatives from the Army’s 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment Delta, known by most as the “ Delta force” formed the core of the anti-coup operation. They planned to work as small teams to sneak into the residences of the suspected traitors. Our goal was to take out the secret service teams using less than lethal technology and then look to see if the elected officials had skull or scale under their skin. If they found skull, they would apologize and depart. If they found scale, then they and the Barkun would be extracted back to our temporary compound at McCall.
Any SpecOps soldier with Drill field experience was assigned to creating our recruit-training program. I wanted every single member of the legion to go through basic space infantry training, and all our infantry was to be rated special operations capable just as any Marine going out on a Marine Expeditionary Unit would be. Admetos was also assigned to this group and had great insight into adapting out planet bound training to our new reality.
It was then that I found out what Aegeus meant when he said training would not be a
problem and why he selected the two former Sangren he did. As clones, the Sangren were born in batches, fully physically developed. They received training artificially, by direct stimulus of the brain. I do not claim to understand how it worked, but the light that paralyzed me that first day on the ship was an adaptation of the technology.
As Dr. Asku explained the process on humans started with placing them in a state similar to an induced coma, and then their brain state would be manipulated to the point it was receptive to the introduction of the information. The technology was not perfect, physical skills did not translate well. A user could be artificially taught the knowledge that formed the base of a skill, but that alone would not allow them to perform it effectively without practice.
I guess the saying that some things cannot be learned in a book is true. Additionally, simply placing the knowledge in a person’s head did not mean they could recall it quickly. A student needed practice using the knowledge if they were to recall it quickly. I guess it would be safe to say that the technique was a shortcut. I still needed any shortcuts I could get to help even the playing field.
Not every volunteer at McCall, was a combat soldier. Many dedicated support team members would not be left out. We even had a few engineers and scientists from DARPA. I had Marvin make a note for me to thank the President for his assistance in recruiting.
After I took the first round of academic cheating by having the Sangren implant the basic curriculum of the Sangren Exploration Academy, we opened the process up for all Legion personnel. No one wanted me to be the guinea pig, and several wanted to physically prevent me from sticking my head in what Commander Askew called an “Alien Mind Blender," but I trusted Commander Aegeus, and I hoped Marvin would let me do it if he thought it would hurt me.
Dr. Asku warned I was taking on too much knowledge all at once. However, I needed the information to make decisions and I wanted to show I trusted the tech because I needed the Legion to trust the technology.
I knew that someday, all this would have to be recorded for prosperity, but the next weeks were a blur. If it were not for Marvin recording everything going on, I could not tell you in what all happened. Frankly I was overstimulated and more than a little nauseous after each trip into the training machine.
The Chinese were able to get all 9 ships. Three went to the former commanders of each of the PRC’s three naval fleets, two went to submarine commanders, 3 more went to commanders of air units in each fleet, the last one went to the Marine Colonel that had issues with the status of Kernels. I think the Chinese selected him for his political loyalties more than his tactical acumen, but in the interest of diplomacy, I kept that opinion to myself.
Eventually, we were able to discover 23 members of Congress and the House of Representatives that were Barkun. Most were Democrat, but not all. Most were the worse of the lot of the divisive, race baiting, anti-gun, anti-military politicians. That makes sense, because while they wanted to rush us to technology, they did not want us to be united enough to actually defend ourselves.
I had my money that couple of our former President’s were Lizards, but was surprised that they were just the typical narcissists. However, one of their wives was a Barkun, and the Seals demanded to be the team to accomplish the mission to test her humanity. I wasn’t there, but as they captured her, one told her what was going to happen and whispered into her ear,“What difference, at this point, does it make?” as she was black bagged and tossed in the truck of the getaway car.
18
We now have 36 Kernels capable of navigating hyperspace plus my two shuttles back on New Aubagne; all are typical flying saucers except the ram and the shuttles. I ensured that each of my command staff with military rank were able to conquer their own ship. The rules said it had to be individual combat, it did not say what weapons or what defined a fair fight. Dr. Farholm and Oni were given 20 gauge Remington 1100 shotguns with #4 buck.
After some training, they both could handle the recoil and the range and with that round and the range they used it at, the pieces it knocked off the former Barkun Captains had to be cleaned up with a shovel.
Oni did not seem to have any concerns or hesitation. She went in and got the job done. I guess her upbringing in Nigeria toughen her up, maybe she just understood the stakes, whatever the reason, I never heard her say anything about it, at the time or after. Dr. Farholm was different, she was unused to this side of life and had some hesitation, but she knew what was needed as well as anyone else on the team. She may be an egghead, but it is a hard-boiled egg. She flinched and would not look at the mess she made when she conquered the Barkun, but she did claim her own Kernel.
Later the world may judge the manner in which some of my staff conquered their Kernels to be execution or unfair, but frankly, we were only playing to the rules in a game that was stacked against us from the start. For the record, I made the decision on how my former civilians got their ships so any backlash on it is mine to shoulder.
The Command team broke up again, Commanders Hall and Askew stayed behind to ensure that future meddling would be dealt with. Dr. Farholm and Dr. Asku also stayed behind. We also left Sabol as planned. The Earth based team would continue to recruit, as well as to do hard research to jumpstart Earth. After my Sangren education, Dr. Farholm was the next to soak up all the available information. She took much more time in the machine that I did, and tried to incorporate the whole of Confederation science into her human brain. I tried to warn her, but she gave me a hard look and said she wasn’t going to take orders from a ‘do as I say, not as I do leader’. I wisely backed off.
Splitting our team reduced our available ships by 4 and the ram’s habitable space was about the size to two school busses, so it could only hold about 65 combat loaded troops on it and keep some measure of comfort. We could pack in more, but we weren’t sure we would be able to attempt to board a punishment ship and I wanted to ensure they could have some room in the event they had to transit the galaxy in the ship.
We could not fit everyone available in the 32 saucers that remained. We had to make choices.
The Chairman was unhappy that we left behind almost all of his volunteers that did not have ships, especially since he assumed that ships with Chinese commanders should carry Chinese Legionnaires as passengers. I needed a good amount of support staff and former commandos on those ships instead. However, I told him that the majority of my naval command structure was Chinese trained, and that I could not afford to forget his countries contributions when we were placing staff in the TO&E.
The staff we had to leave behind all reported to the LIDA for the time being. Commander Hall was the Legion Representative on Earth, and Sabol was acting as my personal representative.
Since we now have a fleet, Rear Admiral Volk was in command. Admiral Johns and myself were simply VIPs. The Admiral was on board one of the Chinese Saucers, while I rode on the Ram. The former SEAL team members were suited out in their normal load-out, as the Combat suits were individually fitted, however, the Ram’s replicator was printing them as fast as possible.
Our plan was to sneak as close to the L1 Transit point as possible, and board the Punishment ship we were almost certain would be cloaked nearby. On the Ram we had we had a boarding team of 3 Platoons of SEALS, with another 16 man platoon to act as ship security for the Ram, Ensign Marvin flew the ship and I was onboard also. That meant our total was a little more than the 65 nominal capacity we planned for.
The Senior Officer of the SEAL team has been designated to personally deal with the Punishment ship Captain. He chose a suppressed CAR-15 chambered in .458 SOCOM as his primary weapon. I believe that will definitely conquer the scaly bastard threatening Earth.
Marvin’s schematics shown that the Barkun placed their bridge in the belly of their ships. By the very nature of punishment ships, they targeted planets that could not defend themselves. This set up allowed the Barkun Captain to be both close to the action as well as be protected from any attacks from space. Unf
ortunately for us, for the top of the ship was relatively unarmed in comparison to the massive armaments on the bottom of these ships. Because we lacked manpower for a slog through the ship, we had to risk the planet facing weapons and hit near the bridge itself. As a covering force, at least we had the saucers.
The plan called for us to spread out the saucers in teams of 2. We formed a loose sphere as we approached the Lagrange point. The ram was at the bottom of the sphere at the 6 o’clock position. When we were two hundred kilometers out my Ensign cold launched a decoy drone the we sent speeding at the transit point.
The Barkun took the bait, they must have figured we got scared and made a run out of the system. Like last time 10 saucers uncloaked and began firing at what appeared to them as a cloaked ship. Our hunters got behind them and in unison uncloaked and fired. As we hoped, that got the full attention of the Barkun. The Punishment ship uncloaked and fired their defensive batteries at my 20 decoys. For their part my hunters began strafing runs at the top of the behemoth. Per the plan the rest of the saucers remained cloaked to act as a reserve.
“Alright Marvin, take us in. Keep us cloaked until we need to Ram, but remember, the longer this takes the higher our losses!” I ordered.
We only had 2 suits besides mine, however, Marvin assured us again that the Barkun did not use armor. As the seals stacked up to be ready to storm the ship I announced my plan to lead the charge. The SEAL stick leader, a Lieutenant Commander named Osbourne disagreed.
“General, our men have trained especially for this mission, you have not been a variable they trained for. Let us secure the ship before you come aboard.”