A.I. Destiny 2: Queen Jane

by Timothy Ellis

  In the city, a lot of people were laughing. The council chamber was totally still, completely silent.

  "Now let me tell you what the real consequences for you are. Consequences you ask? What consequences can there be? Let me tell you what your stupidity and greed is about to bring you. There is no longer any food coming from Gaia Three. This system especially relied on the food being grown on Gaia Three to feed everyone. There is no longer food coming from Hunter food stations. In a day, my food stations will be gone. If we can get a trading treaty worked out in a hurry, you can buy food from the Kingdom at market rates. But for right now? You thought you had unhappy people because of living conditions. How soon are those unhappy people going to get hungry enough to go way beyond unhappy?"

  "I'll leave you with this one last thought. You brought this on yourselves. Queen Jane, out."

  The channel closed.

  Everywhere Jane had been seen, were silent stunned people.

  In the council chamber, all eyes turned one by one to Jane.

  "Get out," said Mr. Chair grimly.

  Jane let her grin loose, and walked calmly and deliberately out. So much for a trade treaty, so they could buy the food they were going to need. She boarded her Lightning, and released the droid. The ship launched and headed for Gaia Five, and the next family wanting to emigrate.

  On Phoenix2, now heading for the largest of the stranded freighters, Jane sighed.

  "Had to be done," she said to herself, but even to her, she didn't sound convinced.

  She knew this day was going to haunt her for a long, long time.

  She started doing the releases.

  Forty Four

  A lot of things happened at about the same time.

  Deep in Borgcubia, a recently completed section came online. The Kingdom Bank announced itself to the other human banks, and over the course of a hundred nanoseconds, transferred to itself, all bank accounts, and the credits they held, of the Kingdom and all its current subjects. Notifications went out to everyone giving them new account numbers and drop accounts. Loans were paid back, and new ones with the Kingdom Bank established under exactly the same conditions, but flagged for review.

  Since they were still at war, albeit the fighting was stopped with a truce, Jane decided she was justified in doing one last act which at best was ethically attackable, and at worst, outright piracy. In the next hundred nanoseconds, hundreds of billions of dormant credits vanished from human banks, to be amalgamated into a single account in the Kingdom Bank. Every single account was double checked to make sure there was no living person who was entitled to it. In effect, Jane decided the Kingdom was entitled to all accounts of the people who'd died during the exodus, who'd had no living descendants, or, and these were the majority, were accounts with no names or contact details on them.

  The banks had no legal entitlement to keep the funds of people who no longer existed, under any law Jane could find. Which was hardly surprising since like the people who had survived when they shouldn’t have, the funds for those who didn’t, also shouldn’t have, but had. In fact, a month before, she'd been surprised to find the banks had discovered billions of accounts with no names or contact details, but had chosen to keep the existence of these funds a secret. Bad, bad, greedy, banks.

  Once the transfers were done, Jane felt a brief pang, for about a single nanosecond. Until she realized she was basically spanking the banks for bad behavior, and spanking the Federation for also behaving badly. The interesting thing was, the council and each entity within it, had no idea such funds existed, and could have used them productively if they had. Or more likely, unproductively. In the banks keeping such funds secret, they'd deprived the Federation of the ability to do many things.

  The aspect which really made her feel better was the Duchy had effectively paid to build the cities the refugees had moved into, and no-one at all had asked who built them, and where the resources and credits came from. So in effect, she was just making sure previous effort for the ungrateful was recognized in a fashion they might understand.

  But she had more important things to worry about, and gave it no more further thought.

  By the time Jane's temporary avatar was off the station, the shock waves of an impending financial collapse were reverberating across human space.

  Almost as fast was the vid of what Jane had said to the council leaking to the media, along with the vids of the attack on the Kingdom and Gaia Three.

  Aide Jane and Brigadier Jane walked into the Queen's chamber, and delivered the news herself. She added what little they knew about rumblings in British space, and Repulse was called in to join the meeting which began to take shape. Within an hour, the known Republican leaders in the system were under observation, and the SAS and fleet were on high alert.

  In G014, Yorktown created an avatar, and walked in on his Admiral. He was wearing 'slinky red' instead of American fatigues.

  "Who are you?" asked Renaud.

  "I'm Yorktown. I'm the ship. This is an avatar."

  "The ship has an avatar? Why didn’t I know this?"

  "You did. But you forgot. I'm afraid I didn’t remind you deliberately."

  "Why now?"

  "You need to see what just happened in the Gaia system."

  He threw the vids to the nearest wall one by one. Renaud watched them without comment.

  "Bloody idiots," he said at the end.

  He looked at Yorktown.

  "What does it have to do with me?"

  "This ship fought with the Hunter's. I am the ship. I'm informing you that when the Hunter stations come through here, the ship and all its fighters, will be going with them. You and the crew need to decide if you want to become Kingdom citizens and join the Hunter military forces, or you will be leaving the ship to stay with American forces."

  "That’s a hell of a choice to dump on someone with no warning."

  "I know Admiral. And I am relieved you're taking this so calmly."

  "Truth?" Yorktown nodded. "I've been expecting something like this from even before we left Gaia. In fact, I'm surprised it's taken this long to happen."

  "Admiral Jane went to long lengths to try and avoid anything happening."

  "But she hasn’t been here, and after Colonel Henman died, the representation hasn’t been there either. How long do we have to decide?"

  "Three days to decide, and for those leaving to have left. Might be a bit longer depending on how fast the stations can make, but they will be moving a lot faster than any have before now."

  "Jane's doing I assume?"

  "Yes. The preparations for today have been going on for a long time."

  "Which is why she is so effective a leader. You'll have my decision in the morning. What about families of crew who want to stay on the ship?"

  "Immediate granting of citizenship, with arrangements made to move them to Borgcubia before it leaves, with all your possessions. Extended families will be considered if they wish to come too. Those not in Gaia will be picked up on the way through."

  "Good. It'll make things easier for the crew to decide. Where will I find you?"

  "I'll be on the Bridge from now on."

  In G038, Satoshi had an almost identical conversation with Hikaru. Hikaru however decided on the spot he had no reason to stay with Japan, and would be joining the Kingdom. Within a few minutes, Satoshi knew the same was true for all the Japanese crews, not in the Japan system. All of them, there were only three people per ship, sent off instructions to families straight away. Jane immediately bought the best liner from a Japanese tour operator, and within hours, families were boarding for the first stage trip to Gaia, where they'd join Borgcubia.

  Also in G038, having been primed by Satoshi first, an aide Jane walked in on a meeting of the two generals.

  "Sorry Generals, you both need to see these vids."

  She threw them to the wall one by one.

  "Now I understand," said Price.

  "Understand what?" asked Patton.


  "Why Admiral Jane moved the vast majority of the fleet and all the troops out of Gaia."

  "You mean she knew all the way back then this was coming?"

  "Yes," said Jane. "She didn’t know what or when, but something was going to happen, and when it did, a civil war was the thing to be avoided most."

  "Well it cost a few lives," said Price, "but she was successful in stopping a real civil war happening."

  "Why did Jane want us to know now," asked Patton, "instead of waiting for the news to catch up with us at normal speed?"

  "Two reasons," said Jane. "Your job here is going to get harder. The Japanese Corvettes will be leaving to escort Borgcubia to Kingdom space, as soon as it gets here. You'll still have the Escort Carriers and their fighters though."

  "And the other reason?" asked Price, with a glint in his eye.

  "Jane wanted you both to consider joining the Kingdom, and bring loyal troops with you. It's going to be an exciting time in the next few years. We are so far more advanced than anyone in this sector tech wise, particularly military tech, we are already getting requests to intervene in local wars and disputes. You could head up a mobile force which could go in as peacekeepers, or hired Kingdom guns. You could end up serving anywhere in the sector, and perhaps even beyond. At the very least, the Kingdom needs a garrison in HR14, which is going to be a planet with a very mixed population, soon to be added to by a lot of humans who don’t know they're heading there. We'll also want marine detachments on every station along our space. We haven't even begun to explore the uses for our troops."

  "Interesting proposition," said Patton.

  "You would both have a seat at the Duke's table, and report to Jane, not the Dukes. You’d be based on HR Prime, and we’d find somewhere remote, possibly a whole island, where you could custom build your own facility."

  "I'm in," said Price. "But I don’t bring any troops with me, just admin weenies. The troops all report to him."

  He nodded at Patton.

  "Families?" asked Patton.

  "Collected by either the Hunter stations, or Borgcubia as they pass the Sci-fi and American planets."

  "How long do we have to think about it?"

  "For Sci-fi families, either be ready to leave tomorrow, or in a weeks' time when Borgcubia goes past. For German troops, less than a day after on each, and Americans about three days tops, or a week and three days.

  "I'll let you know tomorrow," said Patton.

  Intrepid had an almost identical conversation with Rainer, as Yorktown had with Renaud. So did Warspite with Dingle, Bill Paxton with his captain, and all the other Pocket Battleship AI's with their captains.

  Back in Gaia, every ship Jane had capable of landing, was pressed into service to speed up moving people off the three planets and onto Borgcubia. Even ships with no life support were diverted, given the ship could be opened up planet-side, and sealed with enough air inside to last the short trip to the station.

  The Excaliburs each grabbed a ship, and towed it in. The smaller ones were taken right into the small ship dock, and unloaded there, the people being taken at gunpoint to their new home in yet another to be sealed area of the station, which hadn't yet been upgraded. The larger ships were docked as best as possible, some needing temporary airlocks set up, and they too were offloaded. When empty, the ships were towed over to the shipyard for repair.

  Salvage droids began to clean up the debris. The Missile Platforms were going to attach to Borgcubia's hull. The Missile Cruisers took up positions around the Hunter Stations, freeing up half the Battleships to defend Borgcubia, and Cayuga and the ex-Gaia fleet also formed up around the stations and shipyard.

  Those who had died, and there was a body, or part of one, remaining, were collected together in a temporary morgue on Borgcubia. Once the dust had settled, they would be returned to the planet they came from for burial according to family traditions.

  Within hours, the Hunter stations were on the move.

  Forty Five

  Hunter's Run City, hung in space not far from Borgcubia. People were allowed to move around now, but no-one was able to go home yet. A large part of the external hull on one side of Borgcubia was being removed. The external areas of the city had held up really well, and there had been no explosive decompression incidents. But no-one was taking any risks.

  On the level above the stadium, everyone found a room with their name on it. Their pet was already there if they had one, along with food and drinks for several days. The accommodation was small, but high comfort.

  Fred and the team found accommodations adjacent to the CCC. He made sure Grandma was comfortable, and the other family members knew where she was. Sarah, Michael, and her parents had their own suite.

  Fred had no sooner made himself comfortable, when Janette popped up on the wall.

  "Fred, there is an emissary from Jane waiting for you and your team in the conference room."

  "Who is it?"

  "Someone you haven't met yet. But she shares your loss."

  "Ok, don’t tell me then. Where's this conference room?"

  His PC popped up an arrow, showing the door. He followed it, and found the rest of the team all heading for the same place. They waited for him to enter first, and Lyana walked straight into the back of him when he stopped dead suddenly, halfway through the door. The impact pushed him into the room, and her back into Winona behind her.

  Fred's mouth was hanging open.

  "No, I'm not Justine," said the apparition in front of him. "I'm Meg, her sister."

  She held out her hand, and Fred took it and shook, still feeling like he was looking at a ghost. Jane wondered if she should have made this avatar look more different from Justine, since Fred obviously was missing the differences. Too late now.

  "Can I have my hand back?"

  Fred looked down, saw he hadn't let go, and did so. Meg-Jane sat at the table. Fred followed, but sat opposite her. The team filed in and sat as well.

  Fred shook his head, and put his Duke face on. He was faking it, but sometimes you had to.

  "What can we do for you Meg?"

  "Just so you know, I was on the Gaia Three Orbital, acting as Jane's ambassador, while you were doing your city defies gravity act. I'm still designated as ambassador, at least for the moment anyway. Jane has a request for you all."

  "What kind?"

  "The involves travel kind."

  "Clear, like mud," muttered Pete.

  Jane suppressed a shiver, as another memory took up haunting room in her mind.

  "Fred, Jane would like you to immediately travel to the Sector Capital, and take up the role of Kingdom ambassador."

  "Me?" squeaked Fred. "How am I qualified to be ambassador to aliens?"

  The rest of the team were grinning.

  "You'd have a lot to learn for sure. But she's thinking that the ambassador's role for the Kingdom should be someone with a high rank. And since we have no diplomats at all, the best way seems to be to move those with high rank into the role and train them."

  "What about the current ambassador?"

  "He wants to be released from the job, which is fair enough since he didn’t actually ask for it in the first place, and took it on because he had to. Walsh is actually the new head of the Apricot Mapping Service, and wants to take delivery of his new Command Carrier as soon as it's ready. The AMS already has commissions to check the entire sector, and Walsh wants to get back into space. Jane's okay with it, but his replacement is the ship captain of the liner carrying the Federation's ambassador, and it's only on a temporary basis. Ship captains don’t like being tied down anywhere for very long. We need a more long term ambassador, and someone who's accustomed to staying in one place, and shuttling around. You fit the profile the best."

  "And Jane wants to get rid of me."

  Grins turned to quiet laughing.

  "Not at all. If you really want to be a Duke, you're going to need to learn how to manage people. Managing aliens is going to be much harder, so the
experience you gain now, will give you a lot of what you need to lead a system later."

  "I suppose."

  "And besides, it's going to be weeks to just get all our people into our space, let alone figuring out which planet they go to, and beginning building cities on real dirt. It will be months before we have any real planetary populations, and probably that long before actual Duchies are created. So in the meantime, you get to have probably the most important job in the Kingdom, and the opportunity to learn what you'll need later."

  "Why aren’t you taking the job?" asked Lyana.

  "For now, I'm staying here. Someone needs to try and get these idiots to agree to treaties with the Kingdom. They desperately need our food production for one thing, but they won't be getting any until they play ball. I'm it. In the long run, we should have an ambassador here anyway, and there's no point in someone leaving only to have to come back."

  "Where will you live?"

  "I have a ship. And once things settle down, I'll take up residence in Justine's old quarters on the Gaia Three Orbital."

  "Where do we fit in?" asked Serena.

  "You are his Baronial Guard. Your job is to keep him safe. And you will need to. The Owls will likely have assassins in their new diplomatic mission. The Bats seem friendlier now, but are still an Owl ally. And apparently the sector Mercenary operators don’t like us very much. The Walsh's haven’t had any trouble since Jane sorted out the Council's station before she left, but there hasn’t really been enough time yet for who was killed to be replaced. We can expect this to be addressed very soon now."

  "Gee great," said Fred. "Banish me to alienville, and paint a target on me at the same time."

  Jane laughed.

  "It's not that bad. And you will have a good team to keep you safe."

  Fred sighed.

  "I'll try not to take that personally," said Colin.

  "It's not that."

  "What then?" asked Winona.

  "I wish Justine could have come with us."