by Chris Hechtl
...*...*...*...*...
Now that their assassin situation was resolved the Admiral checked the ansible news. He got good news that delegations from nearby worlds had convened in Antigua. The latest convoy from Pyrax had come in carrying delegates from Gaston, Pyrax, Agnosta, Seti Alpha 4, and Epsilon Triangula.
Two days later Molly had returned to Triang with news that the corvette that had escaped into Senka had been hunted down and destroyed by Io 11. The freighter carried delegates from Senka, as well as others from a freighter that had been ambushed by the corvette on their way to Antigua. Their ship was being repaired by Io 11 but they needed a new hyperdrive. They had passed on their passenger manifest to Molly to carry them the rest of the way to Antigua with word.
Getting word to Triang was easier since she had an ansible. The delegates would have to wait to a ride in Le More or Lieandra when they made their next regular run. But they had consulted with the other delegates on Antigua. Senka, Syntia's world, and New Texas all wanted to sign up.
“The momentum is building,” Sprite said.
“Yes it is,” the admiral replied. It would still be six and a half more weeks before Gaston's ansible was online. Unfortunately the delegation from Epsilon Triangula had left their world prior to the potential invasion so there was no news on that front.
He shook his head. It would be another eighteen weeks before the Seti Alpha 4 link was established. From there they would hopefully get word of the worlds in that area as well as Prometheus's task group.
The New Federation now sported thirteen member worlds, with Antigua and Pyrax as the core worlds. Several other semi industrial worlds he had visited in his travels would most likely sign on. He wasn't certain about worlds like Avalon or Centennial, but they would be given the opportunity like everyone else.
He judged Proxima would most likely sign on. The same for some of the worlds Prometheus visited. Most would see that if they didn't they would get some benefit from trade, maybe some cross pollination with their neighbors who did join, but they would be quickly left behind. He was fairly certain they'd see the light.
“Governor Randall has them going over the constitution. He hasn't called for a convention yet, that's most likely next,” Sprite reported.
“Probably. It's too early though. Once we get half the sector in, or more, then ...”
“It's keeping them busy. You don't want Mrs. Yuzle breathing down your neck right now do you?”
“Oh hell no,” Irons said shaking his head.
“Then keeping her busy looking at the constitution and picking it over will keep her out of your hair.”
“Definitely worth doing,” the admiral growled.
“I thought as much,” Sprite said in amusement.
The news wasn’t all good, Intel had confirmed that the Horathian Empire had seized the nearby systems of Garth, Dead drop, Nuevo Madrid, Hinata, and others in the surrounding area. A total of eight star systems were known to have been conquered and under occupation. Since Horath was on the edge of the Sigma sector there was no telling how many worlds they had conquered in that direction.
During the Xeno war the Garth world (not to be confused with the HilGarth homeworld closer to the inner part of the galaxy) had been hit like many others, but its extensive caverns had sheltered many of its population. Garth had been knocked back to the Stone Age in technology, but had a larger starting base of people than any other recovering world in the area other than Horath so it had grown quickly. Since they had been a back to basics colony they hadn't had a large die off due to famine and disease either.
According to Commander Montgomery and fleet Intel the Garthians were still as war like as ever, having fought several wars on their planet in the past nine hundred plus years, some going back far before or during the Xeno war. The admiral nodded as he read on. He remembered that world, it was a pain in the ass for the navy and army. A Federation peacekeeping team had been on the world for generations before the Xeno war without making much of a dent in the problem. They were just too hard headed, he thought, too willing to hold and carry a grudge. A quarter of the human population was Celtic. That might explain it he thought.
The empire now had a sizable population of martial people to draw on for its personnel demands he realized. Current intelligence now put the Horathian Empire up to nine known occupied star systems and fifteen empty systems. Lieutenant Lake passed on a report that their first shipyard had completed a completely native built Apollo class corvette 1 standard month prior to Admiral Cartwright's departure from the star system.
Then there was an unconfirmed report from a freighter crew that had narrowly escaped the area. According to their second hand report they had identified more capital ships in the Horathian fleet, the battlecruiser Potemkin, and France, with the fleet carrier Nimitz and super dreadnaught Retribution. The freighter crew had also managed to identify the fleet carrier flying Raptor, Cobra, & Emperor class fighters and a squadron of Vastok bombers.
“Not good,” Commodore White observed when the admiral brought the report to his attention. “A carrier?” He shook his head. “A fleet carrier? Is this accurate?”
“I know,” the admiral murmured. “And yes it is. We've got two independent sources now. Intel wouldn't call it confirmed until this new one came in. That puts them up to ten battlecruisers too. They could overwhelm us if they pushed things.”
“But they haven't,” White mused.
“No. Not yet. They are digesting what they've gotten. Thank the spirits of space for that. But they soon will once they hear about what happened to their fleets.”
“Yeah. So we need to do something about that. I was thinking a direct attack from Antigua to Protodon, then send a force to Kathy's World to let them know we're there.”
The admiral nodded. “Yes, it is an idea to explore. We don't have Intel on the area though so you'd be going in blind,” he warned.
“I'd be in good company, Admiral. Our people did that in the Xeno galaxy. Sometimes you have to take a risk.”
The admiral nodded. “Unfortunately I didn't dispatch an ansible to Kathy's World. I'll have to rectify that with you when you go.”
“And when will that be?”
“Shortly. I have one other important things to do before we get underway. When Phil is back on his feet we'll get it done.”
“More waiting, sir?”
“Hell, you are right. We can't afford to wait. When he's conscious we'll do it,” the admiral said.
“Dare I ask?”
“Dare all you want,” the admiral said with a smile.
...*...*...*...*...
Three days after being shot Commodore Subert was stable enough to do a very limited duty. “I realize the president effectively promoted me to grand marshall. I'm not going by that title however. I'll keep my Fleet admiral title thank you,” the admiral said to the others he had assembled aboard Xavier.
“Grand marshall too much for you, Admiral?” Captain Egon asked.
“Too much of a mouthful,” Admiral Irons replied with a shake of his head as he adjusted his cuffs. “So, here we are,” he said, tucking his cover under his left arm. He nodded to Commodore White, also replenished in his dress uniform.
“Sir ...”
“Let's go,” the Admiral said, escorting the Neochimp into the sickbay. The Veraxin doctor looked up to them and clacked at them in annoyance. “Only a few minutes. And don't stress him. Stars or no stars I'll kick you meat bags out if he gets upset.”
“Yes, Doc,” the admiral replied. He heard the chimp chuckle beside him. He shot him a mock glower and then nodded to the commodore's beside.
“You look like hell. But it's good to see you alive Phil,” the admiral said as they each took a side of the bed.
“I'm outflanked. You're in uniform. What's the occasion?” Phil asked, looking from one to the other. The Neochimp nodded his head to the admiral.
“Well, it occurred to me that we need to get some rank settled. So, we're
here to form an admiralty board,” the admiral explained.
“We three?”
“Four in a moment.”
“For what reason?”
“I think losses and time in grade should suffice. Also the needs of the fleet.”
“We currently don't have a need for many flag officers, Admiral,” Phil warned.
“You want this or not?” the admiral asked caustically, eying him.
“Shutting up now, sir,” Phil replied weakly.
“Captain Egon, as senior most captain in the fleet I am nominating you to be promoted to Commodore. Please step out of the circuit for a moment,” the admiral stated.
“Aye sir,” the AI replied. There was a click.
“He's out, sir,” Barlow stated.
“Thank you, Ensign. This is considered private. Privacy rights apply. It will be recorded though. Now,” Irons turned to White. “Any objections?”
“No sir. Other than that he was a civilian AI. He's good at his job.”
“He's not going to run a fleet. But he can manage a base or an administrative center. I was thinking we could send him to San Diego to run the academy.”
“The college, sir? I know he'd like that,” Phil said. He nodded. “I concur, sir, for what it's worth.”
“Vote?”
“Aye.”
“Aye, sir.”
“And the Ayes have it. Ensign Barlow, let the Captain in.”
There was another click. “Captain Egon reporting as ordered,” the AI said with a slight trace of amusement in his voice.
“Captain Egon you are hereby promoted to commodore. Wear your rank in good health,” the admiral said simply, looking up to the ceiling and the nearest speaker.
“A ... yes sir. It is an honor.”
“Good. We discussed you with the commodores and we are going to send you to San Diego to run the academy and war college. Any objections?”
“No, sir. I like the assignment.”
“I thought you would. Working to shape new minds, and all that,” Phil murmured. The admiral looked down at him.
“Commodore White, please step out of the room,” the admiral said.
The Neochimp's eyes went comically wide. “Are you seri … I mean, yes, sir,” the Neochimp said. He about faced and stepped out.
“Commodore?”
“I hereby ...” Phil interrupted himself to cough. “I hereby nominate commodore Amadeus White for promotion to rear admiral sir,” he stated. He seemed to be spent though, weakly resting against the pillow. The admiral checked his vitals. He nodded. The bandages covering his neck wound were still good. The quick heal and dunk in the regen tank had repaired the damage, it was just trauma that was keeping him weak.
“I concur, sir,” the AI commodore stated. “This is a bit quick, sir.”
“Time, commodore. I concur as well. Ensign Barlow, ask the commodore to return,” the admiral said. He turned and watched the hatch open and the Neochimp enter. When he arrived at the bed he came to attention. “Commodore White, you have been promoted by this impromptu board to rear admiral.”
“Which means you are out of uniform,” Phil teased weakly.
The neochimp snorted but nodded slightly. “Thank you, sirs,” he finally said.
“Good. We'll go get your promotion done in a moment Phil,” the admiral said, patting his arm.
Phil looked at him. “But I ... I was senior officer on that board sir. I mean ...” he indicated White weakly.
“I think he is trying to ask, sir, why? After what we did?”
“Because I need you. I told you, I don't want yes men. I want fellow naval officers who are going to do what is right. Doing it right even when it is hard and people say or think what you are doing is wrong. What you did took guts.”
“Mine turned to jello,” Phil admitted. That earned a chuckle.
“The enemy is out there gentlemen. Remember that,” the admiral stated.
“Yes sir,” Admiral White said, nodding. Phil nodded weakly as well.
“Good. You two gentlemen are in agreement?” the admiral asked, looking up to the ceiling again.
“Aye sir. I concur on the promotion despite the irregularity of the commodore being present.”
“I do too. For what it's worth,” the newly minted rear admiral stated.
“I make it unanimous. So, now we are four. We'll discuss things more when you are recovered, Admiral,” the admiral stated, patting Phil's arm again.
“Hell with that sir. I'm bored to tears here,” Phil answered.
“He's going to eat and then get some rest sirs. So you need to leave. Please,” a nurse stated.
“I guess we know who really runs the navy,” White said with a half smile to both men. “Get well soon,” he said, patting Phil's foot.
“I'll be on my feet in no time.”
“Not unless you rest, sir,” the nurse said, “and if you don't I've got a rubber mallet around here with your name on it,” she scolded gently. That made the admirals chuckle.
On their way back to the station Phil shook his head. He undid his collar. “I never would have guessed you'd be that magnanimous sir,” he said.
“I told you, we're not the enemy. I don't play politics. At least, not often. We have a war to win.”
“Yes sir.”
“I want to send other staffers to work at the Antigua and Pyrax war colleges. But if you have anyone in mind for your own staff or a ship assignment, let me know. Just remember, every one of you is important. You are a brain trust.”
“Yes, sir. I'm worried about pushing people up through the ranks too fast though sir,” White admitted.
“So am I to be honest. They need seasoning. But we need people badly. We can't have ships like Xavier or even a cruiser run by a lieutenant or even a junior lieutenant.”
“So a promotion board will be next on our agenda, sir?”
“Yes.”
“Great. More meetings,” White sighed, slumping a bit. Admiral Irons smiled slightly. He fully understood the sentiment.
“Are we going to take the ansible back with us, sir?” Sprite asked.
“No. I thought about it, but we can just make more. The same for a lot of the hardware here. We'll shut it back down and then leave it once we have what we need. That will speed up our return journey,” he said.
“If the new admiral could spell you at the navigational station, it would do even more to speed the journey up, Admiral,” Sprite reminded him. “We can keep the helmsman in the dark,” she stated.
“True,” White said. “Wait, you helmed her all the way here?” he demanded. Irons nodded. The chimp's big lips pursed in a whistle.
“Yes he is a bit pig headed about some things,” Sprite said.
“I see. It is going to be fun working for you, sir,” White said carefully.
“Just don't screw it up.”
“I'll try not to, sir,” White replied as they felt a bump. The light above the hatch lit and then the boarding ramp started to drop. “I believe you still out rank me, sir,” he said, indicating the waiting hatch.
“Yup,” Irons said, climbing out of his seat. He straightened and then nodded, then walked out.
He saluted the colors and waiting ensign, then made his way to OPS.
“Admiral, I know you wanted an admiralty, but are you certain this is the best time?” Sprite asked carefully.
“Now is a very good time, Commander. We need to hit the ground running.”
“But after the review board, sir?” Sprite asked. “I mean, why would you do that, Admiral?”
“Because. We have to learn to live and work together. I can't let crap like that get in the way of the bigger picture.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
“Now, let's get back to work. I want to be out of here by the end of today.”
“I agree sir. We'll get cracking. The AI cores have been replicated. We'll need to plug them in to transfer the larger AI to them.”
“Get them on that now. I'l
l take one last look in the net and then we'll start shutting the station's systems down,” Irons ordered.
Chapter 39
“One last time. What else do you want? I think we've found everything we need Admiral, right?” Normally she would love to delve into the vast planetary class computer net but with the resident AI being so territorial she just wanted to move on. To go back to Antigua and possibly get her own network built for her use.
“Check the index. I want to make certain.”
“Not wonder weapons, we sent the plans and updates for the vessels and hardware through the ansible ... frack,” Sprite said, noting a couple of petabytes of data had been hung up. “Something stuck the packets up. One is corrupted,” she reported.
“So, we're not done,” the admiral replied.
“No, but we will as soon as I fix these. Let's see,” Sprite said, pulling the packets apart to get at their contents. She immediately noted a problem, the file sizes didn't match the original index. She paused and then set a bot up to do a code comparison. Within a second anomalous code popped out to her view.
“This is odd ...”
“What?” Defender asked.
“See for yourself. One is not like the other,” Sprite said, handing the code comparison file to Defender. The AI took it and then ran his own comparison. “Gee nice of you to you know, trust me,” she said sarcastically.
“You are correct, Commander, this code is incorrect. It is corrupted ....” Defender did a comparison of threat code in his own internal database. He immediately got a hit. “Xeno code!” the AI said, going to full alert.
“A ghost in the machine,” Sprite said as Defender went on alert. “Alert the other AI. Wake Proteus, we may need his support. I'll alert the admiral in a moment. “Come out, come out wherever you are.” She said, filling up a memory module with copies of a spider bot. When they were ready she activated them, sending out swarms of bots to hunt the enemy software down. She wasn't certain how it had gotten into the net but she would find out.
“Admiral, we have a problem here. A serious one ...” Sprite began.
...*...*...*...*...
The watcher realized it had erred in attempting to drive the organics out. It was programmed with the mission parameter to watch as its priority, not sabotage. The more it attempted to sabotage the more it risked exposure which was against its secondary directive. Fortunately the enemy seemed to believe its patsy had been the real attacker.