The Iteeche way of handling data was a slow process. When applied to fire control processes, it was a critically slow process that left them vulnerable with guns that rarely hit anything.
Now, Megan led the flight of human and computers higher up, to give them a better view.
The land below them spread out in multicolored square ponds with brightly colored tracks between them. As they watched, the buffalo type beasts split up and galloped down those paths before splashing into the ponds and immediately dissolving.
“That’s not what we saw last time,” Megan said.
“No, I don’t think it is,” Nelly agreed. “This is a much more massive computer, much bigger than a mere ship computer. It may have a significantly different architecture.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Megan couldn’t help but say.
“No doubt, but let’s keep flying, children. I see something up ahead.
There was something truly massive ahead of them.
It looked like a large, black cube. As they flew closer to it, it went from large to huge, then to humongous.
When they finally reached it, it proved to be not only immense, but lacking in any openings. Megan handled that problem by just kind of melting her way through the deep black walls.
Inside, she was greeted by a series of open channels with water flowing through them. They were every color of the rainbow, much like the ponds that the buffalo had disappeared into. In each narrow furrow, fish swam, fishes the same color as the water.
That piqued Megan’s interest. She dove down and took a peck at one of the fish. She nipped a scale about in the middle of the fish’s back . . . and found herself with a mouth full of data.
“Hey, these fish have more data concentrated in them than anything we’ve seen,” Megan announced.
“But who’s it going to?” Nelly asked. “Where’s it going?”
The four of them tried pecking several fish with no better idea of where the data was addressed to or from.
Then that changed.
“I nipped the white scale they have on their head between their eyes,” Nelly announced. “That’s the header file.”
Megan pecked at the next fish’s white scale and immediately knew it was from the reactor reporting all was well to the central control room.
The four of them began pecking for all they were worth.
However, it was clear to Megan that she, Nelly, and the kids could not search this vast data flow. So, Megan tried something.
She split herself in half. Suddenly, she found herself a disembodied presence above two birds, pecking away at fish. Megan doubled them, then doubled them again and again. Only when she tried to double from sixteen to thirty-two did this bite her on her nonexistent ass.
Sixteen birds continued doing their picking at fish. Sixteen others just stood there, immobile. Megan willed them away and accepted that sixteen was the most she could control.
However, Nelly had spotted Megan’s experiment. Moments later, the Navy lieutenant commander found herself surrounded by huge flocks of birds, some on this level, but others dove through the floor and headed for other data streams on other levels.
“I’ve spotted the data stream on the planet below,” Megan announced. “It’s not saying much, but that we’re still here. There’s no message traffic. I’ll pinch off the message carrier,” she announced and put some of the nano scouts that had infiltrated with them to work.
Very quickly, nothing could go down the data cables of the elevator that didn’t get Megan’s approval.
While she was at it, she took over control of the ferries on the elevator. The two docked at the station now found alarms going off that sent everyone rushing ashore. The ferries about to depart from the dirtside station were also suddenly full of hooting alarms.
Ferries on the elevator, in the acceleration phase, received warnings that the tracks were warped, their safety was in doubt, and they should turn back. Strangely, those in the deceleration phase got no such warnings, but then, they were few, and, at this time of night, rather empty.
Just as Megan finished isolating the station from visitors, Nelly announced, “I’ve found the Port Captain’s office. It was hard to locate since it’s not active. However, I did find a pool of prepared fish; half had ordered the pier hatches open, half ordered them closed.”
“Are you sure?” Megan asked. “Can you test it?”
“I think we can. I’ve got a small crew hatch in the middle of the station. I’ll send an open command, then two seconds later, a close command. Let’s see what happens.”
A few seconds later, the air pressure began to drop. Two seconds after that, it quit dropping.
“Very good,” Megan said. “Nelly, tell Kris that we’re ready to scare the pants off of a lot of Iteeche.”
“Kris says to wait for her to make an announcement.”
A moment later, Megan found herself listening to her boss.
“This is Grand Admiral, Her Royal Highness Kris Longknife, Imperial Admiral of the First Order of Steel and Commander of the Combined Fleets of the Empire. Greetings to those of you aboard what you call Artiecca High Station One. We have infiltrated your station and now have control of it. We demand you surrender immediately. If you do not surrender, we will open the hatches on your docks and empty your station of all atmosphere.”
Kris paused for a long moment.
“Since I have not received a surrender, it is time for me to show you just how helpless you are. Three large dock hatches will be opened in three, two, one. Open.”
Nelly had released three fish with just the right amount of lead time. Just as Kris said “Open,” three huge cargo hatches broke their seals and began to roll back on their tracks. Air began to flow out of the station in a hurricane wind.
Nelly had picked three docks with no people around. Still, tugs, cargo wagons and anything not welded to the deck began a hurried departure from the station. Nelly reported to Kris how the air pressure was falling.
On the station, sirens were screaming as commanding voices told everyone to get behind an airtight bulkhead or don a spacesuit.
One of Megan’s birds spotted the hastily released fish with every scale devoted totally to, “We surrender! We surrender!” She made sure to let the fish go its way, but advised Kris that the surrender was on its way.
“Close the hatches,” came immediately from Kris.
“Fish already on its way,” Nelly reported.
A second later, the massive hatches began to roll their way along their heavy tracks. Three seconds later, the loss of pressure ceased.
“We will be boarding you immediately. Do not attempt to resist.”
“Kris says for us to check the laser controls and radars,” Nelly reported.
“I’ve got those,” Lily reported. “They’re blocked. They couldn’t fire if they wanted to. I’m feeding the power in the capacitors back into the power supply. No worry here.”
Fifteen minutes later, the loyalist battlecruisers began to catch the hooks and be hauled into the station’s piers. No sooner were they locked down and their locks opened, than Iteeche Marines marched to occupy the important stations: reactor, Port Captain, Station Manager, communications, and ferry terminal.
Without waiting for further developments, Megan began shipping all the available Smart Metal TM down the beanstalk. It would take them an hour to get dirtside, but they’d be spreading out, mapping the capital city of the planet, identifying the Planetary Overlord and other important people of power.
Megan already had authority to kill the Planetary Overlord. If she could find him before he could hide away, this might take a lot less time.
56
The assault on Artiecca High Station 1 had an amazing effect on Stations 2, 3, and 4. Within the hour, all three had been quietly occupied.
When you have initiative and momentum behind you, it’s amazing how quickly people step out of your way. Hurry out of your way. Throw themselves out of your way
.
All this time, Megan, Nelly, and her two kids loitered around in the central computer for Station 1. There wasn’t anything they needed to do there to pacify the station. They were just devoting all their time to what the nano scouts were uncovering around the capital city.
Apparently, the quiet standard reports from the stations that Megan and Nelly arranged for, had the intended results. The watch officers continued their naps, games of chance, and quiet visits to the broom closets. Clearly, there was more to Iteeche sexuality than what happened in the breeding ponds.
With no alarms going off, the capital city seemed content to sleep. The first few orbits had created a solid map of the planet and its urban areas, and several Iteeche had identified the Palace of the Satrap. The Palace of the Planetary Overlord was a bit smaller and right next door.
Apparently, if someone needed to borrow a cup of sugar, or a few traitors to torture, they’d be ready at hand.
Within a few minutes of each other, Megan’s nanos identified both of the big guys, all asleep, all surrounded by naked females of their species.
Both had taken a sedative.
Megan chose to be a bit more creative in dispatching these two. Nanos entered through the lungs, passed into the blood stream, then created blockages to the heart. Both died quietly of massive heart attacks in their sleep.
Like the angel of death, Megan and her nanos went looking for more victims. There were several palaces around those two massive central showcases of opulence. The minister of security was the next to develop heart problems, followed quickly by the minister of industry and production. The commanders in chief of the Army and Navy had smaller compounds near the palaces, and both quietly turned sleep into a deeper slumber as their hearts betrayed them.
As the sun rose the next morning, most of the officers of the personal guards to both the Planetary Overlord and the Pasha of the Satrap had joined their political masters in death. Around six o’clock, calls to the hospitals sent ambulances screaming across town to Very Important Dead People’s houses.
The sirens set a lot of beaks on edge; it didn’t get better when the nighttime music was kept on later into the morning. The usual cheery marches that most people awoke to were still soothing sleep music as alarms went off . . . and that was not soothing.
Kris Longknife decided it was time to let the people of Artiecca 4 know about the sudden change in management. By now, she had control over all the nets on Artiecca 4 and she put them to use.
Her message was short and to the point. “Surrender and you will continue your life, doing what you have been doing. Some of you high up in the clan structure will need to be reassigned, but no one has to die over this. If, however, you damage any equipment, or attempt to sabotage production, the penalty will be death. For those of you of high clan or government rank who advocated for this system to join the rebels, you may expect to be transported to the Imperial Capital to make your formal and sincere apology directly to the Emperor.”
Immediately after that, the invasion began.
By this time, there were 500,000 Iteeche troops standing by on the four stations. Much to the dismay of the dirtside ferry landings, all of the ferries had suddenly hooted hull damage and ordered everyone ashore. Five minutes later, the ferries sealed locks and took off at 2.0 gees for the stations. Now, every ferry was at the station and filling with loyalist Iteeche troops, all with orders as to who to collect and what key locations to secure.
However, they were not the only forces on the move.
As Kris spoke her warning, sonic booms shook the morning silence. Around each of the ferry stations, Iteeche Marines in their own version of Light Assault Craft flipped the tiny landers and completed the rest of their combat jump by chutes. With few exceptions, their parachutes delivered them to the storage lots or parking lots around the elevator stations.
On the ground, the armored Marines quickly took possession of the station and set up roadblocks on all approaches.
Only two of the stations encountered difficulty. Decapitated like they were, very few of the troops were ordered out of barracks, and a few of those that did get orders balked at carrying them out. The two attacks on the beanstalk stations were weak, poorly coordinated, and quickly repulsed.
An hour after Kris’s declaration, tens of thousands of loyal Iteeche troops and their armored vehicles began to move out at high speed from the elevators and take over communications and network nodes. Centers of government administration were also seized. As the bureaucrats showed up at the offices in dribs and drabs, most were waved through to their desks or work benches.
High clan officers in senior management positions tended not to appear for work that day. Once the workday was well underway, a count showed that close to half of the medium to low clan lordlings had been collected when they came to work. Kris went back on the net to invite all other clan leaders to report to collection points. By sunset, they had close to ninety percent of the clan bosses and underlings.
That night, Iteeche Marines went looking for the remaining ten percent. In most cases, they found them already dead by their own hand. In a few cases, they chose to fight.
That didn’t last long.
The Iteeche Marines followed Kris’s guidelines. Along with the Marines, a member of the clan this official belonged to would go along to offer all the clan guardsmen employment on other planets, both for them and those attached to them.
That was usually enough to get the guards slinking out of their hiding spot. Sometimes the clan official surrendered. Sometimes they resisted and had to be killed. There was no attempt to capture them alive.
They knew, as well as Kris, what was waiting for them at the Imperial Capital.
Next morning, Kris was eating breakfast when she found herself being joined by Megan.
“That was a good job you did with the station computer, Commander,” Kris said.
“It saved my Marines one hell of a fight,” Jack added.
“Glad to be of service, Admiral,” Megan said, with a shy duck of her head. “You think you’ll be needing any more of my unique skills?”
“I hope not,” Kris said. “We’ve got most of the rebel clan leaders and supervisory team moving up the elevator today as the new loyal clan leaders and supervisory teams move down the beanstalk. We cut the clan overhead down pretty much to where you proved the merit system began to take over. Frankly, I don’t know why we’re putting the clan political appointees back over these people. They can run the place without them.”
Megan shrugged. “Who knows. Maybe they will. Heaven knows, you’re dumping an entirely new clan overhead on these workers. It will be interesting to see how long it takes these new clan types to figure out how to manage things, or if they ever will.”
Megan paused in her ingestion of what claimed to be eggs and sausage. “Maybe you’re starting something here, as well as back on Zargoth. You took the time to capture that asteroid and get their own asteroid mining effort going. A planet that had been locked in a zero-sum game struggling with hardly enough resources to feed their fifty-billion Iteeche now have a chance to turn themselves into a decent place to live.”
“Assuming they don’t take this as an opportunity to choose a lot more younglings out of the mating ponds,” Jack said, not at all optimistically.
“The resources you’ve got them bringing into their economy won’t give them any more food,” Megan pointed out. “It will give them a better life for those that are alive. That will mean something. It will mean something for them, and for a majority of Iteeche.”
“But if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears?” Jack asked.
“I’m not at all sure that the Iteeche underclass is all that ignorant of what goes on around them. Hell, they know if the clans get too rambunctious, their planet could get gassed.”
Kris eyed Megan through a frown. “And you know this, kid, how?”
“Let’s just say that throwing a banquet for the hard-working craftsmen that
saved our bacon back on Zargoth let me hear some stuff you won’t hear in the halls of clan power.”
Kris eyed her cousin for a long moment, a thought forming in the back of her head. Was it one she could trust to share with Admiral Coth? It certainly wasn’t one she’d share with Ron. He was Imperial Counselor from the top of his bald head to the tip of his toes.
Coth, however, was part of no clan. He’d risen to what rank he had before Kris showed up based on merit, hard work, and the willingness to tackle the messy stuff junior clan lordlings didn’t want to get their hands messy with.
She’d have to be careful how she approached Coth, but he’d known what was being said about Kris in the dives and bars outside the Navy piers. Maybe he already had ears that listened here and there.
That was something she definitely needed to check out.
“So,” Megan said. “I couldn’t help but notice that you didn’t land even half of the landing force. Just a quarter. I take it you have something on your mind.”
“Yep,” Kris said, grinning at Jack. They’d talked it over last night. Megan might as well be the first to learn. “We’ve picked the next target. We’ll spend another week here while Coth goes through the officers on the captured ships and separates those he thinks are questionable from those dependable. We’ll also do some training. Next time we do that Nelson Maneuver, I want it to come out cleaner. After that, we’re off to add another planet to our merry band of highway men.”
“Do we have enough clan boss types to fill the vacancies?” Megan asked. “I like the way things have gone on Artiecca 4 so far. I don’t think anyone wants to repeat the problems we had on Zargoth.”
“We don’t quite have enough for another planet. I’m thinking of sending the Relentless out leading a squadron of Iteeche battlecruisers and twenty of the empty fast attack transports. Nelly has a course for them that will keep them well out of rebel space and get them to the capital fast. The transports are taking back all the displaced clan chiefs and their companions. They’ve also got a freezer full of those that took the quick way out. I don’t want anyone thinking we’re harboring traitors. I’ve got enough problems as it is.”
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