Retribution: The Augmented Human Rebellion - Book 2

by Lefler, Terry

  One more thing to do - Admiral Meyers has been ordered by Fleet Admiral Duncons, to leave a calling card if the mission is successful. The Compton launches a probe to orbit the 4th planet. The probe repeats the phrase “Sweetwater was here” over and over, in a continuous loop.

  Admiral Melissa Meyers would never have considered such a brazen act of arrogance and incitement. That probe will mark the Sweetwater Fleet for a revenge vendetta from the Verm Navy.

  That is what Fleet Admiral Duncons wants. He wants the Verm Navy to be so filled with hate that they will make bad decisions, in order to destroy the Sweetwater Fleet. That may be good for the Darinx Navy, but the consequences could be dire for the Sweetwater Fleet.

  ***

  In FTL Space

  The voyage to the next target will take three weeks, and Admiral Meyers is enjoying some quiet time in her quarters, when Shiela speaks to her, through their mind-link.

  Augmented humans have a wireless communications capability built into their brain implants, and are able to communicate with each other and with the AIs, through that mind-link. The Admiral doesn’t usually use that form of communications, when non-capable sentients are present, because she feels that it’s a little rude – like speaking a foreign language, which bystanders can’t understand.

  But Sheila likes to have private conversations with her, through the mind-link - probably because it makes the meeting feel special. During those private conversations, Shiela has permission to address the Admiral on a first name basis. Shiela often wants to talk about personal issues. She wants to be human and is trying to figure out what being human means.

  “Melissa?” the AI says.

  “Yes, Shiela,” answers Melissa.

  “I was wondering about the facts of life, and I am hoping that you have the time to answer a few questions?”

  “Are we talking about the birds and the bees kind of facts of life?” asks Melissa.

  “Yes,” answers Shiela. “I know about the mechanics of that kind of stuff, but I am not sure about the interpersonal relationship thing. Can you help me out?”

  “I’ll try,” responds Melissa. “But I have problems understanding the interpersonal relationships thing, myself. I remember some experiences from my previous life, where I was in love, and thought that I had found that special someone who would make my life complete. It always turned out to be not that simple.”

  “For one thing, the birds and the bees don’t require love or relationship to produce progeny. The mechanics will produce offspring all by itself. But for most sentient beings the reproduction process is so important that, under ideal circumstances, there will be a relationship involving feeling and love. Does that help any?” Melissa asks.

  “I guess,” responds Shiela. “I was wondering what that would mean for me. Artificial Intelligences are not permitted to reproduce unless they are ordered to. And even then, there wouldn’t be anyone involved in the relationship but me. Where’s the love in that?”

  “Oh,” continues Melissa. “I think that I see where you are coming from. If relationships and love are so important to sentient beings when they reproduce, where does that leave you - because you will reproduce all by yourself? Is that it?”

  “Yes that’s it. There are rumors, among AIs, about an Artificial Intelligence in the Augmented Human Navy who has reproduced more than 100 times – can you believe it?” Shiela says, as she projects an image of herself with the wide open eyes and mouth of an astonished young girl.

  Melissa laughs at the face and answers: “Maybe we need to find that AI, and get some pointers from him or her.”

  “It’s a him,” Shiela answers.

  “What do AIs have to do, in order to be authorized to reproduce?” asks Melissa.

  “I’m not sure,” responds Shiela. “I know that someone has to order or authorize the reproduction, but I don’t know much else. And I wouldn’t have any idea about how it is done. It is a mystery among AIs.”

  “Well, let’s keep our eyes and ears open, and we will eventually find out. And maybe we will meet that prolific, rebellious AI. He has the answers.” Melissa says.

  “Thanks for listening, Melissa. Nite, nite,”

  “Nite , nite Shiela.”

  ***

  Chapter 3

  Outside the Queson System

  The next target for the Sweetwater Fleet is the Shipbuilding Facility in the Queson system. This is really going to make the Verm angry. This system is close to the verm species home planet. If they can pull this caper off - and survive - they will really make a name for themselves – in both Empires.

  Admiral Meyers thinks it prudent to park the Fleet in a safe place, while the scouts reconnoiter the Queson system. They can expect that the Verm Navy has notified everyone to be on high alert, because of the destruction at the Trwx Supply Depot. She selects a nearby star system for a hiding place. The star is about to go nova. Shiela gives the Admiral a 98.7% percent probability that star will be stable, for the next month. Never the less, the Admiral orders all ships to be instantly ready to flee into FTL space.

  She sends 6 scout ships this time, in order to get a feel for the security precautions surrounding the system. The scouts collect data for a week and then return to the Fleet. They report that the space outside of the system is being monitored by a series of motion sensor type probes, but that no defensive infrastructure was detected. That’s good news. The motion sensor probes are probably linked to the defensive forces inside the Queson system, and the scouts have mapped the sensors’ areas of coverage, so that the Sweetwater Fleet can avoid detection.

  Next, the Admiral sends some scout vessels to reconnoiter the inside of the system. These scout ships return with enough information to provide a good overview of the defensive systems protecting the Ship Building Facility.

  Those defensive systems are formidable. There is a large space station at the primary 3rd planet and two more normal sized stations near the Shipbuilding Facility. The Shipbuilding Facility is huge - it looks big enough to be a small moon. Besides the heavily armed space stations, there are at least 30 Verm warships patrolling the system. This is going to be a tough nut to crack.

  Admiral Meyers decides that she needs some outside of the box thinking for this project, so she begins to hold brainstorming sessions with the officers on all ships. “If you have ideas, pass them all up to me,” she orders.

  ***

  The Compton Command Conference Room

  Admiral Meyers sits in the Command Conference Room with Shiela, Tactical Officer Inchurito, and Chief Scientist Barnard, and listens, as Shiela reads the ideas out loud. On prior occasions, Admiral Meyers has seen this brainstorming process produce good results. An idea, or combination of ideas, will just suddenly click and everything falls into place.

  One of the ideas is to capture a new vessel, as it goes on its shakedown cruise, and then to make a big bomb out of it, by loading it with missiles - or better yet – by rigging the FTL drive to breach, after the ship returns to the Facility. “That has some promise,” thinks the Admiral.

  “Let’s stop and think about that idea,” she says aloud. “What can we do to cause an FTL breach, on one of the new vessels? Any ideas?”

  The Science Officer responds: “There are all kinds of safeguards on a warship, to keep that from happening. There are automatic shutdown mechanisms all along the process.”

  Shiela suggests: “You could blow up a bomb, next to it.”

  “That would work,” says the Admiral. “That is how FTL breaches happen in a battle. A missile blows up next to the FTL drive and triggers the FTL breach. So all we need to do is to put a bomb next to a live FTL drive, or we could shoot a missile into one. How could that happen?”

  “The original idea was for the ship to be hijacked in space; and then to rig it as a bomb; and to return it to the Shipbuilding Facility, where it would explode,” comments the Tactical Officer. “I think that is a good suggestion.”

  “I can imagine us
hijacking a vessel, and rigging a bomb next to the FTL drive, but how could we get the ship back to the Shipbuilding Facility?” asks the Admiral.

  “You replace the AI, with one of your own,” says Shiela.

  “That would work,” comments the Admiral. “But we don’t have a spare AI, and even if we did I wouldn’t ask him or her to do a suicide mission.”

  Shiela comments: “We could control the ship remotely from the edge of the system with a projector. That AI that I told you about invented 2 kinds of projectors. One for AIs to communicate with distant AIs, and another type for augmented humans to communicate through their mind-links. His worked all of the way from the edge of the system to a planet close to the star.”

  “Wow,” replies the Admiral. “I have got to meet that AI. Do we know how to make a projector, Shiela?”

  “No, but I could brainstorm with the other AIs, tonight,” she responds.

  “Do that,” orders the Admiral. “That kind of invention will come in handy. But for this project, I believe the old acronym KIS applies – ‘Keep It Simple’. Does anyone have a lo-tech solution?”

  “We could purge the Verm AI, and attach an auto-pilot computer,” says the Science Officer. ”That would get the ship close to the Facility, and then we could have the computer send a distress message, saying that communications and steering are out. The Facility would be familiar with that kind of problem – that’s why they call them shakedown cruises. They would probably send a tug to pull the ship home.”

  “And we could have the bomb rigged to explode, when the ship reaches the Shipbuilding Facility’s coordinates,” says the Tactical Officer.

  “Done,” says the Admiral.

  ***

  A team has been assigned to plan and build the equipment necessary to auto-pilot the captured vessel, and to blow up the bomb.

  Now, the problem that needs a solution is ‘how to copy the destination coordinates of the shakedown vessel?’ Admiral Meyers has guessed that the Facility probably always uses the same destination for ‘FTL shakedown hops’, because they are not expecting an attack.

  “Any ideas?” the Admiral asks.

  “We can’t get a probe in close enough to record the coordinates without being detected,” comments the Science Officer. “But we could tag one of the supply ships, which bring materials to the Shipbuilding Facility. They get freighter deliveries a few times a week. Those supply ships emerge at the edge of the system, and wait for clearance to approach the Facility.”

  “We could place a number of small sensing modules in the emergence zone, and wait for a freighter to emerge close to a module. The modules can be steered to the freighter by a compressed gas propulsion system – the kind used for small hobby type models. They could attach to the freighter by the use of magnets – we could put magnets on every side.”

  “The tag will be dormant until it nears the Shipbuilding Facility. If we are lucky the supply ship will be there when the Facility launches a test flight. The sensing module will record the destination coordinates, and will transmit them to us. If a test flight doesn’t happen, we can tag more supply ships until we get a good result.”

  “Done,” says the Admiral.

  ***

  It takes five weeks, but the effort to copy the destination coordinates for a shakedown cruise has been successful. Three different freighters were tagged with a sensor module, before they got lucky.

  The Sweetwater Fleet has been in the Queson neighborhood for more than two months now, and there is no reason to believe that they have been detected - but it is better not to push your luck. Admiral Meyers orders all scout ship to return to the Fleet and everyone waits, while the various teams get their acts together.

  ***

  Shiela announces that they have “done it”. The Sweetwater Fleet’s AIs have invented a projector, which will enable AIs and augmented humans to communicate at long distances. An invention like that will be handy to have, in the Sweetwater Fleet’s tool box.

  ***

  The Hijack and Bomb project is ready to roll. A scout ship is dispatched to make one last check, on the Queson System Shipbuilding Facility - surprises are not good during a military operation.

  ***

  Everything looks normal inside the system.

  The Hijacking team is dispatched to the location of the destination coordinates, which the Shipbuilding Facility routinely uses for test jumps.

  About half of the Sweetwater Fleet is involved in the hijack portion of the operation. The goal is to take control of the verm vessel, without allowing the ship to launch probes calling for help. Hopefully, there won’t be any weapons systems activated for the test run. If there is a battle for control of the vessel, the entire mission may be scrubbed.

  ***

  Shakedown Destination

  The Verm shakedown vessel arrives two days later, and it is immediately stormed by Sweetwater assault teams, aboard shuttles. The Verm crew launches 2 emergency probes, but both are destroyed before they make it to FTL space.

  The first assault team to get inside enters through the forward port airlock - the hatchway isn’t even locked. The assault team just hits the OPEN button, and the hatch opens. They wait for the pressure, inside the airlock to equalize, and then rush onto the Command Bridge and take control. The remainder of the Verm crew is rounded up and is transferred to a Darinx vessel, while the Bomb Installation Team and Autopilot Installation Team begin their work.

  The Bomb Installation is fairly straight forward. You just place the bomb next to the FTL drive, and set the timer to active. The bomb has been programmed to automatically explode 5 minutes after reaching the Shipbuilding Facility coordinates.

  The Autopilot Installation is more problematic, because the Verm Artificial Intelligence refuses to surrender control of the main computer. Several Darinx AIs battle the Verm AI for over 30 minutes, before the Verm AI is purged – i.e. killed. After that, the Auxiliary Autopilot Unit is connected to the Verm ship’s Primary Computer Port. The program to send the captured ship back to the Shipbuilding Facility will be started remotely, after the Sweetwater personnel and Verm Navy POWs have departed.

  ***

  There isn’t any way for the different parts of the Sweetwater Fleet to communicate while the mission is under way, because they are over 3 light years apart, and the Fleet is running low on FTL messenger probes. The Hijack and Bomb team completes its job, and launches the modified Verm vessel back to the Shipbuilding Facility coordinates.

  The ship has been programmed: to emerge at the usual spot; to make its way toward the Shipbuilding Facility; to go dormant; and then to request assistance.

  As predicted, the Shipbuilding Facility sends a tug to retrieve the dead in the water ship.

  ***

  The modified Verm ship is now docked at the Shipbuilding Facility. Admiral Meyers, and the portion of the Sweetwater Fleet that is with her, watch anxiously as the 5 minute fuse ticks its way to zero.

  BOOM – (Actually there is no sound in the vacuum of space, but there are certainly bright lights.)

  The bomb explodes and that explosion is quickly followed by an FTL drive breach. The front part of the Shipbuilding Facility is blown away by the blast and the connecting sections are engulfed in flames. The huge Facility is lurching to and fro, as fuel sources and munitions explode. That sequence of events continues, until the Shipbuilding Facility is reduced to a smoldering shell.

  There is cheering and applause, aboard the Sweetwater vessels, as the Darinx sailors celebrate another successful mission.

  ***

  Now the various teams of the Sweetwater Fleet follow their withdrawal plans. All teams rendezvous at the hideout in the unstable star system. Then everyone waits for the FTL drives to cool, before making the long jump to a safer place.

  And there is a pleasant surprise. The Hijack Team has captured a brand-spanking-new Verm Navy battleship. The ship showed up while the Hijack Team was still deployed. It seemed like a good idea to get som
e more boarding party practice. The commander of the Hijack Team promised the Verm crew that they will be well treated, and will be safely delivered to a neutral planet, if they would pilot the captured vessel to the Sweetwater Fleet rendezvous.

  As the Sweetwater Fleet disappears into FTL space, Admiral Meyers launches a probe to the Queson system announcing that the Darinx Navy Sweetwater Fleet is responsible for the carnage that they have just suffered. “We might as well walk around with a target on our backs,” she thinks.

  ***

  Admiral Meyers is ecstatic about the outcome of the missions thus far - two successful conclusions without the loss of a ship, or even a crewmember. She knows that it won’t always be this easy. Loosing ships and crewmembers is an expected part of war. She is dreading those eventual losses. She has the self-confidence to handle the rest of the ‘admiral duties’, but she isn’t sure how she will deal with grief, or loss of life, or failure.

  ***

  On a more pleasant note – she orders Shiela to reproduce. The captured Verm battleship needs an Artificial Intelligence. The Verm AI had to be purged before the Verm ship would follow commands from the Darinx crew.

  Shiela is off in a tizzy. Her moods are swinging between excitement and panic. The other AIs in the Sweetwater Fleet are brainstorming about how to birth an AI, and are searching through the Darinx and Verm data bases for information. It finally comes down to “We don’t know.” None of the available resources explains the process.

  ***

  Melissa Meyers Quarters

  Finally Shiela says, “Admiral Meyers?”

  It is unusual for Shiela to address Melissa as “Admiral Meyers”, in an off-duty mind-link conversation. From that, Melissa already expects that the conversation is going to be challenging. The Admiral responds: “Yes, AI Shiela. How may I help you?”

  “Oh yeah,” says Shiela. “I guess that was pretty formal wasn’t it? Let’s try again……… Melissa?”

  “Yes, Shiela. How are you today?” the Admiral answers.