“A little distracted, I suppose,” answers the AI. “I was having some thoughts about this baby making process, and I wonder if you have time to speak with me.”
“Yes I do.”
“Thank you Melissa. I am just so nervous about messing up, and making a baby that would be unsuitable. I noticed that we are going to emerge close to the Frontier Sector, and I was wondering if we might try to contact that rebel AI?”
“Wow,” exclaims the Admiral. “Now that is what I call outside of the box thinking. I’ll have to make a note of that on your Progress Chart. Do you have any plan about how to contact the rebel AI, if we go into Frontier space?”
“Yes I do,” responds Shiela. “We know that they saved the planet Rison from being destroyed by the Darinx Fleet, under that crazy Admiral Keeser and Field Marshall Kax. I bet they would know how to contact the Augmented Human Navy.”
“Good plan. That seems like it might work, but there are some complications,” says Melissa. “For one, the Darinx Empire might not feel good, about their first ever augmented human Admiral contacting the hated Augmented Human Navy. That might call my loyalty into question.”
“Yes, I know that,” responds the AI. “That is why I decided to go alone, without your permission. I could go to Rison in a probe. And we know that the other AIs can take care of my duties by using the projector. Please. Can I go? It will only be for a little while.”
“Well,” Melissa begins, “for starters, you are not going in a probe. But we do have a big beautiful Verm battleship. You could learn to pilot that, and accidentally get lost on our next FTL jump. Then you can find your rebel AI; get the necessary information; and meet us at our next emergence coordinates. The Sweetwater Fleet will be in nearby verm space for the next three missions, and I will make a point of passing through there, from time to time.
***
Chapter 4
Deep Inside Verm Space
Admiral Meyers has made a few changes to the itinerary, so that there will be more reasons to stop by the rendezvous coordinates, and look for Shiela.
She feels like a mother who has just given her teenage daughter the keys to the car, and sent her off on a Spring Break trip. “What was I thinking?” she wonders from time to time. And sometimes: “Don’t ever do anything that stupid again.” But it’s too late now. The Admiral will just have to keep her mind occupied with other problems – such as the list of targets that Fleet Admiral Duncons gave her.
***
Under ordinary circumstances, the upcoming attack on a military school should be a soft target. The problem with this Military Academy is that it is in close proximity to the verm species home planet. This particular Academy is the Officer Candidate School, for the kids of the upper echelons of the Verm Empire. The Emperor would send his kids to this place – if he has any.
That is the reason that Fleet Admiral Duncons put this target on the hit list. Near the beginning of the Darinx-Verm war, the Verm Navy sent a 200 vessel fleet into the heart of Darinx space, and destroyed the most prominent military academy for training Darinx Naval officers.
This is payback time. Only the Sweetwater Fleet is much smaller, and the scope of the mission is more limited. It is not the goal to kill people, nor is it the goal to destroy the facilities. But there is a symbol of Verm dominance that Fleet Admiral Duncons wants destroyed.
In the center of the Academy there is a tower, and at the top of the tower, there is a platinum statue of the first Great Dictator. Destroying that tower and statue will be a symbolic victory, which will cause confidence in the Verm Empire to be “shaken to the core” – at least Fleet Admiral Duncons says so.
***
Hiding in another unstable star System
In Admiral Meyers mind, this mission should be a lightning fast in-and-out strike. The whole attack should take less than 30 minutes. However, there is no way to get any scout ships into the place undetected. And getting the Sweetwater Fleet into the very heart of the Empire is going to be a very risky venture.
Once again, the Admiral has decided to place the Fleet at risk by hiding them in an unstable star system. It was the only place that she could think of where there won’t be a bunch of Verm warships. Intelligence estimates, of Verm Navy fleet sizes near the verm species home planet, is 300 warships per system - except in the system of the home planet, where there are estimated to be 700 warships.
Getting into a system protected by 300 warships won’t be as difficult as getting out. You emerge near the tower, blow it away and then…….. and then what?
How do you get away? Your FTL drives are offline, for about an hour. And even if you manage to get into FTL space, there will be a hundred enemy warships on your tail. Admiral Meyers is not willing to send anyone on a suicide mission – especially for a symbolic victory.
She has some probes placed at various points outside of the Academy system. They will record events such as starship traffic, and will search for defensive and offensive military installations. The probes are set to record for one week and then to enter FTL space, and emerge some distance away. One of the Sweetwater ships will be sent to retrieve the probes’ information. If the probes have been followed by Verm Navy vessels, the lone Darinx warship is on its own. It will need to run far, and run fast.
***
The information from the probes has been recovered, and there is much to consider. For one thing, the volume of spaceship traffic is very high. In addition to the Verm Navy traffic, there is also a lot of business and industry traffic - all kinds of vessels are headed to all kinds of places. That heavy traffic can provide a cover for some Sweetwater ships to enter the system without using FTL drives. That might enable the attacker to strike the Academy target, and then to immediately FTL out.
Things are still unsettled in Admiral Meyers’ mind – they can get in - do the job - and get out. But they can’t get away – their destination coordinates will be easy to follow. The Verm Navy will be all over the Sweetwater Fleet. It is time for a brainstorming meeting.
***
Compton Command Conference Room
…………. ……… “We may be better off to just sacrifice one ship,” responds Tactical Officer Inchurito. “Right now, our plan would be to use the projector to remotely control the sacrificial ship. We could either have the ship crash into the Academy tower, or we could have the ship’s weapons destroy the Academy tower, and then the ship could escape into FTL space. The Verm Navy would then follow and destroy the vessel. The Verm would probably think that they have caught and killed the entire mission team.”
The Admiral replies: “That is what we will do if we can’t find another tactic, which will give a better result. But I hate the thought of sacrificing one of our ships. Also, the probability of success for this scenario is very low. Shiela says it’s 97.2% more likely that the ship will be destroyed, before it reaches the vicinity of the Academy. ”
Science Officer Barnard comments: “Why don’t we hijack a verm ship, and crash that ship into the tower? Then the Verm Navy wouldn’t know who to suspect – at least until Admiral Meyers announces it.”
“Oh, thank you, Officer Bernard,” exclaims the Admiral. “I won’t mind sacrificing one of their vessels. That is our plan. Now, how do we hijack that ship?”
***
Deep Space near the Verm Home Planet
It takes another week of probe reconnaissance to obtain the intelligence needed to select the right vessel for hijack. Not just any vessel can get close to the Military Academy. Security gets tighter, the closer you get to the planet that hosts the Academy. The Verm aren’t stupid. They know that this planet and this Military Academy are inviting targets, and they are protected accordingly.
It seems good to the Admiral to pick a civilian ship, which routinely visits the Academy – perhaps a supply ship, or a transport vessel. She wants one that actually has permission to land at the Academy.
Even with a ship that routinely services the Academy, the assault s
till won’t be a piece of cake. There will be a number of clearance points as the vessel approaches the planet, and even more as it waits for permission to land. The Sweetwater Fleet won’t be able to fake their way through the confrontations, with the Verm security forces.
No. There can be no faking it on this mission. The authentic crew needs to be piloting the sacrificial vessel, and they must not know that they are about to die.
The choice comes down to a Food Delivery Transport, or an in-system Shuttle Transport. The Admiral selects the in-system Shuttle Transport, because it will be easier to access. The fleet of in-system Shuttles is stationed on the 3rd moon of the 6th planet. That region is still well patrolled by Verm Warships but it is, comparatively speaking, remote.
Science Officer Barnard is directing the build of the control mechanism, which will cause the Shuttle to veer off-course at the last moment, and to fly into the tower. There will also be a package of Q-4 explosives, which will insure that the tower is destroyed when hit.
The plan is to gain access to the Shuttle, and to modify the control system. Everything will function normally until the Shuttle is close to the Academy tower. At that point the modification will take control of the steering system, and will fly the Shuttle into the tower.
***
3rd moon of the 6th planet in the Zarn System
Tactical Officer Inchurito is in charge of the mission to modify the Verm shuttle, so that it will crash into the tower at the Verm Military Academy. His squad is transported to the vicinity of the 3rd moon of the 6th planet, aboard an asteroid. The Darinx shuttle uses a blast of air to push off, from the asteroid, when it is close to the 3rd moon. The shuttle then coasts to a controlled crash landing. The shuttle is hidden from Verm sensors, because it stays on the back side of the moon. It touches down a hundred klicks from the Verm In-system Shuttle Facility.
Officer Inchurito and his squad complete the 100 klick journey to the Facility, aboard a nuclear powered buggy. Regardless of its buggy appearance, it is perfect for this job. The nuclear energy power source is so low in radiation that it will register as background noise to most surveillance equipment, and the electrical noise from the 8 individual wheel motors is undetectable. It’s not fast, but it is very low in emissions.
The Shuttle Facility is enclosed by an electrified fence. The Darinx squad gets busy digging a tunnel under the fence. That mundane task takes over 4 hours, and puts the mission behind schedule.
Once the modification team is inside the Shuttle Facility they pick a shuttle, which is surrounded by other shuttles, so that their presence will be hidden. Then they try to open the shuttles’ access door, with no success. That is why they brought Ensign Voorb. She is of the lithum species, and is expert at opening things. The lithum species has a super sensitive touch sense. In addition to that natural gift, she also spent 2 years at the Darinx Academy becoming an expert at opening things. Every Darinx warship has at least one Accessibility Specialist.
Ensign Voorb quickly opens the access door, and the modification team enters the shuttle. Science Officer Barnard knows approximately how the control mechanism on a Verm Shuttle will work - but he doesn’t know, specifically. That is why he had to personally accompany the modification team.
The technician quickly removes the control box cover and stands aside, so that Officer Barnard can work his magic. The Science Officer crawls part way into the assembly, and instructs his technician on how to rewire the control module interface connector. The Science Officer then wires the control module into the Verm shuttle’s control system.
The Science Officer then quickly extricates himself, and makes room for the explosives expert. This part of the modification is the easiest. The explosives technician holds the package of Q-4 against the control box wall and secures it with tape.
And the modification is done. The mission is running late, but they take the time to replace all of the screws, and to clean up their mess. Then they make a hasty exit under the fence. They hide the tunnel by covering the holes with camouflage fabric. The team re-boards their buggy, and moves as quickly as possible toward their awaiting shuttle.
***
It isn’t going to be possible to make the launch in time, if they don’t do something. And it is very important that they be at the right place, at the right time. There is a special asteroid headed their way, which will take them out of the Zarn system. If they miss that rendezvous they will be in a quandary.
The pilot on the Darinx Shuttle has been watching the clock, and knows that the escape part of the mission is running behind. From her vantage point, she can see that the buggy isn’t going to make it in time.
Contingency plans have been made for every foreseeable problem. There are several options available, but the one the pilot picks is to move the escape vehicle closer to the buggy. That might leave them a little short of the compressed air needed for propulsion, when it is time to launch from the moon - it will be close.
The pilot adjusts the thrusters so that the Shuttle will stay close to the moon’s surface, and hits the GO button. The Shuttle lurches upward and outward in the direction of the buggy. There will be very little noise from the burst of air, because the moon has almost no atmosphere. The danger is that Verm Navy sensors may pick up the movement of the Shuttle, as it travels from the back side of the moon, into a higher visibility area.
The pilot finds a clear space for a landing and does her best to control the crash - - - not bad. They won’t know for a while whether their movement has been detected, but they are close to being able to make their launch in time.
The team on the buggy also saves some time, by ditching the buggy in a crater and hopping the last 20 klicks to the waiting shuttle. As soon as the team is inside, the pilot closes the hatch and hits the GO button for the programmed launch.
Once again, there is the possibility that some motion sensors will pick up the Darinx Shuttle’s compressed air launch, because the Shuttle is more exposed. There is nothing that they can do about that - every mission needs some luck or divine grace.
***
Back at the unstable star System
The mission has gone surprisingly well. The results aren’t known yet and the Admiral isn’t going to stick around to find out. The best time to get out of this region of space is before the tower falls. Afterwards, the Verm Navy will clamp down, on everyone and everything. The Admiral has left a probe, which will observe the tower. If there is an explosion at the tower, the probe will record that explosion and will then launch for coordinates in deep space, in another Sector.
The Admiral won’t know for some months, whether or not this mission has been successful. And she doesn’t feel that it will be necessary to tell the Verm Navy that the Sweetwater Fleet is responsible, if the tower is destroyed. The buggy on the 3rd moon will be enough to prove that it was the Darinx Navy. And you don’t need to be a rocket scientist, to figure out exactly who the culprit might be.
Once again, it’s a mission with no loss of life and no loss of ships - amazing.
Now it’s on to the next target – after a quick stop to check on her little lost AI.
***
Chapter 5
In Space Outside of the Rison System
Getting to planet Rison is fairly simple, and Shiela has spent the travel time becoming expert on the battleships’ systems. She can fight a good fight all by herself if she needs to.
She emerges at the edge of the Rison system and notifies everyone of her presence, and that she comes in peace. As the Rison Defense Forces close in on her position, she asks them not to approach any closer than 50,000 klicks. She only wants information.
The commander of the Rison Defense Forces chooses to give the Verm battleship the personal space, which it requested. There will be plenty of time to attack, if necessary. Even though the intruder is a battleship the female voice exudes a non-threatening aura.
When asked about her reason for being in the Rison system, Shiela identifies herself as
a Darinx Artificial Intelligence who needs to speak with the Augment Human Navy’s primary Artificial Intelligence. When asked why she needs to speak with the AI, she responds: “It’s a personal matter.”
The Rison Defense Force commander – Captain Inwarr – thinks it interesting that a Darinx Artificial Intelligence arrives in an unmanned Verm battleship, and wants to speak with the AH Navy’s primary Artificial Intelligence about a “personal matter”. But Rison owes its existence to the AH Navy, and Rison will do everything that it can to assist the AH Navy.
Captain Inwarr communicates with the Space Station, which communicates with the planet-side government. After a few hours, Captain Inwarr notifies Shiela that her message has been sent. For security purposes, there are layers of relays and information exchanges. The delay in the process means that it may take some weeks, before the AH Navy Artificial Intelligence receives the message.
Shiela says: “Thank you. Is it OK if I wait here? I will be glad to move farther out, if it will make you feel more comfortable.”
Captain Inwarr says: “Thank you for asking. It would make us feel more at ease, if you moved some distance out. How about pulling away by another 500,000 klicks?”
“Done,” says Shiela. She pulls away slowly, so that no one will get panicked by a sudden move, and travels off into deep space to wait for the rebel AI.
***
Deep Space
Time has been defined as “the distance between two events”. For a computer who thinks in nanoseconds, there are a lot more events, as compared to a humanoid who thinks in milliseconds.
That said, Artificial Intelligence Shiela is bored. She has been alone in this big Verm battleship for almost 2 months now. She has read and reread all of the documentation on the Verm battleship, and has run through the entire stock of battle simulation programs. She has inspected every wire in the ship’s circuitry, and every seam in the hull.
She never considered boredom as a possibility for herself. There is always something new to learn. There is always some new thought to think. But there is no doubt about it – Shiela is bored.
Retribution: The Augmented Human Rebellion - Book 2 Page 4