Retribution: The Augmented Human Rebellion - Book 2

by Lefler, Terry

  They do better on the second attempt. The Sweetwater team launches almost 12 minutes ahead of the verm test ship.

  Now it’s time to get out of Dodge. Things are going to get very tense in this system when they discover that 2 ships have been hijacked, and 4 Verm warships have been destroyed. The Sweetwater Fleet launches for the rendezvous location and waits for the hijack teams to arrive.

  And they do arrive, with a brand new battleship and heavy cruiser. There was more difficulty in these captures. The test ships’ AIs were mounting a weapons assault against the AH Navy hijack teams. That resistance ceased at the direction of the verm test pilots, who decided that is was suicide to resist. The Verm crews on the shakedown vessels surrendered, after being promised that they would be delivered safely to a neutral planet in the Frontier Sector.

  Admiral Meyers assigns a couple of the surplus Artificial Intelligences, to the captured vessels. Shiela has been mentoring the Darinx AIs, and they are prepared for duty on captured Verm warships.

  The Sweetwater Fleet enters FTL space, headed for a safe deep space location.

  ***

  Deep Space

  The raid on the Shipbuilding Facility was successful, but took a lot of time. Still it was time well spent, in Admiral Meyers’ estimation.

  New technologies and tactics were developed, which will facilitate future raids on shipbuilding and repair facilities. For now, the Admiral expects that security around other shipbuilding installations will be beefed up, and that the risk outweighs the benefits for another such raid – maybe later.

  In the mean time, she has all Darinx crews and AIs studying for positions aboard captured Verm warships. The Sweetwater Fleet must transition to verm vessels, or find a source for Darinx munitions.

  “Where can I get a bunch of Verm warships without paying for them?” the Admiral wonders. Once again, she turns to her tried and true brainstorming techniques. And she learned in her recent Emperor’s Palace attack that enlisted personnel also have good ideas. She puts the question out for all crews and AIs. Then she waits.

  The responses trickle in, and then they pour in. All of the enlisted personnel remember that Seaman 1st Class Kaa-Gref was given a battlefield promotion to Tactical Officer, as a reward for his idea about attacking the Emperor’s Palace.

  ***

  “And the winner is Gunnery Sergeant Portuato, aboard the light cruiser Reel,” announces the Admiral, “for her idea of hijacking a bunch of Verm warships, from the parking lot at a regional Verm Navy headquarters. Sergeant Portuato is hereby promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, and will begin training for the position of Weapons Officer.”

  ***

  Outside of the 12th Verm Navy Headquarters System

  A group of 6 scouts is sent to reconnoiter deep space around the star system Guiars, where the 12th Verm Navy Headquarters is located. As expected, the system is crawling with Verm warships and defensive networks. Long range spying identifies several places where numbers of vessels are stored in parking lot fashion.

  There are some necessary criteria that a ship must meet in order to be considered hijack ready. The ship must have a functional FTL drive, a full load of fuel rods, and it must be accessible. Also, the ship must not have an Artificial Intelligence, because Verm AIs have been programmed to resist and to announce the hijack, if an unauthorized humanoid takes control.

  It takes three weeks of long distance reconnoitering to get a feel for the conditions of the vessels parked at the 4 different parking lots. One is for vehicles awaiting maintenance – those vessels fail to qualify for hijacking. Another is for vessels which have completed repairs – those vessels would qualify. The 3rd parking lot is for special purpose types of vehicles – those vessels would qualify, but are not as desirable as general purpose warships. The 4th parking lot is loaded with various sizes of general purpose warships. It looks like a candy store to the Admiral. Naturally, it is the least accessible of the parking lots.

  The Admiral instructs Science Officer Barnard to study the Verm vessels, in order to determine the status of their Artificial Intelligences. If there are ships without AIs, they would immediately become preferred targets.

  Officer Bernard reports that there are 15 Verm warships parked in the repairs completed section of the Repair Depot, which do not have AIs. He reached that conclusion by monitoring each vessel for a routine comm sync signal. Vessels which don’t make a comm sync check probably don’t have AIs.

  Admiral Myers says: “That’s good enough. Focus our energies on those 15 vessels and prepare to hijack them, as long as they are FTL capable and have fuel rods.

  The 15 vessels meet all requirements for hijack ready status. The next thing to do is to figure out how to get them out of the Verm parking lot and into FTL space, without anyone recording their destination coordinates. Admiral Meyers impresses herself by having a good idea, about how to accomplish that task.

  They use the technologies developed by Officer Barnard, for the Shipbuilding Facility heist. Officer Barnard and the Chief Cryptologist – Ensign Seagrams – tap into the broad beam secure comm system and crack the encryption code. After a week of study, the pair is confident that they can send a fake order to the Repair Depot, informing them that new AIs will be installed aboard the 15 vessels. And that the ships will then take a FTL test flight, as a fleet.

  ***

  With that done, the hijack team takes 15 AIs (borrowed from the Darinx Sweetwater Fleet ships) into the Repair Depot parking lot, aboard one of their captured verm shuttles. The shuttle is expected and there are no verbal communications with the Repair Depot.

  The phony Artificial Intelligence installation team doesn’t try to enter the Verm vessels – because they don’t have the access codes. Instead, they use the Computer Uplink Port near the bow of each vessel, and transfer the Sweetwater AIs, from portable computer cores into the ships’ computers. The whole job takes about 40 minutes.

  The shuttle departs with the phony technicians. After the Darinx AIs are ready for flight, one of the 15 hijack vessels signals that they are ready by flashing its lights.

  Officer Barnard and Ensign Seagrams send a fake message to the Repair Depot informing them that the 15 vessels will depart for the FTL test flight in 5 minutes. The Repair Depot acknowledges receipt of the message.

  “That is a problem!” thinks the Admiral. “Get them out right now!” she orders.

  All 15 ships move out of the Repair Depot parking lot at an unusually high speed, but there is no response from the Repair Depot crew. As soon as they are out of the proximity of the Repair Depot, the 15 ships launch into FTL space.

  The AIs aboard the 15 hijacked vessels have been instructed to immediately run away from the emergence spot, at full real space speed. There may be Verm Navy vessels following them.

  About 6 minutes after the hijacked vessels depart, alarms sound at the Repair Depot. The Verm Security Officer spotted a problem – the Repair Depot acknowledged receipt of a message that Headquarters didn’t send. “Someone is stealing out ships!”

  Admiral Meyers orders the Sweetwater Fleet into FTL space, headed for the rendezvous coordinates. The Sweetwater Fleet will arrive first and will set an ambush, for any Verm warships following the 15 hijacked vessels.

  ***

  Deep Space Rendezvous

  The ambush has been set. Now everything will be OK, as long as the 15 captured vessels have been able to outrun the Verm Security Forces in real space. They need to survive long enough for their FTL drives to cool off, so that they can jump to this rendezvous place.

  Over an hour has passed, and the Admiral is becoming apprehensive. “Perhaps we should have followed the 15 hijacked ships,” she thinks. “We still would have gotten there before the Verm security forces, and we probably could have had our ambush ready.” Second guessing won’t help this time. But it may prepare her for similar situations in the future. For now, all she can do is wait.

  Another 20 minutes passes before the 15 hijacked ves
sels begin to emerge. They are all here. But some have significant damage. That is enough to inform the Admiral that Verm warships will be following, right behind.

  And within minutes, the Verm warships begin to emerge. The Sweetwater Fleet is ready for battle, and takes full advantage of the vulnerability of vessels, when they are in the process of emergence.

  Over half of the Verm vessels are disabled or destroyed as they emerge, but that still leaves a large number of enemy warships in mission capable condition.

  ***

  After the number of healthy Verm Warships outnumbers the Sweetwater vessels, Admiral Meyers orders her ships to run away. The Darinx forces need to run, until the FTL drives on the hijacked ships have cooled. After that, they can all escape into FTL space and set another ambush.

  One of the captured warships is falling behind, with engine trouble. There are well over 70 Verm warships following after them. Stopping now will be certain destruction for the Sweetwater Fleet. The Admiral anguishes over the decision, but she must abandon the straggling AI, to be captured or killed. That is what she has been trained to do, but that doesn’t make it easier.

  And two Darinx warships are in trouble, as well. They have hull breaches and fires that are out of control. Admiral Meyers orders both crews to abandon ship, immediately. Shuttles begin to pour from the damaged vessels, and the Sweetwater Fleet slows to retrieve them. One crew is safely recovered, but the second ship explodes before the evacuation can be completed. The Sweetwater Fleet recovers the survivors and resumes their retreat.

  Retrieving the survivors cost the Sweetwater Fleet a lot of time. The Verm vessels are almost within energy weapons range now, and will soon resume their assault on the Darinx Fleet.

  ***

  The vessels that are running away from a fight have the advantage in a projectile weapons attack. The effective velocity of projectiles, launched aft by the fleeing ships, will be equal to the projectile velocity plus the velocity of the ships that are chasing them.

  Admiral Meyers orders all ships to prepare to launch a barrage of missiles and rail guns projectiles, as directed by Shiela. Shiela assigns targets, and selects weapons – largely based on how many munitions are still available – and orders “Fire”. The barrage of projectile munitions will be the last big barrage from the Darinx ships. They are quickly depleting their meager resources of projectile munitions.

  After a brief transit, the barrage reaches the Verm Security vessels and takes a heavy toll. Shiela had done some complex targeting calculations, so that any given enemy vessel would receive missiles and rail gun projectiles from a number of Sweetwater ships – all arriving at the same time, and from different directions. Verm warships have good defensive systems, but not good enough to cope with such a bolus of projectiles.

  Fully half of the attacking Verm warships have been disabled or destroyed. Now the two fleets are similar in size, and the Darinx Fleet is nearly ready for an FTL trip. …………………. …………………….. ……… When the last FTL drive comes online, Admiral Meyers orders “Engage”, and the Sweetwater Fleet disappears into FTL space.

  ***

  After emerging, the Sweetwater Fleet sets the ambush, but there are no Verm warships following them. The Verm know full well that there will be an ambush waiting.

  The Sweetwater Fleet moves away from the point of emergence, and begins to run again – this time at a more comfortable pace. When their FTL drives have cooled, they make one more jump just to be sure that no one is following them. They have jumped to the location of one of their weapons stashes. The verm vessels can be restocked, but the Darinx vessels are almost depleted of munitions.

  Admiral Meyers and the Sweetwater Fleet settle in for a recovery period. They need to recover, repair, and to mourn their losses. This is the first significant loss that the Fleet has suffered. It had to happen eventually, but no one is ever prepared for it.

  They have lost 372 sailors, 2 Artificial Intelligences, 2 Darinx warships, and their innocence – the thought that they were safe from harm. They gained 14 verm warships – 4 destroyers, 6 light cruisers, 3 heavy cruisers, and I battleship. All ships suffered some damage in the recent battle, with 3 taking heavy damage, and 2 taking severe damage.

  Tactically the mission is a success, but the Admiral would gladly give up the increase, if it would get her 374 souls back. She knew that this day would come – she is relieved that it wasn’t worse.

  Shiela is making a list of available Darinx munitions. The Admiral intends to only take fully equipped vessels on the forays, and to leave the others in a safe place, until they can be re-supplied.

  ***

  Some weeks later, the Admiral sends a scouting and scrounging team, to see if there are any recoverable assets, from the last battles. They bring back two damaged verm heavy cruisers packed full of spare parts and munitions.

  And they found a surprise. They heard an SOS signal from a Verm Evacuation Pod. Inside was Virgil - the Artificial Intelligence for the Darinx ship Wilheist. He had been on temporary assignment to the hijack squad and was aboard the hijacked vessel that had engine trouble. With capture imminent, Virgil had exited the main computer and had squeezed into the Command Deck Evacuation Pod computer. He commanded the Pod to eject from the verm vessel and to run-silent. He had been drifting in space, wondering if someone would come for him before his power ran out.

  Everyone rejoices at his recovery, especially his AI friends.

  ***

  It is time to get back to the business of disruption. The Sweetwater Fleet will go out with 18 captured verm warships – 4 of them are battleships and all are fully loaded. There are enough munitions left to fully stock 8 Darinx warships. That brings their total ship count to 26. Back at the weapons stash they have another 16 Darinx warships, needing munitions, and a few verm warships, which could be made serviceable, if needed.

  ***

  When she sent her last information probe to Darinx Navy Headquarters, Admiral Meyers had included coordinates for the Darinx military to send a reply. That had been almost 6 months ago. She dispatches a scout to look for a message from the Darinx Navy. She isn’t sure that she wants to hear what they might say.

  She has recently been contemplating various scenarios for her life. Most of which have not included the Darinx Navy. She is wondering what life would be like in the Augmented Human Navy. She could give everyone in the Fleet freedom of choice, and move on with the ones who want to cast their lot in with her.

  ***

  The scout returns with 2 information probes. The first contains communications from Fleet Admiral Duncons, berating her for going over his head and ordering her and the Fleet to finish the task of destroying the Verm Emperor’s Palace, immediately.

  The second probe came from a Fleet Admiral Kinseat, who congratulated her on the “….. wonderful accomplishments of the Sweetwater Fleet. You are famous throughout the Darinx and Verm Empires. In the Verm Empire there is a large price on you head. In the Darinx Empire you have brought new hope for military success, and your attacks in Verm territory have caused the Verm Navy to pull back. Your efforts have reduced the number of Verm attacks on Darinx space by 80 percent.”

  Included in the second probe are orders that she should report to her new commander - Fleet Admiral Kinseat – Fleet Admiral Duncons has retired. “Sweetwater Fleet is to return to Darinx Navy Headquarters, at your earliest convenience.”

  What a night and day difference. The Admiral’s first thought is that it is too good to be true. She doesn’t inform anyone about the new orders for a few days, so that she can sleep on it. She still doesn’t believe that it can be true. Things that are too good to be true usually aren’t.

  By the time she announces the new orders to the Fleet, she has made a plan. She will take the Darinx vessels and the Darinx crews back to Darinx Navy Headquarters. She will leave the captured verm vessels stashed in various locations.

  ***

  Chapter 10

  Darinx
Navy Headquarters

  Sweetwater Fleet has learned a lot about sneaking around defensive systems. They routinely send scout ships to map defensive sensors and to reconnoiter defensive infrastructure. That is how they have stayed alive all this time. So it is not a surprise to Admiral Meyers that the Sweetwater Fleet makes its way, from Verm space to the Darinx Empire’s home system, without being detected.

  But it is a surprise when they find a blind spot near the edge of the home system. It’s a place that is not scanned by any defensive sensors. The Admiral makes a mental note to tell the System Defense Force about the oversight. Then she sends a probe to Darinx Navy Headquarters announcing that the Sweetwater Fleet will enter the Darinx System in 1 day. That should give enough time, so that the Darinx System Defense Force can notify all appropriate defensive systems that the emerging fleet is friendly.

  Admiral Meyers instructs the crews on all ships, to spend that day tidying up their personal appearances. They have spent most of the 6 week trip cleaning the ships and preparing for the inspections, which are inevitable.

  And then at the announced time, Admiral Meyers says: “All ships. … Meyers here. ….. Engage for FTL hop on my mark. ……………………….. Engage.”

  ***

  The Sweetwater Fleet emerges into the outer region of the Darinx system; announces their arrival; and forms-up, into a parade formation. Then they wait - proceeding into the Darinx home system without permission could get a person, or a fleet, killed.

  Within hours, a Fleet of 50 warships approaches and greets the Sweetwater Fleet: “Welcome home Sweetwater Fleet. We have been awaiting your arrival and will be honored to escort you to Darinx Navy Headquarters space. The routes and entry protocols have been forwarded to your AIs. Signal when ready.”

  ………. ……… At the Admiral’s nod, Sheila signals ‘ready’ and the Escort commander announces: “All ships. On my mark begin entry protocol. ………………. Engage”