Mark was left speechless. He might be able to argue with Ava, against his feelings, but Jerome saw through him in a way others couldn’t.
He tapped Mark’s shoulder and left the room.
And with that, Jerome was gone, leaving Mark to an empty room.
Chapter Thirty-Three
VCF Fernix
In Transit from Sol to Osdal System
1/3556
Captain Grild checked with his engineers once again before looking to the rest of his command crew. There was only Dev and Theo.
Dev was his communications officer and his cargo master while Theo acted as his navigator.
All of them and the crew of the VCF Fernix had been asleep just a few weeks ago. The crew on watch woke them all up with an important message from the Victor Corporation headquarters. It took a few days for them all to get up to speed with everything. After all, the news there was a massive Union hiding in the stars, and humans had been fighting an alien race for decades was not something that was an everyday occurrence.
Though the biggest news for them personally wasn’t the changes that were happening across the stars; it was the new mission that they had been given.
An inter-system freighter had been rigged up with a faster-than-light drive, an Alcubierre drive, and it was heading to intercept them before they reached Osdal. Onboard, it was holding three Alcubierre drive systems and fabbers.
The freighter would meet them up in just a few weeks, drop off their supplies, and head off to meet with another freighter that was still decades away from its destination.
The inter-system freighter, which was now one of the farthest-travelled out-of-system freighters in the Victor Corporation, appeared on time and they cross loaded items, setting to work with putting the parts and computers together.
With it all completed, they ran multiple test scenarios and simulations. Theo turned into a red-eyed nervous wreck as he crammed all of the information he needed to know within those few short weeks.
Now it was time for them to test their drive, turning their forty-one-year journey into just a few weeks.
“Ready to engage drive,” Theo said, unable to hide the slight shake in his voice.
“Engage,” Aaron said, not giving himself or Theo any time to second-guess their decisions.
The Alcubierre drive’s power ramped up as the processing centers went into overdrive. The view around them changed; the stars turned into red and blue as the ship moved. The stars didn’t seem to move at all but their odd coloring made the crew feel tense as they all checked the different systems.
As fast as the stars had changed, they returned back to normal but in slightly different positions.
No one did anything, their hands away from the computer systems as different information started to be compiled and appear in front of them.
It was a full fifteen minutes before Theo said anything.
“I think…it worked.” Theo’s words seemed to break the dam of pressure as all three of them felt so relieved that they nearly collapsed.
“Check your systems.” Aaron looked over the information from the ship.
Aaron Grild had been apprehensive whether this new drive would work. He trusted the people in the Victor Corporation, but trying a new drive that would allow them to go faster than the speed of light was the kind of technology that people in the EHC could only dream of.
“Dev, send a message to the Yard. Detail them the information on our transition and give them an updated timeline on our time estimate to Osdal. Best to show a conservative time estimate and arrive earlier rather than later.”
“Yes, sir.” Dev started to ready a message for the Victor Corporation headquarters as Aaron opened up his new mission brief he had received from the freighter that had dropped off the drive parts.
It didn’t take him long to read through the notes the first time. They weren’t much different than his original orders, with one far-reaching change. Instead of just linking the people of Osdal and the Victor Corporation together through trade, now they would be offering jobs and positions for people in the Emarl system.
Aaron kept on reading, his amazement increasing as he went on.
There were plans to create a pipeline and trade routes from the Emarl system to Osdal, including travel. Someone could pay to move between systems, allowing the freighter to become not only a way to transport goods but people through systems.
Aaron wasn’t just the captain of the VCF Fernix; he was one of Moretti’s operatives. He had served with the EMF as a secondary captain who would look after the ship when it was moving between systems or, when the real fighting started, he would be in the hot seat as the higher-ups, although wanting the glory, didn’t want to be blamed if something went wrong. Only when the fighting was over would they take back command so that they could add yet another good action to their record.
Aaron was a capable leader and someone who was closer to the troopers and the crew of his ship than the higher-ups.
It was only through his actions and other people’s references, as well as Moretti and Admiral Hall’s vetting, that he was able to gain this position. They were placing a lot of trust in him, so they needed to test him again and again as an inter-system freighter captain before he was allowed to enter the selection process to become a super freighter captain.
Now it looked as if his second role was being activated before he had even made his first trade.
Well, shit, hopefully I don’t fuck up too badly. Aaron looked over the political information that was included in the information, as well as the profiles that were included on various key and important people.
Chapter Thirty-Four
VCF Osdal
In Transit to Emarl System
1/3556
As soon as the fourteen candidates had recovered from their bodies’ changes, they’d tested out their bodies. They’d been shocked by their new incredible abilities.
Once they were used to their bodies, they were thrown into the simulations once again. They fought in their new bodies at first with no other changes, then they fought with armor and weapons. With their faster thinking speed, a week in the real world was a month in the simulation.
Then, once they were fighting at a decent standard, they were no longer fighting by themselves. The other members of the Vanguard joined them.
At first, the Vanguard members had been left yelling at them, but with time they got better, pushing themselves past whatever limits they placed on themselves and truly becoming mergers.
They began to fight while merged, and started to use tactics that conventional soldiers would never think of because they couldn’t do it.
A whole new type of warfare was ingrained into them as they unknowingly became part of the Vanguard’s command structure.
Every waking moment, and even when they were sleeping, they were together.
For them, it went on for two months of grueling training.
They became one fighting group. Seeing their leaders pushing themselves so much inspired the candidates to grit their teeth and push on, thinking: If they can do it, then what’s to say I can’t? Why am I making excuses for my weakness?
But now, they were all sitting in the training area of the simulation, shooting the shit, talking tactics or what they wanted to eat. Some were playing card games or watching movies and reading books.
Fussli jumped up, yelling as he found that Popper had planted a spider under his pillow. Seeing the others snickering, Fussli grabbed his pillow and charged after Popper. “Goddamn asshole!” he yelled as he charged past.
Mark looked over them all.
Each group was different: they liked different games, they had different pranks, and talked about their lives to one another.
In the battlefield they might become family, but here in their downtime, they created bonds that couldn’t be broken.
Mark stood and banged on his crate that held his armor.
The others in the room quieted down and
looked over to him.
“Two months ago, fourteen of you started on a journey, not knowing what would come of it. Today—today you officially became members of the Vanguard.” Mark let that sink in.
“Take a few days off. Next week, we have a meeting with the other mergers and we’ll be starting to train the next batch of people to join the Vanguard.”
***
Chen looked at the other people in the room. He felt a deep connection with all of them through his mind. Most of the times they said it was a connection over the net that was real.
There were different names for the information networks that spanned the Union and the EHC. It encapsulated the faster-than-light communication buoys as well as all of the information that was connected to them.
There was very little information that wasn’t connected to the net in some way or another.
To them, firewalls weren’t really a boundary and they easily waded through to different systems and corporations, coming to know the best information that was out there.
The strength of mergers’ abilities to make things wasn’t that they were coming up with something new; it was the fact that they were connecting different information together in a new way to create something new.
Each of the merger groups were part of different sub networks, so Chen was connected to the network with all of the mergers and then the one that was with the engineers as he had worked with them to come up with different designs for the new warships that they wanted to make with the Victor Corporation’s Yard.
In this room were all of the merging capable people: those who had been part of the merging initiative, those from the engineering team, as well as Chen and the mergers from the Vanguard, including the new candidates.
If it was a group of humans, the room would have been chaotic. Here there was a hierarchy. Mark was the first, so he had the strongest voice, but they had already integrated the control AI, the one that they had proposed to use to help run the Emarl system and make sure that their governing system didn’t become corrupted. Humans had shown that if they were in power then it was only a matter of time until there was an issue.
The AI, named Sam, was another being in their group to them, just as all of the NIAIs were also a part of the mergers.
“I open the first meeting between all branches of the mergers,” Mark said. All of the people looked at him.
“As you all know, we have been developing an AI that is made to look over the people of Emarl and hopefully curb corruption. Having an AI that is led one way or another is really hard. Also making sure that it doesn’t take too much control is also a pain, so I’ve got some help.” Mark’s expression was heavy as he looked around the room.
“As some of you may or may not know, when a merger is killed, their mind stops to exist but there is an imprint left on the network. It is created from all of our memories of the person. Unconsciously, they kind of exist, creating a ghost in the net. I took the information from all of these ghosts and plugged it into Sam. This means that the mergers who have passed away who have no need for avarice, will all make decisions based on the criteria that we have set,” Mark said.
The others in the room had conflicted emotions that showed on the net.
Mark didn’t respond to their questions and instead shared information with them directly.
All of them merged and took in the information. Once they understood it all, the arguments started to die down as people had interested looks on their faces.
The imprints of the mergers were just that: an imprint of the person that they were, an imprint that didn’t have any goals or motivations. Each of them would act like a filter passing through them all, giving feedback to Sam, who would then pass the decisions down to the rest of the mergers or to the Emarl system.
They knew all the tricks of a person, but without the issue of being humans with greed.
“I want to integrate Sam into the merger network,” Mark said.
Some people in the room had moral conflicts using these ghosts of those who had died, but overall, they knew it was their memories keeping them alive, the emotions and connections of the people.
“Even in death they’re looking over us.” Ava’s voice filled with emotion on the net.
The other’s issues started to fall away as they, too, started to think. Even if they were dead, it wasn’t a bad way to live on in memory.
The vote passed: Sam would be integrated with their network.
It didn’t take Sam long to become part of the network.
For some time, nothing happened as he processed information at an incredible rate. Finally it came up with a list of names.
Yu was in charge of all ships and flight crews, from combat shuttles to RSDs.
Tanks were given over to Christina Torres; manufacturing was given over to Zoi. The sciences were led by Maxine, engineering was Chen’s domain.
Mark was the leader of the military faction. Christina Torres, Chen as commander of the Moby, and Yu fell under his command, giving them only one vote. This was to balance them out with the other groups or sectors that were meant to encompass all of the different sectors that the mergers worked in and represent them all.
People would pick or do a job and then Sam would put them under a sector. They could work in multiple different sectors but the sector heads—Mark, Charles, Maxine, and Zoi—would make most final decisions. If they couldn’t make a final agreement and Sam couldn’t, Ava Desialias was made as the leader of the mergers. She wasn’t the smartest or most powerful, but Sam saw that she was able to look at all sides of the argument before making a decision.
These people were picked based on the ghosts’ thoughts and beliefs.
When people saw all of the appointments, no one said anything as they saw how their job had been broken down by sections.
“Good. Looks like we have some more organization. Each sector will be in charge of looking after themselves and regulating their work. They will also provide oversight for the other sectors to greater regulate. Sam will be supervising us all. Each sector can apply to the other sectors if they want to take on a new merger. If the person is accepted, then they are allowed to become a merger. One person does not need to stay in one sector and people can move freely through them all. It is the sector’s head duty to create plans for their sector’s people and make sure that they have the best conditions and further their field,” Mark said.
“Wait, so we can recruit more people?” Yu asked.
“Yes. You don’t expect that we’re just going to have you three flying around merger-capable gear?” Mark smiled. “That is another thing. Each sector is responsible for making their own gear. That said, if you’re working with other sectors to, say, build more RSDs or the new Gorgon tanks that are modified to be used by mergers, that is understood. If there are any conflicts, they are to be brought up to the sector heads and Sam. If an agreement can’t be made, then to the leader of the merger faction, who is currently Ava.” Mark turned to Ava.
The others did so as well.
Ava didn’t shirk away but looked at them all with an impassive face.
“So if someone wants to be a merger and passes our tests to make sure that they’re good to be a merger, then we can bring it up with everyone else and see if they agree?” Zoi asked.
“Exactly. That way, with all of us looking into the person, we can be sure that they truly want to be a merger and not have some kind of hidden secret that could adversely affect us,” Mark said.
The mergers were a powerful force to be reckoned with. One could see that by the advances in the Moby as well as the different ship types and weapon systems that were being created, or even how a merger could use a nanite vat faster than a fabber could create things.
That said, even now with the fourteen new mergers sitting in the room with them, there was less than one hundred of them in total.
If they were able to bring in more people from aboard the VCF Osdal, or even the Emarl system, then their
strength would grow greatly.
This was the first thought on some people’s minds. But as the others thought on it, this idea of gaining more strength mellowed out. Instead, it was giving people the option to become mergers. Leading someone blindly into being a merger was enough to reject them becoming one and look bad on the merger who had been trying to increase their strength without thinking of the individual.
The second round of training for the Vanguard was about to start, but now the other sectors and people were thinking about starting up their own recruiting drives.
Mark knew that in just two days he would be standing in front of five thousand people who hoped to become mergers for the Vanguard.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Mesami
Indalia, Otarvi System
1/3556
Legate Yousef and the room came to attention as Legate Nerva came in. He saluted back to Legate Yousef. Technically, being on the planet, Legate Yousef was the one in charge of the defense and military strategy—he knew the land better.
In most cases, this would work, but with the secondary commander in the area being Nerva, a legend who was there at the founding of modern Roma, Yousef knew that they were in good hands with him and would follow his lead.
“Legate Yousef, it is good to see that you are well now.” Nerva bowed to the legate, making it clear that he would be leaving command and control to Yousef.
Yousef’s smile came a little easier as he felt a weight come off his shoulders.
With someone like Nerva around, it was possible for him to take control of the battlefield instead of him. If Nerva was to do that, the people under his command might not trust his judgement on different things. This was the power that came with just Nerva’s opinion.
“Thank you, Legatus,” Yousef said, using the way of address for a lower-ranking legate that was secondary to his command. “I couldn’t miss out on kicking these Maraukians off Indalia.”
The others in the room made their approval known. All of them were legatus or liaisons with the different forces under Yousef’s command.
An Empire is Born (Maraukian War Book 3) Page 16