She turned and stalked back to the ramp, Walsh following. As soon as the ramp had retracted, she raised the ship's shields. Even before the airlock was closed, metal was raining down on the ship from all directions.
Jane stomped into the Bridge and thumped down in her seat. She took a moment to observe she was in a bad mood. Something new. She savored the feeling for a few nanoseconds, and decided it wasn’t a good feeling. Nevertheless, it was hard to shake.
The ship was now ringed not only by soldiers, but by vehicles of several sizes. All of them were firing as fast as they could. The shields were not even being dented.
"Buckle up," she said.
"What about me?" said the stick insect, behind her.
"Sorry we have no seats made for your kind, but if you can make yourself comfortable, do so. If you can't strap into a chair, hold on."
"You anticipate I might be thrown around?"
"No, but its best to assume it might happen."
"You realize they are going to destroy us, don’t you?"
Walsh started chuckling from the XO's chair. The insect looked at him.
"Enjoy the show," he said, grinning.
Forty Three
Concorde emerged from the atmosphere to find all twenty four alien ships waiting for it. Jane made no attempt to run from them, or change her course in any way. She accelerated to the same speed she'd used before, and locked up the ship directly ahead of her. She opened a channel to it.
"No one needs to get hurt here. If you didn’t get the message from the ground, you leave us alone, we leave you alone. Any ship which fires on us will be destroyed. Do yourselves a favour, and get out of my way."
"Bet you they ignore you again."
Walsh was grinning. The stick insect sounded like it was praying.
"Here we go," muttered Jane, as the nearest ship opened fire on them.
"Told you!"
Jane ignored him. She brought all the guns online, assigned them all to her finger trigger, and pulled it.
The crew of the ship in front of her had a few seconds to wonder what was coming at it, before the ship disintegrated into small sized debris.
Jane didn’t give any of the ships time to wonder, she locked up the next nearest ship, and blasted it as well. The last one before open space desperately tried to move out of range, but disintegrated too. A fourth ship took fire from the destroyer turrets which had turned to fire to the rear, and lasted only two pulses from each gun.
Five minutes later, Concorde met up with her larger escorts, the remaining twenty ships still following, but now well behind. The six large ships formed up to protect the Corvette, and the small fleet set course for the jump point leading further into the galaxy.
"These are yours?" asked the stick insect.
"Yes."
"You fly around in a small ship like this, and completely destroy your enemies, while you have ships this size you could be flying instead?"
"Pretty much," said Walsh.
The stick insect lowered itself to the floor.
"What are you doing?" asked Jane.
"I must pay homage, since you can only be a God."
Walsh choked. He shouldn’t have been able to, but he managed it anyway.
"GET UP!" yelled Jane. "No-one is paying homage to anyone on this ship. We're just another being who happens to be more technologically advanced than you lot seem to be." The obviously troubled being rose, and leaned against a seat. "Now, where are we taking you?"
It spoke a word. The word didn't translate.
"What's your name?" asked Walsh.
Again it spoke a word, and once again it didn’t translate.
"Names don’t appear to have any reference in our languages," said Darlene through coms. "So the translator can't do anything with them."
"The closest I can make out for your name," stated Jane to the stick insect, "is Barf."
"You don’t want to be called Barf," added Walsh quickly.
"Why not?" it asked.
"Barf is another word for vomit."
"We do not vomit." It thought for a moment. "Actually there was one of us who did vomit once, a millennia ago. He went on to be one of the most important of us ever, and his name has never been forgotten. To be named in his memory, is a great honour. I accept the name Barf."
Walsh clamped his hand over his mouth to avoid being seen laughing.
"Fine," said Jane. "Where are we going?"
"Map please?"
Jane threw up the combined navmap, which now showed human space, and all space known to the Owls. It pointed to a system Jane had been shown earlier, as the one where the nearest local galactic government was located.
"Is this your system?"
"No. But I must report there to my bosses. I have failed my mission in one way, and succeeded in another."
"How so with both?"
"My primary mission was to find a way to infiltrate the Owl families, so they could be taken down from within. They employ species such as mine as workers, and some of them eventually gain access to the inner families. I failed, being taken prisoner before I knew they suspected me. But on the other hand, I found you."
"Us?"
"A species capable of taking on the Owls in battle. You will be most welcomed. Feared by some to be sure, but welcomed all the same."
"What can we expect on the journey?" asked Walsh.
"Each jump point in Owl space, which is most of the way, will have a fleet guarding it. Two jumps from the sector capital, you will be met by a galactic fleet. It is most important we do not fire on them."
"I have no intension of firing on anyone," said Jane. "But if the Owls want a fight, I'll give them one."
"Um, Admiral?" began Darlene.
"You're an Admiral with your people," interrupted Barf.
"Not an Admiral," answered Walsh. "The Admiral."
A strange noise came out of Barf's mouth. He appeared to be laughing.
"This gets better and better," it said.
"How so?"
"I bring them not only a fleet capable of taking on the Owls, but the leader who speaks for the fleet. Do you have more ships than these?"
"Oh yes."
"Many?"
"More than enough."
"May I ask how many of your species you have on these ships?"
"Just three," said Jane.
Barf became totally still. Its eyes locked with Jane's, moved to Walsh's, and went back to Jane's.
"You do not joke," it said at last. "How is this possible?"
"Our secret, at least for now. We travel on this ship, because it is the only one we have with us which has life support."
Jane belatedly turned the life support on. The ship had filled with air while open on the planet, so there had been no immediate danger of the stick insect suffocating, but all the same, Jane seriously hoped the others hadn't noticed her lapse.
"Do you have robots?"
"Of a sort, yes. In many different sizes."
"Computers capable of running a ship?"
"Yes."
"Artificial Intelligence?" it whispered in an awed voice.
"Yes."
Barf fainted.
Forty Four
Jane had a cargo droid carry the stick insect back to a suite, since it didn’t appear to be waking up again any time soon.
"What was that all about?" asked Darlene.
"At a guess," answered Jane, "I'd say computers as good as ours are unheard of, and AI's like ourselves are considered impossible."
"Or," added Walsh, "AI's are some sort of myth, or maybe a legend."
"I'm working on that," said Darlene.
"How?" asked her husband.
"While you were out playing tag with the locals, I hacked the local's database, and downloaded the whole thing."
"Where did you get hacking skills?" Jane grinned at him. "Oh."
"You were going to ask a question Darlene?" asked Jane.
"Oh that. You seem to have gone very
gung-ho all of a sudden. I wondered if this was normal for you, or if something set you off?"
"Most of my life was spent with people who didn’t like drugs or drug runners. They also didn’t like bullies. And these Owls are the worst kind of bully. It's difficult to press my buttons, but they managed it."
"So we blast them?"
There was an odd tone in her voice, and Jane suddenly wondered if Darlene had finally found something in space worth her attention.
"If they fire on us."
"Do we take prisoners?"
"No, I'm not stopping for anything. Did you get any fleet disposition data?"
"Yes. It seems they like the numbers five and twenty five. The same sized fleet as we first encountered is at every jump point."
"Anything about their communications?"
"Let me check."
Darlene went quiet for several minutes. Jane waited patiently, knowing an immense amount of data was being sifted through. She was actually glad she wasn't the one doing the sifting for a change. Having someone along who loved data was proving to be a blessing.
"Something like ours, only slower, and done ship to ship, or station. A ship has to be at the jump point for the message traffic to go through. The Owls use fleets to make sure their communications don’t get cut. Everyone else passes packets from ship to ship to station as they move. It's not completely reliable, except where there is a lot of constant traffic."
"So they can let those ahead of us know we're coming," said Walsh.
"Nothing we can do about it I suspect. But if we leave nothing behind, we interrupt their coms across a wide part of space."
"Sounds like a plan!"
Walsh looked eager. Jane looked at him seriously.
"What?" he said.
"I don’t want a war."
"I'm not sure we get a choice."
"True. But I'm not sticking around to make sure we leave only dust behind. We take out what's in front of us when they open fire, and keep going."
"As I said, sounds like a plan!"
Jane sighed.
An hour later, they received an email from Gaia. Jane threw it to a side screen. Fred appeared, flanking Madame Chair, with Queen Liz on the other side.
"Admiral," said Madam Chair, "we have instructions for you at last."
Fred did an eyebrows wiggle which wasn’t seen by anyone on his side of the vid. He was obviously enjoying himself.
"You, and those with you, are appointed ambassadors for Humanity, with full authorization to negotiate treaties with any other species or political entity, subject to ratification by this council."
Walsh startled, nearly falling out of his seat.
"You are ordered to seek out what central government exists in this part of the galaxy, and present our claim for the space we occupy now, and any further areas of space you can negotiate for."
Jane paused the vid.
"Darlene, did we get any data on planets on the Owl navmap on our side of A001, which were not on ours?"
"Some. What did you want?"
"Did they find any inhabited systems, or colonize any themselves? Not including sending seeder ships."
"No. Plenty of seeder ships sent, but it’s a closed area of space with no intelligent life found. They didn’t even find us."
Walsh looked at Jane.
"What are you thinking? G036?"
"Yes," grinned Jane. "I think so. May as well stake a claim to the whole kit and caboodle. Darlene, did they have any scouts in our space?"
"Just one. It was overdue, but they hadn't yet sent a ship after it."
"Damnit," said Jane.
"What?" asked Walsh.
"Now I do have to take out that fleet behind us."
"Why?"
"To make sure our fleet has enough time to blockade the A001 jump point before they can send another ship, or fleet, through."
"Has to be done."
Jane sighed, and turned the vid back on.
"You are authorized to defend yourself in any way necessary. Further, you are to neutralize any genuine threat to our space."
Walsh paused it this time.
"There you are, off the hook. The fleet in this system is a genuine threat."
"Sort of."
"The threat isn’t in how powerful they are, it's in what they could do if they disperse through the space we're claiming. Once civilian ships start exploring, we'd have a hard time guaranteeing them safety, not knowing where an enemy was at any time."
"At least until we get comnavsats seeded all over."
"How long would that take?"
"Several weeks. I have a modified freighter at the G014 jump point, which is outfitted for making and deploying comnavsats."
Jane shifted into AI mode, and sent orders to herself on the freighter, with a copy of the navmap. She also sent a request to Intrepid to make sure the freighter was allowed into G023. While she was at it, she sent the new navmap to the AMS ships exploring in the previously unknown areas, with instructions to verify nothing was missed.
The new Explorer Hive Cruiser was already on its way, and she diverted it directly to G038, to start exploring there. She returned to human mode.
"It's on its way. But we still need to ensure its safety."
Walsh nodded. Jane restarted the vid.
"Please do not start a war, but if war is inevitable, please ensure all possible information is returned to us, in case something happens to you, or the communications pathway is lost. You are authorized to move our fleets as you see fit. You are further authorized to blockade civilian traffic at G014, and announcements of this have already been made here."
"We are concerned about putting troops on a planet with such risk attached, but you are authorized to deploy to G023's planet, and attempt to eradicate the poison. I need not remind you of the dangers. We suggest you make it volunteers only, but this is up to those in command to decide."
"Good luck. All our hopes for a successful mission go with you. Gaia out."
Forty Five
Admirals and Generals all received emails at the same moment.
"Email for you from Admiral Jane," said Yorktown.
Renaud threw the vid to the wall of his quarters.
"Admiral Renaud. You will detach Yorktown and the ships listed on this email from the main fleet, and proceed to the G014 G023 jump point. There, you will command a blockade. No civilian ship is to be allowed to jump into G023. Should any attempt to do so, you are authorized to fire to disable the ship. Those on board should be detained pending charges of endangering humanity."
"I cannot stress this to you enough. Any ship going through into G023 and beyond is in extreme danger from an alien species which produces a drug, both addictive and deadly to humans, from a plant which is found on all planets from G023 outwards. By necessity, I am sending the bulk of the fleet through to G036, to form a blockade there to keep alien ships away from our space."
"Admiral, once the fleet has gone through into G023, until further notice from me, no ship of any kind, for any reason at all, is allowed to return through into G014. In addition to preventing any ship jumping out, you will destroy any ship jumping back in. You will not communicate with any such ship. You will open fire immediately, and destroy the ship."
"And now I need to give you another order you may not like. If escape pods or shuttles are launched by any destroyed ship, you are to destroy them as well."
"I cannot emphasize this enough. The threat to humanity is such that no-one who might have been exposed to it can be allowed to enter our space. You will not only destroy any ship jumping in, you will reduce them to space dust. Nothing must be left, and there must be no kind of salvage."
"I seriously hope you never have to follow these orders, but you are the line between humanity and our end. I trust you to hold it until the threat has been eliminated."
"Assemble your fleet now, brief your captains in private, and follow the main fleet as it makes its way through to G023. Once your fleet
is all that’s left, your blockade begins. It doesn’t end until I say so. Acknowledge your orders, or let me know you cannot accept them. Good luck. Jane out."
Renaud stared at the wall for a good minute after the vid ended.
"Well," he said to himself, "you wanted to be an Admiral. This is what you get when you are an Admiral."
He sighed, checked the list of ships which included a few of all classes, and headed for the Bridge.
"Email for you from Admiral Jane," said Intrepid.
"I'll take it in my Ready Room," said Rainer.
She nodded to her Captain, and left the Bridge. The vid was already paused on her wall. She unpaused it.
"Admiral Rainer, I have detached ships from the ground forces fleet, under the command of Admiral Renaud. They will be forming a blockade of the G023 jump point on the G014 side. You will send orders to all remaining combat ships, excluding the three Escort Carriers and their fighters, and the list of Corvettes attached, to join your fleet as fast as they can get to you. Once your fleet is assembled, you will make best speed to the G036 system, and you will blockade the A001 jump point. Any ship coming through that jump point which isn’t me, must be reduced to space dust. You will take no prisoners, you will not salvage any debris. If there is debris, you haven’t completed your orders."
"The aliens in system A001 have a drug which is both addictive and toxic to humans. Your job is to ensure they do not encroach into our space in any way. You will not allow any of your ships to jump into A001. Any ship jumping into G036 must be destroyed, even if it's one of ours. You will acknowledge these orders, or let me know you cannot accept them."
"On your way to G036, you will intercept the seeder ship already identified, and reduce it to space dust."
"Admiral, you are the blockade to keep humanity safe from an alien species which deals drugs as if it was basic food. They do not have the value system we do. They do have a threat which could wipe out humanity."
"I need to spell out the danger to you and your people. Once you jump into G023, you will not be allowed to return until I authorize it. Admiral Renaud's orders are to destroy any ship jumping into G014 without attempting to communicate with it. You will not allow anyone to land on a planet. Anyone who does so is assumed to be contaminated, and they are to be destroyed immediately. I suggest you withhold this information until you are formed up at the A001 jump point. You may use the fiction that an invasion force is suspected of being on its way, and your fleet must get there as fast as possible to stop it getting any further. This should allow you to keep the fleet together. If need be, you will say you have been ordered to not allow any ship to go off on its own, due to the hostility of the aliens, and the fact we cannot be sure they do not have forces in our space already, in those systems without a comnavsat presence. I don’t think there are any such ships, but there is enough doubt you can use it. The nearest alien fleet to you is about to be destroyed, in order to give you time to get to your station."
Admiral Jane (A.I. Destiny Book 1) Page 17