Space Scout - The Peacekeepers

by S A Pavli

  The firing stopped as suddenly as it started. When we looked over our barrier, the line of military vehicles and soldiers surrounding the downed Peacekeeper was a smoking ruin. I groaned, holding my head, my thoughts and feelings full of despair and frustration.

  “What a fucking disaster,” I groaned.

  I felt a gentle arm around my waist. She squeezed me to her and tried to comfort me.

  “Let’s get back there and see who is left alive,” I said. “Alfred, have the fucking Russians got their medical services organised?”

  “There is a medical convoy down the hill Paul. It was meant for the hostages but I have asked for them to move in immediately. Cora has stood down the Peacekeeper robots and is entering the aircraft to check on the hostages. Are you and Manera okay?”

  “Yes Alfred, we managed to get away in time thank you. We are heading back into the area to see if we can help.”

  “Do not do that Paul, there are burning vehicles in there. They could explode any instant. I suggest you circle around to the east and return to the Epsilon.”

  “Okay Alfred, you are sadly correct.” I took Manera’s hand and we jogged around the military barriers until we came to the opening at the eastern end, then turned back in towards the aircraft. The line of Peacekeeper robots was still mostly intact, but three of them had taken heavy damage, and two others partial. Cora’s two robots seemed to have escaped unscathed and they stood by the open airlock doors of the downed fighter.

  We saw Cora at the airlock. She was carrying a child, and was accompanied by two men, also carrying children. We ran over and Manera took the child, a small girl, from Cora.

  “There were these three children only,” said Cora. “I will go back in and bring out the remaining adults.”

  “Good, thank you Cora. The medical services are on their way,” I said. She disappeared back into the ship. The two Russian men looked worn and tired but otherwise in good health. They put the children down and Manera consoled them, talking to them quietly. They seemed completely unaware that she was not human.

  “I’ll go inside and help Cora get the others out,” I said. I jumped up the stairs and made my way to the ship’s tiny passenger compartment. Cora was coming out escorting two ladies and carrying an injured man. Fortunately they were all still wearing their outdoor clothing because it was now getting very cold, the sun low on the horizon.

  Inside the passenger compartment I rounded up five of the most able and shepherded them to the airlock, helping them down, while Cora returned to carry out the remaining two who were injured. One tall handsome young man approached me.

  “Who is that robot lady?” he asked.

  “She is the one who has rescued you,” I replied. “Despite the stupidity of your military commanders.” He was slightly taken aback by my vehemence and pulled away to sit with the others. To my surprise I saw a couple of figures running across from the burning military wreckage, and when they came close I recognised the General and one of his officers.

  “General, I am so happy you made it,” I said.

  “Captain.” He nodded his thanks. “No thanks to my stupid commanders.”

  “What happened General? Everything was under control.”

  “I don’t know.” He scowled ferociously. “I am guessing that there was a secret plan to capture the robots and the ship. The technology.” He gave me a meaningful look. “Reinforcements are coming up now and you are all to be taken prisoner.” I looked at him in surprise. He shrugged.

  “You are under arrest?” he said it questioningly, and then looked around him. “Of course, I have no way to enforce that. Whereas you still have a large number of your forces intact. I suggest to avoid further bloodshed, you get out of here now.”

  “Cora? Are we ready to go?” I asked the android.

  “Yes. All remaining active robots will go in my ship.” She turned to the General. “I advise you to stand well clear of this site. The remaining damaged robots will self destruct, as will the aircraft. It will be a very hot high power fusion reaction which will leave nothing but molten metal. You have one hour to clear the hostages from this site. Thank you General.”

  “Thank you madam. It has been an honour.” The General saluted her and she turned to go to her ship.

  Manera, I’d like to return to the Settang Despass with Cora. See what we can do about the hostages there. What do you think?”

  “Yes, let’s do that.”

  “Alfred, take the Epsilon back to orbit old chap. And sterling work as always.”

  “Thank you Paul. Should you not check with your superiors first?”

  “In the rush to get out, we ran to the wrong ship,” I said. “It’s an understandable mistake.”

  “Of course. I will explain that. Good luck Paul. Goodbye for now Manera.”

  “Goodbye Alfred. Talk to you soon.”

  “Good luck General, and I’m really sorry for your casualties.” I shook hands with the General and his officer. Manera ignored his hand and embraced him warmly.

  “Good luck to you.” He saluted us and turned to the hostages while we ran after Cora.

  We were leaving behind us a disaster, albeit one that was not our fault. The first contact between our species was turning into an accidental military engagement. What would Earth’s good people make of all this?

  Chapter 41

  Our trip back to the Settang Despass passed quickly. Cora disappeared into a tiny cockpit at the front of the aircraft. We chatted with Colrania’s two technical assistants, who had been sent to manage the extra comms and computer hardware needed to interface Cora with her starship and its systems. They were aghast at the attack by the Russian forces and the subsequent casualties.

  As the giant Settang hove into view, we were contacted by Hamolatonen.

  “Welcome Paul and Manera,” boomed Hamo with a broad grin. We returned his greeting, but there must have been an undertone of reserve in our voices, which they noticed.

  “Bad situation there,” continued Hamo gravely.

  “Cora had everything under control before the Russians started firing,” I said.

  “Why did they start firing,” asked Hamo.

  “The Russians wanted to get their hands on Peacekeeper technology,” I said. He nodded sadly at this. “I can only hope the record will show that they started firing first.”

  “Let us make sure this hostage situation finishes more peacefully,” said Hamolatonen. I nodded my agreement. “We will update you on the situation when you are aboard. With some very good chilled wine to cheer you up.” he added.

  I chuckled and gave him a cordial wave. He disconnected and we prepared to disembark. The two ‘techies’ gathered up their equipment and we left them behind and exited as soon as the airlock opened to find Hamolatonen waiting for us.

  He led us to a sumptuous lounge where the other members of the crew were waiting, including the redoubtable Colrania.

  “This is new,” I said, surveying my surroundings. “Very nice.” Colrania came forward and we exchanged shoulder hugs.

  “The old Settang was rather Spartan,” said Hamolatonen. We could hardly entertain Earth dignitaries there. So we have given her a complete refit up to Hianja standard.”

  “Complete with swimming pool?” I asked with a grin.

  “No swimming pool,” he laughed.

  “All the delegation are in the other starships?” I asked.

  “Yes, we are the guardians of the Guardians,” he said with a grin. “But the intention was to show our Earth friends around this ship. To impress them I think.” Hamolatonen was nothing but honest.

  We discussed the unfortunate situation as we were served drinks by the small silver catering robots. We were joined by the remainder of the crew and Colrania’s techies. Dinner was announced and we tried to put the traumatic events of the last few hours out of our minds for the time being.

  After lunch in an adjoining and equally sumptuous room, we re-assembled with drinks. Cora made a dramat
ic entrance and reality reasserted itself. My mind went back to the problem of the Freylan. How were we to prise open the stubborn starship and extract the hostages without a repeat of the Dikson disaster?

  “Paul, your Guardian friends would like to say hello,” said Hamo. The 3D was showing Krusniet and Kemato with Jansec and Lanatra in the background. We exchanged greetings and chatted for a couple of minutes before Krusniet got down to business.

  “We had all looked forward to an exciting and interesting diplomatic trip Paul. Instead, the last few hours have been a terrifying struggle for survival. We must thank Cora for her military leadership, and the Earth’s defence forces for their brave actions and sacrifices.” He paused and looked pointedly at me.

  “We are enormously saddened that these rogue machines, built by our ancestors, should have caused such havoc and loss of life to a wholly innocent species, our neighbours and Galactic cousins.” He sighed heavily. “We will have a lot of explaining to do.”

  “It won’t be easy,“ I agreed. “But I think the record will show your good intentions. If we can rescue these hostages without casualties, that will help.”

  We chatted a while longer before they bid us good night. I turned to Hamolatonen.

  “What are our options with the Freylan?” I asked.

  “We have sent over food to the hostages, and the Freylan has transmitted live feed of them. They seem well but conditions are very primitive and we asked the Freylan to provide them with better sleeping and toilet facilities. It has no experience or facilities for taking care of living creatures of any kind.”

  “No sign that Alfred’s viruses have worked?”

  “Sadly no. I think they have built better defences.”

  “Cora, do you have any ideas or suggestions?” The artificially beautiful face turned to me, its expression unreadable.

  “We can attack and overwhelm the Freylan at any time. But this will also lead to the death of the hostages.”

  “Do we have a live view of the Freylan?” I asked. Hamo nodded and murmured a few words in his comm. The 3D lit up to display the Peacekeeper. I examined it carefully. There were large areas of damage. I was not surprised that it was inactive. If it had been manned by living creatures, most of them would be dead. The hull was massively breached in many areas. It gave me an idea.

  “Cora, I guess that there are sensors in the hull to detect external movement?”

  “Yes, visual, audio and electromagnetic.”

  “In the areas where the hull has been breached, would those sensors still be working?” She looked at me and I could tell she understood the reason for my question. She looked at the view of the ship and for a couple of minutes said nothing.

  “I have examined a more detailed close up view of the areas of damage,” she said. “There are areas where the hull has been breached and badly damaged to the extent that any surveillance devises would have been destroyed. You are thinking that we could gain access to the ship without being detected?”

  “Yes.”

  “For what purpose?”

  “I hadn’t thought that through yet,” I replied. “But it’s a start. What can we do once inside?”

  “Any sizeable force would be detected before it could get close to the ship,” said Hamolatonen.

  “Something small then. An automated probe. Could we somehow tap into the Freylan’s internal network and upload viruses directly into its core?” It was Colrania who answered excitedly.

  “Yes, there are maintenance interfaces all over the ship,” she said. “If we found a working one we could tap into the internal net that way.”

  “But Alfred’s viruses have not been effective so far,” protested Colrania. And then she seemed to be struck by a new thought. “Wait a minute. The internal maintenance network is probably unprotected. Certainly not to the extent that the external nodes are. If we disabled the internal net itself then the master AI would lose control of the ship.”

  I leaned forward.

  “Would it lose control of its robot soldiers?” I waited with bated breath for her answer, but she shook her head with a frown.

  “I’m not sure.”

  “Cora, what do you think?”

  “The robots are controlled through digital microwave channels. We would have to disable the transmitters.”

  “Is that possible?”

  “No,” she answered. My heart sank.

  “All robots, including maintenance and repair, are controlled in the same way. Only a hardware fault will bring the digital channels down.”

  “Shit!” I muttered. Not an original response I know, but I was bereft of other ideas. It was Colrania who came to the rescue.

  “There is an emergency message protocol,” she said eagerly. “It is designed to attract the attention of the AI. If we could embed a virus in that package it may bring it down. Or damage it.” She looked at Cora for confirmation. The robot avatar looked blank for a few moments before replying.

  “Yes, that may work.”

  “Well done Colrania!” I gave her a broad grin and the others also shouted their congratulations. She looked delighted. “Now it’s up to Alfred.”

  “Yes, but what about the soldier robots?” asked Manera. “What will they do if the AI is down.”

  “They will follow their last instructions,” replied Cora. “To defend the ship.”

  “Mmm. Not good. Unless….,” an idea struck me. “Could we use the same codes that we used on the Dickson ship?”

  “If the Freylan has the same ones or has not changed them,” said Cora.

  “Worth a try?” It was a question addressed to the whole company and there was a pause while we all considered.

  “We have to do some research with Cora,” said Colrania. “And consult with Alfred about the viruses. Bur yes, worth a try.”

  “Hamo?” I gave an enquiring look in the direction of the Captain and he nodded gravely.

  “We should investigate it.”

  We left it at that. Manera and I retired to our old apartment for a shower and some relaxation. We met with the others for drinks in the lounge and then took ourselves to bed after a long and tiring day. I was aware as we lay in our bed that this hostage situation had to end better than the other one. Yes, the hostages had been saved but the unnecessary fire fight had cost many young soldiers their lives. We could not afford more human lives to be lost at the metal hands of the Peacekeepers.

  Chapter 42

  The next morning we received a call from Admiral Crozier while having breakfast. He got down to business without preamble.

  “Captain, the EDF are planning to storm the Freylan again, using heavy weapons. They believe that they can overwhelm its defences and get to the hostages before they can be harmed.” I was shocked, but restrained myself.

  “Admiral, that is a very high risk strategy. Soldiers will die and possibly also the hostages.”

  “Do you have an alternative plan?”

  “We do Admiral. But we need time to do some research and confirm the details. Alfred is helping with designing viruses.”

  “Your viral attacks have not succeeded so far.”

  “We have a new direction which may give results. Give us a day to try it.”

  “The military are concerned about the debacle in Dickson. They don’t want a repeat,” said the Admiral. I found myself struggling to contain my anger and I felt Manera’s hand squeeze mine reassuringly.

  “The debacle in Dickson was completely down to the Russian forces Admiral. They were trying to get a jump on everyone else by stealing Peacekeeper technology.”

  “They claim the Peacekeeper robots fired first.”

  “I think the record will show otherwise,” I said forcefully. The Admiral scowled and leaned back.

  “The record seems to have been misplaced for now,” he said.

  “What a surprise.”

  “We have to deal with what we have Captain,” said the Admiral. He sighed, suddenly looking tired. I wondered how long
he had gone without sleep and felt sorry I had been hard on him.

  “Is it the Russians who are pushing for a full frontal attack?” I asked. He nodded.

  “Yes of course. It’s their people who are being held.”

  “All the more reason for them to be cautious,” I pointed out. “Listen Admiral, I have a suggestion.” I paused, thinking carefully about what I was about to say. “Tell the EDF to muster their forces, but no heavy weapons. We will prepare the ground for them, and they can make their entry to rescue their people. It will give them the kudos they are obviously looking for. But they must not make a move until we give them the word, otherwise it will be a disaster.”

  “What is the plan?” asked the Admiral.

  “We think we can get a remote probe into the ship and tap into their internal net through a maintenance point. If we can bring the net down, or isolate the AI our forces can just walk in and rescue the hostages.”

  “Right. Sounds like a plan,” he said. “Let me know when you are ready to go Captain.”

  “Yes sir. But if the Russians are trigger happy again, I cannot be answerable for the consequences.”

  “I’ll make sure they understand that,” he said. He disconnected with a curt nod and I leaned back, feeling angry and annoyed.

  “Damn it I don’t trust those Russians,” I said. “It will be just like them to go in all guns blazing and trigger the soldier bots defence mechanism.”

  “We will have to make sure that the soldier robots are well out of the way,” said Manera. “They will have nothing to fire at.”

  “If we get at the maintenance point, and if we can bring down the AI and if the stand down codes work. A lot of ifs.”

  “It will work,” she said. “I trust Colrania and Cora.”

  “If anyone can do it, they can,” I agreed. “Let’s finish breakfast and see how they are doing.”