OMEGA Rescue

by Stephen Arseneault

  Getta smiled. "This is tremendous news. I should tell the Council so that we may begin making plans. The Tamarin worlds are in the same galaxy as Jorus. Getting us to the Tamarin worlds solves the biggest obstacle to our return home."

  I winced, "I wish it were that simple, but we need to let the colonel do this on his terms. You must be patient and wait for him to come to you."

  Getta stepped back. "Are you trying to protect us?"

  I replied, "I did, but the colonel saw through it and requested an audience. That's why we are here today."

  Getta grabbed my left shoulder with her right hand and squeezed. "You are a good husband and father, Knog Beutcher. I am glad you are here today, and I am glad that it is you who fathered our children. The girls take pride in having a strong father."

  "Can I see them?" I said.

  Getta smiled. "Follow me."

  We walked down a long corridor before taking a sharp turn to the right and then again to the left. The halls were painted a Talisan yellow. Getta stopped in front of an opulent red doorway.

  I glanced at the ornate carvings.

  Getta said, "Don't ask."

  The door opened and we stepped inside. In seconds I was surrounded by my children, all of which were nearly my size. I closed my eyes and awaited the tremendously satisfying licking that I knew was coming. My eyes opened to a welcoming beating like I had never before received. My children were no longer children. They were Grunta warriors and expected to be greeted as such. When the beating stopped, I stumbled over to a heavily cushioned chair and flopped down in it with a pain-filled, but happy, face. My little band of children were warrior adults.

  Getta sat in a chair next to me. "I see you were not expecting that."

  I slowly shook my head. "No. It was a bit of a shock."

  Getta smiled. "They are grown, Knog. I'm sorry you missed the Pantras ceremony. You would have been proud. Not a tear was shed. And each of your girls placed first in their competitions. It was a good day to be a Beutcher."

  I replied, "Your parents must have been proud."

  Getta nodded. "We gave them a day they will talk about for the rest of their lives."

  "And our boys?" I said.

  Getta looked around the room at the grinning faces of our offspring. "None finished at less than third. Some groups had as many as a hundred boys."

  The remainder of my evening was spent discussing the Pantras with each of my Beutcher family warriors. It was a break that I had been in need of, and a break that was well deserved.

  The silence of the following morning's slumber was broken by a comm call from Joni. "I think the colonel may be ready to meet with the Grunta. He's already laid out a command structure for the Talisans and has them working on a reorganization. He gave reasons for each of his requests. He sounds like he knows what he's doing."

  I replied, "I'm certain the Talisan will follow his every lead. Is he expecting a meeting with the Grunta Council?"

  Joni nodded. "I think so. He asked for a few hours to study the information he has. I would expect him to ask for a meeting when he's done."

  I rolled over to inform Getta. She had already left for her first meetings of the morning. The new Council was active, even without the immediate threat of war.

  I raised her on the comm. "I think the colonel will be ready to talk to the Council later this morning. If you wanted to prep them for it, I would see no harm in doing so. All I ask is that you be judicious with the information I told you yesterday. Let the Council know only what the Council needs to know."

  Getta scowled. "Who is the councilwoman in this family?"

  I slowly nodded. "I apologize. I believe I have been among the Humans for far too long. I didn't intend any disrespect."

  Getta's anger turned to a smile. "I know you didn't, but I thought it best to give you a reminder of proper etiquette when dealing with the other Council members. They would not be as forgiving as I am."

  I continued, "I will brief the colonel on the proper behaviors as well. Should he ask for the help of the Grunta people, it would be as subordinates to his command. This would be similar to the terms agreed upon with Harden Salton, only with the colonel, you will know that he has all of our best interests at heart."

  Getta replied, "I cannot say that this Council will be agreeable with those terms. I had hoped that our recent elections would bring new blood and new thinking. What we have now is largely more of the same as what we had. The powers behind the Council have been hard at work getting their people to vote their will. I should not be having this discussion with you, but I know it is done in confidence."

  I sighed, "I'll clue the colonel in as to what he can expect. I believe his response to the Council would be that they can join in this fight under his terms or stay put right here."

  Getta asked, "How will you be involved?"

  I half smiled. "Given that I don't yet know what he plans, I would have to say that I will do whatever he asks of me. If that means taking up my maul, then so be it."

  Getta smiled, "I love a male with a good maul."

  A voice could be heard behind her. "The Council is reconvening, Mrs. Beutcher."

  Getta nodded in affirmation. "Thank you. I'll be right in. Knog, let me know when the colonel is ready."

  I reopened the comm to Joni. "When the colonel is ready, bring him to my home, and we'll head to the council from here. I will need to give him a short briefing on what to expect. Oh, and how'd the visit by the AIs go?"

  Joni pursed her lips. "We couldn't tell. The Talisan said they were tight lipped, but they also said the AIs were unusually inquisitive. The colonel suspects they may have programming that allows them to analyze voice stress. If so, they may have picked up on nervousness by some of the officers. They did leave without incident, so we at least have that."

  "Interesting," I said. "I often wished for such an application when inspecting cargoes and was told repeatedly that it violated AMP laws about privacy. It was one of the reasons I took to studying psychology. Everything told me that stress could be seen in facial expressions and heard in vocal inflections. I used those extensively to determine whether a subject was telling the truth. I would think the AIs would have the ability to write such a program in an instant. When shared between them with multiple experiences it could become quite accurate. We should keep that in mind if we are ever conversing with one."

  Joni grimaced. "Hmm. Lie detectors running all the time. I'll pass that on to the others."

  Chapter 9

  * * *

  After completing his studies, the colonel, accompanied by Joni and Go, made their way over to my home. A short ride later we were standing outside the Council chambers. An aide signaled for us to enter.

  Getta stood. "Ladies of the Council, you all know my husband Knog. With him today is the Human I was talking about earlier. This is Colonel Tom Harper. He will be coordinating and leading a movement of resistance against the Tamarin. Please listen to what he has to say. We will discuss the information he brings and decide on a course of action after he has finished his talk."

  The colonel walked to the center of the table, looking around curiously at the Grunta women who lined its outside. "Ladies, first let me commend you on your history as warriors. The abilities of your ancestors precede you, and I can only say they were a formidable foe. It was only through the use of technology that we were able to overcome their skill and determination.

  "Now, I'll move on to the matters of the day. I would like to propose that we take the fight to the Tamarin. We will build the necessary fleets to get us to the Yallux galaxy. And we will wage an assault on each of their planets until the Tamarin Corporation is no more. I've begun laying out plans for just such an invasion and I would like to have the Grunta heavily involved.

  "We believe we can neutralize the ships in the Tamarin fleet, leaving only ground forces to contend with. With the current state of affairs, we believe those ground forces to be ill-prepared and unfit for mounting a grou
nd defense against the assault we are planning. With your involvement, we could wrap up such a fight in a matter of weeks.

  "So you would ask, 'What's in it for the Grunta?'

  "As I understand it, you are interested in getting to Jorus... to reclaim your home planet. Getting back to the Yallux galaxy is the first step in that process. The second step would be for you not only to resettle on Jorus, but also to have the ability to defend her. With the Tamarin in control, that is not going to happen. If we can defeat the Tamarin, we plan to bring back the AMP. With that victory would come your freedom and security. I've seen the images of Jorus, a beautiful world. I'm certain you are eager to return and to get settled."

  The colonel continued his talk for nearly an hour. After a quick exit from the Council chambers, the aide who had escorted us in closed the doors. The long Grunta debates began.

  Joni whispered into my ear, "If you want I can listen in."

  I sighed as I shook my head. "Not necessary. They will make up their own minds. Us knowing now or an hour from now won't make any difference."

  The colonel made a statement, "I thought that went well. There were few questions."

  I replied, "You will find that the Council members are a stubborn lot, Colonel. Their reasoning is not always along the lines of what you would expect. I believe they will accept your terms, because it gets them to the Yallux galaxy. After that, their motivations will change."

  The debates raged for several hours before the doors to the chamber once again opened. I followed the colonel through the door. He again took position in the center of the large round conference table.

  A councilwoman stood. "Mr. Harper, Colonel, we have decided to accept your offer to join the invasion of the Tamarin worlds. We do however, have conditions. The first of which would be that although you control the larger war, we will have complete control when it comes to an assigned battlespace. If the desire is to take a city by a certain time, we reserve the right to determine how that task is to be done. We will happily accept your input, but the decision as to how we proceed will be our own."

  The colonel nodded. "Fair enough."

  The councilwoman continued, "We also reserve the right to pull out of this fight should we believe it to be in our best interest to do so. While the goal of returning the Amp to power is a worthy goal, it is not our primary goal. Our decisions going forward will be based on our needs and our needs alone."

  The colonel grinned. "Welcome aboard. I'll have a staff member contact you to get a line of communication established with your command. We'll coordinate our efforts from there. And let me just say, it is a pleasure to have you in this fight. The Tamarin won't know what hit them."

  After leaving the meeting the colonel remarked as we walked toward an open area. "I suspect you are right about your people, Mr. Beutcher. Their commitment is to getting back to Jorus. I didn't see any eagerness or concern for the AMP."

  I replied, "I've come to realize they can be very short-sighted, Colonel. Their goal of returning to Jorus seems to override all other issues, even those goals that regard our security once that first goal is met. I've been fighting this issue since Harden Salton opened up the Yallux galaxy with his portal."

  When an open area was reached, Jack powered up the portal gate and swept us back aboard the Ares. The colonel made his way to the conference room to continue his assault plans. Go willingly followed as his new assistant. Jack was eager to discuss a new development.

  As I approached the nav console on the bridge of the Ares, Jack was shaking his head. "I have some interesting news for you. It seems the Grotus attempted to have the Grumar overthrow the Tamarin."

  I asked, "How'd you find this out?"

  Jack answered with a solemn expression. "I've been performing portal scans of those worlds while you were down on the planet. And don't worry; I didn't do them from here. I jumped to the Delta sector before opening the portals. It seems the Grumar had a fleet of reserve ships hidden away in another system, an uninhabited system. The fleet was piloted remotely from the surface of Modus and used to kill off all the AI ships in the system. They were in the process of loading what people they could onto transports to take elsewhere. I believe the Grotus were looking for them to establish a base elsewhere before returning for them.

  "Anyway, the Tamarin AIs returned with a large force. The Grumar put up a good fight, but were overwhelmed by superior numbers. As a punishment, the Tamarin CEOs decided the Grumar were not worthy of remaining in the corporation. A complete purge was undertaken. All the Grumar on Modus were executed, wiped out. You can scratch the Grumar from existence."

  "What about any that might have been at their hidden base?" I said.

  Jack shook his head. "The AIs paid them a visit as well. Unless they had other secret bases, the Grumar are no more."

  I frowned. "They were destined to a fate such as this when they took to worshiping the Grotus. I'll have to let Getta know of this development. It makes the Grotus more vulnerable and the Council will again make a push to go after them."

  Jack replied, "Maybe it's best we keep this information to ourselves."

  I winced. "I cannot. I would not be forgiven for withholding such an event. And the Council would again vote to ban any contact with me. Were there any other developments while we were down there?"

  Jack sat back and crossed his arms. "The AIs have increased their presence on Gratis. I suspect they may be preparing to build some sort of base there. And a scan of the news feeds from Alpha Prime showed that a Tamarin delegation had landed there and on each of the prior capital worlds. If I were to guess, this is the first stage of the roll outs of their new governorships. I would imagine we could expect to see a lot more of these delegations visiting each of the colonies. Including Dallex and Effica. We may have to move our base of operations."

  Joni asked, "Any hits from any of the tags we left on those freighters?"

  Jack replied, "Nothing before an hour ago, but I've been preoccupied with the news of the Grumar. Let me check... and we do indeed have a hit! Head for the Thorn and I'll pass the coordinates to you. It just happened within the last ten minutes."

  Joni blinked out and powered through the decks of the Ares to the Thorn. Seconds later, the small black ship was parked within sight of the cesium ore freighter in question. A second sweep placed Joni and her ship inside the Tamarin portal ship as it reloaded its cesium stores. A quick scan of the area told that no bios were present.

  Joni said, "The ore bays are almost full. I'm taking her down. I should have her at Effica in five or ten minutes. Powering up the AI inhibitors now."

  Jack stood. "Knog, if you could take over the console and sweep me to that portal ship when it arrives, I'll try to download her logs. Maybe we can pick out a place the Tamarin have been using as a base."

  I replied, "Do we have the logs from the other ships we've taken?"

  Jack nodded as he stepped away from the console to an open space. "Yep. I've scanned and cross referenced each of them. They've been busy, but those ships had only visited worlds we had already scanned. Maybe we get lucky and this one has been somewhere different."

  Joni worked her magic. Eight minutes later a new portal ship was parked at Effica and added to our fleet. I swept Jack over to the new ship as Joni returned in the Thorn.

  Joni blinked in on the bridge. "No Garrett, but we have them down to no more than three portal ships now."

  I replied, "Each one of these we take will limit their ability to move about. I'm guessing you had no difficulty with taking the ship this time?"

  Joni nodded. "Yeah, the AIs at the far end of the ship, outside of the inhibitor, didn't even put up a fight this time. No resistance at all."

  I stood. "We have to move! This may have been a trap!"

  Joni shook her head. "That's not possible. I jumped twice before stopping at Effica. No one followed."

  I opened a comm to Jack. "Open a continuous scan for any signal broadcasts. I think this ship might be a se
tup."

  Jack replied, "I'll do that now. What makes you suspicious?"

  I said, "Joni said the AIs offered little resistance. If they are changing tactics, they must have something planned."

  Jack began a comm scan and attached it to an alert. "If anything comes from this ship, we'll catch it. I should have the logs opened in a few minutes."

  Joni turned toward me. "I'm going back onto that ship."

  I said, "Why?"

  Joni replied, "I shut down those AIs. I'm going to bring one back and give it to Quan for interrogation."

  Joni blinked out as she continued to talk. "I can't believe I almost missed that opportunity. And while Quan is at it, maybe he can extract the travel logs from the AI."

  I said to Quan, "Joni will be bringing over another AI for interrogation. Since each of these AIs pass all of their information to each other, see if you can do an analysis and come up with any patterns for how they move around. Maybe we can glean something from it."

  Quan replied, "I will reopen the previous two AI memories and perform an analysis on them as well."

  I asked, "How goes the work on the archives?"

  Quan answered. "Bartel Helgris is a tireless worker. His latest estimate places a re-connection at just over three days from now. With access to my archives, perhaps I would have suggested this extra analysis of the AIs before. Without the ability to draw on past experiences, my programming lacks initiative."

  I half smiled, "One more reason we need to bring you back online fully. Oh, and if you have spare cycles, could you look to see if the AIs have any type of facial expression analysis or vocal analysis applications or algorithms running? I would like to know if when we are in discussion with them, if they can tell when we are being deceitful or withholding vital information."

  Quan replied, "I will make that a secondary priority."

  The colonel opened a comm. "Beutcher, I have a plan for the overthrow of the Tamarin I'd like to run past you."