OMEGA Rescue

by Stephen Arseneault

  I stood on the bridge deck of the Earth's Rise, raising a glass of a frozen fruit smoothie in toast as we sat in high orbit over Alpha Prime. "Ladies, Gentlemen, Rottweiler. Today, we declare the six galaxies of the AMP to be clear of the AI threat. This morning, results of the vote in Andromeda came in. The AMP is once again complete. Efforts are underway in all galaxies to free up trade, and with luck, in a few months’ time; everything will once again begin to feel normal."

  The six newly elected galaxy governors raised their glasses with us.

  I continued, "The six of you have a tough mission before you. Our goal is the reestablishment of the Council of Governance, eighteen months from now. Checks and balances will be put in place to insure that no one governor, councilman, sector director or any other officeholder can attain enough power to enact any sort of a rebellion. Issues may be tough, tempers may flare, but an honest government of the people, by the people, will prevail. May the best of futures be had by us all."

  As the small celebration got underway, the governor of the Sawblade galaxy pulled me aside. "Mr. Beutcher, first let me say how grateful I am for all that you have done. With that said, how will the military, your Talisans, how will they be folded back into the AMP? Or do you expect to keep control of them for yourself?"

  I replied, "Governor, I would love nothing more than to turn control over to someone else, but we have one more difficult mission to complete. The AIs must be wiped out of the Yallux galaxy. Aside from the fact that my family is there, if we don't do this now they'll show up here again, and they'll be far more powerful that before. Besides, we aren't using any AMP resources for this. We have our own."

  I tuned and walked away from the governor before getting angry. My hopes for a new and prosperous AMP had been dashed by a single set of questions. The self-important were already maneuvering.

  Jack placed his hand on my shoulder. "Just relax. They're politicians. That's what they do. They ask questions. Always looking for the angle. In eighteen months, when the new Council of Governance is elected, he'll probably get pushed back down to whatever government job he came from. The people won't put up with his kind of disrespect."

  I took a deep breath and let it out as I smiled. "Let's hope you're right Jack. I'd hate to have to do this all over again."

  Chapter 23

  * * *

  For two weeks we performed portal scans in and around the colonies of Yallux. Sixty two hundred AI ships were located and identified. A second AI factory was found to be under construction at the Tamarin worlds. The colonel worked diligently with my Talisan commanders, forming up a set of plans that he believed would have maximum impact. We prepared for our first assault.

  The colonel stood in front of the holo-wall display. "First order of business is to clean out the Tamarin worlds. Eighteen hundred warships are parked in orbit or are transiting between the colonies. We take those out first. Following that, the Tamarin now have more than twenty thousand AIs integrated into their planet-side systems. We have to kill every one. If a single AI is missed, it can replicate itself, putting us right back where we started. For this reason, every colony will receive multiple QE tags. Quan will constantly monitor those for us."

  The colonel looked over at Jack. "Mr. Carson, whenever you're ready, begin the sweeps to the Tamarin colonies in the order posted."

  Jack nodded. "Initiating sweep number one."

  As the portal window closed behind us, our nav display lit up with AI targets.

  Lieutenant Jefferson remarked, "Three hundred twelve battlecruisers approaching from starboard."

  Jack said, "Sweep two coming through."

  The AI ships continued to close the distance between us.

  Jack announced, "Sweep three coming through."

  The colonel commanded, "All ships, deploy the Yacabucci."

  We watched with interest as the nav display filled with a grid like pattern. Our confident demeanor took a rapid turn.

  Lieutenant Jefferson said, "Web is only partially effective, Sir! AI ships continue to approach!"

  The colonel took a step forward as he growled. "All ships! Looks like we have to do this the hard way. Broadcast the comm inhibitor signal. If we get no response, all boarding parties stand down and gunners start your cannons."

  Tom Harper scowled as the inhibitor broadcast had no effect. The heavens above the colony were soon flooded with the same green pulses and blue bolts we had become accustomed to seeing.

  Jack said, "Fifth sweep coming through. Five to go."

  As several pulses passed near our ship I turned to Jack, "Give us some distance. I don't want us taking a stray pulse to our sensors."

  Jack nodded. "I can take us back by that moon. Anything coming that distance won't cause damage."

  I shook my head. "I'd rather us be out in free space. I don't want some rogue ship sling-shotting around that moon and catching us off-guard."

  Jack nodded. "Free space it is. Sweep six coming through."

  As our ships continued to come in, the casualty count began to turn in our favor. The battle above the first of the Tamarin worlds raged for more than two hours. When the last of the AI ships exploded into a thousand pieces, our attentions were turned toward the next colony.

  Damaged ships were swept back to Dallex and replacement ships swept forward. After a short status check, a summary of the battle was reviewed. Adjustments were made to the continuing plan and the second Tamarin campaign began. Our Talisan battleships, and retrofitted Grotus battlecruisers, were met by one hundred forty-seven AI warships. Any early losses were quickly countered by our overwhelming force.

  Twenty-two hours after the Tamarin assault had begun, the last AI ship was destroyed. Our focus was turned toward cleansing the colonies themselves.

  The colonel opened a general comm to the Tamarin. "You are now under martial law. Any attempt to resist will be met with overwhelming force. All ground forces will be confined to bases and all weapons secured. Follow these rules and we promise a minimum amount of collateral damage. Again, any show of resistance will be met with deadly force."

  A Tamarin military officer responded. "You are in violation of Tamarin space. Stand down your weapons and prepare to be boarded."

  The colonel smirked before turning angry. "Boarded with what? You have no ships and no ground defenses. If there's someone who needs to prepare for something it's you. Prepare to have your ass kicked. Now I'm only going to say this once, we are here for the AIs and the AIs only. Step back and let us remove them and we will leave the rest of you unharmed. Interfere in any way and you will pay severely for it. You have two minutes to reply before we come in hard."

  The Tamarin officer turned from the general comm to talk with others. Ninety seconds into his discussion the officer turned back toward the comm camera.

  The officer replied with an arrogant tone. "What you do is an act of war. The Tamarin Corporation will defend itself to the last citizen."

  The colonel's face showed agitation.

  I stepped forward. "Colonel, let me have a try."

  I walked into the camera view. "Sir, please inform Vagra Withers of our demands. I believe he will give different orders."

  The officer laughed. "The old bat was arrested, tried, and beheaded three weeks ago for breach of contract. I don't think we'll be hearing from him."

  The colonel leaned back into the camera view. "I'll be right there to discuss Tamarin terms of surrender and to smash your smug face."

  The officer offered a defensive stare as he looked around himself. "Good luck with that, Human. You won't make it past the outer walls."

  The colonel growled. "Mr. Carson, get the coordinates of that room and sweep me in there. I'll put an end to this resistance right here and now."

  I said, "Colonel, I don't think that's a good idea."

  The colonel offered an evil grin. "Mr. Beutcher, with this suit, I go where I want, when I want. They have nothing down there to stop me. Now, I want to see that smart-ass personally
beg for his life. Are you looking to deny me that privilege?"

  I held up my hand. "I won't argue with you, Colonel. I think you've already made up your mind."

  Tom Harper smiled as a portal opened behind him. "I like it when people see things my way."

  As the portal closed, we watched on the general comm camera as the room broke into complete chaos. Bodies flew; weapons were fired at empty space. Twenty seconds after the sweep, the room was silent except for one sniveling officer.

  The Colonel blinked in. "Open a comm channel to your command."

  The officer complied.

  The colonel leaned into a new camera. "This is Colonel Tom Harper of the Alliance of Major Planets. You are now subjects of the Alliance. Stand down all hostilities against our actions or I will personally come through this video feed and give each of you this."

  The colonel turned to the trembling officer beside him, punching him in the face. The officer fell hard to the floor.

  An officer on the other end of the new comm asked, "How did you get into that room?"

  The colonel replied, "We have portals. We go where we want, when we want. You can make this painless for yourselves and the Tamarin people, or you can make it extremely hard on yourselves. The only difference to us will be the time it takes for us to accomplish our mission. We have no beef with you, only the AIs."

  A short discussion ensued just out of camera view.

  The officer returned with a solemn expression. "Colonel, the leadership on this colony has decided to fully cooperate. We will not inhibit your mission. All we ask is that care is taken to not take life or needlessly destroy property."

  The colonel replied, "I can only promise this, we'll be out of your hair as soon as possible."

  The officer looked perplexed. "Out of our hair, Sir? I don't understand."

  The colonel sighed as he looked back at the hairless Tamarin officer. "We have no plans to stay any longer than required."

  The comm was closed.

  Tom Harper returned to his command channel. "All ships proceed to and destroy all targets. And please minimize damage where at all possible."

  Four hundred ships descended on the planet's cities. Thousands of bots came to the defense of their AIs, but their armaments were inferior to those of the Talisan Marines under the Colonel's command. Nine hours after the first Marines encountered a bot, the last of the AIs on the colony ceased to function. QE tags were placed and activated, giving full signal coverage of the planet. Quan began monitoring for all AI transmissions.

  We reassembled in orbit before being swept to the next colony. The colonel repeated his demands to the local government and military officials and was granted the unfettered access as requested. Fourteen hours later, the second colony was clear of AIs.

  The cleansing of the Tamarin colonies continued for the next three days. Forty AI ships were intercepted as they attempted to reassert control over the far Tamarin colony. The mini-assault was stopped and the invaders destroyed. The Tamarin campaign had gone as well as could be expected.

  As the ships regrouped in orbit the colonel said, "We hit Odenta next. They've been busy building a new AI factory there. Mr. Carson, whenever you are ready to proceed."

  Jack nodded. "Couple minutes and we'll be on our way, Colonel."

  I asked, "Colonel, there's only a few dozen occupied, or previously occupied, planets in this sector. How far do we stretch our searches beyond?"

  The colonel replied, "Phase one covers the known planets. Phase two will cover the space surrounding those planets."

  "Is there a phase three?"

  The colonel nodded. "It's called vigilance. We monitor all this space from here on out."

  I replied, "You do know those QE tags are only good for about six months, right?"

  The colonel half smiled, "You're getting into administration, Mr. Beutcher. That job will belong to somebody else. My focus is eradication."

  The Odenta campaign lasted only five hours. The new AI factory was half complete. The speed at which it was being constructed shifted our focus. Our next target had been the Kergan worlds. Instead, the factory being built above Jorus had become a priority.

  After a short time of planning, an attack was set. The factory would be hit and destroyed while leaving the ships and ground AIs intact. Our first priority was to stop the proliferation. The factory at Jorus was beginning to produce AIs.

  Joni said, "Why risk any lives? I can go in and take out their ion generators. That would shut them down and do major damage at the same time. Sweep me in. I'll do the deed. Sweep me out."

  The colonel thought for a moment. "Your plan has one flaw, Mrs. Rourke."

  Joni asked, "What's that?"

  The colonel grinned. "I'm going in and not you. When those generators blow, my suit offers a much higher level of protection. Your suit is a maintenance suit. You run the risk of it being overpowered when a generator blows. My suit won't go past 10 percent with a generator blast. And I've been through a number of them."

  Joni gestured toward the image of the factory on the holo-wall. "By all means then, Colonel. You go. Have all the fun for yourself."

  The colonel smiled as he turned to face Jack. "Mr. Carson, if you would do me the honor. Place me anywhere near this section over here."

  Seconds later the colonel was powering into the new AI factory. We watched on a split screen with one side being the colonel's video feed and the other being a continuous portal scan. The three major sections that made up the factory blew apart within minutes of each other. Three-quarters of the factory, including all of its power system, had been destroyed. The colonel was swept back aboard the Earth's Rise.

  The next sweeps were to the Kergan worlds. After confronting a stubbornness similar to that of the Tamarin, the Kergan colonies were cleansed of AIs.

  Next up were the ships and AIs in and around Modus and Mayanis. The AI ships put up a fierce fight. We had swept in more than eight hundred warships before the battle was over. The planets were tagged and our focus turned to the next campaign. The former Moddle worlds, followed by Doomlight, were purged of all AI presence.

  Our efforts after Doomlight were to search and tag the hundred and four other planets in that sector of the Yallux galaxy. Another eight hundred AI ships were encountered and eradicated. The Yallux campaign, excluding Jorus, had taken twenty-seven days. We moved on to what we hoped would be our final battle.

  After an all day war in the heavens above Jorus had concluded, a general comm was opened to Grunta command. "This is Colonel Tom Harper of the Alliance of Major Planets. Your AI friends have been defeated. We will be coming planet-side to eradicate any remaining AIs."

  The commander of the Grunta military replied, "Please hold, Colonel. We are contacting the Council with your request."

  The colonel's right upper lip began to quiver in rage. "You have three minutes commander. If you like you can patch me through to the Council."

  The commander replied, "Request noted. Please hold."

  Three minutes of wait turned into four.

  The colonel banged his fist on the corner of a table, nearly snapping it off. "Mr. Carson. Get me the coordinates of the Council chambers!"

  I stood, "Colonel, you go in there and they are likely to start swinging. Grunta women, if pushed, can be quite irrational. We only need a little patience and this will all be over."

  The colonel waved his hand. "No offense, Mr. Beutcher, but I've dealt with Gruntas before. They understand strength and I'm about to remind them of exactly what that means!"

  The commander came back on the comm. "Colonel, the Council will hear your request. Patching you through now."

  The image on the holo-display turned to one of the round table with the Grunta councilwomen sitting around it.

  The lead councilwoman stood. "You have no right to come down here, Colonel."

  The colonel placed his hands on his hips as he stood in a power stance for his reply. "No right? We have every right. You are harborin
g the enemy of every free thinking species. If you would prefer to round them up and turn them over we could agree upon that. However, that would mean rounding up every one. If we detect that a single AI remains, we will be coming down there whether you like it or not. Capisce?"

  The lead replied, "We understand, Colonel. Please give us a moment to discuss."

  The holo-display went black as the council camera feed was blanked. Two minutes later a new image appeared.

  The lead councilwoman cleared her throat. "We will provide the AIs, Colonel. All will be rounded up and placed in a location whose coordinates we will provide."

  The colonel shook his head. "You do understand they will give you a fight, don't you?"

  The lead nodded. "We are fully aware of their desire to remain active, Colonel. This is our situation; please respect our sovereignty in this matter."

  The colonel smiled. "You deliver the AIs and we will be on our way."

  Five hours after our discussion was over, coordinates were specified for the delivery of the AIs.

  Go said, "Anybody else seeing the smoke columns rising up down there?"

  Go zoomed in on a smoke trail. Several thousand bots were fighting in defense of their AI. Each of the fights were short as the Grunta wasted little time overpowering their opponents.

  Eight hours after the purge had begun; a comm came in from Grunta Command. "Colonel, by our accounts, all AIs have been removed from our cities. You will find the remains at the coordinates we sent. As per your agreement with the Council, you are expected to leave our space immediately."

  The colonel nodded. "We will be gone in a few minutes commander. This purge will be to the benefit of us all."

  QE tags were placed around Jorus and the remaining AI parts swept up and deposited into the Jorus sun.

  The colonel turned to face me. "Mr. Beutcher, I believe our work here is done. Without the portal ships, the AI didn't offer as much of a fight as I thought they would. Frankly, I wanted to believe they had far more ships than they did. I find it hard to believe they purged their numbers from the nearly hundred thousand that were in the six galaxies at one point. Perhaps they aren't as intelligent as we thought."