by Chris Hechtl
“Eventually. We're also going to need a secretary of cybernetic and A.I. affairs,” the president stated. That announcement cooled the room temperature a bit he noted. “Get over it people, I see the A.I. as our ace in the hole.”
His audience seemed restless over that. All but Roman who seemed eager for A.I. involvement.
“Sir, about the pay issue and benefits …,” the labor secretary hazarded.
Roman cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention. “They deserve equal pay for their work. They also deserve respect and rank commiseration with their duties, with the ability to back that up as needed. Period,” he said, giving the nonplussed labor secretary a warning look. “Like it or not, people, they are here to stay. They are citizens and soldiers just like you so get over it. Only in partnership can we win this fight,” General Taylor said firmly. “And I don't fight to lose,” he added.
“Hear hear,” the president stated. “I understand you've been working on that, General?”
“Yes, sir. We have. Not without some kicking and squealing from the hill. But we're getting there.”
“I hope they understand we aren't being mean on purpose it's just after Skynet …,” the Energy Secretary started to say.
“They get it. They know it takes time for us flighty organics to process trauma,” General Taylor stated. “They are stepping up anyway. They are sharing data, pooling resources to help break the Tauren databases. Ensign Nelson is keeping me abreast of that effort. It is starting to pay off.”
“Good to hear,” the communications secretary stated. “And I understand I have some A.I. to thank for the advances with faster than light communications?”
The educational secretary sniffed in disdain. She was ignored.
“Yes. Doctor Irons reported that they had success with that. It hasn't been announced but they managed to get information moved across the lab. I understand they will be attempting to move the muons and working on that is tough. There are other technical hurdles involved, like controlling the spin and stopping it to spin the other way,” the general stated with a shrug.
“But they are getting somewhere. We are seeing some progress, which is good,” the communications secretary persisted.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good.”
“Can we get back to the matter at hand. We have a budget problem. The teachers have a contracted pay increase coming, and we don't have it in the budget. Plus, the need for materials has risen …,” the educational secretary cut in.
“You mean you didn't factor that into this year's budget ahead of time?” The energy secretary asked witheringly.
“Well I … um, that is … to say …,” the woman flushed angrily.
“Apparently, not,” Miss Smith replied dryly.
“No, apparently not,” the president said, setting a gimlet eye on the woman. “Why the oversight is a question I suppose we can deal with later. How to fix it is a question.”
“What I want to know is who do the suppliers think they are raising the prices of e-books! It's just data! And you can't tell me they aren't profiting off that. They change a few things, fix a couple bugs, and then jack the prices up!” The secretary of state grumbled.
“I know,” the president growled. “It's been that way for centuries, right?” he turned to the educational secretary. She nodded once.
“It's a pity we can't do something about that. Break them or at least hobble the extortion. Perhaps have the schools use last year's books?”
“Last … they are out of date!” the secretary of education sputtered.
“By what, a year? So? Write a supplement and buy that!”
“Or write our own material,” The labor secretary replied.
“No, the state can't supply the school books. We can pay for them, set guidelines for their content, but no, we can't make them ourselves. The lobbyists and media would have a field day there.”
“Joy,” the labor secretary replied sourly.
“They also have a lock on the content. It can only be used for a set time period before it deletes,” Mrs. Smith stated. “I remember reading about that.”
“Which is another bullshit tactic to force us to buy new every year. That crap has to stop,” the labor secretary stated. “We'd save billions if we could use the same material year after year,” he stated. He turned to the educational secretary. “And you can't tell me that math changes or language or science. Some advances in sciences yes, and history of course marches on, but you can't bullshit me into telling me that you need a new math book every damn year. Or that teaching the history of the eighteenth century is going to change year to year!”
“He's got a point,” Mrs. Smith murmured, also shooting the educational secretary a look.
“We can explore how to deal with that too. I think we should look into when the contracts expire and renegotiate them. End the time limits for one,” the president agreed with a nod. “And some books do not need to be downloaded every year,” he agreed with a nod to the secretary of labor.
“The teacher's union and others will have a fit about it. They'll pull their support for us or worse, throw it behind an opposition candidate,” the educational secretary warned.
“We'll see. For the moment, I think they know they don't want to look like they aren't supporting the war effort,” the president stated.
“Back to that again,” the educational secretary said under her breath.
“Yes, that. It is going to dominate everything until this war is over. To do that, we need to take the fight to them. Make it clear we aren't going to be easy targets for extermination, now or ever!” Joe growled, fur rising.
“Preach it,” Mister Negata murmured.
“We have awoken the sleeping giant. Soon it will be time to hear him roar. To hear us roar!” he said firmly.
“Yes, sir,” General Taylor stated with a nod.
(@)()(@)
General Taylor was pleased to see not only the explosive growth in the new Confederation Navy, but to also see an upswing in the Space Marine recruiting. That was good because the Marines were going to have to man many of the warships and be prepared to invade the colony planets to retake them eventually.
He was aware that the Marines were going to take a supporting role to the fleet. He considered retiring to allow Admiral Lewis to take his role as defense secretary, but he had repeatedly decided against it for the time being. Walter had enough on his shoulders as it was; he shouldn't have to handle the full load of political crap too. Any he could deflect was hopefully helping Walter keep his head down and get the job done.
One thing on his docket that was nearly complete was his own replacement as general of the Marines. He hadn't liked doing it, but dividing his time between the corps and the increasingly political role of defense secretary was putting a strain on his own resources. He had put in to have one of the retired senior Marine officers brought out of retirement to take over the Marines. Just handling the politics was taking up more and more of his time. He'd gladly switch places with any one of them though. It was a pity that General Elliot had left for Pyrax. He wondered briefly if the Neochimp even still alive?
Chapter 7
Hyperbridge exit point near the vacant star system cataloged as B-92C
March 13, 2237
The survey and terraforming ship turned navy scout ship Magellan exited the hyperbridge from Altair in an explosion of energy eighteen months after leaving the Sol sector. Her crew squared the ship away from her long journey glad to see the stars again if only for a brief moment.
The relief on the bridge was almost visible when CIC reported the sight of the buoy they had left behind. That it was still intact might mean that the aliens had yet to find the location.
The sensors had another bit of mixed news as well. Space around the jump point was thankfully clear. But, they had picked up four ion trails from the jump point zone to deep space. Two went near the buoy before they changed course Kathy Dugan reported. She ran
the plot with Shelton and predicted the ships had jumped for the hyperbridge back to the Sol sector. That was a relief. The two others were more worrisome. They had continued on course to colonies in the sector.
“They really thought we'd go through all the trouble of crying wolf?” Bess, the junior selkie navigator demanded.
“It isn't so much that as not having the fuel to return to Sol,” Shelton replied.
“Oh.”
“Yeah, some of those colony outfits are run on a shoe string. I bet a few have only enough fuel and resources for a one-way trip. Heaven help them if they can't refuel here in the sector!”
“I'm glad we've got a reserve. And that we've got a resupply ship coming too. Can they help any of the ships … if we find any?” Bess asked.
“One step at a time,” Shelton replied with a nod. “We've got to find them first.
“True,” she admitted as he signed off and left the bridge.
(@)()(@)
Ynes Irigoyen nodded politely to the occasional curious looks she got from the crew in passing. They all knew the story; she was making the rounds in the ship. It was good exercise, and it kept everyone on their toes. The news that they hadn't found any aliens waiting for them had already made the rounds, scuttlebutt was like that, faster than the ship's network it seemed. There were a few questions but more ready smiles of relief. She could understand that. She actively encouraged it.
After eighteen months in the ship, everyone was eager to do their job. They were probably heartily sick of running simulations on how to deal with various emergencies or how to tiptoe through a star system … or avoid contact whatsoever. She didn't care. Yes, there was such a thing as peaking too early and running a sim into the ground, but she wanted everyone to react like it was muscle memory. To react without the fear, to react like it was just another drill, just one they had to get right.
She whistled tunelessly as she finished her first lap and then decided on a couple stops on her way back to the bridge.
(@)()(@)
Kathy Dugan wondered again what had possessed her to sign on to the dangerous mission. Her family had thought she was nuts when she'd told them. Her parents had thought it was an excess amount of patriotism and zeal to do her part. They were partially right. Like a lot of the crew she was haunted by the alien ship and the possibility that they had led the aliens to humanity's door.
She'd talked to a few people onboard. Everyone had that guilt to a varying degree, and the fact that they'd found the aliens at all and that they had some sort of advance notice had been brooded about. But that lingering undercurrent of guilt was still there, just under the surface.
She shook her head as she saw the XO pass on her rounds. She ducked her head, not really willing to smile but not interested in a conversation either. She kept on her way so the XO wouldn't come back and chat her up for an impromptu skull session to feel out her mood. She didn't need it.
It was nice that they had a few new faces in the ship. She nodded to Bill. The navy had supplied some techs to act as additional sensor technicians, and after eighteen months, they'd settled into the ship nicely. She missed a few of her old shipmates, but they'd do well she thought.
Please let it be a long boring run she thought, looking up to the ceiling briefly before she headed to the mess.
(@)()(@)
Captain Sean Cooley sat in his small office and considered the future. Really, it was an easy decision on his part; now that they knew the enemy hadn't gotten that far, he decided to stay on mission and go to the nearest colony first, Protodon. From there the plan was to stop in and check Antigua and then Pyrax and then Janus. If they didn't see any sign of the aliens, they were to return to report it to the resupply ship.
If the resupply ship arrived on time. If it didn't they would have just enough fuel to linger for a while before they had to go home. The navy had stripped out all of their terraforming gear, but they'd added quite a bit more gear in its place. That had eaten up mass and space. He fully intended to resupply wherever possible; after all, it only made sense.
Some of the gear the navy had supplied were upgraded sensors. They'd overhauled the ship's sensors and made some improvements. They had added redundant control links and additional computer support in order to allow his ship to record what it saw in triplicate.
Typical navy, he thought with a mental snort.
They had tried to make a few changes to the ship's profile, and he had a couple navy techs and an officer onboard to manage the new hardware. One of the things they'd come up with was a means to hide the ship's energy signature using a stealth coating. He wasn't certain how effective it would be. He wasn't certain he wanted to find out. If he did see an alien ship he intended to go dark or run like hell.
They had a generous allotment of stores and fuel, but they also had drop pods filled with care packages in case they found a colony besieged by the alien invaders. He wasn't certain how much use the tech would be. He also fully intended to use the discretionary clauses in his orders. If it looked too dicey, he was staying the hell away from orbit. In fact, if the system had any sort of ship in the star system, he wasn't going to venture into the inner system and be trapped at all if he could help it.
If it was all good, well, he'd make orbit and then let the colonists know that they needed to make preparations as Pyrax was undoubtedly doing. They'd need to find a good hiding spot and defensive positions; there was no way they'd be able to survive out in the open. They'd also need as much advanced warning as possible in order to get their population under cover in a timely manner.
If the aliens hadn't shown up anywhere, well, he could live with a bit of egg on his face. What he wasn't certain he could handle was the idea that he might have led the aliens to someone's doorstep.
(@)()(@)
December 3, 2237
Ten days short of two months after jumping into the sector, Magellan arrived at her first stop in the Protodon star system. There was no sign of any ships alien or otherwise in the inner system so they crept the ship in on a ballistic course. The captain considered it good practice to run under stealth. Besides, it would be fun to surprise the colonists with their arrival and call from orbit.
However, as the days passed and they heard nothing from the planet, the worry began to set in. “You'd think they'd be transmitting something, talking to each other,” Kathy said with a shake of her head in the mess as she picked at her food.
“I know. It's spooky. According to the write-up though, Protodon is a dirt-poor grubstake colony. The planet is mostly covered in water right now; the first drop was thirty thousand people on a series of islands,” Shelton replied. He had a fish fresh from the aquarium in the ship. It was just a tilapia, but he appreciated that it was fresh. He picked at it with gusto.
“Not much room to grow,” Bess replied, picking at her own fish dinner.
“Think the skipper is going to go into orbit?” Kathy asked. She could tell from some of the cocked heads that a few of the people on tables around them were listening in. So be it.
I don't know. We had the two jumps to get here. We're not supposed to make orbit unless we get a clear sign the aliens haven't shown up here.”
“Which we haven't had,” Bess interjected. “Which is why we're on a flyby course at the moment,” she said, wiggling her whiskers as she picked at her plate.
“I just wish we knew what the devil was going on down there,” Kathy murmured, clearly troubled by the situation.
“You and all of us,” Shelton replied.
(@)()(@)
As the ship crept closer, its sensors probed the planet. The captain had been tempted to launch a recon drone, but he'd held off. He hadn't wanted to risk it, and besides, there had been no sign of any alien ships anyway. But as they got closer, he was grateful that they had stuck to a course that would have them slingshot past the planet and on to their next jump point.
The closer the ship got the better their sensor resolution became. But what they saw
wasn't something anyone wanted to see. The explanation for no radio signals became depressingly clear when they saw that there were craters where cities and towns once were.
Captain Cooley sucked in a breath as he saw further signs of the alien bombardment. He wasn't the only one upset over the sight.
“Is anyone left alive down there? Anyone at all?” Kathy asked.
“I don't know. Maybe, but I doubt it. Ahab, try the planet.”
“Hailing the planet, aye, sir,” Ahab replied in a subdued tone of voice.
A day before they were about to swing past all hope of raising a response was lost.
“It's dead. Like a ghost town,” Ynes murmured.
“Bastards,” Ahab murmured. Ynes shot him a sympathetic look. It wasn't anything any of the rest of the crew weren't thinking she knew.
“Are we going to stay on mission, sir?” Ynes asked, turning to the captain in the hot seat.
“Yes.”
“What about dropping a care package?”
“Do we know where? I don't,” the captain said with a shake of his head.
“I think we could drop a couple near a few of the buildings that weren't bombed out. Give anyone who might still be alive some hope,” Ynes persisted.
He turned to stare at her. He could feel the interest and concern from the crew. Finally, he nodded slowly. Doing the drop meant they were doing something. “Kathy, get us some coordinates.”
“Aye aye, sir,” Kathy replied quietly.
(@)()(@)
Claudia McDonald was on evening watch when she saw the lights in the night sky, meteors coming to the ground. She wasn't certain if it was an alien landing or not. She had no intention of going to find out however. She passed on a warning to the others in the cave.
“Shuttles? They finally are moving forward with the invasion?” Anna asked peevishly.
“I don't know about you, but I don't care if they come now or later. I'd prefer not at all,” Claudia drawled.