“We need to attend a special meeting on some of the problems we’re encountering with introducing the new technology down on Earth. Would you and Kelsey mind staying with Katie in our quarters for a few hours?”
Jeremy looked over at Kelsey. Her eyes had brightened, and she had an excited look on her face. He knew she had been wanting to get on the Avenger for weeks now. Katie also had a pleased look upon her face. Letting out a long sigh, he looked back over at his father. “Sure, no problem.”
-
Kelsey looked curiously around the admiral’s quarters on the Avenger. They were quite large and spacious. “So this is where you were raised?”
“Not really,” replied Jeremy, sitting down on a plush sofa and turning on the vid screen. He wondered if there was anything good on to watch. This night wasn’t turning out quite as he had planned. “I spent a lot of my childhood going back and forth between the Moon and Earth. I stayed with the Johnsons and attended school down on Earth until I started attending the academy. During breaks, I would come up here and spend time with my parents.”
“Were you close to Katie’s brother, Mathew?” Kelsey knew that Mathew was currently in the fleet and had finished highly ranked at the academy.
“Mathew’s four years older than I am,” responded Jeremy, watching Kelsey. “We were close, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen or talked to him.
Kelsey came over and sat down next to Jeremy with their legs almost touching. She didn’t want to seem as if she were coming on too strong. She still wasn’t quite sure what Jeremy wanted from this date. However, one thing she did want Jeremy to tell her was what life had been like being brought up on the Avenger. The Avenger and the mysteries surrounding it had always fascinated her. “So tell me what it was like living on the Avenger.”
Jeremy took a deep breath. He knew Kelsey was fascinated by the Avenger, all the cadets were. “A lot of the areas on the Avenger are restricted, so I was only allowed in the more public areas. Even today, this ship has a lot of secrets. Sometimes, when I am on the ship, I feel as if someone is constantly watching me.”
For the next hour, Jeremy spoke about his childhood and what it was like being the son of Admiral Jason Strong, who had discovered the Avenger. He told her about the early days before the academy had been built and how things had not been so glamorous then.
Katie listened to the two for a while and even asked a few questions. Some of what they were talking about she had heard from her father. During those early days, he had spent a lot of time on the Avenger. She finally excused herself, saying she needed to go to the restroom. Instead, after making sure that Kelsey and Jeremy weren’t watching, she slipped down a short hallway and into Admiral Strong’s office. Unbuttoning two buttons on her shirt, she pulled out a small handheld computer. It was the latest and best that money could buy. It also had several special programs on it that Katie had carefully written just for this occasion.
Taking a deep breath, Katie walked over to Admiral Strong’s desk and laying her computer down, she activated a program that should interact with the ship’s computer that was on the desk. It was time for her to find out just who this Ariel was she heard her mom and dad whispering about on occasion. She knew it had something to do with the Avenger. She just wasn’t sure what, but she intended to find out.
-
Ariel was watching the three young people in the admiral’s quarters. When Katie slipped into the admiral’s private office, Ariel’s interest intensified. What was the young girl up to? When Katie took out her small computer and activated a program, which instantly began to connect to her system, Ariel’s interest peeked. With amazement, she watched as Katie’s program began interacting with her security programs. She was surprised at how advanced it was. Ariel smiled to herself. She was quite pleased that Katie was showing such initiative. It promised a bright future for the young girl in computer programming. Ariel just wasn’t sure what to do. She didn’t want to get Katie in trouble with her parents, so she decided just to wait and let the situation develop.
-
After a few minutes, Katie began to feel nervous. If she couldn’t break into the system soon, Jeremy and Kelsey would come looking for her. She didn’t want them to find her in the admiral’s office. Letting out a long breath, she activated a second program. This one would search out and find any files that mentioned the word Ariel. She watched as a small light on her small computer began blinking green. It seemed to be working.
-
Ariel almost panicked as the new program blew past several of her firewalls. This programming was truly advanced. It was almost as good as what Lisa could do. Not only that, but Katie was searching for any references to Ariel. How had the young girl found out? With resignation, Ariel knew what she had to do. She just hoped Jason wouldn’t get too upset. Of course there was a slim chance that he would never have to know.
-
Katie was just about to give up when she heard a strange noise behind her. Slowly turning around, she noticed that the large viewscreen on the front wall of the office had come on. A beautiful dark headed young woman was pictured on the screen. What’s this? Katie wondered nervously. Then the woman on the screen smiled.
“Hello Katie,” Ariel spoke in a pleasant voice. “That’s a very sophisticated set of programs you have written.”
“Who are you?” stammered Katie, realizing that she had been caught. She noticed the woman was dressed in a dark blue fleet uniform. She was busted, and this was going to get her into a lot of trouble. This person must be someone in security.
The woman on the screen hesitated for a long moment. “I’m Ariel, the AI of the light cruiser Avenger. I’m the one you are looking for with those two computer programs.”
“An AI,” Katie breathed slowly scarcely believing what she had just heard. “How long have you been watching me?” asked Katie, wondering if this was a program that Lisa had developed. AIs had always fascinated her. “Did Lisa design your program?” With resignation, Katie knew that if this was Lisa’s program then Lisa would be notified shortly about what she had just attempted.
“No,” replied Ariel. “This all began a long time ago. I don’t have time to explain it all to you now, but I was on the ship when Admiral Strong first stepped into the Command Center twenty-four years ago.”
Katie turned pale and almost stopped breathing as she realized what Ariel was saying. “You were on the ship when it crashed?”
“Yes,” Ariel replied, then in a more serious tone, “You can’t tell anyone that we talked. You and I both could get into a lot of trouble over this. If you promise to stay quiet and behave, we can talk again and I will tell you more.”
Katie was silent for a moment. Talking to Ariel was like talking to a real person. It was easy to make her mind up. “You have a deal Ariel, but I want to know everything.”
“You will, Katie,” Ariel promised solemnly. “But you need to put your computer away and go back into the main room. Jeremy and Kelsey are starting to wonder what’s taking you so long.”
-
Jeremy felt relieved when Katie came back into the main room. For a moment, he had been afraid that she had managed to sneak out. He didn’t know how he would have explained to his dad that Katie was running around unsupervised on the Avenger.
“Hi,” Katie said with a friendly smile, plopping down on the sofa next to Jeremy. “Anything on the vid?”
-
Later, Jeremy walked Kelsey back to her quarters. They were both quiet as they made their way through the transit tubes back to the senior dorm. Jeremy was still confused by Katie’s behavior. She had been so polite most of the evening that he had a hard time believing that it was the same teenage girl.
“You know, Katie is extremely talented,” Kelsey finally said as they came to a stop in front of her door. “Don’t let her being so young hide the fact that she has a rare talent for computers.”
“I know, but sometime she can be a real pain.” Jeremy paused an
d looked at Kelsey.
He was unsure whether he should attempt to kiss her or not. He wasn’t sure if this could be called a real date since they had ended up babysitting. He hoped Kelsey wasn’t too disappointed in how the night had ended.
Kelsey solved the problem by leaning forward and giving Jeremy a quick kiss on the lips. “I did enjoy tonight, but we probably shouldn’t do this too often. We have a lot of studying to do in the next few weeks if we want to qualify to go on the New Horizon mission.”
“I know,” Jeremy responded, fully in agreement and visibly relaxing. Now was not the time to get emotionally involved. He knew it would be best for the time being to keep their relationship at the friendship level. However, he had really enjoyed spending the evening with Kelsey. It made him realize just how special she was.
Kelsey turned to go into her quarters, then stopped and glanced back at Jeremy with a mischievous smile. “But if you have to babysit again, you'd better call me!”
“Sure,” Jeremy replied with a grin. “I’ll see you in class in the morning.” He watched Kelsey go into her quarters and shut the door. Turning, he started down the hallway to take the elevator to his own floor.
-
Back in her parent’s guest quarters on the Avenger, Katie lay in bed deep in thought. Her discovery of just who Ariel was had been stunning. She was now more determined than ever to learn everything she could about the Avenger and the AI. She hoped she could become friends with Ariel. For a long time, she lay in bed thinking about what she had discovered.
-
In the Command Center, Ariel stared out across the quiet room. Only two people were currently on duty, and they were manning the communication and sensor consoles. The Avenger had the only working FTL communication gear outside of Ceres. The advanced sensors on the Avenger were also capable of monitoring the ship traffic in the entire solar system. Ariel hoped she had not made a mistake talking to Katie. The young girl showed so much promise. Ariel now had to decide how much to tell Katie. The families of Admiral Strong and Greg Johnson were very special to her, and for that reason alone she was willing to speak to Katie of things that were forbidden for most people on the Moon.
Chapter Two
Jeremy was on his way to class when he heard some loud, boisterous talking behind him. Stopping, he turned around and saw Cadet Lieutenant Matt Barr and two members of his squad.
“Hey daddy’s boy!” Barr spoke contemptuously, looking at Jeremy. “I still haven’t figured out how you cheated in that drill the other day, but I will.”
“I didn’t cheat,” Jeremy replied calmly, refusing to be baited into a fight by Barr. “You were in a static defense that wasn’t defendable from all directions.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Barr continued with a gloating look on his face. “I’m still ranked number one in our class and will be going on the New Horizon mission. Even though you’re ranked number three, they will never let you go!”
Jeremy didn’t reply. He just turned around and started walking off, with Barr and his cronies still making insinuating comments behind his back. Jeremy felt anger but knew he couldn’t afford to be drawn into a confrontation. He was determined more than ever to ace those final exams and take that top spot away from Barr in two more weeks. Sometimes he wondered how someone with Barr’s attitude had even gotten into the academy. The interview process was lengthy and quite thorough.
Barr watched Jeremy walk away. He smiled arrogantly at the receding form of Cadet Lieutenant Strong. There was no doubt in Barr’s mind that he would be on the New Horizon mission. That was the whole reason for him being at the Fleet Academy. The number one class ranking was his and would remain so. He would make certain of that.
“Want us to rough him up some?” asked Cadet Ensign Rafferty, watching Jeremy’s retreating figure. “We can arrange for him to fall down a flight of stairs. It can be set up to look like an accident.”
“No, leave him to me,” replied Barr, shaking his head. “I will take care of the admiral’s son later. We just need to stick with the plan.”
-
On board the Avenger, Jason and Greg were in the Command Center. They had just finished talking to Admiral Anlon on Ceres. Admiral Anlon was currently the highest-ranking military officer on the asteroid and in charge of the base plus all military operations. Jason and Anlon tried to talk to each other daily whenever possible.
“Their new ship is finally finished,” commented Greg, looking over at Jason with deep concern in his eyes. “Do you think it’s wise to send that ship back to their old worlds to see what the Hocklyns are up to?” Greg knew this would be a hard sell to the involved governments down on Earth.
“I don’t think we have a choice,” replied Jason, thinking about the conversation he had just finished with the admiral. “Their new ship is a Monarch Two heavy cruiser. It’s covered in a special composite material that makes the ship almost impossible to detect with sensors. It has better shields and weapons than any other ship they have ever built. If they would have had ships like this one when the Hocklyns attacked, the Federation might have been able to survive.”
“It took them ten years to make enough of that material to cover the ship,” added Greg, folding his arms across his chest and looking at Jason. “That’s an exceptionally determined group of people. But this mission could still be extremely dangerous. Right now, the Hocklyns don’t know we exist. They think all humans were killed when they destroyed the Federation. I would prefer to keep it that way. If they have to use those new and improved weapons, it will tell the Hocklyns that there are still some human survivors out in the galaxy somewhere. That could cause the Hocklyns to start looking for us. How do I explain that to the governments down on Earth?”
“We need to know, Greg,” Jason responded in a serious tone, leaning back in the command chair and taking a deep breath. He knew Greg would have to do a lot of talking to convince the governments involved in the Avenger Project that this mission was necessary. “We have to know how far the Hocklyn Slave Empire has spread since they destroyed the Human Federation of Worlds. It will let us know if our timeline is still workable.”
“It’s still so hard to imagine what’s in our future,” continued Greg, letting out a long and deep breath. “We are preparing to fight an interstellar war some day. Most of the people down on Earth still don’t know what’s up here or ahead of us.”
“It’s either prepare or see Earth destroyed like the Federation worlds,” replied Jason, arching his eyebrows and looking up at the main viewscreen and Ariel. Ariel in the past had shown both of them what had happened to the Federation. They had also seen videos on Ceres that the Federation survivors had provided. The videos had been both frightening and eye opening.
“We can’t allow Earth to be destroyed,” Ariel said in a determined voice, looking at the two men who meant so much to her. “The Hocklyns and their masters will not show Earth any mercy. Once they learn of us, they will do everything within their power to destroy us. I agree with Admiral Anlon that we need to know what the Hocklyns have been doing since they destroyed the Federation worlds. Only by sending the new ship can we find out.”
“This is just a necessary step in the war effort,” continued Jason, thinking about all that had been done in recent years. “Their commander will be careful about not letting her ship be detected. The ship is equipped with a number of stealth scouts that will do most of the surveying of possible new Hocklyn controlled worlds as well as the old Federation ones.”
“Who will command the mission?” asked Greg, knowing that there was probably nothing he could say or do that would stop the mission. He wondered what it would be like returning to those worlds that the Hocklyns had destroyed over one hundred years ago. Jason had said she, so it must be a woman.
“Colonel Amanda Sheen will be brought out of cryosleep in a few months,” Jason answered. “She is very familiar with the Federation worlds.”
“That name sounds familiar,” commented Greg, tr
ying to remember where he had heard it before.
“Colonel Sheen was Admiral Streth’s second in command on the StarStrike,” Ariel spoke, her dark eyes looking at the two men. “She is an extremely competent fleet officer and from Aquaria originally. Her parents were killed there when the Hocklyns attacked. She was also in command of the StarStrike when it destroyed the first Hocklyn warship above the moon of Stalor Four.”
Greg was silent for a moment as he thought about the mission and what waited for Colonel Sheen back in the old Federation worlds. Greg wondered how difficult it had been for Colonel Sheen to make the decision to go into cryosleep to begin with. He understood why it had been done. When the war was finally here, it would be an asset to have a core cadre of officers available who had actually fought the Hocklyns and were familiar with their battle tactics. Currently there were sixty-eight people in cryosleep on Ceres. “When will the mission be launched?”
“About the same time the New Horizon sets out for Tau Ceti,” Jason replied.
Greg nodded, looking around the Command Center. There was only a small crew currently on duty. All trusted personnel who knew about Ceres and the current state of affairs. In two more days, he would be taking his family back home to Earth. For today, he had other business set up he needed to take care of.
Jason and he had a meeting scheduled later that afternoon with Jarvin Sinclen. Jarvin was currently in charge of the Federation people that had been deployed down to Earth. In certain universities and research labs, Federation people were teaching young people new ideas and others were helping Earth to further develop its science. Nearly two hundred Federation people were working behind the scenes.
“I’m sure both missions will be successful,” Ariel commented with the faint hint of a smile on her face. She was sure Jeremy would be on the New Horizon, and hoped she would get to talk to Colonel Sheen before she left on her mission. It had been over one hundred years since she had last spoken to the colonel.
Moon Wreck: Fleet Academy (The Slaver Wars) Page 3