by Kal Spriggs
“Your notoriety might come in useful on Century as well, given some of the moves Drakkus has made there. I gather your organization views Drakkus as a risk more than an opportunity. So, if you’re willing, they want you to assist in your more public role, giving Century a bit of attention and importance to all your subscribers.” The Admiral managed to deliver that in such a tone that left little doubts about her personal opinion of such things. Some kind of entertainer?
Mel shook her head, “I’m sorry, could we get back to this whole thing about you knowing I was still alive?”
The Admiral looked around at the docking bay, “Perhaps you have a briefing aboard your vessel? In the process, perhaps you could ask your brother to meet us there, I assume he’s hidden away somewhere.”
Mel flushed at the rebuke and I had to hide another smile, having seen other people at the end of that kind of rebuke before... and received it myself once. We followed as Mel led the way through the corridors. The ship was oddly empty and as I walked the corridors, I couldn't help but look around in confusion. A big ship like this should have hundreds of crew, but I hadn't seen anyone else here besides the group that had greeted us at the docking bay.
“I assume the ship is fully automated still?” The Admiral had fallen into step next to Mel.
My eyes went wide as I realized what that meant. Automation of the scale of a warship of this size wasn't something a normal human could control.
“I assume then that Fenris is a stable AI?” The Admiral went on. “Interesting.”
I felt shock roil through my system. Artificial Intelligences were forbidden by UN law and signed by hundreds of worlds. The prohibitions had come into being after several ships had gone beserk, back when humanity had grown desperate during the wars with the Culmor. From what I'd heard, automated ships often lost track of friend and foe or simply went berserk.
As we came into the briefing room, I started reaching out with my implant, finding the edges of a network and something lurking behind that, a powerful presence. My cousin Rawn was waiting. He was tall and thin, thinner than I remembered, his skin stretched tight over his features, his blue eyes hollow. I recognized that look, it was how I felt sometimes.
Jiden, the Admiral sent to me via my implant, please activate their holodisplay.
I did so without any real effort, reaching out to it and bringing it live with a thought. The Admiral transferred me some data and I brought it up on the display. I saw Mel and her crew blink in surprise.
“Both of them have implants, Mel,” a deep, powerful voice growled over the speakers. “Very, very sophisticated implants, in fact…” I reached out to the presence in the network and his mind and mine interfaced, for just a moment. It was an awe-inspiring experience. I'd seen the gestalts, copies of human minds created to operate our Quicksilver implants. I'd even seen two of them that had gone on to exist outside of our implants... both of them copies of me. This presence, though, was different. It was hard-edged and powerful. For a moment, my brain quailed at the raw computational power of this mind. But there was a liveliness, a living feeling to it. It wasn't just numbers and data, this was a person, with a personality that I could feel and for just a moment, I felt pure joy in that discovery.
“What’s going on?” Mel demanded. “You’d better not be hurting him.”
“It’s alright, Mel,” I heard the deep voice speak both with my ears and in my head. Even as I was examining him, he was examining me. “It’s more than an implant. Your cousin, it’s like she is an artificial intelligence.”
“My implant has a gestalt consciousness,” I started a bit, looking nervously at the Admiral as I spoke. When the Admiral gave me a nod, I went on, “My implant has an imprint of my consciousness. Together it and I form a sort of team. It allows me to interface pretty much seamlessly with technology and to multitask.”
“That’s…” Mel trailed off, frowning, “well, is that legal?” I snorted at her response. Then again, it had been one of the questions I had when they'd first told me about it.
“Technically, yes,” the Admiral responded. “It’s not an artificial intelligence, it’s a human intelligence enhanced through artificial means. So, we’re in gray area with our feet fixed on the legal side of the fence. But part of the implications of that are why we’d like to bring Doctor Kynes aboard.”
I assumed that was the cold, dark haired woman who stared at me with clinical eyes, “I have many questions.” Her intent gaze disturbed me, mostly because it reminded me of the late Doctor Aisling. Still, I wasn't about to show fear, I glared right back at her.
“We can answer those later,” the Admiral told her. “I’m afraid I really don’t have very long to stay here. Sooner or later people will start asking questions and only the rather confused situation surrounding the attack and then the incident with Guard Free Now has given me some time to meet.”
To my surprise, the Admiral actually sounded a little nervous, “Mel, what I’m offering you is a commission in the Century Planetary Militia, as a reserve officer.”
“Wait… what?” My cousin asked in shock. “Uh, we’re a mercenary company. Beyond that, we’re wanted fugitives. I mean, Rawn—”
“Drakkus is making hostile moves, snapping up worlds throughout the Periphery. The Guard, too, are doing the same. We suspect that Ten Sisters was just the opening move in a campaign. We’re not sure whether they intend to divide the remaining systems between them or if one will attack the other, not yet.” The Admiral pointed at the systems she'd had me put on the display, shading various systems in different colors: purple for Drakkus and red for the Guard. “Drakkus already sent one fleet to Century. We managed to scare them off, but they may try again. I fully expect that within the next year, Century and our allies will be at a formal state of war with either the Guard, the Drakkus Empire, or both.”
Mel’s jaw dropped in shock. She wasn't the only one. War with the Drakkus Empire was one thing, but going to war with the Guard... “You really think—”
“Part of our presence here at Harmony was to ensure these systems remain either neutral in our favor or became allies,” the Admiral went on, her voice hard. “President Rao saw just how hard we fought to defend his world. He’s not about to forget that. But the Guard aren’t going to forget it either and if we weren’t in their targets before, we certainly are now. Just in the past few weeks I’ve seen reports of dozens of our merchant and missionary ships being harassed by Guard officials, all through the sector.” She cocked her head at Mel, “Tell me, do you think I really care that your ship is a violation of Guard law or that you are wanted fugitives under the same?”
Mel gestured at her crew, “We’re mercenaries, though, I mean, we can’t just drop everything…”
“We’d issue you a reserve commission, now, secretly. You’d be auxiliaries, from this point onward. Once you finish out this contract, there will be another one, back on Century for ‘anti-piracy patrols’ or something similar. At that point, we could make things more official. Commissions and ranks for you and your crew. We’d like your team to remain mostly intact, but over time we would like to rotate through some of our other officers, to give them experience with larger ships and the tactics involved.”
“Does that mean Century is going to be acquiring larger ships?” Mel asked the question, but it was one going through my head as well. In fact, I thought about the Alexandria and it's prototype systems. What could we do with those kinds of systems, scaled up to something the size of this ship?
“If there is time,” the Admiral nodded. “Does that fit?”
I saw Mel's crew look to her, and I realized that she had that same spark as the Admiral. These people might be her friends, but they also were her crew, they followed her lead. “Yeah,” Mel answered “Yeah, that sounds good.”
“Excellent,” The Admiral turned to look at Rawn, “as for you…” She shook her head, “You’ve certainly gotten into quite the mess.” I wondered what she meant by that.
Rawn straightened up, “I’ve given it a lot of thought. I’d like to formally surrender. I think I should face a trial—”
“Don’t be absurd,” The Admiral waved a hand. “There’s no way you’d get a fair trial. In Guard space they’d use you as a reason to invade Century, talking up your connections to me and your presence in the late Colonel Frost’s organization in a way to make it seem that Century had been backing his actions.” She shook her head, “On Century, based off of some of the recent events, you’d probably be exonerated of all charges.” She closed her eyes, “I’ve read through reports. You are, directly or not, responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people. In helping Frost to modify those freighters, you nearly killed billions.”
“I know,” Rawn looked down at the deck. I was staring at my cousin with a feeling of shock and a little horror. Just who this Colonel Frost was, I had no idea, but it sounded like Rawn had done some really horrible things.
“There’s not an easy answer. I know you hate the Guard and part of me wants to enroll you in the Academy, give you a chance to turn your skills into something our Militia could use… but I think we both know that you can’t put your past behind you that easily, don’t we?”
Rawn gave a nod.
“Agent Walker’s organization is doing some restructuring. If you’re interested, I can put in a word for you. You can go to work doing something very, very important,” The Admiral peered at him as she said that, as if she were searching his features for something. “It’s a good cause, and I won’t lie, they hate the Guard almost as much as they hate the Chandral.”
Rawn gave a snort, “You think they’d actually take me?”
“Think about it. The other option I have for you is working for our intelligence service back on Century. It’s small, but we’re rebuilding after some… incidents.” I thought that was a bit of an understatement given that most of the intelligence service and almost all of the senior Enforcers had been corrupted by Charterer Beckman. “Our intelligence assets were compromised by Drakkus, it’s almost a complete overhaul, but they can use people with experience. Either way, I’d like to send you and the captured Guard Free Now personnel back to Century.”
“The prisoners?” Mel asked in surprise. I was pretty surprised too, seeing as the Guard Free Now were supposed to be terrorists. Just what the hock had Mel and Rawn gotten themselves involved in?
“They need to disappear. Most of them are unrepentant, I’m sure, and all of them know too much. We’ll offer them choices of working in one of our prison work camps or execution. After a few years, what they know won’t matter as much and any that can be rehabilitated, we will.” The Admiral went on, “We’re rotating some personnel back to Century, I have a vessel ready to leave in the next few days.”
“The fast transport that just arrived?” Mel asked suspiciously.
The Admiral smiled, “I see you’re keeping an eye on things. Good. Yes, the same one that just arrived. Jiden will be going back as well, she’ll act as my representative to make certain my orders are carried out aboard the transport.”
“I’m sorry,” one of Mel's crew demanded, “but a cadet?” He was a big, dark-skinned man and I didn't like the derisive tone in his voice.
I straightened up and glared at him, “I’ve seen plenty of combat, and I’m a Cadet First Class.”
“Besides that,” The Admiral snorted, “She’s an Armstrong. She’ll make certain my orders are followed out and the only people who might gainsay her are the ones we’re going to slip past by keeping this all very quiet, right at first.” She took a deep breath. “I think we have a year, maybe even two years before this war starts in earnest. We need every second of that to get ready, to marshal our forces. What do you say?”
Mel looked at Rawn, who nodded. I felt a bit of familial pride as she saluted sharply, “Well, ma’am, Captain Melanie Armstrong, Commanding officer of the Fenris, reporting for duty.”
***
Of course, things had a way of going off the rails almost as soon as we had a plan.
We'd just arrived back on the Pentacane, I hadn't even had time to finish powering down the Valkyrie, when we received news that a Guard Fleet Task Force had arrived in the system. The Admiral was already off the shuttle by the time I had it powered down and I hurried after her, wondering just what the hock was happening now.
I got to the flag bridge just a few seconds after the Admiral, and I'd only managed to bowl over one or two people along the way, mostly tripping over those that the Admiral had already knocked over on her sprint to the flag bridge.
“...forces of the Culmor Empire have attacked all across the Sepaso Military Sector,” A Guard Fleet Admiral was saying. “Only probing forces so far, but Guard Fleet is moving forces to border systems to reinforce. We're delivering official notice to the Harmony Protectorate and...” his expression altered to show distaste, “President Rao.”
“I see, Admiral Montaigne,” Commodore Creed was the one speaking. “in light of the threat of war, as the senior Guard Fleet officer present, will you authorize Chartered Mercenary Guild vessels under inactive reserve status with Planetary Militias to be released to their parent worlds? We have a number of Mercenaries that should go back to their homeworlds and buffer their defenses.”
Admiral Montaigne didn't answer for a long moment, “Unfortunately, given what Guard Fleet appraises as a potentially unstable government and military here in the Harmony Protectorate, we will not release any Mercenary units from their Peacekeeper roles.”
My throat constricted as he said that and it was all I could do to bite my lip on a scream of rage. The sanctimonious hocking jerk, he planned that. I could see from his smirk that he was enjoying Commodore Creed's expression of rage as well. “Until such time as the Protectorate's Defense Forces are stood up and fully mission capable, standing orders from the very highest levels is that all Mercenary Guild forces assigned here will finish out their contracts.”
“Admiral Montaigne,” Commodore Creed chose his words carefully, his face red with anger, but his voice under tight control, “you realize that you are endangering numerous worlds? This is a violation of the Mercenary Guild Charter--”
“It is not a violation,” Admiral Montaigne countered. “Military Governor of the Parisian Sector has labeled the Vagyr-Harmony corridor as essential to defend the flank. The Black Spider nebular cluster and the Archangel Anomaly choke any potential attacks down to invasions of the Protectorate. Any Culmor force given free access through the Protectorate would be able to hit dozens of systems that lack robust Militia forces. Given the culmor tactics of seizing adjoining systems before advancing, we feel defending Vagyr and Harmony is the key to preserving security on this flank of the Harlequin Military Sector.”
Commodore Creed looked like he wanted to spit. “Sir...”
“That is all, Commodore. You and all forces under your command are ordered to hold position until relieved by a proper force. I will be monitoring the situation from Vagyr, where I will be preparing to defend against a numerically superior culmor attack.” His voice had gone hard. “Do not make me turn around to hunt down rogue mercenaries, am I understood.”
“Yes, sir,” Commodore Creed snapped.
“Excellent,” Admiral Montaigne replied. “My forces, minus a picket force which will remain behind to monitor compliance, will continue on to Vagyr. I will be relieving Commodore Webb's Task Force Vagyr, who will be going to join our reserve elements, and who will no doubt swing back through to check and see if you need any clarifications to my orders to defend the people of the Harmony Protectorate.”
So just in case we decide to run for home, there will be a force in position to chase us down. I doubted that the Admiral or Commodore Creed would do something like that, but still.
“That is all, Commodore. I trust you to take charge of your forces here. I wouldn't want any of them vanishing, we might have to conduct an official investigation into any wrongdoings. Task Force Six Commander Out
.”
The transmission cut off, leaving the flag bridge in total quiet.
A moment later, Commodore Creed appeared on the display, “Admiral Armstrong, I assume you heard most of that?”
“Culmor attacks all along the borders, probing raids so far, but a clear sign that a full attack is planned, probably where these idiots least expect it,” The Admiral's voice was iron hard.
“We've got to expect raiding forces moving along the Periphery at the least,” Commodore Creed nodded. “I saw your courier ship arrived. That at least we can send to warn them.”
The Admiral shot a look over at me and I realized that her order for me to return home suddenly carried a far greater weight. The alien culmor hadn't launched serious attacks in generations. The Admiral had been a cadet, if I remembered right.
The attacks along the Periphery had been defeated by a combined force from Dalite, Fresca, and Century. But it had cost us almost all our ships. The war before that, the Culmor had managed to land some ground forces on Century and tens of thousands of civilians and Militia had died in the fighting.
“I'll prep the message myself and I'll put it in good hands,” The Admiral told him. “Armstrong, out.”
She spun to face me, the bridge still deathly silent, “Cadet Armstrong, my office.”
I followed her, feeling my stomach doing flip-flops.
I closed the hatch behind me. The Admiral went to stand in front of her desk, her hands resting on the metal surface, her head hung low. “They've got us trapped, Jiden. The bastards have us trapped.”
“Ma'am?” I asked in shock.
“Admiral Montaigne is out of the Parisian Military Sector. He's from a prominent military family, a not-to-distant relative of the late, unlamented Major General Tibault. The way things shook down out here, he probably suspects that we had some part in doing her in. He's probably also got backing from a number of merchant corporations who don't like how Champion Enterprises and it's spin-offs have been picking up a lot of merchant traffic on the Periphery. Combined in with how we're not under the umbrella of Guard Space, and well...” She shook her head. “They're not going to go out of their way to cause something bad to happen to Century, but they're not going to cry any tears if we're stuck here while the culmor burn our world to ash.”