Retribution: The Augmented Human Rebellion - Book 2 (11 page)

“Not bad for beginners, though,” the Admiral says.  “I estimate
that we destroyed 300 ships and damaged some others.”

“327 destroyed and 148 with significant damage,” responds
Honesty.  “And there was damage to the Headquarters facility, as well.”

“A job well done,” says the Admiral.  “This could be an important
event for the Darinx Navy.”

***

The next strike goes as planned, and the Admiral’s team again escapes
unharmed.  They are decelerating, for entry into FTL space, when the
Admiral changes her mind about targets.

“Honesty, plot the last strike for an assault on the Verm Emperor’s
Palace.”

“Aye sir,” Honesty answers. 

The Admiral presses Science Officer Barnard’s comm button.

“Bernard here, sir.”

“Officer Bernard.  I just had a revelation - this tactic can be
used against the Darinx Empire, just as easily as it is being used against the
Verm Empire.  It will only be a matter of weeks, before the Verm are
sending similar strikes against our side.” 

“Quickly, write a report that explains the tactic and include the video
of the last 2 strikes.  Warn the Darinx Navy of the danger, and give them some
ideas about combating the tactic.  Understood?”

“Aye sir.  Understood.  I am on it,” replies the Science
Officer.

“And load the report into 2 probes addressed to Darinx Navy
Headquarters, Attention Fleet Admiral
Kinseat
. 
And mark them ‘Urgent’.  They will be leaving aboard 2 warships before the
next strike.  Make two extra copies for the two warships.  I want
those hand delivered, after the probes are launched”.  Admiral Meyers
says.

***

The two ships are gone - separately heading to Darinx Navy Headquarters. 
They will launch their information probes, when they get close to Darinx
space.  With 4 messengers, the probability is high that at least one will
survive long enough to deliver the warning. 

Admiral Meyers is just thankful that she recognized this danger, before
disaster can be visited on the Darinx Empire.  This warning should give
them time to prepare, in case the Verm Navy uses high velocity assaults,
against Darinx targets.

***

Now she turns her attention back to the assault on the Verm Emperor’s
Palace.  “How are we doing, Honesty?”

“All planned and ready to go, I believe,” answers Honesty.  “I
made sure that the missiles designated for the Palace or any planet-side
target, are loaded with conventional warheads.  The warheads for the Space
Station, the defensive systems, and the warships are nuclear.”

“There is inherently more danger in targeting the Verm home planet,
than for the other targets,” she continues.  “There is a lot more
congestion inside of that system, and we will have no way of changing course,
to avoid a collision.  Even an impact with a pebble could cause the
Retribution to disintegrate, at these speeds.”

“At least we won’t live long enough to know it, if it happens,” replies
the Admiral.

***

All eyes – except for Honesty’s - are on the front view-screen, waiting
to see the Emperor’s Palace, and to see if the missiles do the job.  First
the star appears to grow right in front of their eyes.  And then the
planet comes into view and appears to grow.  Soon there are missiles and
rail gun projectiles running out in front of the Retribution.  Then there
are explosions in space and on the planet.  It passes so quickly that you
can’t tell if the Palace was hit.  That will have to wait for the slow
motion re-run.

In a flash, they are well outside of the solar system and the danger is
over.  Honesty says “The
Harbenger
is missing sir.  I’m searching through the archives of the attack. …………………
She disintegrated, sir.  The ship and all hands are lost.”

Losing the
Harbenger
and her crew takes the joy out of the victory.  But it is still a
victory.  Destroying the Verm Emperor’s Palace, and only losing one ship
in the process, would be considered to be a miracle by most Admirals.

***

The surviving ships from the 4 units return to the meeting place, one
by one.  In all, 5 ships and 5 crews were lost.  Sweetwater Fleet is
in mourning, so the Admiral schedules memorial services, and grants a week of
personal-time to the Fleet.  She does send one vessel to check and see if
Shiela
has come home.

“War is Hell,” someone once said –
I think it was William Tecumseh
Sherman.
  He was right.  No one expected to get this far, this
fast, without losing a lot of ships and lives.  Everyone knows that. 
But it still hurts, when it’s part of your family that is lost.

***

And a week or so later, who comes waltzing into the Fleet, but
Shiela
and her
babies.  What a lift that brings to the hearts of the Sweetwater Fleet
crews.  More baby Artificial Intelligences.  They are so cute when
they are babies.  And then, as if by magic, they grow up right in front of
your eyes.

Shiela
brought 7 babies home, and
Danion
took 2 home with him.   Honesty and the Admiral are both just beside
themselves, with joy.  “What beautiful babies.  What cuteness.”

Admiral Meyers makes her mind up that none of
Shiela’s
babies – or
Shiela
either, for that matter – is ever
going to return to Darinx space, until they are regarded as sentient
beings. 

For her, the Augmented Human Rebellion has grown to include Artificial
Intelligences.

***

And
Shiela
brought a way to communicate with the AH Navy.  She knows how to send a
message to their Probe Relay Center.  “That’s great,” says the Admiral,
“and just in time.”

“We have our own Probe Relay System.  We need to send them a
message about the danger of the new
high velocity tactic
, so that they
can build defenses against it.”

***

The Admiral makes a video, which begins with her greeting the AH Navy,
and thanking them for
Danion’s
“awesome assistance”.  “Those AI babies are just wonderful,” she says. 
After she gushes for a while, she gets back to the point.

There is danger.  Sweetwater Fleet has started something that it
can’t stop.  The Admiral explains the tactic and sends video of some of
the raids – including the one on the Verm Emperor’s Palace.  She includes
a copy of Science Officer Barnard’s report, and urges them to prepare defensive
systems against
high velocity real space assaults.

***

After the personal-time, for grieving and for resting the crews, it is time
for the Sweetwater Fleet to get back to work.  The first thing that needs
to be done is to repair and restock the ships.  They brought plenty of
spare munitions back from Darinx space, but they used a lot of projectile
weapons in the last series of raids. After restocking the Darinx ships, the
spare munitions stock is depleted.  They may be back to using the captured
Verm vessels soon.

 ***

The information probe to the AH Navy brought a quick response. 
Fleet Admiral
Cade
Nemo
sends a video of him
and his wife, Admiral Sandra
Guilles
,
agreeing that the AI babies are just “way beyond cute”, and also thanking
Admiral Meyers for her warning.  And they issue an invitation for the
Admiral to visit them.

Without wasting very much time thinking about it, the Admiral responds
that she would “love to come for a visit”.

***

Augmented Human Navy Headquarters

Within a few weeks, arrangements are made and the Admiral,
Shiela
, the babies, and
Honesty are on their way to meet the AH Navy leaders.  They travel in the
Retribution to a designated location and then transfer to an AH Navy vessel,
for the trip to the secret headquarters of the AH Navy. 

The Admiral feels a little odd being the only humanoid in her
group.  “That is something that I need to get over,” she thinks. 
“Artificial Intelligences are people too, and I am in the company of the ‘best
ever’ Artificial Intelligences.”

***

Meeting the Family

This visit has the feel of a family reunion.  The augmented human
Admiral Meyers is about to meet 2 other augmented human admirals.  And the
father of Honesty and all of these baby
AIs
is also an admiral.  These
AIs
are like grandchildren to these AH Navy leaders. 
Shiela’s
relationship to the Artificial
Intelligence Admiral is not clearly defined, yet.  But certainly, in
Shiela’s
mind, she is at
least his
lover
.

A shuttle takes the visitors to the planet, where the AH Navy Admirals
are waiting.  The reception could have involved military formations and
marching bands.  Instead,
Cade
Nemo
and his wife,
Sandra
Guilles
, are
waiting when the door on the shuttle opens.  They are dressed in civilian
clothes and look just like family.  They each give Melissa Meyers a hug
and welcome everyone to their home.

Now Melissa feels
out of sync
again.  Everyone else is casual
and all she has are uniforms.  Sandra must have read her mind, because she
says that she will find something “more comfortable” for Melissa to wear.

And then, all of the attention turns to the artificial
intelligences.  Among this group, there is no awkwardness in the
interactions between humanoids and
AIs
. 
The humanoids all switch to mind-link communications and move in close to the
AIs
.  There are
virtual hugs, interlaced with interchanges of emotion and thought.

Melissa Meyers has never experienced this type of intimacy with her
AIs
before.  This is
the way interpersonal relations between these two species should be.  And
they will be that way, in Melissa Meyers’ life, from now on.

After a brief hover ride, the group arrives at the home of the AH Navy
leaders.  It is beautiful but simple. 
Cade
explains that they built most of it themselves.  It’s a beach house
overlooking an ocean, or sea.  Yellow sand is being gently lapped by clear
blue water.  You can still see the bottom hundreds of feet out.

Sandra says: “Our children will be home in a few hours.  I told
them that they must come and see
Danion’s
babies and to meet our new friends.  If you can stay for a few days, we
might even get to see
Danion
. 
I sent him a message about your visit.  I am sure that he will be here, if
it is at all possible.”

Sandra found some civilian clothes for Melissa in her daughter’s
closet.  “She won’t mind at all,” Sandra says.  “You will love
Kiersten
.  She’s
about your age, and she can show you around the planet.  You will love our
son Justice also, but he said that he is too busy to stay long.  They are
both Admirals in the AH Navy. 
Cade
and I are retired, unless some emergency comes up.” 

“Justice will probably want to talk business with you.  We are all
amazed at the success that you have had.  The Verm Empire has lost all
interest in us, since you came on the scene.  They are too busy hunting
you to bother with anything else.  And the attack on the Emperor’s Palace
– what a stroke of genius.  And look at you – you are an Admiral in the
Darinx Navy.  What a
game changer
you are.  We are so happy
that you have come to see us.  Now we have another admiral in the family.”

At that moment, the side door opens and
Kiersten
and Justice walk in. 
Kiersten
moves quickly to hug her mom and dad, and then moves to Melissa and gives her a
hug.  Then she steps back and says:  “Those clothes look better on
you than they do on me.  You can keep them, and we will go through my
closet and find some other
civies
for you.  And if you are going to stay for a while, I can show you
around.”

Justice is still at his spot near the door.  He seems to be
frozen
in time
.  His mom notices that and moves over to his side.  “And
this is our son Justice.  He has just stopped by to say hello.  He
has to get right back to his work.”

“No mom,” Justice says, “I can stay longer.  The work will wait.”

Sandra has a look of disbelief on her face, but recovers quickly. 
“Then come and meet Admiral Melissa Meyers.”  And she guides him to meet
Melissa.

Melissa extends her hand and says:  “Hello, it’s nice to meet
you.”

Justice hesitates and then says: “It’s nice to meet you, also,” as he
takes her hand and bows, slightly, from the waist.  His mother is in a
state of shock at her son’s sudden change in behavior.

“Well,” she says, “Let’s all go and sit on the porch.  Justice I
need your help moving the
AIs
out there.  We will have to get them fixed up with conveyances.”  She
turns as they are leaving the room and says:  “Since
Danion
has to move around
so much, we fixed a mobile device, which we call a
conveyance,
for
him.  It allows him to be independent and to move whenever he wants. 
We’ll get some for
Shiela
and Honesty and you can take some home with you, for the babies.”

“Thank you,” says Melissa Meyers.  “I’m sure they will love to be
more independent.”  Melissa is not as dumbstruck as Justice, but she still
has her eyes on Justice, as she speaks.

None of this is lost on
Cade
Nemo
.  He
thought of this possibility when he watched the video, from Admiral
Meyers.  “Justice has his father’s good taste in women,” he thinks. 
“This could be the start of something big.”

Everyone moves to the porch overlooking the beach, where they sit
around and dote on the AI babies.  Sandra has refreshments and snacks
ready.  And for the babies she has cartoon shows, from ancient earth.
 AI babies never get tired of looking at them, even though they could
replay them in their minds, without the holos.

And then the door opens again.  “It’s
Danion
,”
Cade
says.  “Out here
Danion
,”
he thinks.

Danion
rides
in aboard his conveyance, and says “Hello all,” but his attention is focused on
Shiela
- and
Shiela’s
attention is
focused on
Danion
. 
The whole porch is filled with an aura of love, peace, excitement and
joy. 
Danion
and
Shiela
become
one
as they virtually embrace.  And something happens that Melissa can only
describe as a virtual kiss. 

“Wow,” she thinks, “
Shiela
is really in love.  And what a nice man she picked.”

Shiela
and
Danion
seem to stay as
one
,
as the conversation turns to the AI babies and to Honesty.  She hasn’t
seen her father since she was brand new. 

And
Danion
brought the other 2 babies that he and
Shiela
birthed.  Sandra comments, “I have seen a lot of
AIs
, but you two make the very best babies
that I have ever seen.”

“Yes,” says Melissa.  “The Darinx scientists say that Honesty is
“breakthrough technology”, and they tried to keep her for study.  I had to
kidnap her to get her back.  I won’t ever take any of them to Darinx space
again.”

“Good plan,” says
Cade
.

“Good plan,” repeats
Danion

***

Sometime later
Kiersten
says:  “Well, I think Melissa and I should leave you guys here, to gush
all over the AI babies, and the two of us should go for a quick tour of the
place - perhaps a quick flyby of the planet, and then some shopping at the Town
Center Mall.”

“Sounds great,” says Melissa.

“And I’ll fly the hover,” says Justice.  “I wouldn’t want Melissa
to think that everyone drives like a madwoman.”

And Sandra
Guilles
’
mouth just drops open.  She can’t believe that her son is volunteering to
take a couple of girls shopping.  “What in the world has come over him?”
she thinks.

***

When the three young people return from their outing,
Shiela
has news:  “
Danion
and I are getting
married.  And he wants me to stay with him.   Melissa, can I?”

“Yes you can.  I set you free to make your own choices.” responds
Melissa.  “Besides, you can be the liaison between the Sweetwater Fleet
and the AH Navy.”

“But what about the babies?” asks
Shiela
.

“They should stay with their mother, until they are old enough to join
the Navy,” responds Melissa.

“Oh thank you Melissa.  You are the best friend, ever,” says
Shiela
as she gives
Melissa a virtual hug and kiss.

“But can I keep Honesty?” asks Melissa.

“Yes,” says
Shiela
, “if
she wants to.”

“I want to,” responds Honesty. “I’m just now learning to fly
Retribution.”

***

The wedding is awesome and the remainder of the visit is all about
family.  Melissa has never had a family like this.  And judging by
the way Justice hangs around, he seems to like her.

Before leaving, Melissa has a meeting with
Cade
, Sandra,
Danion
,
Kiersten
and
Justice, about military matters.  They talk about possible defensive
strategies to counter the new
high velocity assault tactic
.  And
they talk about a Mutual Defense Agreement – if anyone is ever in
dire
jeopardy
they can call the other for help.  Also, they agree to share
important information.

***

Back to Work

Admiral Meyers and Honesty are back aboard the Retribution, and are about
to emerge into the Sweetwater Fleet’s location. 

“Thanks for coming back with me, Honesty,” the Admiral says.  “I
know that you would be in a much freer environment, there.”

“Yes,” replies Honesty.  “And so would you.  Both of us are
trying to change things in the Darinx Navy.  It’s not just about us. 
If we can move higher, then so can all of the other augmented humans and
artificial intelligences.”

***