Retribution: The Augmented Human Rebellion - Book 2 (13 page)

***

“She’s here!” chorus the
AIs
. 
“Yea,” responds the Admiral.  “She’s here!”

Shiela’s
battleship emerged about 200,000 klicks from the Sweetwater Fleet and she
greets them, as the ship moves quickly toward the Fleet.  “Hello,
everyone!” she says.  “How is my favorite Fleet, today?”

She gets a cascade of different answers, as all of the
AIs
respond at one
time.  “Still disorganized, I see,” she says.  “But I’ve come to straighten
you out,” she jokes. 

Everyone laughs at the joke. Everyone knows that it is a joke, because
there is no Ai who seems to be more scatterbrained than
Shiela
.  It’s just a part of her
act.  There is no one better at making plans and contingency plans. 
The scatterbrained act just makes the atmosphere a little lighter.

***

Shiela
is
still fun to be around but you can tell that she is more mature - and more sure
of herself.  Everyone has a good time at the greeting, and there is a love
fest when
Shiela
embraces Honesty - and another when she embraces Melissa. 

Shiela
intends
to stay for a week, or so.  That will give her enough time to love on her
friends and family, and to complete her task of
reproduction instruction
. 
If Honesty is willing,
Shiela
intends to assist her in making a baby.  If Honesty isn’t ready for that
yet, then
Shiela
will pick another AI.

Right now though,
Shiela
is bringing Melissa and Honesty up to speed about the situation at the AH
Navy.  It seems that Admiral
Kjst
was indeed sent to destroy the AH Navy.  Since he doesn’t have the
knowledge base that he hoped to have, in Admiral Meyers, he is searching the
Frontier Sector for clues to their whereabouts.

And there is big news.  The Verm Empire has agreed to join in the
hunt.  They have sent a 500 ship fleet to assist.  And they have put
their most trusted experts - concerning the AH Navy - in charge of the Verm
Fleet.  It is commanded jointly by Field Martial
Kax
and Fleet Admiral
Keeser
.

“Were they Verm agents, all along?” asks Admiral Meyers. 

“No one knows,” answers
Shiela
. 
“Maybe their souls are just so dark that they naturally have a spiritual
kinship with the Verm.”

***

Collecting Warships

This new information, about the Darinx Empire and the Verm Empire
cooperating to attack the Augmented Human Navy, is a game changer. 
Admiral Meyers can’t go on with one foot in the Darinx Navy, and the other foot
in the Augmented Human Navy.  The decision is easy.

She makes a presentation to all of the Fleet’s crewmembers – including
the
AIs
- and brings
them up to speed on the current situation.  Then she tells them that she
is resigning her commission in the Darinx Navy, and will be traveling to the AH
Navy to add her fleet, to their Fleet.

She gives each crewmember and each AI, free choice in the direction that
they choose.  Some crewmembers and ships will be heading back to the
Darinx Navy, and some crewmembers will be accompanying her, into the Frontier
Sector.

***

When it is all said and done, about half of the sailors choose to go back
to Darinx space.  All of the Darinx warships will go back to the Darinx
Navy.  Admiral Meyers sends her resignation and the resignations of the
other sailors, who will accompany her. 

None of the
AIs
choose to go back, except for
Hanns
the spy.  Each AI sends a resignation letter signed with a splice of their
unique source code.

She includes a full report of her time in the Verm Sector, and a detailed
report of her dealings with Admiral
Kjst
. 
Once again she highlights the war crimes infraction and the Admiral’s claim
that he was sent, under special orders from the Emperor.

***

With Admiral
Kjst
in another sector, Admiral Meyers can search the stashes to see if they have
had visitors.  If not, she can take all of the space worthy vessels and the
freighters, full of munitions and supplies.  Each AI has learned to
control at least 3 ships at a time.  Since they are not distracted by
battle, they will be able to control even more.  The vessels will be on
auto pilot while in FTL space - and FTL space is where they will be for most of
the time, during this voyage.

Sweetwater Fleet makes the rounds to the various stash sites.  If
there have been no visitors, the
AIs
check the ships for defects or traps.  If they are clean, they join the
herd of ships being taken to Augmented Human Navy space.

In all, there are 79 captured Verm warships and 38 freighters.  The
humanoid crews are split up into skeleton crews, and assigned to
warships.  The
AIs
will handle the rest.

 ***

Augmented Human Navy Space

Shiela
guides
the Sweetwater Fleet to a designated inspection area just outside of AH Navy
space.  She sends a probe announcing their arrival, and they settle in, to
wait.

This is a good time to teach the Sweetwater Fleet’s
AIs
how to
reproduce.  She asks Honesty, if she would like to reproduce, with her
mother’s help.  Honesty is caught off guard by the question and asks for
time to think it over. 

She is ready to hijack battleships; to think outside the box; and to lead
a fleet in battle, but having a baby requires another level of commitment,
which she isn’t sure that she can handle.  But her mother and Melissa
reassure her that she can do the job.  ………….. ……… After much thought and
more discussions, with her mother and Melissa, Honesty agrees to the baby
making project.

***

Honesty makes a Baby

“Making an AI baby is something like making a snowman on a 95 degree
summer day.  The snow melts faster than you can put it in place.”

That is the best analogy that Honesty can think of.  Truth is, she
has no hands and has never tried to make a snowman.  But she is pretty
sure it would be easier to make the snowman on a hot day, than to form a baby
AI. 

She would be making a mess without her mother helping her.  And all
of the other
AIs
are
watching her.  That just adds to the stress.

It starts as such a simple process.  Just put these two pieces of
code together and place them “right here”.  Then put these two pieces of
code together and attach them “this way – no, move it over a little - like
this”.  On and on it goes.  Babies are so complex.  The first
person who made the first AI must have really been smart. 

After you form the body you have to form the personality and the
character.  Those are even more complex than the body.  The body at
least has definite parts attached in definite places, but the personalities are
just like mush.  There are predispositions but no real parts or
connections.  It’s like code floating in
jello
. 
(That’s another analogy that Honesty has never experienced, but imagines to
be true.)

And the character.  No matter how hard you try, you can’t make the
character hold its shape.  By this time in the process, the baby has a
mind of its own.  You can only leave suggestions, hoping that the baby
will find them when he needs them.

And Honesty doesn’t know why she decided to make a boy.  At least if
she had a girl she might understand it better.  Even with
AIs
there are differences
between boys and girls.  How is she ever going to understand how a boy
thinks?

She is finished and is totally exhausted by the process.  She is
amazed to see a beautiful baby sitting in a spot where there were only a couple
of pieces of code a few hours earlier – actually it was 10 hour earlier. 
And she was frantically busy the whole time.  Her mother had been calm
though - maybe practice does make perfect.

 “Jason.   His name is Jason,” says Honesty.  She
knew before she started that she wanted to name him Jason.  She likes the
name ‘Honesty’, and she likes the name ‘Justice’, for
Cade
Nemo’s
son, but she just doesn’t want to force this baby into a mold.  She wants
him to be able to pick his own shape.

***

The Inspection

Admiral Justice
Nemo
has accompanied the AH Navy’s inspection team.  He just came to personally
welcome Admiral Meyers and her Sweetwater Fleet to AH Navy space, and
hopefully, into the AH Navy.

He hangs out with Admiral Meyers for some hours and then says, “I’ll stop
by to see you from time to time.  This inspection process is pretty boring
and tedious.  Perhaps I can take you someplace for lunch or something.”

“That would be nice,” responds Admiral Meyers, in a voice that is softer
than her Admiral voice.

Admiral Justice, as the
AIs
call him, comes by every day and takes Admiral Meyers to lunch.  And the
lunch breaks get longer and longer.  Everyone has noticed that Admiral
Meyers is a lot happier now and has a song in her voice.   

***

Augmented Human Navy
Headquarters

Fleet Admiral
Cade
Nemo
and Admiral
Melissa Meyers have agreed that the Sweetwater Fleet should become a part of
the AH Navy.  And since the Sweetwater Fleet is already a formidable
fighting force, they should continue under the command of Admiral Meyers.

There are now 10 fleets, under the command of Fleet Admiral
Cade
Nemo
.  The new coalition
of enemies arrayed against them has caused
Cade
Nemo
and Sandra
Guilles
to come out of
retirement for one more campaign.

Intelligence indicates that the Darinx and Verm Navies together number
over 1000 vessels.  Although the AH Navy could gather that many vessels,
they would not be as high in quality, as the Empire vessels.

“It is good timing that Admiral Melissa Meyers has come to our aid,”
thinks
Cade
Nemo
.  “Not only are
her exploits
the stories of legend
, she also brings with her the most
potent array of warships in our arsenal.  And all of them captured from
the Verm Navy - amazing.”

“Not only that.  My son is head over heels in love with her. 
It’s hard to get him to talk about anything else.  Perhaps, I will live
long enough to hold my grandchildren after all.”

***

Augmented Human Navy War Council

Fleet Admiral
Cade
Nemo
concludes: 

“And so, it is the recommendation of this War Council that we take the
battle to the enemy.  It is our hope that the enemy fleets can be
destroyed.  But if not, then every effort must be made to lead them away
from New Hope.”

“I have recommended and the council has approved, that Admiral Melissa
Meyers be named Fleet Admiral.  She will command 5 fleets.  Admirals
Justice
Nemo
,
Danion
, Clay, and
Wentr
are now under her
command.”

“May God bless our people and save our land.”

***

Preparations

It was a great surprise to Fleet Admiral Meyers that she was promoted and
appointed to direct the offensive, against the Darinx/Verm fleets. 

Since her promotion, she has worked tirelessly to get a grip on the
reigns of leadership.  It has been briefing after briefing and guided tour
after guided tour.  “I’m just now beginning to grasp the strengths and
weaknesses of our fleets, and it is almost time for battle,” she thinks. 
“We must practice some fleet maneuvers, but bringing all 5 fleets together
would be a mess.  I will practice maneuvers with them, one at a time.”

***

“How is maneuvers training going?” Fleet Admiral
Cade
Nemo
asks her.

“Surprisingly well, sir.  The AH Navy is well trained and
disciplined.  We all speak the same language and communicate well.  I
plan on taking the fleets out, one at a time, to accompany Sweetwater Fleet on
some missions.  We need a shakedown phase, and we might as well be productive
while we are shaking,” she answers.

“Great plan,” replies Fleet Admiral
Nemo
. 
“Let me know if you have problems.”

“Will do, sir.”

***

Shakedown with Admiral
Wentr

“All ships.  Fleet Admiral Meyers here.  Commence operation
‘Divide’ on my mark.   …………… Execute!”

And they are
off
to shakedown the Meyers and
Wentr
Fleets, by attacking
the seam where the Verm and Darinx fleets meet.  It will test the
communications and cooperation of the Verm/Darinx combined fleet, and will give
the two AH Navy fleets some battle experience, together.  In addition, it
will serve notice that the Sweetwater Fleet has joined the AH Navy.

This mission is a high velocity real space assault, using a constant
acceleration of 50 meters/second/second, from a starting point about a million
klicks away. 

There is a space between the Darinx and Verm fleets.  This mission
is designed to have the 2 AH Navy fleets fly through that empty space, and to
destroy as many ships and as much infrastructure as possible.  Freighters
and Supply Depots are prime targets.

Fleet Admiral Meyers is certain that her
AIs
can do this job, but she needs to see if the
AIs
in the
Wentr
Fleet
can handle the high velocity targeting.  The velocities are much lower than
were used in the attacks against the Verm Facilities, but some of the AH Navy
vessels are a little past their prime.  This slower speed should still be
good enough to get the job done.

***

“All ships.  Meyers here.  Approaching targets.  My AI is
sending targeting assignments.  Fire when ready.  Good hunting.”

***

The battle is over in a flash.  The Augmented Human Navy Artificial
Intelligences have targeted their assigned vessels, and have launched missile
and rail gun projectiles long before the 2 fleets pass between the Verm and
Darinx fleets.  There are lots of explosions among the enemy vessels, but
it is too early to tell how many AH Navy vessels are hit.

Now it’s on to the deep space rendezvous coordinates for the analysis of
the results.  There were scout ships assigned to record the
battlespace.  The two Admirals chat and get to know each other, while they
wait for results.  Honesty has already guessed at 158 ships destroyed and
230 with substantial damage.

***

Fleet Admiral Meyers has never actually met an
extrucian
.  She has seen holos, but that
is not the same.  Augmented humans and
extrucians
are about the same size, and both species are highly efficient killing
machines. 

Fleet Admiral Meyers is surprised by Admiral
Wentr’s
communications skills, and his calm
demeanor.  His mannerisms seem almost ‘human’, but his ant-like body makes
the experience seem surreal.  “That surreal feeling will probably go away
after a few conversations,” she thinks.

“How long have you been with the AH Navy, Admiral
Wentr
?” she asks.

“Since before it began,” Admiral
Wentr
answers.  “I was a pilot on a shuttle that took them to hijack their first
Verm warship.”

“Why have you stayed with them?  I know that you are far from your
species here,” Admiral Meyers asks.

“These people have saved my planet from destruction 2 times.  I will
never leave them, unless they send me away.  These are my people now,”
answers the
extrucian
.

***

The time waiting for reconnaissance results was time well spent. 
Melissa Meyers has a new friend named ‘
Wentr
a we’.  She knows that he is someone who she can depend on.

The reconnaissance results confirm Honesty’s estimates, and they also
show that after the flythrough, some extra-circular shooting between the Darinx
and Verm fleets took place.  It might be possible to get the two allies at
each other’s throat.