Retribution: The Augmented Human Rebellion - Book 2 (18 page)

Without hesitation,
Shiela
shifts her targeting to the same point on another attacking Darinx warship. 
That ship has seen the results, of that kind of attack, and changes
tactics.  It begins evasive maneuvers and heads for the battleship
Retribution.  Clearly the intention is to ram the big ship.  But the
evasive maneuvers do nothing to spoil
Shiela’s
aim.  The sequence of
hammer blows
from projectile weapons has the
same effect and this ship is also destroyed.

The
Galactus
and the Retribution blow by the remaining 2 attacking Escorts, and head
straight for the Emperor.

Now the two AH Navy ships are close to energy weapons range, and
Shiela
decides to start
them early.  They won’t have the full potency at this range, but the
energy will add to the energy from the wasps, and will insure that the Emperor
remains in real
space
. 

***

When the full energy from the big battleships reaches the Emperor’s
vessel, Admiral Meyers says: “Wasps.  Back away and fire your missiles.”

In a heartbeat, the wasps circle around and fire a coordinated barrage of
nuclear missiles at the Emperor’s vessel, from multiple directions.  The
Emperor’s vessel was never built for warfare – it was built for comfort. 
Even though the Emperor’s ship has an anti-missile system, it is not even close
to being good enough to stop such a barrage.  The Emperor’s ship explodes
in multiple places and disintegrates, into particle sized pieces.

***

The wasps quickly return to the
Galactus
’
cargo bay, but two of them are missing.  Honesty has been scouring the
battlespace, searching for the fighters or the
AIs
. 
She finds debris from both of the missing fighters and there is an SOS signal
coming from one of the
AIs
- she is in her Exoskeleton, floating in space.  Honesty moves the
Galactus
over to the AI
and scoops her, into the open cargo bay doorway.

And then the two AH Navy vessels run for a clear patch of real space,
where they can engage their FTL drives.

They enter FTL space, bound for Verm territory.  That FTL trip will
take 5 weeks.  An FTL trip of that length will cause any following Darinx
vessels to be widely dispersed, when they emerge.  There probably won’t be
any Darinx warships within fighting distance of the AH Navy vessels, even if
they are foolish enough to emerge in
verm
space.

The two AH Navy vessels will probably be widely dispersed also, but this
is a pre-planned tactic.  They have a rendezvous location where they will
meet.

***

A Busy FTL Trip

Wow, they made it.  The Emperor is almost certainly dead, and this
escape plan really should work – barring any unforeseen circumstances. 

“Nothing to do for the next 5 weeks, but relax,” Honesty thinks.

Unless of course, you are on a trip with a pregnant female humanoid who
is ‘ready to pop’.

Almost as soon as the
Galactus
enters FTL space, Fleet Admiral Meyers starts to moan, from the contractions.

Now, Honesty is a very bright girl.  Within a few nanoseconds, she
is researching
childbirth+humanoids
. 
“How gross,” she thinks, as she views the holos.  “How gross.”

“First things first,” she thinks.  “Get the patient to a comfortable
and clean place to lie down.”

“Melissa,” she says. “Maybe you should lie down in a comfortable and
clean place.”

“Yes Honesty,” Melissa replies.  “You’re right.  There is a
sofa in the Command Deck Conference room.  I’ll go there.  I’ll never
make it to my bedroom.”

Next, Honesty calls the AI Fighter pilots to the Command Conference Room,
to assist.  Then Honesty
comms
the fighter pilots as they are en route, and instructs them to bring warm water
and clean cloth – lots of it.  Fortunately everyone has AI Exoskeletons,
so getting
warm water and clean cloths
are feasible undertakings.

The videos of childbirth show lots of body fluids and ‘stuff’. 
“This isn’t going to be pretty,” Honesty thinks.

The fighter pilots show up with about 20 gallons of warm water and a whole
pallet load of towels. “Oh well,” thinks Honesty, “better too much, than too
little.”  Out loud she says:  “Great job wasps.  We are going to
assist in birthing Melissa’s baby.”  Honesty senses various emotions
emanating from the wasps - ranging from
excitement
to
fear
- and
the
fear
dominates, as Melissa groans and moans.

“Honesty,” Melissa says, “have you studied the humanoid birthing
process?”

“Yes Melissa, I have.  And as long as things proceed normally, you
will do almost all of the labor yourself.  The
wasps
and I are here
to help if you need us.  And I am prepared to do a caesarian, if
necessary.”

***

A Fresh Face

A day later Melissa’s contractions are back, and she is feeling some
discomfor
t
– i.e. pain. 

The
wasps
, who have now studied the
humanoid birthing process
-
and consider themselves to be experts on the subject - offer helpful
suggestions, such as ‘breathe deep’ and ‘push’.

Under normal circumstances, Melissa would be venting her anger and
frustration on Justice, since he is responsible for her condition.  But
since Justice is not available, the
wasps
will make a handy substitute.

“You breathe deep,”
she says.   And
“I’m going to
push you
, as soon as I get up from here.”

The
wasps
remember their sensitivity training about pregnant
female humanoids, and refrain from offering any more helpful advice.  They
walk on eggshells
for the remainder of the process.

They all wait and watch.

***

Four hours later, Melissa’s contractions increase in frequency and
intensity.  “Get ready Honesty.  This is it,” she says.

“I am ready,” Honesty says.  “And everything appears to be
proceeding normally.  I think I can see the baby’s head.”  She was
going to say ‘push’ but she remembered the incident with the
wasps
and
refrained.

“
Arrrrgh
,”
yells Melissa.  And the baby’s head is out. 

The baby cries, and that seems to motivate Melissa to make one final
effort.  With a little help from Honesty, the baby is completely out and
is being held gently in Honesty’s Exoskeleton hands.

“How gross,” thinks Honesty.  “And I thought having an Artificial
Intelligence birth was messy.  There are all manner of slimy emissions in
a humanoid birth.  And what are we going to do with that piece of rope
connecting them?”

***

Changing
Diapers

A week has passed since the big event.  Fortunately, Justice had the
foresight to stock both vessels with diapers and baby supplies.   By
now, all of the
AIs
have learned to change diapers. 

That speaks well of the AI Exoskeletons, which Honesty designed.  On
the next revision she intends to have the fingers heated, so that the baby
doesn’t scream when the
AIs
touch him.

He still has no name.  Melissa wants to wait for Justice.  She
has the name already picked out, but she wants Justice to feel like he is a
part of the naming process – his name will be Justice
Nemo
, Junior.  Melissa will probably
call him Junior.

***

Verm Space

As expected, there are no other ships emerging close to the
Galactus
.  This was
such a long FTL jump that it was highly improbable that other ships would be
able to follow the AH Navy ships.

They wait for the Faster than Light drive to cool, and then make the jump
to the planned rendezvous.

The Retribution emerges some minutes later and Justice asks:  “Did
you have the baby yet?”

***

Everyone has enough self-control to let the FTL drives cool, and to take
one more jump, before
Shiela
and Justice join the rest of the family, on the
Galactus
. 
The family spends a few weeks there, in deep space, enjoying the moment.

***

There is just one more task, before returning to the AH Navy fleet - but
killing the Verm Emperor will not be a trivial task.

***

Stalking they Prey

There were many
verm
species crewmembers aboard the Augmented Human Navy Fleet, when the Rebellion
first started.  From his relationships with the
verm
sailors in the AH Navy, Justice knows
that the species is not evil.  The dictator is evil, along with the other
leaders of the Verm civilization.

There isn’t any hope for change until that dictator is removed. 
After that, it will be up to the ‘good’ people in the
verm
species, to rise up and overthrow the
evil Empire. 

***

As the group discusses the upcoming assassination attempt, they examine
the reasons for their success in the assassination of the Darinx Emperor. 

The successful outcome happened because they spent a lot of time studying
the Darinx Emperor, and then waited for an opportunity.  That opportunity
would not have come, if the Darinx Emperor had not taken a space voyage and
passed close to the AH Navy ships.

They don’t have a blind spot to hide in this time.  How are they
going to be able to study the Emperor’s habits?  How are they going to be
able to know where he is?

***

Searching for Ideas

What would cause the Verm Emperor to leave his Palace and take a space
voyage? 

o
  
Going to his son’s graduation at the Military Academy, which Melissa and
Shiela
once
attacked? 

o
  
Or, to meet the Darinx Emperor?

o
  
Or, because there is an asteroid headed toward the planet, and they
evacuate the Emperor just in case they can’t stop the collision? 

o
  
Or, because there is a fleet of 5,000 warships due to emerge in
Tenock’s
space?

***

And the discussions range far-a-field:

o
  
“We don’t even know how old he is, or what he looks like.  How can
we get some intelligence about the Verm Emperor?

o
  
There must be some kind of empire-wide information system.  How can
we get linked into that? 

o
  
The Emperor must have some natural enemies. How can we get in touch with
them?  Is there a
verm
underground?

o
  
How about planting some spy bots inside the Emperor’s Palace?  How
could we do that?

o
  
Honesty and
Shiela
could
birth
some small Artificial Intelligences, housed in bodies which
appear to be bugs or animals.  Those could be sent to the Emperor’s
Palace, and used as spies.

“Wait,” says Melissa.  “That’s the first idea with any
promise.  Let’s talk about that.  What kind of small Artificial
Intelligences can you make, girls?

“They could be small enough to appear to be bugs, or some type of
decoration – decorations would probably be better because they will try to kill
bugs,” answers Honesty. 

“How would they be different from the small spy bots that we already
have?” asks Justice.

“They will be able to ‘think’, not just ‘do’ - like the current spy
bots,” answers
Shiela
. 
“And if we make them smart enough, they can monitor the Verm comm links for
important information – such as the Emperor’s travel plans.”

“They wouldn’t need to be in the Palace to monitor the comm links,” notes
Justice.  “That would make them much easier to place.  And even if
all they do is to monitor the comm link for the Emperor’s travel plans that
will be all we need.”

“How will we be able to receive that information?” asks Melissa.

Shiela
answers:  “I can imagine an
AI spy
bot
being placed outdoors – perhaps on a
light fixture.  The
AI spy
bot
can decode the wireless comm link transmissions and can extract the useful
Emperor’s
travel plans information
.  Up to that point the
AI spy
bot
has been passive -
it hasn’t done anything to attract the attention of Verm Security. 

Verm Security will be monitoring for unauthorized transmissions, but the
AI
spy
bot
can use a lightning storm to hide the transfer of data.  The information
can be uploaded to another
AI spy
bot
,
via a focused laser comm system – the light beam will be super-fine, and will
be pulsated so that it will be difficult to detect. That second spy
bot
will be in
geosynchronous orbit above the Emperor’s Palace.”

“That orbiting
AI spy
bot
could retransmit the information to a deep space receiver, which we can ‘ping’
when we want the information.”

Melissa comments:  “There are plenty of technical details to work
out, but it sounds like a workable plan.  It’s our best hope and doesn’t
risk too much loss, if the plans go awry.  What about the
AIs
?  Are we going to
recover them?”

“We will signal them to go into stasis mode when we leave.  Sunlight
should provide power to sustain them indefinitely, and if they are discovered
or destroyed before we collect them, they won’t feel loss or pain,” responds
Shiela
.

“That’s as good as we can do right now,” says Justice.  “I say we
run with it, and see how far this plan will take us.”

***

Getting Close

Getting the
AI spy bots
positioned is a long and difficult
process. 

The one that is in geosynchronous orbit is relatively simple.  It
rides into the Verm system disguised as a tiny asteroid.   When it
gets close to the planet, it maneuvers by means of compressed gas.  It
gradually settles into an orbit around the planet and slowly moves to a
position, directly above the Verm Emperor’s Palace. 

There are a number of satellites in geosynchronous orbit, above the
Emperor’s Palace and Capitol City.  In order to hide, the
AI spy
bot
sheds its asteroid
disguise, and attaches itself to one of the Verm communications satellites.

***

The
AI spy
bot
on the planet’s surface is much more problematic. 

There are many choices to make about how to get the
AI-spy-
bot
from space to the
planet’s surface.  One suggestion is to hitch a ride on a ship, which is
landing.  Another is to let it arrive aboard an asteroid. 
(Asteroids
seem to always be the ‘weapon of choice’ for AH Navy planners.)

But this time, the AH Navy geniuses decide to give it wings, so that it
can fly to the ground and relocate at will.  The concept is good, but the
implementation has to go through a few iterations.  The first two attempts
result in dead spy-bots.  This newer version has a much better heat
shield.   

The latest
AI-spy-
bot
enters
Tenock’s
atmosphere
slowly and adjusts its wings to catch the wind so that it can cruise to a
landing. The landing takes place at night, so that there will be no bird
watchers finding fault with the spy-
bot’s
body or flight techniques.  By morning, the
bird
has found a good
position, in a nook of a building that faces the Emperor’s Palace.  The
small
bird
attracts only admiring glances in the Capitol City.

***

Then there are the usual problems, with getting three remote ‘focused
laser comm systems’ connected,  And finally, after the three units can
communicate with each other, the
bird
on the planet has to ‘crack the
code’ on the secure wireless comm system used by the Verm military.

This
bird
is very bright, in spite of its small size.  And
since this
bird
doesn’t have to eat, most of the body contains
brain
code
.

***

All systems are GO on the
spying on the Emperor project
. 
The
bird
will take some snippets of visual information, if the little AI
thinks the activity is relevant, but most of the information will come from
decoded Verm comm link communiqués.

The
bird
has been instructed to only transmit the stream of laser
data, during lightning storms – fortunately,
Tenock
has a lot of lightning storms.

***

Waiting for an Opportunity

With the spy-
bot
system in place, there isn’t much to do except play with baby Justice
Junior.  He demands and gets a lot of attention.

He is almost 4 months old now.  He recognizes his mom and dad, but
he still has trouble distinguishing some of the
AIs
in their Exoskeletons.  He knows
Shiela
and Honesty, but still gets confused about some of the
wasps
, until he
hears their voices.

Melissa is thinking that being deprived of a normal ‘babyhood’ may cause
some delay, in the development of his social skills.  And it is important
for Junior to have his brain implants installed before his first
birthday.  That way they will become a natural extension of his thinking
processes.  She is hoping that this mission will be over soon, so that
they can all ‘get a life’.

Everyone is living together aboard the
Galactus
,
and they are enjoying each other’s company.  One of the
wasp
AIs
was killed during the
battle to kill the Darinx Emperor.  She is missed in the
family time
meetings. 
Everyone held a memorial service for her, after they arrived in Verm space.

War always has a lot of loss and death in it.  Everyone is sorry for
the loss of Erica, but everyone is also grateful that they didn’t lose more
souls.

***

Streams of data come in, from time to time, as the
bird
uploads images
and text.  The Verm communications are beginning to make more sense, as
the AH Navy personnel become familiar with names and job functions.  All
of the text communications are about the Emperor.  The group is beginning
to get a feel for who the
little rat
is.  He’s nasty, selfish,
evil, mean, deceitful, and spiteful - among other things.  Melissa Meyers
won’t have a problem ‘taking him out’.  The universe will be a better
place, when he is dead.

There have been communications about the Emperor, when he takes a
trip.  The texts about ‘His Excellency’ quadruple, when he is about to
make a move.  That increase in comm link activity is their leading
indicator, which tells them that the Emperor is getting ready to travel.

***

The volume of Verm communications, concerning the Emperor, is ‘off the
charts’.  There has never been any activity surge like this, and some of
the texts refer to an Academy.  Perhaps they are referring to the Military
Academy where Melissa destroyed the tower and the statue of the first Great
Dictator.

***

 The AH Navy personnel begin contingency plans for an assassination
attempt.  Melissa remembers the assassination of the Darinx Emperor, where
they missed the easiest assassination opportunity.  That was when the
Emperor’s ship lifted off from the planet.  The Emperor was unprotected
during the time that the ship was in between the surface and the orbiting
Escorts.

According to the newest
bird
transmission, there will be a 100
warship Escort for the Emperor.  One text mentioned the Darinx Emperor and
the AH Navy.  Apparently, they are aware of the attack on the Darinx
Emperor and don’t intend to let it happen here.

A 100 warship Escort Fleet pretty much rules out an attack in
space. 

***

“Wait a minute,” says Greg, one of the
wasp
AIs
.  What if the
Galactus
were to emerge as
part of the Escort?  We might have time to kill the Emperor, before the
security team could respond.

“Wow,” exclaims Melissa.  “Give that boy a prize.  What a good
idea.  Let’s give that scenario some thought.”

“When the Emperor’s Escort emerges, it is reasonable to think that at
least half of them will emerge before the Emperor, in order to establish a
defensive position.  Then some will emerge with the Emperor, in order to
shield the Emperor’s ship, and probably a third will be a rear guard, which
will emerge after the Emperor.”

“But we don’t know the exact location or time, of the emergence. 
Unless the coordinates and time for emergence are know this plan is not likely
to succeed.”

The planning team will put this possibility on the back burner, until
they know the time and emergence coordinates.

***

Right now, the planning team’s focus of discussion is the time at liftoff
or at landing, at either the home planet or at the Academy planet.  That
gives the planners 4 windows of opportunity.

Waiting until the return trip offers some advantages.  For one, they
will get to watch the procedure for a takeoff and a landing - that will give
the AH Navy team a chance to tweak their plan.  Also, waiting for the
return trip might take the edge off of the alertness of the Escort force. 
They might lower their guard a little.

But there are about 700 warships in the Verm home system, as compared to
about 300 warships in the Academy system - so the Academy planet is chosen because
of its smaller contingent of Verm warships.

Now the planning team – which includes everyone but the baby - needs to
think of a way to attack and kill the Verm Emperor during the minutes of a
takeoff from the Academy.  Any ideas?

Trying to emerge and taking a quick shot will not work – the Escort would
destroy the emerging vessel.