Retribution: The Augmented Human Rebellion - Book 2 (8 page)

The
AIs
aboard
the 15 hijacked vessels have been instructed to immediately run away from the
emergence spot, at full real space speed.  There may be Verm Navy vessels
following them.

About 6 minutes after the hijacked vessels depart, alarms sound at the
Repair Depot.  The Verm Security Officer spotted a problem – the Repair
Depot acknowledged receipt of a message that Headquarters didn’t send. 
“Someone is stealing out ships!”

Admiral Meyers orders the Sweetwater Fleet into FTL space, headed for the
rendezvous coordinates.  The Sweetwater Fleet will arrive first and will set
an ambush, for any Verm warships following the 15 hijacked vessels.

***

Deep Space Rendezvous

  The ambush has been set.  Now everything will be OK, as long
as the 15 captured vessels have been able to outrun the Verm Security Forces in
real space.   They need to survive long enough for their FTL drives
to cool off, so that they can jump to this rendezvous place.

Over an hour has passed, and the Admiral is becoming apprehensive. 
“Perhaps we should have followed the 15 hijacked ships,” she thinks.  “We
still would have gotten there before the Verm security forces, and we probably
could have had our ambush ready.”  Second guessing won’t help this time.
But it may prepare her for similar situations in the future.  For now, all
she can do is wait.

Another 20 minutes passes before the 15 hijacked vessels begin to
emerge.  They are all here.  But some have significant damage. 
That is enough to inform the Admiral that Verm warships will be following,
right behind.

And within minutes, the Verm warships begin to emerge.  The
Sweetwater Fleet is ready for battle, and takes full advantage of the
vulnerability of vessels, when they are in the process of emergence. 

Over half of the Verm vessels are disabled or destroyed as they emerge,
but that still leaves a large number of enemy warships in mission capable
condition.

***

After the number of healthy Verm Warships outnumbers the Sweetwater
vessels, Admiral Meyers orders her ships to run away.  The Darinx forces
need to run, until the FTL drives on the hijacked ships have cooled. 
After that, they can all escape into FTL space and set another ambush.

One of the captured warships is falling behind, with engine
trouble.  There are well over 70 Verm warships following after them. 
Stopping now will be certain destruction for the Sweetwater Fleet.  The
Admiral anguishes over the decision, but she must abandon the straggling AI, to
be captured or killed.  That is what she has been trained to do, but that
doesn’t make it easier. 

And two Darinx warships are in trouble, as well.  They have hull
breaches and fires that are out of control.  Admiral Meyers orders both
crews to abandon ship, immediately.   Shuttles begin to pour from the
damaged vessels, and the Sweetwater Fleet slows to retrieve them.  One
crew is safely recovered, but the second ship explodes before the evacuation
can be completed.  The Sweetwater Fleet recovers the survivors and resumes
their retreat.

Retrieving the survivors cost the Sweetwater Fleet a lot of time. 
The Verm vessels are almost within energy weapons range now, and will soon
resume their assault on the Darinx Fleet. 

***

The vessels that are running away from a fight have the advantage in a
projectile weapons attack.  The effective velocity of projectiles,
launched aft by the fleeing ships, will be equal to the projectile velocity
plus the velocity of the ships that are chasing them.

Admiral Meyers orders all ships to prepare to launch a barrage of
missiles and rail guns projectiles, as directed by
Shiela
. 
Shiela
assigns targets, and selects weapons – largely based on how many munitions are
still available – and orders “Fire”.   The barrage of projectile
munitions will be the last big barrage from the Darinx ships.  They are
quickly depleting their meager resources of projectile munitions. 

After a brief transit, the barrage reaches the Verm Security vessels and
takes a heavy toll. 
Shiela
had done some complex targeting calculations, so that any given enemy vessel
would receive missiles and rail gun projectiles from a number of Sweetwater
ships – all arriving at the same time, and from different directions. 
Verm warships have good defensive systems, but not good enough to cope with
such a bolus of projectiles.

Fully half of the attacking Verm warships have been disabled or
destroyed.  Now the two fleets are similar in size, and the Darinx Fleet
is nearly ready for an FTL trip.  …………………. …………………….. ……… When the last
FTL drive comes online, Admiral Meyers orders “Engage”, and the Sweetwater
Fleet disappears into FTL space. 

***

After emerging, the Sweetwater Fleet sets the ambush, but there are no
Verm warships following them.  The Verm know full well that there will be
an ambush waiting.

The Sweetwater Fleet moves away from the point of emergence, and begins
to run again – this time at a more comfortable pace.  When their FTL
drives have cooled, they make one more jump just to be sure that no one is
following them.  They have jumped to the location of one of their weapons
stashes.  The
verm
vessels can be restocked, but the Darinx vessels are almost depleted of
munitions.

Admiral Meyers and the Sweetwater Fleet settle in for a recovery
period.  They need to recover, repair, and to mourn their losses. 
This is the first significant loss that the Fleet has suffered.  It had to
happen eventually, but no one is ever prepared for it.

They have lost 372 sailors, 2 Artificial Intelligences, 2 Darinx
warships, and their
innocence
– the thought that they were safe from
harm.  They gained 14
verm
warships – 4 destroyers, 6 light cruisers, 3 heavy cruisers, and I
battleship.  All ships suffered some damage in the recent battle, with 3
taking heavy damage, and 2 taking severe damage.

Tactically the mission is a success, but the Admiral would gladly give up
the increase, if it would get her 374 souls back.  She knew that this day
would come – she is relieved that it wasn’t worse.

Shiela
is
making a list of available Darinx munitions.  The Admiral intends to only
take fully equipped vessels on the forays, and to leave the others in a safe
place, until they can be re-supplied.

***

Some weeks later, the Admiral sends a scouting and scrounging team, to
see if there are any recoverable assets, from the last battles.  They
bring back two damaged
verm
heavy cruisers packed full of spare parts and munitions. 

And they found a surprise.  They heard an SOS signal from a Verm
Evacuation Pod.  Inside was Virgil - the Artificial Intelligence for the
Darinx ship
Wilheist
. 
He had been on temporary assignment to the hijack squad and was aboard the
hijacked vessel that had engine trouble.  With capture imminent, Virgil
had exited the main computer and had squeezed into the Command Deck Evacuation
Pod computer.  He commanded the Pod to eject from the
verm
vessel and to
run-silent.   He had been drifting in space, wondering if someone
would come for him before his power ran out.

Everyone rejoices at his recovery, especially his AI friends.

***

It is time to get back to the business of
disruption
.  The
Sweetwater Fleet will go out with 18 captured
verm
warships – 4 of them are battleships and all are fully loaded.  There are
enough munitions left to fully stock 8 Darinx warships.  That brings their
total ship count to 26.  Back at the weapons stash they have another 16
Darinx warships, needing munitions, and a few
verm
warships, which could be made serviceable, if needed.

***

When she sent her last information probe to Darinx Navy Headquarters,
Admiral Meyers had included coordinates for the Darinx military to send a
reply.  That had been almost 6 months ago.  She dispatches a scout to
look for a message from the Darinx Navy.  She isn’t sure that she wants to
hear what they might say.

She has recently been contemplating various scenarios for her life. 
Most of which have not included the Darinx Navy.  She is wondering what
life would be like in the Augmented Human Navy.  She could give everyone
in the Fleet freedom of choice, and move on with the ones who want to cast
their lot in with her.

***

The scout returns with 2 information probes.  The first contains
communications from Fleet Admiral
Duncons
,
berating her for
going over his head
and ordering her and the Fleet to
finish the task of destroying the Verm Emperor’s Palace, immediately. 

The second probe came from a Fleet Admiral
Kinseat
,
who congratulated her on the “….. wonderful accomplishments of the Sweetwater
Fleet.  You are famous throughout the Darinx and Verm
Empires.    In the Verm Empire there is a large price on you
head.  In the Darinx Empire you have brought new hope for military
success, and your attacks in Verm territory have caused the Verm Navy to pull
back.  Your efforts have reduced the number of Verm attacks on Darinx
space by 80 percent.”

Included in the second probe are orders that she should report to her new
commander - Fleet Admiral
Kinseat
– Fleet Admiral
Duncons
has retired.  “Sweetwater Fleet is to return to Darinx Navy Headquarters,
at your earliest convenience.”

What a night and day difference.  The Admiral’s first thought is
that it is too good to be true.  She doesn’t inform anyone about the new
orders for a few days, so that she can
sleep on it. 
She still
doesn’t believe that it can be true.  Things that are too good to be true
usually aren’t.

By the time she announces the new orders to the Fleet, she has made a
plan.  She will take the Darinx vessels and the Darinx crews back to
Darinx Navy Headquarters.  She will leave the captured
verm
vessels stashed in
various locations. 

***

Darinx Navy Headquarters

Sweetwater Fleet has learned a lot about sneaking around defensive
systems.  They routinely send scout ships to map defensive sensors and to
reconnoiter defensive infrastructure. That is how they have stayed alive all
this time.  So it is not a surprise to Admiral Meyers that the Sweetwater
Fleet makes its way, from Verm space to the Darinx Empire’s home system,
without being detected.

But it is a surprise when they find a blind spot near the edge of the
home system.  It’s a place that is not scanned by any defensive
sensors.  The Admiral makes a mental note to tell the System Defense Force
about the oversight.  Then she sends a probe to Darinx Navy Headquarters
announcing that the Sweetwater Fleet will enter the Darinx System in 1
day.  That should give enough time, so that the Darinx System Defense
Force can notify all appropriate defensive systems that the emerging fleet is
friendly.

Admiral Meyers instructs the crews on all ships, to spend that day
tidying up their personal appearances.  They have spent most of the 6 week
trip cleaning the ships and preparing for the inspections, which are
inevitable.

And then at the announced time, Admiral Meyers says:  “All ships. …
Meyers here. ….. Engage for FTL hop on my mark. ……………………….. Engage.”

***

The Sweetwater Fleet emerges into the outer region of the Darinx system;
announces their arrival; and forms-up, into a parade formation.  Then they
wait - proceeding into the Darinx home system without permission could get a
person, or a fleet, killed.

Within hours, a Fleet of 50 warships approaches and greets the Sweetwater
Fleet:  “Welcome home Sweetwater Fleet.  We have been awaiting your
arrival and will be honored to escort you to Darinx Navy Headquarters
space.  The routes and entry protocols have been forwarded to your
AIs
.  Signal when
ready.”

………. ……… At the Admiral’s nod, Sheila signals ‘ready’ and the Escort
commander announces:  “All ships.  On my mark begin entry
protocol.  ………………. Engage”

And they are
off
, on a different kind of adventure.  After
being on their own for a few years, they are now about to be suddenly immersed
into the Darinx Navy culture.  That thought is cause for anxiety for the
Sweetwater crews.  After running loose for so long, they don’t look
forward to inspection after inspection.

The voyage from the edge of the system to Darinx Navy Headquarters space
takes 3 days of real space travel.  The Sweetwater sailors spend the time
cleaning.

***

As they approach Darinx Navy Headquarters space, they can see a 20 klick
long reception line of Darinx Navy ships, lined up on both sides of the parade
route.  As the Sweetwater Fleet passes, the ships in the reception line
signal a ‘salute’, by turning all external lights on.

“Well,” thinks the Admiral.  “This may not be so bad after all.”

The elaborate welcome is not being lost on the sailors of the Sweetwater
Fleet.  “Maybe we have not been forgotten,” they think.  “And maybe
they didn’t try to kill us in that trap at the re-supply rendezvous.”

  And the welcome just keeps growing in size and intensity, as the
crews are ferried from their ships, to the Darinx Navy Headquarters Space
Station.

***

The Darinx Navy Headquarters Space Station

The Space Station is massive in size and this is the first time that most
of the sailors have been here - only
important people
come here. 
There are large crowds of sailors and civilians waiting to greet them at the
docks.  They disembark from the shuttles according to rank, with Admiral
Meyers leading the way.

As the Darinx Navy’s first augmented human Admiral passes, the crowds
roar and scream in admiration and approval.  Admiral Meyers has been a
celebrity in the Darinx Empire for some time now, and she is recognized by
all.  The
beautiful Amazon warrior
has a cult following in the
Darinx Empire - complete with fan clubs and holo movies, which depict her real
and imagined exploits. 

She maintains her military decorum, but she is genuinely touched by the
spontaneous outpouring of appreciation and – dare she say it? – love.  She
could easily have cried, but she maintains control.  No augmented human
has ever received any kind of accolade like this.  Admiral Meyers
recognizes this as a turning point for augmented humans and feels that things
are truly changing in the Darinx Empire.

Perhaps Fleet Admiral
Duncons
was an exception, and not the rule.  Perhaps he was working alone in his
attempt to kill the augmented human Admiral – but she doubts it.  She
decides to receive the
good
in this, but to be prepared for some
disappointment.

***

 The crowds are cheering and applauding as the Sweetwater Fleet
sailors parade by.  Some, in the crowd are holding signs, and there are
banners all around saying “Welcome Home Sweetwater’ and “Thank You
Sweetwater”.  There are fireworks in the surrounding space.  The
fireworks make no noise, in the vacuum of space, but the visual effects are
enhanced because there is no gravity to pull them down.

There is no doubt about it.  The sailors of the Sweetwater Fleet
feel appreciated.  This is a
rock star
welcome.

***

After the crowds of sailors and civilians, there is a crowd of admirals,
generals and important dignitaries, awaiting Admiral Meyers’ arrival.  She
is ushered into a giant ball room area, with a seemingly endless greeting line
of Military and civilian leaders.

Her guide whispers to her that she should only salute the first naval
officer – the Commandant of the Darinx Navy – and to just shake hands, with the
rest.  She silently says a
Thank You
to God for sending a guide,
because she would be totally lost in this environment.

After the greeting line, her guide places a martini glass in her hand and
leads her from place to place, in order to give opportunity for some longer
discussions.  The first discussion is with the Commandant of the Darinx
Navy – Admiral
Shreier
. 
He expresses his thanks and admiration for her “excellent work” and says: 
“If you need anything, call me,” and he gives her a business card with his
private number.  She quickly tucks that away in her
important items
pocket.

Then it is hour after hour of discussions, about important and trivial
matters.  Admiral Meyers smiles and does her best with the
conversations.  She notices that most of the people speak to her very
slowly and in a loud voice, as if she is a stranger who doesn’t understand the
language.  She has seen this kind of treatment before.  It means
that, it is their expectation that an augmented human probably can’t speak the
humanoid language very well, and will probably be a little slow in their
thinking.

“Oh well,” Admiral Meyers thinks.  “At least they are trying.

***

Finally the party is over and her guide – Lieutenant Sonja
Wuo
– delivers her to her
stateroom and leaves her with comm numbers, for herself and other
assistants.  Then she is alone at last.  In an elegant apartment of
rooms – and with a huge bath – probably installed just for her.

That is all she needs to see.  She runs the tub full of water; pours
in some bubble bath; grabs a drink - with a name she doesn’t know – undresses;
and gets into the tub.  No sooner has she hit the water when her comm
rings.  She says some choice words and gets out of the water long enough
to retrieve her comm unit.

She is just getting back into the tub, when Fleet Admiral
Kinseat
begins
speaking:  “Admiral Meyers.  This is Fleet Admiral
Kinseat
and I just wanted
to greet you on your first day home.  Unfortunately, I was planet-side in
meetings with the Emperor’s staff, and I was not able to greet you upon your
arrival.  I do expect to be back on the Station tomorrow, and I hope to
see you then.”

“I look forward to our meeting, Fleet Admiral
Kinseat
,” replies Admiral Meyers.

“Fine.  I will comm you when I know my schedule.  Goodnight.
And you can get back to your bath now - - - how do I know that you are taking a
bath?  Because that is what everyone does, when they first get back from
the frontlines.  See you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight, sir,” she says as she puts the comm unit down, and slides
under the water.  She is sure glad that he told her how he knew she was
taking a bath. 

***

The next day is full of media interviews by the Empire press corps, along
with debriefing sessions by various Darinx Navy departments. 

She is surprised and honored that the people of the Darinx Empire have,
at last, taken an interest in augmented humans.  The press, from the
planet Earth, has shown a special interest.  It seems that planet Earth
has claimed her as one of their own.

And the press corps has stopped speaking to her as if she is mentally
impaired.  In the beginning they seemed surprised that she could even
speak in complete sentences.  The Admiral gladly accepts all requests for
interviews, because she knows that the interviews will cause augmented humans
to be lifted up, in the esteem of all Darinx citizens.  They will see
evidence that this species is as intelligent as any other species in the
Empire.

The official debriefings are wide ranging and thorough.  She speaks
the truth about everything, without any regard for military politics.  She
speaks her opinion only when asked.

***

Later in the day she receives a text message from Fleet Admiral
Kinseat
, ordering her to
report for a meeting in his office, in 1 hour.  Lieutenant Sonja
Wuo
– her guide – delivers
her to the Fleet Admiral’s office.

The meeting is cordial and the Fleet Admiral implies, without actually
saying so, that Fleet Admiral
Duncons
has been forced into early retirement, because of his orders to Sweetwater
Fleet, which essentially amounted to a suicide mission.

The Fleet Admiral asks her about the captured Verm warships.  Admiral
Meyers replies that she was originally planning on using them, because the
Darinx warships were out of munitions.  But now that the Darinx warships
have been re-supplied, she foresees using the captured Verm warships, in
surprise attacks against the Verm Navy.  Verm targets being attacked by a
fleet of Verm Navy vessels should spread paranoia throughout the Verm Empire.

Admiral
Kinseat
nods approval for that tactic and says:  “Don’t forget that you can be
executed as spies for dressing up like the enemy.  Although that won’t
really matter, in the case of the Verm – they are going to execute you anyway.”

Then he tells her that the Repair Depot estimates one month of repair
time, in order to bring her Fleet up to Battle Ready condition. 

He suggests that the
waiting time
will be well spent, by mixing in
some additional training - for herself and her sailors - along with a couple of
weeks of R&R
(Rest & Recreation)
on the planet Darinx.

 She is dismissed, after her commander tells her that the next
assignment will be “more of the same”, because it has been proven so effective.

***

On the planet Darinx

She and her sailors are
off
on a 2 week R&R, to the planet
Darinx.  She cautions them to “stay out of trouble” and wishes them
“Godspeed”.

The enlisted sailors are restricted to a large island, which is routinely
used for R&R visits.  There is a heavy presence of Navy shore patrol
officers, to help the sailors stay out of trouble.

Admiral Meyers and some of the other Fleet officers take a quick tour of
the Capitol, and then they head for the beaches.  After years of space
travel, they all want to feel the sand between their toes and the sunlight on
their skin.

***

On the Darinx Navy Headquarters Space Station

The two weeks pass quickly and everyone goes – reluctantly – back to
work.  The Sweetwater Fleet sailors report for duty on the Space Station,
and begin 2 weeks of training on new technologies and tactics.

When Admiral Meyers arrives
on Station
she immediately gets a
mind-link communications with
Shiela
. 
She answers and hears a distraught
Shiela
tell her that the Artificial Intelligence Department has taken Honesty to a
lab, for inspection.

***

Honesty -
Shiela’s
daughter
- was the AI on the Compton, while Admiral Meyers and
Shiela
were living on the
battleship Retribution.

When it was time to return to Darinx space, the Admiral moved back to
the Compton and
Shiela
went with her.  Admiral Meyers considered leaving Honesty aboard the battleship
Retribution, but instead decided to bring her with the Fleet.  She was
being temporarily housed in a computer core.

***

Admiral Meyers assures
Shiela
that Honesty will be at the top of her priority list.  She then
communicates with her guide, Lieutenant
Wuo
,
and gets her help in finding the lab where Honesty was taken.  Admiral
Meyers immediately heads for that lab and requests to see the person in
charge.  A Captain Roberts is in command of the day-to-day operations, and
Admiral
Kiess
is in
charge of the Artificial Intelligence Department.

Admiral Meyers asks what has been done with Honesty, and why wasn’t she
informed?  Since the augmented human Admiral is a war hero and stands a
foot and a half taller than them, the AI Department leaders are quick to
reassure the Admiral that her AI has not been harmed.  “She was removed
from the Compton – first of all – because she is not
approved
as a
Darinx AI, and – secondly – because the AI Department wants to study her
architecture.”