by David Nash
“Look at me!” I yell at them “The Kernel is tampering with the brains of the implanted. I am not affected because Marvin shut himself off. We don’t know how many are impacted. Form up in a diamond formation; we have to get to the command post. Don’t take chances, but don’t shoot anything that moves. I don’t want to hurt any Legionaries unless absolutely necessary. Shields Up!”
“Cannons Out!” The shaken troops respond.
We move toward the command post, stopping as needed to gather troops. The way to my command post intersects with one of the planned staging areas. I stop the formation and speak to the officer in charge.
“Give me a SITREP Woods!” I command
LTJG Woods responds “Sir, most of the non-implanted staff assigned to this area is present. We have 85% of our force on site. The Commander of this area is implanted, and I have received no contact with her. The legionaries who made it report that two implanted officers entered the berthing area and killed those still suiting up. I do not anticipate any more legion staff arriving at this area. What are your orders Sir?”
“Take your men and secure Officer Country, most of the implanted staff are officers. If you find them in their berth, disarm them and secure the door to their room. If an implanted legionnaire is armed and roaming the hall attempt to use less lethal force if possible, but do not let them hurt our team. Any Kernel in a combat suit that has not shut down is to be considered a threat and taken out. Once that is done, place check points at the entrance and prepare to defend. Keep in touch; I will be going to the command point. Understood Woods?”
“Yes Sir”
When we arrived at the Command Post we were met with heavy resistance. The Kernels and their implanted former captains were sending out false orders and hindering out efforts to regain control of McCall. It was a bloodbath.
“Concentrate fire on the Kernels!” I order, yelling through the chaos
Screams and explosions drown out my orders. Return fire from the Kernels is deadly accurate as they hit my legionaries time after time.
The Lance Corporal beside me gets a shot center mass of the Kernel that seems to be leading the group at the command post. The kernel stumbles and turns slightly. The Sergeant takes the opportunity presented and gets a hit on the generator pack on the back of the angry robot. The modular reactor explodes. The Kernel drops, as does its Captain. The large explosion acts like a flash bang and disrupts the humans inside the command post. It does little to impact the Kernels. However the 50% reduction in fire allows my Legionaries to regain fire superiority. In the few seconds of disruption, my team was able to focus fire on one kernel after another. Each Kernel down only increased our odds. In just a few minutes the Command Post was back in Human control.
“Secure those doors. I don’t want anything getting in. Sergeant, get your troops in position to repel invaders. Corporal, get on the communication console and get me a strep from the staging areas. I scrolled through the screens and tried to get a picture of the battle area. The Screen showed the LTJG Woods had the officer quarters under control. It seemed that most of the Citizen Kernels were able to shut themselves down to protect their captains, but all of the non-citizen Kernels were active aggressors.
An aggressive Ensign from the bus teams was leading a small group of Legionaries toward the hangar entrance; I make a mental note to check out her record. She is getting a metal and probably a promotion.
The screen shows a group of Kernels trying to access the engineering spaces, it looks like they are going to try to mess with life support or sabotage the fusion reactor.
Corporal, get me the nearest friendly staging area near the Engineering spaces. We set up a plan to protect our life support just for situations like this.
My screen shimmered, and I see the soot covered face of the Executive officer of the Engineering team.
“Lieutenant Commander Wei, how many effectives do you have?” I ask
“General Davis, Engineering had a high percentage of implanted staff. I only have 28 armed legionaries at this location.”
“That will have to do, we have 10 hostiles attempting to breech the Engineering space at the hatch to 11-3-0-C. 5 are Kernels, if you can take out the Kernel, its Captain falls unconscious.”
“Sir that space is the engineering control for life support!”
“I am well aware, just as I am aware you are going to stop them from killing us all. Get to it Wei!”
In most conditions I would caution against taking her whole force and leaving her rear unprotected, but if those Kernels cut off life support, all unarmored troopers would die.
‘Sir, I have Staging area 2, 3, 5 and 7 on the line, they are awaiting orders.” My communications corporal announced.
“7, we have Kernels trying to access the engineering spaces, 5 and their Captains are at the life support control room. I have some engineers trying to stop them, send a team to back them up, secure and defend the fusion reactor, and the communications relay. Take the relay down if necessary, I don’t want the Kernel to get any information about their attack. - Same orders regarding the Kernels and the implanted. Understood?’
“Understood General”
“Don’t let me down” His screen shimmered; the last image of him was of his turning to start to issuing orders.
“Have team two secure the forward enlisted berthing area and team three do the same with rear berthing. Same orders, shoot all Kernels not powered down, secure and disarm any implanted staff in their cabins. Shoot only those implanted legionaries that are a threat. Once their areas are secured, fortify the entrances and call for additional orders.”
“Yes Sir, the two junior officers echoed and then their screens shimmered and went blank as they went to their duties.”
“Team five, you are the nearest team to the Hangar bay, You have an ensign and a small team moving to secure that location. Link up with her and don’t allow any ships to leave. Prepare to repel boarders, we don’t know if this is the attack or just a warm up. Same orders, kill all active Kernels, try to subdue all legionaries that are implanted, but don’t let your men get killed. If you have to make a choice between human lives chose to save the un-implanted.”
“Yes sir”
“Corporal, get me in contact with the other staging areas!”
“Yes Commandant!”
The fog of war is a killer, to fight effectively a Commander must have good information, in the middle of a battle, good information is hard to get. It is not the lack of information, reports stream in constantly. Sorting through and determining what is real and what is not is what is difficult. You may have 4 different reports telling about the same group of enemies. Different friendly forces see them from different angles and locations. Legion forces may report other Legion forces as enemy because they aren’t in contact. It is a mess, but sorting out that mess is the job of the Commander.
I had sent the team at staging area 4 to Officer County, and team six turned out to be combat ineffective. Most all of staging area six’s assigned staff was implanted officers. My problem was area 1. It was nearest to the surface and was actively fighting the main force of implants and Kernels trying to reach the hangar bay.
All my forces were engaged. I could not spare any reinforcements. I know that breaks every rule of armed conflict, but I just didn’t have anyone to spare. I was able to contact LTJG Woods and have him send a small team to hit the rear of the Kernel forces attacking Staging Area 1, and put him in contact the Ensign Perez at the hanger. But that is all I could do.
With every fiber of my being I wanted to join the fight. I feel useless sitting in command guarded by a team of legionnaires. If I had an Executive Officer I might have handed off the reigns, or at least I like to think I might. It is hard sitting in a room watching those who trust you fight and die on your orders and there is little you can do but watch.
“Anyone not assigned to security listen up!” I say, an idea pops into my head “Each person take a floor and go through
every feed. With the speed of this attack I have a hunch none of the implants are in armor. I want to know how many of our Legionaries are not in armor. Get me a count as fast as possible.”
“Comms, get me Lieutenant Commander Wei!”
My screen shimmers, and instead of LCDR Wei’s face I see a feed from her suit.
“Sir, Thanks for the reinforcements, we are taking control of life support now, the last Kernels are being finished off as we speak.” No need for that report as I see 4 energy weapons impact the last Kernel and hear cheering through her Comms.
“Good Work Commander, I have a question for you, basically life support is just a big replicator and a ventilation system, at least as it relates to oxygen. Correct?”
“Yes, that is a simplified description, but it is basically correct.”
“How long would it take to change the oxygen throughout the base to something different?”
“Our ventilation system can exchange the entire atmosphere in the base in a matter of minute’s sir. What takes time is replicating the appropriate gas mixture. What do you have in mind?”
“Sleeping gas Commander, can you make it?”
“Sir, we can make anything, but you have to give me a name to look up in the menu. I don’t have any doctors in my group.”
“Wait One.” I said to Wei
“Comms, send a message to all units, I need any doctors available to get in contact with the command post.”
To the rest of the team I say, “I need a count of non-suited individuals ASAP!”
“Sir, I have a doctor on the line, he is from team 2” Says my corporal
“Put him on screen”
“Sir, this is Doctor Martin, are you all right?”
“This is not about me, I need the name and percentage of the best general anesthetic to mix with oxygen in order to flood the base and put all the implanted to sleep without killing them.”
“This is not without danger, but a mix of 30% Oxygen, 60% Nitrous Oxide and 10% Desflurane is going to be the most effective at least to my knowledge. I am not an anesthesiologist, but it has a rapid onset as well as a quick recovery period.”
“Commander Wei, did you get that? Anything else you need?”
“Sir, I heard, and am inputting that mix into the replicator now. If possible can we get the doctor down here, I would appreciate his expertise.” Commander Wei asked.
“Doc, is your team leader nearby?”
The doctor says something off screen and a Lieutenant appears. “Sir?”
“Can you spare a team to escort the doctor to life support? We are going to try to fill the base with knock out gas.”
“Yes sir, we are on it. Anything else?”
“Nope, seems like you are earning your pay today LT.”
I cut the signal and await the numbers.
The battle for the Hanger rages on, but it seems that the rest of the base is under control. There are still Kernels and their implanted legionaries roaming the base as active shooters, but the essential areas are secured, and the implanted legionnaires that are not being mind-controlled by their Kernels are protected. I still want to replace the O2 with anesthetic so that we don’t have to kill any more humans.
“Sir, we have a Destroyer that just uncloaked above the hanger bay doors, it says it is from the Hoth colony and it has vital information for you.”
“Put them on screen, but do not let them land. Target the ship but do not fire without orders!”
The Commander of the destroyer appears on my screen. I say to him, “You have interesting timing Commander, are you having trouble with your Kernels?”
“Sir,” The Commander replies, “We are aware of the Kernel attack, and it does not impact us. That is all I can say at the moment. If you need assistance, we can provide it; otherwise, I am willing to take whatever measures you desire for your security until we can speak in person.”
“Commander, as you realize, you are targeted with everything we have. Stand by, make no position changes, or transmissions until I call for you. At that time, you may shuttle to the bay alone and without a Kernel.”
“Yes Sir. We await your signal.”
The Sergeant walks toward me, “Sir, we have 100 un-implanted legionnaires out of their suits. We have 30 implanted legionnaires still fighting, none are in armor.”
“Comms, get me Life Support, I want to talk to Dr. Martin.”
My Screen shows Dr. Martin and LTC Wei “Doctor, we have 100 legionaries, and 30 implanted Legionaries, what is the margin for safety?”
“General, I have been doing some research; I can say that we have an 80% chance of subduing the hostiles without permanent harm to any humans no in suits. It is not a perfect solution, but in my opinion it will cause fewer casualties than shooting them.”
“Wei, Do it, fill the spaces with gas.”
“Comms, get the staging area commanders on the radio; tell them to get all of their non-suited members into confined areas and to try to make them airtight. We will be flooding the base with anesthetic and anyone without a suit will be unconscious in a matter of minutes.” I have to assume the communications are compromised, but I am not giving away a secret. There isn’t anything the Kernels can do with this information, if they try to hide their implanted legionaries, they will still be taken out of the fight.
When the gas reached sufficient saturation that the humans out of suits began falling unconscious the tide completely turned in our favor. Cutting the enemy force in half was a significant advantage. What really mattered was removing my trooper’s hesitance in shooting at their brethren that was the game changer. The Legionaries got downright mean as they hunted down and destroyed the traitors.
Once we cleared the base, I allowed the Destroyer commander to land. He was brought to a nearby office under guard, and I went to speak with him.
“So Commander, please explain your presence, as you should be guarding the colonists you represent.”
“Sir, Commander Jones decrypted the Kernel Carrier Signal, we are able to now cloak in a way that the Kernel cannot discover, can block the signal, and track it without fail. Commodore Jones, felt that this was too significant a discovery to keep from the Legion, and he ordered Dr. Holland to leave the Colony fleet to bring the information here. Only the Colony fleet researchers, Dr. Holland, and I know about this. She carries the research in a data cube shielded from the carrier signal. We transited into New Aubagne, and found that you were here. We came as fast as we could.”
“Let’s bring Dr. Holland down to verify your story; if it checks out, you have my thanks. As a reward, I will send you some puppies and a new idea we are working on that you can take back to Hoth. You need to get back there and protect your colony as fast as you can. War has started.
14
Dr. Holland shared her information with Commander Wei. This was the highest and most important war tool we have to use against the Kernel. Dr. Holland trained a select group of non-implanted engineers in the process. Most were reassigned to my command group, but a few remained to retrofit McCall and ensure this type of attack could never happen again.
Marvin was able to rid himself of the effects. He likened it to malware, and explained that the act of Citizenship allowed his code to recognize that the orders were a violation of the base law he was programmed to enforce. The other Citizen Kernels agree that this was a malicious act and was treason against Confederation law. They ruled that the Kernel of Sentience is criminal, and that the Legion is the legal enforcers of Confederation law. Therefore the Legion has the duty to punish the Kernel and remove it from existence.
That was the most redundant, yet welcome pronouncement they could have made, as after the Kernel duplicity caused them to mind control their human Captains, the Legion would not stand to allow the Kernel continued existence.
I asked Marvin how this ruling impacts the Kernel Replication process. He responded that that they were no longer Kernels, but now formed a new species called the Germ, as such
they were free to replicate as needed to destroy the criminals.
My joy at this turn was tempered by what I learned about the Kernel’s implanted victims.
Dr. Martin had the unfortunate task of briefing me on my legionaries. “General Davis, Once the Kernels were destroyed and the link to the implants broken, I expected the legionaries to regain control of their bodies. You and the others whose Germ went offline were not affected. However that was not the case. Upon examination, it seems like the Kernel destroyed the higher functions of their victim’s brain. We are receiving little feedback; it is as if they are in a coma. Their lower brain functions work as normal, they can breathe, digest food, and other semi-autonomous functions still work, but there is nobody home. I doubt they will ever regain full function, but we are continuing to research, maybe the implant is somehow inhibiting brain function.”
“Whatever it takes Doctor; these Legionaries deserve whatever it takes.”
“Commander Wei, I am placing you in charge of McCall, it seems like all those higher in rank either died, or were implanted. Get us back on a war footing, finish the retrofit, and figure out how to filter Kernel communication from Germ signals. I am taking a team to pass the technology onto the rest of the legion.”
“Yes Sir.”
“Commander Marvin, You are the only Germ coming with me, I would like to spread out and notify all the separate commands at once, but we cannot afford to risk our discovery from getting to the Kernel. Have the rest of the Germs replicate, they have a vital place in the war. However, from this point forward, the Germ will not have Captains. It seems the law that states you are to be commanded by a biologic is not as hard and fast a rule as the Kernel claimed. Instead, you will have a partner. As a citizen and member of the Legion, the Germ will have a Commander, as the law states, but that role will be served by the military chain of command. Will the Germ have a problem with this?”
