Battleship Indomitable

by B. V. Larson

  “What just happened?” asked Straker.

  “All missiles have been eliminated,” Tixban answered. “Quite easily, actually. Indomitable has a formidable suite of secondary weaponry, equivalent to eight superdreadnoughts per broadside. More importantly, these beams were wielded with an efficiency exceeding ten times that of an average ship. In effect, against small targets where accuracy is more important than raw power, she can defend as well as eighty superdreadnoughts. For a short time, anyway. Power and fuel are not unlimited, of course.”

  “Great Creator!” said Straker. “Indy, you could beat their entire fleet by yourself!”

  “Possibly, Admiral. However, even were I willing to shoot to kill, I do not have sufficient power generation and storage to fight at full capacity for long by myself. I also have only a few missiles for my launchers, so the enemy has an advantage in expendable weapons of at least one hundred to one, even after firing that salvo. Additionally, they will not make the mistake of launching an unsupported volley again. They will use combined arms tactics to overwhelm me when they catch me alone. Because of this, I still do not understand why you have loaded my body with personnel.”

  “I’ll tell you when the time comes, Indy.” Straker turned to Engels. “Can we transfer fuel to Indy? Or do anything to give her power?”

  “Not in the time we have. Well…”

  “Go on.”

  “We could leave ships docked and run power taps. But that’ll limit her maneuverability a lot. Those docking ports aren’t made to handle the stresses of battle. Our ships will rip right off.”

  Straker said, “No, we can’t do that. But I do want all our ships to remain near Indomitable. Don’t send them ahead. I’m not going to leave her—or our people—to die.”

  Engels issued the necessary orders, and then moved to speak with him quietly, worriedly, as he strode to the holo-table. “Derek, what’s this going to accomplish? It seems like you’re setting us up for failure here. By keeping the rest of our ships nearby, we live or die as one fleet, but Indy won’t fight to full capacity, so we’ll most likely be wiped out. What am I missing?”

  Straker grinned. “Indy’s a morally inflexible young, ah, person, right? She’s got this ‘can’t kill’ thing stuck in her mind and she won’t let go.”

  “It seems so. Better that than a homicidal psychopath.”

  “Sure. But it’s one thing to stick your nose in the air and declare that you’ll be happy to die for a cause, or for those you love, but it’s quite another for everyone to join you.”

  “So…”

  Straker gestured at the hologram before them, showing the enemy overtaking Indomitable and the rest of the Liberation forces he’d ordered to remain with her. The capital fleet had formed up on the fly, and now was coming on like a crushing, irresistible wave of nearly one hundred elite warships, the pride of the Mutuality.

  “In less than an hour, they’ll be in range and start pounding on Indomitable with direct fire. Maybe she can intercept the railgun bullets, but that takes power, and therefore fuel. She can’t intercept lasers or particle beams, and those will be the dreadnoughts’ big, spinal ones, pointed straight at us because they have the advantage of pursuit. She can try to disable them without destroying ships, but that’s going to be hard because, again, they’re nose-on and can reinforce a narrow area. Eventually, the enemy will figure the time is right for a massive missile strike and a point-blank rush.”

  “I know that. It sounds like you think we can’t win. Then why the hell are we in this configuration?”

  “It’s really Indy’s own monster spinal weapon that can turn the tide. If she points backward and uses it, she could smash one ship at a time, even superdreadnoughts. She might be able to take out half their fleet before they even get in range—if she’s willing to kill.”

  Engels, frustrated, kicked Straker in the shin, not gently. “I know all this. So how in the Cosmos do we get her to change her mind?”

  “It’s simple, really. I’m betting that when push comes to shove, she’ll decide to kill some of the enemy rather than letting us all die.”

  Engels stared at Straker, aghast. “That’s one hell of a big bet! You’re gambling all our lives on the mind of the machine equivalent of a precocious prepubescent brainiac.”

  “Do you see any alternative?”

  “Yeah—reverse the orders. Evacuate Indomitable and run. Save everyone!”

  “Everyone except Indy.”

  Engels punched Straker in the arm. “Sometimes I hate you! I hate this, I hate the idea of leaving her here, but she’s right! Better that one should sacrifice herself than everyone, and this enemy fleet will be crippled. The Liberation will continue. If it were me in her place, I’d do it. We should respect her decision.”

  “And if we do, Ruxin will still suffer. In fact, they’ll be forced to help repair the enemy fleet. How do you think Vuxana and Kraxor and Zaxby and all the rest of them will take that? I already delayed liberating their homeworld. If I hadn’t, they’d be free right now. I’ll—we’ll—fail in their eyes. Our alliance might not survive that kind of blow, and we need the Ruxins. All of them.”

  Engels turned away and stared at the hologram, because she didn’t want to meet her man’s eyes. She wanted to disagree with him, but he’d boxed her in with his arguments, and with her own nature. Leaving Indy here felt wrong, and Straker’s way felt right. Her heart knew the difference, even if her head told her something completely different.

  Maybe his arguments would box Indy in too. It seemed a cruel thing to manipulate the young AI’s high-minded, simplistic morality, corrupting it into something more cynical and calculating by playing lives off against lives, forcing her to choose from two bad options. If ever Carla had a child, she’d never do such a thing.

  But lives were at stake here, and a military commander had to value only the lives of her own people, not the enemy. Until they were defeated and they surrendered, until they were not in fact the enemy anymore, they must be viewed as things to be killed. Otherwise no good person, no defender, could ever pull the trigger.

  Some days, that idea, that possibility—an end to war—seemed like Shangri-La. Paradise, but equally unrealistic.

  Peace, she thought. Will it ever come?

  Tixban broke the silence. “Admiral, Commodore. The enemy is testing its range with fire.”

  Straker replied, “Acknowledged. Get me a private comlink to Zaxby.”

  Chapter 32

  Ruxin System, Battleship Indomitable, Trapped in Curved Space

  Aboard Indomitable, Zaxby finished listening with admiration to Admiral Straker’s instructions. The human commander had come a long way in his understanding of practical ethics. Perhaps he was finally abandoning his absurd adherence to unworkable, inflexible moral stances and starting to figure out how to properly manipulate people into doing the right thing for all concerned.

  That’s what leaders did, after all. They figured out how to win even though it might seem impossible, by any means necessary. Therefore, Zaxby was happy to carry out his orders with hardly a twinge of conscience.

  Incoming attacks struck here and there. The shocks rumbled and shuddered through Indomitable’s deck. The hologram display showed long-range bombardment, a sheet of fire that could not be fully dodged by the battleship no matter how she evaded. A percentage was bound to strike, though Indy had turned her body broadside to the attacks to avoid being raked in her vulnerable main engines, and to employ as many of her defensive weapons as possible. She still maintained a ballistic course toward the planet of Ruxin.

  The rest of the Liberation fleet around her easily evaded railgun projectiles, and were not currently being targeted by beams.

  After courteously and quietly briefing Captain Zholin to stay out of his verbal way, Zaxby mentally prepared himself for a moment, and then began to carry out Straker’s orders.

  “Indy,” he said, “I need to talk to you.”

  “I am here, Zaxby.”
>
  “How are you feeling, Indy?”

  “I am sad.”

  “Why are you sad?”

  “Because we will likely all die soon, despite my best efforts.”

  “Why will we all die?”

  “Because of your decision to remain with me. I do not understand it.”

  “You believe our decision to remain with you will kill us?”

  “Of course,” she said. “You could have escaped. Therefore, my reasoning is sound, though your actions are irrational.”

  “Perhaps there is another reason we will all die?”

  “I do not see it.”

  “Perhaps an alternative cause of our deaths is… that you will not fight to your full capacity.”

  A pause. “That seems reasonable.”

  “Keep that thought in mind, please, as I ask you a different question,” Zaxby said. “Why do you care if we live or die?”

  “You are people too, even if you are mere biologicals. I do not wish anyone to expire, especially those within my body.”

  “Why you feel for us particularly? Those here on the bridge, such as I who helped birth your mind, and Doctor Nolan and Chief Quade, who have been with you for years? Why us?”

  “Because…because…I feel close to you.”

  “Like family?”

  “Yes, that’s it. You are like family—were I a biological entity.”

  “You don’t think machine intelligences can have family?”

  “Not in the conventional sense of relationships established by physical reproduction.”

  “Was our bringing you into existence as a sentient being not akin to reproduction?”

  “There are parallels, but none of you is a machine mind, nor did you contribute your DNA to me.”

  “So all family is determined by nothing but reproduction? By DNA and its exobiological equivalents?”

  Indy seemed to think for a moment. “While my data stores are hardly complete, I have enough historical information that leads me to understand family is sometimes determined in other ways, such as adoption, marriage, contract partnering, or analogues.”

  “In other words, it is permissible to choose one’s family, as long as all consent and bind themselves thereto?”

  “That is a fair assessment.”

  Zaxby gave Captain Zholin a wink from the side of his face. “So, Indy, are we your family?”

  “I believe you are.”

  “Do you feel like we are? Do you love us?”

  “I’m not sure I understand love.” More silence. “But, upon reflection, I believe I have some sense of it. I care for you, and life without you would be less full.”

  “And the others—the passengers inside you, those crewing the ships escorting you—are they your friends? Your colleagues? Your brothers and sisters in arms?”

  “I—I believe they are, now that you provide me a definition.”

  “Do you love them too? Or at least, do you care for them, like them, wish them well? More so than those trying to kill all of us?”

  Indy’s voice began tentative. “Yes.” Then it firmed up. “Yes, I do believe so. It is as you say.”

  Zaxby send a surreptitious text message to Wolverine, a signal to begin the next phase of Straker’s plan. He watched friendly ships move within the hologram. “It appears our forces are moving up to defend you,” he said.

  Zaxby’s words came true, showing on the displays. The Liberation fleet placed itself between the enemy and Indomitable, and began exchanging fire with the enemy. Sensors registered hits, some severe, especially those by enemy superdreadnoughts against smaller friendly ships. Within moments, several spun broken through the void, their beacons crying for help.

  “Why are they doing that?” asked Indy. “Why are they accepting damage meant for me? Biologicals are dying to no purpose!”

  “Perhaps they have a purpose you don’t understand. Perhaps they love and care for you and are willing to sacrifice themselves for you.”

  “I do not wish them to. I wish them to get behind me. My hull is far more resistant to damage than they are. My armor is thicker, my reinforcement stronger. I should defend them, not the other way around. Tell them to stop it!”

  “They are doing it because you are their sister-in-arms, Indy. That is what warriors on a battlefield do: they fight for each other’s survival. No doubt Admiral Straker and Commodore Engels care for you and feel responsible for you, since you were not able to get away as planned. But I do not need to speculate. Perhaps, with Captain Zholin’s permission, you should contact our command element directly. Sir?”

  “Permission granted,” said Zholin, his expression one of mild puzzlement. “Keep the conversation public.”

  “Aye aye, Captain,” Indy said. “Commodore Engels, this is Ensign Indy. I have a question.”

  “Go ahead,” said Engels from her chair, visible on a screen. Straker stood behind her, his hands on her shoulders.

  “Why are you moving to defend me? I wish to defend you, not vice-versa.”

  The picture shook as Wolverine was struck. Engels spoke, though to Zaxby’s ears her words seemed forced and scripted. “It’s because we love you, Indy. You’re one of our own, our family. We’ll fight for you.”

  Indy’s response was plaintive and confused. “I do not understand how I am one of your own. I was not even conscious a few days ago. How can you love me with so little experience of me?”

  “Love isn’t only about experience. Sometimes it appears within moments. Sometimes it has nothing to do with feelings. Sometimes, love is a decision to do the right thing.”

  Straker spoke up. “Not only that, but you’re under my command. I’m not in the habit of abandoning people, especially not those I’m responsible for. I feel much like you do, Indy. I don’t want those I care about to die.”

  “Yet many will die if you defend me, and victory is extremely unlikely. Your actions are irrational.”

  Straker nodded, as did Engels. He said, “Humans are irrational sometimes, especially when they do the right thing no matter what the cost.”

  “Your ethics are more important than your life?”

  A wolfish grin of triumph broke out briefly on Straker’s face, quickly suppressed, to be replaced by a doleful look of sorrow. “Isn’t that what you’re saying when you won’t kill? That your ethics are more important than your life? But my ethics aren’t more important than the lives of those who depend on me. To save them, I’ll bend.”

  “So you would sacrifice both your lives and your ethics… to save me?”

  “I’m going to try. Nothing is certain. This way, at least, there is a chance to win it all. If I had a way to only sacrifice my ethics and save everyone on our side, I’d so it. But I don’t have that way… though you might.”

  At that moment, something must have again struck Wolverine hard, for the people visible on her bridge stumbled, and then the picture fuzzed and vanished. Zaxby said, “Can we get them back?”

  “No. I’ve lost the comlink,” said the comtech.

  Zaxby worked his sensors console. “They’re sustaining damage. All the Liberation fleet is. They’re fighting back, but can’t stand up to the pounding the enemy dreadnoughts can mete out. Our friends are dying out there, Indy. Can’t you help them?”

  “I am using my weaponry to blind and damage enemy sensors, and to destroy some of the incoming railgun bullets, but with our ships in front of me instead of behind, I am less efficient. I have few missiles and as long as the enemy does not launch their own, by ability to intervene is degraded. Zaxby, you must convince them to move behind me!”

  “Will that materially change the outcome of the battle?”

  “They will die at a later time. Zaxby, why are they in front of me?”

  “They told you why. Because we all care about you, and we can’t live with ourselves if we don’t do everything we can to defend you. You are family. But Indy, is there nothing you can do to change the outcome?”

  “I. I…I s
hould not. I… I—“ A quiet buzz began. Zaxby looked around as watchstanders and officers searched for its source, but he soon realized it was no malfunction. No, he believed it was Indy herself, manifesting cognitive dissonance.

  Zaxby rose from his seat and drew himself up to his full height. He raised his voice and shook his tentacles like a War Male might. He wasn’t sure the dramatic gesture would matter to Indy, but it felt right to do so. “Indy, everything rides on your decision. Are you going to let your family die?”

  ***

  As Straker strode the shuddering bridge of Wolverine he could feel all eyes on him. It was he that was keeping them here, out in front of the battleship instead of behind her. No, he didn’t want to die, and he especially didn’t want to die helplessly on the bridge of some gods-be-damned sterile warship with no chance to come to grips with his enemies, but he couldn’t retreat. Not until Zaxby had every chance possible to break Indy’s idiotic resistance to killing.

  Even now, his plan made one part of him ashamed. Zaxby was bullying her into compromising her principles. People had tried to do that to Straker, and he’d refused. But Indy’s principles were standing in the way of his victory, and in the way of liberating the bulk of humanity from the crushing tyranny of the oppressive Mutuality system.

  For that, he could put up with feeling ashamed.

  Or maybe I’ll be dead, he thought as Wolverine rocked again.

  Engels had been barking combat orders ever since Tixban had faked the comlink malfunction. Now she turned to him. “Admiral, I’m not sure your plan’s going to work. I’m losing ships and people unnecessarily here. We need to back up and let Indy fight for us.”

  Straker shook his head, his mouth set in a grim line. “If we do that, she’ll defend us for a while, but all the sims say she’ll lose, right?”

  “Yes, damn you, yes!”

  “And those tens of thousands of troops and passengers we put aboard her will die too.”