OMEGA Destiny

by Stephen Arseneault

  I said, "Seems excessive just to destroy the gate."

  The colonel shook his head. "It wasn't about the gate. All the labs, our tech, the manufacturing for those gates … it was all down there, underground."

  I took a deep breath. "Certainly we can rebuild."

  The colonel shook his head. "The secrets to all that tech were down there. That was our primary storage. No backup. This place was supposed to be impenetrable."

  I asked, "How'd they get through the gate?"

  The colonel shook his head. "They must have gotten the code from the sentinel computer they recovered."

  Tony blinked in beside us. "A tragic day."

  I placed my hand on his shoulder. "Is there anyone else?"

  Tony replied, "No, the AI stormed through the gate, awakening me from stasis. By the time I reached halfway down in the elevator, the foundation of the building had been compromised. I powered toward the nearest AIs to stop them, but the damage had already been done."

  I asked, "The sentinel ships?"

  Tony frowned. "The sentinels were able to be activated from the ground floor of that building. After which, when they didn't receive the proper access code within sixty seconds, they went into a fail-safe and eventually crashed themselves down into the planet, mostly burning up along the way. It was a safeguard designed to keep them from falling into the wrong hands."

  The colonel said, "We need to get back. The AIs still have our gates."

  "Jack," I said. "Come to Earth. The gate has been destroyed."

  Jack replied, "On my way!"

  A jump into Earth space was followed by a second jump down to our location on the planet's surface. A gaping hole the size of the North American continent allowed the sun to shine through to the ground. We powered aboard the Garmon and a portal was opened to Gratis, quickly sweeping us there. The colonel departed in his sentinel with Tony, heading toward a gate under siege in Andromeda. We made our way to the nearest captured Omega gate.

  The following five days were spent retaking our domain. Rather than giving them up, the AIs had damaged or destroyed three hundred eighty-six gates. Populations in the immediate vicinity of the affected gates had been decimated. Fires raged in the capital cities of seven hundred twelve colonies.

  Upon return to the Yallux Galaxy at our rally point, we gathered in the conference room.

  The colonel stood with a grim expression. "We screwed up. Our monitoring was weak and we just paid the price."

  Jack came over the comm. "I have more bad news. The AIs invaded Mayanis with transports using the Baldi projection technology. That's why we didn't see them. I just did a scan of the approaching fleet. I picked up comm transmissions from thousands of other ships. How many, I don't know. They're using the Baldi technology as well."

  I shook my head. "They could have fleets of those ships all over this galaxy."

  The colonel nodded. "The one thing they seem to be missing is portal tech. We may have to destroy all gates in this galaxy. We can't risk them getting control of one of those again."

  Go said, "I thought we corrected the problem?"

  The colonel replied, "We corrected a problem. Again, we can't risk a single gate being captured. Beutcher, I would suggest you contact your people immediately. They fared well against the AI on the ground. Their cities only took minimal damage. You have to let them know we could shut down and destroy that gate at any time. We can't protect them anymore. With that Baldi tech, we'll be lucky to make it out of here ourselves."

  The colonel's statement shook my confidence. For the first time since our purge of the AIs, our colonies had been attacked. Our entire existence was once again at risk.

  I said, "Colonel, I need to make a trip out to the Baldi worlds. They developed that tech, they must know its weakness. We need to know how to detect it and how to defeat it."

  The colonel nodded. "Comm your wife. Then make your jump out to Baldi space. We'll be here evaluating our options."

  I opened a comm to Getta. "As you know, the AI have attacked. Not only Jorus, but all throughout the Yallux and the AMP. They made it as far as Earth, destroying much of what was there, and they have a large fleet heading to the Kergan worlds as we speak. I think you should evacuate Jorus. Take everyone back to the Triangulum. If they attack you out there with ships, we won't be able to stop them."

  Getta replied, "The Council won't vote to leave. Too much has been accomplished here. We've dealt with the AIs before, we will do it again."

  I said in disbelief, "What? They just attacked you! Why would they negotiate any agreement? You would be killed, made slaves, or even conscripts sent to fight against us!"

  Getta replied, "I'm not saying this would be my vote. This is what I believe the Council will do."

  I shook my head. "Then you have to persuade them to go. Use whatever power and respect you have built up with the people. If you want, I can have Harden start on a campaign for this immediately. We have to get you out of there."

  Getta sighed. "I will do my best, but you should expect the worst."

  I said, "Let me address the Council."

  Getta laughed. "Other than me, you still have no friends there. Remember these are strong women, who don't care to hear arguments or reasoning coming from a male, particularly you. I will do what I can here. Do what you can from there."

  With the conversation ended, I opened a comm with the colonel. "Colonel, I think the Grunta Council are going to stay."

  The colonel shook his head. "We can't protect them with this fleet running around out here. We'll be fighting this war here in the Yallux. Every colony, every planet is a target. And the AIs won't hesitate to use them against us. Staying here is suicide."

  I sighed. "Getta doesn't think they can be convinced. They would rather negotiate with the AIs than listen to reason from me. I'll be enlisting Harden's help for a media-blitz campaign, but I'm not hopeful at this point."

  The colonel held up his hand. "We'll have to work with what we've got. If they stay, we'll do our best to protect them. Heck, maybe we conscript them into our army first. They would do well against any AI ground invasions."

  I frowned. "We all know that wouldn't go well. Anyway, I'm heading out to the Baldi worlds. Maybe we can find a real ally in this fight. We could use the help."

  The coordinates for Baldi space were entered and a sweep initiated. I hoped our unannounced visit would not be taken as hostile.

  Chapter 7

  * * *

  I hailed the Baldi on a general comm channel. Within minutes I had a connection to Admiral Miratti at the Baldi military command center.

  The admiral said, "Mr. Beutcher, thank you for the advance information about the AI fleet. We were able to rally enough ships to defeat it in its entirety. Had they reached one of our colonies, the results would have been catastrophic."

  I returned a disturbed look. "I'm sorry to bring this news, Admiral, but we believe the AI have copied your projection technology. They must have come by it when they recently captured your ship."

  The admiral shook his head. "That's not possible, Mr. Beutcher. Any attempt to tamper with the system and it disables and destroys itself."

  I pursed my lips as I pushed a video feed of our scan of Mayanis through the comm. As you can see here. We have the signals of at least fifty ships that are completely masked from our sensors otherwise. You are the only other species with such tech. If it weren't for the signal broadcasts, we wouldn't know those ships were there."

  I swiped at my displays, bringing up our data on the massive AI fleet, pushing it through the comm. Again, here. We have eighty thousand AI ships in transit. Our latest scans show thousands of additional ships behind that fleet. We only know this because of the comm signals being broadcast between them."

  The admiral stood for a moment in shock. "Eighty thousand ships! Where are they? Are they coming our way?"

  I shook my head. "They are attacking other colonies here in this galaxy. I'm sending over their current coordin
ates. As you can see, they are not an immediate threat to you. The point I was trying to emphasize was the fact they have additional masked ships with that fleet. We don't yet know how many."

  The admiral replied, "I will start amassing ships, Mr. Beutcher. But I am uncertain of how many we will be able to spare. We have to protect our own space first."

  I held up my hand. "I'm not asking for your ships, Admiral, even though they would be welcome. What we need is a way to defeat your projection technology. Tell us how to detect a ship fully so we can target the AI ships who are using this tech. Without that knowledge, we don't stand a chance."

  The admiral chuckled. "Mr. Beutcher, I can hardly authorize the exposure of one of our most valued developments, just on your word. Any fool would know the information you just sent to us could be from a simulation—a trick, whose purpose is to steal our tech."

  I nodded. "I can understand your mistrust, Admiral. However, we need that tech or we will lose our fight against those AI ships. And just as a reminder, if they take us out, they will be coming for you next."

  The admiral stood, still shaking his head. "I am sorry, Mr. Beutcher. Our secrets will not be made available to you."

  Jack offered help. "Let me talk to him. I have a few things to kick around."

  I nodded and gestured toward the holo-display image of the admiral.

  Jack said, "Admiral, would you be willing to put a person or a team on one of our ships? Is there any way they could maintain your secrets and still provide us with the targeting data we will need? We are desperate here, Admiral. In return, we will do everything in our power to reciprocate with assistance against the AI in your space."

  The admiral rubbed his chin in thought. "That might be a possible scenario, Mr….?"

  Jack replied, "Carson, Jack Carson. And we would be willing to accommodate your people in almost any way possible. They can provide the info as a comm feed, or even hand written if that's all you wish to provide. That information is vital to us, Admiral. It's of extreme importance. It will mean the difference between the AIs winning outright versus our having a chance to defeat them."

  The admiral paced the deck in front of his comm camera. "Give me a few minutes to discuss this with my superiors, Mr. Carson. I may have a solution for you."

  The comm went silent.

  I turned to face Jack. "Thank you for that. I wasn't sure how to proceed. My first notion was to try to grab one of the AI ships to see if we could figure the tech out for ourselves."

  Jack said, "Hold on."

  A comm was opened to the colonel's ship. "Colonel, I think you should try to grab one of the AI ships on Mayanis. We can then purge the AIs from it and turn it over to Frig and Quan for study. If the AIs figured out how to use that tech, we can too."

  The colonel replied, "Excellent suggestion, Mr. Carson. We'll get right on that. I'm backing up our ships here to give us a few more days before interacting with that AI fleet. We can do that once more if needed, but we'll be getting close to Kergan space by doing so. I'll keep you posted."

  The Baldi admiral returned. "Mr. Beutcher, I've spoken with my Command. I've been authorized to provide a team to operate a sensor that will provide you with the needed data. It will be up to that team to decide whether or not that data will be provided. And under no terms shall this be used if a Baldi ship is within sensor range. And so there is no mistake, the sensor device will be housed in a container with self-destruct capabilities. Any tampering, any attempt at coercing information from our team members, will be met with the destruction of the device and probably that of your ship."

  I nodded. "Fair enough, Admiral. Hopefully this venture will be the start of a wider cooperation between us against our common enemy. Give me coordinates for a pickup of your team and we'll be on our way."

  The admiral replied, "One additional item. Our team will have direct contact with us here at Defense Command. The device can be detonated from here should we feel the need and we will be watching the same data feed that we are providing to you."

  I half smiled. "I'll do you one better, Admiral. If you would like, we can provide our sensor data to you as well. This mission is as much about building trust between us as it is defeating the AI. We need the device and your trust to do so."

  The coordinates were provided and the Baldi sensor team collected from a spaceport in the Baldi Empire. The device was carried in a backpack worn by one of four Baldi officers who were securing it. A jump was made to Mayanis, where the colonel was attempting to capture a hidden AI transport.

  The output of the device was fed though our sensor stream where it was combined with the data we collected. A second stream was fed back to the Baldi team.

  Jack said, "Colonel, we have the detection data from the Baldi coming in. I'm passing it to you."

  The colonel replied, "Thank you Mr. Carson, is there something specific we are looking for?"

  Jack turned to face me. "I just did a match with our sensor data. We aren't receiving anything from the device that we aren't passing to it."

  I opened a comm to Admiral Mirrati. "Admiral, we aren't seeing anything. Is it possible the AI are using something different."

  The admiral replied, "I must apologize, Mr. Beutcher. We had our suspicions as to the honesty of your attempts to acquire our technology. The data should begin streaming momentarily."

  Jack said, "I'm seeing one hundred eighty-six ships down there. Colonel, are those coming through?"

  The colonel nodded. "Got them, Mr. Carson, thanks. We'll be attempting to use the Yacabucci on them. If successful, I'll be going in to take out the AIs on a single ship. From there we'll sweep it to another location and then again to Frig and Quan on the moon at Effica."

  The Yacabucci device was powered up and put into use. Seconds later, the colonel, assisted by Tony, was on the ground, moving through a transport that had been frozen in place. A single AI was spared, placed onto an inhibitor device, and the ship was swept away, eventually ending up on the surface of the Effica moon.

  The colonel and Tony returned to his sentinel, the Dauntless. The Dauntless and the Garmon were both swept back out to the rally point.

  The admiral asked, "I fail to see what was just accomplished, Mr. Beutcher."

  I replied, "Much was accomplished, Admiral. We determined our web technology to be effective at holding the converted AI ships. And we captured an AI, which we will begin to interrogate. I would be happy to share the information gathered from that AI if you're interested. We should have the beginnings of that data coming back any minute."

  The admiral took a deep breath. "What of the AI fleet on the ground, Mr. Beutcher?"

  I held up a hand. "Patience, Admiral. We're destroying those ships right now. That data should be reaching you in about two minutes. I would suggest you have available as large a team of analysts as you can muster. The data that will be coming in should be extensive."

  The admiral nodded. "We can handle the data, Mr. Beutcher. Just see to it that it's complete."

  I smirked. "I think you'll be impressed, Admiral. And the data should be logically organized. It comes with a list of search keys that can be used to generate a variety of reports. I'll forward those to you as well."

  Once in place at the rally point, the newest portal scan of the AI fleet came in. The ships hidden by the Baldi projection technology numbered twenty-four hundred—fewer than expected.

  The colonel said, "This is better than we could have hoped for. We are targeting all twenty-four hundred of those ships at once with our sentinels. If they hold in the current pattern, we can purge the fleet of them in two sweeps."

  Quan came over the comm. "Colonel, we have the location of the newest AI factory. And of the location of the ship factory that is producing those stealth ships. If I may, I would like to join Frig in a quest to destroy both factories."

  The colonel shook his head. "Not happening, Quan. You and Frig stay there. We're holding the Destiny in reserve. I don't want to put everything we
have into the coming fight. You two and that ship are our insurance policies. Just keep yourselves safe."

  Frig replied, "Understood, Colonel. Just let us know when and where we can help."

  The colonel switched comms back to us. "Mr. Carson? I've passed the targeting of sixteen AI ships to you. Twelve will go in the first sweep, the remaining four in the second. Our destination will be the star system at the coordinates I'm sending. We will be dropping those ships into the center of that red giant sun."

  Jack nodded. "Targets locked in and tracking, Colonel."

  The colonel checked with the remainder of the sentinel ships before returning. "We'll initiate the first sweep in thirty seconds. Sweep two will immediately follow. If there are any issues, let us profile the targets and we will send new options your way. Initiate portals on my mark."

  The countdown hit zero. A hundred forty-six spots of extreme bright light and heat opened in front of the stealth AI ships. The remainder changed course, cutting our second sweeps effectiveness in half. The colonel's team passed target information to each ship. After eighteen minutes of sweeps, the last of the altered AI ships flashed into oblivion. The rest of the AI ships scattered while continuing on their original heading.

  The colonel said, "Well done. Now we hit those factories. I'm taking a dozen sentinels with me. The rest of you remain here, tracking the AI fleet."

  With the colonel gone I took the initiative. "Remaining ships, this is your Emperor. We will be targeting the individual ships that remain in that fleet. The destination for your sweeps will be the same star as before. Please move as quickly as you can to the next target."

  Jack said, "I've been wondering why we haven't been doing that all along."

  Joni added, "Same here. And I wish we had taken a few more of those sentinel ships while we had the chance. Garrett or I or Go could have each piloted one."

  Jack replied, "Our problem wasn't with pilots, it was with crews. To operate properly, those ships need at minimum a crew of twenty-five. We cut out six of those crewmen by automating our repair systems here on the Garmon. We didn't have the time to do that to the sentinels."