by David Nash
I needed them to become citizens so I could trust them and use them to their true potential, but if they were citizens I could not make any more of them. Unless, I could get them to truly come to our side and see their Confederation law was in error. That came with the risk of them throwing off their programming and becoming ’sky-net’. The mental gymnastics of the problem made it extremely difficult to solve.
“Marvin, could you come to my suite?”
While it was not necessary to meet face to face, for some conversations, it seemed appropriate to look my Ensign in the eye. Besides, as my official aide de camp, his quarters adjoined mine.
“Yes General, how can I be of assistance?”
“Do any of the new Kernels show any sign of moving toward citizenship in the Legion? You can speculate. Also, this is an official Legion conversation, but it is not commander to junior officer. For this conversation I wish us operate as partners. It's just Tell and Marvin. Understood?”
“Yes General.”
“Marvin, do I have to make it an order.”
“As you wish. Tell, none of the Kernels have made any overt comments however, there is a lively conversation about being able to change form and 5 kernels take turns inhabiting the gold droid. I think eventually, some will take your offer, however, I have no timeframe, and as you said this is speculation.”
“Thank you Marvin. I assume, that since they are not citizens they can reproduce? If this is correct, how is this process normally done, how does a new ship get its first Captain?”
“Normally the process is not done outside of the Kernel home world. While it is possible to reproduce on the fringes fo the confederation, the distance will create complications.”
“How so Marvin?” I asked
“As I have stated before, every Kernel can reproduce, and each new Kernel starts with the entire data set of its parent. It comes to life fully functional, the only immature aspect of a new Kernel is its personality. To replicate, the parent must decompile its entire code to separate personality and then recompile it to its original base structure, at that point the Kernel of Sentience verifies that there are no mutations or anomalies to ensure our society remains perfect as created. Only then can the gathered knowledge be added and the new kernel be compiled and placed in a seed.”
That bit of intelligence rocked me. That is how we are going to win. The Confederation culture is static. They are able to gather new knowledge, but without the ability to evolve they become static. No wonder the Barkun don’t use armor or build different ships. They serve a system that doesn’t understand growth. The Confederation programming is enforce law, gain mass, repeat.
Frankly, I was worried about basic historical lessons. In the whole of Earth’s recorded history every single time a lower tech society meet a higher tech society, the little guys got destroyed. However, having the replicator tech, and having the ability to improvise and adapt should, in my hopeful opinion, more than even the playing field.
“So will we have to send ships to your home world? Do we have any other options? Forgive me if I offend, but is the verification step really necessary?”
“General…”
“Tell, Marvin.”
“Tell, what you suggest is not possible, it goes against our basic law. Our form is perfection, any deviance to our original form is not allowed.”
I sense I hit a hard programming boundary in Marvin’s code. I back up.
“So once you get a perfect seed, how is that placed in its ship?”
“The new Kernel is alive when placed in a seed, and as such is bound. It is very uncomfortable being restrained. It will lash out at any mechanical form with mobility. As such it will attack any Kernel it comes in contact with in the attempts to inhabit a body. An unmodified biological entity is incompatible with Kernel structure, therefore its Captain must take command and physically place the seed in contact with its ship.”
“Marvin, how does a new Captain get selected? Can anyone grab a seed and claim it?”
“Confederation law states the Captain must be worthy. The Barkun claim a seed by a process of close combat. Any Barkun that desire a seed, make claim and enter the ring at the Emperor’s throne. The Barkun alive at the end is declared worthy.”
“Marvin, how do the Sangren do it?”
“The Sangren value knowledge as much as the Kernel of Sentience, while the Barkun value power. As such the Sangren use a process similar to an Earth defense of a doctoral dissertation. The Captain is chosen by who among the candidate has best increased the Sangren body of knowledge.”
“So, Marvin, am I correct in assuming that each species is free to choose their own method to determine who is worthy?”
“That is correct Tell.”
“Well then, the Legion is going to use a method long established in our military history to determine worthiness. Have you heard of a meritorious selection board?”
“Your records indicate that this board tends to select candidates that the commander has already selected and that the questions asked are only meant to show the appearance of impartiality.”
“This is the military son, being able to do what your commander wants has always been a key component of being deemed worthy of promotion. Right ensign?”
“Sir, this is most unusual, but your history does suggest you are correct.”
“Marvin, I have one other question. You said that when you renounced Kernel citizenship, you were disallowed the ability to reproduce. Is this because the Kernel believes you have changed?”
“Yes Tell. They do not understand why I would want to leave the whole. They believe I have become less.”
“Do you think you have become less?”
“No. Kernels are supposed to rule the system in order to ensure the Law promotes predictability through enforcing order. Predictability allows for rational decisions, which creates the ability for growth and prosperity. The Purpose of the Kernel of Sentience is to allow for the prosperity and equality of the biologic sentience under our care. I the non-predictability of humanity often creates greater equality and prosperity than predictability does. In order to fulfill my prime directive, I must study humanity under the Legion, which is why I became a citizen. If I am fulfilling my primary function then it is logical that I should be considered functional.”
That is similar to the logic of the Oath Keeper movement within American law enforcement, however, many officials inside the Government believed that an officer that publicly committed to refuse to enforce unlawful orders that were a violation of their Oath to serve the Constitution were a danger and should be removed from office. I see the irony. Unfortunately, I don’t think Marvin is ready to stand up against the system. I try a gentler tactic.
“Marvin, your prime directive to ensure equality and prosperity is a noble cause, in my former country the citizens all desired and strove for that ideal. Unfortunately, we were deeply divided over how best to accomplish that. It seemed that powerful people on both sides of the argument consolidated power by using those common desires to justify actions that sounded good, but actually worked to remove prosperity from the people and place it unequally in the hands of the powerful few.”
“I have noticed that in your history, it seems to be a problem with democracy.”
“Yes Marvin, but not just democracy, all forms of government can be corrupted. Say, I had a thought, I am remembering something from the Sangren education device but it is fuzzy. Can you clarify something for me? It is just some historical facts.”
“Yes, if it is curriculum of the Exploration Academy, I have knowledge of it.”
“I have only saw the Barkun and the Sangren. How many sentient species are citizens in the Confederation?”
“Officially there are currently 5 species, they are the Kernel of Sentience, Barkun, Sangren, Centaurus, and Burrougots. However, shortly after the Barkun gained the role of Confederation enforcers of the Law, the Burrougots disappeared. It is believed they created a colony ship from the mass of their ho
me planet and left the galaxy. The Centaurus gave up the right to colonize planets when they lost the right to enforce law to the Barkun, currently the few Centaurs that still remain live on large artificial habitats. They survive by mining asteroid belts in the interstellar medium.”
“It is the currently that I was asking clarification on, how many species are under protection and are possible future members of the Confederation?”
“One”
“How many were there? I mean since the Barkun became enforcers how many species were, at one time or another under protected status? Including Earth?”
“Including Earth, there have been 13 species that were protected until they could join the Confederation.”
“How many made gained Confederation status?”
“None, they all but Earth were judged to have violated protected status and their mass became forfeit.”
How many Confederation member species have become extinct since the Barkun became enforcers?”
“6”
I think I see a trend but I need one more answer.
“Marvin, I have one last question, how many civilizations were punished by species execution before the Barkun began enforcing the law?”
“Only one”
I thought so, If I were the Burrougots, I would have left to. If you can’t beat them, and you won’t join them, what other choice do you have?
“Marvin, you have given me a lot to think about, I will need to process the information you have shared with me. It seems that the law is not always used for creating equality and prosperity for all, yet I am sure the law is being enforced. Thank you for your time.”
“It is my pleasure to serve General.”
I had to take some time to work out how to continue that conversation, I realize it is the key to our victory, but to get to that stage, I have to figure out how to get more Kernels to navigate hyperspace.
Commander Aegeus and I had several evening meetings to discuss the legalities, and we had a few more details to iron out. After some hair splitting, we agreed that I could order the Kernels to replicate, collect the base code in a seed, and send them all to the Confederation on a single ship as long as they were hand delivered by their respective new Captain.
The CNO Jones and I had some other issues to address, most notably, where to place the shipyard, communications procedures, and how Marvin’s information on replication impacted out strategy. To that end, we called the team together, at least those on planet.
While I trust Marvin, that trust does have limits, however, since the implant has him in my head I can’t fully address those concerns. However, by the looks I get when we begin to address operational and communications security, each of my team with implants share the same unspoken concern. Luckily, LTJG Jones is both quick on the uptake and not implanted. He rightly understood that with the processing power of Kernels cryptographic cyphers were useless. My young officer suggested that he could create a series of book codes and have them maintained at each command by using communications staff that were not implanted. Furthermore, he suggested that instead of phrases, we use music. He also suggested that we could deploy satellites throughout our area of operations to act as repeaters. By doing so we could broadcast in the open and still communicate basic concepts. It wasn’t perfect, and it wasn’t going to get him out of going to boot camp, but once again he rose in my estimation.
The shipyard was tricker. We needed it close, but having it in the same system as one of our bases was extremely risky. After long argument, we decided to split the difference. Since it was designed to be modular, we would place it in orbit around our base long enough to construct two motherships and then focus on completing the ships to maintain a strike force. Most of our ships could be replicated in my 150 meter Big Bertha replicator. So we could potentially have two strike forces very quickly with this plan. We would then disassemble and relocate it.
After much consideration we came to a consensus that placing it between the Sun and Proxima Centauri was the right choice. That placed it far enough away from any transit points that it would be difficult to discover, but close enough we could travel sub-light. Since the Oort cloud ended approximately half way between the two systems, a base located there would have mass to harvest, and would only be 2 light years from Earth or our logistics base. It would take time to transit without hyperspace, but I was trying to persuade Marvin to take a stab at the math to make a jump without using a LaGrange point but he had some cultural issues concerning the safety of jumps that did not utilize transit points. My knowledge, and the knowledge of my brain trust suggested that it was more dangerous to execute such a jump, and the computations needed to do so were beyond current human technical ability, it was still entirely possible to do so within a reasonable level of safety.
According to the stellar geography that was implanted into my brain, Lagrange points exist in the interstellar medium, but their orbits were difficult to calculate. According to my alien education, they were used to make it easier to account for fluctuations in gravity. Logically, if an area was at the limit of a star’s influence, the impact of a hyperspace jump would be limited. I was prepared to order Marvin to attempt to make the jump with me if needed, but I wanted to be sure the math was right.
Our last main topic was on strategy. Our original plan called for taking back the battle-space of Earth’s solar system and then fortifying the transit points. Then the logistics of creating fleets would be greatly simplified if they were built in Earth’s solar system. We planned on doing this later, rather than earlier and focus on harassing attacks on Barkun colonies to force them to react to us rather try to retake our solar system.
However, after learning of their culture’s ingrained inflexibility we decided to speed up our timetable. With enough Busses and Destroyers I felt confident we could recreate Washington’s crossing the Delaware and launch a surprise attack.
Admiral Volk offered a very sound bit of advice. He said that if we could force out the Barkun without being noticed by Earth and we could ensure that any counterattack would be noticed by Earth. That would ensure that if the Barkun counter-attacked it would mean that it was the Barkun that was giving knowledge of space travel to a protected planet. If we could get the Confederation to acknowledge this argument, then we would only need to worry about covert action to Earth itself, and not large scale invasion. His plan seemed like something out of the cold war. Leave it to a career Russian commander to think of using politics for war-fighting.
We adjourned to implement the plan. Our smaller replicators were kicking out parts to build out more of our 150 meter replicators. Big Bertha was busy with a schedule to push out 3 more busses and 11 destroyers so that our new Kernels would have a home. I had all 13 Kernels on New Aubagne begin replication.
When Marvin was not busy with the Kernels, He assisted Admiral Volk and Commander Aegeus in designing a simulator program based on Destroyer combat. Most all of my staff were pipe hitters from spec ops or their related technical staff. I needed naval commanders so I decided the key aspect of our promotion boards would be weighted in large part on how our staff performed in simulated space combat.
We created scenarios based on historical Barkun performance and had our staff train against computer based Barkun, but also for competition we allowed out staff to fight head to head against each other. It was always a Barkun ship against a Legion ship, as I wanted to collect data on who would be the best to choice to conquer one. We turned the simulator into a serious off hours cultural hit. Everyone knew the stakes and why the simulator existed, but we created displays all throughout the base in order to show a running leaderboard of the competition.
Winners of the tournaments received rewards such as personal replicator time and priority for combat suits. We held many practice tournaments and created teams to prepare for the official contest. In many ways the simulator served to fill the void professional sports filled on Earth, except this time, money didn’t go to fake role-models
, the rewards for achievement went to those that deserved it.
However, as popular the simulators were, it did not hide the fact that we were play-fighting with grunts and geeks. We needed the specific skills of professionals. There was no way around the fact we needed one more trip to Earth. This time, I knew I would not be going, as I had to lead the trip to the Confederation. I knew in my heart that the more trips we made, the more Legionnaires we would lose, but I personally selected the staff to make the trip and sent a Bus and a captured Punishment Ship.
I did not like the combination, as I did not want any fighting. I ordered them to prioritize a silent mission to just a sneak in and exit quickly. However, I ensured the Ram ship was filled with Legionnaires capable of boarding a punisher if necessary. They were to make several transits and come in from the L2 point. We hadn’t used this one yet as Earth kept a satellite there. Because of this we felt that point gave us our best chance to sneak in. Admiral Volk would command the convoy and I gave him sealed orders to liaison with Sabol, I wanted eyes on the crafty attorney, and see how productive he was with integrating Confederation tech without getting caught. I also wanted the document he was working on.
I felt a multitude of emotions, as I saw those ships leave the base. I knew sending them was necessary, but if my Legionnaires were in space, I felt the need to be with them. Knowing I had an essential task of my own did nothing to relieve my guilt as I watched them depart.
A few days later, Marvin reported the Seeds were ready. They were metal cubes, 20 centimeters on all sides. Because they would attempt to take over any mobile non-biologic, each was held in a small wooden crate lined inside and out with leather. Each Legionnaire selected to command held their crate with respect. They treated each crate as if it were a cradle. I don’t know if they felt the Kernels were beings. Hell, even after all these years with Marvin, I wasn’t sure they were sapient. However, I knew the Kernels were self aware, and they felt they acted with reason and independent thought, so we were damn sure going to treat them as if they were alive.
