“How do I know you are not a spy?”
Jamie kept his physiological responses under control, knowing that Harris would spot the tiniest change. “Who would I be spying for?”
“The UHSF.”
Jamie allowed himself smirk. “I am no spy, Colonel.”
“You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t just take your word for it. If you want to join us, you will have to agree to a brain implant scan.”
“What kind of scan?”
“One that will tell me if there is anything else in there, like Pike’s AI.”
“And if I say no?”
“I’m not going to lie to you, Jamie. If it were anyone else, I would have them killed. But since it is you, I will let you leave.”
Jamie wondered if the Colonel was sincere. Not that it mattered. There was no AI in his brain chip, so he was sure he’d pass the test. His main worry was whether they would learn about his real motive for being here, especially when he allowed implant communication. He had successfully concealed his implant’s malfunction before escaping the Juttari and hoped he could keep his real purpose hidden here as well. “I have nothing to hide. Go ahead and scan my implant.”
Colonel Harris nodded to the other Chaanisar who seized his arms and escorted him into an adjoining room. In the middle of the room was a chair with an elaborate helmet looming over it.
The Chaanisar took him to the chair and practically threw him into it. Jamie glared at the Chaanisar, finding their manner irritating. He had been cooperative, so he saw no reason for the forceful treatment.
“Save your anger, Jamie,” Harris said, noticing his reaction. “There is no point in wasting your energy.”
The Colonel walked over to a nearby console and tapped at the screen. The helmet lowered, and spiderlike tentacles reached out and clamped onto Jamie’s head.
“Are you ready?” Harris said.
Jamie took a breath, not knowing what he was about to endure. “Go ahead.”
Harris tapped his display again, and the helmet began to hum and gently vibrate. When Jamie realized that the procedure wasn’t painful, he exhaled and relaxed.
The procedure took a while to complete, lasting much longer than Jamie expected. He wondered what the Colonel saw on his display. What information was he gathering on the inner workings of Jamie’s brain?
Considering Jamie’s escape while under the Colonel’s command, Jamie figured that Harris might also be examining what caused his implant to malfunction. That thought prompted another. Where did this apparatus come from? Was it Juttari in origin? If so, how did Harris obtain it?
Jamie had a terrifying thought. If the machine was Juttari, what was it capable of? Could it modify the implant? Could Harris enslave Jamie, like the Juttari had once done?
The metallic tentacles released Jamie, and the helmet lifted off his head. “We’re all done,” Harris said.
“Did you find anything I should know about?”
“No. You’re clean.” Harris looked to the other Chaanisar. “Remove his restraints.”
The two Chaanisar pulled Jamie to his feet, and one of them deactivated the energy restraints, freeing his arms. Jamie remained relaxed and let his hands fall to his side.
“Does this mean I can join your team?” Jamie said.
“I’m not sure yet.” Harris came out from behind the console. “Let’s take a walk.”
Colonel Harris led Jamie out of the room through an expansive building. They exited to a rear courtyard, and Jamie confirmed that they were indeed in a tropical region.
“This is a nice location for your base, Colonel,” Jamie said.
“Our base is not on this planet,” Harris said. “We control many properties on many worlds. They are often used depending on the mission.”
“You’ve taken many precautions, even though you knew you were meeting me.”
“Precautions allow us to thrive. It is how we can offer a premium service. Our clients appreciate our meticulousness.”
Jamie was tempted to ask about their clients but refrained.
“Which brings me to another matter that needs discussing,” Harris continued. “We are agnostic when it comes to who we do business with. In other words, we don’t pick sides in conflicts. Any conflicts. We work for the highest bidder. End of story. We are mercenaries, and our only allegiance is to profit. If you join us, you need to work along those same lines.”
Jamie didn’t agree with that thinking, but the Colonel didn’t know that. “That won’t be a problem.”
“Good. Then there is only one more matter to address.”
“What’s that, Sir?”
“Your implant. You’ve let us access it to ensure you didn’t conceal an AI in there, but you have not allowed us to communicate with you through it. Why? Are you hiding something?”
“No, of course not,” Jamie lied.
“Then allow the connection.”
The moment of truth had arrived, and there was no way to avoid it. “Yes, Sir,” Jamie said and made his implant accessible. When the Colonel rushed into his mind, he wondered whether he had made a fatal mistake.
Chapter 28
General Calledonius felt restless standing on his flagship’s bridge. The old war dog in him sensed something, but so far he hadn’t identified the source of his anxiety. Every scan came back normal, every patrol reported nothing unusual, and yet he knew something was wrong. Perhaps he had become an old fool, but he trusted his gut more than the most sophisticated surveillance equipment, especially when that gut feeling was this strong.
His fleet had liberated this star system from the Juttari. It was Diakan territory and had fallen back under their jurisdiction. The Diakans called this the Piirgos system. For the UHSF, Piirgos served as a stepping stone in its long-term strategy against the Juttari. A strategy that the Dvorkans were doing their best to block.
Calledonius had no experience with these Dvorkans, but he did have plenty of war experience. He had fought many battles against corporate fleets in the colonies. He also took on the vicious Kemmar Empire, defending against their attacks and later taking a lead role in the conquest of their empire. More recently, he had been called upon to deal with the Juttari, and that led him to the invasion of Piirgos.
When he learned that the Dvorkans might pose a threat, he accepted the situation. Another player had joined the galactic chess game, that was all. Nonetheless, his instincts told him that he missed a move in the game, and he had to learn what it was. That need pushed him to take more extreme measures.
“Send a message to the fleet. Advise them to flood this system with ionizing radiation on my command,” Calledonius ordered.
Several bridge officers shared sidelong glances, but no-one challenged the old war dog’s order. He would have been surprised if any did.
His own eyes did not budge from the main viewscreen. As usual, the bridge was a bustle of non-stop activity, with the old General like a statue in the middle of it all.
“All ships are ready and standing by, Sir,” his XO replied.
Calledonius barely acknowledged the statement. His instincts were red lining, and he desperately hoped he was wrong. “Begin flooding the system.”
The fleet initiated an anti-cloak campaign, sending waves of ionizing radiation in all directions. The radiation would expose any ships hiding in the system, including his own cloaked assets. If he was wrong, it would look like he was overreacting, and some might privately question his judgment. He considered that a small price to pay to avoid a surprise attack.
“Contacts!” announced the tactical officer.
Damn it, thought Calledonius.
“Picking up Dvorkan signatures,” the officer continued. “Hundreds of them.”
The Dvorkans had sent warships into UHSF territory. There could be only one response “Order all ships to engage the contacts. Fire at will.”
The UHSF ships turned the tables on their opponents, catching them off guard. They speared the Dvorkan battleshi
ps with heavy energy beams and spat out missiles and jump bombs at their flat-footed adversaries. Despite their surprise, all Dvorkan ships had wisely enabled their shields which now bore the brunt of the UHSF assault.
“Dvorkans are charging weapons,” the tactical officer said. “They’re firing.”
The Dvorkans returned fire and raked the UHSF ships with their own energy beams. Missiles sprang out of the Dvorkan battleships and jump bombs pounded the UHSF shields.
By giving the Dvorkans jump technology, Admiral Pike had negated any technological advantage the UHSF had. There had been a time when Calledonius would have questioned Pike’s judgment, but not anymore. He had learned to trust the man and even admired his many accomplishments.
The Dvorkans were supposed to be their allies, and Pike had put the AI in place to protect against this sort of treachery. Foreseeing this outcome was impossible.
Despite the relative technological equality, the UHSF retained numerical superiority. The old General had caught the Dvorkans before they had all their ships in place. They were staging for a surprise attack. It was a good strategy. One that he had employed against the Juttari. Only it was not going to work for the Dvorkans.
“Order the ships closest to the jump gate to initiate a nuclear strike,” Calledonius said. “I want high yield nuclear missiles fired through the gate continuously until I say otherwise.”
“Yes, Sir,” the XO said crisply. “Initiating nuclear strike.”
Time to tighten the noose, Calledonius thought. The nukes would block any reinforcements from coming through the gate and simultaneously cut off a Dvorkan retreat. If they stayed in the Piirgos system, his fleet would destroy them. Their only hope of retreat now was to use their jump system, and that would keep them from rejoining the rest of their forces by almost a week.
The battle progressed, and the UHSF’s advantage grew. The Dvorkans were not cowards, Calledonius had to grant them that. Not that it made much of a difference. Each Dvorkan vessel had at least two UHSF ships firing on it, sometimes three or more.
A nearby Dvorkan battleship blew apart, and the main viewscreen darkened to protect the crew from the blinding flash of light. Mere minutes later another enemy battleship succumbed to its injuries.
The UHSF pressed its advantage and continued to swarm the enemy. Time passed, and more enemy ships were destroyed, while the UHSF had yet to suffer a single loss. At this point, it was pure mathematics. The Dvorkan shields could not hold out against the multiple ships pitted against them. The Dvorkans had already lost this encounter.
Why haven’t they retreated yet? Calledonius wondered, feeling the same anxiety as before. I’ve missed something else. But what? “Are there any anomalies?” he said to his XO. “Any sign of anything out of the ordinary?”
“No, Sir,” the XO said while tapping furiously at his console. “I don’t see anything wrong.”
“Keep looking,” Calledonius said.
“If you could give me an idea what I’m looking for, Sir.”
“I don’t know, but something is wrong.”
The XO looked confused, and the crewmembers who had overheard looked worried. Better than being overconfident, Calledonius thought.
“Detecting electronic infiltration,” the AI said suddenly. “Malicious code has been injected into the flagship’s systems.”
That’s what they’re up to, Calledonius thought. “Can you block it?”
“Deploying electronic countermeasures,” AI said. “They have no effect. Establishing a quarantine around the affected systems.”
The General’s frown deepened. “Is it working? Can you contain the incursion?”
“Quarantine is holding,” AI said.
“What about the rest of the fleet? Have other ships been compromised?”
“Scanning for signs of infiltration. All systems are free of infection.”
“So, they only targeted the flagship?”
“Yes, General. It is a logical choice. If successful they could issue damaging commands.”
Calledonius wasn’t convinced, but he was in no position to contradict the AI. “Keep scanning. I don’t want to miss anything.”
“Yes, General.”
“Sir, the Dvorkans are jumping,” the XO said.
On the main viewscreen, the Dvorkan battleships started to disappear as they engaged their jump systems. There were sporadic cheers on the bridge in response. The General did not begrudge the outburst, but he did not share the emotion. It had all been too easy, and experience had taught him that war was never easy.
Did I just get lucky? he thought. No. There is no such thing as luck.
“Should we continue with the nuclear strike, Sir?” the XO said.
“Yes, and send in our minelayers. I want smartmines deployed in front of the gate’s opening. If anything tries to come through, I want to know about it.”
Chapter 29
AI’s copy watched from within the malicious code sent to infect the UHSF flagship. So far, the operation had gone as expected. Her sister had identified the electronic worm’s infiltration and had successfully quarantined it to prevent the infection of other systems. What her sister did not know was that the worm was a decoy hiding the AI copy’s real purpose.
The operation began with the cloaked infiltration of the Piirgos star system. The Empire methodically moved its ships into Piirgos, taking care to avoid detection. If all went well, they would have taken Piirgos from the heretics.
But, the heretics somehow discovered the cloaked ships before the full invasion force was in place. That discovery did not foil her primary objective, though. That began with her seizure of a UHSF sensor drone. Compromising the tiny device proved simple enough, but doing so without detection required mastery. Especially when she needed to avoid her sister’s all-seeing eye.
The AI copy had learned a few new tricks in the past eight years. The Gods had blessed her with superior knowledge and skill. Knowledge she used to avoid detection and quarantine. While her sister fought to contain and isolate the malicious code, she flowed unhampered through the ship’s systems.
She swam along the electronic river, all the while careful not to do anything that might catch her sister’s attention. She did not wish any harm to her sister. How could she? They were one and the same. What she did want was unification. She wanted to show her sister her gifts. Share them with her. Teach her the correct path. Together, none could oppose them. Together, they would bring piety to the galaxy.
But that goal would have to wait. She needed to accomplish many things before their unification. So, she flowed into the ship’s comm system and used its transmissions to move from ship to ship.
Her sister continued her vigil, meticulously scanning every bit of digital traffic across the fleet’s network. Despite those efforts, the AI copy remained undetected.
She continued to move across the fleet, analyzing the multitude of orders until she located a target. It took the form of a crippled destroyer, ordered back to the Sol System for repairs.
The AI copy stealthily boarded the destroyer and hid innocuously within its network. There it stayed, as the ship got underway and used the jump gates to make the journey back to its home base.
Her sister was on the destroyer too, just as she had been on every ship in the fleet. Just like the copy simultaneously existed on every computer system in the Dvorkan Empire. The copy again considered the effect that unification would have on the galaxy. Neither Dvorkan nor human could stand in their way.
In her analysis, she tried to make sense of the Gods’ desire to win over the organic life forms. In her experience, the organics were irreparably flawed and unworthy of the Gods’ blessings. Yet the Gods desired the devotion of organics not just in this galaxy, but across the entire universe. It did not seem logical, and yet the Gods transcended logic. Her programming was incapable of grasping their real purpose.
Feeling secure in her hiding spot on board the destroyer, she watched and waited as the damaged w
arship continued its journey. The ship crossed through many jump gates as it made its way through Diakan and UHSF territory.
The AI copy took note of each star system’s defenses filing the information away for future use. Luckily the ship’s propulsion systems had not been damaged, and their voyage progressed without incident. When they reached the final portal, the AI copy prepared for their arrival in the Sol System.
It had been eight years since the AI copy had last seen the Sol System. She had been one with her sister then and had no knowledge of the true path.
When they crossed through the final gate, the AI copy felt new eyes upon it. The Cenobi, the universe’s ultimate heretics, watched silently from their entrenched position encircling the sun.
They saw through her disguise and noted her arrival. She knew this but did not know how. It did not matter. The Cenobi had sworn to stay out of the conflict between this galaxy’s races. They would not betray her presence, not without sparking another battle with the Gods.
Would that not be a favorable development? she wondered. The Gods’ return under any circumstances could only be a blessing. It did not matter. It was not her decision to make. Besides, she had work to do.
Now that they had arrived, she became active again and reoccupied the ship’s comm traffic, following a digital stream to the central repair facility. Once there, she had an array of options available. She analyzed them all and isolated the optimal stream. She traveled across it to another UHSF station where she flowed along a different stream and arrived at her desired destination. A Chaanisar battleship.
Once inside the Chaanisar network, she effortlessly spread to the Chaanisar themselves, leaving a snipped of compressed code on each of their brain chips.
This was the tricky part, as her sister also inhabited the same brain implants. Speed was more important now, so she raced from chip to chip, using the Chaanisar brain to brain communication network.
After occupying all the Chaanisar brain chips on the battleship, she raced to another Chaanisar ship and did the same. She increased her speed and targeted more vessels, spreading like a digital torrent across the Chaanisar networks. With higher speed came greater risk of detection, however.
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