Command Decisions (Book 3 of The Empire of Bones Saga)

by Terry Mixon

  Something was very wrong. This ship was operational. Or mostly operational. He didn’t sense any access to the ship’s computer system. He hadn’t scanned for an operating fusion plant as they approached. A rookie mistake. None of the other derelicts had power.

  “I’m not sensing a computer, but this ship is alive. Make a quick pass through marine country and we’ll head for engineering,” he ordered.

  Reese made a gesture and the marines spread out. Marine country on this ship was huge. Quadruple the size of the one on Courageous, at least.

  The armory hatch stood open. It shouldn’t have been, but he wasn’t going to complain. Racks of weapons and armor filled it. Even powered armor similar to what they’d recovered from the Rebel Empire destroyer.

  Jared probed one with his implants, bringing it online. He found no indication that the armor was handicapped like the suits they’d recovered. It was of Old Empire manufacture and still operational.

  Which made no sense. They’d had to replace power cells in the armor on Courageous. Nothing lasted forever. Someone had done the same here in the not too distant past.

  He turned to Reese. “Someone went to a lot of trouble to get this ship powered. The armor is good, too. At least this suit.”

  The marine officer hefted one of the flechette rifles. “This, too. We need to find out if anyone is on this ship before we have a surprise in some corridor.”

  “Can we do that?” Jared asked one of the engineers that had accompanied them.

  “Engineering has access to all the ship’s primary systems. We can scan through the ship’s cameras from there. At least we can if the ship is as operational as it looks.”

  “Then let’s get going. Stunners only. If you see someone, take them down quietly.”

  The walk to engineering was uneventful, though stressful. The main hatch stood open, another oddity. The low hum of operating fusion plants felt completely normal.

  An engineer brought the main console alive with a touch. “All fusion plants online. Drives online. All primary ship’s systems online, except the ship’s computer. The vid from the fusion plants show that they’re heavily shielded. We wouldn’t have been able to detect them from outside the hull. This ship would look just as dead as the rest. I’ll start scanning through the camera feeds.”

  Jared barely heard him. This massive war machine was operational. That was the very last thing he’d expected to hear.

  “I have something, Captain.”

  He returned his attention to the engineer. “What?”

  “This is the main computer room. The vid feed shows that the wall shielding hiding the ship’s computer is open. The computer is gone. Nothing left.”

  “As far along as this ship was, I’d have expected the computer to be installed.”

  “They’d have installed the computer as soon as the power was on. It’s possible someone removed it after the fact.”

  “They brought the ship online and then removed the computer? That makes no sense.”

  The engineer shrugged. “Maybe they thought they’d operate it in manual mode? Maybe they didn’t trust it.”

  Jared nodded. “Finish scanning the ship’s vid feeds. We need to know if anyone else is on board.”

  It turned out that the ship was empty of people. Living ones, anyway. They found a dozen bodies on the flag bridge. Not like when they found Courageous, though.

  These people were dressed in a mix of Fleet uniforms and civilian clothes. Based on the weapons laying on the deck, they’d used neural disruptors to kill themselves. The bodies looked like they’d been there for years. He was glad he still had his helmet on, because the stench had to be terrible.

  Who the hell were those people, and what had happened on this ship?

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Once the teams had begun stripping Scott Pond of missiles, Kelsey led Carl Owlet and his team to the computer center. The horror of finding the dead crew laying where they’d fallen still tore at her heart.

  The ship’s computer was intact. Carl connected a portable power unit to the main console and brought it to life. It was locked, but he’d become quite the hacker. “I can’t bring the AI online, but I can check the data. If it looks uncompromised, I can copy what we want onto the portable drives.”

  He worked for a few minutes. “I think it’s clean.”

  That’s when the emergency lights came on, startling them both.

  She activated her comm. “The lights just came on.”

  Baxter answered her. “Sorry. That was me. One of the fusion units looked intact, so I brought it online at minimal power. That won’t be detectable except at extremely close range, but it will speed the extraction of missiles by about an hour.”

  “A heads up would be nice next time.”

  “Did you just say that to me?”

  She laughed. “Okay, I’m the impulsive one, but still. Let me know before you spring another surprise like that.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said with a laugh of his own.”

  Kelsey turned her attention to Owlet. “Did that activate the main computer?”

  “No, I hit the kill switch as soon as the lights came on. It might object to us being here.”

  “Isolate the AI and bring it online. I want to talk to it.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  The computer team quickly disconnected the external control runs from the main computer. Carl initiated the boot sequence and Kelsey felt the AI coming online through her implants.

  Scott Pond, can you hear me?

  This unit hears you. You are not authorized to access this unit.

  Kelsey had been through this song and dance before. Thankfully, she now had authentications to prove she did have the authorization. She sent the AI her authentication code.

  This unit stands corrected, Highness. You have full authorization. How may this unit assist you?

  What was the last status of your ship before you shut down?

  This unit took heavy damage in battle while escorting evacuation ships. The Fleet escorts attacked a large task force of rebel vessels to allow the civilians time to flee. At the time this unit was crippled, the loyal Fleet units were losing that fight.

  She could see it in her mind. Some world threatened by the rebels evacuating as many people as they could. The loyal Fleet units turning to throw themselves into the faces of overwhelming odds so that their charges could escape. She hoped they had.

  And your captain purged the atmosphere?

  Correct. This unit shut the ship down as soon as that was complete.

  The rebels brought you to Boxer Station, which is now in enemy hands. Over five hundred years has passed. Loyal Fleet personnel are prisoners on board that station and we’re salvaging your remaining missiles for our ship. I’ll copy your files and take them with us. If we escape, perhaps you will live again.

  This unit is not capable of desiring awareness. You are welcome to anything this unit controls. If this unit may be of use in assisting your plan, please use it.

  She activated her channel to Baxter. “What is the condition of the engines?”

  “The grav drives look operational, but the flip drives are trashed. Why?”

  “We might be able to use this ship as a distraction during the raid. If Jared thinks it best, of course. Give the drives a closer look. I’ll reconnect the ship’s computer if they work. This ship might be able to draw off some of the destroyers when the time comes to attack.”

  “Will do. Baxter out.”

  Scott Pond, I’m going to reconnect you to your ship. You will do nothing that would draw attention to yourself unless ordered to by the commanding officer of Courageous or myself. Is that clear?

  Orders understood. This unit will comply. Warning. This unit cannot operate weapons systems without direct human control.

  That won’t be an issue. I envision you distracting enemy units while we conduct our raid. If your grav drives are in good condition, you may be able to lead those shi
ps a great distance away with your superior speed.

  This unit can and will comply with that plan. If the battle screens were functional, that would allow this unit more flexibility.

  I’ll have our engineer look at them. Stand by for instructions.

  Acknowledged.

  “Baxter, give the combat screens a look, too. They would be useful.”

  “Roger.”

  She turned to Owlet. “Get the computer reconnected to the ship. Be sure that it’s able to control its engines and screens.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  He worked for a few minutes at the console. “The computer is fully connected. It has redundant control of the engines and screens. We need to start copying the data we want.”

  “Make it happen. We probably won’t get a chance to get this kind of information again for a while.”

  Her implants pinged her with an incoming call from her pinnace. It was the pilot. “Highness, I have a tight beam call from Courageous. The captain wants to speak to you. Voice only.”

  She knew he wouldn’t call at all unless something important had come up. Her stomach went into freefall. “Put him through.”

  “Kelsey, we’ve discovered something that changes the situation for us.” He sounded pleased.

  “Us, too. You go first.”

  “We found a superdreadnaught. Well, several actually, but this one is operational and undamaged. It’s powered and empty, though the circumstances are a bit murky.”

  She whistled. “Wow. That changes things, all right. How is that even possible?”

  “I’m not sure, but some people have put a lot of work into this ship with an eye to keeping it from being discovered. The fusion plants are online and heavily shielded. There is no exterior sign that it was ever touched. What little information I have indicates it’s a new ship. The rebels probably seized it from the construction slip.”

  “What does the computer say?”

  “Nothing. They removed it. It looks like they wanted it to be manual only. I want you to come over here and see if you can make any sense of this. Baxter can handle the missile extraction mission. What’s your surprise?”

  She laughed. “Mine is small potatoes compared to your news. Scott Pond’s power and grav drives are functional. I’ve brought the computer online and we can use the ship as a distraction during the raid, if you decide we need one.”

  “That’s not a minor find,” he said. “I was imagining we could use the superdreadnaught for something like that. Her name is Invincible.”

  Kelsey shook her head, even though she knew he couldn’t see her. “It would be more useful if we could steal her. Think of what a ship like that could do for us in a fight. If Courageous could stomp the entire Fleet back home, how would Invincible do?”

  “Remember how a fully armed Courageous could fight off half a dozen destroyers? This ship could do the same to that many battlecruisers. But not without a computer. Could we strip the system from Scott Pond?”

  “We could take the computer, but that would be a waste of a valuable tool. We have a perfectly good system sitting on Courageous.”

  The line was silent for a moment. “You mean the AI? The real one? Is that safe? We don’t know squat about the things.”

  “Let me bring Owlet into the conversation.” She pinged the man’s suit. “Carl, hypothetically, could the AI we recovered from the asteroid control a ship?”

  He turned toward her with a look of confusion showing through his faceplate. “I suppose so, if it had the right support files. It would need them to run a ship’s systems. The computer center would also need to be large enough for it to fit.”

  “What about the stability of something like that?” Jared asked. “A ship’s computer is a very stable piece of hardware. The one compromised by the virus on Erorsi excepted.”

  “The code is pretty clean, so I think an uncompromised AI would be stable. One problem, though. It wouldn’t have any experience. Unlike a regular computer, those things learn as they do things. It might make some mistakes if not properly supervised. Why are we having this conversation?”

  “We might have found a usable ship. A big one. If we can steal it, it might prove very helpful later. It would also allow us to pack more people in as we run. Courageous is big, but taking on three thousand extra bodies would strain her to the breaking point.”

  The graduate student reached to scratch his chin, but his suit foiled him. “We’re pulling the data from Scott Pond, including her operational files. They would have a lot of data in them on ship’s systems. Maybe not the same as on whatever kind of ship you have.”

  “It’s a Holyfield class superdreadnaught,” Jared said. “Kelsey, ask the computer if it has data on the systems used on one.”

  Scott Pond, do your operational files have data on a Holyfield class superdreadnaught? Specifically, the systems in one. If we used your files as a base, could a computer control one?

  This unit has data on all ship’s systems. Multiple classes of ships use the same systems and this unit has them all.

  “Jared, the operational files have the requisite data.”

  “Then copy those files and get over here. Bring Baxter. I want to get this AI online as quickly as possible.”

  “Will do. Bandar out.” She cut the channel. “Get the copy started right now, Carl. Also, call back over to Courageous and get them packing the AI hardware into the next cutter. We’ll take it over to Invincible once we’re ready.”

  She called Baxter and explained the situation to him. He seemed boggled, but didn’t let that slow him down. He was ready to go by the time Owlet had the critical data copied. They left the crippled battlecruiser, unloaded their load of missiles on Courageous, and ghosted along to the superdreadnaught.

  Kelsey only had passive scanners to work with, but she scrutinized the massive warship as they came in to dock. There was no indication the ship had power. None at all. It looked dead in space.

  One of the pinnaces had undocked so that they could mate with the ship. Its pilot attached it to the hull nearby. No doubt he’d come back as soon as their ride departed.

  Baxter took charge of the AI hardware while Carl looked over the data banks that came over with the AI.

  She turned to the hatch when Jared walked in. “Hey. This thing is a monster. A real find if we can get her out.”

  “That’s the big question, isn’t it? I think I have some answers as to what was going on here, but I’m a little in the dark as to why. Come help me figure this out.”

  They walked down the corridor toward the lift. She still couldn’t believe how new the ship looked. She hadn’t bothered to put her helmet on since they’d re-boarded the pinnace. She held it comfortably in the crook of her arm.”

  Jared gestured at it when they reached the lift. “We moved the bodies we found, but the stench is still pretty bad. Since you have enhanced olfactory implants, you might want to put that back on. I intend to.”

  She did as he instructed while the lift took them deeper into the ship. The doors opened onto a flag bridge she’d seen before. In the message that Emperor Marcus had sent. It wasn’t the same ship, but the layout was identical.

  There was a bronze plaque beside the lift. It had the name of the ship, but the completion date was blank. She supposed that made sense. The ship hadn’t been complete when the enemy captured it.

  “This is huge. Is the main bridge bigger?”

  “Believe it or not, no. It’s smaller. The flag bridge housed the staff to command a fleet in space. It’s like the operations center on Courageous, only better. In a pinch, they could control the ship, too, but normally that’s done from the regular bridge by the flag captain.”

  “And this is where the people who restored the ship decided to end it all? Did they leave any messages? Any records at all?”

  Jared nodded. “Each of them recorded messages. We found a number of tablets with schedules and records of all the work they did here. At one time, there were h
undreds of people working on this ship. The only thing left on the schedule was crewing the ship. They didn’t intend to use a main computer at all. I’m just not sure why.”

  “Where are the personal messages?”

  “The admiral’s console.”

  Kelsey had to admit that the console was impressive. It surrounded the admiral’s seat with a full 270° of sleek black screens. She instantly vowed to install something like this in her office.

  She sat and brought it live with her implants. The files were right there on the main screen. With her implants, she could play them quickly.

  They were just as depressing and horrible as one would expect. Men and women who knew they were going to kill themselves leaving messages to loved ones and friends. It was readily apparent that they didn’t expect anyone to find them for a while. If ever.

  One stood out to her. A man in a Fleet captain’s uniform. His message was addressed to someone named Olivia West.

  He looked into the vid pickup with a somber expression. “I’m sorry, Olivia. We almost made it. If only they’d waited a few more weeks to strike, this might have played out so differently.”

  The man shook his head. “No use crying about it. What’s done is done. If you ever get out here again, Invincible will be waiting for you. I considered shutting her down, but that won’t do anyone any good. Hell, I considered taking her after them myself, but we don’t have enough people to run the ship.

  “The irony being that if we’d left the computer on board, I might have been able to fight.”

  He scrubbed his face with his hands. “Please see that my people get the remembrance they deserve. I realize things are probably bad, but they earned this for their families.”

  The recording terminated without a goodbye.

  “Grim listening,” she agreed. “But no real clue as to what they were up to. Obviously, they wanted to use this ship to take someone out. Assuming they had control, why hide it? And who stopped them?”

  “Maybe a mutiny? Someone striking out at the sitting government? A functional superdreadnaught could upset a few apple carts.”