Of course, that was a very simple explanation for something that was, essentially, only possible using the Ancient's knowledge of artificial intelligence. In this quadrant Khepri stood supreme when it came to self-aware machines in the form of their synthetics, but even they didn't understand much of what made a synth really work, hence the unacceptably low yields when building processing matrixes. The Ancients—Jason had never learned what they actually called themselves—understood sentience at a fundamental level and could imbue even their software with a sense of self.
Of course, in the end one of their sentient programs had killed them all… but the theory was still sound.
Connect the hardline, I'll need to interface with the base program directly to repurpose the modules we'll need and to suppress its—you know what? You probably don't need all the details. You're a little too squeamish about this already.
Jason wordlessly connected the hardline to the connector behind his ear and waited. One of the more disconcerting aspects of Cas was that it was sort of an asshole for a computer program.
It took less time than he thought it would for the software fragment in his head to dig through its own base program on the terminal in his quarters, strip it down to the parts it needed, and then tailor it to the specific task of throwing Lucky's consciousness a lifeline. The amount of trust Jason was putting into what was essentially an accidental partial download thanks to his own carelessness twisted his stomach into knots. What if this actually was the Primary Weapons Controller that had gone insane and he was actually about to stuff it into a powerful battlesynth body?
That wouldn't work, anyway.
"Huh?"
You said that last part out loud. The Kheprian technology is really quite ingenious even if it was mostly a lucky accident, but it's completely incompatible with Ancient technology.
"But—"
Please try to keep up. The software bridge we're building doesn't control the battlesynth's body, nor does it influence Lucky's matrix. All it does is try to grab the flailing neural pathways and guide them to each other so that he can begin the process of self-recalibration.
"He's already been up and moving about, though," Jason said. "Shouldn't it just be a matter of getting him talking again?"
For the love of… have you been paying attention at all? This body has been moving with limited input from the matrix. It would be like you trying to pilot the ship by telling someone else to move the controls over a com unit. And also you're underwater and you can't feel your arms and legs. Much of what he's been doing has been instinctual—for lack of a better term—and is driven by the subprocessors. If I'm reading these specs correctly—and I am—you're in for quite the shock when this body is capable of its full power.
"You're kind of a dick, you know that?"
That's your fault, champ… much of my personality had to be reconstructed using the only input I had available: you.
The software patch was tested and then transferred over to a standard data card within an hour of Cas starting the whole process. Jason pulled the hardline from his implant and began cleaning up all the equipment that would need to be destroyed. Thankfully his passenger stayed silent during that. Now that things were calming down and he had the item that, hopefully, would help Lucky fully re-emerge, he wasn't sure what to do about the errant bit of code in his wetware. Cas had proven useful a few times, but now that he was aware of it he wasn't sure how comfortable he was with the whole idea.
"What have you been up to?"
"What? Nothing!" Jason had been absently walking though the common area on the main deck when the deep voice startled him out of his reverie. Crusher's eyes narrowed and he kept chewing.
"I'm watching you," he said. "You're up to something. I know it. You've been skulking about like that creepy little code slicer."
"You have issues, Crusher," Jason said, changing directions and walking up to the bridge. He hadn't counted on the big idiot being awake and eating—again—when he'd checked the schedule roster. He was just trying to sneak down to Engineering where he could apply the new software patch and be back in his quarters before anybody knew what was happening.
"Shit," he muttered. He looked over at the pilot's seat and saw Kage sound asleep. Rolling his eyes in disgust, he walked towards him
Relax. Lucky's been stuck in limbo for a couple of months now. One more night isn't going to make a difference.
"I guess," Jason said, leaning down and putting his face down near Kage's ear. "WAKE UP!!!"
Kage's eyes flung open and he stiffened up like a plank of wood, his mouth making strange sucking sounds.
"I… I… I wasn't—"
"Unless your next words were about to be 'I'm sorry and I'll never fall asleep on bridge watch again,' I suggest you keep your mouth shut," Jason told him. Kage eyed him and then just nodded. Jason patted him on the cheek. "Glad we have an understanding."
When he walked back down off the bridge, he saw that the lights on the main deck had dimmed back down and he could hear the service bots cleaning up the mess from Crusher's midnight gorging. With another, more careful look around, he snuck down to Engineering and used his command codes to lock the door to Twingo's quarters. He couldn't afford him of all people seeing him messing about on the cradle.
The battlesynth looked much the same as it had when he'd last seen it days ago. The vital statistics on the cradle's display were all dead-center in the nominal range as they had been since they'd hooked the body back into the mounts. Using the instructions Cas had given him, he punched in a twenty-two-digit access code into the panel that put the battlesynth body into a diagnostic mode, something that would only be available until Lucky's matrix took over all functions.
Once he received the confirmation that the body was ready for query commands, he slipped the data card into the slot and stepped back, watching the screens flash and twitch as the software made entry. It was a long ten minutes later when a simple confirmation appeared on the screen: Bridge Applied Successfully.
That's all we can do for now. We've given him the tools, the rest is up to Lucky.
"That's what Tauless said when we put him in this body in the first place," Jason said sourly.
Yeah, but I actually know what I'm talking about.
"That remains to be seen."
Chapter 16
"Your immaturity knows no bounds, does it?"
"Excuse me?" Jason looked up from his breakfast.
"Someone locked me in my quarters last night… it took me half an hour to override the door!" Twingo was incensed. "Imagine my lack of surprise when I checked and saw that your command codes had been used. It's like you're not even trying to be sneaky anymore."
"Sorry," Jason said, floundering. "I… I was drunk."
"Typical," Twingo muttered before going to the galley to get something to eat. Jason relaxed a bit before looking up and seeing Crusher staring at him. The big warrior pointed at his own eyes and then at Jason in a familiar gesture while he ate yet again. They'd all been together so long that all the little idioms and gestures from six different species had combined into something uniquely Omega Force, but for some reason Crusher and Kage preferred to mimic corny shit they'd seen in Earth movies. It had taken Jason almost six months to explain to Crusher that Dirty Harry wasn't actually a real person and he hadn't been watching a documentary. For a time after that he was telling everyone to "make his day."
Jason was spared from any further recriminations when an alert sounded over the shipwide that wasn't familiar. Twingo stiffened and sprinted back to Engineering with Kage hot on his heels. Jason and Crusher just shrugged to each other and followed after. When they slid into the port engineering bay, they saw that the battlesynth was looking around and tugging experimentally at the restraints.
"Weird… the diagnostic feed from it has shut off. The cradle can't reconnect," Twingo said.
You're welcome.
"Would that be because Lucky's matrix has exerted control to the po
int that it's closing off all external ports?" Jason asked.
Twingo and Kage looked at each other and then at him suspiciously.
"How would you know about that?" Kage asked. "I've seen you struggle to work a door before. No offense, Captain."
"I paid attention when Alocur's people briefed us." Jason ignored Kage's other comment. "Lucky." When the name was spoken, the battlesynth's head snapped over and focused on Jason with laser-like focus. The intense stare gave him an involuntary shudder and a simultaneous surge of hope.
"I'll be damned," Twingo whispered. "That's the first positive response we've had since he woke up. Kage, unlock the restraints."
Once the cuffs around the arms, legs, and torso retracted, the battlesynth took a smooth, sure step off the cradle and looked around at everyone. Its movements were nonthreatening and it seemed at ease with them all crowded around. Even when Crusher clapped it on the shoulder it didn't flinch or try to move away as it had before.
"Let's give it some space," Jason said. "Just go about the day normally and let it find its own way."
"How much longer are you going to be referring to him as 'it?'" Kage asked.
"For as long as I can't tell for certain if it's my friend in there looking back at me," Jason said. The battlesynth looked over at him again at that and walked over, putting a hand gently on his shoulder. Jason's eyes widened, but he said nothing. The moment was broken when the battlesynth turned away and walked out of Engineering.
"It's not much, but it's definitely progress," Twingo said.
Jason didn't answer him. He'd built up walls around himself, refusing to give in to blind hope, and had been unprepared for the onslaught of emotions when it appeared that Lucky had actually recognized him. For now, all he could do was continue to wait and see and hope Cas was who it said it was and hadn't screwed him over.
"You've been paying attention to reports coming from the border worlds?"
"I still can't believe it," Jason said. "The ConFed actually launched a preemptive strike against the Eshquarian Empire. How bad is it?"
Mok looked strained on the slip-com video link, understandable given the fact he was Eshquarian. "Despite the intelligence community warning the High Council of Defense that an attack was imminent, the fleet was caught unprepared," Mok said. "Those in charge in the capital ignored the reports and felt secure that the new ConFed leadership was posturing to make a name for itself, and that it was just the usual harmless back and forth. Six ConFed squadrons swept across the Eshquarian System and subdued our—their—entire defensive grid in less than fourteen hours. Thankfully the loss of life was minimal… the Prime Minister agreed to meet with emissaries to discuss terms."
"Holy shit," Crusher murmured. "This doesn't bode well for the rest of the quadrant."
"Not if they have something the ConFed wants," Mok said. "Your own Galvetor could be at risk if they do not ally themselves with someone powerful and quickly."
"I'm sure they're watching, but I'll certainly be passing that along."
"So the Empire has actually fallen?" Jason asked.
"They won't couch it in such dramatic terms, but yes… Eshquarian sovereignty has ended as we've known it," Mok said sadly. "The military and industrial base will be secured quickly and then the ConFed will send expeditionary forces into the Concordian Cluster to subdue the rowdier colony worlds. In the end, the Empire will have gone out with a whimper, not a bang."
"I'm genuinely sorry to hear that," Jason said.
"Thank you, Captain. Now… to current matters," Mok said. "Kage had reached out to me about this Enoch Line business. This was even trickier than he had thought it might be with nothing more than a single name to go on. I had to dig deep into my sources for this one."
"I'll make sure you're compensated, you old mercenary," Jason said. "From this long lead-up, I'm guessing you actually found something?"
"I'll take payment in the form of favors to be cashed in… the usual." Mok smiled. "It turns out Enoch Line isn't a thing, at least not like we were originally thinking. It's part of a system. High-ranking ConFed Fleet officers developed it nearly two hundred years ago to provide a discreet method of escape should any of them become embroiled in a scandal. It could range from relations with the wrong person's mate to accidentally sterilizing a planet, anything that could have them brought up on charges that could see them residing inside a Fleet brig for any length of time.
"The system was decently sophisticated. It would provide new identities, transport, cover stories … the complete work-up you'd only normally see within an intelligence organization."
"I'm sure that ConFed Intel Section had something to do with it," Doc said. "Or at least a few enterprising agents who were willing to take payment to set it up."
"So, what is Enoch Line?" Jason asked.
"It refers to the diagram that each of the participating officers carried with them. Each line was a path through the contacts and locations one would access during their escape," Mok said. "It was all highly secretive and coded in a way that made it look like any other ubiquitous tech manual a Fleet captain or admiral might have in his possession. The terms for the routes used are also the pass codes, which is why your smuggler probably grunted it out as his last words. Unfortunately, nobody has ever actually gotten their hands on one long enough to decode it."
"So that's it? We've chased this as far as we could?" Twingo asked.
"Not necessarily," Kage said. "Once Mok's people put me on the right track, I used the fact this officer sold his shuttle to a specific smuggling operation on Nott as a cross-reference point. My contacts on Colton Hub who have heard of this exit plan have a pretty good idea the Enoch Line routes all ended up at one place: Torus Station."
There was a collection of groans around the table at the mention of the former mining colony.
"I guess you guys haven't heard the news, have you?" Mok asked with a chuckle. "Torus isn't a waystation for degenerates, mercs, and pirates anymore. Settlement rights for the asteroid lapsed and the government on Eldav Prime petitioned the ConFed to come clean the place out in exchange for a fifty-year priority contract at their largest shipyard. The Fleet sent in their shock troops and as of seven or so years ago the place has been building up as a luxury community."
"Why would anyone want to live in a hollowed-out asteroid?" Crusher asked.
"They've installed massive transparent domes so the tenants get an unparalleled view of the ringed planet it orbits," Mok said.
"You sound like a salesman," Kage said.
"I've been looking at property there." Mok shrugged defensively.
"Shit, can we even get on the station now?" Jason asked. "If it's gone legit, they'll probably question why an unregistered gunship wants to land in their hangar."
"I'll take care of it," Mok said with a dismissive wave. "The real problem is that we have no idea who this officer is."
"I think I know what he looks like, and we have his old name from when he was still in the fleet," Jason said. "That's not super helpful, but it's better than nothing. Maybe if we—Wait! We should have an image of him on the Phoenix's com server. We talked to him through two-way video before we hauled his ass out of the fire."
"You certain it's the same person?" Mok asked. When Jason nodded, he went on. "Then get me that image and I'll go to work on my end. With the ConFed rolling over the Empire, this now became more than just an interesting sidebar to my day.
"Speaking of, I have some information on Alocur."
"I have a feeling we're not going to like this," Kage said as Mok looked off camera to pull up some new information.
"Alocur was a member of Kheprian Intelligence. He was forced out of the service back before your mission there. A few comments in his official record indicate that he was obsessed with a conspiracy theory involving battlesynths and a possible coup attempt by some shadowy organization," Mok read from a prepared brief. "Despite his insistence that someone was attempting to overthrow the government, he w
asn't able to provide a shred of proof to back up his claims. You know… the fact he came to you for this mission to find a ConFed officer now make a lot more sense."
"It does," Jason agreed. "It was all an illusion. The resources he brought with him were all he had. He couldn't just call back to the home office to have a strike team assembled to track this guy down. But why did he have all those synth program scientists and techs? And why did he steal a body and all the data from the lab Kage and Twingo found?"
"I seem to remember that I was there too," Mok grumbled. "But to answer your question: I have no idea. I'm just telling you this so you know to be careful around this guy. He's lied to you once already, so there's no telling what else he's saying isn't true."
"Understood," Jason said. "Thanks for the heads-up. We'll change course for Torus Station now and wait for your next update. Keep your head down until we figure out what the Council is up to. If they just took out a sovereign power, it seems like all the old agreements are off and your organization might be in the crosshairs."
Mok just nodded to him and killed the channel.
"So if Alocur lied, why are we still doing this?" Crusher asked.
"People lie to us all the time. You lie to us all the time. It doesn't change the job we agreed to do. Doc, go ahead and punch in our course change while Kage and I start digging through the server for the vid recording of the conversation we had with that battleship captain." Jason stood and stretched, bumping into the battlesynth as he did.
"Torus Station," it said in a rich baritone voice. It was the first time it had spoken, so everyone in the cramped conference room on the command deck froze.
"Yeah, we're going there next," Jason said carefully. "Is there some reason we shouldn't?"
"No," it said. "We have never been there before, have we?"
"No, we went to the habitable planet within that system, Lucky," Doc said.
"Lucky," the battlesynth said. "Lucky." Then it turned and walked from the room, heading towards the bridge.
Omega Force: Legends Never Die (OF10) Page 14
