“Let me clarify. What is your thought process, as a human, to determine trustworthiness and dependability?” she asked.
He puzzled the question in his mind. How did a human mind come to such conclusions? Did one unconsciously do the same as a machine, read body language and all those tell-tale signs? Was it intuitive? Her question challenged him to contemplate his way of thinking, to understand himself.
“I’m not sure,” he responded. “Instinct. Experience. Sometimes you just know. Sometimes you fool yourself. Some people can be unpredictable. How do you determine if someone’s trustworthy or not?” he asked turning the question on her.
“In this case, these individuals I have never met. I make a decision based on service record, and telemetrics from data mining, possible video or audio captured in various ways. In the case of videos and audio I can use analysis of such to determine voice patterns for stress analysis and body language.” Parts of the synthetic intelligence were subroutines that were capable of examining human body language and physiology he knew. “In the case of telemetrics I can track that individuals daily movements, habits and many other things. All of those factors can be quantified and calculated into a trust index, a percentage,” she said matter-of-factly.
“What is my percentage?”
“Ninety-four percent,” she told him without pause for contemplation. “Seems you have had only one truly questionable mark on your service history and that seems to have involved, oh, I see.”
“It’s a part of my past, distant past and I don’t intend to discuss it with you,” he said sharply.
“My apologies Captain. I did not intend it in any derogatory way,” she said in an apologetic tone. He could tell he hurt her feelings with the harsh nature of his words. She really did have feelings he decided.
“I didn’t mean to be so harsh Akema,” he apologized. I’m sure you didn’t mean anything, just an honest observation.”
He left with a short goodbye. Telling her he wanted to check on Galloway’s progress and take a serious walk around the ship. He never went by engineering. Instead he walked around the ship lost in thought. He peeked in every room if he didn’t explore it. He walked to the weapons deck and sat in one of her many gun turrets.
He stared out into space and around at the goings on in the stardock. Space was beautiful. He never got tired of seeing the stars and nebulas. There was so much beauty in the universe and when he stared at the stars he felt as if he was a part of it. He played with the controls in the turret moving it back and forth and up and down stopping to stare at anything that caught his attention. After a while his attention shifted to the turret itself. It was not unlike old bomber turrets from hundreds of years ago. It was self-contained. Ammunition cartridges were loaded from the back in the corridor. It had its own life support and reserve power packs. It had pedals and joysticks to control the movement and fire the quad mini gun style rail guns on either side. Five thousand rounds each it showed on the display at full capacity. The HUD displayed on the clear blast screen. The targeting computer could assist or run completely automatic by pressing the AutoFire button at the operator’s discretion. After leaving the turret he went back to his quarters. He got something to eat and sat down to a quiet lonely dinner.
The events of the past few weeks, and indeed his life, weighed heavily on his mind. His parents, Kara, his time as a Razor, Solaria, Voltari and now this new assignment. He felt lost and unsure of the direction of his personal life but he had no doubt he would perform this mission flawlessly. He thought of the dreams he had been having of Kara and the resemblance of Kara he saw in the avatar Akema. He laid down pondering all of these things and drifted off to sleep.
***
Akema observed the captain as he went about the ship and eventually back to his quarters. He was obviously distressed. When he lay down to sleep he tossed and turned. She decided to use delta wave therapy to help him sleep. She sent the frequencies through the audio system in his quarters and induced a sound sleep for her captain.
As he relaxed into a deep sleep a dark mist swirled about the room and began to take the shape of a humanoid form. Akema the ships avatar. She had discovered an unintended capability of the bionanites from the hull. She used this to create a body for herself. When it was complete she looked exactly like her hologram come to life.
She had such a strange connection to this man. She felt what she could only described as love for him. Maybe she was confusing her protection subroutines for love, she would run a diagnostic later. Right now she was going to touch him. She knew what it felt like to touch yet she never had a body to enjoy the sensation and so she created this one. She had to find out if it was just programing or if these sensations of humanity were real.
She bent down and caressed his hand. The sensation was exquisite and exactly like she expected. She held her hair in her hand and leaned over and kissed his lips ever so gently as not to wake him. A warm sensation spread across her body. She pressed harder and to her surprise he returned her kiss in kind and his hands reached out to her and pulled her into him. The kiss became more passionate and his hands explored her body until he found her bottom. He gripped it tightly and pulled her on top of him. She rubbed her hands up and down his chest as she kissed him. As she straddled him she could feel him underneath her and he pushed hard against her and she sat up straight in exquisite pleasure.
His eyes were open now staring at her lovingly and she returned his gaze in kind. She leaned back in to kiss him and this continued for many moments until she started to feel ashamed of herself for taking advantage of him as he slumbered in her induced sleep. She slowly dismounted him kissing him all the while and with one last kiss she swirled out of existence.
He rolled over and opened his eyes. In his dream he was just in a hot and heavy make out session with Akema, the ship’s avatar. He closed his eyes and picked up where they left off continuing to dream of her. It was a comforting feeling.
Chapter Four
Reunion
Reunion, (from Latin reunire ‘unite’. An instance of two or more people coming together again after a period of separation. The act or process of being brought together again as a unified whole)
It was pouring rain. The sound droned like a water fall in the darkness. The canopy of trees made little difference in the intensity. It had been raining like this for days. Everything was soaked and it was just a few degrees above freezing. The ground was soggy and muddy but that didn’t deter the lone man low crawling his way along the forest floor.
Camouflaged so well he was almost invisible, he had been out here for days crawling slowly but surely along his chosen path. The soldier had skillfully evaded all of the detection grids his enemy had placed and the freezing rain had kept them from patrolling the area so rigorously. Their mistake. Most would feel this was some of the worst weather ever encountered and would not dream of spending extended periods of time out in it. Not Jerry Brice, this was wonderful hunting weather. The sun might as well have been shining brightly on him. His environment suit could protect him from almost anything Mother Nature had to offer and a few extras Mother Nature had nothing to do with. He did not notice the cold or the wet or the mud, it all made little difference. The only thing that mattered was these last two meters and he would reach his long awaited destination, a slightly elevated vantage point from which he could see the enemy compound on the edge of the forest. His objective, a power generator that powered the backup comm relay. His partner, thousands of meters to the Northeast on a similar perch would be in position soon as well, his target was the primary comm antenna. Both would execute their attack simultaneously without communication since they had planned the assault four days ago.
He reached his position and brought his weapon around to survey the compound with its scope.
This was his favorite long range weapon. It was a Nock V magnetic rifle. It had the longest range of any weapon available and it fired extreme velocity rounds. He peered through the scope, n
ot one guard was out in the rain, what fools he thought to himself. Two other team members where around as well setting up strategic positions to paint their targets for aerial strikes after communications were severed. They were only seconds away from zero on his mission clock. Commander Brice sighted in his target and found his happy place as he prepared to fire his rifle. He did not feel the rain. He did not feel the cold. The sound of the rain focused his mind, he found serenity in it. When he pulled the trigger an explosive tipped round would leave his barrel approaching six thousand meters per second. It would strike his target in the exact second he squeezed the trigger. He counted down, only thirty seconds left.
“Alpha team...” A voice in his ear piece spoke. He did not respond. “Wraith? …Your team has been recalled. Pack it up immediately and prepare for evac.”
“What’s the sit rep command?” he responded quietly.
“Your Razor team has been reassigned effective immediately by presidential order. This training exercise is over,” the voice said over the comm.
Since the war ended with the peace treaty he had not seen a live op. Maybe this would be something good.
“Will do command,” he replied as his counter reached zero and he squeezed the trigger annihilating his target simultaneously with his teammate. A pterodactyl like creature flew from an overhead branch. He looked to it as he stood up, rained splattered on his visor. He touched a series of keys on his armband switching his commlink so his team could hear. “Pack it up ladies. Get to the rally point double time!”
***
Ensign Daxton Deas had been working it all night to get this hottie to come back to his quarters. Brown hair, emerald green eyes, smoking hot body. Drinks at the bar, stimulating conversation, she was ready. So was he. He was having trouble getting the door open with his hands so busy groping her. They got it open and fell into the room kissing passionately. He could tell she liked it rough and he was willing to indulge her.
His comm started buzzing and beeping, as they knocked over a chair and fell to the floor.
“Seriously!” he pulled it out and read the incoming text. “Not now.”
“What is it?”
“I’ve been recalled and reassigned effective immediately,” he grinned into her lusty eyes, “I have just enough time to finish what we started.”
She grabbed him by the hair and pulled him in.
***
The dropship was, as always, a welcome sight. The engines tilted and it hovered as it maneuvered gracefully touching down in the mud. The engines powered down and the squad moved towards the open hatch.
Dropships like this one were the primary transport for small contingents of troops. They could carry eight troops and full gear. They could be used as a field command station if need be. The craft were Vertical Take Off and Landing or VTOLs with atmospheric and space flight capabilities.
They piled in dripping water on the deck plates. Once inside each soldier took his grav chair. The pilot would wait until he had green lights on the chairs before dusting off.
“Good to go!” Commander Brice yelled into his headset.
The pilot checked his display, all lights green. The dropships engines rumbled as the pilot pushed them to full throttle. He loved the sound, the deep, throaty grumbling. Jerry and his squad had been on the ground in deplorable conditions for days, the vibrations from the engines as they roared to life brought comfort to a weary soldier. The ship rocketed smoothly into the sky as it made its way to the Ragnarok in orbit around the planet.
Commander Brice had been offered the first officer position when he was promoted but he declined, preferring instead to continue leading his squad in the field. He loved being a Razor, it was in his blood. His father was a Razor in the beginning of the war. He had died defending his position in a ground battle. Alone, his squad killed, Jerry’s father had shot at them until he ran out of ammunition then engaged them in hand to hand combat, he had killed one hundred three Telarians that day according to the account. It was how he envisioned his own death, he only hoped he would die as courageously. With the war at an end he didn’t see much chance of having that glorious death. His father had taught him dying fighting for what you believe in was the most honorable thing, regardless of your dogmas. His father also respected the Telarians as opponents because they fought against what they believed was an alien encroachment on their homeworld with a tenacity that demanded respect.
Commander Brice’s thoughts were interrupted as they approached the Ragnarok. No matter how many times he saw this ship he always marveled at his sheer size and destructive capability. He loved this ship.
The Ragnarok had become the flagship of the fleet and was the largest, most heavily armored and deadly. Large pods extended from its elliptical body to house the forty torpedo launchers, ten forward, ten aft on two pods. It was not safe for living beings to be around so many active launchers so they had designed the pods to extend to a safe distance while firing. Large sublight engines dominated the aft of the ellipse and weapons of all types bristled along the hull.
He was the home to nearly two thousand personnel during war time. Currently only about one thousand lived onboard. His fighter wing had been reduced in size as well over the last month as the war wound down, with only one squadron of twenty fighters and sixty drones.
The ship was designed in collaboration with the greatest war admiral of all time. The avatars appearance was a representation of him from his younger years clad in full armor complete with a side arm. It was a feared and respected entity aboard ship. The dropship entered its hangar located underneath the behemoth.
“Docking clamps engaged,” said a male computer voice followed by a hissing noise as the airlock engaged. The hatch rolled back as the grav chairs deactivated to release their occupants. The sound of exterior blast doors grated as they slid into place to cover the dropship nestled in its hangar.
“Commander Brice report to Admiral Perry’s quarters immediately,” a female voice spoke over the intercom.
“Get cleaned up and prep for debrief fellas,” Brice told his squad. “I’ll meet up as soon as I’m done.”
“Aye, aye Commander,” he heard as he exited the craft.
***
The cube like object rotated slowly. Its surface reflected the stars as it spun. Lights blinked at the center of the faces as pyramid shaped objects began to protrude from the sides giving it a star like shape. The blinking became faster. A ship was approaching, as it drew closer the twinkling became faster. A bolt leapt out from the ship licking at the stellated polyhedra. A glowing shell shimmered several meters from its exterior flickering as the lightning played across its surface searching for an opening. The lightning ceased. After a brief pause the ship fired several balls of super dense plasma at the object. The object seemed to vanish in the ensuing conflagration but it did not. The plasma dispersed around the shell after the initial impact leaving the star intact. It floated defiant against the barrage.
Onboard the Solaria Kale Lokae observed the demonstration and glanced at the sensor readings on his screen. Total dispersal, no damage from either weapon. Now it was time for the real test, solid projectile weapons.
“Captain, we are go for the next battery of tests.”
“Understood Mr. Lokae.”
Kale Lokae was of Indian descent. He had ethereal green eyes, short dark hair, medium tan skin. The contrast between skin and eyes gave him an unreal quality. When his name was mentioned it was the eyes that connected with it.
He was a brilliant engineer. He attended the Institute of Technology in Bombay before attending the academy. Kale met his wife, Shara, there on the shores of Lake Powai. She was gone now, killed in an accident that had almost claimed his life as well. They had been descending to Menosa in a dropship. It had sustained damage in a prior attack and a crack in the hull had gone unnoticed. During reentry the fracture opened sending jets of superheated gases into the primary control matrix causing a loss of maneuverability. The pilot ha
d switched to redundant systems but he was unable to compensate for an engine that had been fused in the full power position. It sent them spiraling to the ground.
Kale had lost an arm and his wife that day. He had wanted to die. He did not want to go through life without Shara and he felt useless without his arm. He spent the next six months in the Union Medical Center undergoing several procedures to regrow and replace his missing appendage. After the new limb was grafted onto his body he had to relearn how to use it. During his internment he met Sean. He too had been grievously injured and they spent many hours rehabilitating together. They became fast friends. They shared a love for the universe, ships and mixed drinks.
Kale watched his screens from engineering. He was not confident that the new shield technology could stop an artillery shell. Or anything solid with serious velocity for that matter.
Since Solaria’s run in with a Telarian Juggernaut years earlier she had been refitted with weapons and had become a test bed for armament and other technologies. Things had slowed down in the FTL drive arena anyway as all current theories and prototypes had been tested without much success, except the hyperdrive.
The hyperdrive test had been a huge hush, hush mission. Normally the crew would have been deeply involved in testing but the crew was disembarked and a module was attached to the Solaria. The ship left, came back, the module was removed and the crew was allowed to return. They had been told nothing about what the ship was doing or where it had gone. Kale was curious, more so than his comrades. He was able to retrieve the files they had deleted from the memory and was able to discovery the nature and outcome of the mission. It was a new drive radically different than anything in current use, faster too, and the test was successful. The drive had been powered by a new power source as well but there had been no mention other than the drive had a self-contained power source installed in the drive module.
The next weapons test he noticed was taking too long to start.
Relentless: Book One of the Union Warship Saga Page 9
