by Ben Winston
"Thank you, Sir. This does seem to be a much different environment from what was in my memory files. I think I'll like it here," Athena replied. "Sir, while I was waiting for Lord Doctor Cowan to introduce me, I overheard the conversation you had about the worlds of Proxima Centauri. I took the liberty of accessing those survey reports and Lord Doctor Cowan is correct, although the planet is half the size of Veranor, there is a world there that closely resembles the environment of Veranor. I have made the relevant data available to you for review, but gave it only a routine priority."
"I appreciate that Athena, thank you. I can look it over during our voyage back to Novalus," Hearlis replied. "I think I have to agree with Eric, you are much more personable now. If you feel the need to speak to me, even if it is after hours or not duty related, please feel free to call. A person can never have too many friends," Hearlis replied.
"Thank you, Sir. I don’t think I could ever tell you how much that means to me. In turn, I would extend the same invitation to you. I would like to think I can be a very good listener, even if you just need to relieve a little stress," Athena replied.
"I'm sure you can count on that happening, Athena. Are you ready to resume your duties here?" Hearlis asked.
"Ready and willing, Sir!"
"AI Athena, command protocol change, add alpha level command authorization," I said. "Authorization, Cowan-Alpha-zero-nine-bravo-omega-one."
Her smile vanished and she stood at attention staring off into space. "Alpha level command protocols open. Additions to Alpha level command list, access verified. Proceed."
I set Hearlis and Brin as the primary operators on the station and closed her access list. She smiled brightly when she returned "Thank you, Lord Admiral, Lord Doctor. I am now able to resume my duties."
"Please do so, Athena," Hearlis replied making it official.
She saluted the Admiral and faded out.
"Wow, you weren't kidding, she is much different now, but I think it might be a good thing. Only time will tell for certain, but I think she might just be about perfect for us. She is definitely someone the crew can relate to," Hearlis said, nodding. "Yes, it's very good to have her with us."
"I'm glad you're pleased, Sir. If you'll excuse me, I'll gather my team and get moving on," I said.
He offered me his hand. "Thank you for bring her back to us, Eric. Safe journey."
I shook his hand. "Altuis Anure, Lord Admiral."
Ares Base
Icarus Plateau
Mars, Sol System
The Mars base was different then the station had been. I could feel it almost as soon as I got off the shuttle. There was more of a feeling of suspicion and distrust here. Reintegrating the new AI would be more of a challenge, since most of the soldiers had more of a personal connection with Helen. Her destruction and the reasons for it had not been forgotten nor had they been forgiven.
Even though I was there to restore her to functionality, there was a great deal of resentment towards me and my team. So much so that Tul-sa kept us on the shuttle until she could call additional guards from Apollo to protect us. She also ordered us to wear our armor at all times while we were here.
When my team began to gripe about the armor, I sat them all back down. "Look, I'm not wild about it either, but stop to consider this; Tul-sa and her people are Marines, they know the other Marines and how they react to things. If she thinks we need to be guarded and armored during our stay here, you better believe she is trying to keep us from having an 'accident'. I don't know about you folks, but I really don't want to get my ass kicked by a bunch of pissed off Marines, do you?" When they all shook their heads, I continued. "Let's just get our job done and let the new and improved Helen take care of her people. Doc Sharon, you might want to warn her about the animosity she might be facing after we get her powered up."
"I'd planned to Eric. She's a tough old broad, she'll set this bunch straight in no time," the psychologist replied.
Because of the environment here, that being a training base, I had stuck to my original thoughts of a matronly older woman as the avatar, but this time I gave her more of a drill sergeant type of persona. She still had a soft side, and she would show it when needed, but she would also push these men and women to do their best. She didn’t handle any of the actual training, but she should fit in seamlessly with the rest of the training cadre.
"Lieutenant, I think you and I should go see the Lord Admiral while your kids escort my team over to the AI vault," I said, and turned back to the lead tech. "I'll have a quick word with Vance and rejoin you guys before you get her fully powered up."
He nodded to me and finished putting his armor on. Since we had provided the AI support team for the base anyway, I had already briefed them on the new AI and how she needed to be handled. That part of this was already taken care of.
Tul-sa and I left the shuttle and headed for the command complex. We stopped briefly just outside the shuttle so Tul-sa could speak to her grunts before we left.
As soon as we got moving again, she shook her head. "Sometimes I don't understand people. This whole damn base is pissed off at you because you fixed a problem that would have killed them."
"I don’t think that's how they see it, Tul-sa. They don’t have access to the same information you have. To them, all they know is that I killed their AI. Basically, I murdered one of them. The reasons are irrelevant because they didn't know what to look for and simply didn't see it. Marines are clannish at the best of times. They see me as having killed one of their own. It's just that simple," I replied.
"Well, okay, I guess I can see that, but you’re here to correct that. You are here to return the AI. Why are they still pissed off?" She asked.
"Because they also know that I wouldn’t have killed Helen if there hadn't been a problem, so they are worried that the new AI will be worse than the last. You, more than anyone, should know that Marines don't like change. When it's a change they don't understand, they like it even less." I paused.
"I did everything I could think of to keep the new Helen as close to the old one as I could and still allow for the new protocols and command structure. With any luck, they will subconsciously accept that she had simply been sick and was now resuming her duties. More than any other group we've worked with, these folks accepted Helen as one of them. For the new system to work, we need that sense of camaraderie to be restored and maintained."
She nodded her head slowly as she thought about what I had said. "Yeah, that makes sense. I guess working so closely with you has given me a different point of view on this. After I drop you off with the team, maybe I should go talk to a few people and see if I can't get the ball rolling in the right direction."
I snorted and nodded agreement. "It certainly couldn't hurt!"
We entered the command complex and were immediately challenged by the two large Marine guards. That was strange in itself because as a member of the advisory council, I had never been stopped before.
"Lord Doctor Eric Cowan and Lieutenant Tul-sa. We are here to see the Lord Admiral," I replied.
"Do you have an appointment?" the guard asked.
"Enough of this!" Tul-sa said angrily. "You both know damn good and well who this is and what he's doing here. Let us pass or I'll make sure the two of you are scrubbing the sanitary for the next cycle!"
"I'm sorry Sir, but since the 'incident' we have been ordered to stop and question everyone. If you do not have an appointment to see the Lord Admiral I'm afraid you'll have to come back when you make one," the other guard replied.
I nodded. "Okay, I can see that. Hang on a second." I activated my comm and contacted Sarah on Apollo. "Sarah, can you get me Lord Admiral Vance please?"
"Certainly Eric, one moment," she replied cheerfully. I had made certain that the audio was being sent to my external speakers so the two genetic mutations could hear it."
"Now wait just a minute…" the larger of the two began but Vance came on the line, "Eric! How are you doing? I thou
ght you'd landed an hour ago, is there a problem?"
"Yes Sir. I'm down at the entrance to the command area, Tul-sa and I were coming to see you while my team went over to get started on the new AI installation. However, it seems that there are some new security protocols in place that are denying me entry unless I have an appointment with you," I explained.
"I see, I take it the guards can hear me then?" He asked.
"Yes Sir, I didn't want to get shot because they thought I was up to something," I replied.
"I understand. Guards, call for your relief immediately, then you will escort the Lord Doctor and the Lieutenant to my office. If this takes longer than five minutes, your commander better be with you when you get here. Is that understood?"
"Sir, we were just…" the smaller of the two began.
Vance interrupted him. "Did I ask you what you were trying to do, private? I know damn well what you were doing! Now follow my orders before I delete your training profiles! Have I made myself clear?"
Amid the shouted 'Yes Sir's from the two Marines, Sarah entered the conversation. "Please excuse my interruption, My Lords. Lord Doctor, the team is being denied access to the AI vault by the guards. The guards said they do not have clearance to enter the facility."
"Oh, this is not happening," Vance said dangerously. "Guards, stay right there. I'm coming down. When I get there, the entire guard detail better be standing in formation in the quad or I'll ship the lot of you off to guard the consulate on Veranor armed with stun batons!"
Vance broke the connection and the two guards almost panicked. While they frantically called for their commander, Tul-sa led me off to one side to watch the fireworks. "This should be good," she said grinning evilly.
Vance must have cut them a little slack, or perhaps it was because he made a few calls before he actually did arrive at the quad, because it took him almost ten minutes to get there, and I knew his office was only a couple of minutes from the front door. As it was, Marines were still arriving at a dead run to get to the quad in time. They didn't all make it.
Vance stood before the entrance to the command complex and waited until the entire guard unit had assembled. The man in charge of the unit, a colonel turned and saluted their base commander. "Guard detail assembled as ordered, Lord Admiral!"
Vance nodded. Beside him two holograms appeared, one was Athena and the other was Lord Admiral Hearlis. The colonel blanched when he saw the two new arrivals.
"Not a single one of you standing here has the right to wear the uniform you are currently wearing. Take them off. Now," Vance ordered. "Everything off! None of you stupid bastards deserve clothes! Take it all off!" I looked at him thinking this was a rather strange punishment, but from the look on his face as well as the expression on Hearlis' face it was not the time to question the order.
It took them a moment, but the assembled battalion standing at attention in the quad began stripping. It was a mixed sex unit, too, and there were almost as many females as there were males. It clearly embarrassed them very much, but they all stripped to the skin and resumed the position of attention.
"Isn’t that an illegal order?" I very quietly asked Tul-sa.
She shook her head. "No, not when it's clearly a disciplinary action as this is. They have to obey or resign, if they resign they'd still have to strip because they are not allowed to keep any Marine clothing or equipment."
Vance looked out over the now nude unit. "I've had enough of this shit! Lord Doctor Cowan shut down Granny because he was trying to keep her from killing you! Yet none of you stupid fucking knuckle-draggers can figure that out. You should be kissing his ass in gratitude instead of treating him like a convict. On top of all of that, he has come here today to bring her back to you! How do you fucking idiots repay that? How do you thank him and his people for spending the last three weeks working non-stop to fix this? You give him the run around and harass his teams. This stops now!
“As the commanding officer of this facility, and with the agreement and support of the Alliance high command, effective immediately all enlisted personnel are hereby reduced in rank to that of trainee and are assigned to the training command.
"All officers have had their commissions recalled and are reassigned to the officer’s training academy. Master Sergeant Galan, take charge of your trainees."
Unseen by me at least, another group of men and women in training cadre uniforms had arrived at the quad as well. It was to this group that Vance spoke.
"Aye Sir! Alright you maggots! Officer Candidates, report to First Sergeant T'howlen." He pointed to the Simonian NCO so everyone could see where he wanted them to go. "The rest of you dirt bags, right face! Forward March!"
Vance stood and watched them go. Then turned to Lord Admiral Hearlis. "Thanks for helping out, this has been a real problem here. I've been trying to fix it using less drastic measures, but obviously it wasn't working."
Hearlis nodded. "Understood, Vance. You did the right thing. Maybe now the rest of the base will listen."
"Excuse me Sirs, will you really make them repeat their entire training cycle?" I asked. "Making them march through the base nude is pretty bad as it is."
"Yes. When you issue a punishment, you have to follow through on the threat or no one will ever take it seriously. I did issue many threats before resorting to this. I saw the problems growing here, and thought I had them under control. I didn't, and that resulted in today's little bit of fun. I think people had forgotten just how much of a hard ass I can be when it's called for," Vance replied and looked back at Hearlis and Athena who was now standing beside her commander. "Again thank you both for coming."
"Not a problem, Vance. We'll let you get back to work," Hearlis said and with a nod to me, shut down the connection.
"Well, you were coming to see me, what can I do for you?" Vance asked.
I grinned sardonically. "I think you just fixed it. Let me go back and help my team, and I'll come back to your office when we're finished, okay?"
Vance nodded. "I'll make sure to have dinner ready for you. You came straight from Guardian station, and I know you haven't eaten or slept. Hell, you were supposed to spend the night here before you got to work tomorrow!"
"Well, we figured there would be a little more involved with getting Helen reacquainted with her environment, so we thought to start tonight and finish up tomorrow. That way she would have all night to get used to the new systems and maybe re-acclimate to the base. I knew she had a lot of admirers here," I said. "I wasn't expecting the hostility, but I can understand it."
Vance nodded. "Go get Granny back online, then come have dinner with me, both of you. I'd like Tul-sa to tell me about this new drone she's been working so hard on."
I grinned. "If any of them actually call her Granny to her face, she'll likely knock them on their butts! She's still the same in most ways, but I made her a little more forceful."
"Physical interaction? Is that wise?" He asked.
"Very limited physical interaction, the presser and tractor beams she'll have access to will not be strong enough to inflict harm. She couldn't use them if they did. No, we made her more a part of your training cadre and less of a ghostly apparition. I think you'll like the changes." I said.
"Okay, I'll wait with my questions. See you in a little while," Vance replied and let us leave.
Surprisingly, the hostile looks and over-whelming animosity was gone. As we walked over to the part of the command complex that housed the AI vault, we got several friendly nods, a few salutes and even a couple of ‘thank you’s and one outright apology. Until that moment, I had thought Vance had been too harsh on the guard detail. I had been wrong.
When we got to the vault, we found the team had already gotten inside and had begun working. They seemed to be in pretty good humor, and it puzzled me.
"Okay, what happened? Why are you all in such a good mood?" I asked. "I expected you all to be mad as hell when I got here."
"I guess you didn't know that little par
ty at the quad was televised to the entire base. We saw the whole thing! You are my new hero, Doc!" one of the women replied, grinning.
"What she didn't say was that since then, several Marines apologized to us, and the new guards let us into the vault immediately and then asked if there was anything they could to help. Pretty drastic change of heart, if you ask me," Doctor Sharon said. "Of course, the threat of being marched nude through the center of a military base, then forced to go back through basic training would have that effect on a lot of folks. I just wonder why the Lord Admiral did that to the whole unit?"
"We are Marines, Doctor. In situations such as this, what one of us does we are all responsible for. We stand together and we fall together," Tul-sa replied.
"But the officers, too? Colonel to Ensign is a hell of a drop in rank. On Earth, it would be a career ender," another tech said while he continued to seat the new crystal.
"It is here too. The difference is that the officers have had their files reset. They will be allowed to rebuild their careers. It’s basically starting over for them. Good officers can rebuild quickly, the marginal ones usually won't make it back to their former rank before mandatory dismissal. The former Colonel should not have allowed the issue to build to the level it had in his unit. That was his mistake. The fact that none of the other officers in the unit had done anything to stop it was also very damming to them. There is most likely more to the story here, but that is my guess based on the results we saw," Tul-sa replied.
"On Earth, it takes so long to get to Colonel that most officers have already reached mandatory retirement, or are about to. A demotion like that would ruin a lifetime's work for that officer. There are not many that would have the strength of character to even want to start over. The old US military usually just retired the officers that had fucked up in some way. But, if they really stepped in it, they would lose their commission and be dismissed without being retired. They'd lose their pension and any benefits built up during their career. Of course, it would have to be a pretty major fuck-up to get to that point," the man replied and finished setting the crystal. "Browen, hand me the data cluster interface will ya?"
