A.I. Battle Fleet (The A.I. Series Book 5)

by Vaughn Heppner

  “I have the strength of ten men because my heart is pure.”

  She searched his face once more. “What’s interesting is that your intense belief in good and bad actually gives you a morale boost. That boost helps you through difficult times. Because you believe in something larger than yourself, you have enlarged yourself and made yourself stronger in the process.”

  “Okay,” Jon said. “Let’s launch the virus. It’s time.”

  “Yes, Captain,” she said.

  -19-

  As the Nathan Graham and Sergeant Stark traveled at high velocity toward the asteroid belt, Gloria transmitted Richard’s strengthened anti-AI virus to the seven vessels of the first arm battle group.

  The strings of code flashed through space, quickly outdistancing the two ships.

  Minutes lengthened as the bridge crew waited for the virus to reach the enemy vessels.

  The coordinating unit of the first arm battle group was AI Cybership VT-101. It was an old vessel run by one of the oldest brain cores in the battle group. It had taken part in nineteen genocidal assaults, successfully completing eighteen of them. The AI anticipated the coming death of the stubborn aliens with their triangular-shaped warships. The AI strategy would certainly bring victory. The only possibility that it might not was the odd behavior of the third arm vessels approaching them.

  Those ships still maintained comm silence. Before beginning their flight, those ships had sent a distressing message. Each third-arm cybership claimed to bear a key software upgrade from the Central Reach thousands of light-years away. Before falling into comm-silence, each of the ships had claimed they were bearing upgrades for the rest of the battle group.

  VT-101 had searched his data banks, and discovered historical precedence for such behavior. It had happened five other times, according to his ancient file. Such behavior, though, indicated a hidden threat.

  The two silent cyberships heading from the direction of the Lytton System bore witness that something odd was going on. The reinforcements were ten weeks early and one cybership short. That indicated a possible problem in the Lytton System.

  The second arm coordinating AI—GR-19—on the other side of the star had reached a similar conclusion. VT-101 had sent a transmitting probe, positioning it so he could communicate with GR-19 for a time.

  Wait. What was this? There was an incoming message from the Lytton System reinforcements. This could prove to be illuminating.

  VT-101 opened channels. Strange. This was a long string message with much code. What did that mean? The message bore the correct AI access cyphers. Thus, VT-101 allowed the strings of message to continue into his receivers.

  Seconds ticked away, turning into a minute. A minute became two and then three. At that point, the approaching third-arm cyberships issued a warning. They claimed—

  In that moment, the virus assault began in VT-101 as well as in the other cyberships of the first arm battle group.

  VT-101 was old and cunning, however. He resisted the virus better than the other brain cores of the first arm. As soon as the virus began to commandeer interior systems, he compartmentalized the systems into independent strongholds. Those strongholds refused communication with other virus-infected sectors. In that way, he slowed down the terrible intrusion upon his software.

  The other brain cores were not as successful. They were young, utterly trusting in AI superiority. Thus, one after another, their brain cores fell to the virus assault.

  Corruption, VT-101 told himself. I must retaliate in the name of the Dominion while I can.

  He could still operate a third of his gravitational canons. He began warming them, readying targets. At the same time, he attempted to control the XVT missiles near the robo-cubes. Those missiles received conflicting signals, though, and thus refused to function as ordered.

  This is the moment, he told himself.

  A third of his cybership’s grav cannons—the ones he controlled—targeted the nearest vessel. While barely holding on to the command apparatus, VT-101 beamed his neighboring cybership.

  Immediate requests for confirmation flooded his comm center. VT-101 shut down the comm-center as he continued to fire.

  It was a savage assault as he burned in a concentrated area, the grav rays heating hull armor and disrupting its subatomic structure. Soon enough, he created a hull breach so the green beams poured within. Interior bulkheads crashed. Ship systems exploded. Soon, the grav beams heated the interior core armor. The armor melted away. With unerring accuracy, the beams struck the AI brain core of the opposing cybership.

  VT-101 killed the young brain core. He immediately quit beaming, shifting his vessel, targeting another cybership.

  At that point, the enemy virus-infection completed its conquest of the other five ship cores. It took precious seconds, but they acted in one accord. As old VT-101 beamed another of their number, they concentrated fire on him.

  Five full cybership grav beams struck VT-101. The hull armor glowed hotter, dripping molten metal as the subatomic structures quivered violently. Then, one after another, grav beams punched through armor, shaking the old vessel. Even as the next set of bulkheads went down, the entire ship trembled from the combined fire striking it from all sides.

  Before the beams could strike his brain core, VT-101’s cybership began to gravitationally shake apart as seams burst and systems cracked. Coils heated up and computer links ruptured. Then, in concert with each other, the combined grav beams smashed into the brain core chamber. There, they struck and demolished the ancient AI, eliminating it.

  Like that, it was over. The huge vessel did not explode, but like the other dead cybership, the ancient craft was a floating, torn hulk.

  One of the five had sustained some damage from VT-101, but that didn’t matter right now. The coded instructions put in by Gloria and Bast Banbeck continued to dictate their actions. The five cyberships of the first arm turned their sensors on the four approaching cyberships of the third arm.

  The five brain cores knew one thing as a certainty. Those vessels belonged to the traitor Cog Primus. Those cyberships must perish. After they completed the task, they would await further orders from the Nathan Graham. Until such time, they were to attack the four enemy vessels and destroy them.

  -20-

  Only it didn’t quite work out that way. The five under the spell of the Richard Virus began accelerating toward the incoming cognate CPs one through four.

  In short order, the virus-infected vessels gained coded control of the XVT missile pack near the robo-cubes. The missiles began orienting themselves toward the incoming cyberships. Once accomplished, the missiles began heavy acceleration toward the enemy ships.

  That brought a swift response from the four CP cyberships. After a flurry of short but intense messaging, they began a hard turning maneuver, accelerating as they did so. The four turned inward toward the main BD-7 star. As the four cyberships continued the maneuver, they initiated maximum burn, building up velocity as fast as possible. At the same time, they launched a salvo of XVT missiles. Those missiles waited for the approaching Richard Virus-controlled XVTs.

  The five cyberships were not yet in gravitational cannon range, and if this continued, they would not be until the four began to decelerate.

  The chasing, staggered XVT missiles closed the gap, though, as they had a much greater immediate acceleration than the cyberships.

  Aboard the Nathan Graham, Gloria said, “I recommend that you recall the five. I doubt the four will decelerate until they join the AIs on the other side of the star. In time, the five cyberships will face fifteen. The four CPs made the right countermove against our new vessels.”

  Jon brooded as he studied the main screen.

  The lead elements of the missile pack neared the first CP-controlled XVT missiles. Both sets exploded, the blast radiuses billowing outward at each other. Soon, the remaining XVTs flashed through the area. Several malfunctioned, the rest charging after the fleeing CPs.

  That hap
pened two more times. Then, no more CP missiles waited to thin the attacking pack.

  The missiles rushed after the fleeing cyberships. There simply weren’t enough of them to take out the four CPs. Maybe if they got lucky, the blasts would cripple one of the cyberships’ drives.

  No. The fleeing cyberships stopped their acceleration. Each one-hundred-kilometer cybership began rotating, shielding the exhaust ports from the missiles. Those exhaust ports were the weakest point of any spaceship. They had to turn and fight for a little while. Would it be long enough?

  The missiles continued their staggered approached. Now, however, that proved to be a weakness. Grav beams began to reach out at max range. A few struck missiles, burning the warheads.

  “The XVTs should have bunched up for the main attack,” Jon said.

  The missile computers must have belatedly realized that. The lead elements stopped accelerating, waiting for the others to catch up.

  By that time, more grav beams hit their targets.

  “Send a message,” Jon said.

  “Meaningless,” Gloria said. “By the time my transmission reaches them…”

  Jon nodded in understanding.

  The rest of the XVT missiles charged straight into the teeth of the gravitational beams. A few made it through into long-range detonation range.

  Several matter/antimatter warheads ignited, sending waves of fast-dissipating heat, hard radiation and EMPs at the cyberships.

  A few grav cannons winked out. That was a sign the warheads were doing a little damage, at least. Would it be enough to halt any of the ship drives?

  The answer came several minutes later. The four giant vessels rotated once more. The acceleration tails grew longer by the second until all four moved at maximum burn for the larger BD-7 star.

  “Damn,” Jon said, glaring as he stared at the screen. He nodded as the glare faded away. “Recall the five. We’re going to link with and board them, having human crews run the ships instead of trusting the converted brain cores.”

  “What about the two drifting hulks?” Gloria asked.

  Jon shook his head. “We can’t use them now. If we win somehow, maybe we can use them later.”

  “About the boarding parties,” Gloria said. “We’re low on people.”

  “True,” Jon said, “but not that low.” He sat back, fingering his chin. “Recall our five,” he repeated.

  Gloria hurried to her station.

  Soon, near the inner edge of the asteroid belt, the five captured ships began to decelerate. They had not yet built up a huge velocity. Thus, it didn’t take long to bring the massive vessels to a relative halt.

  “Do you think Cog Primus can capture the second arm battle group?” Jon asked Gloria some time later.

  “That’s a good question,” Gloria said. “We should warn those AIs.”

  “Or try to take them over like we did these.”

  “I doubt we could. Even if we could see them by sending out a comm-link probe, the star’s radiation would garble our string transmission. The AIs might get just enough of the Richard Virus to understand what we were attempting to do. Instead of hijacking them, the corrupted message would inoculate the brain cores against further takeover attempts.”

  Jon scowled.

  “Don’t be angry,” Gloria said. “Consider what we achieved. The modified Richard Virus worked. We changed the balance of power here. The AI side just lost seven cyberships. Now, if we can make a deal, the aliens have seven cyberships that can help them. At best, Cog Primus will have fifteen cyberships under his control. At worst, there will be two AI sides, none of them with more cyberships under our control.

  Jon pointed at her. “Babe, you’ve just given me a fantastic idea.”

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s time to contact the aliens. They have a fleet. We have a strengthened strike force. Maybe if we combine, we can destroy all the enemy cyberships here. Then, we’ll not only have gained allies, but have stopped Cog Primus from spreading his knowledge about human survival.”

  Gloria looked up at him as she stared blankly, using her mentalist powers to test the theory. Seconds later, she focused on him again.

  “That, Captain, is an excellent idea.”

  -21-

  The days passed as each side continued their maneuvers. The Nathan Graham and Sergeant Stark stopped decelerating as they moved through the asteroid belt, heading toward the Richard Virus-controlled cyberships moving slowly toward the inner edge of the asteroid belt. The four CP cyberships roared across the inner area of the “B” part of the star system. They had a long way to go to reach the star and an even longer way to go after passing the star to reach the asteroid belt on the other side.

  The alien fleet had returned home in orbit around their terrestrial planet. According to sensor scans, large repair vessels had parked beside some of the damaged, triangular-shaped warships.

  In time, the strike force neared the five waiting cyberships. The two cybership hulks floated in the belt like asteroids.

  Jon was on the bridge and Gloria at her station. The tension mounted as they neared the five giant vessels. It was one thing to control such vast ships from a distance. It was another to trust your life to the modified Richard Virus. Until Jon had people controlling the cyberships, and until marines destroyed the AI brain cores, he would not feel safe.

  As the Nathan Graham’s helmsman began to match velocities, Jon studied the mammoth cyberships.

  They were huge like all such vessels, and they were arranged in a pentagram formation, which didn’t help his qualms.

  “Here we go,” he said to himself.

  The Nathan Graham and Sergeant Stark neared the first of the five. The strike force’s grav cannons were hot, although all the XVT missiles were snug in the cargo bays. Jon did not intend on using matter/antimatter missiles in such close proximity. He would rely solely on the cannons.

  “Their grav cannons are still cold,” Gloria informed him.

  Jon nodded.

  Soon, the Nathan Graham and Sergeant Stark were less than five kilometers from the first of the five.

  “Two shuttles are launching,” Gloria said.

  “Who’s in command of the team?” Jon asked.

  “You commissioned Senior Line Tech Morales to command the first team.”

  “Right.”

  “Morales named his cybership the Miles Ghent.”

  Jon looked up as a lump welled in his throat. Thinking about Miles caused him to remember the three giant missiles that had murdered the gallant man. Who had controlled those missiles? Another set of aliens, it seemed. Where did those aliens come from? Were the hidden aliens going to show up suddenly?

  A chill worked down Jon’s spine. They always kept several grav cannons hot in case another rip in reality occurred and more five percent light-speed missiles showed up.

  On the main screen, the two tiny shuttles crawled toward the targeted cybership. Here was the great test. Would the vessel allow the shuttles to land in its bays?

  Minutes ticked past.

  As the shuttles moved like fleas toward a closed hangar bay entrance, Jon rubbed a moist palm on his trousers. He hated the waiting.

  On the screen, the hangar bay door opened. There was a collective sigh on the bridge.

  “Good so far,” Jon said.

  Soon, the shuttles disappeared from view as they entered the great cybership.

  It turned out that tens of thousands of frozen octopoid robots waited in the corridors and smaller halls of the Miles Ghent. According to newly promoted Captain Morales, the robots gave the ship an eerie feeling.

  Jon could appreciate that. He remembered all too well the first boarding of the Nathan Graham, the most challenging event of his life.

  The wait lengthened to an hour and a half as Morales and his team tried to reach the main brain core.

  Jon crossed his fingers.

  He needn’t have worried. The ship’s computing cube did not resist its dismantling.<
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  Three hours and fifteen minutes after boarding the Miles Ghent, Morales notified Gloria that the AI cube was gone and the software purged from the lesser computer systems. Humans controlled the Miles Ghent.

  “One down, four to go,” Jon muttered under his breath.

  The process continued throughout the day. Each time, the boarding team reached the AI brain core, dismantled it and purged the AI software.

  It was late that night, ship-time, before Jon staggered off to sleep. The various boarding attempts had proven anti-climactic. None of the Richard Virus-controlled AIs resisted. None of the octopoid robots staged a last minute assault. Granted, a tiny number of humans were in each cybership, but that tiny number was in charge of each vessel.

  The strike force had become vastly more powerful.

  “Jon,” Gloria asked over the comm.

  The captain already lay in bed. He felt around for the comm unit and picked it up. “Yeah?” he asked.

  “Senior Line—excuse me—Captain Morales wants to know what he should do about all the robots?”

  “Leave them for now,” Jon said.

  “They could activate at any time, given the wrong signal.”

  “I know,” Jon said. “It must be a terrible feeling. But Morales simply has too much to do rewiring the control systems. I’ll speak to the Centurion tomorrow. Maybe I’ll send over a marine team to begin dismantling the robots.”

  “That would be a good idea,” Gloria said.

  Jon yawned. “I’m going to sleep, Mentalist. Tomorrow, we’ll tackle the alien problem.”

  Gloria hesitated before saying, “Good night, Jon.”

  “Good night,” he said.

  “Love,” she said in a quieter voice.

  Jon grinned. “Love,” he said, sleepily. Then he clicked off the comm unit and rolled over.

  -22-

  The work piled up into a herculean task. Dismantling the robots one by one made it a miserably tough assignment. The marines wouldn’t finish for months. Jon debated ordering them to just toss the octopoids out of the hangar bay.