AI Awakening
Page 25
“We have, in a way. One of Klemperer’s men has already been assigned, but only while Vermillion is outside of his suite.”
“Is that safe enough?”
I chuckled. “That suite has counter-measures. Don’t mention that to anybody, okay?”
“Countermeasures can be overcome, given a little knowledge,” JJ said.
“Which is why I said not to mention it.”
JJ smirked. “Okay, I get it. You didn’t even mention it to me.”
“Until now, that’s right. Nobody else knows. Not even Nolan.”
“What now?”
“Yep,” I said.
We took the tin can back down to the mustering room, and Emerald guided JJ through the final training. I was half-watching her, while thinking about the plants and questioning Butch. JJ came and sat next to me on the bench when she was done.
“Carrying heavy stuff, huh. I expected something a little more challenging.”
“It was easy enough? No muscle strain?”
“Not even a little,” JJ said. “Emerald said everything is working within the optimum parameters.”
“Good. Nolan will be back here soon. I’ll stick around and help him with the remainder of the training.”
“Then I’ll go get to work on the refinery. I’ll put the waste management part on hold, though, since we’ve only got a couple days before we get to Boroclize. You guys took my buffer away.”
I smiled. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll just orbit until we’re ready to start refinement. If it’s not ready the minute we get there, no problem. I should check with Deacon and the mining team, though. They’ll be up first.”
“Last I heard he was about done with the shielded compartment.”
“That’s what I heard too, but he was at the tool crib yesterday to get something related to that task.”
“Want me to chat with him?” JJ asked.
“No, you do your thing, I’ll handle talking to Deacon. I’ll put Nolan together with the mining team.”
JJ gave me a kiss and left the mustering room. Nolan was back after five minutes with Tim, Izzy, and Andrea in tow. He glanced at them. “You can get back to your strength enhancement training.” He turned back to me. “How’d Vermillion take everything?”
I shrugged. “I don’t think he was happy, but he accepted it. He’s worried, but then he’s always worried. Goes with the territory, I guess. Anything interesting about that transmitter?”
“Typical Central Authority hardware,” Nolan said. “It’s basically a standard XC3P2 transmitter like we have all over the Centurion-class ships. Obviously it’s got some enhancements to work in a jump, but that isn’t a difficult trick from a technical standpoint. I am wondering how they got the right frequency for this ship, though. That’s a little worrisome.”
“What level of person would know that?” I asked.
“Senior Samson Drive Engineer, or Transport Scientist,” Nolan said. “We should pull all of them in for questioning.”
“How many people is that?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but I can find out.”
Nolan laughed. “Well there you go. I’ve been replaced.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Dammit. The Tristar is leaving within the hour.”
“And there aren’t any human plants on the New Jersey,” I said.
“What?” I asked.
{ 23 }
Cleanup Crew
B utch had just told us that the brig was under attack.
“How many attackers?” I asked.
Nolan’s brow furrowed. “Dammit. We have to get down there.”
Andrea eyed me. “We’re with you, Captain. Let’s go get ‘um.”
“Let’s go, everybody,” I said.
We put on our helmets and raced into the corridor.
I dictated the fastest speed and took off in a flash, the others with me. It was like being on auto-pilot. I couldn’t even see the scenery rushing by. We were at the brig in less than two minutes and stopped right outside. There was a barricade at the door.
“Good.” I dictated full strength, grabbing the first piece of barricade and ripping it off like it was paper. Nolan, Andrea, Tim, and Izzy joined in, JJ arriving with Commander Klemperer and a dozen of his men, all suited up.
“What’s going on?” JJ asked.
“They put quite a barricade here,” I said, grabbing one of the last pieces, then punching my way through the door. Spiker rounds came at us, the suit disintegrating them as they hit.
“Nice try,” I muttered, releasing Variant 2 Nanos, all of the Overlord plants in sight dropping in an instant.
“Plasma gun,” Izzy said, just as the flash hit us from further in the brig.
“Captain, we’ve got enough to question in the brig cells,” Nolan said. “Maybe it’s time to get rid of these creeps.”
I dictated to deploy Variant 4, the Nanos raging out of my suit, Overlord plants screaming as they expanded and blew up around us, including several who were just coming into the door to help their comrades.
“Who’s gonna clean that up?” Tim quipped.
“My God,” Izzy said, looking at the guts all over the room.
“All variant 4 Nanos have self-destructed,” Nolan said.
“Good. The prisoners in the brig survived?”
The security officer we’d met in the hallway earlier stuck his head out of a door. “Captain, is it safe
to come out?” He glanced at the gore splattered on the walls, ceiling, and floor.
“Yes. Sorry about the mess. Did you get anything out of the first group of prisoners yet?”
“We were just getting ready to start when these people arrived,” He said, walking towards me, trying to avoid puddles on the floor. “Where did you get those suits?”
“Never mind for now,” I said. “Sorry. Don’t tell anybody outside of your brig personnel, and tell them to keep quiet as well.”
“Yes sir,” he said.
“What’s your name, officer?” I asked.
“Officer Priestly, sir.”
“Well, Officer Priestly, I’m going to request that you receive training and a suit. Somebody in here needs this capability.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Go back to the interrogation. Use chemical inducement if they won’t talk any other way. I need answers within the next two hours.”
“Yes sir,” Priestly said, saluting and walking into the hallway to the cells.
“You think Vermillion will go for that?” JJ asked.
“Yeah,” I said.
I looked at Nolan. “Excellent. We make a good team.”
“Thank you, sir,” Nolan said.
“All right, enough of this,” I said. “I suspect Vermillion will want to chat again.”
“Mind if I get back to work?” JJ asked. “I was in the middle of something important.”
“Please,” I said. “Keep your helmet handy at all times. Understand?”
“Understood, Captain,” She turned to leave. “I’ll have Emerald monitor this situation, in case I’m needed again.”
“Good, thanks.” After she left, I looked at the others. “Same thing for you guys. Keep the helmets with you all the time, and always have the long suits on. That’s an order.”
I watched as they all nodded or said yes. Klemperer shot me a glance as the others left to go about their business.
“How many total was that?” he asked softly.
Klemperer smiled as his AI notified him of the incoming data. “Thank you, sir. What now?”
“We see what comes out of the interrogations. I’m gonna turn my AI loose on the population, too. Hopefully there’s something we can use to identify them.”
Klemperer nodded. “I heard some scuttlebutt that the Tristar is about to take off for Inoa, to place mines.”
“The Overlords might know about that location. Why do you ask?”
“I suggest that they take some fighters with them, just in case.”
I leaned against one of the few clean sections of the front counter. “Might not be a bad idea. How many could be re-charged by the Tristar?”
“I’ll ask my AI to get with engineering,” Klemperer said.
“Good, but do it quick. The Tristar will be out of here in about two hours.”
“Yes sir,” Klemperer said. “Talk to you soon. I’ll text you with the info.”
“Hey, why don’t you leave a couple of your guys here, just in case?”
Klemperer nodded. “Consider it done.” He went to talk to two of his men, then gave me a thumb-up.
I nodded, watching him walk away, and then left the brig, heading for the New Jersey bridge.
I put my street clothes back on, and went to the transport station, which was up again, grabbing a tin can to the main bay.
“Cappy, what brings you down here?” Deacon asked as I walked into engineering on the Zephyrus.
“Did you get some engineering staff re-assigned from the New Jersey to the Zephyrus?”
“Yeah, Cappy, you told me to go there, remember?”
“Yep, no problems, but we’ve found some Overlord operatives in the engineering department on the New Jersey.”
Deacon looked faint, and sat down on his chair. “Shit.”
“How many did you pull over?” I asked.
“Three.”
“How many of them did you know before hand?”
He sighed. “Two of the three. The one I didn’t know shows promise. He might be the best of them.”
“We need to talk to him,” I said. “For now, make up some reason to send him back to the New Jersey.”
Deacon nodded, his face grim. He spoke into his PA. “Hey, Jergens.”
“Hello, Deacon, what can I do for you?”
“Smythe is needed back on the New Jersey.”
“Oh, shucks,” Jergens said. “I had him almost up to speed on this ship.”
“Sorry, can’t be helped,” Deacon said, shooting me a glance. “Let him know and then get back to me.”
“Yes sir.”
“Thanks, Deacon,” I said. “Sorry to have to do that. If we can confirm he’s okay, you can have him back right away.”
“Just how many plants have you found, Cappy?”
“Over fifty.”
“What?” Deacon wiped sweat off his brow. “That’s not good.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll handle it. We’ve killed most of them. Captured a few, who are under interrogation right now. None of them who attacked us got away.”
“Well, that’s something, but this is concerning. Think about all of the people we have spread out on the New Jersey. It’s like a good-sized city.”
I nodded. “Tell me about it.”
Deacon’s PA buzzed. He answered it.
“Sir, we can’t locate Smythe anywhere. He disappeared a little while ago, saying he was going to the head.”
“Oh, crap,” Deacon said. “Okay, if he shows up, let me know.”
“What’s his id?” I asked.
“I’ll have to look it up. I’ll send it to your PA.”
“Thanks, Deacon.”
“I’m sorry, Cappy.”
“It’s not your fault, so don’t worry about it. I’m going back to the New Jersey bridge. If this guy turns up, let me know right away.”
“Okay, Cappy.”
I left the Zephyrus, heading for the transport, just making it to the corridor when somebody grabbed my arm from behind.
“You’re coming wi
th me,” a voice said. I dictated strength enhancement, and flipped the person over my head, slamming him down onto the corridor floor ahead of me, grabbing his spiker and squeezing it into a useless chunk of steel.
“Not today, traitor.” I picked him up and slammed him against the corridor wall, getting the attention of several people nearby. “How many of you cretins are on this ship? Gonna take a while to shoot you all out the airlock.”
“You need help, Captain?” asked a fighter pilot behind me. “I’ve had the training.”
“I’ve got it, thanks.”
I ducked into a store room door to the right, dragging my quarry behind me, throwing him against the wall as I entered, his head splattering on a bulkhead.
I put my helmet on and stepped back into the corridor, where there were five more men running towards me.
“Come get some,” I taunted. They stopped, turning to flee. I dictated high speed and was on the other side of them in a micro-second, blocking their escape, grabbing two of them and slamming them into each other, killing both instantly, then going after the other three. Their bloody bodies were laying on the corridor floor in a split second.
I chuckled.