Warlord 2: The Nobility

by CJ Williams

  In front of Lulubelle, the Bakkui carrier was alternately jinking up and down, and then darting left and right. George kept pouring fire at the enemy. Sooner or later, they were going to connect.

  Belle’s musical voice cut in again. “Message. Received.”

  That’s new, Carrie wondered what it was.

  “George?” she asked.

  “We have received a message from the Bakkui, Admiral.” George sounded as confused as she was.

  “Put it on speaker. Keep firing.”

  The voice was quite human sounding. Carrie didn’t recognize the language, but her implant did and identified it as a dialect of the Nobility.

  “Who are you and why are you ’ssisting us?” the Bakkui voice asked pleasantly.

  “I am Admiral Carrie Faulkner, commanding the Warlord Battle Group, of the Milky Way Alliance,” Carrie answered. “Identify yourself. Are you human?”

  The response was a pleasant chuckle, full of confidence. “Why are you ’ssisting us?” the voice repeated.

  Carrie couldn’t tell if the speaker was male or female. “I order you to cut power and be boarded or we will destroy you,” she warned. “Keep firing, George.”

  “Missile launch,” Deborah called. “Extreme redshift, headed out of system. Probably a message drone.”

  “George, can you intercept that?” Carrie asked. They had seen those before during battles.

  “Launching intercept, Admiral. Success is unlikely.”

  “Good strike on their mothership!” Deborah crowed, examining her sensor displays.

  On the viewscreen, the aft end of the Bakkui ship flashed three times in succession and was followed immediately by an enormous detonation.

  “Keep firing,” Carrie said.

  The viewscreen dimmed momentarily to dampen the whiteout. When it came back on Carrie could only see millions of tiny sparkling spheres of fading phosphorescence.

  Thirty seconds later she said, “Cease fire.” There was nothing left to fire at. The shimmering paled into nothingness; not even traces of the vessel could be seen. They had literally blown the Bakkui ship to smithereens. It was tempting to breathe a sigh of relief but the battle was not over.

  “Station a recon drone here and reverse course,” Carrie said. “Switch to alternate battle on the main viewscreen.” She spared a glance at the tactical display. Her relatively puny fleet was still at it and making a good account of itself. Over three quarters of the yellow diamonds had been replaced by red ones. She counted the white ovals quickly but they zipped to-and-fro faster than she could count. “Status!”

  George replied in a matter-of-fact tone. “One hundred and fifty Bakkui destroyers dead. All Alliance warships active. Unable to determine status our fighters.”

  That doesn’t sound good. The blue and green icons on the tactical display faded in and out as they flashed back and forth across the screen.

  “Time to engage?” Carrie asked.

  “Approximately thirteen minutes,” George and Shuffles answered at the same time.

  Shuffles added, “We’re still decelerating. We went back to FTL there at the end of the battle.”

  Thirteen minutes was forever in a space battle. Carrie groaned at the delay.

  Over the next sixty seconds, however, her heart lightened. The remaining yellow diamonds were flickering to red. The battle was nearing the end.

  “Message drone detected,” Dominique called out from the communications station. “It’s one of ours, not the Bakkui.”

  Carrie swore mentally. It if it was an Alliance drone, showing up just after they had arrived in the J99 system, they must have just missed it before departing Bradley’s Planet. Maybe it was the good news from Earth she had been hoping for. But this wasn’t the time to read a letter from home. And she certainly wasn’t going to have it broadcast the contents in a system that might have Bakkui reconnaissance drones hiding unseen.

  “Order it to a holding orbit around the outer gas giant.”

  “Done!” Dominique replied.

  The last yellow icon blinked out, replaced by a red diamond. The battle was over.

  “Status?” Carrie asked again.

  George’s calm voice responded, “Two hundred and thirty Bakkui destroyers killed. One Alliance warship damaged; all other forces intact. You have the hammer, Admiral.”

  This time, there was a cheer among the bridge crew. Carrie allowed herself the luxury of a smile. She looked at Grimes who was grinning at her widely. She nodded and leaned back in her chair for a few seconds and then stood.

  “Any questions, Captain Grimes?”

  He bounded to his feet. “None, Admiral.”

  “Then you have command of Lulubelle. Let’s make it permanent.”

  “I have command,” he replied. His face was bright with excitement.

  “Change of command recorded,” George announced. “Congratulations, Captain Grimes.”

  That brought forth another cheer from the crew. Carrie stepped away from the Captain’s chair and held out her hand. “Congratulations, Johnny,” she said.

  “Thank you, Admiral,” he said giving her a firm handshake. “Mr. Young! Begin recovery procedures for our warships.”

  “Aye, Captain,” he replied.

  The buzz of activity resumed. “I’ll be in my quarters, Johnny,” Carrie said, stepping back.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  He turned to the crew—his crew now, Carrie reminded herself—and gave several follow-on orders.

  Carrie watched the musical chairs one last time. Young moved over to the First Officer seat. Other officers clustered together as they went through the various tasks that she had developed as after-battle action items.

  That would include a thorough analysis by the tactical division. What could they have done differently, what would have worked better? Reconnaissance would analyze battle debris.

  The communications officer would have an important role on this one. An actual voice message from the Bakkui? Brief though it was, what could they glean? What had the Bakkui said? Was it “a-ssisting” or “re-sisting”? Neither interpretation made sense.

  Carrie realized she was stalling. She wasn’t surprised that she was finding it difficult to leave the bridge. Her first command was over. Commander Blackburn had prepared her for the feeling; he said military officers experienced it often. After each leadership assignment, you felt a loss, no matter how small your former unit had been.

  His first experience as squadron commander was the one he recalled most vividly. When he commanded men and women in battle, it was exhilarating and then difficult to step away when the time came.

  He said that after military commanders were changed they were routinely transferred to another base because it was too tempting to stick their fingers back in with a bit of friendly advice. She could feel it now. She wanted to tell Grimes, go ahead and get the message drone.

  Carrie sighed and forced herself to turn away. Her footsteps carried her back to her quarters. It was time for a shower and change of uniform. Another of her personal quirks. Even though no lives had been lost on either side of the battle, she always felt gritty after combat.

  *.*.*.*

  The clean uniform helped put the violence behind her. She was just starting to relax when George’s mental warning came.

  Admiral, we have a problem, George said, directly into her mind. When aboard Lulubelle, he rarely communicated mind-to-mind unless she initiated a query.

  “What is it, George?” Carrie asked aloud.

  “Admiral Faulkner,” Grimes voice came from the overhead speaker. “Please report to the bridge.”

  “Talk to me, George,” Carrie ordered as she ran from her room.

  Admiral, I need you to report to Sadie.

  “The shuttle? Commander Blackburn’s shuttle?”

  Carrie arrived at the bridge, breathless in spite of the fact that it was only a hundred feet from her quarters.

  Grimes wore a perplexed expression. “I’m so
rry to call you, Admiral. I’m having a bit of a problem with George. He is balking at retrieving the message drone.”

  Carrie looked at the ceiling. “George? Retrieve the message drone. That order is obviously within Captain Grimes’s purview.”

  Admiral, I need you to report to Sadie. Please do not mention this to the crew.

  “What? That makes no sense.”

  The members of the bridge crew were staring at her in wonder. Everyone had seen her talk to George innumerable times. But no one had ever witnessed the admiral arguing with the ship’s artificial intelligence.

  Admiral. Please comply with my request.

  “George! You’re going to have to explain why I should…”

  Carrie felt a disorienting presence in her mind.

  Carrie Faulkner. This is Sadie. The message drone has confirmed that Commander Blackburn is dead. Please do not share this information with your crew just yet, or that you are communicating with me. I have critical information that I must share.

  Carrie gasped at the unexpected intrusion into her thoughts. She gripped the back of the Captain’s chair to steady herself.

  “Are you okay, Admiral?” Grimes asked. His face was filled with alarm. The rest of the crew looked as worried as he did.

  Carrie put aside the millions of questions from her mind and gathered her composure. “I’m fine, Johnny. Obviously, I’m talking to George. It appears there are some issues that we weren’t aware of. Let me sort through this with George for a few minutes. It pertains to the message drone but that’s all I can really tell you at the moment. Continue with your other duties.”

  “You want someone to assist?” Grimes asked. “I can send Dominique. Where are you going? Your quarters?”

  Carrie patted Grimes on the arm. “I’m not sure. I’ll call you if I need help. Carry on now.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he responded with a troubled expression.

  Carrie turned and left the bridge. Okay, George. I’m heading to the hangar bay. You better have some pretty good answers. You too, Sadie.

  The hangar bay was twenty levels below the bridge which itself was located near the middle of the massive vessel. For the hundredth time since taking command of Lulubelle, Carrie considered how Lulubelle’s biggest strength, the AI known as George, was also its biggest weakness. No one really understood who or what George was.

  Commander Blackburn had grumbled about George more than once and even joked about how Sadie was a pain the neck. But this was the first time that Sadie had intruded into Carrie’s mind. As far as Carrie was concerned, Sadie was simply a shuttle. True, the Commander always used Sadie, but Carrie assumed that was for the same reason her own father always used his old toolbox. Even though Carrie had bought him two or three new ones over the years, he’d never even opened them. Guys got used to things and didn’t like to change.

  “I’m here,” Carrie announced as she entered the hangar bay. Sadie had moved from the far back corner where she had been waiting since the Commander departed three months ago. She now rested on the ready line, defined by a white dashed line on the hangar floor. The main hangar door was open to space and the force field emitters surrounding the frame were lit up, indicating their active nature. Shuttle traffic could come and go without restriction.

  Sadie’s cargo bay door opened.

  Please board Sadie, George said in Carrie’s mind.

  “Not until you explain what’s going on,” Carrie replied aloud. “I’m not in the mood for games, George.”

  Please board Sadie, George repeated. Sadie will play the Commander’s final message to Doctor Higgins on Moonbase One. It was a personal comment and the information is vital for your success.

  The comment from George only raised more questions. Why the interplay and secrecy? Was the information so sensitive that George wanted her completely off the ship to hear it? Was this a trick of some kind?

  It didn’t matter. Carrie wanted to see the recording. She didn’t like hearing it described as the “final message.”

  “All right,” she commented angrily. She stomped across the hangar and stepped into the shuttle’s cargo bay. The door closed behind her, and by the time she settled in the cockpit’s left seat, the shuttle was already positioned two thousand feet from Lulubelle.

  “Play the message, Sadie,” Carrie said.

  The transparent canopy darkened and the Commander’s recording appeared on the left viewscreen. It was him. He was seated in the captain’s chair of the Ambrosia-class warship he’d taken on his trip to Jigu.

  “Hey, Roth,” the Commander opened, in greeting to Doctor Higgins, his longtime friend on Moonbase One. “By now, you know that I returned to Jigu to help out Tyler. This is about something else that happened on that trip. While I was there, we came under a new Bakkui attack. It happened about ten days ago and by the time you get this, I am afraid that Jigu will have fallen. When the Bakkui came in system it was something we hadn’t seen. George tells me that it’s a level-two AI, and that it originates from the Nobility. That’s obviously bad news since George is level-three. He thinks it’s an AI gone bad, but we don’t know for sure.

  “The problem is the level-two ordered the entire Jigu space fleet to shut down all weapons, shields and drives, and they had no choice but to obey. The Bakkui’s level-two device outranks everything we have. I’m sending this message so you’ll understand the threat. It means that you need to refit everything we have with manual overrides. Shields, weapons, drives, the whole nine-yards. I just hope to God that something similar hasn’t already attacked you there on Earth.

  “We can still beat the Bakkui, but it’s a different ballgame now. If I were there, I’d put the biggest shields we have over a couple of our large-scale replicators and then start pumping out new warships, but that’s all up to you now.

  “The George that I’m on saw the Bakkui ship coming. We hid when it entered the system, so we’re still operating. But Jigu’s planetary shields are failing so we’re going to take one last crack at the thing. Frankly, you need to know this is a kamikaze run. The second we show our face that thing will blow us away but at least we’ll go down fighting. We’ll launch this message drone just before we attack.

  “So that’s it, buddy. I’ve enjoyed knowing you all these years. You’re still my hero. Thanks for taking care of Moonbase for me. If you ever see Annie again, tell her I still love her. I’m still pissed she ran off, but now I’m glad she did; at least she’s alive. Good luck.”

  The image faded away and Carrie wiped away the tears that were streaming down her cheeks. It was true then. He was really gone. She wanted to scream and cry but there wasn’t time. Now she understood George’s desire for secrecy, but it wasn’t something to be kept under wraps. They needed to head back to Bradley’s Planet and start implementing the workarounds the Commander had talked about. Rico and Justin would have some ideas but she would need to get everyone’s input.

  Carrie was aware of the hierarchical nature of the AIs, but it was a subject the Commander avoided. She had to get smart on that and quickly. How would they battle an enemy that outranked everything they had?

  “All right, George. I understand what Commander Blackburn was saying. Let’s get back to Lulubelle and call a staff meeting. I want to brief the bridge crew on this right away.”

  “I apologize, Admiral, but I am unable to comply. Sadie has ordered me to put a hold on your movements for a bit longer.”

  “What? George! That makes no sense at all. Is she grieving or something? I thought you AIs don’t have feelings. Take us back!”

  “Standby please, Admiral,” George responded. “I am receiving new information. It appears I was unaware of several important factors in my mission statement.”

  Now what? Was it data from the message drone?

  “George!” Carrie demanded sternly. “Answer me!”

  “Standby please, Admiral.”

  This is insane. Carrie tamped down her frustration. Try another tack.

&nb
sp; “Sadie, take us back to Lulubelle,” Carrie ordered.

  “Acknowledged, Admiral,” Sadie replied. “But please be patient for another moment. George is having trouble adapting to my new instructions. It’s not his fault, however. He is an older model, so it’s going to take a little time.”

  “Your instructions? What’s that supposed to mean?” Carrie’s grip on her own mental stability was starting to slip.

  “George!” Carrie shouted. “Respond!”

  “Acknowle—ackno—ack.”

  “Hang on, Carrie,” Sadie urged. “Just another few seconds.”

  Carrie wasn’t sure what to do. The situation had just gone from frustrating to potentially dangerous. George’s stammering was beyond anything she had heard of from any AI. Was he losing it? Had the Commander’s death unhinged his AI-ness?

  “Clear the visual display, Sadie,” Carrie ordered

  The canopy returned to its normal transparent state. Lulubelle was still positioned next to the shuttle but it was wallowing side to side; not much, but noticeably.

  “George? Are you okay?” It was the most ridiculous question Carrie had ever asked.

  “Ack—Acknowledged. Sta-sta-standby, please.”

  Carrie bit down on her tongue to keep from screaming. If they lost George, they lost everything. At this point, she would give him as much time as he needed.

  After another minute George’s normal voice filled the cockpit. “I apologize, Admiral. All systems have been updated and I’ve run a diagnostic on my core modules. I have detected the message drone is infected with a level-two virus. We have quarantined the drone for the moment.”

  “And?” Carrie prompted. “Are you okay? Did you get infected?”

  “I am in perfect working order. Please let me introduce Sadie. I am confirming for you that Sadie is a level-one artificial intelligence operating under the authority of the Nobility’s First Family of the Royal Ancient Lineage. This is quite an honor for us both. It is my first experience meeting a senior of such importance. Sadie, how may we serve you?”