The Icarian Legacy Collected Edition: Brave Souls - First Strike (Volume 3)
Page 64
Egert looked at the human. He knew he was right. They had no idea that they even existed until several days ago and he wondered how many of them there were. He knew that there was at least one more team considering the information he got from Arnes. It was confusing but now he understood what the senator has found. He was leading a second team here. And there might also be others here as well.
“What you say is right. Can I ask what you plan now? Will you help us?”
“That depends on what your chances are, and how you plan to fight them.”
Egert nodded. It was a reasonable request. He just hopped that his answer would be good enough.
“I will give you all the information about our defenses when we finish here.”
Rivers smiled.
“What I meant general was for an opinion. I need to know how long you will be able to stand. We are here and we will help. I just hope that what we can do will help you survive long enough.”
Egert looked at the Elders.
“With your permission I will share everything I have with them.”
The Ksand who first spoke with Rivers looked at Egert.
“That is your decision general. We agree.”
Egert nodded and looked at Rivers.
“When you finish here they will lead you to the Battle Room Center of this fort.”
After this he and the other General bowed and left.
The Ksand turned towards the humans.
“I hope there will be a way you can help us but even if there is not I thank you for what you did and what you will do.”
Rivers and Anderson smiled and nodded with their heads.
“We’ll do all that we can.”
As they prepared to leave one of the other Ksand raised his voice.
“Before you go can you tell us how you know about us?”
Rivers exchanged a look with Anderson.
“From a friend of a different time my lord. And she is one of the reasons we will help you.”
“Why?”
“Because she told us what you did for us and she made us promise that we will help you if you still live.”
“When you say mutual friend what do you mean?”
“I think it will be best to show you. Do you have an interface?”
The Ksand looked at him with surprise.
“You have an AI?”
“Yes and her name is Aria.”
He took out the small data chip that held a fragment of Aria and inserted it in the interface the Ksand showed him.
Moments later a well known shimmering and blue light appeared. Moments later the image of Aria appeared.
It was strange to feel disconnected from the ship and from her self. It was a long time since the last time she did that. And she knew she was getting old, far older than any AI was in fact. She started to feel the connection and to gather information. At first it was surprising but the more information she got the more alive she became and more pleased. She knew where she was just seconds after she activated. She was in Ksamona the ancient Ksand Fortress one of the several placed on this world. She interacted shortly with the local AI, far more limited then her in it’s range and power but was pleased to know that it knew about her from it’s past. And then she felt the final connection and saw that she was in the chamber surrounded by creatures from different races. She saw Rivers and Anderson and smiled to them. She noticed the Elder humans and the Berilians and all the other races that were part of this council of Elders that was the government of this strange union. And then she noticed the Ksand watching her.
And she kneeled and raised her head. A hologram of her appeared in the center of the room kneeling as well, and a small projection showing another woman dressed in an admiral’s uniform. It was obviously a recording and at the same time it was real. It was as if she was real and as if she knew exactly where she was.
She turned and looked at the humans in the room and it was a look filed with warmth.
“In the name of Alteran I say thank you to the members of this council and to the Ksand. Thank you for your sacrifice and for your help. My name is Genevieve Sumer the Admiral of the human fleet that passed through system to protect the secret. Aria was my AI and she downloaded this message from me to be played to you on the day my descendants will return. I hope they will help you just as you did for us.”
She looked at the Ksand, straight in to his eyes. The Elder looked at her with tears in his eyes.
“Min yanissa alinse Alteran dah Ksand… Nah gratituda ah do Khalas’Ar un ak Ksand, Gratituda.”
The hologram then bowed once more then rose and looked at the humans in the room. She smiled and then turned towards Rivers and Anderson. She reached with both hands and touched their faces.
“Remember us and make us proud.”
After this she looked at the AI and then disappeared.
Everyone in the room was stunned, even Rivers and Anderson and even Aria herself. The AI looked confused for a moment and knowing her both soldiers wondered how many memories flashed through her digital eyes as she saw her old commander.
And he was sure that the image, the hologram was real in a way. It must have been a subroutine a hidden file in her that was activated the moment she interfaced with the base.
Aria felt the emotions that she knew well. It was joy for seeing her former commander the women that gave her life so that humanity can have a future. But she also felt sadness, sadness that that commander was not here today she and the thousands others that followed her not because they were filled with hate but because they knew they have to return and convince the dacarians that there was no refuge fleet. They all died so that others may live. So that humanity has a future. And as she saw the humans watching her she knew that they would be proud of what their descendants became. Humanity was young still making its first steps in the galaxy but it was noble and had values that she hopped would spread far and wide.
She looked at the stunned Ksand. She knew the reason for that. The Ksand were a race with genetic memory and the race not total but memory that genetically imprinted some things in its future generations. And some people, if they were deserving of such honor. And Genevieve was. They remembered the admiral who gave the order to construct the defenses that orbited Arcadia and the admiral who led the elements of the Ksand navy to fight against the Dacarian Empire.
“Min yanissa un Aressa nah gratituda Khalas’Ar.”
She said the formal and official greeting of the Ksand. Then she saw that the previous conversation was performed in Alteran. She was glad that every human soldier from Excelsior was now fluent in it. In a way it was their language.
“And in the name of my ancestors I say thank you as well Aria of Alteran.”
She smiled as the Ksand returned her greeting.
She checked the date as she continued to gather information from the sensors and the orbiting satellites. She managed to hide her presence from the dacarians. Their AI’s were just as sophisticated as her some even as Anaya but she had thousands of years of experience they didn’t and the codes for the orbiting platforms. She couldn’t activate them not with this fragment from her self, and not from here. The only place where that could be achieved was the base that she instructed Rivers and his teams to infiltrate. It was their priority mission considering the implications. She sent an update to the Excelsior and to herself. It would take time before the news reached them but it was important. She also located the rest of the teams and was happy to see them safe all except three teams that were also heading here.
Khalas’Ar looked at the hologram standing over the interface. There were million questions he wanted to ask, and as he turned towards the others he knew that they would have questions to. The shaky alliance of Ksand, Humans, Illians, Sicarians and the other races among them had several AI’s but none were as advanced as the AI standing before him. She was at least a generation six maybe even seven of the Alteran AI’s and he knew that it is far more capable then the second and t
hird generation they had. The AI controlling all the major operations of the fortress was class five and on Alteran scale it would have been four, and it was old and almost rampant. It would have to be replaced in a year or two and they didn’t have any advanced AI nor they had the machines and technology needed for creating them. And an Alteran AI was what was needed to activate the Alteran defense grid from Gehanna the large ancient military base placed on this continent. It was now occupied by the dacarians and he knew that they were trying for years to activate it. Ever since the last AI self destructed in order to prevent them from capturing it and the information it held when the planet fell the platforms orbiting Arcadia were silent. He knew how powerful they were and that if activated the dacarians would need a large fleet to conquer it again. They rebuilt the reactors that supplied the energy for the platforms but without the AI they were silent. A human genome and an Alteran AI were needed to activate it, and a cooperative one at that. The dacarians tried several times to coerce human created AI’s to activate it but they met failure every time. They used the machines the Alterans built for his people long ago when they helped them to construct the defense grid around the planet. The fails safe in the machine was built in secretly as a precaution and as he now knew it was a wise one. When the Illians lost the war and Arcadia fell the AI activated the fail safe and he was now looking at the AI that could unlock it.
Before he could think he heard himself asking that question.
“Can you activate the defense grid of this world?”
Aria expected the question.
“I’m jus a fragment of my true self but the answer is yes, but not from here. I can access the sensor grid but that is all. The weapons are deactivated and I will have to be plugged in on site in order to activate them again.”
“And we need to control this world surface for u to do that.”
The comment came from one of the Sicarians.
Khalas’Ar knew he was right.
“You speak the truth Tauras.”
Rivers looked at Aria as the elders spoke.
He knew it was not the real Aria but even this fragment was her.
“Aria, are you saying that if we take control of the surface and that base you can activate those platforms?”
The AI turned towards him and nodded.
“Yes Major. If the base is under our control and if we can defend it then I can disable the fail safe and activate the defense grid.”
Rivers tried to imagine what that would mean and the power of those weapon platforms. If they could be activated when the fleet comes and takes control of this world…He exchanged a glance with his XO. He knew that they were thinking the same thing.
He turned towards the Elders.
“Elders if you’ll excuse me I need to speak and share my opinions with your commanding officers.”
The Ksand just nodded and disengaged the data chip. The hologram flickered and disappeared. He handed it to Rivers and looked at one of the guards. The guard walked to the humans and showed them to follow him.
Be fore they exited Khalas’Ar stopped them.
“Major would it be too much to ask if you can let us make a copy of your AI?”
Rivers just smiled.
“No sir not at all. But it will have to be her decision.”
The Ksand nodded.
Rivers and Anderson followed the guard outside. As they exited he could hear the Elders engaging in a discussion.
“What do you think do they stand any chance?”
Anderson looked around him.
“First let’s see what they have and then we’ll make a decision but I think we are too involved to stay away.”
Rivers looked at his friend and smiled.
“It will be hard but I think that we can do something remarkable here. We never hoped for anything like this when we started our mission. If we manage to help them our troops will have a far easier time to finish their mission.”
They both thought about their friends that must be traversing the void now. They knew that they were still several months away. But the thought of human soldiers landing on this world and the surprise the dacarians will get … it made them both smile. And if an organized rebellion greeted the human fleet it would be even better.
In front of them the Illian walked fast. He was a soldier all his life but for the first time in his life he felt a feeling he didn’t feel before.
He felt the feeling we all knew as hope.
Rivers was surprised by the tech base as they entered the battle room. He knew that it was a CIC of the fortress. The room was large and in a way it reminded him of the bridge of the Argus. There were many differences but it was the heart of the base, it was the place where all decisions were made.
The room had two floors. On the first floor he could see most of the operatives working on what he guessed were computers and watching and monitoring the screens that showed the city outside and the defensive lines. They also showed weapons displacement and shield power, as well as sensors.
On the second floor he noticed the two generals that were with them watching several screens that showed the continent and the bases and troops moving through the jungle.
They must have sensor grids spread across the jungle to show them the movement of the enemies. He noticed that besides the Illian and the other officer there was also a human and a Sicarian.
They were discussing something as he and Anderson started going up.
Egert was the first to see them. As he turned and stopped talking so did the other three generals.
Hanno watched them as they came to them. He had mixed feelings as he saw them. Part of him was happy and felt awe at seeing humans from his home world but he also hoped for more as he watched the weapons they carried. He knew from the discussion they had with Golak that humanity was still far behind technologically from the dacarians and even from the Lacarian Alliance. But yet they were still here. Even with those weapons they were fighting and they were not afraid.
Both humans stopped as they came close.
Egert showed them to the table in the small office.
Each of them took a chair.
“These are my fellow generals Maukar, Golak and Hanno.” He pointed at each of the three.
“Major Rivers.”
“Lieutenant Anderson.”
The humans watched Hanno. And he did the same. The Illian was quiet for several seconds allowing everyone to gather their thoughts.
Then he turned to Rivers.
“As you must know major we are facing with a serious attack by the dacarian empire forces on this world, an attack that we can’t hold.”
“Yes. We are aware of it. Can you show us the disposition of your forces and the number of troops you have and armor and air units.”
The Illian watched the human with surprise. They were here just several days and they already knew a lot about his forces at least armor and air.
“We have four hundred and sixty armored vehicles as well three hundred walkers. We also have six hundred wraths those are our fighters but we can’t risk using them. Not before the end.”
He pressed a button and a screen lit up in the middle of the table.
“We have three defensive lines. You passed the first two. The first one will come in contact soon and I have no doubt that it will be overrun. We expect to stop them at the second and our most powerful line, the one where you were loaded in the armored vehicles. The last line of defense is the outside city and this fortress. We are well protected here both from orbital bombardment and from ground attack. The fortress is the place where if all fails we will make our final stand while we try to buy time for the refugees to escape in the inhospitable regions.”
Rivers looked at the disposition of the forces as the Illian spoke. It was a good solid plan but it was also a waste of good resources.
“Your plan is good but it will fail. You can’t stop them. And you can’t win.”
The Sicarian watched the human.
“I guess you know best how they fight on the ground, and how they fight in situations like these.”
“What are you trying to say major?”
Rivers looked at the map that showed the large dacarian formations coming in contact with the first line. He knew that that line will falter and that the second will follow soon after. He knew that thousands were dying right now. It was such a waste.
“How many troops do you have under your command? My guess is at least two hundred thousand maybe twice that number.”
The four generals exchanged looks. It was a pretty accurate guess.
“Yes something like that.”
“And most of them are placed on those lines especially the second one and are prone to orbital bombardment the moment they start inflicting serious enough damage.”
The Sicarian was the one to answer.
“They don’t use their legions like you think. They use rebellions like this to train their troops, to bloody them before going to war. That is why they leave us to fight and live.”
Rivers and Anderson exchanged glances.
That was something new and didn’t fit in what they saw in the troops they fought. They were seasoned troops.
“That might be the case but I don’t think that they will stop now. They are moving in to destroy you totally.”
“You’re right. They used kinetic strikes to destroy several forward bases.”
Rivers looked at the Illian.
“Do you have a number of the Dacarian troops and population on this world and of their defenses?”
“Not a completely accurate one considering that they use this world as a transit route to the front where they fight his people”- on this the Illian pointed to the Lacarian-“ but we think that there are five heavy armed legions placed on this world permanently and a sixth that came with the new governor.