by S. H. Jucha
“I don’t,” Suntred said defiantly. “And if he does, I’m afraid he’ll make the wrong decision.”
“There are three excellent senior commanders, including Taralum,” Sargut declared. He was becoming uncomfortable with the discussion. It bordered on insubordination, and it was made worse, when Suntred whistled her derision to his statement.
“Why do you think Taralum was present and offered her statements, when you gave Tranimus your report?” Suntred demanded.
Sargut was taken aback by the forcefulness of Suntred’s attitude. The longer she’d been with the Omnians, especially with Z, the more commanding she’d become.
“I appreciated her support of my efforts with the Omnians,” Sargut replied.
Suntred stared at Sargut. She couldn’t make up her mind whether Sargut was simply deprecating or was truly unaware of his skills.
“Do you think Taralum has noticed the Change is overtaking Tranimus?” Suntred asked, deciding she needed to test Sargut and determine the truth.
“There’s no way she couldn’t have detected the telltale signs,” Sargut replied.
“Do you think Taralum covets the grand commander title?” Suntred pursued.
“I would think that each senior commander would want the title in the proper time,” Sargut replied.
“Then why would Taralum laud your interactions with the Omnians?” Suntred asked, and quickly added, “Recall that she told Tranimus that she thought she couldn’t have done as well.”
Suntred watched Sargut for his reaction. That he took time to consider what she’d presented gave her hope that Sargut was the grand commander she believed the fleet needed.
“I will not ask Tranimus to appoint me grand commander,” Sargut replied firmly.
“Is that because you feel it would be disloyal or because you don’t believe you’re fit for the position?” Suntred challenged.
“You go too far, Suntred,” Sargut shot back.
“And you don’t go far enough,” Suntred replied heatedly. “Remember, Commander, I don’t report to you. I’m the grand commander’s liaison, and the well-being of the commanders and the crews of this fleet are my duty. Now, answer my question.”
In response to the flaring of Suntred’s wings, Sargut left his stand and responded in kind. Their bodies’ fluids suffused their facial ridges, turning the edges a burnt red orange.
“I respect Tranimus,” Sargut declared. “When the time is right, he’ll make his decision. If he chooses me over the senior commanders, I will take up the post and serve to the best of my ability.”
The color in Suntred’s ridges faded, and she sucked air over her teeth, expressing her satisfaction.
“I agree that Tranimus will make his decision,” Suntred said, in a quiet but firm voice. “And you’ll not have to suffer the indignity of requesting the position, Commander. I’m taking a shuttle to the grand commander’s ship and giving him my opinion. Taken together with Taralum’s recommendation of you that should be sufficient. I suggest you spend the time, Commander Sargut, preparing for the day when the Omnians arrive and you command this fleet.”
Suntred didn’t wait for a response. She left the commander’s quarters and headed for the lower deck and a shuttle.
Sargut stared at the cabin door. The exchange had left him highly disturbed. He could feel the heat in his ridges, and he visited his facilities to cool them with a cold compress. As he regained his composure, he tried to sort out his thoughts, but there were too many factors for him to judge his true feelings.
Returning to his cabin’s main room, Sargut chose to hang. He closed his eyes and folded his wings in front of him to let the pieces assemble themselves. They didn’t. He couldn’t tell if he wanted the position just to possess the title or if he thought he was the better commander.
However, there was one element that was changing everything — the Omnians. They were critical to a successful action against Artifice, and he admitted that his relationship with the alien leader had proved highly successful.
Sargut unwound from the bar, descended to the deck, and slipped on his soft boots. If Suntred succeeded in her efforts, he needed to be prepared. He lamented the loss of his subcommander, who remained locked in his cabin.
An idea occurred to Sargut, as he walked to the bridge. The Omnians depended on squadrons, smaller units that allowed commanders to take independent action if necessary. The fleet’s three senior commanders presented just such an option.
“Miriamelle, I could use your assistance,” Sargut said, as he entered the bridge.
“I’d be pleased to offer my help,” Miriamelle replied.
“You’ve access to our data streams,” Sargut said. “I’d like your input on the fleets surrounding the system’s periphery.”
“And what’s the purpose of this exercise, Commander?” Miriamelle asked.
“I’d like an analysis of each force and the comparative values of them as allies or enemies in a major action inward,” Sargut requested.
The bridge crew glanced nervously toward Sargut. The analysis the commander requested was typically done by the fleet’s senior staff under Tranimus’ directives.
“One moment, Commander,” Miriamelle requested. She pinged Chandra’s traveler and linked through her sister to Z.
Sargut waited for the analysis to appear on a monitor. He wondered how he would absorb the wealth of information he expected on such a small surface.
A bridge officer’s glance alerted Sargut to the approach of an individual from behind him. He turned and came face-to-face with Z. He could never understand how such an enormous SADE could move so quietly.
“Miriamelle has relayed your request, Commander,” Z said. “I can help you with that.”
Sargut watched Z activate his holo-vid. A wireframe model appeared, and the colored dots marked the fleets’ positions. Sargut whistled softly and called his bridge officers to attend him.
* * *
It was the final days for Tittra and his department. There were only eight more pairings remaining.
Alex and Tatia decided it was time to prepare the fleet for movement. Every Trident and traveler that could be repaired was finished. The remaining parts were stored on board the Freedom.
Cordelia directed the freighter captains to recover their crews. When they were ready, the city-ship and freighters got underway. Their ships would take longer to get free of the system’s gravity.
Ellie’s Trident command had remained with the city-ship fleet, while the commands of Deirdre and Darius coalesced from patrol positions across the system. They accelerated to catch up with the others.
From the cave, Alex linked with the local traveler sister to connect to the Freedom. The traveler was a cargo model and was the only vessel to remain behind, while the fleet sailed for the system’s periphery.
Alex requested of Miriamal.
When connected, Alex sent,
k with the Freedom.
Killian sent imagery of the Talus system to the other two scout ships. Then he said,
Killian assigned the transit arrival points to the other scout ships and specified the distance outward from Talus.
The scout ships accelerated for Talus, while the SADEs set up their transits and courses upon arrival. As they had been patrolling past the system’s outer belt, they exited the system quickly.
After the fleet arrangements were made, Alex spent some time linked with the admirals, discussing various strategies. Unfortunately, their proposals were entirely theoretical. They needed information from Tranimus about the nature of the other fleets. Could any of them be coopted or would they all be intent on the destruction of the Omnian fleet?
After his customary and daily meeting with the admirals, Alex connected to Renée, as he had done every evening, lately. The wounded were in the care of Pia and her medical team, which freed Renée to return to her suite each night after a long day, wishing nothing more than to grab a quick refresher and drop into bed.
Renée, who was in bed, sat up to focus on Alex.
Alex groaned, and his implant transmitted the sound.
Alex had a sudden thought, and sent,
Alex sent.
Suddenly, the force of Alex’s sending was strong but not overly so, as expletives pummeled Renée.
-22-
Herrick
Mickey was having a wonderful dream of his partner, Pia. She was calling his name over and over, and in a jarring transition, her face morphed into Alex’s. Instantly, his eyes popped open.
Alex sent.
Mickey brought his cabin seat upright, donned his deck shoes, and tiptoed down the traveler’s aisle and rear ramp to prevent waking the others.
Julien set hot thé in front of Mickey, as the engineer took a seat at the table next to Alex. Mickey grumbled his thanks, while he fought to wake up. “What’s happening?” he asked, after taking a deep swallow on his drink.
“We’re waiting for Miranda,” Alex replied. “I sent her to collect Tittra.”
“I didn’t think he slept at the cavern,” Mickey mused.
“I don’t think he does. That’s a problem for Miranda to solve,” Alex said.
In fact, Miranda traveled to the cavern to collect one of the on-duty techs. She had him direct her to Tittra’s abode. She woke the department head from his sleep and wound her way back to the cave, with Tittra and his tech riding behind her.
Mickey was working on his second cup of thé, when Miranda’s steerable, gas-powered, grav pallet slipped out of the tunnel.
Tittra loosed a few desultory croaks, and Mickey heartily sympathized with him.
“Apologies for the late-night interruption of your rest,” Alex said, “but my idea is time sensitive. Tittra, I think I have a solution to your dilemma, namely the lack of challenges to Herrick during our travel.”
In an instant, Tittra was alert and concentrating on every word Julien translated.
“I believe the plan is viable, but we have a few hurdles to overcome,” Alex explained. “It entails making two copies of the final entity, Herrick, and transporting all three units. First, Tittra, can you accommodate that? Can you prepare two more copies of Herrick, in a short period of time?”
“But, you said —” Tittra started to say, but Julien cut him off and requested he answer the question. “Yes,” Tittra answered.
“Julien, will the SADEs assent to the creation and destruction of two more digital entities?” Alex asked.
Julien could see the pain in his friend’s eyes and knew what it took for Alex to ask.
“Consensus has been reached, Alex,” Julien replied. “The SADEs see this as the simplest way to solve the problem, and we extend our apology for not offering this solution to you.”
“I didn’t think of it either. Ser did,” Alex replied, which made Julien smile.
“Next hurdle … Mickey can you put together the engineering materials in time?” Alex requested.
“Two days … certainly … I’ll get …” Mickey started to say, and then halted. “Black space,” he swore.
Alex broke out laughing. “That’s what I said to Renée, along with a few more select expressions. You better contact the Freedom, get your engineering teams on it, and conscript two more cargo shuttles.”
Mickey closed his eyes, linked with the traveler’s sister and Miriam, and started contacting SADEs and humans aboard the city-ship. The Freedom was headed out of system, and it would take engineering a while to put together the equipment. Mickey was counting on the SADEs to reduce the preparation time to a bare minimum and launch the cargo shuttles, while they co
mpleted the assemblies on the travelers.
“Back to you, Tittra,” Alex said. “I leave it to you to decide how to program Herrick’s copies.”
“What are you implying, Alex?” Tittra asked. “Why wouldn’t we perform the final two operations in the usual manner? We’ve the opportunity to develop two more generations.”
“Will Herrick have won more than one encounter?” Alex asked. “Or will the final pairing in the cavern be the first time Herrick has vanquished a foe?”
“More than likely, it will be the first time,” Tittra replied. “We make improvements to the challenger, which invariably defeats the older version. That’s the way it’s always been. If that holds true, Herrick will have won once, aided by our programming changes.”
“We’ll be carting three entities to Toral to ensure that your final entity arrives fresh, as you’ve repeatedly insisted,” Alex said. “I want you to consider the option of allowing your final cavern entity to win the next conflicts.”
“For what reason?” Tittra asked. He eyed his tech to see if he understood what Alex was implying, but the little male stared back at him no more the wiser.
“Do you take into account your entities’ wills?” Julien asked.
“Their wills?” Tittra repeated. “Each of our entities is programmed to survive, to defeat every adversary.”
“Have any of your analyses of the conflicts produced abnormal data parameters?” Miranda asked.
“Not often, but several times we produced lines in which an entity was the victor many times in a row, but eventually succumbed to the victors of other lines,” Tittra replied.
“Why do you think those entities were successful, when the vast majority of your interactions indicated it was against the odds?” Julien asked.
Tittra had no answer for that question, but the tech raised a digit.
“Yes?” Alex asked, indicating with a hand that he wished to hear the tech.
“The data for these unusual encounters indicated a preference for not following the hierarchy principles that we’d programmed,” the tech explained.
