Omega Force: Rebellion (OF11)

by Joshua Dalzelle

  "Hey!" Jason shouted.

  "I don't have time for your bleeding-heart bullshit!" Crusher shouted back. "I'm outnumbered ten to one! Worry about your own side!"

  Jason turned back in time to see that the guards trying to close in on his position had organized and were now coming at him from both sides. He stood up and fired six shots to each side, all of them aimed at the feet of the advancing guards. The railgun rounds ripped up the duracrete floor and sent shards flying into the oncoming guards, killing the four in the lead.

  "Oops," Jason muttered. The other guards advancing on the security checkpoint decided that trying to rush an armored adversary while he held the advantages of controlling a chokepoint and vastly superior firepower was a losing strategy. They retreated along the outer walls to stay out of Jason's line of sight, dragging their wounded and leaving the dead.

  “So, what the hell is all that?" Crusher demanded from behind Jason, pointing at the bodies. "Were you trying to cuddle them into submission with high-velocity debris?"

  "That was an accident," Jason said loftily.

  "I have retrieved the component we require and am moving back to your position," Lucky said over the team link. "I have also planted the demo charge on the outer wall where I suspect it is weakest."

  "On our way to you," Jason said. "Phoenix, you copy?"

  "We're here, Omega One."

  "Bring her in, we'll be outside momentarily. Be ready to lay down suppressing fire…we haven't seen any heavy stuff yet, but that doesn't mean they don't have it. Watch your ass coming in with my ship."

  "Copy."

  Jason and Crusher ran down the wide hall until they encountered an Eshquarian guard coming the other way…carrying what looked like the avionics box they were after. Just as they raised their weapons to challenge the guard, it wavered and flickered before disappearing, revealing a battlesynth in its place.

  "What the—" Jason just stared as Crusher moved forward and poked Lucky a few times.

  "The ability to accurately mimic similarly sized beings is part of my new—" and explosion up near the security checkpoint Jason had just abandoned cut Lucky off. "Perhaps we can speak of this later. Take cover while I trigger the breaching charge."

  They all leaned in against one of the bare spots on the wall until there was a tremendous jolt that seemed to shake the whole building. Dust and smoke came billowing down the hall, obscuring their vision again. Jason led the way, weapon raised, until he came to a jagged hole in the outer wall that was big enough for them all to fit through side by side.

  "Phoenix is inbound," he said. "Head for the same hole in the wall and wait for pickup. I'll parallel the building before moving for exfil to make sure there aren't any nasty surprises waiting." He turned to look for Crusher, but didn't see him. Assuming he was covering their escape by staying inside the edge of the hole, he turned and ran across the hard-packed sand that would take him out in front of any obvious weapon emplacements they might have activated since the attack started.

  "We're ninety seconds out."

  "We'll be there," Jason said. "Drop the transit beam and standby."

  By the time he was satisfied that the security response was still focused internally, Jason turned and ran for the pickup location just as the Phoenix burst through the low-hanging clouds. He made it there just as Lucky went up the transit beam with the datalink box in left hand and a plasma carbine in his right. Jason stopped and scanned the area, waiting to see if he needed to go back into the building to retrieve Crusher.

  "Let's go! We're waiting on you!" he called over the team link when Crusher emerged from the building and ran across the distance in a surprisingly quick time for someone who didn't bother with much cardio training.

  "What the hell? You taking a nap in there?" Jason asked.

  "Yeah…sorry," Crusher said and stepped into the beam. He'd had an odd look on his face Jason had never seen before.

  "We need to go now, Captain," Kage said. "The call has gone out, and planetary security forces are converging."

  "Got it," Jason said, stepping into the transit beam and letting it pull him up into the ship, putting Crusher's odd behavior from his mind.

  18

  "I'm genuinely impressed," Kage said. "This box is in near-mint condition."

  "What's that supposed to mean?" Crusher growled

  "You're…you're kidding, right?" Twingo asked, looking at Kage and Doc in turn.

  "We could send you two to go get a rock—just an ordinary rock—and the odds of it coming back in one piece are one in fifty," Kage said. "In fact, I think I remember this actually happening once."

  "Will this work?" Jason asked sharply, cutting off the next comment before things got completely off track.

  "From a superficial inspection, yes," Twingo said. "I've powered it up and everything checks out. It's just sitting there waiting for the correct input. Once Kage re-works the software to do what we need, and I build the interface so it can work with the Phoenix's com system, we should be good to go."

  The flight away from the parts depot was anticlimactic after the spirited resistance the guards at the facility had put up. Once Jason was back in the pilot's seat, he pushed on towards the southern pole, keeping out of range of the security ships that were stuck in an equatorial holding orbit. He rocketed up away from the planet off the southern pole, a maneuver only a ship like the Phoenix could do with her comparatively low mass and over-powered main drive. The picket ships tried to reposition themselves to intercept, but by the time they'd accelerated into a transfer orbit that would let them slingshot towards the Polar Regions, the Phoenix was already halfway to her mesh-out point.

  What struck Jason as odd was that the ConFed had almost no presence there maintaining order, and on the surface, you couldn't really tell that they'd just been conquered. They'd watched some local media once when they'd first hit orbit over Eshquaria Prime and the fact a neighboring superpower had come in with warships and displaced their government was being treated like a general interest story. Maybe there was something in the Eshquarian cultural character that they simply didn't care about who was in charge as long as the trains ran on time, so to speak.

  "The software should be easy," Kage said, breaking Jason out of his ruminations. "It's mostly just updating all the encryption protocols and tying the clean-side data bus into the ship so we can pipe down commands from the bridge."

  "I want that isolated," Jason said. "And I mean discreet cabling and controls. I don't care if you tape it to the deck to route it, I don't want this box being tied into our MUX at any point."

  "That's going to take—"

  "It's non-negotiable," Jason cut off another round of complaining. "We have no idea what's in this box that could wreck our own systems."

  "Wait, so you want discreet cabling and a standalone interface built?" Twingo asked.

  "What part of this isn't sinking in with you two?" Jason asked. "The only thing I want tied into our systems is the final output of the box before it hits the high-gain amplifier on the way to the antennas. Got it?"

  "Got it," Twingo said. "I'll get started right away."

  "I liked it better when you didn't know anything about the ship or its parts," Kage grumbled and began pulling the access panels off the avionics box.

  "When did you learn so much about the guts of this tub?" Crusher asked.

  "I’m not a fucking idiot!" Jason snapped. "You all just insist on treating me like one. Do you really think that I'd own an interstellar warship for this long and not pick up a damn manual once in a while?"

  "You want me to answer that honestly?"

  "I have a better idea," Jason said, patting Crusher on the cheek and earning a snarl in return. "Your job is now to help Kage run the cabling and get it all hooked up. He's in charge. Whatever he needs, you get it for him."

  "What?!"

  "I live for these moments," Kage said, a huge smile splitting his wide mouth.

  "How long does this last?" Crushe
r asked.

  "Until the job is done, so get to work."

  "It's good to see that you not only survived the demise of Crisstof Dalton, but advanced yourself within his First Daughter's new regime."

  "I had wondered if you would recognize me, Councilman," Kellea said.

  "Oh, yes, Admiral…my species is blessed with a very organized and accurate memory, but the incident with Crisstof's First Son trying to start a handful of civil wars within ConFed space is difficult to forget." Scleesz leaned back in his seat, pushing his plate away. "Excellent. Seeladas certainly hasn't skimped on the amenities aboard her warships."

  "The Defiant is unique among the fleet," Kellea said. "She was commissioned by Crisstof to be his flagship and operate alone in hostile territory for long stretches of time. Since he was a man of excessive tastes, the ship he had built has far more luxurious appointments than any of our cruisers or destroyers. While we're speaking of the ship, I noticed you have been using one of our secure slip-com nodes quite a bit, but the address you've been talking to isn't one that we recognize as belonging to your government. I assume you're helping ConFed Intelligence track us?"

  "I've not attempted to hide my activities aboard your ship, Admiral." Scleesz squirmed slightly in his seat, causing Kellea's eyes to narrow.

  "Why am I going to one of the Pillar Worlds, Councilman?" she asked. "This doesn't have to go any further than this room, but what is Seeladas Dalton's deal with the Grand Adjudicators?"

  "You know I can't—"

  "Just tell me if I'm putting my ship at risk. Am I being setup to take a fall? Are our member worlds at risk? Please, Councilman…give me something to work with. I know that something is happening behind the scenes and it's making me nervous." Scleesz looked at her speculatively, still seeming to be afraid of something despite them being the only two in the room.

  "What do you know of the recent political…shakeup, let's call it, within the ConFed's upper echelons?" he finally asked.

  "Only that there's been a hard shift from maintaining the status quo of the Core Worlds skimming off the top, and the Pillar Worlds taking most of that, to an aggressive expansionist posture," she said. "One thing we've noticed is that for the first time in nearly five thousand years, the appointed Adjudicators are making decisions in lock-step and the Council seems content to not give any pushback."

  "You've not heard anything about a newcomer wielding the real power of Miressa behind the scenes? No whispers of an alien from beyond this quadrant that's embedded itself into the power structure?"

  "There have been some wild conspiracy theories," Kellea admitted. "The more creative one I heard was that the pru had built synth-based avatars and replaced the Adjudicators so that Khepri ruled the ConFed without ever bothering with the inconvenience of an election."

  "That's so plausible I hope nobody ever takes that idea seriously," Scleesz said. "The biodrone tech Crisstof's idiot son had developed along with Khepri's AI tech would be a nightmare if merged. But Khepri is still the controlling center of interstellar commerce so, in a sense, they rule over the ConFed already. The old banking AI was replaced with an all new, more robust system that controls the markets as well as individual transactions."

  "That was certainly a short-lived revolution for whoever blew up the old one," Kellea said.

  "Was it?" Scleesz said, his intensity startling her.

  "I don't understand where you're going with this."

  "What if…something…had managed to embed itself into the new banking system," he went on. "What if it had successfully infiltrated it to the point that it could monitor, and control, the markets, transactions, and track personal wealth? If this system controlled that and had somehow subverted the Adjudicators on Miressa…" he left the rest of his sentence hanging. Kellea just stared at him for a moment before she burst out with a polite bit of laughter.

  "Very good, Councilman," she said. "You had me going for a moment. What you're talking about would require a malevolent AI more powerful than we've ever seen even from the Kheprians." When Scleesz just stared at her, she stopped smiling. "You were joking, right?"

  "It calls itself the Machine," the councilman said, his resolve crumbling and the words coming out in a rush. "It came from an unknown region of space when it copied itself into the computer banks of a ConFed battleship that was deployed on an extreme long-range mission to attempt to secure a rumored superweapon left over from an extinct species of advanced beings."

  "Y-you're talking about the gravity weapon that Omega Force destroyed," she said, confused. "The weapons itself was called the Machine, not some program aboard it. Either way, it's gone…destroyed."

  "One of the more powerful AIs that managed the weapon had become corrupt," Scleesz said. "It was actually the cause of the extinction of the species who built it. When Captain Burke set the weapon to implode upon itself, that corrupted AI managed to transfer itself to the ConFed ship and catch a ride back. Since then, it's infiltrated the government at the highest level, controlling politicians through blackmail and threats."

  "Who have you been talking to on my slip-com system?" she demanded. "What is Seeladas up to? Answer me…now!"

  "I've been talking to Captain Burke and Saditava Mok," Scleesz said. "We've formed a sort of…resistance, I suppose, to try and stop it. Seeladas Dalton has made a deal with the Machine that will allow her to remain regent within her territory, but the Cooperative will belong to the ConFed."

  "Our member worlds will not go along with that," Kellea said.

  "By the time they figure out what's happening, it will already be too late," Scleesz said. "I've had to use your com system to communicate with my coconspirators because I have to assume any ConFed government system is being monitored."

  "Why is the Defiant moving to the capital?"

  "That I’m not completely sure about," Scleesz admitted. "From what I was able to glean, you're supposed to observe something and take the news of that back to your people. Apparently, the Machine has planned some sort of demonstration of power that should help it solidify its hold. Burke and Mok know what it is, but they didn't want to share over a possibly compromised slip-com channel. All I know is that they're making moves to try and head this off."

  "Why is Jason Burke involved in this at all?"

  "Guilt," Scleesz said. "He feels that his failure to destroy the Ancient construct before the Machine had a chance to transfer off is an unforgiveable sin. Apparently, he wasted some time getting his ship and crew off the weapon, letting the ConFed ships close to within broadcast range. If he'd just destroyed it the instant he knew how, none of this would have happened."

  "But Jason said he destroyed the unit that housed the rogue AI." Kellea was now recalling various aspects of what Jason had told her when the Phoenix had returned. "He and Lucky had to fight their way down to it so they could access the weapon's core for the implosion."

  "Apparently, the AI had anticipated this once Jason and his battlesynth began moving down towards the processing units." Scleesz looked out the porthole and the rippling blue and purple waves of slip-space energy flowing around the ship. "It copied itself over to an auxiliary unit, one that wasn't properly connected to control weapon functions, and tried to transfer itself to Captain Burke's ship. When that ship's computers proved to be inadequate, it then transmitted as much of itself as it could out to the ConFed battleship. It then took the better part of two Miressan years for it to recompile and repair itself from the hasty transfer. The Machine currently wreaking havoc in this quadrant isn't a full, working copy of the software the Ancient's used to control their superweapon."

  Kellea pushed her drink glass away and leaned back, also looking out the porthole. Suddenly, Jason's erratic and self-destructive behavior made sense. He was always a little overemotional, and she could only imagine what he was going through watching the ConFed invade the Eshquarian Empire.

  "What's Mok's place in this?" she asked after a moment.

  "Mok is Eshquarian," Sclee
sz said. "I suspect he was a former intelligence officer before he stepped into the place of the crime lord that used to run that section of space. Right now, he's the facilitator. Burke is using his resources and intelligence to plan operations. Now for the part I've not been looking forward to in this conversation; what are your intentions, Admiral? I've placed a not-insignificant amount of trust in you. If you decided to tell the authorities on Miressa that Saditava Mok was helping foment a rebellion, the Machine would crush the Blazing Sun Syndicate. It's already aware of Burke and has been putting some effort into locating him. I feel that once it controls the entire quadrant, our dear Captain will be as good as dead. The Machine will be able to focus on him entirely and, as slippery as the young mercenary is, I don't think he will escape this time."

  "I'm not going to reveal your plans," she said. "Nor am I in a position to be recruited, if that was your plan by telling me all this. Disobeying orders and open insurrection against my government is not in my nature. Until I have more solid proof that Seeladas means to turn the Cooperative into a ConFed vassal state, I will continue to follow her directives."

  "I'm just trying to give you some context to interpret whatever you may see when we arrive at the capital," Scleesz said.

  19

  "You pulled this together pretty damn quick, Mok. You're sure these crews are clean?"

  "As clean as any crew willing to kill for money," Mok said. "We cut off all outside communication before the first mission brief, so the risk is mitigated as much as it can be."

  "That's good enough for me," Jason said. "I assume you're not coming along?"

  "I'll be there, but not aboard the Sarafin. I have an executive courier ship that will allow me to observe and communicate. I'll be going into the system first to make sure things are still as you expected."

  "I see," Jason said, genuinely surprised that Mok would be coming along on the mission personally. He'd just been busting his chops with that comment, not seriously asking. "Do you think it's wise for you to be there? All joking aside, you're a little too important to this outfit to risk your safety at the operational level."