Battle for Proxima (4 page)

Khimaira was served by a number of floating bases that straddled the gaseous atmosphere. There were many more stations positioned out in space. The planet was an important refuelling point for the Fleet. Of even more importance, it was far enough away from the enemy strongholds in Kerberos, Agora and Orthrus.

The Fleet, under the command of Admiral Jarvis, was almost ready for the enforcement of Confederate rule in the sector. It was the Admiral’s firm belief that the Fleet would be able to force each secessionist colony to return to the fold, providing the Fleet was able to flex enough muscle.

In the Combat Information Centre, CiC, stood Admiral Jarvis and her veteran command staff. By now they were all experienced veterans who had faced the enemy, both in space and on the ground. She stood completely still, gazing out through the virtual windows. They were projected onto the walls of the armoured compartment, deep inside the ship. The look on her face was of grim determination, that of a woman who had one simple goal. She was poised to begin her war of reconquest. The ship had taken back its duties as flagship of the Fleet and now operated as the Confederation’s control centre. From this vessel, the Admiral could control the Fleet as well as the smaller task forces based at Kerberos, Prime and Prometheus. The Marine command staff were also able to operate from the vessel, exercising full command and control of the combat troops and garrisons dotted throughout the colonies.

Two new officers entered the room and marched up the Admiral. The first was a captain, though not anyone she recognised. The second, however, was Rear Admiral William Churchill. The officers saluted smartly before speaking.

“Admiral, thank you for seeing us at such short notice. We have information that we thought pertinent to share,” explained the Rear Admiral.

She looked to her right where the Army and Marine officers were going over their own details, and considered calling them over. Though their input was desirable, she also liked to keep information compartmentalised until she was confident of its value. She looked directly at the Rear Admiral and smiled.

“Not a problem, Admiral, what it is?”

“As you know, our force has been on the run for a long time now. It is only with luck, and the loss of many lives, that our six ships made it out in one piece.”

“Yes, your escape from the ambush of the 7
^th
Fleet is truly a blessing to our forces here. I take it your crew and vessels are being taken care of?”

“Of course, that isn’t the issue though. With the help of your intelligence teams, we may have found one of the reasons for the successful ambush on the Fleet.”

“Go on.”

 “During the escape, we managed to track down a small ring of agents on several of the surviving ships. Although most killed themselves, we were able to track one who was trying to gain access to the CiC on one of our cruisers. He was killed in our raid, we assumed he was attempting sabotage.”

“I take it you have found something else?”

“Yes. Your computer security teams performed a system purge on the cruiser and identified several anomalies. Following further investigation, we have found some partially installed automation software tools in our system. We also found three hardware devices that were wired into our servers, but the installations were incomplete. In the last hour, we have managed to break their codes and decrypt the data streams. It seems they were designed to allow our vessels to be controlled via another ship, or certainly able to receive orders.”

“You think this is what was done to several of your vessels? How many ships were lost to friendly fire?”

“Half were lost in the first hour, most as a result of the firepower from a single traitorous battleship. The captain was completely reliable and we assumed he must have been murdered by the Zealots.”

“If you’re right, then this technology could have been what the Zealots used to gain control of several vessels in this sector,” Admiral Jarvis said, as she rested her chin on her hands and considered the possibilities.

“How effective is the control of a vessel, if an automated system is able to access and control the CiC?” she asked.

“Only in some measure. Engines, course, some atmosphere controls and the computer controlled weapons. Most of our vessels, especially those built since the War, have been heavily compartmentalised. It increases the number of crew, but definitely reduces computer problems if any individual parts of the ship are compromised in any way.”

“Are our systems vulnerable to software?”

“No, the software we found simply enabled a gateway to be created between the hardware and our systems. The software wasn’t able to establish any kind of memory hole to operate an intelligent system. It appears both the hardware and software are required for it to work. If I may?” he asked.

Admiral Jarvis nodded. With a quick movement, he flipped out his datapad and showed her a tactical display of a large fleet.

“This information makes sense to me. In the ambush a number of our cruisers turned on the Fleet against orders and opened fire. If you look here, you can see them moving in formation then all at once, to the millisecond, they slightly alter course and cross the T of the entire Fleet. We assumed they had turned traitor, but it seems the ships themselves may have been overridden by the enemy.”

“How is this possible? The hardware on our ships is heavily protected, and the computer systems have minimal control of our systems,” asked Admiral Jarvis. “All our ships can be operated manually, we do not have the capacity to allow remote control of any ships in the Fleet, for just that reason.”

“That is true. It seems the infiltrators were trying to install specific equipment, including advanced artificial intelligence hubs, directly into the combat centres of the warships. We have obtained one partially functional unit, and since our arrival here we have managed to break their codes. The device has been receiving prompts from a specific set of coordinates.”

“Where?” asked Admiral Jarvis.

“That is the problem, we have nothing on our charts, and it seems to be about 50AU from Prime. It must have been a ship or relay device of some kind. What you might find even more interesting though, is that the codes we extracted show command instructions were sent from this place directly to our ships. Even more worrying, the signals look like they have also been sent in the last twenty-four hours to ground installations, stations and capital ships in this sector.”

“Interesting, thank you, Admiral, I will send this to my intelligence staff immediately. These AI hubs, do you have the one you captured?” she asked with a curious look.

The Rear Admiral smiled, “Of course, that is why I came here, to deliver the device for further examination.” He turned to his Captain and spoke quietly. The man then left the room.

The two stood in silence for a moment before the Captain returned with two Marine guards who were carrying a heavy case. They moved closer and lowered it to the floor. As one the marines started to open it, Admiral Jarvis pushed her hand in the way.

“Is it safe?” she asked worriedly.

“Yes, it is damaged and not fully functional,” said the Rear Admiral. He gestured to the two marines who flipped open the lid. The first thing that caught her attention was the smell, like that of rotting fish.

“What?” she asked in surprise.

The marines bent forward and lifted a mechanical device about the size of a ball. They placed it down. It was obviously metallic, but dripped some kind of fluid at a point where cables and pipes had been connected.

“It is some kind of bio-mechanical device. If you look here, you can see the remains of a brain, as well as a mechanical pump and circulatory system.”

“This thing was connected to your ship?” she asked.

“No, but others like it were installed in cruisers and able to override the engines, guidance and any of the automated weapon systems.”

“Incredible, and you have no idea of its origins?”

He shook his head.

“Thank you, this is critical intelligence that I’m sure will prove significant. Would you mind discussing this with my intelligence team? We need to find out more on this technology. Are there likely to be more? Where are they made, and what are their full capabilities?”

Admiral Churchill nodded in acknowledgement and saluted, before marching smartly away. The two marines reloaded the objected into its crate. They followed one of the bridge officers who escorted them away to the bowels of the ship. Admiral Jarvis stood quietly, thinking about the implications of a biomechanical artificial intelligence that could operate machines and equipment. It couldn’t be a co-incidence that in Proxima, they had been hit hard first by the religious insurgency and then by the manufactured Biomech creatures. Somewhere was the truth, and she was becoming less and less convinced it was a simple religious uprising. There was something much bigger going on here.

She looked about the spacious CiC and the number of officers moving about attending to their duties. Further back was a small group of Army and Marine officers. They were busy examining the unit rosters of the operational combat units. Off to their side, the large vertical strategic map showed the entire military situation in the sector. Examining the display was General Rivers, Commander of the Confed ground forces and Lieutenant Colonel Blake, the commanding officer of the elite 5th Reconnaissance Battalion. Admiral Jarvis moved towards them, glancing at the board before speaking.

“Gentlemen, I have just received bizarre information on devices placed aboard the 7
^th
Fleet. It seems agents of the enemy were able to place them on board key ships, and then they were able to turn their guns on the rest of the Fleet.”

“How are they controlled?” asked the General.

“At the centre of the devices are, what appears to be biological components, possibly even parts of a brain.”

General Rivers raised an eyebrow, along with a whimsical look to his face.

“A brain controlling a ship?” he asked incredulously.

“Why not? It is hardly less convincing that the Biomechs we have already faced. This unit doesn’t need to provide advanced intelligence, just enough to manage a number of systems independently of the vessel’s computer software.”

“I suppose it is possible. Why have we not come across it ourselves, though?”

“This device was found after a thorough investigation by an experienced team. I suggest we order similar searches of all vessels in the Fleet.”

“I agree. What about other systems, like stations and military bases? Could they have done the same?” asked the General.

Before Admiral Jarvis could continue, a junior officer approached.

“Admiral, I have the latest reports from Kerberos.”

She nodded, and with a simple flick of the hand the officer moved the data from his datapad over to the Admiral’s. With a smart salute the man moved away, leaving her in the centre of the room. As the Admiral read the details she started to shake her head in disbelief.

“You will want to hear this,” she said ominously.

General Rivers turned to her.

“The message is damaged, but it would appear that Fort Hood on Kerberos was assaulted by militia forces, under the authority of the Kerberon Regime.”

“Casualties?”

“Total, from what we can tell, General. Reconnaissance from an automated cutter in high orbit detected an explosion above the base, followed by an hour-long firefight. We have some of the distress calls, but most were jammed or destroyed. The last message was from a Captain Erdeniz. He said something about Biomechs in the base, then he was cut off.”

“Erdeniz? He was based on this ship if I am not mistaken?”

Admiral Jarvis paused. She looked pale, perhaps even a little guilty.

“He was posted to the base, along with many of the other wounded personnel from the Crusader. He was due to return with the next intake of crew in two weeks time,” she said quietly.

“I don’t understand, I thought our bases were being blockaded, but not attacked?” asked the General. “What about the ships in orbit?”

She double-checked the display.

“We should still have four ships in orbit, as well as an Army transport,” she said while pressing several buttons. As she watched, a number of red flagged alerts popped up from Kerberos and one from the Rim.

“This isn’t good. The news from Kerberos is that a number of civilian ships have approached the taskforce, demanding they leave. Our ships have pulled back to a higher position but are refusing to move,” she explained as she examined the screen.

“They don’t have much in the way of naval vessels, other than half a dozen defected ships plus any civilian ships they have pressed into service. Can they force our vessels to leave?” asked General Rivers.

“At the moment, no. At least, not without suffering significant losses against our ships. But with substantial air cover over our bases, they can make it almost impossible for us to land forces safely without a major offensive being initiated. We would need missile strikes against their command centres and defence facilities, before a landing could be attempted. Even then, the potential losses could be significant.”

Lieutenant Colonel Blake looked to the General and back to Admiral Jarvis.

“What about the rest of our ground bases through the sector? Is it specifically this one base or can we expect the same through the entire Proxima System?” he asked.

Admiral Jarvis zoomed out on the strategic display so that all the planets in the System, as well as the Rim, were shown on the same screen. Green dots lit up to indicate the location of friendly bases. Most of them showed up on the major planets but over twenty lit up on the stations and platforms dotted about.

“A good question, we need an immediate reassessment of our bases and fortresses. If this is a prelude to an offensive, we will have to hit them hard and fast before they are organised,” said the Admiral, who then turned and walked to the communication desk where Lieutenant Nilsson sat.

“Lieutenant,” she barked.