Chronicles of Athena Lee (9 page)

Catching my attention the Captain said “ What we plan to do with you is move you around on the ship to see what skills you have. Based on your prior navy experience and your actions aboard the destroyer, we know that you have engineering skills. I understand that that is your chosen career. However, you are in the Navy and there are other skills that you should know. Flight training is one of them. You can fix ships, now learn how to fly them. Contact my office if there are issues. Try and pay close attention to your surroundings. Security will be increased on this ship while you are here, but watch yourself. Commander Wang will show you to your quarters and get you set up with locations and orders.”

The next morning, a 'bouncy' midshipman gave me a tour of the ship ending in the flight bay.

Time to start my new job.

I never dreamed that I would be flying the ships that I wanted to build.

Flight instructor Macdonald greeted me as I entered the room. “Welcome, lieutenant, to your first day of flight training. We fly two different fighters here along with shuttles and assault craft. You, get to learn all of them.”

At my grimace, he chuckled. “Don't worry, we are not making you into an expert fighter pilot. But we do want you to be able to at least solo in all of the spacecraft. Think of the performance details that you will learn. You can't say that knowing first hand, how a ship operates won't help when you repair it?”

“Yes, sir. You are right. Being able the see a problem or malfunction will make repairing it easier.”

It is time to hit the books. I had ahead of me several weeks of class tutorial to catch up on and then on to basic flight.

Chapter 7

It took about a month of class tutorials and cram sessions, but I was ready for my first solo.

The instructors chose the Mark 30 shuttle craft for my first ship. Hard to damage, it was an easy to fly model.

Each Mark 30 was unarmed but equipped with emergency escape pods.

This was just a solo flight, not a combat mission. A small navigation course was laid into go up and around the 'school' and then back again. Easy. I did my pre-flight, walking around the ship checking off the list as I went.

Powering up the shuttle was super easy as the flight controls were very simple.

In my head, I heard Wilson say “Atomic batteries to power, Turbines to speed...Ready to move out!.” Such a weirdo for an AI.

Soloing was easy. Why had I not done this before?

As I finished up my course and headed back to the ship, the proximity beacon started to sound.

Trouble.

Switching on the communicator I heard “...not a Drill, This is not a drill!. Battle stations! ….Battl....” then a loud buzzing.

Something was jamming the communication system. It is like deja vu all over again. The school was in some kind of battle and I'm trapped in an unarmed shuttle.

Unable to get to the docking bay I hid my shuttle.

What looked to me like a couple of pirate fighters flew past my position. They had not spotted me yet. I was parked in the shadow of the ship real close to the hull. I was hoping that these were regular pirates, not the bounty hunter kind.

The school training squadron launched fighters to assist the CAP (constant air patrol), that was always out there.

Lots of dog-fighting, I was worried about my fellow students some of them were very young to be in combat.

A pair of Stuka IV fighters came into view, alarms filled the air, I had been spotted! I quickly turned on the ships power. My hand came down of the controls and the shuttle lurched into full speed. My ship careened from side to side barely in control. I zigzagged, trying to confuse them and gain some time. My ship was one big unarmed target!

Or was it? I have a tractor beam and two escape pods on board. Time to use some engineering skill.

I engaged the autopilot, telling Wilson to take over flying and keep the ship moving. If we survived this, I may have to admit to his presence at the school.

Making my way to the rear of the shuttle, I adjusted the tractor controls. Changing the beam to a wide spread, I maxed out the power.

This had better work or we were dead!

Returning to the controls I ejected an empty escape pod. Grabbing the pod with the tractor beam. I yelled at Wilson, “draw one of those fighters in closer”.

The Stuka IV had shielding on the its sides, the top and the bottom of the fighter. The only unshielded place on the fighters hull was the cockpit. To kill it with one shot, I needed to hit it dead center in the front.

Lining up the ships and crossing my fingers, I reversed the tractor beam and 'threw' the pod at the fighter. It struck dead on the Stuka exploded in a ball of fire. Now if I could get that to work twice.

The other pirate seeing the explosion turned tail and ran for it. I guess he thought this shuttle was armed. Communications had returned as the student fighters gained the upper hand over the pirates. Flight control noticed that I was still out here, ordering me back in.

Explanation time was at hand.

Chapter 8

Lots of work to be done, in the aftermath of a battle.

Prisoners to take control of, damage to assess, and the wounded to care for.

Battle (AAR's) after action reports are a part of this too. Mine was almost not seen in all of this turmoil, notice I said almost.

My arms and most of my upper body were inside one of the fighter engines trying to repair the exhaust manifold, when one of the captains aides came looking for me.

“Lieutenant, your presence is requested in conference room 10.”

“OK, let me get changed and...”

“The captain said now, go as you are.”

Oh, boy here it comes.

Work coveralls covered in propulsion fluid and grease, I made my way to the conference room. It was a full house, standing room only.

With a pensive look upon my face I saluted and came to attention when Captain Michaels saw me come in.

He spoke to me. “Have a seat lieutenant,” eying my clothing “better yet, remain standing. Do you have any idea why you are here today?”

“Would it involve my after action report, Captain?”

Calmly the captain answered me. “Yes, your report. We almost missed it, it was lumped in with the other pilots reports. I had assumed that when the alert sounded your ship had returned to the hanger bay. Imagine my surprise to learn that an unarmed shuttle destroyed a fighter using a escape pod as a cannon. In watching the record of your flight I understand why you did it. What you did was amazing. The problem that we, the command staff has is, HOW did you do it? You are of course, an engineer. The tractor beam adjustment should have been extremely easy for you. The autopilot however, does not have an evade and elude configuration. None of the shuttles do. Explain yourself please.”

The whole room full of officers seemed to be peering at me. It made be extremely nervous.

“Is the Captain familiar with my previous record, sir?”

Looking down at his tablet the Captain replied “I have the record here, Admiral Kane sent it along.”

“Did you read the part about the station that I built?”

Cocking his head the captain said, “Yes, that was why he sent you to us.”

Bracing myself I continued. “In the wreckage of one of the frigates was a prototype AI named Wilson.”

“What! Hold on lieutenant! Do you mean to tell me that there is a rogue AI loose on MY SHIP!”

“No SIR! Not your ship. He has embedded himself into my link and well, I guess, he could be in your ship. But I'm pretty sure he's here in my head.” I pointed at my head.

“Lieutenant, you told the Admiral that this AI stayed behind and was running Firefly station. That is what this report says.” He gestured to the screen in front of him.

“Oh, he did, sir. He left a clone of himself there and tagged along with me. You have to remember, at the time I was not under anyone's orders. I was considered a P.O.W.” I paused. “He saved my life sir. It was him that sent all of those incriminating records to the Senate and to the ESS. As far as I can tell, he has been keeping out of trouble so far on your ship. I will say that if you attempt to purge him he might cause a great deal of trouble.”

“So you are saying that we are stuck with him? Is that it lieutenant?”

“I think so Captain. He can be pretty annoying sometimes but he is very helpful. It was him who piloted the ship, so I could take care of using the pods as a weapon.”

“Can you explain some more? He does not sound like any of the AI's that we use today.”

I looked at the command team, they were all listening to me. “From what he has said, he was THE prototype. The first autonomous AI in the PPL. It was a test, to see if he and those like him could be used for warships. He says that his personality matrix is based on a 20th century vid-star. He likes to tell strange jokes. He also says a lot of very unusual things like quotes or sayings. From studying the records that I could find with my access, his creators never made any more like him. They moved on to less autonomous, more as Wilson says, boring AI's. He's unique, sir.”

Glancing at the security chief, the Captain asked “have any of your techs noticed him in the system?”

“We didn't know to look. The security AI's are suppose to alert us to intrusions like this. I will put some extra people on it.”

The Captain turned his gaze back to me. “Be advised, lieutenant, I will be reporting this to higher. You yourself may have to deal with fleet HQ, again.”

“Yes, sir, I understand sir.”

“Now you can go back to your engine. Oh and Lee? Just so you know. Those pirates were bounty hunters. The bounty on you is now over $100 million credits, watch your back please.”

As I left the room I overheard the security chief speaking. “Captain? Why did you allow her to keep that AI?”

Pensive, the Captain looked at his head of security. “If that AI could pilot a shuttle, what about a cruiser? Or all our weapon systems? Environmental? Life support? She can keep him.”

White faced, the security chief nodded

At least Wilson was given a reprieve and his secret was out in the open. Two days after my meeting with the captain, new orders came in for me from fleet HQ. It was too dangerous for me out here, my orders were changed, they were sending me to planet Texas, the capital of the Empire.

Chapter 9

Fleet had sent a cruiser with an escort destroyer to pick me up.

For the record, they were 'just passing through' and were able to give me a ride. Secretly, they were here for me. Military intelligence really wanted someones head on a plate for these attacks. Anyone who can arrange both an explosion on a navy ship and two attacks by pirates is a person of great interest to them. Agents from MI planned to use me as bait to draw out the bad guys.

Reluctant as I was about the idea, I decided to go along, it was better than looking over my shoulder the rest of my life.

On-board the EOH Wang Chung I spend my time in discussion with engineers and intelligence. The engineers wanted to hear about my lost fifteen years and all about constructing the station, again.

Intelligence also tried to train me how to be more covert. It was a fun couple of weeks.

I even got to help work on the engines. Go engineers!

Arriving in the America sector (sector 5) and the planet Texas, signaled that the party was over. Time to go back to work.

This was to be an attempt to draw my assailant out. The navy wanted me to speak to Senate committees on piracy, prisoner of war rights, and naval forces integration. I was not the expert, just a witness to these meetings. I was asked to comment and give personal experiences. Basically a boring day filled with useless talk. I really hate politics.

The first attack came on the second day and it was very very public. My security team and I had just sat down at a local cafe for lunch. There was an explosion in the kitchen. A bluish white mist began it fill the room. The diners that were closest to the kitchen began grabbed their throats and crying out in strangled pain. Blisters began being formed wherever the mist touched exposed skin. My escorts grabbed me and almost literally tossed me out into the street.