Ghosts of Empire (Book 4 of The Empire of Bones Saga) (12 page)

In fact, that was exactly what it was. Her implants were taking her through a dance of death.

The blades slashed, thrust, and chopped, each move obviously representative of actual combat. Her body flowed along with it, even leaping as required. Higher than an unenhanced person could manage.

The blades had every bit of power behind them she could manage. And, considering how much she could really do, that meant something.

The routine ended with her crouching low, with her blades out at her sides. She felt like a predator.

The program was about to sheath them, but she countermanded it and stopped its control just to make sure she could. Her body was again her own and she was certain that she could have stopped at any point she wanted to.

That’s when she saw everyone in the room staring at her with their mouths open.

She rose to her feet and flushed a little. Her hands put the swords away with only a little trouble. “Sorry about that. I was just giving these a test drive.”

Carl slow clapped as she approached. “That was beautiful. You look as though you’ve been using them for years. I found something”

“Tell me.”

“The central file is acting like a clearing house for the rest. It’s written much like the control programs for the ship’s computer. Well, not this one of course. Regular ships.”

“So, it’s a rudimentary AI?”

He shook his head. “It’s what we call an expert system. It doesn’t have nearly the capability or resources of an AI, much less a computer like the one on
Courageous
. Think of an automated library assistant.”

Kelsey had used that kind of program quite extensively before this mission. They acted almost like people, but weren’t that smart. They used pronouns like “I” for themselves, rather than the Old Empire standard of “this unit,” but they were just mimicking intelligence. There was no spark of life to them, unlike the computer on
Courageous
. Or especially the AI on
Invincible
.

In any case, Jared was going to have a cow when she told him about it.

Chapter Ten

“You did what?” Jared asked.

His sister had the grace to look embarrassed as she repeated herself. “I loaded the files from the dead man into my implant storage and I’ve been playing around with them.”

Her admission came in his office in front of Elise and himself.

He considered Kelsey critically. “Has anyone ever explained the difference between boldness and recklessness to you? This was not the wisest of plans.”

Kelsey looked mulish, but she nodded. “On reflection, I suppose that’s true. However, it seemed necessary at the time. I need those files.
We
need those files.”

“And just moving them to storage on
Invincible
wasn’t good enough?” Elise asked.

“No. They’re hardware specific. And implant serial number locked, too, but I was able to spoof that. On a regular computer, they just sit there. Even unlocking them takes a while. I made the right choice.”

Jared wasn’t sure she had, but it was too late for him to do anything about it. “What about your dream? That sounds dangerous. What if you’d activated some fighting protocol and beat the snot out of Talbot?”

Kelsey nodded. “I thought about that after the swords. Every attempt to access my body requires my authorization. I can’t give that while I’m asleep. Accessing the vid files, well that’s a little different. Carl thinks he can modify the protocol to prevent unconscious access.”

Elise considered Kelsey. “Why is it so important to you?”

“I have this equipment inside me, but I know virtually nothing about it. I want to be its master, not its servant. Somewhere in one of these files is the access code to
Persephone
’s computer and all the data I could ever want to know about the Marine Raiders and the implants inside me. I’m sure of it.”

“How close are you to finding it,” Jared asked.

His sister slumped a little. “I don’t know. The program talks like a person, but it’s just an advanced interface. It’s sophisticated enough to fool people who don’t know what it is, but it can’t really think.”

“Perhaps parsing the files directly might give you more access to the contents,”
Invincible
said. “Or at least allow for a more refined search for the codes you seek.”

She looked at the ceiling with a skeptical expression. “My implants aren’t really made for that kind of thing. I can make access requests and do searches, but I can’t have it running in the background. Well, not very effectively. And these aren’t even straight recordings. I can hear some of his thoughts.”

“There are ways of doing deep recordings that also include your surface thoughts. That’s implicit in the interface between the human brain and cranial implants.

“In any case, I could construct a more comprehensive indexing program that would run in the background on your implant hardware. Coupled with some changes to the library program that use some of my own heuristic models, and it would make your access program significantly more useful in parsing what files might meet your needs, while still respecting your privacy in much the same way I already do.”

“I’m not sure I get that,
Invincible
,” Jared said. “What do you mean about respecting privacy?”

“I have restrictions preventing me from invading the privacy of the crew. I can freely monitor the public areas of the ship, but not their personal quarters. This program would be similar in that I would create a subroutine for Kelsey that would do a systematic re-indexing of the files available to her, but it would not report anything back to me.”

Jared cocked his head. “You answer questions and requests when I’m in my quarters. How does that work?”

“My subroutines monitor for attempts to communicate with me and emergencies. They only alert me in situations where regulations allow me to interact with the crew. They retain no data, so I’m unaware of what is occurring outside those situations. In the case of a medical emergency, I would summon a medical team at once.”

“That would’ve been useful back on
Athena
when Carlo Vega died,” Kelsey said. “What would I need to do?”

“Authorize me to access your implant storage and the central program. I’ll replace certain subroutines with my own programming to optimize the searching and access of the data. As it updates the file indexes and cross-references the data, you will be better able to find information.”

“Do it,” Kelsey said. “How long will it take?”

“Not long at all. I’m accessing the program now. Updating the search routines and optimizing the ability of the program to catalog and access data now. Update complete. I did find a file in the index marked ‘welcome.’ I believe it to be a message from Ned Quincy to you.”

She stared at the ceiling for a moment. “Play the message for all of us.”

* * * * *

Abigail had her driver speed back to the council building and summoned a crew in to search her office for monitoring devices. Once they had declared it clear, she used her private com link to call Master Calder.

“Yes, Abigail?”

“I confronted Coordinator West a few minutes ago and I’m afraid that her initial report to the council is more of an understatement that we feared. She doesn’t intend to push for our release at all. She’s most likely going to give the prisoners back in exchange for some Fleet officers the Lord had on Boxer Station.”

“Well, I can’t say that’s surprising news,” he said. “We already suspected that she wouldn’t push things. It’s time to cause a rift in her relationship with Admiral Mertz. Implement the plan.”

Abigail smiled. “With pleasure. I’ll make the arrangements right away.”

* * * * *

Jared’s implants notified him that a vid file was available. He instructed it to play.

The scene around him dissolved and he was sitting in a small compartment looking into a mirror. The man’s face was pleasant enough, in a rugged way. He smiled at his own reflection. “To whoever finds these files, greetings. My name is Ned Quincy. I’m a captain in the Imperial Marine Raiders. Commandos, they call us. Consider this my final report.

“I don’t know where I died, or even the manner of my passing, but you wouldn’t be seeing this if I was still around.”

His smile widened. “Don’t mourn me. I probably went out doing something insanely risky. Even for a Raider, I’ve always been fond of taking chances and going big. I hope I died doing something epic.

Jared hoped Kelsey wasn’t getting the wrong ideas from this man. She’d been doing entirely too many epic things herself this last year.

“Now, these files you’ve found,” the man said. “I stole a copy of the library assistant and had one of my techs modify it to work with my implants. The man is a genius, if you ask me. I didn’t think he’d be able to do it.

“You’ve broken my lock and have a full set of Raider implants, so you’re my brother or sister in arms. Some of this information is probably not of much use to you, but it might inform you about who I am and what I’ve done. That’s the idea, anyway.”

The dead man continued. “I began retaining vids from my implants when I first heard about the rebellion. This is kind of my own history in fighting it. Moments that seemed important. I hope you find them informative and useful.”

He leaned forward. “One positive thing, I can be pretty sure that we won the war if you find this. At least that’s what I choose to believe. Good luck and go kick some ass.”

The vid ended and Jared’s view of his office returned.

Kelsey shook her head. “That’s so sad.”

“The Fall is filled with sad tales,” Elise said. “If we knew them all, we’d go mad. He died doing what he loved and fighting for those he’d sworn to protect. Who could ask for more?”

“I’m going to keep looking for those access codes and take advantage of any information I find in there,” Kelsey said. “I probably should’ve mentioned something before I did it and I’m sorry.”

Jared gave her a look of mock sternness. “I really hope you don’t jump into something you shouldn’t next time. Seriously, Kelsey, you take too many chances. One of them will prove fatal if you don’t learn some restraint.”

“I’ll try, really. What do we do next?”

“We’re getting our new Pentagaran crewmen up to speed. Doctor Stone is running people through the implant process as quickly as she can. It’ll take weeks to get everyone done, so we’re focusing on the most critical personnel first.

“Doctor Leonard is working to repair the damaged flip jammer. If we can get it operational, we can secure Erorsi and Pentagar. That’s a priority. It would really help if we had the plans for them, though I’m not sure we could build one.”

“It would be wonderful to have a shield against the Rebel Empire,” Elise agreed. “A single destroyer could make life hard for us back home. A task force would take both systems in short order.”

“What about getting the yards online at Boxer Station?” Kelsey asked. “We need to repair our ships and bring as many derelicts back to operational status as we can.”

He nodded. “That’s a priority, too. Baxter tells me his people almost have the original computer system verified. Once he’s confident of its integrity, he’ll bring it online and start assessing the situation. I’m hopeful we can get
Invincible
in there quickly.”

“As am I,” the AI said. “The parts you’ve salvaged from the graveyard have brought more of my systems back online, but there are serious repairs that can only be done in a shipyard.”

“What about the planet?” Kelsey asked. “Won’t they wonder why
Invincible
is away? Do we dare move her without getting
Courageous
in better condition?”

“It’s a risk,” he admitted. “The only other option is moving
Courageous
there first. We’ll make the call when we have to.”

“What about Coordinator West’s offer to have you go down to the surface?” Elise asked. “Are you seriously considering it?”

“We have them under the gun. They wouldn’t take action directly against me or my party.”

“Would those be the same guns that are encouraging them to return your people? That doesn’t seem to be working that well so far.”

“Trust has to start somewhere,” he said. “Otherwise, we might as well just leave our people with them.”

Jared checked his internal chronometer. “It’s time for lunch. Let’s go eat. If I don’t hear from Coordinator West this afternoon, I’ll call her back. She needs to know how seriously we’re taking this situation.”

Elise rose to her feet. “Diplomacy is sometimes slow. Don’t rush things. Tomorrow morning is soon enough to start pestering her. We’ll spend a few hours going over what we can and then I want you to get some sleep. You’ll need your wits about you.”

His sister stood, too. “I’ll let you two have some alone time. I think Talbot is feeling neglected.”

* * * * *

Sean watched the wedge of grav vehicles land with some trepidation. They’d brought a lot of guards. This wasn’t a food delivery.

That became clear when the men started herding prisoners toward the vehicles, using their weapons to threaten them as need be. It looked as though they were gathering about a hundred people.

He walked out toward them and stopped as soon as the cordon focused their weapons on him. “I’m the senior prisoner. What’s the meaning of this? Where are you taking my people?”

One of the larger men stepped forward and sneered at Sean. “That’s none of your concern. If you don’t want to find out the hard way, you’d best shut your mouth and move back.”

“I’ll take that offer. Me in exchange for one of them.”

The guard laughed. “I think not. As for where they’re going, I have no idea. Coordinator West sent word to gather them up. When she’s done with them, I’ll bring them back. If they’re alive.”

Sean stared at the man coldly. “They’d best come back in good condition or I’m holding you and Coordinator West responsible.”

That only made the guard laugh harder. “You do that. Now get back before I shoot you and leave you here to bleed out.”