Rumors of Honor (System States Rebellion Book 2) (11 page)

“Yes,
but if we pull it off right, we’ll be vindicated, and our honor will be
restored. I hope but can’t promise that will happen in our lifetimes.”

The
Deputy shrugged. “If it doesn’t, then it doesn’t. Losing my honor is a small
price to pay for saving billions of lives. That’s how I look at it.”

“Yeah.
That’s how I look at it too. I’d have to seriously question anyone’s sanity or
ethics who reads this report and doesn’t feel the same way. We’re going to have
to show this report to a small group of key people, but we can’t let it become
common knowledge. You know what Majestic’s prediction is if that occurs.” He
saw his deputy shudder. If Majestic was right, then widespread knowledge of the
highly probable and bleak future for Humanity would result in an even worse
long-term future. Instead of a couple of centuries of decline ending with
anarchy followed by a slow recovery, Human civilization would enter a long
period of chaos and barbarism lasting close to a thousand years. Each colonized
planet would lose all technology, eventually reaching a state where the
inhabitants would be fighting each other with swords or maybe even clubs for
land, food and naked power. Trojan was determined to prevent that at any cost.
Majestic’s analysis said that there was only one way to prevent the decline. A
strong, centralized autocratic power structure had to be built that had the
resources and the will to crush any resurgence for planetary independence. In
other words, the Federation’s semi-democratic, oligarchical structure had to be
replaced with an Empire that had one individual at the top. The System States
Union, however high-minded its guiding principles might be, was the slippery
slope that would lead to a new Dark Age for billions of people over many
generations as newly independent planets eventually turned on each other with
jump-capable warships armed with nuclear or biological weapons.

Trojan
pointed to the data tablet on his desk. “Majestic says that Romanov is the best
choice to replace Stevens in command of the Task Force. I want you to arrange
to bring him here. He’s more likely to believe Majestic’s report if he can see
Majestic with his own eyes. You and I will then sit down with him and carefully
brief him on what he has to do when the SSU attacks Earth. Any questions?”
There were none.

When
his Deputy left, Trojan poured himself another drink but only filled the glass
half full this time. If he was going to make himself Emperor, he had to keep
his wits about him and resist the temptation to drown his regrets in alcohol or
some other substance. Who needed honor anyway? His instructors at the Academy
had talked about honor as if it were a living thing. He took a sip of his drink
and shook his head. Rumors of honor, that’s all they ever were.

Day
144/2545

Drake
stepped off the boarding ramp and quickly walked over to the delegation that
was waiting for him. As he did so, he cursed the Zanzibar Colony administrators
who were being difficult and thereby delaying Jutland’s departure. Every
additional hour his ship was delayed lessened the chance that she would get
back in time to join Lee’s Task Force for Operation Sorcerer. He saw the
colony’s Chief Administrator start towards him. Before Drake could speak, the
CA beat him to it.

“Commander,
this is outrageous! You bring two freighters full of scientists and engineers
here and expect us to have enough new accommodations ready! We told Sparta
after the first shipment that we couldn’t get ready for another batch that
quickly! The Head of the Project is insisting that the colonists take in the
personnel who can’t be accommodated elsewhere. We did that with the first
batch, and the colonists didn’t like being forced to do it. I was elected on
the promise that it wouldn’t be allowed to happen again.”

Drake
stopped walking and looked around at the city in the background. This was his
second trip to Zanzibar, and he remembered what the city looked like the last
time he was here. There was more new, barracks-style housing along the edge of
the spaceport but not as much as there should have been. On the other side of
the spaceport, he saw a new building whose function wasn’t obvious.

“What’s
that new, round building over there?” he said, pointing to it. The CA’s annoyed
look suddenly changed to something else. Embarassment?

“That?
Ah, that’s ah…our new cultural center. We were already working on it when you
were here the last time, Commander.”

Drake
shook his head. “No. I have a very good memory, and I don’t remember seeing any
construction at that location last time I was here. You people started that
AFTER I left, knowing full well what was expected of you in terms of new
construction for the war effort. How many barracks could you have built with
the materials and labor used for that cultural center?”

The
CA said nothing and started shifting his weight back and forth from one leg to
the other. When it was obvious that the CA wasn’t going to answer the question,
Drake turned to look at the Research Institute Project Head, who was standing a
couple of meters away.

“How
many of your people don’t have a place to live?”

The
Project Head stepped forward. “Eighty-nine, but it’s not just living
accommodations that are behind schedule. Some of the laboratories aren’t ready
either. We’re not even sure we can find enough space to store all the equipment
properly. If we leave it out in the open, it might become damaged from rain
and/or the heat.”

Drake
turned back to the CA who was clearly very uncomfortable. “God dammit, do you
people not realize that there’s a war on! Zanzibar joined the SSU voluntarily,
but you’re acting like you don’t give a fuck! This research institute just
might win the war for us if these people are allowed to do what they’ve come
here to do!” Drake stopped talking long enough to take a deep breath and calm
down. He stepped closer to the CA until they were only a few centimeters apart.
The CA refused to look him in the eye.

“Now
you listen to me carefully,” said Drake in a calmer voice. “I don’t care what
you have to do to solve this problem, but you better solve it and do it fast.
My ship can’t stay here to wait and see if your colony lives up to its
obligations, but I promise you this, Chief Administrator. If the SSU loses the
war because we didn’t make a key technological breakthrough in time, I will
personally come back here and shoot you myself. Look me in the eye, dammit!” He
waited until the CA met his gaze. “Do I look like I’m bluffing?”

The
CA shook his head. When he spoke, his voice was filled with fear. “We may be
able to set up temporary accommodations in the cultural center and ah…I’m sure
we’ll find room for the equipment too. We’ll start work on the barracks right
away, Commander.”

Before
Drake could say anything, the Project Head interjected. “No, the laboratories
should come first.”

“Do
you agree with that?” asked Drake. The CA nodded.

“Good!
Now if both of you will excuse me. There’s a battle coming up that we can’t
afford to lose, and I don’t want to get there late.” With a nod to the Project
Head, Drake turned around and sprinted up Jutland’s boarding ramp.

Chapter Eight:

Day
243/2545

When
Jutland emerged from hyper-space near Sparta, Drake was surprised to learn that
the Task Force hadn’t left yet, due to the inevitable delays that always seemed
to occur when military operations were being prepared. With his status report sent,
Drake sat back and waited for a reply. He knew it was the middle of the night
at the Capital and therefore wasn’t expecting a quick answer to his query
whether Jutland should land immediately to replenish her consumables to the
level needed for participation in Operation Sorcerer. But to his surprise, he
got one. The text message scrolled across his viewscreen.

Permission
to land denied. Shuttles with consumables will rendezvous with you shortly.
Sorcerer will commence in 8.5 hours. It is imperative that you be ready to join
the Task Force by then. All further communications should be directed to Task
Force Leader Lee. Good Hunting! End of message.

Eight
point five hours was not a lot of time to unload half a dozen cargo shuttles
and stow all those supplies. He expected that Lee would want to talk with him
in person before the Task Force left orbit. As things turned out, he was right
on both counts. His crew was still stowing the last of the supplies when
Jutland accelerated out of orbit in formation with the other 15 ships of the
Task Force. The meeting with Lee wasn’t all that pleasant either. Newly
promoted Vice-Admiral Lee had displayed what could only be described as a bad
mood and was annoyed at everything Drake said, no matter how polite and co-operative
he was. After all this time, Drake still didn’t know what bug Lee had up his
ass when it came to Roland Drake. Lee left no doubt in Drake’s mind that if it
had been left up to him, Jutland would not be part of the Task Force. At least
Drake wouldn’t have to talk with Lee during the 13 week trip through
hyper-space.

Day
255/2545

Foster
sighed as she entered the groundcar and sat beside her husband, Bret Murphy. He
had already programmed the auto-pilot to take them home after another long day
of work. As he looked at her face, he realized that she wasn’t just tired, she
was also looking despondent.

“Bad
day?” he asked.

She
took in and then let out a long, slow breath before answering. “I’m tired of
banging my head against the wall. My staff are tired too. We’re chasing our
tails trying to figure out how Oracle can outthink a machine that’s designed to
be at least ten times as smart. This hunt for planets to place Site X and the
shipbuilding center is going nowhere. All the planets that Oracle for perfectly
good reasons comes up with as candidates, are also places where Majestic will
urge the FEDs to look, for exactly the same reasons.”

Murphy
said nothing for a bit. As one of the Instructors at the Naval Academy, he
technically wasn’t part of the Oracle Planning Group, but his wife sometimes
used him as a sounding board for ideas, so he thought about her problem. Even
with the Phase II expansion to Oracle, the SSU version still wasn’t as capable
as Majestic’s estimated ability. Murphy wondered if the OPG was over-estimating
Majestic’s capabilities, but then decided that under-estimating them would be a
far greater mistake. An idea occurred to him.

“Let
me ask you something. Do these super-computers have intuition?”

“Intuition?
No. Why?”

“They
use logical reasoning exclusively, right?”

“Yes.
You’re leading up to something. I can tell. What is it?”

He
shrugged. “Well, it’s just that you’re trying to use one machine to outthink
another machine, and if both of them are using logical reasoning, then our
Oracle will always be at a disadvantage. If we want to outthink Majestic, then
WE, and by that I mean we humans, will have to do it ourselves because we have
intuition and inspiration, both of which are not based on logic and therefore
can’t be predicted by logic.”

Foster
shook her head. “Wait, how can we possibility outthink Majestic when it can
mathematically manipulate hundreds, maybe even thousands of variables at the
same time?”

“We
don’t try to outthink it rationally. We base our choice of planets for Site X
and shipbuilding on something other than logic.” He paused to think. Foster
waited. “Where is Oracle looking for candidate planets?”

“Ah,
well, it’s looking at SSU member planet star systems and star systems that
don’t have colonies on them.”

“So
it’s not looking at star systems that have colonies that are still in the FPS?”
asked Murphy.

“No,
of course not.”

Murphy
smiled. “Then Majestic isn’t likely to be looking at those star systems
either.”

Foster
shook her head. “That makes no sense, Bret. How can we set up Site X or a
massive shipbuilding operation on a FED planet?”

“By
deception.” He could tell that his wife still wasn’t getting it. “Okay, let’s
use the shipbuilding project as an example. If we find a system with the right
resources that has a FED colony, we go there and pretend we’re a company
chartered on Earth that has entered into a contract with the Federation to
build a shipbuilding complex from scratch. As far as the locals are concerned,
that’s what it’ll be. We can even hire local people to work on the project.
Only the senior project people need to know the real story, and when the
complex finishes building ships and those ships leave, how will the locals know
that they’re not going to a FED naval base?”