The Icarian Legacy Collected Edition: Brave Souls - First Strike (Volume 3) (84 page)

“Just as it did for us…”

“The answer to that question is hard Elder. And it is not hard because we don’t want to help you. Even if helping you will be technically a violation of our orders, it is something we will do. But not if it jeopardizes our mission.”

He looked at the two generals that were watching them. They still haven’t spoken a word.

“When we came to this world we expected to find some slaves, we even hoped to find some survivors of your race elder.  And in our parameters we were given the option to try and create unrest and even ignite the spark of rebellion. But we are a force recon. We can’t be seen and captured.”

“So in a sense finding us, this uprising as you call it is posing a problem for you.”

Rivers looked at the Illian. The Elders did the same. He was obviously respected. And as Rivers noticed the scars he knew that that respect was earned and well placed. He could feel a little anger in his voice.

“Yes General.”

Egert looked at the humans. He could notice no difference from the humans he already knew, and yet as he watched them also felt awe. He could feel their discipline, their training and in a way he could see their power. It came from the way they reacted to everything, from their confidence. Their weapons were primitive, and yet from the report he read they were effective. And their training… that was something he wished all his soldiers could have. He knew the human legends of the perfect warriors of Sparta a place on their home world and as he watched this two he could feel that there was something ingrained from that culture in them. And in every human as well considering how they fought no matter the odds.

“You say that you can’t be captured and I can understand that. But you have been seen. You have been noticed. You left enough dead bodies behind you to be noticed all the way to their home world. They may not know you are here but they know that there is something strange, something new.”

“Yes we left a trail of bodies behind us, but this is a war zone. And soldiers die every day in it. It is not something that would stand out. The trail will lead them to your lines, along the line of the retreating troops. Before we decided to act we were here for months. And you had no idea, neither did they. We planned to free some slaves and capture some dacarians in order to gather information. Everything that has happened since then is a result of that decision and order. We chose to be here. I chose to be here General.”

Egert looked at the human. He knew he was right. They had no idea that they even existed until several days ago and he wondered how many of them there were. He knew that there was at least one more team considering the information he got from Arnes. It was confusing but now he understood what the senator has found. He was leading a second team here. And there might also be others here as well.

“What you say is right. Can I ask what you plan now? Will you help us?”

“That depends on what your chances are, and how you plan to fight them.”

Egert nodded.  It was a reasonable request. He just hopped that his answer would be good enough.

“I will give you all the information about our defenses when we finish here.”

Rivers smiled.

“What I meant general was for an opinion. I need to know how long you will be able to stand. We are here and we will help. I just hope that what we can do will help you survive long enough.”

Egert looked at the Elders.

“With your permission I will share everything I have with them.”

The Ksand who first spoke with Rivers looked at Egert.

“That is your decision general. We agree.”

Egert nodded and looked at Rivers.

“When you finish here they will lead you to the Battle Room Center of this fort.”

After this he and the other General bowed and left.

The Ksand turned towards the humans.

“I hope there will be a way you can help us but even if there is not I thank you for what you did and what you will do.”

Rivers and Anderson smiled and nodded with their heads.

“We’ll do all that we can.”

As they prepared to leave one of the other Ksand raised his voice.

“Before you go can you tell us how you know about us?”

Rivers exchanged a look with Anderson.

“From a friend of a different time my lord. And she is one of the reasons we will help you.”

“Why?”

“Because she told us what you did for us and she made us promise that we will help you if you still live.”

“When you say mutual friend what do you mean?”

“I think it will be best to show you. Do you have an interface?”

The Ksand looked at him with surprise.

“You have an AI?”

“Yes and her name is Aria.”

He took out the small data chip that held a fragment of Aria and inserted it in the interface the Ksand showed him.

Moments later a well known shimmering and blue light appeared. Moments later the image of Aria appeared.

  It was strange to feel disconnected from the ship and from her self. It was a long time since the last time she did that. And she knew she was getting old, far older than any AI was in fact. She started to feel the connection and to gather information. At first it was surprising but the more information she got the more alive she became and more pleased. She knew where she was just seconds after she activated. She was in Ksamona the ancient Ksand Fortress one of the several placed on this world. She interacted shortly with the local AI, far more limited then her in it’s range and power but was pleased to know that it knew about her from it’s past. And then she felt the final connection and saw that she was in the chamber surrounded by creatures from different races. She saw Rivers and Anderson and smiled to them. She noticed the Elder humans and the Berilians and all the other races that were part of this council of Elders that was the government of this strange union. And then she noticed the Ksand watching her.

And she kneeled and raised her head. A hologram of her appeared in the center of the room kneeling as well, and a small projection showing another woman dressed in an admiral’s uniform. It was obviously a recording and at the same time it was real. It was as if she was real and as if she knew exactly where she was.

She turned and looked at the humans in the room and it was a look filed with warmth.

“In the name of Alteran I say thank you to the members of this council and to the Ksand. Thank you for your sacrifice and for your help. My name is Genevieve Sumer the Admiral of the human fleet that passed through system to protect the secret. Aria was my AI and she downloaded this message from me to be played to you on the day my descendants will return. I hope they will help you just as you did for us.”

She looked at the Ksand, straight in to his eyes. The Elder looked at her with tears in his eyes.

“Min yanissa alinse Alteran dah Ksand… Nah gratituda ah do Khalas’Ar un ak Ksand, Gratituda.”

The hologram then bowed once more then rose and looked at the humans in the room. She smiled and then turned towards Rivers and Anderson. She reached with both hands and touched their faces.

“Remember us and make us proud.”

After this she looked at the AI and then disappeared.

Everyone in the room was stunned, even Rivers and Anderson and even Aria herself. The AI looked confused for a moment and knowing her both soldiers wondered how many memories flashed through her digital eyes as she saw her old commander.

And he was sure that the image, the hologram was real in a way. It must have been a subroutine a hidden file in her that was activated the moment she interfaced with the base.

Aria felt the emotions that she knew well. It was joy for seeing her former commander the women that gave her life so that humanity can have a future. But she also felt sadness, sadness that that commander was not here today she and the thousands others that followed her not because they were filled with hate but because they knew they have to return and convince the dacarians that there was no refuge fleet. They all died so that others may live. So that humanity has a future. And as she saw the humans watching her she knew that they would be proud of what their descendants became. Humanity was young still making its first steps in the galaxy but it was noble and had values that she hopped would spread far and wide.

She looked at the stunned Ksand. She knew the reason for that. The Ksand were a race with genetic memory and the race not total but memory that genetically imprinted some things in its future generations. And some people, if they were deserving of such honor. And Genevieve was. They remembered the admiral who gave the order to construct the defenses that orbited Arcadia and the admiral who led the elements of the Ksand navy to fight against the Dacarian Empire.

“Min yanissa un Aressa nah gratituda Khalas’Ar.”

She said the formal and official greeting of the Ksand. Then she saw that the previous conversation was performed in Alteran. She was glad that every human soldier from Excelsior was now fluent in it.  In a way it was their language.

“And in the name of my ancestors I say thank you as well Aria of Alteran.”

She smiled as the Ksand returned her greeting.

She checked the date as she continued to gather information from the sensors and the orbiting satellites. She managed to hide her presence from the dacarians. Their AI’s were just as sophisticated as her some even as Anaya but she had thousands of years of experience they didn’t and the codes for the orbiting platforms. She couldn’t activate them not with this fragment from her self, and not from here. The only place where that could be achieved was the base that she instructed Rivers and his teams to infiltrate. It was their priority mission considering the implications. She sent an update to the Excelsior and to herself. It would take time before the news reached them but it was important. She also located the rest of the teams and was happy to see them safe all except three teams that were also heading here.

Khalas’Ar looked at the hologram standing over the interface. There were million questions he wanted to ask, and as he turned towards the others he knew that they would have questions to. The shaky alliance of Ksand, Humans, Illians, Sicarians and the other races among them had several AI’s but none were as advanced as the AI standing before him. She was at least a generation six maybe even seven of the Alteran AI’s and he knew that it is far more capable then the second and third generation they had. The AI controlling all the major operations of the fortress was class five and on Alteran scale it would have been four, and it was old and almost rampant. It would have to be replaced in a year or two and they didn’t have any advanced AI nor they had the machines and technology needed for creating them. And an Alteran AI was what was needed to activate the Alteran defense grid from Gehanna the large ancient military base placed on this continent. It was now occupied by the dacarians and he knew that they were trying for years to activate it. Ever since the last AI self destructed in order to prevent them from capturing it and the information it held when the planet fell the platforms orbiting Arcadia were silent. He knew how powerful they were and that if activated the dacarians would need a large fleet to conquer it again. They rebuilt the reactors that supplied the energy for the platforms but without the AI they were silent. A human genome and an Alteran AI were needed to activate it, and a cooperative one at that. The dacarians tried several times to coerce human created AI’s to activate it but they met failure every time.  They used the machines the Alterans built for his people long ago when they helped them to construct the defense grid around the planet. The fails safe in the machine was built in secretly as a precaution and as he now knew it was a wise one. When the Illians lost the war and Arcadia fell the AI activated the fail safe and he was now looking at the AI that could unlock it.

Before he could think he heard himself asking that question.

“Can you activate the defense grid of this world?”

Aria expected the question.

“I’m jus a fragment of my true self but the answer is yes, but not from here. I can access the sensor grid but that is all. The weapons are deactivated and I will have to be plugged in on site in order to activate them again.”

“And we need to control this world surface for u to do that.”

The comment came from one of the Sicarians.

Khalas’Ar knew he was right.

“You speak the truth Tauras.”

Rivers looked at Aria as the elders spoke.

He knew it was not the real Aria but even this fragment was her.

“Aria, are you saying that if we take control of the surface and that base you can activate those platforms?”

The AI turned towards him and nodded.

“Yes Major. If the base is under our control and if we can defend it then I can disable the fail safe and activate the defense grid.”

Rivers tried to imagine what that would mean and the power of those weapon platforms. If they could be activated when the fleet comes and takes control of this world…He exchanged a glance with his XO. He knew that they were thinking the same thing.

He turned towards the Elders.

“Elders if you’ll excuse me I need to speak and share my opinions with your commanding officers.”