The Inception: The Augmented Human Rebellion - Book 1 (9 page)

Leaving the Past

“Ships entering Parin space,” announces the Artificial Intelligence ‘watchdogs’
on the Augmented Human Navy vessels: Freedom, Liberty, Reliance, and
Integrity. “10 Darinx warships in system, and others still
emerging.”

“All ships,” announces Admiral Nemo. “FTL to ‘Destination 1’ on my
mark …………….. Engage.”

The plan for the escape from the Parin system, had been made some months
ago, and all ships have remained ready to engage their Faster Than Light (FTL)
drive, at the Admiral’s command. They are now 10 light-years away from
Parin, and are preparing for another FTL trip, as soon as their FTL drives cool
off. They will do two more FTL trips after that, in an effort to insure
that they are not being followed, by the Darinx Navy.

The augmented humans aboard these vessels are wanted by the Darinx
Empire, for treason and desertion. They will be hunted relentlessly and
killed at the first opportunity – without a trial, or any kind of due
process. Augmented humans are considered to be non-human and non-sentient
beings. There will be a sizeable bounty, for their deaths.

All of the species in the AH Navy are wanted by the Verm Navy, for
stealing their ships. The 4 Augmented Human Navy ships were hijacked from
the Verm Navy. The Prisoners of War (POW’s) from those hijackings were
dropped off on a Verm controlled planet - except for the verm sailors who
defected and joined the rebellion.

The verm members of the rebellion are, for the most part, on board the
AHNS Reliance (Augmented Human Navy Ship Reliance) under Captain Farn.
There are about 1,000 Verm Navy deserters who joined the AH Navy. Around
700 are aboard the Reliance and the others are spread throughout the fleet.

It is the Admiral’s policy to transfer sailors periodically, from ship to
ship, so that there can be a unity in the Fleet. The Admiral wants all of
the sailors to feel that they are foremost, a part of the AH Navy, rather than
feeling like their primary loyalty is to their ship’s Captain. Everyone
except the ship’s Captains will be rotated, from time-to-time.

The Captain aboard the Freedom is an extrucian named Wentr. He was
formerly an Admiral in the Parin Navy, before they were defeated by the Verm
Navy. Captain Wentr was also one of the pilots aboard the Parin shuttles,
which were used to hijack the first two vessels. Most of his crew in made
up of extrucians – an ant-like species from the planet Parin. Some
extrucians joined the rebellion after the first hijacking, and others joined
after the second hijacking. There are also, about 20 augmented human
personnel aboard the Freedom.

The Captain aboard the Liberty is Captain Strauss – an augmented human,
who was a lieutenant in Company K, and was the Tactical Officer aboard Admiral
Nemo’s first ship – the Freedom.

The Captain aboard the Integrity is Sandra Guilles, who is Admiral Nemo’s
wife (
notice the promotion)
. The Integrity is a heavy cruiser, and
the other three vessels are light cruisers. Admiral Nemo resides aboard
the Integrity.

The Artificial Intelligences (AIs) are as follows: Danion aboard the
landing craft Nemesis, which resides aboard the Integrity; Delphi who resides
aboard the Liberty; Darius who resides aboard the Integrity; Angel who resides
aboard the Freedom; and Arturo who resides aboard the Reliance.

***

Plans for the Future

Admiral Nemo’s plan for the immediate future is to skirt along the
boundary between the Darinx Empire and the Verm Empire, until they can reach
some uncontested space.

They need to find space where they are not being hunted by Darinx, or
Verm forces. Perhaps then they can find a habitable planet and settle
down.

More likely, they will have to subcontract themselves out as ‘protection’
providers for planets or systems, who are being threatened by space pirates, or
some belligerent neighbors.

‘Have Gun Will Travel’ – is the ancient advertisement for a hired
gun. There is always a need for protection from bigger and malevolent
foes. If the Augmented Human Navy can provide protection services to the
‘good guys’, they will be able to maintain their integrity, while making an
honest buck. There is always a need for protection from evil.

***

At this point, the Admiral is fairly confident that they have outrun the
Darinx force, which emerged at Parin. The AH Navy was just hanging around
Parin, until the Darinx Empire got around to sending their Navy to protect the
planet.

The next part of the near-future plan is to make FTL jumps, which will
take them to the frontiers of space. The process for doing that involves
taking FTL jumps of about 15 light-years, maximum. If the jumps are any
longer than that, the vessels may emerge so far apart that they will be out of
contact. The contingency plan, in case the vessels get separated, is for
all vessels to return to the previous coordinates, and to wait for one
week. If the missing vessels don’t show up, in that time frame, the
others are to move on without them.

One thing that you notice, on this type of journey, is how incredibly
huge the universe is, and how very far apart the star systems are. The travel
time is being used to good benefit – in fitness training, and simulator
training. There are fleet wide competitions, which keep pushing the
performance envelope higher and higher.

It is becoming more and more difficult for Admiral Nemo and Captain
Guilles to maintain their position at the ‘top of the hill’, in the battle
simulation games. They can still beat the other sentients but all hope is
gone, for beating the AIs. The AIs have become so much more proficient,
that the sentients are wondering if humanoids are even necessary.

***

The New Frontier

At last, the AH Navy is in space that is unclaimed by the Darinx or Verm
empires. This area of space was loosely charted before the war between
Empires began. After the war started, there was no more money for such
frivolous expenditures.

Admiral Nemo has decided that it’s time to enter some star systems, and
to see what kind of reception, they get.

For starters, the Admiral has chosen the nearest star system with
planets, which might be habitable. On the star charts, it is number
G79212. The Fleet is about to emerge outside of the system, and expects
to search for spaceship traffic, and to scan the planets for life signs.

***

“Thirty seconds to emergence,” announces Darius. “The ship’s
systems are nominal, and the crew is at security level 4.” …………. And then:
“Intrepid has emerged. All systems nominal. Tactical scan show no
imminent threats. Three other vessels emerging. All are AH Navy
vessels. All vessels report nominal conditions.”

The 4 vessels settle into their positions, outside of the star system,
and begin to coordinate the fleetwide ‘emergence routine’.
After verifying that all systems are nominal, the ships will search all data
bases for viruses, or unauthorized changes in shipboard systems. When
that has been completed, the AIs will inspect each other, in order to insure
that their baseline systems have not been altered.

After these basic security checks have been completed, and the Admiral
feels comfortable with the neighborhood, the Fleet will drop from security
level 4, to security level 3 or 2.

‘Security level 3’ means that the augmented humans can take off their
battle armor, eat, and perform shipboard duties.

‘Security level 2’ means that the crew can relax and have some personal
time. Personnel, who are due for rotation to other ships, can be shuttled
to their new duty stations, and participants in the physical fitness or battle
simulations competitions can travel to their arenas. Every vessel has
competitive games, with intra-ship, and inter-ship teams. The Fleet’s
shuttles are used as a bus service, with regularly scheduled routes.

The Admiral lowers the Fleet’s security level, to level 2. Even at
level 2, the AIs are constantly monitoring space, and all Fleet systems.
Defensive systems are always set to automatic. Admiral Nemo purposes to
never get as overconfident as the Verm Navy - the former owner of the AH Navy
vessels.

***

While the Fleet’s System Checks are being performed, the humanoids check
for life signs, and search for unnatural objects in space, and on the
planets.

Scans are reporting possible life signs on the 2
^nd
, 3
^rd
,
and 4
^th
planets, as well as on the 2 moons around the 4
^th
planet. Still no signs of intersystem or interstellar travel.
Probes will be sent to get close-up scans of each planet, and moons.

Starship or spaceship travel would probably be the minimum indicator for
potential clients. Planets without space travel, might need the
‘protection services’ of the AH Navy, but it would be difficult to arrange
those services. Most planets, at that level of development, don’t even
have planet-wide governance.

Monitoring for communications reveals nothing. The societies in
this system must be too primitive to have developed those technologies.

“Oh well,” the Admiral thinks. “We still might find a habitable
planet, which we could use as a base. We might even find our ‘Eden’.”

***

The probes arrive at the planets and moons, which register life
signs. The 2
^nd
planet has some kind of life signs, but the
species exists in a near gaseous form, and is so alien that it is not relevant
– this is not a science expedition.

The 3
^rd
and 4
^th
planets have sentient beings who
appear to have common ancestors. That would imply that they once had
space travel, but there is no sign of it now. Both civilizations are
primitive – probably just beginning to use metal.

The beings on the moons around the 4
^th
planet are related to
the beings on the planets, but are much more advanced. They have to be
more advanced, because they live inside of domed cities.

The high radiation levels on the planets would indicate that the most
probable cause, for the condition of the planet’s inhabitants, is that they
destroyed each other in a nuclear war. That is an all-too-common
occurrence, in the universe.

***

After spending a few days relaxing and building relationships, the
Augmented Human Navy moves on. They visit 7 more solar systems, and find
no one with space or starship travel. The next system is numbered G53692
on the star charts.

“Thirty seconds to emergence,” announces Darius. “The ship’s
systems are nominal, and the crew is at security level 4.” …………. And then:
“Intrepid has emerged. All systems nominal. Tactical scans show
imminent threats. Warships and defensive networks of unknown
origin. Three other vessels emerging. All are AH Navy
vessels. All vessels report nominal conditions.”

Captain Nemo orders: “All ships. Shields UP. Battle Stations alert.
Prepare for FTL exit to #1 emergency coordinates. Notify Intrepid when
your FTL drive comes online. Intrepid, begin ‘alien sentient greeting’
protocol.”

(The ‘alien sentient greeting’
protocol is a pre-programmed series of audio and video files, which purposes to
tell the newfound species that the beings inside of these warships are
friendly, and mean no harm. The programs also educate the newfound
aliens, about the nature of the Darinx civilization. It addition, the
programs teach the Darinx ‘common’ language.)

The ‘greeting protocol’ has just started when the vessels, inside the
solar system, recognize the potential threat from alien warships, and rush
toward the intruders.

“Warships advancing toward us,” warns Darius. “22 Warships
converging on our position. ETA to weapons range is 17 minutes.”

“All ships. Nemo here. Full flank real-space speed on a
course away from the system. Follow the Intrepid Navigator’s coordinates.
….. Engage.”

Admiral Nemo isn’t interested in fighting a bunch of beings, who he
doesn’t even know. The retreat will show the system’s defensive forces
that the AH Navy Fleet is not attacking. The greeting protocol is continuing as
they flee.

The AH Navy’s ships are significantly faster than the pursuers.
That is an important technology advantage. “Darius,” says the
Admiral. “What do you know about their technologies?”

“They have FTL capabilities, laser and plasma canons, rail guns, and
nuclear missiles. All weapons systems are inferior to ours.
Defensive shields and onboard computers are significantly inferior to ours.
They have no Artificial Intelligences,” responds Darius.

“All ships. Slow to match Intrepid’s velocity,” says the Admiral.
And then he addresses Captain Guilles, who is seated next to him, on the
Intrepid’s Command Deck: “Captain Guilles, slow and match the pursuer’s
velocity.”

“Aye sir. Helm, slow to match the pursuer’s velocity,” she repeats.

“Aye sir.”

The Admiral maintains the distance between fleets until all FTL drives
are cooled off, and are back online. Then he orders: “All ships. On
my command. Full stop. …. …. Engage.”

And then: “All ships. Turn to face the alien forces …..
Spread out so that they can’t surround us….. Engage.”

And then he orders: “Captain Guilles, fire laser canons between each
vessel - being careful not to hit any ship – and fire the laser canons
simultaneously.”

“Aye sir. Did you get that Tactical?” she asks.

“Aye sir.”

“Fire when ready, Tactical”

The volley is a warning shot to the pursuers. It says: ‘It’s time
to stop the chase, or there will be repercussions.’

The pursuers understand the ‘sign language’, and stop. Now it is
time to talk. “Darius, hail the alien vessels.”