Command Decisions (Book 3 of The Empire of Bones Saga) (20 page)

Jared zoomed in further to the system where the remnants of the task force had gone. “This system only has a reference number. None of the worlds is habitable and no human presence was established. It has three flip points, counting the weak one. One leads out in the general direction of home. The other toward the Old Empire.
Courageous
, is there any system of note in the direction of Avalon?”

“That section of the Old Empire was what could be called a backwater. Mining worlds and such that supplied rare elements to industries deeper in. It was growing and would have become mature in its own right with time, but there are no worlds of special note in that direction.”

Graves shook his head. “I still have difficulty getting used to a computer this advanced. I’m amazed at how like a person it is.”

Kelsey grinned at him. “Imagine talking to him at high speed through cranial implants.
Courageous
isn’t sentient, but he is very capable. It’s easy to think of him as a person though he’s not. No offense,
Courageous
.”

“None taken. This unit is quite aware that it falls short of the sentience threshold.”

Talbot grunted. “Did the Empire ever achieve sentient AIs?”

“This unit has seen some pre-rebellion communications that hinted at such, though no official word of such exists in this unit’s memory banks.”

“I suspect that the AI that started the rebellion was sentient,” Kelsey said. “That might have been a poor decision on someone’s part. It looks as though Breckenridge has better than fifty percent odds of finding our Terran Empire if he heads the right way. If he has bad luck, he might go around it, but that’s another problem. What’s in the other direction?”

The computer continued. “There are worlds that once had higher populations in that direction, depending on which course he chooses. There is one system of special note.” A system two flips away from the destination system flashed red. “This is Harrison’s World. While not of extremely high population, it housed a major Fleet base called Boxer Station. At one time, it was responsible for the defense of this entire quadrant of the Empire’s outer reaches. The most recent records this unit has show it was a rally point in the counter attack on the rebels.”

Admiral Sanders looked at the map speculatively. “What would that have meant,
Courageous
?”

“Before the rebellion it was home to the Ninth Fleet, one of the largest groupings of Fleet vessels in the Empire. Perhaps a hundred superdreadnaughts and supporting vessels. Four to five times that many battlecruisers. Many additional smaller units. Everything required to support them. That number may have gone up in the final days.”

“Or dropped due to combat losses,” Graves said. “Tell us about the civilian world.”

“Harrison’s World had core world population and technology. It housed both the Fleet support facilities and the political leadership for its sector. Duke Louis Gray was the last sector governor listed.”

Elise cleared her throat. “Is there any indication that the weak space-time bridge is open in both directions?”

“This unit believes it is.”

“What about
Spear
and her consorts?” Jared asked. “Any indication of them?”

The screen expanded into a map of the destination system. “As they do not have maps of the system, it seems they have spread out in an effort to locate flip points or other features of interest in the system. Their probes are actively scanning. This unit believes it likely they will locate the flip point leading deeper into the Empire first.”

“Hopefully they’ll do a thorough search and go down the right one first. If they do that we can just let them go.”

His sister gave him a look. “We can almost count on Breckenridge doing the wrong thing.”

Jared sighed. “Then we’ll need to come up with a plan to go after them soon. It will take them as much as a day to find the first flip point. I’ll need to practice with a fighter and consult with the folks on Erorsi. They can probably help us some with the data you recovered from the destroyer. We’ll need to leave it here.”

He looked over at Elise. “As much as I’d like for you and the admiral to come with us, we’re going in stealthy. If we can take Breckenridge out, we’ll be back soon. If you would accompany Kelsey to Erorsi and talk with Mister Bell about getting some of his people to join us, that would be very helpful.”

Elise nodded. “Kelsey and I can handle that. I’m looking forward to seeing his facility for myself. What will you do once you catch up with Captain Breckenridge?”

“That really depends on him.”

Chapter Twenty

The cutter flew down to the Erorsi complex at a much more leisurely pace than the marine pinnace had dropped Kelsey into the atmosphere the first time. Of course, they weren’t worried that the Pale Ones would blow them out of the sky this time. The controlling AI was gone and the enhanced savages were too busy struggling to stay alive to cause them any trouble.

Dirty snow covered the mountain plateau and the sky was a leaden gray, full of particulate matter thrown up by the massive asteroid the mad AI had dropped almost on Kelsey’s head. Thankfully, the air closer to the ground was mostly clear of dust.

The residents of the former planetary defense headquarters had opened a more convenient entrance. It beat the one they’d had hidden in a gully. That made disembarking as simple as walking down the boarding ramp and entering a small building.

Two men in black jumpsuits stiffened to attention as Kelsey walked through the door, bringing their rifles upright in front of them. A redheaded woman in a blue jumpsuit stood in front of the men. She smiled and extended her hand to Kelsey and then to Elise. “Princess Kelsey, Princess Elise. Welcome to Erorsi. I’m Janet Quincy, Mister Bell’s assistant.”

“Thank you.” Kelsey looked around the room. It had a massive lift, suitable for cargo. “This must make getting supplies in a little bit easier.”

“You have no idea. Now that the AI is gone, we can come and go without worrying someone will see us. We designed the building so that we can take it down in a few hours if we need to. I don’t think we’ll be comfortable out in the open for a long, long time.”

Elise smiled. “Hopefully you won’t need to hide again.”

“Hopefully not. We’ve all been keeping a close eye on the news and we’re so grateful that you stopped that enemy ship from getting away. We’re sorry for the loss of life and ships. If we can be of any assistance, you need only ask.”

“And that’s why we’re here,” Kelsey said. “Is Mister Bell available?”

The woman nodded. “Of course. If you’ll come with me, I’ll take you straight to him.”

She led them into the open lift and started it down. It dropped smoothly into the mesa. Kelsey watched the walls flash by. “You must’ve already had the shaft dug. I can’t imagine adding something like this to an existing facility would be easy.”

“This lift shaft was installed when the facility was built, and then covered when it was complete. All we had to do was remove the fake stone at the top.”

The lift stopped and the doors slid open on a huge room. Dozens of people were sorting what looked like salvaged equipment into multiple piles. Janet led them through the organized chaos.

Kelsey recognized some of the equipment as computers, but much of it was unfamiliar to her. She stopped to help two men lift a particularly heavy piece onto a floating platform. They looked momentarily shocked, but smiled as they recognized her. She gave them a small wave and caught up with the other women.

“I assume all this came from the old cities,” she said. “Is it recoverable?”

Janet shrugged. “Maybe. If nothing else, we can use the parts. After five hundred years, the supplies on some critical components were getting very low. The rebels ignored the cities after the invasion, other than sending in search parties for the citizens. Once they created the Pale Ones, it didn’t take long before they were empty.”

“And it’ll be a while before they’re full again,” Elise said sadly.

“Perhaps not. We’re hopeful that we can lure people in from Pentagar to settle. We have a lot of unclaimed land.”

Janet led them into a major corridor and deep into a maze of storage areas. One of them was open and had dozens of men in lab coats assembling what looked like a massive computer. Kelsey spotted Reginald Bell’s mass of white hair from across the room.

She sent him a ping and waved when he looked over.

The ancient man smiled and came over. “Kelsey! How wonderful to see you again. And Princess Elise. Welcome to Erorsi. You’re just in time. We’re getting ready to conduct an experiment.”

Elise peered at the computer. “So I see. Exactly what am I looking at?”

“The largest, most powerful computer system on Erorsi. We salvaged it from the capital.”

Kelsey felt her eyebrows rise in surprise. “Wasn’t your capital destroyed?”

“No. We didn’t have a spaceport nearby. We moved those away from the populated areas once we realized they were the primary rebel targets.” He gestured at the equipment. “This was, at one time, the computer that controlled all the financial markets on Erorsi. Keeping track of delayed data from all around the Empire meant it required truly astonishing amounts of memory and computing power.”

“How does it stack up to the computer on
Courageous
?”

“Well, that’s somewhat like comparing apples and oranges. This computer is much less autonomous and yet much more capable of intensive processing than the one on
Courageous
. It should have an AI interface, but I doubt very seriously that it will be much of a conversationalist.

“We’re hoping to use it to access the memory banks you recovered from the AI. The storage units you recovered are solid state, so they’re probably intact. We’re hopeful that we can crack the encryption on the data. This system should also be able to correlate the data quickly.”

“How does the computer that they recovered from that asteroid compare to either of them?” Elise asked.

Bell shrugged. “I’m not sure. It looks like the mutineers managed to remove all its parts, but our computer people are uncertain of how some of the most advanced processors work. The scientists on board
Courageous
are sending us the data as they test each piece and we have people with them to try to decipher how it all works. At a guess, it was an advanced design capable of hosting a true AI. Not something like was in the sunken battlecruiser, but the real deal. A sentient computer.”

“That sounds dangerous,” Kelsey said. “Obviously, since something like that probably kicked off the rebellion. We’re bringing the damaged light cruiser
Shadow
and the captured enemy destroyer to the orbital construction facility. We’re hopeful that the destroyer is reparable. I’m not so sure about
Shadow
.”

“We’ll do our best, of course. It won’t happen quickly, though. None of our people has ever worked on anything like this before. We’ll bring professionals in from Pentagar to assist, if you’re willing, Princess Elise.”

The Crown Princess Elise nodded decisively. “You’ll have as much help as you desire. We’re in this together.”

“I couldn’t agree more. While these good people continue their work, I’d like to adjourn to a more comfortable setting to discuss that. They’ll call us when they have the system ready to test.”

Kelsey looked around. “How are you going to keep the AI from infecting it? I can see why you brought it in, because it won’t be connected to your base, but the virus might just take it over.”

“That will tell us something, too. This computer isolates new data. Something about continuing to operate as it incorporates new information. It may work for this. If not, we’ll have the original hardwired operating system to overwrite the system.”

Bell led them to a small lounge. It was obviously new, as storage areas didn’t require that level of comfort. He gestured for the three of them to sit around a small table.

“Kelsey, the leadership council has been talking about how we move forward. I realize that you intend to depart for home before long, so I’d like to take a few minutes to brief you on their conclusions.

“As you know, we’ve kept the same control structure since the rebels isolated us from the Empire. We realize this is a small group of people—less than ten thousand—but we feel that we need to remain true to our heritage.” He inclined his head toward Elise. “While there was talk of seeking your protection, I hope you will not be offended if we go a different route.”

Elise didn’t seem bothered by the rejection. “You’ll have our support as an independent entity. Neighbors help one another. Pentagar shall respect your choice and your sovereign space. Though as the only gateway to the rest of the universe, we do claim free passage as existed in the Old Empire for our ships.”

“Of course. In fact, I’m glad you mentioned the Old Empire.” Bell returned his gaze to Kelsey. “While I’m the only one of us that lived under the direct rule of the emperor, we consider ourselves to be Imperial subjects. As your father is the current emperor of the Terran Empire, we are his subjects to command. And yours, Highness.”

Their decision didn’t entirely surprise Kelsey. Bell had been a serving Fleet officer in the Old Empire. This group of people had lived since the rebellion waiting for rescue from the Empire. This was a logical step. One she was more than happy to endorse.

“And in my role as the voice of the emperor, I happily accept your fealty and pledge our support to you as citizens of the Terran Empire.” She looked at Elise. “I hope that doesn’t cause you too many problems.”

“I’m sure it won’t. We have a very comprehensive treaty with the Terran Empire that will make working with the citizens of Erorsi straightforward. We
will
need to discuss how citizens of the Kingdom can own property in the Empire should you lure them in to join you, Mister Bell.”

Bell smiled widely. “That can be worked out. Perhaps some kind of dual citizenship?”

“An addendum to the mutual defense treaty would cover something like that,” Kelsey said. “I hope that means we can take a few of your people with us.”