The Inception: The Augmented Human Rebellion - Book 1 (13 page)

The Frontiers

The fleet of 7 warships heads into the unknown, searching for adventure
and profit. They stop at systems that look habitable and search for
life-forms, and for valuable minerals. They keep records of the
asteroids, which can be mined, and of the planets that could be inhabited.

Some weeks later they happen upon a system with two stars, and observe
that some of the outer planets are shared by the stars. There are no
signs of life on the shared planets, but each star has a planet with life signs
and advanced technologies. The Nemesis is dispatched to one planet, and a
shuttle, from the Liberty, is assigned to scout the other.

The Nemesis arrives first, and is welcomed by space ships and a space
station. This civilization has space ships capable of reaching the
planets in the neighboring star system, but no Faster Than Light (FTL) capabilities.
One of the first questions from the new species is “How can we get the
technology, to go faster than light?”

Sharing that kind of technology with a new species could be very
profitable, but there are also moral obligations attached. For example,
it would not be good to allow the militant Parma civilization to travel outside
of their system. The commander of the Nemesis scouting party replies that
those discussions will need to involve their commander, Admiral Nemo.

The ‘uturn’ people of the planet ‘Sternia’ are welcoming and
friendly. They say that their star – named Zela - is the primary star in
the 2 star systems. The other star is named ‘Freds’ and the species
on Carna - the 3
^rd
planet - call themselves ‘deawing’.

It turns out that the uturn species and the deawing species have a long
history of war and hatred. The fight is always over control, with each
planet trying to conquer the other. The only reason that they haven’t
destroyed each other is that the trip between planets takes over 12
years. By the time the armies, or the missiles, from one planet arrive at
their destination, the other planet has spent 12 years getting ready, and
destroys the attacker.

Admiral Nemo receives the scouting reports, which indicate that both sides
want technology advantages, and are willing to pay for them. The Admiral
speaks with the scouting teams, and both teams report that the planets want the
technology advantages, so that they can conquer or destroy the other planet.

Admiral Nemo orders the scouting teams to return to the Fleet, and sends
a probe to each planet to announce, in their native language, that the fleet
will not do business with either planet. Admiral Nemo tells both
civilizations to ‘grow up’, and that the last thing they need, in this stage of
their growth, is more technology.

***

Civilization

The Fleet moves from system to system, without finding new clients or
opportunities. Finally, there is some hope. The Fleet has entered a
system that has a planet with a space station. As they watch, they
witness a vessel emerging from FTL and heading toward the planet.

Civilization. They have found civilization.

Admiral Nemo dispatches the Nemesis and a scouting crew to make ‘first
contact’, with the space station and the arriving vessel. Lieutenant
Kinsley is the humanoid in charge of the mission, but Danion, the Nemesis’ AI -
will initiate the ‘first encounter protocol’.

Nemesis heads for the space station and matches the velocity of the
incoming vessel - so that they don’t violate any local speed rules. As
Nemesis approaches, Danion is hailing the space station and the incoming
vessel. The incoming vessel answers first: “’Davos 2’, from the
Meed Sector. Greetings. What is your name, and origin?”

Danion doesn’t have a ready answer for the question, but he does his
best. “My name is Danion and the ship’s name is Nemesis. We are
formerly from the Darinx civilization, but we are now independent.”

“I’ve heard of the Darinx war with the Verm. Are you a part of
that?” the shipmaster asks.

“We were a part of it, but we are now independent,” replies Danion.
“Our business – now - is to provide protection services for planets or
organizations, which are under threat of attack. We are moving around
looking for work. Do you know of anyone who might need our services?”

“You must be new in the area, friend. You need to be careful
offering that kind of service, unless you have been authorized to do so,”
replies the shipmaster.

“Who do we need to see, in order to be authorized to do that kind of
work?” asks Danion.

“This part of space is controlled by the Artons Empire. There is a
military station about 7 light-years from here. I’ll send you the
coordinates. Got to go now. Good luck, mate,” the shipmaster
replies, as he signs off.
(He does
send the coordinates.)

Danion then receives a call from the space station: “Kregor Station
here. Who are you?” asks the traffic controller.

“Danion here, aboard the Nemesis. We are in the area looking for
work. Can we have permission to come aboard?” asks Danion.

“You can dock, but you will need to speak with security about entering,
or looking for work. Proceed to dock 55b and follow the flight plan on
comm band 23,” replies the coordinator.

“Will do,” responds Danion. The conversations are being
retransmitted to Admiral Nemo and the Fleet, via a laser comm link.

Admiral Nemo contacts the Nemesis, before she docks at the space station,
and warns Danion to be careful about what he says. It sounds, to the
Admiral, like we may be in another authoritarian empire, which dominates every
facet of life. He instructs Danion not to mention the Fleet, but to
inquire about security work for the Nemesis, and crew. Also, don’t tell
the space station personnel that we deserted. Tell them that we do
freelance work and subcontract our services.

Danion says “Aye sir,” and exits the conversation, just as the Nemesis is
docking.

Lt. Kinsley meets the security personnel at the ship’s forward port, and
introduces himself – with Danion translating: “Lt. Kinsley, commander of
the Nemesis.”

“Station Security Chief Xtarn. Show us your credentials.”

Lt. Kinsley replies: “We are new to this sector, and don’t know
what credentials are required. Can you help us get those credentials?”

“With no credentials, I have no choice but to place you under arrest and
to impound your vessel,” says the Security Officer. “Order your crew to
exit the ship, at once.”

“Yes sir,” replies the Lieutenant. He then steps back, inside the
hatchway, and Danion slams the hatch. At that same instant, the Nemesis
pushes away from the space station dock, and Danion has ‘the petal to the
metal’ - so to speak. He is in full flank speed, and headed away from the
station.

There are weapons firing at them as they go, but nothing that can
penetrate the Nemesis shields. There are some small corvette type
fighters in pursuit, and it looks as if the Nemesis might have to defend
herself, when they catch up.

After some hours of pursuit, the speedy fighters are almost in weapons
range to the Nemesis. If that happens, the Nemesis will have to choose to
return the weapons fire, or surrender.

Admiral Nemo has been following the action, and wants to avoid killing an
Artons Empire official, because if they kill an officer of the Artons Empire,
they will be ‘wanted’ throughout the Empire. He orders Darius, the
Integrity’s AI, to do a short FTL hop, in order to put the Integrity directly
in front of the Nemesis. He says: “Engage, when ready.”

When the Integrity emerges in front of the Nemesis, Danion pilots the
Nemesis thru the open cargo bay door and lands on his parking spot. The
sudden appearance of the large warship convinces the corvette fighters to turn
around and retreat to the Space Station.

The Integrity rejoins the rest of the Fleet, and as soon as the Integrity
FTL drive has cooled off, they do an FTL jump out of the area.

That is one of the problems with ‘finding civilization’. It usually
means that the ‘small’ have sacrificed freedom for ‘safety in numbers’.
Eventually, the sacrifice of freedom results in an autocratic regime with rules
against everything.

Admiral Nemo decides to avoid the Artons Empire, and to take their
chances in the frontier.

***

Organized Crime in the Frontier

In the frontier, there is always a trade-off between independence and
safety, as the ‘small’ struggle to fend off organized crime and predator
species. Whether the problem is crime or predators, the ‘small’ need the
services of a protection service, such as the Augmented Human Navy.

After a few more tries, the AH Navy finds a planet which needs
their services. The planet’s name is ‘Liley’ and the species is called
the ‘dronx’. The dronx are like a cross between humans and lizards. They
are bipedal and bimanual, but they have a lizard-like tail, and the head has a
long, flat snout, which is lizard-like.

There is no questioning their intelligence and sophistication,
though. They are gracious and welcoming hosts with a rich cultural
heritage. They pride themselves on being students of science and
philosophy. The big ‘selling point’, which convinces the dronx to employ
the AH Navy, is the diversity in the AH Navy crews. The dronx believe
that ‘inclusiveness’ is a sign of intelligence, tolerance, and maturity.

It turns out that the major threat the planet Liley faces is the Artons
Empire. Admiral Nemo had purposed to avoid the Artons but decides to take
the contract, anyway.

Opposing the Artons Empire could mean that the AH Navy will be facing an
overwhelming military force. The Admiral has told the dronx leaders that
their situation may become untenable. Resistance may be futile, because
nothing can ‘hold back the tide’. The leaders of the planet Liley have
decided to “give it a try” even though the probability of success is
low.

Admiral Nemo is pleased to learn that there are other planets, within the
sector, which are facing a similar decision.

***

A representative of the Artons Empire arrives at the planet Liley and
docks at the space station. One of the AH Navy light cruisers is docked
at the station, and the other 5 warships are patrolling inside the star
system.

The Liley government officials, who greet the Artons representative,
explain that ‘protection services’ have been contracted from the AH Navy.
“Protection from who?” is the Artons representative’s next question.

“From organized crime,” is the Liley official response.

The Artons Empire agent says: “The Artons Empire will provide those
services for free, when you accept our offer of membership.”

“Your ‘free’ service would cost us our freedom and self-determination,”
is the Liley reply.

With that, the Artons agent turns on her heels, and leaves - in a huff.

“Now we have done it,” remarks a Liley official, to no one in particular.

***

The Artons Empire doesn’t respond directly to the affront, by the Liley
government, but their goons and henchmen do. A plague of pirates and
criminals descends on the star system, arriving in small, fast fighters, and
aboard trade vessels. The government closes the space station, to all but
‘approved’ vessels, and the space patrol is kept busy chasing ‘hit and run’
bandits.

The AH Navy does its part, by deploying the Nemesis, as well as a number
of shuttles. The policing business is brisk, but the government is
winning, and is increasing their police fleet’s size, by confiscating the
captured vessels.

When the small craft, with the small-time criminal, don’t have the
desired effect, the organized crime syndicates are loosed on the Liley
system. Freighters and passenger ships are targeted for pirating, when
they emerge from FTL space.

Typically, a group of pirate vessels will emerge from FTL, right before
the scheduled arrival of the targeted vessel. The goal of the pirates is
to board the vessel, and take control of the Command Deck. Then the ships
all run for deep space, and plan to enter FTL space, as soon as their FTL
drives have cooled.

The weakness in this method is that the ships are trapped in the vicinity
of the system, until those FTL drives all cool. That gives opportunity,
for the AH Navy warships to do a FTL hop, and emerge in the vicinity of the
pirate vessels – not too close, because the warships are vulnerable to weapons
fire, until they are completely emerged.

So far, none of the pirating attempts has worked. All but one of
the pirate vessels has surrendered, after being confronted by AH Navy
vessels. That one pirate vessel, which refused to surrender, was
destroyed.

There have been 10 captured pirate vessels, to date. Those vessels
have been turned over, to the Liley defense forces, and are now policing the
system. That gives the Liley system a defense force of more than 20 ships
– including the AH Navy ships. The AH Navy is training the crews for
those vessels, and is running practice drills, with the entire Liley
Navy. They are preparing for a space battle, against the Artons Navy -
which Admiral Nemo is certain will come.

Indeed, that space battle does come.

***

The Space Battle with the Artons Empire

A fleet of 30 Artons Empire warships emerges from FTL space, in close
proximity to the planet Liley. The commander of the fleet contacts the
Liley Government, and announces that they are here on a ‘good will’
mission. The Liley official has a prepared response for this eventuality:

“The people of Liley wish only peace and good will, with the Artons
Empire. However, the uninvited incursion of Artons warships is an
unacceptable breach of Liley sovereignty. You are hereby ordered to
remove yourselves from the Liley system, immediately. Only invited
vessels are permitted in the Liley solar system.”