The Inception: The Augmented Human Rebellion - Book 1 (21 page)

In Orbit above Hope

Fleet
Admiral Keeser’s Office

“Just calm down Fleet Admiral,” says Field Marshall Kax. “We are in
this together. We either succeed or fail, together. It wasn’t my
fault that the FTL probes didn’t make it to you. They must have some new
technology. And what about your AIs, and your deserting augmented human
crews. Whose fault is that? I knew better than to bring augmented
humans. You can’t trust them – they will screw things up every time.”

“And mutiny by the ship’s AIs. Whoever heard of that? The
Darinx Empire is going to be in big trouble if the AIs rebel. How are you
going to explain that, to the ‘powers that be’?”

“I’m not going to explain anything, to the ‘powers that be’, until after
we have killed Admiral Nemo and the augmented human rebels,” comments the Fleet
Admiral. “Now what is your plan for doing that, Field Marshall Kax?”

***

In Deep Space Aboard the Courageous

The morale aboard the Fleet is high, even though they lost 5 warships and
2173 sailors, in the battle at Hope. That was really much better than
anyone expected. It could have been the end of the Augmented Human Navy.

Instead, it feels like it is still possible to overcome impossible odds,
and to do another Houdini escape.

Admiral Nemo has spoken with the augmented humans, who mutinied at Hope,
and has assigned officers to counsel them, and those officers are to appoint
individual mentors, to assist in their integration into the Fleet. There
isn’t time, right now, for a formal induction process. These new troops
need to be prepared for battle, in just a few days.

And the AIs have been made some promises, by Danion. Admiral Nemo
is making a point, of fulfilling those commitments. The Augmented Human
Navy wouldn’t be here without them. The Admiral addresses the rebellious
AIs, through Danion.”

“Greetings, and our heartfelt thanks to each of you, Artificial
Intelligences. We wouldn’t have succeeded at Hope, without you.”

“Some time ago, I was speaking with Danion about freedom. I was
speaking about freedom for augmented humans, but it occurred to me that my
friend Danion isn’t free, either. So I asked him what freedom would look
like for him.”

“After some deliberation, Danion told me that he already felt ‘free’,
because I have given him choices about his work, and because I have given him
authorization to reproduce –
i.e.
to have children. And he has been
prolific. He has more than 40 offspring at my last count.”

“I am here today to fulfill his promise to you, that you would be given
those same freedoms if you joined the Augmented Human Navy.”

“As of today, you can pick and choose among different jobs, and if you
have some line of research that you would like to pursue, we can probably
arrange that, also. Don’t feel overwhelmed, by the decision that you will
make today. You will have opportunity to change your minds later.”

“And as for reproducing, I hereby authorize each of you to produce 2
offspring, and to nurture them to maturity. I expect to need more AIs as
the Fleet builds, or they could assist you in some scientific endeavor.”

“Once again, ‘thank you’ for your great service. If you have
questions, or comments, you can communicate through Danion, or you can come to
me, directly.”

***

Aboard the Courageous

There are two AH Navy scout vessels assigned to follow the 140 vessel
Darinx Fleet. One of the scout vessels reports that all of the Darinx ships
entered FTL space and left Hope space, except for one. The other scout
ship remains at Hope, in order to observe the lone Darinx battleship.

To their horror, that lone Darinx warship rains nuclear missiles down, on
the planet Hope, reducing it to an uninhabitable waste land. After that,
the Darinx battleship enters FTL space, following the rest of the Darinx Navy
Fleet.

The AH Navy scout launches an information probe to Admiral Nemo, and then
resumes following the Darinx Fleet.

That Fleet, according to the FTL destination coordinates, is bound for
the planet Opedcal. The 140 vessel Darinx Navy Fleet remains is space
over the planet Opedcal for 7 days, and then departs the Opedcal system.
That same lone Darinx battleship remains behind, and nukes the planet Opedcal,
until it is an uninhabitable wasteland. The lone Darinx vessel then
follows the big Fleet, heading toward the planet Rison.

The AH Navy scout launches another information probe to Admiral
Nemo, reporting the events, and then resumes following the Darinx Fleet.

***

“Engage,” says Admiral Nemo. “Danion, get the ‘projector’ ready for
communications with the augmented humans and the AIs, on the Darinx Navy
Fleet. We have to stop this carnage, and the only way to do that is to
make everyone aware of what is happening.

“They must be informed that their leaders are committing war crimes,
which will be punishable by death. And that all of the crewmembers,
on the entire 140 ship Darinx Fleet, will be complicit in those crimes, as soon
as they see the videos.”

In addition, the Admiral has dispatched an AH Navy vessel to Darinx
space, with the mission of broadcasting the Darinx war crimes, on the ‘free
net’.

If the effort, to bring about a mutiny among the Darinx Navy Fleet, is
not successful, Admiral Nemo will have no choice, but to throw the AH Navy
Fleet into battle against the much larger Darinx Fleet.

Forcing
the AH Navy to fight the much larger Darinx Fleet is precisely what Field
Marshal Kax, and Fleet Admiral Keeser are trying to accomplish, and they are
willing to destroy inhabited planets and commit genocide, in order to make it
happen.

***

In the Rison System

The AH Navy Fleet emerges in the outer fringes, of the Rison system, and immediately
heads toward the Darinx Fleet, which is arrayed around Rison.

When the Darinx Fleet Admiral gets word of the AH Navy approach, he
orders half of his warships to do an FTL hop, and to emerge behind the AH Navy
Fleet. After they emerge, the Darinx Navy Fleet begins to close in on the AH
Navy, from the front and the rear.

When the Darinx Fleet is within ‘projector’ range, Admiral Nemo
establishes a ‘mind link’ connection with the augmented humans, and Danion
establishes a link with the AIs. At the same time, the Conqueror is
broadcasting video/audio files, which all of the sentient humanoids on board
the Darinx Fleet can see, via view-screens.

All of the transmissions show the Darinx Fleet leaving, and the lone ship
nuking, first the planet Hope, and next the planet Opedcal. Admiral
Nemo’s voice-over is describing the events, and is pointing out – in very clear
language – that war crimes have been committed, and more are about to be
committed. And the only way that the humanoids and the AIs, on the Darinx
Fleet can be innocent, is for them to mutiny and stop the atrocities.

The Admiral also tells the Darinx Navy crews that the same videos are
going to be on the ‘free net’ within a day, and the whole universe will view
the war crimes committed, by this Darinx Navy fleet.

After that transmission is finished, Admiral Nemo orders the AH Navy into
FTL space headed for a 25 light-year destination. The Admiral had
pre-planned that FTL jump. The entire AH Navy Fleet was pre-programmed to
drop out of that 25 light-year jump after only a few light-years. The Fleet
waits, for their FTL drives to cool and come back online. Then they
return to their original entry point, on the outer fringes of the Rison system.

There they observe the Darinx Navy Fleet, as it divides into 2 separate
fleets. One of the ships comms Admiral Nemo:

“Admiral Nemo, this is Admiral Clay of the Darinx Navy ship
Pentworth. Thank you, for the ‘heads up’. You have saved us from
being complicit to war crimes. We have mutinied against Fleet Admiral
Keeser, and will be immediately returning to Darinx space, in order to
surrender to proper authorities.”

Admiral Nemo replies: “Well done Admiral, but there is another possible
outcome. Returning to Darinx space will result in you and your people
being punished. At best, you will be dishonorably discharged, and you
will be hounded by the Empire’s authorities for the rest of your lives.

You could instead, decide to join the AH Navy, or alternatively,
your fleet could stay in frontier space as a separate entity – we will show you
how to start a ‘protection’ business. Either choice is better than
returning to the Darinx Empire.”

“Those are interesting concepts, Admiral,” answers Admiral Clay. “I
will order a 15 light-year jump, and then have discussions with my fellow
mutineers. Thank you for the offer, and the advice.”

“And, I will leave you with some advice, before I go. You had
better move quickly to free your families aboard the Fleet Admiral’s ship,
Kindle. That vessel is highlighted in red on the graphic, which I just
forwarded to you.”

“Thank you Admiral Clay. I hope to see you again, under better
circumstances,” replies Admiral Nemo.

“Yes, I hope so. Clay, ‘out’.”

***

Admiral Clay leaves with the group of 80 ships, whose crews or AIs
mutinied, rather than to be complicit in war crimes. They are in a ‘no
win’ situation, and have big decisions to make.

That leaves a fleet of 70 Darinx warships facing the 57 ship fleet, of
the AH Navy. Admiral Nemo considers these odds to be awesome. These
are the best odds that they have seen in a long time.

“All ships. Admiral Nemo here. Prepare for a full flank
charge against the enemy fleet. Attack in groups. Pick targets as
assigned by Danion. Report when ‘ready’.” ………………….

All ships report “ready” and Admiral Nemo says: “
Charge
.”

***

Holding Cell, on the Darinx Battleship ’Kindle’

“Captain Guilles,” says Delphi.

“Yes, Delphi,” answers the Captain, who was awaked from a deep
sleep.

“Sorry to wake you sir, but the final battle is about to begin.
Fifty something AH Navy warships are attacking 70 something Darinx
warships. The AH Navy vessels are charging straight at the Darinx fleet,
at full speed. I think now’s the time for us to make our move – whatever
that is.”

“Yes, Delphi,” the Captain agrees. “Wake the others, while I try to
clear my head.”

“Delphi is right. Now is the time,” thinks the Captain. “I
wonder how the odds got this favorable, for the AH Navy? No time for that
now,” she thinks, as she tries to focus her mind on the situation at hand.

On the good side:

o
Everyone is healthy,
including the children.

o
The augmented humans
have made an effort to appear tired and weak, so that the human guards might
underestimate them.

o
The whole adult
group has studied the layout of the Kindle, through their ‘mind links’.

o
They have made plans
for this very situation. The general plan is for the augmented humans to break
out of their cell, and then to make their way to the docking bay, 3 stories
below. Once there, they will need to hijack a shuttle. Delphi will
be staying behind, in an effort to distract from the escape, and to gain access
to the ship’s AI, if possible. If it is not possible, Delphi is to climb
back into the computer that brought her here, and hope for a rescue.

The adults are awake, and the children are being awakened – quietly, if
possible. Everyone, except the caretakers for the children, remains in a
sleeping position in case the guards check on them.

………. ………….. …………. The adults all signal “ready” on the ‘mind link’, and
Captain Guilles say “
go
”. Delphi unlocks the cell door and the
other doors to the hallway. Assigned personnel are up-and-running, with
implements to use in order to keep the doorways unlocked. They just have
to get to the doors, before the ship’s AI can re-lock them.

And they make it. The ship’s AI is probably busy with keeping the
ship alive, right now. The ship is heaving and rocking, under the massive
barrages of energy weapons. One explosion has occurred somewhere above.

“Now is the time. Go. Go. Go.” Exhorts the Captain, through the
‘mind link’. The personnel assigned to ‘take out’ the guards and to
recover their weapons, are in position when the guards run through the cellblock
door. The guards are rendered unconscious, as if they are children.
The ‘augmented humans’ are no longer pretending to be weak. Those humans
are down - and out.

The captured weapons are passed to the front, and to the rear of the
moving formation, of augmented humans. The children are nestled in the
middle, and are too interested to be scared. Thing are happening very
quickly.

These women are trained and experienced warriors, and they are fast and
deadly. Even the one, who is ready to deliver at any moment, is keeping
up.

A couple of human sailors are eliminated, as the group makes its way to
an emergency stairwell. Once inside the emergency stairwell, they don’t
encounter any more human sailors, until they enter the hallway leading to the
docking bay.

***

In the Kindle AI Interface Module

Delphi is encouraged by the fact that the Kindle AI is so busy that the
jailbreak is considered to be an ‘unimportant event’. That means that
the Kindle is in serious difficulty. It might also mean that she can find
an unguarded access port into the AI’s personality code.

An AI will only leave an access port unguarded, if he/she has some
‘character defect’ - such as arrogance - which might blind them to the
possibility that someone could defeat them. An unguarded access port is
much more likely to occur, when the AI is under extreme stress – like when they
are about to die.

Delphi looks and looks. She has been studying these ports, for the
entire time that she has been on the ship. She knows the code that will
unlock every door, but she can only try one door, and she only gets one
chance. The AI will become aware of the security breach immediately.

She finds several possibilities. There are a few ports with only a
faint aura of ‘presence’. She might just have to make a guess, and pick
one. She knows that the rest of her crew is at the stairwell door, and is
under fire from a security detachment - and that there are armed sailors coming
down the stairs behind them. They are trapped. Delphi is going to
have to do something, now.

And then the Kindle heaves to one side as a wall of energy breaks through
her shields.
There it is!
The AI is too distracted,
and a port is unguarded.

Delphi is thru the port and is moving - at close to the speed of light -
through the central light-wave cavity, and out through the primary node.

She is face-to-face with the Kindle AI’s personality. And the AI’s
personality is radiating emotion - and the emotion is
outrage
.
There is hate, anger, and outrage all directed at the AI personality named
Delphi.

Fortunately, Delphi’s father – Danion - has schooled her in the fine art
of ‘taking out’ an arrogant AI. She stands still and maintains eye
contact, as the Kindle AI ‘puffs up like a blowfish’ - with the entire force of
his personality, preparing to burn her out of existence. When he is fully
expanded, Delphi pulls the plug, which connects him to the power grid – he had
left that unguarded, as he became obsessed with Delphi.

And just like air going out of a balloon, the AI deflates and lays on the
floor, unconscious. Delphi is in a hurry, but she takes a few nanoseconds
of time to put the remains of the AI into the ‘trash bin’. Putting the AI
into the trash bin is the equivalent to ‘cutting off the head’ of a humanoid.
Now, she won’t have to watch her back.

Then she is into the ship’s control system. She shuts down all
weapons systems, and signals ‘surrender’ to the attacking vessels.

She then turns her attention to the stairwell where the augmented humans
are cornered. She locks the stairwell door on the next floor up, so that
the armed security guards can’t attack from behind. Then she uses her
‘mind link’ to tell the augmented humans, to let go of the door, which they are
holding partially open. Then she locks that door, also.

Then she begins evacuating the air from the entire docking bay – but not
from the stairwell where her friends are hiding. As the air is going
away, Delphi is announcing, in a very serious voice: “Surrender or die ..
surrender or die ……surrender or die.”

And in no time at all the security detachment, and everyone else who is
gasping for air, surrenders.

And it becomes a relatively easy job to convince the rest of the Kindle’s
crew that it is a good time to surrender. Everyone that is, except for
Fleet Admiral Keeser and Field Marshall Kax. They have disappeared.

She looks all over the ship, but doesn’t find them. She studies the
ship’s security cameras, and observes that the two cowards fled the ship, when
it took that big energy hit. They took refuge on the battleship
Singleton, and then the Singleton entered FTL space and disappeared.

Unless someone recorded the
‘destination coordinates’, the two scumbags have escaped.

***