The Inception: The Augmented Human Rebellion - Book 1 (4 page)

“In this situation, I believe the third moon will offer the best hiding
option, for the short run. We will have enough supplies for about 1
month. After that time, we will need to return to this planet to
resupply.”

“Get ready. I will order the Company to begin withdrawal
immediately. We will get the personnel ready, and then grab as many of
the heavy weapons as possible, before the soldier ants realize that we are
vulnerable. Collect as much information as possible, about the Colonel’s
plan.”

“Yes sir,” responds the AI, as the Captain is switching comm links.

The Captain addresses all of his Senior Officers, and informs them of the
situation. He orders them to immediately begin shrinking the perimeter.
They are to withdraw all of the troops, and as many heavy weapons as
possible. He tells them to move ‘with all deliberate speed’, and to
inform the troops that we are withdrawing from the planet.

After signing OFF of that comm link, he contacts Lt. Whu and instructs
him to tell the extrucian civilians, who have requested ‘political asylum’,
that we are leaving the planet but not the star system. Inform them that
our position will be precarious and the mission dangerous, but that we are
willing to allow them to travel with us, if they wish. And, tell them that
they must decide immediately.

Then the Captain gets busy orchestrating the withdrawal and encouraging
his troops. He also, continues his attempts to communicate with the
Colonel or the ship, in orbit. The only communications with the ship
continues to be clandestine conversation, among the AIs.

Finally, as the ship is leaving orbit, Colonel Kax sends him a text
message telling him that the ship is withdrawing, because of an imminent
threat, and that Company K is ‘on its own’.

***

The Third Moon

The extrucian civilians from the cave decide to accompany the Nemesis,
even after they are told that the Darinx ‘mother ship’ has abandoned Company
K. When he hears of the extrucians’ decision, Captain Nemo thinks: “They
must be really desperate.”

It’s a tight fit for Company K to accommodate the 23 natives, but the
troops’ attitudes remain good, even after Captain Nemo informs them that they
have been abandoned. His troops are confident that the Captain will get
them through - somehow – he always has.

The Nemesis is nestled down in a crater on the third moon, hiding under
an overhang with all systems powered OFF, except for life support and passive
sensors. There is a good chance that the Verm warships are unaware, of
their presence. The Verm and the officials on Parin probably assume that
Company K had rejoined the ‘mother ship’, before it left the system. Why
would they think, otherwise?

Captain Nemo has the time to open a dialog with the extrucian
civilians. It turns out that they are indeed desperate - there is a
bounty on their heads. When the Verm took control of the planet, they
ordered that all civilian and military leaders be killed. This group is
the only surviving leadership from the pre-Verm era.

***

Captain Nemo is contemplating Company K’s situation and can’t think of a
way to get the Nemesis back to Darinx Empire space. The Nemesis doesn’t
have a ‘Faster Than Light’ (FTL) drive, and the Verm previously destroyed the
entire extrucian space fleet. The Nemesis doesn’t even have an FTL
probe. The only available FTL ships are the Verm warships.

More and more, the Captain thinks about the Verm ships. From
previous encounters, the Captain has observed that Verm Navy leaders tend to be
proud and arrogant, holding contempt for anyone who isn’t of the verm
species. They just might be overconfident and relax their defenses.

The Verm ships are visible from the third moon, for about half of the
planet’s cycle. The Captain can’t see the Verm ships from inside the
Nemesis, but he has cameras set up on the moon’s surface, so that he can
observe their behavior. The extrucian civilians tell the Captain that the
small vessels, which are coming and going between the warships and the planet,
are transporting young extrucians – for military service - and materials, which
the Verm require as ‘tribute’.

The Verm don’t appear to be aware of the presence of the Nemesis, and
therefore, would not be expecting an attack from anyone. If Company K was
aboard two of those shuttles, they would be delivered to the cargo bays of the
warships. If the two vessels arrived at the same moment, it would put 50
heavily armed augmented humans, wearing combat armor, inside each Verm
warship. The Verm are so arrogant that they probably wouldn’t be prepared
for such an assault.

He opens a conversation with Bartat, the leader of the extrucian
civilians.

“Who are the pilots of these shuttle
craft?” the Captain asks.

“Extrucians,” answers Bartat. “They were
starship pilots, before the arrival of the Verm.”

“Who controls the flight of the
shuttles?”

“Extrucians,” answers Bartat. “The
Central Command is in the Impuy Colony. They tell shuttles when and where
to go.”

Are all of the shuttles launched from
one place,” asks the Captain.

“No. The shuttles come from many
different sites,” answers Bartat.

At that point, the Captain knows that the mission is possible. It
will just be a matter of careful planning, perfect execution, and divine grace.

Captain Nemo opens a comm link to his Senior Officers.
“Immediately begin to familiarize yourselves and your personnel, with the
interior layout of Vern light cruisers. Danion, do you have that
information?”

“Yes,” says Danion. “I downloaded all of that information when we found
out that the Verm were coming. I even know how to fly them.”

“Great work, Danion. Please facilitate the flow of that information
to the Senior Officers and the soldiers. I will ask you for personal
tutoring when I have time. Nemo, out.”

***

Captain Nemo discusses his plans with Bartat and a group of leaders,
selected by Bartat. “The desired outcome of this mission is that my
soldiers will board and take captive, both of the Verm warships. In order
for that to happen, two shuttles must arrive at the Verm ships at the same
instant. Inside each of those shuttles will be a contingent of 50 armored
soldiers, who will, upon arrival, storm the Operations Centers of the
warships. After the Command and Control, the Engineering, and the
Communications sections have been secured, the ships will be under our
control. Then we can capture or kill the remainder of the crew, as
necessary.”

“So, tell me. Can you get me those two shuttles, and can you cause
them to arrive at the Verm ships, at the same time?”

“What will happen to Parin, when the Verm find out about the attack?” the
oldest extrucian asks.

Captain Nemo replies: “I expect to have this ship, piloted by our
Artificial Intelligence, out here in space at the time of the attack. It
would be Standard Operating Procedure for a ship that is under attack, to
launch FTL information probes to Verm headquarters. Danion, the AI, will
attempt to shoot those probes down, before they can go to FTL space. The
probability of success is ‘good’ for that kind of missile intercept.”

“Regardless of whether the effort to shoot down the probes is successful,
or not, I would expect to launch FTL probes to Darinx headquarters, as soon as
the Verm vessels are secured. Those probes will inform the Darinx Navy
that they are needed in this system, and that the citizens of Parin would like
to reconsider the Darinx offer, of an alliance in exchange for protection. Until the Darinx Navy arrives, we will be
here, and in control of those two light cruisers.”

“It is a big risk,” comments Bartat. “We will need to discuss the
wisdom of taking that risk. How do we know that the Darinx Navy and
Government will offer their protection?”

The Captain replies: “I can’t make any promises about what the Darinx
government will do. But they were willing to make the offer, previously.”

“Yes they were,” says Bartat. “Let me meet with the others and have
a discussion.”

***

While the extrucians are conferring, Captain Nemo meets with Danion
and familiarizes himself with the layout of the two Verm light cruisers. Company
K is going to have to capture those warships, with or without extrucian help.

And while he is listening to Danion another part of his mind is dividing
the company, into two units. He is wrestling with the decision about who
to make commander, for the second unit. Lieutenant Guilles would be the
best commander, but Captain Nemo wants to keep her with him, so that he can
keep her safe. After the mental wrestling match goes on for a while, he
reaches the only conclusion that he can logically reach. He needs to make
the best decision for the success of Company K - that means putting Lieutenant
Guilles in charge of the 2
^nd
group – even though it puts his
emotional well-being at risk.

***

After some hours of deliberation, the extrucians agree to help with the
mission. They have even figured out the logistics, of how to get the
soldiers aboard two shuttles, and how to get them launched, so that they will
arrive at the two warships, at the same time.

The plan hinges on getting some help from a sympathizer who had
previously helped the refugees escape death. They are fairly certain that
she could arrange to be the Shuttle Launch Coordinator, and could arrange for
the two shuttles to launch at the proper times.

They also know which 2 shuttles will be the easiest to hijack.
There is a uranium mine, in the mountains of the southern continent. It’s
isolated and out of sight, of the Verm warships. It shouldn’t be
difficult to take control of that facility, for a couple of days.

The next three days are spent planning, and making contingency plans.

***

The Hijack

Finally, everything and everyone are prepared. They launch when the
moon is on the opposite side of the planet, from the Verm warships.
Danion, the AI, ‘kicks off’ of the third moon by releasing one energy blast of
compressed air. Danion uses the compressed gas to launch the
Nemesis, because the Verm would be able to detect an engine or a pulse of
energy. That ‘kick’ of compressed gas will be the only propulsion energy
from the Nemesis, until the craft is a few klicks above the planet’s
surface.

The ship is coasting in a long, slow arc, which will keep it out of the
sightline of the Verm ships. The Nemesis is ‘running silent’, which means
that all systems are turned OFF – including the life support system.
Everyone is ‘suited up’ in combat armor, which has its own life support system
- everyone that is, except the extrucian civilians. They are inside the
landing pod, with enough air and heat to survive the journey. There is
just enough energy being expended to keep Danion, the ship’s AI, awake.
The ship will register, on the planet’s air defense system, as a satellite or
asteroid, and shouldn’t register on the Verm defensive systems at all, because
it is hidden by the planet.

‘Step 1’ in the plan is to secretly land at the uranium mine on the
southern continent, and to quietly take control of the mine and
spaceport. The most essential requirement of Step 1 is to cut off all
communications from the mining facility, before any alarm can be raised.
The plan for accomplishing that goal is to use the extrucian civilians as a
decoy, until the communication center is secured.

***

The Nemesis comes alive again, when the ship reaches an altitude of 2
klicks above the planet. The ship glides to a quiet landing, at night,
about three klicks from the guarded mine facility.

***

Second Squad has entered, clandestinely, through the perimeter fence at
the rear of the compound. At the same time, a group of 6 extrucian
civilians is making its way to the roadway, which services the facility.

After Second Squad is inside the compound, they signal ‘ready’ and the
native civilians approach the front of the compound. They are in plain
sight of the guards, and one of them is being carried on a stretcher.
They look like extrucians who need help.

While the compound security detail is focused on the native ‘decoy
group’, Second Squad enters the communications center and takes control, by
overpowering the Comm Center workers. Third and Fourth Squads are, by
then, inside the perimeter, and secure the premises and personnel - except for
the front-entrance security detail. By the time that security detail
becomes aware of their predicament, they are surrounded and outnumbered.

Bartat, the extrucian civilian leader identifies himself to the security
guards, and to the surprise of the Company K forces, the guards kneel before
him. They surrender their weapons, and submit to the authority of the
extrucian. Later, Bartat explains that he was the ‘king’ of the largest
collection of colonies on Parin, and that he still has a loyal following.
“That should certainly make the transition easier, after the Verm warships are
captured,” thinks Captain Nemo.

***

Step 2 in the hijack plan is for Bartat to communicate with his
sympathizer, and find out if she is willing and able to arrange for two shuttle
launches, which can arrive at the Verm warships at the same time.

It turns out that the sympathizer will be able to arrange the shuttle
launches. It will have to happen within the next 3 days, because the
transfer of children and tribute will be completed by then.

The Company K force is divided into two groups, with Captain Nemo in
command of ‘group 1’ and Lieutenant Guilles in command of ‘group 2’. They
prepare the two mining shuttles for launch, and practice the boarding scenario.

The extrucian work force at the mining complex is very
cooperative. In addition to the joy of having their king back, they also
are in awe of the augmented human fighting force. Apparently, the news
from the cave battles has made the AH force seem invincible. The
extrucians are hopeful that the Verm can be overthrown, because of such a
fortuitous alliance.

The sympathizer reports that she is ready and is scheduled to run Launch
Command, tonight. The launches of the two shuttles will take place during
that time period. She will wait until both Verm ships are empty of
shuttle craft, and will then signal launch commands to the mining company
launches. The two shuttle launches will be separated by 12 minutes, so
that the shuttles will touch down on the Verm warships, at the same
instant. These shuttles are to be piloted by the extrucian pilots who
would normally fly them - they have become willing co-conspirators in this venture.

Danion takes the Nemesis back into space, where he ‘runs silent’ and
coasts into position, behind the second moon. When the shuttles launch
from the planet’s southern continent, the Nemesis will begin to drift
into position, above the Verm warships. When the warships realize that
they are under attack, they will launch Faster Than Light (FTL) information
probes to Verm headquarters. Danion’s job is to destroy those probes before
they can enter FTL space.

***

Captain Nemo eats dinner with Lieutenant Guilles - there is not
much talk. After the dinner, they kiss and hold each other tight, just in
case this is the last time they are together. They part with a chorused
“I Love You” and board their separate shuttles.

The launches are routine, with no problems or delays. Company K is
outward bound for the Verm warships, and is headed toward a new kind of battle
experience.