Atlantis Rising (21 page)

“Carex can do that,” Gilas said.

“No offense, but I want you to do
it. I want a seasoned officer in command of the Titan, in case something
happens,” Jon said. “I don’t want us both in a dangerous situation where we can
possibly both lose our lives. Not that I’m all that great, mind you.”

“Jon, that stunt you pulled with
the Invaru cruisers was amazing. In all my years, I have never seen anything
like it. You have a brilliant mind for combat,” Gilas said. “So ring your own
bell all you want, I don’t mind. Just don’t let it go to your head.”

“Thanks,” Jon said, a smile
forming on his face.

“Fine, now that’s all settled!
Carex will send the request and we will continue to support you however we
can,” Gilas said. He looked over at Carex with a grin on his face.

“Okay. I know when I have been beat,”
Carex said as he threw up his hands in surrender.

“We’ll go get prepared, and meet
you on the
Titan
, shortly,” Gilas said as he stood up.

“All right, I still have some
planning to do, then I’ll see you there,” Jon said as Gilas and Carex exited
the room.

“Miss Hunter,” Gilas said as he
stepped through the door.

Jon’s eyes lit up as his sister
stepped into the room. More than life itself, he loved his sister.

“Captain Gilas,” Terri said.

“How many times must I tell you,
Gilas is fine?” Gilas said.

“And how many times must I tell
you, Terri is fine?” Terri said. A grin crossed her face as she winked at him.

“Okay, okay. It’s nice to see
you, Terri. I’ll see you later. Do a favor for me and take care of your
brother, he is a very special man,” Gilas said.

“Oh, I know he is very special,”
Terri said as she looked at Jon. Her face brightened as she smiled at him.

“Until later,” Gilas said as he
passed through the door.

“So, Sis … what’s up?” Jon asked.

He set his paperwork to the side
as his sister came over and sat down on the edge of his desk.

“I wanted to see how you’re
doing, and ask a favor,” Terri said.

The door to his room opened and
then closed for no apparent reason.

“I’m doing fine, thank you. I see
you’re wearing you’re fighter wings,” Jon said.

The hologram for her rank had
changed to Captain and now had a rotating fighter plane behind it as well as
the still ever present pulse denoting her special abilities.

“Oh!” Terri said as she jumped
up. “I forgot all about that. I just got them. I passed with flying colors.
Ghost has promoted me to CAG (Commander of Air Group) of Ghost Station, and
Atlantis has done the same for the ship,” she said, reaching down to squeeze
Jon in a hug.

Jon patted her on the back,
“Congrats! But, I want you mainly assigned to the
Atlantis
. I want the
best CAG around, on my ship. Find someone else for the station and train him or
her for the position. Once they’re ready, I’ll have Ghost make the adjustments.
You said you had a favor to ask me?”

Again, the door to his room opened
and closed for no reason. Jon looked at it as it slid shut.

“What the hell is up with that
door?” Jon asked.

Terri ignored the question and
settled in Jon’s lap as she spoke, “Yes, I do.”

“Well, shoot,” Jon said.

“You know who Oojoung is?” Terri
said.

“Yeah, the ‘Teddy Bear’, as I
seem to recall you like to call him. What about him?” Jon asked.

“Well, he’s training me in hand
to hand and weapons combat. I want him free to roam the station. I think he has
paid his penance, and besides that, he is constantly shadowing me around
anyway,” Terri said. “The guards at his door have no idea, but he is never
there.”

“I know he roams,” Jon said.
“Gilas warned me he wouldn’t stay put. However, I’m not wild about the idea of
him training you. I think you should have one of the marines train you instead.
I’m also not prepared to lift his restrictions, even though he doesn’t follow
them. I allow it, because he hasn’t done anything wrong, yet.”

“But, Johnny,” Terri said in a
sad voice.

“Oh, come on! Don’t start with that
‘it’s not fair’ bull,” Jon said.

“I want him to train me and I’ll
take responsibility for him,” Terri said as she pouted.

Jon moaned as he looked at his
sister’s face, “Come on, don’t pout.”

Terri fluttered her eyes.

“He’s not a toy, Terri,” Jon
said.

“YES!” Terri jumped up and gave
her brother another hug and a peck on the cheek.

“He’s very dangerous. If you have
any problems, you’re to contact Marc immediately. Do you understand?” Jon said.

“Yes, thank you,” Terri bubbled.

“Yeah, right. You had this planned.
You know me too well. Women will be the death of me,” Jon said. His door slid
open again and he looked up only this time he said, “Come in Oojoung, no sense
standing in the hall waiting.”

Oojoung’s head appeared around
the door, as he spoke, “Commander Jon no mad at Oojoung?”

“No, Oojoung, I’m not mad at
you,” Jon said.

Oojoung stepped through the door
into the office.

“However, I will tell you this.
If anything, and I mean anything, happens to my sister; I will hold you
personally responsible. Do you understand me?” Jon said.

Oojoung gasped, “Nothing happen
to Terri hoomen! Oojoung will protect her with his life.”

“Pullllease,” Terri said.

“I’m serious,” Jon said. “I’ll
contact Marc, have Oojoung released, and return his items shortly. I’ll leave it
to you to find him suitable quarters.”

“I already have,” Terri said as
she stood up and started for the door.

“Where?” Jon asked.

“Go, Oojoung. Let’s get you
settled into your new room, while my brother makes the arrangements. I told you
I could do it,” Terri said.

Jon rolled his eyes, “Terri,
where are his new quarters?”

Just as Terri walked out the
door, she poked her head back around the door.

“His room is right across the
hall from ours. Talk to you later, Bro,” Terri said.

She waved with a large smile on
her face. Then she was gone.

“Terri!” Jon shouted. “Terri you
get your ass back in here!”

When she didn’t return Jon
muttered, “Son of a bitch, I take it back. That
woman
will be the death
of me!”

It took Jon all of three minutes
to get Oojoung’s situation straightened out. Jon found out Marc was just about
to release Oojoung, anyway. It seemed that Oojoung’s training sessions had been
pulling in marines from Gilas’ crew, too. On top of that, since his release,
Oojoung had done nothing wrong. He had only helped. Jon relaxed a bit, thankful
to know that Oojoung might really be on their side, now.

Jon picked his reports back up,
and continued reading through them as he shook his head.

Brad and Mike stood at a console
on the
Titan
, surrounded by engineers and technicians. Jon watched them
as they prepared for the awakening of the AI. Gilas was standing next to Jon,
and looked a bit nervous. Carex was next to him and showed no outward signs of
any emotion. Terri was standing off to the side, with Oojoung, horsing around.
Bill and Andie were laughing at the two’s antics. Marc was making a last check
of the marines as they waited.

“Everyone needs to be very quiet
and not say anything during the awakening phase,” Brad said as he turned to
look at the small group. “I’ll let you know when it is alright to speak.”

This quieted Terri and Oojoung,
and they started watching what was going on.

“Atlantis, Ghost if you would be
so kind,” Mike said.

Atlantis appeared next to Jon as
Ghost appeared on his other side.

Everyone gasped at seeing Ghost
for the first time. She stood about Atlantis’ height and had a pale skin,
almost transparent. Her eyes were a startling emerald green and her hair was a
light shade of red. She was almost a strawberry blonde. She wore a long flowing
white dress. Her lips were shaded a deep red and she had just a touch of green
eye shadow.

“Wow,” was all Jon said.

“Everyone, I would like to
introduce you to Ghost,” Mike said. “I finished her program this morning.”

Everyone smiled as Ghost blushed
and spoke, “I’m glad to finally meet you in person.”

“Nice job on her,” Marc said.

“Thanks,” Mike said.

“Wow! Oojoung thinks Ghost very
pretty,” Oojoung said.

“Yeah, Mike, she’s beautiful,”
Jon said.

“Thanks, it was nothing,” Mike
said.

“Yeah, well that’s what happens
when you let a virgin build the girl of his dreams,” Terri said.

Gilas coughed as he tried not to
laugh.

Mike’s face turned beet red,
“Yeah, well …”

“What’s that?” Terri said.

“Nothing,” Mike said, as he was
so flustered he couldn’t think straight.

“Yup, just like your, brother,”
Terri smirked.

Brad started to say something, as
his mouth opened, but a look from Terri made him close it again.

Everyone busted up laughing.

“Terri never gives them a
chance,” Jon said to Gilas.

“I see that. Your sister is
something else,” Gilas said.

“Yes, we just haven’t figured out
just what that something is, yet,” Jon said.

Gilas and Carex chuckled.

“I heard you, bro. Keep it up,
and you’re next,” Terri said.

“Oh, no! I’m next! I’m so
scared,” Jon said as he shivered a bit in fake fear.

“Smart ass,” Terri said.

“All right let’s stop the chit
chat,” Brad said. He turned to the console in front of him and started typing.

“Sub routines online,” Brad said.

“Brad is speaking, Oojoung
thought …” Oojoung started to say.

Brad glared over his shoulder at
the Buranis.

“Oojoung, hush! He’s allowed to
speak,” Terri said, slapping him on the back of the head. “Dork.”

Once Brad saw everyone settled
down, he continued. “Bringing memory online and downloading data,” Brad said.

“Sub routines are green across
the board. Primary and secondary memory is also green and functioning,” Mike
said.

“Holographic program is booting
up,” another tech said.

“Everything is green. Shutting
down access to all primary systems,” Mike said. Mike tapped a few keys as he
spoke.

‘Primary systems restricted,
secondary systems on stand-by,’ a metallic voice said.

“Waking AI,” Mike said.

The air between the techs and the
assembled people shimmered briefly as the hologram came together. Curled in a
fetal position floating three foot off the floor was a beautiful woman. Several
people gasped as she uncurled and her feet touched the floor.

She stood as tall as Atlantis.
Her skin was the color of bronze and shimmered in the light as she moved. Her
hair was the color of gold. It reached her waist in a tight braid that had
threads of silver running through it. She wore the duty dress of the crew, only
it was a deep blue instead of a drab gray. She slowly opened her copper eyes
and stood stock-still.

“Control number,” Brad said as he
stepped into her view.

“Nine-One-Baker,” her musical
voice said.

“State your primary function,”
Brad said.

“Primary AI, assigned to the
Starship
Titan
,” she said.

“State your duties,” Brad said.

“Duties are as follows:

1. Protection of my crew.

2. Control of all maintenance
units.

3. Monitoring of all crew nanite
functions.

4. Monitoring ship’s functions,
at all times. Combat duties include adjusting power resources for maximum
effect.

5. No commands may override duty
number one, unless given a direct order by a superior officer.”

“List commanding officers,” Brad
said.

“None,” she said.

“Ghost, if you would be so kind,”
Brad said.

“Yes, Sir,” Ghost said.

“Reconfiguring
Titan
command structure and access command codes, now,” Ghost said, and closed her
eyes for a second. “Commander Gilas and Lieutenant Carex installed as the
Titan’s
captain and second in command, respectively.”

Ghost opened her eyes, and nodded
at Brad.

“Restate commanding officers,”
Brad said.

“Captain Gilas and Lieutenant
Carex,” she said.

“State you designation,” Brad
said.

“I am known as Tatiana,” she
said.