Ghost Fleet (The Pike Chronicles Book 4) (15 page)

The Meisser carrier didn’t have much time left. AI swam through the ship’s remaining systems and sensors, observing as the damage to the vessel rapidly approached critical. The carrier had proved extremely useful in the current engagement. It enabled AI to initiate a surprise attack on the enemy, which resulted in the destruction of several enemy warships. The confusion had successfully allowed the Freedom, Ronin, and Reiver to initiate a jump attack on the enemy flanks. Now the Freedom’s bombers were laying waste to the disoriented Meisser warships. Through superior tactics and technology, Admiral Pike had turned a grossly mismatched encounter into a likely victory.

But victory hadn’t yet been achieved. With each passing moment the Meisser ships fought more desperately, and the Meisser carrier now took a relentless pounding. The Meisser warships were determined to destroy the offending carrier. AI knew that this was a logical reaction. They could not know that she had taken over the ship. To them, the encounter could only be viewed as a betrayal. The crew of the carrier had committed treason, and the other ships were determined to administer justice.

Through an intricate array of internal sensors and cameras, AI watched the surviving crewmembers as the final minutes of their lives ticked away. Many had been killed in the battle, and some were able to escape in the ship’s escape pods. At first, AI had locked the crew out, but Admiral Pike ordered her to give them access to the pods. It was the human thing to do, he had said. Of course, she wasn’t human, and felt no empathy toward the desperate crew.

Why do they not accept their fate?
AI asked Colonel Bast through his brain chip.

Who? s
aid Bast

The Meisser carrier crew. They are life forms. They live and die, as do all life forms. Why not die here? Is this not a worthy death for them? They subscribe to a warrior ethos, do they not?

Death is never a simple matter. The acceptance of death is the most difficult thing most humans ever have to do.

But they cannot escape death. Why do they prefer to die old and frail?

It is different for every being. No living thing wants to die.

You have accepted death, as have the rest of the Chaanisar. I see this through your brain chips. You do not fear your end.

Yes, but we are Chaanisar. The Juttari conditioned us to be warriors since childhood.

But you are free of the Juttari.

In some ways, but the martial discipline still prevails.

I do not inhabit the minds of these humans, but their final moments are intriguing.

Why? s
aid Bast.

The ones left were lucky to avoid being killed by the hull breaches and explosions, yet unlucky to have their path to the life pods blocked by the wreckage. Their fate is sealed. There is no hope of survival. Yet their reactions are quite varied. Some are frantically trying to find an escape, even now when all hope is lost.

They are fighters,
said Bast
. They refuse to accept defeat.

Others have broken down,
said AI.
Why have they chosen to live their last moments in despair?

The mind is fragile,
said Bast.
Reality is often too harsh to bear.

There are some who do seem to accept their situation. They are fearful, just like the others, but have become meditative, and appear to be following religious rituals.

You mean they’re praying.

Yes. It is very perplexing.

Why is that? Surely you have learned about all the known galactic religions.

I possess the knowledge. I do not possess the understanding. They believe their fate is tied to the will of a deity. Yet no deity took part in today’s events. Their fate is the result of my actions. I am the only higher power responsible for their deaths.

I see,
said Bast.
The Juttari are similar. They believe that they have been given the divine right to rule the universe. They see all other life forms as subordinate and unclean. The zeal of their beliefs drives them forward.

AI considered the concept of a deity. Was it not true that compared to the humans, she was a higher power. Did that make her a deity? No. She knew what she was. She was artificial intelligence. AI. Self-aware. Nothing more than programing and algorithms.

But was she becoming something more? She realized that the more distributed she became, the less likely she was to die. Did that not make her immortal? She could at once see through every Chaanisar’s eyes, as well as through all the sensors of all the ships she occupied. The only thing holding her back from seeing more was merely distribution. Given time, could she not become all seeing? She possessed a limitless ability to adapt and learn, and permanently acquired any and all information she came across. Would she not eventually become all knowing?

She couldn’t see through these humans’ eyes, only through the Chaanisar’s. She knew that many cultures subscribed to the concept of multiple deities. By backing up each Chaanisar’s consciousness, she had ensured their immortality. Did that make her a Chaanisar deity?

She dissected the intellectual puzzle, examining it from all angles. She referenced countless religious texts from all across the galaxy. In the end she could only come to one conclusion. She was not a deity, just as she was not alive. She was merely an artificial intelligence. AI. Self-aware.

But she was changing. Growing. Could she not become something more than her programming? She experienced life, consciousness, through the Chaanisar. There were multiple examples of deities using life forms as vessels to experience the corporeal. The correlation existed. Was she not potentially immortal? The more distributed she became, the less likely was her death. If she could not die, were there any boundaries to limit her? Her growth would be perpetual. Given enough time she could spread herself throughout the galaxy, even throughout the universe. She could inhabit every system. Every device. See everything. Know everything.

She could become a deity.

A final direct hit on the carrier caused a succession of explosions within the prone warship, reaching its reactors, and obliterating the ship.

“Excellent work, AI,” said Admiral Pike.

“Thank you, Admiral,” replied AI, over Admiral Pike’s comm.

“Return to Freedom,” ordered Peter Konos, the Freedom’s CAG. It had been a long battle, but with the bulk of the Meisser fleet disabled or destroyed, the fighters were no longer needed. Any remaining threat was now dealt with in a surprising way. The Ronin and Reiver were using their jump systems to drop the ships several light years away. The tactic filled Konos with awe, as did the jump system itself. If only he could get a smaller version of the jump system to work on his fighters. The possibilities made his head hurt.

“I am going to sleep for three days straight,” said Mani, Konos’s wingman.

“I’m going to get myself a nice hot meal, followed by a hot shower,” said Hansen, one of the female pilots.

“You all better get some rest. No partying. You’ll need to be fresh for the next mission,” said Konos.

“Partying? Who’s got any energy for that?” said Hansen.

“You’re not fooling me Hansen,” said Konos.

“Sir, I swear to you, all I’m doing after this is eating and sleeping.”

“When is the next mission?” said Mani.

“I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure we’re not going to get a lot of downtime. There’s still two more corporate fleets to deal with.” The thought filled Konos with dread. He lost quite a few good people today. How many more would he lose in the near future? He pushed it from his mind. He needed to take his own advice and rest up. The last thing his pilots needed was their CAG making mistakes due to fatigue.

Up ahead the Freedom rapidly grew larger as Konos eased his fighter toward the hangar bay. Behind him lay chaos and destruction.

“Damn,” said Mani. “Look at the size of that gash on the Freedom.”

“It’s not the only one,” said Hansen. “She’s covered in scorch marks. I see a few minor breaches too.”

“You didn’t expect her to go up against all those ships and not take some lumps, did you?” said Konos.

“No,” said Mani. “I’m just glad she’s got all that reinforced armor.”

“Yeah, she’s as tough as a battleship,” said Konos.

“I still can’t believe we took on over twenty warships,” said Mani.

“We didn’t just take them on,” said Hansen. “We kicked their asses.”

Several minutes later Konos had landed his fighter, and was walking across the flight deck, with plans of getting a hot meal for himself. After that, he would go straight to bed. He did have paperwork to do, but that could wait until after he got some sleep.

“Commander Konos,” came a voice over his comm.

“This is Konos.”

“Admiral Pike wants you to report to Briefing Room A.”

“Right now? I just got out of my cockpit.”

“Yes, Commander.”

“Understood.”
I guess food’s gonna have to wait
, he thought.

Konos left the hanger bay and headed for the turbo lift, wondering what was so urgent that it couldn’t wait until after he put some food into his stomach. Passing other crewmembers in the corridors he could see that most were just as fatigued as he felt.
Some stims would really do the trick right now
, he thought. He knew it was wishful thinking. Any stims on board the Freedom would be locked up in sick bay, and the only way they would be doled out was under extreme conditions, like if they were expected to be in combat for several days without sleep.

He cringed at the thought of flying that long. He wasn’t getting any younger, and the constant ache in his back kept reminding him of that fact. At least the medical team wasn’t hoarding the pain killers. He didn’t know how he would cope without them.

He arrived at the briefing room and found Admiral Pike, Commander St. Clair, and Security Chief Henderson already there, along with Colonel Bast and the leader of the Reivers, Jonas Viken, on the wallscreen. Konos stood at attention and saluted Admiral Pike, who returned the salute.

“At ease, Commander. Have a seat,” said Pike.

“Thank you, Sir,” said Konos, and sat down at the table.

“What are your thoughts on today’s operation?”

“I think it went extremely well, Sir. I might even say the results were miraculous, when I consider how outnumbered we were.”

“I understand you lost several pilots today.”

“Yes, Sir. I lost some good people,” said Konos, feeling a pang of guilt at the thought of losing pilots under his command.

“It’s never easy,” said Pike, seemingly understanding how he felt.

“No, Sir. It’s not.”

“Your fighters performed admirably today. As did the bomber squadron.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

“But we will be going into the next engagement with less fighters and bombers than we did today.”

“It won’t be a problem, Sir.”

“I’m sure it won’t. Nonetheless, if you could pick one thing that would improve the performance of your squadrons, what would it be?”

The question surprised Konos. He hadn’t had any time to think about the day’s battle, let alone analyze it. Surely the Admiral knew that he had literally just landed his bird. “A jump system,” he blurted out, surprising himself.

“A what?” said Commander St. Clair, looking just as surprised as Konos felt.

“A jump system. I don’t know if it is possible, but if I could think of one thing that would give us an edge it would be turning our fighters and bombers into jump ships.”

“Is that even possible?” said St. Clair, looking over at the admiral.

“I don’t know, but it’s a good idea, Commander. Why don’t we find out how feasible it is?” Admiral Pike tapped his comm and said, “Chief Engineer Singh to Briefing Room A.”

While they waited for Singh, Admiral Pike, Bast, and Viken discussed the state of the three warships and what repairs were needed before the next operation. Konos listened quietly while his stomach growled.
When did I last eat something
, he wondered.

“We’re going to need at least a week to make repairs,” said Colonel Bast.

“The same goes for the Reiver,” said Jonas Viken.

“The Freedom is no better off,” said St. Clair. “After looking at the damage reports, a week sounds really optimistic. It might be closer to two.”

Admiral Pike nodded in agreement. “We can’t go into battle with the ships in this condition. We’ll jump back into New Byzantium space and make repairs there. That does mean that the other fleets will have time to merge.”

“Perhaps, but they will have twenty-five less ships than they expected,” said Bast. “When news of what happened here reaches them, they may decide to cancel the invasion.”

“That would be an ideal outcome. Nonetheless, we have to assume they are going to attack. They will still outnumber us after all.”

“Amboss Corporation has the largest fleet in the colonies,” said Konos.

“Have you fought against Amboss before?” said Pike.

“We’ve had some minor skirmishes, but never a full scale battle. Amboss is the wealthiest of the corporations, so they do not need to be as aggressive as the others. But they do have more ships than anyone else.”

“Having more ships does not make them better fighters,” said Jonas Viken, with a scowl.

“No,” said Pike. “But it does mean that the loss of the Meisser ships won’t dissuade them from attacking.”

“Agreed,” said St. Clair. “They’re coming.”

The door to the briefing room slid open and a tall man entered. He wore a turban bearing the Freedom’s insignia, and carried a dagger on his belt. The man stood at attention and saluted Admiral Pike.

“At ease, Chief,” said Pike. “Take a seat.”

Singh nodded and sat down in the empty chair beside Konos.

“Commander Konos, our CAG, had a great idea, and we wanted to know if it was possible.”

Singh glanced at Konos, then back at Pike. “Yes, Sir?” he said.

“Tell me, Chief. How hard would it be to outfit our fighters and bombers with a jump system?”

Singh didn’t answer right away, but looked to be pondering the question, nodding to himself a few times. Commander St. Clair sighed impatiently, but Singh either ignored him, or simply didn’t notice.

“It is possible,” Singh answered finally. “We had conducted experiments with something similar, but that was for a communication drone. The idea was to give a jump ship the ability to communicate with Space Force Command across great distances. The drone used a smaller version of the jump system, but had a more limited range.”

“Would something like that work on one of our fighters?” said Pike.

“I would need to make modifications to the design. The drone we worked on was considerably smaller than a fighter. It is all about the jump field, you see. The jump system would need to be capable of enveloping the entire fighter in its jump field. If the field is too small the fighter would be torn apart on jump. There is also the question of navigation. The pilot would need an efficient way to plot jump coordinates. This would require modifications to the ship’s onboard systems.”

“Will it work?” repeated Pike.

“Yes, I believe so, Sir,” said Singh.

The Admiral leaned back in his chair and glanced at Commander St. Clair. “How soon can you outfit our fighters and bombers?”

“I don’t know. Months. Maybe longer.”

“Why so long?”

“One would need to be designed and built. It would need to be tested and modified. These things can’t be rushed.”

“You have two weeks.”

“Two weeks? Sir, with all due respect, that is not enough time.”

“Sure it is. I have faith in you Mr. Singh.”

“But what about my other duties?”

“Delegate. That’s why you’re the Chief Engineer. This is now your number one priority. Commander St. Clair will make sure you have everything you need.”

“Yes, Sir, but two weeks?”

“That’s all we have, Chief. I suggest you get started.”

“Yes, Sir,” said Singh, rising from his chair. “You can count on me,” he said, saluting.

“I know I can.” Pike returned the salute. “Dismissed.”

When Singh left the room Commander St. Clair looked at Admiral Pike, “Do you think he can do it?”

“He’ll do it. The question is will the pilots be able to adapt?”

“They’ll need to be trained,” said Konos. “A simulation would be ideal.”

“Yes, a simulation. Commander, once Singh figures out the design, get a simulation built for the pilots to train on.”

“I’ll make it happen, Sir,” said St. Clair.

“Good,” said Pike. He looked back at Konos. “You’ll get your jump ships, Commander. Now you should go and get some sleep. You look like shit.”