Ghost Fleet (The Pike Chronicles Book 4) (16 page)

Major Karlin Vogel stood on the Freedom’s flight deck waiting for the New Byzantium shuttle to come to a stop. General Calledonius wanted to meet with him personally and didn’t want to wait for Admiral Pike to clear the use of one of the Freedom’s shuttles. Vogel, after all, wasn’t a member of the Freedom’s crew. So the General sent a military shuttle up the moment he found out that the Freedom was back in orbit around New Byzantium.

Vogel was all too happy to head back down to the surface. He had no power on board this ship, and the title of liaison meant nothing to Admiral Pike. He glanced down to his shirt, double checking that he had, in fact, removed the Freedom comm that had been given to him. His background in intelligence made him more suspicious than most, and he was certain that his actions were being monitored. He had noticed how Admiral Pike spoke to his AI through his comm. Would it be so difficult for Pike to spy on him through his assigned comm? Vogel knew that there were more sophisticated ways to spy on people, but he wasn’t taking chances.

The shuttle came to a stop and the hatch opened. A ramp swung down to the floor and Vogel immediately walked up and into the waiting shuttle. The craft was a smaller model, not intended to carry many people. The pilot had barely made it to the ramp when Vogel entered. Upon seeing the Major, the pilot stood at attention and saluted. Vogel hastily returned the salute.

“Let’s get going Lieutenant,” said Vogel.

“Yes, Sir,” said the pilot.

Vogel walked straight up to the cockpit and sat down. The pilot rushed up and sat in the pilot’s chair next to Vogel. He manipulated the controls and Vogel felt a tremor go through the small craft as its engines came back online. The pilot received clearance, and sailed the shuttle back out of the hangar bay. Once clear of the giant carrier, they began their descent to the planet’s surface.

“How was your trip, Sir?” said the pilot. “That carrier looks like it saw some action.”

Vogel glanced sideways at the pilot. “That information is classified, Lieutenant.”

“Yes, Sir,” said the pilot in a nervous tone. “Sorry, Sir.”

“Just concentrate on flying the shuttle.”
Why do people always feel the need to talk?
he wondered. He just wanted a quiet trip down to the surface so he could collect his thoughts. Was that too much to ask?

To his credit, the Lieutenant didn’t say another word all the way down to New Byzantium. Vogel considered everything he had seen during the battle. The jump system. The AI. There was no denying it. Pike truly had something revolutionary on his hands.

Soon they landed at the main New Byzantium military base. Vogel quickly got off the shuttle and headed for General Calledonius’s office. Frenzied activity surrounded him as the base’s personnel prepared for the coming attack. As he approached the main building he was surprised to find a hastily setup security checkpoint.

“Good afternoon, Major. We’ll need to perform a DNA scan before you can proceed any further,” said a young Marine.

“This checkpoint didn’t exist before. Is there a threat I should know about?” said Vogel.

“I don’t know, Sir. General Calledonius ordered increased security around the base.” The Marine checked the results of the DNA scan. “Thank you, Major. You’re free to enter the building.”

Vogel continued past the checkpoint and up the walkway to the main building. Directly inside the doors he had to submit to another DNA scan before he could proceed. Scanning the interior he made note of the heavily armed Marines deployed throughout. He cleared the checkpoint and headed for the lifts.

Vogel got onto the lift and requested the General’s floor. The computer cleared his identity, taking the Major to the lower levels, deep within the bowels of the building. Upon arriving the door slid open to reveal more heavily armed Marines. Before he could go any further he had to submit to yet another DNA scan, as the surrounding Marines watched him warily.

“Thank you, Major,” said the Marine administering the scan. “You’re clear. These Marines will escort you to see the General.”

Two Marines wearing body armor and exoskeletons flanked Major Vogel. “Follow us, Sir,” said one of the Marines.

“I know the way, Sergeant,” said Vogel, and marched toward the General’s office. The Marines remained on either side of him, unperturbed by the Major’s obvious annoyance.

General Calledonius was seated at his desk when Vogel entered. Vogel saluted. Calledonius returned the salute and gestured for him to sit down.

“That will be all,” said the General to the waiting Marines. The two men turned and exited the office.

“There’s a lot more security since the last time I saw you, General. Is there something I need to know about?”

“No, Major. I’m just not taking any chances this time around.”

“Of course, Sir.”

“I’ve seen preliminary reports about the mission to Meisser space,” said Calledonius. “Quite an impressive victory.”

“Yes, Sir. The jump technology gave them an incredible advantage.”

Calledonius studied Vogel with a scrutinizing gaze. “I’ve seen the effectiveness of the technology in battle. Still, it’s astounding that they were able to defeat that many warships. I expected them to harass and diminish the Meisser fleet’s ability, not to decisively defeat it.”

“They used superior tactics, Sir. And they have another advantage we were not aware of. An extremely advanced artificial intelligence.”

Calledonius’s eyes narrowed. “What makes this AI so different?”

“I’ve never seen anything like it, Sir. It attacked a Meisser carrier and took over its systems. It then forced the carrier to attack the Meisser fleet. That attack sent the fleet into disarray, allowing the other ships to outflank them.”

Vogel proceeded to give the General a detailed explanation of everything that he saw while on the Freedom.

“That’s quite a story, Major,” said Calledonius. “I think it’s prudent that you remain on board the Freedom.”

“Yes, Sir. Of course,” said Vogel.

“We need to find out as much as we can about that jump system, of course, but this news about the AI is particularly troubling. That is a lot of power in the hands of an artificial intelligence. Can Pike control it?”

“I’ve seen nothing that would suggest otherwise.”

Calledonius frowned. “I don’t like AIs, Major. They scare the shit out of me.”

“Understandable, Sir.”

“You said this one AI is on all three ships?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“What if it decides it doesn’t want to take orders anymore? Then what? You would have three powerful, jump capable warships commanded by an artificial intelligence. Who knows what it would do? I can tell you one thing. It wouldn’t give two shits about how its actions affected any humans that may be nearby.” Calledonius clenched his hand into a tight fist and slammed his desk with it. He pointed a finger at Vogel. “I want you to keep a close eye on that AI. The second it seems like Pike is losing control of it, I want to know.”

“I’ll make sure of it, Sir,” said Vogel.
The old man is getting more paranoid than me
, he thought.

Calledonius continued grilling Vogel about the AI and the jump system for another half hour. When the meeting was finally over Vogel took a vehicle, left the base and headed to his home on the outskirts of the city.

The drive was uneventful and after some time he reached the security gate on the perimeter of his property. He submitted to a DNA scan and the computer cleared him for entry, opening the gates. He followed the winding road up to his secluded house, scanning the surrounding trees for any signs of infiltration. Satisfied that no one hid within the trees, he pulled up to the quiet building, got out of his vehicle and entered. He lived alone and knew that no one would be waiting for him. Still, he quickly checked every room, looking for any sign that someone was, or had been there.

Satisfied that he was alone, he headed straight for a stairway that led to the basement. Downstairs he walked across the room and opened the door to his cold storage. Inside he moved some containers on a shelf, revealing a nondescript portion of the wall. He pressed his hand onto the wall and a hidden scanner read his DNA signature. The scanner accepted his identity and a part of the floor slid open. Vogel stepped through the hidden entrance and descended into another, secret room. That room held sophisticated communication equipment, capable of transmitting covert interplanetary communications using military grade encryption. Vogel sat down and the displays in front of him came to life. He entered a series of commands and waited.

Almost a full hour had passed when the face of Franz Stumpf, CEO of Amboss Corporation, appeared on his screen.

“Hello, Major. Do you have something for me?” said Stumpf.

“Yes,” said Vogel. “I do.”

Chief Engineer Singh bent over his prototype, testing the different components to ensure it had been built to his precise specifications. He had devoted several days to its design. Finally, he felt he had solved all the potential problems. He wasn’t sure when he slept last, but had been so engrossed in his work that he didn’t care. If he got this right, it would take the jump system to the next level. He could continue to improve the design, thereby making smaller and smaller jump systems. There were a staggering number of possibilities available, both military and civilian.

“Is it ready?” said Commander St. Clair from behind Singh, startling him.

How does someone that big sneak up on you so perfectly?
Singh wondered. “I am running tests to determine precisely that, Commander,” he said, looking back at St. Clair, trying not to let his annoyance show.

“How long are your tests going to take?” said St. Clair, his hulking frame towering over Singh.

“It’s hard to say. It all depends on what I find.” Sing kept working, hoping Commander St. Clair would lose interest and walk away.

“What you find? You better not be trying to sabotage this mission, Singh,” said St. Clair, the menace resonating in his voice.

St. Clair’s comment hit Singh like an energy bolt. Singh put his tools down and stood to face Commander St. Clair. “Contrary to what you may think, Commander, I am not a traitor.”

“Bullshit,” said St. Clair, jabbing Singh in the chest with a powerful index finger. “Don’t forget who was there when you were going to sell your own people out to the Kemmar.”

“I was delusional,” said Singh, taking a step back. “I didn’t know what I was doing.”

“Delusional, huh? You may have Admiral Pike and Doctor Ellerbeck fooled with that story, but you haven’t fooled me.”

Singh exhaled sharply. “I don’t know what else I can do to prove it to you, Commander.”

“Don’t you worry about proving anything to me. Just be happy I didn’t put a bullet in your head back on Kerces, when I had the chance.”

“I am eternally grateful.”

St. Clair took a step forward. “Is that an attitude I hear, Singh?”

Singh saw the anger in St. Clair’s eyes and decided not to push his luck. “No, Sir. No attitude.”

“Good. You better keep it that way.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“And you damn well better make sure that nothing happens to any of our pilots once this thing is installed.”

“Nothing will happen, Commander. I won’t allow it on any of the fighters before I am sure that it is ready.”

“Well you need to hurry up. That corporate fleet is going to be breathing down our necks in no time.”

“With all due respect, Sir, I can’t hurry and make sure it’s safe at the same time. What I need to do is thoroughly test every component of this prototype.”

“Then you better get to it. And if I find that you have sabotaged this jump system, I won’t hesitate to put a bullet in your head this time around. We clear?”

“We’re clear.”

“Excuse me?”

“We’re clear, Sir.”

St. Clair nodded. “As you were,” he said, stepping away and walking out of engineering.

Sing went back to testing his prototype, but he couldn’t get Commander St. Clair out of his mind. He thought about the event on Kerces, when he promised to give the Kemmar the jump system secrets, and the location of Earth. He remembered how he had felt. How angry he was. Most of all he remembered his grief at losing Lynda. He understood now that what he had experienced was a psychotic break. Even so, he could still feel the power of those emotions. The despair. The desire for vengeance. Thankfully the medication Doctor Ellerbeck gave him seemed to be working. He didn’t see Lynda’s apparition anymore. He understood that her death was the result of battle, and that nobody was to blame for it, other than the Kemmar.

He shudders. To think that he was going to give the secrets of the jump system to those monsters. He still remembered the horror he felt when the Kemmar interrogator was about to torture him for it. They were still out there, and that they might invade New Byzantium in the near future. A feeling of dread took hold. He couldn’t allow that. Commander St. Clair was right. He had to hurry up and finish testing, because if there was one thing that could protect this planet from the Kemmar, it was the jump system.

***

“Once the jump system is installed in Commander Konos’s fighter, we’ll be able to proceed with the tests,” said Singh, standing by the wall screen, briefing Admiral Pike, Commander St. Clair, and Commander Konos, who sat at the briefing room table.

“What kind of range does it have?” said Admiral Pike, his scarred face hiding any clue to what he thought.

“It can jump up to five light years at a time, with a limit of twenty light years until the system needs twenty-four hours to recharge,” said Singh, fighting off the encroaching anxiety.

“That’s incredible,” said Konos, clearly in awe of the system’s capabilities.

“Yes,” said Commander St. Clair. “This’ll give the Freedom superior long range strike abilities.”

“What about missiles?” said Pike, leaning forward and resting his forearms on the table.

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand, Sir,” said Singh.

“Do you think you can put a jump system onto a missile?”

Everyone looked intently at Singh, and he felt a drop of perspiration trace a path down the side of his ribs. “The jump system would need to be smaller for that to work. Much smaller. Given time I can likely come up with a design small enough, but right now it simply isn’t possible.”

Pike tapped his fingers on the table. “Well then, until that time we’ll just have to rely on our fighters and bombers. How about drones?”

“It depends on the size of the drone. I based this design on work we were doing at Space Force to develop a communication drone. So yes, there is the potential of making drones jump capable.”

“We can use a jump capable surveillance drone to check a possible hot zone before we jump in,” said Pike, looking over at St. Clair. “If enemy warships are there, we can size them up before sending in our fighters and bombers.”

“That’ll be very effective,” said St. Clair, nodding in agreement. “A strike force could jump in, launch missiles, and jump away before the enemy could respond.”

“It definitely gives the Freedom a much greater strike radius. Long range attacks will give us an advantage, especially with our bombers.” Pike looked back to Singh. “But what about short range tactical jumps? Our pilots are not going to have time to plot coordinates into the system during a battle.”

“Yes, Sir. I’ve given that some thought,” said Singh. “I believe I’ve come up with a solution.” Singh tapped the wall screen and it showed a region of space divided into numbered square. “I’ve designed an overlay for the pilot’s HUD. The overlay divides up space into a numbered grid, so that in the middle of a dogfight, the pilot will be able to tell the system where to jump.”

“So it’s voice activated?” said Pike, squinting his eyes at the wall screen.

“Yes. For example, a pilot might say, ‘jump A8’ and his fighter would then jump to that location,” said Singh, pointing to a square on the grid numbered ‘A8’.

“That sounds like a good solution to me. What do you think, Commander?” said Pike, looking over at Konos.

“I think it can work,” said Konos. “But that grid might be distracting during a dogfight.”

“The grid is voice activated as well. To enable it you would say, ‘Enable jump grid’, and to turn it off you would say, ‘Exit jump grid’.”

“Looks good, Chief. How soon can I test the jump system?” said Konos, sitting up in his chair.

“It is being installed on your fighter as we speak, Commander,” said Singh. “You should be able to test it in a couple of hours.”

A mischievous smile spread across Konos’s face. “Sounds like fun. I can’t wait.”