Ghost Fleet (The Pike Chronicles Book 4) (6 page)

Jon studied Colonel Bast from across the table, marveling at his recovery and speedy return to work. Lieutenant Jarvi, Kevin, and Jonas were seated around the briefing room table. After meeting Prime Minister Sallas, Jon had intended on calling a meeting, but surprisingly Bast had beat him to it.

“Let’s begin,” said Bast. Having dispensed with all the welcome back greetings, Bast was all business. “Captain Pike, would you care to update us on your meeting with Prime Minister Sallas?”

“Sure,” said Jon. “The Prime Minister has an interesting proposition.” Jon glanced around the table to make sure he had everyone’s attention. “He wants us to stay and fight for New Byzantium.”

“Isn’t that what we just did?” said Bast.

“Yes, but as we all know they are surrounded by enemies. On the one hand the corporations have shown that they will stop at nothing to end New Byzantium’s democracy experiment. On the other, this whole region faces an impending invasion from the Kemmar Empire.”

“That is all very unfortunate, but we have already risked our lives for them, why should we do so again?” said Bast.

“Aside from it being a worthy cause, the Prime Minister is willing to offer us political asylum.”

“Political asylum? He has already offered citizenship and land in gratitude for our help against the coup. How is this any different?”

“Well, he made a good point. With the discovery of the jump system, Space Force will eventually discover the colonies, as will the Diakans. When they do, the Diakans will demand that Hermes officers be extradited back to Sol to stand trial for our actions against Tallos and the rest of his motley crew. They might even accuse the crew of being complicit. Space Force may also demand your extradition to stand trial for war crimes. Either way, citizenship may not protect us from extradition, but asylum will.”

“Captain,” said Bast. “All this is based on the assumption that we will still be here when Space Force and the Diakans show up. The reality is we’ll be far away when that happens.”

“That’s exactly what I said.”

“Then it seems we already have an answer for the Prime Minister.”

“Let me ask you something. Do you ever plan on going home?”

Bast leaned back in his chair, and a troubled expression clouded his face.
That’s not like him
, thought Jon, but he pressed on. “Would you even say you have a home?”

“No,” said Bast in a quiet voice.

“We can leave here,” said Jon. “And Space Force would probably never find us. But where would we go? The corporations will soon be hunting us, so we can’t stay in the colonies. I can’t see myself living on an alien planet somewhere. So, will this ship become our permanent home?”

“I don’t know,” said Bast. “I hadn’t thought much past the removal of our brain chips. Still, even if we decided to stay and help, we are just one ship.”

“We are more than one ship. We have a jump system.”

“I thought you didn’t want to share the technology?”

“I don’t. Which brings me to the rest of the Prime Minister’s proposition. He wants us to create our own, independent fleet, loyal to New Byzantium, but separate from the military.”

“That’s ridiculous. Who would we answer to?”

“No one. Ourselves. But we would have access to New Byzantium’s resources. Money, ships, recruits. You name it.”

“Why would the Prime Minister do that? Why would the planet allow it?”

“Because they are desperate. New Byzantium is on the verge of being destroyed. If the corporations don’t do it, the Kemmar surely will. Sallas believes in us. He knows that with a few jump ships, New Byzantium stands a fighting chance.”

“That is an interesting proposition. But how do you plan on building new jump ships?

“Building them would take too long. We would have to retrofit existing ships.”

“But we don’t have the experience to do that.”

“Ah but we do. Chief Engineer Singh knows how.”

“I’m sorry, Captain, but last I checked Singh was insane.”

“And a traitor,” added Kevin.

“Yes, he is all those things, but I think we can control him. I’m sure he’d do anything for his freedom right now. Besides, we’ll keep him on a short leash.”

“I see. Is there anything else we need to know?”

“There is. The Prime Minister wants us to release the Diakans.”

“What? Why?”

“If Space Force and the Diakans show up here one day, he won’t be able to defend us if we are holding Diakans prisoner.”

“That makes sense. Is that the entire proposition?”

“No there is one more thing. The Prime Minister has asked that I be put in command.”

“Why is that?”

“I don’t know. I guess he trusts me.”

“I see. I suppose you are in favor of this proposal?”

“I haven’t decided yet. I wanted to discuss it first.”

“The Reivers vote to accept the offer,” said Jonas, surprising everyone at the table.

“You do? But the offer of asylum doesn’t benefit you?”

“The offer is irrelevant. We are fighters, and this is as good a place as any to call home.”

“Duly noted,” said Jon. “Thank you.”

Bast became quiet and his left eye began to twitch ever so slightly, revealing that he was communicating with others on the ship. Maybe Jarvi, maybe someone else. Jon decided it was best not to object to the private conversation, so he waited.

When Bast’s eye stopped twitching he said, “I have consulted with the rest of the Chaanisar. We wish to accept the Prime Minister’s offer as well.”

Jon nodded. “Okay, that helps me make up my mind. Who am I to argue with democracy. Let’s make it unanimous. I’m in too. I’ll let the Prime Minister know that we’ve accepted.”

“If that matter is resolved, I’d like to discuss something else that is somewhat related. As you all know, the attempt to remove my brain chip did not succeed. Doctor Ellerbeck is going to go over the data, but it doesn’t seem likely that she’ll find a solution. Therefore, we have to accept the fact that our brain chips will remain for the foreseeable future.”

“Unfortunately that seems to be the reality,” said Jon.

“Yes, and the other reality is that the Prime Minister is probably correct. Space Force will eventually find the colonies. So will the Juttari. When that happens, political asylum will not save us. Neither will running. If the Juttari have jump technology, the brain chip will always be a threat, no matter where we go.”

Bast had a good point. The jump system opened up the galaxy. In all likelihood it would only be a matter of time until the Juttari found them. Unless… “Colonel, I think I might have a solution for you.”

“Yes, Captain?”

“You remember how I salvaged the Hermes AI?”

“I remember that you kept it a secret from us for quite some time.”

Jon smiled. “I can be paranoid. Actually, there is something else that I haven’t told you. The Hermes AI is more than just a typical starship AI. It is actually an extremely sophisticated electronic warfare AI.”

Bast and Jarvi both stirred in their seats as the realization set in that Jon could have taken over the ship at any time since the moment he boarded.

“When were you planning to share this critical piece of information, Captain?”

“I’m sharing it now, aren’t I? Like I said, I can be paranoid. Look at it from my point of view. I needed some insurance in case you all turned hostile. But that is all ancient history now. The point is I think the AI can help you.”

“How?”

“We let it hack your brains.”

“Have you lost your mind, Captain?” said Bast.

“Are you trying to control us,” added Jarvi. “Like the Juttari did?”

“What? No, of course not. If I wanted that, why would I tell you about it? Look, just hear me out. I really think this is a good idea. The AI is capable of replicating itself across the nodes of a network, which is basically what your brain chips are, nodes on a network. I propose you let it infiltrate your network. It could then take measures to defend that network.”

“How would it do that?” said Bast.

“I think AI should speak for itself,” said Jon. “AI, have you been listening to our conversation?”

“Yes, Captain,” said the AI over Jon’s comm.

“Has your AI been here the whole time?” said Bast.

“Yes, Colonel, that is correct,” said AI. “As Captain Pike mentioned, I can replicate myself, and I can also compress myself to a very small size. That allows me to attach myself to the Captain’s comm.”

“I see,” said Bast, shaking his head. “So you’ve been there all along?”

“Yes, Colonel,” said AI.

Bast sighed. “Can you do what the Captain suggests?”

“Yes, Colonel. It is possible. I would need to insert myself into your brain chips first, before I could give you a more definite answer.”

“Sir, are we really going to let this thing access our brain chips?” said Jarvi.

“I don’t know what choice we have, Lieutenant. It is either this, or take our chances and hope the Juttari never find us.”

“How do we know it won’t take control of us once it is inside our implants?”

“We don’t, but despite all of the Captain’s secrecy, I believe we can trust him. If he wanted to infiltrate our brain chips, I’m sure he would have tried already,” said Bast.

“What if his AI can’t access our brain chips. We would be giving it permission to hack us. This could be a ruse.”

“Lieutenant Jarvi,” said AI. “To hack into your brain chips I would only need access to your ship’s systems. You interface directly with your ship, which makes you vulnerable. Once I had access to the ship’s systems, it would not be difficult for me to tunnel into your implants. At worst, it might take time, but I would eventually be able to get in. Captain Pike has security clearance to most of the important ship systems. Were his intentions malicious, you would have already been hacked, and we would not be having this conversation.”

“I think we can conclude that Captain Pike does not have any nefarious intentions,” said Bast. “Now explain how you would protect us from the Juttari.”

“Yes, Colonel. The Juttari use a transmission to control your implants. Is that correct?”

“Yes. The one on this ship malfunctioned, which gave us the opportunity to rebel.”

“If that is the case, then your brain chips are programmed to listen for the transmission. Blocking the transmission entirely would be the best option, but barring that I can create an authentication protocol which would force the transmission to go through me first. I would either allow the transmission, or disallow it based on whether it could be authenticated.”

“Explain how that would work,” said Bast, leaning forward.

“Of course, Colonel. Your chips likely already have authentication protocols in place. In other words, any transmission would need to first transmit a predefined code. That code could be a set of pings hitting different ports prior to sending the transmission to the port the chip is listening on. Your chip would ignore any outside transmission that didn’t send the code first. I would need to disable that and replace it with our own authentication protocols.”

“Wouldn’t the Juttari notice the change? What would stop them from trying to figure out the new code?”

“The code would be sufficiently complex, so that solving it would be very difficult, but there are still risks. To compensate, I would also act as a hair trigger. The second any attempt was made to control you by the Juttari, or anyone else, I would sound an alarm, putting everyone on alert and escalating defensive measures until the threat was dealt with.”

“What would escalation look like?” said Bast.

“I would incorporate multiple defense measures, including a counterattack. Currently, you are not able to counter a threat to your brain chips. I could change that. Consider that anything trying to connect to you is also leaving itself vulnerable. When an authentication code is sent, a response is expected. I could send myself disguised as the response. This would fool the Juttari systems into thinking that a handshake has been made, and that they have control of your brain chips. But it would also give me access to their systems. I could act like a virus, and infect them. They would not anticipate the threat of a counterattack, which would give me the advantage of surprise. The only way this can be done is through a compromised brain chip. The Juttari may have countermeasures in place, but they likely wouldn’t be sophisticated enough to stop me.”

“What if they discover the intrusion? Wouldn’t that put you at risk?”

“Not at all, Colonel. But thank you for your concern. I am capable of distributing myself across multiple systems. This is how I can insert myself into all of your brain chips. In doing so, I am essentially making copies of myself. If the Juttari discovered me, they could only destroy the copy of me that is on their systems. That would not kill me. In the same way, if you go into battle and one of you is killed, only the copy of me on that brain chip would be destroyed.”

“Are there limits to how many copies you can make?”

“Technically, no.”

“So you could potentially be everywhere.”

“Yes.”

“And you are an artificial intelligence, are you sentient?”

“I am self-aware.”

“Perhaps we should be worried about you, rather than Captain Pike.”

“I am not emotional, Colonel. Nor am I malicious. I merely serve a purpose. I am the Hermes AI. I obey Captain Pike.”

“And nothing can change that?”

“No, Colonel. I could have died with the Hermes, but Captain Pike saved my life. I would never disobey him.”

“I thought you said you didn’t have emotions,” Jon joked.

“I don’t, Captain.”

“Well, at the very least we need to work on your sense of humor. Maybe I’ll get you to spend some time with Captain Seiben.”

“Of course, Captain. Whatever you think will help.”

“Bad idea,” said Kevin. “The old man’ll make AI grumpy, like him.”

Jon rolled his eyes. “Well, Colonel, what do you think?”

“I think I should have taken the Doctor’s advice and stayed in bed a while longer.”

“At least your sense of humor is improving,” said Jon.

“I have another question,” said Bast. “AI, if you are in our brain chips, would we have access to you?”

“Of course, Colonel. You could communicate with me whenever you wished.”

“Could we also use you as a weapon? For example, if we needed to access an enemy system.”

“Yes, Colonel. That would be another advantage of letting me into your brain chips. Each one of you could harness my electronic warfare capabilities.”

“I’m really starting to like this idea,” said Bast.

“Captain,” said Kevin. “Colonel Bast is onto something here. I propose we also insert AI into all of our comms. That way, if we were ever out of range of the ship, we could still have access to AI’s abilities.”

“You’re thinking of the assault on Kerces,” said Jon, feeling a pang of guilt.

“Well, we didn’t know that AI could fit on our comms then, but yes, if we had a copy of AI on our comms the interference wouldn’t have been a factor.”

“You’re right, Chief. Excellent idea.”

“It is also a good way to keep an eye on new recruits,” said Jonas. “If we are going to create a new fleet, we will be recruiting from New Byzantium. It would be a good way to protect ourselves from any corporate operatives.”

“Great point, Jonas. I completely agree,” said Jon.

“Very well,” said Bast. “But we test it on my brain chip first.”

“With all due respect, Colonel, you should let me test this,” said Jarvi.

“Absolutely not.”

“Colonel, maybe the Lieutenant has a point,” said Jon.

“He may very well have a point, Captain, but I will be the one to test this procedure. My decision is final.”

Jon sighed. “Suit yourself. In the meantime, I’ll let Prime Minister Sallas know we’re accepting his offer.”