Retribution: The Augmented Human Rebellion - Book 2 (17 page)

There are only a few survivors from
Danion’s
Fleet, who return to New Hope.  And there are no survivors from
Cade
Nemo
and Sandra
Guilles
Fleet.

But those two Fleets are responsible for the safety of a million New Hope
residents who have time to flee, while the Darinx and Verm Fleets reorganize.

Admiral
Shiela
takes her 100 ship Fleet, along with the remnants of
Danion’s
Fleet, and follows after the AH Navy
refugees.  They have lost the planet New Hope, but they have saved the
future.  Planets can be replaced, but ideas can’t.

***

The Destruction of New Hope

The Darinx and Verm Fleets both take part in the final destruction of New
Hope.  It is a largely symbolic victory for the two great Empires, because
the inhabitants of New Hope have escaped, and the AH Navy has escaped.

***

The Battle at New Hope

The Darinx and Verm Fleets don’t even notice that there are 600 AH Navy
ships approaching from their rear.  It doesn’t dawn on the new Fleet
Admirals, that there might be more defenders.  And then the AI aboard the
Verm Flagship reports:  

“It’s the
Galactus
. 
Sweetwater is here.”

That announcement sends fear and dread through the Verm and Darinx
Fleets. 

The
Galactus
is one of the biggest warships ever built by the Verm Empire, and Admiral
Meyers took it from the Verm.  And the Sweetwater Fleet is
legendary. 

And now that they have nuked their planet, there is not even the
possibility of surrender.

Even though the Darinx and Verm Fleets outnumber the attackers by almost
a 3:1 ratio, the two Empire Fleets are paralyzed.  Their leadership is
indecisive and it is every ship for itself.

The attacking AH Navy fleets are largely made up of captured Verm and
Darinx vessels.  As the battle closes to energy weapons range, it becomes
more and more difficult to distinguish the AH Navy vessels, from the Darinx and
Verm ships. 

Before long, the two Empires are firing on each other.  It begins
because of confusion, but it continues because of hate.  When Fleet
Admiral Meyers sees that the enemy is self-destructing, she orders her ships to
‘slide out’ of the battlespace.  They watch from a distance as the two
Empires attack each other.

And when the ‘hate’ has consumed most of the enemy ships, and the
fighting has died down, Fleet Admiral Meyers orders: 

“All ships.  Meyers here.  On my command, destroy every enemy
vessel and kill every enemy sailor.  They have committed a war crime by
destroying the planet New Hope.  Show them no mercy. ……….. Charge.”

There must have been a couple of scout ships that escaped, to carry the
tale of the Battle of New Hope to the Verm and Darinx Empires, because both
Empires know the results of the battle.

A 2,000 ship combined fleet destroyed - with all ships and all hands
lost. 

 ***

Deep Space at the Rendezvous

Fleet Admiral Meyers leads the AH Navy forces who survived the Battle of
New Hope, to the deep space rendezvous, where the civilian refugees from the
planet New Hope are waiting.  The battle at New Hope left their enemy
destroyed, so they no longer need to flee in terror. 

The cost to the AH Navy was 378 ships, 96,724 humanoids, and 352
AIs
.  Fleet Admiral
Meyers is still numb from the loss.  Her grieving process has not begun
yet.  This numbness is probably a method that her subconscious is using to
shield her from information which she can’t assimilate right now.  

Fleet Admiral Meyers is trying to get everyone organized, so that they
can make 2 FTL jumps, in order to hide their trail.  The Admiral can’t
collapse until the flock is safe. 

***

Refugee Camp

After the FTL jumps, the AH Navy sets up defensive perimeters, and the New
Hope refugees begin to organize into governmental groups, so that decisions can
be based on ‘the will of the people’.

 Each person will have the same freedoms and constraints as every
other person.  Artificial Intelligences are recognized as persons. The
government, from bottom to top, will be democratically elected.

***

But organizing that government will take months, and some things need to
happen more quickly.  Fleet Admiral Meyers is the highest ranking Naval
Officer and is, by default, the short term leader of the refugee group.

She decides that scouts should be sent out, into the far reaches of the
Orion Nebula, to search for uninhabited planets which will be suitable for
colonization.  That is the first order of business.  The AH Navy
refugees can survive in the starships for years, but they can only survive
comfortably
for a few months.  The search for a new home must begin immediately.

20 warships are sent out, with orders to survey star systems for 1 year
and then to return home.  If they find an ‘ideal’ planet – like the one
that they had at New Hope – they are to send an information probe to the
current coordinates of the refugee camp.

Next, the Probe Relay System for secure messaging is reestablished with
the current coordinates being ‘home’.  A
deep space probe array system
is
put in place for early warning against surprise attacks and high velocity
assaults.  A ‘bus line’, with regular routes, is started so that the
travel between ships is fast and easy.  A procurement team is appointed,
to identify needs and to purchase supplies for the civilian population.  A
fleet of freighters is designated as the shipping resource for bringing food
and supplies to the refugee camp.

New Hope already had a thriving industry that provided AI Exoskeletons to
the rest of the universe.  Admiral Meyers arranges for those production
facilities to be shifted to the planet Rison, until a new planet can be
found.  And New Hope also had a thriving ‘precious metals’ mining
industry.  That industry can continue to function, with management from
the refugee camp, until another home is established.

Planets which have been friendly to the New Hope citizens will benefit by
having new industries and trading companies based there. 

***

Fleet Admiral Meyers is in a hurry to get the new government
established.  For one thing, she is really tired of having to deal with
every petty little issue, on every ship.  For another thing, she and Fleet
Admiral Justice
Nemo
have some unfinished business with the Darinx and Verm Empires.

As soon as the democratic government is up and running, the two Fleet
Admirals intend to visit those two Empires, for the purpose of assassinating
their Emperors – it is the least that they can do.

 ***

Leaving the Refugees Behind

At last, the democratic government for the New Hope refugees takes over
the management of the populace.  Fleet Admiral Meyers, Fleet Admiral
Justice
Nemo
and
Admiral
Shiela
appoint temporary military commanders, who will serve in their absence.

Then Admirals Meyers,
Nemo
and
Shiela
leave,
aboard their two Flagships, on a mission to “sever the head of the
beast”.  That was Admiral
Cade
Nemo’s
method of
dealing with evil forces – cut off the head and the body will die. 

His wife, Sandra
Guilles
,
thought highly of assassination, because it shortens wars, and kills the ones
responsible for wars.  When at war, her guiding rule for assassination
was:

“It is good to assassinate bad people

“It is bad to assassinate good people.”

***

Artificial Intelligence Honesty is aboard the warship
Galactus
with Admiral
Meyers.  Admiral
Shiela
– Honesty’s mother – is aboard the warship Retribution, which has recently
become Admiral Justice
Nemo’s
Flagship.

They are taking 2 ships because it will give them more options.  They
are taking no humanoid crewmembers. Honesty and
Shiela
,
the Artificial Intelligences will be able to handle most of the ships’
problems.

And at last, Melissa has her squadron of fighters ready to go.  The
pilots are all
AIs
from the Sweetwater Fleet. 
Shiela
and Honesty helped to birth each one of them.   They are all grown up
now and they chose to take part in this mission, knowing that the probability
of survival is low.  They call themselves the
wasps
, after some
ancient earth stinging insect. 

Humanoids are sometimes necessary in case things go amiss – such as an
Automatic Munitions Loader getting stuck.  If anything that requires real
hands should arise, the
AIs
can handle it, because they are dressed in their AI Exoskeletons.  The
Exoskeletons, designed by Honesty, have set the
AIs
free. They are equal to humanoids now - except that they can live forever.

***

In Darinx Space

Melissa Meyers training, and practice in the
fine art of sneaking
has served her well during this voyage, through Darinx space.  They had
help from a number of Sweetwater scout ships for most of the trip, but Melissa
sent them back home, as they neared the Darinx home system.   It is
easier to hide 2 ships that 12.

Melissa remembers the blind spot, in the defensive system for the Darinx
home planet.  She is glad that she didn’t tell them about their
oversight.  She had intended to tell them, but the attempted kidnapping of
Honesty - her AI - soured her on
Kendor
,
the Darinx home planet.

***

Now the
Galactus
and the Retribution are safely hidden in that blind spot.  There are no
Darinx sensors searching this volume of space.  The AH Navy personnel
spend their time studying the Darinx home system and planning their
attack.  At bedtime they stay together on one ship or the other. 

Shiela
and
Honesty spend their time helping to plan, with the humanoids.  When the
humanoids are asleep, the
AIs
monitor the planetary system and their vessels, while enjoying their time
together.  Being in a life threatening situation increases the sensitivity
for ‘the moment’.  When each moment may be your last they become much more
precious.

Good plans are hard to come by, for this operation.  Assassinating
the Darinx Emperor, from the edge of the system, seems to be an impossible
task.  And even if the two ships could attack the Darinx home planet, how
could they know that they are killing the Emperor?

***

Knowledge is Power

Knowledge is power
- so the assassination squad sets out to
acquire knowledge. They study the traffic patterns and the defensive systems,
and all eyes are on the Emperor’s Palace, whenever it is in view.  It is
critical to know whether the Emperor is in the Palace, or away. 

By observing, they have learned that whenever the Emperor goes somewhere,
there is a huge entourage and a huge security force that accompanies him. 
So far, the size of the entourage is their best indicator of the Emperor’s
presence.

Sometimes there are
decoy Emperors
, who make
pretend trips
. 
The AH Navy crew has learned to distinguish the
real
, from the
imitation
,
by looking for a certain limousine.  The Emperor apparently won’t tolerate
any
imitation
riding in his personal limo.

Surprisingly, the Emperor doesn’t very often leave the home planet. 
Melissa is hoping to catch him in space, close to the blind spot.  Nothing
like that scenario has happened yet.

***

No one is in a hurry.  The time that they are spending together is
family
time
, and no one is in a hurry for it to end.  Everyone is just
feeling the love.  At night they invite the fighter pilots to come and
spend time with them.  Someone is always watching for the Emperor to come
and go, and
Shiela
or Honesty always has an eye on the defensive systems, but everything is pretty
low key.  If they need to stay a year, it will be time well spent, as long
as they can kill the Emperor.

***

Three months now.  And nothing has changed except the size of
Melissa’s stomach.  She is about 6 months pregnant now.  There
haven’t been any real problems.  Since Justice has already been through
this once, he came prepared.  He brought every kind of food
imaginable.  There was one time when she wanted him to go to the Darinx
home planet for a banana split, but Justice was able to get her to accept a
mango pie from the replicator, as a substitute.

***

Five months now.  Melissa just keeps getting bigger.  But she
has done great.  There was that one little breakdown, when an AI pilot
asked her why her stomach was so swollen, but that was all – and it hardly
amounted to anything.

***

Six months now, and Melissa is 9 months pregnant.  A comment such as
‘ready to pop’ would be appropriate, but unwise.  Justice certainly would
never say something like that, and
AIs
learn fast.  After that small incident, when the AI pilot mentioned her
stomach size, all
AIs
researched
pregnant+female+humanoids
. 
Now everyone walks on eggshells.

***

The Emperor Takes a Ride

“His Limo is heading to the spaceport,” announces Honesty.

And all eyes are on the view-screen, as the Emperor’s procession moves
toward the spaceport.  There is heavy security around the spaceport
facility, indicating that the Emperor is taking a space trip.

Everyone exchanges hugs, and
Shiela
and Justice board a shuttle and make their way to the Retribution, just in case
this is the
real thing
.

The AI fighter pilots check their attack fighters, one more time - even
though they are certain that everything is ready.

“His ship is launching,” announces Honesty. 
(That is for the
benefit of the AI fighter pilots, who are boarding their craft.  Everyone
else is watching the telescopic projection.)

“The Emperor is space-bound,” Honesty says. 

The Emperor’s Fleet surrounds his vessel after it reaches space. 
“Too bad,” thinks Melissa.  “We could have had his ship all by itself as
it launched.”

Everyone watches to see which way the Emperor will go.  If the Fleet
even comes close to the hiding place, Melissa is inclined to attack.  The
Emperor’s Escort is only a 10 warship Fleet, and none of the ships is as large
as the
Galactus
or
the Retribution.  An opportunity like this may not come again.

“He’s headed our way,” Honesty tells the AI pilots.

“All ships.  Get ready.  This might be our chance.  I’ll
keep you posted,” says Melissa.  “Justice, I love you.”

“I love you too, Melissa.”

“I love you Honesty and
Shiela
. 
And I love you too, AI pilots.  I’m sorry I yelled,” says Melissa.

And final
I love you
messages pass to and fro, between the
AIs
and the two humanoids,
aboard the two Augmented Human Navy vessels.  Everyone feels like family,
and this might be the last chance to express their love.

“Coming our way,” updates Melissa.  “We are looking good for plan
‘Charlie’.   Battle Stations.  Fighter pilots get ready. 
I’ll open the cargo bay door when it is time to go.  Remember to save your
nuclear missiles for the Emperor.”

***

Plan ‘Charlie’ is for a real space, full speed ahead charge, straight at
the Emperor with all guns blazing.  There will be little or no attention
paid to the Escort vessels, unless they are trying to get between the AH Navy
and the Emperor.  The
Galactus
and Retribution defensive systems are set on Automatic, so that all of the
sentients
’ attention can
go to the attack.

Shiela
will be
handling the weapons targeting for both vessels, and Honesty will be
coordinating the
wasps’
attack.

***

“All ships.  Initiate plan ‘Charlie’ on my mark …………………………………
CHARGE
.”

And they are
OFF
.  They gain some momentum, before they are
out of the defensive system’s blind spot.  They accelerate rapidly, at
full flank speed, on an intercept course to the Emperor’s ship.  There are
still 210,000 klicks to cross, but in space terms that is
close
. 
The AH Navy vessels need to get within energy weapons range quickly, so that
the Emperor can’t escape into FTL space – the AH Navy vessels will follow the
Emperor into FTL space if necessary, but the advantage would shift in the
Emperor’s favor in that scenario.

***

The military Escort is now aware that they are under attack.  Their
Standard Operating Procedure will be for the Escort vessels to place their
ships between the Emperor’s ship and the attacking force, in order to take any
projectile hits and to gain time for the Emperor’s vessel to get into FTL
space.

There wouldn’t be any hope of keeping the Emperor’s ship out of FTL
space, except for the
wasp fighters
.  Those speedy little ships are
nothing but engines and weapons.  And the combined effect of their energy
weapons may be enough to keep the Emperor’s ship in real space – at least that
is the hope.

The distance is 175,000 klicks and closing.  “Get ready fighter
pilots - almost your turn.  Target the Emperor’s ship with energy weapons
at close range.  We have to keep him from going into Faster Than Light
space.”  Melissa gives Honesty a gesture, and Honesty opens the cargo bay
door.

The fighters are
OUT
and are streaking toward the Darinx
convoy.  They quickly close the distance to the Emperor’s ship while
ignoring the Escort ships.  All wasp fighters are targeting the Emperor’s
ship with energy weapons, as ordered.  For now, the Emperor’s ship is
trapped in real space.

Most of the Escort warships are occupied with trying to destroy the
wasps, who are keeping the Emperor’s ship in real space.  The Darinx heavy
cruisers look like humanoids swatting at flies.  The fighters are much too
fast for the humanoid gunners on the Darinx warships.

***

Honesty is coordinating the
wasp
attack and is keeping them out of
the firing lane so that the Retribution and
Galactus
can attack the Emperor with projectiles. 
Shiela
has been firing missiles and rail gun projectiles, as fast as they will
go.  A number of those reach the Emperor’s ship, before the Escort vessels
can get in position to take the hits.  The Escort ships are able to
eliminate those missiles, using anti-missile missiles, but a couple of the rail
gun projectiles penetrate the Emperor ship’s hull.

Melissa sees the hits and imagines the Emperor wetting his pants, while
he hides under a table -
that little weasel.

An Escort vessel has gotten between the AH Navy and the Emperor’s
ship.  That vessel quickly receives barrages of projectile from the
charging AH Navy warships.  The escort’s defensive systems are overwhelmed
and explosions begin, and soon that ship is out of the battle. 

Now the firing lane to the Emperor’s ship is open again and
Shiela
has the projectiles
all targeting the Engineering section. 

Another Escort vessel is ready to die for the Emperor, as it presents its
side view for
Shiela
to target.  The Escort vessel returns very little weapons fire at the
charging AH Navy vessels.  The ship is content to die for the Emperor,
without a struggle.

Meanwhile, four other Escort warships have turned to face the attacking
AH Navy vessels, and have positioned themselves between the charging AH Navy
warships and the Emperor.  The Darinx Escorts are heavy cruisers bristling
with weapons, and all are firing at the attacking AH Navy ships. 

Unfortunately for them, the
Galactus
is one of the biggest battleships ever built by the Verm Navy and the
Retribution is only a little smaller.  The 2 Verm-built battleships are an
even match, against 10 Darinx heavy cruisers.  And to make matters much
worse for the Escorts,
Shiela
is controlling the weapons assault from the two AH Navy ships.

Shiela
targets
one Escort warship at a time.  All available weapons, on both ships, are
pointed at the bow of the charging Darinx vessel and all weapons fire is
coordinated, so that projectiles hit the ship, in clusters - like a sequence of
hammer blows.  Even though the bow of the Darinx heavy cruiser has strong
shields and reinforced armor plating, the defensive systems are quickly
overwhelmed, and a missile penetrates to the center of the ship, before
exploding.