Retribution: The Augmented Human Rebellion - Book 2 (19 page)

***

And there is a new wrinkle to the Emperor’s plans.  The
bird
spy-
bot
reports that
three ships will launch from the planet
Tenock
,
so that no one can know which ship the Emperor is on.

“You have got to give the Verm credit,” thinks Melissa.  “They have
really outdone the Darinx Empire, on protecting their Emperor.”

“This new information complicates every plan.  Now instead of
destroying one ship, they must destroy 3. 

Time to rethink.

***

The Plan

OK.  The AH Navy assassination team has a plan – subject to change,
as needed.

The attack will take place at the Emperor’s place of emergence, in the
Military Academy system.  That system was chosen, because there are fewer
Verm warships in the Academy system, than in the home planet system.

The place and time of emergence are approximately known.  Justice
Nemo’s
ship – the
Retribution – will be doing a high velocity flyby of that location, at the
planned time of the Emperor’s emergence.  

During Justices’ flyby, all of the
wasp
fighters will exit the
Retribution some distance before the Emperor’s place of emergence.  The
wasps
will be spaced so that there will be a
wasp
available to attack all
three of the ‘Emperor ships’ – assuming the emersion time is approximately
right.

  After the attack, the
wasp
fighters will continue their
high velocity flight and will be scooped up by the
Galactus
, which has been following the
Retribution in the high velocity path.

***

The probability of the mission being completed according to the ‘ideal
plan’ is almost zilch – there are too many approximates and unknowns. 

There are contingency plans:

o
      
If
the ‘Emperor ships’ emerge early, the Retribution will launch missiles at them.

o
      
If
the ‘Emperor ships’ emerge late, the wasps will need to slow down, and fight,
while they wait for the three ‘Emperor ships’.

o
      
That
would mean that the
Galactus
will be past them, before they are ready for extraction.  The contingency
plan for that scenario is for the Retribution, and the
Galactus
to be flying in ‘loops’ around the
retrieval site, until the wasps are ready for extraction.

o
      
If
there are wasps which fall behind or are damaged and can’t make it to the
‘extraction’, those
AIs
will need to eject from their fighters, and go into stasis mode.  The plan
is for someone to come and search for them, at a later date.

Well, it is a plan.  The probability of success is low, but no one
feels like doing a suicide mission. 

***

After the mission starts, there is no way of communicating with the laser
comm system on
Tenock
,
because the Emperor’s entourage will be traveling faster than light.  They
put the
bird
and the satellite AIs to sleep, and launch for the Acadeny
system. 

***

The Assassination Attempt

The assassination attempt has been launched, using the latest reliable
data – that is the best that they can do.  If the Emperor went back home
and changed clothes because the colors in his outfit clashed, then all bets are
off.

***

The wasps have exited the Retribution and they can see that ships have
emerged, at the predicted point.  So far, so good - the plan is on track.

Now the wasps are reducing speed so that they aren’t past the emergence
point, when the Emperor emerges.   More ships emerge, and one of
those ships is an ‘Emperor ship’.  The wasp in front launches its missile
toward that vessel. 
Success
!  The first of the possible
‘Emperor ships’ has been destroyed.  The missile was moving too fast for
the Escort vessels to intercept.

The wasps continue to slow and the
wasp
that fired his missile
heads for the pickup zone.  The mission is still following the ‘ideal
plan’.

Now there is another ‘Emperor ship’ emerging.  This time 2
wasps
fire their missiles.  One missile is destroyed by the Escort warships, but
the other gets through and the 2nd ‘Emperor ship’ is destroyed, as it is
emerging.  Those two
wasps
head for the pickup zone.

But the third ‘Emperor ship’ is delayed, and does not emerge as
expected.  Now the remaining
wasps
slow and circle, while they wait
for the final ‘Emperor ship’.  They are now being targeted by about 50
warships, so they begin evasive maneuvers - which slow them even more. 
Now it is ‘dogfight time’.

The speedy fighters dart in and out of the emergence area, while dodging
missile and energy weapons fire from the Verm warships.  Two of the
wasp
fighters are destroyed, by the time the 3rd ‘Emperor ship’ begins to
emerge.  The remaining 9
wasp
missiles are launched at the emerging
ship, and then the surviving fighters head for the pickup zone.

They can see, in their rear view-screens, that the last ‘Emperor ship’
has been destroyed.  They can also see that there are lots of missiles
chasing them.  Most of the
wasps
are able to outrun the missiles,
but the slowest one is destroyed.

The
Galactus
has already passed the pickup zone, and has looped around for another
pass.  The Retribution is the next opportunity for pickup. 
Shiela
reduces speed and
snatches the first 3
wasps
but can’t wait for the others.  The Retribution
is past the pickup zone, and begins another loop.

Some minutes later, the
Galactus
is preparing for another pickup attempt.  Honesty has slowed the big ship
to match speed with the
wasps
, and scoops them into the cargo bay. 
Unfortunately, the delay in the pickup has given the Verm warships time to
chase after the
wasps
.    And the barrage of missiles,
which was chasing the
wasps
, is now targeting the
Galactus
.

Honesty makes a valiant effort to avoid or destroy the multitude of
missiles, but one of them explodes near
Galactus
’
Engineering section, and the real space thrusters are knocked off-line. 
The
Galactus
is
dead
in the water
and the Verm warships are almost upon them.  Honesty
tries to engage the Faster Than Light drive, but the Verm warships are firing
energy weapons, so the FTL drive can’t function.

The situation looks dire.  There doesn’t seem to be a way out of
this conundrum.  Honesty and Melissa trade glances and bid each other a
silent farewell.

Then suddenly, the Retribution emerges from FTL space, behind the
Galactus
!  The bulk
of the
Galactus
shields the Retribution from damage, while emerging.  After the
Retribution has emerged and is fully functional, the ship attaches its tractor
beam to the
Galactus
,
and uses the beam as leverage to ‘flip around’ the
Galactus
.  Now the Retribution is
between the
Galactus
and the Verm warships.

The energy, which was keeping the
Galactus
in real space, is now being blocked by the Retribution.  “GO!” says
Justice.  “GO!” says
Shiela
.

And the group trades a chorus of “I love you”, as the
Galactus
fades into FTL
space.

***

Coping With Loss

Staying would not have done any good – it would have just wasted the
sacrifice that Justice and
Shiela
have made.  The Retribution had used its FTL drive, and was stuck in real
space for about an hour.  There would have been no survivors if the
Galactus
didn’t leave.

Honesty had hit the FTL button, for the long distance pre-programmed FTL
flight - it is a 4 week journey.  It’s not likely that any chasing Verm
warships will emerge close to the
Galactus
. 
And if they do, Honesty will be pleased to destroy them.

***

The first week is nothing but crying.  After that, everyone is quiet
and the grieving goes on, but at a lower volume.  Melissa and Honesty
gradually become semi-functional again. 

Melissa has lost her ‘once in a lifetime love’ in Justice, and her
daughter/friend in
Shiela
. 
Honesty has lost her mother, and she had helped birth some of the lost
wasps
. 
And the
wasps
have lost 6 more brothers and sisters - almost half of
them have been killed on this mission.  Everyone comforts one another, as
they grieve together. 

***

The baby – Justice Junior – is the source of Melissa’s consolation. 
This is a part of Justice that she can hold onto.  Melissa is so glad that
she won the argument about naming him ‘Justice Junior’.  Justice will not
be forgotten and his work will go on.

And Honesty, the firstborn between
Shiela
and
Danion
, has a
new mission in life.  She takes up the battle for equal rights for
Artificial Intelligence entities, which
Danion
and
Shiela
had been
fighting.

The
End

***

Copyright
Page

Text copyright © 2014 Terry D. Lefler

All Rights Reserved

Terry Lefler (04/21/2014).

Revision 2 (05/20/2014).

Revision 3 (03/14/2015).

The Augmented Human Rebellion

Book 2 - Retribution.  Terry Lefler Design

‘The Augmented Human
Rebellion: Book 2 – ‘Retribution’ is a work of fiction. All the characters,
names and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real
people, living or dead, or incidents is purely coincidental.

***

Dedication

To
my loving parents, Paul and Violet Lefler

***

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My
thanks to my family, friends, and neighbors who continuously nurture my creativity,
and encourage me in my artistic endeavors.

***

And
special thanks to my dog, Gucci, who takes me for walks every day, and loves me
no matter what.

***

The original background image was taken by the Hubble
Telescope and is in the public domain.  My thanks go to NASA and the
Hubble Telescope Project for their awesome work.

The image is called “Erupting
Star V838 Monocerotis”.  Or “V838 Monocerotis – Light Echo of an Erupting
Star”.

The modifications to the image,
the graphic arts, and the layout of the cover are the work of the author

‘Retribution’ is the second in a series of 3 books
depicting the Augmented Human Rebellion.   The time for this episode,
is 30 years after the beginning of the Rebellion – as depicted in ‘The
Inception’.  I hope that you like the books.

You are encouraged to leave feedback.

(P.S. - I have another novel entitled; ‘Tipping
Point in the Alliance War’.  Just do a search on ‘Lefler’ at Amazon.)

My background is in Engineering (BSEE) and Art (BFA
in painting).   My work experience ranges between engineering and
art.   Engineering has paid for the essentials of living, and art is
the reason to live.  You can see some of my work at
www.terrylefler.com
.

You can contact me directly at
[email protected]
.

Thank You, 

Terry Lefler