The Inception: The Augmented Human Rebellion - Book 1 (10 page)

“Aye sir.”

‘Alien vessel is responding, sir. I have patched him to the front
screen, and I will interpret.”

***

The Rison System

“This in Captain Arrnr of the Risen Defense Force. State your
business. And declare your intentions.”

“Captain Arrnr. Greetings. I am Admiral Nemo of the Augmented
Human Navy, and our business is to offer protection services for planets and
solar systems. Our intentions are non-threatening. Do you have need
of our services? If not, we will depart and will not return.”

“Stand by, Admiral. It is not within my authority to answer that
question, but it has been forwarded to the proper authorities.”

***

The waiting time is measured in days, rather than hours. Finally,
Captain Arrnr contacts the Admiral: “Admiral Nemo, Systems Administration would
like to discuss your offer for protection services. How should those
discussions be arranged?”

“That is good news Captain Arrnr. It will be best if the Systems
Administration officials will come to this location. We can meet on my
vessel, or alternatively, on one of your vessels.”

***

The negotiations are tedious, as could be expected, since neither party
knows the other. There are discussions about technologies – Admiral Nemo
gives them honest specifications numbers, and explains in detail what the AH
Navy is willing to do, and what they are not willing to do.

He tells them: “The AH Navy is always going to be ‘good’, and will
do what is ‘right’. Our integrity is essential.”

Provisions for the AH Navy crews, and the use of repair facilities are
the easiest negotiation points. It gets tougher with a demand for
‘immunity from prosecution for crewmembers’, but the Systems Administration
negotiators finally agree. When it comes to the payment for services
rendered, Admiral Nemo gives them a list of rare metals, which would be
acceptable as payment. Then he names the amount of payment required,
based on a 20 day period, and with a guaranteed minimum of 4 payment periods.

The negotiators tried to talk him down on the price, but the Admiral will
have none of it. Take it, or leave it.

They decide to ‘take it’. The Augmented Human Navy has its first
job – providing protection services for the Rison System.

***

Admiral Nemo had been careful to ask the Rison representative about their
current military situation. He had been told that they are not at war,
but are under pressure – by threat and innuendo – to join a coalition of
planets. The coalition is actually a dictatorship, under the Emperor of
the Zarnx System.

After the AH Navy and the Rison System sign the security agreement, the
Rison System government sends an FTL probe to the Zarnx Emperor. The message in
the probe informs the Zarynx Emperor that Rison respectfully declines the offer
to join his ‘coalition’.

Admiral Nemo knows that there is a need for protection, or the Rison
System would not be willing to pay so well, for it. He expects trouble
and battle. That is part of the business that they are in.

And it doesn’t take long for trouble to come calling. 20 Zarnx
vessels emerge, into Rison space, close to the planet Rison. Emerging
that close to Rison is meant to show contempt for the planet’s
inhabitants. It implies that the intruders are confident that they can
overwhelm the planet’s defensive systems.

The AH Navy is stationed just outside, of the Rison system. Within
seconds, Darius announces the intrusion and Admiral Nemo orders all ships to
Battle Stations. The Admiral surveys the situation and announces a
plan. “All ships, prepare to do a FTL hop into the system. I want
to surround the Zarnx vessels. If a ship opens fire, then return fire and
destroy any ships that are attacking. If they don’t attack, just hold
your positions. My Navigation will forward hop coordinates. We will
go on my mark, after all ships report Battle Stations Ready, and after all
Navigations report ready. Let’s earn our money today. Nemo out.”

All ships are Battle Stations Ready’ within 5 minutes. The
Navigation Ready takes an additional 3 minutes. “8 minutes” thinks
the Admiral. “We will have to do better than that. I can foresee
some practice drills in our near future.” Out loud he says: “All ships……
Engage.”

All four AH Navy vessels disappear and then reappear a couple of seconds
later, at the planned coordinates. There is some risk inherent in this
tactic. For one thing, the ships are vulnerable to weapons fire, while
emerging. The defensive systems are set to automatic, but are not
functional until the ships have completely emerged. For another thing,
the tactic makes a space battle a lot more likely, as the Zarnx crews might
start a battle, out of panic.

Admiral Nemo will not use this tactic against the Zarnx Navy again,
because they will be prepared for it, next time. But this time the
Admiral considers that the show of overwhelming power might cause the Zarnx
Emperor to reconsider his aggressive intentions. Probably not - because
evil is compulsive by nature - but it’s worth a try.

After the AH Navy vessels have emerged, Admiral Nemo communicates with
Admiral Nardan, the commander of the Rison Defensive Systems, and encourages
him to communicate with the Zarnx Admiral. It will be better for Rison,
if they are seen as the power behind this response.

Admiral Nardan does communicate with Admiral Xtel, the commander of the
Zarnx Fleet, and Admiral Nemo listens to the communications. Admiral Xtel
– the Zarnx commander – is ‘taken aback’, by the unexpected show of force, and
is mollifying his communications with the Rison Admiral.

Admiral Xtel says that he is surprised at the defensive display, since
Rison and Zarnx are close friends. Admiral Nardan responds by saying that
he appreciates the friendship between the two planets, but in the future, it
will be more appropriate for the Zarnx planet to send a probe to announce their
forthcoming visit, and then to send a much smaller complement of warships.
Otherwise there might be a misunderstanding and hostilities could accidentally
start.

Admiral Xtel then communicates the purpose of the visit - which is to
‘encourage’ the Rison Systems government to reconsider their rejection of the
mutual defense treaty, and the offer of membership in the Zarnx Coalition.

Admiral Nardan responds that the government of Rison is making it clear
that membership in the Zarnx Coalition is not in the best interest of the Rison
citizens, and will not be reconsidered. The Rison Admiral then orders the
Zarnx Fleet to leave Rison space, “because the Rison defense forces are in the
middle of war games exercises.”

The Zarnx Fleet does leave and the Rison Admiral thanks Admiral Nemo for
the timely response. The Rison Admiral says that he expects the next
visit to be a full scale assault, from the entire Zarnx Navy.

Admiral Nemo asks for the Rison intelligence on the Zarnx military, and
on the Zarnx Emperor. Admiral Nardan promises that the intelligence
information will be forwarded to the AH Navy, ASAP.

Admiral Nemo is a firm believer in the strategy of ‘sever the head of the
beast’. It seems like the only long term solution for the Rison
people. They can’t afford to pay the AH Navy’s ‘protection fees’ for very
long. Admiral Nemo orders that probes be sent to the Zarnx system, in
order to collect information and to provide early warning, in case of an
imminent attack.

Admiral Nemo sets about planning for the big battle, which is probably
going to take place in the near future. His plan is to divide his
force. He intends to send all 3 light cruisers to the Zarnx system, in an
effort to kill the Zarnx Emperor. That can only happen if there is good
intelligence about the Emperor’s whereabouts.

It would be easy to nuke the Emperor’s general vicinity, but there is a
universal rule against using a nuclear weapon on an inhabited planet. It
is universally considered to be a ‘war crime’ – and rightfully so. The
targeted area could be uninhabitable for a thousand years.

Admiral Nemo is thinking about a surgical strike using the Nemesis and
the Company K soldiers/sailors. The Augmented Human Navy has a unique set
of offensive weapons, in its tool box.

***

The plans have been made and contingency plans have been formed, in case
the plans fail. The former Company K soldiers have practiced their
mission. It will be a surgical assault on the living quarters of the
Emperor. Hidden cameras and audio devices
(disguised as flying
insects)
have been inserted into the Emperor’s quarters, so that his
presence can be verified before the mission is launched.

For a landing, the Nemesis will impact in the Emperor’s private garden,
and strike teams will quickly descend upon the Emperor, with the sole purpose
of killing him - a captured dictator would only lead to enduring trouble.

The blame for this assassination will fall on the AH Navy and Admiral
Nemo rather than on the Rison government. The AH Navy will be gone
shortly after the collapse of the Zarnx Empire, and Rison can get back to being
a free planet. At least that’s the plan.

Probes inserted into Zarnx space are monitoring the movements of ships,
and are retransmitting the video/audio from the ‘insect cameras’.
Messenger probes travel back and forth, between the Zarnx and Rison systems, to
collect and deliver the latest information.

That information is not being shared with the Rison military or the
government. There is a 100% probability that Zarnx spies have infiltrated
both agencies.

Probe intelligence indicates that the Zarnx are almost ready to launch
their attack on Rison, and one of the ‘insect cameras’ overhears conversations
which reveal the Zarnx strategy.

***

Admiral Nemo has resorted to trickery, in order to get the Rison Navy in
position to defend the system. He has arranged combined fleet maneuvers,
which are designed, ostensibly, to enhance the cooperation between the AH Navy
and Rison Navy. Actually, the maneuvers are designed to get the Rison
Fleet in exactly the right position, at exactly the right time.

The countdown clock for the assassination attempt is quickly
approaching zero hour. One ship should be enough to do the job, but
Admiral Nemo believes in overwhelming force, and is sending 3 ships in case
they need to fight their way out.

***

There has been a major disagreement between Admiral Nemo and Captain
Guilles over who should lead the assassination attempt. It is clear to
the Admiral that it should be anyone, except Captain Guilles – who just happens
to be very pregnant, with their first child.

Sandra Guilles will have none of it. She points out that she is the
most qualified person in the Fleet, for this kind of mission. The Admiral
points out that she is ‘ready to pop’ – which was not a good choice of words,
on his part.

After it is all said
(loudly, at times)
and done, Captain Guilles
is appointed to lead the mission. The Admiral will just have to ‘suck it
up’ and worry, until she is safely home.

***

It’s ‘zero hour’ and the three AH Navy ships, commanded by Captain
Guilles, silently slip out of sight behind a planet, where they engage the FTL
drives for the Zarnx system.

Admiral Nemo draws attention away from their absence by giving a
demonstration of the Integrities weapons systems. All eyes are on the Integrity
and it is some time before the other ships are missed. Admiral Nemo
explains that they are being re-supplied at a nearby AH Navy supply base.

An information probe has arrived from the Zarnx system, which shows that
a fleet of around 100 vessels are ready to launch their attack on Rison. That
fleet could be just minutes behind the information probe.

***

The Zarnx System

The Assassination Team emerges outside of the Zarnx System and expects to
make a short FTL hop, which will bring them close to the Emperor’s residence,
on the planet Zarnx. That hop needs to wait until the Zarnx Fleet has
launched for the Rison System.

Captain Guilles is in command of this operation, and is comfortable with
the mission. She has taken part in a number of assassination attempts,
and was in command of one of those missions. She has no trouble resolving
the moral issues surrounding assassination – it is the simplest and most
effective way to remove enemy leaders. It saves countless lives, and
shortens the duration of the war.

In this case, the assassination is especially easy to reconcile, because
the Emperor is a dictator. In Captain Guilles’ opinion, the universe
would be a much better place if all dictators were assassinated.

Captain Guilles is tempted to lead the landing expedition herself, but
she has promised Admiral Nemo that she won’t – that was the compromise that she
had to agree to, in order to lead the mission. Lieutenant Kanes will lead
the assault team, and Lieutenant Susan Bartons will lead the assassination
squad.

There! The Zarnx Fleet is engaging their FTL drives. Sandra
Guiles says a silent prayer for the people in the Rison System, and especially
for Cade Nemo and the AH Navy.

Then it is time to do business. She was designed, and built for this
work. Her augmented human body - complete with an implant enhanced brain,
which was recovered from a deceased Special Forces soldier - is energized and
ready for battle. She waits until all of the Fleet has departed the
system and then announces: “All ships. Engage FTL drive, for planet Zarnx
coordinates, on my command …….. ……. Engage.”

The three warships emerge in space, directly above the Emperor’s
palace. Captain Guilles says: “Commence the assault. Lieutenant
Kanes, depart when ready.”

Lieutenant Kanes checks the status of the Nemesis and the 30 person
assault squad, and all report “ready”. Lieutenant Kanes says: “Danion,
take us in.”